linda's paperie

layout: merry christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 14:00:00 +0000

One of my more recent layouts was using photos from Christmas 2010. I pulled out everything Christmas - turns out that I have 4 folders of 12 x 12 Christmas paper. As I'm looking at all the paper, I'm trying to figure our why I had struggled with using some of the things I really loved - like this KI Memories collection from 2004. I bought all of it - papers, stickers, embellishments and a transparency. Some of these papers are scraps so it isn't as bad as it sounds but it's not great either. Feels good to get it in an album.

paper stash: how much is too much?

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 14:00:00 +0000

Husband and I have been slowly going through the things we have in our home. We have too much stuff. Over the years, it gathers and then one day you look at it all and wonder how did we get all of this or why do we still have this?

Coming back to scrapbooking has made me see my craft room with fresh eyes. And I find myself asking, how did I get so much stuff? The easy answer is that I bought it. I loved having all the pretty things. I also bought in to all the hype of needing the latest and the greatest. Paper companies had such great marketing! I also bought in to the idea that all good scrapbookers - or any crafter for that matter -needed to have a stash on hand.

This photos is my paper shelf - It's an old school Ikea Lack bookshelf. The top 2 shelves are cardstock - on for 8.5x11 and the there for 12x12 paper. The next 2 are the folders of pattern papers. Also on the bottom shelf are old magazines I can't part with just yet.

Now I look at it all and think need to I use it all. Then I wonder, can I possibly use it all? Which is followed by who would want all this paper and other supplies? For now, I go back to I need to start using what I have. Once I get done with my kids albums, I'll figure out the rest.

hello, my old friends

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 22:21:00 +0000

It's been over 6 years since I last posted. In that time I started a new job, which I truly loved. It was supposed to be part time, so I could get out of my house while the kids were in school. It then grew into a career I didn't know I wanted at the time. And I still love what I do - I get to work from home for a great brand. During this time, I also took a break from scrapbooking. My last online classes finished up in December of 2013. Looking back, I was creatively burnt out. After a year off, I would go back to scrapbooking but it was in spurts, which is ok. But there is a part of me that has missed making pretty things and a space to share them. I've been sharing on Instagram and will continue to share there. At times, I have more I want to share then will fit in an Instagram post which brings me back to here. I'm excited to get back into blogging, sharing some of the projects I have made recently and connecting with my readers.

c.r.a.f.t. challenge 223

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 13:30:00 +0000

My Creative Classroom is a sponsor of this week's C.R.A.F.T. Challenge. This week's challenge is to create a Christmas card using a stamp. Click on over and check out the challenge for a chance to win a seat in one of our classes or 2 other great prizes.

Since Use Your Scraps: Christmas Cards is returning on October 11, I made my card using paper from my scrap bin. The gift die cut is made using the Noel design card by Slice and cut at 2 1/2 inches. There are 2 pieces to the gift. The green piece is cut in Normal and the cream cardstock piece is cut in Layer. I stamped the cardstock with a swirl stamp using purple, blue and green chalk ink.

A close up of the embellishments.

Supplies: paper, Bo Bunny. embossing folder, Cuttlebug. stamps, Doodlebug Designs. tag, Making Memories. star brad, circle punch, clear snowflake and Stickles.

layout: soccer

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 23:44:00 +0000

I have another layout from a past soccer season to share with you. I had a piece of soccer ball pattern paper and it was time to finally use it. I trimmed it down and rounded the corners. All the photos are mounted on the same piece of black cardstock.

The soccer die cut had a scalloped edge to it and I thought that was a little to girly for my son's layout. So I put the die cut into a smaller circle punch and punched out the die cut. There was some white showing on the edges so I used some red ink to hide it. The purple stars are embossed with a pin dot pattern and mounted with foam adhesive

Supplies: soccer paper, unknown. die cut, Jillibean Soup. letter stickers, Basic Grey. label, Recollections. embossing folder, Cuttlebug. star punch, corner rounder and number stickers.

layout: soccer

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 17:07:00 +0000

I am terribly behind on a lot of events and soccer is no exception. With August here, it is now the start of another soccer season. So, here is one layout from 3 seasons ago.

Originally, I wanted to used some type of soccer themed paper on this layout. But then I found this blue strip of paper and I had to use it. Add a scrap of yellow paper and you have a good foundation to build upon.

With the use of 4 photos, I didn't have a whole lot of room left for embellishments. I did have the opportunity to use a couple yellow soccer stickers. For the journaling block, I cut the top part off that reads Saturday and used that go along with the game day sticker.

For the title, I used blue vellum letter stickers. I actually put them in the get rid of pile when I was reorganizing my supplies. But a little birdie told me to keep them. Have you had that happen to you? I'm glad I did because they work well on the light yellow paper.

Supplies: paper, Basic Grey (blue) and scrap of yellow. stickers, Karen Foster, Making Memories and Mrs. Grossman. journal spot, Linda's Paperie

organizing my computer

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Sun, 04 Aug 2013 18:38:00 +0000

Organizing my computer, sounds so glamorous. But it was a necessary evil because for the last month I reach the maximum storage on my computer. Who knew that was even possible? Oh but it is! So for the past month I have been trying to make room for the other things I needed to save with not much success. It turns out that I have over 7,000 photos on my computer which really doesn't seem like a lot. But when you have them stored in 2 different places and some of those you have double files of.....well it tends to eat up a lot of memory. Then, there was the matter of the over 30,000 emails that I have had from over 6 years that I never thought about deleting.

I managed to get the emails deleted to the last 6 months worth. But in reality, emails don't take up a lot of memory. So we purchased an external hard drive, one with 4 TB. The guy at the Apple store said I would have a hard time filling 2 TB but to be on the safe side we went with 4 TB.

I have been busy spending the last 4 days going through all my photos and backing them up to an external hard drive. I also went through and edited the videos that we had from the spring and put that and the original files on the hard drive.

I have everything organized by year and then by month. There are also categories for the house and the pets. Within each month there are folders for the big events, holidays, birthdays or vacations. And then some photos, that are onesies or twosies, just stay in the month folder. The system isn't too complicated and I still have 3.5 TB left.

I still have a few more files to clean up on the main hard drive since I only have 4.22 GB left on my computer but I am getting there. At least all my family photos and videos are finally backed up before something bad happens. I hope you will take the time to back up your photos too.

layout: magic kingdom, part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 00:11:00 +0000

I spent the weekend reorganizing my scrapbooking supplies. As I was sorting through everything, I was shocked to find a lot of forgotten items. Some of these items were still in the package! Some of my forgotten supplies were the 4 x 6 paper pads by Die Cuts with a View.

I have about 10 pads and their new home is now in this basket. When I started putting together this layout, I started by going through my scrap bin. But then I remembered the basket of paper and a challenge was born.

I picked 3 different pattern papers from the Citrus Twist pad and layered them on top of a piece of navy cardstock. Once I was happy with the positioning, I started adhering them down. Add some photos and embellishments and call it finished. Not too bad. The horizontal photo has a transparency on top of it which looks so much better in person. The is tag mounted on foam adhesive and threaded through a paper clip.

Supplies: paper, Die Cuts with a View. chipboard, transparency and journal card, My Minds Eye. die cuts and metal tag, Making Memories. acrylic tokens, KI Memories. border, Doodlebug. memories embellishment, Junkitz. font, Waltograph.

layout: magic kingdom, part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Here is the second layout about our visit to the Magic Kingdom. While I am using the same photos, I went with a different color scheme here.

Originally, I started out with blue for the background but I wasn't too happy with the direction things were going. Really, it was me not liking the blue papers I had picked out. Then, I remembered that I had this hot air balloon paper from Bella Blvd that I loved but never knew what to do with. After looking at the paper for a while I decided to cut it down to 11x11 and mat it on cardstock. But what color to use? I chose a bright yellow cardstock and when I say bright, it really is bright. But with the pattern paper on top, the color is more manageable. It also gave me the opportunity to use up the yellow foam flowers I have had for a long time too. I added a scrap of orange cardstock to help ground my photos.

The other embellishments are from my stash. The butterflies are mounted on foam adhesive. I even dug into my ribbon and used a bit on this layout. I haven't done that in a while!

Supplies: paper, Bella Blvd. scraps of cardstock. foam shapes, American Crafts. punches, Martha Stewart and EK Success. label, Scenic Route. journal sticker, Making Memories. font, Waltograph.

layout: magic kingdom, part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 14:12:00 +0000

Yesterday, I started working on our 2009 Disney trip for the kids' albums. This is the first of 3 layouts about the Magic Kingdom. I thought I would share the why behind some of my choices. This first layout is made with scraps except for the background paper...obviously. :)

I started by choosing a blue background paper. I pulled out several pieces of paper and chose this striped paper. Then I pulled out a piece of cloud paper and a piece of grey paper from the scrap bin. While looking through the scraps, I found the green strip with the words celebrate on them and I knew I had to use it.

I chose the journaling card because it went well with what I had going on, but then felt that I needed to add some pink. So, I tucked some strips of pink paper under the layers and added the heart die cut. The pink also went well with my daughter's pink shirt.

The title is in green to tie the green scrap together. I also used a light green chalk ink to stamp the date.

Supplies: paper, Echo Park, My Minds Eye, SEI and KI Memories. Journal card and heart embellishment, My Minds Eye. Border punch, Martha Stewart. date stamp, American Crafts. Font, Waltograph

back from vacation

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 20:19:00 +0000

We just returned from our vacation adventure in Orlando. We spent a couple days at Universal and Islands of Adventure, riding the rides and trying to stay cool.

Now that we are home, I am so ready to get back to scrapbooking. Something about time off to recharge has given me so many different ideas that I want to accomplish. I still have photos from our 2009 Disney trip and 2011 Universal trip to do. My husband would like me to make a album of all our family vacations, almost 20 years worth! That is still in the planning stages and I will most likely start with the present and work my way backwards. Like I said so many ideas, now to find the time!

test

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 20:20:00 +0000

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christmas in july at my creative classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 22:06:00 +0000

Christmas in July is under way at My Creative Classroom. Christmas in July features 2 weeks of fabulous Christmas classes to help you get a head start on your holiday crafting. This summer there are 15 classes to choose from, including 8 new classes. One of those classes is taught by me, Use Your Scraps: Christmas Cards, which starts tomorrow. I am also part of a group class, It's Ornamental, which is currently on an early enrollment special that ends July 11. I hope to see you in class!

craft room: new shelves

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 16:30:00 +0000

It has been 2 years since I moved into my craft room, aka the pink room. I recently got some new shelves put in over the table that I am using as my 'tool center.'

As time went on this desk got a bit more crowded and I started making piles. My husband had been saying that I needed some shelves for awhile and he had some free time recently to take on a quick project. After a trip to Home Depot to pick out a shelving system, my 'tool center' now looks like this.

Look at how clean it is! On the top shelf, the wire baskets are holding my fabric. On the middle shelf, I have my Bind-It-All, Crop-a-dile, a container with my $1 stamps and a basket full of deco scissors. Yes, of course I still have my deco scissors. I can't bear to get rid of them. I am hoping that having them in a more visible place that I will use them every now and then. On the bottom shelf, I have my Slice and accessories, a basket full of Stickles, the mat for the Sew Easy.

On the table I have my good ol' red Sizzix and a wooden box with some of my commonly used stamping inks. To the right I have more bars and containers from Ikea, we found those in the kitchen accessories section of the store. Those bins hold my embossing folders, Slice design cards and Sew Easy accessories.

I'm not sure if I am going to keep things how they are. Things may get moved about as I get used to the new arrangement.

recipe: homemade pizza

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 13:36:00 +0000

Saturday night is usually pizza night at our house. We either order it or we make it ourselves. When we make it ourselves it is made using a premade crust like Boboli, except it is the Wegmans brand of pizza crust. We like that crust because it is thicker than Boboli.

This Saturday, I didn't have crust and when husband went to to Home Depot, he said he wasn't going to get crust since I didn't want to go to Home Depot with him. He really wanted me to come with him to pick out some materials for Emily's closet remodel. I wasn't interested plus I wanted to try to make my own pizza dough. After a search on Food Network, I found an easy, 5 star rated recipe for pizza dough by Bobby Flay. We love Bobby Flay so I figured I would give it a shot. The worse thing that could happen is we order out again.

So I got started and mixed everything in my Kitchen Aid using my dough hook. Now, I didn't have any bread flour like the recipe calls for so I used all purpose flour. I figured that a chewy crust would be close to the type of crust we usually eat.

I let the dough rise for about 1 hour 30 minutes. I think it took that long because I didn't have a warm place in my kitchen. But it still looks good

Then I stretched the dough out into 2 rectangle shapes, added sauce and cheese, and baked it on 2 rectangle stones by Pampered Chef. There were no clear directions with the recipe on how long to bake the pizza so I set the oven to 425* and it baked for about 15 or so minutes.

The pizza came out great! I will be playing around with the cook time for the next batch of pizzas only because the cheese was a bit browner than my children like. In the end, it didn't matter because there were no left overs. Which is always a sign of a successful meal.

blog housekeeping

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 01:36:00 +0000

I spent the afternoon fooling around with my blog layout which then turned into making a new blog header. It took a while as I was trying to add a little turquoise to the mix of pink and grey. For some reason, I couldn't find the right shade of turquoise to work with the pink. Maybe the next design will have turquoise.

I also found some great social media icons on Flickr by tryingforsighs. I downloaded the grey ones and then changed the white areas to pink to match my new blog header. I'm happy with how they turned out too.

On another note, in case you haven't heard, Google Reader is going away tomorrow. About an hour ago, I finally imported my feeds over to Blog Lovin'. After I signed up, I clicked the button to import my feeds, very easy. I had about 200 blogs in my reader and it took about 5 minutes to complete the transfer. So if you are like me, a last minute type of person, you will have plenty time to get it done tonight.

summer semester at my creative classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 14:45:00 +0000

The Summer Semester is underway at My Creative Classroom. This semester, I am offering 3 classes.

The first one is Fun and Fabulous Folds. The class started yesterday but there is still time to register. Come join us as we make 20 fun projects using our scoring boards. The cost is $30 and runs for 4 weeks.

The second class is a group class taught by My Creative Classroom faculty, It's Ornamental. Ten faculty members will share their favorite handmade ornaments. The class starts July 18 and runs 3 weeks. The cost is $25 but is currently on an early enrollment special until July 11.

The third class I am offering is a new one, Use Your Scraps: Christmas Cards. In this class, we are going to dig through our scrap bins and make beautiful and festive Christmas cards. The class starts July 11 and runs for 2 weeks. The cost is $15.

Happy Summer Solstice and I hope to see you in class!

card: amazing dad

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:55:00 +0000

Here is the card I made my husband for Father's Day. Better late than never getting it posted here. All of the papers are newer Echo Park and by newer I mean about a year old. At least I think that was when the This & That collection were released. Any way....the stickers were from the coordinating sticker sheet and I wanted to use them on this card for the sentiment but it wasn't grammatically correct by itself. So I added 2 little letter sticker from the stash. I originally wanted to use the gold letters but I didn't have an N in that color. I just had to have the letters match so thankfully I had the letters I needed in the aqua color.

Supplies: paper and stickers, Echo Park. letter sticker and chipboard letters, Making Memories.

layout: 7th grade spring portrait

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 20:53:00 +0000

After my last post, I was offered a temporary position as a personal assistant to a second grader. While I have enjoyed the job immensely, it has left me with little time to scrap once again. This weekend, I continued to work on more school portrait layouts which is fitting considering it is our last week of school here.

This layout is the spring portrait for 7th grade. These are the photos that have the more artistic backgrounds since they aren't used in the yearbooks. This layout was easy to put together. The photo had the star background so I cut a few stars with my Silhouette. The graph pattern paper is the B side of a school themed paper so it works well with the blues in the photo. I added the school themed laser cut paper which also had stars on it.

Supplies: pattern paper, Scenic Route. laser cut paper, KI Memories. die cuts, Silhouette. sticker, Karen Foster.

layout: 7th grade portrait

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:30:00 +0000

After realizing that I have more pink than I could ever use on both my girls layouts, I started to make an effort to use it more often. This school picture was perfect to use pink paper because of all the grey in it. The funny thing about this layout is that this is the girl that really doesn't like pink. But I like how it it came together.

Supplies: pattern papers, Basic Grey. flowers, Heidi Swapp. journal spot, Linda's Paperie

layout: 10th grade portrait

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:30:00 +0000

I'm taking baby steps to get back into scrapbooking. For me that means creating an easy, no fuss layout. Enter the school portraits. I would imagine that some people don't like to scrap these because they can be boring or for some other reason. I like them because I can get in, get out and be done. Usually when I start with these layouts, they get the creativity flowing so I can move on to other topics.

While looking for a pattern paper to go with the polka dots, I came across the dinosaur paper in the scrap drawer. I think the papers go great together. And for a brief moment, I almost didn't use the paper because I didn't think it would work with a school photo. In the end, I used the paper because my girl really loves dinosaurs. I really love how it came out too.

Supplies: pattern paper: Echo Park and Basic Grey. sticker, KI Memories. die cut, Autumn Leaves.

paper organization

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Tue, 07 May 2013 01:02:00 +0000

In an effort to get some motivation to start scrapbooking again, I decided to go through my pattern papers and reorganize them. I have an odd way or organizing my pattern papers. Some are organized by color, some are organized by theme and the rest are organized by manufacturer. For a while this has worked. As time went on, I realized that I was looking for papers based on what color I wanted to use. Sometimes I would look for papers by the type of theme, like Christmas, but hardly manufacturer anymore. Time for a change.

I pulled out all the folders that had papers organized by manufacturer and started to sort through them. Sorting pattern paper by color can be difficult, especially when the patterns have more than one color in it. I sorted my papers by the first color that popped into my head when I looked at it. As time goes on, I may need to reassess the system. For now, it seemed like a good starting point.

While sorting my papers, I discovered that I have a lot of pink paper. Enough to fill 3 folders comfortably. This discovery made me laugh. As the mom of 2 girls, you would think this was a normal thing but my girls don't like pink. I have decide that I am going to use more pink on their layouts. They will get over it. :)

it's my turn

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:47:00 +0000

Out of our three children, two of them love to read for pleasure. Amanda hasn't meet a book that she didn't like. Andrew loves reading as many fact books as he can, so he can later make us feel foolish because we don't know how long a bearded seal measures. Emily only has time to read the books she is assigned in school or so she says. I suppose reading A Tale of Two Cities for English class can make you say no to extra reading.

For about 2 months now, Andrew has been on my case to buy him the New Prophecy series in the Warrior series by Erin Hunter. He finished the first series last spring and was really into it. I can understand that. The series is about different clans of feral cats that are warriors, what boy wouldn't like that? I can still hear him yelling at the books about the fate all of his favorite cat warriors. So because he was so annoyed by how the last book ended, he said he was taking a break from the books. That is until his best friend started reading the New Prophecy series about 2 months ago. It is driving him crazy that he isn't reading these books right now.

Originally, I was going to buy the books for him at the same time I was going to order the AP review books that Amanda needed. Turns out that she didn't need any review books this year and in traditional fashion, I forgot about ordering Andrew's books. After several more weeks of begging, I put it on my to do list yesterday and ordered his books. At checkout, I noticed that I need to order an item that cost $3.78 so that I can get the free shipping at Amazon. I need to have free shipping so I ask Amanda if she needs anything for school when Emily says, "Why don't you ask me if I need anything?"

"You don't read," I said.
"I like books," was her response.
"Yes, but you don't read them."
"Well, it's my turn. As the middle child, I am always getting the short end of things."

Well played, Emily. Well played. I must say in my defense that she does not always get the short end of things. I do get her what she needs and so on. Just this past Christmas, she received 2 books, which she asked for by the way. And when I asked her if her if she started either of them, her answer was no. Which is why I don't like to buy her books. But now that my guilt has been activated, I ask her what does she want because I'm not buying her another book. Her response was a Webkinz. I found her a cute rabbit for $5.

It's a win for everyone: Andrew gets his books, Emily doesn't get a book and I get free shipping and a guilt free moment.

now what?

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 19:18:00 +0000

As some of you may have noticed, I have taken an unintentional break from blogging. I haven't had the motivation to create anything which then led to nothing to post. The process was stressing me out to the point where I had no mojo to create even if I wanted to create something.

But I have missed this little blog of mine even though I haven't made much of anything to share. This led me to start thinking about writing about other things. After so many years, writing about paper gets a little old no matter how much I love it. I had thought about starting over with a new blog and a new name. I don't know if I really want to do that. I still want to write about paper but feel that I need something more for a little variety. What that will be, I'm not even sure of yet but it will be fun to find out. :)

national craft month at my creative classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Linda) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 17:01:00 +0000

My Creative Classroom and I would like to invited you to join us as we celebrate National Craft Month. Every year in March we say thank you to our students during National Craft Month. If you purchase any Workshop and/or Foundation Course during the month of March you will earn a free seat in any Library Course, there are over 40 to choose from. The more seats you purchase the more free seats you earn.

During the next three months we have some wonderful classes for you to choose from. I am offering Fun and Fabulous Folds 1 and Fun and Fabulous Folds 2, as well as Mug Rug Madness and The Slice: Basics & Beyond. Click here to learn more about My Creative Classroom's National Craft Month Special Event.