A bit of summer crafting.

Summer break is finally here (insert gleeful exclamations!).  However, I haven't had too much crafting time yet.  Hopefully that will change soon.  Here are a couple of things I have done so far. 

This is a quick father's day card for Jeff's dad. 

Here is a cute page about my little man.  It is his fall and spring preschool pictures.  He is growing SO fast.  This page is from the 35mm kit at Studio Calico. 

Crafting with Kids

My daughter is kinda-just-a-little-bit exactly like me.  Which is delightful and frightening at the same time.  But one way she is like me is that she loves to craft just as much as me.  The other day at the craft store I picked up this notebook so she could make her own smash book (journal) for summer.   I may have helped with a little cutting - but this is all her.  So cute!  (She even took the picture on my phone so I could post it!)

Today she told me, "Mom, do you know why I love crafting with you?  Because everything you do is so cute!"  I swear ... I didn't even pay her to say that.

Spring!

Since it is nearly May - I figured I should get a spring banner hung up.  Our Valentine's Day banner that my sister Bailey made me was oh so cute and so we have just kept it up ... until today.

Here are a few of the cute details.  I embossed all the letters (cut out with my cricut - embossed with my cuttlebug).  

Here is the final product -don't mind the top of Max and Ruby's head.  

Happy Spring!

Scrappin' the night away!

My girlfriend Melissa and I went to a crop on Saturday.  We took our girls with us in the morning and they had a delightful time.  In fact, Mylie got more done in the morning than I got done all day!!  We took them out to lunch and then took them home and then went back for kid-less scrapping. 

Here are some of my layouts from the weekend:

Almost all of the layouts were made using primarily Studio Calico kits.  Jeff got me a subscription to their monthly kits last year for my birthday and I love getting a surprise every month!

Here is another layout that was in my stack from last month:

Here it is as a 2 page spread.

I am so looking forward to summer and getting to spend more time scrapping! 

Using your stash for non-crafty projects

A few weeks ago I volunteered to make a poster for a service project at my kid's daycare in April.  The last few weeks have been crazy, busy, insane (basically insert any adjective here), and somehow April snuck up on me.  I grabbed a piece of posterboard at the store today and since I fly to Las Vegas in less than 12 hours (and I still haven't slept), I figured it was now or never. 

My sweet husband told me he would make the poster for me, and while I adore his offer of help, the anal crafty side of me could not agree to that.  Our service project is collecting dog food and cat food for the humane society, so I knew I wanted an animal on there somewhere, but that is about as far as I had planned. 



Please excuse the quality of the 3 am photo.

So I just started out like I would with a layout.  I wanted to use my fringe scissors to make grass at the bottom so I did that, then cut the puppy and his bowl out on my cricut (Everyday Paper Dolls).  Of course, no project would be complete without Thickers, so I personalized this bowl.  The blue sky is just cardstock painted with white paint.  All the info about the fundraiser is on the yellow sheet and I cut the big red letters out on the cricut.  I decided I wanted to add a little more, so I stamped the bees (studio calico stamp) on yellow cardstock and then cut them out.  I didn't feel like cutting butterflies out on the cricut and I remembered the Basic Gray black and white fabric flowers that had been sitting in my stash for a while because I couldn't decide what to do with them.  I misted them with Mister Huey's and then stapled them in the middle, glued them down and drew antennas = insta-butterfly!

 

Now granted, this is more cutesie than I scrap or craft, but I still had a lot of fun making this and it was still a creative outlet ... plus, the isn't about what I like, the whole point is to catch the attention of the preschoolers and their parents in the lobby ... mission accomplished!

Message Board

This is a message board that I made for my dear friend Karen's birthday.  I learned the HARD way that magnetic spray on paint DOES NOT work.  This was made from a 12x12 canvas.  

Layering Challenge

Instead of grading papers, I am participating in some of the challenges at Studio Calico today.  The first one I did was a challenge to use layers.  I like the way the pages turned out - however, even more importantly I scrapped some pretty special pictures that I have been waiting to work on for almost a year and a half.  And honestly, even though I LOVE all these pictures, they kind of make me sad.

The journaling reads:  Mylie started going to Alicia's for daycare when she was 16 months old (March 2006).  Four and a half years gave us lots of time to become wonderful friends.  When we found out there would be be moving to Arizona in September of 2010 - part of our hearts broke.  I know that Alicia loved my kids fiercely and she had such a big part in their early years.  Mylie and Drake are the best of friends.  Alicia and I both welcomed little boys into our families and Blake and Henry are the best of frenemies.  :)  Alicia is a dear friend and I miss her terribly.  This is from the last day they were here.  Pics 9/2010 Journaling 1/2012

Monochomatic Color Challenge

This week I joined in the on the Weekly Challenge at Studio Calico.  The challenge was to create a monochomatic page.  I thought for sure I would do pink or red, and surprised myself by doing a YELLOW page.  However, I really like how it turned out! 

These were from our family pictures from last summer.  Thanks for looking!

Crop 'til you drop!

On Saturday, my friend Melissa and I attended a 14-hour crop (1 pm to 3 am) at A Scrappers and Stampers Delight.  I had so much fun and got so much done!  I finished the 40th anniversary album for my parents, did 9 layouts, and then started a mini album.  Here are a few of my favorite pages:

I think I need a 14-hour crop every month!

Snow Day! Whoo hoo!

So today they closed the college at noon for a snow day.  The kids were still at school.  I got a bit of work done and then decided I would scrapbook.  I have done lots of crafty projects lately, but it has been quite a while since I have worked on regular scrapbook layouts.  I busted out my Brooklyn Flea kit from Studio Calico and got to work.  It was the December kit and I had hardly touched it.  After the kids went to bed I came back to the office and scrapped some more - I surprised myself getting SIX PAGES done.  Whoo hoo!  All the pictures are from last January/February.



This one might be my favorite - I'm slightly partial to buttons.  And to Mylie. 



Love this boy. 

This is a two-page layout.  I even sewed on it.  Jeff is always amused when I sew on a layout and he makes sure to comment that I don't even sew buttons on clothes or hem pants. 

I had so much fun with the punch/grid combo. 

I've scrapped this picture before in Blake's book - but scrapped this one for a book I have of just random things that don't really fit into the kid's books.  I just love this picture so much!  So sweet!

So happy with all I accomplished!  I am going to a 14 hour crop this weekend (whoo hoo!) so I am hoping my crafty groove continues!!

Office/Craft Room

Mylie and I have working on doing some organizing of the office/craft room this week.  I think I am obsessed with organizing craft supplies as I am with crafting.  Here are a couple views of my craft area.  Thanks for looking!



Project Life 2012

This year I AM going to complete a project life album.  I started this last year and made it to about February (ooops!), but this year I am committed to a year album.  Basically, this type of album is often made up a picture for everyday.  I will be doing mine as a layout every week.  My goal is to try and get pictures everyday, but you know, if I don't I'm not going to worry about it.  I really like this type of "slice of life" albums.  It tells the stories I normally would not scrapbook.  I am using divided page protectors which are a fun and quick way to scrapbook.  I can just throw in my 4x6 photos.  These come in a variety of different configurations and I am excited to play around with them this year.

I am combining the Project Life kit that I bought last year with the (many) scrapbook supplies I have on hand.  Tonight I did the title page - which I loooooove and the the first few days of this week.  I am going to run my weeks Mon-Sun. 

I really love how this title page turned out.  The top right is inspired by a Studio Calico challenge to write a letter to yourself.  I thought it would be fun to include it on the title page.

January 2, 3, & 4

My December Daily Album really sparked my interest in the type of album and made me realize that I can do a daily album! 

December Daily - days 13-31

Today I finished up my December Daily album.  I cannot even say how much I have enjoyed this album.  It is probably one of my favorite craft projects I have ever done.  Not just because it is super cute (because it is), but because I made a real effort every day of December to enjoy and capture a holiday moment.  I know this is a book we will look back on many times, I can't wait to do it again next year!!

Without further adieu (hehe), here is the rest of my album:




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Day 13 - I asked everyone in our family to name their favorite Christmas movie, song and treat.  On the right is the invitation to our Relief Society Christmas dinner which I attended that night. 



Day 14 - lunch with the girls!

Day 15 - the nativity scene my mom gave me years ago.  On the right is a picture of the faculty in my department. 

Day 16 - tells about our little faculty party. 

Day 17 - last minute shopping
Day 18 - one of my favorite December traditions is Winter Garden Aglow

Day 19 - the 2nd annual Christmas party at Leslie's!  (Using the shuffle feature on my Canon Selphy printer.  Me + Canon Selphy printer = love)

Day 20 - I am club advisor and at Christmas our club adopts a family and provides Christmas for them.  This is always a very touching part of my holiday, I was glad to record it.



 



Days 21, 22, & 23 - the kids and I took a pre-Christmas trip to Gramma and Grampa's house.  Such fun!!





Day 24 - we visited Grandma and Grandpa on Christmas Eve Day.  I also talked about some of our traditions.

Day 25 - I loved the pages about Christmas!  I added in quite a few extra pages.  I put in a lot of pictures and also had each of us write a journaling card about Christmas.  I included Christmas cards that Mylie made as well. 

Day 26 - we went to see Sherlock Holmes with Grandpa while the kids stayed with Grandma.

Days 27, 28, 29 & 30 - it was fun to capture the laid back days of Christmas break. 

Day 31 - New Year's Eve was such fun.  We went to the U of I - BSU basketball game with both my parents and Jeff's parents.  My parents spent the rest of the day with us.  We were delighted that they would travel over to spend the day with us. 

The End!  - I added in an extra page to list some other highlights from December, things that might not have otherwise been mentioned.  For example, the mistletoe, Mylie's new haircut and other things.