Slacker

Okay, so I am such a slacker. My main excuse for not blogging has been lack of a camera, since I broke mine at the beach in June. Oops. But really, I could probably find more things to blog about without pictures if I tried. They say a picture speaks a thousand words, so it just saves me a lot of work if I have pics.

I feel like my kids are growing up overnight and I won't have any pictures of them for over a month of growth. Can you imagine how sad it would be to not have pictures of your children? What if something happened to my pictures or scrapbooks that destroyed them? I would be absolutely devastated. I have a terrible memory so if I don't document my children's lives I wouldn't remember much. I can't even remember how much Savannah weighed when she was born. I forget all the cute things she says. Luckily, I also forget some of the not so pleasant things too.

Just thinking about this with the lack of a camera has really made me appreciate my scrapbooking so much. I have backups of all my pictures in case something were to happen to my albums, but I would sure cry over the loss of all the books. I'm not an expert scrapbooker. My pages are not all beautiful or creative, but they hold some of my most precious memories. Creating each page allows me to reflect on my children in a positive light. I appreciate them more, and can even laugh at upsetting things like Caleb covering himself in melted chocolate. Scrapbooking is "me" time. It (usually) helps me relax and appreciate my life and my family.

So, pull out your scrapbooks and create something beautiful the next time you get a chance. If you do not scrapbook, I would like to extend a challenge to you to try it. You don't have to commit to scrapping for the rest of your life. Just pick a favorite vacation, or a birthday or something small like a year in review and make a small 6 x 6 album, complete with pictures and journaling. Relive the memories and the feelings and don't worry about the layout. Just enjoy the experience and appreciate the time spent doing something totally worthwhile and rewarding.

Stamping with Bleach

This is a cool technique! I haven't done it a lot, but it is fun to experiment with different colors of paper because you get different results with each color.

1. Pour a small amount of fresh, liquid bleach onto a bed of folded paper towels, making sure it's wet but not full of puddles. Or, instead of using paper towels, saturate a piece of felt. You can pour the bleach out when done & reuse the container later with fresh bleach.
2. Put undiluted liquid bleach in a spray bottle & mist over a protected area...spray away from your face, wave the stamp though the mist. Don’t spray directly onto the stamp. The stamp only needs to be barely damp to work on your cardstock.

Tips & Instructions:

Test all methods first on scrap cardstock. I like using a sandwich size tupperware container to hold my paper towels. Keeping bleach in a spritzer bottle or container, you’ll notice that bleach will become cloudy with time. This is the bleach reacting to light (notice that bleach bottles are opaque). Just pour out unused bleach & refresh your container when ready to use again. Experiment for what works right for you & practice. When using the paper towel pad or felt pad, dab lightly onto the bleach pad a few times to make sure you have your stamp wet & covered. Stamp your images onto the cardstock. Hold the stamp down for several seconds, so that the detail of the stamp gets impressed onto the paper. If you want a lighter/less detailed look, hold the stamp down not for very long. Watch the change. Clean your stamps immediately after using them with Stampin’ Mist.

Just for Kids Games Class

Who: YOU and your friends and family!!!

What: "Just for Kids" Games Class

When: July 18th, 2009 1-4 pm

Where: Rhonda's house

Why: Make fun games/projects for kids as shown below!

How: Register for the class before July 1st by contacting me and letting me know what projects you'd like to make.

How much:

Mini Puzzle $1.00

Memory Game (14 pairs) $3.00 (28 pairs) $6.00

Bingo Game (set with 6 cards) $5.00 (set with 10 cards) $8.00

Tic-Tac-Toe $1.00

ABC Upper/Lowercase Game $2.00

ABC Picture Flashcards $4.00

Box $4.00 (I have a limited supply of these--first come, first served)

I'll try to post the rest of the pictures soon. I broke our brand new camera at the beach last week, so I might be out of luck for a while. Sorry!

As always, please invite friends and family & let me know if you have any questions!

Ribbon Hair Clips

I have made a variety of hair clips for Savannah in the past year. It's been fun to try different styles, but as always I try to keep them simple. My first attempt was with the curly ribbons, which are my favorite but also the most work. (Although I've started working on some new ones that are incredibly time consuming, but will be worth it when I get them done...) Very fun to figuring out how to make though!

More recently I made simple ones tying bows with ribbons and gluing on fun flowers & brads. Much cheaper than buying them in the store! If you're interested in making some, this is a fun class for moms and their girls.

Technique of the Week--Glassy Glaze Enamel

In order to really make me keep doing something on a consistent basis, I decided to start featuring a "technique of the week" on this blog. The post will highlight ways to use a specific product or paper crafting technique. If you have a specific technique or product that you would like to learn more about, let me know in a comment and I will feature it on an upcoming post.

Glassy Glaze Enamel is a very thick embossing powder. I love embossing things, and this glaze is useful for creating a thick, solid glaze over your project. The name pretty much says it all, so I feel rather redundant trying to explain it. I guess I'll just show you a few examples of it put to use then!

Works great with craft ink for embossing on tiles:

Use it to make your entire project appear to be covered with glass or plastic (I used VersaMark, another FABULOUS product, to get the enamel to stick to the whole image):

After covering your entire paper with 2 layers of enamel, put the paper in the freezer for a minute and bend the paper to crack the glaze, creating a cracked glass effect:

Pre-designed Scrapbooks

I made some scrapbooks for my brother's twin girls. I got the albums from Making Memories and added some ribbon & rub-ons to the little ones. These pre-designed books are so great because they're simple to make and to use. For the 12x12 combined album I used a retired set of designer series paper from Stampin' Up! The two individual 6x6 albums were made using a Simply Scrappin' Kit--one of my all-time favorite things from Stampin' Up! Most of the accessories are random brads, eyelets, metal plates, etc. but I also used my friend's fabulous Cricut to cut out some titles. What a great tool! All my sis-in-law needs to do now is add pictures and journaling. Here are a couple examples.

Preschool video

I couldn't get my email to attach a video clip of the kids in our little neighborhood co-op preschool, so I'm posting it here so they can check it out. My house has never been so clean, thanks to all those hard workers!

Birthday Bruises

My wonderful son is the most accident prone person I have ever met. He's even worse than I am (even when I pregnant), which is hard to beat! So, we're putting off the "professional" birthday photos because every time I want to get them done he falls and whacks himself (usually somewhere on the face). No I don't abuse my child, I just have a VERY active, clumsy baby. The latest happened last night after his bath. He was crawling on the bathroom floor, when his hand slipped out from under him and his cute little teeth cut his mouth right open and gave him a nice fat lip, once he stopped bleeding. Looking good, Caleb! Hopefully, the bruise on your forehead from the night before will fade soon, along with the ones on your cheek from the beginning of the week. I envy your energy and your ability to bounce back so easily to move on to the next injury. I'm surprised that you haven't need stitches yet, so that's a plus! Happy Birthday! We love you!!!

Savannah's excuses

So, this has nothing to do with stamping, but it does involve art, so I decided to post this anyway. Savannah has been playing with her friend Aubrie this morning and they pulled out the markers to color some beautiful pictures. After a couple of minutes Savannah told me she got some on her hand and needed me to help her clean it. She came down, and her ENTIRE hand was covered in black marker. (I would have taken a picture, but my camera batteries are dead and I needed to clean it up ASAP.) So, while cleaning her up I lectured her about how we never color our bodies and how she should know better. I asked her why she did it and she looked at me with an innocent face and said, "The marker made me do it." Who needs the devil when you have markers forcing you to do things?

Party Favors

For a child's birthday party, here is a quick and cute party favor idea for the guests. Simple yet fun!

Class Thank You!

Thanks to all who came to my kitchen craft class! I had a great time with all of you and loved seeing your creativity at work! You have such great ideas! I have a few leftover aprons & bibs (a last minute addition I found) if anyone needs some extras. My next class will be in June, so watch for more details to come. And as always, if you need to order anything from Stampin' Up! or would like to earn free stamps by hosting a workshop or class let me know! Thanks so much.

Kitchen Crafts Class Info.

In case you haven't noticed, I enjoy making things, but I have a hard time following through with plans that I make. Some people might call it a commitment problem, but I don't know what it is. I make Christmas cards every year with the full intention of collecting addresses and sending them with handwritten messages (or my signature) in each one. Has anyone ever received one of these cards from me?? It just doesn't happen for me.


So, I told you earlier that I'd be holding a kitchen craft class, but didn't commit to a date. I keep having people ask me when this class will be so I guess I just have to take the jump and do this. But here's the deal: I commit to hold the class & (this is even harder for me)--to invite new customers, and YOU have to commit to RSVP and invite friends or family to come also. My main goal with classes is to keep it inexpensive so everyone can afford to come and have a good time while creating something fun. I've kept the cost of these projects to just that--cost. I'm trying to maintain my status as a demonstrator with Stampin' Up!, but I'm not going crazy trying to build my business. I need your continued support through things like these classes keep going with this, so please register (via a comment to this or a phone call) or let me know what kind of class or workshop I can put together for you.


Also, Sale-A-Bration will be going on until March 31st. Each $50 (pre-tax) that you spend earns you free special stamps, paper or ribbon sets from the Sale-A-Bration brochure. Be sure to check out the catalog & ask me about this great promotion! http://www.stampinup.com/ I will be taking orders at this class for those of you who are interested. Thank you so much and I can't wait to stamp with you soon!


Date & Time: Saturday March 28th 12-4 p.m.

Location: 2978 W. 2125 S. Syracuse

Registration and payment deadline: March 21st

Projects & Costs
Kid's Cupcake Apron: $3.00
Kitchen Planner: $7.00
Cookie Sheet Calendar: $12.00 (bring your own cookie sheet)
Folded Treat Basket: $4.00

If you'd like to make multiple projects, please plan to attend with enough time to complete each project. Since it's a kitchen class, I thought it would only be appropriate to have food. I'll provide drinks & a couple goodies, but you can bring some kind of snack or appetizer to share if you'd like.

Cupcake Apron

Here is my final kitchen project...at least for now. Who knows, I'm sure I'll come up with more some day. But I'm already working on my next group of projects--children's games/activities. It's a super fun one, so be sure to check them out when I get them posted next month. This was a fun one to create too. Savannah modeled it for us tonight and was crying for her cupcake when I made her take it off.

Rub Ons

I LOVE rub ons. Some of them can be a pain to "rub on," but I've found that SU! rub ons are super easy. As long as you are careful with handling them, they turn out beautifully without any effort. Plus, they can be rubbed onto multiple surfaces, not just paper. Here's one project that I made with rub ons over the weekend. I'm debating as to whether or not it should be included in my kitchen craft class. Let me know what you think.

Gift Challenge

My cousin April posted this great idea. Since I REALLY want something from her (even though I'm a little nervous about her limitations posted below), I'm offering the same challenge to you. The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year.
4- You have no clue what it's going to be.
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog (or facebook, etc.) and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! Good luck!

Envelope Accordion Album

Consider this a free class--I'm giving the examples and instructions on how to make these great envelope albums because I have friend who asked about them. The pictures below are NOT my album. I'm just too lazy to go find the ones I've made to take pics of them. Sorry. Have fun and let me know if you have any questions.

Envelope Accordion Album

1. Select a Simply Scrappin’ Kit (abbreviated as SSK)
2. From the cardstock or background paper, select what you want to be the outside & inside covers of your album.
3. Cut the 12x12 papers in half so they measure 6”x12”.
4. Using a Scoring Blade, score each paper running along the 6 inches at the 6” and 6 ½” measurements. (Be careful with the patterned paper and position them how they will match up together so that any patterns are going the right direction.)
5. Adhere the two outside pieces together, overlapping the 6” sections. Then adhere the inside papers to the outside cover, matching up and folding at the scoring marks, so the papers stay together even when folded up. (Don’t skimp on the adhesive!)
6. Trim any overlapping edges if necessary.
7. Fold back the flaps of 10 envelopes. Lick the adhesive strip of each envelope and glue to the front of another envelope until they are all connected. Adhere the last envelope to the middle inside section of your album covers.
8. Cut 10 pieces of 4”x5 ½” cardstock in assorted colors to match your album.
9. Use small stickers from the SSK & attach to the tops of the cardstock to act as pull tabs.
10. Crop and mount pictures on the cardstock and insert inside the envelopes.
11. Decorate the album (inside & out) using pieces from the SSK, ribbons, and accessories as desired.
12. Use the pieces of Velcro to allow your album covers to stay closed. (Keep in mind where you will be putting the Velcro when you decorate your album.)

Important Date Calendar

This is a project that I'll be doing with my mom's ward enrichment group this spring. I've made these in the past, but I revised the style a little for this one. I printed out the dates & lines on 8 1/2" x 11" cardstock (cut in half at 4 1/4"). I used the masking technique with the various stamps and the sponged on ink to make it look as though there are multiple layers. This style is cost effective and easy to teach while still allowing each participant to customize their calendar.