Y'all. It's time to get excited.
So remember how I said that I'm teaching a class and that you could pick from two different color schemes? Well, here's a peek of the vintage scheme. : )
Spots are still open! You can take the class on Saturday, December 3rd from 2 - 5 pm or Thursday, December 8th from 6-8 pm. Call Crop Paper Scissors at (254)751-7020 or go by the store to sign up. If you go by the store, you can see the traditional tags on display by the register.
Happy Wednesday!
Hey Peeps,
I saw this card in Scrapbooks, Etc. magazine. The instructions were pretty brief, so I thought I'd post my play-by-play here. I think my favorite thing (besides the glass glitter) is that it uses non-tradition colors but is very clearly a Christmas card.
Here we go. Hang on. : )
Trim cream cardstock to 4 3/4" x 6 3/4 ". Trim dark brown cardstock to 5" x 7".
Center cream cardstock over brown cardstock and adhere.
Draw a straight line down the center of the cream cardstock, stopping 1" from the top and 1/2" from the bottom. Draw a horizontal line about 1 1/2 " from the bottom, stopping 1/2" from either edge. Draw two more lines to connect the top of the vertical line to either side of your horizontal line.
Cut a small rectangle from the brown cardstock and adhere it to the center bottom of the card, covering up the bottom portion of the vertical line.
Punch a scalloped border with a border punch along the length (12") of 5 sheets of paper. I used 4 sheets of patterned paper and 1 sheet of relief cardstock (the blue paper pictured above).
Cut a strip from each sheet of patterned paper to 1 1/2" wide (12" long).
Lightly sand the relief cardstock so that your background color comes through.
Use a scoring tool or scoring blade to make a crease from the inside of each scallop (the valley if it was a mountain range) to the straight edge. Do this for each 1 1/2" strip.
Fold each strip accordian-style along the scored lines.
You have top make the tree starting from the bottom and working your way up, so arrange your patterned papers in the order that you want them.
Thread a thick-guage needle with a long piece of DMC floss. Tie a knot at one end. Thread floss through the bottom-most paper (bottom layer of the tree) from the back side (not the side that will be showing) through to the front, about 1/4" down from the straight (top) edge. Then thread the floss from front to back about 1/8" from top edge.
Continue threading along the top edge across the whole strip.
You can see that my 12" strip is now down to about 6".
Push your patterned paper down to the knotted end of the thread so that the straight top edge gathers together and the bottom scalloped edge flares out. (This is similar to how you make a ruffle with fabric.)
Continue to bunch the paper together to one end until the top gathered edge is a little wider than the width of your tree that you drew. Once you have it as tight as you want it, tie off the end of the thread with a knot.
NOTE: You don't have to stitch and gather your top edges, but I had a hard time bunching the paper and getting it to curve and centering it and glueing it with only two hands. If you have more than two hands, then by all means, skip this step. ; ) Once I stitched the tops, all I had to do was center the strip and tack it down.
Place your gathered strip on top of your tree and draw a line where the top edge meets the cardstock. Squeeze liquid glue just below your pencil line and adhere your folded strip to the cardstock.
I used Fabri-Tac liquid glue because it's strong but very gooey, so it is great for getting inside crevices. It also doesn't dry as fast as hot glue, and if you work quickly, you can shimmy things around a bit before it dries. You could probably use a glue gun, but you'd have to work quick like a bunny.
Continue the stitching and glueing steps with each layer. Each layer is going to be a little shorter width-wise, so trim of one or two folds as you measure against the width of your penciled tree. When you glue each top layer, add a line of glue to the top edge of your bottom layer (the layer that you're overlapping) to better hold each layer.
NOTE: I made sure that my top layer covered the ends (length-wise) of my bottom layer, so my rightmost blue fold overlaps my rightmost pink fold. Also, shimmy the folds of your top layer into the folds of your bottom layer. They don't have to line up exactly, but they need to be flush against each other so that the glue will hold.
Here's what it looks like once the tree layers are complete.
Punch a star out of extra patterned paper.
Cover it with glue and glitter (I used Glossy Accents because it's thin and super strong).
Once the glue dries, add some pop dots to the back of the star and adhere it to the top of the tree.
Punch a flourish tag from the relief cardstock. Lightly sand the cardstock. Add a sticker or rub-on or write a sweet sentiment. Adhere it to the right edge of the card, just under the star.
Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill. Patterned paper: Lilly Bee. Punches: Fiskars, EK Success. Thread: DMC. Glitter, rub-on.
And there you go! Pretty enough for your mantle and easy enough to make on a weeknight.
You can get the supplies, including your pick of three different scoring tools, at my favorite store.
Good luck!
My most recent escapade with mini albums (still working on the 29 list).
Supplies: Felt: Michael’s. Ribbon: Making Memories, American Crafts, Dear Lizzy + American Crafts. Alphas, heart: Heidi Swapp. Brads: Dear Lizzy + American Crafts, The Girls’ Paperie, Pebbles. Glitter: Martha Stewart. Rings: Office Depot. Chipboard, thread, fabric.
Right?! Here are some tidbits about the album.
About the Felt
- The felt was $0.33 per 8.5x11” sheet at Michael’s. I determined the album size by getting four rectangles per sheet, so my felt cost was something like $0.71 (This is cheap cheap – open stock paper is about $1 per sheet).
- It didn’t really work to use my corner rounder on the felt. It worked much better to punch a piece of chipboard, use that as a guide, and round my corners with sharp scissors.
- I attached the photos with double-sided Scotch tape. It’s stickier than regular mounting squares (which would not have stuck to the felt), and I thought liquid glue (which definitely would have stuck to the felt) might ruin my photos since it’s not acid-free. You could also use glue dots, but those are kind of expensive. I tend to ration mine. (I know. You’re shouting, “C’mon! Live a little!”)
About the Cover
- I drew the sun on chipboard, cut it out, and covered it with glitter. I trimmed off a few rays of sunshine to make room for everything.
- The heart is clear acrylic. I love that you can see the glitter from the back side.
- Once I glittered the sun and heart, I covered the glitter with a layer of Modge Podge. It dries clear (without a sheen like on the beignet page), but it keeps the glitter from coming off so easily. I did one coat but should probably go back and do two more.
- When I’m making a mini album from scratch and not from a pre-made album, I always make sure I scrap my cover before I decide where to punch my holes. You don’t want to paint yourself into a corner (or punch yourself into a bad cover?).
About the Rest of It
- I printed my journaling (the trip is in this post) on regular paper, then taped a piece of white fabric over it and ran the paper back through the printer. I’ve never printed on fabric with my printer, and I almost chickened out, but I was set on not using ANY paper in this album. It took me two tries – you have to pull the fabric pretty taught and tape it on all four sides so that it doesn’t shift in the printer.
- I sewed most of the ribbons directly onto the felt. I used Fabri-Tac liquid glue to attach the ribbons that I didn’t sew. You could also use hot glue.
- The brads are tricky since they attach to the back of the page and would have been visible on the opposite side. There were a few times I planned ahead and covered the fastener-side with ribbon, but on most of them, I just cut the fasteners off with scissors and glued them like I would a button.
This is a great scrappy-but-non-scrappy project. You don’t need any special tools like a paper trimmer or bone folder, and you could knock it out in a weekend while you’re watching Friday Night Lights, even faster if you just listened to music and got someone to bring you your meals. : )
Feel free to leave any questions in the comments.
Until next year, roommies…
then I think you'll like the cork jar.
I love how the tag turned out. It looks super cool but was really easy. Here’s the how-to.
1. Cut a piece of patterned paper to 4" x 2.5" and trim two corners at an angle.
2. Punch a small hole on the end of the tag, about 1/4” from the edge and centered.
3. Stamp a swirl in a similar or slightly darker color than your patterned paper. NOTE: You can use acrylic paint or ink. I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tea Dye.
4. Stamp “VINO” (because everything sounds fancier in Italian) in large letters in a second similar or slightly darker color. I used ink with a purply hue (Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Milled Lavender) to simulate red wine.
5. Apply chipboard letters. I like to use a pearl, rhinestone, button, or flower for dotting the i’s, j’s, etc.
6. Punch a flower out of coordinating patterned paper. Ink the edges, crumple the paper and straighten it back out. Attach it to the tag using a great (albeit dirty) vintage button. Thanks, Judy!
7. Trim a piece of ribbon or fabric to 3-4". Staple to the end of the tag.
8. Thread a piece of twine or jute through the hole you punched and around a mason jar. Tie off the ends in a knot or bow. TIP: I taped the jute to the jar with Scotch tape so the jute wouldn’t move around as I was tying the knot.
9. Display your jar prominently.
10. Drink heavily to accumulate a jar full of corks. : )
Enjoy!
So it's official! I'm on the design team for my local scrapbook store, Crop Paper Scissors! Woot woot!
I instantly fell in love with this floral paper and imagined creating a lovely reminder to hang by my nightstand and read every morning. I tried several phrases:
It got a little weird towards the end, but I found my way back. ; )
Supplies: Patterned paper, chipboard bird: Crate Paper. Alphas: American Crafts. Brad: Pebbles. Tissue paper, tulle, batting.
Right?!?!
There's more to come. It's going to be a great week.
Hey y'all, I have a pretty pretty new project to share. I wanted something kind of fancy and sophisticated, and this is what I came up with. I have dubbed it the love love board.
Supplies: Frame: Kaiser Craft. Patterned paper: Echo Park. Flowers, heart tab, typewriter stamps: Making Memories. Love script stamp: Heidi Swapp. Glitter glue, acrylic paint.
It occurs to me that this would have been a great how-to project since anyone can do it and it's not super scrapbook-y. And now I am kicking myself for not taking photos of my progress. Apologies. I'll give a brief run-down. Ask any questions in the comments.
Unfortunately, the roses are not going in a rose jar (here and here) because I bought them myself.
Sidebar: Last Saturday when I was preparing the artichoke, I said to Dave, "If I want flowers, I have to tell you. No! If I want flowers, I have to buy them myself!" To which I got a "Hmph."
The Frame: The frame was unfinished wood that I painted antique white. Then I painted two coats of taupe on top of the white (note: I matched the taupe to my book-print paper so that the tones would compliment).
Once dried, I sanded the taupe paint to get rid of my brush strokes. I sanded the edges to let the antique white show through.
The Paper: I glued the book-print paper to chipboard with Modge Podge, stacked a huge pile of books on top of it so that the paper wouldn't curl or bubble from the liquid glue, and let it sit overnight. Then I painted just a little silver glitter glue on top of the book-print. Both "love" words are stamped with acrylic paint. Then I glued the chipboard/paper to the wooden frame with FabriTac and again let it sit overnight under a stack of something heavy.
The Photo: The photo just popped into my head, then Dave and I dressed up, set it up, and made it happen. I wanted something J Crew-esque. I like it, but Dave and my best friend both said, "Where are the heads?"
Okay, I think that's all, or at least all that can be interesting without how-to photos (I'm still kicking myself).
Song: "Bottle It Up" by Sara Bareilles
Yet another project using photos of my grandparents. Man, I'm getting a TON of mileage out of them. : )
Supplies: Patterned paper: Jenni Bowlin. Alphas: American Crafts. Flowers: Prima. Corner: Melissa Frances. Tag, tissue tape: Tim Holtz. Clip: Office Depot. Ribbon, pearl.
I actually picked these photos (grandpa on the left, grandma on the right - Isn't that the cutest curl you've ever seen in your life??) to match the background paper. I definitely wanted black and white photos and something that was old or at least looked old, and these fit the bill (ha! - Did I just call my grandparents "old"?).
I cut my patterned paper to 7x8 and attached a piece of regular cardboard of the same size to the back. Since my paper looked like an old photograph, I sanded the edges and sanded the top of the paper to make it look like some of the color had flaked off over the years.
Here's the original background paper.
Jenni Bowlin Studios, Haven Collection, Betty's House.
Perfect for a heritage page, right? Here's my distressed edge.
Then I just started layering. I painted the foam letters to match my paper. I thought the font was perfect, but they were gray. I mixed two acrylic paints to get my color.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Every time I look at this board, I swoon a little. Love love.
p.s. See the board in person and pick up everything at Crop Paper Scissors. ; )
Time to share the Nashville mini album! I knocked this baby out last weekend, in between rounds of fried shrimp and cookies and while the fam was entertained with NASCAR and West Coast Customs.
I used to be intimidated by mini albums, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. And I'm really starting to like them for little trips and travel.
I made the cover and had some of the supplies from a Jenni Bowlin class last year. I added a few of my own things, too.
Supplies: Journal tags, pins, Bingo letters, coordinations paper, calendar: Jenni Bowlin. Patterned paper: October Afternoon. Yellow sticker letters: Cosmo Cricket. Cardstock: Bazzill. Tissue tape: Tim Holtz. Red tape: Martha Stewart. Tickets: SEI. Pen: Sharpie. Staples, tickets, gems, rings, ephemera, felt button; vintage checks, photos, postcard, butterfly.
Click on any of the photos to enlarge or see the new album in the right-hand margin.
A lot of the outside photos I took ended up being completely washed out and unusable, and I didn't get as many photos of Beth and me as I wish I had. I narrowed down my photos to the top 40 and had those printed through Snapfish on two 8x10 collages. Snapfish will let you print up to 20 photos per 8x10 sheet. I ordered them online and had them printed to my mom's neighborhood Walgreens where we picked them up an hour later. The photos were printed in various sizes (the smallest is 1 3/4 x 1, the largest is 3 1/2 x 2 1/2), perfect for a 3x6ish mini album. (Sidebar: It's free to join Snapfish, and you get 20 free prints. Plus, if you let me hook you up (do people still say that?), I get free prints, too. :) )
Since Beth and I did so much sight-seeing, I saved all of my ticket stubs from my trip. On most of them, I covered the back of the ticket with patterned paper and added a photo on top.
Most of the photos needed an explanation, so I knew I was going to do a lot of journaling. But since the photos and pages are so small, I didn't want to clutter up the pages with a lot of writing around the photos. I ended up adding a lined journal card every few pages and made a legend with alphabet stickers so that the letter on a photo corresponds to the description on the journal card right before or after it. I really like how it turned out! I messed up on the alphabet once or twice (I know, I know, it's sad), but with my newly adopted laissez-faire attitude, I let it go. In fact, I only mentioned it here so that everyone would know that I DO actually know my ABCs. : )
I just noticed that my color scheme of the Nashville mini is the same as this page I just did (read the post here).
Hmm. Maybe I like these colors more than I thought...
Okay, I think that's all!
Preface: Remember the sneaks I gave you? The reveals + 1 are this week! I couldn't post them until after my grandparents' anniversary party so that I wouldn't give away the surprise that I "borrowed" their photos. : )
My grandparents have been planning their 50th anniversary party for over a year. I've been planning the mini album for 6 months. ; )
I had this great canvas mini album by Maya Road. I decided that it would be perfect to use their wedding and dating photos for the album. The problem was that I didn't have any of those photos. Nothing a little reconnaissance work can't fix. (Insert evil laugh - Muah ha haaa!)
When we celebrated Christmas at their house, my mom and I quickly and quietly found their albums as we were "picking out a puzzle." I smuggled the albums out in my suitcase, brought them to Waco, scanned, printed, and replaced. Then in January, Dave and I visited the grandparents again, and I smuggled them back in. They were none the wiser. (Thanks to Mom, Dave, and Jerri for helping!)
I wanted to make the album classic looking, especially with most of the photos being in black and white. I used lots of neutrals with small pops of dusty rose (it seems like a romantic color). Two canvas envelopes came withe the album, so I decorated the "dating" photos and put them in the envelopes and used the wedding photos on the main chipboard pages. The only journaling I did was 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 plus two small tags to dedicate and sign the album.
See all of the photos at the new album in the right-hand margin.
Last Friday night, the whole family was hanging out around the dinner table, well after the dishes and dessert had been cleared. We celebrated the cousins' birthdays, and one more gift was in order.
Meme cried, so...mission accomplished. : )
My mom has always referred to me as her baby (just like I suspect she will forever call me "cute"). She uses it mostly when she's in denial.
"You can't go to the school dance with a boy! You're my baby!" "But Mom, I'm thirteen." (Said with a ton of attitude, I'm sure.)
"You can't go to college! You're my baby!" "But Mom, I'm eighteen."
"You can't be getting married! You're my baby!" "But Mom, I'm twenty-three."
"You can't be kissing! You're my baby!" "But Mom, I'm twenty-nine."
"You can't be twenty-nine! You're my baby!" "But Mom, you're forty-hmrmmrmr."
So I thought I'd make her a mini album of when I actually was her baby. These are some of my favorite all-time photos. I've been looking at them a lot lately.
I think the photos are from 1985 or 1986. The story goes that I was terrrrified of that pig. Hence my faces. The other story goes that every time I had a dress on, I loved to show my panties. What can I say. Too many jokes to choose from.
That's my aunt BB on the left, me in the middle, and my mom on the right. The end of her necklace has a small photo frame about the size of a quarter that has a baby picture of me in it. : )
Supplies: Fabric paper, patterned paper, ribbon: Dear Lizzy + American Crafts. Patterned paper, paper flowers: Girls' Paperie. Brads, felt flowers, foam thickers: American Crafts. Punches: Fiskars. Marker: Sharpie. Lace, pins.
Click on any of the photos to enlarge or click on the new album in the right margin.
The album only took me 5 hours. I was expecting it to take 12 (y'all know I'm a slow scrapper). I wanted to use my fabric paper since my mom's a quilter and appreciates fabric. I've also been saving my Girls' Paperie Paper Girl and Dear Lizzy lines for something really pretty and special, and this was it. As soon as I decided to do a mini album, I knew I had to use these supplies.
I followed Elizabeth's instructions here. Each page is about 4x4 (I think - I already gave it away - ha!), so I printed all of my photos as wallet sizes. I had to use Fabri-Tac on all of the fabric. Once I figured that out, it worked like a charm. Also, I only just now noticed that I signed the date as 2010 instead of 2011. Whoopsie!
Happy mini album. : )
I would have posted this on Sunday, but you know...I was being lazy instead.
So, you remember the summer road trip to Memphis, Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Louis? I now present its mini album.
Click on the new gallery at the right.
This came together in several steps. When I ordered my photos, I decided to do a separate album for our day trip to Chicago but leave in our dinner stop en route to Milwaukee. I also decided to take out all of the family Milwaukee shots and just leave the touristy things in the road trip album. I ordered duplicate prints of some of my favorites so I can scrap them again on regular pages later.
When I saw how many photos and memorabilia I had, I decided to use a ring album so I could fit more stuff. I found this album with divider tabs which was perfect to segregate each section of the trip by city.
I used the same line of paper and embellishments for the whole album. In fact, I bought them all last year when we decided to do a road trip, and I set everything aside until now. This made matching colors and patterns fool-proof. And since I knew I'd have photos and ephemera of all different colors, I knew I didn't want to try to match my papers to the trip. (Since the Chicago album was only the span of one day, I did match the paper colors to our outfits and consider scenery colors.) I put the embellishments aside and cut several papers to my mini album size (3.5"x6.5").
I divided my photos into stacks per city. I kept everything chronological. I cropped one photo at a time and decided if I wanted to adhere it to patterned paper or attach another photo to it. I worked with two photos at a time so I could make sure punching holes wouldn't ruin the photos. If it did, I'd reverse the photo order to turn it 180 degrees or I'd give up on pairing them and leave the back side blank. I worked through the whole album this way.
Once I had the photos cropped, adhered, and punched, I added all of the business cards, tags, and other items from the trip. I often staggered these and the photos so that they were punched through the top two holes or bottom two holes, but not every item is 3.5"x6.5".
I made another pass for the journaling. I wrote in the margins, on the back of the cards, on travel tags, and added a few extra inserts for more space.
Last pass was to add flowers, stamps, and tags. I ran out of stamps, so I cut small rectangles out of patterned paper, inked the edges, and used a hole punch on the four corners.
I usually like to do the cover first so that it kind of sets the tone for the rest of the album, plus I like to make sure my best supplies are available and not used up throughout the book. I had to do this one in a few pieces since I didn't have all of my supplies with me, but I still had an idea of what I wanted. I lined the inside covers with patterned paper, sanded and inked the edges. I like the plain kraft cover (and it looks great with the pink paint), so I didn't want to cover up too much or put patterned paper on the cover. I drew light pencil lines as a guide for my title and stamped the letters and numbers with acrylic paint. I knew I wanted to use fabric tape on the spine but didn't know how wide it would be, so I lined up my title on the right margin instead of centering it.
I finished the cover with some fabric tape. It has adhesive on one side, but the adhesive wasn't holding up to the corners, so I glued the tape down with Glossy Accents. The striped tape is actually two pieces side by side. I used the green dots to overlap the stripes, and the brown dots to overlap that. I tucked the ends under and again glued with Glossy Accents. The final touch was the ribbon threaded through the rings and tied in a knot across the spine. It's the same ribbon I used inside the album for the journal cards.
And there you have it. The long-winded description of how I made this album. ; )
These last few weeks, I've been in a state of lethargy. I can't get motivated to work out, cook, do laundry... Scrapbooking hasn't made the cut either as it would interfere with prime Veronica Mars time. I'm even too lazy to read (magazines included!). I've resorted to TV and movies, which now that I think about it, may be a direct correlation to my new love affair with Netflix. I digress.
So Monday night, I decided that enough is enough! Get up! Clean something! Make something! DO something!
Fine, Angela. You win.
My Young Life leader Elisa gave me the best cuddle pillow as a gift my senior year in high school.
photo taken at Project Graduation in May, 2000. See the floral pillow towards the bottom?
Alas, ten years later, the pillow case with my initials embroidered on it (which are now obsolete) has seen better days. Now, I won't let my mom keep socks with holes in them, so in order to not be a hypocrite and as much as it pained me, I had to put the pillow case out of its misery. It had a good life until it didn't. The pillow is still in tact, so I started thinking about a new wardrobe for it.
Sidebar: My mom gave me her old sewing machine when I got married. At the time, I thought, "Okay, maybe I'll make curtains if I can't sweet-talk Mom into doing it." My defense was always that it didn't sew straight (NOT operator error), so I still needed her to sew my projects for me. Then I discovered that it works on paper. And HOT DOG! It sews straight on paper!
Return to main story: So, wanting to break out of my laziness rut and wanting to complete a project in one night, I gave my cuddle pillow a new outfit.
Fabric: Amy Butler, Love Collection. Lace.
My mom had given me a fat quarter (that's what they say in the biz for an 18" square of fabric) of this. The pillow is approximately 10x12x4, so it was perfect. I sewed the lace right along the edge so the stitches aren't noticeable. The true test of my craftsmanship will be after I wash it a few times.
And there you have it! Rut over!
P.S. I still maintain that my machine cannot hem pants.
Hello, All,
How 'bout something festive? What? You want to know what an envelope album is? Alright. Done.
Supplies: Album: Little Yellow Bicycle. Tags: Heidi Grace. Alphas: American Crafts. Ribbon.
This is an envelope album kit from Little Yellow Bicycle. The directions are pretty easy to follow. It's just like a regular album, but instead of chipboard or patterned paper for each of the pages, you use envelopes. You can adhere your photos, journaling, and embellishments to the envelopes just like normal. All of the journal cards are supposed to go inside of the envelopes, but I punched holes in a few of them and added them to the album. You can keep all of your extra pictures inside the envelopes and adhere all of your best photos on the outside of the envelopes. You can also stash journaling and other memorabilia inside the envelopes. And since this album is bound with metal rings, you can easily add more pages. You can even punch holes right through your photos and add them as a page (like I did in the Chicago album).
If you're in town, you can swing by Crop Paper Scissors to buy the kit.
FYI, you can also make envelope albums out of regular envelopes that you get anywhere. I have a Christmas and anniversary album that I'll share in the upcoming appropriate seasons. : )
Peace out, Homie Gs.
P.S. Way to go, Bears!!
and it's scrappy, too!
I made one of my best lists today comparing Ryan from The OC with Logan from Veronica Mars. I came up with 32 similarities! Yep, this is what I do while procrastinating.
Another great list - top 30 memories of my friend Angie from my friends and me. (See the cupcake streamers on the left?)
Supplies: Patterned paper: Dear Lizzy + American Crafts. Alphas: American Crafts. Flower: Heidi Swapp. Brad: Basic Grey. Solid paper.
This is a super easy project and anyone can do it. I glued a photo to a piece of patterned paper and stuck that onto a second piece of patterned paper. I added the title to the top. I had some friends help me with a list of great memories, typed it up, and printed it on color paper. Cut the list into strips and glue them down onto some patterned paper. Secure the flower with a brad. Done and done.
Note that glitter letters are always more fun!
I got the new Taylor Swift and Sara Bareilles albums tonight...so...that's what I'll be doing tomorrow. : )
Ciao.
Hello friends,
I threw my friend Angie a pseudo-surprise birthday party over the weekend with the help of a few friends. I was able to throw together some super cute and cheap decorations, i.e. cupcake streamers. :)
Step 1: Gather up mini cupcake baking cups. I got these from Wal-Mart, 350 for $3.50.
Step 2: Quickly flatten each cup by pulling opposite sides apart.
Step 3: Run the cups through your sewing machine end to end.
Step 4: Hang. :)
Step 5: Repeat with multiple colors.
Step 6: Repeat again using butterflies or other objects that you punched out of patterned paper (tip: use double-sided paper).
Lovely. :)
How 'bout I throw in a little somepin' extra? Dave and I were on our way to Chipotle for lunch today and reminisced over our love of Freebirds by coming up with a little list. That's right. :)
Twenty Reasons Why Freebirds Is Better Than Chipotle
1. multiple burrito size options
2. multiple tortilla flavors
3. cool foil art
4. the little warmer they put your burrito in while you order the next one
5. they label your burritos with your name
6. the music stand they use to tell you how long the wait is
6. lime juice
7. meat that isn't SO spicy
8. fresh tomatoes that isn't pico
9. cilantro
10. Spanish rice beats cilantro rice
11. eccentric employees
12. they always ask if this is your first time at Freebirds and walk you through the ordering process
13. the same person takes your entire order when you're the sucker who goes in for the whole family
14. refried beans, baby!
15. superior foil swaddling
16. Texas-based company
17. Mountain Dew
18. drive-thru window
19. sales tax is included in the listed price
20. free sour cream or guac if you pass on the beans (but really, it's totally worth the $0.75)
Thank you, and good night!
So, almost a month ago, you'll remember that Dave bought me these.
<Sigh.>
I dried them, cut the stems, and removed the leaves.
Then I rounded up a Mason jar from our wedding reception, scraped the candle wax out of it, put the rose heads in the jar, and made an envelope-tag to tell the story.
Supplies: Patterned paper: Basic Grey. Alphas, journal tag: dear lizzy American Crafts. Paint: Apple Barrel. Pen: Sharpie. Button, ribbon, velcro, thread.
I started by cutting a rectangle from two sheets of patterned paper (4 3/4 by 12) and adhering those together. Then I dumped out a pail (you know, like Jack & Jill used) to trace an arc. Once I had cut that out, I painted the perimeter with light pink paint and then ran it through my sewing machine. Everything else just got tacked down, including a very small piece of velcro. I used a small piece so that the flap stays down but the paper doesn't bend when you open the envelope.
It was kind of tricky to decide where my letters were going to go since the "g" and "f" took up so much space. I spelled out my title by attaching the letters to wax paper and arranging the words on the card. Once I knew where I wanted the letters to stay, I stuck them onto the card.
And now this rose jar is going on the shelf with my other one. ; )
But not in that order.
First, a snipet of a conversation between Dave and I on our way home from eating out and errands.
Dave: Did you watch The Jetsons when you were little?
Angela: Yep.
D: Smurfs?
A: Yep.
D: The Flintstones?
A: Yep.
D: Did you take Flintstone vitamins??
A: Yep.
D: Me too! We ARE perfect for each other!
A: : )
In my haste last night, I forgot to add any of the close up shots of my Chicago mini album or list the supplies [in case anyone is interested]. Here you are!
Supplies: File Folder: Rusty Pickle. Patterned paper: American Crafts, Studio Calico, Lily Bee, Creative Imaginations, Hambly Screen Prints, Scenic Route. Transparencies, rub-ons: Hambly Screen Prints. Chipboard alphas, fabric strips: American Crafts. Ghost heart: Heidi Swapp. Ribbon, alpha stickers: Making Memories. Pen: Sharpie. Ribbon, lace, staples, reinforcers, rings.
A few fun facts: The chipboard heart covered with the cloud paper was the tag from a Victoria's Secret something that I kept. I glued the cloud paper to it, cut around the edges with an X-acto knife, then sanded the edges (similar to the chipboard buttons in "hindsight"). The journaling on the heart is from a blog entry. The reinforcers I used around the holes on the cover are so old that the box of 200 has a price of 15 cents. I have no idea where I got them.
I added a photo album to the right margin that has all of the original pictures of the Chicago album. You should be able to see the pages better, and you can click on any of the thumbnails to get a larger photo.
This weekend is huge for the store. Crop Paper Scissors is having THREE 7 gypsies classes and a crop night AND a make 'n take! (You remember 7 gypsies, right?) It's going to be legendary! It's not too late to sign up, and be sure to check out my pages throughout the store. I'm working on some new stuff that should be up by then...
So enough about me, how are youuuu?
As promised, the Chicago mini album!!
This one is a little different for me. I don't make a lot of mini albums. I tried to keep this one pretty simple with minimal embellishments. I also kept all of the photos (except one) the same size (4x5.3 or so). This was also my first time using transparencies, and I'm hooked!
I tried to keep a pretty tight color pallette: gray, bubblegum/hot pink, teal, cream, white. I also used lots of polka dots, stripes, and grids instead of my standard bows and flowers. I was really shooting for making the album in 4 or 5 hours, but true to form, I'm a very slow scrapper, and it took me about a day and a half.
Sorry this post turned out to be so flat. I need to start planning my jokes before 10 pm. Maybe tomorrow.
Hello hello!
Today was definitely a Monday with tons of emails and phone calls. Which makes me think that my whole week is going to be off-kilter until Friday when I think it's Thursday and then realize it's the weekend. Yahtzee!
How about some scrapbooking stuff?
This is my favorite project to date. Love. It.
Supplies: Patterned paper, wish ticket: Jenni Bowlin. Flower: Prima. Pin: Making Memories. Eyelets: American Crafts. Buttons: Tres Jolie. Chipboard letters: Chatterbox. Crackle paint: Jim Holtz. Ivory paint: Apple Barrel. Stamp: Studio Calico. Journal cards: Webster's Pages. Pen: Sharpie. German glass glitter (coarse). Book pages, crocheted lace.
This project started because my mother-in-law gave me a piece of lace that her grandmother crocheted, and I wanted to do something really special with it.
First I cut a rectangle out of a cardboard box, about 8" x 11". Then I painted the perimeter with crackle paint. Then I just started layering. I hand cut the patterned paper flower. I covered brown chipboard letters with glass glitter. I used pages from an actual book of fairy tales. Ugh, it was my first time to tear pages out of a book! The anguish! But it was too perfect to have "The Real Princess" title on the board.
I think that's it. That's it, right?
Hello all,
Do you ever get in one of those moods where even though you still have 52 things to do before you leave for vacation, you have an overwhelming urge to pull everything out of your scrap closet because you just got new bins from Target and your DYING to organize? No? Just me? (We'll see how long I can last. It might be a loooooong night.)
Last weekend, I took an amazing class with the even more amazing Jenni Bowlin. Her MO is combining products from her line with vintage trinkets and ephemera. This mini is a beach-themed album. I haven't been to the beach in forever (fine, three years) and I'm not going any time soon. Then it occurred to me that I have been to the river twice this year, once with Dave and once with the girls, and I just picked up my pictures from my underwater camera. So instead of choosing one trip over the other, I chose the river and included both trips.
This album makes me happy. Lots of great memories.
I'll leave you with the photos. ; )
