I {Heart} Scrapping Challenge Day 3: My turn (Catching up!)

I used a different Quick Page than the one I offered up on Day 3 of this challenge. That's just because of the way I'm attempting to stay current on my scrapping, while also catching up, working backwards. Here is a layout I made in about 2 minutes, using a Quick Page from Free Digital Scrapbooking: 

My personal digi-scrapping machine is in serious need of medical attention. In the mean time, I am able to use a back up machine and create pages with Microsoft Publisher. I am working on a tutorial for you on how to do just that! Stay tuned!

Wordless Wednesday (bending the rules a bit)

My BFF, Jen, a.k.a. J.Ho, a.k.a. Mom Rocks Mealtime, a.k.a. Eve Dubois, pet masseusse, ALWAYs makes the most wonderful, sentimental gifts! She REALLY likes to make me cry. This year she cracked me UP! OK, we cracked each other up. We tend to joke that we share the same brain. Well, come to find out it's totally TRUE!

I started out trying to make her some lovely ornaments for her tree. They did turn out as nice as I'd planned, so I decided I needed a Plan B. I will post about the ornaments at another time.

Plan B came about when I stumbled upon a blog about putting ruffles on an apron. EUREKA! I'll make her an apron! I'll cut out the letters for "Mom Rocks Meals" with my Cricut and iron them on! SCORE! Double score when I discovered I had an unused, un-embellished black apron in my inventory! That cut out some steps and saved some time. It turned out another friend of mine got an early Christmas pressie: an embroidery sewing machine! So, of course I invited her over for a "Girls night IN" for some crafty craftiness and VOILA!


Now here's the same brain part...Jen and her sweet family came over for dinner and gift exchange last night. It was the first night of Hanukkah, so we decided to all wear blue shirts. We are not Jewish, but Jesus was, so it worked for us! I started to chuckle when my little one opened her pressie from Auntie Jen: an adorable apron with the words "Hot Spill" on it! I said "OH! Let's take a PICTURE!" to which Mr. Jen replied, "No, why don't you wait til you open YOUR present!" I knew right then...we had made the same gift for each other and each others daughters!

You can't tell in this pic, but Josie's apron is reversible. The back side matches one of the ruffles on her mom's apron. I love love LOVE the way the embroidery turned out! I thought the ruffles were cute. As for our aprons, they are PRICELESS! Jen, once again, OUTDID herself! The coordinating fabrics are SO cute, and of course in true brain sharing form, the aprons from her have a little ruffle too! Do you see how she attached the straps on ours? It's SO cool! There are button holes on the apron and the straps have a knot at the end and work like a button. Miss M's has lil' retro buttons that coordinate oh-so-cute with the fabric!

Happy Crafting!

When Do You Begin Decorating for the Holidays?

I try to get my holiday decorating done Thanksgiving weekend. We managed to pull it off this year, too. We have a small, artificial tree that we set up on a small table at the end of the couch. This helps keep the cats out of it. The toddler can still gawk at and touch the ornaments on the lower branches, but overall, the tree is safe from potential danger.

So far we have not been able to afford outdoor lights. I am really hopping, and somewhat planning to save for that for next year. I think the little one would really enjoy that. She loves looking at all the lights when we drive home from pre-school.

This year I kept the decorating really simple. It's pretty much just the tree and a couple of other items in the living room. I put one decoration in the bathroom. I'm going to be gone for two weeks after Christmas, so I didn't want to go overboard.

When do you usually begin decorating? How far do you go? Griswold-over-the-top? or keep it simple? When do you plan to decorations down? I'd love to hear from you!

Please comment below. If you have trouble commenting, please contact me on Twitter @craftarrific and let me know what's happening. I've had reports that people can't comment, but it works when I try to do it. Thanks!

Sewing again!

I recently inherited a Singer Ultralock sewing machine (serger). My husband suggested I put it on Craigslist (GASP!). He added "Since you sew SO much (sarcastically)." I realized I haven't been sewing much the past three years because I've been working and raising a child! Well, now that she's more independent, I decided I can whip out the ole' Singer and put it to work!

Last night I got to work on a Christmas pressie for someone near and dear to me. They may or may not know this blog exists, so I will hold off on posting until after the gift has been given. It's a gift to me, too, because sewing is so therapeutic for me!

I also have TWO quilts in various stages that  I need to complete before Christmas too. EEK! All this, AND work AND run an Avon business (know anyone who wants to make some extra cash on the site? Comment me!). Oy vey! Oh yeah, and lots of Christmas goodies to be made, too!

Oh well, it's still the "Most Wonderful Time of the Year."

2011 Christmas Card Drafts

Now that my family has attended the annual cookie parted hosted by none other than the lovely J.Ho (of Mom Rocks Mealtime fame) and her sweet family, I am now able to play around and create my family's annual Christmas card. The two traditions go hand in hand. Jen sets up a photo booth and takes a picture of each family as they come in. I have been using this family photo as the photo basis for my Christmas cards.

This year, I used MyMemories Suite to create the options I will present to my husband. Remember, you can use my code: STMMMS46094 at checkout for $10 off the software, plus $10 in free digital downloads on the site. I used a set of 5x7 Quick Pages to create my cards. I added the borders to the first two.

I prefer the sentiment "Merry Christmas" to "Happy Holidays," so I tried to tweak the landscape option:

 From the looks of things now that I've actually uploaded these, I need to shift the QuickPage a little bit so the right side doesn't get cut off. Please comment with your favorite! If you have the MyMemories Suite already and make your Christmas cards with it, post a link and I'll check it out! Even if you use other software, such as PhotoShop, or MyDigital Studio, please share your digital handiwork!

Happy Crafting!

Christmas Pressie Sneak Peek!

You may recall that a while back, I won MyMemories Suite digital scrap-booking software from Jah-JustJennifer. I've posted some of the pages before. I am happy to report that I can now offer my readers a code for $10 off the software AND $10 in free digital downloads from the MyMemories site: STMMMS46094. 


One thing I LOVE about MyMemories Suite is it is SO easy to use! I recently upgraded to the latest version and received $10 in free digital downloads. I used my credit to purchase a 2012 calendar template and was able to whip out Christmas gifts for hubby and grandparents in just a few hours. It would have gone MUCH faster if my computer was up to the task, but I'm working on that! 

Here is a sneak peak at some of the pages: 

 I needed more pics in July than the layout allowed, so Just added them in! No problem!

A friend of mine, who also makes calendars for Christmas, suggested putting a picture of the face of the person whose birthday it is on their actual birthday! Great idea,  but I wasn't willing to take the time this year. Maybe next year I'll add that little upgrade. 

Happy Crafting!

Christmas Card ala My Digital Studio!

This was my first crack at my Christmas Card. This isn't the one I'm going with but a couple of my followers will be receiving the real thing in the mail, so I didn't want to give it away.  I'll be doing a 12x12 page from the Cookie part we went to Friday night and a Gymnastics birthday party we went to on Saturday. Stay tuned!

Happy crafting!

Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge #40

I'm on vacation with hubby this week. We are up in Tahoe. It's kind of a working vacay for him, but it gives me some much needed down time. I've been working on a quilt (stay tuned for pics!) and have been doing some digital scrapbooking. Along the way, I've meandered into the world of digital stamping.

In my meanderings, I encountered Peachy Keen Stamps. They have some super cute stuff. Right now they have a challenge going on. I hope to have time to make something with real tangible paper when I get home, but realistically I have way too much on my plate when I get home as it is. So, for now, I made this digital scrapbook layout.

I'm new to PhotoShop Elements. This is only my second project using it and I just started today! If you want to participate in the challenge, check it out here!

The papers are from a collection called Christmas Confection. I found these delectible freebies over at ComputerScrapbook.com.

Miss M's Christmas Dress

I decided to make Miss M a Christmas dress similar to the one I made her for Thanksgiving. I didn't quite get it hemmed before we left for my mom & dad's, so Mom finished it up for me. She also added the "bling" to the front pocket. I think it makes it even cuter and will work great for Valentine's Day! Of course, it will be more of a blouse on her by then, she's growing so fast!

It's made of a red cordouroy with sparkles that my friend had in her "stash." I also made the shoes to match out of a pattern I found on Etsy. Of course they didn't stay on her feet, but it was fun making them anyway. It helped that I had low expecations of her keeping them on her feet!

You can kindda sortta see the shoes in this shot:


Her Grandma (my mom) made her this adorable Sunbonnet Kids quilt. She worked on it a long time. Each of the blocks had an embroidered Sunbonnet kid.