For a weekend away with family. For laughter. For good food and cold drinks. For cameras that capture more than I could ever remember. For little kids. For the ocean and fresh salty air. For exploration. For movies about the cycle of life. For getting out of the house and away from the routines of our everyday. For Grandparents. For tall grass. For secret gardens. For picnics. For conversation. For hugs and kisses. For sunshine. For possibilities.
This is the weekend for celebrating Moms (who should be celebrated everyday if you want to the truth).
I am excited that I get to spend time with both my Mom and Chris' Mom on Sunday. It's always fun to have a house full of family.
One of the ways I am honoring my Mom is by doing a page that celebrates how thankful I am for her and the impact she has made on my life. Love you Mom.
Here's a peek at how I put this layout together:
STEP BY STEP
1. Find a photo or photos of your Mom. My photo was scanned (and enlarged) and printed 6x8 inches at 300dpi.
2. Paint a background sheet of white cardstock (I used an 8.5x11 inch sheet). Use a dry brush (meaning do not dip it in water) to apply paint to the page. I used Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Paint in Traditional Tan, Yellow Pastel, and Purple Palette. Set aside to dry.
3. Create a new canvas in Photoshop (File/New). I made mine 4.5x8inches at 300dpi. Open the Mom Word Art (or create your own) and drag and drop the .png file you want to use onto your canvas. Layer more than one if you feel like it and recolor (Edit/Fill). You could also add in other decorative brushes (such as florals) for even more depth.
4. When you painted cardstock is completely dry, print your word art onto the cardstock by running it through your printer. You could also make a card using this same technique of painting on cardstock and then running through the printer to add your text.
5. Trim your photo and your painted/text piece. Lay them together and round the outer corners. Sand around the edge.
6. Use a piece of scotch tape to temporarily hold the photo and the painted/word art together. Use the pink Marvy scallop circle punch to remove a circle.
7. Using a leftover piece of the painted cardstock punch the smaller scallop circle.
8. Stamp the heart using Versamark and sprinkle the platinum UTEE on top. Use a heat gun to set the powder.
9. Adhere the photo and painted/text piece to your background paper. Adhere the smaller scallop circle using foam dots or dimensional glue dots in the center of the large scallop circle.
10. Trim 1/2 inch across the top of your background paper. Using a scallop border punch choose a coordinating patterned paper and punch across all 12 inches. Trim to 1 inch and adhere behind your base piece of paper.
11. Use a sewing machine to stitch a zig-zag across the top with cream thread. Stitching across seams like this is a nice way to "join" two pieces of paper together visually (in this case I adhered the paper so the stitching is not the only thing holding it together).
12. Adhere circle ribbon over the seam where the photo and the painted paper meet.
13. Attach metal arrow turns on opposite edges with brads.
14. Place tiny letter stickers on photo. What sentiments you use will depend on the photo you are using and how much room you have. Don't forget the date.
15. Journal around the edge of the photo/painted piece.
SUPPLIES
Background Paper: Bo Bunny Chiffon Dot
Paint: Studio Basics (Claudine Hellmuth for Ranger)
Word Art: Mom Word Art by Ali Edwards @ Designer Digitals
Scallop Border Punch: Fiskars (Apron Lace Border Punch)
Patterned Paper: K&Company (Brenda Walton)
Scallop Circle Punches: Marvy
Heart Stamp: Catslife Press
Embossing Ink: Versamark
Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel in Platinum: Ranger
Letter Stickers: Making Memories Tiny Alphabet
Metal Arrows: 7gypsies
Pen: American Crafts Precision Pen
Ribbon: Scrap Within Reach
Easter morning began bright and early about 6:30am. There was lots of talk in our big bed about eggs and bunny's and whether one large bunny had left anything for the kids. After going out to the living room Simon discovered that, indeed, the bunny had been here.
The first thing he pulled from his basket, and the thing he would love the most all day, was the little packet of Star Wars legos. He got to work immediately (forget the candy, give me the legos) following the instructions and assembling the ship with very minimal assistance.
Here in the Northwest most Easters tend to be rainy. This one was no exception. I could hear it pounding on the roof even before we got out of bed. I knew there would be no outside egg hunting this year.
So what's a bunny to do?
Simple: hide the eggs inside in other parts of the house while the child is engrossed in building a Star Wars lego ship and then announce that the bunny must have known that the child does not enjoy the rain and as a result hid the eggs inside this year. As you can see above, "hiding" really means placing the eggs out in the open so they will all be found.
This all sounded totally good to Simon.
He searched around and found every last one.
And then proceeded to count them all as they went back into the cartons (gotta love real-life math).
During most of this time Anna was still sleeping, oblivious as she should be to the hunting and gathering.
After the main festivities were completed we started the process of getting ready for church and the rest of the day.
I got Anna all dressed up and then she took another little nap before we headed to Mass.
Have I said yet that I really like having a little girl?
Mass was super crowded as is usually the case on Easter Sunday. We had planned to leave earlier than usual to make sure we got our favorite seat but it didn't quite work out like that (no one in particular to blame - we were all slow). We ended up in the back corner which was basically the baby & small child corner. The family next to us had a little girl just four days younger than Anna and an older daughter that was almost four. Another family had two small girls. The place was packed.
After Mass we headed over to Chris' parents for the afternoon.
There was some nice Dad & Daughter time while watching the Masters.
And some nice Grandpa & Grandson time while breaking down and rebuilding the Star Wars lego ship.
And a bunch of baby smiles for Grandma.
And much to Simon's delight, the Easter Bunny also made a stop at Grandma & Grandpa's house. By this time the rain had stopped so an outside hunt worked out perfectly.
The rest of the afternoon & early evening included good conversation and great food. Anna napped on and off throughout the day as is her usual way.
Simon crashed after dinner in one of those crazy kid positions. We woke him up to go home and he was bummed because he had wanted to watch the Horton movie (which he did end up watching once we got home).
It was a really good, really full Easter Sunday. Especially full of the thing we love best: family.
Have you documented your Easter (or your Sunday) yet? Take a couple minutes today to jot down your story while it is still fresh in your mind or use your photos as a guide to help guide your story as I did above. The content included here will be the basis for a layout soon.
I hope you and yours have a wonderful Easter weekend.
And of course, we will be having a little bit of a Star Wars Easter (found an egg coloring kit at Target that includes Star Wars stuff). What would Easter be without Star Wars? In reality, everyday feels like a Star Wars day around here.
If you are looking to incorporate some new traditions into your Easter celebrations check out this post full of great ideas from readers back in 2007. You can also check out a Three Things post with some Easter ideas from 2008.
Happy Thursday!
Below are answers to some recent questions regarding the yellow heart layout and the Valentine minibook posts from last week:
POST : Yellow Heart Layout
The large scalloped chipboard heart set from Technique Tuesday is now available at scrapbook.com.
From Jody : I love pages that use acrylics, but haven't tried it. Is it photo-safe? What about cracking/peeling?
I double-checked and the paint I was using here (Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paints) is acid free according to Ranger's website. In general this is not something that I am overly concerned about. Some of the things I create are going to last (just look at all the things that have lasted before "acid-free" ever became an issue) and some will deteriorate. I am after a balance between words, photos, and playful creativity. Of the pages that I have painted on I don't really recall seeing any chipping or peeling. I do think that some of my minibooks that have been handled quite a bit do have areas of peeling paint - that's wear and tear that I don't mind at all.
From Camille : Does your paper ever tend to curl
after it's painted? I suppose if it's heavy enough cardstock, you don't
have that problem. Just wondering...
I
have painted backgrounds on cardstock quite a few times now and have
not had any problems with curling. Most often I use Bazzill textured cardstock. I also don't use a ton of paint. I have created some digital files of painted backgrounds available as well: Painterly Backgrounds.
From Danielle : What are the little "doodads" that you use to stand up your layout in order to take a photo...they look too cool :)
Those are "flower frogs" that Tim Holtz gave me last year. These ones are SUPER sharp so watch out with little kids around. Here's a link to some articles on Martha Stewart's website that talk about using them for flower arranging, etc.
POST : Valentine’s MiniBook
From Mel : How did you take the photos---a photo booth, or did you use a camera on a timer?
Those
photos are from a real photobooth at one of our local movie theaters. I
have a great little collection going of different ones we have found
from time to time.
From Annie : I know this is a really basic question but how do you organize random photos to all print on one page?
I
create a new canvas in Photoshop (File/New) – such as 8x10 and then drag and drop each of the
photos onto the new blank canvas. Make sure that you are scanning in
your photos at 300dpi and making the new canvas 300dpi. Check out this past issue of my newsletter for a step-by-step on creating photo gatherings in Photoshop.
From Grace : Could you please share what you printed your digital circles on - Photo Matte Paper or standard cardstock?
I printed them on textured cardstock. You could print them on photo paper as well for a glossy-look.
From
Cheri : My question is do you have any other downloads on the designers
digital site that are pdf and you don't have to have PSE to use? If
that is the only one, please consider doing more for the non digital
scrappers out there.
One
thing to remember is that you don’t have to have photoshop to open .png
files. They can also be opened and printed from Microsoft Word (and other programs). I hope
to create more elements that include PDF options with the files in the
future. Here's a few others that could be easily printed, trimmed out and used on paper layouts:
Family Gratitude Title & Journal Blocks
SALE : 30% off Valentine products through Friday at 6am Eastern at Designer Digitals. You can see everything included in the sale here. Here's a few suggestions from my line:
Love You Circle Frames & Overlays
And a special $.99 item from Katie Pertiet:
[ Jenni Bowlin Circle 4 inch Minibook; Creative Cafe Clear Sheet Dots; Little Yellow Bicycle Flocked Grey with White Floral Paper; Ali Edwards Love Circles; Ribbon: Narratives, random other pieces ]
Part card, part minibook this little circle creation is a great way to celebrate someone you love this Valentine's Day (or any day of course). This project uses my new Love Circle embellishments from Designer Digitals that you simply download and print (or use on digital projects). I showed a simple card idea with them last week here.
Here's a look at the interior:
A short note opens the card/minibook with the following pages cut (using a Creative Memories circle template) from a thick transparency from Creative Cafe. Each transparent page has a photo on one side and one of my printed Love Circles from Designer Digitals on the other side.
The great little "handmade book" stamp is from Cats Life Press. Ink is from StazOn.
• Cover the Jenni Bowlin 4 inch circle chipboard minibook with Little Yellow Bicycle textured patterned paper on the front cover and the back cover and painted the interior chipboard covers with cream paint. I love the flocked texture paper for the covers of little books like this - gives it a nice soft feel (fabric would also be a great cover). I ended up not using the interior circle lined-pages for the minibook itself but will hang on to them to use them in a future project.
• Cut out 5 circles (or as many interior pages as you want for your book) from the Creative Cafe white dot transparency (I used this Creative Memories circle cutter). This is a very thick transparency which works great for interior pages of a minibook. I also love to use Hambly overlays for projects that really need a thicker sheet.
• Choose, scan, and print your photos. I scanned in some of my favorite photo booth pictures (I have used these in projects in the past) and organized them to print on one 8.5x11 sheet of photo paper. The photos were scanned (and enlarged) to be about 2.5 inches wide.
• Punch the photos using the Marvy Giga Scallop Circle Punch and a McGill circle punch. I wanted both regular and scalloped circles to work back to back with the Love Circles (available here):
• After punching out my photos and the Love Circles I simply adhered them back to back on each of the interior pages. I chose to do photo on the front, Love Circle on the back. Very simple and quick to put together. I am planning to give this to Simon on Valentine's morning at breakfast with a couple other little goodies.
To finish off the book I added one circle to the cover and a gathering of ribbons on the metal ring that holds it all together.
Enjoy your weekend!
[ Past weekend creative projects can be found here. ]
[ supplies : Little Yellow Bicycle Patterned Paper, Ali Edwards Love Circle Embellishments, Foam Squares, Marvy Uchida Mega Scallop Punch, Bazzill Cardstock ]
A super simple Valentine card using a sheet of cardstock (folded + then corner-rounded), a punched piece of patterned paper (using a scalloped punch - see below for more info), foam squares, and a printed out circle from my new set of Love Circle embellishments for Designer Digitals.
One of the cool things about this product is that it includes digital files (.png in the color scheme shown + files that can be colored and layered) and a pdf file that is all set up and ready for you to print onto cardstock or canvas and punch. It's just right for those of you who have not dabbled in digital scrapbooking yet but may be interested in doing a little bit of hybrid-scrapbooking (using digital products in paper scrapbooking by simply printing them out at home).
Edited: Regarding a question in the comments you can definitely still download these elements without Photoshop. You can open the PDF in any program that opens pdf's and the .png files can be opened and printed in word.
Think about using them for cards or gift tags or for a little minibook. Here's a look at how I punched out the circles from the downloadable pdf file:
The circles measure 2 inches across and can be punched with anything larger. For the scalloped edges I used the Marvy Uchida Mega Scallop Punch (pink body). I also used a McGill 2 1/8 inch circle punch which gave me the white circles around the outside. TIP: turn the punch upside down to be able to see exactly what you are punching out.
Look for a little minibook coming later this week using these circles as well.
Other posts with love-related projects to check out:
Love Book (fixed this link)
So happy to be finishing this up. It's a project that I definitely look forward to but man it is tough to finish up during those last few days leading up to Christmas.
In looking through the entire album for this year, one of the things I really love is that it is simple and the emphasis is really on the photos and the words. The more time goes by the more I really find that to be what I want to see most. Sometimes it is so easy to get swept up in all the extras (because there are so many cool things to use) but what I really care about are the pictures and the story.
I know that I talk about the simplicity of words and photos often, partly it is a reminder to myself and partly because I just get so excited about it.
Day Twenty-Three:
And a close-up:
Photos printed on photo paper with a bit of text in the middle.
And the backside:
7gypsies Flocked Paper with a little bit of baker's twine.
And the before:
[ Heidi Swapp Overlay Dots; Tree: Art Warehouse Noel Epoxy Sticker; American Crafts White Moma Remarks Letter Sticker Book ]
Day Twenty-Four:
I love this photo of Chris, his Dad, and Simon - probably my favorite of the season. Patterned paper is Love, Elsie from 2007. Foam stickers from American Crafts.
And the before:
[ Making Memories Artisan Solid Die Cut Paper; Scenic Route Berkley Red Letter Stickers ]
Day Twenty-Five:
A simple photo collage. I think I will also do a layout with photos from Christmas Day.
And the before:
[ Art Warehouse Dear Santa Hollyberry Paper; Scenic Route Berkley Red Letter Stickers ]
All December Daily pages for 2008 can be found here. Thanks to everyone who participated in the Flickr group and who played along on your own. I so hope you enjoyed the experience.
Feeling a bit better today and had a chance to do some big-time catching up today and last night.
Day 16 : wrapping day with a long photo of the tree on the other side. I used my Holiday Word Art on the top of the tree and my 31 Days Circle Numbers on the package page.
The journaling card is on the back of the package photo. Stamps are See and Stamp Jumbo Uppercase Alphabet Stamps
Here's the before image. I removed this page completely in order to use the photo of the wrapped package:
[ Paper Source Pocket Envelope; Scenic Route Berkley Red Letter Stickers; Tree: Art Warehouse Noel Epoxy Sticker ]
I decided to combine Days 17 and 18 as that was our trip to Hood River for the Polar Express. I used the same journaling as you saw on this post. This one covers a few pages to fit the photos and words (and I removed the original 17 and 18 pages).
Letter stickers are MOMA from American Crafts. Patterned paper is The Weather Outside from American Crafts.
Added in my ticket. Simon's is still on his bedside table. I will probably grab it and add it in after Christmas.
I also added in the song sheet from the train ride.
Day 19 : documenting more snow.
I added the Making Memories White Snowflakes (they come with the brads) - two on the front side and one on the back with the photo. You can see a close-up on one of the snowflakes below.
Day 20 : you can see the front above (I removed the previous Jenni Bowlin bingo card and added in one of her holiday versions). The back is missing it's photo because I ran out of black ink (it's a black + white photo). Planning to add that in later today.
Day 21 : another "around the house" series similar to Day Five.
Cork star is from www.awesomealbums.com.
Day 22 : grocery shopping and hanging out around the house.
Cardstock strip sticker is from Art Warehouse.
Added the grocery list to the back.
I really worked on keeping these pretty simple with the emphasis on just the photos and the words. This works especially well when I am feeling under the weather and not super creative. I like relying on the photos and the words to do the work.
Only a couple more days to go :).
Doing some cooking today. Chex mix this morning and thinking about now going and baking the pear crandberry pie for Thursday's dessert. For dinner this year we are going to try Tyler Florence's Ultimate Crown Pork Roast (along with the other recipes he featured on this episode). I have been watching a little too much Food Network over the last couple of days of not feeling great.
Hope you are having fun preparing for your upcoming celebrations and thanks for your patience on posting these December Daily pages.
We made it back safe and sound last night from our adventure to ride the Polar Express on the Mt. Hood Railroad.
This was a trip we had been planning for months (you have to get the tickets months in advance - a big thanks to Jen for the reminder email earlier this year to sign up) as a surprise for Simon. He is a huge fan of the The Polar Express story and especially the movie.
We picked him up early from school on Wednesday and started driving north. We told him we were going on a surprise adventure and it was going to be quite a ways in the car. In a box in the car we had packed a new set of surprise Christmas PJ's and planned to stop at Target to pick up a bathrobe like the boy in the movie wears.
Our big fear was that we would not be able to make it over to Hood River. It's a three-hour drive in regular conditions but because of snow and freezing temperatures all over Oregon we just weren't sure if we were going to be able to make it. Because of that we did not tell Simon where we were going until we were sure we were going to make it all the way.
We stopped at a Target south of Portland and I ran in to see what kind of boys bathrobes they had available. They actually had quite a few choices but I went with a fleece blue Cars bathrobe with red on the collar and cuffs...and it was $8 (probably the best $8 I have spent in a long time as you will see). I got back in the car and off we went.
The roads were totally fine almost the entire way. It got a little bit slick with packed snow and ice and snow coming down as we approached Hood River but nothing that slowed us down.
As soon as we could tell that we were really going to make it we started giving Simon clues about where we were going and what we were planning to do. We gave him the PJ's to open and he was pretty excited about those but still had not guessed where we were going. We came up with some easier clues, handed over the bag with the bathrobe and let him open that and it all started coming together for him.
"Are we going on the Polar Express?" he finally asked with a mixture of excitement and uncertainty.
"That's right buddy. We are going to ride on the Polar Express and you get to wear your PJ's and bathrobe on the train just like in the movie."
As we pulled into Hood River the snow was really coming down. The train depot is right downtown so we pulled in there and checked-in, picking up our official tickets. We had been going back and forth about staying the night but considering the weather and the fact that the Hood River Hotel was right across the street we decided to just go for it. We drove over, got a room that was able to accommodate the dog as well, gathered up our stuff, and piled into the room so that Simon could change into his PJ's and bathrobe.
The excitement level at this point was pretty high for all of us. We were able to walk out the door of our room right down to the train depot. The fact that it was snowing and there was snow all around really added to the whole adventure.
Down at the train depot there were lots of families gathering to wait for the train. While waiting we picked up a copy of the Polar Express book and Simon sat down to check it out.
Soon enough everyone began forming a line and we saw the train pull up and the conductor come in and welcome us to the Polar Express. We found our train car and climbed aboard. Because of the weather there were many families that decided not to brave the elements so there was lots of room available to move cars or change seats. We ended up moving into a warmer car that ended up being a great move because we ended up being second in line to see Santa (a wait that would have been challenging).
Once we were all settled in the train began to move and the conductor came around and punched all the kids tickets just like in the movie with little punched circles flying all around.
Polar Express music was playing on the sound system. Hot cocoa was served by "bakers" (as Simon likes to call the white hats). And then they read the entire Polar Express story over the loud-speaker. It was cool to have the book with us at our seat so Simon could follow along.
As the train rolled along we came to a little village they had set up as the North Pole with elves and Santa! Santa and the elves boarded the train and came and visited each of the kids, giving them their own special Christmas bell.
On the way back there was lots of singing and finishing up of hot chocolate. It was such a cool trip. The best part for us was just watching Simon's reaction to everything. Seeing all the joy and anticipation for each little thing. It was so cool.
After the train ride we headed across the street for some pizza and video games before heading back to our room. When we did get back to the room Simon played out the entire Polar Express movie and definitely wanted to sleep in the bathrobe. And why not?
Overall it was a really special trip for all of us. We are so glad we were able to make it over there and back safely and that it was such a cool surprise for Simon.
Family adventures are awesome.
All day yesterday, as we made our way back home (including some shopping stops in Portland), he wore that bathrobe over his clothes with bell and punched ticket in hand.
And guess what? It snowed here again last night. For the third time this week we woke up to a no-school announcement. Talk about one very lucky little boy.
I will be catching up on December Daily creations this weekend.
Cloth diaper post coming this weekend.