Happy New Year!

Here's hoping that the new year finds you safe, healthy, happy, and surrounded by friends and family. Remember, if you drink, don't drive. If you know someone who has been drinking, don't let them drive!

JYC Day 31

JYC Day 30

This was screaming for a piece of cream ribbon which of course I didn't have. White had to do.

Smug Mug...a place to put your photos!

http://www.smugmug.com/

This is where I'm loading all of my photos to keep them safely backed up and organized.

Here's some information on them:

• - Integrated sharing on Facebook, Twitter, via email and a growing list of other services
• - Mobile Apps for iPad, iPhone and Android
• - No ads or promotions surrounding your photos
• - We keep original, full resolution photos, unlike other sites
• - Full-screen slideshows and HD Video playback
• - Real, knowledgeable & friendly humans to answer your emails quickly
• - Add photos from Lightroom, Aperture, iPhoto, Picasa, and other popular programs

If you sign up and put in my email address (Manahl@comcast.net) in the coupon field at sign-up, you'll save $5 on your first year subscription. That's $35.00 for the year instead of $40.00. You can set up themes, your own web address, and best of all, there's no limit on the number of photos you store! If you want more information on them, just visit their web site. No, they didn't pay me to advertise them, but if one of you signs up under my e-mail, I get $10.00 off next year. That means you can do the same thing once someone else signs up under your e-mail.  :)

One Little Word

Ali Edwards does One Little Word over at her blog and has a workshop over at Big Picture Classes. My word for the year 2011 is Happiness. I want to be happy and even though it takes some work at times to have it happen, it will be worth every bit of it. Happiness!

JYC Day 29

BPC - Embrace Imperfection

Okay, I was looking at a class to do in January and what do I find? Another free, yes I said free, class in February over at BPC. It's called Embrace Imperfection and it's taught by Karen Grunberg. Of course I signed up for it even though I'll be doing LOAD at the same time. I can't help it. The class targets so many things that I have issues with in scrapbooking, so why not take the class and see if it helps? Now I'm going back to BPC to see what else there is to see.

What Class or Project Next?

As Journal Your Christmas with Shimelle draws to a close on January 7th, I find myself now thinking of what class or project do I want to do next? I have some saved in my scrapbooking folder on my computer. I'm also going to start doing Dolly's Dreamings 52 in 10 class that she posted this past year. I have Lain Ehmann's Layout a Day in February, so I need to fill up January with something. I think I'll browse Shimelle's classes and also take a peek at what BPS aka Big Picture Classes has to offer. I know they have a bunch of self-paced classes that I could do. All I need is one to keep my creative self going. What are you going to do next?

JYC 2010 - What I used on it...

This years Journal Your Christmas album was created using the following products listed below. I haven't had time to really list individually what I used because gosh-darn-it, I've been a busy camper. :)

It's a Rusty Pickle 6.75x4.75 cardstock filled spiral book. RIP Rust Pickle, you had some great products. Bazzil chipboard letters, Stampin' Up wood stamps, Close to My Heart clear stamps,Tim Holtz Lost and Found papers, Basic Grey Jovial papers, Basic Grey Jovial die cuts and journal pieces, Fancy Pants Tradition papers, American Crafts ribbons, Sakura Gelly Roll glitter pen, Sakura Gelly Roll metallic pens, Sakura Micron05 walnut and blue pens, Uni-Ball Signo white pen, K&Company Yuletide Tags, K&Company Layered Accents, Avery Glue Stics, ThermoWeb Dots, Glue Dots, Martha Stewart baker's twine, Echo Park Life is Good stickers, Memory Makers brads and Christmas blossoms, Cutterbee scissors, Creative Memories cutter, Ink It Up ink pads, Craft Smart ink pads, Technique Tuesday clear stamps, Michael's clear stamps, Inkadinkado clear stamps, ScrappyCat clear stamps, WalMart clear stamps, Want2Scrap bling, Queen & Co. bling and pearls, Joann Fabrics bling, Stickles, Glossy Accents, Wyla black & gold twine, Dolgencorp gold tinsel and ribbon, Simplicity buttons, Basic Grey buttons, Foofla buttons, BIC MarkIt pens, TweezerBee, Colorbox inks, various eyelets, brown twine, and various cardstock from multiple companies who packages I didn't save. So there you have it, my list of people's products that I used. I know that somewhere on one of the little pages I probably forgot someone, so if so, I'm sorry.

AS for inspiration, I have to go right for Shimelle for the idea of using tags on all of my pages. I saw her do it in another class of hers that I took and thought it would be perfect. The date circles I made in Illustrator are an idea I got directly from Ali Edwards. She always makes the coolest stamps, so I made one with a twist of my own. I look at so many people's blogs that most of my ideas are inspired from looking at their works. Ali Edwards, Becky Higgins, Stacy Julian, Lisa Bearnson, Shimelle, Lain Ehmann, Tim Holtz, Melody Ross, the women of GCD, the list goes on and on. I also have the inspiration of my friends who I scrap with, especially Michelle who really should be submitting her works to the magazines because she is beyond talented. I also used Photoshop Elements and kick myself for not upgrading my full version when I had the chance instead of buying Elements because it lacks so much of the full program. So that is it. The end of what goes into my JYC album for 2010.

JYC Day 28

JYC Day 27

JYC Day 26

JYC Day 25

JYC Day 24

JYC Day 23

South Jersey Scrappers Tag Swap

There was a tag swap hosted on South Jersey Scrappers and I received three lovely tags from Colleen. She said she copied them from the tags that were made for her by Dawn. Either way, they are beautiful and these photos don't do them justice. After seeing these, the ones I made for Maria seem so plain. I need to make sure next year I do mine larger and fancier. I was thinking gift tags, not these works of art. :)

Tag 1 - Front and Back

Tag 2 - Front & Back

Tag 3 - Front & Back

Merry Christmas!

In case I get too busy tomorrow trying to get everything done, I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Here's hoping you and yours have a safe and blessed holiday.

JYC Day 22

Bloggity blog blog blog...

I know I don't have a lot of people who read my blog and I know why. I don't post every day. I don't have whitty words of wisdom to send out. I don't have a perfect home or an interesting life. Some times I wonder why I do it. I know mostly I have a blog to share photos with people in my scrap classes. The biggest reason I have a blog is so I can follow other blogs. I get fresh ideas, cool new items to look at, and plenty of people who think the way I do. They scrap because they love to capture the memories, not because it'll make them money or bring fame and fortune. We scrap for ourselves. I think I am lucky in that people don't look to me to give them ideas. Then scrappin' would become more like work. So here I am blogging, reading, scrappin', and having fun.  :)

JYC Day 21

Bink with Santa at Disney.

O' Christmas Tree

I finally got the Christmas tree up today. Whooo hooooo! And Chuck and our neighbor Andy got our lights up on the house too. I'll post a pic of those later.

One Christmas Gift made...

I was able to make one of the many gifts that I have to do before Christmas Day. This will be one of two albums for people I know. Bink's teacher and a friend of mine from the same school. I also want to make one for my sis-in-law aka other sister. This is a mix of Jessica Sprague's Art Journal and my Echo Park digital papers that I bought.

JYC Day 20

JYC Day 19

JYC Day 18

JYC Day 17

JYC Day 16

JYC Day 15

JYC Day 14

JYC Day 13

JYC Day 12

JYC Day 11

JYC Day 10

JYC Day 9

JYC Day 8

JYC Day 7

JYC Day 6

JYC Day 5

JYC Day 4

JYC Day 3

JYC Day 2

JYC Day 1 - Manifesto with date

JYC Cover with ribbons

Back from Disney :)

We came home from Disney last night around 9:30. I stayed up until 12:30 cleaning and putting things away and have spent all morning doing the same thing. I have so much to catch up on and will post our trip of Disney on a budget later when I get some free time. also have to decorate the house, get the tree up, do cards, make cookies, etc., while catching up on my Journal Your Christmas and Inspiration Everywhere classes.

JS Inspiration Everywhere - Music Inspiration Page

I used Jessica Sprague's printout, cut out the green and brown circles, and the lined paper to make the layers since the PSD file was locked. Cut out a half circle of K&Company K Bailey paper. Black Stickles for the dots. Creative Memories brown pen to line the blue flowered half circle. Ink It Up brown ink. Black Bic acid free marker. Lyrics are from the song Boom by P.O.D. I like music that's a little on the rough side when going to hockey to get me geared up for the games.

Journal Your Christmas - Day 1

My book will be super simple compared to last year. I signed up for a second class elsewhere on the web, still decluttering the house, have hockey, DD's dance and school...all of you know what I'm talking about when I post a busy schedule. I'm making sure it's less stress and more fun by doing a tag based book. I got that idea from Shimelle.  :)