I just finished the first of three baby albums. Jessica and Joe are expecting their second child. He will be born on July 17, 2012 c-section. A few months ago Jessica found out that their baby boy had spinal bifida and will most likely have to have a wheelchair. They have been watching very closely the growth of the ventricle in his brain. Last week they found out his ventricles are growing and he needs to be delivered. He will be a preemie. The next day he will have surgery. Jessica and Joe will have many challenges ahead of them. So I made them a mini album. The pattern I used was baby steps from Laura Dennison. It's a cutie. It is bound by ribbons. I like it because Jessica could put the album in her purse. I also made some things out of vinyl for his bedroom. I made his name using the printing press cartridge. I spray painted different frames and took the backs off the frames. I mounted the vinyl on the glass and hot glued the glass into the frame. Jessica and Joe picked out a bible verse for their son and I made a vinyl for the wall. Below you will see the mini and the wall hangings.
I really struggled trying to get the alcohol ink spread out like a fire works . Kind of looks like a mess. Oh well. I still think it looks pretty good. Thank you to my dear friend Mary for sharing some of her staples with me............I'm sure my next post will be after club .......We will all be excited about scrapfest... We are already gearing up for it.
Well it's not quite the scrapbook you would give a seven year old boy. Josh is a very special grandson. He has an artistic eye and loves my scrapbooks. When I show his mom what I have made, he is right there engrossed with every detail. I do know he will like this one. This past winter Josh went with his family to Florida. Becky (my daughter) had found her old digital camera and gave it to him to take pictures. He took many pictures of his vacation. He asked his mom to get him a photo album for his pictures. This is when I got the idea to make him an album for his birthday. Josh loves dolphins and mermaids. Last year for his birthday we made a fairy garden out of dolphins a light house and a mermaid. Well, I completed the album all but the embellishments. I cut out die cuts from the cricut cart. Life is a Beach. I put them thru the Xron. When Josh puts in the pictures he can embellish it with the die cuts. I used Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue paper. I used a 8x8 pad and used coordinating card stock for the tags and pages. This paper is so beautiful there is no need to embellish it. I used Stack the Deck with pockets pattern for the mini album (by Laura Dennison) Following The Paper Trail. This is the second time I have made this type of album. I really like it it has so much real estate. It hold 87+ pictures And 6 to 12, 5x7 pictures. I made the matching charm using packing tape and foil. You take the packing tape and stick it to the patterned paper you want to make a charm out of then run it under water and take and rubbed the layers of card stock off until all you have on the tape in the translucent pattern still on the tape. Don't worry if you even rubbed some of the pattern off the tape a little it just ages it. Then using sticky back foil stick it to the back of the tape. Then glue the tape to the back of the acrylic charm using ever so tiny bit of glossy accents . Trim it up. And there it is... In the bottles with the cork on it is a note that says Dear josh I love you , Love Grandma LaLa There is another charm bottle full of sand from the Clear Water Beach. hhhmmm now what,,,, on to the next project... I think they will be baby books a couple of girls from my church are having babies.
the net is an onion bag I recycled and re purposed. I now buy my onions according to the container they come in . Different types of onions comes in different colors and types of net bags. Who cares what they taste like, all the onions taste the same to me anyways. I just love the net bags they come in.
AS promised I came back to talk about my crazy busy month. What I accomplished this month was
1. Club- June 16, we basically worked on wedding decorations and I finally completed the Little Darling Steam Trunk. I am posting the You Tube video. I have to say I loved this project and I am very happy with the way it turned out. It is a keepsake for sure. My daughter already claimed it after I leave this world.
2. I have been very busy helping my dear friend make decorations for her daughters wedding below you will see some of them. They were beautiful. The butterflies were made out of soda cans and alcohol inked and embossed. they were attached to a sheer ribbon with TH tiny attacher and hung from the apple trees they swayed in the breeze and the sun reflected off of them. The centerpieces were ball mason jars dyed blue with alcohol inks. The daisy's were make from paper using TH Tattered Flowers die. We put long grass in the jar. The smaller jar had citronella tea lights in it. The gift table was made with things I found picking at a couple thrift stores.Then I cut the banner out with the cricut for cards. I picked wild flowers and some flowers from my yard. All the decorations including the cake was accented with the butterflies. I also make all the floral arrangements except for the bride bouquet.
3. As soon as the wedding was over I had to get ready for cousin camp. So I started to make things for the camp. I made the invitations and the vinyl for the sign. I bought a nylon banner style sign. I stick the vinyl letters to it and it holds up pretty good. I redo the sign every year to go along with the cousin camp theme. This years was cowboys. I have all my grandkids here for 4 days. My husband and I dedicate 4 days to them. We panned for gold, played baseball, went swimming and tubing, went go-carting, went to the candy store, and went to the buffalo farm. We had arts and crafts, campfires and smores. So much fun but it does tire us out. I do this every year and just love it...They are my favorite people.
4. Even though I was busy with arts and crafts, I still was having scrapbooking withdrawals, so I started making my grandsons birthday present. I am making him a Stack The Deck with Pockets mini album. I am not going to post pictures until I have it completed. But I will tell you this I used Graphic45 paper........ I am almost done with it I just have to decorate the cover. I am not embellishing it I am giving my grandson all the embellishment and he can do it when he puts his pictures in it.
I have had a crazy Busy month. I can't believe it is June 30 and I am now getting around to making the June Tag for 12 tags of 2012. I need to get this posted so I cannot write what has been going on. So tomorrow I will give yall a complete run down and post pictures........
This is my tag finally completed. I had so many projects to do, plus, this is the time of year I have planting to do. Some of the unique features of this tag are. 1. the charm I made from chip board. I made my own embossing powder concoction. I mixed clear powder with rust and cappuccino perfect pearls. This gave the antique metal look I think it turned out pretty cool. It has two layers of embossing for a smoother look. 2. Also, the flower look like they are porcelain. I used the little satin ribbon roses that are in the wedding section at Bargain Bills. I used distress ink and just shade the tips of the petals of the roses. I used glossy accents and saturated the roses. The inked wicked into the rest of the roses carrying the color completely coloring the roses. Gotta love the distress inks.
Aint' She Cute!
Yes I am still working on this project. I do have the top tray mini album done. In this album is all my children's baby pictures. I am on grandkid number 6 (out of 12) for the bottom tray. I love this project. Actually, this is my very favorite. It's got it all. The Wow factor. The paper I just love. I didn't even want to cut the paper I love it so much. I am totally enjoying the experience of making it. When I look at the pictures of my babies it brings back such fond memories and warm and fuzzy feelings. and it is not too difficult making. When it is completed I'll post the final you tube of it.
Last time I posted it was about the mini album swap. I talked about my friend Shanda(Shanda Chic) whom I made my album for. Well Shanda had my name. This is the album she had made for me ...Oh it is so beautiful. I love it.
Meet our newest member of Club. Collin Louis Matthys. Isn't he cute. He is Mary's grandson. He was born on May 14 2012, and he and his mommy joined us at club on May 19, 2012. His mommy (Jenny) is incredible she had a c-section and 5 days later joined us at club.... She even giggled. You would have never known she just had major surgery and a baby... That is scrapbook dedication. We had eight ladies at club this month. Briana joined us. Briana is expecting twins. In a couple of month we will have three babies join us...... I think that is exciting.
Mary, Laurie, Shanda, Connie, Jenny
This picture was taken on The National Scrapbook Day. These are some of the ladies I scrapbook with. This picture makes me laugh because Shanda and I are doing the get rid of the double chin pose. We have so much fun together. ....... GET DIRTY.....,the D!rty G!rl
So this is what I have been up to. I have been creating a mini album for a mini album exchange. So I have not been able to talk about it for I would be risking that my exchange person would find out. I had my friend Shanda. I made a stack the deck mini with pockets. (I love making this album)This was fun because I knew my exchange person very well. I had worked with Shanda when I worked for CSSW. I also was Shanda's roommate for Scrapfest last year. Shanda likes to glitter and bling everything. We call her style Shanda Chic. So I knew that I had to break down and buy a bottle of stickles and some gems. I decided to create an album that combined out styles and I called it Dirty Girl meets Shanda Chic.
As you can see Shanda was very happy to get her album. I gave to her on National Scrapbook Day. I spent National Scrapbook Day at a crop with five other friends at a scrapbook store called Hand to Heart. We had a great time. I have been so busy making mini albums (which I love to make ) that I am behind in my 12x12 layouts. I will be probably do them at club. Every month I have "Club" at my house. Last month their were ten crafters. We try and teach each other new techniques and encourage each other to go a little beyond our comfort zone. We also giggle a lot. Last month we had to bring flowers and instructions on how to make them. We alcohol inked soda cans and cut out flowers on the Big Shot.
. Don't they look like a fun group?
I hope the next time I post I will be done with my steam trunk baby album. It has been taking me along time but I have to say I am really enjoying making it. I love working on it with every picture of one of my babies I reminisce about how cute they were and really savor the memories. That is probably why I haven't finished it yet. To be honest I am loving this album but I think I am so enjoying the process of making it I don't want it to end. When it is done I'll make a video and post it.
I belong to a group of women on Face Book called Scrappy Girls. We met last year on FB on a group site called Scrapfest 2011. Three things we had in common was we loved to scrapbook, buy scrapbook supplies, and we all went to Scrapfest. We have been together now for about 10 months. It is an incredible thing. We are such a diverse group. We comes from different places in our lives. Some of us being young mothers, some old spry grandmothers. Different races, different lifestyle preferences, different religions, different political beliefs. Some of us are career women, some of us are stay home Moms. Some of us are city girls some are country. But, all of us are incredible, awesome, women. We love each other. We talk to each other daily. We support each other. We help each other out. We talk, and ask advise from each other, when we have a problem. Some of us have actually met in person. We have had different crops spread out fom Indiana, to upper Northern Wisconsin. We have traveled hours and met. When we get together we laugh. We enjoy each other. We share ideas and teach each other. We exchange birthday cards, and have a Christmas exchange, card swaps, and mini album swaps. This is a wonderful supportive group of women. They are fun. There is one woman in particular that I have grown fond of. Her name is Kim.
This women is part of the Top Secret story.
On Tuesdays, she posts a picture of her adorable little three year old daughter. She calls it the TMN. It is the Tuesday Morning Nap. In the picture the little girl is dressed up in her winter coat, with her back pack on her back, sleeping on the stairs, waiting for her ride to school. She does this almost every Tuesday morning. It makes me smile when I see this.
Also, my friend Kim will sometime post "Be glad in it" or "I am glad in it". This comes from a bible verse that states "This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.."Psalm 118:24. This always humbled me and I really was reminded in the Lord's presence in my life and for that day I was glad in it. Kim has had many struggles and challenges that she continued to do battle with. She has had many hard things, her son was premature and she had to struggle with almost losing him. She is a mom of a special needs child. There are daily struggles with that. She lost her Mom to a violent tragic death. YET she is glad in it.... She is my inspiration......Kim has also given good advise and helped me with hair and skin care for my daughter. So I was talking to my friend Mary about the cute pictures and we thought it would be a good idea to surprise Kim and make her a mini album to keep the TMN pictures in. Mary donated the paper and I created the album. It was a surprise....
So I made the paper bag album. Sent it off in the mail. I was so excited and impatient I even paid extra so it could get there quicker. This was Kim's reaction:
"There are not many times that I cry. I can count the times on 1 hand that I have sobbed. Never in front of my children (it scares them). But today I received an unexpected package from 2 of my Scrappy Sisters and I sobbed in the middle of the day. They don't realize how much they have touched my life with their wisdom and kindness and how much I look up to the two of them (but they have and I do). I am so overwhelmed by the what I know as the hand of God who has divinely connected me to people who I probably would have NEVER met. This is (not so mini) Mini Album is absolutely gorgeous. I love everything about it. I love the colors and the papers too!Lexi also loved looking at it with me. I have to figure out how to keep it away from her. Most of all it will serve as a great example of how to create a "Sho nuff mini"... I love you girls so much Laurie Reed White and Mary Samson Matthys! You will always have a super special place in my heart. Thank you!"
Very touching.... But also amazing....... Thank you Kim and most of all Thank you God ...........I am Glad In IT............
