We received some sad news last week, Deli Joe, my sweet dog of twelve years has a tumor and the vet believes it to be cancerous. Aside from all the normal emtions that come with news like that I have an urgency to take as many everyday photos of Deli that I can. I have taken photos of him through the years and scrapped some pages, but I don't think I have really recorded or captured just how important he is to me and what a special part of our family he is. I am so thankful that I still have some more time with him and I am going to make sure he has lots of pages in our family scrapbooks. I am sorry for the sad post, but I wanted to take this as an opportunity to remind you to scrap about the furry members of your family and all that they add to your life. Make sure to include them in your Holiday photos this season -especially in your family pictures. Have a great week! Christine

Hey everyone!  Can you believe that Christmas is only 24 days away?! We are planning on putting our tree up tomorrow or Tuesday - the girls are SO excited!  We've been busy making ornaments for our tree and to give as gifts.  I have been seeing these cute little handmade ornaments everywhere and had to give them a try!  They are SO easy to make and inexpensive too!  All you will need is patterned paper, circle hole punch, pins, ribbon, and styrofoam balls!

You simply punch the patterned paper and attach it to the styrofoam ball with the pins!  Then you loop the ribbon and attach it with the pins as well.  I crinkled mine up a bit for a bit of added dimension.  See?  I told you it was easy!  I hope you all enjoy making these as much as we did!  The girls can't wait to give them to their teachers!

(Supplies:  Lil' Davis Patterned Paper, Martha Stewart Punch, Ribbon, Styrofoam Balls, Pins)

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving and is finishing up with those leftovers!

My parents and one of my brothers came to my house for Thanksgiving. Anytime they are over during the holidays, I pull out so many of my scrapbooks and mini-albums for us to look through and reminisce. As I was gathering things this time, I stumbled upon this tag book I had made some time last year & totally forgotten about! It is always fun to go back and look through things I made a while ago (and may not even remember I have made)!

This little book is relatively simple.
I covered the tags with paper and then used colored paperclips to attach pictures & quotes.Then I just embellished the book with the blue flowers that I cut out of patterned paper and various "thankful" themed stickers & rub-ons from my stash.

I think I am going to make an updated tag book with pictures from this year that I will pull out at next year's Thanksgiving. And I might even see if I can get around to making a Christmas-themed version!

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!
gretchen

Well, it's that time of year in the Warren household - Jillian woke up this morning with a stomach virus and has been running a fever to boot.  So, this will be a relatively quick post - she's in full blown mommy mode ;o) 

I have been ordering some Christmas goodies and I can't wait to get started on my Holiday projects and layouts.  I've been so anxious in fact that I have been scouring the gallery here at Memory Makers and I want to share some gorgeous projects with you! 

I love this one by Emily from Medena, OH.  The ribbon, the snowflakes, the distresse edges - it's a gorgeous layout!

And this one by Flor R. from Diamond Bar, CA - how COOL is that Christmas tree?!!  It immediately inspired ideas for cards!

And these birdhouses by Karen Bowers are just too beautiful!  What a wonderful project to do with the girls!

Okay, seriously, there are so many gorgeous creations - I am in full blown Holiday spirit now!  I am just itching to create cards, layouts (I desperately need to start on last years Christmas photos!!) and gifts. 

Off to go tend to my sweet girl - I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Good morning!
In light of the Thanksgiving holiday coming up this week, I also want to share a layout about some things I am thankful for.
This layout is about my brothers and an accomplishment we shared together.

Supplies: Alphabet stickers (American Crafts), Chipboard heart (Heidi Swapp), Journaling block (Jenni Bowlin Studios), Patterned paper (Love Elsie for KI Memories, Creative Cafe), misc (Avery stars)

Tip: Notice on this layout that the journaling was done 2-2-08. There is never enough time to get all the scrapbooking done that I want to! I am always thinking of layouts that I want to do and sometimes it may be weeks (or in this case, months!) before I can get around to making them. I keep a journal handy where I write down layouts that I want to make and the journaling to go on them. I write down what I want to say while it is fresh in my head because chances are I will forget if it is weeks before I get around to the layout. When I am finally ready to sit down and make the layout, I just grab my journal, pictures, and supplies and I am set to go!  

Have a great day!
gretchen

Happy Friday!! This is will be a quick post. :) I love to use supplies that I have on hand to save money, use the products that inspire me the most and to push myself creatively to stretch my supplies in different ways.  I created this mini canvas in less than thirty minutes with supplies that I had on hand-paint (my favorite tool), ink, stamps, vintage book page and spray paint. I love layers so I just added layers on top of layers of ink, paint and spray paint! First I adhered the book page to the canvas with a Pioneer glue stick, it is awesome! It is super strong and it also great to use on ribbon, small die cuts, letters and perfect for book pages because it goes on smoothly and doesn't rip the paper as you apply it.  Next, I sprayed the canvas with some spray paint. Then, I used a cut out from an old Paper Source bag to serve as a mask and I applied ink around it with my fingers to give it some texture, no stroke is ever the same so texture can be made quick and easy.

Tip: You can speed up the drying phase by using an embossing heat gun,hold it at an angle and not to close to the paper to avoid burning.

Once the paint was dry I stamped the image in the middle and inked the sides with the same color ink of the stamped image to tie the colors all together.

Now I have a little piece of art with a great message in my scrap space to inspire me!

Have a safe and wonderful weekend!xo

Supplies Used: Adhesive ( Pioneer Glue Stick);Cardstock (American Crafts);Ink (ColorBox Fluid Chalk); Paint (Making Memories);Spray Paint (Krylon Short Cuts);Stamp (Paper Source)

Misc: Canvas