Today is National Wear Red Day! Ella friends nationwide are donning red to raise awareness about heart disease, and we invite you to join us.

Put on a red dress, t-shirt, shoes, necklace, lipstick, or ribbon—we know you have that! Then share a photo with us through our linky party (details at the end of this post). One random party guest will receive a Color Mists prize pack from Studio Calico and a red dress pin from the American Heart Association.

Heart disease kills one American woman every minute.* Who will be next? Will it be you? Will it be someone you love? Fight back by warning the women in your life and taking action together. The American Heart Association makes it easy, just click here to tell 5 friends what you already know: heart disease kills, but we don’t have to be its victims.

Valentine’s Day is the perfect excuse to tell female friends and relatives you want them around for years to come. Share your love, appreciation, and admiration with one of these girly greeting cards, tags, or gifts from our Ella friends. Plus, download a free printable.

Card by Christa Paustenbaugh

Card by Jennifer Wilson

Card by Kelly VanDerMolen

Card by Grace Tolman

Card by Grace Tolman

Card by Grace Tolman

Tag by Shemaine Smith

Tag by Shemaine Smith

Jar of Hearts by Elizabeth Dillow

Free Printable by Audrey Neal [download available at end of post]

Show Us Your Red for a Chance to Win

To enter, upload a picture of yourself wearing red to your blog or any photo-sharing service; then link it up below by February 5. One random winner will be drawn from the entries below and announced the week of February 6.

* Statistics provided by the American Heart Association (AHA). To learn more about heart disease, risk factors, and prevention, visit the AHA at heart.org.

You love your family. You would do anything to keep them safe and healthy. What would they do without you? Probably, eat cereal for every meal, wear dirty t-shirts to school, and forget to wash behind their ears. But, seriously, what would they do if they lost you to a heart attack?

According to the American Heart Association:*
• Heart disease is the no. 1 killer of American women over age 20, claiming approximately 1 woman every minute.
• More women die of heart disease than the next five causes of death combined, including all forms of cancer. In fact, 1 in 3 American women dies of heart disease.
• 90% of women have one or more risk factors for developing heart disease.

Fortunately, you don’t have to be a statistic: 80% of cardiac events in women can be prevented by monitoring and managing risk factors through diet and exercise. Controllable risk factors include high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, physical inactivity, and smoking (learn more here).

You can make small lifestyle changes today that will significantly reduce your risk of heart disease. Start by setting one simple goal. Choose from the list below, or visit goredforwomen.org to find out how you can live heart healthy at any age.

Start now!
• Learn the warning signs of a heart attack, and watch this video about a supermom who takes care of everyone but herself.
• Research your family’s history of diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, and heart disease/heart attack. Heredity can increase your risk for developing heart disease. The more you know, the more you can do to reduce your risk.
• Find your numbers: total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, fasting glucose, height, weight, and waist in inches. Use these numbers to complete the Go Red Heart CheckUp. You manage what you measure, so start keeping a log.
• Try a new heart-healthy recipe, or adapt one of your own using heart-smart substitutions.
• Increase your physical activity: recruit a walking buddy, try an exercise band routine, enroll in a workout class, or go outside and play with your kids.

I asked Ella friends to share what they’re doing to become heart healthy and reduce their risk of heart disease. I was amazed and inspired by their commitment, and I hope you will be, too. If you’ve made changes—or plan to—leave a comment so we can cheer you on!

Album Pages by Kelly VanDerMolen [click for larger view]

Kelly started this album to document her experience training for a walking half-marathon.

Layout by Elizabeth Dillow [click for larger view]

Elizabeth designed this layout as a reminder of the risk factor she inherited and her reasons for keeping it in check.

Layout by Christa Paustenbaugh [click for larger view]

Christa and her husband started running for sport, but they keep running to set a good example for their children.

Layout by Melissa Gener [click for larger view]

Melissa, a doctor and mother of two, started a weight-loss program three years ago and has lost over 58 lbs. She will be running her first 5K in March.

Layout by Robyn Schaub [click for larger view]

After almost giving up, Robyn signed up for a weight-loss program at work and has lost almost 35 lbs. She feels healthier, happier, and more confident, and she's proud of the example she's setting for her girls.

Layout by Audrey Neal [click for larger view]

Audrey's layout reflects on her father's early passing and shares the motivation she feels to keep her heart strong so she'll be around to see her daughters grow up.

Journal by Grace Tolman [click for larger view]

Grace created this health journal to track her important numbers and keep track of her goals.

Tomorrow is National Wear Red Day! Help raise awareness about heart disease by dressing in red and inviting your family and friends to do the same. We’ll be celebrating with female-friendly love notes, a linky party (show off your favorite red apparel), and a giveaway from Studio Calico. So come back, and join the fun!

* Statistics provided by the American Heart Association (AHA). To learn more about heart disease, risk factors, and prevention, visit the AHA at heart.org.

February is National Heart Month—as in, the human heart—and we’re celebrating with three days of heartfelt stories and projects leading up to National Wear Red Day on Friday, February 3. This is a day for women nationwide to band together in raising awareness about heart disease and making personal commitments to improve their own heart health.

The term “heart disease” describes a wide range of heart-related illnesses, including those that lead to cardiac arrest. Heart disease is our nation’s no. 1 killer, causing 40.6% of all deaths—nearly 2,200 Americans each day.*

Most of us know at least one person affected by heart disease, and some of us are fighting our own battles. I invited Ella friends coast-to-coast to share personal stories about heart disease and other heart-related illnesses. Their poignant layouts reminded me of my own reason for taking up the cause.

One year ago, my husband and I adopted Daphne, a baby girl with half a heart. She lived just 58 days, passing away shortly after her second heart surgery. The causes of congenital heart defects are unclear, so it’s impossible to know whether Daphne’s condition could have been avoided. But most types of adult-onset heart disease are preventable, and my time with Daphne taught me to cherish and fight for more time with those we love. We must start by taking care of our own hearts; then we must ask our loved ones to do the same.

I hope these layouts will inspire you to join the fight against heart disease. It’s not as hard as it sounds, and tomorrow I’ll show you how to get started. If you or someone you love has been affected by heart disease, please share your story in the comments. And if you’ve created a layout, don't forget to include a link.

Layout by Rachel Gainer [click for larger view]

Layout by Katrina Kennedy [click for larger view]

Layout by Audrey Neal [click for larger view]

Layout by Kelly VanDerMolen [click for larger view]

* Statistics provided by the American Heart Association (AHA). To learn more about heart disease, risk factors, and prevention, visit the AHA at heart.org.

Hi this is Teresa from Talented Terrace Girls [talentedterracegirls.blogspot.com]. If you are saying what blog is that? Well let me tell you….we are a group of neighbors (8 to be exact) trying to swap and share ideas, recipes, and fun monthly challenges between us girls. We have a bit of everything and we love creating. We just started our blog June 2011 so we are a baby blog, but I am proud to say we have over 150 posts!!

Thanks for letting me share my idea I loved creating it.

Okay let me explain how this idea came to be. Every month over at Talented Terrace Girls we have a challenge where we are given an item and told to “create” something AMAZING! Well this month we were given chipboard. After much deliberation I decided to make a photobook! I have always wanted to create one from scratch but was always a little intimidated until NOW!

Supplies: chipboard, scrapbooking paper, pictures, scissors, glue (mod podge or elmers), embelishments (ribbon, brads, clips, stickers, etc…)

First cut your chipboard to 4”x 4”. I cut 16 pieces and used 2 of those for my covers. If you have a husband who lays carpet like me then you can find a cool knife to cut your boards with ease.

Now cut some paper you will use for binding the book, you will need 1 less then the number of pages you have. I have 14 pages so I cut 13 binding strips. This paper can be seen or unseen. I choose to leave mine seen so I didn’t clog up the page centers. I picked my solid colored paper and cut it to 4”x 2”. Now fold it in half length wise (hotdog style) with the pretty sides facing each other (kissing).

Now take 2 pages and 1 binding strip. Glue the strip onto the 2 pages so it opens like a book. The paper fold will face out leaving 1” pretty inside each page. Continue to glue all your pages together using your binding strip in between each page. Make sure to keep them as straight and flush as possible to create a more precise book.Once they are all glued together I added a thick layer of glue to the back of the binding to give it a little extra strength.

Now the cover! Take a large sheet of scrapbook paper lay it pretty side down, white side up. Then place both your front and back cover on the paper. But wait.. what is the little skinny piece in the picture?? The spine of your book of course! To make the spine cut a 4” piece then place the binding side of your book on the 4” piece and measure or trace the width of your spine. Cut it out and placein between your covers. Leave a little space between your chipboard so you have moveablitiy, allowing you to open and close your book. Now glue your cover and spine to the paper leave a 1” paper excess on each side. Now cute the corners of the paper off (the little green triangle). Now get ready to wrap your book cover! You are going to fold and glue each side down making crisp corners.

Your cover should look like this on the inside.

Next cut 2 pieces of paper 4”x 8” This is the inside page that is attaching your cover and pages together. Fold this paper in half (hamburger) so you have a 4” square on each side of the fold. Cover your first page of the book with glue, then place the 8”x4” paper onto the front page. You need to have the fold match up with the binding side. Let dry for a minute so it won’t shift on you. Then put glue on the inside cover and attach the other half of the 8”x4” paper to the cover. This paper is what holds your cover and pages together. You wont be adding glue to the spine.If you want to tie some ribbon onto the spine of the cover now is the time. Next attach the back cover. TADA!! You have assembled your book.

Now cut and decorate the pages! I cut my main page paper 4”x 3.5” this left a little of my binding color showing on each page. After I attached the main page paper I scuffed it with a little brown ink to give the distressed look.

Let me explain the use of my book-One of the family traditions I grew up with was….Christmas morning pictures on the stairs! Now mind you this was before we got to open our stockings and while we were still wearing our new jammies from Christmas Eve. Lets just say mom has a ton of these Christmas morning pictures so this book is going to be our yearly Christmas morning pictures (I know this pic is not from the morning please don’t judge me I messed up on printing the pictures I thought I could crop them down but NO I need to print them in wallet size cause I edited them all and zoomed them in so there was no crop room)

Here is the cover completed!

This is a look at all the fun paper I used.

I love my little book and can’t wait to make more for gifts. Thanks for reading my post and please check out my fun blog Talented Terrace Girls

Hi friends! My name is Carey Van Wagoner and I blog over at Little Cherry Blossoms. I also own a Baby Boutique of the same name that is located on the cutest Historic street in North Utah, Historic 25th Street. I am so excited to be guest posting with Ella Publishing, and I know that you will love this recipe. It is super easy to make, and your friends and family will just love it. Each year I make 2 batches, one to keep at home, and one to give away as gifts.

Homemade Holiday Fudge Recipe

Ingredients:

• Butter for greasing your pan
• 1 can of Evaporated Milk
• 4 1/2 cups of Sugar
• 8 oz of Marshmallow Creme
• 36 oz of Chocolate Chips
• 1 cup of Butter softened
• 1 Tablespoon of Vanilla

The first thing you need to do is prepare your pan. This will make removing the fudge when it has cooled and set, much easier. First line it with tin foil, and then cover that with wax paper. Then grease the wax paper with butter.

Next combine your Evaporated Milk and all of the Sugar in a saucepan on low heat.

You want this mixture to come up to a boil, and then you will boil it for 10 minutes.

Make sure that you watch it so that is does not boil over. It should look like this.

You don't need to stir it for the entire 10 minutes, but make sure that you stir it often.

Luckily when I made this recipe yesterday, I had my nephew's sweet Mommy to help me stir.

While your mixture is boiling, put the chocolate chips, marshmallow creme, and softened butter in your mixing bowl.

After the sugar has boiled for a complete 10 minutes, pour it over the chocolate chips in your mixing bowl. Mix on medium heat until completely combined. Stop once and scrape down the sides. Add the vanilla. Continue mixing until completely combined. Be super careful, the sugar is extremely hot.

Quickly spread it into your prepared pan, and try to spread it as flat as possible. Refrigerate overnight.

The next morning turn the tray of yummy chocolate loveliness onto your cutting board. This is where the wax paper comes in very handy!

Cut your fudge into small bit size pieces. This desert is very rich, so a little goes a long way.

For the tray that you keep at home, just store it cut up in a sealed container in your refrigerator for up to 6 weeks. When guests come over, pull out the treats and serve with Coffee or Cocoa! They will love it.

For gifts, package small amount in little boxes like these:

Delicious and adorable!

Enjoy.

My name is Katie Shepherd, the owner of Meaningful Moments. I am honored to be asked by Wendy to guest blog. As you well know, Ella agreat site full of lots of helpful information, and I hope in a small way to add to that.

What I do in my business is to help, teach and encourage people to write their life story. I do this through the most effective and simple tool I’ve found, which is called an Ethical Will. It sounds a little scary, but an Ethical Will is a simplified way to write about what’s important. I have found that most people fear writing anything about themselves for a few main reasons; one being they don’t know what to write, and why anyone would want to read it. A valid fear, but it need not be an obstacle anymore. Ethical Wills help the writer to focus on what to write, making it more engaging for the reader.

My favorite quote from Benjamin Franklin is “If you are not to be forgotten the moment you are dead, either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing”.  Such great motivation and direction.

If you are to write the meaningful moments of your life, and keep your reader engaged, I suggest  you focus on four main areas.

1. Write what’s important.

Write why you were affected by the moment, and what you learned. I have found that a simple moment, with the time taken to reflect, can have a profound impact.

2. Write with a purpose.

Asking yourself your motivation to write keeps you on track, and the reader focused. Don’t forget that sometimes you need to spell things out plain and simple for someone to understand what you are trying to say.

3. Write to motivate.

Think to yourself what lessons you have learned in your life, and what values have created who you are. If you were to motivate someone to get through a similar situation, what hope could you provide for them?

4. Write with love.

Your audience needs to know you love them, or you will not be listened to. Just as a teenager doesn’t want to listen to your most profound advice, your reader doesn’t want to be criticized either. If love is the underlying tone, they will listen. Sometimes perhaps at a later date, but they will listen.

My hope is that you can focus on the meaning of your life, who you are and why you are that way, and incorporate these tools into your journaling, scrapbooking, or memoir writing.

Go do the things worth writing about, and write what’s important, and you will be remembered as such!

To learn more about writing an Ethical Will, or to incorporate the ideas of this tool into what you are already doing, join me on my Ethical Will website  where you can learn more, watch videos, purchase products, join a class, or schedule a presentation.

Katie Shepherd, Owner of Meaningful Moments

Bobbi Jo here with part two of How to Take Great Group Photos

3. Make sure you can see each face. This takes just a second looking through the viewfinder in your camera. Take a quick glance at each face to be sure they can be seen easily with nothing concealing any part of anyone (including shadows from other faces!).

Creative posing can help with this, too, as well as moving yourself around. Find the best possible spot where you can see each and every beautiful face.

4. Get CLOSE Together. Going along with the idea mentioned in number one, we want to convey a feeling of closeness...so, the obvious solution is to physically GET CLOSE to one another! Look for gaps and try to fill them by having your subject shift slightly, move an arm, or tilt their head. It will change the whole feeling of the photo!

5. Have some fun! I know it sounds cliché, but really having FUN makes for the best and more memorable group photos. Remember, that they don’t have to be looking at the camera to get a great shot! Let them interact with each other naturally. Tickle fights are usually a great start, unless it’s great-grandma - though, maybe even then ;) Have a few knock-knock jokes up your sleeves to get them laughing. Have the parents tell a joke to the kids, or have them sing their favourite song. Having them sing their “A,B,C’s” gives you a lot of great expressions. I have even resorted to telling them that I need to change a few settings so they can just relax for a bit – then I secretly start shooting. I find these group shots are the ones that families love best.

I hope these tips give you a little more confidence when photographing groups – whether they are groups of 2or 3, or groups of 20 or 30!

Visit me on my blog, It Works For Bobbi, for more fun Photography tips, as well as Photoshop tutorials and lots of free printables!

Hi, I am Alison Lindhardt. I’m a graphic designer, office manager, and also in charge of buying all the fun goodies found at the ADORNit Boutique. I also have my own design business creating custom wedding invitations. I’m so excited to be a guest blogger here at Ella and show you how to draw inspiration from an outfit and incorporate similar elements into a scrapbook layout.

Part of my job is buying and displaying the clothing and accessories sold in our store. I was inspired by the outfit in this photo.

It is an adorable girly outfit. I love the sweater trimmed with a gathered edge along the collar and layered over a cream lacy tank that is tiered with lace ruffles. And of course, no outfit is complete until you bling it up with jewelry.

What I love about this challenge is you can apply it to any outfit that inspires you – from either your own closet or from your favorite apparel store. The outfit I used is from the ADORNit Boutique. For your scrapbook page, be sure to find an outfit that is layered (this is a perfect example, because the lace tank top was layered over a plain white tee, a sweater, and then topped off with a chunky necklace). All the more to take inspiration from!

The papers in my layout are from the new ADORNit Daisy Dew Paper Collection. I drew inspiration for my lace embellishment from the beautiful cream lace on the top. I took a piece of vintage lace and ran a gathering stitch to gather it and tacked the lace down with glue dots.

I then "layered" my layout with layers of patterned paper. Now keep in mind the importance of using harmonious colors and keeping things tone on tone. When layering you don't want to use too many colors because it can “tackify” any outfit or in this case layout :D. Use your creativity by picking elements with texture and depth.

To top off your layout, be sure to add strategically-placed bling. I put jewels in the center of the daises and then finished it with a blingy flourish – just like my outfit!

Be sure to stay in touch with me at adornitblog.com or at the ADORNit Facebook page. You can also see more of my designs at my little company blog at wistfulmoments.com and the Wistful Moments Facebook page

I hope you will look at your closet a little differently now and find inspiration in all the goodies you have. I can’t wait to see how you incorporate them into your next layout, card, or craft project.

Luvs,

Ali

Greetings!  Jan Tatomir here and happy to be guesting at Ella for Card Month!  Haven't we received some fantastic tips on card making?   Scrapbook manufacturers sure have made it easy on us card makers, haven't they?  I love the new 6x6 paper pads that a lot of the scrapbook manufacturers are coming out with.  The scaled down prints work so much better on cards, dont' they?  Matching embellishments and easy to use sentiments make making a card quick and easy.  

Here, I've let the fun sticker sentiment from SRM determine what I did for the rest of this simple card. I added a little fake snow for a frosty mustache embellishment.  

For my Halloween card I used 2 pattern papers from a 6x6 paper pad from My Mind's Eye Mischievious line.   I added one large felt tree embellishment with a pop of color from the stars.  The eyes added a bit of fun to the tree.  The sticker sentiment was cut in half in order to work on my card.

One of my favorite techniques for making a simple eye catching design is blocking.   Using pattern paper from a paper pad makes it easy to do.  Add a matching embellishment and you have a simply stunning card made in minutes.

Simple can be elegant.  Simple can be fun.  Easy to use products make card making simple and enjoyable.  Please visit my blog,  Simply Made,  for a chance to win som SRM Sticker Sentiments!  Happy Card Making!

Happy Card Making Month Ella Friends! I'm happy to be guest blogging over here at Ella. I'm hoping to meet many new online friends, so I hope you'll hop over to all my links below and learn more about me and what I do.
 

There is no denying that I love to craft, so much so that I was ending up with lots and lots of crafty things. Many were piling up with no other purpose than being "cute." My craft room was busting at the seams and I was in need of a solution. That's when I fell in love with card making!

Card making is perfect for me and my style of crafting. They are quick to make and give you that "I finished something" feeling. Handmade cards give your friends and loved ones that "I feel extra special" feeling. And making cards brought a sence of practicality to my crafting. I use them up quickly, they make great gifts and everyone needs a cards, so I can keep on making them and they never pile up!

I've been teaching card classes for 10 years and a few years ago I launched my own onlin card kit business. Today I wanted to share with you just how easy it is to make cards from kits! Kits are a great jumping off point, all the colors and embellishments are already coordinated and with my kits all the parts and pieces are already cut to size. All you have to do is put the parts together and add a little glitter or ink if you desire.

Here's an idea of what you can expect your kit to look like. There are two different kits pictured here.

Here are the cards I made from one kit.

And here are 2 of the 6 cards I made from the other kit.

It was simple and I can put together a kit in less time than it takes me to drive to Hallmark and pick out a card. Not to mention it's less expensive and I didn't have to beg my children to behave in the store. I hope this month you find ideas to get you inspired to make some cards. Hope you'll stop by and check out my shop and let me help you get inspired and make it easier than you ever imagined to make cards. I'd love to give away a kit today!

Just leave a comment here on Ella's blog and for another entry leave a comment on my blog and we'll pick a winner!

Giveaway closes in 48 hours October 13th at 9:00 pm

Giveaway closed!

Winner is Jillt

To sweeten the deal the two kits above are specially priced in my shop this week.

Regularly $20.00 this week $12.95 Come by and say hi,

Shop

Blog

Facebook

I hope you have a beautiful day, enjoy the cards!