The April kits are up at My Creative Scrapbook and they are FABULOUS!!! I love all of the mini-album kits that Pam puts together but this month has to be one of my favorites! I made a "Home is the Heart of Us" album:

I've got lots of photos! Here is the cover:

On each page inside the album I decided to make a door that opens with a photo of each of us behind it.

I also make a little keychain album to attach to the bigger album with some of the left-over embellishments:

Make sure to check the April kits out! Also check out the incredible layouts and cards made by the other members of the MCS Design Team! Those girls ROCK!

Happy Easter!

Marks Paper Company - Gift Bag

I've got a new project up on the Marks Paper Company blog today. I made this gift bag with the Old Fashioned Courtship Digital Kit. I LOVE the papers in this kit and also love the fabric-look texture they have. I decided to add fabric to my project to compliment the texture in the papers so I used fabric as the "tissue paper" inside the gift bag and also added a bow made from fabric and burlap. I made a "window" by cutting out the front of the bag and adding a transparency that I printed the flower graphic on.

Don't forget that the digital kits at Marks Paper Company are on sale until 4/7/09 - so head over ASAP for a great deal!

A few quick projects

Today I have a couple of really quick and easy projects - the first is an Easter Goodie Bag. I used a brown paper lunch bag, cut a few eggs and grass to add to the front, folded the top of the bag down and added a strip of paper and a bit of twine and tied the letter "E" for Easter to the top.

I used the Garden Party Kit by ScrapKitchen Designs from Sweet Shoppe Designs.

Next I have a quick card that I also made for Sweet Shoppe Designs. This was made from the Grass Stains Kit by Shawna Clingerman. The flower and leaves embellishments were printed from the digital kit and cut out. I just added a little ribbon and stitching.

That's all for now! I have a few projects that I've finished up for Marks Paper Company that I'm waiting to post once I get the "go ahead" so hopefully I'll get those up in the next day or so. Have a GREAT weekend!

Marks Paper Company - Yipee!

I'm so excited because today I get to say that I've been asked to join the Design Team for Marks Paper Company! Go check out their kits - not only can you get them in paper, but they also offer digital versions of their kits....which is just AWESOME for a hybrid-girl like me!

Congratulations to the other members of the Marks Paper Company Digital & Hybrid Team:

Michele Ciola

Patricia Komara

Cathy Pascual

Maggie LaMarre

Deanna Kroll

Pamela Young


We'll be joining these fabulous gals:


Jennifer Davis

Ching Tan

Beatriz Jennings

Molly Peckham

Mimi Leinbach

Pam Callaghan

Tracy Polacheck

Patty Schaffer

Marks Paper Company will be having some pretty great special events this month, starting with 25% Off All Digital Kits and a Free Digital Template Giveaway from April 1st through the 7th!

And....there's more - so check back throughout the month!

Catching Up!

I need to catch up! I've got a few projects from the past couple of months to add. I'll start with some things for Sweet Shoppe Designs:

This is an 8x8 layout made from Dani Mogstad's All You Need is Love kit. All of the papers from the kit were printed out and used to make this (non-digital) layout. I decided to frame this so I used an 8x8 shadow box - here's the framed version:

This next project was a little funky - it's a ribbon jar to hold ribbon scraps. I punched holes in the lid and decorated the front of the jar. I used Zoe Pern's Fun For Me kit. I LOVE this kit - I love all of Zoe's designs!!!

Made a little "mini-album" of sorts. It's like a tri-fold brochure with some of my favorite photos of Katie. I used Christy Lyle's High School Friends: Sweetheart kit. I loved the hanging frames in this kit - they were the inspiration for this idea.

I love the elements in Fee Jardine's Doodie Toodie kit! I thought they would look cute on a black background with a B&W photo so I made this little 6x6 layout. This was so easy - I just printed out the elements, cut them out and attached them!

I found this tin box on clearance (think I paid about a dollar for it). I painted it and decorated the front with the Good Morning Sunshine kit by Eva Kipler. This kit has amazing colors!!! I added some note paper and a pen :)

Now I've got a few things for My Creative Scrapbook. The first project was for the February Mini-Album kit:

Next is the March Mini-Album kit. I loved this kit - it featured the Bloom and Grow papers from My Minds Eye that Zoe Pern designed.

Zoe also has a digital version of this kit at SSD. I used the digital kit to make a pinwheel project that was featured in January's Simply Handmade Magazine.

Next is a "Come In/Do Not Disturb" door sign. Everything in this project is Piggy Tales, including the oval "Sliding Door" - the panel slides back and forth to change from "Come In" to "Do Not Disturb". Isn't that clever?

Lastly, I wanted to add a photo of the latest issue of Paper Crafts Magazine. Why? Well, my cake box is on the cover! This is only the second time I've been on a cover so it was a thrill to get this in the mail. Below are the close-ups of the cake boxes.

I'm feeling caught up now! I'll be back soon though because I have a new mini-album that I made with the April kit from My Creative Scrapbook - this kit is to die for so make sure to check their site the first week of April (around the 5th or so) and I'll post the album I made with it then too. Have a GREAT week!

Dear Mr. President.....

No, I'm not going all political - but I had a share a major proud Mommy moment and a FREEBIE! Kidthing and the National Education Association had a "Dear Mr. President" project where children from all over the world wrote letters and drew pictures to President Obama. Out of over 4,500 letters, 150 were chosen for this free digital book that came out today and a special print version of the book will be delivered to President Obama!!!

Well, my dear daughter Katie was picked to be in the book!!!! We are so proud and hope President Obama will put her advice to good use :) For a free download of the book, you can visit Kidthing. You can also read more about this special book and project here.

Fortune Cookies :)

I found a tutorial for making paper fortune cookies this weekend so I decided to give it a try. They are very easy to make! I had some take-out boxes sitting in my closet so I thought it would make a cute Valentine's Day project. I used Libby Weifenbach's "Love Shack" Kit for the papers, since it's a digital kit I just printed the papers out and used them like traditional scrapbook paper. For the fortunes to go inside the cookies, I was going to make my own but when I saw that one of the papers in Libby's kit had "lovey-dovey" writing on it, I just cut the sentiments from the paper into strips and used that - so easy!

The tutorial for the fortune cookies is here: Paper Fortune Cookies

On another note, DigiShop Talk's January issue of the "Insider" is now up and available for download. LOTS of good stuff in this issue and there's a great hybrid tutorial for making your own 2009 Planner by Melinda Stanley. Did I mention the Insider is Free to all DST members???? If you are not a member, sign up - that's free too!

One more freebie - Oprah has Suze Orman's latest book, Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan up for a free download this week only. Just click on that link and save it to your computer. Goodness knows we can all use some financial advice with the way things have been lately!

Have a GREAT WEEK!!!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I've got a few projects but haven't had a lot of time for crafting lately - guess I'll make that a New Year's resolution: More time for fun things! The first project is a mini-album I did for My Creative Scrapbook called "Joy". This is for the January Mini-album Kit:

(Click images to enlarge)

I'm not real crazy about how the photos of this mini-album came out. I usually use a white background when taking photos but since the pages of the album were painted white, I used a very pale pink background and it seems to make the photos darker and duller for some reason. Guess I learned something new - I'll just stick with white.

I loved making this mini-album! I decided to turn the album sideways and make it tall (instead of wide as it was intended). All of the papers and embellishments are in the January Kit.

Next I have a few little projects that I did for Sweet Shoppe Designs:

Isn't this kit ADORABLE??? It's called Snow Buddies by Lauren Grier and Sir Scrapalot :)

And THIS kit by Manda is as cute as can be too!!! This kit is called "Owl Love You Forever".

Speaking of the Sweet Shoppe, there are some fun new things in store for hybrid in 2009....I'll post more details soon!

Well, the holidays are over and its time to get back into the old routine :( But....here's wishing you a happy, healthy, safe and prosperous 2009!

Freebies, Give-Aways, Tutorials!!!

I'm back again today with some FUN STUFF! If you are not a member of DigiShop Talk - JOIN NOW because we are giving away a lot of AMAZING gifts this month in the DST Insider and I don't want you to miss out!

It's FREE to join DST, so go HERE to sign up. Once you've signed up (or if you already are a member), download the December issue of the DST Insider (It's FREE too!!!) - you can download it here: December 2008 DST Insider


This issue is all about HYBRID and in it you will find some incredible tutorials, hybrid articles and LOTS of coupons! But the best part of all - you will find all the free gifts we are giving away this month!!!! Look on Pages 47 - 48 for the freebies and then go to the special 12 Days of Christmas forum at DST to enter in the drawings!

Also in this issue, the super-talented Jess Gordon has a FREE Hybrid Photo Box project!!! I LOVE this box and am going to make one for my mom for Christmas - it is just beautiful and Jess really outdid herself on this! Check it out:

This is a GREAT project for all the scrappers out there that are wanting to try hybrid AND for those who are seasoned hybrid scrappers! All of the directions are included - just add photos, print and assemble! Thanks Jess for this adorable project!!! Oh, and make sure to visit Jess at her new store - Sunshine Studio Scraps!

Lastly, I've made these bows before and had a LOT of people ask for a tutorial - well, I did one for this issue. I have LOTS of photos and step-by-step directions - so, if you are one of the people that asked, look on pages 43-45!

Happy Sunday! Only 18 more days until Christmas!!!!