One Last Christmas Project

I missed my favorite holiday!

I must say that I'm not really one of those people that goes nuts about holidays. Any holiday, really. I don't really do a lot of decorations or send a lot of cards. Heck, some holidays I don't even celebrate at all! I'm doing better with it ever since I became a mother, maybe one day I will be one of 'those' people. On my list of favorite Beate holidays are Day after Halloween, Day after Easter, and, the most hallowed of all Beate holidays, the Day after Christmas. Obviously, the day after Easter and Halloween are really all about the 50% off candy. But the DAC is special. It's when everything I love is 50-70% off. The DAC brings such joy to my bargain hunting soul. I have to go to Walmart first, because all of their stupid gift sets are 50% off. They also have Christmas crafts too. And I love Boscovs. They have amazing sales on purses. And, even though I have been carrying around a diaper bag in lieu of a purse for the past 19 months that doesn't mean that I won't get one. It just means that the one I get won't be practical. I also need to look at the jewelery, scope out Bath and Body Works, Target, Michaels and Joanns. Michaels and Joanns are the best because they usually mark down the Christmas stuff 70%. That stuff will be in high demand and at full price in a mere 10 months :) Maybe even 9, as Christmas does seem to come earlier every year thanks to greedy corporate America. Alas, this year I missed my favorite holiday! It's all my brother's fault. He decided to bring his four sick children to the Christmas eve family get together. Everyone in our family has been throwing up since then. And I missed the shopping. We're finally feeling better (and hopefully not contagious any longer). So today I will go out, and, no matter how many bargains I find, I will be so sad knowing in my heart that I missed the BEST bargains of all.

Yummy Yummy Blog Candy!

Ooh, I just found such a cool blog today! I am always amazed at the talent that there is out there. It kinda makes me thankful that I live in the day and age I do. I don't know how I lived without the internet! Anyhow, in addition to an amazing blog, I found some of the yummiest blog candy! Check it out for yourself at LifeasLou.blogsome.com

Snowman Cupcakes

When I saw the cover of Taste of Home I knew I had to try these out. I'm not very good at cake decorating, but these were super simple and I had everything I needed on hand, which kind of frightened me a little. I guess it was a good thing.... Anyway, here is my attempt. I omitted the hats (shown in the magazine) because it was icy here and it just wasn't worth it to go out and get chocolate wafers.

The Stockings Were Hung by the Chimney With Care

Well, while I was browsing in my local Dollar Store (I keep finding the best stuff there) I found these wooden stockings. You are supposed to paint them, but I think if Monet himself painted these things they still would end up really tacky (sorry, Claude). I ended up using a heat tool to remove the shapes stuck on top of the stocking and give me a flat surface. I used Mod Podge to adhere the paper. The paper I used for all 4 stockings is from the My Mind's Eye Christmas Short Stack. It is so nice to get stacks like this that way everything just complements every thing else and it saves a lot of time. The hearts on this stocking are cut on my cricut (Plaintin Schoolbook) as is all of the lettering. I used a glittered bell (also from Dollar Tree) and the Holly leaves are from Prima. The tree chipboard is from Colorbok, covered with MME paper and I glittered the star with Doodlebug glitter. The Chipboard Ornament is from Cosmo Cricket. I used some Making Memories trim on top of it for a little exta texture. All of the stockings are inked with Weathered Wood Distress Ink to give them a little more dimension. This last stocking is by far my favorite. I LOVE the Cosmo Cricket snowman. Isn't he the cutest? I also used Prima flowers on this one (hope Hubby doesn't find it too girlie). I used snaps for the centers the way Tim Holtz did in one of his 12 tags of Christmas. I thought that was very ingenious of him. Well, that's what I've been up to this weekend. I'm also working on another project that I hope to share with you soon. Thanks for reading and have a super blessed day.

Happy Everything!

Well, can you tell I am losing hope that I am going to get all my Christmas cards sent by the sentiment on this card? I hope it gets sent by Christmas, really I do, but it is getting closer and closer.I made this card based of a pagemaps sketch that I really loved. The image is from a swap I did on cafemom, so I'm unsure of it's origin. I colored it in with watercolor pencils. I used Distress Stickles for the snowman noses and to accent the snowflakes. I cut the heart out on my Cricut, used some Doodlebug glitter on it around the edges. I busted out the scallop edge scissors on the purple paper. This card is for a dear friend of mine, so check your mailbox in a few days/weeks to see if it is you :) Thanks for looking! Have a great day!

Wishing you...

Here is another type of Christmas card I made. I don't enjoy making the same thing over and over, but I made ten of these. This was a sketch over at A Spoonful of Sugar. I made it that week, but never posted it in time. I used DCWV textured cardstock, and glittered paper from My Mind's Eye

Christmas Cards

Here are a few simple cards I made from some stamped images that I received from a friend on Cafemom. I just love House Mouse. I have so much fun coloring in stamps. My son is learning to color and he likes to do it with me. Thanks for reading. I hope you have a lovely day.

Altered Wooden Angel Project.

I found this little angel on clearance at Michaels. She was $1.34. I really liked the scrolls, but I knew she needed more than a little paint. This is what I started out with. I used some old Anna Griffin paper that I have had for ages. I don't have much of an occasion to use tapestry inspired floral paper I suppose. The green paper is from K and Co. The ribbon is Making Memories. I used Mod Podge to adhere the paper and, after trimming as close as possible, I sanded it down with my trusty nail file. I used Peeled Paint Distress Ink on all of the edges and sealed it. It was a quick little project and I was really happy with the result. Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day.

Photo Cube

One day I will be a good blogger that can create amazing creations to share every single day. But probably not today. There is never enough time in the day for everything! For now, here is one of my latest creations. It is an acrylic photo cube. I bought it at Walmart for $3. I decorated it with some of our fall pictures for my husband and I used Basic Grey's 'Boxer' collection and Peeled Paint Distress Ink. I really loved how easy this all came together. It was finished in under an hour and a half. I started off by distressing my photographs with scissors and a nail file. I cut the paper to size and inked everything with the Distress ink. The words are grungeboard that is inked. The challenge on this project is to only use flat embellishments. I took the project out of the cube to take the pictures because of the glare. Thanks for looking. Have a fantastic day!

Autumn Splendor

Here is a layout that I created for a challenge on Method Playground. The challenge was to add dimension. Since I love layering, I knew I had to enter. I've not had as much time to scrap too much lately, so it is an 11th hour entry, I am afraid. I've titled this layout "Autumn Splendor". I've gotten to break out my brand spankin' new Distress Stickles on this layout. The stickles are Peeled Paint and Spiced Marmalade; I've also used Distress inks. I used the bookplate and flourish die cut from Cricut's Home Accent Essentials. The word 'splendor' is grungeboard. Here is a close of to show some of the dimension. I used a page from Making Memories 'Noteworthy Notebook. The green ricrac is making memories as well. Cardstock is by DCWV and the patterened papers are from BoBunny and MME's Wild Asparagus. The flowers are hand crocheted and the brads are from SEI. I love this lace that I found at a junk shop. I overlapped it with itself to add a little more interest and texture. Thanks for taking a peek at my blog. Have a fantastic day!

Another Card

I recieved this stamped image from a swap on cafemom from Mary. I loved it so much I probably would have hoarded it and never used it ( a habit that I am trying to break) but Mary so generously sent me a few, so I have some to hoard and some to use. This card is a gatefold. I once again used my Dollar Tree colored pencils for the coloring on the image. I treated myself to some new watercolor pencils when I went out today and I can't wait to try them, but I digress. I used Bazzil Bling cardstock and Basic Grey paper from the Boxer collection. The snowflakes came glittered and are colorbok die cuts. I also used my new favorite color of Distress Ink, Shabby Shutters. Thanks for taking a peek at my blog today! Have a good one.

It's been a while :)

You know those times when you try to make something and it just takes forever and you aren't quite pleased with anything you make. That's been me the past week or so. I think my mojo went on vacation. It's back now and I've been scrapping up a storm over here. the theme is Christmas. I joined a couple of swaps and here is what I came up with for them. I guess I'm getting less intimidated by the stamping. I have this little Santa stamp by D.O.T.S. We don't include Santa in any of our Christmas celebrating, but this little stamp it so cute. I bought him at a yard sale with a bunch of other stamps for $4 total. I stamped him on white cardstock and colored him in with my SUPER pricey Dollar Tree colored pencils. I used a blending pencil on the image, and then cut the oval around him. I used Vintage Photo distress ink around the edges to give him a old fasioned look.He is matted with DCWV textured cardstock. The patterned paper is really old. I bought it when I first started scrapping. I'm thinking it was from a 'Stack', but I have no idea which one. I cut the base cardstock 5x8 and scored at 2 inches in either side (I flipped it around) to make the card a gatefold. Then I just adhered the ribbon with glue dots and adhered the image to the one side of the 'gate'. I think it gives the card a lot more impact than it would have if it was traditionally done. And here is a little tag that I made for a swap as well. It is the "Roly Poly' tag cut from my Cricut's Plaintin Schoolbook cartridge. The little snowman on pop dots is from Stampin' Up's Speaking of Winter. I dressed him up with stickles and I used microfine glitter for the 'snow; to give it a little more of a 3d effect. Thanks for reading. Have a great day :)

Toilet Paper Roll Mini

Well, I think it is high time I made a book about myself. I have huge books for both children and a lot of stuff about my huisband, but I really didn't have anything just about myself until now. I got the inspiration to do a toilet paper roll album from the Bad Girls Kits message board. I saw one my friend Danielle made and I knew I had to try it! Some of my journaling prompts and ideas came from the Crazy about Mini Albums blog. Thanks for the inspiration, ladies! My favorite part about the cover is the cameo, which came from my local junk shop. All of the papers are K&Co's Blue Awning collection. The Pink flowers are Primas and the others are all Bazzil. I wish I could tell you where the gems in the center are from, but I lost that package long ago. I love the key and the lock. They are made by EK Success. The stickers are K&Co, mostly Brenda Walton's designs. The corner here is from the junk shop as well. I suppose it came off a photo frame or something. Noticed how I used the bitty fragment of the Heidi Swapp chipboard clock (leftover from another project) here. Amazing how such a tiny scrap can speak huge volumes. Oh, and I love the dticker with the dog and the feather duster. You can't really see it in the photo, but the sticker says "Housework Stinks, Saving for a Maid" That is a true dream of mine. I hate cleaning! I used the insides of the toilet paper rolls to hold my embellished journalling tags. They are a little too private to share here though. Thanks for reading!

Basic Grey Gate Fold Mini Album

I found a fantastic deal on this Basic Grey Sublime collection mini gate fold album. This project came together pretty fast and easy. I used paper from the Aged and Confused Sublime collection, another sheet of BG and some paper that I have no idea where on earth it came from. A lot of the techniques that I experimented with are from the blog Scrapperlicious. I used Distress Ink in Vintage Photo and Fired Brick. A huge challenge for me in making this album was that I couldn't use any dimensional embellishments. I love dimension on my pages and but I didn't have a lot of leeway for closing this one, so to give it a feel of depth without the bulk I used a lot of inking and distressing. I used die cut circles to mask off the paper while I inked around it. I did that with both Vintage Photo and Fired Brick. The flourish stamps I used are from Autumn Leaves. The chipboard clock is Heidi Swapp. I did a bunch of doodling on some of the pages. I used a fine tipped pen to do some faux stitching and to write little messages to my husband. I used only 4 12x12 papers in this album. I used EVERY last scrap of the Basic Grey. Although this collection is not one of my all time favorites, I just love how the using everything from the same collection makes everything just come together so easily. I made this book in just under 4 hours (that is a record for me, I'm super slow). I used some rub ons from Kaisercraft on these pages. So, there it is. I'll be sending it out soon. The last mini I made for him never made it, so I hope he gets this one. Thank you so much for reading.

Crackle Medium Tutorial

I wanted to make a tutorial on using crackle medium for my buddy, Julie and I thought I would share it with you as well. Crackle medium is my latest paper crush. I've used it before on wood projects and when I saw Tim Holtz's blog using it this month the wheels began turning! I have a hard time finding the latest and greatest products around here, so I'm improvising. The Tim Holtz crackle is colored and the stuff I am using is clear. This is the (almost) finished product. I have to add some stitching and final touches, but the crackling is done anyway. I just am in love with the texture you can get with this. Here is what I used: First I added the die cut to the cream colored tag. I will use the green shadow of the tag later. Then I used the crackle medium. I just painted it all over the surface. You need to use a thick coat. If you do it too thin it will not crackle. You can see that it is pretty thick and not that even. That is ok. This is the scary part. Your paper will shrivel up as it dries. It will look like a mess and you will be afraid you ruined it. It's gonna be ok though. Just chill. Don't mess with your paper while it is drying. Don't look and see if it is crackled. Just leave it alone! Hands off! When it is really, really , REALLY dry you can smooth it out. and glue it to the backing paper. In this case, I used the shadow feature on the Doodlecharms cartridge as a backing. I like to use a glue stick for this, because that ensures that you get glue everywhere. A little of the crackling may crack off as you do this step, but it's ok. After it is glued on tight I like to DAB some ink on it. I did this with Distress Ink (vintage photo). I dabbed the ink onto a makeup sponge and onto my project. This enhances the crackle design and make your project look aged. Your project may need a little flattening. If it does you can put your dictionary on it and leave it for a few hours. I hope this tutorial has helped you out and if you have any questions you can feel free to ask!

Extreme Bird Makeover

This is my little birdy friend. She is kinda sad. You see, all of her children have left the nest and she is stuck wearing these bright pink feathers. She is so ugly that nobody would buy her and they stuck her in the clearance bin at Walmart. That is where we come in. She needed more than help. She needed an Extreme Makeover: Bird Edition. So, here is the house I made for her. It was from Dollar Tree. I got the inspiration from Heather's blog. I used K&Co's Blue Awning line. After I cut the pieces out I used my sewing machine to do the holes for my stitching. I wanted a thicker thread than my sewing machine could handle, so I used embroidery floss. This adds texture and interest along the bottom. I cut some die cuts from my cricut's Home Accent Essentials cartridge and I used the scallop cut from Plaitin Schoolbook to make the shingles on the roof. To finish the front of the house I used wood stain gel (JoSonja) for the fence. Paint would have also worked. As for the bird herself, I covered her with patterned paper that I had textured and inked the edges. I added a wing, which is grungeboard, and used crackle medium over her. It is quite a tranformation from wild nineteen eighty-something pink to shabby chic, but it works for me. She just loves her new home :) Thanks for reading.