Easy Ornaments

I thought I would share a way to make easy ornaments. I even had my kids join in on the fun!
Here's what you need:

And some nice Christmas paper. I used the Apron Strings Designs December 2011 kit.
Here are my kids hard at work:

Just a few notes from our experience. You need a lot of pins. If you use a small styrofoam ball your pins may hit each other. You can add beads or sequins.
Here's our finished ornaments:

Have fun!
Anet

Apron Strings Smaller than a Breadbox July

So I've been working with the Apron Strings kit for July and I have to say I am having a blast! Tonight I  scanned/uploaded my layouts and sent them to Lori for the newsletter and I was absolutely on cloud nine to realize that the software I broke down and purchased about 9 months ago will stitch a 2 page layout with ease. Here I was scanning and stitching my 12" x 12" pages then using Photoshop to put them them together (when working with a 2 page layout). Well, I am not good with Photoshop at all. I am a Photoshop dummy, I admit it. So doing this was such a chore. Then tonight I notice that the Scan-n-Stitch software I'd been using has a "long page" option. AWESOME (yes I am screaming with joy)! Check out what I did:

(don't cha just love that bathing suit paper? I just had to do some fussy cutting and include it on this layout)
Anyway, if you are in search of good scanning software I highly recommend Scan-n-Stitch and if you are looking for a great scrapbooking kit at an unbeatable price, try Apron Strings Designs, I know you will love them as much as I do!
Anet

Sketchy Thursdays Part II

So I have to show you this. While I was working on my Sketchy Thursday challenge my 8 year-old son asked if he could do a layout for the challenge. I thought it was so cute! Here's his layout:

and here's the sketch (he just used the right side too):

I am going to submit his. He worked hard on it. I hope there aren't rules against it.
Anet

Sketchy Thursdays

It's been a while since I've done some sketch challenges. The Nuts About Sketches birthday celebration got me back in the mood. So here I am with the latest Sketchy Thursday challenge. Here's the sketch:

This sketch is so versatile! I decided to just use the right side of the sketch and I did change it up a bit. Here's my take:

Thanks for looking.
Anet

Wow - 2 posts in 1 Day!

I just had to do a second layout for the Nuts About Sketches birthday celebration. Mainly because I was in the middle of a little Ice Castles marathon on the Hallmark Channel. Let me tell you, while I enjoyed the 2010 version (Ice Castles 2010) it definitely does not pack the emotional punch of the original.
Well, without further ado, here's the sketch:

and my take on it:

Interestingly I used the same product line (Pink Paislee's Hometown Summer) as one of the designers. It's a summer line but I found it worked perfectly for these pictures of my kids doing a theater show over spring break a couple of years ago.
Thanks for looking.
Anet

Nuts About Sketches Birthday Celebration

So I came a little late to the party but had to throw my hat in the ring. Enough cliches for you? Here is the sketch:

an here is my take:

I love these pictures of my kids from Easter a couple of years ago! So cute. I should mention, in case you can't read the journaling, the Easter Bunny brought the hat and glasses - they are from a character on
Yo Gabba Gabba.
Anyway, more layouts to come.
Anet

A Couple of Cards

It's been a little while since I last posted. Gets hectic here sometimes. But I've been working with the April Apron Strings Smaller than a Breadbox kit and I wanted to share.
First of all, let me just say, that I have never been much of a card maker. I always figured why should I bother making cards when I can just go buy them. Since I started designing for Apron Strings I've had to make cards as part of the my design team obligation. And I have to tell you, I love making cards now! It's so rewarding to take my scraps and whip out a card in 1/2 and hour! I also find that I dawdle less when making cards and I don't agonize over every little element either. I've started sending my cards too! When I send one I feel like I am sending a little bit of myself, not just grabbing a card, signing it, and throwing it in the mail. So, here are 2 cards I made with April's kit:

Thanks for looking!
Anet

What's Scrapping

A friend of mine has started a new blog. It's all about challenges and inspiration. You should check it out. It's called What's Scrapping. On Saturday one of the blog contributors, Amy Bender, posted a sketch challenge. Here's the sketch:

 and here's my layout based on the sketch:

I know I haven't posted in a while. I went back to work part-time and I am just getting settled into a new routine. I hope to post more this week.
Anet

The Scrappiest

Just came across this sketch blog last week and I LOVE it! So many sketches with so many chances to get your name in the drawing to win. Fun way to be more productive. I was only able to do one of the sketches this month but I hope to do more (if not all!) in March.
Here's the sketch:

Here's my layout based on the sketch:

Gotta love those Gingerbread Houses. I always feel bad chucking them. So here it is, preserved forevermore.
Anet

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Punch

This is the first post about something I know you will be hearing a lot more about. Last summer at CKC Valley Forge my scrapping friends and I came across this punch at the Friday night crop:

It was in a clearance basket at one of the vendors tables. We came across it at the end of the crop, after a day of shopping and classes, so we were all a little punch drunk. Jokes and laughter ensued. We did not get the punch then but quickly regretted it. One of our group purchased it for us and now "Josie", as we have named her, gets passed around our group and she has her own album that we all contribute pages to.
I got to have Josie over the holidays and will have a few pages about her coming up but right now I have this page which I did based on a Scrapbook Sussies challenge.

Here's the ad the layout is based on:

That's all for now.
Anet

Sketchy Thursday 2/17

So, it's that time again. Sketchy Thursday! I just put the finishing touches on this tonight. I actually broke out the Quickutz Star Shadow and remembered why I loved it so much! Here's my layout:

Here's the sketch:

Thanks for looking!
Anet

Sketchy Thursday 2/10

Here's my layout for Sketchy Thursday:

The pictures are from our annual Christmas card photo shoot on Thanksgiving. Here's the sketch the layout is based on:

Thanks for looking.
Anet

Last Minute Lucy & The Paper Variety

Just call me "Last Minute Lucy" because I started this cupcake gift tag on Friday and just finished it this morning. I made it for a challenge on The Paper Variety challenge blog. You are supposed to link your project by noon today. Please note that it is currently a little after 10am EST.
So here's the challenge:

and here's what I made:

The prize is the January kit from The Treasure Box. I've been loving that kit since it was revealed!
Thanks for looking.
Anet

Sketch Support and Jillibean Soup

I have to tell you that I  love, love, love Allison Davis. She's the awesome creative mind behind Sketch Support. It is really her sketches that started me on my whole sketch craze and I took her class a few months ago over at My Creative Classroom and learned a lot. So I am very pleased to show you what I did for the challenge over on the Sketch Support blog. The challenge was to create a project using Jillibean Soup products and this sketch:

here's what I did:

Thanks for looking!
Anet

Sketchy Thursday 2/3

I love this sketch! You may notice me using this sketch again, I've already used it for 2 layouts. Here's the sketch:

and here's my take on it:

Don't you just love the Jillibean corrugated bird and flowers?

I used Midnight Rooster's January kit.
Thanks for looking!
Anet

A Little Midnight Rooster Anyone?

A challenge on the Midnight Rooster blog led me to create this layout with a flower I made myself. I've been wanting to try this for quite a while (thanks for the push Michelle!).

I used the January Midnight Rooster kit which has an adorable exclusive flower already in it that is begging to be used. Maybe on my next layout. But I must admit that I really want to try that rolled flower idea and I've watched the tutorial so that may be my next layout.
Before I go here's a close-up of the layout.

If you want to try making this kind of flower yourself, here's where I found out how: Satin Flower Tutorial. Take your time and be prepared for a few errors before you get it, but once you do you'll be whipping these out by the dozen! Just be careful playing with fire! (I am a firefighter's wife so I had to put that in there)
Thanks for looking!
Anet

Rockin' the Sketches

Yup - the creative juices are still flowing. Another reason I think I have been able to churn them out the past few days is that I printed some pictures in 2x3 size. What a fun way to switch it up.
Today's layout is from a sketch challenge over at the A Million Memories blog. This layout flew together based on the sketch by Marie Ramirez:

here's what I did with it:

and here's a close-up for you:

Off to do some more creating!
Anet

Scrapaholic Mama!

So I had a great scrapping day today. The creative juices were just flowing. I am thinking it's because of the snow day yesterday. The kids and I had a great day and it put me in a great mood. I finished off 2 layouts I've been working on and almost have a third completed.
The two I completed today are both with the Scrapbook Sussies January kit and I love how they turned out! The pictures don't do them justice (I need to work on that). The first one I am going to show you was done using the January Sketch:

and here is my take on the sketch:

and a close-up:

 Next I did a layout based on the one-page sketch from last week over at Sketch Support:

here's mine:

here's a close-up:

I guess I changed things up a bit. Quite a bit. Still I am really happy with how these layouts look. Loving this kit!
Hope to get the next layout up by the end of the weekend.
Anet