Hello 2013!

You know what that means... my annual calendar post. This is one of my favorite projects every year. I get to enjoy the calendar every day and at the end of the year, I have a fun mini-album to enjoy.

Wishing you a blessed 2013!

Citrus Twist Sketch Challenge

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are enjoying this holiday season. Even though I haven't touched my December album for days, I decided that I needed to do some scrapping.

I was instantly inspired by the Sunday Sketch at Citrus Twist, so I decided to run with it. October's kit, Blue Sky had the perfect papers and embellishments to use with my photos.

I used machine stitching to add dimension and used a combination of embossed and wooden stars. I love the soft and subtle look this creates. You may click on the photos to enlarge.

How fun is this roller stamp (Amy Tangerine) that came with the kit - love it!

It feels great to get back into a scrappy groove. If you're needing some inspiration, check out Citrus Twist - every Sunday a new sketch is up on their blog. They also have fun and fabulous tutorials during the week. It's cold and rainy here, I might as well have some fun getting creative. Enjoy this last weekend of 2012!

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve! We've had a busy December so I haven't had much time for crafting. I just wanted to share a few holiday photos.

From our home to yours, Merry Christmas, with love! ♥

Home for the Holidays

I chose this simple sentiment for my December album cover page because we are actually staying home for Christmas this year. While I will miss our long-distance family members, I am truly excited about being home. Last night we sat around the campfire, drinking hot chocolate and roasting marshmallows. We played a fun game - "Christmas Box of Questions", and sang Christmas carols. We then watched, "It's a Wonderful Life" - the kids were a little freaked out by the black & white, but really enjoyed the movie. These are the kind of memories that I hope they will look back and cherish always.

For the cover page, I started out with a sheet of paper from a Simple Stories Snap album. The title was cut on my Cameo using two different fonts. The photo of our front porch was printed on vellum. I love the soft look it creates and the fact that you can still see the patterned paper underneath it. A couple of patterned papers under the words add some dimension and a playfulness to the page. The photo was stapled with a Tiny Attacher and a few stamps and embellishments were added to complete the page. One of the chipboard page dividers that came with the album was used to create the backing.

If you're creating a December album, leave a comment - I'd love to see what you're creating! Thanks for stopping by - Happy Holidays!

How I Scrap "Less Than Perfect" Photos

In August, my son started middle school; I won't get sidetracked with emotion, I'm here to talk about photos. :) The start time for middle school is very early and I couldn't get my camera to cooperate with the bad lighting. After all, it was 6:45 a.m. and my brain wasn't functioning properly at that point. So I took less than perfect photos and converted them to black and white and suddenly those same bad photos looked pretty good!

I sat the photos aside waiting for some inspiration. As I started looking through my stash, I found Citrus Twist's September kit and knew it was a perfect match.

The Thickers from the kit were the first thing that caught my eye because of the color and stitching. It reminds me of stitching on backpacks. I also loved the scalloped circles cut from book paper. I folded them in half to mimic clouds and stapled them to the page with my Tiny Attacher. The title needed to pop, so I used a torn out piece of paper from an old book and used my Fiskars punch to create the notebook paper embellishment. I love the little CT arrow stamp, so I took two colors of Zing embossing powder (white and charcoal) and made a pattern to highlight the journaling.

Sometimes bad photos happen, but rather than tossing the memory aside, embrace it, scrap it, and be happy that it's documented.

Fun Christmas Card

After celebrating a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family, we arrived home safely last night and I was in the mood to create!

I decided to make a Christmas card using Crate Paper's Sleigh Ride 6x6 paper pad from Cocoa Daisy's Christmas add-on kit. I love the look of square cards, so I trimmed a piece of cardstock to create a 5x5 square. I trimmed a piece of patterned paper to 4.75" and attached it to the card, adding machine stitching to the edge to frame it. I then took several pieces of patterned paper and cut little strips to create my tree. I began with a piece 2.75" for the bottom row of the tree. Reduce each row by 1/4" to create the graduated tree. To create the rolled piece, I simply wrapped the paper around a pencil and rolled it up. A little strip of adhesive on the edge holds the roll in place.

A small piece ribbon was used to create a tree skirt. I simply glued the little rolls down from largest to smallest and added some My Mind's Eye Winter Wonderland enamel dots to mimic ornaments. (I'm truly obsessed with these little dots!) I took a piece of raw chipboard and used VersaMark and Zing embossing powder to create the star for the top. The adorable "joy" stamp is from Citrus Twist's December Daily kit and I think it's the perfect little touch to complete the card.

Creating little paper rolls is a great way to use a mix of patterned papers (esp. scraps) and get lots of impact! This sweet card makes me smile, I'm not sure I'll be able to give it away! Thanks for stopping by, happy holiday crafting to you!

December Album 2012

One of my favorite things about the holiday season, is preparing my December album. There are so many "December Daily" kits offered, that choosing can be a little overwhelming. This year, I chose Citrus Twist's December Daily kit along with Cocoa Daisy's Christmas add-on because they complimented each other perfectly.

I have to share the lovely presentation with you from Trina at Citrus Twist. Even the Grinch couldn't resist digging into this treasure! I'm sure that tag will make it's way into my album! Be sure to click on the photos so you can see it up close. :)

Check out this fabulous stamp set that came in the kit...

Once I touched the pretties in the package, I couldn't resist the urge to get started on my album. This year I decided I wanted to add lots of bright colors to my album cover, this adorable Crate Paper was the perfect starting point. I decided it would be fun to make the album cover look like a gift, so I wrapped the patterned paper with washi tape. With just a few more touches, I ended up with a simple and festive album cover.