Take out, anyone?

I am in heaven. I love it when I have a reason to get so excited about paper. Today I have a couple of boxes to show you making one of the newest Perfect Presentation templates: Gift To Go. When I saw this template, I was so excited. Months ago, before joining the Perfect Presentation team, I tried (miserably) to duplicate a take-out box after my husband brought home Chinese food. The great thing about this template, is that it gives the fun look of a take-out box, without a zillion score lines and complicated folds. And, it only takes 2 sheets of cardstock!


First off, I wanted to cut out some flowers to add some cheer to a little Gift To Go box I'm going to give a friend for her birthday. I wanted something cheerful and colorful. These flowers fit the bill for me perfectly.


And next, I had to combine 2 of my favorite sets. PTI's Background Basics: Text Style with Stampin Up's Artfully Asian.


I also included a picture to show the roominess inside the box. There is also a snack size Snickers in there (that you can't see), as well as several Werther's originals. And a little stuffing in the bottom. So, you can leave out the stuffing, too, to pack more yummy goodness inside. I was thinking of all the possibilities for little girls, too. I know my daughter has a friend with a birthday coming up, and I was thinking of fingernail polish and some lip gloss tucked inside, in addition to chocolate!


There is a second template being released today, but I got so excited about making this one, that I don't have a project to share with you using the second one. Some of the other design team ladies do, though, so be sure to check out their blogs.

Leigh Ann Baird
Alyssa Scritchfield
Harriet Hensley
Kerri Michaud
Chris Olsen

That's all for now. I'm scrambling to be on time to church, now! LOL! Have a great Sunday!

Perfect Presentation Template: Gift To Go
CS: PTI Rustic White, White, Summer Sunrise, Plum Pudding, Spring Moss
Stamps: PTI Background Basics: Text Style, Friends 'Til The End, SU Artfully Asian
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Antique Linen, PTI Dark Chocolate, Hibiscus Burst, Copics, Versamark
Accessories: White Embossing Powder, Glitter Glue, Dark Chocolate Buttons

Inspired Crafters Sketch #7

Today I have a layout that I'm really excited about. It uses a sketch that was posted on the Inspired Crafters blog. I am having so much fun being back in the rhythm of scrapbooking. These pictures are back from when my daughter was just a little baby. I loved the pictures at the time, and always thought they would make for a really fun scrapbook page. As soon as I saw the layout on Inspired Crafters, I knew it would be perfect for scrapping these pictures. In addition to the sketch, Banu challenged us to use ribbon on our layout as well. I used a yarn swirl instead, but I'm counting that!


Thanks for looking, and have a sunny Saturday! We've got a full day of activities ahead of us, and I'm excited to get out of the house.

Digital Supplies: Designer Digitals

Chicken Enchiladas

Now that I'm current with my kids' mini-albums, I've decided to tackle another big project: getting my recipe cards worked on. I've been doing a 6x6 format, and that was working okay. I can place them in little albums, and it's worked out pretty well. But I like to pull my recipes out and stick them on the fridge while I'm cooking. I just like to see the recipe right there. But I don't like taking the page protector out. I just want the one recipe I'm working on right there. When my parents were here, my dad bought me a laminator
(thanks, Dad!). He said he knew I'd find a use for it! And then it hit me, that I could laminate my recipes, and pull each individual one out when I'm cooking them, stick them on the fridge, and not worry about milk splashing on them, or buttery fingers touching them. I am planning on doing them in a 5x7 format now, but still doing the 6x6 ones, too. That way I can still stash them in the 6x6 album if I feel like it. So, today I'm sharing my Chicken Enchilada recipe. Yes, I've shared this recipe before, from a recipe swap I was in. But I had a friend request it, and so I made a new recipe card I could share with her. Also, I'm posting both the sizes, because I don't know if anyone ever actually prints these out, or not. I know I've saved lot of recipes I found on other blogs, but I don't usually reprint them. But if someone wants to, then they could have their choice of sizes to use!



All Digital Supplies: Designer Digitals

Mini Albums

So, in spite of the germies my kiddos had last week, I finally got their mini-albums done for them. A few years ago, when my son was going to kindergarten, I decided to do these mini-albums for my kids. I kept them super duper simple. One or two pictures a page, with some journaling from me to them, and that was it. At the time I came up with the idea, I hadn't been doing any real scrapbooking for a long time. Pretty much since my son was born. And it was overwhelming to think about catching up on 6 years worth of pictures. So that's when I decided on the format for these books. The best part is that the kids absolutely love them. I find them reading their little books all the time.


Well, fast forward to now, and the original mini-albums are the only ones I did for them. Once again I felt overwhelmed, because I missed a few years. I decided to start the process again. This time instead of doing them as a calendar year (January to December), I'm doing the school year (August to July). Now that I am current, I may try to go back and catch up, but we'll see how that goes. I just thought I'd show you the format in case anyone is interested.



I am doing them digitally (I'm sure that is not a surprise!). It is so great, because I got the format all set up and saved. Then when I pick out a picture, I just slide the picture in, change the date and my journaling, and I'm done. I'm so excited to be current for this year. The kids love their little books, and I love knowing that when their time at my house is done, they can just grab these little books to take with them, and hopefully have some great memories.

ETA: The page sizes are 6" x 6". Most places that print digital prints will print in this size, or you could of course print them at home. I had mine sent out to a printer.

Don't plan on it

Well, have you ever had one of those weeks that just didn't go as planned? That was my week this week. My parents were coming to visit, and I asked my mom how her card stash was. She told me it was pretty depleted, so I figured I would just make cards all week to build her stash back up. Well, I've gotten 2 cards made. Not quite the stash I was hoping to build up for her.

Anyway. I finally got my kids' teachers presents made. That's the good news. The bad news is that they are both sick and missing their parties today. My daughter yesterday got an ear infection that had her in amazing amounts of pain. We took her to the doctor and got started on the antibiotics last night, so I figured if she wasn't in pain she could go today. But then my son in the middle of the night had his eyes sealed shut from pink eye. And when my daughter woke up, her eyes weren't sealed shut, but they were oozing, too. So that meant a trip to the doctor this morning for my son. And no school parties!

Here are the boxes the teachers will get after the long weekend:


I used the "Squared" Perfect Presentation template for these boxes. This particular size just takes one sheet of cardstock, and they go together really quickly. I originally planned to do some layers and cut out hearts, but then I went a totally different route. I decided to emboss polka dots and wrap with the ribbon to make them look like little presents! I did my son's in red and my daughter's in pink. I loved the end look. So fun! And easy. And that's what I needed this week! And I have a little tip for you on the Perfect Presentation templates. Many of the templates are also available now in the SVG format. So, if you have a cricut with the SCAL software, you can buy the SVG format, and the cricut will do all the cutting for you.

I'm off to tend to little sick kiddos, and then later today, be back to check on all your blogs that I've missed out on this past week.

Perfect Presentation Template: Squared
Stamps: Unity Distressed Dots
Ink: Versamark
CS: PTI Pure Poppy
Accessories: White Embossing Powder

Painting by Numbers

I have been super busy over the last few days, trying to get ready to take advantage of some sales. I have a lot of scrapbook pages ready to be printed and was going back over them checking for typos before I send them to be printed. Which meant no card-making time! But I sent a bundle of pages off tonight, and so that meant as soon as I saw the latest PTI challenge posted, I could play along. Papertrey will be releasing acrylic paint soon (which would have come in very handy for me back before I switched to digital for my scrapbooking). So the challenge is a "paint by number" challenge. You have to pick a color palette depending on what your screen name is on their forum (mine is rj77, so fun and exciting!). So here is my color palette:
And here is the card I made, which also follows the sketch:


I love the flowers from the Life set, and the minute I saw the sketch and the colors, I knew I had to use them. After I got them stamped and the paper glued down, I noticed that I could have added another little bundle of the flowers down in the right hand corner. But I wasn't going to risk messing the whole card up to add that little detail. If I make another one, I'll stamp some more flowers there in the corner.

Well, now I have stayed up way too late, and will certainly pay for it tomorrow. But it was fun to be stamping again after a bit of a break.

And I get that the ribbon is covering the flowers. Sometimes that would totally drive me insane. But I just liked the way it looked this time, and went with the flow. Kind of more like I was covering patterned paper than a stamped image!

Stamps: Life, Signature Greetings
Ink: Scarlet Jewel, Smokey Shadow
CS: Kraft, Sweet Blush, Smokey Shadow, Vintage Cream
Accessories: Vintage Cream Twill, SU Scallop Trim Punch

Champs

I'm back! I don't know where the weeks are going to. I am back today with a scrapbook page that is for the Inspired Crafters sketch challenge from the 23rd of January. You can find the sketch here.


And there is my layout. I haven't done a 2-page layout in a long time, and it was tricky for me to do. I guess I'm a little rusty. The layout overall is somehow off to me. I don't know if it's just so busy and I've been leaving more white space. Maybe that's what's throwing me. But my son liked it, and since it's about his event, I guess we're good. I was having some computer issues (yes, again) that had me off the net more than usual, so I'll be looking forward to catching up on other blogs, too.

All Digital Supplies: Designer Digitals