Stamps, Paper, and Ink

Peace and Joy Page

I've got just a few things going on today~just got back from a trip for my Mother's 90th birthday ( can you believe it?!?!) and that was so much fun. Want to know what's not much fun? Having a crew here since yesterday morning replacing ALL the pipes in our house. It's a long story that you don't want to hear but the gist of it is that stamping something new to share with you has NOT been possible.

But I have a treat for you anyway - here's a 12 x 12 page I did for the display boards at Convention 09 - (don't think I've shared it yet? keeping my fingers crossed) using the Tree Trimmings set.

 

I love the versatility of these images because they can be elegant or trendy; reflect a retro or even a boho style.  I went with elegant here, to match the photo from last year's Christmas tree. It was a bit of a challenge last May to make this sample because we could only use designer papers that were current and the Christmas choices were very limited. So I chose my color scheme and plugged in this pattern from the Flock Together series. Don't ever let yourself be limited by what a stamp or paper was designed for - that's the fun of creative stamping! 

Here's just a bit more info about my page~

• I love the way the Organza ribbon dresses up the whole page and mirrors the pattern in the ornament in the photo. This ribbon easily wraps up any project beautifully!
• The ornaments from the Tree Trimmings set are embellished with glitter, square rhinestone brads, and silver elastic cord. These images are perfect to use to make your own embellishments.
• The title was cut with Stampin' Up!'s Join in the Cheer die. I trimmed it to use only the words that I wanted. Super easy!

I will not post supplies today - got to keep this quick, but if you have any questions about what I used, don't hesitate to ask me in the comments section. Hope that you'll be inspired to get out your stamps paper and ink and make something beautiful!  I'm going to do the same and I'll be back tomorrow to show you what I made..

A Mini Album Card

I am so, so happy to be back home from convention and see my wonderful family~HOME IS SWEET! I did have a blast at convention (thanks for all your well wishes!) ~ there is nothing like being around people who love to stamp as much as I do. Maybe you have considered becoming a demonstrator, and wished you could come to convention too. I invite you to join the fun and join my team! I'd be happy to share - just e-mail me.

My son's birthday gave me a great occasion to stamp for today, and I made him a mini album using coasters. It is made from two 4" chipboard coasters (which I have had in my stash forev-er!) and I used the Under the Stars set to fit in with a camping/traveling theme.  Here's the front...

 I loved tearing and sponging for a distressed look. *Tip - before tearing the edges, rough up the card stock by rubbing and curling it around the bone folder.  When you break down the fibers, you can tear the card stock layers apart for a soft 'faux suede' result*

The best part is the inside spread.

The inside is made from Not Quite Navy card stock cut 4-3/4" x 12" and scored vertically at 3-1/2", 7, and 10-1/2". I scored horizontally at 3-1/2" for the fold up pocket. I love having a pocket and stuck in a tag (to enclose a gift card) and put a little folded book for a personal note at the end. 

I hope you enjoyed today's project. Don't hesitate to ask in the comments section if you have any questions.  As always, I value the time and thoughtfulness of my readers. You're the BEST!
I'm off to check the Heirloom Fudge Pies that are my other creation of the day {yumm..}

Supplies~
Stamps: Under the Stars, Sanded, Wild About You (retired), Fast & Fun notes (sentiment)
Paper: confetti white, soft suede, crushed curry, not quite navy, real red
Ink: soft suede, basic brown

Accessories: striped grosgrain, sponges, heart to heart punch

It's me, big as life!

Yep, here I am smiling at ya 'cuz it's Friday and time for Alex's challenge at Stamp Something!  Her challenge *and I hope you accept it* is to do a scrap page using 2 different ribbons, 3 buttons, 4 brads, at least 2 stamped images, a title with lettering and 5 facts about yourself.

I narrowed the topic of All About Me to 'me and what I love about summer'. Now if you want to read my facts you'll have to click on the photo to get the BIG picture.  :D  Can you find my two stamped images? The challenge I gave myself with this page was to get all the elements in  and still have a unified and peaceful (read: uncluttered) mood.

Design tip: Placing embellishments in a triangle moves the eye across a page. My triangle starts at "I love" and goes on to the buttons and the flower.

The blues and greens were inspired by a sample card from the paint dept.  It showed Baja Breeze used on the walls.  I think this will be my new favorite color!

And of course, what page about me would be complete without something from the Pretties' Kit? I'd encourage you to make a page about yourself if you haven't done it. I am so happy that I did. May just have to do another one.

Here's the rest -
Stamps:  Typeset alphabet, Priceless
Paper: Soft Sky, Baja Breeze, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Spring Break
Ink: baja breeze, certainly celery
Accessories: Pretties' Kit, grosgrain and double-stitched ribbon, Soft subtles brads, white gel pen

It's official...

I'm a Stacy Julian fan.

So I've been thinking about scrapbooking recently, and have definitely been inspired to switch from doing strictly chronological albums (and focusing on events) to focusing on the memories evoked by the pictures, and not worrying so much about the order. I love Stampin' Up!s albums because the page protectors are flexible and the pages don't need to be attached, and thus can be put in any order you want, at any time you want! They adapt to this change perfectly.

I've also been thinking about how to best streamline the process for storing, sorting, editing, uploading, and printing digital pictures. I don't do any of these consistently enough... it tends to go in spurts, just like organizing the actual pictures! I need to get back to doing all of these more regularly, so I can actually scrapbook. In Photo Freedom, a fascinating must-read book, Stacy Julian outlines what works for her, and has some great ideas.  Now I just need to take that and run with it... until I find what works for me. 

I think if I were to print pictures monthly, that would help. Maybe if I even tried to stick to a schedule to make it happen: week 1 sort, week 2 edit, week 3 upload, week 4 pick and print. Then I would have them ready at my fingertips when I have time to scrapbook, instead of having to pick and upload them and run to get them at Wal-mart in an hour... wasting time I could use in scrapbooking.

Anyone have a system or tips for organizing their photos that they'd like to share? I'd love to collect your ideas about this in my comments for this post.

Here's a great resource I found on the topic of organizing photos. It's an entertaining and informative webisode of Real women Scrap by Tasra Dawson who says, "It really is time to get organized and stop feeling guilty."

I'm hoping to get a handle on my photos and looking forward to the freedom of scrapbooking photos I love!  For example, here's a favorite page I've done recently that was posted on the Stampin' Up! Stampers Showcase.

Cookies anyone?

It's mid-afternoon and a cookie snack would taste so good right now!  I may need to go for a walk instead since there are no cookies in my house. An afternoon walk would be better for me...  For those of you who've been with me for awhile, afternoon is my new time to post.  Just thought you'd like to know!

Here's the other scrap page I did two weeks ago. This photo and story of Emily's gorgeous Christmas cookies was just begging to be told! Sorry the photo is so big, I wanted you to be able to see the words.                                                                  This chipboard shape reminded me of a cookie and I thought clear chunky glitter on top would make it resemble the sugar sprinkles atop a scrumptious sugar cookie. I made a couple of color changes though, using craft white ink and red chunky glitter on the cookies - looks much better in real life! If you haven't used the new Chunky Essentials Stampin' Glitter from SU! you've got to give them a try! I loved the colors from our Winter Bright Scrappin' kit and used them for this page.  Traditional red and green with a twist of pink thrown in. 

Here are the details -
Stamps: Sweet shapes, Big deal alphabet
Paper: pretty in pink, real red, whisper white
Ink: wild wasabi, pretty in pink, real red, sahara sand 
Other: double stitched ribbon, On Board Blossoms chipboard, chunky essentials red glitter, Write me a memory journaling font

Sending sweet thoughts your way... Have a great weekend!

You and me...and a straw hat!

Are you a hat person?  I 'd say NOT if you asked me this question. But once I hit age ____ (let this number be unnamed!) I began wearing this straw hat when I was out in the sun.  Lo and behold, I got caught in it for this photo!  I decided a few years ago when I hit age ___ (never mind) that pictures of me did not need to be left out of the albums.   Come on admit it, I'm sure some of you have felt like this! The message of this photo is loud and clear and here's what counts - I shared a hug and a sunny day with a precious girl - my sweet Emily.

Last week I was delighted to actually finish this page plus one more all in one day.  I gave myself the challenge to do it and it was so gratifying to see the work completed. I began this 6x6 page by choosing colors.  I knew I wanted to use Groovy Guava to pull out the color of my shirt.  (Can you tell I really really like this shirt?) The So Saffron striped paper mimics the straw hat, and I added Blue Bayou for contrast and because it was a good color for the bird.  Once the colors were set I just had to play with the layout and the embellishments.  Deciding to use the "you & me' rub on helped me easily to choose words to complete the theme.

Recipe-
Stamps: Always
Paper: groovy guava, blue bayou, so saffron designer prints
Ink: basic black, blue bayou, groovy guava
Other: 3/4" circle punch, Eastern elegance rub ons, black marker

I hope you get caught sharing a special moment with someone you love, with or without the hat.  LOL

Check back tomorrow for a free giveaway!

Two

Last Friday after the holiday celebrations reached a lull, my daughters and I decided to spend the morning scrapbooking together.  The together was the nicest part! I was so excited to get two pages done from our vacation last May.

After making so many cards it seemed to take forever to do two 8-1/2 by 11" pages.
Actually what really took forever was getting the photos and editing done because I am still having trouble getting a good upload with my new equipment (oh the woes of ever new technology - it's a love/hate relationship with me:-)

I did love getting to use my new rub-ons on the 'place for you' page - can you see the words dream and imagine? Perfect, don't you think -for a fisherman who can only hope that next year he'll catch that big bass!

It's Thursday - Emily's day! Here she is...

Many people know that autumn is my favorite season; I love everything about it! The weather, the food, the smells, the sounds, the activities...I just can't get enough of it. So, in honor of my beloved season, I made a scrapbook page this week.

(Just a little side-note on different sizes of scrapbook pages: since I've gotten to make sample pages for my mom, I've made an assortment of sizes - 6x6, 8 1/2x11, and 12x12. I've found 8 1/2x11 to be by far the easiest for me to work with; it has more room than 6x6 pages, so the layout can vary more, but it isn't quite so huge as a 12x12 page, which has so much space that I tend to get lost in it. :D So for my scrapbook, I make 8 1/2x11 pages. It's just my personal preference...in case anybody wondered...)

This page uses a whole array of products - patterned paper, rub-ons, felt accents...my favorite part is the memory box paper (it's the studio assortment) - I love all the vivid colors that seem to hold a little sunshine in them. I kept the details pretty simple so the journaling - all the things I love about autumn - could take center stage.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, I'm keeping busy by trying to prevent my family from listening to too much Christmas music while the gorgeous leaves are still on the trees. Since the weather is pretty balmy here in NC, I think that may be a losing battle. But I can say I tried. :D

Happy Autumn, ya'll!

Supplies: old olive paper, memory box "studio" assortment, making memories rub-on alphabet (heidi), daisy d's rub-on(I Am Frame), felt leaves (target dollar spot), journaling pen.

A page from my album

I go way back with scrapbooking. Even though I spend more time creating cards I still love seeing our family memories in my albums.  My daughters and I worked together on so many of the pages from years ago and it was a wonderful activity for us to share. The very best part was finding the children (they were young then!) nestled in a favorite spot and savoring the photos and words that recorded our family life and activities.  They lingered over the pages and I loved it!

Today I want to share with you a page from my album that Emily made from Christmas 2005. (That's me sitting next to my brother-in-law.)  I love the way Emily used an 8-1/2 x 11" panel on a 12x12 page layout.

The chipboard letters were inked with mellow moss craft and embossed with clear embossing powder. In the bottom right corner she has placed a circle of river rock and the cut out tree and poinsettia on top of the journaling panel. I love the way she repeats the elements of circles and squares.

Thanks for listening to my memories today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Season of Joy
Paper: river rock textures, Dashing DP, very vanilla
Ink: always artichoke, mellow moss craft, real red
Other: real red wide grosgrain, On Board chipboard alphabet