Be Back Soon!

Life is in the way of my blogging. I'm not complaining a bit! I won't be on for a week or so. Try not to miss me too much! Have a fantastic week!

Birthday Cupcake

This is a page I made for a contest. I didn't win, so now I am able to share it with you all. The pictures were taken of my son eating his first birthday cupcake. Special thanks go to my bud Heather for her helpful advice on this one. The challenge was to use office supplies on a layout. I chose notebook paper, a paper clip, staples and a binder clip. One thing to note about using notebook paper on your layouts is that it is not acid/lignin free. Therefore, you would not want it touching your photographs. To me it is not a huge deal, because personally, I think it is really freaky that scrapbook stuff will not age. I did 3 rows of machine stitching. One is along the outside cardstock and I did 2 rows to make a square closer to the center. To make the title I used some adorable vintage-looking paper with letters on it. I had to cut it all to pieces to spell the words, but I really love the look. I stamped the word 'birthday' on after I glued them onto a scrap piece of cardstock. The last detail I will show you today is the inital embelishment. I used the same paper I used for the title. I inked around the edges and used a small metal package popped up with a pop dot. I put 2 little ribbon scraps affixed with staples. The whole embellishment is on pop dots as well. Thank you so much for looking. Have a fantastic day!

A new life for junk store treasures

The beautiful little lady in this layout is my lovely niece. This photograph was taken when she was around 2 months old. I used brown textured cardstock and the patterned papers are from K&Co's Mikayla collevtion. I had a very difficult time getting the letters of her name to stand out, so I applied some pink and brown ink behind the letters. I then double matted the photograph and stitched it together using my sewing machine and brown thread. If you look closely at the photograph and mat you can see that I distressed the edges a little bit. It was very nerve wracking to distress a photograph. I had a backup, so that gave me a little more confidence. The lace was found in a pile of yard sale treasures. I got almost a whole bolt of it for a quarter. I tacked it around the patterned paper with glue dots, but then I had to go around and get it again with some liquid glue. A few weeks ago I found a garage sale and the woman sold me a cardboard box full of cotton thread for crocheting for 50 cents. That is what I made the flowers out of. There was a tutorial I found that was very helpful. So, if you are ever in the mood to make some crocheted flowers you can make some of your very own. My favorite part of the layout is the little shiny pendant (I thought it was a brooch at first, but it is a pendant). That I found at a junk shop. I bought a whole bunch of little vintage pretties and 2 containers of embossing powder for $3. The small daisy adorning the baby's hair was, in a previous life, an earring. I think it adds a bit of texture and unexpected dimension. Thank you for reading my blog. I hope you have a spectacular day.

Address Album

It's been a while since I've posted. Truth be told I've not been scrapping that much, as I've not been feeling well. This project also took quite a while. It's not too typical of me. I wanted to make it sort of Victorian and romantic. I didn't have too many things that were really fitting, so it took some time. I had the original inspiration from the patterned paper. It is the Mikayla Collection by K&Co. I found the images of the children online and I really wish I knew where. I go on these insane clicking sprees when I'm blog hopping and I have no idea where they came from. A tutorial for making the album can be found here though. Some of the details that went into this one were really fun. I used metalic gold drawing ink by Windsor and Newton to highlight the floral patterned paper and the enhance the images of the little girls. It doesn't show up very well in the pictures, but in real life it adds just the right amount of detail. I did it very lightly, so it looks sheer. I had the green trim in my stash for a while. I love it because it adds more texture than you could get from a ribbon. I machine sewed it to the top of the pockets using a small zig zag stitch. The lace I used was purchased at a yard sale. The rose shaped buttons I have had in my stash for about 6 years. It is about time I used them! One thing I love about this project is that it is all about details. All of the patterned papers are inked within an inch of their lives. I've already mentioned the gold drawing ink. The images are inked and double matted on inked/distressed paper. I even placed some colored crystals in the basket to add a tiny bit of sparkle. I am going to use this for an address book. I am grouping my telephone numbers into categories (Family, Friends...) and writing them on the tags that will go in the pockets of the album. There are four pockets, but they will hold multiple tags, so I should have plenty of room. That is my project for the day, I suppose. Thank you for looking. I hope you have a fantastic day!

My Son Shine

Well, when I went out last Friday I bought some new glitter. If you check my blog regularly you will probably seeing a lot of it. I love a little sparkle! I used the glitter on the title for this layout. The chipboard is the really cheap junk that you can buy at Walmart, but would probably never put on your pages as is. I bought it anyway though because I love to alter chipboard. You can always use paint, glitter, flock or paper glaze to totally alter the look. You can customize it to your layout. I got the inspiration for the layout from Scrapbooks Etc. Another inspiration was the popsicle from a swap I participated in on cafemom. It was just so cute that I designed the layout colors around it. Even though this layout is of my son I used a lot of flowers.The flowers are made out of fabric, buttons and lace I hope he doesn't mind when he get older. Even though they are flowers I think they are of a more whimsical nature.

Some tips for stitching.

When people see my layouts I get a lot of positive comments about my stitching. Stitching is one of my favorite ways to give a layout a little something extra special. One thing I love about stitching is how inexpensive it is. Scrapbooking can be a very expensive hobby and with stitching you can give your projects a high quality look for very little money. You can buy thread for the sewing machine or embroidery floss in a rainbow of colors very inexpensively. Embroidery floss also comes in metallic and pearlized colors as well. 1.If I am going to stitch directly on the layout I place my flowers/embellishments and draw my sketch around them. I do this on a piece of cardstock, not directly on the paper I am stitching on. When I am happy with my design I place the paper I drew the pattern on over the paper I am stitching. I place a mousepad under everything. 2. Next, take a pin or needle and punch holes along the lines that you have drawn. These holes will make it a lot easier to make your stitches. Try to make them as evenly as possible, but don't be too uptight about it. Nobody will notice if you are a little off. Remember: You are your own worst critic! 3.After all of you holes have been punched you are ready to begin sewing. I usually secure my thread with tape on the back of my paper. You can get really fancy with all sorts of embroidery stiches, but a basic running stich or backstich works just fine. To do a backstitch (which is what I used for this project) bring your needle up from the backside of the paper to the front. Then, take your needle down the next hole. Bring it up once more and (instead of going down into the next hole) go down in the previous hole. And you just go and do all of the stitches in this manner. It is not hard to do when you get the hang of it! I hoped this little tutorial has inspired you to try some stitching on a layout or two. I also have a little bit of advice to help thing so go a little more smoothly for you. 1. When stiching by hand always use cardstock or cardstock weight patterned paper. 2. When sewing by hand it is easier to use embroidery floss. Embroidery floss is made up of 6 strands that can be seperated and you can use 2-3 strands for a thin line or all 6 for a thick one. (I used 6 strands for this project) 3. If you have it, use a larger needle for punching holes than you do for sewing. Totally not required, but it will make sewing easier. 4. Always punch on the patterned side of your paper. Punching will push the paper out on the bottom side of the paper. If you sew on that side it will not look as smooth. 5.After you get comfortable with this technique, experiment! There are tons of embroidery stiches out there and it looks so neat to change it up with ribbon or beads!

Finally...A layout!

Time to post a layout. I've been busy with cards and other projects and I've been waiting for inspiration to strike. This is one made from a sketch on pencillines.com. I also did it for a challenge on cafemom. The papers are K&Company from the hopscotch paper pack. I used some chipboard for the flowers and doodled the stems. I've been seeing a lot of doodly type stuff lately and I wanted to give it a shot. This picture of my son is one of my favorites. He looks so sweet and innocent. He isn't. This picture was taken about a month before he learned to walk. He is growing up so fast and changing so much. I treasure every moment with him.

One of those days...

I guess even the most creative people have days when they are stuck. Days when, even if you have a brilliantly creative idea, you can not translate it into something less than a disaster. I was so excited to scrap tonight. I put my little angel to bed and headed into my freshly cleaned scrap area ready to get down to it and make something adorable. The something adorable never materialized, but I did create the Microbead Disaster of 2008. It was followed the glitter avalanche. So, hours later I have nothing made, nothing created and just a big mess. Life can be like that I guess. I love it when things go together effortlessly. When I am really in 'the zone' creatively speaking. And even when I am not (which is often the case), at least have a little to show for all of my efforts! I will try again tomorrow. Hopefully I will have something fantastic to show you all!