BASEMENT Chronicles

DIY chevrons

2012-01-30T15:29:00.001-06:00

Here is a little something I made for Scrapbook Express newsletter few weeks ago.A little tutorial how to make your own chevrons that are so popular now.
Start with cutting the paper into squares using paper trimmer or square punch. Mine are 1"x1". Cut them diagonally into 2 triangles using paper trimmer or scissors.

Adhere the triangles to the background paper as shown in the picture. Continue with the same color or choose another one.

After I covered 6"x7" paper with chevrons I trimmed it to 4.5"x6.5", rounded the corners and used it as a background for my simple and happy card. The flower and the label are cut with the dies from the Lifestyle Crafts Wildflower gift set.

Supplies: cardstock (American Crafts), dies and diecut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), jewel (Jo-Ann), letter stickers (Authentique), corner punch (Fiskars)

Reminder: 2 more days to enter the C.H.A. challenge at Scrap It Girl. I already saw several great entries and would love to see more!

Three cards and then some more

2012-01-25T10:48:00.000-06:00

I always think about myself as a scrapbooker and an occasional card maker but lately I find myself doing more and more cards. I made this simple butterfly card using the sketch on Love My Tapes blog. To make the butterfly I adhered two rows of pink polka dot tape to a piece of white cardstock, overlapping just a bit and matching the design in the overlapped part. Than I punched out the butterflies, making sure the overlapping part is in the center.

Supplies: patterned paper (My Mind's Eye), tape (Love My Tapes), stamp (Teresa Collins), punch (Martha Stewart)

Here is another butterfly card. I made this one for an inspiration challenge at Scrapbook Express blog.

Supplies: patterned paper (Lifestyle Crafts), border punch (Fiskars), butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), label dies (Lifestyle Crafts), stamp (Teresa Collins), button

The last one is actually a set. My MOMS club needed few thank-you cards for our event sponsors so I made those simple cards. One design, different papers from Colorbok paper pad.

Supplies: patterned paper (Colorbok), die (Lifestyle Crafts), corner punch (Fiskars), stamp (Fiskars), stickles (Ranger)

If they look familiar, that's because I scraplifted myself. I used the same design as I did few weeks ago making these cards. When I am looking for ideas I often go back to my older projects and look for inspiration there. Who said the inspiration should come from outside?

It turned out I wasn't the only one that liked my branch cards. Few days ago I spotted them on the Lifestyle crafts blog! That was a nice surprise :)

So what about you? Do you like making cards? Do you have several favorite designs that you repeat or do you start from scratch for each card?

Winter Twig

2012-01-24T13:24:00.000-06:00

I have two winter layouts to share today. Both are made using Winter Twig from Little Yellow Bicycle. I really liked the original Twig and I love the winter collection.
The first layout us based on the Practical Scrappers sketch. I made it for the second round of the contest but didn't pass the first round :)

Supplies: patterned paper, stickers, chipboard, journaling card (Little Yellow Bicycle), border punch (Fiskars), chalkboard mist (Tattered Angles), stickles (Ranger), lace

I stitched around the edges and also added two rows of fancy stitching along the punched borders.

I made the second layout for the Tuesday Trio sketch 102. The challenge for this sketch was "winter" so I thought the chipboard "Winter" title was very appropriate.

Supplies: patterned paper, chipboard, journaling card, stickers (Little Yellow Bicycle), letter stickers (Authentique), vintage button, twine

I punched a hole in the center of the chipboard snowflake and threaded the twine though this hole and through the vintage button from my flea market finds.

Both pictures are from January 2005, when the girls were still excited about the snow and we spent all our weekends outside, checking the winter festivals in the area.

Just beautiful me - practical scrappers contest

2012-01-19T00:08:00.000-06:00

Last week I saw that Practical Scrappers have a layout contest. If you read my blog for a while you should already know that I am a big fan of scrapbooking challenges. You may not know that I LOVE scrapbooking contests. I only participated in few but I really enjoyed them. It is fun to discover a competitive side of me :)

To enter the contest I only had to send a favorite layout. And I did. My layout passed the initial round and was selected as one of the 70 to participate in the first round. Today is the day. If you like my layout and want me to move to the next round you can vote here. You can vote for as many layouts as you like. Only 25 from 70 will advance to the next round. Will I make it?? We will know on Saturday.

Few words about the layout. I actually made it few weeks ago for the challenge on Scrapbook Express blog. The challenge was to use song lyrics for the title. I asked Lila to help, she checked her ipod and came up with this - "I'm no beauty queen I'm just beautiful me" from "Who Says" by Selena Gomez. I though it is perfect and I liked that it came from her. That's how my big girl looked 10 years ago.

Supplies: cardstock (American Crafts), patterned paper, diecuts (My Mind's Eye), label stickers (My Mind's Eye), chipboard buttons (Jenni Bowlin), letter stickers (Basic Grey), heart punch (Fiskars), stencil (Crafter's Workshop), sparkle texture medium (Martha Stewart), twine, acrylic paint

I used different bits and pieces from My Mind's Eye papers. To add more dimension to the layout mixed acrylic paint with Martha Stewart sparkle texture medium and used stencil to apply it to the background. I finished the layout with Jenni Bowlin chipboard buttons, some twine and small punched heart.

Take Twelve - January layout

2012-01-18T15:49:00.001-06:00

It is done. One out of twelve. I spent probably 3 hours on this super simple layout. My excuse is that I was taking decisions not just for one layout but for all 12 layouts. Yes, I am matchy-matchy girl. Here is what I decided:
1. Format - double 12x12 layouts
2. Background - white American Crafts cardstock
3. Title - cut with Diesel alpabet from american Crafts colored cardstock
4. Journaling - list of 12 photographs typed with Traveling Typewriter font, matted on colored cardstock.
5. Pictures - for this layout I used pictures that are slightly smaller than 3.5"x3.5". I will continue to do the same for some of the layouts and maybe change a little for others. I envision having 2 larger photos and 10 smaller squares.

In the end I like how it turned out and I love the fact that I actually did it.

Supplies: cardstock (American Crafts), patterned paper (Little Yellow Bicycle), chipboard snowflakes (Little Yellow Bicycle), chipboard buttons (Jenni Bowlin), alphabet dies and diecut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), snowflake punch (Martha Stewart), stickles (Ranger), button, twine

More cards for the teachers

2012-01-16T10:40:00.000-06:00

Two more card sets to share. Again, all paper and dies are from the Wildflower gift set and all stamps are Fiskars.

In this set I also used the pearl cardstock from American Crafts for the branch. It has a gentle embossing of small circles.

Supplies: cardstock (American Crafts), patterned paper and die (Lifestyle Crafts), corner punch (Fiskars), stamp (Fiskars)

I think the next set is my favorite. The cards are smaller than the previous sets. I used the label dies that came with the Wildflower gift set to cut the label for the sentiment and added tiny jewels from both sides of the sentiment.

Supplies: patterned paper and dies (Lifestyle Crafts), corner punch (Fiskars), stamp (Fiskars), jewels (Doodlebug)

Back to the layouts tomorrow!

Cards for the teachers

2012-01-15T00:25:00.000-06:00

The week before winter break I was busy making cards. I made about 30 cards for a friend that gave them as gifts to family and school teachers and after I was done with them I decided to make few card sets for Eli's teachers. Each set had 6 cards, 2 different colors but same design. All sets were made with the papers that came with the Wildflower gift set from Lifestyle Crafts. Here are the first two.

Supplies: patterned paper (Lifestyle Crafts, American Crafts, Martha Stewart), dies and diecut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), stamp (Fiskars), pearl (Kaiser Craft)

Supplies: cardstock (American Crafts), patterned paper (Lifestyle Crafts), die (Lifestyle Crafts)

Take Twelve - January

2012-01-13T16:04:00.000-06:00

Here is my first batch of 12 photos for 2012.
I knew it will be a busy day but it turned out to be even more eventful than I thought.

I started my morning with Zumba lesson. I took a picture of bright orange pants of Zumba instructor (I did ask permission and explained why). Meanwhile it started snowing, the first snow of the season. I picked up Eli from school, we went home and looked how the snow is piling up outside. Ofir went outside to clean the driveway and Eli joined him. Just before dinner time I noticed that the basement floor was wet. It turned out one of the valves of the water boiler failed and Ofir went to Menards to buy the replacement. Meanwhile I picked up Lila from the musical rehearsal and we went to Homestead to our first highschool registration meeting. She received her first highschool course guide. We came back to find the fixed boiler (thanks goodness!) and the boys playing with their toys - Ofir playing Resistance3 on playstation and Eli playing apps on Motorolla Android that he calls "my phone". I put Eli to bed just in time to join the video chat with Stacy Julian. What a day!

Scrap It Girl

2012-01-11T11:43:00.000-06:00

Kimberly from Scrap It Girl asked me to join her Design Team. I didn't have to think twice because first of all I am honored that someone thinks my projects are worth sharing, secondly I love participating in the challenges and finally, Kimberly is from Wisconsin and I love love love connecting with local scrappers!

Today Kimberly posted her first challenge for 2012 - in honor of the coming CHA trade show she asks to create a project using items that start with "C", "H" and "A".
"A" was easy for me. Gorgeous Authentique papers were begging me to put them to good use. I picked the Blissful collection with beautiful greys and yellows to match Lila's ice skating dress. This picture was taken at ISI Synchronized Championships in Chicago last April. For "H" I picked some Heidi Swapp Ir-ressit-ible chips and misted them with grape Clearsnap Smooch Spritz. That will be "C".

Supplies: patterned paper (Authentique, Bo Bunny), tags (Authentique), ir-ressitable chips (Heidi Swapp for Tattered Angels), smooch spritz (Clearsnap), daisies (Martha Stewart), jewels (Michaels), jewel swirls (Recollections)

I rolled the edges of the paper and added embellishments that have connection to the dress and to the program music. Their music was a collection of bicycle songs including "Bicycle built for two" and Queen's "Bicycle race" The swirls on the dress are not black but dark purple. I added few daisies to match the daisies on the dress and a small bicycle tag to remind Lila about the music.

I am going to frame it for Lila's room. Should I made more for each skating season?? Hmmm, maybe.

I also made a card with same supplies. It is based on the Authentique card sketch. I didn't add a sentiment to the card, I will stamp it inside when I will decided who is the recipient.

Supplies: patterned paper (Authentique), ir-resistable chips (Heidi Swapp for Tattered Angles), smooch spritz (Clearsnap), glimmer mist (Tattered Angles), corner border punch (Fiskars), ribbon

I hope you will check what other girls on the team made for this challenge and join us!

Tomorrow is January 12th! I plan to take 12 pictures for my Take Twelve project. I have very busy day so it will be interesting! Are you doing Take Twelve? My friend Aliza is giving away the Take Twelve Guided Inspiration Kit. Stop by her blog, say hi and enter to win the kit. You will love it!

Tuesday Trio and Twelve set-up

2012-01-10T17:54:00.001-06:00

I am happy to share my layout for Tuesday Trio challenge on Tuesday and not 2 weeks later as usual. The challenge for sketch 101 is to create a project based on the sketch without using any punches or diecut machines. For me it means only one thing - fussy cutting. I used paper from G.C.D. Studio baby paper pack and added some MME and Jenni Bowlin in the mix. I finished with a vintage button - my flea market find.

Supplies: patterned paper (G.C.D. Studio, My Mind's Eye), bingo card (Jenni Bowlin), tags (G.C.D. Studios), twine (The Twinery), vintage button

After I took the picture of the layout I added the date to right of the elephant.

I am trying my best to keep up with Twelve. I decided to change the colors that Stacy picked and spent hours choosing the names of the colors, the RGB values and than making the topic lists with new colors. It took forever. I am not sure it was the best way to spend my time but I love how it turned our. My 12 colors are yellow, orange, red, rose, magenta, purple, blue, cobalt, sky blue, turquoise, green, lawn green.

My inspiration file sits in a shopping basket that I was given at CHA years ago. It is not the most beautiful container my it will work. I made the dividers from the plastic Cropper Hopper dividers that I don't use and Colorbook paper pad.

The basket has enough room to hold the clipboard, the journal and the square punch.

Each topic has a matching envelope to hold the pictures and the small pieces that I will collect during the process.

I knew from the beginning that muffin tin will not work for me. I don't have enough space to store it and I wanted something that I can close. After checking my local Michael's I found those cute round boxes for 99 cents each. I plan to attach a magnet to the bottom and attach them to the magnetic board, but for now I found them room in my paint drawer.

I was not the only one enjoying the bright colors. Eli carefully opened each one of the jars, checked what is there and closed them. Hmmm, feel a layout coming ....

A card, a layout and more plans for 2012

2012-01-09T06:00:00.003-06:00

I had a productive weekebd in terms of scrapbooking. I finshed the new layout for Tuesday Trio that will be posted on Tuesday, another layout that I want to frame for Lila's room and a card. I need to add few last touches to the layout so I can't share it yet. Instead I am going to share my last 2 projects for Tuesday Trio.

The first is a card based on sketch 99. I used a digital stamp from Crafty Sentiments Designs, some paper scraps from other projects and twine.

Supplies: patterned paper(Cosmo Cricket), stickers (Crate Paper), digital stamp (Crafty Sentiments Designs), sentiment stamp (My Favorite Things), corner punch (Fiskars), pencils, twine, button

The next layout is based on sketch 100. More paper scraps and leftovers from other projects. Not my typical layout, not sure if I love it but it is a decent addition to Lila's album.

Supplies: patterned paper (Sassafras Lass, My Mind's Eye), stickers (My Mind's Eye), letter stickers (Authentique), butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), circle and scallop punches (Fiskars), button, ribbon

I do like the look of punched circles and twisted ribbon

I spent a lot of time this weekend catching on my blogger reader, thinking about 2012 and things I want to do. I don't have a clear picture yet, hopefully I can figure it out before January is over.
Meanwhile I added few projects to my "things I want to do" list:
1. Creative Jump Start Summit 2012. It looks awesome, it is free, of course I signed up. I know I don't have time in January to follow but I am hoping I can save the information and watch it later. I still didn't have time to check it out.
2. Photoshop Skinny-Mini eCourse by Kim Klassen. It starts tomorrow. This is something I really want to follow. I have a little project I would love to do in Photoshop so the timing is perfect.
3. 52 Walks Challenge at Scrapbook Challenges.Each week you take a walk and look for something associated with the prompt for this week. You come home and create a layout. Exercise + photography + scrapbooking. Love it! I plan to take my first walk tomorrow. I am really excited about this project!

That will be all for now. Happy Monday!

Authentique card sketch

2012-01-04T19:17:00.000-06:00

Simple card based on the Authentique card sketch. I used the same Gathering collection that I used for the layout in the previous post. I added some old twine that was on the bottom of my twine jar.

Supplies: patterned paper, letter stickers ( Authentique), circle punch (Fiskars), ink (Tim Holtz), twine

Happy New Year!

2012-01-04T19:02:00.000-06:00

New Year came as expected on December 31st. We celebrated with family party for my friends from the MOMS club. At 7pm we popped 10 balloons filled with confetti and toasted with sparkling apple juice. At 11 pm I was exhausted and called it a day. January 1st was Sunday so the kids had day off on January 2nd as well. After long vacation I certainly feel like I need a vacation or at least few house if quite time. Didn't happen yet. Welcome 2012!

I am still thinking about my goals for 2012. So far I committed to

1. Take 12 photos on 12th of each month.

2. Twelve Stacy Julian is awesome. Enough said.

3. Move More Eat Less ( no comments here)

I am inspired by all projects Karen Grunberg doing, especially projects with her kids and want to do a year long project with Eli.

I want to continue doing 10 things on 10th and Friday Lifts.

And of course I want to scrapbook, a lot :) So far I made 3 layouts and a card in 2012. Here is one based on Authentique sketch. I used papers from Gathering collection. You can get yours from Scrapbook Express that carries now Authentique products. This layout is also a sample for my challenge at Scrapbook Express. We have 4 challenges this months. Come and check them out!

Supplies: patterned paper, diecut tags (Authentique), twine (The Twinery), scallop oval punch (Fiskars), letter stickers (Cosmo Cricket), ink (Tim Holtz), pen glue (Martha Stewart), brad, staples

Two little muchkins in the photos are my nephews. I put this layout in the album already but I think I will take it out and frame it. I miss them so much.

Hanukkah - days 6, 7 and 8

2011-12-29T17:44:00.000-06:00

Sunday night we had a lovely evening with friends. We made more sufganiyout. Of course it is not quite the same as a warm sufganiya from a street bakery in Israel but they were pretty good. After few minutes the only thing that left was an empty plate with sugar powder dusting.

On Tuesday morning we started potty training and spent the next few days playing and trying to keep our underwear dry.... not there yet.

Tuesday night we lit the candles for the last time this year.

Gifts:
Day 6 - Lila - raincheck for nook cover (she needs to come with me to the store and pick one), Ella - rhythmic gymnastic rope, Eli - play-doh with molds for cars
Day 7 - one gift for all - Zingo game in English and Hebrew
Day 8 - Lila - fluffy robe from Target, Ella - rhythmic gymnastics ball, Eli - wedgits

Late night I took one last picture of the few candles the were still burning. Hanukkah was over, time to pack up the menorahs and get ready to welcome 2012.

Hanukkah - days 4 and 5

2011-12-25T10:50:00.000-06:00

On the 4th day of Hanukkah Ofir was still sick and I made potato latkes as I like them - grated very thin, no eggs or onions, just potatoes. The results are crispy outside and soft and gooey inside - absolutely delicious.

Lila was out with her friend so it was just 4 of us. Ella and Eli played ABC bingo before the dinner.

On the 5th day of Hanukkah we skipped the latkes and made sufganiyout that turned out much better than the first time.

Hanukkah gifts:
Day 4 - Lila - 2 pj bottoms, Ella - post-it noted with E monogram and toe socks (see note), Eli -Kimochis (little creatures that represent feelings)
Day 5 - Lila - 3 last books from the Figure Skating Mystery series by Alina Adams (Axel of Evil, Death Drop, Skate Crime) , Ella - rhythmic gymnastics ribbon - Eli - gorgeous Hanukkah pop-up book (oh, how I love pop-up books!)

Note: I bought toe socks for Lila on her birthday, Ella said she also wants toe socks. I made a mental note for myself and added them to the list of her Hanukkah gifts. When she saw the socks she said she doesn't like them and never wanted toe socks. At least she loved the little booklet with monogrammed post-it notes that I found in the dollar section at Michael's.

We are celebrating with friends tonight. I am looking forward to nice evening. Meanwhile I want to wish all my friends and blog readers that celebrate Christmas - Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Supplies: cardstock (American Crafts), circle punches (Fiskars, EK Success), stamp (Fiskars), ink (Colorbox), stickles (Ranger), ribbon (Doodlebug), glitter (Martha Stewart)

Hanukkah - days 2 and 3

2011-12-23T16:50:00.000-06:00

On the second day of Hanukkah we lit the candles early and went to see the Menorah Lightning in front of our new grocery store. It was cold but not like it could be in December. The kosher sushi that was provided by the store warmed our hearts (at least the heart of one not so little girl). Cookies with blue sprinkles were also a hit. After that we run to the store to warm up and had dinner from the deli. Very low key. Ofir stayed at home sick.

Yesterday I tried the new recipe of corn and chicken cutlets. (It is fried in oil so it fits the theme). I thought it was pretty good but the girls voted it down.

I didn't hear too much complains about the gifts, so at least in the gifts area we are doing good so far.

Day 2: Lila - Claire's giftcard, Ella - Michael's giftcard, Eli - Race cars stickers
Day 3: Lila - First 2 books in Figure Skating Mystery by Alina Adams - Murder on Ice and On Thin Ice, Ella - blue clubs for rhythmic gymnastics, Eli - Shape by Shape game

On the scrapping front I made tons of cards in the last few days, and I mean tons. 25 cards for a friend that ordered them from me and 18 cards for Eli's teachers. I will share the pictures later. Meanwhile, my last two projects for Tuesday Trio.

For Sketch 98 challenge we were asked to use an inspirational photo. I took the color combo of white and different shades of green.

For Sketch 97 we were asked to use a technique we didin't use for a while. For me it is a dry embossing. I took out my Fiskars texture plates and embossed a piece of Core'dinations cardstock. I punched out the circles and layered them on top of misted Martha Stewart doilies.

I plan to make potato latkes tonight using my dad's recipe. I'd better start moving. I'll b back with more Hanukkah pictures and more crafty projects tomorrow.

Happy Hanukkah!

2011-12-20T22:45:00.000-06:00

Oh, no! Somebody is playing with fire! Don't worry, Firefighter Spud is here to save the day!

First Hanukkah night took me by surprise (What? Is it today? Already?) Somehow it all came together. Potato latkes were fried, candles were lit and gifts were opened.

Number of lit menorahs - 2

Number of gifts - 5 (Barnes & Noble gift card for Lila to buy books for her new Nook Tablet, 2 Dork Dairies books for Ella (this and this) and Potato Head accessories for Eli (Firefighter Spud and Fairy Fry)

Number of burn sufganiyot - 10 (It looks like that the dough from the last year didn't hold up that well in the freezer)

That's what I like about Hanukkah - if you messed up the first time you still have 7 more chances for redemption.

P.S. Some potato head accessories should be attached to the back - wings and firefighter backpack. The ones that we have don't have a hole in the back. There is more than one kind??

It's a zoo!

2011-12-19T07:00:00.000-06:00

If you read my blog for a while you should know already that a good bunch of my layouts use old pictures. My photo binder from 2001 is sitting at my desk and I check it first before I start working on a new layout. Those are pre-digital pictures, they are printed and ready to scrap. The added bonus - I like the trip down the memory lane.

For the next 3 layouts I used the pictures from out trip to Jerusalem Zoo in April 2001. We still lived in Israel but didn't go to Jerusalem very often. I think it was the only time we took Lila with us. I don't remember the details just that the food was super expensive. Isn't that the same in all zoos? I was 6 months pregnant with Ella and Lila was about 2.5 years old.

I used Bo Bunny Zoology collection on all layouts with little add-ons. I have few pictures left to scrap from the same visit - pictures of Lila petting the bunnies and goats in the petting yard - and after that I can move onto another current event from 2001 :)

Supplies: patterned paper (BoBunny), tag (Bo Bunny), rub-on (Bo Bunny), letter stickers (big - Making Memories, small - Basic Grey), floss (We R Memory Keepers), license plate (Creative Imaginations)

Supplies: cardstock (Core'dinations), patterned paper (Bo Bunny), circle punch (Fiskars), letter stickers (Bo Bunny), sketch (Pagemaps)

Supplies: patterned paper (Bo Bunny), rub-on (Bo Bunny), letter stickers (Target), muse token (Tim Holtz), twine (Trendy Twine)

Day at the museum

2011-12-18T23:02:00.000-06:00

My best laid plans to blog more are still only plans. Life is getting in the way and I almost lost my laptop this weekend. It works now but doesn't have a battery. I have several projects to share but I will start with one layout and one card.

I used a sketch from My Mind's Eye blog for this layout together with lots of My Mind's Eye products from different collections. The pictures are from our trip to Milwaukee Art Museum last November. I still had the ticket stubs from the visit and I added them to the layout. The circle flowers are handcut from the paper and layered with pop-dots. I added two shipping tags as a base for the title. Another everyday memory had been scrapped and found it's place in my albums.

Supplies: patterned paper (MME), buttons (MME), die-cut border (MME), letter stickers (October Afternoon), shipping tags

Here is more My Mind's Eye, this time I used the card sketch and the Life Stories collection. I was looking at this card for very long time, felling like I need to add something but couldn't figure it out. Eventually I just left it as is. Any suggestions?

Supplies: patterned paper (MME), ink (Colorbox), die and diecut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), stickers (Bella Blvd.), twine (Making Memories)

I like the look of the twine wrapped around the circles. So glad I bought this die! Tomorrow is the last day to enter the week 7 Lifestyle Crafts giveaway. The winner will get a $500 shopping spree to Lifestyle Crafts! I think I could handle it LOL

We have one week of school left. It is going to be a busy week with an ice skating exhibition, choir concert and Hanukkah events. I think my motto for this week will be "less stress, more fun". I will let you know how it worked :)

Crafting Jewish Style projects

2011-12-12T10:57:00.001-06:00

Crafting Jewish Style Design Team is getting ready for Hanukkah! through the month of December we will be sharing fun projects, recipes and tips to make your Hanukkah celebration even more special. We also have a prize! Read all about our Hanukkah giveaway here. Let us know what are you making for Hanukkah and what do you think about our projects.

Yesterday I shared a simple home decor project - paper dreidels. You can see the details here on the blog.I had to protect them from little curious hands, at least till I took the picture. I was trying to explain to Eli that these are not for playing, only for decoration but it didn't go that well. Even Ella loved them and asked to print the templates for her. I think that's what we are doing after school today - more paper dreidels.

2 more Crafting Jewish Style projects that I didn't share on my blog. Thank you card using papers from Rosh HaShanah collection.

Supplies: paper (Crafting Jewish Style), border punch (Martha Stewart), die and diecut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), pearl (Kaiser Craft)

Very simple layout with very old pictures. I managed to squeeze 6 pictures on one page layout. That didn't leave too much room for embellishments but I like the clean and simple look.

Supplies: cardstock (Recollections), paper (Crafting Jewish Style), letter stickers (Basic Grey), alpha dies and diecut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), twine (The Twinery), buttons

I made the title using the Lifestyle Crafts alpha dies and my Revolution. I keep the Revolution on my desk now I and use it almost on every project. Are you following the contest on Lifestyle Crafts blog. Every week they have a new giveaway. This week's prize is the Fuji Instax poloroid camera, a Holga lens, and film! Isn't it an awesome prize to win??

I am off to storm my to-do list for today that includes meal planning and grocery shopping, laundry folding and maybe even exercising if I am lucky. Happy Monday!

Tuesday Trio cards and birthday tag

2011-12-06T23:24:00.001-06:00

First of all I want to show you the tag make-n-take I designed for United States of Fiskateers crop last month. My goal was to use the postage stamp squeeze punch that I didn't use for the card and to use the leftovers from the card make-n-take. After trying different designs I came up with this tag. I added pink tulle to the mix (leftovers from Lila's Halloween skirt)

I do have written instructions for the tag but I think they are difficult to understand without step-by-step photo so I am not posting them here. Ask me if you want to know how I made it.

I have two Tuesday Trio cards to share with you today. This week challenge is to use a monochromatic color scheme. I chose shades of purple for my simple card. I consider white and silver as freebies so I added white doily and pearls and small silver letter stickers.

Supplies: cardstock (American Crafts), doily (Martha Stewart), flowers (Prima Marketing), pearls (Kaiser Craft), letter stickers (Making Memories), circle punch (Fiskars)

Last week DT used the digital stamps from Crafty Sentiments Designs - our monthly sponsor. This card is very different from the one above - lots of layers with punched borders and border stickers. My both cards were made using scraps from other projects, that always feels good.

Supplies: patterned paper (Cosmo Cricket, Crate Paper), border stickers (Crate Paper), tag sticker (Crate Paper), letter stickers (Cosmo Cricket), pearls (Zva Creative), digital stamp (Crafty Sentiments), die and diecut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), jewels (Michael's), colored pencils

Stop by Tuesday Trio to see what other DT members did with the sketches and the challenges and play with us. Submissions for sketch 95 are open till December 10th, 4pm CST and for sketch 96 till December 17th, 4pm CST.

You can also participate in Tuesday Trio sketch design competition. Tuesday Trio is looking for your sketches.

P.S. My DT order from Scrapbook Express came yesterday including Winter Twig collection from Little Yellow Bicycle and new Love Me paper kit from My Mind's Eye. I think I spent 15 minutes just touching the paper and looking at all embellishments. It is so awesome! I can't wait to dive into it!

Three projects

2011-12-02T19:23:00.000-06:00

When I first saw this Halloween line from My Mind's Eye online I thought it is cute. I needed more Halloween papers so I decided to buy it. But when it arrived, I took it out and realized that it is much more than just cute. It is awesome! Look shat I did for Scrapbook Express!

The first is Halloween layout (it is Halloween line after all). Love the cute die-cuts and the blue polka-dot paper. I think it goes well with Eli's blue shoes :)

Supplies: patterned paper (My Mind's Eye), die-cuts (My Mind's Eye), rick rack circle die and alpha dies (Lifestyle Crafts), colored pencil, staples

When I was working on the layout I saw this challenge on Write.Click.Scrapbook to make three different projects using the same products. I thought that this paper line can do much more than just Halloween so I decided to see what I can come up with.

I made a birthday card with orange stripes and blue polka dot flower. I don't think it screams Halloween.

Supplies: patterned paper (My Mind's Eye), banner diecut (My Mind's Eye), flower and tag dies (Liefestyle Crafts), pearl (Kaiser Craft), letter stickers (Cosmo Cricket), scallop trimmer blade (Fiskars), colored pencil

My last project is a lipgloss holder (thanks, Pinterest). I think it's a cute way to present a small gift or party favor.

Supplies: patterned paper (My Mind's Eye), flower die (Lifestyle Crafts), corner punch (Fiskars), colored pencil, ribbon

So here you go. Three projects, same product.

Authentique card sketch

2011-11-30T13:19:00.000-06:00

A quick card based on the Authentique card sketch. I love the quote they used on the manufacturer strip and decided to use it as a sentiment. I used my last scraps from Blissful collection. Definitely one of my favorite scrapbooking lines ever! Scroll down to see my take on the Authentique layout sketch. (Yep, two posts in one day)

Supplies: patterned paper (Authentique), border punch (Fiskars), pearls (Kaiser Crafts)

On the farm - Authentique layout sketch

2011-11-30T13:02:00.001-06:00

I am playing again this month with Authentique layout sketch. I love their new Gathering line, especially the paper with the big bold flowers. I used three pictures of Eli from our visit to the pumpkin farm in October.

Supplies: paper (Authentique), border punch (Fiskars), circle punch (Marvy Uchida), circle templates (Fiskars), house and alpha dies (Lifestyle Crafts), stickles (Ranger)

I cut out the flowers and tucked them behind the pictures. Few drops of black stickles were the obvious choice.

I added this small house made with an old Quickutz die. I think it looks adorable with it's polka dot walls and rusty red heart.

Window card tutorial

2011-11-29T11:39:00.000-06:00

I got to design the make-n-take for the United States of Fiskateers crop. Lead Fiskateer Tami sent us awesome products to work with - the new LED SureCut(TM) Folding Rotary Trimmer, scallop circle everywhere punch, stamp press, postage stamp squeeze punch and a cute birthday stamp set. I added few other squeeze punches to the mix and designed this simple window card that features the scallop everywhere punch.

I wrote a little tutorial how to make this card.

Start with 6”x7.5” kraft cardstock. Score in half making 3”x7.5” card base.
Cut 2.75”x7.25” piece of white cardstock. Stamp the sentiment and punch the scallop window making sure the word “Fiskars” on the punch is facing you.
Lay the punched white piece on top of the card base and center. With pencil and ruler draw a vertical and horizontal line in the center of the punched window.
Position the base of the everywhere punch in a such way that the marked lines are in the center of the circle. Punch. Adhere the white piece to the card base aligning two punched windows.

5. Stamp the sentiment inside the card

6. Punch a circle, scallop circle and heart. Adhere to the inside of the card making sure it is centered

7. Punch two leaves and adhere to the front of the card.

8. Make another one :)

After making the card I realized that I didn't use the postage stamp squeeze punch. After a little experimenting I designed a little birthday tag that I will show you in the next post. I hope this week is treating you well. It is almost December!

United States of Fiskateers Crop - recap

2011-11-28T11:23:00.001-06:00

Three weeks ago I participated in the United State of Fiskateers - Wisconsin crop. Kelly did a fabulous job, organizing everything. We had great food, prizes and fun games. I got to pick up stickers with my nose! Way too much fun! LOL

I came home with three new punches and a new pair of scissors. I need to find a way to display all my scissors, they are too pretty to be stashed away. Thanks, Fiskars! You are the best!

I met some old friends and made new friends. Check this beautiful card with flower hair pin that Kelly S made and the cute baggie with yummy oatmeal cookies that Shelley brought to share with us.

I also wanted to make a little something for my Fiskateer friends. I ended up making small orange flowers with beads. Love hoe they turned up. I also designed a make-n-take for the crop. Stay tuned for the pictures and tutorial.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T16:38:00.001-06:00

Today America celebrates Thanksgiving Day. I want to wish a very happy holiday to my American friends and blog readers. I am very grateful for the time you spend reading my little blog and for your kinds words. Thank you for being part of my life!

I made this card using My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Blush collection. It is one of my November DT projects for Scrapbook Express.

Supplies: patterned paper (MME), dies and diecut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), distress ink (Tim Holtz), distress stickles (Tim Holtz), stamp (Fiskars), ink (Colorbox)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday - what's on my mind...

2011-11-23T15:13:00.000-06:00

* New free Holiday class at JessicaSprague.com!You can find all the info here. Thanks, Cheri, for sharing!

* Lifestyle Crafts is hosting a series of awesome weekly giveaways. This week you can win the Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, ect) and a Bamboo Create Tablet! You can also get an entry in a drawinf by participating in the weekly make-n-takes. Here are the instructions for today's week make-n-take. I made this card for the first make-n-take. I didn't have the same dies that were used for the sample card so I had to improvise. I love how it turned out!

Supplies: patterned paper (Martha Stewart), die and diecut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), ribbon, button

* Hanukkah is getting close. I started to collect ideas for gifts but I need to be done very soon since some gifts need to travel thousands of miles.

* New class with Stacy Julian at Big Picture Classes. It is called Twelve. I really want to take it .... Thinking... thinking....

* 6 days ago I joined the Weight Watchers. I wish I could say I am doing well but I am really struggling with meal planning and cooking for 4 picky eaters and myself..... Help? Please?

So what's on your mind lately?

Are you up for some challenges? (Tuesday Trio sketches and Scrapbook Express monthly contest)

2011-11-22T17:31:00.000-06:00

Hello my blog friends. It looks like when the life gets too busy than usual the first thing to go is my blog. I guess I just need to accept that I am a sporadic blogger. In the last week and a half we had WI Edge picture day, dentist appointments, Lila's birthday and her sleepover party with 6 friends. That doesn't mean I didn't scrap! Not as much as I wanted but I was able to finish few layouts and lots of cards. I am done with my Christmas cards! Very early for me! :)

This is the layout I made for today's Tuesday Trio sketch. I picked up Martha Stewart Halloween paper pad at Michael's on clearance. Love all the silvers and blacks. I think it will be useful not only for Halloween layouts. I used it to scrap the pictures of Ella's costume back from 2007. Dailly challenged us to re-purpose something and I used the top part of the black cat cupcake topper.

Supplies: patterned paper (Martha Stewart), letter stickers (large - Heidi Grace, small - Bazzill Basics), snowflake punches (Martha Stewart), scallop and circle punches (Fiskars), ribbon

You have to see the layout Orli made for this challenge. She re-purposed an empty paste tube! LOVE this!

I made the next card for the last week's Tuesday Trio sketch. We had to make an autumn card and what is better than WRMK Autumn Splendor collection. I used quite a few tools to make this card - Fiskars border punch for the border strip in the middle of the card, Fiskars scallop punch to punch out the flowers from the paper, Fiskars corner punch to decorate the corners of the owl tag and Lifestyle Crafts foliage die to make the leaves.

Supplies: patterned paper, journaling pad (WRMK), border punch, scallop punch, corner punch (Fiskars), leaves die (Lifestyle Crafts)

Both challenges are still open! Show us what you can make. The winner of the weekly challenge is entered into the monthly prize drawing.

The last layout I want to share today is the one I made for The Little Things contest at Scrapbook Express. I think it was one of the most challenging contests I ever did - everything on the layout, except pictures, should be less than 1"! I played with several ideas and eventually decided to make layered circles that I cut in quarters. I used the same papers to make the colorful title and added few drops of mist. Not my usual layout but that's what I like in the challenges - they really make you step out of your comfort zone! There is still time to join the challenge! It is open till the end of November. Join the message board and show us what you can make. :)

Supplies: patterned paper (MME, WRMK, American Crafts, Bo Bunny, S.E.I., Making Memories), alpha dies and diecut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), punches (Fiskars, EK Success), smootch spritz (Hampton Art), colored pencils

11.11.11

2011-11-11T13:11:00.001-06:00

For few weeks now I was thinking about doing something special with the kids on this day. Special and simple and not very time consuming. I decided to go a time capsule similar to this

Source: kellicrowe.typepad.com via Maya on Pinterest

For now I decided to include the following:
1. Mini album with pictures from the day
2. Pictures of the girls assignment notebooks
3. School papers with the date
4. Gas and basic grocery prices
5. Printouts of random emails from Ofir's and my inbox
6. "Me, right now" questionnaire (still looking for something interesting)
7. Kids height, clothes and shoe sizes
8. Eli's handprint
9. What we ate for dinner
10. Anything special that girls want to include

What do you think? What you would include in the time capsule?

P.S.
Me, this morning: Lila, can you bring some papers from school with today's date? I want to make a time capsule
Lila, with cynical expression: Really?? And than we will dig a hole and bury it?
Me: No, we will put it on a shelf
Lila, starting to like the idea: Ah, ok.

Tuesday Trio Sketch 92

2011-11-09T10:47:00.000-06:00

I had a great time on Saturday cropping with Fiskateers! I will have some pictures to share later but meanwhile just wanted to say huge thank you to Kelly that organized this awesome event.

Today I am going to share my layout for Tuesday Trio blog (on Tuesday! I know, shocking! edited: I started this post yesterday but ....). It was a color challenge this time - banana yellow, blue, pink and brown. I cut two circles from Heidi Grace paper and added few stickers and some K&Co vintage looking diecuts. My new Fiskars corner punch was on my desk so I used it to punch the corners of the layout. I finished with little doodling along the edges. I love those pictures of Ella sitting in her tummy tub, so glad they are in her album now.

Supplies: cardstock (The Paper Studio), patterned paper (Heidi Grace), stickers (Heidi Grace), chipboard number (Heidi Grace), diecuts (K&Co), button (Recollections), border punch (Fiskars), corner punch (Fiskars), alpha dies and diecut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), colored pencil

And here is another sweet girl, Lila, approximately at the same age as Ella in the photos above. I adored this mustard colored dress from a french boutique that my MIL bought for her. It came with matching tights and a sweet jacket that I think was never worn. I did this layout for Scrapbook Express using the beautiful Autumn Splendor collection from We R Memory Keepers. I used my new Lifestyle Crafts die to cut the leaves. The bracket under the picture is hand cut.

Supplies: cardstock (Bazzill Basics), patterned paper, border sticker, chipboard (We Are Memory Keepers), letter stickers (October Afternoon), border punch, circle punch (Fiskars), dies and diecut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), staples, colored pencil, date sticker

I don't have a lot of dies and I give a lot of thought what dies to buy. I want to be sure I will use them. I think my new Foliage die will one of them. I think I will use it over and over. I also have a little extra motivation to use my dies - Lifestyle Crafts announced a I Made It challenge on their blog with weekly giveaways and a huge grand prize. I love their new blog - great source of ideas for to use your dies!

Friday Lift and Tuesday Trio on Friday

2011-11-04T16:23:00.001-05:00

Hmmm, it looks like I missed a week of blogging... Life is getting busy here, or should I be honest and just say - more chaotic? Let's play a little catch up - I am going to share my Tuesday Trio projects from the last two weeks.

This week the challenge was to use something raised. I made a layered card with 4 layers of punched around the edges squares. It was my week to write a tutorial so you can see step-by-step photos on the Tuesday Trio blog.

Supplies: cardstock (American Crafts), patterned paper (Martha Stewart), corner border punch (Fiskars), liquid pearls (Ranger), vintage button, twine, sticker

Last week challenge was to use lots of layers. I used one of the digital stamps from out sponsor - Crafty Sentiments Designs. I decided to leave the stamp uncolored and just added some color to the flowers with souffle pens. I used Cosmo Cricket Upcycle papers.

Supplies: patterned paper (Cosmo Cricket), sircker (Cosmo Cricket), digitla stamps (Crafty Sentiments), pens (Sakura), buttons (Foof-a-laa), circle punch (Fiskars)

And finally my Friday Lift for this week. I lifter Lisa Dickinson's layout from JBS December gallery. All products here except the letters and the raindots are from an old Jenni Bowlin kit.

Supplies: cardstock (unknown), patterned paper (Jenni Bowlin), border punch (Fiskars), big flower and circle punches (Fiskars), small flower punch (EK Success), raindots (Cloud 9), letters (Bella Blvd), paint

My scissors got a good workout. The cherries and the leaves were part of the patterned paper. The flowers are done with Fiskars lever punch and small EK Success flower punch.

I will sign off now because tomorrow I an going to a crop and I still have tons to do before. Can't wait to see my old friends and meet some new friends. It is going to be awesome!

Friday Lift

2011-10-28T08:36:00.001-05:00

This week's Friday Lift brought to you by the online crop at Jenni Bowlin Studio forum. One of the challenges was to find inspiration at the JBS Pinterest boards. I found this amazing layout by Lisa Dickinson and had to do something similar. I am in love with this layout for several reasons:

1. I used ton of scraps

2. I scrapped those recent pictures of Eli that otherwise would remain in pixel state for very long time.

3. I told the story.

Supplies: patterned paper (WRMK, Jenni Bowlin), chipboard letters (Making Memories), chipboard buttons (Jenni Bowlin), sticker (Jenni Bowlin), vintage buttons, twine

Inbar

2011-10-26T14:11:00.000-05:00

I did this layout few days ago based on Shimelle's sketch but waited for better weather to take a nicer picture. Today I realized that the better weather is probably not going to come any time soon and I will have to post what have.

The little cutie in the pictures is my friend's daughter. I combined several Jenni Bowlin papers from old kits and did some fussy cutting. Some papers are 4 years old but I still love them.

Supplies: cardstock (The Paper Company), patterned paper (Jenni Bowlin, Crate Paper), butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), buttons (Foof-a-la), heart sticker (Colorbook), pin (Jillibean Soup), tags (Making Memories, Jenni Bowlin), letter stickers (Sassafras Lass), distress stickles (Tim Holtz) tag, ribbon, felt heart, twine

I made this layout as part of Jenni Bowlin online crop and I have few others to share and few other are still want to do. The challenges are open till October 30th so I still have few days left.

Happy Halloween frame

2011-10-26T10:01:00.000-05:00

Finally I can share a project I made for Fiskateers blog! Rebecca sent me new limited edition Happy Jacks border punch and a simple plastic frame. Here is what I made. You can read how I made it on the Fiskateers blog.

Supplies: plastic frame (Staples), patterned paper (MME, Bazzill Basics), letters (Heidi Grace for Fiskars, KI Memory), key (Martha Stewart), corked vials (Tim Holtz), bingo card (Jenni Bowlin), border punch (Fiskars), scallop punch (Fiskars), bats (Cloud 9), doily, twine

It was fun to do something different!

How many kangaroo (pictures) is too many?

2011-10-24T22:14:00.002-05:00

Simple double page layout. I had probably 20 or so pictures from our visit to Australian park in Israel many years ago. Mainly kangaroos in different poses :) I picked 7 and made this layout. (Sorry it is not lined up in the picture. I am terrible with taking pictures of double layouts) I was searching for papers or stickers with kangaroos or Australian animals and even thought about buying a kangaroo die. I am glad I stopped myself. I googled a logo of the park and printed it on a cardstock. Some punch action and I had an embellishment to use on my layout.

Supplies: cardstock (Paper Studio), patterned paper, chipboard (Colorbook), letter stickers (Doodlebug), felt (Queen & Co.), pearls (K&Co), border punches (Fiskars, Martha Stewart)

The question is - what to do with the rest of the kangaroo pictures??

Autumn memories

2011-10-22T13:34:00.000-05:00

Another layout based on Shimelle's starting point. This is how my starting point looked like. Pardon the terrible picture and my dirty craft mat.

And this is how it ended. More layers, punched scallop circles, journaling tag and a glaze pen. Oh, and some twine. It looks like I caught the twine bug. I don't care. It makes me happy.

Supplies: patterned paper, journaling card (WRMK), scallop punch (Fiskars), glaze pen (Sakura), twine

I used the beautiful WRMK Autumn Splendor collection for this layout. It is 20% off now at Scrapbook Express! I am off to scrap more autumn pictures.

P.S. I signed up Kollete's Giving Well class at Big Picture Classes and I am loving it so far! I already got an idea for few gifts. It is not too late to sign!

Friday Lift

2011-10-21T09:03:00.000-05:00

For today's Friday Lift I am going to share a layout based on Meg's layout she did for Scrapbook Express. I liked the grid and the banner in the middle.I moved the title to the upper left corner and added small hearts to the banner. All papers are from Cosmo Cricket UPcycle paper kit. I already did several layouts and card and still have tons left.

Supplies: paper stickers (Cosmo Cricket), letters (Anna Griffin), journaling card (Jenni Bowlin), pen (Sakura), hearts (Colorbook), pearls (Kaiser Crafts), twine

Tuesday Trio on Wednesday

2011-10-19T08:48:00.000-05:00

New sketch is up on Tuesday Trio blog and this week's challenge is butterflies. I adapted the sketch for my one picture layout. I didn't feel like I need to add journaling, I already scrapped the rest of the pictures from the same day. This layout will go into Lila's album and the first layout is in our family album. Now, as I write this, I think I will go back and add few notes on the back of the layout about where the picture was taken and how much I loved the dress she is wearing. Just for Lila to know.

Supplies: cardstock (Core'dinations), patterned paper (Heidi Swapp), die and diecut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), butterfly template and small punch (Fiskars), butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), tab punch (McGill), letter stickers ( Bazzill), vintage button, twine

Come play with us!

For you

2011-10-18T17:49:00.000-05:00

While I am waiting for Tuesday Trio blog to post the new sketch I will share the card I made using a sketch from Bo Bunny blog. I used some scraps from Bo Bunny Midnight Frost collection and Martha Stewart snowflake punches. The jewels and the pearls are from Bo Bunny Barefoot and Bliss.

Supplies: patterned paper, stickers, pearls, jewels (Bo Bunny), die and diecut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), snowflake punches (Martha Stewart)

I couldn't resist and signed up for Giving Well class at Big Picture classes. It sounds so much fun. I hope I will find time to play along.

Gilad Shalit is home

2011-10-18T11:19:00.000-05:00

Since last Tuesday, when I first heard about the coming prisoner swap I couldn't stop thinking about it and just prayed that nothing will go wrong. I didn't let myself be too happy before Gilad was reunited with his family. Today he came back home.

Gilad Shalit speaking to his family on the phone following his release, Oct. 18, 2011.
Photo by: IDF Spokesman's Office

1940 days in Hamas captivity. Welcome home, Gilad!

One for the polar bears

2011-10-17T17:05:00.000-05:00

Another layout I made for The Scrapbook Store. I was given few papers from La Banquise line by Canadian manufacturer Harmonie and matching brads. The paper has cute whimsical drawings of polar bears, seals and snowflakes. I printed 4 polar bear pictures from our visit to St. Louis zoo in 2006. Glad to have them in my albums - it feels great to make a dent in my zoo pictures. We always take gazillion pictures on our zoo visits.

Supplies: cardstock (Core'dinations), patterned paper, brads (Harmonie), stamp punch (Fiskars), letter stickers (Bella Blvd), distress stickles and distress ink (Ranger)

I added broken china distress stickles to the scallop circle to add a little sparkle.

The "postage stamps" are punched out with Fiskars squeeze punch.

Sadly, I didn't take pictures of another layout I did for the store. I will have to wait till it comes back to me to share.
Tomorrow is Tuesday, that means another Tuesday Trio sketch and I hope to be able to share a special project I did recently. I can give you a hint - it is orange :)

The Scrapbook Store layouts

2011-10-16T20:54:00.000-05:00

Few weeks ago I was asked by Beth form The Scrapbook Store if I want to design for the store. I didn't have to think very long, I was thrilled! Especially because now it is the closest scrapbooking store in my area. Unfortunately it is 40 minutes drive. 2 scrapbooking stores in Milwaukee area closed their doors in the past year. This is really sad. But, The Scrapbook Store is a great one. It has new owners and it moved recently to a new location. They carry the latest and the greatest products and they have the cutest corner with TV and kids toys that Eli loves. I really want to attend one of their weekend crops, the crop area looks very inviting.

I was asked to work with Authentique Blissful papers and Crate Paper Farmhouse. I loooooved the Authentique papers. The color combo of grays and yellows with a touch of pink is so elegant. I was looking for some nice pictures and found those pictures of Ella taken before Passover dinner. All flowers are cut from a sheet of patterned paper. Lots of paper curling, punching and layering here. I made another layout and card from the leftovers and still have few tiny pieces left that I can't throw away. Yes, I love this paper.

Supplies: patterned paper, die-cuts, letter stickers (Authentique), scallop trimmer blade, border punch (Fiskars), pearls (Zva Creative), stamps (Technique Tuesday)

This next layout is using Cratepaper Farmhouse collection. I struggled with this layout and I am still not sure if I like it. I used a lot of adhesive borders and stickers. The red number and letter stickers are by Bella Blvd.

Supplies: patterned paper, stickers (Cratepaper), letter and number stickers (Bella Blvd), twine

I stopped by the store yesterday to drop off another project and saw my layouts displayed in the frames by the product :)

I am going to share another layout I did for the store tomorrow.

Friday Lift

2011-10-14T09:21:00.000-05:00

I am enjoying the series of Friday Lift posts on Dafnie.Design and decided that I want to join the fun. Time to get inspired from all those gorgeous layouts that I am pinning like crazy. Every Friday (or almost every Friday) I will share a lift based on a layout that I love. My first lift based on Dafnie's layout that she lifted from a layout on Octobetr Afternnon blog. I liked Dafnie's layout more than the original and came up with this.

Supplies: cardstock (American Crafts), patterned paper (Heidi Grace), stickers (banner, birds - Heidi Grace, heart - Bella Blvd), letter stickers (Bella Blvd), border punch (Fiskars), butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), jewel (Doodlebug)

I used Heidi Grace papers and stickers from Jo-Ann, Bella Blvd letter stickers, Fiskars border punch and twine. The edges of the photo and the papers are lightly sanded.

Love those little banner stickers with gems!

Shimelle's sketch of the week

2011-10-12T08:56:00.000-05:00

I believe I still have few hours left to post my take on Shimelle's sketch of the week (see no 1 in my list). I had those cute pictures of Eli with my friend's son. It is fun watching them together. They are very different but they started to pay attention to each other and play together. I really hope they will grow up to be friends.

Supplies: patterned paper (WRMK, Crate Paper), stickers (Crate Paper), raindots (Cloud 9)

Here is another layout based on Shimelle's sketch that I did a while ago and didn't have time to post.

Supplies: patterned paper, chipboard (Pink Paislee), circle punch (Fiskars), border punch (Fiskars), 3D stickers (K& Company), liquid pearls (Ranger)

I added some interest to the patterned paper with liquid pearls. Love this stuff!

Did it ever happen to you? You did the challenge but missed the deadline to post it?

Tuesday Trio sketch 88

2011-10-11T17:41:00.000-05:00

It is still Tuesday, right? At least where I live there is still 6 and a half hours of Tuesday left. I am going to share the layout I did for Tuesday Trio challenge blog. It is based on sketch 88 and the challenge this week was to use something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.

Old: pictures and Heidi Grace papers and stickers

New: fabulous Fiskars Bubbles border punch - my new favorite!

Borrowed: I borrowed Eli's sorting toy to stamp the acrylic paint circles. I wanted to add smaller circles so I took a marker from his art box and stamped small circles with the marker cap.

Blue: paper and letter stickers.

I love scrapping old pictures. Maybe they are not the best but they bring back good memories.

Supplies: cardstock (American Craft), patterned paper (Heidi Grace), embellishments and stickers (Heidi Grace), journaling stickers (Jenni Bowlin), letter stickers (Sassafras Lass), border punches (Fiskars), acrylic paint

I would you to play along with us! You can win 4 digital stamps from the Tuesday Trio sponsor Crafty Sentiments Designs! Check all details here.

10 things

2011-10-10T10:55:00.000-05:00

Since I returned to the blogosphere and noticed several fun things that people are doing on their blogs. One of them is 10 things on 10th hosted by Shimelle. This month I decided to jump in. Since it is my first time I will list 10 random facts about me.

1. I am a helpless procrastinator.

2. I am not a morning person. I do not like waking up early (before 7:30 am is early for me)

3. I am finishing the 4th and last week of boot camp at my local YMCA. The weekday classes start at 5:45am. This is tough for me! (see no 3)

4. I am addicted to magazines.

5. I am addicted to reading blogs - 217 subscriptions in my Google Reader

6. My favorite drink - tall Startbucks latte. No sugar.

7. I am thinking about my next scrappy projects when I am driving or just before I fall asleep.

8. I love Autumn - the colors, the fresh air, the leaves make me happy.

9. I am knitting a pair of fingerless mitts - it is looking cute if I may say so.

10. In 4 days I will be 40 years old.

Authentique card sketch

2011-10-07T14:11:00.001-05:00

I made this card for Authentique card sketch challenge. I used Fiskars border punch for the paper strip in the middle of the card and Martha Stewart punch for the butterflies.

Supplies: patterned paper, diecut embellishment, letter stickers (Authentique), border punch (Fiskars), butterfly punch (Authentique), pearls (Kaiser Crafts)

Orange blog hop winner

2011-10-06T21:25:00.000-05:00

It is time to announce the winner of my Orange Blog Hop RAK
The winner is .... Kelly Sas that said:

I will definitely give your heart banner idea a try!!! I love the card and I love banners. Thanks!
Kelly #6558

Congratulations Kelly! I will contact you though the Fiskateers message board!

Thank you all for very kind comments!

Authentique - new favorite?

2011-10-06T08:56:00.001-05:00

Recently I had a chance to play with new Authnetique paper. I can't share the first layout that I did but from the scraps I made another layout and a card based on the sketches from Authentique blog. Here is the layout.

Supplies: cardstock (Core'dinations), patterned paper, diecuts, letter stickers (Authentique), chipboard letters (My Mind's Eye), border punch (Fiskars), twine, vintage buttons, staples, paint

I used my new Fiskars border punch and few vintage buttons. I am in love with this color combination. The papers were such a pleasure to work with. I think I found my new favorite manufacturer!

P.S. Stay tuned for the announcement of the RAK winner. Coming later today!

Three cards for you

2011-10-05T10:08:00.000-05:00

First card is based on Tuesday Trio sketch 87. I used some black and white punch outs from Colorbok pad mixed with old Basic Grey paper. It came together so quickly!

Supplies: cardstock (Bazzill Basics), patterned paper (Basic Grey), die cut embellishments (Colorbok), label (Jenni Bowlin), butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), raindots (Cloud 9), ink

You can see what other Tuesday Trio Design team members did with this sketch and submit your take here.

Next two cards I made for Scrapbook Express. This one is super easy, based on Pagemap sketch that diva Kelly used for her card challenge. I used some old Making Memories Just Chillin papers. They are now 25 cents a sheet. I love them and used them on many many projects. The letters are handcut from the same lined paper that is on the left of the card. I didn't want to cover the cool doodling so I used a vellum to make my label for mounting the sentiment. The chipboard butterfly is from the same collection.

Supplies: patterned paper (Making Memories), butterfly (Making Memories), die and diecut machine (Liefestyle Crafts), raindots (Cloud 9), vellum

For this card I used the new Autumn Splendor collection from We R Memory Keepers. It is a trifold card with 2 windows. I can't wait to use this collection for autumn layouts. The weather is gorgeous here. We have plans to eat lunch outside and I hope we will come back with some beautiful pictures of Eli playing in the leaves.

Supplies: patterned paper, stickers (WRMK), dies and diecut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), circle punches (Fiskars, EK Success), button (MME), smooch accent ink (Clearsnap), distress ink (Ranger)

Speaking about cute paper, are you following the new releases? I just saw that Bella Blvd. announced their new releases: new miniatures stickers, Spring Flings and Easter Things, Winter Wonder.

I love the bright colors. Looking forward to seeing them in the stores.

P.S. One more day to enter my giveaway below. Thank you very much for your comments. I really appreciate them!

Orange Blog Hop

2011-10-01T03:00:00.008-05:00

Today is October 1st and today I am joining the Orange Blog Hop where members of Fiskateers, a community sponsored by Fiskars, is sharing their passion for crafting.

If you have come from My Pink Mexico you are in the right place. If you never heard about the Orange Blog Hop before I invite you to start from Fiskateers blog and hop along the links. There are more than 30 bloggers, I am sure you will find some great inspiration and maybe even a chance to win a prize or two ;-)

I am going to show you hot to make a banner using a heart punch. Banners are not going away, they are great addition to any layout or card. Today I decided to make a card in honor of the World Card Making Day.

To make the banner, I start with 5 hearts that I punched using Medium That's Amore squeeze punch. I folded each heart in half and punched a tiny hole with the hand punch. Now I could string them onto a piece of twine.

For my card base I cut a 4"x6" piece of orange paper and punched all sides using my favorite Lace and Lattice Corner and Border punch. I mounted it on a piece of just slightly bigger green paper using foam adhesive. Now I could tie my banner.

I let the banner fall naturally and added a tiny piece of foam adhesive under each heart to hold it in place. Like this:

The only thing that was left to do was to add a sentiment sticker. Super easy and cute.

Here is another heart banner that I made using Large That's Amore Squeeze punch and another one here where I used both sizes of punches.

So what do you think? Is it something you would like to try? I would love to see it!

Next stop on the hop is super talented Queen Kat ! I know you are up for a treat there!

But wait! Before you go, I have two things to add. Obviously, being with Fiskateer almost from the beginning (I am Fiskateer #351), I have a very nice collection of Fiskars tools. The best part - I use them all the time. I tag my blog posts with Fiskars tools that I use. You can see that on the left side of my blog. So if you are looking for ideas how to use your punches, border punches or maybe your USX, I invite you to stop and explore.

And here is the very very last thing. I have a new pair of my favorite Fiskars scissors, Medium Music note punch, Hero Arts bicycle stamp and a pillowbox full of orange and green treasures. This all can be yours and here is how.
1. Leave me a comment
2. Become a follower or tell me if you are already
3. Tell me which layout or card that I made you like the best.(You can see all recent layouts and cards in my flickr gallery, that will save you some time)

You can get up to 3 chances in the random drawing. I will leave this open till October 5th and will draw a winner on October 6th.

Now you can go :) Enjoy the rest of the hop!

Scrapbook Express, here I come!

2011-09-23T22:22:00.000-05:00

I have some exciting news to share, I am back on Scrapbook Express Design Team!

I am really happy. First of all, Scrapbook Express is an awesome online store with great products and fabulous service. Secondly, they have a great message board. If you are looking for an online place to hang out, with fun challenges, great scrapbooking inspiration and friendly people, you should check here. I would love to see my blog friends joining me!

I will share what I made for the DT call. I submitted a layout and card based on this sketch .The whole layout is made with Bo Bunnny Barefoot and Bliss papers and chipboard.

I mixed yellow metallic acrylic paint with sparkle texture effect medium and stamped the circles using 3 different drinking glasses. I think it gave nice effect of sparkling sand.

The chipboard letters were inked and then covered with glimmer mist.

Supplies: patterned paper, chipboard, jewels (Bo Bunny), chipboard letters (Basic Grey), letter stickers (Bella Blvd), paint, sparkle texture (Martha Stewart)

The card is based on the same sketch. I used flowers instead of pictures and butterflies instead of circles. The flowers are made from folded Heidi Swapp silk flowers (remember them?). The butterflies are covered with matte accents. The mat with punched border is raised with pop-dots. This card is bulky but I like how it turned out. Special card for special occasion.

Supplies: patterned paper (Pink Paisley, My Mind's Eye), flowers (Heidi Swapp), tag and leaf die-cuts (My Mind's Eye), floss (Bazzill Basics), border punch (Martha Stewart), butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), matte accents (Ranger), pearls (Kaiser Crafts), alphabet dies (Lifestyle Crafts)

I got an email today with more exciting news, but that will have to wait for another post.

Sketches, sketches, sketches

2011-09-21T15:22:00.000-05:00

Three recent layouts based on sketches.

The first layout is based on Shimelle's sketch. I printed the logo and the picture of Laa-Laa from Teletubbies website (yes, there is such thing). I used a square of silver paper on the right side of the layout. Does it looks like a TV screen?

Supplies: cardstock (American Crafts), patterned paper (My Mind's Eye), stickers (My Mind's Eye), letters (Tim Holtz), pearls (Kaiser Crafts), border punch (Fiskars), circle punch (Fiskars), acrylic paint

This layout is based on Donna Jannuzzi's sketch #11 for Ella Publishing. I used Jenni Bowlin kit from May 2009. Yes, the kit is more than 2 year old. I love the papers so why not?

Supplies: Jenni Bowlin May 2009 Kit, letter stickers (Bella Blvd)

The last layout is based on Anam Stubbington's sketch for Crafting Jewish Style. I made it for today's post. Look what other DT members made with the same sketch. All 4 layouts came out very different and this is what great about the sketches. You can follow it as is, you can modify it however you want. It is just a springboard for your inspiration.

Supplies: patterned paper and stickers(Crafting Jewish Style), letter stickers (Cosmo Cricket), pearls (Kaiser Crafts), raindots (Cloud 9), corner border punch (Fiskars), tag, circle and scallop punch (Fiskars), die and de cut machine (Lifestyle Crafts)

Tuesday Trio sketch 85

2011-09-20T22:40:00.000-05:00

Another cute sketch at Tuesday Trio. I made this card based on the sketch and the inspirational photo. I was drawn to the dark silhouette in the photo and decided to use dark brown stickers as the main focus of the card. All paper and stickers are from Creative Memories.

Supplies: patterned paper and stickers (Creative Memories), ink (Colorbox), flower (Maya Road), sequin (Doodlebug), die and die cut machine (Lifestyle Crafts)

I used the papers from the same CM kit for the next layout. It was made for the Diva scraplifting challenge at Scrapbook Express. I lifted the gorgeous layout by Mara

Supplies: cardstock (Recollections), patterned paper and stickers (Creative Memories), lace (Recollections), border sticker (Sassafras Lass), stamp (American Crafts), ink (Brilliance), raindots (Cloud 9), thickers (American Crafts), buttons (Foof-a-laa), floss (WRMK), brad, die and die cut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), heart and corner punches (Fiskars)

P.S. Guess where I was at 5:45 am this morning? ...
At the gym. "Enjoying" the first lesson of the boot camp

Baby Yali and baby Ella

2011-09-18T16:42:00.000-05:00

Few months ago I made a layout based on a sketch from my local scrapbooking store. I used Kaiser Crafts baby papers mixed with some old Jenni Bowlin papers. The cute baby in the pictures is my nephew Yali. We live so far away from all our nieces and nephews, I treasure every picture I get.

Supplies: cardstock (Bazill), patterned paper (Kaiser Crafts, Jenni Bowlin), chipboard letters (Lil' Davis), chipboard frame (Lil' Davis), raindots (Cloud 9), letter stickers (Sassafras Lass, Making Memories), rub-ons (Jenni Bowlin), die (Lifestyle Crafts), jewels (Heidi Swapp)

My layout won the sketch contest so when I came to pick it up I had a prize package waiting for me - Cosmo Cricket Upcycle paper pack, yummy green lime thickers and a package of Jillibean Soup sugar picks

I thought this was very generous prize and couldn't wait to take everything out of the package and start playing. Here is the first layout that I did. I love those pictures of me and baby Ella in her wrap. I never took this wrap off. It was always on me, ready to cuddle my sweet baby. Look at her feet. Ain't they the cutest? The picture on the left also has our cat Barsik. We have only few pictures of him, so I was glad to have this picture scrapped and added to my albums.

Supplies: patterned paper (Cosmo Cricket), thickers (Anerican Crafts), pins (Jillibean soup), hearts (Colorbok), border punch (Fiskars), scallop punch (Fiskars)

I spent most of the day today grocery shopping and cooking. Ella bought American Test Kitchen game for her Nintendo DS (don't ask me why) and we tried a new recipe for the beef stew. I also made a yummy grapefruit and pomegranate salad and shared the recipe on the Crafting Jewish Style blog. What are you cooking? Anything interesting? Let me know!

P.S. I was asked if I can read comments in Hebrew. Yes I do. And in Russian :) I love reading your comments so feel free to leave them in any language that feels comfortable. I always try to go back and visit the blogs of my commenters. I can do that only if your profile is public, otherwise I don't have any ways of contacting you.

Starting point

2011-09-17T17:19:00.000-05:00

Another Shimelle's starting point challenge and another layout. This time I decided on my papers before I knew what pictures I will be using. These papers from American Crafts looked very lonely so I picked them up, trimmed the scraps and made this.

After some thinking I remembered that I have pictures that Ella took when her friend came to a sleepover last month. The papers are so colorful that I didn't add much - just few stickers from the same collection, letters stickers and 2 big pink polka dot brads.

Supplies: cardstock (Core'dinations), patterned paper (American Crafts), stickers (American Crafts, Bella blvd), letter stickers (Bella Blvd), journaling card (Martha Stewart)

I am liking those starting point challenges! What about you? Would you give it a try? The new challenge is already out.

Tuesday Trio Sketch 84 and Design Team call

2011-09-14T05:23:00.000-05:00

I have a super easy card for you today. It is based on Tuesday Trio sketch 84. I decided to use the sketch as an embellishment for my baby card. I took a pre-made small envelope and tucked inside a chipboard teddy bear. Few hearts, letter stickers and viola. Simple and cute baby card.

Supplies: patterned paper, chipboard, heart stickers (Recollections), letter stickers (Basic Grey), envelope (Me and My Big Ideas)

Stop by the Tuesday Trio blog for more inspiration and share your take on the sketch.

While you are there check the scoop on the Design Team call. Come play with us!

Summer then and now.

2011-09-13T17:18:00.000-05:00

Summer 2000. Baby Lila in our yard, splashing in the water and enjoying the warm (probably very hot) weather. Olesh. Israel.

Supplies: patterned paper (Creative Imaginations, Dear Lizzy for American Crafts), letter stickers (Bella Blvd), chipboard hearts (Heidi Grace), border punches (Fiskars, Martha Stewart), butterfly punch (Martha Stewart)

Summer 2011. Baby Eli sinking his teeth into an ear of corn at Memorial Day picnic. Kettle Moraine State Forest. Wisconsin. USA.

Supplies: patterned paper (Rusty Pickle), stickers (Sassafras Lass), letter stickers (Bella Blvd), doily (Michaels), dove punch (Martha Stewart), tag

Starting point

2011-09-09T12:18:00.001-05:00

Here is something different I did last week - a layout based on Shimelle's starting point. I pulled out the scraps from Pink Paislee "Hometown Summer" kit and with just few small trims arranged them to look like this:

Few Sassafras pieces, few buttons, floss and a picture of one very cute little boy came together as this layout.

I inked Tim Holtz grungeboard letters with blue ink and than sprayed them with light blue glimmer mist.

Supplies: patterned paper (Pink Paislee), stickers (Sassafrad Lass), letters (Tim Holtz), ink (Brilliance), glimmer mist (Tattered Angels), buttons, floss, acrylic paint

I think it is my current favorite layout. Thanks, Shimelle!

Tuesday Trio Sketch 83

2011-09-06T12:24:00.000-05:00

It is nice to post my Tuesday Trio card on Tuesday and not weeks late. Today the sketch 83 is revealed on Tuesday Trio sketch blog. We were asked to use brown, pink and white color scheme. I rummaged through my scraps and found a scrap of Jenni Bowlin brown paper and pink journaling tag. I only had to add few brown velvet Maya Road flowers and pink buttons to make it perfect. This card came together so quickly and I love how it turned out. I may decide to make few more!

Stop by the Tuesday Trio blog to see what other Design Team members made and to share your crafty projects. This challenge is open till September 17th.

Supplies: patterned paper (Jenni Bowlin), tag (K&Company), souffle pens (Sakura), flowers (Maya Road), buttons (Foof-a-la)

Don't forget, you still have 4 more days to participate in the previous challenge and to be included in the prize drawing - 4 digital stamps of your choice from Crafty Sentiments Designs.

More summer projects

2011-09-05T22:04:00.000-05:00

Few more crafty projects from this summer.

I made this layout for Crafting Jewish Style blog back in May. The Design Team used Anam Stubbington's sketch

I picked 2 pictures from Shavuot celebration in our moshav. (I am the one with the headband, holding little Lila.) All papers are from Crafting Jewish Style Hanukkah collection. Once again, I used my trusty heart squeeze punch to make the scallop border. The flowers are made with Lifestyle Crafts die. The pictures were taken during the tractor ride so I had to add the tractor. I googled for tractor coloring page, printed it and used it as a template to cut my tractor pieces.

Supplies: patterned paper and sticker (Crafting Jewish Style), die and die-cut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), flower cabochons (Recollection), border punch (Fiskars), squeeze punch (Fiskars), hebrew letter stickers, brads

The next card I made for Bar Mitzvah of one of Lila's classmates. I used the papers from the same Hanukkah collection but just stayed with the blues to give it a masculine look.

Supplies: patterned paper (Crafiting Jewish Style), cardstock (American Crafts), twine (We R Memory Keepers), circle punch (EL Success), corner punch (Fiskars), ink

The last project is another Bar Mitzvah card with altered printers trey. I always wanted to make one of this. I bought wooden numbers at Michaels (13 is the Bar Mitzvah age) and colored them with black acrylic paint. When they were dry I sanded them and covered with glimmer mist. I did the same with the chipboard letters. The big Star of David is printed on a vellum.The small square with the Star of David and Hebrew words was part of the invitation.

I am still not sure if it was a good idea. I don't know about the boy but I hope his mom liked it.

I have more projects to share but we will leave them for another time. I went through hundreds of posts in my google reader, trying to decide what subscriptions to keep and what I will have to let go. I need to limit myself to some manageable amount. I think I am almost there. So, I am wondering, how many blogs are in your google reader?

Tuesday Trio sketches

2011-09-04T15:53:00.000-05:00

Few cards and layouts I did for Tuesday Trio this summer.

This card is based on sketch 82. The challenge for this sketch is to use punches. I used my Fiskars scallop and circle squeeze punches to punch out the sentiment and the scallop behind it. I also used my favorite Fiskars corner squezee punch to round the corners of the green cardstock piece. For this sketch the DT got to use digital stamps by Crafty Sentiments Designs. I picked this adorable bunny. You can win 4 digital stamps of your choice by participating in the challenge. Link up your layout or card here by Septemeber 10th, 4pm Central Time.

Supplies: patterned paper (My Mind's Eye), digital stamps (Crafty Sentiments Designs), punches (Fiskars), pencils, smooch ink

The next card is based on sketch 81 and the challenge here was to use distressing but not with ink. I chose to distress the edges of the patterned papers that already had a vintage and distressed look.

Supplies: patterned paper (Jenni Bowlin, My Mind's Eye), flowers (Recollection), journaling sticker (Jenni Bowlin), letter stickers (Cosmo Cricket), pearls (Kaiser Craft), twine, rub-on

The next one is based on the sketch 80 and the theme for this challenge was "women". We just came back from our big road trip when I worked on this sketch so I decided to use this sully photo of us, all wet after the hike in the rain.

Supplies: patterned paper, letter stickers, chipboard (Colorbok), journaling tag (Making Memories), flower punch (EK Success)

This layout is based on sketch 79 and the challenge here was "use bright and happy colors". And I did. All papers and embellishments are from Pink Paislee "Hometown Summer" collection. The scallop border is done by adhering punched hearts under the circle.

Supplies: patterned paper, chipboard (Paink Paislee), chipboard letters (My Mind's Eye), letter stickers (Doodlebug, Jenni Bowlin), punch (Fiskars)

Here is another layout using the same paper collection. It is based on sketch 77. The challenge for this sketch was to use acrylic paint. I painted two big chipboard corners that I had forever. Love using older supplies and mixing them with new products.

Supplies: patterned paper (Pink Paislee), chipboard letters (My Mind's Eye), journaling sticker (Basic Grey), die (Lifestyle Crafts), chipboard corners, acrylic paint

The next layout is based on sketch 76. The challenge was to use a text page. I used a page from an old magazine in Hebrew to mat my photo and to punch out two butterflies.

Supplies: cardstock (Core'dinations), patterned paper (S.E.I.), crochet flowers (My Mind's Eye), paper flowers (Petalloo), buttefrly punches (Fiskars, Martha Stewart), jewels, doilly

Phew, that was a long post. I will be back tomorrow with more layouts and card from this summer.

Sassy Lil' Sketches E-Book

2011-09-02T20:36:00.000-05:00

I was a bad bad blogger this summer, but I did find some time to scrap. I even made a layout for Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook. Cherie Averill creates beautiful sketches, it was fun to work with her sketch and even more fun to see my layout in the book among other gorgeous and inspiring layouts.

NEWS RELEASE

At Sassy Lil' Sketches, we are happy to announce the first Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook has been released!

The Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook features about 70 brand new sketches designed by Cherie Averill!

You'll find sketches for layouts with one, two, three & multiple photos! You'll even find double page sketches! Plus, sample layouts from talented designers that will spark your creativity!

Most of the sketches use standard photo sizes (4x6, 5x7, 8x10). To get extra mileage out of the sketches, switch it up! Use the sketches to create cards, double pagers, etc.! If you need ideas for "switching it up", check out the cards in the Sample Layouts section or stop by the Sassy Lil' Sketch blog on Saturdays.

The Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook is available for online viewing or you can easily download and print it. It's your choice!

Visit www.sassylilsketches.com to get the Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook and get scrapping!

I can't show you the layout but I will leave you with a little sneak peak.

I am taking my copy of the book to the next crop!

September 1st 2011

2011-09-01T11:08:00.001-05:00

Another 2 months passed for me like blogging doesn't exist and it is OK. We had a great summer. Grandparents visited us for 3 weeks, we made a 7 days road trip to Niagara Falls, we skated, participated in drama and ceramics workshops, read books, watched TV, played video games and enjoyed the summer. 2 days ago we came back from the last summer trip to north Wisconsin. The girls tried white water rafting for the first time and we all enjoyed hiking and discovering numerous waterfalls of Marinette County.

Today the girls are back in school so it is just me and Eli for now. Hopefully September will bring me more scrapping time and maybe some time for blogland. There are so many things I want to do this year. One of them is to improve my photography skills. Lately I am getting more and more disappointed with the pictures I take. I feel that I am not satisfied any more by just any picture, I want a good one. Those are definitely not the best but here they are - my 8th and 5th graders, ready for the new school year.

Other things on my min:
- decide how to scrap our road trip to Niagara Falls,
- United Stated of Fiskateers event in WI on November 5th. Finally, Fiskateers event that is close to me. I can't wait!
- Scrapbook Express Design Team Call - if you would like to be a part of the Design Team, give them a try! Heather and her team are very generous. Designing for the scrapbooking store is different than designing for the kit club. You have so much more freedom to decided what you want to do and to pick your supplies. It was a great experience for me! Read all about the DT call here.

Happy new school year for all the moms that sent their kids to school today!

Hello world

2011-06-30T18:27:00.001-05:00

Hello?? Anyone?? Still there?

2 and a half months I didn't find time to blog. That's just not cool. Not at all. The irony is that my last post was about taking "Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers class". Needless to say I didn't move beyond the first lesson. So what happened? Nothing serious, actually. Than you for asking, emailing me and expressing your concerns. The second half of April and the first half of May were completely consumed with working on the yearbook for Ella's school - taking pictures, begging for more pictures, cropping, rotating and moving about 900 candid shots, arranging professional pictures and putting it all together in 60 pages yearbook. It was a lot of work. I didn't have any idea what I am getting myself into when I signed up for this job. But at the end, it was fun, I learned a lot and I am looking forward to doing it again next year.

After that I was busy with making menus/favors/gifts for our MOMS club banquet, end of school year, girls activities and so on. Summer vacation had started and I still could find time for me and my blog. But here I am, enjoying some "me" time at Starbucks while Ella is taking her gymnastic lesson. I don't want to make any promises, especially to myself but I try to visit my blog more often.

I maybe stopped blogging and reading other blogs (sorry, my Google Reader), but I didn't stop scrapping. I have a huge backlog of layout to share, let's start with the latest.

I finished this layout yesterday. It is based on sketch #6 from Stretch Your Sketches challenge series by Ella Publishing.

I used a fun mix of very old and very new papers - I think it all worked well together.

Supplies: patterned paper (teal - Heidi Swapp, plaid orange - Pink Paislee, words - Bo Bunny, grey - SEI, orange, teal scallops, tag - Sassafras Lass), summer sticker (Sandy Lion), letter stickers (Basic Grey), twine (Divine Twine), button (My Mind's Eye), staples

The next one is based on Tuesday Trio sketch 73 This time the theme of the challenge was "garden". Perfect to scrap this cute picture of Ella planting tomato plants few weeks ago. Again, I used some old products from my stash. Stop by the Tuesday Trio blog to see what other Design Team members did and submit your own take on this challenge.

Supplies: patterned paper (7 Gypsies, Henni Bowlin), cardstock (Bazzill Basics), letter stickers (Doodlebug), metal clip (Basic Grey), border punch (Fiskars), butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), ribbon (unknown)

Another one for Tuesday Trio. Here the challenge was "embossing". I used embossed Core'dination cardstock to make a card. There is still time to submit your card or layout for this challenge, it is open till July 2nd, 4pm Central time.

Supplies: cardstock (Core'dination), ink (Clearsnap), stamp (Fiskars), corner punch (Fiskars), pearls (Kaiser Craft), flower (Recollections)

I need to pick up Ella, so this will be all for today. How is your summer going? Do you have more or less free time?? I can never decide.

Two layouts about the boy and one question to my readers (actually three)

2011-04-18T12:29:00.001-05:00

Lately everything on this blog was about the girl. It is time to share something about the boy. I love spending my days with him, although it usually means that I can get nothing done. He is the sweetest little guy. He is also stubborn, whiny and sometimes even naughty 2.5 year old toddler.

I made this layout for the sketch contest at my LSS. I found the sketch challenging but I pull it through. Mainly Basic Grey here with some new Crate Paper stickers.

I cut out the diamond border form the paper and layered few diamonds using dimensional adhesive.

Supplies: patterned paper (Basic Grey, Collage Press), stickers (Crate Paper), letter stickers (Basic Grey), buttons (My Mind's Eye)

I made this layout using a sketch from Little Yellow Bicycle blog. Everything here except the small letter stickers is from their Twig collection.

I have to confess that this "tea party" was completely staged. Eli was playing with the cars on the deck outside. I wanted to make a layout with title "Friends". I grabbed Dipsy and few things from the play kitchen and asked Eli if he wants to feed Dipsy. I was surprised that he happily spent the next 15 minutes fully engaged in the role play. I need to do that more often!

Supplies: patterned paper, chipboard, stickers (Little Yellow Bicycle), letter stickers (Basic Grey)

Today I started a new class - Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers taught by fabulous Shimelle. Our first prompt was about getting to know our readers. I think I have some idea about who are my readers (Hi, mom!) but it will be lovely to hear from you. If you have few moments I would love you to leave me a comment saying who are you and how did you find my blog. And if you have another minute to spare I will be curious to know what do you scrapbook about. When I think about my layouts, it is clear that 99% of them are about my kids. It will probably stay that way for a while, although it will be really nice to scrapbook our trips and vacations that we took in the past.

Speaking of kids, it is time to think about dinner. Have a great week!

Happy Passover to all who celebrate!

Ice skating, Passover cards, old pictures and new layout

2011-04-13T16:37:00.000-05:00

Is it Wednesday already?? I think I am still recovering from the weekend. I spent Saturday and Sunday in Chicago with Lila at the Ice Skating Institute Synchronized Championships. Ofir was out of town so I had to take Ella and Eli with me. Let me just say that travelling with 2.5 years toddler and 9 years old moody tween to watch things they don't care about is fun.... Not! I managed to loose my car keys in the parking lot. Thank goodness for an angel that picked them up and put behind my car door handle and thank for another skating mom that found them there. It was the last competition of the season for Lila. They took the first place in the flight and overall 5th place from 16 teams. They had a fall in the second skate otherwise I think they would place much higher. I decided to splurge and bought a CD with professional pictures. They were so good! Here are 2 of my favorites.

Picture taken by Action Photos

Picture taken by Action Photos.

Don't tell Lila that I posted it online :) I love it! The open mouth is part of the program. They are doing a lot of facial expressions that look adorable on the ice. I guess she is just a little bit slower with closing it :)

Lila's skating improved dramatically this year. I am so proud of her!

Now, when skating season is over, I need to start thinking about Passover. We are hosting the Seder this year. So many things need to be done....

I have few scrappy things to share with you today. I made two Passover cards for Crafting Jewish Style.

To make the background I cut several strips of paper and distressed the edges. I cut out the dove from the patterned paper and added it using dimensional adhesive. The ribbon came with my Passover kit. I like that is pink! I stamped the sentiment inside the card leaving empty space for personal message.

Supplies: patterned paper (Crafting Jewish Style), punch (Martha Stewart), stamps (Papertrey Ink), ink (Ranger)

This card is based on a sketch designed by Anam Stubbington for Crating Jewish Style. I cut out the doves from the patterned paper and added some silver stickles to their wings. Check the Crafting Jewish Style blog to see this great sketch and what other designers made.

Supplies: patterned paper (Crafting Jewish Style), border punch (Martha Stewart), die and die cut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), stickles (Ranger)

Here is the last one for today. Another layout from 2000. I made it for Scrapbook Express blog challenge that asked to use pop-dots. I love adding dimension to my layouts so that was an easy challenge. I used some old Heidi Grace papers. I love everything she did for Fiskars and what she is doing now for Colorbok.

The bottom picture is popped up with two layers of pop-dots. The scalloped brown border and the thin border on the top are also raised as well as the butterflies.

Supplies: patterned paper (Heidi Grace), chipboard numbers (Heidi Grace), letter stickers (Basic Grey), butterly punches (Fiskars, Martha Stewart), border punch (Fiskars), pearls (Zva Creative)

Hope you are having a great week!

National No Housework Day Online Blog hop - Winner announcement

2011-04-10T22:38:00.000-05:00

Thank you for visiting my blog, reading my post, commenting and sharing your thoughts! I appreciate every single one of them!

I received 66 comments. The random winner of my surprise package is ... comment 11!

And that will be Josie0602 that said...
Ooohhh that food looks delicious! The only thing I slow cook is pulled pork and I use store bought BBQ sauce so no fancy recipe for me! I need some new recipes!

Congratulations! Please email me your mailing address. (You can find my email in my profile)

March for Babies - April 30

2011-04-09T08:00:00.025-05:00

This year my local MOMS Club is participating in March for Babies.
The march is organized by March of Dimes. The mission of March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. I am extremely lucky that all my babies and all babies in our family were healthy, full term babies. But I know that there are many many babies that are born way too early, too small and very sick. They need help and their parents need help. That's why I walk in March for Babies and that's why I am asking for your help. You can click on the badge on the left for my personal page and to make a donation. If you are local, I would love you to join our team and walk with me. Let's make a difference!

Friday list

2011-04-08T21:30:00.000-05:00

Wow! To be honest I am overwhelmed by all the comments on my previous post! I am always trying to visit the blogs of all my commenters so I spent the good part of yesterday visiting blogs and leaving comments. But it is all good!

I promised you a picture of the Chicken and Noodle Hamin and here how it looks after spending the whole night in the oven. It was yummy. I think. My littlest picky eater ate some chicken and noodles, my middle picky eater ate a plate after some serious convincing, my oldest picky eater said she would rather starve to death....

So remember, you still have time till Sunday, 8pm Central time to comment on this post if you want to be in the prize drawing. I think I already know what will be in the mystery box - definitely a punch, definitely some stamps and definitely some glittery goodness.

Today I received the last prompt from Shimelle's class "Blogging for Scrapbookers" I didn't follow all prompts as I hoped to but it's ok. I am excited to start the next class "Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers" that starts on April 18th and learn more about blogging and about myself. Here are few scrapbooking happenings that will keep me busy in the next week or so. Hope you will also find something fun from the list.

April 9: Jenni Bowlin is hosting another online crop. I wish I could participate tomorrow, but instead I will be driving to Chicago for the last ice skating competition of the season.
April 12: Scrapbook Express Weekly Diva challenge
April 13: Scrapbook Express blog challenge.I am certainly doing that one - I love pop dots!
April 14: Little Yellow Bicycle sketch challenge. I have some "Twig" left. Hopefully I will find the right pictures.
April 14: Messy Messy Messy challenge at Scrap That Baby. While you are there don't miss Melanie's awesome paper tearing tutorial. Nikki Silvis generously donated the ENTIRE "My Friend Birdie" line to Aprul's winner!

April 15: Last day to apply for Tuesday Trio DT. All info here.
April 16: Tuesday Trio sketch 61 This week the challenge is to add moving elements to the project. I will show you what I did but you should not miss an awesome tutorial by Orli. This girl is so talented!

Here is the layout I made for Tuesday Trio Sketch 61. Oh, I remember that dress! She looked totally adorable wearing it! The pictures are taken in the field of blooming anemones not very far away from our home in Israel. I printed the title and hand cut the letters. It says "Anemones" in Hebrew.

The doves are mounted on a stripe of transparency. The other end of the stripe is attached with a brad and hidden under the smaller picture. That allows my doves to "fly" above the picture of me, holding little Lila.

Supplies: patterned paper (Creative Imaginations, Jenni Bowlin, Crate Paper), stickers (Autumn Leaves, Me and My Big Ideas), dove punch (Martha Stewart), font Choco from Internet

I had fun working on this messy layout for Scrap That Baby Messy challenge! The white paint reminds of the cottage cheese in the pictures :)

Supplies: patterned paper (Sassafras Lass), stickers (Sassafras Lass), felt flowers (Lil' Davis), raindots (Cloud 9), paint

That was a long post! Let's see if I can squeeze some more blog hopping tonight. Packing can wait!

National No Housework Day Online Blog hop

2011-04-07T00:00:00.002-05:00

Welcome to the National No Housework Day Online Blog hop! If you have arrived not knowing until now about the hop, no problem...stop by If It's Groovy where this hop starts and work your way through. You may find games, prizes, projects and how do-you-dos along the path :) We would appreciate it if you sign up to keep in touch with us by "following" and would love your comments!

If you arrived here from Michelle's blog Everyday Me, welcome! Hope you enjoyed that stop and the others so far!!!
We celebrate this national holiday by scrapping today and into the weekend with projects that remind us of housework or getting away from it!!! Take the day off, put up your feet and let's hop!

For me housework means first of all cooking. This is not my favorite thing to do. I do like to experiment in the kitchen and try new recipes but cooking the everyday food - not so much. If you add 3 picky eaters that always complain and the never ending piles of dishes by the end of the day - definitely not my favorite thing to do. I decided to celebrate the National No Housework Day by no cooking ... on this day. Instead I cooked in advance. Few hours ago I put a big pot in the oven with Chicken and Noodle Hamin. It will stay there the whole night, cooking in the low heat of the oven. If you are curious what is Hamin you can read about it here and here

The recipe I used is from a Hebrew cooking book by Sherry Ansky called "Food". I will do my best translating it in English.

Chicken and Noodle Hamin

Ingredients (serves 6)

6 chicken drumsticks and 6 chicken tights

Oil for frying (I used canola)

2 onions, sliced

9 oz fettuccine pasta

9 oz short hollow pasta (I used mostaccioli)

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp sweet paprika

4 medium potatoes

parchment paper and aluminum foil

1. Wash the chicken in cold water and dry with paper towels. Fry in hot oil in a large ovenproof pot until the chicken changes it's color and remove from the pot. Put the onions in the same pot and fry until golden-brown scrapping the pot from time to time.

2. Cook 2 kinds of pasta in boiling water with salt for about 5-8 minutes until it begins to soften. It should not be fully cooked. Drain and add to the pot wit onions. Add pepper, salt and sweet paprika. Mix well and remove from the pot.

3. Preheat the oven to 300F

4. Peel the potatoes and cut into thick slices. Arrange in a single layer on the bottom of the ovenproof pot. Season with salt. Add 1/3 of the pasta, chicken and cover with the rest of the pasta. Add 1/2 cup of hot water.

5. Cover the pasta with an oiled circle cut from a parchment paper. Cover with the lid and few layers of aluminum foil.

6. Bake for 40 minutes. Lower the oven to 200F and bake for 6-9 hours.

I am going to add the picture of the cooked hamin tomorrow. Do you have "make in advance", "one pot meal" recipes? I would love to hear!

Meanwhile, please head over to see Misty at Love to create Enjoy!

Oh, I almost forgot! Prizes! Oh yes! If you leave me a comment I will put you in a drawing for surprise package from me. Not sure exactly what will be there. Maybe a punch or two, maybe some stamps, maybe something else, who knows? I will post a winner on Sunday , April 10th.

Long time no blog

2011-04-06T07:24:00.001-05:00

It is probably not a very good idea to stop blogging for 10 days in the middle of the Blogging for Scrapbookers class, but that's what happened. Between my DT assignments, other commitments I took on myself, spring break and life in general, not much time and even more important, not much energy was left for blogging. But I am back. At least for now :) I do have a fun post planned for tomorrow (hint: look for the blog hop button on the right)

Last week I was totally consumed with this project. I committed to make 2 items for the fundraising auction at our local Jewish School. I made a set of Passover cards and a Hanukkah trey, similar to the one I did for myself. The card design was inspired by Nichole Heady card.

Supplies: patterned paper (Colorbok), doilies (Martha Stewart), stamps (PaperTrey Ink), ink (Ranger, Brilliance), dove punch (Martha Stewart), circle and scallop punches (Fiskars), silver pen (Sakura)

I made 10 cards, 5 of each design. Each card was put in a separate bag with a matching closure.

I hope people will like them. After spending hours trying different designs and colors I think they turned out cute :)
I have more than 1000 unread posts in my Google Reader only from my Blogging for Scrapbookers classmates. I feel a little overwhelmed... Let's see how many I can read with my morning coffee.

Jenni Bowlin online crop - part 2

2011-03-27T09:57:00.002-05:00

Three more layouts from the crop. One picture from the late eighties, one picture from last month and one picture from 12 years ago. Most of the products are from Jenni Bowlin old kits. I am not going to list the supplies as I usually do but if you have a question, ask me.

Me and my best friend. I think we were in 8th or 9th grade. I am on the left.

This layout was made for a challenge that asked to use only paper scraps and not to use paper trimmer. I decided to scrap the pictures from our trip to see Wicked and used the program. Not my masterpiece but I am glad that this program is not cluttering my desk anymore.

Me and baby Lila in 1999. I have more pictures from the same day and in one of them she is looking at chicks. I plan to do the second page with the rest of the pictures.

My little chick (that is taller than me now) passed her pre-juvenile moves in the field ice skating test on Friday! She worked hard and skated very well. So proud of her!

Scrappy contests and challenges for the next week

2011-03-25T16:16:00.000-05:00

It is Friday and the weekend is getting close. Do you scrap more on the weekends? Being a SAHM, I don't have the same feelings about weekends as I had when I worked full time. It is actually more work for me having all my kids at home - meals, activities, lessons, .... Not always I have time to check how my scrappy desk is doing. But it is good to plan and think ahead what I would like to do. Here is a little list I wanted to share. Some of it are challenges from different blogs and teams I design for, some of them are actually from my "to do" list. I wish you fun and creative weekend!

March 26: Tuesday Trio Sketch 58
March 28: Project 12 February Are you playing along? I am gathering supplies for my Project 12 2011 album right now.
March 29: Scrap That Baby "I am lucky to be your mommy" You can win $20 Gift certificate to Ally Scraps Scrapbook Store
March 30: Technique challenge at Scrapbook Express blog. You can win $25 gift certificate to the store (I hope to play along)
March 31: Purim contest and giveaway at Crafting Jewish Style

BTW, I couldn't find a fitting title for this post. Any ideas?

Thoughts about kits and layouts from Jenni Bowlin online crop

2011-03-24T09:54:00.000-05:00

Few weeks ago I saw that Jenni Bolwin Design Team is hosting an online crop. I love online crops, I love challenges and I love Jenni Bolwin so I decided to jump in. The crop was lots of fun. The

DT members posted challenges and we had a week to complete them (except for the timed challenges). You can see the challenges here (I think you will need a ning account for that). I made quite a few layouts. I am not going to list the supplies as I always do. For all my layouts I used old Jenni Bolwin kits.

This first layout was made for a timed challenge. We had to use a favorite/inspiring quote. It took me 10 minutes to read the challenge, 15 minuted to browse the given links to pininterest looking for a quote, 15 minutes to convince Eli to stop crying and let mama scrap. That left me 20 minutes to make the layout, take a picture and upload it. I am showing you the picture I took the next morning. Believe me the original was not pretty.

This layout was made for the oval challenge. I usually do not use ovals, so I had quite a few left in my stash.

This layout was made for the banner challenge. I used some papers and embellishments from my first Jenni Bowlin kit. I think in was February or March 2007.

The next layout was made for the sketch challenge. Looking at the pictures I suddenly thought that I don't remember where this Teddy Bear came from. We still have it. I checked the label that said "WORLD Duty Free".... and I remembered. I brought it from my business trip to London. It was in 1999 or 2000. I was there for only 2 or 3 days and I remember before my flight back I went to the Duty Free shop in the airport and looked for something to buy for Lila. I saw this Teddy Bear and bought it. It traveled with me from London to Israel and now he lives in Wisconsin :)

I was glad to dig into my stash and use some of the kits. Jenni Bolwin kit was the only subscription kit that I had. I stopped the subscription last year in my efforts to cut my scrapboooking expenses and to use up what I already have. Meanwhile I collected 3 years of kits.I love them so much that I can't take them apart. My layouts don't use lots of product so those kits last forever for me. I finally made a decision to take apart kits that don't have at least one full sheet of cardstock or paper left. Notice I said - "made a decision", I didn't say "took apart". I don't know why it is so difficult :) So what do you do with older kits? Do you keep them? Take them apart? Do you have a system?

I will post the rest of my layouts from the crop later this week. I am planning another post tonight. Stay tuned :)

Tuesday Trio Sketch 59

2011-03-22T15:07:00.000-05:00

It is Tuesday and it means new Tuesday Trio sketch is up. I have to admit, the sketch was challenging for me, but I was determined to make it work :) I used 2 photos from Purim 2000 and Creative Imaginations stickers that I bought soon after I started scrapbooking. I bought the stickers with the thought of using them with these pictires, it just took me several years to make the layout.

Supplies: cardstock (Core'dinations), patterned paper (Jenni Bowlin, Collage Press), stickers (Creative Imaginations), journaling card (Jenni Bowlin), label sticker (Jenni Bowlin)

And while the stickers were out I scraped the only picture I had with Lila wearing the devil hat. She probably had it on for a minute or two. She didn't like hats when she was a baby (it didn't change much)

Supplies: cardstock (unknokwn), patterned paper (Collage Press), tags (Collage Press), stickers (Creative Imaginations)

Now I can happily put the stickers in the "not needed anymore" pile. You can see other creative takes on this sketch and the inofr about the new Tuesday Trio DT call here.

Celebrations, shopping and blogging

2011-03-21T13:46:00.000-05:00

First of all I want to say Hi and Welcome to my new readers that come form Shimelle's class. If you don't know what I am talking about I will talk about the class later in this post.

We had a jam packed weekend. On Saturday grocery shopping, baking, cooking, shopping for wigs and fabric and costume sewing. All these were preparations for the Purim party that our friends hosted. We had a great time at the party - yummy food, great company and lots of loud and happy kids.

On Sunday I went with Ella to hear Megillah Reading and after dinner we went shopping. The girls said that they need clothes. Lila is always ready to go shopping, but not Ella. At age 9, Ella is still not a big fan of shopping so I didn't want to miss an opportunity to buy her new clothes for Passover and we went. We spent 5 hours shopping at Old Navy and Kohl's with a short break at Qudoba. We had Eli with us - I came home exhausted! At least all 3 of them have new clothes for Passover, we just need to find a matching cardigan for Lila and shoes for Eli.

I found Eli's outfit at Old Navy: shirt and pants

Ella's dress and cardigan are from Old Navy and we found cute shoes at Kohl's. It looks like the dress is sold out online but here is the cardigan and the shoes.

Lila found a cute skirt and top at Kohl's. We also found a pair of shoes that we both liked (it is not that easy).

The only problelm is that Lila is always cold. Passover is in April so she will difinetely need a cardigan or a different top. But I am certainly glad that the most of our shopping is done.

My other happy thoughts are about Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers class. It will be the second time I take it and I am looking forward to take it again. The class started today, you can find all info here. I can not recommend it enough.

Fot the next three weeks I plan to learn a little bit more about blogging, spend a little more time thinking what I want from my blog and make new online friends. That's all. Not big plans here.

I can not make a post without a crafty project. I made this layout for Scrapbook Express blog challenge. More old pictures from 2000. Here is something funny.

Lila is my oldest. She is 12 now, was 1.5 in the pictures.

Eli is my 2.5 years old baby boy.

Lila looks at the layout and says: Eli's hair looks all messed up

me: It is not Eli, it is you

Lila: Ooops. Really??

Supplies: patterned paper, stickers, chipboard letters (Heidi Grace for Colorbok), border punch (Fiskars), die and diecut machine (Lifestyle Crafts)

Getting ready for Purim

2011-03-16T22:54:00.000-05:00

Stop by Crafting Jewish Style blog to see a little project that started from this:

And ended up looking like this:

Lots of hamentashen, cookies and sweet treats will fill the box by Saturday. I even made a downloadable ferebie with Purim labels. Find the link at Crafting Jewish Style blog.

Tuesday Trio sketch 58

2011-03-15T16:29:00.000-05:00

Supplies: cardstock (Bazzill Basics, American Crafts), patterned paper (unknown), ribbon (unknown), stamps (unknown), die and diecut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), butterffly punch (Martha Stewart)

Another card for Tuesday Trio. We had a fun sketch this week and were challenged to use letter stamps, if possible in Hebrew. I have a Hebrew stamp set that I bought years ago at the book store. Not sure who made them. I stamped the letters and cut them out with my Fiskars micro-tip scissors. The sentiment says "Mazel Tov" in Hebrew, which means Congratulations. The card opens from right to left. The green paper is from my scraps drawer. You can check the blog and see how other DT members interpreted the sketch - very different from my take and very creative! Let me know if you play along, I would love to see your take!

Sketches2Scrapbook

2011-03-14T14:17:00.000-05:00

Today I wanted to share a layout I made for winter release of Sketches2Scrapbook app! I had a great sketch to work with and the layout came together so quickly!

Supplies: cardstock (Bazzill Basics - Swiss Dot), patterned paper (WRMK, American Crafts Dear Lizzy), chipboard photo corners (WRMK), snowflakes (K&Company), jewels (Mark Richards, Studio 18), alpha stickers (Making Memories), border and corner punches (Martha Stewart), border punch (Fiskars), pen (American Crafts)

I also was asked to design a card for the cards version of the app - Sketches4Cards. When I first saw the sketch I thought it will be challenging. I decided just to fillow the sketch as it and not it is one of my favorite cards!

Supplies: patterned paper (Kaiser Craft), die (My Favorite Things), die-cut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), embellishments (Jollee), butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), border punch (Fiskars), stamps (Fiskars), ink (Clearsnap), diamond glaze

You can read all about the apps here on the Sketches2Scrapbook blog. Each app has a demo version with few sketches that you can download and try for free.

Banners, grids and old papers

2011-03-10T18:52:00.000-06:00

I made this card for Tuesday Trio. It is based on sketch 57 and uses 3 of my favorite things in scrapbooking - border punch, banners and dimensional adhesive (pop dots).

Supplies: cardstock (Bazill Basics), patterned paper (Studio Calico), rose card (Studio Calico), banner and letter stickers (Jenni Bowlin), butterflies (Colorbok), corner border punch (Fiskars)

This page is made for the challenge hosted by the new Israeli scrapbooking web site scrap.co.il. I used the paper and the embellishments that nice folks from Colorbok sent me for answering their survey. I added few little things and I love how it turned out.

Supplies: patterned paper (Colorbok), die-cut squares, tags, photo corner and flowers (Colorbok), butterfly (K&Company), letter stickers (Doodlebug), doily (Martha Stewart), twine, metal tag

The last one for today was made Scrapbook Express blog challenge and is based on a sketch by Becky Fleck. I used some papers and embellishments from very very very old Jenni Bowlin kit. Ah, that feels so good.

Supplies: cardstock (unknown), patterned paper (Melissa Frances, Fancy Pants), circle tag (Jenni Bowlin), chipboard letters (Basic Grey), glitter flowers (I think Making Memories), tag sticker (Making Memories), metallic marker (American Crafts), ribbon (unknown), twine, corner rounder (Fiskars), staples

I am enjoying lately scrapping old photos from 2000 and 2001. I keep my 2000 storage album at my desk and when I start working on a layout I first check if there is anything in that album that I can use. I am almost done with all pictures except the events - a trip to the kengooro park, our trip to Petra, birthdays. I will need to decide what to do with them - 2 page layout, several layouts or maybe a mini-album....

I had a request to cancel a verification step for the commenters. I did, so if it bothered you before feel free to leave comments now. It is gone. I am always glad to hear from you and appreciate the time to took to leave a comment :)

Scrapbook Express February DT work and DT call

2011-03-03T09:45:00.000-06:00

It is time to share what I did for Scrapbook Express in February. The first card is super easy and is a great way to use up those ribbon scraps that we all have laying around.

Supplies: patterned paper (My Mind's Eye), lace (My Mind's Eye), button (Doodlebug), letter stickers (Making Memories), die and die-cut machine (Lifestyle Crafts)

I used my new Hero Arts stamp to make the next card. I stamped it 3 times, cut out and layered. The papers are from American Crafts Teen collection. So fun and colorful!

Supplies: cardstock (American Crafts), patterned paper (American Crafts), tag sticker (American Crafts), stamp (Hero Arts), lace (My Mind's Eye), letter stickers (EK Success)

Another Halloween layout. (Hope you don't mind!) I used the leftovers from My Mind's Eye Haunted Collection and some bits and pieces from Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland collection that I sprayed with Smooch Spritz in frosted grape.

Supplies: patterned paper (My Mind's Eye, Graphic45), tag (My Mind's Eye), tag stickers (Basic Grey), brads (My Mind's Eye), letter stickers (Making Memories), spray ink (Clearsnap), dies and die-cut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), epoxy sticker (Cloud9)

This layout was made for "Show us the love" contest at Scrapbook Express. It was a scraplift contest. The Scrapbook Express gallery is full of fabulous and inspiring layouts - so many to choose from!

Here I layered a scalloped half circle on top of plain half circle. The straight edge is glued down but the scalloped edge is raised with a pop-dot.

Supplies: cardstock (American Crafts, Bazzill Basics), fleece flowers (American Crafts), letter stickers (Doodlebug), die and die-cut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), brads (Little Yellow Bicycle), trim (Making Memories), border punch (Fiskars), circle and scallop punches (Fiskars)

2 last layouts are based on sketches. The first is a Pagemap sketch, the second based on a sketch by Pencil Lines.

Supplies: Patterend paper (WRMK, MME), embossed stickers (WRMK), circle punch (Fiskars), die and diecut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), floss (K&Co), letter stickers (MME), color pencils

Supplies: patterned paper (Making Memories, WRMK), chipboard tags (WRMK), embossed stickers (WRMK), faux eyelets (Cloud 9)

Sadly my 6 months term with Scrapbook Express is coming to it's end in March. But that means some good news for you - the new DT call is open! You can see all the details here. Come on! Give it a try!

Happy Happy Birthday Baby!

2011-03-01T21:59:00.000-06:00

It's time for the new challenge at Scrap That Baby! It is all about birthdays! Perfect excuse to scrap few pictures from Eli's first birthday. We didn't have a big party. I was only us, a cake and a bowl of whipped cream :)

I used new Little Yellow Bicycle Twig for this layout. It is always fun playing with new goodies! Hope you will have time to play along! There is a fun prize for grabs! The layouts due March 14th.

Supplies: patterned paper and chipboard (Little Yellow Bicycle), chipboard letters (Heidi Grace), journaling card (Anna Griffin), pearls (Zva Creative), stamp (Office supply store), ink (Ranger), glaze pen (Sakura), twine

Thinking about Purim

2011-02-28T11:00:00.000-06:00

3 more weeks till Purim. I have to admit that since we moved to US, Purim is not so much fun. I am missing going to Adloyada and celebrating with family and friends. Maybe this year we need to make more efforts and find some community events here, where we live. Meanwhile I found some fun pictures from Purim 2001 and made a page for Crafting Jewish Style blog.

Supplies: patterned paper (Crafting Jewish Style), letter stickers (American Crafts), buttons (Foolala), pearls (Kaiser Crafts), die and die-cut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), border punch (Fiskars), butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), smooch spritz (Clearsnap)

I made the flowers using the tutorial here. To make my life easier, I used half circles and not full circles. Crafting Jewish Style paper had a cardstock quality, so it was too thick when I started from the full circle. Using bone folder also helped a lot. I used 2 new colors of Smooch Spritz - Vanilla Shimmer on the flowers and Cherry Ice on the butterflies.

We have a busy day today - dentist for the girls, art show at Ella's school, than Lila has her first babysitting job, finish packing and to bed. Tomorrow 6am Ofir and Lila fly out to Los-Angeles.

Scrap That Baby - layout, mini album and DT call

2011-02-27T16:53:00.000-06:00

Phew, another 9 days with no blogging. Another busy month almost gone. Ella went to 2 birthday parties, dressed like a lumberjack for Lumberjack day at school and graduated from speech therapy. So proud of this girl!

Lila spent hours at the rink, practicing for the Nationals and participated in drama workshop at school. Last Thursday the club organized a party for the team to wish them good luck and she received her medal from Maplewood competition. Her team took the first place but the organizers were one medal short, so Lila agreed to wait. Tuesday early morning they fly out to California.

We had snow, again. So much snow this year. It was beautiful. But I started to think about spring and warmer weather. I am waiting anxiously for summer. My parents are coming to spend few weeks with us and I can't wait.

To make it easier for Eli to connect with his grandparents, I made a little book for him with pictures of his grandparents and his uncles and aunts. It is a super easy project that took only few minutes after I chose the pictures and printed them. More pictures and full tutorial here at Scrap That Baby.

Here is another layout I made for Scrap That Baby. The prompt was "funny faces. Eli looks puzzled by the strange creature with fur and whiskers.

I painted the center of the patterned paper with acrylic paint and used the same paint to add green dots to the tags.

Supplies: patterned paper and tags (Basic Grey), letter stickers (Doodlebug), paint (Honig), butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), twine, photo corners

I love designing for Scrap that Baby! Sarah's prompts make me create layouts that I probably wouldn't otherwise. I just finished working on my layout for the next prompt that will be posted March 1st. If you scrapbook about babies under age 4, you may want to apply for Scrap That Baby Design Team. But hurry, the deadline is tomorrow. All info is here.

Crafting Jewish Style - DT call

2011-02-18T09:18:00.001-06:00

Crafting Jewish Style is looking to expands it's Design Team. You can find all details here and here. That reminds me that I didn't share my last two layouts for Crafting Jewish Style.

Supplies: patterned paper and stickers (Crafting Jewish Style), journaling sticker (Jenni Bowlin), wired ribbon (unknown), epoxy stickers (Cloud 9), sequins (Making Memories), dies and die-cut machine (Lifestyle Crafts)

Supplies: patterned paper (Crafting Jewish Style), border punch (Fiskars), circle punches (Fiskars), dies and die-cut machine (Lifestyle Crafts)

This layout is based on a sketch created by me :) You can see the sketch and what other CJS designers did with it here

BTW, if you are looking for a great sale, Scrapbook Express had a 40% off sale on Crafting Jewish Style kits.

Blog Hop winner

2011-02-16T10:10:00.006-06:00

Hmm, I didn't blog for 15 days. What happened?? Actually, quite a lot. Earlier this month we went to Midwestern Synchronized Ice Skating Championships. Lila's team did very well, they placed 5th and qualified for Nationals. It took as a while to "recover" from the news and understand how we finance her trip to California in 3 weeks. Eventually we worked it out. The flight is booked, she is going with Ofir this time. There are still many things to do - we have bake sale this week and I am going to help another mom to redo the competition dresses. But you probably are more interested to know who is the winner of the blog hop prize :)

So, here it is. I had 24 comments. I used random.org to give me a random number from 1 to 24 and the number is

17th commenter was Tal! Tal, please email me your shipping address. You can find my email address if you click on my profile picture.

I appreciate all your comments, I enjoyed tremendously visiting your blogs and I am still going through my list.

BTW, Lila was 5 in this picture. The picture was taken in September, she turned 6 the following November. So you all were right :)

I don;t like posts without any crafty pictures so I will share my January DT work for Scrapbook Express.

Supplies: patterned paper (My Mind's Eye), circle punches (Fiskars, EK Success), stickles (Ranger), letter stickers (Making Memories)

Supplies: patterned paper (Making Memories), lace (My Mind's Eye), journaling card (Making Memories), dimensional stickers (Making Memories), letter stickers (Doodlebug), felt flower (American Crafts), flowers (EK Success)

Supplies: cardstock (American Crafts), diecuts (My Mind's Eye), letters (Making Memories), heart dies and die-cut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), button (Doodlebug), jewels (Doodlebug), twine

Supplies: patterned paper, border stickers, letter stickers (Bo Bunny), felt snowflakes (Little Yellow Bicycle), jewels (big - Bo Bunny, small - Doodlebug), stickles (Ranger)

Tuesday Trio Anniversary Blog Hop

2011-02-01T08:48:00.003-06:00

To celebrate the blog anniversary and joining of the new DT member Zehavit we are blog hopping today!

This time, each of the DT members is hosting a giveaway, which means there are seven different giveaways, and seven chances to win!!!

How is it going to work??

At the end of the post I will ask a question relevant to the post. To participate in the prize drawing you will need to become a follower of my blog and leave a comment with the answer to the question.

The blog hop will last for two weeks. The winners will be posted on each blog. I want to show you a picture of my little prize. American Crafts rose ribbon is my new favorite thing and I couldn't resist the little roses I found at Michael's. The colors are so soft and remind me of spring.

This week we worked with the sketch #52 and were asked to use glitter. I used Lila's picture from 2004. She looks so cute and girly. I added layered punched borders, lace, scallop border made from transparency, white glittery butterflies and red glittery letters. I can't believe this girl is 12 now and is taller than me.

Supplies: cardstock(unknown), patterned paper (Anna Griffin, Me and My Big Ideas), chipboard letters (Anna Griffin), journaling cards (Anna Griffin), butterflies (Making Memories), transparency (Hambly Studio), die and diecut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), border punch (Fiskars), circle punch (Fiskars), lace, tissue paper

So here is my "tricky" question to you - How old was Lila in the picture? Answer the question in the comments and don't forget to become a follower. I will draw a winner on February 15th. You have 6 more chances to win by visiting the blogs of other Tuesday Trio DT members.

One last thing - still time to participate in the giveaway on the Tuesday Trio blog right here. Good luck and happy blog hopping!

Scrapbook Express December DT work and Silhouette giveaway!

2011-01-21T00:57:00.005-06:00

It is time to share what I did for Scrapbook Express in December.

Supplies: cardstock (Bazzill Basics), patterned paper (Making Memories), flowers (Petaloo), flower die and diecut machine (Quikutz), border corner punch (Fiskars), corner squeeze punch (Fiskars), stamp (Papertrey Ink)

Supplies: patterned paper (American Crafts), stickers (American Crafts), border corner punch (Fiskars), smooch ink (Clearsnap), pen (American Crafts), letter stickers (Doddlebug)

Supplies: patterned paper (My Mind's Eye, Crafting Jewish Style), chipboard letters (Heidi Swapp), letter stickers (Sassafras Lass, Doddlebug), circle stickers (Crafting Jewish Style), brads (My Mind's Eye), ribbon, charm, twine, pin (unknown)

Supplies: cardstock(unknown), patterned paper (Making Memories, We R Memory Keepers), embossed stickers (We R Memory Keepers), letter stickers (Doodlebug), faux eyelets (Jo-Ann), tag (Basic Grey)

I am really enjoying being part of the DT and just being part of the Scrapbook Express community. I met wonderful people there that are friendly, fun and keep my creative juice flowing! And don't forget the store! Heather has awesome prices on everything and always has sales. I really need to restrain myself when I order products for my DT projects. I would love to see some of you joining and participating in our challenges!

Right now, Scrapbook Express is hosting a Silhouette giveaway on Facebook. Here all the details:

Join the Scrapbook Express Event on Facebook!

Silhouette Give-away
Where:	Scrapbook Express
When:	Monday, February 28 from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm

Scrapbook Express fan? Get a friend to like our page and mention you in a comment and you will receive an additional entry in our Silhouette Give-away!! We will randomly choose a winner from our Facebook Scrapbook Express Fans.

Isn't it awesome?

Tuesday Trio: new cards and blog candy

2011-01-21T00:44:00.005-06:00

It was a while since I posted my Tuesday Trio DT work. The first card was based on sketch 48 and the challenge was to make a circle card with vintage feel. Vintage is not really my thing but I did my best. I used several die-cuts by K&Co that I got from Michael's few weeks ago. Looks vintage to me :)

Supplies: patterned paper (Kaiser Craft), die-cuts (K&Company), lace (unknown), jewel (Heidi Swapp), ink (Ranger)

The next card is based on sketch 49. Here the challenge was to use sewing.

Supplies: felt (Creative Imaginations), die-cuts (circle - Daisy D, sentiment - K&Company), chipboard heart (Heidi Grace), ribbon (unknown)

The next card is based on sketch 50 and again the challenge was "vintage". I really like how this card turned out! Maybe because I was using my new doily die. The flowers are from the same packet of vintage die-cuts from Michael's.

Supplies: patterned paper (Kaiser Craft), die-cuts (K&Company), pearls (Zva Creative), ink (Ranger), dies (Doily - My Favorite Things, label - Quickutz), stamp (American Crafts)

You can still play along! This challenge will be open till January 29th, 4pm CST. Link up your creations here

The last card for Tuesday Trio is based on sketch 51 that was posted today. The challenge today is to add a hidden sentiment to the card. I used my new Quickutz (I actually should say Lifestyle Crafts) hearts border die, the same I used on my white Winter 1972 layout. The border has 5 hearts, I cut 2 hearts, folded them and secured with a ribbon and brad. Like a mini card. The heart opens to reveal a sentiment.

Supplies: cardstock (unknown), die (Lifestyle Crafts), border punch (Fiskars), chipboard heart (Heidi Grace), letter stickers (Making Memories), butterflies (Jenni Bowlin), ribbon (unknown), brad (unknown)

If you want to play along, you can link up your creations (it doesn't have to be cards) here. It will be open till February 5th, 4pm CST.

Now to the exciting news - Tuesday Trio is hosting a giveaway to celebrate one year anniversary of the blog! You can read all about it here. Scroll down to the end of the post and don't let the strange symbols scare you away. The blog is bilingual and each Hebrew paragraph is followed by English.

This is all for today!

P.S. I talked with my mom about the Winter layout and she told me that it is probably winter of 1973-1974. Now it makes sense. I probably look more like 2 years old than 1 year old. So I replaced the number sticker and now it is called Winter 1973

Winter Wonderland

2011-01-20T12:33:00.004-06:00

It feels like winter here in Wisconsin. We had few snowy days and we were promised very cold temperatures for the weekend. In the middle of January I can't really complain about winter, only embrace it. One way of doing it is taking wintery pictures and looking back at the old ones.
The January Divas monthly challenge at Scrapbook Express is called Winter Wonderland - it calls for all white layout. It also asks to use something on the layout for each letter of the word "winter". You can read all details here

After going through my white supplies, ordering more white supplies, changing my mind 5 times I finally picked a picture. It is the original picture of little me and my mom probably from December 1972 or January 1973. I didn't want to put anything on top of the picture so I grouped all my embellishments around it.

Supplies: cardstock (Bazzill, Core'dinations), dies and diecut machine (Quickutz), photo corner punch (EK Success), distressed crackle paint (Ranger), buttons (Doodlebug), jewels (Doodlebug), letter stickers (Doddlebug), border punch (Martha Stewart), ribbon (Chatterbox), felt border (Yellow Little Bicycle), matte accents (Ranger)

There is still time to join! The contest is open till January 31st. The winner will receive $25 gift certificate to the Scrapbook Express store. Great prize if you ask me!

Here is something completely different. I used this sketch from My Mind's Eye blog to make this layout of Ella holding a huge icicle. The papers and the diecuts are from MME "My Colorful Christmas" collection.

Supplies: patterned paper (MME), diecuts (MME), letter stickers (Doddlebug), distress ink (Ranger), jewels (Doddlebug), chipboard corners (DCWV), ribbon (unknown), circle punch (Fiskars)

I seriously need to take pictures of Eli in the snow. If only he would agree to wear snowboots and mittens....

New card and more about Sketches2Scrapbook

2011-01-12T22:51:00.003-06:00

I love playing with new scrapbooking goodies! Few days ago I received my order from My Favorite Things (I won their facebook prize drawing!). I ordered 2 stamp sets and this awesome Dainty Doily die! (I can't give you a link because it is sold out right now). I already made 3 cards using it. I made this sweet card for one little girl that is turning 1 this month. I cut 2 sizes of felt circles and sewed them together adding few beads in the center. All papers came from my scrap drawers.

Supplies: dies (Doily - My Favorite Things, flower pot, label - Quickutz), stamp (PaperTrey Ink)

I can't share my other 2 cards yet but I can finally share 2 layouts I did for Sketches2Scrapbook iPhone app.

Suppplies: cardstock (Core'dinations), patterned paper (American Crafts), journaling sticker (Heidi Grace), letters (blue - The Paper Studio, chipboard - Heidi Grace), stamps (Fiskars)
Based on the sketch from Sketches2Scrapbook

Supplies: patterned paper (blue with words - Heidi Grace, words (Sandy Lion), blue polka dot (Heidi Grace), flourish sticker (K&Company), chipboard stickers (K&Company), journaling tag (K&Company), dimensional flower stickers (K&Company), pens (Sakura), border punch (Fiskars), circle template and cutting tool (Fiskars)
Based on the sketch from Sketches2Scrapbook

I loaded the app on Lila's iPod and spent some time playing with it. It didn't disappoint! It has so many search options! It would be perfect to have at the crops. Think about having more than 100 terrific sketches with examples in your hand. It is getting even better - new release is already in progress ;-) For those of you with other smart phones - stay tuned! There will be a version for you also.