Outgoing Pocket Letters

Hello! I found myself up most of the night with insomnia again and decided to post my outgoing pocket letters for January. Not as many this month due to real life but nevertheless I wanted to share them before February rolls around. This pocket letter was created for my pal in India and it's our second swap. The theme was winter wonderland and I hope she likes it.

The deer cut outs are by Recollections and so are the snowflakes to his left. I layered three together for dimension. 

This time a silver deer from the same pack of cut outs and more layered snowflakes. The white snowflake stickers are by Recollections as well.

Love the pretty Prima bling on the spine and I know she'll find a good use for it. I also used clear word stickers by Mambi which you can see on the top left pocket. The camera didn't pick up the glitter effect on the paper but it sparkles like snow which I thought was neat.

Next up is a snowman themed pocket letter that went to a new pal in Idaho. I was already in the blingy sparkly mode...yes I know that might not be grammatically correct but I've been up all night, literally, and I'm going with it. 

Everything is on the outside on this pl and I used a deeper shade of blue glitter paper which also sparkles. The "Let It Snow" is a 3D dimensional sticker from Jolee's Boutique while the remaining bling-snow couple, snowflake and mini snowflakes are all by Recollections. I added silver washi tape and three bows tied with snowflake ribbon.

Last but not least is a pocket letter (first one actually) that was created from recycled Christmas cards. It went to my pal in Illinois and I'm so glad she suggested the swap. 

I fussy cut one of the poinsettias and added it to this pocket then stamped a greeting from Lawn Fawn on it.

This is another single pocket and I cut this house out from a winter scene. Love the kids playing in the snow!

This guy provides a rest stop for every bird around and looks like he made friends with this sweet fawn. I placed a clear Mambi sticker that says jolly on this pocket.

For the rest of the remaining pockets I chose to do a scene from cards that were large enough to do so. I fussy cut a snowman (on right) and glued him in place and on the outer pocket I added a dimensional stamp with lanterns.

Love this little boy pulling his sled in the snow and looking up at the star. I fussy cut a greeting and placed it on the outside of the pockets.

Love the night scene on this card and decided to add gemstones to mimic stars. Finished it off with a clear sticker from Mambi. 

Those are my outgoing letters for January. I've had to curtail some of my activity over at Pocket Letter Pals but it was fun to create these and I think all three were made in the middle of the night. I seriously need to get some sleep...no joke.

Have a great weekend, wherever you are and thanks for the visit today. I have so much catching up to do in the blog world but know that when I can I'll be by for a visit. Oh and please look over any grammar errors...spell check is on the fritz and I'm too tired to edit. ;) Just realized it's nearly 7 am...off to make coffee now.

Hugs,

Lisa 

Mimi's Brag Book

Hi everyone, if you were waiting for my post last Friday it obviously didn't happen and believe me you didn't want me blogging either. Not a good day. :( But enough of that, I'm back to share a brag book I made to celebrate the grandbaby we have on the way. It was inspired by Annette Green and it features the Graphic 45 Mother Goose 8x8 paper pad, coordinating embellishments and G45 kraft tag album. 

Before we get to photos of my brag book I'd like to share how our son and DIL announced the wonderful news to my hubby, daughter and me. We met them for dinner and after the waitress took our drink orders they slid this box over to our side of the table and said it was a belated Christmas present. Now last September they celebrated their 3rd anniversary and originally our son wanted to wait until they were married 5 yrs before starting a family. He's been pretty adamant about it while our DIL was ready when they married lol.  
So imagine our surprise...

when we opened this box and read the note below

When we opened the box only the note was on top so we were looking at each other and then we lifted the tissue paper to see the cutest pair of baby sneakers ever. I remember thinking my DIL had a glow about her that night when she walked in. It was a precious way to make this announcement and we'll never forget it, thanks for making it so special B & J. We love you!!! Also thanks for sending me these photos because once I learned the news I didn't have sense enough to snap a photo lol. It's a wonder I didn't scream out loud in the restaurant and embarrass everyone. ;)

So what are our names going to be? We decided on Mimi, Pop and our daughter is going to be Aunt Gigi. Neither of us wanted to use a name that our children called their grandparents. All of them, except my mom, have passed away and we just wanted to start fresh with names that haven't been used before. My daughter thought Mimi sounded French so she laughingly suggested Gigi and we all loved it. Let me tell you, this Mimi, Pop and Aunt Gigi can not wait for September to get here!

Thanks for letting me share that with you! As I mentioned my brag book was inspired by a DT project that Annette Green made for G45 and if you click the link above it will take you directly to that post. She did a video tutorial on this project and she also includes instructions for creating the accordion binding in case you're interested. 

Thought I'd share what the front cover looked like before I embellished it with ephemera, die cut stars, foam alpha's and Tim's (?) alpha's.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, The Cow jumped over the Moon, The Dish ran away with the Spoon, Mary had a little Lamb and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star are all childhood nursery rhymes we remember from Mother Goose. :)

I used Annette's layout style using 2 patterned dp's and one solid color cardstock. She shared how she made her template in the video tut so you can check that out. Ephemera and cardstock pockets slip under the checkered band. I used a cardstock slide buckle and 2 floral circles plus a cardstock sticker from the collection. My book differs in that I added liquid pearls on every page...I just have a soft spot for them.

A large photo mat and more ephemera from the collection. I lucked up and found the cardstock flowers and pocket sheets at a Tuesday Morning recently. I didn't use the flowers on this book because we don't know the sex of the baby yet and I'll most likely use them to decorate an altered photo frame if it's a girl.

The little pockets are so cute and I filled this one with ephemera that I can journal on and place a small photo on the back. I used a border strip to connect the two pages from the 8x8 pad.

This is a fun little page, it has an accordion style booklet that folds out with ephemera and photo mats. Behind it is another piece of ephemera where I can record special memories.

Ephemera and 2 photo mats on each side.

A piece of ephemera for recording precious memories and you can see the cute little banners on the left. This collection has all of my favorite colors and it just makes me happy.

The next page spread has a large photo mat on the left surrounded by stamp cut outs from the 8x8 paper pad. They'll help hold the photo in place and I added a Twinkle Twinkle little star cardstock sticker.

The opposite side has a Mother Goose pocket which is holding 3 pieces of double sided ephemera for journaling and photos.

The Humpty Dumpty images are so cute and I love the background paper as well. This is another adorable pocket and I placed it on top of a mini polka dot dp and added a cardstock sticker to the upper left.

I liked Annette's idea to create a tri-fold booklet and a Basic Grey magnet helps keep it closed. I added  Humpty Dumpty and photo corner cardstock stickers, fussy cut a border from the paper collection and popped a cardstock flower on top of the magnet to hide it. 

When you open it you can see a postage stamp cardstock sticker and another flower cardstock piece hiding the other magnet. I cut several postage stamps from the 8x8 pad to use throughout this book.

Three photo mats with the outer ones having a checkered border which I pieced by cutting strips from a dp in the 8x8 paper pad.

The back cover features a Mother Goose cardstock sticker with a border. The row of flowers on the edge of the spine is also from the cardstock sticker sheet.

This was such a fun project! Like Annette, I use a gingham ribbon from May Arts to keep it closed and I simply can't wait to fill it with pictures. It'll be a while though so in the meantime I am also going to make a few things for my DIL. They've certainly made a lot of folks happy and our prayers now are for a healthy pregnancy and delivery.  

Thanks for looking at my brag book! I'm going to try and schedule some posts and share some of my outgoing and incoming pocket letters that haven't made it to my blog yet. Also my apologies for being a terrible blog buddy as far as commenting goes. I'm pulled in a lot of directions these days but I promise to drop by and visit all of you very soon.

Take care,

Lisa xx

Bauble or Ornament?

It depends on where you live as to whether you consider the shiny things on the Christmas tree a bauble or ornament. Here in the US we call them ornaments but since ABC Christmas Challenge is UK based we're calling this challenge Baubles. Basically we're looking for a bauble / ornament, one or more, on your project. It goes without saying that it needs to be a Christmas project but I'll say it just to make sure that newbie's know the rules.

SPONSOR 

Bugaboo Stamps

They are offering our lucky winner 7 FREE digi's!

Bugaboo Stamps offered the DT an image to create with so be sure to visit the main challenge blog to see what my teamies made with their images. As for me, I scheduled this post in advance and used a stamp from my personal collection.

I used a stamp from the 2011 Holiday Ornaments set by Waltzingmouse Stamps and after 3 tries Memento's Cottage Ivy ink was the color of choice. It was die cut with a Spellbinders 2011 Heirloom Ornaments coordinating die. For the background I stenciled over white cardstock using Tim's Holiday Knit stencil and Archival's Vermillion ink. A red panel along with a stripe dp from Pebbles Winter Collection add more visual interest. A stamped sentiment from the same set was stamped in Staz On Jet Black and die cut with a Spellbinders Pennant die. I have always loved Nordic images so this card just makes me happy.

This is the inside of my card, I blended Vermillion ink around the inside border and stamped another Nordic image in Memento's Cottage Ivy ink. The stamp is from Waltzingmouse Stamps Nordic Winter set. I'm 2 cards down already and by finishing the inside when I create my cards I'll spare myself the hassle of that step during the busy holiday season. 

Don't forget to check out the creative makes by my teamies right here. Hope you'll join us for our Baubles challenge!

So glad you dropped by today, 

Lisa xx

Valentine Bendi Card

I'm back today with inspiration for The Cutting Cafe and my very first Bendi (or Bendy if you prefer) card. I recently discovered these on Pinterest and next thing I know Regina is sending all of the DT this file for our January 21st design team post on TCC's blog. 

Bendi - Bendy Card Template and Cutting File

The file comes with several choices of back styles and two assorted fronts. I chose to work with the tall rounded back and layered a heart bokeh print paper on top of it. The assorted front I went with is the Hill style because I love the look of the rounded edges and the dimension it naturally adds. The file also comes with 5 assorted borders and word sentiments. 

A Valentine bling set by The Paper Studio adds some nice sparkle and I love the backdrop of the heart doilies. I used Flamingo and White Opal Liquid Pearls to add visual interest on the doilies and to the front of my Bendi - Bendy card. 

This view shows the strip of red sparkly washi tape I added to the inside of my card. 

It's simple but pretty!

You can check out all of the fabulous Bendi - Bendy cards by the design team on Thursday the 21st. If you leave a comment you'll automatically be entered to win 3 FREE sets from The Cutting Cafe. Regina will announce the winner on the 7th of February. Good Luck!

On a personal note, this past Saturday we received the best news ever. This fall our son and daughter-in-law will make my husband and I first-time grandparents. We are SO excited!!! I've barely slept since they shared the news. :) I love the way they told the three of us and I'll be back on Friday with photos of how they announced their bundle of joy plus the card I came home right away and made for them. I can't wait to meet my future grand baby! 

Have a wonderful week, wherever you are. 

Lisa xx 

Look Familiar?

My project today is my take on Annette Green's desktop infinity calendar featuring Graphic 45's Time to Flourish paper collection. As some of you know, Annette was a design team member of G45 and when her term expired they made the wise choice to keep her on as a Special Projects Designer. In December of 2014 she created this fabulous calendar and shared it on the G45 blog along with a video tutorial. I fell in love with it and ordered the supplies right away to create my own calendar. I got as far as cutting out the base layers from the 8x8 TTF paper pad and fussy cutting a few butterflies. Then, for some unknown reason, I put it aside. 

It was recently re-discovered in my stash and frankly I was in need of a project that I could "follow" and not have to "reinvent the wheel." I'm so happy it's finished and ready to serve as my desktop infinity calendar. There are a few minor changes to mine such as the paper which I covered the outside of the box with...I didn't have enough of the paper she used so I improvised and used a similar dp from the Olde Curiosity Shoppe collection. The only other real change is I painted the inside of my box and used a dp on the bottom not the template she shared for covering the inside with paper. 

The photo above shows all of the large and small monthly cards which follow Annette's original layout. All of the ephemera is from the Time to Flourish 8x8 paper pad. The small monthly cards were backed with coordinating cardstock while the large cards were backed with kraft cardstock. All edges were inked with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink by Tim Holtz. 

A close up of the details that were added to the box front. Annette provides all dimensions to cut the cardstock base and dp layers plus techniques for making those front additions (keyhole & hinges) look so awesome. She also took the time to provide a PDF for 2015 mini calendars and recently she added a PDF for 2016. You can download yours by clicking here and if you do I'm sure she'd love it if you left her a comment. :)

Inside of the box where the remaining months are stored. 

Instructions for creating the easels are also included in the video tutorial. 

The above photos feature the large monthly cards and the last one shows a selection of the smaller calendar cards. 

It's on the small calendar cards that you'll add your downloaded 2016 mini calendar from Annette. She held hers in place with a pretty gem clip from Tim and I followed suit. I absolutely love my desktop infinity calendar Annette and thank you for sharing your enormous talent with all of us.

That's all for me today, we're getting ready to take our college girl back tomorrow to prepare for her spring semester as a junior. I am going to miss her terribly...

Take care,

Lisa xx