Archive for February, 2010

Trying out digital

Friday, February 26th, 2010

The last few days I’ve spent most of my extra time dipping my toes into the world of digital scrapbooking. It’s becoming a mini obsession for me. I really don’t like being able to do something and do it well. And when it comes to digi scrappin’ I’m far from a pro.

I have been interested in exploring the world of digital scrapbooking for some time now. Awhile back I went as far as downloading all the free digi products I could get my hands on and even bought a considerable amount of templates, brush, digital embellishments. And then I did nothing with all of it.

I can’t imagine ever converting completely … I love to feel and touch the product as I create a page. But for practical reasons it makes a lot of sense. Since I travel. A lot. I often feel like I miss out on valuable crafting time. If I incorporated more digital crafting, I could craft on the road and not have to pack a single extra item.

I was listening to Paperclipping Roundtable on a flight a few days ago and Stacy Julian mentioned Nan Scott and her Web site. While visiting Nan’s site, I clicked on a PhotoShop Elements tutorial and thought I could manage to put together a page with Nan’s instructions. And I did. Here’s a look at my first digi page. Mind you, it’s my first. And I went a little nuts with brushes … but I wanted to try out a bunch of different tools. Pretty much everything on the page is House of 3, plus a freebie Ali Edwards had posted awhile back.



Don’t laugh at my page. It’s my very first try. I really had a ton of fun playing with all the tools in PhotoShop Elements and the goodies I purchase at House of 3. Since I have a background in newspapers and have done some design work, the basics of working in an Adobe product are coming back to be quickly. There was a time I was a whiz at using InDesign, but if you don’t use it … it leaks out your ears and is lost forever!

I also found a super helpful tutorial on the House of 3 blog courtesy of Rhonna Farrer (I love, love her work. She is beyond talented). This tutorial specifically uses a tool kit they sale at House of 3 *yes, I bought it … along with a truck load of other things), but the techniques can be applied to so many different things. Here are a few more pages I made this week … again all House of 3, Ali Edwards and a little Nan Scott Design Studios. Be nice … I’m new at this.


Shelby's 5th Birthday







Finally, I’ve repeatedly checked the various tutorials and articles Ali Edwards has posted on her blog regarding digital scrapbooking. All of her tutorials are straight forward, easy to follow and concise. Check them out here.

I think my vision for my personal digital scrapbooking would be to get a page started, print it out and then add embellishments for texture and depth. This would give me a chance to be more creative when I travel, stay caught up and still play with the physical page at some point.


Are you digitally scrapbooking? Do you have a go to site for tools or tutorials? Share … I want to know!



Member Spotlight: Kristen Stewart

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

One of the best parts of starting and running Crazy Daisy has been the opportunity we have had to meet really cool people. Jennifer and I live in different states. We have know each other forever. Even with the distance, she is the person I talk to and confide in the most. Jen has a lot of girlfriends, whereas I’m a little more isolated and have had trouble making friends since moving to Arizona (I know, pathetic!). But I find great joy and comfort in the virtual friends I have been making thanks to Crazy Daisy. I look forward to your emails. I stalk your blogs. I think it would be really awesome if we actually meet some day!

Why do I tell you this? ‘Cause I want to introduce you to one of my new “virtual” friends: Kristen Stewart. Kristen is a member of Crazy Daisy, super cute and of course a mama like many of us out there who love to scrapbook. I was checking out some of the scrapbook pages she created recently and I LOVE, LOVE her style.

So, meet my new friend Kristen!


 

1. I started scrapbooking … somewhere around 2000, I think.

2. My favorite scrapbooking product, tool or manufacturer is … Right now it would have to be chipboard; letters, number, shapes…heck anything chipboard.

3. My favorite thing to scrapbook about is … My kids (cliché I know). But, specifically, when they were little, because now they are teenagers and scrapping pictures of them when they were little reminds me that they once loved me and didn’t think I was the meanest human being on earth.

4. I scrapbook because … It exercises the left side of my brain…I work with my right as a tax accountant, this makes me balanced.

5. I am the happiest when … I am on a scrap retreat with my friends…lots of food, fun, laughing, and of coarse scrapping.

And a bonus question:

My favorite scrappy or crafty web site is …. I love Cathy Zielske’s blog, Bits & Pieces. She just cracks me up. She is open and honest and I love her style.


And of course … here’s a looksy at some pages Kristen has created!



Kristen, thank you so much for sharing! It’s been great to get to know you better and see some layouts you’ve created! We are happy to have you in the Crazy Daisy family.

If you’d like to be featured in our Member spotlight section, send me an email.  Have a GREAT Thursday.

Grace’s Corner

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Can you believe that it’s almost March?

It’s just days away.

So before February escapes us, let’s check out a few more layouts from Grace.

And then … we can start showing you all the wonderful goodies for March. But let’s get through February first!


Family Deerest



This page will be the front page of my 2008 family album.  I love that BoBunny title sticker. It’s sooo cute.  I also added the Prima sticker trim, a border sticker from the Basic Grey sheet and more trims.  The imaginesce stamp was also added as an accent.



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My Sweeties




The neutral color of my background papers made my kids’ shirts in the picture stand out more.  I added the round heart transparency as part of my visual triangle. It was continued with the heart border and the other heart sticker.



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Valentine School Party



This two page spread was made easy with the fun BoBunny and crate papers in the kit. I just love the fun, whimsical feel of them.  I used three different elements for the title. I love how the metal, sticker and chipboard came together.




Design Team Tuesday

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Tuesdays will be all about our Design Team and let me tell you … they are fabulous. I have been reading their blogs and I am in awe. These ladies are super talented and beyond cool. My husband especially likes Miss Katie  … because they happen to have the same taste in music. And yes, my husband has been to all the design team member’s blogs. His response, “These ladies are professionals. They should really do this professionally.” You all have my husband’s approval!

In my attempt to keep things streamlined and consistent (my life is neither of those things) Tuesday here at Crazy Daisy are now going to be Design Team Tuesday. Eventually, our Design Team will be posting on Design Team Tuesdays … but for now it’s me, posting about them … on Tuesdays!

Over the course of the next few weeks, we’re going to be introducing you all to the ladies of our design team. To kick things off, I want to start with Amy Kingsford. I’m picking Amy first because, well, umm … my sister’s name is Amy. Seriously. That’s why. Every time I see Amy’s name, I think of my sister. So, why not?!



1. I can’t imagine my life without … my son … he has truly been a blessing in my life. 

2. My least favorite chore is … doing the dishes … luckily my hubby loves me enough to do them for me!

3. I would love to win a shopping spree to … Dear Lizzie, I could shop for hours in that store.

4. My must have treat and music when scrapbooking is … Diet Coke, Almond Joys, and some Killers in the background.

5. When scrapbooking, I love to use … the packaging from my supplies … what can I say, some of that stuff is WAY too cute to simply throw away! 

6. My favorite creative project is … altered art … I just love turning everyday things into something special!

7. I thought I would never … buy a Blu-ray player … of course I said the same thing about a DVD player and an MP3 player … so much for NEVER

8. My worst habit is … never letting things dry!  Many a projects have met there demise due to my impatience!

9. My favorite scrappy or crafty web site is …. Get It Scrapped!  I love the atmosphere and the classes, and all of the women there are fabulous and inspiring!

10. You would never guess it, but I … have three tattoos, I know … not all that shocking, but other than that I think I’m fairly predictable! ugh. 


And of course, let me show a little bit of Amy’s work … which of course blew us away! It is her scrapbooking that made us want her on our team .. not just the fact that she’s cute and cool!








The best cookies ever

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

Monday musings. I think on Mondays I’m going to just tell you all a little bit about me. One of the major reasons I scrapbook is to tell my story and the story of those I love. I studied journalism in college and spent many years as a writer. I feel most comfortable tapping away at a keyboard and expressing my feelings than any other way. Since I want to preserve my stories, I can share some here … and hopefully I can turn them into scrapbook pages or mini books.

So here’s what I’m thinking about this Monday …



Cookies.

I wouldn’t say I’m the best cook ever. Most of the amazing meals created in my house are done so by my husband. He loves to cook and really revels in the process. Me on the other hand … not so much. We have a bit of a deal. If he cooks, then I’ll clean up. It works well for us.

I do however bake (something my hubby doesn’t have ANY interest in). A few Christmases ago, my parents bought us a KitchenAid Mixer in the most fabulous shade of cobalt blue. It sits on my kitchen counter and is the appliance I’m most proud of and love the very most. I had coveted other people’s mixers for years, but could never bring myself to spend the money on a KitchenAid … it just seemed so extravagant.



My father in law is diabetic. He’s incredibly diligent with watching his diet and has done wonders with his health since cutting out sugar and all things white (white flour, white pasta, etc.) As a family, it’s easier to eat what my father in law can eat instead of preparing seperate meals for family events. We’ve actually taken to eating a pretty diabetic friendly diet, since it’s really so much better for us. I also happen to have some issues with sugar and how my body processes it, so my doctor recommends little to no sugar for me!  

But, even though my FIL is strict about his sugar intact … he still craves treats. Don’t we all? A few years ago I decided to try and make some cookies that would be both tasty and diabetic approved. I found an oatmeal chocolate chip recipe online and tweaked it for our needs. And seriously … I  now have the world’s best cookie recipe. Everyone who has these cookies raves about them (I’m not making this up, just as my husband). But the most rewarding part is the fact that my FIL LOVES these cookies. He begs for them. He trades favors for them (he fixed my vacuum a few weeks back. And what did he want in return? Cookies!) It has become a family joke how much he loves these cookies. My daughter calls them Big Mike (that’s what she calls her Grandpa) cookies.

I’d make these cookies every week if I had the time. They are beyond yummy. I guess my hips are happy I don’t have a lot of time to bake these days! As a special treat, I’ll share my fabulous (and until now secret) Oatmeal Chocolate Chip  recipe with you. Enjoy!                                                                                                      


The Best Cookies Ever (or Big Mike Cookies as they are known at our house)

1 cup of margarine or butter
3/4 cup of packed Splenda Brown Sugar
3/4 cup of Splenda
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla (a little more if you like more, I usually do a cap full)
1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups of rolled oats
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat the over to 350 degrees.
2. Cream margarine and sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla.
3. Combine baking soda salt and flour. Add to creamed mixture.
4. Add oatmeal and chocolate chips. Stir well.
5. If the dough seems too “wet” add some more oats.
6. Let the dough stand for about 15 minutes.
7. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes

A February Mini Book

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Happy Friday.

I am having a CRAZY day. I left my house at 5:30 a.m. headed to the airport. I flew to Los Angeles to visit the Brazilian Consulate. My Brazilian visa request is now being processed and I’m sitting in the LA airport waiting to board a flight home. Holy cow!  The good news it I’ll be home tonight, before my kids go to bed. That means lots of snuggles and kisses from my kiddos.

Adding to the madness … I got a new laptop. Great right?  It is great. It’s faster, has more memory, and just all around better. But it has a Danish keyboard (long story why I have a Danish keyboard), which makes it hard to type. As long as I don’t look at the keyboard, I’m fine. But as soon as I look at it, all the extra Danish keys throw me off and I start typing gobbledygook (spell check says that’s a real word).  

Still not sure what to do with your February Main Kit? Here are some more lovely layouts from Grace  to inspire you and hopefully get you crafting! One of the reasons I loved the February album from 7 Gypsies is because it’s so versatile. There are just so many cool things you can do with it. I envisioned a wall hanging. Grace, she work her magic and got a totally different reult. Check it out:



Home Tweet Home mini book

By Grace Tolman

“When I opened the 7 Gypsies mini book, I was excited to see all the fun shapes in there. At first I thought of using them all up to make an odd shape mini, but the house shapes stood out to me and since we have that cute sticker from the BoBunny sheet, I went with the “home” theme.

I used the brown cardstock to make an accordion style book with the two chipboard shapes as my front and back cover.  I covered them with the wonderful papers in the kit and then layered with the embellishments.

For the front, I decided to use the fine detailed flourish sticker from the Basic Grey sheet. It was big that it overflew to the side so I had the tag sticker hang on that. I also added a small bird brad on their. Then the flowers was cut from the flower ribbon, adhered with glue dots and I added some rhinestones from my stash to glam it up.

The inside pages are pretty simple. I took photos of different rooms in my house and wrote about what we love about those rooms. This will be a keepsake of our home right now. You never know if moving will be in our future.

I used some spots to add some home quote as well. For the page that had the big flower, I stamped the imaginesce stamp on paper, colored it in, used my dimensional adhesive to make it an epoxy type embellishment then added it to the flower.  I also used the heart lace cardstock here. I used them for the inside parts of my chipboard house.

For the back, I cut out a flower from the Prima paper then added a final quote.

Now since I only used two pieces from the mini book pack, you bet I will be making more mini’s and other projects with the rest. LOL.

Thank you for looking and have fun with the kit.”




BIG NEWS and a chance to win

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Over on Heidi Swapp’s blog, you can enter to win a February 2010 Mini Kit. There is also a coupon code there for $10 off your first kit with a 6-month subscription. So everyone is a winner!

But what I’m most excited about is this … Heidi announced a little secret that I’ve been carrying around for some time. Heidi is going to be our April Guest Designer!! We heart Heidi Swapp like you couldn’t believe. She has so much energy. She is so talented. And she is one of the most genuine people I’ve met. We are THRILLED to see what she’ll be doing with our April Main Kit. That kit will also include a download from Heidi’s House of 3 site, as well as some of the Heidi Swapp Glimmer Mist.

Have you checked out Heidi’s live web show? It is awesome. I watched it last week with my five-year-old and she kept asking, “Do we have that? Can we do that too?” We have since made one of House of 3’s Sweetie Books for Shelby’s kindergarten teacher. And I’ve downloaded some of the birthday goodies that recently were added. Check out the House of 3 blog. It’s oh so inspiring.



Member Spotlight: Susan E.

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Another new addition to the Crazy Daisy Blog will be weekly member spotlights.

In order to do this, we need your help. Send us pictures of what you create with out kits. We’d love to see what you do, share it with others and be inspired by your craftiness. Please! Share! We all want to see what you do with the kit! Email me  and I’ll get you on the blog.

This week we are excited to introduce you to Susan Eldridge.  I was so excited when Susan answered my call for members to send in their work. Before I even asked for members to send in their creations, I have been to Susan’s blog and thought she was pretty cool. Now all of you can think she’s cool too!

So, here’s a little bit about Susan …


1. I started scrapbooking … about six years ago because I love crafting and I finally gave in to scrapbooking. I haven’t really been a fast scrapbooker, but I’m hoping to pick up the pace this year.

2. My favorite scrapbooking product, tool or manufacturer is … I don’t think I could scrapbook without my ruler and xacto knife. I’m always impressed with the papers from Basic Grey.

3. My favorite thing to scrapbook about is …  my girls. Probably 95% of what I scrapbook is about them, but this year I’m trying to include myself and the hubs more.

4. I scrapbook because …  it’s my creative outlet and my de-stresser. I love capturing the memories for my girls and hope they love my scrapbooks as much I would have loved to have some from my mother.

5. I am the happiest when … I’m looking back at old photos and recall various memories from that time.

Check out more of Susan’s work and get to know her a little better on her blog. And her are some layouts Susan created using the Crazy Daisy February 2010 Main Kit.
 
 

 




Grace’s Corner

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

I’m so excited to be able introduce a new weekly (or maybe bi-monthly, depending on time constraints and such) blog column from our wonderful, fabulous design team member Grace Tolman.

For this week’s inaugural post, Grace shares a wonderful heart themed project that she created using leftovers from our February 2010 Main Kit.


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Heart Frame

By Grace Tolman


heart wall hanger (7)

The Crazy Daisy kits are always chock full of supplies. You will always get lots of leftovers. The February one is no exception and here’s a little, quick and easy project that I made with my leftover pattern papers.

Since it’s the love month, I decided to make an altered wall art.

To make it, you’ll need a few things….
* Your leftover papers from the kit
* A styrofoam heart (or circle if you prefer)
* A ribbon (long enough to cover your styrofoam and a little bit more for a ribbon to hang the project on the wall)
* A few embellishments (flowers, buttons, sequins, etc)
*A die cut machine (this just makes the process faster, but if you don’t have any, get a template for the flowers and cut by hand)


heart wall hanger

After you’ve grabbed your supplies, start by cutting out flowers from your pattern papers using your die cut machine. Cut them in varied sizes.


heart wall hanger (1)


Then cover your Styrofoam with the ribbon. Since the heart was an odd shape, I decided not to cover the top and bottom pointed corners. I thought that the whites won’t show after I cover it with the flowers. Use a glue gun to adhere the ends of your ribbon.


heart wall hanger (2)

Start layering and adhering your flowers onto the heart. There’s no science to this, the more random it is the better.


heart wall hanger (3)


Add flowers to the middle of some of the flowers. I only used three here but you can add more.


heart wall hanger (4)


Tie a bow from the leftover ribbon and adhere the tips of it on the back of the heart.


heart wall hanger (5)

After looking at my heart, I was not happy with some of them not having centers so I grabbed some buttons and glue gunned them onto the centers of my flowers. This gave each piece a finished look.


heart wall hanger (6)

If you have everything on hand, this project should only take you no more than 1 hour.

Here’s a few more close ups…


heart wall hanger (9)

heart wall hanger (8)


Good luck and have fun with the February kit.


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Thank you Grace for sharing your talents and creativity. You really rock and we are so grateful to have you on our team!


CD Design Team 2010

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

To say this was a hard decision would be an understatement. Jennifer and I agonized over this decision. We have been beyond excited by the response to our design team call and feel just so blessed. All of you ladies who applied are ultra talented and we’d be lucky to have you on our team. But. Here’s the tough and sad part. We did have to narrow the entries to pick just six ladies to join our 2010 Design Team.

We are excited to announce that the following ladies will be our wonderful design team starting with our March 2o10 kit (in no particular order):


Visit Grace’s blog here.

 

Visit Amber’s blog here.

 

Visit Amy’s blog here.



Visit Kelly’s blog here.

 

Visit Mara’s blog here.

 

Visit Katie’s blog here.

 

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Jennifer and I are thrilled to start this great journey with these new ladies. We’re sure you’re gonna love them and what they create. Check back in the weeks to come as we spotlight each of the Crazy Daisies. And check out their blogs in the meantime … you’ll be inspired.