WRITE YOUR OWN STORY

It has been a long, long time since my last post. Have been doing all types of crafts, but just haven't found the time to post them. When Gingersnap Creations challenged us to use a typewriter, I had a few to chose from, but this one is my favorite.

This is an altered notebook which tells its own story. Used papers that I picked up at Joanns and the typewriters are rub ons that were purchased at Michaels, from their $1 bins which have had a price increase to $1.50, inflation is the pits, LOL!

The edges of the book and all the papers were distressed using a sponge and ink. The brown background was solid paper, I used a gold gel pen and started to journal.

The sketch is from a Mojo Monday, from awhile back. For inspiration purposes I make a copy of sketches and have them in a folder so I can go back and pull from these ideas. Twenty different notebooks were completed this way before Christmas and each one was unique.

Thanks for stopping by, and being supportive.

Suzie

GRATEFUL THOUGHTS

Have been working on some projects to show my Aunt Marion, she wants to start doing some papercrafts. Kay and I are going to spend the day with her tomorrow, so I wanted to show her some different projects that we could do.

Mojo Monday's sketch this week was perfect for an altered book. The sketches for the cards work so wonderfully for the layouts for altered books, they are such great inspiration.

Used some of my favorite papers by "Graphic 45," Had pearl trim in my stash and added a bow for double face satin. Think is would be such a great book for journaling about what I am grateful for.

Thanks for stopping by today, hope everyone is having a crafty day.

IN HONOR OF MY MOTHER

Boy have things changed. As you can see I've been missing in action. We have moved to Utah, and it seems that there just hasn't been time to do any papercrafting.


We have settled in, but have been doing a lot of sewing, making tote bags for my aunt, aprons, and working on quilts with my daughter. She has decided to make a few quilts for Christmas so that is where our focus has been.



Do check out Gingersnap Creations weekly and have been going to do a challenge, but nothing seemed to come together, until the 3D challenge. Years ago I had made an altered canvas of some of the memories of my mother and thought this was the perfect opportunity to get started blogging again. But instead of showing the canvas that was completed 3 years ago. I started all over, and this is the result.



The flowers are 3D, along with the collage of buttons, sewing machine, tassel, and miniature eyeglasses. Don't know if you can see them but also in the corners of the picture there are rhinestone earrings, these belong to my mother and she only wore them on special occasions. Also added a flower applique at the bottom of the picture, it was white, and so it was necessary to tea dye the applique to get the effect that I was trying to obtain. My sister and I found the printed papers at Ben Franklins in Kaysville, it is by "graphics 45 unique papercrafting" the Times Nouveau Collection. The papers brought back wonderful memories of my mother and it was such a joy to do this collage.


Kaylene and I will have the opportunity to attend a scrapbooking show this weekend, am so excited about seeing what is new out there, and get some fresh ideas.

Thanks for stopping by.

SUNNY SUNFLOWERS

Where has the time gone, was just comment a few days ago that it was already May, now it is the middle of May and things around my home have been a little on the crazy side. Can't believe that I have been a member of the Gingersnap Creations Group for a year, seems like only yesterday that I started to blog. This is such a wonderful group of creative ladies and they give me inspiration each and every day. The Design Team is so supportive and they share such great and new techniques. Haven't had the chance to really be creative because of everything that has been going on. Some have been good, and others not so good.

Grandson's birthday, spent time with my school buddy Sandy. Car in shop for two days, and spent Mother's Day in hospital, the doctor thought I had a blood clot. Don't know why my leg was black and blue and swollen, but no blood clot, thank goodness. Had to keep my leg up and so couldn't really spend much time doing anything creative.

Wanted to do something for the "kraft" challenge at Gingersnap Creations, and had made this mini photo and souvenir album. It is made from lunch bags, can't get anymore "kraft" than that. Used 4 lunch bags, folded in half, every other bag can be opened so that you can put ticket stubs, or brochures in the bag and they are right there.


The cover is bright and cheerful, sunflowers are one my favorite flowers and couldn't resist using them. The title was printed on designer paper. Base of the cover is bright yellow with some yellow polka dot paper to accent. Cheated on this one, the sunflowers are stickers. Had some buttons and added them to the center of the flowers. Each page is decorated differently so that you can add pictures and a little journaling as you go. Made one for my sister Kay, and our friend Barbara when we went on our vacation in the summer of 2007. Used binder rings to hold the bags together and then added lots of ribbon to the rings to give it a really fun look.

Another one of my favorite blogs is The Pink Elephant. This weeks challenge #TPE66 is from Ella's Kitchen which is a recipe to use yellow, design paper and buttons, thought this vacation album fit right in. They have also started a scrapbook challenge on Thursdays. You can meet the design team this week. Know that I will be participating in these challenges as my scrapbooks have been left behind for awhile. Miss doing it with my girls, the creative juices just don't flow when it is just me.

Time to get ready for work. Thanks for stopping by, have a great day.

ROSES FROM THE HEART

Got home from my trip to Reno, and everything was crazy at home. Didn't know it but Billy, my SO, had gone into the hospital on Monday night, I left that morning. He didn't tell me while I was gone, knew that I would turn right around and come home. Sunday night before leaving I had our new puppy delivered while at work, so that I could surprise Billy. When getting home I walked in and said "we're home" he knew something was up. Billy was excited about the puppy and immediately started spoiling him. Billy wasn't feeling well and went to the emergency room, and they wouldn't let him come home. His potassium level was extremely high, which can cause kidney damage.

When I returned home on Wednesday night upon calling Billy to tell him I'd be home shortly, he then told me he was in the hospital. Got home and took care of the dogs, and started my week at work and going to the hospital, trying to cope with a new puppy, which is like having a baby. Made it through my week by the skin of my teeth. Billy came home on Monday, and I was able to take sit down and relax a little.

Checked out some blogs and started a quilt yesterday, for my grandson, got the fabric while in Reno. Also wanted to check out some cards and it suddenly dawned on me that I had completed a project before leaving for Reno for the color challenge at Gingersnap Creations, which was to use the copper, ginger and rust.

Made roses that are made out of paper and then coated with UTEE, learned this technique from Hels at Ink on Your Fingers, check it out here. Hels has a wonderful tutorial for the flowers, and I can't get enough of them, they are so fun to make and there are so many different ways that you can use them. I had this picture of my mother and father on the wall, and thought that it would be great to add these dimensional roses to the frame, love the result.

The paper was from my stash, used my flower die cut from Spellbinders and add copper brads for the center of the flowers. These flowers remind me of wood flowers, that were popular back in the late 50's early 60's, am now telling my age, know that my mother would love these and want to make tons of them. It is because of her that my sister and I have such a love of crafts, she was our inspiration.

This photo shows more detail and you can see more of the colors for the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by today, hope everyone is having a great week. Am going to be working on my crazy quilt and will try to get at least one new card made before going back to work tomorrow. Found some inexpensive clear stamps in Reno, and a few other little items that I can't wait to use.

Have a crafty day.

Personalized Frame

We often forget that our stamps can be used on different textures than paper. I had 5 x 7 acrylic frames in my stash and thought this would be a fun time to try and stamp on the frames. The first picture shows the flower stamp and my grandson's names, StazOn ink was used to stamp the designs.

Slid a piece of solid colored paper into the frame, to show what the stamps looked like. This shows that you can change the pictures of the kids anytime you would like. The next picture is the finished project with a picture of my grandsons, I added stars behind each of their names. Also distressed the edge of the paper, and did watercolor with my aquapainters on glossy paper and placed this so it was behind the flowers.

The picture is matted with white paper, and I used my cutting system from Creative Memories, to cut the oval picture and mat. The stars are a punch that was also purchased from Creative Memories. The metal shoes are brads and I punched a hole in the center of the yellow stars to place them. Used tacky glue to attach these stars to the frame, these are on the outside of the frame. Will be going to Reno to see the boys in April and will have to take a new picture.

This was so easy to do and want to do some for our family reunions, have the perfect picture that was taken in the 20's. There are unlimited stamps that you can use do this type of picture frame, your imagination can run wild. Oh, by the way the frames are available at Wal-Mart for $1. Scrappy Frogs challenge was stamp on something other than paper, think this qualifies.

Thanks for stopping by today, if you have time please leave a comment, love hearing from my fellow bloggers.

LOVE LETTERS

These little mailboxes have been around for years, but I have never decorated one. It was a little harder than I thought it would be. Found this mailbox at Michaels, it was a Christmas mailbox, but changed it to hold love letters for Valentine's Day, this was a challenge at Scrappy Frog.

Used X's and O's paper from my stash, added ribbon around the middle. It was necessary to take off the arm, used brads to put it back on. The background for the letters was embossed using a Big Shot. The folder is from Provo Craft. Also used ribbon around the edge of the lid, also covered the front with a different heart paper.

The sentiment on the arm was stamped with red ink, and then colored in with colored pencils, the scalloped circles were made with Spellbinder die cuts. The flower on the corner of the sentiment is sheer ribbon, that are loops that are glued together and then added a heart stud in the center.


Maybe if I leave this out in the family room, Billy, will leave me a love note, for Valentine's Day, that would be a wonderful surprise.

Thanks for stopping by today, have a crafty one.

RESOLUTIONS????

Okay, finally completed my project for the Resolutions challenge at Gingersnap Creations. With the new year comes resolutions, in the past I really haven't attempted or even stated that I would take on any kind of resolutions, but this years was a little different. Am getting older and felt that I was becoming unhealthy, and added a few pounds.

Know that losing weight is probably the #1 resolution out there, but this was just one of mine. We want to make some major changes in our lives this year and they will take quite a bit of time, but trying to lose weight was the one that I could focus on "now."

Have started to juice and exercise a little, watching what I eat and when. Have lost 9 lbs, so far. One of the ideas that was mentioned to keep on track was to write down what you eat each day, thus here is my Food Journal.

Have a stack of composition notebooks that I bought last September and altered it to my taste. Stamped strawberries on the polkadot paper. Used Martha Stewart's lace border punch for the accent. The Food Journal letter is computer generated, and last but not least this is the new die cuts from Spellbinders, that my daughter, Kaylene, gave me for Christmas.

As they say, your have to make healthier choice, seeing things in writing has really helped me to see how to improve my health.

Have a great crafty day.

Card Tin

Having been making cards all year long for my granddaughters. Last year I made boxes, but have too many cards this year. Bought a white tin at Michaels and decorated lid and around the box.

When I need inspiration for decorating boxes or tins, can always find some great sketches at Mojo Monday. The sketch used is for week #116 challenge, this was such fun to do and am very pleased with the results.

The papers that were used for the first tin was from Scrapbooks...on the Go! Moments Remembered booklet. Used a corner rounder on the background papers, distressed the edges and also the mats for the circle, to give the tin an aged look. Circle cutting system from Creative Memories was used for the circles. A ribbon bow and charm was also added to complete the lid.

Ribbon was also placed around the tin and using 1 1/2" squares were also placed on the tin. This tin is for my daughter Jamie, she receive a paper box last year, this will be so much better has it will hold all different sized cards.

The second tin was for Katie, she plays the harp, wanted to used sheet music for the background and of course here favorite color of purple. The sheet music and 2 girls on the lid came from Graphics Fairy. Added purple rhinestones on the corner, Katie will love it, just because of all the purple.

Third tin is for Nicole, her favorite color is pink. You can never have enough pink.

Have opened a can of worms with these tins, want to make one for my other daughter, sister, and myself.

Need to start working on a few more Christmas projects, hope everyone has a crafty day. Please leave a comment, thanks for stopping by today.

Rainbow Travel Journal

Not just one challenge, not two, or three, but four challenges in one. This was a challenge in it's self, but really fun.



Challenge #l was a rainbow and Gingersnap Creations. Wanted to make some journals for an upcoming reunion, had some paper in my stash and covered the composition notebook. Added some other colors on the cover and stamped "Memories" on the green. and "Enjoy" on the yellow.






Added pocket in red to hold the chipboard luggage tag. Chipboard was also one of the challenges at GC. Using chipboard is new for me, have purchased some and had also been given coasters from the local restaurant. Made a die cut of a tag from Sizzix, the tag was the challenge at Crafty Creations. The chipboard used had advertising on it, so it was necessary to cover the tag, used travel paper, then stamped it with "Our Journey" added ribbon, the tag can be used as a luggage tag for easy identification when locating your luggage at the airport.




The red pocket also has our "Our Journey" stamped on it (sorry the picture doesn't show the stamp.)




The last challenge was for Cinema Saturday Challenge, using red stitching, representing the movie "Field of Dreams." The red stitching was added to each white mat and also around the edge of the entire journal. (Once again I need to work on my photography.)




This is one of my favorite projects, in the past I have done notebooks for bridal showers, Christmas gifts for fellow employees, recipes books, and now a travel journal.

Just a quick note, I used a MOJO MONDAY sketch for the layout, it really works great, only required one full sheet of 12 x 12 printed paper, am ready to product a few more journals. There are all kinds of sketches out there the layouts are prefect for doing the notebooks.

Thanks for stopping by and have a crafty day.

Sunflowers That Brighten the Day

Good morning! Hope everyone had a wonderful 4Th of July. Being in the transportation industry I had to work yesterday, so my 4Th of July celebration will start on Monday. We are going to Salt Lake for a couple of days, Billy has to have some tests run.

Just a quick post and pictures of a couple of projects that I completed last week. We went to dinner at Gayle's (Billy's sister) and I wanted to take the ladies a little gift, hence the jar candle and note cards. This was such a fun and easy project, but the ladies loved them, even guessed right on the fragrances for the candles.

The flowers were made by making using 4 of the Scalloped Circles from Spellbinder, layering and the center is a 3/4 circle. The lace border punch was used for the band around the jar. The stamp used for the sentiment is from K & Company.

The note cards were inspired by Dannie's Designs, she has a video on the instructions, it is easy to follow click here to see all of her wonderful ideas, am sure you will be inspired. The candle decorations were inspired by Treasure Oiler Designz you can see her work here. The stamped flower is from the same set of stamps from K & Company. Used 1/4 ribbon for the ties to complete the holder. Thanks to these two creative women for sharing there ideas, hope these two projects brighten you day.

Have a great day of crafting!

Kevin Makes Cards

Hope everyone had a Tuesday, mine was exceptional, I spent the day with my Grandson, Kevin. These types of days are few and far between now that he is 14 and is so busy with all his activities and school.


Kevin has always been creative, he started his own scrapbook when he was 9 years old. He has always been around crafting and loves handmade gifts. When I picked him up today, ask him how he wanted to spend the day, he said it didn't really matter. We checked out my blog that he had not seen and he decided he would like to make Father's Day cards.




This is the first card he made, pretty simple, he picked out all the colors and paper that he wanted to us. We added buttons on the collar and Happy Father's Day in the center of the tie.





He then felt pretty confident, so I showed him the card that Linda Duke had made that looked like a western shirt. This was the second card that he wanted to try as his stepfather loves western clothing. Kevin picked out the papers and wanted to accent the shirt with brown, he learned how to emboss and really thought that was great, said he couldn't stop feeling the texture from the ink,embossing powder and of course the heat gun. We couldn't find buttons to add to the shirt on such short notice, hence the cowboy boots and hats. Am sure that Brian is going to love this card, he does leather crafting himself, so he loves handmade items, and this will be even more special since Kevin made it for him.




Kevin also made stitches on the collar and lapel, but they are hard to see, as he made the stitches so tiny.



You can go to Linda Duke's blog here for a video tutorial, this was very helpful, we did have to make some adjustments, next time I will definetly make a proto type with less expensive paper, but we were under the gun to complete this card.





So I opened a can of worms and Kevin said he didn't do anything for his mothers for Mother's Day so we made this really quick project that he could take home to his stepmom. It is an acylic frame that is a post a note holder. Once again Kevin picked out the paper and found a picture that he could also add to the frame.

Next week he is going to come and see me again and we are going to make a special project for his Mom that I can take to her when we go to Utah the first of July.

All in all we had a great day, and I can't wait to spend more time with him. Next week he has all his projects planned out and we will be working on special birthday cards for his cousin Mason.

Hope that you enjoyed seeing Kevin's creations, as much as I enjoyed helping him with these cards.

The Color Purple

Okay, I really wanted to do something for this weeks challenge at Crafty Creations, we are suppose to use the color purple. While trying to come up with an idea, of course the first thing was a card, but wanted to think out of box and try something a little different. Talked with my daughter about the challenge and her first thing was "One Eyed, Flying, Purple People Eater," not my style.

While driving to work yesterday the "Color Purple" popped into my mind with all the beautiful flowers, (I wasn't really a flower person, until recently, having lived in the desert my whole life, you really couldn't grow flowers, especially me with a brown thumb). LOL! Last year I had made candle covers for the holidays and had taken them to work, to give the office a little more Holiday spirit.

Well this is my finished project, I was going to emboss the background, but had added the lace trim, so I couldn't put the paper in the Big Shot, with out the possibility of tearing the paper as I had already adhered the lace border, also if I had embossed the paper with a white liner that it would have been much more dramatic and the 3 dimentional flowers would even looked better. Oh well, next time, we learn from our mistakes.

The flowers were made by using vellum paper and I sponged it with purple ink. The petals were cut using by cutting system from Creative Memories, love this product. Then to add the glitter, (which was too big, thought it was finer) used a glue pen and sprinkled it on each petal. When the glue and glitter was added, the vellum rolled naturally and the petals became even more realistic. That was a bonus! The stems and leaves were cut, sponged the edges to give a more shaded effect.

Used white eyelets on the edges and laced the cover with picot 1/4" ribbon. Billy liked this project, it is fun and you don't have to go out and buy a new candle for every season. Punched a lace border to add to the top and bottom, also used a brush pen and added the color in each hole and add color to the edge, made the lace design "pop."

Hope that this inspires you to create, Deena at A Necessary Creativity is where I go for inspiration. She has a candy blog right now, check it out here.

Thanks for coming by today, now it's time to work on new projects. Happy crafting!

Want A Be Sunflower Card

The inspiration for this card came from Inspired Designs, love the colors and of course the sunflowers.

When starting the card I knew what directions it was headed, but it took on a life of its own, liked the results using the scalloped circles from Spellbinders thought it would make a great picture. The orginial card was 5"x 5" , checked out the local Dollar Store and found an 8"x 8" frame. Will be making another one the same size and then use the larger scalloped cirles and make a bigger version, then will have a three picture grouping. When completed will take photos so you can see the finished product. This will have to wait a few days, as this is my Monday for work.

Kept looking at the picture, and found it necessary to go ahead and make another card. Scored the base of the card to give a lattice look and pierced the paper where the lines intersected. Love all the dimenions. Very simple sentiment finishes off the card using oval shapes.

Have fun with this card, let your imagination run wild.

Recipe Book

It seems that everyone has a recipe box or books. My books are numerous when I'm ready to try a new recipe, I flip through the books and try to remember which ones I have used and Billy has stated it is a "keeper". When checking out Amazing Paper Grace, Becca had a tutorial for a recipe book, a light went off in my head and I thought this might be the perfect way for me to organize those recipes. I don't have all the tools that Becca lists, so it is necessary to try and use what is on hand in my craft room. This was a fun and easy project, it would make a great gift for a bride-to-be.