Christmas Scrapping

I had a little down time over the long holiday weekend (I'm actually glad George W. declared the day after Christmas a holiday this year!).

So here is one of my layouts from our dinner on Christmas night - nothing too fancy - just K&Company paper and embellishments that I bought at Scrapbooks-Plus and at a K&Company "outlet" store when I was out in Kansas City back in November.

The card stock background in Bazzill and I used the Martha Stewart snowflake border punch (another Christmas present) on the bottom blue edge. I think I like it!!

Merry Christmas

What a busy Christmas!! With 23 people for dinner on Christmas Night, I spent most of Christmas in the kitchen (but didn't change out of my PJs until 5:00pm!!)

Today, the day after Christmas, is "Do-whatever-you-want Day". That's what we declare it in the Mozer household anyway. So today I cleaned my scrapbook room to make room for all the new goodies I got for Christmas that I can't wait to use in my designs...Martha Stewart glitter in every color, Martha Stewart punches and stamps (and that cute little snowflake border punch), a new Sissix machine with a couple of new dies, new cartridges for my Cricut, and a host of patterned papers and embellishments. It's going to be a great new year!!

Here's a couple of photos from this holiday (haven't had time to scrap them yet!) - my husband and I after a long day of cooking just before the big meal and three of my four boys on Christmas Eve (the other one was working).

I truly hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

S~

A Long Time

It has been two months since I posted - OUCH!! Sorry to all of you that look at my blog - I have just been overwhelmed at work - so overwhelmed that I was unable to teach a class in December at Scrapbooks-Plus. I promise to do better in the coming year.

I do have another class. It's a Christmas layout but won't be taught until January 27 (I usually teach the third Tuesday of the month, but with the inaugeration that Tuesday, I have postponed for a week.

"Joy" is created using the WASSAIL line from Basic Grey and lots of glitter from Martha Stewart. Come join me on Tuesday, January 27, 2009 6:00pm - 8:30pm at Scrapbooks-Plus. Cost of the class is $20. If you want a kit ( if you don't live in the area we can send you a kit as long as you pay for the postage) please let them know when you sign up. Call (703) 263-9503 to reserve your spot or order your kit.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

My Guys - November Basic Grey Class

I was really torn about this month's class - go with the more popular "girl" layouts using the Urban Prairie line, create a two-page spread using the Offbeat line that highlights kids school pictures and their class photo, or go completely the other way and design a masculine layout using the natural hues of the newest Granola line...Well, looks like the boys win!

I chose the blues, grays, and charcoal palette of the line to compliment manly photos as well as black and white photography. And the really cool thing about this layout is the use of beer tops - yes, the pop top tabs from my husband's Budweiser cans - as the hooks to hang the photo tag mats from the top border. I painted them black allowing a little of the silver to shine through for a distressed look.

You can see how great the page looks with a photo - I've included last summer's portrait of my boys to demonstrate how great the focal page can highlight a terrific photo. The class is Tuesday November 18 for 6:00pm - 8:30pm at Scrapbooks Plus in Chantilly (703) 263-9503, Virginia. Cost is $20. If you can't make the class, call for a kit that you can either pick up, or we'll mail it to you provided you cover the costs of shipping.

Feeling Froggy

Misty had asked about using some old Basic Grey "frog" paper from the discontinued Color Me Silly line. I did a layout about a year ago using it for my nephew's third birthday - hard to believe he just turned five and I still haven't scrapped his fourth birthday yet. Anyway Misty (and anyone else who is interested in new uses for old paper), here's the layout - it is nearly all Basic Grey product with Bazzill cardstock. I have a few "frog" eyelets in my stash I can "loan" if you can't find them!

Enjoy!

Show off photography using Anna Griffin Sierra

As promised from the Scrapbooks-Plus blog, I have posted here some of the many pages that fill my 8x8 album using the Anna Griffin Sierra line of papers.

October Basic Grey - Bewitched

Ready for Halloween? Although I'm not much on "themed" pages, I figured it was time for one. I wanted so much to use the Eva line of Basic Grey's newest patterned papers, but the floral and pinks of some of that line just wouldn't work for Halloween. So I went with the purples and greens of the Eva line (with a touch of black cardstock and Doodlebug "beetleblack" glitter), a couple of Martha Stewart punches, a few cobwebs and a Black wooden cat, we have ourselves a Halloween spread fit for all of the bewitching little goblins that come to your door on October 31. I have even posted what the left page looks like with a non-Halloween photo (believe it or not, this is my niece on the beach in July!). I personally think it looks (she looks) great!

The class is Tuesday, October 21 from 6:00 - 8:30 pm at Scrapbooks Plus in Chantilly. Call the store at 703 263-9503 to reserve your spot or order your kit. If you can't make the class or get to the store, we'll ship to you as long as you pay for the shipping costs. Cost of the class/kit is $20 (let them know at the desk when you call if you want a kit). Hope to hear from you soon.

A Weekend of Cropping!

I attended my first crop at Scrapbooks Plus on Friday night and had a great time. I usually crop at home, but with my husband and kids out of town for the weekend, I thought"getting out" would do me some good. And it sure did! I got a ton of "work" done. I worked on my Design Team projects a bit (more on that to come later), but also got a number of pages done for my own books - my style, my paper choices, my way. I did manage a few layouts for Basic Grey that I posted up to their web site (we'll see if they like any of them), but mostly what I completed was just for me and my family.

I've posted a couple of layouts I actually managed to finish. Hopefully my progress this weekend will motivate you to get cropping!

"September" Basic Grey Class

As the summer draws closer to its end, I decided to make a class to highlight activities during one of my favorite month's, September. The layout uses the newest line from BASIC GREY - Ambrosia. I love the spicy oranges and reds offset by the smokey neutrals in this line. Just perfect for displaying the last days of summer! I purposely left the title off this month's design to provide you more flexibility in the photos you select. I have included the lovely poem, September by John Updike, for your journalling box (your option if you use it or not on your layout).

Class is Tuesday September 16, 2008 starting at 6:00 pm til 8:30 pm at Scrapbooks Plus in Chantilly, Virginia. Cost is $20. call (703) 263-9503 to sign up or if you can't attend and want a kit with full color instructions, call before September 14 to reserve yours.

Anna Griffin Sierra - Second page

Just finished the Anna Griffin class taught at Scrapbooks Plus today. This month we used the Sierra line of papers - a line of kraft papers that I absolutely LOVE!! (So much so that you may see more of them in my Designer-of-the-Month assignment coming up in September)

There was a recipe envelope folder that was included in the class that I opted out of doing (since I would never use it and wasn't in the mood for the frustration that I knew must be coming with all of those folds!!). So I designed a second page for the layout - with Pam's help in tying the two together. I used only the product in the kit and still have a ton of materials left over. The only changes I made to the orginal design of the first page was to use the brown felt instead of the green and to run a .75" of the red patterned paper under the mats to tie the pages together.

I'm Back!!

Just got back from over two weeks on Bald Head Island - one of our favorite spots one the southern tip of the North Carolina Coast. With beautiful weather nearly the entire trip, I didn't get too much scrapping done but did manage a few pages from our trip over spring break to the Hawaiian Islands. Both layouts are using the Euphoria line of papers from Basic Grey. I'll be sending these for my monthly design submittal to Basic Grey. You can visit the website www.basicgrey.com and look under "gallery" to find my designs.

Giraffe Kisses

I couldn't resist using the Basic Grey Chipboard shape stickers of the giraffe to create this page. We were at Lion Country Safari in West Palm Beach over Christmas. Nicky had just finished his chicken nuggets with ketchup when we went to feed the giraffes. He had just a little bit of the ketchup left on his face. I guess the giraffe likes ketchup a whole lot more than the wafers, so it gave Nicky a big lick. I just happened to get the photo (albeit a little out of focus) but good enough!

All the product (except the journaling box) is Basic Grey's Sugared line. Hard to believe with all those pinks and pastels in that line, I could create such an earthy layout.

Enjoy!

How about this for tranquility? My younger sons took the canoe out on the pond all by themselves this weekend. And no one ended up in the water (not by accident anyway). I spent most of the weekend at the GAS conference in Chantilly and took some delightful classes. The SEI classes were, as always, outstanding. I also enjoyed Tracy Austin's "exacto knife" classes on cutting window titles and great window frames for pages. Hope most of you were able to hit the show and "shopped til you dropped". Stay tuned... I'll post some of my latest creations throughout this week.

On the Hunt for Fishes Design and Instructions

This is a very simple design that highlights a main photo and three smaller supporting photos. This design is great for scrapping beach photos (the focal picture might be the finished sand castle and the three supporting photos are pics of your kids building it, as an example) You can make this design with any coordinating paper that you like. You just need a stripe, a light patterned paper with small prints, a darker coordinating paper with larger print and small bit of coordinating card stock. (this is a great layout to use left overs from other projects). I used the Scenic Route Grafton papers in the Scrapbooks Plus Design Team kit for the month of June. My striped paper is "Tyson Street", lighter patterned paper is "Chapman Street". The darker patterned paper used to make the circle and the embellishments is "Wharf Street".You’ll need:
1 –12x12 sheet Striped paper
2 different coordinating patterned papers
(one light background, one darker background)
1 sheet coordinating cardstock (8.5 x 11 is fine)

one 6 ½” x 6 ½” photo
three 2 ¼" supporting photos
two medium sized embellishments (flowers, cut design from patterned paper, etc.)
a few buttons, coordinating ribbon (optional)

Cuts:
Striped paper 5”x12”
Darker background patterned paper 6 ½” diameter circle
Card stock 2 ½” x 9”

Assembly Instructions:

1. Use the lighter patterned paper as the background.
2. Adhere the Striped paper 1 ½ “ from the top.
3. Adhere ribbon across the top seam to cover the joint between the papers.
4. Next adhere the circle ½” from the bottom and from the left side.
5. Adhere large photo 2” from the bottom and 1 5/16” from the right side of the background paper.
6. Adhere the cardstock strip flush with the top of the background paper and 1 5/16” from left side of the background paper over lapping onto the large photo.
7. Adhere your small photos with an 1/8” from the top, sides and bottom. You’ll need to leave the space between the first and second photo for the embellishment. (Note, I stitched down the left edge of the photo strip. You can leave it plain, add a different ribbon piece, rub-on stitching, etc. - If your embellishments are busy, leave it bare)
8. Add your embellishments, a little ribbon at the bottom of the photo, a few buttons, title and journaling and you’re done!

Twenty Minute Makes

I don't know if it's me or it's just the way it is for everyone, but there aren't enough hours in the day to do all that needs doing, plus find time to indulge in my favorite past time - scrapping. So I decided to find cool ways to add new techniques to layouts without alot of time. My inspiration was hundreds of vacation photos and a pile of supplies left over from an SEI Iron-on class I recently taught at Scrapbooks Plus . So I set out to see how I could use them- fast. The result - my first "Twenty Minute Make"

The first layout is my sample for the instructions, which are available in color at the store. The second layout is the one I did for myself of my son showing off his purple leis next to the Tiki Man. You'll note that the neutral tones of the Madera Island paper allows you to coordinate the layout to the prominent color in your photograph.

And I timed myself - iron-on and all, I made the second layout in 20 minutes. Now granted, there was no time for cutting a fancy title or printing computer journaling (but sometimes handwriting your title and journaling can be liberating!).

ONLY TWENTY MINUTES!! I was amazed I could pull it off. I promise you can too!! On your next trip to the store ask for the SEI Madera Island supplies and pick up an instruction sheet.

You’ll Need:
1 sheet of 12x12 Dk Brown Cardstock
1 sheet each of SEI’s Madera Island 12x12
- Arboles Flocked, Corteza, Cebollas
SEI Madera Island Iron-ons
SEI die cut tags
One sheet 8 ½”x 11 of vellum
6 inches of brown or white ribbon
A favorite photo measuring 5.75”x7.25”

Instructions
Cut Flocked paper 7”x 11.5”. Tear the short bottom edge at a 30° angle.
Cut Corteza 6”x11”. Cut vertical strip from Iron-on package. Measure in 2” and iron the decal onto to the Corteza per the package instructions.

Cut 2 strips from Cebollas, one strip 1”x 8.25”, the other 1”x 8”. Layer the brown side of Cebollas over the orange side with the orange piece skewed from the brown strip’s edge by ¼ inch. (Note: If your photo contains a prominent accent color, like my photo of my son with his purple leis, you can use ANY cardstock color to pull that color out of your photos as an accent. Because of the neutral color scheme of the Madera Island line of papers, you can accent with nearly any color – green, pink, yellow and even hot fuchsia purple! See my sample at ScrapbooksPlus as another example. Simply make the 1” x 8.25” strip and the photo corner – see instructions below – out of the coordinating cardstock)

Cut a third portion of Cebollas 1.5”x 3” for a photo corner. From the center fold the corners to the long edge making a triangle that will form a photo corner.
Tear vellum 3”x 9.5”.

Using the Dark Brown Cardstock as your background, adhere Flocked first, then overlap Corteza with equal distance on top and bottom margins. Adhere vellum no more than ½ inch to the right of the iron-on embellishment. Place photo corner on the right lower corner of photo. Adhere photo 3 1/16” from the right edge of the Flocked paper. Adhere strips of Cebollas to the top. Tie ribbons on tags. Add tag, title, and journaling and you’re done.

Basic Grey Class "GROW"

My peonies, iris, rhododendron, roses and dianthus are in full bloom, inspiring me to create a layout to show-off the glory of my garden. I used the Sultry line from Basic Grey to create this two page layout. All it needs are the pictures which I will add after the class. Sign up to make this layout for yourself - Tuesday July 1, 6:00- 8:30 at Scrapbooks-Plus.

Birthday Wishes - June's Basic Grey Class

Using the newest CUPCAKE line for Basic Grey, I've created a two-page birthday to celebrate anyone's birthday at any age. In addition to the Basic Grey fibers and papers, I used their "Build a Clown" crystal stamps to make a custom embellishment. This class is Tuesday June 17 from 6:00pm to 8:30pm at Scrapbooks Plus in Chantilly Virginia. Come join us for a ton of fun!

Make and Take from National Scrapbook Day at Scrapbooks-Plus

To celebrate National Scrapbook Day, I developed a make-and-take demonstration for Scrapbooks-Plus on Saturday May 3. As part of that demonstration, I showed participants how the make-and-take, a cute vintage photo frame using Melissa Frances papers, could be used in a single page layout. To replicate this layout, you'll need to select two patterned papers from the newest Melissa Frances line. I suggest "Celsey" as the background. Depending on which make-and-take kit you chose, you will want to use a different pattern for the 5"x12" torn strip. My make-and-take frame was from"Peaceful" so I used "Isabel" for my strip. I used torn blue and white vellum for the journaling and title blocks and the tag with a little extra blue ribbon for the bottom embellishment. The white vintage frames are also from Melissa Frances. The brads used on the tag and as the photo hanger are from Anna Griffin. All of the product used in this layout can be purchased (and if sold out by the time you get there, can be special ordered) at Scrapbooks-Plus.

May Design Team Kit at Scrapbooks Plus

I picked up my Design Team Kit from Scrapbooks Plus on Thursday and have begun my work. This month the kit is almost entirely Jenni Bowlin products, which to me has a similar feel to the Anna Griffin lines of paper. So I got out my Anna Griffin scrapbook for inspirational ideas. For the two page layout I have scraplifted a design from December last year involving pleating and the musical sheets. Since the palette of this line is not as bold as the line used in that layout, I am sure to make some

alterations to blend the colors in a way to pop off the page. Here's a peek at my progress so far.

Altered Anna Griffin Card

Once again I altered the card design from the ANNA GRIFFIN Class I took on Sunday at Scrapbooks-Plus to create this cute single page layout. I kept with the circles in the original design but gave them a larger background field to "play" on. You can create layouts from almost any card design with a little imagination and inspiration. Enjoy!

May's Basic Grey Class

I finally finished the layout for this month's Basic Grey class that I teach at Scrapbooks-Plus. I usually don't design alot of feminine layouts, but I needed something to honor Mother's Day. A single page version of this layout is published by Basic grey in their online Gallery. I used the Sugared line entirely to create this design, except for the Bazzill Mini Pearl brads. The Floral Lace Edge Punch is one of my latest Martha Stewart acquisitions and I just love the look!

Anna Griffin

Attended an ANNA GRIFFIN class at Scrapbooks Plus taught by Pam. Since I don't "do" many cards, I modified the card making materials in the kit into a 12x12 layout.

How totally cute!!

The World of Blogging!

I always thought "blogging" was some "cult" thing teenagers did, but the more time that goes by, the more things change. I was selected as a member of the Scrapbooks-Plus Design Team and was recently introduced tothe world of blogging and now I have my own blog site!! Who would have thought! So anyway, I thought this would be a great way to post and share my work.

I've been recently challenged by the design team leader to step outside my comfort zone of Basic Grey and boy themed layouts to the new My Mind's Eye 29th Street Market line of pretty pinks and pastels. Check-out my sneak-peek layout at the Design Team Blogspot.

So here's to happy blogging and a whole new way to use the internet!
Sharon