And even more...

I'll bet you can't guess what this post is going to be about! I have been feeling the itch to haul the sewing machine back out, lately, but finding the time to actually do it, while maintaining everything else, is hard, hard work! Hauling out my laptop to create scrapbook pages is easy to do, and still satisfies that creative urge. 

Kit is Bella Gypsy's Hello Summer with bonus papers.

Last week we went to the beach and hit one of our favorite places for lunch. Dog N Suds is a drive in restaurant from the 50's with car hops and phones at the tables to place your order. Caroline was infatuated with the phones and paper hats. It was really fun watching her explore. 

I took these photos with my phone and edited them on Instagram. It's my latest obsession and I'm so late to the party on that! But, I'm loving them for digital pages. My phone is with me everywhere, unlike my camera, and it's really great for capturing everyday moments like these ones. 

Kit is Hello Summer again. Layout inspiration via Pinterest here. 

I scrapped these photos once already on a Speed Scrap (like the page above this one), but I really wasn't happy with how busy it turned out. I decided to start completely over and I'm really happy I did. This page has more photos, but a cleaner feel. Without using a golf themed kit, I really think just a few embellishments is the way to go. 

More digi scrap pages

Kit is Ocean Safari by Kristin Aagard. Sketch inspiration found here. 

I'm still not quite caught up with 2013, but I splurged a little recently on some new kits hoping to be inspired to start and finish a few layouts. I chose this ocean themed kit to highlight one of the cool new features at our local zoo, a petting pool for stingrays! 

Kit is Bella Gypsy's Hello Summer with extra papers. Sketch inspiration found here. 

This layout highlights some more of my favorite beach photos. I love the way this page turned out, and the way all of the colors highlight these sepia toned pics. This kit is seriously pretty and great for all sorts of summer photos. I can't wait to put it to use for a few more events left on my "to scrap" list. 

Catching up on 2013

Whew! Life is still going on here in big, big ways, but I have managed to stop and scrap it at least a few times, recently. 

Inspired by this template with some paper and elements by Just Jaimee and Bella Gypsy's current Facebook freebie. 

I took these sepia toned photos of my daughter at the beach. That top one is my absolute favorite! I need it in a frame! Since the photos were sepia toned, I was at first, unsure of what colors to scrap the page in. I ended up using elements from a few different kits in the colors of her sunhat. It worked out perfectly, I think, and should tie in nicely with the color photos from that day if I decide to scrap them, too. 

Kit is Bella Gypsy's Besties with added freebies, no longer available. Sketch inspiration here. 

I took a short trip, recently, to my hometown to visit my best friend and some family. I love this photo strip of all of the children. It really does capture the chaos, like I said in my journaling, and is a great reminder of the time these adorable cousins spent together. 

Kit is Forest Friends. Inspiration from the My Memories Facebook page Sunday Speed Scrap. 

After the photo booth, we let the kids run around in the play area in the mall, or what my friend Jessica calls "the germ tree". HA! I thought it was the perfect fit for my much loved and used Forest Friends. I miss these kids already!

My Memories Workshop and layout inspiration

If you have been following me on this blog (or maybe on Pinterest) for any amount of time, then you have undoubtedly seen some really fun digital scrapbook pages I have created with My Memories Suite. 

Kit is Sweetness with added ice cream. Page inspiration from a Speed Scrap.

Right now, there is a really unique opportunity if you live anywhere near the Ohio area or are willing to travel, to go to a My Memories Workshop! You get a copy of the latest My Memories software free with your paid registration, so even if you are just starting out, this is perfect for you. It also sounds like a complete blast with a scheduled pajama party and 16 hours of kid-free scrapbooking time! The dates are June 21-23 and there is a discount code (it was still working a few days ago even though they said it ended the first) on the event page if you're interested. 

Kit is Cool Change with added stitching and string. Layout inspired by this template.

I finally finished up my 2011 book, just in time to order it with a huge Father's Day discount. I'm so excited to see these pages printed and get caught up with 2013.

I lost the template I was trying to recreate with this page. I thought I had it pinned, but I can't find it now and there is just way too much inspiration to sort through over there! The papers and elements on this layout are a hodgepodge of items from different designers, because I couldn't find just one kit that had all of the colors of my baby showers. I know there is some Bella Gypsy, Just Jaimee, and Megan Turnidge in there if you'd really like to try to hunt it down, though. 

Easter Round Up

So Easter was three days ago, sue me! Or don't, really, you'd get a minivan in great need of a detailing and two sewing machines. I'm rich, y'all. 

Layout made with Bella Gypsy's Basket Case Bundle

If there was a theme to my holiday this year, it was probably Pinterest. I saw tons of cute eggs colored with Sharpies, so I bought a package of the new Bic permanent markers to try it myself (They were less than half the cost of Sharpies, and wrote really well, and they didn't smudge after being in the refrigerator or the damp grass...I might be a convert!) I also pinned a couple cute banners and tried my hand at making one from this printable. It turned out nice, but just like my baby shower banner, I made it way too large. Maybe I'l find a better place to hang it next year in the new house. 

I also bought a cheap grapevine wreath from Michael's and embellished it with a whole bunch of stashed craft items. I used the Bic markers for this project too. The little foam eggs were on bamboo skewers, and I colored them brown to blend in with the wreath before weaving them through. You can kind of see up close, but I was really unsure of what kind of adhesive to use on the Styrofoam, so for me, this was a much better option. 

Another bunny from the Pinterest printable

What do you think? I'm excited to have some decorations I can use year after year, and for less than $12 with all of the supplies I had on hand! 

More Digiscrap Pages & Some Tips

I may have mentioned once or twice (or maybe even a dozen times) that I am participating in the 2013 Cover to Cover challenge with My Memories. The goal is two pages per month for 2013, and I set an additional goal for myself to finish scrapping 2011 at the same rate. 

I'm really pleased that I have completed five pages for each of these books! Since a few of these haven't been shown on the blog, I thought I'd post them up here and to my ever-growing gallery on Pinterest. 

Kit is Ice Ice Baby by Connie Prince

First up, is a page I scrapped in early February. I had been wanting to play around with QR codes for awhile, and decided to finally bite the bullet. I found this QR code generator online that is free and lets you customize the color of your code. How perfect for scrapbook pages is that? I turned this one a deep blue/purple and it coordinates wonderfully! Definitely a site you should bookmark if you'd like to try this on your pages. 

Layout, except for microphone, made with Bella Gypsy's Besties and coordinating freebies that are no longer available. 

Next up is the result of a Speed Scrap and some small scale photos I took at a school fundraiser. I thought the colors in this kit were perfect for a group of tween girls and as a bonus they coordinated awesomely with the microphone from a Connie Prince kit I had on hand. (Connie's just getting tons of love from me today!)

And lastly, we have the page that gave me fits! I kept trying, and trying to create this page, but nothing seemed to work. I couldn't make my boarding passes large enough to read while keeping my scan of my 4 X 6 photo large enough to see and have room for the journaling that I felt was really necessary since I only had one real photo (all that was allowed) of the exhibit we attended. 

Someone in the Cover to Cover Facebook group suggested to me that I ignore the warning the program gave me about how my photo could pixelate and use it as my background. She said she had done it several times and never actually had a photo come out bad. So I got brave and tried it. I layered the photo over top of this great weathered damask paper, made it sepia toned and adjusted the opacity enough to let some of the texture from the background show through. It kind of reminds me of the look of a lot of the papers that were salvaged from the Titanic wreckage, and if it pixelated, I can't tell! Maybe the weathered background hides it? 

Since you can see a lot of the detail in the large background photo, I didn't feel bad about putting a very small original in there, which finally left me enough room for my boarding passes and the journaling I wanted. I threw together a bunch of elements in nautical colors to add a little 

punch to the page and bring out the red of the White Star Line logo. I'm so glad to have the group at my finger tips to help me along with these pages! 

Monday Moments: Scrapbook Edition

It's Monday! Okay, I'm really not excited about it being Monday. It is the first Monday in February, though which means Riley Blake will be releasing the second block in their Mystery Block of the Month in one week. You can still join and be completely caught up! If you need inspiration check out the board on Pinterest, mine is the owl one. 

Monday also means that last night was a Speed Scrap (yes, even with the Superbowl on...and I was thankful for it during the half hour of "Let's report what's going on with the lights"). I made a page for my 2013 book that I had been wanting to scrap for awhile. 

Kit is All the Pretty Ponies with added princess from here.

This is a photo from our granddaughter's visit with us. She loved playing with that Little People castle, and even though her mom says she doesn't want princess stuff, I am seriously tempted to buy one for her first birthday just to see that little grin again! So cute! 

All the Pretty Ponies again. Sketch inspiration found here. 

I used the same kit to scrap Caroline's first birthday, which was one of the few pages I needed to finish for 2012! I'm happy to say that book is now done and you won't see quite as many layout posts from me now! 

Kit is On the Road with extra papers & embellishments from Flakes and Fun

I had a hole in my book in the tail end. I wasn't going to scrap any more Christmas pictures, but I absolutely needed an extra in order to keep a two page layout together, so now each of the kids have their own page about driving through the tree farm (the other is here). 

I made this page for a layout contest on Persnickety Prints Facebook page. You had to use a free kit that was provided for 90% of your page. I didn't win, but the woman who did deserved it so much more than I did! You can see the winners and download the kit (still free) for a limited time on their website! 

You can see a little more of the kit here in the back cover I made for my book. The front cover was just a mirror image of this with a title instead of a photo. I figured the back is probably more interesting to view on its own..ha!

Happy New Year!

I hope you all have been enjoying the holiday season! I had a wonderful Christmas that was soon overshadowed by the loss of my husband's uncle. Two short weeks after he was told he would live at least six...2013 will be a tough year for many in our extended family.

It seems silly to write that and then talk about crafts, but it is the new year and I have a little tradition of posting craft resolutions here on the blog.

Last year, I wanted to blog more (done, barely), finish the top of my basket quilt (nowhere near done), buy less fabric (definitely), and try new things. I have been working on my free motion quilting skills, paper piecing, and tried hand applique once. I feel like I have really grown a lot as a quilter this year, but at the same time I feel like a novice.

For 2013 my goals are: 

1. Use more of my stash. Funny how I bought less fabric and made a few projects completely out of stash fabrics, yet my stash is still intimidating me! 

2. Make something for my son. Gabe is always getting the short end of the stick on craft projects because he can never seem to make up his mind on what he wants and I'm afraid to start sewing only to have him decide he wants something else.

3. Make a version of this banner quilt. I have been thinking about this one for awhile and I know it's something I need to do for myself. 

4. I would also like to finish and get printed my scrapbooks for 2011, 2012 and Caroline's first year. Of course, I need a working computer for that, and my laptop is still out of commission, but my hard drive failing has really made me aware of how important printed copies of my work are! 

5. I nearly forgot my goal to be more monogamous in my quilting. I want to have a lot fewer works in progress and a lot more finished projects next year! 

What about you? 

My Memories 7 Days of Software Giveaways!

Oh my gosh, are you ready for this?! I have teamed up with six other bloggers to bring you...

Happy holidays to you! Seriously, I love this software. It is one of the greatest perks of being a blogger that I was provided a copy of My Memories to review for all of you! And I love being able to give the gift of My Memories to someone else! 

Why do I love My Memories? Digital scrapbooking is so much cheaper and so much less messy than the traditional methods! I can "get out" hundreds of papers, tapes, flowers, ribbons, etc. with nothing to clean up! I can do it with my kids in the room and not have to worry about them cutting themselves with my scissors, it's incredibly freeing!

But that's just digital scrapbooking, what about the software itself? 

My Memories is easy and fun! There is no 400 page manual here because you just don't need it! You can take minutes and create amazing layouts! As a matter of fact, My Memories holds a speed scrap on their Facebook page every Sunday where you take a few minutes for each step, and they walk you through making a great page.

I've taken the last two Sundays and scrapped activities from this Christmas already! Getting our tree, and taking the kids to see Santa is done! Compare this to my traditional paper scrapbooks where the one I started for my five year old's first year is still not complete!

Speed Scrap created with Christmas Giggle

Speed Scrap created with Flakes and Fun

You can use kits from anywhere in this software! Those cute designer freebies that you see on Facebook pages and blogs? Grab 'em! As a matter of fact, the just released Version 4 of My Memories makes using outside content so much easier! Not that I don't have some serious love for the My Memories designers, but it's great that I don't have to hesitate if I find something I like elsewhere! As a matter of fact, I whipped up this greeting card from a non-affiliated designer freebie on Facebook! 

Created with Merry Chrismoose Bella Gypsy Facebook freebie

New to Version 4 you can recolor photos and anything else you bring in under the photo tab! Yes, that means paper and elements, although pre-shadowed elements work best for this (it tends to shadow around the box, great for papers, not so much when you're using a button, and just to clarify, this ONLY happens when you bring an embellishment in under the photo tab). I was never really missing this feature, as I love to search for that perfect thing from my stash, but for those of you who were, it's now available! 

There are great designer kits included, along with the very basics that came with the software from the beginning! There are ripped photo effects and cool photo tiling! There are probably features I haven't even discovered yet because this version is just a little more than two weeks old! 

Flakes and Fun, again, with A Saxon Creation rips

I have been playing with it, though! I have so many ideas for our Christmas cards...now I just need cute pictures of the kids! I'm using some from years past for these mock ups. But that's another thing great about My Memories. I can take these photos out and sub them with current ones once I take them, and have them all ready for printing in a matter of minutes! Amazing! 

So if you'd like to get your hands on your very own copy, comment here before Monday, December 17 letting me know what you would make with My Memories! 

For a second entry, stop by the My Memories store and tell me your favorite kit in another comment! 

And just because I love my followers, leave me a third comment if you follow my blog for a third entry! That's 3 possible entries on my blog alone! Don't forget there are six other bloggers hosting giveaways this week! Visit them all for at least six more chances to win My Memories Suite Version 4! 

Mon Dec 10- Theresa at dearcreatives.com 

Tues Dec 11- Lisa at Stuff-n-Such by Lisa

Wed Dec 12- Melissa at Missy's Scrap Space

Thurs Dec 13- Leah at Digital Scrapbooking

Fri Dec 14- Sew Cal Gal 

Sat Dec 15- Cheryl at 2 Girls at Play

Just can't wait a week to see if you won and start scrapping? You can use my code in the sidebar STMMMS79028 to get My Memories Suite Version 4 for $29.97! Plus a $10 credit to the My Memories store! Not only that, but for today only, My Memories is offering 30% off Santa Packs and a free template with the code 12DaysHoHo!

Giveaway now closed! Winner announced here! 

Tie Dye Character Shirts

There has been no shortage of Scooby Doo in my house for the last month! My son Gabe and I both dressed up as characters from the show for Halloween, and this was after we had already started planning a little Scooby Doo birthday.

Mostly, Gabe's birthday consisted of some cake. We're going to put together little treat bags and possibly do a second cake over Thanksgiving with some extended family, but we couldn't let the actual day pass without some sort of celebration! 

I painted some characters on plain white shirts and picked up a tie dye kit on clearance to test out a theory I had (and to distract the kids a little). 

It turns out you can tie dye over top of fabric paint, but it is a lot of work! I'm wondering if the same effect could be gotten a lot easier by printing coloring pages onto iron-on paper. Maybe we'll try that theory next year! It would certainly be more doable for larger groups that way! 

Hunger Games Clove Halloween Costume for Girls

Source: google.com via Melinda on Pinterest

Has Hunger Games fever hit your house? It actually seems to be dying down here a little bit, but it was still first choice for Victoria's Halloween costume this year. Initially, she wanted to be Katniss, and I'm not sure what changed her mind, but by the time we went shopping she was all about Clove. I've spent a lot of time and dedicated a few Pinterest boards to this idea, so I thought I'd share what I've come up with and a couple ideas that may come in handy at your house, too! 

The basis of Clove's arena outfit are some basics that you may already have on hand, or that may not be unreasonable to buy if your daughter is the type who will wear these clothes regularly. 

Source: oldnavy.gap.com via Melinda on Pinterest

Some cargo pants in any shade of brown or olive. Victoria is strictly a leggings and jeggings girl, so ours were purchased for $1.49 at the thrift store, but these are way cute and totally reasonable! 

A maroon, deep red, or burgundy tee. Victoria says this has to be a v neck, but I am finding that pretty darn impossible. They don't make many plain tees for girls, let alone plain tees in red. Purple, pink, neon green? Sure. Red, maroon or burgundy, not so much. The best thing I have found so far are the unisex tees on Hanes.com. They come in both maroon and deep red and short and long sleeved. 

A matching windbreaker. Yeah, this one is hard too, again, not something they really make for girls and the reason I listed so many colors for the tee. I really think maroon is the best match to the movie look, but I dare you to try to find a maroon windbreaker! The best I have found is this deep red at LL Bean. 

Source: llbean.com via Melinda on Pinterest

That jacket is $35, though, and like the cute little cargo pants, probably totally worth it if your child would get a lot of wear out of it, but mine is picky about her clothes. I personally think the jacket is optional, especially for Clove who has the awesome vest of knives! 

Last, but not least we have the boots! I pinned quite a few under $30 that I thought walked a nice line between Hunger Games movie feel and everyday wear-ability. My number one pic is this $19.99 pair from e-Bay.

Source: ebay.com via Melinda on Pinterest

But, when I showed the board to Victoria she picked a similar pair in a faux suede as the ones she would actually wear to school after Halloween. So, as cute as I think they are, I'll be leaving these ones on e-Bay for your kids! 

This pretty much covers the stuff you can buy, now, what to do about that wicked knife vest? Stay tuned to see our solution! 

Monday Moments: Scrapbook Edition

Yesterday was Sunday, which meant another Speed Scrap on the My Memories Facebook page. These things are so fun, and I almost always come away with a great page! 

I haven't found myself with a ton of time to scrapbook lately, but I loved getting back into it last night! Caroline is now 11 months old (plus a few days) and I am in shock! How did this happen? I wrote not that long ago about how she was still able to fit into 3-6 month clothes, and all of the sudden everything in her closet is 12 or 18 months stuff, and it all fits!

She's coming up fast on her first birthday, and though I knew everything about Gabe's birthday at this point (theme, cake, gift), I know almost nothing about Caroline's right now! I want to celebrate it for sure, I just can't decide how! And it doesn't help that this economy has hit some of my extended family pretty hard, and I'm not sure how many people are going to be willing or able to make the trip here to party with us...

But like I said, we will for sure do something, and this digital scrapbook kit has me really leaning toward a My Little Pony party! 

Source: scraporchard.com via Melinda on Pinterest

How cute is this thing? I could see all but the pony elements working for a Care Bears party too, which if you've seen my daughter's crib, you know is right up my alley! So much planning to do! 

Monday Moments

I went to the American Quilter's Society show in Grand Rapids this weekend! I took tons of photos (of the few quilts/booths that allowed photography) only to find out in my guidebook for the event that I cannot publish them anywhere! Not here, not Facebook...weird! I kind of get it, but I kind of don't. If there are published photos of these things elsewhere, why does it matter?

Things I loved:

Chenille: really cool technique and it looked so simple!

Mary Buvia. OMG! She was more uninspiring than inspiring, in the way that you look at her quilts and say, "I need to just give up now as I am NEVER going to accomplish anything this beautiful!" 

Halloween: I wanted nearly every Halloween pattern and fabric I saw. I really wanted this one pattern, but it only came in a complete kit for $139, which made it pretty easy to walk away from. Sadness! 

What I did buy was not much, and I'm kind of kicking myself for it because now I will probably not see these things for another year. I bought a paper pieced pattern for a mini quilt. Maybe not as mini as I have been wanting to try, but it calls for a fat quarter of backing fabric, so definitely smaller than anything I have ever done! I also bought a few fat quarters of some things I had been ogling online for awhile at cheaper than the online price (only by 50 cents, but hey, no shipping charges either!). Like I said, I wish I would have bought much more! 

Did you go? 

Free child's crown template and tutorial!

I'm going to confess something. The people at My Memories have been sending me freebies to pass on to you all since the giveaway I did last year. I haven't been hoarding them, they were just kind of lackluster, and I figured if I didn't have any interest, there wouldn't be much interest from you all, either. 

However, they have recently stepped up their game. You have to bear with me a little, here. They still don't look incredible, but you can completely customize them! This is the exciting part. 

The latest freebie (and you only have a few days to grab it before the links turn into the newest offering) is a crown template! How cute is that idea? You could make one for every kid at your child's birthday party with their names on it! 

So, here is what the freebie from My Memories looks like, and a little tutorial on how to put it together.

Crown Tutorial

1.  Print your Crown templates on cardstock and gather supplies.  (Recommended supplies: craft knife, cutting mat, metal edged ruler, small scissors, stapler)


2.  Using the craft knife and metal edged ruler cut along outside line.
TIP: a small pair of scissors could be used as an alternative, especially when adding decorations to the top points of your crown



3.  Align bottom edges and staple together.


4.  Repeat on other side to form a circle

Using MyMemories Software to Customize your Crown
 

1. Download template file and install it into your software
2. Using MyMemories Suite, choose Create Album From Designer Template and find your project
3. Now you can add pictures, print and enjoy the provided template, or customize it with your own papers and embellishments.

TIP:
You can right-click on the white guide and lock it in place to keep it from moving while you are working. Make sure this is the top layer of your project before printing.

Instead of adding the paper as a background paper, you can add it as an embellishment so that you can move the paper around.  This is especially useful when using papers with stripes or circles, so you can decide which part of the paper you want to use.

Once it is added as an embellishment, you can now select the paper and move it into the position you want it.


Just SAVE and PRINT on cardstock!

Download the pink crown template here! There is also a boy and birthday version available if you would prefer. 

Now, here is the part where I show you how cool these can be! 

I forgot to change my printer settings on the first one I printed and came out with the cutest tiny size crown for Caroline with an adorable purple fairy. Gabe wore his Batman crown all day but refused to let me take a picture. I blame this on the long photo session from Wednesday (more on that later). 

I didn't line my template up quite right, but I failed to realize that until after I had centered the name and my embellishments, all from the Cute Spooks Combo Pack. 

Which brings me to another scrapbooking tip. Halloween kits can be awesome for birthday layouts! They often have little "stickers" of children in superhero or princess costumes, very popular themes for kids birthdays! All I did, in the case of the fairy princess crown was add a pretty pink background paper from another kit. Completely changes the feel! So, grab the freebies if you want them, and as always, if you want the software my discount code for $10 off and $10 worth of kits is in my sidebar! 

Embellished fabric bulletin board

This blurry photo of my niece is actually back story for the Mother's Day gift I made my mom. See that large, framed poster behind her head? My mom bought it years ago at a garage sale. If I remember it right, she actually thought the poster was ugly, but the frame was the perfect size for that bare spot on her wall. She started tucking pictures into the frame, then taping them to the glass when she ran out of valuable frame space.

I had the idea that she needed a fabric bulletin board and began bookmarking (I should really be pinning) tutorials. In the end, I kind of cobbled together my own way of doing it. 

I knew it would hang in her kitchen and hold her photos, which gave me the idea to do a scrapbook style embellishment cluster in the corner. I took the selvage of the fabric (from my stash, probably three years old) to Michael's and tried to match as best I could. It was hard! I definitely found myself wishing I were using one of those scrapbook paper turned fabric lines, a la Basic Grey or Riley Blake's Fly a Kite, so I had all of the embellishments, buttons and ribbons pre-coordinated! 

Finding the buttons was perhaps, the hardest part of this. I ended up having to use a heavy duty staple gun to secure all of the layers, and those big, thick staples needed rather large buttons to cover them! I kept finding just the right thing, but in the wrong size, or in packages small enough that it would have cost me $15 just in buttons (or jewels, or glittered chipboard disks...I contemplated a lot of finishing options)! I ended up finding a package of coordinating buttons in the Hobby Lobby that were a few different shades of brown and cream with four different designs on them. They came 15 to a package and were $1.99, which was perfect since I needed 36 of them for this board! 

I think I may start with the buttons when I make one of these for myself, which I am definitely planning on doing! I got a new desk for my sewing machine and one of these would be so cute to hang above it!