Jan 13, 2018 | 12x12 scrapbook pages, Cricut, Die Cut, Embellishments, Flair, Kits, Scrapbooking, YouTube
I was rummaging through a pile of photos the other day when I came across this blast from the past. This is a photo of me and my best friend from high school on the day she moved away. It’s so fun to look back at old photos like this from the 80’s when our hair was all big & crazy and our clothes… Man, our clothes in the 80’s were something else!
Even with the crazy hair and the dated clothes, I LOVE this photo! I don’t have many pictures of us. This was WAY before cell phones with cameras and even before digital cameras so unless it was a very special occasion we didn’t really have cameras at hand to document the beautiful memories like today.
But this photo is special to me. After my friend moved we wrote letters to each other for years. Like real, physical letters that you’d put a stamp on and mail! Man, I love those days. The excitement of checking the mailbox every day to see if the letter was there made it feel like Christmas when the letter finally arrived. Over the years the letters became emails then messages on MySpace than Facebook. We still share old photos and memories but it’s different. The days before cell phones, email and Facebook seemed so magical and I wanted to document this special day.
My layout was inspired by two sketches from Sketchabilities (#129 & #130). I liked the title and the cluster around it on sketch #130 but I liked the cluster on the upper right of sketch #129 so I just combined those elements to make the layout fit my needs. If you’re ever in need of a great scrapbook or card sketch head over to the Sketchabilities blog for more layout inspiration!
I’ve been wanting to use up some of this old kit Gossamer Blue kit I got back in May 2016. The background paper is a Dear Lizzy paper from a paper pack I got at Michaels and the paper for the flags I cut were from Simple Stories and My Minds Eye.
The pink acetate doily and this adorable silver heart puffy sticker are from a recent Freckled Fawn sale box. The feathers, floral corner and the woodchip paperclip are all from Simple Stories.
The “friends forever” title was a cut file from Miss Kates Cutables, the “you & me” flair is from my Etsy shop.
The button and the “heart” Love This embellishment are from Pink Paisley and tag behind the title is from My Minds Eye.
I loved this little envelope from the Carpe Diem bits & pieces set from Simple Stories. It was perfect with my journaling about the letters my bestie and I wrote after she moved. I paired it with a page flag cut from some My Minds Eye paper and this Simple Stories chipboard flower sticker.
I just finished a process video for my new YouTube channel if you wanted to check it out.
Nov 29, 2017 | Elf on a shelf, Embellishments, Flair
Do you have an elf on your self? This whole elf on the shelf thing is huge! I’ve seen stories of these feisty elves documented in December Daily albums for several years now. I enjoy watching the elf antics but never thought too much about it since the main purpose of the elf is to give status reports to Santa for his naughty & nice list and I don’t have any kids. Over the years I’ve seen a few people here and there with elves and some of these elves are quiet mischievous! So I figured it was finally time to adopt an elf! Being single I could always use the company and the help in my studio.
So let me introduce Scrappy, the scrapbooking elf who’s now making himself at home on my Kallax in my craft studio. When I say making himself at home I really mean it! I brought him home last night and got him all set up on a nice comfy shelf but silly me, I was taking pictures of a new set of scrapbook flair I made yesterday and forgot to put my camera away. When I got into the studio this morning I found out he’d been taking selfies all night.
He was exploring my desk and found this fun little hiding spot in my tool caddy.
I guess he wanted to inspect the washi tape I had out for my December Daily. I think he approves!
I caught him in the act of playing with all my new holiday flair! Naughty scrappy!
I guess I’m going to have to try to find things to keep him busy or keep a close eye on him. Maybe I should put my glitter and sequence under lock and key, just to be safe!
Has your elf on your shelf ever caused you mischief? If so, comment below! I’d love to know I’m not alone!
Sep 24, 2014 | Die Cut, Embellishments, Project life, Silhouette
You may or may not have heard the term “binge cutting” but I’m sure many of you have done it. I heard it for the first time this week in a Facebook group and I thought it was brilliant! There are so many times in my crafty life that I’ve binged on crafting and today it was die cutting! I started by spending probably two hours cleaning up and organizing all of the die cut files that I collected back in my Cricut days. With the help of my overzealous organizational skills, I got them all nice and neatly organized so I know exactly what I have. There are no more duplicates, old/outdated files that I won’t use or renegades laying around. My workspace may look like a disaster when I’m in the middle of a project but after I’m done I like all neat and organized which is easy enough when you’re working in a small space and you don’t have a bunch of stuff.
After I got organized I wanted to cut out some cameras I needed for a PL card swap I’m participating in. Being that photography has been one of my longest standing hobbies, I collect everything and anything with cameras! (even vintage cameras) I had 5 different cameras that I was considering so I put those on a page. Being the thrifty crafter I am, I didn’t want to waste paper so I filled up the rest of the page with some fun Halloween die cuts, some date markers for journaling, two bookmarks in honor of my junior year at ASU and two special little word tags that are TOTALLY AMAZEBALLS!!
These are just a few of the pieces that I cut. Some of them I stamped and some I doodled or hand wrote sentiments. I can’t wait to start using my Silhouette to make more Project Life cards!
Sep 22, 2014 | Die Cut, Embellishments, Silhouette
Die CutI used to be a Cricut user but hadn’t used either of my machines for a very long time. It was just too cumbersome for me to put down four different scraps of paper to get one embellishment cut. I’d been eyeing the Silhouette Cameo for a while now. Being a graphic designer I like the fact that I could create my own cut files. I also liked the fact that I didn’t have to pay a monthly fee for the designer edition of the software to cut said files. Just a one time purchase and I’m good to go. So this past Friday when I took my roommate to Michael’s and saw that the Cameo was on sale for $229 I almost died! I’d been surfing many websites looking for deals and this one beats any online deal hands down. I had the added bonus of instant gratification because the store had one left so I snagged it. I also had the good fortune of having a 50% off coupon last week so I purchased the stamping starter kit for only $15!
I was so excited when I got home, I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. I quickly unwrapped my beautiful new toy, got it up and operational and quickly set out to learn how to use it. I loaded some basic black cardstock and my first cut was creating the word smile in about 10 different fonts. I needed this for a Project Life card swap that I’m participating in and wanted to test the waters. The cuts were beautiful and everything worked perfectly. I even added some music notes to use on a future page for my nephew’s band photos.
For my second cut, I wanted to test out the print and cut feature. This one didn’t quite go as smoothly. I watched several videos tutorials but each one seemed to do things just a little bit differently. The first attempt the cut lines were over an inch off the mark. The second attempt was better but still off. After a little tweaking to my process, my cut lines were almost perfect. There was definitely a little bit of a learning curve to using the print and cut feature but it’s going to be SO worth it! I can already see how this machine is a game changer for the way I scrapbook.
I have a lot to learn and more tutorials to watch but I’m going to have so much fun doing it. Tomorrow I’m going to try creating my own cut file and cutting a rubber stamp. I’m also going to create my own digital scrapbook embellishment and cut file to print and cut. I’ll post some pics after I’m done to show you the results.
