www.windycityscrapbooking.com

As promised, I put together a quick mini-album from the My Mind's Eye packet I received a couple of weeks ago.  It will more than likely take me longer to figure out how to upload the photos to this blog than it took me to create the mini album!

I cut some chipboard into 4x5 inch pieces, then cut the patterned paper to size, stitched a few, and used a glue stick and brayer to put the paper on the chipboard.  I distressed the edges with the Bazzill file and some paint.  I chose a few of my favorite wallet sized photos from the past year or so, and some quick embellishments: die cuts, bling and some velvet Making Memories words from a long long time ago.  They worked perfectly!  Since it is really a showcase for wallet photos, and not a "scrapbook" I didn't journal at all.  It is just a fun way to put a few wallets together in a pretty way.

I will be sending it to work with my husband, for his office, but before that I will leave the album at the store for inspiration!  Dig into your stash, embellish with a few new pieces, and enjoy!!

Angie

Comment (0)

Did you know that Windy City Scrapbooking carries Sizzix? Well, we do! I think of myself as a die cut junkie and Sizzix has a great assortment of dies for me to add to my collection. Last week we reorganized all of the Sizzix products and they are all in one area now and it looks great! Our rep did a wonderful job arranging everything so you can easily see what goes together. If you have been thinking about trying Die cutting out for yourself February is a great month to try it out. All of our Sizzix merchandise is 25% off through the end of the month. If you are curios about this and have never tried it, next time you stop in the store as for a demo. We would love to answer any questions you might have!  FYI, you can also use QuicKutz dies in the Sizzix machines so that will give you many more options in shapes and Alphabets!

~~Jen
 

Comment (1)

For the past couple of days, my husband has done all of my morning duties (making breakfast, packing lunches, dropping girls at school) while I went to Yoga one day and to the gym the other day.  This has made such a difference in regard to how I felt all day long, my mood has been better, I've been more creative, and in general able to deal with life's little annoyances with more humor.  It is not just the fact that I exercised first thing in the morning, but, rather, the fact that I shook up my routine and it changed my perspective on practically everything.  The house was quiet when I got back today and it was still early enough for me to enjoy breakfast while watching a little Oprah, to read a magazine and have some coffee, and take a long hot shower without interruption.  The little things seemed much more important!  

Changing perspective can be huge when it comes to your life and to scrapbooking.  Do you always start a layout using photos first?  Why not try choosing an embellishment that you just loved in the store and build a layout from there?  Or, do you tend to avoid extensive journaling?  Why not write about something funny that happened to you recently, or a funny thing your child says all the time, and then choose photos and paper from there?  I typically scrapbook chronologically, making monthly layouts for each of my children.  But, this week I was given a packet of materials from the store for a Design Team challenge.  The papers themselves were inspiring, all my favorites - pinks, blues, oranges and lots of flowers.  Very girly.  I wanted to pick a giant 8x10 photo of one of my girls and use that, but instead, I changed my perspective and decided that I would use some of the papers for Clara's monthly chronological scrapbook, and did a layout about April 2009 for her.  There are ten photos on this two-page layout (only one show, and because of that large number, I had to hide the journaling.  But, it felt great to sit down and move myself forward with her chronological album and to use this super cute paper from My Mind's Eye.  

Next up:  A mini-album using these papers and featuring my favorite wallet photos from 2009.  Stay tuned!

Comment (1)

February brings a set of new sales!  See below.  Plus each weekend we will host a FREE Make-N-Take to compliment the week's sale.  Stop in each weekend in February to make 4 different free projects! 

Want to learn how to create a ruffled paper ribbon that is showing up in all the magazines lately?  Stop by this weekend, February 6th and 7th. 

Want to go beyond the obvious use for stickers?  Come by February 13th and 14th. 

Never stamped before?  Stop in February 20th and 21st. 

Still discovering the fun things you can do with rub-ons?  Come by February 27th and 28th.

Comment (0)

Handmaking Valentine's Day cards is an old fashioned tradition.  What could be better on Valentine's Day than giving your loved one a greeting you created?  Handmaking the valentines your child gives away at school is also a great idea.  Kids love creating and it keeps them busy :) 

This year my daughters and I are making a few different valentines.  They send valentines to their grandparents, give them away at school, and to friends in the neighborhood. 

First up, grandparent valentines!  Ours get mailed because they live far away so we chose a traditional A2 card with an envelope.  My younger 2-yo daughter loves to use the Epic 6 die cutting machine.  It's so easy even she can crank the dies through the machine.  So a valentine with a die cut was an easy choice.  She chose the paper and helped cut the shapes.  After the front was made the girls drew pictures and put a greeting on the inside.




Next up, school valentines.  My older 5-yo daughter likes die cutting as well but she also really enjoys stamping.  She made die cut cupcakes and then stamped part of the greeting.  She wrote in the rest of the greeting with a colored pen.  She is old enough now that she also likes to adhere all the pieces together with a glue stick.




Finally, valentines for neighborhood friends.  We had a little fun with this set.  We wrapped candy bars with patterned paper and then decorated them with stickers, flowers, and ribbon.  Wrapping boxes of converstation hearts is cute and easy but you could experiment by wraping Hershey bars or even gourmet chocolate!  (BTW - candy bar wrapping is a super hot wedding/shower favor trend too!)




Here are just a few product ideas for your valentines:
Cupcake & Cherry Sizzix Die
Cupcake Sizzlit Die by Sizzix
Jolee's Box of Chocolates Stickers
Chocolate Swirl Die Cut Paper
Be Loved Collection by My Mind's Eye
Color Me... Loved by Luxe Designs

Make your Valentine's Day special this year by putting a little heart into your cards!
Melissa

Comment (0)