We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Most of us agree, it's "the most wonderful time of the year"!  One of my traditions has been to always include a picture of my kids or whole family with my Christmas cards.  I've done this every year since my oldest, Lauren was born, and she's almost 22!  Well, now that the kids are older and going off in all different directions, I wasn't able to get a photo of either all three kids together or all five of us together.  As time goes on and life brings changes, it just might be the last phone of its kind.  :(  So I decided to scrap last year's picture.  I used the Krafty Christmas Paper Pack by Green Goddess Creations, which will go with anything!!

Hope you have a very wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Best,
Denise

Daring Adventure

Ever since I started going to Kazakhstan for work assignments three years ago, I wanted to go on a camel ride.  For whatever reason, I didn't get the opportunity until Thanksgiving Day last month.  It was a gorgeous day -- cold but clear.  The one thing about Kazakhstan is that when it's sunny, the sky is sooooo blue!  Anyway, I was finally able to ride a camel, so of course I had to make a layout of it. 

I made the map on the bottom half of the page by downloading it from Google Maps, which is a cool little trick to remember next time you're scrapping a place you've been.  I used a gorgeous border from Vintage Symmetry by Annie J Designs at Can You Digi It? to divide the two backgrounds, which I think adds balance and interest to the page.

Thanks a lot for looking, and I hope you find some time to craft today!

Best,
Denise

Warm and Cozy

This is one of my favorite pictures of me and Jeff!  It is a self-portrait taken during our New Year's Eve weekend get-away in 2011.  We're both wearing our funky Russian hats that we love so much!  The challenge theme over at CYDI this week is "Baby, it's cold outside", which gave me a great excuse to create a layout around this picture using the fabulous digital papers and elements from Delightfully Distressing Designs over at Can You Digi It?  Aren't they perfect for the picture?!

Why don't you join in the fun and enter the challenge?!  Would love to see your creations!!

Enjoy the season,
Denise

Back to School

The challenge over at Can You Digi It? today is Clean and Simple, which I think for most of us scrappers is definitely challenging!  We want to add a lot of embellishments and fill in any white space.  Sometimes the pictures speak for themselves, but sometimes an explanation is necessary, and every once in awhile, a very lengthy explanation is necessary.

I had just returned from a visit to a school in Baikonur, Kazakhstan when I decided to prepare for this challenge.  I naturally wanted to use the pictures I had from the visit, but I knew that to someone reading about the experience without knowing me, they wouldn't know what it was all about without a lot of explanation.  It suddenly occurred to me to write it up in a newspaper-type design, so what you see below is the result.  I used the cute Beach Fun Paper Pack by Striped Elephants.  I chose these colors (blue and yellow) because they are the same colors as the Kazakhstan flag.

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Smiles,
Denise

This is What Love Looks Like

Another pet page!  This is my husband with his Golden Doodle shortly after he got her as a puppy.  Her name is Sophie.  Isn't she adorable?

The cute doggie in the upper left hand corner is from Kini Art.  She has a lot of adorable images that are inexpensive, so check them out!!

Hope you find some time to scrap today!

Best,
Denise

p.s.  Be sure to vote today!!

Giving Thanks

With this weeks' CYDI challenge entitled "Giving Thanks", I was able to scrap a photo I took during last year's Thanksgiving dinner.  This is especially important to me as this year, I will be in Kazakhstan during Thanksgiving for my day job.  I will sorely miss gathering around the table as depicted in this layout.

You may recognize the papers I used, as they're the Fall for Realz collection that I've used before, from Green Goddess Creations at Can You Digi It?.  They're obviously very versatile -- so check them out!

You can participate in this challenge and win a $10 gift certificate to products from Can You Digi It?, so what have you got to lose?  We'd love to see your creations!!  Here's the link with all the info you need:  Can You Digi It Blog

Thanks for looking, and enjoy the season!

Denise

Halloween 2004

One of the frequent reasons I hear from people who are overwhelmed by the thought of scrapbooking is that they have so many photos and are already so behind...sound familiar?  It's true you may never scrap every photo you like or every memorable event you've photographed, but so what?  I've been meaning to scrap this photo of my son since it was taken...back in 2004!  I just never got around to it.  Well, I'm so glad I hung onto it, because this week's Design Team challenge over at Can You Digi It? was entitled Creepy & Kooky, so I thought it was a perfect opportunity to finally scrap this beloved photograph.  I used the Haunted Papers and Brads by Green Goddess Creations, and I think they were just perfect for capturing the mood of the photograph!  Thanks for looking, and hope you find some time to scrap today!

Best,
Denise

She's my Great Dane

Don’t you just love pet pages? When I saw the So Berry…Sweet digital paper collection from Green Goddess Creations over at Can You Digi It?, I knew it would be perfect for show-casing my Great Dane, Ceelie. I had a lot of fun working with these papers, and realized that they are so versatile and would be great for most any kind of layout. Have fun with them!
Denise

Fall for Real

Fall is my favorite season!  I love the relief from the heat of the summer, the leaves changing, not having to use air conditioning or heat, baking pumpkin bread and getting ready for the holidays!
Last Saturday, we awoke to a beautiful bright sunny day with the first nip of Fall in the air. Jeff had just gotten a new camera and was eager to try it out, and since Spencer loves train rides, we decided to go to Walkersville in Maryland and do both at once.  Jeff got some wonderful landscape shots, but since I think LO's are best with pictures of people, this one doesn't have any of the landscapes.  I used the Fall for Realz digital papers by Green Goddess Creations at Can You Digi It?, which I think complimented the pictures and captured the day perfectly!
Thanks for visiting!

A Love Story

Everyone loves a good love story, right?  Well, as September 11 began to roll around again, I started reflecting upon patriotism and how my Dad served in the Army during the Korean War.  My mind began to wander to my mother and father's marriage, and so I decided to make a LO highlighting their story, and how the Military played a role in their marriage!  I had so much fun using the Country Chic papers from Green Goddess Creations at Can You Digit It? that I used them again for this LO.  Most of us having stories involving patriotism, and I encourage you to record yours!

Christmas in September?

Okay, so I'm a little late for Christmas in July! :)  But here's a LO in which I've included an adorable reindeer image by new artist Betty Edwards featured at Can You Digi It?.  She has a lot of other whimsical images that you won't be able to resist!  Have fun with them!

Country Chic

I had the pleasure of working with the Country Chic selection of digital papers from Green Goddess Creations at Can You Digi It? this past week.  I found they were perfect for show-casing a couple of favorite shots I took during a recent business trip to France.  Hope this simple but  classic layout inspires you to do a few of your own!! 

Thanks for looking,
Denise

Free PSD Template for Fleet 50 LO

If you'd like the PSD template that I made for the Fleet 50 LO that I posted yesterday, here is the link to it.  If you do use it, I'd love to see the LO's you make with it!!

Best,

Denise

Soar

Here is  a layout of my new college freshman, Julie!  Since I can never have enough pictures of my kids and since Julie was graduating from college, I hired a photographer to shoot senior pics of her.  I now have over 100 gorgeous shots of Julie.   It was hard to choose a favorite, but I finally narrowed it down to the one featured in the layout below, which highlights the image Soar from the Flights of Fancy set by LilyPink Designs at Can You Digit It?.  

Thanks for looking,
Denise

A Creative Need

When I saw the Anchor & Rope image from A Creative Need, I knew it would be perfect for my sailing layouts!!  Below is the first result.  My husband loves to sail so I have a lot of pictures waiting to be scrapped!

Check back in a day or two for the free PSD template for this LO!!

Smiles,
Denise

Free PSD Template No. 2

Here is the link for the template I made for my Trust Your Crazy Ideas LO. This is what the template looks like:

Enjoy!!

Trust Your Crazy Ideas

Had a very fun time using these fabulous new Bird is the Word papers from Green Goddess Creations over at Can You Digi It?

My first born, who is a rising senior in college, loves to Cosplay, and this was a creation she put together a couple of years ago.  I'm still not sure how I feel about all her costumes, but I have to admit, they're really well done and so creative!!

I made a PSD template for this LO, and will post where you can download it for free soon!

A Titanic Day

Last week, I was able to take a day off of work and spend it with my oldest daughter.  Of course, I took my camera with me, so I just had to document the day with a scrapbook page (see pic).  I used Nice Day Cafe digital papers by Green Goddess Creations over at Can You Digi It?.  I thought they were just perfect for this layout!

Free PSD Template!

It occurred to me that you might like the template I made for the A Day at the Beach LO that I posted last week, so if you would like it, you can download it from here.  Enjoy!

A Day at the Beach

I'm very excited to have joined www.canyoudigitit.com (CYDI) as a member of their design team!!  I've always wanted to be a design team member, so this is a dream come true!!  CYDI is a fairly new online scrapbook store which sells both paper and digital products, including all your favorite brands plus some cool new ones, too!  They also have fun challenges, sales and a terrific blog, so check them out!

Since this is my first post for CYDI, I'm required by law to post the following:

As of December 1, 2009, new FTC guidelines went into effect requiring bloggers to disclose any time they are compensated for endorsing or reviewing products or services. I serve on several design teams and participate in various social media sites where I post projects containing components I have receive free, have been compensated for or received perks in return for posts on this blog. While this may be the case, I would never endorse or mislead you, my readers, by stating an opinion about any product that I did not wholeheartedly believe. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have about any post or product I use in any of my projects. Now - back to your regularly scheduled blog post.

OK,now that THAT's taken care of, let's get on to the fun stuff.  Here is my first post for CYDI.  I used products from Striped Elephants, which is a totally fun line of digital products.  Hope you like it and are inspired to do some creating of your own!

You Have to Start Somewhere

Let me just say that I love using my hands to create paper and digital projects, and will be sharing my creations here in this blog.  I use Photoshop Elements 9 to create all my digital projects.  My first post is a simple LO of my son, Spencer.