Gratitude

Gratitude - that sums up my life.  I am so thankful for my life, my health, my savior, my husband, my kids, my mom, my sisters, my family, my home, my new home, my friends, my church . . . . I am so thankful.

As some of you are aware (mostly because I have been blogging about it), I am a digital scrapbooker.  It is a passion of mine almost as much as card making (and sometimes more than).

I love to make my own pattern papers.  It is so fun.  So rewarding.  So freeing.  I have been making my own patterns to coordinate well with the PTI colors lately.  This is one of my favorite color combos.  So, I am happy to share this card with you today.

Credits:  Dots Paper, Ribbon, Stamps (Pretty Peonies) - Papertrey Ink; Plaid Pattern Paper - SillyLeAnn Designs (that's me!!)

I thought it might be fun for me to share my plaid paper with you.  I hope this works and you enjoy.

Ok, I think I have it now.  Try THIS and see if you can download the plaid paper.  Thanks for stopping by today.

First Day of School

First day of school, first day of school.  Can you just hear Nemo chanting that (yes, I am a Disny Pixar junkie)?  I am a touch emotional today as the kiddos head back to school.  Growing up doesn't get easier as you get more grown up.  I am blessed beyond measure and appreciate my family.

Here is a card that I made using my very favorite cover plate die.  This card was so fun to make.  It just seemed to come together effortlessly.  Oh, how I wish they would all do that!

Credits:  Again, all papertey ink except the pattern papers which are from Basic Grey.

I am loving the coordinating envelope with the stamps and the lining.  Such fun touches!  Thanks for stopping by today!

A Year in the Life

I have shared a little hear and there about my digital scrapping. My blog has mainly been about my card making endeavors, but I would like to branch out from time to time. Today would be one of those days. I was applying for a blog team position with a digital scrapbook designer that I really like, and it hit me that I don't blog about my digital scrapbooking. I don't really know why except that I am, for the most part, a private person. It is like bearing my heart and my soul. But, I would like to share what divides my crafting time.

I had this idea a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to make a book for my mom about our family for each year. It is like a yearbook so to speak. She has 9 grandkids and 3 great-grandkids. So, she doesn't have room to put up that many photos. And face it, in this digital world, it seems counter-intuitive to print photos. Where do you put them once they are printed? How do you store them? If you do put them in traditional photo albums, how do you mark them for date, occasion, or faces. If you put the info on the back of the photo, you are forced with removing them from the album to find out any info. Ok, you get the point. So, I think making this for her will be genius. And, if I am already doing one, I can just print one more and give it to my mother-in-law. Brilliant! Or so I think. I'll let you know.

Here are my January, February, and March pages. Enjoy!

I used the 8.5 X 11 templates from Weeds and Wildflowers Everyday Life Series. The digital kits are from the Capture Life series by Tracie Stroud.

I would share my April, May, June, and July pages. But . . . they are not done. I will catch up eventually. Thanks for looking today at a small peek into my world - or at least the other side of my crafty world.

Thank You for Your Kindness

I am popping in today to do a real quick share.  This is another one of my cards that I made to attempt to use up some pattern paper that I have been hoarding for no good or particular reason.  :)  Pattern papers really do look better when they are used, don't they?

Credits:  Pattern Paper - Basic Grey; Ribbon and Stamp - Papertrey Ink; Embossing powder - White Filagree

Thanks for taking a peek today.  Happy crafting!

A Very Happy Birthday

I love red.  It isn't my favorite color (that is reserved for the very special midnight blue), but gee wiz, I really love a crisp red.  I have really tossed around the idea of adding it to my new craft room.  I was already planning an aqua and white craft room.  Oh, how dreamy - a red, white, and aqua craft space!

I made this card for my sister-in-law (who had a birthday in April and I am ashamed to admit that I am just now blogging about it).  Her and I began card making together several years ago as a way to make extra money.  She sadly quit about 2 years later.  I couldn't give up card making for anything.  :)  So, it is always fun to give her one of my hand made cards.  Mostly because she ALWAYS rants and raves at how amazing it is.  I am more convinced she is impressed because she knows the heart and soul put into each handmade card more than she actually likes the card.  But either way, I love to see her run her fingers over all the layers, examine each and every stamped image, and sometimes ask a sincere (and impressed) how did you do that.  Don't you wish all your recipients would react like that?  :)

Credits:  It is basically all Papertrey Ink except the tag which is a chipboard tag from a set of Maya Road chipboard pieces.

I have always been an on again off again blogger.  But so many things are happening right now that I cannot decide what to blog about.  So, instead of fretting, I just need to start blogging.  I now have a 3 month old!!!  Time is flying by for sure.  We are in the process of building our dream home and by extension my dream craft room.  I have been doing way more digital scrapbooking than card making.  It is just easier to tote around the MacBook than to tote around the craft supplies.  We are gearing up to start back to school this next week.  Life . . . it is such a fun and beautiful thing.

Storing Paper Scraps

I am a bit OCD when it comes to organization and my craft room.  By far, I get the most readers for my organization post I did forever ago now.  I wanted to keep you updated with new things.  I have always had a HUGE problem with paper scraps.  Toss them?  Keep them?  If you do keep them, how will I find them to actually use them again.  I was so sick and tired of cutting into a piece of card stock only to find a day later I had like 4 small scraps that would have worked fine.

Enter my method for storing scraps.  I have using this system almost since I did my big organization post.  After I had all of the initial organization out of the way, I began to tackle the smaller (or larger in my case) problems that I couldn't find an easy solution for.

Let me show you.

This little cardboard magazine holder sits on the side of my desk right next to my stamps.  I use plastic sheet protectors to store scraps.  Each color of card stock has its own sheet protector.  I wasn't sure when I started if the sheet protectors would stay stood up over time.  But I can say after a year and a half, this is the photo I snapped of them the other day.  Still going great.

Here is a closer look so that you can really get a feel for how each color has its own "file".

I pulled it apart so that you could see that the scraps just fall to the bottom of the sheet protector waiting to be used.

Let me pull one out so that you can see how this is so useful to me.

This is my Summer Sunrise scraps.  I am diligent to place larger pieces to the back of the sheet protector and the smaller ones to the front.  It honestly takes about 2 or 3 seconds longer to quickly arrange your scrap as you slide it in.  I have also been using this system to keep my pattern papers with their respective color.  I wasn't sure if it would work out or they would require their own sheet protector.  However, I find it to work so well in my flow and set up.

What makes this system work so well is that I can see at a glance what scraps I have available.  If I need to cut a small butterfly, I can size it up before I reach in.  I can also see at a glance if I have a piece that would work for a card base or not.  It helps me to actually USE my scraps and keeps them under control.

I hope you can glean something from my system.  Isn't that what makes this so fun?  Take a bit of what I do, add it something else, mixed with your own thoughts and you can come up with an amazing solution that really works well for you.