Too cute not to share!

I stumbled across this idea on one of my favorite blogs and decided I was going to do this.

If you're looking for a quick, easy, and cheap little Easter gift, I highly recommend it.

Taking a Gamble

A couple of years ago, I made some decorated Easter eggs that I really loved. Since then I have contemplated trying to sell them. It's not an easy task, hollowing out the eggs and then dying them and embellishing them. But it's fun. So over the past couple of weeks I have been working on some new eggs and today is the day. I opened an Etsy shop. If you're interested in seeing the individual eggs, you can find them here. For now, they're all resting in a basket looking pretty as ever.

Happy Birthday TWO You

Here's two cards I whipped up the other night for some very good friends of mine.

Both were made from scraps in my stash. On this top one there's actually some stitching around the edge but it's difficult to tell because my camera settings were off.



On this card I busted out my Glimmer Mist in "Pink Lemonade". I think I overdid it a bit but oh well. When you wait til the last minute, you can't be picky.

Wish I could say there's been more time to craft but there hasn't. Just the normal things of everyday life keeping me super busy.

Who says Valentine's Day has passed?

Not us here in my home. We've been feeling the love for quite some time now. And since Spring and Easter are going to sneak up on me pretty quickly, I figured I had better snap some pictures before I pull it all down. As you might see, I got pretty crafty for this holiday.


Here's the mantel:


Some paper lollies with wooden hearts sprinkled with German Glass Glitter:



A frame filled with an old Basic Grey calendar page (from a kit I bought) and a few Prima crystal embellishments:

I made the simple Happy Valentine's Day banner several years ago. The heart garland was made this year covering more wooden hearts (from Michaels) with various Valentine's papers (last year's Making Memories and Pink Paislee) and hot gluing them to some satin ribbon.

Crepe paper rosettes hot glued to the glass of this frame. The background patterned paper is set inside the frame. These rosettes are super easy to make. Just Google it.

I made this tin ages ago as a design team assigment for my local scrapbook store that closed last year. It uses an old S.E.I. paper line. Inside of it is an accordion folded string of papers with love quotes written. At some point I will go back and add pictures of my husband and I.

These tissue paper flowers were also really fun to make. Another thing where Google will give you several tutorials.

And in keeping with my annual tradition of making a Valentine's Day layout for my husband featuring each of our girls ...

I also made them cards (two days after Valentine's Day). My husband gets each girl their own card and signs it from him. So I make them a card from me. Time just got away from me but I was not going to let this excuse to share some words of love with them escape.

That's all I have. Now time to rip it all down and pack it away til next year. :(

Yesterday I just had to ...

... ignore the chaos of my house and just scrapbook. I often get creative urges in the mid-afternoon but normally don't act on them because of all the other things that need to be done (laundry, dinner, cleaning, tending to kids, etc.). But today, I gave in. One daughter was down for a nap, tonight's dinner plan involves leftovers, and the other daughter was more than willing to join me in my scrap room -- so the stars aligned you could say.

I set the time on my phone for 45 minutes and went about picking some photos and then some paper. Once again, my most recent Noel Mignon kit came in handy. No rifling through my stast for coordinating embellishments.

Here's what I created:

Hopefully the colors aren't too off. Sorry about that photo glare. Just another reason why I prefer to print my photos with a matte finish.

Jillibean Soup

In my last post I mentioned a make n take I got to do at the Jillibean Soup booth at CHA. Here is is. On the back it has a pin so you can stick it to a bag or piece of clothing or something. I am showing it because the butterfly is a real picture of the corrugated shapes that I must have.

Another thing at the show that I forgot to mention is this tool:

It's called a drill punch and it's by Tim Holtz. We made a chain necklace as a make n take at his booth and used this tool to punch a hole in a charm. It was so easy. According to the gal leading the make n take, it can punch through any soft metal and they had done 2 pennies at one time. I am not sure why I want this, but I do.

I'm a Lucky Girl ...

... because I got to attend CHA on Saturday. The Craft and Hobby Association semiannual trade show. It's where all the craft companies debut their new products and sell them to all the various stores (from Michael's and JoAnns to your local scrapbook store). This is my 4th year attending. I think it's safe to say that the economy has taken it's toll on the scrapbooking manufacturers. That is not to say there wasn't some great product. Just a little less than has been in the past.

I found myself not quite as inclined to take many pictures this year. Perhaps that is because my design team responsibilities have likely come to an end. Sad, I know. So there wasn't a need to really scope out new product lines for me to use in the future. My trip yesterday was simply personal and completely selfish.

So unfortunately, I don't have a ton of pictures to share about what I loved. But trust me, if you Google CHA 2011 Winter releases, I bet at least a hundred different entries will show up. If you go here, they're doing little videos about the 3 days they're spending at the CHA show. And here is where you can find all the sneaks the companies were releasing prior to the show.

So some things I really liked that I didn't get pictures of were Silhouette and My Mind's Eye. Silhouette has AMAZING samples of all the various things you can do with their cutter machine and accessory products. Their booth totally makes me want to run out and buy a bunch of Premium Vinyl, Flocked Heat Transfer Iron on Material. And then one of their new products is sewable fabric interfacing. So I can now use my Silhouette to cut material. So cool!

Here's a link to My Mind's Eye releases. The overall name of the collection is Stella and Rose. Then they have collections with different names. Here's Mabel and Hazel. And here is Hattie and Gertie. Their stuff is always just so pretty. I am loving how their coordinating embellishments are getting more detailed.

Bella Blvd.'s lines were cute! I really like how all of their releases can coordinate with each other. Here's Family Dynamix -- a must have! Here is Mr. Boy. They also have a line called "Tail Waggers and Cat Naps" which is about pets, but I can't seem to find a link to it. You know it's cute though if it's from Bella. Here's a couple of my pictures from their booth.


This book below is a book designed by a very talented friend of mine, Julie Johnson. She runs Paisleys and Polka Dots, a kit club. I don't know how she does it but each month she comes out with a mini album release as well as a 2-page layout release. This mini book she designed for the Bella Blvd. booth is a perfect example of the detail and quality you'd get in one of her kits. I highly recommend her if you're looking for some kits or even want to be inspired with new things. Her prices are very reasonable. Gotta act fast though. She sells out quickly.






I can't wait to get my hands on Echo Park's "Little Girl" line!

Prima's booth just makes me drool. I didn't spend too much time looking at any of their new product, but I am certain it's stunning. Here are some pics of their samples. Their designers are quite talented as you can see. Here's a page of some of their releases this show. And I really want some of these:


Bo Bunny has some cute lines! I really was drawn to Gabrielle and it's soft hues. Can't wait to see that in the stores.



Pink Paislee has a cute line called "Hometown Summer". I especially liked these chipboard border stickers. I think they'll add a perfect amount of dimension to my layouts.


I want these by Jillibean Soup!!!! All of them! In a make n take they offered, I got to use one of the butterflies. I love it!

Ranger's booth was wonderfully decorated. Here's a couple of images. The best new thing I think I saw was the Distress Stain by Tim Holtz. Rather than having to use the pads to ink up something pretty heavily, he's offering a dabber bottle that can saturate an area pretty quickly. Great for coloring trims, or the center of a page, or a whole piece of something quickly.

Making Memories had a huge release going in a very different direction than scrapbooking. They have released award ribbons and wands. On a podcast I listen to (the paperclipping roundtable), one of the guests is associated with MM and teased about this new release. She said it would cross over several industries including gift wrap. I couldn't imagine what it would be, but it was certainly not this. In looking around their booth, I was definitely inspired. The ribbons are adorable. Perfect for parties, class events, rewarding you kid for something, gifts, etc.) I think it’s something I can make so the likelihood of me buying any of these products is slim, but there are super cute!



And that's pretty much what spoke to me. I know I missed a lot. So I will be excited to see what all the other scrappers out there pick up on that I didn't.

Charlie's Baby Album

Well only one year past the day of his birth, I finally got Charlie's baby album done. I can't tell you how many months it sat on my desk half finished. Now I only have two more albums to complete before babies reach their 1st birthday. One happens in a few weeks (I have all the paper, but nothing started) and the other happens at the end of April (barely started on this one). Then I will be caught up just in time for all the friends I have who planned to get knocked up again -- Charlie's mommy is one of them.

This one uses a Clear Scraps acrylic album as the foundation. I designed it so mommy can put a picture of Charlie every 3 months. There are some pull-out tags in there for her to make notes.

Interesting ...

So I have always thought that maybe Costco's color photo prints were a bit off from what I saw on my screen. A couple of years back I even seem to recall reading that someone said they printed the color green poorly. It's never been enough to make me pursue a different printer for my photos. What I was getting back was good enough. Until last weekend.

I was in a mad dash trying to get my stuff together for Scrap Weekend. My main problem was not having any recent prints to scrap with. Minor detail right? So I stayed up way too late selecting photos from the many folders I had on my computer to print. I uploaded them to Costco and was about to process my order when I saw that the earliest they would be ready for pick up was 1:00PM. That was a couple of hours past the time I wanted to leave. So I searched for a Costco near where I would be headed. No luck. So in a desperate moment, I opened an account with Walgreens. Uploaded my pictures and selected a store near where I would be staying. I was a little bummed that they only offered the glossy finish for pick up orders (because I have become fond of the matte or "lustre" finish), but at this point, beggars couldn't be choosers.

Everything worked out well. I got my pictures and began scrapping. Sometime on Saturday afternoon, I came across a set of photos printed from Costco (I had grabbed some photos I had at home just in case before leaving). Unbeknownst to me, I also had the exact same, unedited photos printed in my Walgreens order. I compared the too, and my theory was confirmed. What a difference!!!

Here I have laid the Walgreens print on top of the layout with the Costco prints. Both sets of photos are the same exact shots, with glossy finishes, and are unedited. Just in my photo of the photos, you can see quite a difference in the vibrancy or pop of the colors. I think Walgreen may have just found a new customer. This is not to say I will never use Costco again. They're super convenient and I do some of my shopping there. But for my prints that I really love and have specific plans for? Walgreens it may be.

Thought I would share in case anyone has been questioning their Costco prints or pondering where to get their photos printed at. These are the only two pick up places I have tried. I have used Shutterfly and Snapfish in the past, but long before the days of me knowing how to shoot in Manual.

Scrap Weekend Projects Part 4

This is the final installment of my scrap weekend projects. I wish I had lots more to show you. There are a TON of ideas in my head that I want to create (both scrapbooking and home decor), but I am finding there's not a lot of time or energy when I do find the time. Enough said, on with the show.

"Pinata Time" - This was the first layout I completed at Scrap Weekend. This is probably my least favorite of all I did. Yet surprisingly, it's the one the most people complimented. Go figure! This documents my Hannah whacking the pinata at her birthday party.

"Happy Girls" - a simple layout. I love that floral rubon in the upper right corner. I do happen to remember that it's by Hambly Studios, and let me just tell you ... quality rubons from that company!



"Click" - a layout documenting my appreciation for Hannah and her willingness to pose for me. This little dilapidated building in Breckenridge, CO was screaming at me to take a picture of it. I am no photographer by any means, but jumped at the opportunity to practice. And I love love love this paper line by American Crafts. I know it's Dear Lizzy. I think it was the very first one she released. I have been drooling over it for almost a year. Finally got my hands on it this Summer and then finally put it to good use. It did not disappoint. Everything on this page is from that line.


"1st loose tooth" - a two pager! The one and only of the weekend. It's a little plain jane right now. Thinking I may go back and add some blingy swirls to it. The title is pretty self explanatory of what I am documenting here.

And there you have it folks. My 16 layouts. I so wish I could find more time and energy to do some at home. I'd love to be able to make a goal of 1 layout a week, but I think that's unrealistic. Especially with all the other craftiness I end up sneaking in last minute.