In loving memory of my brother, Steve

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The Thomas homes...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Desktop Calendar 2010

A friend asked me to make her some 2010 calendars. Looking through my stuff, I found some spiral stand-up photo albums that had 12 pages! Perfect! I found a 2010 daily planner that had a tiny calendar for each month. I copied it onto my printer and then enlarged it 200%, then cut out each month. I made up 12 different 4 x 6 pages to insert into each sleeve, using the calendars I printed. Finally, I unscrewed the spiral ring holding it together and removed the cover. I decorated the cover, re punched new holes and then screwed the spiral ring back onto the calendar, holding all of the pages together. I really liked how they turned out. Easy project that allows lots of room for creativity! Enjoy!

Pinkalicious Plaques

Another friend of mine, has two little girls. One of them loves pink as much as I do. I offered to make her a name plaque to put in her room. I called it Pinkalicous! Her other daughter wanted a clock with puppies on it. I started decorating the pink plaque, and then realized that I put the wrong name on it! It was too cute and I couldn't bear thinking of taking it apart, so I left it and made another one with the right name on it. I made the puppy clock a little later. The papers I used in both projects were from DCWV. The pink one was from a kitchen collection and the puppy one was from the dog collection. I used stickles to add some extra bling to each project. I absolutely love stickles. I've made a special box to hold all of my stickles and on the inside of the lid I have a sample of each color of stickle I have. Now I need to make an inventory sheet, so I know which ones I need to buy! I seem to use pink, black diamond and icicle the most. I also love Sakura glaze pens! They give the illusion of embossing, without the effort! I usually use the black and clear glaze pens the most. What is your favorite embellishment?

Altered Clock

I love to change my decorations with each season or holiday. I enjoy altering clocks to go along with my decor. A friend of mine asked me to make her a Rooster Clock. I had plenty of clocks, but I was stumped as to what to do for the Rooster. My parents recently sold the house I grew up in (sniff-sniff) to my dismay. They bought a new house that they absolutely love. I'm happy for them (sigh). The kitchen had a rooster decor when they bought the house. We went over there on Halloween, and I took some pictures of their wallpaper and framed pictures. I came home and printed them out on my printer, but they color was way off and the pics didn't look right. I consider myself an artist, and took about an hour to color and detail one of the photos. It turned out pretty good! I wanted to copy my new "art," but my printer was out of ink! The colors must have been low, that's why the pictures were so off in the coloring. I carefully cut out the rooster and the grass he stood in, and mounted him on top of a checkered tablecloth paper I had. I really liked how it turned out. When I get some time, I will remake the other poor copies of the rooster that I made. Enjoy!

Altered Tins

I absolutely love to recycle something old and turn it into something new and fun. I have taken old spice racks, painted them, added some BLING, and used them to store stickles or mini ribbon rounds.

Many moons ago, my son came home from Kindergarten and was just dying to get a Pikachu Pokemon card. That started an elaborate collection at our house. We had to "Catch Them All!" I learned the names of the pokemon and their evolutions, we have boxes of cards in English and Japanese. We've collected books, magnets, Burger King Toys, games, watches. We have had the Pokemon craze for a long time. I really enjoyed playing Pokemon with them too. As my son grew, so did his thirst for another game, so we learned how to play Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic, and World of Warcraft trading card games. We would spend a Saturday afternoon at the mall, or at Ron's to play in tournaments and we even travelled to Seattle to play in tournaments. Pokemon is still my favorite though. Now he and his brothers are into the online game of World of Warcraft. They spend hours a day playing online. They now have land parties in the basement. Their friends come over and bring their computers. We link up all the computers downstairs and they just play and play. I sure miss playing pokemon, I'm afraid to start WOW online. It is too easy to become addicted. This past weekend they were taking on another WOW team online and I kinda felt left out, I wanted to play too, but I don't know how...yet....

So, what does that have to do with scrapbooking? EVERYTHING! Of course I've painted Pokemon on their bedroom walls, scrapped their Pokemon parties, collected tons of Pokemon cards, decorated a giant jar to "catch" all their pokemon toys, and altered tins to hold their precious decks. I'm on a few scrapbooking groups online, and have found some other scrappers with kids into Pokemon. This last week I worked on making tins for their kids. I hope that they enjoy this activity with their kids as much as I have.

Supplies: Red, white and black paper; Black and yellow stickles; a tin (I prefer round ones, shaped like the poke balls); paper cutter; modge podge and foam brush; round punches 1" and 1 3/4"; red, black and white ribbon (optional); pokemon stickers (optional); black alphabets (optional)

Directions:
1) Lay your tin on top of a red or white piece of paper. I line it up halfway up the front of the tin and then fold it up (so I can cut 2 at once). Repeat for the other color. Cut them out.
2) Cut 1" strips of black paper (one for each side of the tin)
3) Punch out 2 different sized circles from white paper. Layer the white circles on top of each other.
4) Lay the red semi-circle on the top of the front of the tin and glue into place. Repeat on the back side of the tin.
5) Lay the white semi-circle on the bottom of the front of the tin and glue into place. Repeat on the back of the tin.
6) Lay the black 1" strip across the seam, joining the red and white semi-cirlces. Glue into place. Repeat on the back of the tin.
7) Lay the layered circles in the middle of the black strip and glue down. Repeat on the back of the tin.
8) Measure the width of the tin, and cut more black paper in that width. Glue around the outside of the tin. If you are using a tin with a latch, before gluing, gently press the paper around the handles, to make yourself a cutting guide, so that the paper will go around the handles easily.
9) Use ribbon, stickles, stickers, and/or alphabet letters to embellish your tin.
10) Fill it with Pokemon toys or cards, to give to a pokemon fan!

It's a Studio Splurge Special! From CTMH

This October 1-31, 2009, when you join Close To My Heart as a new Consultant and successfully complete both levels in the Straight to the Top (STTT) program per policy, you will receive 10 FREE Studio J™ scrapbook layouts!

ALSO...

When you join Close To My Heart on my Clearly the Most Creative Scrapbook Team you will receive, as a special perk from Me, an acrylics organizer kit!

Cute Flip Flop Mini Album

Last year, I went to the Quick Quotes convention at Grand Mounds Washington, at the Great Wolf Lodge. It was incredible, and exhausting. They had several sample books displayed, to entice you to buy more products. I fell in love with 2 projects. One was an altered canvas, which I made up for my husband for Christmas. The other was a mini album made out of a pair of flip flops. I have been buying flip flops on clearance after holidays, with the intention of making this adorable album. Currently Quick Quotes has their mini album on clearance for $10. I just signed up for their next convention at Grand Mounds, which is only a few weeks away. I am SO EXCITED! My family is too, while I scrap, they get to go on magical adventures, enjoy the indoor swimming pool, wave pool and slides. They can also play arcade games to their hearts content, because one entire floor is dedicated to arcades! Well, when I signed up for the convention, I also bought a flip flop book. Last night I made up this really cute book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I'll be making more soon, now that I've made one I have to make more...it's just a weird habit, I can never make just one of anything.

Supplies: one pair of flip flops
brads, ribbon, flowers, chipboard, strong wet glue (I love Beacon's 3 in 1, which you can buy at the Quick Quotes webstore, or at JoAnn Fabrics).

Instructions:
1. Cut out the flip flops in one continuous piece (6 flip flops in all)
2. Cut out 6 flip flops out of patterned paper (I used 2 different papers, so I cut out 3 of each pattern)
3. Add brads, pictures, vellum and other embellishments to each paper flip flop
4. Fold the chipboard flip flops...pages 1 and 2 in a valley, pages 3 and 4 in a hill, pages 5 and 6 in a valley
5. Fold up the chipboard, so that it makes one flip flop
6. I glued ribbon along the inside of the continuous chipboard flip flops, to add a little decoration when the book is opened up
7. Glue each paper flip flop onto the continuous chipboard flip flops
8. Glue the back of the first chipboard flip flop onto the back of the real flip flop
9. I removed the plastic from the top of the second real flip flop, so it would lie flat
10. Glue the back of the last chipboard flip flop onto the front of the second real flip flop
11. Cut and glue one more patterned piece of paper onto the bottom of the last flip flop
12. Fold up the flip flops and share with your friends!

Check out this scrapbook room...

http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=1472102


To dream the seemingly impossible dream! Oh, scrapbooking is expensive enough! I would love to buy all matching furniture and accessories to keep it all neat and organized! I get several of my acrylic stamp holders at the Dollar Tree, and my
12x12 papers are kept in giant boxes or file boxes depending on how much paper I have. I do like to organize my paper by company and then by color. It is neat and organized, just not in matching boxes.

How do you organize your papers?

Time Management

Finding an extra ten, twenty, or even thirty-minutes of scrapping time in your day may seem impossible.

Here are a few ideas to help you use little tidbits of time throughout your day ---

• Keep a small notebook and a pen in your purse or pocket to make notes and capture ideas before they get away.

• Browse an idea book while waiting to pick up the children from school, defrosting dinner in the microwave, or waiting at the doctor’s office. Make notes in your notebook as ideas come.

• Flip through magazines in the grocery checkout line to study basic design concepts and colors that you can work into your layouts. Quickly sketch out layout ideas that you like and think you might use for future scrapbook pages.

• Practice your lettering on a scratch piece of paper as you help your children with homework or as you talk on the phone.

• Practice your lettering as you write a thank-you notes.

• As you listen to radio or watch TV listen for interesting phrases, poems or sayings that could be used as layout titles. Take note of catchy phrases from your favorite television programs, or in social settings (grocery store, office, gym...).

• Match your photos to your patterned paper, trim your mats, or complete your journaling while you watch TV or a movie.

• Take scrapbook magazines or information books and Post-it Notes™ with you to appointments or on a trip. Tag pages or articles that have ideas you’d like to use for references in future scrapping. If you don’t like to save old magazines, remove those pages and store them in a binder.

• While waiting for a download or for something to print out on your computer, finish your journaling, write a poem, or order the scrapbook supplies you need online.

• Make a list of scrapbooking tasks you want to complete. Note the approximate time needed to finish them. When extra minutes come your way, look at your list, pick one you can complete or make substantial progress on and get to work.

Summarizing...
Managing time is a challenge for each of us. When we prioritize, organize, and maximize our time, we can include scrapbooking in our lives in ways that are rewarding, productive and enjoyable.

Just a tiny little minute,

only sixty seconds in it.

Forced upon me, can’t refuse it.

Didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it.

But it’s up to me to use it.

I must suffer if I lose it.

Give account if I abuse it.

Just a tiny little minute,

but eternity is in it.

Anonymous

Time to Organize my space...

It is so easy to dream up big exciting projects to make, or get that desire to use a new embellishment on a layout, but I can't always start what I want to do when I get that urge, because I can't find something I need, or a clean space to work. I used to be soo organized, but then I had 5 kids and keeping everything clean just wasn't my top priority anymore.

So, amidst my abc project, I am also going to work on cleaning up and organizing my scrap area. This is going to be extra challenging because my "REAL SCRAP ROOM" is downstairs, and I am stuck upstairs with a broken foot. Or maybe not, after my 9th surgery 3 weeks ago, I hope it is finally healing...again. Unfortunately, I can't go downstairs for another 6-9 weeks, so I will work on what I have had my kids bring upstairs for me to work with and lay a foundation that should make things easier for me to use when I can go back downstairs to my REAL SCRAP ROOM!

I started to get organized before my surgery, and I labeled a lot of my stuff, so that I could send the kids downstairs to easily find something for me, if I needed it. So I will be able to share some pictures with you of my attempt to clean sweep my scrapbook room...

Please Check Out the Ties that Bind Book...

http://projecttiesthatbind.blogspot.com/

ABC of scrapbooking techniques

I absolutely love ABC books. I love to read them, write them, collect them and scrapbook them. They are fun to create and absolutely fantastic to share! I have made an ABC book for dad, mom, Christmas, the beach, being a close to my heart consultant, and a general ABC book that has a variety of things for each letter of the alphabet.

As a scrapbooker, and a consultant for Close To My Heart, I am constantly looking for new technique to use on cards and layouts. I like to use some techniques over and over and as I'm getting older, my memory isn't as sharp as it used to be. Each time I was pregnant, I became quite forgetful (no, I'm not pregnant again - 5 is enough) and I blamed it on the growing baby inside me. It seemed that the baby sucked my memory right out of me along with other nutrients.

I started jotting down techniques so that I would remember them. I figured that some people might have the same memory loss that I do, and that others, even with great memories, might just want to learn some new techniques. So I've decided to add them to my blog! I am trying to do these techniques in alphabetical order, but I may forget...so check back frequently to see what is new! I look forward to sharing these with you, and I hope you enjoy trying them out! Keep scrapping my friends!

Jacob's Ladder Book

Jacob's Ladder Book

by: Shellie Sauve

Supplies:

3 pieces 12 x 12 patterned paper

2 pieces 12x12 cardstock

**2 pieces 12x12 chipboard (or 12 4x4 coasters) each piece should be the same thickness

3 pieces 4 foot long riboon (these can be the same or different ribbon, but should be the same weight and width)

Embellishments:

stamps, ink pads, metal rims, additional ribbon, buttons....

Required Tools:

Trimmer, scissors, wet glue and super strong dry adhesive like red super tape, pencil, corner rounder, sandpaper or distresser

Directions:

If you are not using 4x4 coasters, then cut your chipboard into 12 4x4 squares.

**If you do not have coasters or chipboard, you can cut up a cereal box or

use the cover from a spiral notebook

Use a corner rounder to round each corner

On the front side of 6 squares, draw 3 lines:

Two lines should be drawn lengthwise down at 3/4" from each edge

The third line should be in the center 2"

You should now have 6 squares with lines on the front and 6 squares without any lines

Cut 2 pieces of patterned paper into 4 x 12 strips.

(Set 2 of the 4x12 strips aside for embellishment later)

Cut the remaining 4 x 12 strips into 4x4 squares and round the corners.

Adhere the papers to one side of the chipboard squares (NOT on the sides with lines)

If you want to make a pattern, adhere one patterned paper style onto the 6 coasters with lines (do NOT put the paper over the lines, glue the paper to the other side)

Use a different patterned paper to glue onto the other 6 coasters (one side only)

Trim and sand the edges if needed

To Create the Ladder:

Take one square with lines on one side and place it face down, with the lines horizontal

Apply adhesive along the lines, going all the way to the edge.

Line up one end of the ribbon with the edge of the coaster -

Middle ribbon runs right to left

Top and bottom ribbons run left to right

Press them tightly into the adhesive so they are firmly attached

Take another coaster without lines, apply adhesive all around the edges and into the center (onto the unpapered side) adhere it to the first coaster, wrong sides together

**(you should have a patterned paper facing up at you now)

Lift each ribbon and run it across the coaster, to the opposite side

Take another coaster with lines, apply adhesive along the lines and place that coaster, paper side down on top of the ribbons

Pull the ribbons underneath so they are taught and make sure they are not twisted.

Bring the ribbons across the coaster to the opposite side, pressing into the adhesive

Apply adhesive to the wrong side of an unlined square, and put the wrong sides together

Repeat the steps above until you get to the last square and cut the excess ribbons off at the end. You should end up with a patterned paper square facing you to complete the book.

IMPORTANT!!! When adding photos or photo mats to the pages of this book, make sure that ALL OF THE ELEMENTS ARE UNDERNEATH the ribbons, otherwise the ladder will not work.

C is for Chalk Popping

C is for chalk Popping

Supplies:

chalk
versamark ink
cardstock

cotton swabs

Instructions:

1. Ink up your stamp with versamark ink

2. Stamp it onto your cardstock (it will be a little difficult to see because the ink is so clear)

3. Color the stamped image with different colors of chalk

*the result is a soft, subtle pastel image, great for flowers or butterflies

B is for Bubble Wrap

B is for Bubble Wrap

Supplies:

bubble wrap (large or small bubbles work)

ink pad

cardstock

embellishments for desired effect (water or beehive, or some other background)

Instructions:

1. Lay your bubblewrap with the bubbles facing upwards

2. Use your desired ink pad and rub it all over the bubble wrap, rub or pat the ink pad to ensure coverage of all the bubbles

3. Lay down a piece of cardstock and then lay the inked side of the bubblewrap face side down onto the cardstock

4. Carefully pat and rub the bubblewrap to transfer the ink from the wrap to the cardstock

5. Remove the bubblewrap (it is ok if every bubble did not transfer perfectly, it adds more texture to the project)

6. If you are using this technique on several pieces of cardstock you may reink the bubbles and reuse the same sheet

*if you are not reusing the bubblewrap at this time or if you want to use it for another color, rinse it off with water and pat it dry

*** this technique makes great water, grass and beehives....see what else you can use it for possibilities are endless

Mary Vogels Card Sketch SS04

Mary Vogel is a very talented stamper and CTMH consultant. I have been very fortunate to have worked with her on the CTMH virtual convention for the past 3 years. She has recently created a new website http://mbryt1.blogspot.com/ and she posts new sketches to inspire you each week. Here are my cards inspired by her sketch #ssso4. Enjoy!