Stamping & Scrapping with Jen

A Snapshot in Time: Things That Make Me Happy

I know it is Thanksgiving, and most people are thinking about what they are thankful for, but I was out running errands today in the midst of the holiday madness and I started to think about the things that really make me happy.  So they aren't necessarily things I am thankful for (although they could be), but taking it one step further, I was really trying to figure out the things that make me truly happy.

I also agreed (to myself) that I had to be honest and remember that this is a snapshot in time, so these are just the things that happen to make me happy right now.  There are no right or wrong answers; nothing that I felt like I HAD to put on the list because it was the "right" thing to do; and nothing that I put on the list that wasn't honest.  I'm thinking about doing this every year around Thanksgiving and look at how the list stays the same and how it changes.

I even thought it could make a good scrapbook page.

So, here are some of the things on my list.  They are in no particular order, because I think happiness doesn't come in any particular order.  It is a work in progress and I might work on it throughout the weekend, and come up with the final list by Sunday.  I'm not going to make it be a set number of things - it is what it is.  So some years there may be a lot of things that make me happy and some years maybe the list will be short.  So here are a few:

• friends, friends, friends, and friends
• drinking good wine (which is better with friends)
• running (also better with friends) :)
• being an American
• when my kids are asleep
• the ability to travel and get away when I need to
• a husband that lets me get away when I need to
• doing things for others
• a successful event
• a personal best
• knowing my mom & dad are proud of me
• hearing my kids sing, God Bless the USA or any other patriotic song
  
• good report cards
• hopping on a plane or train to go see friends & family - it keeps the world a little smaller

I am sure there are more, but these are the ones that came to mind so far.  I guess some are similar and so many involve my friends, but to me it's the people in your life that make your life worthwhile, so I suppose that is why they appear so often in the list.

What are the things that make you happy???

 

My Digital Studio Layout: Hiking

Just a quick post since I am on my way to a Girl Scout Meeting!!  Based on tomorrow's weather forecast, I am actaully pretty much FREE the whole day!  I don't even think we'll be able to get our run in in the morning, so I might go to the Y, but I can't see running 9 miles on a treadmill.  Maybe 7. 

I guess we'll see, but in any case, I was thinking I might sit home and do some digital scrapbooking.  (I also want to make Potato & Leek soup, just because it seems nice & warm and it'll make the house smell good.)

But I have been playing around with My Digital Studio, so here is a recent layout I created.

We took a hike together as a family and by the end, the girls were EXHAUSTED!!  But the picture made for a great layout!!

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New Baby Layout: Meeting Desmond

Here is my little nephew Desmond.  He was born in March and these photos were taken in April when we went to meet him.  He was a few weeks early, so he was so tiny!!!  Especially compared to my 8.5 and 9 pound babies!!!

This layout was super quick to put together.  I used the colors in Des's clothes to select the cardstock, which was Chocolate Chip & Baja Breeze.  The patterned paper I used is the retired Parisian Breeze Specialty Paper (retired in 2009).  The layout is based on one from my book, Scrapbookers' Shortcuts.  Other than the cardstock and paper, I used Thickers for the title (I love those things!!)  So easy!!!

Hope you enjoyed today's layout!!!

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Outer Banks Scrapbook Page

First I want to give you all an update on my dad.  He is doing fine, but had a little setback yesterday.  For some reason, he developed an arrhythmia (I think they referred to it as reperfusion.)  He had no change in his symptoms, but all of a sudden all his monitors started going haywire, so all the nurses & doctors rushed in to get it under control.  I guess it's a fairly normal thing since his heart is now dealing with "new apparatus", so they put him on some arrhythmia medication and he's been fine since then.  Of course that means he is not going home tomorrow.  And it also means they may have to do some further testing to find out if in fact it was a normal trigger, or something else that may have triggered the problem.  Now I just hope they don't release him on Sunday since that is the day Hurricane Irene is supposed to be the worst here in New Jersey.

Speaking of Hurricane Irene, I can't help but think about our summer vacation last year which was on the Outer Banks.  Ironically, it was this very week last year!  (I guess we would have been evacuated if it were this year!!)

The kids never stopped talking about the "mansion" that we stayed in.  (Aren't they all "mansions" down there??)  They thought we were rich because we lived there.  Okay, and I'll admit, it was pretty cool to have such a HUGE house!!!  And not too shabby to be right on the beach, too.  Of course I would be very afraid if I was there right now!!!

This is a really simple layout that just has 4 - 4x6 photos and the rest is just color blocked.  I actually really struggled with what colors to use for this layout, but I love the way it came out!!  What do you think?

Please keep my daddy in your prayers!!!

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New Babies: New Layouts

At our last scrapbooking weekend, I did two layouts for the two new babies in our family.  We had a baby girl and a baby boy born both in the month of March. (No, they were not twins - two different families.)  It's always fun for me to do little boy layouts, since all I ever did while my kids were babies was little girl things, but today I wanted to share the baby girl layout.

 

I actually used a kit to create this page and I have no idea where it was from - I just know it was OLD!!  I think at the time I figured I would be able to use it at some point, but as my girls got older, I seemed less and less likely to be so "traditional" in the girly colors I scrapbooked with.  (Funny how I am still drawn to the pinks, yellows, and purples though.) 

But now I was able to use something from "long ago" in creating this page of "Meeting Chloe".  The background cardstock is the retired Barely Banana and the green letters in the title are Always Artichoke.  I also used Stampin' Up! pearls as accents in the paper flowers.

Chloe is probably going to grow up as a very girly girl, so I hope when she gets old enough she really likes the soft colors and all the flowers that flow through this page.  It was easy to create and quick to put together!

Hope you enjoyed today's sample!!  Come back soon to see the layout I did of our other new baby, Desmond!!! (He's my Godson!!)  :)

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My Digital Studio Layout: Dance Recital

Here is another scrapbooking layout with My Digital Studio.  For this I used the Flirtatious paper, which is an additional download.  I used two different patterns in two different places - in the center as a gigantic circle punch and a strip at the bottom.

It is SO EASY to mat all your photos at the same time - it's just one simple command on each page.  But the one thing that was a little tricky is that you can only work on one page at a time so I had to keep switching back & forth between the two to make sure the photos and ribbons would align across the two pages, but if you double click on the element, it brings up a settings window where you can adjust the measurements so you can look it up on one page and use it on the other.  It takes a little patience, but it's well worth it!!

 

So if this paper looks interesting to you, you are going to really love a new promotion I have coming VERY soon!!!  It has to do with the Flirtatious Designer Series Paper (pictured below). 

I'll be releasing all the details via email the week of August 22, so be sure to be signed up for my mailing list if you aren't already!!

Oh, and while you are at it, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think of my layout above!!!  Have a great day!!

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One Sketch: 3 Ways - A Scrapbooking Class

Jessica and I taught a scrapbooking class today at the Summer Crop Weekend at the Dolce Basking Ridge.  We had a sketch that we started with and Jess created a layout that exactly followed the sketch.  Then she created a second one that flipped the sketch 90 degrees and then she did a third one that was based on the sketch but interpreted less literally (if that makes sense.

Here was the original layout (sorry it's blurry - I have no idea what happened.  I took two shots and this was the better of the two.)

Here was a layout with the sketch turned 90 degrees.

And here is the final sketch that is the loose interpretation of the original sketch.

Of course this would probably help if I had the sketch, but I don't have a copy of it. :(  Hopefully you can get the idea from the layouts.

Here are a few shots from the class.  Oh, and I can tell you a secret!!!  We videotaped the class, so sometime in the future (don't hold your breath - it may be way in the future), you might just be able to be right in the "classroom" with us.  I'll give you more details when they are available.

Our November weekend is almost half full after just under a week of registrations being open.  If you would like to join us for a great weekend of scrapbooking in Basking Ridge, NJ, please check out more details by clicking here.

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Scrapbooker to Card Maker: Is it Possible? Final Chapter

If you are a scrapbooker and want to be a card maker, hopefully you feel a little more at ease.  For the past two weeks I've talked about the similarities and the differences between the two hobbies.  Today it's time to get to the fun stuff - so you can jump in and get started!!!

First of all - most of the time, handmade cards are 5-1/2" x 4-1/4".  This is created by using half a sheet of 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock and cutting it in half (either 8-1/2" x 5-1/2" or 11" x 4-1/4").  When you fold this piece in half, you have your card base.  Now, since scrapbookers often work with 12" x 12" paper, you have a few options - you can cut down your 12" x 12" cardstock to 8-1/2" x 11" or you can alter the finished size of your card.  I have made cards that are 3" x 6" (a 6" x 6" piece folded in half) or even gift cards at 3" x 3" (3" x 6" folded in half).

So let's assume you have a sheet of 8-1/2" x 11".  The most popular way to cut it is at 5-1/2" x 8-1/2".   You will get two card bases out of one sheet.  Just measure at 5-1/2" and cut with your paper trimmer.

So since you are a scrapbooker and I'm going to consider you a paper crafting expert, we are going to add a layer!!  The most popular layer to use is 5-1/4" x 4".  You can get 4 of these out of one sheet of 8-1/2" x 11".  This gives you an equal 1/8" border all the way around your layer.  Since we'll keep this relatively simple, we'll stop the layering there, but if you want to read more about card layering, check out my lens on squidoo!!!

So now we have two pieces of cardstock - one folded in half and one slightly smaller.  We are going to work on adding "stuff" to that smaller piece.  Typically (but not always) my card base is colored cardstock and my smaller piece to layer is Whisper White or Very Vanilla.  This is where all the action happens!!!  I might stamp it, color it, emboss it, add some ribbon or other embellishments, or (if I'm feeling crazy), maybe some of all of those!!!  (Yikes, right???)

So once you have your small piece finished up, you need to attach it to your card base.  You can use whatever adhesive you would use to attach a photo to a page.  Now, step back, and admire your work!!!!

As you get more comfortable, you might see ways to add different layers, include smaller pieces (perhaps with your greetings on them), and add interesting embellishments.  Remember, it's just a small version of a scrapbook page.  If you remember the rules of balance and odd numbers, you'll create some amazing cards!!!

Good luck!  I hope you find as much enjoyment in card making as you do in scrapbooking, and please feel free to comment if you have questions or other suggestions!!!  And if you are local to Morris County, NJ and want to baby-step your way into this, I have a 10 Card Class coming up next Thursday!!  I'll post some pics of the cards we'll be making tomorrow right here on my blog!  The morning class only has 3 spots available, so RSVP as soon as you can!!!

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PJ Pants: A My Digital Studio Layout

As you might know, I was inspired and motivated to use Stampin' Up!'s My Digital Studio and create more layouts with it during Convention earlier this month.  Next weekend, I have a scrapbooking weekend planned, so I wanted to have some of these layouts done & printed so I can maybe embellish them a little more, or at worst case, share them with other people.

This page was a single page layout of when Emily had our friend Theresa come over & help her make her first pair of pajama pants.  Emily had made a pillowcase in Girl Scouts this year and has been fascinated with sewing ever since.  It was so very sweet of Theresa to come over and Emily had a great time!  I was able to create the background paper (which unfortunately got covered with a lot of the photos) look very similar to the fabric they used, which Emily picked out herself.  I didn't want to add too many additional embellishments digitally, so I settled for a title and a little journaling.  I might bling it up a little when I get it - maybe add a few rhinestones or something, since she does have them on her shirt.  Sometimes I hate the fact that I am so literal and "matchy-matchy" when it comes to scrapbooking!!

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Scrapbooker to Card Maker: Is it Possible? Part 2

I am in the middle of a series of posts that addresses the fears that scrapbookers have when wanting to become card makers.  Last week was my first post and I talked about how similar the two hobbies are.  Today I wanted to talk about the differences.

First, the most obvious difference (to me anyway) is that your project sizes are completely different.  Typically cards are 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" and scrapbook pages are 12" x 12", so your canvas is much smaller when you are working with cards.  In order to help you make this shift into thinking smaller, just think "less area - less stuff".

Second, usually with cards, you don't deal with photos.  Scrapbooking is all about photos, so maybe your fear is that you don't have photos to fill up the page and give you something to work from.  (I know for me my color scheme and embellishments usually are inspired by the photos.)  With cards, you almost have a blank slate.  Sometimes that can be scary.  To help you with that, you might want to create a "focal point" for your cards - either one main image or saying or even a sticker that becomes your focus that you can use as the inspiration for the rest of your card.

Finally, with scrapbooking, usually you have a theme - whether it's just for a whole album or just a two-page layout.  With cards, you can sometimes have a theme, but often not, or at least the way it's expressed is different.  For example, if you are creating a birthday layout, your pictures can tell the story whether your paper, title, journaling, and embellishments do or not. But with a card, you have to make sure the embellishments, paper, and/or sentiments tell the story, so  you can't rely on the photos to do that for you.

Hopefully that can help you start thinking more like a card maker so you can start to make the transition from one to the other.  Oh, and by the way, it's likely that you will become both a scrapbooker AND a card maker. I suppose I shoudl warn you about that!!!

Check back next Wednesday for my final (I think) post on Scrapbooker to Card Maker.  I'll be giving you tips on the actual creation of a card so you can easily make some on your own.

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