ListEn iN

The Newest Member of the Family...

Meet our new kitty, BRUNO. My Dad let us bring him home from the farm to enjoy at our house. The kids have loved having him around, feeding him, and dragging him around the yard.

 

 

The day we brought him home Boston insisted that Eric build the cat a house. Boston drew the house he wanted on paper and then he and Eric built it. The cat loves it!

Birthday Reminder Book...

I have a new class over at Big Picture! If you have trouble remembering Birthdays (like me!) then this class is a must! Click here to read more and sign up.

I'm a Soccer Mom!

Yep, it's official I'm a Soccer Mom! A few weeks ago Boston started playing soccer and he was sooooo excited! We went shopping for the Uniform and he had to get the gold cleats. The first game was a little rough when an older kid on the other team kept stealing the ball and making goals. About third quarter Boston broke down in tears on the field. Since then we haven't had any tears and he is doing better with each game. I am the assistant coach and hardly know a thing since I never played as a kid. I am slowly learning but I do a really good job keeping track of the ten minute quarters :).

This is a layout I put together using our newest April Busy Women Kit.

 

Final Day with Tammy...

Last year I learned how to alter little notebooks from my online scrappy friend, Kristin, at http://craftasticlife.blogspot.com/ - They were so fun and easy that I made 5 for Christmas presents!  When I saw the Destination collection, I knew I had to make one for my oldest daughter.  She is going to France this summer, and I thought it would be nice to keep one to journal about her trip.

 

I started with a $1 notebook...I loved this one because it has a nice hard cover and will travel well:

Open it up and loosen the wires:

 

 Take the covers off:

 

Then I measured...this was just under 5 1/2".  So I picked my cover paper first, I cut it 5 1/2x5 1/2, glued it to the cover, then I used and X-Acto pen to trim it.

Flip it over, then use the holes in the cover as your guide to punch holes in it:

 

Now pick you paper for your inside cover.  I cut it the same size, BUT DID NOT GLUE IT DOWN YET.  I did put the cover over it and trimmed it with the X-Acto again so that it would be the right size before I do the next step.  I cut a strip for a pocket.  I made it a little wider and longer than what the pocket was going to be.  I folded it to fit around the bottom inside, then I cut the corners off:

Then flip over and glue down:

Glue down to the inside cover.  Then flip it again and use the holes that you punched before as a guide for the holes to be punched all the way through.

Repeat on the back cover.  Then put the covers back on the book and tighten the wires back up.

 
Then, add any embellishments you like (you can do this before you put the covers back on, but I like to work with how it's going to look when finished when I add the embellies).  I didn't want this one too bulky, so that during travel things wouldn't fall off.  I heavily inked/chalked the edges...this is great to cover any flaws, and I think gives it a nice look.

Front:

inside front (see the pocket?!):

inside back:

and back:

Thanks for letting me share.  I really enjoyed making these projects.

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From Georgana:  Thank you so much Tammy for sharing your talent with us this week - we can't wait to try these projects out on our own.

Day Three with Tammy...

This is a project I've wanted to do for a while, seemed simple, but it was a little time consuming.  I started with these previously purchased frames from a dollar store.

I'm showing the back too, because it was cool how what would be the "hanging" hook is at the bottom...so that you can put the ribbon through and hang them vertically:

Next I used my die-cutting machine to cut letters from the Bug-a-Boo papers:

Then I backed each letter with a page from the dictionary.  Each one has at least one word from the dictionary that I liked:

L - I cut to show "history" (on the bottom), and was lucky to have "hilarious" at the top:

O-  "laugh"

V-  "family"

E-  I cut this one for "memory" (bottom), and also ended up with "memoir" on the top:

Then off to work on the rest of the project.  I covered some chipboard buttons and slides with Bug-a-Boo and Bee Happy paper, then glossy sealed them.  I added some buttons with craft thread threaded though each.  I also changed the ribbon that came with the frames with some yellow tulle.  I also used some Bee Happy ribbon on the "E" frame.

I'm going to hang this on a wall in my living room.

Day Two with Tammy...

I love making cards...they are like mini layouts.  I used a card sketch from Page maps as inspiration.  But I was mostly inspired by the Bee Happy Collection for this card.  I love the sayings on the cardstock stickers, so I used one as the sentiment on this one.  I used my die-cutter to cut the same shape to mat the sentiment.  I also used the bee cardstock sticker, but mounted it on a circle shaped chipboard to give some depth.  I stitched in red on just two sides, and also used some red rhinestones and buttons to bring out the little bit of red in the paper.  I used a corner rounder on just the two opposite corners to give it some fun.  I hope the picture shows the detail, I sometimes have a hard time finding the right light.  I hope that when I give this card to someone it makes them smile like it does me :)

Day One with Tammy...

I had this series of pictures of my son playing baseball from years ago, and when I saw the Boy Jamboree Collection I knew I had to use it for them!  The pictures were each 5x7, so I had to cut them down a lot.  I wanted them to go across the page like that so you could see him in action, the concentration on his face, and never mind the fact that my husband remembers this particular swing, and that Hunter actually missed the ball :)  I mixed the Boy Jamboree with a little of the Four Wheeler Collection...I love that these papers have elements you can use for other things!  The strip of paper down the middle that has stripes is from that collection, as is the green on the banner.  I made the banner by cutting some chipboard diamond shapes I had in half.  I traced them over the paper and cut, then stitched on the paper, then glued to the chipboard.  The orange mat under the photos is the reverse side of one of the Boy Jamboree papers (the reverse sides are just as awesome as the front!).  The ribbon is also from that collection.  On the main piece of background paper, I used my X-Acto pen to cut part of some of the circles so that I could layer them over the other pieces.

Let's Meet our Guest Blogger, Tammy!

Hi, my name is Tammy.  I live in Huntington Beach, California with my husband and two of my children who are 16 and 13, Courtney and Hunter.  My oldest, Jessica, is 24 and away at college - she graduates next month.  I have always loved crafting.  My grandma taught me to crochet (which I've forgotten) when I was little, and my mom was pretty crafty and I remember using Tri-Chem as a child with her (those not old enough to remember Tri-Chem, it was fabric paint in the 70's).  I dabbled here and there with scrapping, but about 7 or 8 years ago I started doing it a lot more.  This was because my middle child was doing 2 to 3 musicals a year...and I was buying tons of photos from the photographer.  I met another mom who became my best friend, and she said I needed to start scrapping them.  She had lots of supplies, and I had a few, so we got together at her house for a casual crop.  I've completed about 5 scrapbooks full of my daughter's musical theatre memories alone.  About 3 years ago I discovered groups on MySpace with fellow scrappers, and through them discovered all of the awesome challenges, blogs, and websites which have inspired me to be a better scrapper!  I really love how everyone in the scrapbook community share their ideas with other scrappers. 

 

I started a blog,  http://alwaystheapprenticehandicrafter.blogspot.com/ , that I use mostly to keep track of challenges.  I called it Always the Apprentice Handicrafter because I feel like I am always learning.

March Scrapbook Challenge Winner!

We’re excited to announce the winner for our March “10 in 2010” Scrapbook Challenge. Our randomly-selected prize winner is VERONICA ROWE! She posted her layout photo on our Facebook fan page.

Veronica used all the required elements on her layout – quote strips, brads, and striped paper. She also used the theme, “What we say, every day” in a very cute way! Congrats Veronica – email us at [email protected] with your address, and we’ll send you a great prize of Adornit product!

Hey everyone! If you want to enter April’s challenge click here. You can either post to our Facebook page or use the Mr. Linky gadget to link to your blog or posting place. Come join us!

Buggy About You!

 

I just think this is the most adorable album. I love all the details, especially the caterpillar made from buttons on the front cover of the pocket. It was created by Cat from Cat's Creations in TX. She used our brand new Bug a boo Collection along with several dies from AccuCut. Thanks Cat for sharing such a fun creation with us!