On the Eve

The Christmas season means that I take a long break from creating. Parties, shopping, hosting family and getting on the floor and just playing with the kids fills my holiday season. As much as I love it, it is so nice to get back here and create something. I can't stay away from this place too long.

Speaking of the holidays, here's a snapshot of Christmas at Casa Damiano. There are so few good pictures because I'm usually too busy hosting (and talking and playing). Next year someone is getting the title of official photographer, I just have to remember to assign it.

This was my last 2013 video for the Two Peas series, Scrap Your Stash. The focus this time was on wood frames, which i love and own way too many of. One of the reasons I loved doing this series so much was that I got to combine my love for products + stories.

I chose these photos from a recent vacation and Nico's love of guava juice. I added the wood frames, hand stitching and a soft, tropical palette to complete the story. You can watch the process here, if you'd like to see how it came together: Scrap Your Stash with Nancy Damiano: Wood Frames

Looking forward to big changes, new opportunities and creating pretty things in 2014. See you in the New Year!

Merry Christmas to all...

December Daily, Not So Daily

I’ve been struggling with my blog posts lately. Partly due to time (lack of it) and trying to find my way in this age of social media. The steady stream of self-promotion which is becoming so much a part of scrapbooking, is so not my style.  And yet, I love to share the things I make and love. So to strike a balance between selling all the time and sharing is what I’m striving toward. Bear with me while I try to figure this out. The slower days of winter should help too. I plan to be around here a lot more in 2014.

In the meantime, I have a version of December Daily that I made for Two Peas in a Bucket. I used Santa's List by Teresa Collins - my favorite Christmas line this season. I chose to do a Christmas past, present and future theme because I still have a December Daily from years ago that I never finished. The daily deadline type of projects don't work for me. But this - a book about many Christmases and how the holiday has changed for us, that I can do.

I chose this mini album by Studio Calico. Love the small size and bright print. Adding the flair was a quick way to decorate the front and be done!

 Touches of gold add a little sparkle to the title page.

 Layers of patterned paper, stamping, enamel dots and more gold.

 Journaling cards from Chic Tags and an enamel dots, give us a little touch of reindeer.

 These small gold letters from Chic Tags were perfect for small journaling tags.

Pockets for my pockets. These will be journaling spots and frames for small photos.

For more pictures and a walk through of the entire project, see my gallery at Two Peas. Sitting down with just one collection (Santa's List) and few odds and ends from Chic Tags, meant this project was finished in an afternoon. I love when that happens, makes me merry.

Be back soon. Have to go wrap + wrap + wrap some more.

Scrapbook Room + A Winner

I've been on an organizing kick this fall. Cleaning out all of closets including the one in my scrapbook room. This closet was a nightmare. It was packed with things that I don't use anymore and the shelves were falling apart.  I wanted to move to a cleaner, closed storage look. What was supposed to be a simple project, took me a few weeks to finish. There was major purging done!

Here's a before and after shot:

I have a post on the 2Peas blog with more details and photos.

And now for the winner of the Lily Bee Urban Autumn blog hop:

ElizabethNovember 11, 2013 at 10:18 PM

I am such a fan of your work. It's always so fresh and inventive.

Congrats Elizabeth! I'll be in touch on how to get your wood veneer prize. Thanks so much to everyone for commenting and hopping.

Urban Autumn Hop & Giveaway

Welcome to the Lily Bee Urban Autumn blog hop! I was searching for a Fall line that was colorful and bold and not to themed.  I wanted a line that I could use with pumpkin patch, fall leaves and then use the left overs for some of my non-themed scrapbooking. I totally found it in Urban Autumn by Amy Heller.

I started the layout on the woodgrain sunburst patterned paper and layered the pretty green wood, chevron and bold orange colors up at the top. I followed it up with a row of the Urban Autumn leaf cuts and some machine sewing. 

I used two of the 3x4 cards to add a title and journaling spot. The wood arrows and some enamel dot border finish out the layout.

My favorite embellishment from this line is the wood veneer pack. I love all the shapes and details.

I have one pack of the wood veneer embellishments to give away today on the hop! Just leave me a comment and I will choose a winner on Thursday, November 14 at midnight. Winner will be announced on 11/15/13.

Now stop on by these blogs for more Urban Autumn inspiration and giveaways!

Lily Bee Blog 

Kelly Goree 

Christine Middlecamp 

Suzy Plantamura   

Jill Sprott 

Kinsey Wilson

Michelle Wooderson 

Amy Heller 

Teresa Collins Family Stories

I had the opportunity to be this month's guest designer over at the Teresa Collins design team blog this week. I love all of her new collections, but especially Family Stories. The colors, the icons...the sequins. Beautiful stuff. Here's a look at some of the pages I made using a 1-photo, 2-photo, 3-photo challenge.

For more info and the story behind the pages, visit the Teresa Collins blog.

Hello Urban Autumn

While we've been out enjoying the cooler weather, I've been keeping an eye out for a great Fall collection and I finally found one that I love! Urban Autumn by Lily Bee Design was designed by one of my favorite scrapbookers, Amy Heller. I love the bold colors (yup, even the pink) and patterns. My favorites are the woodgrain starburst and that beautiful ombre chevron. I can't wait to dig into these.

I love these wood veneer pieces, especially the leaves and apples. And some flair for a little more dimension. I have a huge collection of flair and I'll be adding these too.

And 36 double-sided 3x4 cards great for Project Life or my favorite, pocket scrapbooking. I love that there are so many different designs and no doubles!

And the last bit, some pretty stamps to round out the collection.

Garden Girl Hop + New Video

It's that time again. Time to hop with the 2Peas Garden Girls. Follow along to see sneaks, favorites and a chance to win one of my favorite classes.

Coming soon, as in today. Check out my latest video in the Scrap Your Stash series. Chipboard, birthdays and pocket scrapbooking your themed photos is the focus. Watch the process video here.

 Things I am loving + using right now:
1. Chalk Studio Chipboard by My Mind's Eye
2. Hello December Die Cut Pack by Glitz
3. Daily Chevies Collection Pack by Bella Blvd.
4. Enamel dots in navy!
5. Wild & Free Die Cut Pack by Glitz

This is the best use of the Crate Paper acrylic alpha I've seen. I love the enlarged photo, the funky title and layered embellishments. Melissa Man is one of my favorites, check out the rest of her gallery here.

And now the giveaway. Just leave a comment (with your PeaName) by 8/29/13 to win a spot in Jill Sprott's Scrapbooking from the Soul Workshop. I took this class recently and it has really changed the way I choose the stories I want to tell. It's packed with jumpstarts, beautifully detailed pages and process videos. To win a spot, leave a comment (with your PeaName) by 8/29/13. Good Luck!

Basic Grey Capture + Carte Postale Video

This is a first for me. Exactly one week from the day we arrived home from vacation, the photos were printed, journaled and tucked away in this mini. Completely miraculous I tell you. It usually takes me weeks if not months to get started on vacation photos. But deadlines loomed and the minute I saw the Capture and Carte Postale lines from Basic Grey, I knew they would be perfect for documenting Marco Island.

I love the color palette, it's bright + colorful and reminds me of the islands. It's been a very long time since I've seen a scrapbook line that was remotely tropical. I combined Capture and Glitz's Unchartered Waters for the beach and sea elements to add just a little bit of theme to the mini.

You can take a look at how I organized and divided the photos + memorabilia into chapters allowing me to tell the full story in a 7x9 mini here:

GUIDE

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The mini album includes 5 dividers, patterned paper and divided page. The photos range in size from 3x3 to 7x9, which gives the album an interesting shape and flow. This has been one of my favorite projects this year.

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I worked on the mini, filming and editing every single day for a week. Can you say burnout? I love to scrapbook, but sometimes that happens when a deadline looms and I'm trying to get an idea out. It bucks my procrastinating nature. 

So this week, it's reading + organizing + the beach.  And maybe just a tiny bit of sketching.