My First Digital Scrapbook

My Brother-in-law lives in Barrie, ON quite a ways away from us. For Christmas this year I purchase some little photo albums from Black's Photography. I wanted to be able to send him pictures to show him everything we did this year and how much his niece grew up. They were on sale before Christmas buy 2 get 1 free. They ended up working out to be about $13.00 a piece. The best part is once I created one it was easy to make more. The books are 6x8 and are really made for you to print 6x8 photos and then they bind them into a book for you. When I started I couldn't understand how anyone can pick out just 20 pictures from a whole year of photos. So I then though about making each page hold more by turning them into a layout. Well when I started playing Adobe Photoshop to create my pages then the fun came when I started finding all then FREE digital scrapbooking items available. Luckily I took a class about two years ago for how to use Photoshop. That came in pretty handy when I was making some of the items work on the page. The first page I made was "Rhys' First Skate" after that I bounced around with dates and worked on what ever time I felt like doing. I found that it was easier to work on a page as I found the paper that I like to go with it. My computer is now loaded with digital scrapbooking items. I even purchased Stampin' Up' My Digital Studio. I was disappointed a bit as I couldn't change the size of my page and a 6x8 page size was not available. I am hoping to play with it some more this coming year when I make another book. I love how the book turned out and I even had one printed for myself. I do think next year I might go with a bit bigger of a book so that I can add more pictures or make some of them a little bit bigger. Let me know what you think of my first digital album.

ENJOY!!!

February Birthday Card Class

 Birthday Card with a Spin

Date: Saturday, February 19, 2011

Time: 11:30 am

Location: DAT'S Scrapbooking

Cost: $7.00

At this class we will be making a spinner card using Stampin' Up's new "Take a Spin" stamp set, available in the new Occasions Mini Catalogue. The card is a easel style card and the spinner on the front also spins. We will also be learning how to stamp using markers to get the many different colours in our image. We are also using the new Pear Pizzaz Seam Binding Ribbon and Cardstock. The pattern paper however is from an old Stampin' Up line and is no longer available. I don't like to do this but all the colours worked so well together, I just couldn't resist.

If you are interested in signing up for this class please call Donna at DAT'S Scrapbooking 344-7702.

January Valentine's Card Class

 Valentine's Day Card Class

Date: Saturday, January 15, 2011

Time: 11:30 am

Location: DAT'S Scrapbooking Store
Cost: $7.00

For this class we will be using the "Valentine Defined" stamp set from Stampin' Up's New Occasions Mini Catalogue. We will also be using their new Glimmer Paper to add a little sparkle to your loved ones day. At this class you will learn how to brayer a beautiful sunset using Pink Passion, Melon Mambo and Real Red Ink. This card was inspired by one of my favourite card makers Michelle Zindorf. She has many wonderful brayer tutorials, and I have enjoyed taking a few of her online workshops.

If you are interested in signing up for the class please contact Donna at DAT'S Scrapbooking 344-7702.

Calendar Gifts

I made two of these calendars this year for Christmas gifts for some of our out of town family. They are made using the Karen Foster 6x6 Calendar Kit. Most of the paper is from the kit, but some of the cardstock is from my own stash. I tried to keep each page simple but sometimes I got a little carried away. As you all know it is hard for us Scrapbookers to keep things simple. I had to keep reminding myself that it is only a 6x6 page and that there was not much room for embellishments. I also had to keep in mind that I need to mail them too! I did use my Cricut a lot for this calendar. Under each month I made a list of the items that I used for that page. I do apologize for some of the bad photos of the calendar, I was in hurry to make the post office before it closed.

Bazzil White Cardstock, Karen Foster Snowflake Brads, Ek Success Corner Punch, Tattered Angles Glimmer Mist, Misc Snowflake Buttons, Designer's Calendar Cricut Cartridge, Snow Friends Cricut Cartridge.

EK Success Corner Punch, Fiskars Heart Hand Punch, Bo Bunny Pink Dot Ribbon, Stampin' Up Happy Heart Day Stamp Set, Misc Heart Buttons, Stampin' Up Real Red Marker, Designer's Calendar Cricut Cartridge.

Stampin' Up Go Green Stamp Set, EK Success Clover Punch, Stampin' Up Decorative Label Punch, Tim Holtz Gold Sponge Paint, Designer's Calendar Cricut Cartridge.

Stamping Bella Bling, Bo Bunny Blue Dot Ribbon, EK Success Corner Punch, Designer's Calendar Cricut Cartridge.

Bazzil Stich Template, Misc Embroidery Floss, Got Flowers Paper Flowers, Me & My Big Idea Gems, Designer's Calendar Cricut Cartridge.

Elmo's Party Cricut Cartridge, Misc White Embroidery Floss.

Mini Monograms Cricut Cartridge, Street Signs Cricut Cartridge.

Doodlecharms Cricut Cartridge, Doodletype Cricut Cartridge.

EK Success Corner Punch, Doodlecharms Cricut Cartridge, EK Success Oak Leaf Punch, EK Success Maple Leaf Punch, Karen Foster Mini Screw Brads, Designer's Calendar Cricut Cartridge.

Doodlecharms Cricut Cartridge, Misc Googley Eyes, Misc Black Embroidery Floss, Stamping Bella Bling Dots, Our Craft Lounge Black Sparkle Flock, CTMH "October Month" Stamp Set.

EK Success Gingerbread Man Punch, Misc Gingam Ribbon, Designer's Calendar Cricut Cartridge.

Stampin' Up Trim the Tree Stamp Set, Clear Embossing Powder, Versamark Ink, Silver Embroidery Floss, Designer's Calendar Cricut Cartridge.

My Christmas Cards

While they are finally finished and out in the mail. Hard to believe that I started them in September while I was at a Crop during Scrapfest in Minneapolis. I was so proud of myself to have started that early and still I was 4 days before Christmas trying to finish them up. I had managed to get my out of town cards out earlier but I was short a few for some in town people so for the passed couple of nights I have been busy trying to finish them up.

The card design came from a Hero Arts class that I took a Scrapfest this year. In the class we got to keep the stamp set that we used, so they were easy to make. At least I thought they were easy until I made 50 of them. I started by stamping the trees on white cardstock then inking them with Tim Holtz Peeled Paint Ink and Stamper sponge. I then cut them out and added a strip of natural cardstock for the trunks. I tied a hemp bow and attached it with some glossy accents. The card is folded at 4 1/4 then at 2 1/8. The background is a Hero Arts Background Stamp stamped with Tim Holtz Broken China Ink. I then added some snowflakes using a CTMH stamp set and some white embossing powder with a little bit of sparkles added in. I do love how they turned out even though they took forever to finish.

Enjoy!

January Layout Class

Christmas Moments Two Page Spread

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Time: 7:00 p.m - 10:00 p.m

Cost: $20.00

Using Echo Park’s Christmas paper line, we will be creating a two page layout great for all your Christmas Memories. This line is great for featuring memories from Christmas past with it’s vintage colour scheme and rustic look.

Photo Sizes: 1 - Vertical 6x8, 2 - Vertical 3x4, 2 - Horizontal 2 5/8 x3, 1 - Horizontal 2x3

Please bring with you: your own straight cutter, scoring blade, scissors and adhesive. Your adhesive selection should include whatever regular adhesive you use to do your regular paper to paper or photo to paper adhering, glue lines, glue dots, liquid glue pen and 3-D dots.

November Layout Class

Thursday, November 18, 2010
Time: 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Cost: $20.00

For the November Layout Page we are using two-sided papers from the Little Yellow Bicycle Lucky Me line, as well as paper from Bo Bunny and Deja View. The design came from a layout photo that my friend Krista had sent me. I tried to keep it as close to Krista's inspiration as possible so that it worked with the preselected papers. All  pattern paper is from Little Yellow Bicycle, except for the base paper which is Bo Bunny Dark Denim Dot and the Argyle paper which is from Deja View Lucky Day Line.

At this class we will be learning to do some Gold Leafing on our scrapbook page. The gold leafing is done using a stamp from the Stampin' Up Baroque Motifs Stamp Set along with the Glue Stamp Pad from Tsukineko. After stamping the image you very quickly lay down the Gold Leafing. Tap over the gold leafing gently to make sure that it is adhering to the glue. Allow it to set fro about 10 minutes then gently brush away the extra Gold Leaf with a soft brush. 

I then used some of the sticker accents from the matching Little Yellow Bicycle Stickers. The word "Happiness" is from the Stampin' Up Warm Words stamp set. It is stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock and embossed with gold embossing powder. The small brown strip along the left side is made using Chocolate Chip cardstock and punched with the scalloped border punch from Stampin' Up.

Photo Sizes for this layout are: one horizontal 5 x 7

If you would like to join the class you can call Donna @ 344-7702 to sign up.

Happy Halloween to All...

Meet Harry and Hermione. This is my 2 year old daughter and my dog dressed up for Halloween this year. My husband is a huge Harry Potter fan, and couldn't wait for Rhys to dress up like Hermione as he thinks she looks just like her. I of course instead that the dog had to dress up too. My mom made the cloak and scarves. I created the ties. I also took apart some glasses and made a elastic strap so that they would be more comfortable for Tucker. I think they turned out great! My husband also dressed up as Hagrid which looked pretty cool as he was so much bigger then the two of them. Unfortunately the minute he walked out Rhys covered her eyes and started to cry. Even when he took off the beard and wig she still continued to cry. We decided then that maybe a costume for him wasn't such a great idea. I didn't even get a picture of him in it. Oh well there is always next year! 

Happy Halloween!!

October Class

Thursday, October 21, 2010
Time: 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Cost: $20.00

For the September Layout Page we are using two-sided papers from the Little Yellow Bicycle Gen-Z line. The layout came from my new book Page Maps by Becky Higgins. I love it got a lot of great layout to give you a jump start on a page. My favourite part is that it also comes with a set of small cards that has all of the page layouts used in the book. That way you can take all the ideas with you to a crop without having to hall the book.

The title is made using the cricut. I cut the letters out and then embossed them with two layers of black embossing powder. I don imagine that everyone has a Harley fan in their family, so the great part about this layout is you get to customize your own title. The MR. part will be a given but when you sign up for the class you will let Donna know what the rest of you title will be. Some ideas would be Mr. Fix It, Mr. Cool, Mr. Perfect. Keep in mind that there is only about 4" to work with and the more letter the more embossing you will need to do. 

I created the small tag with the cricut. I then embossed it with 3 layers of embossing powder and while the last layer was still warm I pressed a date stamp into the embossing powder to give a engraved look.

Around the 5x7 is a clear overlay frame. Unfortunately the package of these has 5 different ones to chose from so not everyones will look the same. However, they are all designed to coordinate with the paper line so which everyone you chose will look stunning on your page.

Photo Sizes for this layout are: one horizontal 5 x 7, one 4X4, and one vertical 3x4.

If you would like to join the class you can call Donna @ 344-7702 to sign up.

September Class

Thursday, September 30, 2010
Time: 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Cost: $20.00

For the September Layout Page we are using two-sided papers from Fancy Pants Rusted Sun line. The weather  didn't co-operate with me while as was taking the photo of the layout. I find it looks better in person. The design came from a layout photo that Krista had sent me. I tried to keep it as close to Krista's inspiration as possible so that it worked with the preselected papers.

I decided to pull out a few tools that we probably all own but have not use in forever "Decorative Scissors". We will also be using a pencil and some ink to create our own polk a dot pattern paper.

The word title is stamped out with CTMH's August Word Puzzle using Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight and Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Up Markers.

We will also be using the matching Rub ons and some Rhinestones to add a little sparkle.

Photo Sizes for this layout are: one vertical 5 x 7 photo

If you would like to join the class you can call Donna @ 344-7702 to sign up.

Exciting News...

I am glad to announce that I have invited to return and teach at DAT'S Scrapbooking again this fall. I am very excited and look forward to creating some upcoming classes. For now I am relieving for my dear friend who is unable to teach the classes she had picked out for this fall. I will be working with the product and layouts that she had chosen for the next three classes. After that I will be on my own and creating my own classes. So far it seems not to bad as everything is pretty laid out for me, I will let you know how it goes when it's time to start planning my own.

Big Guy Grilling.....

Here is the birthday card I made for my dad. I love this Grillen Guy from Stamping Bella, I have used him quite a bit. I saw this card design on one of my favorite Blogs "The Spotted Chick". She had used a magnet to hold the card closed. When I saw that I thought to myself "I have those and I belive I bought them quite a few years a go and never used them". Sure enough after digging around for about an hour or so I found them. It is funny how much stuff we buy with the great intentions of using it and never do. I even got to the point that I told myself I wouldn't buy something unless I had a specific project in mind and planned to use it right away. Well, that idea lasted about a month until the next great paper line, stamp or embelishemtn came out, and I just HAD to HAVE it!! 

Anyways onto the card, I used some old Grill themed patter paper that I had in my stash for the top of the card and the bottom is a pattern paper from the Rusted Sun line. The base of the card is made Real Red Cardstock and I matted my image with Crumb Cake, both are from Stampin' Up. I paper pieced his shirt with a scrap piece of pattern paper to make him loo like he is wearing a plaid shirt. I coloured him with my copic markers and ink around the image with some Shadow Ink from Hero Arts. I had bought this ink about three years ago and never tried it out. I stiched around the edge of the image with my sewing machine and some white thread. I tied a scrap piece of ribbon to a triangle clip and attached it at the side. The settiment is from "The Spotted Chicks" Blog, she used it one her Grilln' Guy Card card.  I made it on my computer then punched it out with a circle punch the matted it with some more Real Red Cardstock. I used the same Grill themed paper for the inside as I used on the front. I also stitched around the inside with white thread. The sentiment is a quote from the internet and I made it with word to fit my card. I highlighted "Sometimes" in red as my Dad likes to joke that he doesn't have the beginning of Alzheimer's Disease he has "Sometimers" Disease. Sometimes he remembers and Sometimes he don't!

ENJOY!!