Layout of the Week - Bo Bunny's Love Bandit

I hope everyone is all prepared for Valentine's Day! I still have a few cards to make & projects to finish. I've been a very busy girl for the last week or so. I've finished quite a few projects. One for Delaney, this Valentine layout and one to submit for an Ella Publishing contest...if it wins, I'll share it with you when it's published and if not, it will make a fun Layout of the Week. I'll share the others with you soon.

I created this week's layout with my favorite Valentine collection of the season, Love Bandit by Bo Bunny. (Check out Bo Bunny's Blog for lot's more Valentine inspiration!)  I love the use of color on these papers. It's refreshing to get away from just red & pink papers for this holiday. Not that I don't love all the hearts & sparkle Valentine's brings, but too much of anything can be overkill. So this cute collection full of little racoons & bugs jumped out at me.

Once I chose the paper, I happened upon a sketch contest on Ella Publishing's blog. When I looked over the sketch, I thought it was the perfect layout for my papers & the photos of my kids. Since brown is one of my favorite colors, I love to use sepia tone photos. These photos are from Jake's 2nd Birthday a couple weeks ago. He's wearing his red Christmas "mun-in" (monkey) jammies and they certainly didn't complement the Love Bandit papers at all. So I printed them in sepia which looks great with the browns & other colors of these papers.

Lately it seems like I've been making a lot of single page layouts.  In the past, I was a total double page spread (DPS) girl.  My love of symmetry always led me to create two pages for each layout.  But I have started to find more value in one nice large photo for a single page layout, you know,  a picture is worth a 1,000 words & all.  But I love this Love Bandit paper collection so much, that I decided to add a right side page to my sketch for the Ella contest.  I chose the blue patterned paper, I like how it coordinates with the brown background of the left side without being exactly the same.  See what you think....

And here the two layouts are side by side, just like they'll look in my album...

I hope everyone enjoyed my Valentine layout!  And I hope you enjoy your long weekend...hopefully it is a long one for you like it is for us!

Happy Valentine's Day!

See you back here tomorrow for Ann's Virtual Girls' Night Out!  All you bloggers out there really should check out Ann's party!  We have a lot of fun every Friday night, meeting & greeting bloggers from all around the web and the world!  I wonder if Ann's theme will be Valentine's Day or the Olympics or a combo of the two.  Those of us on the West Coast are very excited that they Olympics are in our time zone this year, maybe we'll catch more of the action!

Tips

Use sepia tone photos to easily coordinate a layout with brown tones.

Use 7 Gypsies buckles to hold just one little knot of ribbon instead of on ribbon running all the way across your page.

Don't be afraid to use two different background papers on one DPS.  Do try for a solid or unobtrusive background if one side is a pattern.

Don't let your photos hide your pattern.  Get out that craft knife & use it to trim around part of your pattern.  Check out the right side layout.  I used the craft knife to cut around the portion of the tree that would have been hidden under my photo mat.  Then I stuck my photo mat under that portion of the tree, letting the tree pop out over my photo.

Don't let those extra dots that come in the packs of THICKERS go to waste, use them as mock brads!  I put them on my tags on the left side layout.

Supplies

Bo Bunny:  Love Bandit patterned papers, chocolate dot paper, stickers, ribbon

7 Gypsies:  Pink Buckle

American Crafts:  Green Glitter THICKERS-dots & bracket

Martha Stewart:  Punch Around the Page Punch

My Words for 2010

I've been seeing so many scrapbooking bloggers who have chosen their "theme words" for this year.  I find tons of inspiration in the blogs by Ali Edwards and Katie the Scrapbook Lady.  Click on their names to read about their words for 2010.  I started wondering what type of word I might choose that would embody my goals for this year.  I thought about all the goals I've set for myself in 2010.  One of the big ones is to get my act together & get back into exercising...OK, it has been a few years, but I still call it getting "back" into it.  Along with the exercising, I'm working on eating less & healthier foods.  Of course these two things add into another big goal of losing weight.  Those three are my personal goals for my body in 2010.  Then I have an entirely different set of goals for myself in 2010.  These goals concern my love of scrapbooking and this blog.  My biggest goal for the blog is to eventually, hopefully in 2010, begin to gather some sponsors.  I am still relatively new to blogging, starting about a year and a half ago.  So I have some research to do to even start out toward that goal.  But I think that setting big goals gives me something to work toward.  A smaller, probably more attainable goal, is to find more followers who are interested in scrapbooking and papercrafting.  I'm taking some steps to reach that goal already.  And of course I'd appreciate it if any of you could pass along a link to my blog, or grab my button to jazz up your blog!  Thanks in advance! :)

So after considering these goals, my word, or words just jumped right out at me last week when I was putting away Jake's laundry.  Hanging on the wall in his room is a saying that Dave chose when we decorated Jake's room.  It says, "BELIEVE and ACHIEVE."  Reading it that day made me think of my goals and I realized that these two words would help me reach my goals for 2010.

So along with eating healthy & working out, I'm going to BELIEVE I can ACHIEVE my goals in 2010!  I'd love to hear your word(s) for the year...or just get you started thinking about what they might be!  It isn't only in January that we can resolve to strive for something special for ourselves and our families this year!

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!

Happy Birthday! Jakey turns 2!

Oh Jakey!  I can't believe you're 2 today!

Well, not really until 11:37pm tonight!  At this time two years ago, I was just finishing a late breakfast with my friend Sheri.  We expected you to come right on time, tomorrow, February 1st.  My doctor was coming back from Las Vegas & inducing me in the morning.  But, true to you're, "I'm always in Charge!" attitude, you had different plans.  We managed to go out to dinner with Delaney, to the same restaurant we visited the night before she was born.  And then came the excitement, we rushed to the hospital at 10:30pm and you arrived at 11:37pm.  Just couldn't wait 23 more minutes, huh?

Well, we are very excited you finally arrived....I guess after waiting 7 years for you, the last minute rush of your birth was just part of your plan!

I love you!  Happy Birthday!

I can't wait to see what excitement and adventure your 3rd year brings to us!

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

HUGE Sale at Whimzee's Starts TODAY, Jan. 25th

Click to learn all about the Whimzee's Scrapbook Studio Winter Purge Sale! Get awesome deals with different specials each day while you help us whittle our inventory for the big count this weekend! There's a coupon in the link too! Stop by the Store at 16630 SW Shaw Street, Suite K, Beaverton, Oregon 97007 or call (503) 259-9130 for more info!

'Click the Share button to create links to this email on popular social networking and bookmarking size like Facebook, Twitter, and Digg.'

Layout of the Week - BELIEVE Bo Bunny My Word Chipboard Album

Sorry about not posting a Layout of the Week last week.  Between regular duties, jury duty & a sick kid, time just flew by.  But I do have a special project this week.  I want to share the album I created to commemorate Jake's 1st Christmas.  I love the Bo Bunny My Word Chipboard Albums and BELIEVE is my favorite one.  These albums are great to display on your coffee table or mantle where people can grab them & quickly flip through them.  When I created this one, I wanted to use bright colors and traditional red & green to create a fun album the kids would love.  I chose Reminisce's Snow Globe collection as my paper & stickers for this project.

If you're interested in how to create your own My Word Chipboard Album, click the links below for step by step instructions and photos.  I created this class last Fall for the scrapbook store blog I write.  You could also use these techniques for other types of chipboard albums.

Julie's Bo Bunny Chipboard Album Classes

Class #1 - Gathering the Supplies
Class #2 - Choosing & Adhering the Paper
Class #3 - Trimming the Paper
Class #4 - Painting the Edges
Class #5 - Ribbon, Ribbon & More Ribbon

This last weekend, I started a new Bo Bunny My Word Chipboard album.  I chose FRIEND to create a birthday party album for Delaney with photos from her 8th birthday party.  She had a tie dye slumber party, so I was looking for very bright patterned papers.  I chose Limerickey from Basic Grey and it's perfect.  I'm ready to paint the edges, so I'm about 1/2 way done.  I'll be sure to share it with you once it's all ready to go!

But for now, here's my BELIEVE album for you to enjoy!  Remember, January is the perfect time to put together an album with all your memories from last Christmas...while you still remember them! :)

For all you VGNO partiers...

Would you rather have Bob or Jillian as your trainer?

(I've been working out with a group of mom's at school this week, to the Biggest Loser DVD's, and I'm strongly a BOB person!  Can't deal with people yelling at me while I'm attempting to work my as off!)

Help my store win a free Cosmo Cricket collection!

Just a quick note!  I really am working on this week's Layout of the Week post! :)  But first, a special request:

Please help my local scrapbook store win free products!  In this economy small businesses need every advantage they can get.  Please click HERE to go to Cosmo Cricket's blog and check out their new releases for CHA Winter.  I am a huge fan of Cosmo Cricket and these latest collections are beautiful, my favorite is Material Girl!  In order to help Whimzee's Scrapbook Studio win, please leave a comment under the post mentioning our store!  As a bonus, if the store you mention wins, you win an individual set of the collection too!  If you're interested in learning more about Whimzee's Scrapbook Studio, check out the BLOG I write for the store or visit the Online Community's SITE I moderate for the store!

THANKS so much for your help!  And remember to support all the small businesses in your area!

Layout of the Week - December Daily Album Part 1

This week I want to share my latest project with you.  I was looking through the blogs in November and came upon this great idea in two blogs that I read often by Ali Edwards and Katie the Scrapbook Lady.  The idea was to create an album with photos & journaling on a page for each day in December.  Both ladies suggested getting all your supplies together, some new, some old, collected from all your other left over past December projects.  Next create a page for each day in December, so that when each day comes, you can jot down a thought or two and take a photo.  Then when you print out your photos, you just have to stick them on their page and viola!, you've got a finished album to remember one of the most memorable months of the year!

Well, OK, that is an awesome idea.  And I had every intention of following it to a T....I gathered my old supplies and of course found some new ones at the store.  I checked out all sorts of holiday layout ideas.  I cut little number tags on the Cricut.  And then December came along.....

You'll notice that I haven't had a chance to attach some cute ribbon and put the number tags on each page...but they are coming soon! I also plan to add a few fun embellishments to some of my pages. I'll take photos of all the pages again, once the project is finished & share them with you!  (Oh...and I do know that Christmas is spelled incorrectly on Page 1 of my album!  So strange to have a manufacturer spell a word that important incorrectly, we are supposed to receive a new shipment of this paper at the store soon!)

I did shoot a photo each day, well, most days!  Some days I shot an extra photo, something that was important to me in December, a centerpiece, some special ornaments, so that when I forgot...as I knew I would...to shoot a photo on a given day, I'd still have one to put on that day's page.

I began my album in November, but I was only able to get 5 pages done before the rush of December began!  Then I was caught up in all the decorating, special festivities, party planning, wrapping & Christmas pageant practices.  Once the excitement died down, between Christmas & New Year's, I was able to complete a few more pages and have the photos printed out.

So I thought I'd share what I've been able to create so far.  I hope these photos can inspire you to create some projects to honor your memories of this holiday season!

Happy New Year!

OK, this is for all you VGNO Girls!

I did the macarena with a surfer in your bathroom because that's how I roll!

:)

I think mine's pretty great!

Now, for those of you who I've totally confused, consider yourselves invited to the coolest blog party on the web!  Ann's Virtual Girls Night Out!  If' you've got a blog, head on over & put yourself on the blog hop list.  If not, just click on the names on the list to join in!

You'll meet tons of new bloggers & some great new friends by participating every Friday!

Ann's always got a cool video for us, along with a stiff drink (you know you need one!) and a great party game, I like this week's the best!

Ann's one of my Portland "homey"'s, so head on over  & tell her Julie sent you! :)

(OK, totally screwed up spelling & grammar on that one I'm sure...)

Happy VGNO!

Happy New Year! Make one last donation to help others this year!

I know most of you probably read my post about my husband Dave's best friend, Brent.  Brent passed away 6 years ago from Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.  He was passionate about raising money to help others with the disease and so we participated & fundraise for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walk.  Our local walk is held here in Portland each October.  I typically fundraise for a few months before the walk and then put it out of my mind for another year.  This year, however, I have a special reason for sending out one last fundraising reminder.  An anonymous donor has stepped up and offered to match all donations received by LLS by December 31st, up to $100,000!  I'm very excited about the prospect of such a wonderful organization receiving such a generous gift!  So if there is any way you can donate, in any amount, no matter how large or small, your gift will be doubled this year!

Please take a look at my fundraising page for a bit of Brent's story and to see the last photo of he & Dave.  And click HERE to read the flyer about the anonymous donor's offer.

Thanks so much for taking a few minutes to learn about our friend and the organization he was so passionate about!  Enjoy your family and friends, and take a moment to remember those close you who are no longer with you, this New Year!

Layout of the Week - 'Tis the Season!

I'm so sorry I missed posting this layout as my Layout of the Week for last week!  Forgive me!  I was 'a bit' crazy trying to send out packages, cards & deal with Delaney's class party.  Oh, gee, I can hear so many of you who know me saying, "Shocking, Julie took on too many things at once!"  OK, I admit it, YES I DID!  But it's all over now & I'm on to taking on too many baking projects in one week!  But boy those cookies sure taste good!  Apparently my problem with not knowing how to say NO extends to cookies too!

Well, this layout is one of my favorite recent projects.  It's a photo taken last Christmas of Jake in his Christmas jammies just after he opened his Toy Story phone.  He was SO excited!  Who knew he would later eat off the number sign & I would have it handed to me by the nice lady who works in the nursery at our church.  She just laughed, having a little guy just a month older than Jake.  Then she told me what Delaney had said when she found the rubber key in his mouth, "You know, I told Mommy that the phone says it's for ages 3 and up!"  Out of the mouths of babes....  But still, his expression and those two teeth are priceless.

As far as the layout goes, the wood background is from LUXE (which sadly has closed up shop) and the other papers are new this year from Creative Imaginations.  I used three colors & two sizes of the Mark Richards mosaic tiles on this one, along with two different sets of THICKERS.  I'm always trying to create just one more title out of a set of these and darn if I don't use each set on 3 or 4 layouts!  Just mix & match if you don't have enough to write out your whole title.  And if you're, just a bit psycho, about color like I am, don't be afraid to paint them or just add a coat of glitter glue to them.  On the " 'tis," I used red paint & red glitter.  On the "season," I left them brown & added a coat of red glitter.  The "the" is created from Mrs. Grossman's stickers, an old set I have used many times.  The cute little letters at the bottom are some of my current faves from My Little Shoebox.

And do take a look again at Mr. Jake's darling smile, my next post will be yesterday's visit to Santa and he certainly isn't the one smiling!

Tips

Again, I'm mentioning Costco, but they really do make great large prints, like this 8 x 8 one.  Give them a try for your next printing job.

Don't be afraid to mix your font styles in your titles.  Just stay with one or two bold ones and try to stay with the same color or coat of glitter.

When mixing patterns, try a few large rectangle blocks on your page and round the corners for a unique look.

Supplies

Background paper - LUXE Designs - :( not around anymore

Patterned papers - Creative Imaginations

Tiles - Mark Richards

Titles - THICKERS - American Crafts

            Mrs. Grossman's

            My Little Shoebox

Layout of the Week - Christmas Past

Sorry I've been away so long! In the middle of my holiday prep and school holiday party prep that I haven't posted a Layout of the Week yet. I have a couple Christmas projects all ready to go, just haven't written anything about them. Time sure flies by this time of year. And maybe I forgot because my fingers have been too cold to type! It finally "warmed up" this morning...my car said it was 15, for the last few days it's said 12 on the way to school.  I know that many of  you are laughing at me right now, you know who you are...you're from the Midwest, Canada or maybe Antarctica!  But really, I'm in Portland and it doesn't get cold like this here for this long!  OK, we did have snow on the ground for 3 weeks last year, but that was a fluke...or climate change.  Of course just as many of you just ran to get your coats when you read 12, you're from SoCal, Australia or maybe the Sahara!  But I'm tired of pasting my daughter with Burt's Bees Lip Balm & that smelly, but wonderful hemp cream from The Body Shop.  And who wants to wear long johns under their clothes to school everyday?  I'm sure some of your kids do, but they probably also get to play in the snow at recess, we have no snow, just cold and a pond that's frozen over in our backyard.

Well, that's enough of me complaining, it certainly isn't that I'd like rain better, no way!  I just want summer back whenever it's convenient for me!

I think it's time to share one of my recent creations!  I created this layout with Graphic 45's Christmas past collection.  My mom recently gave me an envelope full of photos of me that she saved from photos she had sent my grandma over the years.  Grandma Muriel passed away a few years back and she had saved photos of all her grandchildren from the time when we were born.  I found these photos in my envelope.  They were taken when I was about 2 1/2, a few months before my brother was born and I didn't get all the attention any more! :)  I love how these old photos are square with white borders and the dates stamped on them.  I thought that they went perfectly with Graphic 45's style.  To me their retro papers go perfectly with sepia tone photos and the slight natural yellowing of these photos looks great with them.  I didn't want to crop the photos at all, so I let their shape dictate my layout and how I cut the yellowed catalog page to back them.  It's so fun to see my clothes and little pig tails, but my favorite part is seeing how my dad dressed in 1972!  I guess style really does come around again...check out those sideburns!  I can also see a few ornaments on this tree that I still hang on my tree!

I wanted to keep this layout from being very sparkly...I've been using tons of sparkle lately.  So I used a pack of Little Yellow Bicycle's felt die cuts along with felt ribbon from Creative Cafe and a few red pearls from Kaisercraft.  The next time you're scrapping photos from your childhood, or someone else's, check out Graphic 45's wonderful retro papers.  I've got a great project using their Transatlantique papers to show you soon! (probably after Christmas)

Don't forget to stop by Ann's Virtual Girls' Night Out, to get a few more comments for your blog, meet some new bloggy friends and maybe learn something new!

Tips

If you've got some older, maybe slightly yellowed, photos you want to scrap, check out the beautiful retro papers from Graphic 45.  Sepia tone photos look great with their papers too!

Remember not to crop all the background out of your photos!  Choose a few photos where you will leave in some of the background, especially if it's your home or shows a little slice of how life was at the time.  It's fun to look back & remember what life was like for you as a child or for your kids to see how life was for their grandparents.

Supplies

Graphic 45 Christmas Past paper collection (Graphic 45 Blog)
Creative Cafe red felt ribbon (Creative Cafe's Blog)
Little Yellow Bicycle self adhesive felt die cuts
Kaisercraft red pearls (Kaisercraft's Blog)