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!

Scrapping for Waiting Children

A week ago, I got an e-mail from a friend looking for volunteers to make digital scrapbook pages for children waiting to be adopted in China. With my background, I couldn't say no.

But I didn't realize just how rewarding this would be. I am totally taken with this charity, called Starfish. (See their website here and their blog here.) It's run by an South African living in Xian, China who takes care of children that the orphanages can't -- children with medical problems like spina bifida, cleft palates, and heart conditions. Doctors volunteer their time to correct the children's problems, and many times the children are adopted. Not all of the children that she takes in survive -- but what a difference she is making to the children who do!

In fact, the name of the charity comes from a story with that theme:

The Starfish Thrower

Once upon a time there was a man
who used to go to the ocean to do his writing.
He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.
One day he was walking along the shore.
As he looked down the beach
he saw a human figure moving like a dancer.
He smiled to himself
to think of someone who would dance to the day.
So he began to walk faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he saw that it was an older man

and the man wasn't dancing.
Instead he was reaching down to the shore,
picking up something
and very gently throwing it into the ocean.
As he got closer he called out,
"Good morning! What are you doing?"
The older man paused, looked up and replied,
"Throwing starfish into the ocean."
The man noticed there were hundreds of starfish
all washed up on the beach

from a storm the night before.
He watched as the man carefully
continued to pick up the starfish one by one.
"I guess I should have asked,
‘Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?’"
"The sun is up and the tide is going out.
If I don't throw them in they'll die."
"But don't you realize
there are miles and miles of beach
and starfish all along it.
"You can't possibly make a difference!"
The older man listened politely.
He bent down, picked up another starfish
He looked at the starfish
as he prepared to throw it into the ocean,
past the breaking waves and said –
"I will make a difference to this one!"

The charity founder takes great photos, and by the time the child is adopted, she has quite a few. So volunteers put together scrapbooks for the children to take with them to their new homes. How I wish I had that for my daughters!

Here is a page I did recently for "Rose", going home soon to her 'forever family':

Since adopting again isn't feasible for us, this is a great way to make a small difference. Plus, getting to scrap pictures of these little cuties is it's own reward.

Jillibean Soup

Jillibean Soup is a relatively new scrapbook paper company with such fun, whimisical designs.

I managed to track down some locally (thank goodness there is still one independent scrapbook store within reasonable distance!) and made this page about one of our favorite hiking areas:

I also made this card using one of the adorable lollipop trees:

Now I just need to get some of their new Old World Cabbage Stew collection and their corrugated alphabet, which is so cool and versatile. Here's a link to the Jillibean Soup blog, showing several of the ways the alphabet can be altered.

Mother's Day Mini-Album

"Mini-album" and "digital scrapbooking" don't seem to go together -- but they can, and easier than you might expect.

Here's a 6x6 swatch book mini-album that I made, printed up by Heritage Makers:



The sad part is, I have yet to see this album myself! This is a new product for Heritage Makers, and the album shown is a prototype. But it's now available as a standard product, so I will be ordering one soon. The screw can be removed and replaced by a ring or ribbon, and multiple books could be combined together, making it very versatile.

I'm glad I did this album, because it made me put down all the things I appreciate about my mom, but never say. I know it would make me feel good as a mom! In fact, my daughter Sophie gave me a little treasure chest full of paper slips, each one with something she loves about me, to cheer me up when I've had a bad "mom day". They are crying to be put into an album like this.

There is also a brighter version of the same design in the Heritage Makers' template gallery, suitable for teens to give to their mom:

There's one other new Heritage Makers product I have to mention, not just because I'm affiliated with them, but because I think it's unique and a great thing for scrapbookers. This is an 8x20 "gallery wrapped canvas" (designed by Lynda Angelastro of Heritage Makers). It's canvas, wrapped and mounted around a wood frame so that it stands out one inch from the wall:

It also comes 20x8 (horizontal), as well as in square sizes. I'm thinking of using the horizontal size for a set of 3 of my favorite layouts (digi or paper). That way I don't have to frame them all separately and I can still keep them in my album.

Also notice how Lynda converted the photos to black and white, and then gave each a slight color tint. A very cool effect that could be used in any layout!

Valentine Layout

Here is a digital layout I did using one of Hillary Heidelberg's final templates. Unfortunately, Hillary has closed her store at Scrapbook Graphics due to family commitments. I will miss being inspired by her clean, well-designed templates.

I actually did "love" script myself, using my Wacom tablet for the first time for handwriting.

Back to Normal Life

Now that all my treatments are done, I'm trying to get back to my normal life. That includes returning to Hillary Heidelberg's digital creative team at ScrapbookGraphics. It feels great to be creating with Hillary's awesome templates again! Here are two pages from the latest template sets:





I love how quick and easy it is to get photos scrapped using these templates.

Christmas Day

We had one of Charlotte's friends and her family over on Christmas day. Here are a couple of quick digital pages of the event I threw together for each of the girls to have. There's a lot to be said for just scrapping your photos right away and getting it done!

The girls got a big kick out of the pages. I think even they realize it's better than having a bunch of prints that may or may not get into an album.

This and That

It's a little early for Mother's Day, but since that is what I have been scrapping lately, I decided to share a couple of favorite pages from a recent "Things I Love About You" mini album I made for Heritage Makers:

The mini album will be appearing in the Heritage Makers catalog and template gallery in February.

Here a few shots from Sophie's birthday and Christmas day, including the perfect present for a soccer girl, her very own backyard goal: :

Oldies but Goodies

Since I haven't been creating much lately, I thought I'd post a few oldies (but hopefully goodies) that I haven't posted before.

Here are a few rare layouts about me. (Who knows -- someone may want to know these things someday... )



This one I did because it's easier to grasp how how many different places my family lived when I was growing up when you see it visually. (Not to mention, my brothers don't even remember everywhere that we lived anymore!) You can imagine how hard it is to answer the ubiquitious "Where are you from?" question. I finally came up with the answer "All over". It's short and accurate, even if further explaination is sometimes required.



This layout I did because I just love the cool template from Hillary Heidelberg and the adorable digital coffee kit by Kasia Designs (which unfortunately, appears to have been retired):

Fantastic Friends Book for Tweens

I was recently asked to do a small 7x5" book template for Heritage Makers. This book is designed to showcase the relationship between a pre-teen girl and her friends. And of course it's perfect for my own little pre-teen, who is moving on next year to a middle school that is different from where the rest of her friends will be going. Here are a few of my favorite pages:

You can view the whole book here.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Spring is a hectic time around our house -- there are reports, overnight field trips, school plays, and science projects. Charlotte went on a 3-day field trip to Kartchner Caverns, and Sophie was (one of several) Juliette's in her class "Shakespeare in the Park" production.

Charlotte, her grandfather, and I took some time out to go shoot pictures of the Dave Chihuly glass sculpture exhibit at the botanical gardens. Charlotte was a hit with the other attendees, doing whatever it took to get the shot, including lying on the ground. (I wonder who she gets that from...)

Here is a digital layout using some of my photos and a template from Studio Hillary at Scrapbook Graphics:

The Desert Museum

Here is proof that fun was had on the Girl Scout camp out a few weeks ago, despite the drama.

I had forgotten how lush the desert is in Tucson. It really was beautiful, and we got to get up close and personal with a lot of different animals.


This layout uses another great template from Hillary Heidelberg at Scrapbookgraphics.

Oh, the Drama!

The Girl Scout camp out was a contrast between great highs (campfires, singing, visiting the Desert Museum) and great lows (Girl #1 can't hang out with Girl #2 because her clique at school doesn't allow her to, Girls #3 - 6 are taking sides and reporting on the situation to the adults.)

If this is what it's like in 4th grade, God help us when we get to middle school! Charlotte, unfortunately is Girl #2. It isn't helping that she doesn't want to take no for an answer, but continues to go back for more rejection. Hopefully she learned something over the weekend, so that she can avoid these situations in the future.

Here's a layout of Charlotte during a happier time, using more of the Addicted Scrappers March kit:

New Layouts

Just a quick post, since I am on my way to yet another Girl Scout camp out. (This one in a tent for two nights!)

Here are some pages using the Addicted Scrappers March kit. I just love these colors!

More Cute Animals

Here's another layout of a cute animal using the Addicted Scrapper's February kit -- this time featuring our Australian Kelpie, Toni:


She really does look just like a fox!

In other news, our little soccer player (seen in the "Play Ball" layout a few posts back), scored the only goal of the game yesterday, allowing her team to win their first game this season!

March Addicted Scrappers Kit

Here are some scrapbook pages I've wanted to do for quite a while, and the March Addicted Scrappers kit is perfect for them:



On the home front, we are still working away at home improvement. The stairs are almost done -- now just the pantry and coat closet are left. The boxes of laminate that have been sitting our living room for 2 years now will soon be gone!

Two-Pagers

Here are some 2-page layouts I have done based on Hillary Heidelberg's templates at Scrapbook Graphics. I love 2-pagers because you can capture so many more photos, and Hillary's templates are a quick, easy way to get them done with great results.





And last but not least, there is one more pet who is running for MVP to vote for!

What I'm Doing with My New-Found Time

Now that I'm employment-free, I don't have an excuse for not exercising and losing those few extra pounds. So I've been hiking one of the local mountains at least twice a week, in between running. My favorite is Piestewa Peak, with an elevation gain of 1,190 feet. It's quite a workout, but exhilirating at the same time.

I also started my 2-D graphic design class at the community college. So far it has been a blast. I'm not sure which is more fascinating: the design material, or listening to the conversations of the fresh-out-of-high-school guys at my table.

One of the intesting things we're learning about is the Divine Ratio. I knew that the Divine Ratio (or Golden Mean) was used in Greek architecture. But I didn't know that it's the basis for the musical octave and is found through out nature. I may even have to read this book:

The Golden Ratio

Who knew design had a mathematical basis?

I'll also be creating scrapbook pages for the Addicted Scrapper's February kit. Just look at these adorable papers: Addicted Scrapper's Sneak Peak. I love those happy colors and can't wait to start playing with them!

I've also made a new Father's Day Storybook template for Heritage Makers which will be appearing in the Template Gallery soon:

More Valentine's Layouts

Here are some more pages using the adorable January kit from Addicted Scrappers:



Next up: Some Valentine's cards and a Father's Day book for Heritage Makers, which is due Friday. Have I ever got some scrapping to get done!!