Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Christmas is Coming!


"This year I will be done with my shopping early. This year I will be organized. This year I will bake cookies for all my friends and neighbors. This year I will enjoy the holiday and won't let the stress get to me." This is my new mantra- I vow to say it to myself whenever I feel Christmas becoming a chore. Oh how I secretly long for those childhood days when it was all filled with excitement, fun and magic. That being said I truly am one who would much rather give a gift than receive one. I just wish I could fold my arms and nod my head ala I Dream of Jeannie and have everything cleaned and decorated, bought, wrapped and baked.

To get myself started in the Christmas spirit I made a gift bag and matching card.
To make these I tried something new. I used an ink pad that has no ink. It's glue!
I then used an acrylic stamp with the glue the same as if it were ink. The applied glitter to the glue. You can use a fine lose glitter or you can purchase glitter sheets. This also works with flocking. I then used Stickles glitter glue and added bulbs to my trees. It's hard to photograph- but it's really worth the effort. Very pretty. The result is much more professional looking than in the photograph. I can think of a thousand ideas for this technique. Adding names to ribbons. Making decorative edges on To and From tags. I highly recommend trying this technique so you too can get some of the sparkle, shine and magic back into your Christmas. Last year I did a country Christmas, this year I think I just might be putting on the Ritz! Not one to usually go for "bling" I think a little glitz might be fun for a change.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Funky!


I have advice today. It's my birthday. I'm getting older and feel like this qualifies me to give advice. Be bold. Be daring. Take risks! Maybe it's just a scrapbook page- but, I went out on a fun, funky limb for this one and I love it! I stitched, I inked, I stamped. I used patterns and colors I never thought I would use. I cut and layered and then I layered some more. I say go for it! There are no rules when it comes to scrapbooking!!! Just have fun.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Oh MY GOSH she posted in her blog!!


I know- I know it's been way to long since I posted. Life went into warp speed for a while- but, things are back to normal (I hope). Anyway- I am getting caught up on my scrapping, it feels GREAT. Love this Granola line by Basic Grey. The combination of Blue and Brown seems to be my favorite lately. No the boys aren't in trouble- they spent a day volunteering to clean up a roadway to prevent all the litter and trash from winding up in rivers and creeks. This layout reminds me of something I learned recently. Whenever you are using a group of photographs it's important that one stands out and becomes the focal photograph of your layout, otherwise if all the photos are competing for attention your eye doesn't know where to look and everything becomes visually jumbled together. For this layout I chose Jake's face to be my photo focal point.

This layout left me a bit puzzled when it comes to color choices. What to do with the flourescent yellow that is in most of the photos? I decided to ignore it. What would you have done?