Oh my!

Between road trips and the holiday, I have been a bad blogger!  It has been SO hot here, and I pretty much hate hot weather.  I'm more of a fall, winter, spring sorta gal.  I was lucky enough to have a block of creative time and created a couple of layouts, but mostly I taught my little sister and her friend how to make handmade flowers and cards.  I think they are addicted to papercrafting now.

Since I think most blog posts without pics are useless, here is a picture of some of my new punches.  I picked them up on a few different trips to TJ Maxx and Marshalls.  Judging by the color, I think they originally came from Walmart.  Since I had been wanting some of them for a while, I snagged them at a great price.  When it comes to punches (or cute paper or ribbon or Thickers or....), I have little self-control.  What supply do you have a hard time passing up?

Paper Lace Ruffle

Remember my lovely new papers I posted about HERE?  I dug out some pictures I had been "saving" for a long time, my new The Girls' Paperie papers, along with some other embellishments I love to create this page.  I love how it turned out.  I was inspired by Ronda and her paper lace technique HERE to make my own paper lace ruffle.

Supplies used:

*paper: The Girls' Paperie

*punches: Martha Stewart crafts

*flowers & sticker title: K & Co

*journaling sticker: October Afternoon

*paper clock: My Mind's Eye

*small metal clock: The Paper Studio

*brad/turns: Making Memories

*staples: Tim Holtz tiny attacher

*ink: Colorbox cateye

other: sewing machine/pop dots

I also wanted to leave you with a little thrifty tip.  If you don't have much of or really like the paper you are using and want to make it last, use your paper trimmer or craft knife to cut out the center of the sheet that is covered up.  Just leave enough room for the sheet on top to be adhered to the background.  This will give you a section of the paper to use to make other embellishements like those punched butterflies I used.  I also like to write the date I completed the layout along with the supplies I used for it.  On this layout, I decided to journal on the back as well.

That Fuzzy, Wuzzy Feeling...

Don't you just love those Hallmark cards with the fuzzy velvet feel to them?  I was blown away when I realized I could reacreate that same effect on my pages and projects. 

Here's a little tutorial on how to use flock:

Supplies needed:

*double-sided adhesive runner (ATG or duck runner)

*flocking powder (Martha Stewart)

*chipboard (American Crafts)

*small plate/tray to catch excess flock (pampered chef

mixing bowl lid)

Apply your adhesive to the ENTIRE surface of your chipboard.  One way to assure full coverage is to use the "sticky" side of a piece of adhesive chipboard.  I did find that the duck adhesive covered more area and was a little flatter than my ATG 1/4 inch tape.

Place your chipboard piece on your plate/lid and use your finger to gently tap the bottle until the piece is covered well.

The chipboard should look like this when it is covered.  I did try my best not to "waste" any more flock than I had to (cause I'm stingy like that...hehehehe).

Take a small piece of scrap paper to lay on top of the flock pile and gently press to ensure the flock is stuck to your chipboard.  Pick up the piece and gently thump the back to remove the excess flock.  Gently press the flock down again.

The center butterfly is the original chipboard and the two on the sides are covered.  The color flocking powder I used is called Peony.

The one on the far left isn't covered.

I liked using this lid because it was easier to replace the unuse flock into the bottle.

I used the butteflies along the side of a picture with journaling spots on a page.

Thanks for visiting my blog today! Have you ever tried flock?

Are you going to now?  It's really easy. :0)

Sew Crazy

My poor sewing machine has been stored away in my paper trunk for some time now, since I don't have a good place to leave it out.  One of my sweet scrappy friends (who sends me scrappy goodies from across the country all the time) recently had a birthday, and I whipped out my sewing machine to create this lovely bag for her:

What do you think of my fancy display hanger? Shwanky huh? I was super impressed with the way the bag turned out, especially since I'd never sewn a ruffle on anything like this before.  I have a pink and brown one in the works for myself soon.  :0)

While I have had my sewing machine out, I've used it on every single sewing and scrapbooking project.  For this card, I used it alongside my Epic 6 machine and two of my Cuttlebug dies from Big Lots (only $2 each).  I made the banner with the "harlequin arlequin" die above and embossed with the "with gratitude" folder.  I'm kicking myself for not picking up more of the dies when they had them...I was hoping for the butterfly, houndsooth, and funky circles ones.

Lastly, I made these ribbon and crepe paper ruffles for my friend since she's a no-sew-Suzy.  Love how they turned out and plan to make some for myself next.  Btw...recognize that turquoise ribbon?  It's the color inspiration I used here.

Oh. My. Walnut. Ink. Sprays!

I stopped in Mike's last night with one of my 50% off register printout coupons in hand to purchase a package of Tsukineko Walnut Ink Antiquing Sprays.  They retail for $19.99 for the box of four, so with coupon they end up being just over $2.50 a bottle ($10 for the set)...not too shabby seeing as how glimmer mists and maya mists are somewhere in the range of $7+ per bottle at my local store.

The colors were crisp and fabulous! Exactly how I imagined Maya Mists would be.  I like how you can do splatters, a light spritz, or a dark spray varying the intensity.  I very highly recommend them.  My only gripe about them was that after about 12 hours of spraying them, the blobs were slightly damp. (eta: When simply misting, the ink dried quickly, but when I did the bigger splatters/blobs is when it took longer to dry.)  I'd recommend blotting lightly with a paper towel and waiting a couple of days before inserting into an album.  Click on the pic to see them close up. :0)

Have you ever tried any type of mists? What were your experiences? Which are your faves?  My other fave is Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Coffee Shop.  Love it!

Buy & USE stuff you LOVE :)

Remember when I gave some pointers for newbie scrappers? One of them was to save your money and buy paper you ABSOLUTELY love.  Lots of companies come out with products and lines I really like, but not all have things I love, love, love.  Here are some close-up pics of some paper I got to order for Mother's Day as a little treat.  I just want to wallpaper my house in some of them...aren't they gorgeous?  If you click on the pics you can see the product close-up.

October Afternoon's Fly A Kite paper

I LOVE their journaling spots & other stickers (although I'm not much of a fan of stickers anymore).  They are not slick like most other companies' product...they are more of a matte cardstock.

OA Fly A Kite & The Thrift Shop Wild Cards (so worth the splurge)

 

I ordered the entire collection pack for OA's The Thrift Shop line & got all of the paper embellishments above plus the paper below...isn't it fabulous & vintage?

Lastly, I ordered a pack of 2 sheets of each of The Girls' Paperie Paper Girl line.  I wanted some of the embellishments, but already had gone over my limit a bit and had to stop there.  I can't wait to use it and hand cut some of those amazing flowers out!

Aren't those die-cut papers wonderful???

So what product have you purchased recently (or not-so-recently) that you absolutely love?

On another note, my old self would have "saved" this paper for the perfect layouts

 & 2 years down the road, it would still be sitting in my paper trunk. 

My new self plans to use it. 

When I'm gone,

I don't want my albums to only contain all the "so-so" supplies

while all the fabulous ones were

"saved" for the perfect project that never was finished

(and therefore sold or donated to the thrift store). 

Get my drift?

USE your "good" stuff!

Saving

Sorry it's been a while since my last post.  I've been busy around the house and actually worked on two sewing projects.  Calling myself a seamstress isn't something I've ever been able to do, but hopefully that might change soon.  I wanted to share an old idea which has become somewhat new again and gaining popularity, since I've been talking about scrapbooking on a budget.  

Everyone loves a deal, right? I had been researching couponing a bit and then my dh came home one day after a visit to our local grocery in shock.  Two ladies in front of him had a huge buggy full of groceries with a total well over $200.  They provided their store card, a stack of coupons more than an inch thick, and were given their total of under FIFTY DOLLARS (yes, from $200+ to -$50...crazy, huh?)!!!  

A friend of mine who recently started to coupon gave me some sites she was given to find coupon links and deals which were broken down to the penny.  I'm out of printer ink, so I only had my newspaper coupons and store deals list when I went to pick up a few things.  I think I did pretty good, since I didn't have a clue what I was doing.  Here's what I got:

I got everything you see here plus:

-12 pk of toilet tissue

-(7) 2-liter drinks

-another powerade 

-deli creations sandwich kit

-pk of chicken thighs (@ 78 cents/lb)

-a warm, rotisserie chicken

and I'm sure there's something else I'm leaving off...

all for under $50 (that's OVER HALF LESS THAN my original

total before store card & coupons)...plus I got a free redbox rental code

& $2 in register rewards for my next visit.  Pretty sweet deal for a newbie, huh?

These are all things I will use or was out of, and I could have gotten a ton of more deals had I been able to print some online coupons.  I loved the feeling of saving and knowing I don't have to guess what I'm cooking for dinner this week.  Do you coupon? Would you like some more info?  I promise I'm not turning my blog into a total couponer's fiasco every week.  Saving money on things you are buying anyway leaves more for leisure activities & hobbies. :)  

Thanks for stopping by!