Sunday, January 23, 2011

Celebrating 18 years with my Heart Transplant

Today I am celebrating 18 years with my new heart!  Ten days after I delivered my youngest daughter Ellie, I developed Post Partum Cardiomyopothy.  A new heart was my only option.  She was born in August and I was transplanted in January. 

Each and everyday I am thankful for the family, of the 22 year old man, who donated his organs.  Their most precious gift is the reason I am alive.

Please have a conversation with the ones you love about Organ Donation.  Here are two excellent web sites to answer any questions you might have:  The first is http://www.unos.org/   United Network for Organ Sharing, this is the governing body of transplantion.  The second http://answers.hrsa.gov/app/answers/list/c/41 is  the US Department of Health and Human services, Health Resources and Services Administration.

This conversation is not one you want to worry about during a time of tragedy.  So please have it today!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Family Reunion using Mama Razzi


Our annual weekend crop was a blast!  Over 50 women get together at a hotel for some scrappy goodness.  This was our 7th year together, mostly people from our church and friends.  I chose to work on Family Reunion Pictures from 2010.  My Dad is the 15th out of 17 children so our reunions are quite large and here are a few of the pages I did.

Family Reunion


Deep Discussions

Food

Hula Hoop Pal

Up a Tree

Monkey See Monkey Do
All of these pages were done using Bo Bunny's Mama Razzi with a little help from Cricut, Martha, KI Memories, Crafters Workshop and Prima.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Stamped Card

My stamp collection is enormous and it continues to grow.  I always find myself wandering down the stamp aisle - do you do that too?  I hope I'm not the only one.

As I was packing for a weekend crop, the need to make something hit.  Since most of my stuff was in the suitcase, I grabbed some stamps and scrap cardstock.  Using up those scraps is very satisfying.

The sentiment stamp is Technique Tuesday (Pallette Ink) and the vine stamp (in versamark) is The Angel Company.   Martha Stewart border punches are staples in my scrapping as are Spellbinders dies.  For the border punch I cut a strip of white card stock 1 1/2" and punched both sides.  A 1/2 " strip of dotted swiss Bazzill runs down the middle.  Pop dots help give a bit of dimension,

Hope you have a great day!

Friday, January 7, 2011

2011 Calendar

I use a calendar called MyBook.  It has places for pictures and it has become a favorite of mine.   This year I went to Archivers to purchase one and they only had the bigger one.  My preference is for a smaller one, small enough to tuck in my purse.  Since I waited til late in the year, I just decided to make one.

The acrylic pages are 5x7, the interior pages are 4x6 and the dividing pages are 4.5x6.5.  I just grabbed one of my matting stacks that I had in my stash, bought the acrylic covers and Teresa Collins photo holders.   Don Juan is the font for 2011 and a Basicgrey rubon decorate the front cover.

Four x six index cards are used for the week at a glance and each page has the dates stamped.

The photo holders are staggered along the length of the o-wire so it's easy to see that there are more than one.   A "notes" section was also included.  Lastly, are some premade pockets, I think these are Pebbles. Wrong, these are KI Memories.  Sorry 

All bound together with my zutter bind it all.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Easy Diecut Card


Black and pink are one of my very favorite color combos.  If you took a look in my scrap boxes sorted by color, you would find both the black and pink boxes very full.  I know that when I find some new must have embellie - I buy it in black, pink and white.  My poor little orange box needs some love.  lol

Back to the card, the pink and black diecut was made with Spellbinders dies and they are cut, embossed and stencilled.  Martha Stewart makes the border punch (one of my favorites).  A little ribbon and a tiny bit of bling completes it.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Christmas Album in a Jiffy Tutorial

If you are like me, you take loads of pictures during the Holiday Season. To keep this large group of photos “tamed” to a reasonable project I’ve been doing a Christmas 8x8 album for the past 4 years. In each album are pictures from a Family Party, Celebrating at Home, at My Mom’s and at My In-Laws. I like to bring these albums out at Christmas Time to reflect on years past.





Today I’m going to share how to do an album in one day. Do I recommend doing it in one day - NO! But I broke mine up and got it done it two days. It is a very simple design but can easily be jazzed up to suit your style. Working in Mass Production Mode helps speed things along.




1. Purchase your album and measure the size of the protector. I say this because first I purchase a “Recollections” album (Michaels Brand) and it fit a page slightly less than 8”. Unfortunately I didn’t do this first and then ended up buying an American Crafts after I had all my pages done. It fit’s a true 8x8 page.




2. Select a group of papers to work with. I chose Dasher from Basicgrey and since it is an older pattern I got the collection for $6. (Score)




3. Chose your background papers. My choice was white cardstock and I trimmed 60 sheets to 8x8 saving the extra pieces. The ½ inch piece makes great journaling spots. Once you have an idea of how many pages you’ll end up with you will know how many papers to trim.




4. Cut your 12x12 inch papers into 2”x8” pieces. Using the picture as a guide you should get 8 pieces out of each sheet. You will need one 2”x8” strip per page. I also used edge punches on some of my pages.





5. Ink all your edges. If you’re not an inker, disregard.




6. Now for the pictures. Separate them by event, for me, that means four piles.





7. Time to trim your pics! If you are working with 4x6 prints most of these will need to be trimmed. Your best pictures can stand on their own for a page while most pages will have 2 pics. Some pages, maybe even 3 if you really crop them. Remember you will need to leave room for embellishments and journaling.






8. Organize your trimmed pics into the order you want them scrapped.




9. Embellishments - Choose wisely! I stick with a few edge punches, ink, die cuts and maybe a bit of bling. For me, and these albums, my style is simple and clean.






If you have access to a die cut machine: choose a few dies and cut a bunch in complementary cardstock and remaining pattern papers. Then ink them up!


 


If you don’t have access to a die cutting machine, then consider prepackaged coordinating stickers/chipboard.




10. Time to assemble! Start with your cover page, whatever floats your boat. Then take your blank background 8x8 papers, two at a time, select 2 2x8 strips and arrange strips at either outside edges or top or bottom. You will be looking at a two page spread at a time. Chose pics from your first event in your chosen order and start laying them out. Proceed laying out two page spreads until you have them all laid out. If you are happy with the order then it’s time to glue REMEMBERING that you still have journaling and embellishments to add.



 
Yes, that's my oldest daughter, in all her splendor!  lol
11. Add your die cuts. I’ve tried different adhesives and for die cuts I like using Scotch glue. Again remembering that you still have journaling to add.





12. The Hard Part, at least for me. Journaling! I take those leftover ½” by 11” strips (from the 8 ½ x 11 cardstock) and write my journaling on them. A quick outline and then paste them down.  Spellbinders makes some wonderful nesting scalloped ovals that are perfect for journaling.




13. Slip your completed pages into your album.

Here are a few examples