Storybook Christmas Layout

The new Storybook collection is probably not what you first think of for Christmas, but I thought the color palette worked well the pictures from us celebrating Christmas Day with my sweet mother-in-law.

Because I wanted to include five 4"x6" photos, I searched the 4x6 Photo Sketch Blog and found the 5 Photo Scrapbook Sketch (12x12- 201), which I think worked perfectly for my photos.

The pretty white acrylic shapes are from the (recently retired) Christmas Story embellishments.  I also added some Mist shimmer trim for some sparkle.

I stamped the trees from the January stamp of the month, Frosty Days on Sage cardstock (front and back to get the two shades).  I also added the cute little bird.  All four of the stamped images are embellished with Icicles Stickles to add more sparkle and shimmer.

Hopefully these pages have helped you see the many possibilities with paper collections.  They can be used for so much more than you might think!

Title Page Copycat Layout

As soon as I saw the new January-March Close To My Heart Idea Book, I knew that the "Are We There Yet?" collection was going to be a favorite!  I have tons of photos from an epic European adventure last year that I NEED to scrapbook!  Here is my copycat of the fabulous layout on the cover of the new/current January-March Close To My Heart Idea Book.

Here's the actual cover in case you haven't seen it to give you a frame of reference:

Obviously I copied many of the elements but also made it my own.   I thought the subtle tone-on-tone stamping (Toffee ink on Toffee paper) to make my title, Europe 2022, was a nice change.  I did not use any of the current Mix In papers (which the original used).  I did add white acrylic arrows from my stash to help highlight this page and give it a little movement/flow.

I won't ask you to comment as to which one you prefer, but I would love to hear your thoughts.  Do you have a backlog of travel photos you'd like to scrapbook?  If so, then this collection (HERE) might be just the ticket! 

Grand Canyon Layout

Yesterday, I finished putting together our USA 2021 scrapbook!  I realized that I had not yet shared this Grand Canyon layout.

I used the Four Seasons- Autumn collection with a few scraps of Scarlett patterned paper from (retired) Christmas Story.

The Grand Canyon badge is a CTMH/Cricut You Are Here cartridge cut, and the stamped hexagon is from the (retired) Aurora stamp set and Thin Cuts.  The Celebration Alphabet stamp set is also retired.

The arrows are a mix of Aurora stamps/Thin Cuts and the current wood grain arrows.  I also sprinkled gold glitter gems to accent the clusters.

You can find all of the current materials I used available HERE.  Thanks for letting me share a little of our family travels and scrapbooking with you!

January Stamp of the Month: Frosty Days Northern Lights Card

Have you had a chance to look at the cute January stamp of the month, Frosty Days?  This set of 12 stamps features adorable winter critters and assorted icons.  Of course, it's only available for purchase this month (and can be purchased at a discount or even earned free)!  

I decided to try something new- to try to create an aurora borealis background.  There is probably an actual technique somewhere, but I just played around and am pretty happy with the results.  I'd love to know what you think, so please leave a comment!  (Feel free to scroll to the bottom to comment if you're not interested in a quick tutorial.)

After looking at some pictures online, I grabbed my Mowed Lawn, Seedless Preserves, and Black Soot distress oxide inks and my new domed blending pads/mini blending tools.  Starting with the green, I created streaks and stripes on my White Daisy cardstock panel.  (WARNING: Be sure to do this on your All-Purpose Mat or you will have a really big mess!) 

Next, I spritzed the panel with water to activate the oxide inks.  (Next time I am going to skip this step to see if I like it better without the spritzing.)

The last step was to spray white gloss spray to create the stars.  Then, I stamped and fussy cut the deer after coloring with markers.  I tore a piece of White Daisy cardstock to make my snowy ground and painted it with clear shimmer brush so that the snow would sparkle.  Here's a close up:

The final steps were to embellish with Black & Grape shimmer trim, mount onto Black cardstock, and adhere to my card base.  If you've read this far, thank you!  Please leave me a comment to let me know what you think of my card and background technique!

Happy 2023 with Close To My Heart (and Me)!

Happy 2023!  (Are you as surprised as I am that the new year is here already?!?  Where does the time go?)  Do you set goals or resolutions in the new year?  I don't really, but it is a good time to reflect and think about ways to do and be better.  I am looking forward to getting back into a better crafting groove.  I'm really excited about the newest Close To My Heart catalog, available now until the end of March!

The new "Are We There Yet?" collection (featured on the cover) is going to be perfect to use with photos of my big trip last year!

January brings an adorable "Frosty Days" stamp of the month featuring cute wintry woodland critters and trees.

The newest special offers three different, fun collections called "It's the Little Things."  Fun 6"x6" patterned paper pairs with three different stamp sets and stickers for three different workshops: a 12"x12" scrapbooking workshop (three 2-page layouts and one single layout), a mini album workshop (twenty 6"x6" pages), and a cardmaking workshop (two each of 18 different cards).  Learn more HERE- click on the Promotions tab!

Carryover specials include Now & Forever and Workshop Wow: Four Seasons.  (Click on their names to learn more.)

I look forward to sharing more of my artwork with you and getting back to regularly scheduled, in-person classes.  You can learn more about them on my Facebook page HERE. 

Best wishes to you and yours as we begin a new year together!  Happy 2023!

Christmas Story Layouts: Downton Abbey at the Biltmore

Christmas Story is such a lovely holiday collection (that is retiring TODAY)!  It paired so well with my photos of our trip to the Biltmore Estate to see the Downton Abbey exhibit three years ago.  My mother-in-law is a huge fan, so we treated her to this visit.  (I am thankful for the memories that pop up on Facebook, which reminded me of this great day and that I had yet to scrapbook the photos.)

This first layout is for our daughter (and I made two that were very similar for each of them).  I had so many pictures (as usual) that I used a Pocket Plus Memory Protector Design 1 to be able to show them all.  Here is the left page with the front of the Pocket Plus.

And now the right page with the back of the Pocket Plus.

(Sorry for the weird alignment!)  I used the Christmas Story embellishments, gold shimmer trim, and a retired stamp set for my title.

For my album, I created three different layouts of our day.  (I told you I took a lot of pictures!)

My first one focused on the actual House.  I love adding more photos with flip flaps!  (That white stripe in the middle will disappear when I peel that label off and adhere the flip flaps in my actual album.)

My second layout highlights the various sets we saw at the Downton Abbey exhibit.  (It was so cool to feel like we had been transported to Downton!)

My third and final layout shows off some of the many costume photos I took.  (They were absolutely exquisite- and even more beautiful in person than on screen.)

I took advantage of a photo collage app (I like the free version of LiveCollage) to create two 3"x4" photos on a 4"x6" canvas to be able to include so many (smaller) photos.

Again, I used retired stamp sets, Christmas Story embellishments, and silver glitter gems and shimmer trim for this final layout.

Thank you for your support in 2022!  I am looking forward to an extra crafty, inky, and scrappy 2023!  Happy New Year to you and yours!

Two More Graduation Cards

In addition to our daughter's graduation, our niece and our "daughter #3" (AKA DD's BFF) also graduated!  Here are the cards I made using the same format as the one for our daughter.

Of course I tried to personalize the cards with school colors, so I used Sapphire and Honey Butter with gold accents on the left card and Pewter and Black with silver accents on the right card.  (If you'd like more details about how I made these cards, refer back to this post.)

H2H Challenges: Full Circle

Sadly, Heart2Heart Challenges is closing at the end of the month, but to celebrate the end, our challenge is "Full Circle."

I made this fun celebratory card with the You Deserve It All stamp set (without the coordinating Thin Cuts) and the Celebrating You collection.  After stamping the present and lid in black, I used grey and turquoise markers to color the image.  A little Charcoal card stock and silver shimmer trim finished this off nicely.

It has been a fun run at Heart2Heart challenges, and I hope that you will continue to visit me here!  Best wish and happy crafting!

Graduation Card & Gift

Yesterday was a pretty exciting day!  Our youngest graduated with honors from the University of Georgia!  Of course I had to make a card for her and found a great idea for a gift box.

I used one of my retired graduation stamp sets and paired it with the Star Shaker Window Thin Cuts and foam/acetate.  (I wish I had created a light gray background inside my star, but I didn't realize that would have probably looked better until I had finished the card.

The inside of the shaker is filled with stars cut from red glitter paper (which matches the star frame) and tiny silver star sequins.  I added little drops of silver stickles to further embellish the card.

Next I created the mortarboard box (including the tassel) from a post I found on Splitcoast Stampers.  I think it turned out pretty well!

Finally, if you've made it this far, here's one of my favorite pictures from her graduation photo shoot!

 Thanks for letting me share!  

Freshly Baked Cookies Card

Cookies, anyone?  This card was easier to make than you might think thanks to the Freshly Baked Cookies scrapbooking stamp set and Thin Cuts.  I cut the wire rack out of black cardstock.

Each cookie stamp has a coordinating thin cut.  I had fun decorating with markers, stickles, liquid pearls, and white gel pens.

This collection is only available through the end of the year, so be sure to get yours HERE.

Flower Shoppe & Flourished Greetings Thank You

Recently I needed a thank you card so I grabbed the cheerful Flower Shoppe collection and paired with the Flourished Greetings stamp set.

I stamped my sentiment in Raspberry, added a few pink stickles (to mixed results) and acrylic hearts from the Flower Shoppe embellishment collection.  I really like the addition of the Capri shimmer trim also.

Card making doesn't have to be elaborate or fancy to be pretty!

Heart2Heart Challenges: A Few of My Favorite Things

Our first December Heart2Heart challenge is "A Few of My Favorite Things," so of course I had to include scrapbooking, Close To My Heart, travel, and my family!  (I can't believe that I didn't stamp anything on this project- yet.  I'm not sure I'm finished with it.)

These photos are some of my final ones that need to be scrapbooked from our Awesome American Adventure last year.  I decided that the Flower Shoppe collection was a great fit with my photos (with less of a focus on the floral elements).  My scrapbook layout sketch came from the recent Flower Shoppe Workshop Wow Scrapbooking kit (these instructions are no longer available, but all of the Flower Shoppe collection is HERE).

On the left page, I had three photos that I wanted to use, so I am incorporating a flip flap to include three photos on the space of one.

I had fun using my black journaling pen to doodle and journal.  So far, I've used the paper pack +  stickers, cardstock pack, and acrylic shapes from this collection.  I may go back and stamp something also if that ends up helping my layout flow in the bigger pictures of my trip album.

Be sure to see all of our H2H designers' favorite things and add yours before the month ends right HERE!