Thursday, April 30, 2009

Something cool


Found this on etsy... wouldn't it be cool to "be" part of twlight??
Checking around the rest of Jennifer's shop, she does some FABULOUS work with morphing photos Fairies, dragons, cartoons, mermaids... you can look like your inner daemon for a reasonable price, and a quick turnaround time (24 to 48 hours)


Wednesday, April 29, 2009

blog candy

Check out this AWESOME blog candy! Debbie at Passion for Crafts is celebrating her blogoversary! Happy anniversary Debbie!



(photo from Debbie's blog)

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Huge congrats..


to my friend Tracey.. She was asked to make a scrapbook album for President and Mrs. Obama to commemorate the Call to Service on Jan. 19th. Check out this blog post!
(photo from Tracey's blog)

Monday, April 27, 2009

National Scrapbook Day


National Scrapbook Day is this weekend, and Scrap Attack Scrapbooking is having a crop this weekend!

Here's what Kelly posted on the board for what will be going on!

"How better to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day than with a {SAS}sy style crop? So join us from May 1st to May 3rd to help celebrate our addiction to this hobby! I can honestly say, you do not want to miss this! The phenomenal design team has some really neat challenges lined up and there are some extra special prizes that will be awarded! But, I can't spill the beans on that just yet, you will have to tune in and see what's in store! Be sure to mark it on your calendar and join us to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day!"

You will have to be a member of the board to play, but becoming a member is free, and super easy, and well worth it if you like nice people, challenges, and great scrapbook ideas.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Project Plant a Bulb

GE is doing this great project - during the month of april, they will plant one bulb for each unique visitor to their website - click HERE to help!

I didn't manage to get any pictures today (got pulled in too many other directions) so I'll have to post them later, but here are some of the things we do in the garden to help save money and decrease our plastic use.

My mom likes to start plants from seeds, and she uses the Jiffy pellets to start them out. Once they are big enough, she replants them into yogurt containers until they get big enough to go outside. (One additional tip - if you keep a fan running on them, the seedlings will be a lot stronger than if you don't.) My mom also saves other plastic or foam containers (from sour cream, cottage cheese, meat, mushrooms, etc) to use for seed beds. Works great, we don't have to pay anything extra for them, and they are reusable year after year.

We also save wide mouth glass and plastic jars from various sources to use as storage for the herbs we grow. Nothing better than making sauce with homegrown basil and oregano (My favorites are Spicy Globe Basil and greek oregano)

Paper can be shredded and used in the garden for mulch, as long as it isn't the shiny colored papers. We also lay out broken down cardboard boxes to help prevent weeds. Makes it a lot easier to keep the garden weed free.

On the scrappy end of things, I like to keep the flat part of plastic packaging to use on my pages - I can punch it or stamp it or layer it... the possibilities are endless. I also keep ribbons from things (I swiped the ribbons of a couple of the candy things the kids got for easter). Bread bag tags make a cute addition to pages too - I like to put rubons on mine to add a mini tag.

One other thing I like that we do... there is never any wasted food at my house. Even if the kids don't finish their dinners, it doesn't go to waste. We have chickens, who are MORE than happy to clean up any leftovers we may have. And we have the yummiest eggs around. There is no comparison between a home grown egg and a storebought egg. (Plus the amusement factor is amazing.. and the kids love having easter egg hunts every day! We have a variety of brown egg layers, plus Aracaunas and Marins, so our eggs come in brown, pink, green, blue, and chocolate.)

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Happy Earth Day, and a blog crop

Happy Earth Day everyone!
Earth Day makes me think of green and growing things, and recycling. Later, I'll have some pictures of the gardens and some of the ways we recycle things (have to get the pictures first! LOL)

Also wanted to let everyone know about the blog crop at Paper Trunk!
Here's all the details!

The crop begins Earth Day (April 22) and ends on National Scrapbook Day (May 2). Each day, a Trunk Designer will post a challenge right here on the blog. We hope you will be inspired, motivated, challenged, and excited to play along. Here is the "need to know" stuff:
Check the blog everyday for a new challenge! April 22-May 2, 2009.
When you complete a designer challenge, post your layout/project in the correct album:
Showcase
You do NOT need to use Paper Trunk products to play along...use what you've got and just have FUN!!!
To qualify for prizes, your projects need to be uploaded no later than May 2nd, National Scrapbook Day.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

WooHoo!

Savvy N Sassy has been having the Great Ribbon Rave contest - a 6 week challenge layout contest. Each challenge included a ribbon challenge as well, and the prizes to be given away were the fabulous SNS ribbon kits.
I didn't win the Grand prize (which was 1 ribbon kit a month for a whole year!) but I did win second place, which means I win 5 ribbon kits of my choice! woohoo!

I'll post the layouts later (once I get home), but here are the ribbon kits I chose.

Porcelain
Inspired by the Basic Grey line... now I just need to get the papers ;)

Lily Pads and Leapfrogs


Strawberry Shortcake

Picture Postcard

Vintage Christmas

I love the way they showcase the kits... I just wish all the embellishments came with them!

Can't wait til these arrive!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Diva Acrylic mini album

Made with the Clear Scraps Amy's Fashion Clear N Chip mixed pack mini album set.

This is really a mini mini-album, which made it a project that was done in just a few hours, including drying time.

Since paint takes a bit to dry, I tend to do all of my painting first. I like to use the Folk Art acrylic paints, especially the metallic ones - they have a shimmer to them that I just love. (this set includes pieces that I used for layouts too)
Most of the painted pieces for this album were chipboard. Some pieces were covered with cardstock, which is another thing I like to do ahead of time. I use Zip Dry to attach the patterned paper to the chipboard. Once dry, I use a technique I learned at a Basic Grey make and take - use a file to sand the paper at the edges of the chipboard - it eliminates the need to cut with a craft knife or scissors, and gives the sanding effect I love at the same time - which means I don't have to do the edges twice.
One of my favorite techniques to use on the acrylic is to emboss it with a cuttlebug folder, paint it, then wipe off the excess paint. I love how the paint stays in the embossed areas of the acrylic. This technique cannot be done on all acrylics though - the acrylic has to be soft enough to be embossed (acrylic from a home improvement store generally will not work for this).
Once the pages were all prepped, painted, sanded, and dry, I clipped them together and used the Bind It All to punch the binding holes. It was thick enough I had to do it in two sets. A lot of the mini albums I do come pre-punched for rings, but one of the nice things about the Clear N Chips is that you can make them any way you want to. Once the albums was bound together, I added the embellishments. The key things to remember when making acrylic albums arethe Peek A Boo Effect, and hide the adhesive. The Peek A Boo Effect means that you can see bits of the next page through it. I don't believe in covering every inch of an acrylic page - if you are going to do that, get a chipboard album. Covering up the acrylic defeats the purpose (and that's one of the reasons I like to mix chipboard and acrylic pages).
For the cover of this album, I punched a hole in the center with my crop-a-dile to put the brad through. The chipboard shoes cover the prongs on the back side. The DIVA letter stickers are Thickers from American Crafts. Sometimes I add extra adhesive (Zip Dry) to help them stay in place since the albums get handled a lot.

The next few pages were fun to do, and one of the things I like to do a lot of with my acrylics. It looks like the black frame is on the right hand photo.. but it isn't. There is an acrylic page between the two photos - and the rub on frame is on the acrylic page. That way, when the page is turned, it frames the photo on the other side. Sometimes this takes a bit of planning, and sometimes it is pretty easy (like with these two photos).
On the last page I used Thickers again, and left the back cover blank other than the paint. I always add the ribbon last, as I think thebindings look too plain without them. (And, for the ringed albums, I usually make all the pages before I bind them, so it's become a habit.)

Friday, April 3, 2009

HA! I was right! (And I'm not even into cars....)

I have been saying all along, that the truck Bella drives in the Twilight movie isn't the right truck. In the books, she drives a 53 Chevy with rounded fenders (So stated in New Moon - I'll tell you the page number when I get home ;) ) Every time I see the truck in the movie, it bugs me, because it isn't the right one (yeah, ok, so I'm a purist...)

So I'm perusing through Stephenie Meyer's website... And I find a page titled "The Cullen Cars", intended to show the cars (and motorcycles) that were portrayed in the books.



And look what I found! A picture of Bella's truck!


Bears a striking resemblence to Jones, dunnit?

LOL Guess I know what color he's going to be painted now, eh?

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Pic of Rowen


My brother just sent me these pictures of Rowen.. they are a little blurry as they were taken with his phone, but they are great nonetheless. Oh my gosh, what a darling! And that hair!