Project Life + Tradiditonal Scrapbooking=Memory Keeping Bliss

Hi Stampers!  If you're an avid paper crafter, you will know that an important person in the biz, Heidi Swapp and her family, recently suffered a devastating loss when her 16 year old son passed away. Heidi has been posting a lot about the importance of preserving your memories after this incident.  What she has shared has spoke to me on a deep level.  It's so important to take pictures and PRINT those pictures!  Don't get caught with loads of them on your phone that magically disappear after an update or on a hard drive that crashes.  Seriously people, print those pictures and put them in albums to enjoy.  There is nothing better than sitting down with a photo album and just remembering both the good times and the not so good times.
 
Lately my kids have been taking photo albums off our shelves and looking through them.  They love to see what Kevin and I looked like "in the old days" (seriously, we are not that old!!!), to see where we lived, what we drove and what we did.  They have also noticed a big gap in our memories where scrapbooking and memory keeping was pushed to the bottom of my priority list.  My youngest son especially notices this with the lack of pages in his album!  Because of this, I am determined to get our memories into albums and Project Life is going to help me do just this!

In my Memory Keeping Club, we are combining Project Life with traditional Scrapbooking to create quick and easy layouts.  They had a good chuckle over my mistake on my sample layout this last month.  This is what happens when you are scrapbooking memories from 10 years ago....

I have pictures of my oldest son when he was 2 (he's now 13) on this page with today's dates.  Oops!!!  Needless to say, while this layout was sitting on my desk waiting to be fixed I changed my mind a little about parts of it (so club ladies, if you're looking at these pics wondering why your layout is a little different this is why!).

First of all, I fixed my mistake!

Here's what the whole layout looks like.  This month we used the PL #3 page protector in the assorted pack and some English Garden DSP for our layouts.

I am loving combining the ease of Project Life memory keeping with Traditional Scrapbooking! Here's a look at the journaling card I did for my layout!  In keeping with the planting flowers theme, I used the Handpicked Framelits to make a little banner and cut out that cute little garden shovel!

As I was making up this layout I was remembering the day we planted those tulip bulbs.  My boy was so excited to dig the holes and put them in the ground. And, he was very impatient at waiting for them to grow!  I also remember the look on his face when we finally saw the little green shoots of new plants and then when they bloomed!  We no longer live at that house, and I found myself wondering if the people that live there now still enjoy those flowers coming up every year like we did or if they planted something else in that spot.

Peeps, it's time.  It's time to print your pictures and enjoy remembering. Whether you have kids or not, whether you're married or single, whether you are creative or not...it's important.  I can help you do this quickly and easily with Project Life.  Seriously, it's as easy as sliding pictures into pockets...that's it!  Check out all the Project Life products in my online store and then contact me to order (or ask questions, or for help getting started, or to join my Memory Keeping club).

Have an inspired day!

Simple Card Sunday 12-Christmas Bliss

Hi Stampers!  Welcome to Simple Card Sunday.  This week I have a fun star themed Christmas card to share with you.

I used some of the Trim the Tree DSP from the Holiday Catalog as the starting point when I was designing this card.  Let's get started!

Step-by Step (cardstock measurements are noted in the video):

• Fold some Crumb Cake cardstock in half.  With Crumb Cake ink, stamp the star from the Christmas Bliss set all over the card and sponge the edges.  I stamped the star off on scrap paper once before stamping it on the card.
• Make a star frame using the two smallest Star Framelits and Crumb Cake cardstock.  Sponge the edges with Crumb Cake ink and wrap some Linen Thread around part of the star.
• Stick the Early Espresso, Crumb Cake & Trim the Tree layers together and then onto the card.
• Stamp the sentiment (from the Christmas Bliss set) with Early Espresso ink just off center below the Trim the Tree layer.  Stick the star on with Stampin' Dimensionals.
• Punch two little stars (Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack) from a scrap of Champagne Glimmer Paper and stick them by the larger star.

Here's the video so you can follow along with me.  All the measurements for the cardstock are noted in the video.

 And, as always, I have some more cards with this same layout to show you.  I must find this layout easy to work with because I have 4 extras for you!

I pulled out my Blendabilities for the flower for this one!

You can find the Very Merry stamp in the December Wonder stamp set in the Holiday Supplement.

If you look close you will notice I stamped some snowflakes on the All Is Calm DSP!

Can you believe it?  No stamping on this one!

So, which card is your favorite out of the 5 shown today?

All the supplies you need to create any of the cards featured today can be found in my online store.  Head on over there to do some shopping, or you can contact me directly to place your order.

If you like what you see and you are Canadian, I would love to be your Stampin' Up! demonstrator.  Send me a message and we can get your creative journey started today!

Have an inspired day!

Hello December No Cut Gift Box

Hi Stampers!  I have the perfect little gift box to share with you today and I'm super excited to share it because it's easy, uses one sheet of cardstock and has no cutting!  Every time a new catalog comes out I get together with my downline and we do a swap (it's so fun to stamp for a day with them and go home with loads of new ideas!).  At our last swap in August one of my downline made a super cute Frankenstein box and it inspired these boxes.  I just changed up the measurements to make my version bigger.  You can see the Frankie box that inspired me in my video!

This is what my stamp clubs made this month.  It features the Hello December Project Life card collection and the December Wonder Project Life stamp set.  Both of these products are available in my online store and in the Holiday Supplement.  The Hello December card collection is different from our other PL card sets because it has a bunch of cards that are the same, just different colors.  It's designed this way so that you have a "title card" for each day of the month and then have a bunch of different cards to accent your pictures.  It really is a fun set!  I did up two different versions of this box so my club peeps could choose a design based on which color card they wanted to use.

So are you ready to learn how to make it?  I have loads of pictures, a template and a couple videos for you today!

Start with a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock and score it as shown on the template.

There are some diagonal score lines involved in this project.  I didn't actually measure them, but when I was done I realized they were all about 2" from the middle score lines.  In the video you will see how I made those score lines...I promise it's easy and just involves a little pinching and creasing!

Once you're done scoring, it's time to glue and fold.  You should end up with something that looks like this (check out the video for more detail!)....

Let's have a look at that video I keep talking about now!  There's more detail about the folding and gluing steps.

So, do you want to see what's inside the boxes?  Each one has a cute little 3x3 card, some hot chocolate and a mini candy cane.

Fun, eh?

Did you notice the sparkly icicles on the snowflake box?  Here, let me give you a closer look.

Last year I did a video on how to make those.  All you need is some Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds glitter!  Check it out.

For this project I made the icicles right on the box rather than making them on a piece of waxed paper like in the video.  Either way, they are a fun and frosty accent for your winter projects!

And there you have it!  What do you think?  Do you love this project as much as I do?!?!?!?!  The beauty of this project is that you can make it for any occasion.  Like I mentioned in the video, you could have loads of the basic boxes made up and stored flat.  Then you just need to take them out and embellish when you need one!

Everything you need to make the boxes and icicles shown today can be found in my online store...except for the hot chocolate and candy canes!  Head on over there to place your order, or if you are not comfortable with online ordering you can always contact me to place your order.  Remember the Holiday Supplement product is only available while supplies last so make sure to order ASAP to avoid disappointment.

If you like what you see and are Canadian, I would love to be your Stampin' Up! demonstrator!  Send me an email and we can start your creative journey today!

Have an inspired day!