it's been a long time...

and i can't promise that i won't flake out again, but i've missed my crafty pursuits...

since i've gone back to work, i've had less and less time to do any cards... and scrapbooking hasn't been touched in over a year (having said that, i did just order a crapload of stuff from SU for scrapbooking)... i did force myself to make a Blurb book to chronicle my boy's first year recently... too bad he'll be two in less than two months...

anyway, when it came time to keep the domain name or let it go, i could just let it fall into someone else's hands... so, i'm back... tentatively...

avert your eyes!

please, don't look at my "Work-In-Progress" section... the same 3 projects have been sitting there since i started this damn blog... the sadder thing is that those two scrapbook pages need a little embellishment and a title and they'd be complete... but since knitting and card making have caught my attention, scrapbooking has fallen by the wayside... my goal this week is to finish those two pages and at least finish one dishcloth... oh, and make a "Twisted & Demented" card for my second card challenge...

in other news, i'm busy, busy, busy today preparing food and cleaning before my son's first birthday party tomorrow... so much left to do, yet here i am... with the assistance of the fabulous Ms. M, i managed to put together his birthday cake yesterday... stay tuned for pictures... they'll follow after the party is done...

'Tis the Season Scrapbook Page

Started: December 11, 2007
Finished: Work-In-Progress
Made For: J's scrapbook
Scraplifted From: Becky Higgins' Creative Sketches - Volume 2 - pg. 49 (very loosely based on this sketch)
Materials: 3 colours of cardstock, 1 patterned paper, silver eyelets, clear embossing powder, Christmas stickers
Tools: Cuttlebug, Red Tag Sale alphabet cutting die, Spots & Dots embossing folder, SU Christmas Mini stamps, heat embosser, MM Tool Kit, Mini Glue Dots, roller adhesive, Creative Memories Precision Point Adhesive, photo mounts, rotary cutter, silver gel pen
Cost: under $10
Would I Do It Again? no...
Notes / Comments: i did this layout very hastily and really just so i'd have a place to put these random Christmas pictures... i played a little with my Cuttlebug, which is why the red title letters are embossed... in hindsight, it might have been nice to tie in the embossed letters by embossing the red background matting for the photos as well...

the one element i really like about these pages is that i used the tag to label the pictures so i didn't have to journal (i didn't really have much to say)... not only did i get to heat emboss, but i got to set some eyelets... yay for embellishments!

there are two things that bug me, though... i love the patterned paper that i chose, but i don't really think it works with how i arranged it on the page or how i arranged the pictures on top of it... and i was left with the bottom left hand corner empty and i have no idea how to complete it without over-embellishing... Jes at Craft-O-Rama is sending me something that might work (little Christmas light die cuts) and i'm going to try using SU's Crystal Effects on them to tie them in with the stickers... my other thought is printing out J's first letter from Santa and putting it in an envelope there...

First Photo Shoot Scrapbook Page

Started: November 24, 2007
Finished: November 25, 2007
Made For: J's scrapbook
Scraplifted From: Becky Higgins' Creative Sketches - Volume 2 - pg. 35
Materials: 2 colours of cardstock, 2 patterned papers
Tools: Cuttlebug, Red Tag Sale alphabet cutting die, roller adhesive, photo mounts, laser printer, rotary cutter, Stampin' Up Round Tab Punch
Cost: materials were under $5, but the photos were a pretty penny from the photographer...
Would I Do It Again? yes...
Notes / Comments: yet another layout that i loved doing... Becky Higgins magazine has so many great layouts and i was working with my favourite pictures from J's newborn photo session where he was all of 10 days old, so it would be hard not to have a great page... it also came together very quickly (less than 2 hours while watching Evan Almighty, with the exception of the title that i added the next day)...

what worked well about this layout was how clean and simple it was... i drew my colour inspiration from the striped paper and i really like how the colours worked together... the striped letters in the title weren't just for aesthetics, but because i had run out of brown cardstock, so i used what i had...

one of my favourite things about this layout was the journaling block tucked behind the 5x7 photo on the left page... for scrapbooking aficionados this isn't exactly a groundbreaking technique, but for someone new to the craft it's pretty exciting (yes, i admit, i'm a loser and things like this excite me)... not only do you get to say everything you want without cluttering up the page, but it's a little unexpected, interactive treat for people looking at the page... it's also handy if you want to journal in your own hand, but you're not particularly fond of your handwriting... having an excuse to use Ms. M's Round Tab punch that i borrowed was also a selling point...

my only complaint about the layout is yet another newbie mistake... because i was using a striped paper that wasn't a uniform pattern and i only picked up one sheet, i ended up cutting it into 3 strips (2 for the horizontal stripes that anchor the page, 1 for embellishments / title letters)... when i went to glue them down, it became apparent that the stripes didn't line up from page to page... the easy solutions would have been to buy a second sheet of the paper or to cut it so the stripes were vertical... of course, i had already cut the strips, i liked how the horizontal stripes brought your eye across the page, and it was later in the evening and the local scrapbooking joint was already closed (and i'm impatient)... live and learn, i guess...

Monkeyed Scrapbook Page

Started: November 18, 2007
Finished: November 21, 2007
Made For: J's scrapbook
Scraplifted From: Simple Scrapbooks - November / December 2007 - pg. 109
Materials: 4 different colours of cardstock, 1 patterned paper, chipboard letters, vellum embellishment, thread
Tools: Cuttlebug, Olivia alphabet cutting die, roller adhesive, photo mounts, Cutter Bee Piercing Bug Rotary Tool, sewing needle, laser printer, rotary cutter, corner rounder
Cost: under $10
Would I Do It Again? yes, for another book...
Notes / Comments: my biggest complaint about this page is that, some how, i managed to cut the pattern paper incorrectly and there's about ¼" difference in the pieces (noticeable where the two pages meet)... of course, i didn't notice this until i had already stuck it down... oh well! overall, i like the colour scheme and it picks up on the colours in the photos, i think...

i tried out the Cutter Bee Piercing Bug Rotary Tool and with a little finesse it works well... slow, steady pressure on a self-healing mat and a ruler to try and keep lines straight are a must... i found it was easier to sew the embellishment if i went along the guide line and fully perforated the holes beforehand (i found that the Bug didn't really go all the way through the cardstock)... i don't think the variegated thread does wonders for this layout, but it was what i had on hand...

First Halloween Scrapbook Page

Started: November 18, 2007
Finished: November 21, 2007
Made For: J's scrapbook
Scraplifted From: Scrapbook Etc. - October 2007 - pg. 97
Materials: cardstock (background and title letters), 3 patterned papers, 1 plain paper, ribbon, stickers
Tools: Cuttlebug, Olivia alphabet cutting die, roller adhesive, Creative Memories Precision Point Adhesive, mini Glue Dots, photo mounts, corner rounder, rotary cutter, silver gel pen
Cost: under $10
Would I Do It Again? i love this layout and may use it for another scrapbook...
Notes / Comments: this was the first page i completed... i couldn't find chipboard letters that i liked, so i bought a Cuttlebug and the Olivia die to do the title... i love how this page turned out and besides the slightly crooked writing on the journaling section, i think it looks great...

welcome...

welcome to my latest blog where i plan to journal my various craftiness efforts...

i'm not a consistent crafter, nor am i especially fast at churning out projects... but i do like to try my hand at certain projects every once and a while... hobbies that i've done in the past (and keep coming back to) include knitting, crocheting and cross-stitch...

with the birth of my son i've begun to scrapbook and, by extension, make cards... with my introduction to these things, i'm slowly being drawn into the world of heat embossing (which i love to an unnatural extent) and stamping...

what i plan to do here is showcase both my work-in-progress and finished projects, as well as review my work (what was used, how i feel it turned out, would i do it again, etc.)... i'll be adding older projects first, so stay tuned!