Layouts! LOTS OF THEM

Storage

We're all always looking for things that make storage of scrapbook items work for us. Whether its to have it in site or just more easily accessed. It seems we're always trying to improve the efficiency of our spaces. my space is only about 5.5x5 ft. It's lovingly called "my nook" and some of my girlfriends call it my "bubble" as I let no one in it.. lol

I adore my die cuts, however storing them frustrates me. With owning the Big Shot I have dies from all sorts of companies. The thin smaller ones I have found easily store well in page protectors in a binder. You can hand sew them yourself or you can buy page protectors that have their own assorted sized dividers.

I've had this metal dvd rack for some time. I don't use it as I no longer have a need for it. It used to store video games. I've been trying to figure out what to do with it. I had a pretty decent idea. This is how it turned out. I have to say it works wonderfully. Works set on top of my paper stand or under your desk or in a corner and there's soo many variations. This is a rather small one you can purchase for about 5 bucks at wal-mart. Also, these sell like hot cakes at garage sales!!! Soo if you like it.. keep your eyes out for them. They make some that are 5 ft tall and would store a ton. I removed some of the die cuts here for the picture. But, I love this. Even if i pull it forward it holds the die cuts in place.. no falling out! It stores the large fat dies snugly as well as the skinny longer ones.


Also, another idea I had is that it could also be used with with "clip it up" clips to hang ribbons or embellishments off of. Or could set it on its back.. and sort things in it.. allowing it to set on top of a shelf or something maybe to take up less floor space. Just a few ideas

Sneak Peak....

SNEAK PEAK!!!!! If your savy with your brands.. this is from a great collection from Prima. A lovely collection for Spring!

  In May I'll have a giveaway each week! YAY!!!! Nothing is better than free goodies!!! So, be sure to check back regularly! And invite other to follow as well to have a chance to WIN!

Here's a sneak peak as to which line it is. See if you can guess it.

 A hint: the answer is in the flowers!

It's my recent project! I'll share it soon! And one lucky winner is going to be winning an amazing selection of this Prima Collection! Including papers, flowers, chipboards, cardstock stickers, journaling cards and MORE!!!

Remember SUNDAY!!! I'll be announcing a winner to one of the great altered vintage books!!! So be sure to stay tuned to claim your prize!

Must Make Flowers!!!

One of the most growing trends over the last year have been creating your own flowers!!! We all love to try new ones and add a personal flair and touch to our pages! There's sooo many tutorials out there. Some more complicated then others.

Below is a wonderful link. It has a simple and very good tutorial on making the adorable little roses! I've made them a time or two on my own but love that she made them from coordination's cardstock... the colored core is just soo pretty! Take a look!

http://helmarusa.typepad.com/blog/2011/04/a-layout-and-some-cardstock-roses.html


Here are some wonderful flowers as well!!!! Maya Road is absolutely wonderful!!!!! And their blog is just as great!!!  Remember you can make them from any zippers (like from a local craft store) or ribbons for that matter!!! Try them out! Adorable! The tutorial is super easy and a video!

http://mayaroad.typepad.com/mayaroad/2011/04/zipper-flower-video-tutorial.html

Trash to Treasure... one of my faves

We all have these! trash from all your packages. I use alot of my "trash" therefore most of these are Prima package leftovers and I'm hopelessly addicted to flowers. There's also so sticker "trash" packets. What to do, what to do with all this trash! Sooo pretty you don't want to throw it all away!

Some of the "trash" has patterns on the pack of the packaging. The other side is some sort of patterned paper! Great four journaling and little embellishments!

This is it thus far!!!!! I created an entire album from trash ruminants! Look through the pictures and I'll share all the different "trash" I made my own little treasure!

This flower and wings were created from chocolate overlay waxy paper (the stuff that comes on top of a box of chocolates), I didn't even use a circle cutter, I used a pill bottle to trace and cut out the circles then i took a paint brush and applied some tattered angels mist to the edges, allowing them to just absorb it. The center of the flower is circles punched from a prima crystals kisses packaging. The wings.. soo pretty!! Love yellow.. hee hee were die cut from yellow duct tape! 

All words shown here are more packaging. Some packages by Prima have them on the packaging! U selected some and inked them up and used them throughout the book. The twine there.. also trash it comes on the 7-Gypsies fabric tapes! The flower there is acetate from packaging and the center another hole punched!

I did some reaching and actually looked in my trash in my nook after cleaning it up last night and found some blue tulle in it from some other projects. i created a bow with some of it. Also created a bow with some plastic that covered most acrylic albums you buy these days to protect them from scratches and such before your ready to use it! Note: the page in the middle... it was scratched from adhesive and such from when I pulled the bling off of it. I simply took a pair of scissors and scratched it more!

Here... I did a few things. The words again.. only this time used as separates. Now for most of the packaging I had duplicates. When I had two of the same I backed them together. When I did not I did one of two things. I either used some white paint to cover bar codes and words or I placed two pieces together and tore them to be the same size. Also here is a flower I die cut from packaging and then just dripped some Tim Holtz die on them! (couldn't not use dear Tim's things.. hee hee)

Just an up close of it. The paint was just a thin layer as well covers well. You can write on it super well if you wanted to as well.

Who doesn't love the those flowers.. so easy just to twirl n wrap! I used some of the left over tulle from my trash for this as well. I also used it to tie in knots just to add some depth. The stars paper is an example of one of the papers i just tore to make them the same size.

This is a super cute way to also use one you do not have more than one of or just on a layout. Tri-fold it. make it your own little card within it. I painted over the product brand info and put some words on it.

Another flower here cut from some plastic from the packaging. Then I tore cardboard for the center.



OK, so note about this project! Shout out to Helmar adhesives Scrap Dots! As it is the only adhesive I used on this project!!!! Also anything that POPS off the page is done with the Helmar Scrap Dots wonderful for deminision) or with cardboard from a shoe box!!!

One of my GREATEST loves!!!

OK, I love allot about crafting. Far too many things to name. However, one of my greatest loves are Rolodex card holders. I just adore them. Everything about them! these are some I worked on and loved. I'm currently working on a carousel Rolodex... can't wait to share it with you all. Do you love a pretty Rolodex? So many options. You can alter as much or as little as you like and so many possibilities for what to do with the cards. I have done some with covers and some without. I love love love all of it. Just thought I'd share one of my greatest loves. I adore altering anything but these little things by far make me smile the most. If you haven't attempted one I def. recommend it. Use these as motivation and be sure to share your work. I love seeing what others have come up with. Gets my juices flowing.

GET THE WORD OUT

Ok ladies. I am hoping fo ra little help from all of you. I'd like all of you to share my blog with anyone you think maybe interested in crafting! At the end of the month I'll be drawing some names for some great giveaway for becoming a follower!!!

So share the news with everyone.. the more people that follow the more prizes I'll giveaway. All will be some newly released items. L:ike some Tim Holtz hanger clips, Prima flowers and so on!!!

In progress

For easter for my preschool children I am making some paper cake slices. Here are some pics of them. Their not done yet.. but thought I'd post the in progress pics. I'm going to be adding some fake baset grass around the eggs!

15 Minute Project

Here's a little project I did the other night. Took me only 15 minutes. A few pieces of paper, few pics, a little ink, some hot glue, and a few embellishments. Pretty darn simple. I also added some legs to it on the bottom to sit on just to add a bit of affect. I used some papers and embellishments on this I bought maybe 2 years ago but have yet to ever use for anything. They fit quite well with the lake pictures I used on this.

Thanks for looking ladies.

ALAS it's not always soo pretty....

So, like many of you out there... I rarly take pictures of thigns at their worst. But, with this blog I think its only appropiate to share the good as well as the bad. This is some of the "bad". This is my scrappin area when its not necessarily in use. Here's what happens.. I have no tv or radio in my area and sometimes it's sorta lonely in my little "nook". It's only about a 6ft by 5ft area. So, sometimes I pull thigns to work on a project into my livivngroom onto a craft table and work on a project.. byt he end I'm not feelign up to putting everythign away so it sorta gets put whereever there is a little space for it.. as you can see there's not much space persay. I like to share this as often I post pics on other networking sites of my site and everyone oooowwwww and aaaawwww's over how pretty n in place everything is. However, it's not always pretty adn in its place. In fact this very mess is sometimes the very reason I go a few days without scrapping, as I dont want to have to get back there and do the "putting away" I know is necessary. It sucks. When I used to have a room for my thigns everythign had a place and there was plenty of room for everythign to even be a bit spread out without being unbearable. I've learned to work with the area I have as there's only 2 other solutions.. move my supplies upstairs in the spare room.. where I fear my daughter would get into my stash without a proper lock on the door and well I prolly wudn't scrap near as often beign so excluded from the rest of the house. And the other solution, would be to have no area at all and well.. thats no fun at all.

Anywho I thought that maybe I would show you all that even me and my pretty prohects don't always come from a pretty place. It's often messy and disorganized. But, somehow I deal with it and make it work. Always stepping into it tryign to come up with better solutions to store things.. never coming up with anything better than the time before. Anyways, I just thought I'd share the not soo sunny side of scrappin.

I don't always get to cleanign up the scraps on my floors. And with runnign a daycare often throughout the day toys make their way into my area as well... Such is life.

When in a crafting slump..

Have you ever had a feeling like you wanted to be being creative.... yet you had no motivation to actually do it. Or maybe you felt guilty. I'm often overwhelmed with the fact that I know I should be doing something else.. like laundry or cleaning or something of higher priority. So, then I sit guilty I don't want to do those "important" things and shouldn't be scraping. Then what happens is.... I do absolutely nothing at all trying to convience myself I am fine to scrap.

Does this happen to you? What do you do?

Lately I've been going on ahead and scrapping. Knowing that all the other things can wait an hour or two or even until the following morning. Crafting is my release. So, I have been tryin to make more of an effort to make sure I do it. I still feel a bit of guilt. But, I've learned instead of making a page I may do some work on a project or work on some little things. Like maybe create a new type of flowers or a new distress technique. Just something. Anything. I have found that keeping a folder on my computer of things I find that inspire me. They could be layouts I loved the colors of, or see somethign ont hem I want to try myself, or a project that inspired me or a tutorial. Then onthose nights when I want to do something but not really sure I have one of two options... just start playing with things until I make somethign I like or.. look through that folder. I find that to work super well to spark my creativity. What do you like to do when you need motivation?

I find I am not scrapbooking as many layouts, but when I do scrap the layouts cause I am really "feeling" it i love them so much more than making them because I feel like I should be doing and want to be doing something crafty but not sure what.

I mostly scrapbook in the evenings. I find it relaxing and well I have no other time. I scrap after the kids have gone to bed and a silence and peace falls over the house. When do you scrap? Why does that time work for you?

How do you balance the things that need to be done and the things you want to do?

Recent Creations

Here are some layouts and some cute little lace flowers.

Above are some flowers I made with some great lace. They are no sew flowers. That i created for a class I host once a month. Simple gathering and glueing onto a piece of paper then using some mists on them for a great variety of colors.

This pendant banner was super cute and already on the banner. i simple took a craft knife and cut around them and inked them a bit. Then added some string along the top to make it "appear" to be a handmade banner.