Decorating for Christmas

This has to be my favorite time of the year. It is also the most busiest time if the year. Shopping, decorating, wrapping and hosting demand a lot of my precious time as do the kids parties, school pageant and activities. But...sometime you need to take a little time for yourself and do what makes you smile. For me, it's crafting and creating. A month ago I started this project when attending a fabulous crop organized by two pretty fantastic crafters. We get spoiled all weekend and can craft to our heart's content without interruption. While there I was able to build the frame. It took quite a few 12x12 sheets of thick cardstock (think Stampin' Up) and the use if my amazing Silhouette Cameo. I finished this project one evening after my little ones were asleep and dear hubby at work. I had time to relax and let my imagination go wild. I wanted something fun and whimsical for this project. I, of course turned to my go-to; Doodlebug. All their collections somewhat match because of their beautiful colour palette. With Christmas as my theme and photos from last year's festivities, I put together a project that I will want to display for years to come. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Monsters, Witches and Pumpkins Oh My.

Tomorrow is the first day of Fall. As much as I love Summer, there's something to be said about Fall. The changing leaves, Thanksgiving and shorter days all point to Fall but my favorite is Halloween. I love Halloween.

My husband and I always hosted a Halloween bash but when the kids came along, bashes were hard to pull off especially when you have a Halloween baby. We redirected our energies to decorating the house and of course, dressing up and going trick or treating.

Every year, I take tons of pictures. In the last few years, I've created a mini album for us to relive these amazing memories.

For 2016, I decided to use a Prima chipboard album along with a few Doodlebug collections. I designed an album that would have flaps, waterfall, etc. I wanted something interactive that would be fun for the class I would be teaching at my local scrapbook store. Hope you like the photos I've attached.

Now, I'm off to my scraproom to come up with 2017's Halloween design.

A Different Kind of Post

Today I'm posting something a little different. A few weeks ago, I posted the invitations I made for my son's birthday party. His birthday them this year is frogs. I'm really gratefull for Cricut's Create a Critter cartridge. Finding frog decorations was a challenge therefore I made them. That falls well within my wheelhouse but  the cake presented another challenge. I'm usually a cakepan, character cake kind of gal. I found a super cute idea on Pinterest and I went about recreating it. Fondant has always intimidated me but I decided to just go for it. Here's the final result! Not too bad and most important of all, my son loved it.

Ribbit Ribbit

It's been a while since I last posted a new project. The kiddies have been out of school and I've been a busy. My youngest's birthday is coming up and no matter how busy things are, I love making the kids' birthday party invitation. This year is no exception. My son's current obsession is frogs. We spend the majority of our summers glamping and frog hunting is a favorite activity of his. In light of this, I created a froggy invitation to go with his requested frog theme. I did three different versions using different paper. I used my trusty Cricut and started cutting. Here's the final result. What do you think?

Last Day of School

Hard to believe that yesterday was my children's last day of school. Time seems to be passing so much faster now that they are in school. For those of you who are teachers, this is start of your summer vacation. Yeah!

Every year I try to come up with a new card for the teachers. I usually include a giftcard as a small token of appreciation for all the hard work that went into the school year.

This year, instead of an elaborate card, I made a really neat box using a Silhouette cut file. I also made a mini-card in which the kids wrote a little message for their teacher. The box is big enough to fit the mini-card and the giftcard. There is also room to add little bits like chocolate or candy.

Let me know what you think!

Easter Mini Pizza Box Album

I always take a lot of photos at Easter.  I just love to document the kids' excitement as they are hunting for colourful eggs left behind by the Easter Bunny. I always make a traditional 12x12 layout but I also always create a fun mini-album. This year I used a Silhouette cut file created by Lori Whitlock, Echo Park's curent Easter collection and one of Doodlebug's most recent collection, Easter Express.

Let It Snow

It's been snowing on and off for the last two days and the weatherman is calling for more. Gotta love Canadian winters! I love watching my kids' eyes light up when they look outside and see the snow falling. They run for their snowgear and I get my camera. Nothing like a snowday to get the creative juices going.

For this layout, I used Close to my Heart paper, cardstock and glitter paper. I also used a few favorite adhesives and of course my Cameo which is my new toy.

What are you doing on this snowy evening?

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Well, January is over and the groundhog has spoken. Winter is here for a few more weeks so I've decided to concentrate on the fun stuff and try not to let the cold get to me. I noticed today that the sun was shining longer. Yes, the days are finally getting longer and it's now noticeable. Yeah!

There's no better way to beat the Winter blues than by playing in the snow. I created this layout with some of my favorite Winter photos. Tobogganing is a household favorite. We have so much fun that it doesn't matter if our nose is all red or that the tip of our toes are numb. It's about playing outside as a family. Take a few minutes, bundle up and go play outside. Don't forget to take photos to document the fun days when waiting for snowflakes to hit your tongue was the only thing you had to do.

American Girl Doll Party Dress

Hi Crafters,

As I previously mentioned, I love to do a lot of different things. When my daughter got her first American Girl doll, I knew that I would be dusting off my sewing machine and make this beautiful doll a wardrobe. Meet Belle.

I found the cutest pattern for a chair on www.pixiefaire.com. I've made a few of these because we don't just have one doll now. Belle has a few friends. Even my son has one for his favorite stuffy, Monkeyman.

Here are a few other outfits I made for Belle. Making doll clothes is so much fun. I love searching for new patterns and then the perfect fabric. Choosing the right fabric is really important. You need to make sure that if there is a design, it's scaled right. You also want to ensure that the fabric is not too thick. Remnants are great for making doll clothes. Dollar store finds are also a fantastic choice. In the picture with Belle wearing the hat I made, I bought a child's shirt and used it to cut out my pattern pieces. The print was super cute and scaled perfectly. Hope I've inspired you to make cute doll clothes for the dolls in your life. 😊😊😊

The End of the January Blues... Welcome February!

Hello Fellow Crafters!

It's been a while! Seems like the last two months have just flown by. December was very busy. Between the Christmas parade, baking, school pageant, shopping, wrapping and parties, it didn't leave me much time to do much crafting. January has been all about getting back on track which definitely included finding a way to find time to craft. Nothing like crafting to beat the January Blues.

This weekend, I had some friends over to papercraft. I finished both my Halloween and Christmas Mini-Album while catching up with the girls. As you all know, I LOVE, LOVE Doodlebug products which I used in both these albums. The bones of the album are one of Prima's fantastic chipboard album.

 

Now that I got all caught up with Halloween and Christmas, there was no more excuse for not having scrapbooked last Easter's pictures. I decided that I wanted to try a new style of mini album. I'm always looking for a new style of album to try. Mini albums are a favorite of mine and my kids just love them.

I went on the Silhouette Design Store and found a super cute Lori Withlock mini wallet album. Check it out! https://www.silhouettedesignstore.com/view-shape/132353 

Combined with my newly arrived Doodlebug's Easter Express collection, I came up with this album. What do you think?

I hope you enjoyed these projects. Now that I'm back into crafting mode, I won't wait so long between posts. Happy crafting!