Masquerade Party Decor & Food!!

To "finally" finish my posts about the Masquerade Party...we'll start with the decorations!

About 3 bolts of pink and burgundy tulle was draped across the room surrounding the dance floor area. The dance floor was covered in 6,000 pink and burgundy silk rose petals. The tables were also sprinkled with confetti with the #"50"; and 12,000 pink, white and black acrylic diamonds.


I added silver table runners, glass mirrors and hand painted topiary's.

A stack of pink take-out boxes to go to the guests!!On to the Food!!!! The food tables were also decorated with lighted black rose vines, diamonds and masks (from the invitations). A nice veggie tray. Gotta have a meat and cheese tray!

And the fruit tray...that was my first pineapple to cut myself!! Let me tell you fresh pineapple makes canned taste like junk.

A few trays of deviled eggs, I made about 72 deviled eggs!

A condiment tray!

And last but not least...the beautiful cake!!

Masquerade Party!!!

My Mom's 50th Birthday was this year and I was struggling to pick a theme for the party. I already did the "over the hill/graveyard/dress in black" 50th Bday party for my Dad 2 years prior. Plus I didn't think the morbidity goes over as well with women..how fickle we are! Well my Mom just so happened to e-mail me a video that had dance clips from tons of movies and the Labryinth ballroom scene came up. I have loved that movie since it came out and always dreamed of attending a Masquerade Ball. So I replied back to my Mom asking if she liked Masquerades and if she ever wanted to go to one...and she replied YES!!

I began the frantic search to find the perfect decorations, and supplies for the invitations too! We only have two scrapbook stores in our town and I love them both, but Pearl Printing had just what I needed this time around! This silver cardstock was perfect for creating a glamorous mask which I hand drew and cut. I added lots of glitter, some bling, and don't forget the fabulous feather!

The invitations were placed inside a clear envelope, which was inside a white envelope!

I used Versamark on the pink paper to create a watermarked-glitter-embossed swirls under the mask.

The glitter on the mask was extra thick and super glamourous!

The room was booked, the date was set, the invitations went out and then I realized (after noone could make it) that I planned it on graduation night...dur. SOOOO I made a re-invitation, LOL. This time around I designed it digitally and printed them out on cardstock. The digital masks are from Princess Sophie Design (P.S!) that I purchased at The Little Scrap Garden. The swirls are Dainty Swirl brushes that I purchased at Scrap N' Fonts.

More to come on the food and decorations I made for the party, so stay tuned! Thanks for stopping by today!

Birthdays, oh, birthdays!!

This first card was made with the Card Maker birthday kit. I love having materials on hand to make a 10 minute card, most of my other cards take me a minimum of 3o minutes to design and create. Some take up to an hour, but I don't fret about the time, it's totally worth it to me (and hopefully the recipient)!This card was for a Broncos fan, so I folded a piece of brown cardstock and cut it to a football shape, then I sanded the folded edges, marked the "threads" with a white marker and added two strips of white paper.

My oldest daughter LOVES monkeys and I found this super cute digi-kit at http://www.designerdigitals.com/ called Monkey Do by Mindy Terasawa. I used both the kit and the stickers to make this fun monkey birthday invitation!
Acrylic, or acetate, cards are so much fun too!! It is hard to see the acrylic piece, but if you look closely you can see the outline of it. Remember this acrylic card I did? The blue mesh at the top of the card was cut from body poof material, this one happened to come as a liner in a gift basket, but you could cut up a regular poof just the same!

I attached the smaller white card that came with the acrylic card by punching holes in the fold of both cards and tying a soft fiber through them.

Thanks for coming by today!!! I hope your having a wonderful summer!

CREATE

I'm always in the process of trying to liven up my craft room. I've seen wooden words of inspiration in many crafters' rooms and enjoyed the feeling it made! So I grabbed me some wooden letters, some Tim Holtz crackle paint and created my "CREATE"!!! lol :P
Up close you can see I did not paint them solid, I wanted a shabby feel to the letters.The inside of the letters I left white. These pictures really don't show the crackle texture very well. I just zoomed in with my camera and snapped these close-ups. Opposed to standing on the counter top to take a better pic.I certainly have made WAY more cards lately than anything. I haven't actually scrapbooked in a very long time...it sort of saddens me, where does my time go??? REALLY? This card is full of lace, vintage trims, stitches and frilly goodness!! It is so hard to loose a loved one and I wanted a card that was comforting to touch and filled with lots of Love. The rose is a remnant of the arched lace at the top of the card and I bundled it and hand stitched it to a sheer leaf by Creative Impressions. The yellow paper lace trim at the bottom was from one of the super cute packages that Shelly wrapped my purchase in. She always puts lots of love and care into her customers packages!! You should check her out...I squealed when I saw her cute alphabet soup kit, I didn't win the giveaway...harrumph, and when I went to her shop to purchase one...they were already sold out, that Chicky is one HOT commodity!!To mimic the cute yellow trim on the front of the card, I used a Fiskars lace border punch on a piece of yellow paper on the inside of the card.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope to hear from you!!!

Oh, Baby Pt. 2

Hi, I'm still here...just haven't been feeling in the mood to post a blog. Well, that, and the time too! I'm sure you all understand.

I can't believe it...but I sewed a crib bumper....yay me!!! (Too much Zach and Cody for me) I used a pattern and checkered fabric I bought from Wal-Mart. It goes perfectly with their Disney Cars Nursery theme! I was a bit disappointed that the fabric faded considerably with the first washing after I was done sewing, even using the oh-so-gentle and yummy-smelling Dreft baby soap.



I had to make my cutie-patootie nephews these super cute banners to hang in their nursery! They were a "Peachy-Cheap Deal" that I took advantage of a while back!! You gotta love that site...I could almost buy the daily deal....daily! I used leftover fabric from the crib bumper and some cute "racing" themed striped material.

The first Banner is for Carson.

The second banner is for Camron.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Many Thanks....and the winner is!!!!

Wow, school is out already...it's almost hard to believe. In appreciation for how much my girls' teachers have done for them (and all their students), I created a few handmade items for them! First up we have some cards, not only for their teachers, but the secretaries and also their bus driver!

Pencil holders were a must!!!

Then I thought, clipboards are such a cool idea!! Clipped to the board is a patterned paper notepad.

But I went even further than that! I added a piece of acrylic to the back and attached them by ribbons at the top and Velcro closures at the bottom. That way they can open it up and add papers and pictures underneath....as an extra bonus, acrylic makes a great dry-erase surface!!! How cool is that???

Then I used up lots of scraps from the cool patterned paper and shaped brads I purchased to make some super easy bookmarks!!!

To top it off I decorated some over sized wooden clips and added a picture!

I hope they feel super appreciated.....cause they are!!!!

So are you ready to see who won my huge blogaversary giveaway??? The odds were pretty good for those that left comments in the last week. I wrote the 4 names down on papers, sat them in front of Shaylie.....and let her pick one!

and the winner is.......Congratulations PaperTree Designs!!!!

Just send me your addy and it will be on its way to your home!!!

Would you like to see what I put together for you????

oh yeah!!! I told you it would be good! You walk away with all these goodies:

1 package Autumn Leaves flourish acrylic stamps

31 types of fibers, each 5 ft. long (by the way this looks super cute as a scarf!)

a huge stack of mat stacks, mostly DCWV

a stack of DCWV vellum quotes from the sports, baby and girl packs

1 pack of black rub-ons "thanks" themed

1 pack of embellished tags

1 pack of Colorbok chipboard shapes, elements, quotes, and alphas

1 pack of Maya Road chipboard swirls

1 pack of buttons in tons of shapes and colors...including a few super cool metal buttons!

1 pack of eyelets in lots of colors in round, heart and flower shapes

1 pack of Prima paper flowers in tons of colors

1 pack with 2 silver and 2 gold "2007" brads

1 pack of adhesive backed bling in pink, blue, green, and white

1 pack of purple daisy flower punches

1 pack of baby confetti

1 pack of Easter confetti

1 pack of Wedding confetti

1 pack of Patriotic confetti

and 1 pack of Christmas confetti

WOW, I HOPE YOU CAN FIND LOTS OF CLEVER USES FOR ALL THIS STUFF!!!
Thanks to everyone who left comments...and keep coming back...you never know when I might decide to do another giveaway....this destashing thing is kind of liberating!! I get to go through stacks of things I forgot about, get the creative juices flowing...and share some of my "overstocked" supplies!!!! It's a Win-Win scenario!!!

Until next time!!!

Oh, Baby!

First off... Wow I haven't blogged in a while! I've been so busy crafting that I don't know if I've even blinked in the last 2 months. So I need to cram a few items per post just to catch up!! Yay for you!

One of the main reasons, I've been so busy is my 2 new nephews!! Which they are the highlight of today's post! First up is their birth announcement! I created these in Photoshop Elements using some digital scrapbook supplies. I printed 60 of these using my Epson R1800 and Luster photo paper, it was the first time I used the roll attachment!!

Next up is the Baby Shower Invitations! The main paper is Coordinations, which is fun paper because when you sand or tear it, the core color of the paper is a lighter color. You can see it where I sanded the embossed scallop edge. The wording was cut by my Cricut and adhered with my Xyron sticker maker. The circle was cut with Fiskars shape template and then I sanded the edges. The dark brown flower was stamped with white ink and cut out by hand. The cutest part (in my opinion) are the giraffes, which I stamped, colored with pencil, hand cut, and glued yellow flocking to the spots.

Last but certainly not least, I made some custom Onsies! I finally tried using the vinyl for my Cricut, it was so fun, and let me tell you...it was a lot easier than I thought!!! I spent some time looking for cute "twin" sayings and this was my absolute favorite!

Here are all 3 sets of Onsies I created! The pear I hand drew, and cut with a craft knife from a piece of vinyl.

For the "womb mates" I added a top coat of glitter paint to give them some *sparkle*!!

This is just a little sampling of what I have been working on lately!!! More to come soon! Oohhh I almost forgot.....

Today is my 1st Blogaversary!!!

One year ago I made my first post, which also had a giraffe theme!!! How fitting! In the last year I have made 58 posts about what I love to do.....craft! I certainly have had a blast sharing my creations with everyone and thank those of you who stop by to see what I've been up to, especially if you left me some blog love (comments). That is what makes it all worth it!

SOOOOOO, just as a special treat to YOU my blog readers I have a super duper cool giveaway!!! I am putting a packet together with a brand spanking new package of Autumn Leaves "flourishes v2" acrylic stamps, some paper, stickers, embellies....and who knows what else...a defiantly cool gift to a lucky blog reader! I will draw the winner to this freebie giveaway one week from today! To qualify leave me a comment on this post! To increase your chances of winning, leave me a comment on one of my other 57 posts....giving you a total of 58 entries!!! So what are you waiting for????? Start spreading the blog love baby!!!!

Easter Recap

Well it's been almost a week since Easter already..wow, where does time go.....really? On Easter day I handed out some super fun bags to all the grownups at our Easter egg hunt. I found the super cool bag template at House of 3. I printed the image directly on the bag and then embellished it with a paper doilie and attached them with flowers and a brad at the top.

Inside the bag was also a card that I made from the House of 3 Easter Bag download kit. Instead of printing the design on a bag I printed it on regular paper, cut it down, then in half. One half was used as the front on the card and the other was used for the inside of the card. I topped them off with some cute Easter stamps and voilla a super easy gift...six super easy gifts that is!!

Traveling the World!!!

I am in total awe right now. I added the FEEDJIT to my blog last night, (which is in the sidebar) and I can't believe that my creations have been seen in 7 countries in less than 24 hours!!! I am so stoked!!! I was beginning to think that no one even came to my blog and then this really lifted my spirits! France, China, Vietnam, Poland, South Africa, Italy, and of course the U.S.!!!

I'm on cloud 9!

So if your ever stopping by, leave me a comment.....some "blog love" as they call it.....I am sure to return the favor and visit your blog as well!

Just for fun I will share with you an image of myself I altered in Photoshop and added some digital scrapbooking elements to.

Because I care....

I made up 6 of these bags to keep in my car. I plan on giving them to those less fortunate that I pass along on the streets. Instead of giving the people with the signs money...I want to give them something that I hope they would buy if I gave them money.

I often think of how someone would wind up traveling around like they do...homeless and alone. How hard it must be to not have a friend or family member to take you in and help care for you (or at least choose not to be helped upon). Cold winter nights, hot summer days, no bed, no toilet, no shower, no food. It's really hard for me not to feel compassion for them. I give them money when I actually do have some cash on me (which is very rare). When I don't I can't even look into their eyes....and then I feel guilty and think "did they really ask for this path in life?". Yet I am afraid for my own safety and my families to do anything but hand them something out the window of my vehicle. I don't pick up hitchhikers and I don't actually give them "work for food", even though I wish it was safe enough to do so. I know that I personally have enough family and friends to keep me afloat if something tragic happened and I lost everything. But seeing them makes me wonder where I would wind up if I didn't?

OK, OK, enough negative ramble....off to the good stuff!! In the bags I have a roll of toilet paper, toothbrush (in a ziploc), toothpaste, bar of soap, carmex, and a mini deck of cards. It cost me roughly $6-7 per bag to make including the decorations.

I also put in a little note printed on balloon stationary paper with a matching envelope. I have had this stationary for quite some time and finally have a use for it!!! The note says:

For you I hope:

your path leads you the right way,

your mind gives you peace,

your heart gives you joy,

your mistakes give you knowledge,

your kindness is appreciated,

your evils are forgiven,

your stomach never aches,

your pain is short,

your health is well,

your happiness is abundant,

your strength is never ending,

your sleep is replenishing,

your courage is great,

your laugh is heard often,

your purpose is fulfilled.

My goal is to brighten their day, and hope to give them a little faith in the human race. Some of us do care out here and they need to know that.

Plastic Challenge!

I participated in my first Challenge last month!! It was so fun to use my out-of-the-box ideas that I have stored in my head! There are so many things from around the house that I spare from having to go into the trash, with the idea that "hey I could use that for scrapbooking". I have stashes of what some may consider "junk" but they are all endless possibilities to create something fab in my mind!

My example of my trash to treasure today is many plastic items I have saved from the circular file!!! Donna Downey has a monthly newsletter that you can sign up for here. The March "Trash to Treasure" challenge was to use plastic! Here was my take on the challenge!

I <3>
The album is made out of floppy disks and the binding rings were cut from plastic gift bags that had hair accessories in them (dollar store find!). I cut the handles to the size I needed and sewed the ends together with clear necklace thread (plastic maybe?).


The binding strap is made out of a ribbon, a plastic loop from a bra strap, and a plastic piece from toy packaging (you know the ones with the wire ties through it).

The metal sliders have hidden surprised in them!!

I removed the inner disk from some of the floppy’s and used them as pages. This one I wrote on with a white pen.

Peek-a-boo window with ribbon hidden inside.

I utilized this open hole and added some plastic beads!! I used the same necklace thread.

The floppy film on this page was inked with Tim Holtz alcohol inks and gives it more of a vinyl record look. A mini white…plastic button in the center as well!

The alcohol inks really showed up on the metal piece to the floppy film.

I used the hole in this disk as a frame. The Cricut image is actually inside the disk.
I added glitter to the floppy film with diamond glaze glue.

More glitter on the floppy film, and white text. There is another surprise on this page!

It is magic!!! Sorry for sloppy writing…but it’s mine!!!

This floppy film I had a layer of alcohol inks and then dabbed yellow acrylic paint on top. The pink alcohol ink blended with the acrylic paint!!! Prima flowers added on top with a plastic jem!

Another peek-a-boo window!

I punched an extra hole on the last page to tie the ribbon for the binding clasp.

On the final page I filled the empty hole with 4 scalloped circle punches that I chalked and adorned with a big plastic jem.

The ribbon charm is the adjustment strap from a bra!

Well that's it!!! I didn't win, but that's OK...I am totally proud of this baby and I am up for this month's challenge!! I will report to you next month on my recycled creation!!! Wish me luck!

Birthday Boys

Today I will share with you 2 Birthday cards that I made specifically for "boys" *ahem* well I guess I should say "men"!!!! :D



The first (as you may guess) was for my Daddy-O! To get the unique shaped papers that have the "Happy Birthday" sentiment on it, I cut the two rectangular papers to the size I wanted and then used a corner rounder on the opposite corners! I used Nostalgiques stamps for the "DAD", and Stampin' Up for the "Happy Birthday" which are embossed with white ultra thick powder. The edges are all inked in brown.

This one was for my bro-in-law!! I just love the retro paper and was lucky to find papers that matched the colors of the Kurio chipboard letters perfectly!!! It's so bright and artsy!!! LOVE IT! Not to mention it took me about 10 min. to conceive and create this puppy!

Bright Birthday

The birthday girl who received this card, loves purple, so I found a two coordinating purple papers in the Provo Craft Super Slab 10. I also had a purple piece of mulberry that went well with the ensemble. I used a 6x6 page that had the flourish cut on it already and traced it onto the back of the flower patterned paper. With an embossing pen I traced the outline of the papers and used Stamp N Stuff Starry Night embossing powder.

As an extra bonus in the card I used a piece of acrylic and made a tag with 3 cute birdies that tucked into the front of the card.

Wedding Cards

While I am in the mood for posting wedding projects, I will share with you the Bridal Shower card and wedding card I created for the wonderful Bride and Groom to be! I found a similar card in Card Maker magazine and this is my take on it. (When I find the issue I will credit it here!)

I even made my own envelope that I was pretty proud of!!

The Winning Wedding Invitation!!

In my last post I covered the spec wedding invitations I made. Well without further ado, here is the winning spec. It was modified very slightly from it's original state, but this is it!

This is what the invitation looks like fully open.

This is an insert card that was inside.

It is white Bazzil, gatefold with a flap. The black tile that hangs over one of the flaps is a black shiny (patent leather like) paper. The top maroon paper is WorldWin Dark Berry Red Paper. I used black Stazon Black ink and then re-inked the same image with embossing ink and topped it off with with Ranger Polysparkle embossing powder. The inside panel and insert card text was printed on my Epson R1800. The swirl stamps are Flourishes by Autumn Leaves and the heart stamp is Hearts & Flourishes by Clearly Inspired. I adorned the outer stamped flourishes with diamond jems.

*Edit 4/1/09* I forgot to mention that I made 170 of these babies!!! and I wanted to show the detail of the embossing. I want to give credit to the double embossing lining up perfectly to the fact that acrylic stamps rock!!! I would have never been able to do it with a traditional stamp and would have lost my mind trying :P

The Wedding Runner Ups....

In the process of designing a wedding invitation for a family member, I created 9 specs first. These are the 8 runner-ups in no particular order. I was testing different textures of papers, ribbons, colors, folds, and techniques throughout.


Spec#1: White paper, fold on 1/3 with maroon overlay over flap.

Spec #2: Black paper, fold on 1/3 with purple mulberry paper over flap, 2 jewels

Spec #2 inside: test of white and maroon paper with a vellum overlay.

Spec #3: Black paper, gatefold, purple mulberry accent, and gold heart wax seal

Spec #4: Black paper, triangle gatefold with punched holes and maroon ribbon tied through, inside has white overlay.

Spec #5: Black paper, gatefold with punched holes and maroon sheer ribbon tied through.

Spec #6: White paper, gatefold with purple mulberry accent, and black ribbon tied around entire invitation.

Spec #7: Black paper, gatefold with maroon sheer/satin ribbon tied around entire invitation.

Spec #7 inside: natural fiber paper matted with maroon. (Tested paper successfully in printer!!)

Spec #8: Black paper, double-gatefold (gatefold with flaps) with maroon ribbon tied around entire invitation.

Spec #8 inside: white overlays on panels, minus the "flap" panels.

I will post the "winning" spec invitation very soon!!

Get Well Soon

With flu season and other illnesses going around it is a good idea to keep a few "get well" cards on hand....of course I tell myself this "after" I didn't have one prepared for a friend who needed it. Luckily! I can whip one up PDQ!! Hypocrite is the name...procrastination is my game!!

The way this card came out reminds me of a style that this wonderful cardmaker does!!! Her cards are always gorgeous and I really run out of compliments to tell her...because she is SOOOO good! I found the flowers at Peachy Cheap!!!

I had a lot of fun sewing this card. My sewing machine has become a big part of my crafting lately!
This super cute bird stamp by Inkadinkado is sooo cute...I will definitely get a lot of use out of this one!

Pregnancy Journal

I had such a blast making this adorable pregnancy journal for someone special!! It is 6x6 and full of notebook lined pages for tons of journaling, calendar pages for tracking dates and memories, and has plenty of room for pictures and even some pockets for keepsakes, appointment reminders and those kind of things. I have the book temporarily bound with 3 jump rings, but when the mother-to-be is finished filling it out I will put the final binding in with my Bind-It-All!! The Bind-It-All is what I used to punch the holes in all the pages.

The pocket pages are filled with tags that have ribbons attached on the ends...ultimately making this book nice and thick!

I will give a quick run through of the types of pages within!! I would love to share every page (which I did take a picture of), but there are 70 pictures. On the inside cover I used a large 7 Gypsies sticker and punched animals from the Making Memories Jack line. Each notebook journal page was cut with either a border punch or a decorative scissor. This page was designed for the mother-to-be to talk about the journey into her pregnancy!!

For the next page I found a sticker that fit the tone of the book!!

Next is a small paper bag that holds a journal tag/card. This is a great place for her to place her OB's business card and maybe a note of how she came to choose that doctor.

Each page with a solid color cardstock was designed to adhere photos or mementos to. In the back of the book I supplied clear photo corners to make it quick and easy to add ultrasound photos in a flash!!!

This is a "pocket" page where journal tags are tucked within. It is another pattern from the Making Memories Jack line and has stars cut from the page revealing a teaser of the tags within.

I pulled the tags 1/2 way out so you can see their design. I stamped them with Autumn Leaves "Doodle Tagged" acrylic stamps, chalked the borders and then tied on the super cute American Crafts ribbon in tons of bright patterns!

You can see the stitching from the "pocket" page better on the backside! I put the 2 patterned cardstocks together with the patterns facing out, and sewed up 3 of the sides!

On this page I used a small left-over piece of the polka dot paper (used on the cover) to create a fun laced edge over the next page.

I love the pre-cut journal pages I found at my local scrapbook store! They are 12x12 so I was able to make 4 pages out of each one!

I found some "pregnancy" vellum stickers that even matched the colors of my cardstock!

These cute tabs separate the journal into trimesters! I attached them with complimentary colored eyelets.

After each trimester tab I inserted calendars for her to fill out. This is a great place to mark Dr. appointments and pregnancy milestones (i.e. felt first kick, found out sex of baby, had craving for ? food, etc.) that she may want to remember later.

More cute patterned paper and notebook paper.

On some of the solid cardstock pages I attached a couple of mini binder clips to hold papers or photos with.

Again I used a piece of the left over polka dot cardstock to use as an art element. I punched 3 holes in it with the same scalloped Martha Stewart punch that I used to cut the animals out. I think a couple photos behind the circles and maybe a journaled word like "love" or "baby" would look cute through the holes!!!

More super cute journaling pages and a new trimester tab! The look of the pages after each trimester tab are pretty similar to all the previous ones, but I mixed up the color combinations and patterns to edges of the notebook pages.

I will skip to the very end of the book where I created a pocket that holds all the extra journaling tags, clear sticker photo corners and things. I also included the left over 7 Gypsies stickers that I did not use, so that she may add them to the pages as she likes! The jumbo paper clip keeps everything from falling out.

This is a picture of the tags, photo corners and extra calendars.

As much as us Mommies like to think that these special moments will be locked in our memories forever......the memories DO unfortunately fade. That is why it is so important to take notes, write the quotes from things people have said, thoughts you may have had, good advice and even the "not so good" advice too! You will thank yourself later for it!

Thinking of you

When I made this card I was unable to scan it like my others, so I took a quick picture of it. So please ignore the shadows in the background. When I made this card I couldn't find blue letter stickers in the color I wanted.....so I tried a new technique by adding the letter stickers to the bottom of the card and painting over them with acrylic paint. After it dried I pulled the stickers off and put them back on the sticker sheet! Yay, I'll get to use them again!

The ribbon from the front of the card is tied in a bow on the inside of the card.

Supplies: flowers and brad by Imaginisce.

It's your Birthday!!!

Birthdays, Birthdays....I've made a card or two for the occasion! Here I used two similar products but made them have a completely different look and feel by using different techniques.

The first was for my brother so I gave it a grungy, distressed and morbid feeling. I ghost stamped skulls all over the card and inked it extra dark to fit his personal style.

The second card was for my hubby! I used lots of bright colored ribbon to give it an extra celebratory feel. The holographic cardstock was from a toy package (Princess I believe).

Supplies: patterned paper by DCWV, ribbon by American Crafts.

Birthdays

Birthdays are always a fun time to make a handmade card!!! I may not come up with the super-mushy or oober funny sentiments....but I can put a good amount of Love in my cards by creating them myself!

Valentines

Of course I will be playing catch-up on my blog, so everything will be "late". I think in an effort to save me some time I will minimize my descriptions of products. If you want to know what a product is you can leave me a comment asking for a products manufacturer.

I usually leave out the sentiments in my cards...but here it is in all it's mushy glory!

Supplies and design from the Card Makers February card kit.

GUILTY AS CHARGED

I have not been on my blog in 6 months...OMG. I literally fell off the face of the blogging world. Well I'm back...and hopefully with a vengance. A new year...a new me!!! I have so many projects to post on here...many of them the ones I mentioned in my last post.

Shelly my sweet bloggy friend the winner of my first giveaway I promise I have not forgotten you and I think about mailing your prize away....so very often...the problem is I lost your addy. I pinky swear I will add it to my address book this time and I will never loose you again.

After my last post within a week I had to reformat my laptops hard drive..and last month after re-arranging my craft room I had a boo-b00 and dropped a speaker on my laptop and ruined my hard drive. I had to install a new one. I've had a bit of the bad luck with my computer in the last months...but I promise I will be a better blogger!

I have so much to share with you all and I can't wait to start again! So here is to a new year of sharing my crafty creations to you all(holding glass of water high), may you forgive my past, and may you enjoy mine.... and your own future!!! CHEERS!

I'm here!

Sorry, for those of you patiently waiting to see if you were the Freebie Friday Winner on Monday. This week is just flying by. Soo, yesterday I had the 3 names wrote on paper and folded up in my hand. Mya drew a name for me and this is who she picked.

Big congrats to Shelly!! If you could e-mail me your addy, I will try and get the package out A.S.A.P.

I have some great projects that I have finished and I am just dying to get up here, I just need to give them out first!!! Hopefully this weekend, (fingers crossed) I will be able to give them out so it is safe for me to post them here so you can see them!! (wow that sound funny, did that make sense?)

I can't wait for our 4 day weekend to begin!!! Friday is "Fair Day" and Monday is "Labor Day"....it's like a mini vacay!!! Hope you all have a fun filled weekend!

Freebie Friday!!!

Thanks for stopping by! I am taking this idea from the wonderful Shelly! I always enjoy joining in her Freebie Friday giveaways...so I thought hey I could do that!! Up for grabs is 1 self inking 7 Gypsies "Congratulations" stamp!!!!! I stamped a piece of cardstock (which I won from one of Shelly's giveaways!) so that you can see how nice and juicy mine comes out!!

Leave a comment on this or the previous post about scrapbook rooms and I will have one of my girls draw a name on Sunday night!!! I'm excited are you?

*Update for previous post* The room is almost done!!! I just have the countertops and bills left!! My large fold up table is completely bare and there is nothing under it now!!! Yay!!

Creative Chaos...todays task

Ok, so this is a bit on the embarrassing side, but it is total reality. My scraphaven is UNorganized right now....I have SO many projects that are in mid-stride that all of my workspace is completely covered in projects. I got this idea from Susan Weinroth's blog...I liked the honesty (which is SO me) and thought I would give it a try! So here is what I am tackling today...wish me luck! Lets break it down here:

MY POOR ROOM...

you can see how it used to look in the upper left corner of my blog

EXHIBIT A:

1. decorative scissors pouch needs to find a better home. 2. stacks of yarns egg crates and other supplies that need to be put away. 3. Scrap paper binder out for current projects 4. Box FULL of manuals from electronics-toys-appliances-etc. I got this out yesterday to find my sewing machine manual because I could not get my machine to sew vinyl without snagging (still struggling a bit). 5. My purse...not sure why it is here? 6. (bottom left corner of pic..I had a hard time finding it just now too) Mya's Christmas frame from last year...it suddenly surfaced in the dining room, so it wound up here. 7. Gift bags and more gift bags..um these should be in the closet where the rest of the decorations are...but my stash is getting so big it is hard to fit it in there. 8. In the purple bag is a project that never got off the ground VBS books for the kids I bought enough supplies to make 25-30 mini books from Oriental Trading and the supplies did not come in until after VBS ended...sigh. In the bottom of the basket...um is magazines, books, pencils, receipts and things from around the house that needed to be put away. OK so this was a good idea at the time to clean the house and bring this with me from room to room, putting things in here that did not belong in each particular room, but then I didn't unload it after I was done (good intentions gone bad!) 9. Another basket that is full of birthday cards, newspaper clippings and other memorabilia that I plan on stuffing into scrapbooks. Oh, how does my hubby put up with my pack-rat behavior??? I can't help it everything feels so special to me...it is hard to let go.

EXHIBIT B:

Oh yes there is more. 1. A recently and mostly-completed super-mini album. 2. A stack of items that I am getting rid of everything but the Caboodle was NOT claimed so it is going to the thrift store....goodbye junk! Hey look I can purge items...yay for me!!! 3. Stack of mail-receipts-bills-magazines that need to be put away (starting to feel like crying now) 4. Sewing machine is out and being used for the last few days....need to get a ton of sewing projects done! 5. Yard of vinyl, my newest project!!! Can't wait to show everyone....Shelly already knows though (wink, and thanks for the super cute idea)! 6. Wooden organizer full of stamping inks which is supposed to be in the armoire, but I need it out for current projects. 7. On top of the counter is a few projects in the making (a gift, wedding invitations, and a project to make and attempt to sell) plus a few items that need put away or find a new home 8. The girls' purple and pink laundry hamper that the stitching is coming out of...needs sewed back together.

EXHIBIT C:

Oh yes, here is the finale. 1. Stack of bills-receipts-printed craft projects 2. VCR- You may ask why? Well I was trying out this software that connects a VCR to your computer so that you can burn all your VHS to DVD...yes a novel idea, but it wouldn't install on my Windows Vista...so luckily by neighbor let me borrow her laptop!! But seriously I need to buy the upgraded software so I can finish this project on my own laptop. 3. Box of wedding photos. I was making a DVD for our wedding which I am going to include all these too!!! It's going to be so cool when I'm done! 4. The stack of mini-VHS from our video camera, I went through every single one of these last Friday trying to find our Wedding videos....and nothing was labeled at the time. Well everything is labeled now..pheew. 5. Stack of clothes that need mending and a poster to return to my boss. 6. Under the desk is a bag with more clothes that need mending not to mention did you look at my Jerry-rigged curtains (hanging by 2 safety pins off of the curtain rod brackets)...tisk tisk. Yes, I need to sew a lot.... that's a lot, a lot, a lot!

Eeek, everyone please tell me your creative space gets a bit chaotic. I'll admit mine is beyond being OUT OF CONTROL, but not for long. Does anyone have tips for hoarders and pack-rats??? Your help would be great!!

School is in!!!

Well, the first day of school has come and gone! The girls wore their new outfits and toted brand new backpacks full of new school supplies. Shaylie was fortunate enough to find her best friend Keely from Kindergarten last year! To my excitement they are in the same class again this year!! I am so happy for her, Keely is a super sweet girl and I am glad that they will be able to blossom their friendship some more this year!

Supplies: School Days Quick page by Christy Skaggs at godigitalscrapbooking.com; and font Scrapkids.

Mya looked totally fashionable in her new Hannah Montanna get-up, with detached sleeves and all! I think it is pretty cute...I don't know how I feel about the barely laced Etnies though??? They look like they can fall off of her feet at any second.

Supplies: School Days Quick page by Christy Skaggs at godigitalscrapbooking.com; and font Scrapkids.

If you have kids in school, go grab todays freebie at GDS, I provided the links above...you can finish 2 layouts in under 10 min!!! SWEEEET!

Just for my neighbors!!

My neighbors have the cutest two little girls and I couldn't help but make them a scrapbook page after I was given a couple pictures of them!! They are both 6"x4" perfect for printing and slipping into a brag book!

Supplies: Natures Breath GDS Aug. 08 Collab Kit from GoDigitalScrapbooking.com; and Appendix3 font.

Techniques: I layered 3 frames over the picture (wooden, green flowers, and twigs), added drop shadows to 2 of the frames and bracket, added a flower in her hair and then lightened it and desaturated it until it matched the lighting on her forehead.

Supplies: Angel Of Mine Freebie Kit by Lori; Allembert, and Bookman Old Style fonts.

Techniques: I lightened and lightened the saturation and color on the photo. I added an outer glow and drop shadow to the title of the page.

I have a ton of projects that I am working on and getting ready to start....arggh if I just could complete a few of them to get em' up here....you'll know when they are done though...I promise!!

I'm Gettin Digi with it!!

I kind of stole the title of my post from the T-shirt a scrapbook store retailer gave me...I think you can see it in this post here or just scroll to the "Feeling" some Love post below.

You may have noticed I have posted a few digital products recently. Well it was only a matter of time before I became addicted to this. And with GoDigitalScrapbooking having a free daily download every day...how can I not afford to do a quick digital page every day!!! The problem is I want a bigger hard drive...ooooh or a server, ah that would be awesome! But we can all dream right? Speaking of dreaming, I stopped by Office Max yesterday and they had a computer I WANTED. It was an HP 22" touch screen oh, wow, me and the girls had fun playing with it!!! It was HUGE and so fun to touch the screen...I wonder how doing graphic design would be with it?? I could draw items with my finger!! Hehee, that thought makes me giddy!




Here is todays Free daily download at GDS (Go Digital Scrapbooking)! The only thing I had to do was plop the pictures into the 4 holes and I typed all the text....that's it!! If you want to try out digital scrapbooking this is the best way to go! Quick Pages are already put together and all you do is ad the text and pictures. This one normally retails for $1.5o, so even if you paid for it, it would still be cheaper than "regular" scrapbooking!!!

Supplies: Sunkissed Honey Quick Page by Lori Giles at GoDigitalScrapbooking.com; Papyrus, Pristina, Ruritania, and SA-Eckles fonts; and Photoshop Elements 2.0.

I recently made a card digitally for a fellow blogger friend Shelly!! I made it in Photoshop Elements 2.0 printed it out, cut the two pieces apart and adhered it to a blank card. The top section is actuall the inside of the card, and the bottom is the front of the card. You can kind of see the actual card in her post here!! If you have never been to her blog you have to go right now...she makes the cutest tags and cards and has an adorable addiction to owls (hence the theme to the card ;)

Supplies: Bliss of Happiness Page Kit by Verena Karolyi
at godigitalscrapbooking.com; Owl made with DB Animal Occasions font from Scrapnfonts.com; Decaying Kuntry font; Photoshop Elements 2.0.

Techniques: I added drop shadows on the owl and frame to give them more dimension. I also put a Wood pattern overlay and a bevel on the owl.

Do you like to scrapbook digitally? You should give it a try and let me know what you think of it!

Busy busy bee!!

For starters, I began making a journal to track my accomplishments each day, in an effort to feel better about myself (since I am an evil critic and killer to my own self esteem). It is a horrible habit that at the end of the each day I reflect on all the things I "DIDN'T" get done and never look at how much I really DID get done.


I got the idea for this wonderful journal from Donna Downey's Blog where she made her amazing art journal. Which mine is Kindergarten grade compared to hers, but I am not naturally artistic (bummer). However I made it work for my own needs...which is just to pick myself up after "I am kicking my @#$ do ya mind?" (movie quote from Liar Liar..hahaha) Sorry I digress...bad tendencies to put in every little detail and thought (still rambling).

So if you go to Donna Downey's website there is a video on how to make this book, and she does a much better job, but this is just a quick rundown. First you take a stack of newspaper and I even used the sale inserts. I used an 8x8 piece of acrylic to hold down over the newspaper and tore the pages into 8x8 pieces. You can tear about 3-5 pages at a time.

Then you use just a plain glue stick to glue about 10 pages together. I went through about 1 glue stick per completed page (3 total) but it could be that they were older and drying out. I like the look of the rugged edges, so I don't line them up "perfectly". What was extra cool is I finally used my brayer, by rolling it on each page after gluing it to get the wrinkles and air bubbles out!!! I have had this for about 3 years and never had a use for it until now!!!

Here is 3 pages (3o sheets of newsprint) all completed, they are nice and thick now, kind of like cardstock.

Donna suggests to paint them first with a white acrylic paint, which I did. Then just add whatever colors you want to your page.
Here are some more painted pages.
And a couple more painted pages.
This is the index or first page in the book. I do not have a cover yet, I would like to get some of that sheet metal like Donna shows on her blog, but we don't have any in town that I know of yet. I will be checking the new art supply store in town later today. I just used my handwriting on the pages with markers.
Here is yesterday's journal page!! I am pretty stoked about it, I know it is kind of boring, but they are just things that I accomplished yesterday written randomly across the page. There are a couple of doodles, but the point is to document my accomplishments. I am sure over time they will get a little more artsy, especially if I don't have a ton of things written down.

Totally cool idea huh!?! Big HUGE thanks Donna for being so creative!!

Next up I downloaded another freebie today at GoDigitalScrapbooking.com and put a 2 page digital layout together. I found the quotes on the internet and used pictures from last months vacation at CJ Strike. It was such a beautiful sunset, I'm glad I had my camera with me!!

Supplies: Natural Inspiration Add-On kit by Verena Karolyi at GoDigitalScrapbooking.com; Pristina font.

And last but certainly not least...I just had to share this awesome pic that I took at the races last weekend. It is the whole Team 49 Racing all together...which let me tell you is a rare shot. I am so proud of all of them, they work so so so stinkin hard on their cars and really...if you ask me...I think they are all very talented drivers. Sniff sniff, Love you guys and I'm so VERY proud of you all even if you don't get the respect you so very well deserve!! So here they are from left to right (which is youngest to oldest) in their I.M.C.A. modifieds; 49S Bobby Steensen, 49C Chris Steensen (my hubby!!), 49T Corey Steensen, and 49K Scott Steensen.

If you are ever near Elko, NV during April-September you have to come watch these guys at Summit Raceway...it's nail biting and butt clenching enjoyment (not kidding) let me tell ya!!

Vacation Freebie Template

I found this freebie template for a digital word page in a vacation theme!!! As soon as I was done downloading it, I whipped out last years vacation pics and put these all together in less than a half hour!!!! How cool is that?

The template came from godigitalscrapbooking.com and the direct link to the kit. It was created by Jilly Beans. Isn't that a cute name? I actually saw a license plate here in town that says that....hmm wonder if there is any affiliation or if it is just coincidence?

I also made a card the other day....you ever do something that makes you feel retarded!!! I hope I'm not the only one!! Not telling why, but I made this for someone special!!! I threw all this together with some of my paper scraps....I have a LARGE paper scrap collection, that is pack rat in me again, but hey they are all organized in folders by color. That is organized pack rat...thank you very much :P

Supplies: misc purple scrap papers; purple fibers; purple ink by pretty colors; and swirl alpha stamps by Stamp Craft.