All that Glitters

When I was little my Grandma had an entire village of little glittery houses on a table near her Christmas Tree. I loved those houses and spent hours playing with
them- so I made a tag to bring back those memories. I had fun applying all the glitter. I haven't made anything with glitter in years!


I am hoping to carve out some time to make 3-D house ornaments for my tree.
A search on Ebay found photos for inspiration.
Another search produced a template!
http://images.marthastewart.com/images/content/web/pdfs/2000/la_1200_wintervillage.pdf

Holiday Magic

Christmas is a great time to add a little sparkle. This photo was taken as I was putting away Christmas decorations and our cat Allie decided that the center of a wreath was a perfect place to take a nap. To play off the twinkle of the antique ornaments on the wreath I adhered sequins to the layout!

Not Myself ...

Thanks so much for your kind posts! I'm in a funk and they sure helped. Maybe it's the rainy, dreary weather, maybe it's because I had my birthday and am another year older, or it's the fact that my scraproom despite everyone's best efforts still isn't complete. Who knows- it's probably a combination of all the above- but, I've got the blues and a killer sinus infection. Makes a girl just want to stay in bed- but, there's carpool to run, dinner to cook and mountains of laundry and that nagging feeling in back of my mind that I had better get started on Christmas.

Hopefully, I will snap out of it soon! I'm forcing myself to make Christmas cards for a swap and they make me smile. Scrappin' therapy at it's best.

Thankful

I'm thankful for so many things! I'm especially thankful for a day that makes me slow down a bit and take time to really think about all the reasons in my life to give thanks.
One of the things on my "thanks list" is for you who stop by and read my humble blog. Writing a blog is a new experience for me and while I truly enjoy it I find it a struggle sometimes because it can feel like no one is here.
So if you stop by today and have time please leave me a post. Just say "Hi" or let me know what you like about the blog or what you'd like to see me post more about.
I'd honestly be thankful for your input.

Getting Ready

Is anyone else cooking Thanksgiving besides me? My menu is planned, the groceries are bought and today I plan on setting the table and making pumpkin pies. I can hardly wait for the house to be filled with the smell of Thanksgiving. Ideas for
scrapping would be to make up slips of paper and have everyone in your family write on them what they are thankful for- then read them at the table and save them for
your journaling!

If I have time I plan on making the adorable Turkey Centerpiece pictured. I found it on MarthaStewart.com. It's printable! You can find the instructions here:
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/paper-turkeys?lnc=e49fdc53f03ee010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=collage_holiday_thanksgiving-holiday-crafts_p9

Chugging Along!

Sorry for the gap in posts... I've been rearranging furniture and had the pc taken apart for a bit. I'm coming along on my Scrapping room and still shooting for the
24th as my completion date. I'm also learning to be patient. The bases for my new work surfaces took my husband 9 days longer than he said they would. Then once they were done and it was time to cut the plexiglass top- of course he needed a new saw blade and that took 3 days to purchase. :::sigh::: In his defense he's been working some really long hours lately. Boy is there a lot to organize in a scrapping room!
I'm discovering lots of things I forgot I had, which is never a bad thing and sort of a freebee in my opinion. Speaking of Freebee's one of my favorite things to do on my layouts is to embellish them with things I find laying around the house. On the layout below I used a piece of train track that was bent and no longer usable. Keep your eyes peeled for things around your house you can use for your scrapping! It's a way to be original without all the work of making something.

Freebee Alert!

Have you seen these? Last night while frantically trying to buy groceries for the Boy Scout camping trip I spied these across the room and my heart actually skipped a beat! So cute! Can you imagine the scrapping possibilities! At $1.00 a piece you could alter one while drinking another. Fun!
I found mine at Walmart- but, they are sure to be turning up everywhere!

I'm not sure if it's a compliment or a curse. But, if you are a scrapper eventually family and friends start expecting and hoping for homemade items for gifts. Hand created cards are a must, followed by hand crafted gifts and gift tags and oh so clever wrappings.
The thing is that I truly like making presents for everyone- it's just that there aren't enough hours in the day. Oh, sure every year right after the holidays I vow to begin making things right away for the following year- but, of course that never happens and then I want to wait and see what the new products will be and the next thing you know Thanksgiving is less than a week away and the panic sets in. That's where I am now... trying to think of things that will:

1). make my Mom cry (that's how we know she REALLY likes it)
2). make my Mother in Law happy (because I love to find her just the right thing)
3). give my Father in Law a chuckle
4). do something truly spectacular for my Sister (my biggest scrapbooking fan)as
well as finishing up the layouts I promised her I would do months ago.
5). put together something for my neice to keep her intrest in scrapping going!

Eeek! So in honor of my stressed out scrapping holiday to do list today I'm posting
a tag idea so you can get up jump on your list!

I'm getting there!

If you read my blog regularly then you'll remember that a few weeks ago I made a disappointing trip to Ikea to purchase four of the table legs pictured. When they were out of stock my husband offered to make them for me. Well I am happy to report that they are done and are exactly like the ones from the store! I've painted two and yesterday hauled them upstairs to my scrapping room. Then I removed the antique glass doorknob from one of the old doors I bought as "desktops" and placed it on top. I couldn't be more pleased and can't wait to get the other one upstairs and into place. The next step is to install the plexiglass tops. Boy is plexiglass expensive! On top of the my husband will need a special saw blade to cut it so that the "edges" are nice. The redo of my scrapping space is my birthday gift. So I'll reveal pictures of the finished room on my actual birthday- November 24th! I hope you'll like it as much as I think I am going to and that you'll find some storage and organizational tips that you can use in your scrapping space.

10 Reasons

Here's quick gift idea... Make an accordian mini album about 10 reasons why you love something. For example- 10 reasons why we love Grandpa. What grandfather wouldn't love to receive that? It's quick it's simple and definately a crowd pleaser. Ready made accordian album with coordinating papers help. But, it's easy to make your own accordian album too. A search on the internet will give you lots of ideas. My example is an album I made for my son that features our dog, his loyal sidekick and ever so faithful companion.

The inside of the album will come together quickly if you let your photographs help you to decide the reasons that you Love something. Study your photographs and the reasons will come to you quickly. Using your own handwriting for the journaling also speeds up the process and gives your album a personal touch.

One of the things I like best about making a 10 things album is you get to finally use up some of those number stickers we all have hanging around! For a nice finishing touch be sure to tie a ribbon around the entire album.

Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day and this morning my sons were the color guard at church. They carried the flags, posted them and led the congregation in the Pledge of Allegience.
They looked so confident and proud dressed in their Boy Scout Uniforms. I was proud.
I kept thinking that my Dad would have been even prouder and how much I wished he was still living so he could see them.

My Dad served in World War II. Fresh out of High School he joined the Navy, where they sent him to school and he became a Photographer. He took photographs of many historical events and was even an aerial photographer that hung outside of airplanes taking pictures of terrain so that maps could be made.

I looked at my oldest son this morning and couldn't even imagine him doing things like that at his age- yet he's the same age my Dad was.

This year my Mom moved into a smaller place and passed on to me all the family memorabilia. Six of those huge blue plastic tote boxes packed full. Included in them are my Dad's photographs from the war.

They've been passed to me and entrusted to me as the one who "will know what to do with them." What a daunting title! Yes, I scrapbook. But, this is different. Where do I even begin to sort through and make sense of entire lives? How can I do them justice? So for now the boxes still sit. Unsorted and untouched. I would love to scan and make albums for my siblings and my Mom I just don't know what computer program to use or where to begin. Have any of you taken on a task of
this magnitude? Any ideas of suggestions would be so welcome!

I'm At the Cybercrop!

If your lurking around the internet today and want something fun to do.. come by
the message board on RockyMountainHobbies.com. Today's the Holiday Gift Cybercrop.
Free step by step project ideas, games and challenges! Prizes too!
I'm up to my eyeballs in projects today- so I'm only half here. Ha!
The legs for my tables are being completed as I type this and in between my
duties at the cybercrop I will be staining them and doing laundry and cooking
dinner and........well- you get the picture! Ohh I almost forgot- you have until Midnight, Sunday, November 11th to get your projects posted to the gallery. Winners
are all selected by random drawing- so everyone has the same chance of winning!!

Yard Sales

I'm sorry I am posting a bit later in the day than usual. Fact is that after I dropped my son of from school I just couldn't ignore the yard sale signs along the drive home.

The first sale I stopped at I found some great things. A box of Congratulations banners for $1.00. I will for sure be using these at my oldest Son's Eagle Ceremony in January. A book called "Pipe Cleaners Gone Crazy"! I can never resist a good craft book and this one shows darling things like Penguins and Bees made by just twisting the right colored pipe cleaners in the right directions. I've always thought that Pipe Cleaners had to have some use in scrapping- so not so long ago
I bought boxes of them on clearance- maybe now with the help of this book I will figure out how I can use them in the scrapping world. Then I found and grabbed a belt identical to one my oldest has that my youngest always "borrows". The $1.00 price tag was a bargain for peace.

Then I continued on to the 2nd Yard Sale. Where the only thing I purchased is my find of the day. There on a table were not one, but two styrofoam cones. And they were only 10 cents a piece! I know I busted into a giant grin as I picked them up- because one of the projects for the RockyMountainHobbies.com Holiday Cybercrop on Saturday is making button trees on - you guessed it- styrofoam cones! Sherry Laffoon is teaching the class. Aren't they darling? I just love when you hit a yard sale and find exactly what you need - seriously what are the odds?

2Cute

Here's a fun idea. Make a vanity plate as a page embellishment. It's a great way to use up letters sticker from you stash!

Early Bird Project Contest

3D Snowflakes!! Learn how to make this amazing project and enter your creation for a chance to win prizes!! What could be more fun? They are quick easy and any size you'd like them to be!

Use the link below for step by step instructions and your chance to win!

http://forum.rockymountainhobbies.com/showthread.php?t=4682

Holiday Gift Cyber Crop

Sorry I've been late in posting the last couple of mornings. I've been busy working on things for the Holiday Gift Cyber Crop at RockMountainHobbies.com the crop is this Saturday from Noon until 7pm Eastern. There will be a project with step by step photographed instructions posted each hour as well as games and challenges all day. Lots of prizes and a grand prize Queen of the Crop!!

An Early Bird Challenge was posted this morning:
Okay Scrappers here is your chance to get a jump start on the Holiday Gift Crop... Winner of this challenge will receive a $10.00 Rocky Mountain Hobbies Gift Certificate as well as an embellishment package valued at $15.00. The winner will be selected by random drawing of all who entered before Midnight (eastern) Sunday, November 11th!

Good Luck-- here is your challenge!
__________________________________________________ _____________

12 Days of Christmas Challenge

Sing along and make a layout using the following....

One the twelfth of Christmas my true love gave to me...

12x12 cardstock
11 inches of ribbon
10 or more journaling words
9 or more polka dots
8 tiny doodles
7 stitches or staples
6 days to get it done!
5 great photographs
4 words in your title
3 different patterned papers
2 or more things made of Chipboard
and A little bit of bling!

Create a 12x12 layout using all of the items listed above! It can be about anything!! Then scan or photograph your completed work and be prepared to upload it to the special Cybercrop gallery before it closes at Midnight (Eastern) Sunday, November 11th!

For more information about the crop go to the Message Boards on RockyMountainHobbies.com it's sure to be a lot of fun!!

Photo Clues

Being the Mom of 2 boys I rarely get to do "girl things". Especially when on vacation-most of our activities revolve around what the male 3/4 want to do. On a trip to Charleston I really wanted to visit the Old Exhange and everyone agreed
that we should make a stop so I could see it. I was so fascinated watching the women weave baskets from reed. I could have stayed there all day. Of course while interested the men became restless pretty quickly- so I snapped some pictures and off we went.
I really wanted my layout to showcase the beauty of the baskets so for my title I used a piece of paper that had the texture and look of woven baskets. I glued a portion of the paper to piece of chipboard and then on the back traced (backwards)some of my Making Memories chipboard letters and then cut them out.
I love using chipboard letters and Heidi Swapp ghost alphabets as templates. It's a great way to stretch your scrapping buck!
I also love finding something in my photographs and using that as the inspiration for
my title. Be it a color or a texture- it's even fun to make letters from the unused portion of cropped photographs. So my tip for today is don't let the letters that you buy stay as they are- use them as templates and make something really special.

Napkins- Who knew?

Here's a Layout that I did a long time ago. I'm posting it because it features a nifty trick that you can try too. Printed napkins are a great source of scrapping goodness! The image of the building under the journaling is from a napkin we got during dinner. Napkins are layered and if you carefully pull the layers apart you will end up with the printed design on a tissue thin piece of napkin. This can be applied with a little bit of Modge Podge onto anything! Imagine applying it to chipboard pieces!! You just put a little Modge Podge onto the surface where you want the napkin to go.. then carfully set down the napkin and using a sponge brush apply a little Modge Podge over the top and Voila! This technique is great with Wedding Napkins, Napkins used during a holiday dinner, Birthdays- you name it!

Ummm I don't think so....

I don't know about anyone else- but, I am tired of layouts with just a single picture. If I were to scrap a picture at time I would never get caught up and my albums would be so thick you'd need a forklift to move them. I'm not saying that there is never a reason to scrap a single photo- really spectacular shots or really special events sometimes call for that amount of love and attention, but for most layouts I am commiting myself to buck the trend and to scrap a lot of photo's! Whatever happened to 2 page spreads? They almost seem like a thing of the past- ridiculous!
Here's an example of a layout using a ton of photos- I like it. It tells a story. So there!

I'm Hooked !

Besides scrapbooking I love to dye and felt wool. I then take the wool and make things from it or cut it into strips and hook rugs. In the layout below I scrapped about my other hobby. I used materials for the layout that I use when making rugs.
And added photographs of a couple of my finished rugs.
What other things do you like to do besides scrapbooking? Have you made a Layout about them?

Consider making a layout about other hobbies or past hobbies!