Sunday, December 18, 2011




Welcome to day 9 of the Two Scrapbook Friends Christmas blog hop.

You should have arrived here from Sharon's blog. If not take a step back to have a look at her beautiful believe banner/card holder. I will put the master list of the blog hop at the bottom of this post so you can be sure to check out all of the wonderful creations. Leave a comment on each blog for a chance to win a fabulous prize from TSF.
Two Scrapbook Friends has a wonderful selection of bulk items. Little bits and pieces that can add a lot to layouts, cards and off the page projects. For my creation I used maya road snowflakes, bingo number and ribbon along with some jillibean pins. I added some corrugated paper to wrap the candle and bits and pieces from a sleigh full of potpourri. I used 3n1 glue to adhere it all together. Best part is by using a jar candle instead of a pillar style you can actually light it!

When I originally thought of this idea I was going to use this reindeer I cut on the Cricut but I just couldn't make it work. Instead I used some pieces from an old blind (look closely and you will notice the same pieces used to make the frame on my bathroom mirror!) to make a planter decoration. Unfortunately we can't have real plants so I put it in a sleigh on my bathroom counter.

When my guests have to use the loo they will have a lovely little display to greet them. The candle smells like sugar cookies so that's good for bathrooms too!!



You will need to hop from blog to blog leaving a comment on each in order to qualify to be in a draw for a special prize from Two Scrapbook Friends! Also, you will find a SECRET word on each blog which will make a special phrase at the end of the Blog Hop! Once the 12 days of hopping are complete you can email the phrase to us and we will enter you for another ballot to win!
Today's secret word is MERRY
The hop will remain open from December 10th to December 22nd at midnight (EST). Winners will be announced on December 23rd on the Two Scrapbook Friends' blog.

The master blog list is listed below so you don't miss a single inspiring creation!

1st Day of Christmas: Joanne (10th)

2nd Day of Christmas: Audrey (11th)

3rd Day of Christmas: Avril (12th)

4th Day of Christmas: Christa (13th)

5th Day of Christmas: Dee (14th)

6th Day of Christmas: Jan (15th)

7th Day of Christmas: Back to Joanne's blog

8th Day of Christmas: Sharon (17th)

9th Day of Christmas: Shelby (18th)

10th Day of Christmas: Tammy (19th)

11th Day of Christmas: Carolyn (20th)

12th Day of Christmas: Two Scrapbook Friends Blog (21st)

I wish you and yours the Merriest of Christmases and a Fantastic New Year!!




Friday, December 9, 2011

TSF blog hop





The countdown to Christmas is here and with that in mind, your friends at Two Scrapbook Friends invite you to countdown the 12 Days of Christmas Creations with them. Each day a member of the Two Scrapbook Friends team and a few special friends will share with you some of the projects and inspiration that they have created to celebrate the Season.



Beginning on December 10th at 8 am, you can begin the hop at the first Friend's blog where you can be inspired and leave a comment. That blog will then tell you where you need to hop to on the next day!



You will need to hop from blog to blog leaving a comment on each in order to qualify to be in a draw for a special prize from Two Scrapbook Friends! Also, you will find a SECRET word on each blog which will make a special phrase at the end of the Blog Hop! Once the 12 days of hopping are complete you can email the phrase to us and we will enter you for another ballot to win!


The hop will remain open from December 10th to December 22nd at midnight (EST). Winners will be announced on December 23rd on the Two Scrapbook Friends' blog.



The master blog list is listed below so you don't miss a single inspiring creation!

1st Day of Christmas: Joanne (10th)

2nd Day of Christmas: Audrey (11th)

3rd Day of Christmas: Avril (12th)

4th Day of Christmas: Christa (13th)

5th Day of Christmas: Dee (14th)

6th Day of Christmas: Jan (15th)

7th Day of Christmas: Jayne (16th)

8th Day of Christmas: Sharon (17th)

9th Day of Christmas: Shelby (18th)

10th Day of Christmas: Tammy (19th)

11th Day of Christmas: Carolyn (20th)

12th Day of Christmas: Two Scrapbook Friends Blog (21st)



Have fun celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas Creations with
the Two Scrapbook Friends team!



Friendzy Friday ~ 'Tis the season to share some bubbly..

Here is a little idea that you can use for just about any occasion but it works really well for Christmas and New Year's Hostess gifts (or for that frazzled teacher LOL!). Take a bottle of wine, champagne or sparkling cider and add a little tag to it decorated by you. The options are endless as to what you put on the tag but I will give you some dimensions and some inspiration.

Start with some Christmas odds and ends (or whatever theme you are working with), a 1.5 inch circle punch and coordinating cardstock

Cut your base cardstock to 9.5 x 4 and score at the 3 inch mark. Then eyeball where you will punch your hole.

If you plan to layer like this example then tie your ribbon before adhering panel to base as it makes for a cleaner finish. Use an edge punch along the bottom of tag.

Embellish however you like and tada, a quick little card to dress up your bottles.

Two Scrapbook Friends has some fabulous stickers (even for New Year's) that would make this super easy and you could do this idea for wine bottles at a party or wedding too.


Thursday, December 8, 2011

Beginning on December 10th at 8 am, you can begin the hop at the first Friend's blog where you can be inspired and leave a comment. That blog will then tell you where you need to hop to on the next day!



You will need to hop from blog to blog leaving a comment on each in order to qualify to be in a draw for a special prize from Two Scrapbook Friends! Also, you will find a SECRET word on each blog which will make a special phrase at the end of the Blog Hop! Once the 12 days of hopping are complete you can email the phrase to us and we will enter you for another ballot to win!


The hop will remain open from December 10th to December 22nd at midnight (EST). Winners will be announced on December 23rd on the Two Scrapbook Friends' blog.



The master blog list is listed below so you don't miss a single inspiring creation!

1st Day of Christmas: Joanne (10th)

2nd Day of Christmas: Audrey (11th)

3rd Day of Christmas: Avril (12th)

4th Day of Christmas: Christa (13th)

5th Day of Christmas: Dee (14th)

6th Day of Christmas: Jan (15th)

7th Day of Christmas: Jayne (16th)

8th Day of Christmas: Sharon (17th)

9th Day of Christmas: Shelby (18th)

10th Day of Christmas: Tammy (19th)

11th Day of Christmas: Carolyn (20th)

12th Day of Christmas: Two Scrapbook Friends Blog (21st)



Have fun celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas Creations with
the Two Scrapbook Friends team!




Wednesday, November 23, 2011

I am still scrapbooking ...honest!

Although I have been an absentee blogger, again, I am still scrapbooking. We had a friend of my husband's move into our spare room at the end of the summer and for those of you who don't know, our spare room is also my scrap space. I had no idea the impact not having my own space would have on me!! Although he is hardly ever here I don't want to infringe on his privacy and therefore haven't been scrapping as much as I would like to. I admit it, I am just too lazy to haul all my stuff upstairs after having the luxury of having it all spread out in my room. Oh well, it's not forever and thankfully I had the Two Scrapbook Friends Fall retreat to get a little of the creative angst out.

In between bouts of hysterical laughter (my tablemates were a wee bit crazy in the best possible way!) I did manage to get a few things accomplished.




I believe in scrapping the good, bad and ugly. These pics are from Wyatt's trip to the OR. He was a lot more relaxed than I was that's for sure!



Love the new canvas shapes TSF is carrying now.



As soon as I saw this paper from Little Yellow Bicycle I knew I had to have it! Unfortunately the tree paper is now sold out but lots of the other pieces are still available.



I have a feeling that part of the reason it sold out is because everyone I saw was buying two to do this layering effect on the tree.



Used up some older papers on this one and that makes ME smile!




Simple Stories makes such beautiful collections and I particularly loved the colours in this one. This was also one of my first forays into machine stitching. Thanks for the coaching Avril and Dee



These pics of my goofball crack me up. He wanted apple juice so he took a bite of his apple, poured water on it and then 'drank' it. I used a paper crimper to get the texture on the circles.






Fancy Pants papers and one button from MME. I kick myself for not buying all of these button sets as they were fabulous.


I went for the minimalist approach on this one. I had printed these pics as teeny polaroids through Picasa so I wasn't quite sure what to do.




I sprayed Maya road chipboard with mist then covered in Glossy Accents for a wet, shiny look.






I love, love, love what Avril did with this Amy Tangerine line from American Crafts so I gave it a whirl.



I had this Little Yellow Bicycle acrylic journalling spot in my stash so I cut it out around the cloud and tada. I also used up some old epoxy stickers, added some stitching and hand clouds. The 'you are my sunshine, my only sunshine' title is a MME sticker. I love it when I can mix new and old, it makes me happy!


I have some more layouts I need to take pics of then I will post again, I promise, before Christmas!!








p.s. One other reason I haven't been blogging is that I got an Ipad for my birthday/anniversary and it occupies entirely too much of my time and I haven't figured out how to blog with it (gotta put down the angry birds and learn soon!!!)


Friday, November 4, 2011

Friendzy Friday~Corrugated

A great way to add texture to your layouts is by incorporating corrugated letters or papers. Jillibean was one of the first manufactuers to make 'cardboard' mainstream and now many other
companies have jumped in.





I used a sheet of kraft corrugated from Creative Imaginations as a background.




Don't worry about it bulking up your albums as it's not very thick.






I used Jillibean letters and made my trees out of cardboard for a homespun feel on this Christmas layout





Another way to use corrugated letter sheets is by cutting out the negatives like this layout where I used it to show the number 7, how old my son is.





To achieve the corrugated look you can also use a paper crimper as I did on the circles of this layout.




We have lots of corrugated letters, papers and shapes in store now so be sure to check them out and add them to your next project!

Friday, September 30, 2011

Friendzy Friday ~ Thanksgiving/Halloween Dome ornaments

For this week's Friendzy Friday I am going to show you how to make something you might have seen before, especially at Christmas. I decided to change it up and make it work for October's holidays instead.
You will need themed paper, circle punch (or cut them on the Cricut etc), adhesive of choice ( I started out using terrifically tacky tape but switched to 3 n 1 Craft glue), ribbon or twine.

Choose whatever size you want for the circles depending on how large you want your ornament. I chose to use a 1 1/2 inch punch. You will need to punch 20 circles

Using a piece of cardboard punched to the same size as your circles, draw and cut out a triangle. This will be your template to fold the circles around. Place the template on top of the pattern you WANT to use and fold in.

Take 5 of the circles, adhere together with points all facing the same direction. This will form the top. Repeat to form the bottom.

Then take the 10 remaining circles and alternate the direction of the points to form a 'straight' line. Once dry, adhere the two ends together to form the center.

Before putting it all together, thread ribbon or twine through the small opening at the top of the ornament. Tie a large knot on the inside.

Adhere middle section to top and bottom and this is what you get:

I decided to try to make pumpkins too!

You could make a bunch and put them in a glass vase or hang them from everywhere!

Happy October Everyone!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

September Reveal

Happy September!!

For this month's kit I received a mixed bag of travel papers. I was a bit stumped as to how I was going to pull it together and they sat on my desk for a while before inspiration hit. I combined the kit with odds and ends from my stash and ended up completing 3 layouts from my California trip.





This layout is about the historical Chateau Marmont. It's the hotel where all the celebs past and present (think Lindsay Lohan lol) hang out. I don't typically use 'theme' stickers but they were in my stash and fit with the layout.




Every beach you go to in California has the most amazing piers. The Santa Monica pier is probably one of the most famous. I love these little canvas banners from Maya Road!






I love that I can add words right on to my pics now! I found these little bits in my stash too.




This is probably my fave this time around. The soft colours make me wish I was back there! I made the fishing net out of hemp twine I had in my 'junk' drawer. I added some shells and dew drops to make it feel beachy.




I am so glad I brought the shells back from Venice Beach, they made great embellishments!




Be sure to check out what all the ladies did over in the TSF gallery and I hope you had a wonderful summer!


Thursday, August 11, 2011

it's my favourite time of year....



And no I don't mean that it's only 26 days til school starts! (although I AM happy about that)


I'm talking CHA arrivals!!! It means boxes and boxes of goodies and samples for me to make!
I spent today working with Simple Stories and Karen Foster.



For those of you not familiar with Simple Stories I suggest you get to know them better LOL. Their scrapbooking 'system' is so smart and easy to work with. Their papers work beautifully with divided page protectors but can be used for traditional layouts as well.




It's My Party






Baby Steps



How adorable are these little owls?






Karen Foster has a more traditional approach to scrapbooking with very themed collections.

Travel




Love the stacked titles and map so you can pinpoint your travels.





Peace







This is only the beginning of many, many samples from the new arrivals. Be sure to stop in and check them out in the store or online






Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Monday, August 1, 2011

Friendzy Friday ~ titles

When I create a page I am constantly thinking of what the title will be. Sometimes the title comes first and I design the page around it. Other times I create a page and then add the title. Whatever the order it's often a challenge to come up with a title that has impact.



A title can come from your jounalling








It can describe a feeling





or the person in the photo





Diecuts make SUPER simple titles



Where you place your title is also very important to the overall design so move it around the page to see where it sits nicely. I will often have my title touching a photo so it appears grounded. When a title 'floats' it can appear a bit lost.



A big trend in scrapbooking right now is to have a title made of different fonts. Mixing stickers, chipboard and diecuts makes for a unique title.



Here are a few great sites to find scrapbooking titles:











or you can simply type scrapbook titles into your search bar.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

I digress for a moment...

I know my blog is generally about scrapbooking and other lighthearted fare but today I just need to write about something a little tougher.

I hate Cancer. Well obviously right? Breast cancer stole my mom from me at 54 years old. It is an evil, insidious disease that can destroy you before you even know it's there. Every day it seems I hear of someone else it's affected and it makes me feel very powerless. There are loads of sites dedicated to all the things you can do to prevent it but the bottom line is YOU CAN'T. Does a 3 year old have a chance to eat enough anti-oxidants to keep leukemia at bay? Don't think so.

I am just overwrought today. I can't believe this awful disease will affect 1 in 4 people. 1 in 4!!! Not great odds.
Hug your kids, love your life and don't sweat the small stuff.
Easier said than done I know but you can bet someone with cancer is fighting for the chance to love their life.
Sorry for the downer. I am just furious today and had to let it out.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Friendzy Friday ~ Picasa!


As scrapbookers obviously our whole world revolves around the photos we take and what we can do with them. A few years ago I discovered a FREE online photo management site owned by Google called Picasa. It is AWESOME. It has all the tools you need to tweak your pics and to do collages which give your pages a whole new look.

Here are some screenshots to show you what you can do:




When you load your pictures into Picasa you can start playing around with them simply by 'pinning' the images you want to use. If you look along the bottom you can see all the different things you can do ex: email, print, blog, make a movie, collage. Simply press what you want do with the selected pics and away you go.





There are several different collage options you can choose: grids, mosaics etc and you can play around with sizes such as cd cover, 12x12, digital frame sizes etc. It's super easy to add and remove photos and you can click and drag them to which part of the collage you want. You can use the collage as is on a layout or cut it up for smaller pics. I will oftern print two pics in a 5x7 size for a nice small image on a layout. These collages are also great to use on your blogs.





The beauty of Picasa is that it has all the photo editing tools too! You can fix red eye, remove blemishes, play with colour and you can add text which I used in the above collage. I journalled right on the pics with the name of the celebrity whose home it was. It's going to save me some time later when I use them on a layout.


This is just a quick look at a small area of Picasa. If you've been looking for a way to edit your photos believe me, this one is user friendly. Hey, I even figured it out!!


Here's the link so you can get started too: http://picasa.google.com/