2013 Smash Book

Did you like all the sneak peeks so far?  Well, we have more projects to share over the next few days, so remember to stop by to see all the neat stuff our guest designers have been busy working on...

And now it's time to announce who our guest designer is for this release!  I actually met this talented gal right here in Hilo.  She took a couple of classes for me before and has participated in a couple of my craft fairs.  Any guesses?  I guess you'll have to follow the link to see who I'm talking about...

And more surprises... Debi's back!  Yay!!  She had to take care of business during our last release, but we are soooooo happy to have her back. Things just weren't the same without you girl!  Please visit her here to see what she has up her sleeve....

It's official, my curiosity has gotten the best of me.  I'm finally jumping on the Smash Book bandwagon! I finally committed and bought me a new Fuji Instax camera which is awesome for smash-booking.  No excuses.  Your picture prints out (polaroid style), so you can't say that you need to wait to print up your pictures to start scrapping.  They even have some ca-ute film with borders like Hello Kitty, etc.! Can't wait to bust them open on my trip to Japan!!

So, since I'm getting back into scrapbooking- smash book style, I decided to make my own using our new images.  Here's the cover of my book.  I had two chipboard pieces that I used as my covers and covered them with some Graphic 45 Bird Song paper- my fave!  Decided to model my book like a planner/scrapbook, so I used the date to be my title.  See Maneki Neko and Daruma?  They are small but make such cute accents!

Here's a close up of the two lucky charms..

Oh, and I like it when people add charms to their books, so I attached a few from my stash. Finally putting them to use!

Here's the first page... Since the Daruma is all about goal setting, I thought it might be good to document my goals for 2013.  I distressed the edges with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo and then stamped all images using brown archival ink (by Ranger) .  I also found a kanji stamp for "success", which I thought was very fitting for this layout.  The 2013 stamp was actually individual numbers from a Papertrey ink set.  I just arranged them into a 2013 and stamped it twice on the page.

Here's a close up of the Darumas.....

I thought it would be a good thing to identify my plan for success, so I added another page using Maneki Neko since he's a symbol for good fortune.  The background stamp used was from a Fiskar's set.  I also stamped a kanji for "good fortune".  How fortunate I had it! :)

And here's the kitty's hanging out...

 Finally, I added a page for general "notes" and used the Kokeshi doll for accent.  I don't know if you can see, but I also stamped a "things to do" in the background.  This is also from another Papertrey Ink set.

And here's a close up of the doll...

I love how you can use these images separately or together.  Don't forget to find out who our guest designer is and see what Debi's been up to!

And don't forget to check in tomorrow for more fun!  The Chinese Zodiac team is back with samples using our next two animals, so don't miss out!