Christmas Project

I finished my Christmas album this weekend. It feels good to have it done! It's really nothing fancy, but the photos were looming over me - and once Christmas was over, I just wasn't in the mood to do anything with them! So I made them into a very simple album that fits into a decorated Maya Road lunchbox tin.


The cardstock, ribbon, stamping ink, and snowflake stamps are from Papertrey Ink. The Papertrey cardstock takes the Cuttlebug embossing so nicely. And the rub-ons are American Crafts.

All I did to create this album was cut the photos down to 4 3/4" x 4" and round the corners. I adhered them to pieces of white cardstock for added stability and punched a hole in the corner of each one. Then I cut several pieces of green cardstock with one of the smaller Scalloped Circle Nestabilities dies, stamped a snowflake on each one, and did a tiny bit of journaling on each circle. I strung everything together on a little chain and that was it. It fits inside the tin perfectly and, best of all, it includes ALL of my Christmas photos from this year. Yeehaw!

Just a layout

Paper - Scenic Route & Cherry Arte

Chipboard letters - Heidi Swapp

Cupcake stamp - Michael's Dollar section

Good Monday Morning

Alright - so it's barely Monday morning. But after feeding breakfast, cleaning up after breakfast, taking care of the dog, building a train layout, cleaning up in the bathroom, answering the phone about 5000 times... I'm just getting some down time to take a few quiet minutes to myself.

So... it's President's Day. Which messes me all up because I need to go to the post office, of course. So if you placed an order over the weekend and got an email from me saying it would go out on Monday - then I guess that was a lie. It will go out on Tuesday.

Jack is destroying the family room as I type this, so I'll make it short. I have a few layouts to share. The first is another one that I'm, like, not totally in love with. But it's something I wanted to do - and it's done. Paper - Chatterbox and Basic Grey. Chipboard letters - Heidi Swapp.

And this is one that I loooooooooove. Man, the picture is not exactly flattering. But look at that baby! Only a few hours old. And now he's downstairs building a fort out of couch cushions. I just love him. Paper - Crate Paper and Basic Grey. Letter stickers - Target dollar spot. And the scalloped circle is a Nestability die.

Game day

Today after church we had some friends over for a game day. Jack was thrilled to have two friends his age to play with all afternoon - and play they did. The family room was trashed, but it was worth it to us grown ups to have some quiet time to play a fun game of Taboo!

Here's a layout for today. This four-block layout is one I use quite often when I have four photos to scrapbook and am not feeling particularly creative. The paper and letter stickers are Scenic Route. Felt frame is Fancy Pants. Ribbon brads are Imaginisce.

And since this is honestly not my favorite layout in the world, I'll share another one today.
This is a scraplift of my "unimpressed" layout. I liked the photo and paper placement on that one so much, I wanted to do another one. I love how I was able to use one 4x6 photo on this page, but by keeping it simple, the photo doesn't get "lost" on the page.

Paper - Crate Paper. Photo corners and chipboard letters - Heidi Swapp.

"Stay at Home Saturday"

A lazy day around here. Jack and I spent some time after breakfast water coloring.

Now Jack is watching cartoons while I get caught up on email. We're having friends over after church tomorrow for a game day - so I have some cleaning to do. And we're going out for pizza tonight! I LOVE Saturdays :)

Here's a layout to share. These photos are from the the fall after I graduated from high school - so during my first semester in college. Poor photos, but I kind of like the story behind them.

Paper - October Afternoon

Chipboard letters - Heidi Swapp

Chipboard flowers - Maya Road

Papertrey Projects

Just wanted to share these projects I made recently with my newest Papertrey Ink stamps!

ShadowboxI created this shadowbox using the Out on a Limb stamp set and a little Martha Stewart shadowbox I found on clearance at Michael's.

LayoutI used the Out on a Limb set again for this Christmas layout. The chipboard letters are Heidi Swapp and the scalloped circle is a Nestabilities die. I added a bit of Stickles glitter to the berries on the branches to give it a little bit of dimension and sparkle.

Card

I love this card - probably because I just love bright colors. And they don't get much brighter or more cheerful than this! The stamps are from the Mixed Messages set. The patterned paper is Scenic Route. Ribbon - Ofray. Tag - Cuttlebug die. And the tiny flourish stamp is from the Faux Ribbon stamp set.

Another cold day

It's been so bitterly cold and windy lately - I haven't felt like getting out of the house much. It doesn't make for a happy 4-year old. Really, I shouldn't complain all that much. It doesn't get nearly as cold here as it does in other parts of the country. But I'm a wimp when it comes to the cold. The good news is that Spring truly is just around the corner. Only about a month of Winter left. I really look forward to spending some time in the yard with Jack, playing on the swingset and taking lots of outdoor photos.

Jack got a Valentine's gift in the mail yesterday from John's cousin, Linda. It was the game, Chutes and Ladders. We have played it several times already and Jack's getting the hang of it. It came just in time, too - I just couldn't take any more Candy Land.

Here's a layout for today. The patterned paper is Chatterbox and the chipboard button embellishments are Making Memories. Still going through this big pile of old photos.

Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day - one of my very favorite days of the year (after Christmas and my birthday!) and John is away :( He's on his way home from Las Vegas right now and isn't due to get in until late tonight.

So to make the day a little bit special, Jack and I are taking pizza over to Pam's house for dinner. Her boyfriend has class tonight so we'll be alone together... with Jack. :)

Alrighty - here's my layout for today. Still getting caught up with some "layout a day challenge" layouts from the beginning of January!

Patterned paper and chipboard photo corners - Imagination Project. Chipboard letters - Basic Grey. Rub-on letters - American Crafts. Plastic tab embellishment - Heidi Swapp.

Ice Storm

We had a nasty ice storm yesterday afternoon and evening. Jack had spent the night with my mom the night before and I was unable to get him so he had to spend an extra night. I did actually TRY to get him, but I was halfway there and the road was closed so I had to turn around and I almost had an accident TWICE so I didn't even bother trying to find another route. So Jack got to spend an extra night and he didn't complain at all :) And now he's home with me watching Max and Ruby. It's been raining all morning so that will hopefully melt all the ice on the driveway.

On to some crafty things. Here's another Layout a Day challenge layout from 2peas.

These photos are from Jack's fourth birthday party this past November. It had a train theme - hence the nametags with trains on them. He wanted everyone to be a different train :)

The patterned paper is American Crafts (circles) and Chatterbox (stripes). And the letter stickers are from Scenic Route. Very clean and simple layout. I've been working on scrapbooking my big pile of pictures - and that means they have to be simple :)

Really, really bad

I'm a really bad blogger. I just logged onto Blogspot for the first time since December 24th and had several comments to approve. If you left me a comment and I never responded to it, I apologize!!

Anyway, lots of changes here the past few months. One of the biggest is the closing of Cool Blue Scrapbook Store. Here's what's on the homepage right now, which should pretty much explain it all:



"This past January, I was asked to be the Sunday School Superintendent at our church. At the time, I was teaching the Jr. High Sunday school class and although it was a big added responsibility, I was still managing to get everything done, including taking care of Jack and the house, etc.

In June, I was offered the position of Coordinator of Conference on the executive board of American Baptist Women of Pennsylvania and Delaware. I struggled with the decision of whether to accept it or not because I knew that I couldn't do that on top of my local church responsibilities, Cool Blue, and taking care of my family.

I prayed about it and discussed it with my husband and I did accept the position, deciding to give it a few months and see how Cool Blue fit in. The past several months have been very stressful, as I have worried myself sick over how to balance these four responsibilities - Family, Church, Conference, Cool Blue.

After MUCH prayerful consideration, I have decided to let go of Cool Blue effective January and focus on the work that I can feel God leading me to do. December was my last kit.

It's a huge disappointment because I have really enjoyed watching Cool Blue grow and become successful. But at the same time, as soon as I made the decision to shut down, a huge burden was removed from my shoulders and I feel like I can actually make it through to bring it to a close.

I have to say that I have enjoyed the past year and a half immensely - getting to know my design team so personally has been so fulfilling. As has been getting to know so many of you, my customers."



So that pretty much sums it up. Cool Blue is in its final clearance phase and I am going crazy between that and church and Conference and this family. But it's kind of crazy in a good way :)

I've also been setting aside a little bit of time each day for crafting. Mostly scrapbooking, but also a bit of card-making, sewing, and crocheting. I picked up an afghan I began crocheting when I was pregnant with Jack - ALMOST FIVE YEARS AGO. Yeah.

I'll start sharing my projects here more regularly. Here's a layout I created for the "Layout a Day" challenge on 2peas, which I haven't been participating in lately because I've been too busy with getting the registration materials together for Conference.



Patterned paper - October Afternoon. Letter stickers - SEI. Scalloped circle die - Spellbinders Nestabilities (I'm addicted).