Holiday Fun

Not much scrapping for me lately. I've been cooking, shopping, wrapping and all the other fun things that keep us busy during the holiday seasons. I really like the way this one particular project turned out though. I framed some photos for our families in shadow boxes filled with bits of sea glass, tiny shells, small peices of coral picked up along the beach here plus tiny shards of Ryukyu glass . I hope our parents and siblings like them!

This one is ready for mailing to my Mom. She loves sea glass.

Here's a close up of the bits that surround the photo. They are sandwiched between two pieces of glass.

And this one is filled with lots of tiny shells and coral for my sister-in-law.

I got a bit of scrapbooking done earlier in the month while at a retreat in Okinawa. I had this great view from my cabin.

Here's our group of scrappers. You can tell how much fun we were having!

And here' some of the pages I got done during the retreat.

We had lots of make-n-takes and mini classes too. So much fun! Glad I went because I'm not exactly the scrapping queen this month. I have taken my scrap room apart and am in the middle of a reorganization. I'll be clean and fresh and ready to go again in the New Year.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all!

Making a Star Album for Christmas

Over the years I have taken many of my favorite family photos during the Christmas season, so I decided  why not highlight a few of those in a star-shaped mini album? Star albums are 6x6" mini albums that open up into a star-shape display.  You'll want to make one for yourself as well as a few for gifts. They are fun to make and easier than you may think but do take up a lot of cardstock and patterned paper  -- so make sure you have plenty before you get started.

Here is the supply list I used followed by some instructions. I would love to see how yours comes out, so please share a link if you use my instructions. Meanwhile, have a very Merry Christmas!

Supplies

1. Three sheets of Bazzill Red cardstock
2. Three sheets Bazzill Yukon Gold cardstock
3. Three sheets of Basic Grey Wassail patterned paper
4. Two pieces of chipboard 6x6”
5. Two sheets of Bazzill Metallic Gold paper for cover
6. Two 12” pieces of 1” wide ribbon
7. Heavy-duty adhesive such as Red Line tape or Book Binding Glue
8. Embellishments of your choice

Cover

A. Cut two pieces of Bazzill Metallic Gold paper into 8x8” squares.

B. Place these pieces face down and glue the 6x6” piece of chipboard in the center of the back of each.


Photo C.


C. Trim off each corner of the Metallic paper leaving a 1/8” of space on each corner. (Photo C)












D. Add some glue strips around each edge and fold over the edges of the paper. (Photo D)

E. Lay the two pieces down in front of you and glue a piece of ribbon onto each. The long ends of the ribbon should run to your left on the left page and to the right on the right-hand page.

Building the Star Points

A. Trim the tag ends off of the Wassail patterned paper.

B. Cut your cardstock as follows:

         a. Red – 12x6”

         b. Yukon Gold – 11x6”

         c. Wassail – 10x6”

C. You should now have 6 pieces of each color. Fold each in half.

D. Run a piece of Red Line tape along the short inside edges of the Red and the Yukon Gold papers.

E. Lay the Yukon Gold paper on top of the Red paper and adhere only the edges together.

F. Lay the Wassail paper on top of the Yukon Gold paper and adhere only the edges together.

G. Each star point is made of three layers of paper and now that you have six of these together, you will begin to see the star emerge.

 

Assembly

A. Glue the back of one of your stacks to the left-hand cover. 

B. Continue gluing each red layer back to back until you have glued the back cover on the last page.

C. Decorate the inside pages to your liking.

D. Tie the album open and display on a table.

Playing with my Cricut

Recently I bought a Cricut Expression. I love that I can cut up to 12 x24 if I want to, though just cutting 12x12 is exciting enough for me. I've only got a few cartridges -- and I can see that I'm going to be buying a lot more.

For this page I borrowed the Summer Vacation catridge from a friend as it offers a Ferris wheel shape, perfect for my neighborhood! I glittered it with Martha Stewart glitter so that it very nearly resembles the real thing!

One of things I don't like about the Cricut is the inability to change the weight of the fonts. For the word 'hood' I wanted some letters that were hefty but not tall and my Cricut would not let me do that with the font cartridge I own. So I turned to my Wishblade to cut all the words in the title shown here as it allows me to stretch my letters in any direction I so choose. The Wishblade's downfall is the steep learning curve and though I've had it for 4 or 5 years now, I've never been able to cut anything on it but titles and circles.

So for ease of use, the Cricut is the winner hands down. I can't wait to get some more cartridges so I can get scrappin'! If anyone wants to know what's on my Christmas list this year, just let me know!

I'm soon to be a Guest Designer at Scrap a Little

I recently applied for a Guest Design Team position at the Scrap A Little blog. Helen is a fun person, with a spunky personality, great design sense and is always thinking up new ways to make scrapping fun. So of course, I wanted to play along with her sketches. I use her sketches quite often to complete my pages and even use them in some of my own scrapbook classes.

I had fun with the sketch (shown below) she provided for this challenge. I decided to use one photo instead of a series of photos and turned the sketch on its side. And here is what I told her about the page I made for the call:

Even though Okinawa is a beautiful place, someday we get more homesick than others, don't we? I used to watch every launch while in Florida; no matter where I was I would stop what I was doing to watch - as did everyone else in our county. We were all attached to the Space program in one form or another. It's so sad that Obama is putting an end to this program. I particularly love this photo as you can see Atlantis breaking through the sound barrier.

After a great three-day weekend attending some of Okinawa's local events, I'm feeling a bit less homesick today. Once Helen assigns me a month (or week?) to be the Guest Designer, perhaps I'll showcase something of Okinawa's beauty. I really can't wait to see what all the new GDs come up with as all the submissions were so different, so unique.

Here is a list of supplies I used for this LO:

• BoBunny Paradise Flight patterned paper
• Mosaic Moments Birch Grid Paper (Mosaic supplies can be purchased by clicking on the SnapNCrop link to the right) 
• Close to My Heart inks 
• Ranger Glossy Accents 
• EK Success 3-D Dots 
• And I used my Cricut for the journal block, arrows and title.
• And of course- this sketch from Scrap A Little

 

 

 

 

I'm So Proud of my Students!

Kazumi, Waka, & Yuko

Though they are only into month 2 of their beginners' lessons, this week my scrapbook students really rocked the Casbah! I gave them each a page kit courtesy of Helen Croft from Scrap A Little which consisted of the same few elements - a background sheet; 2 paper flower shapes; four strips of various patterned papers; and a journaling block.

I lined the table with punches, ink, stickles, flowers, ribbon, twine and all the tools they could want and told them to be creative! At first I was greeted with a look of horror and shock. After all, though Waka and Yuko had been to 6 classes, Kazumi had only been to one of my classes so far.

I did provide my simple take on the use of the materials. But after settling in with a few sips of our Beauty & Vitamin Drinks, they took to the project with glee.

It is the beginner's inclination to want to use every pretty bit of glitterati and ribbon in sight, but with a few suggestions from me, they each used the kit in entirely different ways. At the end of the day they were all so pleased with themselves and with their creations that I think they have gained in confidence and are beginning to feel like imaginative, artistic scrappers.

Scrapbooking is still in it's infancy in Japan, but these three girls have taken to the art wholeheartedly and that makes me so proud!

And here's mine:

I've Been Published!

 Check out the latest issue of Scrapbook News and Review to see 5 - that's right, count 'em - 5! - of my mosaic creations using the Mosaic Moments Grid Paper and cutting system. It's easy, it's fun, and it makes beautiful pages!

To order supplies to make your own mosaics, click on the SnapNCrop link to the right.

Going Postal

Do you remember the excitement of receiving birthday cards and other sentiments in the mail when you were a kid? These days with email being so fast and free, that personal touch is something I miss. It was always such a good feeling to know that someone cared enough to go through the effort to get that piece of paper to you.

Well recently I received a very nice surprise in my mail box. A handwritten 'Offical Poem on a Postcard' from my next-to-youngest sister. I thought the poem was sweet -- though she had labled it 'cheezy' and created her own little logo to go along with it. Here is a copy of her 'cheezy' poem. The front photos flip open and the postcards and supporting photos are behind the flaps.

As you can see, her poem calls for interaction, so of course I had to answer her in post card form. I hope she got as much enjoyment out of reading mine as I did hers.

And of course, what would a scrapper do, but turn the interaction into a scrapbook page. I used MT washi Masking tape to make the air mail-look border and Close To My Heart Flip Flap pockets to enclose the postcards. Surprise Trish! This is why I asked you for a photo of yourself sitting in your backyard. Thanks for brightening my day and bringing back that nostalgic feeling of opening the mail box and finding something special tucked inside!