Happay Scraps

Twisted Sketches - fabric challenge

2012-01-25T11:17:00.000-08:00

The new sketch is up at Twisted Sketches! Number 136 has my favorite on it - a big circle! For the fabric twist, I created puffy white "flowers" to represent snowballs. I LOVE this page, one of my new favorites!

The page also features some shading with inks, some clear embellishments, fussy cutting, chipboard pieces, patterned paper, ribbon - a whole lot of fun! Thanks to Twisted Sketches for another great sketch!

Christmas!!!

2012-01-24T19:53:00.001-08:00

I still feel like making Christmas pages. I need to crank some more out. I made this one with what turned out to be the second to last Pencil Lines sketch. I have used them a few times over the years. Sad to see them go.

Some Crate Paper here, cute stuff! Or maybe I am biased by the kid!

Who does 2 pagers anymore?

2012-01-24T19:47:00.000-08:00

Why, I did! I thought I would give it a try because I wanted to tell a whole story with these 4x6 images of Phin on the giant slide in October 2010.

Again, it's a mix of fun stuff that I felt like playing with and a design that I wasn't sure how it would turn out. But, I totally enjoyed making the page.

Been Scrappin?

2012-01-24T19:44:00.001-08:00

I made this page last week in a flurry of scrapbooking. That's our little golden retriever, Panda.I was so excited to get the new pictures of our puppy that I ordered. It's a mix of things there from Echo Park, Studio Calico, Bo Bunny...just alot of fun. And, the yellow looks great on this computer but looks terrible on my work computer. I don't know if the saturation is off on one of the computers. So, I'm leaving it. Sorry if it burns out your eyeballs!

Fantasy Werewolf Romance

2012-01-24T19:36:00.000-08:00

Last August I started this shawl
It is a Maluka and I made it with acrylic yarn that I bought for $1.25 a skein on sale. I used less than 2 skeins for the project and I have to admit, I'm totally impressed with how the yarn holds up with blocking. I have 4 more skeins in 2 different colors that I am thinking I need to find something to make with. I was going to make a sweater for Bailey out of 2 of the lighter pinks skeins but I was really slow and had no idea what I was doing. And, then a year ago, Bailey left us. I don't think I even had the heart to pull the yarn out. The collar of the sweater is just sitting there. But, this isn't supposed to be a downer! it's supposed to be a celebration of my pretty, new shawl!

To get it to stay spread out like that, I pinned it in place on the guest bed and then steam blocked it. Set the iron to steam and hold as close as possible for several seconds at a time over the shawl. Do this over the entire shawl and check to see what happens when you remove the pins after the area cools. If it stays exactly as it was, then you are done. If not, pull it tight again and add more steam. Sooooo easy! And, the results are lasting and worth it!

Snow Angel

2012-01-15T10:13:00.000-08:00

I am so happay to have a working Silhouette again. Mine decided to do nothing more than tear paper quite awhile ago and someone was super nice enough to give me their old one. I used it to make snowflakes and an angel for this page of the boys playing in the snow.

I added paint splatters and used the winter mood board I had created for the ACOT reveal. More Little Yellow Bicycle on this one, too! Totally love the Winter Twig line.

A little hot chocolate love

2012-01-15T10:08:00.001-08:00

When its cold outside, all I want is a big old cup of something hot. So do the kids.

I cut the hot chocolate and swirls and love heart with the Silhouette and then inked them all up. The papers are Bo Bunny Crush. It had been far too long since I had played with the Bunny!

Heart and star love card

2012-01-15T10:01:00.000-08:00

The Create Blog has challenged us to create a card using rolled paper. Here's what I came up with.
I cut a circle out of patterned paper, cut into the circle in 8 places, and rolled the cut pieces into points. Then I created a pop pom out of yarn and trimmed it to look like a heart. I glued the heart into the center of the rolled paper "star". I glued the star onto the same patterned paper that it was cut from making sure to align it exactly with the pattern. Personally, I think that was a really cool effect. And, then I cut a border out of cardstock to slide under the points. The whole thing is mounted on a piece of white cardstock and measures about 6.25 inches by 6 inches.
Now I just have to hope that my love doesn't ever look at my craft blog!

Birthdays come once a year

2012-01-15T09:55:00.000-08:00

And I can't say I'm all that great at scrapping the pictures. But, yesterday I was inspired by the Jillibean Soup sketch to get out my Jillibean stash and put a page together. It just so happened, Elias' birthday (from 2 years ago, yes, I hang my head in shame) fit the sketch and the papers I had.

I rotated the sketch but left everything else pretty much alone.
I cut around the swimsuits on the clothes line and thought they fit right in with a pool party theme!

Thanks for stopping by to check out my belated birthday swimsuit Jillibean Soup sketch page. LOL! Hope it's bright sunniness adds to your day!

Winter Running Hat

2012-01-14T07:16:00.000-08:00

Just because Christmas is over does not mean I'm done with the knitting! No sireee! Instead, I now have some time back to knit for myself! The first project I finished this year is a lace hat/cowl combo that I will wear as a running hat. It has a hole at the top for my ponytail!

Second photo credit goes to Elias - he's my little helper for taking pictures of me! The hat keeps my head warm inside - I've been wearing it before I go running - lol. It's actually been cold enough that I wear a hood and ear warmers for the outside runs I've been doing so far this year. But, I'm sure the hat will get some mileage during 40 degree runs :)

Here's the link to the Ravelry page if you are interested in more details.

Clean Your Room! and a layout

2012-01-14T07:10:00.000-08:00

If you have ever been to my house you will know that mostly it's in pretty good shape with one exception - the craft room. I tend to get really into my crafting projects and then ignore the cleaning up that comes after you finish one project - I'm that excited to get started on the next project.

Well, I decided that this is the year to change that and I'm all ready liking the results. I am able to have Panda, the puppy, in the room with me because the floor is clean. And, I have room on the table to actually work. Sure, it's still a little cluttered but I am trying to be much better about picking up after a project even if I am tired and just want to get into bed.

I also found some projects that weren't quite done. The clean room inspired me to finish up. This page featuring Phin a couple of Christmases ago is one page that I finished up

I had added all sorts of detail and used the fun Echo Park Christmas line but I hadn't put it all together yet. Maybe it just needed some time and perspective because I love it now!

And, because the craft room is clean, this is able to happen

Designing for ACOT - mood board

2012-01-14T06:22:00.000-08:00

Also on the 11th, my reveal went live for A Cherry on Top. I designed the projects off a mood board on winter.

A mood board is a collection of ideas and things you like that you can use for inspiration on a single or series of projects. Mine is full of dimension, snow, snowmen, and beautiful winter scenery. I have used it to inspire three projects and an additional 2 layouts not featured at ACOT.

The first project I made was a 3D album of the boys sledding last winter.
The cover of the album features clear embellishments from Little Yellow Bicycle's Winter Twig line. The colors of Winter Twig were perfect for the mood board I had created. But, colors don't always have to match between the project and the mood board.

On the first page of the album you can see that the sledder pops off the background and the base of the page is lined with fabric to give it snowy dimension. The snowflake also pops up. I also added paint lines to the paper to show wintery wind and movement as you rush down the hill on your sled.

The second page features a snowball garland across the top, pup-up snowflake, and a child dancing in the snow.
The third and final page has a strip of paper accordion folded and glued into the crease in the book. Snowflakes are added to some of the folds.
The album folds flat and is tied shut with a ribbon.

The second project I made was a altered snowman container. I have had the container in my craft room for a few years. I knew now was the perfect time to alter it.

The third project is probably my favorite project; a snowman with falling snow in a jar.
To make this little guy, I glued short bits of the garland to the bottom of the jar with glossy accents. These were added one strand at a time so they could dry before dropping in the next strand. Then I glued the snowman to the lid of the jar with some cotton for snow. I screwed the lid on and stood the jar on its lid. The garland bits look like falling snow and the glass creates an icy winter scent that makes me very happy!

So, that's it for what was revealed at ACOT. I'll share some additional projects created with this mood board, soon!

New Year, New Sketches!

2012-01-14T06:17:00.000-08:00

I didn't even realize that it had been so long since I put up a post! The new year has been keeping me busy. We brought home our new puppy on December 30 and she's a cutie! If you follow my family blog, you can see pictures of her there.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif I also sent out for some prints so I'm hoping to have fun stuff to scrap of her soon!

On the 11, it was my 9th anniversary with my husband, but also a new sketch went up at ! Here's my take on the sketch with the twist of "new".

I used all kinds of reflective surfaces on it - metallic paper, lace with tinsel in it, glitter, metallic chipboard letters, foil embossed patterned paper - ihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gift was a ton of fun to make!

The only change I made to the original sketch was to flip it upside down. It worked better for me for the landscape picture to be on the top. Jump on over to for some sketchy inspiration.

For Grandma

2011-12-29T15:25:00.000-08:00

Something else I knit this Christmas was a hat and slipper socks in matching colors for my mother. I knit them up in November and am really pleased with how they came out. You can see my mother wearing the hat here on the day we had a few hours of snow.

I have more of that yarn in orange and gray and have been thinking about a hat or something fun to make with it. I do really love this pattern. It is called Cranberry Sauce. Perhaps I love it for the cables...

The slippers were never photographed together.

But they fit well and I hope they are warm and comfy. This is the first foot item I've made for Mom. Merry Christmas!

Oopsie Snowman Mittens

2011-12-29T15:18:00.001-08:00

Most of the knitting I did for Christmas took place in December, with the exception of a hat and a pair of slipper socks. I knew what I was going to make, I just kept working on things that I wanted to make. When it came down to the wire, I got it all done. Some of it is just less than perfect. Take, for instance, these mittens

Cute little snowman and the recipient, Phin, loves them. One little problem - I knit two right handed mittens for him. I discovered my mistake when I went to put the thumbs on them and realized they both had the thumb hole in the same spot. I do have another skein of yarn and will eventually get around to making 2 left handed mittens for Phin. There's no hurry, he likes that one mitten has a snowman that can wave bye-bye to everyone.

He was a little shocked when cold wet snow soaked through the mittens. These were made with the same 100% merino superwash wool that the Turtle Thorpe was made from. You can find out more on the Ravelry Project page for Snowy Wishes.

Turtle Thorpe

2011-12-29T15:08:00.000-08:00

My son Elias has a big ol' noggin'. Grandma knit him a hat last year for Christmas and he's outgrown it in less than a year. So, I set myself on task for making him a new hat. I found a few patterns I wanted to try and asked the kid which he liked better. I told him it was for someone else, and honestly, I don't think he even remembers. He picked Thorpe. I had brown and green yarn for him, so that worked for me.

I cast on the hat a few days before Christmas (I was running behind and a friend told me it would be a quick knit). I worked on the hat for two days and then decided it was going to be too small. So, I frogged the whole thing, grabbed 10.5 needles instead of the size 9 called for, and started over. In addition, I added 8 more stitches and fudged the pattern a little bit to fit the stitches in. The end result is pictured below.
It is knit in Queensland Collection Super Aussie 100% superwash merino wool. I used 2 skeins of green and 1 of brown. The Thorpe hat has tassels but I decided to leave those off. I would have had to make them green and didn't like that idea.

And, here's the hat in action. You can also visit the project page for Turtle at Ravelry.

Thanks for stopping by!

Generous Anita Hoodie

2011-12-29T14:50:00.000-08:00

While in KC over Thanksgiving, we spent some time with my brother's ex-wife. I've taken to calling her my niece's mother, but truthfully, she's my friend and has been since we were in band together in high school. She's about as generous and caring of a soul as there ever was and I'm glad that she's chosen to remain in our lives. I had with me on the trip several of my knitting magazines including Vogue Knitting Fall 2011. While we looked through them, #29 Hooded Neck Piece caught her eye. So we made our way to a yarn store (I wish there was one around here) and I bought the yarn to make it for her. I started it sometime after Thanksgiving but also worked on several other projects. It has a beautiful cable pattern. I hope that she doesn't mind me trying it on to model for you! Actually, she might not even have seen it yet. I sent it home with my parents to give to her ASAP. So, A, if you are seeing this for the first time, I hope you like it!

She picked the dark, burnt orange color for fall. It is knit with a very bulky 100% wool from Plymouth Yarn. I used size 10 needles - circular and double points. FYI, I cable without a cable needle - it's faster that way!It is very warm and easy to put on. It feels smooth against my face. The top comes to a cute little point when it's on.
I tried wearing it down, which worked! So, it doubles as an attractive neck warmer.

The pattern called for 8 buttons. I raided the scrapbooking stash to find an interesting rainbow of buttons for the collar.

For more information, you can always it visit my Ravelry page at Generous Anita Hoodie

Popcorn and a Movie (or 2)

2011-12-29T14:38:00.001-08:00

This year, not unlike many years past, teacher's Christmas gifts sneak up on me. Actually, given the length of time since my last post, you would think that Christmas sneaked up on me. The latter part isn't true but I was surprised by a doozie of a cold bug that knocked me out of posting commission for 10 days. I'm still not recovered. Once I had gifts finished and the house ready, I simply had no energy for much else. Now that I'm feeling better, let me take a second here to show you what I put together for the kids' teachers and the principal of the school.

I have to admit, I like the idea of my gift. It's simple, useful, and practical, but I did see parents entering the school with their arms loaded with presents for the teachers - big presents with expensive professional gift wrapping. sigh...It's the thought that counts, right?

I actually thought this up one night when I had terrible insomnia about a week or so before break. I just didn't have time to put it together until the day before. Good thing I'm good with scrappy supplies and working under a timeline!

What we have here are movie gift card holders hanging from bags of popcorn kernels. Remove the tag and retie the twine, plop the bag in the microwave for about 10 seconds less than two minutes, and season with your favorite - butter and salt, sugar, cheese - yum! It's about 1/2 cup of regular popcorn in a regular old brown paper bag. The popcorn tastes a little plain without some salt but it's better for you that way!

While it's not some super fancy necklace or a big batch of cookies, it is practical and one teacher was excited to rent movies while her husband was down with surgery over the break. Many teachers also commented on how nice the tags were. It's nice to put talent and brains to work ;)
Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

P.S. Now that we know about this, we will never be buying microwave popcorn again.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-19T16:57:00.000-08:00

I've still been working away on Christmas projects. This morning I got up and cranked out this card to send to someone special

I made it from one sheet of Pink Paislee paper. I cute the decorative edge of the paper and layered it on the bottom of the card. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. First I used temporary adhesive to mask out the edges of the patterned paper background and sprayed some glimmer mist on the paper, heavier at the bottom than the top. Then I stitched around the glimmer misted area. The decorative edge pieces were layered and cut to fit inside the stitching. The sentiment was attached over the top on more Pink Paislee paper and some Prima flowers were added.

Instant (well less than 30 minutes) card!

Questions Answered

2011-12-13T18:58:00.000-08:00

The numbers stamped on the bags for the hanging calendar are from Martha Stewart Crafts - I believe they are called Sugar Cookie. They are from several years ago and and stamps would work. Some of them are stamped on with fluid chalk and others with Staz-on depending on if I stamped them on paper or fabric.

Thanks for asking!

Christmas Cards!

2011-12-13T18:49:00.000-08:00

Last night I stayed up late working on these two cards! (it had nothing to do with insomnia, I swear.) Traditionally our department gives the staff a little Christmas bonus and while I was a little short on cash, I was pretty high on creativity. And, now the boss doesn't have to go out and buy cards for them.

The wreath card was made by rolling bits of torn Core'dinations cardstock. The background is Doodlebug paper that has been in my stash for a millennia! It's so cute and I just never had the right thing to use it on. I hand cut the bow from more cardstock. And, the whole thing is held together by my favorite - hot glue!

Its a tall card and has a little trouble standing up. I made it specifically to fit in an envelope that I had.

The star card was made on a star shaped pre-made card. I sprayed some Smooch and some chalkboard glimmer mist on the Prima background shape. I also sprayed some core'dinations cardstock with more glimmer mist and some leaves with the same glimmer mist. The whole card really sparkles. The flower was made with a Gluber and some old Fancy Pants lace I had that I chopped down to a reasonable size. That stuff was wide - but I've had a ton of fun with it. I used popcorn ribbon (or pom pom ribbon?) coiled up to create the center of the flower.
My co-workers all signed the cards and they go out tomorrow.

Last night while I was not sleeping I dreamed up the perfect teacher's gifts that I'll try to work on this weekend. I'm very excited for them! Thanks for coming by to see my cards today!

Far Away Socks

2011-12-12T17:23:00.001-08:00

I've been knitting on these socks since November 17 and finished them last night. They went pretty well and I like that the feet of the socks matches up. There were several knots in the yarn, though, and one of them changed the color repeat so the cuff of one sock does not match the other.

New to me on these socks was how the heel increases were done, how the heel was turned, the completion of the heel and how those increases were worked back in, and the long section of the cuff.

December Hanging Calendar

2011-12-10T12:57:00.000-08:00

You could call it an Advent calendar, too, if that were your thing. But, here's what it really is - it's 25 bags decorated with some super pretty Prima products that are hung from twine and lace from my mantle. And, it looks super awesome!

It took me one morning and an afternoon to make all of this

Put it together and it really pretties up a place.

The banner was made using the following supplies (and a few more things kicking around, but mostly these). Many thanks to A Cherry On Top for sending me the supplies to make the banner.
There are canvas pieces there with resist patterns that are super fun to play around with.
And, I decorated some clothes pins with decorative tape. It's super easy. You can find out more about the project by visiting A Cherry On Top.

Yearly Visit

2011-12-08T14:38:00.000-08:00

I used the sketch from Once Upon a Sketch to complete this page. I used some of my favorite things on it including my special stash of Pink Paislee glitter and Christmas (and other) papers. I thought for a few minutes about trying out the Silhouette - I've been pretty lazy about it lately. In the end I went with a favorite - fussy cut doilies. The pictures are from last year when the boys visited Santa. Phin was really cute and gave Santa a hug. I can't believe I've waited so lon got scrap them but so many new, cool, and fun papers have come out for me to use in the meantime!

A Christmas Page!

2011-12-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

I'll probably do this again this year because it worked so well last year. I took the boys to shop at the Dollar Tree and they could pick out whatever they wanted for everyone in the family. They had so much fun doing it and then we wrapped up our presents. I took pictures of them with their wrapped gifts.

I cut the pictures into circles to do something else with them but then didn't like it. The pictures sat for 2 months with all these beautiful Christmas papers. Two nights ago I watched Blade 2 and scrapped them. (are you sensing a theme here?)

It's #130 Twisted

2011-12-01T14:46:00.000-08:00

The sketch for #130 with a flower twist is up at Twishttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifted Sketches
And, here's what I made up for it while watching Blade 1 (what? it's totally a Christmas movie!)

Just because - glued twine

2011-11-30T04:47:00.000-08:00

So, one day I did take the opportunity to play with something I had been thinking about and saw on the Internet. Honestly, I don't do Pinterest so I don't have a file of this inspiration saved. It was on a site in a language I can't understand and somewhere on my blog list. I also found a sketch and think I was going to submit this for the sketch challenge but I have no idea where the sketch was! I haven't even looked at blogs in months (and I'm comfortable with that, I can't believe how much time I used to spend looking at blogs. Given the decline in my blog hopping and how little I post on my own blogs, now, I doubt anyone will even see this post or the one I put up a few minutes ago!). Anyway. I decided to see if I could use Strano Ribbon Stiff on twine to make it stay on the page the way I wanted it to. And guess what? It worked!

This is an adaptation of a Beetles song that we sing to our dog, Noodle. I added diluted paint splatters and I altered the title letters with alcohol inks after taking a nail file to them. Cut a very long piece of twine soak it in glue and lay it down on the page where you want it. That's all I had to do. Then I layered the other parts of the page over the twine. I really like the effect!

That's Twisted

2011-11-30T04:32:00.000-08:00

There's a card team call going on with one more day to submithttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif over at Twisted Sketches. If you think you've got what it takes to provide inspiration from awesome sketches with a twist, get your application in!

Here's some of what I've made with the twisted sketches. (I have been swamped with work and only been doing the sketches for the last couple of months. I am desperately trying to make a come-back but Christmas knitting is getting in the way! ;) Have you missed me? I've missed me - 2 months away from this blog is way too long!)

The twist was Spell
For this page I figured out something really cool that happens with Core'dinations cardstock and alcohol inks - that blue halo of color from the cardstock finish around the color from the alcohol ink.

The twist was feather

I feathered the color I sprayed on the background and I made the maritime banner out of scraps of fabric. Can I just say that I love this page?

The twist was white
I went with white on the dog's fur and talked about how special our old dog is to us and how little time we have left with him.

The twist was button
I think this one is pretty cute, too. I almost forgot the twist but decided that stacks of white and red buttons completed the page. I adore that picture of Phin!

You can see all of these pages, the sketches that go with them and the inspiration from the other fantastic twisted sisters over at Twisted Sketches! A new sketch goes up sometime today.

It's Punky Sprouts at Paper Trunk!

2011-09-24T07:50:00.000-07:00

This month Paper Trunk and Punky Sprouts have teamed up. Here's what I have made for them!
The Punky Sprout Alfalfa Sprout album is a real mixed bag of shapes and media to work with. It's like opening a treasure box of texture. It has clear pages, chipboard pages, and canvas pages in several shapes. I found it to be exciting to play with it and several of the Paper Trunk lines as I put together this mini-album.

I chose to make my album using pictures of a trip I took to visit the coastal redwood forest near San Francisco, California. I used one of the clear pages for the cover of the album. I backed the page with paper from the Batik line and used the spiral Punky Sprout flowers along the bottom of a photo of the entrance to Muir Woods. The lighter colored flowers are muffin cups that have been flattened and cut into a spiral before being rolled.

These pages were made with more of the Batik line with a little of 1974 thrown in for the aqua color. I used some Jellybean stamps with white embossing powder on the right side. The right side is also raw chipboard that has been distressed with some white paint. Two Punky Sprout muffin cup flowers are also on the page on the right.
Chevrons are all the rage right now. The chevrons on these pages were created using Wrangler and Batik papers. The canvas page on the right was dipped in alcohol ink along the edges and more alcohol inks were dripped across both pages.At the middle of the album, I have included information on the birth of the Muir Woods National Monument. These two pages also use Batik papers.

To soften the color scheme of the album even more, I switched to using Krafty, Wrangler, and Rockabilly on these two pages. The idea for the tree on the right came from a digital scrapbook page I saw awhile back. I used white paint over the Rockabilly paper to create the tree shape. The trunk of the tree is made from Krafty paper. Buttons and flowers from Wrangler create leaves on the tree. And, yes, that is me hugging the tree in that picture. My mother always said I was a tree hugger, now she has proof in pictures and I've admitted it to the whole world!I decided early on while assembling this album that I would use turquoise throughout the album and that I would work on the pages in pairs so that facing pages matched each other in design scheme. On these two pages I have begun to use tulle. The page on the left has paint splatters over the raw chipboard background and a edging of Krafty paper and tulle. I have used one of the spiral flowers and made another out of Krafty paper. I also made spiral twine flowers that compliment the spiral loops held together with glued strips of Batik paper on the right side. The right page also has a bow made out of tulle. I really like the page on the right and think it is pretty even if it is about a slug!
The final two pages of the book take it out with a bang. The colors of the Socialite line are very bright and are in contrast with the dark forest. The canvas page on the left has been covered in tulle and fussy cut images from the papers. The page on the right is the inside of the back cover of the album.
The back cover was made by stamping Paper Trunk flowers onto the clear surface. I then heat embossed the flowers with metallic teal embossing powder. The heat from the embossing caused the cover to warp a bit but it now wraps gently around the album. I like the effect. I also painted gesso over the inside surface so that it is all white with flower texture inside and teal flowers on a white background from the outside.

I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to play with products from both Paper Trunk and Punky Sprout. This has turned into my favorite mini-album ever and I hope you have enjoyed looking at it as well. Here is your word for the day

Be sure to check back tomorrow here and on the Punky Sprout blog for more words in the secret quote game!

Rachel

Paper Trunk + Core'dinations Birthday Cards

2011-08-21T03:55:00.000-07:00

Every August we get together with my parents for their birthdays. On the calendar they are days apart at the beginning of August and I usually make them a card for their birthday. This year I was happy to make the cards with Core'dinations Glitter Cardstock and Paper Trunk Rockabilly Papers.
For my mom, I chose a pink and yellow color scheme and a pretty vase full of Rockabilly roses.

The pin sticking out of the top of the roses shows the message.

The background of the card is Rockabilly paper sprayed with some yellow glimmer mist. The vase is also glittery and embossed with dots like pink milk glass! At the bottom of the vase is a yellow bow tied out of paper so it will never go flat.

For my dad, I made a canoe out of Rockabilly Paper and tore strips of glittery blue cardstock and layered them to look like water. The paddle of the canoe holds the card closed.
The water on the bottom of the card folds down to reveal orange cardstock fish swimming below the canoe. It looks like he caught a big one!
I hope these cards inspire you to get creative with Paper Trunk and Core'dinations!

Paper Trunk + Core'dinations in August

2011-08-16T03:00:00.000-07:00

This month the Paper Trunk team has partnered with Core'dinations Cardstock to bring you some beautiful stuff! Check out both blogs for projects from the team all month. Here's my first project this month
The picture is from my family's reunion this past May. Every 2 years we all get together. We see each other often but it's so much fun to have everyone together at the same time. I've used Paper Trunk Rockabilly on chipboard pieces to make the title and the green background for the photo. Core'dinations is represented as rolled paper flowers and the gray background paper. I used a Sew Easy tool to distress the cardstock and then sanded all the raised parts off the paper from where it was pierced. I filled in some of the holes with embroidery floss stitches.
Tucked under the photo on more cardstock is a list of all family members present in the photo. And, below, you can see some detailed shots of the flowers and stitching.

Paper Trunk and Core'dinations are a perfect pairing. I hope you'll have some fun with both!

Echo Park Victoria Gardens for ACOT

2011-08-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

There was some discussion on trends in scrapbooking in the forums recently and one of the trends mentioned was pretty prints on patterned paper. Many members of the forum were in agreement that this was a trend they would like to see continued. Echo Park has lived up to expectations with the release of Victoria Gardens. Each sheet of paper in this line is covered on both sides with monochromatic Victorian designs that are simply stunning. But these designs, while very pretty, aren't just for girls. I chose to use the papers with pictures from my family reunion including with a picture that I absolutely adore of my cousin and his son. I'll share this page with your first and you can judge for yourself whether Victorial Gardens is as versitile as I thought it was!

You and Me

One of the things I found to be very simple and effective to do with these papers was to add a little color to them with paint. Each side is monochromatic and the colors are very easy to match. For You and Me, I put the title down with a sticker from the sticker sheet and then layered other matching pieces of paper and embellishments all around the photo. The picture shows a very loving conversation that was going on between my cousin and his son, who has a terminal genetic disease. I wanted the picture to depict how precious and joyful life can be even when it's not perfect. I have used Prima and Sei butterflies and Prima flowers along with a frame sticker from the sticker sheet and letters from Sassafras Lass. There is a doily printed paper in the set and doily stickers, some of each are also layered onto the page. I can't help but spend time looking at this page.

Claire

This is Claire, she's the granddaughter of my dad's double cousin (my grandpa's sister married my grandma's brother, yeah, I know confusing, but that's family!). She's a real cutie with quite a personality! Every generation we get only 1 or 2 females in my family and for the youngest generation, Claire is it! I was so happy to have a little girl to try these papers out with! Once again, I have added a little color to the background paper which is one of the solid color papers that go with the collection. I have layered flowers and doilies fussy cut from the papers along with stickers and Prima flowers around the photo. The yellow patterned paper helps the picture stand out from the page which has a much wider range of colors to match Claire's adorable little dress and upside down glasses.

The Crazy Cousins

My cousins aren't crazy in the clincal sense of the word, more in the crazy fun sort of way. For this page I pulled from the darkness of the pictures to add some black paint over white paint on the background patterned paper. This sheet of paper gives you an idea of the types of patterns on the papers and the monochromatic color schemes of them. I added in a bit of orange to the page and fussy cut flowers out of the papers. For the title cluster I've used some of the journaling cards and a sticker frame from the sticker sheet. You will find it crazy fun to cut up and layer all of the papers in this line!

Family Time

My last page for this reveal shows pictures of the women in my generation. The best thing about having alot of boy cousins is the wonderful women they marry! Eden is one such wonderful woman. We're not all shown here but it is so much fun when we all get together. While the pictures are all of women, I didn't want this page to be overly girly so I chose some of my favorite colors from Victoria Gardens, turquoise, light red, pink, olive green, and gray. The variety of patterns were perfect for banners and because they are double sided, I chose to make one of the types of banners from strips of paper torn and folded over the twine. Journal cards are layered under the pictures and stickers were used for the title and along some of the flags for the banners.

Thanks to A Cherry on Top for the use of these papers to make these pages!

Twisted 114

2011-08-10T14:12:00.000-07:00

The latest sketch for Twisted Sketches is up. Last week, while I was camping, they put up the pages we made for the DT call. This week, we had something new to work with. You can see my page below. It's a little bright - in fact, on my work computer it was just wrong so I hope it's okay on your monitor. The yellow is very bright.

The twist this week is "tiny" and you can see the sketch here. I love how everyone interpreted the sketch and hope you have fun playing along, too!

Sew Easy, Too!

2011-07-20T17:01:00.000-07:00

I'm back today to bring you Part 2 of my two part reveal using the Sew Easy Tool from We R Memory Keepers. In today's reveal, I'll show you some more advanced ways of using the Sew Easy tool. If you are ready to go beyond just stitching on your page into something a little more creatively challenging, then give these techniques a try!

First up, I'd like to show you "Mother's Day". This layout uses multiple stitch heads, curved stitch design, fill-in color by masking, multiple colors of floss, added embellishments, and layers of stitching.
There is a stitched border around this page that was made using the straight stitch head that comes with the Sew Easy tool. The border was stitched using My Mind's Eye Twine. The more detailed stitching takes place in the upper right corner as seen in the image below.
To create this look, I used the banner stitch head to make a slightly curved stitch pattern across the corner of the page. I did not want it to go from corner to corner because I planned on joining it with the straight stitch border. Like before, when I used the misting in Part 1, I created a mask using a scrap piece of paper and then cut the paper away between the puncture points for the two banner shapes. I used my mask to ink in the spaces where the individual pennants would be for the banner design. I then wrote my letters onto the pennants. I stitched around the pennants with embroidery floss that matched the embellishments on my page. I then tore away the paper above the banner and added some detail stitching. Notice that the twine coming off the top wooden clothespin is sewn under the "l" pennant of the banner. I lifted the darker floss and sewed the twine under it in two spots to give the banner added dimension. I left the twine hanging loose on the page much like a rope holding up a banner would.

Secondly, I'd like to share with you "Camped Out", which has a photo matted with stitches and then framed
At first glance, creating a frame around a photo may not seem all that complicated, however, the smocking piercer is not square (the holes are further apart in width than in height) and maintaining a straight line can be challenging. To create the proper dimensions for the frame, I placed my photo in the center of a piece of plain colored patterned paper. I held my ruler over the picture and ran the Sew Easy tool along side the ruler on each side. Before starting a new side, I lined up the holes on the piercing tool to match as closely as possible with where the holes were from the previous side. The holes will not line up perfectly but create an interesting pattern at the corners if you follow the stitch pattern correctly.

Tips:

Do not throw out the card that comes with the packaging for the stitch heads. The contain valuable advice for the order that you should sew your stitches. I did notice that there is incorrect information on the smocking packaging, but it is good enough to get you started.
If your pierced holes show up where you didn't exactly intend for them to, turn the paper over and gently push it back into place from the back side. The holes will barely be visible from the front of the page. In some cases, the may be obscured by the floss used to stitch!

Finally, I'd like to share with you a card that uses circular stitching and multiple stitch heads:

The Sew Easy stitch heads are easiest to use in straight lines, but it is possible to create circular shapes with a little practice. To create the effect of the orange stitches made with the scalloped piercing head on the card above, I used my circle cutter as a guide the same way that I have used my ruler in the past. If you do not have a circle cutter, you can use any raised circular guide such as a coaster or a plate. I don't know how well this would work with something like a cup. I also recommend trying this out on scrap paper first. It took me three tries before I had the size circle I wanted and the right way to position my arms to get around the circle without having to switch hands. It took a little bit of acrobatics to get my idea to work but as you can see, it is possible. And, if you accidently get off track, remember the tip above - flip the paper over and push the puncture points back through.

The above card also uses the lazy daisy piercing head to create the center of the flower. I only used one repeat of the design and lined up the piercing points with the petals on the flower. The stitch instructions on the back of the package recommend using a French knot in the center of the lazy daisy, I used a button and bling instead.

Tip: Although I did not need to do this on the card above, you can also conceal stitches that don't match up perfectly with embellishments.

I do have many more ideas for using the Sew Easy tools with my future pages. I'm sad to say that I just ran out of time to create more pages showcasing my ideas for you with this reveal article. I hope these ideas will keep you busy for awhile with your Sew Easy Tool. Many thanks to A Cherry On Top for supporting the creation of these projects and good luck to you on your next Sew Easy project!

Here's the link to my article at A Cherry on Top!

And, remember, I have the LOVE stitch head to give away to someone who comments on the pages, the reveal, or this blog post or the ACOT blog post. You can comment on all 4 to earn more chances. This is the stitch head I'm talking about

It is one of the more advanced piercing heads but the results are very cool! I'll choose the winner on July 25. Thanks for stopping by!

Twisted Call

2011-07-20T16:47:00.000-07:00

I knew that Twisted Sketches was having a call for designers but I was out of town for a bit here. Today I saw that the call was ending tonight and I decided, what the hey? And I went for it. Here's the page I made today - I really like ihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gift. You can see the sketch here and the twist is vintage.My use of the word vintage is the button in the middle of the aqua flower
To make my page, I used the Sew Easy with the LOVE piercing head on it. It's a difficult stitch to do. I decided to do the hearts with a marker after stitching all the way around that circle! I also added some paint platters to the background. I really like how the page turned out. It's a color combo that I created on my own. In fact, I had the combo and the stitching in mind before I even picked out a picture.

A new sketch went up today, I'll have to take a look at it. There's another sketch site I ran across yesterday that I want to play along with, too. I'm in a sketchy mood lately :)

Rockabilly Cards!

2011-07-12T05:12:00.000-07:00

One thing that I love (out of many!) about the Rockabilly line is the great patterns on the papers. For today's posting, I decided to play with those patterns in the round by creating accordion flowers with them. It's easy to change the size of the flowers by just cutting a narrower strip of paper. The stiped paper in the collection provided the perfectly sized strips of paper to make a variety of sizes of accordion flowers. I used several of these strips on this thank you card.

I also used wavy edged scissors to cut into the green strip a little bit and that gave the flower some dimension on the outer edge. This dimension is more obvious by cutting along the pattern on the B side of the cherry paper and can be seen in the white flower below with the points on it.
This card also uses two of the designs on the B side of the red paper - the guitar and a patterned strip with lines on it that has been made into the largest of the accordion flowers. That flower has been folded on the lines of the pattern and stands out a bit from the others. You can make the folds further apart or closer together and that will effect how far the flower stands up from the paper and how long you need your strip of paper to be to fold the flower into the circle.

Thanks for stopping by!
Rachel for Paper Trunk

It's Sew Easy - Part 1 Simply Stitching

2011-06-30T12:11:00.000-07:00

If you have thought about hand stitching on your pages or projects, then Sew Easy by We R Memory Keepers is the tool for you. The tool is designed to perfectly fit in your hand and when rolled across paper placed on top of the piercing mat, places perfectly splaced holes in your paper. The rest is up to you - just fill in the holes with thread of your choosing or some of the wonderful WRMK floss. Grab your needle and thread because you're going to want to try out some of these simple ways to use the Sew Easy on your next project.

A Boy's Life - example of a simple border

There are a variety of stitch heads available for the Sew Easy tool. Any one of them will provide a nice border for your photos. You can run it across the entire page or just a portion of it as I have done with this layout about my boys.

I simply ran the large stitch piercer (loop de loop) across the patterned paper, sprayed it with a little glimmer mist and then chose some floss to match the colors on my page. A little tip: to go straight across a piece of paper, use the edge of a ruler as your guide. The pattern printed on the stitch head matches the location of the piercing part of the tool underneath.

Cherries - example of enhancing an embellishment

Bonus close up image:

Many paper lines now come with journaling cards or cardstock shapes. Using the straight stitch head that comes with the Sew Easy tool, you can add a little bit of stitching to spice the shape up.

On this page featuring myself and the fantastic Chrissy, I've used the straight stitch head and the fancy floss (baker's twine primary) to spice up a Maya Road Kraft Doily.

Phin - an example of following a pattern and mix it up

Bonus close up images:

Many patterned papers have spaces that will look perfect with a little stitching. On my next page, I've done just that and added some borders using the basic stitch head and the zig zag head. This page just goes to show that two heads are better than one!

To really accent the detail of the patterned paper, I stitched part of the swirls with the straight stitch and part of them with the zig zag but I only stitched half of the stitches in the zig zag portion. I also used the zig zag head to create a border for my picture. The stitches angle down toward the photo to emphasize that portion of the page. I added in a network of free-handed stitches to hang all of the fun Echo Park stickers from. I also used two different colors of thread on this page, changing the color depending on the location of the stitches. I do think a white on white effect would have been cool for the stitches in the swirl but they would not have stood out as much.

A Big Deal - an example of masking

Bonus close up image:

Not only can the Sew Easy provide the location for where to place stitches, but it can also work as a template on where to cut to create a mask. For A Big Deal, I knew I wanted blue flags to come off the train photo. But, I wanted the flags outlined in red stitches to go with the rest of the paper. Using a scrap piece of paper, I ran the large stitch piercer (banner) across the paper and then cut out between the pierced spots with my exacto knife. I then used this as a mask for Perfect Pearls mists. After I sprayed the paper, I stitched around the banners.

I then also discovered a use for the pieces I cut out of the scrap paper to make the mask - they are located at the top of the picture in a third banner! Their shape and size perfectly matches the misted and stitched banners.

Wet & Wild - an example of adding texture

I love having dimension and texture on my pages. Using the Sew Easy, I was able to add additional texture and emphasis to the Tim Holtz embossing folder that I used on my page.
Bonus Close up image:

I texturized the cardstock with the embossing folder and then used the Sew Easy zig zag head (this might be my favorite) to privide a stitching location on the lower parts of the embossed cardstock. I used the fancy floss bakers twine primary color yellow to create the rays of the sun. I have a few more ideas how I could do this with other embossing folders. I love them and the dimension they add to a page, but I often forget to pull them out and use them!

I hope you have found inspiration in the ways I've used the Sew Easy for this reveal. It's now time for you to pull that Sew Easy out or head to the store so you can get to work creating pages. Next month I'll be back with part 2 containing some more complex ideas for using the Sew Easy! Check out the gallery at A Cherry On Top - leaving comments, here, at the ACOT blog, on Facebook, on the ACOT reveal page, and in the gallery at ACOT will increase your chance of me sending you a LOVE piercing head for the Sew Easy! The winner will be revealed one week after the part 2 reveal is posted!

Introducing 4x4

2011-06-29T08:11:00.000-07:00

What do you get when 4 scrappers use 4 products in their own special way? You get 4 really awesome pages and one really cool challenge!
It's called a 4x4 and it's not my idea. It started last month with Jess, Meg, Chrissy, and Dawn. This month I stepped in.
It really is amazing how different each page turns out.

This month's 4x4 is hosted by Megan Aaron. And, for playing along, there is a prize! To find out what it is, you'll have to go check out Meg's blog!

Now for the business end of the challenge: the rules and products we used!

Here are “The Rules”:
- We must use the same four products: two papers and two embellishments.
- We can only use one of each sheet of paper.
- We can use unlimited basics (card stock, ribbon, alphas, mists, etc.) as long as the four main products are the focus.- We cannot share our finished pages with each other until we are all done so that we do not influence each others’ design choices.

Our four products this month are: Cameos from Maya Road, Vintage Linen paper from Echo Park, Time Flies paper from Sassafras Lass Ellie's Tale and Ellie's Tale Cardstock Stickers from Sassafras Lass.

And now, here's my page I made using the above supplies.

For my cameo, I glued paper over the two background pieces and then stamped on the head to give it shading. I also added rain to the cardstock in the background by using a Smash date stamp by K and Co.

To see the other pages, head on over to Meg's blog (and remember the prize she has on her's!) or you can go to Jess's blog and Chrissy's blog. Remember the rules and most importantly, have fun!

Famly Time for Paper Trunk

2011-06-15T04:03:00.000-07:00

I am one who always cherishes time with my family. I grew up playing with extended family - second and third cousins that were once or twice removed - it didn't matter how close the blood relation was they were family and that was what mattered. Now that I'm older and have moved away from family, it's even more important to me to make the long trip to see everyone when we have a large gathering. Last monthttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifh was one of those occasions. My network of cousins has all grown up and we all have our own children now who will hopefully also learn the meaning of family.

These are my cousins in this page that I've made for today. It's not a complicated page. In fact, I used a sketch by Gretchen McElveen to create it and I followed the sketch almost exactly. I wanted the pictures to be center stage on the page because they are telling a story about me and my cousins - how we laugh together. They reflect the good times that we've had and the good times that we will continue to have long into the future. I kept the design simple to let the pictures do the talking and to allow the papers to shine. I mixed lines of papers to get a color scheme that I liked and that worked for the pictures. And, even though it is a simple page, I'm incredibly happy with how it turned out.

Papers used: Background from Jellybean Collection, Red border from 1974 collection, and Yellow semicircles from Wrangler.

I hope you have the opportunity to document time spent with family this summer!
Rachel for Paper Trunk

Elizabeth Park

2011-06-08T15:30:00.000-07:00

This month for A Cherry on Top I worked with Elizabeth Park by Little Yellow Bicycle. It's so pretty and has so many fun embellishments. I had a hard time deciding which embellies to choose! But, here are the pages I created

In the end, I was left with nothing but scraps of papers and some embellies. I loved the line and the unique pages I was able to create with it!

I swear I scrap

2011-06-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

I thought I had added things to this since May 18 but I see that I was wrong. I do have something to add here today and then several other things to add in the next few days if I make the time to do so.

Today I played around during naptime with a challenge from a group that I've never participated in before, Stampin' Royalty. My friend Meg turned me on to their challenges, which are color challenges with a little twist. Here is what I created for SR#74 (good number, year I was born)

Pardon the number of pictures I took of that butterfly.

I really wanted to get a good picture of it and it was difficult. It's stamped using a Basic Grey stamp onto Glimmer mist and chalkboard Glimmer mist using Martha Stewart inks and then sprayed again with another color of Glimmer mist. The bottom wings are actually turned upside down so that the non-stamped side is showing. It was a really cool effect. Glimmer mist, while beautiful, is ridiculously hard to photograph.
I used a mix of Little Yellow Bicycle and Crate Papers, the two sets of Basic Grey Stamps, Basic Grey letters, and LYB embellies. I'm not sure where the lace came from. Ink was Colorbox and Martha Stewart and then, of course, there are 4 colors of glimmer mists. I really like the colors of this page, it makes me feel like page out of a country living magazine was designed at my house! Thanks for the great color inspiration Stamping Royalty.

Chevron Chic Challenge at Moxie Fab World

2011-05-18T13:51:00.000-07:00

Wouldn't you know it. Every month at ACOT I issue a fashion challenge - be inspired by fashion. This month I chose stripes and here's the inspiration piece
See that hat over there on the right? It has chevron stripes. I had been thinking of what I could do with those stripes when I saw the Chevron Chic Challenge at Moxie Fab World.
Then, I was reading blogs and came across this little gem
I sprang into action. My reveal for this month at ACOT was using My Mind's Eye's American Made. There is a striped paper in the bunch. I cut out the stripes and placed them on this card in a star chevron shape like the logo. The star is from Magistical Memories and has been covered in Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze. It's the perfect color!

How are you inspired by chevrons? Make something up and post it to your blog so you can play along with Moxie Fab, too!

Echo Park - For the Record

2011-05-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

As soon as I saw For the Record by Echo Park, I knew I had to have it. It took me awhile to get it because it sold out of the store at A Cherry on Top right away. I had to wait for their second order and then I made sure to order double of everything! There is something about the colors of the line that speak to me. I've been in love with yellow and green for over a year now and For the Record is packed with it. Plus, I love all the vintage images in the stickers and the gorgeous flowers. Take a look at what I made.

First I want to show you the page I made for Becky Fleck's May Page Maps.
I was feeling really sentimental when I made the page. I love seeing my boys play together and snapped this picture of them looking at the lake at the top of the hill. I wrote the journaling right after my husband's cousin died suddenly. The cousin has two brothers and they all grew up together. I want that for my boys. I want them to cherish each other as long as possible. I also wanted to capture the playful spirit that the boys have through the use of the embellishments with For the Record. The white flower at the top is made with Pink Paislee trims and Cosmo Cricket Glubers. It was fun and the perfect addition. Oh, and did you notice how the yellow of the papers matches E's scout shirt? Perfect. I love color.

Something I used to do more of but don't make the time for as much anymore is making cards. I thought the patterns on the papers lent themselves well to using as backgrounds for some cards. They remind me of visiting relatives as a child - old and sophisticated, cherished and special. I just had to turn the patterns into cards to let the recipients know they are sophisticated, cherished, and special.
This first card is a thank you card that I sent to my in-laws for my birthday presents. I cut the flowers on my Silhouette and inked them with Glimmer Mist to match the flowers on the paper. Scrabble is my father-in-law's favorite game so I used the super awesome scrabble letters for the sentiment.

I also made a card for my mother for Mother's Day
I cut a piece of the borders paper to the size of the typewriter sticker and rolled it to make it look like it was coming out of the type writer. I cut two pieces of paper for under the type writer and sprayed one with glimmer mist. It is layered over the other shape with pop-dots. That left room for some felt flowers to be stashed between the layers. And, another of the border strips of paper was perfect as the sentiment across the top of the whole card. The inside of the car is red polka dotted paper lined with white paper. It really is a beautiful card and my mother appreciated it.

These are the three projects that I want to share with you today. I have some other good stuff in mind for the rest of the papers. I have a strong desire to use them all up! Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out For the Record if you haven't already!

End of the Semester

2011-05-18T06:57:00.000-07:00

It has flown by, the second half of the semester - and I spent the last few weeks getting ready for finals, giving finals, and grading finals. It's the most wonderful time of the year. After a long day at work, I hole myself up in my craft room and create away. Here's some of what I've neglected to post
Some Basic Grey was gifted to my by Sarah so I played with it a little bit

Super Slide is for the Fashion Trends Challenge at ACOT - this month is to use stripes

And, snowy smile is for the sketch this month at ACOT.

I've got more to share with you so check back soon!

April Ad Challenge at ACOT

2011-04-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

This month's ad challenge really spoke to me

Last night I pulled out some cardboard and got started cutting circles into it. After I cut the circles, I peeled them off to reveal the corrugation underneath. Originally I had planned on using the same bright colors as shown in the ad, but then I decided on the blues and greens that have been a favorite of mine lately. I know the weather is getting warmer but I have tons of winter pictures to scrap so I pulled out these ice skating pictures.

I can work a single line of paper like nobody's business but I really enjoy mixing it up and making my own kits from papers that I feel match. That's what I've done here. Let's see, there's a bit of Prima, Cosmo Cricket, WRMK, Echo Park, Basic Grey, Sassafras Lass, and Memory Makers here.

We have had a bit of trouble with ice twice in the last week in the form of hail larger than golf balls. That's a spring time occurrence so maybe scrapping winter pictures was a message to myself!

Ellies Tale at A Cherry On Top

2011-04-16T08:42:00.000-07:00

April 11 would have been my grandfather's birthday. He died a few years ago but my memories of him did not. As you will see, none of the pages I made this month are of him but, this paper reminded me very much of him. When I was a child, I would visit him and my grandmother in Michigan. They lived in a mobile home and had bunkbeds in the room where I slept with my brother. On the bed was an Emmett the Clown doll. Thinking of the circus or things related to the circus reminds me of that clown doll. Ellie's Tale is not circus paper in the most traditional sense of the word, but it has a whimsical circus appeal from the elephant, to the feathers, to the sprays of flowers, to the pennants and other banner sticker shapes this line screams at me of the circus, good times, cotton candy, elephants, and clowns. The colors are cheerful, the patterns uplifting, and the papers so very filled with fun whether you scrap boys, girls, children, or adults. Take a trip with me to carefree, good times as we look through the pages I made with Ellie's Tale by Sassafras Lass.

The first page that I made is such a treat. As soon as I saw the flowers one of the (Play By Play) sheets of paper, I knew what to do. I pulled out a picture of my son at the fair carrying a bag of kettle corn that is in competition with him to see which is the tallest! I cut shapes of off white from one of the papers, folded them at the corners and drew "X" in the middle. The idea was to make the flowers look a little like popcorn spill from the bag down the page.

Advice

I framed the page by cutting out the center from the paper and laying it over the feather paper (btw, those feathers are my favorite paper of the whole line!). I added a sticker from the label sheet that I cut and placed above and below the picture on the page. Another fantastic feature of Sassafras Lass is the borders on the paper. They've added to it with sticker borders that also coordinate. I've used one of each here.

Another good time we have around here is during the local firetruck rally. We're lucky to live a very short walk from the start of the parade and I was able to capture a picture of the boys with the color guard that leads the firetruck procession down Broadway.

Two Little Boys And Fire Trucks

While the black spray on the the background may look tedious or detailed it was really made with very little care. Choose the spray ink that you want to use, aim it at your page, and spray away until excess liquid is visible on the surface of the paper. Then, simply pick up the paper, allowing the ink to run down the page. Layer stickers, strips of paper, and the newest addition to the Sassafras Lass product line - foldies die cuts, over the sprayed area and your photos.

History is a very important part of the area where we live. Our house is over a century old and we often attend events that celebrate the history of our our area. The music note paper (Score) reminded me not only of circus music but of patriotic music - marches and anthems - and all the thing that go with it. The canon demonstration at the local fort provided the perfect patriotic themed pictures to go with the paper.

Fort D

I roughed up the background by gluing the paper to the cardboard that comes with all of my ACOT shipments and then ripped the paper off to distress it. I also cut a thin strip of cardboard and glued it sideways to the lower edge of the white paper to ground the page. The journaling tags provided just the right punch of color for under the pictures so I cut them up and layered them in with the Sweet Treat shaped stickers. The real treat of the day was watching that canon fire a real canon ball and hanging with my boys while we celebrated our city's heritage.

While this line has been great to work with, I have to admit, I saved the best for last.

stay on target

The large circle of Simply Stated reminded me of a very large target and the yellows of my son's scouting shirt were a perfect match for the yellows in the Play by Play paper. They simply all had to go together. To create this page, I cut a circle of Play by Play that fit inside the target area of Simply Stated and then I ripped out the middle of the circle . I decided the placement of the gears, stickers, and title before sewing the circle onto the background. To ground the page, I added the border stickers along the bottom and a border strip along the bottom of one of the pictures. The absolute last thing I added to the page was the sewn and torn teal circle around the outside of the target area. I thought the page needed an additional pop of color. So, I tore the edge off a piece of cardstock, laid it on the page at the edge of the circle, and sewed on the line in the red part of the paper until I got to the end of the teal cardstock where I tore the cardstock off leaving the sewn part behind. I continued this process until I made it around the edge of the circle.

I hope you can see why I loved this line so much and that it provides a punch of fun, color, and fond memories to your next project. Check out Ellie's Tale and other fun Sassafras Lass products in the store at A Cherry On Top!

October Afternoon Campfire

2011-04-03T15:30:00.001-07:00

Last month I had the pleasure of playing with October Afternoon's Campfire for ACOT
I'll just share my favorites of the 7 pages I made! That's right, I made 7 pages and was having so much fun with 4 more planned but I just ran out of time! ha!

You can see the rest of the Campfire goodness at the ACOT link above!

ACOT April Challenges

2011-04-03T15:18:00.000-07:00

Join us at A Cherry on Top for some awesome challenges! I contributed to two of the challenges this month. I've created a new one for ACOT called Fashion Findings. This month, the focus in is big, open knits and crocheted granny squares. The page must involve string of some sort (yarn, crochet cotton, bakers twine) and it can be made into doilies, lace, actual granny squares, large backgrounds, sewn into the page as large lacing, flowers, etc. Regular stitching does not count but you may use manufactured items. Here is the inspiration piece that I put together

For my page, I crocheted the granny square but added a little touch of picots to the middle of each side to match the Magistical Memories chipboard under it.

I've used Prima, Echo Park, and Crate Paper, Jenni Bowlin crepe paper ribbon, Maya Road picks, Cosmo Cricket doilies and butterfly, American Crafts letters, and Tattered Angels glimmer mist.

I also participated in the sketch challenge, creating this page. It's almost identical to the sketch - I didn't stray far.I used the lovely Echo Park For the Record papers - I can't wait to scrap with them again.

Things have been quiet because I was out of town. Prior to going out of town, I was busy preparing for going out of town. I'm back for a bit now and hope to have a couple of nights a week to scrap something. I'll post some of my other work from last month soon!

Paper Trunk Happy Butterflies

2011-04-03T06:07:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday so I'm posting something that makes me happy. I figure it must make me happy because I am constantly doing it. For some people it might be a certain type of food or a favorite beverage that makes them happy or at least content; but for me, taking pictures of butterflies on flowers is very satisfying. I have more pictures than I can count of butterflies but I never seem to do anything with them. For this page today, I decided to have a little fun with one of my pictures. I added dimension to the page with a 3D butterfly cut from the Krafty paper with the damask pattern on it.

To create this effect, simply cut out a butterfly shape in two pieces around some of the damask shapes on the paper. You will need the body on upper wings and the bottom wings just need to be attached to each other to provide a platform for folding and attaching the upper wings and body. Then, fold the wings from the center out to the tips of the wings in several spots on each of the wings. Fold the wings up and attach to your page.

I've used the blue back of a piece of Wrangler paper, flowers and leaves from Rockabilly, and Krafty papers for this page. Thanks for stopping by on my birthday!
Head over to Paper Trunk to check out other projects from the team. While you are there, also check out the Spring Sale to pick up some of the super awesome papers!

Socialite and Wendy Hammer Designs

2011-03-12T05:25:00.000-08:00

Has it been dull and gray where you are? It sure has here, lots of rain and clouds. This sort of atmospheric behavior sends me searching for something bright and cheerful. Enter Paper Trunk's Socialite and the bright goodness of Wendy Hammer Designs! Take a look at what you can do with the combination

You can see how easy both the papers and the Wendy Hammer Designs embellishments are to work with. The bright colors will warm up even the coldest and soggiest of spirits. I chose to pair the products with pictures of my son sucking on an end of summer treat as he was introduced to his first grade classroom. Hopefully this end of summer page will chase away your "is winter ever going to end" blahs. It worked for me!

This month the Paper Trunk team is working with Wendy Hammer Designs. Stop by the Paper Trunk blog to see more of these gorgeous products!

Wearable Chipboard

2011-02-26T10:16:00.000-08:00

When I was playing with my Magistical Memories chipboard pieces, I mean organizing them, I noticed that there were a variety of shapes that fell out of the larger outlines. I grouped them all together and then when I was cleaning up from another project, I realized that they would be perfect to make a necklace. I created the following in about 15 minutes from scraps of paper on my table and the "bonus" pieces of chipboard from inside larger frames.
The chain for the necklace is embroidery floss that has been hot glued to the back of the larger shape. In fact, I've hot glued the entire piece together - the patterned papers, the circles and heart to each other, and the string to hold it around my neck. I used a file to soften the edges of patterned paper and then inked them to hide the white edges. Play around with layering and the overall shape of the piece if you decide to make one. This was just my favorite configuration of pieces.

I was so excited about my creation that I wore it to work the very next day. One of my students thought it was part of my shirt and that the necklace was awesome. So, not only was it quick and easy to make, it also passed the cool test with the college students!

I just might have to make a few more of these!

LOVE Maybe

2011-02-16T01:18:00.000-08:00

Love Definitely! I know Valentine's Day was a couple of days ago but there is just so much to love about Paper Trunk Maybe Baby and Magistical Memories chipboard. When I think of love I think of two people, my mom and dad. My mom has loved my dad since she was a teenager. My parents do everything together and always have. Soon they will enter a new chapter in their lives when my dad retires - I can't wait to see what fun they have together then.

To make my page, I wrapped the Connected by Circles Magistical Memories chipboard in twine and used it as a divider between two sheets of Paper Trunk Maybe Baby patterned paper. I glued pieces of patterned paper behind the twine and then tore them off. Then, I backed all of the twine/chipboard border with green paper. I cut the title from pieces of patterned paper and die cut shapes.

I decided because the page is already busy in places to not add journaling to the front. I have journaled the date, location, and names of my parents on the back of the page.

I hope your Valentine's Day was spent with those that you love. Check out other Magistical Memories chipboard shapes for scrapping all of your pictures of love and loved ones!
Rachel, February Guest Designer for Magistical Memories and Design Team Member for Paper Trunk

Grandparents for Magistical Memories

2011-02-13T01:18:00.000-08:00

I've had this picture of my mother sitting on the porch with my boys and me looking through the window behind them for quite some time. I've tried to scrap it several times but could never get the page to look just right. When I saw the wings in my package, I knew just exactly what I wanted to do with them. Of course, I admit, I did not know they were wings and instead I saw the pretty flower shown below.The flower was made using Pink Paislee patterned paper for the inside chipboard and the outline was sprayed with Tattered Angels Glimmer mist to match. The flower is topped with one of the chipboard butterflies but I wanted the butterfly to appear to be flying so I cut it in half and then used Helmar Scrapdots on the head and along the body to hold it's wings open. The outside of the butterfly is green and the outside wing is missing it's scroll but the inside of the butterfly is purple with a green scroll. I drew in a long stem for the flower and added chipboard leaves that were inked with Versamark chalk ink and then rubbed with chalk to give them a light color and texture. The background is Pink Paislee House of 3 paper that has been lightly misted and chalked. The mix of so many pieces of chipboard adds incredible dimension to the page causing it to become my current favorite.

Thank you to Magistical Memories for providing me with the pieces to create this page.

Rachel

Snow's A Ball

2011-02-06T06:21:00.001-08:00

and so is Magistical Memories chipboard. Yesterday my February Guest Designer package came in the mail and I couldn't wait to get break into it. Thank you to Magistical Memories for sending me so much fun stuff to play with. I sat down right away and made this page using the Fleur de Circle shape in the center of a doily snowflake.

I changed the color of the Fleur de Circle by spraying it with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and Chalkboard Spray. It made the chipboard really sparkly like snow! I then stamped a snowflake in the middle using a Bo Bunny stamp and embossing powder. The white dots are Tim Holtz Perfect Pearls paint. Here's a close up of how the Fleur de Circle turned out.
I have to say that I really love it. It feels wintry and beautiful at the same time - a sentiment that I'm not used to experiencing! I hope that it's beautiful where you are and that you take time to enjoy the last bits of winter before spring is upon us.

That's all I have fore now. I've already started on my second project for this month. This is going to be a fun month!

Rachel for Magistical Memories

Scrappay Developments

2011-02-01T20:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday a post went up at Magistical Memories announcing that I am the guest designer for February! Check there and here throughout the month for the project that I will be making! I'm so excited to be their guest designer this month :)

And, another recent development...
I got a message a couple of weeks ago asking if I would like to join the Creative Team of none other than A Cherry on Top!

I couldn't believe my eyes. How could I get so lucky? Please join us there on February 25th for a crop to chase away the winter blues! Their crops are fast and fun with tons of prizes. You'll love shopping there and hanging out there!

By the way, I do scrapbook. Here's my most recent work

Look for even more fun to come soon!

Holiday Pages

2011-01-17T07:57:00.000-08:00

I felt in the mood to scrap some Holidays! I finished these last week but have been pretty busy with work and tired from running. I haven't scrapped anymore lately and I haven't had time to get these posted. But, here they are now!

This page was made from Christmas 2009 pictures that I still haven't scrapped. sigh...I did get most of Christmas 2010 edited but not printed yet. I'm working on it! heehee. I didn't use a traditional Christmas line for this page, I thought the Cambridge line went better with rock-n-roll E!

This page was made with the sketch posted on the Bo Bunny blog and oh, dear, does it look like they have alot of participants for this one! I just popped over there and their newest release with the butterflies looks incredible. The Bo Bunny love will certainly not be over at my house! I also have another Bo Bunny page in the works. I will try to finish it up today since it's a holiday. But, for now, I'm going to watch a chick flick and do some knitting! Happy Creating, everyone!

Back to Scrappy Goods

2010-12-28T09:04:00.000-08:00

After spending most of December knitting my fingers off, I found some time to play with paper!
The first two items are ornaments that I made with Bo Bunny and Jillibean Soup products. I gave those to the pre-school teachers and they loved them!

I am thinking I need to make a bunch of these to sell at the craft fair next year.

And, I've created two scrapbook pages with pictures that I finally had printed from this fall.
One of the photos in this page I have had printed into a canvas for the house. The boys running through the grass just makes me so happy

I used the sketch from Magistical Memories to complete this page and the chipboard dragonflies are also Magistical Memories. They have been covered with GCD Studio papers and inked. I added little eyes to them. Most of the paper on this page is from GCD Studios. The leaf and the tree were stamped and then embossed on green paper with clear embossing powder. I then inked the images with Shimmers and Walnut ink. They are really cool!

This page was just made because I wanted to play with white flowers and leaves. You won't see any white on the page because I inked and misted them to look like fall leaves. I totally love them! I also got to play with Pink Paislee's Sweetheart line that I've had sitting around tormenting me for a couple of months. It is such a pretty, happy line of papers!

I'm working on some cards today and thinking about my next Paper Trunk page. I'm so excited to be back in my craft room. I did clean it and it stayed clean for about 30 minutes! haha!

What they got for Christmas

2010-12-27T05:04:00.000-08:00

AKA, why I haven't scrapped much in the last 2 months! I've been working my fingers to the bone knitting. This new passion of mine is really taking off. I even dream equally as much about knitting as I do about scrapbooking now. I have created 1.5 pages since Christmas so I'm on the rebound from the knitting :). However, I have so many ideas of projects to knit that I'll keep myself busy on that front for a long time to come.

So, here's what everyone got for Christmas:
Fingerless Fair isle mitts for my mother

Juliana Shawl for Juliana

This one was actually crocheted, not knit :)

A shawl for my grandma
This one was made with acrylic and was my first time steam blocking. What fun! The point stay even through washing. And, the shawl is light but warm

Phineassss and EliasssssThese are snake scarves and the boys love them despite what the picture shows!

Phin's socks He put them on as soon as he opened them and played in them for 2 days. I have not had the time to finish up Elias' socks and so I think I'll be making another pair for Phin since he loves them so much! Someone else is also getting socks for her Christmas but she's not gotten them yet!

Teacher gifts These are chapstick necklaces for the teachers at P's pre-school. They loved them. I am going to make some more for the kids since they were quick and fun!

And, I have a couple more presents to post after the recipient gets them. My advice, don't start knitting just before Thanksgiving for Christmas presents. I asked for orders last night and everyone thought I was kidding. I totally was not! ha! Merry Christmas everyone!

Ornaments from Bows! (Paper Trunk post)

2010-12-11T06:21:00.000-08:00

The pieces from the bow posted a few days ago can be used to create beautiful ornaments. To make one of these

follow the instructions for making three layers of the bow. I've used Maybe Baby papers for this one. Attach a hanger to the back of the bow and then cut out a Maybe Baby tag to place in the center of the ornament. I topped mine with a flower shaped brad but you could add any number of things to the middle of the ornament.
Another variation that I came up with includes pins with beads on them, called picks. The picks are placed in some of the points of the ornament to give it extra dimension
Besides hanging these on the treethey could also be put as toppers on packages (this one wrapped with Krafty Paper and Rockabilly)or put onto a card as part of the giftThe card was made with more Maybe Baby papers and tags. Be sure to share all of your creative ideas for these bows and ornaments with us! And, happy the season of holiday craft making!
Rachel

Happay the month of December (Paper Trunk!)

2010-12-04T11:13:00.000-08:00

The season of joy has finally arrived. I love this month of year because it allows me to spend so much time with family and friends, sharing stories and swapping gifts. My favorite part of gift giving has always been making the gift and things for the gift. Today I want to share with you a bow that I first invented when I was just a kid. I would save every scrap of wrapping paper that my presents came in and beg my mom for pieces of wrapping paper that we had for presents. (I was a recycling crafter even way back then!) Then, I'd sit in front of the tv for hours content to make these bows. This was back in the days when we didn't have circle cutters so I'd have to trace around cups and plates to get just the right size circle for my bows. I had to hand cut each of the circles. My fingers would get stiff from making so many bows and sticky from the Elmer's glue. Today the process is easier but still the same. I actually can't believe I've never made these out of the beautiful double sided scrapbook papers that are available now. I have never seen anything like this in the scrapbooking world before. Here's what the finished product looks like:

To make this bow you will need the following:
1 piece of 12x12 Paper Trunk double sided pattern paper. I've used paper from the Rockabilly line
Scissors
Sharpened Pencil
Circle cutter
Helmar Professional Adhesive or another quick drying glue

Step 1:
Cut 5 circles from your patterned paper and then fold them where the black lines are shown. The folds are made by folding each circle equally in half 4 times to make 8 even sections

Step 2:
Cut from the edge of the circle 3/4 of the way into the circle. Do not cut all the way to the center of the circle

Step 3:
Place the sharpened tip of the pencil at the edge of the paper in the center of one of the 1/8 slices.

Step 4:
Pinch the slice around the pencil tip.

Step 5:
Roll the pencil to the side and tuck the corner of the slice under the pencil. Then roll the pencil back to the center of the slice. At the center, the paper will be wrapped around the tip of the pencil.

Step 6:
Add a small bit of glue to the other corner of the slice and wrap it around the pencil. You will have to hold it in place until it dries enough to remove the pencil.When the pencil is removed, you will have made the first point on the bow.

Step 7:
Continue making points out of the remaining 7 slices of the circle and three of the remaining 4 circles. They will each look like this

Step 8:
Cut off 1/4 or 2 slices of the 5th circle Then roll the remaining slices into points as you did with the previous 4 circles

Step 9:
Stack the circles, alternating the points. Glue them together in this position. The 3/4 circle goes on the top of the pile.

Final Step:
Attach finished bow to package! It's sure to wow your friends and bring a little joy to your holiday!

After the holidays are over, I can show you some other variations I have made of this bow. I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise and show it now! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Merry Christmas and happay creating for the holidays.

Rachel Theall aka happay scrappay

Scrappay Week

2010-11-25T08:10:00.000-08:00

This past week I really had the urge to scrap. The problem has been finding the time to photograph things since it's so dark! This is a big update! Here's the pages I made during the past week:
First up, I made this page for the Bo Bunny Challenge to scrap about myself. I've been saving up this picture and just had a blast working with the Petal Pushers line on the page.

I cut slits in the paper and rolled them back. I applied shimmers to the rolled back pieces and put a piece of blue paper under the slits. I love the effect!

For this pageI used a combination of Bo Bunny,Jillibean Soup, and Basic Grey Halloween stuff. I was on a real Halloween kick this week! The page is based on the sketch challenge at ACOT this month.

Every Fall was inspired by a Halloween digital page I saw around Halloween time. I stitched the buttons and the x's. It fits the countdown challenge at ACOT.

For now, the last Halloween page I made is this one:

The look on Phin's face cracks me up everytime! I have a few more Halloween '09 pages I want to make. I also need to print the pictures from this year :) I haven't printed anything since August. It's time!

One final page
The boys had a good time performing a concert for me one summer day while I was getting the guest room ready for Grandpa and Grandma. They were so cute! The music paper is Echo Park, Sassafrass Lass (green). Tons of love and fun. Oh, and Magistical Memories chipboard that I colored with Shimmers! I had fun playing with the Shimmers this week, too!

Hope everyone is having a fantastic Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for all of my friends and family and the time to post these pages that I've made. I'm overflowing with thankfulness right now!

All Wrapped up with Urban Swank

2010-11-20T02:47:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Urban Swank Blog Hop! The Design Team for Urban Swank is hoping you find lots of ideas to help you get ready for the holidays on our blog pages. The bright colors of the Urban Lily papers are perfect for adding to the holiday festivities. Here I have a suggestion of something you can do with the Urban Lily Papers provided by Urban Swank to help you get ready for the holidays. To do this project you will need:
Any of the Urban Lily papers (I've used: Massima from Blink, Impish from May Ella, Holly from Oh So Merry, Sushi Stripe from Everyday Lily, and Hyperactive from Mooch)
Adhesives from Helmar (I've used: Professional Acid Free and 450 Quick Dry)
A little bit of twine and feathers or other embellishments
A cutting machine with a file for cutting pillow boxes or the template found here

Urban Lily papers have some fantastic design placement that are really shown off when the paper is folded into the pillow box shape. The shapes are held together with Helmar adhesives. Once the glue has dried, you can start decorating the outside of the boxes. I have shown three examples of the boxes at different stages of decoration so that you can see that, while no decoration is necessary, you can also add alot of fun to the boxes without overshadowing the papers.

On Phin's box, I cut out spiral flowers and glued them to the box. I then cut strips of the May Ella paper and curled to go in between the flowers. I finished off the decoration with feathers.

The names are put onto the boxes with little tags and Paper Trunk sticker letters. They can be strung on paper or twine and then attached across the box.

Once the decorations are finished, the boxes can be stuffed with presents. Mine will contain hand knit socks for the kids. The boxes are the perfect size for stocking stuffers, hanging on the tree, or as surprises under the tree. They might also be fun to find next to your breakfast plate! I think the kids will really enjoy opening their boxes to see what fun things wait inside for them!

Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope you will visit the blogs of the other designers. You can find them here:

Becky Teichmiller

Erika Taylord

Rachel Theall <----you are here

You can also win prizes from our facebook page - be sure to check by all weekend!

Color Combos #166

2010-11-14T13:22:00.000-08:00

It's kinda simple. I used Studio Calico and Jillibean Soup( ribbon, pins, polka dots)
Love the color combo!

Getting caught up on the scrappay!

2010-11-13T11:38:00.000-08:00

Oh dear! October really did a number on me. I stole a few moments here and there during the month to scrap some lovely things and then I made a couple of pages for the ACOT November crop (not many because we were camping that weekend). Here's what sneaking in a few moments here and there will get you!
ACOT Crop challenge to use Sassafras Lass.

ACOT monthly challenge to use yellow!

ACOT Crop challenge to use 3 pictures and white space and the numbers 1,2,3

ACOT October seasons contest (I won!) and my Paper Trunk post for October. This was so much fun to make. I like looking at it.

BoBunny fun at my last crop night with Juliana! We used her Cricut on it.

Was supposed to be for a sketches challenge but I don't think I ever posted it.

This was for a challenge at ACOT, too, but I don't remember which one. I love the striped paper with the flocked flower paper from GCD studios

For the BoBunny sketch challenge. I love this page, I love the pooch!

And, some non-paper things!
I have been wanting to make these for months. They are so warm and comfortable. C brought me back the yarn from one of his trips.

Shhh, this is the second of my Christmas gifts that I've finished up. These are for Phin. I'm working on some for someone else, well, two someone elses!

And, that's it for now. I have some new goodies on the way and so much fun stuff to play with. I need to order some pictures to get caught up with stuff since Summer! Looking forward to a nice fall and start to winter with lots, and lots, and lots of crafty time!

Some Paper Trunk Fun!

2010-11-13T11:34:00.001-08:00

It's raining here - nothing out of the ordinary for fall weather. It does mean that the we're stuck inside and the creative bug is really biting me hard so I got out my Paper Trunk goodies and, using the sketch at Magistical Memories, made something fun.

I drew the inspiration for the colors on this page from the changing leaves around me. I adore fall colorsI pulled out 1974's Right On Paper and the Jellybean border stamps (they're 12 inches long!!!). Using some orange ink, I stamped the spotted background. But, I didn't want the entire background to be spotted, so I tore out the center from the Krafty Collection scalloped paper and used it as a mask for the orange paper on the reverse side of Right On. I then trimmed the scalloped circle and gave it a border of orange yarn. I cut other circles and scallops from the center piece of the Krafty paper and Paper Trunk's Gigi Compassionate. Some circles I layered behind the Magistical Memories chipboard circle border. Because we were at an airshow when the photo was taken, I cut an airplane from Kraft paper and a little banner to trail behind the airplane and another chipboard airplane. These were decorated with ink and glimmer mist. The Paper Trunk Flair is placed on some pleated trim and stuck to the page using Helmar 450 Quick Dry. And, the title was placed using the Paper Trunk Carson Alphabet Stickers in Chocolate.

In all, I think the page turned out just as yummy as chocolate and the colors cheered me as much as the turning of leaves on a sunny day. I hope you enjoy some bonus crafty time as the weather turns cold where you live!
Rachel

Urban Swank Christmas Countdown

2010-10-14T08:24:00.001-07:00

I know, it's not even Halloween yet but Christmas can really sneak up on you especially if you are a crafty person who likes to make gifts for others (or yourself)! Something that I have always wanted to make and have never allowed myself the time to make is a Christmas Countdown calendar. I decided that the Urban Lily Secret Keeper cards were just the thing to use to make a count down.
I started by cutting the circle from Urban Lily Mooch Sugar High and running it through my embossing machine to put some music notes on it. Then I cut out the flowers from Urban Lily Happy Everything Friends to decorate the top of the circle. The bird also looked really cute flying next to the circle so I put him on there. I decided to add a ribbon to the top of the circle and turn it into an ornament. Then I stamped the word Noel in another ornament next to it and added some twine to hold it up.

The ornament, bird, and chipboard piece covered in more of the Sugar High paper are held in place using Helmar Professional Scrapbooking Adhesive. The ribbon and twine are held in place using Helmar 450 quickdry.
Opening the Secret Keeper Card you can see that I have colored the white surface with alcohol ink and stamped a calendar and some holly leaves with Stazon Ink. I can cross off each day or I could put a marker over each day so that I can use the calendar again next year.

I'm really excited for the holidays and I hope that you found this project inspiring. Have fun with your own holiday crafting!
Rachel

Roughing It with Bo Bunny

2010-10-03T05:54:00.001-07:00

When we go camping, the best thing to have is some nice, fresh fish!

This year there was no fishing luck, so I scrapped the pictures from last year. Everything but the title is from the Bo Bunny Roughing It line. I love most the color combo and the paint! And, I'm so glad I get to share this with you.

I have another page to finish up from Friday night and then I can post it here, too. I've been doing my best to squeeze in some scrapping time. In about a month, I hope things are able to return to normal.

Fresh with Urban Lily

2010-09-27T05:29:00.000-07:00

Today on the Urban Swank blog:
The colors and patterns on the Urban Lily papers are so fresh and sweet that I had to use them to scrap a picture of myself out picking strawberries this past spring. I love going out to pick fresh fruits and vegetables. We grow our own garden and make trips to farms for things like strawberries, blueberries, apples, and pumpkins! In fact, with October right around the corner, I'm very excited for pumpkin picking! It was wonderful reliving the memories of strawberry picking with my family while I put this page together

The reds of the Urban Lily Lulu paper from the lulliloo line were perfect for the strawberries. I matched that up with circles from Hyperactive in the mooch collection and the beautiful sweet phrase from the Beautiful paper in the Happy everything collection. The title was created using the wonderful Urban Cut alphabet and I framed the picture and my journaling with one of the secret keeper windows. (Shh, don't tell, but those secret keeper windows are still my favorite Urban Lily item!) As usual, the entire page is held together with the super awesome Helmar adhesives.

It's raining outside here, now, and I hope when it stops the world feels fresh and crisp and ready for fall. Rachel

Been Knitting

2010-09-26T16:33:00.001-07:00

I have been stealing moments here and there to knit things. Here's what I've been up to lately
Fingerless Gloves in PURPLE (so not for me)
and, a neck wrap also not for me
Crocheted this necklace to meet the university president last Tuesday

Will continue on the fingerless gloves and C brought home some beautiful tan yarn for me so I can make some leg warmers. Given the weather outside, I'm going to need them!

Bo Bunny Love

2010-09-26T16:32:00.001-07:00

I have been squeezing in some time in the craft room when I can find it. I even had my friend and my mom scrap with me on Friday. I managed to get a page done (buzz cut). I'll keep my comments short. Just know, that I've been having a blast with the Bo Bunny. So many more ideas brewing in my head. Gives me good things to think about when I'm out running.

Hope you enjoy what you see here ;)

On Paper Trunk

2010-09-26T16:31:00.001-07:00

Go to the Paper Trunk blog today to see more about this page

The page shows off all that you can do with a little bit of paper that has a splash of color added using the Rockabilly line!

Remembering Summer at the Urban Swank blog

2010-09-11T07:07:00.000-07:00

When things get really busy; the kids go back to school, work picks up, activities start new or continue; the best way to have a good time is to go back through the photos from earlier in the summer when we weren't so rushed to get from place to place and just remember that we had fun.

The page I'm sharing with you today is of my son playing with a foam airplane at my cousin's house. He was having such a blast, doing exactly what a boy should do - crashing the plane, running in circles, making jet noises. I was so happy watching him!

I used Urban Cut minibook bright to create the title and color blocks and to punch the birds out of the orange square from the minibook. The background is my favorite Urban Lily paper from the sugary line, it's Apple. I've sprayed it with some glimmer mist and layered the photos and color blocks right in the middle. I also added some stitching to the top and bottom corners where I placed my journaling.

The page came together quickly with the use of Helmar adhesives so it was easy to fit its creation into the busier family schedule that comes with September.

Rachel

Mixed up Paper Trunk and...

2010-08-15T09:45:00.000-07:00

a challenge page for A Cherry On Top

First, the Paper Trunk goodies! (I posted this today at the Paper Trunk blog. Head over to see other fun stuff posted by the Trunk Team!)
Most times when we think of something being "mixed up" it's because someone did something wrong. I'm no stranger to that sort of mix up but today I have a different sort of mix up that was lots of fun while I was doing it and to look at now. There are a few things mixed up with this post. Heehee. First of all, I scrapped a Christmas picture with some very non-Christmas papers. Secondly, it's very hot outside today and when these pictures were taken we were searching for warm socks and blankets. And, third, I've mixed and matched different lines of the wonderful Paper Trunk papers to create my page.

To create this mixed up masterpiece, I've used
Rockabilly Daddy-O
Rockabilly Ginchiest
Socialite Punchout tag
Wrangler Buckaroo (stars)
1974 Foxy Lady
Carson Alphabet in Red
Also used - Cardstock and Helmar Adhesives

The pictures on the page show my boys were doing one of my favorite things from my childhood - playing under the Christmas tree and gazing up at the beautiful lights. I used to lie there and have really good conversations with my dog and my brother. We'd tickle our noses on some silly little gnome ornaments with fuzzy beards. Those are times I will never forget and I hope that my children will create special memories of their own. Do you have any special memories of your childhood Christmases? We can keep ourselves cool by sharing those memories with each other!

Stay cool!

Now, the other page I created last night I did for a challenge at A Cherry on Top. It's the supply list challenge - 5 patterned papers, yellow, chipboard, button.

I've used all GCD studios papers, Prima flowers and bling, Creative Cafe buttons, and Target $1 spot chipboard letters.

On the Needles

2010-08-14T17:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not finished with any projects but I have been happily knitting away on three projects. There's still green sweater no. 1 that I have about 6 inches of body left to do for it. And, then there is this
It's called Tidepool vest being made from the pattern Loretto Vest. I've started on the left side of the front of the vest! I might finish it pretty soon but I need some time to digest the pattern since it's my first time reading something like this.

This next project I sort of started on a whim. I call it Rainbow Tsunami and the pattern is Tsunami from Knitted Socks East and West. The yarn is mini mochi and I totally plan to buy more in lots of colors because it's the softest, neatest yarn I've ever knit. I can hardly put these down!
Totally in love with knitting but promise I'm putting it down tonight so that I can scrap some!

A side note: Congrats go out to all of the super talented ladies who made the BoBunny team. I was, of course, disappointed to not make the team but I still plan to have lots of fun with their unbelievable products. Can't wait to get some of the new stuff that was just released!

Vintage Dungaree Socks

2010-08-11T07:29:00.001-07:00

Last night I finished a second pair of socks for C.

They were made from the pattern Inro in Knitted Socks East and West. They are a thick hiking sock that he plans to use around the house as slippers. The yarn I used was Berroco Vintage in the Dungaree colorway. I think even with the mistake he'll love the socks. The others hurt his feet and I'm sure now it was because I twisted the stitches.

Monday on Urban Swank

2010-08-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday!
I just got back from a 9 day vacation - tent camping at the lake I've gone to all but a handful of summers since I was 5 years old! It was hot, it was humid; but the water was fine! I just wish the fishing would have been a little bit better. As soon as I got home, I ran to my scrapping room and played with my scrapping goodies. Oh, how I missed my scrapping!

I created two projects for you!
This page uses Happy Everyday Always, Happy Everyday Friends, Sugary Collection Honey, and the fantastic Helmar Adhesives. I added some fabric, ink, mist, white cardstock, lace, and chipboard letters. The photos were taken after a big storm where I live. I was the first one out in the storm after it stopped. We don't often get big storms so the journaling is about how the local newspaper used something like 27 of my pictures on their website. It was very exciting!

I also have a little friend (she's 6) who has cystic fibrosis and has had to spend some time in the hospital. I just found out when I got back from my vacation so I created this card for her. I need to get it off into the mail soon. I hope it really cheers her day! The card also uses the Happy Everday Always paper and it uses Sugar High from the Mooch Collection. It is backed with cardstock and uses Helmar Adhesives.

That's it for me today. I hope you all enjoy the last few days before school starts back up. Happy Monday and Happy Summer!
Rachel

Don't look for me

2010-07-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

I'll be gone until August 9. I don't know that I'll have anything to share with you right away when I get back because I'll be living that time in a tent. Taking my knitting with me. Have to leave the scrapping at home this year. Look for more wonderful projects from me around mid-August!

Introducing Blueberry Emily

2010-07-28T14:24:00.001-07:00

Last week I started working on my first knit shawl, the Emily Shawl by Mandy Moore. Last night I finished it and I took it off the needles today and blocked it. I can hardly wait for tomorrow when it's ready to come off the blocking pins.

Now that my needle is free, I could start on a vest for this fall. Or I could put the next sock on for C's socks. hmmmm....? What's a girl to do?

Been doing some challenges?

2010-07-26T06:52:00.000-07:00

I have! The best thing about challenges is being able to mix and match products from different companies. All of the things that I love and collect but I never get to use!
I think you'll see a color theme here, too, must be the month or something ;)

This one uses a flower cut from my Silhouette. It's so pretty! I entered this into the contest at A Cherry on Top
The challenge here was to create a page that used 50% diecuts from a machine. I used the Silhouette for mine and cut the wavy circles, the swirls, the flowers, and the white paper with holes in it where I've added some crocheted twine.

This crazy thing was to use citrus colors on a page. I used orange and yellow and it screams fun to meanother color challenge, this time to use the colors of icecream in a photo. I chose this photo and other than the orange being a little darker, I think I captured the colors quite well!
and finally
this was for a challenge at one of the color challenge nings. The purples are a little hard on me because I have very little purple stuff. Actually I discovered that despite my love for yellow, I have very little yellow stuff, too!

So, that's it for right now. I know, I didn't share enough did I? haha, I'll be working on some other things for you soon! Oh, and I'm taking a little vacation the first part of August. Try not to miss me!

All Revved up with Paper Trunk today!

2010-07-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Hi! For today's Paper Trunk lovin' I played with the brand new Rockabilly line. I totally adore this line because it is so easy to use for boys! I chose to scrap pictures of my two boys on a motorcycle ride at a small festival.

I hope this page will give you some ideas for what you could do with Paper Trunk products and that you have a chance to play with the fun Rockabilly line soon!

Ride on over to Paper Trunk and check it out!

This is keeping me busy

2010-07-20T08:33:00.000-07:00

when you have an addiction, like I do with scrapbooking, there is always something in your life that is out of control. For me it's this
I haven't put a page in an album since early 2005. I don't even want to know how many pages are in there. I know it's far more than can fit into the albums that I currently have. I moved them off the shelves in my craft room so that I could spread out and try to organize them for putting them away. I'm a smart person - I should be able to come up with a quick and economical solution to this problem, right?

I wanna be a Bunny

2010-07-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

Actually, it's funny. I hate debate and when it gets too hot around the collar for me, I'll start chanting "fuzzy bunnies, fuzzy bunnies" over and over as DH's cue that we need to cool it so I don't get too stressed. haha

The following pages were created for my DT position at Scrapbook Dreamer but largely with the BoBunny DT call in mind. I am totally fascinated and loving on BoBunny products lately. Look back through my blog postings or any of my galleries and you'll find quite a bit of their products either solely used on the page or in combination with others. Oh, and I'm not going to show you all of what I made because one thing is (crossing my fingers) submitted to a magazine call. It's unique and special and I'll share next month if I don't hear anything.

And now, onto the projects!
US uses the fantastic Mama-Razzi Line available of course at Scrapbook Dreamer! I have a huge crush on the colors of this line and wanted to make lots of yummy layers with it. I piled on the chipboard accents and flowers, too!

Next I have a card that I made for a co-worker who is retiring and moving away. The front of the card lifts up to reveal packing boxes and a pocket for a gift card. I've used stamps and some of the beautiful papers from Paradise, another of my crushes. Of course, this product is also available at Scrapbook Dreamer

Next we have E's birthday card. Ever little boy who is turning 6 needs at least 6 friends to wish him a happy birthday! Here they were hanging out on his card along with 6 rows of pom pom trim. All supplies available at Scrapbook Dreamer
And last, my favorite page of all time (for the moment). This is one of the pages, like the moment that it depicts, that I just want to hide and hold onto for all time. I want to keep it for myself and remember everything about my little boy just the way he was then. The papers are all BoBunny Paradise available at Scrapbook Dreamer

So, thanks for checking out what I've made for this month at Scrapbook Dreamer and, well, cross everything for me with the BoBunny DT call.

Cooler Times

2010-07-18T06:42:00.001-07:00

Today on Urban Swank
The weather here has been nearly unbearable. The temperatures have soared into the upper 90s and the humidity is very high. I find myself daily wishing for a cold front and a sprinkling of snow. So, I pulled out a couple of my cold weather pictures and chose some cool colors for my papers.
On this day, the sun was shining and there were no clouds in the sky yet there were beautiful snow crystals falling from the air like magic. It was quite a sight to behold. I've used Everyday Lily Linen, Happy Everything Celebrate, May Ella Petite, and Helmar dry adhesive and Professional Acid Free Glue.

I hope you will find some Urban Lily inspiration and winter photos to help keep you cool this summer!

July Challenge at Citrus Tree Studio!

2010-07-10T09:31:00.001-07:00

As the Guest Designer for this month, it was my privileged to post one of the monthly challenges. I posted a sketch challenge and was helped by my super duper wonderful friend Juliana! She drew the sketch for me.
Isn't it wonderful? To participate in the sketch challenge, create a scrapbook page and post it in the gallery at Citrus Tree Studio. Then come into the forums, introduce yourself, and post your page. Challenge participants this month have the chance to win a beautiful paper pack from 7 Gypsies. You won't want to miss this!

And, here's the page I created from Juliana's beautiful sketch
I used items from Palmetto Summer and from my stash to make the page. I wanted it to be just as much fun and just as gorgeous as Muir Woods, but really, there is no comparison! Hope that you take the chance to play along with us at Citrus Tree Studio

Summer

2010-07-07T08:15:00.000-07:00

A time when things slow down
We're supposed to enjoy life!
Palmetto Summer is a kit by Citrus Tree Studio
This month I'm the guest designer for them!
Here's what I've created with the lovely kit!
Easter '09

I had a blast making my own flowers to go with this photo of the boys that I used a vintage action on

Show Off

The ribbon in the kit is totally gorgeous and there's alot of it so I was able to really ruffle it up

And Alcatraz Garden
My favorite thing here are the flowers. I love the splats of paint on the frame, too.

Go check out the kits at Citrus Tree Studio! They are packed with good things and are sold at a good price!

Today on Urban Swank

2010-07-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hi! For today's posting on Urban Swank, I challenged myself to use some of my fantastic Urban Lily products in creative ways. Here's what I came up with!
The mini book in black and white is not just for mini-books! Here I've used it as tiles for a card. I backed the tiles with Breeze from the Sugary Collection using Helmar dry adhesive and Professional Acid Free Glue. The background of the card is white cardstock that has been misted with dark gray. It's going to be the perfect card for a co-worker who is moving away.

And Holly from the Oh So Merry Collection is not just for Christmas. Here I've used it as the background for a page about my dog. It's grouped with flowers from Beautiful in the Happy Everyday Collection and Posh Photo Cards. Of course, it's also held together with Helmar dry adhesive and Professional Acid Free glue. Obviously these are my favorites from Helmar today!

I really enjoyed thinking of different ways to use these products from Urban Swank and I hope that you will have fun with them, too!

Into Knitting

2010-07-02T08:45:00.000-07:00

So that I can spend time with the boys, I've been working on knitting projects. I take them everywhere with me.

Here is the first of my bungled mitts

I'd like to update more but there's been a problem in the boys' room

On Paper Trunk Today!

2010-06-29T04:53:00.000-07:00

Feeling festive and ready for the for the fourth celebration? Try this!
This patriotic project was featured on Fave Crafts complete with instructions for how to make it. It's made only with Paper Trunk Products and items that I had around the house - like an empty cappuccino can, the sticks that come with rub-ons, and plastic bags for stuffing the can. Here's a sneak peek of the project.

I've used Maybe Baby, Krafty Collection, and some of the new Rockabilly. The star is decorated on both sides to make the perfect centerpiece for your 4th of July celebrations. It can also be easily adapted to other holidays. Change the papers and make a Christmas Star! Paper Trunk papers also look totally awesome sprayed with your favorite colors of Glimmer mist. Try looking at your papers in a new way and you never know what you might come up with. There is still time for you to have one of these centerpieces at your Fourth of July celebration!

From my house to your house, Happy Birthday, USA!
Rachel

Winner!

2010-06-28T07:26:00.000-07:00

Having been out of town, I fell behind on my blog visits so Juliana had to tell me that I had won a Bo Bunny Teacher Appreciation card contest!

I'm so excited and the teacher really loved her card.

I haven't been scrapping much lately and what I have scrapped can't be revealed yet. I have been knitting though and there will be a post tomorrow. I feel the scrapping bug coming back ;)

Bright

2010-06-22T16:54:00.000-07:00

I've been a little more inspired by bright lately! I used the new Echo Park papers and some October Afternoon to create this circle shaped page for a sketch challenge at A Cherry on Top

Today on Urban Swank - Education!

2010-06-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

As posted on the Urban Swank blog:
At my son's school they have a Showcase of the talents of the students at the end of the school year. Since he was just in Kindergarten this year, we did not realize what a big deal the event was and we were so proud of his contribution. For today's Urban Lily inspiration, I have created two pages of my son's school Showcase.

For the first page I used:
California Collection Pink Flamingo
May Ella Impish
Urban Cut Alphabet
Mooch Hyperactive
Mooch Smooch
I cut alot of the elements out from the paper and backed the Pink Flamingo with the super awesome striped Impish paper. My son is easy to spot in the photos as he was the only one wearing a yellow shirt!

For the second page, I carried the circle theme over by using semi-circles cut from the patterned paper. I've used:
Happy Everything Celebrate
Photocards Polka Dot
Mooch Hyperactive
Happy Everything Forever
The title was already on the paper and I thought it was appropriate for a page about my son's art work that was posted on the wall. His art was too high up to be included in the photo, so I've added journaling to the Photocards. The top card lifts up to reveal more private journaling underneath. I've stitched the cards in place.

Other than the stitching, both of these pages were created using the super fantastic Helmar adhesives.
That's it for me today. I hope you'll be able to find ways to use Urban Lily papers for your education themed pages!
Rachel

Yellow!!!

2010-06-21T16:10:00.000-07:00

Today I finished up two projects with lots of yummy, happay, yellow on them!
This page was made using mostly October Afternoon and the sketch posted at A Million Memories. The water at Big Spring is just unbelievably blue and matched perfectly with some vintage trims that I got from AMM. I worked on this mostly last night and it makes me so happay! Oh, and the flowers are something of my own creation, just playing around!

Then, I also finished my backdoor curtains!!!
When Hubbay said he wanted a curtain for the door I wasn't all that excited about it. I didn't want a curtain for the door and I didn't have enough of any material to make a curtain. So, after a couple of years....eh hem....I dug through my fabric stash and picked out fat quarter pieces that really spoke to me. We have beautiful aquas, greens, and yellows mixed with alot of white and a teensy bit of red and peach. This is something that really makes me happay!

Making a Splash

2010-06-20T09:01:00.000-07:00

Whew, it has been a busy one around here! I never thought summer could be so busy! I actually have less time than I do during the regular school year, but I am having fun!

I never came back and posted my shirt, so here it is!
I wore it on Friday and a friend liked it so much that she insisted that she needs one, too! I'm so honored ;) I didn't have a helper around to take the picture so it's I'll need to work on perfecting this!

My next plan for the t-shirt altering will involve elastic! But, I probably won't start on that until Wednesday. I hope to work for the next two days.

I also have a scrapbook page I can share with you. I made it for the art inspiration challenge at Citrus Tree Studio.I actually can't stop looking at it. I really like how it turned out! The background paper is some Kaisercraft that I've been holding onto for awhile. It seemed perfect with this design. Maybe that's why I can't stop looking at this page, because I have always loved that piece of paper so much!

I have a few other projects in the works. I'm sewing curtains for the back door, finishing the thumb on my Bella mitts (I finally watched New Moon last night), working on the ankle part of the second of my Ninja socks, and still working sometimes on the green sweater. I got an order of yarn from Knit Picks for two other projects so I am fully stocked in yarn! I also decided I have so much scrapping stuff now from big purchases made in the last couple of months that I don't need anything new there either. (someone remind me of this, daily...okay, hourly....every few minutes???)

Gotta go! Boys destroying each other! aak

She Stitches

2010-06-17T10:59:00.000-07:00

Here is the last of my 4 pages for this month at Scrapbook Dreamer. This should give you one more hint on what my DT package contained. So far, no one has gotten it correct.I used paper from Daisy D's that had banners on it. I cut them out and popped some of them up on the page. I decided to back the pic of P with a doily to go with some of the pieces of the banner.
And, the I decided it needed something around the outside edge. I just happened to have red thread in the sewing machine from making the Father's Day cards and that was the perfect touch.
One of my goals for the summer it to refashion some things I have around the house and to clean up a few things. This is my closet in the craft room And, those are all t-shirts that I rarely if ever wear. For my first project, I chose this shirt
A friend in college gave it to me. That was about 1994. I've kept it because I like the crayon on it. He got it from a band in Omaha? many years before 1994. So I have no idea how old the shirt really is. But, it's from my days of wearing really baggy and large clothes. So, I haven't worn it in quite awhile. I decided it was worth sacrificing if my attempt to give it new life failed.
I'm about half way finished with what I want to do to the shirt to make it wearable for me again. I'll show you the results tomorrow!

Jewelry Showcase - Urban Swank

2010-06-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

Today I have a home decor item on the Urban Swank blog for you that I made for my grandmother. My grandmother collects vintage and reproduction brooches. I wanted her to have a way to display these pieces so that she can enjoy them rather than have them sit in a jewelry box.

To create the showcase, I used Sushi Stripe and Sushi from the Everyday Lily Collection. I purchased a frame from the dollar store and covered the cardboard backing with the Sushi stripe paper using Helmar dry adhesive.

I then covered the wooden frame with the Sushi paper using the Helmar Craft and Hobby PVA glue, carefully cutting around the flowers on the paper so that they would protrude into the open frame space.

Put together, they already make an attractive project

But, I wanted to make a way for my grandma to display her jewelry. So, I knit this pattern to stretch over the top of the patterned paper.

After washing and blocking the knit lace background, I glued it to the striped paper and put it in the frame.

I am not someone who has alot of jewelry but I did find this brooch that I had from when I worked at a retirement community and was required to wear something for special occassions to show how the piece works. Now my grandma has an attractive way to display her beautiful pieces of jewelry.

Focus

2010-06-16T08:25:00.000-07:00

I haven't revealed at Scrapbook Dreamer just yet what my DT kit contained but see if you can figure it out

These two pages go with the previous one, The Greatest Catch
I'll put together the full article for my picks soon. Right now, it's time to entertain the little boys who grace my pages. :) (well, one might be a kitty cat, since he is crawling around meowing)

1/2 ninja

2010-06-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

I know that there hasn't been much scrappiness going on with this little ol blog. I am making things, I just can't share them. But, I can share two things - dreams and knitting

At least 3 nights I have had dreams that I woke up to look at my e-mail and found an e-mail from Kaiser Craft inviting me to be on their design team. I get very excited and very relieved and I'm very happy. If that happened, I'd have everything I wanted. They haven't posted the results of their DT search yet so there may still be hope but the longer that it gets out from the application deadline the more realistic I become! Like I said, I have been creating, just not sharing. I have something coming up for Paper Trunk in about a week, something for Urban Swank in a couple of days, and something for Citrus Tree Studios next month. Now that I'm done with classes, I'll be creating more for myself and for you ;) And, I do love my scrapping dreams - they make me very happay!

During the long car ride a few weeks ago to drop off E at Grandma's house for 2 weeks and on the long car ride back, I worked on my ninja socks. Today I sewed the toe together. That darn Kitchener stitch is still eluding me so the toes are a little messy. I'm determined to figure it out someday or switch to all toe-less socks!

One down. The yarn is from Knit Picks, it's Risata and it's so easy to work with. I knit tightly so I wish I has used bigger needles, in fact, I thought I did bring my size 2s but really I brought size 0s that are 2mm. Luckily I had my 1s with me, too and that is what these are knit with. Over the weekend I also got yarn to make another pair of socks and two more sweaters. I also have waiting for me a pair of socks for C and a shawl for myself. I think that will keep me busy for the summer. If not, I'll find something else lovely to make!

I'll check back in with more craftay stuff soon!

Such busi-ness!

2010-06-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

Wow, the past weeks have really caused my scrappay time to suffer as well as my ability to post. I've just today finished teaching a whopper of a class that literally was over 2 years in the making. I'm glad it happened and I'm glad it's over... well sort of! You know how it is when you do some big thing and when it's over you always feel a little bit like you have nothing to do?

During this time, my mojo has taken a vacation. I'm waiting desperately for her to come back. But, I did make a page for Scrapbook Dreamer and some other things that I can't share just yet. I'm sure I'll feel very refreshed after heading out to pick up my oldest babe from his grandparents'! We have a busy summer planned, full of swimming, hiking, visiting family, and lots and lots of crafting.

So, here's what I did and I'd love if you'd play along. You see, I totally love color combo challenges. I have had a little bit of a struggle lately with some of the more popular groups (CCG and TCR) because either I haven't had the time or just didn't find the colors inspiring. I love movies - so I made my own color combo challenge based on the movie Pride and Prejudice!

The page is up in the gallery at Scrapbook Dreamer and I'm thinking this might have to be a regular sort of challenge! I've used products from Pink Paislee and Prima, such a beautiful combination.

And, did you see that Prima posted their new team? I'm so excited to see some people that I love there. Congrats to Annabelle and Daniela!

Sew Fab

2010-06-06T13:18:00.000-07:00

Moxie Fab World has been holding a little challenge to use fabric on your project. I love to use fabric but I didn't want to make a flower out of fabric or sew some fabric onto my project just to do it. It actually took me almost to the end of the challenge to come up with my idea. And, then, it took me 3 days to get it done.

I made Father's Day cards and I just adore them!

To make the background for the card, I purchased some white fabric (because believe it or not, I didn't have any white fabric). Then I dyed the fabric using acrylic paints and gel glue as indicated in these instructions.I stamped the images using Martha Stewart stamps and Stazon ink. Then I cut them out using pinking shears. I cut a matching shape for the back and sewed the two shapes together using JP Coats embroidery floss.
When the fabric was dry, I cut it to the size of my card, sewed it to the card with red thread (walmart) and then made little banners for the airplanes. I glued the puffy shapes to the cards using Helmar adhesive. But, I also considered not gluing them. I thought it would be cool to hang them on the card and then use the puffy shape as an ornament. That is an idea I'll keep around for Christmas!

I hope that the fathers really enjoy their cards because I really enjoyed making them. It is sew fun being crafty!