Valentine's Day Wreath

Finally took the Christmas wreath down and replaced it with this:


Made from a grapevine heart-shaped wreath covered in red feather boas. Fun!

Project 365

You can read about the whole Project 365 saga here, but today's post is about me finally doing it!

I have decided that this will be my family album for 2009. This way, instead of being a year behind, I can easily work on it a bit at a time and be done by the end of 2009 (or soon thereafter). Plus, my album will contain lots of little things that define and illustrate us as a family, rather than just the big events. Big events may get their own pages within the album, or a mini album all their own. As for the biggest event of the year (coming in just a few weeks!), she gets her own album anyway. :)

So, everyday I take a picture, and everyweek or so, I print them out, journal about them and put them in the album. I am not doing much extra...an ocassional stamp or sticker, but pretty much using what came with the kit and getting it done. May be the first time in my scrapbooking tenure (12 years worth) that I am "caught up."

Here's my workspace:

And a few completed pages:

Charming

I did this layout digitally through Creative Memories Storybook Creator Plus software.

I bought the program awhile ago and have been using it for little things here and there. Have been making due with the free downloads, and the papers and embellishments that came with it, but may buy some other downloads as I finally begin my 2008 album (still thinking it might be digital!).

Here's another project I did. I have been making my Mom and MIL calendars every year, and this year, I did them digitally, so I only had to create one set and print it multiple times.

I actually printed 4 copies, giving my sister and myself one, too! SO EASY!

Christmas goodies

Wow! From Halloween to Christmas. Can you tell I haven't had a lot of time (or energy) to be creative lately?

Here's some things I'm working on for Christmas:

First, the fleece tie quilts that Kellie introduced me to. Many kids in my life are getting one of these. They are simple to make, although, kneeling on the floor to cut them with my big belly right now is tricky. I need to find some Terps fleece to make one for Ryan and I.

Next up is the containers for Ryan's teachers' gifts. I've had these Chinese take out containers for awhile, but can't stamp or paint on them. Then I got the idea from Paula to do rub-ons. Now they are almost gone! We are going ot fill them with chocolates.

Then, there's Ryan's ornament for this year. I knew I wanted to make him something related to pirates, pandas, soccer, or fishing (all big this year). I saw this ornament in a Bass Pro advertisement...they had the kids make them one weekend at the store. Thought it was perfect!

And finally, some cards. I do not make my own Christmas cards anymore. Too many, and I like doing the St. Jude ones at Target because they are cute and money goes to St. Jude. I do, however, like to make a few to send gift cards in or as thank you notes. The paper is from Archivers, the flowers are Making Memories, the stamps are Stampin' Up (Warm greeting) and Hero Arts (THANKS).

Hope you are getting the chance to be creative too!

Halloween Album

I have long thought about making a few holiday albums where I can document an event that happens over and over every year, and thus, stop documenting it in such great detail in my family album. I have finally done this for Halloween.

Two things led me to this, 1. Creative Memories came out with a really cute orange, fall album, and 2. Jessica Sprague created this album in October's Creating Keepsakes that I could scraplift:

A lot of hers is digital, but I did mine all traditional. Here's how it looks so far:











I was just going to do it for Ryan's (and future children) pictures, but since I named it "Beatty Family Halloweens" I thought I'd go back and see if I couldn't find any halloween shots of me and Scott before Ryan arrived. My favorite is the year we went as University of MD's basketball and football coaches. Both sports were doing great at the time and it was fun to dress up that way.


I had a bit of trouble/am not totally satisfied with how the white lettering turned out. I used Stayzon ink and some clear stamps. Rub-ons might have worked better, but that would have been a lot of rub-ons. I also have done a few extra pages so they will be ready to go in future years (see the last page that says, "pirate" for this year?). Happy that it's done.


BTW: this is also the first time I have used CM's new side load pages. I did these pages front and back on 1 piece of 8x8 black paper each and just slid it in. Worked great! Hooray for CM finally doing this kind of page!

TFL!

An interesting piece on scrapbooking

It will come as no surprise to anyone that I think a lot about scrapbooking. I wonder how it has become what it is today. I wonder (especially since I sell products) what will happen to it in the future, especially if the economy continues to falter.

I do not see it as a frivlous act, I believe in the importance of recording and sharing one's stories. I also love the community it creates.

What I don't know is how I feel about the fanciful celebrity of it all. I mean, do I really need the latest and "greatest" product, paper or embellishment? I like to be innovative and creative (creativity is probably the other big reason I scrapbook. Being creative makes me happy), but do pages need to be perfect to be important or satisfying?

I came across this post today. Be warned, the site from which this comes is kind-of snarky, but they have their purpose. And I found today's post important and in line with my reasons for scrapping. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Clear Cards

Archiver's had a make and take many weekends ago, and one of them allowed us to try making a card with clear acetate (kind of like heavy duty transparencies). I had seen this, too, on Hero Arts blog (lots of great ideas here!). I got sucked in, bought some acetate and stayzon ink in white. Here's the result:


I stamped a variety of flower stamps (all from the same set by Hero Arts) in white stayzon on the clear, then stuck a smaller white card inside where I stamped "Happy Anniversary." This way I can still write a message inside. I also used a little bling in the center of the flowers.
TFL!