The fruits of a very fun weekend...

This past weekend was such a blast. About every 6 months we have a Cricut SWARM -- a crop with a bunch of my online Cricut friends from here in the area. On Friday we cropped and shopped (well, mostly shopped) together at the Scrapbook USA Expo, then on Saturday we had a crop at a local scrapbook store. So fun! And amazingly enough, I actually got a ton done this time! My goal was to get a lot of scrapping done, since I've mostly been making cards lately.

I've been planning this lo since Eliza was a month old -- these are pictures from her month-day every month, ending up with this adorable pic on her 6-month birthday. I got the pics printed in B&W because the colors were all so different. There are three tags with more 6-month photos and journaling behind the big photo. The PP is from Basic Grey, and the flowers are from MM and Heidi Swapp. I cut the 6 with Base Camp at 3 1/2", and the letter stickers are from October Afternoon.


Aw, my cute little Josh. He is so afraid of my mom's big dog, Beau. Beau just a big puppy and thinks the boys are puppies, too, so he gets a little exuberant. Joshy usually runs straight in from the car to Nana's house, but one day he mustered his courage and told Beau to "SIT!" and he actually did it! I happened to have my camera out -- lucky day! The chipboard letters are from Scenic Route and rub-ons are from American Crafts. The paw prints are from the Cricut Paper Pups cartridge and the pp is from Basic Grey. I used embroidery thread to sew on all the buttons -- thanks again to my friend Amy for reminding me to stick the buttons down with glue dots before trying to sew them on -- sure saves a lot of hassle!


This one is not my favorite, but I was glad to get a lo with so many photos done! Last November we took a little ferry trip with my in-laws and it was so fun.






These last two are for my album about Dan and me. I usually just have one photo at a time, so I do this book in 8x8. This first one is our first couple picture, taken right when we started dating so Dan could show me off to him mum. We're so young! The pp is from Chatterbox, and the little branch dies are from Sizzix. I cut "Beginnings" at 1" with the Cricut Base Camp cartridge. I used a Heidi Swapp edge distresser for the edges of the paper -- it's my favorite cheap tool!



This pic is from only a couple weeks later, from the few days in between when Dan asked me to marry him and when I said yes. In my defense, we'd only been dating a couple weeks and he really took me off guard! :) There's a big long story that goes with it, which I think you'll be able to read better if you click on the pic and get the bigger version. The pp and chipboard letters here are from Scenic Route, and the ribbon is from SU (yay, Sale-a-bration!). Letter rub-ons are from American Crafts.


Of course, I couldn't leave cards out completely!

This one is an ATC (artist trading card) for our crop. I completely spaced the swap until I got there, so that was my first project of the day. I embossed the background with the Cuttlebug, then used my SU "Pocket Silhouettes" set and scallop and ticket corner punches to put together the rest. Phew!



This one was for our "Rummage Challenge," which I was in charge of. Each participant, before leaving home, was supposed to go to THAT PLACE in their scrapbooking area where supplies just pile up and get forgotten -- you all know what place I'm talking about! -- close their eyes, and rummage around. The thing they brought out was their main supply for the challenge, then I also rummaged in several of my areas and brought more supplies they could incorporate. It was cool to see how creative people could be! One of my rummaged supplies was a Mary Engelbreit desk calendar from 2002 -- I've kept it all these years because the illustrations were so wonderul and I knew I wanted to make cards from them someday. I picked this sweet quote and used scraps from my "Beginnings" layout to create this card. The label and scallop border punches are from SU.


I was half packed to go home when I decided I really wanted to finish just one more project, so I made up a few of these cute, quick cards. The background is embossed with the Cuttlebug, then I cut the scalloped oval with the Cricut Storybook cartridge. "Happy" is cut from Base Camp at 1". To make 5 quick cards, I loaded 5 scraps of bright adhesive paper on my mat and cut the word "happy" on each one. Then I just took one letter from each for each card. I outlined each oval and wrote "birthday" with a black marker. Easy peasy, and so festive!


Phew, you made it to the end! I had a blast this weekend, and it was wonderful to have so much to show for it. My kids thought the scrapbook pages were great -- they just love seeing themselves on layouts. Can't wait til our next SWARM!

Layouts at last!

I've been doing mostly cards and gift projects for quite a while, so I was so happy to get a few scrapbook layouts done. These three layouts are so different; it really makes me appreciate how scrapbooking can help us record so many different parts of our lives.

This one is me and my parents when I was right around one! I snagged this picture from my grandma's house when passed away, and it just makes me happy. I did this layout as a gift for my dad's birthday -- I started last year when I made him a layout and gave it to him in an 8 1/2 x 11 frame. This year I gave him a binder so he can put last year's layout in the binder and have this one in the frame. That way I know he'll look at it more! :) The size also makes it easy for me to make copies for myself. I'm planning on making lots more "blast-from-the-past" type layouts in the future.



Materials: PP -- SEI; letter rub-ons -- American Crafts; title letters -- CAC One Seventy font, cut with Cricut and Sure Cuts a Lot; ticket corner and scallop edge punches -- Stampin Up; Flower punches -- EKSuccess; Tab -- Cricut (Fab Finds)

I love the story behind this second layout -- just one of those little everyday funny stories that NEED to be scrapbooked! When Sammy was a couple months shy of 4, we were meeting my BIL Chad's girlfriend for the first time. He was 31 and his lack of success in the romance department up to that point was becoming a real sore spot with him (not to mention with my MIL and his grandma!). When Chad introduced Esther to Sammy, he looked at her in disbelief and said, "Esther, I thought you were IMAGINARY!" Yup, had to get that one down for posterity! This photo is from that weekend.




Materials: PP -- Scenic Route; Stamp -- Stampin Up (dotted line jumbo roll); acrylic arrow -- no idea

This last layout is not my favorite ever, I have to admit. I don't think I've ever made a Halloween layout I really loved. But this is the fun event type scrapping that I've been neglecting lately, so I was glad to get it done. It's also the last Halloween we had my little sis Carissa (that's her dressed as Princess Fiona), and she LOVED Halloween and trick-or-treating with her nephews, so I couldn't skip those pics!




Materials: PP -- K&Company; Glitter stickers -- Martha Stewart; Glitter -- Provo Craft; Title Letters -- Cricut (Printing Press)

I was going to show you some fab decorations I made for our Valentine's Dinner using my new Stampin Up goodies, but I left my camera at my mom's house. ARGH! So stay tuned -- more good things to come!

Miss You -- Kazan Sketch #17 at 2S4Y

Another week, another lovely sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You! I decided to let the big flower make the major statement on this card, and I used chalk ink to grunge it up to go with the pp. A little stitching and a hand-written label (which I cut using my own design on my Cricut machine) finish it off. TFL!

Materials:
PP -- Scenic Route
Lace Trim -- Fancy Pants
Flowers -- Heidi Swapp (large), Fancy Pants (small)
Cardstock -- Provo Craft
Chalk Ink -- ClearSnap (Cat's Eye)
Brad: unknown

Christmas Cuties

Our challenge for BBTB this week was to use this adorable stocking from Christmas Cheer in a non-traditional color (anything but red). Although I don't usually make layouts before I have pictures, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with this one! (Waiting for this baby has done this to me a lot!) My SIL is having a baby any day now, and we're so looking forward to having our two little babies at the same time. We'll be together at Christmas, and I thought this would be just perfect for some Christmas pictures of our two little lovies together. The only catch is, they don't know whether they're having a boy or a girl -- they're some of those crazy people who like to be surprised... ;) Luckily, this paper and layout have enough pink and blue that we could fit a baby boy in there if we HAVE to, hee hee!

Materials used:
Patterned Paper: Scenic Route
"Celebrate the Season" Stamp and Scallop Punch: Stampin' Up
Journaling Stamp: Autumn Leaves
Acrylic letters and heart: Heidi Swapp (I used acrylic paint to highlight the edges and sewed them to the page with pink embroidery floss)
"Christmas": Cricut Opposites Attract cartridge, sized and welded in CDS, in both chipboard and cardstock
Stocking: Cricut Christmas Cheer cartridge, cut at 4" and embossed with the Cuttlebug. Top and toe are covered in fun flock!
Snowflake: Cricut Christmas Cheer cartridge
Cardstock: DCWV

Here are some close ups of my favorite elements:

Another SCAL creation...

I created this layout a while ago, but I was submitting it for a contest and couldn't post it. I'm posting it now to show one of my favorite things I've done with SCAL so far -- I created this cut of the Space Needle! I searched for a while and couldn't find any dingbats or anything of the Space Needle, so I found a good picture online, copied it into my graphic design software, and created this shape. I also cut "top" with a font called Pristina. Man, the possibilities with this software really are endless!

Oh, and I also must thank Diane (Capadia from the Cricut MB) for this great scallop file for Cricut Design Studio. It works like a charm, so if you have CDS and you like the look of the Threading Water punch, this is a great file!

This is for an 8x8 album I do with layouts just of me and my hubby. I love it, because it not only celebrates all the fun things we do together and the love we have for each other, but I also get to use all the "grown up" supplies I have! This one uses some of my favorite papers from Scenic Route, and a sketch from Page Maps.

Goal accomplished! The boys' birthday layouts...

I started planning these layouts right when I had the pictures taken after the boys' birthdays in December but it's taken me this long to make it happen. I'm SO glad I wrote down all the little things I wanted to put on for each of them back then, because they've already changed so much and it's only been a few months! I wanted these to coordinate but be different to reflect each boy's personality. They also fit perfectly with another of Robyn's National Scrapbook Day challenges: to make your own background paper.

Here are the details:
All the PP and chipboard is from Scenic Route (LOVE this collection for kid pages!)
For Joshy's page I printed the journaling and circle, then cut it out. I used my Cricut (George cartridge) to cut all the circles, then just fiddled until I liked the way it looked.
Sammy's page is pretty self-explanatory, but the big photo corners are from the Cricut Jasmine cartridge.

TFL, and hope you all enjoyed National Scrapbook Day! And wow, I'm noticing I REALLY need to clean my scanner glass!