Five for Friday

1. We've been thoroughly enjoying our Christmas holidays! Lots of movie nights, reading, crafting, going for walks (it's been gorgeous outside!) and relaxing. Very perfect!

2. Jonah won a spot at Winter Camp at Winkler Bible Camp this week. So he spent a fun-filled two days and one night there this week and had a great time!



3. I wanted to share some cards that I made with the leftovers of my Generations line by Simple Stories patterned paper:

This first card was made using a card sketch from Sketch 135 at Got Sketch?.

I used PTI cardstock (rustic cream, kraft, scarlet jewel), stamps (on the couch & additions) and dies (doily details). The twine is SU!

I used PTI cardstock (kraft, scarlet jewel) & stamps (love & marriage).

I used PTI cardstock (fine linen), stamps (happy trails), buttons, twine and dies (fillagree border).



I used PTI cardstock (fine linen, scarlet jewel), stamps (half & half) and dies (half & half).

4. I made several resolutions this year and I'm happy to say that so far, so good!

5. One of my resolutions was about losing weight. (I know, surprise, surprise!) This is my constant when it comes to resolutions it seems... However, this year I turn 40 (can you believe it?) and I don't want to be this heavy when I do so. So, my plan it to cut back on what I eat, eliminate sugar and deep fried foods from my diet and exercise more. So, for the last five days, I've been successful on the eating part and I've done 4 days of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred (Austin is actually doing the work-outs with me, which has been fun!) I'm definitely taking it one day at a time, but I'd love for 2012 to be a year of success!

Thanks for looking!

Finally...

Last fall, after reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, I decided to make a Gratitude Journal in which I would record the things for which I was thankful. I got as far as making the title page and first entrey, which you can see here, and that's as far as I got.

I think part of what I struggled with was that I had made it with a fall theme, but I knew that this would be something I wanted to work on year round.

So, using some of my Generations line by Simple Stories, I decided to start over. Here's what I made...

For the title page, I decided to layer, but not too much, as I didn't want it to interfere with my journaling.


I used Papertre Ink cardstock (rustic white for the journaling pages, as well as kraft, rustic cream, fine linen, scarlet jewel and dark chocolate), stamps (gratitude journal, delightful doilies (on the journaling pages), happy day) and dies (mat stack #5, doily details, happy day, jounaling tabs). The patterned paper is Simple Stories and the brad is Basic Grey.

Here's a close up:


I decided to make a little bookmark to mark my place, using a Simple Stories journaling tag and a Mega Mat Stack die. The border is stamped with Love & Marriage stamp set.


Here's my first page, which I stamped and added some Simple Stories stickers (to hide my "oops!")


And some stamping on my second page. The rest of the pages are yet unstamped. I figure I can add to them later if I want.


I also included some sections with the names of my husband and children, so if I wrote something down that included them, I could repeat it in their section.














And that's it. Now that it's done, I'm hoping to write in it daily.

Thanks for looking!

Kind of like a kit

I don't know if it's from working with scrapbooking kits for so long or what, but when I get a new collection of patterned paper & coordinating elements, I find it easier to treat it as a kit and select many photos that would suit it to scrapbook with it. Then once I'm finished one layout with these papers, I don't need to put them all away. Instead, I just pull out another photo and make another layout. I find this helps me to use my stash a little better, plus, it just feels more efficient.

You'll notice I did this with my Generations line by Simple Stories. I packed it up to take to my friend, Marlo's house last week (which really made it quite simple to pack to go scrapbook at someone else's house-- I fit everything in a 13x13 plastic case and away I went!), where I made the following two layouts. Then, I used it to make a mini-album, the layout I shared yesterday and one more project that I plan on sharing tomorrow.... Which now leaves me several scraps that I think I'll use to make some cards. ;)

So here are the layouts I made at Marlo's:

The first one I made was using this fabulous photo of Jonah that I took in the fall, when we were on a hike. I just love it!


I used Bazzill cardstock (kraft), Papertrey Ink cardstock (kraft, rustic cream, scarlet jewel), stamps (wonderful words, bb:newsprint) & dies (double-ended banner builder, mega mat stack #4, block alphabet). The decorative brad is Basic Grey.

Here's a close-up of my title treatment. I love that with the block alphabet dies, I can spell out "blessed"! I dislike the word "lucky" so is a better way for me to use those stamps.


And the second layout, also taken this past fall, but on a differnt day, on a different hike, in a different location.


I used Bazzill cardstock (french vanilla), Papertrey Ink cardstock (kraft, rustic cream, scarlet jewel), stamps (Think Big Favourites #11) & dies (double-ended banner builder, fillagree border).

This paper was just so pretty, I couldn't resist cutting out some of the flowers.


Thanks for looking!

A layout to share

Anyone who visits my blog regularly know that I am a huge fan of Papertrey Ink's Make It Mondays. Well, this week, they're having a recap of all the MIMs from the last year-- we can go back and choose to make something using a technique that we missed. In looking back, there weren't very many that I'd missed (only the first 7 and then anything involving glitter or Copics.) So, seeing as I don't own any glitter or Copics (the reason I never did those challenges in the first place), I decided to tackle a few of the first challenges I missed.

I made this layout using two techniques: #5 (Distressing Edges) and #6 (Impression Plate Tricks 1):


I used Bazzill & PTI cardstock (scarlet jewel, rustic cream), Generations by Simple Stories patterned paper, Papertrey Ink stamps (Gratitude Journal), felt, impression plate (woodgrain) & dies (heart border, Mega Mat Stack #4, Heart Prints). The decorative brad is Bo Bunny.

When I ordered prints for my mini-album, I ordered some copies of my favourites to scrapbook. I took this photo last spring in the Pembina Valley.

Here's a close up of the impression plate technique, where you just impress a portion of the diecut:



I just love all the texture in this layout!

Thanks for looking!

A mini- album

Ever since I got some papers from the Generations line by Simple Stories and some 8x6 photos printed through a special at Black's (50 6x8 photo for $5), I've had an idea to make a mini-album using some favourite family photos.

However, for me, mini-albums are always something I can push off until another day, so I was really thankful for Lee's Papertrey Princess challnge to make a mini-album. It was just the motivation I needed to get it done.

I loved the vertical journaling card elements that were 4x6 inches. So I cut apart some of my boxes that my Papertrey Ink stamps came in and sewed one to a card, stitching them together with my sewing machine. These made great pages to separate some of my photos.

For the album, I used Simple Stories patterned paper & letter stickers, Papertrey Ink cardstock (rustic cream), stamps (love & marriage) and dies (mega mat stack #4, heart border, fillagree border) & twine. The key is My Mind's Eye.

To bind it together, I took it to our local print shop where they coil bound it for me for $4.































Thanks for looking!