Hooray for the New Year!

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Don’t you love when you find inspiration for a project? Especially if it comes from something you have already designed? I frequently get scrapbook page inspiration from cards that I have made and I have said several times that I look at a scrapbook page as a larger card canvas!

 

I made this super fun New Years card to mail out and I just LOVED the color combination of Petal Pink with Pool Party, Coastal Cabana etc.

I have this card sitting in my craft room and it inspired me to scrapbook some pictures we took shortly in the New Year with my son who was home from college.

This card uses the new Alphabet A La Mode dies which I really love and the Big Hooray stamp set!

I kept the color palette of the card the same for my scrapbook page and I think its such a fun color combo to celebrate kicking off a new year!

I started with a base of Whisper White 12x12 card stock and then added a piece of DSP from the Favored Flowers Sale a bration option. I really love the backside of the DSP in this collection. It is a lot less bold and this print was unassuming enough I could use it as a background layer for my scrapbook page.

My two pictures are on Coastal Cabana—on 2 occasions we were celebrating with my son! It was his 18th birthday back in November and my birthday at the start of January, we went out for a couple of dinners to celebrate.

I decided to keep the ‘Hooray’ a solid color (Bermuday Bay) versus the ombre effect I had on my card. I hand trimmed around it and used it to kick off the phrase I wanted to run across my page. You can find the ‘January’ stamp set in the Days to Remember stamp set—which everyone should own. In all the years I have been stamping, dating/date recording stamp sets, come around very infrequently so I keep them all in my permanent stamp collection. Its also cut out with a very old punch, one that I will also never ever part with.

2023 is die cut with the Alphabet A la Mode dies using Gold Foil Paper and the Foam Adhesive Sheets. I just love using these foam sheets with alphabet dies to pop them up off of the page.

 

The rest of the sentiments are from a previous Sale a bration set which I will also keep for all of its amazing potential! Some sets just make my permanent shelf!

I also added a few Stitched Star die cut shapes as I LOVE stars! These dies are some that I also will probably never part with! And I decided to keep the accents gold as well so I added in some Elegant Twine, Gold Shimmer Ribbon and new Pastel Adhesive Backed Sequins.

I hope this page inspires you to look at your cards in a new way and realize how they can spark an idea for a scrapbook page.

Wishing everyone all the #goodstuff2023

Scrapbooking with Memories & More cards!

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If you are looking for an easy way to start scrapbooking, I would suggest Memories & More cards! I have several sets that I collect from every catalogue so my project share today is actually using a retired set of cards Flowers for Every Season. I do offer lots of classes featuring the Memories & More cards as they are just so user friendly!

Stampin’ Fancy Friday this month is featuring projects made with Memories & More cards so I knew right away I wanted to create a fun scrapbook page of a recent ‘pass through’ trip to Jasper, AB Canada with my friends Jessica. This was a nightly pit stop for us on our way to Vancouver for On Stage back in November!

What I love about Memories & More cards is that they have so many great images, sentiments or phrases that you can easily cut out. Often there are stickers and other fun elements that you can add onto your projects. You can stop there or you can add in other things from your craft supply.

For this page I started with a base of Crumb Cake 12x12 and I added a layer of Misty Moonlight behind my picture as a photo mat.

One of my favorite things to do with the Memories & More cards is cut them apart either with paper snips or with dies. The ‘Winter Wishes’ sentiment came from one of that cards that I used the Layering Circle Dies to cut out. ‘It’s Cold Outside’ and ‘Yay for Today’ are cut from another card that was full of different sentiments. I also trimmed out the flower tucked under the main sentiment from a card as well. See! So many options!

I jazzed up this page with some background stamping from Joyful Flurry.

TOP TIP: For background stamping with images, I like to add a bunch of stamps to a large block to stamp at once! This is an efficient way to stamp a large area!

I added some die cut snowflakes from the Celebrate Tags Dies and some of our new Pastel Adhesive Backed Sequins. I am also a hoarder of our gold and silver Metallic Thread that retired a few years ago so I added some on this page too. It is definitely a true mash up of stuff on this scrapbook page!

I like to use the cards to highlight my photo so you can see how I used them as some fun layers behind my photo. You can cut them apart and trick the eye into thinking you are using a much larger piece of paper than you really are. This really helps stretch the Memories & More cards even further!

I hope this project encourages you to look at some past or retired supplies you might have and give them some new life by pairing them up with some more current items. Or at the vary least you are inspired to create a scrapbook page.

Make sure you follow us @stampinfancyfriday on Instagram and Facebook. Each month Artisan Alumni members create with a different theme and share across social media!

 

Thanks for popping by my blog today! If you are interested in scrapbooking make sure to check out my gallery! I recently added 46 page layouts so there is alot of scrapbooking inspiration for you!

And if you create something that I have inspired you with, please tag me! I would love to see your take!

12 Books from 12 Friends

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So I recently saw a Facebook Post where you start off 2023 or any new year (really ANY TIME is a good time to start reading books) committing to reading 12 books recommended by 12 friends! I thought it would be fun to share the list I curated as a permanent record here! This way I can refer to my list and add my reviews about what I liked or disliked about these books and you may also find something to read when you find yourself in need of a new book.

Here are the recommended books in no particular order!

  1. When We Were Yours (recommended by Lynne Scratch)

  2. The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin (recommended by Reagan Janke)

  3. Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner (recommended by Lise Schoenberger)

  4. Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce (recommended by Colleen Vassos)

  5. Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (recommended by Johanna Barron)

  6. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (recommended by Vicki Trip)

  7. Lessons in Chemistry (recommended by Brett Letestu)

  8. Beartown by Fredrik Backman (recommended by Katherine Keyes)

  9. The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn (recommended by Heather Weiss)

  10. The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris (recommended by Laurie Peter)

  11. Confessions on the 7:45 (recommended by Shawna Dohms)

  12. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (recommended by Kathy House)

And because I do plan on reading more that 12 books this year….here are a few more recommended by my Facebook friends:

13. The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure (recommended by Lorna Raczynski)

14. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren (recommended by Jody Nickerson)

15. The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas (recommended by Jody Nickerson)

16. The Thursday Murder Club (recommended by Susan Edwards and Melody Hyde)

17. Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig (recommended by Heather Beztilney)

18. The Witches of Mooonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais (recommended by Natalia Sioux)

19. Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd (recommended by Katharine Reiter)

20. The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams (recommended by Christy Haggarty)

21. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaellides (recommended by Dallas Burkart)

22. Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens (recommended by Dallas Burkart)

23. The House in the Cerulean Sea (recommneded by Martin Stone)

I think this list will be a great resource for when I find myself at a book store! Thank you everyone for your recommendations! I read every night before bed so I have 365 days of reading in front of me! The only reason I will give up sleep is for a good book :)

12 Days of Christmas--Day 12

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For my final 12 Days of Christmas project I want to share a mini album with you. The cover of this mini album was actually one of my Artisan Design Team projects shared a couple months back. I decided to complete this album and offer it as a class! It is a pretty simple album idea that I have used repeatedly for different seasons and events!

The base of this album is an 8 1/2 x 11, cut in two pieces. I used 2 sheets to create this album and after it was all decorated I added two binder rings (found at any office supply store) with a variety of ribbons tied around the top ring. I have made several versions of this album, either designed to be horizontal (like this one) or vertical (to stand up on a shelf or table).

The base of this album is Smoky Slate which I thought was a nice neutral to pair up with the Santa Express Designer Series Paper.

I added a mix of patterns on the left side of the album along with a strip of Poppy Parade card stock to define an edge.

On the right side I stamped ‘Ho Ho Ho’ in Smoky Slate and added a DSP tag from the Santa Express paper along with the sentiments from the Santa’s Delivery stamp set. A bit of Iridescent Trim through the top completed the look of the tag. I used some of the Adhesive Backed Stars as a fun accent embellishment on the front as well.

This page is the inside of the cover. Now, do you ever have a boo boo? I do, I dropped an ink pad in the top left of this page and since I had already completed the front cover and didn’t want to start again, I just covered it with some DSP, hahaha! Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!

This album is pretty simple because I knew that I wanted kids in my studio to make it and my youngest stamper was 6! She did an amazing job. You can step up these pages if you like, but if not I think this is an all ages project.

Merry Christmas is cut from a retired punch and I added some Sweet Sorbet Bakers Twine and a Wonderful Snowflake behind it as an accent. The Mint Macaron scalloped border is from the Hand Penned Dies. I actually never put this die away, it just lives permanently on my magnet board beside my Stamp Cut & Emboss Machine.

I love the Joyful Flurry stamp set, especially when you can mount several stamps on a large block and stamp all at once, which is what I did for the boarder. I added a couple die cut snowflakes from the dies and the “let is snow” sentiment.

The next two pages feature the Spruced Up Dies and snowflakes once again. “Snowflake Wishes…” is a sentiment from the retired Snowflake Wishes stamp set/bundle. I will never part with it as I absolutely LOVE this sentiment!

And finally the last two pages in this easy mini album. Behind the “Falala" which is from the Framed & Festive stamp set, I added the other part of the trees from the Spruced Up Dies. I love how you get 2 trees cut at once with this set. Such a time saver and brilliant. I added more DSP and some Adhesive Backed Stars as well.

The “Ho Ho Ho” page is the last page in the book and the sentiment is from the Santa’s Delivery stamp set. I added some Basic White Bakers Twine behind the sentiment and on top of another Wonderful Snowflake.

I hope this quick and easy album inspires you to create your own! I have made them for all seasons and they are suitable for any age group!

I can’t wait to see what Melanie’s final project is today! THANK YOU SO MUCH for hopping along with us as we shared 12 Days of Christmas projects. I covered cards, treats, scrapbooking and a mini album within my 12 Days so I hope you enjoyed the variety—its the spice of life after all!

 
 

12 Days of Christmas--Day 8

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Today I want to share a Christmas inspired scrapbook page with you. It uses a little bit of new, a little bit of old and a little bit of current! It is always my favorite things to do, mash up a bunch of products that I love and enjoy!

The base of this page is Real Red which is just classic Christmas and I paired it up with Crumb Cake, Early Espresso and Basic White elements for a really awesome holiday feel. The Gingerbread & Peppermint DSP from holiday 2021 was some of my favorite DSP and I still have a couple of packages to use on some projects for this holiday season.

I almost always add DSP to my scrapbook pages and often that color dictates the rest of my page design. I wanted to go with a winter Christmas feel so I added some snowflakes from the Joyful Flurry stamp set to the background in Real Red ink.

 

Top Tip: when stamping background images, mount as many of the stamps onto a large block as you can. This way you can ink up the stamp and efficiently fill in your background!

I added some of the Wonderful Snowflakes to both of my scrapbook pages. This is one of the main elements that connect these two pages to each other along with the coordinating photo mats in Early Espresso and Crumb Cake.

I used a variety of sentiments from Snowflake Flurry and Framed & Festive for my pages.

Have you been seeing sneak peeks of the Alphabet A La Mode Dies around the internet? I love love love these dies and knew that I wanted to incorporate them into my page design. The word ‘JOY’ fit perfectly on the tag from the Celebration Tags Dies.

I love these dies and have used them so many times over this holiday season! A few classic Rhinestones are the perfect bling for these pages!

The North Pole Sacks are the perfect scrapbook page accessory! I added one to my page with a little pull out that you could use to journal or tuck Christmas momento’s inside.

I really love how this page layout came out and I can’t wait to share it with my scrapbook group later this month. If you are local to YEG and are interested in scrapbooking, please let me know! I would love to share in some creativity with you in 2023.

Click on the link below to see what Melanie has shared today over on her blog!