Cute Christmas Card

Today I went to a Craft Fair with two of my besties and had so much fun with them shopping, sampling, and laughing.  I just loved seeing all the handmade items and admiring the handiwork of others.  I really appreciate how much time it must have taken the crafters to make all their beautiful items. Needless to say, among the three of us we came home with our fair share of new holiday decorations, dip, cake and soup mixes, and aprons (yes, aprons...).

With the many Christmas items that were there to be seen, touched, and enjoyed, I certainly came home with a sense of Christmas Spirit -- even though it was 75 degrees outside and only the 8th of November!

I've had this "Candy Cane Penguin" cutting pattern from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs for quite sometime and thought that today was the day to make something out of it since I was in a Christmas state of mind.  So I made this cute little Christmas Card:

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The card itself is made on the black cardstock.  My photo makes it look like the red background is part of the card, but it isn't.  Anyway, the card has several layers:  the black cardstock, white glitter paper by Core'dinations, red cardstock, Bo Bunny Dot paper and the paper piecing.  The sentiment is from a stamp set that I've had forever.  I colored in the open spaces in the lettering with a red glitter pen and then just double matted the stamped image with more of the black and red cardstock paper.  I used a Martha Stewart snowflake punch set on the white glitter paper.  The bonus was that I now have a bunch of little tiny glitter snowflakes leftover from the punch.  I used a few of them on the blue Bo Bunny dot paper.

I lined the inside of the card with white cardstock that is matted with red cardstock.

Yeah, it's a little early for Christmas but I think this card turned out super cute!  Here is a quick link to the LSHD "Candy Cane Penguin" file in case any of you are interested in it:

http://www.littlescrapsofheavendesigns.com/item_766/Candy-Cane-Penguin.htm

Thanks for looking and, until next time...Happy Scrapping!

Jack-O-Lanterns Light the Night Layout

A friend told me about a home on the outskirts of town that makes this huge lighted Jack-O-Lantern display every year in their front yard for everyone to enjoy.  It's only up for 5-6 days, but wow...it is incredible!  The amount of work that goes into this for such a short period of time just goes to show you how much this family really gets into this labor of love.  There are probably 200 pumpkins that get donated by a pumpkin patch to this family.  It takes them a whole day to hull out the pumpkins and then the carving fun begins.

The display has all kinds of themes... traditional Jack-O-Lantern faces, Peanuts Gang, Star Wars, Graveyard, Neighborhood, Witches, Sports Logos, FFA/4H/Scouts logos, --- well, you get the picture!

I took my grandson and one of his friends to see it the day my friend told me it was all lit up.  Good thing we went because, as it turned out, that was the last night the display was going to be available to enjoy (night after Halloween).  The whole yard was lit up like Christmas and it was AMAZING!   My pictures of the lit up pumpkins turned out not to be the greatest, but hey.... a bad picture is better than no picture at all, right?  The pictures totally do not give the display justice...you really had to be there to witness how awesome everything was.

So, of course, I needed to scrapbook our Jack-O-Lantern adventure!  I really like how my layout turned out.

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I designed my own titles in SCAL2 using three different fonts and love, love, love how the "Light the Night" portion of the title looks on the moon with the bats.

The paper piecings from LSHD worked perfectly on this layout.

The moon, bats, tree and curvy pumpkins are from the LSHD "Spooky Hollow" collection.  The other more upright pumpkins are from "Harvest Crows".

The fence is the "Spooky Fence" pattern.

And, lastly, this is the super fun "Stacked Pumpkins" file.

I appreciate you stopping by and hope you enjoyed seeing all the details of this layout.

Until next time...Happy Scrapping!

Ho Ho Ho --- It's Finished!

Well, it took waaay longer than expected, but the infamous Baby Shower Album is officially finished. The baby shower was like in August, and I gave Mom-To-Be the album even though it was only a little more than half complete.  For whatever reason, about 2 weeks before the shower I decided to make the album as my gift.  I should have known it would not be completed because I just don't work that fast when it comes to scrapbooking.  I got the album back and had every intention on having it finished before the baby was born, but that didn't happen.  Well Baby Josie is now almost two weeks old and I can finally give her Mommy this beautiful keepsake.

This last week was a little hectic, but I was able to get more layouts finished and was down to needing just one more page.  I knew I wanted it to be a Christmas layout and was determined to get it done today...and I did...YAY!!!!!

So here it is, my grand finale page...

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The paper piecing files are from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs.  The Santa and Reindeer are from, well, the "Santa and Reindeer" file.  This collection actually has three different reindeer; the one I made, one with a wreath around his head, and another one doing a handstand with a strand of Christmas lights tangled in his antlers (and it is adorable!).  The sign is the "North Pole" pattern.  I printed the words on the sign and cut them down to the pattern size.  The cute little penguin is actually a sticker from my stash, but I thought he looked so cute just hanging out at the base of the North Pole!

I used Thickers for "Josie &" and then used some super old K&Company sticker letters for the "Santa". I LOVE these sticker letters and don't know why I never used them before.  I will absolutely use them for some of my own Christmas layouts.

Here is a closer look at the paper piecings and title block:

I really like how this page turned out.  Now all that's left to do is to make sure I have photos of all the layouts, put them in order in the album, and deliver it back to the new Mom & Dad.  I hope they love how it turned out as much as I do.

Thank you for taking the time to check out my latest project.  Until next time...Happy Scrapping!

Rainy Day

Yay!  It has been so dry here but it finally rained late yesterday and all night last night so that was my inspiration to make this cute paper piecing called "Rainy Day Bear" from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs.  After making it I remembered that  I had some photos of my grandson playing in some rain puddles from a couple years ago when we were waiting for his mom to finish one of her Ragnar Relay legs in Napa and they worked perfectly with this pattern.

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The paper was purchased at Scrapbook Expo in August and I actually had a different layout in mind for it when I bought it, but I think it worked out pretty good with this one.  Instead of making a title, I decided to use this quote that I had read somewhere and saved in a notebook.  Just seemed so appropriate for the pictures.

The Rainy Day Bear was so easy to piece together.  Here's a closer look at it for you:

If you're interested in this paper piecing pattern, here is a quick link for it on the Little Scraps of Heaven Designs website:

http://www.littlescrapsofheavendesigns.com/item_859/Rainy-Day-Bear.htm

Thank you for taking the time to check out my layout...I hope you enjoyed it!

Until next time...Happy Scrapping!

Easy Fall Table Centerpiece

With today being Halloween, that means the spooky decorations will be put away tomorrow and the rest of my Fall decorations will take their place.  I was looking for something not too big but not too small to go on my kitchen island and then remembered something I saw on Pinterest a few months ago for a summer centerpiece.  So with that inspiration, I finally found the vase I just knew I had somewhere around the house, gathered up my burlap ribbon, Glue Dots, Core'dinations cardstock, and my "Harvest Friends" cutting file from Little Scraps of Heaven and started crafting. 

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I think this centerpiece turned out just perfect.  For whatever reason, my photo makes the vase look small, like a votive, but it is actually about 6 inches in diameter and about 5 inches tall.  The leaves turned out so pretty and cool looking and I love the rustic look they have with the burlap ribbon.  I also really like how the candy corn blends right in with the colors of my Fall owls.  

Okay...confession time!  The vase looks like it is totally full of candy corn, but actually there is another smaller glass inside the vase and the candy corn is in between the two glasses.  I have a couple LED candles inside the smaller interior glass so that, when turned on, the candy corn and leaves will have a little glow in the evening time.

I hope this simple and easy project has given you a little inspiration!

Until next time...Happy Scrapping!

Making Caramel Apples Layout

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Today I'm sharing a cute two-page layout that I titled "Making Caramel Apples".  I used a few cutting files from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs on this layout:  Apple Picking Mice (apple tree), Apple Bushel, Caramel Apple Ghost, and Cooking Up Some Fun (pot, bowl, spoon).  

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For the words "Caramel Apples" in the title, I used a font called Grand Hotel.

I hope you enjoyed today's project!  Thanks for looking and until next time...Happy Scrapping!

Halloween Hop Winners!!!

THANK YOU so much to everyone who "hopped" with us yesterday during the Little Scraps of Heaven Designs HALLOWEEN HOP!  I'm especially thankful to those who hopped over to my Facebook fan page AND here on my blog and became new followers.  I really appreciate all the wonderful comments I received about my project.

Since the response was so fantastic I've decided to draw two winners instead of one...one from Facebook and one from my Blog.

The winner from my Facebook post is MELISSA McMILLAN

The winner from here on my Blog is EVA LANEY (Eva Scraps)

WOO HOO!!!!  CONGRATULATIONS LADIES!!!

Contact me at myscrapbookgarden@gmail.com with your mailing information so I can send your prize to you. Please put HALLOWEEN HOP WINNER as the subject.

THANK YOU AGAIN to all my new followers!

Until next time...Happy Scrapping!

LSHD HALLOWEEN HOP

Welcome to the Little Scrap of Heaven's Design Team HALLOWEEN HOP! 

If you are visiting from Colleen's page you are in the right place.... but if you just happened upon my page and would like to start at the beginning of the Hop, please head over to the LSHD Blog: Little Scraps of Heaven Designs or FB Fan Page: Little Scraps of Heaven Designs

For some spooky inspiration for this Hop, I created a Halloween Mini Album using chipboard lacing cards that features paper piecings from the "Spooky Hollow" and "Witch Frog" files.  The back of each lacing card is also finished off with colorful Halloween papers. This stand-up album looks so cute and fits right in with my Halloween decorations!  All I need now are some BOOtiful pictures of the grandkids in their Halloween costumes to make it complete.

Here are the front and back sides of my mini album:

For this project I inked the chipboard lacing cards with some Ranger Black Soot Distress Ink and then covered them with paper from the DCWV Eek-A-Boo Paper Stack.  The LSHD paper piecings were made from heavy cardstock and inked with chalks.  The paper piecings were so easy to put together even though I sized them smaller than I normally would for a scrapbook layout.  Aren't they just adorable???   To complete the album I used black tulle to tie all the chipboard pieces together.

Chipboard Lacing Cards and the Ranger Distress Ink

Close-up of the first panel

Cute little "Witch Frog" and pumpkins from "Spooky Hollow" 

Close-up of the Cat and pumpkins from the "Spooky Hollow" collection

And finally a closer look at the Ghost

Be sure to leave a comment on this posting AND all the other Design Team members' blogs or Facebook Fan Pages for your chance to win a little Hop Candy from me!  One lucky person will win this 6 x 6 Eek-A-Boo Halloween Stack by DCWV so they can create some of their own amazing Halloween projects.

Don't forget about our other fabulous Halloween Hop prizes!  One winner will be picked by each Design Team member from all the comments left on their FB and Blog pages. Be sure to COMMENT on ALL the Design Team blogs or fan pages to be eligible for a prize!

But that's not all!  The Grand Prize for this Halloween Hop will be $100 in patterns (regular price) from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs.  That is one AMAZING HALLOWEEN TREAT for one lucky winner!  In order to be eligible to win the $100 in patterns, you must leave a comment on the LSHD Blog or the LSHD Facebook Fan Page as well as ALL the Design Team members' blogs or fan pages who are participating in this Halloween Hop.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you enjoyed my Halloween project and also visiting my blog.  I'd love to have you follow My Scrapbook Garden!

Your next Hop visit will be Doris ' page.

If you get lost along the way, here is a list of the entire BLOG lineup.  We hope these ideas have inspired you!

Blog Line Up:

Tricia

Lisa

Colleen

Debbie

Doris

Leslie

Julie

Meagan

Sandra

Michelle

Amanda B

Or you can also Hop with us by visiting the FACEBOOK FAN PAGE LINE-UP:

Tricia

Lisa 

Shirley

Colleen

Debbie

Doris

Leslie

Amanda

Sandra

Michelle

Amanda B

Until next time...Happy Scrapping!

Too Cute To Spook

Happy Thursday!  Today I'm sharing a little layout I just finished for a baby album book that needs to be completed TODAY (baby was born yesterday...yikes!).  Since she arrived just in time for Halloween, I thought "perfect timing" for a "Too Cute To Spook" layout.  

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The little mouse paper piecing is from the Little Scraps of Heaven Designs "Jeepers Squeakers" collection.  There are several cutting files in this collection (and they are all adorable!), but since my paper was a little on the busy side, I felt this one piece was just enough and worked perfectly.  Here is a close-up of the paper piecing:

The title was made using some black glitter Thickers and my Sizzix Sizzlits "Cat 'n' Mouse" alphabet set.

Here is a link to the "Jeepers Squeakers" file on the Little Scraps of Heaven Designs website:

http://www.littlescrapsofheavendesigns.com/item_1198/Jeepers-Squeakers.htm

I hope you enjoyed seeing this fun little layout.  Until next time...Happy Scrapping!

Shades of Fall Layout

Well, fall is finally beginning to show its beautiful shades of color around my neighborhood and that's what my inspiration was for this layout.  The paper piecing patterns I used are from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs and they are "Squirrel With Acorns" and the leaves are from the "Harvest Friends" collection.

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I've had some of the Tim Holtz Kraft-Core Shattered cardstock by Core'dinations in all these fall colors for a little while now and wondered how it would look to make leaves out of them. Umm...fantastic!!!  They turned out so cool looking especially after I shaded the edges with the Vintage Photo Ranger Distress Ink.

The Squirrel With Acorns is an absolute adorable file and went together so easily.  For the tops of the acorns I scored them on my Scor-Pal and then inked over the score marks with the same Distress Ink for some added dimension.  The whole piece looks so natural on top of a couple more leaves, don't you think?

Here are the links to the two LSHD patterns I used in this layout:

http://www.littlescrapsofheavendesigns.com/item_1208/Squirrel-with-Acorn.htm

http://www.littlescrapsofheavendesigns.com/item_722/Harvest-Friends.htm

I designed the title for this layout in SCAL2 and used a font called HomewardBound.

Thanks for looking at my Shades of Fall project.  Until next time...Happy Scrapping!

Sunflower Layout

Happy Saturday!  And speaking of happy...this layout totally makes me smile!  I just LOVE sunflowers and when I took my grandson to one of the local pumpkin patches a few days ago, there was a huge section of sunflowers growing there.  Guess what that meant???  Picture time!!!  I have to admit that while we were taking these pictures I already knew exactly which scrapbook papers I wanted to use!  Been saving those babies for a long time and finally have just the perfect photos and paper piecings to go on them.  Let's also give a hand to the great little 7-year-old photographer who got grandma AND the sunflowers in the shot!!! (clap, clap, clap)

The paper piecing is the "Scarecrow and Pumpkin Photo Cluster" file from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs. Although it's designed to use with a photo, for this layout it worked perfectly to hold my page title.

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This scarecrow turned out just adorable.  I remembered that I had some little button brads in my stash just dying to be used, so I busted those out and used them on his overalls instead of the paper piecing ones that are part of the file.  Oh, and since he had a free hand, I figured he could hold a little journaling tag I made by using my 1-1/4" circle and 1-1/2" scallop circle punches (LOL!).

There are a lot of little pieces for this corner embellishment but it was actually kinda fun putting it together.

I printed my title from my computer.  The fonts I used are CK Curly and CK Shadowed Block. The sunflower paper is from the Graphic 45 French Country collection and the circle in the middle of the green scallop is made from a paper that I've had ever since I started scrapbooking (yikes!).  It's a Tim Coffey embossed paper designed for K&Company.

Here is a quick link to the "Scarecrow and Pumpkin Photo Cluster" file on the LSHD website:

http://www.littlescrapsofheavendesigns.com/item_1211/PC-Scarecrow-and-Pumpkin.htm

Hope you enjoyed this project!  Until next time...Happy Scrapping!

Little Fashionista Layout

Here is a one-page layout that will be added to the baby shower gift album that is sooo close to being completed. Baby's due in less than 2 weeks!  Mama-to-be got so many cute outfits at her shower that there's no doubt this new baby girl is going to be a true Little Fashionista!

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Mama-to-be is going to love this layout.  Although she likes the soft, shabby-chic look, she's also very much into the animal prints and bright colors so I think this page will fit perfectly in her album.

For the little outfits I used files from the Little Scraps of Heaven "Magical Pals" and "Raggedy Witch" collections.  I just love how these files are so versatile.  I mean, seriously, who knew a Raggedy Witch dress could turn out looking even more darling in another color, right???  And the plain white top with jeans shorts from the "Magical Pal" file is actually the little boy "Don" clothes.  Just added the hot pink heart sticker and instantly it was a little girl's outfit. The pink "Minn" dress and plaid "Daisy Mae" romper were so easy to put together that I could have made a whole closet full of these clothes -- Too stinkin' cute!

I used the little hair bows as little accents on the photo mats.

For the title, I printed "Little" from my computer and designed "Fashionista" in SCAL2 using a font called "CK Curly".

Hope you enjoyed this project.  Until next time...Happy Scrapping!

Cutest Little Giants Fan Layout

Okay...I don't follow Major League Baseball, but I think I really knocked this layout out of the park! One of my very good friends is a die-hard SF Giants fan and she is expecting her first grandbaby (a girl!) in a couple weeks.  After seeing all the adorable Giants onesies, headbands and clothes she bought months ago for the new baby, this layout was an absolute MUST!  It's going in the infamous baby shower gift album that I'm working my you-know-what off to finish to give to the mama-to-be, hopefully before she delivers! Only two more layouts to go...

For a one-page layout, there's really a lot behind this.  For starters, I called around looking for SF Giants scrapbook paper.  Fortunately the Beverly's in Modesto had this so I didn't have to drive too far for it.  Of course driving around 20 miles for a $1.29 sheet of paper ended up costing me $24.67 but that's a whole other story.  I was disappointed that there were no stickers or other embellishments to go with the paper but I knew I'd figure something out.

After getting home with my prized Giants scrapbook paper I started searching the Internet for some free "official" SF Giants logos, clipart, etc.  I printed off the present Giants logo on photo paper and downloaded the official "SF", wondering if I could possible get it into SCAL2 and cut my own embellishment. Well, as you can see, I was able to Trace it in SCAL2 but I couldn't figure out if there was a way to separate the shadow part.  I thought "no biggie, will make my own".  It took a couple tries but I got my shadow to fit perfectly and it was a HOME RUN!!!  Love how it turned out.

So back to the layout...

Here it is in all its glory:

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I had actually purchased some orange with large white polka dot paper to make the picture frame. It was cute, but just way too much orange for the layout.  It was making me twitch, so I calmed it down with a soft gray instead.  Much better...twitching went away.

The black loopy border is from a Martha Stewart punch, the title "Cutest Little" is a font I have on my computer called Team Spirit and the "Fan" is another font called Freshman.  The paper piecings are from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs and are from the Little League collection. I think they added just the perfect whimsical touch to this layout. Here is a quick link to that file if you'd like to check it out:

http://www.littlescrapsofheavendesigns.com/item_1069/Little-League.htm

I hope you enjoyed this post and like the layout!  Gotta go think about the next layout for the baby album... so until next time, Happy Scrapping!