How Cool Is This?

A couple of months I bought a YUDU if you aren't familiar with this awesome machine- well let me tell you- IT ROCKS!!!! If you've ever wanted or had the need to silk screen- check this puppy out. You print what you want to silk screen onto a transparency with your regular old printer .... then you stick it in the machine and burn the image into the emulsion and before you know it you are a silk screening fool. I've been making T-shirts for our Boy Scout Troop- which has turned into T-Shirts for other Troops as well. Best of all my boys can do it and make a little pocket money. Awesome.

I'm Baaaaack

Hi! I am sorry that I have been AWOL for so long. I've been busy with a capital B. Lots of news both good and bad. Part of the reason I've been missing for so long is that my Mom has Alzheimer's Disease. It's taken me months just to be able to say it out loud. She's been in and out of the hospital since December and I've been flying home now and again to stay with her a week here and a week there. Then of course when I get home it takes me a couple of weeks to get things back to normal. Both boys are done with school for the year and I feel like I finally have some time to scrap and blog again. I have all my Mom's photographs and would like desperately to put something together for her to help her memory. If anyone knows of a site dealing with Alzheimer's and Scrapbooking I would love to know about it. The journal I showcased in my last post was for me to journal and heal. I'll be posting some things from it soon. I've missed you guys.

Art Journal

At an antique store I discovered a leather bound book with a very unique binding system and instantly knew that I could make it into the perfect Art Journal. The book was a cheap looking brown leather painted with gold flecks and the string that held the binding together was a garish yellow cord. But, the bones were good and the idea was strong so I brought it home.
First I removed the cording and made myself a diagram of how exactly it was strung so I could replace it with a choice of my own. I then sanded the book and applied Gesso. Then the fun began. Layers of paint, lots of sanding, a crackle finish, more sanding, more paint. Finally I had a look I was happy with. Then it was on to finding the perfect images. The bird images were applied with Modge Podge.
Next the sheet music strips and more paint and more sanding. Then the rubon words and aged heart. I liked it and applied a good coat of Modge Podge over everything.

Next I decided on the paper and bought 2 pads. One Acrylic Paper and one Watercolor Paper. I removed 10 sheets from each pad and cut them to size. Then punched the holes into each page and applied circle strenghtening stickers around the holes on both front and back. Staggering Acrylic page and Watercolor page I stacked the pages and began the process of binding. For this I chose I lovely blue and white fabric trim I had in my stash. Lastly, I added a little bling in the form of an antique clover shaped rhinestone and pearl pin that I had purchased at an antique show. I love my journal and can't wait to get work inside.

The Book

I woke up this morning and just knew what I had to do. Start an Art Journal. Today would be the day I started my quest to find the perfect book. I have pondered this idea before and knew that I wanted an old book. Something with a leather cover, loved and worn. A book of good size and shape. Thick, but not to thick. Slightly aged pages very little or no pictures. But, most importantly the book needed to speak to me. It had to say.. I am the one.
I browsed through antique mall after antique mall until I say it. Right size, right shape, lovely leather cover, perfectly aged binding and the title Quests and Conquests was perfect. I had to have it! But, there wasn't a price on my treasure. I literally held my breath as I took it to the counter to inquire about it's cost.
$5.00 was verdict which I gleefully paid and hurried home. I love the feel of the book. I love it's weight. And then I really looked inside. I will not alter this book. It's AMAZING. Full of daily inspirations and bits and pieces of wisdom. Parts of famous speeches and things to ponder, day after day. I love this book all the more for what is inside and the quest for the perfect journal continues. Quests and Conquests will now be the inspiration for the pages of the Art Journal as each page is a wealth of knowledge. This is the book I was truly meant to find.

Who Says?

I've been thinking a bunch lately about scrapping style. What is mine?
It didn't take long before I realized to the answer that question I needed to determine what my goal was when it came to scrapping. What started out as a hobby, something for fun, quickly turned into having to use the latest products and having to scrap in the latest style. Books, magazines, countless hours researching. For what? Who says what is right and what is wrong in scrapping? Afterall, isn't it a personal expression? Aren't they your memories with your feelings and experiences attached? So I say- go for it, use what you want, scrap how you feel. Let your memories and emotion dictate the page and not something you saw somewhere else. Have fun and scrap from the heart!

My friend Stacie scrapped an album about a trip she took to see a concert..her book inspired me to scrap about a trip we took to Kennedy Space Center...it's not your typical scrapping style and when I posted it online it was met with a very dismal response. So you know what? I'm embarassed to admit, I stopped making the book.
In my quest for organization I came across it, along with all things gathered to complete it. As I looked at the abandoned little album I realized that I really like it. It's fun, it tells the story of our adventure. I like this style of scrapping. I like this book and I don't care if it isn't the latest style or if it uses the latest products. And you know what? I'm going to finish it... just how it is. I think it's out of this world.

Organization

What is it about January that makes you want to get organized? Maybe it has something to do with all those new presents needing a place to go. Maybe it's a New Year's Resolution that we automatically and silently make to ourselves or maybe it's as simple as New Year equals fresh start?

Whatever it is... I'm obsessed. Somewhere deep in my being I crave a perfectly organized home. Reality is there isn't a single aspect of my life that is properly organized.

Think about it. Organized living would be more peaceful. Organized living means being about to invite people over at a moments notice. It means guilt free, "me time"
It means a bunch. Less stress, less chaos, a sense of pride.

I get all that but, here's where I struggle. I don't want to give up other things to make the time to stay organized. Oh, if only once I did it and it would effortlessly stay that way.

I think that is the hardest aspect of homekeeping. Nobody notices what you do, but boy do they notice what doesn't get done. Heavens forbid you don't make dinner or don't put sheets on the bed. That and the fact nothing is ever really finished. You can't stand back and look at it, like a fine piece of art in a museum and say, "Well Done"!

You do the laundry- but, everyone is wearing clothes that will need to be done the next day. You buy groceries and they have the nerve to eat them. You wash the dishes just as someone grabs a bowl of cereal. It's a never ending circle.

There's a tiny voice inside of me that is relentless in it's nagging. "The boys are older now... if you do it, it can stay that way.... do it, do it, do it!

So I decided to start with they Scraproom. Why? because it seems like all the clutter around here somehow revolves around that room. Ticket stubs on the counter in the kitchen. Bits and pieces of things that are to precious to throw away.
Conatiners begging to be altered. Magazines full of amazing ideas.

So- the organization has begun. Starting with my massive hoard of ribbon. I thought I would share my idea. It starts with cutting boards that I found at Dollar Tree.
Each package comes with 2 Mats. These mats are thin enough to be cut with your trimmer. I cut each mat into rectangles that measure 2 1/2" by 2 1/4". Then using my Crop-a-dile I easily punched a hanging hole in each rectangle. Easy so far and quick! Then I drew on 2 lines, each 1 3/4" long. Next using my slot punch I started punching out the lines.
This part isn't as easy or a quick as I would have liked. If anyone has an idea of how this step could be improved..please post it. Anyway, while watching football I was able to amass quite a few finished rectangles. Then the fun part began! removing ribbons (I started with pink) from spools and jars and various failed storage attempts and adding them to my rectangles. If the amount of a particular ribbon is more than 1 yard, I cut it into 1 yard pieces. It's pretty to look at, it will be easy to see exactly what I have in all colors and a real space saver. Best of all my total cost for making 96 rectangles is $2.14! Be sure to save your scraps- these will work great for making your own letters and embellishments! Heck, buy more cutting mats and cut out your own funky shaped album.

Bert

Earlier this week I returned from PA where we were for the holidays. It took us 10 1/2 hours to get home. I have never been good at sitting still- so for me a drive like that is particularly uncomfortable.
We had just finished unpacking the car when my son's friend arrived and they decided to go get something to eat.
Somehow in all the confusion of packages in and suitcases and laundry piles, our dog Bert managed to get outside and my son's friend drove over his foot! Good thing we got the van unloaded because the boys stuck Bert into the back and off we headed to the emergency vet.

What an ordeal that was...as soon as we got there they made me fill out forms- Then they wanted to make a copy of my drivers license. Crap! I had been using 2 purses on the trip to PA and the license was in my other purse. Luckily my son had his permit with him and they copied that...finally we head to the exam room.
They look Bert over and then head off to type me an estimate. When presented it had they best case scenario price and the worst case scenario price, which were vastly different. I also had to decide then and there if I wanted him to have lifesaving measures in case of heart failure (extra charge $300.00).
I look at Bert all pitiful and agree to treatment even though I still don't know what is wrong!
Then the unreal part.
I have to pay in cash.
Yep, you heard me ..cash. Since I don't have my drivers license they won't treat him until I give them cash.
My debit card isn't good enough, my credit card isn't good enough, forget about a check- Bert is going to suffer and receive no attention until I provide $$$$'s.
I have to leave the vet's office and find an ATM.
Luckily it turned out that there were no broken bones. $400.00 later all they did was shave his leg, clean his wounds and apply gauze. They did however provide me with a lovely CD of xrays of his foot. So it's only fitting that today's layout is about Bert.

Homemade Amaretto

I've been a busy little elf lately. Last night I finally got down to business and altered those little coke ornament bottles I've had in my stash.
First I removed the labels and the little ring that is left around the nexk of the bottle when the cap is removed. Then I went outside and spray painted all the lids a shiny gold. While they were drying I washed out all the bottles and then used a little bit of fingernail polish remover to take of the black manufacturing numbers on the side and neck of the bottle. When the bottles were clean and dry and I applied Chrismas rubons I had in my stash and then set about making the Amaretto.
I swear it tastes like the real thing...

In a saucepan over medium heat combine:
1 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
Heat until just boiling and until all the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Next add:
2 cups Vodka
2 tablespoons almond extract
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Stir well.

Fill your bottles with your homemade Amaretto. (One recipe above fills 2 bottles.) Add your gold lid and tie with a beautiful bow. Be sure to add a Homemade Amaretto tag!

I'll be giving these bottles to my friends and neighbors along with some Snickerdoodles and Nut Roll cookies.

If you aren't an Amaretto fan a quick search on the internet will turn up recipies for homemade Bailey's Irish Cream too!

Christmas Cards

The pressure is on. For quite a few years I have been sending homemade Christmas cards. I love making them, but now everyone expects one and I am not one to disappoint. This year I thought and thought and thought about the card I wanted to make. I've done cute. I've done country. I've done clever. Hmmmmmmmm. So this year's card is elegant. Yep, I know kind of out of the box for me. Hope you like it. I got the idea for the tree from Impress Rubber stamps. To make it I used a snowflake punch and 2 shades of blue green Bazzill Cardstock and red Bazzill Bling Cardstock.
The snowflakes are glued in just the center so the edges jut up and stick out-just as the branches of a tree would.
I cut the Happy Christmas words using my Cricut and their Christmas Soluntions cartridge. The silver stripe and tree trunk are from silver paper that I have had in my stash for so long I have no idea where they came from....the silver stars however are a completely different story. They are Hotfix metallic stars. If you aren't familiar with Hotfix- it's awesome. Metals, beads and crystals in all sizes and shapes you can imagine that when touched with the heated Hotfix wand aheres in seconds to whatever you want to place them on. Fun, product that I will Blog more about later this week.

Folded Ornament

I tried making these folded ornaments the other day and they are really fun to do! They kind of remind me of when I was a teenager and we made gum wrapper chains. Here are the step by step instructions....
Step 1: Cut 8 equal squares of Scrapbook paper or Gift Wrap in any size you'd like. The larger the squares, the larger the ornament.

Step 2: With the wrong side up- locate the center of your square and fold all four corners into the center.

Step 3: Fold the bottom point of the square up to the top, making a triangle.

If you find your folding isn't tight enough to hold the pieces in place..Add a little drop of glue to the points and repeat the final step.


Step 4: Fold one flap down to the bottom edge.

Step 5: Fold the triangle in half away from you- making a smaller triangle. The "smooth" side goes on the inside.

Step 5: Slide the flaps of one triangle into the pockets of another. Repeat with all 8 squares until the ornament is completed. Add a hole and string to hang.

Homemade Holidays Open House

If you're strolling around the internet today or tomorrow and are looking for something to do...I suggest dropping in at the Homemade Holidays Open House at Rocky Mountain Hobbies. You'll find it listed under the Cyber Crop Central section of the message board. The Design Team has put together fun Homemade Packaging ideas for their favorite homemade holiday goodies and have included the recipes. Fun,fun, fun!
For the crop I made little gingerbread houses from half pint milk cartons and included a recipe for microwave Peanut Butter Fudge as my project. Hope you'll stop by!

Christmas is Coming!

"This year I will be done with my shopping early. This year I will be organized. This year I will bake cookies for all my friends and neighbors. This year I will enjoy the holiday and won't let the stress get to me." This is my new mantra- I vow to say it to myself whenever I feel Christmas becoming a chore. Oh how I secretly long for those childhood days when it was all filled with excitement, fun and magic. That being said I truly am one who would much rather give a gift than receive one. I just wish I could fold my arms and nod my head ala I Dream of Jeannie and have everything cleaned and decorated, bought, wrapped and baked.

To get myself started in the Christmas spirit I made a gift bag and matching card.
To make these I tried something new. I used an ink pad that has no ink. It's glue!
I then used an acrylic stamp with the glue the same as if it were ink. The applied glitter to the glue. You can use a fine lose glitter or you can purchase glitter sheets. This also works with flocking. I then used Stickles glitter glue and added bulbs to my trees. It's hard to photograph- but it's really worth the effort. Very pretty. The result is much more professional looking than in the photograph. I can think of a thousand ideas for this technique. Adding names to ribbons. Making decorative edges on To and From tags. I highly recommend trying this technique so you too can get some of the sparkle, shine and magic back into your Christmas. Last year I did a country Christmas, this year I think I just might be putting on the Ritz! Not one to usually go for "bling" I think a little glitz might be fun for a change.

Funky!

I have advice today. It's my birthday. I'm getting older and feel like this qualifies me to give advice. Be bold. Be daring. Take risks! Maybe it's just a scrapbook page- but, I went out on a fun, funky limb for this one and I love it! I stitched, I inked, I stamped. I used patterns and colors I never thought I would use. I cut and layered and then I layered some more. I say go for it! There are no rules when it comes to scrapbooking!!! Just have fun.

Oh MY GOSH she posted in her blog!!

I know- I know it's been way to long since I posted. Life went into warp speed for a while- but, things are back to normal (I hope). Anyway- I am getting caught up on my scrapping, it feels GREAT. Love this Granola line by Basic Grey. The combination of Blue and Brown seems to be my favorite lately. No the boys aren't in trouble- they spent a day volunteering to clean up a roadway to prevent all the litter and trash from winding up in rivers and creeks. This layout reminds me of something I learned recently. Whenever you are using a group of photographs it's important that one stands out and becomes the focal photograph of your layout, otherwise if all the photos are competing for attention your eye doesn't know where to look and everything becomes visually jumbled together. For this layout I chose Jake's face to be my photo focal point.

This layout left me a bit puzzled when it comes to color choices. What to do with the flourescent yellow that is in most of the photos? I decided to ignore it. What would you have done?

October

Is it just me or do you get excited when it's October 1st? To me it means the beginning of fall and all the holidays. I know that I am ready for fall clothes and fall foods and am secretly starting to think a tiny bit about Christmas. So fun.
I had a great time working on this layout. I love the pictures and I loved the paper..and the rubber stamps are so fun. Everything is by Cosmo Cricket in case you are wondering. I made the little bats, pumpkin and stars using the stamps. A little trick I used was using a hole punch to punch from my double sided patterned paper and used the little circles around the scallops. Perfectly coordinated and economical! For the journaling- I printed directly onto a photograph of pumpkin guts and then cut out and matted the strips.
The title wasn't standing out just plain black so I went around the edges and outlined using a white colored pencil- this looked to stark compared to everything else so I then went over the white with an orange pencil- I think it turned out pretty well. Thanks for looking!

Formation

Not a very complicated layout- but, I really wanted not to detract from the photo!
Always keep your eyes open for things that can be used as embellishment. The Boy Scouts of America strip at the bottom is actually from a Uniform shirt my son spilled paint on. I also saved the pockets, buttons and American Flag patch from the sleeve!

The arrows were plain chipboard that I covered with paper and then used a large nail file to sand around the edges. Taking time to do this simple step makes a world of difference!

When you have a ton of photographs surrounding a cetain theme (like I have for Scouts) look at all papers for patterns and colors that will work, don't just limit yourself to those designed for your exact theme. For example, the patterned papers used here are from the Basic Gray Mellow collection. Having papers like these will add a lot more interest to my son's finished album.

Hood Rats

Here's a tip for using leftover letters! To make the two different styles of lettering work for the title I made them work together by first adhering them to a piece of white cardstock and then cutting them out as a unit. I did this again with colored cardstock because I needed a little more punch- the result was a rather stylish title! I often wondered how people mixed and matched different letters so well.. I think this is the trick!

If you like the flowers they were fun and easy. I made them from pipe cleaners while waiting in the car to pick up my kids. I then punch a hole in the layout and stuck the "stems" through and split them like a brad... I think it turned out pretty cool!

Lake GoJumpInA

This Monochromatic layout features a paper line called Mr. Campy. It's by Cosmo Cricket and I swear they had me in mind when they designed it. These papers and the sticker were perfect for this layout which is about the tradition of the Camp Staff swimming across the lake (in full uniform) following their final formation of the summer. I made the title by printing onto cardstock and then giving it a light watercolor wash-then once it dried cutting out each letter. I like this layout because I think I told the story both in pictures and in words.

Life Is Like A Box of Chocolates

Fun, Silly layout! I used watercolor paper and watercolors to make the sun and the word meeting.. definately a technique worth trying and using again and again. The colors in person are so vibrant and have so much depth. You can't see it very well in the scan- but, in true Forest Gump style I added a white feather- (it's right next to the word "Meeting") Don't you just love the little bird? He's from October Afternoon... one of my new favorite lines!

Easy Digital

I am definately not a digital scrapper. I love the feel of the paper and like the feeling of creating with my hands. I also know that I would never, ever in a million years print out the digital pages that I make. But, I do think it's great to use a little bit of digital wizardry here and there. Take this layout for example- I made the little logo. It took seconds, was done with clipart and it filled a void when I wasn't able to find what I was looking for in the way of embellishment shopping. It didn't require any special expensive programs - it was all done on Microsoft Word. It's another thrifty tip as the cost was a piece of scrap cardstock and the tiniest bit of computer ink!