Chain Maille

The latest project that I have picked up is chain maille jewelry.  It's a craft that I would never have picked up (most likely) if my husband hadn't decided to pick up some jump rings while we were at Joanns the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  He is working on costume pieces for the Renaissance Festival and since he ended up having some "wrong" size rings for what he was working on I decided to pull up some jewelry patterns.  I started a chain and it is going together nicely.

Halloween Ladybug

There is a huge craze about tulle tutus for toddler girls right now.  Visit Etsy and there are numerous different ways that "tutu" is being taken.  ((I'll get my process and pictures up shortly.))

Family Album Plans

There is some journaling that I would like to include in a project that doesn't fit into Melodi's albums or William's Air Force album. So, I am thinking that I will need to start a general family album.  I am looking at doing a 12x12 Pocket Pages album using a three ring binder album.  The idea behind this type of album is that you can slip in your uncropped 4x6 photos into some of the slots (or cropped down to 4x4, or another size to fit in a slot) and use other pockets for title and journaling, and not have to do large 12x12 layouts.

I am leaning towards using the We R Memory Keepers products (unless I find another line that has as many pocket page options for less $$, because the WRMC line, especially albums are $$$ -- Making Memories will not work they only have a single type of divided page, DCWV only has 12x12 no divided).  The album that I would likely use is the Classic Leather Ring, but the hard part is deciding on the color.  Melodi is pink, Shadow is black, and as we have more kids they'll each get a color putting purple, green and blue (maybe even yellow if we don't want to give a third boy purple) out of the running.  That leaves reds, oranges, and browns if we have four kids, but as I need to get started on this now I need to decide on a color.  They make several different pocket layouts from 6 4x6 (horizontal) or 6 6x4 (vertical) to 9 4x4 or 4 6x6 to 3 6x4, 1 6x12 or 3 4x6, 1 12x6 or if you're up to a full 12x12 layout you can use a basic page.  (That was a lot of numbers all mixed up and crazy so below are images of the layouts.)

ARCHIVERS LINKS (more examples available in "project ideas >> scrapbook layouts")
How to Use Pocket Pages to Create Easy Albums
Example 1: http://www.archiversonline.com/ideas/scrapbook-layouts-nl-disney-pocket-page-layout-3155
Example 2: http://www.archiversonline.com/ideas/scrapbook-layouts-grad-pocket-page-1616
Example 3: http://www.archiversonline.com/ideas/scrapbook-layouts-6x12-photo-pocket-page-beach-layout-3014
Example 4: http://www.archiversonline.com/ideas/scrapbook-layouts-ams-spread-pages-16-17-1622
Example 5: http://www.archiversonline.com/ideas/scrapbook-layouts-butterfly-epiphany-border-punch-hybrid-layout-3020
Example 6: http://www.archiversonline.com/ideas/scrapbook-layouts-nlschool-four-69
http://www.archiversonline.com/ideas/scrapbook-layouts-nlschool-five-70
Example 7: http://www.archiversonline.com/ideas/2713  (not pocket, but could work)
Example 8: http://www.archiversonline.com/ideas/scrapbook-layouts-ams-spread-pages-12-13-1624
Example 9: http://www.archiversonline.com/ideas/scrapbook-layouts-polka-dot-cell-phone-pictures-pocket-page-layout-3025 (8.5x11)
Example 10: http://www.archiversonline.com/ideas/scrapbook-layouts-nsd-family-film-strip-die-cut-layout-3052
http://www.archiversonline.com/ideas/scrapbook-layouts-nsd-family-supporting-punch-hybrid-layout-3053
Example 11: http://www.archiversonline.com/ideas/scrapbook-layouts-nlhappy-winter-92
Example 12: http://www.archiversonline.com/ideas/scrapbook-layouts-12x12-school-layout-491
Example 13: http://www.archiversonline.com/ideas/scrapbook-layouts-9-pocket-page-layout-2872


Products (We R Memory Keepers, search "Ring Photo Sleeve Protectors" on the ArchiversAnnex)

• 3 (4"X6"), 2 (6"X4"), 1 (12"X2") POCKETS
• 6 (6"X4") Pockets
• 3 (6"X4") & 1 (6"X12")
• 3 (4"X6"), 1 (12"X6") Pockets
• Multipack
• 4 (6"X4") & 1 (4"X12") Pockets
• 9 (4"X4") Pockets
• 8 (3"X3") & 1 (6"X12") Pockets
• 4 (6"X6") Pockets

Simple Stories
Simple Stories is series of collections that include paper, stickers, and other elements that can be used in a pocket album.  Archivers carries a number of these, but I don't think that I'll be using them, partly because I'm not too excited about any of the collections and partly because I have so much paper already.

Project 365

Some Really Cute Pages :)

Here are the first pages that I did for Melodi's second year scrapbook.  These are all individual pages with other pages in between in the chronology, they're just not done yet.  I was really excited about doing these pages which is why they're the first ones done.

While we were in Seattle for Easter my in-laws had pulled out my husband's high chair, riding toy, and a bunch of other toys.  It was really exciting to get pictures of Melodi with these things, I need to see if I can get a pic of William with them for another project.

We didn't do an egg hunt in Seattle since we didn't think that Melodi would be interested, but she was so we did one with William when we got home from our trip.  Since we didn't take her Easter basket with us we also did that.  I found a paper stack a few months ago and pegged it specifically for use on this page because I thought it would make great eggs.

At the end of May when Linda and Kimberly were visiting we were playing outside and Melodi found a ladybug.  She near tortured it!  This was the first page I did any inking on and I like the effect (black ink on all the white paper edges).

I volunteered at VBS this year so Melodi spent the week playing in the nursery.  I took the idea of the "DO NOT FEED THE PANDAS" sign from the decorations around the food donation cage, and of course staged the shot of Melodi "feeding the pandas."  I found the leaf paper at Archivers, same with the stickers, and printed the title using clipart off the Group site.

Card Book

When my Grandpa died in 2003 we took all of the photos and put them into Rubbermaid tubs.  The plan was to get together and go through the photos the next summer.  Well, we finally got around to going through the photos eight years later.  Among the photos was a book filled with greeting cards, and I really liked the idea as a way to keep Melodi's cards.  After some searching I couldn't find anything pre-made so I decided to make one.  I don't know if I was packaging up a package to mail or if I was thinking about the project, but I realized that a USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate small box was the perfect size for a stack of greeting cards.

Here are some pictures.  I'll come back later and add some explanation.

Plugging Away

Getting so close to being done with Melodi's first year album.  I've finished a few pages in the last couple days.

This one is from the Cricut Community Layouts weekly LID challenge.  They are set up to be 12x12 pages, but I do 8x8 pages so I always have to do a little creative adjusting.

www.pagemaps.com

New Machine, Organization and a Page

I needed more space to store stuff because even with the shelf I have my work space was always cluttered.  We had a small cabinet that my parents gave us on the other side of the room I work in.  I ended up going through the stuff in it to get it a little more organized, and decided that it would fit photo boxes rather well.  It can hold a total of 12 boxes now that we have taken the shelf out of the lower section.  I have 9 photo boxes, which hold the following:

• Cuttlebug plates and embossing folders
• Adhesive
• Scissors
• Punches
• Stamps
• Photos (2 boxes)
• Embellishments
• Mat Paper

I also have a couple old boxes that still have photos in them that need sorted through (these boxes will eventually be replaced with black photo storage boxes).  There is a drawer that only has my chalks in it, so it's pretty empty.  The top portion of it folds down to give a little more work surface and it holds pens, random stuff, note pads, staplers, hole punches, and my address books.  Sitting on top of the cabinet are my paper files.  I needed some way to organize my 12x12 paper because the folders I was using were only 9 inches high so I got some clear envelopes from Hobby Lobby and have paper (and scraps) sorted into them.  I also have a box that contains 8.5x11 cardstock packs and my 8x8 paper stacks.  It is great that I am slowly figuring out the best way to set up my workspace so that I have the room to accomplish layouts.

I also got a page done.  This is one that I had precropped from the batch of photos that we took between the beginning of January and Valentines Day.  I have my layout figured out but was waiting to get my Cuttlebug folders to us them on the color squares.  Over the course of exploring scrapbooking resources on the web I have come across a lot of "square" layouts where all the photos are squares and they have some color squares, and everything is laid out on a grid.  I haven't had a set of photos that really works for a page like that, so this is my take on that type of layout.  I used the Robotz font for the title and the Tiny Mosaic Text embossing folder.

Back After a Break

I've taken a little bit of a break from scrapbooking, but definitely not paper crafting.  My baby girl just turned one last month and while everything from January 5th through February 14th was printed before her birthday, I haven't had time to work on her book since I finished with the Christmas pages in early January.

My other paper crafting included a banner for Melodi's birthday party decorations, thank you notes, and a birthday card for my cousin Alicia.

I took all the pictures up through Valentines day, cropped them down, and did a little layout planning.  This weeks LID on the ProvoCraft message board was actually going to work for one of my layouts, although I had originally only planned on using the larger photo for this layout.

Melodi's First Birthday

Last Thursday was Melodi's birthday and we had a party for her on Saturday afternoon.  I had fun doing a project with my Cricut that wasn't a layout.  This was also the first time that I used design studio for a major project.

My mom bought Melodi a "Baby's First Birthday" onsie with a cupcake on it so we did a cupcake themed party.

I managed to fit all of the banner pieces on four 12x12 pages, including the frill that went along the top, using Design Studio.  I added letters to each of the pieces in DS to spell out "Happy Birthday Melodi" then backed the pieces using black paper.  On the four blank pendants at the beginning, end, and between words I added smaller black cupcakes.

After hanging the banner we decided to add a large cupcake above the banner.  I used a sharpie to define the frosting lines from the back of the cupcake, and also around the green backing of the dot cuts.

Another LID & Composition Notebook Alteration

I finished up this weeks LID today.  Thankfully it was another one that was easy enough to adjust to my 8x8 size.  I did a spread of Melodi "climbing" the stairs for the first time.  The set of 6 pictures I used really tells the story from beginning to end.  I used my Cricut to create a title tag and some embellishment flowers.  If I had some cute little brads I would have used them in place of the flowers and pearls on the title tag.  Each of the four flowers are different, even if it's in just a little way.

William started his first batch of beer today.  When he was finished with the steps for today he asked for "one of those hard covered books," meaning a composition notebook, to keep track of what he's done in regards to brewing.  I asked if I could decorate it with my Cricut and he said that I could as long as it wasn't crazy.  After some rummaging I found one pretty easily.  I ended up covering it in two brown pieces using my corner cutter to match the corners of the notebook, and two colored strips (one red, one green) along the spine.  It was necessary to use as many pieces because there was no way a 12x12 piece of paper would cover it completely.  I did the center artwork completely with my Cricut.  A couple days ago someone asked in the forum if it was possible to weld letters around a circle, and since then I was really wanting to try it out on something, so this was the perfect opportunity.  I do need to figure out a apostrophe for his name, and if he wants some more embellishments later I'll add those too.  It turned out great and William has already started keeping track of his stuff in it.

Laying It Down (or Layout in Drawing) - LID

I discovered the community (forum / message board) portion of the Cricut site and have been reading through a lot of the posts.  Every week a group does a Layout in Drawing challenge where they post a layout and then everyone makes a page using that specific layout and posts it.  Unfortunately they do 12x12 pages and I do 8x8s so I can't fit as many pictures on each page.  I enjoyed participating in this and look forward to doing so again.

This page is title "Christmas Round 2" because we opened a second round of presents in early January.  Melodi was done with presents on Christmas day so it was great that we were able to do a second round after we received the last of the presents.  I used my Cricut to cut out the title circle and the three poinsettias.  Stickers (I think they're CM) that I've had for years were used for the title.

Crafting Area Makeover

I was in desperate need of an organizational makeover in my crafting area.  My storage solution when I first set up my tables was non-existent.  I was using my entire table top for storage so it was a juggling act to get any space on the table to actually create.  I had a spot for my paper cutter, which after I got my Cricut became a shared space so anytime I wanted to use the Cricut, the paper cutter had to be moved.  All of my stickers, pens, adhesives, and photos were in boxes in the corner of the table, and taking up a lot of space.  My Cricut cartridges sat up against the wall on the opposite end of the table from my machine, and I had 12x12 paper containers sitting off the edge.  I had said that I needed more light and when I had William come look at a layout I was working on he that I really did need more lighting.  Here are the before pictures, you'll have to excuse Melodi, but I didn't actually take before pictures.

Seeing as I was doing as much juggling of stuff while trying to create as I was spending creating it was time to figure out better storage solutions.  Originally I was thinking some sort of bookshelf or self-standing closet, that I could be covered up with fabric, closed with doors, or zip up.  When I mentioned to William that I needed some storage we stopped by the hardware store to look at options.  We ended up deciding on a shelf above my tables.  After returning home to consult the tape measure and William working a couple days, we bought a 11.75in x 97in shelf and 6 brackets.  We also looked at lights, but decided to wait to see what the shelf looked like after it was up.  William cut the shelf into two pieces so that it could wrap around the corner, found the studs, and put up the shelf.  Now that the shelf was up we went back to look at lights and decided on a set of three puck lights, that another light could be added to if needed.

The shelf turned out great! The only thing left to do is tidy up the lighting wires.  Everything has its place which makes it much easier for me to create since I have the table completely opened up.  The only things that live on the table are my Cricut and paper cutter.  My Cricut cartridges, tools, and manuals live on the short side of the shelf above the paper cutter.  This the closest spot to the computer that I have Design Studio loaded on.  in the corner (unaccessable without some work) are my scrapbooks that are a work in progress, but not actively being worked on (wedding, Air Force, high school).  Then we have tools (scissors, markers, adhesive/pen tubs).  The paper (12x12 and 8x8 pads) sat underneath some of the tools but now I have them standing upright within a Costco baby wipes box.  Next is my photo storage box which really only contains rejects from Melodi's book, wedding photos, and some other random photos from other projects (Air Force, Scott's trips).  Then we have a couple 12x12 bins that have paper that is not paper I normally reach for.  One has the paper I've had since I (with my mom) started scrapping, we're talking from the trip my family took to Hawaii in elementary school, maybe junior high.  The other has paper for my wedding and Air Force albums.  I've got some file folders that contain loose leaf paper, scrap paper, and stencils.  On top of these bins I have my sticker files.  Then I have my really current projects (the ones that I am actively working on).  The pink binder is Melodi's baby book (you know, the one that you write in all the firsts, keep track of growth and immunizations, and tell stories), the purple book is Melodi's state book (keeping track of the states that she has been to), and the pink scrapbook is Melodi's first year book (I'm almost at 80 pages, 40 sleeves, complete and just bought more sleeves to insert so that I can finish up the book after Melodi's birthday next month).  Finally, we have my cards bin, that I have all of my note cards in, along with return labels and stamps.

 

It's been great getting to create in my new space because I actually have the space to spread everything out.  I can even have six pages out at a time.  Yeah, my general December pictures are going to take six pages.

Clearance Cartridges

Last night I was looking at the Michaels sales ad to see if there was any paper on sale for my mom and saw that they were having a $9.99 clearance sale on select cartridges.  As a result I headed to Michaels as soon as we (Melodi and I) were up and ready.  I'm glad that they had some, and even happier I didn't try yesterday since they only had two choices.  Today I picked up five cartridges (50 States, Jubilee, Lyrical Letters, Paisley, and Sweet Treats) and decided against several others.

Melodi went down almost two hours early tonight so I had some extra time and was set on determining why I couldn't get all of the cartridges that I own to show up in Design Studio.  I had done a font pack patch when I was getting set up at the end of December which helped with some of the cartridges, but after today I was still missing three.  After consulting the Cricut forums and some other blogs I found that I needed to do a basic DS patch.  So I did the uninstall, download, reinstall and it works!  Now I have access to all of my cartridges in DS.

Haven't done any scrapping this evening, not sure I'll get around to it, but maybe a little later.

Deck the Halls Page is Finally Finished

I finally got all the pieces figured out and stuck down for the "Deck the Halls" page of Melodi's album, a two page spread that was three days in the making.  Overall it turned out really well, even if I ended up doubling up on photos from the page that has our JCP pictures.

I'm still trying to decide the best adhesive to use, but know that various ones will work best in different situations.  For the string of six sets of ornaments I ended up using adhesive squares.  It worked rather well, probably better than trying to use a glue pen.

I ended up recutting the ornaments for the journalling block using the DesignStudio to make it one piece instead of four to glue down.

  

I settled on a compromise for the title (once again the photo doesn't show the colors true) and used the semi-bright green behind the green dot for the shadowing. I attempted to create an additional cream backing using a larger size of the shadow (semi-bright) but it didn't work at all.