Scrap Happier

First Grade

2011-05-14T16:45:00.000-07:00

Woo hoo! I actually scrapbooked Tristan's first grade individual and class pictures BEFORE he was out of the first grade. I love how the red foil paper makes the pictures pop. The ribbon was from their Red Ribbon/Drug Awareness week; and he was given the paw print as an incentive before they started Terra Nova testing. I picked up the papers at my sister-in-laws scrapbook store in Clarksville, TN. I have a page for every grade kindergarten through 4th grade so hopefully I can get his kindergarten and preschool pictures done soon. I plan to do another layout with his awards and some journaling in his own handwriting so be watching for that.

You Da Man!

2011-05-02T16:53:00.001-07:00

I wanted to creat a layout using the You Rock paper set from CTMH without making it a musical layout. I love the colors and the sheer "coolness" factor of this paper. I chose these pictures of my brother competing in his first triathlon because my boys think he is the coolest guy they know. The journaling will be added on a pull out card that will peek out behind the picture at the top of the second page.

Snoqualmie Falls

2011-05-02T16:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm behind on my scrapbooking. Yes, T is a toddler in these pictures and my SIL only has 2 kids instead of 3; but at least I'm getting back to work on my Seattle vacation album. Hopefully, about 3 more layouts should finish it up. This one was done using the "Safe & Secure" layout design from Imagine. This is one of the few times I've used a 5x7 picture on a layout. I also got creative with the journaling and title. They are printed on transparencies in black ink. Cool, huh?

2010-11-20T15:23:00.000-08:00

Here's my soccer player. I was his assistant coach for this season. He thought it was really cool to have Mom on the field with him. He may be shortert than the other players, but he is fast! Now if we could just get him to turn that ball. :)

T's Birthday Album

2010-11-20T14:57:00.000-08:00

I've finally started a birthday album for each of my boys. I thought it would be fun to keep all of their birthday layouts in one album to see how they grow each year. These pages are from Tristan's first birthday. Instead of my usual 12x12 size, these are only 9x9. It went together really fast. Now I only have 5 more years to catch up!

Stampaganza!!!

2009-11-06T04:31:00.001-08:00

Just in time for holiday gift making and gift giving...it's Stampaganza!!! For every 2 stamp sets you buy, you get one free! This is a great way to get all the stamps you need for those upcoming holiday projects. Just click on the link to your right to see the latest catalog online or e-mail me and I'll send one to you in the mail. It's time to start stamping!

What To Watch For....

2009-10-01T03:56:00.000-07:00

In the coming weeks, watch for Halloween projects, a soccer album for my 5 year old, and a new workshop or two. Sign up for e-mail updates from my blog so you don't miss a thing. Happy Fall Ya'll!

Spongy Organization

2009-10-01T03:51:00.000-07:00

I picked up a good organization tip at my CTMH unit meeting Tuesday night. Another consultant showed us how she used a fishing tackle box to organize her sponges. Each sponge had its own slot labeled with whichever color it had been used for. This helped keep the light colors from getting mixed up with the darker colors; and kept the greens away from the reds and so on. I had never thought about going to so much trouble; but now I can see how handy it would be. So a big thanks to my fellow consultant for sharing her idea. It was great!!

School Days Projects

2009-10-01T03:41:00.000-07:00

Tristan "graduated" from preschool in May. I used the CTMH School Days paper to make "thank you" gifts for his teacher, Mrs. Anderson, and her helper, Ms Bobby. It was the first time I had decorated a lunch box. I quickly discovered that it requires double sided tape and glue dots. Ms. Bobby's gift was one of CTMH's newest releases, the My Creations cube. It was fun to put together. I can see me making lots of those in the future. Not bad for 5 am in the morning projects, don't you think?

The Easter train's a comin'....

2009-02-26T03:31:00.000-08:00

My absolute favorite holiday is coming up--Easter!!! Maybe it's because I was born in April; or maybe it's just all those cute bunnies; but I absolutely love it! I created this Easter train layout last year after being inspired by a layout I saw on E-bay. I absolutely love the furry bunny and chick so you will probably be seeing more of them in the future. I have the templates for the train if anyone wants to use it. Or we can turn this into a workshop, what do y'all think?

Dierks

2009-02-25T04:21:00.000-08:00

Dierks is a very active 18 month old. He's independent, head strong, and not afraid to bite his big brothers to get what he wants. He's learning to talk so communication is getting easier. He just gets very frustrated when I don't understand there's a difference between "do-do-do" and "do-da-do." Apparently, they mean entirely different things. The current challenge is allowing him to feed himself without the dog getting most of the meal or having it smeared all over his end of the table, his clothes, and stuck in his hair. Good thing he loves baths because sometimes he gets 2 or 3 a day!

Tristan the Preschooler

2009-02-25T04:05:00.001-08:00

Tristan is quickly growing up and ready to be a kindergartner in the fall. The things he's learning and telling me are very impressive and at times, hilarious. He can identify Barack Obama (did you know he was the "presijent"?) and say his Pledge of Alegiance (including the line about "indibisible" and "dustice for all". He's currently learning my phone number and our address--something that will come up on his kindergarten screening in a few weeks. According to him, we live in "Misnouri" and my number is about 14 digits long. I hope he doesn't have to call me any time soon--he'll end up calling China! He's signed up for soccer for the first time and is having fun breaking in his new shoes and shin guards. He's never played a team sport before so wish us luck!

Pike's Place Market

2008-10-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

Each month, the yahoo group, CTMH Friends, has an Imagine challenge. A layout is chosen from Close to my Heart's founder, Jeannette Lynton's book, Imagine, and you have all month to submit your layout. This layout is using the Conclusion Combo layout. I turned the right side pattern on it's side to fit my pictures better. Other than that, I just picked my pictures, picked my paper, and cut according to the cutting diagrams. All of the hard work was done for me. I just had to do the fun stuff like creating a title and adding embellishments. Now if I can just finish scrapping all my other Seattle pictures, I might actually accomplish something this year!!

Thanks Jenn!!!

2008-10-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

I have an absolutely fabulous sister-in-law in Alabama. She has two boys of her own and another one on the way. However, instead of scrapping pictures of her own boys, she took the time to make this layout of my oldest's first trip to the beach. All I had to do was add the title and stickers. Didn't she do great? Thanks Jenn!!!!

2008-09-17T16:17:00.000-07:00

It's already time again for the KWerner color challenge. I'm actually proud of this little creation. It's a photo frame made from two coasters. I'm going to give it to a friend who just had a baby girl. I think it would be perfect for her desk at work once she gets off maternity leave.

My colors were vineyard berry, goldrush, sweet leaf, and chocolate. The flowers and butterfly were made using a dry embossing technique; and everything was attached using glue dots. Enjoy!

Do I have an umbrella stamp?

2008-09-16T04:12:00.000-07:00

I can't take credit for this month's scrap tip. It's an idea from my sister-in-law. It's a wonderful way to keep track of which stamp sets you have in your collection. It comes in handy when you're looking for a particular stamp such as a flower for a card or an umbrella for a rainy day layout.

Here's what you do: Put a picture or a catalog cut-out of a stamp set on a 6x6 piece of cardstock. You could also stamp all the images from the set if you want to. Do this for all your stamp sets. Then place these cards in a 6x6 album arranging them in whatever order you like. My book is arranged by holidays first then "word" stamps (happy birthday, thank you, etc) and finishes with alphabet sets. Now when you're looking for a particular stamp, you just have to flip through your book instead of pulling out every single stamp set in your collection. This will save you so much time, you'll be amazed. You'll also be surprised that in fact you do have an umbrella stamp. You just totally forgot it was part of one of your stamp sets. :)

Note: You can also create pages for your ink pad collection. Just highlight the item code for the ones that you own. You'll know exactly what you have on hand; and it will help keep you from ordering unnecessary duplicates. Happy organizing!!

Unit Challenge-9/12/08

2008-09-16T04:03:00.000-07:00

Our unit has started doing challenges to help get our creative juices flowing. I've missed the first two; but I did get one done last week. Our challenge was to do anything using fall colors or fall holiday themes. The catch was it couldn't be a layout or a card. So here's my entry---a Halloween squash book. It was so much fun to do, I'm going to use it in an upcoming workshop. The technique is so simple, I think everybody should know how to do this!

2008-09-11T17:45:00.000-07:00

Here's my entry for this week's Color Inspiration. I had to crank this out in less than an hour so it's kind of rushed. My colors are hollyhock, baby pink, and heavenly blue. The stamp sets are In My Heart (the upcoming CTMH December stamp of the month) and Heartthrob. Thanks for looking!

2008-08-07T21:22:00.000-07:00

OK. Here's my first entry in the KWernerDesign challenge. Not too shabby for 11 o'clock at night after a full day of work, errands, and cranky boys, huh? I used CTMH colors Honey, Hollyhock, and Sweet Leaf. The stamp set is Adorable. No really, that's it's name. Adorable. So what do you think?

Purse Album

2008-07-10T21:27:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen such a cute album? On the outside, it looks like a purse, on the inside it holds 8 4x6 photos. How cool is that? I scraplifted the idea from the Close to my Heart consultant bulletin boards then I created this one using the "Let's Get Together" paper line. Too cute, huh?

Scrap Tips

2008-07-10T20:43:00.000-07:00

This posting is going to be about sharing tips for fellow scrapbookers and crafters. I will try to add a new tip each month. If you have any great ideas--please feel free to share!

July: How to store scraps

Scraps--we all have them. We all refuse to throw them away. We all have no idea how to organize them. Until now! Here's the best solution I've found: get one of those plastic storage boxes for 12x12 paper (see photo). I bought mine at Hobby Lobby at half price. Insert one 12x12 page protector for each color of scraps you need to organize. One for blues, one for reds, etc, etc. (I also put a full sheet of each color in the back of each protector so I would know which was which.) Then sort your scraps into the appropriate page protector (see other photo). Now you can easily find the right color of scrap paper for that next project. Cool, huh?

Dierks in Motion

2008-07-08T18:39:00.000-07:00

In January, he rolled over.....

In March, he crawled....

And now he's walking!!! (sorry it's sideways--I'm new at this)

SERE Training

2008-05-02T11:19:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, I have a brother stationed at Fort Rucker, Alabama getting ready to go through Flight School. Someday he will be flying helicopters. One of the "schools" he had to go through before entering flight school was called SERE training. Just cross GI Jane with Rambo and you'll get the picture. Anyways, he sent me his description of each part of the training so I would know what each letter stood for. I liked it so much that I had to scrapbook it. So here's my SERE layout for all to see. I hope you can read the descriptions. Enjoy!