Very Mary

I Love Travel (a mini-book)

I submitted a few projects to the American Crafts DT call. Didn't make it, but I still have piles of AC product to use from my last term, so I'm not going to utter one word of "woe-is-me." Thought you might like to check out the stuff I made though... :)

Here's a little mini-album I put together with the very vibrant Travel line:

This little album has photos from our little excursions this summer (I still have some photos to add from our latest trip), and everything that I used to create the album (with the exception of the album itself) is from American Crafts.

The album is clear, so when I created the cover, I did a little creative layering with two camera rub-ons:

The center of the camera rub-on shown above is a little something I created in Photoshop and cut with my Cuttlebug and Circle Frame dies.

Here's a peek at the first page:

Every page follows this same format, which made this a quick (!) little project.

A close-up of Nannie, Sadie, and Daddy:

My friend Heather always makes fun of me because when scrapbookers show me mini-albums, I always ask, "So what are you going to do with it?" I can't help it. I tend to think of them as frivolous little projects when what I really want is a 12"x12" with the WHOLE story and BIG photos. But...and I'm not going to say I'm a convert or anything...they do seem a lot more charming lately. Especially in light of Sadie's obvious delight in a scrapbook that is "Sadie-size."

Hibiscus Box (a project)

Another fun project that I made with my Cricut! I used the new Life is a Beach cartridge to decorate a plain chipboard box:

Super cute, super easy. It took me all of 20 minutes or so to cover the box with patterned paper and ribbon and die-cut the hibiscus flower for the top. I added a bit of shading with some chalk ink and that's it! A great spot for your summer treasures or a way to dress up a small gift! :)

Patterned Paper: SEI, Scenic Route Paper Co.; Ribbon: SEI; Die-cut cartridge: Provo Craft

Simplify (a tin)

Another little project I created using the Home Decor Solutions cartridge:

All the die-cutting on the tin (dragonfly, "simplify", flourish, scalloped circle) are from the Home Decor Solutions cartridge. Gotta love that kind of versatility, right? I cut the dragonfly twice: once plain and the second time as a shadow image, and I layered them and attached them to my tin with foam adhesive.

In order to cut the flourish from vellum, I experimented with the pressure setting. It cuts beautifully (depending on the intricacy of the design) on medium pressure with the multi-cut setting. I also found that it works best if you are using an older cutting mat; i.e., one that is not brand-new super-sticky. If the mat is too sticky, the vellum won't release without tearing or curling.

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Bo Bunny, Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Vellum: The Paper Company; Die-cut cartridge: Provo Craft

Rub-a-Dub Ducky

I'm not usually one for creating "home decor," but we just so happen to be in the midst of redoing Sadie's bathroom, and I just so happened to need a project for my Project of the Day for Banana Frog. So, I created a little ducky wall hanging:

For this fun little wall hanging, I used what I had on hand. Starting with a framed piece of cheap art, I removed the art and used the remaining frame and mat. For this particular mat, the opening is slightly smaller than 6" square, so I cut a piece of blue cardstock to 6" x 6" for my background. Using my Cricut machine with the New Arrival cartridge, I cut a bathtub from grey patterned paper and a duck from yellow cardstock.

Before adhering the duck or the bathtub to the blue background, I stamped some circles to create bubbles. I used Versamark ink with two sizes of circles from Round in Circles and a row of circles from It's All About...Circles to stamp circles above and behind the duck and along the lip of the bathtub. After stamping, I sprinkled the images with iridescent embossing powder to mimic that magical bubble sheen. After attaching the the duck and bathtub, I tucked some circles punched from vellum between the duck and the tub, and I added felt letters to spell "rub-a-dub." And as Sadie would say, "TA-DA!"

Hope this weekend gave you all some time to create!

Supplies: Cricut, cartridge: ProvoCraft; stamps: Banana Frog; Ink: Tsukineko; Letters, brad: American Crafts; Patterned Paper: KI Memories

Top Ten Vacation Basics

Back in the summer when Derrick and I went to Alaska, our very own super nannies (Derrick's mom and aunt) took care of our little girl so that we could go away and enjoy a worry-free vacation! I made this cute little digital album as a thank-you present.

 

It is composed entirely of photos taken by Nannie and Grandma Fran during Sadie's "vacation," and I had such a great time looking at all the photos and getting a little glimpse of what they were up to during our ten days away.

 

The 5-1/2 x 3-1/2 album is a swatchbook from Stories By Everyone. It's the perfect size for a little brag book (Nannie just so happened to mention that she did indeed tuck it in her purse to carry with her to work).

 

(I love this photo of her all suited up to go out for her daily walk.)

I sent these out with our gifts at Christmas time. It was admittedly late to be a thank you gift, but not so late as if I had tried to handcraft some mini-albums, which was my original idea. As it turns out, these little albums will hold up much better than paper and glue, and I like that idea.

 

(and this photo of her sitting in the swing - look at those chubby little fingers!)

The pages are water and tear resistant, the photo quality is excellent, and the service was quick. The only drawback I can tell is the expense to ship outside the US. But overall, I give Stories By Everyone two thumbs up. One more scrappy love to add to my list :)

Happy Day!

One of my cards is featured in the January/February 2009 issue of Papercrafts magazine!

I pulled the color scheme directly from the patterned paper and created the card face in Photoshop Elements using the font Fabianestem.

   

The clear star was cut from the plastic of an embellishment package.  

 

And because I couldn't let a good idea go to waste, I amazed myself by fashioning this boxy little gift bag out of two sheets of 12"x12" patterned paper. The editors apparently weren't impressed by my paper prowess because this one didn't make it into the magazine.

 

I used a plastic Heidi Swapp flower for the accent on this one. And due to the floral theme, it also didn't work out for the initial plan of Father's Day gift wrap. So, now that I've made the damn thing, what should I do with it?

 

Supplies: Patterned Paper: American Crafts; Rub-on: American Crafts; Brads: CK KOTM, Cactus Pink, Flower: Heidi Swapp; Ribbon: Unknown

Happy New Year!

While I admit to generally being less than enthusiastic about New Year's Eve celebrations (I'm usually sound asleep when the ball drops), I'm excited about the promise of possibility that the new year brings. Something about starting over always fills me with a sense of hope. Hope for what, I'm not yet entirely sure. I'll skip the typical resolutions even though I really would like to: a) get washboard abs; b) become bilingual; c) read the 100 best books of all time; and d) properly punctuate. It's a tall order I know, so I might just have to settle for learning proper punctuation.

What I do know for certain about 2009 is that it will be filled with photography (and hopefully, improvement in photography skills), scrapbooking (as usual) and maybe a little more documentation in the form of this blog, which I've kind of taken a liking to over the last 6 months :)

A fitting project share to start off the new year:

 

This was a gift I created with the help of a Scrapbooks Etc. Stories By Everyone calendar template. We kept one for ourselves and gave one to each set of grandparents. (Sorry Elaine for ruining the surprise!)It couldn't have been an easier project with the Stories By Everyone drag and drop format. The only thing I would change is the binding on the first page. I wasn't aware it would be bound through the photo. Something to keep in mind if you feel inspired to make your own.

 

I made calendars last Christmas too, but the photos were a little more random. In this calendar, each month's photo was actually taken in the same month of the previous year, so you can page through and see Sadie change and grow. I just love that.

I send real 4x6 printed photos to the grandparents too, but I love being able to share a whole year of Sadie in such a practical format. No fiddling with plastic album sleeves or hammering nails into the wall for frames. Just tack this baby up!

Anyway, hope you all had a wonderful holiday! As expected, it was very busy here, which did not allow for me to hover around the computer. Now that the holidays are over, I hope to be back to regular blogging. Maybe I'll even share the dreaded Christmas album :)

Christmas Photos

One of the things I am learning about photographing small children is to not stop and stare at the viewfinder to determine whether the previous moment's photo is worth keeping. This trips me up from time to time because I can't resist the urge to look at the photos I've just taken. And then while I am bemoaning the hasty cropping or the lack of focus of a certain "otherwise-it-would-have-been-perfect" photo, I most likely miss the better photo opportunities, and then of course, Sadie gets bored and runs off to do something more interesting like chase the dogs with the soup ladle.

Last year at Christmas time, she was far less mobile. But I was just as snap-happy. So this made a perfect combination for a hundred and seventy six photos or something close. (I read somewhere that the National Geographic photographers take like 30,000 photos to get a single perfect shot, so with that, I feel justified.) Anyway, when all was said and done, I had quite a few keepers. So after making the holiday card, I made this photo gift for Derrick:

Twelve different photos frame a quote by Charles Dickens: "I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year." I chose this one not only because I like it, but also because that way, we can keep this up on the wall all year. I wish I could tell you what brush I used to add the flourish behind the quote, but I had my computer worked on late this summer and sadly, all my brushes went bye-bye. The frame is from Michael's, and you'll have to trust me that it's not gold, but more of an antique silver.

In other holiday news, I've been working away on editing this year's holiday photo shoot (!), the holiday card (which needs to get sent...oh, tomorrow), my Christmas album (behind all ready), and a Christmas layout (because I HAD to add to my to-do list. I am so easily distracted it's not even funny). Hopefully something on this list will get done, and I'll be able to share later this week! In the meantime, hope you all are crossing many things off your own "to-do" lists and springing into December, armed with a eggnog latte!

Baby Love (a mini-album)

I meant to pop by yesterday, but got busy with some other things (as per usual). I'm still working away on some of my older projects, but I hope to interrupt myself tomorrow with something new to share. In the mean time, something fun to check out: Scenic Route Monthly Product Challenge. And also, my project share today...

I created this mini album a month or so before Sadie was born.

 

It was meant to be a guest book of sorts where visitors of the new baby could sign in and write a little message of welcome. I made five pages, and I had planned to add more as needed, but the book was picked up for publication in Super Fast Pages with 4" x 6" Photos (couldn't find a link on CK's website) and wasn't returned until August, three months after Sadie was born. So despite my best intentions, being prepared didn't help me get this little book done! 

 

Instead of adding additional pages to include everyone that Sadie "met" during her first week or so, I just kept the original five pages which include a photo with and notes from Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Todd. This simplified things so that I didn't have to send Sadie's album all over the country. I only had to take it with me when we visited Grandma. And it was safely returned to me a couple months later with only the intro page and my entry to add! Here's the intro:

 

I created a canvas in PSE and added the photo and the journaling so I could print them as one image. The fonts are Suede and Print Clearly from www.dafont.com.

 

Daddy was given   the first page. I used my favorite photo from the delivery room.

 

And then here is my page. It only took me 17 months to write that.

I used a simple design for this album. Notice every page has patterned paper on the left with a 4 1/2" x 6" white photo mat embellished with two buttons while the right side is dedicated to a journaling block matted on colored cardstock and embellished with a patterned strip and a button. A close-up of the format on the "writing page,"  so you can see the title/subtitle:

 

The cardstock color and buttons change on each page, but the album remains cohesive because I used only patterned papers from one line of Imagination Project.

 

And just for fun, I changed the subtitle on each page. "Hugs and kisses from Daddy," "Words of wisdom from Uncle Todd, " etc.

 

The photographs are not this dark in real life, but you get the idea. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

 

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper, Chipboard: Imagination Project; Rub-ons, Ribbon: American Crafts; Buttons: Various

The Month of May (a mini-album)

Elizabeth is easily one of the most talented people I know. Not only is she an amazing scrapbooker and photographer, she is the momma of three hopelessly cute and spunky little people. I check Elizabeth's blog religiously, and I am forever hoping that her witty writing style will rub off on me. Her third little girl is so much like Sadie that I often think, "Well now, I should really just make life easier and cut and paste that paragraph right there and pop it into my scrapbook." I don't, but I'm sure tempted.

I was so incredibly lucky that a) we were both Hall of Famers in 2006 so that I got the chance to "meet" her; and b) she asked me to be one of the contributors for her fabulous book, The Scrapbooker's Almanac. I know I've said it before, but when I got my copy of the book, I was floored! The ideas are endless and biased opinion aside, it's still my very favorite book on scrapbooking.

Pages 158 and 159 are home to my very favorite project, and one that I knew immediately that I absolutely had to scraplift. And there's no doubt about it - it's a scraplift, pure and simple. I loved Elizabeth's mini-album about her daughter so much, that I had to create one of my own.

 

The idea is simple. It's a photo-a-day challenge. With a focus. My focus was Sadie. During the month of May, she turned one year old. Everybody knows that babies change so fast and so constantly, and I was feeling very, very behind on my scrapbooking and memory keeping in general. This album was a way for me to refocus and to get some of my thoughts, observations, and memories into an album.

 

I created a page for each day of the month and on each page was a photo that I had taken that day with an accompanying story. Some days, the photo came first, and other days, I had a story in mind, so I followed Sadie around seeking a perfect photo.

 

Elizabeth's album is in a vertical format, but I chose a horizontal format simply because I all ready had this Bazzill 12" x 6" album. She used the same patterned paper on each page, but being the patterned paper junkie that I am, I mixed it up and used a different color/pattern on each page.

 

During the month of May, I did not do anything else scrap-wise. I simply took photos and wrote stories, and every night after Sadie was in bed, I put the page together (although I was consistently a couple days behind - not sure how that works). I followed Elizabeth's design and kept my pages pretty simple. I wanted to get the album done and not get bogged down in adding embellishments or doing time-consuming techniques.

I did pretty well with this album, but after making 31 of the same pages, I lost my ambition and it ended up on my "to-finish" pile for the sake of three photos that I needed to order and attach in their respective places. 

 

But this week of finishing projects has been the motivation that I needed to get this done! And adding in the photos has been an excuse for me to look through the album and marvel at how much she's all ready changed in the last five months.

 

I could have made 31 full-size 12" x 12" pages about Sadie, but this album was a manageable way to scrapbook a lot of the details of her life and personality at age one. Details that I will most likely forget before I could ever get around to scrapbooking them in a larger, more embellished format. 

As far as scrapbook albums go, this is my second completed album (right behind the wedding album). It was worth every second of time I spent photographing, typing, cutting, pasting, and stitching. I love it.

     

I'm still debating about working on one every year. Next year, it might simply be a week's worth of photos. We'll see.

 

Supplies shown: Album: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper: Daisy D's (dots), Chatterbox (flowers), Die Cuts With a View (pink), KI Memories (green); Rub-ons: 7gypsies; Chipboard Letter: (Autumn Leaves)