A One Year Old Deserves His Own Book

Hayes' first birthday deserves more than a layout. So I started an 8X8 album for him, I usually always use the 12X12 format. Here are six pages, they are simple and fast to complete.

And the Award Goes To

Kylie gave me this award and then had to tell me how to pass it on. I'll get this blogging down pat one day! I would like to give the award to:

• Debby because she brings out my inner creativity with her "dares"
• Julie because she is an amazing teacher and artisit
• Susan because her layouts and project are so pretty
• Anyone else who stumbles across my blog because I love getting comments!

Crop-A-Dile Big Bite

Archiver's called to tell me the Big Bite was in...yea! I had a coupon for 30% off that expires the end of February, so of course I had to rush right over there and pick this bad boy up! I will have to try it out tomorrow and let you know how it works.

Embellishing With Scraps-Step by Step Instructions

I made the flowers for this layout from scraps. I cut circles then cut snips around each circle, then spritzed with water and curled the "petals" (I used a knitting needle on the larger circle). I added buttons to the center of the flowers. I cut the title using the Fiskars shape cutter and template, then I dotted aroung each letter with my Souffle pen. I inked the edges of the layout with a pale yellow ink.

Finally Home

After sitting in the Fort Lauderdale Airport for 7 hours we finally got on a flight at 9pm and we didn't home until almost midnight last night (I should have been home around 6pm). I was so tired today, but I just had to scrap something. I was having withdrawals, now I know for sure that I am addicted to scrapping!

A Perfect Vacation, Unhappy Ending

I am stuck at the Fort Lauderdale airport and my 4pm flight is delayed, its now 5:30 and who knows when my flight will get out of here. There is a massive power outage in South Florida and it's causing major problems for everyone. Hope to home be later tonight.

Sunny South Florida

This is the perfect place to be in February! Yesterday it was sunny and 85 degrees. I'm working on coming home with a tan. I'm here for family wedding, but we stretched the weekend out and we're staying until Tuesday. No scrapping going on here, so look for my projects next week. Above, my niece Madeline on the front of the boat, my husband and his cousin, the Captain.

Little Black Book

Here's my take on a project at Heart in Hand, this was in a free class and took me all of 30 minutes to make. They have a lot of classes and the cost is minimal. Check them out.

Tag I'm It

I was tagged by Robin, this was fun and a great way to get know your fellow bloggers!

1. What time did you get up this morning? 8:00 am
2. How do you like your steak? Rare, my husband is the King of the Grill, so I rarely eat steak out because he knows exactly how to cook mine!
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? The Nanny Diaries (the book was better than the movie)
4. What is your favorite TV show? October Road, Lost, Friday Night Lights
5. What did you have for breakfast? a Diet Coke
6. What is your middle name? Leigh
7. What is your favorite cuisine? Seafood, Pasta
8. What foods do you dislike? Celery
9. What is your favorite chips? Lay's Plain
10. Favorite dressing? Ranch
11. What kind of vehicle do you drive? 03 Honda Pilot
12. What are your favorite clothes? Jeans & T shirt
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation? Austrailia
14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? That depends on my mood most of the time its half full
15. Where would you want to retire? My hometown, Camden Tennessee, in a house on the Lake
16.. Favorite time of day? Late night
17. What is your favorite sport to watch? Football
18. Pepsi or Coke? Diet Coke
19. Are you a morning person or a night person? Night owl
20. Do you have any pets? My mutt Casey the sweetest dog ever, she was a stray, we've had her for 16 years and she wasn't a puppy when we got her so we really don't know how old she is, Homer (stray cat rescued from the baseball park) hence the name Homer (not for Homer Simpson), the princess cat Omega (named after my daughter's soroity Chi Omega) she is almost a year old and spoiled rotten
21. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? I'm leaving in the morning for Fort Lauderdale Florida and hoping it will be nice and worm
22. What did you want to be when you were little? a Mommy
23. What is your best childhood memory? Why is it you remember getting in trouble? At the time that wasn't good, but now those memories are fun to talk about
24. Beer or Margarita? Beer with a Margarita chaser!
25. Always wear your seat belt? Yes
26. Been in a car accident? lots, never serious and usually my fault!
27. Favorite day of the week? Friday
28. Favorite restaurants? Abuelo's, Longhorn
29. Favorite flower? Roses
30. Favorite ice cream? Blue Bell Vanillia with Hershey's syrup
31. Favorite fast food restaurants? Sonic
32. How many times did you fail your driver's test? written part-once when I was 15
33. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? a scrapbook store
34. Bedtime? usually around midnight
35. Last person you went out to dinner with? My husband's family to US Pizza in Arkansas
36. What are you listening to right now? John Mellenchamp-Ain't Even Done With the Night
37. What is your favorite color? Blue
38. How many tattoos do you have? none
39. Coffee Drinker? when I'm cold ot with dessert

If your reading this you are tagged, leave a comment so I can check out your answers.

Same Pic Different Look

I totally abused this page! I tore paper and glued to cardstock to create the background. Then I inked, painted and sanded the layout. This is another page for my Using Scraps class.

Week 2 of Using Your Scraps Class

This week's assignment was to use scraps as the background to a layout. I am putting a small dent in my scraps, so far so good. I used the color blocking techniqe on this layout, cutting 51/2 inch squares then sewing them to the red cardstock.

Too Funny!

These guys have too much time on their hands.

Hardware and Office Supply Layout

This layout was made using foil tape from Home Depot and Prong Fasteners from the clearance bin at Office Depot. I used Heidi Swapp's masks for the title and flourishes.

The foil tape is really a great find! I cut a strip 12 inches long, then used my stylus to emboss flourishes and peeled the backing off to adhere to the page.

The fastener helped create the "mini book" that I attached to the page, inside are additional photos and a journaling page. I cut a slit in the page protector so you can flip through the book.

Today's Homework

My two page layout for the class "Using Your Scraps." I used scraps for the strip and circles under the photos and I tore scrap cardstock into "balloons." This class is really helping me use up some of my scrap stash, I haven't used a full sheet of paper this week except for the background paper.

Using My Scraps

I finished my first layout for my class "Scrapalicious-Using Your Paper Scraps." I used three different patterned paper scraps. Since this layout is from Logen's 4th birthday I decided to use 4 strips of 2 different patterns to weave together and I put 4 brads at the top and bottom.

Finally Back Home

After a way too long drive we finally made it home this afternoon. We left Florida this morning and the temp was in the 70s, we get home and it is freezing here in Tennessee! yuck I did get to read a book while I was gone, James Patterson's lastest Women's Murder Club book, 7th Heaven. It was predictable but I still enjoyed the book.

I'm ready to get back to scrapping tomorrow. I'm taking a class at My Creative Classroom that is suppose to help me organize and use my scraps, we'll have to seen how that goes!

Pensacola Florida Today

I got to go to Joann today and about everything in the scrapbooking department was 40% off. There isn't a Joann anywhere near my home so this was a treat! That and some good seafood.

Any Town Mississippi

I am unexpectedly on the road for a few days and won't be scrapping! I am at a Holiday Inn (fortunately they have internet access) in Meridian Mississippi, I think all towns here look the same.

I was thumbing through some magazines on the way here, no I wasn't driving, and saw a useful tip. Store clear stamps in an old CD case, remove the liner notes then just stick the stamp to the inside. I think I will have to try that. That's all I've got for you today. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Coke Can Flowers!

Debby issued a challenge to create a flower without using storebought flowers. I have no idea how I came up with this other that the fact there is always a Diet Coke sitting in front of me! The aluminium was easy to cut into petals, then I applied alcohol ink, I used a stylus to outline each petal and make swirls to give them some texture, poked holes with the CropADile and threaded the petals on a brad. Thanks Debby for putting my brain in overdrive!

Step by Step Instructions - CD Book

I had a request for instruction for the CD book I posted yesterday:

• Trace CD on the back of patterned paper then cut out





• Glue paper to the front and back of CD, the Scotch Glue with 2-way applicator works great, it was really smooth and the sponge applicator made for an even application. Archiver's has all the Scotch adhesive buy one get one free this month.





• I then sanded the edges of the CD to remove any overlap of the paper.





• Add photos and embellishments.





• I added cardstock cut just a bit smaller than the CD and wrote a story book.





• Punch holes in the CD and cardstock with a CropADile or Bind it All.





• It can be bound with ribbon or binder rings, I used the Zutter Bind it All binding.

CD Mini Album

I made this mini book with old CDs that AOL use to send out all the time. I just bought the Zutter Bind it All and although it did take a little muscle it cut the holes through the Cds and the binding feature is really great. You could also use a CropADile to punch holes through the CDs. I only used three CDs, but you could use as many as you wanted and you could bind the book with ribbon.

Great Tip

I can't take credit for this idea, but I sure am glad that I saw on Tim Holtz's Blog! Use glue dots to anchor any embellishment or chipboard to a paper plate, then you can paint or ink them without getting the paint all over you. I had resorted to wearing latex gloves because the ink can stain your fingers, so I couldn't wait to try this trick. It works great!

And the Winners Are...

I randomly picked (my husband did) three winners who posted comments on my Double Vision contest and they are:

• Barb - Fiskateer 2975
• Doverdi - Fiskateer 1329
• Robindiane - Fiskateer 2953

I will need your mailing addresses so I can send out your scrappy surprises! Please email me at lburton3@comcast.net

New Layout

I've been working on pages for my families' albums. I find that it is harder to scrap photos that I didn't take, but I'm trying. Here are some of the Christmas layouts.

A great pen to write on dark paper is Sakura's Souffle pen. I have tried a lot of different pens and I like this one the best, they are inexpensive. I used my Cricut Christmas cartridge a few times. I recently bought the Cricut Design Studio software and I am having a hard time using it, probably ESO (equipment superior to operator). If anyone has any tips I would appreciate them.

I Won!

I was a winner in Simple Scrapbooks "Put it in a Letter Contest" hosted by Elizabeth Dillow. I won a copy of her book The Scrapbooker's Almanac. Yeah! Thanks for the inspiration Bea.

http://www.simplescrapbooksmag.com/gallery/challenge.ihtml?idx=267

Jan. 24 by scrappycatz“What a clever page! I love the then-and-now approach to both letters and photos. These are the connections that make scrapbooking so worthwhile!” —Elizabeth Dillow

Pawpaw's Boy

This is my layout for the www.fiskarscrafts.com Sketch Contest for Febraury 2008.

30 Minute Thursday Challenge

Both of these layouts were done in under 30 minutes, on this one I used Heidi Swapp's mask letters, they are so cool and easy to use. I used brown acrylic paint over the letters then removed the mask, they are reusable too.

I've been using my fastenator a lot lately, I used it four times in this layout.

Doodle Challenge

I am the sort of person who has a real problem coloring outside the lines, so this was a challenge! But once I got started it fun. I may have to color outside the lines more often! Deborah over at www.fiskateers.com started this doodling challenge and to push myself I signed up, THANKS Deborah!

This is Fun

It wasn't my intention to have this contest when I did these layouts, but when I finished I thought about those puzzle pictures you find the differences and I thought this would be fun. Ya'll are finding differences that I didn't even know were there! I will put everyone's name who posts an answer in a random drawing and draw three names to win a goody bag.

Double Vision Contest

Spot the seven differences in the layouts above and I you will be entered in a drawing to be held on Wednesday 2/6/08 at 5pm central time. I'm sure you can find many subtle differences, but I only need seven. Click on the photo for a closer look. The winner will get a scrappy surprise package!

Tip of the day when you have double prints of your photos go ahead and make two layouts and give the extra to your friends or family. They will love it!