Words of Wisdom

Recently I worked on a layout for a challenge at Scrapbooking From the Inside Out that asked us to use this quote.

Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight remains to them?

Rose Kennedy

This is my layout

I placed the quote on a little journal tag, and then took the layout in the direction I wanted.

Personally I think quotes can be an amazing source of inspiration. And one of my favorite places to find inspiration these days is Pinterest. I have a whole board there dedicated to "Words of Wisdom". It's a place I pin quotes and sayings that I connect with :)

I thought I would share a few with you today in the chance that you may find some inspiration as well.

I can't wait to use that one for a photo I took of Mike and the kids at the airport when he returned from a trip :)

I just love Walt Whitman. And think this is very wise advice :)

In many ways, I have. This would be great for an All About Me page. Or "letter to my younger self" page.

I love Van Gogh even more than I love Walt Whitman. And this one got me thinking about using dreams as a source of inspiration for a page some day.

Sigh...at one point in my life, I wanted to be an astronaut. I've already done a page about that dream that didn't happen and why. But I think this quote needs to find it's way on a future page somehow. :)

And last but not least for all of you Harry Potter fans...

I can picture this quote on a page with Erin and her friend Sam! Or a page where Erin is giving me one of her mischievous looks. I guess we will just have to see :)

I am not making this a challenge. I just wanted to share a little inspiration with you today. But if you do end up using one of these quotes, or any other quote, I would love to see your project. So feel free to link here to this post or on the Facebook group page :)

We Remember

Happy Memorial Day from Craft Your Nest! 

Being a mom and a memory keeper, I found this quote particulary relevant:

The greatest glory of a free-born people is to transmit that freedom to their children.
-William Havard

I'm so thankful and grateful for our military men and women and their sacrifices for our freedom. 

For most of us, Memorial Day is a day that we can spend with friends and family (and the unofficial start of summer!).  It's expected to rain all day here in south Georgia (thank you Beryl), so my family will be spending the day indoors.  But if you're in a sunnier part of the country, you may be enjoying a picnic or parade or barbecue with your loved ones. 

There may even be a lucky one or two of you who are taking some time to craft today (cleaning my scraproom is actually on my agenda today).  If you are scrapping, I encourage you to work on one of the Craft Your Nest Challenges for May.  We started with an alphabet sticker challenge, followed by a button challenge, a double-page layout challenge, and finally, a hidden journaling challenge.

You can post your layouts on our Craft Your Nest Facebook Group (and if you're not already a member, please request to join - there's room in our nest!).

We're also looking for a few more Chickadees...please email craftyournest@gmail.com if you might be interested.

Before I go, I'll share a recent layout with you...it just doesn't feel like a blog post without a picture.  ;)

Enjoy your day!

Make a Map

Today I'm going to share something off-the-page.  When I first saw the Studio Calico Abroad state die-cuts, I knew they would make a perfect map for my sons' school room (we homeschool, and have a room off the kitchen dedicated to their books and assorted school supplies).

So, I went to Michael's, bought an 18x24 canvas (for half-price, of course!) and went to work.  I started by inking all the edges of the die-cut states:

Note #1: I took the in-progress pics on my phone, so the color is most definitely off.  ;)
Note #2: If you do a lot of inking, you need one of the Ranger blending tools.  Seriously, it's worth every penny of its $5 price tag (though I'd suggest using a 40% off coupon and grabbing one at a chain craft store).


After inking all the states, I placed them on the canvas in a rough approximation of where I wanted to glue them down:

I'll be honest, New England and the Mid-Atlantic region were not so fun to place; Delaware and Rhode Island make for teeny, tiny die-cut pieces.  (I used micro-tip tweezers.)

And if Geography is not your forte, there is a picture of the completed map on the back of the packaging.  :)

I don't have a picture of the next step, but I pulled out my E-6000 and started glueing down the states.  I probably could have used my ATG, but I wanted to make sure inquisitive little fingers couldn't pull off the pieces, so I went for the stronger adhesive.

As I glued down the states, I brought them together:

After adding some Thickers, I was left with the finished product (please forgive the lack of white-balance):

It's huge and I love it!  I spent just under $3 for the pack of die-cut states, and the canvas was on sale for $8.  I already owned the Thickers and the E-6000, so this made for a very inexpensive piece of wall art.

As we enter the Memorial Day holiday weekend, are you taking time out between picnics and parades to create something?  I'd love to hear about it!

Hidden Journaling Challenge

Hi, Everyone! Mary Jo here with my first post for Craft Your Nest. If you want to learn a little more about me, you can click on the Chickadee link to you right :)

Today I wanted to give you a simple challenge. Have you ever had a layout you wanted to scrap, with a story you wanted to tell, but didn't want to share with just anyone? Hidden journaling can be a great way to get the story down, but protect privacy at the same time.

For this layout, I used a photo that I had taken with my phone and posted to Facebook. I did journal the story about the photo. But I also wanted to have my Facebook status and the comments from others somewhere on the layout as well. I just thought it would be better to keep that hidden to protect the privacy of those who commented.

The status is now hidden behind my photo using a little pull tab with mini clothespin on it :)

Now this next layout is an oldie, but goodie. From way back in 2005 :-O

This was a two page layout I had created about an experience Evan and I had playing in the snow. It started out rocky, but then ended on a positive note thank goodness :)
For this layout, I once again hid the journaling behind the photo, but decided to use a cute little hinge and fabric tab to create a photo door.

And here it is open with the story behind it :)

So my challenge to you today is to tell that story you have been wanting to scrapbook and hide the journaling somewhere on your page. Even if you write it on the back of your layout! You can link your layout up here on this post, or if you are on Facebook we would love it if you could share it on our group page!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Craft Your Nest is back!!!

I'm so excited to be posting again at the Nest.  There were a few technical kinks to work out, but now Craft Your Nest is back and I'm ready to get crafting!

Craft Your Nest is all about using what you have ("using" being the key word here).  I could be a professional scrapbook shopper, I have so many supplies.  But I got into a rut for way too long and didn't use what I was buying.

In an effort to tame the disaster that is my craft room, I've been pulling out some kits that I bought, never opened, and have been sitting, collecting dust for years.  I like kits because a lot of the work has been done for me...and less work is a good thing in my book.  :)

In particular, I've been working on some Basic Grey calendar kits.  I bought these to give to my husband as Christmas gifts.  In my defense, I did make the 2012 calendar and gave it to him this past Christmas.  But 2009 - 2011 were sitting on the floor of my craft room, and I finally decided to do something with them.

Now, fortunately, Basic Grey designed their calendars so that you can trim the layout portion of the calendar to create cute little 8x8 pages.  Everything to create these layouts comes with the kit - all I had to do was add pictures.  I know...there's really no excuse why I didn't make these before.

So I pulled out my paper trimmer and adhesive, and now have a stack sitting in my kitchen, waiting to be put into albums:

I actually two more layouts to finish and I'll have 36 8x8 pages complete!  I'm waiting to finish the last pages before putting them into the albums.  I'm still debating whether to organize them chronologically (by the date the photo was taken) or by season/theme of the page.  I'll update once I decide.

The layouts aren't very fancy, but they're done!  And my husband has been getting a kick out of going through the stack and looking at the pictures of our boys.  And once again, I'm reminded that it's all about the memories.

I'd love to know what you've been working on lately.  Anyone else a kit hoarder like me?

P.S.  Chickadee Mary Jo will be here on Wednesday with our next post.  Also, we have a Facebook page where you can get updates on the blog and also a Facebook group where you can share layouts and chat with other Chicks.  We'd love to see you there!





Double Your Layout

It's a brand-new week, and I'm back with a new challenge here at Craft Your Nest.

Today I'm going to challenge you to create a 2-page spread.  I'll be honest, this is a tough one for me; I'm very double-page challenged.  :)

But, I did create a 2-page layout, and if I can do it, anyone can do it!  I used some pictures from our trip last year to Disney World; my boys were fascinated with the hula hoops some of the staff brought out during dinner.

Now I want to see your double-page layouts.  Simply upload your layout to our Facebook group in the May Challenge #3 album.  Remember, several layouts will be chosen at the end of the month to be featured on our blog!

A Little Pebbles Eye Candy

Am I totally dating myself here?  Anyone else remember the old "I Kandee" line from Pebbles (WAY before their American Crafts days)?

I'm a big fan of Pebbles, and I enjoy their blog.  I'm a simple scrapper, and I think I'm attracted to the clean lines of so many of the layouts featured over there.

Today, I'm going to share a few projects that have caught my eye recently.

First up is a layout by Davinie Fiero.  I seriously love everything about this layout: the border along the top, the banner, the mini clothespins, the mini pinwheels...you name it, I love it!

Next up is a layout by Aphra Bolyer.  I think the colors are fantastic!  And those strips of paper lined up horizontally?  Love them!

Last but not least is this little home decor item by Sarah Webb.  Seriously, is this not adorable?  It looks pretty easy; I think I'm going to try this one.  After all, I certainly own enough buttons!

P.S.  I was not paid or perked for mentioning Pebbles today (heck, they don't even know about this blog!).  I just wanted to share what was making me happy lately.  :)

Keep on Scrapping

I don't have a challenge for you today, just a layout that emphasizes my philosophy toward scrapbooking.  I remember reading an interview with Heidi Swapp many years ago where she was asked if she loved all her layouts.  Her response was along the lines of, "No, I don't love them all, but once a page is done, it's done, and time to move on to another."  Now I'm majorly paraphrasing here, but you get the gist of what she was saying.  You're not going to be crazy in love with everything you create.  Not everything is going to be worthy of being displayed on the living room wall.  And that's ok.

I had pretty much completely stopped scrapbooking for over 2 years.  In prepping for Craft Your Nest, I started scrapbooking again (the site is motivation for me as much as anyone else!).  Some layouts I'm liking more than others.  But I put all of them on a little display stand in the kitchen as they're complete.  And my husband loves to stop and page through them.  He gets a smile on his face as he reads the journaling and looks at the photos.  He doesn't care if one layout has a mistake, or the design is a bit off, or the product is a couple years old.  He enjoys my documentation of our memories.  And that's really why I scrapbook.

We, as crafters, put so much stress on ourselves.  In the end, your family doesn't care which patterned paper you used, or how "trendy" your layout is...they just want to see your memories documented.  That's why I started Craft Your Nest.  We, as scrapbookers, need to get our photos out of boxes and envelopes and the computer, and on to pages and projects, where they can be seen and memories can be relived.

With all that being said, I'm going to share a layout that I'm not so crazy about.  I started this page, and my children decided to "help" me.  So they added the banner in the corner and some of the letter stickers on the banner.  It wasn't where I was going with the page, but instead of tearing it apart, I decided to work with the new additions to my layout.  Here's the finished product:

Do I love it?  Nope.  Did my husband enjoy the page?  Yep.  Did my boys like the layout?  You know it.  And, in the end, it's all good.  I really liked the very next layout I completed.  So, my final words to you - and myself - just keep on scrapping!

Bring Out the Buttons

I'm back!  It's time for another challenge here at Craft Your Nest.

I want to encourage you to pull out your supplies and start scrapbooking, so I chose some easy challenges for our launch week.

The second challenge is to use buttons on your layout.  That's it...easy-peasy.  :)

My sample layout uses some photos I pulled out months and months ago, but I finally scrapped them (apparently, all it takes is the enticement of buttons to get me in gear!).

Now, it's your turn!  To participate in today's challenge, upload your layout to our Facebook group in the May Challenge #3 album.

At the end of the month, several layouts will be randomly chosen from the monthly challenges to be featured here on the Craft Your nest blog.

I can't wait to see what you create!

Our First Challenge!

I'm going to start things off with an easy challenge here at Craft Your Nest - it's all about the alphabets today.

As a self-professed collector of alphabet stickers (Thickers are my favorites!), I have packages and packages of letters in all shapes, styles, and sizes just sitting in my craft room.  And while they're cute in the package, they look much better on my layouts.  So, for today's challenge, I'm going to have you pull out your alphabet stickers.  Your task is to create a layout using two or more types of alphabets.

On my layout, I used some Thickers for the title and smaller Echo Park stickers for the date:

If you'd like to participate in today's challenge, upload your layout to our Facebook group in the May Challenge #1 album.

At the end of the month, several layouts will be randomly chosen from the monthly challenges to be featured here on the Craft Your nest blog.

I look forward to seeing your creations!

We're looking for a few good chicks...

Craft Your Nest is a new scrapbook blog, and we would love to have a few Chickadees for our inspiration team.  We are looking for crafty chicks who are friendly, dependable, and willing to promote Craft Your Nest.

As a Chickadee, you would be expected to post once a week on the Craft Your Nest blog.  The topics for your posts can range from challenges to tutorials to inspiration from around the web to organization (and more!).  We're pretty open to new ideas, as long as it's something that will inspire and motivate other crafters.

The Chickadees will also be required to be active on our Facebook page and group.  When you post to the blog, you will need to share that link on the Facebook page.  You will also want to share layouts for challenges on the Facebook group.

At this time, there is no pay for being a Chickadee, but we will have a special page with your picture, bio, and link to your blog (if you've got one).

If you'd love to be a part of this brand-new adventure, please email us at craftyournest@gmail.com.  Please include your name, a short bio, a link to your blog (if you've got one), and why you think you'd be a good fit for Craft Your Nest.  We look forward to working with you!