November Mini Make & Take: Blessings Pocket

I love the pockets with numbered strips that you write on and tuck inside.

Little Yellow Bicycle and Close to my Heart both make them,

although I don't know if there is one specifically for counting your blessings.

However, you can also make them yourself, which is what I did for the

November mini Make and Take project.

I used the Cricut to cut the pocket and the strips. I manipulated

the designs on my Gypsy to make them the length and height I wanted.

The pocket came from Tags, Boxes, Bags, and More.

Each strip is just a rectangle from the Close to my Heart

Art Philosophy cartridge, that I made slimmer.

"Count Your Blessings" on the front of the pocket is a

Teresa Collins stamp that I found at the LSS awhile ago.

The square "frame" for each number is a

Studio G stamp, from a little monogram stamp set.

The numbers within the squares are from the

My Sentiments Exactly "Formal" Lower/Numbers set.

The Studio G and MSE stamps were much

older stamps that I've had for years.

Halloween Mini Album/Altered Cricut cartridge box

In September, I began a Halloween mini-album in a box (altered Cricut cartridge box), but due to illness that turned into pneumonia, I just haven't had the energy to do anything more on it. Since today is Halloween, I'm posting a little of what I did get done before getting sick.

First I took apart a Cricut cartridge box and covered it, then glued the

inner box section back on. The rosette and the iron gate edging are both Tim Holtz

dies. I mainly used a K & Company paper pad and coordinating

embellishments, but I did throw in a few other things from the LSS and

from JoAnn's. The spiderweb edging on the bottom of the

front flap is a Martha Stewart punch.

Below: the open box. I will probably put something inside the lid.

I just didn't get that far yet. The unfinished mini-album is inside the box.

The front cover of the unfinished mini-album.

There will be ribbons on the rings eventually.

The first couple of pages. The apothecary bottles on the right

page are large enough for small photos or journaling on the back.

The labels from the bottles came from the internet.

I was already sick when I found them, and I thought I knew where

I got them, but my head must have been in a fog.

If I figure it out, I'll post it later.

There's a little more I got done, but not enough to show.

At the rate I'm going, maybe it will be done for Halloween 2012.

I'm still sick. The doctor gave me a different antibiotic to try.

Now I'm going back to bed.

Happy Halloween!

October Make & Take Treat Bag

The die cut box is from Accu-Cut. The ticket stamp is by Tim Holtz. The little Jack-o-lantern and Crow landscape (background) are Stampendous Cling Rubber stamps. To do the background I had to mask off the parts I didn't want stamped, because the stamp would have spilled over slightly onto the sides. The little bow is crochet thread that I've had in my stash for years.

Oct. 5th Wednesday layout sneak peek

When I went in to the LSS a couple of days ago, the owner asked if I would do another layout for their Wednesday Make & Take. It's a Make & Take where the customers purchase the supplies, and they get the instructions and a free element. They can put together the layout in the crop room, which is why it's called a Make & Take. Since I was already planning to do a leaf jumping page for photos of these little cuties, I said yes and spent some time doing up this layout. One of the papers is a Karen Foster (left side, base page), the other patterned papers are new ones by Reminisce, from their Harvest line. The 3D stickers are Reminisce, too, and the paper leaves are by Bazzill. The free element is the little ticket shaped tag in the lower right corner. It's actually a "topper" from the Cricut Cupcake Wrappers Lite cartridge.

Back to doing Make & Take projects--here is September's

The gal who took over doing the monthly Make & Take projects during the summer won't be doing them anymore. So I'm back to doing them again. Above is the one I designed for September. The shaped card was made by folding the paper in half and die-cutting it with the fold just INSIDE the cutting line on one side. It's a Tim Holtz die, and the center is the matching Movers & Shapers die which was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. The leaf is a Spellbinders die. I have no idea who made the stamp set that I used for the sentiment, and that is strange. Normally I keep the package header with the stamp set, but it wasn't there. I also have no idea who made the paper used to cut the card base. It's some kind of map style paper, but I liked the colors and the pattern gave it a textured look. Pumpkin Spice colored chalk in was used to chalk the leaf. Chestnut Roan was used to shade the edges of the center shape and stamp the sentiment.

I was asked to design a layout for the weekly Make & Take page that customers can come in and do at the LSS. The new layout is available each Wednesday, and this one is for tomorrow. I used the Kaiser Blae & Ivy collection. The die-cut flourish was a Sizzix die. The flowers are a mix of Kaiser and Bazzil, with Pebbles Pearl Candy Dots at the centers. Thickers were used to do the title.

I designed the layout using photos of my son and his girlfriend, which will be added after I get my layout back in a week.

2010 July 4th layout, tweaked and finished

I did some tweaking to the cluster (shown in the July 23rd post), as well as the rest of the left side of the layout. The title is my own creation, as is the label that backs it. However, the cut label is very similar to the printed label that I was originally going to use for journaling. I ended up doing hidden journaling again. The heart shape just above the top left photo of the right page is actually the top of the journal tag. The photo corners were punched twice: once with the corner pattern of stars, and once with the corner punch centered over the corner stars that had been punched. I hope that makes sense. The firework die cut added to the cluster is a Cricut design from the Stand & Salute cartridge. I used Stickles on it to glitz it up. I added some stars cut from my graphics design program, some buttons, and a little more journaling to finish it off. There are an additional two pages that are part of this four page layout, but I'm not sure if I'll post them or not.

Playing with Mudd Puddles

At least a couple of years ago at GASC, I discovered an interesting product called Mudd Puddles. Basically, it's a little jar with sand in it, with glue mixed in. There are different colors of sand you can buy, because beaches can vary considerably in color and makeup.

You spread Mudd Puddles on your chipboard/cardstock (or whatever you want) for texture. Now you can get it with tiny seashells, too. Above is a title I made today for a beach layout. The layout is still in progress, but I'm pretty happy with the title. Besides Mudd Puddles, I used Glossy Accents to give a shine on the upper part of the letters, to make one think of water, like waves lapping on the sand.

Layout: 4th of July 2010

Sorry about the fuzziness of the picture.

The above is what will be the left side of the

first two pages of a four page layout.

Below is a close up of the embellishment cluster.

This is the first time I've tried this trend.

It's also the first time I've used tickets on a layout. The tickets were stamped with an Inkadinkadoo clear stamp set. The inside designs on the tickets were stamped with Studio G stamps. The flourish behind the rosette is a Sizzix die cut. The rosette is the Tim Holtz rosette. I created the tiny pinwheel by hand, since it's so easy, and I wanted a little something more. I don't know who made the flag button. It came from my stash.

The papers are from Best Creation Inc: I Love/Heart America designs. I found them at the LSS a month or so ago, and they seemed perfect for my 4th of July 2010 pictures.

Yes, I'm behind. Big time.

The other 3 pages will coordinate with this one and will have

a mixture of family and fireworks photos.

I'll try to update with the full four page layout when done.

Layout: Cherry Blossoms

In the spring I found this lovely cherry blossom paper at the LSS. It's by Paper House. Since we usually go as a family to see the cherry blossoms in DC every year, I went ahead and bought it in the hopes that we would go again this year. Depending on how the paper is oriented, you get a different pattern of the blossoms. It has a stone background, so while it can be turned a quarter of a turn, it doesn't look quite as nice that way.

I don't usually do "fussy cutting" very often, but I did for this layout. I'd gotten all my photos adhered to the paper when I realized that I'd made a mistake in both the fussy cutting and picture placement. I didn't know if I could get any more of the paper, so I tried swapping the positions of the paper. The two layouts below were how all the pages were supposed to look, and the lack of variety across the 4 page layout had bothered me a little. With my mistake, I ended up swapping left and right pages, so the left ended up on the right, and vice versa. That's when I got the lovely spray of cherry blossoms going through the middle.

I don't know if you can see in the photo, but I cut out some of the individual cherry blossoms from an extra sheet of the paper, and I popped the blossoms on top of the cherry blossoms of the background paper, which gave it a little dimension. The bottom two pages don't have the popped blossoms added to them yet, but I've included them anyway so that you can see how a "mistake" turned out nicer than the layout had been originally planned. I'll add the flowers to the second pages the next time I go to crop with one of my scrapping friends, but I didn't want to wait to show the layout till then.

The stickers on the journal mats were given to me by a dear scrapping friend. I hadn't originally planned to use them, but they added a very nice touch, too. The stickers are by EK Success.

All in all, it's a simple layout using really old techniques, but I'm happy with it.

My Only Claim to Fame: Colonial Independence

More years ago than I like to remember, I had a layout published in Simple Scrapbooks. It's the only layout I submitted, and the only one that has been published.

To get these photos, I was literally in the faces of the Williamsburg militia and the Fife & Drum Corps (poor guys). It was the 225th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and the Declaration was read from the courthouse steps. As it was read, the crowd cheered. They also occasionally yelled out "Death to the Tyrant!" and "Down with King George!" and other similar sentiments. It was the most memorable 4th of July we have ever experienced, and this is still probably my favorite of the Independence Day layouts I've done.

"May I see your ticket, please?"

I bought the Tim Holtz (Sizzlit) ticket die awhile ago. I had ticket stamps, and thought they looked about the same size. I finally got around to using them. They're not quite the perfect match I had thought. Of course, my stamps are made by Inkadinkadoo and aren't made specifically to go with the die, or vice versa, but a gal can always hope.

The top row are the tickets just stamped and cut out. The basic ticket is blank inside the design, so you can stamp words or images within the ticket. The top tickets were stamped with Halloween phrases because they were going to be used on a layout of my grandson dressed as Superman (which is why they are red and blue instead of orange and black). I stamped them, then cut them out with scissors. What you see is the actual complete stamped ticket. I cut them out with scissors, but used my Crop-o-dile to punch the corners. Cutting out the little round notch at the corner looks really bad if you try to cut it with scissors. I have really good scissor skills, but I couldn't do that little round notch with scissors to save me. These were a later attempt, with the round notch cut out done with the Crop-o-dile.

The bottom row are the same stamp, but stamped AFTER I had wiped off the outside line using a baby wipe. I stamped that onto the ticket die-cuts. If you don't clean it off, it ends up looking like you did a really bad scissor job cutting it out, because the lines don't quite match up with the die-cut. Trust me on this one. Yes, it's an extra step wiping the line off using the baby wipe, and huffing on the stamp to re-moisten just before stamping, but it gives the best look. Personally, I like it better with the outline (the top row of tickets) than cutting out with the die & making the stamp match.

I may have to break down and buy the Tim Holtz ticket stamp, assuming I can find it.

I do like the ticket stamps I have. I just want to also have the option of using the ticket die, too.

The insides of the Halloween tickets were stamped with an Impression Obsession stamp set.

The insides of the 4th of July tickets were stamped with a Studio G set.

Another Blast from the Past: Paper Dolls

I haven't gotten any more recent layouts scanned, but I still have a few oldies that were scanned years ago. Paper dolls were one of the trends years ago. The Trek Or Treat dolls were made with the Jill's Paper Dolls templates, although the Star Trek outfits and logo were my own creation. Unfortunately, because the emblem used for the "O" in "OR" was made of a metallic paper, it didn't scan very well and is hard to see in the scan.

My favorite paper dolls, though, were the ones that were stamped. Debbie's Dolls stamp sets were my favorite of the paper doll stamps. There were so many cute combinations of clothes and hair. Although I don't show it here, I also sometimes used a child stamp and just stamped it onto different colors of cardstock, cut out the different pieces and layered them like paper piecing for a paper doll look. I always was a sucker for stamps, but as I've mentioned before, I was a stamper before I was a scrapbooker.

Paper dolls are definitely a thing of the past now, but for a big grownup girl who was once a paper doll loving little girl, they were lots of fun to make.

I kept all my old scissors and paper doll tools for my grandkids to play with when they come to visit. Yes, those Star Trek kids in the top layout are all grown up now.

Layout: Big Brothers, Big Sisters

I haven't meant to neglect my blog, but the fact is, I have been scrapping more lately, and I haven't gotten around to taking time to scan the layouts. I did finally get one of them scanned today. I'll try to do more and get additional layouts uploaded as time permits.

I'm afraid I don't have a list of the papers handy, but the light colored background with tiny dots is actually the back of a Christmas paper with holly on the other side. It pays to turn papers over and see what's on the back.

The lettering and the die-cut of the children playing were cut with the Cricut. The children die-cut is from the Nursery Rhymes cartridge, and so are the letters used for the titles and names. The scrolls were cut using a Sizzix die. I used stamping inks to color the flowers to match the papers, and the bling brads were either from the Target dollar spot, Big Lots, or Tuesday Morning. I bought them a long time ago, so the memory is a big vague on that one.

As for the title, it's because these are the big brothers and sisters of a new baby in the family, and they follow a page of the baby's pictures.

The pictures were taken by their dad. He tie-dyed an old sheet he found in the attic and set up his own photo shoot.

Blast from the Past - Stamping and contrast pages

These are really old layouts. I came across them a few days ago while looking for something else. Since they were already scanned, I figured I'd post them for fun.

I did a lot of stamping in my early scrapping days.

I was a stamper before I was a scrapper, and I have quite a collection of stamps.

On the above page, I stamped a border, a background, and letters that I'd cut out.

For the layout below, I stamped my images on cardstock, cut them out and

glued them to the page. Definitely a time-consuming pain, but I still like

this page, even though it is definitely "dated."

The Easter layout below is still one of my favorites. It's simple, but it's a charming way to

use stamps to embellish the page. The left page background was created with stamps, which were also used on the journal box and tags. And yes, as you can see, I matted the focal point photo with decorative scissors, an indication of just how old these layouts are.

One other thing about each of the pages is that they use contrast in the backgrounds. The left sides of the layouts are a strong contrast with the right sides, but they still coordinate. It's a technique that I think can be effective, even though I haven't done any pages using contrast like this recently. I tend to think of this technique as "positive/negative." Using a solid color of cardstock for one side of the page but patterned paper for the other side gives variety as well as contrast. Using the patterned paper on the cardstock side to embellish is an easy way to tie the pages together so they coordinate. Of course, for these pages my patterned papers and matching embellishments were created by me, using stamps, instead of buying patterned papers and pre-made embellishments.

The Easter page was made with Stampin' Up stamps, the dinosaur layout was created with Close to my Heart stamps, and the fishing layout was done with mostly Darcie's stamps and possibly one or two Close to my Heart and/or Stampin' Up stamps.

Since these pages were made years ago, these are not stamps currently available (except perhaps the Darcie's). However, the basic ideas could easily be adapted to any page, if a simple layout is what you're looking for. It's certainly not trendy by today's standards.

Just for the record, I do adopt trends I like, but I don't really consider myself a trend follower. I frequently use older papers, embellishments, and whatever else suits me to make my layouts. My style also is more often "clean and classic" than product oriented (my term for the use of a lot of products on a page, which is very popular right now).

Blast from the Past: Decorative Scissors

In the above layout, decorative scissors were used

to mat the photos as well as for the borders.

Strips were cut and laid parallel to each other.

Stamps and stickers were used for the embellishment.

In this heritage layout, thin strips of cardstock were folded,

then cut carefully to get a double side-by-side design.

It was a more difficult technique, but can be very pretty.

When I first started scrapbooking, there were very few materials available. Punches, decorative scissors, stickers, cardstocks and patterned papers were our main resources. Even with such limited resources, it was possible to make attractive layouts.

At first, decorative scissors were used on the photos themselves. I seriously regret ever doing that to any of my pictures. It distracted from the photos instead of enhancing. However, once I started using the fancy scissors for other things, I was very happy with the results. Even years later, I still love these simple but elegant layouts.

The decorative scissors took more time to do, since you had to cut carefully to have it look good. Most people didn't have the patience for it, and decorative scissors fell into disfavor. I was skilled at using them and even taught classes on how to use decorative scissors. I eventually stopped using them simply because I had used them so much that I got tired of the look.

It might be fun to try them again, though, and see if I can make a new, up-to-date layout with decorative scissors and be happy with the results.

Get Well Birdhouse

I made this little birdhouse for someone in the hospital. On the back is "Wishing you a quick and complete recovery." I thought it would brighten the hospital room better than a card, and due to the patient's problem, flowers weren't appropriate.

Punches used were Martha Stewart punches. The "Get Well/Wishing a quick recovery" phrase is a Stampin' Up stamp. I just cut the phrases apart. I found the little bird at JoAnn Fabrics.

The birdhouse itself is not my design. All I did was choose my colors of cardstock, cut it out, and decorate it. I've given the link before (it's the same one I used for the Creepy Cottage Halloween birdhouse), but here it is again:

Birdhouse Template by Nicole Heady

If you'd like to see Nicole's birdhouse project where she shared her template, here is the link:

Nicole's birdhouse and instructions

And finally, in case you missed my Halloween birdhouse using this template, here's a link to my Creepy Cottage:

My Halloween version using Nicole's template

It's a very versatile pattern, and I really appreciate that Nicole was willing to share it!

Tile project #4 plus a BooBoo Bunny

You get two projects in one post today. I made this plaque for my DD, who has worked hard to achieve certain goals, which seem to stay just out of reach. It's one of my favorite quotes.

Right beside the plaque is a BooBoo Bunny, which is a little bunny made from a washcloth. The body of the bunny holds an ice cube for a child's "boo-boo" and was made to go with a baby shower gift. I showed my DD how to make the BooBoo Bunny, and she made one, too. The one above is the one I made, and it's the first time I've had this much details. Normally I'd use a pom-pom ball stitch on the back for a tail, but I didn't have one, so I stitched a fluffy looped tail instead. I used to sell Tupperware many, many long years ago, and my Tupperware manager showed me how to make them. I don't remember why she taught me, maybe for a little prize to give out or something (Tupperware used to sell covered ice trays, so it's not unreasonable). Whatever the reason, it is a craft that has come in handy more than once for me. It makes a cute package topper for a baby gift.

Now, of course, you can find instructions on the internet. Here is a link:

How to make a BooBoo Bunny

The instructions shown in the link are exactly how my Tupperware manager showed me. I have made one change, however. I don't use a rubber band, which could potentially break and be a choking hazard. I wind button thread around the "neck/ears" several times instead and stitch it.

Tile project #3

This is a tile that I created as a thank you for a business that helped me with something that I needed for a special project.

Another Tile

I saw this saying on a website and liked it, so I turned it into a tile. I used my Gypsy and my Cricut to cut the vinyl for this one. I think I used a label from the Lacy Labels cartridge. It was awhile ago when I actually made it. The stripes on the butterfly in the upper right corner are actually a result of the flash or something. It's solid black there, not gold. The background vinyl for the label was a copper color.

Tile projects

I've done vinyl on tile before. Unfortunately, I had given away everything that I'd made previously, so I haven't posted any pictures here of my projects.

I offered to do a tile project with the Relief Society gals at church, so after discussing possibilities with the Relief Society counselor, we decided on an Easter project.

The project class was tonight, and I showed them how to make the above plaque, to help our families remember the Savior during the Easter season.

Home made "Clip It Up" style storage

Using a shoe rack from BJ's Wholesale Club, I made
scrapbook storage like the "Clip It Up" at a fraction of the price.
It was an idea shared by Shara (Mom2sons) at Two Peas in a Bucket.

I could not get the clips with hooks that were used by
the originator of this home made version, so I improvised. I bought
binder clips from Office Depot. They can be taken apart and attached
directly to the shoe rack, which is what I did. I used the binder clips
to hold zip lock type bags. The small craft bags were from
Michaels, and I used small binder clips for these on the top tier.

I used medium binder clips and quart size freezer Zip Lock bags for bigger items.
I probably should have done more of the small ones for the second tier of the rack.
Just above you can hopefully see how the clips are attached directly to the rack.
It was a little awkward to open the clips at first to access a bag with
scrapping embellishments, but I got the hang of it fairly quickly.

It's a little hard to see, but as I assembled the shoe rack tiers, I put a piece of
round plastic canvas on the bottom of each tier. I had to cut a hole in the center,
but it worked perfectly. I got the round plastic canvas from JoAnn Fabrics.
It turned out to be the perfect size. Other than the center hole, I didn't have
to cut it to fit. That gave enough support to put my Martha Stewart
punches in the tier baskets, increasing my storage capability.
I obviously have WAY too many MS punches!
They didn't all fit, even with 4 baskets to put them in.

My home made "Clip It Up" isn't as full as it could be.
There's room for more embellishments, anyway.
This will hopefully help me to use more of what I have,
since it's so easy to spin the tiers and look through quickly.

If you want to see a bigger image, click on the photo you want to see closer up.
Then when you see a magnifying glass, you can click again to get a bigger view.

My Valentine

This is the gift that I made to give to my sweet and wonderful husband for Valentine's Day. I found the quote online. It is by Karen Sande. I couldn't figure out where to put the author's name without detracting, so I'm probably going to put it on a small sticker on the back where it will be hidden by the vinyl, but still there to give credit. The glass plaque was a photo frame from a dollar store somewhere, and I bought it over two years ago. It's hard to find the curved glass frames anymore, at least without some unwanted additional decoration that might not come off. I soaked the photo frame part off. Adding the vinyl cuts to a curved glass surface is a little tricky. I didn't get it perfectly centered, but once it's down, it's down. I bought the black and metallic brass vinyl from a sign shop while visiting Salt Lake City, also a few years ago, so I don't remember the name of the shop.

I used a variety of Cricut cartridges to make this, but were it not for my Gypsy, I would have no clue as to which ones. The design work was a two day or more process, so now my brain is numb. According to my Gypsy, they were:

Botanicals Lite
Calligraphy Collection
Home Decor
Lacy Labels Lite
Plantin Schoolbook
Wall Decor and More

Botanicals, Home Decor, Calligraphy Collection, and Plantin Schoolbook were used for the words (I think).

Lacy Labels was what I used to make the frame for the words. I had to get a little sneaky to get the black heart outlines to go inside the hearts of the frame. The label comes with hearts to layer on top of the frame. However, I wanted an outline of the heart(s), not a solid heart. I copied and pasted the heart overlays so I had four sets (you can't separate the hearts within the set). One set I reduced in size till it fit within the other heart set(s) to suit me. Then I made two more copies of the smaller set. I had to separate each set onto different sections on the mat. I used the Gypsy to hide the hearts I wanted to exclude from the cut, then overlaid each set of smaller hearts onto the regular sized hearts (which I had also reduced in size a little). That allowed me to cut a heart outline. I'm sorry if it isn't clear enough, but if you open the file and try to make a smaller heart overlay using the Gypsy, you'll see why I had to get sneaky. Hopefully these directions will be clear if you want to do something like this.

Wall Decor and More was where I got the additional flourishes. They were from the compass/font option. The smaller flourish was cut down by hand. It hadn't cut properly for some reason, and it worked well as an additional small flourish for the small heart.

I have it waiting in the entry way with my card, so my husband will see it when he comes home.

February Make & Take and Vagabond review

I designed this journal spot for a heritage layout using a Spellbinder Lacy Circles Nesting die and the Tattered Angels Time Traveler stamp set that I bought at the LSS recently. I bought them because I liked them, not because I planned to use them for a Make & Take, but they came in handy when I was trying to figure out a new project for this month.

The LSS now has the Tim Holtz Vagabond die cutter for classroom use, so I had a chance to try it. The cutting process was really nice. I had brought my Cuttlebug to do the die-cutting and embossing, but since they had the Vagabond, I wanted to see how it performed. They didn't have a plate the width of my Cuttlebug C plate, which was needed to cut a Spellbinder die, but the other plates and platform were the same thickness, so I just used my C plate instead of a B plate. It cut like a dream, and it was much easier on my shoulder than cranking the handle on my Cuttlebug.

Then I tried embossing. I used the same sandwich that I normally use to emboss with the same Spellbinder die, but it seemed to be more difficult for the machine. Since I worried I might break it and didn't want to have to pay to replace the machine, I didn't try to do any more embossing with the Vagabond. Instead I used my Cuttlebug to emboss with the Spellbinder die.

I'm sure the Vagabond would do fine with the embossing folders made by Tim Holtz, but I don't think I'll try embossing Spellbinder dies again on the Vagabond unless I can find out from Tim Holtz whether or not it will hold up to that extra pressure Spellbinder dies require. It probably would, but I wasn't going to risk the store's machine.

The Vagabond is a very nice machine, but it was made to cut and emboss Tim Holtz dies and embossing folders. I'm not sure it was meant to handle all the competitors' products, too. If I can find out for certain whether or not it will do it all, I'll post an update later.

Cricut Cartridge Storage

After I'd bought several Cricut cartridges, I started realizing that keeping them in their original boxes was getting awkward. There had to be a better way to store them. After looking online to see what other Cricut owners use, I decided to try Snapware and went off to JoAnn Fabrics to find the Snapware Ribbon Organizer that most Cricut owners seemed to use. There were NO Snapware ribbon organizers to be found. However, JoAnn's did have other Snapware containers that looked like they'd work with a little adaptation.



The left side (front) shows how I cut plastic canvas to make dividers that interlock, as well as how the dividers fit together in the container (back). I cut three long dividers, and four short ones. This gives me room to store up to 15 cartridges, with room enough in the same container for the overlays. I keep the handbooks in a separate container. Notice how the handbooks are kind of staggered in the container. Snapware containers snap/lock together, so I can snap the cartridge/overlay container on top of the matching handbook container, and keep them together; or I can snap multiple cartridge containers in one stack and handbook containers in another stack. I tend to do the two stacks. They have a handle on the lid of each stack, so they're easy to carry if needed. It works well for me, and it's pretty quick and easy to find the cartridge I want, since I store them in alphabetical order. I used a fine point Sharpie to write the name of each cartridge on the top so I can see the names without pulling them all out.

January 2011 Make & Take

This is the newest monthly Make & Take project I designed for the LSS where I work. The stamps are a set by Stampendous, and I used Stickles to add a little shine. The ribbon also has a shimmer to it. The embossing was done with a Cuttlebug folder.

Simple and easy. Perfect for the season and the weather right now.

Halloween Layout

Yes, it's a little late for Halloween. However, I knew this layout would take a fair amount of time to scan because of the hidden journal tag at the top of the left page, so I procrastinated. I finally scanned it this morning, and it was just as big a pain to scan as I had expected. However, I'm very happy with the layout and wanted to post it.

I found the paper at the LSS in September or October (2010), but I don't remember who makes it. I added some little die-cut bats to go with the bats that were in the paper design to tie the two pages together a little better. They may have been from two different manufacturers, but I'm not sure.

The pocket for the hidden journal tag is behind the black cardstock background of the left page. I do a lot of hidden journal tags. Usually it's because I run out of room and don't want the layout to seem crowded. In this case, not everyone would want to read the journaling on the tag (bet I've made you curious enough to want to read it now, but it might gross a few people out). The tag is shown below, mainly so you can get a close up of the top of it in case you're interested. I think the file folder tab at the top of the tag is a punch by McGill. I popped the little bat on the tag, as well as a few of the bats on the layout. All the bats were from the Paper Doll Dress Up Cricut cartridge. The Trick or Treat title was from the Happy Hauntings Cricut cartridge.