AC Picture Frame

I made this frame to hold a picture I love of my grandparents. I pulled the red and black from my Grandpa's jacket (eek!) and picked out these papers from American Crafts. I put several coats of spray gloss over the frame not only to protect it, but I also really liked the shine to it for this project. I used felt flowers from American Crafts and added black Stickles (Ranger) to dress them up a bit and glitter brads from Making Memories for the centers.

And some more!

Hopefully I'm on the road when this posts, lol - if not, I'm running WAY behind! I'll be in Chicago for the next few days at the CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) Show basking in all the creativity and new products. I'll have some posts for while I'm gone to keep you busy, then I'll be back on Sunday (probably won't blog until Monday though, lol) with lots of pics from the show! Check back in!

These are some more of the earrings I've been making. Please note that these are NOT actually finished in the photographs. They've been dipped about 6 more times each so are MUCH shinier (and stronger!). It really makes a big difference. If you look at the bottom two, you'll see I tried Stickles rather than Scribbles like I've been using. In the photo they look rather rough, right? After a few more times being dipped in the Future, those rough glitter edges smooth out beautifully! All four of these are using American Crafts papers. Different weights of paper REALLY make a difference in this project, both in the finished result and especially in the creation process. Thinner papers, while they CAN be used...are NOT easy to work with. I have a bunch I've been working on using older Chatterbox and cherryArte papers. The look - gorgeous. The paper is a nightmare to do this with though. I've had my best results with American Crafts, Prima, and My Mind's Eye. Making Memories doesn't do a lot of double-sided papers (although they've been doing more!), but I did some with the original Noteworth line and they are thick enough papers to work quite nicely. Looking forward to finding some new papers at the show to try!

A layout I actually love!

I did this page for Scrapbook News + Review (the July issue dropped yesterday, by the way - it's FABULOUS! Over 300 projects!) in the June issue for the sketch column and I REALLY was happy with how it came out. And it was even a page about something me (or at least my shoes, lol)! Yay me! :)

Supply list:

Patterned papers - Organic Honeysuckle and Organic Poppy from Bo Bunny

Journaling pen - Zig Writer in chocolate from EK Success

Ink - Colorbox Fluid Chalk in Chestnut Roan from Clearsnap

Cutter - Curvy Cutter from EK Success

Letter stickers - American Crafts LAX Remarks

Flowers - Prima

Velvet brads - Making Memories

Journaling:

No, I don't wait to catch glimpses of robins, or to see flowers peeking up through the soil. For me, Spring is here when I can pull out all my favorite shoes and set my toes free! Growing up, I was never a "shoe girl" - I had sensible, boring shoes. Even in college and beyond, I never got into shoe shopping. I always had a few pairs - a pair of tennis shoes, a pair or two of heels, and a pair or two of dress flats. All usually in black, brown and white. After my divorce, however, I started to pay more attention to my appearance - it was time for a change! I was shopping for clothes one day, and the store happened to have a small selection of shoes. A pair of high heeled red sandals caught my eye. Red! I've never owned a pair of red shoes in my life! It was daring. It was provocative. It was everything I wanted to be! Soon that adorable pair of shoes (which I left in my hotel room at CHA last year) led to more. And more. I am now a shoe whore - I admit it! And all of my favorites are open-toed with a heel. They make me feel pretty. And sexy. Like a new person - a girl enjoying Spring again! Time to go shopping!

Daisy Birdhouse

Remember the frame I made a while back using the daisy paper from Imaginesence? I came across the scraps from that paper and realized I had enough to do up a little birdhouse to match.

The small design really worked well with my tiny birdhouses! The reverse side made a perfect roof as well. I went a little nuts again with the Scribbles, dotting everything in sight. I also pulled out some chipboard flowers from American Crafts (dotted with Scribbles, lol) and some Rhinestone elements from Heidi Swapp I got in the card kit from Memories from the Attic (I won this from a drawing on Scrapscene!).

Totally simple and totally makes me smile!

Some more cards

Yea, I had a weekend where I was working on cards for Scrapbook News + Review and just couldn't stop! I think I ended up with 18 cards that weekend, I'm just not positive where they all went, lol! There are probably some in the pile on my dining room table (it's scary...) so I'll try to dig for them later. But here are a few of them anyways.

Patterned papers - Zsiage. Stickles - Ranger. Stamp - Hero Arts. Ribbon - Ribbon FX. Other - pop up adhesive by 3L.

Patterned papers - Summer Picnic Blossom and Summer Picnic Stitched Stripe from the Shabby Princess Collection by Bo Bunny. Cardstock - Bazzill. Foam letters - American Crafts. Flowers - Making Memories. Brad - Making Memories. Flower shaped brads - Making Memories. White Souffle Pen - Sakura.

Patterned paper - My Mind's Eye. Flowers - Hobby Lobby. Stamp - unknown. Rubon - Making Memories. Flower bling - Heidi Swapp. Ink - Ranger. Glossy accents - Ranger. Chipboard oval - Creekbank Creations.

CHA in Spirit Day at 2Peas

Whew! I've been at it all day long with my fellow Peas and I'm exhausted! I managed to complete four layouts today and that's HUGE for me! I haven't scrapped much for the past several years - altered a lot, but not scrapped. So I'm excited and thought I'd share what I did today! Nothing earth shattering, but I had a blast!!!

Last post of 2007!

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful holiday season - Merry Christmas, Happy Haunnakah, Happy Kwaanza, Happy Winter Solstice, and Merry Every-Other-Holiday-I-Might-Have-Forgotten, lol! I wanted to end the year by thanking everyone for joining me for my random creative excursions and hope you'll join me again in 2008! I'm honored that you have all stopped by and amazed at all the different visitors I've had from all over the US and different spots all over the world!


I've spent the past week doing a lot more organizing than actual creating (I actually found my tabletop in my craft room!) and what creating I've done has mostly still been Christmas and I've promised to stop subjecting you to Christmas projects for a while, lol, so I don't have much new to share for the moment. I DID want to share this quick and easy project though! There was a post on 2Peas linking to this clock with some ideas to make one. Well, I went the super quick and easy route so it's definitely not the same project, but was still a lot of fun - I hung it up in my son's room so we'll see what he thinks when he comes home later this afternon. This is a $3 clock from Walgreens (they had them in a huge dump bin at one point and still have them occasionally in little endcap displays). And ONE set of foam Thickers from American Crafts. I'm really glad I used the foam instead of the chipboard because it "gives" enough to really tweak the placement. In hindsight, I wish I'd used a less "curvy" font. I think it would look better with a more defined font. But still, it's a 15 minute project - can't beat that!




And also, for this last post of 2007, I'll leave you with MY favorite layout (I admit, there really haven't been as many as I'd hoped to accomplish!) of the year. Paper from My Mind's Eye, everything else from the Making Memories Noteworthy line. It's a picture I love and a story that just makes me happy!



I wish you all happiness and creativity in 2008!!!

Deck the Halls

I love Christmas - have I mentioned that? I love decorating for it. I love making and buying presents for the people I love. And I LOVE making Christmas crafts! In fact, I've been so busy making Christmas crafts this year, that for once my house doesn't yet look like an elf threw up all over it! Yet, lol! The tree is up, but very little else has been unboxed yet and if I keep making new stuff I won't have room!

But yes, I made yet another wooden gift bag anyways! I'm in love with this one too. This would be why I've had an Etsy shop for months now and have never put a single thing in it yet - I make these things then can't bear to part with them! This one comes with a few little tips and tricks I'd like to share...and my signature not-so-great photography! I used more paper from the Romantic Collection from Prima - I know this line is supposed to be geared towards romance, but every time I look at it I just see Christmas! I edged everything with a gold marker from Sakura - it's a very subtle detail but adds a nice touch to transition to the interior. I painted the interior with a metallic green from DecoArt (they really do some fantastic shades of metallics!). The holly leaves and berry brads are from Making Memories. The original red just didn't work for me, so I used gold glitter Scribbles over them.

Scribbles vs. Stickles. I have been using these like crazy lately! Both kinds. Stickles are from Ranger, and once dry, have complete glitter coverage. Scribbles are from Duncan and are actually meant for fabrics. They come in dimensional regular colors, neons, glitters, metallics and pearls. And are less than half the cost of Stickles! The Scribbles glitter gives a random glitter pattern with plenty of the color showing through from underneath (which is why I used them for this application). Both definitely have their very distinct uses though so I keep lots of both on hand!

The rubons are from American Crafts, from the Christmas Book Two MiniMarks. What I want to focus on is the design below the words. I used two scrolly rubons. I also made a mistake and wanted to let you know how I fixed it! As I was twirling them around trying to get the placement the way I wanted it, I wasn't paying that great of attention to which side was up (ahem, here's my plug for using a good natural light such as an Ott Light or Daylight lamp - I have several and just didn't have one on, which would have saved me this step...). I put the first one down and began to rub and it was upside down. So part of the design was gone. I used a needle tool to remove the rest of the section to a joint where it would make sense then repeated the process on that exact same section out of the matching rubon. Obviously this won't work on words, but then again, who's going to get a word upside down anyways?

Christmas Wish List Clipboard

As seen in the December/January issue of Ready set create E-zine!
Along the same lines as me and my endless list-making, I decided to try and actually be organized for Christmas this year and put all my son's requests together, as well as whatever wish lists I can drag out of the rest of my family. I am really loving the new American Crafts line for this Christmas (see my earlier posted Christmas Frame for more from this line)! The paper, ribbons, vinyl stockings and candy canes and chipboard letters are all from this line. Mod Podge from Plaid, of course. I further embellished the letters with Scribbles from Duncan and the stockings and candy canes with a snow writer from DecoArt. I wish my photography skills were better so you could see just how fun the snow writer looks! It really looks like snow with a little glisten to it, rather than glittery like it looks in the picture because of the glare - sorry!

Christmas Frame

As seen in the December issue of ScrapStreet Magazine online!

I love doing these little frames. I picked up a ton of $1 wooden frames at Michael's and whenever I feel the need, I just grab some paper and my trusty Mod Podge and whip one up!


For this particular frame I used patterned papers, ribbon, a white vinyl tag and chipboard Thickers letters from American Crafts, glittery green Stickles from Ranger, and an epoxy tag and holly flowers/berries from Making Memories.

And now, 9 months after the fact, I finally have a place for Michael's picture with Santa from last year!