{New Year's Eve - Top 12}

As the year comes to a close, here's a look back at my top 12 fave layouts from twenty-twelve.

#1. Santa Cruz Boardwalk

Love everything about this! The wood plank paper, the tickets, the banner, all things you would see at the boardwalk.

 

#2 Dumbo

My Mom and me, Disneyland 1967.

 

#3 Yummy

Love the cut out clouds on this one!

 

#4 Right on Time

My Mom & Dad in-law on our vacation

to Yellowstone. My first time using

the "pizza slice" technique.

 

#5 Food Trucks

Clean and simple layout...love it!

 

#6 Great Aunt Ruby 1968

The only photo I have of me &

my Great Aunt Ruby. So very special to me!

 

#7 Eclipse

Love that I captured the image of the

eclipse through the viewer they made.

 

#8 First Trailer

Gotta love the old b &w photos of Mom and Dad.

 

#9 Sweet Memories

One of my favorite pics of Baby G. She already

has a layout in her album using this pic, I had to

make one for the family album too ;)

#10 The House that Love Built

Another heritage photo I'm so glad I have.

#11 You Make my Heart Sing

Scraps, stitching, washi tape and a cute photo. Perfect!

#12 She Inspires

I used my Grandma's old measuring tape
on this one. She started my love for
playing with paper by cutting paper dolls for me when I was a little girl.

 

Once again I like to look back and see the trends (like washi tape, twine and confetti) and wonder what new ideas will be popular in 2013. What trends will I follow? What old trends from my beginning scrapbooking days will come back around??  I still have 4 or 5 pair of decorative scissors, circa 1990 that I can use ;)

Some people refer to me not just as a scrapbooker, but as a paper artist. I like to think of myself as a memory keeper and story teller, recording the memories and stories I want to remember forever.

Thanks so much for making my little part of the world-wide-web one of your daily visits. I appreciate the comments and sweet words from each and every one of you! I'll see you in 2013!
Mary Ann

{We R Memory Keepers}

I was so excited when We R Memory Keepers asked me to be a Guest Designer :)   I was even more excited when I saw the beautiful papers and embellishments they sent me to play with!!!



Don't you love the Winter Frost collection, such beautiful colors and patterns!! 
Here is a little sneak peek of another layout too...

Stop by We R Memory Keepers Facebook page today to see more of the layout!

Thanks so much to We R Memory Keepers for the opportunity :)
Mary Ann

{Imaginisce Good-Bye Blog Hop}

My time on the Imaginisce Design Team is coming to an end, so along with some of the other designers, we have put together a blog hop to share some of our favorite projects. Here's a few of mine:

I've loved working for Imaginisce this year, it has truly been such a wonderful experience! The DT girls, along with our fearless leader Cari, have all been so inspiring and become friends too. Thank you too to Imaginisce, I have loved playing with all the beautiful papers, embellishments and tools!

To continue on today's part of the hop, please visit Ilene's blog next. Be sure to visit all the blogs and leave a comment and you could win a paper pack/collection!!
In case you get lost, here are all the blog's on today's part of the hop in order:
Imaginisce
Rebecca
Regina
Mary Ann (that's me!)
Ilene
Diana

As always, thanks for stopping by!
Mary Ann

{My Minds Eye}

Be sure to check out the My Minds Eye blog today...they are using my "Adorable" layout from earlier this year, as inspiration.  So very fun!

As always, thanks for stopping by!
Mary Ann

From our Home to Yours,

Merry Christmas!

{Snowman Tea Lights)

Merry Christmas Eve!
I have a fun little holiday gift up on the Love My Tapes blog today. They are quick and easy to make, just perfect for a friend or neighbor that drops by.

I've seen so many different versions of these on Pinterest, some quite detailed, but for mine I just used cardstock for the hat and holly, a few rhinestones and washi tape (on a piece of white cardstock) for his scarf.

The battery operated tea lights can be found almost anywhere, and are fairly inexpensive.

Such a fun project, the kids could even help on this one ;)

Thanks for stopping by today!  Only 1 more sleep until Santa arrives!
Mary Ann

{Pinspiration}

I have a post up on the Love My Tapes blog today for this fun little Christmas project. This idea has been around for awhile and I've seen many versions of the poem, but this one is my favorite!

I started with a sandwich size bag, filled it with uncooked oats, then added in gold and red colored cake sprinkles.

Next I cut a circle from the front part of a brown paper sack, then added the bag of food. I folded the top of the sack over, and stapled so it would stay together, and hold the bag of reindeer food, then added a strip of washi tape to cover the staples. I typed the cute poem on a tag and of course the reindeer needed a red rhinestone nose! I can't wait until Christmas eve to see this sprinkled all over our yard ;)

Here is the poem in case you want to make your own Reindeer Food!

Be sure to take this MAGIC FOOD

and sprinkle on the lawn,

on Christmas, Santa's Reindeer

travel miles before the dawn.

The smell of oats

and glitter path

will guide them on their way

and you'll wake up

to Santa's gifts next morn

on Christmas Day!

 

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Mary Ann

{Winter Snow Globe Card}

I have a fun little holiday card to share with you today, made with papers from the Paper Bakery's November kits.



To make the card, I cut a 4" cardstock circle for the globe, a small rectangle for the base, then a smaller piece for the bottom of the base. I also added a small piece of white paper to resemble snow!

 

I cut three triangles for trees, three tree stumps, and glued them to the cardstock circle. Next I cut a 4" circle from clear packaging that alphabet stickers had come in, and sewed it to the cardstock circle, leaving an opening at the bottom. I added confetti punched from white paper, and glued the opening shut. Now the confetti can float freely between the two layers.

Next I glued the snow globe base pieces to the globe. To make it an actual card, I added a piece of white cardstock the same shape as the whole snow globe and only glued the very top edges together, the two pieces then become the front and back of the card :)

 

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Mary Ann

{Christmas Cards}

These Christmas cards are up on the Imaginisce blog, both were made using left over scraps like so many of us have in our stash ;)

Cut strips from two different patterned papers, cut to various sizes and layer into tree shape.

Add tree trunk, star for tree topper and small brad daddies covered with coordinating paper to look like ornaments.

Cut ornament shape using die cutting machine, or draw by hand and cut.  Add a small strip of coordinating paper to center of card and machine stitch if desired. Layer die cut Santa and snowflake and add to card with foam tape for dimension.

Add gold glitter or Stickles to top of card to resemble ornament cap.

As always, thanks for stopping by!
Mary Ann

{Wonderful}

Here's a layout I made for Scrapbook Daisies using the Sweetest Thing collection from My Minds Eye.

The fun thing about the layout, this is the paper I started with:

I wanted to add the banner pieces to the left side of the paper so I just turned it upside down, then and added bits and pieces from this paper:

A little machine stitching, a few rhinestones, and it was done. I used just 2 pieces of paper for the whole layout!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Mary Ann

{a Holiday Tradition]

The newest issue of GCD Studios magazine The Paper Cut is here! It's full of great ideas for the upcoming holidays and Winter months too. Here is my layout from the magazine using this months sketch:

and the sketch:

I followed the sketch pretty closely by keeping the 3 photos the same size and placement as the sketch, and the page title at the top on the right. I took the idea of the photo corners as shown on the top and bottom photos of the sketch, and used a photo corner punch to make my own arrow design.
To see more, click on the magazine cover!

Open publication - Free publishing - More art

As always, thanks for stopping by! Mary Ann

{It's that Time of Year!}

I love having my December Daily all ready to go. Tonight I will add the photo I took this morning, and am ready for day 2 tomorrow.



Are you making a December Daily this year? I'd love to see it, leave a link in the comments so we can all come take a peek!

Thanks for stopping by,
Mary Ann