SEI July Desktop Calendar

Have you been playing? We sure have been! It's summer and we are all planning and doing fun activities like hikes and river rafting and new house painting and all sorts of good things. So enjoy your fun filled July-we sure will!

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Let us know if you have any questions. Enjoy!

P.S. If you're a club member...this artwork will show itself again in September. Get excited!

Wonderful You

Lisa's Corinne card is so happy and thoughtful. Doesn't everyone need to be reminded how wonderful they are?

Yeager Time

Audrey mixed several collections for this layout. Not only that, she mixed photos from several different days. She was able to tie all the photos and collections together with a lovely color palette. It helps that colors she chose come from colors already in the photos.

Audrey loves to have elements sticking off the top of her scrapbook pages. They stick out just enough so that when she puts them in her album, the album protects them. What a great idea!

This layout works great for any occasion. Wouldn't it be perfect for 4th of July too? With the red, white, blue, and stars. It just goes to show that you don't have to have a paper collection specially designed for Independence day to create a themed layout.

Soccer Star

Julie's little soccer star inspired another great layout with the I'm an Athlete collection. The photo and embellishments really pop off the gray page. What a perfect way to add bright colors without letting them take over! The groupings around the title and photo also help keep the focus where it belongs.

We are continually amazed by the great work our design team members are doing. Please help us show our gratitude by leaving them plenty of comments and visiting their blogs.

Promise Me

Now introducing SEI's Promise Me collection...

This collection enchants every romantic heart. Each delicate pattern reminds you that romance really is in the details. Let your love shine with gold, pink, and pearl foils. Shimmer cardstocks and shining embellishments will make your heart flutter and make your loved ones crafts glimmer.

That's all for our CHA sneak peeks. Thank you for your comments!

Silver Valley

Now introducing SEI's Silver Valley collection...

This collection is an enchanting sleigh ride through the forest. Wrap yourself in toasty warm patterns as you take in the winter scenes. Each silvery and pearly accent will highlight every unforgettable moment.

Check back for more sneak peeks!

Bloom • Blossom • Become

Lisa is a pro at combining collections in subtle ways. She combined warm papers from the Sunny Day collection with Claire brads for this charming card.

Use this technique on your next project by organizing your papers and embellishments by color, rather than theme or collection. You may discover some fun new paper combinations.

Holiday Cheer

Now introducing SEI's Holiday Cheer collection...

This collection makes all your holiday events jolly! Catch the spirit with twinkling lights and merry little friends. Play with your favorite reindeer or bundle up and build your own snowman!

Check back for more sneak peeks!

Final Four Layout

Audrey did some really ingenious things with the I'm an Athlete collection. She cut pieces of the basketball court out of the court paper rather than use the entire sheet. She kept the layout calm by using the gray on the back of the diamond paper.

In this detail you can see how she cut basketballs out of the rebound paper. This is a great way to increase the number of "embellishments" you have to work with. In the top left corner of this image you get a little closer view of that awesome title she created with a pen. The pen creates a really nice texture that compliments the collection.

This detail shows another one of those basketball "embellishments". We like how she crinkled the tickets a little to add depth and interest. Those little strips are cut out of the endzone paper.

This is what Audrey said about her layout. "Since we don't have any sports players in our family, yet, I was lucky that my father in law got tickets to the NCAA Final 4 games so that I could use these papers! For the title, I just traced some chipboard letters that I had and colored them in with black pen."

Homestead

Now introducing SEI's Homestead collection...

This collection invites you to a rustic world, filled with warm and welcoming touches. Watch the river easing past and the leaves rustling along the beaten path, leading you inside to the family hearth. Enrich your memories with shining foils and glistening accents, highlighting your heartfelt family moments.

Check back for more sneak peeks!

White Elegance Cards + Winner

We hope you had a Happy Father's Day yesterday! Let's kick off the work week with the giveaway winner from Friday's giveaway, shall we?

The winner is #29, Melissa Elsner! Congratulations! Please e-mail us your mailing address so we can send off your goodies. Now on to more lovely projects from our design team member, Lori Mancini...


Lori created these fun cards using the White Elegance collection. They are pretty, creative and show off the versatility of the papers perfectly.

This is what Lori said about these beauties...

I wanted to create some simple and cute cards but with out much fuss. I love the white elegance papers for background - they add so much texture and movement to any project with their beautiful tone on tone patterns.

I used the Couture Die Cuts with the Foil side and they go so great with the white elegance... perfect pairing!

Thanks, Lori! Come back at today at noon today for the first of our...

Journaling into Anticipation + GIVEAWAY

Thank you so much for hanging out with me all week and letting me share my creative work and other tidbits about me! It has really been an honor to be here and I am thankful for the opportunity.

Today I wanted to share one last layout, but this one incorporates the journaling techniques I discussed in yesterday’s post.

I took various photos one evening when we were in our backyard playing a mean game of softball. I took some action photos of the girls and of course when you have a pink bat, you must pose!

I wanted to get some different angles and detailed shots so I moved around. Plus, even in backyard softball I still get bored! I ended up taking these shots in the process:

I had several of our backyard softball game photos developed, even the 2 focused on the ball. When I was looking through my photos to scrap I kept coming back to these, however, when I look at them I don’t initially go to the impromptu game, but rather the thought of anticipation kept coming to me. You can see that both girls have their gloves ready and waiting for the ball to come to them.

I literally and figuratively took the anticipation route with this layout. Our family is in a constant state of anticipation because we are military. Always wondering when and where the next move will be, if it will go smoothly, if we will make more great friends, etc. So this is what I journaled about on this layout.

Instead of using tons of space for a journaling block, I just took various journaling and labeling stickers from the Corinne sticker sheet and used that space for my journaling. A few sentences, but exactly what I wanted to get across, which is the goal for me!

For the title, I used the Ivy ink block and ran it across a section of cardstock where I knew the title would go. I sprayed just a bit of white spray ink over top, adhered my title, stitched over it and called it done!

Thank you again for hanging with me this week! It’s been so much fun to host the blog!
Christa

Thanks for those journaling tips, Christa! They are definitely going to come in handy. We really enjoyed getting to know you and learning some fun new things to try too.

To win some of the paper-crafting products Christa used this week, leave a comment on this post telling us which was your favorite this week. The giveaway ends June 19th at 11:59 pm mst. The winner will be announced Monday.

Journaling Block

Today I want to focus on something that lots of scrappers will say is one of the most difficult parts of putting a page together: the journaling. Whether it’s the process of writing the journaling, how to incorporate it or just trying to choose the right words, it’s one of those things that doesn’t always come easily to everyone.

This is probably one of my favorite parts of the scrapbooking process. Sure, I love the pretty papers, embellishments and photos, but hands down I love telling the story first and foremost. I’m not very good about detailing events, like birthdays and holidays, but love to document our everyday lives, our quirks, and my feelings about things at a certain point in time.

Today I thought I would give some starting off points for those that do struggle with journaling on their pages.

*Look through photos and write down what strikes you as you look through them. Not just the who, what, when, and where of the photo, but beyond that. If you look at a certain photo of your son or daughter and it makes you smile or giggle, why is that? Does he/she always make that same funny face, were you all dancing around silly that day, was it after a difficult day or week with him or her and now you came out on the other side of it all? These are the types of things I like to scrap the most and will go with my gut when I look through photos.

For instance, this photo is from my daughter taking a field trip with her class last year to an animal sanctuary.

I could have made a page about the trip and what we did that day. However, when I look at this picture I don’t remember that day, but I see her personality as a shy little girl who is introspective and at times vulnerable. So that’s what I made a page about: my feelings on her vulnerability, but also her insight.

Another example is this photo of my girls from the first day of school:

I could have given the details of them starting school, what grade, teacher, etc., but instead I focused on what life will look like in the future as parents of 2 teenage girls. I journaled about our survival of those years and how we will get through it (hopefully)!

*Look for prompts on blogs and websites. There are so many different challenge blogs and websites that will have a weekly or monthly theme that will get you thinking beyond the details and events. I love taking part in these to push myself.

*Get creative with your journaling placement. It doesn’t have to be paragraphs upon paragraphs of journaling in a large block, although I do love me a good journaling block!! You can use paper strips, premade journaling tags, stamps that have journaling lines, hide your journaling within a pretty envelope or under a photo, or as I’ll show you tomorrow, putting it on stickers throughout your page.

Again, to me, meaningful journaling doesn’t have to be super long, but just that: meaningful to you and your family. That when they look back on the layout, photos and journaling it floods back memories to them too and it’s something you can all sit and share together.

Christa

Hello Friend Card

So hopefully everyone’s bellies are full from yesterday and ready for more paper goodness today!

I will admit that cards scare me-to death. I’m slowly but surely getting over my fear of them, but looking at a 5” x 5” square of paper makes me start to sweat and feel inadequate! But, I felt like the large flowers from the Walk On Air paper were screaming to be center stage.

I cut one of them out, plus a smaller flower for added color and layered them together. I added a brad from the Claire collection that I already had in my stash to finish it off. The rest is quite simple. I sewed together a strip of paper and a larger block of paper, added the beautiful letter sticker tabs and finished it off with epoxy stickers! Very simple, but that’s how I do cards!
Christa

Summer Salad is Here

So today we’re going to take a break from scrapbooking photos and goodies and put the focus on SUMMER!!! Believe it or not we are JUST NOW getting out of school for the summer and I’m not sure who is more ready, my girls or myself! Although get back to me in a month and let’s see how ready I am for school to start up again, what with the arguing and fussing from 2 said girls.

To me summer is all about grilling out, mixing up fun salads and glorious ice cream and popsicles. Not to mention hanging out with friends and just losing ourselves in time and fun. I love the laziness and relaxation of it all. Can you tell I’m a warm weather gal?!

My amazing mother-in-law introduced me to a great summer salad a couple of years ago and my husband and I find ourselves craving it as soon as the temps reach 70 degrees. Sure, it can be made any time of year, but to me it screams summer.

It’s colorful, sweet and just hands down delicious! So my contribution to you and the blog today is this yummy recipe. It’s super easy and you’ll thank me for it later.

4 cups broccoli, chopped
3 boneless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons soy sauce (I use reduced sodium)
2 cloves minced garlic
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup mayonnaise (I use light to save some calories!)
3 tablespoons orange marmalade jelly
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1 chopped onion

In a large skillet, layer the 3 chicken breast on the bottom then pour the water, soy sauce and garlic over the top. Cover and cook on medium heat until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Remove chicken from the pan and let it cool for 20 minutes, then cut into approximately ½” cubes.
Combine the chicken, broccoli, cranberries, pecans and onion in a large bowl. Whisk together the mayonnaise and orange marmalade in a small bowl. Pour the dressing over the top then toss to coat. Refrigerate and serve.

See? Easy peasy and very yummy!
Christa