Paper Lust

A Boys Life: A Shark Box & A Wolf Tail | New Vintage Treasures

2012-02-28T13:34:00.008-06:00

A few weeks ago we started working on Z's Valentine's Day box. I was planning on covering a shoe box with white paper and putting primary colored hearts and stuff on it. So I asked Zane what we wanted to do and he said he wanted a sea creature (he's opposed to hearts in general). Then he said he wanted a shark. And I thought that would be so much more fun than what I was planning. I had already bought a large paper mache mailbox from Hobby Lobby when they were on sale in anticipation of Valentine's Day. I was thinking I needed a box that we could open the top and make a shark mouth to drop the Valentine's cards down into when it hit me I could turn that mailbox up on it's end and use that for my shark mouth!

We painted the outside grey, the inside red with a red glitter mouth, I cut a styrofoam ball into eye sockets and bought blue animal eyes at Hobby Lobby. I used hot glue for everything - well, except the glitter. I drew the teeth and let him cut them out then glued them onto the inside of the lid and if you position it just so the mouth will stay open if you allow the teeth to rest on part of the mouth opening. He helped me paint, applied the glitter, pushed the eyes in, and cut out the teeth. I used red foam Thickers for his name. Then I drew and cut the water waves out at the bottom because even though he can cut just fine, waves aren't in his cutting repertoire yet. It's really pretty simple but oh so cute!

We (meaning me and most of you blog readers who are fellow crafty people) do stuff like this all the time so I forget sometimes how cool this kind of stuff is to people who don't craft - but people were amazed at this box! All the kids gathered around him when he walked into the room and wanted to see it. Adults were commenting on it all the way down the hall as they walked into the building and I got compliments on it at the school party. And it's going to look cute in his room all the time, not just for V-Day. I had to give myself a little pat on the back for coming up with this one ;)

So, this is our next crafty adventure - Fairy Tale Day. Zane wanted to be The Big Bad Wolf. But he really looks like The Little Sweet Wolf. We had these wolf ears from Great Wolf Lodge in Texas. I used some of the fur fabric I bought for the tail and put some on the ears so they would match.

I bought the faux fur fabric at Hobby Lobby. I just cut it into the shape of a tail, slightly tapered at the bottom. I used just a little stuffing in the middle then glued two sides I had cut together leaving the top open. I cut two pieces of elastic and hand stitched them into loops on the back side of the tail so that he could slide the tail onto a belt and I used two so that one would be on either side of his back central belt loop on his pants so the tail would not slide around - and the loops were hidden that way. I could have stuffed it more but I wanted him to be able to sit on it. I think it's pretty darn cute! It was his idea to get down on all fours to pose :) Cuteness.

This is just a new pretty picture of my special little girl. This was after church one day. This girl has gotten so talkative! Like non stop! She loves attention and she's figured out that by talking your leg off all day long that's a way to make sure she's getting all she can get, lol. She is my little shadow and how blessed I am. She's almost 4 years old - how time has flown.

Now, yall ready for some new vintage goodies! This is my installment called, "Recently From Ebay."

Lots of tag and lots of Victorian calling cards - like a huge lot, maybe 60, for not much money! I also got a set of 5 Dennison crepe paper crafting booklets for 10.00 I think it was. The printed tags didn't come cheap but they are so cool. There in the upper left you can see an old string holder. I have another one on the way - can't wait to show you that one.

Paper doilies made in England - they are much finer than anything I've seen or own. Very intricate.

Squeal!!! Tin biscuit box with a lovely patina on the inside, great colors of the band advertising, some embossed manufacturing wording in the back, and you can't tell, but this is a glass lid!! Score, baby!

This is a great little, black wooden tray that I think I got for 10-15 dollars. Each little slot is slightly angled so when you have stuff in there you can see the labels of your stuff better and it kind of displays in a staggered manner. Isn't this fabulous??!

I couldn't believe it when I read Jenni's blog and she had a project using a vintage seal! I've been collecting those too and I even ordered a new one with my initials on it! My new one is the black one, the silver one is the vintage one. Jenni is going to have some for sale on the 15th at the Mercantile. They also sell new ones at Paper Source - I have one and it does a great job. However, can you believe that I actually ordered it with an incorrect date on it?? How dumb I can be sometimes! Sat right there and proof read it and I have the wrong established date for our family! Bwahaha - what a dork. The good news is the embossing plate are interchangeable with the embosser machine so I can just order a new plate.

Here you can see the one I had made - not from Paper Source - some online company who only makes embossing seals, can't remember who but can look it up if you are interested. There were all kinds of designs to choose from, most all looked like the vintage originals. I used malted milk ink on the tag with my initials to make it show up better. The other one with the Indiana seal is a vintage one, it's more of a simple design I would say.

This is a detail shot of one of the Dennison booklets showing how to use their crepe paper to decorate cars and trucks for a parade. The old crepe paper was much more sturdy than what we use today and was sold in big crinkled sheets so this would have been more possible with the heavier crepe.

Good for Christmas stuff

Here's the black box, a new mini chips stand holder with the calling cards clipped on, two stamp holders, and the string holder. Whew! Lots o' shopping going on here.

Finally I leave you with a little sneak of the JBS Mercantile March kit! The kits go on sale tomorrow night at midnight central time!

Tart Tins & Number Cards Garland for JBS

2012-02-16T11:37:00.003-06:00

Our blog assignment for the rest of the month at JBS is to create something with Jenni's foundational pieces like large chipboard or bingo cards or tart tins, etc. I jumped at the chance to use those awesome tart tins. I combined them with Jenni's Number Cards as well as vintage metal marquee letters. I used her chipboard pieces, Office and Old Time Photos, along with her Decorative Brads, Doily Flowers, and buttons. Here I've displayed the garland hung between two silver candlesticks and finished with gray grosgrain ribbon. I used an initial for each person in our family then the number 4 since I didn't have a J ;) I was thinking it might be cool to use your One Little Word for 2012 if that's something you're doing.

All the JBS supplies are linked on my post at the Jenni Bowlin Studio Inspiration Blog as well as detailed instructions, a list of tools needed, and step by step photos. If you think this is something you might like to do, please check it out!

File Folder and Tags Project for JBS Mercantile

2012-02-11T09:00:00.001-06:00

I made this out of a file folder so I would have the option to display it in the house for a while and then if I got tired of it setting out I could cut it in half and put it into a book. Best of both worlds ; ) This was made using whatever I had in the rest of my stash from the February Mercantile Kits. The manilla tags all came from Staples including the little one with the gray reinforcement which is from Martha Stewart's new line there.

And this is what it looks like bent where it will stand on it's own - double pics, couldn't resist, I know you get the idea. I sliced the file folder down the two sides so I would be able to flip it open like this. I've really been into wanting to display more of my scrapbook work and not put it away in a book (ha, who am I kidding, it's just a pile) and forget about it. I've got a long ledge in my hall I may start setting layouts on, the newer ones, that is.

Half of the tags are glued down flat and half of them are attached with foam dots. I wanted it to have that dimension and variation.

This is one of the while velvet-esque millinery flowers we got in the Antiquarian Kit. I used my JBS Speckled Egg Re-Inker mixed with a touch of water and poured some in the lid of a water bottle. I dipped the flower stamens down into that to stain them aqua. If you do this don't leave them there for very long at all because they do turn a little gummy - get them out and get them dried off with a paper towel. Then I took my finger and dipped it into the re-inker mist and went all around the edge of the flower painting the color on. Then I dapped my finger in water and blended the color all the way around for a watercolor look. Finally I added one of those adorable cabochon hearts from the main kit.

One of the things I was kind of proud of myself for doing was using the watch crystals (I think that's what they're called, clear plastic, domed inside) from Antiquarian to make little raised embellishments on my tags. With the circle watch part I used a small circle punch on the sticker paper making sure to punch out the word family. I just used clear glue sparingly along the rim to glue it onto the little ticket.

I am just so crazy crazy about those little cream paper roses Doris put in the mini album kit. LOVE 'em. I used those on that little Martha Stewart tag. The only thing on this layout other than the tags that is not from the kit is the little brass rosette. If you like that it can be currently found at Lowe's in the hardware section. It's called a brass mirror rosette.

I loved layering the little kraft label sticker (backed with cardstock) onto the little ticket from Antiquarian. Too cute if I do say so myself, lol. The key tag was the left over from the key I cut for the project kit. It's a Silhouette cut.

The record ticket is what I did with the other watch crystal. It's like a little puffed rectangle and as I was searching through all my kit bits looking for something to fit there I came across the 7 Gypsies labels Doris had put in the mini album kit - there was a rectangular label! You know as a fellow scrapbooker how awesome it is when some little detail works out so well like that! Perfect! All the cuts on here are Silhouette, the title (but I cut that apart with my scissors after the machine was done with it) and the hearts. I jotted down a few key phrases of what family means to me in the oval shaped tag.

Another thing I like about this project is the color scheme. It's mostly muted, warm colors but then there's a few touches of chartreuse, some dusty aqua, then the touch of purple in my daughter's face paint and shirt so I used the plaid tag (with a punch) with a little purple in that. I know purple is not the in color, but I have to tell ya, my little girl loves purple and this mama is really starting to like throwing in a hint of it in my projects. It's a very unexpected color here and I like that. I wished I had room to add just a tiny bit more.

*Check out this giveaway*

My friend, Amy Baldwin (who designs for Paper Issues), is having a fabulous give away in celebration of her 100th post. She is wicked good with mosaic (and calendars, and gift presentations, and tons of altered stuff) and she's giving away one of her creations! Check it out! You've got to check out her calendars while you're there.

Vintage Bingo Card with Paper Rosette for JBS Mercantile

2012-02-10T10:14:00.001-06:00

I made this using primarily the February JBS Mercantile Antiquarian Kit. What a great kit - and I sincerely mean that! You get this nice sized vintage bingo card, heavy and sturdy, with sliders over the numbers. Also from the kit is the white ribbon with red numbers, and the vintage tomato abel. The seam binding is from my stash but you get green seam binding in the main kit, yellow seam binding in the mini album kit, and aqua seam binding in the Artisan kit. The rest of the stuff is from the main kit except the red paper strip, from Artisan.

Doesn't it look so cute hanging on my old, chippy dress form?

I cut the label in half length wise. Then I used Martha Stewart fringe scissors all the way down my strips. I punched a cardstock cirlce and glued down the fringe as I folded it around the circle. I hot glued the shamrock milk cap from the main kit into the center of my rosette. I cut my seam binding pretty long, several strips of about 12", 18", 24" and held them all together and tied the center in a knot. I held the knot where the ribbon was going vertical out the top and bottom of the knot and hot glued it to the bingo card then glued the rosette to that. I took my scissors and trimmed up the seam binding a little more to accentuate the different layers.

The little metal clips that I used to attach the ribbon hanger to the bingo card are from Close To My Heart and are currently available. I would not be surprised if you could find something similar anywhere that sold picture hanging kits.

Here I've just displayed it hanging down from two antique corbels.

Hope you like it!

Little random stuff like the 100 year old kid & the exploding soup

2012-02-08T00:52:00.005-06:00

One hundred days of school down. Does your kid's school do this? The idea was for all the kids to dress up like 100 year old grandmas and grandpas. They did lots of 100 activities and crafts and worked on counting to 100. We finally talked Zane into dressing up. He and Adam found white hair spray paint at the party store. It turned out to be more gray, not white, which I liked because it matched the beard so well. We also got those Harry Potter glasses (all they could find), the beard, like I said, and they found a walking stick at Michael's that Adam cut down to size, and last but not least, they found Billy Bob Teeth. Do you know what those are?? Like what Cleetus wears. The look like a 100 year old hill billy so I thought they would work :) Zane loved those the best, of course. He didn't wear the beard all day because it was itchy and got in the way - just for their class photo, but the Billy Bob teeth, uh, yeah, he kind of took those in and out all day. I will not share a photo of 6 year old 100 year old Billy Bob teeth. Just can't do it, it hits too close to home to my back woods Okie heritage. LOL. I'm not joking.

Someone has been playing on Ebay. I was going to say way too much but I changed my mind. You can never have too much Ebay!!! That is unless you can't keep up with your Paypal account balance and your husband has to keep transferring money into it, haaaa!!! That's when it comes in handy he's got the banking background and takes care of all that and I just smile and keep on clickin' on!

I know, I know, don't be hatin' me too much, this is SO great!! The numbers are really big and what a great type style! They're like a little under a half an inch. Fabulous, right? I know. And that big bolt of ribbon is from 1945, stamped on the top with the old label. Will I ever be able to use it all? I have no idea :) Don't care to know the answer either.

Speaking of ribbon, I finally got all my seam binding up on the wall where I won't forget to to use it. Oh, getting that up there was quite the episode. If you have any old rolls of seam binding, you will notice the center hole of the wooden spool is very small, much smaller than a roll of regular ribbon. So I wanted these to be pretty, of course, and decided I wanted to use towel bars to do it. Only the rod of the towel bar is too thick. Back to Lowe's. I searched around and finally found these rods. Rods where the signs are like "for sale" and reflective numbers and stuff. And they were bright yellow. I'm thinking, oh yeah, baby, you did it. We headed home.

Then Adam gets out the saw so we can cut them down to the perfect length. There we are like to idiots, I'm holding the rods steady on our two supports (ahem, cat carriers setting in the garage) while he cuts. And we discover . . . . . . I have purchased FIBER GLASS rods! You know how we discovered that right? Then we discovered . . . . Gorilla Glue will get fiber glass shards out of your hands if you let it dry on there! What a fiasco. The only good thing is they are quite strong to be so narrow and that's good for all the weight of the seam binding. They looked like stained and sealed wood in the store!

Then I took a day spray painting them to match the towel bar ends (cause yeah, you probably won't see the rod but then again, you just MIGHT see some peeking in between the ribbon spools and you can't be too careful with your scrap room decor (sarcasm at myself here). You know, I need a third one, rule of threes and all. That means . . . back to Ebay, baby!

Happy 34th Birthday to my husband, Adam! I got this photo the other night when we were opening his gifts. I used the the timer on my camera and propped it up on the lounge with a stop watch beneath for just the perfect height. I'm so clever, I know (sarcasm intended here : ) ) I had to use the flash. Do you hate the flash like I do? I do hate it. But I am finally embracing it after about 5 years of disowning it. I'll take the shadows, I'm finally tired of the grain, tired of hesitating to take photos at night. See, I'm telling myself, it's not so bad! I did have to photoshop the glare off his glasses though. This is the first good photo of all of us together I've got in almost a year. Thank you flash! Well, Ava does look a little shell shocked or something, but I still love it.

Finally I leave you with the story of The Exploding Tomato Soup. Was it really that good you're asking? Well, yes, it was but it was literally the exploding soup. I had this idea to make some really super fab tomato soup (my husband loves the stuff, could drink a gallon jug of it). I searched and read reviews at allrecipes.com. Got it all planned out, headed to the store. I was cooking along, got to the step where I needed to puree. I got out my industrial blender from my MIL from a past Christmas, a Vitamix, like a $450.00 blender (no, I would never spend that on a blender either but I'm sure glad she did, lol). No kidding, it's a big mama of a blender, the kind they use at Frulatti and places like that to make smoothies. This blender laughs at ice chunks. I'm going on and on about the blender so you will know she does have the power. I'm fearful for my fingers. I'm rushing around, throw the piping hot soup into the industrial blender, get the lid down, and turn on that baby full blast cause if she can eat ice, she can eat soup. However, I did learn, that if you put boiling hot soup into the blender and crank her on full blast --- she will blast. I screamed. I had piping hot tomato soup all over my arms, all over the floor, all over the counter, the cabinets (upper and lower) and even in my hair, all over my clothes, top and bottom. I froze. The family came running. They did not know if they should be concerned or laugh. Adam smiled. Zane laughed. I was still frozen with hot tomato soup dripping off my being. I should've had Adam take a pic but I was freaked about the mess, about my burning scalp, lol. Lesson learned: if you have an industrial blender and boiling hot soup creating some kind of wicked pressure build up, don't crank your industrial blender on high right out of the gate.

The February JBS Mercantile kits are live!

2012-02-01T11:13:00.004-06:00

This is a fun kit, girls! I would say there's a lot of variation to this month's kits. The main kit has gorgeous blues, dusty blue and aqua, deep green and bright green, and lots of cute patterned neutrals. Here I used the main kit on kraft for a cute boy page. There are two amazing vintage circle die cuts - love those - and plan to use those for a page for the gallery update - I can't not use those! This layout was based on a quilt, one of my fave techniques if you could say that. I also made this for our main kit + punches challenge. I have an extra large square punch then cut them on the diagonal to create the triangles. (I just had to include that top photo, think it's pretty on that rust tole tray : ) )

I used two drafting triangles to get all the triangles lined up perfectly. I have a wooden shelf with a little decorative lip/ledge that belongs in my cabinet but never got put back after painting. I use that to set in bed and scrap or carry around the house. Anyhow, that little ledge acts as a guide/base for my drafting triangle. It's kind of like having a drafting table only the slider doesn't move. But it helps keep stuff lined up. I'm not always obsessed with perfectly straight but when I want it that way, this is the way I do it :) With a quilt pattern you really kind of want it lined up pretty well in my opinion unless it's kind of an organic or crazy pattern.

The next layout I did was for our sketch article for the Gazette so I won't say much more (cause I want you to download the Gazette at mid month - he he!) but that this is based on L eah Farquharson's layout "Family Reporter," from last month. It was great inspo cause I do adore this page! This was made mostly with the mini album kit. I heart that pink and yellow floral paper!

Finally this is the project I made with the mini album kit, Picture Windows, designed by Doris Sander. You can create a mini album in it like Doris did or make a shadow box like I did - or like Diane Payne did - our guest designer for February - and she made a hanger to put hers in her office! I'm so excited to have Diane, who I've known for a while and admire her work, as our guest! And I wanted to also mention last month we had a new friend to me and the girls at JBS, Julie Weiss. Both ladies have created fabulous things for us! Back to the project, Doris made a mini in the larger opening but then she also made three little minis in the small boxes! What a fun idea! Like I said, I think it's a really versatile month in terms of colors and kinds of projects.

I haven't had a chance to make something with Antiquarian yet but I'm getting started now! This is an incredible Antiquarian! LOVE it. There's a heavy chipboard bingo card and millinery flowers! And I'm kinda giddy about what I have going right now.

There's also the Artisan kit with bright pops of color and lots of fun themed embellishments. There are Ormolu fabric tags in there!

The remaining Mercantile 2011 Exclusive stamps and stencils are on sale right now! Run! LOL, they are limited!

We've got a new customer gallery at JBS Mercantile!

2012-01-24T22:00:00.004-06:00

And to celebrate we're having a give away! As you can see by the cute announcement image (thanks, Betsy, for that!), for each new item you upload to the new gallery using JBS products or kits you will be entered to win a $25.00 prize! You've got until Wednesday, Feb. 1st

********************February Reveal Chat*******************

We're also hosting a chat on January 31st at 8pm central time - reveal night! We have a great time at these! Come on and chat with us for some fun conversation and chance to win a February Mini Album Kit designed by Doris Sander. You don't have to be a subscriber to come hang out with us, everyone is welcome!

Valentine's Day Cones Created with JBS

2012-01-20T02:59:00.005-06:00

I made these for the JBS blog. All month the design team is showing you ways we like to decorate, give gifts, make treat bags, and cards. I made these cones to give to the kids teachers. You can fill them with candy or giftcard/s or home made cookies, whatever! I used some cute hot pink shredded paper to hold the blow pops up in one of my cones. For an extra special presentation you could tuck a little gift inside a vintage hankie in your cone. I also made a few extra to decorate with. In the first photo I have then strung over my mirror. I also show them in a white feather tree and displayed in etched glasses. I used Jenni's chipboard to put the teachers initials in the middle of the bows. I give the supply list and what Silhouette links I used on the JBS blog, you can read about it here: My JBS Cones

New Jenni Bowlin Studio Goodness!

2012-01-14T15:37:00.003-06:00

Hey ladies, there's pictures of Jenni's newest release, Magpie, up on the Mercantile Blog! Isn't the color scheme gorgeous! I'm in love with that little truck paper called Salvage. This is going to be the perfect vintage spring color palette, and all year long but it just says fresh vintage to me! I'm crazy about all the hexagons! The stickers are going to be perfect for Project Life. There's more to see on the Mercantile blog so click on over! Stay tuned, there's much more to come!

And Project Life is officially underway here in the Johnson household. I don't know if I'm having more fun organizing my stuff or doing the project :) The container is just one of those everyday basic plastic containers with the dividers you can move around. I like that because I used them all along the font row for the small stuff. So, that's that. Maybe some pics of the real project soon! I'm actually keeping up :) I know, there hasn't been much time to fall off the bandwagon yet!

Guesting For American Crafts!

2012-01-11T09:28:00.005-06:00

I'm so excited, SO excited, to share with you that I am the guest designer this week at American Crafts! The theme this week is getting inspiration from quilts - something I absolutely love to do! I used Chap, Amy Tangerine, and Garden Cafe in my projects. These collections were so easy and so much fun to work with!

This was inspired by a single quilt block using mostly Garden Cafe and some Amy Tangerine. It was much easier than it looks. I cut 4 large squares and laid paper strips across them on the diagonal then trimmed the excess off. I printed the journaling then cut it into strips and ran it along the diagonal lines. The second photo, above, shows the layout rotated so you can see the journaling a little better. Definitely a happy girly page!♥ ♥

With this layout, the Silhouette was very handy but you can still do it if you don't have a die cutting machine. I cut 36 2" squares with the machine so they would be exact. Then I designed the quarter circle in Silhouette, duplicated it 5 times (all that is needed with double sided paper if using both sides), and cut out out several patterns. It was inspired by a quilt I saw online by Mandy P., Fabric Paper Glue. You can see it here. She calls this a Drunken Path pattern. This layout is about the second I caught my son giving my daughter a little hug while they watched their Portable North Pole videos - I think he was so overcome with joy (cause he was on the good list, I think he was holding his breath a little there) that he gave her a hug. He NEVER does stuff like that. This was made using mostly Amy Tangerine and a little Garden Cafe.

I drew the stars in Silhouette. Each center square is 2" and each star point is 1/2" wide, adding up to a full 12" complete horizontal row. Again, you don't have to have a machine. You can find a pattern online and trace it or draw your own - especially if you have some grid paper. It was inspired by this quilt here at Quilting With Roxanne. I typed the journaling in Word and set the line spacing really close. I printed it out and used one of the negative star shapes from one of the sheets of paper that had been cut with the Silhouette as a pattern to trace around the journaling. I used Ali Edwards' files for the titlework - I used "wishes" on the photo and opened "birthday" in Silhouette, traced it, then cut it out. I used all Chap supplies for this one.

This card is based on a Double Wedding Ring pattern. I found a free pattern online, opened it in Silhouette, traced it, then cut it out and used that for a pattern to cut the curved pieces by hand. The Hello sticker fit just perfectly in that spot I thought! This is all from Garden Cafe.

This is the altered project I made. I had this cigar box but the top was a really ugly faded mustard/brown color. I like mustard yellow but this was weird. I wanted to use AC paper to cover the top. The top pattern is based on a Triple Irish Chain. Again, I cut all the squares in Silhouette for accuracy. I used a mixture of Chap and Garden Cafe - they mix in a cool way I think. I drilled a hole in the top and added a bronze knob on top so my son could get it open easier (although I have kind of kept it for myself with jewelry in it for now, it does say "treasures"??? right? I think it will eventually make it's way to his dresser though ;) ) Along the front I added a strip of chevron and a chipboard frame with, like I said, the phrase "Trinkets & Treasures." I really didn't think it needed much more than that!

I hope maybe you've been inspired by something I've shared and will try a quilt pattern on your next project if you haven't yet!

Happy New Year and Happy JBS Mercantile Reveal!

2012-01-01T10:41:00.003-06:00

Here are my January 2012 JBS Mercantile layouts. These were fun to make! I listed which kits I used to make each layout in my gallery at the Mercantile. Did you see the new member perks?? Jenni is now offering free shipping over 100.00 for US and Canadian residents and an 8.00 shipping credit for internationals who spend 100.00 or more. And you can combine your orders until the 5th to work toward that free shipping amount. That's pretty sweet - and the NEW PUNCHES are in stock! Subscribers will now get 5 percent off their additional purchases for the month.

This is the January Mini Album Kit! The binder is a Bo Bunny 6 x 6 chipboard binder - the inner pages are 6 x 6 so the cover is a little larger. The fabric on the spine is plain cream colored canvas but I misted mine with Jenni's Speckled Egg Re-Inker. The fabric took the mist perfectly and evenly. You can find a full list of kit contents here. The kit will ship with color photos of the complete album and instructions. But you get two kinds of ribbon, two kinds of "foil" trims, two different alphas, two sizes of chipboard hearts, a sheet of Hambly transparency, a sheet of die cuts, and lots of patterned paper.

I hope you have a great first day of the new year! I don't think I'm going to be eating any black-eyed peas - do you think I'll be okay the rest of the year? : )

Tonight's the night!

2011-12-31T18:00:00.003-06:00

The JBS Mercantile Reveal is tonight, tonight, hot dang tonight! (said like Ralphie Parker's dad). If you're still up (and I know you will be ringing in the new year!!) come on and check it out. Here's some last minute sneaks:

This has to be in my top three kits. I can't call it between November and this one. This one is just so happy! I've been able to complete the mini kit, called Paper Kisses, and 5 layouts so far! That's for our DK (Donkey Kong) Challenge (We have the lovely Doris to thank for that fine challenge name that I love and makes me smile each time) on the message board to see how many pages/projects we can make with a single kit. That means this kit was super fun and easy to work with! Kits go on sale at 12:01 AM January 1st 2012!!! Subbers get first dibs for the first day then non subbers can purchase at 12:01 AM on Jan. 2nd - always in central time.

So I'll see ya tomorrow on a happy brand new year!

Sneak Peek Time!

2011-12-27T13:29:00.003-06:00

Okay girls, I am sooooo excited to share this sneak peek with you. May I introduce you to Paper Kisses, the Jan. 2012 Mini Album Kit! Jenni was so wonderful to let me have the opportunity to put this kit together and I love it so much! (a DT member will be designing the mini kit if you haven't heard or read in the newsletter and I was lucky enough to go first!) The color scheme is awesome - gold, gray, aqua, white, pink, red, and cream. I included two alphabets, one of which I used to cut into a shape and also to spell words out. I love cutting up a sticker sheet into a shape or strips. So please check it out on midnight on the 31st as the day rolls into January 1, 2012!!!! I've also started a thread about it on the JBS Mercantile message board to share ideas on different themes we might use the mini for - come on over!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T18:16:00.002-06:00

I hope you are all having a lovely day! We did and the kids are still playing like crazy. I just wanted to say Merry Christmas and thought I would share these JBS cards I made for the blog a few weeks ago. Oh yeah, I got a new camera! I got a Canon EOS Rebel T3 and the ISO goes up to 6400! That makes me a happy woman to the max! I really don't know how to manually use my camera but I'm not fond of a flash so this is going to be great. My old Nikon (6 years old) only went to 1600. Yippee! Now just gotta learn the bells and whistles of my new baby.

Makin' Christmas Cookies & Happenings

2011-12-23T00:22:00.002-06:00

We've made the requisite Christmas cookies (thanks to Doris for the nudge on that! Don't ask her if hers are pretty or not, she's got a chip on her shoulder about it, LOL, I am SO joking, she's the best and I'm sure they were cute!). She gave me the idea to make them. I already had all the stuff to decorate them from planning gingerbread houses. They turned out so cute, even the crazy kid decorated ones. Too bad I didn’t figure out the perfect thickness to roll them out and length of time to bake until the last cookie sheet load. I used this recipe, The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies. So my tips are to make sure the dough is really chilled, make sure to flour your surface well (I did mine right on the granite counter), roll to 1/2" thickness, only bake 9 minutes. I also think this recipe needs another cup of sugar but that's if you're doing colored sugar sprinkles only and not icing. Otherwise the icing makes them sweet enough.

This is their reaction from watching their Portable North Pole videos. If you read Ali Edwards' blog you've probably already read/heard about it but that's where I found out about it. SUCH a cool video. You can make one for naughty or nice kids or naughty or nice adults and Santa calls the recipient by name! So far I've made two nice kids and two naughty adults (coughDoriscoughcough). I seriously think Zane was worried it might say naughty. Gee, wonder why ;) You can choose what Santa says and for Zane's it said he's been asked to control that temper of his and for Ava's it said that she's been asked to quit sucking her thumb (not really sucking for the record, more like resting her thumb in her mouth with her mouth open). And they took it really seriously when Santa said that. You load their pic in along with the location and then the elves load the picture into the naughty or nice machine and there's a little caption where you write what the recipient would like for Christmas. It's not too late so check it out! Then Zane wanted to watch Ava's then he wanted to watch all the kids in his class but I told him Santa only sent me my own kids' vids.

This is a photo of his reaction after the videos. I guess he was so happy he reached over and gave his sis a hug. I did not ask him to do that cause I can tell ya he wouldn't even if I asked. I can't tell you what a rare moment that was.

Another fun thing we've been doing is roasting marshmallows in the fireplace. And we haven't made a mess yet incredibly. Just something little and fun to do. Guess who likes doing this the most? No, not the kids - Adam.

I'm making this for Christmas morning: Creme Brulee French Toast. I sometimes don't think we have enough traditions at our house but this is definitely one of them. That's not my pic, it's LynnInHK's from All Recipies ;) I'm getting really excited about it, seriously.

Deck The Halls!

2011-12-21T13:31:00.004-06:00

Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la. Today I wanted to share with you some of my Christmas decorations. My favorite things this year are probably my vintage postcard stand and my vintage stand that would hold chips or something like that in a store. Christmas postcards and vintage Christmas ornaments were my first collections. You can also see the JBS bottles I made with the November kit in the big bowl. See that candle in the top pic? Those are battery operated candles and they're so nice. They're made out of real candle wax, they flicker very realistically, and they're on a timer. I got those from QVC here : ) It looks like they only have gold left. I have these all through my bookcase so at night I've got a few flickering candles in there. My mantel was a little of an experiment. Last year I had these cute vintage repro houses, they were bigger than the true vintage ones, and then holly and berries. This year I didn't want to mess with taking down the Chic-O-Line sign and thought it might be cool to do all silver and gold. Eh. Not sure. But it's how it's gonna be!

This is the "chips stand" as I call it. This is how I have my entry table decorated. Those stands were always so hard to get because any time I found one in a store it was display only. I think in all these years I've only got two of these, a large one and a small one. They might be easier to find on ebay. But they're so much fun to display your ephemera and small sutff. I have hankies, packs of vintage labels, a salesman's sample of Christmas tie ons, and cards. You can see some of the vintage goodies from JBS like that water ice pocket from the Nov. Antiquarian kit. LOVE that holiday brew label.

This is what's going on in my kitchen. The other day Adam want to Sam's to get batteries and came home with three huge Poinsettias! I had one last year on my table and it looked so pretty but I hadn't had a chance to go get one - I was so glad he thought of that! The next pic is my island. I got those faux Amaryllis from Target about two years ago. And the next pic is the little red feather tree I just got at North Pole City. I have a green one that is quite a bit bigger (and a white one too, tree color addiction, I know. Next year I have to get the pink full size one out). But this one is so little and cute! I think it's probably Bethany Lowe. Anyway, I knew I had the perfect little collection at home of really old ornaments, all red, and very breakable that I don't put on the big tee and I thought that might look pretty sweet. It does. P.S., new back splash tile in my immediate future! Oh yeah, baby.

I just got these super cute boxes at North Pole, by Bethany Lowe.

Here's a pic of part of our tree. Our tree is tall and slim and hard to get a pic of the full thing where you can see any details. The kids put their ornaments along the bottom part then I have my older ones on the higher areas. But I don't have a ton of room for the ton of vintage ornies I have.

But here's a REALLY pretty pic of some of them in the box, lol!

And this is my dining room table with the sunshine pouring in on my crackle glass Restoration Hardware ornaments. I know I should have cut the gold cord hangers off but I was too scared I might need them later : ) Ava and I spent some time hanging these on the metal spiral tree stands. Those are from Crate and Barrel.

Sorry I've been missing from blog land but I've been very busy making some crafty things to share with you soon! I have ideas for two more posts before Christmas so maybe there will be some action around here. I hope your holidays are going wonderfully!

JBS Mercantile Dec Gallery Updates!

2011-12-11T19:58:00.002-06:00

Hey girls! Doris got the gallery updates loaded last night, hope you can check it out! This is my contribution. This was made with all three kits, the main, the project, and Artisan. I loved playing with that wooden doily. I noticed Jill and Lisa made theirs aqua and I think Rangini kind of whitewashed hers and I went with deep red. So many lovely ideas with that. And it's pretty au natural too. I don't want to talk about this page too much here since I go into detail about the design process for the December Gazette. That's a teaser to get you to download the Gazette, lol! Seriously, it's a really nice newsletter if you haven't checked it out yet. It'll be out around mid month.

I got so sick with a 101 fever the other day and had to go to the Dr. It wasn't the flu but it knocked me flat! I had to stay in bed for a day. I'm a little off track with my Dec. Daily now. How are you doing with yours? I guess I better go get to work while the kids are watching a new Christmas movie.

Time for December Daily!

2011-12-04T17:57:00.002-06:00

Here's the start! The cover is not yet designed. I just know that ribbon will probably reside there at this point. Right now the cover is just painted solid white. I had plans to do some fabric on the outside but I'm loving all the white so the plan might change. I'm using a 6 x 6 album.

I love day 2. I'm not sure I'll be able to top that one. I love that day, the photos, the way they fit into the day, the JBS goodies and diagonal striped paper. That one makes me happy! I like number one too, that was my daughter's Christmas program and she looked so adorable. Her dress had sheer, layered flowers at the bottom and then one of the side with a bow. I curled her hair. It was sweet. I took a regular 6 x 6 page protector and sewed dividers for the sequins and goodies. One of the other things I like so far is the vintage doilies, the green metallic and the Poinsettia.I also sewed ribbon down the sides of some of the pages for texture.

I'm doing so much better with this than I thought I would. I think it's because I have gotten sooooo much faster than I used to be like back in 2008 when I first attempted this. I've been looking forward to each night being able to work on it. My scrapbook room is a red and green explosion nightmare but that's okay :) I didn't photograph a few of the really basic pages and I still need a few numbers but I'me happy with the start.

JBS Mercantile December Pages

2011-12-04T00:19:00.006-06:00

Wow, how did I forget to add this? Chalk it up to the beginning of the December crazies, Ava's Christmas program, and my grandparents spending two nights with us. I really wanted to slow things down this year and get my shopping done, gifts wrapped, everything decorated . . hasn't happened. And, I guess everyone else is having the same idea because let me tell you, Hobby Lobby has been insane busy and the parking lot is full at Toys R Us, lines stacked 5 people deep in all the check outs, shelves are beginning to get bare. Can you believe that - that on Dec. 3 people are already going full throttle? It doesn't even really feel like December to me yet!

So anyway, here's the last two pages I made with the kits which means December kits are on sale! I just love it when I love what I make and I can say that I love these two pages! : ) Check out the JBS Mercantile Gallery to read the details and supply lists for my pages and to check out the other designers work - great stuff! The vellum and cardstock butterflies on the second page were inspired by Keisha Campbell, one of my fave scrapbook designers. She does such beautiful stuff with layering vellum as you probably know. I'll also have a two pager for the update with creation details in the December Gazette, out around mid-month.

Have you been December Daily-ing? I have! I'm going to take some pics tomorrow afternoon to share. I can't believe I actually have days 1 and 2 already complete, ha, now just to keep on keepin' on for 23 days!

P.S. I'm still waiting to hear from the winner from the blog hop. It will be a week tomorrow. If I don't hear back by Monday I'll draw a new winner. So sweet Guiderdi, if you're out there please drop me a line!

Mercantile Cyber Monday Blog Hop Winner!

2011-11-28T20:35:00.001-06:00

I hope you all had a fun Cyber Monday and found some sweet deals online! I noticed a bunch of the really cool one-of-a-kind finds flew out the door! Someone beat me to the red perpetual calender and the flour sack block, lol.

So, according to random.org:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

Timestamp: 2011-11-29 02:26:49 UTC

This is my winner:

guiderdi said...: Love your layout. And it looks like Jenni is going to have some great stuff in her store.; November 27, 2011 6:43 PM; Thanks for playing, Guiderdi! Please email me (brianaj@hotmail.com) your email address so we can get the prize to you!

Mercantile Cyber Monday & Blog Hop

2011-11-27T12:00:00.033-06:00

Hey ladies! Jenni has some fabulous things planned for you on Monday. She's offering her first online class through the Mercantile called, "Home for the Holidays." You will love the project she has in store for you. For more info check it out HERE. Plus sales and blog hop prizes!

Also you might like to check out the new One-of-a-Kind finds section! This camera will be available for purchase tonight at midnight CENTRAL TIME (as the day rolls into Cyber Monday)along with the "Home for the Holidays" class kits. I've seen the rest of the stuff and let's just say I'm giving you a head start but then I'll be all over it! ; )

Now I would love to share a layout I made with the December Mercantile Kit. This was made using primarily the main kit and a few buttons from Artisan (twine from stash). This kit is loaded with kraft, yellow, and polka dots - it's delicious! There's just something about it - it's so different with all that lovely printed kraft! Kits go on sale to subscribers at 12:01 AM CST (meaning midnight)on the last day of the month, Nov. 30th. Non subbers can purchase Dec. 2.

So now for the Blog Hop/Prize part : ) Leave me a comment and I'll draw a winner for a $10.00 gift card to the Mercantile AND the "Home for the Holidays" lesson materials (video and downloadable PDFs - a $7.99 value - actual physical kit product not included). The blog hop will end at 8PM CST on Monday evening and I will draw a winner from my blog comments and post the winner here. Don't forget to leave your email addy. Also, if blogger is messing up please leave a comment using the anonymous choice and leave your name and email in the comment section.

Be sure to check out the rest of these lovely ladies' blogs for more chances to win:

Happy Thanksgiving & Stuff

2011-11-24T21:53:00.007-06:00

Hey everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We spent it back in our hometown with my dad and grandparents. Then we all got together for dinner and leftovers. Oh yeah, the kids wanted to go back to my grandparents house and Adam and I stayed and took a nap all afternoon! A nap! Food and sleep . . totally blessed :) On Tuesday we had a Cooperation Feast at Kindergarten for Zane. I volunteered to decorate and ended up being roped into serving pie seconds to all the kids. You can see a pic of him and his teacher together. She's really wonderful, I am definitely thankful for her. She's structured and yet very fun and she keeps him in line and also keeps his attention and respect. What a blessing. The top photo is from his Ninja Turtle Birthday Party (mine's the one on the left). I had it early so it wouldn't conflict with Thansgivings and Black Friday weekend stuff. So he's not technically six yet.

And this:

My Pumpkin Cheesecake. It't got two layers of cheesecake flavor, a pecan/graham cracker/gingersnap crust, and caramel sauce drizzled over big oven roasted pecans. Yuuuuuuuuummmm.

What Zane is thankful for:

You can see how he's sounding out words and trying to spell them! Serious progress for us, ladies! Very happy about this. He's got all the letters down, except maybe one or two that he sometimes forgets (like you can see he made a D for a Y - gets Y wrong sometimes), we're getting almost all the letters sounds down and he's sounding words out! Yes!

Nothing crafty to share today but I hope to be able to share the base of my December Daily when we get back to the city.

Oh yes, I wanted to share the Halloween costumes.

Power Ranger

Ariel

I asked Ava what she was thankful for and she said Santa Claus and shoes. ; )

Finally, what I am thankful for. I'm thankful my grandparents are still healthy as they approach senior senior status, I'm thankful my family is healthy, I'm thankful for Zane's teacher and Ava's teachers, that we never have to be hungry or cold or hot, that we have a comfortable home, that we have two cars, for the JBS Design Team, all the creative outlet it provides and the new friendships I've made, I'm thankful we can afford little extras in our life, I'm thankful for make-up and hair color, lol, I'm thankful for my husband who started his own business and takes wonderful care of our financial stuff, I'm thankful he's been my best friend since I was just a kid practically, thankful for how close Zane and I have been lately, thankful for Ava's sweet heart, I'm thankful no one had to work today and we could all be together, I'm thankful for my two silly cats. Finally and most importantly I'm thankful for Jesus who provides for us and gives us our blessings and peace.

I love my daughter because . . .

2011-11-11T01:02:00.005-06:00

This was a total, average, everyday kind of day. We were playing in the backyard. She was "busy" cooking in her playhouse. I can't remember if I went to get my iphone or she asked me to take pics. She asks me to take her picture alot. I think she asked me to. Just the other day she asked me and I took like 25 in a row, each time her changing her pose or expression just a bit. So she was running around and getting confused thinking I was videoing (is that a word?) her and I kept telling her to hold still if she wanted her pic taken. You can see the results. She's so sweet. I know you hear me say it all the time, but it's just so absolutely true that she makes me appreciate every single day and think about loving her as much as I can everyday. I love the last pic of us (even though my hair looks wicked) and I love that little die cut that gives the definition of a friend. I do think of her, and Zane too, as my little best friends. And I think she thinks of me as her best friend as well as her mama. Everyday I want to be her friend and play with her and make sure she knows how special she is. I don't want to waste a day of our special days together because before long my little friend will be at school full time. And slowly my little friend will become my big friend.

I went to her parent/teacher conference for her mother's day out (she's three and goes two days a week until 2:30, not like a real conference but just kind of a little progress report) and her teacher went on and on about how sweet she is and is never a problem. She told me Ava likes to follow her around a be her shadow and give her hugs all day. I know how that goes :) She said the other day when Ava was the prayer leader she prayed and went on and on and after she ran out of things to say she started peeking and thanking God for each kid she saw. She said if she would've had a daughter that's the kind she would've liked to have. I just wanted to record that on my blog because it's such a part of who she is.

So finally, this is my contribution to the gallery updates at JBS Mercantile for November. This was made using the main kit and a few of the die cuts from the Artisan add on. I also used Jenni's new days of the weeks stamps with her Speckled Egg Paint Dabber. I love to use paint on rubber or acrylic stamp when the image doesn't have tiny details. I love the look of the paint kind of gathering on the edges of the image. The title block was cut with my Silhouette. After it was cut I realized the negative space block might be bolder and decided to go with that rather than the actual letters. I backed part of my phrase with black cardstock and part of it with some of the Speckled Egg paint on white cardstock to put just a hint of aqua onto the left side.

P.S. This layout was spotted and featured on One Story Down for Gallery Pretties. Cool!

JBS Mercantile November Layouts

2011-11-02T10:21:00.003-05:00

November kits are on sale at The Mercantile! Here's my layouts. I guess if I had to pick a fave from my gallery it would be this one. Or maybe the one with the new stamps. Hmm, lol, can't pick. I super loved this kit. So this was made using mostly the main kit and the silver leaves are from Antiquarian. I cut the large white scallops with my Silhouette. Red buttons from my stash. I misted just a little charcoal mist on the black patterned paper to soften it just a little for this layout.

This is my other favorite. I used Spellbinders dies to cut the frames. The little boy and girl silhouette stamps are exclusive to the kit. This was made using all the main kit except the white background paper is from the project kit last month because I wanted to use white but with just a hint of pattern. Journaling done vertically with a typewriter talking about the differences in their personalities.

This is a layout using mostly the main kit again but the die cuts are from Artisan. I love those letter stickers! The snowflake was created using Silhouette. This is about the snowstorm we experienced on my son's first birthday. We don't get lots of snow where I live so there was something kind of magical about that storm and celebrating his first year at the same time. Several of our friends and family got out and braved the weather to make it to our house . There were snow drifts piled up all the way around the house. Good memories : )

This was made using all three kits. And it was hard to photograph! Lots of cream, white, silver, clear - hard to get no reflections, not have the leaves look blown out, not have the white look too dull or too bright, ugh, you can tell I'm picky about that stuff. Anyway, my fave part about the layout is the combo of the silver leaves with clear buttons - just reminds me of winter and snow on hollies.

Well, I kinda like this one too ; ) This was made using mostly Antiquarian. I cut the family word with my Silhouette as well as the "flower" medallion. I used bakers twine and red burlap string stuff to bring a little more interest to the title work.

And finally, I have this layout. I was trying to do the clean white space thing. Not sure how I feel about me and that style. I can tell you after this was photographed it got changed, lol. Like with embroidery and scallop punch down the side. I am crazy about the medallion though. This was mostly from the project kit but the patterned paper for the medallion was from the main and the milk cap was from Antiquarian. And really, the photo does shine here and I like that a lot.

This was a simple project I made using old, little glass bottles I had displayed in a big bowl on my table. I thought the labels would be so cute on there and just easy and cute. The pic is kind of deceiving because you can't really tell how small they are but it would be easy to use some wire, like hot wire if you're from Okla., lol, and string them on a garland by wrapping wire around each bottle neck.

So that concludes my JBS Mercantile layouts for today. I hope to have a few more for galley updates on the 10th. Thanks for checking in!

Oh wait, one more. I love an overall shot of all the stuff I made with a kit. And you can see a little how that one layout was changed:

My Silhouette & JBS Christmas Advent Calendar!

2011-11-01T09:39:00.002-05:00

I was so very very excited to get the opportunity to work with Silhouette's new Advent Calendar Kit! When I got it in the mail I couldn't wait to get started! You get the wooden box and a download card with your purchase. And the box is nice and sturdy and crisp white! Love that. With the download card you get enough templates for boxes and/or drawers for your calendar. I chose to mix and match boxes and drawers because some of those boxes were just too cute and I like the variation. You also get the shapes to cut to cover the back of each calendar box so you'll have patterned paper lining the back if you choose to do that. So from now on when I have a special little gift to give I can use these box templates again and again! Check it out here: Silhouette Limited Edition Advent Calendar. And if you use the code JENNI at checkout you'll get the calendar for $29.99, a $10.00 savings! The promotion runs from Nov. 1 to Nov. 11. Also head on over to the JBS Inspiration Blog to check out the supply list.

And Jenni's paper is so absolutely perfect for this! I mixed several lines (of the heavier weight) but my favorite to work with here is the Christmas 2011 stuff. You can see from some of the photos how the paper looks cute on the inside of the boxes as well! I also used lots of label stickers and number stickers as well as a few numbers cut from the bingo cards. All other numbers were cut with the Silhouette.

My two tips are this: First when you're gluing the end flaps together glue all three at the same time. That helps hold the position for a minute while the glue dries. My other tip is to learn how to ungroup the lids from the box bases like if you want to cut them out of different papers. Also sometimes with the largers drawers you'll need two sheets of 8.5 x 11 so you'll need to ungroup the two pieces. But it's very easy to do that.

Most the time I just put the paper in the machine and however the design came out that's what I worked with. But with the #8 box and the Santa box I first cut a piece out of plain paper to see where to position my JBS paper so I could get the design in just the right spot. I really wanted that Santa on the front. On the #10 box I just made the box then cut out Jenni's label from the Christmas paper and glued it on because it would have been very difficult to get that one positioned absolutely perfect otherwise.It's kind of surprising how sturdy these cardstock boxes end up being after you've folded and glued all the reinforcement flaps on the inside.

My son, who's almost 6, is so so excited about this. He's been going around the house gathering treasures to fill it already and I told him I was getting new surprises but he wants to help so much he asked if he could use his old stuff and I could get the new stuff so we could both work with it : ) For the really small boxes, like #5, I'm going to include a clue to find the surprise hidden somewhere in the house (the drawer was bigger but I wanted to use that cute box). I think this is going to be a really special tradition for us from now on and it's so much more special because I put a lot of love and thought into this project - there's NO way we won't do it now! Ha.

So thanks for reading through all of that. I just really love this and had lots to share! I hope you like it and decide to create one for you and your family!

PS. This is what it look like out of the box.

Just Life and a JBS November Sneak!

2011-10-30T11:05:00.002-05:00

Well, I've been missing on the blog for a while cause I've been busy making stuff! Like a crazed crafty mad woman! Coming up I have the November JBS kit, my November JBS blog assignment, and something really special for Tuesday! I hope you'll check back in!

So I bought a face painting kit at Michael's because Zane had his face painted at the fair and thought that was so much fun. Plus Ava is going to be Ariel for Halloween and I wanted to do something cute in addition to the mermaid dress so I'm going to paint some swirls on her face. As soon as Zane saw the kit he started asking for me to paint their faces. Like non-stop til I caved. You can tell he loves this. And look at Ava's torn butterfly wings, lol, she still likes them! Although I did buy hew a new purple pair off Etsy.

Here's a pic of how I have my mantle decorated for Halloween, well, for fall in general kind of. You can see I put my new vintage sign right up there in a place of importance.

And the bookcase. I had the back of the bookcase painted the darkest shade of gray in my house and I love that I can do white on white and it all show up.

And finally a sneak peek of the JBS Mercantile November Kit! Ladies, this is my new fave. My new all time fave kit ever! You really really need Antiquarian this time. You do! Coughsilverfoilleavescough. As of right now I have 4 pages made, one in the works, ideas for several more, plus a little project with Antiquarian. My friend Louise has asked me if we are on the challenge to see who can make the most pages and I am definitely game for that! Now the question is, is Doris in the running?

Simelle's Paper Party Winner!

2011-10-21T13:02:00.000-05:00

Winner, winner, chicken dinner, we have a winner for Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party!

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

Timestamp: 2011-10-21 17:58:56 UTC

And that is:

CraftyCat who said:
My favorite paper is My Mind's Eye Lost and Found 2 Sunshine Forever Dotted and I would use it to line Party Favor Bags. and even make matching name tags for the table. LOVE

I'll be sending your email address to Shimelle, CraftyCat!

December Guest Designer for JBS Chosen From Crop!

2011-10-20T12:24:00.002-05:00

I just wanted to give you all a quick update on something about the crop. I just learned from Doris that we will be choosing a guest designer for the kit club for the month of December from the crop participants! What a great opportunity! I was the winner in February for April's guest spot and I was elated! Come play along for a chance to be the JBS Mercantile guest designer for December! What a fab opportunity if I do say so myself!

LINK to SCRAPFEST CENTRAL

Get your scrap on at the JBS Mercantile ScrapFest!

2011-10-20T00:49:00.008-05:00

It's time for Scrapfest at the Mercantile! The fun gets started tonight, Thursday night that is, at 9 pm central time with an online chat. We'll be posting challenges tomorrow and throughout the weekend. I thought the last crop was so much fun and I got a ton accomplished! Please come join in! Oh yeah, door prizes too!

Betsy made that cute blog banner - she's so good at that! Anything creative!

Don't forget the drawing for Shimelle's paper party will be tonight so get ta commentin' if ya goin' to : )

ETA: Doris said there will be a guest designer chosen for the December Mercantile kit from the crop! I won the one we had in April! And that was so exciting! So come on a play with us for a change to win the guest design spot!

Peek of the papers used for Shimelle's Paper Party!

2011-10-18T13:16:00.005-05:00

Hey ladies! I just wanted to share with you real quick the papers I used for my layout for Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party. Okay, you can tell, I LOVE floral patterned paper. I like it in all scales, colors, styles, yeah, you get the picture. So here's all the paper I used! Oh yes, all of it --- and I tamed it! I really hope you will be able to join us for the class. Don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY for the class pass on my last blog post!

Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party & Giveaway!

2011-10-17T20:27:00.003-05:00

There are online classes for everything these days, and Shimelle has been teaching online scrapbooking classes for years - but she's decided it's time to kick it up a bit and go from online class to a four-week online party, and you're invited!

Pretty Paper Party is the party to attend if you have a collection of paper stacked up for a rainy day, if you have more scraps of paper than you know what to do with (but you know you don't want to throw them away!) and if you've ever put a piece of paper back in your stash because it was just too special for the photos at hand.

Through printable prompts and tutorial videos, Shimelle and dozens of special party guests will share beautiful and innovative techniques you can achieve with the paper you have already collected.

And guess what? I'm going to be a special party guest at the Pretty Paper Party! I'm so excited! I know Shimelle has some fabulous things planned and I get to be a part of it! I hope YOU can join in too!

And guess what else? I'm giving away a class pass for the Pretty Paper Party!

All you have to do is leave a comment and let me know what's your fave pretty paper and how you could use it to decorate for a party. If you've already signed up for the class and you win, Shimelle will refund the cost to you or you can give your free pass as a gift. I'll draw a winner Thursday night around 11pm central time. Please leave your email address in the comment section. If Blogger is acting up please leave a comment using the anonymous choice and leave your name in the comment area.

So, class started today but as with any good party it's okay to arrive fashionably late. The class has no deadlines and everyone receives permanent access to all the class materials, so anyone can RSVP to the party at any time!

It's The Great Pumpkin, A Bit of Shopping

2011-10-13T21:58:00.012-05:00

He saw these and said, "Cool, look, it's witch's skin!" Witch's Skin Pumpkins - I like that. He said he wanted the pumpkins that looked creepy.

This is the best I could get out of Miss Photogenic.

This huge, gigantic pumpkin was Adam's idea. He wanted that. He also wanted to pick it out. Zane wanted to pick it out but the kid in Adam ended up picking it out instead. We also bought little pumpkins for half of Zane's class, the half that hadn't brought one in yet. Zane got a "firecracker," whatever that is, and hugs from the kids. He was proud.

Here's Ava the next day sitting on the ginormous pumpkin before mother's day out. You can see the gourds we got and painted like snakes in the bottom. Why didn't I get a pic of them doing that, I have no idea. Why didn't I get a pic of him today, on orange day in Kinder, I don't know. He had on an orange hat, shirt, shorts, and orange and brown shoes. And I have no pic. I'm thinking a re-do might be in order.

So anyway, that was our impromptu visit to the pumpkin patch this year. You will notice they don't have on cute matching fall pumpkin picking-esque clothes : ) Cause it's real life, baby. Lol, I'm joking, wish they did have on super cute matching fall pumpkin-esque picking clothes.You will also notice our pumpkin patch isn't really a patch but a place right smack dab in the middle of the town, like I said, real life. Ha.

So I might as well confess now. My Oct Daily has now become my Autumn Highlights. Just can't keep motivated for the day by day thing. I'm glad I got a reality dose of that before I tried to take on a December Daily.

Hey, and rejoice with me that Zane has got green all week long so far on his behavior chart!

**************************PART II: Shopping**************************

Got this in the mail today:

From Kaisercraft. From Scrapbook.com. The plan is to make an Advent Calendar. 25 Boxes.

From Cavallini & Co. From Two Peas. LOVE THIS TAPE! Five individual rolls.

And finally . . . drumroll, please . . . Two Peas has new Jenni Bowlin Studio!

New alpha stamps, days of the week stamps, reproduction cigar boxes (not wooden), a really cute vintage number set of cards, and the black/red extension paper!

Gallery Updates at the Mercantile!

2011-10-13T10:09:00.001-05:00

Head on over to JBS Mercantile to read about the details (that is if you like it ; ) ) and see what the other designers have added to the gallery. You must check out Betsy's updates! I loved the Sparklets so much I ordered them in almost all the colors. But the one Jenni put in the kit is my fave. I used them here as berries. Thanks for stopping in today!

October Days 4 thru 6 & Movie Clips

2011-10-07T00:55:00.002-05:00

He looks like such a little prepster here.

These are photos for Oct. 5th. The kids were both at school today, Ava at her bi-weekly mother's day out and Zane at school. The real story of today is the way my kids acted at their photo session. I've told you before how Zane turns in to a wild man around our photographer, Anthony. I have to admit, Anthony is fun and likes to laugh and wants it to be fun for the kids. And I like that. But Zane reaaaaally likes it and starting hamming it up so bad it's hard to get any pics of him in the right pose/angle without his head back, mouth wide open laughing as hard as he can. Then when Adam stands behind Anthony and starts acting like a monkey and all that to make the kids smile, well, they just go ape (ha) acting the same way. Even Ava who is usually such a little sweetheart got in on the insanity and started acing like Zane. He just would not be still. Twice he refused to hold Ava's hand and she kept grabbing for his hand and it made me sad. I think we probably got some fabulous shots, especially of the kids smiling really big, but I still was disappointed in the way they acted. A few times we had to practically drag them away from the side of the pond. Zane wanted to throw mulch at the ducks and Ava kept picking of handfuls of sand and throwing it in the water. I mean like she got obsessed with doing that. My patience lasted for quite a while because I was totally expecting this (not so much from Ava) and then I had had enough and we did not go to The Cheesecake Factory and they had to come home and eat a ham sandwich and go to bed. I also took his Power Ranger costume away because he threw a fit about wearing a tie and talked back and tried to make me mad in the car all the way to the photo shoot. He's certainly a strong willed child. I hope I don't regret not making them matchy matchy. I had on a mustard sweater and Adam had on "spice tin" blue (that's the color of the JBS dark blue ink ;) ).

So, moving on. Day 4 will be a photo of Ava at the table eating breakfast and one of Adam surprising us and bringing home Krispy Kreme donuts. I'll spare you that excitement.

Day 6. No photos were taken of day 6 pretty much because it was identical to day 4. So I think day 6 will be my fave Halloween movie and that is this:

Young Frankenstein. Gene Wilder is hilarious! I even like Cloris Leachman in this. You just can't stop smiling with this one! Have you seen it?

This one might be fun for Halloween too:

Dorothy McGuire plays a lady who is mute and there is a killer on the loose who targets physically impaired women. She works at a home where she thinks she's safe however, the owner who is a bed ridden old lady forewarns her that the must leave the house, she must! I was on the edge of my seat a little on this one trying to figure out just who was the killer. What a suspenseful ending! October is really a fun month to watch Turner Classic Movies.

Nothing like a creepy movie to get ya in the Halloween spirit!

Beginning the Oct Album, Days 2 & 3

2011-10-03T23:25:00.001-05:00

Okay, so here's a few rough photos of the start of my October Daily Mini. I'm using a 4" circle album from the JBS Mercantile Dime Store Kit. I still need to add the journaling and embellishments on the days I've done so far. You can also see some of the vintage bits I'm going to use. I would really like to figure out how to type text in a circle for this. Anilu, are you out there? : ) And I need to update and journal before I forget! So here's that:

Day 2: Sunday, going to church. We got off to a rough start because Zane was super cranky. We were outside taking some pics and Zane threw a little soft dodge ball at Adam and when Adam picked it up and threw it back Zane tried to dodge it while standing almost on the step, tripped over his own feet and crashed the side of his face onto the cement. He cried. He got mad at Adam. His face was really red and I was afraid we were going to have to cancel family pics. On the way to church Zane started saying, "Children obey your parents," in a smartie voice, not sure if he was being funny or real. I looked at Adam and was like where did he get that and Adam said he's been helping him memorize some verses. Ha, might know he taught him that one first! In the car he showed us the picture he drew of Jesus on the cross. On the way back he said, "Be ye kind one to another," and "Even a child is known by what he does whether it's good or bad." I just could not believe he had memorized these! Also, Zane is in this, "Stop taking my picture" phase so if you notice Ava more in this album you'll know why. I'll just have to get a little sneaky.

We spent all afternoon at home. The kids played and Adam put together an Ikea TV stand that's been in a box in my dining room for like 6 months. Ahh, yep, I told you that.

Day 3: I had to drive all the way down to Reno to exchange a pair of J. Crew kids pants. Then to the mall to buy the kids shoes for family photos. Then I went to get Ava at school, drove her home real fast, change her into her dance clothes, drover her to dance, we went to the grocery store (where she rides in the green car and looooves to help me, each time getting out of the car/cart to get what I tell her), back home to take photos of scrapbook projects and write blog posts. Adam went to get Zane at school. Adam also cooked most of the dinner, tacos, while I finished my scrapbook stuff. That was sweet, really. He tries to help me like that all the time. He also cleaned the kitchen. I am a lucky woman! : ) Adam read to the kids (Note: take that photo for daily) while I worked on more scrapbook stuff. Hmmm, sounds like I need to stop the scrapbook stuff, lol. Adam said Zane knew all his sight words. Zane got a green at school today which means good behavior all the way. Here I set in Ava's bed while she falls asleep (she still sleeps in her crib, she loves it!) writing this blog post and Adam sets in the hall outside Zane's room and reads while Zane falls asleep. The end. Maybe we will watch an old movie tonight. The end again.

P.S. Today Ava's teacher asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up and she said, "I'm NOT growing up!!!" Ha! She said that because I'm always teasing her telling her not to get big. She also said her fave color was black and fave food was spaghetti both of which are absolutely not true.

Oh yeah, and I made this tonight:

Oh yeah, and my Gone Junkin' mini album was the featured project at 2 Peas today!

And I'll have two layouts on the JBS blog tomorrow.

Is that enough? Seriously, stop it now? Okay : )

Gone Junkin' Mini Album for JBS October

2011-10-02T18:03:00.002-05:00

I made this using Jenni's project kit. Hey, look how my shirt matches the My Mind's Eye striped paper! Only a scrapbooker could get so happy about something like that : ) But I do admit telling myself to wear something with fall colors that day! Anyway, this kit is sooo cool. You can use the album horizontal or vertical. I chose to distress the cover or mine but I thought it would look so pretty painted solid cream too. I painted my cover black and brown then sanded it off, then used a brayer to paint dark yellow then light gray. I used a brayer because I didn't want to lose those dark wood grain lines I had made with the black/brown paint. But since they were a little too bold I used some mist and metallic spray paint to soften them a bit. If you would like to read more about it, click here, to visit my gallery. And check out the other designers' galleries if you haven't yet (but I know you probably have if you're reading here) - so inspiring!

Other JBS products I used but aren't included in the kit are: black doilies, lace stamp, & the label stamp set.

October Daily: Day 1

2011-10-01T20:23:00.003-05:00

This morning we got out the Dept. 56 Halloween Village on our dining room table. Zane was all gung ho. It's a balancing act to get the stuff out, keep him busy and feeling like he's helping without him breaking something while I'm not looking. He wanted to set up all the little people first even though the big stuff has to go first toward the back. He had the fences all the way around the table before I could even start. Ava wanted to get all the little breakable stuff out of the boxes while I was working and keeping Zane entertained : ) Ah, fun times. They really were, I'm joking. We did different levels with containers all along the back covered with shiny purple fabric. For height in the back I had a glass lantern and Zane wanted to hang his Scooby Doo ghost inside it as a jail with a piece of string. I also used some old corbels, a wreath hanger with a sign, and a big, tall vase with orange leaf stick things.

So later this evening Zane tells me to come downstairs to look at something. He's made some improvements to the village, I see. Ninja Turtle is on the costume shop, Sonic tater tot dinosaurs are on Spinning Pumpkins, another tater tot, a bat tot, is on the Victorian House, and a blue Power Ranger is on top of Grimsly Manor. Oh yeah, and the red gummy snake amongst the trick or treat kids. I guess we'll be leaving those on there . . . for a few days at least ; ) I'm just really glad he enjoys it so much.

JBS Mercantile October

2011-10-01T09:32:00.006-05:00

The kits are live, ladies! I really enjoyed this kit and I still have plans for another page because I must use those adorable badges! You can see it all at JBS Mercantile. And if you want to read any of the details about my pages, click on the gallery. Jenni put together such a beautiful fall kit. There are many pages of soft neutrals and even kind of a muted orange and a soft lighter orange with touches of aqua and royal blue. And the project kit -----oh man, I loved that thing! So much that I'm going to save it to post tomorrow :) But there's this product in there from Kaisercraft called Sparklets and they are one of my new fave things to work with. I'm going to order them in all colors. They look like vintage, foil backed, glass buttons. They just sparkle! You can see them on either sides of the frame I cut out on my first page with the leaves. I just love being on the JBS Team and getting to use these fabulous kits! Just makes me so happy! I think you'll like the kit too!

Today's the day if you're doing the October Daily! It's the day to slow down and see today with your eyes and heart about what makes this day a special day, even the small stuff like the kids watching It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. Or what the weather feels like today on the first day of Oct. Or decorating for Halloween. Whatever makes today a special day for you! This is where you can share your updates.

Happy first day of October! I hope you have a "magical" month! Ha, couldn't resist. I better make sure my broom is in working order ; )

JBS Mercantile Oct Sneaks Anyone?

2011-09-28T22:59:00.001-05:00

Tune in to JBS Mercantile on Friday night, midnight central time, to get the goods! Jenni has put together a kit full of lovely fall colors with a few pops of blue and aqua - such a cool color combo! If you haven't been getting antiquarian, this is a really good month to try it out - you have got to see that kit! And you can ;), part of it anyway, right here on my last peekie.

Also, if you love the month of October and fall in general, please join us at the Mercantile on the message board where we're chatting about making October Daily mini albums. I almost competed a Dec. Daily once. but that's just a crazy time of year and October is still full of goodness but just a little slower, just a bit less pressure, for me anyway so this is perfect! We're going to post updates on our progress all month. It's going to be fun!

Mixing JBS Goodies for Fall

2011-09-22T11:27:00.003-05:00

Good late morning, ladies! I have this page up on the JBS Inspiration blog today. If you would like to check out the detail shots, the product list, and how I did the journaling, click on over ; ) Now I have to get to work on my JBS Mercantile project kit for October - lots of yummy golden yellow! And some glitter. And some polka dots. And some flowers. Intrigued yet?

Family photo by Anthony Butler Photography

Gone Junkin'

2011-09-17T13:57:00.001-05:00

I had the best time last Saturday. It's been so long since I've been to an auction, maybe a year? It seems like the good ones are getting harder and harder to come by. I'll never forget the time I got a mannequin and the plaster was all cracked and had this great patina and the stand was silver with wooden appliques of bows and swags. And it was out in some kind of tin garage! Oh, just makes me so happy, never know what you'll find. When we moved into our house, after about a year, I finally had it acceptable in terms of decorating then kind of took a break. I'm ready to get back into decorating and fixing a few more things up like the back splash tile. And that means I'm ready to get back into the swing of hitting the auctions. We really do have great rural auctions all over Southwest Oklahoma.

At this particular auction I got three milk glass pieces, two lamps, and a set of etched glasses and plates. I missed a carved frame by eating lunch. I was also outbid on a pair of busts (the statue kind, not the "other" kind, ha!) from the 70s I think. I was thinking they might look cool painted black but I wasn't willing to spend a lot of money to find out about that experiment. Adam was there with me and he was handy for moral support ; ) and to carry stuff to the car. I sent him in the house to bid on one lamp and he came out with two. It's easy to get the auction fever in the heat of the moment!

After we were done at the auction we went to Weatherford to my favorite antique store. I don't think I've been there for nearly two years. How can that be? The owner has the best sense of style. She amazes me how she thinks to use old stuff. At the antique mall I got ribbons, paper Christmas place mats, a black clock, a box full of type card from the American Printer's Association, an old Chic-O-Line poultry feed sign, the most amazing metal postcard/card stand, some Oklahoma car license plates, a red, cream, and blue floral tablecloth, and an oval, carved gilded mirror. I also got a fabric subway art/street sign thing. It looks old but it's not - it just fabric and it was 42.00 dollars and not a couple hundred dollars had it been canvas.

This reminds me of the Jenni Bowlin Studio seal stamp that I love so much. I can't wait to put this sign over my mantle and decorate around it for fall. After doing a little online research, I found out this was from a grain mill in Chickasha, OK.

Did I make a haul or what? I hope to go again next weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

I Could Not Ask For More

2011-09-16T11:28:00.002-05:00

Hey ladies, I made this page using the September JBS Mercantile Kit. I volunteered to do the double page layout and article for the Gazette. This page, I love. I'm very happy with the way it turned out because I was able to get a thought, an emotion, down on paper and all the photos that illustrate my thoughts, all in a pleasing, colorful design. To find out more about my inspiration and how I did it and one of the photo templates I used, check out the Mercantile Gazette right HERE.

There are many fun features in the Gazette! Doris shares tips for masking and painting and her design process, Betsy does a sketch and shares the inspiration, there's a feature on our guest, Karen Grunberg, Jill shares her insight about journaling, Lisa shares a multi photo design, and I have the double page. You have to check it out! Lisa, Blue Star Graphics, does a beautiful job designing the newsletter!

Oh yes, even more pages with JBS Mercantile

2011-09-11T23:02:00.008-05:00

Ladies, can you believe I made 9 pages with this kit?? Doris and I had a little competition going to see who could do more and I'm happy to say we tied (cause I really thought she would beat me)! Betsy has vowed to give us a run for it next month so the competition is going to be tough. Anyhow, without further ado, I bring you . . .

1985. There's probably something from all three kits here but the main things are the Julie Balzer chevron stencil and the Jenni Bowlin Studio foam seal stamp, which are both from the Artisan Add On, which is still available (the main has sold out). I just couldn't let this kit get by me without doing something messy and paint-y with that stencil. I loved loved that thing! I used it on several pages. On this one I wanted to use it in all it's glory as the full background. I masked off part of it with easy release tape. Some of the paint is just plain acrylic and some of it has modeling paste mixed in. The modeling paste gives you more texture and makes the lines more crisp where the plain acrylic seeps a little and gives you a more messy look. I spread all the paint with a palette knife and let the colors mix a bit on top of the stencil while spreading. After it dried I misted a little with white mist and splattered some green paint. Gosh, I love this one. And I'm so proud of myself for using kraft! Kraft is hard for me, I don't know why, I adore the way it looks when my fave scrapbookers use it. Maybe this layout is the the beginning on the road to recovery of my lack of kraft usage.

That there sweet little girl with a mullet is me! Ain't that sweet? Just precious, I tell ya. LOL. That's my grandpa and I outside my great grandparents house at my Grandma Kate's birthday party in Eakly, Oklahoma. My grandpa and I were very close, I've probably already told you he and my grandma raised me. Notice my shirt has a chevron on it . . perfect, I didn't even plan that.

Oh, one more thing, that background paper with the text is from a Feb. '09 kit, I think. But really, any old paper with writing will work just as well. The cream ric rac is also from my stash.

Now I bring you, Sunday Lovely. This was just a regular Sunday on the way to church. The kids looked so cute and were acting so silly so I just whipped out my handy point and shoot from my handbag and snapped some pics. Notice my man carrying my bag while I snapped pics - real men carry Coach dontcha know? Zane's expression in the middle photo cracks me up, he looks so proud to be takin' a pic with his mama.

I suppose this one is a bit self explanatory but the first thing I did was take an exacto and cut out the embossed area of the paper and scoot it over to reveal patterned paper beneath. I used JBS seed packet and lemon drops mist on the foam seal stamp. And when I say mist I mean I used Jenni's re-inkers mixed with a small amount of water in little sprtiz bottles from Hobby Lobby (back in the paint supplies section). Did you know the foam stamps would take mist so well?? I used chili powder for the seal stamp in the 1985 layout. Man, it does a great job! You can mist it and stamp or you can mist it then take your finger and spread the mist out evenly for a really solid image. I suppose the foam's so dense the mist doesn't really soak in.

So, I still have a double to share with you at some point but I want to wait until after it's been featured in Issue 2 of the Mercantile Gazette where I'll share with you the inspiration for the page and some tips on how I did it. So be on the look out for that sometime later this week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenni Bowlin Studio Wall Alphabet Home Decor

2011-09-06T13:27:00.000-05:00

Hey ladies! This is a project I made using all Jenni Bowlin Studio papers from present and past releases. The paper mache letters came from Hobby Lobby. I painted the sides of each letter to match the patterned paper that coordinated on the top. They're hung on the wall with poster putty. To read more about how I did it please visit the INSPIRATION BLOG. Thanks and I hope you like it! I'm just crazy about them and right now they're hanging in my dining room. So many possibilities with this project.

A few more JBS September kit layouts

2011-09-03T22:26:00.005-05:00

I must say, I am proud of myself for using Halloween paper on this everyday page. I think it works! I'm not sure why it feels so good to stretch your supplies like that but it does to me! Plus it's a little unexpected and I like that. This is my son from 5 years ago. I can't believe I just wrote 5 years ago!

This was inspired by the design on her shirt. Cute, huh? Ha! Julie Balzer stencil in action here, I just cut a strip from my paper. Made using the MAIN KIT and ARTISAN add on

And lastly, a Halloween page made using Jenni's PROJECT KIT. I covered one of my houses with the vintage label paper like Jenni did from her project piece. I also cut one into a tag and made a banner out of some of them. I added a few black banner stickers from the dime store kit.

And I'm worn out from weeding almost my entire front flower bed and then dragging bags of mulch and putting it all down nice and OCD like ; ) So, that's all she wrote for tonight!

JBS Mercantile September Kits!

2011-09-01T11:14:00.003-05:00

Hey ladies, the kits are on sale today! This kit is so versatile as seen by my pages above plus I still have more to make! We got the kits a little later because Jenni got so much brand new stuff at CHA for this kit so look forward to much more from the DT in the next few days. The main kit is so pretty! The main colors are pink, red, aqua, and green. You also get these little wooden spool ends and the new cream little plastic doilies. If you can, you must get the artisan add on because it's got one of Julie Balzer's stencils! The chevron stencil! It's a full page size but you can cut it up any way you like (the results, not the stencil ; ) ). Julie has some tutorials on her blog. And I love the Antiquarian Kit this month too! I used mostly antiquarian for the second page above about my home town but the ruler paper is from the main. I could have used about 3 more sheets of that ruler paper from Crate Paper - I LOVED that piece. Thanks for stopping by!

Back to School JBS layout

2011-08-30T10:38:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone. I wanted to share a double page layout I made usuing Jenni Bowlin Studio products for the Inspiration Blog. This is about a refresher course on letters with my son before kindergarten. My original desire for this page was the use the little boy silhouette and make letters floating around in his mind. I used my Silhouette and Jenni's rub on letters for that. I also used some of those same cuts in black on black all the way to the edges of the page. I used a Keri Bradford photo template and made it into a pocket for his writing. I used Jenni's little round letter stickers on top of the buttons to make them look kind of like brads. So lots of layers of JBS goodies! Check out the blog for more back to school ideas using JBS and I'll have an alphabet home decor project up over there soon. There's some really great older products on here like the ABC ledger cards which are still available in the Mercantile General Store. Thanks for stopping in today!

JBS Mercantile September Sneaks!

2011-08-28T18:10:00.002-05:00

Okay, I love this kit. There, I said it, you knew I would ; ) It's got something for everyone. If you're looking for bright, happy, possibly back to school colors, you got it. If you love vintage with navy and cream and a little gold, you got it. If you're looking for Halloween, you got it. All the newest stuff? You got it!

My travel mini album on the CK blog!

2011-08-26T00:42:00.005-05:00

Hey ladies! I just found my project on the CK Blog from August 8th about CK Summer Camp Family Day. How awesome! So funny how I found it. I was surfing Pinterest and came across a mini album that looked cool. I clicked to the source, which was CK, and knew there was a possibility my mini might be profiled since that's what the discussion was about since my mini was just in their travel special issue. I followed a link from that album and found my own! Thanks to all those who left comments. If anyone finds me from that post and needs construction help, please drop me a line. That organizer was found at Office Depot but last time I checked they weren't there anymore. I found them on the online Office Depot though. After a while I'll show all the pages CK didn't print here on my blog. I can't believe I found that! I would have never known had it not been for Pinterest. Pinterest saves the day! There's two more pics over on their blog if you're interested.

Photo Credit: Creating Keepsakes Publishing

Zane's 1st day of Kindergarten & giveaway winner

2011-08-21T12:41:00.000-05:00

Zane's first day at Kindergarten

Thankfully we did a pretty good job of getting the family back on a normal time schedule, Zane had enough sleep, and was only minimally hard to wake up. He complained about having to wear denim shorts instead of sports shorts. After asking two times he agreed to let me take some pictures. He was quietly excited about going to kindergarten that morning. I think he was thinking and wondering what it would be like. We told him about all the new friends he would make. Being a kid with no cousins or other kids his age in his life, he loves to be around other kids. This year he gets the choice of lunch room lunch or packing a lunch. They were having hotdogs and he was looking forward to that. I reminded him several times to be nice to everyone, do what the teacher asks, and all will go well.

When we got to the school the parking lot was already crammed. People have to park along the curb, sometimes the line extends out into the road. Zane and Adam had to get out of the car and walk for it. Amazingly, I soon found a parking spot and Ava and I went in. It was nice because for the first 30 minutes or so all the kids and their parents stood around in the classroom so the teacher could talk to us. She seems to be an excellent teacher, what an answered prayer! She's got a great personality. At one point, Zane raised his hand while she was talking, and knowing he didn't need to go to the restroom, I kind of gave him a look like, not now. Later he said he was going to tell her his cat scratched him on his hand, ha ha. He wanted to sit next to the kid with the Transformers backpack. There were two girls from his pre-K class and he was happy to see them. They read a story which got some giggles out of him. Overall, he seemed quiet, like he was just trying to take it all in like all the other kids. He came over and barely gave us a hug when it was time to leave. I said bye but he was already busy checking out the toys.

We got there to pick him up and he looked worn out. He was tired! I talked to him a little in the hall and he said he had a good day but, "it's been a long day." I had a drink for him in the car and he said, "Thanks, Mom!" He told us they talked about colors.

So the deal was he could get nunchuks, you know the little plastic kind - he's been into Ninja Turtles, if he did well at his first day of school. I wanted to treat him after a stressful, in a good way, kind of day. We went, didn't find the nunchuks, but got a space station (which is much better anyway). But while we were there, he dug rocks out of his pockets and handed one to Dad, me, and Ava. He had picked those up on the playground to bring one to us. He was thinking of us on the playground. It's not the first time he's done something like that but I sort of figured he had outgrown that. I am so glad he hasn't. My heart just melted over that. And he had one for Ava too.

Written the morning before school began:

Yesterday after we went to the open house at Zane’s school I was thinking about how only 5 short years ago, my son was born. Most moms look at their baby and think, someday he will leave for kindergarten, and for me, that day is here. I was standing there in the kitchen thinking about how even before Zane was born, for two years, we prayed for a baby. God gave us that baby two years later, five 1/2 years later now he’s heading for school.

I thought about how quickly childhood passes and wondering if I was doing my job. It’s my job to make sure they have a fantastic childhood, one they will be happy to think back on all through adulthood. I was wondering if I should be more exciting, read more books, make sure and say yes more than no or we could try, instead of that won’t work.

I was feeling sentimental about it all day and after Zane was asleep I went into his room and leaned down by his bed and stared at him sleeping for a long time. He’s so beautiful when he’s asleep. I wanted to hug him. I wanted to just scoot him over and lie down by him for a time while he was still and quiet. I kept thinking someday he won’t be little like this anymore. The time is going to fly by even faster now.

The next morning the alarm went off. Ava walked into our room. Zane had crept in in the middle of the night and went to sleep on the pallet we keep on our bedroom floor for him. They both crawled into our bed. I thought about how someday they would be too big to want to do that, that I should cherish these moments. I looked over at them and the morning light was coming through the window so perfectly. I went for my camera like usual. Zane was already being wild and rambunctious. They were already wiggling and calling silly names. I snapped a few photos of Zane smiling with his mouth open, being rebellious like always. Then he started hiding under the sheet. But sweet Ava continued to stay put and smile for me. They are so different but she tries to be like him.

I wish I could say we stayed there like that for a while. But the kids were getting loud and ready to get up and start the day’s antics. It was time to get up and get breakfast. It’s a shame those precious moments, when you realize the beauty of life in an instant, right in front of you, they just don’t last long enough and it’s back to reality. I wish I could slow those beautiful moments down. I tell myself, enjoy your family now, don't get stressed out, make the most of it.

Last Night:

Last night I was desperate to cook something we hadn't had in a while. I decided on party food: sausage balls, little smokies, white cheese dip, and fruit salad. This made Zane crazy happy and kept talking about the party. Then he got the idea to try and lure me upstairs to scrapbook and I heard him whisper to dad they were going to make a party for me. So I went along. When they came to get me I came down and acted surprised. They had gotten out all the left over plates, hats, and napkins from Zane's b-day party and set it all out on the table. We wore alien hats. They had a yogurt stick on my plate. Later, Zane went into my closet and got a snake print pair of high heels out, cut pink wrapping paper, held it together with mini clothespins from the drawer, and brought it to me in the scrapbook room. I acted excited. He told me I could trick people with the shoes by just sticking the tips out from the bushes. Then I got house shoes with a green Christmas bow. I write about all this to remind myself how sweet he can be. He and I have been pretty close lately and that makes me so happy. He's been listening to me so much better. Maybe that's because he's growing up? I don't know but when he does stuff like that, my heart just almost bursts.

***************************************************************************

Time to draw a winner for the JBS August Kit Giveaway!

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

Timestamp: 2011-08-21 16:11:42 UTC

Sharyn S. said...

What a beautiful kit! I have so many favorite Jenni Bowlin products but I think my absolute favorites are the Bingo cards and her inks! Thanks for the opportunity :) -Sharyn

August 16, 2011 9:16 AM 

Congrats, Sharyn! Please email me at brianaj@hotmail.com! Thanks for entering! Send me an email if you create some pages/cards - I would love to see them!

Giveaway! Giveaway! New JBS August kit!

2011-08-15T22:58:00.011-05:00

Hey ladies! I'm doing my first ever giveaway to celebrate my first month of being a new designer at JBS Mercantile! Remember ----- this kit has the exclusive medallion stamp and floral stencil and it sold out in two days! You can see what the design team did with it HERE. A brand spankin' new JBS kit, girls! Even if you're a subber you could give it as a gift! Just leave me a comment about your fave Jenni Bowlin Studio product, or your fave JBS kit, your fave JBS Ranger ink color, what new JBS product you're planning to get, what you are most excited to play with in this kit --- whatever! I will randomly choose a winner on Sunday. The giveaway is open to US residents (I will pay to ship to you) and internationals (if you don't mind paying for the shipping via paypal minus 8 dollars which is about what it would cost me to send to a US person). So please leave me a comment for a chance to win!

And check out the brand new Mercantile Gazette! It's the premier issue of our subscriber newsletter, available for everyone to enjoy this month. There are articles on multi photo layouts, journaling, a sketch, and techniques. I have a double page layout on the last page. It can be found HERE or via the Inspiration Blog. And there's a little coupon inside ; )

PS - If Blogger's acting up and you have trouble leaving a comment try choosing the anonymous option and then leave your name in the comment area. Sometimes that does the trick. If you're afraid you'll forget to check back you can leave your email addy in your comment so I can email you.

PSS - And if you really want to try to win and blogger just won't let you comment, just email me your comment and after the giveaway is closed I'll add your email number into the number generator in the order it came in my inbox before I do the drawing.

***********Giveaway Closed***********

"Thank You" card set for a friend

2011-08-13T18:24:00.000-05:00

Today I have a thank you card set to share with you all. My friend, Greta, has a little daughter who has been in the hospital and she could really use some thank you cards (and prayers) to send to her friends and family who have been there for them during this difficult time. I'm not really a card maker but I tried my best. I'm pretty pleased with the way these turned out. I tried not to over-think it because, like I said, I'm not used to cards. I went with a red, yellow, white, and aqua color scheme. The card with the typewriter and the aqua beads were store bought but then I added a few embellishments to make them a little more special and to add the thank you sentiment. The yellow card is a silhouette die cut. The smaller thank you stamp is by Paper Trey Ink. Stickers by Basic Grey, Studio Calico, and October Afternoon. Thanks for checking it out.

What we've been up to late summer edition

2011-08-11T21:09:00.001-05:00

We wanted to go on another little vacation this summer but with all the going back and forth to Carnegie it just didn't happen. We had a fun day where we went to the Oklahoma Science Museum. The kids loved that. Zane really liked playing with the water table thing where you control the current with plastic dams. He also liked the little firehouse and spinning down the pole. After that we went to eat and to watch the movie Smurfs which I didn't really care for even though that was my fave cartoon of all time. Too many close ups of Gargamel or that Patrick guy I maybe? : ) Wish I could have snapped a better pic of the kids in front of that yellow wall. You can see Ava trying to make herself smile.

Our hometown main street

The kids at my grandparents' house

They always talk her into going to Dollar General to get a toy.

This summer we've been spending about two days at week at our hometown so my husband can help his dad at their family's business. That's about 1.5 hours away so to write about what we've been doing this summer and not include lots of car time wouldn't be right, ugh, as boring as it sounds ; ) The nice part about that is that my kids spend at least one of those days at their grandma's house (where they love to play with her Beagles) so I get a free day. Twice the kids didn't want to come home and they spent a few days at grandma's (both grandma and great-grandma) and Adam and I came back to the city a lived it up! We ate at Mahogany twice, went shopping, watched old movies all night. The other nice thing about going back to our hometown is that the kids' great-grandpa has an indoor swimming pool so we do that once a week.

Zane still goes to speech once a week. If he does well and cooperates at speech he gets a Happy Meal. Ava went to 3 dance classes over the summer. And he just looks so handsome in this photo. We were taking turns taking pics of each other.

Right now the kids love to dress up. Ava switches out her dance outfits and swimming suits all day. Recently she's been wearing Zane's Woody costume and her Strawberry shortcake costume. Zane wears his Batman pajamas, his Ninja Turtle costume, and now his "lucky hat."

It's been wicked hot and we're in a severe drought, record breaking for lack of rain and heat so we've spent a lot of time indoors. So there's been TV. Zane's been watching He-Man, Arthur, and Inspector Gadget. Ava likes Angelina Ballerina.They've been playing outside in a kiddie pool late in the evening with the spray hose. They've been painting. She's been play doe-ing.

And just normal, everyday stuff here. Like super messy offices. But that's okay cause that means there's work to do. That's what we say anyway : ) One of my main jobs in the day is to keep the kids out of his office while he works.

So. The school supplies have been bought. Now my mission is to get the family back on a normal time schedule, which is dang near impossible. But I must prevail so Zane won't be a monster at kindergarten. We found out a few weeks ago that his school is going to full day. I'm thankful for that - will be better for him.

And finally, you might like to check out the gallery update at JBS Mercantile. Doris updates the gallery on the 10th of every month. And all this month is back to school month at the inspiration blog. I've got a layout and a project, a home decor idea, scheduled near the end of the month.

JBS page with the Artisan add on

2011-08-03T17:31:00.002-05:00

Hey all. I've got a page to share with you real quick today. This was inspired by a Shannon Tidwell layout where she used a really large, chunky garland on a page with tags. I wanted to try that out with Jenni's artisan add on because it has a pack of Fancy Pants tags and little coral/orange fair style tickets in it that are really cute. There are a few things from the project kit on here as well but mostly artisan. I just loaded it all on because I wanted to get this kit all used up and I just love looking at all that goodness together. I've never completely used up a kit but I think I will this time!

I painted the wooden letters with Jenni's malted milk paint then applied a second coat with black acrylic, let it dry, and sanded off some of the black. This is just the coolest color combo!

Today's the day for JBS August Reveal!

2011-08-01T08:00:00.010-05:00

It's time for JBS August kits to go on sale! I made a whopping 6 singles and a double page layout with this kit plus a thing or two more that will be ready for the gallery update on the 10th - that's an amazing scrapbooking production rate for me! You'll see the double in the subscriber newsletter later this month. Once I got started I just couldn't stop. This kit . . the medallion stamp, the floral stencil, the colors: yellow, pink, red, aqua, black, cream, neutral - it's just lovely. The project kit is primary colors and mixes so well with the others, especially the Studio Calico alphabet paper. I love it that Jenni many times includes Core'dinations cardstock in the kit like this time - one side is soft light blue, the other side bright aqua - I like having that choice. Lots of variety in this one but it all goes! Over at my gallery at JBS I give descriptions of the pages I made here - details of how I did some things and my inspiration - stuff like that.

So head on over to JBS Mercantile and check out the kits!

JBS Mercantile August Sneaks & More!

2011-07-26T18:29:00.005-05:00

This kit is a must have, ladies, really, I'm not just saying that either! So far I have six singles and a double page layout made with the kits! I got the main, artisan, and project kits. The exclusive medallion stamp makes my heart sing! Take a look at the JBS Inspiration Blog to see how the other team members have used it so far. Get it! Do it! : ) The August kit goes on sale midnight central on July 31st! So that's midnight, central time, on the last day of the month (I like to think of it that way) - so rolling into the first day of the new month is when you can buy it, well, kit subscribers get first dibs for the first day. So if you aren't a member - just be one! Do it! LOL, I 'm joking with yall today.

Also, if you have a lot of summer fun stuff to scrapbook you may want to check out the special issue, Scrapbooking Tips and Tricks: Summer Fun & Travel, from Creating Keepsakes, and well, I also mention it because I am happy to have two projects in there! I have our Hawaii 2010 mini album in there (and it's not just a "regular" mini in terms of construction) and a double page layout. I haven't seen this issue in Michael's or Hobby Lobby yet, although I haven't looked in the last two weeks, but it is available at Scrap and Paper Shop, for $6.99, which is CK's online magazine store. Here is a sneak peek from CK. It really is a great issue, just got mine in the mail. And here is a sneak peek from me:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And finally, this is a page that was featured in the Cricut Birthdays Idea Book, on sale here. This great book has been on the stands for a while so I am sharing my page here today. I know there is a notion that Cricut stuff is all cutesy but it can be much more. If you haven't looked at an issue of the magazine, next time you're at the craft or book store, just pick one up and give it a browse.

This was a special page for me because I remember that moment so vividly. It was her second birthday and it's like it finally dawned on her that all the excitement, family, cake, presents, happiness, was all for her. We were starting the birthday song and she had her little hands up to her chest, it's like she was thinking, "it's all for me," and her eyes were just almost watering and she was so happy. This layout is about the moment she realized it was all for her.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Layout, Shopping, & JBS Aug. Sneak

2011-07-21T15:10:00.004-05:00

I've got a few little fun things today. First, here's a layout I made a few weeks ago. It has butterflies fluttering across the page. I know I am not the first one to think of that : ) I have seen many scrapbookers do that, three that come to mind specifically are Keisha Campbell, Jamie Warren, and my friend Rachel Anderson (lots of tiny butterflies - it was so cute!). And well, I suppose Hambly even has that transparency with the same look. Point being, I didn't make it up, but I think it's a common-ish look - so that's my disclaimer. What I do really like about this page is obviously the butterflies, the lovely Pebbles Inc. Floral Lane paper (love the texture), and that I did white on white butterflies on the top for texture and to bring interest up to the white expanse of cardstock. The butterflies and "I heart you" are Silhouette cuts.

Next up - a JBS August kit sneak! This little sneakie peekie shows some product from the project kit add on (button is from my stash). If you like gardening, growing fruits and veggies, farmer's market type stuff, then the project kit is for you.

Also if you would like to see pictures of the Jenni Bowlin Studio booth at CHA, my friend, Jill Sprott, directed us to see Shopping Diva's photos HERE.

This is the supremely awesome stash of vintage goodness my husband surprised me with in the mail today. I love love the little flower seed packet labels. And look at this cool, huge apples crate label. Thanks, sweetie pie ; )

This is a product you must have! This tape is by Cavallini & Co. This is for sale at Two Peas In A Bucket (image from Two Peas). It's 15.99 but it is SO WORTH it. Five rolls at 16 yards each, I think that comes to 20 cents a yard. It comes in a really cute metal tin, which you can see at Two Peas, that has a little molded bottom so all the rolls sit down in there well. Looks so cute displayed too.

A Vacation . . .

2011-07-18T08:36:00.003-05:00

So this is a layout I made about our Dallas road trip at the end of May. It's bright and fun and pretty self explanatory : ) I'm really enjoying that new Uniball Signo broad tip white pen. It's not really broad tip, I don't think, but it does write better than the regular one - very opaque - highly recommended if you haven't tried it. That quote is kinda cute and kinda true, I think. I can't remember any of their tantrums off the top of my head but I do remember what a good time we had. If I did want to remember their tantrums, which I don't, ha, ha, I would just go back and read about it on my blog and refresh my memory. There's a bit of journaling on the back of the tags. Thanks for looking!

My CHA Must Have List

2011-07-15T15:40:00.017-05:00

What I must have from the Summer CHA peeks

(all images are from each company's blog, except MME images from The Scrap Review. Click on company name for link to blogs)

From Jenni Bowlin Studio:

Doilies are available in red, cream, and black

Jenni Bowlin/Ranger:

From Pink Paislee:

From October Afternoon:

From Crate Paper:

From Webster's Pages:

From Studio Calico:

American Crafts/Amy Tangerine:

Pebbles Inc.

My Mind's Eye:

Lily Bee:

And I'll probably add a few more to my list because I know I must have forgotten some good stuff!

Little Miss Sunshine Layout

2011-07-14T08:32:00.001-05:00

This page was made using Studio Calico's May kit, Lawn Party. I made this page just as soon as the kit got to my house and then it just set there, waiting for the perfect pics. I had imagined sunshine and a sundress type photos . .but I didn't quite have any of those. I've been trying to get all my loose scrapbook ends tied up so that when my JBS August kit gets here I can focus on that. I was lovingly staring at this page and it dawned on me how cute the photos I just took of Ava the other day would work on this, especially with the pink shirt and blue wall in the background. I had more pics than I had room for so I decided to make some of them flip over and show the photo beneath. And that would give me extra room to journal on the back of one of the photos. I used my new 7 Gypsies washi tape for the "flip" mechanism ; ) And I kind of like the informal look of photos stacked on each other. The title text is from a J. Crew kids catalog. I hope you like it - I sure do - and I love it when that happens!

"Our Grandma" layout with JBS Haven

2011-07-12T17:19:00.002-05:00

I love this piece of cherries paper from Jenni Bowlin Studio. It's from the Haven line. This page was made using the June JBS Mercantile kit which included many things from that line. I wanted to make something with that piece of paper and as I looked at it, it reminded me of my grandma because she made my daughter the most beautiful applique cherries quilt a little over a year ago. I embroidered the cherries because I thought that would give them a little extra pop and because it reminded me of something she would do and like. I used three colors of red on the cherries.

I wondered if I had any photos of them simply being together and I came across this one that I had taken of them using my grandma's camera and printed it off. The title and journaling are about how she is both of our grandma's - but in different ways. My grandma raised me and so even though she was like a mom, she was always "Grandma," and now she's grandma to my daughter as well. I talk about how she raised me and now she is helping me to raise my daughter. Even at her age, she still tries to do things like someone 15 years younger than her would do. I think she wants to spend all the time with my kids she can. They still go to her house to play and they still spend the night occasionally. My grandma is really the best. I'm glad I have this page now.

Scraptacular Sunday

2011-07-10T20:30:00.006-05:00

I really love this page. There's just something about it. I like the way I did the photos, thanks to a Keri Bradford template. I like the detail on the lower left which was inspired by Zane's quilt and his pillow in the photograph. I like the journaling card and the fact that Adam found me a typewriter that works and was able to type this out for me perfectly spaced and aligned and all that. I love that cute little teddy bear sticker from October Afternoon. I love all the Silhouette stuff (yeah! I got a Silhouette, baby!). I'm just really happy with it.

10 Things I Love About You At Three. I kind of like this one too. I love love this piece of paper from The Girls' Paperie - it was one of my faves from Margie's line. I wanted scatter the journaling through the bouquets - cause I definitely didn't want to cover them up. And it was a nice bonus that the OA cards had the exact numbers I needed to go along with the journaling. And the journaling is pretty special to me as well.

Okay, this is kind of a funny. It's funny because 1. this was my son at 2 and he was crazy then and he still is. 2. He was in his Elmo und!*s and I pixelated that part out of my online photo. 3. It looks weird and painful but there wasn't a drill bit in there and my hubs was just hamming it up for Zane. I was inspired by Sasha at SC to do some embroidered circles. This isn't really my typical kind of page I don't think but I gave myself permission to be a little wacky with it since the photo was funny.

And finally, these are some pics we took today since I needed a new ~~mugshot~~ headshot and avatar. My daughter wanted in on it so we got the best pics of her! And I totally agree with my friend Anilu - hipstamatic is the miracle that makes me like photos of myself! And you know, that's really saying something. I took some of Zane too, but with the D70 and then I tried to get him to take a few hipstas and he was done. And I didn't photoshop that wall to match my shirt, lol, it's really that color in real life (not quite as violet - but very bright, happy blue). Just a seriously nice coincidence.

And finally, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the wonderful comments you all left on my last post about starting for the Jenni Bowlin team. That meant the world to me!

JBS Mercantile + Me!

2011-07-06T09:00:00.025-05:00

Oh my gosh, girls. I've been asked to join the JBS Mercantile team! I am so excited, thrilled, awe-struck, feelin' on top of the world! Can you tell? I even made my own "press release" collage to spiff up my blog announcement : ) This is a real scrappy dream come true! I have so much appreciation for the things Jenni designs and the design team she has in place to showcase them. And the team, man, those girls flat out rock! I remember when Jenni's products first hit the scene. There was nothing else like them! I've always loved going to antique stores and auctions and it was so cool to finally have scrapbook supplies that had that same feeling - two things I love, combined: vintage and scrapbook supplies. I've been getting JBS Mercantile kits for the last two years and I have never met one I didn't like! Really, this is just as good as it gets for me! I can't wait to get started!

Collage supplies: JBS label from JBS Mercantile, embroidered flowers by Kitschy Digitals, photo is Hipstamatic, everything else by Pugly Pixel.

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-05T02:28:00.002-05:00

Adam took this hipstamatic photo tonight at our neighborhood's amazing fireworks show. I just love it and wanted to use it to wish you all a little belated but very happy 4th of July! You can see the little moon watching from the right.

Scrapbook Room, Organization, Part 2

2011-06-30T21:13:00.009-05:00

So here are a few more photos of my scrapbook room. I store my twine in these ceramic and milkglass dishes. It looks pretty and it's easy to get, use, and throw back in there. I just got a ton of new vintage seam binding ribbon off ebay as you can see. I also have a stash of vintage wallpaper border rolls displayed in the glass vase. I am obsessed with wallpaper.

This is how I organize all my little vintage bits and bobbles. I'm not really a fan of plastic storage, but sometimes it just works the best and you just gotta go with it. I have the little openings kind of sorted by color or type. I have four of these stacked on the floating shelves. And most of this delicious stuff came from ebay.

This is another one of those not so pretty but pretty functional plastic things. Brads and buttons are my fave embellishment and I wanted all the brads together, standing, not falling all over the place, where I could quickly see what I might like to use.

This is something I am kind of excited to show you. These are the containers I had to make a quick dash into Ikea for last time we were road tripping in Dallas. These are found in the kitchen section and come in three sizes. Two are shown here, the more flat size and then the double thick ones I have shown on the end. So this is how I like to store my buttons, by color. Aren't these the best? They're pretty for clear plastic with the cream top/trim and you can see in through all sides and on the top. And they would go with either a vintage or modern kind of room.

Here's what they look like from the top. And they work so well too with the fold down handles. These are not available online, unfortunately.

This is just kind of a little thing - this is how I store my newest kit (for the record, I don't like the metal thing, that's temp). I like to do it this way because I can pick it up and carry it all over the house like if my family is downstairs. It looks nice too especially since I like to leave it out on my kitchen island sometimes. When I've used it a little and the next kit comes, then it goes into the super big zip lock, on the pants hanger, into my scraproom closet where I can go kit shopping later : )

So this little cabinet came from Ikea. It's called Alex (see below). I used to have all my punches and wood mounted stamps in this until I moved them to the floating shelves. Now this gets the mismatched punches, misc. ephemera, and wallpaper samples. Every craft room needs one of these. I would have more if I had the space.

So this one is pretty self explanatory : ) Alphabet stickers in an old crate. If you look closely you can see some dang old stickers back there that I just can't make myself part with.

This is one thing I really enjoy organizing my stuff in. I bought two of these jewelry organizers for my vintage jewelry and decided to use one in my scraproom instead for all the little stuff I don't want to forget about that I would normally store in my little, metal, cream Ikea filing cabinets (those are called Helmar, see below). It hangs on the end of my bookcase. The black bookcase is where I store all my cardstock and patterned paper in vertical cropper hopper containers, each with a label. Had a pic, now I can't find it, but you get the idea.

These are the pieces I have from Ikea that I really like (images from Ikea):

Alex drawer unit

Helmar drawer unit

I have three of these lined up next to each other, tucked under one end of my table. Also available in red. They also sell plastic organizers to go in the drawers. Since I have three of these I have a drawer for each color (little stuff), one for tags, and a few for holidays.

I know how we all love to look at scrapbook spaces so I hope you enjoy the second part of my scrapbook room tour : )

Scrapbook Room Part 1

Daddy's Girl Scrapbook Page

2011-06-28T17:55:00.007-05:00

I made this whimsical page about Ava and how close she is to her daddy using Studio Calico's Lawn Party Kit. So there's some Pebbles Inc. and Crate Paper here with a little Studio Calico exclusive paper. I think in all the years I have been buying SC kits, Lawn Party has been my fave. I've almost used it all already and that's unusual for me. And I am so excited to get started working with Paper Moon which I think will take position number 2. Wow, my hubs shirt looks neon - guess it kinda was. I did have a hard time getting the levels just so on this one. Thanks for checkin' it out.

Adam, Because of You

2011-06-19T09:00:00.008-05:00

I made this layout for Adam for Father's Day. (Adam, I hope you love it! I know you will and I mean every word). I got the idea for the journaling promt from The Dares challenge site. It was to make a layout that said, "Because of you . . ." That's really a super great journaling starter in my opinion. I want to make one for each of the kids too. Most of the supplies came from the Studio Calico June Kit - October Afternoon, Girls' Paperie. Chipboard stickers by Bella Blvd. I added some Echo Park. I tried to go a little cleaner with this one cause I love the photos and it's fun to do a different style from time to time.

So, Happy Father's Day, Adam. Like my journaling says, because of you I have the best friend I could ever ask for and my kids have the best dad I could ever imagine. The funniest little journaling line says because of you, "There are always tons of dirty socks to wash." And the little sticker says, "Live from your heart," and I really believe you do just that. Love you.

Ava's Pretending Layout

2011-06-14T12:56:00.000-05:00

Hey all. I just wanted to post one of the last pages I've completed recently. I've got about 4 on my desk that are partially complete - I'm so bad about that. I used a lot of Crate Paper on this one. The yellow floral is AC as well as the Thickers. The cut out printed flowers are Sassafras. Gold and pink doily is Hambly. This is about Ava pretending with her teapot and baby and then how Zane pushed her all over the house in the stroller (which is rare, he usually makes her push him on the little train).

Our Summer So Far . . Dallas Trip

2011-06-08T22:59:00.008-05:00

Day 1 - Six Flags. First day of our vacation in Texas at Six Flags. The weather was warm but not hot which is why we tried to go ahead and get down there before summer really got going. We got all lathered up with sunscreen and headed over (from our hotel, kids were so cute pulling their little suitcases, mama wants to remember that little tidbit, bear with me). Adam had bought valet parking and that was really nice - we just pulled up and got out. We started out in Looney Toons land. We rode a little ride first to get warmed up, the little muscle cars then the bus then the hot air balloon ferris wheel. Ava wanted to ride it all and did without much hesitation. So then we decided to try the little Looney Toons roller coaster and she liked it! She started giggling and yelling, "bubelagey," a crazy thing Zane made up from Bugs Bunny. Of course Zane liked it too. We rode it back to back.

Zane kept on and kept on whining about boat rides and at first we said no we were going in order but then we decided it wasn't worth listening to him whine and said okay. We walked and walked and when we finally got to the ride we discovered it wasn't there anymore. So we kept on and finally found the big huge raft rides. Adam didn't want to ride cause he didn't want to get wet (really? at Six Flags? Not get wet??) but all the rest of us wanted to so he was vetoed and we did. Zane and I got soaking wet and he giggled so hard when it happened and the more the other people giggled and carried on so did he and he would point and laugh and talk to them like he knew them! So funny, so not like me or Adam.

We stopped to get hotdogs and chilli cheese waffle fries. The picture looked so tasty but the fries we got were old and hard. Big bummer when you pay so much for that food. So both kids were getting tired at this point and we made a few pit stops and persuaded Zane to come on and find some new rides. We went over to the Spanish land thing and found the log flumes. We were all able to ride together. I went the first time but it kinda hurt my neck for some reason. The kids wanted to go again so I waited at the end and was able to snap a great pic of them coming down the waterway. Zane wanted to ride the roller coaster one more time so we walked around and did the carousel on the way. We rode the coaster three times in a row since there wasn't a line and we could just keep on going and going. Then we got ice cream that was ridiculously priced - 18.00 for three little cups. And it wasn't even that good.

Oh, it was a long but good day. Zane said his fave was the log ride and the raft ride. The kids were getting worn out but no major melt downs although Ava came close at the end. It was so nice to walk out there and our car be sitting right at the front waiting for us cause at the end of a Six Flags day, man, you're just draggin'.

We headed for Great Wolf Lodge. We got there and went to the restaurant and ate out on the balcony. The kids kept fighting over who could stand in which spot on the balcony. Kids melting. They got wolf ears with their meal and Zane started howling (and he's still wearing them around the house acting like a wolf - won't talk, only pant and shake his head - who knew these would be so handy! - I'm joking). It would have been fine but there was another family out there so he had to chill after a few howls. Zane got his customary piece of cheesecake for dessert (like the night before at the first hotel. As soon as we set our bags down he was like, how 'bout gettin' some food delivered to the room? Like cheesecake? And we got it).

Days 2 & 3 - Great Wolf Lodge. I asked Zane what he remembered most he said, "The big slide, the drain, when we went down backwards, and that pool with the floaties (the lazy river)." What I can remember: the fact that I hated to hang out in a bathing suit for two days in front of people (but I had to, for the kids, you know, the sacrifices we make! Ha!) and that the Pizza Hut pizza there was the best ever! Adam and I are still talking about it : ) I also think about how cute my daughter was in that little kid pool. I didn't think she would do the slides and she did. Over and over. Watching that little girl run up those stairs (frequently cutting in line) and down the slide with a smile on her face and being so excited to see me at the end, oh it was darling. She kept yelling, I do that blue slide agaaaain! Last year Zane was like that and in just 9 months she was like he was and he had moved on to the big kid's stuff. So I stayed with her in the little kids area and Adam and Zane did the rest of the stuff.

Adam and Zane went to do the rafts that go down the slides. They were doing the big one for quite some time until a new lifeguard came on duty and said Zane was too short. So they had to do the medium slide, which was still a lot of fun. We went to watch them come down and they came down backwards and both fell off and Adam kind of had to grab Zane (even though he had a life jacket on) and help him and Adam's glasses were gone (yes, we both know and agree, what a dork for wearing his glasses and not contacts - he forgot). So they spent some time trying to find them in that rushing water but it was impossible. We actually lost Zane for a few minutes despite our super parent efforts thanks to Zane's total independent head strong craziness (oh total heart stoppage freaking and telling yourself not to panic) and when we found him he had been asking strangers in the lazy river if they had seen any black glasses near the drain. Adam went to the car and dug his contacts out and we forgot all about it. Then later they went back and someone had found them in all that rushing water and set them on the table! Yeah, this might not be riveting reading for you (I know you're just scanning the pics anyway), I realize, but, well, it's my blog and that's the way it is (I'm joking).

Day 4 - The Dallas Aquarium. Weird note - I did not super coordinate our clothes - my only thought on that was to not put Ava in pink - kinda tired of scrapping pink so much. So we spent our last night at the Westin (got a bit of shopping in at the Galleria - Gymboree - everything 12.99 or less, oh yes. And PB where I got a new navy quilt and blue and cream striped beverage dispenser. Oh yeah, and we ate at Grand Lux Cafe and ate waaaay too much. Beignets, need I say more?) and got up the next day and headed for the aquarium. Adam and I didn't really want to do this but that crazy kid remembered the aquarium was in Dallas that we went to last year and insisted we go again. So we did. I have to say, if you go to the aquarium in Dallas, eat in the cafe there and get the taco salad - oh the best ever. Getting that taco salad is a new tradition for us (this is my best memory of that day!). Oh and another thing you should know is never go there on a Saturday! We had to go through that place in a line practically. But it's a neat place. I always feel a little sorry for the animals, but, back to the trip.

Zane says his favorite part was the sharks and the snakes. I asked Adam what he had to say about it and he says we just have a generally good time each time we go (hmmm, I'm glad I'm the one doing the journaling here ; ) but he's right). I asked Ava what she remembered about the aquarium and she said, "sharks are dere and stringrays are dere and squirrels are dere." Yeah, lol, cute but unreliable - no squirrels and she's just repeating Zane. I liked the stingrays for Zane cause they had them in a tank without a top you could look down in on them. Then we hit the gift shop in an effort to coax the kids out of there (does that make us bad parents?? - ha). Ava got a pink manatee and Zane got a hammerhead shark for his sea life stuffed animal collection.

So then we were going to head home. But . . . I had to run in Ikea real fast first! And I really did go fast. I had to get some more containers for my scrap room (going to post some detailrd storage pics very soon) and some more wooden hangers (I feel very pampered having all matching wooden hangers in my closet. There are just a few totally little things in life that make me feel great, that is one of them). So THEN, we started the drive home. With lots of candy. We ate at Wayne's Drive In in Lawton when we were almost back to Carnegie. And that's that. Good trip had by all : )

Their Fave Color Teacher's Gift Baskets

And well, if you are here for crafty reasons and you just had to scroll past all that, how about a little something you might be interested in? These are the teacher's gifts I made for the end of the year this year. I asked Zane's teachers what their favorite colors were and did colored gift baskets for each one. They each had a little flower bouquet, a pair of flip flops, an insulated cup, candy in sacks to match the basket colors, and gift cards. I tied ribbons on the sides of the handles and then they had the baskets to use as well. They seemed to like them - I know I would!

Just for fun, here is the stuff I got at Pottery Barn (all images from Pottery Barn):

Laura Quilt

Port Stripe Pillow

Blue floral embroidered pillow

Ceramic stripe drink dispenser

And that's all folks!

Decor8 4 Fall Scrap page

2011-05-22T17:45:00.004-05:00

Hello bright color and wild patterns : ) I just don't know what else to say about it. Except that my picture is making some funky pink cast on the right side PP. This was about my son helping us decorate the front porch for fall. I've told you before what a little holiday decorating nut he is - this time no exception. And he really makes it fun for me that way. Was into lining up the metal sunflower stakes and testing them out since they rotated in the wind. It was a good day for us.

Coloring Easter Eggs 2011

2011-05-18T16:55:00.008-05:00

Ugh. I've made the switch from Windows to Mac. It's been easy on the operations end but then I was trying to do CS5 and finally gave up and bought PSE 9 (thank goodness I got a super sweet deal on CS5). I have the book for CS5 and now I can take my time and figure that out while I get back to business with my pics. And I'm still going back and forth between Windows and Mac cause there's still so much stuff I need on my old computer and then I can't even remember how I've been doing things for the last two years! Frustration. That and the fact that my old computer won't stay on without being plugged in and gives me a warning message each time I open it and I have so many seconds to click to skip some kind of test thing it wants to run each time I turn it on - which is often since it dies each session. Computer troubles - we've all been there : ) Adam's was infected with a virus this week, like they thought it might be fried and the Geek Squad had to work on it. They had to run some kind of scan for like a day.

So anyway, these are obviously our coloring Easter eggs pics. I wanted to add the pics of them in their Easter clothes but man, this has to be good enough for today! : ) She had the prettiest solid yellow dress. But anyway, again. Zane wanted to double dip his eggs and at first I tried to get him not to cause I didn't want them getting all mucky looking but that's what he wanted and that's the fun of it - so, in the end he came up with the coolest colors. Ha - got one over on mama. He had one that came out blotchy and olive green so he called it the Ninja Turtle Egg.

And now I'm patting myself on the back just cause I got this far. No, no, I'm not cause I just realized I put 2010 on my collage and not 2011 - eye roll.

Check out this cigar box free printable!

2011-05-13T20:03:00.002-05:00

Two posts in one day! I have just discovered Cathe Holden. You have got to check out her blog Just Something I Made (Her work is in Country Living!). Then look at this vintage cigar box printable she has created for her readers! I must say as a vintage cigar box collector I think this is probably the prettiest one I have seen and now I get to create with it myself! And speaking of creative spaces, navigate your way to her studio - vintage amazingness.

On the CK blog!

2011-05-13T16:22:00.001-05:00

Alright! I just saw my scrap room on the Creating Keepsakes Blog! How fun! I really like all this talk going on over there about creative spaces! I have to get my hands on one of those special magazines. I saw it at Hobby Lobby the other day - looks incredible - especially since I "know" several of the ladies featured.

Basketball Game

2011-04-29T14:37:00.010-05:00

Paper Lust

A Boys Life: A Shark Box & A Wolf Tail | New Vintage Treasures

Tart Tins & Number Cards Garland for JBS

File Folder and Tags Project for JBS Mercantile

Vintage Bingo Card with Paper Rosette for JBS Mercantile

Little random stuff like the 100 year old kid & the exploding soup

The February JBS Mercantile kits are live!

We've got a new customer gallery at JBS Mercantile!

Valentine's Day Cones Created with JBS

New Jenni Bowlin Studio Goodness!

Guesting For American Crafts!

Happy New Year and Happy JBS Mercantile Reveal!

Tonight's the night!

Sneak Peek Time!

Merry Christmas!

Makin' Christmas Cookies & Happenings

Deck The Halls!

JBS Mercantile Dec Gallery Updates!

Time for December Daily!

JBS Mercantile December Pages

Mercantile Cyber Monday Blog Hop Winner!

Random Integer Generator

Mercantile Cyber Monday & Blog Hop

Happy Thanksgiving & Stuff

I love my daughter because . . .

JBS Mercantile November Layouts

My Silhouette & JBS Christmas Advent Calendar!

Just Life and a JBS November Sneak!

Simelle's Paper Party Winner!

Random Integer Generator

December Guest Designer for JBS Chosen From Crop!

Get your scrap on at the JBS Mercantile ScrapFest!

Peek of the papers used for Shimelle's Paper Party!

Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party & Giveaway!

It's The Great Pumpkin, A Bit of Shopping

Gallery Updates at the Mercantile!

October Days 4 thru 6 & Movie Clips

Beginning the Oct Album, Days 2 & 3

Gone Junkin' Mini Album for JBS October

October Daily: Day 1

JBS Mercantile October

JBS Mercantile Oct Sneaks Anyone?

Mixing JBS Goodies for Fall

Gone Junkin'

I Could Not Ask For More

Oh yes, even more pages with JBS Mercantile

Jenni Bowlin Studio Wall Alphabet Home Decor

A few more JBS September kit layouts

JBS Mercantile September Kits!

Back to School JBS layout

JBS Mercantile September Sneaks!

My travel mini album on the CK blog!

Zane's 1st day of Kindergarten & giveaway winner

Time to draw a winner for the JBS August Kit Giveaway!

Random Integer GeneratorHere are your random numbers:18 Timestamp: 2011-08-21 16:11:42 UTC

Random Integer GeneratorHere are your random numbers:18 Timestamp: 2011-08-21 16:11:42 UTC

Random Integer Generator

Giveaway! Giveaway! New JBS August kit!

"Thank You" card set for a friend

What we've been up to late summer edition

JBS page with the Artisan add on

Today's the day for JBS August Reveal!

JBS Mercantile August Sneaks & More!

Layout, Shopping, & JBS Aug. Sneak

A Vacation . . .

My CHA Must Have List

Little Miss Sunshine Layout

"Our Grandma" layout with JBS Haven

Scraptacular Sunday

JBS Mercantile + Me!

Happy 4th of July!

Scrapbook Room, Organization, Part 2

Daddy's Girl Scrapbook Page

Adam, Because of You

Ava's Pretending Layout

Our Summer So Far . . Dallas Trip

Decor8 4 Fall Scrap page

Coloring Easter Eggs 2011

Check out this cigar box free printable!

On the CK blog!

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:
18
Timestamp: 2011-08-21 16:11:42 UTC

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:
18
Timestamp: 2011-08-21 16:11:42 UTC