Fancy Nancy Birthday

(click on picture for a larger view)

Caitlin turned 4 on May 1st! She is growing so fast. As we started talking about her party, she was adamant it be an "Annie" party. I wasn't sure how I was going to pull off an Annie party. Having received a Fancy Nancy doll and many dress up items for her birthday, I was able to steer her in the direction of a Fancy Nancy party. Oh la la!

It was a perfect day! The girls turned plain, purple felt purses into fancy bags using feathers, jewels and sparkly butterflies. (Template from Martha Stewart) They played dress-up and the girls sung "Happy Birthday" to Caitlin from her stage.

After some playtime, we went in for lunch. Above the table hung paper lanterns covered in butterflies. At each place setting was a tiara. Paper butterflies surrounded the straws on each cup. The menu consisted of "tea" sandwiches cut in the shape of butterflies and flowers. There was cream cheese and berry preserves, turkey and cheese and ham and cheese. The fruit salad was fancy as well. Watermelon was cut out in the shape of flowers surrounded by strawberries, blueberries and melon balls. The cupcake cake was in the shape of a crown and read "Bon Anniversaire Caitlin". Fancy Nancy loves to speak in French.

The girls pulled strings on the Fancy Nancy pinata before heading home. Inside the pinata was candy and fancy bracelets. The girls took home a party bag. Inside was a pen with a plume, butterfly hair clips, CD with Fancy Nancy stories, tiara, candy, necklace and bracelet. It was an extraordinary day (that's fancy for great)!

Now that the party is over and I have cleared a few other items from my "To-Do" list, I hope to dedicate some time to scrapbooking. I have a lot of ideas circling my head.

Saving and Organizing Photos

Sorry I have been such a bag blogger lately. I have been working on a Fancy Nancy birthday party for my daughter. I will post pictures later. I think it would be fun to be a children's birthday party planner in another life...I just need a la carte budgets. ; )

I was asked a really two great questions the other day. What process do I use for downloading and saving my photos from my camera? And, what did I use to create the playlist on the layout I showed in this post.

Here are my answers:

1. My camera came with a program to download and organize photos. I LOVE how it automatically saves the files into folders by the date the pictures were taken. I create a new Windows folder for each month, inside a new folder for each year. I save the folders created by the camera's system into those month folders. Jessica Sprague, an expert in the technology side of scrapbooking, has another great organization system. She explains it well here.

I upload my pictures to scrapbookpictures.com and picassaweb.google.com. Both services allow me to keep them organized by folder. I order pictures from scrapbook pictures because they offer a HUGE variety of sizes and special services. Picassa is great because I can give a link directly to my site for my friends and family to visit It is great for the grandparents to view photos of the kids. It give me piece of mind to know I have my pictures backed up and protected.

For editing my pictures, I use Photoshop Elements. It is an AMAZING program, but can be complicated for a first time user. Jessica Sprague offers free video tutorials on her sites here and here. The latter also offers paid online classes in using Photoshop as well as photography. View a free online video because she does a great job with them.

2. I created the playlist on my layout using iTunes. I download music from iTunes and rip (copy) songs from my CDs as well. I have an extensive collection of music as a result. iTunes lets you easily set up a playlist. Once you have your playlist set up, you simply go to print and you get the image you saw on my layout - an array of album cover pictures and a list of the songs.

Hope this information helps you in organizing your scrapbook pictures.

June's Deal-a-Day Constant Campaign

Grab Incredible Deal-a-Day Specials in June
In June you can take advantage of a different deal each day on my website —a product special available only that day and only while supplies last. Specials include Great Goodies boxes priced 50% or more below retail and popular products for free with a My Acrylix® stamp set purchase (size A, B, C, D, or E; excludes K-size and Stamp of the Month). PLUS irresistible shipping discounts. Check my website every day from June 1–30 for that day's deal and add to your scrapbooking and cardmaking supplies while saving a bundle. Remember, each special is good only for that day, only while supplies last, and only on MyCTMH websites.

Surf the Web

Today's post is a list of links of creative ideas from around the web. Check them out and let me know which one you liked the best.

• As the weekend slowly comes into view, think about taking on Ali's Weekend Challenge: Document your Weekend. She presented the challenge last week and has already posted her layout. It might help you visualize your own as you take on the challenge this weekend. The added bonus is a FREE brushes download for you digital/hybrid scrapbookers.
• Check out this layout from the Designer Garden at Two Peas in a Bucket. It is using the special "Tickled Pink" pack from Close to My Heart. It is only available through the end of the month, so contact me ASAP if you are interested in ordering it. In the meantime, check out the video for some cool stamping tips.
• LOVE this idea from Becky Higgins's blog. It is great for those of you with little ones. Check out how her kindergartener has preserved his memories in an album.
• LOVE this layout by Nichol Magouirk. I have to get some of the dotted cardstock. The effect is so cool.
• Finally, I think this layout by Kelly Purkey is amazing. I love the simplicity of it. She definitely has a wardrobe girls would die for. Interesting idea to scrapbook it. Guess it would be interesting to look back and see what outfits my Mom was wearing in her twenties.

Enjoy the sunshine! Let's hope it is here to stay for a while.

A Look at Pleating

There have been several posts on the Studio Calico blog on pleating. I love the texture the pleated elements add to the pages and cards featured in the blog entries. Check them out here, here and here to be inspired.




While we are on the topic of Studio Calico, check out my sister-in-law's member gallery on their site. She is a member of the SC kit club and often posts her layouts. She was asked to participate in a sketch challenge on their blog as well. Her layout was titled "with the girls". You will see it in her gallery.

Pom-Poms

I recently stumbled upon the blog "dannisdoodles". I love the gifts and cards she created for Teacher's Appreciation week. The colors are perfect and I love all the different embellishments she used especially the pom-poms. I picked up some pop-pops in different colors at Jo-Ann's this morning. I can't wait to use them on a layout. I will post when I figure out what layout I want to use them on.

In the meantime, check out dannisdoodles and be inspired yourself.

Free Font Friday

Scrap 'n Fonts recently retired all of their CK fonts. Each Friday, CK will be offering one of the fonts for free. It looks like it will only be available for a week and then the next font will be offered. Check it out! Great way to boost your font collection for free.

Creating Keepsakes Free Font Friday