Fun Pages From Hawaii

When I scrapbook I love trying new things. At first I didn't want to cut my pictures, I wanted to follow all the rules for scrapbooking to a 'T'. Then I loosened up and realized that I don't have to be such a perfectionist. The more fun I made the pages the more my son Ben loved looking at them. The pages that were done formatted perfectly he just glanced at them and that was all the attention they deserved. Seeing this in Ben I started to really use my creativity to produce pages that he would look at over and over againg because that time is so precious to me and we share a passion for family pictures. When I was little I would pull out all the family albums about once per month and glance through them - I was the only one out of 5 that would even look at the pictures. Well it seems that Ben loves to do this too and now we share many moments together going through all the scrapbooks. I love this time, I cherish this time because I know that it will not last forever.
Have fun with your pictures, experiment, cut, distress, color, enjoy!
Happy Creating everyone!

Mosaic Scrapbook Pages

As promised from my last post here are my mosaic scrapbook pages. I love making pages like this because my creative juices begin to flow. The funny thing about these pages are that the pictures are both from Hawaii though taken 13 years apart. (I waited a long time to go back to Hawaii and I can't wait to go back again!) The full "Ocean" mosaic page is from a template I used about four years ago from a Scrapbooking book published around that time. I do not have the book as I borrowed it, however... the template is actually easy to plan out if you choose say five different underwater animals - an Octopus, a starfish, a seahorse, a fish, and a dolphin. Draw these out on a 12x12 scrap sheet. Then from those images working outward to the outer edges of the page draw different shapes around these images (making sure you leave enough room for space between each piece you put down). Once you have your complete page drawn, separate images of underwater creatures with lines, now number each piece. Use this sheet as your template. I have seen this done with swimming pictures of your kids and it looks awesome.

The less complicated mosaic was the most simple. I basically cut out shapes as I was watching a movie with my kidlets and placed them next to each other cropping where I needed to to ensure the pieces fit into the spaces around the two main photos. Mosaics add so much beauty to your pages - not the most conventional way of scrapbooking but I'm not a very conventional person - LOL.
Happy creating everyone!

Kaleidescoping With Ben and Josh

On our anniversary in October my husband and I went walking around this area of town with some art shops, with our Starbucks of course! We went into this one store and I discovered these amazing Kaleidescopes that were so beautiful as they changed colors that I almost teared up. You see I love color and I LOVE Kaleidescopes! Now that I have found this program; from www.kaleidescopekreator.com I am going crazy with all our pictures. The boys love it too. On the picture of a bee on a dandelion I didn't realize that I had already changed the picture in Adope Photoshop so it is a little distorted, but I think it gives it even more character. I have seen some flowers done with this program and they make the most exsquisite kaleidescopes. I can't wait to make an entire scrapbook of kaleidescope pictures.
I am not a conventional scrapbooker really. I like to make it a little different or give it an artistic flair. I am not at all afraid to cut up my pictures to make them into a mosaic scrapbook page. Actually I think I will post one of them next time. In the mean time I hope you enjoy these fun little pics.
Happy creating everyone.

Kaleidescope Kreator

Over at Allison's "Stamping When I Can" blog, Tutorials... I discovered a tutorial on Kaleidescope Kreator and I so enjoyed it that I purchased the program. What a fun way to scrapbook pictures! I am all finished with my Christmas cards and so my mind is turning to all the digital pictures stored on my computer that have yet to be scrapbooked. I have a long way to go before I will be caught up... I'm talking thousand's of pictures. Even though I have about 6 scrapbooks already done I still have many pictures needing a home.
A few years back a girlfriend of mine showed me one of her books on scrapbooking and this technique (making a kaleidescope with your pictures) was in it. However, at the time there was no digital program for your pictures that would automatically print them out like that. So... if you wanted to create this effect you would have to print out many copies and then use a manual template to cut around each picture precisely - OY VAY what a lot of work that would have been. I am so glad I ran into this program today, now this is what I call easy and beautiful.
Happy Creating Everyone!

Jesus Is The Reason For The Season Cards

"Jesus Is The Reason For The Season" stamp is from "All God's Children" stampset from Stampin-up... I'm not certain if it is still available. I use many of the stamps from this set for Sunday school. I'm still trying to make enough cards to give out this year and I am getting there. The hard part is writing out messages for all cards and addressing the envelopes. OY VAY! I get writers cramp after doing only 25 or so! My uncle sent me a card this year and he put it through his printer with messages for everyone - he has really bad arthritus and cannot write out all his cards. You can't exactly do that with handmade cards unless you put it through your printer before you have embellished the cards. That might be a good thing to keep in mind for next year.
For these cards I used some of my left over scraps from my Michael's Christmas Slab paper. I also ran it through my cuddlebug to emboss the circles in the background. I love that simple little machine but I must admit it does hurt my wrist after awhile, only because I am making so many cards! Well enjoy the cards!
Happy creating everyone!

Merry Snowman Nativity

I'm still trying to make my 70 cards for our family to send out and I am up to 54. I am making an assortment instead of making them all the "JOY" card I said yesterday. No... I didn't make all of the 54 today, I had 29 left over from the fundraiser. My mind is going crazy trying to think of all different kinds of cards. I love this snowman nativity so I made 5 of these cards. I am still using up some of my Michael's Christmas Slab scrapbook paper. I didn't know what I was going to do with this blue poka-dot paper as I'm not a huge fan of blue. I don't know why... I guess some people are blue people and some people are not. I am not. I think I am more of an olive green person.
Still enjoying the Nestabilities and particularily the scalloped circles. I have made many cards with these and have really liked all of them. Once again this stamp is from my "Nativity Snowman" stamp set from TAC (The Angel Company), the 'Merry' is from Stampin Up.
Happy Creating Everyone!

Interesting Tree Card With Cuddlebug

I purchased an alphabet for my Cuddlebug months ago and with each alphabet there are usually some extra die cuts after the numbers... on this particular alphabet there is a half view of a flower, kind of like a daisy. I haven't used it until this card. As I was looking at the picture on the die cut I realized that the pedals looked a little bit like pine needles so I put it through the cuddlebug and then turned the image upside down... then put it through the cuddlebug about 20 more times and continued layering this upside down flower. I used approximately 18 flowers for each card (which is alot of rolling through the cuddlebug) as I wanted to make it really full. I think it turned out pretty cute though my wrists are somewhat sore - LOL. Was it worth it? Definitely!
Happy Creating Everyone!

My Christmas Card This Year

After making 101 different kind of cards for the Christmas Kid's Ministry Fundraiser this year I am finally free to sit down and make some cards for us. I only have to make 70 or so! Yikes. I have tried to make a simple design and this one is fun and not too difficult. I get to use my cuddle bug and that's where the fun comes in. The tags and the letters are from my alphabet for the cuddlebug. The glitter is from Making Memories. I love the fact that the Cuddlebug can cut right through felt and foam and chipboard... that is why it makes this card so relatively easy. Well I hope you like it everyone.
Happy Creating!

Wine Glass Centerpieces

I did not like the previous glasses with that puny ribbon so I went out to Michael's just in time for their 50%off sale of ribbon. I really like the centerpieces now. They fill out the bottom of the glasses much better. They still had a wonderful selection to choose from which surprised me as it is so close to Christmas, I took advantage of it and purchased 4 rolls.
Let me know if you like these ones better.
Happy Creating Everyone!

Wineglass Centerpieces

I saw these on a website while looking for napkin folds and later I lost the web address for them (sorry). These simple centerpieces were made with wine glasses, tealights, beading wire, glass beads rocks, and ribbon.
To make them I cut 2 pieces beading wire approx. 28cm in length. Then I used a glass bead and beaded it onto one of the wires. Placing the wires side by side and finding the middle, I twisted the two pieces together to make four sides of wire. At each end I used my wire pliers to curve them into circles which will hold the tealight, then I did this to all four sides. I threw some glass bead rocks into the bottom of the wine glasses. Then placed the wire into the glass using my fingers to flatten out the middle where the tealight will go. Then I placed the tealight in. I also tied ribbon around the base of each glass, but I am thinking I want to change the ribbon to a thicker size and more vibrant red as I think they will look much richer in design. These were unique and fun to make. Let me know if you give them a try.
Happy creating everyone.

Werthers Christmas Tree

Who doesn't love Werther's Melt-in-your-mouth caramel candies? I made this "Werther's" Christmas tree this year for a door prize at the Men's Ministry Evening I am hosting with my husband. I remember making one about ten years ago using all sorts of different colored candies. That makes a beautiful tree as well. They are really simple to make, all you need are some pins, a styrofoam cone, candies and some ribbon.
I purchased the cone at Michael's. Starting at the bottom of the cone I began pinning each candy around the cone until I got to the very top. Once finished filling the tree with candy, I went back and cut small pieces of ribbon and pinned them in various places around the tree. I used Emerald Green and Burgandy ribbon for this. On the top I used an irridescent wired ribbon to make the beautiful bow at the top of the tree by pinning each layer of the bow. This always makes a wonderful giveaway that can be shared at Christmas time.
Happy Creating everyone!

Lotus Flower Napkins For Christmas

As promised yesterday, here are the beautiful Lotus Flower Origami Folded Napkins. I am hosting a Mens Ministry Christmas Get Together at our Church and I was looking online for some decorating ideas and I came across different ways to fold the napkins for the tables. Of course you can't really use these as a napkin, but them make beautiful additions to the plates on the table. I put a Lindt Chocolate in the center of each one. The wine glass filled with little glass pieces is another project I am working on... which I will post at a later date (once finished)
They were really easy to learn and easy to fold, although they look difficult. I found a video tutorial at the following link. You will have to copy and past the link into your browser.
www.luv2help.com/origami-video-tutorials/
Look at the Lotus Flower.
I tried to add it as a video and unfortunately I am technologically challenged obviously because I could not get it to work!
I hope you enjoy them.
Happy creating everyone!

New Christmas Toys & Idea

Decorating your door for Christmas!
I got this idea from our Realtor a few years ago but never managed to do this to my door. She did her bathroom door and her closet doors and I loved the idea. I purchased this amazing ribbon from Costco for $11.99 and I had to think of something to do with it, and that is when this idea came to the front of my brain. I wrapped it around length wise and then stapled it to the top of the door (where no-one can see), then I did the same thing width wise. I actually sewed the bow together and then sewed it onto the ribbon on the door (because I didn't want to staple the front of our door). Then I puffed up the bow to look pretty.
Next...
I purchased this adorable Santa on the ladder at Costco today. Can you tell where I like to shop??? Santa moves up and down the ladder with a string of lights over his shoulder and his sleigh (which goes at the bottom of the ladder) plays a beautiful Christmas bells song. It was only $34.99 which I think is a pretty good deal. We usually purchase one new Christmas gadget per year and I thought this would be a perfect addition for beside our tree.
Well, happy creating everyone! Tomorrow I will be posting these beautiful Lotus paper napkin (origami)to put on your Christmas Table so stay tuned!