dream big.

Quick and Simple Valentine Cards

 
Valentine's day tends to sneak up on me. Probably because I am planning Natalie's birthday party, and forget that Valentine's day is just two days later. I really was not wanting to just buy little valentine cards for the girls to put there names on and be finished, but I needed something quick, simple and inexpensive.

 

 

First, I picked up these cute little Martha Stewart stickers and these stamp stickers.

 

Plus, a couple of chocolate treats that the stickers attach to perfectly!

Also, I grabbed these $1 finds by Studio G! Super cute blank cards that can be easily embellished with some ribbon I just happened to find in the $1 section as well. Then I went to work creating several style cards for my kiddos to make and give this Valentine's day!

 

Using these simple items and some ribblon I was able to create a cute little valentine.

 

 

Adding this ribbon inside the card added a sweet sentiment.

 

The larger cards are sweet and have a cute little cut out on the front cover. I added the ribbon sentiment to the front and inside and then added some detail to the envelope.

I attached the cute little chocolate stamp to the front and made up a loving address, Natalie is going to LOVE this.

 

These cards had circular windows on the front, so I punched a couple of pink card stock cirlces to cover the art work and added my chocolate stickers to the inside.

 

Super quick and easy valentines with a tasty chocolate treat!

who knew?

Camels. Who would have thought you could ride them, but last year the zoo we go to started giving camel rides. And my kids started begging...Mom, can we ride. My reply comes automatically...no.

Please, Mom. I say to them, Well they are kind of cute. They replay back to me and we won't ask you for anything else all day! Bingo, that form of manipulation will work on me every time!

So, I give in pony up the the $15 for all three of my rug rats to ride the camel. and well. they did look pretty adorable. When they got off the camel, I told them once a year we will ride the camels, but not every time we come.

We have passes and go often and I love my kids, but I am also a fiscally sound parent and $15 everytime I go to the zoo, would bust my budget.

And thankfully, my kiddos were fine with that. It's a new year...time to go and ride the camels!

 

Try this.

 

As I truly desire to keep my word as a focus in my life this year, I have been thinking of ways to help me keep consistent.

 

 I have decided to create a section in my personal album dedicated to my word this year.

 

 

Here is the title page for my scrapbook section.

 

So, here is my goal. I think its pretty simple, but at the same time focused and I love that. Each month I am going to focus on an area of my life that I will choose to focus on being consistent in. Not that I am giving up on other areas, but that I am going to pay extra attention to a specific area each month.

 

I only need 12 specific  themes for the year. My themes relate to my life, what I’d like to do more of, be better at, or simply remember to do.

 

1.   organization

2.   showing love

3.   taking time

4.   completing (any and all things!)

5.   mother

6.   creativity

7.   exploring new places

8.   enjoying nature

9.   teaching

10. sewing

11. cooking

12. crafting

 

My goal for January is to consistently continue organizing my home, life and scrapbooking process. I will take pictures of the process, take notes about how I feel before and after and create at least one page about consistently organizing my life. The idea sounds exciting and energizing…I am determined to do this…I am certain it will be a challenge…but it’s 2010 and I am ready for EVERYTHING!

 

I think this concept will work for any word. It is simple enough to be doable, and yet will keep me actively involved with my word for the year. So, maybe this is something you’d like to try. I’d love to see it if you are up for the challenge!

Two-up Albums Your Thrifty Tip of The Week!

I have had a couple of questions about my pages and my two-up albums. So, today I'll tackle the two-up album concept and hopefully answer some questions without making life too complicated. Plus, it is a thrifty concept...so I'll knock off my thrifty tip of the week with this topic as well!

 

I LOVE creating albums in these simple two-up photo albums…heck, I like any album with photo sleeves, regardless of how many sleeves it may have. They are a fun, easy and thrifty way of putting any themed album together.

 

Thrifty

These albums are VERY inexpensive! You can get them from $5 - $15 at Target. They can have simple covers or intricate. My faves are some of the simple covers that I can embellish the theme of the album onto my cover. Too fun.

 

Also, when choosing an album I look at the number of pages the album has. I have a vacation album with 12 pages. This was perfect for the vacation album, because I used a double page spread for each day of our trip. Super easy to complete and allowed me to use quite a few photo’s. The photo’s I didn’t use for the album I will be using on other pages and/or projects.

When I have a bigger project in mind, like my 3^rd daughters first year album, I was looking for a larger album. This album holds 200 photos and had enough pages for me to create a title page for each month or her life, and 2 double page spreads for every month. I wanted to make sure that Ella being my last little girl was not the only of my 3 daughters without a first year album…12X12 seemed out of the picture…this was manageable and I had it completed in a weekend! I think it is one of my favorite albums, and wish the other girls albums had been done this way, not enough to do them again, but the idea is nice!

 

Design

When I create pages in a two-up album I look at the two sleeves as a complete whole. Sometimes I simply slide in a photo and half the page is complete, but when a photo that I am interested in using is not in the right orientation…then I am completely OKAY with cutting my photo, even of people. YIKES! Yes, I cut photos of people so that they can be used in an album! I do have a few guidelines that I use when cutting photo’s of people.

1. It is okay to cut a photo of a person as long as I am not cutting into their face. Remember this is only a guidline! Because like rules, guidelines are meant to broken at times too!

 

Look here I go setting a guideline and then breaking it! Why? Because in this photo above it is my daughters face that is the focal point of the picture. Her daddy's eyes are closed in this picture and you do not lose the emotion from this photo by having his face split in two. Okay, that last phrase makes me laugh.

 

This is my primary cutting tip. Maybe my only cutting tip, yeah I think it is my only cutting tip. This is why.

• Take a good look around you at some photos in magazines, books and of great photographers.

· Some of the best photos do NOT have the people centered in the middle of the photo.

· Some of the best photos actually crop the top of a head, or side of a head out of the photo. If the pros can do this, so can I.

· The best part is that I don’t have to toss the cropped/cut photo…I can use both pieces in my album.

• If you are having a hard time with the idea of cutting, first test it out on a not so great photo…or even on a photo that you have doubles of. Remember with todays technology and digital cameras, it isn’t difficult to reprint a photo if you make a cut and you don’t think it works.

 

See, here I am again breaking my own guidlines! Call me a rule breaker! Seriously, though not one of these photos that I have cut are going through the face (eyes, nose or mouth) of the focal point of the photo. Believe me I am not the focal point in the photo above. Besides I LOVE that photo and have it in an 8X10 hanging uncut in my house. Plus, look at how much of my head isn't in the photo anyway. So, this is a husband taking photo trait. I can't tell you how many photos my head isn't in the photo of my first born, because my dear husband had only one focus...baby...it is a good focus, but that is a discussion for another post!

 

Album

When deciding the type of album that would work best in a two-up format ask yourself the following questions:

 

1. What do I have A LOT of photos of. I know I could say everything too, but really think about it. Do you have a lot of unscrapped birthday parties, because the thought of doing another look how old you are this year page seems uninspiring. How cool would it be to have an album of birthday celebrations, or an album about how each person has grown physically and personally) from one year to the next. Really think about it. This is the best way to decide on the type of album.
2. Decide if this is going to be an ongoing album, or a completed album. Maybe you want to create a sports album, that includes a few pages, from each year of your child’s life, or maybe you want it to be filled with many photos what I like to call this moment pictures. The best part is you get to decide.
3. Choose a color theme and stick with it! This will make putting the album together quick and easy…more on this at a later date!
4. Remember not EVERY photo has to be a part of this album, but you sure can use many in this type of an album. This is especially true if you want it to still look and feel like a scrapbook instead of a photo album. You know what I mean?

 

Alright that’s all I’ve got right now. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. And try a two-up album, they are so much fun and a very thrifty way to scrap!

Birthday and Thrifty Tip of the Week.

  Since it is my birthday today, I decided to spend some time creating and put everything else on hold!

I like to call this a little birthday present to myself!

I decided to take some time and make embellishments from my stash of trinkets. I think they'd be great on cards, layouts, and gift bags.

How cute would thins be on a page layout? Super thrifty too! I used an OLD vellum Making Memories tag, Close to My Heart stamp, Scenic Route sticker letters, gems and embroidery floss.

 

This would be super sweet on a small 2 X 2 gift card. I used felt, punched a flower shape and add a couple of buttons. I stitched with embroidery floss for some added detail and dimension. Again, I had all of this in my stash of scrap crap! Too fun, and budget friendly.

Now this I am sure would be deliciously fun on an orange gift bag... add a little ribbon and an original bag will soon be had. I used a Bazzil flower, Scenic Route chipboard month embelly, letter, and sticker. I add a little ric-rac to the bottom of the month embelly. Quick, simple and pocketbook friendly!

I think layering embellishments to create a fun new original embellishment is a great way to save money and be a thrifty scrapper. You should try it and let me know where I can see your creations.

This has been your THRIFTY tip of the week! Have a great weekend!

the process of becoming thrifty.

 

I truly believe that being a thrifty scrapper is a process. It is not something that happens over night and it is not something you can do without commitment! There is a process that I have gone through as I have changed the way I scrap.

It is really important to get to the truth of what it is you have at home in your supplies.

• It is hard to save money when you do not have a clear picture of what it is you have in your stash.

• This can be an overwhelming process, but what is truly overwhelming about the process? Is it that you have too much stuff? Is it that you aren't sure where to begin? Is it that you are simply afraid of knowing...like realizing that you have spent THAT much money on supplies that are not being used is frightening!

As overwhelming as this may seem the rewards are far greater than your fear! The rewards are knowing what it is that you need and don't need. These are the first steps in the process to scrapping your life in a thrifty way.KNOWING allows you to save money. KNOWING is powerful.KNOWING gives you control to create what you don't have, because you know what it is you do have. KNOWING...there is nothing better than this!

My suggestion to becoming more thrifty and scrapping more is to really become aware of what you have. It is the first step in the process towards saving money!