It's been a productive week...

I knew I had gotten a fair amount done this week, but it wasn't until I sat down tonight to see which pics I was going to upload, that I realized that I've actually been quite productive. And that is good!

I told the lady at the craft store that is selling my cards that I already had over 50 made again, and she said that when she gets her second card rack back in the store that she will take these new ones I've made too!

I'll probably get started on some Christmas stuff soon, but I'm kinda waiting for all the new lines to get into the stores, and I am planning on getting a table at the Christmas craft fair that the town does every year. Not sure what the cost is, but I think it is reasonable and I may even see if my mom or sister want to do stuff too. I have a very talented family...my mom is an artist and has done some amazing work...some of my most cherished possessions are the pics she's done of Mercedes. And my sister does just beautiful stained glass stuff.

Well, enough with the blabbing here's some pics of a few of the things I did this week....

And last, but definately not least here is the layout that I finished last Sunday.

More cards and almost a layout!!

Here are a few of the cards I've done in the last couple days. The cardstock & butterfly stickers were both from the dollar store, and all the pattern paper that I used was from my scraps file!! Gotta love it when you can use something that would otherwise go in the garbage!

I am now back up to 30 cards on hand, which is nice cause I have a whole whack of birthdays coming up. As for the almost layout, it is actually done but for some reason I'm having problems with my usb port and so it's not letting me download my pictures off my camera! Total bummer! I'm really hoping it's just one of those things that can be fixed with a restart, but if not I'll have to get my brother to come over and get me back downloading again!!

Not much else going on now. My oldest daughter is in California right now having a wonderful time, and my youngest daughter is halfway through swimming lessons and she is having a blast! And today I enjoyed raiding my mom's garden and then feasting out with my 7 year old on fresh veggies! I guess I should consider myself lucky cause she loves almost every vegetable and gets geniunely excited about some of them! lol I think I see a scrapbook page about that in my future! lol

Speaking of future pages...I'm getting ready to take on another big project...soon, but not quite yet. It is currently in the fermenting stage where I just let it roll around in my head for awhile until things start to come together and are ready to be put on paper. This could turn out to be one of the most important things I've ever done. That's all I'm saying for now, but stay tuned cause I'll be getting started soon!

Just a few things I've been working on...

I've been on a real card kick lately so last week I took 76 cards & 40 mini 3x3 gift tags, down to the local craft store. We have an on commission arrangement, but she's already sold a couple and they aren't even up on the card rack yet! lol I hadn't really expected her to take all the cards I had, so I came home feeling a little sad & lonesome ( yes I do know how crazy that sounds!) and decided that I might as well just dive right back in and start working on the next batch. These are just a few of the ones I've made in the last day or so. TFL

No finished LO yet, but I have been busy...

So a few months ago I mentioned that I had found a fun, cheap and cool way to make embellishments outta something we would have just thrown away anyway!

It all started when I began to notice how much packaging is used on everything!! Especially stiff plastic, thicker than a transparency but still thin enough to be able to cut with scissors. Kids toys come full of this stuff...its' the plastic they use on the front so that the kids can see the toy! The top picture is my daughter's empty packaging and then on the bottom you can see how I just ripped it out. Don't even have to work if there is a little paper stuck on the back side.



After you've gathered your plastic, the real fun begins. The first thing to decide is what kind of "topping" are you going to use. If you are covering with a dense material (sand, microbeads, or dense glitter) then you don't need to alcohol ink or paint the plastic first.

For these hearts I did NOT alcohol ink them first. They all started out like the top 3 and then going from left to right I added red & gold thick glitter, the next one was covered in yellow seed beeds, the third one was given stripes made outta two different colors, and the last heart was covered with colored sand.



For making the shapes I've used plastic templates, stamps, ding bats, or any other thing you have that is not too detailed, so you can still cut it out! For some of these I had colored the alcohol sheet first and then stamped a few things, and also used the negative spaces from chipboard/grungeboard and they work great.

For this first one, I made a cute little elephant from a plastic template that I have had forever and ever!


The top pic is the plain plastic, middle pic is after using Denim, Stream and Silver Alcohol inks along with a bit of blender. The last picture shows the template that I used to cut out my elephant shape.

After cutting out the elephant shape, I covered him with Glossy Accents and then used 2 different shades of glitter until I felt that I had the color I wanted. Let glossy accents dry at least a couple hours...I usually do these late at night and then just let them dry all night.

The chipboard ribbon buckle is bright colors, so I just painted it silver and then sprinkled it with a bit of the same glitter to match the elephant.

And here is the finished card. :)
Well it's already been a long day, so that's all for tonight. I do have some other cards and shapes that I've been playing with so keep your eyes open cause who knows what I'll try to do next! lol

Where do I begin?

I have only done a couple scrapbook pages over the last month or so. I've been making cards like crazy, and playing with supplies, learning new techniques, but I have barely done any pages at all since I finished that album for my grandma. And it is definately not because I have no pics! I have choir pics, track meet pics, riding bikes, skipping rope, cute close-ups, zoo pics, more birthday pics, up the tree pics and that's just Mercedes!! lol I also have a ton of pics of Jessilyn that I want to start scrapping....both her grad pics and I'm hoping to make her an album with the pics that I have when she was little and some of the stories that she probably doesn't even remember...however I do it, it will be my next big project...and wasn't it just two months ago that I swore not to do a big project again anytime soon!?!?!

Oh well, I think for tonight I'll head over to http://www.pagemaps.com/ and check out the new August sketches, pick one and then just DO IT!!

Check back later for a new LO! :)

Wow! Three days in a row!!

I'm still having alot of pain with my mouth so I'm not sleeping much tonight and decided I might as well, just get up and add a few more pics to my blog.

This little elephant card is one of my favs that I've made lately...Basic Grey Two Scoops collection, K&Company chipboard ribbon buckle (painted silver and added some glitter), I made the elephant with stiff plastic, alcohol inks, glossy accents and glitter...gotta love glitter! :D

These cards were made with one of the patterns from http://sheetload.blogspot.com/Sheetload I love using these patterns and have even started to write out my own patterns with measurements. Sure makes throwing a card together quick and easy!

Here's a couple more that I did using a background technique that I learned from the Tim Holtz dvd http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Continues-Tim-Holtz/dp/B000ELJ3HG . Lots of cool things to learn on that dvd or any other place where you can learn from Tim! lol

And I guess that's all for now. I'll try to put up a few new pics of my dd up, unless I actually manage to scrapbook some of them instead! ;)

Could it be?

Am I really blogging two days in a row?!?! Shocker!! Today was a painful dentist day. I had a root from my wisdom tooth that has been stuck in my jaw for over 15 years! Recently the root decided that the time had come for me to have more dental problems. It really started to hurt last week, and by Monday morning I had a nice big golf ball size lump on my face. Went to the dentist and he suggested that they remove the root and hopefully that's the only problem...hopefully?? I had to take some antibiotics for a few days first before they could go digging around in there, so today was the day that the 15 year old root was finally removed from my mouth! The swelling is still pretty bad, and I'm pretty regular on those pains killers for now.

But it does definately feel better than last night, so I've been trying to keep myself distracted by scrappin! I've mostly just been playing tonight. Having fun trying to find new and exciting ways to use common supplies. I'll be posting a few new things tomorrow...for now it's time for some pain killers and hopefully some sleep!

Naughty, naughty blog writer...

Finally I managed to get a LO done and I've been making a ton of cards, so I figured the time had definately come for me to upload some of my latest stuff. I've been trying really hard to do at least something creative every day. Most days that's just making a few greeting cards or I've been doing lots of cute little 3" x 3" gift tags...such a great way to use scraps! Some days though, I just have fun playing with new techniques. I've been loving learning new background techniques using distress inks, and well I've been doing lots of playing with making my own embelliments using alcohol ink, stiff plastic, glossy accents, glitter, stamps or sharpies, templates and microbeads. If you look at the set of four cards you will notice that the embellishments from the bottom 2 cards are a glittery flower and a crown. Both were colored with alcohol ink, then cut into the shape needed. Add glossy accents to the plastic shape and cover with glitter, sand, microbeads, or anything else you want to use . Allow glue time to dry and then use glue dots or glossy accents to glue the accents to the card front.

My first LO in quite awhile....all pics from Mercedes birthday party.

Thinking of you cards
Any occasion

More than 8 cards with 2 pieces of patterned paper & 3 pieces of cardstock...all from the dollar store!

I'm hoping to get back on a roll with the layouts and other projects that I'd like to get done and as soon as that happens then I'll be blogging again more regularly. For now I hope you enjoy some of the cards I've been making. I think all of them have used a Sheetload pattern. Check them out at http://sheetload.blogspot.com/

Quick little post...

I survived through the birthday party and my daughter had a blast so that was the most important thing.

I haven't done any LO's in the last couple weeks, but I have been making cards almost daily just to satisfy my need to be creative. People have often asked me why I scrapbook and my answer is usually either "it keeps me outta trouble" or "it keeps me sane"! It truly does keep me sane when I feel like everything else around me is chaos, so I am continually grateful for this hobby...or as I prefer to call it...lifestyle!

Here's just a couple of the cards I made over the last couple days....I actually made a bunch more, but forgot to scan them before I sold em! Doh! I've been having fun playing with alcohol inks (which of course look much better irl). And making my own embellishments...like the giraffe on the baby card. :)

Crazy, crazy week

Tomorrow is Mercedes surprise 7th birthday party! Her actual birthday is on Thursday, but considering that she has wanted to be involved in all parts of the planning, the only way I hope I can really surprise her is be having the party the day before her birthday! lol

We are doing the party over at my sister's house cause they have a nice big yard with lots of room for 9 girls and 1 boy to run around. The first order of business is a treasure hunt so my mom found this old case for me and we spray painted it gold and then I cut out the black letters.


Of course every treasure chest should have lots of jewels and even a letter.

This was a plain ol brown gift bag and I just let Mercedes go crazy painting, gluing and just plain decorating in any way she choose. This will be used as a pinata and is full of more goodies.

We are also doing a craft...super easy when you are all ready a scrapbooker...I didnt have to buy a thing! lol I'll try to post some pics tomorrow.

Other than that, snacks, tag, hide & seek, and cupcakes iced with whipped cream and fresh strawberries.

So that is all for now...I will be ready for bed soon...it has been a crazy, busy week!

Birthday Parties...

are not my forte! My little princess will be seven years old next Thursday July 10 and I just can't seem to wrap my head around the idea that she will not stop growing! eek! :)

So I am now stressing out trying to plan a birthday party for 9 or 10 kids. And having a severe anxiety disorder at the best of times, I just feel like my head my explode. This is something I know that I can do...I've planned and pulled off a few parties in my life, but lately I've been having real hard time with it. My mom came over earlier and like the great mom she is, she took one look at me and asked "what's wrong". Nothing like a mom to be able to recognize things that would forever be a mystery to a man.

One of the things that are so frustrating to me when dealing with my bipolar disorder is that sometimes things that should be so easy, becomes nearly impossible even though I KNOW I can do it. I KNOW that my anxiety is totally inconsistant with the reality.

This is just one of the many reasons I scrap. Scrapping comes easy to me. And sometimes...it is the only thing in my life that comes easy.

Ok enough pity party!! My goal for tonight is to get some of the prep stuff started. I will be painting the base coat on at least one thing and then I'm going to do something a little scrappy...even if only a card or two.

So check back....I've be posting anything I managed to get done tonight.

Long day...

After spending 6 hours in the car today, along with about 3 hours at the Calgary Zoo, it turned out to be a really long day! Mercedes had a blast at the zoo though and I even managed to get a couple cute pics...I'll upload some tomorrow.

On Friday I did manage to get a trip to the scrapbook store, so it was nice to get some new supplies. Along with new pics and new supplies, I've also gotten 3 new scrappin magazines, and a book from the library about Scrapbooking with kids. Mercedes has already made me promise to do lots of scrappin with her over the summer, so I hope she can find some ideas she likes. She gets a little frustrated sometimes because she can't do it as good as me...I have to chuckle at that because I remember complaining to my mom that very same thing when I was little and couldn't draw. And just like my mother said to me, I now say to my daughter "if you keep practicing you will get to be just as good or even better than me!" And just like I did at that age, she finds that answer even more frustrating! lol Even funnier though is that she is already planning on how she will teach her children to be scrapbookers! lol Oh, to have your life planned at age 7! :)

But for the next 3 days I have the house all to myself so I'm hoping to spend most of it just relaxing, watching movies and scrapping. So stay tuned this week, I plan on having lots of new projects posted. I'll also be busy planning Mercedes birthday party for July 9 (she thinks it's the 10th, but she wants a surprise party so the ninth it is! :)

If you have any fun party games/activites for about 10 6-7 year old girls, please leave me a comment with some suggestions...planning children's parties is not my forte, so I will draw a name from anyone that leaves a comment here....the winning name will get a fun scrapbooking related RAK from me. :)

I think my mojo's back!!

I made a bunch more cards made this week, and I even managed to get a LO done! Tomorrow I'm going to the scrapbook store and hopefully give my paper stash a boost. Something about new paper always makes me want to scrap.

My daughter is going to spend a week at Grandma's house and my husband is going camping & fishing for 2 days, so I will have the house to myself for a couple days...WOOHOO!!! I have big plans for those days...eating whatever I want, sleeping whenever I want, scrapbooking wherever I want, and watching any movies or tv shows that I want!! I almost can't wait to kick em out the door! lol

Here's a small sampling of some of the cards I finished this week...I made over 20 cards with this general composition and colors, so was able to give some away, sell some and added a few to my personal stash.



I found out earlier this week that my daughter really doesn't know much about me, so I am starting an album for her using her baby pictures and recording some of the precious memories that I have from that time.

But first I made something for her now...a high school graduate!!! I feel so old! lol Here's a layout that I made for my daughter that just graduated. I attached ribbon to the top of the layout so she can hang it on her wall or she can remove the ribbon and put it in an album. I'm hoping to do a canvas for her with some of her pics in her grad dress, so I'll be looking for the perfect paper tomorrow at the scrapbook store.



So that's all for now...hopefully I'll be very creative over the next few days and have lots to post about!

Cards, cards and more cards...

I've been a little slack lately on keeping up with my blog, but I'm hoping to do better. I have been busy making lots of cards. Mercedes has 1 teacher and 4 teaching assistants, so I'm giving them all some handmade cards as an end of year gift. My mom is going to make me some little bags out of a sheer fabric, that the cards will fit in perfectly. I made some 3"x3" thank you cards to attach to each bag, and then I will give them all 5-7 cards with envelopes.

I've also started making a bunch of thank you cards for my grandma. I know that she wants to thank everyone that contributed to the album I made her, and she just can't afford to make 20 long distance calls, so I'm making a whole stack of cards for my brother to take out to her next week. I'm doing them as a surprise cause I know if I told her she would tell me not to make them, or to let her pay for them, but I'm just so grateful to have these opportunities to do things for her. She is the most generous person I know and it's nice to be able to be generous to her.

I haven't done any layouts for the last week or two, but I do have lots of pics to work on when I'm in the mood again. My oldest daughter graduated from high school so I want to do something special with some of her pics, and Brad managed to get a bunch of really good shots of Mercedes at her track meet last week, so I'm anxious to work on some of those pics too. I haven't bought any new paper for a couple months though, so I'm feeling the need to infuse my supplies with some new product...hopefully I can make it to the scrapbook store next week!

That's about it with me, but I'll try not to wait another 10 days before I post again.

Here are some of the cards I've made...