Boo!

My 2 year old enjoys running around the house saying "Boo! I scared you!". So with him in mind, I created this Halloween banner:Now, you'll just have to picture this hanging from a thin white metal rod mounted to the wall in my living room. As you can see, my walls are brown, and no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get enough light to take a pretty picture of the banner hanging on my wall.

I've got a few close up shots of the pieces, and then I'll give some step-by-step directions after that.

Here's how you can make your own Boo Banner:
1. Cut 8 Banner Shapes from Card Stock. I used my Silhouette to cut these shapes, but I'm sure you could find a Cricut cartridge that is similar, or cut rectangles by hand. The shapes measure about 4"x5".
2. Cut patterned paper (my patterned paper is Echo Park Happy Halloween) a bit smaller than your card stock. Layer on card stock using Glue Dots® Craft Dots or Dot n Go.
4. Cut "BOO" from patterned paper and attach to 3 different banners using Glue Dots® PopUp Dots. Using pop dots will make your shapes stand away from the background and gives dimension to the banner.
5. Make 5 Halloween themed shapes (here I used a witches hat, caldron, haunted house, pumpkins/October 31, and a spider). Shapes can be cut with a die cutting machine, printed from your computer, or can be Halloween stickers. Attach these shapes to the banners using Glue Dots® Pop Up Dots.
6. Embellish:
I used orange glitter buttons from Doodle Bug on the "B" and last "O" (attached with Glue
Dots® Craft Dots). The center "O" was embellished with Echo Park card stock stickers.
The band on the witch's hat and smoke from the cauldron are embellished with Stickles.
The haunted house is a free down-loadable image from Echo Park. The fence is a card stock
sticker.
The pumpkins and October 31st are also card stock stickers from Echo Park. The October
31st sticker is covered in Diamond Glaze to make it shiny.
Finally, I added googly eyes to the spider.
7. Hang the banners (here I used a photo hanger from IKEA, but ribbon makes an excellent substitute).

I hope this gets you in the Halloween spirit!

I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots® design team.

Crate Paper Layout and a Glue Dots® Tip

Crate paper's monthly sketch challenge is going on right now. I've been wanting an excuse to use their gorgeous Restoration line, and when this sketch came out, I knew I finally had a good one!
This is the sketch:I love this photo of my grandma and was happy to finally have my own copy down on a layout:The 3 papers behind the photo pull out to reveal journaling:The flowers were made with my Silhouette, and the beautiful centers are brads from the Restoration line. Now it's time for the Glue Dots® tip: There is a bit of stitching along the sides of the journaling pocket. This stitching was done by hand, using a stitching template from Bazzill. I figured out that you can use the Removable Glue Dots® to hold the template in place while you are piercing your holes. It makes the piercing go a lot faster and keeps the template from moving around. I had a total Eureka! moment when I figured this out. Finally, here's one last detail shot of the layout. If you're wondering how I knew June 12, 1950 was a Monday, I'll let you in on my secret...I Googled it! I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots® design team.

Simply Thankful

My Mind's Eye is having another great sketch challenge. You can find all of the details here if you want to play along too. The theme for this month's sketch is "Thank You". Here's the sketch:Here's my take:

I have a lot to say about this layout, so bear with me. This layout is a note of gratitude to my husband. I always love layouts where at first they look a bit simplistic, but in reality you see a new detail every time you look at it. So, that's what I tried to do here. I'm not sure I really accomplished that, but it's a good start. Let me break it down a bit. My title is this Bible verse:I thank God for my husband and kiddos every day, so I thought it worked well as the title. The border behind the photo was fussy cut from the pattern on the MME paper.
My note of gratitude to my husband is hidden in plain sight in the text of the background journaling:
I used the sketch pens on my Silhouette to write over and over again, "Thank you for six amazing years of marriage and two incredible kids. This is my happily ever after." If you don't have a Silhouette, you could accomplish this same look with your printer.
I stitched a lot of borders on this page as well:The paper used for this layout is My Mind's Eye Ooh La La. The Buttons are Tim Holtz.
Thanks for hanging in there through my lengthy explanation!

Okay, I know it's a little early...

I'm sure it's a little early to be thinking about Christmas, but A Walk Down Memory Lane just got their CHA Fancy Pants order in, and I'm in love. I was able to play with some of the Tradition line that Lisa brought back with her, but now that she has her order I have access to the whole line!!! I just had to make this:

I don't normally do shabby chic, but as I started to put this together, it just seemed to lean that direction, so I went with it. The paper is from Fancy Pants Tradition. I cut the ornament shapes with my Silhouette, then I pieced patterned paper behind the ornaments to give a multi-colored look to them. The frame is from IKEA and is a shadowbox style frame that measures 5 1/2" x 5 1/2". I used Glue Dots® glue lines to attach the ribbon. This adhesive did an amazing job of attaching ribbon to ribbon, ribbon to the wood frame, and ribbon to paper. The green satin ribbon and the red velvet ribbon are from Fancy Pants Tradition. The green pleated ribbon is from Maya Road. It's a bit hard to tell, but the green ribbons are attached to the frame and the red ribbon is attached to the paper inside the frame. In person, it gives the project some nice dimension. If this inspires you to get in the Christmas crafting mood, check out Moxie Fab world. Last week they celebrated the release of Holiday Cards & More. They have a number of Christmas themed contests going on...I think I might just enter this in "The decor to make the season bright" challenge.

I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots® design team.

Random

I've got 2 random layouts today. Both were created last month using new goodies from CHA. I tried to think of some clever way to tie them together in a blog post, but there really isn't one. I just like them both a lot.

The first is a layout I made with Pink Paislee's Old School Line. I love the deep rich colors in this line, and while I didn't use it for its intended purpose (school pics), I still think it's great.I used a linen thread to stitch along the seam and to attach the buttons. It went beautifully with the colors of this page. I used my Silhouette to cut the bracket shape and the small tag the "6 mo" is on.

The second layout is a Christmas layout with My Mind's Eye I Believe collection. This is a great Christmas line. The paper has a bit of sparkle, there are really fun matching brads, chipboard (that also sparkles), and ribbon, and the colors are traditional but not dark. As you can see, I used it all here; paper, ribbon, chipboard, brads. I stitched the "ribbon" that the ornaments are hanging from, and then used the same thread to tie onto the ribbon strip.

So that's it: 2 random layouts. I hope you enjoyed them! If you live in the area of NW Iowa, and want to see these in person, you can see them at A Walk Down Memory Lane.

Ikea + Crate Paper + Silhouette + Glue Dots = Yippee!!!

I spent last weekend visiting my sister in Phoenix. Do you know what they have in Phoenix (besides my sister that is)? An IKEA! I love IKEA, but don't live anywhere near one, so we had a blast just wandering, drooling, and adding things to my "you could get me that for Christmas" list. Now, I was limited to things that could fit in my carry-on, but I still managed some great finds. My favorite buy is a set of glass jars. They're meant for kitchen stuff, but I'm using them to store my brads. They're simple glass jars with silver lids, so I decided to dress them up with a bit of Crate Paper's Restoration line, my Silhouette, and some Glue Dots® . Check it out:

I wanted to be able to easily see what is in the jars, so I decided to only decorate the tops. I've been hoarding my CP restoration paper because it's just so pretty, so I decided to actually use some of it. The flower pieces were all cut using my Silhouette. They're held together with a brad, and then I used a 3/8" Glue Dot® to adhere the flower to the lid of jar.
This pretty storage solutions makes me very happy!


I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots design team.

So Excited!

I'm so thrilled to share some news: I am now on the Glue Dots Design Team! I use Glue Dots almost daily, so I couldn't be more excited! In fact, in celebration, I thought I'd show you this great use for Glue Dots. By far, the best adhesive when working with acrylic are Glue Dots. If you're interested in learning how to make this card, you can make it in a class I'll be teaching on October 2 (which just happens to be World Card Making Day) at AWDML. You can find all the details under classes in the right hand column. I'm looking forward to sharing more Glue Dots goodness with you in the future!

Fall Fast Approaching

It appears that Labor Day truly marked the end of summer here in NW Iowa. As soon as the weekend was done the weather turned cool, breezy, and sometimes rainy. However, that cool weather has gotten me in the mood to scrap some old fall photos.
The paper is from Studio Calico, and some of the accents are these cool adhesive backed canvas pieces that SC makes called Fabrips. What I like about the fabric pieces that SC makes is that you can cut them, tear them, and punch them with a paper punch, but you still get a fabric/canvas look when you use them. Very cool! The title letters are from Prima, and the fabric brads are from Bazzill. The scallop border was created with the EK Success Circles Border Punch.

Who Says

Who says it has to be complicated? I always admire people who can make cards with very few elements and still have that wow factor. When I try that, my cards usually just look empty, but here's one I came up with where I really think less is more. Enjoy!
Patterned Paper is from Jenni Bowlin Studios, as is the butterfly.

All About the Story

Today's layout is all about the story. On my oldest's first day of school, my youngest said something pretty darn funny, so I wanted to make sure I got it down on a layout. Of corse, I tell myself that it was so funny I'll never forget it, but chances are I will. Making this layout makes it certain we'll never forget!
The page:
The Story:

I used Crate Paper's School Spirit line again today to create this layout. The twine is one of my new favorite accessories and is from The Twinery. The wavy border above and below the photos were created with the EK Success Bracket Edger Punch. I also used some Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type Stickers for the title.

Those Moments

There are certain moments, that when I sit down to scrap them, I feel more pressure to scrap well than others. Usually it's because the moment is extra special, or I really love the photo. My oldest started pre-school this year, and I know that over the years, I'll want to revisit these photos and reminisce. My oldest, thank goodness was in the mood to ham it up for the camera, so I got some great first day photos taken in front of the house. Between the special moment and the fun photos the pressure was on. Now that the layout is completed, I can say that I think I'll be happy looking back at this one for many years.

I decided that Crate Paper's School Spirit line was perfect for preserving this big milestone. Between the chipboard shapes, the fabric and epoxy brads, and the journaling tags, this layout came together pretty easily. I really ended up having a fun time scrapping this special moment.