A different kind of Christmas layout

So, we've all done the layouts of Christmas morning -- the pj's, the gifts, etc. This year, I thought I'd do a different kind of layout. I took pictures of some of my favorite Christmas ornaments. We collect Christmas ornaments from everywhere we travel, so each one has a memory of a fun trip behind it. As we hang each ornament, we remember that trip and the occasion that brought us there. The kids love all the ornaments from all over the US and some from around the world!

Color Combos

I LOVE to look at creations with amazing color combos. Something about beautiful contrast and tones just jumps out at me. Unfortunately, I'm not very good at creating color combinations. I just happened to stumble across this fabulous blog on the ning network: Color Combos Galore. A new challenge is posted each Monday and you have until Sunday evening to post your creations. There are currently 97 color combos to browse through and you still have time to enter your creation for color combo 98. This would be such a fun way to use up any of those scraps you have left over from your SC kits.

I hope this gives you something fun and inspirational to do over the long weekend! Happy scrappin'!

GIVE THANKS FOR THE LITTLE THINGS...

As we celebrate this day with family and friends I wanted to do a layout that reflected what I am thankful for...the little things!

For me at this moment I am thankful for:

1. TINY TOES!

2. BIG SMILES!

3. A SWEET HUSBAND!

4. JAVA (STARBUCKS!!!) Something I can't live without!

5. SCRAPBOOK GOODIES!!

6. HUGS AND KISSES!!

As with Diana's Challenge this month, don't be afraid to use the "unexpected in your layouts." Here I used the Starbucks logo from the cardboard wrap they put around the coffee cup. It is a perfect example to show how much I love my Java!! Sometimes my layouts just take on a life of their own and with this one I was just carefree! A lot of layering and a lot of embellishments!!

I hope you have a SAFE and HAPPY Thanksgiving! Not only am I thankful for the wonderful gifts above but I am thankful to have met so many talented women this year from Scrapbook Circle who love this awesome craft!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING AND HAPPY SCRAPPIN'!!!

Getting Inspiration Elsewhere...

and sharing it here with you! I found this little project on making a Thankful Album the other day and thought it would be the perfect thing for my daughter and I to work on, and it's just in time for the upcoming holiday as well! To check it out click here.

Speaking of being thankful...what is something that you are thankful for this year? I am thankful for so much, but most of all for the health of my loved ones and that I get to see family this year over the holidays! Please share what it is that you are thankful for this year!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!

Peppermint Dreams is UP!

Our December kit {Peppermint Dreams} is now up for your viewing pleasure! I have had so much fun creating with this kit and can't wait to share it with all of you.

Thought I'd share a few detailed shots of the kit.


Notice the green Bazzil cardstock in the lower section of the photo. It's the new dotted swiss cardstock that has embossed polka dots covering the entire paper. Love it!
Have you ever used this Prima tape? It is a clear tape with a black image printed on it. Seriously fun to use.
I used the Prima tape on this layout under the photo of my daughter.
I also used the Prima tape here on the cover of this 25 Days of December album. (More photos of the album are coming soon.) It's perfect for layering with patterned paper and embellishments.
I also used the tape on this page of my 25 days album along with the Pink Paislee paper from the Tinsel Town Kit. I really love how well the Tinsel Town kit coordinates so well with the Peppermint Dreams kit.
The October Afternoon stickers are adorable and packed with options. AND the Heidi Swapp glossy extras are so bright and cheery.
We don't want to forget about the paper! We've included 10 sheets of patterned paper this month and they are all double-sided. So many options. We also have paper add-ons, so you can have plenty of paper for all of your holiday crafting.
The reverse sides of the paper...If you want to be sure to get one of these kits, just check out here through November and put PEPPERMINT DREAMS kit in the notes at checkout. The buy buttons will be up on the kit December 1st.

I also have a special suprise gift that will be shipped with each of these kits. More details coming soon!

Having fun with the Dec. Kit

Hi everyone, Candace here, and I am having so much fun working with the Scrapbook Circle December Kit! Last week we had a surprise dusting of snow on Friday morning, causing an unnecessary 2-hour delay in school, much to the delight of my kids. One of the papers in the kit was just perfect for these snow pictures (Heidi Swapp's Pink Snow Storm). While the snow wasn't pink, my daughter's jacket certainly is!


I used some Martha Stewart glitter on my punched out snowflakes (a MS punch). And I also sprinkled some of her "Snow" glitter along the "snow" on the paper.

On another note, has anyone ever heard of Lighted Tree Balls? They are becoming quite popular here in Greensboro, NC. Here's a link with a tutorial on how to make them (and the "tips" will show you how to hang them in your trees): Lighted Tree Balls. I have unsuccessfully tried to photograph the neighborhood where these originated... it is really beautiful to see entire streets with these balls suspended in the trees. I bought mini lights years ago, planning to make some... now I just need chicken wire and extention cords... and a willing husband to help me hang them! If I make them this year, I promise to post pictures (and please let me know if you make them)! I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Tip of the day......

I think it's important to have the correct tools when you work on anything whether it be crafting, cooking, or fixing your car. Here are the top 6 things (sorry I tried to narrow it down to 5 but couldn't!) I grab for most every time I create:

Crop-a-dile, I love that it's quiet, no pounding and it punches through most anything!

I call this my x-box! :) It' perfect for all of those little letters or embellishments that you either want permanently or semi-permanentely adhered to your projects. (**I LOVE this for my 1" letters that I cut from my cricut**) I belive the little hole will compensate for 2"
These little Cutter Bees are sharp! (They come with a cover) They are excellent for detailed cutting. I even have a pair that are non stick for easy cleaning and cutting through stickers.I LOVE this stuff! It glues metal, chipboard, beads, it's just great! And the best part? It's quick drying!
My trimmer is probably the thing I grab first every time I make anything. This trimmer I like because it folds in half, has a magnetic strip to hold things in place, measures so you can cut prescisley, and favorite part? Self sharpening blade! No more buying replacement blades!My cricut....I should name it, (it has it's own dust cover). There are so many things you can do with it, I love the fact that I can cut letters out of any paper I want. And the cartridges are varied enough not to be exactly the same. (it helps when you have friends who have different cartridges and you can share...)


These are my favorites, they work for me and make creating enjoyable! Enjoy!

Involve your kids this year..............................

My mom saved everything I made as a kid. Every year at Christmas our tree was decorated with tons of ornaments from pre-school and elementary school. Personally, I thought it was the most beautiful tree in the world. We started baking the day after Thanksgiving. I remember coming home after school before break to the smell of goodies baking and the sound of Bing Crosby. This year I want to get my kids involved with many aspects of Christmas-from baking to making cards. I want to give them a more hands-on experience. There are so many fabulous things you can create with your kids during this time of year. And of course, the messier, the better! Here are just a few of the things we are going to try this year-

Wreath Christmas Card

What You Need
white card stock cut to 5 ½” x 8 ½”
leaf and berry stamps
green and red stamp pads
glue dot adhesive
12” of ¼” red ribbon
What You Do
Fold white cardstock in half.
Stamp leaf images randomly in a circular pattern on white card stock. By stamping two or three times before re-inking, you get increasingly lighter shades of the ink color, which creates depth and shading.
Stamp berries on wreath.
Loosely loop ribbon to make bow. Mount at top of wreath with glue dot.

Fingerprint Reindeer Family Holiday Card

What You Need
white card stock cut to 5 ½” x 8 ½”
brown and red stamp pads
red and brown markers
“Season's Greetings” stamp
What You Do
Fold cardstock in half.
Stamp fingerprints in center of card front.
Draw antlers and eyes with brown marker and nose with red marker.
Stamp greeting in red.

Craft Stick Christmas Tree Ornament

What you'll need:
1 jumbo craft stick
5 regular craft sticks
Green and brown craft paint
12” yarn or ribbon
1 gold glittery chenille stem
½ silver glittery chenille stem
25-30 colored sequins
Paintbrush
Scissors
White craft glue

How to make it:
Cut one of the regular craft sticks in half. Put aside.
Cut half an inch off of each end of two of the regular craft sticks, discard cut ends.
Paint the jumbo craft stick brown.
Paint the uncut craft sticks (2), the half craft stick pieces (2), and the trimmed craft sticks (2) the color green. Allow all craft sticks to dry.
Glue the green craft sticks horizontally onto the brown craft stick (trunk), starting with the longest sticks at the bottom and working your way upward. Try to space them out evenly. Allow the glue to dry.
Bend silver chenille stem into the shape of a star. Trim excess if needed.
Cut the gold chenille stem into four pieces, each one smaller than the other (4.5”, 3.5”, 2.5”, 1.5”).
Curve each of the gold chenille stems and glue them onto the tree as garland. Start at the bottom, gluing the longest piece in place. Next, move up and glue the second longest piece, and so on.
Glue the silver chenille star to the top of the tree.
Use the white craft glue bottle tip to dot on glue in various spots on the green craft sticks. Place sequins onto the glue dots and set aside to dry.
Turn the ornament over and glue a looped piece of yarn onto the back for the hanger.

Toffee Candy

Ingredients:

1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
Cookie Layer:
½ cup unsalted butter
½ cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ cups all-purpose flour
⅛ teaspoon salt
Toffee:
½ cup unsalted butter
½ cup brown sugar
Chocolate:
½ cup chocolate chips
Cooking Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Toast pecan pieces on jelly roll pan 12 minutes or until lightly toasted and fragrant.
In large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium until smooth. Add sugar. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg yolk until combined.
Add flour and salt. Beat until combined, scraping down side of bowl occasionally.
Between two sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap with a rolling pin roll the dough to a 12-inch-by-9-inch rectangle. Transfer dough to a cookie sheet
Bake 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove cookie sheet to cooling rack and let cool completely.
In a medium pot bring brown sugar and butter to a boil. Boil, stirring occasionally 5 minutes. Immediately spread over cooled cookie.
Sprinkle chocolate chips over toffee. Put back in oven 5 minutes or until chocolate is melted. Spread melted chocolate chips over the toffee and immediately sprinkle nuts.
Put in freezer for at least 30 minutes. Break candy into desired size pieces.
Substitution(s)
Any toasted nut can be sprinkled on top of the chocolate layer.
Storage Tips
Ready In:
1 hour 20 minutes

Enjoy creating this year!!

Create a Holiday Banner...

I knew I was going to love this kit when I got it in the mail! It is PACKED FULL of wonderful goodies...including the chipboard pieces to create any type of banner. This was my first one to create and I had so much fun doing it! I made this for my daughter's room for the holidays...she has a cute pink feathered tree in her room and the patterned paper from Heidi Swapp's Winter Fresh Line goes perfect with it!

I used a variety of embellishments I had on hand, plus the October Afternoon stickers included in the kit. Love them!

I couldn't do a project without a little doodling...so I took the star from the November kit gave it a little flair!

I love the Prima transparency tape...here I placed it over a strip of cardstock and trimmed around the edges to give that extra pop of texture and color!

The glitter pixee stixs from Pink Paislee are fabulous! I've been using them on almost every layout so far!

Here again was the Prima Transparent Tape!!! I know we all having been drooling over it! It pretty much works on anything! And you can't forget about the Stickles! I outlined the "Y" letter to make it pop a little more against the already white background!

I can't wait to see your creations with this kit! You will LOVE what you can create with this other than your layouts!

Have fun and happy scrappin'!

Jennifer Y.

Holiday Cocoa & Treat Bags

Has anyone started their holiday crafting yet? I have! Just thought I'd share a super easy trick to make some super cute and festive goodies to give for those little, last minute gift ideas that always seem to creep up on us around the holiday season.

Cocoa mixes are on sale here so I loaded up on several boxes of the ones sold in individual packets and found some small zip-lock baggies at my local dollar store. I simply opened each packet of cocoa and poured contents into each baggie, sealed and covered the top with patterned paper that I used adhesive on, folded and then stapled (with colored staples) to secure. Then I embellished however I saw fit with scalloped circles, stamps, ribbons, etc!

A super fun and easy way to get started on your holiday crafting! =) Have fun and please share your holiday projects with us all as well! The more ideas shared, the better!

Jen Davis

December Kit layout

A few years ago I gave up sending handmade Christmas cards (we were sending almost 80 then) and started making photocards. On a nice November day, I put the kids in their matching Christmas pajamas, get out the Santa hats, and we do a photo shoot. Then I upload the pictures to Shutterfly, pick out a card template and order the cards. I used the Scrapbook Circle December kit for this layout of our photo shoot:

I love the Prima tape (seen here on top of the green striped Heidi Swapp paper). You'll be seeing me use it on a lot more layouts with this fun kit!

tip of the day.....

I have some very creative scrappy friends on the Design team here at Scrapbook Circle, they inspire me to greater heights. One thing I've noticed is their use of things that are not necessarily scrapbook items, (cardboard, silk flowers, etc...) My tip of the day (or challenge) is to think outside the box. Look at your regular or crafty items and think of other ways to use them. My example happens to be seed beads & brads, I used them to make my cranberry garland & balls on this Christmas tree:

I would love to see what you come up with! Please come share in the community..... (in the photos section.)

Keeping it Simple

I can spend a lot of time on one layout or card. Sometimes I have to leave my project alone and come back to it later-possibly days later! When this starts to happen often, I realize I am starting to burn out and I need to do something different. That is when I go back to keeping it simple. I might use minimal patterned paper and minimal pre-made embellishments.


















Or make a card using a simple sketch , no patterned paper and stickers.


















I love being able to get something accomplished without pressuring myself for perfection. It brings back my passion for creating. Decembers Scrapbook Circle kit is perfect for whatever your style may be. I love the mix of traditional, modern and bold patterns in the kit and the embellishments can take you any direction you choose. Oh! And don't forget about the Pink Paislee Add-ons-the kits are incredible and fun!

FUN WITH BLING!

I could pretty much use bling on every layout I do! I LOVE it! The Kaiser Orange Rhinestones that come in the November kit are a perfect embellishment for any layout! I love that they are different sizes so you are able to "bling" in a variety of ways...On the layout above I added a little sparkle to the ribbon and below framed the side of my layout to show more interest in the shape of the paper. Who says pumpkins can't sparkle? I used Candace's idea last month of layering your papers to make a design and knew it needed a little something more...why not bling? The colors were perfect for the pumpkin and it gave my layout that much more depth.

I hope you have fun with your bling too! Can't wait to see the creative ways you use it!!

Happy Scrappin'!

Just For Fun...

do you have as many chipboard pieces floating around your scrap area as I do? Seems like they multiply overnight! I've discovered that instead of letting them collect dust (or gettting lost in the shuffle of my ever growing stash supply), I'm going to use them on my cards! I've found that an easy way to use some of the larger ones is to stamp on them...functional meets cute!

For my card here I simply just stamped my image (in this case a phrase stamp by Heidi Grace Designs) and adhered it to my card and was done!

Happy Crafting to you!

-Jen

tip of the day...

did you know that you can make your own chipboard? Yep, and here's how. (If you are using a punch or die cutting machine this works especially well) You cut your shape multiples of times. Then glue them together. That's it Easy Peasy! Here is an example of what I used this TIP for this weekend. (click on tip) For my tree I cut it out 4 times, it gives stability and a textured look. Enjoy!

Tip on using lots of photos

Have a layout where you just need to get all those photos on and still make it look good? Here's a tip: Crop them all down to their various sizes -- they don't have to be the same size, just crop away. Then, choose a pp or cardstock color that will match your background paper (the actual 12x12 paper you are scrapping on). Start arranging all your pictures on the pp or cardstock, leaving a 1/4 inch border on the outside only. Make sure your pictures all overlap. Make a fun, random pattern. Then, cut out a 1/4 inch border all the way around your collage of picture and you have one massive photo to put on your scrapbook page! Here is an example.Good luck!

Peppermint Dreams

Anyone excited to play with our upcoming December kit, "Peppermint Dreams?"

How to Make a Surprisingly Simple Paper Wreath

Here is an easy and fun project for the Holidays. This would be a really fun project to do with your kids too. Using non-traditional colors makes this full of interest and flair. Of course, traditional Christmas paper would also look fabulous This project was created by Jeff Rudell at CraftStylish.com.

Supply List:
A styrofoam wreath form of your own choosing (roughly $3 to $5 at most craft suppliers)
Some paper
A hole-punch (A 3-inch-diameter punch was used here)
A hot glue gun

Working around the outer edge of the styrofoam wreath form, simply hot-glued an assortment of colored paper disks in place.

Once you finish the outer edge, add a second course of disks to the inner edge, again, gluing them in place.

A third tier of colored disks is added so that it slightly overlaps the outer course below it.

A fourth and final course of disks is then added to completely cover the wreath form and hide it from view.

The addition of some 1/2-inch, tricolored "berries" (punched from red, fuchsia, and burgundy paper) along with a wide ribbon from which to hang it completes this project in no time. Mr. Rudell suggests when you're done with your first wreath, made a second or a third and hang them in groups of three or five.

Easy Doodling Fun...

I am having so much fun with this November kit...the colors are awesome and work so well together. One of the many goodies found in the kit this month are the Bazzill Just the Edge Cardstock in White. These little strips are full of different designs and add such texture and character to any of your layouts!

I love that they were white this month. As you can see in the layout "My Mini Me" I used the floral strip and heart strip...To give the flowers that extra POP I took my black sharpie and doodled around the edges mimicing the green floral sticker above it! The doodling brings it all together and adds that fun whimsical touch!

Have fun doodling on any of your projects and happy scrappin'!

Jennifer Y.

Some More November Layouts...

really loved this month's kit. To check it out for yourself go here.