ScrapHappy

The Grinch Who Stole Halloween

I don't know what is wrong with me! Halloween used to be my absolute favorite holiday. I would get dressed up (Sam-I-Am was a favorite, as was a peanut M'n'M when I was pregnant with Ben). As a mom we would decorate the house and the yard, carve pumpkins, go all-out. Now, the whole thing seems like more of a hassle than anything -- kind of like a placeholder, an orange safety cone in the road warning of danger ahead on the way to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Am I getting old? Or do other people feel this way too?

I am going to go take a nap.

Stampin' Up?

I need a Stampin' Up dealer uh, I mean, representative. Anyone?

ETA: Got one! Thanks much!

Three French Hens...

That is a hint. Today's post is

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN PROJECT #3!!!

AKA The Mini Matisse Thank-You Note Collection

Okay, I may not be as organized as I'd like, but I am a militant thank-you note writer. And my kids have their notes out (usually) by New Year's. They may dress like rejects from the Beastie Boys, they may eat McDonald's a wee tad bit too often, they may talk like sailors, but THEY WRITE THEIR THANK-YOU NOTES!

Of course, the little one is too small to actually "write," so for her I created these little masterpieces. YOU CAN DO THIS.

Supplies:

Scannable artwork from your mini Matisse

Notecards (I use pre-folded ones from Die Cuts With a View) (what is with that name anyway?)

A few sheets of patterned paper (I used scraps from Anna Griffin and Scenic Route)

American Crafts "Kate" rub-on Minimarks

Scanner

Letter stamps (I used KI)

Scraps of cardstock

Stickles

Stamp pad

Trimmer

2" circle punch

Adhesive

Dimensional foam adhesive squares

Step One. Choose a lovely piece of artwork from you child. If you are like me, you have BOXES of the stuff. What a great way to use it!

Step Two. Scan it into your computer.

Step Three. On my computer, I can select the scan area... that's what I am doing here. This is great if you don't have PSE or another digital design program where you can crop. I added this photo merely because it makes me look like I know what I'm doing.

Step Four. Open a Word document and create an entire sheet of your child's masterpiece. I resized the artwork to about 2x2".

Step Five. Print on cardstock.

Step Five. Trim!

Step Six. Trim your patterned paper to 4.25"x1" and adhere to the left side of the card. Punch 2" circle from coordinating PP and adhere on top of strip. Cut cardstock to approx. 3" x 1 1/2" and adhere to lower right corner. (This is the photo where I was laying everything out to make sure it looked good).

Step Seven. Place the rub-ons on the cardstock. (NOTE: I have not yet adhered the mini Matisse masterpiece. It's just sitting there for placement purposes. If you have already done so, you are getting ahead of the rest of the class and need to slow down and stay with us! I used to hate it when the teacher would say that -- but in this case, I have a good reason.)

Step Eight. Place foam adhesive squares in each corner of the mini Matisse masterpiece. Yes, you could just adhere it flat, but I think this looks so much cooler... don't you? This is why I didn't want you zipping ahead and adhering the artwork down. Because you're popping it up, it would be difficult to use the rub-ons AFTER the artwork had already been adhered. Now, aren't you glad you trusted me??

Step Nine. Stamp your child's inital in the upper right corner of the card. Immediately decide this was a mistake and try to figure out some way to save the situation. Decide to call on the old adage, "When in doubt, reach for the bling" and grab your Stickles.

Step Ten. Stickle it up. Decide that it looks MUCH better.

Step 11. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. You get the picture.

Variations on a theme: I could see these as a great gift for Grandma (How cute would that be -- a whole collection of notecards using her grandchild's artwork??) Or what about for a teacher? Or if you are like me you are totally loco and have volunteered to be your child's room mom... and when you are looking for a gift for the kids to make for Christmas, Mother's Day, etc., this would be perfect!

If you do not have a scanner, you could simply give your child a set of 2x2" squares and ask him to decorate them. You could use stickers, stamps, etc.

Episode 27: Reviews and more reviews!

Episode 27 is up! You can get it here or on iTunes.

I give you the latest on:

-The CK Hall of Fame book

-DaisyDs tape runners

-Glitz Frosting

and more!

We talk about CKC Seattle

Thirty Minute Thursdays

and life. :)

Tag... I'm it!

Jennifer tagged me. And since she always plays along with my crazy schemes, I figured I'd better put on my big girl panties and get it done!

7 random things about me... (that you probably already know)

1. I cannot sleep at night, waiting for this:

It doesn't come out until November 20, but I may break down before then and download it on iTunes.

2. I was on the radio last week! I took part in a show at my alma mater, Stanford, for a radio show called "What Would Your Mother Say?" The premise is that three moms and three college students get together and discuss everything from premarital sex to breaking up to...?? It was very, very VERY fun. Strange in a way to be back on campus -- I did a little radio while I was there -- and strange because I felt more connected to the students than to the other moms! (Are we surprised??!) It looks like I will be invited back, despite the fact that I am 7 years younger than their minimum age. They must have liked my Donald Trump jokes. 

3. I have three iPods. A regular ole' one that is like 60 years old in New Technology years, a video one (that I haven't even hooked up!) and a Shuffle. I use the Shuffle the most. I'll give ScrapHappy mail to the first person to correctly guess which color I have. ETA: We have a winner -- Ingunn! Green it is!

4. I am a die-hard BoSox fan. They are the only major league team in any sport that I really care about. Go Boston!

5. I wrote a mystery novel and spent a year looking for an agent. Now it's sitting in a drawer, collecting dust. What a great way to spend two years of my life!

6. My dream vacation: sunshine, water, massage.

7. One website I check every day: Seth Godin.  I don't always agree with him, but he always makes me think.

Now, my turn!
I tag:

1. Etta

2. Abbie

3. Mary C.

 

Still trying to get some PLAY?

Elisha is giving away five copies of Scrapbook Play. Go over to the Studio blog NOW. Knock three times and tell her Lain sent you. ;)

Scrappers to the rescue!

This simply may be the best reason for scrapbooking yet:

< By Leslie Griffy
Mercury News
Article Launched: 10/22/2007 12:10:39 PM PDT

Members of a scrapbook club called 911 after the Morgan Hill hotel where they were meeting was robbed by a man wearing a "Scream" mask, police said.
Around 11:15 p.m. the robber entered the Courtyard Marriott on Madrone Parkway through an employee entrance, Morgan Hill police Sgt. Jerry Neumayer said.
The man - dressed in a black sweatshirt, blue jeans, a mask, Dallas Cowboy gloves and a chain necklace with a large leaf in it - approached the clerk on duty from behind and threatened him with a pocket knife.
The suspect demanded the key for the safe from the clerk.
After getting the key, the man told the clerk to sit in a wheelchair. He then duct-taped the clerk's hands and feet and stuffed a tie into his mouth, Neumayer said.
The robber took $800 from the safe and then ran out of the hotel.
The clerk managed to wheel his way to the lobby where a scrapbook club was meeting. The club's members freed the clerk, Neumayer said, and called 911.
The clerk wasn't injured in the robbery. The suspect is additionally described as an African-American man, who is about 6 feet tall and weighs about 230 pounds.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call Morgan Hill Police detective Rod Krewson at (408) 776-7323.>>

One question -- what blade did they use to cut the duct tape?? My bet is on a craft blade.

(From the San Jose Mercury News. Thanks Maria!)

Welcome to...

Thirty-Minute Thursdays!

I'm happy to announce a brand-new feature just for my time-starved, sleep-deprived readers (which I am assuming is pretty much all of you). Each Thursday I will present a  project (layout, home decor item, gifty-type thing, card set, etc.) that I created in... you guessed it, THIRTY MINUTES! I will provide a lil' commentary on how I created the project, and then challenge you to do the same. We will have a weekly drawing from all participants who leave links to their projects in the comments section.

So, without further ado, our first Thirty-Minute Thursday layout!

I had these three photos from my son's cub scout troup participation in our town's Christmas parade last year. There was no real defining picture -- none was particularly great -- but I still wanted to get them in our album. The Christmas parade is a big deal in our town, and I marched in it more than once as a child, so I wanted to capture the tradition.

I started by flipping through a few magazines for ideas. I found a layout that included a patterned paper background with a cardstock overlay that I thought looked cute. I knew I wanted the page to include elements of the holiday, but not TOO heavy on the red-and-green because of the strong blue and yellow colors in the photos. I decided on a blue background with some other coordinating PPs. I decided to adust it for three photos, and for the use of a few different strips of patterned paper.

I pulled out a couple of sheets of Christmas paper (Stemma), a sheet of white cardstock, and got to work. I cut the white cardstock to size, then began randomly trimming sheets of the patterned paper. I adhered all that, added the photos down the side, and then started thinking about embellisments.

With all the colors, I didn't want to go too overboard with added embellies. I began with the journaling block (from Dude) mounted on red cardstock. I then added the white labels (Avery) and the picture captions and epoxy stickers (Stemma). I decided a red letter title would pull in more of the red, so I created the title in American Crafts Thickers (the longest time I spent on the entire layout was trying to come up with a title I could create out of the stickers I had! I ended up piecing together a "t" from an "f" I trimmed down).

When I looked at the LO at this point, I thought it needed some kind of visual triangle to pull it all together. There was red in the title, the journaling block, and the patterned papers, but none elsewhere on the page. That's when I reached for my trusty brads (American Crafts) and added two strips of three. I feel like that gave a visual barrier on the page that helps bring the eye to the center. And that's it! 30 minutes, with time out for visits from my three-year-old who likes to "help" set the brads.

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it: Create a 30-minute layout using three or more photos. Go! Post a link to your entry in the comments section by next Wednesday to be entered in the drawing!

HOW long until Christmas???

...Well, if you make this lil' cutie, you'll know EXACTLY how many days until the Big Man in Red comes down the chimney...

Voila! The Lil' Cutie Advent Book, AKA

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN PROJECT #4!!!

What you will need:
*A mini (wallet-sized) magnetic closure photo album (I got mine at TCSTSNBN for $1).

*Two sheets of holiday-themed patterned paper (I used Cosmo Cricket)

*One sheet of punch-out cardstock elements (again, Cosmo Cricket)

*One sheet of rub-ons

*Number stickers (I used Heidi Swapp metallic chipboard letters)

*Ribbon scraps

*Adhesive (I used my Cheetah from Xyron with permanent adhesive. For the smaller areas, I used a regular tape runner or the Xyron sticker maker).

*Trimmer

*Stapler

1. Measure your little book OPEN. Make note of the measurements. (When measuring for a project, I always write the numbers down. I have no head for numbers. This may beg the question why on earth I chose to work in finance upon leaving grad school, for which I have no good answer other than it seemed like a good idea at the time. I suffered through 365 days on Governor William Weld's budget staff, servicing the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Then I quit and moved back to California. Please note that the Bay State's fiscal situation got WORSE upon my departure, making me wonder if I actually know more about numbers than I give myself credit for. Hmmm. Something to ponder the next time I'm stuck in an elevator with no reading material).

2. Cut a piece of your choice of patterned paper about a half-inch larger all the way around.

3. Miter the corners on each end. (At CHA, one of the Make-and-Take ladies asked the assembled class of store owners to miter the corners on their altered book project. They all looked at her with blank expressions. When she explained what she meant, they acted like she had just asked them to remove their own brains with a runcible spoon.)

4. Cut a small slot in the paper at the end with the magnetic flap. Adhere.

5. For the magnetic flap closure, measure and cut a small piece of patterned paper just long enough to cover the flap. If you are anal, you can trim and round the ends. Adhere.

6. Cut two pieces of coordinating cardstock or patterned paper to fit in the front and back covers. Adhere.

7. Do a little test run. Close the book up and make sure the magnet holds through the cardstock. If it doesn't, I'm not sure what to tell you. So just cross your fingers and hope that it works. At this point you may decide to add a couple of staples to hold the cardstock on the tab. I did.

8. Take your leftover patterned paper and your sheet of punch-outs, and create 24 tags or small squares of paper that will fit in the holders on each page. Also punch out the file labels and anything else that looks like it may be useful. This is a great way to use up a bunch of old leftover cardstock and patterned paper from Christmases past.

9. Pile everything up and take a picture, just for fun.

10. Using the file labels, stickers, tabs, and rub-on numbers, label each page appropriately. You can do the count-down thing (starting with 24 and working backwards) or the count-up. I did the count-up so the page will correspond to the day of the month (one less thing for me to think about).

11. On each of the little tags or squares of paper, write a Christmas-related activity. Some of our family's favorite traditions: Go to the Christmas parade. Put up the lights. Take Christmas cookies to the fire station. Go caroling. Read "The Night Before Christmas." Mail letters to Santa. Do a good deed. Watch "Jingle All the Way" (my favorite Christmas movie of all time). Visit Santa. Buy Mom a bottle of Jack Daniels (just kidding).

12. Insert the tags in their proper spots. Close the book and put the "24" numbers on the cover.

13. Finish by embellishing the cover with other little items like rhinestones (of course!), etc.

Variations: This would also be a terrific "12 Days of Christmas" book for a special someone with giftcards on each of 12 days (or 24 days, if you are really generous. And if you are, I will gladly be your best friend). This would also make a great keepsake album for future years if you developed 24 wallet-sized photos of the year's Christmas season. Fun!

Episode 26: Heeeere's Ali!

Episode 26 is up! Listen here.

Show notes:
-I recover from technological difficulties (surprise, surprise, surprise!)
-I review Ali Edwards' latest book, "Life Artist: Scrapbooking Life's Journey"

-Ali tells us all about the genesis of the new book, the realities of life in the spotlight, and how she survives with only five colors of cardstock
-We talk about a new ScrapHappy book club
-and more!