My Crush Albums

Yesterday, my girls and I spent the afternoon working on our albums. It was a great afternoon! We each are using a My Crush album which makes scrapbooking really easy.

Cait is working on an album documenting her first year of college. She is using the My Crush Wildwood Book .

As in all the My Crush books, the pages are set and printed. You just add your pictures, notes, and any embellishments. Cait finished quite a few pages but she hasn't written about the pictures yet. She does have journalling blocks on her pages ready. Plus she added sticky notes to remind her about what she wants to write. 

Elyse is working with the My Crush Bluebird Book to put all her concert tickets in one spot. Elyse loves seeing bands live and has quite a big stack of tickets starting from when she was a pre-teen! She is putting them all together in one album with a few pictures. 

One concert, one page is her album plan. It is coming together very nicely!

I was working on my December Daily album with the My Crush Holiday Happenings Book. Well, it started as a December Daily but it ended up just a December album. I ended up pretty sick for most of December. Pictures did not get taken. But I did document my illness and trip to the ER. Christmas Week is very full and will take up most of the album.  

Sometimes I add more paper. Sometimes I just write right over the printed paper.

One thing I like about the My Crush Books is that it is more of a journal than a traditional scrapbook. I don't have to follow the usual rules. I tend to put the pictures in any old way I want. Sometimes I leave a border. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes I mat them. I can do what ever I want. It's my book.

I added a piece of the program from a church service. The song really inspired me that night so I added it to the book. 

I think how funny it is that we all decided to work on a My Crush Book at the same time. It worked out perfectly. I am looking forward to another day of cropping with my girls soon. 

December Daily Album-- The Beginning

I have a new goal! This month, I will be documenting our lives daily. I want to show our Advent preparations and our daily lives.

So... to begin I need an album.

I have chosen the My Crush Holiday Happenings Book.

There are 30 pages in this book which isn't enough for a page a day. I am starting on November 30, the first Sunday of Advent, which is when our celebrations begin, and I plan on ending on January 1, when our family celebrates new beginnings with a New Year's Adventure. Some days might need more than one page. Some days will need a half of a page. I will supplement this book with flip flaps and adding fold out pages made of card stock. I have high hopes for this album.

Now to begin!

Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent. I took many pictures yesterday and have a couple ready to be printed as wallet sizes. Here are a few that I am printing. Not all can make it to the December Daily Album but I do want to have my options ready.

The Advent candles I think are a must to be in the album.

My daughter's dorm room window. She hung her lights before she came home for Thanksgiving so they would be ready. When I dropped her off Sunday night, she turned them on so I could see. Love it!

Then I have a couple pictures of the kids hanging up the lights around our house. Not great pictures. I might skip these pictures and just describe it in words. 

           

Lastly, I have a several pictures of my monsters. I was trying to get a good shot of the three of them together for our Christmas card. I think they are getting too old for me to have a formal shot. This casual shot shows them as the happy teens they are. But the messy hair and sweatshirts are driving me crazy. This is them though. It is best to show who they are and not a staged shot. I'm still thinking about it.

I will have the pictures printed today and pick them up while I am out running errands. Then I will be ready to start with Day 1!

A Thankful Heart Mini Album

In September, I decided I wanted to make a Thanksgiving album that my whole family would contribute to at Thanksgiving dinner. I worked up a few ideas and ended up teaching a class at our annual Holiday Extravaganza on this album.

I cut out 6 4 inch tags for each person and had a bunch of embellishments on the table. Everyone had a great time putting it together and creating the base of the album in a way they liked. I loved how it came out!

Now, to try this on a larger scale!

I decided that I wanted a picture on each tag as well as my family writing. I thought about using the printer but decided that would be too time consuming.  A dear friend has an instant camera so I decided to try that out.

 I always loved the old Polaroids even though the quality was so poor. Sometimes they were great for quick projects. This new instant camera by Fuji worked great. Again, the quality is not as good as a digital camera. But it was quick and easy (and a bit pricey- don't waste these shots!).

My craft room was cleared out to make a large dining area so I had to set up a crafting area in my bedroom. My daughter and I set up the tags (cut from the Art Philosophy cricut cartridge at 6 inches), paper, ink, and embellishments on my dresser ready to go. As people arrived, one of us would take a quick picture then go into the bedroom and put it on the tag.  We embellished the tag quickly, leaving a space at the bottom to write. Just before we served dinner, Cait and I handed out the tags and asked each person to write what they are thankful for.

My daughter, Elyse, writing her tag

My daughter, Cait, handing out the tags.

I was surprised that I only had a few grumbles (from my brothers, of course!) but everyone wrote on their tag. My big mistake was not having enough quality pens. I didn't think about gathering them up beforehand. I found 2 archival quality black pens right when we started the writing portion of the project. I must have a dozen in various bags and places around the house. I should have grabbed them before guests came.

I put each card on a binder clip and ended up with a completed album before our celebration was over. 23 tags in all.

I will switch my binder clip to a larger size and add some ribbon on the clip. But other than that, it is perfect!

Items used:

Thankful Heart stamp set

Pathfinding Paper Pack

Gold Sequins

Gold Shimmer Trim

Chocolate Ink

Art Philosophy Cricut Collection

Flip Flaps

Have you used Flip Flaps? They are wonderful! Really. Everyone should have a set. Add extra pictures or memorabilia to any page.  I love the 4x6 size. They are perfect for pictures or postcards. But all the sizes have their uses. Pick up a pack and give it a try. You'll be hooked.

Fall Cards

Since I am in California, I never really see the seasons. I have never been too interested in the snow but I love the fall colors. One day I hope to spend a few weeks in New England during fall to see all the colors. Because of my love for this season, I tend to do a lot of cards and layouts in this color scheme. Here are a couple of cards that I worked on this past week;

The leaves on this card are made by mixing inks. The leaves were cut out on the cricut from Colonial White paper. I wiped ink pads (barn red, honey, and goldrush) on the All Purpose Mat and used a spray pen to spray water on the inks. I then wiped the leaves in the inks to create a new look. It is very easy and a lot of fun. 

Other products used on this card were Pathfinding paper, Metallic Bakers Twine, Happy Autumn stamp set, Colonial White ink, 3-D foam tape, and colonial white value pack cards.        . 

The Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge is always fun to play with. This card was cut from Barn Red paper. I set the Cricut at 4.25 inches. It will create an entire card measuring 4.25 by 5.5 when folded over. In the Artfully Sent booklet, go to page 42. I set the Cricut on Sentiment and pressed shift and cut. I do keep the cricut on the slow speed setting when making these intricate cuts. There is less change of ripping when it is slow. 

The Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge makes card making easy and quick.

Other products used on this card were Pathfinding paper, bronze shimmer trim, barn red ink and Happy Autumn stamp set.

Hope you are enjoying the season as well. Make a few Fall cards and have some fun with paper!

Making Christmas a Little Easier

I love making things for people for Christmas. Everyone expects a hand made card. Everyone expects a tray of goodies. Even my Christmas packaging is hand made. It all takes time. As much as I love to make it all, do I really have that much time and still enjoy my family during the holidays? Here are two ways, you can make your life easier this holiday season.

Isn't this a beautiful card? Wouldn't you be proud sending this out this December? This card will take you no time at all because it is a kit! 

The pieces are cut and ready for you. Take your favorite stamp set and some ruby ink and stamp the sentiment on. Put it all together using your favorite adhesive.

The card is 5x7. There is plenty of room to add a family picture and a note inside.

I weighed the finished card. It was 3/4 of an ounce. No extra postage.

The kit come with the cut pieces, embellishments, and decorated envelopes for 10 cards for just $11.95. I added the Merriest Christmas Stamp set ($9.95) and Ruby ink ($5.95). If you need to make 30 cards, 3 packs, stamp set, and ink are under $52 (plus tax and shipping). Deal!

And of course, this stamp set can be used over and over again. Think of the great tags, scrapbook pages, and cards another year.

Your holiday cards will be out and done quickly.

The family picture to put inside may be your biggest challenge.

How cute is this?!

Ready for an easy way to wrap up treats for co-workers, teachers, friends?

How about adding a gift card behind the candy?

Once again this is just a kit. Everything is cut and ready to go-- except the candy.

There are little stickers to go on the bottom of candy. I used Hershey Kisses but any candy with a flat bottom will work. Put the candy in the plastic bag, staple the opening, and close it up. I added a little gold shimmer trim to the outside which is not in the kit. I do tend to add shimmer trim (all the colors) to all my projects. I can't help it. I always need a little more shimmer.

The kit comes with white circles that you decorate. I used Merry Merry stamp set with topiary and ruby inks. I picked Merry Merry because I already had it out working on another card and the "Merry Christmas" fit. I'm sure I have a ton more stamps that would fit just fine as well.

The Holiday Treat Bag kit is just $14.95 for 10 bags.

Pop over to my online store to grab what you need.

Hope I have helped to make your holiday a little less stressed. And don't forget to have fun with your paper.

More Artfully Sent Tips

The "Sleeve" Function key on the Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge gives you so many options!

This Trick or Treat card was cut at 5 1/2 inches on black paper. Click "sleeve", shift, (page 43 of the Artfully Sent booklet). This cut gives you the spider web card base.  Then I used thistle paper at 4 1/2 inches - "sentiment" and . The Trick or Treat was cut as a card since the "sentiment" function is another set of cards. I cut it down with my paper trimmer to make it into a title and used the other part of the card base as a layer. I added a little glitter paper in the center, backed the title in black, and finally added a third layer to the title with the extra thistle paper. The spider was cut at 5 1/2 inches, "icon," shift, from slate paper. Remember that the pop up and icon functions are linked. So, cutting the spider at 5 1/2 inches did not give me a 5 1/2 inch spider. It gave me a spider sized perfectly for a 5 1/2 inch card. If you have a specific size you want, be sure to click the real dial size button.

So the cuts are made quickly and easily. I just put it all together. I backed the card base with a piece from the Scaredy Cat paper pack and all came out perfect. I was really happy with the results. It really is quick (and I like quick!). The hardest part is waiting for the cricut machine to finish cutting the spider web.

Be sure to check out the Artfully Sent Cricut Collection and all the wonderful projects it has to offer. You are going to love it!

Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge

I am having fun playing with the Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge. There are so many different projects on this cartridge! With over 700 cuts which come together to make over 400 projects.

Take a look at this pop up card:

There are 6 different function keys on this cartridge. I used the pop up key.

The size was set at 5 inches for both the card and the liner. The cartridge is set to go together without changing the size. The daisy white cardstock (a pack of which comes with the cartridge) was cut using the pop up function and "env 11" key (page 47 of the cartridge booklet). The liner was cut from glacier paper the same way but with the shift button pressed. One thing that I noticed with this cartridge is that although it does make little tick marks to help you fold properly, it really needs to be scored. Make sure your creases are very crisp especially the pop up portion. 

The card is decorated using snowhaven paper and silver geometric washi tape. The stamp sets are the October stamp of the month and the Best Christmas Stamp set. 

The second function key is the Scene key. 

I cut this card at 5 1/2 inches. The recommended size listed in the booklet is 7 inches. But you can change the size. I prefer a smaller size card. 5x7 is just too big for me. This one is 5 1/2 by 4 1/4 and it is just perfect. 

To cut this, take a look at page 34 of the booklet. Size is 5 1/2 inches. Press scene then "v" and cut. The wreath is also cut at 5 1/2 inches. Press scene, shift, "v" and cut. 

When you are working with a paper that is two sided on the scene function, the inner part of the card needs to be face up on the cricut mat in order to get the cut on the right side. 

The inside of the card was just hand cut and the flowers were cut from the Artiste cartridge. I loved how the shape matched the paper. 

I used Pathfinding paper to cut this card. The wreath is cut in chocolate and the flowers in glacier. I really love the glacier color and seem to be using it a lot. the stamp set is Casual Expressions, and the ink is chocolate. 

I'll post more about the cartridge later. In the mean time, have some fun with paper. 

Halloween Popped Card

I love fall. I love the fall colors and leaves. I really love the pumpkin patch. But Halloween to me is just a stressful day to get my kids in some sort of costume. As a mom, I should  love Halloween! I should love going to the carnivals and trick or treating. Unfortunately, I don't. I don't want to be scared. I worry far too much about the day to day stuff to want to be scared when a ghost pops out at me in a haunted house. 

That being said, I do try to be the "good" mom and celebrate Halloween. I would NEVER be the house without the candy (although I do have to admit that I usually have pretzel or goldfish packets in the bowl too and let the kids choose). We always decorate the porch. And I try to get my kids to wear a costume. Now that they are teens, it just isn't cool to wear a costume. 

Sending out a card for Halloween is not something I usually do. With my oldest away at college as are several of my nieces, I try to send out cards to them on a regular basis. A Halloween card this month seems to be the right choice. 

Here is one of my fun Halloween cards:

Nothing scary here. Just really cute. Look at that ghost! He is one happy ghost! 

The front of the card is very simple using a little paper and some stamps.

Inside, I used our adhesive spring and made that ghost pop up. 

Simple, quick, and best of all-- FUN!

Products used:

Scaredy Cat Paper Pack

Adhesive Springs

Frightfully Fun Stamp Set

Archival Black, Autumn Terracotta, Slate, and White Daisy Ink

White Card and Envelopes, Value Pack

Easy Card Making With Artfully Sent

The Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge makes card making so easy! 

To make this card, I loaded the cricut with a sheet of Seaside paper. I set the size to 7 inches, clicked the "scene" and the "c" button, and cut. Next, I loaded the cricut with desert sand paper. Since the scene button is connected, I didn't change the size. I kept the "scene" button on and clicked "shift" "c". Then I cut. Both pieces were cut to perfect size to work together. I put a little piece of sunset paper under the congrats to give it a pop of color.  

I used a little colonial white and sunset for the flowers. The icon button is connected to the pop-up button. If I set the size as 7, the flowers would be perfect for the pop up card but I wasn't sure if it would work for the scene card. And they were too small. I ended up setting the size as 10 which worked out perfectly.

The final touch was the putting some gold Bling Gems in the center of the flowers.

Artfully Sent is an amazing cartridge. Perfect for the card maker. Many of the projects can be transferred to a scrapbook page or home decor. There are over 400 projects. With all the mixing and matching that can be done, I really see no end to this cartridge.

One note about sizing. The booklet lists a size for each project. This is the best size for the project but you can make it bigger or smaller if you wish. Some of the fancy cuts don't work too well when cut on a small setting.

I'm sure you will enjoy this cartridge.

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

Yes, I did write Thanksgiving in my post title. I do hate planning the holidays so early but in my business, you really have to. I am even working on Christmas cards for classes already!

Now to get back to my topic-- I am getting ready for Thanksgiving. My assignment as part of the Holiday Extravaganza is Thanksgiving. I am designing one card and one other. I love Thanksgiving! I just love the fall colors and love making my turkeys (yes, that is plural. I cook two every year). My brothers and their families, my parents, my aunt and uncle, and many guests squeeze into my house for Thanksgiving dinner. We take everything out of the craft room and add tables. As the kids get bigger, we are going to run out of room! Because I love Thanksgiving so much, I am very happy to be the one to take care of the Thanksgiving projects.

My first project is a card.

I used the Happy Autumn Stamp set to make this water color card. I stamped on colonial white paper using autumn terracotta, olive, and glacier inks. Then I spritzed the paper with water using a spray pen. The ink begins to run when it gets too wet. When I had the look I wanted, I used a heat gun to dry the paper. I stamped the sentiment on the card after the paper was dry. Next I mounted the paper on the chocolate paper, then the card base, and added a little bakers twine.  I find that it is best to put a book on top of the card after to make sure it stays flat. The paper tends to curl a little after being wet and dried.

This is an easy technique to learn. I will be teaching it at our Holiday Extravaganza on October 11 in Sunnyvale. This is an all day event where you will create 12 projects including this one above. There are four other consultants besides me at this event. So, you end up with five artistic styles. It is a fast paced, fun event that we put on yearly. It is just about sold out at this point. So don't delay. Check out my events page for the registration form.

I will be posting my second project and Thanksgiving mini album next week.

Have fun with paper today!