TAG

I played around last night with the Vagabond and made a few tags for the girls to put in their Smashbooks.  I need to get pictures of the others--but I do have this one to post tonight!  

Recipe:  Kind of Obvious-- 
Vagabond
Bingo Embossing Folder by Sizzix
Concord Grape, Marmalade, Antique Photo Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Perfect Pearls purple
Organza Ribbon in Brown
Purple ribbon from an HSN Kit purchase 6 years ago!  
Recollections Bling
Handcut flowerish thing

 

Amazingly Happy !!

I am thrilled with my newest deal!!  I am a bargain shopper and I love a great deal.  To spare the long details...lets just say I went into A.C Moore last Thursday to buy tape & blades for a crop I was having and I saw "him"-- Mr. Vagabond perched on a high shelf.  I did not take the plunge at that moment but rather 4 days later!  I was shocked it was still there, but then again I seldom look up and I assume most other shoppers are the same way.  

I had bought the cricut cake mini for Christmas because I just had to have it.... well she sits unopened and unused along with the toolkit so I have decided to sell her and keep Mr. Vagabond.  I am so tempted to "flip" him into cash but then I will just regret what I had and sold!  I am meeting her on Wednesday to sell the Cake and even after Mr. Vagabond I will be $40.00 to the positive.

Smashbooking

I had a little fun playing with my Smashbook the other night with my daughter.  We were both going through our stashes of stuff that we wanted to Smash.  The hardest part was deciding on if this was going to be of my past or for the present. I decided it would start in October of 2011 since I vacationed with my family for the first time since I was a child!

My favorite parts so far......... I love, love, love the tags I made.  The one is double sided self adhesive chipboard with the words cut out of the hat I got from Krispy Kreme at Mohegan Sun the other night.  I inked it, added a little glitter and used a paperclip to hang it in the page and the other is a tag made with Tim Holtz's embossing folder BINGO that is distressed, glimmer misted and perfect pearled! 

I'm working on a transparency page to add in between some other pages I am working on.  I am not sure how I am going to insert it yet--but it's fun experimenting! 

I really think a Smashbook would be the perfect Recipe book for my kids for when they move out because I could make the recipe cards with Kates Kitchen or From My Kitchen and use the pockets/make pockets to tuck the recipes in after I laminate them.  The Smashbooks are meant to get "aged" and messy looking and I think it would be eclectic looking for them.  A lot of stores  have them for $6.50 right now and I am pretty sure I just talked myself into this idea!!  I am in a recipe swap right now and since it's a 6x6 swap I believe they would fit nicely in a Smashbook!

A little Help from a Friend!

Ahhh, Liz V posted on the board about the Creative station she found at J's for $34.97 and I checked out the picture and thought--wow that's a great deal!  I have been wondering what to spend my $20 gift card from Kelsey on at J's and heck that made it $18.00 with tax!  Even better.

I grabbed one on my lunch break with my co-worker who also got one for her sewing station!

I had a doctor appt and then came home around 7:00 ish to an empty house.  I just couldn't let it sit in the car so I slid it out and "walked" it to the door and "walked" it up two steps into the kitchen--it weighs 88 lbs so lifting was out of the question.  I took the pieces out of the box upstairs and carried them downstairs and laid them out for assembly.  Step 1 was easy, Step 2 was a little challenging on my own but nothing I couldn't handle! The rest was a piece of cake.

I was going to put it on wheels for my girls so they could store their stuff on it--(was)--but then after measuring it I realized it would fit perfect in my craft room if hubby removed the shelf he made that I never really finished.  So he is going to take that shelf down this Thursday and I will move it in there.  He did come home as I was doing my drawers and I asked him to cut a piece of 3 inch plywood to add the wheels to, but then I decided to nix that and I had him cut the wood down a little more to put inside end to end to stop the sway.  I am also going to sturdy up the drawers with some trim wood from another project.  I am super excited for the price I paid for this--it is not worth in my opinion the $199.00 price tag but I would say easily worth $69.99.

Project for Michael's Classes in Jan & Feb

Getting ready for Valentine's Day!  I am not a huge Valentines person in that I do not need to be wined and dined nor do I need flowers on one particular day of the year.  But I do think it's a cute day for young kids and teens.  I'm very happy with how this turned out and since it's all my own materials and not materials that were store used to me, I might just keep this one for my daughter and her boyfriend and make another similar for class.  She did keep it!!

In the class we do not use the chipboard and I did use chipboard for the front and back cover of this particular album.  I really like the way the chipboard adds to the album's sturdiness!  I do love making these mini-albums as they are instant gratification!  I hope you enjoy the pictures! 

  







Second Album:  This will be display! 

Wine Bottle Decor

I just love Pinterest!  I have found so many interesting ideas and recipes on that site!. 
I came across a pin for a holiday centerpiece that was made using wine bottles, white spray paint and Epsom Salts.  I loved the idea.  The bottles were very icy and wintery.  

I do save wine bottles but usually only the really pretty ones.  I grabbed six bottles and headed downstairs to paint them and decided I could not bare to cover up the beautiful colors!  I decided to use spray adhesive and Epsom Salts so as to let the beauty of the bottle show through.  

I had planned on lighting the bottles from the inside with battery operated lights--however--no battery lights fit in the bottles.  I wish I had tried the lights before I sprayed them because I would have used the other trick on Pinterest to cut the bottoms off of the bottles to put the lights or flameless candles under the bottles!  

I am going to redo the bottles for next year and take the bottoms off, but for this year they will stay the way they are.  I have two centerpieces, both are different. 

My Secret Circle Sister Box!!!

Merry Christmas! 
I received my Circle Sister box and I finally got to open it!! It was from California Rose (Sophie)!! 
Let me just say that I was in awe of the way she filled the box.  She added so many cute notes and personal touches!  I have never been in a swap before and I am taking notes for next year!!  I just love everything she put in the box and am looking forward to experimenting with Glitter Glass, Glimmer Mist, Ribbons and mini tins!  I am so inspired by the "Queen of Lists" tin she made for me.  My girls are crazy over it and it's very close to Christmas but I might be able to squeeze out three of those this weekend for the girls to put in their stockings since they wanted mine so bad!! 

I just adore her Stocking!! Very creative and the colors are fabulous.  I really enjoy home decor, altered art and mini albums and such.  I hit a bump in my scrapbooking due to feeling overwhelmed by work and all.  It seems more relaxing to work on a project rather than stress over a bazillion pictures that I just can't decide between! I want to do more cricut sewing projects and tote bags and such in the near future.  I will be using the canvases she included very soon!   

Queen of Lists tin

Directions!! Calling Card!! Pocket Calendar!! Clip

 

Online Christmas Card--Silly

Create a free digital greeting

I am soooooo BAD !

I have done a few projects and I have not taken any pictures of them to post on here.  I had made a goal to be more active but it does not seem to be working out for me right now!  

I am in the middle of 3 home Decor projects and I promise to take pictures and post!  I got the idea from Scrapalette on the Circle Boards!!  

I usually wrap the pictures in certain rooms with gift wrap and ribbon and bows to match whatever theme I am doing for that year but this time I changed it up a little so you still see the frame!  Hoping it all works out.  If it does I will post pictures this week! 
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On the non-crafting side of my life:  The Chariho Cowboys were Division II Football Champions and went on to win the Superbowl this past Sunday, December 5th.  They are now the Division II State Champions!  Way to Go Chargers!!  And since the boys had an extended season the Cheerleaders also benefited from an extended season!  

The weather for the games has been pretty darn good this year and the girls looked great at Half-time!  I love going to the games and watching my daughter Cheer.  This was the first year it was only 1 daughter.  :(  Next year will be my last year.  Already sad!  Here's hoping the Chargers have another great season next year after losing 19 Seniors!  

I met some wonderful people!

Sunday I took a drive to CT to meet two circle members and their friends!  It was a gorgeous day and the drive was nice and the people were even nicer. It was so much fun to be around other people that enjoy paper crafting and knitting.  

I had some projects to do for a class while I was there and I received some wonderful input from the ladies!  I just love these projects--

The mini paper bag album has hidden pockets (inside of each bag) and pull out tabs are in each pocket that are double sided for journaling or pictures!  This is not a cricket project.  The entire project was done with  6 paper bags and 1 paper pack! All of the embellishments are from the first page of the paper pack.   I love, love, love this Recollections Paper Pack!!

The card was cut at 11 x 7 from Bazzill white textured card stock, layered with Brown Bazzill with A.C.Moore Green glitter paper, white Bazzill with inking and a piece of the green swirl scrap from the above project.  The partridge cut is from Winter Frolics.  I made my partridge lime green to pop!  The picture does not do this card justice.  I do love it!  I think this may be my main Xmas card design this year!!  Shhhh, don't tell. 

 

I'm SEW proud of myself.......

I am not a sewer. Not yet at least. I have done a few straight stitched items here and there. Never an actual project. I cannot read a pattern as I do not understand the lingo. I have a very nice sewing machine with a ton of feet and accessories (thank you HSN for your "easy" payments) that I will never probably use, and are still sealed in their package. Don't get me wrong, I do hope to learn to use these feet! But I will need a very patient instructor that speaks "Sewing for Dummies". I have had this sewing machine for almost 3 years and until I started sewing on cards and layouts it sat unused.

Alas, my lonely sewing machine has been used!! And used for a full project! Yeah Me!! I am now confident and fluent at changing the bobbin and the thread. One fear conquered! I used one of my kids stockings as a guide and I cut my fleece out by hand in the general shape of a stocking leaving room to pin and sew. The red part of the stocking was easy and came together well. The white on the stocking was not as seamless and pretty--there are mistakes but that's OK because this is my first project!

I love the Crafty Gemini Blog! She is amazing and I will be making her cosmetic/wristlets this weekend. If all goes well they will be Xmas presents for the 3 girls in their stockings!

SMASHBOOKS

Wow! These books are super nice and the paper they use is amazing. It is so nice and thick and sturdy! They came today at work and I showed my co-worker who fell in love with the Lime Green one! I got Orange and Lime and I must say the Lime is absolutely gorgeous inside and out. I am a bit sad about the lack of coolness to the papers in the Orange one... bummer.

I got a ton of accessories and can't wait to play the You-Tube video for my daughters and give them their stash to do what they want with them. My one daughter is heading to College and the other to 11th Grade. I think these no rules type scrapbooks are going to be so much fun for them to look back on years from now.

My RI Pennant that never made the trip :(

Yes, I actually did a contest and then did not get it in the mail on time. Poo-ey. I seldom get to enter and my darn car had to break down and since I was sharing a vehicle I could not get to post office. I just found out my car is done and it has been 1 month! BUT, before this 1 month fix the week before they had it for a week for an alternator. So now after an alternator and a temperature gauge and a blown head gasket---I really hope this car earns it's keep! Poor thing sat for 7 years not being driven so this will happen.

Two Cards for my Cousins!

I actually have a third card, but forgot to take a picture of it!! Silly me.
I just got some cool new Tim Holtz distress stamps. I think I have every color now.

I also broke down and ordered two Smashbooks. Yes, I know I could make my own but I really loved the Lime Green and Orange ones. I am giving the Lime Green to my daughter. I ordered a ton of the supplies in duplicate and I will show her the video on them to give her ideas. But what better way to track her 11th grade year in school. I love that it's disorganized!