Halloween Mini-Album DCWV Ghosts and Goblins

Here's the YouTube video of my Halloween Mini. Come on over and take a peek at the pockets for journaling tags and the little details that pics just can't show!

Have an awesome day!!

A New Halloween Mini and An Announcement!

Ok, guys--lots of things to tell you about. First off, I finished this little Halloween Mini a few days ago and finally got a video up on YouTube. I'll post the link to the video tomorrow, but just wanted to share the still shots today. This paper was SO much fun to work with! The album is made with the DCWV Ghosts and Goblins stack and there's tons of stamping, heat embossing, embossing with folders, border punches used, etc. Lots and lots of details!

Secondly, I finally opened an Etsy shop! I'm not sure how many items I'll actually get listed in there, but it's a step in the right direction and this Halloween mini is my first listing in the shop! I've got some tweaking to do with the shop design, but I didn't want to delay any longer. I've been wanting to open one for about a year now so I'm pretty excited about it all. Hoping it will motivate me to create:) My shop is called SoMuchScrap and you can find it here. My husband named it and he thinks he's so clever. It's what he says when he stands in the doorway of my craft room looking in--only he drops the s from scrap.

And third, a little personal info that I'm SUPER proud of and just wanted to share---my son just left for Army basic training 2 weeks ago!! He's doing great and really focused and this military family is just super proud of his decision and the path he has chosen!

Hope you have a great day and get some time to create something awesome!!

Some pics of the vintage beach mini...

Here are some pics of my beach mini that I promised so long ago. I've been working on a new Halloween mini that I hope to get up on Youtube soon. I've also decided to open an Etsy shop!! I hope to have some of my completed minis for sale in the next month or so and kits to make the minis. I've seen quite a few people offer kits on Etsy and it makes TOTAL sense to me. Most of the time after I complete one of these, I'm pretty burned out on the paper but still have a lot left over that I'll probably never use. Hopefully selling the kits will help me clear out some excess stash and benefit someone who might want to re-create a mini but doesn't want to spend all the money to buy everything separately. My plan is to offer the papers and most (if not all) of the embellishments and little extras that I've used. If you're visiting my blog from Youtube, please leave me a comment and let me know if providing the interactive elements pre-made (the photo pockets made from Nesties, etc) in the kits would be a good idea.

Hope you're having a great week, thanks so much for visiting, and please check back again soon for a Halloween mini with a grown-up feel!

Vintage Beach Mini-Album

I finally finished it!! This is a little beach mini I made for my sister-in-law. I'm thinking I have to make an exact replica for myself because I really don't want to part with this. Every year we have a family reunion at the beach and I'm going to surprise her this year with this mini full of pics from last year's get together. So excited to give this to her! Before anyone asks, yes, she totally appreciates the work that goes into something like this even though she doesn't paper-craft. She's probably one of my biggest fans:)

Sorry about the video quality! I'm still a newb at this youtube thing and I'm trying to figure out why my camera is out of focus/low res. Hopefully in future vids I'll get it worked out. I'll post some still shots of the album shortly, just couldn't wait to get the video on here now!

Thanks for visiting and checking out my mini!
Have a beautiful day!!

A little something for Dad...

I just realized the last time I posted anything was Mother's Day and now here I am jumpin' in here again with a Father's Day card. Oops. Time is seriously getting away from me! Bad, bad blogger!

Anyways, a little about the card--

I love all things nautical. I really have no idea why, it's not like I sailed as a kid or even lived near the ocean. In fact, I was pretty landlocked growing up out in the middle of the country. That's probably the reason, huh? This is a stamp set out of the SU! summer mini called The Open Sea. I LOVE it! It pairs up really nicely with the DCWV Tradewinds stack, of which I think I bought 3 or 4 of the matstacks. But I'm not a hoarder or anything...just love me some old map papers! So that's the paper the ship is mounted on and I used a Tim Holtz mask with Vintage Photo ink on there as well. The blue and red papers are SU! Nautical Expedition from the summer mini, the border is an EK Success braid punch, the ledger is stamped on a PTI die cut, twine is PTI, chunky eyelet is WeRMemory Keepers, and the alpha is an old, old, oldie but goodie, QK Empire classic.

I lifted the idea of the ship sails from this awesome card here. I first stamped the ship in Memento London Fog on a piece of white cs and then colored in the sails a little bit with Prismacolor pencils. Then I stamped the ship in Memento Rich Cocoa on a piece of kraft, cut the sails out of the white ship and glued them on the kraft one. Simple, and I think it gives it that little extra wow factor.

Hope everyone's enjoying summer and finding time for some crafty fun!

Happy Mother's Day!

Here's a little card I made for my Mom today and a gift box to match. She loves hummingbirds so when I saw the Elements of Style SU! set, I knew I had to have it. The flowers make a nice background as well so I think this set will get some good use. No big plans today except lounging and maybe squeezing in some scrappy time. Hope everyone enjoys their day!

SU! stamps
Scenic Route paper
K & Co paper
SU kraft cs
Sizzix label die
Spellbinders border & label dies
Copics
Powder Keg ep
Tim Holtz distress ink

Some love for Mom...

Hey guys! I know it's been a long time, but I've been working away on a new mini that I am SO excited about!! A long time ago I'd beat myself up over not posting regularly to this blog. I finally decided to just get over it and get on with it. I am not a fast producer. It's the painful truth. And I'm not really one to post just for the sake of posting. This is primarily a scrappy blog and I started it (has it really been nearly 4 years ago??) as a way of trying to keep myself "accountable". Too often I let everything in my life take priority over my creative time and months would go by with nothing to show for all the toys that sat collecting dust in my craft room.

I'm happy to say that this blog has helped me with that and I now take time nearly every day to play. BUT--I don't pressure myself to finish things quickly. I'm a dreaded perfectionist and detail-oriented. It's plagued me all my life. Where am I going with this, you ask?? I share here as soon I've finished something and if there's long breaks in between...it's because I'm working on something and it's probably something big and time-intensive. I hate excuses, and this has really sounded like one, but I was more going for an explanation than an excuse.

That said, I have this vintage beach mini that's consuming all my time right now and I can't wait to share it!! I'm hoping to be finished with it in a few weeks. I'm also squeezing in a little mini I started a long time ago and now I'm desperately trying to finish it before Sunday so I can surprise my mom with it for Mother's Day AND I have this Mother's Day card to share today. I'm finally ready to part with that vintage mini from a few months ago. I'm packing it up today and sending it on it's way along with this card. (I apologize for the photo quality. Mother Nature was not cooperating today)

I used the Crate Paper Portrait collection on this one. What an awesome color combo in this paper! I've always been a big fan of teal and black, but the addition of salmon/orange in this is perfection!

Some of the details:
the black border along the bottom is a Martha Stewart punch
the yellow strip in the middle is the new Spellbinders Parisian Accents (I layered the cut-out border on top of the part left behind on the paper after die-cutting the border-if that makes sense?)
felt flowers are PTI dies and felt
the brad is Making Memories
notebook page is a PTI die
flourish stamps are Kaisercraft Up, Up and Away(LOVE this set)
"for you" is Quickutz Phoebe
"mom" is Tim Holtz Vintage Market alpha
ink is TH vintage photo distress ink

Gotta get back to work! Hope you'll check back here soon when I get this mini posted!

Hope everyone's having a great week!!

Vintage Mini-Album

So here it is finally! This is my first paper bag mini-album and my first attempt at a video. If you suffered through it--thank you! It was a little shaky and the camera was jumping all over the place(that wouldn't have anything to do with the person holding it I'm sure), but a lot of fun to make! I've decided to invest in a little bloggie recorder to {hopefully} make better videos in the future. No promises though--they might still stink...

This post is a little pic heavy too. I wanted to include some still shots for those that maybe don't like sitting through videos, especially ones that bad:)

This mini was supposed to be a Mother's Day gift for my mother-in-law LAST year. Oops. Looks like it's going to make a perfect gift THIS year! I had so much fun making this! I think I've found a new love for mini-albums. I've got at least 4 or 5 planned for the near future.

I used all sorts of goodies from my stash to make this album so it would be nearly impossible for me to list everything out. One major thing I forgot to mention on the video is almost all of the paper is K & Co. There's a teeny bit of PTI paper in there as well. If there's anything you specifically want to know- manufacturer etc, just ask in the comments.

Have a great week!

Hugs to you...

Ok, I admit it. There's something very familiar about this card...hmmmmmm....well, why reinvent the wheel. I really liked that heart doily and that little girl stamp {together} so I tried it again with these Pink Paislee papers. This one is my favorite. These papers make me happy. Maybe it's the unexpected color combo or the pretty flowers? I'm a sucker for pretty flowers.

I mailed this card and the little mailbox from yesterday's post to my favorite sister-in-law. She lives in the land of never-ending snow and I'm hoping these will cheer her up! I filled that mailbox full of various chocolates. You can't imagine how much that thing holds. It should hold her over for awhile. At least until Easter when I make another one of these, stuff it full of more chocolate and ship it off. What? I still have 10 of these things left to decorate. She'll get one for every holiday this year. Well, I might have to rethink that...shipping chocolate from Georgia in July is not such a great idea.

Here's a few details on the card: Pink Paislee Sweetness papers, SU Greeting Card Kids stamp, Quickutz Fiesta and Phoebe,Spellbinders labels,renaissance hearts and scalloped hearts dies, Martha Stewart paper rose, pearls and felt heart, SU cardstock.

My plan is to spend the rest of the weekend blissfully working away on my vintage mini with no interruptions. We'll see how far I get with that...

Enjoy your weekend!

A Funky Vintage Target $ mailbox

I'm having too much fun with these little mailboxes! I'm pretty disappointed in my photography though. A lightbox would be a really good thing... This one is actually hot pink, not the red color in the pics. I tried natural light, Ott-lite, and every white balance setting on the camera and I just couldn't get that pink to come through. Oh well, you get the idea.

I know the vintage style is getting a bit overdone these days, but I find myself still drawn to some of it and these papers had the right mix of vintage and a funky color combo. I'm a firm believer that you can make any style of paper work with your own personal style. For me, it's all about the typography. I'm a font freak. So, while I'll never go over the top vintage, I can still make it work for me by including the things I love the most in the design process. That usually involves lots of dies, alphas, and/or border punches. These are my go-to items and things that make me excited to create. Just some random ramblings I've been thinking about lately.

The papers on this one are Pink Paislee Sweetness, alpha is Quickutz Fiesta, punches are Martha Stewart scroll heart and doily heart border, metal keyhole is Tim Holtz, pearls, paper rose,felt heart and sticker on the flag are Martha Stewart, ribbon is from the $ bin at Michaels, and that white crocheted thing that's supposed to be a rose was handmade by yours truly. I stuck it on there anyway. Thought it looked kinda cool;)

I'm saving the matching card for tomorrow's post. I create way too slow to post two in one day! Hope you'll visit again tomorrow!