JYC 2009: Preparations!

Well, my participation to the 1st ever greek crop, apart from the fun, getting to know some of the greek scrapers and learning new stuff, included a great treat: I won a participation in Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas online class!!!
Thank you Irini for the wonderfull day and for the awesome gift!

The fact is that I was totally clueless about the JYC, so as soon as I received the details from Shimelle I plunged in the JYC forum and I got super excited! From what I gathered, you create a layout every day, from the 1st December up to the 6th of January, and for each day you 're given a different "prompt" as they say, "mission" as I understand it, and you must take a photo, do some journaling, etc, whatever you want.

The only thing that worries me is the time frame and if I 'll be able to do a different layout every day, so I chose a 6x12 format that I think will be less time consuming than a 12 x 12 (my default size), but finally I decided to take it easy even if that means skipping a day or two.

Bottom line, I want to have fun, not to add another thing on my list to make me anxious.

Nevertheless, while reading the JYC forum on Sunday afternoon, I realized that I didn't have enough christmas supplies, althought I already had 10 pages from the "Jolly by Golly" Cosmo Cricket collection it wouldn't last throught the album (37 layouts!) and I wanted it to have some consistency regarding the colours and patterns (don't mock me, I was just born this way!!!LOL) so I did an urgent search through Memories Trend and found the Basic Grey Figgy collection and it suited me exactly (thank God it was available), so I grabbed it, as well as THIS and THIS chipboard from Basic Grey. I also got red big O'wires for the binding.
Hopefully my order will be here tommorow, so I will be ready in time.

Tommorow is the big day, I 'm pretty curious and excited, I'll let you know how that goes!

Baby Layout: July 2009

In this layout I incorporated the pink see-through ribbon that was originally used on my niece's birthday cake!
I punched the pink cardstock with Fiskar's ribbon edge punch, glued in place the pink wide ribbon and then weaved the dark pink through the slots. On top I added some stickles.

The flowers were cut on foam using Cuttlebug dies and the title was cut with Cuttlebug "Baby Face" alphabet and added some faux stitching with the white Sakura Souflle pen.

Also, as you can see, I sprinkled lots of stickles all over the place!!!

Baby Layout: June 2009

It is a fact that pink and green is my favorite color combo but for this layout I decided to use green and orange since these colors were present in the photos.
The fun part in this layout is that I used a Tim Holtz mask, with distress inks, and you can achieve a diversity in results depending on the mediums and the colors you use. I really like the mask, the only con I find is that it doesn't stick as well on the paper after a few uses.

Apart from that, it is a little akward doing summer layouts and christmas cards simultaneously, but fun too!

Copic Markers on sale!

Quick post: Manga Drawing Pro Shop (I 've purchased from them twice in the recent past) notified me that they will stop selling Copic items since they are authorized sellers in Japan only and they can't sell anymore to any other country.
Because of that, they're selling for one week everything Copic 10% off, meaning Sketch markers at $4,70 and refills also at $4,70.
Since they don't charge shipping, I think it is a pretty good deal, so I thought to let you know.
I just ordered some refills and some nibs (2-3 markers as well, I just couldn't resist!).

Delivery Day: Video #3

My goodies arrived! I just loved the bow easy, now I can make bows! I also like the glue glider pro, and I adore the cakes bitsy stamps!

Baby Layout: May 2009

Another layout with flowers!
I used a K & Company patterned paper, added my photos, made some doodling in the two corners using Sakura Soufle in green, then added the journaling spots and the flowers.
The flowers were cut with the Sizzix "Build a flower" die, before assembling them I used distress in on the edges.
The tiny flowers are Prima, I used some Sakura Stardust pen on them (I love Sakura Stardust pens!).
For the title I used the Cuttlebug "You're not the Boss of Me" alphabet.
Fresh and in full bloom!

Card Making: Christmas

I started making my Christmas cards and in the first two I used the Stampavie Noel Fath and Noel Eve stamps. I wanted to focus on the images, so I kept the rest of the cards simple, I just used distress inks on the edges. The "Merry Christmas" is from a patterned paper, I made the bookplates from cardstock and heat embossed them with UTEE, then adhered the saying and added gold fibre but I didn't like it so I covered it with gold stickles. I also covered the brads with gold stickles.

Finally I added the tiny pearls after coloring them with copic markers to match the colors.

The result is cute and a little retro (I don't know how that happened!), but I think it suits the images.

Baby Layout: April 2009

Isn't it like a plaid tablecloth? That was my idea for the April layout, I wanted something to remind me of the family lunch on Easter Sunday.
For the bottom of the page, I just used the Fiskars "Easter Egg" squeeze punch and put a strip of dark pink cardstock underneath.

Baby Layouts: March 2009

In this layout I wanted to include many photos of my niece while she was having fun and making faces to the camera, and also two photos where she is with my brother while he was preparing to wash the car.
So I decided to print the two photos, where she is with her father, in normal size and the other photos I just printed them in small size.
I used a patterned scrap paper for the center of the layout and adhered the main photos, then I adhered the rest on two strips of green cardstock on each side of the layout. Then I decided to add another strip of green cardstock, in a lighter shade this time to tone down the contrast between the patterned paper and the dark green cardstock.

I also wanted to include two photos where my niece was following her father around but there was no more space left on the layout, so I just cut around the figures and adhered them on the left and on the right of the main photo.
Finally, I just added the title and the journaling.

Project: Nestabilities Storage Binder

I 've seen this binder in many blogs and videos, so I decided to give it a try!

I used clear plastic cd envelopes, chipboard for the covers and my Bind it All.
The only thing that pazzled me was how I was going to make the envelopes stay closed so that my nesties wouldn't fall out, so I came up with the simplest way: I just made a slit on the top of the envelope and pull the flap through it, I've even tested it as you can see in the video, it is 100% secure!
Now I have all my nesties safely stored and at hand.

Layouts: September Rain

I kept this layout low key because I wanted to focus on the drawing, I had been trying to sketch a girl with an umbrella and finally I did it! I had some trouble coloring the umbrella, but the result is ok. I also used Ranger "Glossy Accents" for the boots, and the handle of the umbrella.
Then I colored a stripe of a cardstock sheet with distress ink, added the "rain" with white Sakura Souffle pen and adhered the drawing on it.
For the backround I just stamped with distress ink and a Hero Arts backround stamp on a grey cardstock sheet and finally I added the journaling on white cardstock that I cut with my nesties.
I really like the result, it's like a soft September rain.

A really yummie notepad!

I had some leftovers from the October Afternoon "Ducks in a Row" paper pad so I decided to use them for the covers of a little notepad I wanted to do.
So I cut the chipboard and adhered the paper bits on it, I used glue but I also used a sturdy piece of cardstock to even out the glue on the chipboard.
Then I used pink distress ink on the edges, stamped with a flower stamp in random pattern on the cover and added the faux stiching with the white Sakura Souffle pen.
Finally I stamped the little cake (Basic Grey "Cakes Bitsy" stamp set, sooo cute!!!) on white cardstock, then used Sakura Stardust pens to spice it up a bit and adhered it with some foam dots.
It's a yummie yummie yummie notepad!!!

Scrap Room: Stickers from Jumbo!

I just found these stickers from Jumbo, really cute! I used them for my drawers, I love the way they are transformed!

Baby Layout: February 2009

In this layout I returned to the basics, meaning plain cadstock!
I just used a flower stamp, the ribbon border punch from Fiskars and American Crafts white thickers that I colored with distress ink and then added some stickles for the shine.
Finally I did some heat embossing on the stamped paper ribbon.

That's it!

Baby Layout: January 2009

In this layout I used another paper from the Cosmo Cricket "Joly by Golly" collection, as well as the sticker and the border.
The fun part is that the photos on the left are adhered on a "flap" that opens and underneath it there is a "secret" set of pictures and a little story.
Another simple and easy layout (I'm getting a little booooored!!!)

Baby Layout:: December 2008

Although in this layout I used a beautiful paper from the Cosmo Cricket "Jolly by Golly" collection, the result is a little chaotic, probably becase I crammed a lot of pictures in various sizes!
Also, for the first time I didn't make any embellishments myself, I just used a sticker and a border from the same collection.
A very simple, easy and quick layout for a change!

Project: my first mini album!

I had accidentally printed the photos of my niece's first vacation on BW and I didn't want to throw them, so I used them to make my first mini album!
I used K & Company papers from the "Sea Glass" paper pack and 1,5 mm chipboard for the covers.
I adhered the photos on opposite sides but then I thought that I didn't want them to touch each other (when the album is closed) so I made covering flaps. Then I realized that I didn't want to cover them completely so I used my CB and nestabillities to make the round "windows". I really liked the result.
Then, I saw that the flaps would not stay in place when I held the album vertically, so I made the little "I dont' know how to call them!" and fastened them on top with brads. In order to make them I used a chipboard piece of this shape as a template and traced it on plain chipboard where I had glued patterned paper and cut the shape, then I used "Broken China" distress ink on the edges, then stamped the tiny sea horse, then added some stickles and finally embossed them with UTEE. Really cute!
For the last two pages I made some pockets and put in them white cardstock so that her parents will add a little something, some journaling or another photo, etc.
Finally I used the Cuttlebug "Baby Face" alphabet for the titiles, and afted adhering the letters on each page I covered them with "Glossy Accents", it gave them a nice 3d effect.

In this project I used for the first time my brand new Bind it All, I really like it for the following reasons:

- it is sturdy and well manufactured
- it can be used to make from tiny miny albums up to 12 inches albums
- the punching procedure is really easy and I got accurate results with no fuss even though it was the first time I used it (of course I practised beforehands on some scrap paper)
- it punched the 1,5 mm chipboard like butter
- it can come handy in many projects, not only mini albums
- it is pink!

The only thing that didn't go so well in this first project is the binding because I didn't pay too much attention, but after repeating the "squeeze" two times, it was almost ok. They don't say "practise makes better" for nothing!

So my first impression is that it is a good and reliable tool and I 'm really pleased I bought it.

Baby Layout: November 2008

In this layout I kept it simple, the highlight is the way I did the date: I wanted something that comes with winter and I thought of apples. So I decided to make little apples:
I cut them with the Cuttlebug die "Tiny Tags" and then colored them with Copic markers. Unfortynately I used white cardstock and not the Gina K's Pure Luxury paper, but ok, it didn't come out as smooth as Gina K but on the other hand it didn't come out bad.
On every apple I wrote a letter with Sakura Souffle pen, added the green stem and glued it in place with Glossy Accents.
Then I didn't know how to put them on the page and I thought there is not a better place than a crate! So I just used strips of brown cardstock to make it.
Finally I added the year sign.
For the labels I used a chipboard label as a template, traced around it with a pencil and then cut the shape. Then I embossed them with UTEE and place them on my page.
Finally, I added the green stripes (it is a die from the Cuttlebug "Baby Face" alphabet) and stamped some leaves.
Theese apples are good enough to eat!!!