Places We Go Mini Album

I found this mini album at Michaels on clearance for 70 cents. It was just so cute I couldn't resist. I had never worked with a shaped mini before, and once I got the cover the way I wanted it, I really enjoyed it. The cover was just flat chipboard and I really had a hard time figuring out what to do with it. I covered it in paper, and tried a few things, but I was lacking dimension, so I traced and cut out another car out of thick corrogated cardboard. I cut windows into that and sandwiched some Sassafrass Lass between the layers. I cut the things that go over the wheels out of the thicker cardboard as well, and covered the whole thing in thick Gesso. I pained it bright red over that. Once I got the cover done the rest was easy. Well, thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have a great day.

Grungepaper Button Jar

While we are on the subject of grungepaper (we were on the subject of grungepaper, right?) I want to post a project I did quite a while ago, but never posted. I made this out of an empty jar of spagetti sauce ('cause you know how I hate to throw anything away). I made the topper just a little bit larger than the jar lid and it fits very snugly. I wanted brighter colors, so I basecoated the grungepaper in white and then used Dusty Concord and Broken China Distress Ink to color it. The stitching was done by piercing the holes first and then going back and stitching. The backround stamp is Prima and the bird is a Tim Holtz stamp.

Along the bottom of the jar I cut two layers of 'grass' by hand, inked them with Shabby Shutters Distress Ink, and used some Tim Holtz stamps on the backround. I added some Patina stickles in a couple areas for a little more texture. I absolutly love how the grungepaper could curl and hold it's sahpe. Super cool stuff. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great day!

Grungepaper Roses

You know how there are those projects that you always intend to do? You see something and say, wow, that is neat. So you go out, but the stuff and it sits around forever, just waiting for you to get to it? That was me with the grungepaper flowers.

But today I finally sat down and made a couple. The lavender one I used my Cricut Plaitin Schoolbook cartridge to cut out 2 1/2 inch flowers, and the brown flower I made a template. Who knew Vintage Photo Distress Ink matches my favorite hat exactly?! I used the tutorial on Wendi Vecci's blog

I had one fine time getting any adhesive to work. I eventually just got out my glue gun and used hot glue to hold it together. I used Distress Ink in Dusty concord and Vintage Photo, Stayzon ink in Timber brown and some Vanilla Breeze glimmer mist.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!

I've been going through a bunch of older pictures. The pics on this layout are from when my sweet little Kevin was only 5 months old! I had a bunch of scraps from my Sassafras Lass Hog Wild collection and I cut them up into little strips, sewn down the middle. I got the idea from the Prima blog and I thought it was a great way to use up all of those itty bitty scraps!

JacksonBelle Tuesday Challenge

Well, I went a little overboard with this one. The challenge was to make a card with some of the new products in the Jacksonbelle store, and when I started with the Earth Love paper by Cosmo Cricket, I just couldn't stop, LOL! Sometimes you just get in one of those moods. you know? And I simply adore Stampavie stams! While I was making cards I decided to do another Jacksonbelle challenge, from the week before. The challenge was to make a Halloween card. I don't know if the previous weeks challenge is an entry to the contest or if it isn't , but I used this inkadinkado stamp and a little kitty die cut from Paper Doll Dress up. The paper is Cloud 9. Thanks so much for stopping by today. Have a great day!

Because you should never waste the Sass

This week I decided to try something new and play along with Pink Sketches. Here is what I came up with for Sketch 46.

I absolutly loved Sassafras Lass's Hog Heaven collection. I've never use a paper pack so thoroughly before. I even used the backing sheet that the sticker letters came from on this layout! I also used some trim, grungepaper hearts and buttons from my stash. Thanks so much for looking. Have a great day!

Some new cards to share

I got a little time to be creative this afternoon. Thank you Kevin for taking an extra long nap for Mama! I made a birthday card for my youngest nephew. It's not his birthday yet, but since he can't read I feel safe posting it. ~wink~ I used the Card Positioning System sketch of the week. They have a really fantastic prize up for grabs. I used an inkjet transparancy for the center portion of my card. I went into Microsoft Word and used the 'wordart' feature to get the font that way. I like that it adds a shadow effect behind the words. In this picture you can se the 'transparency' part better. The patterned paper is DCWV and the stamp is Martha Stewart. After I finished this card I went out to check the mail. I had the happiest little suprise in there! My buddy Shemaine sent me some sweet goodies and I immediatly went to work with them! Sarah Kay reminds me of my sister, Joy. So I colored her in to match! I used this weeks sketch at 2sketches4you. Stamped image is Sarah Kay and patterned paper is Cosmo Cricket.

Creativity is...

I wanted to share a little project I did a few months ago. I bought a bunch of teas that came in boxes. The boxes were so cute, that I ended up buying a lot more tea then I needed. I love recycled crafty goodness! I also love this quote stamp by Tim Holtz. "Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."Thanks so much for stopping by today. Be sure to check out the Creative Mini Albums Blog. My work is being featured there this week!

Operation Showers of Appreciation

Check out this amazing quilt! Isn't it fab? Jessica made it. I just love her sense of style. She is quite the crafty one. And she uses the word 'gnarly' in sentences. What could be better? Jessica made this quilt to be raffled off by Scrapbook Royalty. 100% of the proceeds are going to benefit Operation Showers of Appreciation. Go ahead, click on the link. I'll wait. Anyhow, for those of you that didn't click on the link...Operation Showers of Appreciation is a volunteer based organization that assists active duty and active duty reserve military and their families expecting babies. OSOA honors these families for the many sacrifices they have made in a unique way by providing baby items and hosting large scale baby showers in their honor. I am a military wife myself. My husband is in the Navy Reserves. While I was pregnant with our son my husband was away with the Navy. Fourtunatly, with him being in the Reserves I was still around my family and friends who helped me get through the complications of my pregnancy and take care of me through 4 months of bedrest. I really feel for the military wives that DON'T have family around to help. I know first hand how tough deployments are on families, so this is really dear to my heart.

Buy your tickets here

You can purchase one ticket for $5 and for every $20 you spend you get two extra tickets. How awesome would it be to win this? And even if you don't win, you get the warm fuzzy feeling inside of you when you do something nice for someone.

A Day in the Life

I started this mini album ages ago, but I only got around to finishing it last week. The cover started with an inspiration from my friend Shemaine, I loved how she used crackle paint on exposed corrugated cardboard. I used a box I had and just stripped the top layer off of it. I used some paper from Prima, some trim that I got on clearance, rub ons and Thickers by American Crafts and the flower and butterfly pin were yard sale treasures.For the inside of the book I used coordinating papers from Daisy Ds. I also used my Basic Grey journal stamps. Believe it or not I never thought of using them on patterned paper before.

I have a huge stash of vintage buttons and a they really coordinated nicely with the paper. I used some Prina Say it in Crystals on the page above.

The felt die cut is Prima and for the bird I used the negative of my die cut. I inked it with Distress Ink and used it as a mask, stamping over top of it. The tickets are Mellisa Frances.The pages of the album itself are made from cereal boxes. I love projects that use things that would otherwise be thrown out. The mats for the pictures are made from the same box I made the cover of the album with. I just painted them with crackle paint.

I really enjoyed making this mini. It really is amazing what you can do with some pretty patterned paper and cereal boxes. Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Have a great weekend.ETA sorry the pictures are a little weird. Our other computer is in the shop for a few days, and that is where my jpegs are stored. I'll fix the pictures when it comes home.