Simply Scrapping

Up to my ears in PINK

2011-01-25T06:31:00.001-07:00

And if you know me you know I'm not all that comfortable with that... I'm not a girly girl and I have red hair so pink has never been my friend - however as I have matured (I heard that chuckle) I have made peace with it - some what.

I do try to avoid it but the last couple of weeks have kept in right in my face (maybe cleaning the scrap area and putting it away would change that - HMMMM) so I used it on 2 more card.

The first is for a challenge over at Skipping Stones Design Sketch #60 Best part of this was I only used scraps for this - some MME, ChatterBox, FancyPants on a Bazzill base. Eyelet from my stash. I didn't use a sentiment as I like to do a few blank cards every month.

This was my first sketch challenge at Skipping Stones Design but I don't think it will be my last :)

The next card was for the Mid Week Throw Down at the OWH Stars and Stamps blog. It was using white on white with a pop of color - easy peasy for me as I'm up to my ears in pink at the moment {wink wink}

I used as Prism base and all the pinks are Bazzill (if you really want to know the shades check out my earlier blog post). The sentiment is my favorite stamp from Stampabilities and the eyelets and button from my stash.

Hope you enjoyed the visit :)

Two for One

2011-01-17T14:34:00.000-07:00

Today's card was done for 2 challenges - the color over at Moxie Fab World and the sketch challenge over at Operation Write Home's Stars and Stamps.

The Moxie Fab World color challenge was to use the Bazzill Basics Paper color equivalents of Beetle Black, Lily White, Pink Fairy, and Tangelo Blast. Again with the pink but now a pink I couldn't find... However I think I got an equivalent from the Soul Food collection by Melody Ross for gcd Studios.

The base is Lily White with a strip of Tangelo Blast over the Beetle Black. Those were accented with my Pink Fairy equivalent from the Soul Food collection mentioned above. The sentiment from Stampabilities is in Orange from ColorBox on Lily White. I also inked the edge of the card in the orange from ColorBox and took an old toothbrush and pounced the orange on the orange strip of paper. I was trying to give it more dimension but not sure I succeeded on that one.

Ok now I must get back to cleaning which was neglected all weekend while my shoulder recovered from a strain/pull...

Moxie Fab Color Challenge Part 2

2011-01-16T19:07:00.000-07:00

I just finished the Jewel color challenge over at Moxie Fab World where we were to use Bazzill Basics Paper equivalents for Sugar Cookie, Sunshine, Pansy, and Blue Calypso. Easier said than done for me as I couldn't find the Blue Calypso or Pansy in the local stores I tried - one of them was Archiver's... And as I know that colors can be very off when reproduced on screen I was a little worried about matching something I hadn't seen in person. But if I can do PINK I can do anything and so undaunted I put the following together for this challenge.

It's simple but I love how the HI just jumps off the card at you. I used Sugar Cream Bazzill as the base and layered that with 3 strips of BasicGrey Marrackech Palace Blue. I cut the oval from the Sunshine Bazzill using my EK Success Curvy Cutter. My sentiment is BasicGrey Thickset letters painted with Making Memories paint in Grapesicle. I based this on a CreativeSketches CS12 2010 sketch I stumbled across while looking for inspiration. I was tempted to bling it up a bit but after looking at it I wanted to keep it on the masculine side as Operation Write Home (where this card will end up) always seems to need them and kids cards.

Now off to see if I can make it 3 for 3 with the challenges...

Moxie Fab World Color Challenge

2011-01-16T12:03:00.003-07:00

I am not sure what possessed me to do a PINK monochromatic color challenge but I suspect it was the oxygen deprivation I experienced Saturday morning somewhere around mile 1.5 at the top of the hill... At any rate things just seemed to fall together for this card so who was I to resist fate?

The colors are Bazzill - Pinkini, Precious, and Bubblegum. We were to use this exact color combination in an innovative way. We could use cardstock, patterned paper, embellishment, ink etc but were to ensure it matched JUST the colors listed. (Adding a neutral, like white, was ok)

So off I went to 2 different stores trying to get one of the 5 color combinations that were posted over the last week. I never dreamed it would be as hard as it was - the only one I got all the colors of Bazzill was this one. I do have equivalents that I think will work for the others so watch for those to be posted shortly. But I digress...

Even though I am totally out of my comfort zone I am very pleased with the card. The base is from my stash and if it's not Bubblegum it is it's twin sister, added a Pinkini layer which had been embossed with the Cuttlebug Happy Birthday folder, and the Precious was stamped with the sentiment from Hero Arts Messages set (a new release I LOVE) and was stamped in Versa Color Orchid. The ribbon and flower are Michael's own brand.

The flower is a clip and can come off the card so the recipient can wear it - how cool is that? I make cards for Operation Write Home and and totally see some Service members little girl wearing it to school and saying her Mommy or Daddy sent it... Yeah I'm weird (wink wink)

Mini Me

2011-01-11T20:12:00.000-07:00

I totally need to get back to creating on a daily basis... Maybe not a full LO but something as I feel so energized when I do. On Saturday a friend came out to play with paper and I finished a mini album I had been working on forever - well at least it seems that way. If you are interested you can see it all on my Flickr account.

I also did this one which is just waiting for hubby to journal - I am lucky he does all of his own but rarely at the same time I finish them.

Then tonight I did these two after the photos *jumped* out at me today. Literally I was walking by a stack of photos waiting to be scrapped and these 3 fell out - yeah scared me too so I figured if they were that insistent I needed to get them done. I used a wonderful paper stack I won from Moxie Fab World from the Melody Ross designer collections by gcd studios called Soul Food (I know some are thinking why does that woman not use capital letters appropriately - well I copied what was on the cover. Who am I to correct them?)

Here is LO one... My Grandma Reece taught me many things one of them was a love of her garden. I had just been flipping through the stack prior to the photos jumping out at me and knew the 2 belonged together. The photo of me in her garden was taken 40 years ago - wow I feel old. The color is WAY off but good help is hard to find so my hubby might loose his *job* over this one. {wink} The colors Melody used are more subdued than what appears here as is Grandma's dress but I was excited to have finished not 1 but 3 LOs over the last 4 days so didn't take the time to retake these last 2.

Here is a photo of me trying to get to the TV, at least now I know where our son got his fascination with it. I don't want to discuss when this was taken...I'd get depressed. Colors are closer here but the lacquer on the lovely lady made it hard to get a good photo of this at all.

Well that's it for today but I hope to be back at least once more this week and try to get back to some sort of schedule for posting. I miss doing this almost as much as the creating. Thanks for looking :)

Dude Time Doodles Challenge

2010-12-21T17:55:00.000-07:00

I took a short break from my Christmas preparations to put together a card forOWH Stars and Stamps challenge using images from Dude Time Doodles. I LOVE the images, you can see the second one at the OWH link, so *had* to get at least one card in the challenge.

Still not sure why images on my computer that are oriented correctly are not loading that way but...I give- UNCLE UNCLE (wink). I will repeat this card but with the sentiment stamp on white and matted like the image. The colors are off in this images as my photographer is still at work and I needed to get it done.

Flying High...

2010-11-23T13:28:00.002-07:00

First here are the pegs before and after... LOVING the after!

Again with the photo loading incorrectly... Seriously people just have your monitor on a swivel so you can tilt it to see my photos the right way up. I'll continue to work on it - I promise... Now on to the real reason for today's post.

I am not a stamper...I play at it but I smudge/have uneven inking/etc so many that it is a chore still I drool over images from Hero Arts, Unity Stamp Co, Stampabilities and many many more. But I have put myself on a buying freeze until I get every stamp I currently own inky! Now that I said it out loud for you all to hear will it help me do it?

I am also not a color-er (is that a word)...I try but it is not the fun, relaxing activity that so many of my talented friends claim it is. I stress over staying in the lines, picking the right colors and on and on and yet I am out of room in the small tote I have for my Prism markers and some of my Stampin' Up Watercolor Wonder crayons are showing use. I went with Prism after seeing all the pretty colors my friend Nej has and fondling them when we got together to craft - they were less expensive than the Copics and frankly less intimidating with all those numbers to figure out (wink wink).

All of this being said I am sharing a card I made last night after stamping and coloring and that, surprisingly, I LOVE. That might be due to having hubby sitting beside me and helping with the colors (so if they are *off* it's his fault) or it might be due to the fact I did 7 of them in one sitting so one was bound to be pleasing.

I have had this patterned paper from SugarTree (the J.Q. Outdoors Scrapbook Collection JQ30) so long I thought I'd never use it. I literally bought out the store I found it in because it had a German Shorthaired Pointer on it (see the bottom left corner) and those are hard to find in scrapping stuff. The card base and mat are random cardstock pieces from by stash. The sentiment is from Stampabilities - love that it is masculine. The image is from SU Wildfowl set released in 2004 I believe (think I've stamped each of the 4 images once and ran from the room in terror at the thought of coloring it) and I colored it using SU Watercolor Wonder crayons and a very small tipped paint brush... And now because I know you are dying to know the color list: eye - Rose Red, head - Glorious Green, far wing & tail - Close to Cocoa, close wing (underside is always lighter I was informed) - Creamy Caramel, back - Brocade Blue, foot - Summer Sun, beak - Yoyo Yellow, underside - Really Rust at neck blended with Bravo Burgandy as we progressed to the foot, the wind currents - Bashful Blue. The ring on his neck was left white.

So what do you think? Did we (hubby and I) get the colors right - no comment on the actual coloring itself needed [wink]

What I Did This Weekend...

2010-11-22T14:23:00.001-07:00

But first some catching up as I have been remiss... We had a hard drive crash and all the photos I promised to upload were on that hard drive but thankfully our camera's card rarely gets deleted. Here are some of the photos taken of Reece in his last session with his Speech Therapist Miss Amanda... We miss her.

On Friday I was inspired by a fellow crafter posting photos of her progress on re-organizing her scrap room and so I started mine. It has been over taken by boxes and 'stuff' moved to allow us to get some items needed for my husbands hunting adventures. We have little storage here so often to get something seldom used out we need to relocate things that are in front or on top of it... I can't believe I am going to share these...ICK! I'll do this in stages - first my peg board

Frankly I had grown to hate it! I had pegs that were not serviceable and just gathered junk. Jay asked if cutting them down would help...ummm YES! So off they went to the angle grinder to lose the top totally useless piece and shorten the bottom piece. After that was done and I went through things this is what I ended up with...

No idea why it loaded sideways but I can't get it to reload at all so while I work on that and find the ones other of the 'altered' pegs this will need to do... I am loving that is more a decorative element now than storage and what items are on there are tools I use frequently or things I don't want to forget about. In fact I just realized I have a cut stickles storage that was added after this photo so will retake it and try to get it to load correctly (wink)

I will be sharing the closet next but it might take until after Thanksgiving as I am not 'loving' it at the moment so it is still a work in progress.

Feeling the LOVE...

2010-11-21T22:33:00.000-07:00

It's November so it must be time to be making Valentine's cards - right? Well it is if you make them for Operation Write Home to send to deployed soliders so they can write home to loved ones with them.

I have a bunch to share but will be starting with the one done for this weeks sketch challenge at OWH Stars & Stamps blog. I used one of my favorite stamps from Unity Stamp Co - So & So Loves is perfect for anytime but I really like to use it for Valentine's as it allows the giver to 'carve' their & their loved ones initials in the trees. I stamped it using Tuxedo Black from Memento and then colored it with Prisma markers (PM-1, PM-19, PM-79). I also barely skimmed the edge wanting to give just a bit of definition but not to distract from the image. I had this scrap of black paper with the metallic pink hearts in my stash that was just waiting for the perfect card to come along and the base is from my stash as well and I believe it was from a cardstock pack I picked up several years ago.

Below are a pile of the othe Valentine's cards we made this weekend and a few from last when I was at a crop.

Now my favorite - which surprised me just a bit... I'm not a huge black and white flower person nor am I all that keen about ribbon but I love this.

Sometimes you find a patterned paper that stands alone and for those times a little something in the card is all that is needed. I uses such a paper this weekend - Sugar Rush from Basic Grey - and I put the love birds inside for interest.

I then did up some birthday/general use cards as the images I had didn't really fit with the whole Valentine's day thing.

I plan on being back a couple of times a week at least and tomorrow will be sharing some photos promised long ago and some of what else I was up to this weekend. I hope you enjoyed the visit as much as I enjoyed being back blogging :)

World Card Making Day - Recap

2010-10-04T13:40:00.000-06:00

I so need to get back on schedule... For some reason this fall it is much harder to fit it all in during a 24 hour period.

I had great plans for WCMD but alas they didn't happen quite the way I envisioned and instead of a quiet afternoon of listening to Elmo with the child sitting enthralled with the furry red guy and me making cards I squeezed in 1 single card just before midnight. It was based on a card I found here which was based on a sketch from the Sketch Frenzy Friday Team Blog. I am not sure why this keeps loading on it's 'side' but I admit defeat... Anyway turn your head on the side over your left shoulder and you'll see my WCMD contribution.

Sunday morning I had everything out and ready to go so when I gave up sleeping I got 16 more Christmas cards together for Operation Write Home. It was a good day. Below are a sampling: the first card is a second go at the sketch but I made the green snowflake paper slightly smaller dimensions and I like it better, then is just 4 squares of co-ordinating paper with a cute wreath from my stash that is wrapped in metal, I took strips that were leftovers from cutting the paper to size and layered them for this card (the Merry Christmas is across the top and hard to see but once it's down it down so this may be swapped out and stay in my card stash), and the last in this grouping used holly that was in the same package as the wreath.

This grouping is using a vellum quote adhered with 10 brads (my spacing was slightly off so it too may be swapped out), under it is just a simple layered card using patterned paper and sticker sentiment and last is another simple layered card.

All paper is from a 8x8 Making Memories paper/sticker pack I have had for some time. The Vellum quote is from DCWV and the rest is from my stash.

I still have some promised photos to get up on here but we ran into a slight problem in that the hard drive is fired on our other computer that was used for all our photos. And before you ask no a recent backup hadn't been done.... I'll be a nag about that in future you can count on it.

Bad Blogger VERY bad blogger...

2010-09-05T19:55:00.002-06:00

My apologies for not posting sooner. I have no excuse except life happened... I have several great shots of Reece and Miss Amanda on their last day together however we had techincal difficulties (read fried hard drive) they will show up soon I promise along with a bunch of cards I have recently done. Well once we figure out what is wrong with the photoshop on this computer.

Without further ado here is what I worked on yesterday and finished today. With only a few (3 off the top of my head) exceptions everything is from one of my favorite manufacturers ~ Fancy Pants. I got the All Fall album, 8x8 paper pack, printed chipboard alphabet and printed chipboard shapes at the MemoryWorks Retreat (2009 I think) for a killer deal. I used a kraft cardstock base (half Prism and half Archiver's) on all pages, ribbon & brads from my stash are used sparingly. The 'crayons' on his First Grade page are ancient - purchased shortly after he was born if memory serves... The album covers 3 years of Preschool - Grade 12 and has 4 pages for activities etc at the back. Since my son is only in Second grade I am way ahead of the game for once and will place one school picture from each year with limited journaling in this one and do more in depth stuff in his 12x12 album. The design for these pages was found in the MiniMaps November 2006 it is the 4 across the bottom of the page there.

It takes a village...

2010-08-05T08:42:00.002-06:00

and a member of my son's village is moving on to new adventures.

Today's post is hard for me to write but maybe if I get some of the tears out today doing this I'll make it out of the building tomorrow without completely losing my composure. As some of you know my son has Down syndrome and as yet is non-verbal. We have had many wonderful Speech Language Therapists over these past 7 years but no one has *got* Reece like Miss Amanda - NO ONE! She can read his mood almost as well as I can, she calls him on slacking off when instead of work he wants to play and she has helped to give him a voice through PECS. And now when he is on the verge of saying his first words she is leaving Elks Pediatrics. Don't get me wrong we are thrilled she is embarking on a new chapter of her life and wish her only the best and I'm sure his school therapists will be glad to no longer hear - that's not what Miss Amanda does. But...I can't help but, totally and completely selfishly, wish she wasn't exiting our lives not when we are so close to her seeing the culmination of her hard work.

And so the gift for Miss Amanda had to be as special as she is - no pressure there right? I am not sure I pulled it off but I am pleased with the end result even though I see some things I would tweak here and there. That said I don't think there has been a project I haven't felt that way about {wink wink}. And now without further ado I give you Miss Amanda's Farewell gift...

I found this tray at Fred Meyer and saw so much potential even before I knew my friend Alex had these awesome stamps. Once I got it home I used black StazOn ink to give is some character then due to the tray being 14" long and not wanting to piece together a solid base I used 2 smaller pieces of My Mind's Eye Star Bright Paisley Pop from the Just Dreamy line. Once they were glued down I applied several coats of Mod Podge.

I then stamped the Sign Alphabet rubber stamp set from http://www.deafresources.com/ (thanks Alex). I colored each finger a different color using Prisma pens (thanks April as I forgot mine at home). They were punched out using a 1" circle punch which was then mounted on a 1 1/2" circle cut out of Bazzill using my Cricut (thanks Jay). I then covered them in clear contact paper and hand cut those out (yeah I suck at cutting but it's clear so you don't really notice they aren't perfect - SHHH! don't burst my bubble). They then had a piece of magnet place on the back so they would stick to the tray (thanks Nej for recommending the magnetic vent covers at Home Depot). Here's a close up...

The thought is that Miss Amanda can use this from time to time with the kids she works with which is why I colored each finger a different color to help show what each finger does in each letter/number. I made it to hang as, honestly it was the only tray they had and it was a tad warped so will not sit flat.

This awesome image is courtesy of my friend Alex, who also colored it. And it has very special meaning to all who know the story behind it...see that isn't just any little fairy - that my friends is the BRANDT Fairy. Named after Alex's youngest who just happens to sign due to a hearing impairment. And you too can get a Brandt Fairy at Paper Makeup . And so it truly does take a village to raise a child and make a farewell gift for a special lady who means so much in his life and thereby ours.

So thank you to Alex, April, Nej (who is also color consultant - even tho I didn't have time to recolor the images for this one I'm making a second set for Miss Amanda) and Jay for helping make this gift happen.

And THANK YOU to Miss Amanda for your years of work with Reece - for getting to know him, for giving him a voice, for helping him get to where he is and for just being one of the best SLPs we have had the honor of knowing. May your new journey be rewarding, fulfilling and full of people as special as you are...

Christmas in July and other holidays...

2010-08-03T14:58:00.000-06:00

Wow where did the time go last month? It seems like just yesterday July was starting... I have been a bad blogger but am hoping things have calmed down somewhat now and I can get back to a regular schedule.

For now I am sharing a card I did for Operation Write Home's Christmas in July challenge. This was posted last Wednesday on the Stars and Stamps blog.

This is a Dustin Pike image colored with Prisma PM-4, PM-31, PM-61, PM-172. The patterned paper is from my scrap bin so no idea who made it (sorry) and the Happy Holidays stamps are really cool ones I won. They are from a set of self inking stamps that sit in a tray - all Christmas themed. *Note to self get a photo of them! I think I need a touch of bling on here so am looking for something to go before, between and after the Happy Holidays.

Next up is one of 2 Halloween cards I did. Image is also by Dustin Pike and also colored with Prisma PM-16, PM-25, PM-111, PM-147. I love the little feet so can see myself using this image again and again. Ribbon is from my stash and patterned paper is from my scraps.

This card is made using all the same materials as above but I did not use Prisma PM-147 on it. I did take my black Colorbox Chalk Ink and a paper towel to 'scuff up' the image as I felt it fit the theme better.

Next up is a card I was inspired to make after looking through the July/August 2010 issue of Paper Crafts magazine. The 'Thank You Very Much' card on page 39 was designed by Heidi Van Laar and I LOVE it!

In her design Heidi used 16 squares that were small enough to fit 4 across a 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 card. We use 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 for OWH as envelopes are readily available for a decent price and you can fit way more of them into the shipping boxes {wink wink}. I again raided my scraps bin, you'll be seeing that a lot if you come back, and used the only square punch I have at the moment and punched as many 1 inch squares as I could from each pattern - bonus they are double sided so twice the bang for my buck. I then rounded the 2 opposite corners and placed then with the pointed corners to the middle. Used a 1 inch circle punch for the center also using the same paper to get what I am calling my pinwheel card. I see so many possibilities with this and am looking forward to playing with the rest of the squares to see what I come up with. I inked the edges of all the patterned paper with Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut brown. Sentiment is a Stampabilities stamp using black Memento ink.

Now just for fun I did a card using one of the stamps (a Kolette Hall for Studio G) my cousin Shauna sent me. We are both Canadian born but now living in the US. We recently discovered our love of anything with 'home' on it when we are together in Edmonton. This will get a sentiment when I figure out who is getting it and why but I still wanted to share.

And to close today a photo I took last night. I love 90% of the ones we got but this one just screamed share me today. I did the shoot hoping to find one to enter in this years photo contest at the Fair but am having a hard time deciding. I think I have it narrowed down to 2 which are being printed as I type so we'll see if they look the same in person as they did on the computer last night.

It's a Bling Thing

2010-07-10T21:14:00.002-06:00

I know it's been a while but I have been on the road to dog shows and then tossed a quick trip home to Canada for a funeral... Not the reason I wanted to see everyone but catching up with them all was wonderful! Add to this that my son needs to have all his lessons completed by the 15th for promotion with ID Virtual Academy - I hope you'll understand my absence.

While at the dog shows in Montana I had a chance to be reintroduced to a lovely young woman who has two of the best parents. And when I stumbled across a sheet of paper by Marah Johnson for Creative Imaginations I just knew I *HAD* to do something with it for her. I hope she enjoys it when it eventually gets into her hands as much as I did making it.

So I found out that Qiana likes purple, pink and sparkles from her Mom. Plum by Making Memories went well with the paper I was using but once done it seemed, well a tad bland so I dug out some glitter I have had for ages and then sealed it with Diamond Glaze (note to self: it needs time to dry - DUH! But no one will know I had to make a new I right?!?) Don't you agree that the bracket on the left is much better than the one on the right?

Here is the front of the completed composition book I altered as a note/coloring book. Between the glitter and the foil on the paper we needed to take the photo while I tilted the book as the bling was too for the camera to deal with.

Unfortunately to use the "I'm kind of a BIG DEAL" and keep the scroll intact I needed to turn the book on it's side it also made it impossible to use one sheet of paper for both sides of the book without piecing together the back. I 'hid' the seems with some huge flowers from My Mind's Eye that were hanging around just waiting to belong to some special little girl. The butterfly begged to go with them [wink].

Sorry for the crooked photo it's been a long day here. I normally put at least 2 layers of decoupage over the covers but worry about drying time as we are using the swamp cooler all day every day and the extra humidity is playing havoc with things (did you read about the I?) It's only the back that really needs to be sealed due to the layers but my mind is not allowing me to make any more decisions tonight.

Next post will be a belated look at what I made for my hubby for Father's Day - I was off at dog shows for it so hid it and had him and our son find it that morning.

A Couple For the Road

2010-06-14T17:29:00.001-06:00

I am heading off on my Grand Adventure... I'm making my first solo trip in our new trailer - well actually it is also the first trip for the trailer period! Yeah a but nervous but I'm heading to dog shows and I know if I run into trouble there is not a better group of people to be seeking assistance from.

I made this first card at a Retreat back in 2009 but found it just recently in my stash and thought I'd share it. I love the simplicity and the ease which with it goes together. A shout out to Jamie for her design. Jamie worked for Prism cardstock - a moment of silence please if you would as my beloved Prism is no more...

Cardstock - Prism, Giraffe Paper - ?? it was in the class material and I can find no information

These next cards were made on the 6th while I throughly enjoyed 7 glorious hours of playing with paper in the company of some inspiring friends. I LOVE Dustin Pike's work and the Snake is his design. And what is more perfect for a snake to say than Missss you? That's what I thought too and so I typed up the sentiment to add. I do wish I had matted the image and sentiment to make it pop more but these won't be my last using this image so I will learn from it and move on.

Base and green paper from my stash, Striped paper from my friend Nej's stash, Edge punch - EK Success, Image - Dustin Pike, Colored with Prisma markers (some of mine some of Nej's), Sentiment - done in Word, Heart - CTMH

And finally is the cute turtle... I am ashamed to admit that I don't remember where I got her from (hanging my head in shame) but isn't she adorable? Perfect for the little lady in someone's life.

Cardstock Base and Mat - Bazzill, Patterned Paper - my stash, Image - I'll add it as soon as I find it, Colored with Prisma Markers (my collection and Nej's)

I'll be back in roughly 10 days and hope to have a lot to share with you then as I am taking my card making supplies and hope to be bringing it home in an assembled state - wink wink

OWH Stars & Stamps Sketch

2010-06-12T20:12:00.000-06:00

This is a quick card made using scraps and following the sketch found here...

ANOTHER LOAD PUT TO BED...

2010-06-04T08:59:00.000-06:00

I have to say that I had thought my 3rd LOAD (Lay Out A Day for those new to it) would be easier but not so... There were days I struggled and I don't just mean the ones I was sick - note to self it appears you *have* to get sick at least once during every LOAD so have a kit ready for Hubby to bring to you in bed so it's easier on him! It might have been due to me not having page kits ready (paper, photos, embellies - usually pull 3 times the amount I need) for days that you are rushed to get it done or that May was just a sucky month for other reasons but it is what it is and I did finish 31 layouts in 31 days. And I LOVE most of them love a few and don't 'not even remotely like' any of them this time around.

If you want to see what I'm talking about visit my Flickr page and you can see what I was up to.

If you want to learn more about LOAD itself or the awesome Lain Ehmann instead I'm good with that too {grin}

I have a couple of things I'm working on and hope to get them done and uploaded today but don't hold your breath... I need to do some extra school work with the kiddo as I am taking a mini vacation of sorts to do doggy stuff in a bit and I want to be a bit ahead incase the boys are having too much fun to hit the books (which wouldn't be a bad thing necessarily).

1 Sketch - 4 Ways

2010-05-29T00:01:00.003-06:00

Welcome to the Operation Write Home Memorial Day Blog Hop!

I'll get the housekeeping part out of the way for you now... If you arrived here from Caryl, Stamps and Stitches blog then you are on the right track if you didn't you may want to start at the Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps blog so you don't miss any of the amazing work being featured by the talented Ladies participating. The link to the next blog is at the end of this post.

Why do I make cards for OWH? There are many reasons - my friend Alex mentioned this great cause she was involved in and she ROCKS so it had to, it gives a creative outlet for not only me by my husband (yes he helps with cards), when I started we had a dear friend embedded in Afghanistan but mostly it is due to the types of posts you will find over on the Hero Blog.

We also make cards as a small token of our appreciation for those who give up so much so that we may be safe and have the freedoms we do. I can't imagine my husband not being here for extended periods of time or how I would cope with that even with the amazing support system I have... So for all who give so much for so many THANK YOU!

If you are considering making cards for Operation Write Home you can find the nearest shipper here. A couple of quick tips I hope you find helpful... A2 sized cards allow as many as possible to be fit in the boxes going to our Heros - simply put that is a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet cut in half to 5 1/2 x 4 1/4. A2 envelopes are also very easy to find if you want to send your cards with envelopes (not necessary but helpful). If you make larger cards you will need to supply the envelope. Cards are needed for all occasions - birthday, anniversary, thinking of you, thank you etc as well as the special ones listed with deadlines on the OWH website. I try to find stamps that will work throughout the year like 'I love you Mom', 'I'm so Lucky', etc as even though they were in with the Mother's Day and St Patrick's Day stamps they work just as well all year on general cards to be used for multiple occasions. It is never too early to make Christmas cards - I'm just saying... Also having cards for all age groups in both masculine and feminine colors is a good thing. But if all you can manage is one card that's great too as it will be sent by a Hero to someone they love and you will have made someone's day brighter the same as everyone else who made a card for OWH.

And now as promised in the title I am going to show you how I turned one amazing sketch (Sketch #17 over on the OWH Stars & Stamps Blog) by Lora B into 4 cards. I love sketches - sometimes I do them exactly sometimes I change it up a bit. Today is a little of both and this is made easy as all the dimensions are included on the original sketch.

I started with this assortment of goodies some I used and some I didn't - I always tend to pull more than I need as I am kind of a get the 'vision' as I go girl. This paper is by The Paper Studio and I found it at Hobby Lobby for .59 cents a sheet - I'll be able to make lots of Patriotic cards from the 4 - 12x12 sheets I brought home. While there I also found an AWESOME stamp but I am getting a head of myself. All cards are on white bases to make writing in them so much easier for the Heros but if you do use dark based a white insert is helpful.

NOTE: to help the cards pop I placed them on scraps of paper for the photos. So ignore the contrasting color behind the cards please.

I decided to start with a card that is done by rotating the sketch 1/4 turn clockwise. This allowed me to use a sentiment that would not have fit the original design. I trimmed my blue background piece to 1/4 inch making it 5 1/4 x 4 which gives added dimension to the finished card by allowing my white base to show. To keep things in proportion I then also trimmed all remaining pieces by 1/4 inch making them 3 3/4 x 2 1/2 and 3 3/4 x 1 3/4 and the sentiment strip to 2 x 3 3/4. After I stamped my sentiment I tore a thin strip off both side and chalked the ends. I added a strip of ribbon to the background piece tucking the ends behind it and then adhering it all to the white base.

My second card followed the sketch exactly. The blue background piece is exactly the same size as my card base. You may have noticed my reds all seem slightly different in color and that is because they are...I used scraps to make them.

Card 3 was done using the same paper top and bottom and switch the smaller piece to the top and larger on the bottom. The larger piece is also slightly smaller than the original sketch called for as it was left over and is about 2 5/16. A thin red ribbon was then placed between the two and adhered to the back of the background before it was all placed on the card base. I stamped the sentiment then trimmed it to 2 x 3 3/4, torn the bottom edge and inked with a ColorBox chalk ink in Midnight. I mounted it on the red piece that was the original dimensions of 2 1/4 x 4.

The final card is another I trimmed all 'colored' pieces by 1/4 inch so the white card base would show and proportions would stay the same. I left the sentiment piece the original size but moved it lower on the card with only a tiny bit of color showing on the bottom and left side. I will walk you through the ribbon as I know I loved being shown this and at least one of you might find it helpful...

When I adhere 2 pieces of ribbon I either can't get a nice finished look or my card warps as I pulled it too tight. I can't remember where I saw this but LOVE it! You wrap your ribbon around what you want to adhere it to and give a bit extra, remove and then tie your knot or bow. Below is the ribbon circle laying on top of the background so I can try placement in a few places before committing.

Once you have determined where you want the bow you simple lift it and cut directly behind it.

I then tack down the bow with my adhesive followed by the 'tails' I have now.

I then flip it over, trim excess ribbon (saved and used in another project), adhere and then put it all on the card base. I get a perfect bow or knot every time and no longer give up in frustration. And I'll leave you with another look at the finished card.

I hope you enjoyed your visit and I'd love to have you stop back again. To continue on the blog hop you will go to Paula's blog.

I am aware of the issue with the comments and I think I have resolved it... My apologies to those who are trying to leave a comment but are running into difficulty.

Stars and Stamps Sketch #17

2010-05-20T16:32:00.001-06:00

It's been a while since I have been here and I apologize for that... I started LOAD (lay out a day) with Lain Ehman at the beginning of the month and have had the crud off and on almost since it started so it's been a long month.

That said I am excited to have started on my tutorial for the upcoming Operation Write Home blog hop and today's post will showcase a gorgeous sketch *and* a sneak peak.

I was in Hobby Lobby just killing some time after participating in the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure (my first 5 K) and popping in to drop something off for my friend who lives very close. Convenient huh?

I don't want to give it all away but the patterned paper at the top is by The Paper Studio and I found it while strolling through Hobby Lobby and the stamp... Can you believe how perfect this stamp is for Any Hero cards? I almost died when I saw it - no seriously it wasn't from lack of oxygen after the race it was the stamp. It is by Paper Inspirations and they had one that said Hero in the same design - it was so hard to pick just one... I digress the blue (is from Prism) and red (??) are scraps from my stash as is the white.

Anyway make sure you stop by on Memorial Day weekend (it goes live on May 29) to see the amazing talent of some of the card makers for Operation Write Home. Last I heard there were over 120...WOW!

Friends Having Fun Color Challenge

2010-05-04T08:36:00.001-06:00

As some of you know I am taking part in LOAD (LayOut A Day with Laine Ehman) again. So am doing 31 LOs in 31 days - well that's the plan at least.... But when I saw this challenge posted on a chat group I'm on I just had to give it a try as I am also trying to stretch myself creatively this year and this was a stretch then throw in the buttons and brads from the daily LOAD prompt. But even with all that stretching I am very pleased with how it turned out.

Color challenge - deep turquoise, terra cotta, lemon chiffon
LOAD prompt - use buttons and/or brads

Materials used:

Cardstock - Prism
Patterned Paper - ?? Seriously who makes paper with no identification on the back of it?
Chipboard Alphas - ?? All my alphas are just tossed together by letter honestly due to me never using them ;)
MM paint - Nutmeg
Brads - from my stash
Buttons - CTMH & Fancy Pants

NSD Challenge 8

2010-05-01T22:24:00.000-06:00

This custom made paper was made using TPC Studio's Coffee Cafe stamps. I arranged 3 mugs, 2 coffee beans, and 2 sayings on a large block and just stamped turned and stamped. Some images were stamped only partially on the paper. Ribbon from my stash and I used Memento ink. Base is Bazzill.

Just for fun here is my sweetie cutting out the flowers I used on Challenge 6's card :)

NSD Challenge 7

2010-05-01T20:01:00.000-06:00

Wow 2 hard ones in a row...first flowers and then RED! Base is Bazzill, patterned paper is from my stash, the heart is CTMH and I used Ruby Color Box ink to stamp the sentiment from Stampabilities.

NSD Challenge 6

2010-05-01T18:49:00.001-06:00

A tad out of my eleement with the flowers needed for this challenge... Bazzill base, patterned paper from my stash as is the ribbon. The flowers are stamped using a Stampin' Up The Fine Print set.

And for those keeping track challenge 5 was done on the OWH facebook page :)

National Scrapbook Day Challenge 4

2010-05-01T14:53:00.000-06:00

Can you tell my sweetie ran to town? I take such bad photos... This challenge was to make a Thank You card and go green and since I had just stumbled across these scraps I thought I'd go for it. The paper strips are all ChatterBox and the 'solids' are simply the reverse of the patterned pieces. The sentiment is a stamp from Stampin' Up's Lexicon of Love set and it was stamped using Close To My Heart's New England Green. The ribbon is from Making Memories. The base is a moss green from my stash.

NSD Challenge 3

2010-05-01T13:07:00.000-06:00

All items from my stash so I have no clue about the papers or fabric... The sentiment is from Stampin' Up and the bear is 'borrowed' from my friend Debbie F aka Frank. Thanks girl!! Colored with Prisma PM-31, PM-61, PM-151, PM-172. I used a glaze pen for the nose and eye. I tried blending for the first time....have a long way to go on that.

NSD Challenge 2

2010-05-01T10:49:00.000-06:00

I kept this one really simple - Base and blue cardstock is Bazzill, Kraft cardstock is Prism, blue jean paper is from my stash as is the ribbon. I used an image from Stampin' Up Waterfowl set and a Stampin' Up sentiment (sorry can't find the rest of the set for the name...). I used walnut stain Distress Ink.

The challenge was for a Father's Day card but since I have no stamps which say specifically 'Father's Day' on them I used one that, to me anyway, says DAD and hope I meet the requirements.

National Scrapbooking Day Challenges

2010-05-01T09:26:00.001-06:00

I am trying to do some of the Operation Write Home challeges being posted on their Facebook page not sure how long I'll hang in with them as I also need to clean the house and do my LOAD challenge but here is my first card.

All paper is random stuff from my card making stash but I think the pattern paper is from a Die Cuts With A View stack I got ages ago. The truck and sentiment is from Stampin Up's Loads of Love set and is colored using Prisma pens - PM4, PM-19, PM-79, PM-101, PM-142 and the tires are done with a glaze pen.

When the CHIPS are down

2010-04-15T12:28:00.002-06:00

Happy Thursday :) Today I am going to share how I took a paint chip and turned it into (hopefully) a cute card...

So the other day I was strolling through WalMart and as I often do I stopped to check out paint chips as I dream of repainting our bedroom soon (I say dream due to having to move a monstrous safe to do it) and these jumped out at me. The browns for our room but the blues to use for cards. Yes I looked at paint chips and saw cards - Operation Write Home cards to be exact.

So I snagged a few and headed home... As you can see although the size is almost perfect for card fronts at almost 5 inches and just over 3 1/2 they have those pesky labels across the bottom and in the upper right corner. First the bottom - this is fairly easy simply cut ribbon to size and adhere over the label.

But the upper right one needs some thought so I started digging around in my embellishment boxes looking for something to inspire me. Nada but I pulled out a heart so I could see how much more width I needed to cover the label. To my surprise it was the perfect size! So I used my paper pierce and went through the button holes and the card front.

I then placed a piece of jute and used an extra piece to tie my knot on it. I did not tie this as it added too much bulk for me. Instead I pulled it tighter and went over the ends several times with my ATG gun.

This is a great stamp for Father's Day (deadline May 15) or just for general cards for your father (I have an I love you Mom stamp too). It was stamped much earlier and I missed jotting down the color I used - bad Betty! - so I just tired to match things as best I could.

I then mounted this on a card front that was 5 1/4 x 4 and rounded the corners of that.

This was then mounted on a blue Bazzill base.

I am very happy with how this turned out and can't wait to be inspired the next time I am wandering around the store. I'd love to hear your greatest 'finds'...

Sketch Challenge 12

2010-04-12T09:03:00.000-06:00

I love Sketch Challenge 12 posted over at OWH Stars & Stamps and I'm still loving the brown and blue color challenge so combined them...

Cardstock is Bazzill, patterned paper is from my scrap stash, Sentiment is from Stampendous! and honestly I pre-stamped a bunch of these so am not sure of the color anymore...

Am I running a fever?

2010-04-10T21:58:00.002-06:00

Seriously someone check it for me ok because I am really worried I am really really sick... What brought this one you ask? Well I decided to do the Sketch Challenge #11 over at the Stars and Stamps Blog which also fits the Browns and Blues Challenge also found there but I digress. So I decided to do this challenge and I found myself thinking what stamp can I work into this card? Me thinking about a stamp in a positive non-panicked manner...I know I had to sit down too! But it (Sending my Love) is one of my favorites a *very* close second to the So & So Loves stamp shown here. It is just very strange to have favorite stamps since I have only collected them for ages.

Without further ado:

This one is a Bazzill base and uses 2 different Chatterbox papers. I stamped directly on the paper and altered the sketch slightly to cover my mis-stamp on the first attempt with the sentiment. The 3 flowers and brads are from my stash and I have no idea beyond that.

Paper & Trimmers & Cardfronts - OH MY!

2010-04-08T17:59:00.000-06:00

First I apologize for being so late getting this up...no excuse I'm just an idiot - no really. I had hubby take the photos TOLD him what to label the folder to put them in and couldn't find them to save my life. Of course I couldn't just admit to him I lost them...NO that would be like a man admitting he was lost [wink wink]

Without further ado here is what I have done to streamline my supplies and maximize my cardmaking. I learned long ago I am a production line kind of girl - I do way better if I can focus on one task and just run with that than changing gears. This is especially true when I am trying to be creative so when I started making cards for Operation Write Home on a regular basis I needed to figure out a production line approach. Cardfronts was what I came up with, I am truly not sure if I made that up or read it somewhere but I like it so am keeping it.

The most efficient cards to make are those where you need to do the least cutting so if you start with an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of cardstock for your base simply cutting it in half lengthwise at the 5 1/2 mark and then folding that in half for a base that is 5 1/2 x 4 1/4. Can I also just say here this is also the size that is most user friendly for finding envelopes - takes a standard A2 - and allows OWH to be able to fit the most in a box to send to the HEROs. You then have a few options for 'decorating' the front for this post I'm only going to address using patterned paper as a 'cardfront'. My cardfronts are patterned paper which has been cut into 6 pieces 5 1/4 x 4 and the left over 1 1/2 inch strip can also be used in either 3 pieces of 1 1/2 x 4 or 2 pieces of 1 1/2 x 5 1/4 each. This allows for a nice margin that shows off the card front just a little more in my opinion. So you only have 2 choices here having the design vertical or horizontal (shown below).

The next photos show how I decide which way to go. Before I start cutting I take my paper and have it facing me (note hubby was across the desk from me taking the photos so you have them many of them from his perspective [or upside down] cause I still have only figured out how to crop and size in photoshop)... I place a card over an upper corner of the full sheet and see which direction gives the most impact for that design - especially when there are words on it as I don't want them all cut in half.

Once I've figured out which way I'm going I trim off a 1 1/2 inch strip from side that I want to cut in half for my long side (5 1/4 inch).

If I want a vertical design I cut with the design facing so I can read it and trim at 8 inches and 4 inches - turn a quarter turn and cut at 5 1/4 inches.

For a horizontal design I have the paper oriented the same as above but make my first cut at 5 1/4 turn a quarter turn and cut at 8 inches and 4 inches.

This is a horizontal cardfront being held on a base. Yeah I most of you know what that looks like but Jay took the photo so I'm using it. Have to keep him happy so he keeps buying the supplies to make the cards you know.

And here are a couple of options for using those 'scraps' and to see finished cards go here. First your 1 1/2 x 4 inch pieces you can use one or 3 across the front of a card depending on your design it will be a horizontal or a vertical.

If you go the 5 1/4 x 1 1/2 route it will look something like the following. With this size piece I prefer to use a single one with a complimentary paper or image/sentiment stamp.

After trimming all my extra patterned paper stash into cardfronts I have them all stored so they are easy to take to a crop. I will admit I am still working on a system that works for the smaller pieces but it will come.

It is fun to watch someone say I have this image but no paper that really works and several of us can now dig into our card fronts and find what is needed. An evening with the girls is fun, relaxing and now even more productive. Oh and because I'm a tad anal about such things this box is now sorted pretty much by color...

I'm going to tackle my other odds and ends of scraps and get them card friendly or out the door they go as I have way too many.

4 Footed Friends

2010-03-30T20:31:00.001-06:00

This week the Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps Blog challenge was to use 4 footed friends on our cards. And since that is one of my favorite subjects I finally did one of the challenges in time to take part...

This is one of my favorite stamps sets - Ruff Day from Stampin' Up which I colored using the Stampin' Up Water color crayons. Cardstock is Prism, paper is ChatterBox which I've had for some time. Ribbon is Making Memories, EK Success edge punch was used on the mat and brads where random ones from my stash. You can't really tell but the hat is colored green to match some of the 'balls' on the paper.

Later this week I'll be posting a tutorial on taking that paper stash and making it card 'friendly'.

Loving It!!!

2010-03-23T10:24:00.001-06:00

I ordered the 'deal of the day' last week from Unity Stamps...and I am LOVING IT!!!

It is called So & So Loves and I think my favorite part is that it leaves a spot for you to 'carve' your initials in a tree... Here it is stamped in Black Stazon and in the Saddle Brown Stazon.

Please keep in mind coloring has never been my strong suit. I was going for the look of Aspens which are bascially white with dark spots. The first image is colored using the following Prisma pens: Warm Grey 10%, Cloud Blue, Crimson Red, and Canary Yellow. The second image: Cool Grey 10%, Cloud Blue, Coppenhagen Blue, and Canary Yellow. It's a work in progress as the color isn't quite there yet.

This last photo is why I locked myself away to play with my new stamp... My living room was totally rearranged by The Boy Who Paints Himself With Ketchup - need I say more?

We have a WINNER

2010-03-22T08:16:00.002-06:00

A huge thank you to everyone that stopped by for a visit during Operation Write Home's blog hop. It was nice to 'get to know' fellow card makers a little better and to see all the talent I was inspired by so many.

Now without further ado the lucky winner is...

Result: 45 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

When I read the winners post I almost fell out of my chair... No need to go looking for that stamp now unless it's just out to your mailbox Nancy! I won't be able to make it in town to the post office until mid week but your package (I'll get a photo posted soon of the additions) will go out this week.

March 21, 2010 3:42 PM
Nancy Keller said...: I am always making cards with my scraps too, because I can't seem to throw them away! Your card is awesome - thanks for sharing. I see a new imaginisce stamp in your blog candy that I do not have *YIKES* I am going to have to look into that!!! :)

About Last Night

2010-03-21T13:36:00.001-06:00

If you are here for the Operation Write Home blog hop go here. The post below...

Last night some friends and I got together at a local scrapping store for an evening of creating. Some of us did some layouts (I'll share mine later) but most of us ended up doing something related to cards by the end of the evening. I'll be the first to admit I'm frugal, some would say cheap and I'm good with that too, so when I reached into the trash bag hanging beside my friend (NOTE to the non-crop attendees this only contains paper scraps and other like items none of it wet or icky as it is a paper bag so we can keep out work areas tidy - I know funny right) and pulled out a bunch of scraps that had been tossed in while cutting 12x12 paper into the size needed for card fronts. Yeah I'm weird but look at the cards these 'scraps' made...

I don't know which paper stack they came from but I know I have enough to make 5 or 6 more cards easily. So if you see me out and about I might just salvage your scraps so I can get cards into the hands of another 6 or 7 soldiers - hope you're ok with that.

Operation Write Home Blog Hop - Updated

2010-03-20T00:01:00.004-06:00

Updated look for red text...

Welcome to the Operation Write Home Blog Hop! You should have arrived from Erika's blog. If you started here you will want to go to Operation Write Home's Stars & Stripes blog so you don't miss a thing. Please scroll to the bottom of this entry to see the next stop.

I started making cards for Operation Write Home when my friend Alex posted that she was looking for others to join her. If a cause is good enough for her it's good enough for me and I usually stop there but having several friends and family who have or currently are serving with the military I started poking around the website and was touched by the videos and notes from the Heros for receiving something so simple as a card. Now my husband who is a civilian employee for the State Military Division helps make cards and honestly is always asking when we are doing more so looks like I'll - no we'll be sending off cards for some time.

Now for the card I made

This card was made using scraps, which is my favorite thing to do after making a layout. The large squares are 2 1/2 inches x 2 1/2 inches and the rectangles are 2 1/2 x 1 inch. The pieces are then aligned so the outside edges line up which leaves a 'grid' pattern inside and surrounding the patterned paper. The button, which has a floral design on it, was then placed onto a blue flower which I took off a stem I had purchased just to pull apart for embellishments. This time I did not use any sentiment but this could easily be for a birthday, thinking of you, missing you, love you, hello or Mother's Day.

Speaking of Mother's Day - it is also the next holiday OWH is needing cards for and if you are interested in joining the 'fun' they need to be in the hands of the shippers by April 1 to allow sufficient time for them to get to the Heros and then back Stateside to loved ones. You will find full guidelines on the site I linked above but I will mention the most important - NO glitter!

I am offering some blog candy to those who leave a comment, that's it just leave a comment and you will be in the drawing... Below is the starting candy (2 stamps and 4 different ribbons) but for every 10 comments left I will be adding a little something extra - so at 10, 20, 30 etc up until midnight MST tonight, March 20. I am extending this until Sunday at midnight!! You can thank several of my friends who I spent the evening with as they haven't had a chance to do the hop yet. This tutorial I did earlier *might* come in handy for the winner...I'm just saying.

Next stop is the Homefront Blog. Thanks for visiting...

Dinosaurs Rule

2010-03-08T11:17:00.001-07:00

Well at least they did at our house last night... While the Oscars played in the background I played with paper and my DH played, well tried too, with the new Cricut cartridge (Dinosaur Tracks) we received on Friday. It was extremely frustrating as this is the most complicated one we have purchased so far and even though we followed the directions to the letter it was kind of a toss up what image would actually print. I have way more layers to the dino featured on 2 of the cards than I have bases and don't get me started on the shadows...

This card has the 'fossil' feature which is popped up to give dimension.

This card has the base, layer and a shadow. It is also popped up and is my favorite - however we couldn't get another shadow to print and could only get one more base to print. SIGH...

The card on the left is using just a base and layer. The one on the right is using the tag feature, which is very cool but once again we could only get the image to cut and never did get another base. Both of these are mounted directly on the card.

All of these will go into my Operation Write Home stack once they have sentiments placed on them. As I may have mentioned previously I had already cut all my 81/2 x 11 cardstock into half and folded most of it for card bases. I had also cut all the patterned paper I had that I no longer LOVED or fit what I was scrapping now into card fronts to make assembly easier. After the frustration on doing these 4 cards both of us decided to stop with cutting for the night and I went to just mounting fronts to bases. I need to go back and put an image and/or sentiment on them all but I did get 43 to that stage.

My first Digital Layout

2010-02-22T11:06:00.000-07:00

I swore I'd never go digi, mostly due to being completely and utterly intimidated by it all, but thanks to the incomparable Cathy Zielinski and her hand holding today I made my first digital LO.

I still have a way to go as I couldn't figure out how to change the greens to blues (even with Cathy's great tutorial but I am further ahead than I've ever been before. I won't be go over completely but can see me doing some in the future.

Also thanks to my fellow LOADster Barb for sharing the link to Cathy's download today and to Lain for hosting LOAD again. If you want a peek at what I've been up to so far this month stop by my Flickr account.

Mini Album

2010-02-11T10:51:00.003-07:00

Before we get to today's project - MemoryWorks will be hosting a blog hop next week. Check back here as I post details for you. I am unable to participate due to previous commitments but will be ensuring you can get there from here :)

Today I will share a 30 minute project that is great for gift giving. I had this adorable tin from Maya Road left after using the product inside which I couldn't bear to throw out. So I started looking at it as a project in the making and discovered it held 4x6 photos very nicely and if you rounded the corners they fit even better. I loved the sentiment 'for the journey of a lifetime' on the lower right side so used some alcohol ink (Latte & Caramel) and a Qtip to make it stand out.

We aren't dealing with a huge amount of depth to this box so choose your favorite photos only. I managed to fit 11 - it must be an odd number whatever you come up with. I then picked from scraps of paper I had around - 3 designs of at least 6 inchs for my project which I cut into 3x5 pieces. I also kept the scraps to use together on the page or to help secure the end ribbon. Two sheets of co-ordinating cardstock - one light and one dark were cut into 4x6 pieces and the corners rounded. I chose a ribbon that fit my theme and had enough for 2 pieces that were 10 inches longer than my total cardstock length (11x4 = 44 therefore I needed 2 pieces of 54 inch ribbon). I selected on edge punch and only a handful of embellishments - keeping the numbers of techniques and embellishments down helped make things come together quickly.

I then wanted to 'finish' the edge of the ribbon and used two techniques to do that. Below is what I had when I used a ribbon line adhesive - it did not allow the ribbon to lay as flat and neat as I wanted so I switched to my ATG gun and just ran some tape on the ribbon then did a double fold. Glue dots would have worked but I didn't have any so made do... You can finish all 4 ends or just the two what will be visible on the back of the first page.

If you have a large mat with a grid great. Lay down one 4x6 cardstock piece to find where you want your ribbon to attach. I used the inside of inside of the 2 inch mark and taped top and bottom tucking the excess under the mat until I needed it.

I then laid the cards face down on the ribbon and ran adhevise on the card using the ribbon as my guide. Flipped it over and attached the first page at the top of the ribbon. I continued on alternating dark and light cardstock until the end. I left 2 'hash' marks between each card so there was room for the folds to occurr without interfering with the one next to it.

When I got to the last one I put a several lines of adhesive running both ways as this is what will hold your album to the bottom of the case.

To make a 'frame' around the central point of my cover image I took my exacto knife and scraped a rectangle on the window then went over it with the alcohol inks - Latte and Caramal again. It's a bit hard to see in this shot but you can see it best in my lap... I put 2 small rub-ons in the bottom corners and was done.

Here is the 11 pages fully extended.

Here is a close up view of the first 3 pages.

Here is the finish album tied up with a bow using the same ribbon I used in the album. The ribbon looks cute but also holds the album closed. Easy peasy and a great way to use up left overs too good to toss out. Look around to see what you have that can be repurposed.

Technical Difficulties

2010-02-09T05:09:00.000-07:00

Once again I have received the nasty gram about being over my allowed usage limits... The annoying thing is it is always on the download side and never the uploads. Annoying due to the fact I never DOWNLOAD but one or two things a month - and they are small digital stamps which I collect as I can't ever get them to print for me {wink wink} What is putting me over is all of the stupid updates that I never asked for - you know the ones that have been done while you are sleeping.

Anyway, while I wait for the ability to work online without being up at 4 am (which is not a peak time - go figure) please stop by and visit my amazing friend Alex's blog... I want to be her when I grow up!

What I've been up to this week...

2010-02-05T19:44:00.002-07:00

I have been busy participating in the LOAD (Lay Out A Day) challenge so will just share the link to those LOs that are on my flicker account.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simplybj/

This is my second time doing LOAD and I love how much I get accomplished even tho some LOs are rather simple, even by my standards, it's nice to have those memories perserved.

Blossom and Grow

2010-02-04T08:44:00.000-07:00

Today I'm going to share how to make a flower with 6 - 3 inch pieces of double sided ribbon (meaning different pattern on each side), 1 inch circle, flower center - acrylic, felt, paper or all 3, brad and glue dots. Optional items - stapler, cotton ball and alcohol ink. I learned this at a local store that has since closed down but I am thankful for the many projects inspired by them and the fun that was always had at crops there.

I will apologize now for the quality of the photos - it's hard to work the camera and demo what you are meaning...well at least for me.

To start find some double sided ribbon you like - this has a lovely blue/brown argyle pattern on one side and is solid brown on the other. You will need 6 pieces that measure 3 inches each.

You will now need to detemine what color you want the center of the flower. I have shown you both ways but I went with having the solid as my center. Place a glue dot on one end of the color you want to in the center (brown in my case) and fold the other end over making sure that the same color is facing you when done. Then simple crease the top of the loop to have the opposite color showing. There won't be much...

I should have taken this picture prior to making my petals but better late than never right? Below are all the products you will need. Please note my flower base is a 1 inch circle I punched out of packaging I had in my recycle box. I didn't show the glue dots here but you can also use staples to form the loops of the petals and to attach them to the base. I found glue dots easier by far.

I now put 3 glue dots on my 1 inch circle which covered almost all of it as I used the large. You could also put one glue dot on the back of each petal (in my case that would have been the patterned side). You then will place them around the circle - I don't take too much care getting them perfect as I rather like a bit of variation between flowers.

You can leave the arcylic flower clear or you can give it a bit of color with alcohol ink in a complimentary color (stream worked well for me). There are other options that would work but I just like playing with alcohol ink. Because it was a small area I just used a drop on a cotton ball and dabbed it in a random pattern until it was what I wanted. No needed to set aside until it dries as it was ready to go by the time I had taken the picture and put away my ink.

I placed the largest flower first and used it as a guide to make a small hole in the center of the main flower base for the brad. I had my exacto knife handy but anything with a sharp point would do and if you preplan you could use your Crop-a-dile to punch a small hole.

You then simply layer largest to smallest to finish your flower then place a brad in the center and your flower is complete. The best part of this is you can make custom embellishments using ribbon found elsewhere on your project and punch paper flowers out of paper you used and layer them. If you use paper flowers all the same size I would curl some of the petals slightly to give dimension.

Tuesday Showcase

2010-02-02T11:15:00.002-07:00

Welcome to the first post of my new schedule :) I thought long and hard about who or what to showcase today... Do I showcase some of my favorite products? A favorite blog?... So many to choose from and so I didn't.

I am a MemoryWorks Independent Consultant and they just launched Simple Stories Can I just say WOW! You really need to see this paper in person as it is just the best quality I have seen in a long time. And the way it works with the We R Memory Keepers page protectors - phenomenal. I know about now you are thinking - of course she'd say that - au contraire. I do have one small complaint about it - I LOVE the flourish paper that comes in the pack and want to keep it whole to use as the opening page to the album but alas it has some of the elements that need to be cut down on the back. So I either need to find another opening page so I can use the elements, not use the elements or get a second kit so I can do both. I'll be ordering a second kit but I do wish all manufacturers would keep in mind that some designs lend themselves to being cut down (like the striped paper in this kit) better than others and place elements that need to be cut to use on the back of paper that lends itself to it. I'm just saying...

Now on to one of my favorite sites. I've mentioned Operation Write Home before so this should be no surprise to anyone. They just do great work! I mean who doesn't love getting a cute card from someone they love in the mail... And when I think of all the happy mailboxes around the US due to the dedication of those behind OWH I smile. When I think of all the talented people making cards to send to our troops I get all warm and fuzzy. If you think - I don't do cards so I can't help nothing could be further from the truth. Stop by the site and get is touch with OWH to ask about helping to stuff boxes, stamp the OWH info on the back of cards being send or if a small monetary donation could help offset shipping costs. Maybe you or your group could sponsor a Unit and cover postage to them for 6 months or a year? Whatever you do please just know it will result in smiles on the faces of those left behind while our troops do their duty.

Tune in on Thursday to see how I turn 6 scraps of ribbon into a flower...

Structure...no seriously

2010-01-29T08:19:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I was chatting with some friends and had an epithany (I've always wanted to say that) I thrive on structure. When I was single I always thought that I was a spontaneous type but looking back I realize that I would plan even my *spontaneous* trips etc to the last minute. So in an effort to get on track with having regular blog updates I given myself some structure and have set up a schedule both here and on our doggy blog (you'll need to look there for that one).

Starting next week ~ hey I need time to get stuff together ~ I will be giving the following a try:

Tuesday - will showcase a favorite product or designer
Thursday - will showcase tips and some of the pearls of wisdom I've been lucky enough to collect
Saturday - will showcase what was created over the week

If there is something you want me to expound (another word I think is cool) on ~ share as I might just run with it.

Blog Candy

2010-01-26T06:12:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't like a little Candy now and then??? I just learned Cricut Creations by amkscrap and Memory Making Crafts are giving away....To ONE lucky person... one of each of the Winter Mini's!!

If you want a chance to win, and it's easy peasy, head over to Cricut Creations and follow the directions posted there.

Good luck everyone :)

New Baby - Part Deux

2010-01-25T13:21:00.002-07:00

So last week I was excitedly telling you all about the knife Jay made me that I named Coco (after the cocobolo wood used on the handle). Today I'll share Part Deux of the saga... and you know since I'm calling it a saga now it's not going to be good don't you?

I used my lovely knife several times with Jay hovering reminding me it was very sharp. I repeatedly told him I was a big girl and to bug off - I'm pretty sure I was that polite about it but I digress. So he finally leaves me to my own devices with Coco who promptly tried to "trim" the nail on my left index finger. It's not a bad cut but in the most inopportune location. Thankfully we had a finger splint to keep me from hitting the finger and causing unbelievable pain to myself and super glue to keep the nail in place as catching it on something is not to be dwelled on. I can't wait until he tells his buddies over on the knifemaking boards what a klutz I am and that he is never making me another knife no matter how much I beg. They suggested I needed more initially - they really seem to be nice caring men so I am going to assume it wasn't so I could finish the job so Jay could inherit my mass fortune - mass fortune yeah right!

It isn't easy to see but if you look close towards the middle of the nail on the bottom of the screen is a half oval shaped red line. The red line is where the nail is cut and yes it goes down into the nailbed...again not dwelling.

I was typing one handed for several days but I'm back to both and am so looking forward to starting the LOAD challenge next week -- 28 layouts in 28 days. Why yes I am crazy why do you ask?

Drooling....

2010-01-20T08:47:00.003-07:00

Like so many of you am I drooling over all the sneak peeks leading up to the Craft and Hobby Association show - aka CHA happening shortly. I can appreciate the beauty of it all and can see many bits and pieces joining my collection.

I am a fan of Pink Paislee. Which is rather ironic as in and of themselves I like neither pink or paisley, but Pink Paislee has made me love them when done their way. To see what I mean check out the newest release here. WOW WOW WOW! And again WOW!!! I love the design and the colors - oh my the colors... It's simply grey and yellow you say. Ye of little vision {wink} it is a gorgeous blend of nature mingling delicate designs with boyish charm it is Queen Bee and I must have it! Hoping MemoryWorks will have it in the new catalogue but I must have it all regardless...

New Baby...

2010-01-18T18:25:00.002-07:00

I'll admit it - when the man said I want to make knives I nodded thinking wonder how long this will last. The first knife was kind of cool so I mentioned I wanted a good midsized kitchen knife never thinking I'd have one a few weeks later but today I got to use it to dice some bread - hey I was desperate to find something to chop ok... Isn't it gorgeous?

I got to pick the blank and the handle material (cocobolo) and it is shaped to my hand. I am so sorry I doubted you sweetie and when can I get another one???

My desk

2010-01-18T14:19:00.005-07:00

During a discussion recently I mentioned the desk that my sweetie made me using 8 jetmax cubes as 'legs' and a custom cut one piece top from a 4x8 sheet of MDF (think the white shelves you can find at Home Depot etc but larger). I was sure I had already uploaded photos but realized I had only posted them on the discussion board of the Big Picture Scrapbooking class I took last year. Then the search was on to find them... With out further ado here are the shots of the side used as an office/school work area. We also put the pins that hold the stacked units together in the top cubes and marked them with stazon ink placed the desk top on them and applied pressure so it would transfer. We then removed the top and drilled holes so the top is held in place which makes the unit more stable and secure.

I have rearranged the cubes some what (the 3 drawers were moved to the other side and a 4 drawer unit was put in their place - also moved the glass door unit on the non computer end to the other side and put in the one with the magazine dividers in it's placed) to make it more functional but the 2 up concept holds true. We can both be sitting at the desk, facing each other, and working on the laptops that replaced the desktop. Also the black carts at the end have been moved and my cropper hopper cart sits there. The tall black cart is under the desk as are several other things we need easy access to but that don't need to be taking up precious floor space. I can leave a scrap project out while doing school with my son as I have a ton of room. One thing I need to do differently is to put a finished edge on the sheet. The one I place on has come off in places.

I am so excited to share my newest handcrafted item from my sweetheart but that will come tomorrow as I still need to get a photo of it...

Shimmerz...

2010-01-13T14:38:00.002-07:00

Pop over to Shimmerz to check their announcement and get details about this blinkie

To date I have only dabbled with them but I am tempted to go all out...

Back and Blog Candy

2010-01-12T08:14:00.004-07:00

I got back from Florida yesterday and my internal clock is still a tad off but I had to share this blog candy...

My friend Alex shared this on her blog and I just had to pass it on. How cute are they??? You can visit here to see them and enter for a chance to win but hurry you only have until the 18th!

Bad blogging day

2010-01-07T06:25:00.002-07:00

Last night I was trying to get yesterday's entry up and kept getting error messages saying my URL was corrupted... And honestly I usually catch a couple of typos, grammatical errors once it's up - this holds true for yesterday too. But alas I can not go in and correct them as I am getting the error message when I try to publish it again even though it is only moments after it published it successfully. I love technology don't you?

My Little Monster...

2010-01-06T23:27:00.011-07:00

Ok so I got a little side tracked but I did finally get what I planned on being my first layout of 2010 done.

You see I saw this paper by Reminisce while cropping at Stampers and Scrappers Delight in Boise and I thought I had purchased it as it was stinking cute but apparently I just fondled and drooled on it then put it back and got the Dinosaur paper by My Mind's Eye. But I digress...

So as I mentioned I fully intended the adorable (yes I know I'm biased) photos of my son in his 'new' to him robe and jammies with is brand new pillow cases to be the first layout I did in 2010. Well last Saturday I got invited to attend a hockey game with friends so went early and stopped by to pick up the paper and stickers by Reminisce but needing to create I had already done these pages.

As is my style the layout is very simply. I used a Prism base in Frosted Kiwi, used Intense Kiwi for the title and photo mat, the glitter frame transparency is by Fancy Pants, pattern paper and stickers from Reminisce's Monster Parade line and ribbon that just screamed at me to buy it while in the store. Since I don't 'do' ribbon that is saying something. I used foam adhesive to get two of the stickers to pop off the page. Currently I am big on handwritten journaling - don't ask me why as I hate my handwritting.

I also want to give a shout out to Prism and Jamie to say THANK YOU!! I won an amazing kit from them that arrived today. Today, the day I should have been only cleaning and getting ready to fly out to Florida tomorrow for my mini vacation but no all I wanted to do was dive into it's yumminess - is that a word because if it's not it should be. Now I have something to look forward to when I get back on Mondaya

2 Hours Equals ???

2010-01-03T17:22:00.011-07:00

What does this stack of photos, 3 cardstock, 2 patterned papers, 1 vellum sheet, assorted rub-ons, and a few embellishments get you? Well if you scrap with the page protectors that MemoryWorks carries then you get 7 completed pages in 2 hours. Yes I said 2 hrs and that is with interruptions galore and taking the time to use my Cricut to do the title.

Like everyone else I am impatiently awaiting the launch of MemoryWorks Simple Stories line. So when I stumbled across 22 photos of a trip I took with my Mom in 1988 and realized I had page protectors in the same configuration as those used in Simple Stories well what else could I do..

This shows the stack of photos I started with

I originally pulled these papers but put back a 4 sheet of the patterned papers and pulled 2 co-ordinating cardstock sheets. Thus I ended up with 2 patterned papers, 1 vellum sheet and 3 cardstock sheets - I did not use a full sheet of anything!

This is my title page using the page protector that has a 4x12 strip across the top and 4 - 4x6 spaces. The rub-on used for my journaling spot is on top of the page protector and the "trip" chipboard is under.

Page 2 is of course the backside of page 1 and all elements are inside the page protector. I trimmed my top photos to 3 1/2 and mounted it in the center. Page 3 uses the 4x4 protector First Class is on top of the protector and World Traveler is on the cardstock.

Page 4 is the back of page 3 (like you didn't know that...) To save time I simply did my journaling on the back of the cardstock inserts - I did this through out you do need to ensure you do the lumpy items after you are done everything else.... Again top left rub-on is on the cardstock and bottom middle is on the protector itself. Page 5 is 4 - 4x6 and 1 - 8x6 space. I took my favorite, I know it's not the best one, photo and matted it then centered it in the space and placed a rub-on over the 3 layers. The quote under it is on the page protector.

Page 6 I trimmed the photo I wanted to use and centered it putting a rub-on over it and journaling under. The rest of the spaces simply hold photos. The last page has 1 - 2x12, 3-4x6 and 2 6x4 spaces. I placed the Travel tag is on the outside of the page protector as well as the 'bon voyage' rub-on. The scroll on my journaling card is on the cardstock.

I had fun literally whipping these up using what I had on hand and if I can get them done in 2 hours (I started at 2:13 and finished at 4:00) having to cut photos and paper just imagine what you will be able to do with the actual MemoryWorks Simple Stories line.

Getting our stories into albums will be a whole lot easier very soon!

My First for 2010

2010-01-01T16:24:00.004-07:00

I am itching to play with paper and so is my hubby but don't tell his manly buddies... Jay enjoys sitting down and running my Cricut and Sizzlet machines (the silhouette frustrates us both most days) and he loves that I am making cards for Operation Write Home.

Today though we are going to sit down and make some thank you cards for personal use and maybe get a layout done. I say maybe as I have a vision - I know exactly what photos I want to use and what paper I need for them. I just am unsure if I have the paper on hand. So while dinner is on I'll be digging though the stack of yet to be filed paper I have on hand and getting everything else we will need ready.

Here are the photos I'm using for my first layout of 2010...

In my group of friends I am lucky enough to have some with boys just older and just younger than Reece so he gets awesome clothes from Sam and Max and when we are done they go to DJ. The first 2 shots are the 'new' robe and jammies we got just before Christmas. Reece now insists on having the robe ready when his bath is done - towels are not good enough for him any more...

In this shot he is reclining on the soft and gorgeous pillows made for him by Nej (Mom to Sam & Max). Her talent and generosity spoils all who have the pleasure of knowing her - thanks friend.

So what will your first layout of 2010 be? How do you decide or are you like me this time and had photos screaming at you to get them done?

Merry Christmas

2009-12-22T13:36:00.002-07:00

I would like to take this time to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas. I won't be back until after Christmas as I finsih getting ready for our company. We have our big celebration on Christmas Eve with family and friends coming for cabbage rolls and spiral cut ham, mashed potatoes and a veggie. Salad, rolls, and several kinds of cookies and bars are on offer as well as the must have egg nog. Christmas Day is devoted to our little family of 3 most years and this year we hope to go sledding after present opening. It is possible that we might not have to travel as far as we usually do as there is a bit of snow and I am hopeful it will not all melt before Friday.

I have one last project to share with you this year. This is the frame I did for Jay's Mom compling several photos of Reece from 2009. My parents took one back to Canada, they don't know that yet, but it had some shots of them with Reece during their October visit. It is made using the awesome frame from Fancy Pants and as well as paper from them. There are Basic Grey rub-ons, Making Memories paint (if you paint the back of the insert you get a glossy finish and if you paint the front - like I did in the lower right - you get a matte finish) and assorted items from my stash. Reece, 2009 and the I heart you are cut using my early Christmas present the Cricut these are out of Fancy Pants paper.

We are just starting to play with adding a watermark to all our photos and as you'll see I suck at it... but the only way I learn is by doing so there it is - wink

It doesn't get any easier than Simple

2009-12-19T08:15:00.003-07:00

I am a simple scrapper and I am an Independent Consultant for MemoryWorks so I couldn't have been happier to learn about the Simple Stories line being launched by the company I love. Check out the super cute blinkie for Simple Stories in the right sidebar.

If you are new to scrapbooking, unsure of your way around all the paper and embellishments this is an awesome place to start you on your journey. If you are like me and you've been scrapping for awhile but find you have less and less time to get your photos in albums then this is a wonderful way to get that done and leave you time to spare!

So are you excited yet? I know I can't wait... Launch for the line, the first time MemoryWorks has done one of their own, is January 18, 2010. Check back often there may be blog candy.

Happy Valentine's Day...

2009-12-16T12:22:00.008-07:00

To most of us it is coming up on Christmas but for those who are making cards for Operation Write Home we are thinking a bit further out. The current call is for Valentine's Day cards - general themed cards are always needed - so while I am trimming my tree my work area looks like Cupid has taken up residence. I'll be honest V-Day is one of the harder ones for me it has all that red and pink... so I was thrilled with I found paper a little out of the box.

Here is my latest offering enmass

Here are some shots of groupings. I love this new stamp set from Unity Stamp and they ship super fast.

I used Basic Grey rub ons on these Valentine's Day cards making each one unique. Some also have hearts and XO's using Quickutz dies I bought then never used...

More of the Basic Grey Rubons used to make each unique.

These cards are done using an assortment of 'leftovers' from various kits and classes.

The general cards below have sentiments cut using my new Cricut (which Hubby loves to operate).

This is just a close up of one using my Cricut.

And just to show I have also been enjoying family time and because the subject is just too stinking cute not to share...

I plan on scheduling time to update here at least weekly as well as work on our website for our other hobby and that blog. Fingers crossed this happens...

Cards Cards and More Cards

2009-11-29T20:45:00.005-07:00

Wow it's been a while since I was on here... but what a great reason to get back on. My friend, Alex aka Super Woman, picked on on another awesome cause and I've jumped at the chance to help. Operation Write Home supplies cards to those in the service of their country who may otherwise have difficulty finding cards to send home.
Last night I made another 17 Valentine's Day cards for OWH. Each one of the design on the right is unique...I cut out words/sayings from a co-ordinating sheet and used used that as my sentiment.

And then today I started my Christmas cards. In total I made 22 using several designs a few of which were inspired by my Facebook friend Kyla! They are simple but I am very happy with them...

Kijiji & A Giveaway

2009-09-14T08:29:00.003-06:00

To read about a safer alternative to listing things online and for a chance at a giveaway click here. It's a fun and informative place to visit.

Ok I'm going to admit I've tried entering multiple times with no success... Not sure what's up but hope anyone else that tries can get an entry in.

You simply have to meet Ella...

2009-09-07T14:33:00.003-06:00

Ok I am trying to add this permantly to my side bar by my brain is taking a vacation this morning... So this will do for now.

Some of those who were associated with my FAVORITE magazine Simply Scrapping have started a new venture and if you click on the above way cute button you will get to have a peek at what they have in store for us all.

Blog Candy Alert :)

2009-09-04T19:53:00.002-06:00

If you like Copic markers you have to visit here for a chance to win some. Poke around a bit more as there is some stunning stuff on there as well :)

Sweet Pea Stamps

2009-09-04T07:26:00.002-06:00

Ok so I'm not a huge stamper but I do enjoy collecting them... And if you want to see some awesome stamps you **MUST** check out Sweet Pea Stamps

And while you are looking around other sites check out their Design Team Blog here. All the Team is great but I will admit a bit of bias to my friend Alex .

August's Guest Designer

2009-08-20T19:04:00.008-06:00

I am pleased and honored to introduce this month's Guest Designer - Missy Harris. Missy and I met while she worked for my husband as one of the field crew he has each summer. Our son LOVES her and she has an awesome dog (Hi Max!) but mostly due to me feeling like I might have had a small part in her paper crafting...

Without further ado here are her lovely (I may be biased) cards. All are done using 'scraps' left over after the making of a magnetic board for her new sister-in-law. Many of the scraps are from the Basic Grey Marrakech Theme Set, Rub-ons and Chipboard Stickers which of course MemoryWorks carries in the current catalogue.

I love the detail of the center design on this card and honestly likely would never have thought to do a card with it thinking it needed a larger 'canvas'.

It's a little hard to read but Thanks is across the front of this cute card. I love the cascading effect she achieved by layering.

Who could resist this card's simple yet important message to 'enjoy life'? And the bird just brings a smile to my face.

And last but certainly not least is another Thank You card. I love how Missy placed the 'vines' down the side to balance the vertical lines on the other side.

She will never be allowed to tell me again that she doesn't do cards now that I've shown you all that indeed she does and does them well.

I am currently working on a couple of things. The one I hope to get up tomorrow is a layout using product from this current catalogue and last years to show that you can mix old and new successfully. The other is highlighting using your scraps to make cards, layouts and altered items. In these economic times using every piece of product is a good thing...

Remember if you want to be a Guest Designer contact me and we'll talk :)

Kids & Digi Stamps

2009-08-12T17:37:00.003-06:00

Ok I meant to get this up yesterday but better late than never right? Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it... Incy Wincy Designs has a heart and that is just one reason you should pop over and check them out. They choose a group/class/etc to donate to this time around it is Sir Thomas Playford Kindergarten. They hold challenges and they have some very fun digi stamps! What more could you ask for?

Watch this weekend for me to post some projects I've been working on

HUGE Tamron Giveaway

2009-08-07T16:06:00.001-06:00

Don't miss it! Today is the last day to enter @iHeartFaces HUGE giveaway. A Tamron Zoom Lens valued at $629.

Good to the last drop...

2009-08-04T10:38:00.011-06:00

This morning I am sharing some projects done by my talented friend Jennifer Hirschi. She has used products in the current MemoryWorks catalogue.
Psst - exciting news!! We will now have 2 catalogues a year. Watch for the new catalogue to debut shortly.

But I digress - I challenged Jennifer (heck I challenged a whole email group I'm on) to do projects using items from the current MemoryWorks Catalogue and from their stash. You see even though I sell new product I know many are like me in these tough economic times and needing to use what they have on hand before they can get that desired new thing. And you know what that's ok! Use your old stuff I can help you find ways to do that to make it fresh again - then when we have gotten through our stash come to me and I'll help you restock (wink wink). Seriously though - it is perfectly ok to use old product with new, to mix product lines that go together and ok to be using every scrap you have to whip of some wonderful creations. The following papers are all lovely but are all left over from other projects I did at Retreat this past June. I took them in to Jennifer and said make stuff and left her to it. The only thing I asked was for the layout size to be at least 8x8. The following is what she did and I think they are awesome.

First is an 8 x 8 layout using the Tutti Frutti Theme Set from Doodlebug.

She used the same theme set to make this adorable card.

And who wouldn't want this tag on a gift, card or layout? The Pebbles So Tweet Theme Set was used for this tag...

...this 8x8 layout and...

this card. WOW what a way to use your stash!

The last 2 items are made using American Crafts very fun Craft Fair Theme Set - another lovely card and another 8x8 layout.

I am hoping to bring you a guest designer at least once per month to showcase some of the awesome talent out there along with the awesome product that MemoryWorks offers.

If you live in the Boise/Mtn Home area of Idaho and want to get in on being a 'guest designer' drop me a note ersehnen@gmail.com with guest designer in the subject line and we'll talk :)

Sweet Pea Blog Candy

2009-07-31T19:37:00.003-06:00

You all need to run, not walk, over to Sweet Pea Stamps and check out their awesome products. If that isn't enough incentive they are currently having a sale!

Also stop by their blog to watch for the newly announced Design Teams creations. I know they will be out of this world cause a dear and talented friend is part of it -Hey Alex.

I know I've been absent lately but I promise to sit down at least twice a week and get some things posted. I hope to get some pictures of recent projects up here with product lists and I am working on a little surprise...stay tuned

Looking for a unique gift?

2009-05-10T22:48:00.000-06:00

I just have to share the gorgeous work of my friend Sarah. If you are looking for a unique gift to give someone you need look no further than her Esty shop.

Sarah also has the following listings:
here
here and
here

Her attention to detail is second to none and she is just plain fabulous and fun to be around... If you end up getting something let her know you read about her here - I don't get anything from it but being able to see a smile on her face and that is 'payment' enough.

A drift in a sea of PINK

2009-05-10T14:54:00.000-06:00

And those of you who know me well know this was totally out of my element. Did I mention there was glitter involved as well?

Jay's brother and his significant other had a little girl and due to the proximity of Mother's Day I thought I'd do a mini album for the new mom. Keep in mind I am a simple scrapper so don't often use a lot of 'stuff' on my pages but when faced with using pink stuff... Let's just say it's done and I'll work on an album to commemorate her first year with input from her Mom as to what she wants to see used.

I went from this (note there was patterned paper coming from friends who knew I was glitter & pink challenged)

To this

Politically Correct

2009-05-05T14:48:00.000-06:00

I really dislike that phrase because too often it is tossed around in a meaningless way. Like by saying it the person is given a free pass just incase they do say something incorrect. By now I bet some of you are wondering where this is coming from and more importantly where it is going...I will ask you to just trust me and read on.

I am a 46 year old Mother to a 6 year old child who has Down syndrome. Please excuse this momentary instructional piece - it is not Down's nor is it Down Syndrome. Many times I have people ask if there truly is a difference and there is but if you happen to say or spell it incorrectly from habit - life will go on for us at least. There are some who are less forgiving out there.

Reece is warm and loving, smart and funny, he loves to be read to and he adores our dogs and they are devoted to him. Reece has some additional medical challenges but nothing seems to phase this kid of mine. And honestly his Dad and I have handled it all in stride as well. We know there are some out there who don't understand and never will about our life and our son but that is their issue not ours. Well that is what I thought until last Friday...

Reece has speech and physical therapy in Boise every other Friday afternoon. Often we all go in and have a small treat on the way home but this week it was just him and I. Since National Scrapbook Day was the following day (Saturday May 2) some stores had started their celebrations early and as he was in a very VERY good mood after his sessions I decided to go to one of the stores and do the make and take so I had all day Saturday to concentrate on catching up with an old friend at some of the stores closer to her.

Reece came with me, of course, and was on some of his best behaviour occassionally needing to be reminded to stay with Mum when something or someone caught his eye. He helped me with the crop-a-dile and with placing adhesive and my patterned paper. And just as I thought 'Wow this has been very enjoyable and not a struggle at all' it happened - totally, completely and unexpectedly IT happened.

The employee who was manning the make and take table looked at me and asked 'do you need to take classes to learn how to parent him?' Without hesitation I said 'no' but as the word was leaving my mouth I was horrified that Reece who was right there might have not only heard but comprehended the rudness directed at me but about him.

I suspect some of you are thinking - what is the big deal? Others might be reading it shaking their head at my overreacting but let me ask you all how you would feel if some stranger came up to you on the street and asked when the baby was due and you weren't pregnant... Or you are pregnant and some body your don't know touches your baby bump. Or if the same question was asked of you while you were in a business with your child. All of these are inappropriate and rude no matter who it is directed to or from whom it came.

I have no doubt that there was not a malicious intent behind those 12 words but they were inappropriate for a stranger to ask. Let alone an employee of a business I was patronizing and don't even get me started about doing it in front of the child in question. If it truly was a legitimate question and they truly wanted to have an answer then ask me quietly and discretely out of his hearing, not to mention the hearing of all the other customers in the store! I would still be taken aback but I am very likely to have actually responded differently than I did. I may have explained that although there are some differences that you parent him the same as any other child - you make sure they understand what you are asking of them and then enforce it. That all children respond better when spoken to like an equal - that instead of speaking at a child try speaking to them. That all kids like to know the rules even when it seems they just ignore them as it gives them security and shows them someone cares. I may have simply said that I don't know how to parent any other way as he is my only child. But I do know for sure I wouldn't have just said NO.

I haven't written about this to ask you to condemn the store or the employee but rather to, I hope, spread awareness that we are parents just like you. Our kids may have some challenges in life that yours do not but they have the most important thing in the universe in common. They have parents who love them more than one could ever have thought possible - they have the right to be treated with kindness and respect by all who they encounter. Yes there are people out there who will be mean and disrespectful but they will be just as mean and disrespectful of all who they meet in life regardless of outward appearances or smallest of differences. They will be that way because they were not taught any better by the adults in their lives. I am asking you to help your kids and perhaps some adults you know to learn how to do the right thing, to make a difference by spreading kindness and understanding.

And if you want to know how this ended for us. I waited for someone I have known for years to be available - I told her what had happened chocking back the tears as I did. I then checked out and the teller smiled as Reece handed her my debit card and then took it back and placed it in the right spot in my wallet. She gave him a sticker which he is still enjoying today. Shortly after I got home I had a call from the store manager expressing their deepest apologies and letting me know this was unacceptable and was being dealt with. Monday I had a call from Coroporate telling me the same thing. Will I still shop there - Friday the answer was a resounding ARE YOU NUTS but now that the Momma Bear in me is calming down. Yes I'll go back however Reece will not come with me and if that individual is in the store I will just turn and leave.

Day 4 of LOAD May 2009

2009-05-04T16:16:00.000-06:00

That's layout a day for those non-scrappy types (wink).

So far I am having lots of fun doing the layouts - well if you don't count Day 2 where I thought I was dying. You can see what I've accomplished so far at myFlickr page. Well you can't see today's as the silly Adobe will not let me size it - ARGH! Now I remember why I let Jay do this stuff.

We get daily prompts but I haven't really been following them until yesterday - squares. We were encouraged to use squares and I managed to fit 29 on a 12 x 12 LO 30 if you count the background page itself. I LOVE the photo I used and it is one that I had to

fight

Jay over taking. I had this vision based on a shot taken years ago to announce the retirement of the Top Show Dog in Canada where she and her handler were walking away from the camera down a tree line country road with a Best In Show ribbon over his shoulder. I had trouble getting Jay to stop looking at Sage who then looked at him - I wanted to just have them side by side walking into the twilight years (she is 12+ years old). I finally got it after much yelling and a few tears, he didn't cry much LOL This isn't the MONEY shot but it is a great one that reminds me that we can disagree and still do good work together as well as all the sentimental stuff it was meant to invoke. That and I had no problem cutting it into a square.

I'll be gathering my thoughts and posting a little later about a couple of things so stop on back.

What have I done now...

2009-05-01T01:31:00.000-06:00

I signed up for the LOAD challenge over at Lain Ehmann's blog and although I am sure I will love what I do complete I am not sure I am up to doing a LayOut A Day (LOAD get it? Of course you do).

Maybe for a day or two, a week doesn't even seem that bad but for 31 days? Why oh why do I do this to myself?

Anyway I am still up burning midnight oil as it were because Jay isn't home yet and I can't sleep anyway so why not blog.

This week I also hope to address some of the problem areas mentioned in the giveaway post.

So to see me slowly lose my mind stay tuned. Oh and remember the MemoryWorks Retreat is coming up check it out here. This is a chance to Refresh Renew Refocus and Reward yourself like no other. Hope to see you there.

A Fond Farewell

2009-04-25T06:04:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago I read an announcement about the closing of one of our LSS (local scrapbook store). Honestly I hadn't been in there in some time but only because I usually have Reece in tow and it is usually after his therapy sessions making shopping less than enjoyable for either of us as he's tired and a little cranky.

MaryAnn was a wonderful hostess to those who came through her doors and the store was always filled with goodies just waiting to be discovered. It was dangerous to wallets and budgets everywhere as there was always a new *must* have around every corner. Crops there were cozy but no one ever seemed to mind as they were also a ton of fun. It was the store I first took my friend Missy to when I was helping her start building her stash scrapping supplies because it was close to where she lived but mostly because it was a friendly atmosphere where newbies were encouraged and fostered.

MaryAnn - thank you for World Class Scrappers! Thank you for having new discoveries around every corner that just had to come home with me. THANK YOU for just being you! Good luck in your future endeavours whatever they are.

Pysanky

2009-04-12T16:20:00.000-06:00

If you don't know what pysanky are you have to find out... I have been intrigued with them since I was in grade school and now my husband is as well. We recently purchased a pysanky off of Ebay and don't regret it for a moment. Our egg is from Jan's Eggs and has a wheat design like this one.

Isn't she the most talented artist you've seen? We plan to add an egg or two each year and as long as Jan's Eggs are in business she is who we will be dealing with exclusively!

GOBI by the Numbers Part 4

2009-04-08T12:58:00.000-06:00

I am finally getting to this final installment nothing like the incentive of being out of commission for a few days to light a fire is there. It's nothing serious but I have a test scheduled for tomorrow am and these things usually have me out of it for a day or two.

Week 11 - we did a recap of the previous weeks and talked about maintenance of our spaces. We had a Task Card project (mine is still a work in progress - it needs a cover but all the tasks are listed) or we could choose to go the electronic route with a service like cozi.com. The other link was jot.com but I have not been able to get that too load - just a headsup. We were reminded that storage is about the container and orgainzing is about what you put in the container. We were encouraged to step back and see what we had accomplished whether we were all moved back in or still had a ways to go.

We then recieved a checklist for preparing for scrapbooking away from home. What a great resource! Even for those of us who do this a lot and have a game plan for it this was a great refresher for attending crops and actually getting things done.

Week 12 - We were encouraged to include visual reminders in our space about the WHY behind our scrapbooking. Honestly I still haven't hung anything in my space that will do this save for one photo of my son on a photo mat I made but I will get there. I am still trying to a balance between his school necessities and my creative necessities being on display. At the moment they are winning...

Aby gave us a wonderful bonus handout about using filters and staying organized. And I am trying to figure out how to fit in a cool wall vinyl in my space.

Week 13 - we had a bonus week and got a really cool banner project. I hope to work on mine over the weekend (once I figure out what I want it to say). Wendy had us reflect on all that we had accomplished over the 3 months and encouraged us all to stay in touch. I for one hope that will be the case as the time with all my GOBI alum was fantastic!

I am so glad that I stuck in there and allowed myself to TRUST the process in the beginning even when I wasn't sure that was the way to go.

I'll insert pictures when I get back from the hospital this afternoon.

Now I am back to counting down the days to the ULTIMATE in pampering - MemoryWorks Retreat

And the winner is...

2009-04-07T07:28:00.000-06:00

I am still working on my last installment of GOBI by the numbers but am laying in bed feeling like crud... Thank you all for playing this round and check back I hope to have one drawing a month of product from Memory Works. If you want more information about the company drop me a note and I'd be happy to share. The new catalog is in the final stages so will be release soon - watch for it. I will be picking a comment or two daily after the final GOBI installment to address so check back.

I did enlisted my son to make the drawing and he picked Teresa. Please send your mailing address to ersehnen@gmail.com and I'll get it in off to you.

Following is what Teresa said...
My greatest organizational challenge is keeping it all cleaned up. After taking GOBI I am determined to make sure it is clean all the time. However, I have to make a very concentrated effort because I tend to be a very unorganized. I am going to need support to keep it up so I hope to create a list of blogs from the women that took the class.

April 4, 2009 10:14 AM

This is something I worry about as well Teresa. I share my space with the home office and it's where my son does his school (we do Virtual Academy) so we are trying to develop a routine that all of us can manage - Reece is only 6 so presents some unique challenges. I think making the task cards for each of us and using pictures and words for Reece then displaying them prominently will help. I agree with us all sticking together for support as I never want to go back to what it was.

Now back to napping to try to shake this bug... I suck at being sick!

GOBI by the numbers Part 3

2009-04-05T05:39:00.000-06:00

Psst remember the giveaway in the post below :)

Yesterday I shared with you weeks 5-8 during this time we contined to learn the *how* behind this hobby of ours, EMPTIED our spaces - yes completely emptied them, started to look at storage options to see which ones drew our eye. And then finally started to discuss what wasn't working for us and what was as a group with Wendy's blessing...

Week 9 - we had a few more projects that were optional (I skipped them but plan on going back to do them because - well they are cute). We were to continue to shop for storage that would work for us. I'm a visible but closed kind of girl as I live in the dust/wind capital of the world. We were encouraged to go slow with purchases and told often that our 'dream space' may not come together over night but it would come if we were patient. Lots of cheaper (read free) alternatives for storage were offered to tide us over until what we wanted had been saved for or went on sale. And yes we were encouraged to have a budget and start saving for all we wanted. Wendy shared that it took her 2 years to get her room as it is now. I found myself saying my mantra much less this week...

Week 10 - YEAH we are bring things back into our space! We started to figure out 'cute' display options, figuring out what will work for us and how to maintain it. We dicussed that sometimes our wants don't fit our budget and how to re purpose items we already have until we can get our 'ideal'. We were encouraged not to 'settle' in our search for items. We started to label our containers and I heard the 'trust the process' again... I hate labeling because I tend to overthink the whole thing - should I say tags or Tags by MM, K&Co & CI... And on and on and on! The final answer was a bit of both. We had a great handout from Lisa Damrosch about her favorite organizational items. Aby also provided us with a handout on making our spaces comfortable - another gem!

We also had our second Super Saturday! We discussed what we had left to do and about re purposing items we already had. We talked about the layout of our work stations and how over time that would likely evolve as we evolved on our creative journey.

I'll be back with weeks 11 to conculsion as I got behind with this due to company and having a very enjoyable afternoon talking about my other hobby competing with my dogs...

Giveaway...

2009-04-04T16:52:00.000-06:00

To celebrate my return to the land of highspeed internet and the shiney new computer I am giving away to one lucky winner this wonderful collection of BasicGrey papers from their Recess line (4 sheets & 1 monogram sheet), a set of BasicGrey chip stickers from their Boxer line and one Prismatics paper pack in Razzleberry (contains 12 sheets of cardstock in 3 shades).

Just leave a comment about what your scrapbooking organizational challenge is and I'll draw one winner at random on the Tuesday April 7th. For this giveaway only those in the USA and Canada are eligible. I promise I will hold one shortly for only those overseas...

Stay tuned later today for the second installment of GOBI by the numbers!

GOBI by the Numbers Part Deux

2009-04-04T09:22:00.000-06:00

Review of January - We spent the first month learning the *how* behind our scrapping. And made some great inspirational items - admittedly at the time I wasn't sure they were so great as I wanted to dig in and organize... I now have a binder for storing my inspirational ideas - easy to tuck a page from a magazine in, or paint swatches etc. A clipboard to display things that motivate me to scrap/create and I gave my magnet board an update of things I love and want to remember to use.

Week 5 - We spent time finishing up the assignment we had started last week from Aby Garvey. We learned of Clipmarks and wonderful resource for keeping track of things we had found online that 'spoke' to us. We had another book assignment and started to learn our creative space essentials. It was another week of learning the 'how' of scrapbooking for each of us and I found myself again saying 'trust the process' a lot because we were still not organizing...

Week 6 - Wendy FINALLY tells us we are going to need to get our energy going. YEAH!! We are going to start organizing - I can't wait because my space - well you saw the photos posted below so I don't need to elaborate right? No wait she wants us to WHAT - empty our spaces?!?!?!? Is this woman totally insane? Does see need to be on medication? Does she have a death wish? Ok so maybe that was a little over the top but I started to say my mantra much louder and more often this week. We were then prompted to sort as we emptied - it's a bit of a stretch but that could be the organizing I have been waiting for couldn't it?. Ok so the 3 piles thing is doable - one for things I want to keep, one for things I no longer love enough to keep and one that is just going out in the trash. Aby again had a bonus handout for us that was very eye opening and thought provoking. This week was also the first of 2 Super Saturdays. We spent the day 'together' in chat and doing various things with the support of our Fearless Leader and other classmates. It was awesome!

Week 7 - We continued to empty our spaces and received this pearl of wisdom...storing things does not make them organized! WOW! WOW!! So simple and yet to this point something I hadn't grasped... And with that we started planning our new spaces using graph paper (or online resources). We started thinking of new furniture or how to re purpose existing items, we were picking color schemes and pretty touches that would make us want to be there full time not just when we were creating.

We determined if our spaces were shared, dedicated, or temporary. We considered all that we would be doing in the space (me - crafting, school, home office). And we started to think about storage options we had been seeing in the book and in online resources Wendy had been sharing with us.

Aby gave us an audio pep talk and we continued to empty/sort/purge.

Week 8 - In Wendy's own words 'Finally, finally, finally we are going to talk about storage containers and shopping.' She went on to tell us that some of us may have had an 'aha' moment and realized we had become collectors and not scrappers. Ouch that one hit close to home... We were encouraged to continue purging and sorting - sorting and purging as well as start thinking about what we need to store so the purchases we made were appropriate. You wouldn't by a bird cage for a fish would you? We were encouraged to really look at the spaces of others that had spoken to us and figure out WHY we like something - was it the color, the fact they had a display area for recent projects, etc. We learned why Wendy had done some of the things she had and I know light bulbs started going off for me as I read what she was sharing. We had another project to make (a way cute desktop organizer) and completed a checklist to start us thinking about how we were going to organize so it would work for us. These last 2 weeks I found I wasn't needing to remind myself to 'trust the process' as much...

The next installment will cover weeks 9-completion of Get Organized Be Inspired. I know yesterday I told you to make sure you took this class next time it was offered but alas today I discovered that was not going to happen as the book which is so integral to the class is out of print. I am hopeful that Wendy and the wonderful people at BPS can figure out some way to offer something as wonderful without the book but only time will tell.

I am including some photos of the new scrapping side of the room. Next time I'll share the office side and likely over the next several days I'll be sharing other snippets of the transformation as well.

GOBI by the numbers

2009-04-03T07:12:00.000-06:00

Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.
―A.A. Milne

How appropriate that the above quote arrived in my inbox this morning. This is the first in a series (that shall be uninterrupted this time) about my Get Organized Be Inspired journey. Now don't think I'll be telling you enough so you don't have to take the class next time it's offered rather I hope to share just enough to get you as excited about it as all of us that took it this time are.

To start some background - I am a piler and I married a piler. We have stacks of stuff and we are postive we will remember what they contain. We hardly ever do but since the birh of our child (and honestly the need to empty a room for him) we have been better at it. One of us more than the other but regression has occurred from time to time. I had finally got my combination scraproom/office/spare room in order and was loving it when I realized said son was outgrowing his room and I needed to swap to give him the larger of the two. And so my organized scrap area and office fell to pieces. Did I mention that this we happening during the holidays? So I remembered a reference to The Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker by Wendy Smedley and Aby Garvey either in Stacy Julian's book Photo Freedom or on her blog and I asked my wonderfully enabling husband to get that and only that for me for Christmas. About the same time I started stalking Wendy's blog and learned in she was teaching a class at BPS it was Get Organized Be Inspired or GOBI to those who love it...

The aforementioned husband, AKA Jay, signed me up after seeing me look at it dreamily for days. I'd spend hours in front of our computer reading the about it and thinking I couldn't spend the money on just me. See money was a little tight at that time which was pre-refinance of the house. Then it hit me I am wasting more money by not being able to use the stuff I already paid for than the class costs! so the guilt was I had been feeling left me. And the most incredible journey began... I will caution you all that if you are considering the class get a copy of the book as soon as you can since it is vital to being able to participate fully! Several participants had trouble finding this popular tome as it was sold out.

I've posted before photos earlier and so don't want to go there again check them out here but I will be sharing some more after shots with more detail later on.

I'll be giving a brief overview of my journey through this process broken to the weekly sessions. And just so you know my mantra through out this amazing journey was 'trust the process' especially during some of the assignments LOL

Week 1 - we were tasked to create a mission statement and Wendy shared why this was important. We also had a book assignment. I grumbled and complained and ultimately I did the project and had a pleasant revelation.

Ok so the mission statement isn't my finest piece of work but it showed me much more than I expected.

Week 2 - we did another book assignment and created another project. I am thinking "what the heck..." I didn't sign up to make MORE stuff I need to get rid of some and get the rest organized! But I then heard my mantra - trust the process. I did and again was pleasantly surprised.

I can't find the photo of the Inspiration binder we did this week so am adding this clipboard for now. Also created during the class.

We also had our first bonus hand out from Aby Garvey. WOW!

Week 3 - Another book assignment and then again with the create something... I want to dig in and start organizing but again I TRUST the process... to myself I think 'for now'. And our first Super Saturday! We chatted, we commiserated and we moved forward with the gentle guidance of Wendy.

Week 4 - ARGH!! now we are wasting time making LOs for a week? Ok breath and trust TRUST the process... I did and all was right in my little world after all.

I'm only including these 2 LOs I did this week so as not to bore you all

This is the end of the first month. A month that I might add in which I learned a lot about myself and the *HOW* behind my scrapbooking and for that I am grateful that I did indeed trust the process. Tomorrow I'll be posting about the next 4 weeks and tossing in a bonus giveaway...

Technology...

2009-03-23T19:21:00.000-06:00

ain't it great? Last Tuesday I thought all my computer/online issues would be fixed when we got our satellite internet connection. It lasted less than 24 hours. The modem died (they have to order a replacement) but all is not lost as I still have dial up... WRONG they removed my dial up info 'cause you won't need that any more' - right! I finally get it back up and running and the desk top that has threatened to die coughs and sputters and pretty much does die. I can go and open files etc just don't try to do more than look at anything. Oh and the best part the laptop was in DC with my husband.

So I am kind of back up and running but I can't get my email to down load on the laptop so if you are trying to reach me/us bruneaugsp@hotmail.com is the best option at the moment.

Totally Whacked...

2009-03-16T21:22:00.000-06:00

well that is what I would have thought about the beginning of class if I hadn't read the book - twice - before we started. We spent a lot of time doing LOs to figure out how we scrap. See if you don't know how you think of your product how do you know how to store it?

Makes perfect sense right? Then why was is so hard! It was hard because I knew what I wanted to do but struggled finding the products/tools to do it. It was the on going vicious cycle that had become my creative hell.

Sometimes in life you just have to trust in the process and those leading you. That doesn't mean following blindly just to not overthink and go with where they are taking you. Straying from the path from time to time isn't a bad thing but it does make the journey longer... Tomorrow I will need to be reminded of this statement would you do that for me?

Oh and the delay in posting this...the new satellite connection lasted less than a day before I had to go back to dial up. The tech is aware but is out of the area until Sunday. I love technology - NOT!

How did it get that bad?

2009-03-16T07:01:00.000-06:00

Well like most things it didn't happen over night. My space was before this room was shared with the spare bed and office and was very cramped. Then I had the brilliant idea to swap rooms with Reece, who at 6 needed a big boy room right?

The priroty during that move was to get Reece settled not me and the before pictures are the result of just dumping things where they fit (more or less fit would be more appropriate). Keep in mind this was started before the Holidays so I asked my wonderful enabling husband to pretty please with cherries on top get me only 1 thing - The Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker by the incomparable Wendy Smedley and Aby Garvey. My life has changed by reading this and taking the Big Picture Scrapbooking class in ways I never imagined. I'd say just as much as reading The Big Picture and Photo Freedom did.

So fast forward to the end of December the economy is tanking and we are a one income household so I never imagined that I could 'afford' to take the BPS class Wendy was teaching mostly due to me never wanting to spend money on just me. Then Jay (above noted wonderful DH) signed me up because I don't do stuff just for me and because we had just Refinanced the house so had a little discretionary cash. Still I balked and then a light bulb went on - as I stood in the middle of that diaster I realized I was wasting more money with the products buried that I couldn't use becuase I couldn't find them or forgot I had than what the cost of the course was... WOW!

Back tomorrow with more and possible some pictures. See they on are on the laptop in DC with DH who is nervous about coming here and loading them - this is the 6 ft man who will walk into a scrapbook store and pick up pink lace and flowers if I ask (not that I actually would ask as I don't do pink or lace but you get the picture).

Get Organized Be Inspired!

2009-03-15T10:31:00.000-06:00

Since I seem to have an internet connection at the moment I am going to share some before pictures from my class. I am kind of in shock at how much the space has transformed and how user friendly it is for all of us - remember it is a craft/office/school room. So without further ado here are the before (I can't believe I'm sharing these. ICK!)

This first shot is what you used to see from the hall when you looked into the room

Here is where I used to scrap.

This was how the pegboard looked back in January when this journey started.

This is where I tried to do school stuff as well as general office type stuff like pay bills. The desks were on the wall under the window and not very user friendly for more than one person at a time.

And this mess is how the closet used to look. I still can't believe I lived with it like this...

This is the closet now...what a difference! I no longer hope that nothing falls out of it.

I made this work surface as an after thought as I had the original "desk" top available. Jay got me a huge one piece top and even drilled a hole for all the cables etc to come up.

This is where the pegboard used to live. It's on the right side of the room but my scrapping desk is now on the left side so...

I have this set up on the left side of the room right behind my scrapping desk.

I'll continue to post new ones later this week as we are having a satellite internet service installed on Tuesday!

I'm on a roll...

2009-02-26T22:33:00.000-07:00

It was my turn to do the MemoryWorks Blog entry this week (each Friday one of the TeamWorks Members does a piece) and while I was doing it I just had to get this picture scrapped. And so for your consideration here is 'Uncle Kevin'.

Supplies:
Prism Cardstock Blush Red Pack PR007
BasicGrey - Mellow Theme Kit (from 2007/2008 MemoryWorks catalog)
BasicGrey - Undressed Chipboard Alphas Thickset - BG082
BasicGrey - Undressed Chipboard Alphas Block Alphas (from the 2007/2008 MemoryWorks catalog)
American Crafts - Thickers Accents AC082
ColorBox Inks - Dark Brown and Cranberry

Once I had the LO complete I made these 3 cards immediately using the 'scraps'. I'm big on using things as soon as I can or I forget them. And since you have coordinating stuff it is so easy to whip up some cards at the same time. Here are the ones I made from items left over from this layout.

Remember to head over to the Facebook to see the cards I made from what was left from the layout found on the MemoryWorks Blog.

I am almost done...

2009-02-23T06:14:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I almost have everything sorted, organized and in it's new home! The Get Organized Be Inspired class at Big Picture Scrapbooking has not always been easy but it has been one of the most rewarding things I've done recently.

The most eye opening was that I didn't have as much 'stuff' as I thought rather I just had a lot of wasted space! I found cardstock in 3 or 4 places, I had 5 containers of scraps, etc... Once it was all in one place it really wasn't that much at all and even with this revelation I still purged a lot of stuff I no longer 'love'.

We are having some technically difficulties with the new camera (Jay's dream of a Nikon D300 came true) not being recognized by the desktop so pictures are taken just not uploaded as the Adobe is on the desktop and I need it for resizing... But I promise photos will be forthcoming :)

119 days until the ULTIMATE IN PAMPERING begins!

2009-02-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

If you don't know what I'm talking about you *need* to find out...check out Retreat. If that doesn't convince you take a peek at Reviews. Seriously this is a not to be missed chance at being spoiled by some of the best people out there. I know as they spoiled me completely last year. Whether you are a consultant or not this truly will make you feel like the princess you are - how many times a year does that happen?

Hamsters and Wheels...

2009-02-18T06:48:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling like a hamster in a wheel the last couple of weeks. You see I am in the middle of the Get Organized Be Inspired class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking and I feel like I am not getting anywhere. Don't get me wrong I LOVE it and how it is changing the way I think - actually it has made me aware of *how* I think when I scrap. But we emptied our rooms almost 2 weeks ago and I still only have half a dining room table... I also have an overflowing box of items for a yard sale and have freed up 2 full Cropper Hopper vertical paper files and 2 Iris totes (you know the 12x12 ones that hold a ton of stuff).

I have a new desk top - thanks to my sweetie who went to Home Depot and had them cut a sheet into the 33 x 64 inch work surface I now enjoy. And then dealt with me anal retentive obsession to mark and drill the holes so the top is held in place by the plugs used to stack the storage cubes I have. He even drilled out a hole for all the cords so things could sit tightly to the wall. I think I'll keep him around a bit longer ;)

I will have some photos uploaded soon to show my work in progress. And I hope to get a chance to play with paper this weekend as I found several partially completed projects during my sorting and purging.

Quote of the Week

2009-02-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

Each week I'll be posting a new quote. I hope that it will inspire you to create, reflect or share as it did me.

What another blog???

2009-02-03T12:41:00.001-07:00

Yep here I am again :) After trying to update the original blog Get The Point with information about day to day stuff and doggy happenings along with the scrapping stuff I quickly realized it wasn't working for me.

So I bring you Simply Scrapping titled in homage to my FAVORITE scapbook magazine (which will be no more in a few short months), it's wonderful staff from Founding Editor Stacy Julian all the way down to the other devotees of it. It helped me to embrace my Simpleness and to, in fact, cherish it. So on this blog I will bring you some of my projects and updates on my scrappy side.