All in a Day's Work

I love the blocky designs on this sketch because it gives me a chance to show off my number one favorite thing about paper crafting (hello, Captain Obvious)...paper!  Not embellishies or really even the pictures.  The sketch is from My Creative Sketches.  

Here's my take on the sketch.  The paper is Echo Park's This and That.  This is a picture of my uncle working on the ranch, so I wanted to keep it clean and simple. 

Mini Gift Boxes

This weekend I'm going to a retreat. At the retreat everyone gets a word for the weekend, and since I'm the chairperson of the event, I got them all ready. I was looking for something small and easy to make because there are 30 people going. Last year I stuck with a simple mini card. This year I YouTubed (is that a word? Like Googled?) mini boxes and found this tutorial for Hershey Nugget boxes. They turned out cute and somewhat random, but I think a roomful of women will like them.

They are tiny!

There's someone's word sticking out...mystery...

All 30 completed

Sample of one of each design

Something Old, Something New

This month's sketch at OUAS is gorgeous once again!  The theme was "The Start of Something New," and like many others I'm sure, I first thought of the biggest new thing that has ever happened to me, which was my wedding day!  Here is the sketch:

I showed the finished layout to my husband, who usually humors me, looks closely at it, then gives me a "good job," or "I like it, honey," or some other nice and supportive comment.  This time he actually said, "Whoa, that is a girly page!  There's no manly in that!"  Ha!  I thought that was cute because for sure it was the day where I felt the most feminine I have ever felt!  I had lots of fun with this layout! Journaling is on the pull-out tag under the top picture.

Mojo Monday #274

I got into using this week's Mojo Monday sketch by using up some leftovers from layouts.  I love how the orange and blue pop in this line!

Clean and Simple Thanks

Did I have the whole Christmas break to make thank you cards?  Yes, I did, but I chose not to until the very last day of break!  I always have a lot of thanks to say after my students give me gifts, so that means a lot of cards.  I needed something quick, easy, and cute, and I know just where to look for that kind of inspiration: Jessica Witty's blog.  She had this idea to stamp the same sentiment in coordinating colors and then just add a little detail on the side, so I went Stampin' Up style.

I used Baja Breeze, Tempting Turquoise, and Pacific Point for the sentiment, then grounded the deer with some pearls.  I made 4 of these in about 5 minutes but changed the deer to ice skaters, etc.  Easy!

Page Maps December Sketch

I liked the simplicity of this sketch and how it automatically draws your eye to the photo, which is obviously what scrapbooking is all about, right?

Top 12 of 2012

Okay, I'm late, but I'm so inspired by everyone's "Top 12 of 2012" that I wanted to do the same!  The problem is that I didn't really blog for the first half of the year or even craft that much because my supplies were mostly in a storage unit as we anxiously waited to move into our house!!  But I went through all my posts and picked out the projects I liked the most, and it turns out 12 were not hard to find.  I think my projects have changed soooo much since my beginning!  Here we go.

#1  Definitely this mini album, which I did not even design.  It is the third mini album I've ever started (I won't say finished because two of them aren't...) and my sister designed it.  I love how it turned out (so far) and it inspired me to do another mini album, which I was sort of intimidated by before.  It was 16 hours of pure fun with some awesome women.  Can we do it again next year?  I will post the rest of the pictures when it's done!

#2 Tag with Tim Holtz goodness.  It's sort of not my style to put all of these colors together, but I made this tag after coming back from not crafting for a while.  I remember it being sooo fun after all that time off.

#3  Layout of my grandma...  I love this one because of how perfectly this paper just went with her picture and how it turned out to be sort of a tribute to her.

#4  Clean and simple Season's Greetings.  So easy, so simple, but I loved how it turned out.

 #5 Mini Album #4.  I still have a ways to go on this one.  I'm not sure I can say it's a favorite of 2012 since it's not even finished, but the idea was born and mostly sketched out in 2012, so I guess I can.  More pics again when I finish.

#6  Together Layout.  This is a layout of all of my nieces and nephew.  I made this page before I knew my brother was getting divorced, so now circumstances have changed a lot with how much these cousins will ever get to play together.  I'm glad I made it when I did.

#7 Road Trip.  Seriously, almost any layout I do with my nieces becomes my favorite because I just love pictures of them!

#8 Sweet Layout.  Again, a layout of one of my nieces.  I love how the snowflakes turned out even though I struggled with this one for a while!

#9 Beautiful Layout.  This is a picture of my mom right in her favorite place: the garden.

#10 Baby card.  This card is now hanging in one of my best friend's baby's room, and she really is such a sweet little one.

#11 Love Layout.  This was another layout I made after quite the crafting lull early last year.

#12  Happy Birthday card.  It's just happy!

Thanks for following my blog and supporting my hobby all year especially you, Jess!  Your comments are what keep me posting!  :)