Scrappin' the Details

Friendship Card

I am so thankful it is Wednesday!  The weather here has been gloomy.  It has rained off and on for the last few days.  Normally, I love the rain, but I think my kids are getting cabin fever! 

Hopefully, there will be sun soon.

I have a card to share with you today.  Busy working on scrapbook pages and a Best Friends mini album.  I came across the tag that I used on this card last night.  I had an idea for it, but it never found its place, until today.

I used the Sabrina line from Making Memories.  The colors in this line are my favorite!  I was able to bring out my MEGA scallop punch for this project!  Love, love this punch.  

Enjoy the rest of your day!

My Five Favorite Scrapbooking Supplies

I thought I would share a few of my favorite scrapbooking supplies.  There are more, but the following are my must haves!  I cannot scrapbook without them.

The first item is a cutting mat by Making Memories.  I love, love this  mat and always use this to lay my project upon.  It is big, and the retail cost was $19.99.  A great investment!  You  can  see a peek below of the mat, along with my next favorite thing!

I use the Perfect Layers on every single project.  They are fantastic for getting that precise mat around a photo.  I know they were available at QVC, but Stampin Up also sells them.  I have two sets.  I leave one at home and one in my crop bag.  The one in my crop bag is getting a little dusty.  It has been a long time since I attended a crop! LOL

My third favorite item is the glitter glue from Martha Stewart.  You can find it at Michaels.  I love it because it has a brush on the end and is fantastic for covering large items! 

My fourth scrapbooking item that I cannot be without is, this lite!

It is an Ott lite, and it is in my favorite color, PINK!   I do much of my scrapbooking at night when my little ones are asleep.  With these eyes, this lite is a necessity.  I bought mine also at Michaels.  I used a coupon and I paid under $40.oo for it.  There are many too choose from and the prices vary.

My fifth favorite scrapbooking item is perhaps the most important!  It is a paper trimmer by Tonic!

I was upset that I failed to bring mine, when I moved to Texas.   I did not think I would come across this trimmer in a store.  However, I did happen to find it at Archivers.  It is so precise when cutting and the cost was reasonable.  I would love to get my hands on THIS.  However, due to cost and time to receive the item, it will have to wait.  However, the reviews on the trimmer have been fantastic.  It is on my wish list!

Okay, I thought I would list five, but there are two more I want to add!  LOL  I love stamps, so they  have to be included in my favorite scrapbooking items!!!

Here is a close up of a few of my favorites right now:

Finally, my last favorite thing is, yes, another die cutting machine!  I thought I would never buy another one.  After all, I am lucky to have the Big Shot, Revolution, and the Cricut Expression!  Why, did I need another machine?  Well, first, I was only able to bring a few Quickutz dies with me, and I left my Cricut with a friend.  I did not want to take that huge item with me.  Thought this was more than enough to justify buying this:

The Slice!  I love this little machine.  It is so lightweight, and easy to use.  I was lucky to purchase this item with a 40% off coupon.  However, I think now you are not able to use coupons.  I only have a few cartridges, but they give you many shapes and letters on each card.  You can find out more about this machine here.

Okay, I must stop, because I could probably think of a few more.  I wanted to share the item that I have been using to stitch my circles on my projects.  

It is a template by Bazzill.

There are so many different shaped templates to choose from.  I love the tools that also accompany them!

I am off to make dinner for the kids and try to relax.  Tonight it is Dancing With The Stars and, yes, my beloved Lakers are on tonight!  Hoping that they send the Jazz home, but part of me wants the Jazz to win, so there will be another game.  I know that sounds and is crazy!!!  LOL

Have a great week creating!

Simple "Hello" Card

Happy Saturday!  We are spending most of this lazy day, cleaning!  It is not a fun thing to do, but it must get done!  

I wanted to share the card I created in about 15 minutes.  Sorry the photo is not the best.  Hopefully, you get the idea.  

I am off to clean, and spend some time on my photography class.  With everyone being sick, I have not had time to read through lessons.  I desperately need to be reading them!  LOL

Have a great weekend!

Happy Friday

I was hoping to share a card today.  It is too dark to get a decent photo!  I will try and upload tomorrow.  I used leftover supplies from my previous layout.  It took all about 15 minutes to complete.  A very simplistic design, but nice.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Got flowers?

It has been a crazy five days!  Luckily, Roman did not have chicken pox!  However, Roman and Macie had a virus that kept them home.  They both went back to school today, and seem to be on the mend!  That was a good thing!  I am not feeling a hundered percent, but I hope it passes soon!!

I do have a layout to share.  It is a single page 12x12 layout of Gabi!  I took this photo of her on Easter.  I knew exactly the embellishments that I was going to use. Remember these flowers?

 

I used many of them on the following layout!  I love them.  They have so much texture and dimension on them!  The colors are bold and fun!  In fact, I purchased another box! A girl can never have too many flowers!

This layout is called Always follow your heart.  I used a sketch from In2Scraps.  What is In2Scraps?  This is a joint venture with my very good friend, Jeannette. We have been creating, designing and preparing for our launch in Fall '09.  So stay tuned!

I used product from the Making Memories Flower Patch line, punches from EK Success, Flowers and rhinestones from K&CO.  I used very little product on this layout.  This was definitely out of my comfort zone.  I love patterned paper and really did not use a whole lot here.

I tried to keep it as simple as possible, and added a few finishing touches.  

Technique used here, hand stitching around the scallop circles.  Take a tip from me, punch outer holes before stitching!  LOL  I had to redo one scallop because I punched too close to the edge!

One other thing that I have been wanting to try, was adding glitter on my title.  I do like the finished look.  You may not be able to see, but my title is done with glitter! 

It took a few tries to accomplish, but it worked!

Here are a few closeups of some of the embellishments:

I love this photo, because of the angle!

Closeup of K&CO flowers.

I punched a small butterfly and attached it to the ribbon with a safety pin by Making Memories.

Close up of my journaling that I stamped and printed on the computer.

Thanks for glancing at my latest layout!  I will admit I struggled with this one! 

However, it is done!  

I did learn a few things about myself when designing this layout.  It has to do with shopping and scrapbook supplies.  I will save that for a later post!

Have a great evening!

Monday!

I have never been too fond of Mondays!  I do not know why.  It should be a fresh start to a brand new week.  One that you can commit to adhering to goals that you have set. 

I was hoping to rejuvenate and begin working on some of my "goals."  However, my Monday has started with a few "bumps" in the road!  

I have two children that have contacted a virus from school.  I have scheduled an appointment with the doctor, because my fear is that Roman may have chicken pox!

I hope this is not the case, so off to the doctor.  

I am not feeling 100%.  So off to the doctor for me too.  Hope that we are all better soon.  

I hope you are having a great start to your Monday!

Fancy Pants Fun

Okay, I wanted to share the cute chipboard book I recently purchased.  I do love mini books, for two reason.  One they are fast, and they are perfect for projects containing a handful of photos.

There were many different shapes in this same style.  It was so difficult to decide which one to buy.  I wanted at least three!  In the end I came home with one.  Here is what it looks like:

It contains a mixture of chipboard, felt and transparency sheets!  I cannot wait to play with this product.  I chose this shape, because I thought it would be a great book for sports!  Maybe a football mini book.  

Here is a closer look of the contents:

I love Fancy Pants products.  They are one of my favorite scrapboook lines!  You can find out more of their products by going here.   I bought my book at Archivers.  For some of you in Orange County, Oasis got them in stock.  

They were about three or four shapes to choose from.  Have fun with your new book!

Have a good night and be back soon with my latest layout.  Friday I will post my 5 Favorite scrapbooking items!

Random Goodness

Lakers game is about to start, but I thought I would type a quick post.  A girl has to have some perks in her life.  I love the Lakers, and now that I am in Texas I do not get the opportunity to view many televised games.  So thankful I have the playoffs to look forward to!  Assuming my Lakers will play for awhile!

Anyway, I wanted to share some photos from Easter.  I tried to put some of the photography lessons to practice.  Again, I shoot everything in auto.  Karen assures the class, that auto,  will no longer be an option.   I cannot wait to really learn all that my camera is capable of doing.

It has been really refreshing to see photos of some of the students in class.  They are absolutely refreshing and creative.  You can tell that some of them are truly professionals.  It has been great to learn from them too.

Lots of information has been shared, and I have not had time to dive into this week's assignment.  I really need uninterrupted time and with three kiddos, not going to happen!  LOL  I am going to wait until the weekend to upload past assignments and focus on this week's lessons.

Anyway, so scared of what to do with the camera.  I bought a new lense, a Nikon 50mm.  This is the lense I shot my photos.  Again, in auto, but will learn how to use it effectively.  However, my favorite lense so far!  I am glad I invested the money into purchasing the lense.

I was trying to put into action composition, creative cropping, angling, etc. etc.  So much to think about, trying to develop an eye for moments to shoot.  Anyway, I just decided to shoot and not think about it too much.  Okay, a bunch of my photos were blurry and I was so discouraged.  I do not understand ISO, Aperture, etc.  As I was scanning through my photos, realizing they were all going to be duds, lo and behold, I got a few great shots!  Okay, I did not get many of egg hunting, but you know what I did get??  Shots that captured my children's personalities dead on!  In my opinion, I captured Roman's to the tee.  Before I show you a few of them, let me show you a photo that I took of Gabi. 

Before the class, I would have thought great shot of Gabi.  However, now, I see what is wrong with the photo.  See if you can spot the problem.

Do you see it, besides exposure?  It looks as if Gabi has wire antennas growing on the sides of her head.  I did not do a good job of framing my daughter.  Now, I go back and see all the photos I have taken of my family, and some of them have trees growing from the top of their heads.  LOL  Anyway, one great tip I have learned, but need to apply.

Okay, now here are my photos that I think are a step in the direction.  (I hope.)

My Macie, this photo tells it all!  (I know I cut the top of her head.  Ugh!)

This photo tells my Macie is a little girl with a mind of her own!  I love it!

Here I love the angle that I shot this photo.  

I have a better photo of Gabi:

She is absolutely beautiful!

Finally, two photos of Roman that captures his personality dead on!  I thought there was only one, but was fortunate to find another!

I love, love this photo!  It tugs my heart, and if you knew Roman, you would know this is picture perfect!

One last photo of Bubba:

Here, I tried off centering my subject and so glad I did!  Love it!

Thanks for allowing me to share some of my photos.  I do have one more that may be blurry, but it is the only one I have of egg hunting!

I do like this photo, it reflects the craziness of the event.  It was about to rain, so the kids were trying to find the eggs as fast as they could.  During this time, the cascarones apppeared!  So fun!

I was going to show you a cute chipboard album I purchased, but this post is so heavy.  I will wait until next time.

I do have a sneak peek of a product I used on my latest layout:

These chipboard flowers are by K & Co.  I bought them about a month ago.  They were the last pack.  I liked the texture and color, and I knew they would be versatile. A few of them found a home on my layout and will share this soon.  I have a few finishing details to complete.

Thanks for making it through.  Have a great night!

edited to add:  photos are straight from the camera, no editing.  However, will share some fun actions I found to help a not so great photo, a great one!  

Happy Easter and a Peek into the Past

I wanted to pop in and wish everyone a Happy Easter!  I am looking forward to our weekend.  Tomorrow, we are heading to my parents home.  My brother is also here with his wife, and their new baby!!!  Technically, they are not married, but to me she is already my sister-n-law.  Of, course my sister and her family will be there too.  

Everyone is together, except for one important person in our lives.  We will be thinking of him!!  

It has been a long time, since we have all been together.  We are celebrating Easter a day early.  Michelle, my sister-n-law, has a big family and she plans on being with them on Sunday.  So tomorrow, it is dying Easter eggs, baking sugar cookies, and possibly the Easter Bunny will be arriving to hide eggs.  Of, course I bought cascarones, so this should be a fun day.

A friend asked if I was cooking ham for Easter.  No, we are in Texas now.  It is barbecue, my dad's style!  He barbecues like there is no tomorrow!  He is the master of barbecuing! 

Okay, I also found pictures of my past ATC Spinner called a Year of Memories.  This was my last class I taught at Timeless.  Miss the store and everyone there!  Sorry, I know some of you have seen this project before!

I created this spinner to hold all my favorite photos of 2007.  This is something that can be left in a favorite spot and can be enjoyed by everyone.  My kids loved looking through this, and did not want me to take it to the store!  

Love this spinner by 7 Gypsies.  They have introduced a new one that has a more vintage look.  I may need to look into buying one!

Here is my Spinner:

A look inside.  The cards are already cut for you.  All you need to do is add paper, and embellishments.  

Another view inside:

The top of the spinner:

:

I used paper from Bazzill and Making Memories throughout.  A lot of flowers from Bazzill were also used!  Of, course tons of stamping.

Okay, have a wonderful weekend!  Next week, I hope to have some projects to share and I will share my favorite 5 scrapbooking products!

Altered Binder for "Scraps"

I wanted to share a binder I altered to house my "IN2Scraps!"  When I saw this binder at Office Max, I knew it would be perfect.  I also found bare dividers that I also covered in paper and stamps!  I wanted to have a binder that would house sketches, magazine pages that contained favorite layouts, and pre-printed sketches that you also find in magazines.

Basically, just a Scrapbooking Binder!  I do not have a picture of the binder before, because I lost those photos when my hard drive crashed!  However, it is a bare 81/2x11 binder.  I am certain you could find this in any office supply store.  You could also used an 8x8 binder by Maya Road , if you wanted a smaller size.  

I used the Sabrina paper line from Making Memories!  I purchased the paper and a few embellishments to alter the binder.  It was all in my two favorite colors, pink and black!  You can find all the supplies I used at your local Michael's!  

Here is my binder:

The technique I used here was using a precut chipboard frame, cutting a window in the middle using an exacto knife.  I then covered in my favorite glitter glue and covered the entire surface with my favorite glitter by

Doodlebug!

I then layered the frame with a transparency from Hambly and then layered once again on patterned paper!

Here are closeups:

 

I know in the image above it seems that the word "in" is a little big for that flower.  

I lost the original piece in the process of moving scrapbook supplies.  I wanted to share this with you, so I improvised!  LOL

I also decided to cover the bare dividers too.  I covered both sides to make them pretty.  I stamped on the back side of each one with a damask stamp with a rhinestone in the center.  The front of each divider is covered in a different patterned paper and embellish differently.  The first page I used a glitter letter"S."  Finally, because I wanted to label each divider, the clips that are part of this collection, were perfect.  I stamped the center of each with a brief description of what the divider would be used for.

 

Okay, there is my binder!  I really liked the way it turned out.  I had to be careful not too use to many three dimensional elements.  I do want this binder to hold up well, and it has been used tremendously by me! 

Now I have not used my sketch section, yet.  Although, I think this might help my scrapbooking process.  One of my best friends,(Jeannette) sketches frequently, and I am trying!  For me, I pick out photos, paper and then the process begins.  I kind of let everything evolve!!!  I do not have a plan.  I just hope for the best! LOL

Thank you for letting me share my project with you!