I am continuously amazed at the generosity of "strangers" in the blogging community. I received a huge box of blog candy today from Jen at the Doodleblog stuffed full of goodies:



And a beautiful little card to go with it:



Thank you so much! I can't wait to play with all this stuff!!

My latest cards:


I've been playing around with different coloring methods and for these I used just plain ole' kids' waterpaints. I was quite pleased with how it turned out but I need to see if I can find some teeny tiny brushes for small stamps like this.

What I've been doing....

I'm determined to get a post up today even if I have to do it one-handed. My 5 month old is working on tooth #3 and just wants to be held. I have actually been quite busy the last four days. And yesterday was Christmas as my latest CTMH order came in. Let's just say I spent enough to get both the card set and stamp of the month for free! I'm still trying out all my goodies!

These cards are from Di Hickman's card sketch #4. I loved this design and plan to do some more cards like it with different papers.


This card is my own design for my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. Aren't they a cute couple?!



Every month I send out pictures of the kids from the previous month to various friends and families. I like to make cards to include with them and this month seemed a good one to use my papers from the Target dollar bin. My only complaint with the paper is that it's so very thin, which I guess is to be expected when you get 12 sheets for a dollar! I loved the matching ribbons. The stamps are from my new CTMH stuff.


Of course I had to try Beate's weekend sketch challenge which was a file folder card. Too cute! I'm thinking about making this a little larger and using it to hold 4x6 photos for the grandparents or maybe as a holder for Christmas photos to give out.

In The Groove

A while back I won some awesome blog candy from Wendy at Inkin' & Thinkin'. Here are all the cool things she sent:


She sent 10 of her class layouts all cut out and ready to use. I am so enjoying all the goodies. The thing I was most excited to get, though, was the BoBunny toolkit; specifically the bendable ruler. I am just now getting a chance to use it. I sat down tonight and whipped out 4 cards with it. Totally love the results!

I've been inspired by Maria at Card Inspired and her "Project Reduce Scraps". I used this Chloe's Closet Cider Days paper and rub-ons kit. I'd like to say that no 12x12 papers were cut in this endeavor, but alas, I had to cut up the dotted paper which was the only whole sheet left in the kit. I've still got enough scraps in this kit to do probably 4 more cards but that will have to wait until another day!



To create these, I bent the ruler up into a shape until I was happy with it. Then I traced it onto the patterned paper (the one on the top) and carefully cut it out. I then used that to trace the same shape onto the cardstock and cut it out. On the one I used a third layer and made it the same way. I then laid these layers over the patterned paper on the bottom. The kit came with some nice rubons and a ribbon which I used as well.

My daughter's monthly scrapbook

Today I thought I'd show you the album I'm making for my second daughter. On the 23rd of every month, I take a picture of her with a stuffed animal (a Lemur, which has quite a history in our household!). I then write up all the pertinent stuff about her for the previous month. I write it like a letter to her, telling her the milestones she's accomplished, what she likes to do, and how she's growing. I then assemble pictures using LumaPix Photo Fusion into a 6x6 collage. I really like the program because all I have to do is choose the pictures that I want and tell it I want to create a 6x6 image. It does all the layout and I'm always impressed with the results. You can tweak it by hand too. I think it was about $35 and it has been well worth the cost to me. Every month I have the same format: the first page is the picture of her with Lemur, converted to B&W; the second and third pages are my letter to her about that month; the fourth page is the photo collage. The papers are Basic Grey and I have several different patterns to alternate amongst the months, but the pink and brown are consistent. I wish I could take credit for this idea but I can't. I copied it pretty much verbatim from the Simple Scrapbooks special issue "album shortcuts". Awesome issue, by the way, especially if you get it with that 40% off coupon at JoAnn's! The album in the background is an 8x8 and I think at the end of the year I will do her 1 month and 1 year photo side by side for the front cover. I have already done all the work of cutting the papers so each month, all I have to do is write and print. I print the journaling on the computer.

Card and Layout with SEI papers

About a year ago I bought a kit full of SEI's Paisley & Petals line. I have made so many things with this kit but these are about my last few projects with it. I think I can make one or two more cards if I'm careful!

I did this layout first. 3 weeks after my second daughter was born my best friend came up and took care of me for 4 wonderful days. She kept me fed and filled my freezer with food for later. She cleaned (and I do mean cleaned!) my house. All while managing to keep my 3 year old in tow and take care of the baby and let me get some sleep!



Then I decided to try Beata's Weekend Sketch Challenge #20:

When I first finished it I was not happy at all with it!

Then I decided to turn it around and I liked it a little better.


That's all for now. This has been a busy week and I'm looking forward to a little R&R this weekend. Oh, and doing some creating of course!

CPS #31

Between preschool, grocery shopping, lunch out with hubby, and a play date, this card took me all day to do. But by golly I got it done! Usually when I use a sketch I pull out a pack of papers that I want to work with and see if I can make it work with the sketch. For this one, I pulled out my GinX "Some Kind of Green" pack. A couple of the papers in this line incorporate the dark pink. Somehow the card ended up using only the green paper with the pink cardstock. Pink and green.... I don't know. What do you think? The horizontal strips are ribbons. The card is A2 size.
Card Position Systems Sketch #31

Distressing Inks, Free Spirit Stamp

When I started this blog, I was hoping that it would motivate me to post a new creation every day or at least every other day. Well, that part isn't going so well! The good news is that I finished a card and a scrapbook page today! I'm still playing with ways to photograph my stuff. The general consensus is that you need bright light and a macro setting on the camera and no flash. Problem is, I can't turn the flash off in macro setting on my camera (Canon EOS Rebel). So I guess I don't have enough light. Another project to work on!


Last week I got to go to a class by my CTMH Consultant to play with the new distressing brush kit and distress chalk inks. Fun fun! I pulled those out today along with the Free Spirit stamp from CTMH to create this simple layout about my daughter's baptism. I don't know if you can tell from the pictures but I used the distress inks on the edges of the cardstock and also on the edges of the title block.



This was a simple card for a good friend of mine who loves tea. I found a teacup pattern on the net and printed it on plain cardstock and then just used that as a template. The Free Spirit flourish stamp was already inked up and I liked the way it turned out. Inside I used some cute Susan Branch tea stickers.

More Arctic Frog Cards

I actually got to make 4 cards today! I love this Arctic Frog paper so I continued with it today. The first 3 cards were variations on yesterday's theme, 2 thank yous and one birthday.




The last card I did from CPS' CPS #30 sketch. A bit plain, yes? My plan is to stamp something in that lower left corner and make it probably a birthday card.


I'm getting really frustrated with the quality of my photos. I guess I need to get on SCS and see if anyone there has any tips. If any of you have some good tips, please let me know!

More Library Cards and a Thank You Card

Sometimes when I get in a creative slump, I fall back on mass production of something I've already done. I did that yesterday with these 2 library pocket cards:


They are from the same Crate Paper line as the previous ones. I'm loving this type of card because it's small so I don't feel compelled to write a novel inside - just a quick hello.

Then I finally got to sit down today and make something new, a thank you card:
The paper is Arctic Frog. I love the name and the designs! The stamp is Close to My Heart. The card fits in a regular small envelope. I have gone back and forth and played around with sizes and almost always I come back to this size. I like things simple and sometimes the larger cards come out too busy for my liking.

I started this blog hoping that it would keep me accountable to making time for the things that give me satisfaction. I think that is very important for anyone (making time for themselves) but I have learned the hard way that it is particularly important for moms with young children because you never seem to have a moment to yourself and when you do there are a thousand things crying out for your attention.

Anyway, I sat down yesterday to plan out my Christmas list. Yes, I am rather chronically organized and I start thinking about gifts in September. I decided this year that most of my gifts are going to be packs of handmade cards. So I made the list to see how many I needed to make. Wow - should have started this list earlier! I came up with needing 108 cards!! If I only give myself October and November to do them, that means making about 3 cards per day. We're talking some serious cardmaking! So now I am even more inspired to make better use of my time. I am going to try to make my first card tonight and post it tomorrow.

Library Card

I made this little card for a neighbor. I made the pocket by looking at a pocket that I had and eyeing the measurements. The insert is an actual library card that I wrote a quick note on. I finished it off with some stamps and ribbon. It just so happened to have fit in a regular sized envelope!

Seems like most people credit the products they use. I'm terrible at remembering things, especially if I am using scraps that no longer have the identifying information on them (as is usual with my cards). I know this paper is Crate Paper. That's all I remember! The stamps I think are Heidi Grace. I usually finish off my projects with a self-inking stamp from VistaPrint that says "Handmade by Kelly".

About me and my scrap space

This is my first entry in my new blog. I kept another blog for almost 2 years while I was going through secondary infertility and then severe post partum depression. Hopefully all that is behind me now and I am looking forward to focusing on my family and doing things that bring me fulfillment. One of those things has always been scrapbooking and card making. I've been doing what I think of as "modern" scrapbooking for almost 4 years now. I've recently really gotten into stamping and cardmaking. I've been soaking up other people's creative ideas on blogs and thought it was high time I give back to the community, so to speak.

I thought I'd start my blog off by showing you my creative space, since I love to see other peoples' creative spaces. It's small, by my design. Not too long ago, I finally gave into the temptation to purchase a Mimi rolling tote. I made a deal with myself that if I got it, I would have to make all my supplies fit in it. Or most of them at least! Here's the big picture view of where I create:


There's my Mimi tote with most of my stuff in it.


I use a long folding table. On one end of it is a holder for books and magazines and next to that are some of the albums I'm currently working on. In front of that is a basket with my stamps and in front of that is a basket of the supplies I use most often, like scissors and a paper cutter.


Next to all that is a box with my acrylic blocks. I made the decision to go completely with clear acrylic stamps to cut down on storage space. Next to that is a CD storage case to hold my ink pads. I saw this idea somewhere on Splitcoast and I would love to thank whoever came up with the idea. I am using empty CD jewel cases to separate the inks.


This is the smaller bag that goes with the Mimi tote. I don't use it as much as I thought I would but it is handy when I'm ready to go to a crop to just stuff everything on my desk into to carry. That little cardboard box in front of it - that's my mini-trash can! I use that for the small scraps of paper!


On the floor I have my punches. I go back and forth about these. Three of them are pretty large and they really don't fit in my tote. But I do like to use them occasionally. So for now they are sitting on the floor until I can find a basket for them.


My space wouldn't be complete without the computer. I print a lot of the pictures for my scrapbook pages and I also like to print out a lot of my journaling on the computer. I use a Dell laptop and Canon i960 printer. I also have a Canon CanoScan LDE70 scanner.


This is the overflow shelf! On the very top are some empty boxes. Below that is a cardboard box with extra supplies such as adhesives and such. Next to that are some of my empty mini-albums.
Below that on the left is a stack of 12x12 sheet protectors. That is the size of the majority of my scrapbook pages so one day I bought a ton of them (I think about 200) and got a really good price. It's nice to always have a sheet protector! Next to that is a box of more albums and next to that are even more albums. Seeing a trend here?!
Under all that is a shelf of paper, both loose papers and stacks of papers. I also keep some of my paper kits on this shelf.


I hope to post to this blog fairly regularly. One of my goals is to regularly make things and I will try to post things as I make them. Hopefully I can provide some small inspiration to some of you out there. Most of my crafting is done late at night, after my 3.5 year old and 4 month old are in bed. It's the only time of day when I have zero interruptions. Sometimes I will stay up until 2am making stuff! Which is tough when the 4 month old doesn't ever sleep more than a 4 hour stretch! And I had to get up early this morning on top of that. I can hardly keep my eyes open tonight; in fact, I actually typed part of this post with my eyes closed. That may explain if any of it is incomprehensible!