Happy Thanksgiving!

November 24, 2011 | cristina

Happy Thanksgiving! I am so happy to be spending it with my mom and my husband! It’s a first! 🙂
Here is last week’s P52 Cards picture.

You can see the Week 47 card here.

Lots of Crafting Projects!

November 21, 2011 | cristina

I have been busy creating this weekend, since it will be a while before I can craft again, with my mom being here. I have started my December Daily album and i am loving how it’s coming along! Jenn Barrette and Krista Sahlin have teamed up to make this fabulous Christmas kit that inspired my to start on this year’s December Daily project. 🙂

It is available at The Lilypad and at Sweet Shoppe Designs. Plus there are some fantastic add on packs:

This is what my first pages look like. I recolored a few items to match my color scheme. More peeks to come towards the end of the week! 🙂

I have not decided what date these pages will be for yet, that will depend on what pictures I have for each day.

Another big project I have committed to for next year is Project Life. I am in the process of buying the binder and the paper kit, and I am excited to start. I will also be printing out digi goodies to fill my album, and the new collection by Jenn Barrette and Kristin Cronin-Barrow is simply perfect for this!

The colors are really versatile, and I am crazy about those journaling pieces! 🙂 I made this card to start with. 🙂

I also made a card for DH’s birthday this week. I had fun making this – it uses a digital stamp and it is my first time using one!

That owl is so cute! I followed a tutorial by Trish on how to digitally color stamps (well… truth be told, I skipped a few steps, but it worked for me 😉 and I will be using digital stamps again for sure! 🙂 ).

Credits:

Hoo-ray Digital Stamp by Kaye Winiecki

Background paper from Bring on the Cake by Karah Fredricks, Kate Hadfield and Kaye Winiecki

Candyland alpha, Stand Tall alpha and Serendipity alpha by CD Muckosky

Colored with brush from Finishing Touches 6 by Karah Fredricks

Have a great week! 🙂

Hybrid Christmas Tree Tutorial

November 20, 2011 | cristina

In this tutorial I will be showing you how to make a paper tree. I love three dimensional hybrid projects, but I’m always pressed for time during the holiday season, so I selected this project because it is especially easy to make but yields an impressive result. This project was inspired by Martha Stewart.

In addition to being fairly quick, this is also a thrifty project; chances are you already have all that’s needed in your home right now. You will need digital supplies (I used the kit “Once Upon a Shabby Christmas” by Haynay Designs), matte presentation paper, printer, scissors, bone folder, bamboo skewers, up-cycled foam from shipping packaging, hot glue gun or Glossy Accents, and optional decorations like glitter glue, buttons, sequins, etc.

If you look at the completed project, it might be hard to believe that it’s made only of paper circles, but that’s exactly all it is! I have used circles of 2″, 3″, 4″, 5″ and 6″ diameters. If you want to make a smaller tree, skip the 6″ circle.

Once you have printed out the circles (I used matte presentation paper for this project), cut them out. Your cuts don’t have to be precise, so it will be very quick to cut the circles out. Here are the steps for making your Christmas tree:
1. Start with one paper circle.
2-4. Fold it in half using a bone folder.

5. Open up the circle.
6. Fold it in half again, at 90 degrees with the previous fold.
7. Open up the circle.
8. Make another fold in between one of the previous folds.

9. Make a fourth fold, at 90 degrees with the latest fold.
10. You have made four folds, so your circle now has 8 equal segments.
11-12. Now we’re going to fold the circle inside out and make four more folds, in between the first four.

13. Once you have completed the 8 folds, the circle is divided in 16 equal segments.
14. The folds are alternating, one towards the inside and one towards the outside.
15. Cut a small hole at the center of the circle.
16. The size of the hole has to be big enough for the skewer to fit through.
Repeat steps 1-16 for all the paper circles you have.

17-18. Cut a piece of foam shipping material into a cube and poke a hole in it with the skewer.
19. Insert the biggest folded paper circle onto the skewer.
20. Apply glue (hot glue is the easiest; I don’t have a hot glue gun so I used Glossy Accents – you will have to hold the paper in place until the glue dries) on the skewer in correspondence of where you want the next smaller paper circle to go.

21. Insert the folded paper circle and hold in place until the glue dries.
22. Repeat for smaller folded circles.
23. Cut the skewer after you have added the last folded circle.
24. Decorate the tree top as you wish. I used Stickles glitter glue.

The tree is ready! You can decorate it further if you wish, using more glitter or fake snow or beads.

These simple paper trees make such a festive decoration! You can use them as place holders for the Christmas table or to decorate the house for the season – the possibilities are endless, and nobody will ever believe they were so easy to make!

December Daily

November 19, 2011 | cristina

Now that I am done with one year of December Daily and have just started this year’s album, it’s time to summarize a few of the things that worked or didn’t work for me. Last year, my December Daily project was very ambitious. I decided I would only use Christmas kits; I bought a 6″x6″ D-ring album and decided to make a 2-page spread for each day, plus an insert with the date. So my album ended up being pretty thick. I decided I liked the look of pages with different shapes, and I used my Silhouette a lot to cut borders on pages and to cut out elements and alphas. I did not have any color scheme, and I wanted to use a different alpha for each date. A part from the first couple days of December, all the other pages were done ahead of time, but since I was traveling I couldn’t keep up with printing photos. I was hoping to get at least the journaling in, but that doesn’t work for me because I need to do the photo editing first to know how much space I will need to leave on the page. After adding a few pages and photos in January up to Day 13 or so, my album sat unfinished until this month, when I powered through, edited all the photos, printed them out and journaled. I am very happy with how my album turned out, but I put a lot of hours in it.

This year, I am way more unorganized. Last year I started working on my album in October. This year, I haven’t even decided several major things yet:

Binding: I don’t know whether I will go with a D-ring album again, use binding rings, or maybe try to use wire binding with my new Cinch (it all depends on how thick my album turns out…).
Size: I am not set on the size of the pages yet, but I have started making a few of them – all 6″x5″ for now. So I will have to decide whether I want to have all pages of the same size or not.

But I am going with the flow. Here are the things I have settled on:

Color scheme: unlike last year, I have a color theme for this year’s album. I will use traditional Christmas colors (red and green galore, but mainly red) with pops of aqua blue. I think this will give my album a really cool look.
Inserts: I won’t have separate date inserts this year. Too much work to come up with a unique one for each day, plus they make the album thicker. I will have a different alpha date on each page and that’s that.
Workflow: I will probably not have my album all done ahead of time – this way I can work based on the photos I have. I’d like to incorporate some full page photo too.

And now, it’s time to finally share pictures of my 2010 December Daily album. Be ready for a picture overload. 🙂

I covered the album with metalized tape. 🙂 Hard to photograph, but it looks so pretty!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6 – this is one of my favorite pages. 🙂

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10 – I love this page too. Too bad you can’t see the stickles on the owl and snowman ball.

Day 11

Day 12 – this is one of my favorites too! 🙂

Day 13 – I know, I am missing the number 13 on this page… 🙂

Day 14

Day 15

Day 16

Day 17 – love this one too!

Day 18

Day 19

Day 20

Day 21

Day 22

Day 23

Day 24

Day 25

Day 26 – no number here, but I wanted to include the last couple days of our trip. 🙂

Day 27 – and you can also see a couple of bits and pieces I had printed out but ended up not using. 🙂

Forgive the blurriness of a few photos. I didn’t have the energy to re-shoot them. 🙂 Here is an almost complete list of credits (I’m sure I am missing a couple things here and there, but nothing major).
Day 1+2
Bundle Up by Kate Hadfield and SMJ Designs
Bingo number by Maya Road
Day 3+4
Crate Paper (Snow Day Collection)
Day 4
Snow Much Fun by Mari Koegelenberg
Line It Up: Templates v. 1 by Krisi’s Kreations
Day 5
Christmas Cheer by Jenn Barrette
Line It Up: Templates v. 1 by Krisi’s Kreations
Thickers foil sticker by American Crafts; tinsel; InkEssentials white gel pen by Ranger; baker’s twine by Martha Stewart
Day 6
A Retro Christmas freebie by Michelle Coleman
Day 7
A Chance of Flurries by Jenn Barrette and Mandabean
Line It Up: Templates v. 1 by Krisi’s Kreations
Day 8
A Chance of Flurries by Jenn Barrette and Mandabean
Line It Up: Templates v. 1 by Krisi’s Kreations
Day 9
Snow Much Fun by Mari Koegelenberg
Line It Up: Templates v. 1 by Krisi’s Kreations
Day 10
Happiest Season of All by Britt-ish Designs
Line It Up: Templates v. 1 by Krisi’s Kreations
Thickers foil sticker by American Crafts; baker’s twine by Martha Stewart; Stickles by Ranger; red gel pen by Reminisce
Day 11
Very Merry by DeCrow Designs and Britt-ish Designs
Foundations – Round by DeCrow Designs (retired)
Day 12
Hustle and Bustle by Britt-ish Designs
Day 13
Season of Giving by Sahlin Studio and Sugarplum Paperie
Day 14
Foundations – Square by DeCrow Designs (retired)
Holly and Ivy by DeCrow Designs and Studio Rebecca
Day 15
Counting Down to Christmas by Jenn Barrette
Day 16
Christmas Wonder by Kaye Winiecki and Cori Gammon
Bingo card from Vintage Charm by Jenn Barrette (retired)
Day 17
Christmas Wonder by Kaye Winiecki and Cori Gammon
Crate Paper (Snow Day Collection) – right Day
Gift from Counting Down to Christmas by Jenn Barrette
JOY word strip from Snipettes: Season of Giving by Sahlin Studio
Day 18
Christmas Wonder by Kaye Winiecki and Cori Gammon
Crate Paper (Snow Day Collection) – left Day
Word strips from Counting Down to Christmas by Jenn Barrette
Day 19
Noel – A Vintage Christmas kit by Mari Koegelenberg
Day 20
Cozy Christmas by Leora Sanford (retired)
Tree from Holly and Ivy by DeCrow Designs and Studio Rebecca
Gift from Counting Down to Christmas by Jenn Barrette
Crate Paper (Snow Day Collection) – right Day
Day 21
Crate Paper (Snow Day Collection) – left Day
Gift and “wrapping gift” word strip from Counting Down to Christmas by Jenn Barrette
Holiday Mixed Media by Sahlin Studio
Season of Giving by Sahlin Studio and Sugarplum Paperie
Day 22
Element on left Day from Holiday Cheer by WMsquared Designs
Christmas Doodles 2 by Leora Sanford (retired)
Cozy Christmas by Leora Sanford (retired)
Flip Flops alpha stamps by CD Muckosky
Day 23 and 24
12 Days the kit by Mari Koegelenberg
Day 25
12 Days the kit by Mari Koegelenberg
Santa and alpha from Very Merry by DeCrow Designs and Britt-ish Designs
Photo inserts: Falala papers by Rachel Young Designs
Day 26
A Touch of Winter by Erica Zane – left Day
Holly and Ivy by DeCrow Designs and Studio Rebecca – right Day

Low on Cards!

November 15, 2011 | cristina

I haven’t made cards in a few weeks, so on Sunday I had to make a new one to give to DH for my P52 Cards. 🙂

You can see the Week 46 card here.

And now I’d better get working on a card for this week! But it’s tough because I seem to be doing mostly Christmas stuff lately so I need to switch gears. 🙂

It’s DONE!

November 14, 2011 | cristina

My 2010 December Daily album is finally done!! I only went up to day 27, instead of doing the full month as I’d originally intended, but that’s OK because it’s when our trip back home ended so it made sense to the album there. I am so happy to be done with it, and it looks so pretty! Unfortunately sharing pictures of my December Daily is a daunting task (I have to take at least 60 pictures, edit them, and try to round up the credits – I kept track of the things I used but I ended up mixing and matching some of the elements on different pages…) so I’m not quite sure when I’ll tackle that. Perhaps next weekend if I get some decent natural light. Now I can seriously think about what to do for this year. I’d love to do an album again, but one that requires less work. In the meantime, I have a card to share; I finally had time to play with the gorgeous collection that Krista of Sahlin Studio released for DSD weekend. I printed it out yesterday along with the last bits I needed for the December Daily album. 🙂

Credits:

Autumn Afternoon papers and Autumn Afternoon Paper Flowers by Sahlin Studio

Deck of Cards alpha by Valorie Wibbens
Heart from Paintstroke Chatter elements by CD Muckosky

The patterns of these papers are absolutely gorgeous, and I am so in love with that card alpha! 😉

8 days to my mom’s visit, and I have about 15 pages to scrap for the album of her last visit… I’ll do the best I can! 🙂

Paper Trees

November 11, 2011 | cristina

It’s time for me to share a Christmas project I did a while back. I know it’s still a bit early to think of Christmas, but I like to plan ahead, especially when crafting. I love to create hybrid home decor accents and I love Christmas, so I had lots of fun putting this project together.

Credits:
Once Upon a Shabby Christmas by Haynay Designs

These Christmas paper trees are so simple to make and look so pretty! I am eager to decorate the house for Christmas now! 🙂

End of Year Projects

November 8, 2011 | cristina

As the end of the year approaches, I have 1,000 ideas for projects, but so little time to make them happen! I am devoting most of my time to finishing my December Daily from last year. I’m actually enjoying editing all the photos, thanks to RadLab – I’m still using the free trial but it’s expiring soon and I think I will cave in and buy it. It has really made editing more fun and easier for me, so it’s worth it. I have not been in a hybrid mood at all lately, but I need to get some cards done because my stash is low and I need a card for this week for my Project 52 Cards! Here are the past couple of weeks’ photos.

You can see the Week 44 card here.

You can see the Week 45 card here.

I am still undecided whether to do December Daily this year or not. I do not have the energy for doing a full hybrid album like I did last year, when I put my Silhouette to good use :), but on the plus side I think I’d have more chances of completing it sooner this year, since we won’t be traveling.

I have also decided to do Project Life. It’s a P365 concept, but with a physical album – I love the idea of having a place to store all the little bits and pieces. I’m a bit worried about keeping up with the photo printing, but I am really hoping to make it work for me. I might start it in December, if I skip the Dec. Daily this year, or wait till January when things calm down.

On the digital side, I am still trying to get my mom’s last visit’s album finished, but still have a ways to go. I have about 45 pages done and I think I need at least 10 more. I really want to finish it before she arrives, but that leaves me only 2 weeks, and adding that to the December Daily makes it unrealistic for me to get it done. But I’ll try my best!

DVD Folder

October 25, 2011 | cristina

I must share a project I recently made with a great hybrid template by Simply J Studio and some of the ScrapMatters September Mix-a-Kit. I love how it turned out!