I. Want. These. NOW.

Ok, so y'all know how much I love my Crop-A-Diles. When working with acrylic, there is really NO comparison.

Well check THIS out - this is a new release this CHA from We R Memory Keepers, the fabulous makes of my beloved Crop-A-Diles.


I so cannot wait to my hands on one of these.. I have wanted a corner rounder for the acrylic for quite some time - have not wanted to get the Zutter ones (since I used them at CHA, and they hurt my hand, plus you have to buy two to get both corner sizes!) and haven't been able to get the Paper Gator either (a little pricier than I wanted, and not really something I would use to it's fullest extent). So I am VERY excited to see the Chompers! (And what a great name!).

I do not know how much they will market for - I will find a way to afford them!

Album winner

I haven't been online for a couple of days, so I apologize for not picking the winner sooner.

Random.org picked the winner - out of 23 posts.

Here is your sequence:
14
21
1
17
13
15
7
16
6
12
8
23
20
10
22
18
5
4
9
3
11
2
19
Timestamp: 2009-01-26 19:58:12 UTC

The winning number was 14 - which is Jingle! {dang, girl, go buy some lottery tickets!! LOL)

I'll be submitting both winners to Clear Scraps - they will be sending out the prizes after getting back from CHA. I am sure they are having a GREAT time.. wish I was there!

A new president, and my name in print!

I am not one to wax political.. most of my friends know politics are not my thing (especially since if you break it down - poly = many, tics = bloodsuckers).

But even I believe that today great change has come to our country. My kids are homeschooled, and I work in the evenings now, so today we sat and watched the inauguration of Barack Obama, our 44th president. President Obama has a great deal of hard work before him, and I sincerely hope he can live up to expectations. I thought his speech was great.

My kids did not seem to think it was such a big deal - but then they have seen many movies where the President was African American, so I am not sure they realize how far this country has come in the last 60 years, and how big of a deal this is.

No matter what people think of Obama, whether you voted for him or not, today is a huge historical event in this country. Congratulations, Mr. President, and good luck!

Something much less global, but rather important to me, happened today too. Well, not really, but I found it today anyway. After work tonight I stopped in at WalMart to pick up a few things. I was browsing the scrapbook magazines, and I picked up a copy of Scrapbooking and Beyond. Didn't really see that much that made me HAVE to have the magazine, and I was going to put it back... but I came across the book section on the last few pages. Hmn. That book's familiar. Cool, it's the Clear Scraps book! so I read the blurb... and found THIS:

How freaking cool is that?!

Ok, so it isn't one of my projects published in the magazine, but hey, this is the first time my NAME has been published in a national magazine, so I think that's pretty darned cool! Here is a closeup of the text..

So.. yeah.. I had to buy it. And I will probably scrap it. Heck, it'll probably get framed LOL.

happy girl mini album

I made this album using the Abbie's Love Clear N Chips set. I had painted the extra pieces and put them together, but went with different colors, so I will use them on a different project. So for this album I just used the pages, and alternate acrylic with chipboard, keeping the matching pieces together. {Most of the photos were taken before I added the ribbon - I knew the album would lay more flat and even that way - this little album turned out pretty thick - I had to replace the original rings I chose with larger ones!}

The cover is acrylic - and the only thing on it are the Thickers stickers. I do love those glittery letters! {I did use Zip Dry to adhere them for a little adhesive insurance.}

I just left the back of the cover blank, other than that small sticker in the corner. I didn't want to mess up the view from the front by trying to cover up the back.

All of the chipboard pieces were painted with either black {in which I mixed with the pearl Create A Shade paint from Close to My Heart} or Metallic red. Some of the pieces ended up with both colors. The black ones were inked with Tsukineko's Brilliance inks {the silver one} which created an AWESOME effect, and one I intend to repeat again. The red ones were inked with black. I covered one side of each chipboard piece with patterned paper {from the Bohemia line} which was sanded off, inked, and distressed.

I added a paisley rubon {also Bohemia} for background, but it doesn't show up well. Cornered and added the photo, then added the butterfly rubon {Bohemia}, flower stickers, and flower punch {Martha Stewart} . Metal asterisk sticker {Joanne's} and gems {Martha Stewart} finish off the page. {Incidentally... I used about 200 of those gems in this album!}

Left side is journaling - the longest bit in the book. Did it with those tiny Making Memories stickers that everyone has been using - it was a little tedious, but I love the effect. I used a small ink pad to ink over the edges {done after the stickers were placed - I didn't want to ink the one by one!}. Added the swirl rubon, stickers, and gems.

The right side is the heart shaped acrylic piece - Edges were inked with Stazon. Rhine stone swirl is from WalMart {yep, really}. Flower sticker, gem, word sticker, metal sticker. Simple little page, but it helps to accent the photo on the nect page. {I love how it looks like the flower is in her hair}

The back of the acrylic - I recreated the gem flourish with the MS mini gems - thank goodness they are self-adhesive. I have found an easier way to put them on - I used to use tweezers, but it was hard to get the gems off. So I have started using my paper piercer tool. Pick up the gem on the tip, set it where I want it, and hold the gem in place and twist the tool out from under it. It works really well!

For the chipboard heart page, I cut out around the photo, added the embellishment stickers, and added a leaf punch {Martha Stewart} under the flower sticker

Back of the heart page - love that red metallic paint! Cornered the photo and added it, applied the joy rubon {Deja Views}, flower and swirl stickers, leaf punches, and gems.

Acrylic page on the right - Added the rubon frame, flower stickers and gems, and punched the acrylic with my CropADile to add the ribbon. I love this ribbon. I had to go back to the LSS to get some more. {Took me forever to get a bow that nice though... I am bow-challenged!}

Back of the acrylic page - all I did for this one is apply more stickers and gems.

fun page - photo was cornered and applied. Added the flower sticker and leaf punches, fun {Thickers}, and the swirl rubons. {This page really shows the cool effect of the Brilliance ink over the black paint.}

Another simple page - covered with paper, inked and sanded. Penwork around the edge (the dot-dot-dash pattern}. Love stickers, red gems

Butterfly acrylic piece - Has only 2 stickers {the bird and the dimensional LOVE} and a frame rubon from Hambly.

I love this epoxy bird sticker - it makes me think of Jack Sparrow. I was disappointed when I saw it was broken in the package, but I think it's barely visible on the page.

Back of the acrylic - Paper flowers from the Paper Studio, brad from Basic Grey Urban Prairie set {Thanks to Kim, my secret santa from AMR!}, and a metal and epoxy sticker from the dollar store.

Chipboard butterfly page - cornered and applied photo. Added the Cheris sticker tag, flower stickers, and gems. Tied the ribbon onto the tag because it looked bare without it. Added the heart pin - it goes through the foam dot holding the word cherish to the tag. The butterfly punches were made the the Martha Stewart punch out of Wild Asparagus paper. The middle buttfly is actually two punches put together, but the dimension doesn't show well in this photo.

The back of the butterfly chipboard page - Another simple one - an all over photo, rubon letters and sirls, and a gem {for the dot on the i}

Rectangular acrylic page - Epoxy stickers, Basic Grey rubons, flower stickers and a gem. Also, I punched through with the CropADile and added to ribbons to the edge.

Back of the rectangle acrylic - More epoxy tiles, more flower stickers and another gem - essentially the previous page in reverse.

The chipboard page - Added the photo, applied the glittered flower stickers under the epoxy stickers from the previous page. Added the leaf punches, epoxy flower, gem, and rubon letters.

Back of the chipboard piece - cornered the photo. Added the flower stickers underneath where the corners would be before applying the photo. Added epoxy flower stickers on top of that, and applied gems to the center holes in the flowers. The swirl is a rubon. The Giggle piece is a sticker from Making Memories that I inked and put popdot under before applying it. Added another gem to the dot above the i.

The last acrylic piece - when working on these pages, I actually did them at the same time. I love putting frames on the acrylic pieces, but I want them to showcase things on both pages {the Peekaboo Effect}. So I worked a bit with the placement of the Hambly frame and photos until I got it where I wanted it. Added plain flower stickers with 3 dimensional stickers on top, to make up the lower curve of flowers. The upper curve of flowers are just the 3d stickers, with gems added to the 2 smaller ones {the larger ones have bead centers}. Edges of the acrylic piece were inked with StazOn.

repeated the flowers again on the back. Some of the white shows through from the front, but it looks ok, was done on purpose. 3 gems added on this page.

The chipboard piece was inked and sanded. The photo was cornered on one side, then applied to the page. The sweet sticker was inked and raised up with popdots. The chipboard heart came from a set, and the love sticker is from making memories. {it is flocked - love the texture!} Added all the flower stickers and gems to make a frame. {I hate that my daughter looks like a boy in this photo - she had gone behind the barn a month or so before this picture was taken and came out with a matted burr hairdo - and we had to shave it off. I don't know who was more traumatized}.

The back of the album isn't shown, as I have written name, address, and other identifying information for the trip to CHA. But is is a really simple back - painted and inked, with the info written in marker.

I think it took me {not including drying time} about 9 or 10 hours to finish this album, split up into 3 or 4 sittings.

Don't forget to leave a comment on THIS POST for the RAK - comments to today's mini album post will not be included!

blog candy

came across this awesome RAK the other day -

My Creative Cafe is giving away their new release AccuCut dies! That's $150 worth of dies! Awesome!

My favorite is the album pages set - so much fun!

Check it out!

A layout, 2 minis, a puppy and another RAK

More with the Clear N Chips... this set is called Ace-A-Roo, and has larger truck shapes along with arrows, sign shapes and the words "all boy", cut in both chipboard and acrylic. The chip arrows have the centers cut out, while the acrylic arrows are whole. Makes for some interesting effects - would be neat to put the arrows together the same way I did when I made the sunglasses.

Here is my latest layout.. Uses a large shape and several smaller ones from one of the new Clear N Chips line - and the coolest part? you can staple through the acrylic! Check this out! These photos are of my nephew, who loves to play with matchbox cars and trucks. As soon as I saw the Ace-A-Roo set, I thought of these photos. Papers are from Basic Grey, chipboard letters are from Making Memories Noteworthy line, ink is StazOn {red} and Making Memories {black}, mileage chart is from an ephemera pack I got from SpaceDog Studios {she has a fabulous store on etsy}, letter stamps from PSX, and the white pen is from Signo. The canvas sticker {with boy on it} was made for My Mind's Eye by We3 Designs {it's something I have had for a long time - the copyright date on it is 2004!}. The staples are just regular staples from the grocery store.

This closeup shows the acrylic boy letters - I just stapled them over the "boy" on the canvas sticker - I wanted to create a layered effect. I didn't think about inking them until after the were stapled, so they are plain {LOL}. This photo also shows one of the acrylic arrows.

The other acrylic arrow
This mini album was made using the rest of the set - the chipboard truck pieces were painted. Once they were dry, I inked the edges using a black inkpad. I love how textured it looks, though it is difficult to see in these photos. The letter stickers are Thickers - all vinal, all the same font {except the red one}. The "colors" letters are on the painted chipboard, the rest are all on the acrylic pieces.

I'll showcase most of this album in another post {because otherwise this one will be horribly long}. I used the Abbie's Love Clear N Chip set for this one. I only used the page pieces {I saved back the accent pieces for a layout}. I have a lot of fun making this little album, using a lot of smaller pictures of my daughter that I hadn't been able to use elsewhere {as they were too small for a regular layout}. This photo is slightly unfinished - I did put ribbons on the album before I gave it to Jackie and Janet for CHA.

Side view - this album turned out pretty thick - I had to change the size of the rings I had put the pages on. I also went through 2 entire packages of the Martha Stewart mini gems - each of which has 60 gems!

Took a bit of a break this weekend - too cold to scrap, and Mom needed me to take her to Oklahoma. So we drove down there on Friday, spent the night in Siloam Springs, AR, and drove to Westville, OK on Saturday morning. The reason? Ford's Maggie Rose, an English Shepherd, working collie. {See her parents HERE, on Burl's litter page linked from the English Shepherd website} She is so beautiful. She traveled very well - 11 hours in the car, and not one accident, no throwing up, no whining, and she stayed very nicely on the back seat with my daughter for most of the trip. And she is so smart - after being here for just one day, she has learned to go up and down the stairs, not to potty in her kennel, and which toys are hers. She has "met" the other dogs {except Ali, who I haven't picked up from work yet}, the cats, the turkeys, and the rams. It will be interesting to see how quickly she learns to work around the other animals. Another interesting thing about her is that she is the niece to my mom's previous English Shepherd, Holly {who is the subject of my original acrylic album}. Maggie's dad Buddy was on of Holly's littermates. We expect great things from this little girl.

And another RAK - Post a comment here, to be entered into the random drawing for a new release Clear Scraps acrylic album.

Clear Scraps RAK winner (#1)

The winner of the RAK posted the other day is commentor #18 - ANN {Ladies check out Ann's blog for some fabulous cards!!}

Congratulations! I will need your mailing information to give to the gals at Clear Scraps so they can send out the RAK.

Later, I will post another mini using a different Clear N Chips set, as well as the finished Pink Sunglasses layout, and a new layout using parts from a third Clear N Chips set.

Oh, yeah... and possibly another RAK from Clear Scraps!

Clear Scraps new releases and RAK

Haven't had much time for blogging lately - new schedule at work, and trying to get things done for Clear Scraps despite having less time to play.

So here are some of the things I have done.. I have more in the works.

I was really excited when I went into the store and Janet showed me the Clear Scraps atc's! As most of my friends know, I love making these little works of art. They are SO much fun. Each atc pack includes 6 cards... and here is what I did with mine!

This card uses magic mesh, heidi grace heart brad, lace, making memories swak sticker, and heart floral pin. Colored with StazOn ink.

This card was embossed with the Cuttlebug. The red sticker is from Hambly - it was actually applied before the card was embossed. The embossed areas were colored in with Copic Markers. The love stamp was also done with the Cuttlebug on Coredinations paper, which was sanded.

To make this card, I applied three mini heart masks (Heidi Swapp), then colored with StazOn ink. Once it was dry, I removed the masks. The lips and letters are stickers from American Crafts.

This card was colored with Copic Markers using the Copic airbrushing system (which was SOOO much fun!). It was so easy to switch colors, and the black doesn't affect the red marker at all, plus it dries really fast! The "sweet" rubon is from We R Memory Keepers - yoiu apply the rub on, then the flocking - it was not easy to do, but it is pretty neat. The ribbon is from my stash.

The circles on this card and the cupcake sticker were cut from American Crafts paper. I added the ribbon (from Offray) to the sticker. Circle edges were distressed. Rubons from Making Memories.

I stamped the image on this card with StazOn ink. I applied the magic mesh to the inked side to help protect the image. Edges were inked with StazOn. Rubons from Making Memories. Flowers and mini brads from Heidi Grace.

This candy holder was made using the new Clear Scraps banner pieces. I applied one of Tim's masks, and colored with using the Copic air brushing tool. I punched the sides using the Bind-It-All, and stitched the pieces together using Offray ribbons. Added the love rubons and chipboard pieces (from Scrapworks) using Zip Dry. Then I dropped it off at the store. Naturally, I forgot to get a photo of the finished product (Janet sent me this one). The ribbons on the bottom extend for about 12 inches, and in them I tied a variety of plastic hearts (from American crafts), chipboard hearts (from Scrapworks) and acrylic keys (made from Clear Scraps acrylic). {This was the first thing I thought of when I saw the new banner pieces. Now I just have to see if I can figure out how to clean the Copic marker off the mask}.

This mini album was made from the new Clear and Chip line - this one is from Amy's Fashion. The Clear and Chip sets include both a sheet of acrylic, and a sheet of chipboard.

I made this little album first.. the acrylic was embossed with the cuttlebug, then painted on the inside. Most of the paint was wiped away, leaving paint only in the recessed areas. This mini album was bound using the Bind It All. The shoes on the second page are also from the set. Letter stickers are from Thickers.

There is an acrylic page between the two photo pages. The frame is a rub on from Hambly

This card was made using one of the chipboard pieces from the set. It was embossed with the Cuttlebug, painted with metallic pink paint, the raised areas were sanded, then inked with Tim's Distress inks.

The sunglasses on this layout were also from the set. The coolest thing about them is the acrylic is not cut quite the same as the chipboard... so the chipboard frames sit quite nicely on the acrylic. The acrylic pieces were colored with StazOn (saddle brown), and the frames painted with the metallic pink paint. Once they were dry, I glued them together with Zip Dry. {I'll post the whole layout once the journaling is done}.

Post here if you would be interested in winning a Clear and Chips set!

Oh, and if you are looking for some awesome challenges, check out the crop challenges at AMR! I wish I could have played more at the crop this weekend.