Harbor Lights

Yet another calendar page for a friend

I started a second calendar for another friend's Christmas present, and used the sketch from scrapbooksteals' Mid Week Mojo sketch challenge as the base for this December page. I just love the tree design, and I didn't really alter the basic sketch in any way. We live in a fishing community in Alaska and each year the boats in the harbor decorate for Christmas; on the Saturday night before Christmas people come to walk the docks and vote for their favorite, as well as enjoy hot chocolate and caroling. The photo shows one of the boats – Santa is there, with 8 salmon pulling a skiff-sleigh. Hard to see, but there are antlers on the salmon, and "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Salmon" is in the lead! Some of the paper came from the Paper Studio's Calendar Kit, and I cut the title and embellishments on my Cricut. Sparkle was provided by Stickles.

Mother's Day Goodies

12" x 12" layout for Mid Week Mojo sketch challenge

My sweet daughter sends me these beautiful and delicious goodies every year for Mother's Day. This photo is from the first time I received them - what a delightful surprise! The layout was done for Mid Week Mojo's Petunia #4 sketch challenge (scrapbooksteals). Most of the paper is from Crate Paper's Oh Darling collection, the vellum title from Fresh Print, flowers from Prima, stickers from Heidi Grace and Studio 112, and doily and banner cut on my Cricut.

December Calendar

Another calendar page done for Mid Week Mojo sketch challenge

This is another page from the calendar I'm making for a friend's Christmas present; pictured are her grandchildren from last Christmas - a warm memory. The sketch is from scrapbooksteals Mid Week Mojo challenge. This was a one-photo layout, so I skipped ahead to the month for which I had only one picture - December. Most of the paper and stickers came from the Paper Studio's Calendar Kit, although the solid paper and vellum came from my own scraps, and the embossed stamp is from Inkadinkado.

January Calendar

Calendar page done for Mid Week Mojo sketch challenge

I made this calendar page for a friend and used the sketch from scrapbooksteals Mid Week Mojo challenge. This page is for January; hanging underneath will be the actual January calendar page. Most of the materials (paper, stickers, and banner) came from the Paper Studio's Calendar Kit, while the title was cut on my Cricut. This friend has her birthday on New Year's Day, and I've used pictures from a wonderful New Year's/birthday dinner we had to commemorate her special day and our friendship.

Pumpkin Patch

Layout done for Mid Week Mojo sketch challenge

I've been hanging on to these photos since 2009, and was finally prompted to make the layout by the scrapbooksteals Mid Week Mojo challenge. Most of the materials (paper, mesh, leaves, small banner) came from SEI's Autumn's Smile collection, while the title was done with PinkFresh's Anya Alpha (wood veneer chips also from PinkFresh), and I made the doilies with my Cricut. I'm very happy with how it turned out - the colors, the flow, the balance - I will definitely be using this sketch again.

"Friend"ly Card

Paper Crafts Connection (papercraftsconnection.com) has been highlighting "cool tools" this week. Tools are an important part of our crafting - they each have a specific purpose, but sometimes we find  new ways to use them. I made this card for a good friend's birthday. I used my scoreboard to make the accordion-fold flower backing and my Cricut to cut the circles.

For this masculine get well card, I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the top and bottom, and my scoreboard  to create the dividing lines from the back. Have fun with your cool tools!

Pure Gold

Pure Gold card created for the PinkFresh Studio Challenge.
Intended as a 50th Anniversary card, but can add sentiment for any occasion at the top.

Create Something Today - Old Produce Hanger Becomes Stamp Storage

 A quick and easy "repurposing"

I've had this hanging basket since who knows when - probably the 80s! I spray painted it orange to match other orange touches in the room; it took two coats. I hung it right over my craft table and put rubber stamps in it. The top basket holds the Christmas ones, since it's hard to reach and I only need them once a year. Some generic designs are in the middle basket, and the bottom one hold sentiments - birthday, thank you, congrats, and so on - as I use those all the time on cards. So happy I rescued it from the Donations box! And yes, you're right - I didn't use paper on this one.

*** Update***

I've since discovered that keeping my stamps in these baskets is a mistake - exposure to that much light and air can cause them to become dry and brittle over time. Fortunately, I found this out early on. Now my stamps are stored in Totally Tiffany Stamp and Supply Suitcases, and the baskets have been repurposed once again. Sea shells in the top, large ribbon remnants in the middle, and small albums in the bottom. (When the albums were in a drawer, I forgot I had them.) Win-win all the way around!

Create Something Today - Ugly Cardboard Becomes Beautiful

The Magic of Paper

This was an ugly yellow cardboard book shelf left over from my classroom days and ready to go to Recycle. I needed a place to put my "binder of goodies" (more on that another time) and this turned out to be absolutely perfect! I ModPodged card stock and patterned paper on it, then decorated it with washi tape, and sealed it with two coats of Matte ModPodge and two coats of Glossy. 

Then I decorated it with embellishments and words. 

And here it is with the binder in it - as you can see, a perfect fit!