I'm Back!

...from the Creating Keepsakes Convention, that is and I've been feverishly working to finish up the projects from five (yes, five!) wonderful classes including the very latest (and I mean hot off the CHA press latest) from Basic Grey for a total of 12 layouts and five cards. It was the best CKC to date. While I work on finishing up my projects and getting pictures, I have some layouts from the beginning of the summer to share.

When Mark received his Four Sport Award at the Sports Awards Ceremony in June, it drove home the fact that I had not scrapped a single team picture or portrait from his middle school years. So I set about changing that. Here are the four layouts:

7th Grade/Fall:

7th Grade/Spring:

8th Grade/Fall:

8th Grade/Spring:

Okay, so before I tell you about these pages, can I just say that I can not get over the remarkable transformation Mark underwent in only 18 months!

Now, back to scrapbooking. I bought these papers at last year's CKC (I think Hartford) and back then, I bought two or three of every piece of pattern paper. My style has evolved since then and now I find myself truly using scraps. In one recent layout, I only used a 1-inch by 12-inch piece of patterned paper. Therefore, I had more than enough paper to complete all four layouts even with the wood grain pattern being the B side of the track paper.

Other common elements included the journaling. For each page, I used kraft card stock and Ali Edwards stamps to give "the details." The journaling is simple -- Mark's location in the team picture (as you never know who will be looking at these books years from now) and his best time for that season.

I used two of my favorite border punches -- Upper Crest by Fiskars (seen above) and Spiral by Stampin' Up! (seen below).

Finally, I bought so much of this paper (what was I thinking!) that I had enough left over to make a card for Mark to give to his godfather, another running enthusiast. Here's the card:

Layout Ingredients: American Crafts card stock; Rusty Pickle patterned paper and stickers (Run It Game Time); Technique Tuesday stamps (Today You Journaling Frames) Fiskars border punch (Upper Crest) and Stampin' Up! border punch (Spiral); EZ Laser designs and Sticko embellishments; Color Box chalk ink.

Card Ingredients: Stampin' Up! card stock; Rusty Pickle patterned paper and stickers (Run It Game Time); Technique Tuesday stamp(Simple Sentiments ); Versa Mark ink; Ranger embossing powder (black); Maya Road Micro Chips (Neutrals); twine from stash.

The Last of the Latest & Greatest

I've been in a scrapping frenzy around here, trying to finish up and use up as much of my CKC class and Vendor Fair goodies from last year before I head off to CKC next week. And, as usual, the more I scrap (which has been A LOT!) the less I blog. Sorry about that.


Today I want to share the last completed projects from the Latest & Greatest Basic Grey. I love these classes and have signed up to take another one. The only challenge (sometimes) is finding the right pictures for each layout. After a lot of digging through old pictures, I think I found just the right ones. Here's the finished layout featuring Basic Grey's Wassail line:

In All Together for the Holiday, I personalized the class kit by adding Thickers, rub-ons, silk flowers, plus chipboard and jelly sticker embellishments.

The journaling reads: What a special day! It was the first Christmas that Donna, Diane, Ricky and I had spent together in years. It was wonderful to be all together again!

Rather than using brads in the center of the flowers, I chose the MAMBI jelly stickers because the words added more meaning to this layout.

The next layout features the Granola line. Here it is:

As soon as I saw these papers, I knew that I wanted to do a layout about my Dad who passed away in 1998. I printed all of the photos in Sepia and sanded the edges of each. I found the "cherish" rub-on in my stash and thought it was perfect!

Again, I personalized the layout. This time I used a border punch (on the page above), rub-ons, Thickers and distressing techniques.

Well that's it for the Latest & Greatest Basic Grey until next week when I come home from CKC with four more Basic Grey layouts. I can't wait!!!

Ingredients -- All Together for Christmas: Bazzill card stock; Basic Grey patterned paper (Wassail); Imaginesce rub-ons and flowers: Me & My Big Ideas jelly stickers and embellishments (Noel); American Craft Thickers.

Ingredients -- Miss You: Bazzill card stock; Basic Grey patterned paper (Granola); Stampin' Up! marker (Chocolate Chip); 7 Gypsy rub-ons; American Craft Thickers.

Independence Day!

It's that time of year again. Time to celebrate the 4th of July with our dear friends, Lissette and Richard. No one knows how to throw a July 4th bash like them! And since Lissette is a dear scrapbooking, cardmaking, stamping friend, I had to make her a card and a gift bag for the hostess gift I got for her. Here's my latest stamping creations:

When I was looking through my stash for patterned paper for the card, the only patriotic paper I found was the star pattern which I used on the bag. That, however, was not the look I was going for on the card. Then I came across this paper from Making Memories Passport line. Even though it had some green in it, I knew it would work. I simply covered the green with the red striped ribbon from my stash and voila, the travel paper became patriotic!

To make the star, I followed the techniques outlined in Jennifer McGuire's Thinking Inking class over at Two Peas in a Bucket. First, I created a mask for my circle and star with the Cricut Graphically Speaking cartridge. Then I filled in the empty space with Ranger's Acrylic Paint Dabbers. I've always hesitated about painting on my craft projects but the Paint Dabbers offer a no mess solution. I also inked my small star stamp with the Paint Dabbers.

Since I used dark card stock, I added cream card stock to the inside of the card.

For the gift bag, I recycled a Hollister shopping bag by using my Leave it to Weaver border punch on patterned paper from my stash and adding ribbon.This gift bag was good for the environment and good for my pocketbook!

Now, if you want to see how much my style has developed and changed, here is a link to the July 4th card I made for Lissette last year: http://eterno-lyyours.blogspot.com/2008/07/4th-and-5th-of-july.html.

Card Ingredients: Stampin' Up! card stock (Night of Navy and Very Vanilla) and DCWV card stock (red); Making Memories patterned paper (Passport); Cricut cartridge (Graphically Speaking); Stampin' Up! ink (Night of Navy); Ranger Acrylic Paint Dabber (Silver); Studio G stamp (Series 12); Making Memories button (Noteworthy) ribbon and twine from my stash.

Bag Ingredients: Hollister shopping bag; paper scrap and ribbon from my stash; Fiskars border punch (Leave It to Weaver).

Embossed Butterfly Cards

I needed to make a lot of cards last week and had very little time to do it. So, inspired by a card a saw in CARD magazine, I created this one. I switched out the sentiment to fit my needs and went to work on a card-making assembly line!

I tried a new technique that I learned from Jennifer McGuire's Thinking Inking class to make the butterfly super shiny. (You can view a video and the pdf at http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/mb.asp?cmd=display&forum_id=52&thread_id=2832083 .) After punching out the butterfly, I stamped the entire surface with VersaMark ink, sprinkled it with embossing powder and set it with my heat gun. Now, here's where the new technique comes in! While the butterfly was still hot, I sprinkled it with more embossing powder and heat set it again. In total, I probably used five or six layers of embossing powder to achieve an acrylic-like look on the butterfly. Here's a close-up of the butterfly.

Ingredients: Stampin' Up! card stock; Basic Grey patterned paper (Romani); Martha Stewart Butterfly punch; Cuttlebug embossing folder (Swiss Dots); Technique Tuesday stamps (Simple Sentiments); EK Success corner rounder; bling from Michael's; black ink; twine from my stash.

UR gr8!

Here's a simple gift card holder I made for Melissa's teacher. Melissa's teacher is a scrapbooker so I wanted to make her card extra special. Here it is:

As you can see, I didn't have a lot of room for the sentiment so I was really happy when I thought of writing "you are great" as I would a text message. Crazy, I know, but it's the little things in life that make me happy!

For the overall design of the card, I used the template from the June 2009 class of Kristina Werner's A Year in Cards class over at Two Peas in a Bucket. You can access a video of her class and a pdf by visiting http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/mb.asp?cmd=display&forum_id=52&thread_id=2828094. Also, be sure to check out Kristina's Make a Card Monday and Finally Friday videos by visiting her blog at: http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/.

Here's a look at the back of the card:

It helps to make this card with two-sided or coordinating patterned paper sso that there is enough visual interest.

And here it is opened:

I've been very crafty over the last week. I made lots of cards to accompany end-of-year gifts and even managed three layouts in a marathon crop with my friend, Lissette. I'll have lots more to share over the next week!

Ingredients: Stampin' Up card stock (kraft); Sassafras Lass (Sunshine Lollipops) patterned paper; Heidi Swapp chipboard alphabet; Technique Tuesday stamp (Swiss Dot); EK Success punches (flowers and corner rounder); Anna Griffin ink (brown); Making Memories buttons; Walmart ribbon.

Pomp and Circumstance

Pomp and Circumstance is the song of the day as Mark graduates middle school and Melissa graduates elementary school. In addition, my niece, Lisa, graduated high school earlier this month and my other niece, Sarah, graduated elementary school. So, in their honor, I have a graduation card to share.

I made this card for my niece, Lisa, so I personalized it by using her school colors. I can't take credit for the design. That goes to the fabulous Carla Percheff. Here's her card which I totally cased: http://moralia.wordpress.com/2009/05/19/good-morning-ladies-cps-116-a-couple-grad-cards/. I hope Carla believes in the old adage that imitation is a sincere form of flattery. If you have time, browse her blog. You will be totally inspired by all of the eye candy! You can also find a tutorial for the Spring Card at Splitcoaststampers.com. Here's the link: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/spring_card/.

Congratulations to all of my graduates! I am so proud of each and every one of you.

Ingredients: Bazzill card stock, Basic Grey (Boxer) patterned paper; Making Memories tiny alphas; Cricut Graphically Speaking and Doodlecharms cartridges; Bazzill Polished Pebbles brad; Jolee's By You graduation tassel.

Once Upon A Time

This layout was a happy accident. I was searching for pictures for one of Melissa's class projects when I came across the two I used for this layout. They were both taken behind Cinderella's Castle in Disney World's Magic Kingdom. In both pictures, Mark is wearing green and Melissa is wearing pink. The only difference between the two pictures is about seven years. That's right! The picture on the left was taken during our vacation to Disney in 2000. The one on the right was from our last Disney vacation. I love how the layout shows how some things stay the same (the castle, the colors of their clothes, how Melissa is looking at her big brother), while other things change (their size, their independence and our Disney experience with older kids). Here's the layout:

The journaling is a continuation of the title. It reads: Once upon a time...there was a little prince and a little princess who believed in all of the kingdom's magic. And then one day, in a blink of an eye, they grew up and just pretended to believe. The End.

The flowers are made by layering circle and scallop punches. I roughed up the edges of the plain circles to give them more texture.

I used my Cricut Storybook cartridge to create the title and then I used a black Sharpie to color my rhinestone gems.

For the border on the bottom, I inked up my new Technique Tuesday In Bloom stamps. I love this set. It cost me less than $3 when I bought it on sale at twopeasinabucket.com and I know I am going to use it a lot. I love the versatility of being able to place the various flowers in the set wherever I want them. You can see the full set here: http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/shop/technique-tuesday/78066-in-bloom-stamps/?filters=technique-tuesday. Unlike other budget priced stamps, I did not have to condition these before using them for the first time. I just love how Technique Tuesday stamps take ink.

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I love doing layouts using pictures from different years. See another one of my favorites here http://eterno-lyyours.blogspot.com/2008/10/scheming-around.html.

Thanks for looking!

Ingredients: American Crafts card stock; Bo Bunny pattern paper (Alison); Making Memories ribbon (Passport); Cricut Cartridge (Storybook); Stampin' Up! punches; Making Memories tiny alphas; Technique Tuesday stamps (In Bloom, Today You Journaling Frames by Ali Edwards); Ink -- Versa Magic (Tea Leaves), Stampin' Up! (Regal Rose, Taken with Teal): Making Memories buttons (Noteworthy), DMC floss.