Christmas Gifts

With fall on the way (or here, in some places), I'm starting to think about the holidays -- even Christmas. I like to give photo gifts to grandparents, who really don't feel the need for any more "things".

Here's a super-fast mini album I did last year. I found a wallet size photo album at Michael's with the right initial and altered it a bit. Then I took scans of layouts that I already had on my hard drive, put them with some quick text inpsired by the Live Good book, and slipped them into the photo album. Voila! Done in about an hour. And if you make multiple copies, even less per album!

On a few pages, I slipped in just photos.

Now I need to decide what to do for this year. I think I may get out my soldering iron and try some photo jewelry, similar to this:

Calendars are also great gift, because they combine a scrapbook with something that is used daily. Designer Digitals has basic calendar grids (and is having a sale right now!) and Two Peas In A Bucket has some adorable mini calendars.

And if you really want easy, Heritage Makers has pre-designed calendar templates -- just pop your photos in, tweak the design (if desired), and the calendar is sent to you (or directly to the recipient). It doesn't get much easier than that!

Or you can roll your own and print them at home like I did a couple of years ago using 8.5 x 11 paper and a combination of paper and digital scrapping. One of the nice things about this is that when the year is over, you can take the calendar tops and slip them right into your scrapbook.

Ready for Halloween

We're ready for Halloween earlier than we've ever been, thanks to the Happy Howl-loween digital stamp set at Digital Doodles.

You may recall my earlier post about candy buffets, where I said I was looking for an excuse to create one. Well, I found it -- Halloween! We have to have a party now!

The glass containers are ones that I had around the house (mostly from Ikea). I found the adorable Halloween gems in the glasses at Pier1. I also covered a message holder with the Happy Howl-loween pumpkin stamp to make it Halloween themed. Now all I have to do is keep the kids from eating all the candy for two months...

Fall Is in the Air

Fall is in the air. (Well, sort of -- lows are in the 70's now instead of the 90's.) But there is a wonderful, refreshing coolness in the air in the mornings and evenings that makes Halloween seem not all that far away. Digital Doodles latest multi-stamp kit, 'Happy Howl-loween', which will be on sale next Tuesday, is a great way to get a jump on the preparations.

I used the kit to make this Halloween banner. The kids like it so much that I am going to leave it up until Halloween, even though it is a bit early.

Here is the full kit:

I also have to mention two other kits that I used to create this : the Bubble Bubble digital kit by Betsy Tuma (for the paper) and the Banner Die Cuts kit by Liana Lamb (to cut the banner shapes). The die cuts kit contains files that you can use with a Silhouette or Cricut to cut wonderfully detailed, layered banners.

Check back next week for another project using the Happy Howl-loween kit -- something involving candy that I have always wanted to try!

Back to School

With the kids back in school, I have my days free again. I have no problem filling this time up, however. I just signed up today to be a lunch duty aide at my daughter's middle school. Brave or foolish? Not sure which! But hopefully it will give me a feel for the middle school environment, as I did not go to a big middle school. (Besides, that was so long ago, it wouldn't really count anyway!)

Back to school is also the theme of the latest Digital Doodles stamp, 'Pencil It In'. Kathy asked us to create a project this time, and I'm pretty happy with the results (if I do say so myself). I made some decorated paper clips, binder clips, and stickers for a teacher's gift. If you're interested in school-themed projects, check out some of the others on Kathy's blog -- there are decorated school supplies, more teacher's gifts, and cute lunch box notes.

More Digital Doodles Stamps

I've been busy this weekend! I went to a crop on Saturday (National Scrapbook Day), where I made this page using the new Digital Doodles stamp, Home Sweet Home. I've been wanting to do a page about my neighborhood for quite awhile, and this stamp was perfect for that:

I also made a baby boy gift bag using the K Is for Kite stamp, which coordinates with the baby boy card I made earlier:

I have to give my husband credit -- while I was out scrapping, he took the girls to their soccer try-outs and flew kites with them. I think I see another page using the kite stamp in my future!

All Hallow's Eve

This year's Halloween costumes were a far cry from last year's homemade ones. It took all the energy I had just to pull together candy and some store-bought costumes. But that didn't stop the kids from having a great time.

Charlotte's sumo wrestler costume had a built-in fan to give her extra bulk. And Sophie's was recycled from a previous year, but still looked great on her.

I even managed to make one of the mushrooms that were featured in Martha Stewart's magazine. The flat pumpkins were a little harder to find than I expected, so we just had one mushroom instead of a whole patch.

Overscheduled

As the kids get older, it's increasingly difficult to keep track of all the activities going on. So I made a white board calendar using scrapbook supplies. It's large, in a central location, and each family member has their own color.

I don't know if it will solve all our scheduling problems, but at least it's cute to look at!

Way Too Busy

I know, everyone is 'crazy busy' these days. In fact, sometimes it seems like a competition to see who has the most harried, frentic, packed schedule.

But I'm actually to the point where I want to DO something about it. I may actually -- yes! -- cut back! Because too much of a good thing is no longer a good thing. If it's reached the point where you're no longer enjoying it, why are you doing it?

Unfortunately, this may mean some tough decisions. The kids may not like it. (At first.) It may mean saying No and disappointing some people. But I'm just ready to slow down the pace.

So what have I decided to cut out? I don't know yet. I do know I don't want to cut my creative time, but the stuff outside of the house -- the stuff that requires running around from event to event, activity to activity, with hardly any time in between. Hopefully I will remember this entry when I get carried away.... When I think, "It won't take that much time", "I can squeeze it in," or "The girls really want to do it, how can I deny them?" (I'm able to deny them material things, but I have a hard time denying them experiences.)

On a more creative note: Since I haven't had time to scrapbook this week, here's a cute project from the Better Homes & Gardens website that would be fun to do with paper and ribbon scraps.

Crackers are a British Christmas tradition. Each person grabs an end, and when you pull them apart, they make a cracking sound and candy falls out.

I don't know how to add the 'crack' when you make them yourself, but I have feeling kids would be plenty happy with just candy falling out!

Here's the link to the BH&G Site for more information.