Weekend Finds

I made a couple quick trips in search of some supplies this weekend. Here is one trip's bounty from an antique mall. Most of the items in this mall were over-priced, but I found one gem of a booth where I scored most of these items. Vintage dress patterns, buttons, fabric and a 1963 cooking/how-to manual for women - "Woman Talk."

My favorite part is advice on how to convince your husband that you can't afford to spend money on a new car with a little reverse psychology. "You are much smarter than I am about important things like the purchasing of a car. I guess the final word would really be yours. Men know all about those things, you know." Can you believe that this is actually "advice" for women?

I also took my friend Stormy to The Red Shed Antiques sale on Saturday morning. I walked away with a few treasures, including this little altered art "tag" that I'll put up in my new craft room.

I have some more really great finds that I'll share this week. The craft room is coming along nicely. Now I need to try and organize 400 pounds of stuff into a 100-pound space. Here's a tiny preview of what I've been working on to get it ready.

Stuck!

I was saving this layout, because I was hoping to share news that it is being published. I've sent it out to several magazines, but no one has bitten. It's one of my favorite layouts. I think I'll try submitting to the online magazines next.

This is my niece Lily. When I was in NJ visiting her recently, we went outside to play at Grandmom's house. She kept going over to this large rock in the yard, tried to pull it up with her teeny tiny fingertips, strained and said "stuck" - every time. I was lucky enough to get the perfect shot of her on one of these attempts. (She is a very difficult child to photograph as she won't look at the camera, won't smile on cue, and moves so quickly - the shot is gone.)


For the layout, I used a vibrant sheet of Prima paper. I cut out the paper's framed area and distressed the edges a bit. I adhered the photo behind the opening. I framed the photo with a ribbon vine, a Prima butterfly, a Prima rose, assorted craft store flowers, ribbon and sequin scraps, and a stick. The ribbon vine matches the vines in the paper perfectly!


For the title, I used a $1 pink picture frame from Michaels (I removed the frame backing/stand) that I painted with Tim Holtz Picket Fence crackle paint. I used the scrap that I cut from the paper's "framed" area for the backing, then added Thickers letters to spell her sentiment - "stuck."

Using Up Scraps

One of my scrapping friends has gone through tremendous changes in her life recently, one of them being a move to a new home. I made this "Welcome Home" card for her and sent it to arrive at her new home as she was moving in.

I used scraps of K&Co papers for the card base. I added a door and cut out a square for the window. I used a piece of vellum for the window "glass", then cut a paper scrap into the shape of curtains and added a vintage postcard image of a little girl's face peaking out the window.

The little window box under the window has a mix of little flowers. I created a picket fence by simply cutting paper strips, adhering them, and then using a white Signo pen to make the slats that connect the posts.

For the Welcome sign, I simply wrote "WELCOME" on a piece of old book paper (the same paper was used to make the picket fence). I wrote "home" on the front door using the white Signo pen. I added a German foil keyhole to the front door.

On the inside, I used a scrap from Prima packaging to write my note to her.

I was busy making more cards last night as we watched "Grey Gardens" (the old documentary). Those ladies were CRAZY with a capital C-R-A-Z-Y! My husband is enjoying my "little Edie" accent that I use whenever I "talk" to our cats. I'll share the cards later this week.

I'm planning to have another give-away soon, so keep your eyes open for it!

So Grown Up

My niece, Layla, is starting 6th Grade in a few weeks. She's going to middle school. I remember when she was in Kindergarten and would sing to us all the "learning" songs her teacher taught the class - so adorable! I created this layout with her 5th Grade portrait. She did a great job choosing a portrait background that was very soft and "artsy."

I used Webster's Pages for the background and letter stickers. I added vintage lace around her photo and a row of folded Basic Grey Porcelain paper. The birdcage is also cut from Basic Grey Porcelain paper. The flowers are Prima and I picked up the butterfly in the $1 bin at Michael's.

This one will be hanging in my new craft room (when it's finished, of course). I'd love to have a large painting on the wall of that pink birdcage.

My Date with Tim Holtz - Part 2

I shared my project from the Tim Holtz Curio of Creativity class a while back, and I finally got around to creating a layout with the photo of the two of us. I tried to create something that would combine our two styles (but I think it leans more toward mine than his).

For the background, I used just one piece of gorgeous Webster's Pages paper, then added on some things from a past Bad Girls Kit. I used a vintage book page behind the photo, and used a stick to tie on a piece of fabric like a curtain. Vintage lace and fabric scraps, a scrap of cardboard, trims, and little button and paper flowers complete the layout. I have a grungey journaling tag hidden behind the photo to secretly share all my thoughts and excitement from the day.

My scrap room is under renovation right now, so I have been slowly working on some projects from my living room floor! I'll share photos of the room once it's complete, but don't hold your breath to see them anytime soon! I hope to get half the room painted this weekend and get the other half done the following week, but we'll see. I truly envy people with finished basements that they can use as a craft room.

Happy Birthday Sheila Julie!

Today is my friend Julie's birthday. She's part of a circle of amazing artist friends that I'm so happy to be a part of. We trade projects and ideas and love celebrating life's happy moments together.

For Julie's birthday, I made three layouts, each featuring one of her beautiful children. I used a variety of Webster's Pages, Basic Grey, Prima, Hambly, and assorted "junk" for each of these layouts. I'm so happy with how they came out, and I'm even happier that she likes them!

First up is Dylan. The background is a Hambly transparency, layered with a Midnight Oil die cut, some Thickers letters, and little cutouts from Sassafras paper. I even added a green and white twist-tie from my dry cleaning to top it off!


Next we have Debbie. Debbie sits on a piece of pink vellum, a watercolor painting, Making Memories scalloped paper, and finally some beautiful paper from Prima. I added a Prima rhinestone flourish, various flowers, and "natural" embellishments to finish up this little cutie's layout.

Finally is little Ella Bella. I saw this photo of her and begged Julie to send it to me - she was so cute, I just KNEW that I would do something special with her. Ella is nestled into the flowers of Webster's Pages paper, and framed with Prima flowers. I've layered Basic Grey and Crate Paper papers to create the rest of the background, along with some vintage lace and a little "Adore" stamp that I found in the $1 bin at Michael's. Don't you just want to pinch those little smiley cheeks of hers?

Happy Birthday Julie, and may you have many more blessings and years with us!

You've Got Style

I created this layout of my niece using some die cuts from The Scrappy Shack. I took this photo of her "all dolled up" while we were vacationing in Cape Cod.

Here's what I did:
First, I sprayed the Circles Lace Paper and Large Flourish Frame with gold Glimmer Mist. I added brown distress ink to the Circles paper to alter the red and make it match the background paper. As these were drying, I distressed some pattern paper and added it to my background with a notecard I bought in the $1 bin at Michael's.

I distressed the edges of the photo with my scissors and adhered it to the layout on top of the red Circles paper. I layered the Flourish Frame on top of her photo to frame her face and added sparkly rhinestones to each side of the frame (the girl loves "diamonds").

Then I inked a Tim Holtz grungeboard flourish, tied a Blue Moon metal charm to it, and stitched it onto the corner using black embroidery floss.

On the left side of the layout, I added a Pink Paislee fabric flower (which just arrived and matched my layout perfectly!) and created a little charm using a Tim Holtz Fragments acryclic tag, vintage sheet music, and a metal heart charm.

At the top, I added the title "You've Got Style" using my Dymo label maker and glittery Foof a La letters (a birthday gift from my friend Melzie). I tied a piece of black velvet ribbon onto the "S" and she was done!

Midnight Oil Build-a-Book

Check out my design for Midnight Oil's Build-a-Book album on their blog today.

I used different shapes of the Build-a-Book pages to put together this "I Love Vintage" mini album of all the vintage elements that I love to incorporate into my projects.

You can see more pictures of the pages on the MOSD blog. (Blogger was not cooperating today for me to load more pics here - ugghh!) Go check it out and be sure to leave me comments! I love hearing your feedback.

More Birthday Cards

I told you I was making lots of birthday cards! Here are a couple more.

This first one uses Making Memories paper, an Anna Griffin journaling square, Thickers and Making Memories alphas, and some pink Stickles.

For the "Thinking of You" card, I used up some scraps of paper and ribbon, added a Fancy Pants tag and a couple of flowers.

I have finally gotten back into doing some layouts, and have been actively submitting them for publication. I'll keep my fingers crossed, and hope to share some good news with you soon!

Birthday Cards

I have been making birthday cards lately. Lots of birthday cards. It seems that whenever it's someone's birthday, I have to scramble to make a card. Now I have a collection to go to when I need one. I'm trying to take one night a week and make a few cards while I watch TV. I'm using up some paper scraps and stickers. Here are a few that I've made recently.


I have a pile of old BINGO cards that I've collected and have never used any of them. With the popularity of the Jenni Bowlin series of cards, I decided to put some to use as birthday cards. I created a series of these cards using pink crepe paper and K&Co paper scraps. I made the "happy birthday" banner from more scraps, and then added pink Stickles. I tied on a Maya Road ribbon and this little card was complete. These are really more of a tag, since I'm just writing my birthday greeting on the back and didn't adhere this to a card base.






Next is a card I made using Making Memories paper, flowers, and a journaling tag, with a K&Co printed tag on top. I haven't gotten into the current "owl" craze, but I saw this little tag and the title immediately popped into my head.

For the blue birthday card, I used various pieces of sold cardstock scraps to matt the Fancy Pants "Happy Birthday" tag. Then I layered on some various flowers and a blue velvet bow.

I'll share some more cards later, and will keep making them to ensure that I have them at the ready when needed.

Vintage Jewelry Recycled

I can't believe that it's August already! While staying indoors to keep cool, I've been working on some projects and finally got back to making some jewelry.

I made this necklace using some sort of old metal clip. All the cut-work allowed me to dangle some little charms from the bottom. I added an enameled flower, a Tim Holtz charm, and other bits and pieces from other jewelry, including pieces from a bracelet I purchased on our honeymoon in Monaco that fell apart within a month. The chain is from a Statue of Liberty necklace that I bought when I visited there as a kid. I used the charm from that necklace on my patriotic bracelet that I wear on July 4th.

Fairy Card

Today I'm sharing a fairy card that I made using one of the Midnight Oil chipboard book pages.

I painted the background paper using watercolor crayons on watercolor paper. I cut out the shape, and adhered it to the chipboard page. I saw the quote for the title a while back and was looking for just the right project to use it.

The watercolor background looked so whimsical, I knew that I needed a little fairy for it. I had this fairy photo in my stash, added Stickles to it, and then layered on Midnight Oil flowers, and some buttons, ribbon, and lace. She's just as cute as can be!