King & Queen

For this layout, I tried something I've wanted to do for a long time with my journaling: I actually printed the type out on a piece of my DP, and then cut each word out individually. Each word was then inked on the edges before I pasted them in order to do the journaling.

Material List

CTMH Papers - That's Amore

Ink - Stampin' Up Soft Suede

Sponge Dauber

Fancy Brads

EK Success Border Punch

SVGCuts Freebie - Annies Edge

Fonts -  Bradley Hand, Old Script

The second page of the Iron Guard

Today I wrapped up the second page of my sons Iron Guard Layout for his book. I used most of the same papers as on the first page, with the exception of the papers for banner layers that are checked and the diamond paper on the large banner. (I had to sand this one down to make it distressed to match it closer to the shields paper).

Again, in PSE, I used a gradient map layer on my photo.  The banners on this page were all made on my SCAL program, using basic shapes and banners a lot of welding.

The ribbons on the banners are from JoAnn - it's actually a Christmas ribbon, but it matched! :) The silver thread is embroidery floss.  The brads on this are from Stampin' Up's retired Vintage Brads.  The Font is called Black Castle, and can be found on many free font websites. The Cricut cut this one nicely, I think!

Thanks for checking out my page!

Iron Guard Layout

Now that he is a junior, my son is on the Iron Guard at school. This is typically comprised of the junior cadets that hold positions within the corps. The ceremony they perform is a traditional ceremony on Founders Day Weekend, and again on Mothers Day Weekend.
During one of the practices this past fall, the school Commandant approached Kyle and appointed him as the Iron Guard Commander. He was the cadet calling the commands during each ceremony, and he did a fantastic job! This was the first year, since we've been present anyhow, that the commander could be heard clearly across the hall. :) Way to go, Kyle! Your parents are very proud of you. :)
For this layout, I did some more work on my PSE program: I created a gradient map layer to remove the busy background color to focus on Kyle in the photo. In addition to this, I worked in my SCAL program to create the shield photo frame by using the Trace Image option and a jpg of a shield and some leafy decoration clipart that I found for free on the web. I also created the swords on this page by using the shapes file in the SCAL program. Basically, I used an oval and stretched it out to create the blades. I layered a brushed silver cardstock and a shiny mirror cardstock to make the blade look like it has a sharp edge.  The grips are wrapped with embroidery floss.  The paper I used here is by Karen Foster. On the creamy paper, I added some paper glaze over the little dots to give it some dimension.

I'm not good at using any of the file sharing sites, yet, so my SCUT2 files for htis are on the repository at www.svgcuts.com if you're interested in using them. I ask that you please make note of origin on anything you publish using my files, please. :)

Material List

SCAL

Embroidery Floss

Paper Glaze

Stampin' Up Not quite Navy Cardstock

Karen Foster Designer Paper

Our Family

My furnace has not been kicking on: I noticed a chill in the house this morning when I woke up. I didn't really think much of it - figured it was cold outside last night, so maybe it had just dropped a degree or two in the house. I went up to my craft room to work for  a while, and when one of my dogs came upstairs to see me, I noticed his fur was rather chilly, like he had just come in form being outside. I went downstairs to actually let him go out, and noticed it felt even colder than before! We keep the house at 67  or 68, and when I looked the thermostat had dropped to 61. Brrrrrrrr..........(My craft room has it's own heat source and is not hooked into the central system, so I had stayed nice and toasty while the rest of the house was growing colder and colder.
Well, I'm still waiting for the heating guy to come over (it will be a little while - they're pretty busy today), so I finished my page. :)
I used Stampin' Up Ruby Red for the background paper. Chocolate Chip, Whisper White and Night of Navy make up the other solid color papers that I've used for various mats and frames. The clocks, gears and title papers are Sahara Sand. The ribbon on the page is Stampin' Up Night of Navy. The printed paper is from Stampin' Up Autumn Traditions paper pack from the 2008/2009 catty.
For the clock and gears I used a CTMH stamp set called "Make It Count" (this is a retired set).
The colors I used for stamping are Sahara Sand, Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant and Chocolate Chip - all are from Stampin' Up.

For my chocolate chip leaf background page, I used SVGCuts Salimah's Square Cards Collection. I also used SVGCuts Christmas Cookie Party Collection and their My Mom's Attic Collection. I thought the 2008 Founders Day layout I did was my favorite, but this one has taken it's place. I like it, and I hope you do too, and that I've inspired you to create something you like just as much of your own! Thanks for looking at what I create!

Not much craft time

What a wonderful weekend I had with my son at Howe! This is the first time I've put together a slideshow with any of my pics (and there's a type-o! Did you see it??). I really wanted to post something about the weekend quickly, so the photos are all pre-editing. :) Turned out okay, I think!