Some MORE recent layouts......

During a recent scrapping weekend I got done a few layouts... this is a lot for me :)

This layout is one of my favorites. I love doing layouts of my grandparents. I have many fond memories of them and it's nice to remember them through my scrapbooks.

I originally started this layout as a Halloween layout for Aaron's album. I have no idea why I thought these colors would work for Halloween pics! I like how it turned out and love how the colors go together.

This layout is of pics from Aaron's first horse show through his Theraputic Riding. 

Super quick layout. I'm trying to remember that every layout doesn't need to be a work of art. Sometimes I just want to get the pics down and move on.  :)

This layout is from a kit from Close To My Heart. I love their kits! They're so easy to put together. 

Another layout from the You & Me CTMH kit. 

Another favorite layout (I say that a lot, don't I?) I always get ideas from the How - To Program books. Those books are awesome! They give the layout ideas and exact dimensions for the cuts to put the layout together!  (BTW, if you're interested in any CTMH products - email me!! )

Some recent layouts

Did some layouts this weekend -

Pics of Cora's first mani/pedi :)

Easy Monogram Note Card Gift Set

I made this Note Card Gift Set for a friend. I made four of each design. Very simple but cute - I think :)

The card base is A2 - 5 1/2 x 8 1/2. The larger mat is cut at 4 x 5 1/4 and the smaller mat is cut at 2 1/2 x 3 7/8. The monogram letter and circle are cut from the Mini Monograms Cricut Cart and are cut at 2.75.

Quick Layout

So, here's a quick layout I did today in about 20 minutes. My goal lately is to not treat each layout as a work of art and spend an hour on each page. I need to realize that the photos are the focus of the page, not the embellishments or other "stuff". So, I'm thinking that I'm pretty happy with the way this page turned out. My little Strawberry kinda speaks for herself. Don't you think?

My post for TheBugBytes Blog -- I am stepping outside of the usual designing box today. I have seen the incredible projects that the posters have been putting up lately and felt incredibly humbled by their talent!! I've been in some sort of creative slump recently and did not feel as though I would be able to put up something worthy of TheBugBytes Blog! I don't have the Robots cart, so I knew I was going to have to do something different anyway. So, when my daughter brought home her "About Me" project from Preschool on Monday I thought that I would use it to show another way to use our Gs.

The assignment was to take this doll blank and create a doll that represents her.

The doll blank looks like it was cut from a piece of construction paper 12X18. I used the Every Day Paper Dolls cart for her parts.

Hair - page 73 -- 6" wide

Glasses - page 41 -- 5.75" wide

Shoes - page 49 -- 8.18" wide

Dress - page 67 -- 10.5" height

Here we are picking out what parts she wants for her doll.

The parts cut out -

Cora coloring her dress and drawing her face -

Cora and her finished her doll - She was so proud!!

The brown spot on the face is supposed to be her nose. :)

So, here is Cora with her finished "All About Me" doll. :) I love that I was able to use my Cricut and G to help her complete her very first school project. I see many more in our future! :)

Just another idea for using our Gs. I know a lot of people wonder how to use the Photo App. I just wanted to throw out this idea. This is how I use the Photo App.

When I see a card, layout, project or any other craft item online that I want to recreate, I right click on the image and save it to a file on my computer called "ideas". I rename the item using the following code -

cards are saved as "crd_1", "crd_2", "crd_3", etc.

layouts are saved as "lo_1", lo_2", lo_3", etc.

projects are saved as "pro_1", etc.

If there are more than one pic for a certain project/layout/card I save them with the number and a letter -- "pro_4a", "pro_4b" and so on.

You can see below how I save them. All of the cards, layouts and projects are together in my saved images.

There it is - my input for today. :) I hope everyone is able to get something from my post! I am very proud of my Photo App system. I love how easy it is to find my pics since we can't save to folders - that would definitely be the way to go.

Thanks for popping by today! Please let me know your thoughts! I'm going to be posting some recent cards that I made soon. I need the inspiration of sharing to get my behind crafting again!

Long time no post????

Wow, it's been a while since I've been crafting!! I do have some pics of recent projects that i want to post. But, first.....

Here's a card I made for my Step-Mom's birthday. :) I love Mini Monsters!!

Sentimental Layout

My guest designer post for The Bug Bytes.

This time I did a Layout using the Sentimentals Cartridge. I have to be honest here, Sentimentals is one of my least favorite carts. I'm not sure why, I guess the images don't really strike me. A couple of the images that I do like are the hands on pages 24 and 25. I am totally picturing a wedding layout with those hands and the words - "With This Ring". I'm saving that one for a layout with my Grandparent's wedding photo. But, for this layout, I decided to do my Junior Prom photo. Wow, was that really 1989?!?! I can't really be old enough to have been at my Junior Prom in 1989!!!! My date and I look like babies!!! Well, those babies are now 37 and 38 and still happily together :) We've been married for 19 crazy years. This layout was so fun to work on. :)

So, on to the layout. I used the -

Frame, Layer and Shadow from page 30

cut at 6.12" x 8.12" for a 5x7 photo

Phrase and Shift Phrase from page 28

"Mon Amour"

Hand 1 and Layer from page 24

&

Hand 2, Shift and Layer from page 25

I started off by cutting a 1" mat around my black cardstock. I do this because I'm only using the black as a background color and would like to save the "inside" to use on the layout. (I'm cheap like that.)

Next, I cut off 1/2" from two sides of my base cardstock. This will leave me with a boarder of 1/4" around the base.

I am using a very pretty embossed ivory cardstock, but I wanted to hilite the flowers somehow. So, I used some Stampin Up! chalk to rub over the embossed flowers.

Next, I put together the frame around my photo with a 8 x 8 square of contrast paper under. I added a bit of ribbon to the top of the layout and the phrase "Mon Amour" with shadow. Don't forget dimensionals for that added depth.

Now, for my favorite part of the layout. :) I wanted to use the hands from the cartridge to mimic our hands from the photo.

I wanted to make a sort of corsage on the left hand. Of course, I didn't have any burgundy ribbon. So, I decided to make my own. I had some cream ribbon exactly the width I wanted and Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Fired Brick. Boy did I make a mess!!! I used the Cricut spatula to run the ribbon through the ink pad.

Unfortunately, the ribbon took forever to dry! I don't know if I used too much ink or what, but it was really messy! My poor Bow Easy is now stained a pretty red color :) Here is the tiny little ribbon with some Flower Soft.

For my finishing touch, as always, I make sure to handwrite something on each layout. For this one, I simply wrote the date and event.

and TA DA...... Here is a look at my finished layout.

Thanks for looking! Please let me know what you think. I love hearing comments and suggestions!