Journal for Iceland

Hi everyone!  My DH and I like to travel and when we find a good deal, we usually jump on it.  TravelZoo sent me an email about Reykjavik, Iceland and we just couldn't pass it up.  So I am going to get to see the Aurora Borealis (I hope anyway)!  We are leaving the States on March 19, 2014 and will be on a boat looking for the Northern Lights during the Equinox (March 20, 2014).  I'm so excited!  My sister-in-law, niece, son, and one of his friends are going with us.  It should be an exciting time.  I like to journal my trips and always make some kind of journal prior to leaving.  This is my journal for this trip.  It started with folded file folders (cut to the size I wanted) and glued together.  Some pages have pockets and some don't.  I then cut out all of the words and numbers using Art Nouveau Font 1 in CCR.  I then covered chipboard for the front and back covers.  The spine was two pieces of card stock glued to some tyvek then added it to the covered chipboard on the outside.  I then adhered the file folders to the covered chipboard on the inside.  I also added a piece of washi tape to the seam of each page for decoration but it will also give it a little more stability.  I added some Icelandic words for eating, food, cuisine, just to make it a little different.

Doing some research, I found out that Icelanders believe in elves, fairies, gnomes, sprites, mountain spirits, etc.  So I decided to add a few of them in also.  The fairies are from Tinker Bell, the gnomes from Freshly Picked, and the elf is from Wrap it Up.  I also found some unique things to do while there.  We are going to attend the Elf School.  Magnason has been teaching this class for many years.  The following day, we will meet up with a lady by the name of Sibby to go in search of elves, fairies, gnomes, etc.  We will also be taking a Brewery tour, the Golden Circle tour, walking around the City, and then prior to going home, a trip to the Blue Lagoon.  I hope you like it.

Circle Mania 3 Project

This time around, I brought my Halloween Project with me to work on.  Since I traveled by plane, I did check a suitcase with my scrapping goodies in it.  However, I didn't bring my hot glue gun with me so I couldn't finish.  This was a kit that I purchased from a LSS and just had to put it together.  I really liked how it turned out.  You will notice that I already have the pics in it.  Halloween tradition for us is we spend the evening with my son and his two children.  My daughter takes her son out with friends in another part of the Valley.  But this year she shared a pic of our other grandson, so his pic is in the book this year.  I hope you like it.


Front cover:  I used Stampin' Up markers to color the wood, stickled around the lace, stickled the web and bats, then covered all with glossy accents.

Pumpkin was colored in using Stampin' Up markers.

My Sister-in-Law is having a Baby

I love my Brother and Sister-in-law but I definitely think they are crazy.  You see, my Brother started his family very early.  He was 16 when his first daughter was born.  Amber is now 24 with three children of her own.  His second daughter came along 2 years later.  Ashley is now 22 and hasn't quite figured out what she wants to do with her life.  Then along came Seth.  He is now 14 and doing well since his surgery to remove the enlarged lymph nodes from his Castleman disease.  Two years ago they had Riley.  She is the spitting image of her Dad.  My Brother will be 41 in November and his son (they are going to name him Caleb) will be born in December.  I will be going in to St. Louis to attend the baby shower and Chrissy (my sister-in-law) is decorating with Mickey and Friends.  I found some Mickey themed paper on Etsy that I downloaded and printed for the book and I used Mickey Font and Mickey and Friends to create the pages.  This is the book I made for her.  Hope you like it!

Front Cover

September Something to Remember Project

We have family pictures taken every year and this year our family decreased in size.  Unfortunately, our son and his wife divorced and our daughter isn't seeing anyone at the moment.  This years pictures were taken in downtown Phoenix at Heritage Square Park.  The photographer is Amy Gough of foxphotoclassics.com.  She did an amazing job with keeping the grandkids busy and took some really great shots.

I used the "Smile" from the Something to Remember cart and the "2013" was cut from the font on the cart.  I inked the numbers and drew on the letters.  I also added some other embellishments.  I hope you like it.

 

August - Cricut Something To Remember Cart Project

My husband and I will be celebrating our 32nd wedding anniversary in September.  So I thought I would get a jump on his card.  I cut everything from the Something to Remember cart using CCR.  The only whole piece of cardstock used was for the card everything else was cut from scraps.  I inked around the edges of the hands, cuffs, and heart to add some dimension.  Now I have a month to decide what I want to put on the inside.  Thanks for looking and please share any projects you have made with us.

Birthdays

I have three grandchildren and all three of them have birthdays within 20 days of each other.  My youngest is Nico and he just turned 4.  Ayva is the oldest and she will be 6 next week.  Then Kingston is the middle and he will be 5 exactly one week after Ayva.  Nico and Ayva are brother and sister so my son and his ex always do one party for the both of them.  Grandma (that's me) always makes the cakes from scratch.  This year, Nico wanted a chocolate cake with Superman and Ayva wanted a strawberry cake for a princess crown to be put on top.  So yesterday, I turned on the oven (we try not to do that very often during the summer here in AZ) and made two separate cakes.  While the cakes were cooling, I went in and made Superman for Nico's cake.  I thought he turned out pretty cute and Nico loved it.  He loved his cake too!  LOL!



This is Ayva and her pink cake with a crown.  Her mom put Ariel on it for some reason.

This is Nico with his Superman cake.  Again their mom put a different character than what he asked for (Spiderman this time).

I hot glued the Superman cutout to a skewer and stuck the skewer in the cake.  "Superman" was layered and glued to parchment paper.  Then I stuck it on top of the cake using toothpicks to hold it down over the round top.

Ayva put the crown on her cake as soon as we got there.  She was so cute!

Nico eating his chocolate cake with passion.

Ayva eating chocolate cake in big bites also.

Christmas in July - Christmas Card

I hope that you are having a great time with the Christmas in July Blog Hop.  This week is Christmas cards.  Don't forget to join my blog and leave a comment.  There are prizes each week and a Grand Prize at the end of the month.  Scrapalette's blog is the start of the hop each week.  If you came here from momto2cuties then you haven't missed out on all the wonderful ideas for Christmas.  If not, be sure and check out her blog.  When you are finished here, check out gonescrappin' to continue with Christmas in July Blog Hop - Christmas card fun.

I couldn't make up my mind if I wanted to do a tag like last year or a card.  Well, you're in luck, I went with both.  First up, I used my CCR and Imagine for my Christmas tag.  I used Snow Angel and it was so wonderful having the machine do all my fussy cutting for me.  I started with a tag (mine was purchased but you could always cut one using the Cricut) and adhered Christmas paper to it.  I then punched out the hole at the top.  I inked the edges of the tag and all my fussy cuts.  Next, you will want to stamp your holiday sentiment on the back (I forgot until after, didn't work so well).  Then just start layering your images as you like.  I like to use different thicknesses of pop dots to create depth.  Make sure when you are adhering your images that your tag will fit into an A-7 envelop (5 1/2" X 7").  When you are done, run some ribbon through the hole at the top, tie it to create a loop, and sign your card.  Very easy!

Next is the card.  I went with a side step card and used CCR with the Imagine Santa's Village cart.  Love not having to fussy cut everything.  

I cut my Bazzill cardstock  at 10" X 7".  Along the 10" side, I scored at 2 1/2".  I then turned my cardstock so that the 7" length was along the edge and the 10" length was at the top.  I scored at 2 3/4" from the top to the score line, 5" from top to bottom, 6 1/2" from top to score line, 8" from top to score line, and 8 3/4" from top to score line.  

I then cut my cardstock using the 2 1/2" score line as a guide from the 2 3/4" score line to the 8 3/4" score line.  I hope that is understandable.  If not, there are lots of youtube videos out there to help you along.  I then folded the card to create the layers.  Your 2 3/4" score should be a peak, 5" score a valley on the large side and a peak on the short side, 6 1/2" a peak, 8" a valley, and 8 3/4" a peak.  

You need to cut a 4 1/2" X 4 1/2" piece of cardstock to adhere to the back step.  I then cut a piece of scrap Christmas paper I had to accent the base card.  I inked the edges of the accent paper with Stampin' Up ink.  For Santa's home, I used puffy white paint and dry glitter to give it some depth.  For the tree and toys I pop dotted with different thicknesses to create the depth.  Santa and his reindeer were given a little ink highlights and stickles.  Merry Christmas was from the Artiste cart and cut on my mini.  I glued a little twine between the reindeer and Santa for the reins.

I hope my tag and card gave you a little inspiration.  Please don't forget to continue with the Blog Hop. Thanks and Merry Christmas in July!

To follow along with this weeks line up, the following blogs are participants:

1~Scrapalette's (Paulette)

2~Sis O'Snap (Sis)     

3~Jasper (Diane)

4~Phantom Pink Rat (Lisa)

5~Ladybug (Linda)

6~DBCMC (Donna)

7~momto2cuties (Cindy)

8~FranTimme (Fran)

9~gonescrappin' (Colleen)

10~scrapsbygracie (Theresa)

11~SeaSwan (Beth