Tis the Season

First I will apologize for the cell phone picture quality - no camera blabla. However, this month's DT kit from Fancy Pants is great! Which paper to chose.... This is my page map layout, I kept it relatively simple on the page & just fancied up the tag. I love this photo, it was taken with natural light & is slightly out of focus which gives it a soft look that matches the look on my daughter's face.

I started by painting fired brick crackle paint for my mat. Tissue tape is one of my favorite items to use & here it was inked with pine needle & aged mahogany distress ink, then put along the bottom of the page. ScrapbooksPlus carries a lot of Tim Holtz products & has the tissue tape. The tag was distressed & stamped with multiple images-I love that layered look! The quote was stamped on paper & distressed, than pop dotted to the tag. Jute was tied around the tag & beads dangle from it. I attached a fragment with a brad & fibers to top the tag off. Both the title & the fragment picture are from Tim's new seasonal paper pack. To finish the page I used some of the Fancy Pants stickers to the corner & along the side of the photo. I also had this cute little Santa gnome stamp that I "had" to use. I colored him in with copics & he is standing on top of the tissue tape. Finally I stamped the date at the bottom. I have a bad habit of forgetting the date & later have to search to figure out when the photo was taken!

During this busy holiday season, remember to take time to jot down some of your favorite moments so when it comes time to scrap those photos you will have the memory already recorded!

Let It Snow!

I loved the Traditions line from Fancy Pants that we got to play with this month. The blue papers in the line are really lovely and simple... and reminded me of some snow shots I took a couple of years ago. The photos are a little blurry... taken inside with low light and no flash... but they captured my daughter's excitement over the first snow of the season.

I sprayed one of the laser cut borders available at ScrapbooksPlus with Mint Chocolate Chip Chalkboard Glimmer Mist to match the layout. I used Tim Holtz mini attacher to staple the mesh ribbon on... it's actually the lovely Webster's Bloomers floral border that comes in lots of fabulous colors, except that I cut the pieces apart to use separately. I used a piece of white tulle with little silver dots as an extended mat underneath the photos. The die cut and the buttons are from Basic Grey. I also added a Maya Road stickpin and a Karen Foster Charm Pin Up Brad with some buttons from my stash and some of the mesh backing from the floral border tied on.

I don't usually do many monochromatic layouts... but I really love the blue colors in this. Since the Basic Grey tag has the cute little red bird, I added a few little red buttons to repeat the color elsewhere in the layout. I also added a couple of yellow/tan buttons as another little contrasting touch. The layout is still monochromatic... but with a little bit of extra interest. :)

thanks for stopping by,

erin

Before and After

I loved the way the tree on this paper seemed to shimmer even though there was no glitter. So I decided to add a bit to see what would happen. I started with Stickles on the ornaments and the star on the top of the tree. Then I used Crystal Stickles on the little twinkles of light around the tree. I loved the effect so I decided to take it one step further. I used scraps of cardstock to block off the paper on the right, left and bottom of the tree. Then I used Silver Glimmer Mist to mist the tree. I love how it turned out. I included a piece of the paper without Stickles and Mist on the left of my photo so you can see the difference. It looks even more sparkly in person so the next time you are at the store stop and check it out:)

It's Wednesday!

There are 3 great reasons to stop by the store today.
The first reason is that its coupon day. Just print your coupon out at home and bring it with you when you shop to take advantage of great savings. The second reason is this new layout. The free element this week is this little chipboard bird and bird cage. I stamped on the bird with my sheet music stamp and distressed the cage a little using Distress Ink -frayed burlap. The third reason to stop by the store today is the Design Team kit. If you have ever thought about submitting for this design team now is your chance. The kits are ready for you to purchase today. Hope you get to stop by the store today.

Tradition by Fancy Pants

December is the month that most of us celebrate some type of winter holiday. Our kit this month is "Tradition" by Fancy Pants.

The rich, vibrant colors of this timeless double sided cardstock can be used for many types of winter holidays. Your layouts and cards can either be fancy or simple depending on your preference. With the addition of Fancy Pant's embellishments (buttons, transparencies and cardstock stickers) and the addition of Basic Grey's alphabet stickers and ribbons this is a very versatile kit. I hope you enjoy it.

Reusing Your ScrapbooksPlus Bags

I love the bags that Debbie gets at ScrapbooksPlus. I know that she just orders an assortment... and what she gets is a surprise, but every shipment always has at least one design (and sometimes more) that I know will make a great minibook. I usually make these little books for my daughter to create her own special scrapbooks.... but this time around I decided to make one for myself. These would a great little Christmas gifts too!

Here's the how-to. There are a lot of pictures... but really it's very easy. Once you make one, you can make them over and over again with different bags or pieces of paper.

First, start out with one of the large size bags and fold it in half lengthwise.


Now fold your bag in half in the other direction.


Fold the bag in half one more time in the same direction as the last fold.

Spread your bag out flat. You should have 8 little rectangles.

Cut through all layers of the bag on the center fold line as shown below. You won't cut into either of the end sections on the bag.

Refold the bag along the lengthwise fold and pop both cut sections out. Pinch the folds into place.

Squish the book pages together....

... and fold into a book shape. I usually fiddle with the pages at this point to see which ones want to fall where. Whichever page looks the best can be the front. All the pages will not necessarily line up perfectly... some may extend a little more than others, etc., but that's okay

When I made my minibook, I cut 4.5 x 6 pieces of black cardstock for each page. then I added my pictures, Teresa Collin's Giving Thanks paper bits and Basic Grey buttons. Each page got a title with pretty Dear Lizzy foam stickers. Starting with a base for each and adhering them at the end is a lot easier and hides the fact that there is a little variation from page to page in the book.

On the cover, I used a Teresa Collins die cut and some lovely Bazzil leaves. The crinkly purple ribbon runs through the middle of the book inside the bag and pops out a little cut I made in the edge of the bag. The cover happened to be a page with an open bottom... so after I taped the ribbon in place, I used my ATG to seal it shut.

Since I was using black cardstock for each page, I inked the photo's edges with black Staz-On ink to match.

One or more of your pages will have a spot for a "pocket" depending on which way you folded your bag. You can use the pockets or glue them shut to make the book more sturdy. I made a little 4.5 x 6 card to slide into the pocket on the right (with the orange paper and black ribbon). This holds an extra photo that was landscape and I just didn't want to trim. The space on the back of the photo is for my journaling about the day.

Here is the last page... you can see the notch of cut for the ribbon to pop through on the right edge.

And here's the back! Once I have everything glued on, I'll go back and run some adhesive on the inside of the bag to secure it together and keep it's book shape a little bit better.

thanks for stopping by!

erin

What I'm Thankful For

Thanksgiving is the perfect time of year to reflect on the things for which we're grateful. I'm eternally grateful for my children, who bring so many things into my life (good and bad!).

What are you most thankful for?