random reflections

Some Excitement

Two posts in a day, but this is a special announcement. About a month ago, I submitted a some projects for the Design Team at the Scrap-Mart blog. The call was in an email, and I got to the blog at the last minute for the submission. I am so excited to have been asked to join the 2010 Design Team. The announcement is up on the blog, so now I can "spill the beans!" In addition to a new design team, they have a beautiful new blog.

The first time I encountered Scrap Mart was at the CKC Convention in Buffalo three years ago. They sell Nestabilities, Spellbinders, Copic markers (which I knew nothing about at the time), Just Rite stamps, Unity stamps, the new LetterPress, Sizzix, Quickutz, and more. At the time, they also carried all of the Scenic Route (now out of business) line which was my very favorite. I spent most of my convention "fund" at their booth! Their customer service is great, and I must say, working with them over the past two weeks has truly been a pleasure. Check them out!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year--well, almost! I managed to get a card done for the 2 Sketches 4 You blog as well as a challenge at the Cards Blog. (For some reason Typepad isn't letting me add links here.) We're off to friends' tonight at 8:00, and their party is probably the only way we'd be up to see the ball drop at midnight!

 

White cardstock (Staples), charms (Impress), glitter alpha (Making Memories), red frill (from stash), square Nestibility on Bazzil dot paper, Stickles glitter. It's hard to see, but every other hole in the scalloped border is glittered and there are glitter bubbles above the glasses.

The other project that's been on my mind is a 2009 Summary layout. I could have chosen a lot more photos, but decided on family shots and two favorite photos from our road trip this summer.

 

Dotted cardstock (Bazzil), red puff alpha (SEI), digital template (Mushy Playing with Paper 12)

Have a safe and joyous New Year! 

 
 

Caught Up!

I finally had time to day to catch up with the Christmas Journal. I had mixed feelings about the 6X6 album, but one clear advantage of it is that I have done a lot more digital and hybrid layouts. With such a small size, doing photo collages is almost a necessity. I have two pages left at the end of the album and am saving one for New Year's Eve and have two other possibilities for the other one. Getting straight photos of them tonight has proven exceptionally difficult, but here they are (straight IRL for sure!).

 

I altered a journaling card from a digital kit by Cathy Z for the menus. The velvet letters are from American Crafts.  Patterned paper is from Memory Box.

Patterned paper (Memory Box) 

 

I used a part of Ali E's Believe template for the journaling on the left-hand page. The left column is my journaling from the morning, and the right-hand is journaling I wrote after church on Christmas Eve. It wasn't feeling much like Christmas in the morning, but by the time we went to bed, it felt just like Christmas. We had a great evening. Patterned paper from Memory Box, circle stamp from Hero Arts, and numbers from SEI.

Hero Arts circle stamp and Making Memories numbers.  

Sunday we had a belated birthday party for my brother-in-law. Ribbon from my stash, circle number from karenika. 

Yesterday I had lunch with four good friends. We had an elegant, long, and leisurely lunch. I decided to take a notepad to each of them, so finished up a few more yesterday morning--just in time.

 

Patterned papers from October Afternoon, Crate Paper, and Cosmos Cricket. Stamps from Papertrey Ink (Take a Note), ribbons from Papertrey Ink and from stash, gems from Amuse (Creative Candy). buttons from a Studio Calico kit and Papertrey Ink.
  

Creative Calendar 2010

For the last four or five years I've made myself a little calendar to keep track of the number of cards and layouts I do each year. I'm always amazed at the end of the year to find out how many cards I've made! I don't complete as many layouts, but they take me quite a bit longer. Nonetheless, it's gratifying at the end of the year to discover that I did actually get quite a bit done. This year I used all Jillibean papers. I love the graphic grids on one side and the polka-dots on the other. Since the papers are so bright, I kept embellishments to a minimum; pulling out a few paper punches seemed to do the trick. The calendar pages are from a Junkiz Calendar Kitz that I picked up several years ago. The red alphabet is my favorite this year--a puffy alpha by SEI. The number stickers came from Michaels, and the ribbons from my scraps.

 

 

 
 
 

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

Tonight's blog hop is all about taking inspiration from your holiday decorations for your project. I knew right away what I wanted to use: my favorite new candles from Target.

 

And here's the card. I used the CPS 147 Sketch as well:

 

Cardstock (Pure Poppy & Dark Chocolate), Stamps (Snowflake Additions & Mixed Messages), Button (Pure Poppy Vintage buttons), gems (Amuse Creative Candy), Nestibilities (Circle and Scalloped Circle), Ribbon (Michaels), and tag from stash.
 

 

 

Merry Christmas

 

It's hard to believe it's Christmas Eve. I'm sure by the time we come home from the 11:00 service, I'll feel like Christmas is here. We're ready. In fact, I have never had so little left to do; there's not much else I can do until tomorrow afternoon right before the family arrives for dinner.

When I started this blog four years ago, I really had no idea what I would do with it. Over the years, I've come to know many lovely people through the internet. Twice I've been lucky enough to meet friends I've met through the internet, and they are as wonderful in person as they are online. It's truly been a pleasure, and I gain so much inspiration for photography, cardmaking, and scrapbooking because of you! Merry Christmas and may you enjoy every minute of your special time with family!

Catching Up

I finally made time today to do a little catching up on my Christmas Journal. I have the journaling done for four more pages, but they'll have to wait until tomorrow. I'm off to wrap stocking stuffers, and to be sure I have enough for Matt's stocking.

Memory Box patterned paper, cardstock from my scrap drawer. 

Anna Griffin patterned paper, paper punch, Amuse Creative Candy, photo template from CoffeeShop

Template: Liv.e Design (Storyboard Album)-JessicaSprague.com

Patterned Paper: Cosmos Cricket "Jolly by Golly," Making Memories glitter alphabet stickers, holly sticker from stash.

 

Photo template from "Playing with Paper set no. 05" Little Dreamer Designs, puffy alphabet stickers from Making Memories, Jolee's sticker, Bazzil cardstock.
  

Projects

Tracy and I got up early to frost cookies this morning, and the package for Sarah and Adam is ready to be mailed early tomorrow morning. I unpacked my goodies from Papertrey Ink this afternoon and did a bit of organizing. Tonight I finished a few projects that I needed to have ready to give on Wednesday. I made notepads for a group of women I work with each week when I volunteer and packaged them with a colorful pen to match and some candies.

 

 

I'm really happy with how they turned out. I love this stamp set (Take Note) from Papertrey Ink. I also made one for my SIL to go with her Christmas gift.

 Yesterday I went to a Hero Arts party at the local stamp store. I had visited most of the blogs on the Hero Arts Blog Hop so I had a list of stamps I hoped to buy. I was lucky enough to find all four of them. They had a Make & Take which I enjoyed doing. When I got home, I decided I didn't like the way the message covered the bottom of the card, so I took it off, added a ribbon, and a pretty button from the vintage Ripe Avocado buttons from Papertrey. You really can't see it in the photo, but the button has a bit of glitter on it to match the glitter on the grasses.

This posted a bit darker than it is IRL.

And finally, I played with one of my new Hero Arts stamps. It's a lift from Laura Griffin. I loved the brown background with the bright red poppies.

The sentiment is from Everyday Classics (Papertrey) on an embossed Spellbinders tag. There are tiny pearls in the center of two poppies and three at the end of the tag.

I finished editing all the photos I've been taking for the Christmas Journal. Tomorrow's "Layout Day," if I don't get distracted by the Christmas list!

   
 
 

Moxie Fab: All Creatures Great and Small

Here are two cards for the Moxie Fab challenge. I was inspired by the Crate and Barrel (love this store) plate for the first card.

 

 

All Papertrey ink except for the Midori ribbon and Amuse Creative Candy.

 

Again, all Papertrey Ink except for the Fiskars border punch.
 
 

Embellish #2 and Lunch Out

As I was making the first card for the Embellish four color snowflake challenge, I remember my Spellbinders Snowflake dies which I used for one of my Christmas cards last year, so I decided to make another card.

 

Cardstock (Papertrey Dark Chocolate, Aqua Mist, Lemon Tart, and Kraft), Spellbinders die, Nestabilities Circle and Scalloped Circle dies, Patterned Paper (Papertrey Bitty Stars), Stamp (A muse), gems (Hero Arts), ribbon (Michaels)

A friend and I had lunch today at one of my favorite restaurants. We discovered The Gate House Cafe this summer and have never been disappointed in our meals. Today was no exception, great salads, wood-fired pizza, and this fabulous mulled cider:

I'm not typically a fan of cider, but this was so delicious I'll be hunting for a recipe on the web!