Love Joy Paper

CutterPillar Pro Paper Trimmer Review

2012-02-11T05:58:00.000-08:00

A good paper trimmer is an essential tool for any scrapbooker, paper crafter or often just someone who does a lot of office work. It’s been invaluable in our homeschool endeavor as well. I had a Making Memories trimmer which I was quite pleased with. But I wore it out (I will be honest and say that in the 2 years I had it, I gave it probably the use of the average scrapper’s ten+ years of use). I was very happy with the Making Memories, and at the price point, I’d still highly recommend it (if you can handle the squeaking of the blade until you break it in).
However, when I needed to replace it, I decided it was time to step it up. I bought the Cutterpillar Pro. I will be honest and say it’s more of an investment piece at a price point of $129. It’s a gear driven, self-sharpening rotary blade. It had an LED light (which is awesome)!

I shot a video showing use of the trimmer. You can view it here! (However, if you can’t or don’t enjoy watching videos, scroll down for some pictures and specifics)

My favorite features:
The LIGHT! I didn’t think the LED light would be that big of a deal, but it’s awesome! I’m not sure I could use a trimmer now that doesn’t have one. It’s powered by 5 AA batteries. The switch is on the top above the ruler bar. Easy to turn on and off. One trick I’ve found, the light doesn’t show through opaque papers. However, if you have the ability to turn out the room light, for most papers, the light will show through, and give enough light to safely operate the trimmer.

I didn’t mention this in the video, but remembering that I forgot made me want to shoot the video again! I really like that this trimmer has 1/8 intervals labeled on the ruler grid and 1/16s marked. Makes it so much easier than guessing! The grid on the platform is only 1/2”, so you still have to eyeball or use the ruler, but I am loving the 1/8” intervals.

The storage drawer is awesome! It has a deeper recess for taller things like ink pads. I love that I can keep my scissors, ruler, craft knife, tweezers, some glue, a threaded needle and the basics right at hand. (One word of caution – the drawer doesn’t lock in place, so if you move the trimmer, be sure to hold it securely so the drawer don’t fall out – yes, I learned the hard way, thankfully the drawer was empty).

I don’t have pictures for the rest of my list, but here goes:

Trims cleanly even 1/16” corrections
Leaves a beautiful crisp cut (however, the first many cuts were fairly rough, take a scrap piece of paper and cut about 50 cuts to get the blade nice and sharp).
Heavy duty
Cuts thin chipboard beautifully (however, I’m not sure this is recommended by the manufacturer)
No blades to replace. This self-sharpening blade will not need replaced (if it does get damaged, I believe you can purchase just the replacement blade & gear housing, rather than replace the trimmer)

Cons: (to be fair, as much as I really enjoy this trimmer, I do have to list the cons. But in reality, each of these cons are also positives depending on the way you look at it).

Price. It’s an investment piece. However, I firmly believe that while you will pay more upfront, you will save money in the long run in how well it will last. Additionally, you won’t have to buy replacement blades as you do for the disposable blade trimmers.
Size. It’s not compact. But it’s great for cutting 12x12 sheets that have the 1/2” additional upc strip. (you can slide scraps underneath it as it does have some clearance – I do this because my space is so limited. Then I put them away after finishing each project).
(this one is a pro/con depending on operator use) Operation. It cuts incredibly well. The only negative is that there is nothing to hold the paper in place. You have to hold the paper to keep it from shifting (my experience has been that most of the time it’s not the trimmer blade that causes a crooked cut, but the shifting of paper – so you have to be sure to hold it securely to get a clean cut. But you’ll quickly get the hang of it.

All in All….I’ve had probably pushing 20 different paper trimmers in my career as a scrapper. This is hands down, night and day the BEST one I’ve used. I’m tickled to be using it, and in fact, I wish I had bought it MUCH sooner.
(Note – I purchased this out of my own pocket and have received no compensation from Cutterpillar for any of this).

Winner!!!!!

2012-02-10T14:00:00.000-08:00

I haven't forgotten -really!! We changed our plans last minute for the week, I'll have
Pictures later. But for now let's get to the winner!!

Congrats NORMA who said "don't watch football but if I did it would be pizza and chips."

Please e-mail me your mailing info by End of Tuesday at lovejoypaper (at) hughes (dot) net

THANKS to EVERYONE who played along :)

Homemade Laundry Detergent

2012-02-07T05:50:00.000-08:00

For about a year now I’ve been making my own laundry detergent. I’ve been asked by many people how I do it, so I thought it was about time I finally put it up on my blog. Only took me a year….

There are many reasons people make their own. And there are many ways to do it. The primary reason seems to be cost. For me, it wasn’t nearly so much about saving money as trying to avoid chemicals and fragrances. I had switched to a plant based, biodegradable Ecos brand. I wasn’t unhappy with it, but I wasn’t thrilled with it either. I decided it was no loss to try making my own. I’m so glad I took the initial risk, because now I’m a big fan of homemade detergent. Yes, it is cheaper. A fair amount. I’ll go over that information at the bottom of this post. But more than anything, I’m beyond pleased with how well it cleans my clothes. I knew the real test would come during the summer when we have stinky clothes from sweaty work in 100 degree weather. Well, it passed with flying colors! It washed out more stink than any other detergent I’ve ever used, and it didn’t even need fragrance to mask it. I was so happy to make this discovery. Lastly, I’ve noticed there has been no residue left in my detergent trays on my washing machine. I figure if there is no residue left there, there wouldn’t be in the machine or on my clothes either. Super great!!!

I use a front load washer. This is a great option in both a front load and a top load. Because of the low (or no) sudsing, it’s perfect for front load.

I have to say there are hundreds of different recipes. This is what works for me and our level of hard water. I make it dry, I don’t add the water and melt it all. It works just great in powder form, so I figure why take extra work to liquify it and take the extra storage space to store water. I wash on a warm wash/cool rise pattern. I should also say, I don’t have a dryer (because we are solar powered, off-grid) so I line dry everything. I make mine with a fragrance-free soap. The reasons are a long list to be saved for another day (that I can give proper documentation of my reasonings) but you can use the soap pictured below (which I will share more) so you have a fragrance. The biggest adjustment will probably be the fragrance of the soap (or lack thereof) , but fragrance isn’t always a good thing (again, a topic for another day).

So lets, get to it! First, what you need from hopefully your kitchen is a medium cheese grater (not fine, not large) and a large jar (I use a 2 quart mason jar) or plastic canister.

What you need to shop for (all should come in only one size option):

1 box Borax

1 box Washing Soda

1 bar soap (I use a fragrance free 3.5 ounce bar, you can also buy Fels-Naptha soap in the laundry section, but any bar soap, 3.5 ounces or larger will work)

All total, these supplies cost me $7.59 at Walmart, and will make more than one recipe of the detergent. I scaled the recipe to my 2 quart jar.

First, use your cheese grater to grate the soap into little curls. Work those arm muscles!!

Once that is done, we will start mixing. Through multiple times of making it, I’ve found that it is best to make it in layers. So first, put about 1/3 of the grated soap into the jar.

Over the grated soap, layer 1 cup Borax, 1 cup Washing Soda. Repeat beginning with grated soap until you have three layers.

Put the lid on tightly and shake (for about one minute)!!! The end result is a kinda funny curdled looking mixture.

To use, measure 2 Tbsp per load. I use a coffee scoop. Works perfect.

A couple things I need to mention. Borax is a controversial item. Some people are greatly opposed to it. It is natural, but can cause skin reactions, so if you’ve never used it before, use it in a small amount until you know if it will bother you. The second thing I’ve read a lot about it is that people get upset because it is often used to fight ants in gardens. That one doesn’t bother me so much, because many things used in mass quantities can be fatal to such a small living thing. Salt kills slugs. Dishsoap is used on aphids on roses. Anything that small will be much more susceptible to mass quantities of stuff than a person would be. But for sure, you want to keep it out of the reach of your kids and make sure they do not play with it. And be careful to not breathe in the powder if you spill it or get a lot of it airborne. If you are concerned about the safety of Borax, please do your own research on it (as I’d encourage you to do on any topic). Both my family and my husbands family have used it extensively and we’ve never had any issue with it.

Time…?? How long did it take me to make it. Well, I honestly can’t give you an exact figure because I was taking photos at the same time. But I can tell you this, in 15 minutes, I made 2 grilled cheese sandwiches, a peanut butter sandwich and made this detergent as well as took pictures of the process. So I think it would be safe to say it’s about 5 minutes.

So, let’s talk money…….(note, all prices were from Walmart, all prices were rounded to the nearest penny. Also note that the initial cost of supplies will be slightly more because you will have extra left for the next batch).

LIQUID Detergents:

Ecos (9.99/64 loads) $.16/load

Meyers (14.98/64 loads) $.23/load

Tide (17.98/96 loads) $.19/load

Cheer (15.47/96 loads) $.16/load

Generic (Walmart brand 11.47/96) $.12/load

POWDER Detergents:

Tide (20.46/120 loads) $.17/load

Gain (17.36/120 loads) $.14/load

Generic (Walmart brand 11.47/120 loads) $.10/load

But…..are you ready for the cost per load of this detergent????

$.05/load. Yup, five cents per load. One quarter to one half of the cost, depending on what you are comparing to!! This recipe is for 60 loads of detergent at a total cost of $3.08. (Although, this price is for the Fels-Naptha soap, mine costs $.065 per load because the bar soap I use is more expensive).

So, will this allow you to put a million bucks in the bank just by saving on your detergent? Nope. But will it save a little bit of money? Yup. And it will help get some of the chemicals out of your home, which was my main concern.

Winner, a Page & More!

2012-02-06T07:40:00.001-08:00

Let’s get the morning started with our blog hop winner!! Congrats to DanaMK. random.org chose you to be the winner!!!

I wanted to use the sketch for the current monthly challenge (sketch is to the right sidebar) and use it in a more girly way. I had these pictures of my daughter, and thought it would be perfect to use them. I pulled out Simple Stories (have I ever mentioned how much I adore their stuff? Really, I do). I even cut some of the transparencies that came in the kit for the page. I’ve never used the transparencies as photo overlays, but they make great embellishment materials.

Supplies: Core’dinations, Simple Stories, Paper Trey Ink (die), Buttons Galore, misc (kraft paper & floss)

Also – check out my new sidebar. I added a quick link to sort pages by number of photos. Lately, I’ve been tagging pages by number of photos and will work on catching that up as well as doing it from now forward. So if you want to quickly search for a page with 3 photos, you can just click that link!! All in an effort to give you a better blog reading experience.

Valentines Day Card Blog Hop

2012-02-02T21:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Valentines Day Card Blog Hop! We’re a bunch of friends who know each other from the Club Creating Keepsakes Message Boards. I hope you are inspired by what we have to share today!!

I thought it would be fun this time to do a project with all the same supplies as a start off point. So I sent off this little package of goodies to all our participants. They were all given the instructions that they had to make a card and use half of the supplies. However they interpreted it beyond that was up to them. They could add stuff, but had to use half of what I sent.

Supplies:

rectangles My Minds Eye
bracket shaped die cut Pink Paislee (and Spellbinders die)
Twine The Twinery
Chipboard cuts with Paper Trey Ink dies.

I cut a matching heart in the front of the card and then put one of the pieces of patterned paper behind it. Then I layered another heart with the other piece of paper, wrapped it in twine, and adhered another heart over top.

I used some of the left over pieces to decorate a bag I received with a purchase yesterday.

Now I can’t wait to see what everyone else did with the same supplies! I have no idea, so let’s find out together. I’m going to send you to Cassie but if you have any problems along the way, come back here to hit the next stop.

Oh wait! Before you go, I have a giveaway. Just leave a comment here telling me what your favorite occasion to make cards is (if you’ve never made a card, tell me about a favorite handmade card you’ve received). I’ll announce a winner on Monday.

Purge Giveaway!! CLOSED

2012-02-02T15:56:00.001-08:00

Ah….my scrap space is all tidy and well. And then crazy me, I decided today we needed to clean out under the kids’ bed. As if one BIG project a week wasn’t enough….. But I’m done with both and now I have a giveaway for you. I took a flat rate box and stuffed it as full as I could with the stuff I purged. Then I took it out so I could take a picture of it. I know, extra work right? But I had to know for sure what would fit before I took the picture.

ALL sorts of stuff….I think over 50 pages of paper, lots of flowers, stamps (cling, unmounted rubber & mounted rubber), at least 6 packages of unopened rub-ons (and a couple partials), ribbon, paper tape, stickers stickers stickers and more!! A HUGE variety of manufacturers and styles. Some of it was stuff I bought on sale, some I won, some duplicates. All I know is the box is HEAVY (thus the flat rate box). So if you want a chance to win there are three ways you can win. (There is no junk in here – I have no problem putting garbage in the garbage and I don’t want to pay to mail junk to someone else…it’s all good stuff, mostly new in package…I just have too much stuff and I haven’t used this in a long time so I’m not sure I will).

1) Leave a comment telling me your favorite Super Bowl Snack food
2) Be a follower (if you already are, great (and thanks!) leave a comment saying so. If you’re not become one (thanks to you too!) and leave another comment). PLEASE make a new comment for this entry.
3) Share this link to let your friends know! Come back and leave another comment.

So if you want three chances, you must have left three comments.

I will draw a winner a week from today, on Thursday! Check back and see if you’re the lucky one to win this ~~boat anchor~~ box of great scrappy stuff! (Sorry, but because of the heavy weight, US shipping only)

February Challenge!

2012-02-01T07:01:00.000-08:00

Last months challenge was the best turnout yet! It seemed that the sketch was a hit, so I decided to do another sketch for February. This time, I pulled this page I did a few weeks ago back out and made a sketch from it. Then I created another layout based on that sketch.

Supplies: American Crafts, Core’dinations, Echo Park, Paper Trey Ink (buttons & dies)

Here’s your chance to enter for a prize! Complete your layout, post it to your blog or online gallery and bring that link here to Mr. Linky. Post by Feb 28 11:59 PM Pacific for your chance!

I suppose you want to see the prize right?? Well, I apologize that it wasn’t pictured here earlier, but that’s because I was shopping for it!!!

6x6 Minds Eye Follow Your Heart paper (YES, the NEW release!), a package of coordinating bling, 20 yards The Twinery Shore twine and 20 yards The Twinery Flax twine and an assortment of coordinating buttons.

January Challenge Winner!!

2012-02-01T05:50:00.000-08:00

Thanks to EVERYONE for playing along!! It was awesome fun. We had a fantastic turnout this time around, and I was just so delighted.

First off, let’s get to the winner. ScrappinEweRobyn!

Lots more coming up this week including a new challenge in a few minutes, a Valentines Card hop this Friday, and a purged giveaway on Thursday!

A State of Impulsive Chaos

2012-01-31T12:11:00.001-08:00

Regular blogging is being interrupted today by a state of impulsive chaos. Yes, you see over the weekend (and for a few weeks really) I have been completely overwhelmed with my house. Primarily with the laundry, because I have to line dry everything (we are solar powered completely offgrid). We looked into buying a propane dryer, but for various reasons, I decided I’d rather just keep line drying everything if I could somehow close it behind doors and not look at it. So in a moment of desperation, I mentioned an idea to my wonderful husband. He promptly took the next two days off work (despite his schedule being beyond full) and did some home improvement stuff. We moved the cabinetry that made our “office” to another wall. We moved my scrappy stuff to another wall and built a BIG closet half of which for line drying stuff, half of which for storage. Well, my house is currently in a state of chaos…….although, it’s much better than it was last night. Anyway, I have the most wonderful husband to do this for me, to help me be less overwhelmed. I’m so blessed.

But that also leaves me at a point to purge. I have stuff I don’t use…….I’m making a pile and I’m pretty sure I’m going to do a purge giveaway ~~tomorrow (~~it will be Thursday, because tomorrow is the first of the month which means a NEW CHALLENGE!)…..so come back and see if 1) I get everything put back away, and 2) what I have up for grabs

“Camping in the Cold”

2012-01-30T08:42:00.001-08:00

Last October, my husband took my son camping for some “man” time. It was a cold night. They still went. They left with a portable heater, I was afraid they’d either freeze or die of carbon monoxide poisoning, but hey, what good is life without a little (or a lot) of that “mom worry”. My husband assured me they’d be find and off they went.

Well, my daughter and I quickly did our “girl stuff” while they were gone and enjoyed the evening. They called a few times to tell us the exciting things that happened, like feeding a purple duck! I didn’t know purple ducks existed, but apparently a beautiful grey duck with purple wings does. Hmm…(yes, this was before the portable heater, so I’m pretty sure they weren’t just high on fumes). They had a great time, ate lots of junk food. I think that was what my son was most looking forward to, Mom wasn’t around to say, no you don’t need another cookie. I do have to say though how times have changed that now while camping, we can still communicate via cell phones. Much different than when I was a kid! LOL

Anyway, the night went on. My daughter was safely tucked into bed and I stayed up late anticipating their early arrival home to help unload the truck. 11 PM, no show. 12 AM, still no. Well, I thought to myself, they might actually make it! So I went to bed.

And then I’m woken with a start at 3:30 AM ish thinking for sure someone is breaking into my house….and I’m home, by myself! No man around to protect me!! Ahhh…..that was not part of the deal…and wouldn’t you know it, someone waited until they were gone to come break in!!!

Then I realize (after I stupidly go to the front door with nothing to defend myself – yeah, I’m smart) that it was just the boys returning. I have to admit, I expected midnight, but not 3:30 LOL…..

They camped the night, then the fuel in the portable heater went out about midnight. My son was so cold my husband gave him his sleeping bag which resulted in a still mildly cold boy and a very cold Dad. They broke camp, went to walmart at 3 (yeah, they got lots of questioning looks for that one!) and came home. Sigh…but the boys are home. The two of them took a good nap the next day.

Now this is a story that I wasn’t on, so sometimes tellling it might be hard. But my son was sooo excited about it, it needed to be told. And I was on the receiving end of a few phone calls, so I did still have that perspective. I only had one photo, but I still felt this was a story to be documented.

I did an 8.5 x 11 page because I only had one photo. And this October Afternoon paper was perfect for the page! I created the page with a small amount of journaling in mind then realized I needed more room. So I did something I don’t do often, I used hidden journaling. It meant taking the page apart a bit, but I’m glad I did.

Supplies: October Afternoon, Jillibean Soup, misc (buttons, kraft paper, floss, chocolate ink & bling)

“Home School”

2012-01-27T07:04:00.001-08:00

It was an exciting week in our house. We homeschool, and there are so very many benefits to it. One of which being we can adapt the learning to the ability of the child. My first grade son loves math. It comes extremely naturally to him. This week, we finished 2nd grade math and moved onto 3rd grade! Yay! How very exciting. (So now, next time you see me messing with numbers here, you’ll know it’s a family thing…we all love numbers).

Well, I knew I had to do a page to mark it. This is a sketch by my friend Ashley at Frosted Designs. Now, I had to do what works best for me with sketches. I’m not a sketch person, so I looked at it, made mental notes, then walked away. I pulled a few key things from it (the vertical blocking and the circles) and then did my own thing using those key features.

Supplies: American Crafts (cardstock & Thickers), Cosmo Cricket (papers & ledge letters), October Afternoon (paper and stickers), misc (bling & ink)

“Lego Bliss”

2012-01-26T08:45:00.001-08:00

It’s almost the end of January already! Wow!! I just wanted to share this LO to remind you that I still have the January challenge open! You have until Jan 30 11:59 PM Pacific to post your link for your chance to win the prize!!!

This page I did with a twist on the sketch. I had larger pictures, so I flopped the sketch a bit and then used 3 pics instead of 4. But the great thing about sketches is they are just that. A sketch, not a set in stone rule. Make it work for you!!

Journaling: “In October we went to the Lego Store in Bellevue. You looked forwards to it for months and had a blast.” Oct 2011

Supplies: Simple Stories, American Crafts (cardstock, thickers & ribbon), PapertreyInk dies (alphas), Cosmo Cricket (ledger letters), Studio Calico (veneer stars), Misc, floss & buttons

Be sure to link up your page to your blog or online gallery for your chance to win this months prize! The sketch (and Mr Linky) is on the right sidebar.

The Twinery Buy-In Update 2

2012-01-25T12:19:00.000-08:00

I just dropped in the mail all the boxes for those whom I've received paypal payments from! Keep an eye out at your mailbox because in two to three days (depending on where you are) you should have some happy mail :)

I do still have ~~3 2 spots for the 10 yards of all 18 colors~~ 15 spots for ONLY 10 yards of the new colors (for the record - all will be cut in 10 yard lengths now....it was a nightmare working with the 20 yards at a time. So if you want 20 yards, you'll receive 2 - 10 yard lengths.).

Email me at lovejoypaper (at) hughes (dot) net if you'd like more info.

Reusable Grocery Bags

2012-01-25T05:30:00.000-08:00

My husband always makes fun of me because I write a grocery list and promptly forget it at home when I head out the door. He seems to think it’s funny. And while I guess there is some humor in the fact that I nearly always forget it, there is still benefit in that I usually can remember what was on the list by just the act of writing it out. But I also do a similar thing with reusable grocery bags. Yup, I either leave them at home, or if I’m lucky enough to get them to the car, in the car while shopping. Urgh! I much prefer to use the reusable bags. They hold more, they’re easier to carry, they’re a bit more attractive and best of all, they don’t tear leaving a trail of lemons and potatoes on the ground behind me as I carry groceries in. No, I don’t speak from experience. Okay, maybe just a *little*. okay, okay, a lot. I get so stinkin frustrated when that happens! And it seems to happen weekly.

Anyway, I heard a friend of mine really wanted some for her birthday. I was a bit intimidated because she’s a crazy good seamstress and I’m well, a lazy one! LOL. But I set to work anyway and did my best. I was so pleased with the result I almost didn’t send it! Sigh. But I was good and did. And now I’m thinking I just need to find some time to make myself a nice set of 6 or 8 because I’m thinking that if I had really pretty bags, I wouldn’t forget them at home or in the car.

I’m thinking about doing a pattern for these, but I need to perfect the pattern, so give me a bit and check back!!

The 6x6 Debate–Part 3

2012-01-24T06:18:00.000-08:00

Today I’m going to wrap up this little 6x6 paper exploration with a few more examples of projects done with the same two papers in different scale. The first is a card. This was using a piece of My Minds Eye paper that has a very focal pattern. I often struggle with these types of papers, so these aren’t my favorite projects ever, but they serve the purpose of demonstration.

“Such a Lovely Day Together” Journaling: “In October, the boys went camping so we had a girl day. We had a tea party, painted our fingernails and had fun.”

Alright, now my next two projects are some of my favorites. I’m really loving these two. So just like Thanksgiving dinner, I’m saving the best for last.

For this card, I distressed the papers and rolled the edges a bit to give it a shabby look. I also cut the paper flowers (using both scale of papers) with my spellbinders dies and rolled and inked the edges. No sentiment because I’m not sure who I’m giving it to yet. Yup, that’s how I work.

This page I love because of the photo. I was so happy with the result of the page and the shabby look, it went perfectly with this picture I thought. There is no journaling, but the title is based off a song by Steven Curtis Chapman called “the Treasure of You.” Yes, this is one of my favorites.

Supplies: My Minds Eye (paper, flowers, brads, epoxy, ribbon), Misc (paper, ink & floss), Basic Grey (alphas), Cosmo Cricket (alpha ledgers)

To wrap this all up, and because I’m a complete geek, I wanted to give a bit of a price break down of the price per square foot of the 6x6 pads compared to the 12x12 paper. For the most part, they are pretty comparable. A few are less, a few are a tad more. But all in all, it’s not costing more to buy the 6x6, sometimes it’s a 25% less (but those are often the papers printed on only one side when the 12x12 is double sided). Here’s a brief overview of some companies.

Basic Grey

6x6 – $.66 per square foot (single sided)

12x12 – $.93 per square foot (double sided)

Echo Park

6x6 – $.99 per square foot (double sided)

12x12 – $.89 per square foot (double sided)

My Minds Eye

6x6 –$.99 per square foot (double sided)

12x12 – $.99 per square foot (double sided)

Crate Paper

6x6 – $.74 per square foot

12x12 – $.99 per square foot (double sided)

Simple Stories

6x6 – $.66 per square foot (single sided)

12x12 – $.99 per square foot (double sided)

The Twinery Update

2012-01-23T15:33:00.001-08:00

If you are participating in the Twine buy-in I just wanted to give you an update. I received the twine today, which was ahead of schedule. I didn’t expect it to ship until today.
If you did option 2 for just the new colors (and you have paypal’d already), I am dropping them in the mail tomorrow.
If you chose option 1, I will probably be sending those out on Thursday. Those ones will take longer to pull the twine for. But they will be coming, and I’ll update when I have sent them out.

If you have not participated, but would like to, here is all the information (prices include shipping). ~~I have 6 5 spots available for all 18 colors, 17~~ 15 spots if you want just the 4 new colors.

The 6x6 Debate Part 2

2012-01-23T07:52:00.001-08:00

Well, since I was told Saturday that the word “debacle” is speaking of failure I decided to use the original word I was planning which is debate. So boring though. But thanks Bethany for correcting my not so good English skills. I’m tempted now to use a very long run on sentence full of grammatical error just to see what she says. I shall refrain.

On to the subject at hand. 6x6 paper compared to 12x12 paper. As I said on Saturday, there is a difference in scale. Over the weekend, I made a few projects to demonstrate this. Today, I am just sharing one card. I’ll have more tomorrow but I’m crunched on time today. No, I don’t just lay around eating bon bons and watching Oprah. At least not most days. No, today, I have to brave the 6” of snow that fell overnight and venture into town to pick up my whole foods order. Ahhh….

This paper is from My Minds Eye Lost and Found TWO. Can I just say I loved this line? Guess I don’t need your permission, I’m going to say it anyway. I love this paper line.

I cut both sizes into 1 1/2” squares and made a faux quilted card. You can see the difference in the scale of the patterns. Same pattern, one is just 25% of the other.

Supplies: My Minds Eye (patterned paper & embellishment), American Crafts cardstock, misc thread

Tomorrow I have two pages and two more cards to show using the same papers. Now, I’m off to do school with the kids. It’s an exciting day, my first grade son is moving into 3rd grade math! A new journey starts today. Off for the adventure. Over and out.

The 6x6 Debacle

2012-01-21T06:59:00.000-08:00

That is a word right? Hey – I never said I was an English major….In fact, I’m feeling pretty special in all I’ve learned homeschooling my son in 1st grade phonics. I have a problem with English. How’s that for an intro? Completely off the subject and random. Sigh. Perfect!

If you’ve been in any scrapbooking aisle in the last couple years you’ve noticed that 6x6 paper pads are taking the industry by storm. It seems every manufacturer is releasing their papers in a 6x6 size as well as the full 12x12 size. There are definite benefits to the 6x6 size, especially the obvious, for cardmakers. The smaller size is perfect for the smaller canvas. In addition to just being smaller in size, the scale is usually smaller as well. Most commonly it’s 25% of the the original scale (however I have found some exceptions as I’ll show). But the benefits go farther than just cards. These paper pads are a great option for the scrapper on a budget. It allows the consumer to have the entire (or majority) of a paper line at a more affordable cost. Most 6x6 pads are $6 each, less than the comparable 12x12 collections at $15 and up. One more benefit is the smaller scale. I know I already said that, but I related it to cards. Now, I want to relate it to scrapbook layouts in terms of die cuts.

To demonstrate this, I pulled from my stash some papers that I had in both the 6x6 size and the 12x12 size. Then I punched circles with my 1 1/4” punch in both the full scale and the 6x6 scale. I have photographed those punchouts as well as the sheets of paper together. The full size is on the left, the 6x6 is on the right in all the pictures.

Simple Stories 25 Days of Christmas

My Minds Eye Stella & Rose (both sides of paper)

Echo Park Happy Days (this one appears to not have as dramatic reduction in scale)

My Minds Eye Lost & Found TWO (both sides of paper)

Studio Calico Memoir

I hope these visuals allow you to see the benefits of using the 6x6 papers in your papercrafts. Take a chance and try something new. I did, and haven’t regretted it yet (as you can see below )

“Forever Friends”

2012-01-20T06:27:00.000-08:00

Sheesh, I can’t believe how fast these little squirts grow!! This seems just like yesterday, but it wasn’t. It’s been 16 months and how much they’ve changed since these pictures!

This is a page that really, is just about the pictures. No journaling, just the picture. I tell enough stories in my pages that sometimes I like to do a page that simply doesn’t tell a story with anything more than the picture.

Supplies: Crate Paper (papers & alphas), Cosmo Cricket (flowers & butterflies), October Afternoon (stickers), Misc (floss & rhinestones)

Worst Tooth Fairy

2012-01-19T13:00:00.001-08:00

This sweet boy lost a tooth last night. (who also needs a hair cut desperately) Yay! The fourth tooth we’ve lost. He’s growing up too fast. Plain and simply. He thinks it’s pretty funny that he can now use the gaps in his teeth to use two straws to drink root beer. Silly kid….too bad he’ll only have a few root beers in the time it takes the new teeth to appear.

But to set this story, we have to go back a few weeks. He lost his third tooth. It was a crazy busy night, very bad. The tooth fairy forgot to come. Yes, I said that forgot. Fortunately, this boy is so sweet and considerate he waited until we were up to look. He came into our room very excited. I thought it was because we had plans that day to go to “the city” and he was looking forward to it. Then he said “no, my tooth!” I bolt out of bed, grab some cash and tuck it under his pillow. Phew – close call – he didn’t know. I’ll never do that again!!!

Now, come back to last night. Ever heard of the phrase “history repeats itself?” Yup, feeling like the worlds WORST mother here. That would be me. The current title holder of that one can be relieved of all their responsibilities and forward that trophy to me at PO Box 1BADMOM. We tuck him in last night, and I made a mental note “don’t forget again” Hmm…..next time I should do more than a mental note….Then we had trouble with problems with frozen pipes and the wicked cold weather and were distracted. Oops.

Yeah, we have breakfast. We do school. I’m starting to fix lunch at 11:30 and realize OH NO!!! I did it AGAIN!!! Shoot!!!!! I distract the kids and run into the bedroom. He hasn’t said anything yet and I’m hoping I’m not busted…..Quickly I tuck two bucks under his pillow (I don’t know what the going rate is anymore for the tooth fairy, but since I got a quarter, I figure 2 bucks is pretty good inflation….). We casually wait about 15 minutes and then my husband says “Hey C, have you checked your pillow?” He jumps up and yells “Oh YEAH! My tooth!” Well, seemingly, he didn’t look previously. I don’t know if he really didn’t, or if he’s just trying to be nice….

Now, I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or not, but he knows that Mom & Dad are the tooth fairy (and Santa and the Easter Bunny). I know lots of people play the game of them being real, but I just can’t do it because I feel like I’m lying to my children. So they know the truth. I don’t know if that’s good or bad…..good that if I mess up, their faith in something unreal won’t be crushed, but also bad because I don’t want them to think I don’t care enough about them to remember. Hence, the worlds worst mom award. But hey, can’t I blame my husband too, he also forgot! LOL

Note to self: DO NOT FORGET the Tooth Fairy next time……

Not Too Shabby

2012-01-18T15:51:00.000-08:00

Some of you might be stopping in for the twine buy in- it's still open, so scroll down one post for the details!

I’ve had a page idea in my head for a long time. About two years. Every day we have a conversation that goes as follows.
Me: How’d you get so pretty?
A: God me that way.
She came up with this answer all on her own. She was 3 when we started this little “game” and now it’s our regular little thing we say.

I really wanted this page to be special. I pulled out the October Afternoon papers I wanted to work with and looked at them for a while when I decided I needed to go shabby. Me? Shabby? Well, shabby in a simple way. And man, that is a time consuming technique to roll the papers like this, so don’t expect a lot of this from me! LOL And mark it on the calendar, I even did some fussy cutting.

Supplies: October Afternoon (paper), American Crafts (cardstock, thickers), Making Memories (flower brads), Cosmo Cricket (ledger letters), Twinery (twine), misc (ink, faux stitching)

The Twinery Buy-In OPEN

2012-01-17T08:26:00.001-08:00

Alright, I’m going to go forward with the buy in. Let’s get going!!!!
~~Option 1 is ALL 18 colors, either 10 yards or 20 yards each~~. Sold out.
Option 2 is ONLY the four new colors, 10 yards or 20 yards each.
Please use the paypal links and make sure the shipping address given is correct. If you cannot use the paypal links, then e-mail me at lovejoypaper (at) hughes (dot) net and I’ll give you other directions.
These will take a longer turn around, so please expect 2 to 3 weeks before arrival.

**I apologize for the trouble here....these links don't seem to be working. I redid them and they still aren't. If you e-mail me at lovejoypaper (at) hughes (dot) net I will give you instructions for how to do a manual paypal transaction. I'm sorry for the trouble.**

Option 1 no longer available

Option 2 NEW 4 colors
If you have any questions, e-mail me at lovejoypaper (at) hughes (dot) net
Thanks! Amanda

Twine Buy In update

2012-01-14T12:29:00.001-08:00

Please see post above for purchasing options.

Twine!!!! I love twine. The Twinery is one of my favorites, and they have some new colors coming out this month! I think many of us are anxious to get some!!! So, I’m going to put this out there to do see if there is enough interest to run this. The last Buy In I did for the ATG was a great success, so I thought it might be fun to do a twine buy in. However, I need 20 people to make it worth it. So, here is the facts. At this point, I’m not taking any payments because I don’t know if I will have enough interest. But if there is, I will gladly host it.

Because I’m just crazy enough, I’m going to host another buy in, this time for twine. But because I’m not completely crazy (this is too big of a project with nothing to compensate me to tackle with color choices), there will be only two options, 10 yards of ALL 18 colors or 10 yards of ONLY 4 NEW colors.

I’m doing 10 yard increments. If you would like more than 10 yards, you’ll save on shipping, you will just need to let me know that you would like one, two or three sets (if you order 20 yards, I will leave each color in 20 yard lengths). There will be 20 – 10 yard “spots”. All twine lengths will be sent in individual baggies.

~~Here’s the facts:~~

~~OPTION 1~~
10 yards of each 18 colors: $16.65 (includes priority mail shipping)**please note, this may vary slightly as I only have estimated shipping costs**
~~20 yards of each 18 colors: $27.27 (includes priority mail shipping)**please note, this may vary slightly as I only have estimated shipping costs**~~
~~These will take longer to repackage, so the turnaround won’t be nearly as fast as the ATG buy in (of which I do have a couple sets left if anyone is interested)~~

~~OPTION 2~~
~~ONLY new colors (4 colors). 10 yard only 4 new colors: $6.00 (includes first class mail)~~
~~20 yards 4 colors $8.60 (includes first class shipping)~~

**ETA** I need at least 10 people for the first option, and 10 for the second (or 40 spots filled for the second only to make it happen). If there aren't enough people, I won't be able to justify putting out the money for the spools because I don't that much of every color.

~~Updated Sunday evening: I am leaving this post up through Monday evening. If I have two more *spots* wanted, I will go ahead and set up everything Tuesday to get the ball rolling for both options.~~

~~If you are interested, please leave a comment here saying if you would like one spot (10 yards) or two (20 yards). If I have enough interest, I will set up a formal buy-in with pay pal information.~~
~~Here is a picture from the Twinery of all the existing colors as well as a picture of the new colors to be release (18 in all)~~

If you have any questions, leave a comment & I’ll be sure to answer them.

But Winters Not Over

2012-01-13T08:02:00.001-08:00

Of course, we haven’t had much of a winter to start with……I can see way to much brown ground outside through the bit of snow we have. I really hope we get some snow soon or summer will be long hot and potentially a bad fire season.

I found these pictures on my computer and since I wasn’t ready to share anything else today, I thought I’d share this. My family doesn’t exchange gifts, we draw names for ornaments. This year, we had to handmake our ornaments. Right up my alley! LOL……I made this snow flake (of which everyone in my family promptly said it looked like a flower….well to them…)

Oh, want to know a secret? The paper, it’s actually Pink Paislees Valentine line from two years ago. Yup, it’s easy to take stuff out of context.

Supplies: American Crafts cardstock, Pink Paislee, K&Co embellishments & Lindy ‘s Gang Moon MIst

This girl….

2012-01-11T20:44:00.001-08:00

Another day, another trip to the clinic. Yes, welcome to my life. This sweet little girl has been having a rough patch lately. Lots of tummy bugs. We thought possibly appendicitis a few weeks ago that sent us in right before Christmas. Today, dehydration. Thankfully, she wasn’t severely dehydrated, and the doctor didn’t want to do an IV. Just sent us home with orders to drink her water. And funny that this little squirt didn’t believe Dad & Mom, but did the doctor about how important drinking water is.

She was a trooper though as she’s had her blood drawn twice. She winced, but didn’t even cry. Was so very tough!! The first time though she was worried about the “hole in her arm” and how long it would take to go away. Too cute. And while I always feel silly to leave the doctor after they tell me we just have to “wait it out and drink liquids”, I’m always very relieved to have those blood work test results. It’s always a comfort to have the results and see your childs blood work is normal and it’s another moment that you pause and thank God for healthy kids.

She’s been so sick though with two rounds of some sort of stomach bug that she’s lost 2 pounds in the last two and a half weeks. Might not seem like a lot, but 5% of body weight on a girl who doesn’t have a lot of fat to spare is a good chunk. On a silly note, she has this face she makes that we joke is the “38 pounds of ang-er-y” face. Now we have to change it to “36 pounds of ang-er-y” Hopefully she’ll gain that weight back. I don’t like feeling her spine and other bones.

Remind me, who said parenting was easy? LOL

Easy Pages

2012-01-11T08:44:00.001-08:00

I don’t often buy the complete line of a product line. I usually pick and chose what I like (and mostly because I don’t often buy the expensive embellishments that I will only use half the package of). But one line I do tend to buy a little bit more of is My Minds Eye. One thing I like about MME is that I can put together a quick page. They have a lot of title cards that are pre-designed. I don’t use them regularly, but when I’m in a creative slump but still want to complete a page, these are my go to items. This page is simple, just MME product (and I think the glitter trim is a misc Christmas décor item). Not even any journaling. Just slapped a few pictures together because sometimes the pictures paired with the words of a title say all that needs to be said.

Supplies: My Minds Eye (papers & journal card), Offray (crotcheted trim), misc (glitter trim)

A Different Perspective

2012-01-10T12:24:00.001-08:00

My post for today had originally been intended for a different purpose. I was originally going to share this as a twist on the sketch challenge for the month. And it still is, but I struggled with this layout and did something I rarely do. I walked away from it overnight. I usually just finish because I’ve always thought “done is better than perfect” . But this was a story I really wanted to tell.

The kids love the song “Made In America” by Toby Keith. Well, frankly, I do too. Everytime it comes on Aly yells “Made in Amewica.” And they start bopping their head and singing. I just knew it had to be a page. The last time this happened, I stopped the truck and took some pictures (with my phone, thus the dark pics).

Back to the different perspective though. I photographed the page to post it and when I looked at the small picture this size, it was just not right. The cluster on the left side blended in too much. And the red is only on the page in two places, not a good amount for harmony. I remembered trying to put some red on the cluster, but everything else in the kit was a different shade and it didn’t work. So I tried to not. But when I looked at the picture, I knew I had to. So much so that I fixed it and took another picture of the page. I added a red rhinestone to the cluster and to repeat it so it didn’t seem like an arbitrarily misplaced item.

In adding the red, it make the visual triangle complete and tells your eye where to go.

The point of my rambling, is that use these tools we have. Sometimes when you look at your page in a smaller format, it's easier to see what is going wrong. Snap a picture, look at it as a 2-4" sized project and see if that gives you a different perspective as to what you can do to finish or improve it.

Supplies: Studio Calico (paper, letters, chipboard tags, veneer cuts, journaling block), Twinery (twine) American Crafts paper, misc (floss & rhinestone), Bo Bunny (blue brad)

High School Years–FBLA

2012-01-09T11:26:00.001-08:00

I really don’t have many pictures from my youth years. I don’t know if it’s just that I don’t have that many, or if it’s that no one does, because well, those were the pre-digital era when cameras still used film. Before we went nuts taking photos because we could!

I have so few pictures, but I’ve also done so little with them. I’ve never scrapped them. So last week, I made it my goal to scrap about 30 of these pictures. This is all the pictures I have from FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America). Man, it seems like a lifetime ago!!! I was an officer every year, acting as President my Senior year. (of course, that was also the year I missed the second half of the year because I had spinal surgery – now those are some pictures I wish I could find, but I’m afraid I destroyed them because they were less than flattering…….the things you don’t realize pre-scrapbooking).

This is an 8.5 x 11. I had to really crop down the pictures because of all the distracting background in them. That led me to using a smaller page format. The products are almost all Bo Bunny, the last 4th of July line they did. I’m not a good theme scrapper, so it was fun to be able to pull out the product and use it on a page. The patterned papers are 6x6 pads. This is one of those times I talk about scale. The 25% scale of the 6x6 paper is great, especially for smaller pages. The full scale 12x12 would have been too much on this page.

Supplies: Bo Bunny, Misc (mesh, cardstock, gems), Paper Trey Ink alpha dies

Silly me….

2012-01-07T10:37:00.001-08:00

Well, I was just photographing a page to show you that was a twist of the sketch for this months challenge. I turned it into a two page 8.5x11 spread. I really like the 8.5x11 best for two page spreads. And the different size in my album is kinda fun to shake things up!
Anyway, as I was editing it, I realized I didn’t title it? What?? Really, how could I forget that!!!???!!!
Regardless of the missing title, I’m still going to share the page. Now I just have to figure out a title…hhhmmm….

When I was in High School, my life revolved around three things (well, four). FBLA, Japanese Club, Church Youth Group & baby sitting. Part of my goals that I shared earlier this week was to scrap all these pictures of me from high school. For this page, I used all the pictures I had from our various Japanese club activities. I did some hidden journaling with the locations under the red flap on the right side. But the journaling says: “In HS, I was very active in Japanese Club. We hosted several exchange students and I went to Japan in 1997. These are various pictures of our exchange students and the things we did.” (oh, and can I just say, the picture in the car was at the Mazda factory in Japan….we were only allowed to take pictures in the lobby, once we toured the factory cameras were banned….I wasn’t even a scrapper then and I remember being completely bummed).

One other thing to not here – the patterned paper was Christmas paper. Yup, with some creative thinking, you can make your Christmas stash work year round

And the other thing....why did I think it was okay to have a uniform of tshirts & jeans? Hmmm.....note to self: remind daughter that teenagers can do much better in life than just wearing t-shirts and jeans.....I'm so glad those days are gone!

Supplies: Crate Paper (North Pole) & stickers (Toy Box), misc (cardstocks, buttons, bling),Making Memories (letter ledgers)

Be sure to join the challenge for the month of January!! The sketch is on the side bar to the right. Or click the “Challenges” tab above! You have until the 29th.

Yellow–I can’t get away now! LOL

2012-01-06T09:01:00.001-08:00

Well, I think I can definitely say, I’ve conquered my fear of yellow with a triumphant POW! LOL…..

I had these pictures of the kiddos, taken two years apart. Same place though. I thought it was a great time span page to talk about how they’re growing too fast. Yup……I found it hard to pick a color to work with because of all the different colors in the photos. Of all the papers I laid the pictures against, this combo seemed to work the best. So I went with it. I repeated the circles everywhere, the red arc, the border of circles behind that, the brads, the circle stickers, the die cut circle burlap. Lots of circles. Hmm….I think I’m on a circle binge…

Journaling: “After going to the Hallelujah Carnival this year, I remembered a near identical picture from two years ago. It made me happy and sad to compare them. I’m so proud of who you are becoming, but so sad you’re growing. These pictures prove that you simply grow up…too Fast.”

Supplies: Basic Grey paper (Lifes a Party), Cosmo Cricket (Social Club & ledger letters & stickers), Bo Bunny brads, Studio Calico alphas, misc burlap, black ink

“Fair Smiles”

2012-01-05T12:27:00.001-08:00

I have a slight problem with taking pictures at carnivals. I love to take lots and lots of pictures after that one elusive PERFECT smile. These aren’t it, but they made a pretty cute page anyway! This started from a sketch from Sketch Support. But it pretty much had to go its own way after the photo placement. I had to completely redo the elements to make it look right.

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket, October Afternoon papers. American Crafts cardstock. Paper Trey Ink alpha dies. My Little Shoebox ledger letters. Misc, buttons & floss

AND can I just say WOW! I’m so excited by how many people have already posted for the challenge this week!!!! The challenge is still open until the 29th, so you still have lots of time to use the sketch there on the right and link your page up!!! Lets see how many we can do this month!

January/February Goals

2012-01-04T13:22:00.001-08:00

I thought I might try something a little different today. Just a quick post with a few goals of what I hope to achieve in the next two months. I’m hoping that in saying them outloud, I’ll actually do it! I can hope right?

First – Valentines Blog Hop Feb 3&4. Okay, this one is already a definite, so think of this more as your invitation! This one I’m thinking will be really fun. I sent out a little packet of a few goodies to 12 people. They are all going to make a card for Valentines Day with those items (maybe adding a few additional). It’ll be fun to see what we all do with the same thing. Be sure to come check it out!

Second – This stack of photos. I was cleaning out a desk and found some photos. I knew they were there, but I’d been ignoring them. Well, today I took 5 minutes to pull out 34 photos from my High School experience that I thought would most accurately tell the memories I want to remember…or at least of what was there. I will get these all scrapped before the end of February. But it shouldn’t be too hard because many of them are very small and even though they span different time and events, I can still put them all on just a few pages. I’ve not scrapped much from pre-2005, so this will be good for me. But of course, I still stand my my philosophy that I will work on the current and current memories and not sacrifice having fuzzy details of current stuff to do “old” stuff. So if I feel like it’s inhibiting me, I’ll relook at this goal.

Third – Mystery in the Making I’m feeling all fancy since I received an iPhone for Christmas (more on that story later….)…..Anyway, I was thinking it’s time to do another Mystery in the Making (if you don’t know what that is, it’s a two week “event” here on my blog where I guide you through some shopping and prep for a “mystery” project. The first week is the shopping and gathering, the second week is the prep with it cumulating on the final day of assembly. It’s something you can do anytime, and I usually try to keep it very affordable). This one will probably actually happen in March, although I’ll be working on it between now and the end of February.

Hope you join me on these adventures!

January Challenge!

2012-01-02T10:10:00.001-08:00

Welcome to January!! I’m bringing back the challenge this month! This month, we’re going to work with a sketch. Lots of white space on it because that’s my style, but change it up to what works for you!

You have until Jan 29th to post your link!! Use the link at the bottom of this thread or on the sidebar to share. I can’t wait to see what you do!!

For this month, I invited Laura to help me out. She did this wonderful page of her son as “Leader of the Band” I love the circles on the yellow/green paper and how it made the band feel resonate (no pun intended, at least not initially!)

For my layout, I did a more playful page than my usual style. I had these silly pictures of the kids eating Nerds candy. The pictures were more snapshotish than my normal pictures, so I wanted a very playful feel, (and I even used a shimmer mist to achieve that).

Supplies: American Crafts cardstock, Lindys Stamp Gang mist, Paper Trey Ink (dies & buttons), misc (floss, bling), Basic Grey paper, Glitz ledger stickers

Be sure to enter by Jan 29 11:50 PM for your chance to win! It’s the Basic Grey Hopscotch card kit (but the components can easily be taken apart to use on pages).

New Year, New Challenge

2012-01-01T08:30:00.000-08:00

Good morning! It's a new day and a new year. I'll admit, I'm often a scrooge this time of year. It's just not my favorite time, the New Year. Maybe I'm just too shallow and don't like to be reflective of the past year, or look forward to the next. I know that no matter what I plan, it's often not how it goes....LOL.....

I am bringing back the monthly challenge! I'm a little delayed in posting it today, it will be later today or maybe even tomorrow before it's up. But a new challenge is coming, and this time, it's a sketch. So stay tuned!

Now I'm going to get my cup of coffee.

“2 Years & Still 2 Cute”

2011-12-31T10:50:00.001-08:00

Yellow. That is my current mission. I will conquer and triumph over yellow. And 5 layouts later, I think I’ve got a good grip of yellow!

I took it even farther on this page and used some number thickers. It’s always annoyed me when so much of a pack of alphabets is numbers. I rarely use numbers. I think it goes back to elementary school and the constant badgering of Mrs. Malcolm to write out any numbers less than 10 as a word!!!!! I can just hear her tone now! AHH!!!! So that has carried over and I rarely use numbers because when I do, I spell out the word. Normally, this page would be “Two years…..” But this pack of Thickers was 1/4 numbers! And so annoying to me, I just couldn’t let them go to waste. Now, I still think it looks “wrong” because it is a number rather than the word, but for this title, it wouldn’t have fit well if I spelled it out.

Not much for journaling on this page. I did a similar page that I’ll post in a couple days that has some heart felt journaling. These will go next to each other in the album, so I didn’t feel this one needed more journaling of the same thing. Just the pictures and title tell the story enough. “Hallelujah carnival 2009 & 2011” is it for journaling.

I also used some foam dots to give lift and depth to the photos & orange circles.

Supplies: Bazzill cardstock (burntish orange), American Crafts cardstock (cream) & Thickers, Basic Grey paper (Picadilly), misc (buttons, floss & burlap), Cuttlebug embossing folder

“Happy Birthday”

2011-12-29T16:53:00.001-08:00

I haven’t done much scrapbooking lately. Lots of other creative projects, but not may layouts. I didn’t realize how much creative energy the holidays and my “list” of to make for the holidays were zapping! I was beginning to feel discouraged that I hadn’t wanted to work on any layouts.

So I cleaned of my desk and found some new inspiration. I had a few pictures from the kids birthdays that I haven’t scrapped yet. Wait, I hadn’t scrapped any of their birthday pictures yet. Have I ever mentioned I don’t do “theme” well? I have this problem of purging photos down to just one or two. I love the sequence of them as we sing “happy birthday” and blow out the candles.

Supplies: Simple Stories, American Crafts, Misc: buttons, bling & floss. Design completely by me.

“You Are So Charming”

2011-12-28T08:33:00.001-08:00

Yellow. I’m afraid of yellow. I’ll admit it. But this Fall I bought a few sheets of beautiful Authentique papers in yellow. What was I thinking? And they sat taunting me in the front of my paper files. Everytime I opened the drawer, they said to me “you’re afraid of us..ha ha ha ha.” Wait, you mean, talking paper isn’t normal? Well, then forget I said that.

Now fastforward to last night. My friend Ashley was the creator of the sketch at Frosted Designs this week. It was a sketch that was much more “me” so I was very excited to do it. I pulled out a couple photos and decided to give it a whirl. Then I opened the paper drawer to pull paper and again those yellow papers started to taunt me “you’re afraid of uh……………………..” But before they could finish their little taunt, I snatched them out and decided I was going to put an end to that. No more unruly papers in my stash.

I set to work, and an hour and a half later, I’m extremely happy. I don’t normally spend that much time on a LO because, well, I’m not very patient. However, if I’m always that happy, I’m going to start spending that much time!

Oh, and Yellow, I’m not afraid of you anymore (at least not as long as you’re paired with grey & black).

Oh, oh, I have to share this!!! See that alpha for “charming”…..I bought a new set of dies from PaperTreyInk they are AWESOME!!!!! I LOVE the scale of the letters. I’m sure you’ll be seeing a lot of these bad boys….The die set was $16, but because it will give me near unlimited cuts and possibilities, move over thickers. Sorry, but you’ve been replaced. (and $16 is actually very affordable for an alphabet die set).

Supplies: Authentique, Paper Trey Ink (die & buttons), misc bling & floss, American Crafts Cardstock, My Little Shoe Box (ledger letters), Basic Grey stitching templates, Fiskars punch

Simple Winter Card

2011-12-27T06:54:00.000-08:00

A couple pieces of paper, some ink, a button, floss and flower can work together to carry a pretty good simple elegance.

A perfect winter card!

Supplies: My Minds Eye, misc

Jewelry frame

2011-12-26T09:40:00.000-08:00

I've had a wonderful season so far. It's a blast watching Christmas through the eyes of my kids and the magic they see in everything.

Part of Christmas to me is making gifts for family and friends. When I received a recent circular from Craft Warehouse, I saw something in it that I just knew I had to do!! It was a hinged frame jewelry "box". I thought it would be the perfect gift for my hard to shop for mother in law. So I hightailed it to Craft Warehouse in Wenatchee and got my quick little hands on one of the frames. I absolutely love this idea because you can interpret it any way. The possibilities are endless.

This is the frame I picked up. I bought the 12x12.

First, open the back of the frame and pull out the piece of foam. I used this in my project, I just flipped it around so the cloth was in the back. Then I adhered my piece of 12x12 paper to it. I put it back in the frame, closed the back and began to work on the front. For the earrings (and to add some decorative touches) I used my favorite adhesive, Beacon 3 in 1 quick dry adhesive to apply a crotcheted ribbon. (Yes, the jewelry is made from elements and crystals from Craft Warehouse as well)

I then measured equal distances and use the same 4 pins that came in the frame as the "hook" for the necklaces. I put them in at an angle equally spaced.

Supplies: Hinged Frame, My Minds Eye Laundry Line Two paper, American Crafts Crocheted ribbon
The finished project came out just as I had expected. And if my mother in law doesn't like it, she's always welcome to give it back to me because I'll gladly put it to use!
Have a Merry Christmas, and Happy Crafting!

Gifts of Heart

2011-12-25T20:44:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone. The night is winding down, my little ones are nestled in bed. It was a blessed day, a day we spent together as a family. We were all fighting a virus this week and none of us felt healthy, so we stayed home yesterday and today and just spent the wonderful time together. We played some games, watched a Christmas movie and just had a great time being together and remembering that we celebrate to remember our Savior leaving Heaven to come to earth as a meek baby, to live a pure and blameless life so that he might later sacrifice himself to save us from our sins. What a glorious majestic event!

Of course, part of our modern celebration is to give gifts to those we love. As I shared last week, our tree was blossoming with abundance. We opened all our gifts and enjoyed the blessings. After the kids unwrapped their gifts, we unwrapped all those little packages of love under the tree. The kids (especially A) had been so busy making little gifts the last few weeks. It was a treasure to watch them. I knew that each gift was made full of love. And I think from her excitement in making them, love is her love language.

Well, when all the presents were unwrapped and the wrapping paper in the receptacle, we were left with more than 50 of these precious drawings. Priceless, but what was I to do with them? Then I realized it’s moments like this that I’m so grateful I’m a scrapbooker and have this abundance of tools. I gathered up all the papers and set to work to make a mini album. I figure that one day, I’ll treasure these pictures. When they are teenagers and don’t want to talk to me, or in some of the misunderstandings I’m sure we’re bound to have as they are adults, or even when they have kids and I’m seeing grandkids the age they are now. I’ll treasure these. And this became my favorite gift this Christmas. Better than the iPhone (although it’s pretty darn cool), better than the bamboo cutting board, better than the Starbucks (well, depending on the day).

I put a picture of them this Christmas and told the story “This Christmas was such a special Christmas. We spent the day together as a family. There were many presents under the tree, but the best were the tiny 50 plus wrapped gifts. You two (especially A) spent hours and hours, multiple rolls of wrapping paper and scotch tape to provide many abundant gifts of Love. Each work of art was a work of heart. Little gifts that aren't’ so little when you realize how full of love they are.”

Supplies: Bind It All, Echo Park, American Crafts Thickers, My Little Shoebox, K & Company

Photo Coasters

2011-12-23T06:48:00.000-08:00

One more little last minute gift idea. I used some photos I took of the munchkins and made some photo coasters. Same principle from previous posts. I printed them on my home printer, let them dry a bit. Trimmed to 3.75 x 3.75”. Mod Podge but then just for a bit more protection, I sprayed then with a clear glossy acrylic spray (like the acrylic sealing finish coat that’s with the acrylic paints in the craft section).

So Much Love

2011-12-22T14:08:00.001-08:00

Our tree is overflowing. I’m going to be grateful and view it as a year of abundance and blessing. I truly believe it is only because of the good Lords provision that we are as blessed as we are, so that is how I’m going to look at my tree. In spite of all the struggles we’ve had this year, it’s been a fabulous year. And I will count each and every blessing.

This year, my tree is very symbolic of that to me. The tree itself, well, it will go to the goats the day after Christmas (did you know goats love to eat trees? they do!) The tree itself is looking pretty sad, it’s very dry and the branches are getting weepy. It’s fighting to make it to Christmas. Sometimes, that is life. We get up, and we fight and struggle to make it through the day. We push forward because we know we have to, not necessarily because we want to. Just as my tree is barely hanging on, so sometimes we do in life.

But if we look down, to the bottom of the tree. There is blessing and abundance. Both material and simply love. This year, more than ever my tree is blossoming with love. You see, at the bottom, there must be at least 60 little handmade, handwrapped gifts. Three large rolls of wrapping paper and two rolls of Scotch tape later, it’s spilling over. Yes, there are many material gifts as well. More than usual in fact (thus the abundance) but just as importantly, are these little gifts of love. Little trinkets that say “to Mom” or “to Pa” that just make my heart happy. And it’s those things that remind me why when I feel droopy and tired like my tree, I pursue on. To provide shelter, a home, and protection for those little gifts of love. And the joy they return back to me, makes every day worth the battle that is life!

I am so truly blessed. Blessed beyond belief! Thank you Heavenly Father for my loving gracious husband, for my two little gems of children, for the abundance, blessing and love you shower upon us day after day, minute after minute. Help me to see them for what they truly are!

“Santa 2010”

2011-12-19T08:48:00.000-08:00

I’ve had this picture of the kids and Santa from last year taunting me for over a year. For some silly reason, I don’t feel the holiday “spirit” to scrap Christmas in February or August. So it has continued to sit on my desk. And maybe because I hand’t found the “right” papers for it yet either. Not sure, but anyway, I checked out Frosted Designs yesterday and saw their sketch. I thought it might work to finally get this photo scrapped. So I did.

Supplies: Simple Stories (all papers & stickers), Paper Trey Ink (buttons), Misc floss & bling

My Newest Favorite Product

2011-12-18T20:01:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to share for a quick moment what some of my newest favorite products are. I am loving the 6x6 patterned paper stacks. I didn’t “get” it for a while, but now I’m gaining quite a collection (and I’ve been buying these instead of 12x12 sheets for the most part).

I wanted to share it today, because if you have any last minute “what do you want” requests or last minute gifts for scrappers, these stacks are perfect for stocking stuffers. But here are the reasons I am loving them so much lately:

1) Affordable. They’re a great way to get the entire paper collection on a budget. I did the math, and per square inch, every collection I’ve bought, the price per square inch is the same in the 6x6 stack as the price per square inch of the 12x12 papers (individually). So you can get much more design variety for the same price per square inch.

2) Smaller Scale. This used to be the part I didn’t like. However, my scrapbook style has changed and now I rarely use a full 12x12 sheet as my background. I didn’t previously like the small prints on a full 12x12 sheet (and I still don’t). But when I cut down a 12x12 sheet into say a 4x4 piece, often the print is then too big for a smaller piece. Because I’m now using many more small pieces rather than full sheets, these are a perfect fit!

They are also a much better size & scale for making cards (and we all know how I feel about cards – anyway to make them easier, and I’m on it )

3) Less Waste. When cutting them down for a smaller piece, I a) don’t feel guilty about that I’m cutting a 12x12 sheet for a 2” square, b) I’m wasting less paper overall if I do only use that 2” square and don’t end up using the rest of the paper.

I’m finding these are a fantastic option for many reasons!! I’ve been working on a few projects to focus on them in use, so stay tuned to my blog after the holidays to see them in action!!

And Santa, if you’re reading, I wouldn’t mind a few more, e-mail me if you need to know what collections …..LOL

***Oh BTW – Hilary, if you’re reading this, can you e-mail me again. I’ve had e-mail and computer trouble, and I’ve lost your address….***

Ruffle Bag Tutorial

2011-12-16T06:43:00.000-08:00

I have a confession. I have an addiction. To bag. Cute bags. Frilly bags. Simple bag. Charming Bags. Sophisticated Bags. I pretty much like them all. If only I could carry 20 at a time, I'd be happy. Of course, I might end up on "What Not to Wear" because of my major fashion faux pas, but I'd be happy!!

A couple weeks ago, my addiction was tempted....we were walking through downtown waiting for the Christmas parade to start and I saw an adorable whimsy ruffled bag. SO cute! I almost bought it until I realized I could probably make it on my own. Now, I'm not the best seamstress in the world (not even sure I qualify for the name "seamstress"), but I knew that even my basic skills would allow me to make this adorable bag. So I set out. And I did! And today, I'm going to share the pattern with you.

Before we begin, let me say, I am a self-taught sewer (wait, that isn't the right word, I guess I will have to call myself a seamstress, because I'm most definitely not a sewer! LOL). So as you are reading these directions, if you know a different way to do this, them please do! I've just figured out what works for me (aka a lazy seamstress), whether it's "proper" or not, I have no idea because everything I know I've figured out on my own. Fabric:

Cut pieces of Fabric: (note – no printable pattern because these can all be cut easily with scissors and tape or rotary cutter, or a sheet of 12x12 scrapbook paper can work great as a pattern)

3 4 x 22 pieces of patterned fabric (2 or three patterns)

2 squares 12x12 of patterned fabric (should be same pattern as one of the 4x22 strips)

2 squares 12x12 solid coordinating fabric

2 strips 4 x 16 solid fabric

(For shopping, purchase 1/4 yard patterned fabric, 1/2 yard coordinating fabric, 1/2 yard solid fabric)

The first thing we'll do is gather the ruffles. Stitch a long stitch and gather.

Note: I didn't hem the ruffles. Part of the charm of the bag is that they'll fray and be more whimsy. If the perfectionist in you can't allow that, then hem away.

Stitch along the gather stitch. Repeat with additional two ruffles, placing each on 1" above previous.

When all layers are stitched, stitch down the side to keep the ruffles in place for assembly.

Now we will move on to the straps. Fold one piece in half and stitch the open side together with a 1/4 seam allowance.

Repeat with second strap.

Turn the strap inside out.

Stitch strap flat using an 1/8" seam allowance. Repeat on second strap

Next, begin assembly. Pin back to font with right side of fabrics facing each other. You will see the wrong sides.

Stitch together left, right & bottom.

Now we need to pin in the straps. I have a picture for visual, but PLEASE don’t assemble it exactly as seen. The straps need to both be placed inside the front & back just as you stitched it. Do not do anything to the front & back you stitched together. Leave it exactly as is and place straps as seen here except between the two layers instead of outside.

Stitch the handles to the outside.

Now, we need to stitch the lining together. Place the two right sides of fabric together. Stitch around sides & bottom with a 1/2” seam allowance.

On the lining only turn right side out.

Now slide the lining (with the right side out) into the front/back piece with the right side in. You should have the two right sides looking at each other, while you are seeing the wrong side.

Pin together.

Stitch the two pieces together using a 1/2” seam allowance. Stitch nearly around the entire thing, but leave a 3” opening so you can turn it right side out.

Fold the lining and the outside down where the hole was that you left for turning it. Stitch.

Pull the right side out. If you’re not comfortable getting it to lay right, now is a time you can use the iron to iron the bag into the “shape” you’ll want it to be.

No, to finish it off, after you have the bag laying correctly, stitch around the very top with a 1/8” allowance to hold everything (including the straps) in place.

Enjoy!!

12 Tags of Christmas

2011-12-15T09:48:00.000-08:00

Every year for Christmas, I like to do something that really says “I’m thinking about you.” I’ll admit, we’re not a millionaire family and sometimes we can’t afford to buy the gifts that’d we’d like to give. But I think that the specialness (wait, is that a word? LOL) of a gift is the thought that goes into it. As well as having a limited budget, I know there’s more in that we’d love to spend the holidays with our parents, for the kids to spend it with their Grandparents. However, the many miles and states between us keep that from happening. So this year, I wanted to put a little extra thought & effort into Christmas in a way that didn’t cost a lot of money. Something though that really says “wish we could be together.”

Many of you may know about Tim Holtz’s 12 Tags of Christmas. Well, this is my tag on that…okay, bad play on words. This is my take on that. While his work is gorgeous, it’s much more time consuming than I have to spend on it. So I’m doing the 12 Days of Christmas. ♫♪On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a partridge in a pair tree♪♫. (be glad you can’t hear me singing because, well, I’ve been “complimented” in some not so nice ways about my singing. Let’s just say Simon only wishes he was still on American Idol so he could unleash his British snarkiness on me and my not so talented voice).

Okay, I digress. Back to the subject on hand. This was a project I went into with the intention of it not being exceptionally time consuming, and it wasn’t. This is the second set I made for myself. These ones are smaller in size.

I found these tags at Craft Warehouse. I bought two packages of chipboard and one of clear (because there are only 5 per package, you need more than 2 packs).

On the clear ones, be sure to remove the blue film cover.

I used StazOn ink (especially on the acrylic).

But the best part..... the complete goodness of Simple Stories 25 Days of Christmas. I think this is my favorite Christmas line of all time. Really.

I printed of small pictures, about 1.5 x 2 inches. You could also probably print off contact pictures from your photo gallery if you aren't comfortable using Photoshop. Then I set to work. I didn't really do anything special or consistent, I just put together what seemed appropriate for each picture.

This was my favorite tag of all of them. I think it was just as much because of the picture. Let me just suggest to you all to not take pictures on the railroad tracks. Let's just say we had a visit from some law enforcement and I'll leave it at that....:p I do also really like the acrylic because you can have more dimension. You can have dimension in front and you can build dimension behind for a really awesome look!
I’m off to go drop these bad boys in the mail! Enjoy your day.

Quick, Easy and Affordable Kids’ Gift

2011-12-14T19:51:00.001-08:00

This year for Christmas, our family has put a special importance on making gifts. My kids are finally old enough to do real projects and it’s been some great family time, and I hope memories that will last.

I needed a quick last minute project we could do for some friends of theirs. As we brainstormed our options, we decided that a game would be a good idea. We love playing games as a family, and so do our friends. We decided that tic tac toe would be a great idea. We made our list and headed to Craft Warehouse to pick up what we didn’t already have in my stash: a tin (gift card holder) and small round magnets. We pulled twine, buttons and glue dots from my stash.

No photo directions today because it’s really pretty easy.

Cut 1/4” strips of paper and adhere to inside of tin. (You can use the outside if you prefer).

Thread and tie buttons.

Using a glue dot, adhere magnet to button. (if you use other flat elements or don’t floss the buttons, the adhesive on the magnet by itself is sufficient).

Wrap and give

Thanks for joining me today! Have a Merry Christmas.

Swarovski Crystal Cluster Necklace

2011-12-13T06:04:00.000-08:00

I’ve been trying to expand my design repertoire. I used Swarovski crystal pearls in three sizes and some Swarovski bicone crystals to make a cluster drop. It’s on an antiqued copper finish chain.
Supplies: Swarovski, misc findings

Food Gifts Part 5

2011-12-12T05:53:00.000-08:00

Every year I always have a few people on my list who I want to give a little gift to. Not really anything special, just something that says “I was thinking about you.” And since some of these people like chocolate (I only know one person who doesn’t), a nice Ghirardelli bar is often a perfect choice. But I don’t just give them a bar. Nope, have to make it a little bit prettier. Easy and affordable! Viola!

The best camera isn’t always…

2011-12-11T08:02:00.000-08:00

They say the best camera is the one you have with you. First of all, I don’t know who “they” is, but I’d like to argue this.
My son had an appointment with an allergist this week. He’s been having some allergy triggered asthma. At least that was my conclusion after much observation and attempt to control his environment. But we wanted to get some definite answers instead of going on just my observations.
He was a fantastic trooper! Was a big tough guy during the scratch tests. But I think I cried more than he did. You see, when they came in to do the actual test, I left and he stayed with his Dad. I went in a few minutes later to see his back all swollen and puffy. I reached for my camera to take a picture. This was a big moment to document, finally figuring out what was going on.

Then it hit me. I forgot my camera. What? WHAT???? ME who never is without a camera. I FORGOT!!

Oh!!!

So out of desperation, I grabbed my cell phone and snapped a picture. Let me just show you.
Can you see anything in this blob? LOL

You see, my phone is old. My husband has snagged my last free upgrade, so my phone is pushing 4 years old. Old. Really old in cell phone world. And the “lens” of the phone is scratched up to, well, I can’t think of a silly analogy.

At any rate, as you can tell, I never use my cell phone camera. WHY would I when I have my nice DSLR with me all the time?

And now I have proven WHY I do always lug the beast around with me. Because it makes me happy to get good pictures, not what you see above.

So I’d like to argue that the best camera isn’t always the one you have with you.

When we got home, I did snap a picture of his back with the numbers still on it. The swelling was gone, some hydrocortisone cream made it go away pretty quickly after they read the results.

But we are very happy to know what he is allergic to. Horses was the main one. And that was the “mystery” trigger that I couldn’t ever place. I guess I never thought it to be horses. But it is kinda funny because our horse is named Cody. So the way home, the kids were saying “Cody is allergic to Cody (the horse), but Cody (the horse) isn’t allergic to Cody.” ha ha ha ha…they thought it was hilarious!!!
So the boy must now avoid the horse, the cats, sagebrush (ha – we live in the wrong place) and house dust. Phooey – now I can’t give him that chore anymore….more work for me, but worth it to not have him take medicine daily.

Food Gift #4: Dill Pretzels (and Ranch mix)

2011-12-11T06:44:00.000-08:00

Gift number four can be used in two different ways. This is a favorite treat in our house. My kids love these Ranch pretzels. I first had them made from several processed ingredients, but in my quest to remove more chemicals and processed things from our house, I came up a recipe to make these without the use of packaged ingredients (except the pretzels, I haven’t taken up making those from scratch yet LOL)

Put 1 bag of Rold Gold pretzels in a zippered bag. Add 1/3 cup olive oil. Sprinkle 4 tablespoons ranch mix over pretzels. Seal bag and shake. Shake every half hour or so for the next 4 hours (until the oil is absorbed and they aren’t shiny). Transfer to a clean bag or bowl. Enjoy!

Here is the recipe for the Ranch mix (I’m not calling it a knock of of Hidden Valley because it doesn’t taste exactly the same, but I like it).

1/2 cup powdered buttermilk
1 1/2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp dill
2 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp dried chives
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
couple twists of pepper from a pepper grinder

Mix together and put into an airtight jar or bag. If you want to make ranch dressing with it, use 1/4 cup sour cream, 1/4 mayonnaise and 1/2 cup water (or milk, but you already have powdered milk in the mix) and 2 tbsp dry mix. Stir until smooth.

hmmm...well.....

2011-12-10T21:11:00.000-08:00

hmm...I had a recipe for day 3 to go up. But it's not here! It's not in my dashboard either...and I don't have it saved on my computer because I typed it on my blog!

So sorry everyone.....but more to come tomorrow..

Food Gifts Part 2: Taco Seasoning

2011-12-09T06:04:00.000-08:00

Today is the second part of food gifts. I like giving food gifts because everyone has to eat right? LOL….and most people like to eat food that tastes good.

I’ve been very surprised in talking with some of my friends how many people don’t know how to use spices. Honestly, I don’t know why I am surprised because until a few years ago, that was me! I didn’t know how to use spices, and I will admit, I still have a lot to learn, but I’m definitely not the rookie I once was. Spices allow you to add so much flavor to your food without adding a lot of fat.

In a mixing bowl combine:

8 tbsp chili powder
4 tbsp cumin
4 tbsp paprika
3 tbsp oregano
3 tbsp sea salt
2 tbsp onion powder
2 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tbsp cayenne
2 tbsp dried parsley

Mix together and put 5 tbsp into a jelly jar. Yield 10 jars.
To use: Brown 1 lb ground beef and add 2 tbsp seasoning. Add more if desired.
(When making, if you’d like it spicier, you can increase cayenne to 1 tbsp. Most of the families I’m giving this to have little children, so I kept it to a minimum). I always buy my spices in bulk from a place like www.azurestandard.com, Costco or a restaurant supply store.

Food Gifts Part 1: Homemade Vanilla

2011-12-08T06:26:00.000-08:00

The next several blog posts I’m going to be sharing some food inspired gift ideas. Sometimes we have people we want to give a gift to, but it has to be within a budget. When done smartly, food gifts can be a great practical gift and still very affordable.

Let’s get started today with some homemade vanilla. I made some for myself over the summer and thought it was delightful. The depth of flavor was much more than commercial vanilla extract. It was quite good! And very easy to make as well.

This one is very easy. It takes some time, but that can be done by the recipient as well.

In a 1/2 pint jar, pour 4 ounces of vodka and add 2 cut vanilla beans. Tightly put lid on. Shake daily for a week. Leave in a cool dark place, shaking once a week. Takes about 4 months to reach full flavor (this jar still has about 6 weeks left, but even at full strength, it’s not as dark as commercial extract). Top off with 1 tsp rum when finished to add a bit of sweetness.

Warms my heart–winners too!

2011-12-07T19:07:00.001-08:00

My tree was made a little cozier today. For the last few days, A has been adding “gifts” to the tree. Little envelopes with art in them for Mom. Sweet girl, she’s always giving me little gifts. Today, C jumped on the bandwagon. They both spend 4 hours (pure bliss for this mom!) making art and wrapping it up. At last count, I think they put 39 packages under the tree. (I’m thinking they’ve never heard of the “3 gifts because Jesus got 3 gifts rule”????) Well, after they used a hole roll of scotch tape (the normal sizes ones that you put into a refillable dispenser), a roll of wrapping paper from Costco and about 50 sheets of copy paper, I told them that was enough for the day. They were quite disappointed and A reminded me that “You were supposed to buy more paper at Walmart. Rememwer, I remindwed you to buy more.”

Sigh.

Cute.

Happy tree.

And now, I’m hoping to make some of you happy!! Today, I wooed my 200th follower! Thank you everyone – all my existing followers and new followers!!! So the ongoing contest I have is now closed.

I’ve employed the help of random.org to pull some winners. First, the winner of the stack of paper is: (from the November 28 post, comment 3) Bethany!

The 200th follower is Hilary! (prize: crystal necklace)

And the random follower chosen from my existing followers is Grammachurch! (prize: crystal necklace)

Thank you to all my faithful readers. I appreciate you all so much!!!

Handmade Tiered Ruffle Bag

2011-12-07T06:36:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday was our towns annual Christmas Twinkle Parade. We spent the afternoon as a family walking through town and just having fun. One of my favorite storefronts has an adorable little frayed tiered bag for sale. The price really wasn’t that bad but I knew it was totally something I could make myself. So I came home and anxiously set to work. Now, keep in mind I’m definitely not the worlds greatest seamstress (but I am getting better at least a straight lines LOL). I made the pattern and set to work to make this thing of beauty!

And I just LOVE it!!

I’m working on a tutorial to come probably next week. I’m going to make another one (bigger for my laptop) but I’ve been eyeing some Cosmo Cricket fabric at the quilt shop just waiting for the perfect use for it. And now I know what it will be! So Saturday I’m going to buy more and then I’ll be back with measurements and a tutorial! Hopefully in time for Christmas. I will say this though (I’m not the fastest or best) but including the time to make the pattern, I spent about 1 1/2 hours total. Not too bad I didn’t think. (And sorry, but I can’t tell you what fabric this is, it was on clearance at the quilt shop, the solid pink is corduroy though).

“We are Family”

2011-12-06T06:42:00.000-08:00

This is a page I did for the Frosted Designs challenge. I don’t usually play along there because sometimes the sketches are a little busy for my simple style. But I made it my goal to make this one work and I think I did. I pulled out this Crate Paper line Emma’s Shoppe I believe. I was setting to work but it just didn’t go. I decided I had to do something I don’t usually do (because it’s messy LOL) and I used my craft knife to roughen up the edges. That took it up just enough to fit much better with the products. Ah….it’s good to go a little outside your zone, but I love that in the end, it is still completely me and not something that is suited only to someone else.

Supplies: WRMK cardstock, misc (floss, ink, trims), Crate Paper (Emma’s shoppe & Restoration chipboard & stickers)

***Giveaway reminder: We are at 199 followers! Thank you everyone!!! Next follower ends the contest. If you are the 200th follower, please e-mail me when you "follow" lovejoypaper (at) hughes (dot) net. I'll make for you a crystal drop necklace. AND one for a follower I randomly choose. I also have a goodie package of papers (and more now) that I'm sending to a commenter I will randomly draw from the comments between Nov 4 & the 200th follower.

“Sweet Aly”

2011-12-05T19:24:00.001-08:00

This is a page I did for the Sketchy Thursday Dec 1 challenge. I’m not sure why, but my mind immediately went to butterflies when I saw the circles going across the bottom of the sketch. And then I found this Crate Paper paper in my stash and knew it would be the perfect fit. After about an hour of hand stitching, I finished the page. I just love these pictures.

Supplies: American Crafts (cardstock & thickers), Crate Paper, misc (bling, floss and cardstock) My Little Shoebox (ledger letters)

Blog Hop Winner

2011-12-05T07:51:00.000-08:00

Wow! I'm excited, I think that was one of our best blog hops yet! Thank you to everyone who joined in, and thank you to everyone who hopped along! It was a blast. I'm so very inspired now :)

Alright...now to the winner!!! Of this:

Congratulations Shanon!! (comment #3) You won......I'll get this mailed out promptly.

‘Tis the Season

2011-12-04T06:39:00.000-08:00

It amazes me how I see the holidays anew through the eyes of my kids. The joy, happiness and excitement they exude is just so much fun!!

Earlier this week, my husband asked the kids if they wanted to go get a tree. Because C is allergic to pine, we couldn’t go cut one of our own. So off to Home Depot we trooped to pick out a tree. Not nearly as much fun as scouting a tree in the woods, but hey, it’s better than having a kid not able to breathe.

We set it up, and as a family, decorated it.

Every year I’ve tried to get a picture of the kids putting an ornament on the tree. But because they never understood what I was doing and it’s hard to photograph quick little kids, I’ve never had pictures I liked. I’m delighted today though because I finally succeeded!!!
Merry Christmas!!

Handmade Holiday Blog Hop

2011-12-01T20:59:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Handmade Holiday Blog Hop!! A group of us have gotten together to share some holiday inspiration and handmade gifts, decorations etc you can make with scrapbooking supplies.

If you’re like me, nothing brings out my creativity more than the holidays. It seems there just isn’t enough time to make all the things I want to make, and it brings me such joy to make and give handmade gifts. It’s a reminder to a bygone era, one where thought and care was put into every detail of a gift. Yes, shopping can be very thoughtful, but what says “I care about you” more than taking the time to make something. It seems in our crazy fast world that time is much more valuable than money, so a handmade gift (in an era where talents are sometimes dwindling) is just so special.

I went through about 50 different ideas for this hop before I settled on mine. Still not sure it’s the best, but it’s what I went with (partly because I’m giving it away, and everything else I came up with wouldn’t ship well). So here goes!!

When we built our house, I bought a plaque that currently hangs over our bed. I loved it, and still do. But it was before I really expanded my creativity world and I now realize it was something I could make, and I paid a pretty crazy amount to buy it considering that I can now make them out of scraps…….

This $50 beauty hangs in our room. Yup, it’s wonderful, but I would never again pay $50 it. And I’m kinda in shock that I paid it then…..

So for the hop, I decided to make my own.

(doesn’t this chair just scream Santa? I simply love it)

This was a really easy project to make. You need a piece of scrap wood (plywood, veneer, even just a piece of a 1x6 would work), some vinyl, sandpaper, white spray paint, black spray paint and an electronic die cutting machine (or you can buy a vinyl cut if you don’t have a machine).

I used a sheet of 1/4” cherry veneer (but then again, I’m married to a cabinet maker…if you don’t have scrap ply laying around, you can also buy a plaque at the craft store)

Spray paint one side white. I didn’t paint it with 100% coverage, I liked the little bit of wood showing (and it was really windy )

Apply the vinyl cut (either cut yourself or precut) to the wood. Because we’re just using this as a mask, it doesn’t matter what color it is. This is a great place to use up any ugly vinyl you have if you bought an assorted pack off of ebay or something random).

Apply pressure evenly all over so you have a good bond. Then spray paint the face and edges black.

When it dries, sand edges for a distressed look. And carefully peel up vinyl.

Viola!!!

Now here’s the good part……I’m giving it away! Yup!! You could win it to add to your Christmas decorations (of course, you might have to fight my son for it, he really loves it). All you have to do is leave a comment on my blog. (And remember, I also have another contest going for a random comment from between the Nov 4 post until I hit my 200th follower – and the 200th follower will receive a handmade crystal drop necklace – so if you’re not already a follower, become one – if you see you are the 200th follower, please leave me another comment and say so (I’m not sure I’ll catch exactly the 200th person because the volume might be increased because of the hop).

Well, I bid you adieu and send you off to Becky!! If you get lost, come back here and pick up where you got side tracked. Thanks for stopping by!!

Happy December & November winner

2011-12-01T08:05:00.001-08:00

Ah…December. Happy happy!!

Time to look through the entries for November and draw a winner!! Here we go: I employed the help of Random.org to figure the list:

1.4 2.3 3.1 4.6 5.5 6.2

So CONGRATS Mandi!!! You are the winner :)

(Mandi’s layout tells the wonderful story of her adoption! How truly special)

Alll the layouts were wonderful and full of fantastic inspiration:

By Carolyn

By scrappinewerobyn

By Veronica

And last but not least, by Ashley:

Thanks so much to everyone who joined in!!!

Now, onto December. I’ve been so busy with all projects I have to go up in the month of December, I decided to take the month off for my challenge. I know it is a crazy busy month for many of you, so I figure you might be in the same position as me.

Come back in January, as I plan to have another monthly challenge January 1.

Christmas Gifts – Coasters Part 3

2011-11-30T00:56:00.000-08:00

Here’s round 3 of the coasters. These are using and older line of paper, so if you don’t have it in your stash, you’ll have to find something more current!
So now I have to give my disclaimer – if you know me IRL (er, are family), there might be a chance something you see could be coming to you as a Christmas gift. So if you don’t want to see, please stop reading! Thanks :)

Supplies: Pink Paislee Paper (bayberry cottage, 2010, I believe), Echo Park For the Record alphas, mod podge, ceramic tiles, felt & hot glue

Christmas Gifts – Coasters

2011-11-29T00:24:00.000-08:00

I’ve been very busy making stuff lately. Haven’t done anything scrapbooking. I’ve been making lots of gifts and just plain playing I guess you could say.
So now I have to give my disclaimer – if you know me IRL (er, are family), there might be a chance something you see could be coming to you as a Christmas gift. So if you don’t want to see, please stop reading! Thanks :)

I’ve been wanting to make some coaster with some of my beautiful scrapbooking paper. So when we stopped at Home Depot to buy a Christmas tree, I managed to sneak down the tile aisle and bought some tiles. Very inexpensive, $.16 each. Add some paper, mod podge and love and you have a beautiful (and practical) gift!!
This is a glittered die cut from My Minds Eye. I trimmed it and adhered it down. Worked beautifully!
Supplies: My Minds Eye (paper & die cut), Staz On ink, mod podge, ceramic tiles.
If you want to know how I did these, stay tuned. I’ll have a few more variations and then a tutorial coming shortly.

Christmas Gifts – Coasters & Tutorial

2011-11-28T06:18:00.000-08:00

I love handmade gifts. To me it really says “I thought about you.” But I admit, they must be nice and they must be practical. And pretty too.
This is a fast and inexpensive gift idea. And practical too. You can make beautiful coasters with some inexpensive tiles from the home improvement store, mod podge and some scrapbook paper.

List of supplies:

Mod Podge
Ceramic Tiles
Paper (I prefer the 6x6 stacks – the scale of the pattern is perfect for the project and it’s an easy way to have coordinated product. And accessible at Craft Warehouse)
StazOn ink
Foam brush (or any brush, I prefer foam)
Hot Glue gun or Beacon 3 in 1 adhesive
Felt (enough for a 4x4 square for each tile)

Let’s get started!
Pull out 4 sheets of coordinating paper. Cut into 4 4”x4” squares. Cut 4 2”x4” strips and 4 more 3/4”x4” strips

(I’m trying really hard to make Santa’s “Nice List” this year so he’ll bring me a new self-healing mat LOL)
Using the StazOn ink, ink all edges. I tried several inks and found StazOn was the best and didn’t bleed.

Use Mod Podge as adhesive and glue paper to tile.

Apply pressure even and work out any wrinkles.

Adhere (using Mod Podge) the additional strips (after inking). If desired, use stickers or other completely flat embellishment to add some decor.

When you have everything adhered, coat with a coat of Mod Podge. Use long straight brush strokes to minimize brush stroke appearance. Use consistent pressure and evenly distribute mod podge.

Here’s a little trick for drying. After you wipe all the edges of mode podge drips, I put them on an upside down measuring cup. I find it very useful to keep a set of inexpensive measuring cups in my stash – this is a perfect application.

If you have any wrinkles appear, when the mod podge is about 80% dry (dry to the touch, but still soft and not firm and hard) you can smooth out any wrinkles. Any sooner will result in smudge mod podge, later it will be too firm to smooth out.

Next, we need to do the final step of adding the felt to the back to protect the surface of the table they’ll be used on. Cut the felt to 4” squares. Adhere with hot glue or Beacon 3 in 1 adhesive (I like this because I don’t burn myself :) )

Let dry completely. Then you can stack them and tie them together with a pretty ribbon and maybe a tag.

Supplies: Crate Paper Random, 6x6 paper stack. Fancy Pants St Nick stickers.
Enjoy!!

He didn’t break it!

2011-11-27T06:26:00.000-08:00

I’m always the one taking pictures in our house. Of course, it would make sense being as how it is one of my passions. But also, the fact that my husband is terrified of my camera might only compound that situation. Sometimes I think he’d rather hold a newborn baby than my camera LOL.

But every once in a while, he offers to take a picture with me in it, and I always treasure those pictures. A couple weeks ago (before the snow started flying), he snapped a couple pictures of my parents and I. I can’t think of any pictures I have in the last 10 years of just my parents and I. These type of pictures are my favorite.

Okay, and pictures like this are my favorite too….candid moments of real emotion.

hee hee….this one makes me smile and it’s my favorite of all of them.

ATG buy-in UPDATE

2011-11-26T15:41:00.001-08:00

Huh? If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you may not want to read….but if you’re curious about an affordable adhesive option, read on!!!

I am officially closing this. If you joined in and have questions, please e-mail me, or still want to join in, I do have a few available still. You can e-mail me at lovejoypaper (at) hughes (dot) net

The first round is shipping out today, Dec 1.

“Trim the Tree”

2011-11-26T13:57:00.001-08:00

Ah, tis the season! My favoritest favorite time of the year (because I do have a few favorites, so I have to have a most favorite right? – yes, I do know the definition of favorite, I just chose to be a little more generous)

Well, for the first year in, um, ever I think? I was able to get good pictures of the kids decorating the tree. So happy was I!!

This page is created from a sketch by Sketchy Thursdays.

Supplies: American crafts, (cardstock & Dear Lizzy Christmas & Thickers), The Twinery, ZVA bling

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T06:26:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!! Today is one of my favorite days of the year. Right up there with Christmas. It’s my favorite meal of the year, and I love spending time with my family. Really, I can’t think of anything about the day I don’t love (except maybe the sparkling cider at dinner, I could leave that).

We’re having a very quiet day here. We had our big meal last weekend, so today, it’s simple, football and family…

I wanted to share a Thanksgiving card (because I actually made them this year!).

Happy Thanksgiving! I’m thankful for all YOU my loyal blog readers. Enjoy your feast & waddle to bed.

Cozy Winterness

2011-11-23T06:41:00.000-08:00

Ah, winter. Cold toes. Cold noses. Pink cheeks. Crackling fire.

One of my favorite things about winter is a warm fire. I don’t think there is any heat warmer than a good wood fire. And I love when my fire can pull double duty. Country life here. Making toast on a rack on my wood stove.

Ah. life is good.

Side note: Only 4 more followers to 200!! Be sure to post comments because I am going to choose a winner from any comment made between the Nov 4 thread and the time we hit 200 for a winner! And the 200th follower (and I will pull another random follower) I will send a crystal drop necklace to. Be sure to comment, because the more comments, the better your chance of winning is. (and I think if we go much longer, I'm going to start adding some goodies to the stash).

A little sparkle

2011-11-21T09:17:00.000-08:00

I think it’s so cute that my daughter who was terrified of snow until she was three, has now realized at five, that snow is glittery! Because snow is sparkly and glittery, like all good things girly, it is now her favorite thing.

And since many girls like sparkly and glittery things, I made for my sister some beautiful jewelry that is sparkly and shiny. (Happy Birthday Julie – if you’re reading and haven’t opened your gift yet, you might want to come back later ;) Thanks for being a great sister. )

I used some findings I found at Craft Warehouse along with some crystals and some heat set Swarovski crystals. Sometimes as you create, things take their own path when it doesn’t work right, or if you just think it looks better. This is one of those. I hadn’t intended to apply the heat set stones at all, but I found I couldn’t attach the crystals to look natural from the drops. So heat set crystals filled the loops perfectly.

(sorry for the fuzzy picture of the earrings, I had a very hard time getting a picture, this was the best of them all and I was running out of time because I needed to mail them).

And a simple bracelet to complete the ensemble.

I love sparkle. Maybe that’s why I love the snow.

I’ve bean thankful

2011-11-20T10:21:00.000-08:00

Really, I didn’t spell that wrong. I’m not often good with word plays, but this one, made me smile, so I’m going to share it.

At church we have Secret Sisters for a year. The main focus of it is supposed to be praying for our Sister. But we do exchange cards and occasional gifts as well. At risk of revealing myself here, I am going to bear all. But we are 11 months into a 12 month rotation, so if she hasn’t figured out yet that it’s me, well then, either she’ll need way more coffee or I might have other reason for concern…….LOL…..(it’s a pretty small church and I can’t disguise my writing that well!)

Because I had the name of a very good friend for this year, I’ve tried very hard to hold myself back and only buy stuff. Do you have any idea how hard it is to buy a card (even when I didn’t enjoy it) or buy gifts when I have so many ideas in my head of stuff she’d love???? Really. it’s. hard.

Saturday night I sat down to make my Thanksgiving cards. I’ve wanted to do that for the last 4 years but never got it done. I will get them done this year, I kept saying to myself. Then I realized I should do a card for my Secret Sister as well. That thought progressed into a gift. But…I…didn’t have anything…..

oh wait….coffee……I had some of her favorite coffee beans. So I grabbed a new mason jar from my cabinet and went to work.

I started decorating the jar, then the phrase hit me. So I went with it. ~~Cheesy~~ Beanie and all! (ha, sometimes I make myself laugh)

Supplies: Kerr jar, Kirkland Signature (by Starbucks) beans, The Twinery Twine, misc tag & button, Cosmo Cricket letters, 7 Gypsies (thankful word)

And Laura, if you didn’t know it was me, then I completely apologize for ruining the secret…;)….

Simple Elegance

2011-11-19T06:55:00.000-08:00

Lately I’ve been called out for saying I’m not a card maker. I can’t even say it’s how I got into this hobby, because I actually did try making cards several times before I started scrapbooking. But I wasn’t successful……..

Now I’ve gotten to the point where I do enjoy making cards. I still have a very hard time saying I’m a “card maker” because I believe there are many people who are truly artists in their card making skills. I’m just a necessity card maker LOL. However, I have finally found a way to identify myself as a card maker. I can identify my style. I’m a simple elegance card maker. And proud of it.

I’ve had that idea kicking around in my head for a bit lately. But then today, it finally concreted itself. My mom and I made some more cards to send off to Operation Christmas Card. We are running out of time though, so I wanted a quick, but still lovely design.

An ink pad, one stamp and some Stickles later and I ended up with a very simple, yet very elegant card.

Sigh. And this completely sums up me as a card maker. And I’m happy to be that.

Shaken, not stirred, please

2011-11-18T07:44:00.000-08:00

I’m sure some of you have heard and are wondering, yes, we had an earthquake this morning. My husband and I were woken at 5:09 by a loud rumble and vibrating. We didn’t know what it was. We don’t have a terrible amount of earthquakes larger than 3 (which we don’t usually feel) so earthquake didn’t cross either of our minds.

I've been through several, larger earthquakes in the Seattle area and this one felt much different. The epicenter was approximately 14 miles from us.

But that’s what it was. We are just fine. No damage (for us), just a bit of a scare for a minute while we tried to figure out what had exploded LOL

“Thankful” Mini Album

2011-11-18T06:08:00.000-08:00

Being thankful is such an important personality trait I try to have and try to instill in my children. I think an attitude of gratitude of of so much value in life.

Part of our Thanksgiving celebration this year is to do a Thankful mini album. I think I might do this yearly.

I made mine with some #8 manila tags. And I had a silly mishap in purchasing them, so you’ll probably see a lot of projects featuring them between now and December because I have twice as many as I need!!!

I decided to do 8 pages because there are 8 letters in “thankful”. As a family, we will fill each page with one thing we are thankful for (and write a sentence or paragraph about why).

Supplies: Bo Bunny (2009), #8 Manila tags, misc trims & ribbons

Tasty Turkey

2011-11-17T06:03:00.000-08:00

We had our Thanksgiving feast early this year. I'm the only one in my family who likes it (although it is my favorite meal of the year), and my parents were here last weekend, so I thought I might as well make it when it would be enjoyed.

Yes, I do find it ironic, that being as how I love Thanksgiving so much, I don’t really care for turkey.
Of course, how the turkey is cooked makes a big difference in the taste. The last 5 years, I’ve spent much time and research trying to find the best, yummiest way to cook a turkey. Now, I’m sure I don’t have the best recipe. I’m sure there are many yummier ways, but with the resources I have (and the fear of burning down my house by deep frying), I’m pretty content with this method.
First, I used The Pioneer Womans brine. Really yummy, not terribly expensive list of ingredients. My trick, brine in a 5 gallon bucket if you have a food grade one. The lid snaps on perfectly to keep your turkey basting happily in a nice salty bath.
While Mr. Turkey is taking a nice cold snooze, I make up an herbed butter to put under the skin while cooking. Mix 1/2 cup butter, 1 tsp fresh chopped thyme, rosemary and sage (fresh is best). Roll into log in parchment paper and put in refrigerator.
After Mr. Turkey is done brining, take him out, rinse and pat him dry. Make sure you’ve removed the neck and other unmentionables if you forgot to before you put it in the brine.
Quarter 2 lemons and one onion. Stuff that into the cavity of Mr. Turkey. Get nice and personal with your bird. He won’t be offended. Also put in a few sprigs of fresh thyme, rosemary and some sage leaves.
Ah, so pretty! (Just don’t eat now – raw poultry isn’t so tasty).
Now, we’re going to put that herbed butter under the skin, between the breast and skin. You’ll need to pull up the skin before you apply the butter.
Now, for the sake of photographing and keeping my camera from getting salmonella, I employed the help of my mom. Slather all that herbed butter all over under the skin. If you have any extra, rub it on the skin.
Before we put Mr. Turkey in the oven, we need to make sure we properly tuck Mr. Turkey into his bed for his long warm nap. Cover the breast with aluminum foil before baking. This will keep the breast from cooking faster and drying out before the darker leg meat is done.
Bake according to the time chart on your bird. About 2/3 of the way in, remove the foil to let the breast skin get nice and brown as well.
Ahh….happy turkey.
Happy Thanksgiving Eats!

Perfect Pumpkin Pie

2011-11-16T07:49:00.000-08:00

Despite the fact that Thanksgiving is tied to be my favorite holiday, I’m not a big fan of one of the key traditional components. Nope, I’m just not a pumpkin pie lover. Which is a tad odd considering I love all things pumpkin. My husband says I should have my citizenship striped for that – but I think there are much worse offenses LOL.

You see, the problem is two fold. First, flavorless tough crusts. Ick! Secondly, I’m just not a fan of custard type textures. It’s not the flavor of the pie I don’t like, I just like to have substance to my food to chew. Maybe it’s just a subconscious desire to burn as many calories while consuming my food as possible. Who knows! But at any rate, I’m just not the one to be begging to have dessert.

Until. Now.

Really.

You see, I’ve had a killer pie crust recipe for a while. Dreamy good. In fact, last week when I made my rustic apple pie, my husband said “next time, just make me the crust.” Of course, I think it could be his aversion to anything fruit or veggie…..

My crust is perfectly flaky, light but still with texture. And a deliciously sweet touch, with a hint of vanilla. It almost melts on your tongue (which is kinda hard for a dough based dessert). It’s a much more taste bud interesting crust than the standard crust.

I made my crust and was getting ready to make the filling. I reached for the traditional can of Libby’s pumpkin. But I put it back on the shelf and grabbed the Farmer’s Market Pumpkin I had. It’s an organic one I bought from my wholefood wholesaler, however, I also found it at Safeway. I’ve used it several times and was quite impressed with the much richer and almost sweeter pumpkin flavor it has. It definitely seems like a better quality pumpkin.

Before I opened the can, I thought to myself, I’d better check to see if the recipe is on here. I did and was quite surprised that the recipe was a fair amount different than the Libby’s can. It called for Sweetened Condensed Milk. Really? Double take. Yes, sweetened condensed milk.

So I bravely gave it a try. And I’m HOOKED!! It was divine!! The texture is much denser and richer, but in a lusher more flavorful way. It was denser, but didn’t at all feel heavy.

I’m so happy to say that I am now a fan of pumpkin pie (almost).

Perfect Pumpkin Pie

(for one pie – modified from Farmers Market Pumpkin pie recipe)

1 15 ounce can pumpkin
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs, slightly beaten

Mix pumpkin and spices. Add remaining ingredients. Mix slowly until completely mixed. Pour into pans. Cover crust with aluminum foil or pie crust shield. bake at 425 for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 and bake for 45 minutes.

Amanda’s Perfectly Flaky Pie Crust

11 tbsp butter
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup water

(makes two one crust pies, or one two crust pie)

Cut butter, flour, salt and powdered sugar together (or use food processor). Measure the 1 tsp of vanilla into measuring cup, add enough water to equal 1/4 cup total. Slowly mix into crumble mixture until dough forms.

This crust is extremely soft and very hard to work with. Following these steps will make it much easier to work with. Roll out onto parchment paper until big enough to fit pan. Place pan upside down over rolled crust. Using two hands, (one on pan, one under parchment) flip the crust over so it falls into pan. Remove parchment paper and gently press crust into pan until covered completely.

Of course, pumpkin pie should be topped only with fresh whipped whipped cream! Whip up some cream (about a pint) with a pinch of salt, 1/4 cup powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Almost heavenly!!

Even More to Celebrate!!

2011-11-15T01:19:00.000-08:00

Let’s celebrate with some cake!!!!

I had an e-mail google receipt in my inbox that made me question yesterday. I hadn’t done any online shopping so I was quite confused. Then I read it and noticed it was my blog domain name….that means, my blog re-identification process is a year old now! LoveJoyPaper turned one year old! Woo Hoo!!!

AND, we passed 80,000 page hits last week, AND this is the 900th post! Woo Hoo!!!!!

The contest is still open though – until I hit 200 followers, anyone who leaves a comment on the posts from Nov 4 until I hit 200, will be entered for the giveaway photoed here. (And the 200th person will receive a Swarovski crystal necklace and earring set).

So enjoy a virtual zero calorie cupcake on me to celebrate!

Crispy Baked Potato Cubes Recipe

2011-11-14T07:56:00.000-08:00

I haven’t shared a recipe in a while, so I thought it would be a great time to do so!!

Recently, I’ve been cooking my potatoes with a new technique. They have been turning out crispy and soft at the same time, with perfect results!

Ingredients:

6 gold potatos, cubed to 3/4”

1/2 chopped onion

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup Spinach & Artichoke Parmesan dip (I don’t usually use premade things like this, but you could easily make your own, or just use straight parmesan cheese – I buy this dip at Costco.)

Preheat oven to 400. Using a cast iron pan, put over medium high heat and let warm. Melt butter in pan. Add onions and sweat until clear, add salt. Add potatoes and stir. Let brown about one minute, stirring a couple times.

Remove pan from heat and place in hot oven. Every 10 minutes, stir the potatoes. Bake about 25 minutes. Poke the potatoes to see if they are cooked and soft. If not, let bake, stirring and checking every 5 minutes. When potatoes are tender, add spinach artichoke dip. Stir and let bake. Stir again in 2 minutes. Let bake another 3 to 5 minutes, then remove from oven.

Enjoy!

Mr & Mrs card

2011-11-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

My nephew was married yesterday. Wow! Now, I know I wasn’t that old when he was born, but I’m still a bit baffled by this one….

Anyway, when I sent the gift, I needed a card. You all know I don’t do extravagant cards. Just not me. I love looking at fancy beautiful time consuming cards, but I just don’t make them. Clean and ultra simple is my style.

One of my favorite things in my card making repertoire are foam dots. It’s amazing how a little bit of foam to add dimension to a simple sticker can really add a lot of interest.

Supplies: MME (paper), American Crafts (sticker), brad & floss misc

Thank You Veterans

2011-11-11T08:21:00.001-08:00

Today is Veterans Day. It’s a day I always like to pause and remember those who have fought for our country. Those who have sacrificed so much and their families as well. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the freedom you have bought for me and my family. I know it isn’t cheap, and it certainly isn’t free. Thank you. May God bless you for your service and sacrifice.

Along those lines, do you remember a few weeks ago when I shared about Operation Christmas Card? Well, I’m happy to say that Tuesday I mailed off 223 card, all written for our current active military serving overseas. I pray that they will be a blessing to our service members.

I was quite happy when the first box I pulled was too small and I had to upgrade to a larger box!!! I had my kids make cards to send as well. I have to admit, this one stopped me. I had to take a picture of it before I could send it off. Almost made me cry, that same little girl who told me yesterday she has her first lose tooth also wrote this! I wrote it on the board and she copied it – completely unexpectedly!

If you want to send some cards to our service members, you still have time. You’ll have to send them directly to Operation Christmas Card, they must be received by Nov 28. But you can still do it!

She promises

2011-11-10T19:40:00.001-08:00

A and I ran to town this afternoon to get a new showerhead. The boys were down south picking up our generator from the repair guy and it was just us. We were at Home Depot, looking for some new storage baskets, and she looked at me and said “Mom, I have a loose teeth.”

I stopped and looked at her.

I said no you don’t. Then it hit me. She is 5. FIVE. Yes, 5. This beautiful little girl just turned 5.

When C had his first loose tooth, I was so happy! It was a proud moment. But not today. It made me very very sad.

I’m not sure if it’s because she’s my girl. I don’t know if it’s because C was born grown up and A has always been my baby. C was born 5 years old, has always been independent and strong. A has been my girl. My little girl, not wanting anyone (really, not anyone) but me to hold her until she was over a year old. She was so dependent on me for the first three years of her life. Her growing up is hitting me much harder than him.

Sigh……

But in the end, she promises that she’ll always be my little girl. She told me she’d be my best friend forever and always. Because that’s how God wants families to be. Bless her. I only hope her promise holds true.

I’m sure I’ll be shedding tears, even though she’s very excited because most of her friends (most of whom are older than her) have already lost many teeth.

Okay, I’ve dried my tears and I’m ready to remind you about TWO things! First of all, the November challenge! Three people already have joined! Don’t miss your chance!!

Secondly, remember this post about 80k hits, 200 followers and 900 posts?? Well, I’ve already hit 80,000 hits (thank you everyone!). But today, I have a picture of the prize for a comment. Here’s a sneak.

More than 35 sheets of paper from companies including Basic Grey, Glitz, Cosmo Cricket, Sassafras. To enter all you have to do is leave comments. When I hit 200 followers, I will randomly draw a winner from all the comments posted between 11/4 and the 200th follower. The more comments you leave, the better your chance!! (for this contest, please US mailing addresses only)

“The Great Escape”

2011-11-09T06:42:00.000-08:00

Now if only I could figure a way to keep his mouth sealed tight………

Totally made me laugh this day when C came out of his bedroom handcuffed (he did it himself) wearing a hard hat and “Kinetic King” goggles.

Supplies: October Afternoon, My Little Shoebox, American Crafts, misc

Craft Warehouse Design Team Crate Paper Assignment

2011-11-08T17:51:00.000-08:00

I was delighted when I received my 3rd assignment for Craft Warehouse. It was a box full of Crate Paper Farmhouse Collection deliciousness!!! If you’re in the Pacific Northwest, be sure to stop by your Craft Warehouse to pick up some of this fantastic product!

For my page, the timing of this product arrival was perfect! My husband and son had just gone camping (yes, at the end of October, crazy boys). So my daughter and I had a tea party for our “girl time”. It was wonderful! I snapped a few pictures and had the perfect content for a page.

Supplies: Crate Paper (all paper, stickers, dies, buttons, chipboard), Tim Holtz Resist paper, misc bling, chocolate ink

We also had to create an altered plaque. Fun!!! And use a vinyl rub-on on it. No problem there, we all know I do a lot of vinyl, I just usually cut it myself.

To create the patchwork blocks, I adhered a few sheets of copy paper together and traced the plaque onto it, then cut it out. I then began folding the paper in half, and unfolded it. Rotated 22.5 degree and repeated, until I had 16 sections. I traced the fold lines with my ruler, cut them apart and then traced each piece onto a piece of the patterned paper and cut it. Notice the inking? That helps hide any imperfections in your cuts.

Supplies: Crate Paper (paper, die cuts, chipboard, buttons, brads), Vinyl rub-on, American crafts ribbon

Far From Home

2011-11-07T05:56:00.000-08:00

We made a quick trip to the city this week to buy a used generator. Well, along the way, we made a few extra stops….and I felt a bit out of place. Yes, I am a country girl. At heart and in truth. And I’m proud of it!!!

Did you know that there are wireless hot spot buses? That you can get on the internet going 70 MPH? Of course, you’re all city slickers. This one was new to me, but I definitely used it to access mapquest. Follow that bus! (no, I may not have a GPS, but I do know how to use mapquest)

But this one, well, here I knew I was definitely out of my realm of reality.

I’m not sure which one was more out of touch with my reality…..valet parking at the mall (could you imagine if Walmart had valet parking??) or an Electric vehicle charging station. I just can’t imagine seeing this in the near future in Okanogan.

Ah…the city….errrr…..the rich part of the city……

Super quick & easy party favors

2011-11-05T20:47:00.001-07:00

It’s Birthday weekend in our house! Always a fun week. We had the party today, and for the girls, these little head band party favors. Really, I made 5 of them in about 10 minutes.

Between Now and..........

2011-11-04T12:09:00.000-07:00

Short post today.....my laptop battery is about to lose the remaining charge it has.....

I've noticed though I'm coming up on a few milestones.......almost 80,000 hits, 900 posts and most awesome yet - almost 200 followers (via google, not Facebook).

So, between NOW and the time I HIT 200 FOLLOWERS, I am going to have a giveaway. I can't say exactly when it will end because I will draw when I hit 200 followers. And I can't say yet what the prize is because I haven't shopped for it!!!

But here's what you have to do. Leave comments on my blog. That's it. Just leave a comment, the more comments, the better your chance. And when I see the 200th follower join, I'll pull a comment randomly from between all comments from this post to the post that the 200th follower comes closest to.

Make sense....it does to me, but I'm a bit sleep deprived at the moment.................

But WAIT - I'm going to sweeten the pot. I'll have a scrappy prize for someone who comments. BUT, if you share this via your blog or other source, for the PERSON who is the 200th follower, I will make a swarovski crystal drop pennant necklace and earring set. AND be sure to post on your blog for them to leave a comment saying "Alison sent me...etc" because I'll make one to BOTH of you!!!! (If you are coming from someone elses blog, be sure to tell me who sent you).

Okay, I'm done sounding like a like night informercial dude.....but I'm not above buying friends :p

12 Days of Christmas

2011-11-02T06:04:00.000-07:00

For several years now, the scrapbooking world had been a big fan of a project called December Daily. It’s a concept started by Ali Edwards and basically consists of making a mini album in which you take a photograph every day in December.

It’s a lovely idea, really. But you see, I didn’t earn the name Aman*DUH* because of my incredible intelligence or perfect memory. No, it will not fail that I will forget at least a few days of the 25 days in December prior to Christmas.

But I really love this idea. So to make it work for me, I’m going to do 12 days of Christmas. 12, that’s certainly manageable. So I set to work last night making my album. It has 12 papers in it. I can either use it for 12 days, or 24. That will be determined as I see how the month goes……….In contrast to years past, I did not label or number any pages. Do you think I’m afraid to commit? Well, in terms of this project, you’re probably right! LOL

My original intent was to bind the book with binder rings. But as I started working on it, it took a totally different twist. I ended up making an accordion style paper binding. I’m SO happy I did. I absolutely love the completed look of the album.

To add more interest, I also used various different border punches on the edges before I assembled the album.

What you need to do an album like this:

12 6”x6” paper
2 pieces chipboard 6”x6”
7 pieces of cardstock 6”x12” (or more if making a larger album)
Scoring board
Adhesive

To make the binding, I shot a video. If you have any questions, please leave a comment!

November Challenge!

2011-11-01T14:22:00.001-07:00

Welcome November! November is such a delightful time of the year for me. I always remember November being a month all about family when I was growing up. That’s a tradition I like to continue with my family.

For my LO I used two photos of my kiddos. I have the best kiddos, so I wanted to do a page about that. I called it “So Thankful for You” I pulled a double duty here (as I welcome you all to do ;) and used the Sketchy Thursday sketch for 10.29. I modified it a bit so there was less white space.

For November, I asked Steffanie to help me out! She took the challenge and made a beautiful page. I love the detail she used in the stitching for the flowers, and the stitching that is counterbalanced on each side of the green strip. Beautiful job!!

And do you notice something completely unintentional but very ironic????? Look at the strip of paper Steffanie used horizontal. I used the same paper on two of my pennants. Yummy Crate Paper Farmhouse put to work :)

Now it’s your chance to do a page about “Thankful”ness. You can interpret that anyway you want. I leave that to you, and you are more than welcome to combine challenges!! Simply create your page and post it to either a blog or online gallery. Then link up here by Nov 29 for your chance to win! Up for grabs is a Basic Grey card kit from the Luscious line. So pretty!!

October Challenge Winner!!

2011-11-01T08:32:00.000-07:00

Thanks everyone for playing along (and I must confess, I was bad, but I have left you all comments now :$).

Well, the winner for October is:

Andrea!! (and it's really not just because she loves fall like I do! Thank random.org)

I do love the fun use of the border at top and bottom and those paper strips on the sides. Perfectly fall, just makes me smile :)

Stay tuned for the November challenge to be posted shortly! Wait, how is it November already???

A tale of the “construction guy” and a ballerina

2011-10-31T21:35:00.001-07:00

Well, there’s not much of a tale to tell. Just some pictures for the grandparents.

Meet the ballerina. With the brightest eyes around.

And the construction guy who is trying to be both model and director…..hmmm….I’m thinking he’s going to be the foreman on the jobsite.

Before we leave, we must make sure the skirt twirls big enough.

Every Halloween, one of our local churches organizes an incredible Hallelujah Carnival. They do a seriously crazy good job. And they are so awesome as well about keeping it as a ministry with Bible verses everywhere and lots about Jesus! Thank you Cornerstone (and others!) for the fabulous event.

Now, here’s the part where I will get sad on you. So stop reading if you don’t want to hear it.

The kiddos climbed up into the Ambulance they have every year. Pretty cool really that the emergency responders and everyone comes to show off their equipment. I knew I had a picture *exactly* like this from 2009. So I made the kids smile at me to take their pictures. I pulled up the old picture. Still not sure that’s a good idea. Gotta go give those kiddos an extra kiss on my way to bed tonight – they’re growing up on me way too fast.

(picture from 2009)

Embellished Baby Onesie

2011-10-31T06:14:00.000-07:00

I’ve been spending a lot of time crafting lately, but not really doing many scrapbook pages. I can’t identify the cause of the slump, but I’ve been in a spurt of doing more “other” projects. I know I’ll be back to scrapping, I still love it. I’m just feeling more creative pull in other directions at the moment. I’m not sure if it’s the upcoming holidays and my lists of cards and gifts to make or what. But regardless of why, I thought I’d share something I recently made.

I keep a supply of white onesies (really, who came up with that word?) around in my craft room. They make great little baby gifts, especially if you give something very practical (but boring) like diapers.

I cut the train on the cricut using SCAL (if you don’t already have SCAL, you will not be able to use it on the cricut sadly, but there are other great options out there). I applied it to the t-shirt using fabric thermofuse stuff (excuse me for not having the technical name, it’s past my bedtime as I type this for autopost). I then stitched the buttons on for wheels. Super cute addition I thought! Now I must state my disclaimer: This is a decoration piece, take a quick photo of the darling baby and remove it. While I did stitch the buttons on very tightly, I know they could pose a choking hazard. However, this onesie is also a size 0-3 months, so I figure the baby at that age wouldn’t have the ability to pull a button off and pop it in it’s mouth. At least my kids couldn’t, and I had high achievers. So unless you have birthed Superman’s baby, you’re probably okay.

Super cute!! Let’s just hope you give it to a person at a shower where one of the games is that you can’t use the word “cute”. If so, you’ll be able to steal all sorts of clothespins from other attendees and kick butt at the game! See, here I’m offering strategic baby shower game play tips as well as gift ideas.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Family Photography

2011-10-30T15:53:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of photographing a beautiful family yesterday. I’ve known them for years, but we don’t see each other regularly. I was delighted to work with them though. They were so comfortable in front of the camera, it was great!! Here’s a few of my favorite shots.

This first shot wasn’t really supposed to be. It was one of those candid moments that I was able to capture just right between other shots. Those are my favorite!

I’m loving this vintage suitcase I found. Can’t wait to go do the pictures with my kids I have in my head with it. Now if only my two would love each other like this for the camera!!

“Roaring Fun”

2011-10-28T20:18:00.001-07:00

I believe part of the creative process is to use a product out of context. This is a layout I did for a game on the Club CK message board called “Chinese Whispers” It’s similar the the game telephone you played as a child, only one person starts with a sketch and then creates the page and sends only the page on to the next person for them to recreate. This continues down the line.

The page I received was very fun and playful, and I thought I should go along with that. I had these pictures from the carnival this August. I tried to pull colors from the photos for my color pallette as well theme. I had this paper from Echo Park and I was really wondering to myself why I bought it. It’s much more cutesy than my usual style. But as I looked at this water paper, I realized the waves were a repetition of the pattern of the dinosaur. Viola! The page just fell together after that.

Supplies: Echo Park, Doodlebug (alphas) Misc, buttons, floss & cardstock

Housekeeping

2011-10-27T10:25:00.001-07:00

I wanted to take a few minutes an pass some information along to all my loyal blog readers (thank you all by the way!) I've run out of auto post content and I've been a tad busy (or very tired from being busy) lately that it seems I have abandoned my blog. I haven't, rest assured of that. I hope this evening to have some more posts ready to go.
But I wanted to take a moment to remind you all about the October challenge. You have a couple days still to create a layout to be entered for the prize. Here is the nitty gritty. But in short:

You have until midnight October 30 to share your link!!
Now, onto other business. Earlier this year I split my blog into two blogs, craft and food. I named my other blog Redneck in Heels. Well, I think I've discovered that I don't have the mental capacity (or maybe it's just ambition) to devote to two blogs to make them what I want them to be. Yes, it's true that I have no life. But blogs are still a lot of work!! So for the time being, I'm merging the two blogs back into this blog. I'm not closing that one down (that url was hard to get - I'm keeping it! LOL). But for now, I'm just going to post to one blog, all content and that way hopefully not neglect either blog.
And because I believe a blog post is not complete without a photo, I snapped this one candidly of A a few weeks ago (have I ever mentioned I love candid photography?)

Operation Christmas Card

2011-10-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I found out about a group called Operation Christmas Card. They collect cards (handmade or premade) written specifically to our troops serving overseas. I read that for about half of the service members, these cards are the only communication they receive at Christmas time. That nearly made me cry. They are serving our country, fighting for our freedom, and all alone.

This cause touched my heart. What a great chance to share some Christmas Love & Joy with others, others who could probably use a little cheer being away from home. I challenged some of my friends on the Club Creating Keepsakes message board to join me in making cards to send.

So far, I have received 104 (YAY!) that I am going to forward. But I’m inviting you to join in as well. All you have to do is create some cards (click here for specifics) and send them on!

Here is a picture from their website of the cards from years past ready to be shipped. Think of all those service members who will receive a special message.

Now, I’ve never professed to be a master card maker. I make them mostly from obligation (and a sense of guilt :$), so I usually keep mine pretty simple (especially if I have to mass produce them which is the only thing worse than making cards in the first place…..) But here is what I’ve been working on for this.

I used 3-D foam squares to add some interest into a very simple card.

Your cards don’t even have to be handmade, a store bought card with a written message in it is sufficient. This is truly one of those things where “it’s the thought that counts”. Cards need to be received in Massachusetts by Nov 28.

If you do send some cards, I’d love to know! Please e-mail (lovejoypaper (at) hughes (dot) net) or post a photo online and leave a link in the comment.

Thanks for reading along and joining me!! Be blessed.

Blog Hop Winner!

2011-10-24T07:54:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who stopped by this weekend. How exciting that I got to “meet” so many new friends!!!!

And now what you’ve all been waiting for……the winner for my blog hop giveaway is Cherie!!! (who is also a new follower – yay!)

Thanks to everyone who joined me and thanks to Heather for hosting!

Just a side note, I am going to be in another blog hop called Handmade Holiday Dec 2 & 3. Lots of Christmas gift ideas and more! Come join me again.

Love Joy Paper

CutterPillar Pro Paper Trimmer Review

Winner!!!!!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Winner, a Page & More!

Valentines Day Card Blog Hop

Purge Giveaway!! CLOSED

February Challenge!

January Challenge Winner!!

A State of Impulsive Chaos

“Camping in the Cold”

“Home School”

“Lego Bliss”

The Twinery Buy-In Update 2

Reusable Grocery Bags

The 6x6 Debate–Part 3

The Twinery Update

The 6x6 Debate Part 2

The 6x6 Debacle

“Forever Friends”

Worst Tooth Fairy

Not Too Shabby

The Twinery Buy-In *OPEN*

Twine Buy In *update*

But Winters Not Over

This girl….

Easy Pages

A Different Perspective

High School Years–FBLA

Silly me….

Yellow–I can’t get away now! LOL

“Fair Smiles”

January/February Goals

January Challenge!

New Year, New Challenge

“2 Years & Still 2 Cute”

“Happy Birthday”

“You Are So Charming”

Simple Winter Card

Jewelry frame

Gifts of Heart

Photo Coasters

So Much Love

“Santa 2010”

My Newest Favorite Product

Ruffle Bag Tutorial

12 Tags of Christmas

Quick, Easy and Affordable Kids’ Gift

Swarovski Crystal Cluster Necklace

Food Gifts Part 5

The best camera isn’t always…

Food Gift #4: Dill Pretzels (and Ranch mix)

hmmm...well.....

Food Gifts Part 2: Taco Seasoning

Food Gifts Part 1: Homemade Vanilla

Warms my heart–winners too!

Handmade Tiered Ruffle Bag

“We are Family”

“Sweet Aly”

Blog Hop Winner

‘Tis the Season

Handmade Holiday Blog Hop

Happy December & November winner

Christmas Gifts – Coasters Part 3

Christmas Gifts – Coasters

Christmas Gifts – Coasters & Tutorial

He didn’t break it!

ATG buy-in *UPDATE*

“Trim the Tree”

Happy Thanksgiving

Cozy Winterness

A little sparkle

I’ve bean thankful

Simple Elegance

Shaken, not stirred, please

“Thankful” Mini Album

Tasty Turkey

Perfect Pumpkin Pie

Even More to Celebrate!!

Crispy Baked Potato Cubes Recipe

The Twinery Buy-In OPEN

Twine Buy In update

ATG buy-in UPDATE