Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Another Sneak Peek...

Today I'm sharing some of my new girlie journaling cards. I'm hoping to get them listed in my shop this week. I also have some sample projects to show you using them later this week too. They are just perfect for the princess in your life. :)

Princess Mini Journaling Cards:


Silhouette Journaling Card Set:
I just love the little bracket tabs too. I decided to start making more sets that have a variety of shapes, makes em' extra fun for layering! ...and you know how I love to layer on my pages...

Speaking of layering... here's a little side note. I guess this love of layering is some how genetic. I have apparently passed it on to my 5 year old son. It has taken quite a different form though. (one that causes me to have massive quantities of laundry) All of a sudden Parker has started wearing SO MANY layers of clothing! My goodness! Every time we go somewhere my friends always wind up calling with this puzzled tone in their voices, "Ummm I found some of Parker's clothes in so and so's room. 1 pair of pants, 2 shirts, some socks, and a jacket." It always sounds like they are trying to figure out how he left in the buff without their noticing. Some days I have no clue how many layers he has on until it's bedtime. I suppose I could put my foot down and say no more, but it's so him. Just one more crazy little quirk that makes him my son! I should really do a scrapbook page on all his little quirks! :)

Monday, March 30, 2009

A New Sketch!

It's been a while since I posted a sketch, so here is one I did recently:


....and here is the layout I made with it...

I fell in love with these papers the moment I saw them, Colorbok's Friendly Forest line. Love it! I was glad to finally put them to use! I added some chipboard stars, twine, buttons, and doodling to the layout. I decided to use the orange frame for a pop of color and to highlight my kids sweet faces.

The cute bracket is a new journaling card I made for my shop. I haven't listed them yet, but I couldn't wait to use them. They are big, fun, and perfect for layering too! I'll be listing them soon... you can contact me in the shop if you'd like some in the mean time.
I don't know about you, but I love graph and ledger type papers. I love anything that resembles and office supply for scrapbooking. They are marvelous and just go with everything. I guess you could say they are my crafty version of the "little black dress," when in doubt they always work!:)

Have a fabulous Monday! Be sure and stop by the shop this week, I'll be adding lots of new goodies! Go here to check them out!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Playing with Pictures

I've been playing around a bit with some pictures I took of my children last weekend. A good friend of ours was in a roping competition, so we went down to cheer him on. My oldest Parker has always been in love with all things cowboy, so when we told him where we were going he quickly began give out wardrobe instructions to his siblings. He picked out this cowboy gear for his brother and they looked so cute together! This is one of the shots I snapped of our little guy, apparently our families newest cowboy in training, while he was watching his brother ride.
I got a new photo program for Christmas, and I really haven't got to play with it that much so I thought I'd mess around a bit with these. I love how the photo softens and washes out at the edges and how it looks a bit beat up. Now that I'm looking at it though, I think I need to go back and lower the caption so you can read it better... hmmm...

I added a vintage photo frame to this one, but I think I like the other version better. You'll probably see one of these on a layout soon because I have made it my goal to stay caught up with scrapbooking in 2009! (Let's hope I can do it!)

I've been adding some of the new journaling cards to my shop, so go here to check them out!

Friday, March 27, 2009

A new layout with 2 of my FAVORITE techniques...

Hey all! I have a few favorite scrapbooking/crafting techniques that I just love to use, so I thought I'd share 2 of them with you today.

Here is a layout I did using another one of those Valentine photo cards I made, this time of my son Connor.



I love to make little collages on my layouts. They add so much texture and dimension and are super fun to do. I think it works best if you use a combination of paper elements and 3-D elements. For this one I used a bingo card, 2 different journaling spots, an acrylic crown, and a cute clip.



I also love to use gathers and ruffles on my projects. (like the crepe paper ruffles I used on the previous layout...) This is such a simple technique, but it adds so much to your page. I take a spool of ribbon, in this case I used some yummy blue seam binding and some twill, or cut a length of ribbon about double the actual length you want it to be after sewing. Then I machine stitch (but you could hand stitch it too) the ribbon to my page using either a zig-zag stitch or a straight stitch. The trick is to "fold and clump" the ribbon up as you stitch it down to create those fun ruffles. It's really simple and the WONDERFUL thing about it, besides how it looks, is the more imperfect the sewing the better! :) So no fear!!

You can find some of this yummy seam binding in my shop. Just go here to check out all the colors!

Got a favorite technique of your own? Love for you to share it with us! Leave a comment here for inspiration!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

New Journaling Cards Sneak Peek...

Here's a little peek at some of the new journaling cards I've been working on. I've made it a goal to get all the ones I've made in the last month listed by April. So check my etsy shop often!

SCHOOL DAYS:
This is a really fun and colorful set for school pages (actually, they are general enough you could use them for just about anything...)


HAPPENINGS:
I love this set! You can't really tell from the photo, but the ones with the straight edged are actually polka dotted. I love the fun images as well, especially the crown.

I'm off to do a bit of spring cleaning and then I hope to work on some crafty spring projects for the house. TTFN!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

A Pretty New Layout

HELLO!!! Well I think I'm really back for good this time! :) I know, your snickering right now since I keep saying things to that effect, but there it is anyway! :) My 3 children have had the WORST stomach flu bug ever. It has lasted about 1 1/2 - 2 weeks. Not fun!! The poor kids! My little guy, my only chubby toddler, has lost so much of his baby chubs since being sick. I could just cry. (...but not for long...that fella is an eater, let me tell you, it won't take long for him to get back to normal once he is better.) You moms out there will know what I mean when I say I feel like my life lately has been nothing but puke and other lovely tummy related problems ;), so I am thrilled to be getting back to some crafty fun!!

So.... I thought I'd share this layout I made of my daughter Maddie. Remember those Valentine photo cards I made a while back? Well this is how I scrapbooked one for me to keep.
I know I am biased, but isn't she lovely! Maddie is just a doll, inside and out!

That cute little bracket card is one of the Bright and Funky Journaling Cards from my shop. I love to layer them and use them as embellishments as well as journaling spots. I also used a vintage hat pin tied with some lovely blue seam binding. (you can find the seam binding ribbon in the shop too!)

I wanted to show you this fun crepe paper trim I used too. I absolutely love it! It makes great ruffles on pages and cards, is so cute as a trim around banners and home dec projects, and can be turned into those cute little crepe paper rosettes. I've been making it to put on projects etc for about a year now, and I was kicking around the idea of making some for the shop. Let me know if you like it and would use it too! Those fun pink plastic letters are from Heidi Swapp-- LOVE THEM!

I've also been adding some new stuff to my online shop, finally! :) Some of the things I previewed here have started going in with lots more to come. As you know, I am hopelessly addicted to designing journaling cards. Well my hubby was out of town for a week (during the puking etc...sigh)so lets just say I have lots more to show you. :)

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Are you still out there?

Hello blog readers, if your still there! I know I have been very absent lately. There has been no announcement about my shops monthly special for March, no new items in the shop, no creative inspiration. I'm sorry. Things around my household have just been a little crazy lately. Life is finally starting to feel like normal again. It's amazing how in the midst of trials and hardships it is possible to feel so incredibly blessed. I just want to say thanks to everyone for being so supportive! Your prayers and words have meant the world to me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Now, for a bit of scrappiness, I thought I'd share some new blossoms I made a while ago. They have not been listed in the shop, neither have any of the new journaling cards I previewed a while back, but I'm hoping to get them in soon.
These are my Grand Chipboard Blossoms. They are bigger than my other blossoms (2") and have lots of fun layers of fabric, felt, and tulle.

Have a fantastic day everyone! I'll "see" you soon! ;)

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

A mini album

I'm finally sharing that project I made for Jenn's Design Team. Things are really crazy on the home front, so I may not be "around" as much as usual, but I thought I'd take a quick minute to share this mini album.

I made the album from pieces of chipboard I cut to size and then I stitched felt to the outside covers and glued paper to the inside covers.


I used one of Jenn's adorable journaling spots on the cover.



For the inside pages of the book I chose several of Jenn's larger journaling spots and some Pink Pailsee papers. I just punched holes in the journaling spots and inserted them as pages.



Here's another close up of one of her spots, too cute!



I love the way it turned out, so bright and fun! Be sure to go and check out Jenn's blog to see the other Design Team Member's projects.