I. LOVE. FALL.

Seriously. Isn't this the cutest mini bundt cake ever??? I've seen these mini bundt pans at Fancy Flours before and not known what to do with them. Now, I almost have to have them.

Ack!!

I just noticed that 2ps redesigned their website (again!!) and now the pictures of my SPS cards and layouts don't show up on MIM since I linked to the 2ps photos. Ack!

But you can still see them up on my gallery there if you'd like.

Craft Fair Mania

Well, I said I was going to sell paper bag albums, cards, gift albums, and a couple premade scrapbook pages at the craft fair, since I already had them done. And I am. But.... add to the list a few more things:

• Accordion albums in a tin
• Circle mini albums

You see, I made an altoid tin accordion album before I left for TX and I love how it turned out. But we just don't have that big an Altoid addiction. So when I got back last week I thought I'd post on Freecycle and ask if anyone DID have an Altoids addiction and wanted to give me some tins to play with. A couple days later I got an email from someone saying that they had a bunch of tins that Swiss Army knives came in. They're similar in size to Altoids tins, but don't have a hinged lid. They also don't have color or writing on them that I'd have to paint over, just a small logo on the lid. So I went to pick them up and they're PERFECT!! AND he had 45 of them. Jackpot!! So I've been making accordion albums and playing like crazy and loving it. And I've only been using scrap paper, so they've basically been free for me to make. Score! If I don't sell all of them (I've made about 7 so far) at the craft fair, I'll put them on Etsy, since I really need to get busy and put new stuff in there. I've sort of let it lapse so far. Oops.

The circle albums are made with coasters I got at Walmart on clearance. I got 12 coasters for $1 and I can get 3 books out of those, since they're just 4 page mini albums. I got a ton of them - enough for 15 or so albums. Today I've been making some of those. Have I mentioned how much I love my circle cutter? And Staz-on ink? These albums are going together so quickly and I think they're really cute. Hopefully the people at the craft fair will too.

So there you have it. I wasn't going to make new things for this fair... just sell what I'd already made. So much for that. But at least I'll get a feel for what sells and what doesn't and maybe, just maybe, I'll branch out and gain a little confidence in myself for selling the things I make. I hope so.

Now to figure out how to set up my display. Any ideas from you pros?

Sweet Pea Scraps August Kit (part 2)

Cards made with the August kit. I love how these cards turned out!! I still have plenty of leftovers from the kit, too, so I will be making more cards with these glorious papers!!

Apparently, I need help.

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Sweet Pea Scraps August Kit (part 1)

Whew! I've been back from Texas for a week now and it's been nonstop craziness! My uncle is in town for a week and the LSS open house was on Saturday. What crafting time I have had has been spent on projects for the craft fair in October. But I never did post my projects from the Sweet Pea Scraps August kit. I just uploaded them to 2ps (at least some of them... still have a couple more to stitch and post, thus the "part one" in the subject line) and my September kit has now arrived, so I decided it's time.

Fun, fun, fun

Okay... so I'll double check with my mom, but let's tentatively plan on Thursday evening at the Bitikofer home for scrapbooking. (And Jaime, you're definitely invited! It will be good to see you again.) We'll do the same thing we did last time... bring your craft and a snack to share and we'll meet around... 7ish? Feel free to come later if you need to get kiddos into bed first. And we'll craft to our little hearts' content. =D

Oh yeah... I'll check the blog, but to get in touch with me, email me (I think most of you have my email) or call my folks' house. They're in the phone book.

VOTE!

Okay girls, when do you want to have our little scrapbooking get-together? Dana's out for Tuesday night, so what about Thursday, or Friday (23rd, or 24th)? Place your vote below (via comments...)

• Thursday, August 23rd
• Friday, August 24th

I leave tomorrow for TX. Woohooo!

Eeeeeeek!!!!

That's an excited eeeek, if you can't tell. You see, I'M GOING TO SELL MY CRAFTS AT A CRAFT FAIR!!!! I'm so excited. I was literally bouncing with excitement earlier today, as my mother (from the other end of the phone) can attest. I've looked into craft fairs before and have been discouraged by $125+ entry fees. That was more than I wanted to invest for my first dip in the craft fair pool. But as I was researching fall activities (such as corn mazes), I came across this place having a one-day craft fair. It's October 27 (mark your calendars!!) and they still had space available, so I called them up to get some details. It's a $25 entry fee, with unlimited space - you just have to bring your own table. WOW! So I signed up. I'm so excited. So, so excited.

My Muse...

My muse did send inspiration yesterday afternoon when I pulled out my SPS kit and started creating. Once I got over the fact that I could indeed cut the beautiful papers in my kit I was raring to go! I'll have to get scans/photos of my work yesterday, but I got 2 one page and a two page layout done. Then this morning I got up and finished another one pager. Now I've got about 30 minutes before we head out to dinner, and Leif said he'd watch Ellie while I crafted. So... I'm off to see what else my muse has for me!

And so I sit....

So here I am, in my craft room, just sitting. I've carved out the whole afternoon for crafting and even have someone coming over to craft with me in a bit. Ellie is sleeping, dinner's in the crock pot cooking, the house is clean, and I have 3 clean craft tables to play at. I've got my marvelous SPS kit here, still untouched. The world is my playground and still I sit. I have no idea what the deal is. I'm just not inspired. Sheesh! I've been a craft maniac lately, working on stuff and cleaning up after myself. Yesterday alone I made 4 cards and 5 layouts for the scrapbooking store. Then I made another attempt at an AIO baby diaper (more on that later...). But today, when I've carved out the time to craft? Nothing.

Who wants to play?

So I'm heading to Longview in a couple weeks (I'll be there from the 18th to the end of August)... Anyone want to have a scrapbook night? Let me know and we'll plan something...!

It's like Christmas!!!

Today I feel like a kid sitting under the Christmas tree, having just opened his gifts, not knowing which to play with first. I love Christmas!!! And today feels just like it (minus the glitzy tree, of course...).

First off, my mother in law came to visit today and she brought my Sizzix order. Yippeee! We played with it a bit this afternoon to find that the dies and the embossing folders work in my Cuttlebug, as I suspected they would. Always good to be right after ordering something in hopes that it will work!!

And when I checked the mail today? Jackpot!! The motherlode of Purple Onion Stamps has arrived!!! One of my favorite things about Purple Onion, too, is that Michele always throws in a few extra stamps for free with your order. So even though I knew some of what I was getting, opening that envelope is always a surprise! Yeah... I just got done applying the pressure sensitive adhesive, so they'll be ready to play with in the morning! Woohoo!

But that's not all!! Also in the mail came... a circle journal!!! That layout I did months ago for Andrea's Music journal finally has a home!!! And I have to say that her journal is AWESOME and now I'm even more excited to get my own back!!!

Oh yeah... and yesterday my Sweet Pea Scraps kit arrived! I pulled everything out and caressed it lovingly before I put it away until I have a little more time to play with it. It's beautiful!!

*sigh* I love days like this. Anyone up for some eggnog?

*SO* excited!!

I am *so* excited!! For several months I have been thinking about subscribing to a kit club, just to try it out. It's been on my to do list for a long time (like participating in a CJ and submitting for publication) and I finally did it. I knew that if I went for a kit club I'd subscribe to Sweet Pea Scraps, since that's what Julie's been doing since she closed down her LSS here. I miss the Thursday morning crops at her store!! So... a couple days ago I signed up for a 3 month subscription, since I *LOVE* the August kit and the September sneak peek looks awesome! And it looks like I get my kit TOMORROW!!! I am *so* excited.

I also ordered stuff from Purple Onion Designs recently, including a stamp that is the signature Hambly flourished circle. I can't wait for that baby to arrive!!

I also put in an order from Sizzix for some dies to use with my Cuttlebug, so those should be on their way via my mother-in-law at some point in the future, too.

All in all I am really excited for new stuff to play with! I know I already have a whole craft room FULL of stuff to play with, but I can't help overflowing with anticipation for more, LOL! What can I say? It's an addiction...

Effer Dare #71

A while back I decided I was going to do the Effer Dares one at a time, in order. That was when they had about 15 of them and I did the first four in one week. Now they're at #71 and I've given up on doing them in order, so I just jumped right in with this week's. This challenge was to use fabric on your LO. Now, I know that my MIM challenges weren't nearly as cool as the Effer Dares, but I just have to say that I did post this exact challenge last fall right here on this blog. I did not, though, use the same LO for both challenges, and I made a whole new LO for this one. I used flowery fabric I bought as a remnant just for scrapbooking! I love the brown, red, yellow, and blue combination. The title letters are Heidi Swapp, and the felt flowers I made by stamping the Rhonna flower on felt and then cutting them out.

Oh. and I tried to use the blog feature of the new Dares site to upload the layout, but something weird happened and it showed up on the main page (hey! I was on the Dares main page!! my claim to fame!) and didn't even have the photo up, so I deleted the entry. However, I can't figure out how to delete the faulty photo upload post, so I am still up there, looking like an idiot. Oh well! Maybe someday the site will be fully functional and they will delete my post for me. In the meantime, it's midnight and I really ought to head to bed. G'night!

I WON!!!!

Just for kicks, I decided to participate in the Caardvarks Junk Bowl Micro Challenge the other day. And I won!! I never win anything, and I wasn't *thrilled* with my entry, so I was surprised to get up this morning and see my name as the winner. Woohoo! Thanks, Caardvarkians!

I'm on a roll...

I don't know what's gotten into me. If I were 9 months pregnant, I'd call it nesting, but since I'm NOT I'm just going to chalk it up to insanity.

My craft room is still clean. But that's not the insane part. The crazy thing is that I got my recipes organized and planned out meals until I head to TX in 2 weeks. AND... I cleaned out and reorganized the pantry. Then we went to Sweet Pea (*WOW* btw).

... and when we got home from Sweet Pea I cleaned out the fridge! Now, this isn't your throw-away-the-moldy-food average cleaning. No... this was the pull-out-all-the-shelves-and-deep-clean kind of fridge cleaning. WOW!! The inside of my fridge is sparkling clean!!!

So what's on today's list? Well, if I keep up the motivation, I need to clean (as in vacuum and spot clean) the back seat of the car where Ellie's formula has leaked all over and gotten crusty. Ewwww! I also need to buy groceries. Maybe I'll get that done while she's sleeping and Leif is working on his thesis today. Hmm... that's an idea.

Okay! Off to get more done! I can't believe I'm on a roll here... it's completely insane.

Day Two...

Not only did I scrapbook AND make a couple cards yesterday, but my craft room is still clean. Yes, I put everything away when I was done using it, including paper scraps.

And in the rest of the house? Well, I've got the dishwasher running, the laundry put away, and I'm getting ready to go put my newest menu mailers in the book and plan meals for the next little while.

Last night we had a menu mailer crock pot meal (love that crock pot! the house smelled wonderful all day!) but tonight I don't have to cook dinner because... IT'S SWEET PEA! We're going to go see the show tonight, and I'm picking Leif up from work, so I imagine we'll either eat at Sweet Pea or grab something quick in town.

Also, on a food related note, I'm back on the Spark Wagon and working on day 2. Life would be great if I can keep all of this up for the next couple weeks! Maybe I'll even get back to Fly Ladying. Wow. That would be something.

Anyway- off to plan meals!!

That's more like it! (Caardvarks Micro Challenge - Junk Bowl #2)

After my first, somewhat unsatisfactory, attempt at the Junk Drawer challenge, I went back to my craft table to see what was left of the pile. From the remains I pulled a shard of ric-rack, rhinestones a plenty, an eyelet, and a couple clips, as well as a half-completed card face that got thrown into the reject pile when I was experimenting with card ideas for my card classes this summer. Then I put them all together and came up with this. Yes, THAT's more like what I was looking for.

Caardvarks Micro Challenge - Junk Bowl

See this jar? It's got little things in it that need to be put away. These are the few goodies that didn't get dealt with when I cleaned my craft room earlier today.



Lucky for me, a micro challenge was posted over at Caardvarks this afternoon and it specifically called for cards made from such a stash as this. Good thing I didn't put absolutely everything away, isn't it? So... let's see what we have in this little jar of mine, shall we??



Flowers, rhinestones, GOBS of white paperclips, some random brads and snaps, a couple beads, a couple mini tags, a bookplate... There was NO WAY I could use ALL the paperclips. No way. But I did use quite a few of them. It's cheesy, busy, and the heaviest card I think I've ever made. It might even be the ugliest card I've ever made. But I'm entering it anyway, and it was a fun challenge. So here is the final messypiece....

Prepare to be AMAZED!

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have been in my craft room.

I was there late last night.

I was there this morning before my daughter woke up.

And I have done marvelous things.

What be these marvelous things, you ask? Well, let me tell you. I CLEANED MY CRAFT ROOM. All 3 tables picked up. Floor vacuumed (that in itself is a miracle!). And this afternoon... I played. I actually sat down at my newly cleaned table and made a scrapbook page. It has been a good, good day, Ladies and Gentlemen. A good, good day.

1 Paper = 12 Cards...

A while back I bought a sheet of Scenic Route patterned paper. It was black and cream and had strips of different patterns and words across it. Tonight I pulled it out and decided to see how many cards I could make out of it. I got 12 cards from that one sheet, plus cardstock, stamps, and embellishments. I got some that were totally different from my normal style and I love them! This was such a great project for me to branch out on.

Okay. Without further ado, here are the dozen:


These are the first two that I made and, yes, they are very similar. I embossed and inked the cardstock, then added the pp, ribbon, rhinestones, brad, and ghost heart.


This is not that different from my usual style and, interestingly, is my least favorite of the bunch.


A birthday card in my attempt at an Elsie / Nisa Fiin style. I made that scalloped edge all by myself! I hand drew, colored, and cut it out and it marks the edge of the card front. The little hearts in the title are inspired by Heidi Grace. The font is Skinny Dip by Purple Onion. It's perfect for cards!


Another attempt at Elsie. I really like how this card turned out! I colored the SR pp and cut out one of the "hello"s into a little word bubble shape. Again, the scallops and doodles are mine, ala Elsie. This might be my favorite.


After I mastered the hand drawn / cut edges, I decided to try a stamped and cut out edge using one of my hand carved stamps. For this card I colored in the circles on the pp.



These two are Heidi Swapp inspired (and I used her ghost flowers) and I love the Thank You card. The little pink flower between the words is one of my handcarved stamps, also. These are simple cards, but I like the black and pink color combo along with the pink flowers. Very Heidi.


I don't have a whole lot to say about this card. I like it, but it's just a birthday card. It would be good for a boy.


I love these Purple Onion stamps! In fact, I just ordered more stamps from them and I think I got the set that accompanies these flowers... I love them!


Hee hee! I love this card too, but mostly because I think it's clever. It's a birthday card and it says "Going Up?". I do think it's funny.


This is the other card that might be my favorite. This color combination (teal and olive) is my new favorite. I love it. I especially love the teal Staz-On pad I got a while back. I honestly wish I had a Staz-On ink pad in every color. But I don't. *sigh* I used the Purple Onion flowers again and the large circle stamp is another one of my handcarved ones. I use this one a lot, though I haven't lately.

Anywho, there you have it. A visual summary of my evening. I'm pretty happy with how the cards turned out and now I have a stock pile again. Now... if only I'd spent that time cleaning up my craft room like I was supposed to....

Caardvarks Challenge - Ravishing Ribbon part 5

So... this card is getting entered just for kicks. The wide green strip on the card is ribbon. The rest is my attempt at doing a card "Elsie style". I hand drew, colored, and cut the scalloped edge. The pp is Scenic Route, stamps are Purple Onion, and the star is Heidi Swapp.

This card is also part of my attempt to get as many cards as I could out of a single sheet of SR paper. I made 12 cards using a single sheet of patterned paper, plus cardstock and embellishments. I was pretty happy with that, and I got quite a variety of cards from it!

Caardvarks Challenge - Ravishing Ribbon part 4

I saw a tutorial on how to make ribbon flowers and that started me on a HUGE ribbon flower kick. It's basically all I've been crafting the past week. Lots of cards. Lots and lots and lots of cards going on in my craft room. Combine the new love for ribbon flowers with a new HS stamp, a new Sizzix embossing plate (that I learned works great in my Cuttlebug) and a few paper scraps and you get this card. I'm pretty happy with it and the kind folks at Caardvarks DID leave a comment saying I could enter as many cards as I wanted, so... I'm adding it to the line up!

Caardvarks Challenge - Ravishing Ribbon part 3

Inspiration struck last night, so I raced to the craft room to get my idea onto paper, er - cardstock. Another wedding / bridal shower card, but I love how it turned out. This ribbon challenge is great for getting my creative juices flowing!

The specifics:

This is a free form dress card cut from white cardstock. I sewed across the bottom of the neck/top of shoulders to form the card hinge. The dress has a silver embossed design, with an off-white script overlay (basic grey) over it. The ribbon ruffles at the bottom of the skirt are attached to the overlay, as is the stamped sentiment. The overlay seam is at the waist of the dress and is covered by a bow. The veil is made from a doubled over wide organdy ribbon gathered and sewn, and a scallop of lace for the top. I was trying to give the illusion of a bride walking down the aisle after the ceremony (thus the back of the dress...). I don't know if I succeeded in that, but I do like how the card turned out.

Here are pictures of the card:



I had some detail pics, too, but blogger seems to be having issues with my photo uploads, so I'll just have to post those a little later.

Caardvarks Challenge - Ravishing Ribbons part 2

Rumor has it you can submit more than one card for the Caardvarks challenges, so here's #2. Again, four different kinds of ribbon, but more traditional uses this time. Plus flowers, Quickutz letters and Purple Onion stamps. The "BABY" arrangement is one of my favorite new techniques... the letters and flowers are held together only with ribbon laced through the flower centers and around the stem of the letters. Pretty fun if you ask me! I adhered the word to the card using glue dots. Most everything else is attached with machine stitching, except the other words, which are embossed on acetate and attached with staples. Now... if only I knew someone who was having a baby girl...

Caardvarks Challenge - Ravishing Ribbon

Well, I decided to participate in this week's Caardvarks challenge. The challenge is to use ribbon on a card. I decided to try to use ribbon in a way that I hadn't before, and I ended up using it a few new ways! Here's the card...


... and a detail shot.


I used four different kinds of ribbon for this challenge. First, I used a narrow ribbon and eyelets to make a scalloped edge for the card. Then I used a wide, funky, sparkly ribbon as the background, over the white cardstock. I've had this wide ribbon for for-ever and I've never really known what to do with it, but I love it. Then I used some black grosgrain to transition from the ribbon background to the scalloped edge, and I stamped a (handcarved original!) swirl between the rhinestone eyelets. I used Staz-On to stamp the (Michael's $1 acrylic) sentiment on some gray organdy ribbon and I layered that over a square of Hambly. I finished off the card with a rhinestone-centered black flower and I love how it turned out! It's got character, it's got class... and it might just be perfect for Dara's wedding tomorrow!

Happy Birthday, Eliana!

My baby is a year old today. Happy birthday, Sweetie! Enjoy it while it lasts, because you won't get birthday cake for breakfast every day. I love you! Here's a card I made just for you, just for today:

(card made using Heidi Swapp and Rhonna Farrer stamps with miscellaneous cardstock)

New Layouts!!

I finally scanned in all of my new layouts, and I'm working on stitching them together. I posted a few of them to 2ps, but figured I'd post some of my favorites here, too. Enjoy!!

Updated Gallery

I now have over 300 layouts in my 2ps gallery!! No, none of them are the ones I worked on over the weekend, but they are some of the last batch I cooked up!

She's Baaaaa-aaaak!

My inner craft monster, that is! I'm so glad to have her back, too! I did a little bit of crafting this week, mostly making a weight loss mini album. I really like it. But still no actual scrapbooking.

... until yesterday. When I got home from the LSS open house (I'm teaching 3 card classes this summer, btw, but more on that later.) I went down to the craft room and played for a while. It was great! I got 5.5 LO done last night, and another 5.5 done today while Leif was out hiking with Ellie. That's right... in the last 24 hours I have done 11 scrapbook layouts. Most of them are single pagers, but two are double page spreads. Yipppppeeee!

I'll post pictures later, when I get the pages scanned and stitched, but I just wanted to share my excitement that the craft monster is back!!

The Score

Inspiration: 10
Motivation: 0

Yep, I've got inspiration galore - projects to do, ideas to pursue, mini albums to make, gifts to prepare... I'm 100% inspired. And ZERO percent motivated. Every time I think about going down to my craft room I think, "Nah." and I don't go. It's even mostly clean and ready to craft in. But I just don't feel like it.

OH - and 2ps changed their format. How dare they take my uber-happy place and change it. Wah.

A New CJ!!

I got a new circle journal in the mail this week! It was Michelle's "Hold Dear" album. I've had a plan for many of the journals - what I wanted to do my LO on, which pictures I would use, etc. But I didn't know what I would do for this one.

For those of you who don't read our family blog or haven't heard yet, last week we discovered an ectopic pregnancy and went through the miscarriage and surgery that accompanied it. I had a few days of reflection, and some of what I realized inspired this LO.

We were supposed to do a LO about what we hold dear. I chose LIFE. The block journaling on the bottom of the second page reads "Each day is a gift; Use it well - you are not guaranteed another." There are two journaling tags under the photo that read... "This week I was reminded of just how precious life is. It is a gift from God and not my own. In the wake of a miscarriage I am more thankful for the daughter I have and the life she has been given. I hold dear my own life, for I am but a steward of it while I am on this earth. My life is HIS and I cherish this gift."

National Scrapbooking Day

Do you know how MUCH scrapbooking I have done today, on this great holiday?

NONE.

nope. none. I haven't scrapped one bit today. It's sort of sad, really. I've talked to my best friend and my mom on the phone, I went to the library and park with Catherine and Tjabe, I went garage sale-ing with Taylor, but NO SCRAPPING.

*pout*

... and I wanted to. I really did. I might have to go to the scraproom and make something now before Leif comes home from study group. But there's this pile o' laundry that needs to be put away.

Life. You want to scrapbook it, but it keeps getting in the way of scrapbooking.

Clutch

One of the things I taught the girls for Protocol was that you shouldn't carry a full-blown purse to a fancy event. The proper place for your purse at the dinner table is on your lap, under your napkin. Most purses are too bulky for that. Thus, the evening bag, or clutch. I realized sometime during my research for Protocol that I didn't own a clutch. I borrowed one from my mom to use as an example in class, but it didn't match my black dress. So... I dug around in my fabric scraps and found some stiff-back velvet, satin, and cording I had been given. I did a little playing on my sewing machine and... voila! A clutch. Since the material was given to me, it was basically free. It took about 30 min to make, start to finish (I probably would have spent more time than that shopping for one) and it matched my dress nicely. It's a trifold design, so it essentially has two compartments, which was sort of nice. I promised Robert I'd put up a picture, so here it is. My one-of-a-kind masterpiece.

2 Peas Update

I updated my 2ps gallery with about 10 more LO today. Yippeee!
(go to my gallery to see the journaling for this LO.)

My Favorite Card

This is currently my favorite card. I scraplifted the idea from 2ps, but I really like it.

Michael's $1 Acrylic Stamps

I have a love for acrylic stamps. And though I can't say I'm terribly fond of Michael's, I do like that they have a WHOLE lot of acrylic stamp sets for $1. Yep. I like that. They had about 20 different sets, and I bought 16 of them. So last night I sat down and made a few cards with them and some of my scraps.

HS Mask Cards

A few weeks ago I bought a Heidi Swapp alphabet mask set. I haven't had much time lately for crafting, with Protocol and all, but I did get some cards made. And last night I managed to scan in a bunch of layouts I'd done earlier, plus a couple I did yesterday. So MIM is back at last.

Sheer Brilliance!

I got this in my email this morning. It made me laugh - I'd never thought to get Ellie to do my housework for me!

Jealousy.

I know we should be thankful for what we have. And I am. But seriously... I want one. There are more pictures here and here.