CIU: Christmas in July

Morning crafty peeps.  I wanted to share with you my dt submission for this week's Cut It Up challenge.  We are getting a kick start on our Christmas cards and projects and what I've created is a altered notebook to keep all of our favorite holiday recipes.  Would love to see what you all enter....just remember that you need to follow the Christmas theme AND use a diecut somewhere.

Thanks for visiting!

♥

CIU: Altered Notepad

Hey all!  This week at Cut It Up we are working with the theme: MAKE IT MINI.  You can make a mini album, mini notecards, alter something itty bitty, tiny gifts, anything that's mini!  :)  For my project I chose to alter a mini notepad.  I covered the stock paper that covers the top edge with double sided tape and then added patterned paper.  Embellished it up and then added a magnet to the backside so it can go up on my fridge.  As always, to play along you have to include a diecut...thus the CUT part of CUT it up.  ;)  See what they did there...lol.  My diecut is the flag on the back of the owl.  They are cut from the Create-a-Critter Cricut cartridge.

I'm also sharing this notepad with the challenge posed by Lynette over at Sketch N Scrap.  This month they are celebrating their birthday with a whole month of daily challenges.  Hers was posted on the 9th and instructed us to alter something.  :)  This started as a notepad...and well it's still a notepad, but it's waaaaay prettier!  :)

Thanks for visiting!

♥

Pens, pencils, and markers... Oh my!!!

Howdy all!  I have a fun project to share today.  I had been using an empty shoebox as storage for all my writing utensils and got tired of digging to the bottom every time I needed a particular piece.  I can't even tell you how many times I've bought a new journaling pen because I was sure that it was gone only to find two of that exact one at the bottom of the pile.  So I set out to figure out a way to have them all upright so that I could see the tips of every one of them at a glance and in a way that they all stayed up if I pulled one out.

I started by finding a smaller shoe box.  I had been using a Nike box from hubby's gigantic size 13 1/2s just so I had room to dig, but truthfully my youngest's toddler size 6 shoe box was perfect once it was organized. I settled on toilet paper rolls as a way to divide the box into sections then set out to decorate it with my fav new papers!

Here are the supplies I used:

 A small shoe box

lots of toilet paper rolls (my shoebox took 12)

Modge Podge

Permanent adhesive of choice

Paper/Embellies

 As you can see, step one was to put one of the toilet paper rolls into the box and mark with a pencil just how tall you needed to snip it to.  You don't want it the same height as the box because they shouldn't be visible once full.  I snipped mine to about 1.5" shorter than the top.  Then line the box with them.  It doesn't have to be packed edge to edge, but should be a tight fit so that they don't tip over when full.

To decorate I measured the shoe box length, height and width.  I cut one piece of paper to the correct length (long side) and then added 2" to the height.  Then I cut another piece (making sure the patterns match up) to the correct width (short side) and then added 2" to the height cut again.  My box was 5" tall, 4" wide, and 8" long.  So I cut two pieces of patterned paper.  One is 7"x4" and one is 7"x8".  The extra 2" allows you to wrap 1" inside the box and 1" on the underside of the box to have clean edges.  I applied the Modge Podge one side at a time and was sure to smooth out air bubbles as I went.  I also chose to ink edges of my papers.  I used two complimentary patterns cut into strips to wrap around the center of the box for added interest.  I didn't bother cutting enough to wrap around the entire thing.  Just centered it at the part that would be showing on my desk, but that's entirely up to you.  Add the word 'pens' with foam Thickers and voila!  

I have a different tube for each type of pen.  One for gel pens, one for thin Sharpies, thick Sharpies, colored pens, black/blue pens, colored pencils, pencils, most used tools, misc markers, etc.  So now I can grab a brown thin Sharpie to do a little journaling lickity split without digging because it's upright in eyesight.  :)  

How have you guys personalized your storage with scrappy supplies???

Thanks for visiting!

♥

Gratitude Journals!!

Time for another installment of Anything But a Card challenges!!  This week we are working with the theme of 'TIE IT UP'.  Twine, ribbon, jute, fibers...etc.  For my project, I used twine in several places including to tie a fun charm on the binding!

I'm not sure if I had a chance to 'WHOO HOO!!!' all over my blog that I won one of the big prize packs over at Frosted Designs 12 days of Christmas challenge.  I was so excited when the first of the awesome sponsored prizes showed up at my door!  It was this AMAZING paper set complete with kick-booty Thickers by Amy Tangerine.

The colors are just so bright and fun and as soon as I unwrapped them, I just knew they would be perfect for a layout featuring my middle kiddo.  She is a bright, funky, quirky, fun, ball of sunshine for sure!  Then when one of my dear friends challenged her FB friends to try a gratitude journal together, I had an 'A-HA!' moment!  I thought, what better project for these papers than to sit down WITH my daughter and create gratitude journals together that we can fill out throughout the year.

I've been trying so hard to share with my kiddos a revelation I had this time last year.  We have several people in our lives that just always seem to be unhappy.  I know we all have hardships that seem insurmountable sometimes, but there has to be something to the fact that sometimes people who have it all still manage to be walking around in a daze of sorrow and others have lost everything but still manage to find something to smile about.  I think it all comes down to prospective and focus.  You can choose to dwell on the bad and let it overshadow the silver lining, or you can choose revel in the sunshine peeking through the dark clouds.  You can't control what happens in life sometimes, but you can ALWAYS control how you let it affect you.  Such an important lesson to teach them even at a young age, because it will likely shape the way the have relationships for the rest of their lives! 

Here is are 2 pics of my busy little scrappin' bee hard at work on her journal:

And the finished product.  My book is on the left and hers is on the right.  She's almost as sleepy as she is proud I think...we were hard at work for about 4 hours!  These bad boys are filled with over 50 pieces of fun patterned papers that we can journal on, adhere pics or momentos, etc.  Like our own funky smash books but with a focus on finding the beauty and happiness in every day. 

I'm also sharing this project with AllSorts 'Flower Power' challenge

Thanks for visiting!

♥

2012 A Year in Review

I really can't believe another year has come to an end.  Amazing how it seems to start off so slow, but then Halloween to New Years is such a blur!  I wanted to take a moment to look back on some of my favorite projects that I've created over the past 12 months.  You can click the picture to go to the original post. :)

Favorite Card

Favorite Mini

I'm sharing this one with ABAC's year in reviewdesign team project!  Click the pic to go to theoriginal post to see the full series of inside pictures!

Favorite Layout

Favorite Off the Page Paper Creation

Favorite Non Scrappy Project

Favorite Gift

Thanks for visiting!

♥Christy

The secret to hairbows....

The reason I say the 'secret' to hairbows in the title is because it truly has been the best kept secret that these things are so easy, so cheap, and so FUN to create all on your own.  You can walk into a super store and pay $3-$5 for a set of these... and if you go into a boutique-type store you will likely pay $3-$5 a piece.

If you are just jumping into crafting you will have to investment in a glue gun, alligator clips, ribbon and fun embellishments.  I found decorative buttons work best (not the kind with the 2-4 holes, but the bulky ones with the shank on the back) and if you walk into a craft store there are literally THOUSANDS to choose from.  If you are like me and have an entire Hobby Lobby's worth of scrapbooking supplies, you will only need to purchase alligator clips.  My local Hobby Lobby and Joann's were both out of stock, but they did sell them and they were slightly cheaper (and had multiple size selections) than Walmart if you used one of their handy-dandy 40% off coupons.  I found the ones I use in the tutorial below at Walmart for $2 for 6.  All of my ribbon is from my stash and a great way to use up pieces that are too small for a scrapbook page.  Every single embellishment I used above is from my scrappy stash as well.  I raid my buttons (you may need to cut the shank off most), my brads (these also require you to snip off the posts), my 'silk' flowers (don't use the paper kind), gems, and felt embellishments that are left over from pages I've created.

Watch my the video tutorial below, but before you get started check out my trouble shooting tips list below it.  If you give it a try and run into any problems, leave a comment and I'll figure out a solution and add it to the list.  If you have any smart tips I've missed, please share that in the comments as well and I'll gladly add that too!!!!  :)

• You will need to seal the ends of your ribbon with either a fray stop product or carefully with a flame. 
• You can experiment with any ribbon, but the very best results I've gotten have all been with grossgrain.
• If you make a mistake, you can pull up an embellishment, but then you need to pick off as much dried glue as possible and what is left behind can be remelted by touching the metal tip of your glue gun to it.
• The thinner your hair, the smaller the alligator clip you will want to use.  
• ***IMPORTANT*** Make note of where you part your hair, some embellishments have a definitely top or bottom to them and if you place the clip to the side of your hair, you'll want to make sure you attach the top embellishment facing the correct direction so that it's not upside down when you wear it.  
• This is a great project for any store-bought clips you may have that have gotten dingy, ruined or lost a piece.  Just pull off everything down to the clip and clean it up smoothly as best you can, and rebuild with pieces from your supplies.  
• When using these hairbows for smaller kiddos, try to to be cautious of what embellishments you use.  Find things that don't look like they will pose a choking hazard.  My youngest daughter is only 2, but with all of her sensory and texture issues, we can barely get her to put food in her mouth, much less choking hazards!  hahaha
• Keep an eye out at garage sales and thrift stores.  You will pay on average $3 a package for a set of buttons at a craft store, but can walk out with a selection of them second hand for pennies a piece.
• *STOP* Before you throw out that cute outfit your child stained beyond recognition, check to see if it has any cute buttons or sewn on embellishment that can be removed to decorate a hairbow.  I JUST cut a glittery embroidered heart off of a t-shirt my daughter put a hole in and it's about to become a super-duper cute clip!  

I created these for my contribution to this week's BLING challenge at Anything but a Card, so I dug out the sparkliest embellishments I could find (that and because my older daughter is the very definitely of a princess and all her things MUST sparkle) , but you put together the ribbon and embellishments that will match what you are trying to create and give the video another play while trying to make one of your very own!  

Thanks for visiting!

♥Christy

Relax in the SHADE!!!

Our fearless leader gave the DT a big ol' challenge this week....SUNGLASSES!  We could choose to work with bright colors that make us wanna pull out our shades or we could use sunglasses on our project even.  I chose to go quite literal and incorporate actual sunglasses.  My youngest has quite the collection of sunglasses (yes I know she's only 2, but if I get to have 16 pairs of flip flops, I won't begrudge her 6 pairs of shades LOL) and needed somewhere to store them.

I used a Maya Road tin that came filled with chipboard that's long been used up as the base.  Add a little Helmar 450 and 'Surf Shop' by Reminisce paper/embellishment line (plus a few things from my stash) and voila.....  sunglasses bin!!!  Click on over to Tanya's blog to see what the rest of the Paper Hoarders have in store to brighten your day.  :)

Father's Day Coupon Book

This week over at Paper Hoarders, our theme is Father's Day.  There was also an optional sketch you can follow.  I started off with the sketch as you can tell from the tag shape I kicked off the project with, but along the embellishment path, I strayed a bit.  :)

For Father's Day this year, the kiddos and I decided to give hubby a coupon book.  So we picked some of his most hated chores and gave him a get out of it free coupon.  Also a few coupons for his favorite things to do.  I got a little corny and made little rhymes for each coupon, I'll share them at the end of this post, but warning they are super corny!  LOL.  :)

Thanks for always making sure we have clean dishes.  

You having a break from them is just one of our wishes.

It doesn’t take much of a genius to do the math.

It’s been too long, let us give your car a bath.

When you have three kids, sleep’s something you lose.

How about a nice long afternoon snooze?

Most nights you only get one fifth of a vote.

Tonight you can control all of the remote.

Not every recipe can be a grand prize winner.

So tonight you pick our dessert and dinner.

Fun times always seem to find their way,

This afternoon we want you to plan our day.

We know that cleaning dishes is your least favorite chore.

Let us do them for you just once more.  

They say that eight hours is prime.

Tonight you choose everyone’s bedtime.

As far as dads go, you da man.

Call us your butlers, you wish is our command.

Comedy, action, sports or a good fright.

Anything goes for Dad’s choice movie night.

Photo holder

This week at Paper Hoarders we are working on Mother's Day themed goodies.  Scrapbook pages, cards, altered items, gifts, if it's made with paper...it's groovy!  I decided to make a photo holder.  It's made from an office clip and gussied up with scrappy paper, flowers, letter stickers and twine.  Click on over to Tanya's blog to see what the rest of the ladies came up with :)

Day 9: Lace Flowers

Holy blurry video Batman!  My camera really struggled with finding the spot to focus on with the white on white.  I promise to work on getting better at this whole video thing.  :)

This flower can actual be made with most any kind of fun trim, try out your fav!  And don't forget to keep checking back!!

Eighth Day of Flowers

This is such a fun flower.  It can be made in so many designs if you buy white liners and dye/mist them or buy any of the variety of patterns/colors available in the baking section of most stores.  In fact I JUST found some awesome red and green foil liners that I am totally going to try this with next!

Flower #7

We can now return to our regularly scheduled crafting!!!  :)  Thank you to everyone who saw my post on FB and sent their best wishes.  We had a terrible week and unfortunately it prevented me from even checking in online, much less uploading my tutorials I worked so hard on.  Monday the baby kept getting sicker and sicker and by that evening was at the ER with dehydration and a kidney infection, which isn't all that common in little ones, but something we've dealt with her and her sister so we were prepared.  She also got a secondary stomach flu which wasn't related, but only making the dehydration worse.  Wednesday hubby had to go in for a routine surgery and after a weekend of recouping is doing 100% better.  Wish I could have said the same for the rest of us.  1yr olds are notorious for not wanting to share their toys, but their gastrointestinal flu??  SUPER GENEROUS!!!  My 7yr old came home early from school Thursday after getting sick in class, I followed, and my 11yr soon after.  All 4 people over the age of diapers in the house laid out and a 1yr old ruling the roost made for an interesting week/weekend.  So thank you all for the well wishes and the understanding.  I'm still going to be posting the remaining flowers because I am still so excited about them!!  :) :)

Today we are going to be making one of my new favorites.  You can totally change the look depending on the fabric/colors you use.  Any synthetic fiber like tulle, satin, organza, etc work.  Here is the one I made:

Day 5 - Ribbon flower

This is one of the most simple flowers and I could easily knock out 1 every 3mins or so.  They can have such a different look depending on the ribbon you choose to use!!  Please email or comment with any questions and don't forget to keep commenting and letting me know what you think of each tutorial.

Also, after shooting several video's I realized my camera batteries were dying so the picture of the finished product is a little blurry, but it's super duper cute so that's okay!

Day 3... MIGHT be my favorite

I made this flower a few weeks ago for a ballerina themed princessy project and fell in love with it because the tulle gives it such a tutu look.  So this is being called the Tutu Flower.  Now don't forget if you have any questions, just shoot me an email or comment and I will get back to you.  ...and make sure you keep checking back!!

*several spots I got pretty chatty and you made need to pause to read all the text*

Paper Issues! ..and a request

So I happened upon THE most fantabulous blog ever the other day.  The blog title is absolutely hilarious and definitely drew me in to checking out what it was all about.  It's called "We have issues...PAPER ISSUES!"  HAHAHAHA.  How great is that?!?!  Not to mention, frighteningly accurate LOL!  Their featured theme right now is 'learning curve' and they want you to share all of your school related projects.  The thing I totally loved most is that they leave it open to you sharing anything with them that involves paper.  It could be altered items, layouts, cards, gifts, if you used paper on it...it counts!  Click the blinkie to pop over and see all the AMAZING creations that have been featured so far after you check out my fun piece.

I had been asked (more like hounded) since the day school started to make something for my kiddos to put their box tops for education in.  They've been going into the junk drawer and then when the teacher set a date for the month they could bring them in, they dug through that drawar making all kinds of messes to find every last one.  Enter Super Scrappy Mom to the rescue (I really should wear a cape with all the miracles they expect me to preform HA!).  This started out as a box of taco shells...add a little scrappy yummies from my stash and voila!  We have a box to stash away all of our box tops until it's time to take them to school.  

The typeset paper is The Paper Studio.  The green paper is Creative Imaginations (I really didn't crop that well...it has words all about school and the ONE I centered on is vacation?!?!).  The apple is a cardstock sticker from Reminisce and the swirl is cut from the Sizzix-Flourish die.  The ribbon is from Hobby Lobby.  The word 'box' is The Paper Studio chipboard letters and the word 'tops' is by Recollections. 

Also, while I have everyone's attention....  My friend Tanya is collecting cards for her little friend Aidan.  He is four years old and battling Leukemia.  Getting mail just brightens his day (isn't that just like a 4 yr old??) so she's having a card drive!!  If you make a card for him and get it to her by the end of this month, your name will be put into a drawing for a goodie.  Though, when you click over and see his sweet little face, you won't need any extra motivation to make a boy-rific card for him!!  For details click HERE and below is my card (all the cuts are Create-a-Critter).

Journal Jar!!

I originally made this as a gift, but I have fallen so in love with it, that I'm not sure I can give it up.  I should have known better than to use my favorite My Mind's Eye line on the project!!!!  I altered a clear jar and filled with 52 strips of journaling prompts.  I altered a dollar store hard covered, spiral journal to match.  I tried to think of questions I wish I could ask my grandparents about their life, memories that I don't want to forget, things I'd like my family to know someday.  This was the most fun I've had making a project and I can only imagine it'll be even MORE fun filling out the journal.  The theme at Papercraft Star is 'books' so the journal is my entry there.  :)

Love Story mini album

I have been married to the most amazing man in the world for 12 years now.  I was still a teenager when we met and didn't know the first thing about life much less what I wanted out of it, but boy did I get lucky because he is nothing short of amazing.  Three kids and countless memories later we are still very much in loooovvvee!  :) :) :)

I found my very first scrapbook I made 12 years ago while we were dating that I've been wanting to redo.  My intention was to do a scrapbook of our meeting, dating, getting married and starting out.  It was the 'old way' of scrapping and the photos were waaay over cropped and glue-stick-stuck (**SHUDDER**) down on solid cardstock and then litering the page with stickers.  I absolutely hated looking at it.  That and the glue was no longer sticking and the cheap-o cardstock was fading in splotches.  I've refrained from redoing my son's early pages because I know it's good to document your creative growth, but considering we only have ONE photo of us together prior to getting married I really want it to be something I can cherish. 

Here is the cover of our album.  It has each of our Kindergarten photos.  No, we didn't know each other way back then, but they were on the front page of the original album so it had to be incorporated into the new book.  I also opted for a 6x6 mini because I just never ended up with enough memorabilia to make an huge album.  Though I did keep every ticket stub from our weekly movies. 

The letters 'L-O-V-E' are chipboard alphas sprayed with Glimmer Mist in starfish.  The papers are all from the DCWV rustic stack.  Even the diecuts are cut from it.  I'm not sure the maker of the ticket because it came in a kit I received and didn't have the maker on it.  The letter's 'it's a....story' are brown cardstock stickers by The Paper Studio.  The button is just from my stash.  I used the Cuttlekids flower set to cut out the leaves and the flower is a punch is by McGill.  I used the 'frayed burlap' Tim Holtz distress ink on absolutely every edge.  Stay tuned and this week I'll try to finish up the rest of the album to share. 

I'm sharing this with the distressing challenge at Frosted Designs.  I used the distress ink on all of the edging to give it the aged, distressed look.