Game On!

I've been working fast and furiously on my December Daily and I am up to Day 5. Yes, Day 5! Guess I need to work a little faster and a bit more furiously if I want to finish it up by the end of the month. I honestly don't know how some people finish their DD up by Christmas week. That just wasn't in the cards for me this year. I know many who undertake this project make their pages ahead of time but the thought of doing so scares me. Although my DD pages are not as involved as my regular layouts, they still revolve around the pictures for that day. Making foundation pages ahead of time was not an option for me. In fact, the thought of that supposed stress-relieving task was more stress inducing for me. So I will be scrapping my December Daily in January, thank you very much, and posting pictures probably until Valentine's Day! A few dark and dreary days have prevented me from taking pictures of my progress if, in fact, you can call getting to December 5th on Jauary 13th progress! In the meantime, I do have another layout to share with you from our trip to Disney last February. Here it is:

I primarily used a mixture of Sassafras Lass, October Afternoon and Studio Calico patterned papers and embellishments for this one. For my title area, I layered two different number papers to represent our arcade scores. I punched the tops with the notebook punch, distressed the edges with ink and layered one of the transparencies from Basic Grey's Take Notes for the wander collection. I thought the "observation" tab on the transparency was perfect for this layout since my journaling really is an observation..

I duplicated the notebook punch on the journaling card. The journaling reads: Sal, you are not a very competitive person but that all changed when we went on the Toy Story Mania ride in Disney's Hollywood Studios. As soon as you put on your 3-D glasses, it was game on!

Supplies:

Cardstock: American Crafts;

Patterned Paper: October Afternoon (Rocket Age); Sassafras Lass; Studio Calico (Autumn Press);

Embellishments: Basic Grey Take Note (Wander); American Craft Thickers; October Afternoon Journaling Card; October Afternoon Stickers (Rocket Age); Sassafras Lass border Sticker; Studio Calico arrow sticker (Memoir); Tim Holtz idea-ology mini paper clip; Making Memories brads.

Stamp: Papertrey Ink (Library Ledger Year Additions);

Inks: Tim Holtz Distress (Vintage Photo); Ranger (Jet Black).

CAS-ual Fridays -- Chip Off the Ol' Block Challenge

I decided to play along with the CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week by creating a clean and simple project using chipboard. Here's my card:

I cut white cardstock down to a standard sized card and scored it so that the fold would be at the top of the card. I seem to do this a lot! Next, I cut a piece of red cardstock to measure 4"x5.25" and a piece of kraft cardstock to measure 3.75"x5." I used distress ink to stamp the background and distress the edges. The sentiment was stamped with the same ink on a strip of white cards which I trimmed with two strips of scalloped patterned paper. I adhered this to the card using foam dimensionals and added some buttons and twine for good measure. I added the chipboard cupcake which I decorated with Stickles. After all, shouldn't all cupcakes be decorated!

Supplies

Cardstock: Papertray Ink (Stamper's Select White; Pure Poppy); Stampin' UP! (Kraft);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Happy Definition;Happiness Messages );

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Barn Door);

Patterned Paper/Chipboard: Basic Grey (Sugar Rush);

Embellishments: Buttons (Making Memories); Twine (Martha Stewart) Ranger Diamond Stickers.

A Christmas Thank You

What a nice surprise I had in the mail a few weeks before Christmas when my cousin sent me the gift that every crafter covets: a Michael's gift card. And the only thing better than getting a Michael's gift card is knowing that it is actually worth twice as much as it says because who,after all, buys anything at Michael's without a 50% off coupon. (Yes, I even turn up my nose on those 40% off coupons and patiently wait for the 50% off coupon that inevitably shows up!) So, with such a wonderful scrappy gift in mind, I knew I had to make a crafty thank you card. Mind you, not one product used on this card came from Michael's but I don't think my cousin will know. Here's my card:

I knew I wanted to play along with Ellen Hutson's Hero Arts Cling Take 'N Make Challenge so I pulled the wrapper off of the Indie Bloom Hero Arts Star Blooms Background Cling Stamp. (I did forget to take a picture of the card with the stamp before mailing it. Oops!) I was also anxious to use the new seasonal distress inks from Tim Holtz so I decided on an embossed resist technique. I inked up my background stamp with Versa Mark and heat embossed with White Zing. Next, I swiped some of the Festive Berries and Evergreen Bough inks on my mat, spritzed with a little water mixed with Liquid Pearls and began painting in the image with my aqua brush.

To finish off the card, I wrapped some twine around the card, stamped the sentiment on the die cut piece and affixed to the card using foam adhesive, and scattered some rhinestone stickers for a little added bling!

Supplies

Cardstock: Neenah (Solar White); Papertrey Ink (Pure Poppy);

Stamp: Hero Arts (Star Blooms) Papertrey Ink (Mat Stack 1 Collection);

Ink: Versa Mark; Tim Holtz Distress (Festive Berries; Evergreen Bough);

Misc.: Zing embossing powder (white); Martha Stewart twine; Recollections rhinestone stickers

Blog Your Heart*/One Little Word

One little word. Select a word for yourself or let it find you and live it for the year. Sounds simple, right? That's what I thought this time last year when I picked my word. I thought long and hard about my word. I thought about my word in the shower, as I was sorting through junk mail, as I drifted off to sleep next to a night stand piled high with scrapbook magazines. And it came to me as if in a dream. Or maybe it was a wish. My word for 2011 would be organize. Surely picking the word and writing a blog post about it would mean that I would live this word and, as a result, all the clutter in my life would vanish -- or at least be neatly put away into one of the many bins I continue to buy in my never-ending quest for a clutter-free life. Ha!

It's January 1, 2012 and I am back to report that I failed miserably. Yes, it was just one little word but I couldn't embrace it. Those eight little letters got the best of me! With the exception of a stack of magazines which finally made their way into the recycling bin, clothes that went to Good Will and my stamps which I organized into labelled binders, my house is no more organized at the start of 2012 than it was at the start of 2011. I did make two cabinets a Gluten Free zone for Melissa but now when I cook, I can't find my spices because they are no longer in the place they have been for the last 18 years. More organization is definitely needed in this department! I still can't figure out how to make the most of Photo Shop so I never get around to posting my pictures on Shutterfly which is something that my sister in California always asks me to do. My Project 12 became a Project 3 as everyday life got in the way of scrapping these monthly recaps in March. My December Daily has turned into a A Week in December but I did take all of the pictures so who knows!

Maybe guilt, or frustration, or defeated should be my word for 2012!

Or maybe patience is the word for me this year. Patience to accept the non-perfect days as my reality now. Patience to get through some of the tedious tasks that need to be done (like photo editing) in order to get to the good stuff -- like scrapping! Patience with my kids. With two teens in the house surely I need to embrace this now more than ever! Patience with myself to find a way to eat better and maybe get to the gym. Who knows, maybe I will even have the patience to organize my house or at least go through another pile of magazines!

It's just one little word. How hard can it be?

*Blog Your Heart is a monthly challenge created by Stephanie Howell who brings a refreshing honesty to all of her blog posts. Thanks for always telling it like it is, Stephanie!