Scrap Attack!

Most of us have a scrap box/drawer/folder/bucket that we throw our scraps into so that we can use them again.  Since I got the Cricut Expression, I have saved even smaller scraps because it will cut on tiny pieces of paper!  I had a great (messy!) shoe box going and I had to dig, and dig, and dig to find the color of paper I wanted to use.  Siting today while I scrapped, I had a great idea!  I used my old 8.5 x11 page protectors and assigned a color to each.  (I had one for red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, black and gray, brown and cream, and white.)  I then put them in ROY G. BIV order and put the larger sheets of extra paper behind the corresponding page protector.  It all fits in the shoe box and now I can grab the color I want and get to work without digging!

Have a Cup on Me

I made these small coffee cup cards for my husband to give to the team he manages. He is going to put a Starbucks gift card inside each one. I learned several important things with this project! First, don't just measure the gift card, add on to the size because your card will be folded! (Duh, right?) Then leave even more room to make a small pocket to insert your gift card. But, I didn't do any of that, now did I? Here's how I made it work:

I used the coffee cup from Gypsy Wanderings and hid the heart. (Didn't think my husband's employees want hearts on a cup from him!) I then copied the cup and then flipped it. This allowed me to weld two together to make a card. I then wrote "Have a cup on me!" and welded that altogether also. I then cut out a single cup in a lighter blue to show through the cut out letters. Since I hadn't left room for a pocket, I didn't know what to do!
Photo corners to the rescue! I had a stash of photo corners (luckily in the right colors) and I used a credit card to measure placement. This was so easy! Take a look!

Sauvie's Island July 2008

Sitting here on a freezing cold day (literally it's 34 degrees as a high today in Portland!) I thought I would scrapbook some warm, sunny pictures!  I found a layout design on the Cricut message boards, and loved the circles and graphic nature of it! Plus, what an easy way to get a layout done!  The design was a 1 pager, and I almost always do two page layouts, so I just added the left page with the two circles to compliment the design on the right.  (The right page is nearly what the sketch showed, minus the title!)

Here is the layout as the two page spread.  I used some old patterned paper (maker unknown!) and then  slate blue, navy blue and bright orange cardstock.  I used my gypsy to size the blue circles just a tad smaller than 6x6, so I could cut out 2 on each 12x6 piece of paper. (George Cartridge for the smaller circles.)  I then used the Sports Mania cartridge and cut out the large orange accent circle.  I liked the way it had little lines out of it for adding interest.  This circle is about 7.8" in diameter.  I based all the color choices upon the title "Fun in the Sun" which I had in my stash.  (Embossible Designs by We R Memory Keepers "Fun in the Sun").  I added a few orange paper flowers and then put small glass pebbles in their centers to carry the water theme farther.  I adhered the flowers and glass pebbles with glue dots! 



By the way, we have a new puppy in our house!  Here's a picture of Dexter at 9 weeks old.  He is a black Goldendoodle.  (Yippee, no shedding!)

Dexter--9 wks. old

Soccer Mini Album

I spent a few hours with a very close friend today chatting and scrapbooking.  Really, I spent hours chatting and organizing photos!  I am scrapbooking September 2008, and as many of you scrappers know, being only 2 years "behind" is pretty good!  After organizing my photos, I wanted a quick "fix" of scrapbooking, so I pulled out a mini album I had created at the CK convention several years ago that was still empty.  I think it was by "Piggy Tales" (http://www.piggytales.com/).  I love their lines of paper!  The album is a flip board book, with every double set of pages having one that flips open or out to show more photos.  I sat down with the completed album and glued in soccer pictures from the Sept. 2008 season.  I love how this album turned out and I got a lot of photos into it!  Yippee for a quick project!

Front cover:  green felt leaf with yellow flower brad, chipboard shapes covered in patterned paper and inked.  Black and white polka dot ribbon and a "Believe" sticker.

More chipboard shapes covered in paper, doodles hand drawn on square frame with black zig marker, green glitter stickers for "Attitude", chipboard photo anchor and "Dream" sticker.  The Dream page flips open to reveal the pages below!

Chipboard tags with green ric-rac and more stickers!  Quick and simple!  (By the way, love the photo of my daughter drinking from the water bottle!)



 Darn picture won't save as rotated, but by twisting your head, you can get the idea! :)



The left page has a pocket with room for a photo in the back and then small photo tags in the front.

The previous pages flipped open to reveal more photo spots!

Back cover.  Book is tied closed with green ric-rac!  I think this is a pretty cute project and was a great way to get more photos done!

Holidays Are Over...Crafting Time Is Back!

I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving, a Merry Christmas and now we're looking ahead at a wonderful New Year!  Over the holidays I had guests staying in my craft room, so my crafting is severely limited.  (Although I wouldn't trade the family time for crafting!)

I made an adorable "Give Thanks" Banner that I patterned after the Everyday Cricut idea.  BUT...I packed up Thanksgiving without a picture! :(

My first craft after reassembling my scrapbooking room was to make iPod storage spots.  Both of my kids got iPods for Christmas and I am worried they'll set them down somewhere and lose them.  So I made my daughter an adorable paper purse to put hers in and my son a football shaped mat.  The idea is that their iPods live on/in these spots when they are not in use!  Below are pictures:

I uses Sports Mania and cut out the football at about a 6x6 size.  I then cut out the white layer.  (WOW! I learned something new with this!)  Did you see all those tiny laces?  Each one was individual and had to be glued down as such.  BUT, when I pulled up the white paper, the little lines stayed intact while the long lines stayed on the mat.  I used the whole sheet of white paper as a guide and layed it over the brown football.  I then put adhesive in the "holes" and then layed the long white lines in the right place!  Perfectly aligned laces!  BUT, then I thought I would try something else.  I applied liquid adhesive to the back of the small laces that were still stuck within the large white sheet.  I was able to lay that down over the laces, align it and push the small white dots onto the football.  I didn't punch them out individually, rather, just stuck them down in the adhesive and then slowly pulled back the rest of the white paper!  This is definitely a trick I will be using in the future. 

I then cut out the UO (University of Oregon) in green and yellow craft foam and layered it.  After adhering it all together, I have a cute iPod mat!

I cut this purse using Tags, Bags, Boxes and More.  I sized it as large as I could on a 12x12 mat.  To do this, I let the handles be cut off, but made the purse as wide as possible.  I then cut the iPod from the Smiley Cartridge (I think!)  and used the adorable Peachy Keen face stamps on it.  I then cut out Rock On! and inked the edges.  I used brown ribbon for the handles and her iPod fits inside perfectly.  I ended up having to put a thick piece of cardboard inside on the bottom due to it tipping over so much, but now it works great!

Did you see this contest????

It's for an ENTIRE set of free ProMarkers!  Go to:  http://going-buggy.blogspot.com/  Enfy's blog!  She's giving away the entire set worth $330!

Halloween and New Gypsy Updates

With Halloween this weekend, I didn't have any time to scrapbook and I'm feeling the urge to be creative!  Wish I had more time!  I did take a few minutes and do the new Gypsy update so I could get the 6 free cartridges!  Boy I am excited about them and can't wait to make something with them.  I especially love Smiley Cards!  Hope to post a project soon!