December Daily -- Days 4, 5 & 6

I am back today with three more pages from my December Daily. I have to admit that I was very excited to make these pages since they are a little out-of-the box for me. (Warning this is a long post with a lot of pictures!)

December 4th was an ordinary Sunday. Sal and I both woke up feeling a little under the weather. We stayed in and I made a stew for dinner. Nothing earth shattering to scrap about, right? Except, every season, when I make my stew for the first time, I have to call my mother and double check her recipe which I have improvised a bit over the years. I decided that a layout was in order. Since this was a small story, I wanted a small foundation so I grabbed a transparency and matching page from the Basic Grey Basics Take Note set. On the front is a picture of my stew simmering on the stove:

And on the back is the recipe. You can click on the picture to enlarge it if you are interested.

Yes, my secret ingredient in stew is ketchup!

On to Day 5. The first Monday in December. Again, no holiday pictures since I still wasn't feeling well. Luckily, my niece Jennifer had sent me a copy of Thomas' letter to Santa. I used it as the inspiration for my layout about Mark and Melissa's Santa lists. I used a Hambly transparency as the foundation so that it is easy to remove Thomas' letter to read it. Here's the page:

Journaling reads: The older Mark & Melissa get, the harder it is to get them to write their Santa list. This year, Mark texted me his list and Melissa never finished hers! For the record, Thomas' letter says:

Dear Santa,

I have been a very good boy this year. Would you please bring me Cars Duplo? I want everything with Cars. Boost is my favorite.

Thank you Santa!

Love, Thomas

To create the envelope, I stamped a background and the word "Believe"on a Maya Road kraft envelope, sealed it and then slit an opening along the top. Here's a closer look:

Since I used a transparency on Day 5, I needed to match my Day 6 layout on the back. I used a free printable which was intended to be used for a spool calendar as the inspiration for my page. I added the names of the songs that Melissa had downloaded from i-tunes for us to listen to in the car. Yes, I know there is a lot of Justin Bieber on that playlist! I added some rub-ons along the top of the page and some patterned paper and letter stickers along the bottom. Here's the page:

Note that after I took the picture, I realized I got carried away with the "o's" in the word to. That's what happens when you scrap when you have a glass of wine while you scrap. I'm just saying. Anyway, the spelling was corrected after the picture was taken. Oh, and for the record, the Simple Stories letter stickers did not include punctuation so I turned an "i" upside down for my exclamation point!

Finally, here's a peak at how these pages look in the album.

I love seeing all of the bits and pieces peaking out from behind the transparency.

It's so different from my traditional albums.

For a full list of supplies used on my December Daily, check this post.

December Daily -- Days 2 & 3

I am back with more pictures of my December Daily.T o simplify things, and keep my posts short, I am listing all of the supplies on this post. If you have any questions about a specific product, please leave a comment and I will do my best to answer. I did try to use up my stash so some of the products I used are older. Okay now for Day 2.

December 2nd found me at home taxiing the kids while Sal was at his company Christmas party. In all the years we have been together, spouses have only been invited one time. I asked Sal to take a picture with his cell phone and when that one didn't turn out well, he brought the camera to work and returned to the Roosevelt Hotel to take a picture for me. It's so nice to have a husband who supports my hobby even though he laments the space it takes up! Here's the layout:

That beautiful red glitter snowflake was actually a tag I found on clearance at Bath and Body Works in 2010. I only paid $0.10 for it! Needless to say, I bought more than one. You just never know where you can find embellishments! Here's a close-up of the journaling:

On Day 3, we took a little road trip to West Chester University to hear my niece sing in her school's choir. This is the second year we have attended the concert and it has fast become one of my favorite holiday activities! Here's my layout:

The Simple Stories journaling card had the word "traditions" on it. I customized it by stamping the word "New" using Technique Tuesday's Initially Yours "N" stamps. Here's a closer look at the number:

That's it for today. I will be back with Days 4 through 25!

Christmas in February!

Even though the calendar says February and the temperatures in the Northeast feel more like April, it's Christmas on my blog! Yes, I am finally getting close to finishing my December Daily so I thought I would start to share it.

I am using an 8.5" x 11" American Crafts album. Most of the pages are going into page protectors but I have a few that were done on transparencies. I built most of my pages on Recollections cardstock but if I had to do it all over again, I would use a higher-quality cardstock with a heavier weight. I found this cardstock difficult to work with. It tore when I pulled pieces up even though I was using repositionable adhesive. And, although my pages aren't loaded with embellishments, this lighter weight cardstock seems a little warped in the corners on the heavier pages. You can't tell the difference when I put the pages in the page protectors but I don't think the cost savings outweigh the negatives. I'm just saying!

Now, for the pages. The first is my title page. It uses a picture of a nursery that I literally stumbled upon when I took my mom to buy a grave blanket. I could kick myself for not having my camera with me but I couldn't pass up this beautiful scene so I used my phone. It's not the best picture but I think it captures the grandeur of the poinsettias and works as a good opening page. Here it is:

Throughout my album, I use December Daily journaling cards from Pretty Little Studio. On this page, I layered the card on top of a Maya Road doily that I misted with Calico White Mister Huey and stamped the title using Technique Tuesday's Studio AE stamps. Here's a close -up:

Another element that I used to tie the pages together was the red velvet paper from SEI. I used a 3/4" strip on most pages. Multiple uses of Authentique Diction word stickers and Simple Stories Countdown Stickers also help unify the pages.

For Day 1, I took a picture of my Advent Angel. Here it is:

Journaling reads: Hanging the Advent Angel is a sure sign that the Christmas season has begun! When Mark and Melissa were small, each wanted the coveted job of moving the star on Christmas day. Using their birth years as a guide, I developed a system to make it fair. Mark moved the star on odd number days when the year ended in an odd number, and Melissa did so when the year ended in an even number. Now Mark doesn't care so much and Melissa moves the star ever day. We will see what happens on Christmas morning.

Here's a close-up of the countdown sticker embellished with rhinestone stickers which I layered on top of the journaling card.

Well, one down and 24 to post!

Album Supplies:

Patterned Paper: October Afternoon (Good Cheer); Simple Stories (25 Days of Christmas); K& Company (Yultide); My Mind's Eye (Lost & Found; The Merry Days of Christmas); Little yellow Bicycle (Christmas Wishes).

Specialty Papers & Transparencies: SEI (Rouge Velour); Hambly; Fancy Pants; Basic Grey Basics (Take Note).

Stickers: Authentique (Wonder Diction Words); Simple Stories (25 Days of Christmas); K & Company (Yultide); recollection (Rhinestone).

Stamps: Technique Tuesday (Studio AE -- 25 Moments by Ali Edwards; Celebrate the Seasons by Ali Edwards; Believe by Ali Edwards; Initially Yours -- N): Hero Arts (Magical Background)

Inks: Memento (Tuxedo Black); Stampin' Up! (Ripe Advocado; Riding Hood Red; Crumb Cake); Tim Holtz Distress (Antique Linen; Persimmon); Mister Heuy (Calico White; Overdue);

Punches: Fiskars (Scalloped Sentiment, Upper Crust); EK Success Edger Punch (Postge Stamp);

Misc.: Pretty Little Studio (Journaling Cards); Maya Road (Kraft Doilies; Die Cut Kraft Doilies; envelope) Recollections (Stars); Tim Holtz Idea-ology Collection (Numerals; Christmas Adornments; Mini Paper Clips); My Mind's Eye brads (Lost & Found/Union Square); Making Memories felt stickers (Tinsel); Little Yellow Bicycle Epoxy Chipboard (Christmas Wishes); Me & My Big Ideas misc. embellishments and rub-ons (Noel) Creative Imaginations rub-ons (Hollyberry); Imaginisce Poinsettia Vendetta (Cinnamon).

Some Sweet Valentine's

Sorry for the long absence, yet again. I have been very busy with a new project at work so blogging, and even scrapping, have had to take a bit of a back seat. I had a meeting with clients in New Jersey on Valentine's Day that went longer than expected so my darling children got i-tunes cards instead of handmade Valentine's. That was fine for Mark but Melissa jokingly reminded me how I did manage to make cards for my nephews. Note to self: don't leave making holiday cards to the last minute. LOL!

Anyway, as I said, I did make cards for my nephews Paul and Thomas who are 2 1/2 and 3. Since time was of the essence, I pulled out an old mini-pad of Cosomo Cricket and used two of the journaling cards as my sentiment. I customized each with the heart outline stamped in black and filler stamped in red. I added a little shine to the heart with Glossy Accents. A little twine for the one card and brads on each finished them off and kept them flat for mailing.

Here is the card I made for Thomas:

And, here is the card I made for Paul:

Paul's mom, Jenn, texted me to tell me that Paul loved his Valentine from "Lindy"! With such a rave review, I better get to work on my St. Patrick's Day cards!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Neenah Solar White.

Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket (Cogsmo).

Stamps: Technique Tuesday (Loving Words).

Inks: Memento (Tuxedo Black); Tim Holtz Distress (Barn Door).

Tools: EK Success (Corner Rounder; Postage Stamp Edger Punch).

Misc.: Martha Stewart twine; Eyelet Outlet brads.

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