Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Making a Long Title Short

Hey people!  I hope everyone is enjoying the summer format of our blog. 

I sure am. 

Partially because I only have one night of sweaty nightmares leading up to my turn, rather than a full week of them (sweaty nightmares are not my favourite) and partially because of all the diverse talent here that we've been enjoying (diverse talent is my favourite).

So here's my offering of the day. 

Something I'm going to call:  ONE KIT: Three Ways.

My initial title was (said with feeling):  OMG. Libby Pritchett you do the cutest stuff and you say you WILL make a mini kit for me to give away on my WCS blog host day?! You're the best. I'd like to be like you one day with all the digitizing and making stuff.

Sigh. 

But I thought maybe it wasn't to the point enough. 

And as I'm confused enough for the all of us, I thought I would simplify it. 

I put together a little tutorial for one of the projects including an image to download if you are so moved to do so. 

Oh right, first, here is:

PROJECT ONE: Not Your Nana's Decorative Plate

 

And here is where I tell you, I had planned to take photos of this project from start to finish to share with you.

And then I didn't.

So, please, close your eyes and imagine, if you will, a place that looks suspiciously like my garage complete with basketballs and razor scooters strewn about willy nilly and a large flattened cardboard box in the middle of the space that is covered with the spray paint remnants of days gone by.

Nestled in a box nearby, lives a family of well loved spray paint cans. 

Let us remove the can of Kilz (which sounds much more awful and violent than it is in reality - this is our primer) and a can of Rustoleum Ultra cover gloss white (normally, I'm opposed to shiny, among other things, but I find a gloss works better for painting plates).

Spray the plates that you've lovingly chosen from the thrift store, Aunt Olga's wedding china, or wherever you have found them. 

Spray them lightly and from a distance to avoid puddling and drippings (more things I am opposed to). You might need two coats of this to cover the ducks/roses/insert ugly decorative pattern here on your plates.

When that business is dry, give it a coat of the gloss paint.

And when that business is dry, bring them in and we'll get to the photo portion of our project.

As you can see, I'm not always silly, sometimes I am VERY businesslike.

The first thing I did was use this lovely little kit (download available at the end of this post, monsters however are not).

To create this:

Downlaod May Love Always Follow You

The download should print as approximately 7.5x7.5. I don't think there will be too many dinner plates with a diameter larger than this. Mine was about 7 inches across. I left a little extra room around the edge of the patterned paper to account for this.

Then I used my cricut to cut mine.

You don't need a cricut, but I figured I may as well use it as I am not too handy at following the lines (or colouring inside them for that matter).

So...

Measure across plate and make sure you give yourself about 1/4 inch inside of the rim of the plate (if you cut it too large the circle won't lay flat on what I'll call the "meat'n'potatoes" part of the plate, ie. not the edge).

This is part of the reason my next photo shows not a little birdie circle being cut out but a lime green practice piece.

Take the practice circle, we'll call her Bob, and make sure it fits flatly (is that a word? Or only when referring to the Lord of the Dance? WCS readers are pretty clever chickens, so you get the gist) against the meat'n'potatoes of the plate.

Next I went on to cutting the actual digital print. 

To make sure I had the circle cutting exactly where I wanted it (step one was developed after the circle cutting exactly where I didn't want it too many times to count).

What I did here was keep the sheet on the cutting mat and peel up the edge where the circle had been cut from and slide in the digital print, using the negative circle as a guide to where the machine would be cutting and stick down the photo paper and only then did I remove the green sheet.

And proceed with cutting.

Now a word from our sponsor.

Not really. 

Just an aside.

I just wanted to show you what I did with one of the matching plates (I ended up making 4 more for my niece's bedroom) which I kind of wish I had of done with the larger plate that I'm sharing the instructions for. 

But I didn't. 

And sometimes you just have to forge ahead.

One thing I really dig about digital is that you can add dimension by printing and cutting out elements. 

So, see the banner and heart that I printed? I thought it would be nice to have a bit of dimension on some of the plates, so I printed them apart from the main circle and handcut them. (And hated every minute of it. I swear!)

Here I used some of my baker's twine and my trusty Zig glue pen to attach to the top of the banner.

And here is the heart, upside down, slathered with pop dots (pssst...it's the pop dots that give it the dimension).

I glued the tiny buttons on to "hang" the banner from and secured the banner with a couple more pop dots.

If I were going to redo it, I probably would have used this technique to make the bird pop on the larger plate.

But I'm not.

So that's that.

What I did do to add dimension to the larger plate was use the Zig glue pen to adhere more of the baker's twine around the perimeter of the circle. I tied a bit through a red button and added that to the centre of the circle as well (you can see this in the first photo I shared.)

Now, on to:

PROJECT TWO: Layout

(I use capital letters and italics to both catch your attention and wow you. Maybe I should have tried a different font?)

As I mentioned, I am making these plates for my niece, as I have been both blessed and cursed with stinky little pink hating boys.

Well, not so little anymore, but plenty stinky still.

So I thought I would whip up a layout that I could frame to go with the plates.

I made the layout in 8.5x11 format, but the white frame I had was a weird shape (the photo opening was 6.75x8.5) so after I saved the layout in normal size, I cropped it to the weird size.

I do this often for framing layouts - usually before cropping I group all the elements together (everything but the background paper) and using the corner dragging option I resize everything a bit smaller.

PROJECT THREE: For You

Finally, I made a digital card.

I do this almost exclusively now.

It's so fast and simple it's almost silly. (And I know silly.)

Here it is with the layout I framed:

and here it is as a download if you like:

Download For You card

And here is a final shot of everything together:

Still with me?

Thanks for sticking around, I know I get so wordy on these blog posts.

I feel like I'm all - "and this, and this and this...did I mention this?"

They say that admitting you have a problem is the first step, no?

This is the mini kit, Libby so kindly designed for us!

Supercute Free Download from Libby

The rest of the projects I made using the original kit that she made, you can find it here:

And Your Bird Can Sing

(take a look at Libby's other kits - they are awesome. And while you're browsing, don't forget to check out her titles - they are always make me laugh!)

With that, I am out of here!

I think I'll go catch some sun on the deck and clean up my mess later!

Hope you all have a most excellent summer!

Cheryl O. (I'm supposed to have a cool uploaded signature here, but I haven't done it yet. Sorry Marnie! Have I told you how beautiful you are lately?) [Dearest Cheryl, No, actually, you haven't. I haven't slept in weeks worrying that perhaps my new bio picture with my gorgeous new grey roots and awesome new wrinkles had either scared or scarred you. So tonight, finally, I can sleep knowing that you still think me foxy after all these years... xxMarnie]

Wait a minute, was that just a means of distracting me away from that missing siggy???

Organizing My Thoughts (Stop Laughing.)

This is me getting organized.

I have a heap of different projects to share today and as per my usual M.O. they are kind of all over the place. 

But I'm okay with it, if you are.

I figure you're getting used to me.

Let's get to it, shall we?

I thought we could start in the Mudroom.

I'm going to call this montage "The Dumping Ground":

Also, Bella's stomping grounds.

Bella is our pooch. 

She's kinda sheddy, not all that smart, and totally neurotic. 

But we still love her.

This is usually what I have to work around in my scrapbook room:

And you people with cats think you have it tough when kitty wants to sit on your keyboard.

Here's a layout I did a while ago of Bella wearing J's clothes:

Instead of college funds in our house we have "Future Therapy Funds" (and a swear jar).

Anyway, back to the mudroom, remember, this is me being organized in my thoughts.

I hate things on my counters and things that don't have a place to live.

I didn't want a big bag of dogfood (the forest green bag completely clashes with our house decor) just laying around crappin' up the place.

So I used a big empty dog treat container (Costco).  Bella was very happy to help me empty the container.

She likes food quite a lot. 

Something else she and the husband have in common.

So I decorated the front and top with some patterned paper and punched a couple of holes in the lid and threaded some ribbon through to act as a handle.

The other idea I had (after someone (husband) put wet boots in the cabinets we have and ruined the bottom of the slide out drawers) was to use patterned paper to frouf up the place (frouf: meaning to spiff).

I just took 2 pieces of 12x12 paper, pieced them together and taped the seams on the backside. I have since found a large roll of clear sticky vinyl at the Walmart that I'm going to try and laminate the pieces of paper with (I'll let you know how that goes.  Me + large sticky anything = fiasco written all over it).

I still had some thrift store scores left over so I used this shadow box (I shared the before photo in the previous post), painted it black and made the inside using some little scrapbook tokens that I've had probably since the early 2000's).

It's hard to see, but the tokens have a fire hydrant on them (though I've never seen a dog in real life use a fire hydrant as a bathroom.  Weird.) a bone and the word "woof".

You can see them better here:

And the quote I chose was because of the previous photo of Bella on her back in my scrapbook room. 

She is a shameless hussy. 

My friend tells me it's all learned in the home, but I plead the fifth.

I hung her leash and the poop bags from it. 

That way my kids will ALWAYS know where the poop bags are and can't plead ignorance (all learned in the home...I'm starting to see what she means).

The quote I printed on photo paper and adhered it to a piece of wood that I had painted black and I put the hooks on afterwards.  I also used a bit of black craft paint to touch up the screws as they were silver instead of black.  Dollar store screws, I tell ya.

..............................................................

Chapter Two:  Bathrooms and Laundry Rooms: No One is Going to Get Punched in the Face

I made these pieces a couple of years ago using an AMAZING tutorial that Linda Barber had online.  It showed you how to iron on freezer paper to the back of muslin type fabric and then run it through your printer.  Or something like that.  I kind of forget.  But it was brilliant!  Linda is awesome.

I wrapped them around a couple of dollar store canvases I had laying around:

My wrapping technique leaves quite a bit to be desired. 

I don't know if any of you eagle eyes noticed, but that is a remote control on that stack of towels and yes we do have a tv in the bathroom.

If it were up to cable-guy, we'd have one in every room of the house, and I fought him like crazy (crazy being the operative word, a TV in the bathroom? Really?) but I have to admit, I really like to take baths and now I can totally get my reality on while soaking in a big soapy tub of water. Sometimes crazy is as crazy does.

And this is the other stuff I have in my laundry room.

And by stuff I mean thing:

I downloaded a font that had the laundry symbols and put it on a digital paper in PSE and printed.  Another cheapo frame jazzed up with Heirloom white.  I found (pilfered) a piece of velcro from the garage and hung the frame on the old washboard.

...........................................

Chapter Three:  Short and Sweet.  Well, short.

Here is the other piece of the metal tiered cake rack I promised I would share today:

Way better for my necessities and bedtime stuff. 

And yes, that's dental floss. 

And yes, I floss my teeth in bed. 

And yes, I know many people think that's gross.

But my dental hygienist thinks it's awesome.

Well, I didn't tell her about the "in bed part" but I know she's proud that I'm getting the job done at all.

...........................................

Chapter Four: Some Random Stuff (Organized-schmorganized)

The reason I like spray paint so much is that I don't have to clean (let dry by accident and then throw away) brushes.  Imagine my delight when I found chalkboard paint in spray form. 

Back to my 50 centsing ways, little plate at the thrift store, what?  You guessed it.  50 cents.

I used my gluegun (who I hate because she burns me and makes a mess on my floor, but sometimes I have to take the whole no pain, no gain thing to heart and plug her in) to glue the little Making Memories clip on and then wrapped a piece of chalk with patterned paper (I scalloped the edge first), strung it up with twine and capped it off with a decorative brad that I used my good (why do I do that?) scissors to nip the prongs off of.

Wheeeeeeeeeee!

That's me jumping on the Keep Calm bandwagon.

This is for our trailer.

I adhered it to a piece of chipboard and used some Tim Holz clips on a canvas, so I can remove it when the next bossy trend comes along telling me what to do.

I know I tease my family and joke about them, but they're okay.

I'm pretty sure I'll keep them.

I made this one in a similar way to the butterfly one I shared earlier this week. 

MDF.

Patterned paper.

Cardstock.

The only difference is I glued these little knobs (heh heh) to it and then strung the baker's twiner across them and used little clothespins (dollar store) to attach some photos, a tag and a metal flower.

Bob. 

Dad. 

You know the story.

...............................................

Chapter Five: Recycling Bags and Stuff

Three things that have brought me a small amount of joy:

1. Starbucks sugar free vanilla syrup (with a free kraft bag!)

2. The most awesome of watches from the most awesome of husbands who really DOES read all those "if you're looking for a present to buy me, check this out" links that I email him (with a free kraft box!)

3. Scrapbook paper.  KI Orange Peel White mostly (can you guess what goes here?  Free bag!)

All these free bags go into a big tub in my room for future use. 

Here's what I did today (also I had a lot of free butterflies from the murder flutter I cut earlier this week):

The butterfly garland was super easy:

Fold over and punch small hole through back butterfly:

Adhere butterflies together with pop dots between their wings (no adhesive on the body part).

String them together (I used more of the baker's twine.  It's my binge today.)

Add to bag in whatever way pleases you.

Just a note - on the large bag, I folded the top over, pushed a large brad through a punched brown circle and then through the top layer of the folded part.  Then I glued a tiny magnet under the folded part and this holds the top shut.

Here's my free box.

I used more of the old book that I made the nest stuff out of and used this tutorial to make the bow:

And here's another idea for gift bags - I made these for Valentine's day for my boys.  I have about 400 lunchbags (remember when paper bag mini books were trending?  Yah.  Me too.)

 And, now I shall close the curtain on this week.

Thank you for joining me, I hope you got inspired to make something.  Or at the very least gather up some of your 50 centses and hit a thrift store to see what kind of treasures you can find.

Overton out.

If you thought I was all over the place before...

Friday is here! 

Did you miss me? 

I missed you.

Can I get a rousing round of applause for that darling digital book that Marnie designed and shared with us yesterday?  (I'm more of a whistler and catcaller, but let's try to keep this dignified, folks, this isn't a Rock and Roll show).

I am in a slow burning panic about all the stuff I have to say and I only have TWO MORE DAYS to say it!

What was the last thing I said? 

Something about kids' rooms, right?

How about we start off on the right foot (just a quick aside, when they say "start off on the right foot, do they mean the correct foot?  or not the left foot?) with this lovely little collection that Angie sent me?

Sigh.

I long for a precious little sweet smelling girl who doesn't make up words to my favourite songs while in the car and sing over me. 

Who doesn't wait almost a month to tell me that they only have two pairs of underwear that fit them and they've just been wearing them for a few days in a row to make them last.

Who doesn't smell like feet, shoot me with nerf bullets and dress the dog in their dad's clothes (okay, that last one was me, but in my defense, it was hilarious.)

Angie used a vinyl letter "K" thicker on some patterned paper for that little monogram (see how awesome simple is? I love simple.)

She picked up the ladybug print on Etsy and the vintage shelf at local consignment store. 

Thanks Angie!

Here's a little something I made the other day. 

First, some background (because, clearly, I don't have the ability to not be longwinded and carry on about how many 50 centses I spend at the thrift store), I bought a tiered metal serving thingie (50 cents) a couple of months ago with the thought that I would paint it and use it in my scrapbook room for something. 

It looked a bit like this:

 

I took it all apart, scrubbed it down and promptly misplaced the middle part that holds it all together.

I figured the missing pieces would turn up eventually, in the safe spot that I obviously had lovingly placed them.  So I went ahead and painted them while I was waiting...

I started with red:

I love red. 

It's my favourite. 

But this wasn't working for me. 

So being a creature of habit, I tried my old stand-by and with a couple of little chipboard elephants and heart turned it into a little piece of wall art for my (other) niece's room:

(if you come back tomorrow, I'll show you what I did with the larger bottom piece! Oh and if you were wondering, I found the middle pieces, in the kitchen cutlery drawer, but they missed the boat on this project, so too bad for them.)

Now to carry on with simple but I think effective projects, let's switch gears and talk digital.

I am here to tell you, that while fancy complete Photoshop is swell and may have a lot of bells and whistles, it is not necessary for making home decor.

No.  It's true.

I have  Photoshop Elements 5.0 (2006 I think, Costco, I want to say around $70? I can't imagine myself shelling out much more than that.)

I made this piece with the thought that I would send it to my niece for her bedroom.

 

Then I found out she hates pink.

I never liked her much anyway. 

(I kid, I KID!  I love that girl and I,too, am not overly fond of pink.)

So I opened it up, and with 2 clicks of a button, changed it to purple.

(digital paper by Crystal Wilkerson)

And Bob's your uncle (remember, he's my dad). 

Can I have a golf clap for old, cheap PSE please? 

(I'm sensing a trend, maybe this post is going to be all about applause?  Let's see what happens, shall we?)

Music really speaks to me (and not usually in a "I hear voices" way) and I find myself drawn to lyrics when I make stuff. 

You are my sunshine was the youngest boy's and my song.  I loved it when he was little. Until the day came where he would scream if I sang any other song (I tried to slip the Itsy, Bitsy Spider in there one time and I thought the kid's head was going to explode). 

Now I love it again (he's almost 11 and I only sing it to him very occasionally).

(digital elements by Crystal Wilkerson)

I made these for my husband's office (but then I kept them.) 

Both are SNL quotes. 

If you haven't seen the Will Ferrell/Christopher Walken Cowbell skit, you must

GO. GOOGLE. NOW.

I'll wait.

These are printed on photo paper and then adhered (using the ATG gun, I love that thing, I'd marry it if it vacuumed and could change a tire) it to a small piece of MDF that my current human husband cut for me.

After I glued it I realized that either my cutting was crooked (unlikely) or the husband's cutting was crooked (more likely).  So I grabbed my sanding block and sanded all the edges - the beauty of using photo paper on stuff like this is that when you sand it, the colour comes off and leaves a nice faded white edge that looks like you meant to do that in the first place. 

See how I work?

(Just another aside, I actually got an cowbell in my stocking for Christmas.  That crafty Mr. Claus must really want me to cheer the husband on during his triathlons this summer.  I am a lucky girl.  Especially since my kids learned "Don't Fear the Reaper" and Lucas now has the opportunity to play MORE COWBELL for reals.)

Okay. 

I can see why you might not think this of me, but I am not really all that super in to puns. 

I know. 

Hard to believe. 

That said, if a pun just falls magically out of the sky and into ones lap, what's a girl to do?

(digital paper and elements, Libby Pritchett)

And I do love the Beatles.

And cartoon owls.

(I have to confess real owls, like most birds, freak me out a bit.  What with the hooing and turning their necks all around.  Somethings not right there. If you like birds, I apologize, I was traumatized by a chicken while a was a child.  But that's a story for another day.)

So my older boy is almost a teenager.

And is sadly outgrowing the Star Wars/Lego theme we did in his room last time I hosted here. 

On our agenda for tomorrow is cleaning out his room and putting up some new decor. 

He's super stoked about the cleaning part, I'm sure. 

I made him a couple of pieces digitally for his room. I love that I buy frames once and we can change the art out as he changes.

I initially had this one framed, but then the other day I picked up all of these

from VV Boutique and thought it would look kind of cool like this:

 
(notice, clock is sans paint, I'm not sure about that yet...perhaps a nice coat of black?)

And I made him this:

Here's a better idea of what it looks like, man, it's hard to get a good picture of a frame with glass.  Glass is one of my nemesises (nemesi?) in that respect.

(The tape image is actually from a free font called CKAS, fun, huh?)

And here's an 8x10 download for you, if you so desire:

Download Rocking the suburbs

(PS is it ironic (and/or bad parenting) that I made this for my kid's room but he's not allowed to listen to the actual song because there are bad words in it?)

Okay, I need to stop before I wear us both out.

I'm starting to make spelling mistakes.

And type two spaces after my periods. (old habits and all.)

So, clap me out folks (but not too heartily, let's avoid the encore.)

(Tomorrow:  bathrooms, laundry rooms, mudrooms and more!)

Hey Look! A Squirrel: Blog Hosting Without Focus

 
Hey all!

My name is Cheryl and I would like to apologize in advance for the disorganization and eclecticness (eclectnicity?) of the coming week.

As usual I have a slew of excuses and reasons for my behaviour and here they are:

 

1. It's Spring! In addition to real life, project making and blogging I have begun the arduous task of spring cleaning. In my house spring cleaning is also known as “dump everything in the middle of the room, start chucking stuff out then move to another room to put something away and repeat, THEN when all rooms have large piles, panic a little, drink a lot of coffee and eventually get back to it”. This process usually takes me at least a couple of weeks and usually causes my husband to quietly consider a trial two week separation.
   (*interesting factoid #1: I am the only member of my family that considers spring cleaning to be quality family time.)

2. That's it. Usually my excuse for things is I'm cheap and lazy (and/or easy), which only half fits here, so I'm going with “it's Spring!”

3. I realize that one and one half excuses could not really be considered a slew, so I added this one. Plus I like when my Word program adds the indented numbers for me. Slick.

I'm going to try not to be too wordy, but I'm also smart enough to not make any promises on that front.

I will include lots of pictures and I will hope that most of them will be relevant. In a way, I guess I'm just suggesting that you buckle up, grab a coffee and hang on for the ride.

Two weeks ago I had an itemized list of things that I was going to write about and share.

It was a lovely list.

Written with purple pen (not that I'm partial to purple pens, but it was the closest pen and in retrospect seems slightly more fancy than your standard blue or black).

Little flower doodles in the corners.

Tiny hearts separating each thought (I'm totally lying about the hearts, but I wish I had of done that).

And then I lost the list.

So like I said:

1. coffee (or your beverage of choice)

2. buckle up

I know this is primarily a scrapbooking site, but I find as my kids get older, I seem to scrapbook less and do more home decor type projects. And since it's been almost 2 years since I hosted here I thought I would more or less redo the theme I did last time which was making stuff from junk I find at thrift stores.

Or if you're in a purple pen kind of mood we can call it “Scrapbooking in Today's Green World: ReUse, ReInvent, ReCreate”.

I hope that's okay.

Okay, time for slightly less talk and a little more action.

The last time I hosted I had started a photo wall in our basement.

I'm almost finished.

I know that was almost two years ago, but sometimes I get distracted. Plus, our basement is where our boys hang out. It smells like pre-teen boys (which is similar to feet, but worse) and sounds like angry drumming, electric guitar and nerf gun-wars, so I'm sure you can understand why I don't make it habit of going down there.

One of the things that I did before starting on my photo wall was hit the internets. I googled my way through a plethora of images before settling on the first one I saw (hello, Pottery Barn, my pretty)

These were the two that I finally printed off: 

 
Then I took these sheets shopping with me and picked out a couple of frames with oval mats (to go with the 393 square and rectangular frames that I have unused and hidden around my house).

I decided that the photo ledge was the way to go, because, frankly, having to hang two things levelly sounded much better than a) trying to hang a bunch of photos myself, all those excess nail holes are hard to hide or b) spending an afternoon with my husband hanging them, (see above: 2 week trial separation - after many years together we know which sports not to participate as a team in).

This is what our downstairs photo wall looks like so far:

 I used a little piece on the ledge that I shared during the last time I hosted the blog:

I think I will add another ledge underneath the middle one - it looks weirdly empty to me.

Here is more of the room:

And here is a close-up of the top of the trunk that my mom painted for me.

(the trunk was my mom and dad's when they were first married):

Then, as I am accustomed to doing, I began to binge a bit on photo ledges.

I purchased them at a store here called Jysk (pronounced Yisk for some strange Scandanavian reason, I think I heard that it's the same reason that we Canadians feel the need to add the letter u to many words).  But I'm pretty sure you can pick them up just about anywhere shelves are sold.

I did these ones in our bedroom:

(somewhat interesting factoid #2: the distressed frames were found at the dollar store a few years ago for $5 each, no spraypaint was harmed in the making of this photo wall)

And here is a close up of the little digital art I made to break up all the black frames: 

And here is a 5x7 PDF download of the pieces shown above for you to use if you like:

Download Love you more

And I used a couple in our living room here:

The vase was a shiny beige flower vase I've had kicking around for about 20 years, I painted it with black spraypaint and cut the four out of dollar store vinyl with my Cricut and then when the black paint was dry, put the vinyl on and used a matte white spraypaint overtop.  When I peeled the vinyl off, the edges of the number 4 weren't super clean so when it dried I just sanded it a bit in a "I totally meant to do that" sort of way. 

Funny, a lot of my projects seem to end that way.

The two framed pieces are digital art that I made in PSE using lyrics from a Maroon 5 song and printed on canvas paper that I purchased last year at the art store (it comes in rolls and when it works it looks really cool, but when it doesn't it makes me say bad words to my printer and canvas paper in general).

 

Do you want to know the one thing that I haven't been able to find at the second hand stores?

Is the suspense killing you?

Printer trays.

I long for a printer tray. 

But mostly I long for finding a printer tray in a thrift store for $1.99.

It could happen.

But while I long and wait patiently for that day, please peruse some of my fellow WCS girls' gorgeous printer trays, which to me seem like a condensed version of a photo/art wall.

Lisa  & Keshet sent me these to share:

So, now, not only do I want to find a printer tray real cheap, but I want to get married again and hire a proper photographer for GORGEOUS wedding photos, and I might as well throw some time travel in there (you know, where I know what I know NOW but get to go back in time to have a do-over of some sort with all this knowledge). 

Thanks ladies.

Lisa made two more that she graciously shared as well:

(*note to self:  take self portrait with family lying on our backs)

Thanks again, Ladies.  I have just mentally doubled my efforts to find a cheap printer tray.

So that's today. 

I hope it wasn't too long.

I'm sure it was so I hope that many of you are skimmers and stayed with me to get to the photos.

Stick around after the break, coming up next, I've Got Wood! Paint, Stamping and Other Applications.

…Tied Up with Strings

Brown paper packages…are you humming along? For the last piece of inspiration, I chose packaging. These days packaging is complex and so many great designs find themselves on the outsides of product or even in how the products are put together. The inspiration piece I chose is this cupcake box. I found this piece once again using Google Images. It's amazing what you can find there if you take some time to scroll through the results!

 

I loved the type work, the colors and the geometric design of the cupcakes. You could even just pull out that cupcake patterned paper you’ve been meaning to use! So many parts of this package design could be used on a page. I love how everyone’s take on it is so different.

I just loved the kraft (adore kraft, it's the neutral pantyhose of the scrapbooking world - have I said that this week?) and the bright circle tops of the cupcakes. I chose this bright and playful kit from Fee Jardine over at Sweet Shoppe. I’ve been playing with making digital paper look like it is underneath in a cutout (tutorial here) so I gave that a shot; I think it gives it a little dimension just like the cupcakes in the box.

Karen Grunberg took a different slant on the inspiration piece. She says, "This layout incorporates all of the bright, happy colors from the packaging. Yellow, orange, pink, blue, and green. I love bright, happy colors combined together just like the cupcakes in the inspiration piece!"

Monika Wright chose to use the cupcakes in the box as her inspiration for this layout...

She says,"Isabella adores reading and Nancy Drew is a fave. On this day, she put on her "sleuthing" outfit for a trip down to the barn to feed the kitties {her job}. The colors of the cupcakes were used as inspiration for the various flowers and I even used some seed beads from my jewelry-making stash to mimic the sprinkles on the cupcake with the purple frosting. I used book pages and scrunched them, since the theme of my layout has to do with reading, and the scrunched flower layers reminded me of cupcake liners. The flower made with my scallop punch is wrapped with baker's twine {www.thetwinery.com} and adorned with a rhinestone brad. Isabella is all girl, is all about dressing up and loves flowers, so this layout is something that screams, "Isabella!"

Elizabeth Dillow played along as well. I adore the large photo on the left hand side of her page which reflects the colorful cupcakes on the inspiration piece. She kept the kraft on the right, added a photo and white lettering also on the inspiration piece.

 

Packaging is everywhere. Take a look in your cabinets, at the grocery store, or head in to Google Images and search on packaging. You’ll be amazed at what you find!

I have a page to share from the Flickr gallery from the Sketch/Template Challenge. It's by LisaCT and it is based on the sketch. I love the photos of her as a little girl on the beach. The best part is the first photo where you can see the cars in the background! It reminds me to not always get so close and save some of the background details for historical purposes. Thanks so much for sharing your page Lisa.

 

and here's another page by Tara McKernin. She used the template and this month's Digi Files kit to create her page. Love the colors here and the great texture of the background!

Thanks for playing along ladies!

If you play along later, please post your layouts in the gallery. I'd love to see them and leave a little praise for you.

One last thing before I go. A HUGE shoutout to Marnie Flores and Elizabeth Dillow for all they do every day to keep this little slice of simple running. Two very amazing and inspirational ladies who I am thankful to call my friends! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! (Should I add a few more exclamation marks!?!) Also, to my talented Collective team members, thank you for contributing your talent to my hosting week. You are all so very inspirational!

And lastly, thanks to all of you for your comments and participation this week. I hope you had as much fun as I did. Until next time, keep crafting!

 

Beginner Digi Week {day 5}

Well, it's been SO much fun spending the week with you all and I hope you've had just as much fun as I have. Enjoy creating with all your new found digi skills! If you think you might need it, you can download this handy cheat sheet to keep close to your computer that highlights the points that Crystal covered in her video tutorial:

Download Cheat Sheet for Digi Templates

I also wanted to give a HUGE thank you to Crystal WIlkerson for co-hosting with me this week. She shared so many valuable tricks & some really fun stuff with us! (You're amazing Crystal!) If you get a chance, be sure to leave a comment here or pop by Crystal's blog and let her know how much we appreciated all the help! :)

I loved all the cute pages you guys shared in the Flickr group this week! Take a peek at these pages created using Crystal's template!

This one from stamphappy2001

 
 
 
 
this one from Kristina Proffit (cutest baby boy in the world Kristina!!) :)

 

and this one shared by chrcsmrtnsn

Cute pages ladies & I love how even though they were all made using the same template, they each reflect your own individual styles so beautifully!

Feel free to stop by the flickr group if you have a minute to enjoy even more gorgeous pages & projects, digi or paper!

 

I'll say good-bye for now, but not without ending the week with a little bit more digi inspiration just for you!

Page created by Rebecca Cooper 
  

page created by Rebecca Cooper 
 
page created by Celeste Smith

page created by Celeste Smith

page created by Marnie Flores

 
Adorable valentine's tags created by Marnie Flores

Have a great weekend everyone and don't be a stranger, stop by my blog anytime and say hi!

22 Card Pick Up

I was just reminiscing this weekend about Christmases past when I spent hours making our cards by hand.  I was especially marveling at the process I went through the first couple of years before we had kids.  Stamp, clear embossing pad, gold embossing powder, heat gun, ribbon, hot glue...  I even made my own envelopes one year!  It exhausts me just thinking about it.

I did continue to make my own cards even after the kiddos came along, but I kept trying to simplify the process.  At one point, I ended up asking myself what I most looked forward to when getting other people's cards in the mail.  I truly enjoy a pretty handmade card, and I really love reading the yearly newsletters, but my very favorite thing is the pictures!

So I rejected the pressure and went digital.

It used to be that the only choices were those offered by the photo processors, but the sky is the limit now.  You can use templates or even design your own if you're so inclined.

Since this week is all about simplifying and saving money, this post is going to be all about the free templates.  I tried to include a nice variety of styles so that each person can find one that suits her family.  And so we don't all end up making the same cards this year, heehee.

Note: If you would like to use a template but feel a little lost as far as how to plug your picture in there, please refer to Ann Costen's instructions for using clipping masks.  It sounds scarier than it is.  I promise.

 

{via The Crafting Chicks}

*this link will lead you to all five templates*

 

 

 

 

 

{via Manda Girl}

 

 {via Summertime Designs}

*four templates which can all be accessed here*

 

 

 

 

{via Becky Higgins}

If you want to be really clever and efficient and fit lots of photos on your card, you could do as Elizabeth Dillow did last year.  She used the mosaic maker at Big Huge Labs and then uploaded it to Shutterfly as a 4x6 to have it printed.  Simplest card she's ever made, most photos she's ever featured, best feedback she's ever received!

 

Perhaps you don't own photo editing software (or else own it but haven't yet learned how to use it!).  The HP Creative Studio site does the work for you when you upload the photo(s) you want to use. You can even print at home! Here's a small sampling of their templates.

 

Or perhaps you prefer a more traditional paper card.  If so, here are a couple of free downloads in that category.

{via Creativity Prompt}

 

{via Greetings Island}

Customizable!

And even some thank you notes for later.

{via Monika Wright}

(By the way--if you happen to use a freebie that you find online, please leave the designer a note on his/her site.  That simple courtesy means so much!)

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving full of gratitude and time with those you love.  Take a moment away from the pie to enter tomorrow's giveaway, and I'll see you back here on Friday.  (No, I will not be out shopping the Black Friday sales.  Remember?  Frantic is a joy-killer. ;)

Santa Letters and a Drop Shadow Tutorial

Both my kids still believe and Santa and I am so grateful for that. My oldest who is seven is already asking questions such as "how can Santa go to all the houses in the world, and how can reindeer fly...I know reindeers can't fly!" but his sister is quick to remind him of Santa's magical powers. She is convinced that Santa can make reindeer fly :) I will be very sad the day my kids figure out that Santa doesn't really exist and I really hope they are not too sad themselves when they find out.

In the meantime, we milk the Santa magic for all it's worth, starting with Santa letters. Since Kira can't write on her own yet, she dictates the letter and we type it out in a very faint font. She then traces the words and signs it (she also usually adds a drawing). Kael did the same in the past but since he's now in grade 2, he will be writing his own letter. Although we allow the kids to ask for anything their hearts desire, they know that Santa will only bring one present. Maybe because of this, their lists usually only contain three or four items. I always love to see what they ask from Santa, and treasure each of the letters. The best part for them is when the reply from Santa comes in the mail. I am truly grateful for those Canada Post employees who take the time to write back to the kids. When an older kid told Kira that Santa wasn't real, she said to me "but I know he's real because he wrote me a letter". Priceless, right? The key to getting a letter back is writing early so we are planning on sending our letters off in a week or so. It pays to be prepared!

Here is the layout template I'm going to use for documenting the letters.

For today's tutorial, I'm going to show you how I apply drop shadows to my elements. I like my layouts to look like "real" layouts so I always put drop shadows on anything that should be dimensional on paper. There are several ways to apply drop shadows but I like to do all of mine in one step once the layout is finished.

 

Please come back tomorrow as I share the download link for the templates from this week! I have been working hard to convert them so that they are more generic (sorry, I didn't leave any of Crystal's beautiful kit) .

Happy Hump Day!

Ann here, ready for another day of Christmas layouts and Photoshop tips! I really enjoyed reading your comments yesterday and I'm very glad that my tutorials helped a few of you. Note that there are usually more than one way to do anything in Photoshop so if you already have a favourite way to clip or create stickers...feel free to keep doing it your way! There is really no right or wrong way, just the right way for you. It's kind of like scrapping, isn't it :)

Today's Christmas layout is a scraplift of a favourite layout of mine. Note that I left spots for TWO pictures which is a bit of wishful thinking on my part. See, my daughter absolutely refuses to go anywhere near Santa (please tell me I'm not the only one to deal with this!). Last year's Santa layout featured only one kid:

We have already started to negotiate with my daughter so that she will be in the Santa picture. So far, she has agreed to do it on the condition that we ALL be in the picture. I'm ok with that so let's hope she doesn't change her mind! Here is the layout template:

To conclude this post, here is a tutorial on creating a vignette effect on a picture. I came up with this method a long time ago and though I've played around with other methods (and actions), I keep coming back to this one. It's simple, and it works! My only word of caution is to go easy on the vignetting. When I first starting using this technique, I often went overboard...don't be like me, ok? Subtle is the name of the game for this one, trust me!

 

 

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for Give.Away.Thursday!

Happy Tuesday!

Happy Tuesday! Today, I will share with you another of the templates that I created to document our holidays this year. Ever since we've had kids, we have worked hard at creating holiday traditions. I never had any such traditions growing up and really wanted to implemement some traditions as a way to give everyone a sense of belonging, of having a history.  

Thus, today's layout is appropriately entitled "Our traditions". I've scrapped individual traditions in the past:

Gingerbread house building:

Ornament collecting:

This year, I'm hoping to include a few other traditions such as baking and holiday crafts into the layout below. I've left room for five pictures, one each for baking, crafts, gingerbread house, ornaments, and matching holiday pajamas:

 

Now on to the education part of this post! Yesterday I shared some steps to use clipping mask but felt underwhelmed with the written instructions. Thus, I spent yesterday's evening teaching myself how to create some tutorials...behold my tutorial on clipping masks (apologies for the small font, I will fix that in future tutorials):

    

Today's tip is about creating stickers in Photoshop. I really love this one and use it a lot with Ali Edwards' word art. Here is the tutorial:

  

Enjoy - and please let me know of any feedback in the comments section!