a new layout

I haven't been scrapping stuff for our books much because of the holidays. I stayed home sick today but did manage to scare up the energy to do a layout. This is a page for my Book of Me, created for a challenge at Scrapbookdreamer.com. I had thought I would do more journaling, maybe something about how I worry about memory loss and how the older generations of my family are disappearing and how my son may never know about his heritage otherwise... but the words just weren't there for this layout. Maybe they are meant for a future layout.

Getting ready for the holiday

So, I had joined a card exchange list and that added 40 people to my list in addition to my regular 30ish. Then, about a month ago I decided that it would be a great idea to make all my holiday cards this year. I am a crazy person! I always overdo things. But I wanted to use my new-found scrapping skills. It actually worked out. My cards were fairly simple designs but that's ok, I didn't need to come up with difficult or time-consuming designs my first time at this. lol... However, as I say in my envelope tutorial, I also made all my envelopes.

I've really been on top of things so far. Our tree went up dec 1. Most of our shopping is done. I have a few more gifts but I'm waiting for inspiration. I do have a few more things to make for the grandparents, but they are scrapping things and I have a crop next friday so if I'm not done with them by then, I will get them done that night.

I have 2 cookie exchanges tomorrow and need to make 10 dozen cookies today for those. I might bake a few other things as gifts.

For the most part, I feel like I am on time for the holidays this year. What a nice feeling!

New layout

I did these layouts friday and lastnight for a challenge on Scrapbook Dreamer.

simple envelope how-to

I couldn't find an envelope tutorial for the type of envelope I wanted to make. All the tutorials and templates I found required printing on my printer and then cutting out the envelope shape. Too much work and I needed to make 70 envelopes!

So I made up my own envelope instructions and will post them here. This may have been done elsewhere but I couldn't find it.

These envelopes are for cards made from 1/2 an 8.5x11 sheet of cardstock. So the cards would be 4.25x5.5. If your cards are a different size you are going to need to figure out adjustments.

(Click on pictures to see them full size... part of them is cut off)

Materials:
paper trimmer
paper to make envelopes
quick dry paper glue
ruler
bone folder (optional)

Step 1. Use the paper trimmer to cut your paper 8.5 inches square.

Step 2. Use ruler to draw light pencil lines from corners to corners, making a big X. These lines will help you keep folds centered.

Step 3. All of my folding is guesstimates, sorry. But the first fold I do is a corner, and I fold it about an inch or so, lining the corner point along the pencil line.

Step 4. then I fold that same end up again, this time to have the top edge about an inch above the CENTER of the paper (where the lines meet from the X you drew)

Step 5. then I fold in one of the side corners, and the point is just barely past the center... maybe about 1/8 inch or a hair more. If your cards are thick from embellishments, you might want to test periodically to make sure there's room, but this does leave some room for some embellishment or a letter/photos tucked into the card.

Step 6. Fold in the other side the same way. Now is a good time to test the fit if you are worried about the card being thick.

Step 7. at this point, if you want you can open up the envie and erase the guide lines you drew as you won't need them anymore. After erasing, I refold it and I used quick-drying paper glue to glue down the sides

Step 8. after both sides are glued down, then fold down the top to make your crease.

Step 9. When you are ready to seal, use your quick-dry glue to seal the flap down. Before sealing cards inside, if you are so inclined, you could stamp or otherwise decorate the envelopes a little.

Enjoy!

A few layouts

So I guess one of my first posts should be a few layouts of mine. I'm just going to post a few of my favorites. Some scrapbookers have a "style", but I am still pretty new at scrappin' and want to try the different styles to see what I like. I have a feeling though that I am going to be doing lots of different styles all the time... as I like them all so far. ;)

So, here we go. A few of my favorites.

Yeah! I'm set up at last!

So, I am Michele. I started scrapbooking in September 2008. This is my new scrappin blog! It's late and I need to get to bed, but I hate leaving things half done so I had to get at least this far. If I am sufficiently able, I may improve this blog some more but for now it will do.

So, if you are so inclined, come back and see my future posts of some of the projects and layouts I've done and other scrappy related posts. :)

TTFN!