Thankful

Well Happy Thanksgiving!  A day later or other wise known as "Black Friday".  I've never had the desire to be up at 3 or 4 in the morning to wait in line for hours with a bunch of crazy, grouchy people in order to get a deal on merchandise.  Even though all the retail stores will continue to have the "can't miss out" sale of the season and also don't forget the "after Christmas" sales as well. 

Well going back to Thanksgiving, I have lots to be thankful for this year and I had a wonderful time with my family celebrating the day.  In spirit of the day, I created something that I had wanted to do for a couple of years now.  I finally did it this year.  I don't know why it took me so long.  I guess I ran out of time or just simply forgot to do it.  Well anyway, I did it and I really like how it turned out.

 I created what I call a "Thankful Tree".  I got this idea from somewhere but cannot remember where.  It's been a couple of years since I discovered the idea.  So sorry for whomever came up with it.  I wish I could give credit to the person.  The whole idea of this tree is to write down on the cut out leaves things that we are thankful for.  My plan is to do this every year and put it as a center piece on the dining room table.

I purchased the tin container and moss at a craft store.  I placed a square of floral foam inside to be able to put the twigs from my trees in the backyard.  I cut out the leaves using my Cricut machine.  I used ribbon I had to wrap around the tin container.  I then had some flower die cuts and hot glued them on the knot from the ribbon.

Well thanks for stopping by.  I hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

J







Entries for a Design Team

Well feeling a bit creative lately and also have been working on some LOs and cards for the Sketch Support Design Team Call.  I really liked using their wonderful sketches they provided for this call.  I had fun creating my own variation on each of the sketches.

Check them out...

On my first entry I used this add-on sketch #9 to create an invitation card.

For this card, I was able to use up some scraps that I had on hand to put it together.  I used a small tag with a ribbon for the word "Smile".  I stamped the word "Celebrate" to create the center piece and also cut out the edges to resemble the print on the black background paper. I also popped it up to give it some dimension.   I used the flash piece as a tab to open the card.  Inside is "Who, What, Where, & When" that I cut out with my Cricut using the Stamping cartridge.

On my second entry, I used this card sketch #11 to create a one-page LO.

For this LO, I immediately knew what pictures I wanted to use.  Even though they are a few years old, I just love how the kids were just sitting so nicely and posing for the camera.  I think they look so cute.  Well I used two pictures instead of 3 panels as my variation.  The materials I used for most of what you see is from My Mind's Eye the "Ooh LaLa" collection.  I added my own solid color paper as the background.  I had some brads that I added onto the corners.  I roughed up the edges of the printed background panel and chalked the edges of the strips with Chestnut Roan.  For the title I stenciled in the letters and popped up my journal circle.

Since I was on the card sketch, I created a card for personal use.  I plan to give it to my friend's mom who just had surgery.

For this card, I used paper from My Mind's Eye the "So Sophia" collection.  As well with this one, I roughed up the edges of the background panel.  Chalked the edges of the the strips using Blue and Chestnut Roan.  I popped up the three red squares to give them dimension.  I then added floral rub-ons and letter stickers.

On my last entry, I used this one-page sketch #14 to create a two-page LO.

I really liked this sketch so much that I made it into a two-page LO to be able to fit these pictures I wanted to include.  (My husband and kids can be so silly!)  I used paper from Dream Street Papers Inc. the "Fun & Games" collection.  (I thought it was perfect with the pictures.)  With my variation, I stretched the sketch to two pages.  Instead of the banners, I used my new circular 12x12 template to create the dots to connect the pages.

For the title panel, I put in a star cut-up from the paper collection instead of the candles.  Used chipboard letters for the title.  I used the circle cut-up instead of strips for my journaling.

Here I cut out the oval shape and the "havin fun!" words from the 12x12 cut-up sheet.

Well thanks for stopping by.  I hope you enjoyed viewing my entries.  At this moment, I am planning on creating an advent calendar.  Hopefully I can get the materials together and start working on the project. I am very excited about it.  Will post as soon as I get it done.

Happy Thanksgiving,

J





Fall Wall Decor

Well a couple of weeks ago, I had mentioned before that I went to my LSS Scrapbook Generation for their 7th anniversary of being opened.  My friend Erica and I were looking around the store after our crop session when we noticed this cool wall hanging decor.  We really loved it!  So we went to see if this was a kit that we can purchase.  We learned that it was not a kit but it was done by Katrina Hunt(click on her name to see her wall decor), a teacher of the mini-card class for the birthday celebration.  She told us what product she used and how she made it.  Well I really wanted to make one as soon as I could.

Here it is, the final product of my fall wall decor.  I love how it turned out.  I used pretty much the same products as Katrina.  I used the Little Yellow Bicycle "Hello Fall" collection.  It is so pretty.  Perfect fall paper.



To start off, I didn't have any chipboard of this size to do this project.  So I had to be creative.  My son has a big coloring book with a cardboard on the back to hold in all the large size coloring pages.  So I reused the cardboard backing and cut them up into three sections. (Being environmentally friendly!)  It worked out perfectly!  On all the panels on this wall decor, I pasted on the different beautiful paper and roughed up the edges with a file.  Then, each panel has a second layer of paper that I chalked the edges using the color Chestnut Roan.  I then just simply added on some chipboard shapes, some clear cuts shapes and a mini banner.  All from Little Yellow Bicycle.



On the last panel, the words came from a 12x12 sheet of boarder strips that I simply trimmed it down to be able to fit onto the blue matte paper.  It is a quote from Emily Bronte... "Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree."  Also on the last panel, I cut up the little leaves falling, from the clear cuts shapes, provided in the package.

I used an orange plaid ribbon that I had to hang this wall decor.  I also cut up the ribbon into several small strips and tied them up onto the rings connecting the panels.

I have to say that I really enjoyed doing this project.  It inspired me so that I would love to do one for each season.  I will be looking for some pretty winter/Christmas paper and embellishments next to create a winter wall decor.  I will post them as soon  as I get them done.

J



A Scrapping Scraps Day

Well last weekend my LSS, Scrapbook Generation, was celebrating their 7th year being opened and they had a fantastic celebration.  They offered free goodies, some mini classes, several sessions of cropping time using their wonderful sketches and My Mind's Eye Hip-Hooray paper and some wonderful yummy goodies to eat.  My friend Erica and I went to one of the cropping sessions and enjoyed making 3 beautiful LOs with awesome paper.

During that time, it was suggested to us to use the scraps to create our own cards.  Well with that in mind, I got inspired and created some birthday cards from the scraps.  I really enjoyed creating them.  I really didn't want all that beautiful paper go to waste.

Below are four birthday cards I created using some scraps of My Mind's Eye Hip-Hooray paper.



With this card, I used my own scrap paper to create the shape of the card.  I added some scraps and tag and banner die cuts from the My Mind's Eye paper collection.  For the tag, I popped it up and I added silver brads.  I also chalked the edges with Burnt Sienna to help pop up the paper.

With this card, the material is similar to the card before this one except I didn't use die cuts.  I used more of my own scraps for the solid color paper.  The blue square with the "Happy Happy Birthday" is popped up to give it more dimension.  All the papers are chalked with Burnt Sienna.

This card I used similar scrap papers and added a die cut tag from the My Mind's Eye collection.  I put a sticker that I had on the tag and placed it on the paper with ribbon to create a present.

This card I used the present die cut and cut out the words that was part of a sheet from the My Mind's Eye Hip-Hooray collection.  I chalked everything to make it pop.



Well thanks for stopping by and checking out my card creations.  Hopefully this will inspire you to create and utilize scraps from wonderful paper collections out there.

J



Better Late Than Never

Boy it's been a while.  Lots have been going on and all three kids are now in school.  Since they are all in school now, I started a part time job to help bring in some extra money.  Well fall is definately in full swing here and all the fun creative things for the holidays begin.  I got inspired to do a few creative things to go with Halloween.  I love Halloween!  A first of a few holidays to follow and also a great sign of the fall season.

Below is a simple project that I got to use my cricut machine and thanks to my wonderful friend Erica, she let me borrow her Happy Hauntings cartridge.  Thanks my friend.  I cut out the images and used a clear thread to hang them up on my light fixture.  I think it looks cool and I love how you can't see the thread so they look like they are flying.

I also created the image below and placed it in a frame.  I used the Happy Hauntings cartridge to create the owl and the word "Boo".  I also stitched the sides of the paper going vertically.  It was fun to make and a great piece to add to my decorations for the house.

Well tomorrow is Halloween and I hope to be able to post pictures of our pumpkins that we decorated.  See you then.



Spring is in the air!!!

Wow it's been a while.  So much has been going on with the kids and their school stuff and going to a scrap retreat.  It has been a full month.  And oh what a blessing to finally have some spring weather.  Boy do I miss it.  The beautiful clear days and the nice warm sun motivates me and gets me inspired.  Now I am ready to get back into doing challenges and posting on my blog.
So to go along with the spring feeling, I did a challenge from Fantabulous Cricut called "Looks Like Spring".  We get to create a project that is spring related.  So here it is...

I had actually started this project last year to be used  just as a picture frame.  I used a plain wooden frame and used paper to cover it.  I always felt this paper reminded me of spring.  So I decided to give it a different use instead of just a photo frame.  I added flowers with brads and added the rest using the Easter Cricut cartridge.  To give it a more finished look, I wrapped two different kinds of ribbon around the edges of the frame.  Now it has become a decorative piece in the house.
Well I hope I will be able to do more this week since things have slowed down. Thanks for stopping by.

J



Sketch Contest Entry

I did a LO to enter in the Basicgray sketch contest at PageMaps blog for the month of February.

Here is the sketch...



Here is my LO entry...



For this LO I used two different paper lines from Nikki Sivils... "U R My Favorite" and "Will He B the 1".  I used brads and jewels all around the pink lips paper.  To create my title I used my Cricut using the Sweethearts cartridge.

Well thanks for checking out my blog and my entry.

J.