celebrate today

One of the new toys I purchased recently is the Gift Box punch board from We R Memory Keepers.  

The concept is similar to their famous envelope punch but this time, the tool creates boxes of various sizes.  I don't know about you but for me, gifts are much cuter when packaged with a personalized, pattern paper box.  Since I have tons of patterned papers, I thought this was a good way to make use of them.

My first project was a gift box I made for my friend's baby boy's baptism.  I bought a cute pair of shoes which easily fit into the 4x4x4 inches box (the largest that this tool can make).  I slipped in a small square card where I also tucked in some dollars.  (I actually bought the shoes so that I can use my gift box punch!).

Here is my gift box...

  
I used an American Crafts paper from my stash, Stampin' Up ribbon, WPlus9's Timeless Tags and Papertrey's twine.

Here's the top view of my box... 

Here is the card I tucked in the box...  I used Papertrey's Turning a New Leaf die and Mega Mixed Messages. I used the same colour of cardstocks as my patterned paper.

Thanks for stopping by!

life is better with a smile

I am taking a short break from my holiday layouts and sharing with you a layout I made for a sketch challenge over at Write.Click.Scrapbook found here. 

I always start with a sketch for any layout I create.  Even before printing my photos, I already have a sketch of how my layout would look like so I know beforehand what size of photos I need.

Here is the sketch. This is right up my alley.  I use multiple photos most of the time and I prefer linear / grid style designs.  I also tend to use sketches loosely… trying to use the parts I like and changing things up a little bit to suit my need.

 And here is my layout for this sketch…

I kept the basic design close to the sketch in that I had my photos all lined up towards the bottom and I left some white space on the upper half. I did change some elements though… I used 4 blocks on my strip (2 photos and 2 journal cards).  I also added a border on top (which is one of my favourite things to do on layouts) and shifted the journaling and banners from the left to the right side of the page.

Now, on to the subject of my page… This is my DD’s first visit to the dentist.  We have been reading books about going to the dentist and what to expect so her first time went relatively smooth.  It also helped that the dental hygienist who looked after her was very, very nice and that something silly was playing on television during that time, lol.

I used Project Life journaling cards, Simon Says’ Life Vertical Bubble die, Papertrey’s heart die, Fancy Pants’ stickers, Studio Calico arrow chipboard sticker and Simple Stories’  patterned papers.

Thanks for stopping by!

pti january blog hop - pretty in pink

It's been a while since I last joined in the blog hop so I'm glad to be getting back to it again. 
 

Here is the inspiration photo this month.  The challenge  is to create a card only using the color pink with the option to use neutrals such as white, cream, gray, black or kraft.
 

I made this card for my DD's classmate who invited her to her birthday party last weekend. I made an oversized one (5.5 x 8.5 in) as this will be our main gift.  The celebrant requested for something monetary so they can donate to her charity. 

I used Papertrey's Birthday Style stamp and dies, Wonderful Words: Birthday stamp and die, various patterned papers and cardstock (stamper's select white, sweet blush, hibiscus burst). 

The inside of the card looks like this...  I put a small chevron notion envelope where I tucked her gift and a blank spot for my DD to write her birthday message.

 


I packaged the card using an envelope I made using my new We R Memory Keepers envelope punch.  

I had a tiny taped note for the correct A2 measurement. This tool had a misprint when it first came out.

This tool is such a timesaver for making non traditional-sized envelopes.  I am hooked!  Here is the front and back of my envelope...

I attached the label using foam adhesives on both sides so I can slip my ribbon in between.

Thanks for stopping by and happy hoppping!

dear santa, i can explain

Every year, we have our holiday family photo taken with Santa. This year, my DD enjoyed chatting with him a bit before our photo shoot started.  She told him in detail what she wanted and answered some questions from him (this part I did not hear very well anymore, lol).

Here is this year's layout.

I used Papertrey's Holly Jolly die, journal cards from Simple Stories, ephemera from Fancy Pants and patterned paper from Echo Park.

I rarely used just one photo on a layout but this one called for it since the photo was a 5 x 7. I tried to restrain myself from adding more elements and tried to leave enough "white space" to give the eyes some rest.

I am also linking this to Leigh Penner's Pages with Papertrey here which is to use a tag and twine in your layout.  I used a small Merry Christmas tag and embellished it with a button and twine.

Thanks for stopping by! 

  

Patchwork Quilt

Happy New Year everyone! I can't believe January is almost over and it's been more than a month since my last post. I've been busy at work so I haven't done much sewing since the year started. We have also been hit with some really cold weather and cold weather makes me lazy. On weekends, all I want to do is hang out in my pajamas and watch TV. 

Last December, I was able to finish my patchwork quilt top using this tutorial from Jeni Baker's blog, In Color Order. I love Jeni's blog because she has some wonderful projects and tutorials that she shares with her readers. 

This quilt is pretty big measuring at 68" x 72". It is designed to be a picnic quilt for those lazy summer days when you just want to take a nap under a shady tree.

Sorry, I didn't have time to iron my quilt before taking the photos. 

I apologize for the poor quality of the photos. 

I plan to finish this quilt before summer...just in time for picnic season. I promise to post photos once I'm done. 

Have a great week everyone. 

Until next time. 

let it snow

Toronto was hit with one of the worst ice storms in ages last December.  A big part of the city was without power for days during the Christmas week.  We were lucky as we did not lose power but our big tree at the backyard lost some branches due to the weight of the ice.  

I made a layout of my DD's last day in school before the winter break.  This was the last time she was able to enjoy the snow as the following day, the ice storm hit us and we were pretty much on house arrest from then... too slippery and icy to go out.

I used Papertrey's Script Alphabet dies, Ali Edwards' Fun Flair stamp set and Simple Stories' journaling cards and patterned paper.

I am also linking this to Leigh Penner's Pages with Papertrey Challenge here which is to use different elements in your title.  I used some die cuts and sticker alphas for my title.

 
Thanks for stopping by!

 

holiday recital

Another highlight of our holiday season this year was my DD's recital at her gymnastics school.  Their class prepared a Christmas-inspired routine and it was really fun watching her perform the awesome things she's learned in class.  It was also fun to see amazing routines on the floor, balance beams and uneven bars from the bigger girls.  It's like watching something from the Olympics! 

Here is  the layout I made...

  
I used Papertrey's Headline Alphabet and journal tab dies, Simple Stories' journal cards and cardboard stickers and Pink Paisley's "love you" tab.

Here are some close ups...  Gymnastics is such a big part of our life now.  She was invited to the pre-competitive program and now trains 6 hours a week.  We had to re-prioritize our schedule contstantly but it is all worth it.

I am also linking this to Leigh Penner's Pages with Papertrey Challenge here which is to include three of something in your layout.  Here, I am including 3 photos on my layout.

Thanks for stopping by!
 

pwp challenge - we believe in santa

Are you tired of my holiday layouts yet?  I have more so hold on tight in the next few days, lol.

Here is another one of our early holiday favourites... Santa Claus parade!  The Toronto one coincides with my DD's birthday party so we were not able to go (A bit of trivia... When she was born, I went on labor on Saturday but she decided to come out only on Sunday noon as soon as the Toronto Santa Clause parade started.  Showing up with all the fanfare has always been her thing, lol).  Good thing there were lots of other smaller parades which we could enjoy.  Here is one...

 I used Papertrey's Get a Handle on It die for the long banner, 3x4 cards from Simple Stories and Echo Park and glittery die cuts from DCWV.

Here is a close up of my journaling... 

 And since I used those glittery die cuts, I am also linking this to Leigh Penner's Pages with Papertrey Challenge here which is to add a sparkle to your layout.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

santa came!

So last time I shared with you here the chaos that was Christmas morning.  I made another layout to focus on just the gifts my DD got from Santa. Her wishlist this year was short -- just a wooden dollhouse and Lalaloopsy.  

Here is the layout I made to capture the joy in her face after seeing all her requested presents from Santa.

 I experimented and tried on a different colour combo. What do you think?

I used Papertrey's Headline Alphabet dies (I don't think I will use any other alpha dies again!  These are my absolute  faves!), Stampin' Up cardstocks, Teresa Collins enamel dots, sticker and 3x4 cards from Simple Stories and Kelly Purkey's Right Now stamp set.  I also used my HP Officejet 7610 large format printer to print my journaling directly onto my page. 

Some close ups...

I am also linking this to Leigh Penner's Pages with Papertrey Challenge # 22 here which is to stamp on something other than a cardstock. Here, I stamped the X mark from Papertrey's Big Ticket Basics onto the journaling card.

 Thanks for stopping by!