Christmas cards - done & sent

Well, I strayed slightly this year. Normally I make all the cards identical. This year, I had two different stamp designs and 3 different color sets. I decided to use up the paper in my stash and not searching for more to buy. I make about 50 cards and didn't have enough of any one color.

Now that these are done and dispersed, I can hopefully get back to creating layouts. I should definitely be a better blogger next month since Lifetime Moment's Winter Scrapfest begins January 1st. The last scrapfest was so inspirational to my scrapping and it really gave me the boost I needed to get in my scrap room and create.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone.

What a rough weekend

This weekend didn't go anything as planned. I was looking forward to a night of cropping with my dear friend Darla but had to cancel. I came down with the flu on Thursday and was out of commission for Friday. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as it could be. I was mostly achy and drained of energy. So, no new layouts got done (or started) and I fell a bit behind in my holiday planning.

The Christmas cards should be done this week and hopefully I can get working on an actual layout again. Lifetime Moments will be having a Winter Scrapfest starting after the holidays. I participated in the Summer one and got a lot more accomplished than I would have without it. I can't wait for the extra motivation.

Been Busy

Boy does this time of year get busy. We had a long weekend that we spent in Pittsburgh. Bobby enjoyed himself at the Steeler game even though it was so freezing cold. Meanwhile, I stayed warm doing some Christmas shopping. I got my youngest brother done, my nephew started and Bobby is half-way done. Glad I have a short list, we never get started early enough.

Other than working on Christmas cards, I haven't had a chance to do any scrapping. I still have layouts from last month that haven't gotten scanned an uploaded. Hopefully this Friday I'll get some layouts done at an evening crop. I need to get organized for that so I can be productive. I'm hoping my friend Darla will be able to make it since we haven't seen each other in so long. We have a lot of catching up to do.

Re: Scrapbook Accountability - How I track my usage

I track everything on an excel worksheet. I was afraid to keep track of supplies purchased since I scrapbook shop more than I actually scrapbook. Until I get to enter things on the spreadsheet, I just jot them down on scrap paper and keep a tally.

I saw this concept on a message board thread at Lifetime Moments and I thought I'd give it a shot. hoping it spurs me to use more of my supplies. I just started in mid-November and haven't had a chance to do much scrapping due to the holidays.

November SB Accountability Wrap-Up

Okay, here's my update on my scrapbook purchases vs. usage for November. I don't think I did too bad until Saturday, 11/29. That's when I hit the after-Thanksgiving sale at Michael's with my coupons. I used to be able to go into Michael's with a coupon and walk out without buying anything. The past 6 months, that has changed. They are getting fresh, new stock on a regular basis and since I only get there once every month or two, I can't resist. Of course, no longer having an LSS probably doesn't help either.


9 Layouts
38 Cards

Products Used:
Alpha Stickers - 41
Brads
Buttons - 13
Cardstock 12x12 - 6
Cardstock 8.5x11 - 19
Cardstock - Die-cut
Chipboard Pieces (Non-Alpha) - 8
Die-Cuts (store-bought) - 4
Embellishment - Metal
Embellishment - Misc. - 38
Eyelets
Flowers - 2
Glimmer Mist
Ink - 85
Journaling Spots
Paint (Acrylic) - 5
Paint (Distress Crackle)
Patterned Paper 12x12 - 13
Patterned Paper 6x6 - 4
Patterned Paper 8x8
Pearls - 14
Pins (Decorative head pins) - 3
Quickutz - shapes
Rhinestone Bling - 8
Ribbon - 380"
Rub-ons (Image/Words/Quotes) - 7
Stamps (Alpha)
Stamps (Image/Words/Quotes) - 116
Stamps (Wood Mounted)
Stickers (Epoxy) - 3
Stickers (Cardstock)
Stickles - 40
Templates
Thickers - 46
Transparency embellishment

Products Acquired:
Alpha Stickers - 2019
Brads - 6
Buttons
Cardstock 12x12 - 8
Cardstock 8.5x11
Cardstock (Die-cut) - 3
Chipboard Pieces (Non-Alpha) - 181
Die-Cuts (store-bought)
Embellishment (Metal)
Embellishment (Misc.) - 174
Eyelets
Flowers
Glimmer Mist - 2
Ink
Journaling Spots
Paint (Acrylic)
Paint (Distress Crackle)
Patterned Paper 12x12 - 147
Patterned Paper 6x6
Patterned Paper 8x8 - 96
Pearls
Pins (Decorative head pins)
Quickutz (shapes)
Rhinestone Bling - 46
Ribbon - 108"
Rub-ons (Image/Words/Quotes)
Stamps (Alpha)
Stamps (Image/Words/Quotes)
Stamps (Wood Mounted) - 1
Stickers (Epoxy)
Stickers (Cardstock) - 29
Stickles - 8
Templates - 5

Being Thankful

Thanksgiving went pretty well this year. We had a mini crisis with the turkey. I got it all oiled, stuffed & sitting nicely in the roasting pan. I put it in the oven & tried to close the oven door. The roasting pan was slightly too big for the oven door to fit. I ended up having to roast the turkey in a large glass baking dish. Not quite the way it's supposed to work, but it turned out just fine. So, I'm on the quest for roasting pan that will fit in the oven. I'd been using the disposable pans the past several years and thought this pan was going to fit. So, if that's the worst mishap of the week, I'm quite grateful. I have learned that you don't get worked up over the small things.

In these trying times, it can sometimes be difficult to look at the optimistic side of things. I'm thankful for Bobby, our 3 spoiled cats, our families and friends. I'm also grateful for my job, even though it's often the source of my stress.

We often think of things that could make our lives better and take advantage of, or forget, the good things we have in our lives. Sometimes we lose focus of the important things. I think that with the current state of the economy and things going on in the world, we need to get back to appreciating the basics.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you were able to find several things to be thankful for even if you're having difficulties in your life right now.

A boy & teddy bear

This is a layout of my sweet nephew. My sister-in-law took this adorable photo and I was lucky enough to be given a copy.

Products Used:

PP (My Minds Eye); Cardstock (Club Scrap); Chipboard photo corner (Bazzil); Paint (Making Memories); Buttons (Basic Grey - Offbeat); Alpahs (American Crafts Foam Thickers & Carolee's Adornit mini alphas); Ribbon (Fancy Pants); Decorative Pin (Fancy Pants)

Enough Tricks

These pictures were taken on Christmas Day last year. Poor Mia, she did not like having that bow pasted to her head. I gotta tell you, I'm still lovin' those mini photos. They make designing pages a bit easier than using full-sized photos all the time. If you missed my previous post about Photo Sheet, go to my November 21st entry for more details.

Products Used:
PP (Basic Grey - Scarlet's Letter); Die-cut PP (Crate Paper - Lemongrass); Cardstock (Club Scrap); Alphas (American Crafts Foam Thickers); Chipboard swirl (American Crafts Accent Thickers); Buttons (KI Memories - La-di-dah); Ink (Colorbox)

Just a goofy layout of Xander playing around with one of our travel bags.

Products Used:

PP (Basic Grey - Granola); Cardstock (Club Scrap); Rub-on (Basic Grey - Granola); Epoxy buttons (Making Memories - 5th Avenue); Bling (Best Occasions); Font (Times New Roman)

Crate Paper, I'm in Love

When I first saw the sneak peaks for the 3 new Crate Paper Lines, I knew I really like the Prudence line, but wasn't sure of Mia & Lemongrass lines. I ended up getting all three and am so glad I did. These papers practically scrap themselves. :)

The top layout is done with the Prudence line. It's Xander and Mia sitting on one of our dining room chairs. The middle layout is the Mia line. Ironically, I scrapped Xander on it and not our Mia. I just love the 5x7 shot of him in this layout. He is so photogenic. The last layout is Lemongrass. Those papers were so fun to work with and so easy to mix & match. I can't believe how huge Xander looks in the one picture on the left. He really isn't quite that big...

Products Used:

Chair Buddies: PP (Crate Paper - Prudence); Cardstock (Club Scrap); Die-cuts (Crate Paper - Prudence); Rub-On stitches (Autumn Leaves); Flower (Bazzill); Chipboard (Maya Road); Button (KI Memories, La-di-dah); Paint (Making Memories); Gems (Kaiser Crafts); Ink (Colorbox)

Contemplating Trouble: PP (Crate Paper - Mia); Cardstock (Club Scrap); Puffy Butterfly (American Crafts Thickers - Puffy Accents); Pearls (Kaiser Crafts); Ink (Colorbox); Buttons (Basic Grey); Alpha Stickers (Creative Memories); Font (Times New Roman)

Copy Cat: PP (Crate Paper - Lemongrass); Cardstock (Club Scrap); Die-cut border strip (Crate Paper - Lemongrass); Chipboard birds & Alpha Stickers (American Crafts Thickers); Ink (Colorbox - Green; Ancient Page - melon); Font (Times New Roman)

Small pics - my new obsession

I just have to gush about a photo template program I found on-line. It's called Photo Sheet and you can get it at phototility.com.

I am in love with this. It has different-sized photo templates that you can choose from. I usually choose 4"x6" vertical or 4"x6" horizontal. Then you select how many photos you want to arrange on that template. You drag your photos to it & drop them. It arranges them and you can print them as one picture.

The top picture has 4 photos, so when I cut them apart, they are 2"x3". The second picture has 6 photos, so when I cut them apart, they are 2"x2". My new Genesis trimmer makes trimming these pics a breeze, too. But that's a post for another day.

It doesn't take much to get me excited about pictures and this has really added a spark to my scrapbookin' mojo. It has given me versatility in my photo layout design. I've already used some of these smaller photos on some pages. I just need to get them scanned so I can upload. I hope to do that this weekend.

Peek-a-Boo

This is a recent layout that I did of Mia playing on the windowsill and Mitzi peeking in at her. This was shortly after we got Mia back in 2006 and Mitzi was still trying to get used to the idea of having another cat around.

Products Used:

PP (unknown); Cardstock (Club Scrap); Die-Cut Journaling paper (Making Memories - Paperie); Chipboard (Fancy Pants); Fabric Flower (Bazzill); Metal flower (Deja Views); Green Rhinestones (Kaiser Crafts); Alpha Stickers (American Crafts Puffy Thickers); Ink (Anna Griffin); Font (Times New Roman)

Us

This is Bobby & me at our reception. We were married in Hawaii on 9/21/05 and had a small, intimate reception on 10/2/05 after arriving back home. We were so lucky to have such beautiful weather here that late in the season. I haven't scrapped too many of our reception/honeymoon pictures yet.

Products Used:

PP (Flair Designs); Cardstock (Club Scrap); Die-Cut paper (Ki Memories); Transparency border (My Mind's Eye); Stamps (Close to my Heart); Ink (Colorbox); Rhinestones (Making Memories)

Weekend Crop a success

This past weekend, I attended a Git-R-Done crop that ran Friday from 3 pm to 2 am and Saturday from 6 am to 10 pm. Surprisingly, I made it until about 11:30 on Friday night (I get up at 5 am M-F). Then on Saturday I got there at about 9:30/10 am and stayed until about 9:30. I must still be recuperating because I haven't had the ambition to get my layouts from the weekend scanned into the computer.
I got 9 pages done. That was a lot for me. I am a terribly slow scrapper and usually lose my mojo after 3-4 layouts. The best part of the crop was seeing some of the girls that I used to scrap with when we had a lss. The next one is scheduled for February and I definitely plan on attending.

Splish-Splash

This is Mia and Xander, our two bengals, playing in the bathroom sink. They love to play in the water and try to drink from the bathroom spigot. These two are siblings and aren't ever away from each other for very long.

Products Used:

PP (Cosmo Cricket - Dutch Girl); Cardstock (Club Scrap); Chipboard (Fancy Pants); Acrylic Paint (Making Memories); Alpha Stickers (American Crafts Thickers); Rub-Ons (Scrapworks); Ink (Colorbox & Anna Griffin); Font (Times New Roman)

So Playful

This is Xander. He's my big, 15-pound momma's boy. I did this layout for a challenge on the Lifetime Moments board where you had to journal in letter-style. I just love how this Basic Grey paper matches his markings so perfectly. I did this layout last month.

Products Used:

PP (Basic Grey - Granola line); Cardstock (Club Scrap); Chipboard (Maya Road); Crackle paint (Tim Holtz by Ranger); Rub-on (Kimberly Poloson); Alpha stickers (American Crafts Thickers & Making Memories Tiny Alphas); Black Rhinestone (Kaiser Crafts); Ink (Colorbox)

So Dainty

My main scrapping subjects are our cats. Mitzi is our oldest cat. She's 8.5 and very spoiled. She weighs just under 7 pounds and appears very fragile, but she's a tough cookie.

This is one of my favorite layouts of her that I've done in the past few months.

Some of the products used on this layout are:

PP (Crate Paper - Avenue line); Die-cut PP (Creative Imaginations) Cardstock (Club Scrap); Tag & Photo anchors (7 Gypsies); Chipboard heart & flowers & Ribbon (Maya Road); Acrylic Paint (Making Memories); Alpha Stickers (Making Memories Tiny Alphas & American Crafts Thickers); Stamps (Inque Boutique); Ink (Colorbox); Brads (Karen Foster)

Scrapbook Accountability

I have to admit, I love scrapbooking and sometimes I think I enjoy scrapbook shopping even more. In an effort to use more of my scrappy purchases, I started this blog as a way of tracking my purchases and usage of scrapping supplies.

I just started calculating as of November 14, 2008.

November Running Total:
# of Layouts - 9

Items Used
Alpha Chipboard
Alpha Rub-Ons
Alpha Stickers - 41
Brads
Buttons - 13
Cardstock - 6
Cardstock (Die-cut)
Chipboard Pieces (Non-Alpha) - 8
Die-Cuts (store-bought) - 4
Eyelets
Flowers - 2
Ink - 9
Journaling Spots
Metal Embellishment
Paint (Acrylic) - 5
Paint (Distress Crackle)
Patterned Paper 12x12 - 14
Patterned Paper 6x6 - 4
Patterned Paper 8x8
Pearls - 14
Pins (Decorative head pins) - 3
Quickutz (alphas)
Quickutz (shapes)
Rhinestone Bling - 8
Ribbon - 12"
Rub-ons (Image/Words/Quotes) - 7
Stamps (Alpha)
Stamps (Image/Words/Quotes) - 2
Stickers (Epoxy) - 3
Stickles - 2
Templates
Thickers - 46
Transparency embellishment

Items Purchased
Alpha Chipboard
Alpha Rub-Ons
Alpha Stickers - 1245
Brads - 6
Buttons
Cardstock - 8
Cardstock (Die-cut)
Chipboard Pieces (Non-Alpha)
Die-Cuts (store-bought)
Embellishment (Metal)
Embellishment (Misc.) - 10
Eyelets
Flowers
Glimmer Mist - 1
Ink
Journaling Spots
Paint (Acrylic)
Paint (Distress Crackle)
Patterned Paper 12x12 - 4
Patterned Paper 6x6
Patterned Paper 8x8
Pearls
Pins (Decorative head pins)
Quickutz (alphas)
Quickutz (shapes)
Rhinestone Bling
Ribbon
Rub-ons (Image/Words/Quotes)
Stamps (Alpha)
Stamps (Image/Words/Quotes) - 6
Stamps (Wood Mounted) - 1
Stickers (Cardstock) - 6
Stickers (Epoxy)
Stickles - 1
Templates
Thickers
Transparency embellishment

Updated: 11/28/08