The gift that keeps giving...A memory.

This is my mother's wedding dress... I have kept it locked away since she tried to throw it out... I used a small part of it on this year's Christmas present for her. This year would have marked 62 years for them being married.

The lace is from her dress. I hope she loves it. thanks for stopping by.

A day in the life of my brain...

Today I woke up with every intention of starting a baby album for my nephew and his wife who are expecting their first child. The baby's room is all Victorian and pink and brown.. and honestly I am just not a "frilly girl" type.. but I sure think I became one today. Having 3 sons, i find that i work a lot more with the rough and tumble theme, but i had fun today. Again, i started out with a baby album in mind, and had everything laid out to get going and then.. my brain decided to take a detour.

  I found some amazing "fabric Paper" and anyone who knows me will tell you that I am fabric illiterate, but this paper was just too cool and was perfect.. plus it was on clearance:) which is always good... In the corner of my work area, was this old mail sorter that caught my eye so I decided to grab it and see what I could do with it. I had to first cut paper patterns cause the thought of taking it all apart to cover only made me believe that I would forget how to put it back together later. I used scratch paper to build a pattern and pre-cut all the pieces.

Before I knew it, I was head on into this project.. Once I got the piece covered, I added some lace and ribbon, and a few paper leaves and shabby flowers and wala... Something Magical.

Now granted.. the slots are thin, but i think it will work out OK.. they are big enough for small wipe containers and a few diapers.. and who knows maybe they will hang on to it for when she is older and she can fill it with love notes or nick knacks someday.. either way... i enjoyed making it. Don't get me wrong I am going to be building a baby album in the near future, but for right now I think this is a pretty cute creation. Thanks for stopping by.

RE-Visiting Old Favorites

Every Once in a while, I come across a box of supplies that I haven't used lately. Old "Must Haves" that somehow got placed on the shelf when something new came along. This week, I happened upon my box of ink refills and inside were all of my alcohol inks and a brand new stack of glossy card stocks pre-cut to 4x6.. so I decided to pull them out and give it a whirl.


There was tapping, that is shown in the center where you just add a few drops here and there and tap onto the page, and there is the blending, (Shown on the left side) where you'd add the blending solution and it would mix the colors- and then there was the twist, (Right side) where you would twist the applicator in a half circle to mix every color up together.. looked messy to me and was never really my favorite way to go, but if you are planning on stamping over it, it really doesn't matter.. it will just add interest.

I found that picking the right colors really had a lot to do with what I was going to be happy with in the end.

As I learned more about color combining, i played around a bit more with various ways to make the colors blend and work together. My new favorite became the swipe. (Shown center top) where I would just run the applicator flat from one direction to the other over and over....
 Before long.. found myself playing again with an old "new Favorite".

I added in some stamp on inked ideas i had rolling around in this brain of mine and came up with some great cards.

 if you look really close at the bottom picture above, you will see one of those unexpected surprises.. kind of looks like an angel wing to me, only on the right side of the image. I am not gonna lie, it freaked me out a bit at first, but then i took it as a sign to keep pressing forward with what i was doing and the end results turned out great.

 And there you have it.. Happy Spot found again.

No matter what supplies you have laying around, there is always a new way to mix them with your new supplies and work up something magical. Thanks for checking me out today and I hope to see ya back here again. Thanks for visiting :)

  

Mad Hatter Blog Hop

Welcome to the Mad Hatter Blog Hop

                                       

Today is Mad Hatter Day!

And we are here to wish you a VERY HAPPY UN-BIRTHDAY!! We are so glad you decided to put on your craziest hat and join us for the maddest tea party around while you check out this great group of crafters who will be showcasing cards, layouts, or projects all about the magical world of Alice in Wonderland! Hurry up and don't be late for this very important date!!

Connie Can Crop is the first stop on this funtastic Blog Hop.

This is a one day blog hop and we appreciate your leaving a FUN comment for all of my fabulous crafty friends who are here sharing their ideas and creations.  

We have an awesome sponsor and giveaway for this hop!

Designs on Cloud 9 is giving away a $10 gift certificate to one lucky winner!! 

You can shop their store here.
And even like them on facebook for more fun.

  So what do you need to do to win? Easy... become  a follower of each of the fabulous blogs in this hop and leave each of them a  comment letting them know what you like best about their projects. 

Then come back to Connie Can Crop and post that you followed the rules.

 You will have until 12:00 am Monday to finish the  hop and leave your comments. Winner will be announced on Wednesday Winners at Connie Can Crop.

Be sure to follow everyone and leave a comment  along the way!

 Here we go down the rabbit hole!!

 

 Up next is (I think I am the last one:))

Here is our complete line up in case you get lost along the way.

1. Connie- http://conniecancrop.blogspot.com 2. Sandy- http://aworkingmomsjoy.blogspot.com
3. Pam - http://lovebugcreations3.blogspot.com/...
4. Scrappin Madge- http://www.thescrappinlounge.com
5. Nadja- http://nadjarobbins.blogspot.com/
 6. Kathy - http://kathyand3kids.blogspot.com
7.  Jessica - http://craftinandstampin.blogspot.com
8.Stacey - http://staceyscreativecorner.blogspot.com
9. Alicia http://goldengoddessdesigns.blogspot.com
10.  An'Jenic- http://anjenicgibson.blogspot.com/
11.  Sandy- http://creationsbysandyb.blogspot.com

When I think about the "Mad Hatter" and Alice in Wonderland, I think of being totally confused.. everything is topsy turvy and nothing makes sense. So when I created these that is exactly what I did... my creations went all over the place. 

once I got going I just couldn't stop..... LOL

Happy mistakes

Ended up with just enough paper for a creative little paper stand for a note holder I made. .. added a hole for a pencil and wa la. .. note pad measurements are 4 1/2 × 12. Score at 1/4 and 4 1/4. Rotate right and score at 5/8, 6, 6 1/4 and 9 1/2. Fold...tape..insert a 3x5 note pad. Decorate.  

Got Scraps?

Got Scraps? Sometimes I find that even the smallest strip of paper I can not part with. I may use it on a card or other small project down the road someday... which sometimes becomes a huge mess of stacks and stacks of paper scraps... but today I decided to get on that stack of scraps and make something happen with it.             

It really doesn't matter if they are not all the same size, as long as they are somewhat close you should be fine.

I prefer to use the Tombo permanent Adhesive when I create my projects or my ATG gun works well to.

I start by laying out my scraps. Depending on what you are trying to cover will determine how many scraps you will need.

For this post, I will cover a note card.

I start by making one strip of adhesive across one side of the card.

Start at the edge and attach your strips all in a row.

(For this purpose I am using brighter papers so you can see how to lay it out a bit better)

Once I have covered the first side completely it is time to start in on the weaving part. I lift up the edges that are not clued down and start placing another strip of adhesive the length of the side to the right. I start in the corner and lay down my other strip and before pressing it completely down onto the adhesive, I weaver the strip through the other strips. Once I get to the end, I use a small amount of adhesive to hold it into place.

As i work from left to right, I alternate the layering, strip one is over and under, strip two is under and over... and so on.

Once I have covered the entire base piece, i go back around the entire thing piece by piece and make sure all ends are secured.

Depending on the paper you use these projects can be made into base pages for layouts, or card backgrounds... whatever project you decide to use this technique on will be magical. Thanks for stopping by today, and keep watching for new ways to use up your scraps.

Front cover of a journal...... this handy journal is made by CTMH and has a clear cover to slide in your own cover piece....

 or make a cute card from smaller scraps.. the possibilities are endless.. just like my box of scraps seems to be....

A " picture within a picture " layout

Sometimes, I take pictures that I don't exactly know how they will work into a layout.. but with this one I think that the shot itself led to this layout.

I picked my papers and some additional items and set in to work. I knew this page had to be a special one.

This is my honey... This picture was taken the day his father passed and as he looked out into ocean at Ventura Beach, a part of me felt that he was taking a moment to talk to his father (who was a 30 year retired US Navy man)... his moment to say goodbye. It was the most peaceful- quiet moment we had had that week.

 

I printed this picture in two sizes, one was 8x10 and the other was 5x7, I wanted to nestle them together to get a great effect, and that is exactly what happened by the time I finished this layout.

 It turned out perfectly.

 

I used foam tape on the small one to lift it up off the larger one after mating it... I just love how it turned out. I finished it up with a few little things here and there and... wa-la.... something magical. 

 

Altered Silverware chest..

Found this at a second hand store

A Great find at the second hand store but it needed a lot of TLC

Paid a whole $9.99 for it



added some pretty paper from my stash....



Started in on the top piece

I added a few pretty papers....

then onto the sides

gave some attention to the front

and had to do something with the inside ofcourse

close up view of front drawers

close up of the inside top piece

overview of the piece opened

up close of inside details



overview of inside



Baby boy mini book

 This mini is a boy theme... unfortunately everyone I know has been having girls..LOL

Oh the difference a weekend can make

Not very often I get a weekend rush of ideas and actually sit down and create. No Housework, no TV.. just creating things. This was one of those weekends for me. Here is a modge podge of items I was able to get done this weekend.

... to the right is a spice rack that I have had for years. I use the glass jars to store little embellishments, flowers and brads. I decided to give it new life with some paper, lace and a few small accents.

As you can see.. it was a complete success. I love it now

It took me less and two hours to complete this project.

While at work, I end up with lots of extra paper, all the better to make cards with.

I cut to size so that I can stamp on the

scraps and make cards when the

spirit moves me..

I made 20 cards in less than 2 hours.

Below are a set of cards I created using two CTMH stamp sets and 20 different colors of ink. I utilized all my scraps(Well a good amount of them anyways) to create 10 different designs from each stamp, thus resulting in 20 different cards... ALL MADE WITH SCRAPS.

Here are some misc. things I managed to get done this weekend as well. 

 

For  information on any of my creations, please just message me and I will send you the recipes for my creations.  Thanks for stopping by.