December Daily- days 3-5

I haven't forgotten about Day 2. It will be done eventually, when I figure out photos.. I didn't take any of what I want to use for that day, so I'm looking at alternatives to that.
In the meantime, here's a bit of what I've got done so far:

Day 3:- Incomplete, but idea is on paper. :) I used the Teresa Collins star transparency, which I LOVE. Even though I'm not using transparencies throughout the book, I couldn't resist this beauty. I have a weakness for stars, and loved the bold, graphic look of it. I added a tag on which I embossed a Fontwerks star stamp in a shimmery white, attached the date tag to that, and stapled it onto my page.

Underneath the transparency, I used the front page from a little catalogue from Simons that I got in the mail last week, I really loved the title and graphic design on it. I'm not sure yet how I will cover up the 'Simons' part, but maybe with a photo or two. Too bad I don't have a boy named Simon. ;)

Days 4& 5:

Because I work on weekends, and have very limited time to take photos on those days, I decided to do single pages for these days, and it has really simplified my process. I used some shots of my sons on Saturday am taken before I left for work, and journaled my thoughts about working weekends. Sunday's photo is really from Friday, taken for the Big Picture class I'm doing right now.
Here's how it looks in the book: (click on the photos to get a bigger view)

 Day 4 is super simple & fast, done digitally, printed onto photo paper, and then cut out and simply adhered onto the patterned paper background. I added a handwritten 'December' on the number tag, and a red brad on the bottom under my journaling after I took this photo, so it looks a little more finished.
Day 5 is very influenced by a layout in Molly's beautiful book from last year. I loved her detail of the digital tape and frame on one of her pages. I added some real washi tape (from Martha Stewart) to my photo, and an American Crafts tag.

And some detail shots below, since my journaling is fuzzy on the above photo:

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me here. I can't reply personally through Blogger like Typepad does, ( a feature I can't believe they haven't addressed yet), but I can answer here in the comments.

I'm off to make up 25 very last minute card kits for my son's Cub Scout group tonight. And hoping for some more snow today, I'm dreaming of winter photos.

Read more...

Day one down.

Just a hit and run post with some badly lit photos taken on my table tonight. It got dark before I realized, which is about 4:30pm here now, and that makes for a short day. It was balmy & sunny here today, so I can't complain too much.
Here's the first page done with Ali's freebie template from today. I'm not sure what I'm going to put there, so for now it's staying blank. Maybe photos, maybe a poem, or I may change the entire page all together.The inside cover is done with a very pretty and classic Anna Griffin glittery paper that I love.. the look totally reminds me of vintage books that I remember from childhood that were pretty vintage even then... maybe the 50's era?

 Day one is a simple collage of photos of things we did during the day, and my journaling on the left.
I combined computer journaling with my handwriting, and stamped the star border with cranberry American Crafts ink. 'Hello December' is older Ali Edwards Holiday word art from Designer Digitals. One aspect of the album I haven't decided on yet is a number scheme, and that is kind of stressing me out a bit in terms of my design. Must relax... ;p I do think I'd prefer them to be all the same rather than mixed up, but I'll wait a few days and see what works best.

Day 2 is on the table right now, but I'm calling it a day and working on it tomorrow with a fresh perspective.
 I'm feeling much more confidant this time around, and I think that has a ton to do with my book having a structure. I'm very happy that I finally listened to Ali's advice, and took the time to make it before I started, it's a huge time saver.

Hope you're enjoying the DD process so far if you're involved!

Read more...

December 1st!

I've got a lot on my plate this month, as I'm sure all of you do too... there's so much happening in December that it always seems to fly by in a whirl of craziness. In addition to the December Daily project, I've signed myself up for this online class which starts today. I think the 2 projects will work well together and I'm looking forward to the inspiration it provides, and that little push I'll probably need around mid-month. I'll be sharing my photos throughout the month here and you'll probably be seeing a few of them on my DD pages. I did 'Picture Fall' back in October, and loved it- if you're on the fence about taking this class, I highly recommend it. I saw there's a coupon code for a 5$ off discount, which makes it even more enticing. I"ll try to find a link for it and post it here.

Here's a fun page I did with Noah a few weeks ago... he likes to scrapbook too. :) I was weeding through my quite ginormous sticker stash, and had put these aside for this page following a conversation we'd had about what he wants to be when he grows up. Perfect huh? He wrote his top 3 career choices on the notebook paper, and I instructed him on the rule of thirds & the 'less is more' addage for the star placement, or else there would have been major sticker sneeze all over this page. ;p  Also, I'm not sure what's up with my white pen, but I'm not loving the scratchy mess it made here.. argh! I wish someone would come out with a perfect white pen. I've bought about 10 uniball signos over the past years, and they all get like this- this one is new, so it's rather frustrating.

I'm hauling out some Christmas decorations today, even though it's more like a spring outside- we've had so much rain in the past 24 hours. I was hoping it would have turned into snow overnight for some wintery photos this am, but I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunity for that in the coming months. ;)
Have a great December 1st, everyone!

Read more...

December Daily, 2010 edition

December Daily is a project dear to my heart. It's something that inspires me a ton, even though the extra effort of doing it at this time of the year sometimes seems like an added stress.  This will be the 3rd one I attempt ( years1 & 2 are still unfinished, although all elements, journaling included, are stored in their bags, waiting for me when the day comes!) I've been working on this one for a few weeks now, gathering supplies, jotting down ideas, and thinking of things I want to incorporate in my book. It will be minimal, there's no doubt,  and very photo centric. I'm anxious to get started, and especially excited to take photos again, as I had no time in November, and barely picked up my camera. So here we go...


I made the cover using Eska board and pva glue, and this classic text paper from American Crafts that I love. If you're making any kind of cover or album, I highly recommend the pva glue, although you do have to work fast as it dries quickly, and there`s not much room for error.

 I LOVE the 6x8 size. Last year's square 8x8 format really wasn't my favourite. Since I usually scrap 8.5x11, this is just a smaller version of that size, and feels much more natural to me. Also, I've left it numberless for the time being, since I haven't decided yet if I'll add that digitally or not. I haven't really gone beyond putting in the pages ( mostly kraft, white, and red) and will add embellishments as I go along, since I like/need to have a visual  (ie. photos) when I design a page. The inside is covered in a very pretty silver & cream Anna Griffin paper- sorry, no photo of that, but you'll see it as the days go. I'm counting down now.

Read more...

It's sooner than you think.

In an effort to get organized,  I'm trying to get a head start on making some Christmas cards early this year.
Last year, I decided very last minute ( re: the week before)  to make some cards to sell at our school fair to raise money for my son's Scout troop, and they were a huge hit. I probably could have sold another 100, had I started in time. And I was lucky to have had help from a kind friend, or else they wouldn't have gotten done at all.

So this year, seeing as I've been inundated & brainwashed with new Christmas stuff at work since August, and also?...given the fact that I could probably make a 1,000,000 cards with the load of product I have, I decided to get my rear in gear, stop the procrastination habit, and work on a few prototypes.
These are simple- all the same size & basic design, and fine for what I need. I used the adorable new American Crafts Christmas line by Dear Lizzy/Liz Kartchner.

Now I just have to come up with about 25 other styles using the many new Hero Arts stamps I've aquired in the past while. ;)

Speaking of Hero Arts, I'm so excited that none other than the mega talented Jennifer McGuire is coming to teach at our store in mid- November!! I immediately signed up for all 3 of her classes, and can't wait to see what she's got in store for us.  I'm hoping she can help me spice up my cardmaking style and teach this old dog some new tricks. If you're local, there are still a few spots available on the Sunday, but they won't last long. Honestly you don't want to miss out on this, it's going to be a blast!

Alright... I'm off to put away the summer clothing for good, and make some room in my kiddos drawers.
The joys of changing seasons... fall has definitely arrived here.
Have a great Monday!

Read more...

Where I've been since July 2nd. :)

I haven't had the heart or the time since my last post to give an explanation of why I've been MIA these past few months.When something bad happens to someone you love, everything else falls by the wayside and seems trivial. To make a very long story short, my Dad was hospitalized at the end of May due to a bad fall, and the last 3 months have been like a true comedy of errors. This past summer felt like I was stuck inside some kind of horrible revolving door of  hospitals,( not good for someone who is hospital-phobic) dealing with some good people along the way who genuinely wanted to help, but also many who were just plain jerks. I've seen the' not so great' side to our free health care system here, and it's really scary how people who are ill get shuffled around and nothing gets resolved. Anyway, I think he's finally almost out of the woods and on the way to recovery, thanks to a wonderful doctor I had the good fortune to come across a few weeks ago.

Coping with an ageing parent on your own, and taking on the role of parent to your own parent is very tough on one's psyche, I have to say. These past months have left me feeling depressed, angry, tired, stressed out, & frustrated.. I'm kind of ashamed to say that, but it's the truth. I wish I could change things that can't be changed, and I'm itching to make changes where I can, but have been too afraid or lazy, or maybe just too busy to think with all of this going on.

So, we shall see what Autumn brings about... it's a perfect time for some much needed soul searching that I've been putting off.

We did manage to get away very briefly this summer to Maine, and I even managed to scrap this double page of our time there... it was so lovely, but all too short. I had fantasies of buying a house and never leaving. Talk about avoidance issues... ;p

I also did the one above for an Ella Article written by my gal pal Linda, who is now blogging, (YAY!) and whose blog looks like a million bucks. I'm totally jealous of her web skills, and have begged her to redesign mine. Think a prettier looking blog might just entice me to be, uh... bloggier? :) 

Read more...

Oops-it's been a (long) while.

I had to chuckle when I read my last post. So much has happened since then, and I haven't really given this blog a second thought for the past 2 months. Some not great stuff happening in my life right now that I've had to take care of. I had actually kind of forgotten that I have a blog, to tell you the truth... that's how hectic the past 2 months have been. I've thought about shutting it down for good, and I go back & forth on that. One part of me likes having it here, in case I feel like posting stuff, and the other part finds it a nuisance, and just another extra thing to add to my huge to-do list. I'm amazed that people can find the time to blog on a daily basis- that's never going to happen with me, I'm afraid.
I've decided to keep it as-is for now, and just post scrapbooking stuff, since that's what it started out as in the first place. And while I'm heavy into photography now, and enjoying that immensely, I'll probably just post the occasional photo here. If anyone is interested in seeing more, they can click on the Flickr link on the right and check out my gallery there. :)

So here's a few recent pages, and a few things from the AC blog from this past winter & Spring. I haven't done much else, just because I haven't had a spare second in a long, long while. It's funny how scrapbooking gets put on the back burner, and you think you'll never get back into it, but when I sat down to do these pages the other day, that familiar rush of contentment came back to me, and I was so thrilled to have done something! It got me itching to do more, so I hope in the next few weeks there will be more to show you here. I will try my best. :)

 HAPPY CANADA DAY to all my fellow Canucks!

Read more...