Decorating Zach's Christmas Tree

This is my last October layout for Splitcoaststampers Scrapbook Goal Challenge.  It's a monthly challenge and for October my goal was 8 pages and I MADE IT!!!  I probably mentioned it before but I joined the group in September.  I decided to start out with a goal of 4 pages and reached it well before the end of the month.  So for October I decided to go out on a limb and double my goal.  Since the holiday's are coming I think I'll try to do 6 in November and 4 in December.  I am so glad I joined because I would have never done so many layouts.  The girls are very encouraging and supportive.  Their theory is any page done is good and it doesn't matter if it's a digi, a kit or your own design!  Well on to the layout....

This layout is not my design or a kit, it was from a Scrapbook Shoebox Swap our group did a few years ago.  Each person attending was assigned a holiday or special day like birthday.  You needed to make one completed two page layout to be used as a sample then supply everything for the others to do.  That included cutting everything so the layout only needed to be assembled and embellished.  You set up your sample and supplies then explained it to the group.  We then rotated to each project and at the end of the day we ended up with 18 COMPLETED two page layouts  I always enjoy attending events like this.  Not only do you end up with nice projects but we always have a lot of fun plus a great lunch.  I'm not sure who designed this layout but when/if I find out I'll come back and post her name so she gets credit for such a cute design.  Again the pictures don't do it justice...I think I need a new camera.  The paper on the left page is similar to SU's Cherry Cobbler with gold dots.  I'm think the "Just Believe" was done on a Silhoutte or a Cricut.  The pictures are double matted and the red plaid is so pretty I hated to cover it up so I cut the pictures a little smaller so it shows as much as possible.  The pictures I chose for this layout went very well with the layout since it has a cute tree on the right page.  I feel like I'm cheating because I've had this layout together for awhile but even adding the pictures and especially journaling never got done before and now I am!

This detail is so cute.   The stars are non-traditional and are hanging from string of beads.   Thanks for looking!

 

Supplies - I'm sorry to say can't post the company names for the supplies because I didn't do the design.  

 

 

 

 



Ginny's Cookie Treats

Something a little different for my project today.  This is a gift basket for our local Abuse & Rape Crisis Center.  They're having their annual silent auction on Saturday so my two sisters (in-law), Pam & Judy & I decided we wanted to make a donation.  Pam & Judy provided most of the material & I assembled it.  Judy gave the basket, bead board, faux cookie & a bunch of white & green pine picks.  You can see the faux cookie hanging on the front of the basket.  I happened to have twill ribbon with gingerbread men & candy canes so I hot glued it around the top of the basket

 

Pam was selling her collection of Department 56 lighted houses so she donated Ginny's Cookie Treats from Elf Land which is part of the North Pole Series.  This is a limited edition set of 7 which I think came out & retired in 2000.  It includes a lighted building, 3 pine trees, 2 figurines and a bag of snow.   We collected these buildings back in the 90's.  My attic is full of them & what a shame I don't put them up any more.  My grandson, Zach found them in the attic & is insisting we set it up.  Now that he's older I may put some of them up this year.

In the bottom of the basket I put in 2 layers of 2" white bead board.  This stuff is easy to shape & will hold picks & trees plus you can even shape it with a wire brush to build mountains.  Of course that can get a little messy.  The building has a couple of small holes in the bottom so I poked shortened wooden skewers into the bead board and slipped the building over them to anchor it down.  From there I added the white & pine picks in the background & put the bead picks in between. I wove the red bead garland in through the trees.  Next, the figurines & trees that came with the set are hot glued in place.  I also added a bag of flour (behind the sign) & sugar.  Finding accessories that are scale is very hard but if you're baking alot of cookies would you want BIG bags of flour & s ugar?.  Once everything was in place, I sprinkled 

Viola, you have a whimsical Christmas scene! 

Sorry this post has odd spaces...I had problems tonight.

Thanks & hope you enjoyed looking.

    



Splash!

This is another adorable kit I purchased at the Scrapbook "Fun" Addicts  booth at CKC Lancaster this year.  It was designed by Terri Zaelit & is so cute!  Don't you just love that duck in his tube?  He was so easy to assemble!  Terri's design has five 4X6 double mats but my pictures wouldn't fit.  In their instructions they tell you it's the suggested layout but to have fun with it...so I did.  I used six pictures with the bottom mats measuring 4X4 & each layer is 1/4" less.  All the white mats are sponged to match the color of the bottom mat.  I did simple journaling below the pictures in white card stock sponged red with red lettering.  Each set of 3 photos are arranged in a sequence & once I had them arranged, there was a lot of blank space at the top.  This wouldn't have happened if I had followed the original design.

I was at a lose how to fill the space & one of the NEPA Gigglers, Mary Ann suggested a "spray of water" to match the splash in the picture.  It's a little hard to see but I used 3D clear lacquer & just randomly applied drops of "water". I may have gotten a little carried away but it filled the space perfectly! Thanks Mary Ann for the suggestion, I just love it! The duck is accented with a white gel pen & the dots on the tube are small punched circles...yes, the dots were included in the kit too. They thought of everything.  I used a glue pen to put them in place.

Hope you enjoyed & thanks for looking!!








Supplies:  Kit by Scrapbook "Fun" Addicts ; SU inks; 3D Clear Lacquer

 

 

 

 

Our Camping Vacation

The subject for this layout is our camping trip to Lake George, NY in 2010.  It was HOT & then it RAINED but we still had a great time.  We've camped there  before & hope to go back again.  This is a kit from The Paper Loft.  Each year I love taking their classes at the Creating Keepsakes Convention (CKC).  If you're a scrapper & have never attend one of the CKC events you should go at least once.  This year, CKC moved the PA event from Valley Forge to Lancaster.  Good move CKC!  I usually attend with other NEPA Gigglers & this year it was with Lisa, Jeannette & Shannon.  As usual, we had a fabulous time!  Great shopping, food & a lot of laughs!  The Paper Loft has high quality paper, great designs & their classes are very well taught.  Not only do they have kits, they also have packs of paper & accessory sheets.  This is another company that you'll see on my blog in the future.  The title on the left page was torn at the bottom & the sponged, as were all edges of the mats & accessories you'll see.  I used Color Box Chalk Chestnut Roan.  The lantern was cut out & then popped up & you'll see more of them in the rest of the layout.  The page on the right has a cute camping list & I checked the items we took with us.  To the right is a mini album.  This is such a great idea so you can add a lot of pictures.  The Paper Loft uses this concept quite often with other kits too.  Lisa suggested I post the other pages of the mini album and it was a good one!  I used another sheet of their paper to print off my journaling.  I randomly cut the journaling out & sponged the edges then mounted them on the pages of the mini album.  Now you're probably wondering how you can look at pages once its in the page protector.  Before adhering the mini album on the 12X12 sheet, you place the base sheet in the page protector.  Then cut a slit in the page protector just wide enough so you can slip the last page of the mini album into the page protector and adhere it to the 12X12 page.  When you cut the slit, you'll need to open to the last page & measure because the mini album is bound at the top & it won't slip all the way in the protector.  Also, remember to put something inside so you don't cut the base paper.  The mini album will be on the outside of the protector (except the last page) so you can open it up to view the pictures.  Cute, huh?  I have to say I don't think these pictures do justice to the layout.  In person, the colors are brighter so I hope you check out the website links above for The Paper Loft & CKC too.  Thanks for looking!

      

 

Supplies:  Kit - The Paper Loft; Ink - Color Box Chalk Chestnut Roan

Scarin' the Crows?

Two more pages done!!  This was a kit I purchased from  Scrapbook "Fun" Addicts  in 2011 at the CKC Convention in Valley Forge, PA and was designed by Elicia Simon.  I must say it's so cute and a perfect fit for these photos!  If you're new to scrapbooking or just don't want to design yourself, this is a great company to buy from.  They have a good variety of kits at reasonable prices and the instructions are sssoooo easy to follow.  Everything is die cut so all you have to do is put it together!  I can tell you this won't be the last LO from Scrapbook Funaddicts you'll see here.  If you go to their site and look at this layout, you may notice that I embellished it just a tad.  I didn't have photos that were portrait so I cut two of them down and added a panel for my journaling.  There was enough card stock left so the journali mats match perfectly.  On the left page, I made a boo boo when I measured so I added a knotted piece of twine between the photo and the journal panel.  To match it, I added a "rope belt" to the scarecrow.  On the right page, I needed to cover something up in the top photo so I made another crow.  It's not as cute as Elicia's but it'll do.  I sponged the edges of everything with chestnut roan chalk from Color Box. 

I had to add a close up of Elicia's crows because they are adorable.  The eyes are drawn with a white rollerball pen.















    

Supplies:  Kit Scrapbook "Fun" Addicts ; Color Box Chalk Chestnut Roan; SU Natural Twine.



Scary Halloween Pop-up ATC

This ATC is for a swap the NEPA Gigglers are doing at Mary Ann's (Geraldinesmom) SU party. I saw a tutorial for a Surprise Pop-up Card by Beate on Splitcoaststampers & I thought an ATC would be cool.  Cyndi Evans has posted the ATC dimensions at the bottom in the Question & Comment section.  I highly recommend watching the tutorial before starting.  This will give you the entire process (which I'm not going to type) plus if you use my dimensions then they will make more sense.  I did make changes to fit my design. Here are my layers:  Perfect Plum base - 3 1/2" X 2 1/2"; Basic Black - 3 1/4" X 2 1/4", Brown - 3 1/8" X 2 1/8", DSP - 3" X 2", black slider - 2 7/8" X 1 3/4" , paper slider guide - 4" X 1/4".  I  used DSP so it would look like grass & mounted it on the black leaving a 1/8" edge.  I then cut through both layers, 1/4" from the edge of the DSP making 2 cuts 2 1/2" long &1 cut 1 1/2" wide.  I found cutting with the DSP up worked best so I could see what I was cutting & it kept the cuts smooth.  I didn't want to make pencil marks on the DSP so I used the lines on my cutter & the blade as a guide.  I only added the brown layer so it would look like a grave for the "surprise".  The ghost is stamped & hand cut.  He's woven in through the tree which is cut from the Cricut.  I used 2 layers for the trees because their size (2 1/2") made them very delicate.  In front of the tree is a Memory Box die cut wrought iron fence which I trimmed on one side.  Then I popped out the tombstone &  pumpkins.  The pumpkins were colored with Copics & then I used Crystal Effects for a little dimension. 

 

Here is a side view when the slider had been pulled!  Cute huh?  I enjoyed making this into an ATC but I do think by adding the DSP it was a little harder to cut.  If you've never made one, I'd recommend doing a card first. A big thanks to Mary Ann for cutting the trees out and letting me borrow her stamp set.  She's the queen of Halloween!!

 

Supplies:  Card stock - SU Perfect Plum, Basic Black, Basic Brown, Whisper White, DSP Cast-a-spell; Stamps - Spooktacular Greetings; Cricut - Happy Hauntings; Die - Memory Box Wrought Iron Fence; Misc - SU Whisper White Ink, Copics, bright green eyelet, SU Black Hemp, SU Crystal Effects, dimensionals, double sided 1/4" tape.

 



Mary Ann's Halloween Birthday

One of my good friends, Mary Ann, who is also a NEPA Giggler, is an October birthday girl.  She LOVES Halloween so it was a no brainer to make her birthday card with a Halloween theme.  I hate to admit it but I used a stamp set I borrowed from Mary Ann to make her card...LOL.  After embossing the pumpkins, I took my black stamp pad and rubbed if over top on the reverse side.  The black mat is die cut using a Spellbinders as well as the green, which was placed on the black mat at an slight angle.  All the edges are sponged in black.  I printed the sentiment for the sign and cut it out by hand.  The sentiment on the inside of the card was found online (can't remember where) but I changed it a little to read:

When black cats prowl,

and pumpkins gleam,

may your birthday

be as fun as Halloween



 

Supplies:  Card stock - SUDSP Cast-a-spell; Stamps - SU Spooktacular Greetings; Other - Spellbinders Lg Deckled Rectangle, Cuttlebug Punpkin Harvest Emblossing Folder, Unknown adhesive backed black ribbon, SU Basic Black Ink

Kimberly & Kevin's Wedding Card

This card was for my friend Diane's daughter, Kimberly & her new son-in-law, Kevin.  I lined the envelope with a copy of their adorable Save The Date Card.  I thought it was such a cute idea and found it on Pinterest from The DIY Bride 2010.  The card is white on white & embossed using a Sizzix embossing folder.

This is a close up of the front.  I heat embossed the cake from the SU set Love & Laughter.  The embossing powder is Winter Wonderland from Stampendous and has a silver look.  I'm not very good at tying bows but didn't do too bad on this one.  The sentiment is from the same SU set and is stamped in Soft Suede then punched using the SU Modern Label.  Their wedding colors were orange and brown.  Unfortunately I wasn't feeling well and couldn't attend the wedding.  I did heard from the other NEPA Gigglers who attended there was a yummy candy bar, good food & music.

Congratulations to Kimberly and Kevin!

 Supplies:  Card stock - SU Whisper White; Stamps - SU Love & Laughter; Punch - SU Modern Label; Ribbon - CTMH White Daisy Organdy; Embossing Folder - Unknown Sissix; Misc - Stampendous Winter Wonderland Embossing Powder, Half Pearls.

Wedding Punch Art

I've seen alot of bride & groom punch art cards and decided to do one for my husband's cousin's  son's wedding.  For the bride I used the SU heart punch and a dotted swiss embossing folder.  Then added a 2nd black heart behind it and place 3 white pearls down the center.  The groom's white shirt is the center from the SU heart punch placed on top of a black heart.  The bow tie is from the SU 3 heart punch.  The sentiment is from SU Love & Laughter punched with the SU modern label and matted too.  It's very hard to see but the SU Regal Rose was embossed too.