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Category Archives: Crafty Goodness

Amy’s Kitchen

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Today is release day for a new scrapping digi-kit by Amy’s Designs. It is called Amy’s Kitchen. Doesn’t it look fun?

Preview of Amy's Kitchen

First up, I made a layout of a recent baking session with Jessica. It uses the Scrapbookbytes.com October Sketch 1. Journaling reads: “August 11, 2011 Jessica enjoyed helping bake cookies, Mint Chocolate Delights, a recipe on the bag of dark chocolate and mint baking morsels. It is definitely messier baking with a toddler, but the experience is so worth it.”

Cookie Baking Layout

Digikit: Amy’s Designs – Amy’s Kitchen
Fonts Used: Milk & Cereal

This next project is a 4×6 recipe card. It is a recipe from my Nanny’s recipe box and a great way to use up leftover egg yolks.

Golden Sugar Cookies Recipe Card

Digikit: Amy’s Designs – Amy’s Kitchen
Fonts Used: Annie BTN

Check out what the rest of the creative team came up with here.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day.

Curious George Birthday – Party Favors

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When I first started thinking about Jessica’s 2nd birthday party, I knew exactly what I wanted to do for the party favors, a Curious George t-shirt personalized for each of the twelve kiddos invited to the party. Here is our nephew Dawson modeling the finished product.

Dawson Modeling the Party Favor

Like the the invitations, the party favors required a bit of graphics editing. They started with a desktop wallpaper of Curious George that I was able to download off as bonus material from a Curious George DVD that we own. I then removed the background, but unlike the invitation images, I didn’t have to be as particular about the smoothness of the image since I would be cutting it out anyway. Using my digital scrapbooking software, I set up the curved “Curious” and kids’ names as well as the George image to maximize space on the dark material heat transfer paper I picked up at Staples, which seemed to have the best price of the all the nearby office supply stores. My friend Lori was then nice enough to let me print the seven pages of transfer paper on her inkjet printer. This is one instance that it would be nice to still own an inkjet printer.

I then purchased red and blue t-shirts from Michael’s and Hobby Lobby. For future reference, Michael’s does not seem to carry any sizes smaller than youth small, but Hobby Lobby does carry youth x-small, hence why I shopped at two stores as I needed eight youth x-small shirts. After cutting out all the transfer pieces, I ironed them on the shirts and viola, awesome party favors that I got most of the kiddos to put on once they arrived at the party. I also sent the kiddos home from the party with a balloon that did double duty as a party decoration and Curious George temporary tattoos.

Go here for the post regarding the invitations. Stay tuned for more posts. I still need to share the birthday outfit I made her and of course photos from the actual party.

Curious George Birthday – Invitations

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This year for Jessica’s 2nd birthday party, I decided to go with a Curious George theme. Curious George was the first show I let her watch on TV and she would point to the TV and say George. I’ve since added in a few other shows that I will let her watch, but she is still a big fan of George.

I started working on the birthday invitations at the end of July, thinking that would allow me enough time. I started with a free coloring sheet of George decorating a birthday cake. I turned it in to a png image with a transparent background, which required quite a bit of work and way more time than I thought since I was erasing white pixel by pixel around George.

Curious George Decorating a Cake

Then I colored the image, which took even more time.

Curious George Decorated a Cake - Colored

I am definitely not a graphic designer by any means. I feel that all my work shouldn’t be limited to just Jessica’s birthday, so feel free to right click on the images and save for your personal use.

Once I had George colored to my satisfaction, I used my digital scrapbooking software to create the two-part invitations. The first part, I had printed as 4×6 photos at Costco. The second part I printed on white cardstock on my laser printer at home and cut to 4×6. This allowed me to send the first part to some family members, like James’ grandparents who don’t travel anymore and wouldn’t need the full invitation.

Jessica's 2nd Birthday Invitation Part 1

Jessica's 2nd Birthday Invitation Part 2

 Digikit: Summer Driggs – Flipflop-sicles
Fonts Used: Kids

Stay tuned for more posts regarding Jessica’s party. I can’t wait to share the birthday outfit I made her as well as the cute party favors I made for all the kiddos and of course photos from the actual party.

Lonestar Shoebox Swap

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Today, my friend Lori and I are headed to Georgetown for the Lonestar Shoebox Swap. It is an all-day affair where we get to make 30 cards. This is the card I designed and prepped kits for people to make. It uses some of my most recent stamp purchases. I like how this sentiment could be used for a birthday card or as a more generic card. I was inspired by a recent Mojo Monday Sketch, #208, but it is not a square card.

Hope Your Day is a Gusher Card

Stamps: Deadbeat Designs Gusher (sentiment) and Pumpjack
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Basic Black, Wild Wasabi
Ink: Stazon Jet Black
Embellishments: AMuse stitched grosgrain ribbon, black brads
Tools: Stampin’ Up square lattice textured impressions embossing folder

I’m taking my camera to the swap, so hopefully I’ll have a photo of Lori and I to share soon.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day!

Autumn Dream

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Today is the release day for the new kit by Amy’s Designs. It is called Autumn Dream and can be purchased at Scraps-N-Pieces. It’s on sale right now as part of the grand opening festivities of store.

The pictures I decided to use to showcase this digikit are from my 2008 trip to Vermont. I blogged about that trip here.

The first layout uses pictures of the bed and breakfast where we stayed.

Vermont Layout 1: Hill Farm Inn

Digikit: Amy’s Designs – Autumn Dream
Font Used: Sandscript BTN

I was so pleased with how the first layout turned out, I made a second one using a similar blocking style. Journaling reads: “Friday morning, the weather was a little drizzly. Mom, Sarah and baby Cameron stayed inside, while the rest of us hiked the trail around the inn near the river. Then all of us drove to eat lunch at Maxwell’s Flat Road Grill where we had some tasty buffalo burgers. Afterward, we browsed some shops in Manchester.”

Vermont Layout 2: Around the Inn

Digikit: Amy’s Designs – Autumn Dream
Font Used: Sandscript BTN

This next layout has some fabulous fall photos. It is a scraplift of this layout. Journaling reads: “Our vehicle arrived at The Cheese House first, so I organized a little photo shoot by the creek behind the store while we waited for the rest of the family to arrive. Arlington, Vermont”

Vermont Layout 3: Fall Photos

Digikit: Amy’s Designs – Autumn Dream
Font Used: Boomerang

And the last layout I’m sharing today is of Chiselville, the covered bridge near the inn. Journaling reads: “Built in 1870, Chiselville is a 117-foot long covered bridge spanning Roaring Branch on Sunderland Hill Road.”

Vermont Layout 4: Chiselville

Digikit: Amy’s Designs – Autumn Dream
Fonts Used: Apple Boy BTN (title), Times New Roman (journaling)

The rest of the creative team came up with some fabulous layouts as well. They really showcase the versatility of the kit. Lisa scrapped two Easter layouts here and here. Stacy scrapped some Halloween photos here and here. Ann did a layout of her daughter. Kristal also scrapped her daughter. Amy did a wedding layout. Our fearless designer Amy did a layout with her daughter and one about herself.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day.