Paper Reverie

I found this beautiful paper at Scrapdoodles! It's from Making Memories and is their line called "Paper Reverie." I love how the brown and subtle shimmer complements this photo of our Hannah. The doilie and "Blessing" cuts are done with my Cricut and I made the accordion medallion with more of the Paper Reverie. The lace border strip is from Little Yellow Bicycle.

I also picked up some of the greys/blacks line from Paper Reverie. There was a huge stack of black shimmery sebra stripe - not normally my choice, but I could see cutting the strips and using them seperately - and I love how they turned out in this layout. I think the scheme looks great with these wintery photos.

Not wanting any of the paper to go to waste, and needing to decorate some (super inexpensive clearance find!) candles, I used more of the line to embellish these candles.

Moral of the story? Every once in a while, choose some papers that you normally wouldn't - you'll be challenged in your creativity and by keeping products in the same line or family, you'll more than likely be amazed at your results!

Happy Scrappin'!

More Fall Projects

Here are some more fall projects to share. Have I mentioned how much I love the colors and smells of autumn? Yummy! The first project is a banner to hang for Thanksgiving. I used cereal boxes for a sturdier pennant base and then covered the pennants with beautiful papers from DCWV. The accordion circle takes a little time, but I really like dimension they add. I cut the letters with Cindy Loo. The acorns are from my backyard - I love them! We will be making this banner for our next FaithKeeping session at church.

Another quick project idea came from a magazine picture I saw. I love the natural look of using branches and the unpopped corn. It's a great centerpiece and fun way to use the scraps you just can't bear to throw away!
Lastly, I made a few treat bags for my little friends. The paper scraps and embellishments are mostly from Making Memories. I cut initials for the bags from Blackletter.
I'm off to another wedding this weekend. I'm sure it will be beautiful and I can't wait to have the photos in hand to create more projects! Happy Scrappin'.

Loving Fall

Don't you just love fall? I love, love, love the crisp air and crunch of leaves. I love the reds, golds and browns. And I love new fall papers! I've been busy on a lot projects, which I'll share with you over the next few days.

First I'll share a project and a couple of layouts I made for Scrapdoodles. I used Making Memories and My Mind's Eye papers and embellishments. I was really amazed at the variety of Halloween-themed papers available this year! I'm not a big Halloween fan, but do enjoy the opportunity to dress up and eat candy! I made this cute table top tree using a wide mouthed canning jar filled with candy corn and a branch from outside. I then used papers and embellishments to create little "ornaments" to hang. Very simple and very cute!

My friend Cheryl let me use her family's cute Halloween pictures from a couple of years ago to make the first layout. The second layout features borders I made with the buttons and tag embellishments available from Making Memories. I also loved these sort of "spooky" photos I took last year around the house one very foggy October morning. Stay tuned this week and next week for a few more fall-themed projects. I think I'll go snack on some caramel apples before I get back to work!

FaithKeeping

It's time for FaithKeeping at Redeemer! We're meeting this weekend, Oct 9, to fellowship and craft with a purpose! Our projects: a variety of greeting cards - I've so far cut out parts for assembling almost 300 cards. You'll make some for yourself to encourage your friends and family and you'll leave some for Redeemer's card ministry program, to encourage those who have requested prayers.

We will also be making these cute and clever bookmarks. They are actually made from recycled envelopes and sit right on the corner of your devotional or whatever book you're enjoying. They are super easy to make, and you'll probably want more than one. I hope you'll be there.

Wisconsin Wedding ... and Culver's

We recently returned from a fun trip back to our home state of Wisconsin. Primarily we went to spend time with family and attend a family wedding. Hannah was invited to be a flower girl and for a 20 month old, did a fantastic job. This week I headed out to our LSS - Scrapdoodles in Fredericksburg, to pick up some travel and wedding themed papers. It was hard to choose! First, I pulled from Basic Grey's new "Wander" line and then stumbled upon some fun things from We R Memory Keepers. The blue and orange combo drew me in and I really liked the large blue checked and orange bordered die cut. I also picked up the pack of BG's "Wander" pieces - I love those things! When we go back to Wisconsin, we have a few spots on our "must visit" list, so I made a layout featuring pics from 2 faves - Rocky Rococo's and Culver's. Yummy!

The wedding selection at Scrapdoodles is great. I was drawn to the black and white paper and embellishments and created a double page layout along with a card and gift bag. The papers and pretty flowers are from imaginisce and the chipboard pieces are from teresa collins. The great part of Scrapdoodles wedding selections is that all the lines can be mixed and matched for some awesomely beautiful pages! Thanks for checking in!

Diaper Cake!

I just love making diaper cakes for baby showers! This time I teamed up with my friend, Cheryl and together we made this super cute diaper cake for our new Vicar and his wife, expecting their firstborn very soon. All the adorable animal cuts were made with the Create a Critter Cricut cartridge. I think we used about 90 size 1 and 2 diapers.

Sketch Challenge with Crate Paper

Crate Paper had a simple, very versatile sketch featured for August, so I decided to play along. I had a few pieces of their "Paper Doll" line left and some of the chipboard shapes, and it all worked well with these sweet pics of Hannah. I inked most of the edges and added a stitched border. On a side note, Hannah does not like the sound of the sewing machine for some reason and cried the whole time - I kept saying, "One more side!" until I finished. I hope you enjoy the results more than she did!

FaithKeeping

It's almost time to start up FaithKeeping! I have so many projects in mind, it's hard to decide what to do next. For our session on Saturday, September 11, we will be making this wonderful little album created with recycled toilet paper rolls. YES - I said TOILET PAPER rolls! Our focus for faith building will be the fruits of the spirit. This little album will help us look into what scripture has to say about living by the fruits of the spirit. You'll fill your little book with tags that include scripture and prayers. Here are some pictures of my completed samples. I can't wait to see what you all come up with.

This FaithKeeping session is open to anyone who wants to join us at Redeemer Lutheran Church on Harrison Road. If you'd like more details, just leave me a comment and I will get right back to you!

Basic Grey "Oliver" Papers and Tips

I was able to pick up a few papers from Basic Grey’s “Oliver” line. I also chose a pack of coordinating die cuts. I don’t know about you, but my crafting budget is often limited, so I like to get the most out of my supplies. With my 3 sheets of beautiful paper and 1 pack of embellishments, I created an awesome layout and 6 cards. The “Oliver” line is a bit boyish, but I thought they went very well with this photo of my daughter.

I used several of the coordinating die cuts on this layout. Some of the die cuts featured pictures of trains and I didn’t think I would ever use them, so I decided to alter them. This is how you get more out of your supplies! I used a heart punch and punched hearts from the die cuts I didn’t think I would use, then inked the edges a bit and created a border around my photo. The result is a unique element and now I don’t have a bunch of unused die cuts sitting in a box. I like layering the embellishments, too. On this layout I tied 3 of the tags together and wrote some journaling on 2 of them. The dandelion cut is from my "Lyrical Letters" Cricut cartridge. You can't tell by looking on the layout, but I cut a large square in the blue background paper so I could use it on a couple of other projects. I knew the red would cover it up and it's a great way to save a little paper. Here are the 6 cards I made using the paper scraps and tags left after I completed the layout. The only other supplies I used were white cardstock for the card base, and a few rub-ons and brads.

Pink Paislee Papers

Had lots of fun at Scrapdoodles yesterday picking out some awesome papers to play with! Pink Paislee is a relatively new company and I picked up papers from 2 different lines. “Queen Bee” is beautiful patterns of golds, greens, and browns. When I saw the scalloped circle sheet – I knew I had to use it. This line is perfect for your outdoor photos. I used them to create this layout of Hannah walking in our yard earlier this spring. The small photos were cut using a square punch. I also used my Cricut on this layout to cut out the letters for the title (Opposites Attract Cartridge).

I also chose Pink Paislee’s “Bayberry Cottage” line - a couple of papers and a pack of die cut tags and embellishments. I really like the dark pattern paired with bright purples, greens, and blues. I was recently introduced to a wonderful song about marriage called "Walking in the Minefields" by Andrew Peterson and I used some of the lyrics to create a little album devoted to our favorite married couples – or those who have inspired us. Again, one package of coordinating die cut embellishments went a long way on this project and added simple, yet elegant touches. I love making these little albums - would you believe it's just one sheet of 12x12 paper plus embellishements? It's super easy.

Beach-y

We didn't really hit the beach this summer, but Hannah sure enjoys any opportunity to get wet. The July challenge at Practical Scrappers is to use something you take to or find at the beach. I thought it would be fun to put a piece of beach towel on a layout and my dear husband conveniently ripped one, so I cut out this cute frog image from the towel to use. The letters and frame are cut from Cindy Loo. I think the layout is fun and summery and very beach-y!

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone had a fabulous 4th! We spent the day with family and friends and way too much food - but it was so worth it. Today I was really looking forward to working with some beautiful patriotic patterned papers I picked up from Scrapdoodles in Fredericksburg. It's too hot to be outside today, so I've been spending H.'s naptime working on a couple of layouts.

In my first layout, I used more of the We R Memory Keepers "Old Glory" line. Don't you love the firecracker cut (from Stand and Salute)? I used it to replace the "i" in the title. The font is Storybook. The pearls are from Queen & Co. I paired them with a button from Fancy Pants to make the fireworks up in the right hand corner. Speaking of Fancy Pants, they recently came out with the "Family" line of papers that are so wonderful for summer and 4th of July pages. I used them for my next layout, featuring me and my H. eating our 4th of July corn on the cob. Any Cricut cuts on this page are from Graphically Speaking. The cute die cut is from We R Memory Keepers. If you want to see these layouts in person, stop by Scrapdoodles soon and pick up some of these awesome paper lines for your summer projects!

The layout design for this page is based on a sketch featured this week on Stuck on U Sketches. Another great challenge blog, Frosted Designs, is challenging everyone to use red, white, and blue, and stars and stripes on their layouts this week. Thanks to those blogs for the great inspiration!

Patriotic Banners

I went to my LSS Scrapdoodles yesterday and picked up some of the yummy patriotic papers by We R Memory Keepers - the line is called "Old Glory." I think they are a bit nostalgiac looking. I thought they would be perfect for some of the 4th of July cuts off the A Child's Year cartridge. I used that cartridge and the Stand and Salute cartridge for all the cuts on these two banners. It's hard to tell, but I also misted each with Tattered Angels gold glimmer mist. I mounted recycled cardboard to the backs to give it a little more stability and connected everything with floral wire. A fun, patriotic project for the summer.

Father's Day Recycle

I had fun creating this project out of some recycled material. I used a juice bar box as the base and part of a Cricut cartridge plastic packaging to cover the window. The patterned paper is a great hunting print from Reminisce, if I remember correctly. The cuts are from my Camp Out cartridge, except for "Dad" which was cut with Beyond Birthdays. I inked the edges. The last step was to fill the box with treats. Hope he likes it!

Sewing Project

I took a break from paper crafting to work on a couple of sewing projects. Here's a 3 foot tall kitty I made for my daughter. I also made one in pink for my goddaughter. I think they turned out pretty cute! As long as I had the sewing maching out, I also sewed a pillow out of a set of Hannah's shirts a friend had embroidered and I didn't want to throw away, and sewed new curtains for Hannah's room. I do miss my paper, though, so bye-bye sewing maching - I'll bring you out another day!