DIY Valentines

This year I decided to skip the cheesy little store bought Valentines we've always relied on.  Inspired by Pinterest, I set out to create some simple Valentines for my first grader.  I started by taking a photo of Caleb with his arm outstretched.  In order to avoid getting lots of other stuff in the background, I stood on his bed and took the photo looking down on him.

Then I used free photo editing software to add a red border, lots of hearts, and our personalized greeting.

Once I was happy with the design, I ordered 25 of these prints from Walmart.com and picked them up the next day.   I used a craft knife to make slits at the top and bottom of his outstretched fist and then threaded a sweet treat through his hand to complete the project.  We tried blow pops and pixy stix.

I liked the look of both of them, but ultimately settled on Pixy Stix because they were lighter and cheaper!  I especially loved that I didn't have to spend hours helping my first grader squeeze his classmates' names on those cheap little foldover cards.  And I'm even more excited to get these finished with a week to spare!  Thanks for looking!

how sweet

This week at Scrapbook Steals, my crafty friend Becci Manies was the lucky guest designer.  She came up with a fabulous sketch to inspire us for this week's mid-week mojo.  My layout came out a little different than I planned, but I still managed to work in the candy banner that I love so much.

And here is Becci's original sketch:

Here's to another great week of crafting ahead!  Thanks for stopping by!

I made it to round 3!

I was excited to learn that I advanced to round 3 of the layout challenge at Practical Scrappers.  I made this layout which was inspired by one of three quilt patterns and had to include at least four of the following: banners, tags, ribbon, chipboard, eyelets, or buttons.

I had a great time making this layout, which was inspired by this quilt pattern:

I cut out diamond shapes using my Cricut and some of my favorite papers from My Mind's Eye to cover a 4x12 piece of scrap cardstock. I cut the diamonds from 6x6 double sided paper, making it easy to arrange a random pattern from the papers.  Once I was happy with the "randomness" of the pattern, then I adhered everything down and added twine to hide my seams. 
If you haven't already voted for my layout, please check it out HERE and vote for me before the poll closes on Friday.  I'm already working on my layout for round 4 and hoping that I can advance!

Autographs

This week's sketch at Scrapbook Steals was another fabulous one pager.  I decided it was a good fit for a Disney page.  I'm over 3/4 done with the Disney album and hope to have it finished before this year's Spring Break, which will mark the one year anniversary of our trip.  I love breaking out the Disney pictures and reminiscing about all of our fun.  The boys can't wait to return, but know it will be a few more years before we can do it again.  Here's what I came up with:

And this is the inspiration sketch by the amazingly talented Kristy Lee of Scrapbook Steals:

The weekly sketches at Scrapbook Steals provide amazing inspiration and keep me motivated to scrap on a regular basis.  I've played along every week for over a year and love getting comments from the Scrapbook Steals fans and staff.  At first, I was nervous about putting my work "out there" but after getting tons of compliments and feedback from my scrappy pals, I now look forward to it and can't wait to hear what they think.  The real motivator is the chance to win a scrappy prize.  Every week, they draw a winner using random.org so everyone who plays along has a chance to win.  Each Wednesday, the mid-week mojo sketch is revealed and you have until the end of the day on Monday to post your layout.  The sketches are a great starting point, but there's no requirement that you stick with the sketch. I often add additional photos or turn a 1 page sketch into a 2 page layout.  I change the photo size to accommodate my pictures or I turn the entire sketch around and take it from a completely different angle.  You don't have to use any particular products either, just whatever floats your boat.  I had never worked from a sketch until I started playing along here, and I must admit that it makes life so much simpler.  No longer do I just sit and stare at my craft desk wondering how to get started.  Check out Scrapbook Steals HERE  or "like" them on facebook and watch for great deals on amazing products.  They offer two different "steals" each day, one at 9am MST and one at 9pm MST.

Layout contest round 2

I'm playing along with a layout contest at Practical Scrappers.  I started by submitting a recent layout.  It was chosen as one of 80 to be a finalist.  The top 25 with the most votes advanced to round 2.   I had to create a layout based on a great sketch by Liz Chidester for this round.  I used Geek is Chic papers from Imaginisce to create this layout:

If my layout gets enough votes in this round, I will advance to round 3! I've worked ahead and already created my layout for round 3.  I'd love for it to be featured!  Voting is open until Friday.  If you haven't already voted, please go HERE to check it out and vote for me at the poll found at the end of the blog post.

My Mind's Eye Blog Challenge

There's something about cold snowy weather that makes me want to cozy up in my craft room and create.  I hurried through housework this weekend so that I could play along with the blog challenge at My Mind's Eye.  I started with their sketch and the theme "new" and decided to push myself outside of my comfort zone.  I normally scrap about my boys, but have recently vowed to turn the camera on myself and do more personal pages this year.  Here's what I came up with:

Since it's the start of a new year and the theme was to create something with "new" in the title, I decided to focus on myself.  I've struggled with my weight my whole life and during 2011 I managed to lose 23 lbs. by adding exercise to my already busy life.  This year I need to lose even more and have set a goal of 50 lbs for this year.  I'm nearly 10 lbs. down so far this year, so I'm off to a good start.  Here's to a great year and a healthier new me!

Old friends

This week at Scrapbook Steals, the amazing Kristy Lee gave us another wonderful sketch to inspire us!  I broke out of my usual routine and made a page about girls (gasp!)  I love my boys and they are my favorite thing to scrap about, but it's always fun to break out some soft colors and create a girly page every now and then.  Here's what I came up with:

I wanted to include a lot of journaling so that I could share the story of my oldest gal pals, so I modified the original sketch.  I fussy cut long the edge of a doily to frame my journaling and add a softer touch.  I made small circles and folded them around a 2" square to make the "quilted diamonds" that are featured along the bottom.  Here's what the original sketch looked like:

I'm hoping to get more crafty time in this weekend, since we're buried in snow.  I have lots of projects that need to be completed and contests I want to enter, so my housework *may* fall by the wayside this weekend.  Oh well, thus is the life of a crafter.  Apparently I'm the only person in my house that cares if it is clean anyway, so all is well.  Thanks for stopping by!