so there i was ...

Spring Cleaning

My office is in dire need of a serious overhaul. The space is a mix of this and that. When ever I needed more storage I simply bought some clear containers filled them up and shoved them in a corner, it was basically a band-aid fix. Well I think the band-aid has broken. It's embarrassing I have product I know I have but I can't find.

 

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I need to completely remove EVERYTHING from my office (and I mean EVERYTHING). Then I need to sort, purge and repeat. The room is 12x10 and one wall is taken up by a closet and another has a 6 foot wide window.

 
The walls need to be re-painted. I am thinking of going with gray ... call me crazy. I will be selling most of the furniture and starting from scratch. No more band-aids for me.

On a side note I hope you are still following the birthday celebration over at Scrapbooking & Cards Today. Make sure you stop by today for your chance to win great prize packages from Pink Paislee and Spellbinders.

Happy Crafting

 

 

Available now ... Cardmaps

With so much going on I am not sure I mentioned that Cardmaps has hit the stands. This little idea book is a Scrapbooking & Cards Today and Becky Fleck PageMaps colaboration. If you are located in the Portland/Metro area Life's a Scrapbook in Sherwood has some copies left. Hurry before they are sold out.

 

Today's Scrapbooking & Cards Today birthday celebration prize packages are from Nikki Sivils and Maya Road. Make sure you check out the SCT blog for your chance to win some great product. And don't forget each day there is a new giveaway from another one of our fabulous sponsors.

Happy Crafting

 

 

 

Tuesday's Tip ... Pleating

I know I have mentioned it more than once but I really like to sew. And it's really only a natural for me to translate sewing techniques onto my scrapbook pages.

This is a really simple pleating look you can do with ribbon, fabric, twill and even paper. I simply folder over the ribbon pinning it in place and then ran it through my sewing machine. My pleated border is made from Jillibean Soup Monster Stew printed twill.

 
 
 

I am normally a line it up and measure girl but *gasp* as shocking as it may seem I didn't measure out my pleats. If you are a a bit more freestyle skip the stick pins and just pleat as you run though your sewing machine. If you don't have a sewing machine try holding down pleats with Glue Dots, fabric glue or hand sewing.

Check out the end result and how I used it on a layout. I tucked the ends under for a clean look but you could always leave the ends free.  

 
 

(Supplies Used: Bazzill cardstock, Jillibean Soup patterned paper/stickers/corrugated shapes/bakers twine/journaling sprouts/stick pin/corrugated alphas/twill, Making Memories paint, vellum, and font Arial Narrow)

Don't forget to stop by the Scrapbooking & Cards Today for today's birthday giveaway from Spellbinders and Nikki Sivils.

Happy Crafting

 

 

Scrapbooking & Cards Today Birthday Blog Hop

Happy 5th birthday to all my friends at Scrapbooking & Cards Today. We are having a week long celebration starting today with a super fun blog hop. I hope you are joining me today from my good friend Kimber's blog. If not please make sure to start off the hop from the beginning at the SCT blog.

To celebrate I made this simple card from Jillibean Soup's Spotted Owl Soup. This card is based off one of Becky Flecks great card sketches. I decided to opt out of using a greeting on the card instead relying on patterned paper that conveys a sentiment.

 

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Jillibean Soup patterned paper, Stampin Up scallop punch, Corrugated Shape Jillibean soup, Die Cut Shape Jillibean Soup, Bakers Twine Jillibean Soup, Stamp Jillibean Soup/Unity, Versafine Black Ink, misc corner rounder)

If you haven't had a chance to check out the spring issue you can always download a copy for free at Scrapbooking & Cards Today. One of my favorite monthly columns is the 3 designers challenge. I love seeing how 3 different designers attack the same set of products.

Thanks for joining me today. Your next stop in the birthday blog hop bash is my fellow Oregonian Davinie's blog.

Happy Crafting

 
 

Signs of Spring

Hi sorry I have been MIA for a bit it's Spring Break here and the school district thought it would be grand to add a few teacher work days to the front end of the holiday. Thus resulting in a week and a half off from school ... oh joy. Needless to say we went out of town for a good portion of the break.

Hitting stands today is the spring issue of Scrapbooking & Cards Today.

 

This gorgeous cover was designed by the very talented Sheri Regulry. Sheri has such a great eye for color and she uses product like a dream ... my hero.

While you out and about blog surfing today don't forget to stop by the Scrapbooking & Cards Today Blog there are lots of fun give aways going on today including an i-touch.

Happy Scrapping

 

March Midnight Rooster ... part 2

Lots going on here today so let's get down to business ...

 

 

(Supplies Used: Cardstock Bazzill, Patterned Paper Sassafras Lass/Cosmo Cricket/Crate Paper/Studio Calico/Echo Park/October Afternoon, Chipboard elements Cosmo Cricket, buttons Cosmo Cricket, Flower Prima, Basic Grey Alphas, Midnight Rooster exclusive butterflies, and fonts Arial Narrow/journaling)

Sorry I can't seem to remember right now what font I used for the title on this layout. If it comes to me I will let you know.

 

 

(Supplies Used: Patterned Paper Crate Paper/Echo Park/Studio Calico, Button Cosmo Cricket, Basic Grey alphas, Martha Stewart tag punch, Midnight Rooster exclusive butterflies, Fabric, Cuttlebug Flower die, Stampin Up Scallop Punch, misc Corner Rounder, and DMC White Floss)

To create the fabric flower I punched two petal sets from this 2x6 Flower Die from Provo Craft. Unlike the other times when I die cut fabric this time I didn't add the adhesive backing to the fabric. This gives the flower more movement.

We are spending the weekend at the chlorinated sauna. That is code for going to a swim meet. And today is also my 17th Wedding Anniversary.

Happy Crafting

 

 

March Midnight Rooster ... part 1

Since I hate to overload you with all my projects at once I will break down my March projects into 2 parts.

PART 1

This layout was totally inspired by the month cards from Sassafras Lass. They totally pushed me to do a year in review layout.

 

(Supplies Used: Cardstock Bazzill, Alphas October Afternoon Sassafras Lass month cards, corner rounder, buttons from Cosmo Cricket, Midnight Rooster custom butterflies, and font Arial Narrow downloaded from the internet)

I normally would say all layouts should have journaling of some kind. But when I put this one together it really didn't need anything else - it's kind of self explanatory. It covers the who, what & when without the added yadda yadda of journaling.  

 

 

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Patterned Paper from Echo Park/Crate Paper/Studio Calico/October Afternoon, buttons Cosmo Cricket, Chipboard accents Cosmo Cricket, Alphas October Afternoon, Fiskars border punch, Jillibean Soup Twine, Toothpick, fonts Arial Narrow/dates and Ballpark/title)

I don't know if you noticed but I have reacquainted myself with my Silhouette. I updated my software and hallelujah I have seen the light. One of the hardest things about making peace with my Silhouette is deciding what font to use. I have to say the Ballpark font is so perfect for a baseball page.

Off topic how about a little running update ... today starts 2 week of my training. I can tell you right now I am dreading it but I know once I start I will be fine and if I skip it I will totally be kicking myself. Procrastination is NOT happening folks there is simply too much on my plate this weekend to push this baby off. Now here's hoping this little post will hold me accountable. My mantra "I will not fall back asleep on the couch once the kids go to school ... repeat GET YOUR ASS TO THE GYM"!

Okay enough of that already stay tuned for more from the Midnight Rooster March kit ... Happy Crafting

 

 

Run Forest Run

So it's been quite sometime since I strapped on my running shoes and really put the pedal to medal and did a little running. I don't have and grand ideas of being a marathon runner it's much simpler than that ... 3 miles that's all I ask. If I was being honest with myself it's been about 16 months since I felt the endorphin rush of a 3 mile run. I still work out I just keep making excuses why I can't run. I admit it's really all in my head my back is fine I know how to handle it and it's not a with a box of Thin Mints and a bottle of Vicoden. I have been at the gym I just haven't really pushed myself. I miss the satisfaction I got from running 3 miles it's a feeling that cannot be replicated on the elliptical no matter how hard I push. So last week I downloaded 9 weeks of running pod casts on to my ipod and I have a plan. Tomorrow is my final day of week 1 and it feels pretty darn good.

I thought it would be cool to translate all this into a little journal of some type. So yup I've added this project to my Creative Bucket List. I kind of have an idea all mapped out in my head using the calendar paper from Spotted Owl Soup and File Folder from Jillibean Soup ...

 
 

So it looks like after I finish up my first week of running tomorrow I have a little project to complete.

Happy Crafting

 

 
 
 
 

Thank You Miss Kelly Purkey

A while back I was blog surfing and I found this layout titled "Good Afternoon" by the very sweet and super talented Kelly Purkey. I just knew had to do her pattern paper treatment on a layout for myself. The end result is sooo very unique and cool. This is a really cool way to combine a bunch of different patterned papers all on one layout.     

 
(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Patterned Paper/Alphas/Buttons/Twine from Jillibean Soup, Stamps Unity/Jillibean Soup, Top Boss Embossing Ink, Clear Embossing powder from JoAnn's, and font Arial Narrow downloaded from the internet)

I love finding great inspiration like this and making it my own. It's what paper crafting is all about.

Happy Crafting

 

 

Die-cutting Fabric 101

Remember this layout I posted awhile back. I am not sure if it's clear from this image but the title is made from fabric.

 

 

By running fabric through a Xyron Create-A-Sticker machine loaded with permanent adhesive the fabric is given weight and it not only will hold up to die-cutting but it's also self adhesive ... bonus. Simply cut your favorite fabric to fit the size machine you have. I like to run a Popsicle stick across the fabric to remove any air bubbles before die-cutting. I then cut my title with my Quickutz Studio alpha. I would suggest going for larger images they will hold up better to manhandling. To pull the backing off the alphas I used my paper piercer. Although I have yet to try it I bet you could also run reinforced fabric through a Cuttlebug/Big Shot or any other crank die-cutting tools.

It's ideas like this that make me want to run out and buy a bunch more dies for my Cuttlebug and I need that like a need a hole in my head.

Happy Crafting