Halloween '08 -- ScrapbookPal.com

I'll tell you a secret -- I have never made a Halloween layout I liked.  I don't know what it is about scrapping for this holiday, but I'm just never pleased with the results.  But I used my new Mini Monsters cartridge and black stickles from ScrapbookPal.com, and I have to say that I think I am going to call this one a keeper!  I tried to keep it simple, with just two of my favorite pictures from the night and just a little journaling.  I cut strips of various Halloween papers and layered them, and then tucked the pictures into the layers.  I used a strip of paper tape for the journaling at the bottom, which worked very nicely.  I wanted the paper strip that said "halloween" to stand out a little more so it could be part of the title, so I used my black stickles to dot along the edges, and I love the effect -- just the right amount of bling, without overpowering anything else.  To top it all off, I added this adorable pumpkin from Mini Monsters, which I cut at 2".  Such fun!

Additional materials:  Patterned paper -- Scenic Route, Imaginisce; "Boo" Snap -- We R Memory Keepers; Vinyl number stickers -- American Crafts; Paper Tape -- Martha Stewart Crafts

My Christmas-in-July Gift Exchange Goodies!

One of my favorite "recent find" blogs is Craftaholics Anonymous, and last month she hosted a "Christmas-in-July" handmade gift exchange!  I received two super adorable headbands from the lovely and talented Terri.  My little Eliza just loves them and wants to wear one every day!  Thanks again, Terri -- these just made my day!

Faux Necklace Onesies!

I'm back from Washington at last and I can't wait to share all the projects I've had stored up for you!  The first one is these totally adorable faux necklace onesies that my sister-in-law Leanne and I made for our little girlies.  Aren't they just the cutest?!  I found the tutorial on Get Your Craft On via UCreate.  We made them to coordinate with these fluffy pettiskirts that I found at Costco for $17.  Awesome!  I also made their little hair clippies.

If you'd like to see more pics from this fun little photoshoot, check them out here. 

Mini Monsters and lots of glitter -- my first Scrapbookpal.com DT project!

 Well, I was like a little kid waiting for Christmas morning while I waited for my first ScrapbookPal.com DT supplies to come in the mail!  They have so many great supplies; I couldn't wait to see what I'd have to play with first.  I was not disappointed!  They sent me the new Cricut Mini-Monsters cartridge, Stickles in black diamond and fruit punch, and awesome Stardust glitter pens.
The obvious choice for this cartridge, of course, is Halloween.  There are a plethora of adorable little Halloween characters and fun, unique monsters.  But my first thought was all the other ways you could use these cute little characters.  I made this first card for my little sister who had had a really tough week, and was feeling just about like this little guy looks.  ARGH!  I cut everything out and assembled it, then use a brown marker and my glitter pen to accent it to match the funny background paper.

An extra shot to show how cool the glitter accenting works:

Materials: Die-cuts -- Cricut Mini-Monsters cartridge;  Stardust glitter pen; Patterned Paper -- Diecuts with a View; Scallop border punch -- Stampin' Up

But I couldn't stop there!  I had to try out the Halloween possibilities as well.  This time I wanted to use both colors of Stickles, and I thought a cute little girl card was in order.  I cut and assembled the cute little spider and web and used my stickles to accent the details.  A little doodling for a border and the card was finished!  I love how a good mix of die cuts and personal touches (like the stickles and doodling) can help create a fab card in record time!

Materials: Die cuts -- Cricut Mini-Monsters cartridge, Stickles in black diamond and fruit punch; Scallop border punch -- Stampin' Up


I want to teach you a little trick I learned recently.  You can use Stickles to make your own super-inexpensive, ready-anytime gem spots!  All you need to do is get a scrap of clear packaging and make a line of Stickles dots in whatever sizes you like.  Let them dry and they slide right off the plastic, and then you can adhere them to your project with a glue dot or just a spot of liquid glue.  Just make sure you don't make your dots and then forget where you set them down, because you might just end up with an arm smeared in glitter glue.  Not that I would know anything about that...

And just for good measure, I had to use my black stickles on one more card.  I made this one for my daddy for Father's Day.  The Stickles were the perfect touch to really make it pop.

Materials: Stickles in black diamond; Embossing folder -- Tim Holtz for Sizzix; Ink -- Clearsnap chalk ink; Die cuts -- Cricut George cartridge (stars)

Yankee Doodle Sweethearts

Happy Independence Day from Washington!  My awesome mom-in-law and I celebrated by sewing the most adorable dresses for Eliza and my neices Laila and Liberty.  (Yes, her name is Liberty Bell...)  I was very excited to get a sewing lesson from Dan's mom, who is a master seamstress.  We made this from an actual pattern, which required confronting such frightening concepts as interfacing, tucks, buttonholes, and sewing on a curve!  I felt very grown up.  :)  I made Eliza's nearly all by myself (with my MIL's guidance and answers to my approximately 10,000 questions), and then she turned out the other two in about a third of the time it had taken me to do one.  Wow.  Can I be like that when I grow up?  Though I may be very slow, I was very proud of myself -- this is the first project I've done where I didn't have to put a "don't look too closely!" disclaimer on it.  This little dress looks great from any distance!

We got our little girlies together for pictures, but it was the end of a very long day and they were all pretty cranky.  Still awfully cute, though!  This is the best one -- in all the rest at least one of them is bawling her eyes out.