Bridal Shower accordion book and Halloweenie links!

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF AUTUMN!

Good afternoon everyone!

I hope that you are all having a lovely Thursday so far.

I thought that I would share with you a few photos of a mini-book that I made for one of the

classes over at Two Peas.

My take on the Accordion album that was done for the mini-album a month: September.

I am very happy with how this came out! I only had a few photos printed out from my Bridal shower and didn't quite know what to do with them. Their numbers didn't warrant a regular min-book and when I came across this months design I knew it was perfect! My book however is double sided with photos and journaling spots on each panel. Just a little something simple to pass some time.

I am glad that I finally found a way to showcase these... my bridal shower was last May!

Ohhh How I wish that Fall was in the air! I live in Sunny (and brutally hot) Florida and the only

place that Fall resides is in my heart! I hear from my family and read on forum posts

about all of the wonderful Autumn activities starting and I simply sigh with envy!

So my pretties, here are a few fun Autumn and Halloween link, blogs, sites ,pics and projects!

Halloween Luminaries

Halloween and Autumn handmade decorations

20 Frightfully awesome Halloween Blogs! 

Tip Me Tuesday - Scrapbooking storage solutions!

"Where do you put all the stuff you accumulate?

I am running out of places for my "newest" stash! I'm almost embarrassed by how much I have.

 I love it all but finding ways to store it is more work then actually using the stuff! Help!!"

This was a question posted by a fellow Pea on Two Peas.

I have personally been asked this question time and time again so I though that this would

be a perfect post for Tip me Tuesday!

Over the past few years I have had to come up with some rather creative and unconventional

methods for storing my scrappy supplies.

Being a Military wife you can be moved at a moments notice and where you end up may not have the luxury for ample storage space for a scrap room! This is where you have to get crafty...no pun intended :)

*Hanging mesh or metal baskets can work wonders if you are okay with or able to put a few holes in your roof, they also come in fabric I think. *Behind the door shoe racks for punches, ribbon etc.

*Spinning spice racks for small embellies. These can sometimes be found at yard sales SUPER cheap!

*Get a couple of rolling caddies that you can store paper and stickers in that you can roll right under your work space or out of the way. *Cheap shelving sets can be found at Bed Bath and Beyond of Wal-Mart.

*Your traditional shoe box. These are great for themed storage and stack well. You can get

decorative ones at AC MOORE or Ms that look nice on shelves is you don't have closet space.

*Thin rods, dowels etc are great for storing ribbon! These can be screwed right into your walls at varying heights or hung in some way and will help you to organize your ribbon my colour, theme, material etc. 

*Stamps, as we all know, take up an obscene amount of space! Depending on how frequently you stamp

be it on cards, layouts etc. you could store them handy to stored away neatly. One highly effective organizational solution that I swear by is stamping all your stamps on to paper that you will then organize into themes, seasons etc and put it in a 3 ring binder. There have been countless times that I have wanted to use a Halloween stamp, forget what I have, don't want to dig around for a half hour and just grab my binder!

*Store your prints in archival photo boxes to keep them in perfect condition while they wait to be scrapped. Create tabs for each topic or time range, making it easy to return to later.

*Pegboard.... I know immediate shudder! But wait! We can make it cute... yes cute! All you have to do is get your pegboard to your desired size and then to to Ms or another craft store and have is framed in a cute simple neutral frame. It creates a decorative storage unit that can match any decor! I recommend using white hooks and pain them if you would like.

I have used all of these and my life has been that much better because of them!

Here are a few website that I find truly helpful and I'm sure you will too:

Better Homes and Gardens SB storage solutions

Scrapbook organization and storage

Location storage solutions

Manic Monday

I hope you are all having a lovely Monday so far!

My weekend was an uneventful busy sort of weekend.

I have been participating in the Two Peas Back to school classes and have been enjoying myself so far!

I love all of the ladies and its such a wonderful community. If you haven't already

taken a gander over there be sure you make it a point today!

My most recent project that I completed over this weekend was for the

altered memo board/item class.

What I decided to go with was an altered journal.

It isn't a memo board but It has to so with school. I am an art major and I recycled one of my hard cover sketch books and altered it to make a Creative/Scrap journal.

Its just kind of something that I came up with as I went along. I have a feeling that it will consist of ideas for my scrapbook blog, random crafty journaling, layout ideas, LO sketches,new things that I discover and learn along my travels and diff personal scrappy stories etc.

 I think it will be a fun learning experience.

Sooo without further adieu



My old sketch book from college





After using my spray adhesive I aged
with my MM acrylic paint.
It gave it a cute girly aged feel.



Top of the front cover







Bottom of the front cover







Notice my 2peas sketches lol.
Ill attach all print out ans ideas with ribbon threaded
through holes for a cute and removable
look.



I distressed and decorated a LOT of the blank pages
in the whole book.
I will embellish them further as I go along.





Back cover.

I had fun making this and it took just a couple of hours while watching TV lol.
But seriously, if you haven't been to TwoPeas go NOW!

That's all for today though! I have delicious meatballs and homemade sauce
simmering in my crock pot and its just calling my name!
Enjoy the rest of your Manic Monday!



Oh happy day

Hello All!

I got what could maybe possibly be some amazingly fantastic news this afternoon.

One of the local High Schools in my area has what they call a Moms Club.

All of the mothers for the HS football and cheerleading teams get together and do mom-ish, PTA type activities that make the world go round for most kids and schools alike.

Its wonderful what some mothers will do to support their children and their schools!

There need to be more organizations like this.

I got a phone call from who I assume to be one of the head mothers asking me for all of my info

and inviting me to an open house type event that they are having as a vendor.

Unfortunately the event is the end of October and I will be gone on vacation.

BUT she says that all the moms want me to do books for them!!!

So I do believe that I will have an amazing "contract" with the HS Moms Club!

*insert little happy dance here*

On another note.

Here are a few pics of some of the finished and unfinished simple little

take homes that were done at the open house at my LSS the other night.



A little tag with a cute quote that we did. Love how the flower turned out,
 the tag isn't really my style but its always good to try something new!
I cant remember the name of the woman who was teaching the tag
but great job!
Tattered Angels glimmer was used on the flower and the tag... LOVED IT !




Cute simple little Christmas card we did for one of the make and takes.
This was my first time using the I-rock believe it or not.
I wasn't overly impressed. It was handy but a little awkward to use.
The MS punch used for the bottom was a favorite of mine.




The front and back cover of what will maybe one day be a finished mini book.
I appreciate the fact that I got to play with pretty papers and was shown
how to use a new binding tool that I haven't seen in action before
but I would have preferred to leave this station with a finished product be it small and simple verses
an unfinished book. They had the stuffing of the book for sale, all the other pages embellies etc
but I really didn't have the budget to buy it all at the time.



Now I have a quick Layout that I LOVE that I did two nights ago as part of my night owl

status and putterings that I have been up to lately.

U & I

I love the new Maya Road ribbon that I got from my LSS the night of the open house!

How cute are all of these little white ribbon roses?!

Butterfly and button chipboard is K&Co

With lots of wonderfully delicious papers etc, lots of MME.

Well I am off for now, lots of work to get done!

Happy Thursday.

Tip Me Tuesday- A special HSN edition !!!

I hope that you are all having a FANG-tastic Tuesday!!!

Pardon my corniness but I have been inspired

by Halloween goodies galore once again!

I have a little tip for you all today (well sort of)

As I am sure many of you already know

Today ALL day on HSN there is nothing but gorgeous new scrapbooking supplies

being showcased and demonstrated by fabulous people!

Well if you are an unlucky girl like me who doesn't get HSN through your cable provider, has a husband who MUST watch every second of ESPN while hes awake or if you are stuck at work

never fear!

HSN streams their show live!

I was SUPER duper excited when I found this out

and felt the need to share!

I have already seen SO many things that have reduced me to a drooling mess at my scrap table!

The Martha Stewart Halloween items are to DIE for!

(no pun intended)

And the new Cricket Imagine!?!?

*sigh*

Now on to more relevant tips and tricks.

Baby wipes- If you haven't discovered the amazingness of these little godsends yet

I urge you to get out and grab a few packages!

These, even the cheap store brand kind, work WONDERS for cleaning your

stamps. Both acrylic and wood mounted! I have seen the stamp cleaning pads

and sprays and the expensive MS brand wipes and I just cant bring myself to spend the

money on any of it. I was told about this little secret by my Nana a while ago

and it was one of the best things that she has ever done for

my crafty little life!

One of two wipes clean your stamp right up but they also

will get any tacky glue off of your work space or mat

and work well to do a quick clean off of your space when switching between projects

or for a quick tidying.

Cutting Mats for your Silhouette- We all know that having to buy those replacement

mats for your Silhouette can be both a pain in the neck and pricey! Thanks to a good friend of mine I

stumbled across an ingenious idea for a solution. During the holidays especially, but any time of the year you 

can go to Wal-Mart and find those plastic place mats for children that

go on your kitchen table so they don't make a mess. 

All you do is pick up one or two of these. Make sure that they are flat and smooth on the back side because this is the side that you will be using.

Take them home and trace your actual cutting mat onto the table mat and cut it to size.

 Then with a Sharpie marker simply make the markings for where you line it up in your machine to match the original. Next you are going to take a can of repositionable adhesive.

I prefer the Best-Test brand. I find that it provides you with a secure hold that

also will easily let go of  your card stock or whatever you are cutting when you are finished with it.

Then every now or then you can either wash your mat right in your kitchen sink with a bit of dish soap and some elbow work or just buy a new one for around a buck!

They will last forever before you have to replace or wash as well!

*just a little side note. Tim Holtz is on HSN now and I just melted over EVERYTHING!*

Goodness...Okay well this is all for now, I am off to bask in this HSN glory!

I hope you all enjoyed my little tips and tricks for today, make sure you hop on over to HSN either via your

television of their website for live streaming

Ohhh PS. One of my cards has been featured today on a wonderful blog!!!

You can find it Here!