ScrapMatters CT

Do You LOVE Books?

| cristina

There’s a gorgeous new collab in the ScrapMatters store today, from two of the April guest designers, Eva Kipler and Kate Hadfield.

I absolutely adore Kate’s doodles, and these will be so perfect for many pages! Bottle + glass of wine: check! Chocolate bar: check! Camera: check! Laptop: check! And so much more! But today I started by doing a page about my love for books. It sounds a bit stupid, but I had this big revelation a few weeks ago, and I wanted to document it. I had never thought about it, but DH is not a book lover. And this was quite a shock to me, since I have been raised up with love and books. 🙂

A Lifelong Love Affair

Journaling:
It’s funny: I’ve known DH for almost 12 years, but I’ve only just realized that he doesn’t LOVE reading. Sure, he likes it, but he’s not crazy obsessed like me. I have always loved books. It started in kindergarten and grade school (I loved Spot’s books and Roald Dahl’s)and I really never stopped. My mom was just like me, and I never realized before that there are people who aren’t like that. Of course, I know people who never read, like my grandma, or are intermittent, slow readers, like my dad and DH, but I never filled the dots. Anyway, we were out for dinner a couple of weeks ago, when I started telling him once more how he should really read a book that I loved, when I finally got it: he doesn’t love to read. So I asked him if he liked to read as a kid, and he said he hated it! That’s when I finally understood how blessed I am to have this passion. I couldn’t live without books. Every few weeks or so, I feel the physical need to go to the bookstore to pick up a new book or two, and dream on…

Credits:
Me, Myself and I by Eva Kipler and Kate Hadfield
Math’s Class Alpha by Kate Hadfield
Font: JH Kari

I also plan to make a little hybrid notebook with this kit to record my reads (I am a bit of a control freak at times 😉 ) but it might not be for a while, with all the other stuff I should be doing first. 🙂 This will be a busy weekend. We’ve invited a friend over for Easter and it’s the last weekend before my mom comes to visit (yay!). I am quite pleased with how this week went. Work-wise, I got a paper accepted in a journal, and two other papers accepted at a conference (earning me a trip to the West Coast this summer); scrap-wise, I made some good progress on my P365. Instead of finishing up one week at a time, I’ve decided to go ahead and get the journaling and photo selection and editing first, while my recollections are more fresh. I’ve done 4 weeks’ worth of pages this way already! I’m still only up to April 10 though, so more intense catching up is needed.

Monkey Business

| cristina

I finished these cards on Monday and only just realized I haven’t blogged them yet. I am SO happy with how they turned out! But it’s no surprise, since I used this gorgeous collab by Jennifer Labre and Kate Hadfield:

Those monkey are adorable! (And I’m not even particularly fond of monkeys! 😉 But these are just irresistible! 😉 )

I Love Hanging Out With You card

Credits:
Monkeying Around by Jenn Labre and Kate Hadfield
New Growth alpha by Kate Hadfield
Font: Firefly castle

This card is so much more fun in person: I didn’t adhere the monkeys’ bodies to the card, so they swing around when you move the card. Too cute!

You Drive Me Bananas card

Credits:
Monkeying Around by Jenn Labre and Kate Hadfield
Background paper from Growing Something Good by Jenn Barrette
Font: Firefly castle

I told you I was in love with that wood paper. 😉

Easter Banner

| cristina

I can finally share the project I did for the April ScrapMatters newsletter: an Easter banner!

Easter Banner

Credits:
Shaped Cards: Spring, Egg Templates and Accordion Flowers by Krisi’s Kreations, The Carrot Patch by Chelle’s Creations

I had so much fun cutting out all the pieces with my Silhouette, and the banner looks great now! 🙂 It’s not against the wall as in the picture above, it’s hanging freely over DH’s armchair! Here are some of the details:

Easter Banner

Easter Banner

Easter Banner

I will have a hard time taking this down once Easter is over! 🙂

Flowers and Bunnies

| cristina

I have been quite busy lately and I’m struggling to find time to create – but don’t I say that all the time? 🙂 I think I am working on at least 3-4 projects at the same time, instead of focusing on one and seeing it to the end, so that doesn’t help either… 😉 But I expect quite a few will come together before the weekend is over. In the meantime, last night, since DH was late from choir practice (they stayed an extra half hour, until 9:30 PM, and I was starving… the best way to get distracted was to finish up a couple things), I put together these two little things. I used a gorgeous kit by one of April’s guest designers at ScrapMatters, Laurie Ann:

Isn’t it pretty? All those springy colors! Here’s a card I made:

Spring Tree card

And I also made a bookmark for DH because 1) I couldn’t resist that bunny and 2) despite having made several bookmarks at his request months ago, he claims he doesn’t have enough (and in fact he cannot locate a few of the old ones… sigh).

Bunny Bookmark

I haven’t given it to him yet though, I certainly did not want to endorse his being late home last night. 🙂 I think I’ll give him both the card and bookmark together for my Project 52 Cards this week.

Prioritizing

| cristina

I’ve been trying to catch up my P365 pages and making this a priority. I love to have these pages done and can’t wait to be caught up and start thinking about getting them printed!

Credits:
de*light kit by DeCrow Designs
Serendipity Alpha and Suzy Q Alpha by CD Muckosky
Font: CK Noah


Credits:
Photo Splits – Doubles by DeCrow Designs
Free as a Bird by Jenn Barrette
Font: CK Noah

Credits:
Font: CK Noah

Week 10 is already halfway done, so I have about 4 weeks to catch up with.

A Couple of Cards

| cristina

I have a couple of cards to share from the past couple of weeks. The first one is a very simple little card made with Sahlin Studio goodies.

Thank You card

Credits:
Grandma’s Dresser by Sahlin Studio
SuzyQ alpha by CD Muckosky

The texture of that paper is to die for!! Next, a card I made to celebrate the first day of spring, last Sunday.

Bunny Spring card

Credits:
The Carrot Patch by Chelle’s Creations
Accordion Flowers by Krisi’s Kreations
Fonts: CK Ali’s Hand, American Typewriter

Isn’t this bunny adorable? I used glossy accents on the carrot.

Bunny Spring card

Love the Cook!

| cristina

My husband is an excellent cook, so when I saw Erica Zane’s delicious collection I knew I had to make something for my favorite cook. 🙂

And here’s my little card. I’m so late posting this, I made this cards a few weeks ago already! 🙂

Love the Cook Card

I also made another pretty project with this kit, for the March ScrapMatters newsletter: an altered clipboard!

Altered Clipboard

This was my first clipboard and I had lots of fun putting it together! 😉 I actually made this first, then I liked the little cluster so much that I used it for my card as well. 🙂

Altered Clipboard

I am planning to hang this in the kitchen to hold menu ideas and shopping lists. 😉

Penguin Cuteness

| cristina

My husband loves penguins, so I made him a card using the latest kit by Erica Zane:

Isn’t it adorable? Here’s my card:

Penguin Snow card

Get ready for more cards coming tomorrow. I’m on a card roll! 😉

Hybrid Wall Art

| cristina

I am really excited about the project I did for this month’s ScrapMatters newsletter. I made this with Valentine’s Day in mind, but this project is just a simple and effective home decor project good for any season. I hope you are signed up to the newsletter, because I made a free template of the shape I used for my wall art decoration. 🙂

Heart Wall Art
Credits:
It’s Gonna Be a Happy New Year by WM [squared] Designs and Jennifer Barrette

Isn’t it pretty? It really looks great in our living room!

Christmas Cards: Mission Accomplished!

| cristina

Last week I finished the last Christmas cards I needed. They turned out quite pretty! 🙂 Since then, all my (little) free time has gone in putting together the December Daily album (which is now 99% complete), so look out to see some pages of that soon. 🙂 I’m actually not looking forward to taking pictures of all the pages I made – there are so many! So the plan is to take pictures after I’ve added photos and journaling, not of the blank pages.
Anyway, here’s my 3 last cards:

Christmas Card 2010 (5)

Credits:
Joyful Christmas kit and Add-on by LDrag Designs

I actually added some liquid pearls to decorate the tree, but don’t have a picture of that. Sorry! 🙂
Then I made a print only card:

Christmas Card 2010 (6)

Credits:
Christmas Wonder by Kaye Winiecki and Cori Gammon
Free Spirit Alpha by CD Muckosky

And the last one:

Christmas Card 2010 (4)

Credits:
Holly Jolly Holiday by Chelle’s Creations
Paper shapers by Britt-ish Designs

This is my favorite; it was my first time using Martha Stewart’s micro beads – so pretty!

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