Very Mary

A quick holiday card...

Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving! We celebrated in style here with a big dinner for the three of us! (Less pressure to be a perfect chef if there are no guests involved.) Besides the fact that the pumpkin pie required an extra 40 minutes in the oven and totally screwed up my timetable causing me to delay dinner by an hour and subsequently burn the bottom of my homemade rolls, all went well. And was very enjoyable. Enjoyable enough that I have volunteered my culinary services to make a turkey dinner for Christmas Day. Wish me luck!

I have some photos from the big day, but like the majority of my photos, I have not edited them, and if I'm honest, I'll admit that I probably won't even look at them until after Christmas. Such is my busy life. :)

But not so busy that I can't stop and make a quick holiday card to share:

Supplies:

• Bo Bunny Chocolate Double Dot patterned paper
  
• American Crafts Boarding Pass patterned paper
  
• Hero Arts Houndstooth rubber stamp
• Hero Arts ClearDesign Frames and Messages stamp set
• Versamark watermark ink
• American Crafts white embossing powder
• American Crafts silver mini brads
• Doodlebug Designs Lily White Flocking Powder
• Provo Craft Cricut diecutting machine
• Provo Craft Accent Essentials cartridge

A few things to note:

• This is a lift of one of Kristina Werner's cards from her class A Year in Cards: November 2009, which details three great ideas for simple, easy to make holiday cards.
• With the exception of the silver brads, the entire card is made with scraps!
• The snowflake is a diecut from the Accent Essentials cartridge. I inked it up with liquid glue and covered it with white flocking powder.

And now....to work on our family Christmas card...

WEEK 3 - DIY HOLIDAY GIFTS

Hey all! Today is the beginning of my portion of the free DIY HOLIDAY GIFT class at Two Peas in a Bucket. Here's a peek at the six card set that I created:

 

Read more, see individual photos, download instructions, and see links to all the supplies that I used right here. And be sure to let me know if you have any questions! :)

Sharing my Space

Are you wildly curious about where I create my scrapbook masterpieces?? Tee-heee. :)  I knew you would be.

Well, today - Thursday, November 19th - is your lucky day:

Check out the Two Peas blog today, where I share more photos of my little basement studio.

Derrick believes my studio to be magazine worthy. And while I am not quite convinced of this exactly, I also don't think a space has to be picture perfect to be a creative space. Practical and well-organized. That's what I'm going for. :)

Enjoy your Thursday!

November 15 Garden

Seriously, life has been SO busy. On top of everything else, I decided that now would be a great time to clean, purge and re-organize my studio. Good thinking, huh? Hopefully, this will all be done by Thursday, so I can share some photos of my space on the Garden Girls blog over at Two Peas. 

But in the meantime, hope you can check out the mid-month garden. The theme is "stickers" and the seasonal focus is Thanksgiving. Here are some of the ones that caught my eye this time around:

• Giving Thanks by Gennifer Bursett - Love this. Love the colors, the fonts, the soft, retro feel. And take some time to read her journaling. I especially love this one, "That Steve doesn't think housework is my job." I'm lucky that way too. Good thing or we'd both be disappointed. :)
• Hiccup Hiccup by Brooke Starnes - So sweet. Love the title rotated to 90 degrees.
• My All Day by Jennifer Gallacher - A GREAT idea for using up those extra American Crafts flair.
• So Thankful by Stephanie Dagan - did I mention I love Stephanie's work? Everything she does is magic. 

Here's a sticker layout (more info here):

©Two Peas in a Bucket

Supplies:

• Cream, blue, dark peach cardstock
• Porcelain 12 x 12 Double Dot patterned paper by Bo Bunny Press
• Grandparents 97% Complete stickers by 7gypsies
• Sparkle Haute ribbon by American Crafts
• Heart deco pins by Heidi Grace
• Hugs 'n' Hearts clear stamp set by Hero Arts
• Peach chalk ink by Colorbox
• Lemonade glazed brad by Basic Grey
• Apron Lace border punch by Fiskars
• Scallop Sentiment border by Fiskars
• Corner Chomper corner rounder by We R Memory Keepers
• Silhouette diecutting machine by QuicKutz

A few things to note:

I used my Silhouette to cut all the hearts in the blue portion of the layout. Then I stamped some of them with flourishes (super hard to see in this photo), and a few are attached with foam adhesive.

The hearts on the dark peach paper are all stamped with images from one set, the Hugs 'n' Hearts set, which is currently 30% off at Two Peas.

I don't think the Heart deco pins are available anymore. I bought them a few years ago, but there are some other options here and here.

And here's a seasonal layout (more info here) :

©Two Peas in a Bucket

A few things to note:

I cut the title with my Silhouette. The font is English, and I just changed the spacing in the text settings, and then selected the weld feature so that it would cut one complete shape rather than eight separate letters.

I stamped behind the title with a flourish from the Fancy Pants Pollen Dust set. It's not available, but I noticed a few other Fancy Pants sets on Two Peas, and - joy! - they're on sale!  

Supplies:

• Aspen Indian Summer paper by Basic Grey
• Cedar Indian Summer paper by Basic Grey
• Russet Indian Summer paper by Basic Grey
• Indian Summer Elements Stickers by Basic Grey
  
• Indian Summer Buttons by Basic Grey
• vellum
• Pollen Dust stamps by Fancy Pants
• Pinecone ink by Tsukineko
  
• Silhouette diecutting machine by QuicKutz

And don't forget to check out the second week of the DIY Holiday Gift class at Two Peas! This week, Kelley Purkey made a clever Envelope Advent Calendar (I love the idea of sending this to someone special with a little giftie envelope for them to open everyday) and Shannon Tidwell made a funky Christmas Card Display.

Christmas Countdown Calendar

If you get the Two Peas newsletter, you might have seen my Christmas Countdown calendar earlier this week:

©Two Peas in a Bucket

Supplies: Patterned Paper, Chipboard Accents, Die-cuts, Stickpins: Making Memories; Punch: EK Success; Digi Overlays: Roughed Up 2 Tool Kit by Rhonna Farrer; Die-cutting Machine: Silhouette; Stickles: Ranger

I don't normally "specialize" in home decor projects, but I make exceptions sometimes. Especially where Christmas is concerned. 

As you can see in the detail shot, the countdown includes 24 days, and if you lift each flap, there is a different Christmas prompt. A little something fun and festive to help you and your family get in the holiday mood. Someone emailed me about a list of Christmas prompts. I borrowed a few from Kate Teague's Advent Fun Kit and the rest, I just made up as I went along. I used things that we do as a family like "bake Christmas cupcakes," and things that I would like to do, "wear Christmas pajamas all day." And just a little fyi, if you like the idea but aren't thrilled about the time to make a countdown calendar, give Kate's kit a peek because it is a cute, quick way to do exactly the same thing!  

When I started the calendar, I had a completely different look in mind, but as I started working on it, I realized I could simplify a lot of the process by creating portions of it digitally. So that's what I did. Hybrid scrapbooking is really growing on me. The paper base is Die Cut Icon Stripe from Making Memories Mistletoe line (I was sad to cover up those cute little deer, but then, I guess I should have bought two sheets!) and then I created the overlying green paper and numbers in Photoshop. It's really easy to create your own grungy paper with digital overlays (I used Rhonna's Roughed Up 2 Tool Kit). It's a new technique for me, but one I'll be using again, for sure. You can read more about the creative process here.

To answer a few questions I've received:

1. Do you have a list of the Christmas prompts? No, but you can find a good list of Advent Activities by searching google.com. Here is one that looks promising: Advent Activity Chain. It's for a printable activity chain, but it gives you some good ideas.

2. What font did you use for your numbers? The font is Rosewood.

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.