Craft Day!

The day before New Year's Eve, I held a "Craft Day" at my house for some of my friends. We had a great time socializing and working on various projects. Since all of our husbands were at another friend's house watching movies, all of the kids were here too- 12 ages 5 and under!

I managed to get one layout almost completed (I completed it later that evening once everyone went home) and make a card. The layout I made was for our calendar. I decided I wanted to try something a little different this year for our calendar and make it a little more a part of my process instead of something "extra." Scrapbook and Cards Today ran a challenge the last couple of years called, "Project 12." The goal of this project was to make a layout each month recapping the previous month. Unfortunately, they have decided to discontinue this challenge, but I have decided to adopt the idea for my calendars. So, I will be making a two page 12x12 layout recapping the month from the previous year (January 2011 is the page for my January 2012 calendar) and then select one of those pages to be on display on my calendar. When the month is over, I will take down the display page and put it in a scrapbook, and at the end of the year I will have 2011 scrapbooked! I will probably do an extra layout here and there for various events, but this will be a way for me to feel less pressure to "catch up".

For January, I decided to use this sketch from "Sketch Support" because it had lots of photo spaces and I like the open area to make a little scene with embellishments.


Here is my layout. The left hand page is currently on our calendar.


I used a technique I saw on Tim Holtz's blog last year using packaging and running it through your embossing machine and used my snowflake embossing plate to make the background.


I also made a card for my sister-in-law whose birthday was Monday. I used my new "Cindy Loo" cartridge for the dear on this one- isn't it cute??


I also got a bit of a start on this layout and finished it the next day. I pulled out my stamps and did a little stamping in the corners to add some interest.