Very Mary

DIY Holiday Gifts - Week 1

Today is the beginning of the DIY Holiday Gifts class at Two Peas, and I'm very excited to be part of the GG team that created projects! You won't see my work until week three, but I thought you - like me - might all ready be planning your holiday gift guide and, if that's the case, maybe you're thinking about making a few this year...

some great ideas from the GG's this week:

Funky Frame by Jen Jockisch (a fun frame that you can personalize for every holiday. Easy decorating - gotta love it!)

Neighbour Gifts by Jen Gallacher (cute, easy, and green ways to create festive gifts for your neighbours or coworkers or whomever you feel like being nice to this holiday season!)

Back tomorrow (?) with a festive project of my own! Now, go drink some eggnog and listen to Jingle Bells or something! :)

A Card a A Day

I have multiple cards in this fun book (which features a card for every single day of the year):

You can check out one of my cards and quite a few other lovelies as well on the Moxie Fab World blog today! :)

In other scrappy news, keep your eyes peeled for a free DIY Holiday gift class starting at Two Peas in a Bucket on Monday, November 9!! The class is four weeks long and features two new projects each week. I think you just might like 'em! :)

Color (A Layout)

Earlier this week, I shared my two theme layouts from the November 1 Garden at Two Peas, and here is my layout featuring a new product, the Jenni Bowlin Red Label Strip Stickers:

©Two Peas in a Bucket

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper: Scenic Route Paper Co, Making Memories, American Crafts; Chipboard: American Crafts; Flair: American Crafts; Ribbon: American Crafts; Brad: Basic Grey; Buttons: Basic Grey; Stamp: Hero Arts; Die-cut Machine: Silhouette, Cricut; Sticker: Jenni Bowlin; Punch: Fiskars

You can read more about the layout and see the supplies I used here.

One quick note though...I had a question about the large grey frame I used on my layout. It's a die-cut from the Provo Craft Storybook cartridge. I used the "Fit to Page" feature with a 12 x 12 mat to get that size. I also noticed a similar marquee frame in the QuicKutz library, so that gives you a couple of options depending on what kind of machine you might have.

Family Stories at Write.Click.Scrapbook.

The theme this month at Write.Click. Scrapbook. is "Family Stories." You can check out the entire gallery here. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Unexpected Tradition - Celeste is so funny! I love this layout. It's truthful and humorous and removes the pressure to take a whole bunch of photos in the middle of the Thanksgiving dinner preparations!
• There is a Seinfeld Line - This page design is so unique, and I love that the title and the background text is the focus. Can you believe it's digital??? Amazing!
• You Three - Adore this heartfelt quote and layout. It made me tear up (pregnancy hormones, anyone??), and her children will cherish this someday.

Speaking of children, here's my contribution:

Supplies: patterned paper (Creative Imaginations, SEI, Scenic Route Paper Co., Bo Bunny Press) + buttons (American Crafts) + ribbon (SEI, American Crafts) + paper frills (Doodlebug Designs Inc.) + stickpin (Heidi Grace) + brad (Basic Grey) + tag (7gypsies) + Cricut Machine (Provo Craft) + Tags, Bags, Boxes & More die-cut cartridge (Provo Craft) + Cuttlebug Machine (Provo Craft) + Swiss Dots embossing folder (Provo Craft) + punch (Marvy Uchida) + eyelet (We R Memory Keepers) + font (Uncle Charles)

This page has been 90% complete for a long time, and it turns out that I just needed to come back to it later and add a few things. I'm happy to have this story recorded for Sadie's scrapbook. I know someday - especially when she's starting her own family - she'll be glad to know the little details from her birthday. :) 

Here's a close-up of the 7gypsies journaling tag that I used for my title:

I hand-colored "It's a Girl!" with watercolor pencils and did some blending with a Versamark pen. The journaling is printed on a transparency to layer over the card. 

And now that this page is done, I'm going to kindly remind myself to finish Baby #2's page a lot sooner. :)

November 1 Garden

A day late...but still, not to be missed. The theme for November is Stickers, and goodness knows we all have enough of those, right? Here are a few of my favorites from the other Garden Girls:

• Big Sister to Be - Love this topic (for obvious reasons) and I'm impressed with how Sheri uses digital stickers. Digi stickers scare me a little.
• Numbers - love what Cindi's done with these number stickers to make a tone-on-tone background.
• So Girly - same here with Jen's technique. Makes such a unique and interesting background that doesn't overwhelm the photos.
• Brothers Forever - might as well just put Stephanie on auto-link since I love every thing she does. This page is perfect, from the typography to the stitching to the photos.

And a new product layout that I love:

• Car House - when I first saw this digi kit (Caravanning), I thought it was SO CUTE because those little caravans remind me of Oliver Jeffers's illustrations, but I was stumped on how to use the kit. Love what Erica's done here with the simple type and the photo-free design.

And here is one of my sticker layouts, completed almost entirely with the American Crafts Teen line (btw, if you were eyeing this one, I noticed the rub-ons are 30% off and the papers are 50% off right now):

©Two Peas in a Bucket

Supplies:Patterned Paper: American Crafts Teen Paper - Honor Roll, Drama Club, Debate Team, Study Hall, Class Clown; Ribbon: American Crafts - Teen - Crush; Stickers: American Crafts - Remarks - Awesome; Chipboard Letters - American Crafts - Mulberry LAX; Clear Cut Shape: Little Yellow Bicycle - Trick or Treat; Gemstones - Hero Arts - Clear Mixed

You've heard of the Doodlebops, right? Sadie loves them. She doesn't even watch TV and she still managed to find out about them. After we bought this wig for my Halloween costume, she decided it looked just like the hot pink Deedee Doodle. She insisted that I wear my "Deedee hair" around the house, so she could call me Mommy-Deedee. Wild tantrums ensued when I decided I didn't want to wear the hair all the time. Quickly solved by letting her wear the hair. In pink hair, she is Sadie-Deedee, SUPERSTAR! (She even sings and dances.)

You can see more detail shots of my layout and see all the supplies here.

And for a complete change of pace, here's my other more subdued sticker layout:

©Two Peas in a Bucket

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Bo Bunny - Mellow Yellow Double Dot, Heidi Grace - It's a Girl, American Crafts Baby - Hickory Dickory; Foam Embellishment: American Crafts - Newhouse; Foam Sticker: American Crafts - Powder Lullaby, Thickers: American Crafts - Rockabye; Velvet Flock: Doodlebug Designs - Cupcake; Stickles: Ranger - Diamond

First bath photos that have been waiting to be scrapped for a loooong time. I didn't have great photos of this, so I had a hard time scrapping them, but I really like how it turned out.

You can see more detail shots of my layout and see all the supplies here.

The Mid-month Garden!

I'm very excited about the mid-month garden! I had a little more time to prepare, so I created a few layouts to share with you all! But first...some of the layouts that caught my eye today:

• Like Cat & Dog (I pretty much adore everything that Stephanie does. Total eye-candy!)
• Argue Mateys (Adorable! And I love those Hero Arts spider web stamps)
• She (simple design, powerful page and a good reminder, I think, about self-image)
• Our Chills & Thrills (love the non-traditional colors on this Halloween layout)
• Happy Halloween (I am totally drawn to this design, and I love the Spooky Scary kit!)

You know how I feel about Halloween, so here's a seasonal hybrid layout showing a few of my spooky decorations from last year. *Hopefully* you'll feel inspired to start documenting your own spooky home decor: 

©Two Peas in a Bucket

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Making Memories (spiderweb); Digital Patterned Paper: Spooky Scary kit by Jen Allyson (orange dots, black text); Digital Brushes: "beware" from the Halloween Word Art kit by Rhonna Farrer, spider line from The Spider's Web Stamps kit by Carina Gardner; Gemstones: Clear Gemstones by Hero Arts

More details and links to the supplies here.

Here is a closer look at the numbers:

I created a digital collage with my title and journaling on the orange patterned paper, and then I had it printed twice so I could cut out one set of numbers to attach on top with foam adhesive.

Here's a closer look at the spider line (much cuter that the one I discovered the other day), which I embellished with gemstones:

 

Love those digi stamps! Check out Carina's kit: The Spider's Web Stamps. So very perfect if you happen to be working on Halloween projects right now. I especially like the polka-dot pumpkin. :)

I also created a couple more layouts focused on the theme for October: Typography. The first one is a title page for Sadie' second year album:

©Two Peas in a Bucket

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Lemonade by Basic Grey; Brad: Basic Grey, Die-cut Machine: Silhouette; Punch: Threading Water by Fiskars

More details and links to the supplies here.

The letters look like stickers, but they are actually cut with my Silhouette. I typed the alphabet in the Quickutz RoboMaster program (the software for the Silhouette), and cut it six (?) times from different colors of cardstock. I saved all the extra letters for later! And by the way, if you were thinking about purchasing a Silhouette, I noticed it's currently 20% off at Two Peas right here.

And last is a page I've been thinking about for a long time. I've been wanting to document the nicknames we have had for Sadie, and I had an idea about how I wanted it to look. It didn't translate exactly, but I think it works:

©Two Peas in a Bucket

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Fruit Fizz by Basic Grey; Lace Paper: Orange Swiss Dot Doilie by Basic Grey; Notebook Paper: Fancy Free Kit by Michelle Underwood; Photo Frames: Curled White Photo Frames by Mary Ann Wise; Brad: Glazed Brad by Basic Grey; Fonts: Catching Cupcakes, Graham Cracker, AL Worn Machine

More details and links to the supplies here.

I wanted to create this traditionally, but sizing all the fonts would have been a nightmare, so hybrid it is! I used two of my new favorite digi elements: Curled White Photo Frames and notebook paper from the Fancy Free kit by Michelle Underwood with some funky handwritten fonts. Because the colors I chose are so freakin' bold, I kept the design pretty simple, so this layout came together fairly quickly. As always, gotta love that. :)

Speaking of Creepy...

Have you ever heard the "urban legend" to be careful when you wash your grapes because there might be a spider hanging out in there? Yeah, right, you say. But perhaps no one mentioned it could be an inky black spider with a sinister red dot on its back...

I'm officially chilled to the bone.

This is what I discovered crawling around our fresh bag of grapes:

In case you weren't sure, that's a BLACK WIDOW.

In my freaking bag of grapes.

When I first saw it, I didn't even realize what it was. All I knew was that the hair on the back of my neck was standing on end, and I was terrified the thing had laid eggs in the 30 seconds it took me to chuck that bag of grapes into the garbage can. So, no, I didn't take that photo. Gimme a break. I saw Arachnaphobia. There is no way in hell I would get that close to the little venomous fiend.

So this, my friends, is a public service announcement dedicated to all the grape eaters out there: sometimes you can believe the things you hear/read. Beware the creepy crawlies. Especially the venomous ones.

Halloween: a good excuse for shopping.

Sadie and I've been reading a book called The 13 Days of Halloween. I sing along to the tune of The 12 Days of Christmas. Sing, you ask? Hmmm. I suppose "croak" would be a more apt description. Nevertheless, it's inspires a little more Halloween spirit, and besides reading/singing/croaking Halloween, decorating Halloween, consuming dangerous amounts of sour Skittles and Starburst (shame on you Costco for stocking candy in bulk!), we've been planning a costume. Here's a hint:

 

Any guesses? :)

In the meantime, I am planning to make a Halloween album! Last year, I was so inspired by this album (created by one of my favorite scrapbookers: Nichol Magouirk) that I vowed I would make one. I love the idea of being able to page through one album and see Sadie's (and baby's) costumes over the years. I admit I am not as productive as Nichol, so it is highly unlikely that I will finish this album in time for Halloween (heck, I have not even finished last year's Christmas album!), but I have all ready accomplished the most *difficult* task: shopping!

Here are the spooky goodies that crept into my shopping cart:

Spook Alley 6x9 Mini Book

Spook Alley Deco Pins (Put stickpins on the list of scrappy stuff I can't resist)

Spook Alley Trims & Treats (the feltie ghosts are adorable!)

Spook Alley Glitter Rub-ons

Spook Alley Looking Glass Stickers

Spook Alley Vinyl Tape

4x6 Mixed Media Spook Alley Notebook (also topping the "irresistible list," these little notebooks)

Trick or Treat Clear Cut Shapes

Wicked Web Trick or Treat Specialty Paper

And how I wish I had seen these earlier:

Halloween Collection Vintage Findings Kit

Halloween Collection Vintage Findings Mini Kit

Trick or Treat Brad Assortment

Trick or Treat Jewel Stickers

It's possible I'll supplement with a *little* more shopping down the road, but you know, I think I could be set for the next twenty years or so of Halloween scrapping! ;)

A Layout and Winner x 2

Hello, all! Hope you are beginning your weekend with a fabulous Friday! The weather has turned snappy these past few days, so I think we'll be staying in and adjusting to the inevitable coming of cold, cold winter. That's a-ok though because I have several assignments that need my attention. The mid-month Garden at Two Peas will be arriving shortly, and I'll have some new layouts to share, but in the meantime, I'll leave you with this one (maybe you'll recognize it from a sneak peek I showed earlier?):

 

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper: Little Yellow Bicycle, Bo Bunny, Making Memories; Stickers: Vera Vinyl Stickers by American Crafts; Ribbon: Cosmo Haute Ribbon Box by American Crafts; Buttons: Basic Grey, other

This page was published in the Aug/Sep issue of BHG Scrapbooks Etc., and I can't remember if I ever explained or not, but the title is a little play on words. Everyone has heard the phrase "cute as a button," right? Well, for the longest time, Sadie referred to buttons as "bunnies." Just a cute little toddler quirk that inspired me to document the adorable way she was pronouncing different words.

I just got the page back a couple weeks ago, and reading through it, I kept saying, "Oh, I remember that! Oh, that was so CUTE!" All of these pronunciations are long past. Such a fleeting time. And therefore, this page is Reason #17 that I am glad to be a scrapbooker. :)

Moving on to the scrappy details. See that white font for the title? The one that says "cute as a." Yeah, that one. I handcut that. It was a pain in the @ss. But now I have my trusty Silhouette, I don't have to handcut anything anymore. Just thought I'd mention it because that is the first thing I thought when I got the page back. I will never handcut anything AGAIN.

The other portion of the title is done with some of my favorite letters ever: American crafts vinyl Thickers. Considerably easier than handcutting, but I would love to see them in every color! :)

And now, onto the Banana Frog stamp giveaways! I never heard back from Mary, so I used the handy random number generator for TWO numbers:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

11
17

Timestamp: 2009-10-10 03:16:02 UTC

So that would be Charlene (It's All About...Arrows) and Nancy L. (It's All About...Flourishes)! Ladies, can you send me your mailing addresses? I will get these out to you as soon as possible! Thanks for all the comments, and be sure to check back next week, as I still have a few more sets to give away! :)

A Layout, a Winner, and another Giveaway

I thought I'd share a layout that I did over the summer using the American Crafts Teen line:

 

When I first saw the Teen line, I thought, "hmm, funky, colorful, but...I don't have any teenagers." But as you've no doubt figured out, most theme-oriented lines can be re-purposed. I used it here to make a page about my husband and me and our 5-yr anniversary. We are most definitely not teens, but it still works. (The paper and the relationship.) :)

I love journaling stickers, but I despise hand-journaling. So instead of using a sticker for journaling, I used it as a frame for my accent/title. (Incidentally, I noticed the Remarks sticker book that I used is 75% off at two peas.) The glittery heart and flair are both from the Teen line as well. Sometimes it's nice to use coordinating products. Makes life a little simpler.

The large die-cut of the couple comes from Provo Craft's Going Places cartridge, and when I originally laid out my design, I noticed that it didn't show up very well against the background. To help it stand out, I added a vellum backing, which also doubles as a frame. I stamped the vellum with Dots inked in Versamark. Just a little detail for more visual interest.

Supplies: Die-cut cartridge: Provo Craft, Patterned Paper: Minimal and Pop Quiz by American Crafts, Sticker, Chipboard, Flair, Brads: American Crafts; Stamp: Dots by Hero Arts; Ink: Versamark

So, abruptly switching gears here: I posted a giveaway on the blog in celebration of WCMD, and I used the Random Integer Generator to pick a winner:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

51	

Timestamp: 2009-10-05 21:32:29 UTC

So that makes the winner a fellow Mary:

The birdy is adorable and love the colors...tooo cute!!!

Posted by: Mary Duffek | October 01, 2009 at 08:53 PM

Mary, can you email me your shipping address and I will get It's All About...Arrows out to you?

And how about another giveaway? I also have Banana Frog's It's All About...Flourishes to share with a lucky reader:

All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me which Banana Frog stamp set is your favorite. You can find the current catalog here.  I'm opening this to North American residents, and you must leave a comment by midnight MST Thursday, October 8. I will draw a name and announce the winner on Friday. Good luck!