Jooniper's Hobby Area

Smash Book Journal

2011-08-17T19:41:00.000-05:00

I made this Smash Book/Art Journal for my daughter for her 13th birthday. I thought that I could make her a new one for each year for her birthday.

The book is 9x6. I mostly used Rock Princess cartridge on it. I used Black Currant by DCWV. I only done 3 of the "divider" pages, and left the others blank so she could do whatever she wanted with them. One of them she could do doodling or drawings on. I was going to embellish it more, but I was running out of time and hubby decided I should just let her make it her own by leaving some of the "divider" pages blank.

She has had it a month and has not used it yet. She said it is too pretty to mess up. I told her that is what I made it for was for to mess up, that is why I did not do more embellishing to it.

The first page is a "bookplate" with the writing of that it was presented to her for her 13th birthday and other information. I used Lacy Labels for the "bookplate" and done a lot of layering and pop dotting.

New Card

2011-08-17T13:21:00.000-05:00

Here is a card I done almost 2 weeks back. I'am still not finished with it, as I'am not sure what I want to do with it. But it is pretty all the same.

I FINALLY got to use my new cartridge Cindy Loo!! I think it turned out nice for my first card using that cart.

The card is a 5x5 and is REALLY sparkly in person.

Sorry!!

2011-08-08T00:50:00.000-05:00

Sorry I have not posted since December!! I have not done much of any type of crafting since my last post.

Just have not felt up to crafting and been kinda busy and then the kids were out of school. I plan on making some thing when the 100 degree weather goes away.

Name Frames - Christmas Gifts

2010-12-24T00:53:00.001-06:00

Long time no post.... huh?

Well... I finally did do something crafty and used my Cricut, my desk and all of my scrappy supplies. But I did buy more supplies. I mean you cannot do a project without having to buy new paper! LOL!!

I have been wanting to make my in-laws one of those name frames I seen on the Cricut message board for almost 2 years now. So... I FINALLY done it!!

I am really liking the ones I made. I think the paper I used is what made the name frames look so fabulous!!

I used vinyl for the words "family" and the establish year. It was pretty easy to do once I got contact paper... hahaa!! On one of the name frames I did the establish year by hand... a little time consuming, but... not like I had anything else to do.

This one is my favorite!

It is my favorite because of the 2 birds in silver foil to the right bottom corner. And how AWESOME it come out!! The "est 1977" is black vinyl on the outside of the glass... it casts a natural shadow on to the white base plate. It looks really neat!! I could not get the camera to capture it, without a glare in the glass from the flash.

This next one is for my SIL. I hope they like it. I did not put a lot of time and detail into this one, but I think it still came out nice.

Christmas in August

2010-08-21T01:11:00.000-05:00

I decided to try my hand at a Christmas card. I have never really made a Christmas card before. I am trying to get as many cards as I can get done before September 11th; which is when our little town has its annual community trade day. I was thinking of sale-ing some of my cards and projects just to see if people would buy them. I am just not sure how much to price my creations.

I FINALLY got to use the snowflake embossing folder from the winter bundle I ordered from Cricut Rewards!

My poor little reindeer almost was not on the card, as I scalped him when I was trying to get him out of my Xyron. But then I glued him back together and flocked him, and he looks good as NEW! Now he is running and frolicing in the embossed snowflakes LOL!

I like the card. My mom liked the card. My hubby kinda liked the card. And both of my kids LOVED the card. LOL! Can always depend on my kids LOVING my cards/projects/creations. Sometimes... I wonder if my kids have bad taste ;0) LOL!

So... here is my card!

Bachelorette Invitations

2010-08-16T00:09:00.000-05:00

Here is a sample of the bachelorette invitations I was enlisted to make for someone I had made baby shower invitations for about a year ago. I use to make baby shower invitation sets and sell them on the internet. But... it got to much for me and my health at the time because I had had a mini stroke and it messed up my mind for a while. I have been wanting to get back to making them again, so what better way then to start back making invites for a bachelorette party!?

I have LOTS of paper I have been accummulating for my baby shower invitation sets over the year. I knew I would get back to making them sooner or later. I guess the later is now. LOL! I need to find something to do to keep me occupied while my kids are gone to school. I LOVE to make the baby shower invitation sets. It is fun to use my Cricut to help me come up with some thing so cute! I have a thing for baby showers... do not know why... but I do.

The most I had someone order from me was 98. I had less than a week to get them done too! That was kinda hecktic, but well worth the money I made from them! And I even got hubby to help me out! LOL!

This person said the colors she wanted were pink, black and white. So... here is what I came up with. I hope she likes it.

The invite is to resemble a corset. It is 5 1/2" X 4". I cut out a tag feature on Gypsy Wanderings to make the sides for the corset to lace the ribbon thru the middle. I ran the corset sides thru the CuddleBug in the Textile folder and the sanded the Core'dinates down to the white core.

The pull card will have all the information and details printed on transparent vellum and placed over the pink and black polka dot paper.

My Interpretation of Pink, Brown & Forest Animal Theme

2010-06-30T03:47:00.002-05:00

Both times I have worked on this name banner has been at 3am. So... I am beginning to believe that my interpretation of things like pink, brown & forest animal theme... are not something I should tackle at 3am and not feeling well LOL! I think it has more to do with it being 3am. Might as well work on a name banner... hubby would definantly kill me if I won another Gypsy at 3am LOL!

If you cannot make out the name... it says Hazel. I really think it was the name that threw me off. I wanted to make the banner a lil more girly more of a punk rocker tone, but they thru me for a loop when they said pink, brown, & Forest Animal theme. Oh and it did not help that I forgot I had brown with pink polka dot paper I could have used for the background UGH! I thought of that like 5 days too late *slaps forehead*

Hubby looked at it and had nothing to say. Not sure if it is because it is pink, or because it is just *THAT* bad! Or that all the animals have pink eye LMBO!! BUT all the animals are all nice and soft and flocky! AWWWWW.....

Updated Picture - I decided to outline all the letters in Dark Chocolate cat eye fluid chalk. To me it looks MUCH better. I think to me it just needed some distressing of some sort and the Core'odinates being sanded did not do it for me LOL!

Winner Is...

2010-06-28T00:23:00.000-05:00

Winner is KreativeKarla!

Send me an email with your info to may_june_july [at] hotmail [dot] com !

Thanks everyone who entered and your lovely comments!

It's Official...

2010-06-25T22:23:00.000-05:00

It's Official...that I will be as old as hubby starting tomorrow LOL! My birthday is Saturday... I will be 31. Hubby has been 31 for almost a month now, and I have been bothering him about being over 30. Now I cannot do that anymore after tomorrow.

I kinda feel old now LOL! At least I do not have gray hairs like hubby does HAHAAA!!!

My birthday present was my Gypsy, but it still has not been shipped yet! Hopefully it will be here before my next infusion, that way I will have something to do during the 2 hour infusion if the Benedryl does not make me loopy. Some times the Benedryl makes me loopy, other times it just wires me and makes me feel a lil hyper. I mean 100mg of Benedryl wires everyone right? ;0)

Card Give-Away!

2010-06-25T00:47:00.001-05:00

Ok... so, after I showed my mom the card I made last night, she asked what I was going to do with it. I told her I did not know, just keep it I guessed. But after I got home I decided I would do a card give-away off my blog.

So, if you would like the card below, just leave me a comment on this post and I will randomly choose one lucky winner on Sunday at midnite!

The card is a 5 1/2" X 5 1/2". The papers are from the DCWV Far East stack. The inside is also finished, but my camera batteries died after taking this pic. So... I will see about uploading a pic of the inside when my batteries are at full charge.

Ok... I have added a picture of the inside.

First card with Pagoda & Lacy Labels

2010-06-25T00:31:00.000-05:00

Here is a card I done last night. I just got the carts Pagoda and Lacy Labels, so I had to use them!

I used my "Homemade Nestibilities" technique on the Lacy Labels cut, which is blue paper that has the temple on it. I charcoal ink chalked all the edges and I also dry brushed some antique gold acrylic paint all over to tie in the roofs of the temple that I had painted antique gold.

I really like how this card turned out. At first I was not sure how it was going to turn out, because I did not have a plan or any idea... I was just winging it. I just wanted to make something LOL!

Thanks for looking!

My finished mini album!

2010-06-16T23:57:00.001-05:00

I FINALLY finished my mini album. I have been working on this since end of April. But I had no reason to get in a hurry to finish it. I was just working on it to have something to do when I felt like being crafty.

I gave this mini album to my oldest sister Tuesday. She was surprised I made it for her. She was afraid to look thru it for fear that she would mess something up or rip something. She said I made it look really old too good LOL! She asked how I made it look so old looking and I told her. She thought it was all old papers I used. I was like nope, just vintage images I printed off the internet. She said she was going to keep it sitting upright in her curio cabinet.

This little sucker turned out to be a fatty of an album LOL! It will not lay closed. LOL! I did not mean to make it so fat. But oh well!

My sister said her favorite page in the mini is the cover of the album. She said because of the indian picture. She has a thing for indians, probably since we have some indian in us from our mom. Our grandma was native american.

My favorite pages in the mini album are the first page with the frame from Sentimentals and the sewing themed page.

I did not make a lot of tags for this mini, as my sister will not journal so... no use for them. If I make my other sister a mini album I will probably make her more tags for hers, as she will journal.

Without further ado... all the mini's pages completed, in order and in one spot LOL!

Making of a Mini Album - Page 10

2010-06-16T23:30:00.000-05:00

Here is the last page of my mini album. I also actually FINISHED my mini album! WOOHOOO!!

The black boarder is a cut from Storybook Cart. I welded it together. I also used the M's $1 bin flock on that black boarder. It is all nice and soft and pretty! LOL! I added a piece of doilie in the upper right corner and distressed it with weathered wood distress ink with a touch of frayed burlap.

The folio in the middle will house 6 pics.

Making of a Mini Album - The REAL Page 9

2010-06-10T21:19:00.001-05:00

I shared page 9 four days ago. BUT I was not happy with it. I liked the paper dolls and all, but it just did not work well for being the "first" page of the mini. I am going to incorporate the paper dolls some where in the mini, but not on the page they were on.

I have revamped page 9 and it looks GREAT! I guess I was just having a non-crafty week when I started working on page 9, but... it has been raining and I have been flaring... I seem to do my best work when I am in a lot of pain and not doing well. Like someone told me... spoken like a true artist! LOL!

On this page I used my NEW Sentimentals cartridge! WOOOHOO!! I used one of the frames from the cart. I also used my "homemade nestibilities" technique on the frame. You see those dark brown spots on the frame? That is embossed. I cut out the layer for the frame in chipboard and then I lined the frame and the frame layer that was cut out of chipboard up and ran them thru my CuttleBug. I wanted the embossed areas to show more so I ran my distress ink tool over the tops of the embossed areas.

I also used Sentimentals for my tag. Pretty nice tag cut! I printed out an old vintage peacock label and cut it out and distress inked it and then added it to my tag. I did try to cut the tag out with the peacock printed on it, but the peacock was too big and did not show in the frame hole like I wanted. So... I had to do it the way I have it now.

I wanted something in the bottom left corner of the page. Iwas going to cut out a bird and put it on a branch and have the branch stem across the bottom of the page, but... I just could not get my bird to look like I wanted LOL! I think I was wanting too much from that little birdy on the Home Decor cart. SO... I remembered I downloaded a vintage bird image that was a circle. So... I resized it and printed it and cut it out and then pop dotted it on to a piece of circle cardstock and pop dotted that as well.

I just LOVE the frame on this page! It came out looking better than I imagined. I was going to dry brush antique gold acrylic paint on the frame, but I forgot to. I might do it later, not sure.

Well... here is The REAL Page 9!

Making of a Mini Album - Page 8

2010-05-28T17:09:00.000-05:00

I worked on this page yesterday. It came out alright. I did get to use my new technique "Cricut-made Nestibilities". That is what I am calling it now LOL!

I used the "Cricut-Made Nestibilities" on the gray/blue topnote. It embossed around the edge just like a Nestibilities would do. It is sooooo cool!

The photo mat on this page has ribbon to 2 corners to hold the photo on to the photo mat.

The blank space to the right of the page, is where the tag will tuck behind the top-notes area. The tag I am planning on the part that sticks out saying "Adore". I am going to make it in Design Studio. I already made the tag just need to get it cut out.

I also added a butterfly to this page. I mean it is a page full of flowers after all LOL! The butterfly was cut from one of my new carts I got a couple of months back - Home Accents. I really like this butterfly, but not as much as I like the butterfly off the Indie Arts cart. I would have used that butterfly, but it did not look as "vintage" to me as this butterfly does.

Making of a Mini Album - Page 7

2010-05-25T13:17:00.000-05:00

I FINALLY got around to working on my sisters mini album again. I finished this page this morning. This page has a lot of things that have to do with sewing. My sister use to sew ALOT. It was her hobby. But she has since not had time to sew like she use to. All she does now is work, work, work.

This page was actually page 4... the page with the double slider on it, but I took it apart very carefully and replaced it on another page. I wanted it on the page the double slider was on because the background paper was like a "quilt" pattern and I thought it would be perfect for the sewing page. If I had made a page theme for all my pages before I attached stuff, I would not be doing the ole switch-a-roo later LOL! Note to self... plan themes for pages before hand LOL!

I actually did not think of doing a sewing themed page in her mini album until my mom mentioned something about how my sister use to love to sew and how she had been sewing since she was a teenager making her own clothes. I just thought that it would be neat to have a page that was dedicated to something she loves.

Even though I was not working on my mini album, I was, however... doing a lot of research LOL! I did a lot of searching for graphics for this page and learned a lot about old sewing notions. On this page I made good use of my new printer! I downloaded and printed off a bunch of old sewing ads and notions scans.

So... on this page there is a "needle book" with a vintage Singer Sewing Machine ad on the front & some lace along the bottom. The "needle book" is actually an "album" that can hold 6 - 3X3 photos on the inside. I made the "needle book" using a card cut from A Child's Year. The "needle book" is held closed by the mini clothes pin to the left.

I made my own "vintage" sewing pattern by downloading a vintage sewing pattern in black & white and printing it on vellum and then taking Tea Dye distress ink all over the vellum to give it more of the tissue pattern affect.

I printed off some vintage ads for sewing and collaged them in the bottom left. I printed off a vintage button card and added some buttons to it for more dimension, and distressed inked the card to look worn. I then printed off a vintage thread label and distressed it and added a safety pin with a scissors charm to dangle from it. Then I thought... I need a dress form on this page some where! So, I found one and printed it on vellum and cut it out and added dimensional glue dots to make it stand out a little more.

I then decided to "pleat" my ribbon along the bottom of the page. The ribbon looks like a measuring tape. I found it at Big Lots for 75 cents a couple of weeks back. I wanted to add another sewing charm to the page, so I took a pearl headed straight pin and added a few glass beads and a sewing machine & key charms. Then I wove the straight pin thru the "pleated" ribbon.

I think I am actually done with this page. Minus the tag which will be going behind the "needle book". Yeah... I remembered to leave a side open for a tag this time LOL!

Thanks for looking!

New Printer!

2010-05-16T01:17:00.000-05:00

I got a new printer today! WOOHOO!! Now, I can make the tags and other things for my mini album.

My old printer... the ink would smear and turn green when I would use my distress inks and the techniques for distressing... like spritzing water on the inks to make a cool effect. And the resolution and printing was grainy and not very good.

I wanted an Epson wide foot printer... which could print 12X12 sheets of paper and the inks are water resistant, fade resistant and smear proof. SO COOL! But I just could not bring myself to spending that kind of money on a printer.

The printer I did get is an Epson WorkForce 310 and cost only $69 and was on sale. I noticed that most of all the Epson printers took the inks that was water resistant, fade resistant, and smear proof. So... I got this one after I had the guy scan and print me a picture from the demo printer. This printer also scans, faxes, prints, and copies... AND BEST OF ALL... it will wireless print! Which is EXCELLENT for being only $69 on sale. It also has a very high resolution in and out. It is pretty COOL to lay in bed and print things from my bed and not have to get up and lug my laptop to my desk to connect to the printer and then lug it back to bed after my document was finished printing.

So... I am a happy camper and in just amazed at how nice my new printer is and all that it can do and for the price I paid for it! :0)

Making of a Mini Album - Part 6

2010-05-13T16:18:00.000-05:00

I am on a roll TODAY! I got another page done! I might add more embellishments to the page later, but I did get the main focus of the page finished.

It is like a waterfall card. Same mechanism. It is designed to hold 4 - 3X3 photos. There is a sterling silver heart charm for the pull.

Making of a Mini Album - Part 5

2010-05-13T09:21:00.001-05:00

I have been working on this page for a couple of days, and FINALLY finished it this morning! It was taking me so long because I was trying to get my cuts all laid out in Design Studio and decide on which papers to use and where. I only have an 8X8 stack of this paper, so I have to make sure I have enough for everything and use every piece of scrap I have. I even used a 2X2 inch piece of scrap on this page LOL!

So... here is my page. It is a single picture layout. That ornate glittery bracket at the top is the hidden journaling spot. Just pull up on it to reveal the journaling. The photo mat takes a 3 X 2 1/2 inch photo.

I used a lot of distress inks. I even did some new techniques... like distressing the edges with scissors & running ribbon thru the paper.

Making of a Mini Album - Part 1 UPDATED

2010-05-07T23:02:00.000-05:00

Here is the update of my 1st page I done of my mini album. It is now complete and I am happy with it. I made 2 more postcards to go into the top pocket. On the back of each postcard is a photo mat.

I had a 12X12 sheet of paper that were all postage stamps. And there was a row of like vintage looking ones. So... I cut them out and distressed them to look old, but I think I over done the distressing a bit LOL!

I also made a fan out of some music sheet that I printed out and was not happy with so, I was using it to clean my dauber and it distressed it LOL! So... I picked the best looking part of that paper and cut me out a 1 1/2" strip and fan folded it and added a pearl brad and some ribbon and I had a fan HA!

Making of a Mini Album - Part 4

2010-05-07T19:08:00.000-05:00

Here is another page of my mini album I have been working on. It is a double slider "card" where a photo can be put on the front and then 2 more photos on the inside when the tab is pulled up.

My sister REALLY loved the double slider "card" I put in my niece's mini album. So... I knew I HAD to put one in hers. :-)

At first I was at a loss as to how to incorporate this on to this page with that background. I just wanted to put it on this page, because the background paper was not may favorite and second because I knew the double slider would take up a lot of space and I did not want to cover up the beautiful papers that are on the other pages I have to finish creating.

I forgot to leave a place for journaling, but I do not think my sister is much into journaling LOL! At least I hope not. ;-)

So... here it is!

The pull tab pulled to reveal the 2 photo mats on the inside. I had to turn the camera sideways because with the mats extended out it was too long for me to take a picture with it in the upright position.

Making of a Mini Album - Part 2 of 3

2010-05-05T07:07:00.002-05:00

Here is another page I just got finished doing. It is a page of criss cross pockets with pull out photo mats.

I HEART this page!

3 pages down only 5 more to go!

Making of a Mini Album - Part 3

2010-05-05T02:29:00.000-05:00

I have been working on my mini album, but have not been posting pics of it. Mostly because I am just doing little things on pages here and there. BUT.... tonight I actually finished one side of one of the pages. I am satisfied with it. I am so satisfied with the page I even put the eyelets in for binding LOL!

I made the frame with my cricut. It is a cut from Winter Woodland with an oval cut out of the center to make it a frame. The frame is made from chipboard. I ran the chipboard thru my Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots embossing folder. The chipboard was painted with metallic pearl white acrylic paint and then I rubbed Dark Brown fluid chalk over it. I then sanded it to take the paint off the Swiss Dot embossing, and then I hit it with my Walnut Stain Distress Ink. That made the Swiss Dots that dark looking brown. Then I put on 2 layers of Glossy Accents over it. Looks pretty good I think! :-)

The frame is on top of a envelope pocket wallet thingy I got off of YouTube that RoseS915 made a tutorial of. It had many pages in it, but I am not showing the pics of them all right now. I did use Cricut cuts for photo mats on the inside.

The page also has a lace doily I distressed with Antique Linen & Vintage Photo Distress Inks. It came out ok. I just needed something to keep the page from looking so bare up at the top.

Thanks for looking!

Making of a Mini Album - Part 2

2010-05-01T02:20:00.001-05:00

Thursday night I stayed up all night and worked on a "real" page of my mini album. I did not get a lot done, because my son was still awake with me at 4am. UGH! And he wanted to help me and have me cut him things out for his card. So... I only got the basics of my page done. BUT... at least my 5" long post card now has a home LOL! WOOHOO! Creative I be!

I am not sure what all I am going to add to this page yet, but... I think it came out quite nice, since my inking around the edges on the page before I added the pockets papers was a bit messy and looked green when the distress ink was Vintage Photo!? I have now solved that problem with a new sponge dauber!

I added lace to the bottom pocket, and I might add ribbon to the top pocket. And I am going to make another post card or 2 for the top pocket. I am still working on the layout for the page, but at least I done something with an actual page, other than make more pages like the multi-pocket page I showed in another post LOL!

The papers I am using are the DCWV Linen Closet. I just loved this paper stack and thought it would look nice all vintaged and distressed up.

Page with nothing in the pockets

Page with the 5" long postcard, I printed and distressed, in bottom pocket

Page with Postcard in the top pocket

Woohoo... Success!

2010-05-01T01:02:00.000-05:00

I went 50 miles north of me to go to Michael's just for the Tim Holtz Distress Ink Foam Applicator tool and pads. Well... they only had the alcohol inks applicator tool there and then I went to Hobby Lobby and all they had was the alcohol inks applicator as well! GRRRR! Both stores did not even have a sticker or place for the distress ink one. AHHHH!!!

But while I was in Hobby Lobby, I found these finger sponge daubers for stenciling by Tsukneko. There are 3 to a pack for $2.99. So... I decided what the heck!

OMGoodness! What a difference it is from the cosmetic foam wedge sponges I was using. I noticed that the cosmetic foam sponge was leaving me with a lot of green tint. It was like it was sucking up all but the green part of the inks. I mean every brown color even Walnut Stain was left with a really green hue to the paper.

I thought I was just no good at using ditress inks LOL! Now, I know it was the sponges I was using! WOOHOO!! I spent a lot of money on these ink pads, to just suck at the technique LOL!

Tonight when I used Vintage Photo with the new sponge dauber, it was actually brown and no green to be seen! I was shocked! I then got out a cosmetic foam sponge and as soon as it hit the page it was showing green.

I am hoping one day to find a real distress ink foam pad applicator. BUT for now these sponge daubers will do!

Here is a picture of my doily I used all my brown colored distress inks on using the sponge dauber. I did patches of each color and then went back and filled in areas with Antique Linen. Then crumpled it up and then uncrumpled it and ran Brushed Corduroy over the wrinkles and then spritzed it with water and then dried it with my hair drier LOL! Next on my list is a heat gun. I want to try my hand at heat embossing sometime in the future. But for now my hair drier and iron will do. ;0)

This is what the sponge dauber looks like. I actually used this same sponge dauber on all my distress inks in the brown family and it hardly looks used and I did not even wash it out or anything.

Another Pull Tab

2010-04-30T02:26:00.000-05:00

Here is another pull tab I made. I used Storybook & George and Basic Shapes cartridges to make it, as well as my other pull tab I posted earlier.

This pull tab when folded measures 3/4" tall and 1" at the bottom base and the "pull" top is 3/4".

Click here to DOWNLOAD

Making of a Mini Album & Tab Download

2010-04-29T21:22:00.001-05:00

Like I stated in the other post, I am making my oldest sister a mini album. I'am going for a vintage look. She likes things that look vintage. I am having a hard time coming up with what I want to put on the pages. Another words I am being indecisive LOL! So... it is taking me longer than I want it to. I did how ever get a pocket page done last night. I done one of those multi-pocket pages from FollowThePaperTrail. It was pretty easy to do and it came out better than I expected... meaning I distressed it better than I did my criss cross pocket LOL! I actually used fluid chalk, instead of the distress inks. I seem to get along better with the fluid chalk than the distress inks... they are much more forgiving.

After I was done with the pocket page, I decided I needed a tab for my photo cards. And I looked online to see how much one of those stampin up tab punches were. WHOA! Way more than I wanted to pay! LOL! So, I created my own with Design Studio. I made them fit a 1" circle cutout. It is not exactly like the stampin up tab, but it serves its purpose LOL!

If you like the tab you click here to DOWNLOAD

Below are pictures of the tab and the tab in use. PLUS, my multi-pocket page for my inprogress mini album.

Distressed "new" printed postcard & pocket

2010-04-29T20:44:00.002-05:00

I have FINALLY got around to using my Tim Holtz distress inks I bought a while back. I found some printable postcards on the internet and I printed them out on creme colored cardstock. I then went to work on distressing one of them after I cut them out. I also made a criss cross pocket to put it in, as I was going to use it in the mini album I am making for my sister. BUT... it is too big. So... I need to find a way to size the postcards down to about 3-4 inches long. As they are now they are over 5 inches long.

The before and after postcard

Postcard & Criss Cross Pocket

Postcard in Pocket

Mini Album Frame

2010-04-26T20:40:00.000-05:00

I bought these scrapbooking frames from the $ Tree. They are made of some sort of foam or something similar. I did not like how they were white, so I spent the last couple of hours messing with them to change them to look like a metal frame.

The frame on the left is what they look like before I distressed and painted it. And the frame on the right is what it looks like after many attempts to get the look I wanted. It seems acrylic paint is not porous LOL! DUH!

Here is what I done to get the look I was going for:

First I painted it with Metallic Pearl White acrylic paint. Then after the paint dried I dabbed Dark Brown fluid chalk. After the fluid chalk dried I hit some areas of the frame with sandpaper and then I rub Walnut Stain distress ink over it and let it sit for some mins and then I rubbed the distress ink off with a paper towel. The dark areas you see on the frame is where the walnut stain dried and took ahold of the frame. The distress ink will not dry on the acrylic paint. Which is why it took me a couple of hours to do this LOL! Trial and error. But now I know how to do it for my other frames I bought.
The effect in real life is a brown looking metallic finish. I am going to try this on chipboard next to see if I can make a piece of chipboard look like metal.

Pretty Princess Name Banner

2010-04-24T19:23:00.000-05:00

I made this name banner for my niece's b-day, which was the beginning of April. Today I got the pics of the banner off my hubby's cellphone to upload to the internet. The pictures are not that good of quality, but they serve the purpose LOL!

Her bedroom is done in a princess theme... like pinks and whites and girly stuff; not Disney Princesses. I was aiming for the name banner to go with her room decor. I have not been to see it hanging up in her room yet, but hubby did when he took the pics for me, and he said it looked nice in her room.

The background frames are from the Storybook cartridge. The background frames are made of chipboard covered with patterned paper and then the solid pink frame is cardstock. I used a white gel pen to add doodling to the solid pink cardstock to give it some more character. The top of the frames have pink & pearl bling. The letters are from Storybook, as well and are co'ordinates gemstone cardstock. BUT I painted them with pearl white acrylic paint, because the color of pink the cardstock was, was too light of a pink and was just too much pink. So... I painted the letters after I ran them all thru the cuttlebug using the textile folder.

I also cut a princess crown from Storybook and blinged it up. It was cut out of the pink Co'ordinates gemstone cardstock. The butterfly on the "I" is from Indie Art and is cut out of the same pink Co'ordinates gemstone cardstock and blinged up, too. I then cut out a bow from New Arrivals using the same pink gemstone cardstock and added a gemstone in the center.

The banner is attached together by pink satiny ribbon that is threaded thru the eyelets I put on each side of the frames. That made it look even more girly LOL! After I added the pink ribbon hubby become uninterested in helping me decide if I was on the right track. I have figured out that when hubby becomes uninterested in my project I am on the right track of making it more girly LOL!

Hope you like it! Because I am not even sure if she did or not LOL! I have not asked her if she liked it or not. Her mom liked it, so I guess that should only count, huh? ;-)

My First Mini Album

2010-04-19T21:54:00.003-05:00

I made my very first paper bag mini album! It is made from some really small white paper bags. I think they are 3 1/2 X 6 3/4. The album measures 4" x 4 1/2" the cover, but the inside pages measure 3 1/2" x 4 1/4".

I made this as a bridal shower gift for my niece who is getting married in May. I wanted to make it fun and goofy, since it will be used to archieve her bachelorette party, which I will not be attending as it is a slumber party type deal and I LOVE my bed way too much to go a night without it LOL!

Please excuse the quality of the pics as I took them with my cell phone camera. I did not take pics of it before I gave it to her because I was actually working on it up until I had to leave to go to the shower. I had also sat up all night working on it, and did not go to sleep at all. I had started working on it about 11pm and quite working on it to take a shower at 11am the next morning. I only has less than 3 days to pump this little album out LOL! I was not told about the bridal shower until the Thursday before the shower which was on a Sunday.

I had a lot of fun working on it. Some trial and errors and not much frustration.

The ENTIRE album was made with my cricut, well 99% of it was. The only things I did not make with my cricut was the flowers in the album and the flower flourishes on the front of the album. Everything else was cut with my Cricut.

Album Cover - Titled "Infamous Bachelorette Party"

Page 1 - "In the beginning" suppose to be a group pic of all that attend while they are still sober LOL!

Page 2 - A card holder to put 2 pics and journaling on the back of each pullout. The writing on the flap to the right says "My brother paid a dollar last night to see your underwear. movie 16 Candles"

Page 3- Is a simple page that is for a pic of her with some lingerie she will get. It says "OoH LA LA". The "OoH" is glittered red & the "LA's" are glossy accented.

Page 4 - Another simple page for a photo. Above says "Trouble!". The flap to the right has a tag for journaling and the flower is Prima's.

Page 5 - This page is a double slider and on the front of it is says "Oh sexy girlfriend! Movie - 16 Candles" and has a tag for journaling tucked to the right of it.

Page 6 - Has a matchbook flipalbum which will hold 3 more pics and has a tag tucked in the left for journaling. The flap to the right says "What the..." and is glittered red and glossy accented.

Page 7 - This page... well... it was 11 hours later and I was getting tired LOL! I did not even notice I did not embellish the flap to the left until I gave it to her LOL! She can put a pic or sticker there LOL!

Page 8 - Another simple page for a pic. the flap to the right says "The Result" which is for a group pic of all them drunk LOL! And has a journaling tag.

I hope you like it! My niece claimed she loved it ;) LOL! I am probably going to make another one for her wedding pics. This time I will be able to put more work into it and realize when I miss embellishing a page LOL!

Thanks for looking!

New Cart & More...

2010-04-15T23:10:00.000-05:00

Today I got the cart I won off eBay last Friday - Fabulous Finds. I seem many new ways for me to make embellishments for my cards and mini albums!

Tuesday I ordered a bunch of brads from eyeletoutlet.com. $12.00 worth with shipping. I got a lot of pearly ones and some gemstone ones and courduroy ones. I would have ordered more, but I was limiting my spending. I do not have many brads to begin with, because the stores never have the ones I think I need. But the ones from eyeletoutlet.com were some of what I had been looking to get for cheap price, they were on clearance, so that helped me out some.

I also got a new cellphone this week, too! It is COOL! It is touch screen, it reminds me of an IPhone. I even get to surf the internet on it. It pretty COOL! Oh... I just said that LOL! Well, I just cannot get over how COOL my new phone is!

I am going to be working on a small mini album for my niece's bridal shower. I am going to make a mini album for her to put pics of her Bachlorette Party. I am going to do it in like a "Funny" tone. Like one place for a pic say "What the....", "Wild woman", ect. They will be partying and taking pics, so I know there will be some "good" pics LOL!

Saturday Things

2010-04-12T02:37:00.001-05:00

Saturday I bought more paper that HL had on sale. I bought like $15.00 worth. My plan when I went in was to buy only $10's worth and buy Tim Holtz's Tattered Rose distress ink and that was all. Well... They had some embossing folders marked down to $2.99 and it was Bloom Dots. I did get tattered rose distress ink pad, as well.

I had also went to M's and came out with much of nothing. I just did not see anything I needed really. I used the 50% off coupon on a new paper of CutterBee sissors. And I also got some embellishments for 49 cents each.

Then went to J's and got the cuttlebug folder I just felt I needed and hunted it down LOL! I just needed the folder argyle! When M's did not have it, I was starting to get a little panicky, but J's had it and it was on sale, too! I also got the 180 sheet flower shower and used a 50% off coupon from M's on it and got it for $10!

I had also made my niece a name banner for her b-day, but I was too tired the night I finished it to take pics of it. But it was pretty and a lot of work. I had to paint the letters with acrylic paint, because the cardstock they were cut out of made it too much pink and the letters did not stand out like I invisioned. I painted the letters a pearl white. The letters were also embossed with the textile folder.

Oh and Friday my Cat Eye Fluid Chalk I ordered online from JoAnn's arrived! I ordered 10 of them while they were on sale and I also got free shipping! Total came to $14.60! Pretty nice price I thought since I could not find these colors in the stores.

Guess What I Got Today!

2010-04-03T21:35:00.000-05:00

Today I got 6 of the Tim Holtz Distress Inks. I used the 30% off your entire purchase coupon at Michaels. I did not want to slowly acquire the inks with 50% off coupons, because I wanted them NOW! LOL! I got them for $3.50ea with coupon. YAY!! Then I went to JoAnn's for their 5 for $1 paper sale and got about $5 worth. Then I got the 8X8 DCWV Linen Closet sack. I have decided I will only buy 8X8 sacks, because I do not need make much of anything bigger than that. Plus, I NEVER use a whole sheet of 12X12 paper. Which I think is a waste.

I am really looking forward to making things with the Distress Inks. The colors I got were: Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Tea Dye, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, and Worn Lipstick. They only had like 12 different colors and the other 4 colors did not look like any I would use because I do not blues & purples much.

I also have 10 Cat's Eye Fluid Chalks coming in the mail from JoAnn.com. I even got FREE shipping! WOOHOO!!

I like to make girly stuff, so I mostly gravitate to pinks, and the color of my blog - Dark Teal. I do love the vintage look as well, that is why I got the distress inks in the brown colors and pink color.

Well... I guess that is all I have to say.

A Few Cards I Made

2010-04-03T05:33:00.003-05:00

Here are a few cards I made. These are the first cards I have made.

This is my very first card I have made. I made this for my hubby for V-Day.

This the 2nd card. I made it to send to my sister, but I still have not gotten around to sending it yet. I need to make a box or an envople for it.

This card is my 3rd card. I just loved the toile paper and it made me want to make a card with it. It seems like it is missing something, but I do not know what yet. If you have any ideas let me know.

Hopefully soon I will get some mojo and start making more cards. I have just been in a slump and have not felt like making anything lately. I hope will SOON! Seems I just like to look at everyone elses pretty work and wish I could make something like that. :-)