Shopping ban? What shopping ban? :)

Oh, I was so bad today! I was stuck at the mall with my boys while my van was being fixed and the playground was out of commission -- nooooo! But Archivers was tantalizingly close and it just so happened I had brought along my coupons on the off chance they had a bind-it-all in stock. And they did -- yippee! But I didn't stop there! I came home with:

The Bind-it-all and a couple of wires
Super cute clear Christmas stamps from Hero Arts -- I can't resist little birdies
A cute "SMILE" Heidi Swapp stamp
Cutter Bee paper piercing bugs, the ones that poke stitching holes
Paper Pups (a Cricut cartridge) -- it was on clearance for $22, how could I resist?!
Cardstock
& an adorable fall paper pack that I got for FREE because I spent over $50. Aren't I resourceful?!

So be ready for some fun new projects from me, coming soon!

Scrap Decor!

I am working on decorating the house in preparation for houseguests coming in a couple weeks and I decided to create my own artwork for the bathroom! Now see, I knew I just HAD to have this paper when I went to the lss last week even though I had no idea what I'd use it for at the time. And look! It was just perfect to go along with the colors for that bathroom. I think that justifies more unjustifiable spending! :) I just love these pics of my boys in the tub. The details of how I made this one can be found here:

http://www.cricut.com/messageboard/tm.aspx?m=1079170

Christmas Card Frenzy, 2007

I've never been together enough to do handmade Christmas cards for the bazillion people on my list, but this may be my year! I was asked to teach a Christmas card class for Relief Society (my church's women's organization), so I was challenged to come up with designs that would be fun and cute, but simple enough for a lot of people of various skill levels to put together quickly without a lot of advance preparation on my part. (What can I say -- I'm just not that together!) I went a little crazy buying stamps for this endeavor -- 2 sets from Stampin Up, one from Hero Arts, and I've seen some coming out next month that I know I'm going to NEED -- but I am always crazy buying Christmas stuff. I just get to start good and early this year! I had a blast making these. Hope you like them! The paper is from DCWV, Basic Grey, and Pebbles, Inc -- if you have a question about anything specific, just holler! Oh, and that fab fat red and white ribbon is from a big Costco spool. 50 yards for $6.99? I'm so there!

I LOVE learning a new technique!

So, some blessed person over on the Cricut MB posted about Oh My Crafts having a close-out on some of their fancy idea books. I love the Paper Trends books, but they're usually pretty pricey, so I was stoked to find them for $1.49 each! I've been having all sorts of fun poring over them. I saw a project made with this technique I knew I had to try it out immediately! (The creator of the original project was Betsy Veldman.) I cut 4 circles with George, going from 3" down to 1 1/2" and glued them together in the centers. I then sewed 3 lines intersecting the circle and cut out the petal shapes around the stitched lines. Then you bend the petals up and ink them. Isn't it cool? PP, velvet ric-rac and Friendship tag are from Making Memories. TFL!

Oh, and since I got all these supplies at Making Memories' warehouse sale for next to nothing, maybe I should call this card my homage to "creating for peanuts!"

I had so much fun with this card that I had to make another! Actually, what really motivated me was people's questions about the technique, so I made this one and took pictures of each step. Here is the link to those instructions, if you're interested: http://www.cricut.com/messageboard/tm.aspx?m=1062267

This card uses We R Memory Keepers PP and Scenic Route chipboard, which I colored with cat's eye chalk ink (I love that stuff!).

Fun with digi-scrapping

I love digi-scrapping -- not as a replacement for the good ol' get-your-fingers-inky stuff I usually do, but it definitely has its place. This layout is for my "New Me for life!" album, which chronicles my weight-loss journey. I do a new layout around the first of each month, and I've done all except one page digitally. I just adore this free kit (Sun Porch, by Amy Teets, downloaded from http://www.shabbyprincess.com/). And the notebook page comes from a kit called "Just Journalling" by Terriann Hanks, which I believe I bought for a very low price from http://www.polkadotpotato.com/. Both these sites are awesome for digi-scrappers -- lots of great freebies and great stuff to buy, too. TFL!

Santa's Little Helper

Wow, I had SO much fun playing when I made this. I hadn't gotten around to making any of the characters on the Cricut Disney cartridge because I'd heard they were so time consuming, but this was a blast to make! I made it for a challenge on the "Bitten by the Bug" site, where we were to use this Mickey shape with non-Mickey-traditional colors. With those cute little shorts, how could I resist making leiderhosen? I used Fun Flock from CTMH for the first time, which was a very fun effect, and I cut a felt flourish with a Sizzix Bigz die. PP is from DCWV.

I cut Mickey at 4 1/2". The Santa hat is from Christmas cheer, cut at 3 1/2", and the scallop tag is from CC at 5 1/2".

Just Play!

When I was dreaming up this layout, I was really excited to play around with some new things, like the diagonal orientation and painting the edges of the pic and journalling box. This layout did NOT turn out as cute as I had envisioned it, but I really had fun putting it together. And it's such a funny memory that I'll definitely treasure it!

The card beneath is another example of just playing. I made it with scraps from the layout and a fun felt flourish I cut with my Cuttlebug and a new Sizzix die that followed me home from Washington. I love cardmaking because you can try out all sorts of fun new things and just goof around with your supplies, without committing to a whole scrapbook page that is supposed to last forever!

I've noticed a shift in my paper-crafting lately -- I used to be in get-'er-done mode, where I wanted to get as many pages as I could done in as little time as I could so I could "catch up." Or I'd do cards in big batches so I'd have lots in my stash. But the more I learn about this craft -- all the different, fun techniques and materials -- the more it's become as much about the art as anything else. I love creating! I love using all the different techniques and feeling creative. So who cares if I ever get caught up as long as I am having fun creating and preserving the memories I want to preserve? Down with scrapper's guilt! :)

And that reminds me: Another great thing about doing this layout is that it's another break from chronological scrapping for me. I've been wanting to do a layout with this fake engagement pic of me and my hubby (then just a friend) since we got engaged 5 1/2 years ago. Seriously. But I felt like I had to get my family scrapbook caught up before I could go back and do the just him and me scrapbook I'd been planning, so this had to wait. No way, jose! I'm scrapping whatever I want from now on!