Card Making Process: All About the Green!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I don't believe there is any Irish predominantly in my background, but I always enjoy making at least one or two cards for this day.

This one I made for the hubs, who I feel so lucky and blessed to have in my life:

My second card is "green" -- not necessarily for St. Patrick's Day -- but from an sample I saw in Cardmaker magazine, I thought it would be a good opportunity to use more scraps!

To send you off today -- a little Irish blessing:

As you slide down the banister of life,

may the splinters never point in the wrong direction.

Have a great day!

Easter Hoppin' Blog Hop - Day 2 and a Freebie!!

Welcome to Tangled Webs of Tangwen's Easter Hoppin' Blog Hop!

This hop is sponsored by Ginger Snap Scraps, an online store run by stay at home mom Cori Wagner. The store will be opening in April and Cori is giving away a $20 gift card to the store to one lucky winner!

You must be a follower of Ginger Snap Scraps, the blog and Tangled Webs of Tangwen in order to win the $20 gift card. Ginger Snap Scraps will carry Cricut products, Echo Park, Lawn Fawn, The Twinery and many more popular brands that you love!

Now on to the project!  I am the fifth stop on your Easter Hoppin' Blog hop today (Sunday) with another special Easter card!

Printed Paper:  SEI (Chocolat);  Flower:  Pebbles

My butterfly was from a swap, which I inked to match and added the pearl bling.  The digi stamp was a freebie from Paper Crafts Magazine this month! Click HERE for the freebie!

For this weekend's blog hop, Tangled Webs of Tangwen is giving away a great Easter themed paper pack!  


To enter to win this pack, make sure you are a follower of Tangled Webs of Tangwen, and her leave a message at the Easter Hoppin' blog hop post letting her know!

Also, please leave comments here on this page so I know you hopped by!

If you get turned around while you are doing all the hoppin' around here is the list to get you going down the right path again!

1. Missy - http://www.tangledwebsoftangwen.blogspot.com/
2. Barb - http://www.bugbites411.blogspot.com/
3. Cori - http://www.createdbycori.blogspot.com/
4. Lisa - http://handmadewithlove-lisa.blogspot.com/
5. Angie - http://www.scrapmaniac.blogspot.com/
6. Bonnie - http://www.scrap-n-away.blogspot.com/
7. Michelle - http://michelescraftroom.blogspot.com/

Thanks for stopping at "Living the Life of a Scrapmaniac!"  If you like my project, please join!  More fun coming up!

Easter Hoppin' Blog Hop! Day 1

Welcome to Tangled Webs of Tangwen's Easter Hoppin' Blog Hop!

This hop is sponsored by Ginger Snap Scraps, an online store run by stay at home mom Cori Wagner. The store will be opening in April and Cori is giving away a $20 gift card to the store to one lucky winner!

You must be a follower of Ginger Snap Scraps, the blog and Tangled Webs of Tangwen in order to win the $20 gift card. Ginger Snap Scraps will carry Cricut products, Echo Park, Lawn Fawn, The Twinery and many more popular brands that you love!

Now on to the project!  I am the fifth stop on your Easter Hoppin' Blog hop today (Saturday) with a easy to make Easter card!

Paper:  SEI (Chocolat)  Bling:  My Mind's Eye (Lush)

I layered the butterfly in the right hand corner for more dimension and just typeset the scripture verse in Microsoft Word.  Designing your own "digital stamp" is great when you are looking for something specific!

For this weekend's blog hop, Tangled Webs of Tangwen is giving away a great Easter themed paper pack!  To enter to win this pack, make sure you are a follower of Tangled Webs of Tangwen, and her leave a message at the Easter Hoppin' blog hop post letting her know!

Also, please leave comments here on this page so I know you hopped by!

If you get turned around while you are doing all the hoppin' around here is the list to get you going down the right path again!

1. Missy - http://www.tangledwebsoftangwen.blogspot.com/
2. Barb - http://www.bugbites411.blogspot.com/
3. Cori - http://www.createdbycori.blogspot.com/
4. Lisa - http://handmadewithlove-lisa.blogspot.com/
5. Angie - http://www.scrapmaniac.blogspot.com/
6. Michelle - http://michelescraftroom.blogspot.com/

Thanks for stopping at "Living the Life of a Scrapmaniac!"  Stop by again tomorrow for Day 2 of the Hop for a new card and a Freebie!

Photo Focus: Organizing Tips

I came across a little book at the library the other day called, "The One Minute Organizer, Plain & Simple" by Donna Smallin.  There is an abundance of quick to read, easy to implement organizing tips!

Some of these tips are beneficial for us scrapbookers (or paper crafters, or memory keepers!) too!  I have listed them here, along with some of my own notes:

• Take photos of your child with favorite artwork or school projects. That way you can scrap the photo and let go of the physical item later!
• Schedule a regular time each week (or month) to sort and organize photos until you are all up to date.  Decide how to organize your photos and digital photos based on what type of scrapper you are:  subject/event or chronological.  (I recently just finished organizing ten years of digital photos!  It was well worth the time -- I found things that I hadn't printed that I forgot about!)
• Throw away printed photos that didn't come out right or are unusable.  Scrap and use the ones that best represent your family.  Deleting digital photos you know won't be used makes it easier to archive.
• Throw away duplicate photos.  If you can't bear to toss them, separate them in a different box clearly marked so that you know where to find a photo for a special project or mini album.
• Consider keeping all of your formal or professional photos in a separate album.  
• Get in the habit of developing photos on a regular basis.  Put developed photos in your regular photo album or organizer right away so you are ready for scrapping!

Just like anything else in our home, keeping our scrapbooking areas organized will help us as we create wonderful things for our family.  

Have ideas that have worked well for your photos?  Please post here!

Sketch Work: Trying Out My Own Sketches

I am now creating some of my own sketches to share, which has been great fun!  To start out this new month, I decided to share one with you!  I would love to get your opinion, and also see what you can do with it yourself!

Sketch #1:

Of course I had to try out my own sketch, right?  Here is what I came up with:

American Crafts "City Park" paper and Thickers

Two of my crafty friends and owners of the Cafemom group, Scrap Craft and Chat, have allowed me to share their beautiful work with my sketch!  

This is Christy's with a traditional layout like mine (her daughter had some Photoshop fun and made up these hilarious photos!):

Here is Gin's, who is the Digi Queen of our group:

You can find Gin at Dare's Designz

Hope you enjoy!  Leave a comment if you have used my sketch!  And please share my website with scrappy friends!