Things to Remember!

Now that Christmas is over... and the New Year is on its way, I have a serious mission (well... serious to me!)... Clean and Organize!! I am off this week and plan on going to town! I am planning on doing a room a day. So far, I have been successful! On Sunday Trevor and I went through his room, and today Ryan and I went through his room. You should see how much we were able to clear out! Toys that they have had forever and don't play with anymore, clothes that don't fit, etc. Wow! Tomorrow morning I am taking a TON to the thrift store!! So, is anyone on this quest to organize??

This is a project I created for Kits 2 Remember. I used Zutter boards - and they were SO much fun! I was really happy with how this came out. The top board I covered with patterned paper. I made a chip board "template" with the bind it all, and used it on the boards so I would know where to punch, since the board is too thick to fit into my bind-it-all machine. Using a crop-o-dile, I punched holes. For the bottom board, I adhered a cork board to it (making a bulletin board). I punched holes in the board, and then on the cork before gluing the 2 pieces together. I used o-rings and the bind-it-all to bind the two pieces together. It was very fun to make!!





Happy New Year to everyone!
...Erin

Busy Bee!

I have been so busy lately!! I bet each and every one of us could say that - especially at this time of the year!! I feel like every spare minute has been filled with something! Between the normal work, family, home, homework, I was also in 2 craft shows. Whew! I have to say I am really looking forward to the time off over the Christmas holidays! Here are just a few things that I have made lately...
The above are the giant wooden paper clips. They are about 6" tall, 1/5" wide. They are very fun - and of course super easy to decorate!

I made some recipe boxes as well as some "Gift Organizers". I personally love the gift organizers. I use the same tin box and decorated it with really pretty paper, rick-rack and big bazzill flowers! Inside you have dividers that you put a name on. Then every time you get that person something you write it down. You can even write down things they got you so that you don't forget!!

And of course we have metal! This is a little picture "frame" I made. You can change the picture when ever you want since it is just help on with matching magnets! What fun!!

Are you making any gifts? What kinds of things are you making?

Until next time....

Christmas traditions

For Kits 2 Remember I created an acrylic album all about our family Christmas traditions. It was really fun to document some of our traditions... Every year, on the day after Thanksgiving, we pull out all the Christmas boxes. We get all the Christmas movies out... and we always start with "White Christmas". Then we start with the tree. We watch movies all day long while decorating the house.

We have a small village that comes out every year. I am also a bit of a snowflake and snowman nut. So, the snowmen go on the fireplace mantle. The snowflakes are hung from the ceiling in the kitchen, and the chandelier. We put out a Boyd's Bears nativity scene. The stair way banister is decorated with lights, garlands, and of course... snowflakes!

What are some of your traditions?

Desert Scrappers Weekend - Layouts

Last weekend I went to the Desert Scrappers weekend retreat in Palm Desert. It was great! Five of my friends were with me, and we met up with a couple of girls I met the last time I was there. They had 2 of their friends come... so we had 10 in our group! This time I taught a class (the Countdown to Christmas). And I even took a class with Scrappy Nan. I also worked on some other projects. These are some layouts that I finished while there. I had a blast! I am so behind on scrapping... I think I could use a weekend retreat once a month to maybe get caught up!! Hope you enjoy!

My latest project for kits 2 Remember. I was given the acrylic heart album. Of course, I immediately think of love, weddings, etc. But I really wanted to do something a little different. So, I did an album on the things that I love...

I used a crop-o-dile to punch holes all the way around each heart, then I wove ribbon through the holes. It was kind of fun because it is acrylic, you see the entire ribbon from both sides.

Other supplies used: Basic Grey paper (Infuse), Heidi Swapp crystals, stickles, buttons, Magic Mesh, prima flowers, Stampin Up! ribbon, Font: cricut Stamped ("shorty" option), Zip Dry for embellishments, xyron to adhere pages to acrylic.

I hope you enjoyed! Maybe you, too, should capture the things that YOU love! Have a fantastic Thanksgiving! May it be filled with good times, good food and the people you love! Until next time...

I Smell Smoke!!

I know it has been a little while since I posted. I really don't know where the time has gone. Well - actually that is not entirely true... At the beginning of November I was preparing for a weekend holiday boutique that mom and I were in. So, it seemed like most free time was spent on crafting for that. Then, this past weekend I went to a weekend scrapbook retreat. I had decided to teach a class so I spent the week prior to going getting class kits together and trying to prepare for the weekend.

On Friday morning, we were on our way to the retreat. Fires broke out in Montecito. It was crazy windy here... Then Saturday we started getting reports that fires broke out in Corona and Yorba Linda. Then fires were heading towards Chino Hills, Diamond Bar and Brea! Mom was evacuated from her place in south Chino Hills. Malcolm was holding down the fort... and keeping an eye on the fire's progress. Below are some pictures he took Saturday night.

This was a picture from the top of the hill,
looking down towards mom's house.

This picture was taken from the front
of our house.
Mal took this picture standing in the street
in front of our drive way. You can even see our
street sign and the houses going down
Monteclaro.

Crazy, huh? Today the fires are about 50% contained. They are no longer threatening our area. A big SALUTE to all the firefighters. What an amazing job they do!

So - I promise to try and get a project together and post it for you! Until next time.......

Dad's To Do list - metal project

Thought I would share a really quick metal project... I made this with a 5x7" metal panel. The paper is by Karen Foster. Just adhere the paper to the metal panel. The title is created using a CK font called "Tools". The screws are really brads! Tie some ribbon or rope so it can hang on the wall. I punched out 3/4" circle from the paper scraps. Glued it to a magnet with zipdry. Then glued a "flat" marble on top of that! A super fast project. It would be a great project to do with the kids and they could give it to dad for Christmas!

A Haunted Halloween!

I love Halloween.... Every year Disneyland decorates the Haunted Mansion with all kinds of things from the movie Nightmare Before Christmas. It is so awesome!! This is a "stadium album" from Kits 2 Remember. The paper is some new Halloween paper from Creative Imaginations. It is absolutely beautiful! I used the Stamped cricut cartridge for "SPOOKY". I used stamps from Stampin Up! and inkadinkado. I hope you like the album!! I sure had fun making it. You can visit the Krew bog for some additional pictures.

Kits2Remember project

This is my next project for Kits 2 Remember. Jessica, the owner, puts a kit together, gives it to us and says CREATE! So, this is what I created! I had a lot of fun with this kit. It had really nice paper in it... Well, I have to run... Until next time!

Some new projects...

It has been a busy week! But I wanted to post a little something... so here are a couple of projects that I have been working on...

This is a project I made for Kits2Remember. They sell "Krew Kits" which contains everything you'd need to make a project. This one is Krew Kit #6. It is fun to see how people, with the very same kit, can create such different things! Mine, of course, has the boys in it. They were all skateboarding and Malcolm got some great pictures!

It is particularly fun to work with acrylic. What you do on one side can totally effect what you do on the other side! So you find yourself thinking about layout, what is on the back, papers, etc. If you haven't tried acrylic yet, you should!! But let me warn you... it is addicting!

Another project I was working on was a "baby girl" pocket album for Jeanne. I used the Simply Scrappin Kit "Rock a Bye Girl" from Stampin Up. These kits are nice because they come with the card stock, 4 different patterned papers and card stock stickers. Since it is a kit, all the colors match! I had made a baby boy album a couple of weeks ago, so wanted to make the baby girl one to match! This has 6 pockets and will hold 12 pictures. It is designed so that you can take a picture of your baby every month, place them on the appropriate inserts, and show what a difference a year makes!

So, that is what I have been up to lately... How about you?

Countdown to Christmas!

I know... I know... it is a little scary, isn't it? I can't believe that Christmas is not all that far away!! And yes, it really is only 79 days until Christmas!

This is a project that I made this weekend. I used two 5x7 metal panels that I got from Kits2Remember. The fun thing about working with metal panels is, of course, you can use magnets!! I also found this really pretty paper from SEI (Holly Lane). I tend to go for cute, snowflakes, etc. But something about this paper... Then I found these very cool crystals by Say It In Crystals that matched the paper perfectly! And of course, that is how it all begins! I used chip board letters and covered them in paper from the same SEI line. The letters were cut on the Cricut using the Stone Script font cartridge. I hope you like it!

Where did the weekend go?

Here it is... late Sunday night. Where did the weekend go?? Time just flies by! They boys kept us busy all weekend - running here, take me there... a little homework, etc. I visited my very good friend Debbie on Saturday. It was such a nice night. I always have such a great time with her! I spent half of today trying to pick up and organize in my craft room. It is amazing how much time it can take to organize!! I have a good size room and yet I am running out of space! How can that be? So, I am constantly trying to come up with better ways of organizing.

I did get to play for a little while. I finished a project that I had started last week ("What a Difference a Year Makes"). I saw this layout one time - way after my kids were babies - and they had taken a picture of their baby with a stuffed animal. Then every month, they would take another picture, in the same spot, with the same stuffed animal. They did this for a year - and then put all the pictures in a layout. I thought that was a BRILLIANT idea! And of course, way too late for me to do. (bummer!) I made a "pocket" book - chipboard covers with pockets inside using a scrapping kit from Stampin Up. You can put each month's picture on the insert - for a total of 12 pictures. It comes out so awesome - you can really see how much your little one has grown!