Layout and Sale!!!

Did you get a Silhouette cutter for Christmas?  Are you resolving to use your Silhouette more in 2017?

Let's send 2016 packing and welcome 2017 with a special sale!

The Silhouette Titles class is on sale this weekend for only $12.  I've never marked a class down that much.  It's just over $1 per lesson.

Learn how to do simple but effective titles like the one on this layout in the 10 lessons from that class.  The class shows simple, quick tricks and more complex features of creating titles and text with your Silhouette.

Visit my class page for more information.

Here's today's layout with an interactive element.

I shared some observations on the effect Hurricane Matthew had on Hilton Head Island in an earlier post.  This is my layout with a flip back feature that hold quite a few things I printed out about the hurricane.  This gives me a reference of how the evacuation and cleanup were handled. Hopefully no one will ever have to go through this again but I wanted to be able to have some info for future reference just in case.

The page uses several small photos.  The sketch provides for 4 4x6 photos.

Here's the process video:

And here is the sketch:

Don't forget, the reduced price on the Silhouette Titles class ends Monday at 10 pm. ET.

Thanks for watching!

80th Birthday

Well, it's about time I got this page done.  My Dad is well past the 80th birthday.  I printed the photos and thought I'd made a cropping mistake and never would remember to reprint. Which one of us is getting older?  Anyway, when I finally pulled the photos back up, I realize this was just how they were taken.

These 4 photos stagger down the page in the order taken.  I used Basic Grey's Urban Luxe because of the bright blue color.  I like the page all but the sequins.  Normally when I do sequins they enhance the look.  In this case though, they seem distracting.  I'm not sure if it is the color contrast or that I already have a lot on the page.  What do you think?

Here's the process video:


And the sketch:

Thanks for visiting today!

Interactive Page for 4 Photos

Another beach page here with some similar ideas as the last one but a very different look.  I'm going for a soft sunrise, early morning walk on the beach.  This one also has room for 4 photos though I've used only 3.  Two show and the other area is hidden.

I originally planned to use more paper but did several stickers instead.

Process video here:



Here's the sketch:

Thanks for visiting today!

Happy Halloween

No, I haven't been knocked out for two months and forgotten the season. These photos were taken on Halloween at the beach. Best Halloween ever!

The four photos are on a stenciled background embellished with lots of chipboard.  A few hearts and washi tape tie it all together. The stencil is from Crafter's Workshop.

Process video here:



Thanks for visiting today!

"No Mess" Holiday Cheese Ball

One of my favorite treats for Christmas is my very cheesy cheese ball.  This recipe originated in a 1970's church cookbook and was one of the first things I learned to make myself.  At first I would mix all the ingredients by hand and that was messy.  I've modified the process over the years with the help of the dough maker attachment on my mixer and it is super easy and clean to do now.  Even with filming, I made these 5 cheese balls in under 45 minutes.

Speaking of filming, I had a bit of help at the beginning and the end. The camera man got to clean up the bowl though there wasn't much for him there.

Here is our very first food video:


And here is the recipe:


Cheesy No Mess Cheese Ball

2 - 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1 lb. Velveeta, softened and cut into cubes.  I used shredded Velvetta in the video.
8 ounces of shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
8 ounces chopped pecans

Add first 4 ingredients to mixing bowl sprinkling the garlic powder over the cheeses.  Use dough maker attachment to blend with heavy stand mixer.

Wet hands and form cheese balls to desired sizes.

Roll in chopped pecans.

(Modified from recipe for St. Luke's American Lutheran Church Women's Cookbook, 1977)


Thanks for visiting and Happy Holidays!

Annual Fall page

I wish we took more fall photos, but every year it seems I only have enough for one layout. This year we had a lovely day in the mountains with a long walk, a good lunch and some browsing in town.

For the layout I used a Stampin' Up! paper pack from their current holiday catalog.  I also used some 6x6 papers for the leaves that are coated with glossy accents and ink.  A few wood embellishments round out the page.

Here's the process video:





And here is the sketch

Just a photo - please ignore

(Regular subscribers, just ignore this post.  I'll be back later in the week with another process video and layout.)

Hi!  After several attempts and emailing and texting this photo, I've given up and put it here on my blog so the person who needs to see it can.

Pieced background

I could not find the right table for our television so we just built our own.

For this layout, I used the Silhouette to create a background with 6x6 papers.  The process video shares creating the cross cut in the basic Silhouette software.

Here's the video:



And here is the sketch:

Thanks for visiting today!

Art Journaling Layers

I admit that I did this spread so long ago I can't remember a lot about it.

I do remember wanting to play with some beautiful images in magazines my mother had handed down to me. She gave me a Veranda, Architectural Digest and, I think, a House Beautiful.  I used to subscribe to decorating magazines but I'm not in the business anymore and honestly, I get as much value from the free stuff online.  I know that isn't what magazine publishers want to hear but whenver I buy a magazine I'm usually let down by how little content there is for the money I've spent.  Times have changed.

For the journaling page, I also used some layers of texture from my kit I assembled beforehand - see this video - and some stickers.

The theme is about being ready for fall to arrive. As it was, fall didn't really arrive here.  It got cold for a few days and then the warmth returned.  It has been excessively, dangerously dry.

Here's the video:



Thanks for visiting!