Moments with Claudia Harvey

Hi everyone. Claudia here. Its Christmas Eve! Can you believe it?
I am so excited to share a very special moment with you.

Today I am going back to my digi scrapper roots, using one of 
my all time favorite kits, Rough & Tumble.

I created my layout using Samantha's digital kit. These photos were taken earlier this year at Disneyland in California. We are so blessed to be celebrating Christmas at Disney World this year; we are excited to make more memories like these.

I love that this kit is also available for all you paper scrappers too!

For additional information on digital scrapbooking, check out this book.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Lots of happy hugs,

Quick and Easy Dress Card Set with Claudia Harvey

Hello ladies. Claudia here.

I interrupt your Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping weekend to share a card set I made.

I am so in love with Samantha's new Dress Card Silhouette file!

Now I may have all boys, but I am still a girly girl at heart. I just had to create a card set to have on hand.

I wanted the inside of the card to be blank so I used regular white cardstock for the base. Then I cut the dress file in half using the "knife" tool in the Silhouette software so I could just cut the front of the dress with pattern paper. Put it together with a little adhesive and done!

Here is a little close up.

Who said Paisley is out?

For the pattern paper I used Samantha's super cute Giddy Up Girl 6x6 paper pad; the pattern sizes are just perfect for the little dresses. For the belt buckles, I used sticker elements from Samantha's Giddy Up Girl 12x12 collection kit. I added the little pearls as a final touch; every girl needs a little piece of jewelry, don't you think?

It took me less than an hour to make the card set. Quick and easy!

I can't wait to make more.

Do you want to make some? Guess what! This cute little dress card Silhouette file, and all of Samantha's Silhouette files are 50% off through December 8th!

Until next time.

Lots of happy hugs,

Quick and Easy Fabric Wall Decoration with Claudia Harvey

Hello everyone. Claudia here. I'm so excited to share another fabric project with you today. I just love Samantha's Serenata Collection! If you remember, I created these memo boards/wall decorations last month. I realized that not everyone has an Ikea nearby; which is where I bought the little round cork boards. So, I just had to create something using the next best thing... Fabric Hoops! You can find these at just about any craft and hobby store; even Walmart. Honestly, it gave me another excuse to play with Samantha's fabric.

These are the supplies I used:

First thing I did was fit the fabric to the hoops; then pulled the fabric to position it where I wanted it, and tightened it.

Then I turned the hoop over and trimmed the fabric, leaving it about 1/2 inch wider than the hoop; if you leave it any longer, it might look like the fabric is poking through the front when it is hanging. I may or may not have learned that the hard way.

Then simply fold over, and glue. Because this is wood, you can use just about any glue; however, I find that the hot glue dries really quick, so I barely have to press on it to hold before moving on.

Finally just position the Command hooks where you want and done!

Quick and easy!
I think I did this project in about 30 minutes. I think it took me longer to photograph that wall; my house does not have enough natural lighting.

Fabric has taken on a whole new meaning for me. I can't use a sewing machine to save my life; but with projects like this... I don't have to! I can make fabric hoops to match any season. These make such a fun and unique gift too!

Until next time.

Lots of happy hugs,

Quick and Easy Fabric Memo Boards by Claudia Harvey

Hello everyone. Claudia here. I am so excited to share this project (and tutorial) with you today.

Fabric Memo Boards

I knew exactly what I was going to do with these adorable fabric quarters from Samantha's Serenata Collection when I received them; I had been wanting to make my own memo boards for a long time.

These are my supplies:

First thing I did was find a plate that was slightly larger than the cork boards; I wanted it to be an inch to an inch and a half larger to ensure that it would cover over the edges of the board.

Next, I grabbed my glue gun and work my way around to secure the fabric on the backside.

Finally, I used Command strips to hang them up on the wall. Have you ever used those? I love them! I use them for just about anything I need to hang. They were perfect for these. Oh, and in case you wonder, the round cork boards are from Ikea.

That's it! It really was quick and easy.

Now the only thing I haven't decided is if I am going to use them as memo boards or decoration; they look great just the way they are hanging now, don't you think?

other products and tools used to make this project:

Until next time.

Lots of happy hugs, 

Summer Memories with Claudia Harvey

Hello everyone. Claudia here. Its Labor Day here in the U.S., and my family and I are enjoying a weekend away camping on the last official weekend of summer vacation for my boys; they go back to school on Tuesday.

I am so delighted to share this layout with you. My family and I went on a cross country road trip this summer, and I couldn't wait to start scrapping! I wanted a layout dedicated to our cute little camper, Dory, with pictures of some of the places we visited.

Some of you may remember my vinyl tutorial from July, using Samantha's cute little camper silhouette file on the side and back of our camper; you can see it HERE; it also tells the story about how the camper got its name. Our road trip was such an amazing adventure; we saw so many things along the way. My personal favorite was Mount Rushmore; Yellowstone National Park and The Grand Canyon were simply breathtaking. We even made it all the way to California, and visited Disneyland and the new Cars Land; having four boys, Cars Land was a must! Just like walking in to the movie!

For my layout, I used Samantha's Retro Road Trip collection; it was just perfect!

If you look closely, I have also placed a Hidden Mickey within the layout; if you don't know what that is, its just a plain Mickey head that Disney hides around the parks. We love searching for them whenever we visit; its fun to see how creative they are in making them a part of landscapes, sidewalks, lampposts, etc.
My family loves searching for them within my layouts whenever I add them too.

Do you see it in my layout?

Until next time.

Lots of happy hugs,

Additional product used:

Sample Pack 12 Templates by ChrissyW Design

Skinny Stitches Shapes by Scotty Girl Design

Happy Camper: Quick & Easy Vinyl Decor with Claudia Harvey

Hi everyone. Claudia here. I am so excited to share my project with you today. I just discovered cutting vinyl on the Silhouette Cameo, and I am hooked.

My husband and I decided it was time to take advantage of all that our state has to offer, and added a new member to our family... a camper! Now anyone who knows me KNOWS that I had never been camping a day in my life, and I am not exactly what you call outdoorsy, so this is huge for me, for us as a family.

I decided our new family member needed a name, and thought it would be fun to put the name on the side of it. We find it hilarious that every time we slow down or apply the brakes, the camper moans and groans, quite loudly. It reminds us of Dory's whale talk from Finding Nemo; so as you might imagine, "her" name is Dory!

I thought it would be fun to add an image to it as well; I found this Retro Caravan image at Samantha's shop on the Silhouette online store.

Isn't it just adorable?

It was so easy to prepare it to cut with vinyl; I've put together a step by step tutorial for you. This is what it looks like when you insert it on to the virtual mat.

I didn't quite have a need for a window with curtains, so I borrowed (copy and paste) the window from this Caravan.

As I mentioned before, I didn't have a need for all the pieces since I really just needed an outline of the caravan, so first thing I did was highlight the "image", right clicked on it, and selected "ungroup", so it would allow me select the individual pieces and delete what I didn't need.

This is what they look like once they are "ungrouped".

Once I had all the pieces I wanted to use on screen, I positioned them where I wanted them, and sized it to my liking.

Oh yes... with a touch of Disney, of course!

Here is it, fresh out of the Silhouette.

As you can see, I turned it so I could enlarge it a bit more.

And, here is it is on our camper!

I love how it looks like the letters are pulling the camper.

What do you think? It really is easy peasy! As I mentioned before, cutting with vinyl is a whole new world for me, but I absolutely love it! Many, many of Samantha's Silhouette files are just right for cutting with vinyl. I can't wait to create more!

Until next time.

Lots of happy hugs,

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Summer Fun: Quick and Easy Card Set by Claudia Harvey

Hi everyone! Claudia here. I am so excited to share my latest project using Samantha's Cool Summer kit with you! I just can't get enough of it.

Remember the journaling cards I created for my boys a couple of weeks ago? Well, today I created this [hybrid] card set for them. It was part of their "end of the school year" goody bag.

I thought it would be fun to have them mail these to their school buddies some time during the summer. We expect to have a super busy summer, so this is a little something we can do to help them keep in touch with friends. I don't know about you (or your kiddies), but we get excited every time we receive a card or a letter in the mail; especially my boys. I think their friends will enjoy getting some mail too, don't you think?

Here is a look at all the cards I created.

I didn't have a stamp to go with the paper, so I created the sentiment in Photoshop; lined it up along the bottom of the 11" x 8.5" file I created, and added the little ice cream. The ice cream is from Samantha's A to Z Pictorial Alphabets. The "ribbon" stickers are part of the sticker sheet included in the Cool Summer kit.

Here is a screen shot of what the file looked like before I printed it on white cardstock; I turned on the ruler and the grid so that I could align the sentiment and the ice cream on each side.

Once I cut and folded the cards, I added the pattern paper (from the 6x6 paper pad); added the stickers, and done! It was super quick and easy; I created the cards in about 30 minutes.

My boys loved the cards. They are so excited about the idea of writing to their friends, that they wanted me to address the envelopes right away. I have a feeling I will be making more of these soon. June 5th was the last day of school, so we are officially on summer vacation!

Until next time.

Lots of happy hugs,

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Silhouette Portrait Die Cutting Machine!

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Summer Fun: Quick and Easy 3x4 Journaling Cards with Claudia

Hello everyone! Claudia here. I'm excited to share this super quick and easy project I created to help document our summer vacation. My boys have one week left of school, and I can't wait to have them home.

For my project I used Samantha's Cool Summer collection to create 3x4 journaling cards.

I made sure to leave plenty of space for my boys to journal themselves; and there are some that are ready to add a 2x2 photo (Instagram, of course). Samantha's Cool Summer kit had just about everything I needed to put these together. I have plenty of supplies leftover to make more as the summer goes on. I plan to put these in an 8.5x11 album with those fun baseball card size plastic inserts. The great thing is I can keep some in my purse for on the go journaling; especially for the younger boys (as they tend to forget the details sometimes, heehee).

Here is a close up of the cards.

 I apologize I don't have any "in process" photos; I got so wrapped up in creating the journaling cards, that I completely forgot to take pics along the way. As you can see, anything goes! I just cut and pieced them together; keeping to my personal clean and simple style. 

How about you? Do you like journaling? Do you make your own 3x4 journaling cards? I definitely recommend picking up Samantha's Cool Summer collection. The colors are so vibrant and just perfect for summer!

I'd also like to take a moment to thank our military and their families on this Memorial Day weekend. Without their sacrifice, we would not be able to enjoy everything we love about this beautiful country we live in. We remember those lost and are forever grateful.

Until next time.

Lots of happy hugs,

Supplies used:

Cool Summer 12x12 Kit

Cool Summer 6x6 Paper Pad

Corner Punch

Adhesive

Silhouette (for cutting out speech bubbles)


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Quick and Easy Canvas Decor by Claudia Harvey

Hi everyone! Claudia here. I am so excited to share this project with you. I created it using Samantha's Family Traditions collection. The colors in this kit are so beautiful!

I used my Silhouette to cut the letters; then I added element stickers included in the kit. I just love how the peacock looks sitting on the "L".

Here is a close up of the letters. I used tacky glue to adhere them to the canvas. I am so please with the result; they did not curl up at all.

And that's it! I finished this project in less than 30 minutes.

This is just one (of many) handmade gifts I am making for my little sister and her future husband. I can't wait to give it to them; they are getting married in July.

I have always been afraid of creating with canvases; mainly because I feel like I should use paint on them or something. And now... I can't wait to make more of these! Hope you'll give it a try.

Thanks for letting me share this with you today.

Until next time.

Lots of happy hugs,

Be sure to check back later today to see if you 

were the winner of the Silhouette Portrait!

Fun with Fonts Tutorial by Claudia Harvey

Hi everyone! Claudia here. I am so excited to share one of my favorite techniques, when scrapbooking digital, with you! I have been scrapbooking digitally for a couple of years now, and I absolutely love it! I am a clean and simple kind of scrappers, so I get really excited when I learn new techniques, and this was definitely one I was doing the happy dance with. I call this technique... Fun with Fonts!

Ready to get started? Here is my layout. That is my beautiful sister and her fiancé. I took these pictures when they were recently engaged last summer. I used Samantha's Tea Party Tomato papers; I can't get enough of these colors!

As you can see, my title looks kind of blah. It doesn't really stand out within the layout. I am not great at journaling in my layouts, so I really need the title (and the photos, of course) to tell the story.

Ok, here we go, I have the layout and the paper I am going to use open in Photoshop Elements 9 for Mac.

Drag the digital paper on to the layout; make sure you have the text layer highlighted so the paper layer is right above it. The digital paper will cover the whole layout until you clip it to the layer below.

Now you are going to clip the two layers. Clipping masks is another one of my favorite techniques. It is so easy. Just highlight both layers, go to Layer > Create Clipping Mask. See how the font looks textured and different already?

Next, I like to merge the two layers together; it will make adding a style much easier, I think. Just highlight the two layers again, left click on your mouse, and click merge layers from the list.

I love adding strokes to my titles; gives it a sticker like feel, and really makes the font stand out. All you have to do is go to Edit > Stroke (outline) Selection, and this box will pop up. Here I select a color (using the eye dropper) from the papers in the layout so the stroke matches nicely. I like to use a width of 8px; not too thin, not too thick.

Click ok, and presto!

Now the title needs a little depth, don't you think? Go to Layers > Layer Styles > Style Settings.

Here are the settings I like to use for the drop shadow:

Lighting angle: 45 degrees

Size: 7px

Distance: 10px

Opacity: 70%

I also set the color of the shadow to match one of the darker colors in my layout (the default is black, and it doesn't always work); in this case I used the eye dropper to select a brown tone from the photo on the left.

Here is my final layout.

What do you think? Easy peasy, right? I hope you will try it too. It really does add so much life to just about any font.

Until next time.

Lots of happy hugs,