Friday, December 27, 2013

Amanda Upcycled Board Book Mini Album

Just over a year ago we bought a farm and, wow, what a year it has been!  Having spent my entire life in and around cities, this was a huge change for me and my family.  Inspired by Melinda's upcycled children's book, I decided it would be fun to document some of the farm animals we have acquired over the past year in an upcycled children's book.

Although my kids are beyond the board book years, I thought a it would still be fun to create a mini album patterned after a children's book.  And wouldn't ya know, at 7 and 9 years old, they still got a big kick out of it!  I dolled up the cover with a hand-cut barn and the cutest little turkey from the Happy Harvest collection.

This is what the board book looked like before I added a bunch of pretty paper and farm animal pictures.  To cover the pages, I simply cut paper the size of each page and adhered it with a permanent tape runner.  Easy as pie.

Because this book is still a mini album, I put the names of each animal on the same page as their picture.  I imagine there will be many farm critters over the years so it is fun to remember what we named them in 2013.  Looks like we will have to get a bit more creative with the ducks.

Freebie!  Interested in creating a farm animal board book of your own?  Head over to THIS POST on my blog where you can download these farm animal photos for free.

Have fun creating!

Amanda

Supplies: 
Various Doodlebug 6x6 paper pads
Teensy Type stickers
Rub On Alphabet
Fancy Frills border stickers
Simply Sweet alphabet cardstock stickers
Love Letters cardstock stickers

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Retro 2014 Calendar Idea by Kathy

2014 is on it's way! Hi Doodlebugs! It's Kathy Martin here today to share a project I made for my hub's desk...a CD case desk calendar.


It's a pretty simple gift idea, something my husband appreciates and needs for his home office.


What better collection to use for a calender than Doodlebug's Day to Day line?


I could have gone with so many different themes from typewriters and eye glasses to neck ties and coffee. This collection is full of awesome icons!


I opted for mustaches and arrows to accent Dan's calender. The arrows seem like the perfect symbol for time always marching on! What do you think? It was pretty quick and easy too! You gotta like that!

Happy New Year everyone!


Tuesday, December 24, 2013

2014 Calendar Creation by Monique

As the end of the year is approaching fast I find myself reaching for a calendar for 2014 more and more. And because I didn't have one yet, I decided to create one using a variety of Doodlebug's fabulous collections.

I used a photo frame I had lying around, found a printable calendar on the internet and got started. And here's how the end result looks:



I cut 12 cards for the months (measuring 3"x 5"), using mostly Doodlebug's 4"x 6" album inserts (which I had to make a bit smaller), punched holes in the top using my Zutter Bind-It-All, embellished them, adhered the months and adhered the last card (Decmeber 2014) to the photo frame.

Here's how the months look:


A bit closer:



When a month is over I intend to just remove the month and throw it away.

Here a few more photos.



I used lots of ribbons to decorate the Zutter wire and added a tag to include the year. On every card I left enough space to write down some notes, like birthdays or other important events.


Hope you like it!


Thanks for visiting Doodlebug's blog and wishing you happy crafting!

Monique

Friday, December 20, 2013

Holiday Traditions: Pajamas with Wendy and Tya

by Tya Smith
 
Hi there - it's Tya here today on the blog and I am so happy to share with you my layout based on "Traditions". Traditions are what make the holidays special and we do have a few that we have adopted over the years, but the one that we have done since the kids were tiny is Christmas Eve Pajamas. On Christmas Eve, Santa's Elves make a special trip all their own and drop off a special gift of PJ's and slippers to the Smith kids at Grandma's House so when we get home from our Christmas Eve party, they will be all ready to hit the sheets in their new pajamas!  I know a lot of families also do this so hopefully my layout will inspire you to make a page of your own! Enjoy and Happy Holidays!




by Wendy Sue Anderson

One of my favorite holiday traditions is giving the kids pajamas on Christmas Eve. I’ve been doing it since my oldest child was born and by now they’ve all caught on to it. They know that when they are told they can open one gift on Christmas Eve, it will always be pajamas. I know it’s not the most exciting gift – but it just wouldn’t feel like Christmas if we didn’t do it!
 

It also seems I’m following a scrappy tradition for documenting the Pajama photos. This is the third year I’ve created an oversized paper scrap tree on the layout…and I like the challenge of making it a bit different from year to year. I’m sharing the past few years’ layouts on my blog today if you want to pop over and see the variations!


For this year’s tree I cut uneven pieces by hand from various scraps. I added sequins with pop-dots to decorate my tree – the pop-dots are just the right sizes and I love how they pop right up off the page!



Thursday, December 19, 2013

Sweet Holiday Traditions with Shellye & Tiffany

Holiday Baking
by Shellye McDaniel 

Hello!  Shellye along with you today to share a sweet "traditions" layout.  Like many of you, we have a day set aside during December when we do the majority of our baking and candy-making.  Who needs supper when you've snacked on cookie dough, tasted fudge and finished off all of the broken dipped pretzels all day long? :)


For my 12X12 layout, I started with a sheet of Limeade Textured Cardstock for the base and then layered on patterned paper from the Home For the Holidays Collection.  I die-cut my photos and then cut four panels that measured 1/2" larger;  I added the pictures to the diagonal striped panels with foam adhesive (just around the edge of the photos).

Before attaching the panels to the background paper, I cut two paper doilies in half and created a border. Using the Tiny Type alphabet stickers, I mimicked the shape of the doily to create part of the title.


Next, I added two standard tags behind each picture.  Because I only added foam adhesive around the four edges of the photos, I was able to tuck in the journaled tags behind them.


To give a finished look, I machine stitched in a zig-zag pattern around the background paper.  A couple of stitched X's (with Lily White Twine) helps to break up the 'boxed' look and also gives a little soft texture.

I have several year's worth of 'baking day' photos with my daughter...I think an entire album dedicated to this tradition will be a nice keepsake to have on hand!
Shellye

Caramel Apples
by Tiffany Hood

Our family has a lot of holiday traditions, we always to fondue on Christmas Eve, we go to a certain park with lights every year, we go to Temple Square to see the choir and the magnificent lights and scenes, and we always, always, always make our now "famous" caramel apples!


We've been making these since 2006, and we usually do them with my side of the family and the kids and cousins (and eat them all ourselves) and then later on, my husband and I have made it a tradition to make these for the neighbors- the cinnamon-sugar version.


The ones in the photos are mostly ones made by the kiddos, but the white chocolate cinnamon-sugar ones have become a perfected art, are very time consuming, and we only settle for perfect (or close to perfect) looking ones for our neighbors and friends.  It's so much fun!

What are some of your holiday traditions?

-Tifany

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Holiday Tradition Mini Albums by Sherry & Jodi

Holiday Traditions Mini Album
by Sherry Cartwright 

One of my very favoritest parts of Christmas are the photos --- namely our family photo that makes its debut on the cards we send to family and friends.   I put them all together in this cute little mini album, using a mix of board bases from doodlebug design. 


I used a camera doodad to focus on the photo portion of this mini album.  Then, I used the home for the holidays collection on each page.  I love the patterns of this collection, along with the mix of grey with red and green.   LOVE.

I also layered two board bases together, using foam adhesive tape to separate the layers.  I piled in white sequins behind a plastic sheet.  I just like how it reminded me of a camera and the tone-on-tone textures is awesome.


The opening page is this cute snowman, welcoming you to our book of memories.  I covered a shaped board page with patterned paper, then added stickers, brads and sprinkles. 





One holiday tradition that will never grow old is sending Christmas cards to family and friends.  A few years back, we decided that photo cards were the best suited for us and we've enjoyed them each year --- sending and receiving.   

 This is by far my favorite photo and page --- both came together very easily.  The K-girl was trying to kiss her resistant brother and it looks like she is strangling him.  Not funny, but it captured their personalities so well.   
Velvet letters and banner alphabets are perfect addition to this page.   The present brad was from several years back, but works so well with the touch of pink in the patterned paper. 


The almost-center page is a smaller page  and features two 4x6 photos from a photobooth session with our Cub Scout den.  I cut my hand in the photo to "hold" a pixie and added a pennant.


Our cards are printed 4x6 and are just perfect in this mini album.  I stitched a fancy frill sticker between the patterned paper and the photo.

Up to this point, our photos have already been taken.  This is a blank page for this year's photo.  Sure, I'm not sure what it will look like since we've not taken it yet, but it will work perfectly, I just know.  I cut the top of the tag off to make it a banner.

Super simple page for 2014 --- photo on left with doodletwine and the right page has a circular Santa sticker.   The smaller page in between these two was created by using pattern paper as the background, then layering it with washi tape of snowflakes and Christmas text.   I stitched a square over the tape and added the camera, to once again depict the phototaking of this album. 

I love that the book is already ready created and all I have to do is add this year's photo [and a photo from 2014, 2015 and 2016]. 

Have you created any Christmas albums this year?    I'd love to see them. 

Holiday Mini Album
by Jodi Wilton 







Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Holiday Traditions: Monique's December Skating Tradition

Hi Doodlebug fans! I can't begin to tell you how much fun and satisfaction I get from scrapping with Doodlebug's happy and colorful collections! Every time I sit down with my photos and my Doodlebug collection of choice I 'm filled with this feeling of happiness!

The same happened when I scrapped this layout with photos of my kids taken a few years ago. Every year in December an ice skating-rink is installed in the city centre and my kids love to go ice skating there.


I really love how well the colors of Doodlebug's collection "Home for the Holidays" match the colors in my photos! And don't you just love this bow that comes with this collection?! Perfect for gift wrapping but also for layouts.


The "'T is the Season" flag is actually a pixie flag, but I cut off the holes and used it without the pixie.


The title was created using the sketch pen in my Silhouette Cameo. 


And I just adore the 3D stickers belonging to this collection, like Santa here: 


This is it. Thanks for letting me share, hope you liked it! Thank you for visiting Doodlebug's blog today!

Hugs,
Monique

Pin It button on image hover