I *officially* refashioned!

So I have had this sweater... prolly since high school, or not long thereafter, that I absolutely adored. It lived on me almost 24/7. I know I slept in it more than one time. It was ratty, had runs, it had the cuff redone (thank you grandma!), the neck had been sewn back together. It was my 'security blanket'. My mom hates it and has encouraged me numerous times to get rid of it, even threatening to pull it apart. But I've had it all this time, and I just couldn't bring myself to throw it away. And obviously goodwill didn't want it. So, I found this tutorial online about turning an adult sweater into a toddler sweater vest - bingo!! What a perfect idea, I can transform my old ratty sweater into something hopefully semi nice for my son. So, that's what I've done today...

My sweater - in all it's glory, well used and loved from over the years...

And here it is this afternoon, waiting to be tried on by the boy when he gets up from his nap (I think I'll have to take in the shoulders a bit, it seems big)...

Complete with ratty old run b/c I didn't pay attention to it when I was placing my cuts... oopsie!

When I find the link for the tutorial again, I'll post it in here - this was super easy and a great way to recycle my favorite sweater! :)

My Sketch World & CTS *Brush*

Citrus Tree Studio is sponsoring My Sketch World this month. The sketch is super cute, and the prize rocks too! The pages are due soon (the 31st) so be sure to check it out and get scrappin' for a chance to win!

I flopped the pictures on the sketch because I really couldn't find two landscape pictures I wanted to work with. For this one I used an older kit (October maybe??) from CTS. Everything on the page is from the kit with the exception of the big chipboard bracket (Rusty Pickle) and the alphabet stickers along the bottom (Making Memories & the green ones are from my never ending stash).

ETA: I'm such a goober though, I didn't read all of the instructions (that's what I get for not paying extra attention, my classroom kids would be so ashamed - LOL). My page isn't shabby, but I still love it!!

PageMaps & A Cherry On Top Contest

I am pushing the limits with this one, but I honestly have not had any time to scrap this week. It's been absolutely crazy around here! It seems everyone is sick, many are hospitalized and I am spending my time doing what I can to help ease the stress for others. But, I had to take time today to relax and chill or I would have been wiped out.

PageMaps has a blog contest sponsored by A Cherry on Top. The sketch is awesome, as always. When I first read about the contest with the theme appreciation, I couldn't decide if I wanted to scrap about being adopted or grayson meeting his great grandmother, he is so much cuter - so I went with the latter. :) I created this page using my Spring Forward kit (except the staples, they are from Beach St) - I adore the colors and they are perfect for this page! The font is Tabitha, one of my current fav's.

This picture will always hold a special place in my heart. I am so thankful they got to meet each other, if only for a short time. My grandmother lives in NY and cannot make the trip down to NC, understandably. So when I was taking my mother up for her sister's funeral, I knew I had to go by and visit my grandmother. Grayson wasn't in the best of moods after having spent 12 hours in the car, but he endured and I got some wonderful pictures of him spending time with my grandmother. The journaling is below in case you can't read it (or you can click for a bigger image). Hope you enjoy & TFL!

The journaling reads:

I am so thankful that you got to meet grandma. I was afraid that it wouldn’t happen because of the distance between our homes. The reason for our trip was less than ideal (Aunt Linda’s funeral), but it meant the world to me that I got to go ‘home’. I hope we get to visit again soon so you can spend more quality time with your great grandmother, but I will forever be thankful for the time you did get with her. Grayson & Great Grandma April 2009

Two Chicks April Kit *Sneaks*

I wanted to share my sneaks for the Two Chicks April Kit...

Definitely check out this kit, it's well worth it!! Check back in a couple days to see the full projects!

Dirty Scraps Challenge 6

The new challenge at dirty scraps is to scrap about one of those 'doh' moments. I knew when I read the challenge that this picture of me with extensions in my hair would be perfect. Seriously, what was I thinking?? Needless to say, they defiintely didn't last long... LOL!

The page was created using a collection of digital supplies from different designers, including myself.

March - Two Chicks!!

The Two Chicks Designs March Kit Rocked!! I wanted to share some of the projects I created with the March Kit! If you haven't seen these kits and embellishments, check them out cause they totally rock!!

There is another page I have to share, but that will be in another post about the Treasured Scrapbooking We Love Our Members Contest! Hopefully I'll share about that tomorrow!

Spring Has Sprung!!

Well, I'm claiming so anyway. I started this spring banner for a challenge at the CTS Crop this past weekend. I don't know why, but I was having such a hard time getting it together. However, I decided to buckle down and finish it today. I'm rather happy with the results, especially since I pulled out my spring decorations and put some extra touches on my mantle (which needs all the help it can get).

I used a collection of items for it. A Rusty Pickle acrylic arrow album, Tim Holtz Grungeboard Letters, American Crafts Chipboard, Offray Ribbon, an old dictionary, Prima flowers, Prima bling and the papers are Piggy Tales Little Miss Muffet Collection.

Here are the pics, I hope you enjoy...

Sweet Vintage Etsy Shop

Have you seen this shop?
Holy Cow!! It's awesome to say the least. So many things to drool over.

Do check it out if you have time, and check out the blog cause there is a fat giveaway on the blog for $50 worth of embellishments!!

Citrus Tree Studio Crop

I am so excited to have gotten to play with the Citrus Tree Studio crop this past weekend. I got quite a few extra projects done and am super happy with the results (with the exception of the card, its not my favorite). The best part of these is that most of them were done with scraps, which means my pile is getting smaller! :)

So here are the projects I finished up for the crop (including the card I'm not happy with). So excited that I got so many projects done in a short time!!

Above is a gift card holder (a complete lift of my friend ginger) made from half of a paper tower tube. I used scraps of my 3 bugs in a rug paper!

This is a frog made from rolled pieces of cardstock!!

This project has been in my mind for probably a year or more. I've had the empty carrier and the picnic silverware forever. I was happy to get the challenge to finally get it done!

Here's a sweets container I altered for my desk. Now, if I can keep myself from eating them! LOL! I used scraps from the March Kit at Two Chicks Designs.

I absolutely LOVE how this monochromatic page turned out. I left a blank space below the journaling for when I remember what year this was. The only thing that didn't come out of the scrap bin was the background cardstock!!

And here is the card that I'm not terribly thrilled with... but I'll be putting it in the mail tomorrow, so no biggie!

Have a Tweet Day!

So I had a few moments this evening and decided to fill in by making a quick card! I followed the sketch from the pagemaps blog and a quick sewing challenge from the Couture Cardstock blog. Sorry about the rough picture - I just snapped and didn't look back.


Loved the sketch - check it out, it's super cute.
For the sewing challenge, I sewed around the cardstock and used some ball fringe on the edge.

Extra Mileage from your bling flourishes

We all love bling flourishes - don't deny it. They are awesome fillers on pages and they look pretty snazzy too! Sometimes the price doesn't play nice with our wallets though. I'm guessing the good majority of you have some stickles/glitter glue laying around (if you don't, run - don't walk - to the store and grab some) - so I wanted to share a couple ways to get some extra mileage from your flourishes. And, you can feel kinda good about yourself because you are recycling the part you normally throw away!

... my disclaimers ...

* These are delicate after the glitter glue has dried. The drops of glue easily fall off, so handle them gently. I trim them out BEFORE the glue has dried for this reason.
* Don't try it with glue and glitter. The glitter adheres to the plastic pieces by sheer static (even if you try wiping it down with a dryer sheet). You can never get all of the excess off.

There, I told you - don't say I didn't warn you. This is one case I will tell you to just learn from my experience (and my son's because he was completely covered with silver glitter).

On to the tips...

Use your glitter glue on top of the packaging. You can trim around it, let the glue dry and then glue it down on your next project. This is the one I like best - I find the thin, flimsy packaging is easier for my bulky hands to handle without messing them up. I trim it while it is still wet and leave it to dry while I'm finishing my project.

The cool thing about Prima bling is that the original backing is slightly dimpled after you take the flourish off. This leaves a perfect guide - no need to trace or draw, just follow what is given you. So on this one, I used the backing and my glitter glue.

The next thing (and I read this somewhere... but it's what got me originally thinking - I'll come back and put credit if I can find it). Most people have all in one printers these days. Make a photocopy of the bling, place your plastic sheet on top and use it as a guide.

For this one, I went with the photocopy method. However, instead of using glitter glue... I tried glue & gems. It took a little more time and patience to get them lined up, but I have tons of extra gems, so why not?!


While I was playing, I pulled out my crafter's workshop templates. So using my little plastic sheet and stickles, I created a cutsom flourish with black & white glitter drops.

The plastic pieces barely show up on your projects... the glue shows up because I am extremely impatient, so I went ahead and took my pictures.

Here are some other thoughts about trying this...

• use specific colors to match your projects
• stamp an image to use as your template
• nobody said to limit yourself to flourishes - try it with flowers, animals, etc.
• layer up the finished project for extra effect on your crafting project
• use your souffle or glaze pens instead of glitter glue or gems
• shrink or expand the size of the flourish

Another quick idea... you can make a template from your bling flourish instead of a photocopy for a bit more stability. Print the copy on a transparency and use your hole punch to cut where the crystals would be.

I know, enough talking... go forth and create! I'd love to see if you take the idea and run with it. Share with me what you make!!

Kaisercraft Blog Challenge

Kaisercraft posted this awesome inspiration challenge on the KC blog. And of course, I just had to play along. And what better to use than the awesome KC papers & embellies I got in the Two Chick's Designs Kit for March?!

The inspiration was a quote - an awesome one that I fell in love with when I first saw it. I think it works perfectly with these pictures of Grayson & his grandmother.

"It's about Love

It's about Compassion

It's about Kindness & Faith

It has nothing to do with Luck

You get what you give

So give good"

Definitely something that everyone should think about on a daily basis.

Here's my 2-pager, enjoy!!

Create a light box for your layouts

Ok - So, it's not REALLY a light box - because it has no top and no bottom. But - this method works great for me and I thought I would share. I hear so many people say they are 'waiting for sun' to snap a pic. I had that problem too, along with a gammut of trees and mountains that block the sun and only give me a span of a couple hours to get good pictures. So I gave up and came up with a way to do it indoors - rain (snow lately) or shine, I don't have to wait!

And, to top it off... it's fairly cheap (and easy - no tools required) to assemble. :)


What you will need is:


1 - a large display board. Depending on the material this can run around $5 (I recycled one from my elementary teaching days).


2 - some clear photo corners. About $3 a box if you don't have some stashed away waiting to be used.


Here are a couple things for me to point out:


* I am exceptionally lucky to have a big fat flourescent light in my ceiling where I photograph my layouts, which helps me tremendously in photographing them (not so much for actually scrapping though). However, the same effect can easily be achieved depending on where you place your board versus your lights.


* I have a wide & tall table (thanks to my husband!) and drafting chair where I can easily sit to shoot the picture with the flash off. If your space doesn't allow you the extra room, I think a dining/kitchen table & chair would produce the same effect.


If you haven't already figured it out, you simply put your page corners on the board. LOL! I told you - no tools required! The easiest way I discovered to do this is by putting the corners on my layout and then lining it up on the board. The page corners stay put and you just continue to use them over and over.


One of the reasons this works so well is because it is a huge white space for your camera to set the white balance. And, if it doesn't - it's still a large enough space for your photo editing software to do it easily with a couple clicks.


And here's for my visual friends:

set up for a 1 page layout

set up for a 2 page layout

close-up of the photo corners :)

Prima's Big Secret!!

Have you all seen the give-a-ways on the Prima Blog?!
Seriously, I drool everytime I visit their blog. Definitely go check it out!
And, be sure to stalk... cause just a few more days until the big secret is revealed!


So here's the Prima Spot (copied from the Prima Blog)


Big Secret Promotion Winners
And the winners are....
(Click on the purple curtain to reveal the names of our two winners from the Big Secret Blog post!)
You have 7 days from today to contact us at cari@primamarketinginc.com for your prize package.





If you don't have a blog, don't worry, you still have a chance to win.



That's Right! Prima is giving away two more AMAZING prize packages in conjunction with our BIG SECRET!
We want EVERYONE to have a chance to win so we are changing the rules a bit.
Please copy this write-up and link us on your blog, Facebook, or any other site that you frequent (please follow their TOU).
Then post here with a link to your blog, Facebook or site post for your chance to win BIG with Prima!
One US and one International winner will be chosen on Thursday, March 4th, 2010.
And we are getting closer and closer to revealing our secret-it won't be long now!
Just a couple more days of suspense!