Tuesday, July 1, 2008

A Spectacular Tribute - Part One




It is amazing how time starts to fly as summer kicks into full swing. Between being outdoors and on a little vacation it feels like summer is already half way over. I've been working on a few long term projects so between those and life I've had little time for anything else! Which is why my newly redesigned blog has been a bit sadly neglected.

But I finally have new stuff to show!!

My biggest long term project as of late has been a memory album for a spectacular lady. A grandmother contacted me to create an album for her granddaughter of her great grandmother. Follow? So the album is for a small child to have of her great grandmother who just passed a little more than a year and a half ago.

The woman who the album is about was a classic and simple woman. No frills, no pretenses, no fluff. My instructions were to keep everything very simple and not fussy. I received 16 photos and some memorabilia. I knew that since this is a gift for a child that I didn't want a huge album that would be cumbersome to handle or pull off of the bookshelf. But I also didn't want it to be too small as the life of this woman was wonderful and I wanted the album to have presence to reflect that.

I decided that 8x8 was the perfect size. After receiving the photos and sitting with them for a bit to think about the theme I was drawn to the SU! Rose Cottage Simply Scrappin' kit. I find it elegant, both in color scheme and accent paper design. It's elegant without being fussy, classic without being pretentious. Purely Pomegranate, Soft Sky, River Rock and Chocolate Chip...how could I go wrong? I picked up the kit plus a pack of each of the complementing colors. Then I went to purchase the album that would hold all of this loveliness. Do you know how difficult it is to find an 8x8, simple, brown leather, post-bound album? Seriously? ACM, Michaels, and Joann's...none of them had anything that I could use. It shouldn't be that hard! And I'm a little OCD in the way that I can't start a project like this until I have every piece. So that even though I knew I had decided on 8x8 layout size, I couldn't start until I had the actual album in hand. Because in my experience, all insert pages are different. And knowing that the album came with only 10 pages, I purchased an extra pack so I wanted to make sure that those fit correctly, that they were the correct ones...etc..etc. I wanted to make sure that when I cut the 8x8 base page for my layout that it fit perfectly into the top loading page and wasn't "a bit" too small and would slip around in the sleeve or "a bit" too big and be too crunched in the sleeve. (I tend to be a bit verbose at 3:53 am when insomnia sets in...bear with me)

So...I purchased the album on line at www.scrapbook.com. They had a great selection. I like the We R Memory Keepers line so I went with that. It arrived quickly and I got to work. I did not have a deadline for this project so I did take my time with each layout...sitting with the photos and supplies reflecting on the material as well as the child (and her family) for whom I was making it.

And after I figured out the very first page, the rest just flowed. I got into a vibe for a few weeks and before I knew it, I was photographing it and packing it up for delivery. I will be posting pictures of each page individually because even though my layouts are simple I want to give each page it's due.

So without further delay...here is the album cover and page one.

I hope that everyone is having a very creative week!

Friday, June 20, 2008

The Room


































So I've been holding off posting pictures of my newly redone studio. My amazing husband redid the room for me ON HIS OWN for my 35th birthday which was in May. I'm still working on small decorating touches, final organizational issues, cleaning up etc, etc but it's mostly done! I don't want to wait any longer before showing it off!! So I'm just going to upload a ton of pictures!! I hope that you enjoy!!

Happy Friday! I hope that everyone has a very creative weekend!

Saturday, June 14, 2008

I've been WAY into tags lately. Jumbo, fabulous tags! I was just playing around one day and thought it'd be a nice change from a traditional card or notecard...since I do a lot of those all the time. These are great because they can double as a card wherein you can use an envelope with them and mail them OR you can use them as a more traditional tag and tie them around a gift bag handle. I did that just the other day when I gave my great friend Kristyn her birthday gift!!

I honestly don't have ANY of the details on these right now but they've been sitting in 'draft' for a couple of weeks now so I'll get back to you all on the details!

Happy Saturday!!







Friday, June 13, 2008

Delicious Design Studio




Hi Everyone!!

I know it's been a while since I've been around but I'm back and more beautiful than before!! Well...my blog is anyways! ;) Thanks to the EXTREMELY talented Delicious Design Studio!!! Jess asked me what I liked and I sent her some ideas and she just ran with it! I am in LOVE with my new look and HIGHLY recommend her for all of your blog/website/business design needs!!

I have a smashing Father's Day card to show you!! This card is for my FIL. My last 2 weeks have been insane beyond insane...some tragedy, some illness, some wonderful times but I won't bore you with the details let's just say that I will be overnighting this card to my FIL this afternoon so it will get there in time for Father's Day. I've just been running ragged and not creating for 2 weeks and I miss it!! But I'm back in so PHEW!

Anyway - the details of this card are as follows:

Measurements: 9 1/4 x 4

Cardstock: Paper Source - Poppy - card base, followed by KI memories Pop Culture specialty paper pack that I picked up yesterday at Target, followed by SU! Chocolate Chip, then by the KI paper again, followed by SU! Old Olive and Very Vanilla.

Stamps: Happy Father's Day - Amuse, Dad - PTI Simple Alphabet.

Ink: Brilliance Pigment Ink Pad in Pearlescent Orange (the pearlescent line is now one of my favs! - I love working with it!)

Embellishments: MM square and round brads, sticky tab from an SU! Simply Scrappin' kit and polka dotted ribbon from Michael's

I hope that everyone has a Happy Friday and a nice weekend!

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Just some more notecards!



They seem to be everyone's favorite!! Here I used the following papers:

SU! Green Galore, Regal Rose, Pumpkin Pie and Whisper White. I used my Cricut to cut the square scallop as well as the rounded edge corner "J" monogram. The DP is Scenic Route - Savanah/Landings Way and the ribbon is a sheer, lilac color from ACM.

I hope that everyone is having a very creative Monday!!