Winter Issue of SCT Magazine

Hi blog readers!  Today is a great day.  Why, you wonder?  No, it's not just because today is Friday and the weekend is here (although that's a pretty valid reason to celebrate!).  And no, it's not even for the fact that we're having our first big snow of the season.  It is because, however, today is the official launch day of Scrapbook and Cards Today Magazine's winter issue!!!  You can view the issue in it's entirety for FREE right HERE on the SCT site.

I just got my copy of the magazine in the mail yesterday, and I simply can't put it down -- so much great inspiration and eye candy!  It's always a quality magazine and such a pleasure to work with.

I was so very honored to be asked to contribute a design for the cover of this issue.  You can see my take on page 4 of the magazine. But before you click on over there, here's a little peek....

I also have a page in the Reader's Gallery this month.  It's a favorite!  I'll let you take a look at it to see why...

Thanks for stopping by today!  Have a great weekend and I'll be back with more to share very soon!

December Daily: Dec 1st, 2nd, 3rd

For the past several years I have attempted a December Daily album.  A couple of them have gotten no further than the album construction or cover design.  Except for last year's attempt which progressed the furthest of any other -- at nearly halfway done.  (*For the record, I still plan to eventually go back to that 2012 album and complete it!  If you're curious, I shared some of the foundation pages in this post.). 

So, why in the world am I attempting this project again, when I've been so unsuccessful in the past?!  Well, looking back at just the handful of pages I created for 2012 reminded me what a cherished keepsake this is.  There is so much happening during the month of December that I want a way to capture and remember the little bits and pieces, that often get lost over the years.

Today I'm sharing the first of my completed pages - the cover through December 3rd.  I'm using a Studio Calico Handbook album, which to this point I've left raw.  I'm still undecided if I will paint the chipboard cover and thus have waited to add any additional design to it.  While I'll be using lots of items in my crafty stash, the majority of the elements are from Jillibean Soup's Christmas Cheer Chowder collection.

For the cover page I tried to incorporate many of the elements that I would repeat throughout the album - sequins, diecuts, woodgrain, stamping.



Supplies used: album - Studio Calico, patterned papers, diecuts, stickers - Jillibean Soup; woodgrain paper - Pebbles; snowflake punches - Martha Stewart; sequins - Lawn Fawn; gold epoxy dots - SEI; stamps - Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday; ink - Stampin' Up

As you can see the title page features lots of layered snowflakes and sprinkles of glitter and shine.  It all translates as very Christmas-y, don't you think?

 

Since I had the backside of the title page to work with for the first of December, I used the 6X8" canvas in it's entirety to focus on my title for the spread.  On this day, my boys and I tagged along with my sister and her family to cut down their Christmas tree.  I had lots of pictures to included, but didn't want to divide up the spread with a full page, in between.  So, I cut one of the 3X4 pocket pages in half vertically to allow for additional photos but cohesiveness throughout the spread.

 

Here is a look at the page again, when the 3X8" photo section is flipped to the left.

 

For December 2nd, I was again working with a 6X8 page protector, so I chose to create a mini scrapbook layout.

I love the little diecuts that coordinate with the Christmas Cheer Chowder collection.  I knew I just had to use this sweet little elf on a page accompanying pictures of our Elf on the Shelf.

 

Originally I had stamped and punched a series of numbers for each of the 25 days in December.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get them to work with my overall design.  So, I reevaluated and decided to cut and use the Jillibean paper that includes squares of all the numbers I will need plus more.  I pretty much love how they look throughout the album so far!

 

 

I'm off to put the finishing touches on Dec 4th, and print out my pictures for today.  Feels good to be almost caught up with this project.  I'm having so much fun doing it and really enjoying the season more by focusing on these little memories and blessings.  See you back here soon with more!

 

Christmas is coming!

I know, I know ... it's merely the week of Thanksgiving and I'm already talking about Christmas?!  It's not that I like to overshadow this special holiday in the least, but I do love the extra time to celebrate, decorate and SHOP for Christmas! 

 

I admit, I've been so much in the Christmas mood this year, that we've already put up our tree and I've been busy scrapping pictures from Christmases past.  There are so many cute Christmas collections out this year that it's hard to resist.

 

Each year, my family attempts a family photo on Christmas day.  It is something I cherish and love to look back on, but the coordination and cooperation of gathering all of those individuals is always chaos!  Somehow we still manage to make it work, though! For last year's Christmas photo, I used Bella's new Christmas Countdown collection.

 

Supplies used: Patterned paper, diecut pieces, stickers - Bella Blvd; Cardstock - American Crafts; Buttons - Making Memories; Gems - Doodlebug Designs; Fonts - Veteran Typewriter (journaling) and Marmelatta (title); Other: machine stitching, crochet thread.

I've been having fun incorporating script style fonts into my titles lately.  Unfortunately, I don't yet have a silhouette so I've been cutting them by (gasp!) hand!  Hopefully Santa gets the memo and brings me a little surprise under the tree this year! ;)

I love, love, love the little diecut pieces that coordinate with all of the new Bella collections.  I got the idea to combine them with several sizes of punched patterned paper circles to create my own Christmas tree.  You know how you sometimes have an idea in your head in your page and it doesn't quite translate how you imagined on paper?  Well, fortunately for me, this idea turned out even better than it looked in my head!

 

After constructing my tree, I went about adding foam adhesive, gems and buttons to give it added interest and sparkle.

 

I pretty much love everything that Simple Stories comes out with.  Even though their brand new Christmas collections were calling my name, I knew I needed to scrap with the elements I had accumulated from last year's release before I bought any more (my hubby might agree with that!).

 

I selected and printed some favorite photos from Christmas Eve last year and went to work with the vintage style Handmade Holiday collection.

Supplies used: Cardstock - Bazzill; Patterned Paper, Label Stickers, Letter Sticker - Simple Stories; Punch - Martha Stewart (snowflake) and Stampin' Up (notebook border); 3D Sticker - Martha Stewart; Buttons and twine - American Crafts; Stamps - Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday; Ink - Stampin' Up; Diecut - Spellbinders (tag); Other - ribbon, computer font.

It's no secret that I'm a fan of this Martha Stewart snowflake punch - I tend to use it often on my holiday pages.  I just love how it looks punched out of a grid style paper and accented with these festive American Crafts wooden buttons, as I've done here.

More of those darling buttons - they add just the right touch and correspond to the vintage, 'homey' feel of the page.

The stamps I used throughout the page are all Ali Edwards designs from Technique Tuesday.  I love her script handwritten fonts and how her words and phrases are the perfect little finishing detail to just about any page or project.

Thanks for joining me today friends!  I've been working on the foundation pages for my December Daily album using lots of Jillibean Soup's Christmas Cheer Chowder collection.  I'm excited to get them photographed and share them with you!  See you soon!

A few more Bella pages

Hi blog friends!  I didn't mean to take such a long blog hiatus, but life is busy with three little ones and a household to maintain!  In the evenings, when I typically sit down to scrap, I usually have only enough energy to blog OR create.  Lately creating has been winning out!  That also means, though, that I have LOTS to share with you -- now I just need to carve out the time to do so! :)

My design team term with Bella Blvd ended back in September, but I still never got around to sharing a few final pages that I designed for them.  The first of these pages, is a favorite.  I incorporated LOTS of pattern and color by using triangles of several patterns from several collections, and all sorts of bits and pieces and embellishments.



Bella Supplies used: Snapshots: Family Chaos, Free Time, Daily Details, Captions, Paper Pieces; Daily Chevies & Everyday Bits: Chevy Gulf, Chevy Pickle Juice, Arrows Black & White; Engaged At Last: Bachelorette Extras, Alpha+Bits Bachelor-ette, Bachelor/ette Chipboard Icons; Love and Marriage: May Eighteenth; Sand & Surf: Paradise, Borders, Surf's Up; Kiss Me: Flutter, Mustache Love; Thankful: Alpha+Bits;  Button Market: Masculine Mix, Neutral Mix, Pink Flowers; Feathers: Carnation; High Five Alphabets: Black-White. Other: Pacifico font (title), Studio Calico Sequins, machine stitching, crochet thread.

To add a little sparkle to my title, I covered the the cut-out word in adhesive and sprinkled on some fine, black glitter.  It adds some subtle sparkle and interest to draw attention to it amidst all the color and pattern.

 

 

Initially, I started snipping triangles from some of my very favorite papers in both the Snapshots and Everyday Chevies collections.

 

 

From there, I couldn't resist reaching into my scraps from some of the prior releases to round out the theme and color palette. 

 

 

I love that this page feels a bit like a party, because spending time with my favorite girlfriends is definitely something worth celebrating!

This next page again uses many different patterns and colors, but this time I pulled mainly from the All American collection.  The addition of teal and grey into this line allow it to translate onto pages of any subject or theme without screaming "Fourth of July".  In fact, I've used it here with a sweet quote and favorite everyday photo of my daughter.  Mixing in the feathers and crochet hearts onto this page was a breeze, and adds so much fun texture and interest!

 

Bella Supplies used: All American: American Pride, Seeing Stars, Borders & Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Freestyle Sophisticates: Scallop; Crochet Hearts: McIntosh, Scallop; Feathers: Oyster; High Five Alphabet Stickers: Gulf; Button Market: Red Flowers; Other: Stamps - Teresa Collins, Ink - Tsukineko, Gems - Hero Arts.

To secure the feathers onto the page (which can be rather tricky to adhere), I tried to tuck the feathers in where they could be stitched or secured between a couple layers.  This seems to be a good alternative for keeping them secure and hiding the adhesive.

 

That's all I've got for today!  Hope you are enjoying a great Friday and I'll see you soon with lots more to share!

 

The winner of the PageMapsU Giveaway

Hello!  I'm stopping in real quick tonight to reveal the winner of the PageMapsU Giveaway.  Random Number Generator selected lucky number.....

That's you - ROXANNE RAWLS!!!  Congratulations!  Please email me at jaclynrench@yahoo.com so we can get you set up for your free PageMapsU class!

And thanks to all who stopped by and commented for a chance to win.  I hope to see you here again!

Project Life Inspired: A Bella Blvd Layout

****Note: if you missed my post from yesterday, please be sure to click over and leave a comment for a chance to win a spot in PageMapsU first online session.  That post can be found here and the giveaway will only remain open until the 29th so don't wait!

There is no denying that "Project Life" has taken the scrapbooking world by storm.  If you haven't heard of it you might be hiding under a rock, am I right?!  However, whether or not you do an actual Project Life album or not, there are plenty of ways to be inspired by and incorporate the concept into your regular scrapbooking.

 

This month as part of one of my Bella assignments I was asked to create a page that was "Inspired By Project Life". I took no hesitation in reaching for Bella's Daily Details patterned paper sheets to complete my that assignment.

 

I cut out some of my favorite 3x4 cards from the Trick or Treat Daily Details paper, and mixed in a few other patterns from the same collection, to fill in as needed.  By trimming the additional patterned papers and my photos to match the 3x4 card size from the Daily Details sheet, I was easily able to pull together a simple grid design for my page.

Bella Supplies used: Trick or Treat: Pick A Punkin', No Brainer, Daily Details, Captions, Tabs, Paper Pieces; Daily Chevies and Everyday Bits: Pickle Juice, Black & White Arrows; Designer Tape: Chevron Combo; Button Market: Text, Neutral Mix. Other: American Crafts cardstock and sequins, machine stitching, crochet thread.

This October 'card' might be my very favorite piece from the Daily Details sheet.  Something about the gray woodgrain and centered sentiment that I just love.  I couldn't resist adding a couple of matching sequins, as those tend to be showing up in nearly every project I make these days!

 

I also put a dent in my paper pieces stash, while working on this page.  I love all of the little diecuts that are already trimmed and coordinated!  I simply accented them with a little stitching and/or foam adhesive.  Cute and easy!

 

The ending result isn't short on photos, patterns or even embellishments.  In fact, by modeling my traditional scrapbook page after the format of a project life spread I was able to streamline the design and still include plenty of memories, pictures and lots of bright, fun Bella goodies! 

Stop on over to the Bella blog to see how the other designers were inspired to incorporate Project Life alongside oodles of Bella Blvd goodies!

 

Thanks for stopping by today, blog friends!  I'll be back soon with some of my final Bella pages to share with you!

 

PageMapsU GIVEAWAY!!!!

 ****This giveaway is closed.  Thanks so much to all who commented!

 

Have you checked out the freebie mini class at PageMaps yet? This little nugget is just a small taste of the sketch classes being offered at PageMaps U and I am proud to be one of the teachers in this first four-week session! Here's a little peek at some of what's included in that class:

 

 

I can assure you that the full reveal of all of the pages and projects will be equally as inspiring.  I mean, just check out the list of teachers and you know you are in for a real treat!  That list includes some of my personal favorite and most inspiring scrapbookers in the industry!

 

Registration begins October 1st for Class 1 but before it starts, you have a chance to win a free spot being given away here on my blog! Just post a comment about why you use PageMaps sketches and we'll give away the spot on September 30th. Super easy! And even if you don't win this freebie spot, this is a class you won't want to miss!