Snowy Days in March

We got hit by a late winter storm that dropped about 6 inches of snow on us.  Personally, this snow lover was over the moon!  But, as usual, everything shut down around here.  So what's a girl to do with nowhere to go and 2 of my favorite guys snuggled in safe & sound.  Yep, you guessed it, I scrapbooked. 

I surfed my pinterest boards for some layouts that I wanted to lift.  Gathered some photos and off I went.  My pinspiration for this month is this lo by Anna-Maria Wolniak.  My husband has been taking selfies for years.  The selfie on this page was taken back in 1996 or 97.  Way before it was a thing. 

 

Rookie mistakes here folks!  Not in love with the page, but I really liked the huge title running down that strip of red.  My original plan was to have the word "selfie" going from left to right at the bottom of the picture but I made my first rookie mistake here by not printing the photo with space at the bottom.  The word would have run straight across his chin.  I was going to go with it but it looked too odd.  The second mistake I made was placing the yellow "great moment" embelly down before I was 100% sure where I wanted it.  It would have been better up in the corner covering up that cord in the background.  Prints done at home are not adhesive friendly!

Since yesterday was snowy and today we have almost a foot of new snow on the ground, I was able to also get some sketch mojo going too.....

Sketch from pagemaps......

 

 

 

My take on the sketch.......

 

 

This photo of my oldest son was taken in 1996 or 97 as well.  I have always thought that he had the most beautiful eyes and I love the way they are the first thing you see when you look at this photo.  He's 23 now but those eyes are still as bright. 

Again with the rookie mistakes!  I like this page much better than the selfie one but I'll probably end up going back and reprinting the photo so that I can move the round sticker that is on his face.  I don't 100% hate it but it is bothering me.  I will probably try to correct the color on the photo too.  We'll see....

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!!!

My Crafty Space

is massive.  And I don't mean that in a braggy look at me way.  I mean it in a don't know quite what to do in it or with it, not entirely happy with it kind of way.  I have kinda taken over the basement with all of my stuff and there is a ton of it!  Between my eBay stock and my craft things, there is no space and almost no creativity.  I would love to have my favorite layouts displayed on the walls.  Some of the very cute crafty purchases that I have bought from eBay and etsy would make my heart happy if they were on display there.  Not to mention some favorite photos, paintings and thrifting finds.  I have had my eye on a chair like this for eons and even though I have the space for it, I've not taken the time to make or buy it for myself. 

 

This ends up being where I do most of my actual crafting.  I have changed the setup of this 50 million times and this particular one has lasted the longest and seems to be the most comfortable.  It's not quite it yet though. 

 

 

 

 

 

This seems to be where I do most of my selections and sometimes I work here.  But not often.  Don't know why, it just feels a little cramped - cold - not right. 

 

 

 My computer, printer and silhouette station. 

 

 

 

I really do love my space and am grateful to have a dedicated one, I just feel that I don't know how to make it me and that it is too cluttered with stuff.  The easy answer is to get rid of all the stuff.  I'm working on that but most of the stuff I keep out, I always end up using at some point.  I'll get there, I really will.  Maybe it's just that after so many years of working at the kitchen table or in a corner, I got used to working that way and will need time to adjust to having a space of my own.  It is definitely nice to always find my things where I left them.  And to go to use them and not find them covered in glue, candy, glitter or dirt.

 

Is there anyone else out there who is fortunate enough to have a dedicated space but is not entirely happy with design or feel of it?  I would love to hear your thoughts on this.....

 

Thanks for dropping by!

May Flowers...

Hopefully from April Showers.

May is one and done and I will be moving on to June soon.  Since this calendar will eventually be an album, I'm not going to stress placing photos in it before the page is displayed.  I got a late start on it and feel like I am behind the curve on this one.  I will make sure to start my 2016 calendar as soon as I finish this one so that when January rolls around, I have it ready to go. 

Still really enjoying the project.  Having a formula for how the pages are to be completed is still working well for me.  Boredom has not set in and the pages for the calendar are still getting completed.  May's page is my favorite thus far.  As you know, I really struggled to use the floral paper.  The yellow colors are really strong and it has a lot of pattern so I kept the page kind of simple.  Which is so not the norm for me.  My pages normally have a metric foot ton of product on them:).  I plan on going in a bit of a different direction for June and will talk more about it on a future post.  

This was a flat, not fat page so the album is staying nicely in balance and is still fairly flat.....

Mixing old and new product is a particular favorite of mine (especially since I have some major hoarding tendencies) and I was able to do that really successfully on this page.  Bet you can't tell what's old and what's new can you?  The blue phrase stickers, labels, border sticker, rub-ons, brads, yellow grid paper and thickers are at least 3 years old.  At least.  But the rest comes from purchases and kits that are a year or less old.  Yeah me.  Here is a look at the page.......

 

 


And last but not least, I am working on a new mini album project for eBay.  My hat is seriously off to the ladies that do videos!  It is not easy to record and edit.  Not at all.  This project involves a kit, written & DVD instructions and envelopes.  Some of my favorite things.  I haven't seen many projects like this on eBay, which could be a good or a bad thing but I am going to give it a shot.  I hope to have it done and posted within the next 2 weeks.  Wish me luck!  What I really need is a adobe premier elements guru in my pocket:)

 

I would love to hear your opinion on purchasing kits for specific projects.  I love to but can never seem to find kits that have the product and the video instructions.  Maybe it is bc I create so many on my own but for whatever reason, this is hard for me. 

 

Anywho, thanks for visiting and staying for a spell.  Have a great day!!!!

This Weight is Not Going to Lose Itself...

I had this silly thought this morning when I was trying to come up with some excuses so that I could allow myself to not workout.  Yeah.  I am that bad.  If I can find a way to justify it, I will.  BUT.  I will hold myself accountable to my goal of getting healthy and work out.  Hard. 

In other news, creativity is at an all time high around here and I have really been rocking and rolling on the scrapbook front. 

My sweet little nephew Ethan.  Adore this little guy!  He is a ray of sunshine and one of the best babies ever.  I call him a little love sucker because when you pick him up he puts his arms around your neck and nuzzles his face right up under your chin.  Just sucks all of the love out of you and you can't help but hold him tight.....

I love the details on this.  I restrained myself with the colors.  I may go back and add another "happy" to the title.  It's on a separate piece of paper bc I got black pan pastel everywhere and it would not erase off of this one spot so I had to cover it up.....

 

 

I broke out a pencil, some brown ink and the utee to do the chipboard swirl.  My original thought was to just leave it raw but that looked too plain (of course).  Everything was done very loosely and messily so that the piece did not look pristine......

 

 

This is Ethan's big sister Gabby.  She is full of personality and this photo that my husband took completely shows it.  She loved her twirly, girly dress and spent most of the day spinning so that we could see how pretty her dress looked when she twirled.  My sister said that she literally gasped when she opened that photo when she got it.  This one will definitely be blown up and framed.   

 

Well, time to go and get settled in for the 4-8 inches of snow that we are expected to get today.  So excited!  I love winter and am just a little bit sad for it to be winding down.  The little guy has a homeschool snowday today so hopefully I can get some empty product packaging tossed (ie I used up so much scrap stash that I had to throw a ton of empty packages away lol). 

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day!

She Makes it Look Easy

I have long been a fan of Nichol Magouirk's work.  Her videos are amazing and her work is just stunning.  I could get all JLaw Fangirl on you but I am too old for that so I will keep my gushing simple.  NicholM is amazing and if I met her in person, I would not know what to ask her first and I may, probably, ask her to sign an autograph.  Sorry folks, done now. 

Anywho.  She made this shaker frame on one of her cards and it just blew me away.  I love, loved and will continue to love it.  Inspiration struck and I realized that hey, they make transparencies in     8 1/2X11 size.  It is doable to make a shaker frame on a layout.  So I tried it.  And you know what?

It worked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is a link to her card and video   

It was not easy to replicate and I used a metric ton of foam and adhesive but man oh man.  The result.  Wow.  The idea of the result anyway.  I am not 100% crazy about the layouts but the technique will be used again and again. 

This is what I started with.....

I am stingy with my consumable supplies sometimes so I opted to use fun foam instead of foam adhesive (which is funny considering the fact that my foam adhesive has dried up because I have had it for so long.  geesh, doh!).  Next time, I will definitely use dry adhesive!! It took forever for the wet adhesive to dry and it was a real pain - the waiting and the keeping everything where I wanted it was te-di-ous. 

I also decided to use the paper that I created with washi tape on this layout.  This decision contributed to me not being entirely happy about the layout.  In the future, I will definitely use a less busy pattern for the background.  I think that the confetti will standout a lot more with a more subdued background.  You know what they say, keep it simple scrapper:).  Creating the paper was so simple.  Simply put the tape on the paper.  I did sew around the edges to keep the washi from popping up though.  

This project was perfect bc I had a ton of that confetti that I had gotten in a Studio Calico kit a long time ago.  I was very happy to see it all gone and not staring at me anymore.  I threw in a few of my favorite gold sequins for sparkle.....

Here is my lift.  I actually did 2 layouts, one for each of the washi backgrounds. 

 

 

 

 

 

For me, watching crafty videos is a hobby all into itself.  I watch a lot of them but I never seem to try any new ideas.  It is nice to finally be putting some of the techniques that I am seeing into practice.  How about you?  Do you watch or do you do?  I'd love to hear about your crafty adventures. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a fantastic Wednesday!

I Was in A New York State of Mind....

So the family got to spend the weekend in NY City with my fabulous daughter and it was magical!  It snowed most of the day Saturday and believe it or not, the snow started to fall while we were in Central Park.  We had the most amazing breakfast ever at Brooklyn Diner (I had read about it on Kelly Purkey's blog and she raved about how good the food/atmosphere was).  We had dinner at Carmines and it was also fantastic.  We stayed at the Manhattan Club and were so impressed with the room.  I was a little worried bc it had gotten some awful reviews but it was literally one of the best hotels we have stayed at in NYC.  Much better than the last few which were teeny tiny itty bitty and awful to boot! 

I can't wait to get the photos on a layout!!!!!!!!

The view from FAO....

 

My oldest and my youngest.  They take a photo in the same spot every time (yes, that is a really big book that he carried around the city all day long!  The apple does not fall far from the tree bc I take a book with me everywhere I go too) ....

 

My oldest with my baby sister.  It was COLD out......

 

The gang of ladies at Chelsea Market.  This was the last thing we did before we got on the road for home.  We were SO tired.......

 

 

I really didn't take that many photos while we were there.  As usual, we walked everywhere.  I love this city and walking allows me to really take it all in.  Everything I see is fresh and different to me every single time. 

 

What's your favorite city (if you have one) and how do you document your visits there?  Do you make it a point to take photos or do you just go with the flow and improvise with the photos you manage to snap?  My husband is the photographer in our family and he did take his big camera but we ended up leaving it in the room because it is so big and bulky.  I didn't even take my ipad out with me.  It was so cold out that my phone actually died if I took more than a couple of photos in a row. 

 

Anywho, thanks for stopping by today and have a great Tuesday!

 

Sweet Little Babies 2......

A girl version......

I have to admit, and I think that I have already mentioned that as much as I enjoy making baby albums, this one was a struggle for me.  Purchasing the album and supplies just kind of fell together but I think that maybe the colors were just a little brighter than what I am used to?  I don't know, I just struggled with design & layout choices for these albums from beginning to end.  I love the end result but man did I have to work to get it. Here are the other pages.  I kept the design almost exactly the same as the boy album with just a few minor tweaks here & there.....

 

 

My favorite in both the albums, I love the little animals and those lollipop flowers.......

 

 

 

 

 

In other news, I have discovered that my "tomorrows" need a little work:).  A few days ago, I posted that I would put these photos of the girl album along with some winter photos up "tomorrow".  Tomorrow came and went several times but here they are.  We got about 6 inches of snow over the course of a couple of storms and my neighborhood looks absolutely beautiful with its winter coat on.  I love how peaceful & quiet everything is when the snow blankets it. 

 

 

 

As always, thanks for stopping by and have a great Monday!