Mini albums - my new favourite things!

For Christmas this year I just wasn't sure what to buy my Grandma. I have pretty much run out of ideas on what to buy her. So I decided to make a mini album for her. I made it 6 x 6 using card stock. I managed to use all things that I have in my stash at home. She loved it and I definately plan on making more of these albums in the future.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Well it is Christmas Eve. I of course don't feel ready. I still need to make a few mini albums and I am hoping to get one done tonight and then the other I don't need until the 27th. Talk about waiting until the last minute.

This year for the teachers gifts I found some little paint cans while shopping in the states. I have never seen them around here in my local scrapbooking stores. So as soon as I saw them I knew they were the ones I wanted to alter for the teachers gifts. I filled it with hot chocolate, chocolates and a gift card for each teacher. For the first time I attempted to make a paper bow for the top of 2 of the cans and I really like how they turned out.

So here are some pictures of the altered cans. Wishing each and everyone of you a very Merry Christmas!! Enjoy your family, friends and food!

APOS Blog Hop - December 23, 2009

Well this is the first ever Blog Hop for A PILE OF SCRAP! I am so excited to be a part of it. If you are not sure what a blog hop is I will give a brief explanation. You hop your way from blog to blog and post a comment in their post. At the end you will be directed to the APOS forums where you will post saying you have done the whole thing. Just an FYI there are 6 blogs that you will need to go check out so make sure you don't forget anyones. Everyone at APOS would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas!!!

PLEASE FOLLOW ALONG THE BLOGHOP AND MAKE SURE TO LEAVE A COMMENT AT THE END OF EACH DESIGNER'S POST FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A FABBY SCRAPPY PRIZE!

So we had the choice of 2 sketches that the talented Cori-lyn came up with for us. We could do either the card or layout or both if we wanted to. I chose the layout to do and had a lot of fun with it. After you check out my blog head on over to Candace's

My layout

November Design Team reveal

Well yesterday was the big day over at APOS for our design team reveals. I was given the great paper "Jolly by Golly" by Cosmo Cricket. It is so versatile and could be used for anything (not just holiday layouts or cards). Our task this month was to create cards and tags. Now I want to say I am not a professed card maker but had lots of fun this month coming up with things. I did make all of mine Christmas cards and tags but only because I needed to get more done to send out.

So here are the pics of my cards and tags. Hope you like them!

Finally I get to share my news!

A few weeks back I received an email from Sheila at Scrappin Great Deals asking if I would like to be a guest designer for the December kit. I didn't even have to think about it...I immediately said yes. I loved this months kit and it was so much fun to play with. I have a fair bit of it left but ran out of time to do more layouts and cards. Be sure to order your kit quickly because I know they sell out fast!

I do have to apologize for the photos. I took them after the sun went down so I had to use my flash. I plan on re-taking the photos and posting the new pictures tomorrow afternoon.

So now for my reveal! I finished 2 layouts, 2 cards, a mini pail (that is going to be a gift) and a mini album.

I did this little mini accordian album about My favourite things (about Christmas). It was super simple to make and they would make great little gifts for anyone on your list.

I absolutely love how this first layout turned out. The paper is beautiful!

I am going to retake this picture tomorrow. The number paper is from Little Yellow Bicycle and I think it is adorable.
I did 2 cards with the leftover papers. I still have quite a few more scraps left and will probably do up a few more cards to send out.

Lastly I made this little pail. It is going to be a teacher gift and I will fill it with chocolates, hot chocolate, tea and a gift card.

Well I hope you liked what I came up with and that you head on over to Scrappin Great Deals to pick up this amazing kit!

I have a little secret!

I found out something exciting a few weeks back and can't wait to spill the beans! I won't make everyone wait that long. Be sure to check back to my blog on Nov 3oth and you will find out then.

Christmas cards

Well I have started making my Christmas cards. I am really hoping I can get them done before December 1st. This is the first year I have made my own and I didn't start early enough. Next year I plan on doing them throughout the year.

Vicki had the card challenge this month and she proposed we make a Christmas card without the colours red or green. I went with blue and white.

For this card I used one of my Stampin up stamps with red cardstock. I just love how this one turned out!

It's that time again!

Yes that's right...design team reveal time! This month we had to opportunity to select our own paper line. Boy was this a hard decision. There are so many great lines out there. After lots of thought I went with the Monstrosity line from Sassafras Lass. I knew it was perfect to use for layouts of my son. This month I did 3 layouts and 1 altered item. I had so much fun with this paper and everything just fell into place.

Don't forget to check out the other design team blogs. Valerie did the cutest card, Cheryl has some great layouts with wonderful stitching, Candace amazed me yet again (and boy was she quick to complete her layouts), Vicki picked a wonderful line and did a great job showing it off, and Cori-lyn will be posting hers a little later (I can't wait to see what she picked and came up with)

This paper was meant for a first day of school layout. I couldn't wait to scrap my son's first day of preschool and I knew this was the paper to do it.

I loved these little monsters. The felties are so cute. The paper itself is busy but once I cut the strips up it just all seemed to work. LOVE this layout! It is my favourite one.

I wanted the pictures to tell the story for this one. I couldn't resist using the bling on this either. I am loving the pearls and crystals!

I had this empty hot chocolate container that I knew I could use for something. After seeing this paper I knew it would be something my son would love and his current piggy bank was getting full so I figured he would love getting a new one. I gave it to him last night and I couldn't stop shaking the money and kept asking for more to put inside the bank.

I won!!!

Recently I participated in a kit challenge on one of my scrappy forums. We had to create 2 layouts and then our name would be put in for a draw to win a winter themed scrappy kit. Well I won!!! I can't wait to get my papers and embellishments. I will be picking them up on November 20th when I go stay with my good friend that was holding the challenge.

The first challenge was to scrap something that is a fall activity that my family does each year. I figured what better time then to scrap the pictures from our annual trip to "Boo in the Park" at Storybook Gardens. The kids love to get dressed up and do all of the activities they have planned. I had so much fun doing this page. I love the halloween paper from Bo bunny called Boo Crew.

The second challenge was to create a layout following a sketch but we had to use fall colours in our layout. I decided to scrap pictures from our trip to African Lion Safari in 2008. You can't really tell but I used Glimmer mist on the "W"s in the title. I am LOVING glimmer mist!

Halloween Joke book

I made a little Halloween joke book for my daughter last week. She absolutely loves it! It was super easy to make that I also made one for my nieces. I found the instructions on the 52 sketches...52 weeks website. There are so many cute things you could do with this little book.

Embellishment challenge

It is challenge week again for me and once again I had the task of coming up with an embellishment challenge. I decided I wanted to do something with flowers and came up with the idea of challenging everyone to make their own paper flowers. I love how mine turned out. It is also a great way to use up your scraps of paper. My whole layout was done with leftovers from a previous months design team papers. I found the idea for the flower here.

Don't forget to check out the other challenges for this week.

My layout


Closeup of my flower with some stickles added to make it glitter!

Star album instructions

So I have had a few people ask me how I made the album and if there were any instructions online for it. Well I am happy to say they are online and I thought I would let everyone know where I found them.

This website has great instructions. With the help from a scrappy friend (Thanks Carol!) I changed the size to 4x12, 4x10 and 4x8. You can use any mix of cardstock, patterned paper or just simply one or the other. I also went onto youtube and did a search for star album instructions. I found a series of them that walks you through all of the steps. If you scroll down to related videos you will see the rest of the steps.

So if you decide to make a star album don't forget to let me know and show me pictures. I would love to see what you create!

September DT reveal

The big reveal happened yesterday over at APOS and all of the ladies did a great job. This month we were given the Calypso paper by Bobunny. I absolutely love this paper! We were also given invisible paper by Heidi Swapp, a Tim holtz mask, background stamp by prima, and my minds eye rub ons. The Bobunny paper was the main part of the kit so I concentrated on that. I didn't get a chance to use the other things but I can't wait to use them on an upcoming layout. Our challenge this month was do to something other than a 12 x 12 layout or an altered item. As soon as I heard this I knew what I wanted to do. A star album! I have been wanting to try one for quite some time now but just couldn't get the courage up to try one for fear I would mess it up. Well let me say what an awesome book they are and it was so easy to do!

Don't forget to check out the other design team girls blogs. Valerie, Candace and Cori-lyn all did AWESOME canvases. Cheryl did some great 6x12 layouts and a circle one and Vicki did some great 8.5 x 11 layouts.

My cover for the album. I got out the flowers from one of the paper, used faux stitching and a rub on for the title.
A view of the top of the album.

All of the pages inside the book.