Paper Whiskers

"Smile" - Scrapbook Layout

I found this great photo when I was looking for something to use with the patterned paper. It's from a few years ago, at Easter, and is of my mom and her sister. The paper (from Luxe Design) started out black and white, so I cut it down to 8.5x11 and colored it with Copic markers. It took a good amount of time, and I was crossing my fingers the whole time that I wouldn't screw it up, since I only had the one piece.

The circle frame is actually the lid of a little tin. I layered the title onto black cardstock and popped it up on foam tape. Then I added the rhinestone flourishes (Prima). Everything I used on this layout, (excepting the rhinestone stickers) came from the January 09 ScrapMuse mini kit.

"Me & You"

This is my favorite photo from last summer. Me and Torie, goofing around with the camera. She is such a cutie!

I used the January mini kit from Scrapmuse.com and added plastic flowers and little silver dots as a frame. Journaling tag is behind the photo, sticking out the top. The layout didn't photograph very well, so like a lot of projects it looks better in person. :D

Christmas Round-up: Whiskers

Pets have always been part of our families, the only difference being that I had cats and Eric had dogs. So, it didn't take too long until we had our own. Cats for now, hopefully a dog someday. We don't go so far with Kahlan and Edie to celebrate birthdays, but at Christmas they get their own gifts. And last year, I managed to even find pet paper at PetSmart. It's not very pretty, but it is nice to have something just for their gifts. And they seem to like the crackly noise of the paper and they definitely like the special treats they get.

For the most part, they don't bother the decorations or the tree, thankfully. They do like the fuzzy Santa hat tree skirt, though. Edie especially likes it, and will curl up under there quite often. She is also the one who rings the bell hanging from one of the bottom branches of the tree. It's a tradition from my own family's tree, that a cat bell is hung where the cat can brush up against it as she investigates presents.

Edie is also the one who chews on the tree branch that came off when I put it up this year. She pulled it out of the box one night and now I keep finding it all over the apartment.

The big gift this year was a cat hat, with reindeer antlers. It's silly, and not very well designed, but I couldn't resist it. Maybe if it had ear holes, they might have tolerated it longer.

Or not.

Christmas Round-up: Lazy Days

So, to make up for the radio silence last month, I've put together a few posts about Christmas around here. I know, crazy right?

The days leading up to Christmas this past year were incredibly lazy and long. In other words: perfect. I did have a few last minute shopping trips to make, made much more annoying by the suddenly icky weather, but for the most part I had everything I needed for the plans that I'd made.

What was even better, was that Eric's work schedule let him be home by lunch every day, and he was off the two days before Christmas. So, we had lots of time together. This actually became a problem when it came time to wrap his gifts. I ended up wrapping them at the same time as my family's and just made him cover his eyes for awhile. He could still listen to the TV, at least. LOL

And the icing on the cake? I managed to get him interested in my newest obsession: The Who-niverse. We watched both seasons of Torchwood, and the three-episode Doctor Who season three ending that take place between them, over the course of the week before Christmas. And he even enjoyed them! Woo! So now I'm looking forward even more to Torchwood's third season, so we can watch them together.

I also spent the time finishing decorations around the apartment (including a wreath), making good stuff to eat and taking pictures of the tree (finally got some good ornament shots!).

I'll leave you with a common sight during the season:

"Happy Every Day" - Scrapbook Layout

Back from retreat and have some things to share. This is the only one that's actually finished, though. LOL  I did lots of stamping, coloring and paper piecing, but then took a break and made this, with some new stuff I've been anxious to use.

The whole layout is a lot brighter in person. The light was pretty strong and washed it out a bit. These photos are from two summers ago, with the journaling hidden behind the main photo.  The sun is actually cut from shimmery paper.

 

I cut out the train scene (clouds too!) from a piece of patterned paper, then added brads for the wheels. It's not quite as quirky/off track as I intended, but still looks cute. Who can resist a toy train? It originally was on a track, but I love the quote on this Fancy Pants paper and wanted to use it for the curve instead.

 

Details: "Happy," year, dotted border rubons and train scene from the Leaps and Bounds line by Colorbök; "every day" rubons from American Crafts; embossed paper is dotted swiss Bazzill; green dot paper is Martha Stewart

"Happiness Runs" - Scrapbook Layout

I know, I slacked off on the posting again! But, I have a layout to share, to make up for it. :D

This layout was inspired by a challenge posted during ScrapMuse's online crop a few weekends ago.

I used patterned papers from Sassafrass Lass and some velvet paper from s.e.i. It was the perfect match, and I really like the texture it adds. The heart is a Fiskars punch - the perfect heart shape. Title lettering was done with Doodlebug and Lil Davis Designs stickers - one of my favorite happy songs (by Donovan).

The scalloped border was made with the Fiskars threading water punch and I used various punches for all the circles. Including a 1/8" circle punch for the itty bitty ones. I actually will probably go back and add more of those, to fill in some of the gaps. The brads are all different companies, the printed ones are Bo Bunny, I think and the rhinestone circles are Heidi Swapp and MAMBI.

This was a lot of fun to do, and makes me want to make layouts again. This weekend I'll be working on a Halloween project though, that hopefully I'll photos to post soon

Scrapbook Layout - "A New Friend"

I did a layout!!  (don't have a heart attack, Kelly!) :D  This layout was made for a scraplift challenge on the message board I hang out on (ScrapMuse kit club). You can see the layout I was inspired by here: Smell the Roses, created by Lucy Edson. It's a wonderful layout, and I decided to play with the big circle + curved title style.

I ended up flipping the placement, so I could use a certain section of the patterned paper, then ended up covering most of it, so it probably didn't matter after all. lol  I am really happy with it, the more I look at it. I love how the spaceship and rocket trail came out. So cute!!

Details: background paper is Bazzill "bling" cardstock (it has a shiny coating); scalloped cut-out, star and spaceship are Fancy Pants felt die cuts; title is American Crafts foam thickers; talk bubbles are Martha Stewart stickers (one is trimmed a bit); patterned paper under the photos is Sandylion; rocket trail is a Bo Bunny chipboard shape; "hi" is KI Memories rubons; "ha ha hee hee" is stamped with PaperTrey Ink Simple Alphabet; and I cut the photos down to 3.5"x3.5" to fit within the circle so the patterned paper wasn't completely covered

:)

Happy birthday to me!

This was my card from Eric this year. And yep, that's where I found it. :D

and they smell like salsa

Mom emptied the wine bottles again. :)  This time, she sorted them by the usual method (birth/marriage/grad years, significant other home states, etc.) with added input from us, via mysterious email questions.

I think I have enough for an etsy splurge or maybe another movie poster (last time I used my share on an official Superman Returns movie theater poster - I still love it).

Oh. See the tub on the left? Salsa. :D

Grad party centerpiece

Sandy graduated from UNI last weekend (YAY SANDY!!!), and I helped with the table decorations.



I had a die cut of the school logo, so used it as a template to make a mat for the flower vases. I traced, then hand cut two corners.



The wrap was made with a strip of printed tape on vellum. The medallions are three layers: purple base, scalloped white with the cap sticker, and an embossed circle of vellum on top, stamped with one of three things: congrats!, yippee! and woo-hoo!



:D They turned out really cute, I think.