Busy Day

I went scrapbooking at another all-day crop on Saturday. I brought Erica with me for the first few hours and did crafts with her that whole time. She loved it all! Once I brought her home and returned, I got 3 layouts done as well as a card and a tin can to hold candies on my desk at work. The first layout is based on the Midweek Mojo at Scrapbook Steals (Jade #1b):

I completely forgot to write the list of materials, but I do remember that the paper with the trees and polka dots (the reverse side) are from Doodlebug. The glitter tape is America Crafts and the title was done with Thickers.

Here are my other 2 layouts:

The other items still need to be photographed. It seems like lately I am scurrying from thing to thing trying to get some sort of sanity. I just returned to work last week after a year of maternity leave. Hopefully things start to calm down and I can get some semblance of order back in my everyday life...

Christmas Card for 2012

Last year I took a "Make 'n Take" at my LSS and decided I wanted to "steal" some elements of the card we made for the next card I would send out for Christmas. When the Boxing Day sales hit, I bought a background stamp with snowflakes (have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE snowflake designs?), a set of angel stamps and some Perfect Pearls mist. It has now been a year and the eagerly anticipated cards got started last night while cropping with friends. I knew exactly what inks I wanted to use to color the card. So, I started with plain white cardstock, stamped and embossed the snowflake background and then blended my 3 different ink colors. I then stamped and embossed the angel and sentiment to stick on the front of the card. I am quite happy with the look. It's softer than I usually go, but I love the colors and that they are non-traditional for Christmas. All that is left to do is spritz the Perfect Pearls for that final overall sheen. I have managed to finish putting together 6 cards and get the pieces all ready for another 10. I plan to make about 40-50 this year (last year was just over 70 and I had some leftovers). So, here it is:

I am also submitting this for The Paper Girls Challenge Blog (#20). This is definitely Christmas themed.

Here are the items I used:

Stamps: Impression Obsession (Snowflakes), Heartfelt Creations (Elegant Angels Precut Set)

Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Dusty Concord), VersaColor (35 Lilac) and Studio G Chalks (a baby blue color)

Back to Layouts...

Finally! After all the ATCs and the crafts for the craft fair, I got to work on some layouts Friday night. These are the 2 that I got done. I was sooooooo happy to get back to scrapbooking as that really is my first love.

This first layout was of a picture that makes me giggle every time I see it. It's almost as if Alexis was saying, "Enough with the pictures already, Mom!". This was within the first month she was around and already showing us a bit of attitude (she is a strong-willed girl, but I prefer that than a wishy-washy one). I love the bright colors of the papers. They are from the Neon Chic paper stack by DCWV. I love bright and bold colors...I am not often someone who uses muted colors (I struggle with those). The letters and numbers are all Thickers (Lovely and Dazzle Stickers in Taffy Pink).

Here is my second layout. This one took a lot longer to do because I really struggled with what papers to match up and how to place the pictures. All in all, a major labor of love because now that it's done, I am happy with it. Whoa boy, did it ever take a lot to get it done!

These were all papers that I had in my stash. They were not labelled, so I cannot tell you where they were from. I also used some washi tape to add some "zip". Again, all the letters are Thickers (Powder, Taffy and I still have to look up the other ones). I keep looking at the picture furthest to the right and can't get over those big eyes. My little cutie! Well, she isn't so little anymore as she is quickly approaching 11 months...where did the time go???

Winter ATCs

Well, I took part in another ATC swap with my online scrapbooking gal pals. The only rule: the card must be 2.5" x 3.5". This is what I came up with (I made 22 of them):

I used this stamp and sentiment for my Christmas cards 2 years ago (the first time I made cards for everyone on my list). I love this set and was excited to use it again. I also colored with alcohol ink markers for the first time! I'd say this isn't too bad for my first time.

Products:

Papers: Bazzill cardstock (snow), Recollections

Stamps: Stampendous Christmas stamp set

Markers: American Crafts Chromatix (Rouge, Grape, Sapphire and Skin Tone sets)

Stickles: Diamond and Yellow

Upcoming Craft Fair...

I have decided to take the plunge and see if I could actually sell something that I made with my own 2 hands. Tonight I made this piece that measures 13x12. I cut everything on the Cricut (Songbird font and Winter Lace cartridges). However, because the Cricut shading was too subtle for my taste, I freehanded the cutting of the shadow behind the words. It took a bit of time, but I think it was worth it. I love the lavender and pale blue on white. It is a winter scheme I gravitate to...

I have signed up to have a table with a dear friend of mine and we were asked to be sure that some of our items were for the holidays. I like that this can be for winter and not just Christmas (not everyone celebrates Christmas). I must say that I am quite pleased with how this looks. Now I need to make some more items because only one will not help fill a table or garner any interest...

Hands...

I am a bit late with this post. This layout was done LAST Friday. It's of some pictures of my baby girl from sometime around June. She was only able to turn around in circles at that point in time and was rolling to get from Point A to Point B (now she is climbing on everything and will be walking before we know it!!!). She was fascinated by her hands and was always clasping them and looking at them very intently. I just love these photos...they remind me that the simple things warrant our attention.

I used Bo Bunny paper (Jasmine collection from 2010) for the background and also used the flowers and chipboard stickers from the same line to add some dimension to the layout. I matted the pictures with AC cardstock (I love matting pictures) and the letters are, of course, Thickers (with some Stickles to make them sparkle).

I love the overall look. It's feminine, but not lost in too much softness and I just love those photos!

Coral #3a & 3b

This week's mojo at Scrapbook Steals had 2 sketches. I have combined them to do a double layout. As you can see, I adapted it to fill in the paper spaces with pictures. I used a total of 12 pictures (which is awesome because they really do belong together and not strewn throughout several pages). I am really pleased with how this turned out:

I do plan to add an embellishment on the far bottom left in the "white space". The papers I used were from the Desert Blooms first edition paper pad. The soft peachy/coral color went well with the orange that seemed to dominate the clothing choices that day (I swear it was not planned). And the more muted grey/brown of the background papers lends to the "outdoorsy" feel. The buttons are from AC and Doodlebug, the Thickers are Amy Tangerine and the ribbon is something from my stash. It all came together so easily!

Here are some pages I did last Friday:

These were a lot of fun to put together as well. The page that says "Nature Gal" has some of my favorite pictures of Erica (especially that bottom right action shot). She is just a fun girl with such a good heart!

The rest of the pictures are of family that were together on that day (my hubby, sister-in-law, niece, nephew and my 2 girls...I'm the one you see as only a torso in the aqua shirt behind my youngest...such is the life of the scrapbooking mom who is usually taking all the pictures). I kept these 2 pages very simple because the pictures were enough to make beautiful pages. The brown sparkly flourishes are from Making Memories.