Monday, August 31, 2009

I'm a Little Airplane Now

We live fairly close to a local airport, and it is a favorite spot of our family to play. It has an observation area with a little runway painted on the ground for the kiddos to pretend that they are airplanes taking off and landing. Here's my Jonah, arms outstretched, pretending he can fly and probably singing, "I'm a little airplane now." It's a song he heard on Sesame Street sung by Jonathan Richman.
The child silhouettes are from A Child's Year. The journaling block is from Graphically Speaking. The title is from Zooballoo and Plantin Schoolbook (airplane). The airplane silhouettes on the end of the ribbons are a ttf cut with SCAL.
The airplanes across the top are stamps, but I no longer have the packaging, so I don't know the company. The patterned paper is from DCWV. I finished off the page with colorful ribbons and buttons. I wanted the pages to be bright, playful, and whimsical.
Here's a close up of page 1:
and of page 2:
Journaling is simple, using the 5 'w's.

Who: Jonah & Mommy
What: pretending to be little airplanes
When: February 2009
Where: Van Nuys Airport
Why: because it's fun to use our "imashinations"

(intentionally misspelled to capture his pronunciation of the word)

Thanks for looking!

Friday, August 28, 2009

Monogrammed Card Set

We are having dinner tonight at a friends house, and this monogrammed card set is the gift I made for our hostess. The picture above is of the belly band that goes around the box, with the cards in the background.

I embossed the band with the Cuttlebug folder 'Floral Fantasy' and inked it with Tim Holtz's distressing ink. The ovals, the red top note, and the circle are from the Storybook cartridge. I outlined the shapes with red stickles and embossed the monogram and smaller oval with gold embossing powder. The monogram itself and the damask border are Just Rite stamps. Here is a better picture of the belly band:Some of the cards:
More cards:
There are 6 cards in the set; 3 of each design. This design is using the Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' folder. The background shape behind the monogram is my own design made using SCAL. It has slits in it so that the ribbon can be threaded behind the monogram. The pictures don't show the detail of the monogram and border well, but I used perfect pearls on them, which makes them shimmer in real life. I used copper on some and gold on others.
The other 3 cards look like this:
I made this box, which houses A2 cards perfectly, using directions from the Splitcoast stampers site. You can find the directions HERE.
I used Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot border punch on the top of the box.
Here's the gift, packaged and ready to go for tonight!
Thanks for looking!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Beach Babes

I was going through some old pictures a few weeks ago and found these cuties--2 of my nieces playing in the sand. I knew right away I wanted to use my Life's A Beach cartridge and get these pictures scrapped! The shovel/pail, shells, and sun are from LAB.

The label paper-clip is from Fabulous Finds. FF is a cartridge I don't use too often, but it has some gems on there that, though easy to forget about, often provide that finishing touch to a page. *note to self: familiarize myself with the handbook so I'll reach for the cartridge more often.*

The title was cut using SCAL. It is a true-type font called 'cracked.' I cut its shadow, too.

I used stickles on the yellow parts of the sun and on the sand. It doesn't show up too well, but in real life it really looks like sand!

Thanks for looking--and be sure to check back over the next few days. I'm really excited about a couple of the projects that are in queue to post. Have a great day!

Friday, August 21, 2009

Goofy-pt. 2

This is the Goofy page for my other son's album. The first Goofy page was posted HERE. I used Mickey and Friends for Goofy and his name. I put stickles on the photo corners and his name.

Thanks for looking!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Minnie Mouse

This was a fun layout to do. Once it started coming together, it almost seemed to create itself. Minnie was cut from Mickey and Friends, as were the hearts and her name. I used stickles on her bow, dress, and shoes (isn't she so fashionable!), around the big heart and on her signature.

I used the Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug embossing folder on the hearts along the side. To mimic the polka dots in Minnie's outfit, I rubbed the embossed image over my white inkpad. The border underneath the picture is Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot punch.

Another view to show detail:


I had my OB appointment yesterday. All went well and my boys were thrilled to hear the baby's heartbeat, which they decided sounded like a train coming down the tracks. Since they are both train fanatics, I think it raised their opinion of the baby inside. Baby Bird is measuring 2 weeks ahead, which is no big surprise since my other boys were not exactly what you would consider petite at their birth. :)

We spent the evening at California Adventure and Disneyland. The boys got to see the Disneyland Electrical Parade for the first time and the looks on their faces was just priceless. Scott and I got a kick out of the fact that, about 2/3 of the way through the parade of a half million lights, Noah turned to us with wild excitement in his eyes and said, "I see a light!" He's the observant one, alright. I LOVE that the parade hasn't changed since I was a small child. It's almost like watching Disney history go by--the movies represented are from the era of Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, and Pete's Dragon.

After the parade we sat for the fireworks show, which is always so fun. Noah is always afraid for the first half and then something always clicks and he morphs into a different kid for the second half of the show. He literally goes from screaming and hiding his face in our shoulders to turning around, smiling and saying "kaBOOM" with every firework.

While our friends followed the fireworks show with Fantasmic (we learned our lesson the first time we saw that show with the kids and the crowds had us pinned into viewing area so we had to stay through the entire show with 2 traumatized toddlers), we went on the kid-friendly rides in Storybookland...the carousel, the teacups, and It's A Small World. It's such a fun place to be at night with all the lights. We completely wore the kids out and they both slept in the stroller on the way back to the car (which, if you know anything about our children, is a supernatural event).

thanks for reading/looking today!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Cinderella

This page is pretty basic. I used stickles on the hearts on the background paper and on the white borders. I think I might also add them on Cinderella's name to make it more 'magical.' Cinderella is cut at 3 1/4" from the Happily Ever After cartridge.

We're heading back to Disneyland today--yeah! Our passes aren't blacked out for the summer crowds anymore! My boys are so excited that I doubt they will rest today (we leave home after naps and pick up Daddy from work on the way and stay until late). But first I have my 32 week check-up for the new baby. Big day...

Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Mulan

Mulan was the first princess that Noah seemed to enjoy meeting. He actually walked up to her and wanted to hug her.

Mulan is cut from the Happily Ever After cartridge. Her name is a ttf (Herculanum) cut in SCAL. The frame is an .svg file from Paulo's blog. The flower border along the top is a stamp from Fancy Pants, stamped in glue and glittered with a copper glitter from Martha Stewart.

Thanks for looking!

Monday, August 17, 2009

in all things give THANKS

Our latest challenge over at Whimsical Scraps and Bugs was a color challenge from Kristina Werner's blog. I thought of Thanksgiving when I saw these colors and pulled out a couple of our family shots from 2008 to scrap. Here's what I came up with:
I used Storybook for the white borders and the photo corners. I sometimes forget how much I love that cartridge! Home Decor was used for the scalloped circle border. I designed the title using SCAL. Here's a close-up of it:
I decided to use the negative image of "THANKS" and I really like how it turned out.

The circle at the bottom right corner is a customizable stamp from Just Rite Stamps. It was my Mother's Day gift and I LOVE it! It makes monograms so easy but you can use it for more than that, as I did here. To go along with the theme of Thanksgiving, I decided to put "Give Thanks 2008" in the center of the circle, and then list some of the things I'm thankful for as a border. It takes some time to assemble (the letters are pretty tiny) but I think the results are well worth it. Here's a better look:
Thanks for looking!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Belle

Here's my Jonah with his favorite princess of the day, Belle, from Beauty and the Beast. He just went right up to her and gave her the biggest hug. She was such a great princess in person!

Belle is cut from Dreams Come True at 4". Her name is cut using 2 different true-type fonts in SCAL. The rose is a ttf as well. The photo corners are from an .svg file from Paulo's blog. I used stickles on parts of Belle's dress, on her name, and on the rose.

In the corner, I used a large stamp from Fancy Pants--I didn't want it to overwhelm the page, so I just stamped it in VersaMark and embossed it using clear embossing powder.

Thanks for looking!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Sleeping Beauty

Well, my weekend trip got canceled. Sad. I still could not post yesterday because we spent the whole day away as a family, trying to distract the boys from the disappointment of not getting to visit their cousins. We'll have to reschedule. On the bright side, we did a lot of fun things and took a lot of pictures that I'm sure will find their way to a scrapbook page (and thus to this blog) eventually.

Continuing with my son's 8x8 Disney character album, here's his Sleeping Beauty page. Princess Aurora is cut at 6 inches and boy do those little cuts ever seem small! For the princesses, I highly recommend a Signo white pen for the whites of the eyes and the teeth, unless you have sharp eyes, steady fingers, and lots of patience. And even then, it's easier to do with a Signo pen. :)

The scallop border is Martha Stewart's scallop dot punch. I added some stickles to the small dots in the border, as well as to Princess Aurora's crown and necklace.

Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

goofy

Here's another page for Jonah's Disney character scrapbook. Goofy was so wonderful to meet in person--very true to his personality!

The patterned paper is from an old DCWV stack. Goofy is cut from Mickey and Friends. The arrows are from Graphically Speaking. Goofy's name is done with 'thickers'--the 'oo' is actually an 8 turned sideways for more of a whimsical look. I added stickles to the photo corners and the arrows.

We'll be taking off for a few days starting tomorrow so I'll be back at the old blog next week with new posts. In the meantime, thanks for looking and for commenting!

Cartridge Giveaway

Visit the JuJu Bee's Scrapbook Corner blog for a chance to win the not-yet-released Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge! Scroll down a bit--the post is from August 10th. Thanks, JuJu Bee's Scrapbook Corner, for a fabulous giveaway!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Mickey Mouse

I am working on my boys' Disney character album--so fun to reflect over the memories we've had during our time there! This is Jonah's first time meeting Mickey Mouse on our first trip back in January. He was so overwhelmed!

The pages that I'll be posting in this series are 8x8 and I'm really trying to focus on just a picture and the character; there's not room for much else anyway. My goal is to finish their books before December and give them as Christmas presents to the boys. I'll have to work hard during nap time and after they go to bed, because I want it to be a surprise!

All of the cuts (Mickey, "Mickey Mouse" and gloves) are from the Mickey and Friends cartridge. I used stickles on the yellow shadow of "Mickey Mouse" and as a thin border around the picture.

Thanks for looking!

Monday, August 10, 2009

A Wish Came True

Today is my 7th anniversary. I am one lucky girl to have a husband as wonderful as my dear Scott. He loves me totally and unconditionally, and is a wonderful father to our boys. I couldn't love him any more than I do! Here's the anniversary card I made for him.
I designed the card using SCAL (ttf 'luv n kisses'). The original character is the outlined heart which is cut out in gold cardstock. Then I used the same character two more times, chose the shadow blackout feature, and flipped one of the hearts, overlapping them just a bit at the top. Those two hearts were welded together and cut out of red. I cut one more heart-a blackout of the original image-in white for the message on the inside.

The top layer of red is embossed using Cuttlebug's Divine Swirls folder. I used red stickles over top to make it sparkly. The sentiment is from Storybook, using the shorty/holes feature at 2 1/2". Here's one more view:
Thanks for looking!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Bakers in Training


Over at Whimsical Scraps and Bugs, our latest challenge was to use the ad at the left for inspiration for a project. I don't have many vintage pictures, so I chose to go with the kitchen theme. These pictures are of my dad and my niece making cookies together from a bag of "Cookies for Dummies." Here's my take on the challenge:








I used A Child's Year for the girl and the oven, as well as for the title (which shows up better in person). I added some stickles to the letters in the title. The flowers are chipboard embellishments. I used distressing ink on the edges of the pages and handstitched around the patterned paper at the bottom.
Here's a close up of page 1:
and page 2:
Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Mojo 98 projects

I was so inspired by the Mojo Monday sketch for the week that I did two projects with it.
Here is the first:

This card is actually also a submission for a chance to win some wonderful blog candy over at Crafty Goings On. Karen is generously offering the chance to win a set of 72 copic markers. Her contest ends on August 9th, so be sure to check it out!
I used stamps for the 'cherish' definition and also for the background behind it. The butterfly is cut from a TTF using SCAL. The circles were cut with Plantin Schoolbook. I handstitched around the edges of the square.

Here's my second project:
This is 'sort of' a card. I have a hard time with birthday cards--the outside is always fun to make and decorate, but I'm always intimidated with the amount of space to write sentiments on the inside. So, instead of a traditional card, I wrapped her present and used the sketch to decorate it as if it were the front of a card. Then, we'll just sign our names to the back of the gift and call it good!
I used Plantin Schoolbook for the circles, the 42, and the yellow ric-rac. You can't tell from the picture, but the 42 is cut out 3 times for added dimension, and popped up with pop dots to make it stand out. I used thickers for 'happy' and rub ons for 'birthday.'

Thanks for looking!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

New Creations are on their way!

I should have posted this earlier so you would know that I haven't forgotten about ye ole' blog, but I got consumed with the project I was working on and was thus too distracted to post for the past week or so.
What project, you ask?
Well, it was a monumental one that ate up every spare moment of last week. Before last Friday, it had been since last April (!) since I had any of my digital pictures processed. Or was it August? Either way, that's a loooooong time for a scrapbooker to go, and that also means that it was a LOT of pictures to sort through to find the ones that I wanted to print. We've taken 7,000-8,000 pictures just since getting our new camera for Christmas.
I was somehow able to wittle my selections down to a mere 680 pictures and I can't WAIT to see them and hold them in my hands and scheme new pages for them and share them with you! So stay tuned...I am about to go crazy!