2/28/10 Last day to enter for Prima Giveaway!

Everyone knows how I love flowers. Well Prima one of my favorite flower companies is giving away $100 in free product to a lucky US winner and $100 to a lucky international winner. Go to ....
http://prima.typepad.com/ and enter to win too! Also they have something NEW and
exciting coming our way and the big unveiling is going to be this week! I can't wait to see what it will be ... until 3/5/10 I guess we will have to. Exciting News!
Prima has a lot of great products too...not just flowers. While there look around and check them out!

2/28/10 Scrapbook Canvas Project HOW TO.....

Supply List:

Canvas (16x20)
Paints ( The kind you use for tole painting)
Delta Autumn Brown
Deco Art Cashmere Beige
Foam Brush for painting

My Minds Eye Love story paper collection pack plus memory card (purchased separately)
4 sheets of card stock - 1 dark,1 light, 2 brown
2 additional decorative papers (greens) to bring out the green colors.
Embellishments:
Ribbon (about 1 1/2 yards)
Flowers and leaves
Bling - rhinestones and pearls for flower centers
Tim Holtz Key and Lock'
Ink and a paper edger distressing tool
decorative edge punch

Now We Are Ready To Get Started!
Paint your canvas edges with the Cashmere Beige colors about 3" edge all the way around,You don't have to paint the whole thing.
With the Autumn Brown color add a little shading on edges so it looks like you inked it.
Set it aside to dry while you make all your paper cuts.

Paper Cuts:
Layered lg.flower :
Lg Flower 10 3/4 ( Dk.Brown )
Lg. Circle 9"
Flower 8"
Circle 7"
Cut all 4 distress Decorative papers only but ink them all.

1 12x12 whole distress and ink only right edge

8x8 square and a 7x7 square distress and ink edges On the 7x7 tear right corner and
fold over to make a little pocket for the flowers. I actually distressed the backside of the tear to get some distressing on the tear area too!
2 - 3 1//2 x 4 distress and ink
1 - 4 x 5 distress and ink

Now the rest of the cuts are double because they have to be layered to go across the 16 x 20 canvas. You may want to glue them together before you distress and ink.

2- 2 x 12 Distress and ink
2- 6 x 12 Distress and ink
2- 3 1/2 x 12 use decorative punch on top edges and ink
** no cuts but you need but you need to distress and ink your memory card.

There are all the cuts... Refer to photo for placement and then embellish away!
For font I used my CRICUT and HOME ACCENTS CARTRIDGE. Flower and Circles were cut using CRICUT and ACCENT ESSENTIALS CARTRIDGE.

*** Distressing tool and inking, I actually bought a distressing tool a couple years ago and just didn't seem to work for me. OK here is why... you can't be afraid to use it! Run the blade along the edge of the paper repeating until you get the desired look.The more you do it the better it gets. I think this is the reason I didn't like it. I just didn't use it enough. The more you go over the edge the better it looks! Then run your ink pad along the edges. You can practice on some scrap!

2/27/10 Crop Canvas Project

The Finished Project. It took a while but we ALL worked hard on this together and
created this fabulous project. This is one I can't wait to get pictures on and get it hung up. I actually am thinking about making another one to put side by side. I really think two would look nice together.

Me after 2 days of scrapping and this is all I got done! Lots of great fun and girl talk though.

Nadia and her canvas... hummm looks a lot like mine. I think she copied! :) LOL

Jacki with her canvas.... I don't think she copied her bow is way to long and the lock is no where near the key. :o All wrong ... HAHAHa

Velda- No copying here ... I like how she mixed her colors together. Burgundy is one of my favorite colors.

Nadia was so excited about hers she did a booty shot with it! :) HAHAHAHAHAHa!!!
All kidding aside today was a lot of fun and all our projects turned out great! Tomorrow I will post all the instructions for the Canvas Project so that those of you who would like to make one on your own will know exactly what to do!

2/27/10 Winners

Blog Followers ~ Winners have been chosen and they are.... Jacki and Krystal. Please e-mail me your mailing information at my e-mail : memories2luv@comcast.net
~ Congratulations ~ :)

It's 12:40am ... I'm late! 2/27 (26post)

Tonight's crop was fun ... lots of talking... with little to no cropping...but I'm OK with that. Just wasn't in the mood. We did however start the canvas project and we are ready for the morning to get them done!

I am drawing for my $40 goodie bag full of scrapping products tomorrow since I will have 5 of my blog followers here to witness the drawing. If you want a chance to win .... join as a follower of this blog by 12 noon .... I will check just before I draw!

How Handsome is my baby boy here! I know this is not a picture of the park but at 6 months your johnny jumper is a day out at the park!:) Keith is now 17 and is now a working man... as he says. He just started working at a Safeway grocery store down the street and he was ssssoooo excited on Thursday when he got his 3rd paycheck and the biggest one yet. This is when I laugh... a whopping $105.00.... can you believe it I just had to laugh and enjoy the moment. Do you remember the days when you worked your first job and the money started rolling in? WOW... time flies and now at 40 (OMG I admit it 40!)it's work, work, work and spending on necessities... not wants and bills lots of bills . YUK! As the kids get older you start to miss those moments like a day at the park,potty training, lots of firsts and my favorite~ afternoon cat naps. I thought all my first were done.... but I am starting to realize they just change. Now it's first day driving, first car, first date(not yet) and first paychecks! Gotta love those firsts!If you are just getting started enjoy the ride and Cherish every moment ... time really flies so fast!

2/25/10 Frame it!

I know many of you who come here to scrap have seen these but I want to blog about frames. There are tuns of different sizes and shapes of frames out there with endless possibilities. When I passed up these great 10x20 shadow box frames (on sale) I knew I had to have them! I know paper doesn't come 10x20 but this is where you have to be creative. The great thing about shadow box frames is you can really have fun with dimension. Use lots of layers, pop dots, flowers and really have fun with it! I have challenged myself this year to really try to think outside the book and page and bring scrapbooking into my home decor. Tomorrow night I am attempting a canvas and soon I want to decorate pillar candles by making pretty paper wraps for them. Do you think outside the page?

Also, For all of you who know Nadia and Racky keep them in your thoughts and prays. Racky's daughter Nichole (Nadia's sis) is in the hospital with a heart injury that requires emergency surgery. We love you all and are praying for only the best of news. Take care and we hope to be scrapping with you soon! :(

2/24/10 My Minds Eye

Love these NEW papers and embellishments from My Minds Eye.I love the scalloped pages and it makes the layouts easier when there are great matching embellishments.
CraftWare House carries a tun of MME and all the goodies to match.

2/23/10 New Blog look!

I am so excited to unveil my NEW blog look. I hired LEELOU blogs to create me a one of a kind look. Isn't it Fabulous!!! I think she really did a fantastic job. If you
are a blogger and want her to create one for you her blog link is in the lower right
column click on Leelou blogs. Once there you can see her portfolio and there are free blog templates, $15 blog templates and then personalized ones to look at. She does a great job! With my NEW look I thought I might find a layout that kinda matches. I like this little flower layout and in the center of the flowers I will add pictures of my girl. (someday :)

2/22/10 Red, White & Blue

I have been watching the Olympics and very proud of our American team. WOW! With that said I totally wanted to post some red, white, and blue pages. This is all I could find on my laptop.I have better ones I promise!I do all my blogging on my laptop and every night I feel slave to what Keith has put on here. I have a TUN of layouts I need to get photographed and on this computer. So with that said... that is my goal for the week. By Monday everything photographed and on the laptop.
** Big crop this Friday and Saturday I can't wait. I am not planning on any kits this time instead... Velda will be working on the magnetic 12x12 wall hanging posted on 2/01 and Jacki,Nadia,and Nancy will be working on the canvas project posted on 2/16 They are beautiful and I can't wait to see how ours all turn out. If you want to do one of these projects let me know as soon as possible. I do have a lot of kits from last time still available for you to choose from too!
Crop guests: Kathleen O. , Racky, Nadia, Jacki, Velda, Christy H., Kristy, Wendy(?) And me.
Did I forget anyone? I will havew extra Canvas's for anyone to join in! :)

2/21/10 Layouts

Here is two totally different layouts using the same paper line. Two totally different looks!

2/20/10 How did I miss these....

I am going through my convention pictures and I stumbled on these layouts I saw. They are not made by me... sorry. But they did inspire me so I grabbed a picture.
I want to work on something similar to the lucky one for my next crop. I love the letters across the bottom. CUTE!

I do have a cat and a dog ... but I just can't get into scrapping them. When I do kits they do sell I guess that I should try more to included them in my pages.

Love this page I just thought the photo mounts were all way to small. I like the scalloped page in the center top. Great bits and pieces to take away from this one and just in other layouts.

This layout was kinda busy for me but I like the wavy photo mount on page 2. I think they used a film strip embellishment I have seen around and used it for a template for that element. I like it!

2/19/10 What a crazy day....

Dave called me today and rocked my world. He has worked for Precision Cast Parts for
years and traveled on and off. That is how we ended up in South Carolina. He traveled there for work for over a year before we decided to move. Today he says there is a chance he could be in Germany next week. WITHOUT ME! I can't believe it!
He has Jury Duty next week he will have to get out of and he will have to take Monday to go to Seattle to get a passport and that will cost a lot since it is a rush. Lots to iron out so there is probably a 50% chance he won't go. But OMGosh...
I was born in Germany and visited in 1988 and I have family there .... I think I should go ... don't you?
Well I am sure they won't pay for a spouse.... but one can dream :-)



Back to scrapbooking....
Find a layout you like and simply switch papers and create a totally new look. Which one do you like better? I think if you saw them even in the same album if they weren't side by side you wouldn't even notice they were the same.

2/18/2010 Inspiration

Don't know what I was thinking... realized yesterday was Wednesday at about 10pm.
But WOW! the Olympics were awesome!

Where do you look for inspiration? Does it just come to you? Do you look at Internet galleries? Do you like books or magazines? Or does the paper just speak to you?

For me... I like it all! Sometimes I can find a perfect paper line that speaks to me in the store. I know exactly what I want to do with it before I ever leave the store.
Sometimes I fall in love with the paper and have no idea what in the world I want to do with it. Then I look at Internet galleries just to see what other gals have done with it and I try to take ideas from each layout and use it to inspire me.
I also like to get ideas from books and sometimes magazines.
The thing I like about magazines is they are current! They use new paper lines for layouts and use trendy tips and techniques.



I love books ... but my favorites are a series I found through Close to my Heart. You can also find them at Michael's they cost a bit more but worth it! They have 5 in
the series .... Reflections (shown above) Imagine, Cherish and 2 card ones ~ Originals and Wishes. The Scrapbook ones are $21.95 and card ones are $29.95 through CTMH at Michael's they are all $30.00.
What I like about these books is they not only show you picture layouts but they show you patterns with exact measurements. I like to look at the patterns and create the page then look at there page and compare. I really think sometimes looking at the layouts make you less creative.


Magazines ~ I like them all! They are less of an investment so if they aren't great it was only $5.00 or so. You can always find something to make it worth while too.

Having said all that ... Now I want to challenge you... and ME! I want to get a journal and start using it to save all my favorite scrapbook ideas. Like layered paper flowers or some really cool technique~ who knows. When you find a great idea put it in your journal and that way it is now your idea and your book. So next time we reach for inspiration we know where our favorites are ~ who knows maybe one day someone will be reaching for our books for inspration!

2/17/10 Monster Layout

Sorry! I know my scrappers have seen this one before but tonight is a HUGE TV NIGHT!
I might be up all night :) American Idol, Survivor, Greys Anatomy, Private Practice and all the good athletes are competing tonight in the Olympics. So I am posting a
quick layout and zoning out tonight. For those of you who haven't seen it and those of you who have forgotten how cute this one is.... Enjoy!

2/16/10 stole this idea ....

OK ~ I admit it... I saw this and just had to get a picture so I would remember this
project and add it to my to do list. How awesome are these!
They are artist canvas's ... they painted them a nice neutral tan/brown and antiqued the edges. Once that was done they scrapbooked on top of them. I LOVE THIS IDEA and I know it wont be long before I do it! How about you?

** Sorry they are a bit blurry I took them with my cell phone :)
They are Not made by me but they are so amazing I had to photograph them and share.



My Favorite!!!!

2/15/10 Weekend is over....

WOW! I enjoyed my 3 day weekend way to much. Now it is time to go back to work.
YUK! Just going to keep it short and sweet tonight and go to bed early and rest up for tomorrow.

Family Layout uses BoBunny Abbey Road Collection.

2/14/10 Happy Valentine's Day

Did you have a great day? I hope so! I woke up this morning around 9:30 with one phone ringing... then another and then another. It was my hubby out on his coupon runs wanting to know if would like a Starbucks coffee to start my day. Then he told me to get up and get ready. We left the house for a 10:15 viewing of the Valentine's Day Movie. Very Cute and a great date movie. After that we took a walk around the mall. A little shopping is always good. Bought a sweater and 2 books. One on mini albums and one on card making. Then he took me to lunch at Macaroni grill. Wonderful food and we sat in the bar right by the fire place. Very romantic. I always wonder what we would talk about without the kids but after all these years conversation is still easy... but I guess that is how you know you found the right guy. I knew the minute David asked me for my phone number 18 years ago that he would be the man I would marry. It has been a great chapter in my life. My day was filled with lots of great surprises and romance. And even flowers from my son!
With such a great day I am just going to share a few pages from the past so that I can enjoy the company of my family, relax and watch a movie together.
So I hope you all had a great day... Happy Valentine's Day!




How Cute is this big flower on a page. Adding a collage of pictures in the center of the flower would make a beautiful addition to these pages.

1/13/10 How do you scrapbook?

I am thinking today about how I scrapbook. I really have a love for the papers and the embellishments and thinking about my pictures is the last thing I do. I think that is because I know I can always sepia tone the photo's or black and white them.
That said for those of you who know me .... I can hear you laughing because you know my secret. My secret is I have very little pictures actually on pages. :) I have one album for my son (17) and one for my daughter (14) and one heritage in progress....
pictures on the pages but not complete. As for all the rest I have about 7 albums
with beautiful pages ... NO PICTURES! Plus I have a STACK... a Huge STACK of tuns of layouts... all done no pictures and no albums. I do love the papers!:)Now that I have shared my secret I am really trying to get picture on pages and pages in albums.

What do you love about scrapbooking? The paper? The pictures?


Do you find your self buying one color more than the other? Do you like a certain style? Brand?
I really like the reds and oranges and browns and I love the florals. I also think I tend to get suckered in when I see awesome paper and embellishments to match.


When you find papers you like do you buy the entire line with all the goodies or are you frugal and pick and choose?
I like to be able to have a bit of a vision when I buy the paper. (what I want to do with it) Then I buy it all and I do like to challenge myself to get as many pages as I can out of it.

Here is one of my FAVORITES and a favorite of all my scrappers. I bought this beautiful Pink Paislee line and was able to get 4 great pages out of one of each page and the punch outs. I added ribbons, flowers and bling and I really think these papers are beautiful. This is why I love paper. They are so beautiful I hate to cover them with pictures.

2/12/10 Button, button who's got the button...

How great are buttons. Buttons make a great quick embellishment on any page. They are so inexpensive too! Using them in a cluster or all by themselves. They really add some great dimension to your page. I like using them in a line across a page or as centers on flowers. Thread them with string, ribbon or just leave them plain... I love them! I use glue dots or zots as adhesive.



Glue dots ... great adhesive to apply your buttons to your page.








Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket and other brands all make buttons in collection packages to go with their lines. This makes it really easy for color matching, it becomes a bit more costly but great when looking for a rare color. I buy my buttons this way and I buy bulk buttons at my local craft store and keep them in a clear cookie jar I found at Target for about $5 or 6 dollars. Then they are easy to dig in and find that way.













New buttons from Jenni Bowlin. How cute are these?























Jenni Bowlin also has a great assortment of chipboard buttons if you are looking
for something a little more special.