Catching Up

Here are some things I created this summer, along with the inspiration from them.

I ripped this from an old LIFE magazine years ago:

And finally created in Ryan's room:

It was pretty easy to do and inexpensive with cabinet knobs and picture wire.

And this was in a Creating Keepsakes this summer. I'll be making them for many family members, so don't be surprised if you see one in your mailbox!

Thank You Cards

I am an assembly line card maker. I do not make really elaborate cards, but stick with a simple design that I can replicate in a large quantity either to have for myself or to give as gifts (or both). So when I saw this design in an Archiver's flyer, I couldn't resist!

BTW, you can find all sorts of creative card ideas at Archiver's website.

Here's what I made:

And a variation:

Supplies: Paper: Archiver's, Stamps: Hero Arts, Flowers: Prima, Crystals: Hero Arts & Mark Richards, Die cut: Your's Truly (Archiver's).
TFL!

National Scrapbook Day Sketch

Many of you have seen Becky Higgin's Sketches in Creating Keepsakes. I am not a big sketcher myself, but I do like to use them and my friends are way into them now, too. So for National Scrapbook Day, I did my first sketch!



Here's my quick sample:



One from my friend Jennifer:



And one from my friend Kellie:



I'm pretty pleased with the outcome and will probably try it again!

Storage for Clear Stamps

My sister and husband both gave me a bunch of empty CD cases, and I finally got around to going through, organizing and pitching all our old CD's today while Scott worked on taxes (not often that we are both upstairs in the bonus room at the same time).

I know that the cases make a cute frame and I may use some to do activities for kids in the future, but I also wanted to use some to help organize my clear stamps (most of which were still in the plastic wrap they came in).

I organized them according to theme (like the journaling blocks below)

and then put them all in a little bin (from Bed, Bath, and Beyond).

I have many more cases if anyone is interested in trying this...just let me know!

Baby Girl's Album

I finally have gotten started on an album for Baby Girl. I am following the same formula I did for Ryan...calendar pages detailing the nine months before her birth. I'll then do calendar pages for her first year. When I did this for Ryan, it took me two volumes. Everyone says the second one gets fewer pictures, so we will see. :)

Here's a sample:

I am also keeping it very basic...I bought some cheap paper on sale at Archiver's to do the background, punched the month with my quickutz from cream watercolor paper, and on the second page, I am doing a write up on some paper ripped from a notebook (for the edge effect), and including a few family pictures highlighting the month. Makes for rather quick work, and hopefully I will be caught up to March by the time she arrives!

Valentine's Treats

All the kids seem to give out Valentine's Day cards with treats attached these days, so the Scooby Doo cards I bought at the end of the season last year, just don't seem to make the cut. Ryan and I made these instead:



I printed out the bag toppers that I designed from Microsoft Word, Ryan filled in his and his classmates' names, and together we made the pretzel-kiss/hug-m&m treats!

Very happy with how they turned out!

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!