I finally finished!

I finally finished my vacation album! I took me a little over a week! I used a Bo Bunny 9x9 Album with an extra set of inserts! I took over 200 pictures in Boston! I only put about 80 of them in my album. It's a pretty thick album - heavy, too! Here it is:


I used the Basic Grey Origins collection to decorate my album. I just thought that the colors were appropriate for Boston! I used the Take Note shape for the cover and added Basic Grey Eerie Alphabet Stickers for my title as well as some Origins Bloomers, Sparkling Rub-Ons, Pops and Woolies.


Check out how thick this album is!


This is the inside cover and page 1. I just tried to give an overview of Boston. The picture in the upper right is a postcard - come on, you've all seen my pictures - they're just not that good!


We went to Salem on the first day. I was so excited! I've wanted to go to Salem ever since I was a little girl. It was neat, but not at all what I was expecting. I think I liked the city better!


More of Salem. I love those graveyards. They are in the middle of the city and super old!


Close-up of page 3. My kids in the stockades. I told them I was going to bring those home if they misbehaved! LOL!


I love this picture! It's so spooky! I may have to use it as my wallpaper for Halloween!


This is the beginning of the Freedom Trail in Boston. It starts at Bunker Hill. That monument is so tall - you can see it everywhere in the city.


More of the Freedom Trail. The Boston Common is in the upper left corner. It is the oldest park in the US - established in 1634! The Old State House and site of the Boston Massacre are the rest of the pictures. How surreal to be standing on the places you've learned about in school!


This was a market place that we walked through on the way to Little Italy. I saw an outdoor Farmer's Market and Fish Market that I've only ever seen on t.v.! I had to take pictures!


Here is the Old North Church. The colonists hung the two lanterns in the steeple of this church as a warning that the British were coming by sea. This church is so cool! They had pew boxes that were purchased by the colonists. During the cold winters, the families would all huddle inside the boxes with hot stones at their feet to keep them warm! Could you imagine? Thank goodness for central heat!


Here is the Paul Revere House and the USS Constitution. The Constitution is a 212 year old wooden ship that is still in commission! The US Navy actually gave us a tour of this ship!


To complement our history adventure we drove to Lexington and Concord, which are about 20 minutes away from Boston. Both of those cities were absolutely beautiful, but very cold! No huge buildings to hold in the heat! We saw the Minute Men meeting house and the Lexington Battle site.


More Lexington and Concord. The Concord Museum on the right housed one of the two lanterns used as the warning the British were coming in the Old North Church. The Museum was closed when we got there and we couldn't stay and wait for it to open. Oh well, guess we'll have to go back!


The kids wanted to ride the Subway as part of the big city experience, so we took the train to Cambridge and went over to Harvard. The campus is beautiful with all the old buildings and trees! I took a picture of my girls on the steps of the library - I figured this was as much of Harvard we were going to be able to afford!


I can't make an album without a top 10 list! Here are my ten favorite things about the city: The tall buildings, Little Italy, Row Houses, Cheers, Trees, Outdoor Farmer's Markets, Shopping, Graveyards in the middle of the city, Roasted Almonds, The Charles River. I don't have all 10 in the pictures, but I have 6 of them!


Finally, the last page. Here are just some extra pictures that I loved that I wanted to put in the album! The "keepsake" envelope has some maps, brochures, extra pictures and our plane tickets!

I hope you weren't entirely bored looking at my album! I have a special treat for those of you that made it through to the end! Leave me a comment (hopefully nice and not that you were bored to tears) about my album and I'll put you in a random drawing for a Basic Grey Origins Collection Pack! Yes, the whole thing - all 18 papers, Element Stickers and Alphabet Stickers! You have until midnight Monday and I'll announce the winner on Tuesday! Tell all of your friends!

Thanks for looking at my album and have a Happy Easter!

Happy Crafting!

No Joke! The April Contest is ready!

Want a chance to win some FREE Basic Grey Kioshi papers and some fun coordinating embellishments from Basic Grey, Prima, Bo Bunny and more? Then check out our new monthly contest! You have until April 23 to submit your answer on the contest page. We will have a random drawing of correct answers and notify the winner on April 26! No purchase necessary. Enter today!


April 2010 Contest Prize:

• 12 sheets of Basic Grey Kioshi paper (Ayaka, Azami, Camelia, Jasmine & Olive, Kiku, Lilo, Mokuren, Motochi, Ran, Rebun, Ume, & Water Lily)
• 1 sheet of Basic Grey Porcelain Alphabet Stickers
• 1 package of Basic Grey Eva Painted Brads
• 1 sheet of Bo Bunny Garden Chic Rub-Ons
• 1 Imaginisce Snag 'em Stamps Blossoms
• 1 package of Queen & Co. Shaped Flower Brads
• 1 Prima Say It In Studs Bumblebee
• 1 Prima Floral Embellishments Purple

Good luck!

Basic Grey Projects by Andra Hoffman

Designer Andra Hoffman has created a few great projects using Basic Grey Green At Heart, Kioshi and Origins!

"19" - I love how Andra combined the Green at Heart and Kioshi papers in this colorful card!

Basic Grey Kioshi: Motochi, Yuriko, Camelia; Green at Heart: Sage and Emerald; Origins: Pieces

"Ella" - I love how all the purple colors accent the photo and give it such a feminine feel! Take a closer look at that green butterfly in the upper right corner- Andra used two photo corners to create it!

Basic Grey Kioshi: Rebun, Yuriko, Sayuri, Lily Child, Camelia; Green At Heart: Element Stickers; Origins: Element Stickers

"Nana's Boy" - I love the colors and all the distressing on this layout!

Basic Grey Origins: Henna, Hot Stone, Cucumber, Sugar Pea, Element Stickers, Pieces; Two Scoops: Brads; Sultry: Buttons

Check out the Project Ideas category for more inspiration from the designers!

Happy Crafting!

On The Boardwalk Mini Album by Sandy Windsor

Heading to the beach this summer? Check out this great mini-album created by Designer Sandy Windsor using the new Graphic 45 On the Boardwalk collection. Sandy's thoughts and design inspiration are quoted below each picture.


"I used an inexpensive child's board book to create my mini Boardwalk full of pages to capture fun memories....I could easily fill this mini with beach pix, vintage photos. or just fun family snapshots...still not sure which I will choose. I covered the book with a fun filled paper with cheerful photos and colors. The title is just one of the fun borders that is a part of this pack. I used some of the vintage photo tags to embellish the top of a larger interior tag and added some Prima flowers and a fun shell to the cover."


"Check out this fantastically fun paper....I could not bring myself to add more that some eyelash yarn.......lots of room for photos here....I may not add much at all...could not bear to cover up those 3 handsome gents in the corner!"


"Here I have added an envelope with a brad and floss closure...the envelope is cut from Plantin...there are more photo mats hiding inside. The frames are covered with more paper from the stack...and those fun tickets....don't for get to click to enlarge the photos...they are actually a border on one of the papers...I love the look of them!!!!"


"Here is a view of the envelope open with the additional photo mats....oh and did I say WOW....I just adore this beautiful orange lace ribbon by Prima!"


"I used sandpaper to created my pocket on this page....gotta love that bathing beauty tag not to mention the other ladies hanging out on the beach...I used another of the border pieces along the side of the page to add a title. the the top of the page you can see the back of an old clip on earring...I will use it to hold a photo."


"These pages have lots of room for photos or journaling....I have to share the link I used for this fabulous envelope page...check out this super fun tutorial by Laura from Following The Paper Trail The shell was cut with my Ocean of Words cart and opens...you will see that soon....."


"A pic of the shell opened up...don't know if you can see it in the pic but the two inside pages have been embossed with my Cuttlebug. The tags from the envelope page have some fiber and I added a shell to the smaller of the two...the post card is cut from one of the papers...it is accented with a paperclip with some buttons glued to the top."


"The last 2 pages are covered in fantastic designs....I used my Mickey and Friends cart to cut eh film frames, added some more of the tags from the stack and a bright Prima with a starfish bling as a center."


"One last shot of the the fun, fun tags from the 1st page."

What a fantastic mini-album! For more detail of this mini-album and to see more of Sandy's work, be sure to check out her blog: Details by Sandy.

Happy Crafting!

We're back!

We are back from our vacation! We had a great time in Boston and now it's time to get back to work! Please be patient with us while we catch up on shipping. We should be all caught up by the end of the week!

Make sure to check out our Project Ideas category for all of the Design Team's work! Each lady also has an album on our Facebook page - be sure to check there as well for all of their great projects!

Now for the winner of the Pinecone Press Easter papers and die-cuts: Congratulations to Jennifer Robin! Send us an email with your shipping address and we will send you some neat Easter goodies!

Stay tuned for more Design Team projects and maybe a mini-album of my family vacation!

Happy Crafting!