Flashback Friday- A Souper Day!

Happy Friday!! I'm so glad you're here! It's another flashback day on my blog and I love that just about everything on these two pages are from my older stash! I pulled out some yellow paper from my nonSU stack and paired it with some retired DSP and some really old letter stickers.  The lucky limeade ribbon on the second page was just a little too sheer for this page so I braided three strands together and added a matching brad.

I am happy to say that I am seeing a small improvement in my stacks of older photos.  Little by little, they are coming out of the organizer and going into the albums.  Makes my heart feel all fuzzy inside!!  It was a little bittersweet scrapbooking these pages.  The pictures are from a soup cookout that we had the fall before my Dad had his stroke.  He no longer has the mobility to walk unassisted and it made me a little sad to see him standing and stirring the soup kettle.  However, we are blessed that he is still with us and still just as stubborn as ever (glad I'm not like that...). I am thankful that we are able to make more memories for me to record.

Well, we are preparing for a busy weekend here.  DD#1 is participating in the District Solo and Ensemble competition and I'm volunteering, so we will be doing a lot of running and waiting.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Page Recipe: Paper-yellow from stash, Orchard Harvest DSP (ret), early espresso, Accessories-summer smooches brads (ret), letter stickers from stash, jumbo sticky round, lucky limeade ribbon (ret), twill ribbon (ret)

Anything But a Card Challenges #29-Fall into Fall

Hello! It's my turn to share a project for our current theme, Fall into Fall, at Anything But a Card Challenges.  I decided to make a scrapbook page holding photos of my favorite girls playing in the leaves.

I used an old Page Maps sketch for my inspiration.  I wanted to use brown as my primary color, but didn't want the whole page to blend in too much, so I chose an orange base and worked in a few accent colors too.  After I added the punched lace ribbon border, I thought it needed a little something to make it stand out a bit more.  So I colored some basic rhinestones with a pretty blue sharpie and voila!  I really like how the page turned out and I even managed to squeeze a ribbon flower on there! The leaves were some spares that were left from a different project, so I added more mustard ink to them so the colors worked with the page.

the ribbon flower (love making these)

the sharpie colored rhinestones-they really are shiny in person...

I hope you enjoyed my page and I would love to see you link up with us!  There are some wonderful projects to be view too!  Have a wonderful week!

Page Recipe:  Paper- orange base from stash, Orchard Harvest DSP (ret), early espresso, more mustard (ret), daffodil delight, Ink-crumb cake, early espresso, more mustard (ret), blue sharpie, Accessories-autumn accents die, woodgrain embossing folder, jumbo sticky rounds, island indigo ruffled ribbon (ret), lace ribbon border punch, orange alphabet stickers from stash

Flashback Friday- They grow up so fast...

Hello! I'm so glad you've stopped by for another Flashback Friday, where I attempt to use up some of my older crafting supplies, and dust off those retired Stampin' Up items.  I have another scrapbook page this week.

A while back, my youngest was commenting about all of the pictures I still needed to scrapbook.  In her ever optimistic mind, she thought if I had a whole weekend for scrapbooking, I could get caught up.  Isn't that cute?!  Not that I mind the idea of locking myself away for a weekend of crafting, but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't even make a dent in the pages that need to be made.  I might be able to get all of my  printed photos scrapped, but then there are the hundreds of photos that are still on CDs that need to be printed.  Such is the life of a shutterbug...

I have managed to squeeze in quite a bit of time this month to working on pages and I'm slowly getting them finished.  Today's page has photos from 2008 and I had to smile at the sweet little faces!  They don't look quite the same 5 years later!!

I used an old sketch that I've had for ages.  I'm not even sure where it's from, but I loved the little scallop blocks for the title.  It was also nice to use some older cardstock for my base.  That pile is slowly getting smaller too!  The original sketch had die cut style flowers, but since I've loaned out my Big Shot to my sister for a project, I made ribbon flowers instead. *I never realized just how much I use the Big Shot until it wasn't here!*  Oh, and those red letters in the title?  I can not even fathom a guess as to how long I've had them.  I was a little surprised they were still sticky!

close up of the ribbon flower...

I hope you enjoyed today's post and that maybe you are inspired to catch up on your scrapbooking or use some of your older supplies.  Have a wonderful weekend and happy crafting!

Page Recipe:  Paper- yellow base from stash, whisper white, pacific point, Accessories-scallop square punch, jumbo sticky rounds, ice cream parlor ribbon (ret), really old red alphabet stickers  

Anything But a Card Challenge 19-Wisdom of Heart

Well, hello and happy Sunday morning to you!  This is an especially happy Sunday morning for me because it marks the start of the first week since officially resigning from my job!  I know this is a short term 'time off', but I am going to enjoy every minute of it until returning to work!

We are now in week two of the color challenge at Anything But a Card Challenges and it's my turn to share.  I knew as soon as I saw this gorgeous set of colors and inspiration photo that I would be doing a scrapbook page and I also knew exactly what papers I would use as well.

The beautiful blend of blue/green and red/pink reminded me of the colors in the More Amore DSP.  I also knew that I would finally be scrapbooking a significant photo of my oldest DD.  This picture has been patiently waiting for just the right moment and papers to make it extra special.  Every fall, my girls pose for their 'first day of school' photo.  They are always wearing their new shoes and sporting their new backpack as well.  I love that it captures their style and personality for that period of time, but it also is a wonderful way to see how they have grown.  This particular photo is from DD#1 6th grade year and she just had her 8th grade recognition this past week.  How's that for timing?

As I started putting this page together, I realized that I had not used the first piece of cardstock, only patterned paper.  Highly unusual for me!! I also noticed as I was labeling the supplies,  there weren't that many different supplies used on this page, another rare occurrence!  I'm not usually into using a lot of bold patterns either, but here they are.  I'm really liking this new approach and it helped me use some of those beautiful papers I've been hoarding saving for just the right moment!

The fabric in the inspiration photo begged me to add some texture to this page.  I decided to go with a rolled ribbon 'flower' and added some crocheted ribbon as well.  If you want to see fabric inspiration at it's finest, be sure to check out Julie's amazing creation! GORGEOUS, I tell you!

a close up of my flower and the perfect quote that I had to work into this page!

I need to take a moment to gush about my wonderful girl!  I knew I wanted to use the beautiful quote on the piece of DSP for her.  From a very young age, she has had the amazing ability to completely look beyond what is on the surface and see the inner beauty in others.  Our first major experience with this was when we met one of her buddies from school.  She talked about this girl for months, how much fun she was, the great conversations they had, how this girl made her laugh.  So I hate to admit that I had a preformed vision of this precious girl in my mind and was a little taken back when I met her and realized that she had some special needs.  DD had never mentioned this aspect of her wonderful friend and it melted my heart to realize that while she knew her friend was different, that was not what she saw when she looked at her.  This has been her strength and special gift ever since.  She has no concern what others may think of her friendships and loves with her whole heart.  Is there any wisdom that is greater than this? None that I can think of...

So thank you for letting me get all mushy and teary eyed! To me, this is what scrapbooking is all about, not only capturing the event, but the wonderful memories and emotions that go with it.  I included a very special message to my daughter on the back of this page.  I really love doing this when the message is extra special and not necessarily for everyone's eyes to see.

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit and I hope you find some time this week to be crafty, and I would love to see you play along with our color challenge!!

Page Recipe:  More Amore DSP, pool party ruffled ribbon, Victoria crochet trim, jumbo sticky rounds, Just Journaling stamp, black stazon & black marker

Anything But a Card Challenge -Things With Wings

It is time for week two of the 'Things With Wings' challenge at Anything But a Card Challenges and that means that it's my turn to share a project!  If you click on the link above, you will go to the post with Mr. Linky (I'm trying to make it super easy for you to join us-wink!wink!), which is week one. I hope you take a minute to check out all of the wonderful inspiration and projects that have already been linked up!  

I had so many different thoughts running through my head for this challenge, and my dear blogging sister, Lisa did nothing to help!!  One of my first ideas was butterflies with a quote for my journal and it also was the first project I tried -yes...I did more than one!  

I have quite a collection of various brands of glitter glues, and a few bottles of liquid pearls.  Unfortunately, the clear and silver are the two glitters that I use most of the time, leaving all of the other colors feeling quite neglected.  I also realized I have never used my yellow pearls...  Well, I made a promise to myself over the holidays that I was going to play, and so I did!  I found my quote first (in a rather large stack of vellum quotes) and wanted to make a pastel background to be slightly visible behind the vellum. I had shaded the right corner to have the illusion of sunlight and it looked great until I put the vellum over it, then it just looked kind of muddled. I thought the yellow pearls would possibly make a nice sun.  I tried a 'dot' approach, my version of pointillism, but it didn't look right.  So I took my blending tool (aka pointer finger) and smeared the dots together, kind of a funky effect!  Then came the two tone ribbon (new SU goodies!!), a ribbon flower with some felt pieces tucked in for leaves and a punched butterfly to ensure that the whole wings thing was covered!  I didn't like the naked edges of the vellum and pulled out the green glitter glue to frame it.  When I was done, I was thinking maybe I should have bypassed the liquid pearls and just used all green, but oh well!  I have to say that the page is growing on me the more I look at it and it was a lot of fun playing with the different materials.

A few days later, and an unfortunate but necessary trip to Wal-Mart, I found myself in the craft aisle.  My youngest DD had Christmas money to spend and wanted some new art supplies and while she debated her options, my eyes landed on a package of Sculpey Oven Bake Clay. Hmmm... I know that many crafty people out in Blogland use this stuff to make all kinds of wonderful things and I did make that promise to play... (can you see this getting me in hot water with DH?)  So into the cart it went and somehow some metallic acrylics ended up in there too... Don't know how that happened!  I would love to say that the clay came out as soon as I got home, but the truth is it sat there all week taunting me.  Which may have been a good thing because in the mean time, I came across a very retired stamp set called Nature's Wonders.  There is this absolutely beautiful dragonfly stamp in this set and suddenly inspiration hit! I was going to stamp my clay!!  Didn't know if this would work; didn't know if it would clog up the stamp; didn't care! Well... I would have cared if it ruined my stamp, but I really wanted to try this!  So I kneaded the clay until it was really soft, then patted it fairly flat (a little less than 1/4") and then gently pressed the stamp onto the clay.  I had to wiggle it a little to get it to release, but I liked the slightly uneven appearance.  Then I trimmed the edges and set it aside to bake.  I tried this with a few different stamps and it was so much fun!  I followed the baking directions on the package and when they cooled, I painted them with the acrylics.  My girls asked if they could paint them and I selfishly said "Nope, not this time." But I did promise to let them make their own, so everyone was happy!

Here is my dragonfly-not sure it's completely done being painted, but I still like it!

and in keeping with the 'wings' theme, an owl...

Both of these are much smaller than they appear in the picture.  The owl is about 1" and the dragonfly is a little larger.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these yet, but I'm sure that will be fun too!

Have a great week and happy crafting!

Journal Page Recipe:  Cardstock-sahara sand, Stamp Set-Butterfly Prints, Ink-concord crush, Accessories-pastels, basic pearls, very vanilla seam binding, jumbo sticky round, vintage tag and green felt flowers (ret), butterfly punch, green glitter glue, buttercup liquid pearls

Clay Tiles Recipe:  white Sculpey clay, metallic acrylic paints kit, Stamp Sets-Cute By the Inch, Nature's Wonders

Color Me Beautiful #9-Fall for fabric

Fall is in full swing in Indiana!  The leaves seemed to explode in color about two weeks ago and now, just a short time later, many of the trees are bare.  While I am sad that the gorgeous color show is coming to an end, I am thrilled that our unbearable hot and humid temperatures are a thing of the past.  In case you haven't picked up on it yet, fall is my absolute favorite season! Time to pull out the sweatshirts and sweaters, build campfires for family cook outs, go on hikes in the woods without being eaten alive by bugs, and snuggle in on the couch with a cup of coffee and a good book.  And don't get me started on the joys of Thanksgiving!!

It's no wonder that this week's challenge at Color Me Beautiful made me so happy!  Just look at those gorgeous leaves  inspiring us to use the wonderful Stampin' UP colors!!

When I saw the In Colors for the first time, Summer Starfruit was probably my least favorite...for about a week.  Then I started combining it with other colors and realized that it was incredibly versatile, picking up shades of orange, yellow, and even brown, depending on what was next to it.  As a matter of fact, when I saw the challenge colors, I looked for my source of Summer Starfruit first and then built my card around the beautiful strip of fabric I rolled into a flower (have I mentioned how addictive these things are??).

While it's not really a 'fall' card, I think it still has the feel, if that makes any sense!!  Plus, it uses all of the colors.  As much as I would love to take credit for the layout, the original design for this card can be found here.  Sandy also has a great tutorial on how to make these flowers at the same spot.  Be sure to visit her blog, and check out the gorgeous creations made by the design team at CMB!  Who knows?  Maybe you will be inspired to share your own creation with us!!

To help put you in the fall mood that currently surrounds me, I'm sharing a few pictures I took last weekend while the girls and I went for a walk.  The leaves were already beginning to fall, but there was still plenty of color.

I hope this has put you in the mood for fall and maybe even to play along with our color challenge! Have a wonderful weekend and happy crafting!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-chocolate chip, crumb cake, very vanilla, Orchard Harvest DSP, Subtles Stack DSP, Stamp Set-Wacky Wishes, Ink-chocolate chip, Accessories- Comfort Cafe fabric, Jumbo Sticky Rounds, Framed Tulip embossing folder, Little Leaves Sizzlit, Big Shot

Anything But a Card Challenges #2- Texture

So glad you stopped in to visit my little ol' blog today!  We have a challenge going on at Anything But a Card Challenges to make anything but a card with TEXTURE!!  Think fabric, canvas, wire, fibers, embossing, layering, crimping, studs, jewels...you get the picture!  Now any of my regular followers will be shocked that my first thought was FABRIC. Yes... I know...don't faint on me!  It is true that I do not sew if I can help it, but for whatever irrational reason, I have quite a bit of Stampin' UP's fabric.  Some were give aways from my upline, others I bought thinking I would do something with them.  Not that the reason matters, what is important is I have this stuff just sitting in a container taking up space and taunting me.  So when I saw the new sticky rounds in the Holiday catalog, I knew that this could be the solution to my neglected fabric stash!

Here is what a non-sewing scrapbooker does with fabric (and ribbon)...

Now I have to give a small warning... These can be a bit frustrating until you get the hang of twisting and sticking as you go, but once you get the hang of it, they are a little addictive.  I had intended to make one or two out of fabric, but ended up making several, some made with seam binding ribbon as well!  Between the fabric flowers and the Vintage Flowers embellishments, there is quite a bit of texture on this page.  This might have posed a problem if I was going to put it in an album, but I decided this one will be going in a 12x12 shadowbox frame, so 'lumpiness' will not be an issue! Oh, it's not showing up in the picture, but my cardstock base is textured too!

You still have time to play along with us and link up your creation with texture!  Hope to see you there!!  

Page Recipe: Cardstock-Baja breeze, very vanilla, pear pizzazz, Springtime Vintage DSP (ret), Stamp Sets-Curly Cute, Reason To Smile, Accessories-Baja breeze & rose red seam binding, vintage flowers, bird builder punch, springtime vintage fabric, scallop trim border, jumbo sticky rounds