Lumpy Page Designs Scrapbooking Blog

Funky Flower Pots

2010-05-19T09:34:00.001-04:00

Hi!! It's been some time since I posted. I've been busy with my new little endeavor and the weather is warming up so being outside is nice.

The past few days we've been working on our back patio area. I always fill it with tons of potted plants and flowers. As you all know pots can get expensive the bigger and BIGGER they get. Especially the ones that aren't plastic. We have tons of the plastic pots. They are just cheaper and hold up well...but lets be honest, those plastic pots are plain and boring. Being artsy I can't stand bland. I like to jazz things up, add some color! When the idea of painting them struck me I had to jump on it. I have only completed three but want to do the rest. These designs were meant to be simple, fun, happy and bright. No need for perfection. They took me probably 2 hours with paint drying time in there.

This is what the pots look like before I got my hands on them :) (less the dirt)

And here they all are jazzed up

For most of the designs I just dipped a Q-tip in paint and added dots and created flowers with dots. For the pot with the big red dots I used a round shaped sponge paintbrush.

Thanks for stopping! Have a wonderful week.

Christmas Cards

2009-12-16T20:23:00.002-05:00

Well it's almost that time!! Can you believe we are THAT close to Christmas already? Have you all made and mailed your cards?

Ok, brace yourselves.....are you braced? I can't believe it myself but I made my Christmas cards this year!! Every single year for at least the past three or four I've promised to make my Christmas cards and without fail each of those years...yep you guessed it, it didn't happen. I am so happy I actually did it and I do really like them to boot!

Wait though there's more! Don't pass out....I really got on a roll and made matching gift tags! I can't wait to add them to gifts. I only made ten so I think I'm going to attach them to the gifts we give out to the family instead of putting them on any of our gifts for the kids. I'll make more next year (oh see there I go promising to make more next year without fail, lol....).

Take a peek below, tell me what you think for my first official making and mailing of my own Christmas cards.

This is the full set. There are five of each card and tag in a set. The envelopes are all stamped with snowflakes and embossed in silver (it is really pretty in person).

Here's all the little Santa's line up. The Santa is a stamped image that was colored in using watercolor pencils, embossed with black powder and white for the beard. The borders are all hand doodles and the glittery trees were cut from a piece of glittery patterned paper. The glittery card itself was premade and purchased from Michaels...could you imagine trying to glitter an entire card yourself ?...you'd be a sparkling mess for sure, not to mention you'd find sparkles in places you shouldn't for days!

Here's the little Santa tags. I stamped, embossed and water colored the Santa image and then cut it out. I used a 3-D dot to adhere Santa. I had a bunch of these little bells left over from another project and thought they were the perfect addition to the ribbon used to tie the tag on the gift. The backs are all blank so they can be used to write the name of who the gift is for.

Now my favorites! The snowmen...I love snowmen! These were created basically the same way as the Santa cards. Each snowman is stamped, embossed and watercolored in. Hand doodle borders and the trees all cut from glittery patterned paper.

And the tags to match, also created the same as the Santa tags. Really the only thing I changed besides the image was the colors, but overall they were the same tags and cards to make. 3-D dots work so well for a little dimension.

I also stamped the insides of each card with either "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays" and finished them with a "handmade with love" stamp on the back of each!

That's it!

I actaully can't wait to do next years now...maybe I should do it while I'm in the Christmas spirit soon....now there's a thought!

I hope everyone enjoys their holiday and I'll have another post in the New Year. I can't post it yet because it's a gift for Christmas and I know that certain someone visits me here sometimes!

Lumpy Page Designs,

Nicole

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

2009-11-23T08:43:00.006-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRADY!!!!

love,
Mommy

Monster Party!

2009-11-14T15:39:00.021-05:00

Did you expect anything less on my lack of timeliness with this post?....Things never go as planned, but I promise I had good intentions :)

So I finally have gotten around to taking some pictures of the party invitatons I made! I really am loving my watercolor pencils and crayons they add a soft touch of color to the stamped images and it's fun to watch them change with water.

The monster stamps (aren't they too cute?) came from Michael's recollection series. They made me smile right away and that's always a good reason to buy something, right?...ok, maybe that thinking isn't quite right but it worked to justify this purchase...plus they were on sale!

And check it out I found my doodle too! Anything you see on the cards other than the monsters is all freehand work.

The inside was also hand done, mainly because I didn't have a stamp with the information that goes inside a party invitation...I have since scored a stamp for party invites! Where? At Michaels AND it was part of the Recollection series, just like the monster stamps.

Here's a picture of each of the four different monsters. The set consists of 12 invitations all together, but I'm adding 2 more to each monster to make a set of 20.

That's all of em'. Each card also has it's own envelope with stamped and embossed monster eyes on the back.

Thanks for stopping! Hope you're enjoying your weekend.

Oh and I'm going to throw a plug in here for my other blog Firebug Beads since I also have a new post on there. (I've been busy!).

Nicole

Happy November

2009-11-09T09:17:00.001-05:00

Wow I can't believe it's November.....the second week of November already! Man, time sure does fly when you get older doesn't it? I remember when I was little how it seemed like it took Christmas forever to get here and now it comes WAY too quickly, each year getting here faster and faster.

Anyway onto today's post. I haven't posted anything scrappy in ages, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working on scrappy things! I have a whole new style going with my card making and I am happy to say I think I've finally found my style with card making and stamping. I spent the entire weekend working away on a set of party invitations and plan to get some pictures of the finished set tonight to share with you all here. I would have done it last night but I finished up so late my eyes couldn't take one more minute of anything....so sleepy! So hang tight I'm going to try to get some pictures posted tonight of the card set.

It's Official

2009-10-22T10:55:00.001-04:00

It's official, Firebug Beads is up and going! I'm very excited about this new endevour and I hope you will join me. Stop on by and check out my embarassing first beads and a much improved set in my first post!

A Confession

2009-10-13T16:25:00.009-04:00

So....it's been awhile since I posted huh? Well that's because I have a confession to make....I've found a new passion. For our annivsersary this year my husband got me a certificate to take private lampworking classes and I fell in love.

Everything else came to a screeching hault, scrapbooking, altered art, stamping, card making, all of it. I became instantly addicted to making glass beads. You know the funny thing is I can't say I ever bought a glass bead when I made jewelry....I don't think I even realized, outside of the few glass beads you can find at the local craftstore, they existed and could be so gorgeous! So for a few months now I've been playing around on my torch learning the ropes to the art of flameworking.

With that all being said I've obviously gotten VERY sidetracked from scrapbooking so...... Lumpy Page Designs isn't going away.....I'm just on a bit of a hiatus. I will definitley be posting anything I make related to scrapbooking so I hope you stop by once in awhile, I know there are a few followers :) (love ya girls!). If you are interested in seeing what I'm doing now there will be a new blog called Firebug Beads very soon - almost done getting set up!

Thank you to everyone that visits!! I love your visits! Hope you stop by the new place :)

Nicole

New Kit! Snorkle - Cosmo Cricket

2009-07-15T18:21:00.008-04:00

I know I always say the kits from morethanscrapbooking.com are fantastic and I'm going to have to say it again - FANTASTIC new kit at MTS!! I had so much fun with this, how can you not? Look at how happy the papers and embellishments are. It makes you smile. The alterable frame was a lot of fun to me and the chipboard stickers made creating great things easy!

Here's some more pictures from my trip. I did so many things but I think my favorite thing from the trip was getting to feed the little chipmunks right out of my hand. They aren't quite chipmunks..their tails are much longer than any chipmunks I've seen where I live. They were still adorable and very friendly. The ground around me was covered with sunflower seed shells, fruit loops, crackers.

Here's a picture from the Garden of Gods - a must go see if ever in Colorado. Very beautiful. I believe this rock is called Balance(d) Rock .

A beautiful sunset

My husband did a 14,000 ft climb while we were there (I wasn't feeling crazy, so I didn't go, lol) and near the top he came across these ladybugs in the middle of the snow!

Colorado

2009-07-09T08:57:00.009-04:00

Hi all!! I'm still on vacation but I woke up pretty early today and thought I'd post a few pictures of my trip so far. We've done a ton of things (it has been an action packed vacation) and I have a ton of pictures to go along with everything! Colorado is simply amazing! I've enjoyed every second of this gorgeous state so much that I'd love to move here. The Rocky Mountains are a sight to behold and there is wildlife everywhere to see.

One of the first things I got to do was actually scrap related. The owners Penny and Heather from MoreThanScrapbooking live right here in Colorado and they are not far at all from where my sister lives. They invited me over to their fourth of July picnic and of course I had to go meet them! I had such a fun time with them and I also got to meet a few other people from the MoreThanScrapbooking website. Paul (he's the man behind it all) and Jen, she's on the Design Team. Everyone was just so sweet to us and really made us feel comfortable and welcomed. Thank you so much Heather and Penny for inviting me over (hopefully we'll get to do it again!)Starting from the left: Heather, Me and Penny.

On Sunday we went to visit Estes Park and along the way we stopped at the Stanley Hotel. Remember the movie the Shining?? This is the famous hotel that of the Shining movi were filmed. I didn't see a ghost, BUT I'll tell you that it creeped me out a little when I put new batteries in my camera right before coming here only to have my camera batteries read low as soon as I turned in on to start taking pictures of the hotel (spooky!!). Luckily I did manage to snap a few before my camera died entirely. The hotel is beautiful and big! There is an amazing view from where it is located (but then again I don't think there is such a thing as a bad view anywhere in Colorado). It was overcast this day so my pictures are a bit ominous here but I think it just added to the allure of this place.

That's all I'm going to share today, otherwise my post will be five pages long! I can't wait to start posting the pictures of all the wildlife we've seen. Yesterday I got to go feed some chipmunks (whooptie-do right?) except they eat right out of your HAND! I'll try to post more before I leave on Saturday but if not I will be posting when I get home. Thanks for stopping!!

Thank you card and things

2009-06-28T13:08:00.020-04:00

From the BG card kit comes another little card! This card kit is great, I really like the results of each card so far. This one is pretty simple but with such gorgeous papers who needs more?

Ok, on to something fun! The other day I was given the award "Your Blog Makes Me Smile" and now I want to pass it around to eight great girls and their blogs that make me smile everytime I visit - truly inspiring work from each and everyone of them! Grab your award and wear it proudly. Thank you for the inspiring work you do.

LG - My Scrapbook World

Mel - Melz Scrappy Junk

Angie - My Scraptastic World

Heather - Rhymes with Magic

Linda - Card Challenges and More

Ginger - Paw Prints and Paper Crafts

Julia - Belle Paper

Darlene - Darlene's Scrapbooking

Thanks for visiting!
Nicole

It's Friday!!

2009-06-26T16:34:00.003-04:00

What a long week!! I'm so glad it's Friday.

I wanted to let everyone know that next week starting on July 3rd I will be on vacation visiting family (super excited). I will be gone until the 11th of July. I am going to take my laptop with me but I'm not sure how much time I'll actually get to post anything. I'm hoping to at least post some pictures while I'm there visiting because we're going to Colorado and I hear it's simply gorgeous!! I've never been there but most of my family now lives there. I kept promising my sister I would come visit her but it never seems to work out and this year I just had to make it happen. I can't wait!! We are going to go white water rafting and we're going to do the Skycoaster at the Royal Gorge (yeah crazy!!!). I keep watching videos of this skycoaster thing and I really should stop because I'm not so sure I won't chicken out once we get there but I do know I'm taking TONS of pictures. I need new pictures to scrap so I'm also very excited that I will have lotd of new pictures to scrap.

On another note check this sweet little award out that my pal Jean Marie so generously gave to me. Thank you Jean! You're too sweet and I'm honored to be on your list, cause I know you're on mine. Now I think the idea is that I too need to pick eight ladies that are deserving of this award (not that everyone isn't deserving, which makes it even harder to choose!).,.....so I'm going to take some time to pick out the eight ladies and I'll post who I picked here so check back - you might be on the list!! If

BG card kit

2009-06-24T18:55:00.005-04:00

I really don't do card kits often and I don't know why because they are really a lot of fun and a great thing for scrapping slumps. I think I did a BG card kit waaaayyy back for Valentine's and I LOVED that kit! All the cards turned out so great. You don't have to make your cards exactly as they show you in the instructions because they always seem to give you enough elements to put your own flair on them.

A few months back I got this great little Basic Grey card kit in the mail from my friends Heather and Penny (cause they know I LOVE BG!!) to enjoy. I finally had the chance to open it up and start working on them. This kit is just as gorgeous as the last BG kit I worked with.

Here's the first card I did from this kit. I believe there are six or more cards that can be made so I will be posting more as I get them done.

Zinnia Kit Cards

2009-06-23T18:28:00.006-04:00

Hi all! I have a few cards to share. We were having some of the worse weather here....rain, rain and more rain...weeks of rain....it was making the air in the house very damp. I made these cards one of those damp nights and came down the next day to find them curling! I guess I should have laid them flat or even better yet maybe I need a dehumidifier. The pictures and cards aren't looking the best and I'm blaming it on the sticky damp air! I am happy to announce that the sun has finally made an appearance this week, but I bet the super hot sticky air is now on the way....the kind that hits your chest hard when you walk outside because its so thick. ugh.

Ok, enough of that.

I really did love this kit. The papers and elements are so fun to play with. There's a few kits left so if you haven't had the chance to stop by morethanscrapbooking then you better get movin' before they're all gone! Zinnia by Little Yellow Bicycle.

Zinnia by Little Yellow Bicycle

2009-06-15T18:10:00.009-04:00

OoOowee! Check it out! A new rockin' kit at Morethanscrapbooking! This kit was a ton of fun to work with. The papers are double-sided and filled with lots of summery colors and patterns. You get a pack of alpha letter stickers, but wait....they are not only sticker letters (don't pass out, I almost did) they are double-sided sticky. Oh yeah you heard right, double sided sticky letters....do you know how cool this is? Makes adding glitter, flock, gems, even covering them with paper a snap! No need to get the glue out and you get awesome results. What a great idea -I love these alphas. Hang on though there's more. Check out what else is included:

1 - Green Floral Ledger Paper
2 - Sheets Zinnia Orange Dots/ Purple Paisley
2 - Sheets Zinnia Bloom/Orange Lace
2 - Sheets Zinnia Little Garden Stripe/Pink Tulip
1 - Pansy Bazzill Cardstock
1 - Hillary Bazzill Cardstock
1 - Zinnia Flower Embellishment Kit
1 - Zinnia Clear Cuts Shapes
1 - Zinnia Chipboard Stickers
1 - Bottle Stampendous Pearl Glitter-Lavender
1 - Package Doodlebug Design Stick With It Adhesive Transfers

For this kit I actually made a layout! Holy cow, it's been at least a year since I've done a 12x12 paper layout (I hope I haven't lost my touch), but I was so inspired by the cool clear cut shapes that I had to use them on a layout, plus I love this picture of my daughter.

Thanks for stopping by! Check back tomorrow for the cards I made with this kit! Don't forget to stop by MTS and see all great projects the Design Team did with this kit!
Nicole

Button Balls

2009-06-03T10:19:00.013-04:00

Hi everyone!! Whew, things are slowly settling down for me and I am starting to be able to catch up and post again! Thanks so much for all your patience and I'm excited for the things to come this month! I have some great projects planned and ideas to share. I am actually working on a lot of things right now and do not have anything new to post because everything is still "in the works", however, I did find this old project that I never posted and the colors remind me of summer so I thought I'd share this.

Now let me say I was really sick when I made these and I'm not terribly crazy about them now that I see them again, however, they are kind of cool so I'll share em' anyway. I was actually laid up in bed for almost a week with a horrible cold and I was bored out of my mind. I sent Aaron to the store to find me something that I could work on while in bed. He came back with bags full of buttons and some styrofoam balls (that's what I get for sending a guy, right?).....well what the heck am I supposed to do with these I asked him? This is how the button balls came to be.

I'm not sure there is much purpose for these other than display but they really were fun and easy to make. I think this would be really fun for kids too.

The process is not hard. A few styrofoam balls, assorted sizes if you please. Lots of buttons, any color, any size, it's all up to you. Some glue and you're on your way. I did discover upon doing this a few things.

Do not use a liquid nails type of glue. It will eat away the styrofoam
Do not use a hot glue gun. It will melt the styrofoam.

Do use a white paste type glue - takes longer to dry but DOES NOT eat away or melt the styrofoam.

Keep the buttons as tightly together as possible when putting them on.

Only work on one side of the ball at a time, let that side dry and then finish another side.

Painting the styrofoam balls before hand will probably make them look much better, I do not like all the little white gaps mine have. I think had I added paint - spray paint is probably a better option then acrylic paints, it would have helped fill in those white gaps and made them look much more glorious.
You can do this with flowers too!

Thanks for stopping!! Check back soon for new things to come!

Nicole

Update

2009-05-07T15:41:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone!! I wanted to let ya all know that I will be returning to regular postings starting in JUNE!! Thank you all very much for your patience and I hope I haven't lost your interest! Please come back to visit in JUNE!!

Sincerely,
Nicole

Taking a Break

2009-04-20T13:53:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone! I'm popping in quickly to let ya all know I have to take a break from posting anything new. I have a few personal things going on that will be taking up a lot of my blogging / posting / project time and due to this I will not be able to keep up with posting right now. I hope to be returning soon. Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope to see you back here when I am able to post again!

Technique Thursday - Background Stamping

2009-04-16T08:00:00.002-04:00

Hi all! Like promised it's Technique Thursday here on Lumpy Page Designs! Grab your cup of coffee and read on.

Have you ever found yourself looking for the perfect piece of patterned paper for a project? If you’re a scrapbooker or card maker chances are you have. I have the solution for you! Stamping your own backgrounds to create the perfect papers for that card or scrapbook page you’re working on. Super easy to do technique and your possibilities are endless.

I’ve put together an easy tutorial on how to do this. A few simple steps and you’re on your way to making the perfect patterned papers for your project.

Supplies: Cardstock, A Stamp, and Ink (a shade or two darker or lighter than the color of the cardstock – i.e. – pink cardstock – use dark pink, light pink or even red ink).

Start with a plain card / piece of cardstock - for this example I used pink cardstock cut to the size of 5x5 to make a card.

Ink your stamp. Try using either an ink shade close to the color of your cardstock OR you can pick an ink color that is an entirely different color than your background paper color. For this card instead of using a red or pink ink I chose to use a brown ink. I wanted to really make the stamped background stand out on this card. For a more subtle stamped background use an ink color that is a shade or two darker or lighter than the color of your cardstock.

Carefully start stamping the image onto your cardstock. Placement of the stamped image is entirely up to you. For this card I stamped brown flowers all over, but left a section in the center plain. I already knew ahead of time that I planned to place a piece of patterned paper on the section I left bare, so I only stamped the image where I felt it was needed or would show. (For more helpful information about placement of your stamped image read the tip below).

Finish putting your card or layout together by adding all of the extras – brads, buttons, bling, pictures, etc. That’s it, you’re done! It’s that easy.

Tip: You can achieve different affects depending upon what color ink you use to stamp your background. If you’d like a more subtle background design use an ink color as close to the color of your paper as you can (maybe a shade lighter or darker than your paper). If you’d like a pattern that jumps off your paper then pick an ink color that is all together different than the color of your paper.

Tip: I found that clear stamps with a clear stamp block work best for precise background stamping. The clear stamps and block enable you to see where you are stamping each image and you can use the gridlines on the clear stamp block to help you keep things lined up too.

Thanks for reading! Have a great day and have fun stamping your own backgrounds!!

P.S. – I’d love to see YOUR background stamping creations, feel free to email me your results. I’d LOVE to post them to share with everyone!

Nicole

Double Necklace

2009-04-13T08:00:00.005-04:00

I have a piece of jewelry to share today! I think this is my first necklace and it took me awhile to make this piece, probably because it’s so long. The glory of this is that you can wear it long or doubled up (I love this type of necklace). All of the silver on the necklace is sterling silver, from the wire worked clasp and wire wrapped beads to the little spacers.

The inspiration for this necklace came in a package my mom sent me containing a bunch of her left over beads and unused things from her jewelry-making stash. Two silver stars (one big, one small) were among the things sent and I just instantly knew they were going to be part of a necklace.

I wrapped each star with sterling silver wire and a black onyx bead was centered oneach to complete the look.

Each end of the star is wire wrapped.

The white beads are milkglass (another treat from the stash my mom sent!) some of them have wire wrapping done around them and others don’t. Silver ball spacers were placed between beads. I used three different types of sterling silver linked chains throughout the necklace.

The clasp is hand worked sterling silver wire. Some bead wire was used to keep the necklace flexible in certain spots.

I still have a long way to go at being any good at this but this necklace was so much fun to make and it really gave me a chance to practice my wire loops and wrapping techinques.

I just wore this necklace to work the other day and was so surprised that some of the girls wanted to know where I got it and I got to answer I MADE IT (kind of cool, right?)!

Thanks so much for stopping! Have a fabulous day
Happy wire working.
Nicole

Altered Project FRIDAY!

2009-04-10T08:00:00.006-04:00

As promised this is your alterd art FRIDAY! Are you egg-cited? I am! I LOVED this project! It's a wonderful family project and an egg-cellent end to this weeks eggtravaganza! ENJOY AND HAVE FUN!!

I came across the idea/technique for this egg dying from Lolly Chops (thank you Lolly!). Of course I had to try it, her eggs looked so neat when they were finished! You're sure to want to try this too! Alright now to the good stuff, how it’s done.

Supplies: Hard boiled eggs (1 dozen or more), Dyes (tablets) Punches (used here: bunny, tulip, hydrangea, butterfly, dove, star, heart), Painters Tape, Freezer Paper, Kids, husband and anyone else you can grab to join in the fun!

To start this project the first thing I did was punch all of the shapes ahead of time so that it would be easier for the kids and to help keep the process moving. This is where the freezer paper and painters tape come in to play.

1. Tear a piece of freezer paper and a piece of painters tape to match the length of the freezer paper. Place the painters tape on the glossy side of the freezer paper. To help make it easier to peel the freezer paper away later, leave an edge of the painters tape hanging off of the freezer paper when placing it.

2. Grab your punches and get to punching! You’re basically punching stickers out. The painters tape turns your punched shape into a sticker and the freezer paper works as a backing to the sticker. TIP: If you punch part of your image on to the freezer paper and leave a little corner punched on to the overhanging painter’s tape it will make it much easier to peel away the freezer paper later.

3. Now you’re ready for decorating the eggs. Start peeling the backs away from your punched images and placing them (sticky side down) on to your egg(s). Make sure all edges are pushed down (the dye will bleed under lifted edges). Painter’s tape is great! It sticks really well and peels off easily!

4. When you’re done decorating your eggs with stickers it’s then time to dye them (prepare dye ahead of time). You’re going to dye the eggs just like you would any Easter egg! Dip them in the dye color of choice, leave in the dye until you are happy with the shade of color, remove from dye and let dry.

5. Once your egg is dry you can start to peel away your stickers and reveal the images left behind!

How cool is this? I love this “new” way of decorating Easter eggs! Go grab some kids and give this a try! Everyone will love the results!

Thanks so much for reading! Happy egg dying!! Happy Easter!!
Nicole

Decoupage Eggs

2009-04-08T08:00:00.006-04:00

Hi all!! It’s Technique Thursday – oh, wait it’s only Wednesday but that’s ok! I’m going to share this technique with you today instead of tomorrow that way you have a day in between posts to give this a try if you want. The next egg decorating post will be on Friday. So are you ready? Here we go.

Today I’m going to show you how to decoupage a blown egg. The idea for this started when I was working on the glitter eggs. I thought, hmmm…..I wonder what else I can do to these blown eggs besides glitter…..and it hit me (like a ton of bricks), why not cut out pretty pictures and glue them to the eggs? I wasn’t exactly sure what to use at first. I tried scrapbook paper, which was just a little too thick and it kept popping off of the egg. Then I contemplated magazine pictures but thought that once I applied the glue that it could make the image too transparent, allowing whatever was on the back of the page I cut the image from to show through. It wasn’t until I went upstairs to dig something out of the closet that I saw the box of tissue paper laying there. That’s it, I said to myself. Tissue paper!! I’ve done decoupage to lamp shades using beautifully patterned tissue paper so why not try it on an egg. It was hard to find the right piece of tissue paper, most of the tissue paper I have is solid colored but I did eventually find a great piece of tissue paper for this project.

Below are all the instructions so you can give this a try! I hope you enjoy – they were really fun to make and I love my results.

Supplies: raw eggs, piercing tool or needle, patterned tissue paper, glue (Mod Podge), brush for applying glue, scissors, bowl, and your imagination.

1. Using a needle or piercing tool poke two holes in a raw egg. One small hole at the top and a slightly larger hole at the bottom of the egg. Do not be afraid to push firmly. I used my paper piercing tool to do this and it worked great.

2. Holding your egg over the bowl. Blow into the smaller hole on the egg until the egg insides are coming out of the bottom hole. Keep blowing until all the egg insides are out.

3. Once the egg is empty, rinse it and let sit to dry.

4. While your eggs are drying you can start to cut out the patterns from the tissue paper. You do not have to be precise, you can leave a small border around the image, if your pattern is on a white background the white edge you leave will blend into your white egg. Tissue paper is not as easy to cut as paper. It can tear easily, you need good sharp scissors. It helps to hold the tissue paper taunt as you cut.

5. Once your eggs are dried and you have your patterned pieces cut you can start to glue them on to your egg. Place the glue on your egg first, then set your image down. Smooth it on to the egg with your fingers, try to get out all the creases or bubbles the best you can, it's ok to leave some it adds to the overall look. Keep doing this until you have all your images placed.

6. Finish the egg by coating the entire thing in glue once your are done placing all your images. I recommend Mod Podge for this because not only does it work as a glue, it dries clear and seals your images on the egg. You can buy it in glossy or matte finish! I used matte on mine.

That's it....six little steps for some pretty egg-cellent results, don't you think? I would LOVE to see your results if you try this, I think the eggs turn out so neat!

Thanks for visiting!! See you Friday for the last egg decorating techinque!
Nicole

Glitter Eggs

2009-04-06T08:00:00.016-04:00

Hi all! As promised I'm back and today's project is SUPER fun! I thought since it's so close to Easter now that many of us are starting to do some egg decorating and this would be the perfect start to an egg-cellent week of egg projects!! Now some of these projects you may have seen before, I'm know I'm not the only one who's done these before but I hope you find something new to try and enjoy!

Let me tell you how this project came about. I was busy in the kitchen the other day dying Easter Eggs (hint, hint for a project later this week) when the idea struck me that I wanted to put glitter on some of them...I love using glitter! The first thing I realized was how was I going to make that work with a hardboiled egg? I was concerned about adding glitter to a hardboiled egg for two reasons. One, when you peel the egg wouldn't some of the glitter get stuck on the egg, glitter always flakes off? Two, what if I wanted to set them out for display instead of eating them.....could you imagine the smell after a few days?? Ewww...LOL, so I jumped on the internet to see how to hollow out an egg, something I've never done before but had heard about. After checking on how to do it I was ready to try it myself. It all seemed simple enough.

The entire process went fairly smooth, but let me tell you how much harder it was then I thought it was going to be to blow through a little hole on the top of an egg with enough force to push the egg insides out the little hole on the bottom of the egg. I think I burst some blood vessels...lol, no it really wasn't that bad but it was not as easy as I thought it was going to be and I got better at it with each egg.

Below I've shared my results and instructions - HAVE FUN!! I hope you enjoy!!

Supplies: Raw egg, piercing tool or needle, glitter in assorted colors (blue, pink, silver, white, and green used here), glue, brush to apply glue, wax paper, and a bowl and a whole 'lotta air!

1. Using a needle or piercing tool poke two holes in a raw egg. One small hole at the top and a slightly larger hole at the bottom of the egg. Do not be afraid to push firmly. I used my paper piercing tool to do this and it worked great.

2. Holding your egg over the bowl. Blow into the smaller hole on the egg until the egg insides are coming out of the bottom hole. Keep blowing until all the egg insides are out.

3. Once the egg is empty, rinse it and let sit to dry.

4. When your egg is dry, apply glue. I used Mod Podge (this stuff is great, works on anything!).

5. Holding your egg over a bowl or piece of paper start sprinkling glitter onto your egg. It might be easier to add the glue and glitter on one half of the egg first then after it's dry, glue and glitter the other half.

6. Lay your glittered eggs on wax paper to dry.

That's it! Pretty easy and lots of fun. I did only make 5, making the egg hollow is exhausting, lol! Have fun!

Thanks for stopping!! Hope to see you back for more eggtravaganza fun!
Nicole

Simple Layout

2009-04-05T08:00:00.008-04:00

Hi all! I couldn't wait to post until tomorrow. I've been busy all weekend working away on projects for next week and tomorrow will be a fun one! I'm just sneaking one in before the eggtravaganza (hint, hint).

A quick little paper layout. I usually put my layouts on 12x12 pages, however, this layout is only 8x8. For those of you that follow pretty regularly you might remember the 8x8 album I started a few months ago (shhh..it's a present for grandma). The plan was and still is to fill the book with pages all about my daughter Brianna. The album is going to start from when she was wee little and continue all the way to present. Click HERE to check out the cover and inside of the album from an earlier post.

I think Bri was about 6 months old here, gosh she was so little......it's funny to look at these pictures since she's now a teenager who stands taller than me.

My supplies for this layout couldn't have been much more minimal. A piece of white 8x8 paper, a piece of scrap light blue cardstock (for the clouds), 2 flowers, 2 glazed brads, some scrap paper for the stems, scrap ribbon for the leaves, scrap patterned paper for matting, chestnut liquid chalk ink, a quote, Martha Stewart butterfly punches and a picture.

This is the first time I've ever created my own flower stems from paper and I love the way it looks! After cutting each stem I tied a little piece of green ribbon on each and now you have leaves - how cool is that? I used jumbo flowers that were just folded in half and finished them by adding glazed brads to the centers. Using a cloud template I traced some clouds onto light blue cardstock, inked the edges, layered them and adhered each with 3D Dots (helps give a little pop to the page). I added some butterflies (punched with my awesome Martha Stewart butterfly punches) along the left side to balance the layout. I LOVE these butterfly punches, I've used them so many times already. If you add a dab of glue to just the body of the butterfly you can then bend the wings so they don't lay flat on the page, which adds a nice touch of dimension to a project. That's pretty much it! See I told you - super simple layout, but for this baby picture I think it works out A-ok!

On a personal note I want to share some pictures of my NEW GUITAR!! I've been waiting for one looooonnnnngggggg week for it to arrive via mail. I was not only in desperate need of a new computer but a new guitar too. You should see how beat up my old one is and it's not pretty at all. I'm a girl who likes all things girly, including the instrument I play. It finally arrived on Friday, making it to my home safely from a journey that started in Florida.

Now, let me say I'm not very good at playing yet but this is not a fleeting fancy. I started learning a few years ago and then put it down for probably longer than I should have. I know the dedication it takes to play an instrument, I played the flute growing up (14+ years) and remember my mom making me practice 2 hours a day. I hated it then but was grateful in the end and loved to practice for hours. It was one of the best things I've ever learned to do. I eventually gave my flute away to a little girl who wanted to learn to play but couldn't afford to rent or buy an instrument. That was the last time I played. I love music and wanted to bring it back into my life. I fell in love with the guitar when one of my husbands friends came for a visit and brought his guitar with him. I've been hooked ever since.

To get started I was given a hand me down guitar, handed down about five times and the sound quality and overall condition of that guitar was pretty bad. Not to mention it is way to big for me, uncomfortable to hold. These things were making it hard to enjoy playing. It wasn't all because of that either, life just happens and being on the design team, having a family and trying to keep up here regularly, PLUS work (40 hours a week) can really make it hard to find time to squeeze in practicing. BUT I've made a promise to myself that this is important to me and something I really want to do in my life. I'm going to make the time. So here it is, my new Luna guitar.....isn't it gorgeous? I LOVE it! It's the right size, it sounds amazing and looks so beautiful!! I played until my fingertips were numb on Friday.

Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow!
Nicole

April!

2009-04-01T08:45:00.011-04:00

I can't believe it's April already! Where does the time go?

I wanted to quickly pop on here and let everyone know that starting next week I'm going to have some wonderful new things to post. I've taken a brief break this week as we work on getting my home computer fixed (that's right it's STILL not fixed (I know I keeps saying it's fixed, no it's not fixed, lol)) and so that I can also prepare all of the posts for next week.

I have some great tutorials / tips coming, some new cards and much more! I've decided to make a few changes to my blog - nothing to do with the overall look of it but instead the content. I've been posting a lot of cards lately and not much else. I want to provide more projects, tutorials, jewelry making ideas, layouts AND cards. I'm still ironing out all the details but as of right now I know that every Thursday I've decided to have a tip or technique for you. Some Thursdays it will be a simple tip and other times it will be a full blown tutorial with pictures on how to do a particular technique. Every Friday I would like to post some kind of altered art project with instructions, this gives you the whole weekend to try it out if it inspires you! I will also have more jewelry making posts - hopefully one a week (wait until you see what I have for next week). I'm also hoping to throw in more scrapbook layouts and even sketches again! Of course I'll keep posting cards!

Check back here starting next week! I can't wait, I'm very excited about the upcoming things I have to post! It's hard to hold off posting them until next week but I am hoping that my computer is fixed over this coming weekend, if not I'm heaving it out of the window and buying a new one.

Thanks for your patience!! I hope to see you back next week!
Enjoy your April Fool's Day!
Nicole

So Tweet

2009-03-29T11:44:00.014-04:00

Hey all! Well...my computer isn't fixed yet BUT I do have a card to post. I've decided to break down and use my work laptop to do this post. I don't have any of the luxuries I have on my PC on this laptop, but hey, it's a computer with working internet, so let's do this!

This card was inspired by the new "so tweet" stamp I recently purchased - isn't it cute? You can find them at Scrapbook.com in their Superstore.

I added a few special touches to this card such as stamping the background and cutting rub-ons to fit inside the chickie image.

Up and Running

2009-03-24T10:34:00.004-04:00

WHOO HOO! I am happy to say COMPUTER PROBLEM FIXED!! I'm back up and running!! I will be posting a new card later tonight! Things to look forward to - Easter Egg dying, Stamp Kissing Tutorial/Technique, cards, and even a layout (boy it's been forever since I've done any scrapbook layouts) and more! Check back soon!

Broken....

2009-03-23T08:39:00.005-04:00

Ugh, my computer broke this weekend. I think my ethernet card stopped working, which is probably not good since I believe it's attached to the motherboard, not sure (Anyone know?) I logged on early Saturday morning (6:30 am - couldn't sleep) and everything seemed fine. I went downstairs to my craft room to whip up a new card and came back to post it and I had no internet connection suddenly...hmmm...strange. So I went through the typical restart process of the modem, router and computer with no luck. I started digging deeper in my computer to see what was going on and I realized my computer wasn't reading the modem at all. It doesn't even show up under my list of hardware for the computer...odd.....I thought. So I get the modem disk out to try to reinstall it and see if that helps and that tells me that there is no ethernet card so it doesn't want to install my modem...lovely.......I'm pretty sure after 2 days of problem solving, that is what's wrong. SoOoOo obviously I didn't and can't post right now. I'm sneaking on here via work computer just so I can let everyone know that until I get a new computer (figures this would happen during the bad economy when I really shouldn't be spending money on a computer) I have no way of really posting anything.........hopefully I will have a solution fast. Maybe I'll get lucky and it's not the ethernet card, but I'm pretty sure it is........it's never the "easy" fix, nope, I'm not that lucky, LOL. Oh well what can I do...besides sulk and be mad...which I spent the whole weekend doing so time to move on. Once I'm back up and running I have some great things to post! Keep checking back, I promise I'll be back soon!!

Friend to Friend

2009-03-20T17:54:00.008-04:00

Hi all! It's the first day of Spring but it really didn't feel much like it. I even saw snow flurries today! Isn't that crazy? I've been pushing Spring for weeks now and this week was no exception.

Here's a quick little card I threw together. My husband, we'll call him... Aaron for the sake of keeping his identity safe, actually doesn't like it (he can be my best AND worse critic). I was really surprised by his opinion because I liked it, well until he said otherwise and now I'm not so sure BUT I'm posting it anyway because I'm pretty sure I like it. I really love the colors, he doesn't. I like the roughness/shabby look of it, he doesn't and I like it's balance, he doesn't. SoOoo, lol, what do you think? Am I way off on this one? I will admit I was trying some new things and maybe I went overboard....maayyybbbee

To make this card I stamped the background with a clear flower stamp and used white opaque embossing powder. The image is a Basic Grey rub-on and the words "friend to friend" are stamped. I tore the edges of the solid green paper. Embossed little circles onto the blue paper and used sandpaper across the embossed circles.

Thanks for stopping! Hope you have a great weekend
Nicole

More MTS Kit

2009-03-17T18:29:00.008-04:00

Ok here is the card I made with the Amy Butler Kit (can be found at MTS). I LOVE the fabric strips that came in this kit. I've never seen them before! I really try to stay away from the craft store and the websites where I can purchase things (I have a serious problem with buying things for my hobby). Usually I'll send DH so he can grab what I need - he has NO problem walking in and buying one thing and walking out. Me....hours later I'm still walking between isles trying to figure out what I want because there are so many things I now see that I want (even though I went in with the intention of buying ONE thing). I just can't have them all.....and I keep thinking but oh why.....why can't I just have everything in here I want,........how am I supposed to walk out of there buying one thing? what a joke, right? All the new little stickers and papers. Then there's the punches, albums, markers, glitter, stamps, metal embellishments and I could go on forever. Everything feels like an "I NEED that" when I walk into a craft store!

Alright enough of that....makes me want to go buy something! So here is the card I put together. It's got some crazy pattern work happening but I think it all works together.

Don't forget to stop on by MTS to see all the other fabulous creations and ideas done by the Design Team with this kit.

MTS April Kit!

2009-03-16T20:00:00.007-04:00

New kit time!! MTS has another gorgeous kit available! This beautiful kit is by: Amy Butler - K & Company.

With beautiful hues of blues and greens you're sure to get into the spirit of spring! Not only do you get fabulous papers, you also get coordinating cloth strips with sayings, alpha stickers, cardstock punch outs and more!
Make sure you take a peek at all the beautiful creations the Design Team at MTS has come up with!

The first thing I knew I wanted to do with this kit was rehab an old set of stackable containers I had purchased at a garage sale several summers ago for 1.00. Using a few of the papers from this kit and some scrap ribbon I had laying around I rehabed them into a pair of shabby chic containers that now proudly have a spot in my living room.

BEFORE:

Happy Easter Card

2009-03-14T18:48:00.005-04:00

Tip: Try cutting out your stamped image and applying a glue dot to make it "pop" right off the card.

Sympathy Card

2009-03-10T18:47:00.005-04:00

Ok here is one of the two cards I got done last night. This is my first ever sympathy card and let me tell you sympathy cards are tough to do! There was a lot of thought that went into every thing on the card. I didn't want to put too much or too little on the card. I didn't want a cute image or one that didn't fit the sentiment. I didn't want crazy bold colors or dark colors. After it was all said and done this is what I ended up with. I think I could have used more color on the images but I like the three frames of images that feel like they belong together. The one of the left and right are the same flower stamp, I just positioned the stamp in different spots on each square. I got lucky and the sympathy word stamp had the SAME flowers as the flower stamp I had - it was just meant to be! I did some edge roughing up, added a white rub-on and some eyelets to finish it off. Watercolor pencils were used to color in the images.

TIP: Before you color in a stamped image, dry/set the ink using your heat gun.

Thanks for stopping!!

Nicole

Lost mojo - oh no!

2009-03-10T08:45:00.007-04:00

Alright I've definitely been slacking with my posting BUT for a good reason ( I always claim to have a good reason). I actually fell behind and ran out of projects so this weekend I went to my craft room to try to put some things together for posting this week and that's when I realized my mojo was just gone...poof ..... vanished into thin air! I've been on a roll for weeks now, ideas coming to me faster than I could make things and then this weekend.....nothing.....not a single thought, idea, or creation came to mind. I tried (oh did I try) to sit there in my chair putting elements together hoping something sparked an idea....nothing.....what happened to my mojo??! I was actually very frustrated. If you have ever gone to your craft area and realized you've got no ideas it's the most frustrating feeling and the more you push for an idea the worse the block becomes, no joke I sat there....and sat there....and sat there. I looked at magazines, old projects anything to try to spark some kind of excitment to get those creative juices going....nothing.....and a whole lot more of nothing until I ended up walking away after sitting in my chair for about four hours and coming up with nothing. (At least I got this doing nothing thing nailed to perfection!)

To top it all off my Chihuahua (who was sitting in the room with me) decided at some point to chew the cord to my embossing heat gun!! OMG, was I HOT!! So not only did I have no mojo, I now need to buy a new heat gun...sigh.....it wasn't even 2 months old.....good thing it wasn't plugged in or I bet he'd have gotten the shock of his life!! The good news is that after a long weekend of nothing I think I got my mojo back last night. I almost didn't bother going to my craft room but decided to drag myself down there anyway because I need to make things to post right?! So after about two minutes of sitting there I started having ideas again! WHOO HOO! I got a whole two cards made, which is actually pretty quick for me since I usually do one card or project a night/day. I'm excited that I got my mojo back and will have things to post shortly so check back soon!! Thanks for hanging in there with me - things never go as planned, if I had it my way I'd be flooded with ideas everyday but that's not always the case and I think my mind needed a mini vacation this past weekend no matter how much I tried to protest it!

Thanks for stopping!! Hope to see you back soon!
Nicole

Celebrate Spring Card

2009-03-04T19:18:00.007-05:00

I am really pushing for Spring here (can you tell?). I love when the flowers are blooming and the colors are so vibrant. In the spirit of Spring coming (soon I hope) I made this card. I cut flowers from the pp that is also the background paper. I used 3D glue dots to adhere them and placed buttons in the centers . The sheep is stamped and embossed with transparent white embossing powder, cut out and adhered with a 3D glue dot.

Thanks for stopping!
Nicole

Blog Awards - ME??

2009-03-04T16:32:00.006-05:00

Oh boy check it out ladies! I got some blog awards!! Talk about making my day! How sweet! Thank you Angie and Elisabeth for these beautiful awards and for visiting my blog!! Ladies if you get a chance you must check out both of their blogs - both ladies are truly inspiring so I can't believe they picked me to give an award to. I am inspired by both of them. My Scraptastic World and Bettan's Pyssel.

As always thank you for stopping and reading!! I hope you come back to visit!!
Nicole

2009-03-03T09:09:00.012-05:00

I am so tickled pink to share with you Lolly Chops rendition of the topiary project I posted last week!! She did such a beautiful job with it and I just LOVE that she used felt flowers instead of Prima flowers, it adds such depth and softness to the project and don't you just luhuhuve the flower pot she used??! You can click HERE to check out how she did hers. Even though I included a picture of her topiary here in this post you should still go check out her blog. Her stuff is amazing - you will be inspired!! I'm just so ecstatic to have had a project that inspired her (I want to be just like her, lol - love ya Lolly!).

I am also thrilled that she shared her results with me, so if you ever find something on my blog that inspires you PLEASE feel free to share it with me! If you send me pictures I'll post them here to share with everyone!! There's nothing more rewarding then getting an email letting me know I've inspired someone. It makes this whole blogging thing worth it!!

Thanks for stopping and reading!! Hope to see you back here soon!
Nicole

Memory Cards

2009-03-01T19:19:00.014-05:00

Everyone remembers the game of memory right? Well I saw this idea in Crafts n Things magazine and HAD to recreate it. What a fun little altered art / family project this is! In the magazine they used business cards to create a game of memory. I thought this was such a great idea, what a great little gift too. Now I didn't use business cards, instead I used cardstock and a rounded edge square template. There were no directions in the magazine, just a supply list so I had a general idea of what to do. I was thinking about writing the directions on how I did this if anyone has interest. It was a lot of fun and has a TON of possibilities. I was thinking about making a spring themed deck and maybe Halloween and Christmas! My kids tested them out this weekend and really seemed to enjoy them (ages: 9 and 14 so I was surprised). To keep it a little more difficult I threw in animals of the same kind in different colors. The cards are very sturdy. I glued layers of cardstock together to give them thickness and sealed them with Mod Podge (gives a nice glossy coating and makes them hard). I used pp to cover the backs. I stamped the images and used water color crayons to color them in (I am going to write a tutorial on water color crayons because they ROCK - Luhuhuhve them!). You can make different sized sets too, starting from 12 as the smallest on up to however big you like! This set contains 20 cards total.

MTS on FACEBOOK!!

2009-02-27T13:04:00.005-05:00

I am so excited to announce that More Than Scrapbooking is now on FACEBOOK!! Click HERE so you can follow them! I'm also excited to annouonce that they have featured my blog on their Facebook homepage! How cool is that?! (well I think it's pretty cool).

Now I've been on the design team with MTS for a pretty long time and have been there during the exchange of hands the site went through. If you haven't been there in the last few months since the change of owners, you MUST stop by the site. The whole site has been rehabbed and though it may "appear" the same when you first check it out, look closer because there are TONS of changes! The new owners are really a fabulous couple of ladies and one really cool guy (yes I said guy!)! I can't forget to mention Paul - he deals with more of the technical side of the site whereas the ladies deal with all the crafty things for the site but we couldn't do it without each one of them, so I want to say thank-you to Paul, Heather and Penny for really digging in and making the site simply AWESOME!

Let me tell you about some of the great things on this site. First of all it's called MORE than scrapbooking and just like the name says it is more than just scrapbooking. In the gallery you will find everything from cards and scrapbook pages to tons of altered art inspiration. Stop by the gallery and take a peek! The forums are packed full of ideas for scrapbooking, altered art, digital design and more. There's always chit chat going on in the forum and you can also find Games and a Question of the Day there too!

That's not it either. MTS owners have put together some of the most drool worthy kits EVER!! Are you signed up for the Monthly Kit Club, if not you should be!! The kits are always jam packed with goodies!

The owners are also working very hard on adding tons of wonderful new products to the store! So you will definitly want to take a peek in there too! Oh and while you're on the site sign up for the new MTS newsletter!! That's right MTS now has a newsletter that will packed full of information on the kits and gobs of other things! The newsletter sign up is right on the home page or you can click the link above and go directly there.

So if you're looking for a fantastic scrapbooking home won't you please consider making MTS your new place for inspiration, sharing and friends! Drop into the forum area and let us know you've visited, tell em' Nicole sent you! While you're there don't forget to look into creating your own My Studio to really make yourself feel at home.

thanks for stopping by!! I hope to see you around More Than Scrapbooking!

Milk Glass Earrings

2009-02-26T17:50:00.005-05:00

I was on an earring kick this past weekend. This pair features milk glass dangling from the bottoms. My mom sent me some spare beads of hers and these great milk glass beads were in the package! I fell in love with them right away, I have a necklace (I'll have to post it) that I also made out of these. At the top there are two black onxy balls and a small silver ball spacer.

I think I'm going to redo these and use wire wrapping at the tops of the milk glass. I'd like to see a little more of that something extra and I think that'll do the trick. I'm still getting the hang of this jewelry making, I love making pieces but I think I need and it takes a lot of practice!

Close up view:

Thanks for stopping by!!

If you are ever inspired by one of my creations to make something of your own please feel free to share it with me! I'd love to post a picture of it here on my blog.

Nicole

Jump Ring Earrings

2009-02-25T17:58:00.011-05:00

Here is a little pair of earrings I put together over this past weekend. These are really, REALLY simple. It's nothing more than a few jump rings connected together and topped off with some very pretty purple crystals. I did wire wrapping at the tops of the crystals. There is one big crystal and one small on each pair. The jump rings are all the same size. I think they were 1.5 mm jump rings. You can use any size! I wish I had bigger ones!

The pictures just doesn't do them justice, they are very dainty and a pair I'll actually wear! I'm slowly getting better at making pieces, when I look back at my first few pairs of earrings I wonder what I was thinking! These are much more my style, very simple and clean. They are super light weight too!

Thanks for stopping!!
Nicole

Topiary Fun!

2009-02-23T18:09:00.006-05:00

This was a fun project. I originally found this project in a Crafts n Things magazine. I didn't follow their directions, not sure I even read them. I really have no idea how they did theirs. I just knew when I saw the project exactly which pieces I had laying around the house that I could use to make something like that. I had, had this empty flower pot sitting around forever AND I had a bunch of Styrofoam balls left over from a project I did previously. Some markers, flowers and brads were also dug out of my stash. So be forewarned these directions are a bit crazy because I used items I personally had on hand you may need to use different materials then the ones listed.

Supplies: Styrofoam ball, flower pot, flowers, brads, paint, fake dried moss, paint, stamps, ribbon, floral foam, dowel (or something creative), glue

What you need to start - Styrofoam Ball and A Flower Pot - Any size you want for either of them. I tried to keep it proportionate.

Next is the trunk. Now I made mine. I would think you can buy some kind of dowel rod that is thick enough and in one single piece that you can use. Whatever you use make sure it's long enough even after putting it inside of the flower pot, you'll need it to stick up out of the flower pot. For my trunk I used markers. I didn't have anything to use that I felt was proportionate to the Styrofoam ball so I used some old markers I had laying around. It worked great because they connected together and were the right thickness. I put some glue on their ends, connected them and I had a tree trunk.

I took brown jewelry cord and wrapped it around the markers to make the trunk brown and textured(I would think you could use paper or even paint on your trunk).

Before you start to assemble the topiary pieces make sure you do any painting or stamping to the flower pot before assembling the pieces. For mine I did a white, blue paint wash and stamped the words around the edge. I did seal the flower pot with a matte spray. This helps to keep my inked words from coming off and an added benefit of sealing it is that I can wipe the flower pot with a damp cloth.

Next step is to put your trunk into the flower pot. Now the pot I had already had a foam material in it (it was previously a dried arrangement of daisies). You can purchase the foam at a craft store, floral foam. Push the trunk down into the foam, it should grab well. If it doesn't take the trunk out and put some glue into the hole that is there now and place the trunk back into the foam.

Now do the same thing with the Styrofoam ball. Push the top of the trunk into the Styrofoam ball -- you can add glue to make sure it holds tight. Let everything dry well before going on.

Once you have the pieces together and everything is dried you can add the dried moss. I used glue to hold my in place on top of the foam. You could probably get away with just stuffing the moss into the flower pot and not gluing it down, but I have pets and kids..so you know....it's bound to get knocked over.

The fun part! Putting the flowers on. Just start adding flowers to cover the entire Styrofoam ball. First I used straight pins to place all the flowers, then I went back and added the silver brads to the center. Cover the whole thing.

Add any final touches like maybe a bow around the flower pot and you're done! Display it anywhere! It's a nice touch for a craft room.

Thanks for stopping by!
Nicole

Happy Easter

2009-02-22T17:44:00.004-05:00

Since I didn't post anything for a few days I thought I would post another card I did this weekend. Dh found me some cute little Easter stamps and I wanted to start trying them - might not be a bad idea to get a head start, I'm usually running behind. I'm getting a little more brave about coloring in my stamped images. I wish I had some Copic markers but sadly don't (yet!).

Thanks for reading!

I'll have some new jewelry later this week - keep an eye out!

Nicole

Home is Where Your Heart Lives

2009-02-22T09:14:00.012-05:00

A quick little card I put together this weekend. I love the quote on this stamp! The little butterflies are from another project I am working on, well had been working on...current status is stuck. I had a pile of these punched butterflies sitting on my craft table while I was working on this card so I grabbed some, added some pop dots to the backs and put em' on the card.

Tomorrow I am going to have a neat topiary project so stop back and check it out!
Thanks for reading!
Nicole

Hello Little Birdie

2009-02-17T17:39:00.007-05:00

Yesterday I shared my decorative paper balls that were made from the March Kit found over at More Than Scrapbooking. Today I am sharing the little hello card I made. I love the bright colors in this kit, reminds me of spring, which I am desperatly waiting for. I've had it up to my ears with the cold weather now (anyone else feelin' that way?).

There's nothing fancy to this card. I used the rub-ons from the kit and cut them out once I rubbed em' on. I roughed up the paper edges around "hello", cut a nice flowing curve (Tip: use a pencil to sketch out your curve, then cut) added some brads and a pink ribbon/fiber (from the kit too).

Thanks for reading!
Nicole

Decorative Paper Balls

2009-02-16T17:27:00.018-05:00

Check this out!! More Than Scrapbooking has a drool worthy March kit available now. It's Basic Grey - Urban Prairie Papers, Clear Stamps, Rub-Ons AND Fibers...And you also get Thickers Alpha Stickers and the green stuff in the jar is fuzzy stuff like fibers you can glue on your creations (it's pretty cool stuff!).

I made 2 things with the kit (so far). This first one started with the idea that I wanted to make little balls out of paper. No, not wadded up paper, lol, something a little more elegant. More like the decorative balls you can buy to put in a big bowl and set out, no real purpose other than to look pretty.

Well it just happened that I was working with the kit on Valentine's day and my mother-in-law stops buy with goodies for us all :) (gotta love her). We get to talking about crafty stuff and I was explaining to her what I thought I was going to make with the kit, the little paper balls. She starts asking me how and I explain the whole thing and she says to me that last year for Christmas someone had made her these paper ball ornaments for the tree and how neat they were, all the while trying to also explain how they were made, which just wasn't making any sense! So she ran home quick and brought one back. I looked at it for a little and said, hmmm...I'm pretty sure I can make this happen. Now the one she brought over was fairly small. I knew I was going to have to upscale it if I wanted to make baseball sized or bigger ones. Off I went to the craftroom. Although this was time consuming, probably an hour or more for each one - size plays no roll in cutting down time. I loved the results. They are pretty sturdy too as long as you use a thick paper, like the Basic Grey ones I used from the MTS Kit (yes, that was a plug). Oh and you might be able to cut down on time if you have a circle cutter...I, however, am the circle cutter in my craftroom...

Supplies: Paper, Scissors, Glue, Circle Template

How it's done: Circle Template - any size, but use only one size per ball.
Trace & Cut 15 circles on patterned paper, it seems to always be 15 - big or small. (think about where your cutting circles from on the paper - see the small one I made has the bee on it, other ones have pieces of flowers). Next you need to fold those 15 circles into triangle shapes, there's really only one way to do it, fold two sides then fold the bottom up. The two sides fold and overlap and then fold the bottom up to overlap the two sides. Try to fold each one as well as you can making sure that all three sides are as equal in size as possible. Open each one back up, you'll see a nice section of your pp on the bottom and the rest along the sides. Now you're ready to start gluing your pieces together. Start with two pieces, glue one side of one and stick the other piece to the one that has the glue. Continue around, placing one piece against another pieces side, your circle will start to form naturally and it's easy to see what to do.

As always thank you for stopping by!
Nicole

A New Look?

2009-02-15T12:09:00.006-05:00

Now I'm trying out a new look. I can't decide what I want to do, move...stay...new look......I'm going to play around with a new look and see what happens. I've figured out how to edit my html code now, soooo....I'm thinking maybe I can achieve what I want without moving! We'll see...

Simply Simple Valentine Card

2009-02-13T16:29:00.013-05:00

Just the basics that's what this card is made of. Nothing more than patterned paper, cardstock, scissors and stickers. This was a challenge from the crop at More Than Scrapbooking. Let me tell you it WAS a challenge because I love to add tons of stuff to my creations and only being able to have these few forced me to get creative.

If you're in a funk or just looking for a challenge give this one a try. Create a layout or card using just the basics. Patterned Paper, Cardstock, Scissors and Stickers. See what you can come up with. Here's mine:

Supplies: K&CO - Puffy heart stickers, Bo Bunny papers, Basic Grey Bittersweet cardstock stickers; carstock - brown, white and pink; scalloped scissors

Thanks for reading!
Nicole

Moving??

2009-02-12T12:53:00.003-05:00

I know I haven't posted much lately, but not because I don't have anything to post! I am contemplating moving my blog. I am currently playing around with a new blog provider. That's where I've been! Messing around on the new provider seeing what I can and can't do and if it's worth the time and effort it takes to move my blog. I am thinking about renaming it too. I seem to be dabbling in much more than scrapbooking pages now and my title doesn't seem to fit right anymore. So hang tight, I promise I'll be posting again soon - well as soon as I can make a decision!

Thanks for stopping by!!
Nicole

New Baby Card

2009-02-06T08:50:00.010-05:00

I can't believe I haven't posted anything in over a week!! I have been having one of those weeks where you just want to crawl under your covers and not come out until things get better. It's Friday now though and I think my luck is changing (fingers crossed!).

Last weekend there was a 24 crop happening at More Than Scrapbooking (shame on me I forgot to post about it) and I managed to get a ton of things done at the crop. It was so much fun! I'll make sure to write a post the next time they are having a crop! You won't want to miss out!

Below is one of my favorite cards that I made for the crop. I made my own patterned paper by stamping and embossing an image. I also made my own paper using a white sharpie paint pen to create some polka dots and lines. The word stamp "New Baby" is embossed also. I added some sheer blue ribbon and glittered a chipboard star to complete the look. I am in LOVE with embossing!!

Supplies: Stamps - Bird, New Baby, Flowers n Swirls; Sharpie White Paint Pen; Basic Grey Bittersweet - Glazed Brad; Me and My Big Ideas Biggest Chipboard Ever - Star; blue ink and embossing powder; green glitter; sheer ribbon; green and blue cardstock

Thanks so much for stoppping!! Happy stamping and scrapping!!

Nicole

Embossing Stamped Images

2009-01-28T10:53:00.057-05:00

Alright here we go! I've got a quick little embossing project to share. I'm just learning, so if there's an experienced embosser who has some tips feel free to share please!

This is so much fun, if you haven't tried it yet you really should - you'll never go back to only using ink when stamping.

First you need a few supplies just for embossing - including but not limited to the following: Embossing Ink/Pigment - it stays wet longer than regular inks and comes in a huge variety of colors to match the embossing powders. Embossing Powders - there are several kinds - Opaque and Translucent were the two I chose to try, they are different in their appearance once heated. Embossing Heat Gun - gotta have it to make it all work! Other supplies: Stamps and papers. For this project I also used a circle template.

Step One: Pick which color pigment you want to use and a stamp you like - I used red pigment and a giant flower stamp for this step. Stamp your image onto a nice white (or color of your choice) piece of paper. As you can see below a stamped image isn't very vivid.

Step Two: Add embossing powder to your stamped image. I chose to stick with the same color powder as pigment, you can actually mix it up if you'd like - Black pigment, red powder or red pigment, black powder - all depends on the affect you want. Play around and see what happens. For this project I used an Opaque Red Embossing Powder. It also helps to have a little scoop or spoon to dish the powder out with. Cover the entire image and then slide the excess powder back into the bottle - the best you can, it is a little messy. You should instantly see how much more vivid your image is going to be with the embossing powder.

Step Three: Using your heat gun, heat up the embossing powder. Be careful not to hold the heat gun over one area too long as it WILL burn. Just move it back and forth across the image - I use tweezers to hold my paper down and keep my fingers OUT OF THE WAY! You can see the powder heating up because it will start to look slightly shiny and wet. That's it, now sit back and take a look at your clean, crisp image! I then traced a circle template around the flower and cut it out.

Step Four: Ok, now you will want to grab a blank card I used a black one because I wanted to stamp the word "Girlfriends" in white. Grab your Embossing Pigment. Stamp your image directly onto your card.

Step Five: Repeat the process you used in Step 2 - Add embossing powder (Opaque White was used here), shake off excess and heat up with heat gun. (Notice how much better you can now see the stamped image)

Step Six: The last thing left to do is to stamp a pretty border along the outside edge of the card. I used a full sized stamp for this but only stamped a small portion of the stamp along the edge of the card, using white pigment. Again repeat Step 2 by adding embossing powder and heating.

Step Seven: Assemble your card! Ta Da!! Look how bright all the stamped images are now! This is a really easy card layout, but you can certainly get as complicated as you'd like and keep in mind embossing powder can be used in other ways.

Thanks for reading!! Happy Embossing!!
Nicole

A Blooming Thank You Card

2009-01-27T08:09:00.008-05:00

Another little card from my scrap desk. I love the paper I used, I just wish I could remember who makes it - so yummy! The flowers were an actual pattern on one of the papers that I carefully cut out. The glazed brads are made by Basic Grey.

I also went ahead and decorated the envelope for this card. I went a little further decorating the envelope with this one then I did with the "Hello" card from Monday's post. The envelope is standing up behind the card in the picture.

I have to admit that I've played around with my new embossing goodies and now that I look at this card without any embossing done to the stamped image I have to wonder what took me so long to try embossing. It makes the image so much more vivid. I can actually see the difference between this card and the new ones I'm working with the embossing on. I can't wait to share those, what a difference it makes!

Thanks for stopping!! Happy scrappin'!
Nicole

A Sparkly Hello Card

2009-01-26T08:44:00.041-05:00

I've been on a use it up kick with my scrapbooking supplies. I have boxes upon boxes of blank cards and envelopes. I bought a ton of blank cards around Christmas time with the intentions of making my own Christmas cards - of course that never happened and now I have three big boxes full of blank cards. The only problem with the cards in the boxes are that they are smaller than the ones I make myself and these don't leave me a ton of working room, but I wanted to start using them up. I also have a ton of scrapbooking supplies that I've bought but have never seen the light of day. SoOoO I decided it's time to start putting ALL of that stuff to use.

I got some new goodies this weekend - new stamps, embossing powders and a heat gun!!! I'm so stoked to use it all but have made a promise that BEFORE I dive into another new item/technique I would put some of my older items to use FIRST! (be on the look out for how my embossing goes - first time embosser here and I plan to share any tips, tricks, techniques I discover!!).

One of the cards I made this weekend using the blank cards from the big box of them I bought was this cute little hello card (below). I also decorated the little envelope that comes with the card, just to add that extra special touch. The envelope is a blank canvas just like the card so why not decorate it?!

SUPPLIES: Basic Grey - Bittersweet papers ;Basic Grey - Cardstock Sentiment Stickers - Bittersweet ;Glitter - Pink ;White Rub-ons - Unknown ;White Sharpie Liquid Paint Pen (polka dots along right hand edge & on "Hello" tag) ;Hello Stamp - $1.00 bin at Michaels - Studio Girls ;Giant Jewel - Unknown ;Cat's Eye Liquid Chalks - Chesnut

Thanks for reading!! HAPPY SCRAPPING!!
Nicole

Great Crafty Blogs

2009-01-23T13:38:00.012-05:00

Hello, hello! How's everyone doing? Good I hope! Keeping warm and toasty too I hope! We're having a heat wave today of almost 50 degrees! Considering the last week or more has held 10 degree and lower days this 50 degree day makes it feel hot outside!

So on to good things. Since I don't have any projects to post right now - although I have several in the works. I thought it would be a good idea to share some of my favorite blogs with you. I'm sure you'll find something to give you some inspiration if you can find some time to check them out. These girls work hard and their projects are GORGEOUS!

Lolly Chops - Has all kinds of crafts, from scrapbooking to food - Very cool stuff and one amazingly talented woman! - Check it out!

Belle Papier - Amazing cards!! She is very talented and there's sure to be a card to inspire some ideas! - check it out!

Andrew Walford's Stampin' Up - Great site for stamping ideas and techniques - check it out!

Melz Scrappy Junk - Another amazingly, talented woman. Beautiful cards, layouts and crafts - check it out!!

Mish Mash - I found this blog through another blog and fell in love. A must check it out!

Pine is here - This one I found from Mish Mash's blog. Her creations are marvelous! Beautiul designs - a must see!

Most of these blogs are also linked along my sidebar, but some of them are not (yet). I thought I'd bring these great blogs to the FRONT AND CENTER - they certainly deserve a look!!

Happy scrapping!!! As always thanks for stopping!!

Nicole

Mini Album - Teenage Style

2009-01-21T17:40:00.012-05:00

Good Evening!! I apologize for not having a post yesterday. I actually have been working on this mini album since Sunday night and didn't get a chance to make anything else to post!

This little album is going to be all about my daughter Brianna (I know the little tag in this pictures looks like it says Brian, but the flower petal is covering the rest of her name (the flower spins around and I didn't realize it was covering her name when I took the picture). I got this album awhile ago..it's been sitting on my shelf for a several months...maybe even a year! SOoOo I decided to use it. I struggle sometimes for ideas when it comes to altered items, especially mini albums. I've only done a handful. I decided to just sit down and make it happen.

Now this is a work in progress, I do not have any of the pages inside the album done yet (I hope to work on this over the weekend) and I only have one side of the inside cover done - I need to pick up more black paper to do the back inside cover. Just about everything on this mini album cover is made with the Basic Grey Bittersweet products (papers, buttons, rub-ons, brads)(can you tell I have a BG problem - especially this new line - loOoOve it!).

Front Cover:

Back Cover:

Inside Cover:

Close up of inside cover:

Full view of outside of album

Thanks for reading and stopping!!
Nicole

Be Mine Valentine Card

2009-01-19T08:43:00.022-05:00

Good Evening!! I'm sorry to post this project so late today - I usually find some time during my lunch break at work to get this done but today was just crazy!! So here I am, it's almost 9:30 and I'm just finding a chance to get this posted.

I have another Valentine's Day card! I love making cards for Valentine's day, I don't really know why, maybe it's because it involves a lot of pinks and reds (two of my favorites) or maybe it's because I can really get girly (adding lots of little glitzy touches) with Valentine's Day cards, either way I love making them. Plus I 've had the frame I used on this card hanging around my scrap area forever...it was time to put it to use!

There's been some discussion lately on More Than Scrapbooking as to whether or not to decorate the insides of cards. I personally do not usually do this. One of the girls on the site had posted a really great link to a really great blog filled with cards - insides and out complete. Her cards are gorgeous, I'll have to get the link and post it here. She puts just as much effort into the inside as she does the outside. So of course this got me thinking I wanted to try this decorating the inside thing...what the heck right, why not?! I think I need some practice on making the inside as nice as the outside, but now that I've done it I think I will continue to decorate the insides of my cards from here on out! I really like how it makes the whole card feel complete. Do you decorate the inside of your cards?

Below is my card design - pictures of both the inside and outside. I used metallic rub on (pink) on the frame and added buttons. The little bird is a stamp by Autumn Leaves (I love this stamp) and the papers are all Basic Grey(Bittersweet)

Card Front:

Card Inside:

Close up of Inside:

Have a nice night!
Nicole

Altered Priority Box - Paper Storage

2009-01-18T08:51:00.003-05:00

Want a really cheap way to store your scrapbooking paper? Check out my tutorial on turning priority boxes into verticle storage for your papers! Click here to read the how to: Verticle Storage Box

Instant Art

2009-01-17T09:12:00.022-05:00

Good Morning! Well I have some good official news today. The February kit at More Than Scrapbooking is now AVAILABLE for purchase! Stop by and sign up to become a monthly kit member. The kits are packed full of so many goodies, you'll have enough stuff to create several projects. So what are you waiting for, get over there and check out everything new that's going on and don't forget to sign up for the monthly kit!

Ok on to today's project!! Yesterday I showed you the mini mailbox I created using the February kit from More Than Scrapbooking and today I'd like to show you the little piece of home decor I also made with the kit. It's a really simple project and a quick way to add some instant art to your home. Both projects were made from ONE kit AND I still have more than enough product left over to make something else!

The idea for this originated from a Stampin' Up catalog, they had something similar pictured. I tucked this idea away waiting for the perfect set of papers.

1. For this project you need one (1) 8x10 frame (not included in the kit) - the color of the frame is up to you, I picked white because it worked best with the beautiful Bo Bunny Valentine's papers (included in the kit). Once you have your frame, cut a piece of cardstock to fit inside the frame and remove the glass from the frame (your end results will not fit in the frame with the glass).

2. Next you will want to cut out 20 squares from different patterned papers and cardstock. The squares will be about 1 3/4" each (one and three quarter inch) in size. You should be able to fit 4 across and 5 down in the frame with gaps between each square. I believe the gaps between my squares is about 1/8".

3. Now you will want to lay out your squares in your 8x10 frame. Make sure everything fits, make any adjustments needed. I think I had to recut my squares twice, the first two times they were too big and I wasn't getting the gaps between the squares to show the way I wanted. Plus you may want to alternate patterned paper and cardstock squares. Play around until you have your squares set up in a way you like.

4. Now the fun part - start decorating each of your little squares with embellishments (words, chipboard pieces, clips, rub-ons, etc). I would advise decorating each square before gluing the squares to your 8x10 piece of paper. I would also recommend putting the 8x10 piece of paper you cut into the frame to work before gluing the squares, this will ensure you give yourself a gap between the edge of the frame and edge of all the squares running along the outside.

5. When you have all your squares decorated or the ones you wanted decorated (remember it's all up to you, you do not have to decorate each square!) you can start to glue your finished squares down. If you look closely at mine you can see some pop off the page and some do not. To achieve this look I used 3D pop dots behind some of squares and Photo Squares to adhere the rest.

TA DA instant art work for your home! You can pick a theme to do related to a holiday ( mine is Valentine's themed), you could add little pictures to some of the squares and create a My Family or My Pets theme. It's up to you!!

If you ever have any questions on any of the projects or products in my posts please feel free to email me or ask me here in a post.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend and happy scrapping!

Nicole

Mini Mailbox - Bo Bunny

2009-01-16T13:28:00.011-05:00

A few posts ago I mentioned the new kits that will be available at More Than Scrapbooking....remember?? Well the Design Team (one of them is me!) has been working hard at creating all kinds of projects with the soon to be available Feburary kit!

This up and coming kit has some seriously YUMMY papers and embellishments!! The patterned papers are all by Bo Bunny. Each patterned paper is double sided - I know, isn't that exciting?! You get double the fun and double the possibilities! Along with all the beautiful papers and embellishments (buttons, chipboard pieces, paint) you will also receive an alterable item and this months is a mini mailbox.

I've heard about the mini mailboxes on several different scrapbooking websites but have never had the chance to alter one. When I did a look around the web to see how others were decorating their mini mailboxes I didn't come across too many samples, so if you've done a mini mailbox I'd love it if you would share your results with me!!

When I first got the mailbox I was a little intimidated by it. I didn't know what to do with it....how was I going to make this look scrappy?? Down I went to my craftroom to try to come up with something clever. I don't know that I've done anything clever or anything that someone else hasn't already done to a mini mailbox but I will say that the Bo Bunny papers really helped keep the overall look of the mailbox unified and it actually was one of the smoothest going projects I've ever done. Below are my results, I think it turned out pretty cute and it now has a home in my scrap room on the shelf.

Thanks for stopping by!! Have a great weekend!

Nicole

From the Heart - Technique Thursday!

2009-01-15T12:50:00.023-05:00

I'm declaring this to be a Technique Thursday and man do I have a technique to inspire you!

Thank you to Scrapbooking.com Magazine Online for directing me to an amazing blog through their Blog of The Week (found in their newsletter)! Lollychop is the name of the blog and it definitely deserved to be recognized! Her blog is chalked FULL of inspiring projects and ideas. It's a must see blog - take some time to check things out on her site!

I want to send Lolly a great big huge THANK YOU for all the hard work you put into your blog and your projects! Also thank you for the technique & inspiration that helped me create this card!! YOU ROCK GIRL!!

Oh one more quick thank you (shame on me for forgetting!!!) to my husband who ran out two nights in a row to purchase the products I needed to make this - such as the hydrenga stamp by Martha Stewart and the Zots dots for gluing!! You made life easy by doing the running for me and just the fact that you will step foot into a scrap store is totally awesome - what a good man! You've always taken an active interest in my hobby, supporting me all the way and I want to say thank you babe!

Ok so onto the project! See that heart on my card? Isn't that just the neatest thing? Wanna try it? Well then click here to read her instructions on the how to make one for yourself! You won't be disappointed with the results - what a great way to add some dimension to a layout, card or altered item!!

Thanks for reading!!! Have a great day everyone!
Nicole

Valentine's Day Cards

2009-01-13T13:04:00.026-05:00

Have you heard that Basic Grey is having a Valentine's Day Card Contest?? Well I have been feverishly working on creating cards to submit for this contest - it ends Saturday, January 17, 2009. I don't think I stand a chance the competition is stiff but what the heck right? At least I'm having fun playing with BG's new papers. Stop by Basic Grey and check out their newsletter with all the details on the contest.

Below are two cards I have submitted for the contest (fingers crossed). I used Basic Grey's beautiful Bittersweet Collection of papers and rub-ons for these two cards. I plan to enter at least one more card. I found this wonderful technique on a blog that was listed as the Blog of The Week on the Scrapbooking.com Magazine Online newsletter that I want to try for my final card submission. I will be adding the blog name and link with proper credits once I finish my card and have it posted here. So for now I'm just going to post the two cards I've done so far. You can also check out the Basic Grey gallery to view all the submissions for the contest.

Kiss Card: To add a bit of depth to the card instead of just placing a big heart cut from pattern paper or a chipboard heart on to the card I decided to trace a heart on the card (using a heart template). Then using my exacto knife I cut the traced heart out of the card. I then opened the card and placed a piece of pattern paper on the backside of the cut out heart so that the patterned paper shows through on the front side. I used small 3D glue dots to adhere the patterened paper to the heart opening - the 3D glue dots allow for a space to be in between the patterned paper and the heart opening - addding some nice depth to an otherwise flat card.

Be Mine: Super simple card to make - First cut a square or rectangular card (or use an already made blank card). Now to achieve the curved outside edge I simply hand sketched the curve using a pencil. Once I was sure I had a curved edge that I thought would look nice I just cut it out with scissors. I placed patterned paper on the the inside side of the card that would now be exposed due to the curve that had been cut on the outside edge. I again used 3D Glue Dots to layer some of the hearts and to help give the card some "pop"

Thanks for reading!

Nicole

More Than Scrapbooking Challenge

2009-01-12T18:00:00.024-05:00

More Than Scrapbooking is having a great challenge right now and there is a winner to be picked!! One of the two challenges available requires you to use the word "new" in your project.

I thought this worked out perfectly for a saying I had been waiting to use on a card.

Below is the card I created as a sample for the "new" challenge.
"Everyday I discover something NEW I love about you"

Thanks for reading!!
Nicole

New Things

2009-01-12T17:04:00.006-05:00

I'm excited to share a few things. Yay for new things in the new year!! GO 2009 it's going to be a great year!

The biggest thing is that More Than Scrapbooking has taken on new owners and there is a lot of fantastic new things coming to the site. Don't forget their monthly kits - they're BACK and more fabulous then ever! Which brings me to the next new thing. I was fortunate enough to remain on the More Than Scrapbooking site as a Design Team Member! I'll be posting my creations with their fabulous kits there and here on my blog. I will have some kit creations to post soon so keep checking back here. There are also going to be monthly challenges and more! Take a moment to check out the new things going on and come meet the new owners too!! You can even create your own My Studio while you're there.

Next thing - I have to admit I've taken on too many endeavors right now so in an attempt to minimize some of my duties I'm going to be removing the monthly SKETCHES from my blog. I also am not sure that I will continue making digital kits on any kind of regular basis (not that I exactly was). I loved making kits for fun and had hoped to maybe go to a full time designer status but I just do not have the time to devote to it. I will post digital kits when I make them and they will always be for free, I just do not know how often that will be. I've found myself drifting back towards paper projects - I do this drifting thing a lot with hobbies......so this is making for conflict on finding time to do the digital things, not to mention I've added card making and stamping to the list of projects. I had to realize I am not able to do it all...I'd love to but it's almost impossible - well if I want to stay sane and still love crafting!

I will also be removing a few things along the sidebar to "declutter" my blog.

Aloha!

2009-01-11T08:58:00.005-05:00

This card represents me wishing for warm weather!! BRRRR it's cold here! Actually I had purchased this stamp and wanted to put it to use and this cute little card came to be. I used my Heidie Swapp Hibiscus foam stamp with red paint to create the background.

You Never Know - Digital Layout

2008-12-07T12:57:00.002-05:00

Good Dog - Magazine Cover Digital Layout

2008-12-06T12:54:00.001-05:00

I created this made up magazine cover featuring my little Toy Fox Terrier Teensy.

Wedding Day-Digital Layout

2008-12-05T12:53:00.002-05:00

Soaking Up The Sun

2008-12-05T12:34:00.000-05:00

Oh Christmas Tree

2008-12-02T13:28:00.003-05:00

Another little Christmas card I threw together using paper and stamps! I'm having such a great time getting into the Christmas spirit by making cards this year! I hope I get them all done soon so I can start sending them out - I am such a last minute shopper and card sender during the holidays! I hope you all are better about it then I am!

Scrappy Accomplishments

2008-12-01T17:52:00.001-05:00

ACCOMPLISHMENTS / PUBLICATIONS:
Basic Grey's Online Gallery
*The Beauty of Hawaii - July 2006
*Pololu Valley - Hawaii - August 2006
*Pacific View - August 2006
*Moments of Solitude - August 2006
*Nature - August 2006
*Puppy Love - November 2006
*Toothless Smile - December 2006
*Backyard Dream - December 2006
*Simply Me - January 2007
*XOXO Card - February 2007
*and two hearts become one card - Feburary 2007
*truely, madly, deeply card - February 2007
*happy Valentine's day - February 2007
*Growing Up - May 2007
*Love Album - February 2008
*Love Card - February 2009
*Be Mine Card - February 2009
*Be Mine Card 2 - February 2009
*Kiss Card - February 2009

OTHER PUBLICATIONS:
Crafts ~N~ Things Magazine - Wedding Canvas - August 2008 Issue
Scrapbooking.com Magazine Newsletter- Tilano Fresco Products -2007
Scrapbooking.com Magazine - Blog of the Week - 2007
ScrapGalaxy Newsletter - 2007
Tilano Fresco Newsletter
Tilano Fresco(http://www.tilanofresco.com/) - Transfer Kit - Hawaii Album - May 15, 2007
Tilano Fresco(http://www.tilanofresco.com/) - Canvas Transfer Kit - Love -May 15, 2007
Tilano Fresco(http://www.tilanofresco.com/) - Fresco Tile Kit - Nicole & Aaron - May 17, 2007
Tilano Fresco(http://www.tilanofresco.com/) - Fresco Tile Kit - Our Wedding July 23, 2005 - May 17, 2007
Tilano Fresco (http://www.tilanofresco.com/) - Fresco Marble Coaster Kit - Hawaii Coasters -June 2007

DESIGN TEAMS:
I am currently a DT member of http://www.morethanscrapbooking.com/

PREVIOUSLY DESIGNED FOR:
Design Team: http://www.scrapgalaxy.com/
Creative Team Member for http://www.iscrap.net/
Designer for http://www.tilanofresco.com/

Skater Boy

2008-12-01T12:33:00.000-05:00

Snowflake Card

2008-11-22T12:01:00.004-05:00

We had our first snow fall here the other day....it has all melted away now but in the spirt of the first snow I made another Christmas card using my snowflake stamps and GLITTER! I love using glitter on holiday cards, it just feels festive to me.

Snowmen Cards

2008-11-21T14:45:00.013-05:00

I have a huge soft spot for snowmen so of course I started out making some Christmas cards with snowmen on them! I still have a lot to learn about using stamps, you would think it's as simple as stamping an image but there are so many ways to enhance a stamped image.

TIP: Try using ink a shade darker or lighter than the color paper you are using. I used this technique on both of these cards using a snowflake stamp to create a subtle background in the empty space on each card.

I think after several attempts at making some Christmas cards (I'm still buffering my card making skills too!) I am happy with these two and will make enough of each to send out this year to family and friends.

TIP: Try using sandpaper on you card to remove color, giving the card some extra texture and a nice handmade feel.

Laugh

2008-11-18T12:29:00.000-05:00

Reorganizing - Part II

2008-11-17T21:24:00.020-05:00

The main reason for all this reorganization was for all my alphabet letters. It took me awhile to figure out exactly how to do this without buying 26 containers. Then I remembered (how I have no idea!) that I had a ton of these store bags that the owner of our local craft store had given to me once when I asked if I could have a couple extra bags to pack some goodies in that I was sending off. She went to her back room and came out with a handful of them, I tried to decline all those bags, I really only needed 4 but she insisted so I took them and they've sat ever since. Long story short these bags became the storage for my alpha letters.

I decorated them with mostly scrap paper and embellies. I used a mixture of Basic Grey Monogram Alphas. Inside each bag I have each alpha letter in a zip lock baggie to keep it protected and it also makes for easy clean up when I dump the bag out to pick the style letter I want. The bags all stand up inside of two plastic containers....I realized when I put all the bags into the containers it wasn't easy to find the letter I wanted quickly without paging through them, sooooo I simply took some alphabet stickers and stapled them to the tops of each bag, staggering them like files in a filing cabinet inside each container. This worked wonders for finding the letter I wanted quickly! I also labeled the front of the two containers the bags sit in using chipboard alpha stickers. One is labeled A-M the other N-Z.

This method isn't as fashionable as a set of 26 drawers labeled A-Z BUT since that tree in my backyard hasn't started to grow money yet (don't know what's wrong with it I planted it years ago....) I picked a cheap, creative and doable alternative. I would think that you could easily do this with brown lunch bags if you don't just happen to have a ton of little store bags laying around. Just make sure to put your alphas into a baggie inside the bag for protection.

So there you have it this concludes my long post on reorganization and a long week of doing it! - oh one more quick tip, I found organizing things by colors works wonders with crafting! Sometimes I don't know what item I want but I probably have an idea of what color(s) I'm planning to use.

(click any picture for a larger view)

Kaya

2008-11-16T12:28:00.000-05:00

Reorganizing - Part I

2008-11-16T11:50:00.040-05:00

<-----(my craftroom) I finally have some pictures of all my reorganization! There are too many photos to post at once so I am going to break it up in to two posts. Everything I did to reorganize didn't cost me a penny! I would LOVE to buy tons of gorgeous containers for storing my scrap goodies but that can get costly quick! I stuck with what I had laying around the house. STAMPIN' STORAGE: Here I used clear CD cases for storing my clear rubber stamps and clear makeup bags for my foam stamps.

PENS, PENCILS, MARKERS: Using mason jars, Tilano Fresco Chalkboard Paint and some scrapbooking goodies to jazz it up, I created storage for my pens, pencils and markers.

RIBBON STORAGE: This is the ribbon rack I made! It was so simple and quick to throw together. A left over piece of molding, some old brass kitchen cabinet knobs, attach knobs to molding and attach molding to the wall and you're done!

If Looks Could Kill

2008-11-15T12:27:00.000-05:00

Scrapbooking.com Magazine

2008-11-14T11:17:00.019-05:00

Check out the new badge I'm sporting on my sidebar (right side) that Scrapbooking.com Magazine provided me for having featured my blog in their newsletter!

If you have never visited their site you should definitly take some time out to stop by. Sign up for the free newsletter. Scrapbooking.com Magazine online is exactly what it says - an online scrapbooking magazine packed full with all kinds of crafty ideas. It covers scrapbooking pages, card making, altered crafts and so much more, Oh and hey it's online AND FREE - yep you heard me FREE - who doesn't like something FREE!!! There's bound to be something to inspire your creative side!

Reorganizing

2008-11-11T13:32:00.014-05:00

Well I haven't posted anything since last week! But I swear I have a very good reason this time. I have been reorganizing/rearranging my craft area SINCE my last post!! It's sad but true, I've got too much stuff and have been finding myself struggling to find what I need. I didn't have a very good organization method before but I hope I do now.

I use to just have all my alpha letters grouped together but not by letter, just by the boxes or plastic bags that they were purchased in. This is not working anymore as I've taken a letter from this one or that one and some have all the letters still available and some don't. So I made 26 bags labeled A-Z and decorated them too (this took over a day in itself) hoping to help me find the letter i need much faster. I also organized all my stickers, rubons, stamps - you name it got organized!

For my stamps I used clear CD cases to store them in. This works soooo well. I can label the spine of the CD and then am able to just slide it out and see exactly what is in each one without ever opening the CD. Very cool - I found this idea on a blog (I'm sorry but I do not remember exactly which blog).

My stickers were all categorized too! Everything from weddings to holidays.

Aaron (my husband) was kind enough to create a ribbon storage rack for me! We took a leftover piece of crown molding and some old brass kitchen cabinet knobs I had laying around and attached the knobs to the molding and made a coat rack so to speak to hang my ribbon from in groups of colors (red, blue, purple, green, yellow, brown, white, black, orange).

I also was able to get my kiln set up, which has been sitting for months. I am hoping to start making my own beads for jewelry making in the kiln, among other things that can be done with it - very exciting!

My scrapbook Wall (visit this link to see the scrapwall project (with tutorial) I create using Tilano Fresco Chalkboard Paints: ScrapBook Wall) is now open again for my use (it was blocked by boxes and all kinds of other junk that we had been stashing in the craft room temporarily). I decided all the junk had to go!! I needed my space back! And now I can see AND us my scrapbook wall again!!

Using mason jars I created storage for my colored pens, pencils, paint brushes, etc. Using Tilano Fresco chalkboard paint I painted a small label area on the front of each of the jars so that if I ever switch them around I can just relabel them with chalk! I also use the Tilano chalkboard paint on my drawers to label each of them and again if I ever want to change the contents of the drawers they are easily relabeled.

So that's where I've been! I'm still not entirely done, but when I am done I will be taking pictures to post for all to see! I definitely want to at the very least post my handmade ribbon storage rack, which didn't cost me a penny and it looks fabulous!! I even set up a small photo taking area for when I have to or need to take pictures of my projects!

I have many Christmas cards in the works to post too. I was working on them when I realized how badly I needed to reorganize my craft area. It feels great to be reorganized and to have every thing cleaned up! I can't wait to get back to where I was - making Christmas cards!!

Discover The Beach

2008-11-11T11:42:00.000-05:00

Middle of the Week!

2008-11-06T20:35:00.025-05:00

Ok, so it's not exactly the middle of the week, but I was close! I am actually getting to post something during the week, which is hard for me to do sometimes. I'm into making cards right now probably because I am lovin' how stamps look on them. These were fun to make and the ideas came pretty quick. There are a lot of different things you can do using stamps. I have so many ideas I want to try out. Some of my inspiration and ideas have come from Belle Papier. She does amazing work - you can't help but want to run to your craft area and create something. I used one of her techniques on my bottom card. I stamped the flower image first onto the blue cardstock then stamped the same flower image onto the My Mind's Eye Polka Dot paper and cut out the tops of the flowers and then layered them on top of the stamped image on the blue cardstock to give the flowers a little pizazz

Hello Card:

Friends Card:

Supplies:
K&Company(Lady bug stickers)
Inkadinkado (Clear Flower Stamp)
Autumn Leaves (Clear Flower Stamp Stems)
Generic Ribbon ($1.00 bin at craftstore - SCORE!!)
Hole Punch (circle)
Cat's Eye Liquid Chalks (Chestnut Brown)
Martha Stewart (Gerbera Daisy Stickers)
Nick Bantock Ink Pads (Lamp Black;Van Dyke Brown)
Microfine Pens (black, red, green, blue)
My Mind's Eye (Tres Jolie - Oui Oui - Adorable - Polka Dots)
My Mind's Eye (Tres Jolie - Oui Oui - Adorable - Paisley)

Fall Family Project - Dried Leaves

2008-11-02T14:04:00.022-05:00

I have a really simple and great family project for you to try out. Right now all the leaves are starting to fall off the trees so this couldn't be more perfect timing for this project. You'll get some good family time and you will also end up with a great fall decoration for your home. (extra perc - it's inexpensive and quick!).

Supplies: Frames (I bought some cheap ones at Walmart); 3-4 different kinds of leaves; Wax paper; Iron; Your creativity

Directions:
1. Gather 3-4 different kinds of leaves from outside. The kids will really enjoy this, make sure to find leaves with color still left to them and as little holes as possible.

2. Let the leaves dry for awhile - maybe a day or so but not so long that they start to lose their colors or curl.

3. Tear off two pieces of wax paper (sized to fit a leaf between them). You can also tear one large piece of wax paper and then fold in half.

4. Place your leaf between the two pieces of wax paper. Make sure the actual waxy part of the paper is facing in so that the wax is transfered onto the leaf when heated.

5. Heat up your iron (I just used my cotton setting) and iron the top piece of wax paper (over the leaf). Don't let your iron rest too long in one spot instead continue to keep it moving. Once you feel you've given the wax paper enough heat to transfer it's wax onto the leaf let the paper cool and then peel away the top and bottom pieces of wax paper to reveal your preserved leaf. (By ironing the wax onto the leaves you are helping preserve their colors).

6. Now comes the fun part. Arrange your leaves in your frames -it's all up to you how you design them. I decided to leave the mats in my frames and design around them with the leaves and I backed the smaller frame with red cardstock. You could use bigger frames making a huge picture of fall leaves and colors. You could put one beautiful leaf in a single frame (or several single frames with single leaves). You could also lump them together in a frame (as I have done). You could also choose to use green leaves from a plant in your home and create three frames each with a single green leaf in them, this would be a good alternative idea to the fall theme of this project if you wanted something that wasn't geared towards the season and was a great all around any season decoration.

November

2008-11-01T12:27:00.008-04:00

Halloween has come and gone now we're on our way to Thanksgiving and then CHRISTMAS - can you believe that it's that close already! I will be posting a new sketch soon and also the project idea for this month. Check out the must try product - who doesn't love flowers and the handmade ones from Petalo are pretty cool - great colors for thanksgiving layouts.

Congrats JEAN MARIE! Your name was randomly drawn for the RAK! Thank you everyone who took the time to tell me why you like stamping or offering a tip/trick for stamping! Keep an eye out for more Raks in the future!

A Girl's Best Friend

2008-11-01T11:29:00.001-04:00

Glitter & Stamping

2008-10-25T14:11:00.012-04:00

Having fun with my stamps and this time adding a touch (okay maybe more than a touch) of glitter for fun. These stamps are made by Inkadinkado (pumpkin, witch & trick-or-treat). Glitter is hard to be so exact with, actually it's more of putting the glue on in the right amount and right where you want it that's hard....I used a very small paint brush, dipped in Mod Podge (glue) to get the glitter where I wanted it.

Supplies: Inkadinkado Halloween Stamps; Making Memories (purple snaps); glitter (orange, green & purple), purple ribbon, star punch.

Trick-0r-Treat

Stamping

2008-10-22T09:32:00.036-04:00

I've finally discovered stamping as a scrapbooker. I think I might be the last scrapbooker in the world who wasn't using stamps. I am hooked, it's a simple as that. They are so much fun to work with. You can make your own embellishments from them or color them in to add a touch of glam. They can be used on cards, scrapbook pages, tags and I'm sure a ton of other things that I can't even imagine.

The cards and tags I recently created (few posts below this one) were my first chance to use my new stamps so I am just learning all the possibilities with stamping. I have found that the stamps I love so far are made by Inkadinkado, Autumn Leaves and Imaginisce. I prefer the clear stamps so I can see where I am placing the image. I have more cards in the works using the my new stamps and hope to have them posted soon!

In the meantime I'd like to share my new love of stamping with you. I've put together a small RAK containing stamps made by Imaginisce & Autumn Leaves. There will be an assortment of eight different stamps going to one lucky person!

In order to be eligible for the RAK I ask that you leave a comment here in this post with your email address AND why you love stamping or tell me a tip/trick for stamping!

UPDATED: You have until October 31st at midnight to leave your comments and I will pick a winner randomly by November 1st and contact that person via email to get their address - so don't forget to leave me your e-mail address!

Check these bad boys out! (click for larger view)

Simple Tags

2008-10-19T11:43:00.018-04:00

I don't often make tags. I think they intimidate me for some reason, maybe because it's such a small space to work in and I worry about design overload, but this weekend I came across a blog called Belle Papier that inspired me to try making some of my own. I realized a few things: 1. It's a great way to use up those little scraps of paper and embellishments you have hanging around 2. Not only can you use them on your scrapbook pages but you can add them to gifts, cards, and albums (to name a few things). 3. Tags are not as intimidating as I thought and truly fun to make!

Imagine:

Supplies: Autum Leaves Stamps (Bird); Inkadinkado Stamps (Flowers)(Imagine word): Patterned Paper; Cardstock; Embossed Cardstock; Jewels: Wild Asparagus (blue ribbon); Making Memories (black eyelet); 3D glue dots; Nick Bantock Ink Pads (Lamp Black); Cat's Eye Liquid Chalks (black)

Dream:

Supplies: Inkadinkado Stamps (butterfly, dream); Patterned Paper; Wild Asparagus (blue ribbon); American Crafts (brown check ribbon); Making Memories (black eyelet); Nick Bantock Ink Pads (Van Dyke Brown); Cat's Eye Liquid Chalks (brown); 3D glue Dots

Halloween Cards

2008-10-18T11:33:00.024-04:00

Using some very basic scrapbooking supplies (papers, pens, stamps, snaps, rub-ons and eyelets) I made a few fun Halloween cards. These were super quick to put together and didn't require many supplies at all!

Pumpkin Card

2008-10-16T12:36:00.023-04:00

Creating this pumpkin card was simple and fun too! I actually saw a pumpkin on a layout similar to this and thought hmmm...wouldn't that make a really cute Halloween card.

Supplies:
Large Oval Template & Medium Oval Template
Cardstock & Patterned Paper of your liking
Ink
Happy Halloween Stamp or rubon
Brown Ribbon
Green Leaves or Green Prima Flowers
Pen
Glue
Scissors

Directions:
1. Fold your cardstock in half.
2. Using the large oval template trace the oval three times onto the cardstock (one of the ovals needs to be positioned along the folded edge of the cardstock, you do NOT want to cut the entire edge - leave a section of the edge uncut so one of the oval opens like a card. Then cut the remaining two ovals out of the folded cardstock. In all you should end up with SIX ovals...three for the front and three for the back of the card.
3. Set those aside and trace three medium ovals onto patterned paper of your liking (Basic Grey was used here). These ovals are to go inside of the larger ovals cut from the cardstock.
4. This step is optional - for a more worn in feel you can rough up your edges to each oval using the Making Memories edger. Then apply Cat's eye liquid chalk - chestnut brown to ink each edge.
5. Now assemble each oval so it forms a pumpkin shape (one on each edge and one oval in the middle) Glue them together, now flip over and make your back ovals match the front ovals.
6. Pick a ribbon, fold in half, glue down and add a button to form a stem.
7. For the leaves I used green Prima flowers (I just folded the flowers in half than half again, now they look like a little leaves) You can use anything that works.
8. I used a Happy Halloween stamp on orange cardstock that was torn, roughed up and inked and a little flower to hold the happy Halloween in place and Viola you're done!

Decorate the inside and back any way you want! You can also add things to the front of the card. I added a spider to the front in the last view of the card. It's all up to you! This is card template idea - add your own flair!

Thanks for looking and remember clicking the pictures gives you a BIGGER view!

All Girl Album

2008-10-12T15:41:00.020-04:00

After my daughter had some friends over this weekend and I was printing some of the pictures we had taken for her, I realized she didn't have a photo album to put them in. Down to the craftroom I went. I have several naked albums that I've been waiting to put to use and I thought that an album for Bri was the perfect purpose for one of those naked albums.

On the front of the album the flowers started as a piece of orange cardstock. I stamped purple flowers (using MM foam stamps) all over the cardstock. Then I outlined each flower with a purple pen. Next I cut the center out each of the petal centers using an exacto knife being careful to leave the bottom edge closest to the center of the flower uncut. Using a paintbrush I wrapped the ends of each of the petals to make them curl. I used a paintbrush to put glue down exactly in the centers of the flowers. Then sprinkled with glitter. Each flower was backed with a different colored square so that when the petals are curled up a color is revealed underneath.

On the spine I used 2 envelope stickers that are functioning (backed with glue to help them stay). A little momento can be put in them, such as movie stub.

For the clasp I used ribbon to create a loop and then ran the ribbon through the ribbon slide. The slide was colored with glitter and a metal color rub then sprayed with an acrylic finish to hold everything. I then used a straight piece of ribbon and attached little metal flower to dangle from the end and function as a weight once put through the loop (make sure to size the loop-you don't want it to big or small) Each side of the flower was colored with glitter and paint.

Inside I put patterned paper into each of the top loading pages. If she wanted to she could do a mini scrap page for her picture(s). I also wanted to keep it young teen cool and hope it's not too little girl.

Friends

2008-10-11T09:24:00.012-04:00

These two goofballs are made for each other. This is my daughter Bri and her friend Julie. They are having a sleepover this weekend and when I asked if I could take some pictures these two were MORE than willing to show off for the camera.

Quote: A TRUE friend is one who knows you are a good egg even if you are half cracked.

Supplies: Shabbyprincess(Dinner Party); Flergs (Fabulash); Red Bandana Alphas; Slumber Party Font; Shabbyprincess (Harvest Spice Stitching - color changed); Shabbyprincess (Carousel Monograms); Shabbyprincess (WildSorbet clips - color changed)

Puppy Love

2008-10-09T08:21:00.026-04:00

I've been working on this paper bag album of one of my puppies for awhile now. I still have two open pages in the back to fill in and am waiting for just the right pictures.

I really like making paper bag albums. It's funny how something as simple as a brown paper bag can be turned into something so fun. I love the feel of the paper bag albums as you page through them and I love all the ribbons and tags that stick out and really add to the overall look of the finished album. Not to mention they are small enough to fit right on your coffee table making for a great conversation starter.

I apologize for some of the yellow lines in the pictures - as I said before my scanner is broken and this is what I mean by broken, it has started putting yellow lines across anything I scan making it very frustrating to scan! I spent almost two hours last night just trying to get those yellow lines not to show up (hopefully I'll have a nice new scanner soon). You can click on any of the pictures to see the full sized view, which will let you see the detail of each page much better - thanks for looking!!

Inside Pages 1-2 -Puppy Love

Inside Pages 3-4 - Friends Fur-Ever

Inside Pages 5-6 - Puppy Style

Inside Pages 7-8 - Champion

These are the tags that fit inside the pocketed sections of the album:

Supplies:
Huge assortment of different supplies. Here are a few brand names I know for sure that were used in this album.
Papers: Basic Grey; We R Memory Keepers (Boho Papers); Cardstock; Generic PP
Rubons: Making Memories Alphas; Karen Foster - Bow Wow
Brads: Puppy Paw Prints (Karen Foster (I think))
Ribbon: Making Memories Textured Tape -Pet; Bo Bunny Chocolate w/dots;
Buttons: All Generic
Stickers: Sticko Phrase Cafe Epoxy Stickers
Metal Dog Bone: Sticker Studio Pet
Ink: Cat's Eye Liquid Chalks - black & brown

Scrapbooking

2008-10-08T08:21:00.003-04:00

Hi all!! I know I didn't get my pictures uploaded last night regarding the pirate birthday, things never go as planned in my house! Which leads me to also talk about my scrapbooking. Someone recently asked if I was still scrapbooking and to that I want to answer YES of course!! Scrapbooking is my first crafting love so to speak. I have found myself dabbling in other crafts this summer when I could find a free moment, so I know that's all that has been posted lately but I have not stopped scrapbooking and do not plan to stop anytime soon (I think my husband would have a fit if I stopped considering all the scrapbooking stuff in my craftroom)!

Sometimes especially during the summer months it's hard to find the time to dedicate to my hobby and on top of all of the busy things going on my scanner also broke, which I haven't replaced yet. I am actually hoping to get it replaced this weekend so that I can once again scan in my layouts. I haven't done any this summer and that's why I haven't posted any layouts on my blog here, but now that summer has come and gone I intend to devote more time to scrapbooking again.

There's nothing better on a cold winter morning then grabbing my morning cup of coffee, a picture that inspires me and heading down to my craftroom to create a page! So please keep an eye out for new layouts, new sketches and projects ideas - I promise it's all coming soon!!

I want to thank everyone who does stop and read my blog, who does come here for ideas or inspriation, you all keep me motivated (sometimes I get into a funk). So just hearing that someone was looking for my creations really means a lot and is enough to push me back into the swing of things!!

Birthday Fun

2008-10-07T09:39:00.017-04:00

My wonderful husband's birthday was just not to long ago (September 22nd) and this year we went all out. He likes to collect loose gems -I'm hoping one day he puts them to good use by having some jewelry pieces made for me (a girl can dream right?). So this year my daughter and I decided we were going to send him on a treasure hunt for his birthday. Not only did we put clues together like a scavenger hunt but we also made a pirates treasure map and buried his gift, which happened to be a vintage treasure chest with some new loose gems I bought for him. Of course he had other presents but this was the big to do present.

I was really concerned that I had made the clues to easy for him, but it turned out I actually made it too hard! An hour later he finally was at the end of the clues and digging up the spot the treasure map led him to. Of course there was more - we weren't going to let him go on a treasure hunt without dressing the part! As he worked his way around the house and through our yard he collected not only the clues for finding the treasure map but also pieces he needed to dress the part and dig up his treasure such as a pirate hat, beard, mustache, shovel, gloves, eye patch and a pirate ring. Over all he was a great sport about the whole thing, wearing all his pirate attire and said he truly enjoyed it!

It took me several days and a little help from my mom to get the creative juices flowing but I think overall the clues came out great! My daughter (our little artist in the making) created the entire treasure map for him and I helped her age it to give it an authentic old map look by using wet tea bags and a lighter to burn the edges.

Here are the clues we used to get him to his pirate map. (Keep in mind once he had the map he still had to figure out from there where we buried the treasure! These clues only got him to the hidden map)

THE CLUES:
So ye scurvy dog it’s your birthday
And ye be wantin’ me treasure they say
you'll have to work hard, look low and high,
for in hidin' this treasure, I've been more than sly

Remember only a real pirate can find the treasure
So ye better dress the part
So ye can meet the measure

Clue 1:
Pieces of clues are hiddin’ from view
Ye’ll need each one and must have em’ all
The first piece is hidden near a red wall

Clue 2:
Ye’ve found the first clue and there's no turning back.
Now hunt in the house for a sack on a rack

Clue 3:
So ye seeing things through a different view
Ye’ll have to get by and make-do
Off to the main deck ye goes
You’ll find the next clue near something that grows

Clue 4:
Ye found clue four but wait there’s more
Off to the dungeon to explore
Dark and dismal keeping things concealed
Only through light can the clue be revealed

Clue 5:
Ye getting closer to me booty
Finding me treasure is ye duty
Up to the skies ye must rise
Look to the waters for ye prize

Clue 6:
Argh, ye are a smart one, ye found clue five
I didn’t thing ye would get this far and survive
To the stern ye must look
Hidden is the clue, in a book

Clue 7:
Clue six ye’ve found and ye think you’re ahead
Truth be told ye’d be better off dead
Things are getting rough and the tides are turning
Get ye butt outside I think something’s burning

Clue 8:
In ye hands ye holds another piece
The hunt for me treasure is about to increase
Beware of the ones that walk on all four
Down the path into the white door

Clue 9:
Argh, ye getting close to the final clue
But there is one more thing ye must do
Through the tunnel ye must peek
Look for the clue playing hide n seek

Clue 10:
So ye think ye are done
But the fun has just begun
With clues in hand here's the last thing ye must do
Find the hidden map behind something blue.

Mosaic Plant Stand

2008-09-28T17:55:00.015-04:00

FINALLY I've had a chance to post something! Here is how the plant stand turned out that I did with mosaic tiles. The tiles are all the stamps (manufacturer/artists mark) from broken pieces.

Supplies: Platinum colored grout, broken tile pieces, liquid nails small projects glue

All Boy

2008-08-30T19:47:00.000-04:00

Toothless Smile

2008-08-29T20:00:00.000-04:00

All About Me

2008-08-28T20:32:00.000-04:00

What's new

2008-08-28T08:34:00.005-04:00

Hi everyone! I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer, it's quickly coming to an end. I know we've had a very busy summer especially these last few weeks. We've been busy getting ready for back to school and doing things around the house like painting! We just finished painting our attic last night in a gorgeous ocean blue. Our attic is totally remodeled and right now we use it as a sort of game room/family room. I'll have to post up some pictures when i get a chance. When we moved into our home every single room was painted a very nuetral tan color. Not that I don't like tan but after three years of looking at nothing but tan color on our walls I just had to start doing something. I am a pretty bubbly person so tan just doesn't suit my personality. I love color. However, my husband sometimes takes a little more persueding on adding color, he always worries I'm going too bold but in the end always loves what has been done.

I also have a few new jewelry pieces in the works and a few done pieces I haven't had a chance to post - so keep your eyes peeled for new jewelry designs being posted here.

The very last project I have had in the works was a plant stand that I did mosaic tiling on. (yep yet another hobby). I've been doing tile work for some time now but haven't done anything in a few years actually. The other day I was walking through my dining room and for whatever reason I looked over at the plant stand sitting there and was struck with a tiling idea so I went for it :) - I will be posting picturs of that too when i get a chance.

Well that's about it for what I've been up to. I hope you all are keeping as busy and enjoying what's left of the summer!

Cole

2008-08-23T20:22:00.000-04:00