Layout of the Week - Spring Mini Album Project & a Punky Sprouts Sneak Peek

I've been a little busy lately to finish any actual layouts to feature as my "Layout of the Week," so I'm sharing what I have been working on.  This Saturday I'm teaching a class at the scrapbook store where I work, Whimzee's Scrapbook Studio in Beaverton, Oregon....in case you're in the area & want to sign up!  I taught this class at Christmas and a few people asked me to do it again.  I thought a Spring theme would be fun for the little mini album.  You could use it for a great Mother's Day gift or maybe for a special friend's birthday.

This project takes 3 pieces of cardstock, up to 14 different patterned papers, a couple feet of ribbon, lot's of adhesive and TONS of patience.  In just a couple hours you too can have a fun little album with lot's of little doors to hide all your photos & journaling.

I hope you're in the area so you can sign up for my class!  It really is much easier to make the album with a little help from someone who's done it before.  The instructions are kind of confusing, but if you're handy, you can probably make one up from my photos.  Give it a try when you have a couple hours & want to try something new.

I've got to get back to my projects for this week, two Punky Sprouts albums.  I've been very excited about Punky Sprouts for a few weeks now.  I had the chance to crop with one of the owners, Doralisa, and we had so much fun that I left pumped to give one of her albums a try.  It's so fun to be able to share a local Portland area scrapbook manufacturer with all of you.  Keep reading for links to the Punky Sprouts site & Facebook page, so you can ask your local scrapbook store to carry these awesome albums!

Here are a couple sneak peeks at my first project, using Chatterbox papers & embellishments, along with some great Kaisercraft paint colors!

Here's a quick look at the pages included in the Punky Posh album....

I'll share my take on this great album concept next week!

Head on over to the Punky Sprouts site to check out all their great albums!  I'm working on Punky Posh and Prim & Punky right now.  Punky Sprouts is on Facebook too & looking for a few more fans, tell them Julie sent you!

Just a little reminder to join me over at my fellow Portlander, Ann's, Virtual Girls' Night Out.  Join the party, every Friday night!  Ann's got a great music video, a yummy drink recipe and lot's of fun bloggers to hang with!  Get & Give tons of comments and find more followers for your blog!  Of course, you can visit Ann anytime...it doesn't have to be a Friday for you to get a laugh out of her adventures!

I also hang out every Tuesday at Today's Creative's Get Your Craft On party.  Head on over to another of my Pacific Northwest peeps' blog to find a huge list of links to other creative blogs.  Kim features a new creative blogger almost everyday and the huge Get Your Craft On blog hopping party every Tuesday.



Hey all you Mom Bloggers!!!!  Don't forget to head on over & check out all the fun, prizes & friends at 5 Minutes for Mom's Ultimate Blog Party 2010!



Join me & enter to win! I'm hoping to win #6 The Double Stacked a lot of Love Necklace, #11 $100 Gift Certificate to Restaurant.com and #17 The Books Found Art and Real Women Scrap!!!! Wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!!

Layout of the Week - Valentine Card #2

Well, it's finally Friday!  It's sure been a busy week around my house...Jake's birthday last Sunday and our niece visiting for the weekend...Delaney out of school on Monday and lunch with my parents...Lot's of homework, housework, preparing for my Valentine card class on Sunday...And then last night two burglaries in our neighborhood.  I'm housesitting for my neighbors, who are on vacation this week, and someone broke down their door, but didn't end up stealing anything.  At least the alarm was set and seems to have stopped the guy at the door.  But just knowing that someone was next door to my house, breaking down the door is unnerving!  The police officer who responded last night and the detective I spoke with today said that both houses were dark with outside lights on.  So now I'll be sure to leave lights on inside my house whenever we are gone at night.  Sure hope they catch the guy soon.  I was asked recently if I thought of my neighborhood as safe and I said yes.  It sure seems safe to live in a nice neighborhood with nice houses and nice yards, close to a nice school.  But I guess I would have to answer differently the next time I'm asked....

OK, I'm going to force myself to think about something more fun right now!  I'm getting ready to teach my Valentine card class on Sunday at the Hillsboro Library.  If you're in the area, it's free and we'll take the first 15 people who come to make 3 cards, a gift tag and a gift box.

I hope you are all getting into the Valentine spirit, making Valentine's, helping your kids with theirs, or maybe picking out fun decorations for their Valentine boxes.  At Delaney's school, the kids make their boxes at home and bring them on Valentine's Day.  I'll have to share a photo of hers with you, once she's done with it!  If you're looking for Valentine ideas, there are some very cute ones that you can download, just check down the right column of my blog in the "Get Your Creative On" section for some of the latest Valentine blog posts.

I'm in the middle of a lot of great projects right now!  I can't wait to share them with all of you!  I should have some fun Layout of the Week features over the next few weeks.  I'll share some fun details with you, so you have something to look forward to...I'm making Delaney a Bo Bunny Chipboard album full of memories from her last birthday party...I'm creating 2 travel layouts with Reminisce's new Passport collection...I'm putting together a layout about me, yes ME, we really do need to have a photo or two of ourselves in our albums every so often...and for one last Valentine's Day surprise, I'm excited about a layout featuring photos of my two sweeties and Bo Bunny's Love Bandit Collection, one of the sweetest Valentine collections out there!

So if you're a scrapbooker or papercrafter, or if you know someone who is one, please sign up to follow my blog or subscribe to my feed to get my latest posts in your inbox!  I'm on a quest to get to 200 followers, and I'd appreciate any help you can give me!

In a trend I've seen on tons of other scrapbooking blogs, I've chosen 2 words to be my Theme for 2010.  I'll share them with you in my next post!  But part of choosing these 2 specific words, is that I have to put myself out there and ask for what I want.  One of my goals for 2010 is to become part of a design team and another is to find scrapbook related sponsors for my blog!  If you have any ideas to help me reach my goals, please leave me a comment!  And thanks for helping me attain my goals in 2010!

Card Supplies

Patterned Papers - 3 Bugs in a Rug, Smitten Collection

Cardstock - World Win, Bazzill

Sticker - 3 Bugs in a Rug, Smitten Collection

Cardstock Strip - Bazzill, Just the Edge

PS-If you're looking for a fun party tonight where you can hang out in your pj's & meet some other fun bloggers, join me at my friend Ann's Virtual Girls Night Out!  Ann is certainly the Hostess with the Mostest...and she needs a little company while she's home tending to a sick little one tonight!  As usual, she's sharing a yummy drink, some party music and a little game...just for fun and perfect for the chilly middle of our Oregon winters.

My Mighty 3

3 places I'd rather be right now:

1-Mexico....can't wait, I'm lucky enough to be spending a few days down there with some friends celebrating our 40 birthdays!!!!!! YEAH!  More on this later!

2-Sunriver, Oregon....the thought of a little snow and a toasty drink in the lodge...ahhhhhhh

3-Kauai....the Grand Hyatt, a lounge chair & the red dirt margarita, I'm drooling!

3 things I'll never drink again:

1-Boones Farm Wine....freshman year in college, YIKES!

2-Cream Soda

3-OK, this isn't a drink exactly, but never and I mean NEVER EVER consider trying a Cuban cigar when you've had too much rum or any other liquor for that matter...worst Jamaican memory!

3 people I'd like to have dinner with, not necessarily all at once:

1-Patrick Dempsey...you know why...

2-George Clooney...duh!

3-Rachel Ray...she'd be fun at a party and she could cook for me!

(I wasn't sure if the people had to be living or not, if they don't have to be, I'd put my Grandma Muriel at the top of the list.  I'd love to get a chance to ask her all about her life and being a mom!)

OK, now head on over to Ann's, join the party and let me know your Mighty 3!

Layout of the Week - Valentine Card

For my Layout of the Week this week, I'm sharing a card I created for a class I'm teaching soon.  We'll be making 4 cards and a gift box for the class, so I'll have more fun Valentine things to share soon!  I wanted to keep this card simple and quick.  And as you can tell from some of my past Layout of the Week projects, I love using paper strips as a quick way to get a layout started.  I found the idea for this card in an old issue of Card Trends magazine.  The original card had a Spring theme and felt flowers backing the buttons.  I thought it would be fun to add the die cut heart to the design, afterall it is a Valentine...can there ever be too many hearts on Valentine's Day?  I love the idea of using the corner rounder on just the top of the card!  Can't wait to use this idea in a scrapbook layout!

If you've been thinking about making your own Valentine's this year, it's time to drag out those supplies and get started!  Valentine's are the perfect way to use up those scraps you've been saving.  Just dig through your piles...yes, I know you keep your scraps in piles...doesn't everyone?  Find all those fun Valentine colors, add in whatever you can find in there that sparkles, grab some odds & ends of ribbons & buttons and you're ready to go.  Quick cards just take a little measuring & cutting of your scraps!  Add a ribbon & a button or two and you're done!  If you're feeling especially creative, add a rub on quote or saying to one of the paper strips or even to your ribbon.  The special Valentines in your life will love your handmade cards and you'll even save a little money using up those scraps, so buy yourself a truffle the next time you're near a Moonstruck store!  OK, maybe that's my plan, but it will work for you too!

Have a great weekend!

Supplies

Cardstock:  American Crafts, WorldWin

Patterned Paper:  Bloom & Sweetheart from the Smitten Collection by 3 Bugs in a Rug

Twill Ribbon:  Creative Cafe

Buttons:  Creative Cafe, Boxer

Floss:  DMC

Die Cut:  Quickutz

Corner Rounder:  EK Success

Layout of the Week - Christmas Folding Mini Album

I've been busy this last week working on tons of different things for the store and trying to sneak in a few holiday projects. In between working on the email newsletter and trying to get the Pazzles cutter working, I created this cool little folding mini album. I'm teaching a workshop on this format on December 5th from 10am to 1pm, in case you're in the Portland area and want to learn to create these fun albums. The scrapbook store where I work is Whimzee's Scrapbook Studio, check out the blog I write for them, if you're looking for more scrapbook inspiration. I do occasionally post some of the same projects on both blogs, but I have created some step by step classes over there, so click on Classes in the list of labels.

OK, back to this project! Using 6 12 x 12 cardstock pieces, up to 14 different coordinating patterned papers (I used doubled sided sheets), a yard of ribbon and lot's of adhesive, these little albums go together quickly. I used a grassy green Bazzill cardstock and the Season's Greetings patterned papers from 3 Bugs in a Rug in my project. This album is a great way to finally use that little black blade that came with your Fiskars cutter! (That's a scoring blade!) Or you can use one of those cool new scoring boards. I saw one at the EK Success workshop last week, putting it on my Christmas list!

I used the Cricut at the store and the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge to create the little die cut holly for the album cover.

I plan to create a couple more of these albums to display during the workshop. These would be great to make to commemorate a special vacation or birthday!

Whimzee's Girls Online: FREE Beginning Scrapbooking Classes!!!

I'm excited to share a post from my other blog Whimzee's Girls Online. I write this blog for the scrapbooking store where I work part time as a "Designer & Blog Girl", well...that's what my business cards say! So if you're in the Portland, Oregon area & looking for a FREE Beginning Scrapbooking Class, we've got just what you need! Beginning Saturday, September 12th, the Whimzee's Girls are teaching a series of 6 FREE 2 hour classes at Hillsboro, Oregon's Main Library and its Shute Park Branch. Check out this post for all the info. As you can tell, I'm pretty jazzed about this! I have put designed all the sketches & kits for the class and I'll be teaching four of the sessions...my first foray into scrapbook class teaching! Hope you can make it to a class or all six!

Whimzee's Girls Online: FREE Beginning Scrapbooking Classes!!!

Coming Soon on the WhimzeesGirlsOnline Blog

This is my latest project! I'm really excited about how it turned out! I've posted this photo on my other blog, http://www.whimzeesgirlsonline.blogspot.com . This weekend on my Thanksgiving trip to Medford, I'm going to write a step by step class to help everyone dive into their first acrylic album. So check that blog next week for all the details!

And have a great Thanksgiving!