Happy Birthday happy2create!

I just wanted to wish my sister, Amy, a happy 40th birthday!  Here is the card that I made for her:

Happy birthday!

Love, Brenda

Happy Holidays!

I was in Target recently in the cat litter aisle - so exciting, I know.  I saw the most adorable Christmas gear for cats - I immediately thought about dressing up my kitties Sumner and Elliott and taking photos for our Christmas cards for the year.  I didn't buy the outfits that day, I wanted to get my husband's opinion first.  Of course he thought it would be hilarious, so I went back to Target last weekend and bought a Santa hat and beard.

Elliott was really good about wearing the hat and beard.  He seemed to forget that he had them on and just sat there and let me take pictures of him.  Sumner was good for about 30 seconds before he started to try to get the hat off.  I got a few pictures, but he looks pretty angry.  Normally, he is the sweetest kitty!

I used Shutterfly to create the cards and they are pretty adorable.  I'm happy to be getting them out on time this year!  I decided to make a layout with the photos.

I used the Studio Calico December 2010 kit, Metropolitan.  When I was in the beginning stages of planning this layout, I decided to take a peek at the SC Sunday Sketch which I rarely participate in.  The sketch made the creation of my layout really easy!

My favorite  item that I used was the green glittery trim from the kit.  I never would have thought that I would use this embellishment, but it worked perfectly on this page.

I'm heading to Wisconsin on Friday to visit my family for the holidays.  I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Brenda

Sneak peek! (Just to prove that I am working on something!)

I've spent all of my scrapping time over the past few weeks working on a mini album of our vacation to Paris last summer.  I finally finished all of the pages last night - the front cover plus ten pages.  Now I have to start on the journaling.  I bought five oversized postcards in Paris and I'm printing my journaling on the back of those, so I have a long way to go!  I don't want to share the album until I get the journaling done, but I thought I'd share a sneak of the work that I have done so far.  

This is a peek of the front cover:

I actually bought the album in a scrapbooking store in Paris - Le Temple Du Scrap.  I just had to make a trip there as part of my vacation!

This page is from the Louvre:

I tried to include as many ticket stubs and other little items as I could in the album.  

I'll be sharing the entire album soon - TFL!!

Have a good week everyone!

Ho ho ho!

I thought I'd share a Christmas card today that I made quite a while ago.  I had received the reindeer sticker on the card in a care package from Making Memories when they sent me a new Slice to replace the broken one that I had.  Around the same time that I got the reindeer sticker, Cards was having a style challenge to use green, red, brown, and reindeer on a card, so I thought I'd try it out.  This is the card I came up with.

The green and red patterned papers are from a company called Memory Box.  The background die cut stamp and the fabric brad are both from BasicGrey.  The pin is from Maya Road.  I cut the "ho ho ho" shape out with my Slice.  

I'm so glad that I saw this challenge otherwise I don't know if I ever would have used that sticker!

Have a great week everyone!

Thanksgiving Menu

I'm never very good about getting photos of our Thanksgiving Day and this year was no different.  I took one photo and it was of the turkey that we smoked.  I decided to make a layout with a post card that my mother sent, the photo of the turkey, and our menu.

Just a disclaimer - that 11 pound turkey and the entire menu was for two people.  Just me and my husband!  We've been doing really good eating the leftovers.  My favorite way to use Thanksgiving leftovers is to make turkey empanadas.  So yummy!

I used mostly the November 2011 Studio Calico kit for the layout.  The frame was from an earlier kit and   I used some older Making Memories letter for the word 'pull.'  My mother had written a note on the back of the postcard and I wanted to include that on the layout.

I created a little tag with her note printed on it and hid the journaling behind the postcard.  

Have a great week everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wanted to share a quick Thanksgiving card I made for my husband's grandmother.  She's 91, so she really enjoys getting cards in the mail (especially handmade!)

I used a lot of random scraps on this card.  I don't really have any Thanksgiving themed supplies, but I found these chipboard acorns from Basicgrey and a "THANKFUL" rub-on from Pink Paislee. 

I took a vacation day today, so this morning is the official start of a five-day weekend.  Yay!  Off to start the day with a hot yoga class and then grocery shopping for the big meal. 

Have a great holiday everyone!

Where did the summer go?

This past summer seemed to go by sooooo quickly!  At the beginning of the summer, I told my husband that I wanted the two of us to come up with a list of things that we wanted to do during summer.  Well, we never even got around to writing out the list and the summer passed by with most of the things that would have been on the list not getting done.  This layout is my list for next summer - no excuses this time!  

I used the Studio Calico October 2011 kit, Field Guild for this layout.  Field Guide is one of my favorite kits so far!  The kit included two rolls of washi tape and I used a bit of each on this layout.  I don't find washi tape really easy for me to use on layouts, but I really like the way it looks as part of the title under the word 'summer.'

I used some photos on the layout of previous summers that make me smile.  The two on the left are from a weekend that we spent in Vermont two summers ago.  One is a covered bridge and the other is a field of sunflowers.  The photo on the right is of my husband taking our niece out sailing for the first time  on Lake Michigan.  

I hope that we are able to accomplish more on our summer bucket list in 2012!

Have a great week everyone!

I've been pinned!

I was on Pinterest recently and saw that a card of mine was pinned for the first time ever.  I'm not afraid to admit that it made me happy to be pinned!  You can see it here.  I thought I'd share the card here as I know that a lot of people are looking for holiday card ideas.
I used a sketch for this card that I found on Pinterest.  The sketch that I used can be seen here.  It is from cardabilities, which I was unfamiliar with before I found this sketch.  Looks like a fun blog if you like to make cards, which I do on occasion.

I used mostly scraps from the October 2011 Studio Calico kit, Field Guide.  The velvet trim was from an older kit. The Merry Christmas stamp that I had planned on using ended up in the garbage (very cheap one from Michael's or something - apparently not worth the 99 cents or whatever that I paid for it), so I just typed the words MERRY CHRISTMAS several times and added a strip of it.  I used Mr. Huey SHINE on the snowflake and it added just a perfect touch of glimmer.

I've been adding twine to everything lately and I think it was a perfect touch on this card.  

I loved this sketch as it is so versatile!  I have also used it for a birthday card already with a ladybug instead of a snowflake.  

Enjoy your day everyone!

Potato Lake Theatre

We live half-way across the country from both my family and my husband's family.  We spend most of our vacation time for the year heading to Wisconsin to visit them, usually twice a year.  Another week of vacation time is usually spent in France, visiting my husband's brother's family - lucky us!  The two sides of our families live on opposite sides of the state, making our vacation time a bit tricky.  Once in a while, we are able to bring the two sides of our family together, which makes it a lot easier on us.

We were able to do this four years ago when my family, my husband's family - including his brother's family from France - spent a week together at Potato Lake.  My parents have a cabin on Potato Lake and then there are cabins at Rose's Bay Resort across the lake that we rent.  

We had a great time, especially my nieces and nephews who were meeting each other for just the second time.  The first time was at my wedding at Potato Lake four years earlier.  Kaylie, Olivia, Paul, and Elisabeth spent an afternoon creating a play and then they presented it to everyone after dinner that night.

I don't remember exactly what the play was about except that they were poking a little fun at my parents, Marvin and Jean, and that there was fishing involved (big surprise if you knew my dad!)

I used the July Studio Calico kit, Mid the Gap, for the page.   I also used my Silhouette Cameo that arrived in the mail last week!  I have to say, I am impressed with how easy it is to use and how great it works.  I'm hooked!

Have a great week everyone!

Happy Birthday to Me!

November is my birthday month, so I thought that I would start out the month by sharing two birthday layouts that I created recently.  The first one I made using an older Studio Calico kit, Paper Moon.  I had never made the folded pleat flowers before and I LOVE THEM!  I went out the next day and bought the Martha Stewart scoring board, which I didn't know that I needed until I discovered these flowers. Honestly, I had to watch a video on how to make them several times before I could figure them out, but now that I have the technique down, I will be making them often. 

For this next layout, I used the most recent Studio Calico kit, Field Guide.  I used lots of blue and yellow on this layout to match the shirt that I was wearing that was blue and yellow and a big '9' on it.

I did some sewing and stamping on this layout and I used my Slice for the 'happy birthday' and the '9.'

I never use original photos on layouts if they can not be replaced.  I scan the originals and print them out, which I did for both of these layouts.  I have a super cheap scanner and I have to say that the scans come out great, so I'm happy about that.

Have a great November everyone!

Welcome Baby

I created this layout for some friends of ours with the birth announcement that they sent to us when their son, Cooper, was born.  The birth announcement was so cute, I just couldn't throw it out.  We finally got to meet Cooper last weekend (what a sweetie!) and I was able to give this layout to them.  I realized that I had never shared the layout here, so here it is:

I used the July Studio Calico kit, Mind the Gap, along with some letter stickers from an older kit.  I used a lot of Zing! on this layout!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Gone Fishing

I love getting my new Studio Calico kits in the mail.  I look forward to it every month and can never wait to open it - I have to open it immediately!  The problem with getting my new kit is that the previous month's kit gets set aside and doesn't get as much attention as it should.  That is why I try to make as many layouts (that's usually 2 or 3 for me) as I can before the new kit arrives.  

I had some photos of time spent fishing this summer on my vacation in Wisconsin.  I was trying to make something work with the current month's kit and it just wasn't happening.  I went back through some older kits and found the perfect embellishments and paper for my page.  The kit I ended up using was from January 2011, Who's Who.

Everything on my page came from the kit except for the chipboard letters were from another kit.  I had to cut the tail off of a couple of j's because I had run out of i's in this set of letters.

The lake that we are fishing on, Potato Lake, is where my husband and I had our wedding more than eight years ago!  

I always feel good about using up some of my older supplies, so this layout made me happy!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Brenda

Mixed Media project

My husband and I were lucky to sneak away to our condo in VT for Columbus Day weekend.  The weather was amazing - near 80 degrees and sunny every day!  When we spend a weekend up there, I generally have a lot of down time, which I enjoy immensely.  I read book and magazines, nap, take walks, head to the fitness center for a swim or a hot tub, and cook a lot.  I would love to spend the time scrapbooking, but I could never be organized enough to figure out what I need to bring with me. I have, however, been able to work on mixed media projects.

I am a complete newbie when it comes to mixed media.  All of my inspiration comes from Kelly Rae Roberts.  I bought her book, Taking Flight, and there are a lot of interesting techniques in there.  

For this project, I first covered a 12x12 canvas with layers of old dictionary paper, using multi-medium to glue it on.  All of the patterned paper is from Crate Paper's Pink Plum collection.  I cut out the shape of the skirt on one of the pieces of patterned paper and then layered the other pieces on top of it.  The legs are just Making Memories paint (the color is cantaloupe.)  The flowers on the blouse were cut out from a border sticker in the Pink Plum Collection and the "Life is Pretty Wonderful" title is a rub-on.  I use a Stabilo pencil to outline it and add any detail, such as the belt.

The orange dots were made with a combination of Studio Calico's Mr. Huey in orchard and multi medium.  I "stamped" it with bubble wrap.  Initially I tried to stamp Mr. Huey directly onto the dictionary background, but because it was covered in a layer of multi medium, it didn't dry (at all, it really just pooled.)  I posed the question of the Studio Calico message board and Davinie from the SC design team suggested mixing the multi medium with the spray mist first and then stamping it.  Since the multi medium dries clear, just the color shows up.  It worked perfectly!

Thank you Davinie for the tip!  

Have a great weekend everyone!

Brenda

He Plays Guitar

My husband loves to play guitar and he usually does 3-4 nights a week.  He usually plays with a friend or two, so it gets a little loud at our house some nights!  I really enjoy listening to them though.  They play a lot of Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, and Pearl Jam.  I usually hide away in my scrap room on these nights, so it's all good.

A couple of weeks ago, he came home on a Friday night, started a fire and played all night outside.  He so enjoyed himself!  I love the way this photo turned out with just the fire as the lighting.

I used the September 2011 Studio Calico kit for the layout.  I really had a hard time cutting into some of those papers - I liked them so much!

Enjoy your weekend everyone!  

Brenda

Happy World Cardmaking Day!

I don't know if I will be making any cards today to participate in World Cardmaking Day, but I thought I'd share a Halloween card that I made a little while ago.  

 I opened a box of goodies from Northridge Publishing this summer for being published in Scrapbook Trends magazine.  When I saw the mini Maya Road chipboard trees and I immediately envisioned one on a Halloween card or layout, covered in Tim Holtz crackle paint.  This is the card I ended up making.

The patterned paper is from Memory Box.  The "BOO!" and the bat were both cut from my Slice.  I used black Coredinations paper with an orange core and sanded just a bit of the black away.  I inked the edges of the card and I also inked the entire tree in black before applying the crackle paint so that the black would show through the cracks when it dried.

Happy World Cardmaking Day, everyone!

Brenda

Saturday Night Pomegranate Martini

My husband and I usually spend our Saturday nights cooking a great meal together.  We might make homemade ravioli stuffed with gorgonzola with a brown butter walnut sauce or we might make it a Spanish tapas night.  We might grill lobsters or crab legs and eat outside.  Sometimes we make Thai.  We recently had an all habanero night with our habanero crop from the garden.  No matter what we make to eat, we always start out the night with a pomegranate martini.  I love them!

I used the September 2011 Studio Calico kit Glee Club and added some BasicGrey letter stickers because they were the perfect color for the word "pomegranate."  I misted with Studio Calico's Mr. Huey piglet.  I don't mist too often and I love what it added to my page.

Just in case you can't read the recipe:

2 oz. vodka

2 oz. 100% pure pomegranate juice

1/4 oz. grand mariner

Shake over ice, strain, and enjoy!

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Christmas in September!

I know, it is only September, but I was soooooooooo inspired by this video by Jennifer McGuire that I drove to my LSS, bought some metallic green ZING!, and came home to make Christmas cards.  What inspired me about the video was using the banner stamps from Studio Calico as Christmas trees.  How clever!  (I also was inspired to put some Mr. Huey Shine in my shopping cart!)

I used the same sketch for my cards as I did in this post last week.

This sketch offers so much variety - I loved using it for pinwheels one week and Christmas trees the next.  I made a set of four cards.

Here's a close up of the stamping:

The background paper that I used is from a company called Memory Box.  You don't hear of it that much, but my LSS carries it and it is beautiful paper.  I had a 6X6 collection pack of their Christmas line from a few years ago.  The various greeting are from Making Memories - I received a package of them when my Slice was broken - they send you some supplies to make you happy.  I used some Cosmo Cricket and some Jenni Bowlin stickers for the borders.

Anyone else starting their Christmas cards early?

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Card Inspiration

I'm relatively new to making cards and I find that I need a little inspiration in order to create them.  I found this "Style Challenge" from Cards Magazine for their March 2012 call:
Style Challenge - Colors: lime green, lemon yellow, melon pink / Element: honeybees & honeycombs

Interesting combination, I thought - I have a bee stamp from Studio Calico - I can do this!  I really struggled with the color combination though.  They just didn't seem to work.  Three days later (yes, three days!), I came up with this card.

It came out pretty cute!  I used bits and pieces from a lot of different Studio Calico kits.  I love making those rolled flowers.  I think they add a lot to a card or a layout.

I decided to try another challenge - this time a "Sketch Challenge" for their April 2012 call.  Here's the sketch:

Here is my card:

I used the August 2011 add-on kit from Studio Calico "Sandcastle."  I loved the sweet colors from this add-on.  The buttons and string were from my stash.

Thanks so much for looking!  Have a great Saturday everyone!

Brenda

Favorite Farmer's Market Recipes

When Craig and spend a weekend in Vermont, we usually head to the farmer's market in nearby Rutland on Saturday morning.  It is the largest farmer's market in Vermont with almost 100 different stands.  I love it there!  We were there one weekend in August and I took a photo of some baby squash in an egg carton that I thought was adorable!

We usually go to farmer's markets at least once a week during the summer and fall have have lots of different recipes that we like to make with the produce.  When I saw the American Crafts chalk labels that came in the August Studio Calico kit, Boardwalk, I thought it would be a fun idea to post some of my favorite recipes on them for a layout.  All of the supplies are from Glee Club except for the green American Crafts thickers were from a previous kit.  I used my Slice for the cob of corn and for the picket fence around the word recipes.

Hurricane Irene hit Vermont pretty hard last weekend.  We are not able to go to our condo until further notice because the only road that leads to it was washed away.  I have no idea if that means days, weeks, or months.  I really hope that the roads are repaired soon.  Leaf peeping is right around the corner and the tourism that it brings to the state is very important to the economy.  Vermont in the fall is amazing if you have never been there!

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Your Smile Makes Me Happy!

I don't normally use a lot of Prima Marketing products in my layouts, but when I saw the beautiful trim in the layout below at my LSS, I had to have it!  I just had no idea what I was going to do with it.  I took it out the other day and noticed that the packaging that the trim came in was just as beautiful, and I decided to use it in my layout as well.  

I had a hard time trying to come up with a picture that would coordinate with the ribbon, but then I remembered a family photo shoot from a couple of years ago.  We hung a quilt of my mother's over a swing set and then took everyone's photo in front of it.  I love the way the photos turned out.  I made a mini album with all of the photos for my nephew who was going into the army.   I can't believe I never took photos of the finished album after all of the time I spent on it! Anyway, I thought that a photo from the photo shoot would go perfectly with the Prima trim.

The product packaging is the beautiful strip to the right of the trim.  I used Crate Paper patterned paper, rub-on, and sticker; Sassafrass and Studio Calico letter stickers; Making Memories Slice for the large butterfly; and my favorite Martha Stewart butterfly punches.

The photo is my niece Olivia (again! - can't help it, she is very photogenic!)  I just love her smile in this photo!

The rain has started pouring here in front of Hurricane Irene predicted for tomorrow.  We brought in all of our lawn furniture, bought bottled water, and have meals planned tomorrow that don't require electricity.  Hopefully it won't be too bad.

Stay safe, and have a great Saturday everyone!

A technique, a tip, and a layout

Some time ago, I wanted a sample all of my mist colors on one piece of cardstock as a reference.  I sprayed my first four colors (in rainbow order, of course) and the resulting piece of paper looked something like this:

So, pretty, right?  I immediately thought that it would be fun to cut some die-cut shapes with my Slice out of this tie-dye looking paper and use it on a layout.  I had an idea for a layout using this paper this past week.  I cut the letters S-U-N-S-H-I-N-E out of the paper and also a sun.  I used the Handwritten Fonts Slice design card and I love this fun font.

So there's my technique.  My tip?  One of my mists was clogged when I was trying to spray the paper.  I tried running the tip under hot water, took the whole top off and ran it under hot water, tried pumping the tip madly....nothing would work!  I finally grabbed a toothbrush and just brushed the spray hole gently.  The mist immediately worked perfectly!

For my layout, I love this photo of my niece Olivia.  I love the bright colors of her dress, her curly locks and her amazing smile.  I thought my bright, sunshiney, tie-dye letters and bright sun looked great with this photo.

I used BasicGrey's Hello Sunshine line for this layout.  The patterned paper perfectly tied in the tourquoise, greens, pinks, and yellows of the photos and the letters.  Isn't she a cutie?

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Almost Twenty Years Later

Almost twenty years ago me and my now husband were in college and ended up at the same house party drinking.  That's all I'm going to share about that night....

I used the July Studio Calico kit on this and LOTS of butterflies and flowers.  I love the background paper from Sassafrass.  I hand cut the yellow flowers from a piece of American Crafts paper.  I love my new photo printer (well, not that new, but recently began using) as I can use it to print journaling on a 12"x12" page.  

Have a great weekend everyone!

Gerber Girls & Their Stories

I posted a layout this past January of the "Gerber Girls" - my great-grandmother, my grandmother, and my six great aunts (their last name was Gerber.)  You can find the post here.  My mother had told me that she would write a little bit about each of the Gerber Girls and I planned to incorporate her stories into a second page of the layout.  I finally finished the layout this week.

My mother wrote such great stories about her grandmother, mother and aunts.  I am so glad that she did this for me.  Thanks so much mom!

I used mostly BasicGrey Curio collection on this page.  I made the rolled flowers with a 7 Gypsies paper and a beaded flower embellishment that came in my April 2010 Studio Calico kit.  All of the letters, the bird, and the nameplate were made using my Slice.  I used Tim Holtz crackle paint on some chipboard on the leaves and vines.

Here is a close up of the left-hand page:

A close up of the right-hand page:

My mother's jounaling reads:

The Gerber girls have all left this earth.  Anyone who ever knew them, the first thing they will say is what hard workers each and every one was. That is the trait they were most known for. Was it their Swiss ancestry that made them that way, I do not know.  They were also known to be very frugal. I remember at a family get-together at my mother’s house, I walked into the kitchen to find them busy talking and washing Styrofoam plates we had used!  All of the Gerber girls married dairy farmers and all lived within 20 miles of each other. Aunt Leona – I called her Aunt O-nie for lots of years. My dad and Leona’s husband were brothers (brothers married sisters.)  The brothers shared their farm equipment.  Therefore, I got to spend lots of time at their house. I loved it ‘cause they had eight children, so I had lots of cousins to play with. Besides, they had more toys to play with! Aunt Katherine – All my aunts had a distinct brogue. That is one thing I remember about her. She was a religious person.  When she was in her 90’s she even went to China on a missionary trip. She wanted to die in her later years. So every year she made up a theme for the year.  When she was 97 her theme was “I’m 97 and going to Heaven.” My Grandmother Leah – Granma’s husband  (my grandfather) died in a car accident in 1935. Grandma was left alone to raise 7 daughters and to run the farm. I have heard stories of granma plowing the fields with a horse and walking behind the plow. During the years I knew granma she would live with elderly people to help them and also make an income for herself. When I was married she would help me sometimes. I remember her helping me peel apples for freezing or making pies. She was so frugal! She would get every tiny little bit of the apple that was possible to eat.  Granma fell and broke her hip. Then when she was in the hospital she fell out of bed and broke her other hip. She lived to be 6 months short of 100 years. Oh, yes, and how could I forget – granma was well known for her excellent pie making. I hate to brag, but I do believe I inherited that trait from her! Aunt Mary – Her husband (Uncle Fritz) was one of my favorite uncles. The story goes that I was so bashful when I was little that I would not go to anyone except Uncle Fritz. Aunt Mary only had one eye.  She lost the other one in the car accident that killed my grandfather. Aunt Selma – I remember her being tall and thin like granma was. She had seven children, but they were all older than me.  I do not remember spending much time at their house playing with the cousins. All together my aunts and uncles gave me 31 first cousins. (I also had 21 cousins from my dad’s side.) My mother Ruth – to describe my mom in a few sentences is hard to do. If only I could be half as ambitious as her at my present age of 65 I would be happy! We lived on a farm. She milked cows morning and night and also helped with the fieldwork. When they retired from the farm she started an antique business.  She would even drive into Minneapolis with this huge ugly van to buy antiques from estates. After probably 20 years of being an antique dealer she opened a Bed and Breakfast. I could go on and on about all my mom did in her life. I loved her dearly and miss her. Aunt Pearl – She died of stomach cancer when I was about 5 years old. All I remember is the funeral which was held at her house, with the dead body being there.  All of us kids had to play outside. Aunt Florence – She was the youngest and also my godmother. She married an Irishman who was 20 years older than her. They lived on a farm that was kept immaculately clean.

Have a great Saturday everyone!