Top 10 or so

I've seen a lot of bloggers posting their top 10 or 12 layouts/projects of the year and decided it would be kind of fun. So I've gone back through and picked out a few of my favorites.

I'm actually starting with one I never did get on my blog, but it is definitely one of my favorites, if not THE favorite, of the year.

Tee Time Sweetie:

I made this for the Moxxie Summer reveal of their line Hole In One. I dug so deep for this picture of my sweet Shylee out on the golf course and just really love the way this whole layout turned out.

Child O' Mine:

 Love Jayse and his fun little personality! He loves hats or anything that might sit on his head. This layout was made for a music challenge and I did a lot of misting which was a little new to me at the time. Love the rough feel I got.

Explore:

 My sweet baby Jayse checking out the backyard and grass for the first time. This is one of my favorite photos of him when he was little. I made this layout when I tried out for the Moxxie dt. Apparently they liked it too. :)

Hard Rock Style:

 This line is so gorgeous, but I didn't really have any photos that fit the theme really well, so when this idea of having him burst through the page hit me, I went with it. Love it!

Fight:

 Again, another awesome line that I didn't really have photos for, but the Fight die-cut talked to me and all I could think about was the look on Brayden's face in this photo. He works so hard on the floor in wrestling and I'm so proud of him.

Spine Tingling:

 I had SO much fun making this layout! Shylee is the best photo poser ever and the look on her face and body mannerisms here were just awesome. I had so much fun distressing everything and then added the misting afterword on a bit of a gamble but totally LOVE it.

EEK:

 One of my first home decor projects. I love Halloween and had a blast making my coffin display!

Scary & Precious:

 This layout was made using only 4x6 patterned papers. The banner along the top was so fun to make and I just love the colors. Plus my little guys growl face was too sweet.

Turkeys:

 Hahaha! I love making funny layouts and we all know a hat like this is going to lead to a little fun. Who doesn't want to call their family members a turkey now and then?

Winter decor:

 I just really love the frosty feel of Moxxie's Winterland collection. I've been wanting to make one of these snowflakes for a couple years and I just love that I had this pretty line to do it with. Plus I love my little snowman ornament and Ayla loved this box so much that she used it to wrap a gift for one of her friends this Christmas.

Naughty or Nice?:

 Definitely naughty. Jayse is a handful to say the least, so it was a bit therapeutic to make this layout and enjoy the moment after the exasperation. I had a lot of fun hanging my ornaments too.

lil Monkey:

My sweet Ayla. Hard to believe how much she's grown. She's taller than me now but just as cute and sweet as ever. She will truly always be my baby girl.

I would love to come see your top 10 or so. Leave a link in the comments and I will stop by asap. Wishing you all a very happy new year! :)Ange

Best Present Ever!

Ange here today with Best Present Ever! layout. Die Cuts With a View Crafty Christmas stack and Nuts About Sketches are a hot combo for a fun Christmas page! My dad is always the hardest person to buy for which usually results in some interesting presents for him. Last year we ended up putting our youngest in this huge box and letting my dad unwrap him. The most amazing part of the whole thing was, at only 2, how quiet he was until my dad got the box open.

I used this fun paper with the tree with presents under it for the base, cut a slit up each side of the tree with a craft knife and slid the red striped paper under. Then I cut some of the cute journaling tags from another sheet and presents from a scrap paper from a previous layout and layered them on this layout. The To/From tag was also cut from the Crafty Christmas stack, layered with foam tape onto green cs and then I added twine. To finish the layout off I added washi tape to one photo, red stickles to presents and candy canes on the tree and did a little doodling around the edge of the page.

This is the sketch I used from Nuts About sketches. I used the left side and then flipped it so the tree would take up the journaling space.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I would love to have you become a follower through blogger or by email. :)Ange









Supplies:
DCWV - pp, cs
NAS - sketch #243
american crafts - thickers
ranger - stickles
recollections - washi tape
stampin up - marker
tombow - glue runner
ek tools - foam adhesive
stash - twine

Christmas Crackers!

 These are super fun and QUICK! 

I've seen them in stores with cheap little dollar store toys in them and decided I wanted to make my own. The idea is that you can grab it on both ends and pull to have it crack apart and spill out the prize/present. Super fun idea for kids. I was even thinking this would be awesome filled with confetti for New Years!

Supplies needed:
your favorite Moxxie paper
good glue or strong tape
ribbon/twine
empty paper towel roll
fun treats or prizes to go inside
tags (optional)

I used the paper towel roll to measure the paper before cutting, you need about 1/2 inch of overlapping paper to glue. Cut your paper, put tape along one end, roll the other end around the paper towel roll until you have it glued together (don't wrap too tight, so it's easier to pull off the roll later) and then I put a couple hair elastics on it and gave it a bit to dry.
  When you are ready to put the prizes in and tie the ends it helps to slide the paper towel roll to one side to help you bend and twist the end of the paper where you want (so it doesn't smash down the whole thing). So I would slide it one way bend and twist, open that up, slide it the other way and then bend and twist that end, tie it off with ribbon or twine, remove the paper roll, add prizes and tie the other end. FINISHED!
  I'm gifting mine to the sweet little kids I babysit, so I added tags to mine. I just cut rectangles from leftover Party at the Pole paper I used on layouts, added a sticker or die-cut, stamped a to/from and inked the edges. Punch a hole in one end and tie them around the crackers.

 Happy Holidays!! :)Ange

Need a cute box for a special present?

Ange here with some fun and easy boxes for gifting. I made all of these using papers from DCWV Crafty Christmas stack and added in some fun hand made paper bows using the DCWV Arctic Wishes mat stack. 

I think I started with this tutorial here: Box. But really all you need to remember is that you want the lid to be about 1/8 of an inch bigger than the bottom so that it fits well. So for a 2x3 box with 1in. sides you cut a piece of paper that is 4x5 and score in 1 inch on each side, cut along the score line on two sides (but don't cut the corners out), fold in and tape. Then for the lid remember to add 1/8 for a nice fit. Also if you're going to do some border punching like I did, you'll want to consider how much the punch will take off. So for this example you would want to cut a paper 4-1/8x5-1/8, so that after the punching you have a bit of a fancy lid design showing on the side. For a deeper punched design you would need to add more.

Make your own bows like I did, tie them up with twine or add a little embellishment from your stash and you have a fun little box to gift your special present in.

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have any questions I'd love to 'hear' from you in the comments section. :)Ange

DCWV - pp
SEI - ink
martha stewart - punch
glue dots
ek tools - foam & tape adhesive
tombow - tape runner
american crafts - snowflakes
stash - pearl

Cards with a sketch

 I decided to make a few cards, so I thought I'd start off with the sketch for this month's sketch challenge at Scrapbook USA Expo: (details)

Then I grabbed my mat stack from DCWV, Arctic Wishes, and whipped up a few cards. I started by flipping through the stack to find a print I really liked. These little polar bears are too cute, so I pulled a couple sheets out and went to work. I found coordinating cs and another print, then cut, punched and inked. I stamped my greeting and did the same with it. I didn't want to cover the cute polar bears and fun snowflakes, so I stuck my greeting up higher, with some foam adhesive, where I liked the look. I also cut the little polar bears out of another pp and layered them for some dimension. Then I added a little stickles for some sparkle.

With the other polar bear card I wanted to have a lighter background, so I used white cs and kept this card flatter for easier mailing.

 Then I decided I needed a card that matched the sketch a little better and wanted to use the fun Jingle stamp I have, so I found this cute house in the woods scene and went to work again.
I did more cutting, inking and punching. Also used a fun punch for the fancy strip along the bottom, foam adhesive for dimension with the sentiment and a little bit of stickles for some snowy sparkle.









I was having too much fun so I pulled out this cute line from Moxxie called Winterland and made a few more cards starting with the same sketch.

 I love the purple shades in the line but have very little purple cs in my stash (all my scrapping friends tell me purple is really hard to use but I seem to have used mine all up!), so I picked out some pink (another more subtle color in the line) which I have WAY too much of, because it's hard for me to use. Anyway, it didn't match as well as I wanted so I grabbed some purple and blue mist and a scrap and started experimenting. I decided I liked the purple best and worked mostly with that, but the Brrrr card has some blue on it too.

I started with the Winter Wishes die-cut and picked this beautiful flourish print, called Below Zero. I used both sides of the print on this card. I tore the top layer, cut, punched and inked the layer underneath, then layered them on the card with a little pink twine around them. The snowflake is chipboard with a little purple stickles and I inked the Winter Wishes die-cut and added it with foam adhesive.




Then I decided to use the bigger pieces of leftover cs and see if I could make some cute cards with them too.



I absolutely LOVE this little snowman from the line and have been using him everywhere. This guy is on the Frosty paper in the bottom corner. I cut him out used my totally old corner cutting scissors (yep I'm a hoarder), inked and attached. Then I popped out the Brrrrr die-cut, inked and attached with foam adhesive. Super easy!




I had a large-ish scrap of light blue cs too so I grabbed it and went to work on another card. I have been dying to do one of those fun window cards, so I did. :)
I used another fun snowman die-cut along with the Frosty die-cut and the same Below Zero flourish pp as in the first card. I tore another piece of the paper and attached it just along the edges because I wasn't sure how my window was going to work yet. Then I picked out the circle frame sticker, next I eyeballed where I wanted the snowman die-cut to go on the inside and then put it on the front of the card about the same distance from the top. I took the frame sticker and held it over the snowman so he was centered, moved the die-cut and put the sticker down. lol Totally eyeballed. Then I grabbed my circle cutter (make sure you lay your card open on your mat so you don't accidentally cut the back too) and cut the center of the frame out.
 Attach the Frosty die-cut with foam adhesive and glue your snowman die-cut inside. Last but not least I inked the edges of my card and I was done.
 Isn't he cute?

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Don't forget to enter your card based on this sketch at the Scrapbook USA Expo blog for your chance to win a fabulous MME prize!


Supplies top 3:
DCWV - pp, cs
ranger - stickles
stampin up - stamp, ink
ek success - punch
martha stewart - punch
bottom 3:
Moxxie - pp, die-cuts, sticker
DCWV - cs
sei - ink
ranger - stickles, dylusions spray
tattered angels - mist
american crafts - cb snowflake
fiskars - punch, scissors
creative memories - corner rounder, circle cutter
stash - twine