Good morning, and merry Christmas Eve to everyone! We're planning on enjoying a nice, relaxing day at home today and then getting together with Darren's family tonight. It's so nice when the day before the official "hey, I have the day off work" holiday is on a weekend! And since the official "hey, I have the day off work" holiday is also on a weekend, I get Monday off, too!

Now, where was I?

Oh, yes, today's Sweet Peach sketch. Because we all know that scrappers don't stop for a holiday. :)

I took some serious liberties with Keri's sketch this round, rotating it and then shifting my title to the top of the page to balance out all the dark photos. All supplies are from the December Sweet Peach "Juicy" kit, which includes loads of Hambly and Prima goodies.

These photos were taken during last year's walk through the Galaxy of Lights at the Huntsville Botanical Garden...not to be confused with this year's walk through the Galaxy of Lights at the Huntsville Botanical Garden.

There are some things that I'm happy to continue photographing year after year, and this is definitely one of them!

Have a safe and merry Christmas!

sweet peach | project life, november 13-19, 2011

By now you may have heard the news that the Sweet Peach Crop Shop is closing as of this month. They were my first real "product based" design team, and I'm so sad to see them go.

My plan was to create a Project Life weekly spread with their kit each month, just as I'm doing for Scrapbook Circle, but as it turns out December's will be the only one that I do with my newer kits...though I wouldn't put it past me to go back and revisit some older ones now. :)

The week of November 13-19 was well before Thanksgiving, but it still included enough Christmas-y activities that the holiday themed papers don't seem out of place here...especially with gorgeous Christmas scenery from Bridge Street and Anthropologie thrown into the mix!

I love tucking little bits like receipts and business cards into pockets with a bit of patterned paper as a backing.

And I even made a little mini layout of sorts in one of the 4x6 pockets by cutting a journaling card in half, then placing it and a couple of photos onto a (slightly) larger piece of patterned paper.

And I even got brave and wrote right on a Starbucks coffee cup sleeve!

Though Sweet Peach Crop Shop is sadly no more, Project Life will live on, so be on the lookout for more updates as they are posted!

sweet peach layout | christmas morning

Good morning, and happy Saturday, everyone! I hope you're all ready to get your scrap on with a new, fabulous sketch from Sweet Peach Crop Shop!

I just love Keri's design, especially those banners in the top right corner. I translated them to a series of unenven pennants- a look I've seen (and loved!) on many layouts lately.

These photos were taken last Christmas when we woke up to a blanket of snow on the ground- something that hasn't happened here for many, many years! So of course I had to break out the snowflake rub-ons to sprinkle around the page, along with a few Basic Grey brads from the Nordic Holiday line.

And, oh, those pennants, how I love them! I see myself using this trick on many, many layouts in the future!

sweet peach | christmas gift wrap + silhouette software with the wishblade

Something old...very, very old...has made a reappearance on my scrapping desk recently.

Yes, that is, in fact, my old Wishblade electronic paper cutter (anyone remember those?) that I had long ago thought was relegated to permanent "boat anchor" status. Software updates for it have been hard to come by as operating system updates (especially for the Mac) have been released, and, honestly, I never really got along with the original software that shipped with the unit.

Recently, though, I learned that the software for the Silhouette, Silhouette SD, and the new Silhouette Cameo will also run Wishblades (this is true whether you have the blue or pink version), so I dug old blue out of the corner I'd stored it in (along with an embarrassing number of dust bunnies), downloaded the software (found here) and tried it out.

It worked. And I mean it worked. On the first try. No drivers to install (on my Mac, at least- not sure about Windows), and no headaches trying to use the software and rotate the mat placement in my head (anyone remember that particular quirk of the original Xyron software?) before cutting. I've even been using the old blade set (the one with the yellow, blue, and pink caps), though I did recently order the updated (no caps required) Silhouette blade that's supposed to be compatible even with the older machines. I'll report back later on how that works once I've had a chance to test it out.

The very first thing that I cut with the Silhouette software was a pillow box, and from that point on I was hooked and in awe of what my suddenly resurrected machine could do. I couldn't help myself and cut out several more boxes, then decorated them with items from the December Juicy kit at Sweet Peach Crop Shop as one of my design team projects.

These boxes are definitely not big (if you have a Cameo you can of course make them a bit larger), but would be perfect for packaging gift cards or perhaps a tiny treat.

The cutting file for this adorable envelope box can be found here, and I dressed it up with a bit of ribbon, a rosette (cut using my Big Kick and Tim Holtz's Rosette Die), and a punched snowflake (using a Martha Stewart punch). 

This is the pillow box that started it all (the cutting file can be found here), and I added a bit of ruffled crepe paper (made using a gathering foot on my sewing machine), a doily cut using Papertrey Ink's Doily Details dies, and other little bits such as the rub-on, Prima North Country Paper, and Bon-Bon Doodle Twine.

Is this tiny bag (cutting file here) not the cutest? It also benefited from a Doily Details die cut, snowflake punch, and a bit of baker's twine.

This petal-top box (file here) was the most complex of the set, and it took me forever to figure out how to fold it. Okay, so maybe it was only about 5 minutes, but it took me a bit to determine that I was actually folding it backwards!

The gorgeous top makes it totally worth it, though.

I've been cutting a lot more than boxes since setting my Wishblade back up. Thanks to Marcy Penner's post here, I discovered the awesome Pacifico font and have been using it for titles on lots of layouts. There are also some adorable fonts here at Kevin and Amanda, and of course the Silhouette Store is filled with thousands of great shapes (including some from American Crafts and Echo Park), all available for individual purchase (unlike the expensive Cricut cartridges that force you to buy the whole package).

I'm so happy to have this machine that I'd long ago thought to be defunct back in action!

sweet peach layout | staring contest

Ready for another Sweet Peach Crop Shop layout made with Corrie's fantastic November Sweet Kit? I hope so, because that's what I've got to share with you today!

I chose yet another 2011 Tennessee State Fair photo to scrap this month (I always take so many fun pictures at the fair!), this time documenting Darren's little impromptu staring match with a rather large rabbit. I'm not sure whether he or the rabbit actually won(though my money is on the rabbit), but I captured the moment and scrapped it using some of the more masculine colors from this kit, including that lovely denim print from the Random collection by Crate Paper.

Can you believe it's the end of November already? Time flies, but that means that I get to share my December Sweet Peach layouts with you (the December Juicy kit is sooooo festive!) super soon!

sweet peach layout | hanging with sophie

Somehow this week ended up being an impromptu "Sweet Peach Week" here on the blog (with the exception of yesterday's Scrapbook Circle layout, of course). Totally unintentional, but, hey, it's all good, right? Today and tomorrow I'll be sharing layouts with you, and then on Thursday I'll be back with some gift wrapping ideas courtesy of the brand new December Juicy Sweet Peach kit.

This page is just a fun one about some time I spent hanging out with my (then) 14 month old niece, Sophie. She's such a fun girl- completely fearless and loves to play around and ride up high on your shoulders.

I normally don't go girly on layouts, but the deep rose color in the crocheted flowers, chipboard buttons, and in the paper from Studio Calico's Memoir line actually matched Sophie's dress pretty well. I'm starting to agree with Beth (Sophie's mom) that as long as it's not pastel baby pink, I can kind of handle it. :)

I'll be back tomorrow with another layout made with the November Sweet Peach "Sweet" kit. It's a decidedly non-girly one featuring Darren and...a rabbit!

sweet peach layout | cherry blossoms

I warned you that the layouts would be coming fast and furious this month, and I'm back again with another page made with Sweet Peach Crop Shop's November Sweet kit! Keri, Sweet Peach's fabulous sketch designer, came up with this lovely page for the design team to play with this month. Be sure to hop on over to the blog today to find out how you can also play along and possibly win a Sweet Peach gift certificate!

As you can see, I totally did my own thing with the sketch. I loved the vertical strips of photos and the embellishment on the top left side of the page. Instead of the shaped background, though, I opted to add in a larger photo and a cluster of embellishments around my journaling.

I love that the November kit is so versatile- it's hard to believe that this layout, filled with pinks, whites, and creams, came from the same kit as the Anthro layout I shared a couple of days ago! And, as for the subject of cherry blossoms...well, they're an obsession of mine I've talked about many times. Like earlier this year when I blogged about photographing them. Or when I blogged another page I scrapped about them. Or last year when I also blogged about photographing them. And, of course, there was the time I blogged about going to the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC. So. Much. Fun!

And now I can't wait for Spring to get here again so the weeping cherry trees in my yard will start blooming...it's going to be a long winter!

sweet peach layout | anthro

Last week on ye olde blog we were knee deep in Travel Scrapbooking Week, meaning that lots of layouts from this month's design team assignments have been madly queuing up in the post hopper and are just waiting to be shared with you! Expect lots of pages around here for the next couple of weeks (along with some new Scrapbook Update articles), including tonight's page made with the fabulous November Sweet Kit from Sweet Peach Crop Shop!

I absolutely adore going to our local Anthropologie store, and apparently another trip is in order soon since I received an email from them today showing off their new Christmas ornaments, and oh. my. cute. I have to have a couple of them for sure! That turtle and the glittery fish absolutely must come live on my Christmas tree!

I've scrapped about Anthropologie a couple of times before- once here in 2009 (that was apparently before I learned to take good photos of my layouts) and also here earlier this year (right before my Style Reboot). One of the things I love about Anthro is that it's always changing, and there's always something new, colorful, and inspiring to stand and gaze longingly at...and photograph, of course!

The eclectic blend of papers in this month's kit were perfect for scrapping about this gorgeous, quirky store. I used a lot of B-side patterns (I do that a lot) , and those wooden letters and crocheted flowers make this page feel like an Anthro store to me. Love it!

I'm off work tomorrow, so I might just have to wander that way and see what they have that I can't possibly live without. :)

sweet peach layout | thanksgiving at cracker barrel

Are you guys ready for another awesome sketch from the Sweet Peach Crop Shop? Keri has designed another great layout for us with space for a large photo, or (if you're allergic to large photos like I am) a block of smaller photos.

 

I put my layout together using mostly the October Sweet Kit, though I did pull those buttons from the Juicy kit (and a couple of other items came from the Embellishment Add-On). At first I had no idea how I was going to use the burlap from My Mind's Eye, but it turned out to be a perfect fit for the large design at the top of the sketch. I even stuck my title down right over it and stitched through the whole thing.

So, what's the story behind this one, you ask? It's kind of a silly little thing, really, but something I wanted to scrap. My family actually came to our house for  the Friday after Thanksgiving last year (since my brother and Beth were with her family on Thursday). That meant that Darren and I were on our own for Thanksgiving Day, and so we decided to treat ourselves to dinner out at Cracker Barrel. It was delicious, and since we were already prepping like crazy people to cook for the next day, we welcomed the chance to not have to cook our own dinner on Thursday, as well.

And, yes, I totally did carry my massive Nikon D3 to dinner and took photos of our food before we ate. I do that a lot...just a little warning in case you're ever out to eat with me. :)

sweet peach layout | sweet treat

I feel that it's fair to warn you in advance- you'll be seeing quite a few food layouts from me during October. :) I'm not sure why, but I seemed to have a lot of dining-related photos that I wanted to use, and they matched the kits I happen to be scrapping with this month (this one is the fabulous October kit from Sweet Peach Crop Shop) so I just went with it.

I remember when Ali Edwards had a layout about her coffee cup published in Creating Keepsakes magazine several years ago, and it seemed like half the scrapbooking community was in an uproar over it, claiming they didn't "have time" to document unimportant stuff like that.

Except, who decides what's really important enough to scrap? Oh, that's right you do! And I do...and anyone who scraps decides what's important for them! So if you want to scrapbook your coffee cup, running shoes, or favorite pet rock, then go for it! And if I want to scrapbook about the world's best ice cream treat from Maggie Moos that I bought when Darren and I went out with a Groupon after a particularly stressful week at work, then I'm going to go for it, too!

So, tell me, what "frivolous" stuff have you scrapbooked lately? Link it up in the comments- I wanna see! :)