Color Inspiration #32

Another fun color challenge from Kristina at www.kwernerdesign.com.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Whisper White, Riding Hood Red; Patterned paper: SEI Alpine Frost; Stamps: Organice Outlines (SU) and another set that I don't know the name of for the "be merry"; Ink: Riding Hood Red, silver; Other: Dazzling Diamonds glitter, rhinestone stickers.

25 Days of December, NEW

When I started the first version of this album (which is a gift), I liked it so much that I decided I would have to make my own. I admit I really struggled with it though because I think somewhere along the line I have come to believe that scrapbooking and making cards has to be for a purpose. Up until this point I never understood the purpose of mini-albums. My mind really was in a tug-of-war over doing this album just for us because well, it's "just us". I'm not ready to share that story yet, but I'm really starting to learn that Quent and I are a family with just the two of us, and that's just as important if we had 10 children.

I finally decided that I would make this album, so I ordered the needed supplies and got to work:


The album is by Fancy Pants. It's an 8x8 D-ring album. Ring albums are my favorite. I would be perfectly content to never use post-bound again.

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2: There's a couple of frames throughout this album. I've only glued one side down so I can slide a picture in later.


I tried to coordinate the colors of this album. The main products used:

-SEI Alpine Frost Collection and accessories
-Teresa Collins Christmas paper, tags, numbers, etc.
-Stampin' Up! Organic Outlines stamps
-Clear Scraps http://www.clearscraps.com/

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3: I'm pretty sure it the instructions that came with the acrylic sheets said you can emboss on them, but I would recommend not doing that. Ha! It warped.

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6: You are probably wondering where 5 is...I am too. Haha! It must have snuck by! You can see the back of it there.

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7: This is flocked blue snowflake paper.

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9: Transparent overlay

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16: This is another acrylic page, not embossed this time. The beautiful rhinestone swirl looks so pretty on it!

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23-Back

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25: I didn't need to use a circle number since there was already on on this page.

This is the back and some page protectors I don't plan on using for this project. My thought is that I will add more 25 Days of December pages in the next couple of years.

Papertrey Ink

Because of the gorgeous creations by Ashley, Dawn, and Kristina, I was curious enough to look at Papertrey Ink's website tonight. I have seen beautiful stamped images, ribbon, paper, etc. on Ashley, Dawn, and Kristina's sites and now I SEE it on Papertrey's site...for purchase. Please, someone hold me back, tie my hands behind my back, and hide the keyboard AND the mouse. It's SO tempting!!!! Seriously, I feel like a traitor to Stampin' Up! for even gawking (ok, and drooling) over this stuff. But I have to say it's beautiful! I really like this company because they are up-to-date in what's "cool" and they have such simple, yet elegant style. I highly encourage you to check it out...if you haven't already! *wink*

Christmas Wreath

I first saw an idea for this on Ali Edwards' blog, in which she linked Elise Blaha. I thought it was such a neat wreath and right away my mind was churning away on ideas of making my own. I'm in a festive mood this year, and I'm turning into the "arts & crafts" woman. It's been so much fun!


The fabric is Amy Butler designs, which I ended up ordering from ebay. Since Amy doesn't have Christmas fabric (not that I know of--link me if I'm wrong), so I picked fabric colors that were close to "green" and "red". Who made those the traditional Christmas colors anyway? Ha!

This is what I did for the wreath project.

1. Ordered fabric.

2. Made my leaf shape template which I traced 24-25 times on cardboard; cut out leaves.

3. Cut out fabric pieces. Most of these were arranged so certain shapes and colors would be on the leaf. I cut the fabric about a 1/2-inch away from the leaf.

4. Adhered fabric to cardboard. This was tricky. My first thought was to use Zip Dry, but that doesn't work well for fabric, so I ended up using the Scotch adhesive gun. A hot glue gun would probably work best.

5. It wasn't in my initial plan, but I used my sewing machine and sewed around the entire leaf. (Which I'm so glad I did!) After awhile I realized that the needle was collecting glue from the adhesive. (I'm imagining those looks of, "I can't believe you are gunking up your needle!" Ha!) So after awhile I didn't adhere on the sides of the leaf and just sewed slower.

***It's all trial and error, right?***

6. Slept (that was a lot of work!).

7. Spread out the leaves in the wreath pattern. I laid 6-7 leaves in a circle pattern, leaving enough room in the middle for an open space. Then I layered leaves on top of that. I ended up with 5 extra leaves.

8. Glued with hot glue gun (which I bought an hour before).

9. Glued on buttons.

10. Drilled (yes, drilled!!) a hole in the top of one of the leaves and put ribbon through.

This project was SO much fun and I'm super excited about it!! My first thought was to use this as a Christmas card holder, but it's not big enough so I will leave it as is. Now I'm looking for a card holder idea. I found one here today...I just might try it.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

Hello there! Do you have all of your food for the feast? Are you ready?


This is probably the most simple card I have made in oh...a long, long time! I think it needs glitter or something. Ha! I found the idea here.

This is what my work table looks like today. It looks like this most of the time, until I finally decide to clean it off and start fresh. I have a lot of projects going on; it's been fun!

This is the floor next to my desk. I work in PILES! Ha!

This is the little table where I keep my paper and magazines, and whatever other stuff I can cram onto it when I have projects going on. The Ziplock holds unfinished Christmas cards...*blush*. And Amy Butler fabric...oh yeah!

Hopefully sometime today I will be posting some pictures of a project I have been working on. I'm super excited about it and I can't wait to share it! Stay tuned...

25 Days of December Cover-2

I've posted some of these pictures before, but this time I wanted to post them again as a complete project, well, as complete as you can get without adding pictures and journaling. I first talked about this project here and here.

To save your eyes from trying to focus too much on the images below and in the next few posts, I would NOT click on the photo. I'm still learning the camera techniques when taking pictures of such things in the gloomy darkness. Haha! I repeat, do NOT click on the images.

I gave you a fair warning...


Cover

Inside the cover: I will journal on the left side. This is going to be a gift for someone...

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