The Last minute gift

Here is the last minute gift that I made for Caleb's teacher. Caleb informed me on Wednesday (when I was finishing Gabe's Birthday cake) that his class was throwing a surprise baby shower for Mr. Mortenson on Friday. Thursday morning I ran out and bought a couple of books for Caleb to wrap. Thursday evening I began to fill guilty because I have all this scrapbooking stuff sitting here at the house....and yet I have done nothing with it. :-) At 9:30 pm I decided that yes....I would attempt to make a simple photo book as a gift. Of course Mr. and Mrs. Mortenson don't know if they are having a boy or a girl, so I just stuck with neutral/Manly colors...lol...since it was for Mr. Mortenson to carry around.

On the cover I used the Cricut Cartridge Plantin Schoolbook to make the tags. The paper was from the K & Company Small Wonders Designer Paper Pack. (FYI...somone...meaning Ginny...needs to give me some praise because I got off my bottom and went through all my stuff to see what paper/cartridges I used).
I also used Black Textured card stock from DCWV Neutrals. The Cricut Cartridge Accent Essentials was used for shapes on the pages. I wanted to use something that would work out well with a square photo (no one has problems cutting a square out of a picture...at least I think). I wanted to make sure they were big enough that the focus of a picture would fit in the squares....and then have a scalloped edge.
The stamps I believe were by Inkadinkado...but am not sure...because I took all my stamps out of their packages....I didn't label who made them (sorry). They were just cute little baby stamps.

Archival Ink in Jet Black by Ranger (I love Ranger products)!
The lettering was done with Creative Memories Bold Tip markers that are older than Gabe (lol). They have a chisel edge so the writing can look like calligraphy.

The chipboard book that I used and the ribbon/fibers were purchased from Michaels dollar bins. Got to love a deal. Unfortunately I didn't have any other colors that matched...or I would of put a lot more stuff on the rings. I worked on this book from 9:30 pm till 11:00pm. Just like all my painted gifts.....this too was last minute. Thanks for looking!

XOXO to my BFF Ginny....because I am just now posting this (should of finished posting it last week), because she asked about it....and reminded me.

Gabe's 10th Birthday Cake

The Cake

This year we got into watching Cake Boss. Gabe decided that he wanted a "Wedding Cake" for his Birthday cake. He wanted tiers. I went out and bought some Fondant....and ended up using it once I read a lot of reviews that most people peeled off the fondant because they didn't like it. While on line I found a recipe for Modeling Chocolate. Instead that is what I ended up covering his cake with. It could of come out better...but this will do for a first try. Caleb helped put on the green sides and did all the light blue spheres at the base of the cake. I had intended for it to be one of those topsy turvy type cakes ...but when putting on the second layer...I had had enough of baking bake. Hello there are only 8 people eating it...LOL. It is a lot of cake! The 2nd layer I should of made the circumference smaller, but oh well. Gabe loves it! When he got home (there was only green on the side and the first layer)...he was thrilled. "More than he expected" he said. LOL Guess his expectations are not as high as mine are...LOL. Either way both the boys had fun (me too) putting this together.

Last 5x7 for the night

Gabe 5x7

Well....I had to go to the gas station to get gas....lol...and got home and did this last sheet. What I have learned is that for now on I shall emboss first....then add the pictures. Even though I took care when Embossing...I ended up getting a blister in the top left hand corner ....hence the two pieces of bling. I just went on and added some simple bling to the rest of the page. Now I will probably go back to the other pages and do the same. I figured out the blister thing on Caleb's photo (which I have not posted yet)...and knew to be careful on the next pages. Unfortunately I just couldn't get the leaves to gloss up....and that is how I got too much heat which ended up causing the blister. Gotta run...up early tomorrow with the boys and then doing my 3 (13 hours each) work shifts! Hugs and Kisses to all!

By the way...I was able to get the protective sleeve over the page :-)

Another Page

Another 5x7 page

Here is another 5x7 scrapbook page that I did using the Cricut and my own stamps to emboss. I love this picture of my boys with my dad. I wanted to make sure that the photo was the main focus of my page. I did some embossing with black on the striped paper, and embossing with transparent on the black background. This photo will also be put inside of a protective sheet (it covers front and back page...so no dimensional items) and placed in the same Creative Memories album as the other page. As soon as I have more pages done, I will post them!

I am so glad that Ginny is opening a Scrapbook store...and got me into playing with paper! I can't wait to make some mini albums that I can fill with flowers....bling....stamps....fibers....and of course photos!

5x7 Scrapbook Page

Finally a 5x7 scrapbook page

I finally got around to finishing a scrapbook page! I love it! I used PICASA to change my photo to black and white, GIMP to size it and had my DH Peter print it out for me. I can't wait to figure out how to use the Sure cuts a lot program so that I can make my own images to cut out on the Cricut (that was the only reason for buying the Cricut...so I could cut out my own images). It is a pain only being able to use a scalloped square...when you want a rectangle. The day I figure out the program (actually I haven't even looked at it yet...lol)....will be a happy day. I did use the Cricut to cut out the background shape, the layers under the photo, the tag and key. I used Ranger distressing ink on the tag and embossing powders on my stamped images. This page will be covered with a plastic sheet protector and put into a 5x7 Creative Memories album that I bought before Caleb was born (hence no bling or flowers, or dimensional items).

The stamped/embossed images on this page are a result of my dabbling in Stamp Making (just add stamp making to another media that I have chosen to like...lol). I made these myself using Speedball speedy carve sheets. I was lucky and bought them at a garage sale last summer for $1.00 a piece...both sets including the tools. I found two sheets on Ebay for $5.00 each, and $4.00 to ship (most places want to charge $15-$17 to ship.....yikes).

I have another page to post too.....it will be on later.