A quick gift

Gift giving season has come and gone, but if you have children in elementary school, you know that there are birthday parties seemingly every 3 days. I am always looking for {economical} little gifts for the abundant birthday parties. Here is a version of a slightly scrapbooky project i saw on pinterest:



What's going on here? Well, it's a simple black frame, and a sheet of lined scrapbook paper with a stamped phrase on it. Then, you put the glass on top, and you give your lucky recipient some dry erase markers and they have a fun little REAL LIFE status update poster to put in their room or around the house. (I confess that I wrote the first message in blue ink!!) This example is very simple (it was for a 13 year old boy), but think of the fun you could have with scrapbook papers and embellishments.



Change the phrase, use Thickers or other alphabets, flowers, butterflies - the possibilites are endless. You could even have this in your house for making lists, or having a really cool looking "quote board". I need some more frames...
The only think I would suggest is to make sure the background area intended for the dry erase writing is a light color and not too busy so that it's easy to read. So dive into that massive stash of yours and get busy getting crafty. {PS: can you just make sure that my kids aren't invited to the same birthday party when you make this? Be kinda weird for the kid to get TWO of these ... :)}
Have a great New Years weekend. 2012 is going to be AWESOME!!

My little Artist

I have old photos lying around everywhere.  Unorganized and messy.  That's me.

My husband is always looking for a bookmark and quite often grabs a photo to use.  Especially if it's of one or two or all of his cute kids. This photo he used as a bookmark for several weeks until I stole it back to scrap it.

I'm still playing with travel papers.  These patterned papers are Making Memories. And though the photo is taken in our kitchen and not some exotic holiday location I think they work just fine.

I sprayed an old doily with 3 colours of Glimmer Mist and then cut it up.

Here are some close ups...

The Prima bling bird is so pretty!

I used some chipboard scrolls from Bo Bunny's travel line, and some metal branches by Prima, to frame my photo. 

The title is also BoBunny product.
The last time I was in the store I spotted some pretty little flowers by Prima.  I usually play with bigger flowers, but I really like the size of these ones.

The oval embellishments are by BoBunny.  I think there was 6 in the pack.  I used 2 on this layout.



December Daily Class

So tomorrow is December 1st. Big day at our house, the first official day of the Christmas Holiday Season. Time to start taking lots of pictures and journaling all about the memories and traditions.

Join me on Thursday, December 8th at 7pm in the brand new classroom at Unforgettable Memories to create this festive paper bag mini album. This class is $30.00 for members and $25.00 for members. We will get a good start on the mini book and you will be able to follow the pattern easily with very detailed step by step photo instructions.

If you are thinking about taking this class start taking photos and journal daily invents. All photos are horizontal 2x3 wallet size and each day has room for one to 3 photos.

This book could also be used to house Christmas memories and does not have to be the 25 days of Decmeber.

First Class in the Brand New Classroom

Just a reminder that Angela is teaching her card class tomorrow night (Tuesday. November 29th). This class is $20.00 for members and $25.00 for non members. You will create 8 Christmas Cards. Class starts at 7pm. Call Unforgettable Memories at 250-785-2711 to sign up. Don't forget this is the first class in our brand new classroom!

Imaginisce Canvas stickers

Have you seen the Imaginisce travel line in the store.  Check them out when you're checking out the new building.  It is amazing! (The Imaginisce and the new store)

I started this layout with a couple of pieces of white dotty Bazzill.  Using my vine mask I misted green Maya Mist and coffee Glimmer Mist around the edges.  Then I turned over my mask and swiped the colour left on it directly on to my cardstock.  It stuck on all the dotty bits and added lots of texture.  I love it! And I didn't have to clean off my mask.

Here are some close-ups...

I used an entire sheet of canvas stickers to create a border along the two photos on the right hand page. Some of them are pop dotted up and others are stuck directly on to the photos and patterned paper.

I cut out some of the stamp images from a piece of patterned paper and created a corner for my two photos on the left page.  Again, I pop dotted a couple of the stamp images.

Love the little plane sticker.

I tied a piece of wheel tracked ribbon along my patterned paper border.

Check out this line next time you are in the store.  There are some really neat images and designs in this line.

It's December Daily Time!

It's December Daily time again.

I first heard about creating a December Daily from Ali Edwards, a designer, author and online blogger. I thought it was such a great idea. The point is to document daily activity for the days leading up to Christmas Day. The little things tend to get lost in all the hussel and bussel. So you take photos and journal then document in an album. This will be my third year creating a December Daily. It is really neat to pull out the past two and compare. The girls have changed so much! Join me to create your December Daily. I have made it easy for you to focus on the memories! Class details will be posted this week! But for now here is a sneak peek.

Another two page layout with Bobunny's Etc line.

Every fall the berries on our Rowantrees ripen and then the birds come. They are gluttons. They eat so many, so fast they end up getting drunk on them and flying into our windows. Turbo, Breanna's kitty, spends his time sitting under the hedge in the front yard waiting for dinner to bounce off the living room window and land at his feet.

The background patterned paper, chipboard, stickers and alpha are all BoBunny's Etc line.  I also used some Imaginisce patterned paper.

Here are some closeups...

 I love the blingy Prima bird.  Had to find a spot for him on this layout. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I used coins from the sheet of chipboard for my flower centers and, of course, the alpha from the same line.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Love all the unique stickers for this line.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And a pretty Prima flower on top of one of the chipboard scrolls.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I love that the sticker sheet comes with 3 different little alphas on it with loads of letters.  I used the cream coloured one to spell out my quote.  There was more than enough letters for the two sentences.

The black and brown set of alphas will be saved for future layouts. 



BoBunny Etc line ~ a two page layout

I love the colours in BoBunny's Etc line.And the sticker sheets that coordinates with it.

I used one of my scroll masks with Tsukineko's 'pinecone' ink and my Tim Holtz applicator to add some design elements to the edges of photo block.

Here are some close ups...

My title.  I used the a scroll from BoBunny's coordinating chipboard sheet and the chipboard alpha that also belongs with this line.  

The bird is one of Kaiser's woodcuts.  I stamped it with one of my collage stamps and my favourite pinecone ink. The brads are 7Gypsies. 

I still had my big butterfly punch out from last layout so I used it again.  I think I want a bigger one.  Note to self: check Unforgettable Memories for a really huge butterfly punch... 

I layered border stickers from the sticker sheet along the bottom of my big photo and some of the word stickers above and below the row of jewels. 

I punched those 3 butterfly images out of the graph paper for my previous layout and then decided to use the graph paper as a matte for my big photo on this layout. Luckily I had punched my butterflies in a neatish row along the bottom of the paper.

Always planning ahead.

Check out this line the next time you are in Unforgettable Memories.  It is one of my favourite lines ever. I can't stop playing with it. I have another layout on my desk almost completed.  It will be ready to post next weekend.

Making a list and checking it twice ~ wreaths

Have you made up a list for all the Christmas crafts you are want to do this year?

There are so many great ideas out there.  I've been looking at wreaths.  Which one should I put on my front door. 
This one from GoodHousekeeping?

Wouldn't it look fabulous with the stars made of double sided Christmas patterned paper, though I like the white too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Or what about this one.  I've always loved paper with the kraft colour background. You could even stamp Christmas images in red and white on the kraft if you didn't find a patterned paper you liked.

I saved the link to the tutorial a couple years ago ~ maybe this year I'll make it.  Find the how-to here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There's this wreath from the Fancy Pants blog posted a couple Christmas's ago.  It looks like a lot of work, but it sure is pretty...

You can find the directions here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Curly patterned paper is always effective.  I made ornaments using curly papers in clear ornament balls last Christmas.  This wreath would be just as easy and fun, I'm sure. Just curl the paper and pin or glue to a styrofoam wreath form.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've loved this wreath for ages.  This blogger made it for a spring wreath but I think it would look fabulous with christmas coloured butterflies or maybe more traditional diecuts attached.

There's a tutorial here.

So now I have a decision to make.  Which wreath to make for my front door?

If you make one out of your scrapbooking supplies I hope you share it with us.

Birthday Girl with Echo Park papers

I love how bright and colourful these Echo Park 'Happy Days' patterned papers are.

I thought they'd be perfect for photos of my little girl on her 13th birthday hanging out with her friends on the back deck enjoying the sour lollipops one of her good friends made for her.

I sprayed rose glimmer mist and splattered yellow die ink on my white background before adding blocks and strips of patterned paper. I had some festive carnival stamps in my collection.  I used teal ink to stamp the images on my page and embellished them with Kaiser jewels.

Here are some closeups...

I made my title with some cheerful yellow felt alpha stickers by Prima and a birthday cake charm.

Love the Jenni Bowlin buttons.  I've used them on many layouts...

I punched some butterflies out of the graph paper in this line and then outlined them with black once I had them on the page.  They pop :)

Another Jenni Bowlin button paired with an orange flower brad by Bazzill.  

I found this scraplift on a challenge blog.  It was from last February so I'm way to late to play along, but I liked the layout so I sketched it out and stretched it to a two pager.  Do you ever do that?  Make a one page sketch stretch across two?

A BIG welcome to our newest Designer/ Teacher

I would like to welcome our newest designer and teacher to Unforgettable Memories Foto Source. Welcome, Angela Gatt!

Hello! My name is Angela Gatt and I've been a scrapbooker for about 12 years. My pages have certainly evolved from stickers and decorative scissors to the multidimensional 12x12 pages I make now. I used to work at Unforgettable Memories before going to school to become a teacher; I'm happy to be back around paper and glue.

My go-to scrapbook companies are Cosmo Cricket and Basic Grey. I like to use earth toned supplies more than brights. No page is complete without a little bit of ink and some pop dots!

My family consists of myself, my boyfriend and two very big dogs so you can expect to see lots of pages about every day events, pets, and outdoors activities. On occasion, I also make minibooks and cards.

I am excited to be on the design team and look forward to teaching classes in the new store. You can look forward to me teaching classes in the new year about resolutions and holiday celebrations. I will always try to teach you about a new technique or share ways to work with a certain product. On November 29, I'll be teaching a Christmas card class where we will make 8 different designs and work with a variety of techniques and tools.

Inspiration

{50mm 1/120 f/3.5 iso 640}


{50mm 1/120 f/3.5 iso 640}

What is this, you ask? To you, maybe just a stack of photos on a notebook...
to me...inspiration!! I am going to do a PILE of scrapbooking this weekend, and in making the plans for it, I have found myself becoming more and more inspired and motivated to actually get some layouts and projects done. And it's simply because I went and printed a huge stack of photos. {I also got a bunch of 8x12 enlargements, and I have to go back for a couple 12x12's}.
I'm not kidding - when I look at that pile I am feeling a little giddy about getting them in an album and remembering stories and diving into an enormous stash of COLLECTED STUFF...
Alright then, don't sit around waiting for inspiration to hit you like a lightening bolt or creative motivation to descend on you like...a lightening bolt...(sorry, i've got nothing for that one)...
Just start getting ready to make some stuff and see what happens. :) The girls at the store can print up piles of photos in no time and you can get practically any size of photo your crafty little heart desires.

Apron Class

I am so excited for the new store to be up and running. The first class scheduled to be taught in the new classroom is this very pretty canvas apron. This class is on Wednesday, November 30th from 7-9 pm. The cost of this class is $15.00, which includes instructor, apron and adhesive. At an extra cost you choose your own ribbon and bling to create your one of a kind designer apron! Members will recieve a discount for additional product. We will learn to make these neat ribbon flowers using Cosmo Cricket's extra large glue dot Glubbers! This apron would make a great Christmas present for that special someone who loves to get dirty or just look pretty! Sign up today as space is limited. Call today 250-785-2711.

Lots of photos ~ a two page layout

My friends and I took a ton of photos the day we hiked up to the Teahouse at Lake Louise.  I printed a lot of them off as 2" x 3" and cropped down the few 4" x 6"s I had. The main photo is a 5" x 7".  In the end I managed to get 10 pictures on this layout.

The Bazzill Cardstock I used on my background is masked and misted using my favourite Crafters Workshop vine mask. 

Have you tried Prima's flocked rub-ons yet?  Prima has some gorgeous examples using the rub-ons on their blog here.  I have used the flocked rub-ons on a couple of recent layouts.  On this layout I cut out the negative images left.

I cut up some paper doilies (My Little Yellow Bicycle) and layered them with punched pattern paper and Jenni Bowlin buttons with string tied through the stitch holes.

I layered BoBunny stickers and diecuts and patterned paper.

The circle journal spots are from My Little Yellow Bicycle's friendship tablet.

Mini Book Class

This mini book is great to put those family pictures you want to cherish always. Join me on Tuesday, October 25th from 7-9pm. The cost is $35.00 for members and $40.00 for non members. This class is great for beginners. It would also make a great gift for Christmas or just to keep for yourself.