Swapping Time

This is the card I made for a swap on SCS. I've done PTI swaps with this group of gals, and it's so much fun. Well, this time, in addition to the regular PTI swap, I joined a "Man Cards swap" that Jen was hostessing. Both of these swaps are due in the next 2 weeks, so this was not a great time for my creativity to go MIA. I finally was able to pull together a layout and design that I love, and hope the other "Man Cards" swappers will as well. I'm off to the post office to get these in the mail, then home to spend some computer time catching up on what I've missed this last week. Hope your Monday is shaping up to be a good one!


Stamps: SU Loads of Love
Ink: Ranger Coffee, Copics, Prismacolors
CS: PTI Lemon Tart, Spring Rain, White
Accessories: PTI New Leaf Twill Ribbon, SU Scallop Trim Punch

A tutorial

Good morning! Well, my kiddos have missed the whole week of school, and even with Mucinex, humidifiers, and tons of fluid in them, they still have those awful congested coughs. But, on a happy note, I have an awesome tutorial I want to share with you.

Digital Scrapbooking Tutorial from Cathy Zielske on Vimeo.

I found this link the other day through another blog I was visiting, and I was thrilled. I've been at this a while now, and still learned some new things from the clip. To see more of her videos, just clink on her name above and it will take you to more. I hope you enjoy the tutorial, and enjoy your Saturday!

Child of God

Today, I'm sharing a card that I did make while I was in my non-creative funk over the last little while. I am pretty happy with how this turned out, but it look me all day to make. Literally all day. I started in the morning and wasn't done until 5:45 when we were taking dinner to a lady from church who just had a baby, and I needed this card done by then. When I worked on this one little card for almost 8 hours, I just decided my creativity was on vacation and I'd have to wait for it to come back.


I loved when this set was released from Papertrey Ink. I waited forever to get it, but I'm so glad I finally did. It's so wonderful. I really wanted to use some soft colors on this, and I'm happy with the overall look. I decided I need to get more saddle-stitch ribbon; I love how it holds it shape for bows!

Well, I'm off for now. I have to finish my game of Phase 10 with my son, so I can make him take a nap!

Supplies
Stamps: PTI Heavenly Medley, Background Basics: Text Style
Ink: PTI Smokey Shadow, Spring Rain, Copics: Y11, BG11, V12, B21, Versamark
CS: PTI Aqua Mist, Lemon Tart, Plum Pudding, Spring Moss, Spring Rain, White
Accessories: PTI Spring Rain Saddle-stitch Ribbon

Chasing the blah away

Well, I've just felt blah the last week. I haven't felt creative at all, I haven't felt like reading, I haven't worked on a single scrapbook page; I've just felt blah! Last night I decided it was time to make a card no matter what. And still I couldn't get any creativity flowing. So I just started looking at old cards I've favorited from other people's blogs. So be prepared to see one of your cards "remixed" and appearing on my blog in the next little while. Up first is a yellow butterfly creation.


My inspiration for this came from Michelle's post here. I loved the stitching she added at the top, and the border punch on the bottom. But you all know by now, I don't sew! And I couldn't add any brown to the bottom of mine without it suddenly turning dark and dreary. So I "made it my own!"

What do you all do when the creativity isn't happening? Any tips would be appreciated!

Supplies
Stamps: PTI Signature Greetings
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate
CS: PTI Kraft, Lemon Tart, Vintage Cream, Clear sheet from PTI Stamps
Accessories: Perfectly Paisley Embossing Folder, Spots and Dots Embossing Folder, SU Bigz Beautiful Butterflies, PTI Vintage Cream Satin Ribbon, PTI Dark Chocolate Button

Chicken Chow Mein

Well, I promise to be back someday with a card or a scrapbook page. I'm just on a roll getting my recipe cards done, and haven't been able to take a break from it! Today's recipe to share is Chicken Chow Mein.



My husband loves this recipe, it's one of his favorites. I started by using this Chow Mein Recipe from Recipezaar. Some of the ingredients that recipe called for, I didn't buy since I didn't know if I'd like it and ever want to make it again, so I made do with substitutions that I thought would work. The recipe card is my version of the original, with some tweaking. Also, the first time that I tried it, I did have the fresh Chinese noodles originally called for in the recipe. And they were good. But my husband liked it so much he wanted me to make it again right away. Well, we hadn't been to the store, and I'd used all the noodles on the first batch. We ended up just using thin spaghetti noodles instead, and that's what we usually use now.

Digital Supplies: Designer Digitals

Cream Soup Mix

Well, I was hoping for a super productive scrapping afternoon yesterday. But that didn't really happen. So instead I have another quick recipe card to share. I make lots of casseroles, and so many of them call for cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup. I used to stock up on these cream soups when there were good sales. Then I found this recipe one day while browsing on Recipezaar (my favorite online recipe sight). It's condensed cream of _____ soup mix. And I love it! I mix up a batch and keep it in a rubbermaid bowl, and use it often. It doesn't get as thick as the canned stuff, but the flavor is phenomenal. And there isn't all the added fat or chemicals from the canned stuff. So this or the homemade mushroom soup are my preferred soups now.



Digital Supplies: Designer Digitals

Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy

That is the first "real song" (if you can call it that) my husband ever heard my son singing. We were grocery shopping, and my little boy was singing "fruit salad, yummy, yummy!" My husband, not being the stay-at-home-Wiggle-watching parent like me, was wondering what the heck he was singing. Anyway, that was a long time ago! But it really does relate to my post today!


Here is one of my all-time favorite fruit salad recipes. It's my grandma's and it is oh, so good! She used to make it a lot. I think it's funny how food can bring back so many memories! I wrote the recipe exactly as I have it copied from my mom, but I often make changes. I left it the same, so no one in my family can complain that it's not really grandma's recipe ;)
First off, I just don't like the canned fruit cocktail. The grapes in there are really gross to me, so I skip that ingredient, and add some better fruit instead. Also, I don't often have buttermilk. To remedy this, you can add one Tablespoon of lemon juice to a cup of milk, and have a similar taste. Or, if I don't do that, I just use regular milk and French Vanilla pudding. My husband is not a huge coconut fan, so I very rarely add that. It doesn't need the coconut at all. If you leave it out, it's still delicious! And, my last tip, is my most important one. Use Dole pineapple! I will buy generic or store brands of many things, but pineapple is not one of them. Dole pineapple is 20 times better than any other I've ever had. Worth every extra penny! Enjoy your Friday, I'm off to make some Chicken Chow Mein for dinner. Yep, starting early so I'll be done and can scrap the day away.

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

Saturday Sketch

Good morning! Today is my first day hosting a challenge over at Inspired Crafters. It's a sketch challenge, and I hope that you might want to play along with us. I've had fun doing the weekly scrapbook challenges, and working more on my scrapbooks. Here is the layout I did for this week's challenge:


I've had several people ask me questions about digital scrapbooking, and I decided to type a little more info today on what I find so appealing about doing my scrapping digitally. I am a crafter who always wants to change things. I can't just get something on paper and be happy with it. I always wish I could move it a little to the left. Or that the picture was a little bit bigger. So, in that regard, digital is perfect for me. I can rearrange elements to my heart's content. Add in, take away, change color. All those things can be done rather effortlessly, and without messing up the whole rest of the layout. Even if it's been a few days, and I go back and see something I'm not loving about a layout, I can change it! Another aspect I LOVE, is that you get so much use out of your supplies. For example, on the layout I'll have posted tomorrow, I used some black chipboard letters. Well, I can use those letters over and over and over without worrying about using all of the i's, e's, and a's, and having a bunch of x's and g's left. Those are my two main reasons. I also have had a few questions about printing my layouts. I do either 8 1/2 x 11 layouts or 12x12. The 8 1/2 x 11 I print at home. This is the size I use for my "picture of the day" layouts. I take a picture each day, and make a weekly layout. I like this size because I can print at home, and have the layout printed each week. Reminding me how fun it is to see a week in pictures. For the larger 12x12, I send them to get printed. I use a sight called Scrapping Simply. Their prices are reasonable, they had super quick service, and the prints looked fantastic. I was very happy with them. I have read about a new place that is opening in February, Persnickety Prints, and once I try them, I will give a review on them as well.

If you are thinking digital might be something you want to try, I'd definitely say go for it. I am so glad I started scrapping this way, and don't care if I never do another paper layout. I'll save my cardstock for cards and 3-D projects! A site I love for their supplies as well as tips, is Designer Digitals. They have fantastic sales on Thursdays, where around 250 of their products are 30% off. On Sunday they have two new products for $.25. I mean, you really can't beat that for value! If you are interested in digital scrapbooking at all, I hope you found some of this information helpful. If I left something out you would like to know, please leave me a comment, and I'd be happy to answer the best that I can.