September Blue

Blueprint No. 3

After finishing the "Where in the World are The Sill's" Keep In Touch Cards (May 25 post), it got me thinking of all the different ways a template like this could be used! It can be a mini school book–each card can represent a grade, have your child's photo with the teachers name, favorite class and best friends. Use it for a Christmas card–each card can have a family member's photo and a small paragraph of what they were up to all year. How about a baby announcement? Close up shots of of baby hands, feet and chubby cheeks would be adorable on the cards! I'm sure you can think of other ways to use the template, too!

By the way, I slightly tweeked the design a bit after I originally posted the project. Kudos to my 18-year old who suggested that I switch the placement of the name and photo on the card and move the brad up the the upper left-hand corner. Having a second pair of eyes is very helpful! Thanks Ryley!

Below is a preview of Blueprint No.3. Click on the link underthe photo for the download!

Download SeptBlue_Blueprint3

Keep In Touch Cards

With our upcoming move to Latvia right around the corner,"Where in the world are you going?",  "Are you excited about it?", "What about Dustin and Ryley", and "How will we keep in touch?" are all questions that are being asked by family and friends. Previously when we lived Europe we kept in touch via telephone, email and snail mail. Now with Facebook, Skype, Facetime and LinkedIn, we will always have a way of connecting with our loved ones that is quick and easy. I wanted to create something for our family and friends that gave a synopsis of where all of us are and how to reach us. Below are photos of what I came up with:

"Where in the World are the Sill's" is a fan-deck of 5 cards (measuring approx. 3x5). Keep on scrolling...

Each member of our family has a card. On the card is a photo, a small paragraph of where we will be, what we are up to and how to get in touch with each of us. Keep on scrolling a little bit more...

The above photo is a closer shot of my card. The contact information includes email, blog address, facebook name, skype name and snail mail address.

Isn't it cute???? I love it! I am probably going to be making close to 60 of them to send out. Hmmm....I just may have to make a Blueprint of this!

Paper Organization

Before I dive into this post, let me thank each and everyone of you for the positive response I have had with my Blueprint templates and Graduation Mini Kit! Through your comments here, comments left on Jessica Sprague's General Forum and those who sent me personal emails, I feel I must be doing something right! You are motivating me to do more! Keep checking back regularly for more freebies and kits! You all rock!

In preparing for our move overseas, I have been faced with reducing the amount of scrapbook supplies that I have collected over the years. This was not an easy task, but needed to be done. Not only was I slimming down the amount of stuff I have, I was simultaneously moving my studio from my large 17'x20' room in our finished basement to a smaller 11'x12' bedroom upstairs. Why? A few reasons. One, I had absolutely no natural light in the larger room. Although I loved the room, I love light more. It was getting really hard to pick the perfect shade of card stock to go with that perfect photo! I needed to make the switch. And two, before our big move, I needed to see how I would function in a smaller space without as much stuff...what I would miss...what I would not...what was the best way for me to organize things before we go.

I have to say, the whole process has been very enlightening. During the sorting, storing and throwing, it really made me think of how I've recorded my family memories in the past and how I want to go about it in the future. I hate to admit it, but in the past it has all been about the latest product and cute embellishments. Come on and admit it...I know many of you out there feel the same (It is the first step in admitting you have a problem)! But I can't even begin to tell you how good it felt to just let go of those stickers or brads that have been sitting in a box for years because I was convinced I would use them "someday." "Someday" never came and it was time for a lot of my stuff to go. A more simplified way of scrapbooking is definitely in my future. I can totally relate to the Becky Higgins' philosophy behind Project Life and believe that once we are settled in Europe, I will be scrapping this way instead of the way I have in the past.

Now don't get me wrong...I love all the latest and greatest products on the market right now. And I didn't get rid of everything–I still have quite a bit. But I think I will use these products sparingly in my scrapbooks and use them more in small, special occasion chipboard books, home decor items and handmade cards.

One of the largest obstacles I had to tackle in this whole process was to go through all of my card stock, patterned paper and paper scraps. I am a firm believer in ROYGBIV when it comes to organizing things by color. I figured since my closet is organized in this way, my card stock should be as well! Below is a photo of my paper and bookshelf (it is from IKEA):

The card stock and patterned paper are organized in Cropper Hopper 12x12 Vertical Organizers (they store up to 600 sheets of card stock).

I am a big fan of organizing colors by ROYGBIV. My clothes are organized this way in my closet, so why not organize my card stock in the same manner?

I organized my patterned paper in the following categories: boys/sports/pets, girlie/everyday/love, baby/school, patriotic, summer/beach/vacation, fall/halloween, winter/christmas, SEI (I love the original SEI line and just can't give it up), kits (these are packaged projects that I got at various crops and conventions).

In addition to the Vertical Organizers, I have scraps stored in the Cropper Hopper 12x12 Paper Organizers (they hold up to 100 sheets of card stock), which store nicely inside the Vertical Organizers (if you click on the photo of the shelf, another window will open making the photo larger so you can get a better view of what I am talking about). I had a lot of scraps. Some small pieces, others large. I decided to throw anything smaller than a 4x6 rectangle in the garbage. It wasn't worth keeping. Anything else I trimmed down into the following sizes: 4x6 (perfect for mats), 6x6, 5.5x8.5 (perfect for cards), 6x12, 8.5x11. If there was a sheet larger, that went into the organizer as well.

I know this was a long post! Thanks for reading! I hope some of these tips will help you to organize your papers when it comes time to do so! Keep coming back as I will be posting more organizing ideas in the near future!

Blueprint No. 2

This past Sunday Chris and I met our good friends Joe and Amy for lunch up in Arlington. We first met them back in 1995 when we lived in Monterey, CA. Our families became great friends-went on camping trips together, had dinners out and even moved to Garmisch, Germany at the same time. While in Germany went skiing together, had cookouts (drank a lot of German beer) and even watched each others kids while one couple would do a little traveling. Good times! The Marine Corps and Army finally made Virginia our current homes and the friendship has continued! Even though we live about an hour apart, it had been 2 years since we seen each other before our lunch at Vapiano's in Arlington. Life just got a little busy! We had a wonderful lunch and had a great time playing catch up!

The layout below is based off of Blueprint ^No.2. Try this technique: Instead of using a 12x12 background paper, enlarge an interesting photo and use that instead. The picture in the background is a photo I took of a large chalkboard in the restaurant. It was above the cooking station and filled with funny poems and drawings about cooking, food and eating. I thought it was perfect for this layout. Keep scrolling to the bottom of the post for a link to the download of Blueprint ^No.2!

Download SeptBlue-BlueprintNo2

Turn the Tassel-Free Mini Kit

Since I stopped working back in March, I finally was able to finish Carina Gardner's Illustrator 201 class through Jessica Sprague's website. Carina's videos showed how she makes her fabric and paper patterns in Illustrator. So I decided to give it a shot and create a mini kit just in Adobe Illustrator. With it being graduation season, I thought a graduation mini kit would be appropriate! Feel free to use this kit for your cards, invitations and your grad's scrapbook pages! Click the link below to download. Also, don't forget to check back tomorrow for Blueprint No. 2!

Download SeptBlue_TurnTheTassel

Game(s) Over

Kids and sports. The two of them go together like peanut butter and jelly. Being part of an organized sport is an activity our family has been involved in since the summer 1993: Dustin was just about to turn 4 years old. We were living on Tustin Marine Corps Air Station in California and the Youth Services on base had a soccer program for kids his age. We eagerly signed him up, bought him a soccer ball and a pair of cleats, I volunteered to be team mom and there was no turning back. He took to that ball like a fish in water. For the next 14 years we watched him play. He played for teams on Marine bases, community recreation teams and travel teams. While living overseas he played on his school teams in Germany and in Ukraine. When we moved back, he played for his high school team. We watched him play in extreme heat, bitter cold and pouring rain. Chris and I loved watching him play.

Then there was Ryley. He tried his hand in soccer and even t-ball, but we could tell his heart wasn't in it as Dustin's was. Ryley would rather would have been picking up rocks in the outfield or dandelions on the soccer field than pay attention to what was going on in the game. When Dustin walked off of the soccer field for the last time in high school, both Chris and I looked at each other and felt that it was the last time we would see one of our boys sporting a team uniform playing in an organized sport. Ryley was at an age where all he cared about was skateboarding and his guitar.

He was going into the 8th grade when he came to us and said he'd like to try to play lacrosse.

Lacrosse? What is lacrosse? We were a soccer family. We travel to soccer games. We watch football on TV and we cheer on the Indians during baseball season. We thought lacrosse was a car by Buick. This is a sport that was foreign to us. How could we (by "we" I mean Chris) coach him in a sport we know nothing about? After a few phone calls, it turned out that Stafford was just starting a youth league. I voiced my concerns to the coach–Ryley knows nothing about this sport and didn't know if he would stick with it. He said most kids that start out don't know a thing about it. But he also gave us this warning: Once they pick up a stick, they are addicted and will not put it down. And he was right.

Ryley took to lacrosse just like Dustin took to soccer. He had that stick in his hand constantly. He'd hit the ball against the garage, he and his friends would play catch in the front yard, the back yard and the field behind our house. He was totally addicted. Ryley was on the city recreation team the first year he played, played on the JV high school team when he was a freshman and was on the Varsity high school team his sophomore, junior and senior years. He's been one of the co-captains on the team his junior and senior years and had an Honorable Mention to the All-District Lacrosse team last year. This year he was named to First Team All-District in Lacrosse. He put his heart and soul in this game.

For 5+ years, we have loved watching him play this game. And now it is over. The Colonial Forge Eagles lost their game last night in district playoffs and we watched him walk off the field for the last time in his school uniform. It has been such a fun ride. For those parents who may think of taking the kids to practice, washing uniforms, making sure you have snacks for the team, watching a game in the rain as a chore–savor it. It goes so fast. Too fast. Just enjoy it and take lots of pictures.

I took hundreds of photos of Ryley this season.Here are a few of my favorites:

 

Celebrating Mother's Day (a week late)

Although I got to spend Mother's Day with my boys (which was awesome), Chris was out of town and he said we will celebrate it again when he came home the following week. Every year he makes me a wonderful breakfast in bed: Croissant French Toast with Fresh Strawberry Syrup, sausage links, orange juice and coffee. The Croissant French Toast is one of my favorite recipes and I thought I would share it with you. I am not sure where I originally got it from, but I look forward to it every year!

Croissant French Toast with Strawberry Syrup

French Toast

4 large day old croissants

3/4 cup milk

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons powdered sugar

Fresh Strawberry Syrup

1 quart fresh strawberries, sliced

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup orange juice or orange liqueur

1 teaspoon grated orange rind

 

To prepare the French Toast

Slice croissants in half lengthwise. Whisk together milk, eggs and vanilla. Pour into a shallow dish. Dip croissant halves into egg mixture, coating well. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add four croissant halves and cook about 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Repeat procedure with remaining butter and croissant halves. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, whipped cream and strawberry syrup.

 

To prepare the Strawberry Syrup

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and let stand 30 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes or until warm.

 

 

 

Blueprint No. 1

It's Friday the 13th. Most people would consider Friday the 13th an unlucky day. But I am going put a positive spin on this day by launching my new series of templates called "Blueprints"! Every Friday, I will release a new digital template for you to download absolutely FREE! The template can be any type of format– a 12x12 layout, an 8.5x11 layout, a card, etc. It will be a surprise every week, so check back each Friday for your free "Blueprint"!

Blueprint ^No.1 is the foundation that I used for the "Eyed Click Beetle" layout I posted earlier this week. the zipped file includes my TOU as well as another pdf that contains information about the font(s) that were used in the original layout, as I am not able to include the font in the template because of copyright reasons. This is the first free download I have offered in a while. If you have any problems with it, please let me know! Enjoy!

Download SeptBlue_Blueprint1

   

Something is really bugging me...

...bugs. Over the past few days, I have had my share of them. From the eyed click beetle to mosquitoes to ants to spiders, if they all got stuck in glue strips or gobbled up by their natural predators tomorrow, I wouldn't miss them at all. I swear the only reason they were put on this earth was to freak me out.

Take the Eyed Click Beetle for instance. These creatures are supposed to be a nocturnal, plant-eating insect and should only grow to be about 2" long.  However, I have lost all confidence in Wikipedia as the one I encountered showed up in the middle of the day and was at least 3" long:

Yesterday afternoon I was painting the iron railings that are along the walls of our walk-up basement which lead to the backyard. Weeks before, Chris spent countless hours sanding off the old paint and priming the surface for a new coat. He has been away for the past two weeks and I told him since he did all the work sanding and priming, I would be more than happy to paint it while he was gone. It was a warm sunny day and I was in the zone with the paintbrush-just minding my own business. Shortly after I started, one of these beetles came out of nowhere, flying toward me at Mach 3–and it was loud. I think it must have had a little too much nectar the night before while out with his buddies and got lost on its way home. I could just see all of the other beetles in the woods behind our house cracking up, fist-bumping each other as their drunk buddy freaked out the lady with the paintbrush. It totally startled me. To keep from losing my balance, I grabbed the wet railing, and then lost my balance as I tripped in a small hole–I'm sure I was a site to behold. After I gained my composure, I ran into the house to grab the camera in hopes I could snap a picture of it so later I can figure out what type of monster was invading my property. I also took a photo of it with my iPhone so I can text it to my husband, show him what type of conditions I am working in, and hope that he'll feel sorry for me and tell me not to worry about it–he'll do it when he gets home. No such luck.

Fast forward to 800 am this morning. After a "ruff" night with my dog Baron and there was no chance of me even trying to go back to bed, I decided to get an early start on the remaining railing. Once again, I was in the zone with the paintbrush and enjoying the quiet morning. Shortly after I started my feet started to get this itchy feeling and I just passed it off as the rough grass brushing up against my skin. When it didn't go away, I looked down, there were dozens of ants (thank goodness they weren't fire ants) nibbling away at the tops of my feet.

I sent numerous text messages to Chris right after...no reply as of yet! I can't win.

I don't know why, but I just felt like scrapbooking this forgettable moment in my everyday life.

2012 Project Life Design Contest

Recently Becky Higgins announced that she was holding a design contest for her 2012 Project Life scrapbooking kit. I haven't used her kit before, but I just love the concept and the way the kits are designed! If you are not familiar with Project Life, you can read more about it at here.

After a few days of contemplating whether or not to enter, I decided to go for it. It's a long shot, as the contest is open to well-known, seasoned designers, but it had been a while since I made a digital kit, and I was itching to do something! The one rule that Becky had was that the concept had to be designed in Adobe Illustrator. Up until now, any kits that I have created were done in Adobe Photoshop. I have never built a kit from the ground up in Illustrator! After completing my concept, I have to say I don't know which program I prefer to design digital kits in!

The contest closes May 13 and I submitted my concept this morning. Although I can't share the designs with you right now, I do want to share my color palette (see below). I am not sure when Becky will decide on the design for her 2012 kit. If mine isn't chosen, no biggie! I'll have a set of papers and elements I can use for a future kit!