Spring Cleaning

Blogging isn't the only thing I have been falling behind in. I can't even remember the last time I scrapbooked anything. I am hoping to get everything pulled out of my scrapbooking area in the loft, organize it somehow (and still be easy to get to) and get rid (or sell) the desk. I want to make myself a little, peaceful reading nook. I think it will be the perfect spot.

Somehow, posting this here will, maybe, make me more likely to actually follow through with it. lol :o)

Today, the 3 of us managed to get the van cleaned out, vaccumed and dusted. It looks so much better!!

Some of My Scrapbooking

I thought I would share some of my scrapbooking pages today. These are not necessarily my 'best' pages ;o), but still a couple of my favorites. :o)

This page is probably one of my first I ever did. While I'm not crazy about the hand written title, I really do think that this is the most commented on in the whole album. Everyone seems to like the picture in the bottom left corner. You may have to enlarge to see it, but Caleb's little footprints are too cute!


This is one of my faves too! It was the first layout that I 'paper tore' the pictures. That was a little scary. lol ;o) I had 'paper tore' paper before, but not pictures. I like the final results. I like snowflakes and so I decided to heat emboss the side border with silver embossing powder and my Stampin' Around Wheel. I'm not sure that this is one of Caleb's favorites though. He thinks the bottom left picture of him looks like a lawn ornament. lol!! :o)

All of the journaling I have done so far in his album, or as he calls it...'My Story' :o), has been in my own handwriting. Not the cutting edge of scrapbooking I know, but there is something about handwriting that makes it authentic. For me at least. I want him to look back on it and see my mark. Crooked lines, spelling mistakes, and all. ;o)

Sew Crafty Friday

It's Friday again, so that means it is 'Sew Crafty Friday' at Shereen's blog Stop on over and see what everyone is working on. If you are working on something crafty then join in the fun too. :o)



Little Sweetie wanted to make something crafty to share today too. :o) I have given him my 35mm camera, since I now have my digital. A few weeks ago he bought a film for it and took some pictures. So, while I was making my cards, he scrapbooked. ;o) These are pictures he took of his 'Maple Leafs' stuff in his room. (Wall border, poster & comforter)


I said, a while back, that I would share the process I use to make my cards. So today seemed like a good day. It's snowing here again. :o(

I use cardstock to make my cards. I like to have sort of an idea, of what I want to make, before I start. Once I have an idea I need to decide if I am going to cut the paper(8.5"x11") length-wise......


......or width-wise. To do this I use my Fiskars cutter. It will cut 12"x12" paper or smaller.


I am just realizing now that this picture didn't turn out quite the way I wanted it to. Oopsy. ;o) So depending on how I cut the paper, my card can open 3 different ways. The first card shown has a fold at the top. The second is folded on the left side, and the last is folded at the top.


I knew I wanted a red background for this design, so I cut the red cardstock into 4.25"x5.5" pieces. I needed to cut some white cardstock slightly smaller to place on the red background. I like to do it in steps instead of card by card. So, I do all the cutting first.


The next seep is to stamp a background onto the white cardstock. I used red ink and a 'speckle' design stamp. To make the ink a bit lighter, I stamped it in the ink and then onto scrap paper before stamping the cardstock.


Once the background was finished, I stamped a butterfly (full ink) in the center of it. To stamp the butterfly portions at the top and bottom, the stamp was inked, stamped on scrap paper and then on to the white background.


The completed background.


I use 'Stampin'Up!' 'Stampin' Scrub' to clean my stamps. This opens up and has 2 sides for cleaning. I spray one side with a cleaning solution and then I dry it on the other.


For the next step, I cut coordinating red ribbon to put across the front of the card. I taped the ends to the back using double-sided tape. Then I added more tape and centered it on the red background.


Once that step was completed, I cut white cardstock and stamped 'Happy Birthday' in red ink. I cut red cardstock to place behind it, and attached it (with double-sided tape) over the ribbon.


Then I attached the completed card fronts to the folded white cardstock I had cut out earlier. I stamped the back of the card with a stamp that says, "Hand stamped by" ,and added my name along with the month and year.

Ta dah and my 6 cards are finished. :o)

Tackle It Tuesday

This is my first 'Tackle It Tuesday' post. I decided to tackle my scrapbooking area because it really really needed it!! Since I've been working on a scrapbook album for my mom and also putting mini kits together for swaps, it didn't take long to get cluttered. I'm almost embarrassed to share. ;o)

I did find a couple of interesting things though.

Here are a few before pictures......

Wow! A very messy desk !!


A 3-drawer cart that is pretty much empty


Clutter!!!!


So, I went to work. I cleaned out the cardboard boxes that had my stamps & ink pads. I organized those things into the 3-drawer cart. I thought I would put some scrapbooking things in there too but, the stamps filled all 3 drawers. (Note to self : Don't buy anymore stamps!)

I cleaned all the bits of cardstock and put them in a folder so I can use those when I need just a little bit of paper. I put all of my cardstock and patterned paper away from the top of my desk. Paper is my weakness. I love all the new patterned papers. (Note to self: Don't buy anymore paper!)

I also gathered up my embellishments (brads, eyelets, stickers, rub-ons, etc) and organized those into containers and an accordion folder. With all of the stuff I found I shouldn't need to buy anything for a long while. I need to use it all up before I buy anything more. (Note to self: Don't buy anything else until you've used up what you have!)

Sooooooo after more than an hour at it and some garbage....


Here are the final results.....


I should be able to be more creative now with a clean desk. How long will it stay this way????


Ahhh. It looks so much better!


For more 'Tackle It Tuesdays' posts click here.

Look What I found....

Here are a couple of things I found while I was cleaning my scrapbooking area for Tackle it Tuesday.

This is one of the cards I made for Christmas 2003.


The inside of the card....


And I also found this quote........
"Success in life is finding the Will of God and doing it."
- Hudson Taylor

Sew Fun Fridays

Shereen is hosting 'Sew Fun Fridays' for sewing projects, and lucky for me, also other craft projects. I 'sew' wish I could sew. :o) But I seem to be better with tape, so I thought I would share the pages I am working on for my mom's birthday. The pages are pretty much finished. All I have to add is journaling and maybe a few more embellishments. Then I'll make more pages for her to add to her album.

Sorry, for the collage type photo, but I wanted to try to include all the pages I have for her album.





If you are working on a craft project, stop by Shereen's blog and add your link.

One of Those Days

Wow! It has been one of those days !! :o)

I am a church treasurer and I had an audit this morning. It went very well, but an audit on a Monday morning??? ;o) The auditor left just after noon time, and then we had to fly out the door to the doctor for my Little Sweetie's recheck appointment. The doctor listened to his lungs and ordered an xray. So what should have been a quick trip turned into 1 1/2 hours. I am glad that our doctor is thorough though. The doctor prescribed 5 more days of the antibiotics that he is taking. We go back Friday for another recheck.

Sooooo, my day went really really fast !! :o)

I want/need to make a scrapbook for my mom for her birthday which is next week. All of my other days are looking pretty booked up too, so it will be a challenge to get the pages done. I'm aiming for at least 15 pages and then I can make more to give her later. She'll be pleased with that I think, because she really likes my Little Sweetie's album. I have some other things for her to, but the album will be her main gift.

I truly feel like I am running on high gear. I've rushed around so much today that I feel like I'm running on a treadmill. :o) I think I'll use that to my advantage and get started on my mom's album.

Scrapbooking fun

These are 2 mini scrapbooking kits I made for a swap that I in in my scrapbooking group.

Each kit includes 9 - 3.5" x 3.5" squares of pattern and plain paper, a tag, and journal box. There are brads and eyelets too, but I didn't include them in the pictures.

For this one, I used browns with a hint of turquoise. The journal box is on confetti cream cardstock. I traced an index card divider and added lines. Then I stamped it with circles using brown and turquoise ink. The tag is done similarly and I stapled the ribbon to the top of the tag.


This set is pretty much the same just using greens and reds instead. There are lines on the index card journal box, but they aren't really showing up in the pictures. The red ribbon is stapled to the tag.


I made doubles of these, so I could have a set of each to work with. I think this is how I will use them in my Little Sweetie's album.

The large pieces of cardstock (red/beige)in the middle of the layouts is for matting the picture.

Scrapbooking swap items

Here are some things I made for a scrapbooking swap that I am in. It is a 2-4-2 swap so I make 2 mini kits and send one to 2 different people and I will recieve 1 mini kit from 2 different people. Sorry I don't have a scanner so I had to take a picture.


The kit includes half a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 pattern paper, a tag, journal box, 2 little paper squares and ribbon. I also included a metal frame and 2 burgundy buttons that match the thread I used on the tag.


The picture didn't turn out so great, but this is the journal box I made. I started with a rectangle shaped piece of beige cardstock. I rounded the two bottom corners. At the top I used my filmstrip punch to make holes and then I broke the holes to give the appearance of a used sheet of note paper. I added lines with a brown pen, a peice of coordinating green paper in the corner and made some snowflakes using stamps and green ink. Lastly I chalked the edges with brown chalk.


This is the tag. I cut 2 tag shapes from green paper. I paper tore 1 of the tag shapes and then chalked both of the shapes with brown chalk. I added a little coordinating pattern paper to the bottom of the tag. I used 2 stands of burgundy embroidery floss to stitch together and create a little pocket tag. I added some green snowflakes to the tag as well. A burgundy accent to the top and burgundy yarn. The squares are made of a 2" green square and 1.5" pattern square with an eyelet through the center.

~~~This is a tag set from a Valentine swap I did a few years ago.~~~

For this I used 2 tag shapes cut from beige cardstock. I paper tore one shape diagonally and then chalked both with brown chalk. I stitched them together with 2 strands of beige embroidery floss, added 2 little crumpled rectangles and a small button to the front. The little tag beside it has x's and o's stamped with brown ink and chalked around the edges.


The heart is also a tag. I cut a folk heart shape and then put it through my paper crimper, added an eyelet and some yarn and embroidery floss.