Chase You

I've been trying to scrapbook my pre-digital-camera pics (already printed in 4x6 and filed chronologically), and I have to say I am loving it. It's been so much fun looking back through our photos from when the boys were small. And there's a certain perspective I now have for what stories are important to tell. Instead of being down on myself about being "so far behind" in my scrapbooking, I can be happy to reminisce on days gone by and make connections between the different periods in my children's lives to tell their story more completely.

There's no such thing as being too far behind. Look through some unscrapped photos and let the rush of memories and emotions write the story that's waiting to be told.

This layout uses the current Pencil Lines sketch.

The pattern papers are mostly from My Mind's Eye; stickers are American Crafts, chipboard phrase is Scenic Route, the bottom border is pom-pom fringe sewn to rick-rack.

The stUdio

I have been wanting to do a little tour of my crafting space for a long time now. While there's no time now to go through all of it, I did want to post this picture for Dixie Pieces Big Bummer, End of Summer contest that starts on Saturday. The month of August will be filled with challenges, tutorials and loads of inspiration centered around the *senses*. Check it out!

So here is my space (of course it rarely looks quite like this!):

1 color + 1 night = 2 layouts

I guess I was seeing red last night. Since my red stash was out for the "adorable YOU" page, I figured I might as well do a Valentine's page while I'm at it.

The frame around the collage was created with SU!'s Warm Words set and a black pen to join the words together.

The wire heart was made from a scrap of wire my son had cut off from a project he made yesterday. It was just laying on my desk destined for the circular file. From trash to treasure!

You are My Sunshine

I discovered this digi artist last night and was filled with inspiration. I created a few sketches from her work as well. I love this type of page: one great photo, playing with product from a bunch of lines and manufacturers, lots of layering. I just kept adding to the collage of elements until it looked complete. And it was fun to use up some stash that I've again had kicking around.

Journaling reads: You are a pint-sized package of personality. 16 mos This one sentence describes my middle to a T, and the picture of him as a toddler captures his mixture of sweet and mischief perfectly.

Lots of product from Making Memories, My Minds Eye, CK, Prima, and more.

Use an online gallery (Splitcoast, Two Peas, My Scrapbook Art, Flickr, Digi Shop Talk: another artist gallery I love) to inspire your next layout. Draw up several sketches to use for future layouts.

Scrapbook Club Layouts

Here are the layouts for this month's Scrapbook Club using the 2 Sweet kit. The DPS contains 10 photos! The measurements are: 6 @ 2.5" (a big square punch), 1 @ 4" square, 1 @ 3.5"x6", and 2 @ 4"x6". The title is a mix of components from the kit (3, totallysweet, &), Sizzix letters (Boys), and handwriting (a bunny). And I used up as many of those flowers as I could, afterall it is a springy Easter page!

Remember this sketch? I finally put it to use on this page. No photos yet, but you can use four of the recommended size of 2.25" x 3.25" or create your own similar arrangement. I'm trying to choose between photos of my husband and I and pics of me with the boys (both are pretty rare since I'm aways behind the lens). But you can get enough of an idea to complete the layout below.

The third layout is the SPS found here.

Dish Towel Apron

I'm not an apron wearer. I should be--I am not the world's neatest chef (my MIL can attest to that!). When I'm cooking, I can usually be spotted with a dish towel draped over my shoulder. I had picked up a bunch of new towels at Target, and one night while cooking I wrapped one around my waist (no it did not reach all the way around!), and thought, "Now, wouldn't this make a cute waist apron."

Tonight, after cleaning out my fabric and yarn drawer (doing some sewing and knitting can prompt a thorough cleaning-out and reorganizing), I came across the dish towel I had set aside for the apron. No time like the present to give this a whirl. Here's a step-by-step so you can make one, too. Ready?

You will need: one tea cloth dish towel (the prettier the better, like maybe these)

4 ft coordinating ribbon cut into two-2 ft lengths
pins
sewing machine

Step One:
Prewash the towel and iron it.

Step Two:
Lay the towel good side up. Fold down the top (on the long edge) enough to cover the width of ribbon. Sandwich the ribbon at about 1" into the towel and pin. Repeat on other side.
Step Three:

Pin the rest of the hem you just created.

Step Four:
Sew the ribbon into the towel with a "box-X" stitch. I'm sure there's a name for this, but I'm sewing impaired so I call it the box-x. Repeat on the other side.

Step Five:

Sew along the length of the towel, backstitching at both ends to complete the hem. I stitched mine twice just to make it look nice.

Step Six:

Lay the towel backside up, and fold up the bottom portion about 5". This will become the pockets. Pin at both sides, and at the middle.

Step Seven:
Sew along each end to close the sides, and down the middle to create two pockets (or design as many pockets as you would like).

Voila! Your apron is complete. How easy was that?! Wouldn't these be cute craft aprons or tool belts for kids. Mine were in bed when I made this, but I will try it on them tomorrow to see if it fits. And as I was pinning and sewing, I couldn't help but think of these crayon rolls. I wonder if this just might work for that project as well. Hmmm. . .

Camera Strap

Making one of these has been on my list of things to do for quite a while. I finally found some coordinating fabric that I loved and moved it to the top of my list for last night. Thanks to the fantastic tutorial over at Cluck, Cluck, Sew I whipped this pretty up in no time.
I adjusted the pattern ever so slightly, cutting the fabric to 28" rather than 26". I was thinking that I would not need the fusible fleece padding, then at the last minute (and a quick trip to JoAnn's) I added it. It's definitely better with it, not only for comfort, but also for overall look and quality. Out of 1/4 yard of fabric, I was able to cut enough for three straps. I would like to try one that is nearly the length of my whole strap to try to cover up some of the unattractive plasticware used in adjusting the strap length. I will definitely be making a whole slew of these--great for presents.

Here's a close up which was about all I could get once I slipped it onto my strap.

Now I can cross that off the list of things to do!

2 pages from fall

Here are two layouts I've managed to squeeze in this summer. I don't know why I think that I'll get more accomplished in the summer than during the school year, but somehow I always get this idea into my head.

paper: DCWV; felt flower: cut with Sizzix; chipboard numbers: Stampin' Up!

I used a bunch of *old* supplies on the above page; I don't even know most of the manufacturers. The oak leaf is an iron-on that I no doubt bought on clearance somewhere. Happy to say it has now found a home on a page!

No journaling on these yet. I'm trying to convince my husband to write his own journaling for the "32" page--don't think I'm going to have much luck {sigh}.

A card & a box

Splitcoast had a fantastically easy tutorial in their newlsetter just in time for the end of the school year. I made a few of these *pizza boxes* for the boys to give their teachers and bus drivers. They are so simple and fun, and sized perfectly for a gift card or piece of jewelry.

As I'm writing this, I am also thinking this could be the perfect home for a mini-album. Hmmm. . .

There are those beautiful sizzix butterflies again. I can't wait to create more projects with them!

The end of a school year means teacher gifts and graduations. My cousin graduated from college this year. Here's the card I made for her. I finally used the Forest Friends set. The owl is stamped on the label diecut from QuicKutz.