New Prima for Winter CHA

Prima has done it again!  Just wait until you see all the gorgeous new paper collections, flowers and other goodies they are introducing at CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) tomorrow.  If you haven't checked out the Prima blog yet, be sure to pop over there to see the sneaks peaks and all the beautiful projects created by my fellow design team members.

Now I can start sharing some of the projects I've been working on for Prima's CHA booth.  I created this layout with the new En Francais collection:

Prima products used:

843892 En Francais “Memoire”
843885 En Francais “Billettes”
556037 Lucerne En Francais
556020 Essentials Petals En Francais
558123 Cherise white
554767 Resist canvas
558338 Primmer’s Peanut
551360 SIIC
550097 Alphabet stickers

Have a wonderful weekend!

Queen & Co.

I had the pleasure of designing some scrapbook pages for Queen & Co.'s booth at Winter CHA, which will run from Sunday, January 29th through Wednesday, February 1st.   Queen & Co. has some fabulous new products coming out, including decorative tape (like washi tape), twine, and beautiful sparkly bling.  I created some  pages with the Queen, Girl, Soccer and Disney themed collections.  Here are some of the layouts I created:

I'll be sharing more CHA projects in the coming days!

Shadow Box

It's been quite a scrapbooking worldwind lately.  I've been working on many, many fun projects for Creating Keepsakes and CHA.  I think I set a new record for myself.  In a 4 or 5 week period I completed 26 -- yes, 26 -- different projects, which included 16 layouts, 1 altered canvas, 2 necklaces, 1 bracelet, 1 altered teapot, 1 card, 1 ATC, 1 paper doll clothesline, 1 tag, and 1 pair of paper shoes using my shoe template.  This has been quite a feat for a slow "turtle scrapper" like me.  But sleep is overrated, right?  Now I'm looking forward to a taking a little scrapping break. 

Before I start posting some of these newly created projects, here's something I made a little while back for the Prima blog.  It's a "shadow box" layout made with layers of cardstock.  I love to create projects with a rainbow of color.  Bright, vibrant ROYGBIV colors make me very happy! 

I cut squares from a sheet of Prima's Screenprinted Canvas and then I colored them with Ranger alcohol inks. I used several sheets of white cardstock to create the dimensional shadow box effect.  I simply cut out the center of each sheet in graduated steps, then I separated the layers with extra thick foam adhesive.  Yep, this thick puppy is going on the wall rather than in a page protector.

Prima products:
920722 Screenprinted Canvas
890711 Shabby Chic Treasures
552718 Sherwood Rose Cottage flowers
548124 Floret Collection
544393 Arco Iris
552978 Gillian Lilac
536350 Clear Stamp
551407 Say it in Crystals
548193 Dollhouse Collection

Thanks for stopping by!

CK giveaway winner and Prima goodies

First of all, I want to announce the winner of last week's giveway for Creating Keepsakes' newest special issue:  Scrapbooking Ideas for Every Season.   The random number generator picked comment number 1, which was posted by Crie Artezzanato (Val Rodriques).  Congrats Val!!  I see you posted your email address (thank you!), so I'll contact you to get your mailing address.

Prima is introducing their new collections and flowers for Winter CHA, and WOW, they're gorgeous!!  Check out the Prima blog for sneaks of the new products.

I've been busy, busy, busy working on projects for CHA and I'll be able to start showing them here shortly.  But in the meantime, here are a couple Prima projects I did a little while back.  This layout features my precious little kitty, Lucy.  I took these pictures of her when she was just 8 weeks old.  She's so much bigger now at 10 months old.  Isn't she adorable??

I used Ranger alcohol ink to color the Prima Resist Canvas and also the Reflections antique mirrored pieces.  I added tiny beads of Ranger Liquid Pearls to outline my stitched circles.

This is a card I made for my daughter for her last birthday.  Every year on my daughters' birthdays I make them a special card and I write a very long note inside -- all about who they are at that age, how much I love them, etc. 

I'll be sharing a lot more Prima projects in the coming weeks!

New Creating Keepsakes Special Issue and...of course...a giveaway!!

Creating Keepsakes' newest special issue is out:  Scrapbooking Ideas for Every Season.  It's a great resource for your year-round scrapbooking.

Showcasing hundreds of scrapbooking ideas to inspire you throughout the seasons, this new special issue from Creating Keepsakes is a must-have resource for your year-round scrapbooking. With plenty of 2-page layout ideas to help you scrapbook more photos in less time, color combinations and patterns to refresh your creativity, season-specifictips for better photo taking, and more, you'll reach for Scrapbooking Ideas for Every Season again and again.  You can purchase a copy of this issue here.  

As usual, I have a copy of this special issue to give away to one lucky blog reader.  Just leave a comment here before Sunday night and tell me your favorite season.  Personally, I'm partial to summer.  I'll announce the winner next week! 

Favorite layouts from 2011

2011 has come to an end and 2012 is off to a roaring start.  Looking back, I have to say that 2011 was a very good year.  My family was healthy and happy, my girls progressed in all areas of their lives (school, friends, mastering new skills, etc.), and we welcomed two loving kitties into our household (they've brought us so much joy!).  Also, I made some wonderful new friends in 2011 -- some real life friends here in Southern California and some online scrapping friends from all over the world.  I'm grateful that this hobby has brought these sweet new friends into my life.  In 2012, I reduced my scrapbooking commitments down to a manageable load, so I was able to enjoy more free, non-scrapping time.  I had the honor and privilege of designing for Creating Keepsakes Magazine and Prima throughout the year -- my two biggest scrapbooking "dream" teams. I'm filled with gratitude for all the gifts of 2011.

I'll jump on the bandwagon and post my favorite layouts and projects from 2011.  

Thank you for indulging me!  If you posted a list of your personal favorite projects from 2011, please include a note/link in the comments.  I would love to check out your beautiful work!

I wish you all a very healthy and happy 2012!!

Hanukkah stories and a couple more layouts

Hanukkah has come to an end.  We had eight fun-filled nights of family dinners, present-opening, candle-lighting, latke-eating and dreidel-spinning.  My girls said it was the "best Hanukkah ever."  That makes a mom happy!

My husband and I have a fun tradition that we started years ago.  Rather than buy each other big gifts for Hanukkah, we challenge each other to buy eight little gifts (one for each night of Hanukkah) -- and all of them have to be purchased at the 99¢ Only Store.  It's always a fun challenge to find gifts for each other that cost under a dollar.  Some of them are practical, some are meaningful, and others are just downright funny!

This year I bought Robert the following:
1.  A picture frame.  I put our family picture in it.
2.  A set of mini screwdrivers.  A guy can never have too many mini screwdrivers, right?  Plus I needed them for one of my recent craft projects.
3.  A box of Junior Mints (his favorite candy).
4.  A multi-pack of his favorite chewing gum.
5.  A book about science facts.
6.  A Springer Spaniel puppy calendar.  He had two beloved Springer Spaniels who have gone on to doggie heaven.
7.  A nose hair trimmer (hehehehehe).
8.  A combination flash light, level, and drill bits/screwdriver doo-hicky thingy (cool, huh?).

Robert bought me:
1.  A kitten calendar.  I love cats, so this was my favorite gift.
2.  A book light for late night reading 
3.  A multi-pack of purse-size kleenex packs.  My grandma always told me, a "lady" should always carry tissues in her purse. 
4.  A shower cap***
5.  A pair of wine glasses.  Surprisingly, they're very nice quality!  I think I'll go back to the 99¢ Store and get more of these wine glasses to complete the set.
6.  A jigsaw puzzle.  It has 500 pieces.  That should keep me busy for a while.
7.  A fly swatter.  Huh??? Because a girl can never have too many fly swatters??
8.  A necklace.  Actually, I bought this gift for myself at a local gift shop.  Halfway through Hanukkah Robert realized that he only got me 7 instead of 8 presents at the 99 Cents Store, so I volunteered to go pick up a little sumpin' sumpin' for myself to open on the last night of Hanukkah.  Very thoughtful of me, huh?

We always have a lot of laughs over our 99¢ Only Store gift exchange, and it doesn't break the bank!

***The shower cap was a reference to a laugh my family shared on our trip to Disneyland a few months ago.  The four of us went on Splash Mountain our first day there, and we all got soaked.  It was so much fun so I said I wanted to go on it again the next day.  Robert and the girls said they would go on it again, but only if I would sit in front -- the seat that gets the wettest.  I happily agreed . . . but I had planned ahead.   When I sat down in the front of the log with my family behind me,  I pulled out a plastic shower cap from the hotel and put it on.  There were a couple dozen people looking on, so it totally embarrassed my daughters -- something that gives me a twisted pleasure {insert evil laughter}.  I wore the shower cap the entire ride, but the rest of me still got completely soaked. If you've been on the ride, you know that no dinkie little shower cap isn't going to keep you dry.  But I digress . . .

Here are a couple more Hanukkah layouts I created for Creating Keepsakes magazine.  Here's a 2-pager featuring my girls opening their presents:

As seen in the December 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes.  Copyright Creative Crafts Group.  Posted with prior permission from the publisher. 

 
I made the little presents and gift bags out of chipboard pieces, paper scraps and trim:

I had the pleasure of playing with Faber-Castell products on this layout:

As seen in the December 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes.  Copyright Creative Crafts Group.  Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Winter Solstice and/or any other holiday you celebrated recently!!

Oh Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah, Come Light the Menorah...

Hanukkah begins tonight at sundown, so that means 8 fun nights of celebrating at our house.  In honor of the holiday, I wrote a post for the Creating Keepsakes blog today.  I'll also share my projects here.  

Hanukkah is filled with many wonderful traditions:  lighting the candles, playing dreidel, eating latkes, and opening presents.  This means that there are a lot of photo opportunities.  Check out these Hanukkah Photo Tips to make the most of these opportunities.

Taking pictures of the menorah indoors at night can be somewhat tricky.  I often end up with some “clunkers” – photos with poor lighting, distracting backgrounds, or unattractive shadows on people’s faces.  Sometimes photo editing software can provide the perfect fix.  For example, I had a photo of my daughter gazing at the menorah, but the photo had a harsh yellow cast and unflattering shadows.  My solution was to use a selective color technique.  Using Photoshop Elements, I converted the photo to black and white and then colorized only the menorah.  Problem solved!   I used the color-selected photo on this layout:

As seen in the Scrapbooking Holidays and Celebrations 2011 special issue. Copyright Creative Crafts Group.  Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

Although there are many Christmas scrapbooking papers and embellishments on the market, there aren’t as many Hanukkah and Jewish scrapbooking products.  This year I challenged myself to create a Hanukkah card with paper from a Christmas collection.  I used papers from Prima’s North Country line (Christmas/winter themed) to create this Hanukkah card:

I couldn’t find any large Star of David scrapbook embellishments, so I made my own.  I traced stars (printed from the internet) onto chipboard, cut them out, then covered them with silver glitter glue (Ranger’s Stickles).

Happy Hanukkah and Happy Holidays everyone!

Just breathe, just breathe . . .

Just breathe, just breathe . . . it will all get done and everything will work out.  That's what I told myself last night right after I almost worked myself into a anxiety attack.  I don't think I've ever had a real panic or anxiety attack, but I think I came pretty close last night.  I have waaaaaayyyy too much on my plate right now (and for the next month and a half) and too many stressful things being thrown at me at once.  But I know I will get it all done, and everything will work out (as it always does).  I just have to tackle one thing at a time.  My mantra for the next month will be "just say no" . . . to any further social engagements, extra scrapbook pages, holiday parties, school volunteer duties, favors etc.   That's what I need to do in order to maintain my sanity and also save time for my family, sleep and meals.  Breathe in, breathe out. 

To lighten this post, here's a Prima layout I made a little while back.  The title is "Jeune Fille", which in french means "young girl" (to my French blog readers, please correct me if I'm wrong!).

I know the holidays are a busy time for everyone.  Just don't forget to take of yourself!  Eat well, get enough sleep, and say "no" if your plate gets too full!!  It's okay to say no sometimes. :)

Just a quick share . . .

I know I've been a bad blogger lately, but it's been a very busy couple of weeks.  I was in Colorado earlier this week shooting a series of scrapbooking videos for Creating Keepsakes.  It was freezing cold there -- a low of 3 degrees below zero, to be exact.  It was quite a shock to the system for the Southern California girl!!  But I had a lot of fun hanging out with some of the CK gals.

With the holidays and CHA approaching, I anticipate another extremely busy couple of months ahead of me.  So I thought I should come and write a quick post so that my blog doesn't start to collect dust and cobwebs. I know Thanksgiving has come and gone, but here's a layout I did that appears in the current issue of Creating Keepsakes:

As seen in the November/December issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine.  Copyright Creative Crafts Group.  Posted with prior permission from the publisher. 

I used my Cricut (speaking of something that's been gathering dust!) to cut this little turkey, then I dressed the little fella up with feathers, Stickles and a jeweled eye.  Isn't he purty?

Oh wait, I have another Thanksgiving layout to share.  I created this for CK's "Holiday and Celebrations" special issue.  This layout is definitely different from my normal style -- it's a two pager and it's very clean and simple.

As seen in Creating Keepsakes' 2011 Holidays and Celebrations special issue.  Copyright Creative Crafts Group.  Posted with prior permission from the publisher.  

It was for an assignment to use a scallop punch and buttons to create simple page accents.  I made these easy peasy accents:

I guess I'm a little late posting these Thanksgiving layouts, but better late than never, right??  I promise to post my Hanukkah scrapbook pages and projects during Hanukkah.

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Here kitty, kitty . . .

If you haven't had a chance to pick up Creating Keepsakes' new special issue: Scrapbooking with Fabric & Notions, you really should!  There are so many great ideas for using fabric, trim and notions on your scrapbook layouts.  Here's a layout I created for the issue.  I used premade appliques and fabric to create the butterfly accents.  The layout features our sweet kitty, Smokey.  He was a stray cat who walked into our house one day.  We sent him on his way, but he kept coming back . . . and the rest is history (read this blog post for the full story).  The journaling says:  I remember the day in November 2010 when this precious little stray cat walked right into our house like he owned the place.  We immediately named him Smokey.  He soon become a beloved member of our family, and now he pretty much does own the place!

As seen in Creating Keepsakes' Fabric & Notions 2011 special issue.  Copyright Creative Crafts Group.  Published with prior permission from the publisher.  The papers are Studio Calico.

I bought two sizes of butterfly appliques from my local fabric shop, traced them onto fabric multiple times each, cut them out, then layered them to create dimensional fabric accents.  I added hooks & eyes and rhinestones to the center of each butterfly.   Here's a close-up:

I can use the appliques again and again as quick shape cutters, or I can use them "as is" on a future page.

Thanks for stopping by!

CK giveaway winner + a Prima layout

First off, the winner of Creating Keepsakes' new Scrapbooking Holidays & Celebrations 2011 special issue is . . . . cvanholstein!  Congrats Corina!  I'll contact you for your address. 

Here's another Prima layout I made for the CHA booth last summer.  I used products from the beautiful Romantique collection.

That's my quick post for the day.  Have a great one!

Happy CK News

I'm so happy to share this little bit of news . . .

I've been asked back for another year on the Creating Keepsakes Dream Team.  Being on this team has been such a wonderful experience.  I absolutely love working with CK's fabulous editorial team, my fellow Dream Team members, and the contributing writers.  Seriously, these women are the bestest! I've made some forever-friends, and for that I am most grateful.

Thank you CK for having me back for another year.  I'll try and do you proud!

Winner of CK Fabric & Notions issue plus ANOTHER CK giveaway!

Sorry for the delay in announcing the winner of CK's new special issue: Fabric & Notions.  The random number generator picked #5, which is the comment left by Jamilie!  Congrats Jamilie!  I just left a comment on your blog with my email address.  Thanks for playing along! 

And the good news is that CK has another special issue out called Scrapbooking Holidays & Celebrations 2011. And yes, I have a copy to give away to one lucky blog reader! Don't be shy.  You're all welcome to throw your name into the hat even if you don't regularly comment here.  Come play along!  Here's a peak at the cover:

Whether your holidays and celebrations are casual get-together or formal events, this special issue from Creating Keepsakes magazine is sure to be a trusted source of scrapbooking inspiration! The gallery of 50 outstanding ideas is a quick source of scrapliftable layouts, and you'll also discover ways to make your relationships shine on your scrapbook pages, photo-taking tips to catch meaningful moments and details of your celebrations, and journaling ideas to capture the points of view of your loved ones. Learn ways to create easy holiday accents and even ideas for storing your holiday-themed supplies. Pick up this issue today for non-stop scrapbooking inspiration for all your celebrations during the upcoming year! 

Here's a little sneak of one of the layouts that I created for this special issue (the 2-pager on the bottom):

To be entered to win a copy of this special issue, just leave a comment here before the end of the day next Monday (November 21st) and tell me your favorite Thanksgiving dish or food.  If you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, just tell me about your favorite main dish at family meal time.  Or better yet, email me the recipe! Heeheheeeeeee.

Happy Birthday to my sweet little girl!

Happy Birthday to my sweet little daughter! Danielle turned 8 yesterday (where does the time go?!?).  I'm still trying to recover from her slumber party last night.  We had a bunch of VERY rambunctious little girls running all over the house.  It kind of reminded of the frenzied antics of that old cartoon character, the Tasmanian Devil.  Remember him?  He did those tornado spins and left a path of destruction wherever he went. 

I'm kidding.  In actuality, all the girls who came to the party were very sweet and well-behaved.  It was a nice group of girls.  But wooooooooeeeeeee do they have a lot of energy!  Even though it was a "sleepover" party, there wasn't a whole lot of sleeping going on. Nonetheless, a good time was had by all.  Danielle was overjoyed and said it was one of the best birthdays she's ever had. Hearing that makes me a happy Mama!

Here's a Prima layout I made of my sweet Danielle.  It's one I created for the Prima booth at CHA this past summer.  I'm obviously still way behind on posting.  I used puffy paint (the kind you heat with a heat gun) with Prima's cool brick stencil. 

I just adore the white resin pieces and the beautiful rose vines from Prima's Summer release!

To go along with the window theme of the page, I created a recessed window using several layers of paper separated by 3D adhesive . . . kind of like a shadow box.

 
Happy Birthday, my darling girl!!

Now I'm going to go finish getting ready for the workshop I'm teaching at CRAFT Beach Retreat tomorrow.  Are any of you blog readers attending?  If so, I'll see ya then!!