Happy Holidays!

Authentique is quickly becoming one of my favorite scrapbook paper companies.  Their papers have a beautiful texture and weight that I love to work with, and they have great stickers and embellishments, as well.  These cards were made using Authentique's Festive collection.

This first card is almost an exact replica of Betsy Veldman's card made for the Scrappy Gourmet.  You can see it here.  Betsy's blog and the Scrappy Gourmet are both great places to go for inspiration!

 The next few cards were inspired by Betsy's cards, but I changed them up a little bit as I went along. The cute little felt Christmas tree on this card is by Making Memories.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!  I would love to have you leave a comment!

Many Thanks

I started my blog a few year ago to easily share my paper craft projects with friends and family.  I rarely share anything of a personal nature here, but today I'm going to do both.  For almost 8 months, my husband has been unemployed.  It has been a very difficult and challenging time for our family.  At times it has been very discouraging and frightening, not knowing what the future holds.  But through these past months, we have had the love and faithful support of family and friends. They have prayed for us, encouraged us, and some have even helped us financially.  So this post is to say "Thank You!" to our family and friends for all that you have done for us.  We are thankful and grateful to each of you who have shown your love to us in so many ways.

We also give thanks to our Heavenly Father for His love, care, and provision for us.  God's Word has been our constant source of hope and strength, and we would not have made it this far without it.  We know that God has a purpose for all that He does in our lives, and these past 8 months have all been part of His plan and purpose for our family.  We are thankful for God's leading, and Patrick is now starting his own business.  We appreciate your continued prayers as Patrick works to get his business up and running.

Crafting and blogging have fallen by the wayside these past 8 months, so a few days ago I got busy and made some fall cards.  I had so much fun combining some of my favorite paper lines including Authentique's new Thankful collection, Simple Stories Harvest Lane and Generations collections.

"Now thanks be to God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ" II Corinthians 2:14

Just Wanted to Say Thanks!

Sometimes it's just nice to know that the things we do are appreciated.  My father-in-law is a resident in a very nice nursing home called River Hills West in Pewaukee, WI.  The nurses, CNA's, therapists, and all of the employees are wonderful.  They take such good care of Dad.  I made these little owl treat bags to show the staff how much we appreciate the care they give to him.

 I used a Sizzix die to cut the owl "head", then scored and folded it over the top of the bag.  A scalloped circle punch, a plain circle punch, and some buttons made up the eyes.  Last, a small felt triangle makes a cute "beak".  After stamping the sentiment on the bag, I added some washi tape to finish it off.

I would love for you to leave me a comment and let me know what you think!  Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Beautiful Baby Card!

I needed inspiration for a baby shower card, so I chose this sketch from Page Maps' Card Maps section.  Page Maps has hundreds beautiful page sketches to get your mojo going!  They now have a link to their new Card Maps!  The card sketches are so cute!  If you enjoy making cards, check out their Card Maps!

Here's my version of the sketch:

I used My Mind's Eye Papers for this card.  Love the pink gingham!  The sweet chipboard baby stroller is from Crate Paper's Emma's Shoppe collection.  For the "baby" banner, I used a Basic Grey mini stamp, cut it out, and adhered it to the stroller with pop dots.

A cute little card that came together quickly thanks to Page Maps card sketch!!  Thanks for stopping by today!

For the Record

I love to pick up old binders from thrift stores and give them a make-over!  I just finished this cute binder to record my daily efforts to exercise, take my vitamins, read my Bible, etc.  Echo Park Paper Company has this pretty collection called For the Record.  It's bright, funky and fun!

You can do this with any size binder.  I simply take an exacto knife and strip off all of the vinyl cover.  That leaves you with three heavy chipboard pieces: front, back, and spine.  Then I carefully put the binder back together after covering all of the pieces with scrapbook paper.  I use Thermo-Web adhesive sheets to attach the covered spine, wrapping the paper around to the front.  The adhesive sheet adds strength.

It's fun to embellish the front of the binders.  I try to keep them fairly flat.  If I glue big flowers on the front and they get caught on something, they can easily get torn off, leaving a mess behind.  I used crochet lace, stickers and chipboard pieces on the front to add some texture and interest.  Here's a peek at some of the dividers.

The cute little tabs are from Basic Grey.  Love these!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!  

Best Friends Mini Album

I love scrapbook retreats!!  I also love a special place here in Wisconsin called Camp Joy!!  Our family has been attending Camp Joy's Family Camp every summer for the past 15 years.  The camp is located on a beautiful lake in Whitewater, WI, and they have recently added an annual scrapbook retreat to their  schedule.

I am blessed to have the opportunity to teach a couple of workshops at Camp Joy's Scrapbook Retreat on May 10-12, 2012.  In one of my workshops we will be making one of these cute little one-page mini albums:

Here is one of the samples I've made for the workshop.  This mini is about my daughter's friendship with a little girl named Corrin.  They have been friends from the time they were very little and are still good friends today!

I used My Mind's Eye Bloom and Grown papers to make my mini-album and the little photo mats peeking out behind each picture.

For the little journaling cards opposite each photo, I used Bo Bunny Gypsy Cut-Outs.  I trimmed them down to fit my mini pages.

I added only a few embellishments in order to keep the mini album simple and easy.

 I used some dies to cut a felt flower and some paper buttons to add to a few my pages.  Love this one:

I decided to leave the tops of two pages open and make tags to be pulled out of those pages.  The tags could be used for journaling and/or more pictures.  Cute, eh? 

I can't wait to share these cute little mini-albums with the ladies at the scrapbook retreat next month!  Thanks for visiting today!  

In Everything Give Thanks

The Bible tells us "in everything give thanks."  This is not always an easy thing to do.  When life is smooth sailing, it's easy to give thanks, but when the trials and difficulties come along (and they do come along for all of us), having a thankful heart can be a tough challenge.

One thing I have learned is that all things happen for a reason, and we may not know that reason right away.  However, one thing is certain-- God is still on the throne, and He makes no mistakes.  God is reminding our family to be thankful even during a difficult time that we're going through right now.  So, I am thankful.  I am so thankful that I know Him personally, and that He has given me His Word to encourage me during this trial.  

I was reminded yesterday to look at all of the good things God has done for me and be thankful for them!  As for the trial...."this too shall pass."  And by God's grace, I'll be drawn closer to Him, because He took me through it.

Supplies:
Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye So Sophie Collection
Brads: MME Miss Caroline Collection

One-Page Mini Album

I had a blast making this little mini-album- made from one 12x12 piece of paper!  There are many tutorials on the internet to show you how to make different versions of these little cuties, but I followed the one on Lowri McNabb's blog.  I pulled out my scraps from my last project and went to work.  

All of my papers are from My Mind's Eye "Miss Caroline" collection.  Stickers, borders, and banners are a mix from MME, Sassafras, K & Company, and Basic Grey.  For the banner on this last page, I hand trimmed a banner from Fancy Pants "Wishful Thinking" Banner paper.

Such a fun, quick project that would make a sweet little gift for a friend or relative!  Give it a try!

So Happy Together!

I finally made time to enter a layout challenge at my LSS!  It was fun driving to The Scrapbook Store today and submitting my layout based on this Page|Maps sketch: 

I recently got some of the new My Mind's Eye "Miss Caroline Dolled Up" collection and used it on this layout.  The distressed barn wood look of this paper is perfect for the picture of my daughter Anna fishing with her Daddy.  

I love the fan-folded rosettes that are so hot right now.  I made three half-rosettes for my layout.  I think they're pretty cute!

Look at this great butterfly (or is it a moth?) from the Crate Paper Random collection!  

I'll find out next Friday who won the layout contest, and I'll let you know if it's me!!  Have a great weekend!

Supplies: 

Patterned Paper, Layered Chipboard & Stickers, Journal Tag:

My Mind’s Eye “Miss Caroline Dolled Up” collection,

Stella and Rose (teal dots, green photo mat);

Chipboard Butterfly: Crate Paper “Random” collection;

Scalloped Border Sticker: Sassafras;

Felt Leaves: Papertrey Ink;

Doilies: Wilton

Other: rhinestone gems from my stash