WINNER of the "follow the blog"!

Congrats to Lal for winning the challenge! She get a $20 GC to the scrapbook.com store! Sarah picked her name using a random number generator!!
Thanks to everyone who followed the blog, we appreciate your support! :)

Christmas Tree Templates

When we were brainstorming ideas for templates, one of the girls mentioned that she would love a Christmas tree template. I designed two different templates with several layers. You can add photos, or you can use papers instead to create your own customized tree. Brads or buttons would be a super cute way to make ornaments, and you could also add a star on the top if you wanted! This template would also work really well on a Christmas card. They are sized as 8x10's, but feel free to re-size it any size you would like for your layout or scrapbook page.



Of course I didn't forget the digital and hybrid girls. I've included both trees as layered templates for use in Photoshop Elements. You can drag and drop the papers and photos you would like into the template, and then print it yourself, or use it on a digital layout. Here are the links if you want the layered template files. If you only want the printable templates, you
can right click on each one and save them to your computer.

Tree Template 1
http://www.4shared.com/file/150253354/64bfb5a7/HL_TreeTemplate.html

Tree Template 2
http://www.4shared.com/file/150334684/e1117bd/HL_TreeTemplate2.html

Here is an example gift bag by Melanie Holwarth using the first template:
Here is a frame made by Pam Callaghan using the second template:


I hope you enjoy the templates! I can't wait to see your take on it.

Scrapbooking Your Precious Preemie

Hi Everyone, it's my turn in the spotlight and I have sort of an important and serious topic for you today. It's a topic that's very close to my heart and that impacts many, many people in the United States every day....Premature Birth.

November is National Prematurity Awareness Month - what? - never heard of that? It's ok, lots of people haven't, but if your one of more than half a million families who give birth to a premature baby every year (that's 1 in 8 babies each year!), you know what a nightmare premature birth can be. And once you've got that precious preemie in your hands, you know has a scrapbooker, what a huge task you have ahead of you.

A few notes: I always find it easier, when scrapping a subject that is hard for me to scrap, that using a sketch or page design which forces me to crop the pictures tight makes me focus on the important part of the photos. If it's an emotional layout keeping your layout simple and your journaling sincere will really help out.

Scrapbooking for parents of preemies can be almost theraputic. And it's important too. You might not want to remember those difficult early months, but your baby surely will. Below are just a few examples of ways to remember your precious preemie in the pages of a scrapbook....

Journaling - Keep a NICU journal where you can jot down your thoughts day to day, how your feeling, your baby's ups and downs, the good, the bad, and the ugly of your NICU experience. You can also choose to write letters in your journal - letters to your preemie or letters to God, whatever you choose is ok, most important here is just to get your feelings on paper.

NICU baby books (some hospitals with supply these to a family).

Photos and Video

Memory Boxes

Scrapbooking - Ask your local March of Dimes Chapter if scrapbooking classes are offered at a hospital near you.

A baby diaper in the size your child wore in the NICU.

Blood pressure cuff

Hats

Footprints

Pictures of Primary Nurses or Doctors

Pictures of Milestones

Song Lyrics or Poems that hold special meaning.

Sadly, it doesn't always turn out well. But there are ways you can pay memorial to your Angel Baby too. You can...

Scrapbook your pregnancy memories. Did the baby kick? Was the baby restless? Did he or she have lots of hiccups? Did you prepare a special nursery? Did you buy a special item or toy for baby? All of these things can become a part of a special memorial scrapbook.

Photos

Hand or footprints taken at the hospital.

A special outfit baby wore.

Cards or flowers you recieved while in the hospital.

The blanket you baby was wrapped in.

Notes to your baby.

Music, poems, or song lyrics that hold special meaning.

Memorial Service photos.

Anniversary Date memories. Something that you do to remember your child.

There are many, many factors that play a part in whether or not your baby could be a preemie, some you can fix, some you can't. What you can do is watch for the warning signs of Premature Labor and if you have any questions call your doctor immediately (that's what they are there for!)....

Contractions every 10 minutes or more often.

Change in discharge

Pelvic Pressure

Low, dull backache

Cramps that feel like mentral cramps

Abdominal cramping

I hope these tips help you create a wonderful scrapbook for your Precious Preemie and Happy Prematurity Awareness Month!

Feeling Froggy?

I imagine many of you are like me, meaning that you’ve cut back on your scrappy spending in recent months and are trying to make use of the materials already sitting in your stash. As much as I’d love to rush out and buy the perfect embellishment for a project I’m working on, I’ve forced myself to become extremely creative with my supplies.

A few months back I was working on this layout of my nephew. I really wanted to use the quote and I especially liked the “frog in his pocket” part. I didn’t have a frog embellishment on hand, so I looked through my craft supplies and figured out a way to make a frog from ribbon!



Depending on what size you want your froggy to be will determine the lengths of ribbon to use. For my example, the lengths of ribbon are 10 inches and 13 inches.

For the legs and feet, take the 10 inch length of ribbon and fold the ends as shown. No need to be exact - the more goofy and lopsided, the better. We're going for whimsy.



Once you're happy with the results, pin them into place and set aside.



For the body use the longer length of ribbon and fold it over as shown below.



Loop it around again, slightly higher (again, we're going for whimsy - we don't want perfection).



Then wrap the ribbon around the "eyes" to form the "mouth". Be patient... this may take several tries, but you'll get it.


Next tuck the end behind and use a dab of glue (or a quick stitch) to hold in position.



Secure the body to the legs with a running stitch.



For his tongue, I used a Prima flower petal but you could use a tiny scrap of red cardstock, paper or felt. And lastly, add some googly eyes.



And there you have it… your own little ribbon froggy. Is he cool, or what?! Toadily!

Thankful Tree

Each Thanksgiving we have a tradition that many of you may share. We go around the table and each person shares something they are thankful for. It is a great tradition, but I wanted to change it up this year!

So….I made a “Thankful Tree!” For each guest at our Thanksgiving table, I created a tag. I decorated each tag with fall colored papers and some fun turkey day themed embellishments! The next step was to gather some sticks from our yard! In a basic vase I placed some Spanish moss, added the sticks, and hung the tags! The final touch was a fall themed ribbon around the vase! Now we have a fun centerpiece and a fun way to share our thankfulness! After the day is over, I plan on adding the tags to my scrapbook so we can read them again next year!






Give it a try- it is such a simple, but fun project!!!

Frame It by Heidi Sonboul!

All throughout our homes... we have photos in frames. Why do we do this? Why not just glue your photos to the wall???
A frame not only keeps your photos safe and allows us to move them around, but it also helps the photos pop off the wall and brings more attention to them! This is the reason why home designers all over the world use frame. A frame can turn a photo into a piece of beautiful art. If you have ever seen a Pottery Barn catalog, you'll notice they cover walls in frames. I think it's a fun idea. Which leads me to my layout.



As you can see, I've framed my photos. It's an easy way to make your layout pop and helps the photos standout more.

instructions for layout



1) Print and cut out the frame on patterned paper. Using a patterned paper will bring the eye right to the photos.
2) Crop your photos to a 2 1/2 X2 1/2 size. You will need 9 squares and can mix them (with patterned paper and photos).
3) Lay the photo and patterned paper squares onto a piece of cardstock... leaving a thin space between them all. This will also help frame the photos.
4) Then simply layer on the frame and mount it all on a piece of 12X12 Cardstock.
5) Add embellies and a title for fun and to finish the look.

Fun Themes to Scrap:
For my layout to match the up coming holiday, I did a Thankful layout. I listed a few things I'm thankful for during Thanksgiving.
Here is a list of fun ideas to scrap with the frame idea.

-Favorite Thanksgiving foods
-10 Things your grateful for this ThanksGiving
-The season of colors in trees and plants
-At the Thanksgiving table, have a note card for each person to write "what they are thankful for" and crop them into Squares
-New items for fall. such as Coats, sweater and boots
-Home fall decor
-Fall treats

I hope you have fun with this idea
~H Sonboul

(read her introduction here)

Thanks so much Heidi for the fabulous template and inspiring page!

Introducing Our Featured Artist for Nov. 20

I am announcing this a bit early because tomorrow is a bit crazy busy! I am SO VERY excited to announce our featured artist for today ... Heidi Sonboul!

She is such an amazing artist and a great friend. I seriously check her blog three times a day for new posts no joke! I adore her style soooo much!! Her pages are so colorful and fun and she always uses the BEST color combinations. She is the GCD Studios design team leader and a member of several other designs teams, including ANNA GRIFFIN with me- yea!! She is seriously one of the nicest people I have met... so it's time to get to know her by reading her bio:

My name is Heidi Sonboul and I'm addicted to scrapbooking! I love everything about this hobby! I love the smell of new paper (out of CHA), I love getting new kits and supplies in the mail, I love all the friends I've made that share "the joy of this hobby", and I love the peaceful feeling I get as I sit at my scrapbook table and craft! I have been scrapbooking 17 years and this past 3 years have been focused on publications. I feel so blessed with each new thing that is accepted for a call :) When I'm not scrapbooking... you can find me with my family and camera in hand. I take my camera everywhere and I'm not afraid to used it ;) About 2 years ago I started a blog and that is where you can find photos, funny stories and much more. Anyways, the point is... I love this hobby and I plan on scrapbooking until I'm 100! ~H Sonboul

You can see more of her amazing work here at her gallery and don't forget to stop by her fabulous blog! She will be sharing a template she made and a layout to go with it! One more thing, I MUST share with you my new favorite layout by her. I love all of her work so it's hard to chose ... but check out this yellow page! Enjoy your day, Heidi!