My Scrappin' Space, part 1

I originally had this as one post, and it was working perfectly, but then it suddenly wasn't showing pictures anymore. I thought maybe I had too many and so I split it up into two. Sorry that's it not really a new post to those of you who were expecting something brand new!

This is where I create my projects: on one end of the ping pong table in our basement. I have tried to keep things mobile so that when we want to play ping pong, it's easy to clean up and move things out of the way quickly. Most of the clutter in the background has now found another place or been donated. Since I do go to a crop once a month, I keep supplies in my totes and keep them handy on the floor by my chair.

The second picture is a close-up of my workspace. The white shelf is a cheap piece of modular closet system from Target (a shoe shelf, I believe, for $10). A quilter's cutting mat protects the table top. My toolbox is on the left side of the table.

The third picture is a page in progress, almost completed, actually. I added some stamped butterflies to the empty space on the right side after this, using the stamp set on the table.

The fourth picture is a rolling crafter's cart. The 12x12 drawers were actually boxes with flip-top lids, with the idea being one could pull out a drawer and take it with you without things falling out. But even though I'm a fairly organized person, I'm also a lazy person, and I knew I wouldn't pull out the entire drawer, flip the lid, put something in and put the drawer back! So
I ripped the lids off each and I use them as simple drawers, complete with labels so I know what's in each one. The smaller drawer set on top holds some embellishments (I usually use just brads and eyelets), sponges for ink (which my three-year-old daughter loves to rearrange for me) and my clear acrylic stamping blocks.

My Scrappin' Space, part 2

The first picture is a cheap storage shelf unit with my supplies, one of several we have in the basement for storage of odds and ends.

The second picture is a three-divider file holder that can be either a table-top device or mounted on a wall. I found it in the office supply section of Wal-Mart. It's 13 inches wide, so it can accommodate 12x12 pages easily.

The last pictures are where I keep my stamp pads and my acrylic stamps, in CD cases when I can. The envelopes in which CTMH stamps come don't stack well and their containers for storage are not cheap, plus one has to flip through all


the envelopes to find a specific set, which drives me nuts! I prefer a rack of CD cases, neatly labeled so it's easy to scan the list and find a specific set. For those sets that don't fit in a CD case, i.e. they're too big, I leave them in their envelopes and keep them in a CD storage box up on top, but because the envelopes are so tall, the lid won't close. Luckily that's a small (but still growing) collection, so it's not too much trouble to store them or flip through them (yet). My stamp pads are kept in a recycled Cropper Hopper. Believe it or not, I used to carry only that to a crop, and it held all my paper and supplies (several years ago).

2007 Christmas Cards

These are the cards I made to send out this year. The blue card is modeled after an Archiver's sample in their flyer. I saw it and I just had to make those cards! The cardstock is from Archiver's. The dove and "Merry Christmas" is from Hand Drawn Christmas from Hero Arts. The swirls are also Hero Arts, Fantastic Flourishes. The dove is stamped in CTMH Grey Flannel, the others in CTMH Spring Iris. The dove is also chalked with glimmer chalks, which you can sort of see in the olive branch. This is the card that went out to most folks.

Close friends and family got (or will get) one of the red/green ones. Sorry, but they're just too much work to make 50! Except for the cord and the white card base, all materials are CTMH: The colors of CS and ink are Ponderosa Pine and Cranberry, stamped on Colonial White CS; the tree, heart and star are Homespun Christmas; the corner adornments are Playful Petals; "for you" is Tiny Typewriter; the flourishes are from 'Twas the Night before Christmas (retired). The original design is taken from the CTMH Fall/Winter 2007 Idea Book and Catalog, although the original highlights the Victorian Snowflakes stamp set, which I didn't use. The 3-D dangles are threaded under the "for you" (which is raised with pop dots) and hung on a brad on the inside of the card, so one can hang it on the tree if desired.

I should also apologize for the blurry pictures; I obviously didn't check for clarity before I gave them away!

Fall in the Backyard

Wow, it's been a month since I last put up a scrapbook page! Well, it's because I've been getting ready for Christmas: writing the Christmas letter, putting the cards together (which I should post, too, come to think of it), buying and wrapping gifts. I'm one of those who likes to get it done and out of the way, so the other half of the ping pong table (the first half is my scrap space) is stacked with wrapped presents, just waiting.

This layout uses pictures from the middle of September. We had a warm early autumn, and the kids were outside playing together so nicely. Aaron had a thing about sticking his head out the holes of the slide, but I had to ask him to stay still for a moment so I could get a good picture. Julia stopped playing for a moment to say hi to Tucker (he is so patient and good with them, even when they were little and learning to crawl over him).

The second page is a layout from pagemaps.com. For the first page, I copied some elements to match, but it is my own idea. The patterned paper is Winter Ribbon Stripe from Doodlebug Design. The blue and gray cardstock are from my stash. The gray circles are stamped with CTMH's Background Basics set (retired) in Grey Flannel. The blue cardstock strips are stamped with CTMH's Groovy set (to retire at the end of the year, I think) in White Daisy (pigment), VersaMark and Outdoor Denim. (The five-petaled asterisk-like stamps worked well with the ones in the paper.) The title is stamped in Grey Wool using Boutique (F) and the appropriate individual Solos sets.

Snowman Hill

Okay, so I know this isn't a scrapbooking project, but it does fall under the category of "being creative." Aaron had his preschool Christmas party on Tuesday, and when I saw the sign-up sheet the week before, there was actually room under the "sweet treats" listing! (This has never happened before in one-and-a- half years of preschool parties.) I was glad because I had seen some single marshmallow-on-a- stick treats in a magazine for Halloween and had always wanted to make those, so I quickly thought up "snowman-on-a-stick" using three marshmallows. Additionally, it would allow me to use those icing tips I'd bought years ago but rarely used (as it shows--I'm still the amateur when it comes to decorating with frosting).

Anyway, I spent Sunday afternoon sticking together large marshmallows with shish-kebab skewers and making icing. The scarf is red icing piped with the basketweave tip (texture side up). The eyes and buttons are just dabs of black (really dark gray) with the #5 tip. The carrot nose is a long dab of orange with the #3 tip (you can see it best in the background of the second picture on the right), but I think I'd use the #5 if I did it again. The hats are a small marshmallow with black/gray frosting piped with the basketweave tip (flat side) around, on top and a brim. The arms are half sticks of pretzels. Then I frosted a half-sphere floral foam piece and sprinkled granulated sugar on it (for sparkle), and at school poked all the snowmen in it. All the parents were in awe and the kids couldn't wait to devour them.

One mom, from another classroom so she didn't know me, saw me carrying them in from the car. At first she was talking with another parent as I passed her, then I heard something about a "Martha Stewart wannabe" and realized she had immediately turned her conversation to me, no pause in between so I didn't realize it at first. She admired the snowmen, then turned to go back to her car and called back, "Now you'll be known to me as the marshmallow lady!" I replied, "As long as it's not because I look like a marshmallow!" (The next morning she asked for my name and introduced herself properly.)

I Swimming

The top page is my own sketch challenge for November. The layout sketch is from pagemaps.com, although I rotated the sketch 90 degrees to accommodate a horizontal 5x7 photo. For the second page, I used paper from the same pack and more pictures.

The colorful paper is from a Rob and Bob Studio paper paper pack (by ProvoCraft from a couple years ago). The flourish and the "arrow" stamps are from Hero Arts (Fantastic Flourishes and Fancy Scrolls, respectively) and the title letters are Spunky alphabet ( from CTMH), all stamped in CTMH's Moonstruck. The title box is sponged with Crystal Blue and the journaling box is sponged with Petal (both CTMH).

This picture was taken at a friend's birthday party in June (photo by said friend's mother). It was Julia's first time in a swimming pool. The water was about 2-1/2 feet deep, about up to her armpits, but with the help of water wings and the froggie ring, she managed it quite well. "I swimming!" she would proudly announce. After a while she got brave enough to lean on the froggie ring and lift both her legs off the ground, into a pike position. The bigger kids splashing and making waves only added to her fun. The only words that would get her to come out were "lunchtime" and "time for cake."

Playing with Angel

This is October's sketch challenge...actually a two-page layout this time. All materials are CTMH. Background cardstock is Dutch Blue and White Daisy. The thin strips and scalloped strips are Moonstruck (the scallops are created with a Paper Shaper corner punch). The flowers are hand drawn with a Moonstruck marker and cut out, using silver brads to hold them in place. The date is stamped with the Tiny Typewriter alphabet set and embossed with white embossing powder. "Playing with" is also stamped with Tiny Typewriter in Dutch Blue and "Angel" is stamped with the Spunky alphabet set (retired) in Moonstruck. The paw prints, bone and dog are done in Dutch Blue, Bamboo and Chocolate, respectively, with the Puppy Love stamp set.

The pictures are now real ones (replacing temporary paper copies). It is my brother-in-law, Scott, playing with his dog, Angel, and his niece, Julia.

Mom

This layout is from a workshop my friend did. The supplies are all CTMH. I didn't have any pictures for it when we did it in honor of Mother's Day, but this summer I dressed the family in clothes that would work well with the colors in the layout and my sister graciously used her new camera to take these pictures of us.

Two Little Monkeys

My two little monkeys, having so much fun together!

This layout also uses all CTMH supplies. The striped paper and the circle paper are preprinted, but the rest I stamped.

Mother's Day

My sister wanted to celebrate her first Mother's Day at the Garden of the Gods, so we packed a pot-luck lunch and headed down to Colorado Springs. Everyone had a fun time climbing up rocks after we ate.

This is another sketch challenge answer (at least the first page is). The paper is CTMH's Life Delights, the colors of which work perfectly with the colors of the rock, trees and sky. The alphabet is stamped with the Elegant Script set (and accented with Playful Petals on the second page.)

Honeycombed! at the Butterfly Pavilion

These are answers to another sketch challenge from my friend. The sketch is used in its original form for the first page, then used upside down for the second.

The first page uses paper I had on hand. The alphabet stamps are one of the few non-CTMH sets I have. I bought it because it was such a pretty alphabet, but the stamps themselves are very flimsy and hard to work with. The butterflies are punches I bought to go with Julia's butterfly baby scrapbook. The large bracket was printed off the computer and turned over and stamped in ink to coordinate with the yellow-gold color scheme. I have since found an acrylic stamp set with various large punctuation symbols to complement my collection of CTMH's Solos line.

The second page uses almost exclusively CTMH products. The background butterfly paper and the pink striped paper is from the Discovery pack. The circle and butterfly stickers are from the coordinating "My Stickease."

That 'Mazing

This is what Aaron said when he got his first remote-controlled GeoTrax train: "That 'mazing" or "That's amazing."

The title is traced from a template and cut out. The ovals are cut with the CM cutting system and the "Choo Choo" and train are stamps from CTMH.

Spread Your Wings

This is the last page of my daughter's baby book, the theme of which is butterflies. I thought the quote made a perfect ending to the book. The paper is Creative Memories' Cabana Power Palette, with some other white cardstock "lace" (cut with a decorative rotary cutter blade). I loved this picture of my husband kissing then one-month-old Julia, so I changed it to a B&W, so the bold colors of the paper wouldn't distract from it, and added just a touch of a red tone to it. The quote is computer-printed on vellum and embellished with butterfly and dragonfly shankless buttons.

Julia—First Twelve Months

These pages are similar to the ones I did for Aaron. The two pages above are some favorites that I didn't get a chance to use or just had to put in again. The stickers are another set of "Wonderful One." It opens into the four-page spread below, and the pictures go from left to right in two rows for the first three pages and the last picture is One Year Old!

The floral/paisley beige and purple papers are Making Memories Lauren, as is the green dots. The other paper is stuff I bought that matched or cardstock I had on hand. The month labels are printed in a computer font in black, and then I stamped over them a bookplate and attached it with blue brads.

Aaron Can Sleep About Anywhere & Eating an Apple

This first layout was a challenge by my friend. She posted a sketch from pagemaps.com on her website and challenged her friends to make a layout from it. I took up the gauntlet and came up with this.

Except for a small piece of CM blue paper, all materials are from Close to My Heart (CTMH). The blue diamond paper is preprinted, but all the rest is cardstock stamped in a coordinating color. The title is also stamped using acrylic alphabet stamps (making it very easy to line up and space letters).

The second layout I came up with because I thought that the facing page should be at the same crazy angle. Again, all materials are CTMH.

Grinning Girl

This is another one of my favorite layouts. At this point in time, whenever Julia got to laughing, she would wrinkle up her nose, too. To take this photo, I focused the camera, and then did something silly to make her laugh, and snapped the picture.

The patterned paper, and the orange and pink paper (not the title) are from a Rob and Bob paper pack. The colors were a bit "out of my box" but they were cute enough to try and worked perfectly with her shirt and bib. The quote is another vellum Quote Stack by DCWV, held on by two spiral clips. "We find delight in the beauty and happiness of children that makes the heart too big for the body. —Ralph Waldo Emerson"

The Hawaiian Dress

For this layout I tried to mimic the pattern in my daughter's dress. I started with a red strip of cardstock, then used a flower punch (Paper Shaper large retro flower) and a circle punch to make the flowers. The leaves are a large heart template traced and cut out, then artfully cut in half and decorated with markers. A few extra flowers and leaves were used to fill up blank space on the next page.

Julia's Hearts

My daughter during one of those rare moments when she would nap, under a quilt made by her grandmother.

For this layout I took several copies of two pictures of the quilt (front and back) and cut them up into one-inch squares. Then I alternated a front picture with a back picture to create the background frame. The inside frame is random squares of just the front, and the edges are mitered quarter-inch strips of cardstock. The lower picture is the label on the back of the quilt.

A Mother's Arms

This is one of the few times I actually went out looking for a particular piece of patterned paper to complete a layout. I wanted something that would work with the orange and yellow in the kids' shirts, and I found it in the clearance rack even! The striped paper is my bargain find, and the other cardstock is stuff I had on hand that matched.

The quote by the 5x7 reads, "A mother's arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them. —Victor Hugo." Both vellum quotes are from DCVW Quote Stacks.

This is also one of the first pages where I used Quicklets. Quicklets, from Eyelet Outlet, are eyelets that are pre-scored on the back, so one can literally set them with a ballpoint pen! Yes, eyelets that don't need a hammer! They come in a wide variety of colors at eyeletoutlet.com. They have "regular" eyelets, too, so be sure to look for Quicklets.

Daddy's Shoes

Aaron tried on Daddy's dress shoes one day.

This is not an original idea. I think I first saw it on DIY's scrapbooking show, and the templates were on their website, except for the legs—I had to make those myself—and I added a bit of shirt at the top. The title is traced from a template and cut out.

Hold My Heart, Hold My Hand

My newborn daughter, Julia.

This is the first page I made after I got into stamping. My friend became a consultant for Close to My Heart, which had just come out with clear acrylic stamps. I loved the idea that one could actually see what one was stamping and the fact that they took up less room to store than traditional rubber stamps.

The paper, except for the tan cardstock, is Creative Memories. The cardstock is CTMH Bamboo, stamped in Indian Corn Blue and Outdoor Denim. The handprints behind the quotes are stamped on the cardstock, as is the red heart, and overlaid with vellum, on which the quotes are printed in gray in various fonts. The title quote is printed in black.

I knew I wanted to use a quote on this page, and looked up all sorts of quotes about hands. I couldn't decide on one, so I chose to use them all!

Daddy's Dirty Hat

This is the hat my husband wears to mow the lawn so it's a bit stained with sweat. Aaron found it in the closet one morning and tried it on.

The hat is hand drawn and accented with a silver pen and silver letter stickers (both CM). The "eyelets" are dots from the letter stickers, then punched through with a small circle punch. The football is cut using the CM cutting system's oval template, but the paper was shifted to make more of a football shape after half a cut. It is accented with a white opaque marker.

The Joker's Wild

This is one of my favorites. We were playing cards at my parents' house and of course 21-month-old Aaron wanted to play, too. My father found an old deck of cards for him, and in this particular picture, he's mouthing the Joker! To highlight the evil grin on his face, I didn't eliminate the red-eye and used red paper (from CM). The title is traced from a template and cut out, and "wild" is traced with a silver pen (also CM).