My New Monthly Memory Challenge

Hello all!  With the very unexpected death recently of my beautiful mother, I have realized many things.  First off, scrapbooking should be relaxing and fun because it is the details in life that are important.  I also realized that unfortunately many of these details have been forgotten.  So I was inspired by a recent layout in a Scrapbooks Etc.  "Moments I love in February,"  to capture those details and share them with my kids for the future.

I really don't have time (or the desire) to journal nightly, however first off, I could easily snap a photo of a memory several times a month and also write down some of those details on a sheet of paper to make a double page, 12 x 12 layout for each month.  One page will hold the photos.  The other, the memories.  They may include a funny quote, a special moment, an unexpected treat, a sweet snapshot of the kids or a relative, etc.  The second part of this challenge is to have at least one photo of me on each layout as I was disappointed that I didn't have more of my mother.  The third part of this challenge will be that all memories will be recorded in my own handwriting to share in the future.

So first off, I downloaded a 1/2 sheet birthday calendar to document some memories.  I likely won't have one each day but I should be able to jot down the memories and keep it in my purse to add to it whenever needed.  Then when January rolls around, snap, snap, snap.  Check back often to see the results.

My New Little Addiction

I have found a few ETSY stores lately selling these cute little handmade clay button kits - a little pricey and I decided to try my hand at making a few.  I just couldn't resist making a few little kits.  Check out the new ones that I added below.

Make sure to check out my shop!  There is always a little link at the right!  I will always customize kits too.  TFL!

F is for Frame

Ok so yes . . . I skipped E.  I have been stuck for a while on E and can't seem to decide what to alter for E so I skipped it and went on to F!  This is a frame that I made for my parent's anniversary.  The frame was a gift from my new Sister in law and Brother in law. 

I painted the frame, added tons of mists, accent paints, distress inks, etc.  Then I made some "metal flowers" using a tutorial from Miss Art's Papercrafting classes!  They were so easy to make!  They are made of foil duct work tape and cardstock (and lots of embossing and painting.)  They are very sturdy and I reinforced them with Glossy Accents.  I also used some dimensional paste to make some branches and a doily flower along with lots of other embellishments!

If you haven't check out Miss Art's Papercrafting website, it is a must!  For $15.00, each month, I learn TONS of basic and advanced scrapbooking techniques!  There is something for everyone and the video tutorials and examples are awesome!  Classes this month - so far include - classes on mists, journaling, and scrapbooking milestones with tons more to come!

7 Ways - Use those labels, journaling spots, and doodads and Giveaway!

I think that we all have tons of those extra labels, journaling spots, and cardstock doodads leftover from kits that we just can't seem to toss - and why would we???  They are amazing and even though you may not have a lot of the original kit that they came with leftover, we can still put them to creative use.  So without further ado:

**First, I needed to organize my items!  I have tons of these little items floating and it is so hard to find anything unless they are organized in some way.  So I purchased a set of drawers from Walmart, taped a color to the front of each drawer, and organized all of my spots here!

1.  Use those spots to create a unique scalloped border like I did here!  Then I highlighted the border with white puffy paint.

2.  I use journaling spots here on this spinner card to take a die cut from The Shinta Shop and transform it into this cute little embellishment for my card.

3.  Then use the extras to embellish the envelope to match the card!!!

4.  Here is used some (really) old journaling spots from Heidi Swapp and snipped them to the center.  Then I used glue dots to overlap where I snipped to give it a bit of dimension.  I attached them to one large glue dot and added a Prima and a cute little duck button, to create this unique little flower.

5.  Next I used some circular journaling spots to create a visual triangle by placing them behind three little fussy cut owls that were glossed and popped off the layout.

6.  Here, I trimmed the journaling spots in half and sewed them around the edge of the layout for a really cute little border.

7.  And finally, cut the labels in half and use them for tabs for your photos, file folders, etc.

Do you have some unique ways to use journaling spots???  Add your ideas in the comments and I will randomly pick a winner for a surprise goody bag in my next 7 Ways post!

Purple Pumpkin Giveaway!

 Purple Pumpkin is giving away another sweet set for August!  Entry is simple!!!  Just be a follower of their blog, post on your blog with a link about their giveaway and comment on their blog.  Way easy and WAY cute!  Check it out here!

Sketch Contest at Purple Pumpkin

Over at the Purple Pumpkin, they are running a sketch contest with this adorable one photo sketch! 

And each person that submits by July 22nd gets a free pack of their amazing buttons.  Can't complain about that!!!  Here is my submission.  Of course it is of my daughter and her curse of the Gohl curls!  Poor child went to bed with wet hair.  Not smart in our family!!!  :)

TFL!!

Puffy Paint Technique

I loved the pictures of my niece playing with the blue ball at our house and I wanted to create a unique embellishment to add to the page.  So I pulled some round chipboard Lil Davis Designs numbers (yep they are old) and decided to cover them with paint.  Oops - no white paint left!  So I pulled out the puffy paint.  On a tray, I squirted a big blob of puffy paint and added some blue MM paint and swirled it a bit.  Then I dipped and dried.  It created a marbeled effect which was glossy just like the ball.  It took a while to dry but the results matched really well.

You could do this with any chipboard letters or shapes.  Swirls of blue and green to mimic the water, a mixture of variants of red, orange, and yellow to mimic fire etc.  Try it out!

This layout was created for a sketch challenge at For the Love of Sketches!  This is an amazing sketch site with great prizes!  Check it out!

7 Ways to Use your Paper Scraps

Hello everyone again!  Summer is really flying by and scrappy time seems harder and harder to get but I keep trying!  For today's installment of 7 ways, I am going to show you my favorite ways to use my paper scraps.

I organize my scraps in two ways.  Larger scraps go into a set of Rubbermaid drawers and the smaller ones - well most of them - go into an accordion file that I found on clearance from Paper Studios.  The problem is that I can only fit some of my scraps into the file.  I still have yet to go through the greens and neutral colors.  So OBVIOUSLY, I need to use up my scraps.  Here are a few ideas!

1.  Pick smaller scraps of the same color and shade and layer them for a background!  Here I did that behind the photos and made them a bit more cohesive by adding gems to them!

2.  Take your scraps and punch a bunch of tags.  Then set them next to each other for a cute border/trim idea!

3.  Take the scraps and make cute little journaling cards.  These would be perfect for a layout, postcard, travel journal, or any card!

4.  Stamp and cut some journaling spots for layering on a card or layout later! I love doing this in front of the TV!

5.  One of my favorite technique - paper or stamp piece!  I also used scraps for the borders, letters (I glued to chipboard first), and all the die cuts!

6.  Of course - the go to idea - use the scraps on a card or two like I did with the scraps from the Butterbeer layout!

7.  And finally, those long strips of leftover paper, punch a bunch of trims using your favorite border punches and scissors and save them in a file for later.  Here, I punched 3 flower trims and used them to anchor my layout.  They were of course just leftover cardstock!

Here I layered those strips of paper or trims to create a unique background paper!  This idea came from one of the awesome ideas at Cookin' Up Creations in their Blue Plate Specials!

I hope that you enjoyed some of my ideas!  Check back next week when we alter and use up some of those Prima flowers!!!

7 Ways to use Twine

For this week's 7 Ways, I decided to use twine in some unique ways!

1.  Here is used twine to mimic the sun's rays and guide the viewer's eyes through the layout!

2.  Then I used twine to write a word from my title.  I used glossy accents to write the word first and then added the twine over top:

3.  I used it to add interest by tying up a piece of patterned paper and anchor a button.

4.  I used it to create a handmade banner!

5.  I covered a button with twine:

6.  I weaved it through some eyelets to create a unique trim!

7.  And finally here, I used it to wrap some chipboard letters  and a chipboard shape to create unique embellishments that reminded me of a Mexican blanket for my Mexican layout:

7 Ways to Use Up Thickers and Letter Stickers

For this week's 7 ways, I decided to show you seven (ok maybe 8 by the time we are finished) ways to use up those extra Thickers and Alpha Stickers that everyone has lying around.  So without further ado:

1.  Txt Tlk - Create a title using text talk - eliminating vowels when necessary!

2.  Mix it Up - Mix all those letters and fonts that you have:

3.  Substitute letters - flip a u for an n, a p for a d, q for a b, etc.

4.  Substitute numbers for words - 2 for to, 4 for four, etc.

5.  Fill in the missing letters with Stencil letters:

6.  Substitute pictures for letters - sunglasses for OO's in Pool, Oreo Cookies for O's:

Extra:  Did you notice that the R is really a P with part of a K attached?  I will sometimes cut apart other, less used letters to make another.

7.  Combine similar colors of letters or Thickers:

Hope that you enjoyed my second edition of 7 ways!  Now go scrap some leftovers!

7 Ways - Ribbon

With everyone's scrapping budget dwindling lately - including mine, I thought that it would be best to try to use up those scraps in unique ways so I thought that I would start posting a 7 ways to use your scraps series.  Today, I will start with ribbon.  While there are many ways to use ribbon, I am focusing on ribbon scraps - those smaller pieces that can still enhance my projects.  Here are 7 ways to use up those scraps:


1.  Make a colorful fringe:

2.  Make a funky flower!  I layered the scraps on a circle and then topped with a Prima, button, and piece of ribbon.

3.  Layer them horizontally or vertically to create a piece of background "paper."

4.  Cut the scraps into small pieces to create a mosaic:

5.  Sew a strip of scraps together to make a unique pieced trim!

6.  Layer the ribbons on top of each other to make them pop!

7.  Embellish a handmade gift tag!

I hope that you enjoyedmy seven ways to use ribbon scraps.  Check back for next week's 7 ways to use up your letter stickers/rub-ons/Thickers!

Crop Layouts

For my birthday a week ago, my kids and husband paid for my entry to a crop at the Forget-Me-Not Shoppe.  I am not a very quick scrapper but I did manage 5 layouts in around 8 hours and had tons of fun.  So here are a few random layouts.