Noel

WOAH! I can't believe it's already christmas time! Hope you are all ready. I have a few things still outstanding that I need to finish but I think I'm ahead of my usual schedule most of my gifts are wrapped and they will probably be at my parents by the end of the day instead of getting there with all of them tomorrow. Unfortunately I have a bad cold :( But I'm taking my vitamins and having as many naps as possible while still getting everything done.

Anyway back to why you are all here. For the December challenge at first I thought it would have to be a blank page  (as in no photos) since I already made a first christmas page for gaby. In the end we did her Christmas photoshoot early and I used a couple portraits for the page.

This is one of those pages that just went sooooo well. I love it when that happens. I tend to get hung up on little details and I tell you that is not what is best for productivity. So here it is

Clean and simple and quite cute might I add. I used up the merry christmas tag that had been in my stash since 2006 that is always good!

And for the noel title I almost used the exact same set of letters as I did last year thank goodness I checked first and quickly changed to these lovely white thickers.

I'm not sure if I have professed my love for thickers but they are my absolute favorite thing and I love to stock up on letters you can never have too many letters!

 

We were given some twine and I wrapped it around the white it gave it a cute different look.

I hope you guys have a great holiday season I'm hoping to get some scrapbooking done at some point.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Nancy

2011 in review

For the november challenge I decided to do a year in review. I was at first going to do 2012 until I realized that I had never done 2011... It was a great year to review seeing that so much happened.

 

The sketch was perfect for a multi picture layout. I scanned through my pictures from 2011 quickly and picked the events that needed to be included. There was my sister's pregnancy, my best friend's wedding, my niece's birth, my trips to algonquin and the renos to my apartment.

 Our challenge was to distress so I ripped out 2 pages from a fancy notebook cut them down to the size I wanted and soaked them in water and wrinkled them up. Then I sprayed some glimmer mist onto a plate and applied it to my paper using a sponge I used an iron to flatten and dry them and voila it was done.

Happy I got this one done it's nice to see the year in review hopefully I will get 2012 done right away.

Nancy

Paper bag cards - Winter Fun style

I was watching an episode of Live With Prima the other night, and Frank made some cards out of paper lunch bags, yes you read that right! I had so many little pieces left over from the Winter Fun line from Carta Bella that I had to try making some of those paper bag cards.

The method is simple, fold the paper bag in half, glue down the flap and decorate the front, center and back of the card, leaving the opening so that you can tuck gift cards or photos inside to give to your loved one - genius!

You can check out Frank's video tutorial here: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/27546829

Here are four cards I did using the same technique.

I hope you enjoyed my little paper bag cards, leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Winter Fun at the Cobourg Santa Claus parade!

I took the kids to see the Cobourg Santa Claus parade. The parade started at 3:00 (at the other end of town) we arrived at 1:00. Yeah, I was early - did you hear that Emma?? I was early for something in my life! We waited close to 3 hours just for the parade to start, needless to say the kids got very BORED and COLD.

Santa? Is that you playing bagpipes for the Port Hope Pipe & Drums band???



For my layout I used a photo of the kids huddled under a blanket. I used the Winter Fun collection from Carta Bella. I got so much out of this collection, it was so easy to work with

I used some Molding paste through the negative of a die cut from my Cricut on a previous layout, I then added some glitter to the molding paste before it dried - turned out pretty good, I was a little worried that the paper wouldn't hold up to the molding paste, but it did, but I wouldn't use it for more than about 2 or 3 uses. And the perfect thing is, no clean up - it's waste anyway, just toss it out!

Journaling read "All bundled together to keep warm, waiting for Santa to arrive, Cobourg Santa Claus Parade, November 18 2012"

Then

Now that the month of December has started, it's only fitting that your Auntie Em's design team use Christmas-themed paper and embellishments for this month's challenge.

The collection used this month is Holly Jolly Christmas by Echo Park. It's from a few seasons ago but that just goes to show how you can find a use for past collections, even if you've past it many times in the store. Plus, it's Echo Park and how could that be bad? (It's no secret - I love Echo Park!)

Following the 2012 PageMaps calendar sketch for December, I decided to use one larger picture for this layout.

This picture brings back so many fantastic memories for me - and isn't that what scrapbooking is all about?! It was taken Christmas morning 2008 of my husband Matt holding our exactly 2-month old son Samuel. I just happened to be snapping a few pictures of papa and Sam when I saw it...Sam's first smile! Seriously. I managed to get a picture of Sam's first smile! How lucky was that??! It was such a special day to begin with but this made it even more special - my kid smiled for the first time. As any parent will tell you, this is an amazing moment that you'll never forget. Such a big moment obviously deserves it's own scrapbooking page!

I layered several patterned papers and matted the picture with the chevron pattern. I first used the Big Shot to emboss the paper with a snowflake pattern. To add some sparkle, I used Glimmer Glam in Chandelier. I also added a piece of brown trim to the bottom. Lastly, I distressed the edges of my picture and wrapped it with twine. My bow wasn't as perfect as I would have liked so I added a white brad.

The collection was accompanied by chipboard stickers and I used to the pendant in the top left of the page.

Journalling is always an important part of the scrapbooking process for me. I used the Big Shot to create my own journalling box.

Now that my husband and I are expecting our second child, I realize how fast time with Sam has gone by. It seems like yesterday that I was celebrating my first Christmas as a parent. Preserving memories through scrapbooking allows me to look back and remember these good times that fly by so quickly.

Happy scrappin'! I hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas/holidays filled with family, friends, love and good food.

~Sarah



A little Snowman Love!

Our kids love snow - they love winter - they are a little nuts that way!  They love building snowmen when the snow is just right.  This particular snow man was made with the first real snowfall of 2012 after that warm thaw we had. But, when Frosty was finally completed he had so many fall leaves stuck to him he looked like some sort of camouflaged, deer hunting snowman!  But we made it work anyway.

This month Emma gave the DT Echo Park's Holly Jolly collection to create with.  I knew the other girls would be pulling out the blues and pinks from this collection so I tried to keep it with the traditional reds and greens for my layout.  The challenge on the sketch this month was to incorporate ribbons and bows.  I used some cute little pom-pom trim under the photo, and a few pieced of ribbon and a hand-tied bow.  I then fussy cut a few of the characters from this paper line, used some stock snowflakes to give this layout a polished look.  I know from the photos this background paper looks like wood grain, but it's just a sheet of Bazzil textured cardstock, but the late evening lighting has picked up every little crevice in this paper - notice how much shadow the title cast too?  Lesson learned - don't wait until too late in the day to take your photos Lorena!!!

 

 

 

 

I do hope you have enjoyed this sketch challenge this year.  I know the DT has loved playing with the sketches.  You too can play along by bringing in your layout that you created based on the sketch using products purchased at Auntie Em's.  Be sure to incorporate ribbons or bows into your layout.

December Design Team reveal

This is your final installment of your Auntie Em's Design Team layouts for the year 2012!

This month we all got to play with the Holly Jolly collection from Echo Park, full of bright blues, pinks combined with traditional reds and greens.  Plenty of selection for every type of scrapbooker!  The theme this months is Ribbons and Bows - use them on your layout but make sure to leave some for the gifts under your tree!

Here is what the girls came up with:


Lorena's Take:  "Snowman Love"

 

Nancy's Take:

 

Stephanie's Take: Ho Ho (Ho)

Sarah's Take:



You too can play along with this sketch challenge.  Use the Scrapbook & Cards Today sketch calendar and products you have purchased at Auntie Em's to come up with a layout featuring ribbons or bows and bring it into Auntie Em's for a chance to win a fantastic prize!

Stay tuned for next month when we will be announcing some new changes to the Auntie Em's design team.

Family Time

The Echo Park collection Life Is Good is filled with fantastic colour combination of pinks and blues and browns.  I knew the other girls would be pulling the pinks out of this collection, and I wanted to use some winter photos so I pulled out the blue and brown from this collection.

Hexagons are very popular right now, and this sketch lended itself very well to using that instead of squares as was on the sketch.

 

The Theme this month was to use distressing on your layout, I did that in several formats, I distressed the edges of my paper with the Prima Comfort tool by roughing up the edges.  I also used the same tool's wire brush to distress the largest photo.  I used distress ink for the hexagon images in the background.  I used some Core'dinations paper and a sanding block in the center of the layout (blue). And finally I inked the edges of all the little hexagons and some WheatFields glimmer mist on the date.

I used several photos from the same day on this layout.  I apologize for the quality of these photos, as I had an unfortunately life changing event, my mother passed away on October 25th, luckily I was done my layout, however I left my husband in charge of taking some photos.  If you would like to see this layout in person it is on display at Auntie Em's.

I do hope you enjoyed this month's DT creations, it was fantastic to see how each of the girls took this sketch to a different level.  You too can play along for a fantastic prize simply by bringing your layout based on this sketch into Auntie Em's.  Remember that your materials for this project entry must have been bought at Auntie Em's to qualify.

Nat Noted - Nov. 26/12

Things are so quiet online. I blame the turkey slumber in the U.S., Black Friday and Cyber Monday! I did manage to find three online projects that I had to share with you.

1. I don't think I'm totally ready for snow so I really like this card made with the very summery Basic Grey collection Soleil. 

Photo credit: Joy Taylor (Basic Grey)

2. I love this idea for storing washi tape! (ps: they're vintage wood candle holders)

Photo credit: Roben-Marie Smith (Every Life Has a Story)

3. Check out this cool cuff bracelet made with Dylusions!

Photo credit: Kaz Hall (The Little Shabby Shed)



Have a great week!



That 70s Show

I really like Echo Park!  This month we use the Life is Good collection.  This pattern fit really well with the 70s feel of the picture that I've been wanting to scrap for some time.  I actually followed this month's PageMaps pretty closely.  I did however forget to leave room for my title...

This month's challenge was distressing, a technique I rarely use, but worked well for this month's layout.  I used Versa Color in brown around the circles and around my photo mat (but I forgot to put in on my vertical pattern band and should have put some on the light coloured flowers).

I added the large flowers, simply because I could!  I have a hard time using flowers on layouts that feature my son.  I know I can, people do it all the time and I like it, but it never looks right when I do it.  Perhaps that should be a future personal challenge for me... (not likely!!)

Nat Noted - Nov. 19/12

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! Unless, you're in the U.S., then you're planning for Thanksgiving!   ;-)

The blogosphere is filled with thankful layouts and cards and banners and place holders, but I did manage to find five projets you will love!!

1. Up first is this stunning bottle cap advent calendar from Maya Road. 

Photo credit: Jen Chesnick (Maya Road)

2. Evgenia Petzer just joined Bo Bunny's design team. I love this card she made using the Love Letters collection. Can't to see what else she creates!

Photo caption: Evgenia Petzer (Bo Bunny)

3. Love this Christmas diorama that Jen Chesnick made using LYB's Once Upon a Christmas collection.

Photo credit: Jen Chesnick (Say Chez)

 4. Lilith Eckles is fast becoming my favourite designer and this layout provides a good distraction from the Thanksgiving and Christmas projects. ;-) That combination of grey and yellow is amazing. I also love the layering on this layout.

Photo credit: Lilith Eckles

5. I love coffee and bought a super cute coffee cup mini-album so I can document my love of java. So you can imagine how excited I was to see this amazing art journal page. So many great ideas here!

Photo credit: Lynn (Scrappy Happy Mom)

I hope you have a wonderful week!