It Takes All Kinds

A few of my faves!

With June being the "Free" month theme, I though I would share a few of my all time favorite layouts...some for the design, some for the journaling, some for the feeling I get when I see it again. You ever just rely on things that you know will make you feel good, makes you smile and just remember? Share those moments with us when you get a chance!! Share whatever you like and revel in the fact that it's your creation!!! Happy Summer!!!

My mom and dad and some pics from their wedding to now!

My first daughter, Isara, tip toeing in the garden with her pretty dress!

 

My second daughter on the dawn of age 2!

 

The four of us...one lucky family!

 

My best bud and husband!

 

the people I love!

Our sweet, rambunctious, puppy, Slider!

What we do every day!

Looking forward to all your favorites too!

Corner Bookmarks! (An "Use Your Scraps" Tutorial)

As far as I (care to) know, all scrapbookers are also book lovers. We usually love to read as much as we love to scrapbook. And, as much as we may dislike it, we usually have other engagements that won't allow us to just read an amazing book from cover to cover in one sitting.

So, being a practical crafter, I decided to put the paper scraps in my evergrowing stash to good use. Whenever I need to mark the page where my reading stops, I just create a very simple yet attractive (may I dare to say stylish?) corner bookmark with cute papers from that stash.

SUPPLIES:

• A square piece of scrapbook paper, any size between 3”x3” and 4”x4”
• Scissors
• Your favorite adhesive

DIRECTIONS

With the wrong side of the paper facing you, fold each corner into the opposite one, creating an X that crosses the paper square from corner to corner. Open the foldings.

Cut out one of the four triangles formed by the foldings you just made. You won't need that triangle for this project, so you can save it for another project, or just toss it away.

Select one of the side triangles and cut a piece out of it in a way that you leave a thin strip of paper attached to the main or central triangle. That small triangle you've cut out? You won't need it for this project.

Cut the tip of the strip you just created. This will make a cleaner, less bulky fold on the final product.

 

Fold the side strip into the central triangle. Apply adhesive to it once folded.

 

Fold the side triangle into the central triangle. It will cover the already folded side strip and will end up glued to it by the adhesive already applied.

At this point, the basic bookmark is finished. If you selected a printed paper that you like, you may call in a day here. But if you enjoy the more crafty, creative side, this is where the embellishing fun begins!

My favorite embellishing is just using a corner rounder to snip the tip of the bookmark. For some reason I can't explan, I like the tip of the page to peek out of the bookmark when I insert it into it. Actually, rounding that bookmark tip is my personal setp # 7, but you may prefer to keep it angular.

And if you go back to the top photo, you can see how I used flowers punched from scrap papers, and metallic gold stickers (dots from a scrap alpha sheet on my stash, too) to border the bookmark with beautiful flowers.

So there you have it! Let your imagination fly to create beautiful bookmarks for you or to give away. Your creativity will flourish, your scrap paper stash will diminish, and your books will look in style!

Wishing you beautiful memories,

Zaira Ivette

Artsy Shot

I love using masks, so much fun, especially with Glimmer Mist! Masking tape and mailbox letters add texture and give an edgy vibe.

Brought to You by the Letter B

B is for BBQ: Nothing says summer more than chicken on a BBQ grill.  During the summer months our BBQ grill gets quite the workout - chicken, fish, corn, veggies - everything just tastes better when it is grilled.  Of course it also helps to have my very own grill master at the helm.  Thanks Babe!

 

B is also for Baby: Two of my friends are having baby girls this summer and my sister-in-law also recently had a baby girl.  Since I missed my sister-in-law's baby shower (she live in another state) I am making her an album for all those baby pictures.  So far I have the cover completed and here it is.
So what projects have you done so far this summer?

Summer Love

I don't know about you all, but I have been enjoying the warm summer days already! I just returned from a girls' weekend in Dallas... sadly, I have no layouts to show for it as of yet! Instead, I thought I'd share some summer-themed layouts I have done recently to get you thinking about possible summer layouts of your own.

One thing I love about summer is all the delicious fresh fruit. So I decided to do a layout about it!

   

Another thing I love about summer is spending time with family outside.... just enjoying the moment!

 

And, finally, I love traveling to new places in the summertime. Like last summer when I saw Puget Sound for the first time.

 

What are your favorite things about summer? And what parts of summer are you going to scrapbook?

Keeping the Reconnection Going

I mentioned back in January that my one little word for 2010 is reconnect. At the end of January, I realised that I needed a way to keep myself on track with my plans for the year, and so I decided to do a layout to document what I wanted to achieve in February.

   

It worked so well, and kept me motivated so I decided to make it a monthly layout.

 

Somehow I never got around to making a page for April, and it showed. I was not on the ball as much that month, and except for two major events, it went by in a blur with not much accomplished.

Back on track for May and June, things are definitely looking up.

 

The first three layouts are all hybrid pages using templates and kits by Karla Dudley. My June page is all digital, because I wanted to be sure to get one done before the month slipped away.

 

I find that doing these pages has really helped me not only to keep up with my plans, but also helps me see where I am spending most of my time (and it's not exercising!). Even when I don't get everything done as planned, I can still see that I am in fact accomplishing things, and I can refine how I approach the following month. Plus it is helping me develop good habits - I now blog more regularly on my personal blog than I did a year ago.

How do you document your monthly goals? Do you find that having a system like this helps to keep you on track? If you're not doing something like this, is it something you would consider doing?

In keeping with a theme free month...

I present you with a theme-free post.  Just chock full of random free-for-allness.  First up, some general feel-the-love cards:

Or maybe you're more in the mood for a general cute-for-cute's-sake layout:

Or maybe a theme *is* what you need.  Maybe you've had a few graduations in your social circle recently.  I bet they'd like a gift of green that would coordinate nicely with any one of these cards, celebrating their stellar achievement:

Or perhaps you need an end-of-school gift for a supremely frazzled teacher:

(The Do-It-Yourself part?  It was a bag full of fancy chocolate.  :-)  Self-medicating, indeed.)

Maybe you want to document the everyday summer surrounding you right now:

Well, whatever your poison, have a great weekend, go get your scrap on--and try to stay out of trouble! 

June is Free for all Month on ITAK

 
Image courtesy yumiang on flickr.

This month we're taking a break from themed posts and sharing a variety of different projects. Layouts, altered, home decor, cards, anything goes! Check back to see what the team has in store!