I have had a scrappin' good weekend so far....

First off and most importantly please check out is the Click to Give Breast Cancer site. This site isn't one that wants your money but just by visiting it the donor gives to the charity. Please make sure you visit today. Early Detection is so important in fighting this disease http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=2 .

My hubby has been out of town riding Harleys with his dad and brother so I've taken the time to enjoy the day by scrapping A LOT! His dad won a brand new 2008 Harley last weekend at a dealer in Birmingham AL. Charley was dying to see it last week but I was so sick he didn't have the heart to leave me so he made plans to ride 500 miles this weekend.

I was thinking about going up to Cumming for a crop at the LSS but Friday I started coming down with a cold so I wasn't leaving the house. I was disapointed but figured I'd just hang around the house and take it easy and scrapbook when I felt like it. Friday while looking at the posts at twopeas I found one about a Cyber Crop. Never did one of those before except NSD I guess I would count that... So I have been cranking out the pages and having a ball. I like the Cyber aspect because the one thing I hate about going to crops is packing for one. It takes me forever and I always seem to take too much.

The theme at http://www.scrapperie.com/ is Ice Cream Social. Everyone is very nice & all the challenges are really fun. Check it out - it's an awesome community....

Can you see how much they have inspired me.... I'm filling the gallery.

Have a blessed day!

I'm trying to make old supplies "fresh" again....

I'm full of all kinds of helpful tips today....

I've been spending too much on new scrapbooking stuff and know I need to cut back but with so much cute stuff out there it's hard to control myself....


So I started thinking about new ways to use the old stuff I already have without it looking like I'm using stuff I've had forever....


So dug up more of my childhood photos. I've had so much fun doing them since I had boys it's my chance to finally get "girly".

Then looking at the photo I knew I wanted to use red, white & blue as the color scheme. Lately I haven't used much white cardstock as the background & so I thought I would do that for this layout.

Pulling out all my red stuff I found this felt diecut "ribbon" and thought it might be nice to dress it up a little and to add some contrast so MORE WHITE & boy do have have oodles of white eyelets going unused so this was my chance to plug those holes and add some zing....














Doesn't look like your run of the mill eyelets does it?









Now for a title:

The title would have been easy to do with Thickers but didn't have enough of the right letters - as usual so I'm using my Cricut to make chipboard now.

How to make diecut faux chipboard letters:

I cut 3 of each letter with craft cardstock (Hobby Lobby sells for $3.99 for 25 sheets and that's before 50% off so I always stay well stocked).

Then cut each letter one more time in the top layer color or another of craft if I want to paint or ink it.

Now to make the letter sandwich.... I use the Xyron Sticker Maker (another inexpensive time saver with coupon it's around $5) and run each letter thru making sure I don't waste too much of the precious Xyron tape.... then just sandwich them together and "tada" chipboard letters in any size and color font that my Cricut can print!

It's really no more labor intensive than covering chipboard letters.

To save more $$ I can use PVA to adhere each layer together. Actually the PVA is a nicer finish since you don't have the excess adhesive "web" to clean off.





I couldn't not put dry embossing on this page so I used the Cuttlebug embossing folder to make a strip of circles. I can't get enough of those inexpensive folders they add so much to a page or card & with a coupon there are less than $3! I tried highlighting the raised edges with ink and cut in a strip.

Of course I changed my mind at the last minute since the color just wasn't quite right for a whole strip so you'll see just one of the circles cut out and in the center of the flower.


Here's the border I ended up replacing the Cuttlebugged one with. It's using the Fiskars punch I got on clearance at Joann's for $3.97!

I used Close to my Heart stamps on the bottom of the page - I'm spilling the beans on all my mistakes but I didn't get the clean image I wanted on the multi layers of cardstock so my "happy accident" caused me to add some Stickles & cover up the problem with the flower (that's the only reason the cuttlebugged circle made it to the layout - otherwise it would have stayed in the scrap bin....

To finish up the page I added machine stitching, simple journaling, Stickles, acrylic stamps & I'm done

Let me know what you think....

Have a great day!

Fun at Paperclipping

Wow I have so enjoyed getting to know the gals over at paperclipping.com. I'm thankful I wanted a F.R.E.D. & wasn't able to just go out and buy one that minute (did I just say that? yep because if I had bought it I wouldn't have gotten Noell's post on NSD that she was giving away 2 of them and wouldn't have ever found the live (and lively) community.

Noell & Izzy have done a fantastic job of building a website that provides SO MUCH information! Just the videos alone have taught me so much about design. Then there's the live shows that we get to see the artistic thought process that goes into creating a "Noell" page, hang out and chat & just have a great time on Tuesday nights....

Recently they added the forums and boy have we had a blast getting to know each other. There are women from all over the world but we all share the same passion for telling our stories in scrapbooking. I participated in my first "circle journal" which I understand wasn't a traditional CJ but more of a swap of pages. It was so fun to get the pages each woman made - each so talented and unique. Going to the mailbox was fun (expecting something other than bills lol) . I really had a hard time doing a 6x6 page and struggled - I hadn't done that format before except in mini-books and I kept everything to a minimum. I had a "vision" in mind for my page and couldn't shrink it to the 6x6 size - nothing was working... my supplies were all large scale & out of proportion. After many tries & adding to my scrap paper with not so happy accidents... I gave in and made a 12x12 layout and took it to Kinkos to have them shrink the "vision" I could not myself. I hated sending a color copy of my page but was on a deadline and feeling the pinch. We had originally said color copies were ok or it would have never entered my mind.... All in all it was a wonderful learning experience for me and very fun. I now have 11 people that I know something more about and will always remember my paperclipping buddies.... can't wait for the next CJ challenge.

New Blog

Hi all,

I love Sheetload of cards and they have a new sister site check it out for a great giveaway

http://sheetloadshortcuts.blogspot.com/

Boy is it HOT here in Atlanta!

I never thought I'd say so early in June that I'm glad it's only going to be in the low 90's today! Trying to stay indoors more since the medicines make the heat harder to deal with. Having a lot of trouble with the pain from arthritis - oh well gives me a reason to scrap more.... right?

Well thought I would share that Joanns has a lot on clearance right now. It's all in the regular aisles (not the clearance aisle in the back that looks like a warzone). I found Fiskars border punches for $3.97! I purchased: flowers, hearts, and sunburst! I also got one of the A Whale of a Punch in the shape of a tag for the same price. Many of their card packs were marked down to $0.97 each (can't beat that even if I only use the envelopes). With my 40% off coupon I was "a big spender" only found a Cuttlebug embossing folder that I wanted and the 50% off coupon from Michaels I used for Xyron sticker refill (LOVE THAT THING).

I also made a stop at Michaels this week and I finally caved in and purchased 2 of those scrapbook storage cube with the 50% off coupons. I don't know why I didn't do this earlier. It makes the room look better already! The ones with the drawers are a little tricky to put together (the screws are very small and had to use micro screwdrivers) I also heard that the drawers fall off after a time so I used wood glue on them as I was putting them together. I am now thinking of getting more of them and making a room divider to where I have the sewing desk (I'll just need to find another place to sew - which is fine with me since I don't like the height of that desk anyway). I found a couple Martha Stewart embellishments on clearance and used another coupon to buy some watercolor crayons. Love those coupons!

Hobby Lobby has also had some pretty good clearance... not all the stores have the same. The one in Lawrenceville has the best prices on stamps when they put them on clearance. The huge ones will be marked down to less than $3 with most others just over a $1. Found some Copic markers there and picked out 3 in pretty family of teal and a grey color for shading. I figure I'll build my collection as the coupons allow (and family members will allow me to drag them there as a customers to use multi coupons). They really are amazing pens and worth the money. Thanks to Patter Cross www.tripplethescraps.com for the great advice. My "find" at HL was a metal shabby chic shelf that I guess is supposed to be in the garden but was on clearance 66% off. Looks great on the wall with some of my favorite bigger stamps on it. I think I will use binder rings and hang some things off of the bottom for additional storage of most used items.

Well that's been my shopping week in between doctor appointments and tests. I love having time between appointments to kill but it's not too good for the budget!

By the way when I was a Kinkos making copies on Monday I had half a tank of gas stolen out of my car!!! I was only in there for about 15 minutes. It's crazy... of course no one seen anything and I allerted the stores on that end of the mall but now I have to buy a locking GAS CAP! This is too much!

Well I am going to sit down and make my Father's day card for dad.

Have a great one!
Suz

Check Out This Blog

I stumbled upon this blog awhile ago. Debby has a great style and lots of helpful tips.

http://debbysdares.blogspot.com/

Check her and join in the fun with challenges, RAKs, tips, and great inspiration.

Have a blessed day!

Win a Making Memories Slice

Here's the link.

http://clipperstreetonline.com/clipper_community/forums/thread/2110.aspx

All you do is post what inspires you and you have a chance to win this new product

You know how crazy I am about wanting a F.R.E.D.

Still saving those pennies but I stumbled upon another giveaway for a F.R.E.D. I wanted one so badly on NSD with Paperclipping giving 2 away but no luck that day..... so here's another chance.....

http://mphoinix.blogspot.com/2008/05/shhhhhhhhi-have-new-love-dont-tell-dh.html

If you haven't seen F.R.E.D. check out the official website.

http://myscrappingbuddy.com/

I would gladly give up my faux one for a real one!

New MAKING MEMORIES Line PASSPORT

I was at Archivers on Saturday... my husband and I rode up to Cumming and the LSS up there was closed so he was nice enough to let me stop at Archivers and even gave me money to spend = wow! Anyway the sales woman hadn't even pulled it out of the box but was nice enough to open the box and let me buy it while I was there (it wasn't going on the shelves until later in the day) They treat me so well there.... I spend enough money I guess - no they have some awesome people working there very creative & filled with all kinds of helpful hints.

Here's a layout I did using the Passport 12x12 diecut paper. You all know how much I love those diecuts from MM. I really love the color of this paper and it has more depth than some of the other MM paper lines. I loved that red Valentine line diecut for that reason..... There's postcard on one of the papers and on the tag set. Looks like a versitile and fun line to create with.

Have a good one!