Santa Layout

With all the hustle and bustle of the holidays and my job, I have been in desperate need for some creative time. So when I got home from work today, I printed up these photos and got into my "happy zone." Fortunately, I had the Santa already colored. He was suppose to go on one of the Christmas cards that I didn't finish making. He is from the set "Share the Magic." The list and Santa letter are from "Santa's List." The paper is "Misletoe." All supplies are from Close to My Heart.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all my Blogger and Facebook Friends. I hope you are surrounded with love during this special time of year. This layout was featured in the Fall/Winter CTMH catalog. I loved it so much, that I had to make a copy of it and add my own pictures. I love how the pictures of my daughter, her family and me and Bill fit into this layout.

Thanksgiving Layouts

Hi Everyone, I hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving. This is one of my favorite holiday's. I love visiting with my family and watching the kids, all excited, playing with their cousins. And, as usual I love how the CTMH papers and layouts always go so well with my photos. These layouts were done at my November scrapbook workshop using the Olivia paper pack. The top one uses the "Levitate sketch" from Magic and the bottom uses the "Role Play" sketch from Imagine. The nice thing about having them done ahead of time is that all I have to do is add the pictures. Sketches used to frustrate me because they didn't always fit my pictures. Once I learned that sketches are a guide for you to start with, I was able to manipulate my pictures to fit. For instance on the bottom layout, the left page used a 6 x 6 picture on top and two 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 pictures on the bottom. As you can see from my photos, the pictures on the bottom would not work at the 3 1/2 inch size. Instead of using those sizes, I used a 5 x 7 on top and 3 1/2 x 5 photos on the bottom. So there ends my frustration. It works.

A Couple of Thanksgiving Cards

This has been such a busy month for me with Christmas Card Workshops, Scrapbook Workshops and working full time, but I managed to find some time for myself to make a couple of Thanksgiving Cards. Both cards are made using the beautiful "Olivia" paper. The card on the left uses the stamp set "Harvest Home" and the one on the right uses "Thanksgiving." Both cards are watercolored using CTMH inks and and a blending pen. I love to add sparkle to my cards and both of my cards have Prisma Glitter and Shimmer Designer Brads. All supplies are from Close to My Heart.

Lexi's Thanksgiving Tree

I came home from work last night to this adorable Thanksgiving Tree that Lexi made. If you click on the picture, you can see what Lexi is thankful for. Her mother used a maple leaf cookie cutter as a stencil for the leaves and Lexi cut them out.

Convention Layouts

I had so much fun this past summer at Convention in Washington DC and can't wait until next Summer for the next one! The paper that I chose for my layout is called "You Rock" from CTMH. When I first saw this paper pack, I did not like it and set it aside. But, I love how well it goes with my Convention photos. The layout that I used is appropriately called "On with the Show" from "Magic."

Halloween Layout

I am giving a party for a new customer and she asked me to do a Halloween layout using glitter. I was inspired by a layout that was done by a fellow CTMH consultant, I wish that I remember her name, on the CTMH boards using "Raise the Curtain" from the Magic layout book. I did a modified version of hers by turning the first page upside down and putting the title on black. I used bulk Hooligans paper, and Black and Gypsy cardstock. The little monsters have Prisma Glitter on them and the title is stamped with the "Cocktail Alphabet" set.

My Little Hot Dog

My little dog Jesse posed so nicely for these photos that I needed to complete my layouts. He was a little humiliated at being dressed up as a "hot dog," but, he went along with it. This is one of the sets of layouts that we will be making at my "Hooligans" Workshop next week.

Share The Magic Workshop

Halloween isn't even here yet and I am posting Christmas cards. Before you think I am crazy, they are for my worshop in November. I had so much fun making these cards using the new Mistletoe Paper Pack and the October Stamp of the Month, Share The Magic. The colors are Cranberry, New England Ivy and Cocoa. Such a perfect color combination with glitter and sparkles. My "Scrappin' Ladies" are going to have so much fun. They love to color and I am going to teach them the "Gamasol Magic" trick for coloring. Click on the link on Gamasol for this technique. This adorable stamp set will only be available through the end of October. If you like it as much as I do, then be sure to get one for yourself, because once the month is over, they will no longer be available. You can order one Here and have fun making your own Christmas Cards. To get a better view of the cards, click on the picture to enlarge.

Happy Birthday Bill!!! And a Riley card

October is the month for birthdays in our house. Today it was Bill's special day. Jennifer made him a delicious chicken and vegetable dinner. And, Ryan brought over some delicious cannoli's from a bakery in San Francisco.

When I got home from work, Lexi and I went to work making birthday cards. Every year, I get Bill a season pass to his favorite ski resort for his birthday. This Riley stamp came in handy for his card. I used CTMH's Aspen paper for the background. For the snow, I tore pieces of White Daisy cardstock and added Liquid Glass and glitter.

Just like the little girl in this card, Lexi can't help but carry her cat like this. When I saw this Digi Stamp from Mo's Digital Pencil, it reminded me so much of her. She had fun making this card for her Poppa and wrote Happy Birthday "Popp-sicle" on the inside. She colored her image with Copic Markers and even cut out the little tag free handed.

Happy Birthday Lexi!!!

Yesterday was Lexi's 6th birthday. My how time flies. Here she is with the "Felicity" doll that Bill and I gave her.

A Day at the Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday Jennifer, Lexi and I had a wonderful day together. We went out to the pumpkin patch. There were so many fun activities going on. They had hay rides, face painting, arts and crafts, a country ho down and much more. We bought these silly masks and had fun playing with them. We went on a hay ride out to the pumpking patch where we passed by lots of cornfields and beautiful sunflowers. Standing next to the flowers is my daughter Jennifer.
Lexi had fun going through all the pumpkins and searching for the perfect one.
And, this is the one that she chose.Lexi had fun playing on the big pumpkins.

And lastly, here I am with my little sweetheart.

A Gorgeous Cased Card

Don't you just love a quiet Saturday morning when everyone is asleep, and the house is so peaceful that you can get into a happy, creative mode? That's how my morning is. I started this morning with my coffee, some delicious smelling candles, Facebook and my Favorite Blogs. I was so inspired by this gorgeous card on Aaron's blog that I had to re-create and share it with you. I didn't have the exact tag that she used, so I used the one from the "Party Pennants" stamp set. The leaves are made from a former stamp of the month called "Something Splendid." To make the paper flowers, I punched 4 different sizes of circles out of Tulip, Creme Brulee and Juniper cardstock and distressed the edges. I have an edge distresser, but found it easier to use the inside edge of my small scissors. I then sponged the edges with Desert Sand ink and scrunched them inward. They are held together with Glue Dots. The dots on the inside flowers are Mocha Opaques Adhesive Gems. The patterned paper is from the Jingle paper pack. Have a blessed afternoon and if you haven't already, I hope you find time to get into your happy, creative mode.

Happy Birthday Ryan!!! And Spook Alley

Yesterday was my son's 25th birthday. We took him out to dinner and then to Fenton's for dessert. I made this silly card for him using the "Spook Alley" stamp set from CTMH and the "Hooligans" paper. I knew he would like it.Here is a picture of him on his first birthday. He loved that pacifier. I had a hard time finding a picture without one in his mouth. That is me at 25!!!Here he is all grown up 25 years later with me. Here he is with his dad.

This is his sister Jennifer and niece Lexi.
This is Lexi and her dad.

It was a fun night for all of us. We had fun telling stories of when Ryan was little.

Hooligans Workshop

These are the layouts that we will be making at my upcoming "Hooligans" Workshop. I love the fun colors in this paper. For this first layout, I was inspired by a layout that Karen Pedersen made. I changed it up a bit to fit my workshop. When I went to convention this past summer, one of the talented consultants who was teaching a class made a layout similiar to this one. Her's was much more complicated. Mine is a bit simpler.

And, lastly this layout is from the Hooligans Workshop-on-the-go.

Sumpin's Wrong

I am going to a baby shower today for a woman in my church who just gave birth to an adorable baby boy. I made this card for her using a digital image from "mo's digital pencil." Surprisingly, I went online to the website this morning and was able to purchase the image and it was ready for me to download in a matter of minutes. The image is called "Sumpin's Wrong."
Since, I am one of the people giving the party, I have to finish getting the games ready. Have a great day!

Lexi's American Girl Doll Layout

A friend of mine gave Lexi some American Girl Doll stickers. One of the stickers is of her doll "Molly." This doll used to be Lexi's mother's doll, 20 years ago!!! When I came home from work today, I saw that Lexi had made a layout using the stickers.She asked me if I would take some pictures of her and her doll for the layout. First, I had to braid Molly's hair and put some ribbons in it. Then we were ready for pictures.Here she is with her layout. It is such a good feeling to have a granddaughter who loves scrapbooking as much as I do.

Remember the Details

One of the things that I like to photograph is detail. I took these pictures of Lexi on the first day of school. I want to remember how little her feet were, what she wore and how excited she was to start kindergarten. Like her mother, I know her childhood will go fast and I want to capture and hold on to as much of it as I can.