Oh Sweet Summertime!

My biggest downfall this time of year is not spending enough time in my scraproom. I love being outside in the sunshine and working in the yard. But, it's also a time for some great pictures that will make for work later in the year. All my "special projects" around the house are complete however, so I am going to start spending a couple hours a day creating. The Etsy orders are coming in on a regular basis, and I think I might even start making more tags and cards to list. Also, I really need to get motivated to finish a couple of scrapbook orders that need to be complete by October.

Unconventional Easter

Easter is just a couple of weeks away and I have been filling orders for my Etsy Shop. I was tasked to think outside the box a bit when designing an order for one client. Of course she wanted some classic Easter embellishments; you know those with bunnies and colored eggs, crosses and lillies. But she also told me about her "Good Friday" special event a crawfish boil and she wanted embellishment tags for her scrapbook pages. Here is what I came up with, and thankfully she loved them!

Scrappy Weekend

It's been a great weekend and I was able to finish a few projects. I am especially excited about the "artwork albums" that I am creating for an Etsy client. This is the first one that I've finished for her and it is for her daughter's school work. Measuring 12x15, I used chipboard for the cover and Bristol art paper for the pages. Using my Bind-it-All, I was able to finish the book with a 1" spiral coil. Each page has a three inch journaling card, so that the client can label the artwork on the page or write a special memory. Now, I've got to get the next one put together for her son, Nicholas. Sounds like another weekend project!

Fun at Tally Scrappers

Looking for some excitement to liven up 2011. Tally Scrappers has a great site that offers friendship, fun and fantastic opportunities for expanding your scrapbooking talents. We've just started a new contest, "Survivor Challenge" and I can't wait to see what new challenges are introduced each week. The shop has some great items and the monthly kits are delicious. There's a great blog that offers new techniques and also the latest buzz about what's happening in the creative world. Come on over, it's free to join. Don't forget to tell Pinky that I sent you!

Crafty Days...

During these cold, yucky days it's hard to get motivated to do anything much less head to the basement scraproom to create. But, I managed to get some inspiration and was able to get a few projects started and another finished. Since getting the SCAL software, I am really having fun with my Cricut. I spent today making some "jewelry envelope/boxes" for a lady looking for a way to present her home-made jewelry designs. This is so quick and easy, and can be dressed up with pattern papers and fancy ribbon.

Sale...Sale....Sale...

Visit my Etsy store and during the month of January receive 10% off your total order. Just use coupon code JAN11SALE when you check out. Customer orders welcome!

Happy New Year!!!

It's a new year and one of my resolutions I plan on keeping is this...
I will spend more time in my scraproom, playing and experimenting, enjoying the art of crafting that fulfilled many hours of my week in the past.

I have already been keeping that resolution and have opened an Etsy store and joined an new message board with a lot of old friends, "Tally Scrapper". I look forward to many projects and activities. Check out my Etsy store for some of my latest creations!

Come dance to Thriller and the Monster Mash,
Crawl on over to our Halloween Costume Bash.
Ghosts, witches and monsters too,
They’re all invited, and so are you!

...and they are finished. 50 party invitations for my friend Julie, who is hosting for her children's friends and classmates. It's been a busy couple of weeks and now I'm starting to put layout kits together to be sold with custom sketches and instructions.

Busy Week of Altered Art

After spending some time this weekend working on getting my own scrap layouts caught up, I started working on creating party hats. My friend Brooke has a daughter who is turning one in a few weeks and I found some great party ideas on-line. I do love scrap-blogs!!! Now I've got to make 25 party hats and water bottle tags, and that's just a start.

Here's a sample of what I'm making. This was a test run and the actual finished hat will be pink and green with a "1" bulls-eye on the front.

The Photo Shoot

My 4 year old niece, Addyson, went to have her picture made and my sister went hog wild when purchasing the package. I can completely understand though because all the shots were adorable. Honestly I've had trouble deciding which ones to scrap, so I will eventually get to all of them. What I found hysterical was the fact that Addyson insisted on calling it "a photo shoot" and not just getting her pictures made.

Here is a couple of the layouts that I've done. I used some wonderful kits from Life Preserver's Club for all of these. Von's kit are to die for!!!

Claire

I just finished another scrapbook for my friend Brooke. Claire, her youngest, will be turning one soon and it took two albums to get her first year scrapbooked. Here are a few of the layouts that are included. Now it's time to start working on Kennedy's album!

Mark you calendars...

... it's that time of the year. Linda at The Shaker Box is hosting another on-line crop! The last one was a blast with challenges, game and penty of prizes. Hope to see you there!

I've been working on an album for my friend Brooke. It will be for her youngest daughter, Claire. This photo was stunning and I had to make the page special. The coordinating page contains a couple more photographs and a pocket that holds the sonigram shots of the baby. I think I may go ahead and cover the polka dotted circle with some glossy accents, but am still thinking about it.

Amazing Kit

Today was a happy, scrappy mail day! My The Shaker Box monthly kit arrived and is jam packed with beautiful papers from Webster's Pages. Linda has out-done herself this time selecting the perfect embellishments too. If you haven't visited the site and the gallery, you are missing some great work.

While you are there, check out the project kit she currently has available in her store!

It's adorable!!!

My friend Pinky did a great job putting this together.

May Sketch

It's been a busy month with jury duty, teaching and vacation. I haven't had much time to scrap, but was able to get a few cards made for Mother's Day. Hopefully, I can spend some time in my scraproom over the next few days. Rainy days are good for my creativity.

One item I did put together was this sketch. My friend Von, at Life Preserver's Club wanted something she could use on the site this month. I typically like to make sketches with a 5x7, but thought this was a little different. Hopefully they like it on the site and I can't wait to check out their gallery!

It's a Sale!!!

The Shaker Box is having a sale for National Scrapbook Day! Here's the info and while you are there, check out the message board for some great challenges, games and prizes.

In honor of National Scrapbook Day, we will celebrate with a great sale of 20% off your order. I am sorry, but all memberships and kits are excluded from this sale. To receive your discount, please put H7TTVA in the coupon section at checkout. Enjoy!

Scrappy Weekend

Well, I think I've recovered from a busy scrappy weekend. Everything was fantastic and it was great to be able to meet so many of my E-friends in person. Honestly, I don't think we got much sleep though and are all glad to be home and getting back into the swing of things in our day to day lives.

The bed and breakfast was amazing! We stayed at The Narrow Way in Lucas, Kentucky and were spoiled rotten by the owners, Roger and Karan. Every meal was fresh and home-made with delicious desserts. The morning cinnamon rolls were to die for and made the entire trip extra special. The accomodations were spectacular. I really need to get Rob down there for a long weekend.

As for the scrapbooking, we had a great group of girls providing ideas and inspiration. I personally got a couple dozen layouts and several cards completed. Here's one of my favorites. It's a double layout of Addyson during a trip to Doe Run Inn on Easter Sunday using some of the new Prima flowers and bling.

New Sketch

It's been a creative day here! I completed making a dozen recipe cards for a swap. I started working on Claire's scrapbook for Brooke and threw together a new sketch. Now I need to start putting together some kits to take with me when I go out of town for the Life Preserver's crop. Last year I was able to get over twenty layouts completed during that weekend and I would love to do that again.

Anyway, more about that later. For now, here's the newest sketch.

Beautiful Day

Ok, so today is not so beautiful outside. It's snowing and cold. So I decided to head to my scraproom and start working on some challenge layouts. Gabrielle at Life Preservers Scrap Club challenged us to use up some old kits. So that's what I started doing. This layout uses papers from a LPS mini kit that I received a couple months ago. I added some Prima flowers and butterflies from my stash. Looking at the picture reminded me of the beautiful day I spend with my nieces and nephew, and how much fun we had playing outside.

Ready to Create

It has been a long week! I've been out of town and running around, babysitting and playing with kids. Now I'm home and ready to relax and create! I have some projects that I need to upload to The Shaker Box gallery. The April kit is loaded with the new line from Marks Paper Company and it rocks! As a Guest Designer, it will be the first of three uploads throughout the month. I can't wait to reveal the final altered project that comes with the kit too!

After that, I need to get back to work on the Etsy order that needs to be in California by the end of April. The products arrived here at the house while I was gone, so now I can get started with the alterations. The altered clips are going to be used on the tables at a wedding reception to hold name cards and such. Here's an example of what I will be making. The new creations will be in burgundys, blues, greens and have a shabby chic theme.