There is an organization called “Keepers of Faith.” Since I am a Christian and want my children growing up, knowing that Jesus died on the cross for them, I thought this was perfect. It allows kids to earn badges for different things. A lot of these are craft based, but some of them are for community involvement too. They have a lot of badges for learning Bible verses. It’s set up for a Boys side called “Contenders” and a Girls side called “Keepers.” Boys can do things in the girls book and vice versa. Since I want my son to learn how to cook and my daughter learn how to fix a flat tire (that’s not in there but I still want her to learn it), I’ve decided to combine most of their activities.

I’m only going to work on it about twice a month. We’ll do a craft (or other worldly thing like learning respect and teamwork) and the next time we’ll be working on Christian values. I work very hard to make sure that my children accept everyone, no matter where they are from, what religion they practice, or whomever they love. It’s my goal to help my children to create a better world through Jesus Christ. With that said, our first craft was an album. They could have just taken any kind of an album that was pre-made. They could have added papers, or just journaled. I decided to take it a step further. There’s a lot of flexibility with this program.

I went to AC Moore and spent $10 on a 30-pack of chipboard 12 x 12 sheets. Shame on me though, I forgot to take a coupon for 40% off and “conveniently” they didn’t have any to give me. This is what one of the sheet’s looks like:

Since this is an album that they have to create in order to get the badge, they did the majority of cutting. I did a couple of things to show them how to do it safely. They used my “handy dandy” paper cutter to slice it in half, making it 6 inches long. I have to give you a piece of advice – don’t use a guillotine, only use the blade cutters. If you use a guillotine, it will strip the board and it won’t give you a clean cut. We used a rotary cutter as it was deeper than a standard paper cutter. Makes for a nice, clean cut. Then, because I wanted a 4×6 album for each child, they further cut the longer strips down into 4×6 sheets. Each 12 x 12 sheet gave us 6 of the 4×6 sheets.

We decided that we should start out with 10 sheets each. This would be the basis for the album. Everything that they’ll do will be adhered to these chipboard sheets. Here are the kids cutting and having fun:

After you have the 4 x 6 sheets, you need to create holes. I hate the one-hole punches and didn’t think the kids would have the strength to use them. So I purchased a $4 cheapy from Walmart that was adjustable. I put the holes close enough together to make two holes in the board so that they were evenly apart. On top of that, the kids (and I) needed a guideline. So I moved the 3rd hole over and used the edge as a guide for the board. See how I’m using the edge of the hole maker on the left for the guide?

Okay, so now comes the fun part (as my son said). You’ll need some rings. These are sold at craft stores for really high prices! I couldn’t believe it! I saw them for $2.50 for 2 in the package. That’s $1.25 a piece. Are you kidding me? So I went to Office Max. They also have them at Staples and Office Depot. Unfortunately, I didn’t see them at Walmart or Target. These are called “Loose Leaf Rings” at most stores. Even though the package here says Book Rings, the website called them Loose Leaf Rings.

Okay, so what did I pay for these? $6.79 for 40 of them. That’s 17 cents a piece! Guess what? That wasn’t on sale! I could have gotten them cheaper. Office Max online had a deal going on for these things (wasn’t honored in the store though) that was BOGO 1/2 off the 2nd one. I could have also waited until they went on sale but who knew when that was going to be? I purchased the 1 inch rings as I thought they were perfect. I think we could easily fit 25 of the chipboard sheets on here comfortably. If I’d gotten the 2 inch ones, it would have been too big. Each child took 2 rings. and slid them through the holes to finish it off.

Now that the album is completed, they need to learn their Bible Verse and they’ll have earned their first badge! We’ve decided that since school is starting right after Labor Day, they will use this album to chronicle their memories of this year. I’ll be printing out digital papers and they can get stickers or other elements to decorate. We’ll decorate one page at a time and I’ll share it here with you. I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial. It’s a simple one that pretty much anyone could figure out how to do and requires very little time or effort. See you next time! ~Denise

I’d show you the outside of the albums that I just finished if I could find my camera. I seem to have misplaced it. Shhh! Don’t tell my husband. He’ll have a fit! I did want to share something that I created with you though. On the outside of one album is an opening for a photo. Instead, I took a quote that I found and created some wordart, added some pretty little brushes and ended up with a really nice looking introduction to the album. I’m pretty pleased with the results and had a blast working with the brushes. This is definitely something I’ll have to do in the future again!

So here’s the way I decorated it with a little preview of the wordart:

Click on the image above or HERE to download just the wordart. Enjoy it and tell your friends! ~Denise

I follow the “Sew Mama Sew” blog. It happens to be my favorite and only sewing blog that I follow. They have great advice. No, I’m not getting paid to tell you about the site. But I did manage to enter their contest to win that shirt pattern. Hope I win but with 263 entries, I’m thinking I’m just a number in the wind. The other AWESOME contest I’m signing up for is to win a Husqvarna Serger. You can enter too by going to this link. You have no idea how BADLY I need a serger. I’ve never had one but just know I need it. Ever feel that way? I’m an ice skating mom. I buy ice skating dresses. Have you ever known anyone that does this? They are super expensive. They will run you anywhere from $60 for the cheap end all the way up to $1000 for the expensive stuff. This mom is on a fixed military budget so I want to make some instead.

I’ve already purchased my very first pattern by Kwik Sew. This is the one I chose for her as my first project:

I’ve been sewing since I was a little girl. But this is a new adventure for me. The material, the stitches, the tight fit. Kind of makes me feel intimidated. However, so many dress makers have told me that my life would be so much better if I just had a serger. I’m hoping for it. Will Santa come early for me? Just to show you how badly I need a serger, my children left me a message on my youtube account:

~Denise

I had time to make another bookmark. I made it for my son. It may seem a bit girly with the flowers but I think he’ll be okay with it. He’s 6 and doesn’t see anything as being geared towards one gender or another. I really like this bookmark too. I’m thinking I may print it out for myself too. Enjoy it!

These are the fabulous kits I used. The designers at Scrapbook-Elements have been doing mini kits that coordinate with each other. I think it’s such a GREAT idea because you can just pick and choose what you want for a fabulous kit! These are from their Summer edition called “Summer Memories.”

I also used Changes Frippery by Tracy Ann Digital Art. Unfortunately, she closed her store. I LOVED her place and still wanted to buy more but she’s concentrating on another project. You can find her HERE. Come back soon! ~Denise

I also had to finish up my daughter’s homeschooling year. This was by far the most frustrating year ever! I think it’s her age that’s the problem. She’s trying to be independent and tell me “what she’s going to do.” Yeah, that doesn’t work well for me. She ended up finishing a year after the public schools did and she started a couple of weeks before they did.

Unfortunately, all my frustrations didn’t work well for my schooling. I ended up getting the boot from my school program because I couldn’t complete one of my courses. I had some medical issues and they didn’t care. It’s a rough school. Fortunately for me, the VA (Veteran’s Administration) was gracious enough to allow me to start over somewhere else in a different program. Kinda sucks though because I was 4 classes and a project away from my degree. Oh well, I’m starting September 8th back at my old Alma Mater in Human Resources. The market looks much better than my other degree which was Aeronautical Science.

I have gone through my old files and it looks like I may have some freebies for you. I want to go through my box account and make sure they haven’t been given to you already and then I’ll post them. But for now, I do have a bookmark that I made tonight. I hope you like it. I made it for my daughter. She even helped me with the designing. I think she has great talent. I may have her completely design the next one while I choose the kits and do the dragging/dropping. She doesn’t know Photoshop yet. Guess it’s time to teach her!

These are the fabulous kits I used. The designers at Scrapbook-Elements have been doing mini kits that coordinate with each other. I think it’s such a GREAT idea because you can just pick and choose what you want for a fabulous kit! These are from their Summer edition called “Summer Memories.”

I need to put in a disclaimer here though. The sprinkling of stars/hearts is actually from Magical Swirls 4 by Kitty Chen. The little animals and flower elements are from Evitangel by Dawn Inskip. Here is the link for it. Hope you enjoy it. Come back soon! ~Denise

They fixed the problem within an hour. Normally I never allow anyone to take control over my computer, especially Dell. It’s sad to say but I know more than most of Dell’s technical support team. Years ago, one technician insisted on taking control over my computer and crashed it so bad that a new hard drive had to be sent out with a technician to replace it. That was the last time I allowed someone to take control. But since I had no idea what to do about this problem and I know what Microsoft requires of their technicians in terms of certification, I figured it was safe.

So where does that leave me? Still feeling unsafe because of my BIOS problem. So I’ve decided to buy a new motherboard and just forget it. But I have to wait for right now since my dog is in desperate need of x-rays. I’m praying they come back clean but they want to check for cancer. He’s a good dog, fat, but good. Speaking of fat, I’ve started a new blog for weight loss. I’m looking for as many new support lines as I can get. No one can do this alone. If you’re looking to lose weight and want someone to support you, come over to my new blog and help me, help you. I’m a “laugher” so I’ve called the new place Weight for the Laugh. I look around for comics and place them on the blog and interject my own humor when I’m writing. I hope you’ll join me.

I’m out of town right now but when I get back, I’ll find that freebie I have for you and post it. Until then, have a great day!

So my husband happened to be at Best Buy and asked if I wanted him to pick one up. $75 later and a dustless case, it seems as though my computer is running much better. I haven’t had it lock up since replacing the card. I did that less than a week ago and have been in a “testing period” since. I didn’t want to hold out too much hope and then still have problems. The video is still a bit choppy so I have to work on that. I figure it’s probably the need for memory or it’s on the same IRQ as something else. For me? It’s fixed for now. I can work on that when I have the time.

Now that I’m back, I’m ready to get started. I figured I’d start you off with a freebie today. I also have another one zipped and ready for you that I’ll show you later this week. For now, Kimberly Stewart has a great kit out called Winter Blessings. One of the fantastic team ladies, Tammy Dunlap, created a great quickpage for you. Here are today’s Peeks and Perks:

It’s hard to believe our gifts are coming to an end. Here we are at Day 10 already! Time sure flies by when you’re downloading. Debbie has today’s gift for you on her blog so I hope you’ll join me over there to download them! Come back tomorrow for that special surprise by Lisa.

Click HERE to go to Debbie’s Blog entry!

See you back here tomorrow!

Talk about feeling stupid! I was thinking it was Debbie’s day today and it turns out it’s mine. Where is my brain lately? I think it’s called “mommy brain.” I can’t seem to keep up with whatever is happening around me. It’s a good thing I had a reserve set aside. I was going to make this up for you later but had to jump on it right away. It’s a good thing I work well under pressure, lol.

 

It’s Day 9 today and I made up a template. Originally I made it for a photographer but converted it with a title and flowers (and moved some things around) to be used for scrapping. Yep! There is a difference between photographer templates and scrapping! Scroll down for the download link. See you tomorrow! ~Denise

 

Click on the image above or HERE to download

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