i have a fun home decor challenge up on the making memories blog today. the challenge involves using vintage groove jewelry by making memories in a different way. not to make something pretty to wear. but to make something pretty to display in your home. check out the MM blog for all the details :)
one of the other making memories collections i got a chance to create with, was the new toil & trouble halloween collection. i'm really liking what making memories has come up with for this year's take on halloween. love the lighter shades of purple, orange, and green. and such a wide variety of great embellishments. they're having a lot of fun giveaways and sharing again today over on the making memories blog, so be sure to check in over there throughout the day. and i'll leave you with a few of the projects i created with this collection :)
summer CHA started today, and i'm going to be stalking all the blogs and sites over the next few days, looking for all the great new products coming out. one of those sites that always has a ton of CHA excitement is the making memories blog. they keep the new products under wraps until the show actually starts. even though i design for them, most of it is all new to me too. so i'm seeing most of it for the first time, just like you.
one of their new collections that i did get a chance to work with, was the new noel christmas collection. you can see images of all the products in this collection HERE and HERE. here are a few of my projects that i saw in a photo of the booth, so i think they're safe to show you. will share more as soon as i can :)
want to see how i took one basic tag, added in one cute shape, and topped it with one sentiment, and came out with 5 very different gift tags? you can check it out over on the making memories blog :)
do you own a making memories slice? if you do, do you own one of the new hands free kits? i had received my hands free kit over a month ago. but i have to be honest. i hadn't pulled it out of the box until yesterday. i already had my regular glass mat all adhesived up and ready to go. so, when i did need to use my slice, i had just pulled that out since it was easy. but yesterday, i had quite a bit of slicing to do. so it was a good time to try it out.
i know that i'm a little partial to making memories products, since i'm lucky enough to design for them ;) but it also has a lot to do with the fact that they really do put out amazing products. i have loved my slice since the day i started using it. but the new hands free kit? i honestly think it makes the slice a ton better than it already was.
i could explain the hands free kit and how it works and what you get. but marianne does it so much better, and is cuter to look at and listen to than i am anyways. lol!
i never had a problem holding my slice in place, while it cut. it's not like the images take that long to cut, unless you have a really intricate shape. then again, the fact that i didn't have to hold it in place, left me to do other things while it cut. i'm not one to sit still. if i have 10 free seconds, you can bet i'm going to find something to do with my time. lol! so as i was slicing for a few projects i was working on, i would get up and do things inbetween my cuts. a few times, i left my scraproom to do something in another part of the house and totally forgot i was slicing. the other thing that i noticed right away, is that i think the slice cuts a lot better with the hands free kit. there's less room for user error. not holding it right, holding it too tight or too loose, accidently having it move a little while cutting. the magnetic is so strong, that the slice stays exactly where it needs to be.
i was so excited about this, that i had to share it and demo it to everyone in the family today. i'm not sure how excited they were, but i figured that those of you with a slice would be able to appreciate this a little bit more. so i'm sharing with you. however, i cannot share what i was working on in these photos. you'll have to wait a little bit to hear or see more of that ;)
do you remember that cute little doggie treat jar i shared last month? did you print out the instruction card to add to your slice inspirations box? well, last week on the making memories blog, they posted another project i created with the new paws & claws design card.
check it out over on the making memories blog, and you will find the link to print out a copy of the instruction card that you can add to your box. i created 3 projects for this design card. the newer design cards have an inspirations project card included in the packaging. so you'll have to purchase the design card, to see my third project ;)
i have some layouts to share today, using the new making memories panorama collection. these were samples i did last january, for CHA. keep in mind, these are all 6x6 layouts, since they were for the booth.
this is my brother and my sister-in-law. i went straight to them when i needed travel photos. since they travel constantly. us? not so much. and he made sure to point out that i have that airplane trim upside down on these layouts. wasn't even something i thought about as i adhered them down. lol!
that's my sister-in-law, hiking somewhere. i thought the little arrow was cute, pointing her out in the photo.
alyssa and her dad, on a trip to hawaii a few years ago. once again, upside down airplane trim. lol! i've used this photo before. i really need to find new travel photos next time.
i think this photo is from my brother, from one of their hawaii trips. i used the slice embossing tips along the bottom strip of cardstock, for the flowers.
i had one of my projects featured on the making memories blog yesterday. it's a fun door hanger project, using their new panorama collection.
i had a lot of fun working on this project. this collection has so many great pieces and embellishments to choose from, so i think i might have used a little bit of everything by the time i was done. i couldn't even show you my pictures of all the different pieces, since i can't seem to locate the photos on my laptop now. ugh, so frustrating.
luckily, all you have to do is go check out THIS POST. you can see the door hanger, and all the fun stuff that's tucked inside of it, along with a fun video on how to put one together for yourself. enjoy :)
i got so busy the last 2 weeks, that i hadn't made any new vintage groove jewelry. it was fun last night, to take everything back out and dig around for pieces i wanted to put together.
i started by taking the corded strand from THIS set. then i took part of the gold chain and the velvet oval pendant from THIS set. and i took the 3 pieces from each end of THIS strand. hooked them all together and came up with this cute necklace.
alyssa was nice enough to model it for me this morning. sarah apparently didn't hear me asking for a model, and was bummed that she didn't get to do it. so she'll be my model for next week :)
supplies:
MM vintage groove jewelry kit - floral mix
MM vintage groove jewelry kit - abalone and velvet
MM vintage groove jewelry strand combinations - abalone and button
i have graduation photos and stories to blog. i have last day of school memories happening as i type this. but i just havn't had time to sit down and put my thoughts into words yet. and i still need to get photos from alyssa's dad, to compare who's are better. lol! so that's definately coming. in the meantime, i figured it's a good day to toss in a scrapping project for you.
this is the closest we'll come to having a dog, since alyssa is highly allergic to them. although, he's much easier to clean up after than a real dog. lol! but i was thinking of grammi and papa's cocker spaniel, jenny, when i worked on these projects using the new paws & claws design card. she looks exactly like this webkinz dog. this is just a fun little treat jar that i came up with. and if you head over to the making memories blog, you can download the instructions and print them out. then you can store the project card, in your slice inspirations box.
first up, my randomly chosen winner for the free copy of creating keepsakes fast & fresh scrapbooks. i figured it's 4 minutes until midnight here, so i'd just pick the winner and post tonight. tomorrow morning is a busy one, and i don't want to leave you hanging until i get around to the computer. we have comment #30: this looks like a great idea book. Thanks for the chance! :) Posted by: Vera Wirianta| May 10, 2010 at 01:27 PM. congrats vera! email me over your address and we'll get that mailed out to you! and for everyone else, there might be another giveaway next week. just sayin ;)
wanted to share another vintage groove necklace with you. i used a jewelry strand combination kit for this one, which made it really quick and easy to put together. i started with the silver seed bead combination kit. those 6 beads, stones, and charms were all strung together already. you can easily change them, add different pieces, take pieces out. but i liked it just like it was. all i had to do was attach them to the silver seed beaded chain. i wanted to add some pearls to it. so i took the 2 pearl strands from the abalone and pearl combination kit, and attached them together to one end of the beads and stones. then just added my initial, and i was done.
i really need to get some photos of these necklaces ON someone, and not just hanging in the air. lol! then you could get a better feel for how i created them to hang. some of them are centered, some off to one side, some to the other side. i'll try to get the girls to model them for me. they're cuter to look at ;)
but what i can show you, is where these necklaces end up after i make them. i've been wanting to share this. it's not the best photo at all. but if i wait to get a good photo, you might not ever see this. this is a large rectangle frame that hangs in the playroom, above the glider rocker that i feed the babies in. it used to have a print of some sort in it. i spray painted it black, and glued cork inside the frame to make it a bulletin board. i do this a lot. in fact, i also have 6 12x12 frames hanging in the house that are exactly the same. painted black and cork inside. and guess what? not a single one of them have anything pinned up on them. they've been hanging there at least 2 years. with nothing on them. typical of me. i do that sort of thing. but i did at one point, adhere these 3 ribbons to this framed cork. i had a plan for the rest of it. some huge chipboard letters, and a few pictures. just never did it. so it's just been 3 pieces of ribbon for all this time.
until now. i had all my necklaces laying on the island in the playroom. for weeks. then one day, i just took them and hung them up on this bulletin board with tacks. i love to look at this. and i think the baby likes to look at it behind me, as i'm feeding him. lol! and when i'm feeling like wearing a necklace, i just go over to my display and pick out what matches me that day. if i create enough new pieces, maybe i can fill up the other 6 frames. lol!
i was digging around in my files today, and realized i never shared this layout.
i think the new pitter pattern collection from making memories is adorable. honestly, i wanted to dig around for photos of my girls when they were babies or ittie bitties. and i'm sure i will at some point. but that was back in my film days, so i found it was much quicker and easier to dig out some digital photos of one of the daycare kids. lol! miss miranda was the lucky winner for this layout.
i printed one 4x6 photo, and a few 2x3 photos. i really wanted to use this shaped paper as my background, but also wanted to keep my linear style. i think adding the strip of pattern paper across the bottom of the page really helped ground everything and keep the majority of the layout very clean and linear. to get the sides of that paper strip to fit the curved line of the background paper, i just lightly sketched the curve with a pencil and then cut it out to fit.
this is one of my favorite photos of miranda. just an everyday photo, of her and her stuff. her blanket, her baby, and her sippy cup. standard girlie stuff. i was standing on the table, looking down at her for a photo. gets their attention every time. never mind that it occasionally teaches them some bad habits along the way. lol! she's looking up at me with that "ohhhhh, what are you doing" look.
i added that little birdie epoxy sticker at the last minue, and felt like it needed something. i wanted to give the feel of him flying across the layout, not just stuck there in thin air. so i hand stitched a little trail, using some of the thread in the trims and treats package.
aren't these felt and fabric embellishments the cutest things? they're both stickers, and i added a jewel sticker to the fabric barn. some chipboard letters, a few brads, and a scrap of trim, and i was done. simple and quick.
i think it was just about a year ago, when the MM slice inspirations box came out.
did you know that the newest design cards now include an inspirations project card inside the packaging? super easy to slip the new ideas into your box and expand your collection. but did you also know that there are more of these inspirations project cards available for anyone to print? they have been sharing a new card each week, over on the making memories blog.
i created this project using the nursery rhymes design card and the animal crackers collection. go check it out HERE, and you'll find a link to print your own inspirations card with all the instructions and supplies. and check out the archives on the blog too, where you'll find 3-4 more of these printable project cards that have been shared recently.
i have no clue how this necklace took me so long to finish. it was just so busy around here last week, and it all just sat out on the island the entire week. untouched and unmoved. thursday night, i finally grabbed my vintage groove jewelry collection and my tools, and took them with me to soccer practice. sarah made sure i wasn't going to come out on the field or do it where people could see me. lol! she didn't have to worry, since it was so cold and windy that night. i sat in the van, and made this.
i think this is my favorite of the ones i've made. i had another favorite. but this one has taken over. i've been wearing it, and just love how it looks. i tried to get a picture of it on myself, but didn't have much luck. i'm not always so good with the self portraits. it's a big longer of a necklace, falling right below a V-neck shirt. i even put it on today, when i finally got the baby to nap. it might have only been on for a little bit. but it made me feel pretty for a while. then he woke up, and i took it off. jewelry like this doesn't mix with a 4 month old. lol!
i started with an aqua stone bead strand, and a striped antique silver chain. i took apart the silver chain in the middle, so that i could add the pieces to either end, and then connect them into one long piece. then i attatched the aqua stone bead strand about 3 inches down from either side of the silver chain. so the silver one is what i hook around my neck, and the aqua strand hangs from that. then i just picked out pieces that i liked together. i'm loving yellow lately, especially with aqua. the brown seemed natural with those colors. i was desperate to use that pretty rhinestone piece. and the clear pieces called out to me. i added the silver key higher up on one side of the necklace. thought it balanced out the rhinestone piece. and of course, my signature "L" to finish it off.
MM vintage groove, simple strands - aqua stone bead
MM vintage groove, simple strands - striped antique silver
MM vintage groove, designer combinations - shell & silver
MM vintage groove, designer combinations - joy
MM vintage groove, designer combinations - wood hoop
MM vintage groove, alphabet charms - L
MM vintage groove, jewelry pendant - carved wood flower
MM vintage groove, jewelry hardware - silver jump rings
i have another vintage groove necklace to share with you today. this one is pretty simple. i liked the yellow pendant, and wanted to keep the silver chain very clean and simple.
have you tried it yet? would you like to? the super generous folks from Making Memories are doing a random act of kindness for their facebook fans. They will be choosing one winner every day! all you have to do is become a fan, visit their FB page daily and post a comment to be entered in. go HERE to get started. good luck!
wanted to share my latest creation with the new vintage groove jewelry collection from making memories.
i'm finding it really hard to photograph these. the main pieces all hang towards the center on the chain on the bottom. and then the gingham flower and the key are up towards the shoulder. i tried to venture out a little more time time, and get creative :)
check out the gorgeous creations that these other designers created, for more inspiration:
wendy sue anderson
wilna furstenberg
suzonne sterling
it's my turn again for a designer challenge on the making memories blog. this time it's all about altering your slice die cuts. go read all about it over HERE on the blog. and you can see my process of taking this:
and turning it into this:
have you seen the new vintage groove jewelry, by designer jill schwartz? she has teamed up with making memories to bring us some gorgeous jewelry supplies to create with. i first heard about this on my trip to the MM offices, last november. jill was actually there with all the pieces spread out on this huge table, and they were deciding on how they were going to group everything and package it. was neat to see a glimpse of the process. now, i'm the first to admit that i'm not actually a big jewelry person. meaning, the only jewelry i wear is my wedding rings. but i was totally up for the challenge of creating with this new collection.
i decided to invite my good friend, sierra, over to create with me. she's an artsy fartsy girl, like me. but with a different style. and while i was drawn to a ton of the pieces of this collection, i knew that some of it wasn't quite my style. it's gorgeous. just not "me". but i could see it being "sierra", and knew she'd have fun with it. she dug right in there, and started creating. pulling pieces out, taking chains apart, cutting pieces, and putting together fun mixtures. me? i sat there and debated, hemmed and hawwed, over analyzed, and maybe even got a little anxious and overwhelmed at one point. lol! i'm such a clean and linear person, matchy matchy, and everything measured to precise and perfect spacing. so this was a creative push for me.
but the nice thing about doing something with a friend, is that you always start chatting and talking about stuff. and at some point, i just started making stuff. we were both totally into what we were making, not really looking at each other much, but chatting away. sierra even said at one point, "i've never talked to you like this". which was kind of funny, since i've known her about 8 years. lol! anyways. the point of this, is that i made a few necklaces. all on my own. and i loved it. they're nothing too fancy or elaborate. but for my first time jewelry-ing it up (i might have made that term up), i'm really happy with them.
tell me that's a great shot. because i took these all one-handed. holding the necklace in one hand at arms length, getting the pieces to dangle the right way, and hold my heavy camera in the other hand and snap away, all while trying to keep my focus point. i even had my external flash on there, which made it heavier. i like to do things the hard way ;)
i was determined to use this super cute teal flower. it was the first thing that caught my eye. i think i had something else dangling on there, with the two flowers. and then i thought about the "L" monograms. when i got my package, jenny had tossed a ton of L's in there. i'm assuming it was for "laura", although it could be because she "loves" me so much ;) so, i was joking that i should add an "L" to everything i make. like a signature touch. i kind of liked that idea.
i should have changed into something that actually matched better. but i don't have access to my room during the day, since joe sleeps after working all night. and this was taken one handed, outstetched arm. not sure i would have looked better if someone else took the photo, but in my mind, i would have. lol! and i did mean for this to be slightly off to the side (i didn't just put it on crooked), and not hanging right in the middle.
another cool one handed shot. better than some of my two handed shots, to be honest ;)
this large chunky piece was another one that i was drawn to right away. i was joking that in my simple nature, i would normally just attach this to the chain and be done with it. lol! but i picked out another piece to dangle on there, along with my signature "L" ;)
this would probably look cooler with a different shirt. yeah, i think so.
an hour or so spend with a good friend, creative goodness, and six creations to show for it. not bad at all. although i only made two necklaces, and sierra made 3 necklaces and a bracelet. she wins. but i have plans for more, so i'll share more next week. edited to add: sierra has her creations up on her blog this morning, and she's be thrilled if you would stop by and see what she made HERE.
right now, the collection is being released at select target and ac moore stores, across the country. if you go to the vintage groove jewelry site, you can see a list of all the stores that are carrying it. and if you're local to me, you're in luck. the modesto target store is one of the select california stores, and it's all in stock and on the shelves ;)
wanted to make a quick layout for the blog, so that you could see something other than my face over the weekend. lol! i have a ton of projects going right now, so i really didn't want to take any more paper and product out. sounds like a good time for a digital layout, right? i actually went hybrid on this one.
so, this is an 8x8 layout, which i then printed out and adhered to a 9x9 piece of white cardstock. the papers, photos, and title are all digital elements. and then the embellishments are all traditional products. real stuff. i started out with the acrylic overlay grid and the pink pattern paper, and no idea where i was going from there. dug around on my external hard drive, and tried out several photo options. finally settled on these 4 gorgeous girls. young women, really. the girls don't have any cousins on my side of the family, only second cousins that are all adults. but they are lucky enough to have two cousins on joe's side of the family. johvanna is on the top left corner, and is joe's middle brother, bobby's, daughter. and sally is on the bottom right corner, and is joe's oldest brother, johnny's, step-daughter.
supplies:
acrylic overlay grid mini paper (by doris castle)
birthday wishes solid papers (by sara batdorf)
just be you papers (by angie briggs)
i heart spring kit (by michelle underwood)
wild love solids (by michelle underwood)
just chillin chipboard embellishments (by making memories)
paper flowers (by making memories)
flair buttons (by american crafts)
and wanted to mention a few things for you to check out, if you haven't seen them yet.
jaime echt from crafter's workshop has a great guest blogger post on the creating keepsakes bog today. has some great ideas about using their templates on your layouts. i have a handful of their templates here, and they are so cool. a great reminder to pull them out as soon as i can, and make something cute with them. you can see it HERE.
have you been to chech out club CK yet? this is the new community site for creating keepsakes, and it's the cutest site. full of fun things to check out and participate in. there's a gallery, a message board, videos, and a ton of other sections. make some time to explore the site and register.
the new design team members were announced on the jillibean soup blog today. i see some familiar names, and some other's that i can't wait to find out more about. i know they're all going to be great additions to an already great team, and i'm so happy to be a part of it. congrats to them all!
if you're not checking the making memories blog every day, you should be. it has been full of inspiration lately, and we've all been working really hard to bring you new ideas every day.
this week is my turn to take on the designer inspiration challenge over on the making memories blog. since it was saint patricks day yesterday, we decided that my challenge would be to use the color green. and to find an item around my house to be inspired by. you can see the entire layout and read about it HERE.
last week on the making memories blog, wendy bretz and i did a photo swap challenge. you can read that post HERE. i figured today was a good day to share it. since it's dark and dreary here today, and i could use something bright and fun to look at.
this is wendy's daughter hannah. isn't she cute! and she's funny too. i've actually talked to her on the phone. about mario cart, and how badly i stink at it. and she seemed truely baffled by the fact that i come in last, every time i play. lol! anyways. wendy and i have totally different styles from each other. but i know that we also appreciate and admire each other's style at the same time. i love how wendy uses minimal amounts of product on her layouts, and how she embraces the white space on a layout. but i tend to go the other direction. so i knew i wanted to see hannah's photo, on a totally girly layout. with lots of products and embellishments.
we both used the MM flutter collection and the slice for our layouts. the ladybug was cut from the big kids design card. i should tell you the disaster that this little ladybug caused me. lets just say that it started out looking just like you see here. and then i thought it needed something. so i added something, and then that smeared stuff onto another part, and then i tried to clean it up and made something else worse. it got really ugly, really fast. so i managed to salvage the ladybug, and just re-did my cardstock circles and left it at that.
the title word "silly" was cut from the just chillin design card. i cut it once from blue cardstock, and once from white cardstock. and then i adhered them, just slightly overlapping each other.
you can see what wendy did with one of my photos over on the making memories blog post from last week, right HERE.
designer challenges are back over on the making memories blog. it's my turn this week, and it's all about ribbons. check it all out HERE. and make sure and share, it you play along with the challenge. i'd love to see :)
last week, i shared some valentines cards i had created using pieces from the making memories love stuck garland kit. i also used pieces to make a fun layout. you can see the entire layout over on the making memories blog today.
the pattern paper pieces (with the stamp edges), the chipboard letters, the beads, and the brown ribbon are all from the garland kit. i just added a few more strands of ribbon, four embellishments, a metal clip, and some journaling strips. just eight quick "soooooo sweet" things that joe does for me and that i wanted him to know that i appreciate.
my goal this week is to share a little valentines project with you, each day. i have a few really cute valentines collections here, and have wanted to use some of each of them. while i'm not a huge valentine's day person in general, i do love the pinks and reds and hearts that make up the holiday. today i'm using some pieces from the making memories love struck collection.
today i'm sharing these cute little photo holders. i know they would look a lot better, if i had actual photos tucked into those metal loopy things on the tops. but if i went looking for photos just to take this picture of the project, i would never get around to posting. lol! so just know that you can tuck little photos up there. these were just unfinished wooden blocks (with the metal pieces), that i found at michaels. i think they were $1.50 or $2 each, can't remember which.
then i painted the wooden part with brown paint. and not very neatly, i might add. i can see some brown paint on the metal pieces. lol! i knew i was adding the pattern paper, so i mainly just painted the top part, and then the edges all around. i gave it two coats. then i measured and cut my paper pieces (twice, since my first ones were wrong). i used mod podge to adhere the paper to the wooden blocks. brushed the mod podge onto the paper, and stuck the paper to the wood. rubbed it down really good, pushing any air bubbles out to the edges. then i added another layer of mod podge to cover the entire thing, right over the paper.
for my embellishment, i simply added a love struck rosette to each block. super simple. they were the perfect size, and looked cute all on their own. i thought these would make really quick and easy gifts :)
i have a huge post started about my CHA experience, with lots of photos of the fun people i got to meet. but it's long and it's not done yet. so i think i'm going to save that for tomorrow or monday. in the meantime, i wanted to share a few more of my making memories projects that i saw up in the booth.
this card was made using the new sock hop font design card, the pen tips, and the just chillin collection. i sliced the letters from brown pattern paper, using the "normal" setting. and then i used the pen tips to draw the letters on white cardstock, using the "shadow" setting. i cut the pen drawn letters out my hand, and then layered the brown letters on top.
for the card itself, i adhered a piece of lined pattern paper first, and then a piece of yellow vellum on top of it to soften it up a little. i then sliced a large circle from the orange star pattern paper, using the basic shapes design card. i pop dotted that entire piece of orange paper to my card, for extra dimension. then just added some ribbon, brads, and a button to finish it off.
this little mini album cover was done with the summer design card. the album is one of MM older albums, from the cheeky collection. along the edge, i simply adhered some paper flowers, felt flowers, and buttons from the great escape collection.
i then sliced a fun sun shape from yellow cardstock, using the "normal" setting. i heat embossed it with yellow embossing powder for a shiny look. i then used the embossing tips in the slice, to emboss the same sun shape onto orange pattern paper. i sanded down the raised areas from the embossing, and cut out the shape by hand. then i added the yellow embossed sun on top using mini pop dots. i sliced the word "fun" from brown cardstock, and pop dotted that to the middle of the sun.
i love the ice cream shapes on the summer design card, which is what i used for this card. i sliced the cone from brown pattern paper, and then sliced a bunch of scoops of ice cream from different pattern papers. all papers from the just chillin collection.
i layered the scoops together, using some pop dots on some of the scoops. i started off using pop dots on all the scoops, but realized that it was getting way too bulky of an ice cream cone. lol! so i only used the pop dots on a few layers. under that pink scoop on the top, i had to use 3 pop dots layered together to meet up with the paper. then i just added little dots of glitter stickles to the scoops.
thought i'd share some of my samples with making memories new pitter patter collection (which i don't see up on the site yet, but it should be up soon). their baby collections are always super adorable. these gorgeous photos were all taken by jenny weston, my go-to boss at MM. she's amazing with the camera.
i also used the slice on all these layouts. i actually use the slice on every one of my MM projects, so always assume there's something sliced on each one of them. lol! i used the baby design card for these, which is shown below. there are 12 new design cards coming out. i've gotten to work with 6 of them already. and they now include a free inspirations project card inside, some of which might have been designed by your's truely ;) there are also tons of other fun stuff for the slice now. new pen tips, glue tips (along with glitter), fusible webbing and fabric, foam sheets, etc.
and watch this video to learn all about the new hands free system for the slice. this is such a cool thing they have designed. i havn't actually had a chance to work with it on my own yet. but i got to hear all about it, when i was at the MM offices a few months ago. and i have seen it in action. love that the new mat has the 12x12 embossing mat on the backside. and that both sides are magnetic. such a small investment (i believe $40), that will make your slice machine just that much better. i cannot wait to get my hands on one of these :)
i'm back from CHA. 4 days that were amazing and so much fun. i'm not even sure i can put it into words. ok, ok. i CAN put it into words. just not today. lol! got home super late last night, and was up super early today. so it's going to take me a few days to catch up. figured i'd share a few projects that were in the making memories booth at CHA.
more to come. projects, photos, and stories :)
i'm switching from christmas mode for this post. i havn't even looked through the handful of photos i took this weekend. but i was going through my blog tonight and all the layouts i've created this past year, putting together a blog post that i'll share tomorrow. in the process, i realized i've never shared these layouts. just so happens, that i've had two of my cousins get married in the last few years. which comes in handy, when i needed to create wedding layouts with the making memories wedding collection ;)
this layout was featured in the june issue of scrapbook trends magazine. the white cardstock is the background of this layout (i just took the photo of it on a black bookshelf). i took this photo of my cousin brad, and his wife, raiza, on their wedding day. i took a small amount of photos that day, as they were posing for the professional photographers. i didn't want to get in anyone's way, so i took this from way off on the side, using my zoom lens. it just so happened that they loved this shot, and have it enlarged in their house. love that. after this layout was published, i gave it to them and they have it framed. and i'm sending out a huge "congrats" to them both. they just delivered their first baby on christmas eve, an adorable boy named zachery john. finally, someone else has a kid in this family. lol!
these next two layouts are of my cousin rachael, and her husband, ryan on their wedding day. we weren't able to make it to the wedding, but she had these photos to share with me. gorgeous photos of them, and they're such a cute couple.
these two layouts were created using the wedding page kit. and they just happen to be on the back of the packaging, that is hanging on the shelves right now at target. so cool! although i just now, at this very second, realized i spelled rachael's name wrong. lol! she was telling me yesterday, at our family get-together, that they go check it out every time they're in target. i'm glad i'm not the only one. i go down that aisle and look at it every time. which for me is about 2-3 times a week, because i can't remember to get what we need in just one trip. lol!
the making memories blog is giving away some of the designer's favorite products this month. today, you can check out my favorite products HERE. make sure and leave a comment over there (not here, but there), for your chance to win some for yourself. they will draw the winner on friday.
this is a really old layout. but it does have my two favorite products on there. actually, it has a lot of my favorites. but i'm thinking of two in particular. lol! this was a photo i had taken of nikolas's sister, vanesa. wanted to use these making memories papers, and it matched :)
so, the rumor going around is that it's christmas time. here it is the 10th of december, and i've barely thought about christmas yet. the one thing i had done right away, was my christmas cards. although that was accidental. i was at costco, picking up some photos. and they mentioned that if i ordered my photo cards by the next day, i'd get $5 off. it wasn't even something i had been planning on, but the $5 made me do it. lol! just happen to have a decent family photo from thanksgiving, and used that for our card. easy peasy. although, back in the day, i would have actually made my own cards.
this card is actually in the december issue of cards magazine. pretty simple card using the mistletoe collection from making memories. if i'm making cards to mail out, i keep the embellishing to a minimum. i've learned to keep them pretty flat, since the postage can get crazy if your card is too bulky. lol
