Saving My...

Are you a die-hard traditional scrapbooker? Or do you stick tight to fast and easy pocket pages? Try combining both styles for a fun and stylish way to record your memories!

I'm a traditional girl first, so I started with this two-page layout based on a sketch:


The simple shapes and Cricut title makes this layout easy to replicate. I rounded all the corners to mimic the look of pocket page scrapbooking so I could combine the two styles and they look like they were meant to be together (because they were!).

I had several more pictures to include, so a pocket page slipped in the middle of a traditional layout is a great way to fit them all in. Here's one side:


See? Still looks like a great layout, and the pages flow together wonderfully! Now, check out the other side:


Simply using the same products and creating a similar style makes everything work. I think almost any layout design would work, you just need to carry similar elements across both page styles.  The rounded corners, similar photo sizes, and repeated elements tie it all together.

Interested in any of the products I used? Here's a list:

Hopscotch Paper Pack (avail. thru 3/31)

Hopscotch Complements (avail. thru 3/31)

Hopscotch Assortment (avail. thru 3/31)

Memory Protectors

Cricut Collections (Artiste & Artbooking used)

Flamingo Dots

Corner Rounder

I always try to be the "treat bag mom" for at least one of my kid's parties every year.  This week is the "Spring" party, and I found the funnest little SVG file over at Lettering Delights!  The file is called Easter Beasties Bag, and I needed a whole herd of beasties!


Don't they look excited to be here?!  Those pretty colors are all American Crafts cardstock in Tropicals.  The white CS is CTMH, the pink is Bazzil swiss dot, and the black is a combo of CTMH and Bazzil swiss dot (because somehow I managed to let myself run almost completely out of black CS - time to order more!).

After I imported the SVG into my Make The Cut software, I added three small circle cuts to the back side of the bag.  I had some parents send pencils for the bags and it was the only way they were gonna fit!

The best part about this SVG is how quickly they go together.  The pieces are all big enough to not get lost and make for easy stacking.  Even folding the bag goes quickly.  To make sure everything held together properly, I used my Scotch ATG for the layered bits, then assembled everything using Scor-Tape.  (I would swear that "Sookwang" is Korean for "best damned tape EVER", lol.)  In fact, these are so easy that the kiddoes & I are going to make some  more this week.  And all I'm going to do is cut, and maybe help fold.  I'm making them do their own assembly!

I finally managed to complete this layout I've been working on!  It will likely be the only project I share this week as I now have to get packing for an all-day crop on Saturday, which will hopefully give me plenty of ideas to share with you.

Dying Easter eggs is one of my favorite traditions, and one of my favorite "messy" activities to do with my kids.  And at least a few of us always love the devilled eggs we get to make with them later!  I always go overboard taking pictures, so I was happy to find this pattern in the Imagine sketch book.  It's designed to hold sixteen photos!  I altered the left page just slightly for a landscape oriented photo instead of portrait, but everything else I left the same.

For this layout, I wound up using all Close To My Heart products: the new Mayberry paper pack (which is turning into one of my favorites) and the March stamp of the month, Sensational Season.  With all of those photos, I couldn't use mats but they needed to be grounded somehow.  I just ran a Chocolate ink pad along all of the edges of the photos and let them dry before adhering them to the page.

 I cut my title using my Make The Cut software and some fonts installed on my computer.  I popped "dye" up using dimensional foam adhesive.


I have a couple of tips on the stamped images.  First, I stamped the bunny stamp on white and two different patterns.  The bunny was holding a present, but I thought she needed to be holding more eggs to put in the basket.  So I cut the present out of her hands on the white cardstock.  Then I cut the entire dress/apron from the green, and the apron only from the yellow and adhered them all.  I then used a pink marker to color in the trim on the apron.  I stamped three eggs and the basket stamp on white CS, colored them all in with markers, and cut them out.  I stacked the eggs in the bunny's hands and adhered them.  I adhered the stamped images to the page with the dimensional foam adhesive.

Now, on to the Award portion of our show...  My friend and co-DT member Laura has given me the Stylish Blogger Award.

Huge thanks to Laura for thinking of me!  You can find her Stylish Blog at http://scrapaddict4life.blogspot.com/ - I hope you'll go visit her blog as well!

The guidelines for the  award include passing it on, with a few little rules:
Rule #1: I link back to the person who gave me the award (as I did above).

Rule #2: I share 7 random things about myself:

1. I loved drama in high school, and still sometimes wonder if I could have "made it" as an actress.
2. I hate coffee, but I can't make it through the day without my Diet Coke.
3. I have two college degrees, Spanish (don't ask!) and Business & Information Systems, but I now work in retail.
4. I hate mornings.
5. My dream job would be scrapbooking all day (duh!).
6. I love my kids, but freely admit that they drive me insane.
7. I would rather clean all the bathrooms than wash dishes.

Rule #3: I award 7 newly discovered bloggers with this award.  I'm bending the rules a little and sending you to 7 blogs I think deserve to be seen, whether I've just discovered them or I've been following them for a long time.  So go check out.....

1. Charity Wings - an awesome organization
2. Christmas Cards All Year Round - a great way to get your Christmas cards done a little at a time, and maybe win a prize for participating!
3. Epbot - because I don't care how many followers she has, a geeky girl blog always deserves more!
4. Sketch Support - get your sketch on with a VERY talented sketch artist
5. Stuck On U Sketches - more sketches, challenges, tutorials - a fun blog
6. The Paper Midwife - talented, and just as random as I am!
7. Haunted Design House - All Halloween, all the time - need I say more?

I'd love if it go give all these ladies some blogger love, and let them know I sent you!

I'm finally getting around to sharing another of my DT submission items for Imaginisce.  Twitterpated is one of my favorite collections of theirs EVER!  My only regret is not buying more of it, lol.  I don't even have a single Snag 'em stamp from this collection!  Regardless, these papers make an awesome layout - here's an Easter LO I did using some of them:

Click on the picture to see it larger.  You know stripes are my favorite, so I had to use them for my base.  The blue is the cloud "back side" of one of the papers.  Not having any stamps, I created my little scene by cutting out images from one of the patterned papers.  And added some bunny ears to my title the same way.  Title and grass are cut with the Cricut, and coordinating cardstock is from Close To My Heart.

I used a large corner rounder for the corners of the cloud paper, and inked all the edges with coordinating stamping ink (CTMH).  I used a punch to punch out the floral photo corners and popped them up with foam adhesive.  Lastly, I added silver Rhinestuds (nail heads) with my I-Rock tool.  Here's a close-up of that bit:


Hopefully, I will be working on Christmas cards later today (finally!).  I have some very pretty older Imaginisce paper I want to use to make some one-offs if I have time.  (I usually make on kind of card, assembly-line style, but I have some singles made already from challenges & such, so I thought it made be fun to make several one-of-a-kind cards instead.)

Until next time...

Do you ever think of buying a set of holiday-specific stamps, then wondering what you would ever use them for? Being a CTMH consultant, I have more than my fair share of holiday stamps, and of course this month's Stamp of the Month is an Easter set. Now, let me tell you, I like Easter, but I don't send cards for it and I already had an Easter egg stamp set for scrapbooking.

However, I found the current set to be very versatile, simply due to the variety of designs included on the eggs. I've even seen these stamps used to make allover texture designs on cardstock. There are 18 patterned eggs and one solid egg, plus a little poem, included in this set, so I could use it for many different styles or feels.

A few ideas for egg stamps include using one end to make scallops, using the pattern to stamp on chipboard letters or small shapes, or punching a small shape from the stamped image. But my hands-down favorite technique for egg stamps is making flowers. Check out this cool card I made using one of the designs in this current set, and a scalloped card template from Jeanette Lynton's Originals book. I simply stamped 5 separate images, cut them out, and adhered them in a circle on another piece of cardstock. I then cut around the whole flower s hape, leaving a small border. I freehand cut the stem, and used circle punches for the flower center and leaves. I sponged on some ink for shading, glued it all down, and stuck a circle Window Charm in the flower center - voila! I also sanded the edges of the scalloped flap, and textured the Juniper green cardstock by scoring it in my paper trimmer and sanding the raised edges.

Do you have alternate ideas for any of your holiday stamps collecting dust at your house? Use your holiday stamp(s) for something other than the holiday for which it was intended. Send me a description of what you did, along with a picture of what you made. I'll randomly choose a winner of a little something from all ideas received by 2/28/09. Just post a link here in a comment so we can all see your creation!