Happy December!

Yikes! Another year going by. I read something the other day that is so true: "The days are long, but the years are short." It needs to be a poster, doesn't it?

Anyway...

I've got a layout to share today. It's in Creating Keepsakes' latest special issue, Scrapbooking Babies and Toddlers. It's about The Nose! That would be my nose. Which is also my mom's nose, and grandmother's nose. It might have been her mom's nose too, but I never met my great-grandmother, so I cannot attest to that. When I was little, growing up in a sea of people with perky little ski slope noses, I really hated my nose. My mom sold me some story about our nose being lucky. But apparently she knew what she was talking about. I've been nothing but lucky!

When my littlest was born, he had my nose, which seriously, is so much cuter on him. A most adorable button nose. Alas, the button nose is not too buttony anymore. It's definitely following in the direction of my husband's Northern/Eastern European ancestry. A more... uhm... prominent shape. Oh well.

That would be little me in the circle. Yes, wearing three piggy tails. As seen in the Scrapbooking Babies and Toddlers special issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

Thanks for dropping by! See you tomorrow, when I'll share Lawn Fawn's new release. We are talking Valentine's Day! Already! See? Time does fly.

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Creating Keepsakes: Quick and Easy Baby Mini

Lookie here! Blogged twice. In one week. Going to count this as my achievement for the month.

The new CK baby special issue is out  (Scrapbooking Babies & Toddlers is the official name.) It's filled with such cute projects. Love baby pages!

Yesterday, on CK's Editorial blog, I posted about a mini album. It's a "First Visitors" album. Super quick to make. It would make a great gift, especially in a gift bag filled with stickers, adhesive, pens, etc.

More details and how-to on the CK blog. For a chance to win this special issue, go here!

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Creating Keepsakes Giveaway

Happy Monday! I'm just back from a long vacation to the East Coast. Two weeks away is amazing, but now I'm on major catchup mode. School supplies to buy, house to clean and organize, kids to get back into a "normal" sleep schedule, projects to create. That said, there's nothing like a new issue of Creating Keepsakes arriving in my mailbox. It means it's time to stop what I'm doing and flip through it! This is one of my favorites. It's the annual Top Ten issue. So full of ideas, tips, and inspiration.

I have a layout in there with ten different ways to add stitching/thread to your layout. You can see all ten here.

I also love this cover. So Fall, which by the way, I'm totally ready to embrace. Problem is that here in Los Angeles, Fall is the hottest time of the year. I might need another visit back East to wear my sweaters and boots...

This issue is available starting today. But you can win one by leaving me a comment telling me which is your favorite season. I'll randomly pick a winner and post it on Friday, August 17.

Thanks for dropping by today!

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Creating Keepsakes, the Summer Issue!

The Summer issue of Creating Keepsakes is out, and I'm pretty excited about it. See that cover? It's mine!

As seen in the July/Aug 2012 of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

I also have a summer vacation mini album in it. Complete with a free download.

It's a quick and easy mini book that you can put together by printing the downloadable form, adding some photos and other embellishments, and filling out the blanks. Super simple. Instant satisfaction. Here's a page that my son Jett filled out for the book.

And guess what? You can win a copy! There's a blog hop going on, so you will have many chances to win. Start by going to Kim Watson's blog, and leaving those comments! Thanks for stopping by.

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Living The Dream Workshop Giveaway

Hey there! Hope you had a good weekend. Today, the Creating Keepsakes Dream Team is doing a blog hop/giveaway for our class Living The Dream (in partnership with Big Picture Classes).

What's the class about? Here's a description from Big Picture Classes:

Are you living the dream? Whether it's landing that job you always wanted, accomplishing a goal you set for yourself, or having the family you hoped for, so much of the lives we lead today began as things we only dreamed of yesterday. Your dreams are important. Spending time remembering the dreams you had when you were younger and recognizing how those dreams have been fulfilled (in the way you thought they would be, and in totally different ways than you dreamed) will inspire you, and hopefully inspire others as well. We hope that you'll join us in this 20-day workshop to connect with these talented instructors as well as enjoy the opportunity to not just count, but scrap your blessings. 

Here's a teensy peek of my project (hint, it's about motherhood):

Now, for the giveaway! Please leave me a comment (and your email addy so I can contact you) by next Monday, June 4, and I'll draw a winner for a spot in this class. To increase your chances, visit each blog in the hop, and leave one comment per blog. But alas, only one free pass per person.

Your next blog stops are:

Maggie Holmes
Mou Saha

Thank you so much for dropping by!

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I love Fridays!

One of the weird things about having a blog is that if I go too long without blogging, it's really awkward to come back to it. It's like anything else, I guess. Practice makes perfect, but I'm lazy lazy lazy.

So we are going for random today. Bear with me.

I just love it when my kids come home from school, and my husband comes home from work, and we just dive right into the weekend. Together.

I've recently contributed this challenge to the ClubCK blog. It's about using Microsoft Word to edit photos. Who knew one could use Word for photo editing? Not everyone has Photoshop, so this is great for small tweaks and quick editing.

New Lawn Fawn stamps! Well, these are clues to what the new stamps are.

Lawn Fawn is debuting its new line of stamps starting today. Well, what's happening today is a sneak peek, and if you go by and leave a comment, you could win new goodies. Trust me, I have these, and you will want them! (*cough*numbers*cough*)

I finally started my Project Life. I've had the goods since the beginning of the year, but never felt inspired to get started. Lisa finally came over with her book (which I love) and kicked my butt. She's right, it has nothing to do with creating perfect pages, it's all about recording the mundane. I'm not loving each spread, but I know I'm going to love the end product.

My dad trying to get my youngest to do a serious face.

My parents are here visiting from China (via Houston). Just a quick trip, but it's always nice to see them. They are intrepid travelers, adventurers, fiercely loyal, great eating companions, and have a very kooky sense of humor. Not many people have lived in Kazakhstan, traveled extensively to Istanbul, or trekked through Mongolia. Every time they visit, I interview my dad about his life. It's my best story keeping project yet.

I come by my maniacal laugh honestly. See my father above. (Please ignore horrible horrendous chandelier - it's not mine!)

My oldest (who's 13) went from being 1 inch shorter than me last September (when he turned 13) to being 3 inches taller than me. Being 13, he hates posing for photos, and usually pulls a Calvin. But we stood there in front of the mirror, started to crack up and ended up having a great moment together. Love this crazy blurry photo. We look like maniacs.

On that note, I'm off to do a little work before the crew comes home, so I can dive right into the weekend with them. Have a great one!

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Happy Friday!

Love Fridays.

Okay, so I took this photo yesterday as the sun was setting, therefore it was Thursday. But it's really cloudy and gross today. (See that dome on the right? Rodeo Drive. Nope, I don't shop there.)

What's going on around these parts:

Lily Bee has a new team! Congrats new and returning designers! 

I guest blogged at a couple spots these past two weeks.

Technique Tuesday: a vacation mini-album.

Creating Keepsakes: how to line up those letter stickers.

And don't forget to enter my CK March/April issue giveaway. Just a few hours left.

Hope you have a great weekend! I have one plan for this weekend: camp out at Din Tai Fung so I can get a table, because damnit, I will eat some xiao long bao before Monday!

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March/April CK Giveaway

WINNER!

Congrats, Val! I've sent you an email. :)


Happy Monday! And Happy (almost) Spring!

The Creating Keepsakes March/April issue is out, and I have a copy to giveaway!

Here's one of my projects in this issue. (Click on it to get a bigger peek.)

As seen in the March/April 2012 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

I'm not usually a mini-album person, but every so often I create one, and I always love the end result. Which makes me wonder why I'm not a mini-album person? This one celebrates each person in my family as a baby. It lists each of our birthdays, and something in history that happened that day. Plus the birthdays of someone else famous. The fun thing for me was to see our baby photos side-by-side, and seeing how much my kids look like me. My husband always says they are copies of me. Ha! So true.

Onto the giveaway!

Please leave me a comment here before Friday, March 23 (midnight EDT), and I'll randomly pick one person to win this super cute issue! Please leave me your email address, so I can contact you if you are the winner.

Here are more chances to win! Check out these other blogs:
Scrapbook Society
Mou Saha
Cindy Tobey
Laina Lamb
Patty Cieri


Thanks for dropping by!

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Moving Right Along...

I'm just going to jump right back in here, and ignore the fact that I haven't posted in over 5 months...

A few things going on right now.

1. Lawn Fawn! Love them. Love Kelly and Mike (the owners), love their stamps (super high quality polymer), love their designs (cute cute cute!). So when Kelly asked me to join the team, I only had one answer in mind, "Heck yeah!" I got the new stamps the other day, and spent most of the day smelling them. Is that weird? New stamps smell so good. And now Lawn Fawn has patterned paper! Amazing! I created these layouts using Lawn Fawn stamps a while back. (You can click on the projects to get a bigger view.)

This one uses the super popular Say Cheese set. I stamped those polaroid frames, cut them out, and then I cut the windows out. The photos are behind the frame, and the frames are popped up.
As seen in the October 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

This was a year in review mini-album. The months and the teeny camera are from the Say Cheese, Too set. As seen in the Seasons special issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher. 

I made little flaps for the journaling: just a simple caption for each photo.

2. I'm going to Barcelona later this week with my hubby. He's going for work, and I'm tagging along. We won't be there for long, but I haven't been to Spain in over a decade. Cannot wait to get back, and embarrass myself by speaking Spanish like I actually know how.

3. Lily Bee has a sketch challenge right now. Katja did the sketch, and it's super cute. Plus, as with all Lily Bee challenges, there's a prize involved in the form of NEW Lily Bee products. So worth the effort!

4. Speaking of Lily Bee, I worked the booth at CHA ( a few weeks ago) and met so many nice people. It was also so much fun to see some of my friends who I only see at these events. Email, Facebook, Twitter and all that social network stuff is nice. But nothing is as good as face to face time. Alas, I had to be sent away on day three because I was so sick! Here are some of my projects I did for Lily Bee. (I'll post the Jillibean and Lawn Fawn stuff as soon as they show up on the companies' blogs.)

Featuring Buttercup. Love those colors!

Featuring Victoria Park, perfect for boy pages too! 

Yes, I did cut those little windows out with a X-acto knife. I'm sucker for stuff that takes hours and hours to do. Ha!

By the way, if you've been to Barcelona, and have any suggestions for what I should do, where I should eat, please fill me in! I realize I should have been doing some research for this, but uh, I haven't.

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The Perils of Having A Scrapbooking Blog

as seen in the Budget Friendly Scrapbooking issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

I was telling a friend about how infrequently I was updating my blog, and she said, "You should start a food blog instead. You eat out way more than you scrapbook." Ha! So true. So true. But what I need is more exercise, not more food. So scrapbooking it is.

Here are some layouts from recent Creating Keepsakes issues.
I really love this one. It was a limited supply assignment: five things! FIVE! Including the font I used. But it is one of my all-time favorites. (Click on the pictures to get a bigger view.)

as seen in the October 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

Well, I love this one too. I think it's the sewing that makes them my faves. This is a layout about the kind of candy flavor I love: cooked sugar! I don't eat dessert all that often, but my husband calls me Sugar Bomb because I'd rather have cotton candy than chocolate. There, I said it. I don't like chocolate. Don't judge.

as seen in the October 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

And this one might be simple and grid-y, but it's the subject that I love most: Cindy and Keisha. Damn, how I miss those girls. Come visit me! I have many places I want to take you guys. To eat. Of course.

(Be warned: if you come visit me, you'll eat a lot. And then I'll make you visit the La Brea Tar Pits. That's a fact.)

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Layouts Layouts! (And A Card. Or Two.)

I have some projects to share!

I just love this one. It was a Creating Keepsakes assignment, and I used Elle's Studio Vintage Months Flashcards, Lily Bee's Stationery paper, and finally used my PaperTreyInk big number dies and felt. I really like the bulletin-board-year-in-review look. It would be great as an opener for a year long album project. If I actually bothered to put my layouts into albums...

These are Jillibean Soup layouts. I just love their products. So colorful and whimsical. And really, the nicest people to work with.

Some Jillibean cards...

Tomorrow, we are leaving for a last summer hurrah in Palm Springs. Which is crazy because I hear the temps will be around 110F+. I'll be wearing a ton of sunscreen, sitting in the shade with a book (and iced tea), and will have a cold water mister aimed at me all day long. We'll be there to celebrate my birthday. Which means that Anthro birthday coupon will need to be spent... there's an Anthro in Palm Springs... And maybe a new camera? I need a new camera. I've been dithering between a Canon 7D and a 60D. Half of my friends say 7D, and half say 60D. Not helpful at all! Ha! Anyone else have an opinion? Please help!

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CRAFT Beach Retreat

I'm guest blogging today at Creating Keepsakes about journaling, a subject I know a lot about, since I have a lot to say. All the time. Or so say my friends. And my mom.

You might remember I posted about CRAFT Beach Retreat a while back. And now it's time to share a bit more info.

Here are the details:

The Dates: November 11-13, 2011

The Times: 9-5 each day, broken into two workshops

The Workshops: Six emotion-based scrapbook and mixed media/home décor sessions.
Plus four bonus ‘art and soul experiences’ will be right before and after classes, and a few in the evening at the hotel. Some secret…but including a henna painting workshop, sand art/message in a bottle and more...

The Instructors: Stacy Cohen, Paige Evans, Ly T. Le, Amy Tan and me!

The Location: Beautiful, sunny Santa Monica.

The Venue: The classes will be held at the Annenberg Beach House, right on the sand off Pacific Coast Highway (also known as HWY 1). 

The space we'll be in is an intimate room, the Terrace Lounge, with floor to ceiling windows...every seat has a view of the ocean. Right outside the door is a lovely seating area with a fountain where you'll be enjoying your lunch breaks.

The Hotel: The Ambrose. They have Frette linens. Yeah. Enough said.

The Sponsors:  Creating Keepsakes, Prima, American Crafts, Lily Bee and Jillibean Soup.

You can get more of the details and sign up here:  CRAFT Beach Retreat. I'll share more details about my class soon! Hope to see you there!

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New CK Summer Fun + Travel Issue

Eeep. Third time blogging this week. Apparently, I have a lot to say this week. (If you know me in real life, you'd know that I have a lot to say ALL THE TIME!)

Creating Keepsakes has this new special issue out:

In it, there's a great article by my friend Suzy Plantamura, in which she challenged some scrapbookers to use common summer colors in different ways. She also suggested different summer color schemes. Love those new combos. Such a great starting point for summer projects.

And the best part? She was kind enough to ask me to contribute to her article. My color combo was navy blue and yellow, which has a very nautical feeling. I was asked to use it in a non-nautical way. So I created this layout about Luke's self-haircut.  I still can't believe he did that. We have so many scissors around the house, and no one ever did that before. And he waited til he was 5 years old to do it? Sigh.

As seen in the Summer Fun + Travel issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher. (Click on layout for a bigger view.)

And here's the good part: there are giveaways on the blogs of some of the Dream Team girls. You might want to wander over to their blogs and see if you can snag your very own copy! (Hint: Kim, Maggie, Susan, Laura, Cindy, Piradee) Good luck!

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A Layout To Share

I miss posting my Weekend In Photos. But these days, we are unpacking and doing laundry every weekend. And while our unpacking is amazing and exciting, I don't think you want to see a play-by-play of it. Trust me on that. Hopefully, we'll be done with this mess soon. And get back to doing fun things.

Moving onto to scrappy stuff...

The July/August issue of Creating Keepsakes is out, and I have this layout in it:

As seen in the July/August 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher. (Click on layout for a bigger view.)

It's a little review of our trip to Corolla last summer. That is one place I'm going to really miss. The Outer Banks is a bit of a haul from the West Coast. And currently, we are pretty close to Hawaii. Also Baja! Hoping to visit both this summer.

Anyway. Layout. My assignment was to use these cool Maya Road transparencies. I actually broke out some paints to use on this. PAINTS! ME! Amazing! I know!

If you decide to do the same, here are a few tips. Paint with acrylic paint. Let it dry. Or if you are impatient like me, use a heat gun to dry it. Do keep a safe distance, or the transparency might melt. Not that I know from experience... Then punch. Initially I thought it would be better to punch first. But nope. Use a squeeze or thumb punch. Die cutting doesn't work really well.

That is my story for today, and I'm sticking to it.

Oh wait. One more thing: Craft Beach Retreat is now open for registration. There are only 24 spots, so crack-a-lack.

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Creative Spaces Giveaway

ETA: Blogger was down for about a day and a half, and it lost some of the comments. Sorry! They are promising to restore them all, but I don't want anyone to not get a chance to win this special issue. So I'm going to leave the comments open until Sunday night (May 15). I'll be back then to post a winner. Thanks!

Confession time. I'm a peeper. I like to peep into other people's houses, their closets, their makeup bags, and most definitely, their scrap spaces! No wonder my favorite blogs are The Selby, Apartment Therapy, and Into The Gloss. (But don't worry, I won't sneak a peek of your medicine cabinet while I'm visiting. I'm not that bad!)

So, yes, I jumped for joy when Megan Hoeppner told me she was editing a special Creating Keepsakes issue about scrap rooms! But honestly, I had no idea what the issue was going to be like until I got my very own copy this past weekend. It's FAB! Page after page of great rooms and great solutions. No, not every room is the bespoke, out of reach for most of us, kind of rooms. Most spaces are the kind we all have. A room in the house, a corner of the dining room, a teeny closet. I love seeing how others store their stuff. Because let's be honest, we, scrapbookers, have a LOT of stuff.

This issue of Creative Spaces will be up for sale tomorrow, and I have a discount code for you: SPACESBB It’s good for free shipping in the US, expires 5/27/11. You can order it here.

Take a peek inside this issue by clicking here.

Come on, fess up! You are as much of a peeper as I am! So you'll need this issue.

That's a peek of my  room, and I share how to  make the framed typographic art.

Leave me a comment by Thursday, May 12, (9PDT) and I'll randomly pick a winner! I'll post the winner on Friday morning, so please check back!

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National Scrapbook Day (Week)

Yo! Creating Keepsakes and Club CK are celebrating National Scrapbook Day all of this week with challenges and prizes. See what's going on here.

My challenge was up on Monday and it is to use cell phone photos on a layout. Most of us take them. But I'm not sure everyone uses them. I love to use mine. My kids won't pose for my regular camera, but they are perfectly willing to pose for the cell phone. Something about it that feels more spontaneous. And that also means that a lot of the photos are goofy, which is fine by me! Plus I also have the phone with me all the time.

As seen in the May/June 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

This layout is one of the ones I posted with the challenge. The photo is from my Onion Ring photoshoot (ha!) It was originally in this month's Creating Keepsakes article about using photos that are not perfect. The original photo was too red. I went along with that, and created a little Warhol-esque collage in Photoshop for my layout. A few other things that I really liked about this layout: all the patterned papers in it are actually upcycled product packaging. The red flowery pattern is from a Cosmo Cricket collection pack, and I punched the butterflies out of the top sheet that has all the patterns printed in little squares. And the grid paper is the backing cardstock of a Studio Calico stamp. I really like reusing products packaging. Trying to be mindful of the three Rs. (You can click on the layout to see it bigger. Also, if you'd like to know, the number and tag stamps are Studio Calico, and the grid stamp is Hero Arts.)

Oh, I'm also hanging out at Big Picture Classes on Saturday, May 7th. You can sign up here. It's free! Hope to see you there.

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Goodbye Pennsylvania

The packers were here, and quickly stuffed nine years of lives into boxes. The movers came and shoved all those boxes into a semi, including our car. And today, we are flying off to California. So bittersweet. On one hand, I'm glad to finally go. But I love this little village we've called home for so long. I love the people here. I love the schools. I love the four-seasons weather. I love the pizza. I love Philadelphia.

I thought I'd share a layout I created a while ago about our little town.

As seen in the March/April 2008 issue of Simple Scrapbooks magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

This little town is old, adorable, and quirky. You can click on the layout to get a bigger picture, in case you want to read the journaling.

And a few photos that I love about our lives here.

Rare foggy snowy day. It's foggy here all the time. But not usually while snowing. (The view is from my backyard deck.)

My middlest being his usual goofy self at our favorite park.

My husband and the littlest taking a walk at our favorite hiking trail, next to a creek in Valley Forge National Park.  We'll miss that trail and park so much. We go there all four seasons. It's fun in the sun, in the rain, in the snow, in the ice. I love seeing how different it is throughout the year.

Our backyard after a big rainfall. Have I mentioned it rains a lot here? It makes the area beautiful and green, and our (former) yard very waterlogged. We are going to miss that yard so much. It's huge and flat and has great shade in the summer. Our yard in California is smaller than a postage stamp.

Me, walking my favorite shrimp nigiri sushi to preschool for his Halloween parade. The kids come out, and walk around the church in which the school is housed. The school is right in middle of our downtown area, and the parade attracts everyone around. So cute. All three of my kids went to preschool there. It's a special place for all of us.

So there you have it. Nine years in five photos and one layout. Tomorrow, I'll be posting from Los Angeles. Crazy!

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