New Photo Needed!

Creative with Stamps Intro...HERE

I love this photo of me and its probably about five years or more ago.  I really tried to take a more recent photo, but none of them look as good as this one.  LOL.

I'll work on it!  Anyhow, click on over and join the monthly challenges.  It's always good to be inspired by others and challenges are so good to get your mojo going if you're ever in a funk.

Two Page Layout - Stick It Down!

I cranked out this multi-photo layout last night.  I used the two page sketch on the Stick It Down challenge site.


Here's the sketch:

And here's my layout:

We took so many photos during my mother-in-law's memorial service.  Unfortunately, this seems to be the only time family and long time friends get together anymore. But so far this year, we had another gathering for my sister-in-law's 60th birthday and then there's Kevin's wedding in July. 

The flower stamp (white flowers) that was used coordinates so perfectly with this paper so I knew I had to use it.  I added blue gems on the flower centers and throughout the layout.  The paper I used is from a pad that was gifted to me for Mother's Day last year.  I believe it's from Walmart.

I stumbled across the Stick It Down challenge site and I really like it.  They feature three different sketches/challenges per month - one page sketch, two page sketch and a card sketch.  Click on over to check them out.  Stick It Down

WOYWW # 408

Hello my WOYWW peeps!  I missed last week - just being lazy - but was still able to peek into some craft spaces and leave some comments.
So...here's my desk.  Pretty clean I'd say.

I've been making stuff but really, really trying to clean up after I'm done with projects.  Last weekend, I cut a ton of stuff on the Cricut.  I'm creating embellishments for my son's (upcoming) wedding album and know it'll be easier to put together if these type of things are done before starting the layouts.  I'm really looking forward to putting it together.

Some photos of the Cricut cuts:

On Monday, I hung out with my sister and we pulled out the wedding album I made for her.  She had a beach wedding in 2009 - lots of shades of blue.  So pretty!

So, what is WOYWW?  Click on over to STAMPING GROUND and read all about it.  You'll see lots of linkers who are showing off their work desks too.  Take a peek.  It's a lot of fun.  I promise you'll be inspired.

Cutting + Braiding + Sewing = Colorful Fun Rug

Carly's been asking for a t-shirt quilt since forever.  In December, I thought I would try to actually surprise her for Christmas.  I cut her designated shirts into squares but that's about as far as I got.  I cut the remaining pieces of the shirts into strips to make t-shirt yarn.  I pinned some things on Pinterest that I thought I'd make with the yarn, but you know how that goes.
 
Well, during the NFL playoffs & a couple of long road trips, I decided to braid the strips together to form one really long braid. So pretty and colorful!  (There are so many videos and instruction sites on Pinterest and Youtube on how to do this.)

So now that it's March Madness and our house is one basketball game after another, I decided to start sewing the braids into a rug.  I didn't want to lug the sewing machine down so I decided to hand sew.  Geez...when was the last time I've hand sewn anything?  But this is an easy project and perfection is not needed.

Who knew that "watching sports" translates to "craft time" in my dictionary?

Hints:
When sewing the braids together at the curves, but sure that the connecting braids are close but not too tight.  If you sew them too tight, it causes the "rug" to buckle.  You want it to lay flat to the ground.

BTW, Carly's birthday is in August, maybe I'll complete the t-shirt quilt by then?  If not, at least I can tell her the rug is made of her shirts.  LOL

Creating a Bio

The hard part of being on a Design Team is coming up with a bio.  Here's mine from the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog.  Click FCCB to read the bio.  And while you're there, check out the current challenge.  If you're looking for reasons to use your Cricut, this is a great place to be inspired.


Click HERE to get to the home page and view the current challenge.  Chirp on!


BTW, love this photo of me.  The cardigan I'm wearing gives me a faux hourglass figure that is so NOT mine...but I'll take it!  The top I'm wearing is one of my designs from VIDA.  Check out my shop at VIDA.

FCCB #297 Anything Goes

Hello there!  Time for another Cricut project for the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog (FCCB) site! Challenge #297 is Anything Goes and is sponsored by Dreaming Tree.  Join the challenge this week for a chance to win a $20 gift certificate from the sponsor.

Dreaming Tree SVG's

To qualify for the prize, be sure to use at least 1 Cricut cut on your project and if it's not obvious, let us know what cartridge you used. If you use a Cricut Explore machine, at least one cut must be from the Cricut catalog of images.

If it isn't a card, you will get two entries into the drawing!

It was a perfect challenge this week since I was commissioned to make a canvas for a coworker's future granddaughter.  Although I cut and rolled sixty 3.5" flower spirals from the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge (CTMH exclusive), I only used 38 to complete the heart.  By using mostly paper scraps, this was a low cost project. (And I used up a lot of my stash!  Winning!)

I love these 3D flowers and they look so pretty shaped into a heart!  This is going to look great in the new baby girl's nursery.

Details:
I covered the canvas with pieces of green scrap papers.  Once dried, I scraped some white gesso all over the top using the side of a plastic credit card.  I put a light coat since I wanted the patterned papers to show through, but just tone/even it a bit.  I added green acrylic paint, black & white splatter, pieces of an inked doily (this was a happy accident - I wanted to use it as a stencil, but a piece of got stuck to the canvas so I purposely adhered a couple more to give it balance), bubble wrap marks and a script stamp.  Once dried, I adhered the flowers into a heart shape using Aleene's Tacky Glue.  To finish, I used a fine point BIC pen to sketch around the heart and add some marks.

Click on over to the FCCB challenge site.   Be inspired by the DT projects as well as the other linkers and then join the fun!

Cartridge Used:
Art Philosophy (CTMH)  I checked the CTMH website and this is no longer offered as part of their catalog.  This is a great cartridge and a must own.  If you can get your hands on one, I'd highly recommend purchasing.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today is my parents' wedding anniversary.  They would have been married 55 years!  I decided to have a raffle today for my coworkers.  I bought a Lucky bracelet from Avon and thought it was perfect for this holiday.  I love to hold raffles every now and then with my coworkers.  They are my biggest customers and love my work.

I used the Simply Charmed cartridge to cut this cute leprechaun!  I love how he's doing a little jig!  I cut him at 3".  The tag base was made using some scraps that were laying around on my desk.  While I was organizing/cleaning the Command Center, I found these paper clips I did for a swap years ago.  I almost threw them away but I thought I might use them for this holiday.  And I think it looks super cute on the corner of this tag!

The Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog (FCCB) challenge this week is St. Patrick's Day so I thought I'd join the link!  There's only a few days left of this challenge.  Click on over to join the fun!

Scrap It In a Song

When I saw the Pop Song challenge on Scrap It With A Song blog site, I knew I would finally work on the photos taken during my Mother-in-Law's Celebration of Life.  The song is "Emotions" by Mariah Carey.  There was a lot of different emotions throughout the day. Maybe not the type Mariah had in mind, but it was an emotional day.

I also use a sketch from splitcoaststampers.com.  The sketch is pretty simple and worked perfectly for the two family group photos.

The Sketch:

My Layout:

I love how the flower stamps coordinate perfectly with the patterned paper. That's a happy accident!  I was going to color them in but thought they would make a bigger impact keeping them black/white against that beautiful colorful background.  I hope you agree.

Challenge Sites:
Scrap It With A Song

WOYWW & The Command Center Unveiling

Happy Wednesday & Happy WOYWW!  If you follow my blog, you know the Command Center organization/re-do all started with the closet. There is definitely more to do, but for now, we are really happy with the openness, new shelves and future possibilities with our room.

So without further ado, here are some before & after shots:

BEFORE; CARLY'S SIDE

AFTER; CARLY'S SIDE

BEFORE

AFTER W/WALL SHELVES

BEFORE; MY SIDE

AFTER; MY SIDE

Ok, I know you're thinking the table tops don't look much different - I am trying to get a feel for which organizers I need close to me and which ones I don't.  I did get rid of a huge mess behind the Cricut and in the organizers themselves.

And the closet:

BEFORE; RIGHT SIDE

AFTER; RIGHT SIDE

BEFORE; LEFT SIDE

AFTER; LEFT SIDE

I can't believe with all the stuff we tossed/gave away, we still have a lot of supplies!  But I no longer feel like it's a safety hazard walking in here.  Give us time, you know we all get there, but right now (for the most part) there's a place for everything and we LOVE IT!

Now to put away our stash from the Expo & we're all good!

Click on over to STAMPING GROUND to peek or link to the latest WOYWW posts.  On Wednesdays many of us link a photo of our work areas and then peek into other rooms/desks of fellow crafters.  It's a great way to share projects, ideas, news, etc., with new found friends.  Enjoy!

Deck the Halls & Stick It Down!

I love using sketches as a starting point for my layouts.  I saw this sketch on Stick It Down sketch challenge site and thought I have some photos for that!
This month's single page sketch:

And here's my layout.  I know these photos are horrible and one day I'll be able to take a good inside photo, but for now, the memory is more important than the quality of the photos.

Although we use this small 3' tree for Christmas now, it was still too high for LeAnna to decorate so we took it down off the table & it was just her size.  I love picking out the ornaments since many are either handmade or purchased for a particular memory.  I'm sad to say I broke our vintage Golden State Warriors ornament.  BOO!


I stumbled upon this site and I'm glad I did.  They have a double layout sketch, single page and card sketch each month.  Click HERE to get to the challenge site and join the fun!

We R Memory Keepers Typewriter

One of the cool things about attending a Crop is they usually have tools that the croppers can use.  When Carly & I attended the Expo Crop, they had a typewriter.  You know they are all the rage and I was so happy to see it there and use it...until I used it.


Ok, I get that we want it to look vintage but oh my, remember way back in the day when you had to push the keys so hard in order for the letters to get on your page?  Well, that's how I felt with this typewriter.  It was easier to peck at the keys with one finger at a time instead of your normal typing.  Also, that hand crank at the end of each line - I forgot how much I appreciate an automatic typewriter. 

But, besides all that, the look is pretty cool and of course all those beautiful colors they come in.  HA HA HA  Yeah, we'll all suckers for pretty!


Here's the layout I made with the typed journal spot and a close up of the typing (I just realized that I typed 2017 instead of 2016.  Dang it!).


Every year, our town's Fire Department escorts Santa around the town.  Christmas music is played so you can hear them coming.  Santa sits on top of the truck and all his helpers run/walk around.  Santa's helpers gather toys & food from us and hand out candy canes to the kiddos.  This is by far, my absolute favorite event & love that our town still does it. 
The featured photo of LeAnna with Gracie (dog) has got to be one of my favorite photos of all time.  Carly took it but I had to have a copy!

Perfect "Waiting for Santa" photo!

Paint Nite

Yes, I know how to spell "night", but the company is actually called Paint Nite.  My coworkers organized a fundraiser.  There were a total of 45 people who participated and we had a blast!


I must be honest, I did not really like the featured painting so when I finished and didn't like it, I wasn't too hard on myself.  LOL  But I'm still hanging it somewhere in the Command Center.  In fact, don't be surprised if it changes a lot they next time you see it. (maybe a little less creepy...)


Here are some photos:

And mine:

For those who don't know what Paint Nite is all about, basically it's the newest thing for people to have some food & drinks and take part of a painting lesson.  It's very basic and a lot of fun.  I mean, you're not going to create a masterpiece but it's the idea of doing something different with your buddies.  It costs about $30 for all your painting supplies and the instructor.  Food & drinks are separate.  Not a bad deal!  Check out their website.






If you're already a follower of mine, you know that we've been working on re-doing/organizing the Command Center.  We are pretty much done just making some last minute moves.  I'll post before and after photos next week. 


Have an awesome week!

WOYWW #405

Happy Wednesday!
We're in the final stages of the Command Center re-do!  There is still stuff to be done but please stay tuned for the before & after photos.

I did get a chance to spend some crafting time in there this week.  I'm putting the finishing touches on some layouts I started while at the Expo Crop this past weekend.  Here's a shot of my desk and the Christmas Eve layout I'm working on.

Oh my goodness, I almost forgot to tell you what happened during the crop:  So...I have these teal/gray/red totally modern patterned Christmas papers that I purchased a couple of years ago.  Well I was determined to use them with this year's Christmas photos.  As with every crop, I put together "page kits" for my photos.  For this page kit, I really struggled because of the odd colors but did manage to pull some things together (mostly paper).  Hold on...this is the exciting part...when you sign up for the crop you get your choice of a free scrapbooking kit.  One of the choices was patterned paper and all kinds of embellishments for this particular paper line!  WHAT!?!  I practically squealed!  The great thing is the papers in this kit are different from the ones I already own and are complement pages.  So exciting! The pages on the right & top are my original papers and everything on the left were from the crop kit.

Isn't it cute?  I can't wait to put these pages together!

Now, click on over to the Stamping Ground blog to check out work desks from all the world.  Seriously the world!  I love touring all the blogs and seeing all the lovely projects people are working on.  Take time to leave a comment or two - everyone loves to hear from fellow crafters.

Remember to come back for the final unveiling of the new Command Center.  HA HA HA  I'm making it sound like it's incredible...it's still our humble craft room, but we love it!

Another Successful Stamp & Scrapbook Expo

This weekend was our local Stamp & Scrapbook Expo and Crop.  This year my sister came with us (it's her birthday weekend) and I took one workshop. 

The class was Advanced Layering Background 2.  I took the first one last year and I really liked it.  Honestly, I've seen many videos and am already doing some of this type of stuff, but it's still nice to participate in a hands-on workshop & get tips and techniques from an expert.

We used the Ranger's Distress Ink Pads which I haven't played with before.  I can see why they are all the rage.  Plus the two cards we made are super cute!  I loved how the backgrounds look & am looking forward to playing more with my backgrounds.

Photos:

Selfie of me and Carly.

The (sort of) finished cards & free stamps and stencil from the workshop

My Expo Haul

I completed five single layouts and started six pocket pages/layouts.
Successful!

WOYWW #404

Geez, I can't believe it's another Wednesday already. 

The Command Center organization project is coming along just fine.  Many people commented that I'd find things I forgot I had and boy were they right!  Some items were so old they were some of my first scrapbooking buys - a lot of partially used stickers and other random embellishments - too many "junk" items that I kept to upcycle - more than I expected of unfinished mini albums and much more.  I'm gonna tell you, I tossed out a lot!  (I also donated a lot to our school district.)

When we were first furnishing the Command Center, I accepted lots of hand-me-downs and random storage containers to hold my supplies.  I'm happy to say, I'm getting rid of a lot of those ugly things!  We have decided that not everything is going to be stored in a perfect place.  After all, it is a craft room that we use on a regular basis.  We're always going to have half finished projects on the floor and on our work areas and THAT'S OK.

We want to make this a place we can be creative in - enjoy hanging out in - and one that reflects our fun creative sides. As you can see, it's coming along!

Some photos:

Closet is done now for the rest of the room.

Now, what is WOYWW?  Every Wednesday a bunch of us go to Julia's blog at the Stamping-Ground and link posts of our work areas and current projects.  You'll read a little about our lives too!  It's a fun and inspiring way to visit crafty friends on a regular basis and pick up some inspiration.  Click on over and join the fun!