Christmas Money Card

After being out of town again for half of November, I have gotten back to a little crafting.  I have made some more jewelry, and done some glass etching (projects I will try to post later), but I am also still getting together with my scrapping buddies here and there.  On Friday I made the card above using my new CTMH Cricut Artiste Cricut cartrdige to cut the basic card.  The stamps "Warmest Wishes" and the tiny bird on the right inside of the card are also CTMH stamps.  The "Joy" stamp, the sentiment stamp on the left side of the inside of the card, and the tiny "Merry Christmas" stamp are all older stamps by My Sentiments Exactly. The patterned cardstock is called "Ornament" by Echo Park from their Very Merry Christmas collection.  I cut the card at 4.75 inches (top to bottom), which after gluing the sides of the pocket gave room to slip in either a folded bill or a folded check.  It did not quite fit a gift card.  I think if I had cut the pocket just a little larger, such as at 5 inches, it would have been perfect for a gift card to fit in the pocket.  However, since I was sending a check, the size I cut it was perfect for my purposes.

October Perpetual Calendar

On page 59 of the Close to my Heart Autumn/Winter 2012 idea book/catalog is a bonus project suggestion,  a perpetual calendar for October.  I loved their idea and chose to adapt it slightly.  They used two blocks, while I used three.  I used Halloween and Fall themed stamps that I have been collecting for years since I didn't have the stamps shown in the CTMH project.  Some of my stamps were purchased more recently, some long ago.  I also used a variety of Halloween themed papers. Normally I try to list all materials used, with manufacturers, but I don't have time to do that right now, since there were so many used.  If you see something you desperately want to know, feel free to ask, and I will try to post a response with the information.

I used wood blocks from Michaels, and the black rhinestone bordered tray came from there, too.  I painted the wooden blocks black before applying each of the panels.  The center block does not have a panel on the bottom.  I could have gotten away with only two blocks, but I liked having the month shown, and I have a couple of decorative panels also.  I also wanted to have a zero on the center block, for the single digit numbers, rather than just have only one block on display.

Baby Album 2 months layout

The papers I used were from Little Yellow Bicycle, Winter Wishes collection (2011).  I used my Cricut for the "HO HO HO" (Opposites Attract cartridge) and also for the "Two Months Old" title (Baby Steps).  Other than the papers and titles, this layout didn't seem to need embellishment.  It's a very simple page, but it's one of my favorites.

I actually did this layout and scanned it quite awhile ago.  I just never got it posted.  Life has been crazy busy.  But I do still scrapbook.  In fact, I've done more scrapping and other projects in the last couple of months than I've done in a long time. I've done 6 more layouts for this baby album that I just need to scan and post.

Baby Girl Album Continued

Yes, I do still scrapbook.  The above layout isn't actually one of my most recent, but it's a continuation of the baby girl album that I showed a few layouts from awhile back (January 2012 posting).  The baby will probably be a year old before I get it done.  I'm just finally getting around to scanning more pages.  I used Prima flowers and rhinestone bling.  The papers are old, and I don't remember who made them.  I also have no idea who makes the punches for the small flowers that were punched for the vertical borders.

This second layout shows one of the least favorite activities of this baby: Tummy Time.  It's a form of exercise decreed by the Pediatrician.  You can see the progression of her frustration in the pictures.

I think the letters in the title were a Cuttlebug alphabet. The flower punch that peeks out from the photos is by EK Success.  The tag is a Cricut design.  No idea on the ribbon or the buttons.  The background paper is Bazzill cardstock that was stamped with a Close to My Heart stamp that I found in the teacher cabinet at the LSS.  I used the Versamark inkpad.

I'll post a couple more layouts once I get them scanned.

Wedding plaques, crock, and diaper cake projects

I haven't had much crafting time the last couple of months.  My daughter got engaged in May, and was married in early August.  She is our only daughter, and there was quite a bit to do to prepare for the wedding, and it was complicated by the fact that she lives over 2,000 miles away.

I did, however, make a few things while I was out there.  I went almost a month early to help with final preparations, and I made a couple of shower gifts while I was there.  I had taken my Cricut with me, thinking I would get a chance to scrapbook.  I got very little scrapping done, but it came in handy for making shower gifts.

I made two glass plaques.  The first one is based on a talk by Elder Dieter Uchdorf, an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  His talk was called, "Your Happily Ever After" and is a favorite of my daughter's.  The border around the "Happily Ever After" is made up of points of the talk.

The second plaque is based on our belief that families can be together forever, if married in a temple by one who has the authority to "seal" the couple for both time and eternity.

This next item was a ceramic crock that my sister-in-law was giving our daughter at a camping shower.  The crock was plain red, so I added their initials and date to the crock.

There was another project I made, for a baby shower that was for my niece.  It was a diaper cake.  I couldn't stay in town long enough for the shower, but I did get the diaper cake made for the centerpiece.

Stamped Dimensional Card with Heartfelt Creations Stamps & Dies

One of the booths I always visit at GASC (Great American Scrapbook Convention) is Heartfelt Creations.  The wall stamp is by them.  The stamp has a wooden door which I cut out.  I popped the arch and the step below, as well as popping the wall out from the scene.  It looks more dimensional in person than the scan shows.  The background scene stamp is a PSX stamp that I've had for years.  I used Copic markers to color it.

Nearly all my purchases this year at GASC were stamps.  As I've mentioned before (if you go back far enough on my blog) I was a stamper before I was a scrapbooker, and I love to see stamp vendors at GASC.  Not all scrapbookers feel that way, but Tim Holtz has helped make stamping more popular among the scrapbooking community.  I was happy!  I spend most of my scrappy dollars at the LSS.  The only stamp store is farther than I like to drive, and I found things that the stamp store doesn't sell.

GASC is always fun to go to.  I have a couple of scrapping buddies who go with me, and we are planning to have a crafting day just to make things with our GASC goodies.

December, January, and February Make & Take projects

December 2011 Make and Take

I used Lost and Found papers and coordinating stamp.

January 2012 Make and Take card front

I used a Sizzix embossing folder and Sizzlit die,

Tim Holtz die, and Inkadinkadoo stamp

(not totally sure about who made the stamp)

February 2012 Make and Take

I used my Gypsy to manipulate a label from the Cricut Lacy Labels cartridge to make a card.

The tickets are Tim Holtz, but the inside of the second ticket is an Inkadinkadoo stamp.

Baby Girl Album, first few pages

The first page shows the baby announcement sent out by the proud parents.

For obvious reasons, the last name has been removed before uploading to the internet.

Above are some of the hospital pictures. The boy holding the baby is her big brother.

Below, she is all dressed up and ready to go home for the first time.

Materials used first page: Martha Stewart border punch, Life's Little Occasions sticker, Marianne Designs die and Cuttlebug die.

Materials used second page: Martha Stewart border punch, Cricut die-Cut (Nursery Rhyme cartridge), and decorative scissors (scalloped edge behind looped border).

Materials used third page: Sizzlit die, Purple Daisy stamp, EK punch (Purple Daisy stamp was made to go with the punch), CAC Pinafore font (most of title), and Black Jack font (the capital "A" in the title).

Most of the papers were older (from my stash), and I have no idea who made them. The only newer paper I used was the floral design for the borders on the second pages. It was by 3 Bugs in a Rug. I also used a thin strip of paper in the border that was from a Life's Little Occasions paper stack.

I will try to post more pages of my baby girl album soon.

2011 Santa Layout

Each year the LSS near me has Santa come to the store for a free photo opportunity. The owner's husband dresses up as Santa, and the customers get a free photo of their kid(s) with Santa.

Each year the LSS also offers a page kit to sell, that is for Santa photos. I have been the one to design the page layout most years, and I prepare the kits. I was asked to design the page again this year. The LSS owner wanted the layout to include some really cute chipboard sets that had been bought for a class, but then the class didn't get enough people sign up for the class to occur, and she didn't want to be stuck with a lot of leftover boxes of chipboard after Christmas. The chipboard was sold separately from the kit, but it really added a lot to what would otherwise be a very simple layout.

If the background paper doesn't look white, it's because it is a light cream to go with the background paper. Although not clear in the photo, it has a linen texture. If you click on the photo, you can see an enlarged version, which will hopefully allow you to see that the lower left cream cardstock rectangle is embossed with a "Dear Santa" letter, for a journal spot. I embossed it with a QuicKutz folder I got on sale at GASC a year or two ago.

I used my Gypsy to create a background mat for a shape from the Elegant Edges cartridge, as well as to alter the shape and mat for the title.

The chipboard shapes are by K and Company, and the patterned paper is from the 12 Days of Christmas collection by My Mind's Eye.