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!

Door Hanger

It's been a long summer, lol! While I've loved being home with my son over his break, it's been hard to get things accomplished when he wants my attention all day. I finally decided to make a little door hanger to let him know when I was working (or please give me some peace and quiet) and when I was playing (please come play WITH me!). I used the cover of a Zsiage chipboard peek-a-boo album (I've been working on something else with the interior pages - more on that another day!). Zsiage Fountain Blu paper, flowers from Prima, 1.5" Prim and Proper font scrapbook film letters from Zsiage, paint dauber and Stickles from Ranger, embellishments from Making Memories, and fibers from Hot Off the Press.


Here is a closeup of another detail I did on both sides. I used the negative space from some Zsiage chipboard swirls to apply glue which I covered with Provo micro beads I've had forever and ever. I wanted to make it a little more noticeable so I tried to use a Sakura Glaze pen to outline the shape after the glue had dried, but the Glaze ink seeped into the beads, making for a kind of messier than anticipated outline.

Bringing it Back Challenge Candle Holders

Michael's had these little glass votive holders on sale 2 for $1 recently and I grabbed a bunch to play with. While looking for things to do with some of the challenge items from the Bringing it Back Challenge, I found a few fun ways to put them all together.

For the slide mount challenge, I simply picked out some preprinted slide mounts from Design Originals, stacked them up and used my Crop-O-Dile to punch through them all at once (to line up the holes). Then I used some wired tinsel-like stuff from EK to tie them around a glass votive. I have an insane number of these letter eyelet charms from Making Memories so I clipped off the eyelet tabs and simply glued them into place. Voila! Five minutes to a cute little holiday candle holder!

Next, for the Magic Mesh challenge (again), I wrapped a candle holder with Magic Mesh, then a strip of paper from Zsiage. A few green Primas with chipboard dots from Zsiage and then I covered those with Stickles from Ranger. A bit of drying time and I'm pretty happy with the results!

Another Spring Birdhouse

I was recently asked "why birdhouses?". I know to some it may seem counterproductive to be churning out these little dust collectors and (gasp) wasting my precious scrapbooking time and products on them when I could be actually scrapbooking instead. To be perfectly honest, for the past few years since my separation and divorce, scrapbooking has just been HARD for me. Every time I pick up a pen to start journaling, I get caught up in these complex thought circles that have nothing to do with the task at hand. Older pictures I find myself wondering if I should be journaling how I felt THEN or how I feel NOW. Newer pictures I wonder if the absence should be noted. It just feels surreal after years of scrapbooking on my old dining room table in my old house etc. But I realized, that for me, the creative process was just as important to me as trying to preserve the memories. I also realized that just like creating a layout, creating an altered item brings out my own feelings and personality. Each piece means something to me and can evoke memories and feelings. The papers were picked with a thought in mind and even when I start a project just wanting to use a certain paper, I've found that it's because that paper brings out some inner piece of ME. Something I want to say, even if I'm the only one who can hear it. Ok. And so I just love to play with paper too! :)

Philosophical hijack over, on to today's project! This winter has just seemed to last forever so here's another one that's just about brightness and flowers and chasing away those winter blues! Patterned papers by Stemma (floral) and Making Memories (roof). Brads by Making Memories - all the tabs were removed and they were simply glued on. The paint is two shades by Making Memories mixed together.

Wishing you all sunshine and flowers today!!

Noteworthy Altered Wheelbarrow

I don't think I ever posted a picture of these little wheelbarrows when I first came across them but they're from Hobby Lobby - $1 in the unfinished wood section! Everything I used to embellish it was from the Noteworthy line from Making Memories except the paint (Sea Foam), which was from the Funky Vintage line. I also used some glittery Scribbles just around the top rim. The only difficult part was the way I did the wheels. To get the felt flower on the wheel, I had to dismantle the front end. That required getting out a wooden peg (glued, of course) that went all the way through both the outside pieces and the wheel. I first took an Xacto knife and poked it around the peg on both sides to at least have the edges free of glue. Then, using a hammer and a plastic rubon tool (the ones that come with all American Crafts rubons) to tap away at it. It was NOT easy and required some odd leveraging with the wheel to get it out. Then I simply glued the felt flowers in place and attempted to put the peg back in. Lining it up was a pain, but nothing compared to getting the peg hammered back in. One squashed index finger later, I did get the peg back in, then realized that for my purposes it really didn't matter if the wheel didn't turn - I should have just glued the wheel back in and ignored the peg since I was covering it with more flowers and buttons anyways! Anyways. I've thought of several uses - it would look great hanging out on a desk holding paper clips, or in a bathroom holding little girl's ponytail holders - basically anything small. I thought it might be cute holding chocolate, but really, it just wouldn't hold enough chocolate to be worth it, lol! I took the one photo with the paint bottle to show an idea of the size.

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!!!

I'm back!! With a super quick Valentine's project!

See, I knew I shouldn't have gotten on that blogging every day roll I was in a couple of weeks ago! My computer crashed! I finally got a new one, but am still getting things caught up and organized. And trying to FIND all the disks to reinstall all my software! However I really wouldn't have had a whole lot to blog about - I've been doing tons of creative "stuff", but most of it can't be shared yet! {wink} - Doesn't that sound mysterious, lol! It's really not. I made a bunch of things for the first issue of Scrapbook News + Review (I'm on the staff so this is my shameless plug - you're going to LOVE this magazine!) and some random things I just want to hold onto for various calls and such.

I HAVE, however, replaced my Christmas kick with a Valentine's Day one. Which is odd - the holiday itself is rather depressing for me, a single gal and all, lol, but I am just in love with creating in pink and red and hearts for some reason! So here is one more item I've made to decorate my house and show the love of my life (who turns 7 next week!) how much I love HIM!
I have more, but need to get better pictures.

This was a 50 cent wooden heart plant stake type thing I found at Hobby Lobby. This took less than a half hour, including drying time on the paint! The paint, ribbon and buttons are from Making Memories and the flowers from Heidi Swapp. One of my secrets for getting this done so quickly was the glue I used. Can I just RAVE about Beacon's 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue? This stuff really grabs onto embellishments and holds almost immediately. Dries clear and FAST. Love this glue!! A little goes a long way and its hold is similar to E6000 (it smells too, but not nearly as bad as the E6000 does) in that it will take metals and all kinds of things and hold them strong. Seriously - if you haven't tried it yet, do so! I have buttons everywhere and never use them and one of the reasons is it's just a pain to get them to stay put long enough to dry where I want them. On layouts I usually can get away with Glue Dots, but on altered items I just don't have the faith that they will stand up and take a little abuse. I'm so glad I pulled them out and tried them with this glue! The pictures are of the front and back - which are pretty interchangable, but I plan on putting this in a plant hanging in an opening between my living room and dining room so both sides will be visible.

Spring Basket

As seen in the April/May 2008 issue of Ready Set Create E-zine. I'll put the pictures back up when allowed!

Yes, I am REALLY wishing Spring would hurry up and arrive! I'm just not a winter person. I don't like snow, despise cold, and want to open my windows back up!

This basket is one of the $1 ones I discovered the other day at Michael's. I rolled up tubes of Lucy Lines paper from the So Girly line from SEI (here's a tip - this technique does NOT lend itself well to thick, double-sided paper like this - next time I WILL go back to using a nice thin paper...) and glued them all around a basket I had already spray painted (such a time saver, especially objects with lots of weird surfaces like this) white. For reference, this particular basket took exactly one piece of paper to cover in this fashion. Because I was having such issues with the tubes staying rolled, when gluing them on, I made sure that both sides of the seam were touching the glue, then wrapped the whole thing with rubber bands to keep it in place while drying. I then wrapped some trim around the basket, ribbon around the handle, tied a few bows, and added a cute little tag from the same SEI line with a sentiment stamped on it. Stamp from the Springtime Swirls Kit from Sugarloaf (now Inque Boutique but don't know if they still carry this particular See D) and the ink is Chestnut Roan Chalk ink from Clearsnap. Trim from Making Memories, ribbon from All My Memories.

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 Ornaments

I had some help with these from my 6 year old - what a fun way to spend an evening! I apologize for the photography - still haven't figured out how to photograph these! I wish I were a better photographer!!!

This one uses paper from Hot Off the Press, rubons from EK, and glitter.



Paper from Hot Off the Press, outline stickers from Making Memories, and glitter.



Poinsettias from Hot Off the Press, glittered brads from Making Memories, and glitter.



Paper from Making Memories (really old paper!) and rubons from Making Memories (also really old!). Also, although I really love the way this looks with the little paper spirals, please be forewarned that this takes FOREVER! That's about 3/4 of a piece of 12x12 paper and took well over an hour (ok, so I was watching Dancing With the Stars too - yay Helio! Is he adorable or what!). I'll be sticking with larger strips from now on! Although I'm thinking this would look fantastic done up with some of the glittery Bazzill...hmmm.

Quick Christmas Ornament

You have to love those five minute projects! This would be great for last minute gifts or even for kids to put together. I used one of the old metal frames from Making Memories (they came in packages of 3 different sizes) and simply glued on a few glittered chipboard pieces from Scrapworks (are those cute or what!!!). I then used the Crop-O-Dile to punch two holes in the top to thread the ribbon through. The ribbon is from American Crafts. Then I just used a tape runner to attach a picture to the back of the frame.

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween, everybody! I thought I'd share a quick and easy necklace I made just a few minutes ago - this is my "costume" for tonight! I had these epoxy-covered chipboard buttons from Making Memories that I had been waiting to use for Halloween pictures. I decided to give them some use earlier by making them into an easy necklace that could be dismantled later so I can re-use the buttons. The buttons are simply knotted onto a piece of black twine so when I'm done wearing it tonight, I can simply snip through the knots and all I've "used up" for a night of fun is about a yard of twine! Happy Halloween!

Halloween Wooden Gift Bag

This was a fun little piece I put together for a Halloween decoration. Those wooden gift bags I loved from Hobby Lobby but hadn't seen? Michael's has TONS of them with their holiday $1 wood! Yes, I definitely stocked up! The patterned paper I used is Textured Inferno from the Flouristics collection from Zsiage. The flocked stickers and rubons are from Making Memories. I wasn't terribly thrilled with the flocked rubons. You put down the double sided sticker and then press the flocking on from a sheet. It didn't transfer well - I did a lot of filling in with a marker and used Un-Du to remove several that didn't work at all. Which is too bad - there are some really cute designs. I might try them again with maybe a glitter or something but at least I got this project completed (glad I had the sticker version on hand!).

Vintered Clock

Another clock that was used in the Herr's booth at CHA-Winter 2007. This was in the scrapbooking section. The base and clock mechanism were from Walnut Hollow. The paper used for the face was Fountain Blu from Zsiage's Vintered collection. I used 7gypsies clear buttons and backed them with Altered Ego from Zsiage's Vintered collection and tied them with threads from my stash. The paint for the edge and over the chipboard shapes (from Zsiage) was a pearly paint from Making Memories. The trim around the edge is also from Making Memories. Finished with a rubon quote.

Tropical Frame

This was just a fun little frame I made using the Making Memories Tropical Vacation collection. A piece of paper, some flowers, and a sticker - doesn't get much easier than that!