New Years Resolutions

*Let's Bring on 2013*

We have learned a lot not only about yourselves but we have learned so much through doing our crafts and sharing them with you. This has been an amazing year. We look forward to an even better 2013!!!

We would like to share some our our blogging resolutions that we have made for ourselves, to bring you a better and more friendly experience when you drop by to see what we have done.

Stephanie: 1.) My first resolution that I would like to start with is....That I will post at least 3-4 times a month. I am hoping to get at least one a week. It would be awesome if I could double that but a realistic goal would be once a week.  2.) My second resolution is to introduce more crafts using the Silhouette. Keeping in line with this. I will be releasing for limited time, downloadable vectors for you to cut out for your own personal use. These downloads will be in .PNG or .SVG format so that you can use them not only for cutting machines but that you can print and cut the out to use in our own scrappy way.  3.) Last but not least I would like to see some interactivity between us and our readers. I plan on having link up parties and more giveaways. I know I would love to see what you all do during your crafting adventures.

Crystal: 1) My first and foremost goal is to kick off Kiki Love Creations' first Scrap-a-long! This will get me back into something that I use to love but lost the time for. This scrap-a-long (SAL) will include monthly challenges. A few months will have techniques that I will demonstrate prior to the challenge. Anyone can join in the fun and I will be posting my project at the end of the month and encourage anyone participating to submit their works as well! Watch for the first SAL within the first week of January! 2) My main craft is crochet and this past year has taught me that not only do I love to make things from other's patterns, but I love to design my own as well. Over this next year, I would like to release at least 6 patterns for Kiki Love Creations! 3) My last goal is somewhat vague and I apologize for that but I would like to step outside my comfort zone and learn a new craft that I normally wouldn't consider. What is it you ask? I'm just not sure yet! But when I do figure it out, you'll be sure to get all the details right here on the blog! And if anyone wants to help with ideas, feel free to comment with suggestions!

We would like to take a moment to thank all our family members, friends, and fans!! You all have been the most amazing supporters of our adventure. Without you none of this could have been possible. 

We will see you in 2013!!!!!

Happy Crafting,

Crystal and Stephanie

A Year of Scrapbooking! 'Pictures' Part: 2 of 5 of the Scrap-A-Long

Welcome back to my venture of creation my youngest son's first year scrapbook!!

I hope many of you are getting your own ideas and would love for you to share your work in progress. At the bottom of the post you will find the group linky party to share your progress along with a linky button to share on your page as well.

So my first post explained what my yearbook was and what was to be done yet. If you happened to miss it, you can find 'Part 1' here.

This week is all about picking out the pictures to the scrapbook. This is a very fun part and takes a while depending on how long you 'reminisce' while looking at the photos. For me, I tend to look at every single one and then my oldest son comes to join me so we do quite a bit of talking while looking.

I have all my pictures saved on CDs or flash drives so for most of this part, I do my work on the computer. Firstly, I make a new folder on my desktop and label it 'yearbook.' In that, I make a folder for each month. Then, working threw my picture files month by month, I copy my top favorites and paste them into the folder in their corresponding months. I don't keep track of how many I add until I go back threw them after getting several for each month. I do try to get at least 10 pictures though.

After all my pictures I got threw and weed out the ones that I don't really need. I either have nine or twelve pictures per right page, plus the main picture on the left page.

I title the main picture as well.

I have a very handy personal picture printer. Granted, the quality isn't as good as I could get ordering them, but I can have prints within two minutes and have the option of printing the size of picture I need. The photos to the left are approximately 3"x2". Though some of them I will cut to fit as I want them too. I also have to print the pictures four times since I give a book to each set of grandparents.

With all the pictures printed and cut, I now can start working on the third step... paper!! Over the next two weeks, I will go threw my paper and find sheets that I think I will use and get some sort of visual as to how I want the pages to look. I match my 'title' picture to the paper only. The smaller pictures have no background.

Again, feel free to post your projects by following the link below! We would love to see them!

Until next craft...

Crystal

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A Year of Scrapbooking! Introduction: Part 1 of 5

 The Start of a Tradition

I love to scrapbook! When my first son was born, I decided to make a scrapbook of his first year. It was a slow start with a newborn but as he got older and more self-entertaining, I was able to work on it more. Half way into my year long project, I thought it would be a great gift to make for the grandparents. Committing myself to making copies for the grandparents, I thought it would be a great "thank you" gift to them for the year of love, support and advice.

Above picture is his actually day of birth. Only photos from that day were used.

The 4th month

The 10th month

At Ethan's one year birthday party,  I took a picture of each set of grandparents and Ethan to put in the corresponding book as well as a copy of his party invitation. After his years birthday, I presented the grandparents their books and vowed to add two pages every year, which I've held up to. Each year I add the new invitation and picture of them together, as well as a few more pictures of that year's growth.

Year 2 pages (grandparent picture has been blurred out.)
All pictures were taken between his 1st birthday up until his 2nd.

The book I've made for myself will eventually go to Ethan to look back on; remembering milestones, special events as well as many other things. But for now, it's a great way for me to look back on the beginning of their lives and see them grow with every flip of a page.

A Project in the Works

When my second son was born though, my passion for crochet consumed my spare time. I set card making and scrapbooking aside. Now with summer break here, I actually have the desire to unload my scrap supplies and create another "Year Book" of my second son, Kyler.

In the next month or so I will be going through the process of making another book and would love for you to follow me on this new crafting journey!

There will be 5 parts of this project:

Part 1: Intro

Part 2: Pictures

Part 3: Paper

Part 4: Description

Part 5: Assembly and Final Project

Reader's Challenge!

And I would love for you to create your own, whether it be a whole year or just a special occasion! If you're up for the challenge, over the next two weeks decide on what size book/pages you want to create and pick out as many pictures you wish to use. We will be posting a gallery for everyone to upload their creations and share. Details for that to come soon.

I will continue to do the 8x8 book because that's what I used for Ethan's. Also, if you don't have a personal printer, ordering wallet size photos will work for the right hand side page.

If you would like to see more of my page, just ask! I'd be happy to show you! 

Until next craft....
Crystal

Crystal

First off I would like to thank you for taking the time to look at our blog and hope you find that this is something you will want to follow!! We have so many crafts, hobbies and so much more that we want to share with you!! And we both look forward to hearing from all of our readers and what they want to see from us as well!

Crystal

A Little About Me

I am a mother of two boys and a wife to an amazing husband! I work for the local school district so during the school year, I will most likely be less active but the summer months allow me to dedicate more time to this blog! 

As for my crafting, my husband actually complains that I have 'too many hobbies' but its what I love to do. I love to crochet but I also love to scrapbook and make cards. I run a crochet store through Etsy.com and a Facebook page just for my handmade crochet items. Please feel free to check it out at http://www.facebook.com/myphotojewelry. Most my items revolve around my other favorite hobby!

I love photography!! Most of my crochet items are for photography props but love to make anything my hook allows me to! I'm hoping to be a registered photography business within a year and I believe photography can be an art in itself. I love to capture any special moments the camera will allow me to see!

Learning new crafts and being creative with the supplies I have is always a fun challenge to me! My mother and I have crafted together for several years together and always loved to find challenges for each other. So when Stephanie came to me with the opportunity of creating a crafting blog, I jumped at the chance. This is one of her many great ideas and I'm honored to be a part of it.

Outside of my crafting world, I love to spend time outdoors. There is a family cabin that my family and I love to spend time at no matter what season. In the warmer months, I love to sit out in the backyard while my children play and crochet! And I love crafting with the oldest one and making homemade games (the younger boy is only one so I haven't really done any crafts with him yet.) As this blog ages, I will be sharing the numerous things my children and I love to do together, including our fun handmade games!

Again, we encourage you to not just be a reader but also to challenge us!! Tell us what you want to see, tell us what you want to learn.... we'll try to become the 'crafting, hobby and so much more' blog that you can't wait to see what comes from us next!

Until next craft....

Crystal

Welcome!!

Welcome to KiKi Love Creations!! A blog all about crafting, hobbies and so much more!!

This blog is run by two mothers who love to craft and fill their time with a variety of things!! Keep an eye out for an upcoming post from each writer to get to know a little about them! And then, the real fun starts!! We'd like to share the things we love with you, our readers! From crafts to household tips to recipes... there is endless possibilties!!

If you have an idea or a craft you would like us to learn and post, or would just like to get ahold of us, feel free to send us an email at kikilovecreate@gmail.com or comment on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/KiKiLoveCreations

We look forward to crafting with you!