Contrary to popular belief...

I have NOT fallen off the face of the earth. Feels like it though, huh? Just been insanely busy for some reason. And what should one do when they're so busy they can't think straight? Of COURSE...do a major re-do of the crafting workroom. Yea. I'm out of my mind, lol! And my house is now a complete maze as I have made little piles of product everywhere while I organize everything I removed from the room and now have to figure out how to get back IN the room. Soooo not doing anything for my creative spirit, lol! Just about everything I've done in the past few weeks is off limits for the blog until after publication but I've been busy!

Now that the August issue of Scrapbook News + Review is up, I can share some of the projects I had in the July issue. Here are a few of my cards (there were more of my cards in the issue but I'm trying to figure out where I filed them on my computer, lol) :

This one is simple, using Bo Bunny papers, some Prima flowers, some Queen & Co felt, and a velvet brad.

Again, a very simple card - Prima papers and flowers, and some Target $1 spot adhesive pearls! Ooh - and this could even be considered hybrid (lol) - the words are computer generated!

This one was for a technique article on using glitter. Zsiage papers and chipboard letters, Prima flowers and loads of glitter! The article gives a quick tutorial on each of the techniques I used for making this card glittery (yea, it made my hair and house glittery as well...) Wondering why I scattered pink flowers in front with the teal ones? That's what the small flowers on the card looked like before I glittered!

I guess I really was all about the easy cards this issue! This one features Fancy Pants paper and a bunch of their stickers layered on. I even used a border sticker to add a quick embellishment to a candle to match. Cardstock stickers won't really stick to candles so I just made about a 1/2 inch overlap in the back and stuck a short straight pin in to hold it in place!

For this card I used one of my favorite quick and easy techniques. By simply cutting a chunk of paper into even strips and then lining them up with a little space between them, you retain the pattern and give it a whole new look! Love these papers from Stemma! Oh - and the candle WAS a burgundy thing that's been sitting around my house for years and years. I wanted to use it because the candle holder just looked kinda cool with the card but the burgundy just clashed. So that's white alcohol ink (Jacquard Pinata Ink) toning it down! Please note I have NO idea what would happen if I tried burning it with those inks on it. The round design makes it (in my mind, at least) an un-burnable (my invented word for the day, lol) candle anyways sooooo...I guess I'm just saying if you try this at home I'm not responsible for any sparks, fires, etc.! ;)


There were some really great cards in the July issue! If you missed it, don't despair! Subscribing now gives you access not only to the August issue, but also every back issue we've done! So that's FIVE issues now!

Don't forget the giveaway for my upcoming Blogoversary here!

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!

Just a quickie

I'm immersing myself in actual scrapbooking this weekend (now don't faint, please!)! Yes, scrapbooking with my scrapbooking supplies - who knew. Anyways, hanging out at the Ice Cream Social online crop at Scrapperie. Most of the challenges are for actual scrapbook pages so I'm going to try to get some done. Of course, I've already finished the ONE challenge for an altered item so I'll share, lol!

I had cats when I was younger and one of them liked going on jaunts in the backyard on a leash. Sooo, I picked up one for Max. Now understand, while my cat spends all his waking hours (all two per day, maybe?) running from window to window meowing and fretting. He has escaped maybe 3 times and seriously freaks out for some reason when he gets outside. Yes, my kitty is terrified of the outside world that fascinates him as long as he's safely inside. So no, the leash was NOT a successful experiment. But it was sitting here...so I decided to alter it. And make a hanger so I could hang it up permanently. The hanger went MUCH quicker than the leash itself - probably only 10-15 minutes of hands on time. Bo Bunny paper, Prima flowers, glittery brads from Making Memories, and glittery chipboard letters from Scrapworks. I used the Crop-a-dile to punch the holes and set the eyelets in the leash. I wish I'd not put them so cose together (aka there were WAY too many, lol, and the Crop-a-dile is not comfortable for me with that much use at once). Also, if you want to eyelet a leash, try a leather one instead. This woven thing did NOT like holes being punched in it (frayed all over the place - the back is a disaster, lol).

I think Max needs a new collar. Hmmmm...

Hanging Valentine's Day Decor

Love this little mobile! It came as just an unfinished wood piece already assembled from Hobby Lobby - couple of bucks regular price and you know how Hobby Lobby is...closer to the holiday the better the sale! It was actually really easy to alter too. I used double-sided papers (from Bo Bunny's collection from last year) and laid a piece down onto my glass cutting "mat" (ok, it's just a cheap picture frame glass I pulled out!) and used my Xacto knife to cut in between each section - plenty of room to not be precise. This gave me two options for each size heart. I repeated this with another double sided piece and I had four options for each size heart and I just picked my favorites, lol! It's meant to kind of spin, so I just made sure no paper was used on two sizes closest to each other. Adhered all the paper with Mod Podge, did my trimming, and voila! It was pretty much done! I added a little bit of dimension with some pearly Scribbles. I was going to decorate them more, but realized that once again, I had something where the paper just seemed like "enough" to me. Plus, because this hangs on its own little cotton cord, care must be taken to get weight evenly distributed, so if you try this yourself, just watch any heavier elements you might add so that it doesn't hang crooked!

I hit Hobby Lobby last night (finally gave in and got the Basic Grey file set for a project I'll be posting later) and wanted to share a few cute finds. The first was they had (sorry, last week's sale but they run it so often I'm sure you can catch it!) these floral bushes on sale for 50% off. Now I LOVE Prima's flowers, but have zero access to them here in the "sticks". I've been dying to play with some of the bigger ones, but even going over to Champaign, with a Michael's, a Target and 3 scrapbook stores, still NO decent selection (I saw exactly ONE type in my last trip) of Prima's! Soooo, I have to make do. This was ONE $7 bush (which I actually thought was kind of ugly as a bush) that was on sale and after a quick check of the construction, I could see it would come apart beautifully. And it did! So for $3.50 I got 8 each of the large (which are 5" across) in each color and some random smaller ones. As a bonus, the red and pink ones are very lightly flocked! Just enough to be soft. Check your local craft store floral department - especially during sales (which are frequent - especially during season changes!). While not all are suitable for scrapbooking, your options open up dramatically in altering! There are some beautiful colors and textures available and if you especially watch for bushes like these, you can get multiple colors at a time.

This is the other cute find! I have been drooling over all the cute projects I've seen done with Say It With Letters' little wooden houses! Here is a recent one they shared on their blog from Valerie. Cute! Well anyways, I found these teeny tiny ones that Hobby Lobby puts out. There are four in a package. They are tiny (3 3/4" x 4"), but I can't wait to do a little playing!

A few published pieces

I wanted to post these since they are able to be shared again. Both were in the October/November issue of Ready Set Create E-Zine.

This clock was a wedding gift for a co-worker. The papers are from Bo Bunny. Flowers from Prima. Plaque and clockworks are from Walnut Hollow. The rubons for the name and date are from EK Success. The beads are blackstone from Cousins. I used the pearly glaze from Making Memories over an off-white paint from Plaid. The Mod Podge is also from Plaid.



For this candle holder I started with an inespensive glass vase from Hobby Lobby. Using Mod Podge, I covered it with paper from Zsiage's Confuscious Say What? line. The Peace cutout is from another piece of paper from that line. The flowers are from Prima. The coin is from Tsukineko.