Dee-Doe

Liam loves to eat tomatoes or "dee-doe" as he says. This page is all about how he used to pick the tomatoes right out of the garden last summer and chow down.

Handy Scrapbook Tips:
New Journaling Idea. For this page, I actually wrote out my journaling on strips of white paper and then pasted the strips in an attractive manner on the page.

"Ransom Note" Title Idea. I wrote the date ("Summer 2007") on a strip of paper, cut out apart each letter, and then pasted them individually on the page in ransom note style.

Seed Packet Title. For this page, I actually got my idea for the title from a vintage seed packet picture I found online. I resized the picture in Microsoft Word so that would fit my layout and then printed it out. I then cut up this picture, used it as a pattern, and created my own seed packet from paper scraps I had lying around. Next, I used cheap artist's soft pastels (chalks) to add dimension to my creation. (As a side note, student-grade artist's soft pastels from Walmart or Michael's are WAY cheaper than the actual scrapbook chalks but still work just as well.)

Oh, and I used a text-box in Word to personalize the company information found at the bottom of the seed packet. (e.g. I used our name in place of the company name.)

Maddie's Page

Maddie was a big part of our lives during her Kindergarten school year. She would come over every Friday after school and play, and soon, she and Liam were best friends. I made this page to record that time in our lives using Maddie's school photo from that year.

Handy Scrapbook Tip:
- Make your journaling part of the design. For this page, my journaling is done around the edges of the flower cutouts. I used the type-on-a-path tool in Adobe Illustrator, but it would be easy enough to write by hand around the edge. (I usually prefer to have my journaling in my own handwriting, but this time, I had a lot of text to write and knew I would not be able to fit it all if I wrote by hand.)

Liam Laugh Page

When I took this photo of Liam, I had no idea how well it would turn out. It makes sense that my favorite photo would become part of my favorite scrapbook page.

Handy Scrapbook Tip:
- For a dimensional look without the bulk, try scanning or copying objects and printing them out on cardstock before adding them to your layout. The bookplate on this layout is one that I just scanned into my computer and printed out on beige cardstock. (Why beige? White made the bookplate look too washed out.) To give it a more authentic dimensional feel, I also added brass eyelets to both sides of the bookplate.

Baby Shower Invitations

Here's one of the invitations I made for a friend's baby shower. The shower information was printed on a separate piece of paper and placed inside the card, that way those who were invited got a free blank card, and a cute one at that!

For those of you not invited to the shower, here are some brief instructions on creating the card so you too can have one:

Tools and Supplies for this project:
- 1/2 sheet of white cardstock
- 5.5 by 1 inch rectangle of pink floral paper
- 1.5 by 2 inch rectangle of pink plaid paper
- 4 white flowers cut using an EK success daisy punch (I get a lot of mileage out of this punch!)
- 1 green flower cut into pieces to form the leaves using the EK success daisy punch (See, I told you!)
- 2 yellow circles cut using a hole punch for the flower centers
- 2 small strips of green paper to form the stems
- Picket fence edging scissors from Provocraft (Any edging scissor will do.)
- EK success small rounded corner punch

As far as instructions go, there are only a few things that might be hard to figure out from the picture. I began by folding the cardstock in half. I then drew a line along the right side of the card front about 3/4 of an inch away from the edge. I then cut along the left side of the line using the edging scissors (that way the pencil line gets cut away). The floral paper was then pasted inside the card on the right side so that it peeps out when the card is closed. On the outside, I pasted one white flower on top of another to get a fuller and more dimensional flower. The yellow hole punch was then pasted in the center of the flower just for an added umph. Oh, and the rounded corner punch was used to round the edges of the pink plaid rectangle. There you go!

New Coat

I finished this coat last week. It is made from a vintage pattern belonging to my grandma. Both the plaid and the pink lining fabric were purchased for one dollar a yard if you can believe it.

High Chair Projects

I just finished making a new high chair cover. The other one had to finally be retired due to wear.

Also, I was tired of having to clean the same spot of floor fifty times a day, so I made vinyl drop cloths to go under the chair that I could take outside, shake, and spray off with the hose. One has a picture of a giraffe or "baff" as Liam says, and the other is a lion.