Janna Wilson

week 8: 52 weeks of Stress Free SB'ing!

I've been meaning to snap a pic of little Cash on one of his Mom's Day Out school days!  I got a shot of him a couple of weeks ago the morning of...he was being silly, of course!  I knew I had to scrapbook this before he's 15 and my mental RAM has been overtaken by years of other noteworthiness!  LOL!  Just the one picture...perfect for me...will jog my memory and remind me of how much HE LOVES "school", Miss Barbara, and Mrs. Margaret!

Here's today's page!

I happen to get a great box of goodies in the mail from Sassafras Lass this week...and it was so perfect for this!  I haven't been sewing on my weekly challenge pages too much, but this week I made up for lost time!  LOL!  I used some red stitches to really add some fun texture to the page.  

Yep, I sewed right through those sequins...just tack them down with a teeny bit of adhesive and go to town!  Remember to mix it up with a variety of stitch designs and if you aren't too lazy like me...change the thread and use different colors!  

Wanna see how I do it???  I broke out Abby's Flip camera and did a super fast impromtu tute...hee hee doesn't that sound hilarious?! (seriously I don't know what's up with my hair:)  Please ask questions if you have any...and maybe I'll do a more in depth tutorial if there's enough interest!

Get your stitch on!!!

You could use a machine...but not to worry if you don't have one.  I hand stitched this page...penciled the word and then went to town!  It's one of my all time favorite pages. :)

Products/Tools featured in this WEEK'S layout:

Sassafras Lass so TOTALLY FUN and kitschy!!!  I love it all!  Visit their blog here...and stop in Kimberly's blog for lots more SF inspiration!!!

My Kenmore sewing machine that I devoted to paper sewing...I've had this machine for close to 8 years and love it.  I used a different machine to sew on this particular page (and in the video)...and it flubbed up a couple of times!  Love my little "blue."

If you want to play along link up your page on your blog...you can scraplift my layout or do your own thing!  Be sure and add your page to the Flickr photo pool and tag it with week 8 so everyone can enjoy YOUR inspiration too!

Happy Scrapbooking!

Quick, Simple and FABULOUS cards

Teresa has done all the hard work and designed classic motifs within each of her collections that can be used for a multitude of projects. I personally feel my blood pressure rise when I know I’m down to only a few sheets of her black and white dotted papers!!! See more of the post here... teresacollinsblog.typepad.com

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Just wanted to share the inspiration of the day over at the Teresa Collins Design blog...a post by yours truly :)

Whimsy of the day...

...a lovely black rose.

Just wanted to share the BLACK version of my SINGLE ROSE necklace.  

TCD (teresa collins design) NEWS!!!

Mornin!

What a beautiful, sunshiny day that the Lord hath made!  Lots of good things happening today! 

I'm in the midst of lots-o-Whimsy...making necklaces, a little sewing...and I'm so excited I finally have stepped into the 21st century (okay maybe it's just a 2000's thing) and have a brand new digi postal scale!  NO more messing around at the PO!!!  LOVE IT! 

So about that news! 

Hmmm...well, it's exciting.  First of all...I am so excited to announce that I was asked to join the Teresa Collins Design team!  Woot woot!!!  Over the last few years, Teresa and I have had the opportunity to be friends.  She's someone I care about and love her stuff...it just keeps getting better and better.  I shared several of my pages that I did for CHA and to showcase her new lines a few weeks ago and let me tell you...working with those products lit my mojo up!  Check out the photo album I have of those projects over to the left...or here.   I have been in the zone ever since.  Needless to say I really love the new lines!!!

So the BIG NEWS for today is that Teresa is unveiling a new company blog....drum roll please ...

TERESA COLLINS DESIGN BLOG

The talented team of designers include Stephanie Ackerman, Candice Carpenter, Camille McClelland, Jamie Harper and myself.  Wow.  What a group to be associated with!!!  I'm just thrilled and inspired by each one!  I encourage you to visit their blogs and prepare to be amazed!  

Speaking of TCD...we'll call it that for short.  Here's another project in the works...

I've shared the mini take out box...but I don't think I've shared the gift/card box...these are part of a set of printable patterns I've created.  ALL created with the Mr. & Mrs. collection that TCD recently released!  So elegant...timeless.  Have I told you lately how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE hounds tooth?  Mmmm...love it.

Oh, and you can find out more about those printable patterns...HERE!!!

Gotta go for now!  Have a super weekend!

xoxo

week 7: 52 Week STRESS FREE SB Challenge

I have to say...this weeks photos were not the most inspiring.  Obviously the photography was lacking...but that's the reality, right.  We all have photos that are great memories...not so great pictures.  But I think I like my page anyway!  

Here's today's page!

Bad indoor lighting?  Turn it black and white and do your best to balance the contrast.  For quickie stuff like this I love my ACDSEE Photo Editor and Manager software to make fast edits, adjust the contrast/levels.  It's easy and a breeze.  Still not stellar photography...but looks a lot better than originally!

This is a 12 x 12 floral transparency stapled to a kraft cardstock background. I love transparencies...some of my favorites are the new ones by Teresa.

(Yes, I know I have a sticker label on the transparency!!!  LOL!  I need to find my Un-STIK to remove that pesky label!  OOPS!)

Okay, I'll admit this one probably took more more along the lines of an hour to put together.  Good photos really inspire me...and when I'm not inspired by the pics...I tend to struggle a bit more.  I stuck with some neutral patterns and general hemed papers and embellishments trying to work with the colors in the COLOR photo.

Remember there's nothing wrong with sticking to the basics to create pages...I pulled out a couple of favorite heart punches and made some simple embellishments that fit my color scheme.

This week I challenge you to scrap some photos that are less than perfect...okay, maybe even bad...it's all about the memory!!!.  

Products featured in this layout:

Teresa Collins Design  (hounds tooth from NEW Mr. & Mrs. collection)

Fiskars Squeeze Punches

If you want to play along link up your page on your blog...you can scraplift my layout or do your own thing!  Be sure and add your page to the Flickr photo pool and tag it with week 7 so everyone can enjoy YOUR inspiration too!

Happy Scrapbooking!

Attention DIY-ers...here's the dish!

I can't keep this to myself any longer....okay, I wasn't really trying to keep it to myself...I tell lots of folks about it I just don't have it linked yet or have blogged about it.  But anyway...if you are a crafter on any level...you will want to check out one of my favorite sources of inspiration...its called http://www.youcanmakethis.com/

It's a fabulous site with all types of downloadable and FREE project ideas and eBooks.  I visit there often for inspiration and to flip through the eye candy!   

Recently the owner has started a new site called DIY DISH!  These pillows in the latest newsletters really caught my eye. Oh and the chance to WIN one of TWO fabulous sewing machines they are giving away!!!  Woot woot!!

There's a pdf tutorial available for this so get on over to DIY DISH to download it!  Spread the word and you can have a chance to win a NEW sewing machine...not that I don't have 5 or 6.  :)  LOL!  I feel the sudden need to make pillows!!!  LOL!  Here's the video about the new DISH.

I will not eat cupcakes, I will not eat chocolate...

In fact...I probably shouldn't eat anything for the next week!  Between Valentines sweets, a birthday party and church Valentine potluck last night...I'm still STUFFED!

But these were oh so good...

 

I resized my printable Valentines to about 2" , printed and punched them out with circle punch to make double sided picks for the cupcakes we took to our church potluck.  CUTE CUTE CUTE!!!

 

Sara found the recipe for the frosting online...from scratch!  Easy and berry SWEET!  We were out of toothpicks, so to make the picks...we just cut the "swab" ends off of NEW q-tips and taped them between the two punched circles.  The were plastic (not cardboard) swabs, so they were perfect!  Even better than toothpicks I think!

We suited up in our aprons and spent the afternoon in the kitchen...it was fun.  The girls really like cooking.  Abby made homemade  potato soup with spinach and bacon.  Sara did the frosting for the cupcakes and made cornbread.  Good stuff for a cold winter day!  

I woke up to find my Valentine in the kitchen waiting for me by the coffee.  Scott got me this interesting vintage looking chest and filled it with treats...chocolate, raspberry chocolate coffee beans and popcorn!  It was so cute and he was proud.  My funny Valentine...I swear he can't take a straight picture!

 

 

I felt like a slacker with the kids a bit, I usually do a lot of handmade stuff...but spending the day with them in the kitchen was fun and made up for that.  I fixed them each a little mailbox (from Target) filled with treats (cute little monogram magnets I found at Old Navy)...

 
They had lots of fun with their treats!

 

Too FUNNY!!!

We ate ourselves silly and shared out hearts at our Valentine Potluck at church last night.  We were supposed to bring a verse to share--it had to have the word LOVE in it.  Did you know there are 314 verses in the Bible with the word LOVE.  Interesting!  Here's mine:

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  Romans 8:28 KJV

I think I've mentioned this here...but this is my Bible favorite verse.  I know it, though I revisit it often because it means a lot to me.  It's one of many of God's promises to me, it reminds me that I am called for a purpose, HIS purpose...and that as long as I remember this and LOVE God, good will come to me.  It's all part of HIS plan.  Sometimes we get lost in the busy-ness of life and lose our direction.  This verse reminds me which way to go...I'll keep going with HIM, and of course, with him too...

week 6: 52 WEEK STRESS FREE SB CHALLENGE

This week...I am doing something fun and different!  I am playing with "hybrid" scrapbooking!  I created a fun little Valentine printable to share on the blog and I thought it would make a super cute scrapbook page as well!  So here's what I did...

Here's today's page!

These are photos from Valentine's last year...I wanted to show each of my three on a simple page.  Can you tell how much I LOVE the color combo of blue and red!!!  A lot.  :)

 

I used a fun stripe on a solid cardstock background and with the addition of my printable accents, a heart doily (from Hobby Lobby) and some ribbon...this page is DONE!  Oh, I did add that bit of journaling...and some sweet stitches.  Very necessary :)

Yep...another one that just literally took minutes to put together. 

Go here if you'd like to download the pdf printable cards to make this page.   Wondering what a printable is...here's a definition I totally made up:

printable: (n) 1. a digital file that creative peeps download, save and print whenever they want to make crafty goodness.

Some tips on the printables...for the best color quality, print your images on photo paper.  I use HP Advanced paper...its very reasonably priced and the quality is great.  I'm really happy with it.

This week I challenge you to try something hybrid.  You can use my printables or some other digi goodness.  

Check these sites out for a few of my fave digi designs:

http://www.kitschydigitals.com/ by Danielle Thompson (amazing)

http://www.theshabbyshoppe.com/ such cute stuff

http://cathyzielske.typepad.com/ lots of digi/hybrid info here--and she rocks ;)

http://www.jessicasprague.com/ be prepared to stay awhile :)

 

If you want to play along link up your page on your blog...you can scraplift my layout or do your own thing!  Be sure and add your page to the Flickr photo pool and tag it with week 6 so everyone can enjoy YOUR inspiration too!

Happy Scrapbooking!

FREE Valentine printable!!!

Just because I...

I love playing and creating...I've been working (dabbling) with several little digi projects lately...hopefully those will come to fruition soon!  But until then...I thought this would be a fun share!

It's a festive set of Valentines that can be simply a card...or a treat holder.  I call it a "printable."  Wondering what a printable is...here's a definition I totally made up:

printable: (n) 1. a digital file that creative peeps download, save and print whenever they want to make crafty goodness.

Cash and I have been making these with ours...

Just print the sheet out.  For the best color quality use photo paper.  I used the cheap Kodak kind...but still looks brighter and better than just cardstock...cardstock will work fine too.

Trim along the cutting lines and fold the cards in half.  Punch a 1/8" hole in the center of the fold/crease to place the sucker stick through.  We put Sweet Tart Lollipops (picked these up at Walgreens for $2 a bag of 20) inside.  It's SUPER easy!  Fold card up and secure with a staple or adhesive at the top! 

Add a little tied bow to the bottom (or top) and you're ready to send some sweet love!

These are so EASY!  I do suggest jotting the to and from BEFORE you make the treats!

You could use these on packages as tags...even on a scrapbook page! 

Look for the entire layout idea on my challenge page I'll be posting later!

Download the ADOBE PDF file here:  Valentine printable cards

Enjoy!

let it snow!!!

Wow!!!  It's still coming down outside...I guess the Farmers Almanac was right again!  What a great snow!  We've got about 6 or 7 inches I think by now!  The kids built snowman in their likeness this afternoon! 

 

They had so much fun but I was sure they were going to turn into snowmen themselves!  SO SO cold!!!  I guess as long as they keep moving and having so much fun...they don't get as cold as I do snapping pictures!

 

I was busy stoking the fire and making homemade hot chocolate while they finished up #2 and #3 snow people...and boy were they ready for something warm! 

(and a nap :)

What a beautiful sight it is...

(the rolling of the snowmen)