Seasonal Snapshot cards

For my second batch of autumn cards, I decided to use something I've had in my stash for awhile: the Seasonal Snapshot 2015 Project Life Accessory Pack. I used some of the items from the pack to create a scrapbook page years ago, but it's been tucked away since then. Time to see what else I could create!

I started by deciding on a basic layout. I used three die-cut squares -- two patterned and one with an image -- for each card. I matted the image card with gold, silver, or black card stock. That card stock and the card bases are the only items on these cards that weren't part of the accessory kit (and the stamps, ink, and adhesive, of course).

These cards would be really easy to reproduce with squares cut from various patterned papers, small stamped or die-cut focal images, and any embellishments. A great way to use up scraps of patterned paper!

I also made two Christmas cards with the Seasonal Snapshot accessory kit. I know they're simple cards, but I really like how they turned out. That brings my total of Christmas cards up to 100 (some are left over from last year). Yippee!

Inside the cards I added white panels stamped with sentiments. I also used a few elements from the kit to make them a little more festive.

I still have several elements left in the accessory kit, particularly some laser-cut wood pieces that I haven’t decided how to use yet. More projects for another day. Thanks for stopping by!

April 2017 OnStage display stamper submission

Happy new year! I'm trying to get back into the swing of things after the holidays and other family events, so my first blog post of the year is my application for display stamper at Stampin' Up!'s April OnStage event. At OnStage, demonstrators get together to learn creative techniques and business tips, to make projects, and to get sneak-peeks of upcoming products. There are also display boards filled with sample cards, scrapbook pages and other projects. Demonstrators can apply to stamp projects for the display boards, and I decided to throw my hat into the ring.

For the application, I had to create three cards, a scrapbook page, and two 3D items. I will include the products used for each item, but I'll keep the details to a minimum. If you have any specific questions, post a comment and I'll reply as soon as I can.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Flower Patch
Paper: Whisper White, Thick Whisper White card stock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Calypso Coral, Real Red, Pool Party
Accessories: Flower Fair Framelits, Brick Wall embossing folder, White Perfect Accents, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

It's been brutally cold lately, and these bright flowers were just what I needed. I used Glue Dots and Dimensionals to adhere the die-cut flowers on the embossed background so they're at different heights. To add extra dimension and shape to the banner, I stacked three Dimensionals behind the middle of the banner, gently curled up the ends and placed a Glue Dot near each end.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Butterfly Basics
Paper: Pear Pizzazz, So Saffron, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla card stock
Ink: So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Early Espresso, VersaMark
Accessories: Layering Circles Framelits dies, Bold Butterfly Framelits dies, gold sequin trim, gold natural trim, gold and clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pens, clear embossing powder, Mono Multi liquid glue, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

To make the background for this card, I stamped the leaves and postmark with VersaMark ink and embossed them with clear embossing powder. I tapped the gold Wink of Stella glitter brush pen to make the splatters.

For a little extra sparkle I painted the yellow stamped flowers and the die-cut butterfly with the clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: By the Tide, Wetlands
Paper: Very Vanilla, Soft Suede card stock; Serene Scenery Designer Series Paper (DSP) Stack
Ink: Soft Suede
Accessories: Burlap ribbon, linen thread, Subtles enamel shapes, corner rounder, sponge, Dimensionals

I love how the images, background paper and burlap ribbon on this card combine to create a great nautical feeling. To soften the straight lines of the Very Vanilla layers and the DSP, I rounded two of the corners on each piece. I used a piece of linen thread to gather the burlap ribbon and add a fun detail without the bulk of a bow or knot.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Labeler Alphabet, Falling Leaves, Hardwood
Paper: Whisper White card stock
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Project Life journaling pen
Accessories: Variety Pack 6" x 8" Project Life Photo Pocket Pages, Seasonal Snaphot 2015 Project Life Accessory Pack, linen thread, Glue Dots

Autumn is my favorite season, and I had a lot of fun combining these fall photos with some of the elements from the Seasonal Snapshot 2015 Project Life Accessory Pack. The wooden piece with the leaf cut-out looked a little plain, so I stamped it with the Hardwood background stamp and Crumb Cake ink to add some subtle visual interest. I used stamps to create my own journaling cards, added sequins in one of the pockets and adhered a linen thread bow on one of the pumpkins in the photo of the red wagon. I love how easy it was to put this together with the Project Life pocket pages and accessories.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Hey, Chick
Paper: Shimmery White, Basic Black card stock; window sheets
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, watercolor pencils
Accessories: Layering Circles Framelits dies, Aqua Painter, linen thread, 1/8" hole punch, Simply Scored Tool, Sticky Strip

For my first 3D project I made an oldie-but-goodie treat holder called a sour cream container. I used two fun new products -- the Hey, Chick stamp set and watercolor pencils -- and they worked perfectly together.

I used the Simply Scored Tool to make two scores lines along each long side of the card stock so when the container is assembled it has a more finished look. I adhered everything together with Sticky Strip to make sure it stayed closed. I wanted to add a little embellishment, so I punched two 1/8" holes on either end and tied a bow with double strands of linen thread.

Here's another view so you can see the tag on the top:

For my last 3D project, I made a mini banner with the new Lift Me Up stamp set, Up and Away Thinlits dies, and Carried Away DSP.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Lift Me Up
Paper: Whisper White card stock, Carried Away DSP
Ink: Watermelon Wonder, Peekaboo Peach, Smoky Slate, Mint Macaron, Early Espresso
Accessories: Up and Away Thinlits dies, Pyramid Pals Thinlits dies, Affectionately Yours Designer Washi Tape, linen thread, Metallic Enamel Shapes, Sprinkles Embellishments, Metallic Foil Doilies, 1/16" hole punch, Mono Multi liquid glue, Fine-Tip Glue Pen, Dimensionals


I used the Pyramid Pals Thinlits dies to make the triangle pennant shapes, and folded strips of washi tape to make the small striped pennants. For embellishment, I used a gold doily behind the sentiment, gold enamel hearts on the washi tape pennants and Sprinkles Embellishments on the hot-air balloons.

This mini banner would be perfect hanging on a mirror, picture frame or bulletin board. And it's just the right size to fold up, tuck in a padded envelope and send to a friend for a fun surprise.

I hope you enjoyed my projects for my display stamper submission. Wish me luck and thanks for stopping by!

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you and your loved ones a happy, safe and peaceful Thanksgiving and lives filled with gratitude.

Thanks for stopping by!

MDS lesson plan calendar

One of the things on my to-do list this weekend was to finish my December lesson plan for work. (Yes, we do have lesson plans for toddlers. They're filled with things like books to read, songs to sing and various art activities. Fun stuff.) I usually start with a blank calendar on white paper, fill in the activities and then decorate it with stickers, stamps or computer clip art. Well, yesterday morning I sat down at the computer to check my e-mail and was struck with the idea that maybe I could use My Digital Studio (MDS), Stampin' Up!'s digital scrapbooking software, to make my lesson plan calendar. Here is what I created:

Actually, this picture isn't completely accurate; everything to the left of Monday, to the right of Friday and below the bottom row is not printed on my hard copy. Those parts of the project are in the page bleed area, so while they are technically part of the file, they don't show up in the printed version.

Now, I haven't created much in MDS, so this is pretty basic. I started with a blank 8-1/2" x 11" page. I'm doing a winter theme in December, so I searched MDS for snowflake stamps and found a few images I liked. I inserted each image several times, moving, resizing and rotating them as needed until I was happy with the result. Then I changed the colors of the snowflakes to various shades of blue, grouped them together and changed the opacity to 50% so the images were light enough to write over.

I was debating how I wanted to add the calendar -- Draw each line of the grid in MDS? Run the page through the printer twice to print the background and grid separately? -- when I noticed that there was a way to add either a month or year calendar in MDS. Woohoo! I added a calendar for December 2013 and re-sized it to fit the whole page. Since I didn't need Saturday or Sunday on the calendar, I stretched the sides so those days were outside the printable area. Then I used the last three squares in the bottom row, which would have been empty, for the name of our theme.

Now I just need to go through and write our activities on each day, and I'll be able to check this task off my list. Thanks for stopping by!

A finished project

I spent the weekend at my friend Lisa's house for a couple days of quality crafting time. We had a lot of fun, and I even finished a project: my Summer 2013 This and That journal. I'm a little late getting it done, since I had wanted to add mementos and write about events as they happened during the summer. I had all of the pictures and info together and ready to go, but as usual, there was never enough time. The craft weekend, though, was the perfect opportunity to focus on finishing my journal. Here are a few of the completed pages:

There's nothing like the satisfaction of completing a project. And it was fun to create a journal that was casual and imperfect, unlike my "regular" scrapbooks. For instance, I included a lot of receipts that I know will fade and become illegible, but that's OK. I'm not worried about my journal lasting for generations to come or becoming some sort of historical document. It will just be fun to look back at it in the coming years and remember a little about my life in 2013.

Thanks for stopping by!

My summer journal

As I mentioned in my last post, I finally broke out my This and That journal from Stampin' Up!^® last weekend. I had been dragging my feet about starting it because I couldn't decide exactly how I wanted to use the journal. I finally decided that I would document Summer 2013. I have several events happening this summer -- the craft retreat, my 15-year college reunion, attending the Stampin' Up! convention -- but I want it to be more than just things I do. So I also decided to include things like my favorite TV shows of the moment, a list of the books I read this summer, fun and/or crafty ideas from magazines, etc. Basically whatever I want! Here are a few pictures of what I have done so far:

I used my Cricut with the Jubilee cartridge to cut the title letters from the Epic Day This and That Designer Series Paper (DSP). I kept it simple and unfussy, since I am not a very fancy person. I think I will add some coordinating ribbon to the coil when I am done, but for now I left it bare so I can fold the cover back easily.

I'm using all the products in the Epic Day This and That line (DSP, Designer Stickers, rotary stamp and washi tape) as well as a few other items (glue stick, snips and Basic Black ink spot). For the journaling I have a set of fine-point markers I bought at a local art store -- I like to write with about as fine a point as I can find. I have everything except the DSP gathered together in a little bag that's easy to take with me if I want to journal on the go.

I used a strip of washi tape just along the top of these collector's checklists. You can unfold the bottom of the lists to
see the whole page, or you can lift them up to see when and where I got each of my Lego minifigures this summer
(see right page).

For the most part these pages are grouped together near the beginning of my journal, but I also let myself skip pages if, for instance, I didn't like the way the background paper looked with the photos I was using. There's not really any rhyme or reason to the order of things. Once I got my first page started (the Festival of Nations page above), everything just started coming fast and furious. It was pretty awesome to not worry about things being perfect, which I usually do when I make a scrapbook.

I think I'll be able to get a few more pages done this week; I'm just waiting for some pictures I ordered. And in the meantime, who knows what else I'll decide to include in my summer journal ... Thanks for stopping by!

My first MDS creation

I have been thinking about getting My Digital Studio (MDS), Stampin' Up!^®'s software for digital scrapbooking and card-making, for several months. But for various reasons it never made the final cut on any of my orders. Well, last month Stampin' Up! lowered the price of MDS to just $19.95 (U.S.), and I couldn't pass it up any longer. Over the weekend I installed the software on my computer and then stayed up way, way too late playing around with my new toy. Here is my first card:

Created by Andrea Borries. Images © 2013 Stampin' Up!

What do you think? It's actually not a full card yet; I've only finished the front of the card so far, and the inside is still blank. I know this card isn't especially fancy or intricate, but it was fun watching it come together. I still have a lot to learn about all the tools, techniques, tips and tricks of the software, but I can definitely see the benefits of using MDS to create multiple copies of the same project or to have a way to be creative when you don't have access to stamps, ink and paper. I know for me it won't replace my "real life" crafting supplies, but I can never have too many creative outlets. And now I can start perusing all the different downloads to see what templates, stamps, paper designs and other goodies I want to add to MDS!

Thanks for stopping by!

Display stamper submission

Earlier this month, Stampin' Up!^® demonstrators were invited to apply to be a display stamper -- one of the people who make sample projects that are displayed at different events for the company. Applicants had to create six items: three cards, two 3D items and one scrapbook page. Here are the projects I created for my submission.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Betsy's Blossoms, Sweet Essentials
Card stock: Whisper White, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Daffodil Delight
Ink: Pool Party, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Cloudy Day embossing folder, Vine Street embossing folder, 1-1/4" Scallop Circle punch, 3/16" corner rounder, Brights Designer buttons, Lucky Limeade baker's twine, Sticky Strip, Dimensionals

To make the flowers on this card, I stamped the large flower image from the Betsy's Blossoms set three times with Daffodil Delight ink on Whisper White card stock. I punched out the middle of the flowers with the 1-1/4" scallop circle punch. Between each of the scallops, I snipped about 1/4" toward the center of the circle to make "petals." I adhered an Old Olive button tied with Lucky Limeade baker's twine to the center of each flower and gently curved the petals up around the button. For the greeting I carefully inked and stamped just part of the "hello, baby" sentiment from the Sweet Essentials set.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Secret Garden
Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla card stock; Print Poetry Designer Series Paper (DSP) Stack
Ink: Crumb Cake
Accessories: Secret Garden Framelits dies, Honeycomb embossing folder, 5/8" Victoria crochet trim, Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon, Pearl Basic Jewels, Dimensionals

A monochromatic card definitely doesn't have to be boring. I used a piece of patterned paper from the Print Poetry DSP Stack (which is perfect for card-making) and different textures from the Honeycomb embossing folder, crochet trim and seam binding ribbon to create a lot of visual interest on this card. The focal point is a single flower from the Secret Garden stamp set. I used the coordinating Framelits dies to cut out the stamped flower; I cut out the stem by hand and adhered it to the back of the flower. I used Dimensionals to attach the flower to the embossed card stock and also to adhere the whole panel to the card front.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Tea Shoppe
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Primrose Petals, Soft Suede
Ink: Primrose Petals, Soft Suede, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: Scallop Trim Border punch, 1" Circle punch, 1-1/4" Scallop Circle Punch, 5/8" Victoria crochet trim, Soft Suede 3/8" taffeta ribbon, Vintage Trinkets, Pearl Basic Jewels, paper-piercing tool, Stampin' Pierce Mat, Stamp-a-ma-jig tool, Sticky Strip, Dimensionals

The sentiment I used for this card ("A cup of thanks") is actually one line of text on the stamp. I wanted it to fit in a circle punch, so I inked and stamped just the first three words and then used the Stamp-a-ma-jig tool to stamp the last word underneath. That allowed the greeting to fit perfectly in a 1" circle. I added three pearls and a scallop circle mat, pierced a hole in the top with the paper-piercing tool, and attached the tag to the focal image with a mini safety pin from the Vintage Trinkets embellishments. I also tied a little piece of Soft Suede taffeta ribbon on the safety pin.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! except "Other supplies"):
Stamps: Betsy's Blossoms, Just for You (from the Pop-Up Posies Designer Kit)
Card stock: Very Vanilla
Ink: Pool Party, Summer Starfruit, Basic Gray (marker)
Accessories: Summer Starfruit 3/8" stitched satin ribbon, Pool Party 3/8" ruffled ribbon, 5/8" flower trim, 3/8" Basics glimmer brads, Sycamore Street ribbon and button pack, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, 3/16" corner rounder,
Other supplies: Single-pronged curl clips, hot glue gun

I love these cute little barrettes, and as long as my cousins keep having baby girls, I'll just keep making them. (For a tutorial, see my Aug. 23, 2011, post titled Ribbon barrettes.) To embellish the Summer Starfruit barrettes, I used two individual flowers from the new 5/8" flower trim, carefully cutting off the extra tulle around each flower. For the Pool Party barrettes, I clipped the prongs off of two silver brads and hot glued the brad tops to Pool Party buttons from the Sycamore Street ribbon and button pack. To attach the barrettes to the tag, I used the circle punch from the Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack to punch four holes in the card stock. Then I opened each barrette, placed the back of the clip through one of the holes and let the barrette close.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Paper: Natural Composition Specialty DSP, vellum card stock, Crumb Cake card stock
Accessories: Window Frames Collection Framelits dies, Festive Paper-Piercing Pack, paper-piercing tool, Stampin' Pierce Mat, Simply Scored scoring tool, Sticky Strip

To make this tealight holder, I used the largest die and the second-smallest die from the set of Window Frames Collection Framelits dies to die cut four shapes with windows from the Natural Composition Specialty DSP. For each of the die-cut shapes, I paper-pierced around the window and adhered a 3" square piece of vellum card stock to the back. I used the Simply Scored scoring tool to make score lines along three of the "flaps" on each die-cut shape and adhered the die-cuts together by placing Sticky Strip on the flaps (be sure the non-scored flap is on the top). I folded the bottom flaps to the inside of the candleholder and adhered a 3-1/2" square piece of Crumb Cake card stock over them to create a flat bottom for a battery-operated tealight candle. Although you can't see it in the photo, the candlelight does look very pretty shining softly through the vellum. You could make these candle holders with different colors of card stock -- plain, stamped and/or embossed -- to match holiday decor or to make table centerpieces for a party.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Pursuit of Happiness
Card stock: Marina Mist, Bashful Blue, Sahara Sand, Pacific Point, Always Artichoke, Whisper White
Ink: Marina Mist, Sahara Sand, Pacific Point, Always Artichoke markers
Accessories: Tasteful Trim Bigz XL die, Apothecary Accents Framelits dies, Natural 7/16" trim ribbon, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, 3/16" corner rounder, color spritzer tool, Sticky Strip, Glue Dots, Multipurpose Liquid Glue, Dimensionals

To create the background for this 8" x 8" scrapbook page, I used the Tasteful Trim die to cut strips of "bubble" trim in several colors that coordinated with the water in my photo. (My favorite part of this page is how the Pacific Point and Always Artichoke strips at the top of the page blend in perfectly with the waves on the left side of the picture.) For the sentiment, I used the color spritzer to make splatters of Marina Mist and Sahara Sand on a piece of Whisper White card stock and then stamped the greeting in Pacific Point and Always Artichoke. I cut out the sentiment using a label shape from the Apothecary Accents Framelits dies and adhered a piece of natural trim to the back.

Thanks for stopping by -- and wish me luck!

Simple blooms

I love to take pictures of flowers. I'll be honest, my pictures don't always turn out great, but that hasn't stopped me. I don't often, however, do anything with those pictures. So I decided to take a stab at making a scrapbook page focused on flowers.

Supplies:
Card stock: Black (Bazzill), periwinkle (Core'dinations)
Ink: Summer Sun, Pixie Pink Stampin' Write markers (Stampin' Up!); Pure Black Millennium pen (ZIG)
Accessories: "Just Because" Cards cartridge (Cricut); rick rack (unknown); paper flowers (Just Blooms - Close to My Heart, By the Sea Color Assortment - Mulberry Street); mini pearls - Baby Boy Assortment (Doodlebug Design Inc.); 1-1/4", 1-3/4", Dotted SCallop Ribbon Border punches (Stampin' Up!); Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals, Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue (Stampin' Up!); 1/8", 1/4" Scor-Tape (Scor-Pal); sandpaper

I took these pictures a couple of summers ago during my first trip to Salt Lake City for the Stampin' Up!^® convention. One free evening during convention, a few of my new stamping friends and I went to The Gateway, an outdoor mall.

When I made this page I left a lot of white space (or in this case, black space) so the bright colors of the flowers are really the focal point. To make the title, I used my Cricut to cut out the word "bloom" from textured card stock, and then I sanded it to make the core color of the card stock visible. I also punched and sanded a strip of card stock to make a scallop border on the left side of the main image.

I used markers to color the two pink paper flowers and the small yellow one, which were all originally white. The "leaves" behind the flowers are actually another paper flower that was already green. I layered the flowers together and added a pearl in the center.

I didn't think this page needed too much journaling, but I did want to include where and when the pictures were taken. I could have written directly on the black paper with a white gel pen. But instead I decided to make a mat for one of the circular pictures along the bottom of the page and wrote the details around the picture.

I'm pleased with how this page turned out. And I think instead of putting it a scrapbook, I might just frame it to hang on the wall. Thanks for stopping by!

Stamping friends

Usually when I create a scrapbook, I put multiple pictures on a page; they might be different sizes or shapes, but there are several of them. (I suppose that's probably because most of my scrapbooks are vacation memories, so I always have a lot of pictures I want to include.) I don't think I've ever made a layout with just one picture. But that was my crafty challenge today: make a scrapbook page with only one 5" x 7" photo.

Supplies (all from Stampin' Up!^® unless otherwise noted):
Paper: Admiral card stock (Bazzill Basics Paper); Night of Navy, Brilliant Blue card stock; Ice Cream Parlor Designer Series Paper
Ink/paint: White gel pen; Wicker White, Hot Pink acrylic paint (Plaid)
Accessories: On Board Loads of Letters chipboard, 1-3/8" square punch, 1/2" circle punch, Dimensionals, Mono Multi liquid glue, pencil with eraser

This picture, which was taken at The Gateway in Salt Lake City last summer, makes me smile. For the past two years I've attended the Stampin' Up! convention, and one of my favorite things about the experience has been making new stamping friends. I just wish we weren't spread across the country!

For the title of this page I doodled the first few words freehand at the top of the page and then used chipboard letters for the last word at the bottom. I mixed three different fonts of letters, painted them white and added pink dots (with a pencil eraser dipped in paint) to three of the letters. I repeated the look of the dots on the page by punching out 1/2" Night of Navy circles and adhering them with Dimensionals in groups of three. For the three pennant strips, I used a square punch to create the pointed ends. I matted the photo with Brilliant Blue card stock, doodled a frame around the photo and added a little journaling.

The doodling (which I've done on cards but not scrapbook pages) wasn't as intimidating as I thought it would be. I guess one of the nice things about doodling is that it's inherently imperfect, so the little "mistakes" aren't so noticeable.

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with this scrapbook layout. Now if only I could see these stamping friends more often. Thanks for stopping by!

Scrapbooking Scrabble

There are a lot of things that make me happy; two of them are playing Scrabble and taking vacations in warm places. It's even better when I can combine those two things. And making a fun scrapbook page about it makes me happy, too.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Lilywhite (Bazzill Basics), Bluebelle (Paper Reflections), pink, red, turquoise, light tan, medium tan (unknown)
Accessories: 3/4" square punch (EK Success), wooden-tile letter stickers (Making Memories), black pen (ZIG Millennium), Dotto re-positionable adhesive (Herma)

This is definitely an example of a project getting a little bit out of hand: I punched out and glued down all those little colored squares. Yep, all 225 of them. (All I have to say is thank goodness for re-positionable adhesive!) When I started, I knew I wanted to use the wooden-tile letter stickers for the page title, and I was going to punch enough squares only for that. But then I wasn't sure how I would combine the title section with the pictures and make everything work together. Obviously it was a much better idea to just make an entire Scrabble "board." Right?

Fast forward several hours on my Sunday afternoon and I was still punching and gluing card stock while examining one of my many Scrabble boards to be sure I was getting the right arrangement of colors. Somewhere around a quarter of the way through I realized that I wasn't going to have enough of the light tan card stock to finish the page. Serious bummer. By that point I wasn't really interested in starting from scratch. My first thought was to remove the tan squares that were going to be hidden behind the pictures and use them elsewhere on the page. Still not enough. So I looked through my card stock, found the closest color I had and figured I'd have to make do. I knew I couldn't just switch colors in the middle of the page, so I went back over what I had already done and randomly pulled off some of the light tan squares and replaced them with the darker color. (Again, re-positionable adhesive to the rescue.) Then I was able to use squares of both tan colors as I finished creating the rest of the "board." Honestly, I think I like this better than I would have with just one color tan; it has a little more depth and character (or something like that).

The rest of the layout is pretty straightforward. I decided where I wanted to place the pictures and played around with the letters to figure out what words I could spell in a crossword style. Because the layout of this page didn't really lend itself to journaling (which is something I generally do a fair amount of in my scrapbooks), I used the letter stickers to spell out a few additional key words, including the place and our names.

I really like how this page turned out, and I think it might just need to be framed. Thanks for stopping by!

'I love cats' scrapbook page

Generally when I create a scrapbook, it's a remembrance from a trip, and I include not only pictures, but also all kinds of odds and ends: business cards and/or receipts from restaurants, tags from special purchases, brochures, etc. But this weekend I decided to work on a scrapbook page with some everyday photos of our cats.

Supplies:
Stamps: Cats Galore stamp set (Inkadinkadoo)
Card stock: Chestnut (AC Cardstock), Furry Friends and Nine Lives (We R Memory Keepers)
Ink: VersaMark (Tsukineko), Signo white gel pen (uni-ball), pure brown pen (ZIG Millennium)
Accessories: Brown grosgrain ribbon (American Crafts Elements Ribbon: Dunk Tank), glitter brads (Making Memories), 1/4" and 1/8" ScorTape (ScorPal), Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

I love this cat-themed printed card stock (you can't really see it, but there is glitter on some of the words) and the coordinating rectangular cards. The cards came together on a 12" x 12" sheet; there were twelve cards total in a mix of dog and cat themes. I have a couple of the cat cards left; I'll have to find someone else who can use the dog cards.

I decided to use one of these pre-printed cards as the title for my page. It was almost perfect because it had three lines for writing: one for each of the cats. But under the heading "I love cats" the card read "Things I love about my cat," which didn't really work with my plan. Creativity to the rescue! I found some coordinating ribbon that was the right width and used it to cover up that line of text. Problem solved. And to tie the ribbon into the rest of the page (no pun intended), I also used it as a border at the top and bottom of the strip of patterned paper.

I think the rest of the page is pretty self-explanatory: I stamped the bottom of the page with cat-related images (fish, ball of yarn, paw print and "meow") and added faux stitching along the top edges. I only added a few brads for embellishment; the patterned paper was already pretty busy, and I didn't want to go overboard.

This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of Gordon. It was almost exactly three years ago that we put him to sleep, but I will always remember how he loved to sleep in the bathroom sinks. He also had a serious addiction to baked goods: cookies, muffins, bread, cake, pizza crust, you name it. If I sat down on the couch with a cookie, he would suddenly appear at my shoulder, trying to eat the cookie right out of my hand. Once I left M&M cookies cooling on the dining room table, and Gordon decided to help himself. (That was the only time I made that mistake!)

Mielle and Pirate are still going strong, and they have plenty of personality themselves. One of these days I'll have to make each one of them his or her own scrapbook page and journal about all the funny things they do.

Thanks for stopping by!