Bags & Tags

Are yall tired of Christmas posts? Or Christmas in general? I hope not because I'm still enthused! Despite the fact that every last minute I'm at home means I'm working on projects. I am very very ok with this. It's only Christmas once a year =)

I made these gift bags and gift tags for those Ohio ornaments I blogged about earlier this month. I bought this great kraft wrapping paper at Target a few months back and used it to create these little gift bags simply by folding it in half and machine stitching along two sides.

Since these are going to Matt's family, I knew I wanted to use this great vintage photo of him and his sister for tags. I printed it black and white and used it as the base of the tag. Washi tape along the top adda a pop of red and I added a twist to these great Ali Edwards gift tags by printing them out on a transparency. I didn't want to cover up any more of that oh so cute photo.

It's something cut and small and festive. And it guarantees I won't be showing up empty handed. We're off to visit them in Ohio tomorrow. Excited for my (hopefully) white Christmas!

cheers & besos,

Brunch Invites

I wanted to do something different this year. Instead of giving my friends presents, I wanted to give them an experience....so to speak. We brunch semi-regularly. Everyone loves to eat and hang out. Chat and catch up. So I decided this year I'd take everyone to brunch. A first annual "Brunch on Us".

I put together these glorified invitations so they'd have something to open up. I had next to no time to make them. Actually, we were late to lunch because I was literally working up to the minute trying to get these done.

To be perfectly honest, I had no concept of what I wanted to do when I woke up that morning. I originally thought I'd put together micro mini books so I pulled a variety of photos and compiled them together for printing. But I liked the grid so much together that I decided to keep it.

And the cover, it was cut with my Silhouette. This "quote" rattled around in my brain as I was putting together the photo collage. So I thought it'd be perfect sentiment for my invite. Which is all about us being together anyhow.

I really quickly (and I mean really quickly) created the inside in PSE. But I like how it turned out. Maybe there's something to be said about not having time to second guess yourself.

I'm pretty sure my friends didn't know what to think of idea. But they liked the invite itself! They'll come around and we'll have more happy times in 2014.

cheers & besos,

Snowglobe Cards

It's here! It's done! It's in the box. I finally mailed off my 2013 Christmas cards. These things were a labor of love let me tell you. There's sooooo many steps involved in making them.

But finally, after 3 years of having this idea in my head. They're out and in the world! 

I present, a snow globe ornament.

These would not be at all possible without the help of my Silhouette. It seriously did all of the heavy lifting. I ended up using this design purchased from the online store. But did some serious editing in the studio software.

I feel like I threw just about every technique I could at these cards: letterpress, die cutting, stamping, heat embossing, confetti pocket, machine stitching. But it was well worth it.

The confetti inside is my favorite. I used a variety of speciality confetti/sequins, plus some punched shapes, glitter and even tiny bells. They jingle when they're moved.

For the backs, I heat embossed an Ali Edwards stamp (I also just realized I used that same stamp set for last year's Christmas cards. I guess that makes it super versatile!) with green powder and then stamped a few gold snowflakes around the edges. Matt & I signed the bottom of these with white ink and I added peoples names around the top.

The finishing touches are what took me the longest. Not stapling the ribbon or adding the twine. Nope it was printing out the address labels!!! I'm not even kidding you, everything but this was finished by the 1st of the month. But I just had this huge mental block about sitting at my desk to type up the labels. Finally, I got that done.

I decided to use these amazing gold dot bags as "envelopes" To keep them closed I used a plain jane return address label as tape. 28 of these suckers got mailed out today. They're zooming across the country as we speak =)

Christmas cards are my absolute favorite. I invest a whole lot of time and energy into them every year. But that's because I love to make them. If you'd like to share, I'd love to see your 2013 Christmas cards. Handmade or otherwise!

cheers & besos,

Bob Marley

Hi hello!! Quick share with you this evening, gotta get ready for my first day back at work in awhile.

[EDITED TO ADD: I was wondering why my Best Great Wall Memory page was getting so many visits. Thanks Shimelle for featuring it on your blog! Didn't realize that before I decided to use another Shimelle.com sketch for the page below =)]

I'm still making my way through the pile of photos I pulled out for Camp Scrap. I was really inspired by May's White Cardstock challenge but I don't think this really applies. However, she's definitely why I added some sequins to the page!! 

Mainly, this is for the Titles mini class. You see, I thought of the title (or idea) first and created a page around it. It's a long windy title (something I do often enough I should probably think to blog about some time) with lots o' words and a fun mix of textures and fonts. And like I said before, the jumping off point for this layout.

I used a Shimelle.com sketch as the basis for this page. I didn't even intend to play along with this sketch, but rotating it opened up a whole new option for me. And the sunburst has special significance since the top photo was taken just after sunrise as we were looking for dolphins.

Originally, I had a whole set of paper pulled out for this layout, lots of oranges and blues. And I tried so hard to make it work but I just wasn't inspired. So I scrapped that whole idea and decided to go in a different direction.

Blue + turquoise + magenta + lime was what I went with and I'm so much happier with how it turned out!

I custom made the very faint background you see. It's a whole bunch of Bob Marley lyrics printed super light on vellum and then stitched to the background page. Because....

BREAKING NEWS!!! I got my sewing machine fixed!!! It's operational for the first time in about 4 years. I'm still really terrible at it, but you should have seen how excited I was to make these few stitches.

Journaling Reads:
"You know how certain songs can trigger memories? How the minute you hear the tune, you're instantly transported to a different time and place? Bob Marley does that to me. But I think of a different island. I remember Bali.

Sarah & I had the same driver the whole time we were there. He drove us from the airport, two hours to our hotel. He drove us across the island, to see temples and waterfalls and rice paddies. He drove us the two hours back to the airport. All the while, Bob Marley was playing in the background. There's nothing that instantly makes me remember Bali more than Bob Marley."

Sometimes guys, I literally have to scrapbook my memories just to remember everywhere I've been. Like I know I've been to Bali, I have the memories. But it's so easy to just forget! You might think, "how does that happen?" But it really does. It's surreal to think about sometimes. It's one of the main reasons I scrapbook and why I love this hobby so so much.

Oh, and if you're interested in seeing more from this trip, I made a mini book a few years back.
Yall have an awesome week!

cheers & besos,

Boy & Girl Cards

We celebrate two birthday's in my family this week. My Aunt on the 14th and her Papa, my Grandpa on the 16th. I made them each a card. I used my Block Party Card Kit and basically the same papers & supplies to make both a masculine and a feminine card.

I challenged myself to create a centered design. I feel like my designs are always off of a corner for some reason. This time, they're front and center.

For the lady version, I mixed patterned paper -- both strips and punched out shapes-- washi tape and a stamped sentiment. I added a glitter brad, used that beautiful flower stamp and finished off with some baker's twine.

For the manly version, I used some of those same patterned papers & my ticket and circle punches to punch out a few shapes. Which I again centered on the card base. After that I stamped my sentiment, using the numbers stamp from this collection and adhered it with foam adhesive.

For some reason, this reminds me of the front grill of a car. Perhaps it's why I think it looks manly :)

Both cards got splatters of silver mist.
Both use the same monochromatic color scheme with red thrown in!
Both were pretty quick and simple to make.

They've been sent off to San Antonio. I wish both of them a Happy Birthday & a wonderful year!

cheers & besos,

Christmas Card 2012

2012 Christmas card is complete! You'd think I'd be excited but really it's bittersweet for me. 

I know, I know! I'm a weirdo. I know! I really think I enjoy making cards more than I do receiving them.

I just love Christmas so much. And card making too boot! I love layering bits & pieces and trying to figure out how to replicate something 30 times. That's how many I made this year. Doesn't hit 2009 levels, but still with everything going on, it definitely was time consuming.

This year I did something I've never done before. I scraplifted my card! I couldn't not after seeing this gorgeous design by Julie Ebersole. The design just spoke to me. You all know how much I love to travel and this design just felt so very appropo.

I played with it a bit. And my card is definitely not as simple as Julie's, but I wanted to add some of my layers in to make a bit more my own.

And layers there are! I die cut the skyline out of pearl finished cardstock then stamped on top. Adhered this to a vellum base and added jewels + glitter tape. I heat embossed the sentiment with Silver Metallic Zing! and stuck it to the card base with my ATG before finishing it off with some baker's twine.

Of course I couldn't forget the insides or the envelope! You simply can't over look the envelope. That's what gets people excited to open the card! My typical envelope includes some misting splatters, a snip of tape and a date stamp. I got fancy with this one and used a snowflake as a mask for my iridescent mist, subtle but festive!

Here are the 2010-1, 2010-2, 2010-3, 2010-4 and 2009 editions if you're looking for some extra inspiration. (The 2011 version is being published.)

Now on to the harder part...writing in them all!! I write big, it shouldn't be too bad ;)

What about yall? Have you finished your cards? Do you make them? I'd love to see them if you did!

cheers & besos,

So Cal Cards

I made cards! It's been so long since I've made a batch and I'm loving these ones. I just had fun with the So Cal kit and add-ons.

Purple, pink and blue aren't colors I typical work with, but I love them together. And the Newport add-on had them all! 

I played with the stamps and some Prima Fluid chalk ink. (Seriously, those things are like butter. I like 'em a lot!) Then I just started layering: a doily, then a punched scalloped patterned paper, those gorgeous canvas butterflies that look fab when misted, the stamped sentiment and then a pin, jewel and baker's twine to finish them off.

Where the last cards were all about rounded edges and soft layers, these ones are all about angles. The Pink Paislee chevron was my starting point and I built from there.

I really like these stamps, but struggle with stamping them. The reliefs are just too shallow and I end up getting ink on them too. Does anyone else have this problem? It's driving me nuts!

Anyway, I'm resolving here and now to make more cards. I do actually like making them, even if I struggle with designing them more than I care to admit =) Everyone could use a good card once in awhile. And handmade cards, make them feel that much more special.

cheers & besos,

Pinspiration

I'm jumping in on Studio Calico's Weekly Challenge this week. I've been meaning to do something with all of the lovely Craft Inspiration I've been collecting on Pinterest, this gave me the excuse.

I combined two images, the design from this one:

Source: (fred one litch)

and the sentiment/title from this one:

Source: (pinterest)

...to come up with this layout of Mama & me.

She sent me a silly card in the mail the other day. She's usually really good but it's been awhile since she's sent me a card. It made me smile :) I turned that bottom panel into a pocket for her note to slide into (forgot to take a picture!).

It was fun to create a layout from inspiration rather than another layout. I'll have to turn to my Pinterest more often, and put all of those pins to good use.

cheers & besos,

SC CHAllenges: Pink Cards

From white pages to pink cards! Back this morning to share 2 cards I made for the Studio Calico CHAllenges.

The first is for Dawn's Diecut Washi challenge. I fittingly made a card using some of her Papertrey Ink products, the Signature Series: Cupcakes.

It's a tiny little valentine-esque card that will probably make its way to Japan this year =)

And a second pink card for MT's best friend and his wife. After a long and difficult process, they're going to have a baby! They've just found out that they're having a little girl.

J is such a dude bro, I don't know how's he going to handle it. I couldn't help but create something frilly and girly to send his way.

I used Susan's 4 Punch card challenge to create this pink masterpiece. There are 2 scallop border punches, the jewel border punch, circle punch and heart punch used in this design.

Thanks yall for stopping by! And don't forget to comment on this post for a chance to win a RAK!

cheers & besos,

Saturdays with Yaya

How is Christmas already this weekend?! Amongst all of the mayhem of this fall, it's snuck up on me.

Alas, our bags are all packed and our shoes are tied tight. I'm ready for this Christmas with MT and his family in Ohio!

Wish us luck, it's the first flown trip we've ever taken with each other. I'm a professional traveler, so this could be really easy or really hard. I will let you know.

But for now, I wanted to share this page, created with my cheat sheet and as I channeled my inner Lisa T.

All of the photos are instagram shots that I had printed at Scrapbookpictures.com. I'd completely recommend them. I know a lot of people order from PostalPix, which is super convenient but annoyingly not great quality. The colors are always so ridiculously off! But I digress.

The photos are some random everyday shots of what we do when Urijah is around, a whole lot of hanging out.

I love how these photos also show Urijah's relationship with his "Uncle" Matt. He's clearly very comfortable with him, enough to use him as a chair at least. That photo of their shadows holding hands gets me every time :)

For this page, I used the Chap line by American Crafts. Instant love! I adore this line, especially for cute boy pages.

I'm quite proud of this page, it's the first I had made in at least a month and one for Urijah's Year 2 Album, the pages of which were very scant.

I love adding pages to albums. It gives me a sense of accomplishment.

Well Mr. OCD is pacing the floor at the moment. Even thought he said we were leaving at 3:30 it seems my time is up. I'll catch up with yall when I get back! I hope everyone has a safe and merry holiday!

xxbesos

Khao San Road

Another page from Bangkok! I'm well chuffed (quite proud) to have these 3 random Thailand pages scrapped! They weren't about trips or any specific event. They were just pages about what I was like when I lived there.

And that is how my scrapbooking has evolved lately.

"It's not easy being green." Know who said that? Kermit the frog is who. Love me my Kermie!

The Boardwalk kit had a lot of great green papers and I thought they contrasted nicely with the reds in my photo, so I just started playing with some left over strips.

Had to use my favorite neutral gray for the background and I think it made the green, cream and white pop even more!

I liked that the design is a bit busy and chaotic, but not so all over the place that it drives your eyes crazy. I wanted to mimic how packed in all of the signs and stalls were.

And ok, so maybe I added baker's twine, a Thicker or 2 that wasn't a part of the kit. But I think they were the final touches needed for this fairly flat page.

Which, btw is about the famous backpapers area of Thailand. If you ever make it that way, I'd recommend stopping by. Touristy yes, but none the less fun!

Happy Scrapping =)

xxbesos