... just Laura

christmas frames: a making memories project

my christmas tree is not only up, but it's decorated as well. i have a few decorations sprinkled around the house, and a wreath hanging on my front door. it's starting to feel a little bit like christmas. so, how about a christmas project share. i created these for making memories, last summer, when the new christmas collection was announced. 

 

i used the noel collection for this set of wood frames. i found these frames at joanns, and thought they were so cute. they are unfinished wood, and about 4 inches by 4 inches in size. the backing does open, but there is no glass or front piece to them. so i loved that they were sort of like shadow boxes.

 

i started by painting them with a sage green acrylic paint. then i choose my pattern papers. i used a solid piece in the back of the frame. and for the front, i used a pattern paper, which i cut to fit around the frame. i adhered these to the frames with mod podge, and then painted another layer on top to give the frames a nice, shiny look to them.

 

for the centers of two of the frames, i simply added some paper flowers. i adhered the green flower to the back of the frame using a pop dot. then i adhered the music flower on top of the green flower, using a few layers of pop dots, all stacked up. since these are shadow box style frames, i had plenty of room to "pop" out the flower. i finished them off with a threaded button.

 

i wanted to add a word to one of the frames. i went with "noel", since it was a short word, and would fit nicely in the frame. these are chipboard alphas, and i used mini pop dots to adhere them to the backing of the frame. i'm almost positive i used 2 layers of the pop dots.

such a simple and easy project. i really need to head back to joann's, and pick up some more of these wooden frames. they'd be cute for any holiday.

a fun pebbles card + project + giveaway

i have a fun little project up on the pebbles blog today. today is all about felt.

 

i designed this card around these cute felt flower embellishments, from the new arrival girl collection. i love premade embellishments, because you can take them right out of the package and stick them on your project. easy peasy. but they are also fun to alter, and add a little something extra to them, to make them more unique. these felt flowers are so thick, with 3 layers of felt, secured together with a tiny threaded button. cute as can be.

 

but i wanted to make them into larger flowers. all i needed was two 12 inch pieces of brown dot ribbon, a scrap piece of felt, and a needle with thread. i hand stitched a running stitch along the bottom length of the ribbon. once i got to the end, i pushed the ribbon down the thread, so that it bunched up, and tied off the thread. then i glued the gathered up ribbon, into a circle, on a small piece of scrap felt. i adhered the felt flower embellishment right in the center of the ribbon.

 

what i thought made this a fun card, is that it's like getting a gift right on the card. i turned the ribbon and felt flowers, into hairclips. perfect for a little girl. i simply adhered the flowers to a metal hairclip, using a glue gun. on the card, i adhered those bottom two pieces of tan grid pattern paper, using pop dots. so it gave them a raised effect. to add the hairclips to the card, all i had to do was clip them onto the pattern paper. no extra adhesive needed. they just slip on and off of the card. cute, right :)

and make your way over to the pebbles blog, to see a few more projects from the design team. they are also doing a fun giveaway on their blog. leave a comment over there, and you'll have a chance to win all of the new felt embellishments.

nice job - a creating keepsakes accent

i have a project to share with you today, from the 101+ creative ways to use your scrapbook supplies idea book.

 

as seen in the 101+ Creative Ways to Use Your Scrapbook Supplies special issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

i created this accent piece to demonstrate the use of debossing on our projects. debossing is the opposite of embossing, which is raising up an image or element. so when you deboss, you're actually pressing the image or element down. i used the chip art tool by melody ross, for GCD studios, for my debossing.

 

i started by painting my 4 inch chipboard coaster with turquoise paint, giving it a good two coats and then letting it dry. then i choose a orange and white dot pattern paper, and tore off teeny tiny pieces. I lightly spritzed the painted chipboard piece with water, to soften up the chipboard some. then i placed a torn piece of pattern paper down, put the die over it, and hammered it down about 4-5 each. this embedded the paper into the chipboard.

the water helped to hold the paper in place, and then i just gently tore off the excess paper that wasn't embedded down. it was really simple to do, and the paper tore off so easily, leaving behind the parts inside the chipboard. to make sure the paper didn't go anywhere, once it was dry, i brushed a layer of mod podge over the entire chipboard piece. it also gave the accent a finished and glossy look.

 

then i just added a few embellishments to finish off the accent. the "nice job" accent was feature in the special issue, along with step-by-step instructions. the "best friends" accent was my original design for the assignment. but they had too many flower accents already lined up, so i created another version with the stars.

 

supplies: chipboard coasters by bazzill basics, pattern paper by making memories, chipboard stars by american crafts, felt flowers by american crafts, ribbon by lil davis and making memories, brads by making memories, tags by making memories, scalloped punch by stampin up, chip art tool by GCD studios, paint by making memories

making memories slice fabrique (part 3)

how about i share the last of my slice fabrique projects with you today? i think this next one was my favorite out of all my projects. 

 

it's an art box, and i think it's just adorable! when i saw the little monster girl on one of the four new slice fabrique design cards, i just knew i had to use it on something.

 

i kept telling wendy that i was so jealous that she was working with baby clothes for the majority of her projects. they could all be sewn onto. meanwhile, i had frames, wooden boxes, and hair accesories to make. most of which could not be sewn directly onto, so i had to do some creative thinking too. i was also painting, decopauging, and using papers and ribbons. so it was sort of a mix of fabric and scrapbooking.

 

but this art box was fun to make. how could this adorable monster girl NOT be fun to work with ;) she was created with seven different cuts on the slice, and then all pieced together.

 

i also sliced the letters for "ART", and hand stitched them all before adhering them down.

 

and last, but not least, another favorite. a vase of flowers. i choose one of the flower designs, and cut that design from about 12 different fabrics. numerous times. i believe i ended up using 24 flowers total, for these 3 flowers.

 

each of the flowers had 8 seperate fabric flowers, all put together. each flower was machine stitched, thanks to my mom. i fused two flowers back to back for the center part of the flower. then i bunched up 3 flowers and stitched them together, adding a button to the centers. to put them together, i hot glued the center, and 2 bunches of flowers all together. the stems were made by twisting a pipe cleaner around a small wooden stick.  

 

and with that, i was done. 4 days later, and hours and hours of crafting. when i got that email with final approval of all my projects, and those magic words "love them. send them in", i just about screamed with excitement. lol! everything got boxed up, and sent off to the making memories office to be photographed. and then they traveled to the international quilt market, in texas, where they have spent the weekend in the making memories booth. i can't wait until they get back from the show, so we can see some photos of the booth and how all these rooms looked put together. don't forget to check out wendy's blog today, to see a few more of her projects :)

making memories slice fabrique (part 2)

i have some more projects to share that i created with the new slice fabrique, by making memories. if you're wondering what i'm talking about, check out yesterday's post. here are some more additions to the "little girl's room" section of the booth.

 

a fun headband. i've admired so many of the cute headbands, with fabric flowers on them. so here's my take on the style, complete with layered sliced flowers.

 

i covered the headband with pink ribbon, and added the flowers off to the side. i handstitched all nine flowers, and then layered them in groups of three with buttons stitched in the centers.

 

a little bumble bee hairclip. i think this bee is the cutest little thing.

 

i made him puffy too. i cut the four parts of the butterfly with my slice fabrique, and then fused them onto a piece of white fabric. then i trimmed it down, and cut another piece of white fabric to the same shape. i handstitched the two pieces together, adding a little stuffing inside each section as i went along.

 

it might be hard to tell what this one is. lol! i really wish one of the girls had been home when i made this, so that they could have modeled it for me. it's a ponytail holder. i was thinking about the ribbon ponytail holders that you see on the soccer field all the time, and thought it would be fun with the fabric.

 

i tore TONS of strips of the fabric, and tied each one onto a regular black ponytail holder. then i cut some butterflies with the slice fabrique, and hand stitched around each one. i added a button to the center of each little butterfly, and stitched them randomly onto the ends of some of the fabric strips.

 

and this one is pretty simple. just a quick and easy bracelet. i used this same green and pink ribbon throughout all my projects.

be sure to check out wendy's blog, for her second round of projects. and keep your eye out on the making memories site for more information on the slice fabrique. more projects to come tomorrow :)

making memories slice fabrique

guess where making memories is this weekend? they are at the international quilt market in houston, texas. they are there to introduce their brand new slice machine that is specifically designed for cutting fabric. the new slice fabrique, and the new slice fabrique design cards, were designed with the fabric appliqué quilters in mind. want to see this new machine? here's a photo, courtesy of making memories. 

 

the first thing i have to tell you, is that i don't sew. i don't stitch. i don't even iron. i actually do own a sewing machine, that i bought years ago, so that i could machine stitch on my layouts. never learned to use it. i LOVE the look of machine stitching. and i do LOVE fabric projects. i have done all of 2 fabric projects in the past, which were for the slice infomercial last year. but i didn't stitch on those.

so when i got asked to work on this assignment with the slice fabrique, i was a little worried as to whether i could actually pull it off. but i'm always up for any challenge that comes my way, and of course, i said "yes". i was excited to learn something new and push myself to try new things. and that's exactly what i did. for hours and hours on end. lol!

i give some major props to anyone that works with fabric. or makes quilts. or hand stitches anything. it takes patience. lots of it. it was also tons of fun. but working with fabric is an involved process. once i got started, i was fully invested in it. for 4 days straight, all day long. every waking moment. ask my family. nothing else mattered for those 4 days. lol! i felt better, knowing that my BFF wendy, was also fully into the same project. we kept each other on track, compared updates and notes, gave each other tips, asked each other opinions, laughed together, and i'm pretty sure we even cried together at one point. lol! seriously, i love when we work on things like this at the same time. we keep each other sane :)

ok, enough rambling. on with some projects. i was assigned to create some projects for one of the "rooms" in the making memories booth for the show. and my room was a little girls room.

 

first up, a lampshade. i'm sure they have a cuter lamp base at the show. this is one i found in my garage, so i could get an idea of the overall look as i worked. i was going to adhered the butterflies randomly around the frame, as if they were fluttering all over. but i'm so glad that i decided to adhered them all in a row, around the frame. i'm going to use this same idea for a lampshade in my family room, except with flowers ;)

 

how cute are these butterflies! and the fabric is just adorable. it's all from my mind's eye. i'm going to be honest on this one. my mom machine stitched the butterflies for me. i did ALL my own hand stitching, but she did help me out with the machine stitching. but i really do plan on learning how, because i love the look. and because now, i have this weird desire to make fabric stuff again ;)

 

i adhered each butterfly to the lampshade, using a glue dot in the center of the butterfly. then i used some glue dots on the outer edge of each wing (top and bottom), so that i could curl the wings slightly before adhering them down. this way, they're not totally flat on the lampshade.

 

next up was a picture frame. this picture of alyssa didn't stay in the frame. they had a little girl in mind for the booth. i just stuck this in there, so that i could take a picture of it :)

 

the new slice fabrique design cards have a fun cutting tool. most of the cards do have the mirroring and shadowing options (MS+). but the fabrique design cards allow you to cut shapes in different pieces. like this pinwheel on the frame. it has 6 pieces to the design. the 4 triangle pieces for the main part, the stem (which i left off of here), and the center of the pinwheel. and because you cut each piece individually, your shapes can end up larger than the typical 4 inch slice size. the largest choice on the pinwheel, will actually give you a 5.6 inch tall shape.

 

isn't this pinwheel so fun! i cut all the main pieces twice. so i had 8 pieces total. then i ironed 2 pieces back to back, and hand stitched them around the edges. i folded the corners over, just like the design quide showed me, and stitched that down too. i added a few fun buttons to the center, and a pipe cleaner for the stem. there's more pipe cleaners on another project, that i'll share later. so they tied together. i also sliced out the letters to spell "FUN", and hand stitched those as well. 

 

and how about a cute tote bag? giving credit and props to my mom, who machine stitched this for me too :)

 

i have to tell you, that i did fix his button eyes, after taking these photos. i have no idea why i stitched them right there, in the middle of his face. it wasn't until i was looking at some of wendy's project peeks that she shared with me, that i noticed HER frog's eyes were on the top of his head. i had to ask her about it, because i suddenly couldn't remember where a frog's eyes are. this is where the "asking each other for advice and opinions" comes in handy. lol! his button eyes are now nicely stitched where they belong.

 

another example of the pieced together cuts. the frog is actually made from 6 different cuts on the slice fabrique. his head, his body, each leg cuts seperately, his hands cut together, and his eyes cut together (i didn't use those). so it makes it really easy to cut pieces from different fabrics, and then tie them all together. the kite is made from 4 different cuts. the 3 pieces for the kite, and then the tail piece (which i cut 3 times).

 

these flowers are one of my very favorite parts out of all my projects. i LOVE these flowers! i used the largest size cut on these, so they are 4 inches wide and 5.8 inches tall. good sized flowers. each one was 4 cuts. the 3 parts of the flower, and the stem. we stitched down the outer flower, and the center of the flower. i left the middle flower as it was, so that the edges lift up and give some extra dimension to the bag. i hand stitched on the buttons to the centers of the flowers.

ok, it's almost 2:00am here. and i have to be up at 7:00am for the girls soccer games. so i'm calling it a night. i'll be back tomorrow (sunday, since it's technically saturday right now) with some more of my slice fabrique projects. and make sure and check out wendy's blog, to see her projects too. her "room" was a baby boy nursery. and she did some super, duper cute stuff. and make sure to leave her some loving comments. we both worked so hard on these, and we really hope that you like them. we both love making memories, and are so grateful to work for them. we hope that they are getting an awesome response to the new machine and the new design cards at the quilt market this weekend, and that our projects helped make their booth a little cooler and prettier :)

treat bag tutorial - little light studio

i have a new tutorial that went up at little light studio today. i created a fun fabric halloween treat bag, using some fabric i've had laying around for years, my slice, and even my super old foam stamps. here's a small peek for you. head over HERE, to see step-by-step photos and full instructions :)

 

my wish for you - a jillibean soup card

monday's are card sharing day on the jillibean soup blog. and yesterday, i had this fun twist on a card go up. 

the new sugar picks and corrugated shapes come in the cutest packaging. it's the large, thick chipboard flower shape. it's brown speckled, and the inside of the flower is a brown/white grid pattern. if you tear off the clamshell packaging from the front, very carefully, you can still use this great flower for a fun project. i decided to use it as the base of my "card".

 

this shows the backside of the card. this is where i would write something to whoever i was sending this card too. i traced the flower shape onto some jillibean soup pattern paper, and then cut that out and adhered it to the back of the chipboard flower. then i sanded down the edges, on both sides.

 

i started out by adding the striped paper to the bottom part of the flower. one of my circle cutters made the perfect sized circle, so that made it super easy. then i trimmed off the top part of the circle. i tied some of the bakers twine around where the top of the striped paper was, and added a cardstock sticker right below it. then i just started layering in fun embellishments. started with the shipping tag, which i trimmed to make it look like it was tucked under the pattern paper. then a journaling sprout, a canvas flower, a corrugated flower, a button, and some cute sugar pick pins.

supplies: pasta fagioli romano cheese pattern paper by jillibean soup, pasta fagioli journaling sprouts by jillibean soup, pasta fagioli cardstock stickers by jillibean soup, repair tag kraft tag by jillibean soup, brown text canvas flowers by jillibean soup, green cool bean buttons by jillibean soup, buttons corrugated shapes by jillibean soup, green/quartz sugar picks by jillibean soup, orange/turquoise sugar picks by jillibean soup, blue/green bakers twine by jillibean soup, 5 color polka ribbon by jillibean soup 

some making memories halloween shares + a winner

i just now remembered that i had said i would share my top product picks, when i announced the winner of 101+ creative ways to use your scrapbook supplies. but it's almost 1:00am, and i'm too tired to make my picks and write about them. lol! so i will have to get that over the weekend, or next week. i'm thinking my 10 favorite tools will be a good thing to cover too. so, on to the winner. the random number generator (who thinks it's 8:00am, but it's 1:00am here) has choosen:

 
Do I really have to choose?? What a hard decision.....I guess I have to go with patterned paper.....But that can always change! ;) Can't wait to get my hands on this magazine! Love your LO & Jennifer's ideas are always awesome!! Posted by: Sara Rossi | October 04, 2010 at 03:49 PM

congrats sara! email me your mailing address, and we will get that mailed out to you :)

 

i was really excited to see these lanterns up on the making memories site, and on the blog. i had such fun making these last month. i never tried putting lights inside of them. i just held them up to the window as i was creating them. so i loved seeing that they worked so well, and am thinking i might need to make another set to display in my own house. lol! you can watch THE VIDEO on the making memories blog, to learn how one of these was created.

 

i had shared a few 6x6 halloween layouts around CHA time. but in case you don't remember them, you can check them out HERE.

 

and here's another VIDEO, on how to create this fun halloween card. i thought the little paper doll pattern paper was so cute. takes me back to the days of punching out the dolls, and all the clothes, dressing them, and then pushing the little tabs down on the back to hold them in place. so cute.

slice kitchen frame project + winners

first up, the winners of the stampin up stamp sets. i used the random number generator, and it choose #8 and #26. congrats joanna and michele! email me your mailing addresses, and i'll get those sent out to you this weekend :)

I love the color book idea. It sounds like it would be super helpful. And thanks for doing such a neat giveaway! Posted by: JoannaG | September 22, 2010 at 06:10 AM

Love the detailed instructions you have provided on this layout. I love using stamps on my layouts...as you can see by my email address. Posted by: Michele Marshall | September 22, 2010 at 09:19 AM

yesterday, one of my projects went up on the making memories blog. i used my slice and the bon appetit design card, to create 3 fun little frames for the kitchen. you can see more photos of the frame set HERE, and even watch a video about how they were created. and in case anyone is wondering, the colorful frames are from target :)

laugh banner - a jillibean soup project

today, on the jillibean soup blog, it's all about projects. and one of them is mine :)

i created two banners for the jillibean soup booth at CHA, back in july. one of them was a christmas banner. and this banner was an everyday banner, using the new pasta fagioli collection. forgive me, this isn't a great photo of it. i couldn't find a spot to hang it in the house to get a good picture, and was rushing to get it mailed out in time.

for each pennant, i cut a triangle from pattern paper. then i lightly adhered that to a piece of kraft cardstock, and trimmed the side edges with scalloped scissors.  it was easier to use the scallop scissors and get it straight, with the pattern paper flat on the cardstock. then i took the pattern paper off of the cardstock, and used pop dots to re-adhere it to the scalloped edged cardstock. 

want a tip for making a perfect triangle? this is something that i would usually over-think. but i found an easy way that works for me. for this banner, i cut my pattern papers into 4x4 inch squares. you can do whatever size you want, but start with square pieces of paper. along one edge, use a ruler and a pencil to make a mark in the middle of the paper. so for my 4 inch wide piece, my mark was at 2 inches.

you will want to cut from the pencil mark, to the opposite corner. and then from the pencil mark to the other opposite corner as well. did that even make sense? lol!

i don't normally trace it onto my paper. i just use the trimmer as my guide. but i wanted to show a better view of where the cuts will be. although you could certainly trace the lines onto the backside of your paper, just to be sure that you're cutting it right.

i use my trimmer as my guide on where to cut. i just line up the pencil mark and the opposite corner right along where the blade cuts.

and you should end up with one of these. a perfect triangle. if you do NOT end up with something looking like this, please don't blame me and my instructions. just try it again. lol!

another not-so-great photo. to finish off each triangle, i added a journaling sprout to the center of the triangle using pop dots. and then added my corrugated alphas to the journaling sprout, with pop dots also. i love my pop dots, and i might even have a legit addiction to them! i used a long length of brown polka dot ribbon, and strung some wooden bobbins onto it. i then used mini wooden clothespins to hang the pendants from the ribbon, spacing them inbetween the bobbins.

home decor challenge - making memories blog

i have a fun home decor challenge up on the making memories blog today. the challenge involves using vintage groove jewelry by making memories in a different way. not to make something pretty to wear. but to make something pretty to display in your home. check out the MM blog for all the details :)

making memories noel collection

summer CHA started today, and i'm going to be stalking all the blogs and sites over the next few days, looking for all the great new products coming out. one of those sites that always has a ton of CHA excitement is the making memories blog. they keep the new products under wraps until the show actually starts. even though i design for them, most of it is all new to me too. so i'm seeing most of it for the first time, just like you.

one of their new collections that i did get a chance to work with, was the new noel christmas collection. you can see images of all the products in this collection HERE and HERE. here are a few of my projects that i saw in a photo of the booth, so i think they're safe to show you. will share more as soon as i can :)

 

panorama project - making memories

i had one of my projects featured on the making memories blog yesterday. it's a fun door hanger project, using their new panorama collection.

i had a lot of fun working on this project. this collection has so many great pieces and embellishments to choose from, so i think i might have used a little bit of everything by the time i was done. i couldn't even show you my pictures of all the different pieces, since i can't seem to locate the photos on my laptop now. ugh, so frustrating.

luckily, all you have to do is go check out THIS POST. you can see the door hanger, and all the fun stuff that's tucked inside of it, along with a fun video on how to put one together for yourself. enjoy :)

slice inspiration project - paws and claws

i have graduation photos and stories to blog. i have last day of school memories happening as i type this. but i just havn't had time to sit down and put my thoughts into words yet. and i still need to get photos from alyssa's dad, to compare who's are better. lol! so that's definately coming. in the meantime, i figured it's a good day to toss in a scrapping project for you. 

this is the closest we'll come to having a dog, since alyssa is highly allergic to them. although, he's much easier to clean up after than a real dog. lol! but i was thinking of grammi and papa's cocker spaniel, jenny, when i worked on these projects using the new paws & claws design card. she looks exactly like this webkinz dog. this is just a fun little treat jar that i came up with. and if you head over to the making memories blog, you can download the instructions and print them out. then you can store the project card, in your slice inspirations box. 

jewelry making fun

have you seen the new vintage groove jewelry, by designer jill schwartz? she has teamed up with making memories to bring us some gorgeous jewelry supplies to create with. i first heard about this on my trip to the MM offices, last november. jill was actually there with all the pieces spread out on this huge table, and they were deciding on how they were going to group everything and package it. was neat to see a glimpse of the process. now, i'm the first to admit that i'm not actually a big jewelry person. meaning, the only jewelry i wear is my wedding rings. but i was totally up for the challenge of creating with this new collection.

i decided to invite my good friend, sierra, over to create with me. she's an artsy fartsy girl, like me. but with a different style. and while i was drawn to a ton of the pieces of this collection, i knew that some of it wasn't quite my style. it's gorgeous. just not "me". but i could see it being "sierra", and knew she'd have fun with it. she dug right in there, and started creating. pulling pieces out, taking chains apart, cutting pieces, and putting together fun mixtures. me? i sat there and debated, hemmed and hawwed, over analyzed, and maybe even got a little anxious and overwhelmed at one point. lol! i'm such a clean and linear person, matchy matchy, and everything measured to precise and perfect spacing. so this was a creative push for me. 

but the nice thing about doing something with a friend, is that you always start chatting and talking about stuff. and at some point, i just started making stuff. we were both totally into what we were making, not really looking at each other much, but chatting away. sierra even said at one point, "i've never talked to you like this". which was kind of funny, since i've known her about 8 years. lol! anyways. the point of this, is that i made a few necklaces. all on my own. and i loved it. they're nothing too fancy or elaborate. but for my first time jewelry-ing it up (i might have made that term up), i'm really happy with them.

tell me that's a great shot. because i took these all one-handed. holding the necklace in one hand at arms length, getting the pieces to dangle the right way, and hold my heavy camera in the other hand and snap away, all while trying to keep my focus point. i even had my external flash on there, which made it heavier. i like to do things the hard way ;)

i was determined to use this super cute teal flower. it was the first thing that caught my eye. i think i had something else dangling on there, with the two flowers. and then i thought about the "L" monograms. when i got my package, jenny had tossed a ton of L's in there. i'm assuming it was for "laura", although it could be because she "loves" me so much ;) so, i was joking that i should add an "L" to everything i make. like a signature touch. i kind of liked that idea.

i should have changed into something that actually matched better. but i don't have access to my room during the day, since joe sleeps after working all night. and this was taken one handed, outstetched arm. not sure i would have looked better if someone else took the photo, but in my mind, i would have. lol! and i did mean for this to be slightly off to the side (i didn't just put it on crooked), and not hanging right in the middle.
 

another cool one handed shot. better than some of my two handed shots, to be honest ;)

this large chunky piece was another one that i was drawn to right away. i was joking that in my simple nature, i would normally just attach this to the chain and be done with it. lol! but i picked out another piece to dangle on there, along with my signature "L" ;)

this would probably look cooler with a different shirt. yeah, i think so.

an hour or so spend with a good friend, creative goodness, and six creations to show for it. not bad at all. although i only made two necklaces, and sierra made 3 necklaces and a bracelet. she wins. but i have plans for more, so i'll share more next week. edited to add: sierra has her creations up on her blog this morning, and she's be thrilled if you would stop by and see what she made HERE.

right now, the collection is being released at select target and ac moore stores, across the country. if you go to the vintage groove jewelry site, you can see a list of all the stores that are carrying it. and if you're local to me, you're in luck. the modesto target store is one of the select california stores, and it's all in stock and on the shelves ;)

10 reasons i love you - mini album

well, my streak is over. i have officially let myself off the hook for making any more valentines projects. lol! i lost my steam. and needed a break from all that pink and red. but i did remember this mini album that i have laying around, and figured i would share it.

so, this is a mini album that i created 4 years ago. want proof? check HERE. i made this for a class, back when i was teaching at a local scrapbook store. i really loved this album when i came up with the idea. and i still love it. it's still my style and i still think it's cute. which is why i still have it laying around the house. even though i apparently did NOT love it enough, to actually put any photos or journaling inside. lol! what can i say? i'm really bad about things like that. you know, actually going back and finishing things i started ;)

this is a 6x6 mini album, an older preservation album from SEI. i always loved using these in my classes. i used kraft cardstock for all my pages, and then green and maroon cardstock blocks and strips. i loved these playing card style cards from bazzill, and used the "L" on the title page, and the numbers on all the other pages. i think i got 2 albums out of each package.  which means, that to this day, i still have about 10 packages of these cards laying around. with the exception of the letter "L" and any numbers. lol!

this is pretty much what all the pages looked like. except i altered which side i had the number card and the embellishment clusters on. i also had cardstock circles and manilla tags. and all those papers, cards, and tags had their edges inked. every single one. i was really into inking everything back then. so usually the first 15 minutes of class would consist of inking edges. yes, my students loved me. or not ;)

the embellishments were simple. a variety of chipboard  hearts, little vellum tags, metal hearts, metal clips, buttons, brads, and pieces of ribbon. everyone got the same mix, and could use them in whatever way they wanted. although i'm pretty sure that most of the ladies did whatever i did on mine. after all, mine was totally thought out. i would never just randomly throw stuff on my pages in any random order. lol!

there are 7 more pages like these. 10 spreads total. for 10 reasons. the idea was to put a photo on that second page. and then write one of your reasons for loving that person on those 2 white journaling strips. it's a brilliant idea. no idea why i never did this. i obviously intend to do it, since i still have the album.

and with that, my valentine's blogging week is done. lots of other things to share. but that's for next week :)

valentines mailbox

are your kids handing out valentines in their classrooms tomorrow? i guess since alyssa is in the 8th grade, it's really not the cool thing to do anymore. lol! so no valentines for her. i think sarah is nearing the end of the valentine era too, but she is still doing them this year. and since kids need somewhere to collect these valentines from all their classmates and friends, how about a cute mailbox project for today. 

i came really close to not making this project yesterday. i thought about taking a day off from this "project a day" valentines idea. but the guilt got to me late last night (as in 11:30pm), and i didn't want to ruin my streak (all 3 days of it). so i pulled out my stuff, and created this while i sat on the couch watching one of my DVR'd shows. "being erika", which is one of my newly found and new favorite shows. i've watched about 16 episodes in the last 2 weeks :)

this is simply a cardboard pencil box. i bought it at michaels, for about a dollar. it's white, which gives you a nice base to build on. you could easily paint the box, if you wanted more color on there  or to finish off the edges. you could decopauge the papers on, and then give it a shiny coat on top. you could do all sorts of things to spiffy this up. but me? i was sitting on the couch, and wanted it to be as simple as possible. lol! so i just measured and trimmed my little yellow bicycle pattern papers to size, and used regular adhesive to adhere them to the box.

then i picked out some making memories shimmer chipboard letters, and adhered them to the top of the box using mini pop dots. i then picked out a clear word and an embossed sticker from little yellow bicycle to add to the top. and that was it. simple and easy. i think i have sarah convinced to take this to school tomorrow. she really would have the cutest box in the class ;)  

valentine's button heart

i'm doing pretty good this week. i wanted to share a project a day, and so far, so good. today's simple valentines project is a cute button heart.

i started with a styrofoam heart, about 6 inches in size. be careful unwrapping those. mine broke in half, as i was taking off the plastic wrapper. and i was very dramatic about it, saying "ohhhhh, my broken heart" over and over. lol! i managed to glue it back together, and it should be fine as long as i'm very careful with it. i wanted a large heart embellishment, that was about the same shape heart as the styrofoam heart. this spinner chipboard heart from little yellow bicycle was perfect. and then you need buttons. lots of them. i went with pinks, in all different shades. i own about a zillion buttons, so this wasn't a hard supply to find ;) 

i should have taken some photos of the process. i never think to do that. sorry. i started with the spinner heart embellishment. i put about 3 layers of pop dots on the back of the heart, and then stuck it right to the middle of the styrofoam heart. i wanted to be able to tuck some of the buttons underneath the heart, which is why i layered so many pop dots to give it more height. then i started adhering buttons.

i started with the larger buttons, right around the spinner heart, and tucking them under just a little. then i just worked in small sections, using a mix of smaller buttons and larger buttons. i used glue dots to adhere all my buttons. for buttons that needed a little lift (because they were slightly on top of another button), i used the 3-D glue dots. sometimes, i even used 2 or 3 of the 3-D glue dots on one button. lol! there are a few spots where you can see the styrofoam just a little bit. this really doesn't bother me much. but if it did, you could always paint the heart first, or work some smaller mini buttons on those spots. i did add a few mini brads here and there, just sticking the brad prongs right into the styrofoam. 

as for the edges of the heart, i simple added some pink ribbon. i was going to use more buttons at first. but i went with the ribbon, since it was easier. it was slightly wider than the sides of the heart, so it does hang over the edges a bit. i'm fine with that. to adhere it, i just stuck pearl-tip pins every half inch or so. i started at the bottom of the heart, and worked my way up. so when i got to the top, i had the two ends that i could bring up and tie together. this gave it a loop to hang it from something.

valentines photo holders

my goal this week is to share a little valentines project with you, each day. i have a few really cute valentines collections here, and have wanted to use some of each of them. while i'm not a huge valentine's day person in general, i do love the pinks and reds and hearts that make up the holiday. today i'm using some pieces from the making memories love struck collection.

today i'm sharing these cute little photo holders. i know they would look a lot better, if i had actual photos tucked into those metal loopy things on the tops. but if i went looking for photos just to take this picture of the project, i would never get around to posting. lol! so just know that you can tuck little photos up there. these were just unfinished wooden blocks (with the metal pieces), that i found at michaels. i think they were $1.50 or $2 each, can't remember which.

then i painted the wooden part with brown paint. and not very neatly, i might add. i can see some brown paint on the metal pieces. lol! i knew i was adding the pattern paper, so i mainly just painted the top part, and then the edges all around. i gave it two coats. then i measured and cut my paper pieces (twice, since my first ones were wrong). i used mod podge to adhere the paper to the wooden blocks. brushed the mod podge onto the paper, and stuck the paper to the wood. rubbed it down really good, pushing any air bubbles out to the edges. then i added another layer of mod podge to cover the entire thing, right over the paper.

 

for my embellishment, i simply added a love struck rosette to each block. super simple. they were the perfect size, and looked cute all on their own. i thought these would make really quick and easy gifts :)

more slice projects

i have a huge post started about my CHA experience, with lots of photos of the fun people i got to meet. but it's long and it's not done yet. so i think i'm going to save that for tomorrow or monday. in the meantime, i wanted to share a few more of my making memories projects that i saw up in the booth.

this card was made using the new sock hop font design card, the pen tips, and the just chillin collection. i sliced the letters from brown pattern paper, using the "normal" setting. and then i used the pen tips to draw the letters on white cardstock, using the "shadow" setting. i cut the pen drawn letters out my hand, and then layered the brown letters on top.

for the card itself, i adhered a piece of lined pattern paper first, and then a piece of yellow vellum on top of it to soften it up a little. i then sliced a large circle from the orange star pattern paper, using the basic shapes design card. i pop dotted that entire piece of orange paper to my card, for extra dimension. then just added some ribbon, brads, and a button to finish it off.  

this little mini album cover was done with the summer design card. the album is one of MM older albums, from the cheeky collection. along the edge, i simply adhered some paper flowers, felt flowers, and buttons from the great escape collection.

i then sliced a fun sun shape from yellow cardstock, using the "normal" setting. i heat embossed it with yellow embossing powder for a shiny look. i then used the embossing tips in the slice, to emboss the same sun shape onto orange pattern paper. i sanded down the raised areas from the embossing, and cut out the shape by hand. then i added the yellow embossed sun on top using mini pop dots. i sliced the word "fun" from brown cardstock, and pop dotted that to the middle of the sun.

i love the ice cream shapes on the summer design card, which is what i used for this card. i sliced the cone from brown pattern paper, and then sliced a bunch of scoops of ice cream from different pattern papers. all papers from the just chillin collection.

i layered the scoops together, using some pop dots on some of the scoops. i started off using pop dots on all the scoops, but realized that it was getting way too bulky of an ice cream cone. lol! so i only used the pop dots on a few layers. under that pink scoop on the top, i had to use 3 pop dots layered together to meet up with the paper. then i just added little dots of glitter stickles to the scoops.

a few making memories projects from CHA

i'm back from CHA. 4 days that were amazing and so much fun. i'm not even sure i can put it into words. ok, ok. i CAN put it into words. just not today. lol! got home super late last night, and was up super early today. so it's going to take me a few days to catch up. figured i'd share a few projects that were in the making memories booth at CHA.

more to come. projects, photos, and stories :)

not just for the holidays

the one thing i miss about NOT having christmas decorations up anymore, is the glowing lights from the tree. and the ones i had on the greenery above my fireplace. i miss them. a lot. in fact, my mantle looks so incredibly boring right now. partially, because i can't remember what i had up there before christmas. so it's pretty bare. lol! but i do have a few things that have been created for christmas decor, that are sticking around all year. 

my yarn balls. i was at michaels one day, and came across the yarn section. i felt this need to buy some. which is just weird, since i don't knit or anything. it was cheap, so i picked up a few things of it. i've been reading jennifer's blog for the past year or so. or should i say, i've been stalking her blog. lol! just love seeing and reading about her home decor projects. she has me adding touches of turquoise to my decor lately. lol! so she had this post, showing some christmas decorations she had made. and it made me remember some styrofoam balls i had, from a project that never happened. so i came up with the idea to just wrap the yarn around the balls. i'm sure this isn't anything new or genious. but i thought i was pretty cool! the buttons balls seemed fun. but they weren't. i can make 6 large yarn balls while watching a 30 minute show on the DVR. and yet 1 tiny button ball took me just as long. which is why there are only 2 of them. lol! i just tossed these into a large iron bowl i picked up at walmart for like $10 (although i really dispise that store with all of my being). this now sits on my kitchen island. so cute.

my button tree it all it's glory! now, this tree took me FOREVER to make. lol! these were all the rage about two years ago, right around christmas. i had decided to do mine in more autumn colors, since it would match my house better. browns, reds, greens, yellows, pinks, and oranges. gorgeous! ok, i actually don't have any orange or pink in my house. maybe i should. i have had this displayed for 2 years now, upstairs. i decided to bring it down to the kitchen, where we could enjoy it more. i wish i had the patience to do more of these. since we all know i own about a trillion buttons ;)

nikolas's framed collage

stopping by super quick to share nikolas's finished photo collage. the colors look a little wonky in this shot i took. but i have way too much glaring sunlight to get a decent picture right now. will retake it tomorrow if i have time.

everyone at once. awwwwwww! seriously, how cute are these photos of nikolas? i was digging around for some of my favorites over the last 2 years or so. and they were all so cute. he had such a massive amount of hair when he was little, and it was the cutest thing. i was constantly smiling and laughing as i pulled up these photos :) 

just added a strip of ribbon (making memories), a "N" foam letter sticker (american crafts), and a few cute stickers (imaginisce).

and here's a shot of the photoshopped collage that i had printed. gives a better feel for the colors. i have 3 collages left to frame downstairs. all the rest are done and ready to hand out. i even have one displayed in my kitchen right now, and it looks so cool!

and i always love when to see when other's are inspired to try one of my ideas. a blog reader shared her take on the photo collage idea, and i it made me smile to see it. check it out HERE. and let me know if you give it a try too :)

the finished collage

yesterday i showed you the basic sketch i was using for my framed photo collages, and today i'm sharing one of the finished ones with you. and i'm sort of crossing my fingers that haley's mom doesn't see this on my blog. i know she reads it, but i'm not sure how often. it's all for the sake of the blog readers ;) lol!

 

i love how this turned out (click on it to see it a little bigger). i went through all the photos i've taken of haley over the last 3 years, and choose some of my favorites. i love that it shows her over the years, starting when she was just about 3 months old. shows how much she's changed, and yet how much she's stayed the same. i'm so grateful that we've been a part of it all :)

now, for how i got this result. 

the first thing i did was create my canvas at 10.5 x 13.5 inches. this is everything that will show in the opening of my frame. and then when i was totally done, i placed this on an 11x14 canvas to have printed. if you're going to try this, make sure and double check your frame opening. just in case it's different then mine. then i simply pulled up 16 of my favorite photos. a few of these were horizontal, but i was able to crop what i wanted just fine. but most of them were vertical shots. i cropped each one to 2.1 x 2.7 inches, and then copy and pasted them onto my blank canvas. i used the "move" tool to move them around, into a pattern i liked. those four extra spots are going to be for pattern paper, but could easily be filled with more photos. or you could add in some vertical photos that are 4.2 x 2.7 inches (taking up two spots). HERE is a post i did about making photo collages in photoshop.

i knew i wanted to do the photos in black and white. i love color photos, and i'm totally ok with all the color going on in the above collage. but i wanted to keep this simple and clean, since it's going to be hanging on a wall. i could have changed each photo to black and white individually, but i'm all about taking short cuts when i can. i've learned that i can arrange all the photos, flatten the layers, and then turn the entire collage to black and white in one step. genious, i know! i use an action in photoshop cs2 that i got ages ago for all my black and white photos. so i really can't explain how to do that. i simply press my one action button and it's magically done for me. sorry, that was sort of like sticking my tonque out at you, wasn't it? lol!

this shows the digital papers and brush that i added. the black line around the edge is just there to make it stand out on the blog, so that doesn't actually print on the actual photo. keep in mind, i'm not a digital scrapper. so this is super basic. and i'm ok with that. the papers are from jen allyson (who is the digital spotlight artist right now and her stuff is 25% off), the digikit - urban chic boutique solid papers. i'm not very knowledgable about digital products or digital scrapbooking. i think i just happen to see this paper kit on a 2peas newsletter or something. it caught my eye, so i got it. the "looking through the lens" is from the photography hand drawn brushes from ali edwards.

that is the final collage. i flattened all my layers and saved it. then i copied and pasted it onto an 11x14 canvas, placing it right in the middle. i uploaded that to costco to order, and picked it up an hour later.

then i took that printed collage, and added a few real life embellishments to it.

a few flowers (making memories and hero arts). a few rhinestones and pearl accents (michaels, and hero arts). a foam letter sticker (american crafts). a sticker (making memories). some ribbon (adornit). wasn't thought out, but just whatever caught my eye first.

and now that i've made this one for haley, i better get to work on one for nikolas ;)

photo collage sketch

i've mentioned to a few friends, that i was planning on making some framed photo collages this year, for christmas gifts. i have one all put together and finished for some of my family. but i don't want to share that one just yet. don't want to ruin the surprise. i created a new one today, that i can share. first though, i want to show you the basic plan.

here's the sketch that i came up with for this project. this is an 11x14 framed project. i thought 8x10 was just too small for this. and i wanted to fit a lot of photos. 11x14 was the next choice, and you can get frames that size fairly cheap (about $10-12 on sale at michaels). i came up with the 4 rows, of 5 photos each. but then decided to take out 3-4 spots to add some pattern paper and embellishing. so i have 16-17 photos, depending on who i'm doing this for. but it could easily hold 20 photos. or more, if you wanted.

now the actual collage is 10.5 x 13.5 inches. when i took out my 11x14 frames, i realized that the opening for the actual photo is 10.5 x 13.5 inches. it cuts off a little on each side, to hold the photo in the frame. so i created the collage as 10.5 x 13.5, and once i was done, i simply copied and pasted that onto an 11x14 canvas. seemed like the easiest way to do it for me. i did the math, and came up with 2.1 x 2.7 inches for each photo. i wanted enough room at the bottom to add a title of some sort.

the spots on the sketch that have a flower? that's a spot for embellishing. i always put a flower when i sketch things. just my symbol for "embellishment". lol! but it could be anything. you could do this digitally. just like adding a digital pattern paper. or print the photo collage, and then add "real" pattern paper and embellishments on top of the collage. like hybrid scrapbooking. i used both real stuff and digital stuff, depending on the collage.

here are some of my frames all waiting to be filled up. i'm going with oak frames, black frames, and white frames. i choose each, based around how that person decorates their home and what i think they'd like. i'm having my new collage printed, and will pick it up later tonight. so i'll show you the finished collage and the finished framed project tomorrow :)  

journal my christmas, take two

i'm going to cheat a little on todays post. so if you're reading this and it sounds or looks a little familiar, you're not having a deja'vu kind of moment. i really did blog this same post exactly one year ago. lol! but figured it was worth sharing again. there are a few new thoughts mixed in there too :)

today is december 1st. not even sure how that happened. lol! but that means that it's the first day of journal your christmas, and i'm totally up for this again this year. 

definately check out this class if you havn't already. i had heard of it before. but it wasn't until two years ago that i actually signed up for it. and i can totally thank nichol for inspiring me to do it. i had watched her album from the previous year ... and loved seeing what she did last year too. she has her albums linked on her blog. and here is some of my album from two years ago. and the nice thing, is that once you take the class, you get it free every year after. so it's something you can do every christmas if you want.

this year, i'm all about making this simple. which was my thought last year, when i put this entire album together. but last year, i just never got around to journaling in this, or taking photos. i had taken my 4 day trip to utah at the beginning of december last year, and just never caught up. lol! and this year i sort of feel the same. just very overwhelmed, with everything going on in life. i knew that if i wanted to keep up with this journal, i would have to keep it simple. so i came up with this idea, using a regular 2-up photo album. these are the papers i picked out. a ton of making memories pattern papers (from about 6 different collections) and background papers from scenic route. i cut them all down to 4x6, and already have them all arranged in the album.

this is basically what each day will look like. this is NOT the prompt for december 12th necessarily. i was just tossing one in there to get a feel for how i was going to do it. this was my planning page, to see how it turned out. but it gives you the idea of what i'm doing. each day will have the 4 spots. one for the date, one for my journaling prompt, one for a photo, and one for the journaling.

i have all the tags in the album, along with the "december". i just have to finish adding the numbers, which i'm creating using the slice with the falala design card. i have all the daily prompts typed up, and printed on transparencies. then i just added kraft cardstock strips with a scalloped punched edge, and tied on some string. super simple.

then i'll add a photo pertaining to that day's prompt. i didn't use a single photo last year in my album. so this year, i want to include the photos too. for this one, i just printed 2 photos (3x4 each) together on a 4x6 size photo. for the journaling, i'm just going to use my own handwriting. it's quick and easy, so i know it won't take much to get it done. each spot also has a half circle cut from cardstock, and i'll add a stamped image, diecut, rubon, or whatever i happen to have on hand.

so i probably won't be sharing these every day, since they're all going to look very similiar. lol! but i'll share them in groups maybe once a week, and will start an album on the sidebar. i have to admit, that it felt good to pull this album out last night. it's 90% done. so it really shouldn't be that hard to snap a photo each day, write a few sentences, and maybe add a few embellishments as i go. we'll see how it goes ;)

thankful album page peek

managed to put together a few pages from my thankful album to share with you. just to give you an idea where i'm going with this. and in case you like the idea and want to make one for your own family. i know, i'm a little late on this idea. since thanksgiving is tomorrow. lol! but that's sort of how i roll, very last minute most of the time.

my album of choice is 9x9 in size. an older making memories album, that is brown leather with a scalloped edge and a ribbon to tie it shut. it's one i had laying around, and i loved the chocolate brown color for this project. and i do love my 9x9 layouts. but this could be done in any size album in all honesty. even a 6x6 would be cute. i'm starting with white cardstock for the bases of all my pages. i really have a hard time cutting that many full sheets of my textured white cardstock into 9x9, only to cover most of it up with my pattern paper and photos. so i use just your basic white cardstock. i get a pack of 25 sheets at michaels for just a few bucks when it's on sale.

each family member will have their own page in the album. i'm using everyday photos for my own family, since i have those handy and have choices. for the rest of the family, i will have to pin them down at thanksgiving tomorrow and snap a photo of them. which will actually be fun, so that i can give them all a current headshot. everyone needs a current headshot on file, right? lol! maybe i should call it a portrait instead. then i will give each person a journaling notebook page to write down what they're thankful for. i don't have a link for the exact ones i'm using, but they look just like THESE. there are a ton of sheets in there, i think 30 of them. so i'll have extras in case anyone messes up too. lol! then i'll take that journaling page, and will print off their photo (all in black and white to keep it cohesive), and then assemble the pages.

i'm using papers and embellishments from the autumn splendor collection from making memories. sorry, i cannot find a link for it. but it was available through michaels. not sure if it's still out there or not. and i'm trying to use my slice to die cut most of the names. doesn't my sister's page look better than mine, where her name is? i realized i didn't have that much room left on my page for my name. so i went with some chipboard letters. just figuring it out as i go along. i might add a few simple embellishments here and there, not totally sure. and i'll have a title page. will share more when i get that part done.

in other news. my back feels so much better today. which is good, since this is day five of my back issues. i'm not totally back to normal, but definately feeling a lot better. thanks to all of you for your well wishes. and thanks for laughing along with me at my last post. i want everyone to know that there is definately some seriousness to what i say. but it's mostly said in funnyness (yes, that's a word!), and being able to laugh about the odd things that happen around me. if you could hear me say my famous "seriously?!?!", you would hear my sense of humor in my voice. lol!

start of a thankful album

i have a ton of assignments that i need to be working on this weekend. but i also decided to take on this project just for fun.

i had picked up the new making memories autumn splendor collection quite a while ago at michaels, and knew that i wanted to use it for a fun album about what we're all thankful for. this year is actually the first time in at least 5-6 years that we're spending thanksgiving with my family here in town. usually, it just works out that we go out of town to see joe's family and alyssa's grandparents. so it's going to be nice to hang out here this time. so i want to have the base of this album all assembled and ready to go on thursday. so that i can get photos of everyone, and have them fill out their assigned papers. i know they just love when i ask them to do stuff like that. lol!

so now i put this out there, and you can hold me to it. i'll share some of my steps along the way over the next few days.  

a preview of my next post

i have a huge post that i'm almost ready to share, about something cool i got to do about two months ago. figured i'd post this project, which has something to do with my next post. hopefully tomorrow. i have a few other friends that were in on this, so we're getting coordinated to post at the same time :)

this was a part of the slice inspirations box project, that i worked on a full year ago. this is a framed shadowbox project that i did. it's pretty big. the inside part is 12x12, so the fame is about 14x14 and heavy. i picked it up at some random store a few years ago, so i couldn't tell you where to get it. i used a cork paper for the base of my project and then mounted a 5x7 photo of alyssa and sarah in the middle using thick pop dots. then i started cutting out different style tags from all different types of papers, using my slice and the basic shapes 1 design card. i just tucked them under the edges of the photo, adhereing some with pop dots here and there. added some ribbon and chipboard letters. and  then stamped some flowers, heat embossed, and added rhinestone brads to the centers. i make it sound so easy now. but it took me forever ;)

this frame made another appearance somewhere recently. a really cool spot that i'd have never guessed. i'll tell you all about it tomorrow ;)