NURSERY WALL HANGING

Greetings, dear reader!

Here is a little "hybrid" creation made for Denim and Daisies:









One of the incredible designers, Meetje, made this SO CUTE kit:



More soon!

Hugs and a kiss,
Paula Clare

GOALS, HOPES & ASPIRATIONS

Greetings, dear friends! Another day another scrapbook challenge! (One of my goals is to make an attempt to enter such challenges when found while blog surfing) Thus, my 2008 aspirations. They aren't really "goals" because they aren't "Measurable" (which, as any goal stickler will tell you...is a MUST) They ARE however (I believe) obtainable...and therefore worthy fodder (in my thinking) as aspirations.

Are any of you scrapbooking your goals and such? If so, send me your layout via email and I will happily post it here (you never know, you MAY get your 15 minutes of fame while doing so!) I'm hoping the offer challenges and "prods" those among us who may tend toward procrastination to GET THEIR GOALS DOWN ON PAPER...or, at the very least...in CYBER SPACE where we can ALL appreciate them. (grin)

xoxoxo

7 DAYS: 7 FUN PROJECTS! DAY 3

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

If you would PLEASE indulge this first-time gramma a bit of "Brag Time"...I MUST share with you the most darling Christmas picture so far...and then I'll tell you how YOU can make one just like it!

Note the darling little Elf-like fellow in the corner...HOW CUTE IS HE??? Anyhoo, for those of you who are digitally saavy...here's a list of "ingredients" for making said layout...and then I'll include a "how to" for those who are of the "non-digital" persuasion...

Created in Photoshop Elements 5
A Joyful Season Digital Christmas Kit by Erica Hite at Scrapgirls (Link in sidebar)
Blank Fireplace: by Margot Miller at Un-BLOG-evable
FIrelogs and Hardwood Floor: pictures found on internet
Bohemian Bird Stamps: by Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals
For the Not-So-Digitally-Saavy:
Buy some festive scrapbook paper...embossed will make a great tree! Use either a die cut machine, ready made embellishments, or free hand a tree, packages and ornaments.
Scour magazines for pictures of fireplaces and hardwood floors (ads are everywhere!)
Look on the internet for some pictures of little birds and print them out (winter birds like Cardinals or Chickadees would be cute)
Find an ADORABLE picture of a child in a santa suit and copy it (a pose of a child sitting is easy to incorporate, but a child standing would work as well)

(It's important to try and keep things in scale...otherwise the picture will not look life-like...OR make a whimsical picture that is intentionally OUT of scale, like the ornament in my picture or the heads in Claudia Hellmuth's Poppets)

Cut out pictures so they are individual elements in the design. Begin assembling pictures, working from the back (think in layers) forward. For example, the first layer I would work on would be the fireplace, then the logs and fire, then the floor. Next, begin adding elements, gluing some flat onto the background, and some raised from the page by using adhesive foam dots or squares. Keep adding individual elements until you are pleased with the results. (very often, leaving everything else flat and then raising the baby or main focal point off the page looks fab...VERY eyecatching!)

Have fun and be sure to email me what you come up with...I'll gladly post them here!

Digital AltAred Art!

Greetings, Dear Reader! I thought I'd share with you one of my FAVORITE ways to scrapbook and create AltAred Art...DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING. I get most of my stuff from 2 main resources: Designer Digitals and Scrapgirls. There is a scrapbook link for Scrapgirls in the sidebar. There is also an ad for a FABulous FREE e-book: "15 Things You Need To Know To Be A GREAT Digital Scrapbooker." If you're starting the digital process "green", by all means download this book. It is one of the most helpful things I've read AND it gives you step by step directions for Photoshop CS2, Elements and other popular digital software.

Here are some of the Christmas Cards I sent out last year from Scrapgirls digital kits:

Their digital kits are just yummy...I can spend HOURS browsing through their store! Oh, and 1 of the perks of digital is that you can mix and match kit pieces, and use them over and over again. It's truly an EXCELLENT use of your scrapbooking funds and resources! AND (this is a bonus benefit) The Scrapgirl gals (many of them) are all Christians...the daily newsletter, besides having a daily freebie (DAILY, can you believe it?) often has an inspirational writing from the CEO or from one of the designers. It's truly one of the best resources I have run across.

THEN, Designer Digitals, has truly cutting edge, artistic and unique scrapbooking kits. Look at these two for example:

This one is called "Little Robotiks"...isn't it adorable? (That's my month old grandson in the carriage)

This precious little kit is called "Little Birdy". Honestly, when you start out with such adorable papers and embellishments, even a goofy looking "aunt" can't ruin the layout! (This is my great nephew Gavin...what a sweetie!)

Are you SOLD yet? If you want to know more about digital scrapbooking, or if you want to see more examples, just leave a comment...I'll be glad to point you in the right direction!

Blessings! Happy DIGITAL scrapping!

Greetings, Dear Readers!
I thought I'd begin the Halloween madness by posting a few layouts I've created. I was inspired by both a song: Some Kind of Zombie by Audio Adrenaline...and by Elsie's (A Beautiful Mess) zombie cookies.

Here are the digital layouts I've come up with...

I thought the "Christian" take on zombies was novel...I also think that the irreverent work of Edgar Wright in "Shaun of the Dead" pays perfect homage to the "zombie movies." A few personal faves are the Evil Dead Trilogy starring Bruce Campbell: The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness. All are hilarious spoofs of the bad "spooky wannabe" low budget movies. HILARIOUS!

Which reminds me...only one day left to check out the poll and vote for your favorite kind of scary movie! Psychological Thrillers are thus far the runaway favorite!

Have yourself a SPOOKTACULAR night!

Greetings, dear friends! I thought I'd post a couple of my recent digital layouts...and then some of the FAB FINDS I've found in the last few days...

And so, without further adieu...here's the first of my layouts:

And then this one:

I hope to offer an AltAred Art class sometime soon.

And then I found these MARVELOUS trinkets:

These adorable bird vases were found at the amazing Three Potato Four. I just LOVE fat little birds...which leads me to these most coveted treasures:

These little fat robins come from an Etsy site: Cupcakes for Clara. Way cool, yes?

And then finally, these yummy pencil rolls from Blueberry Park (England)! Aren't the fabrics mouth watering?

What IS a pencil roll you ask? Here's the item description from the website:

"What a great gift for any child - boy or girl - young or old. Manda McGrory, of Tree Fall Design, makes these fabulously functional and beautiful pencil rolls out of the most amazing fabrics. These are perfect to keep in your bag, to bring out to use anytime anywhere. The pencil roll comes with 12 coloured pencils and 2 lead pencils and is easily fastened by the attached elastic.

Choose between boy or girl variety. Manda sources only the most appealing fabric and assures that no two are the same."

And for anyone seeking to lavish someone special with a one of a kind gift, THIS would be MY choice from Divinerose:

More very soon! Peace!