Beautiful Berries

So much of creating for me, comes from being inspired by beauty all around us. A well written phrase can move me, light and shadow can bring a smile and the color of berries against a January sky, brilliant orange pops against blue, framed out by a bramble of winter naked branches...well that makes me ache to create. Below are some pictures that I took in our backyard a few weeks ago. Hope they bring a smile to your day too!

Diggin' through the scraps

It seems like I have been working on a pile of Toby pictures lately. I have one little stack of pictures from the time period when I used to do 81/2 by 11 family albums. Unless I am doing a specialty album, now I usually use 12x12. So it has been fun...and a bit of a challenge as graphically I re-adjust to a smaller and rectangular format. I found these pictures from about four years ago that were just fun and quirky. One of my resolutions was to use up some of the older things of in my "stash". I found these Genuine Boy titles from Tree House Memories. I combined them with a journaling rub-on from EK Success. I cut the "Quirky" from the EK rub-on and added over top of the Genuine Boy title. The photo makes the title look like it has a lot of red in it, but I think that the flash from camera made it look that way.

Another resolution was to use up some the the dreaded "scraps" that seem to grow overnight. My goal was to only use two sheets of white for a background. The rest had to all be either from scraps or stash! Digging through the paper scraps added a little interest with color and simple shapes.

I dug out my Heidi Swapp date stamp and the Provo Craft alphabet stamp mymother-in-law gave me for Christmas. (see both below) to add Toby's name and the date. In this case the rub-on said everything that I wanted to about Toby's quirky personality. Remember, you don't have to use every part of the rub-on. I cut it apart, rearranged and GASP! even threw some of it out.

The whole thing was quick and I was please with the result. I love doing "art" pages in my memory books, but I would never get all of my pictures scrapped, if I did that for every layout, so I tend to mix it up. I do 7 or 8 layouts that are pleasing but simple and then go all out on the ones with activities that I am totally in love with or photos that inspire a special idea.

The alphabet stamp and date stamps are fun to use, you can spell things out, use part or all of it. **If you are obsessive about things being perfectly aligned this might not be the alphabet stamp for you. Since you rotate a dial to line up your title, it is very difficult to get it straight. But if you like a funky, eclectic look, they are a lot of fun.

Glass Ornaments

I made these to use as gifts for our Sunday school teachers this year. They are one of those great crafts that looks really hard, but in reality just take a little bit of patience. If you use an "assembly line" they go quickly. I was able to do 20 of them start to finish in about an hour and a half.

I used one of my favorite Christmas sets from Stampin' Up called "Miracle of Christmas". I love how the baby Jesus looks so peaceful in it. The concept behind these ornaments is simple. There are a few basic supplies needed,

Clear ornaments

Acetate (or in this case I just used a plain old page protector)

Stayz-On ink (black and brown)

Alcohol ink (in a pinch you could use colored sharpies.

Ribbon (I used brown)

Thin silver cord (Very thin, mine is only a few millimeters in diameter)

Circle cutter (I used a coluzzle, but you could trace your circle or use the cutter of your choice. **a punch will not work on the page protector)

Step one:

Stamp the baby Jesus onto your page protector. I stamped several to save time.

Step two:

Using your circle cutter of choice, cut out each baby. The size you use will be determined by how large your ornament is.

Step three:

Flip your image over and color on the back. I used a paint brush with my alcohol ink. If you color on the front, the alcohol ink or sharpie will "lift" and blur the Stayz-On ink.

Step four:

Punch a 1/8 inch hole in the top of your circle. Thread a 3-4 inch piece of silver cord through. This will suspend your image in your ornament, instead of it laying on the bottom.

Step five:

This step seems tricky but is very easy. Roll your clear circle into a tube. Next, drop it into your ornament. Make sure you keep hold of your silver cord, lay the cord to one side of the opening and pop your lid in place.

Step six:

Stamp the sentiment of your choice and cut or punch it out into a tag shape. Use a fabulous ribbon to tie it to the top of your ornament. **If your ribbon is really thick, use a little piece of silver cord tied through your tag to create a loop. Then thread the ribbon through the loop first.

Congratulations! Your ornament is done. These are very striking because the image looks like it it floating in your ornament. Depending on the image you use, you could add glitter, fake snow, beads or raffia to the inside of the ornament too. **Watch for static cling! If you want to add glitter or other light objects, you should wipe your circle with an old dryer sheet before you put it inside your glass bulb.

Definitions:

Alcohol ink: acid-free, fast drying, transparent dye inks specially formulated to work on glass and metal. They also work well on Use on glossy paper, dominoes, shrink plastic, and other slick surfaces. They have the added benefit of being acid free and fade resistant so they are safe to use in scrapbooks.

Preschool page

This page was done in the 8 1/2 by 11 format. The background is a printed vintage ABC page, layered on top are some ransom style alphabet letters and the word school torn out of a magazine. The tag is mixed media starting with a shipping tag which has been aged down with walnut ink. The words are stamped in Stayz-on ink (one of my favorites, it is basically a Sharpie in an ink pad ~ it stamps on anything, even glass and metal) Toby's name is stamped onto cork which had been rubbed with the walnut ink crystals to also age it. At the top of the tag is a metal tab that says dream and the whole thing is topped off with a piece of a vintage measuring tape. The journaling is done on two post-it notes stuck into a mini file folder that has been stapled onto the page. The date was stamped with Stayz-on onto a metal office file folder prong. This combines three of my favorite things, my son Toby, office supplies and scrapbooking! Life is good!