Got Fonts?

Check out this great Allie Hoopes blog my dear friend Ammie led me to. It has lots of great free handwritten fonts you can use on ANYTHING (published projects, commercial use, etc)!

Please share with others as this is a great resource!

BellaBella

I absolutely LOVE My Mind's Eye products! One of the things I like the most is the variety of styles they portray in their individual lines. You can get anything from cute to elegant...bright colors to more subdued tones. I have used them to create heritage layouts as well as pages about my kids, family, day-to-day events and special moments...everything, really!

This weekend I had the chance to play with one of their newly released lines, "BellaBella." I love the antiqued, flourishy (is that a word??) look of these papers! I have had so many ideas running through my head of layouts I could create, but so far, I've only made two. (So much paper...so little time)!

The first one I made was from the "Bellezo" collection:

I chose one of the papers that already had a lot of the work done for me. I carefully cut around the bottom curved edge of the journaling "tag" with an X-acto knife so I could tuck my photo underneath. Then I stamped the quote in the designated space. (Notice the little bits of pink that some of the letters are stamped on? Those came from the barcode strip that you cut off the bottom of the paper). Next, I added the circular journaling card from the "Laundry Line" collection. I cut an arrow from cardstock and attached it with a brad. I didn't really like the tone of the journaling card, so I inked it with a chocolate brown ink to bring it closer to what I wanted. I added the scalloped border and butterflies which came from the matching die cut sheet. Then I finished it off with a touch of lace and some Tim Holtz Adage Tickets. I also sanded the edges of my photo to grunge it up a little.

I really like the "French Flea Market" collection as well. But blue is my favorite color, so it wasn't too hard to like.


My sweet Cameron wrote me a love note awhile ago. I found it in between some papers the other day and decided I need to scrapbook it.

I cut the red patterned paper using a Making Memories die cut paper as a template. Then I matted it on chocolate brown cardstock. For the heart, I took a Heidi Swapp ghost heart and separated the outside edge from the main heart. I wrapped ribbon around the outside part and attached it over a pair of ghost wings. Some chipboard letters from Scenic Route, crocheted lace from My Mind's Eye, and more Tim Holtz Adage Tickets finished off the layout. Oh, and don't forget the old skeleton key which I tied to the heart with some string.

I have more plans for this collection. I'm thinking a heritage kit and maybe another one-page layout. Stay tuned to find out what's next!

Friends & Facebook

In real life, I'm a pretty private person, so I even surprised myself when I signed up on Facebook. I've had so much fun, though, reconnecting with old friends and chatting with new ones. I've even found quite a few of my relatives on there. Usually I only see my cousins a couple of times a year, but through social networking, we have the chance to stay in touch year round.

It reminded me of this layout I created a few years ago. In fact, it was the first one I ever had published. My friends and I were hanging out at the mall and had to stop at one of those silly photo booths and have our pictures taken together. We all couldn't fit in there at the same time, so we were hurrying to switch places and squishing each other. It was so much fun! I'm laughing at our hair styles, huge glasses, and crooked teeth. My friend in the bottom tiny photo is the only one who looks normal! But hey...it was the 80's.



The large photo was actually enlarged from one of the tiny photo booth pictures. It was so grainy when I printed it out, though, so I tried it again on Bazzill cardstock. The texture of the Bazzill helped to disguise the poor quality and gave it the look of canvas. I was surprised how well it turned out. I use that trick a lot, now, and it works quite well.

Stay tuned to my blog this weekend. I'm going to try to upload my first series of kits that I have for sale. There is a limited number of each one, so it will be first come first served.

Until then...Happy Scrapping!

Story People

One day I stumbled across this Story People website featuring art and quotes by Brian Andreas. I have to admit that the art is a little "out there" for my liking, but I love the little "stories." I signed up to receive a story of the day through my email and look forward to seeing them in my inbox every morning. Some stories make me laugh, some make me think, and a few I don't get. But overall, they are great inspiration for scrapping! One of his stories was the inspiration behind this layout of my sister-in-law and her new baby girl.

"Are you a princess? I said & she said I'm much more than a princess but you don't have a name for it yet here on earth."

So if you are in need of a little inspiration, check out the Story People website. There's sure to be something there to get the creative juices flowing!

To create this layout, I used Cosmo Cricket paper and Blackboard from their Fleuriste line. The lettering was traced using a stencil, then filled in with pink Stickles by Ranger. I used velvet alphabet stickers to emphasize some of the words. And you can't forget the angel wings by Heidi Swapp! Aren't they sweet!

Alone Time

There's kind of an unspoken rule at my house that everyone deserves a little alone time. Apparently, as the mother, I am excluded.

We had a challenge at the local scrapbook store to create a layout around the theme, "On Schedule." We could interpret it any way we wanted. My inspiration came to me one day as I had just closed the bathroom door and was immediately bombarded with questions and conversation from my 8 year old. Why is it that I can be completely ignored for an hour as long as I'm in the kitchen or the family room. But the minute I walk down the hall to the bathroom, everyone remembers 50 things they have to tell me NOW! This also seems to apply to friends, neighbors, telemarketers, and my husband, as this is the only time they ever call me on the phone. Oh, and don't forget the dog...she has to scratch to come in, too.

So as I'm in the bathroom, Cameron is telling me about things that happened at school and starts slipping notes through the door. "Mom, I have Scouts tomorrow." "Mom, what does this say?" "Can I call Alaca?" "Oh, wait...the phone is ringing." Yes, this all happened in the space of 60 seconds. So, to document this strange phenomenon that seems to surrounds most mothers, I created this layout. Hope you enjoy!

I'm in Love!

In celebration of Valentine's Day, I thought I would show you one of my new favorite lines. "Love Letters" by Little Yellow Bicycle took my breath away when I first saw it sitting on the shelf at the scrapbook store. And after having a chance to play with it, I can definitely say, "I'm in love!" The beautiful die cut papers, clear cut frames and embellishments, and velvet letters are so rich and luscious! Here are a few projects I made with them. Hope you enjoy!

It's been almost 17 years since my husband and I were married and sadly, I have never scrapped a wedding photo. That is until now! I added a photo on top of a large clear cut frame, tied some ribbons at the bottom, and embellished with a flower and small clear flourishes. Seriously, who could resist this stuff?

Don't tell anyone, but this layout idea came straight from the LYB gallery. I loved how the designer incorporated the clear damask designs with the coordinating paper and I felt the need to copy. (Shhhh)! The only thing I did different was add a little felt heart below the photo.

This is a less-than-perfect photo, but it's one of the few I have of me with my newborn Cameron. (He's 8 now...where did the time go?)
This layout was pretty easy to make. I especially love the large clear photo matte.


I was so excited to discover the 6x6 die cut paper pad that coordinated with the chipboard album! The papers pop right out, already cut to the shape of the album pages. How cool is that? I could also see using the 6x6 die cut papers as page embellishments on a larger layout. Here's a look at a mini album I created for Porter's store.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Scrapping Those Valentine's Cards

I'm on many lists to receive emails from scrapbooking websites and magazines. One happened to come to my inbox today that I just had to share! If you've ever ended up with a drawer full of valentines the kids brought home from school (and of course, you can't throw them away...the garbage police make sure of that), then you'll love these ideas. So check them out here.

Speaking of Valentines, I really need to get working on some today. I was looking through my idea file for "Cards" that I have saved on my computer and ran across these that I have made other years. Hope you enjoy them! (If you click on the cards, you will be able to see a larger image).

This was for my Grandma. I stamped the wings onto vellum and attached them behind the circle. I love wings! They are great for love and baby themes and also for whimsical layouts and cards.

I think I made this card for my sister. All the hearts are punched from cardstock. I stamped the word "love" with paint and a foam stamp, then threaded a charm onto sheer ribbon to complete the look.

We mass produced these cards a couple of years ago to give to grandparents and my siblings. The boys hammed it up for the camera and so did the dog!

In case you can't read the card it says:
"This Valentine is sealed with a kiss...
the dog licked it!"

Look...the dog even smiled purdy for the picture. Wasn't that sweet of her?

Hello!

Well, here I am blogging...who would have ever thought! I have some fun things planned so check back often. I created this blog so I can share scrapbooking tips and tricks as well as great resources (such as where I collect fonts, quotes, product ideas, etc.). The best part is that I will be offering scrapbooking kits for sell at great prices! I have had many requests for this, so here we go! I'm excited about this new adventure and look forward to sharing with you.