Top 10 Projects of 2014

I love seeing everyone's round-up of their favorite projects of the year.  Here are mine for 2014 in the order that they appeared on my blog:

Snowman Tag:

First Winter Snow:

I'm Yours:

Valentine Frame:

People We Love, Places We Go, Things We Do:

Another Day, Another Round of Candy Land: 

Fueling Up:

December Daily: Joy

My Elf:

Merry and Bright:

You can see last year's favorites on this blog post. If you did a post on your favorites, I love to see yours. Please link it in the comments. 

I'll be back tomorrow with my first layout of 2015. Thanks so much for stopping by. 

December Daily 2014: Days 8 - 12

Hi everyone.  Today, I have more pages from my December Daily album. I am really enjoying this project. I am using a mix of pocket pages and 6 x 8 pages. 

Day 8:

Here I used a 4 x 6 photo and two 3 x 4 cards.  It's really quick and easy to put pages like these together. Love that!

Day 9:

I used the Cozy Christmas collection from Simple Stories for this page about our visit to Barnes & Noble. We always knock out part of our shopping there!

Day 10:

Day 10 is about every day life: putting together a puzzle with Pop Pop. I used Be Different from Fancy Pants Designs for this page. 

Day 11:

Another pocket page. This one documents watching the local Christmas parade.

Day 12:

We don't do something holiday-oriented every day, so those days are the perfect time to to catch ordinary life. Here, I used the Public Library collection from October Afternoon to document my son's love of books and reading. 

That's it for today. Only a few days behind in my December Daily. Not too bad for the busy holiday season!  Wishing you a wonderful week!

Riding Lessons: Simple Stories

Hi everyone and happy Friday!  I'm back today with another layout I made with the January kit at My Creative Scrapbook.

The kit including an everyday themed line from Simple Stories called Daily Grind. The kit didn't have anything horse-themed in it but since my son takes occasional riding lessons, I ran with it. 

The journaling card sheet included a set of tabs that said: People We Love, Places We Go and Things We Do.  I used those three tabs for my three photos. 

The bottom tab pulls out to reveal hidden journaling.

To make the hidden journaling card, I stitched the Things We Do tab to a mostly plain journaling card.  I turned the journaling card upside down to suit my purposes. 

Here's another look at the completed layout: 

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful weekend!

Simple Stories: The Music Makers

We are so lucky in our town to have a dedicated children's library uptown called Imaginon. The library has terrific free programs, including music time every Saturday morning when the kids can play the maracas, tambourine, bells and other kid-friendly instruments. 

We haven't been as often now that Cory is almost 5, but when he was a tot, we were faithful attendees. 

The maracas were Cory's favorite. 

For this layout, I used the Daily Grind collection from Simple Stories, which was included in the January kit at My Creative Scrapbook. 

The kit included several journaling cards and I used the chevron here above as a pocket. I just stitched around three sides to secure it to a page. Then I cut down the blue graph paper card to fit inside.  An easy way to add hidden journaling to a page. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you're having a great week!

I Love You 100 Days: My Creative Scrapbook

Hi everyone and happy 2014!  I hope yours is off to a great start!

I'm starting the new year off with a photo and sentiment that I have been meaning to scrapbook for awhile. 

This photo is from Thanksgiving Day. To my little guy, 100 is the biggest number ever, an infinitesimal amount.  Like the characters in the children's classic, Guess How Much I Love You, my son and I try to outdo each other in our expressions of love. 

One night, my little boy  came up with the expression: I love you 100 days!  It was perfect. We say that to each other all the time now and I wanted to be sure to document it in his scrapbook. 

For this layout, I used the Daily Grind line from Simple Stories. The collection was including in the January Creative Kit at My Creative Scrapbook. 

The kit is pictured above. It was a super fun one to work with. I will have more layouts from this kit on my blog this week. Thanks for stopping by!

A Quilted Card: Simple Stories

Are you a scrap saver?  Generally I am not, but I tend to hang on to the bits and pieces from my 6 x 6 paper pads, especially if the sheet is still attached.

I was flipping through what was left of my Simple Stories Sn@p 6 x 6 pad the other day and thought it was a shame to let the little pieces go to waste. The paper is so fun and cheery.  

To make the quilt, I punched 16 squares, laid them in a grid on a piece of cardstock, then stitched them down, quilt style. I added a piece of coordinating ribbon from May Arts and a bit of twine from The Twinery. 

I punched a tag from grid paper and ran it through my printer to add the sentiment:  When life gives you scraps, make a quilt.  I left some space to add three small quilt blocks. 

I uploaded this card to Two Peas in a Bucket Sunday night and was surprised to pop over to the site on Monday and see that it was the featured project of the day. 

Linking this quilted card to Tip Me Tuesday.

Happy Autumn Days - Sketch Challenge

Every year, the theme park in our state has a Halloween outing for kids.  The park does a spooky event at night for adults, but during the day, it's family friendly. Events include trick-or-treating from park characters and picking your own pumpkin from the patch.

For Cory, any outing that involves the plastic pumpkin is a good one as he associates it with candy.  When we went to the park's pumpkin patch, I tried to convince Cory to leave his plastic pumpkin in the stroller so he could pick a real pumpkin.  But as you can see, that didn't happen.  

For this layout, I used Simple Stories, mostly Harvest Lane with a little bit of Fabulous and Awesome thrown in.  I used paper both from 12x12 sheets and a 6x6 paper pad.  I love the smaller patterns on the 6x6, especially the little journaling cards like the title block, "Autumn Days."  

To color the doily, I used spray mist from October Afternoon.  It gives great coverage and dries quickly.  The kraft leaf below it is from the dollar spot at Target. I just added a little ink and stitching and it was perfect for my page.

Here's a closeup of the embellishment cluster on the bottom left. At first, I had just the tree and fence there and they looked a little lonely. So I added the house, which balanced it more.  For a decorative touch, I added a bit of orange/brown twine around the tree from Trendy Twine.

The layout is based on the new sketch by My Creative Sketches for our monthly challenge. 

The sketch challenge starts today and runs through Nov. 15. We'd love to have you play along and we have a great prize for the winner, chosen by random draw.  You can find all the details on the My Creative Sketches blog. 

Trendy Twine: Project, Challenge & Giveaway

I grew up in a small town and I've always loved the down-home Fourth of July celebrations:  the parades, the cookout, the fireworks, the gatherings.  I tried to evoke that feeling of festivity in this card:

And here's a close-up. 

I'm so excited to be part of the Trendy Twine Design Team reveal for July.  We are featuring Berry Red twine, which is perfect for the Fourth, of course, but the classic red/white combination is a great go-to color for any project.  The Trendy Twine blog, Twine it Up!, is full of patriotic projects today featuring twine. There are so many fun and creative ideas on the blog. Check them out!

Trendy Twine has paired up with My Thoughts Exactly for a fun July 4th giveaway of twine and stamps.  It's super easy to enter.  Just head on over to the Facebook pages for Trendy Twine and My Thoughts Exactly and leave a comment by midnight EST on July 4.  Here's the prize:

Trendy Twine also has a new challenge posted for July with a great giveaway:  an extreme mini pack, which is 10 colors of Trendy Twine + 20 yards of the Berry twine we're featuring this month. You can find all the challenge details here under the Design Team projects. You can also purchase Trendy Twine here at Annie's Paper Boutique.  So many beautiful colors.  It will be hard to choose. Just warning you.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have a wonderful  July 4th holiday.

Card Supplies:
CS: American Crafts
PP: Authentique Paper, Simple Stories
Stickers: October Afternoon, Simple Stories, Lily Bee
Wood veneer: Studio Calico
Punch: Fiskars
Twine: Trendy Twine
Paint: Plaid
Sewing machine: Bernina

Simple Stories: My Creative Sketches

Last year, Simple Stories' 100 Days of Summer was one of my favorite collections. I have been eyeing the new summer collection ever since it was announced in April.  Summer Fresh is such a fun mix of denim, burlap, florals and bright colors with a down-home feel.  I love it.  

I used Summer Fresh on this page of my little one at 13 months.  We were at the US National Whitewater Center, watching the kayakers, and I caught this profile of Cory in his stroller, looking so intently.  The tag under the photo tells a little more about our outing there.

The blue paper is one of the new Simple Basics papers that coordinate with each collection. I love that Simple Stories starting making these basics. They are perfectly, well, simple. I used Sky Blue Daisy. 

Here's a close-up of the top of the layout.   

The layout is based on the new June sketch at My Creative Sketches.  We kick off a new challenge every month, mid-month, with a great prize.  Here's the new sketch:

The new challenge runs until July 14.  We'd love to have you join us.  You can find all the details here on the My Creative Sketches blog. 

Capturing Graduation: Simple Stories

My layout today celebrates my brother Michael’s college graduation. His education was interrupted a few years ago by a tour of duty in Iraq. He was deployed right before exams and was not able to finish the semester. I was so proud of him that he went back to college, repeated that semester, and graduated.

　

My brother’s degree is in construction management, thus the white hard hat in lieu of a mortarboard. But you can’t have a graduation layout without a graduation hat.....so I made one. I used black and white baker’s twine from The Twinery for the tassel. It was really fun and easy to make.

I love these Simple Stories journaling cards. They are a must-have in every collection. These school-themed ones are from Elementary, one of the earlier lines. I thought they fit perfectly here. The background paper is from Simple Stories’ Awesome line, which is, well, awesome. I love SS's new basics. This particular pattern has faint stars. Love that.

Simple Stories is running a challenge to post a project using its element cards. You can find the challenge here.

Supplies:

CS: Bazzill Basics

PP: Simple Stories

Alphas: Basic Grey, October Afternoon

Stickers:  October Afternoon, Crate Paper

Button: October Afternoon

Twine: The Twinery

Sewing Machine: Bernina

Pair of Summer Cards

The East Coast has been hit with an early heat wave and it feels like summer. It's been sunny and in the 80s for the past week. It's beautiful, perfect weather. When I wasn't outside enjoying the sunshine, I was inside dreaming of it. In that spirit, I made a couple of summer cards.

I used Simple Stories' 100 Days of Summer, which was one of my favorite finds last year. It's a terrific summer line and the sheet of journaling cards was my favorite piece in the collection.  The journaling spots are just the right accent for cards.

To make the cards, I layered the journaling spots on 4x6 cards, then added stickers and stitching to complete the look. 

I had two sheets of the journaling cards, so to build the clothes line on the "Let's Hang Out" card, I cut the bathing suits from one card and pop dotted them over the same image on the extra sheet to give some dimension. I added a line of twine between the pop dotted suits to form a colorful clothesline.

On "Ahhh Summer" I added handstitching to the umbrella and sun chair for a little added dimension and a pop of color. I love this little scene. It looks so inviting and has me ready for the glory days of summer. 

Supply List:
CS: Bazzill Basics
PP: Simple Stories, Echo Park Paper
Stickers: Simple Stories, October Afternoon
Die Cuts: October Afteroon
Chipboard: October Afternoon
Gems: Close To My Heart
Floss: DMC
Thread: Coats & Clark
Sewing Machine: Bernina

I Resolve: Things To Do In 2012

With the New Year rolling in, I decided to document a few of my goals for 2012. Well, 26 goals to be exact. I made a list of action verbs that started with each letter of the alphabet. A couple of letters were tricky. My action for Z was zoom. And my action for X was to give kisses and hugs (represented as xoxo).

When I put my list into a Wordle, I got a word cloud like this:

I used the Year.o.graphy line from Simple Stories for my layout. Love that collection. It lended itself so well to this type of page. The white banner stickers and the scallop border sticker are Echo Park Paper.

This was my list of things to do in 2012:
Adapt, Balance, Create, Donate, Experiment, Fix, Garden, Hug, Invest, Join, Kneel, Listen, Make, Nurture, Organize, Pause, Question, Read, Snuggle, Try, Understand, Visit, Wander, XOXO, Yield and Zoom.

This was a really fun way to document my goals and was based on a challenge for Birds of a Feather Kit Co.

Supplies:
CS:  Bazzill Basics
PP: Simple Stories
Stickers (non letter): Simple Stories and Echo Park
Alphas: Crate Paper
Sewing Machine: Bernina