A Million Little Things

{Happy Hump Day!}

Elizabeth and I rounded up some Red & Brown Projects for you today!  We just love Red and Brown and thought you might too with the breeze of fall flowing through the air.

First, I will show you Elizabeth's creation.  Below the layout are some of the items she used: 

take our pic

Patterned Paper - Basic Grey

Jounraling tag - My Mind's Eye, Scenic Route

Chipboard - Scenic Route

Letter stickers - Doodlebug

Rubons - American Crafts

 

Here are a couple items I created using our theme, Red & Brown.

Best Friends

pp- MME & Pink Paislee

letter stickers- Jillibean Soup

Brad- Sasafrass Lane

Other- Jute, Ribbon & Stitching

Chipboard- Lil' Davis Designs

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Card

Stamp- Stampin' Up

Flowers- Making Memories Slice

PP- Pink Paislee

Other- Buttons & Ribbon

We hope our Red & Brown Layouts Inspire you to dig into your supplies and Fall into Autumn!

One Minute Monday - Scrapbooking Milestones

Happy Monday, everyone! Kristina here with your One Minute Monday!

I love to scrap every day moments, but another topic I love to scrap are those milestone moments in life. Whether it be milestones in your life or your child's life - be sure to get those down onto a scrapbook page, too!

Here are two milestone layouts I've created recently:

This first one is of my daughter's first lollipop. Might be a silly thing to document, but she wanted me to take pictures of her and the pictures were too cute not to scrap. My daughter isn't really into candy so I wanted to write about that and of course use the cute pictures. ;)

This next layout is a layout of the first time my daughter wrote her name. I made sure to take a picture of it! I just know she's going to love to look back on it one day and I just giggle every time I see that sweet "Y" of hers. She had a tendency to write her Y's like a T with the top lines straight out so I told her that those lines on the Y go "up to the sky" so when she writes them, she really goes up high with those and it's just the sweetest thing! :-D Glad I took a picture of it and was able to document it.

So no matter what kind of milestone it is, be sure to snap a photo of something that represents it and document it! You'll be so glad that you did! Have a good day! :-D

Fabric + Scrapbooking = Fun!

Before I started scrapbooking I had already tried quite a few hobbies. Embroidery, sewing clothes and making quilts were among those hobbies. I know a lot of scrapbookers that happen to be very interested in anything craftsy. Quite a few of you probably have stashes of fabric at home. Put those fabrics to use in your scrapbooking pages! They will add new dimension and will for sure make those pages come alive.

I used some embroidery fabric for the "Mamma"-layout. For the Art-layout I used some of the self adhesive fabric from the Love Elsie-collection that has waited for me by the desk forever. It seems like all self adhesive products eventually dry out, so whenever I use something "older" I always add some fresh glue.

More Links and a Winner :)

Hey there

FIrst, congrats to stinker, who I just drew as the winner for the Prima goodies.  Sorry I missed doing that tuesday.  Please email me so I can send your prize :)

I've been listing again the last couple of days and I have some links for you!

First off, let me give you a side note about Crate Paper.  I got a call from them this morning when I was about to start listing to tell me that some of the products were found to have defects.  Apparently they are trying to get retailers to pull all of the stickers and chipboard off shelves for sale because there are problems with the adhesive. Now Crate paper, they are good people and they really don't want themselves misrepresnted on the market as having crappy quality so I promised Steve I would dispose of all the items and wait for replacements to come in a couple of weeks.    If you have seen these products in other stores you may want to contact them if you cheated on me and bought them elsewhere (LOL, wink wink!).  Therefore, right now only paper, rubons and brads are listed.  All stickers, chipboard and kits will be listed when those items come in stock around the middle of October.  The kits have stickers in them, so therefore I am also holding those back.  Steve however told me I can give the chipboard away as a prize if I do state that you understand that it may not stick properly and you will have to glue it down.  I hate to see it go to waste so enter your name on  this post if you would like to be in a drawing for it, please tell me in your comment you know the adhesive may not be right and you don't care, you will use it anyway.    Here is a picture:

 I'll pick 3 winners at the end of the weekend :)  Remember the product looks perfect, it just may not stick, if you don't care and have some good glue enter yourself :)  I'm sorry to keep repeating myself, but I promised I would :)

So here are the links to new items in the store:

Crate Paper

More Prima Flowers, butterflies, birds

More Prima Alphas, Iron-ons, Donna Downey's New Album

More Prima Pearls

More New 7 Gypsies Items

Bazzill Swiss Dot Restocks, Swiss Dot Scalloped Cardstocks, Glazed Cardstocks

Bazzill Jewels and Jewel TEmplates

New Bazzill Just the Edge Items, New FLowers and Leaves

American Crafts Thicker Restocks, New Colors of Letterman Stickers

American Crafts Missing Flairs for Merrymint, Stickers for Blue Skies and Merrymint

American Crafts Mini Jewel Brads

We R Memory Keepers Geo Hectic and Twirl Paper, Lace, Embossed Stickers

Creative Imaginations New Journaling Books, Christmas Countdown Stickers

I have gotten boxes from Hambly, Tada Studios and Daisy Bucket that I haven't entered yet, FYI.  So far there is no product from October Afternoon, tomorrow will begin my first of usually many "coaxing" calls to see where it may be, my guess is still with them, but wish me luck :).

XO

Jill

Sketch It!

Hi everyone! Are you ready for another Sketch It column and sketch? We hope so! Sketches are such a great way to think outside of the box and to get you going if your creative mojo just isn't there! I love sketches. This month's sketch was taken from the awesome sketch site Inspired Blueprints. Here it is:

Here's my take on the sketch:

Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned paper: Bella Blvd and My Little Shoebox; Letter stickers: American Crafts; :Label: October Afternoon; Fiskars border punch; Ribbon: Misc.

Here is Elizabeth's take on the sketch:

Patterned Paper - Scenic Route Arrow - Scenic Route Letter stickers - Scenic Route Ribbon - KI Memories Journaling spots - Luxe Designs

Stickers - 7gypsies

And this is Katie's take on the sketch:

Cardstock: Bazzill; patterned paper: Cosmo Cricket; Thickers: American Crafts; Mini letter stickers: Making Memories; Journaling block: Jenni Bowlin; Stamps: Sassafrass lass; Punch: Fiskars

We'd love for you to create a layout based on the sketch and e-mail it to us at challenge@amillionlittlethings.com. Jill will draw a winner from everyone who has submitted a layout using the sketch and that person will win an awesome prize from A Million Little Things! You can send us as many layouts as you'd like using the sketch, but there is just one entry into the prize drawing per person. You have two weeks to create a sketch and send it to us! So - get to creating! We hope you enjoy this month's Sketch It and be sure to head on over to Inspired Blueprints too for some more wonderful sketches and inspiration!

One Minute Monday

Hello everyone! Katie here. According to my calendar tomorrow marks the first day of fall and for my family that means lots and lots of football!! So as a little Monday inspiration I thought I share a couple of  football layouts:)

My younger son isn't old enough to play tackle so he plays flag football and has declared this his favorite sport!

(supplies: Bazzill cardstock; Basic Gray patterned paper and chipboard; October afternoon letter stickers; My Little Shoebox little letter stickers; Martha Stewart border punch)

And here is one of my older son's season last year:

(suppiles: Bazzill Cardstock; Cosmo Cricket and Fancy Pants patterned paper; American crafts thickers; Pink Paislee letter sticker; Martha Stewart border punch)

Happy Fall Everyone!

photo friday: creating collages

Hey girls!  Here I am finally sitting down on Friday night to bust out this week’s PHOTO FRIDAY post! :)  I wanted to share a little tidbit about making collages in Photoshop to use on your layouts.  I am by no means a Photoshop guru but maybe what I share today will help you a little.  I’m just going to tell you how I do it but there may be better ways to get to the same end result. :)

First, I open a new file in Photoshop.  I usually use the 8.5x11 size but if I know I’m going to be printing my photos on 5x7 photo paper, I’ll design my collage on that size.  Today I’m designing on an 8.5x11 as if it is my scrapbook layout. 

I usually place a few guides on the page to give me a few boundaries for my collage. 

Then I’ll use my rectangular marquee tool to create shapes for my photos.  Be sure you create a new layer for each shape you create. 

So, I’ll create a new layer and use my marquee tool to size my first photo spot and I’ll fill it by right clicking and choosing “fill”. Repeat this process until you’ve designed your collage.

Now comes the fun part…adding your photos!   Open the photos you want in your collage in Photoshop.  Then drag your first photo onto your collage file.  In your layers palette, move the photo to be right above the layer you want it in for your collage.   Now right click on your photo layer in the layers palette and choose “create clipping mask”.  You can now resize your photo and it will stay within the square or rectangle you created in the layer just below it.  Once you resize it, you can use your move tool to move the photo within the shape to your liking.  Repeat with each additional photo.  And whaaalaaa, you just created a collage.

Here’s a shot of my finished collage and a peek at my layers palette.

This may be a bit confusing as it’s sometimes hard to type out instructions on how to do something in a computer program but hopefully some of you will benefit from today’s Photo Friday.  Have a question?  Leave us a comment below and we’ll respond there as well!

Happy Friday!  Enjoy your weekend!

Links, Coming Goodies News, etc...!

Good Afternoon Everyone.

Hope you are all doing well.  Things have been a bit slow on the blog this week haven't they?  I have to take my part of the responsibility for that silence :).  It's been another one of those weeks and I'm starting to think that it will continue to be one of those weeks until October!  I've had several of you email me and contact me about me being "crazy" or really busy lately.  I'm a little embarassed I guess, but please know  I'm ok, I promise.  Sometimes I realize I'm just a little too real for my own good!!

I have contemplated a lot lately the reasons why I feel like I just can' t catch up to myself.  The store has been far, busier in the past so I don't think it is the store.  I've come to conclusion that it is the work/home balance between my real life with "big" boys, vs. the past real life with "little" and baby boys.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that having little ones and babies isn't an incredible amount of work, but it is just very different I'm learning.   I think in the past when my kids were small I used to make excuses to be downstairs all the time since we were all home anyway.  We worked an incredible amount of hours some of those months, a fact I actually look back on now and regret a little.  Those are however lessons learned I suppose, as at that time we were just in survival mode trying to run a growing business on our own.  As they grow more of a physical presence is required to take them places, and support all their many undertakings.   That is a very good thing I am learning and it's a wake up call.  So thank you to everyone for reading this blog and your patience with me as I figure it out and complain/vent to all of you about it.  I really don't  mean to come across as ungrateful or a big whiner if  am please forgive me.  I hope you take it as I mean it, more apologizing for myself as I am not able to complete everything I need to in a day and it may or may not effect you as my customers.    I do however realize that I have to have a life outside of the store, which for the last 5 years has been pretty non-existent.     Again, thank you for those of you that have stuck with me for years and continue to do so.  This store was built by you, my loyal customers and my desire to make you happy :)!  

Moving on.. PLEASE!

So many of you have noticed I listed a BIG HUGE amount of Prima and other items earlier this week.   Thank you to everyone that waited for me to get my act together on that Prima. Wow, that was a project, I can't believe how much stuff can fit in those boxes, and there is another one that just arrived yesterday!   The major problem with that much product is finding a place to put it!  That was interesting!  

I want to let you know what I have here in the store that hasn't been listed before I give you links.  I have a few boxes of Bazzill, Crate Paper, a few items from Creative Imaginations, 2 of the new WE R lines, 7 gypsies, more AC items still trickling in,  and another huge box of Prima as I mentioned.  I believe that is all, but I will be honest and tell you I haven't opened any of them yet as that creates a mess before I'm prepared to tackle it.  My in-laws are visiting tonight and tomorrow (another source of stress for the week as I feel my house has to be immaculate for my mother in law, anyone else do that?)and once they leave I will dig in and tackle it.    I am still glad to combine orders if yours has not shipped yet, and I alwasy look to make sure customers don't have more than 1 order before I ship to help absorb shipping in any way possible.   So here are some links:

Bella Blvd Collection of 4 paper lines, stamps and flowers

New Magazines

Lily Bee Rubons

LYB Halloween Journaling book (this is the only item I ordered from the Halloween collection, the other collections will come later)

PRIMA:

Bargain Flowers and Bling (only a few left these went FAST!)

Clear Stamps and Bling

More Flowers

Misc Items, Canvas, Fabric Items

Patterned Paper

Art Sttiched Paper and Embellies 

Say it in Pearls/ Studs Embellishments

Here is a little prize of brand new Prima items I have to give away to one of you today:

Just leave a comment if you'd like to win.  I'll pick a winner Tuesday.

Have a spectacular weekend!

Jill

Oh and FYI... October Afternoon told me they were going to start shipping today and continue through the next week.  I'm not sure how accurate that estimate is, we will see :)

One Minute Monday - Tag it!

Today is our oldest daughter's eleventh birthday. I still remember the pain and the anguish I felt that morning (my husband was in Philadelphia while I was in a delivery room in Sweden with my mother and my aunt...). I also remember the joy and the tears of happiness when Elina finally had entered this world. Amazing! This morning we took a few minutes to browse Elina's scrapbook from her first year. Wow! That scrapbook was my first, my Scrapbook Baby. I have changed the way I think when I scrapbook since then. I might have considered remaking a few pages (though I won't), but I also got a few ideas. One was Tags! I used to make tags and put them on all my scrapbooking pages. I also made tags for cards and tags that simply were tags. So- this is a reminder to us all. Tag it!

I made two tags that really look different even though they have exactly the same colours and even the same ribbon. I'll use the romantic one for a card and the tougher one for a layout.

basic grey kit-september

 I have said it before and I will say it again, Basic Grey ROCKS! I love the kit for this month. The papers and accents are awesome and worked so perfectly with the pictures I wanted to scrap! The papers are from the new Indian Summer line and they work so well for Fall pictures, and I think so many other things too. As you can see, I used them for both a Thanksgiving layout and a layout about my two girls getting to know one another

here are my samples:

patterned paper, chipboard, journaling card, brads and transparency: all from the September Basic Grey kit

 

patterned papers and chipboard letters: Basic Grey September kit, butterfly punch-Martha Stewart

As I have mentioned before, I dont keep to the theme of he kits and tend to do my own thing, so if you are following along with the kits, here is the sample provided for this month. The layout was created by the incredible Nic Howard