Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker

Awards Breakfast and Day of CHA!

2012-01-30T07:00:00.001-05:00

I have no words for what I felt today! So honored that CHA choose me for their "Service to Humanity" award. It as much bigger than I ever thought, 500 people in this banquet room that I had to walk in front of the get my award and to speak too! I was a bit of a mess, I thought it was going to be a small little breakfast of about 20 some people! Boy was I shocked when I walked in this huge room! I think I went straight to panic mode! After my wonderful husband talked me off the roof I was able to get through the entire event. Thank goodness I had no idea that the presidents, CEO's and vice presidents of Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Arichers, and Ben Franklin where there for this event! Not sure I would've made it through had I known everyone that was there!! Here are some pictures of me from the awards breakfast.

This picture was actually taken after the breakfast back in my booth.

Okay so I know this is a VERY blurry picture but it is the ONLY picture I have of me speaking.

(Hubby was having camera issues.)

This was the stage, and on each side of the stage was a huge big screen that you

while you are talking the camera is projecting it up on the big screens.

(A bit intimidating.)

After the awards breakfast for pictures...

These are all the other wonderful people that received awards for various things.

(You can read their stories etc. Here.)

I'm so tired today so I'm going to just show one little picture of my booth!

(But its one of my favorites!)

This was my grandma's night stand for most of her life, so I LOVED having it with me!

Many more pictures to come, promise!

Have a great Monday!

Having the time of my life!!

2012-01-27T07:00:00.002-05:00

To be honest I've never been a big fan of the LA area, some parts I love and some well, not so much. BUT I love it this time around! It is beautiful and the temperature here is fantastic!!

Every time I've been here its has been raining so that maybe why I love it so much this time, the last couple sunny days are wonderful.

Here are the trees outside the convention center... so pretty.

Today was day one of setting up. The first thing I do is hold my breath until I see my crates (all in one piece) then I finally let that breath out and hold it until everything is unpacked and if nothing is too damaged then another big sigh of relief.

And here they are all in one piece.

Then the manual labor starts...

and the thinking it all through starts.

Then lunch outside under the trees on a perfect day!

And some silliness too...

(I have no clue what I'm doing and why I'm doing it!)

More pictures later!

One last little project I want to share...

made with my "Noah" paper line!

(Created by DT Diva Stacy Rodriguez.)

Happy Friday!

I'll be back soon!

WE'VE LANDED IN LA!

2012-01-26T06:00:00.001-05:00

Dan and I arrived in Anaheim at about 2 pm yesterday! We left a cold and very wet state and landed in a sunny 76 degrees state... it was a bit of a shock to my system, and adjusting to the 2 hour difference is always a bit hard for me for about the first 24 hours then I'm fine. After we checked into our hotel we went and had dinner. We were both starving with not having had a lunch, so we decided on the Cheesecake Factory and we had the entire restaurant to ourselves since it only only 4 in the afternoon.

Dan waiting for the food (with his best friend "Mr. iPhone")

Here are our after dinner sweet treats, I had banana cheesecake and Dan had the hot apple crisp.

(He also had all my whip cream from my cheesecake, in case you are wondering what all that white stuff is on his plate, as I can not stand whip cream!)

LA sunset, so pretty, but look at the perfect crescent moon in the upper left corner.

Tomorrow we will start unpacking the crates and start setting up the booth, this will be a 3 day process so we don't have to put in really long hours. I'll update you with some pictures on tomorrows blog post.

I don't know about you but leaving home is always so hard to do with a kiddo and 4 dogs, but this time surprisingly Nico was the hardest to leave behind. I think it was because he saw the suitcases come out and knew in that moment what was going to take place. So he was stuck to me like GLUE!

You can see in this picture that he is right behind my legs while I was doing the dishes yesterday.

Isn't this just the sweetest picture, but so sad!

(Thank goodness he has no clue about how long we will be gone!)

Don't forget to grab a badge for your blog. Next week we'll start hopping around the blog and picking winners, you will win the collection of the badge that you post on your blog.

You will know if you are a winner because Katrina or I will comment on your newest blog post.

Happy Thursday!

Buttons, Buttons and Nico!

2012-01-25T07:00:00.001-05:00

My Cute as a Button, Burlap Buttons have been so popular that I thought I'd make a sweet little frame with the buttons and some stitching for my booth and Valentine's Day!

I used the buttons for this frame and added one little black button too!

I also made some sweet little wrappers for candy bars for some friends of mine.

I used my papers from my "Messages" collection and burlap buttons.

The buttons I used...

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Last but not least I had to share some pictures of Nico at the office!

Helping us keep an eye out for the Fed-Ex guy

(who Nico actually likes b/c he brings him treats)!

Thought these might make you smile!

We sure love our big boy, Nico!

He doesn't even fit in this chair!

Have a great day!

Are you ready....

2012-01-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

for a fun project I made with my new...

collection!

We bought our very first 5th Wheel this past summer, so we could travel with our kiddo and 4 pups. (So much easier to bring everyone along than to find a place for everyone to go!)

Here is our 5th Wheel, that we love!

It was this trip with Henry, our kiddo, the pups that inspired "Exit Here"!

Since we plan on working from the road when we can from our 5th Wheel I decided to collect postcards from every state we drive through and every campsite we stay at so I needed something to put all my postcards in...

so I made this cute little box to hold all the post cards from our travels!

I also used my Burlap Buttons on the box too!

They are perfect for the little camera's.

Hope you enjoyed my new little "peek" at "Exit Here"!

Until next time....

6 days and counting....

2012-01-23T07:00:00.001-05:00

until CHA!! I can't believe it! I spent the entire weekend making projects for the booth and well being sick too! Yep, I have got the nasty winter head cold. No fun! So it looks like I don't have much to say or show, sorry about that. I promise to make up for it the rest of the week! I'll take pictures of my projects I made this weekend for my booth and will upload them to my blog! So until then scroll down and take a look at my new collections that I'm releasing in 6 DAYS! Yikes!
Have a great Monday! Will be back tomorrow with some fun stuff! - Nikki

PS: I told my husband I was in bed "resting", which is true but I have my iPad with me too! So if you are on FB don't tell him about me blogging! Hee Hee!

A winner and an award!

2012-01-20T07:00:00.001-05:00

T.G.I.F.

I love Friday's, even if I have to work over the weekend, I still like that its Friday!

I get to work all weekend with my new papers on projects for my booth, so it is the really fun kind of work!

I have a winner from Wednesday's blog post:

The random winner is...

Erica Marshall said...

These are WONDERFUL!!! I love them all but I think my favorite is Audrey! Thanks so much Nikki and have fun at CHA!

Erica please email me your shipping address and I'll get my "Noah" paper collection out to you as soon as I get it in. (Should be mid to end of February.)

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I have brand new BADGES for your blogs made with my new CHA collections!

Audrey

Noah

Exit Here

Messages

Grab a badge for your blog! You never know who might do some blog hopping and if one of these new badges is on your blog you could win that collection!

Good Luck!

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Some fun news for me...

About 4 months ago I was contacted by CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) that the 2011 CHA Industry Awards Winners had been picked and that I was one of the winners! I was in shock and once I caught my breath I asked "What did I win and why?", LOL, I was driving on my way to a girls weekend and was all confused. So the nice lady went on to tell me it was for my Joplin Drive last summer. How cool is that!

Here is the announcement that CHA made:

CHA’s Special Recognition Award is given to an individual or group for an extraordinary contribution in an activity that showcases the craft and hobby industry in a positive way. This year, the Award will be presented to two groups that selflessly coordinated relief efforts through crafts, including Nikki Sivils and her craft relief efforts for the tornado victims in Joplin, Mo., and a group working under the name ‘Clara’s Calling,’ which collectively recognizes U.S. Army Master Sgt. Clara Vargas, Lisa Steele of Bella Fabrics, Rob Krieger of Checker Distributors, Laurie Harsh of Fabric Shop Network and Jan and John Bradley of Lamia Afghan Foundation, for their work in providing sewing and quilting supplies to thousands of women in Afghanistan.

Nikki Sivils coordinated craft relief efforts following the 2011 tornado in Joplin, Mo., working with dozens of companies to secure, organize and distribute $50,000 worth of donated scrapbook supplies to the victims of the tornado. On Sunday, July 10, 2011, Sivils and her team delivered 50 tubs filled with scrapbook supplies to crafters who lost everything in the tornado. The donated supplies also went to local schools, the Spiva Art Center in Joplin and were used for the children’s ‘Healing Through Art’ program. Her efforts following the disaster helped return some normalcy to the local area and scrapbooking community. Sivils selfless activity directly inspired two other craft relief efforts in Joplin where products and funds were raised for St. Mary’s Elementary School, as well as an art auction benefiting the City of Joplin.

The morning of the first day of the show I'll be attending the Industry Awards breakfast and I'll get my award at the show. I'm really excited, I've NEVER won an award before!! But I do have to get up and except the award with a little speech, which I was just told about last week. So I'm a bit nerves about the speech part, but I'll make it I'm sure!

I'll have pictures etc... of the award breakfast and will share them on my blog after CHA starts.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sneak Peeks are over! Lets get down to business...

2012-01-18T07:00:00.005-05:00

I think it is time to show everything off! All four collection, all the papers in the collection, punch-outs and stickers too of course! There might even be a prize at the end too!

So lets get to it...

I created "Audrey" in memory of my grandma, LaVera Audrey, who passed away this last fall. "Audrey" is everything girlie from baby to adulthood! It will be great for Mother's Day too!

1A. Audrey's Dress

1B. Audrey's Shower Cap

2A. Audrey's Bedroom

2B. Audrey's Handbag

3A. Audrey's Pictures

3B. Audrey's Planner

4A. Audrey's Vines

4B. Audrey's Tablecloth

5A. Audrey's Closet Cut-UPs

5B. Audrey Meets Harlo

(Audrey, my g-ma, and Harlo was my g-pa and they met at a USO dance, that's why I named the sheet music paper, "Audrey Meets Harlo"!)

The collection kit cover

Audrey's Garden

This is the bonus paper in the collection kit (comes only in the collection kit.)

Audrey's Punch-Outs

Coordinating Alpha Stickers
Layout using Audrey by DT Diva Sarah Eclavea

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After getting our 5^th Wheel last summer, I just HAD to do a vacation collection. This isn’t just a camping line, though. “Exit Here” is perfect for everything from stay-cations to traveling abroad! You’ll love “Exit Here”!

1A. Carry On Luggage

1B. I Heart Traveling

2A. Traveling

2B. My Tent

3A. Postcards

3B. Hiking Trails

4A. My Traveling Dress

4B. Packing

5A. Don't Forget Cut-Ups

5B. Arrival Gate

Collection Kit Cover

The Woods

This is the bonus paper in the collection kit (comes only in the collection kit.)

Exit Here Punch-Outs

Coordinating Alpha Stickers

Layout using Exit Here by DT Diva Deana Boston

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I’ve had a vintage typewriter in my craft room for years; this past fall, it helped inspire my new paper line, “Messages”. I fell in LOVE with this collection and I’m betting you will too! “Messages” is full of old phones, typewriters, clocks and lamps; it makes for a great “everything” collection!

1A. Take A Message

1B. Graph It

2A. Office Flowers

2B. Type To Me

3A. Log It

3B. My Office

4A. Organizing Files

4B. My Day Planner

5A. My Desktop Cut-Ups

5B. My Briefcase

Collection Kit Cover

Time Card

This is the bonus paper in the collection kit (comes only in the collection kit.)

Messages Punch-Outs
Layout using Messages by DT Diva Katrina Hunt

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I have two brand new little nephews this year and I’m very active in their lives. I’ve been up to my ears in inspiration for a boy line! “Noah” is named after my youngest nephew and I ADORE him! I also have three grown-up brothers and I love creating with this line for my fellas of all ages! “Noah” is also perfect for Father’s Day!!

1A. Noah's Star's

1B. Noah's Overalls

2A. Beep Beep

2B. Noah's Blanket

3A. Noah's Pockets

3B. Noah's ABC's

4A. Daddy's Ties

4B. Noah's Chevy

5A. Noah's Closet Cut-Ups

5B. Noah's Wallpaper

Collection Kit Cover

Mommy's Skirt

This is the bonus paper in the collection kit (comes only in the collection kit.)

Noah's Punch-Outs

Coordinating Alpha Stickers
Layout using Noah by me, Nikki Sivils
(This picture is of the "real" Noah with my brother and SIL.)

That's it...

All four of my new CHA 2012 Releases!

I love them all but I want to know what your favorite collection and favorite paper is!

Leave me a comment telling me what your favorites are and I'll pick one random winner and will announce them on Friday's blog post. You'll win the collection you pick as your favorite!

(FYI: It will be a couple of weeks before the paper will be shipped to you as we don't have the paper "in-house" yet!) I can't wait to see your favs!

Have a great Wednesday! -Nikki

A Fun Layout from Jodi Wilton And Challenge Winner

2012-01-17T07:00:00.000-05:00

Ok, I am horrible, I admit it. I just wanted to get that out there in the open. My head is going in circles and I know I said I was going to post the challenge winner...and well, I didn't. TOTALLY my fault, so please forgive me. I have just been in a creating fog and it was one of those things that got put to the side.

So, without any further hesitation, let's see who our "Scrap Your Cell Phone Pics" challenge winner is..........

Lydia Siegel!

And here is her page that she did!!!

So, Lydia, please email me at cardipaws@sbcglobal.net with your shipping address and your choice of the collection kit you would like from what we currently have available. We will get your prize out to you ASAP.

We are going to wait for the next challenge, as we have new Divas and we are lining things out on the schedule! As soon as we know, you will know, so stay tuned.

And our "not so new" Diva Jodi Wilton emailed me this layout last week and I couldn't wait to show you her wonderful work! We are so happy to have Jodi back on the team!

I love what she did with the We Are Family collection! That sun is so FUN!

Be sure to visit Jodi's blog to see all her other amazingly creative work that she does. You might just get an idea or two!

Another new thing, for those of you on Pinterest, we have a PIN IT button on each post!! So, you see something you like you can hit the Pin button and pin to your little heart is content! Thanks to our blog coordinator, Julie Tucker-Wolek for figuring out how to add it to our posts!

And are you loving the new collections? I am that's for sure! I can't wait till all the Divas start creating and inspiring you with the new collections!

That is it from me today. I will be crafting my little heart out until I leave for CHA on the 27th. I am not sure what Nikki has up her sleeve for the blog, but I am sure it will be full of some fun sneaks of the new collections.

Have a Scrappy Kinda Day!!~~Katrina

CHA COUNTDOWN: 11 DAYS!

(ekk...I need to get busy!)

CHA Sneak Peek "Exit Here"

2012-01-16T06:00:00.004-05:00

I saved my favorite CHA 2012 release for last...

Since we got our 5th Wheel this last summer I had to do a vacation collection. This isn't just camping though; “Exit Here” will have you covered for everything, from stay-cations to flying off to other countries! You'll love “Exit here”!

Here is a peek at the entire collection!

Here is a fabulous layout made my DT Diva, Deana Boston using "Exit Here"!

Hope you love it as much as I do!!

Have a great Monday!! -Nikki

CHA Count Down: 12 Days!

Snow Angel :)

2012-01-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone :)

We wanted to share a layout today that one of our former DT members Liz Qualman made! :) This was recently published (Congrats Liz!), so we just got the go ahead to post it :) I just LOVE this!

Thanks for stopping by! ~~Julie :)

CHA Winter Sneak Peek of "Noah"

2012-01-12T07:00:00.002-05:00

How could I not have a paper line named and designed for this cute little thing!

I mean look at that face...

So here is my Noah line....

This is the collection kit cover that has a sample of all the papers in the collection.

This one may be hard to see but they are little pockets and one of the pockets has a little worm peeking out from it. So cute!

This paper is one of my favorite papers, because these are little neck ties that are in a shape of propellers.

This paper is my "Cut-Ups", I love this one too, so many cute little images to cut out and put on your layouts and cards!

I hope you love Noah! I sure do!

Stay tuned for more sneak peeks soon!

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In case you missed my peeks of Audrey and Messages here they are again.

(In memory of my grandma, LaVera Audrey.)

and...

Have a great rest of the week and thanks for stopping by!! -Nikki

Introducing my New 2012 Design Team!

2012-01-11T07:00:00.005-05:00

It has been a hard process to narrow down all the girls that applied but we did it! I looked them all over and narrowed them down, then Katrina looked and narrowed down a list, then we compared our lists and kept the girls we both had on our lists. After that I went back through 2 more times and FINALLY made a decision! (But it was a hard one to make!)

So with out any further ado here are my new design team ladies...

1. Julie Tucker-Wolek (Blog Coordinator)

2. Sarah Eclavea (Social Media Coordinator)

3. Deana Boston (Retailer Program Coordinator)

4. Stacy Rodriguez

5. Jodi Wilton (who is re-joining us from my original team 3 years ago)

6. Jennie McGarvey
7. Laurel Seabrook

8. Melissa Pablo

9. Melanie Jarocki

10. Marielle LeBlanc

and Katrina Hunt is their Design Team Leader

Please help me in welcoming my new "Doghouse Diva's"!
I've linked each of the new DT ladies to their personal blogs so please take a look and welcome them to the team!

Welcome ladies and I can not wait to see what you all create with the new collections!

Have a great weekend! -Nikki

Here is a sneak project using one of my new collections...

Created by Katrina Hunt Using my new "Exit Here" collection.

Here is just a little peek of "Exit Here"!

Wait until you see this collection!

More to come on Monday!!

Have a great weekend! -Nikki

I don't know about you....

2012-01-10T07:00:00.004-05:00

... but I always struggle with scrapping my December photos actually IN DECEMBER! lol!

I wanted to scrap my daughter Brookie's Santa picture, but never got around to it in December, so I decided to do it now.

I used Nikki's Gingerbread Land on my layout! I always love love love Nikki's Christmas lines! :)

For those that are curious, my daughter has a skin condition that requires surgery - she just happened to have her latest surgery right before it was time for Santa photos

Update on the Scrap Your Cell Phone Pictures challenge....We will announce the winner on Thursday, January 12th. I (Katrina) have been so busy that I forgot and haven't picked out a winner yet! So, if you want to get in on the challenge you still have time!! Thank you for being patient, January is a crazy month here at Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker!!

And make sure you check out another one of Nikki's latest collections "Messages" that she posted yesterday! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by! ~~Julie :)

Ready for some "Messages"....

2012-01-09T07:00:00.014-05:00

With this collection I decided that I wanted to design something with a little different style and yet not lose my style either.

Well, I think I did just that! I love the way this collection turned out!

I hope you will love this line as much as I do....

This is the collection kit cover.

(With a sample of all the papers in the collection.)

Here are a few of my favorite papers in this collection...

I love this paper, with the library cards, you can cut them out for layouts and cards.

Remember these were just a few of the papers, wait until you see the entire line!

In case you didn't see Audrey, on Friday, here it is again.

(In memory of my grandma, LaVera Audrey.)

Have a great day and I'll have more to show you later this week!

-Nikki

Christmas Thank You cards :)

2012-01-07T06:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone :)

I don't know about you, but every year I have Christmas thank you cards to send out to friends and family that sent us Christmas gifts :) Well, ,most years I buy a package of generic thank you cards from the store. But this year I decided to make my thank you cards and I thought Nikki's Gingerbread Land were absolutely perfect for this task :)

And did you all see yesterday that Nikki gave a sneak peek at one of her newest collections "Audrey"????? It is GORGEOUS! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by! ~~Julie :)

Let's take a closer look at my new collection...

2012-01-06T07:00:00.003-05:00

Here are is a sampling of this paper line.

(The collection kit cover)

These are a few of my favorite papers in this line...

(Audrey's Dress)

(Audrey's Bedroom)

(Audrey's Pictures)

(Audrey's Planner)

So there you have a little bit more of a sneak peek of my "Audery" collection!

Wait until you see all the other papers, stickers and punch-outs that make this collection complete!

I have a big shout out to my Design Team Lead, Katrina Hunt, who made Creating Keepsakes 10 Favorite Guest Blog Posts From 2011 with Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker paper!
See the post here: CK Blog
CONGRATS Katrina!!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy Friday! -Nikki

CHA Winter Sneak Peeks....

2012-01-04T07:00:00.002-05:00

Guess it is that time of the year to start showing a little sneak of my new collections!

I’m so excited about these new paper lines! I’ve worked so hard on all 4 collections the last couple of months and I’m all ready so show them off! However, all you get today is the logos for each collection and why I created each of them. (Friday I'll show a little more of each line so be sure and check back!) Okay so enough chatting lets get down to business!!

"Audrey" is in memory of my grandma, who passed away this last fall, her name was LaVera Audrey.

"Audrey" is everything girlie from baby to adulthood! It will be great for Mother's Day too!

Since we got our 5th Wheel this last summer I had to do a vacation collection. This isn't just camping though, Exit Here will have you covered for everything, from stay-cations to flying off to other countries! You'll love Exit here!

"Messages" is a bit out of my comfort zone but I wanted to try something a little different on one of my new collections. I fell in LOVE with it and I'm betting you will too! Messages has old phones, typewriters, clocks and lamps it will be a great "everything" collection!

I've been asked 100 times over to do a little boy line and I've had trouble creating one.... well until this fall! I have two brand new little nephews and I'm very active in their lives and they've been really inspiriting. "Noah" is named after my youngest nephew and I ADORE him! I was babysitting him one day this fall (here is a picture from that day)

and the colors he had on inspired me and well just his cuteness too!

The great thing about my "Noah" line is its like my "Audrey" collection, you'll see everything from a little boy to an adult man that you can use to scrapbook all your "boy or men" pictures!

That's all for some "peeks" today! Check back Friday for more sneaks!

Also we are working like crazy to narrow down the new DT for 2012... but we are having a hard time with so many great submissions! Hopefully, soon I'll be making calls!

Have a great hump day! -Nikki

Welcome Virginia Wong, Guest Designer for January

2012-01-02T20:55:00.000-05:00

We skipped our Guest Designer posting in December, but we are back with another guest designer today. I would like to welcome Virginia Wong as our Guest Designer this month. So, let's find out a little more about her!

Hello! My name is Virginia Wong. I am thrilled to bits to be a Guest Designer for Nikki Sivils! Originally from Saskatchewan, I am proud to call Calgary my home. I am a full-time Mom and recently rejoined the workforce as an Information Technology consultant.

Scrapbooking is a part of my daily life and a part of who I am - it gives me a creative outlet and allows me to pay tribute to what is most important to me: family, friends, memories and my life journey. My layouts often capture the escapades of my energetic and curious girls, Madison and Danielle.

In my remaining time (!!), I run Destination ImagiNation at my daughters’ school quilt and continue to hone my photography skills. I have been fortunate to be featured in Scrapbooks etc, Memory Makers and Canadian Scrapbooker magazines.

Nikki Sivils products are so versatile and absolutely adorable! My mind races will all the projects I can make with each collection. My favorite elements are the alphas and die cut stickers; they are the piece de resistance for all my projects! Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity with Nikki Sivils.

Virginia worked with the Get Well Soon and the Gingerbread Land collection. So, let's get to her projects, shall we?!

From Get Well Soon

She did a couple of great layouts!

And then I love the little cards she made!

Now, let's see what she came up with for Gingerbread Land!

Such a sweet layout.....

Then she made a mini December Daily, to fill with fun memories from the holiday.

And then a cute little gift bag with some fun "crackers" in it for the holidays!

We want to thank Virginia for guest designing for us! Please visit Virginia's blog to see more of her fabulous work and crafty creations.....

Virginia Wong

That is all from us today! I will be back later in the week to announce the winner of the our latest monthly challenge. You can find all the details below...you still have a couple of days to play!

Scrap Your Cell Phone Pics

Things are gearing up with the CHA madness starting in FULL SWING! And I know everyone is on pins and needles waiting for the Design Team announcement. We will be announcing the new team soon!

Have a Scrappy Kinda Day!!~~Katrina

Happy New Years Day!!

2012-01-01T07:00:00.004-05:00

I hope everyone had a happy and safe New Years Eve!

This picture of our Bella-Blue was taken by me for the Cox Hospital Volunteer Newsletter cover. Since Bella is a volunteer at the hospital they asked if I cared if she was on the cover!!! (Are you kidding me... of course not!) So I took an extra special picture of Bella with my grandma's fur and her jewelry for the cover! (It well mean so much more to my family and I when we see it!)

Happy 2012 from Bella-Blue and all of us here at Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker!

One day until the New Year...

2011-12-30T07:00:00.002-05:00

Are you ready for 2012? I think I am. January is crazier than December for me due to, CHA, our huge international trade show, in Anaheim, CA. This is the month where I seem to loose my mind! LOL! Not really but I bet if you asked Dan or Lanie that question they'd agree!

I came up with a great idea for you for New Years Eve...

I found these free printables here: Anything But Perfect, I love this blog. I'm going to print out 2 of these sheets and have Dan write his goals or resolutions on the back of one and me on the other. I'll frame them so they can sit on our night stand and remind us all year or our goals for the year. (Dan doesn't know so don't go on FB and tell him my big ideas... LOL!) Then at the end of the year (2012) we can see how we did on our goals for the year! I love this idea, we'll see if Dan does too!

Here is the free printable, but you'll have go to the Anything But Perfect blog to print them off.

Here is one of them framed from the Anything But Perfect blog and you could just print one and frame it for the New Year but I think writing my goals on the back makes it even more fun!

I just love it!

Do something like this with your family its free and fun! A great way to bring in the New Year!

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I have the winner from Wednesday's "Resolution"...

Elisabeth said...

My goals are quite basic this year.
1. Get that baby out! ( I am due Jan4th)
2. Balance the attention between baby, DD and DH (this will be a tough one)
3. Make enough "me" time - I know if I don't, I will get cranky very quickly and nobody wants a cranky mommy.
4. Think twice before getting angry - often it is not worth it.

That's it!
Have a Happy New Year!

December 28, 2011 10:22 PM

Please email me your shipping address so I can get this out to you! My email is in the header of the blog.

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Here is an after Christmas layout created by DT Diva, Deana Boston! I love this layout with so many small pictures all on a single page! I think I might scrap-lift this one over the New Year, get started on all those Christmas pictures!

Have a safe and happy New Year! -Nikki

A few more December Projects!

2011-12-29T14:29:00.000-05:00

Wow, hard to believe that the year is almost over! We hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday season and remember to scrap those memories for the future generations. And it is totally ok just to scrap to create too!

All the projects today are created with the

Gingerbread Land collection!

Today on the blog we have some projects from our design team Diva, Leah F. and one from me!

I love the "mess in the floor" picture in this layout! I know sometimes I think pictures have to be "perfect" to scrap, but this is a perfect example of capturing the moment when it happens right then.

And then she made a couple of adorable cards!

And I created this layout way back around CHA time in July and hadn't shown it yet! Higgins was exhausted with all the holiday activity and just wanted to take a nap! Plus, he was waiting on "his" package to open!

That is all from us today! Our DT Call ended last night and I want to wish everyone good luck that applied. We will hopefully be making that announcement in the next week or so!

And a little birdie might have told me....there "could" be some sneaks coming soon of some fun stuff......so, I think you might want to keep an eye on the blog!

Have a Scrappy Kinda Day!!~~Katrina

Resolutions....

2011-12-28T12:26:00.000-05:00

Anyone setting any resolutions for the New Year?

I normally don't like to make new years resolutions because I feel that if I don't follow through it will put a negative spin on the new year. I know, silly... but that's how I feel. I do like to set a few goals that are obtainable though.

Here are a few that I've picked for this New Year....

1. Don't sweat the small stuff (this is on my list every year)!

2. Set aside more time for my sisters and brothers and their kids.

3. Make a "Date" night with my husband every other week. (This is a new goal, we've been together for 8 years now and I feel we need a little romantic boost in the relationship.)

4. Family night... at least twice a month! Pizza and games (no screens allowed)!! Henry is 16 and its hard to get him pinned down. I'd like to do this the opposite week of date night! So we'll see!

5. Teach my pups more tricks, Bella knows about a dozen tricks but I want her to learn about a dozen more!

6. I want to really push my body and mind in yoga. Yoga is new to me but I LOVE it!

I think there isn't anything unrealistic in my list except #1, that's always a hard one for me with my business. I'd love to read one or more of your "goals or resolutions" for the New Year so leave comment and I'll pick a random winner for the NewYear to win one each of all my newest collection kits!!

Here is a layout I created that was just recently published in the fall issue of Creating Keepsakes Magazine using "You're a Hoot" paper collection!

I used on of my favorite sketches from Allison Daivis to create the layout! Click on her name to see some of her other great sketches and sketch books too!

Have a great rest of the week and I'll pick a winner and will post it on Friday's blog post!

Good Luck! -Nikki

Oh and today is the last day to apply for my new DT for 2012!!

Showcase on YOU! :)

2011-12-27T07:00:00.034-05:00

Hi everyone! :)

Julie here with you today sharing one of my FAVE posts of the month - Showcase on YOU! This is when I share what YOU, Nikki's fans have made with her papers and embellishments! :) I love love love sharing what you all make! :)

First off today we have Ellen Jarvis who made this FUN card/recipe card for a blog hop she participated in! :) Love this! :) Ellen used Gingerbread Land on these! :)

Next we have Kath Hernandez with two beautiful cards and a gorgeous layout using Gingerbread Land and Something for Everyone! :)

Next we have a BEAUTIFUL card from Naomi Edwards! She used Summer on her card! :)

Next we have a GORGEOUS altered kitchen ware gift set from Laurel Seabrook!! She used Gingerbread Land on this adorable set!! LOVE LOVE LOVE it! :)

Next we have an ADORABLE altered lunch bag from Angi Barrs! I just LOVE this! She used School is Cool on this! :)

And lastly today we have an ADORABLE layout from Darlene Servolini!! She used It's Raining, It's Pouring! Love this! :)

Thanks so much ladies for sharing your creations with us! We love Showcasing YOU! :) If you would ever like to be in our monthly Showcase, send Julie an email at bmwgirl@cox.net :)

We can't wait to see what you make!

And don't forget... our DT CALL ends tomorrow! You DO NOT want to miss out on a chance to work with Nikki! She is AMAZING! :)

~~Julie :)

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T07:00:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Dan, Henry, Nikki, Nico, Bella, Savannah and Alfred too!

Merry Christmas Eve :)

2011-12-24T07:00:00.011-05:00

Merry Christmas Eve everyone :)

Julie with you here today sharing some creations that Sarah, Jill, Mimi and myself made :)

First we have Sarah and her beautiful layout she made using Gingerbread Land :)

Next up is Jill and 2 layouts she made using Gingerbread Land :) Love these! :)

And next we have an ADORABLE Christmas packaging from Mimi! :) She also used Gingerbread Land! :)

And lastly today, I have a few Clean and Simple (CAS) cards to share also using the Gingerbread Land line! :)

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a WONDERFUL Christmas! :)

~~Julie

Showcase on Sketches 4 All! :)

2011-12-22T06:00:00.010-05:00

Hi everyone! Julie with you here today and I wanted to share some AMAZING projects from the DT at Sketches 4 All!! They were sponsored by Nikki this month with her Gingerbread Land collection ... and they were kind enough to share with us their GORGEOUS creations using this line!! :)

First we have Cheryl Nyboer! She literally knocks my socks off!! Gorgeous work Cheryl! :)

Next, we have Stacy Watson and her GORGEOUS creations! Just LOVE these! :)

Next, we have Margie Visnick and her BEAUTIFUL layouts and altered book! WOW! :)

Next, we have an AMAZING layout from Kathleen Hernandez! :) And we also have a WOW! Toilet paper roll album from her! Love it! :)

Next, we have Jessica Jennings and her BEAUTIFUL layout and a fabulous altered frame! Love love love! :)

Next, we have Michelle Hodges and her two GORGEOUS creations! Amazing work Michelle! :)

Next, we have Rebecca Atkinson and her beautiful accordion album and a GORGEOUS layout! LOVE THIS! :)

Next, we have Fia Uiterwijk and her two BEAUTIFUL projects! Fabulous Fia! :)

And last, but certainly not least today, we have this FABULOUS altered candle and a beautiful layout from Jennifer Taylor! :)

Thank you Sketches 4 All for sharing your GORGEOUS creations with us! They are WONDERFUL! I am in awe of all of them! :)

And also, don't forget our DT call going on right now! You do NOT want to miss the chance to work with Nikki! She is AMAZING! :)

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! :)

~~Julie :):):)

4 Days to Christmas!

2011-12-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

Can you believe that! 4 DAYS!!

I went to the grocery store last night late, mainly because its just not busy late in the evenings and I can breeze right through the store. I listened to one of my favorite podcasts "The Moth", while shopping at the store. Makes the time pass by quickly and I can really listen and my mind isn't thinking about work or all those other things that interrupt your thoughts. But here is my question... is it rude for me to do this, listen to my podcast while I shop? I'm still aware and say hi and or smile at people, still try and be pleasant and I always take off my headset and turn off my iphone while going through the check out but I was wondering what other people thought about this. I'd love to hear your thought about shopping and listening to music etc.

Here is a cute little something for you....

Bella gets a free turkey every Christmas for being a pet therapy dog for our local cancer center and every year I take a picture of her in front of the tree with her big frozen turkey!

Thought you all might like to see them too!

Isn't she a cutie pie! Love her so much! Bella has been a therapy dog for almost 6 years.

I love it and she loves it too!

Every year I scrapbook our family Christmas card with my newest Christmas collection and this is our card from last year 2010 using my new Gingerbread Land paper collection.

Have a great Wednesday!

Enjoy last few days before Christmas! -Nikki

Don't forget our DT Call ends December 28th!

A House and a Wreath!

2011-12-20T06:00:00.000-05:00

Anyone love to do altered projects? I know I do and there are a few girls on the team that like to also. If you haven't tried to alter something, once you do you will be hooked, I promise.

Jen Matott is one of our Divas that like to alter and you have to SEE this gingerbread house that she made out of Gingerbread Land. So, so cute and this was a total hit at CHA this summer!

I love how she punched out the circles and then used them as the "shingles" on the roof!

And this is a 3-D tree that she made by cutting out tree shapes with her Cricut and then gluing them together. I love the buttons as ornaments also.

And then I made this wreath out of Gingerbread Land also for the sketch over at Sketch Support this week. The sketch was the tree part of the wreath and I though Nikki's papers would look great for it.

I also used my Cricut to cut out the snowflakes and then I hot glued them onto my wreath base.

So, hopefully we have inspired you to make a little altered item for your holiday season. Even if you make just an ornament, it makes the holiday just a little more special with something that is handmade!

Don't forget, only a little over a WEEK to get your design team applications in! Check all the details out on the call...HERE.

Have a Scrappy Kinda Day!!~~Katrina

Ready or not, it is Week of Christmas... who is ready??

2011-12-19T07:00:00.000-05:00

I'm ready! I spent the weekend getting my Christmas cards out, wrapping presents and getting my menu put together for Christmas Eve and Christmas day! Really all I have to do this week is go to the grocery store, cook and finish wrapping gifts this week and that's it. I wanted to get as much done as possible this weekend so I could enjoy the week of Christmas. It seems every year I'm running around trying to finish up a thousand things and don't stop to smell the peppermint!

My Niece Ellie turned 7 this weekend so I took her to Build-A-Bear, shopping, getting hot chocolate, steak-n-shake then back to Aunt Nikki & Uncle Danny's for a Christmas movie, A Barbie Carol (which was actually good). This is a yearly tradition for us and one of my very favorite things I get to do in December.

Here are some pictures from our evening...

Ellie at Build-a-Bear.

Ellie getting here hair curled at the mall.

Ellie & I using my new iPhone 4s camera (it rocks)!

Hot coco at Starbucks!

We had a wonderful evening!

(I'm so happy that both of my sisters had little girls so I can spoil them rotten, which I plan on doing a lot!)

I wanted to end this blog post with this sweet little Christmas Organizer that my DT Diva, Deana, created with the Gingerbread Land paper collection.

Isn't this organizer adorable!

Don't forget if you have a gift and need a card for a holiday event I have my free printable up on the upper left corner of the blog.

I have a winner from Friday's "Favorite Things" blog post.

The winner is dlwidder who said....

dlwidder

Some of my fave things from 2011...dh and I suddenly started going out on "date night" together a couple of months ago. With 5 kids, we can't do it very often or even regularly...the goal was once every 2 weeks, but it's more like once a month. I am grateful. Meeting my best scrappy online friend, Nicolle...another blessing. My rl friends do not scrap. At all. It's nice to have a supportive bud who "gets you" and there's no need for explanation. :-D 4 out of 5 kids are in school this year. Woohoo! 4 out 5 are avid readers! Woohoo! The discovery of some really awesome manu's and designers...like Nikki Sivils and Helmar (Tracy ROCKS!), I just discovered both this year. :-D

December 16, 2011 3:45 PM

**dlwidder please email me your address and I'll get this out to you this week.

Have a great week!! -Nikki

Don't forget our DT Call ends December 28th!

A few of My Favorite Things.... 2011

2011-12-16T07:00:00.005-05:00

It is that time again for my favorite things blog post!

I hope some of these are your favorite things too or hopefully you might be introduced to something new!!

Every year I list my favorite products, favorite events or even my favorite food or candy!

Just a mix of all things good!

So lets get started.

My Favorites of 2012 are....

#1 Pintrest I'm not sure what I would do without this fun little creative outlet! I've gotten so many great ideas from Pintrest! If you haven't gotten hooked yet then go get started!

#2 iPad 2. Need I say more.

#3 Helmar Adhesive! This was on my favs last year too but when its good you just got to "stick" with it!

#4 My New Website We put hours and hours along with a few tears an tantrums in this new website but it turned out great! I debuted it this summer.

#5 Elf on a Shelf... is great, even their website is amazing! This was on my list last year too. But it’s so sweet and such a great idea.

#6 Bikram Yoga- This hot yoga has saved my life. Seriously it keeps me sane. I'd do it everyday if my body and my schedule would let me. I love it!

#7 Hallmark Recorder Books I only wish I would have had my grandma read one of these books for me so I'd have it forever. Buy one, record the story and give it as a gift. Best gift EVER!

#8 Anything But Perfect blog. I love this blog! I go to it weekly for inspiration and she has the BEST free printables.

#9 My Joplin Drive I had this summer, I feel I can never say thank you enough to the manufacturers and crafters that helped me deliver over $50,000 worth of craft supplies to 50 scrapbookers that lost their homes, a few schools and a couple of daycare faculties too.

A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU THAT HELPED ME GIVE 50 LADIES THEIR CRAFT BACK!!

#10 Modern Family- My favorite TV show, oh and I'm married to Phil.

That's it... my top favorite things of 2011!

I'd love to hear what some of your favorite things are too.

Leave a comment of what one of your favorite thing were from this last year and I’ll pick one winner on Monday. The winner will win my Gingerbread Land Collection Kit and some Helmar Adhesive.

Have a wonderful weekend! -Nikki

A quick and easy Christmas gift idea! :)

2011-12-15T06:00:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone :)

Julie with you here again today, and I wanted to share a quick and easy Christmas gift idea for those last minute gifts! I used Nikki's Gingerbread Land on these :)

I am sure that we ALL have wallet sized photos of our kids laying around (at least I know I do!) :) I always order those school photo packets from my daughter's daycare - and even after giving out the wallet sized ones to family members, I still end up with extras! :) So then it hit me! Why not turn those extra wallet sized photos into magnets as little Christmas gifts?!?!? :)

These are so EASY to make, I swear it took me longer to take and edit the photos for this project than it did to make them :)

Here is what I started out with :)

Wallet sized photos, Magnet buttons and Nikki's Gingerbread Land papers! :)

I used my Cricut "Storyboard" cartridge to cut out the background paper and accent frame :)

Then I adhered the photo between the background and the accent frame :)

Then I glued a Magnet Button on the back :)

And just to keep a record, I put my daughters name, age and month/year on the back of each one :)

And I added some of Nikki's Gingerbread Land stickers to the front - and here is the finished magnets on my refrigerator :)

Thanks for stopping by! And don't forget our DT Call :) Nikki is AMAZING to work for...I would love to see you try out!! :)

~~Julie :)

My Gingerbread Mini Album...

2011-12-14T07:00:00.002-05:00

I made this sweet little Gingerbread Land mini album of my favorite things from last years Christmas!

I had so much fun creating this from scratch, that's right all from paper, no chipboard just paper.

"My Christmas Favorites of 2010"

Mini Album

This is a pretty short and sweet blog post because I'm slammed with work right now, finishing up my new Spring 2012 paper lines.

(I'm only a month past my deadline.) Hee Hee!

If you'd like to be one of the lucky ladies to play with these new paper lines before they hit the stores then don't forget to check out my Design Team call.

***Design Team Call for 2012!***

Have a great hump-day!

-Nikki

Gingerbread Land shadowbox :)

2011-12-13T06:00:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone :)

Julie with you here today and I wanted to share a shadowbox that I made using Nikki's Gingerbread Land :)

I found this kraft book/shadowbox at Michael's and I painted it to match Nikki's Gingerbread line :)

I used my Cricut to make that fun little fence! :)

***Don't Forget to check out our Design Team Call for 2012!***

Thanks for stopping by!

~~Julie~~

And the winners are....

2011-12-12T07:00:00.001-05:00

What a weekend it has been! I had my “Girlie-Whirlies” Christmas party this weekend, which was so much fun! We don’t get to see each other very often and we have all been friends for over 16 years. Here we all are together…

I love all these ladies with all my heart!

I better get down to busy now! I owe some of you some awesome giveaways! So lets start with the Elmer’s blog post, last Wednesday, I have two winners:

isay said...

OMG! This is SUPER CUTE!!! My kids will love this. Thanks for sharing and for the chance to win. :D

December 7, 2011 3:43 PM

and…

Pammejo said...

This project is adorable and yes I would love to win the products to make it, who wouldn't it is adorable. TFS

December 7, 2011 11:52 AM

From my blog post, last Friday, I have picked a random winner to get the Provo Craft Goodies and my Gingerbread Land collection kit…

Miriam Prantner said...

Great cards and tags! This week had so much inspiration. Thanks for all the ideas!

December 9, 2011 6:39 AM

Please email me your address; my email is listed above in blog header.

The rest of my weekend and when I say the rest I mean pretty much around the clock… I’ve been designing the new Spring 2012 collection like crazy! I can’t stop and I’m having so much fun! I think these next 4 collections are my best yet! –I hope.

No sneak peeks yet but stay tuned because I’m chomping at the bit to show them off!!

I can’t leave with out showing something off! I have a very sweet banner from a follower of the blog, Ann Corbiere-Scott. This banner is so cute and it is now hanging in Ann’s father-in-laws hospital room, bringing him joy each day. Which is so sweet and I wish him the very best.

Be sure and check out Ann’s blog too.

Have a great Monday! -Nikki

Last Day of Christmas Cards Galore Week!

2011-12-09T06:00:00.003-05:00

Wow what a week of great cards and some altered projects too! I sure have a group of talented ladies that have been so loyal to my company and me these past few years! So here is a huge thanks to Julie, Katrina, Sarah, Deana, Linda, Rae, Carina and Michelle for all your hard work for card week!

Today I have a few more fun projects to show off that I made using my Gingerbread Land paper collection.

These were made by design team diva, Linda.

These were made by design team diva, Deana.

This sweet card was created by design team diva, Katrina.

The sketch for this card is from Sketch Support!

And...

These 2 great projects were created by a follower of the blog, Laurel Seabrook! Laurel used my Beatrice paper line to create this sweet little card.

Laurel used Gingerbread Land to create this fun organizer with a note pad.

Thanks so much for following my blog this week! We’ve had a great time together! Here is the huge grand prize giveaway sponsored by Provo Craft…

And I’ll be giving away one of my Gingerbread Land Collection Kits too!

Leave a comment and I’ll pick a winner and will announce it on Monday’s blog post! Good Luck and have a wonderful weekend!

-Nikki

***Don't Forget to check out our Design Team Call for 2012!***

Loving Christmas Card Galore week! :)

2011-12-08T06:00:00.007-05:00

Hi everyone! Julie with you here today -- and I have got to tell you, I have been LOVING card week! All these amazing designs from our DT girls... just WOW! :)

Today I have more cards to share from Carina, Sarah, Michelle and Linda!! :) All of the girls used Gingerbread Land! :)

First from Carina! She made 6 cards! Carina just WOWS me with her cards!! Love these! :)

Next, we have 2 cards from Sarah!!! I always love everything Sarah creates! These are gorgeous! :)

Next, we have 4 tags and a card from Michelle!! These are all so ADORABLE! :)

And last, but certainly not least today we have a card from Linda! This is just BEAUTIFUL! :)

Don't forget to stop in tomorrow for Nikki's BIG GIVEAWAY! :)

And don't forget to grab your free printables that Nikki has for you!

And our Design Team Call is listed

HERE!

Thanks for stopping by!! ~~Julie :)

Christmas Decorations for Less with Elmer's!

2011-12-07T04:00:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone, Katrina here. Have you decorated for Christmas yet? Please don't ask if I have, because I would be lying if I said I had. Things have been crazy, one of the dogs partial tore his ACL, so we are doing the crate/leash only thing for the next three weeks, which means decorating is pretty much out of the question at the moment!

This is Higgins and he is the lame little guy. He likes his crate, but not so much that he wants to stay in it all the time.

BUT, Nikki asked me if I wanted to do the Elmer's Looks for Less challenge and I decided it would be fun to try to create a fun little Christmas themed home decor item with minimal supplies and budget. And I am here with my results today.

And because I took the challenge, there is a chance for YOU to win! I am sure you are happy about that! Keep reading and at the bottom I will let you know how to win an Elmer's prize pack!

I need to announce the winner of Monday's blog post! So, our winner is.......

Pammejo said...

Adorable cards, TFS

December 5, 2011 11:12 AM

Pammejo, please email me at cardipaws@sbcglobal.net with your shipping address and we will get the idea book and Gingerbread Land collection kit out to you!!!

Elmer's sent a few products to work with, plus a gift card to purchase additional supplies with. There was an assortment of glues, foam boards, X-ACTO knife, and Painters pens. More than enough to create with by adding a few additional supplies.

I knew I wanted to do Christmas, but wasn't sure what. I decided to search the internet for ideas and ran across a site called Craft Elf that had a template for making a gingerbread house out of foam board! PERFECT! That site can be found here......Gingerbread House Template. And this is easy enough to do with your kids too once you get the pieces cut out!

So, I cut out my template and then cut out my foam board using the X-ACTO knife and my X-ACTO self-healing mat. (LOVE THOSE, plus they are pink!). Here are what my pieces look like once I cut them out...I did try to keep straight lines as I could, just to make the house go together easier!

Then I set to work putting the house together. I was in a time crunch, so I made a quick decision on what papers I was going to use and that I wasn't going to embellish a lot. I used the GingerSnaps paper from Gingerbread Land to cover the front and sides of my house. I then used the Glue Spots from Elmer's to start putting the house together. They are super sticky and I didn't have to wait for them to dry...bonus!

Once I got my house together, I then put the roof on it. Using a border punch I punched out strips and just layered them on each side of the roof. I used the CraftBond Extra Strength glue stick to glue them on. That gave me a little time to position them exactly how I wanted them. SORRY, I totally forgot to take a picture of that step....I get crafting and forget to grab the camera!

I then decided that the house needed something to sit on, so I cut out a piece of foam board that was 10 x10 inches square.

I started to cover it with a sheet of pattern paper, but then decided that I wanted a snowy look, I mean, it is a Christmas decoration after all and I love snow! So, I found some of the angel cloud fiber mess (as I like to call it!) and stretched it out to fit my board. I then took it off, ran the glue stick all over the board and started sticking the "cloud" down. I did use some of the Glue Spots along the edges just to make sure the sides were tacked down pretty well.

After a little more embellishing on the house and around it, I had a completed Gingerbread Land scene! I decided it needed some lighting, so I pulled out a strand of mini lights that I had and placed it around it. I would NOT leave this unattended, but it's pretty to look at when you are home!

Love the bokeh that the lights produced when I took the picture!

I had bought these little glitter foam balls to use for another project and I had a bunch of them left over. I thought they would make cute little snowballs sitting around, plus it was better than them sitting around not getting used!

From this angle you can see the roof and how the strips lay. I started from the bottom of each side and worked my way up. To make the trees stand up, I just used toothpicks with the Glue Spots and attached the die cuts to them and stuck them in the foam board. I did use a Glue Spot on the end of each toothpick just to make sure they stayed put.

Here is the front of the house a little closer. I really didn't do anything to the sides, because I wanted the focus to be on the scene, more than individual pieces.

Would you like to create this fun little house? Well, you can win the supplies to do it! All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post and we will pick TWO winners that will be announced on Friday. What can you win...well, Elmer's has generously donated prize packs for two of our readers! And we are going to throw in a Gingerbread Land collection kit, so that you can recreate this fun Christmas home decor project!

And I am supposed to provide a total cost of my project, so here it goes!

Paper and Die Cut Embellishments-$0.00
I had these in my stash and we ALL have a stash! And you could easily cut them out of a die cutting machine or by hand.

Elmer's Products-$0.00
Were provided by Elmer's

Lights and Angel Cloud Fibers $0.00
I had these in my decorations that I was not using!

Total cost.....A little of my time to create!
Hee hee, I think this blog post took long to write than creating the decoration itself!

And if you would like to find Elmer's on the internet, here are all their sites!!!

www.elmers.com

www.facebook.com/elmers

http://twitter.com/elmers

www.facebook.com/xacto

Thanks Elmer's, for letting me play along in the Look for Less challenge!!!

Don't forget Nikki's free printables for up up at the top of the blog!!!

Have a Scrappy Kinda Day!!~~Katrina

Rae's Wonderful Cards!

2011-12-06T08:00:00.000-05:00

Rae Barthel just ROCKS when she makes a card! And her Christmas cards are no exception to that saying. I have said it before, but I just have to say it over and over...the girl can make a BEAUTIFUL card!!

She has created five fun cards out of Gingerbread Land, so let's see them!

I can't help it...she makes the most amazing bows!

A fun little mini card set! Perfect for Secret Santas or Pals!

Or even for stockings!

This card makes me think of a sunny Christmas Day!

Ekk, so cute, this one is my favorite!

(am I supposed to have a favorite?!)

I love how she tied the index card in with the greeting and the hearts!

I am sure inspired to make some cards now, even though I ordered photo cards from Target! I might have to sneak a picture on here!

And don't forget to grab your free printables that Nikki has for you!

And our Design Team Call is listed

HERE!

Have a Scrappy Kinda of Day!!~~Katrina

Christmas Cards Galore Week!!

2011-12-05T06:00:00.005-05:00

I wanted to do something special this week instead of our normal weekly blog posts. We are going to have a week full of featuring holiday cards and a few other fun projects along the way. I'll also make this week different by giveaway three prizes, one today, one Wednesday and a huge grand prize at the end of the week. So lets get started…

Here are some cards I made this last weekend using my Gingerbread Land paper collection.

Todays giveaway is this great idea book "Outstanding Mini Albums" by Jessica Acs! I have a copy of this idea book and it is fantastic, I've made more than one album from this book.

(Much thanks to Jessica for giving away one of her great idea books.)

I'll also give away one of my collection kits...

Collection kit!!

Leave a comment on this post and I'll pick the winner and announce them on Wednesday's blog post.

Good luck and have a great week! -Nikki

Don't forget that you can download and make your own cards with my FREE printables.

Just click on the pictures in the upper left corner of my blog, download and print.

***Don't Forget to check out our Design Team Call for 2012

We Love Helmar's Holiday Blog Hop!

2011-12-03T01:59:00.005-05:00

Hi everyone, Nikki here today, welcome to my stop on the Helmar Holiday Hop. If you have been following along, you should have hopped here from Beck Beattie’s blog. If not, you just have to stop at the Helmar Blog and start from the beginning. There are goodies along the way and we don’t want you to miss a thing!

Recently my sweet grandma passed away and I was able to keep her little mini kitchen tree that now is in my kitchen all decorated with homemade ornaments. This trees is so special because not only is it my grandma's tree but all the paper ornaments are from my Christmas paper line "Gingerbread Land" that I just released this Fall and I used my favorite adhesive, Helmar, to create the ornaments.

Here are the adhesives I used to make these ornaments:

450 Quick Dry

Liquid Scrap Dots

Quickfix Adhesive Runner

Make sure you leave a comment at every stop because the elves of Helmar will be giving away prizes to some lucky Helmar fans. Now hop on over to Carolyn King’s blog to see another amazing Helmar Holiday project. The Holiday Hop will be open for comments until 11:59 P.S.T December 4^th, so take a look and enjoy a little holiday spirit. Thanks again for stopping by today and Happy Holidays.

-Nikki

Don't Forget to check out our Design Team Call for 2012!

Happy December and I have a FREE gift for all of you!!

2011-12-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

Can you believe it is December!

I'm I the only one that is freaking out that my Christmas cards aren't done, they haven't even been made or bought yet! I make cards for my some of my family and friends and I buy the rest since I have little to no time for creating cards. Every year I think I'm going start earlier in the year then... all of the sudden its Thanksgiving and I have nothing done then its December 1st... and well I better get to work!

If you are finding yourself with the same problem then I have a special gift just for you!

I have a downloadable card and matching envelope for you to use to make some Christmas cards that you can embellish to make it your own.
For FREE!

Aren't these so sweet! DT Diva, Deana Boston created these 2 cards. I love how she use part of the envelope paper to use on the card! Love it!

Here is the card printable:

(Needs to be printed on a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper.)

Here is the patterned envelope:

(Needs to be printed on a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper.)

These are yours for free so please print as many as you'd like!

Once you score and cut the card and envelope they should look like this:

I outlined the edge of the card with a black gel pen and used glitter pens over the image to give it some minor detail.

You can buy some of my Gingerbread Land paper and do some more embellishing...

The inside of the card...

You can also use some of the stickers or punch-outs to embellish the envelope too!

Here is another simple card with just a bit of embellishing!

All you need to do is download the card & envelope! Click on the pictures in the upper left corner of the blog, print them out on cardstock (non-texture is better), cut, score and use a little adhesive.

That's it! Pretty simple!

Good Luck on your Christmas cards this year!

Hope this helps you get a jump start on your cards! -Nikki

A hanging mobile featuring Gingerbread Land! :)

2011-12-01T06:00:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone! :) Julie with you here today and I wanted to share a hanging mobile that I made for one of my other DT's that I am on :)

Our challenge for my other DT was to make a hanging mobile... and at first - I actually wasn't going to do the challenge...as I couldn't figure out an idea for this one...then one day I was looking through a catalog that came in my mail... and LOOKY there -----inspiration from a catalog :)

Of course, mine's not solar powered lol!! But I have some ornaments that my Mom painted for me several years ago... and I thought.. I can do something like this! So, I did! :)

This is what I started out with :)

The round box is a box I found at Michaels awhile ago - since the lid was missing - I got it on clearance for dirt cheap ;) Gotta love a bargain :) Before I put paper on the round box, I poked holes in it to make room for my wires :)

I used a pencil to wrap the wire around to give it the curly look :)

I thought Nikki's Gingerbread Land was perfect for my mobile :)

And here is my mobile all put together :)

For the punch outs that I placed on top - I used my X-acto knife to cut a slit in the round box and then just carefully put the punch outs in the slit to stand them up :)

The punch outs were also very easy to glue onto my Mom's ornaments and to cover the part where my curly wires met up with the ornament hooks - I simply glued the punch outs to cover those spots! :)

You can see in this photo that I added paper on the under side of the round box :) Since this is hanging up high -- I wanted to make sure that the kraft side wouldn't show :) Also you can see in this photo that all I did was push my curly wires through the holes I had poked in the beginning and then I just gathered the wires at the top and twisted them all together to stay in place :)

Make sure to stop by tomorrow as Nikki has a FREE gift or all of YOU that will help you with the hustle and bustle of your Holiday's! :)

Thanks for stopping by! We appreciate it :)

~~Julie :)

It's Challenge Time Again!

2011-11-30T07:00:00.001-05:00

Oh my GOODNESS!!!! Everyone that played along with the challenge did an AMAZING job. I loved every single layout that I saw and not one of them looked like the others. THAT right there is the best thing about scrapbooking, all the talent and inspiration that is out there....it just blows me away.

Well, I guess you are probably waiting on me to announce the winner for last month's challenge, Scrap Black and White Pictures.

So our winner for the challenge is.....drumroll please................

Corlann!!

And here is her layout, I just LOVED the little touches that she did with the embossing powder!

So, Corlann, please email me at cardipaws@sbcglobal.net with your shipping address and your choice of the collection kit you would like. We will get your prize out to you this week!!

So that brings us to the next challenge that I gave the design team, which you can play along with this month!!!

Scrap Those Cell Phone Photos

Let's see just what everyone did with those pictures that we snap with the only camera we might have handy at the moment!

First up is Sarah Eclavea, with this adorable two page layout using My Lil Monster!

Next up, Nikki played along with us this time! (confession, she was the FIRST one to turn something in!) She used the My Lil Monster collection along with You're a Hoot also.

Next up is Linda Beeson, I love it when she does layouts!! She used My Lil' Monster too. (I am seeing a trend so far!)

Now here is a layout using the Get Well Soon collection from Julie Tucker Wolek. Most of you probably know that Brookie has to have surgery for her Port Wine stains frequently. She is a brave little trooper and Julie used the words from a song for this layout about how beautiful she is!

And then we have Deana Boston's layout using Gingerbread Land! I love this picture of her daughter peeking from the tree!!

And I jumped in this month and played also. I used Gingerbread Land for my layout to document last Christmas morning. The snow was beautiful that fell overnight.

So your challenge for this month is to get those photos off of your cell phones and get them scrapped! Sometimes it is the only camera available to capture that moment, so let's get those moments on paper!

Card girls, if you are not comfortable making layouts and you want to play...make a card using some of the stickers and cut ups/punch outs that come with the collections....if you have Nikki Sivils stamps you can use those also....old or new...doesn't matter.

Just make a layout following the guidelines above for "Scrap Those Cell Phone Photos" and use at least 75% Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker products. It does not matter if it is an older or newer collection, we just want to see them!

Leave a link to your blog post or gallery with a picture of your completed challenge entry on this post by December 31. We will pick one winner and announce them on January 4th, 2012 (did I just type 2012?!) I am going to give you a little extra time with all the holiday festivities going on. We will not have a challenge in December, so you will have plenty of time to work on this one!

Have a Scrappy Kinda Day!!~~Katrina

Our small but sweet Thanksgiving!

2011-11-29T07:00:00.002-05:00

I have two families to share Thanksgiving with my mom's family and dad's family, usually I can fit both in on one day but this year they both decided to have their dinners at noon. Its always a tough spot to be in, one side of the family has my two sisters and their 5 kiddo's and the other side I have my 3 brothers and their 3 kiddos! How can you pick?? This year the deciding factor was my youngest brother (13 yrs. younger), Barron, had to leave to go back to L.A. at 8:30 p.m. Thanksgiving night and I wanted to spend some time with him.

This is Barron (in the black jacket), me (as a cat for halloween) and my other brother, DJ.

So I'm cooking and baking Thanksgiving morning watching the Macy's Day Parade and my phone rings and its Barron, he looked at his ticket wrong and he leaves at 12:30 p.m. not 8:30 p.m.! It was 9:30 a.m. when he called so I dressed very quickly, grabbed my pots and pans and finished cooking over at my moms house. I only got about 40 minutes with him before he left for the airport which was kind of sad for all of us. But better to have a little time then no time at all.

My other brother, Dj and his family were at his in-laws so it was just my mom and step-dad, my brother Ryan his wife, their son, Noah, Dan and I. Very small group this year and sad without my grandma and other two brothers.

Here are some pictures from our sweet little Thanksgiving...

This is our newest edition to the family, Noah.

The table....

We ate from my grandma's china, in her memory.

This is a little picture of my grandma & grandpa with a rose bud on a little chair from my old doll house furniture with a glass cover. Its an empty chair for them not being with us. This will always be at our family dinner table. Always.

I hope you all who celebrate Thanksgiving had a wonderful day!

We sure did! -Nikki

P.S. I have a FREE gift for all my followers for December! Tune in on Friday to get yours!

November, where did you go?

2011-11-28T07:00:00.004-05:00

Seriously where do you go? I thought you'd never get here and now you are almost gone. I'm not ready for December to be here yet... really I'm not!

I have my Christmas trees up, they go up the Saturday before Thanksgiving and I have all my Christmas decorations up too but I have little to no shopping done. I've tried to make a few commitments this year for Christmas...

1. Shop at small and local businesses as much as I can.

2. Make as many handmade gifts as I can.

and

3. Give as much as I can this holiday season.

We'll see how I do and I'll keep you updated with the progress.
I do have a sweet little flip chart mini album that I made for my mom that will have all of my grandma's special recipes in it. And I've made some cards to give as a "set" for a few friends. Really that's not much... I need to get to work!

I was asked this past year to teach some scrapbooking classes using my products on a cruise to the Caribbean. I couldn't say no, right!?! I taught the first week in October and I just got all my pictures on my Mac and wanted to share some of them with you.

Dan was my "assistant", not really but he says that was why he was there with me! Silly boy!

We cruised away on Carnivals newest ship, The Dream.

(It was so huge and beautiful.)

Here is the "The Dream"...

I think it's so fun that when you enter your room for the first time the TV is on and has "Welcome Aboard" then our names.

Dan on our room deck before we take off to sea.

This is the center of the ship or the main entrance when you first step on the ship. It was so huge and pretty.

I think the ship was made of all glass!

Can't go on a cruise and not get a couple of yummy

food pictures....

This is Susan, who is the owner of Croptopia Getaways.

Of all the four of our stops, Roatan was my most favorite.

Loved this little bit of paradise.

Everything was so colorful...

they call it the "Mahogany" island because that's where all so much

of our mahogany comes from.

Loved these pens, I had to have one!

If you get the chance to go to this island one day, please do!

You'll fall in love just like I did.

Okay so I know most of us aren't big fans of spiders, especially huge, furry, creepy spiders but I had to share this story with you. Dan and I were walking on a trail in Roatan, it was so beautiful, kind of like a rainforest, any way i just happen to look down because these wooden steps were really uneven and difficult to climb. That's when I saw this big fella running out from under my lifted foot to his hole. I bet the sole of my shoe was touching his back that's how close I was to stepping on him. I snapped a picture and went on but I was freaking out the rest of the hike.

Look how big he is... I so glad I didn't step on him!

I had to get a couple of "towel" creature pictures too.

Loved this lobster!

Dan and I on the ship after dinner one night watching the sunset.

This was our room.

This was our little deck off our room. We sat out here everyday

and drank our coffee.

I love this cute picture of my hubby in Costa Maya.

Our HUGE ship...

Dan at the ship casino, he won $900.00!!

He was ecstatic! (I was too!)

Here are the ladies that were in our group and one man, actually a few are missing but this is most of the group.

Everyone was so lovely, such a sweet group of ladies!

Our last towel on the last night...

Saying goodbye!

If you ever get a chance go on one of Susan's trips through Croptopia Getaways then jump at the chance! Susan is a wonderful hostess and plans a very nice trip for everyone!

Thanks Susan for everything!

-Nikki