Project Life: Baby's First Birthday

I have been watching Project Life from the sidelines for awhile now.  I am not quite ready to dip my toe into a weekly chronicle of our every day lives, but I love the overall concept.  I also love the page protectors and photo pockets made for Project Life and have been hoarding them. 

Today, I am using Fancy Pants Designs to put my own spin on Project Life. I think PL is perfect for any occasion when I have a lot of photos, too many for a scrapbook layout, or when I want to add extra journaling.  Like my son's first birthday.

Here's a sneak peek of a two-page PL spread I made:

My son has a March birthday and we had a St. Patrick's Day themed party when he turned 1.  For my Project Life spread, I used two 12 x 12 page protectors with 4 x 6 pockets.  To turn the top pocket above into two (faux) 2 x 3 slots, I mounted the cupcake photo and the journaling card on a 4 x 6 piece of white cardstock. Instant 2 x 3 slots!

Here's another sneak peek: 

Fancy Pants Designs makes Brag Pads for each of its collection. They are a collection of 4 x 6 papers with various designs, quotes and patterns. They are perfect for Project Life because they fit right into 4 x 6 slots.  I used the Brag Pads in all the slots shown above. 

The great thing about Project Life is you can use any scrapbook supplies you have on hand. Just cut them down to fit the Project Life page protectors. 

I have the complete spread of my son's first birthday, Project Life style, on the Fancy Pants Designs blog today.  I hope you'll stop by!

Isn't She Lovely: Fancy Pants Designs

As a scrapbooker, I mostly focus on my little boy. So anytime I get to play with girl icons and colors is a happy day. 

For this card, I used the pretty Trend Setter collection from Fancy Pants Designs. The silhouette and  flashcard are from the Ephemera Pack. I used pop dots to layer them on the card. 

Here's a closeup:

I hope your week is off to a great start. I'll be back tomorrow with a peek at Project Life. 

Ruffled Crepe Paper Tutorial: My Creative Scrapbook

Crepe paper streamers are fun and festive and are even more so when they’re ruffled.   If you have access to a sewing machine, ruffled crepe paper streamers are a cinch to make.

I got a length of red crepe in my April kit at My Creative Scrapbook and I thought I would see if I could ruffle it.  Turns out I could and it was so simple. Just took a minute to do!

Ruffled crepe paper follows the same general principle as gathering ribbon, but is much easier. No strings to pull.

Start by feeding one end of crepe paper under the foot of your sewing machine.  Set the machine to the longest stitch, then tighten the tension.  Do a quick backstitch, then slowly start to sew. As the crepe paper feeds, the tight tension will automatically ruffle the crepe paper.  The higher your tension, the tighter your ruffles.

When you’re done, you have a ruffled crepe paper streamer.  It would be pretty on a card or layout. Just use it in place of lace or ribbon.

You can also use it to make a flower, just as you would with gathered ribbon.  With the crepe streamer, just make a circle and secure. You can add a brad, button or decorative element in the center if you like.

Ruffled crepe paper can be used for all types of party elements. Of course, they make great streamers, but the ruffles would also be cute as gift packaging or bottle wraps. Here I wrapped the ruffled crepe paper around a vase for a festive feel.

I have a tutorial on how to make a paper pinwheel on this post.  

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful weekend! 

Fun With Puns: Just Chicken In

Spring has me in a happy, silly mood and this card reflects that. 

The sentiment reads: Just Chicken In.  The patterned paper and alphas are Jillibean Soup. I love the Bite Size Bits that are part of each collection. They're perfect for cards and this cute chicken spoke to me.  I added a bit of muslin behind the image for a country feel.  The ribbon is May Arts and the twine is Trendy Twine. 

This was published in the February 2013 issue of CARDS magazine. 

Thanks to everyone who commented on my owl canvas.  The winner of the Little Yellow Bicycle prize package, chosen by random draw, is #17. 

The lucky one is Cindy deRosier.

Cindy, let me know where to send your goodies!  Have a great week, everyone.  

My Creative Sketches: Bring Your Own Sunshine

To enter the Little Yellow Bicycle giveaway, please see this post.

I'm not sure if I have ever made a scrapbook page that was predominantly yellow before, but this photo of my little boy offering up some daffodils called for yellow. Yes, it did. 

I love the happy colors in the Park Bench collection from Fancy Pants Designs. It was just the burst of sunshine I needed. The little decorative bags that are part of the new Fancy Pants collections are so cute. The starry bag here was a perfect pop of color and provide a great spot for hidden journaling. 

My layout design is based on the new April sketch at My Creative Scrapbook. 

I followed the sketch pretty closely, but omitted the banner and the vertical strips.  To balance the page, I added small elements to the top and bottom of the right side.  

Here's a side-by-side view of the sketch and layout:

A great prize is up for grabs if you play along with the sketch challenge. You can find all the details here.

Giveaway: There's still time to enter the drawing for the Little Yellow Bicycle prize here on my blog. The prize is from the super cute new Fern and Forest collection.  Details in the post below. Be sure to comment in that post to enter. The winner will be announced on Tuesday.  

Owl Canvas & Little Yellow Bicycle Giveaway

If you've followed my blog, you may have noticed that I have a soft spot for owls.  They are whimsical and fun and I can't help but be drawn to them. 

When Little Yellow Bicycle sent me the Cycling Team box for the Fern and Forest Boy collection, I immediately thought of owls and wanted to make an altered project. 

I started this project with a scene paper from Fern and Forest Boy.  The clouds and woodgrain were the perfect backdrop. 

Next, I played around with paper-piecing an pair of owls.  It took a couple tries to get the scale right. I drew  the owls on paper first. As you can see, in my first attempt, the mama owl was too big. 

I scaled down the mama owl, then added a paper-pieced baby owl.  I stitched each part separately, then pop dotted pieces for dimension. 

Once I had my owls ready, I filled in the rest of the scene and added a wood frame. 

I used pieces from Little Yellow Bicycle's Naturals, including the burlap sticker here and the cork butterfly and stick pin, to fill the empty spots. 

Here's the finished canvas: 

Giveaway: Little Yellow Bicycle was so generous to me that I wanted to share this collection with one of my blog readers. This giveaway will include 12 sheets of 6x6 Fern and Forest paper, two coordinating sticker sheets, a mix of stick pins and a flower kit. 

To enter the giveaway, please follow my blog and leave a comment below. Comments are open until midnight on April 22.  I'll announce the winner by random draw next Tuesday, April 23. 

You can see this project and other projects with Fern and Forest Boy and Fern and Forest Girl on the Little Yellow Bicycle blog.  Thank you so much for stopping by. 

The Elmo Phone: My Creative Scrapbook

Like many toddlers, my little one was obsessed with both Elmo and telephones. Put the two together and I had a very happy 2-year-old.

This is my little guy on his 2nd birthday making his first call on the Elmo telephone.  Apparently Elmo wanted to talk to my brother, Michael.  Isn't it funny how - no matter how old you are - if a kid hands you a telephone, you'll talk to Elmo?  Even if you're a marine. :)

I used the April kit at My Creative Scrapbook to make this layout. The kit featured Bo Bunny's Surprise collection and I immediately pulled out this fun ABC paper. I knew it would be perfect for a toddler page.

The kit includes lot of fun chipboard elements. Here, I embellished the chipboard pennants with stickers. A tag under the photo anchors the layout and provides a spot for the title.

I'm glad you stopped by!  We're off to the beach for a few days of R&R.  I'll be back with a new post next week. Have a great weekend.

Pirate Birthday Party: My Creative Scrapbook

When we went to the beach last year, we saw a pirate show at the Dollywood Theater.  Ever since, my little boy has been obsessed with all things pirate.  For his birthday this year, of course, we did a pirate theme.

I've been on the lookout for pirate icons in scrapbooking supplies and so far, I haven't found a collection that features them. Maybe there is still hope for a future Halloween line.  In the meantime, I decided to scrap my son's birthday party photos with the fun, happy Surprise! collection from Bo Bunny.  I was so excited to find this line featured in the new April kit from My Creative Scrapbook.

I used Jolly Roger cupcake toppers, which I got from Michael's. I did intend to make my own, but convinced myself that store-bought was perfectly fine for 4-year-olds. Hee! I saved one of the toppers and used it as an embellishment on my page. 

I hope you have a great week. Thanks so much for stopping by. 

Surprise!: Bo Bunny

It's reveal day at My Creative Scrapbook and I'm so happy to say that that April Creative Kit features the fun new Surprise! collection from Bo Bunny. 

The kit is themed for celebrations and arrived with perfect timing - just a few days before my son's fourth birthday. 

The first layout I made with the kit was with a photo of my son at preschool on the day he turned 4. The teacher made him a birthday crown and while Cory waited for the festivities to begin, I snapped this quick photo. 

This layout came together quickly. I used a pre-printed background. The banners, cake and "make a wish" are part of the paper.  I added a large photo mat and a few pennants on the upper left to balance the page. Easy peasy. 

This is a closeup of the pennants and the top of the photo mat: 

At the bottom of the page, I added the chipboard gift near the cake and tucked a hidden journaling spot under the photo with a ribbon pull tab. 

I'll be back next week with more projects from this kit. You can see the full reveal of all the kits here 
at My Creative Scrapbook.

April Kit Sneak Peeks: My Creative Scrapbook

Hello. Did you have a nice holiday weekend?  We had a lot of fun with family and friends and spent Easter Eve, as we always do, on my brother's farm. 

The night ends with a bonfire and roasted Peeps, the candy kind.  I don't care for Peeps out of the package, but when we roast Peeps, the sugar coating caramelizes and the marshmallow inside softens and they are delish!

It was nice to have a long weekend but here we are in April already. A new month means a new kit at My Creative Scrapbook. The April Creative Kit is a particularly fun and festive one.  The kits will be revealed on April 5, but here are a few sneak peeks.

 

I hope you have a great week. I'll be back on Friday with the full reveal.