Stamp Set Prize

Look at all the fabulous goodies I got in the mail!

I won Mary Marsh's blog candy from her blog The Charmed Life.  I mentioned in a video recently how my husband had been given a box of pinball parts that you would have thought was gold.  Well, I was the same way opening this box with gobs of Stampin' Up! stamp sets, paper and buttons.  It was a delight!

It's gotten me back to making a few cards for Operation Write Home.  I sent off my last box in August so it was high time I made a few to give away.  Here are a couple of those made in the last few days.

Sometimes you just want to color.  This uses the Time Well Spent set.  

I also got some coloring in with the Love Ya Bunches and Smorgasboarders sets.  My paper piercing pack helped with the holes for stitching around the buttons.

So thanks so much, Mary!  I'm loving all these goodies.

We are all snowed in today here in the South.  It only takes a little to keep us housebound. Hope you are warm and dry wherever you are.

1 Sketch the 4th way

We love biking on Hilton Head Island. There are miles and miles of bike paths.  All are flat and well maintained.  There are also miles of golf course paths - not so flat but very pretty. Occasionally you get hit with a sprinkler but that is part of the fun.  I've done photos and layouts before about biking on the golf cart paths in the evenings. Good thing because those days may have come to an end.  They are changing the rules.  I hate that!

This is just one of the courses so I don't know about the other one we have access to. Last summer we were just biking around and saw they had painted over the hours on the sign.  So basically NO biking, jogging or walking on those paths anytime.  That's a shame because the courses are so pretty and near deserted in the evening.

This is the last of 4 pages using this sketch.

For the page, I expanded from 3 photos to 4 and moved the band at the bottom up to take up the entire lower part of the page.  I didn't have a bicycle stamp I liked so I used clipart for the bike image.

After finishing and photographing, I realized that should have been an exclamation mark not a question mark.  I added some arrows to emphasize a photo and journaling.

Wood veneer starbursts, Washi and enamel dots finish off the embellishments.

Here's the process video at YouTube:

And here are all 4 layouts using that sketch.  The other blog posts with videos are:

Trash to Treasure

Happy 90th

Home Remedies  the first video in the series

I've gotten such wonderful feedback on this series.  Thank you all for your comments.  I'll definitely do it again - I've already scribbled out a sketch and picked some photos.  It may be March though. In February I'm going to be following many of the prompts from Layout A Day.  There will be plenty of videos to go with those pages, too.

Thanks for stopping by!

Challenges - Neutrals and Texture

This page started as a challenge to myself to do a neutrals only page.  I'm a color person.  When I bought some vintage neutral flair from Prima, I was saying to myself "What were you thinking?"  So I decided to use it on a layout and make it neutrals only.

I was only into this for a short time last weekend when I figured out it would need more than the neutral paper and flair I'd picked out.  This page was going to need some umph in the form of texture. So it works for another challenge, too - a texture challenge.

Texture and neutrals really go together.  I should know this. My mother wears a lot of neutrals.  In fact, just after I finished this page, she showed up here wearing a textured beige and gold jacket with little gold threads woven in.  Her sleeves were peeking out from a black and white chevron sweater with gold buttons.  Layers and texture is what neutral dressing is all about and apparently neutral scrapbook pages, too.

The trim here adds a bit of texture also.  "Sis" is what my husband calls his sister.  I've left room in the pocket for him to do some handwritten journaling about her.  The photo is from a visit last summer.

In the video, I quickly add the stenciled background which gets its color from some distress inks.  I was quick and easy. The finished background is here on the right.
Sponging on the ink gave me lots of control and kept the paper from curling as it might with mists.

I used some stitching for the pocket and around one of the paper layers.  I also did some embossing.   Does anyone know of a beige or ivory embossing powder?  White is often not quite right.

There is some stamping on the vellum journaling pocket.

I added some twine behind the pieces of flair.  I chose the frog riding a tricyle for some whimsy and to commemorate my sister-in-law's diverse collection of pets over the years.  I don't think she has ever actually had a pet frog but she has had guineas, peacocks, Dalmatians, geese (that I threatened to turn into Thanksgiving dinner - Geese are mean!), oodles of other cats and dogs.

The video at YouTube:


So that's my page for today.  Thanks for stopping by!  The last of the 1 Sketch 4 Ways series will be up later in the week.

Blog Hop: Preparing for LOAD Feb 2014 Mythbusters

Welcome to the LOAD or Layout A Day blog hop!  If you are hopping along, you arrived here from Christy's blog

I'm Lisa and I confess that this is my first LOAD. So I want to tell you why I chose to sign up this time and what I'm doing to get prepared for the Layout A Day experience starting February 1.

Perhaps I should start with why I didn't sign up in the past.  The idea behind Layout a Day is to complete a layout every day for a month.  It's a great accomplishment and can be quite a commitment.  It also seemed to me like a lot of pressure.  I'm not a competitive person.  Pressure is not my friend.

I like to mull things over.  Often I pull out my photos and product and start planning the page in my head and maybe on paper.  I may do a sketch on the computer if the page is to be a process video on my YouTube channel.  Sometimes I know right away what I want to do with a certain photo and story.  Many times I have to think about it.  I browse my stash.  I plan and think.  If only I could find a pen that would write in the shower, I could get all those ideas at odd times down on paper!

This planning part is fun for me.  And that often means I don't complete a layout the same day I start.  (You may notice in my videos that my sleeves are different colors from beginning to end as one or more days has passed.)

Other things get in the way, too.  A husband, two parents who increasingly want me to to whatever it is they want Right NOW, stuff breaks, you know, all the parts of everyday life.  Scrapbooking is an important part of my life and I make time for it, but it has to be prioritized like everything else.

So how am I going to get a page done every day?  I certainly can do a page in a day, but a page a day for a month?  That's a lot!

And that was my stumbling block for the longest time.  But this time round, I really listened to Lain's video (link below).  First of all she wants us to have fun.  "If it's not fun, don't do it."  Well, that right there meant I could do a page a day or not.  Do what's fun.

She also introduced the topic of Mythbusters.  She suggested such myths as every page having to have a photo and every page having to have a great photo.   Now pages with just journaling appeals to me a great deal.  I have very, very few photos from my childhood with almost all of them from one set of grandparents but I still have stories to tell. I did this one a few years ago and liked it but never got around to another no photo page:

Lain is encouraging us to tell stories we might have not gotten around to yet.

While I don't want to be rushed to complete a page, ironically I do find challenges to be very motivating.  I often participate in CHA challenges, National Scrapbooking Day, whatever.  I like it when I have a theme or recipe to build my page around.  I once did a challenge to use 17 buttons on a scrapbook page.  It was fun and here's the page and the link to the original post:

So we are back to having fun, learning and getting pages done - pages that don't always take priority - at the pace I want to do them.  So will I really do a layout a day?  No, probably not.  So I won't qualify for the prize drawing.  But that isn't why I'm taking the class.  I'm looking for inspiration, socializing on-line and just having more fun scrapbooking.  I can already tell there will be lots of encouragement from the on-line message board.

Since I haven't done LOAD before, my preparation has been kind of minimal.  I did have some extra photos printed.  I selected a few of my childhood photos.  I have my 2013 Sketchbook ready to browse to save time designing. I've browsed my stash for collections I'd like to whittle down particularly as new product will soon be available for purchase.

I've told my husband what I'm doing so he knows I'm taking an on-line 'class' and I want to get as much out of it as possible.  Meaning, I may be scrapping more than usual.

I also plan to do a little journaling this weekend to get down some of those stories that don't necessarily have a photo.  I'm excited to start seeing Lain's e-mail in my inbox each day starting February 1.

If you haven't already and would like to sign up for LOAD, there is still time!  Here's the intro video mentioned above and the sign up screen.

Click here to view more details

So that's a bit about my thought process in signing up.   Here on my blog, I post just about every papercraft I create - pages, cards and mixed media.  I also do many, many process and other scrapbooking videos.  They are linked here and at my YouTube channel:  LisaEDesign

Thanks for visiting!  I look forward to seeing all of your projects from LOAD, too.

From here, your next stop is Lisa Hausmann 

In case you get lost along the way, here is a list of everyone in the hop:

Kelli www.useitscrapbooking.com/
Dani http://scrapperonthestreet.com
Valerie http://myrainbowcoalition.blogspot.com/
Karen http://photoskeptalive.wordpress.com/
Danielle http://ecoscrapbook.blogspot.com/
Connie http://clickychickcreates.com/
Sherrie http://littlebitofeverythingme.blogspot.com
Cara www.vincens.typepad.com/
Heather http://noexcusescrapbooking.com/
Kim http://gma654.blogspot.com
Christy http://myscrapbookevolution.blogspot.com/
Lisa E http://lisae-design.blogspot.com/
Lisa H http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com

Happy hopping!

Part 3 - Sideways and Upside down

The sketch I've been using the last couple of weeks gets flipped around today to accommodate 3 uncropped 4x6 photos.

The photos were taken at my aunt's 90th birthday.  She's the strongest woman I know enduring many, many surgeries to treat her degenerative joint disease.  During this time, she was recuperating from another illness at our local assisted living facility.  She's as sharp as ever.

She is back home now with her husband of over 70 years.  I visited her last week.  Her only complaint is that she can't do all her 'work' like she wants to.  The house isn't spotless and that displeases her.  I hope that is my only complaint at her age.

For the page, I used some accordion flowers as embellishments.  I've linked the videos together so you can see the one on flowers as well.  For the largest flower, I wasn't happy with the button initially glued on so I glued some Two Peas flair right over it.  Their flair is very flat which was a big bonus in this case.  It's a cute and a bit more modern touch on a page with older styles and embellishments.

A touch of Washi finishes things off.

Watch at YouTube:


I have one more page for this sketch coming along.  It will have 4 photos.  I also have another process video coming and a blog hope on Saturday.

And if you like having lots of sketches to make scrapbooking fast and easy, don't forget about my new sketchbook found here.  So lots going on here.  Hope you'll visit again!

Valentine Punched Hearts Card

I almost called this 'exploding hearts' card but I didn't think that sounded so good. I suppose my heart can explode with love, but again, not so romantic.

"Punched" heart wouldn't sound so great to just anyone.  Who wants their heart punched?  But we crafters know this means the paper hearts are punched out using whatever type of heart punches or dies we have.  And that can mean a quick and cute card.

I did a video of this one.  You can use pretty much any papers and sentiment you like.  It doesn't have to be just for Valentine's day either.




Watch at YouTube


If you came by for the 3rd of our series using the same scrapbook sketch, I had that post and video all ready to go and then the video wouldn't play on YouTube.  I've never had this issue so I don't know what is going on.  Maybe I need to upload it again.  Anyway I'll figure it out and have it up later in the week.

ETA:  Just added this to Paper Issues challenge.  Create a love project with a type theme for a chance to win.  More details at: Paper Issues

Take care and have a great day!

The Best Trail

We always love walking the trail around Bass Lake in Blowing Rock, NC.  It is a flat, crushed gravel trail with beautiful scenery.  These photos were from a day in August.  Oh, how I'd love to have a warm day like that right now!

For the page, I chose a sketch from my new sketchbook of the 2013 sketches.  The first part of the video shows how the sketchbook works.  The rest is putting together this page which went pretty quick.

Since the background paper was bold, I used some neutral cork, kraft and wood embellishments.

The title got a little help from a blue Faber Castell big brush marker to accent the edges of the light blue letters.  They were washing out against the blue and green print background.

Watch the video here or at YouTube:


More info on the sketchbook is found here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Back to cards

It seems like forever since I made cards.  My husband was away on business on Saturday so I spent most of the day in my craft room playing mostly by making cards.

The card on top is made from left overs from another project.  I stamped a few too many flowers from Stampin' Up!'s 5th Avenue Floral set.  The papers are 6x6 from Little Yellow Bicyle.

The card on the left was inspired by this one on Pinterest.  I stamped the background with a Hero Arts background stamp inked in Distress Inks.  I painted some streaks with Distress paints and craft paint.  Then I stamped Celebrate over the dried paint. The mist is Dylusions Squeezed Orange.  It seemed to lack something so I used a few enamel dots to finish off.

I don't know what I'm up to this weekend.  As long as I get some crafting time in, I'll be happy!

Resolutions and Scrapbook Shopping

Two weeks into the new year and I thought I'd take a look at my New Year's resolutions.  They are to 1) do one of the 7 household chores on my list each day and 2) prepare for the next day each evening.

The first one is going well.  I have done a chore each day so far.  I may make some adjustments to what is on the list, adding and combining some things.  Do I really need to dust every week?  Maybe I just have a high tolerance for dust, but there are some other things that need doing some weeks. Anyway, the idea is working.

The second one involves emptying the dishwasher before bed, figuring out what I'm wearing the next day and a few things I can get done in the evening rather than leaving til morning so I get to my scraproom earlier.  I've done this most of the days - missed a couple.  The challenge now is to get to filming videos early in the morning to take advantage of that great early morning light.  I'm just now finishing today's blog post so I guess I didn't make good on this last night.  I'll keep at it.

Fortunately, reducing my scrapbook spending was not one of my resolutions.  :-)  I've shopped some in January and with new product on its way to our suppliers, I imagine there will be more shopping to come.  In fairness, I spent less in the 4th quarter than anytime I can remember so now I'm catching up.

Here is a short shopping video.  I bought some things from a great Etsy shop Alleystamp - mists and Crafter's Workshop stencils.  Also, I got a few things from Two Peas winter clearance.  Many of the items were on clearance.  There are also some new papers here from Webster's Pages Valentine line and an embellishment or two that are new.

Watch at YouTube


Thanks for stopping by!

One Person's Trash...

Is another's treasure.  We've all heard the old saying and as a lover of one of our local consignments stores, I can definitely say it is true.

My husband found it especially true when a friend saved a box of pinball parts for him.  You would have thought he had won the equivalent of a big box of scrapbook blog candy as delighted as he was with this box of parts.  (Looks like junk to me but what do I know?)

Anyway, we captured the trip which included a visit to his friends' business - a high end arcade game store.  They have one of those player pianos that not only plays the piano but plays other instruments as well.  Very cool.

For the page, I used the 3 photo sketch from last week with 3 4" square photos.  I flipped the journaling and the title positions.

I also used a lot of stickers - something that usually accumulates in my stash - brads, and some of those tiny journaling spots from 6x6 pads.

Here's the process video - the 2nd in the series using this same sketch:


And the sketch

If you missed last week's video using this sketch, click here.

And if you like sketches and a want a whole bunch of them right at your fingertips, click here.

Thanks for stopping by!

A dream come true

I'm an author!

When I was in junior high school, I learned that I was born on the anniversary of a famous writer's birth.  I believed this destined me to be a great fiction writer.  Unfortunately, I think it takes more than the right birthday to write the great American novel.  :-(

I did realize though on Friday that when I published my first e-book, I was an author after all!  The book is a collection of all of last year's scrapbook sketches.  (In the photo I'm holding the 56 pages I printed to proof.) Here are the details:

This e-book contains 52 sketches used throughout 2013 in my process videos.  They are all contained in one document and organized by the number of photos suggested for each sketch. One photo, two photo, all the way up to over 14 photos per layout! Collage sketches and double page sketches are also included. 

Each page also contains a link to the process video created based on the sketch so you have a year's worth of handy scrapping tips right at your fingertips.

Each page in the PDF shares:

• A sketch to scale
• Sizes of several elements on the page including the photo sizes used
• Suggestions for substituting the number or size of photos and other elements
• A link to a process video in YouTube based on the sketch.

The single page layout sketches print at 6" square so it is very easy to measure any item on the sketch and double the measurement to find the exact size for a 12x12 page.  (Double page sketches are at a 1" to 4" scale.)

The 56 page PDF is only $8 (US) and available for immediate download after payment through PayPal.  After payment, you are redirected to a screen where you can complete purchase which downloads the PDF file to your computer.

It may not be a great novel, but I'm proud of this collection of sketches.  I think it is very helpful to have them all in one document along with a link to a supporting video.  I hope you will think so, too.

Thanks for stopping by!

At the Pumpkin Patch

Isn't he cute having a little fall fun with mom and dad?  And this scrapbooker is so delighted that mom dressed him in orange for the outing.  How perfect!

I used Imaginesce fall papers for this page.  The wood tag is Basic Grey's Persimmon collection and was a perfect spot for the title.

A few Little Yellow Bicycle stick pins and a sticker dressed up the buttons.

This was a fast page I did around Christmas.  I wanted to sneak in a little crafting time over the holiday.

I didn't do a sketch for this one; however, I did do a LOT of sketches in 2013.  And they are all now available in a downloadable PDF!  Check out this link to the Sketches PDF page here on my blog. 

There are 52 sketches in one document complete with a link to the process video that goes with each one.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Want to do more scrapbooking?

In last week's Resolutions post on New Year's Day, I talked about making scrapbooking resolutions.  I've seen many people say on message boards that they want to get more scraping done in 2014.

One way to get a lot done is to take a class or a challenge.  LOAD, Layout a Day, is both all rolled into one!   LOAD starts February 1.  EACH day you get...

• Video for the day
• Prompt for the day and thoughts on that prompt
• Sample Layout based on the prompt created by one of a team of scrapbookers

The class also has a private gallery where you can upload your layouts and see what others in the class have done.

The theme of this year's Layout A Day is busting scrapbooking myths.  You don't have to have a photo on every page, you don't need to make every page a work of art, etc.  It is all about having fun and getting a lot done. (Oh, I made a rhyme.  :-)

Anyway, I'm signed up and I hope to see you there.  I can't promise I'll get a layout done every day but I look forward to making many pages, new friends and learning new things.  What's better than that?

So here is how to get in on the fun and save 30% by using the discount code BUST at checkout.

Click here to view more details

The discount is available through tomorrow the 10th.  Hope to see you there!

3 Photo Sketch video series

In 2013, I did a lot of sketches - a lot!  And I love making sketches.  I'm sure to make plenty this year, too.  I thought it might be fun though to take one sketch and use it for several different layouts.

So here is a sketch I created for the 3 photo layout above:

I'll be using this sketch at least 3 more times over the next few weeks.  I already have my next layout done!  It is very easy to use and alter.

For the layout above, my photos are 3" x 4" and I chose to mat them to give them a little more weight on the page.  The bottom border was something I found after I did the sketch. It is from a piece of Fancy Pants designer paper that I'd saved because I like the saying about finding comfort at home.  That is so true and so relevant to the subject.  The layout contains photos I took a few months ago when I had a cold.  My husband just got over a cold at Christmas and these are the things we use to make ourselves feel better- hot water with honey and lemon (neither of us like hot tea), Nyquil for sleeping, Listerine and homemade chicken soup.

I can't promise these will make you feel better but they sure work for us.  Oh, and lots and lots of sympathy!

For the homey page, I used some Cosmo Cricket papers, a lace trim and a pleated trim.  The band on the bottom had some flourishes so I stamped a couple in other places on the layout to match.   And of course I can't do a page anymore without wood veneer.

These are the last of my Maya Road hearts.

Here's the video introducing the series, the sketch and going through the process for this one. It was a pretty fast page:


Thanks for watching!  Also, if you are interested in attending Lain Ehmann's LOAD - Layout a Day in February, there is a discount of 30% off available through January 10.  Use discount code BUST at checkout.  Here's the link to info and registration -  Click here to view more details

Hope you have a great day!

Mixed Media Notebook Cover

My last everyday notebook lasted just through the 2013 so it is time for a new notebook cover.  For this journal, I used some mixed media and just had fun playing.  I'm not much of a doodler.  The flower is the one flower I know how to draw.

For the bottom layer, I first misted some book paper with various yellow and peach mists.  Then I adhered them with Mod Podge - maybe a bit too much Mod Podge or either I wasn't patient enough with the drying.

The flower is drawn with a Faber Castell Pitt pen.  These are the best pens I've ever used.  They draw over anything!  I used the Big Brush pens to color.

The final layers were stickers, Washi, and a little stamping.  I added some gesso over a stencil in just a few places.  I have to be careful adding white.  For some reason I can easily get too much.

I did this cover on Saturday and when I went into my scraproom on Sunday, the notebook cover had curled. My excess Mod Podge had caught up with me, I guess. So I heated it with a heat gun and then put a heavy book on it. I don't know if that will work long term but it lasted long enough to get photos!

Thanks for stopping by!  Tomorrow I have a new scrapbook page and video.