Advent-Day 7

Day 7
Person: Jacob
Event: Assurance of the Promise
Scripture: Genesis 27:41-28:22

Cartridges/Software used:
Plantin Schoolbook: circles
Graphically Speaking: Clouds
SCAL: ladder, but this could easily be done on Design Studio as well

Thanks for looking!

Princess Ariel

Version 1:

Version 2:

Here are some more layouts for the boys' Disney albums. Jonah was thrilled to meet Ariel and have her sign her autograph for him. Ariel was cut from Dreams Come True, and I used stickles on her...what is it called? Her mermaid parts. =)
In version 1, the seaweed and fish are cut from Life's a Beach. I used stickles on the seaweed. 'The Little Mermaid' is cut from SCAL using Harrington font. It is stickled as well.
In version 2, the flower is cut from Life's a Beach. The frame and the leaf flourish next to the flower are from Graphically Speaking. 'Ariel' was cut from SCAL using Harrington font. The frame, leaf, and her name are stickled.

Thanks for looking!

McQueen

Version 1:

Version 2:

As you know, I've been working on Disneyland albums for my boys for their Christmas presents. I love the Disney Pixar parade at California Adventure--these are some pictures from that parade. McQueen is always a hit with us when he drives by. My mom was generous to lend me her Cars cartridge (not an easy one to work with due to all the teeeeeny tiny details) so I could do some of these pages. The trophy is from Graphically Speaking. I put some stickles on the trophy and on McQueen's name.

Thanks for looking!
p.s. for those wondering, no baby yet...

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!

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!

Mr. & Mrs.

This is my submission for the most recent challenge over at Whimsical Scraps and Bugs. The design team once again did a great job! We were to use an ampersand from any of the Cricut cartridges. I used the one from Graphically Speaking. The rest of the title is from the Calligraphy cartridge. I used a SCAL design for the frame and a ttf for the butterfly. I embossed the butterfly with the Divine Swirls Cuttlebug folder and traced the raised part of the image with silver stickles. I decorated the frame with skittles (which are in stock again at Michael's--they're a seasonal item in the wedding section and I think their true name is Decorative Accents).
I took the design from sketch #14 over at Unscripted Sketches. It was my first time using a sketch from that site, but it won't be my last! I love the basic sketches that give the freedom to make them your own! If you've never been there, I'd encourage you to check it out.
Thanks for looking!

Happy Mother's Day, Mojo-style

Well it's that time of year again to work on Mother's Day cards. Once again, Mojo Monday pulled through with an awesome sketch that I used to make 2 cards with 2 different looks for 2 special mothers. Without further ado, here they are:
This one is for you, Mom Staley. So, if you're reading this, you get a sneak peak. That's okay, though, because unfortunately your card will probably not arrive on time for Sunday. As I was about to mail it, I thought I might add a finishing touch of stickles around the heart and then I remembered that it has to dry before I put it in the envelope, and the deadline for the mail to go out today had passed by the time it had dried. So, when you are feeling like you have a lame daughter on Sunday who "forgot" about Mother's Day, please feel free to visit my blog and see the card that should be arriving on Monday. Oops. ;)
I used Memory Makers patterened paper and black and cream cardstock for this card. The heart was cut with Graphically Speaking and the black paper was embossed with the Swiss Dots folder. I do not know the brand of the stamps or the ribbon. Here's another view:
And this one is for my special mother-in-law, Rose. This one should be there in time for Mother's Day. :) I used the DCWV "Pocketfull of Posies" stack for the patterned paper. The scallop is a Martha Stewart border punch, "Scallop Dot." The ribbon is from American Crafts and I used stickles for the flower and for the border around the sentiment. The orange paper is embossed with the Floral Fantasy folder.
Another view:And here is the sketch that I used for both of these cards: It is Mojo Monday Sketch #85.
Thanks for looking, and I hope all the moms reading this enjoy their Mother's Day weekend!

Heritage

I created this layout for a challenge at Whimsical Scraps and Bugs. The challenge was to use sketch #81 from Mojo Monday (pictured below) and a favorite verse or quote. If you have looked at my blog recently, you'll already know that I love Mojo Monday for their creative card designs. This time, though, I wanted to use the sketch to create a layout. I chose Psalm 127:3 for the verse which says, "Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from Him." The picture is of our firstborn on Easter of 2007 with my hubby Scott. The paper is from the DCWV "All About Boys" stack. The title font is from the Cricut Calligraphy cartridge and the frame for the verse, the stars, and the circles at the bottom are all from Graphically Speaking. I hand-sewed the borders and the circle around the stars. The circles at the bottom have a stamp on them that says "a son is a blessing; a son is a gift." Brads in the center finish it off.

Thanks for looking!

Wedding Card

inside:
This is one of the quickest cards I've done but I like it! A card doesn't have to take hours to make and be really involved for it to be special and personal. Here's how it's done:
Cut a plain white 8 1/2 x 11" piece of cardstock in half width-wise at 5 1/2" Then take one side and scored it in half at 4 1/4". Next, emboss the front of the card using the Cuttlebug folder Bow Frame Card. Cut out the box inside the frame using a paper trimmer or craft knife, which will form a window to the inside of the card.
Using the Graphically Speaking cartridge, select the 'icon' feature and press the "Me & You" button to access the heart. Cut a heart out of a blue scrap piece of paper at 1" with 'real dial size' feature ON. Leaving the 'icon' and 'real dial size' features on, press your shift button and the "Me & You" button again. This time, cut a heart out of a pink scrap piece of paper at 3/4".
Use stickles to outline the embossed areas on the front of the card and the two hearts. For this card, I used silver for the front, pink for the pink heart and aqua for the blue heart.
Once dry, glue the hearts--a little offset towards the top--on a scrap piece of white cardstock, approximately 1 3/4" wide and 2 1/4" tall. Mount this scrap onto a silver piece that measures 2" by 2 1/2". Using your window as a guide so that the two hearts are visible from the front of the card, adhere these layers to the inside of the card. With a silver pen, write 'congrats' or other greeting on the bottom of the white layer, well underneath the hearts so that the sentiment is not visible when the card is closed.

Thanks for looking!

These are a few of my {favorite} things

This was a challenge for the design team over at Whimsical Scraps and Bugs. We had to do a layout about ourselves...something that we often forget to do. There were a lot of options for this, but I decided to go the route of making a page about a few of my favorite things. It was fun to do, and it forced me to take a few moments to reflect and be thankful for the things that the Lord has given for me to enjoy. Here's my list, which is obviously not in any particular order :)

• My hope found in Christ (okay, this would top the list anyway)
• Chocolate
• Holidays (used the Christmas tree from Christmas Cheer on this square)
  
• The love among my family
• Faithful friends
• The beauty of Creation
• Good sleep
• Comfort of home (used the home from Joys of the Season here)
  
• Crafting

The title is from Plantin Schoolbook; the 'few' is from Opposites Attract. The brackets around 'favorite' are from Printing Press and the heart is from Graphically Speaking.
The patterned paper is from Making Memories, as are the stamps (Ransom) and the cardboard flowers. I used 'Thickers' for the word 'favorite' and for the brackets around the heart.

Thanks for looking!

Easter-Themed Wall Hanging

I just love Easter and the hope that it represents through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead! I completed this wall hanging for a challenge over at Whimsical Scraps and Bugs. We were to alter flashcards and create an Easter-themed project. I decided to make John 11:25 the focal point. It says, "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies.' John 11:25" The flowers, leaves, and the frame around the verse are all from Cricut's Home Decor cartridge. The butterflies are from Graphically Speaking. I used stickles on the butterflies (black on the black part and star dust on the blue parts) and I folded their wings up so they are 'flying.'

Here are some close-ups:

Thanks for looking!

Discover Spring

I created this page for the Whimsical Scraps and Bugs challenge--we were to use black and white with one accent color, the word 'spring' and some bling. I stole the sketch from Passion Sketch--I rotated sketch 33.
This picture was taken in the spring of 2007--the first spring that Jonah was really aware of his surroundings and curious of the world around him. So fun watching him explore new things!
I stamped the white paper with a floral stamp from Fancy Pants and brightened it up a bit with pink stickles. I embossed the black, gray, and pink strips. I used the Cuttlebug embossing folder Swiss Dots for the black, Divine Swirl for the gray, and Stylized Flowers for the pink. I put pink stickles over the flowers and black stickles over the swiss dots and divine swirls. The flowers are stamps from Autumn Leaves--I put stickles on those as well and a skittle in the middle of each flower. The word 'discover' is cut from Graphically Speaking and 'Spring' is cut from Storybook. The pink ribbon is from American Crafts.

Thanks for looking!

"I'll Love You Forever"

This is a page that I created for the February Challenge over at the Cricut message board. We were to use the word 'love' and a heart cut from any cricut cartridge. I used Plantin Schoolbook (tall ball feature) for the lettering and Graphically Speaking for the hearts. The big heart is embossed with the Cuttlebug using my Swiss Dots folder. The dots are embellished with red stickles and the little heart is also outlined in red stickles.
The page was inspired by my 3 year old son, Jonah. The journaling reads,

"It had been a particularly hard day for all of us, Jonah...the kind of day I'm glad we don't experience very often. You were sick and had not been sleeping well-I'm sure that contributed to it. Your behavior suffered, and Daddy & I felt like we had been disciplining you over and over again for the same things, yet to no avail. We were all ready for you to go to bed that night and just call it a day. Tomorrow would surely be better...it had to be! I poured you some milk to drink and held you close as I rocked you. I had tears of discouragement in my eyes because I was so tired of disciplining you all day without seeing a change in your heart. It was at that moment that you looked up at me, gave me a hug, and said, "I'll love you forever." You couldn't have chosen a better time to encourage my heart. I needed to hear those words. I'll love YOU forever, too, my Jonah...even on days like this." -February '09

Top 10 Reasons (A Valentine's Card)

I made this accordian card for my hubby for Valentine's Day. It was fun but very time consuming. :) He liked it though, so I suppose it was worth all the effort it took.

The cover (Top 10 and the 4 hearts) is made from Graphically Speaking. It is a little hard to tell in the picture, but the Top 10 is mounted on pop dots for dimension. The card closes with a ribbon tie.
This is the card opened up--the tags (cut from Plantin Schoolbook) fit into the pockets on each fold.
Here are the first three sections. All of the numbers are cut with Printing Press with the framed feature or the bookmark feature. The heart paper clip is from Fabulous Finds. The 'cherish' stamp on the first section is from Stampin' Up's 'Lexicon of Love.' The rest of the pockets are embossed with A2 embossing folders for the Cuttlebug.
#4-7. Every surface of every layer is inked with Tim Holtz' distressing ink. The embellishment behind the tag in #6 is from Fabulous Finds.
#8-10. The green pockets (#3,6,9) are made with paper that has a white core. To get the white to show through, and to make it look distressed, I rubbed it with a fine sandpaper until I got the desired effect. The heart behind #10 is from Graphically Speaking.

Thanks for looking! And please be patient with me as I update posts as I feel up to it--hubby and I found out last week that we are expecting #3, and I'm extremely exhausted. I will try not to neglect the blog for too long, but I can't make any promises. ;)

Love Birds

Here's a recent layout I completed. It's for a challenge from Whimsical Scraps and Bugs. I am now one of their design team members! :) As a design team member, I get to create projects for their challenges issued every other week. I am really looking forward to contributing--the other members of the design team are so talented! It's fun to have my work thrown in there with theirs. The challenge for this layout was to use red, pink, and white, any heart cut from Cricut, ribbon, and buttons/brads/other embellishments but NO glitter.
The ribbon is fairly obvious so I won't comment further on that. I cut the heart from the Graphically Speaking cartridge. I used the center cut feature on my Expression and cut out a heart and then increased the size a notch before cutting out the same heart. This left me with a frame--and it was transparent because I cut it out from the plastic packaging that comes on a cartridge. Next, I covered the frame with different shades of pink skittles.
The paper is from DCWV. I used the Martha Stewart scallop dot border punch for the pink patterned paper and I placed lettered pink brads (Big Lots $1 find--and it comes with lots of them!) in the holes. I know it's hard to read, but it says "love birds." I tore the red paper behind it and inked it to give it some texture and depth.
The stamp in the bottom left corner of the picture is from Fancy Pants. I love how dark it turned out using my new VersaFine stamp pad! I used to trace over my stamped images with a black ink pen because the images would come out dull or gray. Very tedious.
Here is a better image of the details:
Thanks for looking!

Brrr...

My break without internet access lasted much longer than expected, but I'm back online and happy to be sharing projects with you once again.
So, though the Christmas season is over, I hope you'll be patient with me as I post some of the things I wanted to post in December but couldn't.
This card was inspired by Sketch Saturday. The title and the snowflakes are from Graphically Speaking and the little penguins are from Zooballoo. The background paper is from the DCWV Christmas 2007 stack.
Thanks for looking!

The Bad Foot

It's been awhile since I posted a scrapbook page for my family album. These pictures are almost a decade old, but they all depict a silly family tradition: doing the "bad foot" as a goodbye greeting. Thanks, Dad, for getting this started ::eyes roll::.
The journaling is done on the individual circles on the right side of the page. Yes, this took some planning to get exactly the right number of circles and the right number of words to fill the entire space. It's not something I'll do on every future scrapbook page. ;) The circles had to be smaller than 1" (the smallest setting on the Cricut), so I had to find a way to work around that. See my previous post for how I did it, using Walk In My Garden.
The circle outlines (around my Dad's foot on the picture and as one journaling circle) are from Graphically Speaking, as were the layers for the flower on the lefthand page. The title is cut from Mickey Font at 1 1/2". The feet are from New Arrival at 2".
Here's a closer look at the first page:
and the second:
and a detailed look at the flower, which I put dimensionals between the larger and smaller layers. For the very top layer, I shadowed the center and some areas of each petal to make it more realistic. I also scored each petal and folded it up a bit to give it some shape like a real flower. The ribbon is from American Crafts.
Here's a look at the journaling. There are a few flowers thrown in there to mimic the patterned paper in the center.
Thanks for looking!

*Edited to add journaling:
"It started when Chuck's kids were small. Hannah & Adam were leaving one day and Dad started hopping on one foot saying he had a 'Bad Foot,' trying to make them laugh. From that time forward, whenever a visit came to an end, the family had to gather outside to do the 'Bad Foot.' Neighbors gave us strange looks, but family traditions are quick to be born, and Hannah & Adam insisted on our hopping. Soon, our neighbors even joined in on this silly Staley family tradition."

I CAN DO IT (with a little help)

Journaling says, "I am a BIG 2 year old now, and I can ride my tricycle! I CAN DO IT! (with a little help.) I must put on my helmet before I ride my trike. Mommy or Daddy helps me buckle the strap under my chin.
Next I sit down on my tricycle. There's a problem though: my legs aren't quite long enough to reach the pedals yet! Daddy attached some blocks and straps to the pedals so I can reach them. He helps put my feet in the straps, too. Thank you, Daddy!
Now I am ready to ride my tricycle. I CAN DO IT...(but Grandpa helps push me because I am still learning how to use the pedals. He also has to help me steer, because otherwise I would fall off the sidewalk.)
My favorite thing to do while I ride my tricycle is ring the little bell over and over...and I CAN DO IT...ALL BY MYSELF!!"

Paper is DCWV and Colorbok. I drew boxes around the journaling with BIC Mark-Its. The title is cut from Mickey Font at 2" and 1". The circle is cut with Printing Press, and the arrow is from Graphically Speaking.

A closer look at page 1:

and page 2:
Thanks for looking!

Finished!

You may have noticed that I have been working on an ABC Bible verse Swap this month. My goal was to complete all 56 pages (I signed up for 2 letters) before Scott and I leave on our getaway later this week. I put the finishing touches on the very last page last night. I cannot post pictures until after they are mailed out, so you'll just have to trust me that they're done and they're ready to go! They're not due until November, so it will be awhile before I see what all the other participants created, but I'm looking forward to it!

Happily Ever After...one day at a time

Ever since I was a little girl, I had the idealistic dream of meeting my Prince Charming, falling madly in love, and living happily ever after. It would be perfect. Hardships may come, but we'd always face them together and grow stronger and deeper in love because of them.
These pictures were taken earlier this year, on a late spring day, when Scott and I stole away for a drive in the mountains and a picnic by a lake. It had been a particularly difficult day for both of us, and we both needed the escape to get some fresh air and enjoy each other's company. Somewhere along the way, I thought about our relationship--our marriage and our love for each other. And I remembered my girlhood dream of living happily ever after. And I realized that it was coming true, even then, even when things aren't 100% right, because we're loving each other, one day at at time. We are in the process of putting enough days together to live happily ever after for a lifetime.
The journaling, which is of a more personal nature of the events that were happening at the time, is hidden behind the picture at the bottom. The Happily Ever After is cut from Storybook. The flourish, as well as the heart outline, is cut from Graphically Speaking, and the rest of the title is from Alphalicious. The stamps, which are wet-embossed, are from Fancy Pants.

Thanks for looking!