Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Prepping for Father's Day (day II)

Today we are going to make two things for the office. Some of our dads spend a lot of time there--they might as well be reminded of us while they are gone, no? But in a tasteful, grown up way, of course. Something appropriate for the office.

 

Mustache Mug

First, we are going to use some of our scrapbooking magic skills to create a mustache mug. 

Supplies:

1. a mug
2. a sharpie
3. a cutting machine (optional)
4. contact paper (optional)
5. an oven

 

Steps:

1. Wash your cup and determine what size you would like you mustache to be.
   Use your Cricut to cut out a mustache of your choosing. We used the Billionaire cartridge.



 

2. Next, trim around the mustaches, and take the mustache out. Using the outline, affix it to the cups, making sure to place it on the front of the cup.



 

3. Now, use the sharpie to color in the mustache. Ours bled a small bit, so be sure to be careful by the lines. (But you don't have to be too careful about staying inside the lines with the contact paper.)



 

4. Once your mustaches are colored in, remove the contact paper, being careful to not smear the mustache.



 

5. Place your cup in the cold oven. Set the timer to 350°. Once the oven is warm, set the timer for 30 minutes. Once the timer beeps, turn the oven off and open the door. Let the cups cool inside the oven. Remove them after the oven has cooled down.



 

That's it! A cup worthy of a dad and his office. Feel free to sign the bottom before cooking it you want to add a bit of personal flair.

And if you don't have a Cricut you can freestyle it, or use a mustache font with your Silhouette. ☺ (Because Amy convinced us all to buy one!) You could do a red heart if you prefer. Or have your child write a message to their dad. The possiblities are endless!

 

Photo+

Photos and frames are a lovely gift for an office. But you needn't do it with just a photo. You can add a bit of extra.

And if your kids are grown, look back in the archives and find an old photo of your children with their dad when they were tiny. Little pulls the heart strings as much as a tiny person! Once you find your photo, look for a close crop that will bring the attention to the focal point of your picture.

 

We hope you are enjoying our week together! See you tomorrow for more...

Prepping for Father's Day (day I)

We have 27 days until Father's Day. And while it seems like weeks away, for many of us, between now and then school will wrap up, extracurriculars will wind down, and summer will begin. Which means that those 27 days will pass a lot faster than we think. 

 

For today, we have updates to last year's printables. First, a new questionnaire.

You may download it here. There are two per page. Just print and cut in half!

 

Secondly, we have an updated coupon book.

This year, we made it a bit more grown up--you might want to print one for your teenagers and grown children, too. They might enjoy a chance to create some coupons, too. Teenagers have a way of surprising us with their thoughtfulness.

You may download the coupons here. It will print on a regular paper and there are cut lines to help you get the pages apart!

 

That's it for today! We look forward to seeing you tomorrow!

PREPPING FOR A GOOD YEAR day four: holidays

Happy day! I am so glad to have you back!! I really appreciate your company this week. I hope that you are having fun thinking about ways to stay ahead of your event photos! I cannot believe that I am going to have a football season captured, 10 school events taken care of, and by the end of today's post, 9 holiday layouts! That's right, today is about the holidays.

Looking to my beloved google calendar, I listed the holidays that we will celebrate this year:

1. Halloween
2. Thanksgiving
3. Christmas
4. Valentine's Day
5. St. Patrick's Day
6. Easter
7. Mother's Day
8. Father's Day
9. Fourth of July

Event photos. Which means I am scared away and therefore fail to properly record. But in prepping for the nine holidays, I set aside my concerns and dove head first into creating some layouts. Because the approach to each layout is unique, we will evaluate their designs one at a time.

I am hoping that there will be lots of crossover for your holiday schedules, too, so perhaps we can both use up the layout ideas!

Let's get started.

1. Halloween

Halloween is a big deal at our house. I have nearly as many Halloween decorations as I do Christmas decorations!! Every year we go trick or treating, and all three of mine will dress up. Because they change their mind on costumes about 6000 times a day for every day in October, I decided to go with a basic Halloween color scheme. To best capture the costumes, the photos will be vertical. I usually try to get the same sort of shot for each costume, so I felt safe going with three similarly sized photos. I also know that a layout with three kids need equal representation lest one feel more beloved than another... For a three vertical photo design, I opened up to my sweet friend and inspiration, Jody Wenke! and found this which seemed perfect! I even opted for a graphic element for my title in honor of Jody's creativity!

2. Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving at our house is a food day. Turkey, potatoes, vegetables, pies, more vegetables, more pies. Every year, I end up with tons more food photos than people! And they tend to be horizontal so that I can get lots of food in each shot. When I was visiting Teka's blog, I found a layout that had a big focal photo. Making it a four photo instead, I now have room for the turkey, the trimmings, the pie, and a place setting. We have repeating decor that is traditional in its colors, so I just followed that palette for my layout.

3. Christmas

A few years ago, I put my camera away for Christmas morning, but now realize I can't remember much about the presents or the morning. So this year, I am going to get a few more shots of the kids and their excitement. Knowing I will have several photos, and knowing that I am not very comfortable with two page layouts, I went looking for a sketch. I found this one at SketchSupport.com. I took a few elements off, but stayed otherwise relatively true to the sketch. I kept it whimsical and light as our morning photos will be in our coordinating pj's!

4. Valentine's Day

When I was peeking at Jody's site, I saw my favorite layout and thought it would make a sweet Valentine's layout. Each year, the girls get a love shirt for the day, and we make homemade Valentines for their class. I figured this page could go either way. Or maybe it will house a picture of them reading the love note that I promise myself every year that I will write. Maybe this will be the year I do!

5. St. Patrick's Day

St. Patty's day at our house is mostly the hat and shirt! We have a giant tall Suessian hat in two tone green. I think it will match these colors well. Thinking that the hat is tall, I left room for a long skinny photo. And I will squeeze a little journaling in there, too. I didn't want it to be too plain, so I added a little subway-art effect on one of the rectangles. Do you like the bit of pizzazz?

6. Easter

I am realizing as I type this, that we dress for our holidays. Halloween costumes, Christmas dresses, Christmas pj's, Valentine's tees, St Patty's tees, and now, Easter dresses. Goodness, I suddenly feel so shallow. Thank heavens for Old Navy and Target so that the budget survives!!

I digress... Nigel is past cute shirts and ties, having moved into the land of white shirts and a dark suit. So I thought this page could focus on the girls. I picked traditional Easter colors, thinking the pastels will allow Lavender to still have pink on her outfit, and Poppy with her purple will fit right in! Again, the photo needs to capture my apparent need to shop and dress, so the photos will be vertical. I had a journaling square, but then wondered how much I would say about their dresses? If necessary, I will add one back in later.

7. Mother's Day

I have talked about my Mother's Day present before--a complaint free trip to the park for mom and kid photos. For this one, we sometimes go in Sunday dress, sometimes come home and change. And if we do that, everyone picks a favorite outfit that allows their personality to shine through, so the colors may be varied. To maximize my chances for success, I prepped with a grey page with elements neither too formal, nor too casual. I could have gone vertical or horizontal on this one (I will have both) so I just picked horizontal for fun! I did round the corners to soften the look. And I made sure to change up the direction of the shadowing so that it didn't have funky in between spacing.

8. Father's Day

We love Father's Day at our house! It means we grill a juicy steak dinner for Richard and he is good to make a big scene when he opens the kids' homemade cards. I wanted a layout that could be flexible for either of these photo ops, both of which would be a horizontal shot.

I didn't have a particular idea in mind for the design, so I went browsing online, and found this layout. I loved the vertical rectangles--they gave the feeling and warmth of a pieced quilt. To maintain that thought, I selected colors and patterns that would feel collected. Curated, if you will. I mimicked the stitching, too, for that added sense of a quilt.

9. Fourth of July

The final holiday layouts is the Fourth of July. We have celebrated our last three years in Utah. So while I don't love traveling that far, chances are, we will be there next year, too. Which means we will go to Day's Market, buy a package of fireworks for the kids, and then head over to the church parking lot to light them. And while I may go vertical for photographs of big (real) fireworks, our parking lot show is more smoke bombs and snappers, making nearly all the photos horizontal. And plentiful. Which meant I could do a repeating grid. Adding in some patriotic colors, and we have ourselves a festive and fun layout!

 

Wow. Who knew that event layouts could be so fun? I had a great time picking out colors and hunting for designs. In fact, I realized as I was making these layouts, that I needn't fear event layouts. They are a terrific excuse to use iconic colors and patterns, and don't need to be any fancier than any other layout I create. I am certain that the lack of storytelling and the multiple photos have been stumbling blocks for me. But in making these 9, I realized that the photos can carry a bulk of the story weight, and that is okay. Just because a holiday photo doesn't come with a particular story, doesn't mean the photos can't be scrapbooked. Nor do I have to pick just one great photo. I can use grids to add lots of photos. Repeating successful strategies isn't boring, it is brilliant! Grids work and they fit my design aesthetic, so they are awesome. 

I hope you will all take an evening to put together your holiday layouts, too. Especially if event layouts have scared you like they did me. I have been scrapbooking for more than 13 years, and putting these layouts together as a group has taught me so much about my perceived deficiencies. I really feel like I made a breakthrough!! Thank you for taking the journey with me!!

Tomorrow will be our final day of our "Prepping for a Good Year" week. I hope you will join me for one last set of ideas and layouts!

Have an incredible day!

 

Last Minute Father's Day Ideas

Father's Day is this Sunday June 17th! Eeek! While we helped you prepare back in May, if you're a last minute queen like me, never fear, here are some more ideas for relatively quick cards and gifts you can whip out. The secret is printables! Babble has a round up of 12 different ones here, including cards, labels for wine and beer bottles, and these amusing photo props from Paper Coterie:

If you still want to try to make something from scratch, how about this accordion photo card, that I found at Rise & Shine?

 

ere is a sneak peek of the version that I made for my husband. Shhhhh, don't tell him!

 

And just in case you have the time to pull something more involved off, I love the idea of this photo block puzzle from Stars and Sunshine. It would be perfect on Dad's desk!

For even more last minute ideas, check out all the Father's Day posts over on Craft Gossip.

Happy Creating!

Steak, Coupons, and a Good Laugh

 Father's Day. Grilled steaks. Relaxed get togethers. New ties. New shirts. And always so much fun. While my favorite part is the grilled steak (I know, right? Born and bred a carnivore.), when it comes to presents, I love the sweet and sometimes wacky homemade crafts that the kids bring home from school and church. The construction paper ties were my favorite until a couple of years ago when the kids came home with a questionnaire they had filled out.

One of my kids said Richard weighed 5 pounds and was "very" tall. And that his favorite food was "whatever Mom cooked." This year, we will fill them out again, so that we can see the change in their responses. And, yes, to have a giggle over their answers as well.

Thinking that maybe you could use a little giggle, as well, I put one together for you, too. You can download it here. (I put two per page so if you need one for the kids at pre-school or church it would make it easier for printing!)

 

For Mother's Day, Poppy brought home some coupons that she filled out. I loved seeing the ways that she thought she could help me out. I thought maybe some Father's Day coupons could be put to good use, too.
You may download them here. I hope you will come back and share some of the sweet things that your children added to the coupons.

 

Thank you for stopping! I hope you have fun getting ready for Father's Day!

Dads Love Homemade Cards!

Today we have two more card ideas for you. First, from Vivian Masket, get out your misters and have some spritzing fun while you make this card!

Vivian added her son and daughter to the card. You could represent your family in the same way, be it boys, girls, or some of each! And I see Vivian's new Silhouette has been creating new masks. Such versatility. We call that a two-fer! Use the cutout as a mask and then reuse it as a cutout.

 

Kelly Jeppson's card is the perfect segue into a gift.

This card is the perfect addition to a bag of peanuts and some tickets to a baseball game. Or how about a tin of cashews and a new deck of cards?

Here is a closeup of that cute card.

We hope these ideas will help you get prepared to show our Father's that we love them!

Number One Dad

Welcome back for another day of Father's Day ideas, projects, downloads and inspiration. I am so grateful to have a wonderful parenting partner and try to find ways all year long to show him just how much he means to us. But, we all know that come Father's Day, Dad's like to be spoiled, too!

To help you and your kids spoil the #1 Dad's in your life, how about a few projects to show Dad just how truly awesome he really is!

 

printables

For all you fans of DIY projects, how about an iron-on t-shirt printable?

You can find the Number One Dad t-shirt printable here and the design is already flipped for you, so all you have to do is print it on your iron-on sheet and add it to your t-shirt. There's also a version available for you to use as an art print or for a card front.

And for a fun spin on things, how about this iron-on to announce to your husband that he's going to be a DaDa?

 

mini books

You didn't think I would present a post without a mini book, or three, or four, did you?

Using some kraft bags and a ton of supplies from my scrappy stash, this mini book chronicles the favorites of each of members of our family, always a fun subject to document. 

 

I made this coupon book for Valentine's Day, but it would be so easy to create for Father's Day as well!

 

Several years ago, when I was new to scrapbooking, I created this mini book with chipboard and back-to-back photos interspersed with different quotes about Fatherhood. Using a marker, I added a freehanded border and the year directly on the photo.

 

Here's an accordian style mini book with photos celebrating my husband's {at that time} 10 years of DaDa-hood.

  

 

gift bag

Peruse your stash of pretty patterned papers and choose 2 12x12 sheets of cardstock weight papers to create your own gift bag for any of the projects presented this week. Go ahead, Dad will appreciate it!

 

Thanks for joining us at write.click.scrapbook. for our week long celebration of Dad. We're so glad you drop in for a visit and you brighten our day when you share our projects in the wide world of social media.

You can find us here:

 

|  Flickr  |  Pinterest  |  Facebook  |  Tumblr  |  Twitter  | 

 

See you soon,

 

 

Welcome to Father's Day Week

Are you ready for another awesome theme week?  Of course since we shared some project ideas for Mother's Day, we couldn't neglect the wonderful men in our lives!  They deserve our love, appreciation, and a delicious half rack of ribs hot of the grill.  Ha!  At least that's what my husband would be thrilled with.

While most men enjoy the typical manly gifts of ties, power tools, and flat screen TV's, nothing shows your love as uniquely as handmade cards and gifts. 

 

Check out what WCS Team member, Celeste Smith, created for Father's Day:

She created this card by finding a quote about fathers. She selected a palette of masculine colors. Then she grabbed a photo of her paper pack from the web and selected colors from it to customize her word art. A few flags and a smattering of buttons add a little fun detail to her quote.

 

If you need a gift idea to go along with Celeste's lovely card idea, check out this framed photo collage I made for my hubby last year:

I was inspired by all the fun photo props and creative holiday photos out there on the interwebs, so I thought I would give it a whirl.  I stood on the landing of my living room staircase and had my five kids lay down on the carpet to form different letters/shapes.  Then I created an 8x10 inch photo collage with Picasa, framed it, and added a painted chipboard heart.

If you don’t have five kids to use as your photo props you can photograph someone’s hands creating the letters in sign language, write on a chalk board, use one model to make each letter/shape, or use objects (pencils, tools, neck ties, shoes, etc) to form the letters/shapes and photograph those.

I hope these projects have got your creative Father's Day juices flowing.  Be sure to check back each day this week for more amazing project ideas.