Tis' the Season

So I'll admit that Christmas pages are the pages that I scrapbook the least. Not really sure why. Maybe it's because the holidays are often so rushed by running here, there, and everywhere - leaving little time for crafting. I find myself making many teacher gifts and gifts for others, but seldom sit down to document the loads of family photos taken at the holidays. I made a promise to myself to do better this year.

Using the Mini Scallops, Rings, and Mini Aspen designer Kiwi Lane templates I came up with this simple layout to feature one of my favorite pics of the kids from LAST year. Better late than never, right?

I started by tracing the rings templates lightly with pencil and adding mini glue dots along the pencil lines. I added individual black sequins on the glue dots to imitate the sequin pattern on my daughter's dress. This process was tedious, but I achieved the look I wanted.

 



 After cutting a mini scalloped border, I ran half of the scallop through my Texture Boutique embosser inside an embossing folder, repeating the same on the other half of the border. Make sure that you line the paper up with the stripes that have already been embossed. I used my rub-on tool to smooth out any stripes where the folder left an edge.

White Stickles were added to give an effect of snow along the edge of the Mini Scallop border.



 On the Tiny Tags template, I stamped the word blessed and added a blingy brad from Carta Bella to fill in an otherwise empty space on the page. Pretty pleased with the result even if it is only a one-pager.



Kiwi Lane Designer Templates Used: Tiny Tags, Mini Scallops, Mini Aspen Ct., Rings, Strips
Patterned paper: Heidi Swapp

Kiwi Lane December Blog Hop

Welcome to the December Kiwi Lane Designs Blog Hop! If you landed here first, you should head back to the Kiwi Lane Blog so you can make your way through the whole hop! I am thrilled to be selected this month as a guest designer in my first ever blog hop, although I have been a huge fan of Kiwi Lane Designs ever since I stumbled upon their booth at CKC Louisville a few years ago. I hope to share some scrapbooking inspiration with you using their fabulous designer templates!

Here is my finished project. Stay tuned to find out how you can have a chance to win this mini album for yourself!  



For my project, I received the adorable and versatile Mini Scallops set. These Mini Scallops are the perfect complement to the larger Scallop Borders or can be used year-round for any page, card, or project. I find myself reaching for them over and over. These are a smaller scale than the Scallop borders and great to use vertically, horizontally, or on a diagonal for your pages.

 



 

I began by taking 3 standard-size gift bags, folded them in half, and hole punched all three. I used 2 loose binder rings to hold the bags together. Note: You will want to arrange the 3 bags so that handles actually hold the album closed like a purse. When they are not arranged correctly, one of the "pages" will hang down. 

The bottoms of the gift bags made a flap after each couple of pages. You could use this for more photos, but I decided to glue the flaps closed using Sticky Lines to help my album lay flat.

Using a piece of Black Magic Core-dinations Cardstock, I cut out an ornament using the Tiny Holiday 6T Accessory, ran it through my Texture Boutique embossing machine using the Cuttlebug swirls embossing folder, and sanded the ornament to reveal the green color underneath.

Because I used gift bags, each bag created a pocket page where I could slide photo mats and tags for journaling. The Simple Stories 4x6 Snap Cards made this super easy. They fit perfectly into each bag with just a slight bit hanging over, and are double-sided (so they look good from the front and the back of each page). I used my Mini Scallops templates to give each one more visual appeal along the top.

 



 

Once I glued the bottoms of the bags shut, there was a slight edge where one half of the bag's bottom extended past the other side of the bag's bottom. I cut two, 2A Mini Scallops and glued them back to back along the edge to cover the seam on each page.

 

I did the same along the edges of these pages, but traced two Tiny Bracket templates side by side to create a different edge on some of the pages.

 

I inked all of the edges with my sponge dauber and added buttons and brads.

Layering the same size scallop gives a nice effect too...
 

And finally, the back cover...

 

Gift handles allow you to tote your album easily. This got my wheels turning...I could do this with ANY gift bag for ANY theme mini album: wedding, birthday, etc.



 

Kiwi Lane Designer Templates used:

*Mini Scallops 1A, 2A, 3A
*Strips
*Tiny Tags 5T, 6T, 7T
*Tiny Holiday 6T
*Tiny Brackets 1T, 3T, 4T

Paper used:

  *Simple Stories Handmade Holiday Collection

  *Simple Stories Handmade Holiday 4x6 Sn@p Cards

  *Core-dinations Cardstock

Materials/Tools used:

   *Cuttlebug swirls embossing folder
   *Texture Boutique embossing machine

   *3 standard-size gift bags

   *2 binder rings

   *dark brown ink

   *Ribbon: American Crafts (reds and brown lace) & Stampin Up (green)

   *Buttons: Stampin Up

   *Red Pearls: Queen & Co.

   *Brads: Making Memories & Carta Bella

 

I hope I have inspired you to try something new with your Kiwi Lane designer templates or try using them for the first time. Thanks for hopping by. Here is the blog hop lineup. Be sure to head on over to Apryl Holland's blog next to view all the crafty ideas awaiting you there!

1. Kiwi Lane http://kiwilane.com/here/blog/
2. Mary Hartmann Bowden http://mequilter.blogspot.com/
3. Janie McKissick http://www.typicalscrapbboker.com/
4. Carrie Bryant  http://carrieshappyscrappin.blogspot.com/
5. Amy Berrett  http://ladybugsspotblog.blogspot.com/
6. Cassandra Henson http://fortheloveofscrap.com
7. Carrie McDaniel http://carriedawaywithcrafting.blogspot.com/   <------You are here
8. Apryl Holland http://onescrappysoul.blogspot.com/  <------ Go here next
9. Erin Colby http://oursliceofcheese.blogspot.com
10. Brenda Smith http://theimperfectscrapper.blogspot.com

The blog hop will run through 11:59 PM MST on Sunday December 8th. One lucky random winner from ONE of the participating blogs (including the Kiwi Lane blog), will be given a $25 gift certificate to the Kiwi Lane Shop, for leaving a comment and will be announced on the Kiwi Lane blog on Thursday, December 12th.

ANOTHER CHANCE TO WIN...
And how would you like to WIN the adorable GIFT BAG MINI ALBUM featured in this post?!! Just leave me a comment and become one of my followers. The lucky winner will be announced here on Thursday, December 12th. Good luck!

Congratulations to Tina who said...

TINADecember 6, 2013 at 11:41 PM

Oooooo! I would LOVE to win your mini album!

 

Tina, You are the lucky random winner of the gift bag mini album!!!! Please email me your mailing address at carriescrafting@gmail.com and I will get it shipped out to you ASAP. Thanks for following me!

 

Subway Signs

So everywhere you look you see subway signs nowadays. Craft stores, eBay, furniture stores...While there are many to choose from, I never could find one in the colors or wording that I wanted. So...I decided to create a custom one myself using a blank canvas, paint, a paisley stencil from Michael's, black vinyl, and my Cricut. Here is the result:

It may not suit everyone else's taste, but it certainly sums up our home well.

Organizational Nut

So yes, I admit I am an organizational nut. I spend just as much time organizing my craft and scrapbook supplies as I do actually using them. However, when I saw this Fintorp rail and hook system from IKEA, I knew I had to have one (along with 20 hooks) to organize all of my scrapbook templates from Kiwi Lane. My hubby was a dear and hung it up right behind my crafting table so I could reach them without searching or getting up. What do you think? I just love how it tidies up my space!

Kiwi Lane's DT Doodles Contest Week #40

Kiwi Lane's sketch this week inspired me to use Doodlebug Designs' Harvest paper collection and use photos I had yet to scrapbook. Our 2011 trip to Gallrein Farm Pumpkin Patch seemed appropriate to use with the colors and patterns in this fall-themed paper line (especially since it features 9 photos). I'm always camera happy at the pumpkin patch!  I just love the owl print! It's a "hoot"!Here is this week's sketch:

Templates used:

• Aspen Court 2A 2B (I used the Spook Alley templates instead)
• Tags 3, 5
• Tiny Tags 1T, 7T
• Strips
• Photo Mats
• Photo
• Mini Photo

Here is my interpretation of that sketch:

I just love the colors of fall, don't you? To see more inspirational sketches like these visit the gallery at www.kiwilane.com

 

Kiwi Lane's DT Doodles Contest Week 39

Each week Kiwi Lane hosts a contest challenge and invites scrapbookers to create a layout or card using their sketch. This week's DT Doodles challenge was to create a card with a decorative edge using their Designer Templates. This was the only guideline this week so Kiwi Lane fans were free to design ANY card layout. I just love Halloween colors (and the fall season in general) so I decided to create a fall long card. 

After beginning my long card I decided to cut it into two smaller cards to get more bang for my buck. I made one horizontal and one vertical card from the long card.

 

 

I used the Spook Alley Designer Template to create my decorative edge for this card and placed a piece of black & white Chevron paper inside of the card to make my edge stand out.


Kiwi Lane templates used:

• Spook Alley 1A
• Sunnybrook Lane 2B
• Tiny Holiday 4T, 5T

Paper & embellishments used:

• Queen & Co. Bat Shaped Rhinestone,  Nightfall Rox (ghost eyes), Halloween brad & chipboard button
• Doodlebug Design Baker's twine
• White glitter paper (ghost)
• Green Button by Stampin' Up
• Rub-ons by Creative Imaginations
• American Crafts-green polka dot, black/white chevron paper
• Core-dinations orange cardstock
• ink, Tim Holtz

Keeping my fingers crossed that I win a $25 gift card from Kiwi Lane this Thursday!

Kiwi Lane's DT Doodles Contest Week #36

Each week Kiwi Lane features a sketch and invites scrapbookers to submit photos of their layout interpretation of the sketch. Here is this week's sketch:

 

Here is my interpretation of the sketch using the adorable Say Cheese collection from Simple Stories. I just love all of the pattern choices that this paper line offers. I continued the small ring in the upper corner of my page using Kiwi Lane's ring template because I thought it was my own partially-hidden Mickey on the page. Bo Bunny's Double Dot paper in black was used for the background.



 

 

I used embroidered Disney Mickey ear stickers for the embellishments' centers and baker's twine on the paper rings to accentuate that red and white Disney color scheme.

 

 

Heidi Swapp's Sequin Shapes Disco Arrow was just the embellishment I was looking for to accent what these pages are all about...the Magic Kingdom! I am a Disney nut and this paper line from Simple Stories doesn't disappoint! I just love the combination of bold and understated prints.

 

For more great layout ideas like these visit www.kiwilane.com

 

Kiwi Lane's DT Doodles Contest Week 32

Each week Kiwi Lane posts a sketch and challenges scrapbookers to submit photos of their finished product using the sketch. Here is this week's inspiration sketch using their Celebrate and the Spook Alley designer templates:

 

 

Here is my own twist on the layout. I completed a layout of my daughter's 10th birthday sleepover. It was a One Direction themed party, so I chose colors to complement the British boy band.



I did not have any white letters that I liked so I cut the word Hannah on my Cricut using white adhesive vinyl. For the word Turns I placed black sticker letters on a white piece of cardstock, inked over the letters with blue ink using a sponge dauber, then removed the black letters to reveal the white cardstock underneath. I found some Sticko ticket stickers by EK Success in my stash from years back. The colors were spot on for this page.

 

Here I added an additional bracket to the layout for journaling and to fill the space at the bottom of the page.

I used Washi tape on the present to give the look of ribbon on the box.

DT Doodles Week 31 Contest - Kiwi Lane

 

 

Here is Kiwi Lane's inspiration sketch this week:



Kiwi Lane Templates used:

 

• Chestnut Drive 1A
• Scallops 1A
• Strips
• Bracket 3
• Tiny Shapes 6T
• Tiny Accents 1T
• Tiny Tags 5

Here is my interpretation of Kiwi Lane's sketch:

Templates I used:

• Spook Alley (in place of Chestnut Alley)
• Mini Scallops
• Strips
• Sweetheart Bracket (instead of Bracket 3)
• Tiny Tags 5
• Sweetheart arrow

I used Mickey die-cuts in place of the Tiny Shapes and Tiny Accents templates to go along with my Disney themed page.

The silver paper was used on the bracket to accentuate the metal in my photo of Club Cool at Epcot.

Here I used doodling and handstamping to add visual interest to my title.