Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Everything Scrapp'n Monthly Challenge Reveal

Everything Scrapp'n monthly challenge in honor of Earth Day was to make a mini album using junk mail envelopes.  One of our former designers Jana came up with this and has a great video on You Tube showing the technique.  See here.

I loved making this mini.  Not only is it budget friendly yet making a sturdy base for decorating but it also is practical since you have all these pockets to add tags in for more photos and journaling.  What better topic for a mini than our critters.... Perfect number of pages for each of them.  Making all the photos black and white allowed them to work together without distractions from color.

Here's my take on the challenge.

Cover

The little pocket holding a smaller tag keeping with the theme.



See how tags pull out of each page...
I used Glimmer Mist on the front of the tags.
Masking with Doodlebug Frills (ugly color blue I would never use but like the shape lol) and some old Magic Mesh that has seen better days.  Worked great!
Page 1 & 2
Intro & Koda


Front of tags
Backs of tags
Painted with Making Memories paint & stamped, embossed, inked


Page 3 and 4
PPK (Pom Pom Kitty) & Miles







Pages 5 & 6
George & Cloud





Page 7 & 8
The dogs Rosie & Poppy








Back of Album


Side of Album when closed


Supplies:  Cardstock (Bazzill); Paper (Pink Paislee - Fetching Appealing, Pink Paislee - Fetching Charming, Pink Paislee - Fetching Confident, & Pink Paislee - Fetching Engaging); Stickers (Pink Paislee - Fetching Sticker Book); Alpha Letters (American Crafts - Thickers & Cosmo Cricket - Tiny Alpha); Ribbon (Maya Road - Black Gingham by the yard & misc stash); Buttons (misc stash); Eyelets (American Crafts);  Office Supply Tags (Staples); Gaffers Tape (7Gypsies); Paint (Making Memories); Ink (Clearsnap - Colorbox, Ranger - Archival, & Versamark); Embossing Powder (Ranger); Spray Paint (Tattered Angels - Glimmer Mist); Punch (McGill - Ticket & Stampin' Up - Scallop Border); Stamps (Prima, Unity Stamp Co, My Mind's Eye, Studio G, Inkadinkado & Maya Road); Flowers (Prima); Bling (Zva - Black Gems); Crochet Thread (Coats & Clarks); Adhesive (Tombow - Dot Roller, Tombow - Mono Adhesive Liquid, Glue Arts - Adhesive Strips, Xyron - Sticker Maker & Glue Dots)

Now I know you will want to see what the other designers did with the challenge & get the details to make your own mini for a chance to win a great prize. Thanks so much for stopping by... now head on over to the ES blog.

The yard is coming along...

I moved a bunch of plants from the old house & kind of just plopped them in the ground anywhere until the fall to replant (if they made it).  Many of them are doing well and the house is looking better.  It's amazing what a little raking, fertilizer & mulch will do.

I painted the door to match the shutters from primer to red made a big difference

Arbors has a new home on the side of the house that needs some sweat & love

Azalea that came with the house has big flowers

Front bed

Dragon plant has the prettiest folliage all summer and late lacy blooms

Hydrangea almost ready to bloom

Rare trillium is happy in new yard & may even bloom

My statues from yard sales and hobby lobby clearance

And sodded the back with fescue... it's amazing how inexpensive it was - seed wasn't much less ($40) when we bought all the supplies and this was already growing and green.

Rosie tired out from running in her yard

Well hope you come back tomorrow for Everything Scrapp'n Monthy Challenge Reveal.  We all made mini album (one of my favorites I've made in a while).

Monday, April 19, 2010

Pretty Prima

Since my back & legs are "mad" at me for sweeping/raking yesterday doing some spring clean-up while I had my son inspired to work out in the yard.  I'm surfing the web & found that.....

Prima is celebrating today big time....

I'm watching a live show with Julie Fei Fan Balzer right now here.  She is so creative!  Great tips & beautiful projects.

Just look at all this great new product they released.  *drool*


Head on over to their blog for details about giveaways & fun today.

I can't wait to pick up some of the new product at my favorite LSS.  Susan at EMI Scrapbooking in Cumming GA really stocks the to die for products we all want.

Have a super Monday!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Everything Scrapp'n Day

Well it's the 14th so I get to reveal the projects I've been working on for Everything Scrapp'n.  So if you'd like to see what we've been up to head on over to the ES store blog to start from the beginning & meet our April Guest Designer Monique.

I just love Cosmo Cricket Early Bird & can't get enough of it.  Since it's spring time this line still seems as fresh as the day it came out.  At first glance you can get caught up in the cooking theme of the papers but it's so much more than that.  I guess I've used it for over 6 projects & none have had anything to do with food.

Making cards is very popular right now.  I don't know if it's the economy or the fact that people want to make something personal.  I guess a little bit of both.  I've seen comments about scrapbookers wanting to get into cardmaking but just didn't want to buy a lot of stamps.  That got me thinking about what to use in place of stamps & still have a card with a sentiment....

For this card I used a piece of the border papers cut down to fit on the card.  Add a little stitching & this card is ready to go in the mail.


Supplies:  Cardstock (Bazzill); Paper (Cosmo Cricket - Early Bird  Borders & Cosmo Cricket - Early Bird Ribbon Sandwich); Thread (Coats & Clarks)

These borders are always a must buy from each Cosmo Cricket line.  I like to have them on hand to make quick scrapbook pages that sure don't lack style.



My second card is a little more conventional since I did stamp my sentiment.  But that is where the ordinary stops.  This card is very casual in design - nothing is carefully cutout but that is what makes it work.



Supplies:  Cardstock (Bazzill); Paper (Cosmo Cricket - Early Bird Farmers Market , Cosmo Cricket - Early Bird - Sunrise & Cosmo Cricket - Early Bird Tags); Stamps (Hero Arts); Rik Rak (Wrights); Ink (Ranger)'


This layout was a bit of a struggle since the photo colors were so different.  Do you ever run into those issues?  Normally I would just print in black & white but the color was what the journaling was about so that wasn't possible.   I settled on products that complimented the "after" photo & I think it works.

Supplies:  Cardstock (Bazzill); Paper (My Mind's Eye - Bella Bella French Flea Market Fulfilled & My Mind's Eye - Bella Bella Bellezo Grace); Die Cut Border (Basic Grey - Nook & Pantry Dolies Pink&Brown); Journaling Spot (Jenni Bowlin - Memo Book Brown); Letter Stickers (Basic Grey - & Jenni Bowlin - Brown Reverse Tiny Alpha); Ticket (Jenni Bowlin); Lace (Webster's Pages - Thick Natural Lace); Ribbon (Misc Stash); Metal Embellishments (Tim Holtz, Joann's Craft Essentials & Misc Stash);  Clip (7Gypsies); Ink (Colorbox - Fluid Chalk Chestnut Roan); Eyelet (Making Memories)



Placing the dark brown ribbon behind the lace helped the beautiful details show up.

I love the lace diecut sheets from Basic Grey - They have so many uses & are very intricate.  I rarely use them in full sheets but rather cut them up for several projects.

So my favorite product to showcase is of course the 12x12 Basic Grey Doilies.  This one comes with both pink & brown.  The shapes are really useful too for both your girly or more masculine layouts by cutting different sections like I did in the layout above.

Thanks for visiting  & remember to head over to the ES store blog for a little giveaway.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Scrapping My Childhood with Flashback Friday Gals

Ok so I've been so neglecting the Flashback Friday gals over at 2peas.  You all know I have a passion for heritage scrapbooking & have a lot of photos from my childhood to scrap... so this was a group that was right up my alley.  I made a goal to do this weeks challenge & thought I did it but duh I read the wrong thread for the weekly topic.  So I was going to get my page for the real topic.  Well a couple days late since life got in the way... as usual here.  I got my page done.

This week's challenge by Janet was as follows:



Did your town or someplace you went every summer have an annual fair, festival or celebration when you were growing up? Did you have a favorite amusement park you went to every summer? You may not have a picture but I'm sure you have some fun memories of it.


Tell us about that or something you looked forward to every year growing up.

I lived in the suburbs of Pittsburgh until age 4 but I don't think my heart ever left since my grandparents lived there.  Going to Kennywood Park was a big part of each summer.  Even at a young age I would anxiously look forward to the park opening.  They had end of the year school picnics, company picnics & even church/ethnic days.  Another favorite day was WTAE TV station celebration that got better each year.  We could meet all the TV news people, enjoy great food & a parade.

I had this photo of me at age 4 at the entrance to Kiddie Land.  At that time it was still not taboo to drink out of a water fountain so the lion was a must stop for everyone lol.



This is sure one of my pile it on layered kind of pages.  I love using fabric on layouts & have been seeing lots of pleating as a trend lately so decided to use it on this page.  Only on my childhood pages do I get to be this girly since during my adult life I've been in guy world.  Top that off with flowers & butterfly punched shapes & I'm in heaven... so my style.



Another current trend is banners so that was perfect for this page...  I needed a fatter one rather than the slimmer longer ones so:  I cut a 2 inch square, marked the center, then cut each corner to the center mark.


Supplies:  Cardstock (Bazzill); Paper (Making Memories, Bo Bunny, Chatterbox, October Afternoon, Sassafras Lasss, American Crafts, Crate); Tags (October Afternoon); Diecut Letters (Making Memories Slice); Sticker Letters (K & Company & Making Memories); Brads (Heidi Swapp); Raffia (unknown stash); Diecut Border (Doodlebug); Thread (Coats & Clarks); Adhesive (Xyron, Tombow & Kokuyo); Fabric (Avalon); :Paper Flowers (Making Memories); Crochet Flowers (Imaginisce); Butterfly Punch (Martha Stewart for EK); Ink (Colorbox Fluid Chalk); Pen (Zig); Bling (Recollections)

Technology gotta love it & it's so much a part of our lives.  I wasn't a big manual die cutter since for the most part except for the basic shapes & fonts.  But wow the fonts were so expensive & took up a lot of space that I didn't have.  I did eventually get a Cuttlebug since it could do anything & I loved their embossing folders.  When the electronic die cutters came on the scene it was so for me because I could do so much with them & cut in any size.  Still I don't jump on the bandwagon at the beginning usually but let the kinks be worked out & the prices to come way down.   My hubby bought me the Cricut Expression one Mother's Day to SAVE MONEY - he figured it was cheaper than all the Thickers I was buying lol.  When I won the Slice at CHA I thought about selling it on Ebay but am glad I kept it because each has it's place in my crafting.  I don't have a lot of cartridges for either of them.  I buy basic designs that can be used in a lot of different ways.  I find if I get something really trendy or a fancy font I tire of it but a basic font can be used again & again.

I used my Slice again on this layout.  I had just thought to myself how much I like the portability of this machine as opposed to the Cricut Expression - thouth I'm glad I have both for different reasons.  Then the Slice decided to quit working suddenly (Satan you mean old devil at work again just to frustrate when a glimmer of joy happens).  I contacted Making Memories since they were still open being in Utah.  They told me to let it cool down, that didn't help... then they sent me an email about some other fixes - well that is Andrew's task for this evening - he's my trouble shooter.

The reason I've been using the Slice so much lately is the Gypsy isn't talking to the Cricut so I got spoiled by the fact I didn't have to drag out the cartridges & keyboard overlays each time for a project (they are stored up high & I have to get someone to drag the carts/overlays down off the shelf since I am vertically challenged).  I love to mix my fonts & the Gypsy makes that so much easier.  Provo isn't quite sure what the problem is (leave it to me to stump them).  I'll be calling again tomorrow for more help on that.

You know now looking at these photos of the layout I am thinking I should have tucked a ticket in there somewhere.  "Back in the day" (my kids favorite phrase that cracks me up) they didn't have all day ride passes but the tickets it took to get on the rides.  Tickets always show up on my scrapbook pages so what was I thinking not putting one here that is just screaming for one lol.  Guess I should revise it. lol

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Scrappy Room in Progress

Can you believe it... I've posted 4 days in a row... Don't get used to it... lol. No really I want to get back to posting at least 3 days a week instead of just my 2x a month that I have been doing lately.

My new scrap room is coming along nicely & is about 80% organize.  I guess I could call it "a studio" but for some reason that implies someone is an artist & I just feel like a crafter who dabbles in art.  It's a joy to create in.  Keeping it cleaned up after each layout is super easy (even when I drag out a bunch of stuff to audition it) since everything has it's place.

I thought I would share some photos of the progress I've made.   I hesitated posting photos before I've got it spotless like most rooms I've seen but since I'm taking so long & have gotten the requests I'm sharing how far I've gotten.   I'm still changing things around as I use them - but that's what organizing is about finding what works for you & what you'll keep up with. 

A lot of my storage is repurposed from the thrift store.  Hobby Lobby also has amazing metal storage that is very inexpensive when on sale.  I also like the boxes from Ikea - they hold a lot & give an organized look to shelves while still providing easy access to my supplies.  As long as I look in them often I can keep in mind what I have.  I am very visual & like to see my goodies so I try to display & store them in view if possible or I forget about them. 

I have very long windows with deep window sills.  Perfect for storing bottles & smaller jars.  My buttons are sorted by color.  (I need to get some more of the small jelly jar size so that all are uniform)



With windows on 2 sides & a built in unit on the 3rd it only leaves me half of a wall (since the 4th has double french doors into the family room) for my hanging storage (which in my last room was how I stored the majority of my items).

Hanging painted shelf (bought at Goodwill store) holds buckets with ATC & Tags from swaps and the pegs hold my aprons (both vintage & usable) along with my garden hat.  The wire basket contains chipboard mini albums.  I don't have a lot but the wood mounted Unity Stamps hang perfectly using binder rings on an old CD rack that has wine logo.  The small metal storage holds my dozen Stampin' Up sets & foam stamps.  The basket on top holds several sets of acrylic stamps that didn't fit on the Clip it Up.

You can see how wide the window sills are in this photo (though I didn't clean up before photo lol)

These are yard sale Pottery Barn shelves on opposite side of the french doors.  They hold my ribbon sorted by color in canning jars & my flowers.


Metal hanging pegs hold:  bucket of decorative edge scissors, 7 Gypsies word stickers (one of the few stickers I still love);  old Panasonic radio from the 70's lol, and yet another gardening hat.
Under those shelves is an inexpensive shelf unit from Staples.  It houses the rest of my flowers, magazines, unmounted Unity Stamp sets in a basket, boxes containing Thickers, and vintage box a "pea" made me during a swap.



I was fortunate enough to have a wall of built in storage.  It includes 4 sets of drawers (3 shallow & 1 file) and 4 sets of shelves 3 high in addition to the workspace.

The metal breadbox is great for storing just about anything.  My Glimmer Mist is in view & easy reach.  The Ikea boxes store a variety of things:  pins, bling, embellishments, chipboard, Thickers, etc.  All labeled & easy to go thru & then put away.
The large boxes on the workspace are where I store my scraps.  Top holds patterned paper & bottom holds cardstock.  This works better for me than having it sorted out since I was bad about filing them & this way I have "happy accidents" with color combos that I wouldn't have used had they not been next to eachother in the box.  I use a lot of the crochet string & keep them in this pedistool wire basket.  My small ink pads are kept together using this multi-tiered silver flea market find.  The center of the storage unit is a desk area perfect for the sewing machine.

Here is another section of shelves that house my lace in jars & ribbon on spools stored on a decorative colorful cake plate bought a Hobby Lobby on clearance for $2.18!


On that same shelf... Markers are hard to store since they should be kept horizontal.  This wire holder drives me crazy since the pens can fall everywhere when the cats bump them - need something new. Name sign was made by http://emiscrapbooking.blogspot.com/ for each of us attending the yearly breast cancer crop.   Heidi Swapp photo corners are stored in a little metal bin from Target $ spot.

Here's my new Clip it Up (yes I finally have a real one & have retired the fake paper towel version).  This is perfect to store all the unmounted Unity Stamps I get with my kit of the month subscription.  They are sorted by type.  I've also stored my acrylic stamps on this unit.  Much better than my CD cases (that were falling apart) in the desk drawers.

The base unit & 2nd tier are on my desk along with a bin for small letter storage (love these & stock up on them in case they are discontinued), 2 bins for small journaling spots (bigger ones are in a basket on floor next to desk), Making Memories tool spinner that I bought with a Michael's gift certificate my best friend Lori gave me for my b'day last year, behind it (you can barely see it) is a spinning plastic container unit (matches my desk cubes) that I got on clearance at Michael's last month that holds my most used brads, eyelets, clips and other small metal items (I  use them lots more now that they are within reach), and you can also see the the swing arm Clip it Up hanging between the windows (the one I won on their blog in Feb).

I know it looks cluttered but this leaves a lot of space for me to work on 2 Basic Grey magnetic mats to the left.  My desk is made up of 3 sets 2 high of storage cubes from Michaels & a door blank for the desk top.


close up of the swing out Clip it Up that holds sets of acrylic stamps.


Ok so now you have an idea whatmy room looks like.  In case you were wondering the color is Olympic Quaking Grass C68-3.  With all the light pouring in from windows & sky lights I needed a color that wouldn't just wash out.  It's a very pretty green.  The trim is Swiss Coffee (my favorite white for trim).

I have to say how pleased I was with all the Olympic paint we bought to paint the entire house.  Since they've gone "green" and all the paint is NO VOC and there was no just painted smell.  It covered very well even over the horrible red that was in the foyer & the neon yellow in the living & dining rooms.

Have a blessed Sunday.