I created an 8.5×11 template in CS4 and added guides so the month and day blocks would be 4×4.  I included the numeral, printed and cursive in English and finally in Hawaiian.

I created sheets for each month/day of the week.  I trimmed 1/4″ off each of the long sides, 1/2″ off the top then  2 1/2″ off the bottom.  Then cut the remaining piece into 4×4 pieces.

the number/year pieces were designed to be 2×4 so when I placed a month, day, date, year it would be 12″ and fit perfectly on a 12″ chipboard base.

after trimming all the pieces, I stacked them up and punched with the bind it all and put it all together…

The boys are now learning the date in English and Hawaiian, and I couldn’t be happier! :)
Thanks for stopping by, I have a few more projects in the works!
love Love and Blog you Later!
Joscie, rhymes with bossy

attempt 1: fine script was too delicate/small to weed (remove unwanted pieces) successfully.

attempt 2: I made the design slightly larger and removed a few of the other detailed items and cut again. still a pain to weed.

attempt 3: Less intricate design, sent to cut, forgot to mirror image. D’oH!

attempt 4: mirror image, cut, iron on=success.

verdict: I love this flocked material. It looks professional and I am happy with the end result.  It was not as intricate as I wanted, but still satisfied.

So, do you want to know how to cut your own designs or designs using digital scrapbooking files you’ve downloaded?

1. If you are starting with a .png file you want to open it in your software, I use PS. Save a copy of this file as a .jpg.  Remember where you are saving it.

2. Open your silhouette software, open a new document.

3. click on insert file, navigate to your .jpg file and open it.

4. place it in your document.

5. click on get outline. (edit.get outline)

6. paste then exit adds the cutline to your document. resize as needed, then cut. :)

I have used this method on these projects:

I do love my silhouette, I’ve had it for 4 years or so. I have cut vinyl, iron on material, cardstock, patterned paper.  I think the only thing I wish was different?  I wish I could cut wider items.  The widest is about 7.75″.  On a few occasions I have downloaded items that could not be cut to the proper size on my silhouette, so 12″ inch width would be nice.  But I really do love it.  I hope this has helped you, let me know if you have any questions!  Thanks for stopping by!

Love Love and Blog you later,

Joscie, rhymes with Bossy!

I got an email from my mother in law that she received the new For the Home idea book by Scrapbook Trends in the mail.  My calendar is featured there, I am so excited!  Be on the look out for that one! :)  I have another layout coming out in a UK Idea book this summer too, I’ll let you know about that one when it comes up.  I also have a new project in the works for DesignHouseDigital soon too! :)  I also got a note that one of my digi layouts is featured on the Kenner Road blog today!

It has been voggy and rainy around Hawaii the past few days.  There has been lots of ponding on the roads and runny noses, itchy eyes, and coughing around the family.  We’re sure thankful that it’s not too bad, I am feeling really bad for all the severe weather in the southeast US.  We took the car into the shop this morning for an oil change, tire rotation, brake check *(I was just sure that the brakes were going bad, but thankfully I was wrong, they are fine).  These are the kinds of things Troy usually does for me, and I was just glad to get it done.  We also stopped off at the Library today and while Jalen checked in to a few resource books in the Library, Jordan and I scanned the kids books and checked out three cute stories about Miss Smith and her Incredible Storybook.  We have just about decided that I am going to homeschool both boys next year.  I am nervous, but excited at the prospect at the same time.  So if you’re so inclined, please pray for some divine guidance in selecting our curriculum and good choices for our family.

I need to fold up some laundry and head to bed because tomorrow is Tuesday and that means time for new digi kits over at two peas in the morning! :)

Thanks for stopping by, Love Love and Blog you again real soon!

Joscie, rhymes with bossy

Today’s picture of the day: Happy Birthday Jordan!

My picture of the Day for yesterday is my (step)brother Kam and my sister in law Melissa.

Today was a day for tying up loose ends.  Getting safety inspections for truck and motorcycle, mowing our little patch of lawn in the back… I think we are about as ready as we can be.

In scrappy news, Tattered Angels is releasing a few new products that I am super super excited about!  Liz posted the first sneak peek on the Tattered Angels educator blog today.  She listed all the new educators and there is a great giveaway, so check it out!  My first tattered angels project went live on the blog today too! Here’s a peek:

Thanks for stopping by!  Love Love and blog you later,

Joscie, rhymes with bossy!

Monday, Christopher Columbus Day, Jalen was out of school and it was also the release day of a new book he’s been waiting on, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, the last straw.  I asked him to stand next to the cut out so I could get a picture. I snapped it, then I asked, Jalen, you’re not even smiling, are you not excited? He says, I’m trying to look like Greg!  I will say, these books are very boyish, with some pottyish humor and the character is sometimes rude, so we do discuss the choices Greg and other characters make and ask are those the same choices we would make? Oh, my goodness, and now that I am looking at this picture, please disregard all the wrinkles. (and crumbs in subsequent pictures, ha)

Tuesday brought a day to have lunch with my girlfriend FabuLisa at the Counter Burger.  They had a coupon for free fries with a purchase of a burger for all their facebook fans, so we cashed in those coupons for some yummy fries and good girl time.  I love laughing it up with FabuLisa, she appreciates good sarcasm when she hears it… :)

Wednesday is an early day for Jordan with pickup right after lunch, but he is sometimes still hungry, so we headed out for some drive through.  I asked him if he wanted to drive through, and he asked if we could eat at Daddy’s work McDonalds (translation: the McDonald’s on base at Pearl Harbor) sure son.  As we drive on the base and make that turn and see all the ships in a row, he says, can we go eat at Daddy’s ship?

(my heart breaks.  does he think Daddy has been working at the ship for the past 3 months and we just haven’t gone to see him?)  Honey, Dad’s ship is on it’s way home from Guam, it’s not here yet.

Oh, is he coming home tomorrow?

No son, just over a week and a half.

Oh, okay, can we have a picnic?

Okay son.

He munched on these apple dippers and fruit punch and enjoyed his lunch. (he has only recently found out that they give caramel sauce with the apple dippers)

and more Jordan funniness. this child picked up this little plastic bird which is a furikake (seaweed/nori) dispenser and put his mouth on it and started sucking it out. me: Jordan! him: what? I just wanted a little seaweed.  I made him hold up the chick for scrapbooking purposes. documenting the funny to get through the tough parts.

I bought some funny long grey and black stripey socks at target a few weeks ago. they are super cute and Jordan was the one who picked them out.  I pulled them out of the drawer and he immediately wanted to put them on.   I say, Jordan, these socks are longer than your legs.  no mom, I’ll look like the duelers on Wii Resort!  Okay, so i let him try them on. and they were truly longer than his legs.  I promised him I would take a look for some similar socks the next chance I got. I found these cuties at target and he was so excited to wear them right away.  He put them on and dueled around the living room. and then my mom called us to meet for dinner. and I can’t believe it, but I let my child go out with his blue and white shirt, blue shorts, black, grey and red socks and brown shoes. but he was so happy, i just had to smile and let it go.

we saw this freaky fish at the pet store. freaky!

we printed up the “rewards” from his leap pad tag reader. he’s getting pretty good with those scissors, both right and left hands.

how beautiful is this paradise I call home? I am blessed.

also one last tip.  If you’re a long time blog reader of mine, you may remember when we last moved, I (in an ultimately bone headed move) gave the power cable for my silhouette to the cable guy who was picking up my cable box… and didn’t realize it until I tried to set everything up at the new house. I searched and searched. but ultimately accepted that I had given away the wrong cord.  I emailed Quickutz and they sent me a replacement. I must say, I love companies who give good customer service. It makes me so happy to do business with them.  My tip is this: I now label my power cords with a white sharpie paint pen. no question what this goes with!

one last bit of scrap, I have a tutorial up at Miss Mint’s blog for Frankenbag!

check it out!

That’s it for now.  This week will be cleaning up and putting up welcome home signs (that are not made quite yet).

Thanks for stopping by, Love Love and Blog you later!

Joscie, rhymes with bossy.

My bottom camera is a Kodak Duaflex IV. (click the picture for a larger view)  The viewfinder in the duaflex is a large square bubble on the top of the camera.  It is designed to be held around your hip level and it “auto focuses” on items about 5 feet away.  When looking through the viewfinder, everything is reversed, words will be backwards and framing the shot can be tricky, but eventually you can figure it out.

I use my 105mm macro lens on my canon 40D to shoot the digital shot through the viewfinder.  I learned from the tutorial to lay the camera on a table and move your camera as close as you could to get 1. a clear shot and  2. the full viewfinder in your frame.  Measure this distance and then construct a device for blocking out excess light.  I originally used large sheets of cardstock, but then went back and rebuilt it with black illustration board.

I cut out slots to accomodate the front lenses and for the side knobs.  I used duct tape to join the pieces together.

when you take the picture with your digital camera, it comes out looking like this:

Then you crop it in photoshop and voila a square ttv shot.

Please let me know if you have any questions! :)

Love Love and Blog you later!

Joscie, rhymes with bossy!

First I selected 12 photos from the past year.  I added a mat from Peppermint Creative’s Custom Bracket Mat 2 and added a Peppermint Creative Modern Calendar Stamp on top. Here are a few:

I saved each one at 300 dpi 6″x4″ size.  I took the files on a disk to Wal-Mart and ordered one hour prints.  Before paying for the prints I checked all of the prints and asked for a few months to be reprinted because the days were cut off on the bottom (no charge for fixing mistakes).  I brought it home and collated each year.  I cut up 12×12 sheets of black chipboard into 6″x4″ pieces.  I used my bind it all to punch holes in all pieces.  Although I could fit all 12 pictures in the punch area, I only punched 6 at a time for a cleaner punch.  I also used the spacer bar to create the punched holes closer to the edge.

When binding projects with the bind it all, I recommend stacking the back cover on top of the front cover on top of all inside pages.  Insert the 1/2″ binding coil in through the back cover so the ugly part will be at the back of the book.  Squeeze gently in the bind it all and voila your perfectly bound project.

For the covers, I used my new spellbinders pinked circle dies with my Sizzix Big Kick to cut my flocked damask doodlebug paper into large circles for the front covers and a smaller circles for the back covers.  I also used my quickutz Studio dies to cut foam numbers 2009 and adhered with the xyron machine.  I stamped my “from the studio of” stamp on cardstock, punched with a Stampin’ Up! circle punch and mounted on the small pinked circle with foam pop dots.