A little light at the end of the tunnel, please

Oh my, I've been busy being a bad blogger again. I've gotten some projects done, gotten about halfway through my photoshop class, and have a creepy project that if I can get the pics right, I can't wait to work on. Way back there was a band called Marillion... I used to love them... I still do, and of late there has been a song that has been running through my mind, a song entitled Jigsaw particularly the line "Dream coins for the fountain, or to cover your eyes." and I have an idea in my head, but I'm having a little trouble with the photographs. I don't have a tripod, so finding a way to get my camera still and where I need it to take the shots is proving difficult... as is the lighting.

I am taking the time tonight, though, to upload this 12 x 12 of my little one for Hallowe'en 2008. I had a great time playing with a colour challenge and a weekly challenge over at www.scrapbook.com and I pushed some limits for myself. This is a lot more pattern than I usually use. I'm feeling a little too tired to give details on all this right now, but I'll edit soon and post the particulars. Hope y'all have been been making great things

Houston Holocaust Museum Butterfly Project

Still haven't gotten around to posting my recent projects here but I was reading my email of Angi's blogpost www.scrappinoutloud.blogspot.com and she had borrowed a post from someone that mentioned the Butterfly Project for the Houston Holocaust Museum. How cool is this:

The Butterfly Project "Children were neither just the mute and traumatized witnesses to this war, nor merely its innocent victims; the war invaded their imaginations and the war raged inside them." — Nicholas Stargardt in "Witnesses of War: Children's Lives Under the Nazis" In an effort to remember them, Holocaust Museum Houston is collecting 1.5 million handmade butterflies. The butterflies will eventually comprise a breath-taking exhibition, currently scheduled for Spring 2012, for all to remember. As of Summer 2008, we have already collected an estimated 400,000 butterflies.

Please facilitate the
“I Never Saw Another Butterfly” activity and create as many handmade arts-and-crafts butterflies as possible. This project may be completed by all ages as individuals or groups.

• Butterflies should be no larger than 8 inches by 10 inches.
• Butterflies may be of any medium the artist chooses, but two-dimensional submissions are preferred.
• Glitter should not be used.
• Food products (cereal, macaroni, candy, marshmallows or other perishables) also should not be used.

If possible, e-mail a photograph of your butterflies, to butterflyproject@hmh.org.

Please send or bring your butterflies to the Museum by June 30, 2011, with the following information included:

• Your name,
• Your organization or school,
• Your address,
• Your e-mail address, and
• The total number of butterflies sent.
  

Mail or bring your butterflies to:

Holocaust Museum Houston
Butterfly Project
Education Department
5401 Caroline St.
Houston, TX 77004
USA

For questions or additional information, please e-mail butterflyproject@hmh.org.

this is such a wonderful idea... and surely, we all can make a few butterflies from the scraps in our stash... use your die cutter, paint some chipboard, make beaded ones, wire and ribbon... whatever it is you like to do... and drop them in the mail. (or if you happen to be in the Houston area, drop them off. ) So... here's what I'd like to know and see: how many of you will particpate in this project and what do your butterflies look like? Leave me a comment, and a link to your butterflies (they can be posted anywhere) and I'll post some here within the next week. I was so impressed with the bloggers and scrappers during the www.cardsforheroes.org bloghop ... so many people participating, and so many talented paper crafters giving and sharing, that I sure think we might be able to generate some real involvement . C'mon y'all... make a butterfly.

Angi is a Stampin' Up demonstrator and serves in the armed forces. I "met" her on the cardsforheroes bloghop and was instantly taken with her style, both as a blogger and a crafter. she is honest about her work and her life, and she really loves to share what she knows. if you've never seen her site, go give her a visit (and if you love Stampin' Up and need a rep, now you have one!) her blog address again is

www.scrappinoutloud.blogspot.com

practicing on the photoshop class

Oh this was such fun... this was from day two's course material and I found some neat brushes online. I wish it was a better photograph of me, but I have yet to learn my camera's timer feature... I've made a few more layouts but haven't been able to get the time to post here, so I'll hopefully get some stuff up soon. I am working on a few books as well as more pages. I particiapte in the monthly challenges over at www.scrapbook.com which helps keep me motivated to get pages done as well as giving me a little focus as to what style. I still think that I need to get around to doing a few disaster pages for the hurricane photos, but I fins myself shying away from that. I've been having a wonderful time with the photoshop class, learning a lot and struggling through as I've never used photoshop before. Those of you reading have gone quiet on me again and I sure do miss your comments.

Hope you are all busy making something wonderful.

A delicate treatment of the hospital photo

Hey, I promised a post this weekend. this is a little 8 x 8 for my little guy's baby album. This is the picture that was taken right after he was born (and cleaned up a wee bit) In an effort to preserve the photo and his dignity, I ran ribbon across his boy parts :p . I made the little envelope which holds a card with his birth time, date, length and weight. The chipboard tag on the left is from recollections and the blue one I made from chipboard covered with serendipity paper. I love making Serendipity paper and always have a use for it. I hand cut the chipboard tag, attached the ribbons on the tags and across the bottom. As always, the Tombow Mono Adhesive runner is my best friend. The photo corners come from Die Cuts with a View baby boy sticker stack. This page took me about an hour and half to complete. The journaling on the blue tag is a quote from the Carpenters "On the day that you were born, the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true"

Ok... on to other things... I know there's a cute little photo gizmo for this but I haven't looked it up. Cricut is giving away 20 cruises : what you have to do is buy oe of the fout new cartridges, and if there is a golden ticket in your cartridge case, you've won. The promotion runs the length of July. I so hope that someone I know, whether in my real life or here through the scrapblog community wins this! And I"ll be giving a Demo on the Cricut create at work tomorrow, so if you happen to localto Monroe, come see me at Michaels from 1-3.

Bad Girl....

Oh... I've been a bad blogger... I got really busy with a few projects and life in general and have not made it to the blog to post, nor have I taken pictures to have to go with the posts I haven't written! I just wanted to pop in and leave a quick note letting y'all know that I'm working on a few things and I'll have some real posts and pics up before the weekend is out. Sorry to keep you hanging!

PAPER CRAFT PLEASURES: BLOG CANDY

PAPER CRAFT PLEASURES: BLOG CANDY

Here's a neat little blog I found by random today... and Jan has an awesome giveaway going on! Go check out her site and leave a little love... it's always nice to know someone is looking!

photoshop class at JessicaSprague.com

This is too awesome... go visit www.jessicasprague.com and I hope we all learn a ton!

Busy Busy Busy

Whew... sometimes vacation seems like more work than work! I'm ready to go back and ready for a rest... I've made some real progress getting things cleaned and sorted and put away so I feel like I've accomplished a lot though I haven't really gotten much done. I participated in a scrapbook garage sale today though and had a wonderful time. I sat and made beaded brads all day and pretty much sold every one I made as well as the ones I went with. My local scrapbook store wants to carry the brads! I'm so excited. I also made some wire words today and though they didn't sell, I had a good time with that. It's funny how many people say "oh I wouldn't have the patience for that" or "that's too hard"-- if it were that hard I wouldn't be able to do it! And I look at the layouts that these ladies can create and think... you've got the patience, just not for this.

Anyway, that means that I did not get any brads up at my shop at www.shophandmade.com
nor was I able to get the new photo frames finished. But I'll keep plugging away at it. The good news is that as things get more and more organized and I have less mess around me, I can get more work done. I hope you've all been making something wonderful!

NapTime

Woohoo this was fun. this took a few days of work-- mostly in the design element stage... in between doctors appointments, a child that wants all of me all the time and a full load of chores/projects that I want to accomplish this week. This was my first time hand stitching on a layout and it was more work that I expected but I also didn't pierce my paper first. The line of stitching between the star buttons was not terrifically hard but the stitching of the swatches of my little guy's jammies was... umm... not a project I'm likely to repeat any time real soon! Good thing I have a sewing machine and I'm not afraid to use it! This layout is actually for two different challenges over at www.scrapbook.com
so there was some conditions that I had to meet... this particular one was using transparent material, bonus for three or more. The left hand page has three pieces of transparent material... the vellum quote, the glassing envelope for the hidden journaling, and the "shh" at the left corner of the picture. I used the relief cut from the "shh" as a mask and added more shh's to the bottom of the page with broken china distress ink. I was originally going to work this as an 8x8 layout but there were too many things I wanted to do with a page that small.
On a side note... this Saturday (the 13th) there is a scrapbook garage sale in West Monroe, so if any of you who read this are local, come on by and check it out. On a personal note, the visits to the doctors are going about as expected... I am losing bone in my jaw but the DDS thinks we may have caught it before I actually have to lose any teeth, and I will be meeting with my other doctor at the end of the month to discuss either lifetime meds for pain management or surgery for a diagnosis I have yet to receive. The good news on both counts is that I have a fairly positive attitude about things and I'm certainly not pleased but nothing is critical and that is always lovely news.

I so need a better camera...

This was a fun little layout though I agonized over the placement of the letters for days. This sat with the letters on it and I'd pass by it, move something, then walk away... then come back and move it again. I love, love, LOVE that journal paper from Lily Bee... unfortunately, my budget is all shot to heck from the refrigerator breaking down, so I won't be getting anymore of it any time soon... but I sure do love it. It distresses well with a variety of shades and it has perfect lines for journaling. The crackled brown paper is so old that I don't have a clue who made it, the corrugated green paper is from the Paper Company, the alphabet stickers are Colorbok sticky Stax, but I inked them with Soot Black Distress Ink because they were too bright for this page. Pop dots on the stars and wings are from All Night Media, and no big surprise, all other adhesion with the Tombow Mono. I keep getting inpsired by other people's pages and then revert back to my simple style. On the page, I have a hard time making things as complicated as they were in my head. I've made some serious progress in my scrap space and I can actaully do more than one project at a time right now. The goal will be to see if I can keep it that way, and continue to get things more organized.
By the end of the week, I should have new baby frames and beaded brads on the list over at www.shophandmade.com so please check them out.

A little Chitter

Hi all... No pics to post right now but not because I've not been busy, just because I've been a little too busy. I'm trying to gut my shoebox of a scrap space and I just get overwhelmed with all the clutter. There's no place to move one thing while trying to organize another... and while I could purchase a few more storage cubes, I had to repair the 'fridge today... lost all the food in it and a repair bill... amounting to roughly what I make in half the month... so... no new storage cubes for me. On the plus side, I did sell a few more pieces of jewelry making supplies over at www.shophandmade.com and I'll be getting my beaded brads posted shortly. I have a long vacation coming up and I hope to accomplish a ton of stuff but one knows how that goes... too much time, too many projects and nothing at all accomplished! Well... I have to accomplish something or I'll feel driven to confess that I did nothing... and then I"ll feel like a schlub, and boy, do I hate that.
I have posted before about www.scrapnwin.com anf I just wanted to post again for you cardmakers and scrapbookers... go check them out. They have monthly contests (yes EVERY month) and you can win some really wonderful stuff. I myself cannot particiapte because I work as ad rep for them, but I highly encourage any of you to do so. Also, if any of you are looking for an afforadable way to advertise your blog, or online store, please contact me at kaeres@scrapnwin.com and I'll be happy to send you ad rates. Hope you guys are getting to have some papercrafting while I am busy shoveling paper!

Just be Me

This is going to take awhile to get posted properly. There are more pictures and a lot of text coming, but I wanted to get this part at least up. This little mini album featuring Lily Bee paper has been my project of the last few days. This was HARD! I do not know why blogger keeps flipping my images either...
I can't seem to get these rotated the right way and it's driving me crackers. But I do love the book itself. If you click on the individual pictures, you can see the pages in larger detail. I used paper from both the French Couture and the Three Little Birds paper lines. My original intent had been to cover the binding tape as well, but then I loved the look of the tape with the paper so I left it exposed in places.

The one photo of me was taken many years ago (one of two I have left from before the hurricane) and it is one of my favorite pictures of me. The whole series was wonderful but this is the only one I still have. I played around with some different techniques as well as some different media on this project and really had a blast. The last page (the one with the polka dots and feathers) is my favourite bit of journaling in the book but the page itself was a little too stark. So I added the feathers and then thinned out some paint and mixed in some PearlEx powder and misted the page. It tinted the feathers just a little and aged the page with a little shimmer. While the page was still wet, I let the book close so the feathers would stamp onto the opposing page. I really like how that came out. The monogram and frame stamps are from Scrappy Cat and I used a variety of inks throughout the book. Distress Inks in Vintage Linen, Peeled Paint and Faded Denim, and Worn Lipstick, Tsukineko Dew Drop brilliance inks in Cosmic Copper and Galaxy Gold and ColorBox Liquid chalk inks in Chestnut Roan, Dark Brown and Creamy Brown. My favourite journaling pens are Micron and Kon I Noor both of which I used here. The copper wire for the bird on a wire page is from Wild Wire, the mirror pendant from Manor House and the Journey pendant is from Lost and Found. Ribbon and wired twine were just scraps I had in my collection. I did the paper mounting with Tombow mono adhesive, poop dots for the bird on a wire, and Glossy Accents for all the metal. The book base is from K and Company. I truly love making books.
I love paper... all kinds of paper. I love patterns and textures and the weight of it. I have to say that this is the first time I've worked with Lily Bee papers and the quality is excellent! Double sided cardstock with a perfect weight for shapind and sanding. I'm glad I didn't use all of the paper for this project and I'll definitely be getting more. I was able to find Lily Bee papers at a reasonable price for both the paper and the shipping at www.paperhouse.com .

Finishing the project has left me with that crafter afterglow... can't believe how good it felt, can't believe it's over...
On another note, I took pictures of the shoebox I craft in in all it's towering piles of glory. I'm hoping that it will motivate me to post before and after pictures as I clean out my space and get it set up so that I can really work in the space. I'll keep you posted.

Blog Giveaway Winner...

Random Number Generator picked: # 45
Tami B.

Tami B. said...

I think it would be so hard to pick just one card, but I do love Nancy Maxwell James post for the bloghop. She shares her family history of men in the military with some beautiful photos. I was so touched by that. Your cards are so thoughtful.

Please send me an email at

fourwalls.nowindows@gmail.com with your name and address so I can get your package off to you. If you have a colour preferrence for the beaded brads, let me know and I'll be happy to try to make the colours you request.

And a little something else...
Victoria B and Bekah, if you'll also email your address and a colour preferrence, I'd like to send you some of my beaded brads as well.

Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful comments And I sure hope to see you around here more often!

Quick update on Cards for Heroes giveaway

Hey all, thanks for all the wonderful comments! This was sure a lot of fun. It took me two days to get through all the blogs on the hop and there were some amazing cards and stories out there. I'll be accepting comments for my little giveaway up until 11:00 p.m. central time. I will use a random generator to pick the winner. I had to make this little card, too... Took all of about fifteen minutes, unless you count the hour or so I spent looking for a heart shaped punch or stickers... had neither, bought both, but went with the SandyLion epoxy glitter hearts.
Dumptruck die is Cuttlebug, alphabets by Mrs. Grossman's Stickers. The card is a white Halcraft blank that I inked with Faded Denim Distress Ink, the grass is from a Golf paper by Paper House (why do I own golf paper? no clue, but I sure love that I had some Grass!) The road was cut from brown handmade paper. Super easy and not at all feminine!

www.cardsforheroes.org Bloghop

Welcome to my stop on the Bloghop! I want to thank http://cardsforheroes.org/bloghop/ for setting this up and I hope you all are having a wonderful time. Please consider joining in their summer challenge and get cards to those folks who bravely and proudly defend your freedoms. Also please scroll down a few posts for a look at why this is important to me. Unfortunately for me, I have to work all weekend long, so I'll be catching up when I can. I made a very simple card for this project but I have some others on the table, still being worked on that I will send on to cardsforheroes when I send this one in. I love ribbon borders!

I use blanks from Halcraft because I love the 80lb weight. You can make a few mistakes with it and the paper is forgiving (no buckling from too much glue, little to no wrinkling from a difficult punch or pierce and it holds up well to being crumpled for distressing) The bue cardstock and white with silver star paper comes from Paper Company, the Red from Bazzill. The ribbon is Straight and Narrow, Ribbon punch from Magill, Tombow Adhesive. The hardest part of this card was aligning the cuts... and honestly that could have been much easier if I'd taken out my big cutter with the diagonal markers.

next stop: http://axesdesigns.blogspot.com/2009/05/memorial-day-blog-hop.html

I've only just discovered Magdalena through the hop and I love her sense of playfulness. You've got to check out the paper shoe she made! It is really awesome. Her blog is also bilingual which was really fun to read!

O.K. now for the fun part... One commenter will win a little goodie package. How did you find the bloghop? Did you find a new papercrafter who's work you love? Or just leave a little love.



How about:

Ranger Distress Ink in Vintage Linen

2 packages Paper Bliss Dimensional Journal Tags

(one in pastels, one in blues)

5 of my flower beaded brads

1 pair of Tim Holtz by Tonic Micro Serrated Blade scissors

Have a great time! Can't wait to see what you love.

And here's another one...
This is done on a textured blank from DCWV, embossed with the Cuttlebug.

I toned the background and the embossed music bars with Kimberly Walters watercolour pencils and then brushed them with water. The little letter stickers are from Making Memories, Chloe's Closet line. Though this looks like a lot of work, it really only took about 45 minutes, after I got over being afraid to mess it up.

Mom's birthday card

This was fun and a neat technique. In the window of the card is a paper quilt. It's a 2 inch square with 7 paper layers. The gem brad in the center is from Recollections. The text is printed in CkJacque font on Paper and Company beige cardstock which I tore and then used the Vintage Linen Distress Ink to age the edges. I received the cards and paper in a card kit and though these are not my favorite colours to work with, I really like the high contrast. This still feels as though it lacks something, but I couldn't decide what else I wanted to do with it so I'm calling it finished. Regardless of what I think, Mom will love it. That's what Mom's are best at... appreciating their children.

And here are my handmade beaded brads... The crystal brads are from Recollections, but the beaded flowers I do myself... Aren't they adorable? The Daisies are the easier of the two as they are simply strung and twisted to form the petals. The Poinsettia has to be done petal by petal and then attached together. I enjoy making them and they add such nice sparkle to cards and pages.

www.cardsforheroes.org

Pictures coming tomorrow, I hope... But I wanted to give you a heads up on this weekend's bloghop for http://www.cardsforheroes.org/ in which I'll be participating. This is a wonderful organization and I found them by accident but I'm so glad I did. I'm that person who thanks every soldier she sees even though I'm often nervous and somewhat embarrassed to do so. I say the same thing everytime... "You can't possibly hear this enough and we can't possibly say it enough but thanks for serving." I'm just old enough to remember the trauma of Vietnam and lucky enough to have been mostly unaffected by it (a dear friend of my mother's was killed there). I'm just young enough to have always been afraid of Nuclear War. I'm just lucky enough (or perhaps even just uninformed enough) to have never lost anyone I know personally who has served. I have a deep and abiding respect for only a very few professions-- for those who answer what I can think of as a calling to do something greater than any single (wo)man could ever be. Teachers, Clergy, and Armed Forces Personell are the ones that are right at the top of that list. Those who choose to minister, foster and aid the growth of our psyches and protect us inspire a sense of awe in me. So I'm participating in this bloghop to help promote http://www.cardsforheroes.org/ and hopefully encourage all of you to make some cards for our armed forces serving overseas. I especially like that anyone can make a card. You can be brand new at crafting or you can be one of those card making godesses like http://joanscreations.blogspot.com/ or http://debbiedesigns.typepad.com/ . The bloghop is Saturday, may 23rd and for a change, I'll have to post early in the day. I have to work that afternoon and evening, so I won't see alot of your comments or creations until later that night.

took the week off... back now!

Hi all... sorry... it's been a rough week balancing Mom and Work and life. I made my way to the keyboard but simply couldn't get antyhing constructive down here, so i chose not to post at all. Hope I didn't disappoint anyone. I have been busy this week making paper quilt squares and working on my beaded flower brads. I'm hoping to get a spot as an outside artist over at http://www.shopmyki.com/ and that has kept me busy. I did make the Winnie the pooh character magnets for my little one and he managed to pull them all apart within an hour... that leaves a bit to be said about the quality of the laminate/magnet for Xyron, but I suppose it was truly my fault. I should have added an extra adhesive layer knowing how much he loves to pick and pull at things. I've been busy with a birthday card for my Mom (hence the paper quilting) and I'll get pics posted soon. I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

almost mother's day

It's 11:30 at night and tomorrow is Mother's Day... there are still moments in every day that I would rather be me again, and not so responsible for another life. I did get a card made and int he mail to mom and I finished this baby page. This is done with the Die Cuts With a View baby boy series except for the ribbon, (Bobbin Ribbon), the swiss dot mat and photo corners (Anna Griffin papers) and the bright blue back paper, which i think is paper company, but I could be wrong. There is so much paper in my stash that I often don't know what is from whom! I was a little horizontally challenged on this one and my edges don't quite line up. By the time I noticed that I was a bit crooked I decided that I didn't want to start over. I love this picture of him sleeping. He still (at nearly 21 months) is sleep challenged and it's a rare night that he sleeps til morning. I also made some baby pooh character magnets today for him to play with on a magnetic board. He loves to play with stickers but still likes to tear pages from his books so I thought that a board and magnets might have more longevity. I'll post pics soon. While working on the baby characters, I've found that a toothpick is my best friend. I'm working at a 3 inch size which makes the detail cuts tiny and difficult but a toothpick cleans them right out. Most pieces I run through the Xyron sticker maker for ease and the tinier pieces i use my little Tombo adhesive runner. I need to spend some time organizing again as I get a new project idea before I get everything cleared off the craft table. I would love a little more storage space and I would really love a little more room but I do like that this space forces me to clean up after myself and organize on a regular basis.

Just a little chitter today...

the weather has turned to spring here and I so love not being not cold. The little guy is rapidly approaching 21 months and he amazes me daily. I am so inspired by his simple will. There was a challenge this week over at www.scrapbook.com that I have failed to get myself involved in... I can no longer remember if the deadline is tomorrow or Mother's Day but I'll have to check. The Layout has to be about a day in your life... either a particular day or a regular old "this is my routine" day. A. I have no pics of my daily life and I'll be darned if I'm gonna show y'all pictures of my sink overflowing with dishes that need to be cleaned, window seat overflowing with clothes that need to be put away, scraproom overflowing with um... EVERYTHING... but it occurs to me as I think about not doing this challenge that one of the most amazing things happens most every morning... my little boy wakes before we do and he reaches over and pats me on the face and says "hi, hi, hi!" as though finding me there is the most wonderful thing in the world to him. And I think, in the only we can as adults think, that that is likely true. Finding me there IS still a surprise to him. Object permanence has yet to really take hold so in his world it is completely possible that I might be not there. Though I hate being woken at 5:00, or 6:00 and some days even 6:30 is still pretty hairy, that gentle pat on the face and the excitement in his voice shove my aggravated "mommy still needs to sleep" feelings away very easily. I am thinking about using some of my ideas for SuperMom meets The Real World for a day in the life page... so if it is still going on this weekend, I might actually get it done and entered into the challenge. If not, look forward to a SuperMom meets The Real World chipboard book coming soon! Sorry no pics today but (for a change) it's late and I'm tired.

krikey it's 1:00 a.m.

Somedays, I just have no idea where the time goes. The last thing I really remember was making Tacos for lunch at three this afternoon... And now, here it is 1:00 a.m. And here is the stupid uploader turning my pics sideways again... only right now I'm too tired to fix it. This is an 8 x 8 two page layout I just finished. I had a great time on this one but I've got to tell you, the paper piecing involved on the cricut cut for the baby pooh bathing was a lot of work... not for the shaky... or busy! I'll add more information about this later but for now, this mama has to get to bed.

Late but...

It's getting on 11:00 p.m. here which is a little on the late side for me since the little one gets me up anywhere between 2 and 6 a.m. No time for pics today but I did get the mother's day card made and also one for my boss for Mother's Day as well. Being a female manager is a tough thing to do so I wanted to give her some recognition on Mother's Day for the support and encouragement she gives us. As she is a mom to a big ol' chocolate lab but not children (except us and we can certainly be a bunch of babies now and again) I thought it would be nice to recognize her on Mother's Day. I actually have Mother's day weekend off which is a nice surprise for me. Now I have to just get working on a couple of challenges that I'm participating in and continue cleaning up my office and work space. I'm a clutter monkey.

Giveaway Winner

Alright guys... I wrote out every one's on little slips of paper and gave them to the baby; the one he didn't shred up is the winner. Just Kidding... but the name I drew is PhotoLuv. Congrats. Email me with your name and address and I'll get your package out to you as soon as possible. (I have to go to the post on Wednesday, so if you're fast, it'll be in the mail then.) Email is fourwalls.nowindows@gmail.com . Thanks all for playing along. This was fun. I think I'll do another one at the end of the month. Michaels has a sale on Disney Cricut Cartridges this week... 29.99 . That's about the best deal I've ever seen so if you have a local Michaels and want any of the Disney cartridges, now's the time. Speaking of which, I keep meaning to make some die cuts for my son and just haven't sat down to do it, so I might get on that tonight. And I really do need to finish that Mother's day card (by which I mean start it lol). Hope every one is having a great day.

Giveaway closed

Hey all... it's 12:02 a.m. here and the giveaway is closed. There are 13 new comments on the blog for which I thank you all. So I'll pick one of the 13 as a winner tomorrow night-- luck of the draw and I'll post the winner's name. I hope everyone had a wonderful time with National Scrapbooking Day, and if you didn't get your fill, check out http://creativeimaginations.typepad.com/creative_imaginations_blo/ for a contest that runs through 5/7 .

NSBD at scrapbook.com

What a day it has been. I did win one of the challenges so I'm totally looking forward to new supplies. The above pic is for the all day challenge. I don't have the best camera and I do have a caffeine problem so steady pics are not my forte! I'm still hoping I'll get a few more comments so that I'll have more to choose from for my little giveaway. My layout for the all day challenge uses that flourish mask that is in my giveaway.


The journaling in this one was interesting...

The ribbon across the bottom is printed with Xyron design runner to read this is just how you see me, not who i am. The journal tags were cut on the cricut and the inking is (of course) distress inks. Yes, you can ink on black paper and have it show. I sand the paper a bit before to give the ink something to grab. I had wanted to make pockets for each of these tags and just let the one over the picture be visible but I really ran out of time. My men (the grown up and the baby) were very gracious about giving me time today to do the challenges and the layout. I wanted to have time to do the 2ps one as well, but I just don't think i have it in me today to do anything else.

A little jaunt into my altered art territory

Okay... so I also do altered art stuff as well... though more aptly altered objects. This is the 8x8 Mulberry Album from Pioneer (also available as a 12 x 12 and each album is slightly different in color and leaves/flower petals). I'm a texture kind of girl. I used to describe my wardrobe as "if it doesn't feel good, I don't own it." Of course, Hurricane Katrina took my collections of absolutely everything so there went the velvets, chenille, brushed cotton and linen, silk and the rest of it. Mulberry paper feels good in the hands. It is soft and nubby and you just KNOW you are holding something someone made... but it is a little too feminine for my tastes so... here's how this happened. I wanted a new journal and nothing I saw in the stores I was grabbing me. This album however kept finding it's way into my hands. I love the feel of it. "Ah, but it's an album," my brain would say and I would dutifully put it back on the shelf and walk away. And then, as I was learning to use the Tim Holtz Masks, I thought... "wow, I bet this would look cool on Mulberry paper." While green is not usually one of my favs in colour choices, the leaves in this paper really caught my eye so I purchased it. I sanded the paper a bit to create an even more textured surface so that the ink would not be uniform in it's application. The ink (Craft Smart, green) I applied straight from the pad. While it was drying, I outlined the edges with a Micron dark green pen to give some extra definition to the shape. Once dry, the green was too green for me, so I took the VersaMagic chalk ink in Aloe Vera and sponged that over the surface and highlighted some of the curves. The Life Unscripted Stamp (Hampton Art) is stamped on with Soot Black Distress Ink.
Then it was just a simple replace the plastic scrapbook sleeve pages with paper and I now have a journal that suits me. For more on Pioneer, check them out at http://www.memoryscrapbooks.com/ . You'll likely be surprised at how many albums you already love are from them. I also have to give a plug for their military medallions which are truly beautiful. I have a deep respect for those who choose to serve this country and protect our freedoms and I think it's great to have scrapbook embellishments that really are impressive. (for more on military scrapbooking, K and Company also has a great line).
Now, I'm generally a fast scrapper. It usually takes me more time to clean my workspace and find my supplies than it does to actually create a project or layout but this one took some time. Mulberry paper is absorbent, so the dry time was excruciatingly long for me. I also spent a lot of time trying to decide on text for the cover and finally gave up. One night while I was organizing the stamps at work, I saw this one and I knew it was the right thing. So this project had a completion time of well over a month, but the actual work was about two hours; the drying time was about 36 hours. And here's my last plug for my National Scrapbooking Day giveaway. Post a comment anywhere on my blog to be eligible to win my little giveaway.

National Scrapbooking Day Countdown

Good news... I'm actually off on NSD so I'm hoping to be able to participate in some of the cool online challenges and the what not. With a toddler, my days are always a little unscheduled and unpredictable, but he's been pretty good about letting mommy do other things while he happily plays with stickers. Two more days for comment posting for my little scrapbook giveaway. Remember all you have to do is leave a comment on any post. I can't believe tomorrow is May 1. I still have a Mother's Day card to make, and then a birthday card for mom, too. I am sending Mom some Godiva sugar free chocolates for Mother's Day though, so I'm covered if the card runs late : P . I hope to see a few more comments up here before I have to choose a winner... more choices makes it easier.

WoohOO someone left a comment....

I was just getting ready to come back through and edit out my Freebie giveaway for National Scrapbooking day since no comments had been posted and now... here is a comment! I love comments.... it's just like getting mail only there's no bills in the pile! Let me clarify on this... I'm a working mom in a single income family. Though I work for one of the big craft stores, this giveaway is just plain from me to... the winner. I want to share some of my new favs as well as give someone something new and fun to play with. The economy being what it is, I know how hard it is to have anything extra at the end of the week for some new supplies. I lost everything I owned in Hurricane Katrina and without gifts from others, I would not be where I am today. So there's not a lot of flash to this giveaway but the products are all new (as in unused, not necessarily recent) and I hope that I'll be able to continue to do giveaways every so often.
So here it goes: The Contents of the Giveaway for Scrapbooking Day:
One Tim Holtz Flourish Mask
One package Martha Stewart Red Glitter Alphabet Stickers
One Bare Elements (by Creative Imaginations) Precious Boy Kit
One K. and Co. chipboard mini book

As you know from reading the blog, I love making books... one of my favourite things to do. I'm getting ready to work on my Bad Mommy book... which I think will end up being called something like Supermom meets the Real World. Keep the comments coming and I'll post the winner on Sunday. These mini books are wonderful to work with. Scroll back through for some advice on sanding chipboard books.

Color Inspiration # 50 from Kristina Werner

I spend a healthy amount of time cruising other paper crafters blogs. Some of that is for www.Scrapnwin.com for whom I am an ad rep, and the rest of it is simply because I love seeing what other people are doing. We are also a really interesting breed of people... we love to share what we know and what we've learned along the way. So I stumbled across this challenge at Kristina's blog http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog . This color combo is such a stretch for me... which was the real fun in this challenge. The glitter and Vellum daisies are from Jolee's Boutique, the papers are Bazill and Paper Company cardstock. That brown from Bazzill is wonderful... though I'll tell you that my baby bug cricut taught me a lesson or two about cutting on textured cardstock. The Turquoise eggs are hand inked. This was really fun and quite easy to execute. For those of you who don't know, if you scroll over the picture you can see it enlarged. I still really am learning the digital camera... Oh... and I promise... I'm off tomorrow so I'll post the picture and the product list for my National Scrapbooking day Giveaway. Remember all you have to do is post a comment and I'll pick one post as the winner. As always, I hope you are having a good time with your paper and projects.

A few thank you cards... and a frantic search

Grr... you ever have one of those days where nothing quite goes right... it doesn't quite go wrong either but just not quite right... yeah... It was one of those. The time at the crafting table went well, until my cricut mat gave up the ghost and I went about searching for the replacement ones I swear I own... I cannot find them anywhere. It does mean that I did get more cleaning done, more organizing done. And I made two thank you cards that I've been needing to get out in the mail. The cards were super quick and fun. On the blue card, the flower shapes are inked through a mask so they are very subtle on the page. That heart vine bouquet is one of my favourite stamps and it's one of the cheapy dollar bin stamps from michaels. On the green card... the flowers are die cuts and held in place with Making Memories Snaps... don't let the name fool you... there is no snap function, you still need a setter (thank you Crop-a-dile) but they do give a cleaner backside finish than brads. They also have a fairly long shank so there is room to crimp them closed but still have movement on the attached piece. I've been putting off putting together the items for my scrap giveaway since no one has yet posted but I suppose I ought to get a picture put up soon. As soon as I narrow down my choices, I'll make up a bundle and take a pic. I'll post the actual contents list as well, because a picture maybe won't tell you much.

Another Christmas Page

Precious little pumpkin, he is. I started work on his 8x8 baby album today but haven't gotten a page fully completed yet. I took a break from that to do this page. The lettering proved to be the biggest time eater... I cut it on the Cricut and then decided that I wanted a shadow cut as well... ran everything through the Xyron sticker maker and then mounted the maroon letters onto the shadow cuts. The frames and photos are also cut on the cricut. The background paper and patterned paper are from Rob and Bob studios, I want to say the fall slab (slab IX?) The maroon and burnt orange cardstock are Paper Company. The date tag was made with layers of the card stock and the patterned scroll paper, date printed out with the design runner. I had a really good time with this one... and I think that in future, when doing alphabet cut outs, I'm going to try running the paper through the Xyron first, then cutting the alphabets. I have not gotten anything Mother's Day made for my shop at www.shophandmade.com and I have two thank you notes to get made this week, as well as a mother's day card for my own Mom. I have not made a final selection on the goodie giveaway, but since I also still see no comments, I guess I don't have to panic about getting that done right quickly. So it might end up that it's really easy to win this! I'm heading back to the craft room to clean up from this project and perhaps get started on another.

National Scrapbook Day May 2nd

national scrapbook day is May 2nd... there's likely going to be a crop in your area or check out your local independent scrapbook store.... Me... I'll likely be working but since I work in a craft store, Every day is scrapbook day for me. Now... I've been writing for weeks and there's not a single comment here... so for National Scrapbook day, I'm going to give away a small bundle of goodies to someone who posts a comment. I'll make up a little package and post details and a pic on Sunday but off the top of my head, I'd say, some designer paper, some Martha Stewart Alphabet stickers, a Tim Holtz mask and... I'll just have to see what else. So come on... I know you're out there reading... and I hope your out there crafting, now say something!

Mother's Day Sale at www.shophandmade.com

Ah krikey... as if I haven't already too much to do... shophandmade.com is hosting a Mother's Day sale... and encouraging that we get as many new things in our store as possible... I haven't even caught up to the baby stuff I wanted to get done... My average day has so much piled into it that I'm often just plain too fried to make it to the craft room (which still needs cleaning out) and sit down at the table (which still needs to be cleared off everytime I want to use it) and then actually get some work done. Work... which is actually play and fun... and then the night flies past me and it's midnight... and the little boy, bless his sweetpea heart will be getting up in four hours (bad night) five hours (average night) six hours (mommy loves you very much for the extra sleep). Oh and... I can't give away any of the details, but if you are a cricut user, you might want to head on over to your local Michaels on Sunday... so... I'm going to drag my tired butt to the craft room and see what little piece of something sparks my imagination.

Toddler at Easter and a book for a coworker

Between Easter with a toddler, work and life in general, I've had a hard time making it back here in the past week. The little guy really had a wonderful time picking plastic eggs up off the lawn and putting them in his basket. I can't wait to scrap those pics. I did make a small board book for a coworker this week though and learned some shortcuts.... I used a photo mount spray adhesive and adhered the paper to sheets of thin cardboard first, then traced the book shape and cut them out... much faster and easier than working on precut chip board. A big plug here for Tim Holtz's Kush Grip Scissors by Tonic, they made this project a breeze. I use an emory board for the edge sanding which is fast and easy and rarely tears the edges. It also angles into those very tight corner cuts. I played around with a lot of tools for this one: Dymo labels, the Design Runner, a Journaling Stamp, and of course, my usual favourites, distress ink and masks. Four pages ... eight sides, about four hours of work. My camera and I are at odds with the photography so this is really the only good picture I was able to get. I have about five other projects running around my head that I hope to be able to get done in the next few days, but life with the toddler often gets in the way! I'll have at least something done by Sunday so... until then, y'all keep doing creative things with paper... what a wonderful thing to take something so usual and make something so... not.

Found that pic and.... A shop that store list

In the process of cleaning my desk last night I found the picture of my son that I was looking for... so hopefully sometime tomorrow I'll be able to get that page done. If you make books or journals, be sure to click on the link below to scrapbooksuperstore.com and check out Jill's deals of the day.... they have Bazzill chipboard spiral bound journals (8x8) on sale for only 4.99 a piece!!! super deal. I'm exhausted today so no new pics of new projects though I do have another card finished. I'll get more pics up over the next few days. I also need to get some production done for my store at shophandmade.com so hopefully the boy will be cooperative in giving mommy some time to create.

procrastination

some days I avoid the craft table like the plague... today is one of those days... I've had months to get a baby shower card made and I still haven't managed to get it done. I did get my desk cleaned (mostly) and some of the bills paid... and it's only ten thirty... so if I pull off something fast and easy I could get a card made and still get to bed by 11... but I'm really thinking about just digging through my collection of cards and using something not handmade... all the gifts that I'm sending to the shower I made... so maybe a store bought card will be okay... and as I write that I know that I mean not okay but that I'll forgive myself for not making one... nope... just checked and nothing I have is shower suitable.. so now I'm thinking maybe no card at all and just let the gifts speak for themselves.... that might work... I'm really tired these last few days... we've had inventory at work which makes for early mornings and a lot of time playing the hurry up and wait game... but it went well and is now over so my schedule gets back to normal for the rest of the week... which is good because while I've avoided the craft table today, I do have some projects that I'd like to get working on as well as one that needs a few finishing touches. It really is wonderful to be getting back into doing things again.

that thank you card... finally

alright... so I only got a little organizing and cleaning done... I built a bookcase, threw out some garbage and did some menial and tedious chores but still have days of organising to go... but I did take the time to get that thank you card finally finished....

playing with the Xyron design runner

So I was able to take some time tonight to play with the design runner... I am enchanted with making tags right now... and one of the store managers for the company I work for is getting a new store... he's excited but stressed so I borrowed the State Farm Insurance Ad text.... "you know the place where X meets Y? I'm so there" and made him a tag. I haven't taken pics yet but I'll add them to this post tomorrow sometime... the inks are still drying on the tag. I also made a thank you tag for one of the girls I work with but still haven't finished the thank you card... I really am avoiding that one for some reason. Tomorrow needs to be more of clean up and organise day than getting any projects done day but I'll see what happens. I'm surrounded by so much clutter that I have to clear a space to work every time I set about a project.

Xyron Design Runner

Alright... so Broke down today and bought a design runner.... I make gift books for parents and babies... and have been running the pages through my computer... for those of you who can't already tell given how much trouble I have with my posts here... I'm a puter moron.... centering these book pages drives me batty, as does the amount of time it takes to print all the pages, let them dry, mount them to the chipboard book, trim them... et c. So I've been kicking around a design runner for quite some time and finally today decided to get one. I'll post some Design runner enabled projects soon... and hey... does anyone know anything about the I Remember When folks? They seem to be the largest industry supporter of Xyron products, but I know nothing about them . I can't afford another job... I'd go crazy trying to manage that but I was just wondering if anyone had any feed back about them. I also wanted to let y'all know that if you are in the market for scrapbook items that you can't find, or don't have a scrapbook supply store near you, please feel free to let me know what you are looking for as I have some great resources.
Still studiously avoiding that thank you card.... but must get it done this weekend.
Hey.... if anyone is actually reading this... drop me a comment would you? I feel as though I'm shouting into a cavern here.

Showcase Scrapbook Page

This little picture, a 2" x 3" is the one I can't seem to find my 4" x 6" copy of.... This is also a Christmas morning photograph. This is one of the pictures that, upon viewing it, it is impossible not to smile. Shay looks like a garden gnome in his fleece forest green hat. His cheeks are so round that they look like apples! The journaling text was written on a piece of metallic vellum that I placed over some distress crackle paint stamps. It doesn't show terribly well in the photograph, but the hearts are visible through the vellum. If you click on the picture, you can see the page in detail and read the journaling text. The plan for the larger photograph is to pair it with one of him in his Santa hat with some text about Santa having left an elf behind....
And as you can see, I'm still studiously avoiding that Thank You card....

The Very Best Present Is You

Okay... so I finished that Christmas morning page today....
On Christmas Morning...
the very best present is you.



Though it photographs poorly, I love the effect of the Glossy Accents on the string of word tags. It gives them dimension and a full sheen. I still think UTE might have been easier but I'm happy with it overall. The hardest part of this project was keeping the cardstock from tearing on the small packages. Those ribbon cuts are narrower than 1/16 " thick and they are delicate. I owned my cricut for more than a year before I even took it out of the box... the curse of having too many projects on the list and so little time to get things done. I actually broke it out for the first time for my son's first birthday. I was unable to find Winnie the Pooh decorations, so I made them. To think I used to trace shapes and then cut them by hand!

Detour from thank you card to scrap page

Well... I've hit that spot in the process where I know what I want to do but don't feel like doing the work.... we all get there I think... mostly it's the effort it takes to find everything I need for step two (more like step four, but who's counting?)

So I took a little break from that project to make a scrapbook page of a Christmas morning picture of my son. I spent an hour or so looking for the picture I wanted to work with and still haven't found that but found one I did want to work with and had an great idea for it. The page is not yet finished as I'm waiting for the Glossy Accents to dry.... hoping that it produces the desired effect. I have a feeling I should have gone with UTE and the heat tool, but we'll see. This was also a fast project... about forty minutes from start to finish except for the dry time which will likely be near an hour. Having spent so much time away from actually making things, I had forgotten how much fun it is and how satisfied it leaves me feeling. My son has just reached the age where he will let mommy do something for a little while without feeling neglected. I do have to work with the constant refrain of "See? See?" which is his way of saying "I want that." or wait until he has gone to bed... hence the very late posts.

A little time to create...

Frantic... mornings spent juggling getting ready for work and my son who now seems to be adverse to clothes. Leave him alone (in the playpen, of course) for ten minutes and all clothes including the diaper are off... Feed the cat, feed the dog. Let said dog out to do her business twice. Make lunch to take to work, make a bottle of milk of the baby... oh... and don't forget one of your coworkers has a birthday... strapped for cash (who isn't these days?) and strapped for time... what can I do quickly that still resonates? Other than not be able to work the imaging in the blog quite right... a quick birthday tag card... distress inks, Pearl Ex powder, ideology mask and the color text from www.colorstrology.com. Handmade envelope for the tag, quick ribbon and postal tag (not shown in photograph)... total time including drying: 40 minutes. Super big hug from coworker! with the surprised "You made this? All of it? For me?" Yes... the thing about making something for someone is that there is always a risk that you will miss the mark... This time however was a spot on hit. Another quick and frantic project that is proving to be more time consuming though is a thank you card for other coworkers who bought a gift for my baby. Photos to come when I get it actually finished.

It is terribly late as I write this and I have yet to step into my craft room and do any real projects today. I did spend a good bit of time reading "All about the words" about scrapbook journalling and found some of it really interesting. I especially enjoyed my visit to the http://www.colorstrology.com/ website to find my birth color which is Aspen Green... looking at other people's work always inspires me to do more of my own but as a working mother I find it difficult to carve out the time to create. At work tomorrow we demo the Yudu personal screenprinter and I'm looking forward to that. Today, other than pointing you to colorstrology, I'm afraid I have nothing to share but coming soon I'll post some pics of the work I'm doing these days and share some of the things I'm learning.