Monday, December 30, 2013

Happy New Year Photo Props

Happy New Year friends!  In preparation for our New Year's Eve festivities, I had fun creating these photo props.  All of the details on how to make them are posted over on Lori Whitlock's blog today. 




Dad and Kathy were heading out to an ugly Christmas sweater party when I asked them to pose for a pic!


The photo props are very easy to make with your Silhouette or CAMEO machine.  I also used Silhouette's foil paper (links below), double-sided adhesive paper, and glitter.  These items can be found on the Silhouette America website.


I've also added the links to Lori Whitlock's cutting files below.  I hope you enjoy making these and creating some fun memories with your family and friends! 

Using Silhouette's double-sided adhesive:  If you haven't played with this product, I would encourage you to try it!  It's fun to work with and makes adding glitter to your projects super easy.


First, cut out the shape you want to add the glitter on.  The double sided adhesive is sandwiched between a yellow backing and a white paper.  Peel the yellow backing away to reveal one side of the adhesive and apply the shape to your project.

 
Next, peel away the white paper to reveal the second sticky side.  Sprinkle glitter, or flocking, across the shape.  I pressed the glitter down onto the adhesive a bit with my finger.


Finally, tap off the excess glitter. I used the brush that comes in the Silhouette Double-sided Adhesive Starter Kit to brush away excess bits of glitter. How fun and easy was that?

The gold and silver foil paper are the Silhouette links below. Best wishes for the New Year!

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Christmas Kits on Sale!




Remembering 2013: A Layout Using Silhouette

It's unbelievable to me that 2013 is almost done!  This year went by so fast for me and my family.  Of course, we had a lot to keep us busy -- an engagement, two graduations, a trip to Hawaii, a wedding, and all of the normal stuff like work, school, birthdays and holidays.  I decided I wanted to do a Year-in-Review layout to place at the front of my 2013 album and I love this lace background for this project.


You can visit the Silhouette blog to get links to each of the cutting files I used on this layout.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Friday, December 20, 2013

Silhouette Tutorial: Christmas Chalkboard Layout

Good morning friends!
Today I'm sharing a tutorial over on Silhouette's blog.  A friend recently asked me why she would need to use Silhouette sketch pens instead of just printing from her Silhouette software.  Although there are several reasons, my best answer for her was 12x12 layouts!  I created a 12x12 sketched border around my page to create this fun chalkboard look.  Unless you have a 12x12 printer, and a lot of black ink, this page would be tough to do without sketching the design.  A full tutorial is posted over on Silhouette's blog today, and the 'Merry Christmas' design is a free shape today!  I hope you'll pop over to their site and tell them Traci sent you :)

And while you're here, scroll down to yesterday's post to check the latest album kit featuring Simple Stories Daily Grind collection!  My largest, and possibly my favorite kit ever!!

Thursday, December 19, 2013

A 2014 Simple Stories Daily Grind Album

I am SO excited to share this album with you today.  It's brand new and just added in the Artsy Album online shop yesterday.   Not only have I been planning this one in my head for some time now, but it's also the largest kit I have ever created -- 60 pages!!!  
The album includes:

  • *12 full 6x8 scrapbook pages (6 front and back) -- 3 of which are pocket-pages for holding photos, memorabilia, notes, lists, anything!
  • *14 (7 front and back) photo sleeve page protectors for various size photos (order additional page protectors separately if needed)
  • *10 journaling sheets (5 front and back) for keeping track of all the details (order additional sheets separately if needed)
  • *12 tabbed Jan-Dec calendar insert pages
  • *12 blank pages to use as desired

I created this album to be used as a scrapbook, a journal, a planner, or all three!  There are pre-designed scrapbook pages, lined journaling pages, plastic photo sleeves for pictures, and an undated January-December calendar.

The Simple Stories album is a 6x8 binder style so that pages can be inserted and rearranged easily if desired.  The papers and embellishments are also by Simple Stories, called Daily Grind. 

The six sections of the album have tabs for Life moments, This AND That, Home, Journals or Lists, Photos, and a Calendar.  As you can see, any of these can be used in many ways -- don't need a planning calendar?  That's okay -- use those pages to save photos or notes from that month.


This is one of my favorite album kits ever.  I will be using mine throughout the year for all kinds of wonderful 2014 memories.  I hope you will too!!


Friday, December 13, 2013

Mini Album Turned Christmas Ornament

Good Friday morning friends!
Do you have your tree decorated?  I don't! I'm so behind on my Christmas "to-do" list!  I've just been so busy making stuff ... thankfully I will have this weekend to get busy!  Today I'm sharing one of the latest projects that I created for the Silhouette blog.  It's a mini album that comes in an adorable box, that I turned into an ornament for our tree.  Please take a moment to pop over to the Silhouette website to read more about this fun project!



Thursday, December 12, 2013

Silhouette Tutorial -- Matching Card Stock

Hi friends!
Have you ever created a 'print & cut' with your Silhouette, only to find that after you printed it, it really didn't match the paper or card stock you were using?  Maybe the greens were too blue, or the yellows were too orange?  Well, there are a few ways to solve this problem, and today I have a tutorial for matching your card stock over on Lori Whitlock's blog.

Here's the project --



You will find a full tutorial on how to make your 'print & cuts' match your card stock, on Lori Whitlock's site today -- thanks for stopping by and hope you have fun with this technique!

Also -- have you seen all of the giveaways that We R Memory Keepers is doing for the 12 days of Christmas!  Today they are giving an Albums Made Easy system away (including an album, journaling cards, and photo sleeves)!  Check it out here! 



Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Silhouette Advent Calendar Ideas

Good Tuesday morning friends!
Have you seen Silhouette's new advent calendar?  If not, you should check out all of the fun designs that my fellow design team members and I had on the Silhouette blog yesterday.  

For mine, I decided to use a combination of boxes and library pockets.  A very good friend suggested I make the calendar with a "pay it forward" theme, to go along with the idea of bringing "Joy To The World".  Thank you Kristin!  Each little box holds candy, and then each of the library pockets holds a note that suggests how my family can "pay it forward" that day.  
Instead of the traditional numbers, I added cute shapes from the Silhouette store to each of the pockets and added some thick candy-striped twine around the edge of my frame.


 Shapes from the Silhouette store:


Visit the Silhouette blog for more advent calendar ideas!

Also, be sure to visit the Artsy Albums shop to check out the latest Christmas mini album kit.  It comes with a free mini ornament kit to hang a tiny album on your tree :)
Christmas Mini Album Kit

Monday, December 2, 2013

Lori Whitlock December Blog Hop + Giveaway

Before checking out the fun Blog Hop we are doing with Lori Whitlock, just a reminder that today is Cyber Monday at Artsy Albums -- great deals on kits and Free Shipping in the US with Coupon Code SHIPFREE :)
www.artsyalbums.etsy.com


Welcome to Artsy Albums and your next stop on Lori Whitlock's December Blog Hop!  If you're starting here, be sure to head over to Lori's site to start from the beginning!  You won't want to miss the cute Christmas ideas at each stop!
Be sure to come back ... I have a GIVEAWAY that you won't want to miss :)

For my project, I created a cute little gift bag.  I have always thought this little Snowman poem was cute, so I incorporated it into my gift, with some yummy yogurt covered raisins.
 The Poem 
(author unknown)
"I heard that you were naughty,
So here's the inside scoop.
All you get for Christmas,
Is this bag of Snowman poop".

Lori Whitlock Shapes:
3d Scallop Tie Treat Bag
Santa Snowman
5 Tag Charms
Snowflake

Lori is also having an awesome sale on her website...

And I'm doing a GIVEAWAY here on my site:
One winner will be announced on Facebook and here on my blog on Thursday, 12/5. 
A $10 download card to the Silhouette store 
Enter here:

Don't forget to leave a comment below so I know that you've entered my giveaway!! 

Wow! So much fun stuff! Now on to the rest of the blog hop!


Thanks for hopping by!

Sunday, December 1, 2013

New Christmas Mini Album Kit + Free Ornament Album

Hi friends!
Please find the details for our latest mini album kit below -- I LOVE this one (it comes with a FREE mini album ornament kit too!!)  Christmas cuteness at it's best!
A CHRISTMAS STORY MINI ALBUM



Friday, November 29, 2013

Christmas Projects, Sales, & Free Shipping!

Hi everyone! I'm sharing two fun Christmas projects today! 

Here's a super cute and very easy scrapbook layout that I created for the Silhouette blog today.   Have you ever designed a page with a Silhouette layout kit?  Well, you know me, I'm all about the kits!  They can save you lots of time by letting someone else be creative, but still allowing you the fun of putting it all together.  And of course, with all kits, you have the creative freedom to change it up or add your own details.

For this project, I used one of Nichole Calmes' (PPbN Designs) adorable layout kits.  All of the pieces are in the file, and she also gives you a link to instructions that have the shapes color-coded for you.  I love how this page about Rian's first Christmas turned out ... and the kit made it so easy!

For my second project, I created a mini album for the Frosted Designs blog using papers by Echo Park, called Reflections Christmas.  You can visit the Frosted Designs store to purchase all of the supplies I used on this mini. 


Thanks so much for stopping by today! Now be sure to scroll down to yesterday's post to check out our Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals!