It Takes All Kinds

An idea for displaying your cards

It's getting to be that time of year when you will be getting piles and piles of Christmas cards in the mail. I thought I'd share a display that I made last year to hold my Christmas cards.

Instructions:

1. Find an open-back frame (with no glass). I bought mine on sale at Hobby Lobby, but you could also look at thrift shops. Mine is 18"x24" (the opening).

2. Measure the inside of your frame to decide how many wires you want going across & how far apart. I used 6 wires at 3" apart (except for the top & bottom one).

3. Mark on the back of the frame where you will want your wires on each side.

4. Using any sort of thin metal wire, cut a piece that will span the width of your frame, plus add a few inches at each end to attach.

5. Beginning at the top spot, attach a wire to one side using a staple gun. Be sure to leave a tail of about 3". Use a few staples to make the hold stronger.

6. Fold the excess wire over & staple again. This will help to make sure your wire won't come undone.

7. Repeat on the other side. You can make your wires as tight or as loose as you'd like. As you can see from the picture, I left mine just a teeny bit loose.

8. Repeat steps 4-7 for each row. You may want to cover the wires on the back of the frame with a strong tape so they don't scratch your walls.

9. Use clips to attach your cards/tags/decor. I used atc clips by 7 Gypsies, but you could also use binder clips, paper clips, clothespins, etc. Get creative!

 

Here is my frame filled with Christmas cards:

What unique ways do you display your Christmas cards?

Fall Activities in an Indian Summer

I don't know about you, but the beautiful weather this Indian Summer has really put me in the mood to craft! I've been currently working on decorations and other items for Halloween.

Last night I made this "spooky" banner to hang in our living room. I cut the triangles from cardboard inserts that I have saved from scrapbook orders! I pulled the top layer off to reveal the corrugated surface. All of the papers are from The Girls' Paperie "Toil & Trouble" line. Most of the embellishments are by Making Memories, except for the felt spiderweb, which is by Queen & Company. (ignore my dog's stash of toys under the cabinet!)

Here's a close-up of one of the letters:

What would an Indian Summer be without beautiful fall leaves? I plan on taking pictures of my neighbor's tree this year to show the progression of the change in color:

Use some of your scrappy supplies to decorate pumpkins! I used black acrylic paint to paint faces on my pumpkins instead of carving them. This way they will last longer!

(Dinky says hi)

Cloudy with a chance of rain

This month's theme is water and I thought and thought about a unique way to represent this topic. What did I come up with? Clouds! Clouds produce rain and rain is water, right?! I am noticing that just about every line released lately has some sort of clouds incorporated in it... they're everywhere! So I thought I'd show a couple of different ways I have used clouds in my layouts.

On this layout, I both cut the top edge to resemble clouds & I painted clouds using Ranger's "Snow Cap" paint dabber.

Who says clouds have to be white? To add a whimsical touch, I cut yellow polka dot clouds on my Cricut to use on this layout!

Use mists! On this card, I cut clouds with the Cricut and used them as masks with turquoise Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist. I love the effect this produces!

What unique ways have you used or created clouds on a scrappy project?
 
 
 

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?

Rebirth

My favorite part of spring is seeing the rebirth of all the flowers that have been dormant for so many months.  I took these photos of the first roses for the season last spring.  I am still waiting for this year's rebirth.

 
This layout was for a challenge that I did for National Scrapbooking Day at Studio Calico.  It was to use punches on a photo, cardstock and another material.  I used my edge punch on the big photo and the cardstock and I used my square punch for the smaller rose photos and also to make the windows in the transparency.

Later this month I will be sharing a layout with a handmade flower technique.

Celebrate Traditions

What traditions are you celebrating?!

Peace and Warmth to you all this holiday season!

A Christmas Past

Christmas has always been a big deal in my family. Even when it was just the four of us (My Mum, Dad, sister and I) it was always full of fun and excitement. I remember traditions like always having home made bread with smoked ham for breakfast on Christmas morning. My Dad was crazy about Christmas lights, so there was always at least one string up at the front of the house. Of course everyone's favourite part was opening the presents on Christmas morning! As we got older we even managed to wait until after breakfast! I found these old photos from various Christmases past and put them together on this page

I used a combination of Christmas theme and other products (like the house fabric paper) to convey my theme of Christmas and home and family.

Find some older photos and document what your Christmases past were like to share those memories with your current family!

Let's Celebrate!

Whatever your beliefs, December is a month just made for celebrating! Join the team this month as we post all about what we're celebrating this year. With all the activity, we know you won't have any extra time, so there's no challenge this month. They will be back in January though! Stay tuned for more to come!

Eye Candy at home in the garden!

It's the season of sweets! But since I'm trying hard not eat so many, I thought seeing the "candy" in my garden would fill me up!!! But I am interested in what you're having this holiday season!!!! Please share with us and remember to link us to your page so we can all share in the yumminess!!! 

Simple Pleasures

Take time to relish in the simple. I love to do this in the fall! It's my favorite time of the year! Please take a moment or better yet, make a layout about what you enjoy about this season...we would love to see and hear all about it!