See it. Live it. Doc|u|ment it!

Holidays in Hand Free Class!

If you haven't discovered the goodness and inspiration that is JessicaSprague.com you better read this post! She is offering a FREE class for the holidays at her website called Holidays in Hand. It is similar to the class she offered previously called Stories in Hand. You will get lots of journal prompts for documenting your holidays and she has tons of creative ideas you can use with or without Photoshop programs. It's easy to follow the class because you can log on anytime and see the material. Your class is saved forever on your user account so you can reference back to it when you need a refresher. It's her last class of the year, so you better toodle on over and sign yourselves up before the opportunity is gone!

Mistletoe Madness!

I've been making lots of cards to spread Christmas cheer! This batch features Making Memories paper (Mistletoe) and lots of QuicKutz shapes. I added texture with Stickles Rock Candy (snow) and shine with Glossy Accents (especially on die cut letters). I can't pick a favorite, so I'll just have to make several of each!

Don't you love the flourish die cuts as antlers for the reindeer!?

It doesn't show in the photo, but there's snow on that branch!

Here's an example of Glossy Accents over die cut letters.

Here I layered QK borders, buttons, and glittery snowflake foam stickers.

This one is 5x7 finished size. It looks like a lot of detail, but it's pretty simple!

I'm going to teach a class this month and you'll get to make all 5 cards, plus some bonus package tags! It's called QuicKards and it's only $20 at Scrapbooks from the Heart. Call the store if you're interested in signing up. The class is Saturday, November 21 at 11 am and your kit comes with all the paper and die cuts you need. You just bring your adhesives and paper trimmers!

Holiday Magic

I know that it is actually winter and Christmas is soon to come...once the turkeys stop wobbling! But I'm going to post this Easter layout anyway! Because at holidays there are always so many pictures to lay down and it's hard to send any of them to the reject pile! This layout uses lots of photos and just a few embellishments to add to the theme. You could easily make this for Christmas, Halloween, Birthdays...whatever you need it to be!

 

 

A Pocket for Your Posies

OK, not posies! Actually a pocket for your memorabilia! Whenever we go on vacation we tend to accumulate lots of brochures, receipts, and postcards that I later want to incorporate into a layout. Here's one such layout with my solution:

 

I used a clear envelope (normally used for 4.25 x 5.5 greeting cards) lined with a piece of cardstock. I adhered it to the layout over a photo mat. Now we can reach into the page protector and pull out the ski map and remember all the great runs we had that day! You can make similar pockets with baseball card holders, pre-made pocket scrapbook pages, or cardstock cut and folded into a pocket.

 

If your memorabilia is important to documenting the story at hand, don't give up on finding ways to incorporate it into your layouts and mini albums!

Linear Layouts

I like this one for lots of reasons: the people in it, the colors of the paper (BG Granola), and the funky letter stickers (AC Thickers). I cut the large flower from patterned paper and embellished the tiny flowers with some blue brads. The rub-ons are by Hambly Studios. I love all the shades of blue sky in the pics, too!

The layout is basically (3) 4x6 photos portrait style, and (2) 6x4 photos landscape style (trimmed so they are only 6" tall combined). Add in layers of patterned paper and your title with a couple embellishments, and you're done!

 

Here's another with mainly 4x6 photos. I used BoBunny papers, Reuse gift set by QuicKutz, the 4x4 branch die by QK, and a Prima stamp (owl).

 

One last linear layout for you! Here I have two rows of 4" tall pics with space left open for my crackle-painted cars. The title is created with Scenic Route chipboard letters (I will miss SR!). The patterned paper is Little Yellow Bicycle's Traveler and the chipboard shapes are by Maya Road.  So now that you have some inspiration for fast pages...go make some for your own albums!

Christmas Babies!

I decided to make a layout with all of my friends who have December birthdays (since I'm one of them, too!). I used Kelly Purkey's sketch from 2 Peas Super Sketches class as my inspiration. I like the tone on tone in the top margin (that's something I don't usually do!) and I love how simple the layout is.

 

I used Cosmopolitan alphabet die set by QuicKutz, as well as the scalloped border die and the circle journaling spot die. The rub-ons are by Basic Grey. The little sub-title in the bottom right corner is actually circles punched with a hole punch and then letters are written in with a white journal pen. I did a little bit of machine stitching along the bottom edge of the green margin using purple thread to match the rest of the layout!

 

Almost Forgot to Share My Costume!

I never did post a picture of my Masquerade mask! So here it is...I made it with circles punched from Fancy Pants Trick or Treat paper. The gems are by Prima. The feathers are just generic. Well, I guess you can't see the full extent of the feathers, but they stick up and curl over to the side. The little paper flowers are attached with Glossy Accents. The mask held up pretty well for 3 different nights of wearing!

Thrifty Thrives!

How about a fun layout that uses a minimal amount of product? I made this one using just a few thin strips of patterned paper, some matching embellishments, and some leftover fancy letters. The idea for the letters was featured in Creating Keepsakes a couple of months ago: trim the tops and bottoms of some super-fancy die cut letters and use them as borders!

 

I hardly even trimmed the photos! Here's a close up of the border made from letter tops:

 

So how do you use up your leftovers from kits? Post a comment and let us all know!

Masquerade Ball

This year we did something different for Youth service at church: we had a Masquerade Ball! The Wednesday before Halloween we let the kids come in masquerade costumes. They could be fancy and elaborate, or just jeans and a T-shirt. They had to wear an eye mask though. Some were plain, some were highly decorated! It was fun to see everyone's creativity in action!

We still had service as usual, but we did costume prizes instead of a game. The sermon revolved around letting down the masks we wear every day so we can be our true selves and let God mold us into His plan and purpose. I thought it was kind of funny when Heather refused to where her mask during praise and worship. She said it didn't seem very "worship-like" to sing praises looking like a peacock! Maybe you had to be there...but she did look like a bird with the mask on!

9 Ways to Embellish Chipboard Die Cuts

Pop on over to the QuicKutz Blog to check out all my tips for livening up your chipboard die cuts! I'm sure you have even more ideas than the one listed. Leave a comment and share your creative ideas!