Candlelight Christmas Mini Album

  Last weekend was amazing, and as a follow-up to all the pictures of my peeps, I want to share the project we worked on (and mostly finished). It was a huge undertaking to make an entire mini album in a day and half, but we accomplished a lot and had a lot of fun doing it! Directions for the mini album are available to anyone who would like them. (I tried to be specific, but cutting and scoring directions aren't always the easiest to write without photos.) Just shoot an email to pianohearder@gmail.com, and I'll send them out to you.

  Almost the whole album was made with Stampin' Up products and stamps. (There were a few Tim Holtz goodies thrown in for good measure.) This Candlelight Christmas Designer Series Paper is just so incredibly gorgeous, and it provided the perfect backdrop for this album!

The album cover featuring SU's tulle ribbon. So yummy.

Page one holds a 4x6 photo wallet ...

Ornament Keepsake stamp set. Need I say more?

This tag pocket holds lots of goodies!

A mixture of some of my favorite Stampin' Up sets: Christmas Lodge, Christmas Deer, Christmas Collage, Open Sleigh, Winter Post, and Lovely as a Tree.

Don't you just want to move into this house RIGHT NOW?

The flocked window sheets in this paper collection are just so gorgeous!

This page features a fun mini paper bag book that clips right to the page.

Coffee sleeve flip book ...

Toilet paper rolls find a new calling as tag holders. I'm not totally finished with these, I don't think. They just need something!

This is my favorite page in the book! This is the perfect place to store those adorable letters to Santa, and the envelope can turn into an heirloom if the kids address it themselves!

The post card inside the envelope has a photo mat on the back side. I'm still giddy about it.

This page has a horizontal flip book that folds out to hold 4- 4x6 photos.

I had a BLAST making and teaching this album, and like I said before, I wish I could share all the fun variations the ladies created to personalize it. I hope a few of them will share pics online so I can link them. Thanks again for an amazing weekend!

Awesome Mini Album Weekend!

  Our weekend mini album retreat was such a great success thanks to the AMAZING women who came and shared their passion for creativity, humor, grace, and incredible talent! I wanted to share some photos of my amazing friends and of the finished product. Each and every album was a little bit different and equally amazing, and I wish I could share every page of every single one of them here. You girls ROCK!

The absolutely gorgeous and HILARIOUS Connie! Thanks for being with us, sister!

My crafting mentor and absolutely stunning friend, Erika. (Erika, do you realize how gorgeous you are?)

The incredible Jae, a beautiful and sweet woman who has become such a great friend!

My sweet little sister, Gia, who is one of my best friends in the whole world. I love you, sis!

And our precious new friend, Jeanne. I was blown away by Jeanne's ability to jump right in and create an absolutely stunning project. Her kind spirit is such an amazing blessing!

We got a lot of crafting done in 16 hours!

And of course we all had to have a snuggle with the world's sweetest baby! (Even Matt came out of confinement for that!)

  I'll post pictures of the finished project in a new post, but these were honestly the more important pictures. This hobby has enriched my life in so many ways! The heart of paper crafting is the people we meet, friendships we build, and memories we make. I love you, ladies!

Page Maps Pebbles Sketch Contest

  Hello, friends! I'm rushing to get this post done this morning because we have such a busy day planned. The pumpkin patch at Rocky Creek Farm is a must-visit every fall, and the girls are getting together with some friends this afternoon. Then it's a few hours of piano lessons for me and getting ready for a trip to the farm this weekend.

  I've had a hard week, so creativity hasn't been at the top of my list, but I did manage to get one page done. The Page Maps blog is hosting a sketch contest sponsored by Pebbles. Here's the sketch:

And here's my take on it using my new kit from My Creative Scrapbook:

I've been saving this adorable photo of Mom and Olivia making lefse, and this vintage collection from Teresa Collins is just perfect with lovely fall colors, and lots of family-themed embellies.

  I needed a little craft therapy this week, and even though our trip to the farm this time is going to be hard, it will be wonderful to see my Grandad's legacy in my wonderful family. Grandad lived to be 96 years old, and he was an absolutely wonderful man. This photo was taken six years ago at his 90th birthday party. My daughters just adored him!

Have a safe and happy weekend, my friends, and remember to cherish the ones you love! 

Once Upon a Sketch #2 ... Almost

     Sometimes you love a sketch so much you have to use it twice, right? That's the story with the Once Upon a Sketch challenge this month. The challenge also involved using a particular quote in creative ways, which I entirely forgot about. So this entry isn't actually an entry, but it almost was.

Here's the sketch:

And here's my second go-round:

     I used my last piece of Pink Paislee Hocus Pocus paper for this layout, a Tim Holtz mask and playing card, and I cut the grungeboard sign with my alterations die and inked it. Embossed images from the Toxic Treats stamp set from Stampin' Up served as accents.

The orange flowers started life as white flowers, but that just wouldn't work at all! I misted them with Pumpkin Pie ink and used black glitter around the petals to doll them up a little.

I decided to use the back side of the Tim Holtz playing card and used a rub-on from the collection.

  I hope you're enjoying fall wherever you are today. Thanks for stopping by today, my friends!

Farewell to CPS

     Since this will be the last month for the CPS Challenge Blog, I decided to play along. This was the very first challenge site I ever participated in, so I'm sad to see it go. I know Tami and the design team put a lot of time and love into making all the great sketches they shared over the years, so a big thanks to them!

  This month the challenge is to pick a favorite CPS sketch from the past. I have a special friend with a birthday coming up, and I thought sketch number 153 would be perfect for a "Sending Birthday Wishes" card.

Here's the sketch:

And here's my take:

  I used Pink Paislee's London Market paper pad, some hand-dyed seam binding ribbon from Kristii Lockart, some shimmer painted grungeboard wings (Tim Holtz), and my SU edge die and embossing folder. I did another hand-made button out of the paper collection with my sizzlits die. This card turned out very girly (just like its recipient) so I hope she likes it. 

  Hope you're having a wonderful Saturday!

Candlelight Christmas Mini Album Sneaks

     Some of my club members got to see the nearly-finished mini album at our last meeting, but for those of you who didn't, I'm here to share some sneaky peekies! This mini was tons of fun to create and has lots of space to capture your Christmas memories. We'll be using the GORGEOUS Candlelight Christmas DSP from Stampin' Up, along with some other great SU products and some wonderful Tim Holtz goodness. I don't know how we're going to pack all this crafting into 1+ days, but we're sure going to try to work some Christmas magic! On to the sneaks!

I'm so excited to see you all at the class! Be sure to check the Facebook invite for cost information and a list of supplies you'll need to bring. See you there!

World Card Making Day 2012

     Happy World Card Making Day, friends! I hope you get to set some time aside today to make a special project for someone special in your life!     

     Do you have a stamp set in your stash that is just totally you? That embodies every design element and style that you love? Mine is the Papaya Collage Stamp Set from Stampin' Up. I have several sets that I love, but I think this one is just completely "me."

     My mom's birthday was last week, but we always have a big family birthday bash at the end of October where we exchange gifts and cards. I wanted to make her card reflect her love of nature and the outdoors, and I just had a hankering to do a project with a pretty, feminine feel.

     I kept the layout simple on this project to draw attention to the lovely images in this set. I stamped the leaf motif in Lucky Limeade around the edges, added some Rose Red popped up roses and butterflies, and used the greeting from the Apothecary Art set for the sentiment. I used rhinestone strips for the butterfly bodies to add just a little touch of sparkle.

     Thanks for stopping by today, my friends!

Once Upon a Sketch October Challenge

     I'm absolutely addicted to challenge blogs lately, and Once Upon a Sketch is one of my faves. I made a resolution at the beginning of the year to journal on every scrapbook page, and this blog incorporates journaling into every challenge. 

     The sketch for this month included the use of a quote. Here's the sketch and the quote:

     I've been trying to use up some of my old paper collections, and I was down to my last two sheets of Pink Paislee's Hocus Pocus line when I started this project. This paper is super fun, but I had absolutely no embellies left from the collection with the exception of a few stickers. This scenario stresses me out because I'm so dependent on my coordinating products, and I don't think I'm especially good at thinking outside the box. I found some vintage images from Crafty Secrets, a tag I had already stamped, a few K & Company goodies, and an ABC Primer chipboard sticker, and threw it all together into what I hoped would become a hodge podge of happy goodness. 

I used part of the quote in strips over my tag.

I broke out some Tim Holtz Halloween masks to add some details ...

... and of course, this is last year's photo because I'm always at least that far behind. There's just so much life to live, isn't there?

  We're off to surprise the kids with a trip to the movies this afternoon. We haven't been in more than a year, so it's sure to be a fun treat!! It has stopped snowing and the sun is out, so the day just got even brighter. Have a wonderful weekend, my friends!

Special Cards for Special People

 I love creating cards for special people! It's rare that I actually know who the recipient of my creations will be while I'm making them, so I really got to challenge myself this week to find fitting designs for some cards my mom requested.

     The first special request was a birthday card for her twin sister. My aunt is an amazing quilter, so I wanted her birthday card to reflect that special talent. (I'm so glad she and my mom are twins! Getting her call reminded me Mom's birthday is coming up soon too!) I used a bear paw quilt square as inspiration after seeing a similar card posted by trackscrapper on the Splitcoast Forum. I paper pieced the pattern before embossing it with my square lattice embossing folder.I can't wait to try this with other quilt patterns from my vintage quilt patterns book. 

  The second card is a thank you for all the work my aunt and uncle did while they were "vacationing." They seem to improve any place they visit! I tried to put a little travel theme together on this one and made sure to include some postage with a vintage truck since my uncle is currently rebuilding a classic truck. (Not like this one exactly, but you use what you have, right?)

  There are some more homemade paper buttons on this one -- my new favorite thing!

  I hope you are having a wonderful week, my friends! Thanks for stopping by!