December Daily Sneak Peek

Last night I went through my stash of Christmas paper to use in my December Daily. I cut everything down to 8x8.

Today I worked on my cover. Everything used was in my stash and has been for well over a year. Very exciting :)

Anyway, it's late and I don't feel much like starting the computer up and uploading pictures so this sneak peek will have to tide you over until tomorrow.

And stay tuned for tomorrow. I'll show you how to make custom embellishments. I took lots of pics!

Prep time

I'm sitting in my bedroom cutting papers for my December Daily and watching The Walking Dead.

It seems a little weird watching zombies and playing with Christmas paper.

Package day

I got my new card kit in the mail today. Beautiful muted colors. I'm thinking anniversary/wedding cards.

Maybe I should get my behind in gear and use up my August kit up.

I think I can

My aunt made me think about something tonight. I was telling her that I had wanted to make albums of my dad for me, my aunt, and each of my grandparents.

Then I got to thinking about why I hadn't done it yet. My dad passed away very unexpectedly 7 years ago.

I think one of the problems is that you have to want to work on a scrapbook. That is one reason why I'm so behind on my sons albums. I got to the point where I felt I had to work on them rather than wanting to do it. And that feeling will put a wrench in any creativity in a second. That's how I got into card making. It was a break from doing scrapbooks yet still be creative.

The second reason is that it's still hard. Seven years later and I still miss him. I think about everything that's happened since he's been gone. And maybe that's exactly why I need to do it. And I'm almost to the point that I want to. Not yet, but close.

Halloween Mini

I finally had pictures printed for my Halloween mini book.

Take a peek!

Here are the costumes so far:
2008 - chunky monkey
2009 - little devil
2010 - lightning maqueen pit crew
2011 - bumblebee (transformers)

And this year he wants to be a wolf. I have no idea why he wants to be a wolf and so far it's been 4 weeks and he hasn't changed his mind.

Wolf it is!

Too early for Christmas?

Normally I would say yes. Yes. YES! It's waaaayyy too early to start thinking about Christmas. Only it isn't. Partly because I have Christmas-y stuff to make for my etsy shop. And I bought an advent calendar that I want to use this year and it needs to be ready by Dec. 1st. And I need to MAKE Christmas presents for family members.

One of my goals for next year is to start doing Project Life. Never heard of it? Basically it's a way to scrapbook your year without really having to scrapbook. There are page protectors that are separated up into separate compartments for journaling cards and pictures, memorabilia, and the like. Some people do a page a week, some do a month. The beauty of it is that YOU make it work for YOU. There are no rules.

What does this have to do with Christmas? I was also looking into doing a December Daily album this year. The December Daily is a mini album that documents each day in December. This project is more scrapbook oriented in that you can use papers, stickers, embellishments, etc but still incorporates the ideas of Project Life. I think the December Daily will get me in the mode to start Project Life.

You see, I'm not the best at observing the little things in life. And I have a HORRIBLE memory. I don't remember what I ate for lunch most days. And my little boy is growing up. He'll start kindergarten next year and I want to remember the little things he does. Project Life will help me document the sweet things and the no-so-sweet. For example, I want to remember that he was playing wolf the other night and we saved his wolf babies in the tent. He has such an active imagination. And I want to remember (or maybe not!) the massive meltdown he had yesterday...or today.

Wait. Where was I going with this post? See? Forgetful!

If I'm going to start a December Daily it would probably be best if I get my materials together and prepped before December begins. December is a beast of a month. Besides Christmas and Christmas shopping and Christmas decorating we have 2 birthdays and all of the rest of the Christmas rush. In a word: BUSY. Ideally I'll have everything put together so all I have to do is slap some pictures in, add some journaling, and voila! Done!

So while it is way too early to start thinking of Christmas and snow (yuck) it's a must for this girl.

Getting There

I spent the last 3 hours cutting and pasting code, inserting pictures, and formatting over and over again.

More items have been added to the Halloween and Fall page. I also posted in the Christmas Cards and Home Decor page. Lots of Christmas card sets and fun stuff. There is still more to add to that page that I will hopefully get to this weekend.

And...drum roll.....the majority of my other cards are now listed on the Cards For Sale page. Newer items are at the top and older items at the bottom. Keep in mind many of my cards will expire on the etsy site in about a month so they will be exclusive to the blog.

I'm open to suggestions as to the setup. I am in no means a web designer or even computer savvy. I'm lucky I figured out how to add a shopping cart and add HTML code!

I'll also post updates when new items are listed. :)

Now this girl needs to get a very tired little boy to bed. Night all!

New and Improved!!!

Hello readers!

Good news....I started updating the site pages with items for sale. Some are items that I have listed in my etsy shop and others are items that were listed at some time or other and the listings expired. In other words, you can only get them here!

Right now there are only 2 additional pages. Blogger is finicky about the setup so I had to separate everything by "pages". Basically means you'll have to click on the tab underneath the banner.

Notebooks and other gifts will be just that. I'll list my mini notebooks and other small items like my gift boxes. As of now only my mini notebooks are listed.

Halloween and Fall tab contains Halloween and Fall decorations as well as a few Halloween cards.

I have a Christmas and Cards tab that I'm working on but I currently have a ton of cards in stock and it is a slow and tedious process to list them. As of now those tabs aren't live but hope to be up and running this weekend.

There is also another glitch that I can't get around. Right now you can add all of the items in the shopping cart. However it will charge you shipping for EACH ITEM in the cart. So, if you plan on ordering multiple items contact me and I will adjust the shipping. In theory I should be able to just refund the extra shipping costs but if you'd like to know the total shipping amount before you place your order let me know and I'll let you know how much will be refunded.

The reason why I'm listing on this site in addition to etsy is that etsy charges me a fee for each item I list. The listings are only good for 90 days so if the item doesn't sell and I was to relist I have to pay the fee again. Now, my items are pretty low on the cost scale so that eats into what little profit I do get very quickly. Add to it the fee I pay once the item does sell then add my paypal fee. Well, you can see where I'm going with this. Some items I choose not to renew on etsy because of season. That's not to say that I don't love etsy and I think it will be the case with any site like it. The other reason is that not everyone wants to have to open an account on etsy in order to buy items. So there's that.

Let me know what you think of the new and improved site! 

This weekend has been busy. I spent 2 hours uploading new items to the etsy store. One day I'll have to do a post about how tedious it is to take decent pictures, write up my post, then list everything. It doesn't seem like it takes a long time but it does.

I ordered a ton of pictures that unfortunately did not come in this weekend. So I had to make do. Back in March my mom and step-dad took my son to the botanical gardens for an impromptu photo shoot. She printed a few of the pics and framed them and gave them to me for my birthday present. It was such a great gift. In typical fashion I had to have the rest of the pictures to scrap.

I've been using a lot of page sketches recently. I think it makes my pages look not only more polished but it takes a lot less time to figure out just exactly what I'm going to do. You can see an example in the picture above. Normally I grab the stack of pictures I want scrap and then start going through my sketches. The beauty of a page sketch is that you can change ANYTHING. I normally don't follow the sketches to an exact T but normally rotate this, tweak that, and they still end up looking great.

I'm not sure why these pictures ended up so blurry but you get the point. There is less than ideal lighting in my house. I use an Ott Light at my work table and I. Love. It. It was expensive but worth every single penny. The house only gets direct sunlight in the early morning hours and since the house is surrounded by trees the rest of the day is pretty shady. I get plenty of natural light in the kitchen but since the walls are such a horrid bright yellow the color tends to make everything look yellow. 

One of these days I'll have to repaint the walls but I have yet to find the exact color I'm looking for.

Oh, and I actually did some journaling! I hate journaling but I think it helps tell the story behind the picture. In the past I have done zero journaling and expect people to know what my pictures are.

Baby steps.

Updates

Please be patient while I make some updates to pages.

New to the blog:

• shopping pages for each category (cards, christmas, gifts, halloween, etc)
• new content hopefully on a regular basis
• more scrapbook layouts and stories

It may take awhile to add items to the sales pages. Most of the items are exclusive to the blog only (as in not for sale on etsy).

I always welcome your comments, suggestions, and requests. Contact me by email or by making a comment below.

In the meantime take a look around the other posts. I promise to be back up and running soon.

Like what you see? Become a subscriber! The link is to the right in the sidebar. :)

Remembering the little things

Tonight I spent some time taking my completed scrapbook pages and putting them in page protectors. It's something I've needed to do for some time.

I keep a book for each year of my son's life. His birthday is at the end of the year so I start each book with his birthday then Christmas and go chronologically through the year.

My dirty secret is that I'm waaayyy behind in his books. I still haven't done his baby book. I really don't have an excuse as to why I don't start it. I have all of the pictures and paper and pretty embellishments.

Where was I going with this post?While I was putting the pages in the protectors I was once again reminded of why I scrap. There were more than a few layouts that I had forgotten about. I was able to relive the first real vacation we took as a family. It's those little things that we forget about.

It was also nice to watch the boy look through them too. He has so much fun going through them as I'm sure he doesn't remember some of the places we've been and seen. And that is the reason I scrap.

Hurry up and wait

That's the story of my life. Too bad I'm an impatient person.

I started my chalkboard project tonight. You see I had this ugly dollar store dry erase calendar I used, let's see, NEVER. My plan is to repurpose it as a chalkboard.

When I got home I cleaned it up. There's about 5 years of dust build up on there. Yeah, I know, gross.

I took it outside, took a before picture with my handsome model's help, then proceeded to spray.

1. The spray smells. Bad.
2. It still smells 3 hours later.
3. If I would have waited another day I would have found acrylic chalkboard paint for cheaper (and probably less smelly) but again I needed instant gratification yesterday.

So now I have to wait until Thursday to give you any results. The instructions say to let completely dry for 24 hours. Too bad I have preschool orientation tomorrow night.

I guess I should mention that I used Krylon Chalkboard Spray Paint in black.

Pinspired

I don't know about you but I heart pinterest. Maybe too much.

Anyway, this weekend I walked past a dry erase calendar that's on the side of our fridge. Problem is we never use it. NEVER. It still has July 2007 as the date.

Um, yeah.

Then I got a bright idea that involves this:

My plan is inspired by many things I've seen on pinterest. I don't have high expectations as the board is old and from the dollar store. The plan is to use it as a board that we can write stuff we need to pick up from the store. The system we have now just isn't working. Mostly because if I don't write down that I'm out of Comet (true story) I'll forgot that I need to pick some up. And still haven't done so 3 weeks later. Because I forget things. I forget things so much that it really annoys the hubster.

My fear is that once I "chalkboard" one thing I'll want to do more, and more, and MORE!!!!

Rainy Sunday

It's been a rainy Sunday and I think this is how we're all feeling today. The hubs is watching football/baseball, the boy is playing with his dinosaurs in his room, and the pets are both sleeping (typical).

I don't mind the rain. In fact we need it...a lot. My garden is pretty much done for the season but the farmers need it badly. The only thing I'm waiting on in my garden is the red potatoes. They won't be ready for a few more weeks still.

I think it's time for a nap now. I see a big fluffy pillow in my future.

Back to Basics

Dear readers: You should all know by now that I love doing all things crafty. When I was young I was all about cross stitch. In fact I made the man of the house an awesome dragon and framed it for his Christmas gift. It even survived a fire. But that's a story for another day.

I started scrapbooking sometime around the time we got married. That would be 10 years, give or take. I did the wedding album, reception album, and a few things in between. Then it fell by the wayside. Then life happened. My dad died, my mom had a bad go with cancer, we moved, we had a kid, I started college…again. Life. And I still wasn't scrapping or even documenting what was happening. I didn't even take that many pictures of my son's first year of life. Mostly because I had a not-so-spectacular camera. I regret that to this day.

I realized all of life's important events that I was missing. So I dusted off the supplies, got a decent camera, accumulated a ridiculous amount of supplies, and started scrapping again. And then I hit a wall. I love my son and all but sometimes I need to work on something else. And that's where the cards come in. I love making cards. I love the smaller canvas. I love that I can whip something up in just a few minutes. Sometimes a few minutes is all I have. Sometimes those few minutes is enough for me to stop, create, and save my sanity.

So I became a card maker and not so much of a scrapper. Then I opened my etsy store. Then I started blogging. I still love making things, selling things, and blogging. Except now my scrapbooks have fallen by the wayside. I still haven't scrapped my son's baby pictures for goodness sake!

I guess what I'm saying is that I need to get my scrapping mojo back. I've been watching youtube videos of an awesome scrapbooker. She gets it. And I think she's inspired me to create more for me and not for others. This doesn't mean I still won't make cards. But it means I'll put myself first a little more. And it means you may get more stories about the why and how and things that inspire me and not just "here's a picture of what I made". 

I'd like to journal more. Not only in my layouts but just to journal the every day. Be more observant of what's going on. I might even start a Project Life book next year. Baby steps.

I'd like to take pictures of things other than the kid. I love the kid to death but I'd like to experiment more with taking more than "people" pictures. On the flip side, I'd love to take a picture every week (if not every day) of the kid just to see how much he's growing. It still amazes me the things he says, things he does, stories he tells, etc. I want to document those things for various reasons. He will be starting school next year and I realize he's not going to be my baby much longer.

Like I said, it will all be baby steps. And I hope you stick around to go on this adventure with me.

Click here to see the video that inspired me. Inspired this post. Inspired me to change some things.

Mini Albums

I found a bunch of unfinished chipboard mini albums when I cleaned out my scrap crap a few weeks ago.

I made a Christmas album out of this tree. It would have also made a cute camping mini album.

These albums are very easy to make. Each page was traced on paper and the images cut out. I used a glue stick as the adhesive to attach the papers to the chipboard. I find that the glue sticks work really well and have even coverage. Once the glue is dry the excess is trimmed off with a craft knife. The edges were inked with a corresponding cover. I think it adds a nice effect without overpowering everything.

I didn't add many embellishments to this book other than the wreath and letters on the cover. The letters were plain chipboard letters painted white. I wanted gold but had no gold paint :(. I sprayed the painted letters with gold glimmer mist. Once dry I coated them in crackle accents. I think it gives the letters a nice aged look. Ribbons were added to the binder ring.

I was on a roll so I also started a Halloween mini album. This album is larger measuring roughly 6x6.

The process was the same as the Christmas album. I added lots of embellishments. I was going to sell it in my etsy store but I like it so much I'm keeping it. Thought I could add a pictures of each of the kid's Halloween costumes. I guess that's the downfall of making awesome crafts. :)

Missed Opportunity?

Yesterday I had a message on my etsy page from a local woman. Basically she was organizing a craft fair for a local church and wanted to know if I wanted to be a vendor.

As much as it killed me to do so I had to decline. First off was the vendor fee. I know it was for a good cause but I don't make a huge profit of most of my items. Maybe I should raise the price points but that may be my insecurity talking. Even if I did make a profit I wasn't confident that it would cover the vendor fee. I also don't have much as far as inventory goes and since school started this week I won't have a ton of free time to work on specific projects....for now. I'll have much more time in the late fall/winter because we are homebodies and don't leave the house much during the cold months.

I guess the other part of me declined was simply fear of the unknown. I'm afraid people won't like my stuff. I'm afraid people won't BUY my stuff. Right now I just sell on etsy, some of my family, and a few of my co-workers. It seems sort of anonymous.

I also declined because as of now I have plans on having a table at the Shop for SIDS event in November. Maybe once I dip my toes in the water my fear will go away.

I feel like a hoarder

My confession: I have reorganized my scrap space twice in two weeks. I found not one, not two, but three unopened packs of glue sticks. I feel like a hoarder. Maybe we should play "Where's Waldo" but with glue sticks and not Waldo.

And so I now present to you my secret shame with all of the dirty details:

top box has random embellishments; cart has rub-ons; white/clear embossing powder and heat gun; mists and masks; chipboard pieces and random items

reference material; magazines; idea books; finished layouts (in giant ziplock bags); pictures; paper

texture boutique; lots of glitter; random stuff; stickers; stamps; and more stamps

the whole enchilada - lots of paper; green box has finished cards; cart with more stuff; black container is filled with 8x10 paper



lots of chipboard letters; paint pens; oh look glue sticks



lots and lots of punches



buttons separated by color; eyelets; brads



lots and lots of ribbon. there may be 2 or 3 layers underneath what you see



oh look - more chipboard letters

desk



card stuff; trimmer; 6x6 paper pads; scoring board; scrap paper box; organizer with ink, stamps, and washi tape

So there you have it. All of it. Well, maybe not all of it. I know there is still stuff lurking upstairs. One day at a time. :)

How long can I keep it cleared of paper???

My scrapping area is finally clean! I'll post a few pictures every day with an explanation of what everything is.

This is my desk. On the top shelf sits my pencil cup filled with my most often used small tools. Pencils, gel pens, stylus, bone folder, tweezers, craft knife, paper piercer, and scissors.

The pink tin thingy (Upcycled planter) holds all of my different adhesives. I have a few tape runners, various sizes of glue dots, liquid glue, matte medium, etc.

Next up is my baby, my pride and joy, my most awesome piece of machinery, otherwise known as my Silhouette Cameo. It's a die cut machine and so much more. I can use computer software to manipulate files as well as edit and design my own stuff. If my house were on fire I would go back and save it. On the other side is a small jelly jar filled with various jewels. My swatches finish out the top shelf.

The basket on the bottom holds my versamark ink and mounting blocks for my clear stamps. I use these a lot and I hate digging around for them. I also have my dimensional adhesive, otherwise known as pop dots. Precut cards and a few other items fill the basket.

Next is my handy dandy bottle caddy filled with glittery stickles and liquid pearl goodness.

The small drawers are filled with washi tape, small ink pads, gaffer tape, markers, misc tools, and various refill blades.

The container next to it has various pieces of stuff. I don't know how else to explain it. I'll take a few more detailed pictures tomorrow. The lighting is bad so I apologize in advance.

To top it off is my self healing craft mat. It has all sorts of measurements on it which makes it easy to line things up.

So there you have it for now. This is where the magic or epic failures happen!