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!

And the countdown begins...

The countdown to CHA, that is! In exactly a week I will be arriving in Chicago (I'll be driving so leaving VERY early next Friday morning) for a few days of pure bliss! I've been to a lot of these shows but this will be my first NOT going as a buyer but as a member of the press (I'll be going with Scrapbook News + Review). I don't know yet what to expect from this new role but I'm definitely so excited to see all the new goodies, catch up with old friends, and just be in a totally creative atmosphere for a few days!

And speaking of Scrapbook News + Review, we are looking for submissions for our August issue! You can find the main calls here. Several of the departments have separate calls now as well, including mine! Have I mentioned yet that I'll be coordinating the newly re-vamped "Altered Art and Home Dec" section? :) I'm so excited about the future plans for this section! And I'd love to see your work for it! Here is what we're looking for:

Artful Rooms - We're looking for items you have altered for your kitchen - utensil holders, spice racks, kitchen art, altered cookie sheets and cutting boards...anything you can put in your kitchen!

Options - Time to see how you keep your household on time! We're looking for a wide variety of altered clocks - any style - what makes YOU tick?

Seasonal - We're looking for items altered with summer or beach themes.

Wearables - We'd love to see anything made with scrapping supplies that can be worn (totes/purses count) - jewelry, shoes (would love to see some flip flops!), etc.

ATC's - Show us your favorite ATC's for a new ATC gallery feature!

Call Guidelines Please submit your projects with the following guidelines: - Of any size - No restrictions on whether it has been posted to an online gallery, blog, etc., but we respectfully request that you take them down when requested for publication. Submit to jfranklin@scrapbooknewsandreview.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Deadline: July 31, 2008

I hope to see some of your work!!!

In the meantime, I'll leave you with one of the projects I had in the June issue - an altered wooden gift bag I made for my dad. I'm so in love with Basic Grey's Archaic line! I also used leather trim on this and clipped off the backs of some brads to just glue them on. The chipboard letters are 1.5" Prim & Proper font from Zsiage hammered with the Tim Holtz texture hammer then inked and swiped with gold and covered in Glossy Accents. Click on the picture to see the mega version and the details!


Let me know if you'll be at CHA too! I'd love to be on the lookout for you! :)

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.

Scrappy Jewelry

See this in the July issue of Scrapbook News + Review!
I've been experimenting with these tile pendants for weeks now but just finally put one into a full necklace. I have quite a few I made out of scrabble tiles and other bits of wood, but have been working with different ways to use chipboard. I haven't found a version I really like yet though. For this particular piece, I used chipboard "chips" from Creekbank Creations. They are really thick and really hard. However, after Mod Podging the paper to the tiles and inking the edges silver, what I did was dip it into Future Floor Finish...about 20 times (drying completely in between each). While this works fantastic on wood tiles, even this super sturdy chipboard puffed up a little bit (especially where i had inserted the bail).

I have another one I did with Glossy Accents I will share as soon as I get it strung. It fixed the moisture issue of making the chipboard expand, but gave a new problem in that you had to add the Glossy Accents to each side separately and the overlap wasn't as clean as I'd like.

Anyways, for this one, I used Molten Madagascar paper from Zsiage and the beads are all gemstone beads from Cousins. The clasp is from Blue Moon.

Some new cards

I know, I've been a bad blogger this past week or so! With school out it's just been much harder to sit down at the computer for extended periods of time...already getting the "Mommy, I'm bored - play with me", lol! We're finally starting t settle down into more of a routine though and I've been planning lots of projects for Michael to do his own arts and crafts. So instead of that guilty feeling whenever I work on MY stuff, I get to share the time enjoying creating WITH him. It's a great thing, knowing my son enjoys getting crafty with mommy!

I have tons of things I've been working on the past few months to share as soon as I can get them all photographed and written up so stay tuned! To start, here are a couple of the cards I sat down and made recently (LOTS more, but most are for upcoming issues of Scrapbook News + Review!). Both were done with the Starr Brights II collection (designed by Jen Starr) from Zsiage. I have to admit - when I first saw this line I wondered how I would ever create anything with it! Totally out of my element (hello, I'm SCARED of orange, lol!). When I sat down with it to make the Scrap-O-Dex for my mom, I found myself falling in love with the line. Pulling out my Xacto knife opened up a whole new world for me with just this one sheet of paper (Dutch Garden). Taking that busy, busy sheet and pulling out elements one or two at a time gives sooooo much to work with!



This first card uses a background of Peony paper and just a few elements cut from the Dutch Garden paper. I cannot stress enough how much easier it is to make detailed cuts like this on a glass mat rather than a self-healing one! I used Zsiage chipboard letters (1.5" Monica font) covered in Frosted Lace Stickles from Ranger and added the Stickles also to anything white in the cutout pieces. Except for drying time, the card still only took about a half hour, with a lot of that time spent just rearranging the pieces until I liked the arrangement.



This next one used the Dutch Garden paper as the background, with a few elements from the Lida paper. I used my Making Memories ribbon slot punch to make the slots to run the strip of paper through. The chipboard letters are Zsiage again, in 1.5" Prim and Proper font. I covered them and also edged different elements using a Sakura glaze pen. It wasn't until it dried that I discovered how different of a purple it turned out though. I also used an Xacto to cut int the patterned paper to slide the smaller element right into the design.

Don't think you can use an Xacto knife? I promise - get a glass mat (or make one - I use a piece of glass I've covered the edges of with electrical tape!) and just play. You will NOT regret honing this skill once you find all the things you can do with it! All your patterned papers will take on a whole new meaning when you can cut big or small elements out to change things up. I am probably the only paper crafter in the world who has not yet given in to the home die cut machine craze, but having discovered the versatility my simple Xacto knife gives me I'm still not tempted! Oh! And one more tip - this is not the place to skimp on blades. Buy them in bulk (you can get 50 or 100 packs at most craft stores - check the drafting aisles) whenever you have a coupon to burn. I change my blades OFTEN. It really makes a difference to have a super sharp blade.

Rubon Booklet Storage

I altered this little wooden gift bag to hold my rubon books from Making Memories. This keeps them neat and tidy because it fits them perfectly! I matched it to the alcohol ink carrier I had made and both are featured in my new article at Scrapbooking.com Magazine in the brand new June issue. All the items used are the same as for the ink carrier and still, between the two projects, I think I still came in under $10 in supplies!

Mother's Day Scrap-O-Dex

I want to wish all the Mothers out there a VERY Happy Mother's Day!!!

Teehee, now a moment of rudeness to my own Mom (sorry, Mom!) but you can't see this until you get it! So go away! Love you though! :)

Obviously, this Scrap-O-Dex is something I made for my Mother in honor of the holiday. While this did take a lot of time, it was all using simple techniques. I've already mentioned the flower texturizing technique in my earlier post with the matching house box for this SOD. The rest is simply lots and lots of Stickles! Of course, the Scrap-O-Dex is from Zsiage. The patterned papers, again, are Zsiage's Starr Brites II collection (designed by Jen Starr). All the chipboard shapes interspersed throughout are from one sheet of Zsiage Chippies (also by Jen). Several of the shapes I actually cut in half to make the fit the space better (which used a lot less too!) There are a lot of leftover shapes as well to use on other projects. The flowers are from Prima and, again, punched from Zsiage papers (the punches are from EK and Carl). The Stickles from Ranger (I used orange and pink). The quote stickers (all from one sheet!) are from Cloud 9, and the pen I used to outline on each page is from Sakura. The Magic Mesh, of course, is from Magic Mesh.

I actually worked on this in layers. First I completed the Scrap-O-Dex itself. I covered the front and back with Magic Mesh and then added the Stickled letters and then the flowers. Then I covered all the chipboard pages with patterned papers and trimmed them. I picked out the chipboard shapes to use and covered half with orange and half with pink and set them to dry while I created all the flowers. I did a lot of those flowers over the space of a few days - usually while watching TV, lol! Then I picked out all my pictures and trimmed them down to an appropriate size. Then I began assembling! For each page, I simply cut a piece of paper big enough to fit the quote I was using and slip behind part of my picture. No measuring. Just left them random! After attaching the paper, quote and picture, I then edged the paper with a black pen just to be sure it stuck out nicely against the background. I would have inked them all had I thought of it before attaching the first one but since I did, I had to go ahead and make do and follow through the rest the same way. Once all the pages were done to that point, I determined placement in the Scrap-O-Dex and put them in. Then, working from the back to the front, I began layering and adding flowers and the Stickled chipboard pieces. It's much easier to visualize and make everything tie together (for me at least) working this way. I do the same with acrylic albums just so I can see where I should be working and what will show through from page to page. It helps to see where there are gaps and where things might be bunched up too much as a whole and in sections.

SOD Gift Box - Mother's Day

Zsiage's Scrap-O-Dex's come in these cute little gable boxes. So far I had been going the simple, straightforward route in decorating mine, but my fellow design team members at Zsiage have come up with some absolutely amazing things being more creative. Soooo, I decided to try something beyond just covering one in paper and adding a few embellishments to it.

I made a Scrap-O-Dex (which I'll share tomorrow!) for Mother's Day for my mom. Since I had used the Starr Brites Series II papers on it, I went with the same for the box to put it in. Then I decided I wanted to make it into a little house (kind of a spin-off of my birdhouse theme, lol!).

I did a quick covering of the whole bottom part, then cut off the top section and trimmed some of the excess flaps off. Then I glued the top handle flaps inside out to each other and covered them with paper to create a roof. To get the side sections (the triangles) on and solidify the structure of the roof, I ended up just using plain old tape. It got covered with the flowers in the front and since it's clear, doesn't show too much in the back either. I cut a slit and slipped a folded over piece of paper through it to make the chimney.

Then came the fun part - decorating my house! The Dutch Garden paper from this collection has all these wonderful swirly flowery pieces - I just went to town with my Xacto knife and made them into bushes. All the windows and door were simple shapes, with slivers of paper to make the separate window sections and a punch to mimic a door handle.

I punched tons and tons of these little flowers in two sizes and just kept adding them everywhere, like the bushes were flowering. I gave the flowers texture by first wrapping them face up over various things I had handy - pen caps, etc. - to crimp the petals themselves. Then I put them face up on a mousepad and used an embosser to swirl around in the middle, flattening that back down and creating the final shape.

Sailboat Wall Plaques

I know, I have been a horrible blogger this past month! I have been extremely busy, and to be honest, most of what I've created (and there's been a LOT!) I can't even share yet as they're all for various articles and calls and such. I have articles going in the May and June issues of Scrapbooking.com Magazine - look for an article on birdhouses in May and storage solutions for crafters in June! I've also been busy creating things for the next couple of issues of Scrapbook News + Review and as I'm also a moderator over there on the message boards, I've been trying to spend some time helping out - we'd love to have you come join us!!! Of course, being the craft industry, I've also spent some time creating for all the (cough) HOLIDAY magazine calls, lol, and I've got an item coming in the Holiday 2008 edition of Scrapbook Trends.

I have stopped and taken a moment here and there to create just for the heck of it too though. I found these cute little sailboat plaques at Hobby Lobby (again, they're only $1!) and thought they would be adorable to go with the beach frame I had already made. I used the same Zsiage papers from the New England line to cover the boats (painted white first). Then, just because this particular paper line just makes me want to pull out the fun stuff, I used lots of Stickles, Glossy Accents, and Crackle Accents from Ranger to liven up the paper without covering any of the design (click on either picture for a closeup). I then took some tiny shells and lined the top edge of the boats. While there was a lot of drying time involved with all the little layers I did here and there, actual hands on time was pretty minimal. And now I have a nice little beachy decorative set!

Accordian Receipt Organizer

In case you couldn't tell, I just finished up my taxes, lol! THIS year I think I'll try being organized. I've forever got receipts scattered everywhere so I thought I'd make up a little holder to tuck them into - not just my tax stuff, but also major purchases, etc. and stuff I just tend to keep.

I started with an accordian folder album from Zsiage - it's 6x12 so this came together really fast. I adhered papers from Zsiage's New England line. The stripe is Cape Cod Stripe and I used that on the front and back, then covered the pockets with Surf and Turf. I used a metallic embroidery thead from DMC (I separated out 1/2 the strands to use) to sew the pockets closed at the sides, making sure the stitching was even on the front and back. I also added a drop of glue to each of the knots as this metallic floss has an odd slickness to it that made me wonder if it would STAY knotted without some help. I cut some smaller pieces of Ocean View and attached a piece to the front and smaller pieces to each of the pockets. I labeled the pocket pieces with my categories (using a Permapaque pen from Sakura) and then outlined each of the pieces with Cinammon Stickles (I LOVE this color!!).

The chipboard numbers and letters on the front are also from Zsiage. The numbers come packaged together and then the letters are 1.5" Monica font. You'll need to click on the photo of the front to see the detail. For all the chipboard pieces, I first textured them with the Tim Holtz hammer. Which was fun, lol, I want to play with that some more! Then I used alcohol inks to cover the chipboard. I finished it off using the metallic mixatives by themselves (well, I added just a touch of the blending solution) both dabbing and swiping to get it really random then wiped some away as well.

I know the flowers don't quite match, but I'm out of the teal in that size so I just went with what Primas I had handy. I liked the bit of contrast it gave but may go back and change that. One of the other Zsiagettes had put together a layout with these papers and used either a red or a pink accent (wracking my brain trying to remember - gonna have to go check) and it ended up just looking fantastic together and it's one of those things I NEVER would have thought up on my own, lol, being such the matchy-matchy girl I am! Anyways. The flower centers are chipboard dots from Zsiage's Chippies set covered in the Cinammon Stickles again.

Beach Frame

Look for this in the July issue of Scrapbook News + Review!
This is a fun little frame I made because I walked past this bag of shells at JoAnn's, lol! I'd never actually used Zsiage's Surf and Turf line of papers for a beachy theme and I love how it turned out!
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For the title, I used 1.5" Monica font film letters from Zsiage. If you haven't played with these yet, do it! They are rather similar to the ghost items out now, but a little less transluscent AND, you can do things to the film that you can't do to other fully clear products. Like heat embossing! But I'm getting off the point. What I was actually trying to do was make it look like beach glass. I should have gone with alcohol inks, but had my dauber paints from Ranger out so just went with it. I brushed them on with the applicator in order to get that streaked look then when it dried I covered them with Glossy Accents. Doesn't look like beach glass, but it does look like a pretty polished stone so I do like the look even if it's not what I was going for! Love happy accidents! Click on the title pic to see what I'm talking about, lol!

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I wanted some of the beachy netting and although I have some real stuff somewhere, I was just being lazy and in looking at the net bag the shells came in, thought it could be made to work. I used alcohol ink to darken it up and voila! Free beach net, lol!

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Don't forget tomorrow is the last day to enter in the drawing for the Crop-O-Dile! Leave a comment on last Wednesday's post to enter!

Alcohol Ink Carrier

Look for this in the June issue of Scrapbooking.com Magazine!

I've had my alcohol inks stored in a drawer for quite some time now and always forget about them. I like having my supplies visible - I'm one of "those" people who has to SEE my stuff to remember to use it. I also rarely create IN my dedicated space these days so even when I remember, I've got to drag it all out to the dining room or whatever square foot of surface space I've invaded for the moment. So I thought I'd use one of these cute little wooden baskets from Hobby Lobby (they run about $2.50).


They fit PERFECTLY! I fit 16 little bottles of alcohol ink (I have both Ranger and Jacquard brands if you're wondering about the different colored bottle tops) plus my big bottle of extender solution and then there was room to tuck the little pads in along the side. I didn't like just laying the applicator over the top of everything so I grabbed a chipboard shape from the Chippies line from Zsiage, hung it by a ribbon and the applicator hangs perfectly from it! The ribbon is actually strategically glued in a few spots to make sure it stayed where I wanted it and didn't come untied.



I used Molten Madagascar paper from Zsiage's Out of Africa line and another Chippie on the side. Both of the Chippies have been decorated with (shhhh, I cheated) glossy black spraypaint and glittering crystal Scribbles. The flowers are from Doodlebug and also accented with the Scribbles, some flower sequins and some black Stickles. If you click on the picture below you can see how sparkly... :)

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!

Mail Sorter

Well, I've now made FOUR new birdhouses this week...but I can't share any of them with you yet! One will be in a special issue of Scrapbook News + Review, two I've submitted and am busy crossing my fingers for, and the third, of course, is the one Kazan won and I want her to see it before I post it so it will still be a surprise for her!


So instead, I thought I'd share the mail sorter I finished up last night. We'll see if it actually keeps all my mail off the coffee table...




The sorter itself is from DecoArt (at Michael's). The patterned papers are Surf & Turf and Cape Cod Stripe from Jen Starr's New England collection from Zsiage. The scrapbook film letters ans swirls are also from Zsiage - 1.5" Monica font and chippies. I used Espresso alcohol inks from Ranger on them, then outlined them with silver stickles, also from Ranger. The flowers are from the floral department at Hobby Lobby and I used turquoise stickles to embellish them.




I had several emails regarding the paper beads so I've begun work on a tutorial for them. I need to take a few more pictures and hope to have it up later today or tomorrow. I hope you'll give them a try!!

Handmade bead necklace - Bellisimo

Here's another necklace I made with beads I handmade from scrapbook paper. This is soooo easy and generally uses about 1/3 of a piece of 12x12 paper for a full necklace. For this one, I think I used a little over half that amount (I cut a 4x12 strip and used 6.5 inches of it). The paper I used is Bellisimo from Zsiage's Ti Piace Italy? line. For added dimension, after I rolled and glued the beads, I added some embossing. To do this, I threaded each bead one at a time onto a piece of wire I had bent a small "holder" out of. I took a stamp with a small design and inked it with Versamark. The choice of stamp is absolutely of no consequence as you will not actually get the design on a bead this small - the point is to simply get some random ink onto the bead. Hold the bead by the wire and roll it around on the inked stamp. Then dip the whole thing into your embossing powder and tap off the excess - again, you're looking for random so if extra falls off, don't sweat it! Your little wire holder provides the perfect handle to heat the embossing powder. I also didn't heat beyond the "pebbly" stage - I didn't want smooth sections of silver, just a random mottled effect. I dipped these a few more times in my finish that I usually do because of the bumpy texture and wanting to be sure this didn't get chipped off. They were probably dipped 8-10 times (I lost count - I just dipped them every time I walked by, lol) and left to dry overnight.


It's snowing here still so my light is kinda funky. Here's a closeup of the beads themselves and I'll try to photograph the necklace a little better later on. As always, you can click on the pictures themselves for the gigantic version.

Tea Holder WGB

I think I'm on a roll with this blogging thing this week! Ha - I shouldn't have said that, now I won't get around to it for another week, lol! Having a dark, dreary day here - it's trying to spit some snow out, but so far just enough to be a tiny bit annoying. So much for my son's hope for a snow day! Bad for picture taking though. I altered this little WGB (wooden gift bag) to use in my kitchen to hold teabags. I'm on a pretty big coffee kick lately (we finally have a Starbucks!), but do love the occasional cup of tea. My absolute favorite is from Celestial Seasonings and called Sleepytime. The box describes it as a "comforting blend of chamomile and spearmint". I love this at bedtime! I do not, however, like the box it comes in. So I thought I'd make myself something I DO like to hold my little packets of my favorite tea! I used Calcutta Gardens paper from Zsiage's Impressed With India? (see, there's that question again) line. This paper has a nice gradation in colors so I used one side (the lighter) for the front and back, then the darker side for the sides. It still felt kind of dark and I wanted to pep it up so I rubbed a pearl glaze from Making Memories over it. I overdid this just a bit, but still really like how it changed the look of the paper. Tip for the glazes - add a tiny bit at a time! It dries really quickly so while you can keep adding more, getting it toned down once you've put too much on is next to impossible. I used chipboard letters and a scroll from Zsiage covered in pearl blue Lumiere paint from Jacquard. My picture doesn't do it justice, but the pearl glaze and the pearl in the paint really do look striking together. I need to remember to pull my Lumiere paints out more often! I finished up with a few charms I had from the bowl I found in my cupboard a few weeks ago, again clipping off the hang tags. I had to fight the temptation to add ribbons to the top because I want to be able to get to my tea without getting caught up in ribbon, lol!

House Number Plaque

I've lived in this house for two and a half years now and suddenly USPS, UPS, and FedEx are ALL screwing up deliveries. My boxes end up several houses away, my mail next door. I've had to deliver the lady down the street's insulin to her (what if I hadn't been home!!! It has to remain refrigerated!!). So I finally decided to put up house numbers. Well, I can't possibly just use the plain, boring ones you stick or nail to the house so I decided to make my own! I got this little scroll plaque at Walmart. Painted the back and sides with Plaid paint and then Mod Podged (also from Plaid) Tantalizing Tulip paper from Zsiage's Flouristics line (I REALLY love this particular piece of paper!). I then painted some chipboard numbers from Zsiage in black and covered them in Glossy Accents. The flowers are from Prima and I used a black pen from Sakura to edge a few of them to bring in the black and give them a little more depth. I used the same pen to edge the whole plaque and give it some definition as well. Cross your fingers for me that now I can get my own mail and packages!

Wooden gift bags make great storage!

Have I mentioned how addicted to these little wooden ($1) gift bags I am? Besides being a great way to package up a small gift for someone, they are also useful after the gift! I keep a nice little stockpile of these around and make them often. Most I end up keeping simply because they're a great little storage item. I keep several on my workspace at all times to keep things handy. I have one on my desk for pens and pencils too (not my good scrapbook pens, of course - those are stored on their sides, as they should be!). Plan to see some that I am making for kitchen and bath storage too soon!



For this particular WGB (I think I'll coin a new abbreviation today!), I covered it in Fossils of Kenya patterned paper from Zsiage's Out of Africa? line (yes, a lot of their paper collections have names ending with a "?" - one of these days I'll remeber to ask Dina if there's a story behind that, lol). As you may have noticed I have an affinity for all things sparky and shiny, so I decided to rub on Making Memories pearl glaze - this completely changed the look of the paper - try clicking on the picture for the large version to see the subtle shine (ok, I checked and even in the gigantic view my photo didn't pick up the pearly effect so you'll have to just trust me that it looks really great)! Then I picked out a few Bazzill Blossoms (yikes, I'm starting to run low on Prima's! I need Hobby Lobby to carry that line too!) and layered them with small felt flowers from Creative Impressions and some glittered brads from Making Memories. I painted the inside and edges of the WGB with DecoArt's metallic finish paint in Dark Patina (this color is soooo striking in peson!) and dabbled a bit more of it around the center of the felt flowers and on the ridges of the larger blossoms. To add the paint highlights to the flowers, I used my favorite all-purpose tool that EVERYONE has...my finger!

On a side note, I've noticed I have several readers from Champaign - can anyone tell me where Scrapbook Expressions (I think the new owners might have re-named it?) moved to? I was going to stop by when I was in town a few weeks ago and it was no longer in the strip mall out on the south side. There are some things I'm dying to get my hands on that I'm hoping they carry so if anyone can help me out, I'd appreciate it! Thanks!

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.

Brrrr! Got our first snow!

Luckily there wasn't much snow, but it still makes me want to curl up inside and do nothing but craft all day! I still have a bunch of projects I keep meaning to post but haven't gotten around to photographing and with this dark, dreary day I don't think today will be the day either, lol! But I do have a frame I wanted to share that I made up a few weeks ago.

As seen in the February/March issue of Ready Set Create E-zine.

I really love this paper from Zsiage - it's from an earlier line called Flouristics and the paper is called Tantalizing Tulip. I've used it on several altered items - it has such rich colors (that brick red just makes me feel warm!) and a really lovely design to it. The flowers are from Prima. The gem brads and gem stickers around the inside corners are from Making Memories. The chipboard sticker is from MAMBI. The film letters are from Zsiage - I painted them with the same paint I used for the sides of the frame and found it matched TOO closely to the paper so I edged them with a silver marker from Sakura, which played nicely against the gray in the paper design. I used glossy Mod Podge as I wanted to keep an elegant feel to this.



I hope everyone is staying warm!