Paper Issues Creative Team

I’m so pleased to announce that I’ve joined the Paper Issues Team!  Paper Issues is an online scrapbook store that carries all the latest and greatest scrapbooking and papercrafting products!  I’m so honored and excited to be a part of the team.  Each month I will create projects for their “issues” and also projects using the products in the store.  You can read the blog post announcement about me joining the team here.  I’m very excited to join these creative ladies in making stuff and having fun!

You will want to follow the Paper Issues blog, because all the team projects will be posted on there.  Plus, every two weeks we have a new “issue” in which there’s a scrapbook challenge.  You can link your layout up and be eligible to win great prizes! 

There’s more!  I don’t know about you, but I love fresh new scrapbooking supplies!  They inspire me to create more, whether it’s scrapbook pages, Project Life, cards, or other crafty projects.  If you love having some of the latest and greatest products, you can shop at Paper Issues and save 20% EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. by using my code LISTGIRL!  Seriously?  Yup.  It’s like I’m your paper dealer, ha!  You always get a 20% discount by using my code, LISTGIRL.  If there’s one thing I love as much as new scrapbooking products is getting them at a discount!  Woohoo!

So take a look at the store and see if you find anything you like!  One really cool thing to check out is the monthly Swag Bag!  It’s an embellishment kit full of little fun things!  This is the August Swag Bag.

It is normally $9.99, but with my 20% off code LISTGIRL, you can get it for only $7.99!  How awesome is that!  Plus, everything else you purchase will be 20% off also.  I just love the gold, navy, aqua, and pinks in this month’s Swag Bag!

I’m excited to get started making projects for Paper Issues!  :)

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Digi Dare + WCS Nov Layout Sneak

I did a layout for this week’s Digi Dares.  It is all about what could have been!

Digi Dare #343 | I Was Going To Be…

Credits: At the Moment, Creator digital kits by One Little Bird, Star On Top by One Little Bird & Amy Martin, Splatterific 21 by Karah Fredricks, Lobster Two font, Collegiate Black font, and Collegiate Outline font.

Journaling: In 2004 I wanted to be a NFL cheerleader for the San Diego Chargers. I was a cheerleader in my teen years, and was in jazz dance for numerous years. I thought I had a chance at Charger Girl tryouts. So I showed up at the pre-tryouts to learn the routine. Wouldn’t you know it, it was a routine to a Britney Spears song. We only had an hour to learn the routine and then we had to perform it in groups of three in front of the judges. If I had more time to learn the routine, I could have done ok. But as it was, I was eliminated. I’m totally ok with it now, but back then i was disappointed. Oh what could have been!

The photo was a promo shot that I brought to the Charger Girl tryouts.  They wanted a full-body shot and a headshot.  What I forgot to mention in the journaling is that I had been taking an adult jazz dance class for a few months as a refresher, since I hadn’t danced on a team since high school.  The instructor of the class was a Charger Girl, as was the owner of the dance studio!  While I didn’t make the Charger Girls, I did get to dance in a recital that summer with the studio at the Escondido Performing Arts Center, so at least there was that.  :-)  I’m glad I tried out for the Charger Girls even though I didn’t make it.  My motto in life is always to try.  It is better than regretting not doing something, or always wondering what could have been.

It is almost November and I’ve got a sneak peek of my Write.Click.Scrapbook. November gallery layout for you!  Can you guess the theme?

Hope you had a nice weekend! 

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The Lilypad | Food Photography

I've been blogging about twice a month at The Lilypad blog, but haven't thought to link them up here on my own blog for some reason. I need to start doing that, LOL.  Today I blogged about Food Photography at The Lilypad.  It’s no secret that I love a great meal. And I love to take photos of food, especially the awesome food that my husband Todd cooks at home. In my blog post at The Lilypad I give a few tips for taking good food photos.  You can check it out here. :)

Some of the examples I gave to support the tips.

 

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The Heart of Scrapbooking

What is it about scrapbooking that I love?  I’ve posed this question to myself many times.  And at different times, the answer is different.  I scrapbook for memory keeping.  I scrapbook to experiment with art and techniques.  I scrapbook as therapy.  I scrapbook because it fulfills a need in my heart to document and to express.

I’m very excited to let you know that I wrote a guest blog post over at Write Click Scrapbook today about scrapbooking from the heart.  I got to share three of my projects that spoke to my heart in different ways. You can read it here!  :)


And speaking of scrapbooking from the heart… I scrapped a digi page about my friend Monika.  She recently found out that she has a brain tumor.  It was shocking and unexpected.  You can read about her journey on her blog.  I love Monika and her enthusiasm for life. 


I used the new papers and elements from Peppermint’s (One Little Bird) new digi kit “A Day of Possibilities”.  You can find the paper here and the elements here.  They’re both part of the October BYOC at The Lilypad.  Oh, and if you hadn’t heard, One Little Bird has made The Lilypad her permanent design home!  I wrote a blog post at The Lilypad to introduce her.  :) You can find her new store at The Lilypad right here!

A Day of Possibilities Papers (click on image to take you to the store)


A Day of Possibilities Elements (click on image to take you to the store)

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Scrapbook Layout | Sunny San Diego

When my good friend Peppermint (One Little Bird) gets together with my friend Liz (Paislee Press), it’s a confluence of happiness.  When they come together in orange and blue, it’s my worlds colliding in a sunny fantastic way.  They’ve release a new collaborative digital scrapbooking kit called “For The Record”, now available at Oscraps. 


It is on sale for 20% off through 6/7/2012.  And if you subscribe to either one of their newsletters (go to their blogs linked above to subscribe, if you haven’t already), you get a coupon code to receive this set of coordinating 3x4 journal cards for FREE.   


I made a digital layout with it.


And then I worked some print & cut hybrid magic and made a paper layout with it too.  Does it look the same??


I adore the woodgrain texture on this white cardstock.  ADORE.


More details.


So run on over to Oscraps and grab “For The Record” now.  Be sure to subscribe to both their newsletters to get the code for the free-with-purchase journal cards! 

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The Lilypad | Storytelling with Photo Collages

If a picture is worth a thousand words, think of what can be conveyed with a photo collage?

I blogged over at The Lilypad today about storytelling using photo collages, which is something that I love to do.  I gave examples of my own scrapbooking, and pulled some examples from The Lilypad gallery as well.  I also gave resources on computer programs and apps that you can use to make collages.  You can check out my post “Storytelling With Photo Collages” at The Lilypad.

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Making Cards with Digital Elements

I have a blog post over at The Lilypad on how I made these cards using digital elements and my Silhouette digital cutter. Click here to check it out! :)

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Fonts for Project Life

Good morning!

I wrote a blog post at The Lilypad blog about my favorite fonts for Project Life (and any scrapbooking page), and I show some examples using them.  So “hop on” over to my post and take a read!  :D

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Unstuck Yourself

One of the most frustrating things that can happen creatively is getting stuck.



You stare at your blank page and you don't know what to do.

I wrote a blog post at The Lilypad today, sharing some of my personal tips on getting unstuck creatively. You can read it here!

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New 52 | Week 48: New Pollywog

Some of you may be saying to yourself… what the heck is a Pollywog?  Well, technically, it’s a tadpole.  But this week’s “new” thing is that I am a new Pollywog at The Lilypad! 



I got a message during Thanksgiving weekend from Kelly, one of the owners at The Lilypad.  She asked if I would want to help out with the blog at The Lilypad and join the Pollywog team there.  I thought about it and said yes!  The Lilypad has always been a favorite store of mine since I started digi-scrapping in 2006.  Not only that, but a lot of my digi-friends hang out there or are designers/pollywogs there, so it was a natural fit.  :)

So starting soon, I will be blogging 3-4 times per month over at the Lilypad blog.  Watch for it!

Oh and also, I scrapped a digital page last week!  It had been a while. 

I used the AWESOME new collaboration kit “Star On Top” by One Little Bird (my friend Peppermint) and Amy Martin.  I also used “Star On Top” Journaling Cards in my layout.  You can find the kit and journaling cards at both Oscraps and The Lilypad. 

Some other little bits of “new” last week… for the first time ever, Todd and I made dinner reservations for a nice dinner out for Thanksgiving, since it was just the two of us this year.   We ate our Thanksgiving meal at Pacifica Del Mar. The food was really good and the views were great!
 
Todd and I were both groggy from cold medicine…


Turkey with gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, and green beans.


A little pumpkin pie…

and burnt crème for dessert.  Yum!


Unfortunately, we both got sick with a cold last Wednesday so our whole Thanksgiving break was spent at home nursing our colds on the couch.  That was “new” too! 

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About This Project

New52 is a project started by Peppermint and I to encourage each other and others around us to try something new every week in 2011. The "new" each week doesn't have to be something big. It could be something as simple as ordering a new dish instead of old standbys at your favorite restaurant. It's simply opening your heart up to NEW possibilities.
Don't worry if you're late getting started on joining in. It's totally OK if you miss a week here or there. We encourage everyone to keep an open mind about trying something new. This is a life project, and a photography/blog and even scrap challenge if you wish. If you participate this week, please leave a link to your blog post in the comments of this post.

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One Little Bird Journal Cards

My friend Peppermint of One Little Bird Designs released a new digital scrapbooking kit named “La Belle Vie”, or French for “The Good Life”.  Of course I love the name of this kit!  What I love even more is that she created printable journaling cards too! 

As soon as I saw that, I was all over it!  In fact, I instant messaged her this morning about them.  Well, I had no idea that she had her phone on while she slept, so I basically woke her up by telling her I loved the journaling cards, ha ha.  Good thing she went back to sleep.  

Coincidentally, I had made some embellishment doodads earlier.  I really love them, if I do say so myself!


I was going to put them on the shipping tag and use it on a scrapbook page, but then I realized that a few of these would look rather pretty on Peppermint’s printable journaling cards.  So I printed the cards out and arranged my doodads.


Then I cut the cards and adhered the doodads to them.  (I just want you to know that “doodads” is a very technical term in scrapbooking, LOL.)


Some close-ups to show you how well these La Bell Vie Journaling Cards print out.  Check out the texture on the cards!








And guess what, they fit perfectly into the 3x4 slots in the Project Life page protectors!  But since I was working on my 30 Days Of Lists SMASH journal, I decided to use them for my SMASH journal instead.







I love how the details of the journaling cards print out so nicely, like the lace doilies.  So if you like these, run to the One Little Bird Designs store at Oscraps and get yourself some! And while you’re there, you can also pick up the gorgeous La Belle Vie kit.  They’re both on sale right now for 20% off.

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Planes, Trains, Automobiles

One Little Bird has a new kit called "Vagabond" at her shop in Osraps. It's an awesome kit for travel pages! It's one of my favorite Peppermint kits to date.

My layout using Vagabond:

Also used date stamps by Amber Clegg.

Journaling: I went to great lengths to travel to San Francisco to meet up with you. You were at a conference there and I wanted to spend the weekend with you. I had to drive and park at the airport, take a shuttle to the terminal, and fly on a plane. Upon landing in San Francisco, I had to take a tram to the BART station, then take the train to downtown San Francisco. It was a long trip, but seeing your sweet face waiting for me at the train station made it all worth the trip.

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What's Cookin'

As usual these days, life got in the way of blogging more often. I am in the midst of a very busy time period at work and can't seem to conjure up energy to do anything outside of work except exercise, read, and watch TV. BUT after Wednesday I should have more time and more energy because one of my MAJOR projects will be over. I did scrap two pages this past week though! And I designed a special set of templates. It won't be sold in my store, but when it's out I'll send a newsletter and tell you about it on my blog. :)

We have been cooking some good food though, so I thought I'd share a couple of them here.

Greek Cod Cakes - recipe here.

This was made with frozen cod from Costco. Very yummy! The panko breadcrumbs really makes it special.

Spicy Beef and Tofu Salad - recipe here.

Very, very delicious! Couldn't stop eating it. :p

I scrapped this page last week using One Little Bird's new kit Instinct at 9th and Bloom, where she is the September guest. 

Credits: Instinct by One Little Bird @ 9th and Bloom; stitched border by Anna Aspnes @ Designer Digitals.

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