"Playtime Yet??"

We are blessed to live in a fantastic neighborhood with a gazillion little friends for my kids to play with.  This is awesome.  What is not always awesome is little friends knocking on our door when the kids are doing chores or homework to ask if they can play... again and again and again.  The idea of putting a little sign on the door is nothing new, but I used the Kidlet Stack by DCWV (another great sponsor of the ScrapbookUSA Expo) to make something cute and fun.  I just cut strips and elements from various papers to put together this little door hanger and get just a little break from the door knockers. :)

Complete with red and green light circles for our little pre-reader friends. :)

Quick and Easy "Happy Birthday" Card

Just like dinnertime, sometimes when you're crafting you need a recipe that is deceptively quick and easy.  Using the lovely Summer Garden stack from DCWV, I made this birthday card for my Grandma in just a few minutes, and I was so happy with how it turned out!  To create the card base, I just took one of the pages from the stack that had a plain burlap-type print on the back, and folded it to create a card.  The decorative edge of the page made such a pretty edge to the card.  Then I just punched a whole bunch of butterflies and flowers from the different brightly colored pages of the stack and arranged and adhered them in a circle.  I wrote the sentiment myself, but you could also use a stamp if you're not a big fan of your handwriting.  As a last step, I used liquid pearls to accent the butterfly bodies.  I was in such a hurry with this card that I had to let it sit on the dashboard of my car on the way over to my grandma's house so the pearls would dry in the sun, but we made it! 

Fancy Pants "Park Bench" Collection - SO cute!

I created this fun layout with the eclectic Park Bench collection from Fancy Pants, one of the great sponsors of ScrapbookUSA Expo.  I love that this collection blends the beautiful and the funky together so well -- so much personality!  It also feels grown up without being dreary -- there is plenty of energy here.  I used the great papers and a bunch of the fantastic coordinating elements to create this layout about a fantastic weekend getaway my hubby and I took a few months ago to celebrate our 11th anniversary.  

I used the photo frames to create a title card and journaling card by backing the open spaces with some of the lighter papers.  A few stitches of twine to secure the title card turned it into a cool pocket for the journaling card.

Layering chunky embellishments adds lots of texture and interest to the layout.

Cards & Tags for Guys

When the opportunity popped up on the ScrapbookUSA Expo design team to use Basic Grey to make cards and tags for men and boys, I snagged it.  It is HARD to make cards for men, but I've always thought Basic Grey nails it with their masculine collections.  And having the right ingredients sure makes the rest of the job easier!

This first card uses the new Hipster collection -- SO cool.  I also ran a line of washi tape across the front to anchor that metal frame.

And this gift tag could really be used for any age guy.  I used the Kneehighs & Bowties collection.  I love the stickers that come with this collection -- layering them onto the basic tag shape made this project super easy.

Less than a month until ScrapbookUSA Expo!  Hope to see you there!

Documenting "US"

Time again for a project for Scrapbook USA Expo, and this month I get to play with the lovely Kissing Booth collection for Basic Grey. This collection has a lovely eclectic range of papers that would be great for any Valentine's project, or anything romantic or girly.

 Last year my wonderful hubby and I celebrated our tenth anniversary and had new family pictures taken in the same spot where we'd done our engagement pictures. I was inspired by a similar layout I saw in the most recent issue of Creating Keepsakes and started with our engagement picture, then added a small picture from each year of our marriage, and ended with our most recent picture. For this layout I loved the effect of the layered, stitched border strip with buttons, which came pre-made with the collection. How handy is that?! I also used the letter and number stickers for the title and to label the first and last pictures.

Click to enlarge -- you know, if you're dying to see us close up... :)

Click to enlarge

 Valentine's is such a fantastic time to celebrate the loving relationships in our lives -- what better way than with a layout chronicling your journey together?

Valentine's Card

Back again with another card for ScrapbookUSA Expo, using the delicious Kissing Booth collection from Basic Grey.  This collection has a lovely eclectic style.  I used a pre-die-cut scallop-edged card, then added the doily and stitched ribbon border strips.  The paper doily went so nicely with this collection, and then trimmed a couple of hearts from one of the sheets of patterned paper.  The flag is one of the great stickers from the collection.

Thank goodness for Valentine's Day -- just the thing to warm up the cold wintertime!

Basic Grey Christmas Layout

I have another cute Aspen Frost by Basic Grey layout to show you, brought to you by ScrapbookUSA Expo! My earlier layout was fun and eclectic and pretty darn busy, so I thought I'd show you how well this collection also lends itself to the quick and simple. This layout came together very quickly, but it looks great!

I started by setting up my pictures to print onto a single 8 1/2x11 sheet, leaving that bottom middle space blank. Once I got that printed out, I just had to layer the various papers together, add a few stickers and tags, and it was done! I'm not generally a very quick scrapper, but with the awesome coordinated products Basic Grey sent me, I was able to get this done lickety-split and still feel like it has my own personal stamp. Love it!

Basic Grey Christmas Layout

Basic Grey sent me the most gorgeous box of goodies for my ScrapbookUSA Expo projects this month.  It was like having my own little early Christmas!  They sent me the "Aspen Frost" Christmas/winter collection, and I had a grand old time scrapping with it.  Here's my first layout:

As I looked through my pictures from this past Christmas, I had a lot of little moments but no great "this is Christmas" shots.  Then I realized -- all the little moments are what make up a wonderful Christmas!  And the Aspen Frost collection was perfect for that theme -- I was able to use the patterned paper, letter stickers, tags, pre-sewn pennant flags (how cool is that?), and mini-envelopes to put together a fun, eclectic layout highlighting all the little "bits" we enjoyed so much.

Basic Grey is definitely a favorite booth at the ScrapbookUSA Expo.  They sell their big collection packs, card kits, and tons of little bits and bobs that you don't often see, all for great prices.  (Psst -- they've always had a one-hour sale on their collection packs during the day on Friday that makes them only $5 each.  DEAL!)  I may or may not have bought at least 10 different packs in September... and a ton of adorable flower clips... and labels and rub-ons and alphabet flashcards and more.  Oh, the awesomeness.

Thanks for stopping by!

PS I also used red velvet chipboard letters from My Mind's Eye for the title.

Thanksgiving Card

Monthly Monday Challenge #1 Here

November, with so much gratitude in the air, is a great time to catch up on all those thank you's you owe to the people who have lent a hand throughout the year. I created this warm and cozy thank you card with the lovely Autumn Melody stack from DCWV, one of the big sponsors for ScrapbookUSA Expo. If you've ever been to the Expo before, you know their booth is the one to hit early -- they have crazy deals on all their great paper and a ton of cute home decor.

I used a stamp set from Close to My Heart for the sentiment, embossing the leaves in gold.

Give Thanks Holiday Layout

If you are here for the Scrapbook USA Expo Blog Hop, Welcome!! Scroll down to Monday's post and join the Hop!

Ah, Thanksgiving!  I love this time of year -- all the warmth and love and gratitude we share with each other so freely.

I'm thankful today that I get to share a pretty layout as well as some more exciting news! I'm Tomi Ann and  I've been asked to join the Design Team for the ScrapbookUSA Expo.  Twice a year for the last 6 years, my crafty friends and I have gotten together at the ScrapbookUSA Expo for a day of awesome scrapbooking deals, silly games and prizes, and lots and lots of scrapbooking. I love it!  There are such good deals to be had that I end up getting nearly all my supplies during that twice a year spree.  So I was delighted when I was chosen for their first-ever design team.

For my first project, I got to play with the gorgeous Autumn Melody stack from DCWV.  I love these coordinating stacks -- they make it so easy to put together beautiful projects.  For this layout I cut a lot of hexagons from 8 different patterned papers, then used the coordinating cardstock matstack to create some photo mats.  The "Give Thanks" label is a cut out from the same stack.  I added a few buttons and some stamped leaves (using a Close to My Heart stamp), and finished off the layout with some ribbon and orange chipboard numbers from October Afternoon.  I can't wait to take some great pictures this Thanksgiving to fill up this layout!