Oh My ...Its Raining Family and Cats and Dogs!

The Scharff Family 2014

Hi Friends,

The New Year is upon us and the holidays are behind us.  It was a very eventful holiday season for our family this year.  We love having family and friends visit and this year was really special for all of us! 

Our twins, Jennifer and Jessica were having a milestone birthday this New Years Eve, so we were thrilled when Jennifer (in the white sweater) and our darling granddaughter Quinn (next to her mom) decided to fly in on Christmas Day!  Time with loved ones is always precious and even more so when out of state visits are far and few between.   

We were all so busy (and I was bushed) I barely remembered to take pictures of us!  What???   Well I did get this one, so from our house to yours, wishing you all a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2015!   May your dreams and wishes for the New Year come true! 

So lets get this scrappy party started...

I'm a bit late, but I thought I would close out my 2014  blog posts by sharing pictures of the mini albums I made for our girls this year.  Jennifer and Jessica love their fur babies so when Graphic 45 introduced their Raining Cat's and Dog's Collection, I knew had to make them a keepsake mini for their beloved pets. 

I used a simple folded envelope tutorial to make these easy pages and then developed a unique binding method to pull them all together.   I promise to learn how to video tape this year, because I know that pictures just don't capture certain projects, like mini's, the way they should.  Lets have a peek anyway.  I didn't post pics of both books but here's one I hope you enjoy:

Chunky, Pretty and Fun!

The books are 6 double sided envelop pages with 5 tag pockets.  With 3 tags per pocket, they got a little chunkier than I thought they would.   The photo mats are all double sided so there is plenty of room for journaling or any other little goodies you may want to tuck away.   

The Cats Meow

Cool Cat

Lucky Dog

Dog Day Afternoon

Love is a Four Legged Word

The Cats Meow

C is for Cat

Puppy Love

Lucky Dog

Carte Postale

The Cats Pajamas

Well friends that's it for me today.  Thank you so much for dropping by to visit.  Until next time, make something from the heart and enjoy a happy day!   Hugs ~ Dawna

"FRIENDS" Altered Home Decor Blocks

Hi Friends,

I'm sharing my next installment in a series of posts featuring items I created for a Goodie Bag Swap being hosted by Martica at scrapbook.com.   Please refer to the post titled  "Life Doesn't Have to Be Perfect to Be Wonderful" Tag for complete swap details.   

This is a 10 item secret sister swap, which is not only a large swap, but was a lot of fun for me since I already know my secret sister!  These "FRIENDS" altered home decor blocks are for item #8 the something to be displayed category. 

These blocks were so fun and simple to make anyone could  try their hand at this project.  They came out so charming and the display possibilities are simply endless.  I'm sure my secret sister is going to love  them!    

Lets take a closer look at this adorable FRIENDS set:

First thing I decided to do was use Graphic 45's "Little Darlings" designer paper collection for this project.  My secret sister loves peach and these papers have the perfect color palette for her.   It also incorporates my current favorite color aqua so that makes me happy too! 

Every other block is taller than its neighbor beginning with a tall one and ending with a tall one (about 4 1/2").  The ones in between are about an 1 1/2" shorter making decorating them evenly impossible.  However with 7 letters,  4 tall and 3 short, height wise everything worked out evenly.  I decided to make the letters all the same size (2 1/2/") and drop them down from the top of the block the same distance (about 1/2") to allow extra room at the bottom of the tall blocks for flower clusters.  

To keep the design balanced I decided to decorate the large blocks more elaborately than the small blocks which I wanted to keep simple.   I decided to use the simple gingham print for the large blocks with flowers, lace, printed leaves, curly sprigs and a fussy cut rose behind the letter.  I dabbed ink on the lace and flowers here and there using Prima's Color Blooms in light teal.  I repeated this process for all 4 tall blocks.  

For the smaller blocks I used the baby face patterned paper and stenciled them using Prima's "Art Is" stencil which is a beautifully worded description of the creative process.  You can see the wonderful texture the molding paste leaves in the picture above.  The aqua butterflies were fussy cut and layered to add dimension.  The butterflies were finished off with an aqua pearl. 

All the FRIENDS letters were cut from the Cricut using the Storybook font at 2 1/2."  A "handmade with love" ribbon banner was added to the small 'E" and it was adhered and shaped using molding paste then lightly inked with light teal. 

All the large blocks have a single large Prima red and white "Gallery Rose" except for this "N" which uses the three smaller roses to create a large flower cluster.  Again, I used the printed leaves, curly sprigs, and a fussy cut rose behind the letter. 

All of the letters are finished off with 3 medium sized (8mm) peach pearls.  

Well friends, that's it for this post.  If you enjoyed this project and have a minute to leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you.   If you are new to my blog, feel free to 'follow' along or sign up for emails to see what's next.  

Thank you so much for dropping by today.  Wishing you all a perfectly wonderful day!  Remember to create from the heart and live your life inspired!   Big Hugs ~ Dawna