Plays Well With Paper

2011 Christmas Decorations -- all new stuff!

2011-12-30T14:16:00.001-08:00

This year I discovered pinterest and it has given me a new desire to decorate my home. Since I repainted my mantle, mirror and tile surround this last fall, I have been decorating with book print, cream, black and burlap. For Christmas I added silver and gold touches and glitter....lots of glitter!
As you know, I attempt to make Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas each year, and usually they end up in a bag until the next year when I take them out and look at them. This year I wanted to display them, so here are four that I displayed in the living room.

To make these I took 4 frames from the Dollar Tree and painted them. Then I lightly sanded them in some areas where they would normally get some paint worn off. Then I glittered them with Folk Art Extreme Glitter paint (my new favorite stuff!!) In order to keep the glitter I used on everything from shedding for years to come, after the glue dried, I painted over all the glitter with the glitter paint and I had no shedding!!! Fabulous!!!
I ironed fusible web to the back of some burlap, then ironed it onto the glass that went into the frames. Once adhered, I trimmed it to fit and put it in the frames. I tore the edges of some hymnal pages.
(This is something I really thought I could never do. I adore hymns and the hymnals I have are precious to me. But my mom found one in a thrift store that had no personal connection to me so that I could make a few crafts with hymnal music and not have any guilt. ;-D )
Then I attached the hymnal paper to the burlap with sookwang tape, and attached the tags I wanted to use to the paper with foam pop dots. I really like how they turned out.

The mantle has greenery, burlap, flowers, gold beads, and some other fun elements.The little votive holders were from an old spice rack I found in a thrift store, and the decor on the candle sticks is just some of those plastic snowflakes with crepe paper and a music scalloped circle in the center.

As for the tree, I decided to try and make all new ornaments from some I had seen on pinterest. I worked on these for weeks and still have tons of ornaments that I never even got to, but I had a great time making these!

Let's begin with the Star -- This I bought from Beverly's and I only added the pieces of sheet music inside the metal glittered pieces.
Then I got to work on some other ornaments.
These little acorns had real acorn tops and wooden bottoms. I glittered them and then painted over the glitter with the glitter paint I mentioned above.
This ornament is exactly like the decorations on the candlesticks, I just tied some ribbon to these and used them as ornaments on my tree.
Two of Tim Holtz's rosettes dies with a glittered scallop. The glittered decor in the center came in a little package of 12 from Michaels.
I adhered book print to some plastic ornaments from Walmart and glittered some tiney pinecones I found in my driveway. The holly leaves are from Tim Holtz Festive Greenery die.

These were easy to spin twine around and it was a nice little rustic ornament.

More bookprint on an ornament and I added some rolled paper roses to the top of these ornaments.
This is Tim Holtz's NOEL die cut. I cut some out of chipboard and then glittered and glitter painted them. The bookprint holly is from his Lampost die.

I hand cut the following ornaments from a template on one of the pinterest websites, called A Field Journal.

And these next two I found at the last minute at Kmart. They are part of the Jaquelyn Smith ornaments and I thought they fit perfectly. I need to put some of the gold ribbon on the tops of them, but they were so cute and I found 3 of each, so I grabbed them up!
This little area didn't get finished the way I wanted it to, but I only had so much time left. I wanted to make a Christmas paper quilt hanging for the center, but that will have to wait until next year.

I repainted the birdcage from black to cream and set some fun little items inside.
The mantle in the kitchen got pretty much the same decor as the one in the living room except I added a pair of old silver salt and pepper shakers and a silver water pitcher in keeping with the kitchen theme.

And I even gave the bathroom a quick make-over. It needs painted horribly, but there wasn't the time or money for that so I just put some burlap on the back of this old window shelf I had and put more of the blue Tim Holtz tags in each pane with pop dots.

On the little hutch I have in there, I added some decorated candles, and I antiqued an old white showman that I found in the guest bedroom closet. I tried to make him look vintage.
That's it for this year's decor. There was so much more I wanted to do, but on a very limited budget and with limited time, you can only get so many projects completed. And it leaves some things for me to work on next year, like a banner and stockings for the mantle, some wreaths, the paper quilt wall hanging, and some bleached vintage looking bottle brush trees. So stay tuned for December 2012 for the second half of my vintage silver and gold Christmas decor.

12 Tags of Christmas - We Finished!!

2011-12-28T11:42:00.001-08:00

That's right! We finished!!! All 12 Tags!!

Here are all of Tim's 12 Tags

And......

drum roll please........

Here are my 12 tags of Christmas!!!

It took us a week and half and I have no idea how many hours to get these finished, but we did it this year!!

My friend Kim and I got together and took over DH's pool table and made a HUGE mess for a week and a half, but we did it!!

Thank you Tim and Mario for another great year!

12 Tags of Christmas Day #12

2011-12-28T11:32:00.001-08:00

WE DID IT!!!! I can't believe we made it!! All 12 and I made two of each one at that!!! WOOOOT!

Today's tag struck me as kind of strange at first. I hated that weird little doll, but in the end, I went down and bought one and I like it. There were a million steps to making today's tag, but it was a fun tag to make! Be sure to check out Tim's page to see all the fun steps to making this.

Tim's Tag 12

For my tag I stuck pretty much to Tim's tutorial, but for the second tag that I gave away, I had to improvise since I didn't have two of everything. I think it turned out pretty well despite having to scrounge around for some cute seconds.

I can't believe we are done!

12 Tags of Christmas Day #11

2011-12-28T11:12:00.000-08:00

Okay, today's tag appeared to be one of the easiest, but ended up being a nightmare. The whole Shrik Plastic in Utee in a melting pot did not work for me. I believe my melting pot is defective, because it never gets the UTEE melted and the second you take the top off it has a thick scum on the top that doesn't allow you to put anything in the UTEE or to pour the UTEE. I have contacted Ranger and they have assured me that as soon as they get more melting pots in stock that my defective one will be replaced. I put some pictures below of the disasters we had to deal with.

None-the-less, we did figure out a way to get the thing done even with the technique, it was just a variation of the technique.

Tim's Tag #11

Okay, so here is the finished tag. In order to get this to work without the melting pot, I cut the Shrink Plastic and then applied clear embossing ink to one side, put a lot of UTEE on it and used the heat gun. At first I thought I had ruined it because it curled so much, but it actually worked!

Here are some of the disasters from the defective melting pot incident:

Notice that the light is on and it isn't heating but there is this film on the top. Gross!Here are two holly leaves and a branch that I tried to melt in the UTEE in the melting pot. Had to salvage them by re-melting the UTEE with the heat tool. What a disaster!

12 Tags of Christmas Day #10

2011-12-28T11:04:00.001-08:00

Day #10! I can't believe we made it to day #10! This is really the farthest we have ever come in our quest to finish all 12. Below is Tim's Tag #10. The technique today is to make a metallic transfer charm. This was an interesting technique. One I have wanted to try for years and have never actually done. My first attempt was a dismal failure, but the next few tries worked out much better.

Tim's Tag #10

Since I was doing 2 of each tag, I had to make some changes so that I had enough letters to spell something. I decided I wanted the one that said jolly and I gave away the one that said believe.

12 Tags of Christmas 2011 - Day #9

2011-12-10T23:12:00.001-08:00

Tag #9 had some elements that really interested me. We've already established that I am not a fan of bright green and bright red for Christmas, but I like the double embossing technique and the fact that he used the Halloween Candelabra die for this tag.

Tim's Tag #9

Using the same double embossing technique and the same die cuts, I came up with a tag that has a much different feeling. This tag fits very well with my Christmas decorations this year. I really like it!

My Tag #9

12 Tags of Christmas 2011- Day #8

2011-12-10T23:01:00.001-08:00

Tag #8 was another winner!!! Love the Steampunk Christmas. Creative and fun!

Tim's Tag #8

I tried to make mine look as close to Tim's as possible, but I can't figure out how he keeps his white paint dabber pain white when he inks over it. The red ink turned mine pink and I could NOT get it white again. Other than that, this was a really fun tag, even though I had to get in line at 8:30 am for a big die cut sale this morning so I could get the clock die to finish this tag.

12 Tags of Christmas 2011 - Day #7

2011-12-10T22:53:00.000-08:00

Tag #7 -- Loved it from the moment I saw it!!

Tim's Tag #7

Fun techniques on this tag!! Alcohol inks on glassine paper, ghost stamping, and the baubles. Such a pretty tag!

My Tag #7

12 Tags of Christmas2011 - Day #6

2011-12-10T22:38:00.000-08:00

Well, Day #6 was definitely not a favorite. In fact.....I didn't like it at all. I know it's all about the technique, but this one really threw me for a loop. Thankfully, Tim has added the inlinkz at the bottom of each post where people can upload thumbnails of their tags and link it to their blog. Many of the 12 Taggers in Russia and across Europe had already uploaded their versions of Tag #6, so I was able to get some really great ideas.

Tim's Tag #6

One tag I based on a tag I saw that was posted by a lady from Russia. Her's was a little lighter, but I have to give her credit for giving me the idea.

I used a swirly texture fade on the top and the music texture fade on the bottom. Then colored it with pink, blue, and green paint. The main technique was to emboss metal and then paint it and then too cover it with clear embossing powder.

My Tag #6 - A

I made a second tag for a friend and instead of using clear embossing gel, I used Snow Cap opaque ink and then clear embossing powder.

My Tag #6 - B

12 Tags of Christmas 2011 - Day #5

2011-12-10T22:27:00.000-08:00

Day 5! I will admit that this tag is not my favorite. But I was determined to try the technique anyway.

Tim's Tag #5

Here is my attempt at this technique, which was to cover the transparency in alcohol ink and then remove the ink by stamping on it with a mirror stamp. I'm not a fan of the bright red and green here, but it was an easy, fun tag to make.

12 Tags of Christmas 2011- Day 4

2011-12-10T22:12:00.000-08:00

Day #4 -- This is a wonderful tag! One of my favorites! I love the icy, wintery feel of this tag.

Tim's Tag #4

This is my tag #4. I really like the look of the thick crackle paint that is colored with distress stains. It gave the snowman a wonderfully icy, snowy look. It was also great to be able to use one of the mover and shaper dies to cut the 25 out of the center of the snowman. It adds an interesting element to the tag.

Tim's 12 Tags 2011 - Day #3

2011-12-08T13:40:00.001-08:00

Day #3 showcased one of my favorite techniques -- make your own stamp pad.

Tim's Tag #3

This tag started off well, until I ran out of reinkers in the middle of making the stamp pad and my LSS didn't have the colors I needed. We tried to salvage the stamp pad, and it looks ok. Just not exactly as I had envisioned it . None the less, it is a great technique and you must give it a try!

My Tag #3

Tim's 12 Tags 2011 - Day 2

2011-12-08T13:33:00.001-08:00

Day two of the 12 Tags was just as fantastic as the first. Look at the beautiful tag Tim created with kraft paper resist. I love it! If you click the image of Tim's tag, it will take you to his blog post with all the directions and close-ups.

Tim's Tag #2

I really enjoyed working with the Kraft paper resist and the Picket Fence Distress Stain. This was a really fun tag.

My Tag #2

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas 2011 - Tag #1

2011-12-08T13:17:00.000-08:00

That's right!! They're back! Here are my attempts at Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas this year.

If you haven't been following Tim's 12 Tags this year, you must! It's always so much fun.

Here is Tim's tag.
If you click no the image, it will link you to his blog with all the close-ups and directions.

Gorgeous isn't it? I absolutely love it!

This is my tag

What fun! I totally enjoyed making this tag even though the pine cones are a little frustrating at first.

12 Tags of Fall - Day #12

2011-11-15T01:35:00.001-08:00

Well, I made it! All 12 Tags!! The technique for this tag was to use clear embossing as a resist for the ink. so that is how the wheat was done. I stamped it with clear embossing ink and then embossed it with clear embossing powder. Then stamped and inked over it. The charms on this one were from Buttons Galore. I colored them with alcohol inks.

From another angle...

I decided to display them on my mantle this year. My mom said that she and my sister displayed the ones I made for my sister on their mantle, and I didn't have time to make a Thanksgiving banner, so decided to hang mine from the mantle as well and I like it!

Today I am thankful for the gift of creativity. I am so thankful that God gave us unique talents and gifts. For me it is such fun; I really enjoy making and creating things, but I also love to see the all the amazing things created by my talented family and friends.

I want to thank Nancy for the inspiration to jump in and make 12 Tags of Fall! Now I'm all warmed up and ready for Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas. Maybe I'll get all 12 of them done this year...now THAT would be a feat.

12 Tags of Fall - Day #11

2011-11-12T13:05:00.001-08:00

Almost done!! Today's tag used a recipe, so I cut two out of Tim's Holiday Stack paper, and used some pumpkin clips that I have had for at least 5 years!! I am now in love with Kraft Glassine leaves. They are so much fun and they take the color of the Distress Inks and Distress Stains so well!

Today my DH went out and got me a pumpkin donut (I'm addicted to them!) and with the theme of today's tag, I was reminded of how much food we have. I constantly see people posting food pics (and I post them too!) So today, I am thankful for the abundance and variety of food that God has graciously provided to us.

12 Tags of Fall Day #10

2011-11-12T01:27:00.001-08:00

12 Tags of Fall Day #10 - the techniques were a wood grain stamp and to paint on grungeboard. I cut out the pumpkin using the small Tim Holtz pumpkin die, and I also used his oval book plate die. The center ovals are covered with some small vintage Thanksgiving postcards from Tim's Holiday Stack. And the small leaves and branches are from his fall foliage die.

This turned out a little darker than I planned, but I like it!

As I sat and listened to the rain coming down outside tonight, I was so thankful for a warm, cozy home, lights, a heater, indoor plumbing, a soft bed with warm blankets, and so many of the comforts we take for granted every day.

12 Tags of Fall Day #9

2011-11-11T00:34:00.000-08:00

This tag had a technique that I always love the look of -- the distressed dictionary paper. I added some kraft glassine paper leaves and painted some of the bright blue berries that were on a Christmas pick so they were fall colors, and added this wonderful painted picture of the first Thanksgiving.

I said this the other day as part of my facebook status update, but I made a quick trip up to my parent's house this week to help my family out a little bit. It was a spur of the moment need, and I am thankful for my two part time jobs and that they are both allow me time to take off and help when necessary. I know so many people who would not be able to pick up suddenly and be able to try and fill a need and come along side my family when they need it. I consider it a privilege to work in both the jobs and to work with the amazing women I work with at both jobs!!

12 Tags of Fall Day #8

2011-11-11T00:06:00.001-08:00

I took a lot of liberties with this tag. I was supposed to make my own back ground with an inking technique and some stamps, but I really, really wanted to use this Tim Holtz Kraft Resist Paper, so I inked it a little, but not too much because I wanted the kraft color to show through. I added a copy of President George Washington's proclamation for a day of Thanksgiving.

George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

Today I am thankful for the richness of my family heritage, and the great history of this country.

12 Tags of Fall Day #7

2011-11-10T23:59:00.000-08:00

The technique for Day #6 was to make a water stained inked background and make a yo yo. I really like this one! I slightly changed my tag and added a copy of the Thanksgiving Day proclamation as put forth by Abraham Lincoln.

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,
Secretary of State

I am thankful for our military men and women and their families who sacrifice so much, many times even their lives so that we might live in freedom and security here at home. Thank you to my many family members, grandfathers, my dad, uncles, and my cousins who have served and are currently serving in our US armed forces. I love you!

12 Tags of Fall - Day #6

2011-11-10T21:03:00.000-08:00

Tag #6 had several techniques. Nancy encouraged us to decoupage pattern pieces onto the tag, then to take the directions for the pattern and to make a rosette out of it. It was fun and I got to put some of my Tim Holtz sewing stamps to work too!!

I used a Friendship stamp on this tag, because I am thankful for friends. They come in all shapes, sizes, and even types. There are the kind of friends you may not see for years and yet when you do see each other, you can pick up as if you were never apart, or the kind of friends you can see everyday and not get sick of each other, or the kinds of friends that share your common interests, the kinds of friends who support you, hold you accountable, and love you despite your weaknesses, and even the friends that you haven't seen in years, but you reconnected with on FB, and you just like each other's photos and statuses. Or even the friends that you have met on scrapping websites and never actually met in person, or only met once in a great while. All of these kinds of friends add to our lives and I want you all to know how much I appreciate you and our friendship, not matter what kind of friendship it is. :-)

12 Tags of Fall Day #5

2011-11-07T00:10:00.000-08:00

Isn't this design beautiful? Nancy's design for this tag included that pretty doily with the button heart in the center and I just couldn't wait to make this vintagey tag.

Today I am thankful for love. Not the mercurial, emotional, "romantic" type of love that is touted in movies, books, music and made a mockery of on reality TV. I'm talking about real love. The kind that is self-sacrificing, undeserving, and unchanging. The kind that chooses to endure in the midst of the difficulties, the heart breaks and the mundane. I'm thankful for my DH, Dad, Mom and my sister who do their best to love me this way, and for God who is the perfect example of unconditional, self-sacrificial love.

"Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." I Cor. 13:4-7

I really like the contrast of the dark Gathered Twigs background color and the light Antique linen doily and ribbon. The buttons and burlap add just the right touch of texture. Great design Nancy!

12 Tags of Fall Day #4

2011-11-05T21:12:00.001-07:00

For Tag #4 of my friend Nancy's 12 Tags of Fall challenge, the main technique was to stamp with ink, then stamp with clear embossing ink and emboss with clear embossing powder. Then to ink over it and the clear embossing powder acts as a resist to the ink.

Nancy used some foliage to decorate her tag, but I wanted to try some of Tim Holtz's Kraft Glassine paper. I decided to post pictures of how I made the rust leaf on my tag so you could try it too. I just love the way it turned out.

I used Rusty Hinge Distress Stain, Kraft Glassine Paper, and I cut out leaves with my Lifestyle Crafts leaf dies.

Then I crinkled the paper and folded it to make it look like the veins in the leaves.

Then just color the paper with Distress Stain and look how beautifully they turn out!!

On my large leaves I did add a little of the dark brown Gathered Twigs Distress Ink around the edges to make it look a little varigated.

And as usual, I made two, one for me and one for my sister.

Today, as I finished these, (which included painting and inking the acorns because no one has any fall stuff out any more, it's all Christmas, so I had to paint some bright blue and green sparkly acorns from the Christmas pick aisle at M's) I was thinking about the words on the tags...Fall Hues. I just adore the gorgeous colors of fall. Seriously, I can't get enough of them. And so as I waded through the Christmas stuff with all the Christmas music invading my celebration of Thanksgiving, I was so thankful for FALL HUES. What an amazing display of God's creativity and beauty that shines through His creation!

12 Tags of Fall Day #3

2011-11-04T21:41:00.001-07:00

This is the tag for Day #3 of the 12 tags of Fall from my friend Nancy's blog. I am obviously a day behind. Part of my problem with this tag is that I searched high and low for my Tim Holtz bird cage die and I couldn't find it for the life of me! I finally gave up because there isn't a place that I hadn't searched at least twice in the entire house. So I bought a new one with a 50% off coupon and am waiting for mine to show up in an obvious place that I searched half a dozen times today. ;-D

As I said before, I am making two of each tag so that I can give one to my sister and I can keep one.

When I saw Nancy's design for this tag, I knew I wanted to use the bird flying away from the cage theme too, because today I am thankful for freedom and liberty. I'm thankful that I was granted the privilege of being born in this country. I am thankful for the freedom to worship free from governmental persecution. And I'm thankful for the freedom from sin through the work of Christ. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

12 Tags of Fall #2 - 2011

2011-11-03T22:45:00.000-07:00

Tag #2 from my friend Nancy's 12 Tags of Fall Challenge. Again, I followed the techniques she used and used things I had in my stash.

I love this hymn. And as with each tag, I want to post something for which I am grateful. Today I am thankful for God's abundant provision. He has faithfully provided for me and my family through some very difficult times. It is so easy to feel sorry for yourself or to complain about our struggles, but in reality, when we take a moment and begin the thank God for His provisions, it is humbling to see how He meets our needs in a myriad of amazing ways.

I'm making two of each tag so that I can send one to my sister, so that in the end, she has 12 tags of Fall to use for decorating and also as a reminder of God's faithfulness.

        Come, ye thankful people, come,
 raise the song of harvest home;
 all is safely gathered in,
 ere the winter storms begin.
 God our Maker doth provide
 for our wants to be supplied;
 come to God's own temple, come,
 raise the song of harvest home.

 All the world is God's own field,
 fruit as praise to God we yield;
 wheat and tares together sown
 are to joy or sorrow grown;
 first the blade and then the ear,
 then the full corn shall appear;
 Lord of harvest, grant that we
 wholesome grain and pure may be.

 For the Lord our God shall come,
 and shall take the harvest home;
 from the field shall in that day
 all offenses purge away,
 giving angels charge at last
 in the fire the tares to cast;
 but the fruitful ears to store
 in the garner evermore.

 Even so, Lord, quickly come,
 bring thy final harvest home;
 gather thou thy people in,
 free from sorrow, free from sin,
 there, forever purified,
 in thy presence to abide;
 come, with all thine angels, come,
 raise the glorious harvest home.

12 Tags of Fall 2011 - Tag #1

2011-11-01T23:51:00.002-07:00

My friend Nancy decided to start a little challenge on her blog to try and create 12 tags of Fall (a la Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas.) I loved the idea and am going to try and play along to the best of my ability.

This is the first tag. I used all the techniques that she did - stamping, inking, masking, water speckling, etc. Originally I wanted to try and keep it all in the burlap and cream color scheme with a little brown, black and orange to accent them, but once I got started inking, I couldn't stop!

Halloween Banner and Mantle

2011-10-11T23:23:00.001-07:00

I made my Halloween banner using Authentique's Glowing line. It's taken me a long time to post this though because I decided to paint the tile, mantle and mirror before I decorated it.

This is how it has looked for the last 10 years.
This is how it looked after I painted the mirror, mantle and tile with two coats of Annie Sloan chalk paint, and three coats of finishing wax. One coat of clear wax, one coat of dark brown wax and a final coat of clear wax.

Now, back to the decorations! Here are some close-ups of the banner. I cut the flag pennants and pennant shadows out on my Cricut using SCAL. The ornate ovals I scanned from some CTMH Halloween felt shapes. Then I turned them into an SVG file and enlarged them for the letters. The font is a free Halloween font I downloaded.

In between the pennants are "Margie Romeny-Aslett junk bows" from tulle, pages of an old book, and bits of ribbon.

On the mantle you will notice some Apothecary jars. These jars were made from some glass jars and vases that I scrounged up from local thrift stores. Then I painted them with a watered down mixture of black and brown paint and mod podge. Then I added some labels I purchased or downloaded for free from the internet.
Here is the final out come . Also, to get your candles to look all melty, heat the tops and cool them, heat them and cool them with a heat gun. It takes about 5-10 minutes depending on how melty you want them.
I also found the angel statue and column at a thrift store, (it reminds me of some of the gravestones at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia!) along with the ornate frame. The pictures I had to scour the internet to find. They are some of the portraits you will find along the hallways of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.
The broken handled urn I and decorative mirror I also found at two different thrift stores. I think the urn may be one of my favorite finds!! and I love that it was already broken. I only had to distress it a little.
And here it is -- the finished product. It has been a lot of fun to gather these things up, and to paint and distress all of them.

Halloween Paper Quilt

2011-10-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

I used Authentique's "Glowing" line of paper for this project and followed an idea my friend Susan has used many times for framed paper art in her bathroom. Having just returned from the east coast and recently toured one of their amazing, old, historic graveyards, I wanted to incorporate that into this project along with a little bit of the feel of the Haunted Mansion, thus the rusty fence along the front.

The project really isn't that difficult, just cut any paper you like into 1 1/2" squares, ink them, crinkle them, then adhere them to the background paper (I used 12x12) and sew on it. I kind of went a little overboard on the sewing this time, but I wanted it to look a little crazy to add to the haunted look. I like the end effect. Although it is easy to do, it is rather time consuming to ink all the little squares, crinkle them, lay them all out the way you want them, adhere them, and then with the sewing, you have to turn the paper over and pull all the threads through onto the back to tie them. I think that takes the longest. But the outcome is just what I wanted! It is proudly displayed above the entrance table by the front door.

Altered Halloween Book

2011-09-17T16:07:00.001-07:00

This one was so fun and it was also easy! I saw a tutorial posted on pinterest on this site. He gives a picture tutorial on how to make them and I just followed it exactly.

I used a book I got at the thrift store for a quarter, then glued some chipboard on the from to make a frame, label, the ridges on the spine, and the candelabra. The label is from a Sizzix die and the candelabra is from the new Tim Holtz Ideology release for fall. It reminded me of the candelabra in the hall of the Haunted Mansion, so I put 999 on the label and on the spine I named the book Happy Haunts (but don't worry, there's always room for one more!)

After I got the chipboard glued in place, I mod podged paper towels over the entire cover. Let it dry, then painted it black. Once that was dry, I painted the raised portions gold with my finger so it wasn't too perfect. Then I cut out the title and 999 from black cardstock. I painted the letters gold before adhering them to the spine. The last thing I did was to do an antique wash over the whole thing with a dark brownish grayish paint that I mixed from odds and ends of paint. I watered it down and washed it on, and wiped it off, then let it dry so it looks like years of dust all stuck into the over of the book.

The font is "Haunted" by Lifestyle Crafts (used to be QuicKutz.)

Book Print Pumpkins

2011-09-17T15:58:00.001-07:00

I found this idea on pinterest and it linked me to this site, but there were no directions, so I just did my own thing.

First I took a heap pumpkin from the $ store, paint, mod podge some leftover black leaves, and an old book from the thrift store.

Paint the pumpkin cream first or the orange will show through and it looks weird. I was hoping for cool, but it wasn't, so paint first.
I tore the pages of the book. It is old, so the paper is crackly and it will tear easily. Keep that in mind when mod podging, because you need to be careful.
Mod podge the strips from the pages all over the pumpkin.
Let it dry.
Paint the stem black.
Glue gun some black leaves and some kraft colored stems from the floral section of the craft store.
That's it, you're done!

Note: If I hadn't used a really old book, I would probably have added a step where I antiqued either the paper or the whole pumpkin afterward, but the naturally yellowed paper from the old book was really cool, so I just left them the way they turned out.

Halloween Silhouette Pictures

2011-09-14T19:47:00.000-07:00

These little Halloween decorations were very quick and easy to make!

I bought some 4x6 black frames from the Dollar Tree, then I bought an old book from the thrift store.
Tear a page out of the book and adhere it to some 4x6 paper to fit in the frame.
If you have SCAL for a Cricut or other cutter, download the free Silhouette SVG file that I made and cut some silhouettes out of black cardstock.
Adhere the die cuts to the page from the book and pop them into the frame.
Voila! You are ready to get decorating.

Download the free SVG file here: Silhouette SVG

It's a Small World - Before and After

2011-08-28T14:18:00.000-07:00

It's a Small World is an iconic Disney ride. From the song to the puppets, it is Disney through and through. These two layouts celebrate this wonderful ride in its original form and in the newly restored version of 2009.

The first layout features pictures of the original ride with some of its better know puppets and scenes. I just love the vibrant colors on this ride and really, many of the scenes should have pages dedicated solely to them, but I only have so much time. ;-D

This layout was based on Sketch #4 from Sketch Savvy.
The pom pom border along the side is a free SVG file also from Sketch Savvy.

The title block is the large QuicKutz/Lifestyle Crafts tag, and embossed with the QK/LC embossing plate. The font is Storybook.

Here is a video of the original ride.

This layout features some of the changes made after the rennovations made in 2008. The ride reopened in February of 2009 to mixed review. Many people didn't like the addition of Disney characters into the ride that was already so iconically Disney.

This layout was based on the one-page Sketch #29 from Sketch Savvy. I stretched it into a two pager.

Some of the characters added were Peter Pan and Tink, Alice and the White Rabbit, Pinocchio and Jiminey Cricket, the Three Caballeros, Cinderella, Gus and Jacque, Woody, Jessie and Bullseye, Aladdin, Jasmine and Abu, Mulan and Mushu, Lilo and Stitch, Dori, Crush, and Nemo, and Ariel.
Here is my review on my Disneyland blog - Disneyland Diva "It's a Smal World: New and Improved?"

And this is a video of the rennovated ride with the new characters:

A Couple of Classic Claras

2011-08-28T13:46:00.000-07:00

For the Disney Fan Club, D23, we went to their 1st Anniversary party in Fantasyland at Disneyland. They had lots of characters that were rare, including these two classic Disney characters, Clarabelle Cow and Clara Cluck. Both are from early Disney shorts and are almost never seen around the park. I was thrilled to be able to get a picture with both of these fellow Disney Divas.
The chicken was from a template that my friend Susan drew and challenged us to use on a layout a couple of years ago. So you can see, I am still true to form in that I started this layout way back then, worked on it a little at a crop a year ago, and am just getting it finished now. In fact, this is so old, the forum where she posted the template and challenge is no longer in existence. Hopefully one of these days I will finish layouts sooner than later.

Here are a few shorts featuring the lovely Clarabelle Cow and Clara Cluck.

Here is Clarabelle's first appearance in Plane Crazy (she looks much different, as do Mickey, Minnie and Pluto!)

Symphony Hour has both Clarabelle Cow as a violinist and Clara Cluck as a cellist. It even has Clarabelle's sometimes beau Horace Horsecollar in it.

Symphony Hour by MistyIsland1

Orphans' Benefit also has both characters:

and one more with all of them!
Mickey's Birthday Party (1942)

Disney Dog

2011-08-14T18:22:00.001-07:00

Continuing with the fun October Afternoon papers (with a little Pink Paislee thrown in) I thought these colors went well with some unconventional Disney pictures. I love these! In May of 2007, my sister had just adopted a puppy and if you have ever had a puppy, you know that you can't leave them home along all day and night. Our younger cousin decided to come down and go to DLR with us for the day, and we didn't know what to do with Lizzie. I called down and checked at DLR and they said they had a kennel. We could leave the puppy, then come in anytime to take her potty and for a little walk in their fenced yard. Sounded good to us!

So, we loaded Lizzie into the car with her puppy diaper bag and off we went. She was a little apprehensive, but as you can see, she was a big hit with the little guests who were standing in line with us for the tram.

We got her onto the tram and headed right for the Disneyland Kennel Club. The lady inside was so nice, that you can see Lizzie giving my sister a little kiss on her cheek, and then she was happy as a clam with the kennel lady. In fact, both times that we went back to take her out when the lady was there, she actually came out with us and played with Lizzie, which she just thought was wonderful.

All in all, it was a great way to solve the puppy problem, and we ended up using it at least one other time that summer.

Beautiful Friendship

2011-08-12T13:09:00.001-07:00

This layout uses some October Afternoon Report Card and some papers from Pink Paislee as well. I was inspired by a one page layout I saw in the Jan- June 2012 Close to My Heart catalog. So I took the basic layout and finagled it to fit my needs.

I have to admit that when I first saw this paper I was in a bit of dispair, but as I started to work with it I really fell in love with it!

What a perfect backdrop for some pictures of a meet-up with a long-time online friend. We met on 2Peas and since she is a Disney geek, scrapbooker and a Disney Travel agent, we were destined to be great friends! Disney was having their "EarMarked Conference" at the Disneyland Resort, and since DF is a Disney Travel Agent, of course, she was there. So, DH and I Met up with her the evening before the conference started and we had a great time!

This picture is a little nostalgic, because the San Francisco Bridge in the background was disassembled last month and is no more.
For the title I used a quote from the Disney movie, The Fox and the Hound, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Along with the title, I have a flower made out of Maya Road zipper trim, that is on a Cosmo Cricket Gluber, and the center is held down with a brad made using the Imaginisce iTop Tool.

The tickets are from the Tim Holtz 100th Stamp Set, with another zipper trim flower. The four leaf motif is an SVG cut from Creatively Savvy.

Thanks October Afternoon for forcing me out of my color comfort zone! I had a lot of fun!

Stars and Stripes Mini Book

2011-06-29T19:08:00.001-07:00

Last Friday night I took this absolutely adorable patriotic mini book class from Nicole Lysse. She used My Mind's Eye American Made papers and she just packed it full of really fun things, from rosettes to fire crackers. I worked diligently to finish it this weekend so I could share it with you here.
*Note - the picture mats were odd sizes so I had to print them at home and of course, I ran out of ink half-way through, so keep that in mind as you look at some of the pages, and don't let my poor photo quality deter you from admiring Nicole's creative genius.

The front pages open to reveal the backsides of the cover and the first full page. Here are some close-ups.

Then the back of the first page and the front of the second are displayed here with some close-ups below.

This back of the third page and the front of two half pages are then revealed.

We cut a little pocket from this paper to hold journaling and additional photos.

I LOVE this firework page!

The two half pages open to reveal pockets on the back sides and another full page.

The back of the last full page and the front of the back cover are so fun
and colorful with all the rosettes and pinwheels!

And she even included a Hidden Mickey for my patriotic Disneyland 4th of July pictures!

As you can see, we made so many fun embellishments for this album. Thanks Nicole for a fun class and a delightful mini book!

"And You Said He Was DEAD!"

2011-06-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

This is my entry for the My Mind's Eye Blog Challenge #24. You had to do a layout using any MME product. I just looked at their blog entry and noticed that mine isn't all that different from other layouts. Oh well, at least I finally got this Disney memory scrapped and that's what matters! AND, this is also for Disney Challenge #6 on the Disney Scrappers Forum.

Here is the story that is on the hidden journaling tag behind the picture:

When I was 5 or 6, back in the early 70's, I saw a program on TV. Don't know the name or even the storyline, just that I was enthralled with President Lincoln. I told my parents how much I loved him and was so very glad he was our president. It took some convincing on their part, but they finally got me to understand that he was our president a looooooong time ago, before I was born and even before they were born, and that he wasn't alive anymore. As you can imagine, this was hard for me to believe since I had just seen him alive and well on TV, but I eventually accepted the sad, horrible truth that President Lincoln was indeed no longer our president and that sadly, he was dead. He remained my favorite president though, and one of my favorite songs became the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." I could belt that song out with the best of them!

Not long after, Mom and Dad decided to take us to Disneyland. Of course, one of our stops had to be at the Disneyland Opera House to see the Walt Disney Story and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. I had no idea what we were about to see, so I blindly followed my parents into the auditorium and waited for the show. As soon as the announcement was made...."And now ladies and gentlemen, it is time for us to spend a few great moments with Mr. Lincoln...." and the curtain started to rise, I was enthralled! It was my hero, standing there, in the flesh, speaking to us! I listened with rapt attention (quite a feat for a 5 or 6 year old) until the very end, when he had finished his speech, and the notes of my favorite song started to rise. It was just too much for me. I stood up on my seat, put my hands on my hips, looked disdainfully down at my parents and yelled over the music, "AND YOU SAID HE WAS DEAD!" And then I promptly started singing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" at the top of my lungs along with the choir.

I don't claim that I was an easy child to raise, that's for sure! But if nothing else, I was enthusiastic and patriotic! I kind of think, that if Walt had been around, and had wandered in to the Opera House during that performance, that he might have been slightly amused, but that he would have loved my reaction. His Lincoln animatronic convinced me that President Lincoln was talking to us! It was truly a GREAT moment with Mr. Lincoln for me! So thank you Walt! Your admiration for our favorite president is just one more thing I appreciate about you.

Barbarians Ride Free!

2011-06-12T22:33:00.001-07:00

I had fun with this one too! Again, Cosmo Cricket's Salt Air line is so great! I love the blues, yellows and oranges in this line!

I followed Sketch #56 From Sketch Savvy. Please click the link to download a copy of this sketch and to see some wonderful example pages! As usual, I made it into a two page layout.

Side one has the title which is based on something King Triton said to Ariel in a conversation with her when he was ordering her never to have any interaction with humans. I put the conversation quotes on strips of paper in the corners of the layout . This corner is Ariel's response to him, which is "Daddy, they're not barbarians!"

The right side has my journaling and King Triton's part of the quote, which read, "Oh Ariel! How many times must we go through this? You could have been seen by one of those barbarians! Spineless, savage, harpooning fish eaters!"

My journaling reads, "Poor DH! I talked him into riding this just so I could make a page for the Disney Challenge!"

Which brings me to my last thing. If you are a Disney scrapper, and love all things Disney, head right over to Disney Scrappers and join! I am hosting Disney challenges again and that is the place to be! We have Challenge #1 and Challenge #2 for 2011 posted just this week and we would love to have you join us!

Part of Our World

2011-06-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

On May 31, 2011, DCA had an early preview of The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure ride for Annual Passholders. In order to ride, you had to show your AP at least twice while in line and then you had to show it again in order to get in to the Ariel shop across the way to purchase limited edition Ariel's Under the Sea Adventure pins. It is a really, really cute ride, and you can read my review of it and see more pictures of it on my Disneyland blog.

For this layout I stretched this one-page Valentine's sketch from Sketch Savvy, into a two-pager. Please follow the link to download your own copy, and leave the very talented Susan Stringfellow some kudos while you're there. She deserves it for continually inspiring so many of us!

First, I used Cosmo Cricket's Salt Air paper for this layout. Page one uses some die cuts from SVG Cuts. I purchased them from their site. Easy and affordable!! The waves I cut using Creative Memories' Wavy 12" Cutter. I guess they no longer sell it. I put the paper in on the bottom edge for one cut and then moved it over and to the top for the second cut. That's why it looks like waves and not like ric rac. Then I trimmed one end to a point.

For the second page, I used an SVG label shape for the title and embellished it with Robin's Nest Dew Drops.

I love the bright orange of this paper and the soft pinks and blues too. It just goes perfectly with this ride!

And did you spot the Hidden Mickey? I didn't even have to make it! It just came with the paper!

Here is one video version of the ride. Visit my Disneyland Blog for more still shots and another video.

Ten Cards - Prima Fairy Flora

2011-05-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I ordered this special stamp set from Close to My Heart. All proceeds from the stamps went to the Red Cross for Japan Earthquake Victims. I also bought two more sets for two special girls as I thought it looked like something they would both like.

Then last weekend at the NSW Crop at my LSS, they had a Prima sale and there were 6x6 packs of the Fairy Flora paper. I thought it went perfectly with the stamps, and decided that it would be fun to design some simple cards with it and the stamps and then to send them a card kit for each of the cards I designed. Here they are, and I hope that when the girls get them that they enjoy making the cards as much as I did designing them!

Star Tours -- The Original!

2011-05-12T12:47:00.000-07:00

With the Star Tours II scheduled to open on June 3, 2011, I decided it was time to get my pictures or the original scrapped. I remember when Star Tours first opened and how amazing it looked. I hear that the new and improved version will be different with each ride because they have 54 different ride sequences to choose from. Can't wait! Here is a little taste of one of them.

I used 2-page Sketch #11 from Sketch Savvy, and the paper is Cosmo Cricket Cogsmo line. I even included some of the Cogsmo blackboard shapes and die cut pieces.

Just as a little Disney trivia here -- the G2 Droid in Sector 2 (seen below) was originally one of the 4 birds in the barbershop quartet in America Sings.

They de-feathered him and stuck him in the Star Wars queue!

For old time's sake, here is a ride on the original Star Tours...you gotta love Pee Wee Herman as Rex. And when you watch the safety spiel, watch the lady's eyebrows. Hilarious!

Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage

2011-05-09T14:06:00.000-07:00

Another bright layout from Cosmo Cricket's Snorkel line! I really love the fun, bright colors of this paper.

For this layout I used Sketch #27 from Sketch Savvy and again, stretched it into a two pager. I did take a few liberties with this sketch and didn't follow it verbatim, but it's close.

I also used this for Challenge #3 on the NSD Challenges on Disney Scrappers. You were to use rolled paper.

As you can see, I was inspired by all of the submarines on the strip tease paper from this line, and the little yellow submarine on the journaling tags. I thought it was a whimsical way to scrap our Nemo Subs pictures.

If you have ever been to Disneyland, you know that the lines for Nemo are really, really long. I took us a year to find a time when the line was short enough to ride it. The funny thing is, that it was exactly a year to the day that Nemo opened! Unfortunately, we didn't really like it. I think part of the problem was that we hadn't actually seen the movie yet, so we had no idea what was going on, or what the story line was.

If you haven't had the opportunity to ride the Nemo Subs, here is a video you might enjoy:

Jumpin' Jellyfish

2011-05-08T17:49:00.001-07:00

I saw this paper and immediately thought -- Jumpin Jellyfish!! So, I set to work on it. I was a little limited with my options because I didn't have the entire line and I had a lot of the red paper and a lot of the umbrella paper. So I tried to use it to the best of my ability. These two pages turned out pretty bright, but I like the fun, whimsical, summery feel to them, and the Jumpin Jellyfish are definitely bright!

I used Sketch #33 from Sketch Savvy for this layout and stretched it into a two page layout. As you can see, I also used the same pennants. That is because if you visit the link to Sketch Savvy, she has the SVG cut for the pennants on the same post for free! Check it out!

I used the Snorkel line of paper from Cosmo Cricket. I added a few pieces of plain cardstock for additional circles and for the title.

Of course, there is a Hidden Mickey in this ride -- so I added the close-up and a photo from outside the ride so you could see where it is located. I love Hidden Mickey's.

Here's a little video that shows the Jumpin Jellyfish in Action:

Spring in Concord

2011-04-11T19:34:00.000-07:00

I love Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird line. When I got it out and started looking at it, I just felt that it went so perfectly with these pictures of us at Louisa May Alcott 's Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts. We got to visit here in October of 2009 and this is our visit in the spring of 2010. It was so beautiful and green!

For this layout I turned Susan's sketch #54 from Sketch Savvy into a two-pager. If you haven't done so already, please stop by her blog and check out all the wonderful sketches and inspiration!

I used canvas and Tim Holtz dies to cut the green label and the cream canvas flowers. I added a smaller crinoline flower to the center of the larger ones for some additional texture.

I also loved the little tiny type letters they have. They aren't something that I usually use, but I thought it would be a fun little thing to change up.

In the corner, I cut a limb and made more white blossoms to kind of mimic the dogwoods that were in bloom all along the walkway in front of Orchard House. We had never seen a dogwood and thought they were really beautiful!

Also, the flag marking the fire hydrant was shocking to me, as a native Californian. Does the snow really get THAT high?

Spring Banner

2011-04-07T12:47:00.001-07:00

I was going to go in a completely different direction with this, but I got inspired yesterday and decided to do this instead. I used the banner SVG from Sketch Savvy, and cut the banners out. I also bought a doily set of svg files for the doily in the center, then added junk bows (a la Margie Romney-Aslett) and some Tim Holtz Rosettes and voila! I love it!

I still have a few more ideas for spring decor, but those may have to wait. Spring Break is almost over and I have to get ready for an upcoming trip.

Here are a few close-ups.

Spring Wall Hanging

2011-04-06T11:27:00.000-07:00

I got this idea from my friend, Susan Stringfellow. She posted several of her wall hangings on her blog, Creatively Savvy. She has several that she changes in the frame throughout the year.

Right now I'm decorating for spring and as I was working on a banner for the mantle, I decided to make one of Susan's wall hangings to hang above the entry table.

I used MME and Karen Foster papers with a teeny bit of Rusty Pickle thrown in (wow! talk about a blast from the past!) I cut the papers into 1 1/2 inch squares and arranged them in a grid of 7x7. That left a border of 3/4 of an inch all the way around.

I also pulled a 12x12 ornate cherry wood frame out from the back of my closet -- my family used to own a needlework shop with custom mat and framing. When the state decided to widen the hwy, taking out the front half of the shop, we sold out and moved on, but of course, years later we still have frames and things left over. I painted it white and then sanded it here and there for a springy shabby chic look.

For a bit of embellishment, I dyed the Rusty Pickle paper with Pesto Color Wash, then cut them out with Alterations Tattered Leaves die. The flowers are a wet, messy, crumple technique that I featured on a layout about a year ago. You can see how these are made here. The paper I used here is a really thick, shiny wedding paper that I dyed with Colorwash and some really old Fiberscraps Walnut Ink that I found when I was cleaning my scrap room a few months ago.

Of course, as Susan did, I sewed on the paper once it was secured in place. I love the look and texture that sewing gives to paper crafts. And lastly, since we celebrate Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday in the spring, I added one of my favorite hymns. When I was growing up, I loved to hear Mrs. Beeson pound this out on the piano as the church congregation sang loudly. Therefore, it was only fitting that I scan my hymnal and add a copy of this song to my spring art.

I'm looking forward to make several of these for different seasons throughout the year.

A Little Circa 1934

2011-04-02T19:14:00.000-07:00

I think I fell in love with this Cosmo Cricket 1934 paper the minute I saw it last October. What a beautiful line! I was really quite intimidated by it and hope I have done it justice.

Practically Perfect
A little layout featuring Bert, Mary and the penguins around Disneyland Resort.
It's always a jolly holiday when Mary is around!

Of course, I turned to my friend Susan Stringfellow's sketch blog, Sketch Savvy, for inspiration, and found two sketches that I thought would be perfect. For this first layout I used Sketch #52 and turned it into a two-pager. Please click on the sketch to go to her blog and see all of the amazing sketchwork she has there.

The adorable scalloped, oval swirly frame was a FREE download from SVG Cuts. Can you believe it was FREE? And I think it was perfect for this layout. Well, practically anyway.

The small label is a FREE SVG Cut from my friend Susan. You can download it by clicking on the link. The black crystal swirls and roses are two Prima Say It In Swirls flourishes.

Mickey's 'Not So' Fun Wheel
This layout is about a "girls day" at Disneyland Resort with my friend.
She left her kids with her DH and we went down to DLR and did a bunch of
the attractions we had never done. Of course, most of them we vowed never
to do again, but we did try them at least once!

This second layout is also from Susan's sketch blog. I turned sketch #44 into a two-pager as well.

The bracket border along the bottom is a FREE SVG cut also from Susan. Please click the link and it will take you to her blog so you an download it if you would like.

While I was working on these pages, I was wracking my brain trying to come up with something really cool to put on them as an embellishment. It was that day that I noticed that Tammy Tutterow had posted a picture on her Facebook page that said she had made Tim Holtz rosettes out of crinoline, and dyed them with Distress Stains. I wondered if this could be the very thing this layout needed.

First I had to find out from Tammy what crinoline was and where to get it, then we were off to the races. Once I tried it, I LOVED it! What a fabulous idea! Tammy is full of great ideas, so if you haven't had a chance, click on the link to her website and check her out!

I didn't have Distress Stains, so I used some of my Distress Inks and a Mini Mister and it worked just as well. So well in fact, that I dyed the extra crinoline green and cut leaves from Tim's Tattered Flowers die. What fun! And what a perfect addition to the layouts!

Autumn at the Lake

2011-02-22T20:18:00.000-08:00

Using one of Susan's sketches from Sketch Savvy, and the Nutmeg line of paper from Cosmo Cricket, I made this fun, colorful layout about our family Thanksgiving celebration at the cabin.

As you can see, this sketch was originally for Christmas, but I decided it would go perfectly with die cut leaves using Tim Holtz's Tattered Leaves die instead of the ornaments.

The circle was stitched with DMC floss in a warm orange. I just love the brown back ground with the light green and teal. It is such an unexpected fall color set, but it's perfect!

It was so fun to get to use a 2 page sketch for this! It made my job so easy. Thanks for the great sketch Susan, and for the wonderful fall color scheme Cosmo Cricket!

Dave Smith and Walt Disney Archives

2011-02-16T19:37:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Feb. 5th, I went to the Disney Studios in Burbank for a tour with my friend Kim. Part of the tour was a chance to peek into the Frank G. Wells Disney Archive Building. And guess who happened to be there, but Mr. Disney Archive himself, Dave Smith. What a fun day! We got to see some great stuff, but more on that later!

First, the sketch for this layout was from Sketch Savvy by my friend Susan Stringfellow. Please go to her blog to download a copy of this sketch and to see other examples.

The papers and trim used were Industrial Park from Scrap Within Reach. I cut the title with various fonts using my Cricut and SCAL software.

The pictures above are of me and Kim with a Disney Oscar, and Dave Smith, the original Disney archiver.

The journaling tag is just the chipboard that the ribbon came on. I added paper and tied ribbon through the top and voila!

Dave Smith kindly pulled a few things from the archives for us to see. Among them were an actual ticket from opening day of Disneyland, and the guide book from opening day.

Here is a portion of the Opening Day festivities at Disneyland!

Pluto's Corner - Disney Studios in Burbank

2011-02-15T21:28:00.000-08:00

This layout was made using an SVG file for my Cricut and this sketch from Sketch Savvy by my friend Susan Stringfellow. Please visit her sketch blog to download the file and a copy of the sketch.

This was such a fun, unique sketch and I loved the shape of the patterned paper pieces, but I wanted it to be a two pager, so of course, I added page 2.

The papers are all Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety. What a bright, energetic paper line! I added the blue checkerboard paper from CC Material Girl Line and the stripe is from CC Cogsmo. I really felt that the layouts needed some blue and I had seen Susan add the Cosmo stripe on one of her layouts with this line, so I pulled a piece from my stash and she was so right, it was perfect!

The title is Minnie font and I used my Cricut with SCAL. The paw prints can be found on the Mickey and Friends Cricut cartridge.

These pictures are of Pluto's Corner. It is a little intersection on the Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. My DH and I had gone to a movie screening at the theater on the lot, and we took a minute to take a picture at this famous corner. The sign post is an old prop from the studio tour portion at the beginning of The Reluctant Dragon movie made in 1941. The places on the sign do not really point to those departments. Later on, a Disney employee added the three dog prints in front of the fire hydrant and it was name Pluto Corner.

Here is a little clip of that studio tour portion of the movie, but it only shows a little bit of the outside of the buildings. This segment doesn't show the sign, but it's cute!

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas 2010

2010-12-05T19:23:00.000-08:00

That's right! It's that time again! Tim Holtz and his 12 Tags of Christmas start on December 1st and run though December 12th. Such a fun time of year. I love waiting up until 12:01 am to see the new tag for the day and then gathering up all of my supplies (I am shocked every year at how much TH stuff I have in my stash!) and I make a list of a few of the new things I want to add, and then I try and get to work.

Last year I waited and had a 12 Tags party, but we only got 4 tags mostly done and I only completed 5 more on my own, leaving me with three to still finish.

This year I just couldn't wait that long, and since I ended up with a last minute reprieve from baby sitting our nieces this weekend, I decided to jump in and get started!!

Tag #1
(if you click on this title, it will take it to Tim's blog so you can see his tag)

This one took about 3 1/2 hours to make...there are so many little details, but it was so worth it!

Tag #2
(click on the title to see Tim's tag)

I really liked this tag because it gave me a chance to try the custom stamp pad technique that allows you to stamp in several different colors (like the ticket on tag #1) Really a terrific technique! It looks so great! Check out Tim's blog for a photo tutorial on how to make your own custom stamp pad.

Tag #3
(click on the title to see Tim's tag)

Okay -- I forgot to put the moss on the bottom of the bird's feet, but I don't have any, and so I just took the pic without it. This tag had a couple of techniques. One was the Tissue Tape collage bird, colored with alcohol ink, and the other was the Tissue Tape flower. Tim made videos on his blog showing how to do each technique, so be sure to check it out!

Tag # 4
(click on the title to see Tim's Tag)

Tag #4 wasn't too terribly difficult, but I had a hard time getting the blue I wanted. I didn't like the bright blue on the facet on Tim's tag, so I ended up reinking it several times. I finally ended up using Slate (grey) and Stonewashed (blue) to get this somewhat darker greyish blue color. I'm 90% happy with it. The bling on the tag was a tiny bit tedious because I didn't have the bling on a roll, but I love the end result.

Tag #5
(click the title to see Tim's Tag)

I haven't done this tag yet. I skipped it, but will get it done.

Tag #6
(click the title to see Tim's Tag)

This tag Tim introduced a really cool technique that includes stamping on an embossing folder before you run the tag through it. I loved it! We also embossed the grunge board deer. This wasn't too terribly complicated, BUT we couldn't find the tiny green garland anywhere that he put around the deer's neck. Only one site that was selling it in 60 yard increments for $9.97. I thought that was a little excessive being that I only needed like 2 inches. So I messaged Mario and so must a lot of other people, because two days later he opened and etsy shop and sold kits with cool Christmas minis it, so my friend and I bought three! Woo hoo!

And this is a fun little tag I made using the techniques from Tag #5 and Tag #6. I used the stamping on an embossing folder technique, and the bling embellishing technique. I love it! I made several of this tag as it is the only one I will probably give away to people.

Tag #7
(click on the title to see Tim's Tag)

This one was really time consuming, but it is so beautiful in real life. You can see the sparkle of the rock candy stickles and the texture of the canvas poinsettia, So many steps that it took about 4 hours to make, but I made two because I figured that if I was going to go to all the work for one, I might as well do two since I didn't figure I would get it all out and do it again any time soon.

Tag #8
(click title to see Tim's Tag)

I haven't done this tag yet. I skipped it, but will get it done. To be honest, I don't like it. I like the technique, but don't like the tag, so I'm going to change it up and needed some time to figure out how I'm going to do that.

Tag #9
(click the title to see Tim's Tag)

This one was really fun and so full of vintage golden goodness that I skipped several days and went straight to this one! The baubles at the top are some old earrings I had. The rest of the stuff is from Tim's Ideaology line. Not too difficult and such a pretty result. Definitely one of my favorites.

Tag #10
(click the title to see Tim's Tag)

Again, I skipped ahead to try this technique before I go back and do #5 and #8. This is a thick tag. The snowman has two layers of grungeboard and then there is an embossed acetate tag covering the whole thing. Although time consuming, it really wasn't difficult and I love the dimension of the embossed plastic covering. I used snaps in the corners instead of washers and brads. I thought they were fun.

Tag #11
(click title to see Tim's Tag)

This is today's tag, so I haven't even started it yet. I do want to try making my own stamps though. Should be fun. I want to go through my dictionary now and see if I can find any cool Christmasy pictures to use as the background on my tag. Can't believe he found one with a sleigh!

Tag #12
(click on title to see Tim's Tag)

Tonight is the finale! Wonder what the last tag will bring? I am hoping it will be a tutorial on how to make the "Mold n Pour" molds and shapes. I've seen Mario making those for the classes and I want to make some too!!

Gift Tags - Inspired by Tim Holtz

2010-11-15T23:29:00.000-08:00

My friend Kim is hosting a booth at a local fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Clubs in our area. She is selling hand made gift tags and paper crafts in her booth. A few weeks ago, some of us who tried to do all 12 of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas LAST year, decided to get together and try to make as many gift tags as we could for Kim's booth.

I decided to make mine in sets of 5 and to try and do simpler versions of some tags I have seen Tim do, or just using his stamps and other Ranger supplies.

These Merry Christmas tags used a very old Walnut Ink from Tsunieko as the base. The edges are dry embossed with a Quickutz Goosebump die, then the edges and embossing, and tree were stamped with Forest Moss Distress Ink. The tree was clear embossed, then I went over the branches with an embossing pen and added white embossing powder. The Merry Christmas was stamped in Barn Door Distress Ink and clear embossed.

This was inspired by a tag I saw on Tim's blog that he created at the Carson Stamp show this weekend. I wanted to leave room for someone to write their To and From message. The background writing stamp was stamped in Pumice Distress Ink, Postcard and the holly were stamped in Forest Moss. The holly was then covered with Peeled Paint Distress Stickles and holly berries are Fired Brick Distress Stickles. The edges are colored with Aged Mahogany and Vintage Photo.

This Tag is also one that was inspired by a tag Tim made at the Carson Show this weekend.
The base of the tag is colored with Tumbled Glass and Faded Jeans. The Flourish is stamped with Weathered Wood. The Seasons Greetings was stamped with Faded Jeans and then clear embossed. The snowflakes were stamped with clear embossing gel and then I used white embossing powder. To finish it off, I spritzed it liberally with Pearl perfect pearls mist.

This tag is one of my favorites and was a lot of work! I didn't really follow any of Tim's tags for this one, just kind of used inspiration for several of his past tags.

First I stamped the back music notes with Pumice Stone Distress Ink, then colored the entire tag with Victorian Velvet Distress Ink. I added some Vintage Photo Distress Ink around the edges. I stamped the Christmas Carols in Vintage Photo and then embossed with Copper Embossing Powder. Cut it out and then inked it with Bundled Sage Distress Ink and a little Forest Moss Distress Ink. The Prima leaves and flowers were colored using Color Wash. The leaves were colored with Pesto and the flowers with Cranberry. After they were adhered, I went over each flower and leaf with Rock Candy Distress Stickles.

I stamped this tag with a large background stamp (not Tims :-0 ) in Vintage Photo, then edged it lightly with the same color. Stamped the tree with Forest Moss and clear embossed it. I stamped the Merry Christmas in Fired Brick and clear embossed, then colored the background with Forest Moss.

This background is made using Faded Jeans and Broken China. Then I stamped the snowflakes using Faded Jeans, but spritzed the stamp with water first so the ink would bleed. The snowman was stamped with clear embossing gel and then white embossing powder. The title is stamped with Faded Jeans and clear embossing powder.

This was made by putting Scatter Straw, Fired Brick and Pine Needles ink on the Nonstick Craft Mat, then spritzing the mat with water and laying the tag in it to get the watercolor background. The whimsical Dr. Seuss type stamps are from Inque Boutique and were designed by my friend Susan Stringfellow. (Sorry Susan!! I totally screwed up and stamped the tear drop ones upside down so I tried to make the best of it.) I added a little bling with one of the crystal pens.

What fun it was to create some pretty tags and actually put some of my stash to good use!

ADDITION:
After I made these tags, I decided to make a set of small gift tags for each of my colleagues in the department where I work. So here are the pictures of those gift tags.

The funny thing about this is that I made each one with a particular person in mind, so I bundled them into little pockets I had made out of green velvet ribbon, but when I got to work, they each selected a packet and then all decided to swap so that they had at least one of each tag. I just hope that they used them on packages to special friends and family.

Daily Window Designer Challenge

2010-11-14T20:32:00.000-08:00

My friend and constant source of paper crafting inspiration, Susan Stringfellow, posted this contest Daily Window Designer Challenge on her blog. I thought it would be a really fun thing to try and come up with something and try to enter.

This is my first entry. I say first because I want to try a couple of different backgrounds if I get the chance. As you can see, there is room for someone to put a picture, their name or even a quote on this and then slip it into the window pocket of one of the bags.

I used some older MME scraps and some velvet ribbon from Cosmo Cricket.

This is the second background I made using some cream burlap and some Scrap Within Reach paper.

I really love the big bag with the window. She says it is the perfect size for taking to a crop. I'd love to win, or at least have one of my friends win, so you have until the end of the month to turn something in. Give it a try!

Hope Card and Paper Bag Pouch

2010-09-21T20:22:00.000-07:00

I was inspired by Michelle Woodson and Melissa Phillips to make some of these paper bag pouches. I made these for October Breast Cancer Awareness month.

It's difficult to see, but the card and paper bag pouch are spritzed with perfect pearls and are all shimmery, and I used Rock Candy Stickles on the flower, and Embossing Glitter on the stamped piece.

Freedom

2010-08-23T22:11:00.001-07:00

My mom and sister came down this weekend and stayed with us. Mom and I were both taking different classes from Marion Smith at my LSS. So when we weren't in class, one or the other of us was working on various scrapbooking projects with my sister (who wasn't taking any of the classes.) Since she was working on finishing several of the mini albums we started together a few years ago, I decided to get out some old kits and get them put together.

This was an old Bo Bunny kit that I picked up at an LSS in Simi Valley a few years ago. I've been wanting to get it put together, but just never made the time to sit down and get it done. I changed the layout of the pages so I could get more photos on it and also didn't use most of the embellishments, stickers or words. I did use lots of Ranger Distress Inks though!

Me and DH at the family 4th this year, my family here at our house for the 4th in 2005,
and my sister's bird, Peep, who is a very patriotic love bird!

After Peep is a picture of me and DH in front of our favorite attraction at Disneyland,
Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln on July 3, 2010,
and then a picture of us on Main Street USA on July 4, 2009.

And the last picture is of me in Boston with a costumed tour guide who happened to be playing my favorite American Revolutionary and Patriot, James Otis.

This will go perfectly on my mantle.
I keep my patriotic decor up until after Patriot's Day on September 11th.

Summer Tote

2010-08-21T22:53:00.000-07:00

I made this cute summer tote with my Adirondack Colorwash, some Basic Grey Origins fabric and my QuicKutz. Fast, easy, and FUN! I'll try and take some pictures and post a tutorial on how to do this. It's so easy you'll want to run out and get a tote so you can make one too!

Bang that Beat!

2010-07-29T19:06:00.000-07:00

This Disney layout is dedicated to some of the great Disneyland Street Performers. The Trashcan Trio is a group of percussionists who play in Tomorrowland at Disneyland. They keep a foot stomping, toe tapping beat going using just trashcans, buckets and trashcan lids. As you can tell, they're a fun group!

Again, I used Scrap Within Reach " Paper Boy" paper for this layout, and sketch #11 from Sketch Savvy. It was a one pager, but you know I can't do just one page for my Disney photos or I will never get them finished! So I turned it into a two-pager again.

I decided to put part of the title in a trashcan. The template for the trashcan is at the end of this blog post. No, I still can't make an SVG file, so if you make one, please let me know and I will link it here.

The trashcan is cut from some really old Black Tie Basic Grey paper that I had.

To add to the industrial look, I added some Tim Holtz Ideaology washers and some large pewter brads. The teal trim is Creative Imaginations.

Here is the template. Please let me know if you convert any of my templates into SVG files so I can link to them and we can share them with others.

Jolly

2010-07-24T15:23:00.000-07:00

Awhile back I got some free Cosmo Cricket Christmas paper and thought I would do a fun, simple layout. This is a picture of us all at Disney's California Adventure a few years ago.

I used one of Susan's sketches from Sketch Savvy, and cut the title, flourish, and snowflakes with my Cricut.

I inked the edges of all the paper with Ranger Distress Ink Old Paper, and then added some Rock Candy Distress Stickles for a little clear glitter affect.

And for the additional embellishments, I used some old metal ornament charms I have had forever, and the velvet scalloped ribbon from Cosmo Cricket as well.

Not Today Zurg!

2010-07-18T17:34:00.001-07:00

I think I have a hundred photos from Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters at Disneyland. We ride it just about every time we're there and since we are AP holders, that is quite often. So, the next few blog entries you may be inundated with Buzz pictures okay?

This layout is based on Sketch #22 from Sketch Savvy. I made it into a two-pager, but I just felt like the sketch went so well with these papers.

I had fun with this paper; it is a line from Scrap Within Reach called "Paper Boy." The funky shapes are an exclusive QuicKutz die from Hobby Lobby, and the stars are QK too.

I made my own "unscalloped border" for this layout, and blew up one of the Quickutz shapes so I could make a large journaling box. I've linked those below. I would have made them SVG's for those of you with SCAL, but I just got it and can't figure out how to do that just yet. Maybe soon though!

Yay! Another Buzz layout done!

Disneyland Railroad - E.P. Ripley

2010-06-30T19:35:00.000-07:00

Yep, it's that time of the month again, time for the Graphic 45 page contest. This month we were to use papers from their Transatlantique paper line.

I had planned to use some pictures of us on the LA Steamers trains that go around Walt's Barn in Griffith Park but when I pulled them with the G45 paper I had stored them with, I realized that I had planned to use them with a different G45 line, so I had to find some other train pics with DH in them.

These are pictures from October 2008 when DH got tender passes for us to ride behind the engineers on the Disneyland Railroad. We got to ride on the E.P.Ripley engine. They answered all of DH's train and steam engine questions and showed him all about running the train. It was something we had never imagined we would get to do, so he was pretty thrilled about it. It was definitely a memorable trip.

I used all paper from Graphic 45's Transatlantique line and included a few metal items from the Tim Holtz Ideaology line. I included a few punched Mickeys and called it good.

It isn't what I had planned originally, but I'm so glad to have these scrapped and DH really likes the masculine feel it has. Can you believe I did a layout with no flowers?

Toy Story and the Hundred Acre Wood

2010-06-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

Two years ago we won tickets to preview the new Toy Story Mania ride at Disney's California Adventure Park two days before it opened to the public. We got there early and got to ride it several times in a row. What a fun ride and it's really interactive.

This layout was made using Scrap Within Reach "Carnival Ride" paper line and stickers. This layout was made using a sketch from Sketch Savvy.

I thought it was perfect because there are pennants hanging all around inside the ride.

I'm really struggling to accept the "white space" on this layout. I like a little more on my layouts and this just seems a little bland, but I am trying not to make it too busy.

The CM doing the bunny ears behind me actually remembered us when we went back that weekend to ride it again with my family.

This layout was about a day that a bunch of fellow Disney scrappers decided to go to Disneyland. Some of the girls took their kiddos with them. It was the first time at DLR for one of the little guys and since most of us were totally clueless about taking kids to DLR, we took him on Pirates of the Caribbean and it totally terrorized him. So, in order to make up for it, we took him to Critter Country to hand out with Pooh and the Gang.

For this layout I also used a sketch from Sketch Savvy. I used this sketch for the layout.

I absolutely love the tree!!

Wine Bottle Covers

2010-06-19T14:56:00.000-07:00

I went to a crop recently at my LSS that had some Make n Takes. One of them was a wine bottle cover. It was a simple project, but included some stamping and embossing techniques. I thought it was a great idea, but wanted to change it up a bit.

For my bottle covers, I cut Tim Holtz Grungeboard into strips, squares and then die cut one piece using one of his Alterations die cuts. Then I used a Quickutz embossing folder to emboss all the grungeboard pieces. Once they were all embossed, I painted them with Distress Paint Dabbers, let the paint dry, and then sanded the raised areas. Once the raised areas were sanded, I inked the entire surface with Distress Ink, and wiped off the ink from the painted areas. The paint acts as a resist for the ink, allowing the embossed areas to show through, but not color the painted areas too much.

Then I stamped a circle and an initial onto some QuicKutz Adhesive Cork. Two kinds come in a package, so the one on the left contains larger, more irregular pieces of cork, and the one of the right has smaller, corkboard type pieces. I wanted this to resemble the top of a wine cork (even though most of them have a date on them.)

And for the top, I took four pieces of jute and dyed them using Ranger Color Wash in colors that matched the paint I used. The colors here are Lettuce, Eggplant, Wild Plum and Butterscotch. Once they dried, I tied them around the tops of the wine bottles.

Lastly I punched small holes in the edges of the decorative piece, and the strip of grungeboard and attached them with a brad. In order to get the piece to fit around a bottle, I punched a hole in each side piece and tied them together with a small piece of jute.

This was a fun, easy project that will make a great gift for someone.

Woo hoo! I won! Twice!!

2010-06-16T20:11:00.001-07:00

In April I entered a layout contest for my LSS, Remember When. They challenged us to make a layout using My Mind's Eye Abbey Road line of paper and embellishments. I just found out that I won! This is the great MME paper and embellishment pack that I won.

I made the two layouts below. What fun! I may make some layouts with the paper I won, to share on my kit blog!

And just a few weeks ago I entered the Graphic 45 Renaissance Faire May Madness contest. For this contest you could make any paper crafting project, you just had to use the papers and things from their Renaissance Faire line.

I made this layout and won! They sent me a complete set of each of the lines above! Transatlantique, Renaissance Faire, Le Romantique, A Proper Gentleman, and On the Boardwalk.

Little Dancer

2010-05-31T19:37:00.000-07:00

I made this for the Graphic 45 Renaissance Faire contest. You were to make a project using that line of paper. I thought it went perfectly with the pictures we took last November at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. We walked into a room and suddenly I saw it -- Degas' Little Dancer! It was stunning!

The pictures just don't do it justice. If you ever get a chance, you must go see this amazing bronze sculpture in person. He actually used a green ribbon and bronze dipped fabric for her outfit.

Along with showcasing this piece of art, I wanted to add some of my own artwork to the page. I found this rose tutorial online and wanted to make some to put on this page. Here is how you make them.

First, punch out 8 flowers or scallops. I made them in two different sizes. I used the EK Success punches.

Then spritz with water. I spritzed with water and some bronze perfect pearls for a tiny bit of shimmer.
Then crinkle each one into a little ball.
They should look like this when you are done.
The flatten them back out and stack them into a stack of 8. If you have double sided paper, you might want to flip them over every other one so that you can see the other side. I didn't do that because I didn't want it to be too busy for this layout.
Then using an awl or paper punch (as usual I couldn't find my Tim Holtz paper punch, which is my favorite!)
Stick a long brad through the hole and open the back to fasten all the papers together.
Then starting with the top petal, pull it up and squeeze it tight in the center.
Then do the same with the second petal.
And once you have squeezed all the petals around the center, it will look like a rose bud.
Then very gently, take it and spread the petals out and down to form the rose blossom.
Here is one of the smaller ones.
And the larger red one. I added some Prima swirls to fit with the feel of the metal sculpture and the grace of the dancer.

Thanks Graphic 45! This was a fun challenge!

Wild!

2010-05-23T16:17:00.000-07:00

Serendipity Scrapbooks is having an online crop this weekend. It is an old TV shows theme, so all the challenges are based around old TV shows like Star Trek, Brady Bunch, The Adams Family, etc. Every once in awhile they break in with a "commercial break" or a mini challenge that is only for 1 or 2 hours.

My friend Susan posted this commercial break for Fruit Striped Gum.

Basically, you had to make a card using a red, green, yellow, orange and pink stripe and include one animal on your card. It sounded like a fun way to use up some stuff in my stash, so here is my take on the challenge.

Just for the fun of it, here is a link to one of the original Fruit Stripes Gum commercials.

Quacked - My Minds Eye

2010-05-20T22:27:00.000-07:00

This layout was for Blog Challenge #11 on the My Mind's Eye blog. It was an anything goes challenge. You could use any My Mind's Eye products. I used all My Minds Eye paper from the Tres Jolie and Magnolia Collections.

You were supposed to follow this sketch.

I cut some of the flowers out of one of the Magnolia papers and then layered them with felt and added a little bling.

This was a fun, quick layout to do and I was able to get some recent pictures scrapped that we took with Donald Duck at Disneyland last month. Thanks MME!!

2010-05-20T21:11:00.000-07:00

On one girls day at Disneyland Resort, we decided to go on some of the attractions we never usually try. This was our ride on the Orange Stinger (RIP). The Orange Stinger is no longer. It was retired and has been revamped as Mickey's Silly Symphony. I thought this was going to be a rather benign ride, I mean, it's just a bunch of swings that go around in a circle! But when we got off I was completely nauseous. I vowed then never to do the Orange Stinger again.

This Page Maps sketch from November 2009 was perfect for this Breaking Free paper from My Minds Eye.

I used SCAL on my Cricut to cut out the title and then added some Bazzill flowers, felt and Prima bling.

Screamin'!

2010-05-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

Woo hooo! We love California Screamin'! I loved the oranges, teals and greys of this Breaking Free paper from My Mind's Eye.

I used this page maps sketch for this layout:

Family Ties - Cosmo Cricket

2010-05-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

This is another layout using Cosmo Cricket Honey Pie. I wanted to use the quilted heart technique again and thought it went so well with this paper.

I added a couple of areas with some simple cross stitching for some texture in the corners, and used the twisted flower technique for even more. I love the combination of the printed stitching on the paper, the cross stitching, the machine stitching and the flowers.

I had planned on making this a grandma layout, and then a few weeks ago my cousin got married and all the aunts, uncles, my parents and my grandma posed for a family photo shoot, and I immediately knew they would be absolutely perfect for this layout!

Tea Time - Cosmo Cricket

2010-05-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

This was a fun layout to do. Simple, light color scheme, and the fun pennants. I really like it. There are no techniques or anything, just a simple, straight forward two pager to scrap a memory for several years ago.

I used Cosmo Cricket Honey Pie for this layout, and my mom made the scalloped circle for the center.

This is of a tea time we had with our friend Gerri Ann and her mom one Saturday morning at our favorite little tea shop, The Four Seasons Tea Room. They make the best scones and have the best food of almost any tea we have ever been to except for their neighbor, the Rose Tree Cottage.

D23 First Anniversary Party!

2010-05-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

On March 10, 2010, we went to Disneyland for the first D23 Anniversary event. We met some Disney legends, got pictures with a bunch of rare Disney characters, and ate some yummy Disney desserts. You can read more about the actual event and some some pictures on my Disneyland blog.

Yet again, the Afternoon Tea paper from Scrap Within Reach was the perfect color scheme, and yet again, my friend Susan came through with the perfect sketch! Be sure and visit her blog, Sketch Savvy and check out all the great sketches.

For this layout I chose to use Sketch #19 and because it was a one page sketch, I decided to turn it into a two pager.

Instead of the stitching, I added the line of ribbon across the top, and then did do some machine sewing on my layout.

Because there was no title on the second page, the top corner needed a little something, so I decided to stamp and emboss a design. I found this stamp set to be just the perfect thing for each of the top corners of this layout. I stamped the image on the green cardstock with clear embossing ink, then embossed it with purple distress embossing powder. If you've never worked with Ranger's Distress Embossing powder, it is really neat! It doesn't get shiny, but it is a dull, very textured feel and I love it.

The stamp set was also designed by Susan for Inque Boutique/ Darice. It is called Ornaments (#50391).

I really loved the simplicity of this layout. It wasn't cluttered and really let the colors of the paper and the pictures shine through.

Tapas!

2010-05-20T14:03:00.001-07:00

I has so much of the Afternoon Tea paper that I decided to make a few more layouts with it.
A few weeks ago when we went to DCA for the Food and Wine Festival, we made our way over to Stage 12 for the tapas (appetizers) tasting.

Again I turned to one of my friend, Susan's sketches. I thought this one would be perfect for showcasing the many different things we tasted that day. Check out her blog, Sketch Savvy.

I left it pretty simple since I decided to make some kits out of this layout. But it does the job and I love it!

And if you would like to try some of the delicious little tapas pictured here, you have until may 31 to get to DCA to try them! I wrote a detailed critique on my Disneyland blog.

Summertime Banner - Graphic 45

2010-05-17T23:19:00.000-07:00

I woke up one Saturday morning a couple of weeks ago and had this banner in mind. I really wanted to use my QuicKutz banner die and the Graphic 45 On The Boardwalk paper. Unfortunately I had to wait a couple of weeks to get the time to make it. This last weekend I spent a good portion of the entire weekend at my LSS for their National Scrapbook Weekend Crop. So, I got everything cut and ready to go for the crop and put it together on Saturday.

Hopefully you can see some of the wonderful vintage beach tags and posters from some of the papers. I chalked the edges with Ranger Distress Ink in Rusty Hinge (my new favorite!)

To see more details, click on the picture and it will get bigger.

I used more QuicKutz dies to make the scalloped circles on top of the fans, and the letters are QuicKutz Katie Grand.

I'm thinking about searching through the disaster I call my scraproom, and finding some tiny sea shells that I bought on my last vacation and adhering them to a few of the banners. Still undecided on that though.

This was a fun project (although it did get a bit tedious at times with all the scoring and inking!) and I'm so thankful for the weekend of cropping so I could get it done. That's one of the 102,593 projects I have planned that I can actually cross off the list! Woo hooooo!

Don't Mess With Texas

2010-05-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

Yeah, pretty cliche, I know! But I really wanted to get this picture scrapped and nothing else was coming to mind. These are three friends from Texas that come and stay in out home for a week every few years. They call us and send us stuff in-between and they crack us up! Good guys!

For this layout I used the Sketch Savvy #6 from my friend Susan's sketch blog. I ordered some paper from Miss Paper Jane (Cosmo Cricket) and they sent me a bunch of free strips of Jack's World paper. I bought a few more pieces from my LSS and thought they would be perfect for this sketch! Thanks Miss Paper Jane!!

I added a few paper circles and some grommlets and called it good. It seemed like simple was the best way to go with this one.

Festival Wine Tasting

2010-05-07T17:57:00.000-07:00

If you know me, you know that I am a picky eater and that I hate the taste of wine and beer. Well, my Disney travel agent friend, asked me to go to Disney's Food & Wine Festival at California Adventure and tell her about it. I have been blogging about my experiences and you can read all the details about my wine tasting on my blog Disneyland Diva.

Even though this sketch by my friend Susan Stringfellow has a heart on it, I decided to use it anyway as kind of an ironic twist on my wine tasting adventure. You can find this and many other fabulous sketches on her sketch blog, Sketch Savvy.

Since I had a lot of this Afternoon Tea paper from Scrap Within Reach, I decided to use it for my wine tasting pictures. It matched my outfit and the wine theme. And no, I didn't plan it that way, it was just a little bit of scrapping serendipity.

In order to include mutlitple pictures and not clog up the layout, I had the wine bottles printed as wallets and then punched them out with my square CM punch. Then I adhered them to the bottom corner of each photo so I knew what expression went with which wine.

In the bottom corner is my wine passport. They stamp it each time you taste a wine because you only get to taste 4 of the 16 offered unless you pay another $10. I wrote my immediate reactions about each wine in the passport at the time so I'm pretty much just using that and my expressions as my journaling.

The cute wine colored trim came with the paper, and so I thought it pulled the color scheme together with a line of it across the bottom of the layout, but I had about a foot left over, so I cut the little circles apart and used them to make a bunch of grapes and some little grape bunches in the top and bottom corners. It was just the embellishment it needed!

I had a great time making this layout and remembering how horrible the wine tasting was. It was worth it though to be able to make such a fun layout about the experience.

Chef Oscar's Potato Soup

2010-05-07T16:53:00.000-07:00

Truly, the Loaded Baked Potato Soup at the Carnation Cafe on Main Street is one of our all-time favorite meals in the Disneyland Resort. On most days, Chef Oscar Martinez will be going from table to table talking to guests and greeting them. He is a Disneyland icon. He's been at Disneyland since 1967. On this particular day he came by our table and sat down next to me and just chatted with us for about fifteen minutes about all kinds of things. He signed copies of his Loaded Baked Potato Soup recipe and gave us some pointers for making it taste just right.

The layout is based on a sketch from my friend Susan Stringfellow's sketch blog, Sketch Savvy.
This is her Two-Page Sketch #6.

I thought the colors in the Afternoon Tea line from Scrap Within Reach would be just perfect for these pictures. It was a girl's day out at Disneyland and all three of us had worn our deep plum shirts.

I haven't done it yet, but when I get time, I'm going to shrink the recipe down and put a Mickey tab on the top and hid it behind the picture of me with the soup.

Once Upon a Dream

2010-04-10T16:01:00.001-07:00

As I said in my last post, my LSS is having a contest to make a layout using only the My Mind's Eye Abbey Road paper. For this layout I decided to go with the blues and pinks in the line. I thought it went perfectly with our picture of Princess Aurora.

For the layout, I decided to turn my friend Susan's 8 1/2 x 11 sketch into a 12x12 layout. You can see all of her sketches on her blog Sketch Savvy.

In addition to the sketch, I wanted to used a technique she featured on the Serendipity Scrapbooks challenge forum, which is to make a border using the folded flower technique. There is a little problem on the site right now so I can't link you to her tutorial, so my sorry directions will have to do.

First, punch at least a dozen 1 1/4" circles out of double-sided paper. Fold the flowers in half with the pattern on the outside that you want to show the most. Line these up as seen and sew onto your page or card.

Once you have the half circles sewn onto your paper, then open the circle up, and fold it in on itself along the fold as shown.

Do this to all the half circles on both sides and you will end up with a fun, dimensional border like this:

The blue and pink flowers and green leaves were made using seam binding ribbon that I colored with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and Ranger Distress Ink Reinkers (I mixed colors to get just the right shade.) Then once the seam binding was dry, I followed this flower tutorial.

The sketch called for a leafy vine to run across the bottom of the page, but I decided I wanted a lace trim instead. Because one of my favorite scenes from Sleeping Beauty is when Flora, Fauna and Merriweather fight over what color Aurora's dress should be, I thought it would be fun to color the lace blue and pink. I broke out the cream lace trim and some glimmer mist and got to work.
After I colored both ends of the trim, and dried it, it looked pretty good, but was a little strong for the page. It was okay, but I just didn't want it to stand out that much.
While I was thinking about what to do to lighten it a little, I accidentally brushed it aside and noticed the back. WOW! I loved how the Glimmer Mist didn't soak in to the embroidery and allowed the cream lace detail to show through! One of those happy accidents!

For the title and the dark blue circle, I just sprayed a bit of Glimmer Mist on some of the polka-dot paper and cut it out with my QuicKutz.

I thought this layout was going to be an easy one, but it ended up taking me quite a long time with all the dying, drying and sewing. I'm really happy with the end result though!

Now here's a little fairy magic to put a smile on your face:

A Little Cuppa Crazy

2010-04-09T12:13:00.000-07:00

My LSS is having a contest this month to use the Abbey Road line of papers from My Mind's Eye. You just have to make a one or two page layout using that particular line of paper and only that line.

Since I'm still using my friend Susan's sketches from her Sketch Savvy blog, I decided to use this sketch with that line of paper.

Because the topic of the layout is the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit and Alice, I wanted to papers to be vibrant and to mimic the craziness of the photo session we had that night. So I mixed and matched all kinds of colors and patterns from the line.

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use some of this fun trim! The little cotton balls reminded me of a white rabbit tail, and I loved the flowery teal Webster's Pages trim.

Since I have been so inspired by my friend Susan lately, she has also been doing some templates, and I decided to try my hand at a couple of templates myself! Here are the two I made for this page. You're welcome to use them for a layout, card or party favor if you'd like. Just a warning though, they are a little time consuming so put on a good tv show and start cutting!

Please let me know if you use the templates so I can link your project back here. It's so much fun to see what others do with something you made.

Wow! Another whole layout finished!! That must be a record for me in the last couple of years. Here's hoping I get a few more finished before Spring Break is over.

Now, enjoy A Little Cuppa Crazy --

"Are you sure this water is sanitary?"

2010-04-07T12:11:00.000-07:00

I wanted to use some of the beautiful Scrap Within Reach paper that I recently purchased and thought it would go perfectly with these pictures I took at Disneyland a few years ago. I absolutely love the mix of brown, green and blue in these papers!

My friend Susan has just developed a new sketch blog that I absolutely LOVE! You must head over there immediately to check it out! Sketch Savvy

This is the sketch I thought would go perfectly with this paper, but since I wanted to make it a two-pager, I adapted the sketch and added a page. That's the wonderful thing about sketches, they give you inspiration and a place to start, and then you can make it into something that works for you!

In addition to the paper, I added a little Creative Imaginations felt trim which matched perfectly, and cut some flowers and leaves from Bazzill cardstock. The top flowers are some old cardstock that I covered with sheets from an old dictionary using Claudine Helmuth Studio Multi-Medium. I colored them with Ranger Distress Inks.

The brads on the flowers were made with the I-top by Imaginice. First I took a few small pieces of Claudine Helmuth Sticky Back Canvas and colored them with distress inks, then stamped on them with an Inque Boutique stamp. Then I just followed the directions on the I-Top and voila!

The title comes from Disney's Tarzan movies since these pictures were taken out in front of Tarzan's Treehouse (formerly the Swiss Family Robinson House). The cute little elephant, Tantor, says this as he is getting in the elephant pool. It cracks me up, so I thought I would link that section of the movie here.

Disneyland Calling!

2010-02-28T14:07:00.001-08:00

Wooo hooo! Another February challenge finished! This was another challenge by my friend, Susan Stringfellow.

I purchased a bunch of Graphic 45 paper a couple of weeks ago and made plans to use it for some Disney pages. This telephone paper was perfect for a couple of silly pictures my husband took of me at the Disneyland Resort over July 4th weekend last year. The journaling is pretty much true. Because I have an annual pass, if I know someone is going to be going to Disneyland for the day, I do everything I can to go down and meet them, even if it's just for a few hours. Although I prefer spending the whole day there if I can!

The challenge this time was to make a layout using the sketch below, but we had to hand cut a frame from patterned paper, not layer papers. The challenge can be found on the Serendipity Scrapbooks Challenge Board.

Here are some close-ups of the various embellishments I used from Graphich 45 and Prima. I thought it quite apropos to use the Liberty is calling tag b/c it was july 4th weekend, and whenever you get to go to Disneyland it's very liberating.

Thanks again for a fun challenge Susan! What a great time I've had this month making these layouts.

Supplies:
Font - Disney Print (cut with scal on cricut)
Prima Say it in Pearls
Prima velvet flowers
Prima black velvet flower trim
Graphic 45 Communique paper and tags

Conductor Mickey and a Quilted Heart

2010-02-21T13:43:00.001-08:00

My friend, Susan Stringfellow, posted another challenge on the Serendipity Scrapbooks challenge board. This one was for Valentines Day.

This was her challenge to us
"Create a patchwork heart using the pattern provided and then use it on your layout. (pattern is found on the Serendipity website)
*You must use all patterned papers and you must crumple the papers before attaching.
**You do NOT have to stitch the heart, but you can if you like.
*** There must be RED somewhere in your papers. "

So, here is my heart, made from Graphic 45 paper, "Playtimes Past" and a few other Graphic 45 lines thrown in for good measure.

Then, because the photo is one of us with Conductor Mickey, I made a little paper feather to match the one on his hat, and included a copy of "The Band Concert" poster and the "William Tell Overture" which is what he leads his orchestra in playing in the "Band Concert." Of course, Donald Duck comes along and tries to get everyone to play "Turkey in the Straw," but Mickey will have none of it.

Here is a youtube video of "The Band Concert." It is this short cartoon of Walt's that is the theme of the new Silly Symphony Swings that will be replacing the Orange Stinger in Disney's California Adventure in May.

Thanks again to my friend Susan! I have had such a great time scrapping just for fun!!!

Supplies:
Graphic 45 paper - Playtimes Past, Transatlantique
QuicKutz Music Notes
Heart Template by Susan Stringfellow

Decorative CD Cases

2010-02-21T13:21:00.000-08:00

I like to make CD's to play in the car when we are driving, and sometimes make one for a friend or family member. I found these CD holders on sale recently and thought it would be a fun thing to make and use some of my new Quickutz Travel dies.

First, I covered the CD cases with Crate Paper "Static" collection, which I also got on sale.
Then I stamped on the luggage tag die, then hung it from some ribbon with a mini safety pin.
I couldn't find any affordable ribbon to go with the Static paper, so I made my own using Adirondack Color Wash and some cream gingham ribbon from Bazzill (yep, another sale item!)
The Denim was a little too blue for the paper, as you can see from the sample on the far right, so I filled a mini mister 2/3 full with denim color wash and then spritzed in about 5 shots of the butterscotch colorwash to make it just the right green/blue for the paper.

Then decorated each license plate a little differently. The sign shape in the center of the license plate was made by cutting out the shape with the QK sign die from a piece of Tim Holtz Mask, and then centering it over the license plate and inking it with distress ink.

I can't help it, I had to do some sewing on each one of them, even if it was just a little bit. This was a really fun little project and I'm looking forward to making a few more!

Supplies:
Crate Paper - Static
Adirondack Color Wash
Bazzill Ribbon
QuicKutz:
license plate CC-SHAPE-078-1
road sign RS-0992
license plate mini 4x8 alphabet 4X8-LICPLATE-M

Orchard House - Home of Louisa May Alcott

2010-02-08T15:47:00.000-08:00

In November, when I was back in Boston with my mom and sister for my sister's treatment at Tufts Medical Center, we took a day a went out to Concord. Having never been there, we took our time meandering though the town and then finally out to the Orchard House. This was the home of the Alcott family and was where Louisa May wrote her famous book, Little Women. Her father held classes on philosophy in a building in the back, and they were great friends with Emerson and Thoreau.

Last week when I was at CHA, I got some complimentary Scrap Within Reach paper (thanks Heidi and Nancy!) and on the way home in absolutely horrendous traffic, I spent the time planning what I would do with the paper. I decided that the Urban Garden line would be perfect for my pictures of Orchard House.

Then this week, my friend Susan Stringfellow made the template below and challenged us to complete a layout using the template and cutting the pieces out of patterned paper. I thought it would be a great addition to my Orchard House layout, so I gave it a shot.

Here is the template:

Here is the layout using the Urban Garden. I included a picture of me in front of the house, the sign, Mr. Alcott's philosophy classroom, and a picture of me with my sis in front of the door. Part of her treatment included a shot that made her quite photo sensitive and she had to stay completely covered, thus the hood and glasses in the pic.

It was a terrific tour, we really enjoyed our tour guide, learned a lot about the Alcott's, and then when it was over, out of concern for my sister, the sweet tour guide gave us a ride back into town to the famous Colonial Inn.

If you're ever in Concord, Massachusetts I highly recommend a few hours at the Orchard House!

Supplies:
Scrap Within Reach: Urban Garden
Black brads
Susan Stringfellow template

Happy Haunts

2010-02-07T17:24:00.001-08:00

I made this layout for a class a year and a half ago, but I've never gotten the pictures put on it. I finally decided to sit down and order the prints and stick them on. I mean, how hard is that?

I absolutely love the purple and orange colors of the costumes Mickey and Minnie wear for the Disneyland Halloween Time Celebration. I thought they would be perfect pictures to go with this layout.

The funny thing about this layout is that it is Cosmo Cricket Love Notes paper. That's right, I used Valentines paper for a Halloween layout. The first thing I did was take a peachy orange cardstock and color is with purple and orange Distress Inks from Ranger. Then inked the edges of the paper, and there you go!
The vintage Halloween postcard images I found online and they were inspired by the vintage images in the shop windows all down Main Street in Disneyland.

It's a little difficult to see, but I put some Ranger Glossy Accents on the yellow brads and then dipped them in Dusty Concord Distress Embossing Powder to give them a little texture.

I can't tell you how great it feels to have this layout finally finished after a year and a half. ;-D

Supplies:
Cosmo Cricket Love Notes
Purple Ribbon - May Arts
QuicKutz - title font - Eliza, pumpkin and flourish
Flowers - EK Success punches
Ranger Distress Inks
Ranger Distress Embossing Powder

I'm a Raging Ball of Brown Fur!

2010-02-07T16:18:00.001-08:00

Last March, Mom came down to give a couple of Cricut classes to some of my friends. It was fun, but she worked hard on Friday night and all day Saturday. Since she was staying over on Saturday night, we talked her into going down to Disneyland with us on Sunday and having breakfast at the Storyteller's Cafe in the Grand Californian. It was her first character breakfast, and since it was very last-minute, we got the last spots during the character time. Consequently we barely got pictures with Koda and Kenai from Brother Bear, but we got them!

For some reason, Mom made this funny face when I first took her picture with Koda, so I thought it would go perfectly with this Koda quote from the movie.

Supplies:
Rusty Pickle Paper (and a little Daisy D's)
Doodle Bug brown flocked paper
Inque Boutique/Darice Boho Chic Stamp
QuicKutz: Dragonfly, Khaki, scalloped border

CHA January 2010

2010-02-06T15:44:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my friend, scrapbook designer Nancy Burke, I was able to go to CHA in January and see all the new fun stuff! I had a great time.

Here is a slide show of some of the pictures I took, if you would like to see all of them, click on the link below it and you can see them all.

All the CHA photos.

Enjoy!!