Category Archives: Craft

Free Digi-kit giveaway!

Posted in Craft, Digital Scrapbooking, Documenting Life, Memory Keeping by

In honor of breast cancer awareness month, my dear friend Janet at Little Feet Digital Designs has created a free kit and she is giving it away to all digi-scrappers !   Here’s Janet talking about her kit…

In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month I have created a FREE kit – Strength Is Pink – to honor, celebrate, support and remember the amazing women in our lives that have fought or are fighting this battle. I’m so excited to have teamed up with Laurie Callison on this project… she has created a gorgeous template to go with my kit. This FREE kit is available exclusively on my Facebook Fan Club Page.

LFDD Facebook Fan Page




I hope this kit will serve as a reminder to do regular self-exams and get professionally screened. Supporting the fighter, admiring the survivor, honoring the taken and never giving up hope for a cure.

 

So Digi-Scrappers, pop on over to the LFDD Facebook Fan Page and download this kit for yourself.  Hybrid scrappers can print out the cards for pocket style layouts.  I’ll be sharing a page I made with this kit over the weekend.  Thanks for your support and happy friday!!

 

Happy Birthday Mom & a little photo restoring…

Posted in Craft, Documenting Life, Family History, In the Studio, Memory Keeping, Photography by

I don’t know about where y’all live but here in New England….I think it may be finally thinking about starting to be fall!  It’s definitely cooler, it’s actually been damp and chilly yesterday and today.  After a summer with almost no rain it was a bit of a relief I will say.  Time to dig out fuzzy socks and fleece over here.

Fall, closely followed by Winter means more inside crafting time around here.  There is still lovely outdoor time to be had in October but I’m definitely feeling the tug to come inside and make stuff!

Today would have been my Mom’s 83rd birthday.  (she’d kill me if she knew I said how old she was)  I was looking through some family scrapbooks and came across this photo of mom with her doll carriage at around 2 1/2 years old.  Love it.  In complete opposition to my usual scan it and make it perfect routine, I snapped a quick photo with my iPhone and tweaked it in PicTapGo (my go to phone editing app).  Here’s the before and after…

file-sep-29-1-34-59-pm file-sep-29-1-36-31-pm

I used probably about 4-5 different filters and heavily used the slider to get just the right adjustment.  My objective was really to up the contrast and bring out the details of the photo.  Since I’m working with a purely digital image, I love the flexibility to play around with all the options…

pictapgo

Pic Tap Go Filters: Auto Contrast +Fade to Autumn (appropriate yes?) + Equalize (just a touch)

Pic Tap Go Filters: Auto Contrast +Metropolitan

Pic Tap Go Filters: Auto Contrast +Metropolitan

pictapgo

Pic Tap Go Filters: Auto Contrast +Sweet Tooth+Crispity

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can go on all day with this.  So I’d better stop, eventually the people I live with will want to eat dinner ;-).  You get the idea.

Most of the photos in the albums are faded out, which isn’t surprising considering…they’re 83years old.  A number of them are even older.  Fortunately, they were stored in albums that were laid flat and did not really see the light of day too much.  The were also not stored in an attic or (even worse) a basement.  Several of the albums even zip shut, which is pretty cool and help keep the images away from sunlight.  So I’d say we’re doing pretty well all in all on antique photos.   I have stacks of albums and a big box of slides to scan and work with ….hello winter project!  I’ll share my progress with the project (and another new big project I have up my [long] sleeve) here as I go!

I have a sweet layout all ready for it’s unveiling using this photo… but it will have to wait until Saturday which is iDSD  (international Digital Scrapbook Day…. didn’t know there was one did ya!).  I’m using a freebie kit from Little Feet Digital Design which will release on her FB page on Saturday morning!  This freebie will also coordinate with a lovely collaboration kit at Gingerscraps which will be having all sorts of amazing sales on Saturday so if you’re a digital scrapbooker, you’ll want to stay tuned for that!

Check back Saturday morning for the layout!  Hope you all have a wonderful rest of your day!!

 

*working out blog-kinks so hoping the photo formatting doesn’t look too wonky on your end!

Making-Modern Half Square Triangle Quilt Along

Posted in Craft, Fiber fun, In the Studio, Make Stuff, Quilts, Sew this by

I’ve been broadening my podcast horizons lately and have started listening to the “Modern Sewciety” podcast and I love it, Stephanie has such a lovely way of chatting with her guests about quilting and the quilt world (which I admittedly do not know much about).  I have made a number of quilts over the years but would not consider myself a “quilter” because, well, I didn’t use an established pattern, I made everything up and made my own patterns. And, I don’t quilt as in put the three layers together and hand stitch them on a quilting frame the size of my dining room table…no thank you.  I have quilted smaller quilts on my home sewing machine, tied a number of larger quilts and sent one out to Nebraska to be machine quilted, hmmm funny still didn’t consider myself a quilter. Well, I guess that is all about to change with this quilt-a-long I heard about on Stephanie’s podcast a few weeks ago.   I’m embarking on the Modern Half Square Triangle (HST) Quilt Along this year courtesy of  Alyce  at  Blossom Heart Quilts .

2 blocks per month x 12 months will equal enough squares for a nice sized quilt.  I’ve pulled fabrics from my stash and purchased just a few pieces to round out the color palette, I’ve also purchased a light grey fabric with white printing that will be the background fabric in each block, I am waiting until the top is done to decide on the sashing and binding fabrics.

QAL Fabric Pull

Aren’t they pretty?!  I went with very highly saturated colors for the most part which I think will give some nice contrast against the background.

QAL-block 1

Aaanndd….here is my first block!  Yay!  I have had that dark blue fabric for YEARS!  I’ve been hoarding it as it’s one of my all-time favorites but now it has found it’s perfect home as part of the new quilt!  The block is a little rough around the edges as I need to “true” the block up, I’m waiting to do that until I purchase a 12.5″ square ruler specifically to that task.  But it’s done!  It didn’t take forever!  It didn’t make a huge mess!  Everything went back onto the shelf until it’s time for the next block!  Win Win Win!

What have you been making this weekend?!

 

December Daily …yes, another project (!)

Posted in Craft, Creative Practice, December Daily, December Daily 2015, Documenting Life, In the Studio, Memory Keeping, Writing by

I’m excited to start working on our 2015 December Daily album, it is finally December (my birthday month for which I wait patiently all year!)  and time to dig in to the project.  This will be the 6th or 7th year I’ve done a December Documentation album and this project is one of my very favorites.  If you’re not familiar with the project, hop on over to Ali Edwards Blog and read about the project and her approach.  Love Ali, Love this project and Love December!!

Let’s begin… I’ll apologize for the crummy photos, I will try and re-shoot everything at another time but it’s pretty much dark here at 3:45 because of the weather so not so good for photos.   My goal for this year is really to tell one story a day.  Some years I’ve told one, some years I’ve had several things going on and some years it’s just been a piece of pretty paper (not that there is anything wrong with that).  I’m really starting my album with Thanksgiving but those pages aren’t done yet, wanted to get a jump on December stories and try and get into a daily rhythm .

DD2015-Day1blog

The story of December 1 was a story of being able to laugh at yourself, being able to not take yourself too seriously, and being gracious in the face of extreme goofiness.

DD2015-Day1ablog

Why you ask?  Because my hubby last night took a photo of me nodding off on the couch and posted it on Facebook (!)  general consensus?  He is in very big trouble.  Everyone thought it was hysterically funny (In my defense, it was well past 10 and it had been a long day with a glass of wine at the end).  So not only was I a good sport about the whole thing, It was the perfect story to document general everyday silliness around here….and I will note that when I asked him to take down the post this morning, he did it right away.

This year I’m using Ali’s December Daily Kit as well as the One Little Bird Mini-Kit for my album, along with other supplies I have around the studio.  Hope you give a project like this a try, it can be as simple or as ornate as you like!  I’ll post more general photos/thoughts/ideas later…time to go pick up the girls from basketball practice…one bonus of December here in New England…sports (at least the ones the girls play) move inside!

What are you working on this December?

 

Memorykeeping::December Daily 2013…and notes for this year

Posted in Craft, December Daily, Documenting Life, In the Studio, Memory Keeping by

December Daily 2013…

Yes, you read that right, 2013…. but, aren’t we getting ready for December Daily 2014?  Yes… OK full disclosure, I finished my 2013 December Daily… on October 5, 2014.  Yes, 9 months later I finally finished it.  And boy, does it feel good to get that project off my work table.  Honestly, it took a few uninterrupted hours that weekend to pull it all together, at the end of the day, it really did not take that long

hellooo procrastination!

So what worked and what didn’t as I get ready to document December 2014?

  • Not focusing on taking a photo a day, some days didn’t have a dedicated photo, some photos I just tucked in anywhere.
  • Printing photos at home/local photo printing…. I’d planned out the album/photo sizes with post-it notes in December/January so I knew what photos needed to be which size.
  • Using “themed” products… Last year I fell in love with the “Reflections Christmas” line by Lori Whitlock for EP Designs… because I also work digitally, I was able to purchase the digital package that matched the paper products.
  • Adding words and embellishments onto the photos before printing
  • The 6×8 format with multiple options for page protectors…. Love this size, it’s perfect for a project like this.
  • Transparent elements…If I hadn’t been so behind, I would have used my silhouette to cut things out.
  • Actual “Stuff” this format was perfect for everyone’s Christmas lists folded and tucked into a full 6×8 page protector.  Also lots of drawings and programs punched and put right in or pasted onto cards.

What I used most of:

*Paper….love love love paper, a lot from the line and some I had in my stash that coordinated.  I basically bought one or two sheets of every design plus a 6×6 paper pad.

*Brads…some that I bought that coordinated with the line and some I had

*6×6 paper pad… Loved working with this!  The scale is just right for the smaller pockets

*3×4 and 4×6 “cards” that coordinated w the line… I’d purchased 12×12 sheets of paper that had 3×4 and 4×6 cards to cut apart…used a lot of these for journaling.

*Digital Dates from Ali Edwards on the photos to identify those from specific dates.  I changed the colors to match the colors of the products.  Love doing this.

*Card stock and regular stickers from the line

What I didn’t use at all…

*Stamps, did not stamp one thing.  The girls had even bought me a cute santa stamp for my birthday to use but I never even thought to pick it up….can use it on a layout but honestly, I just don’t think I’m really a “stamping” kind of gal.

*Rub-ons, had some cute gold stars pulled but never used them.

*Wood veneer which I love the look of but totally forgot to include.

*Washi tape and ribbon…two of my faves but just couldn’t seem to work them in!

Notes for next time…

*Definitely pick a themed product line with a lot of stuff and buy strategically. I have tons of extra stuff…. will look for papers, journal cards, brads, stickers and other dimensional items.  I’m hoping that October Afternoon with have an awesome vintage Christmas line this year.

*Print at home/local worked great.

*Using the 6×8 album format…will be my go-to again this year.

*Taking lots of photos so I have lots to chose from…I will say I’ve been taking less photos as I’ve been involved in doing more things!

*Organize my silhouette cut files and files I can convert so I can easily find and use them!

Today is the Friday after Thanksgiving and I’m just getting started working on DD for 2014, tomorrow is a quick trip to my local scrapbooking store and then some strategizing and setting up the album in between tree trimming, house cleaning and Patriots game hosting!  I’ll keep you posted on the progress!