My Creative Life

Project Life Photos

2011-08-25T19:09:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. I am so sorry it has been so long since my last post. My life has been a little crazy trying to adjust to kids getting back into a school schedule. I now have one in 5th grade, one in Kindergarten and one in preschool. My youngest is still with me three days a week and driving me a little crazy since he insnt used to being without my middle daughter. I have an hour and 20 minutes to waste everyday between picking up Makayla and then later Madalyn. All with a busy boy who doesnt enjoying waiting around from 15 minutes while we try and fight the traffic for Makayla. So we have filled the hour and 20 minutes after getting Makayla at the library, the park, Target, getting Starbucks and even going to the mall. I am running out of options so we usually end up at a library doing homework and reading. Anyway. Enough of all that crazy madness and onto the really reason I am posting... PROJECT LIFE PHOTOS!!!

These are my guys. They were watching Top Gear. They were laughing at the same parts and just being dudes. Love them to pieces.

On Monday the 22nd of April. I was sitting in the pick up line for picking up my oldest after school and you could see smoke from a fire in the Cajon Pass. The 15 freeway was closed for a while due to down powerlines. That was around the time my hubby starts his commute home from Beverly Hills. So I called to let him know and he found a diiferent route home only extending his commute by 30 minutes. Which was a lot better then the two hour delays we were hearing about.

Homework has been something we are all adjusting too. My oldest didn't have homework at all last year unless she didn't finish her class work. That was never really an issue. This year she has been a busy bee in class and out. Then Makayla has been doing a great good learning to write her letters and numbers. I have to say we had been working on it before but she is finally really putting in some effort. =)

Since my last post we made it to the river a few more times. I am telling you if there was work for my hubby out there I would be a residence of Lake Havasu City! It really is my favorite place and we are all at peace there. I think there would be nothing better then being able to go on the water everyday for a boat ride and a quick swim. Just look at how much fun these kids have jumping off the boat. That is my 4 year old son showing everyone how its done. Lol.

Well I have more to share but the kids just came in from being outside. Guess its time to start the bath time schedule, bedtime story and off to bed to start the crazy madness all over tomorrow. Wish me luck. Hope you all all enjoying the last bit of August and school starting up again.

Jenn

Project Life Photos

2011-07-14T08:46:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone.

Sorry it has taken so long for me to post more photos. I have been busy taking my kiddos to all their DR appointments, taking care of house stuff and helping a friend with her business by packing class kits and stuff for her etsy shop. Anyway. Here are a few pictures that have made it into our PL.

We went bowling with my sister and her kids. If you haven't already heard of kidsbowlfree.com you should check it out. Kids bowl free for the summer. For a parent it $25 then you can register more people, print the coupons and go bowl at your local bowling alley. IF ITS AVAILABLE IN YOUR AREA. After that you only pay for the rental of shoes.

Water fun with my niece Alexcis at my parents house. Those water guns are a huge hit! $9.99 for two guns at Target, or $5 each at Walmart.

I have been doing photo shoots and needed a black basket for a baby picture and couldn't find one. So bought a natural color one on sale bought spray paint and went to town . I LOVE spray paint.

My middle child Makayla was cuddled on the sofa with her "LOVE BEAR" that my oldest daughter Madalyn made for her at Build-a-Bear when Makayla was a baby. She never used to cuddle with him when she was little but lately he has been loved well.

So if you have a boy there has to have been a time that stitches have been a part of your life or in my case will be some day! My son is like my hubby... accident prone. Lol. He sliced open his foot and there was blood everywhere. =( A trip to urgent care expecting stitches resulted in just steri-strips. Thank goodness! However I know they are in our future...

Yum. A chocolate truffle cheesecake made by a good friend of mine for my hubby. He fixed her dishwasher and as a "Thank you" she brought his this amazing and extra yummy cheesecake. Beware of it goodness because I bet I have gained 10 pounds from it. LOL.

One on my favorite games on my iphone!! I love to play all the time. So had to snap a picture of it. FYI- if you have an iphone and you hold down the power button and the home button at the same time you can take a picture of anything that is on your screen.

Legos galore! Since April (start of birthdays around here) I have been stepping on, vacuuming up, and playing legos with my kiddos. So when I went into my son's room to see the scattered everywhere it made me frustrated but in a ha ha kind of way. I had just finished cleaning his room and went on to another room. Within 5 minutes his room looked like a lego bomb hit it.

I bet your hubby has a lot of tools, right? Well my hubby is an elevator mechanic and tools everywhere is an understatement! The garage is full, his truck in full and then he has stuff on whatever job-site he is on. So you can only imagine what we have on hand at any giving time if needed.

We went to Lake Havasu again for 4th of July weekend, which is what we do every year. Thunderstorms are a love of mine, crazy I know. But they just remind me of my childhood hanging out with friends and family and watching the lightening. So when we had one hit the area I grabbed my camera and hung out on the porch waiting for the "perfect one" and was able to capture it.

We spent the 4th on July on the water and did a long boat ride up to where they were launching off the fireworks. As we waited we watched the sunset and showed off our love for our country!

Hope all of you are enjoying PL as much as I am. Even my family is enjoying it. My kids ask all the time if I got the POTD and if not the suggest what we should have as our POTD. Then my hubby has helped pick photos to cause I can never take just one! LOL.

See you again soon.

Jenn

Project Life Inspiration from Lake Havasu, AZ

2011-06-27T10:20:00.000-07:00

I was out of town last week, visiting my favorite place... Lake Havasu, AZ. Nothing says summer to me like being out there on the Lake with my family. I grew up going there every sumer and almost every other weekend all summer long. Now the tradition lives on with my kids. Here are a few of my favorite photos I took out there...

This is how we started out of trip on Friday night watching the sunset from the water. Photo taken with my iphone using Camera+ app and the sunset enhancer.

My mom tought the kids to play Uno

My kids were searching for the smallest and largest shells they could find

Playing cribbage with my dad is a must every trip. We even taught my 10 year old to play and she picked it up very fast

one the water at sunset = happy family of 5!

I have some more wonderful pictures to share of summer fun stuff next week. See you then.

Jenn

Project Life Inspiration

2011-06-13T09:04:00.000-07:00

I have been looking at many PL blogs and getting to see great pictures, which is helping to come up with some for myself. But after 6 months of pictures everyday I am having a hard time. In fact missed a day completely some how. Figure I wont be putting a card in for that day and since Saturday was such a busy day of activites and many photos I can put a few from the day in. But I want to share a few of my favorite photos that I have been capturing.

A beautiful day with a breeze.

Spring in my parents backyard. The kids love to play in their backyard a pick flowers. This is a picture of a blooming apple tree.

Kyle was carrying this light spinning toy from Disney on Ice everywhere we went.

This is a picture of yummy cardne asada and chicken at the local Mexican Market in town where we get our yummy meat.

So a good friend of mine sells pampered chef products and she LOVES to cook. In fact I think LOVE is an understatement. These are her yummy brownies that she served at one of her parties. YUMMMM!

I have been helping a friend package up her class kits from time to time and decided I have to take a picture of all the fun goodies. =)

This was taking in the evening, it was finally warm enough that Makayla and Kyle could get out and enjoy it. It's to bad we dont have grass here right now for them to play in but kids and dirt = a good time.

This picture makes me LOL! Kyle decided one night when we were out at dinner to try a lemon for the first time. Still one of the best reactions ever.

We lost power one night before the kids went to bed. The younger to freaked out and Madalyn was excited. We dug out all sorts of candles and lit them for a sorce of light. I just love the reflections of the counter top and the reminder of the yummy scent they were giving off.

One day back in May we decided to check out a train museum. The kids had a great time riding the old train back and forth. Each ride was about 10 minutes long or so. Then on the back lot they had trains that they are restoring and tracks running every which way. The kids had a great time and this picture of makes me smile.

So my goal is to try and post of inspiration photos once a week. Fingers crossed that I can actual do that. Thanks for stopping by.

Jenn

Happy Mothers Day

2011-05-07T07:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Mothers Day to all you moms out there.

I want to share a few old pictures of my mom and I. The first one was when I was little...

The next photo is of my mom, my little sister Debbie on the right, and that's me in the left. We were in Hawaii on a hike down to a cove to snorkle. My parents took us out there as a graduation thing from high school. Such a fun trip we were just missing my older sister and her hubby.

The next picture was the day I got to hold my daughter Madalyn for the first time. She was born 7 weeks early so we had to wait 8 days before we got to actually hold her. That day was the first day it felt real that I was a mom.

I hope you have a fabulous day. You deserve it.

Pregnant Flash Mob for the March of Dimes

2011-05-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

One of my favorite charties is March of Dimes. They have a fun little video that you must see. For every view they will get a donation!! Watch and share it!!!

Thanks Jenn

Bon Jovi - Hallelujah

2011-04-12T17:13:00.000-07:00

Okay so if you know me and are a friend on FB you know how much I love Bon Jovi. I listen to his music every since day and never get sick of it. Last night I rewatched a documentary about Bon Jovi and his band members. I have seen it a bunch of times and even have recorded it on Showtime just to be able to watch it over and over and listen to the music. I love the song "Halleujah" and you cant find it on any of his cds because he has never released it. I hope that changes cause I LOVE IT!! Today I have listened to it a few times! So I want to share it with all of you! Enjoy.

Birthday Gift Journal

2011-04-10T13:53:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. I did a project this morning!!! Started around 11am and finished around 1pm. While I am still sitting here listening to Pandora radio I thought I would share what I did. I made a personalized journal for my friends daughter who turned 7!

Here is what I used...

journal from Barnes and Noble paid $8.00

two sheets of 12x12 pattern paper double sided

various colors of ribbon

chipboard letter

flowers

rhinestones

stickles Black Diamond and Diamond

black paint

foam brush

Mod Podge

And last minute decided to take off the wire that it was bound with and change it to a 1'' black wire by Zutter and used my bind it all

Glue Dots

Here is what the journal looked like when I bought it.

My first step was to remove the wire and paint the spine on the outside and inside about an inch in from the holes. Second step was to measure and cut the paper from the outside front and back covers making sure to leave about 1/2 an inch around the sides to fold over and glue down on the inside. Third step was to cut two inside pieces long enough to hide the edge of the paper that you folded over. Once you have all your paper cut and the paint on the spine is all dry you will glue or tape the paper done to the outside for the front and back covers. Once that is dry turn over the covers and fold over the flaps of paper from the outside and glue those down. The next step will be to glue the two inside pieces down to the front and back covers overlapping the the edges that you just folded over. After I had that all finished I re-did the binding with the black 1'' wire. Setting the journal aside, i painted the "K" with black paint and once dried used the black diamond stickles over the paint. I cut a piece of the paper to mount the letter on so it would show up against the pattern paper, added flowers, added the rhinestones using glue dots. The last steps are adding the various ribbions to the wire. Then using the stickes in both black diamond and diamond I added a strip along the cut edge of the ribbon to avoid fraying. Here is the finished product...

Hope you are all having a wonderful Sunday afternoon. Thanks for stopping by.

Mess all around!

2011-04-05T19:58:00.000-07:00

I was just on FB and came across Jennifer Priest post about a messy scrap area and could totally relate! And she was relating to Kristina Werner post. I did just clean my room on Saturday because Sunday I was teaching a craft at the Chruch for the womens ministry. So although its still messy in here its nothing like it was before. Before cleaning...

Man I look terrible, but then again I am crafting and I really dont dress up for that! I usually wear soccer shorts and a tank top just like I am there! But my little fashionista looks good!!

After cleaning and teaching the class...

This is under my desk...

In my drawers...

Behind that picture on the shelf...

AND THIS CORNER LOOKS NICE BUT REALLY IT HAS THIS...

So my dirty secret is out!! How about your scrap area... messy or clean?

Trip to Wyoming

2011-04-04T08:39:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago we had to take my MIL to Wyoming to help her sister move back to California after being in the hospital for a few days. Since Bill was out of work, still we went along leaving th kids behind with my parents for a week. I got to see many states that I have never been in before and for me that was just to cool! Our drive started out Saturday morning at 6 am, heading up the 15 freeway. On Saturday we drove through California, Nevada, the tip of Arizona, Utah and then stopped just east of the Wyoming border at 7:30 pm in a town called Evanston. It started snowing and we were hours away from another area to stay. When we pulled off the freeway my hubby was in heaven with this one the corner...

He said the only thing missing was guns and ammo. Yep he could totally fit in, in Wyoming!!

Hit the road again Sunday morning by 7am. Stopped in Casper, Wy to pick up his Aunt and take her to her home in Lusk, Wy. I had always heard about Lusk being a small town in the middle of nowhere and that was exactly the case! Cute little, friendly town! We stayed in a Bed and Breakfast, The Sager House. If you ever happen to be out that way you must stop by there and stay a night, Dotty was so adorable and as sweet as can be. The house is so neat, the food was amazing and the photos around her house to die for. She was a photographer for National Geographic!! Here is the house one morning covered in snow...

After spending a few days packing his Aunt's apartment and going through her storage we decided we should take a break and see some sites since I had never been out past Utah, Arizona and Nevada. So to South Dakota we went. We took his Aunt to visit with family and say her goodbyes while we went to Mount Rushmore. All I have to say about that is AMAZING! It was so much more impressive then I thought it would be. Just wish it wasn't snowing, windy and grey when we were there. Spent a while there in aww of it before heading back to Lusk. On your way we went past Crazy Horse and I took pictures from the car since it was so expensive to see it. On our way home we say buffalo, deer and antalope, which were everywhere, well excpet for the buffalo. Those were on a farm along with horses and cows galore. We even saw a BALD EAGLE!!!

Thursday we packed up the trailer and hit the road homeward bound for California. The weather was turning bad so instead of heading home the way we came we had to go through Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. In Colorado I got to meet up with my friend Kathi, see The Garden of the Gods, even saw wild horses and fall in love with Colorado all together. Maybe one day we will be moving out there. =)

Friday morning came early and we hit the road again by 7am. We made it into New Mexico and had to make a stop at the Sportsmans Warehouse for Bill! He misses having on close to us. Other then that stop in Albuquerque and the stop in Gallup for the night we didnt do anything else there.

Saturday we hit the road bright and early again trying to make it home to see the kids and have Sunday with them. As we entered Arizona Bill and I decided to surprise his mom with a short trip North of us to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon since she had never been. Considering how close we were we had to stop right? I have seen it a good ten times or so and everytime it is still amazing and breath taking. The weather however changed on us and got very cold and windy. Then before long it started snowing!!! Seemed to be what the whole week was like for us. After spending 4 hours there (opps, that wasnt in our plan) we hit the road again and drove just about nonstop to our home in Hesperia, Ca. We were so happy to be home and sleep in our own bed! The best part though was seeing the kids!!

Just a few hours from home and this sun set was amazing. It just kept changing! This is my favorite part of every day!! Got to love living in the desert, the night are so beautiful.

So that was a crazy week and last week was a week of trying to catch up around the house. This week is trying to get back into the routine with Bill back at work. The last 6 WEEKS were so good with him around and so easy even though I didn't get any time in to craft. But now he is at work, Madalyn is at school, Kyle and Makayla are watching cartoons and unfortunatly Makayla caught the flu! Started yesterday and still having a hard time today. Yep wouldn't be my life if everything was going prfectly smooth!! Hope you are all having a great day and that your week ends on the same note.

Project Life #2

2011-03-06T16:26:00.000-08:00

Here is a highlight of my week in Project Life...

Monday...

We made a trip to Azusa to have work done to the boat. Picture of the reflection in the mirror.

Tuesday...

My dad and hubby work on tile in the house. They tore out the broken ones, replaced them and pulled up the carpet near the fire place and added tile around it.

Wednesday...

Fundraiser at Barnes and Noble Bookstore, just had to hit up Starbucks for hot chocolate!

Thursday...

Bill, dad and Makayla finish up tile work. Picture of finished product around fireplace.

Friday...

The most watched cartoon in our house is...

Saturday...

Hiking with the family in Etiwanda.

Sunday...

Bill CLEANS the Excursion with a little help from Kyle. WOW what a diiference!!!

Project Life

2011-03-01T16:06:00.000-08:00

Trying Project Life and so far I am loving it! Been forever and a day since I have sat down and actually scrapbooked cause I don't have time. I am sure I could cut down on FB time, but thats hard to do. Lol. But we will see. My hubby has a month off of work due to lack of work so between the two of us everything is getting done around her in half the time freeing up some time for whatever. Hoping by the end of the month I will be posting some pictures of pages that I am getting done. Fingers crossed, cause thats a lot of hoping. Anyway. I thought I would share a few pictures from my Project Life book. I started it in January, so I will just share a few....

Jaunary pictures of my kids at Prospect Park in Redlands, CA.

Hiking with kids, hubby and Shadow

February

Sunrise while running on treadmill

Cabrillo Marine Aquarium with the Clarke Family in San Pedro, CA (learning to give the rights to my camera up!)

Everyday Medications to keep my monsters healthy.

Hubby and Kyle playing the iphone and ipod...

Well I will try to put more up next week. For some reason I am having trouble loading pictures every other picture I post.

Hope all is well with you.

Jenn

CHA Giveaways starting tomorrow on Art-Full Horizons

2011-01-28T09:41:00.000-08:00

Yep thats right! CHA is in town and starting January 29th through Febuary 1st the ladies behind Art-Full Horizons will be giving away stuff from CHA on their BLOG! Go check it out, just click on the bold blog and it will take you there.

Art-Ful Horizons Giveaway!

2011-01-21T15:04:00.000-08:00

OMG! I so want to go to this gathering of minds and talents! My friend Jennifer Priest and some of her amazing friends have put together an all in one weekend scrapbooking event in Palm Springs, CA. There is going to be a bunch of amazing teachers teaching amazing tips and tricks, a crop, a Garden Tea Party where everyone is welcome for only $20! Here is a link to their website and rules on how you can win a free, yes FREE registration to attend this amazing event... HERE ya go!

New Year Brought Snowy fun

2011-01-07T20:39:00.000-08:00

On Sunday night we started getting snow flurries that floated across the ground thanks to the lovely wind! But by 9 pm we had a nice coat of snow covering everything. Monday morning we still had snow coming down! Its not to unusual for us to get snow but it is a little unusual for it to snow all day like it did. Altogether we got about 4.5 inches. I was glad it wasn't like it was a few years ago when we got 18 inches!!! The kids however were beyond ecstatic to have any snow on the ground cause they got to play in it
.

Memory Game

2011-01-05T11:14:00.000-08:00

For Christmas we do a $25 family gift limit on my In-law side of the family. Doing that can be very difficult especially when the age differences! So I decided to make a few games using things I had around my scrapbooking room. I made another 12x12 Checker board/ tic tac toe game for my sister-in-law's family. I didn't take any pictures of it but it looks just like the other ones I have recently done (click here to see one). Since that didn't cost me anything but just over $4.00 with a coupon for magnets I decided to make something else. But what to make was beyond me. That's where ETSY.COM came into play... I did a search for $25 gift ideas for a family. So wonderful things came up but there was one that just caught my eye. It was a listing for a memory game using images printed on scrapbooking paper and then glued onto a small piece of wood. I thought I could do that BUT wouldn't it be cute with pictures of the last year! So I did a little more browsing and sure enough found something just like what was on my mind but for a whole lot more! Being that I love crafts and making things for cheaper at home I finally nailed down my idea!

First I started by enlisting my husband Bill and my dad Ron into cutting down some left over wood Bill had in the garage into 40 squares that were 2 1/4'' x 2 1/4''. Then the next day I spent a few hours in the garage sanding down the edges a bit and rounding the corners. (To bad I didn't tell Bill to take a picture of me!) The next step was the hardest, searching through pictures! I needed to find 20 pictures that I loved, if you know me well at all I LOVE to take pictures, I always have a camera with me!!! So I went through months and months of picture files on my computer looking for pictures of things we did with my sister-in-laws family and pictures that they emailed me of a visit in GA with my brother-in-law and his family. Long story short I couldn't pick just 20, instead I ended up with 23 pictures, i thought that was close enough and it was a good thing my hubby and dad cut me a few extra squares just in case they were needed, guess they know me to well! After picking the photos I printed them at home on regular computer paper and cut them down to 2''x2''. Then I picked a pattern paper that I thought would be perfect, hardest thing was cutting it down so that the squares on the paper were not cut in half which required me trimming that paper first and cutting it down to 2x2. I ended up needing to 12x12 sheets of paper but all worked out perfect. Once all the pictures and papers were cut I used Mod Podge to adhere them to the wood one side at a time. When it was all dried I put a coat of Mod Podge over the pattern paper and the pictures to protect them. I totally forgot to get a picture of all the pieces finished but I will the next time we visit them. To package it I decided to but them in a nice box. I went to Joann's Fabrics and bought an unfinished wood photo box for $7.99 and had a coupon, so paid just over $5 for it! Using a stain we had at home I stained the box and Bill sealed it to protect it. The lid held two pictures so I printed two of my niece and nephew that I thought were really cute and put them in the lid, placed the game pieces inside and voila we had another fun personal gift. Once again I forgot to take a picture of it all together cause Bill was in a hurry to wrap stuff up before all the kids woke up and wanted to get in on the fun! Christmas night my niece and my kids played the game and had a lot of fun looking at the pictures and talking about the time the were matching up. It was just what I had hoped would happen. Here are the photos that I did get of the game as I was making it.

Hope your Holidays were special and that they New Year is everything you hope for.

They are finally up

2010-11-07T18:37:00.000-08:00

My amazing husband Bill helped me get my mirrors up the other day when he got home from work!

The first thing we did was find the center of the wall and figure out the spacing, height and marked them on the wall with a pencil. Bill took out his trusty level to make sure that we were all straight and the tape measure to keep the spacing all the same. I probably would have just eye balled it, but I appropriate all the work he put into it! Then we used industrial strength Velcro to adhere the mirrors to the wall. Bill placed the four strips on the wall making sure that they would fit in the corners of the mirror. For a little extra security he screwed the back strip to the wall, then we but the other half on it and pressed the mirror to the wall.

It was really simple. The best part was that I told him we will need to pay attention to the pattern and not mix it up. Two seconds later I put a mirror on the wall not paying attention... and yes I didn't pay close attention! So I have two mirrors going one direction and two going the other way but the best part is that with the Velcro is that you can take it down and flip it the right way. So far they are different and I really like it that way! Here is the finished look...

Spray paint Crazy

2010-11-02T09:43:00.000-07:00

During the summer I decided I need a little change in my office. I had these great tins that I use to organize my bills, one for in coming and one for out going mail. In the past where I had them you never saw them but in my office now they are there for all to see and the color just wasn't doing it for me anymore.

A quick trip over to Lowes for spray paint and a little time and they fit perfectly now. After I painted them and let them dry, I took a piece of sandpaper to them so that they still had the antique feel that I love! I think I really like the pink on the most, best part is that if needed I can change it in a heartbeat. Got to love fixing up the things you have to work for you now.

I also did some bird houses and the frame of a mirror that needed to be changed to fit my color scheme in my bathroom. Once I take some pictures I will share them.

Mirror, Mirror on the wall

2010-10-30T16:16:00.000-07:00

you are my favorite after all! So I have been sitting on some mirrors I bought at Target for almost a year! Yep, sad right? As soon as I saw the HOME BEVELED MIRROR TILES I knew what I wanted to do to them. They come in a 6 pack for $19.99, I think I paid more but who can remember. My plan was to etch the mirrors after all I had the etching creme and never used it and a wall that needs a little something something. The hardest thing for me was finding the right design. I looked for hours and hours on the web trying to find an SVG file to download and use. But the one that I found and loved was on a message board that you needed to contact someone to get the file. I decided that was not going to work out. Then I went to Cricut.com and looked to see what cartridges they had. I found the Cindy Loo cartridge that had some doilies and other designs that would come in handy for other projects so that is what I got.

To do the project I used left over vinyl in whatever color I had that was 12x 12. Then I used the "fit to page" on my Circut expression, using a 12x12 mat. It calculated it out to be 11 inches, after picking my doily. I then used transfer tape to place it on the mirror, peeled the tape and started.

I put the creme on the mirror using a squeegee to move the creme over the entire mirror. Following the directions I let it sit for 15 minutes.

When time was up I washed the creme off in the sink and peeled the vinyl. And this is what I ended up with...

I only etched 4 out of 6 mirrors because my wall isn't big enough for all 6. I am sure they will be etched at some point and put somewhere else. I still need to figure out a way to adhere them to the wall, not sure what to do because I don't want to mess up the walls. My hubby and I are going to Home Depot or Lowes to figure out what we can use. If I don't find anything I am going to make my own frames to put them in. Once they are up I will take another picture and share it with you.

Thanks for coming by. Hope you are having a fun filled Halloween weekend.

Metal Game board

2010-10-26T10:54:00.001-07:00

I just loved getting around to making my family a metal game board. I have made about 4 or 5 now and have given them as a gift. My kids really didn't like that I did that but that's life. Last month a friend of mine was asking if I would be interested in getting together with other women to make Christmas gifts for family and friends, of course I jumped on the chance to be crafty since it has been so long. All together there are about 8 of us that have been working on the boards. Once a week we get together at someones house and work on the next step. The first week was coming up with an idea, I told them about my game board and that was that it was in the works. We ordered metal panels from an online store called FROM COVER 2 COVER, vinyl from another online store VINYL OUTLET, and few of the ladies went to Micheals with coupons in hand for magnets, foam brushes and Modge Podge. Then second week was cutting our vinyl into 4 - 1.5"x9" strips for the tic tac toe side of the game board (this is used on a 12x12 metal panel) or 4- 1"x5.5" strips for an 8x8 metal panel. Then for the checker board side the 12x12 panel needs 32- 1.5"x1.5" squares, the 8x8 panel needs 32- 1"x1" squares. Then our homework was to peel and stick the vinyl down on the panel. The third week was stamping along the edge of the tic tac toe side using rubber stamps and stazon ink in any color. Once the ink was dry we then put a coat of modge podge over the entire panel doing one side at a time and allowing to dry. *TIP* use a piece of wax paper under your panel so that you don't make a huge mess of you table! The fourth week was working on the picture magnets. Some of us paint the edge of the magnets and allowed them to dry while cutting our photos. Then picking a photo to use, make sure that it is not a close up of the person and then print the picture 12 times per person, on plain printer paper in a wallet size. Using the magnet trace the edge of the magnet to get the right shape. If the paper hangs over the edge of the maget a bit you can use a small piece of sand paper on the edge once the picture is glued down and dry! Once they were cut out we used the modge podge to glue the picture down to the magnet and allowed to dry. After they are all dry you add another coat over the top of the picture and allow to dry. I used glossy accent on the top of my magnets instead, either way is just fine. I haven't got any pictures of the other ladies boards because I keep forgetting my camera but here are pictures of mine. I used an 8x8 panel that I had in my stock and everyone else used 12x12 panel that they ordered.

Has it been that long?

2010-09-14T19:25:00.000-07:00

Trying to find time to blog is starting to get very tough between kids, chores, and homework. Its been about 6 weeks since my oldest started 4th grade at a new school and this is the second week for my younger two who are in pre-school. Once we figure out the forever changing schedules I am sure that I will catch up on cleaning my office, maybe finding scrapping time (which hasn't happened in almost a year), and finding time to blog. But for now I can do a little crash course on what we have been up to.

The summer flew by this year which was a little bit of a bummer for me since this is my favorite season. But we managed to fit in 6 trips to Lake Havasu City, my favorite place in the world! It is so relaxing and the kids love to be on the boat and swimming all day long. We even made it out there with our friends, the Adams family for 4th of July. Here are a few pictures that I just love from over the many trips out there.

Makayla and Madalyn

Kyle, after taking a ride behind the boat in a tube. Pure satisfaction!

The Adams Family, below

4th of July fireworks from the boat After the fireworks we celebrated Scott Adams birthday on the boat with cookies and brownies! YUMMY!

My daughter Madalyn and I made it out to Hollywood with friends to see a new game show, Pictuerka, which will be on HUB in October sometime. The only picture I got was before going in of all the girls. We should have had them take one of the moms, there was 4 of us and all those girls!

I braved a trip with my three kids (no hubby since he was at work), some friends and their kids to El Captian Theater in Hollywood to see Toy Story 3. I had never been to that theater before so it was neat to finally see it. After the movie we all got to go on the back lot and play in the Toy Story Zone. The kids had a great time running around there, but the best part was the Ferris wheel with Makayla and Kyle. I wish that Madalyn had given it a try and conquered her fear but no such luck. I got a photo on my cell phone but it really wasn't that great. Here is a picture of the 4 of us at the end of the day.

August 9th kicked off the 2010-2011 school year for Madalyn. She is totally loving her new school, which is wonderful because I was wondering if I was making the right decision. All summer long she wasn't very happy with me taking out of her old school but she really needed a bigger challenge. The new school really is doing it for sure! She has even joined band and is going to learn the flute. Not to mention she will learn how to play the piano with a computer program, Spanish and Art History. Got to love the choice schools out there that are offering other things for kids. All I know is that I don't have to pull out what she did at school for the day. Instead she comes home excited and willing to share. So here is to her 4th grade year being amazing!

Makayla and Kyle started pre-school last week. For Makayla it is her second year and last before starting kindergarten and for Kyle its his first year. Should be interesting next year to have them at different schools since they love being together. So being it was Kyle's first year and he is always with me I was worried that crying was going to be a problem but lucky it went perfect. Not sure if it was the bribery that worked or that he was just ready. I think maybe a little of both. See he is really into monster trucks and I found one in my closet that was suppose to be his for Christmas, opps! So it was my bribery! He stayed without crying he got the truck and ice cream. First thing he said when I picked them up was "Me didn't cry, me get my monster truck now?" Yep, bribery works every time. Later that night we got ice cream with daddy, papa, and of course the monster truck! Here are a few photos.

So to end the summer... My hubby and I celebrated 10 years of marriage on September 3rd! I can't believe it has been that long. Like everyone else we have had our ups and downs and have come out stronger and happier. We can't wait for the next 10 years to see where life takes us. Anyway. We go every year to Lake Havasu for an adult only trip!!! Yep we talked the grandparents into splitting up the three day weekend so that we can go with no kids. We asked our friends Mike and Taryn to join us and they also got a sitter for their daughter. It was just what the four of us needed a break that was relaxing and rejuvenating. I got a new camera from my hubby, a Canon T1i, so I took a lot of pictures! The only on of me is terrible and jumping of the rocks. Which Taryn and I did, just like the kids were doing, the guys stayed in the boat and said they had no desire to do that! Us girls rock!!

I am on the left and Taryn on the right getting ready to jump!

Doesn't this picture I took of my hubby's feet say it all? Relaxing with no kids!!!

My guy, enjoying talking with friends, a beer and bbq. I just love him!

View from my Uncle's Lake house, overlooking Havasu Springs Resort. Isn't it beautiful? It is my favorite place to be in the evenings, sitting on the balcony enjoying the view while my hubby bbqs.

So here we are now, school, work for Bill, running kids around for me, and trying to find time in crazy schedules for some down time.

I hope that you had a wonderful summer. I know I did and I am already wishing it was summer again!

Jenn

Cards Cards and more Cards

2010-06-27T15:35:00.000-07:00

I haven't really been scrapbooking at all lately. I get my office all picked up and think I can finally do something and then my kids come in and that's the end of that. Hard to work in a room with three kids digging through all my stuff and climbing on me. But its all worth the smiles I get from them and the hugs. So instead I have just thrown together a few cards that I needed for Mother's Day, Birthdays and for Madalyn's Teacher. The only cards that I did that really was a production line was some Thank you cards for the kids birthday gifts. I hope that you enjoy them as much as I do.

The card below was a lot of fun to make. I scraplifted it from Paper Crafts Go to Sketches Magazine., Vol. #1., page # 76. They took an envelope and sealed it, then cut the end off, covered it with paper and cut out a half circle on top. Then you can add money like I did or a gift card. There were other great ideas in there too. In fact the "mom" card above was also from a sketch.

This card is also from the sketches, but I changed it up a bit. I also used scrap pieces of papers, leftover letters and some sequence ribbon that I won from Jennifer Priest's blog, you can even buy them at her Etsy shop.

Here is another one from a sketch. Once again I used the sequence ribbon and the leftover scraps I had.

Here are the Thank you cards, also from a sketch. Guess I really got my dollars worth out of that Magazine! Picked fun papers I had that were leftovers from another project, used my cricut to cut everything I needed first, assembled it, wrote a thank you and then let the kids write their names, although Kyle needed a lot of help. It can out perfect though and they loved helping.

Have a good Sunday evening.
Jenn

Pay it Forward

2010-05-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

I quick note. My friend Jennifer is in need of your help! It is a scrapping thing that is going to help out others. So please click on this link, http://hydrangeahippo.blogspot.com/2010/05/scrap-it-forward-call-to-action.html, and see if you could help her out.

Thanks Jenn

ALEXCIS

2010-04-25T09:28:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

Some how I seem to be doing a lot of name projects lately, weird how that is working out but I love it. The other day I found a little bit of time to redo my nieces name. I wish i had a photo of the original name but I forgot to take one. So let me tell you about what the used to look like... they were white, with butterfly stickers, gems, and ribbon. They were originally done to match her baby bedding, but now that she is almost 5 and she has new bedding that is for a big girl we needed to do something different with them. Her new bedding is bright colors with polka dots, flowers and plain. Alexcis has an obsession with polka dots so that is what I decided to do. After disassembling the originally design, my mom and I painted them a light pink. It took about two coats of paint, my mom did one coat and a few days later I did the second coat. From that point it took me about 3 weeks to find time to do the polka dots, which took no time at all. I used three different color that were in her bedding, a foam circle paint brush, and a circle stamp. When that was dry I cut the ribbon to the desired length and my Hubby Bill and I used a stable gun to attach the ribbon. Alexcis was very excited to have them all finished and today when they take their 7 hour drive back home they can take the letters with them. I am sure that the first thing Alexcis will want to do is hang them up! Well here are the photos of the project before the dots and after hanging in my daughters room.

Happy crafting everyone. Hope that you enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

Jenn

Acrylic Name Banner

2010-04-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

Hi again!

Birthdays are a great way to get me motivated to make some thing fun. There is nothing better for me then to give something that is handmade and personalized. Gets me to step away from everyday life, let go of stress and make something really cute. My friend's daughter Kayla just turned 6 last week. Kayla is so cute, the only girl in her family, and the baby of the family. So I really wanted to make something pretty that she could have in her room that just screamed "girlie room." With that said, I decided to make a banner with her name on it. But not just any banner, a banner made of ACRYLIC! I Love to use acrylic for everything ever since I used it for the first time 2 1/2 years ago. THANKS JESSICA, you made me an acrylic junkie! Here is what I did....

I took 5 pieces of 6x6 acrylic panels, then on the blue protective covering with a sharpie I made a triangle. Once that was finished I used my fiskars rotary cutter and cut the acyrlic. It does take a little work... first cut ob the line applying some pressure. Then flip over the acrylic piece line it up and cut again. Eventually you will hear a cracking sound, that is when you know you made it through the acrylic. I might take a few swipes of the blade to accomplish this. Once I had all the pieces cut I used black acrylic paint and painted the edges of the triangles and let them dry. Then the paint was dry I stamped all the pieces using the cotton white staz-on ink and on of the Kits2remember rubber stamps. While the ink was drying I used chipboard, my cricut expression and the DonJaun cartridge to cut the name. After cutting the chipboard I then painted the edges of the letters. Next I cut pattern paper the same size as the chipboard and adhered them to the chipboard. To attach them to the acrylic I used glue dots. Then I decorated the different panels with the flowers, ribbon and brads in the middle of the larger flowers. When that was finished I used my crop-a-dile to punch holes for the ribbon and feed it through. Took me about 3 hours to complete it, but keep in mind that most of the time was the drying of the ink and paint. Here are the photos...

Wish I could have seen her open it, but my kids were cranky and so we missed it.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a wonderful weekend. We will be having a busy one. Makayla turns 4 on Saturday and Kyle is going to be 3 in 13 more days so we are going to have one big party! Time to go get ready for the fun. Bye

Homemade Invites

2010-04-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that the last time I blogged about something or even crafted was in November. Life has been very busy and frankly I just have had a hard time finding inspiration to scrap again. But the wait is over. I am not sure what it is but I always feel more myself when Spring and Summer start to come around, the more sunlight and warmth the better! For my first project of the year I decided to make invitations for my daughter Kayla and my son Kyle's birthday party coming up later this month. We have for the last 3 years had a party for them together and this one will be no different. They have decided that going to a fun place named Jumping Jacks would be a lot of perfect! I would have to agree, we have been there before for birthdays and they are a blast. The kids get to jump their hearts out and the parents get to join in! Jumping Jacks uses a frog for their mascot and I thought it would be fun to have one on the invite. So that is just what I did....

Supplies...

Cardstock in various colors
Cricut Expression
Cricut Gypsy (Cricut Cartridges DonJuan, DoodleType, and Paper Dolls Dress up)
Glossy Accent for attaching the letters
Googly eyes
Pop up dots
Scotch ATG Tape gun
AND
My mom to help!

Above is my mom removing letters from the cricut mat, I thought she was going to kill me but she survived and so did I! She also helped out by putting the fun eyes on the frogs and then placing them on the circle with the pop dots. She tried to use the tape gun but she is not much of a crafter so she asked for another job. Once I had the strip on the bottom, and the circle with the frog adhered I started on the letters using Ranger's Glossy Accents. I am telling you I LOVE that stuff. It works so well for multiple projects. I didn't take a picture of the inside but I used my Word program and typed up the info on my computer and then printed it out and adhered it to the inside of the card. Making about 10 cards took my about 4 hours with my moms help and that was also with kids in the mix which always makes things more difficult. Hope you enjoy the look as much as I did!

Happy scrapping and thanks for dropping by again! Hope to see you around...

Grateful

2009-11-09T14:18:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone.

I am so sorry that it has been a month and a half since my last post. Life has been incredibly busy with kids, everyone getting sick, and some personal things that happened to my parents last month. Seems like we have had no time to enjoy the things we love to. But some how over the last two weeks I managed to fit in 5 minutes here and there to get something finished.

So no more need to wait...

I made a fun interactive metal board to be put up for the Thanksgiving holiday. I wanted us to reflect on what we are Grateful for, my idea is to have the kids help fill it out the leaves and then at the end of the Thanksgiving season I can take the things they wrote and place them on a 12x12 page. Think it will be neat to see what changes over the years, right now I can just hear my little guy Kyle (2 years old) scream that he is grateful for "monster trucks!" I started out with a 6x12 piece of acrylic that I cut down to a 6x11 piece. Then using the We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper on the 1/2" setting and cornered the edges. Then using a rubber stamp that I love and Olive Green Stazon Ink I stamped the acrylic and let dry.Using my Cricut and Sure-cuts-alot program I found two fonts that I liked and cut them out of yellow pattern paper and adhered it with Glossy accents to the acrylic. Using the Crop-a-dile I made holes it the 4 corners so that I could hang it and attach it to the bottome piece.

The lower piece is done by using an 11x 14 piece of metal that I pained lightly with an Aqua Paint Dabber and allowed to dry. Then next day I sprayed the metal with Glimmer mist in the Twilight color, make sure that you spary a light layer and allow to dry overnight and add more if you like later. The next few steps I used my Cricut, Graphically Speaking cartridge (Tree) and the the Plantin SchoolBook cartridge (leaves). The tree I made to the right size desired using my cricut design studio, it was cut as a 10" W x 12"H. The leaves I cut on 2 3/4" setting, using the roly poly function making sure to flip the image from time to time. Once they were all cut I did a little doodle on the edges of the leaves and the tree to add a little character. For the grass I took a piece of green pattern paper and tore it to make it look like hills. To darken the edges I used the Olive green stazon ink and a cotton ball to fade it onto the edges. Then where the tree is placed I cut a hole using the craft knife to feed the tree into to give a little illusion. Then I doodled arounf the base of the tree. I adhered it with my tape gun to the metal but I didn't do the hole tree because I wanted some of the branches to look like the were popping off the metal. So of the leaves are adhered to magnets, I use scotch tape to hold the paper on the tree and the magnets that way it can be scrapped later on a 12x12 page. The leaves that are in the grass I used pop dots so that they gave the illusion on being piles. To attach the twp piece together I justed used so ribbon I had in my stash but you could use a jump ring as well.

I hope that you guys had a wonderful October and that your November is starting out on a good note. Happy Scrapping. Thanks for dropping by!

Jenn

Two in one day

2009-09-25T21:33:00.000-07:00

Hi again!

I am on a roll tonight! I was bored and thought there is nothing else better then scrapping the night away.

Tomorrow we have a birthday party for my nephew Tanner, he is turning one! Seems like only yesterday that my SIL was saying she was having a boy and now he is one. How time flies. Anyway. They have decided that they don't need or want gifts instead they want everyone to donate on behalf of Tanner and that is a wonderful idea. BUT he is my nephew and I want to give him something special. So I put together a metal page that can be displayed on an easel. The only things I used to to this project was an 8x8 metal panel, Black Staz-on ink, a large background stamp in a crackle finish, Pitch black paint dabber, crop-a-dile corner chomper, a piece on ribbon, Diamond black stickles, two pattern papers, my cricut and Graphically speaking cartridge.

Step one was to stamp the whole 8x8 piece on metal and let dry. Step two was to cut a mat out of the blue pattern paper, size is 4.5x6.5. Then use the crop-a-dile to round edges and distress with the paint dapper. Once the paint was dry I tied a ribbon around the mat and adhered it to the metal. I then picked the border "one" on the cartridge and cut it a 3", this would make it 3x12. I then cut off 4" that I didn't need. I used glossy accent to adhere the border down. The last step was to use the stickles on a few of the "ones" and "1's" to make them stand out a little more. After that all it needs is a 4x6 photo and display!

The best part about how I put the border and mat my SIL can pick which way she want it to go.... along the side on at the top. OH and the stamp!! Doesn't it just give the metal a cool look or what? Can you imagine it on acrylic too? Oh the possibilities!

Enjoy your weekend.

Trip to Remember

2009-09-25T18:22:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone.

I have been waiting since last night to post this project but of course when you have time something goes wrong.... in my case my internet! I have been waiting around all day for a Tech to come out a replace the main unit that burned up. Now that it has been completed its time for some blogging.

I wanted to make a fun word book because I have never done one! Yep that's right never. My plan was to design something on my Cricut Design studio and then cut it with the K2R's fabulous chipboard... but after two hours of messing around on the computer I decided to go in a little different direction. Instead I used an exclusive K2R 8x8 Acrylic Stadium Album. I did still manage to give it the look of a word book by making chipboard letters using my cricut, the George Basic shapes cartridge, and the design studio to make the letter the right size and width that I desired. To do this I used two 12x12 sheets of chipboard, cut the letters and then used my craft knife to get all the way through the chipboard. It does take a little time but it is well worth it. Once I had the chipboar d letters finished, I cut pattern papers for the front and back sides of the letters adhered it and then painted the edges using the Pitch Black Paint Dabbe r. When that was drying I decided to used the same dabber around the edges of the acrylic panels that make up the stadium album. Once all the paint was dry I stamped on the edges of the "O" and "D" panels using K2R stamp item # 1-09 and Jet Black Staz-on. The next thing I did was add the chipboard letters to the panels to spell out "Florida" then I began adding pictures and paper. I didn't use a bunch of embellishments because I wanted the pictures to be the center of everything and have them accented by the papers used. (The papers were from a paper pack by DCWV Tahiti Beach Stack that I got on sale at Joann's)

To start... I took the "F" panel added a family photo of the three of us in Florida and put a rub-on on the photo itself (this is on the front of the cover) the backside I added a picture of me and my hubby.

The "L" panel I put the two pictures... BUT before I added the one of Madalyn and me with those sexy 3-d glasses I trimmed it to mirror the photo on that backside. So lets start there.... I trimmed the photo of the Iconic "Golf Ball" that Epcot in known for along one side. When I adhered it I didn't adhere the side I cut but the other three sides to make a pocket for a tag I made out pattern paper. So before adhering it use it to make a template to cut the front picture ( tip... make sure you but the backs of the pictures together before trimming so that they are a mirror image, otherwise you will make a photo that is cut wrong.) The "O" panel is just a simple one with a photo on the front and a photo on the front. The "R" panel I put a strip on pattern paper, then adhered three photos on to a piece of yellow paper and then cut around the pictures to make on large mat. I am thinking I will add something to this page along the top of the photos but not sure what at this time. The back side was done using a photo that I matted to match the front side, added the strip of paper to the side, added the "hot hot hot" rub-on from the holiday theme and the "paradise found" is also a rub-on that I have had in my stash for ages!

The "I" panel... cut a strip of pattern paper with the works on it, put the bottom picture, then added the matted the top picture of my daughter at the beach in Daytona, and once again used a rub-on on the photo from the same themed pack. The backside was done the same way, however I did not adhere the one photo down all the way so that I could add a tag that I made. I did sandwich to pieces of paper together so that from the font side it match with the photos since it peeks through, I also journaled on both sides. Then I added the yellow and white flowers and that was that. The "D" panel is a simple strip of paper, three photos to make a sort of collage, then a simple rub-on. The back side is the two pictures, a strip of paper and then I wanted to make the paper look as if the words were printed on it but they are really just rub-ons. The "A" panel.... was simple with a journal block, two pictures, last minute stamping to add a little dimension and the flower with a button in the middle, and another rub-on.

When I had all the panels finished I used the BIA and black wire to bind the book and found a bunch of bright colored ribbon and was finished.

I am happy with the outcome even though my plan did change a bit. My little two monsters are a little sad that they are not part of this book, but unfortunately we had to leave them with family when we went. But all three of them are loving the fact they can flip through the book and remember the fun that we had.

Happy Scrapping.

Birthday Gift

2009-09-12T22:56:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone.

This last week just few by and before I knew it it was Friday and I had nothing ready to blog about. Yikes! Last night I tried starting on an 8x8 acrylic album that I needed for Madalyn's little friends birthday. Seem like these days I would much rather spend a few hours making something then killing myself at a store trying to figure out what to get the kids! This time was no different.

I stated out by having my 8 years old daughter Madalyn paint the edges of the 8x8 acrylic by using a Pitch Black Paint Dabber. Once the paint was dry I used a K2R stamp #1-01 and jet black staz-on ink. I stamped three of the panels on the out side edge just to give it a little something special. Then I just used the left over paper from my "C-R-E-A-T-E" banner that I made earlier this month. I did but those vellum flowers that are on the front cover and curled the petals just by rubbing my finger nails on them. The construction on the book was really pretty basic, it took me about 2 1/2 hours to do between painting, dry time, cutting the papers, inking the edges with Tim Holtz Black Soot ink, and adhereing the paper to the acrylic. Then I used black 1" o-wire and the bind-it-all to bind the book. Once that was finished I raided my ribbon to tie onto the binding and it was complete. OH almost forgot.... I used sticlkes on the edges of the ribbon so that they ribbon doesnt fray. Another trick I did was on the the page with the circles.... I cut out the polka dot rings and the flowers that were in the middle and adhered them in a random pattern.

As for the fun card... that was really simple. I used a bunch of scraps to make it. I started with a pattern piece of paper that I folded in half making sure that the pattern was on the inside. Then I added strips of leftover paper scraps to the white side of the paper. Once that was finished I trimed down the strips so that they were the exact size, added a flower, a button, ribbon and the "happy birthday' rub-on from the birthday pack. On the inside I added another rub-on that says 'just for you on your special day" and let Madalyn write in the card as she pleased.

It is always really fun to have your kids do a little something with you when you are crafting. I know that my kids actually fight over who is doing what, which can drive me a little bonkers! So to avoid that I call one in at a time and give them their own "duty" and when that is done the must step out of the room. Best way that I can keep my space "STRESS FREE" and in a good creative atmosphere!

Happy scrapping everyone. Now off to bed so that I can be rested up for a fun filled day with no kids tomorrow!

Jenn

"I can do all things...."

2009-09-09T09:32:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone.

Back in June I made a wall saying for a fund raiser at church. Unfortunately it never sold, but the good news is that I gave it to Madalyn's Bible Quiz Coach. She was the one who picked the saying and I saw it fitting that I gave it to her. I finally have a picture of it downloaded from my camera and ready share. I wish that I had one of it on a wall but I don't. However I have one of it right after I cut it using my cricut and the Sure Cuts Alot program. If you have a cricut and wish you could use fonts on your computer this is a way you can, click HERE to check it out! The vinyl I got from the Vinyl Outlet, they have a huge selection of colors, the sizes are 12x36, and the prices are awesome! Anyway the quote we used was.... "I can do all things through Christ who strenghthens me." Phil. 4:13

Hope you are all having a good week so far. Happy scrapping.

Jenn

Coupon Holder

2009-09-04T07:27:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

I have a really quick project today, its a coupon holder. I don't know about you but every penny I can squeeze out of coupons I do. So since I print my own and they are all over my kitchen and office I decided it would be cute to have a fun box like thing to store them in. Here is what I did to make that happen....

I used the always durable and fabulous K2R acrylic in 4x6 (two panels), 4x4 (one panel) and a left over 3x12 strip from the mobile I made. I started by cutting the 3x12 strip into a 3x6 piece and a 3x4 piece using my fiskars rotary cutter. Then I cut the 4x4 piece as well into a 3x4 piece. Once they were all cut I laid them out and stamped with Timber brown stazon ink and two K2R stamps item number's 1-02 and 1-07. I stamped in the corners of the 4x6 pieces with item 1-07 and all over with 1-02 on the 3x4 pieces. Once the ink was dried I used the BIA to make the holes and laced the brown ribbon through the holes. Each secton was done with it own piece of ribbon and the adhered on the inside of the box. To do the letter I used my cricut and cartridge Oppistes Attract. The paper is scrapworks Florabella Sketchbook it is double sided pattern paper, the one side is the print and the over side was the blue that I used as the shadow. Then I tied ribbon on the letters and adhered them to the panel. The first "o", the "p" and the "n" and adhered using pop dots. All I was finished. It took me about an hour to do. Could have dont it a little faster but I was dealingwith my little monsters, I love being a SAHM!

There are endless possiblities for the uses you can make a box for.... maybe for some small scrappy supplies, a napkin holder (which is in the works here), a bill holder, maybe even a pencil or pen holder, how about a BOX TOP holder for your childs class! You see where I am going with this! The best part is that with all those fabulous sizes Jessica offers you can do any size in anything you want!

Enjoy your 3 day weekend. We will be in Lake Havasu again enjoying ours! Happy scrapping.
Jenn

"CREATE"

2009-08-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

I just want to share a quick project with you and apologize about being MIA late week. Between allergy shot for my daughter two days a week, homework, back to school and the little ones time got away from me. I am just glad that I found time this week to fit in a little craft time here and there. Literally did a 10 to 20 minutes the last few days to finish this project. So here we go....

I wanted to make something fun for my craft room because I realized that I always do something for everyone else and hardly ever anything for myself. Well that had to change right? I decided that it was time to finally make myself a banner. I have been planning to make one but have never gotten around to it. I am glad I did though because it is just what my space needed. I started out by using 6x6 K2R chipboard and making a triangle out on it. Once that was finished I used a 12x12 piece of chipboard to trace and cut out the rest of the triangles needed. Once that was finished I used a Pitch Black Paint Dabber to paint the sides of the triangles. Next I traced the triangle onto the backside or the coordinating pattern paper by me & my big ideas. It was a paper pack of 30 specialty papers with die cuts at Joann's for $7. Once they were all cut out I distressed the edges with Tim Holtz Black soot ink, then applied them to the triangles. The next step was with the fabulous acrylic letters... I painted the sides with the pitch black paint dabber and allowed to dry. I decided last minute to add the card stock to the letters because the were getting lost on the triangles. So I picked coordinating colors traced and cut the card stock, using glossy accent along the edges on the paper to adhere to the letters. Before I adheres the letters to the triangles I added some stamping to a few on the triangles using K2R stamp #1-02. Also before adhering them I added the embellishments using flowers from previous kits, a brad from a previous kit, blue green button I picked up at Joann's, the pink epoxy stickers that I had forever, green ribbon from my daughters dress that tore, pink wire and a few beads. When I finally got around to adding the acrylic letters I used pop dots to help give it a little more dimension. To make the holes I used my crop-a-dile and the feed the ribbon through the holes. I did only used on long piece but you could tie ribbon between the two triangles you are joining.

I have to say that I am really pleased with it and glad that I finally did it. It is a great addition to my space! I hope that you guys have a fabulous weekend ahead! We are heading out of town... time to take the boat out again! Happy scrapping everyone.

Jenn

My new niece Brianna Nichole

2009-08-20T20:56:00.000-07:00

I am so excited!!! On August 19th at 12:30 am Hawaii time my little sister Debbie had her baby girl, Brianna Nichole. She weighted in at 6 pounds 7 ounces and was 19 inches long. They are both doing well. Just a few minutes ago I got to see pictures of her, she is adorable! My favorite picture is of my 4 year old niece Alexcis seeing Brianna for the first time. She really is a happy and excited big sister. Here are a few pictures of Alexcis and Brianna and one of my sister Debbie and the girls. I hope that Sean gets home as soon as possible to meet his new baby girl (which will be a few months old by that time). Anyway. Congratulations Debbie, Sean and Alexics! I love you!

Baby shower gift turned Kits2remember Project

2009-08-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

I am so excited to share this project with all of you. I have been working on a plan and layout for months and actual construction for a week. Yep that's right a week, just a few hours a day while my two little ones are done for a nap. Here is the scoop behind this project... as many of you know my little sister Debbie is pregnant and due next month with her second girl. Debbie and her family live in Hawaii currently since that is where my BIL Sean was stationed. He is currently in Afghanistan and of their families live here in California. All the grandparents are sad that they are not going to be around for most the baby fun. So I decided to make a baby mobile for my soon to be niece Brianna so that she can see her grandparents daily! Here are the details. I must tell you before we get started that I got a lot of help from my husband, my mom and Sean's parents! Thanks to all of your help with really turned out better then I had hoped!

I started out with an old crank style mobile that has been sitting in a box for about 7 years now (it was my daughter Madalyn's). I wish I took a picture of it before the make over but forgot to. I took all the pieces of so that only the bones of the mobile where left. Then my husband Bill picked up some spray paint primer for plastic and some brown spray paint from Home Depot so that I could paint away. I did take two days to paint it one for the primer and one for the brown paint. While those pieces were drying I made the "hood" of the mobile. I did that by cutting 4 triangles in the desired sizes out of K2R CHIPBOARD. Then I covered both sides of the chipboard with DCWV Textured Cardstock, one side with brown and the other with pink. On the brown side I used various PAINT DABBERS and just put dots on it. Once the dots were dry, I flipped it over and made my own dots using a brown BIC Marker. Once all the sides were completed I punched holes in the triangles down two sides of all four using my Bind-it-all. When all 4 triangles had the holes I started lacing two triangles together and the feeding the arm of the mobile through the ribbon. Thanks to my mom! That was her brilliant less time consuming idea. After all 4 triangles were laced to the "hood" piece I started to think how I was going to make the dangling pieces. I first wanted to make a complete square but when I had a mock up of it it was much heavier and larger then I wanted so my hubby talked me into just doing three sides of the square. Which was a good thing because I was getting irritated with my design. I was just making harder then it needed to be. Anyway. So to get the dangling pieces I used K2R 12x12 ACRYLIC and cut it down to 3x3 pieces using my fiskars rotary cutter. It does take a little bit of work to get through the acrylic but it worked great. After the pieces where cut down I drew lines on the protective cover making them cross in the center so that I when I put it into the BIA to make the holes I knew they would line up. Then I cut the holes with the BIA on two of the 4 sides and when you cut them the top holes will overlap a bit. Make sure you do that to all 12 3x3 pieces on acrylic and remove the protective covering. The next step was taking the CROP-A-DILE CORNER CHOMPER and cutting the opposite point from where the BIA holes overlap. I used the 1/4" size. Then I painted the edges using the Aqua PAINT DABBER doing that to all 12 pieces of acrylic. When that was drying I cut my mats for the photos using some more of the textured cardstock. Then I inked the edges using my TIMBER BROWN STAZON INK, making use that I inked both sides of the paper. Then I stamped a flower on the acrylic in a random pattern using the stazon again. When I added the mats to the acrylic I only used a glue dot in the middle to that I could hide it with the butterfly stickers, white paper flowers or the ladybug I made using the Walk in my Garden Cricut cartridge. I added the photos to the mats and one of the accents on the other side to hide the glue dot. When that was finished I started to lace the three sides together. Time saving tip- put a piece of scotch tape around the edge of the ribbon you would like to feed through the holes it makes it much easier. When I was finished lacing one side I used a glue dot and GLOSSY ACCENTS to keep it from unraveling. I did that to the "hood" as well. OH yeah! When you are lacing the acrylic pieces the top holes that overlapped I left out of the lacing that way I could feed the ribbon through that was going to hang it from the hood piece. When that lacing is all finished you can start hang the pieces I just feed the ribbon through tied knots secured it with glossy accents and feed it from the hood piece tied that and secured again with the glossy accent. Continuing on with all the other sides. The center was made out of 2 6x6 K2R chipboard pieces using my Walk in my Garden Cricut Cartridge. When I cut the flower I cut one on the flip mode so that they would match up when I stacked them. I painted the sides of the chipboard with the Aqua Paint Dabber and layered with two flowers cut from the remaining cardstock that I inked up and added to the chipboard. I did curl the edge of the green one so that the pick showed up a bit. Then the top piece of chipboard I also painted the edge, covered with cardstock and cut holes in the middle so that I could feed the ribbon through. Then I used glue dots and sandwiched the two flowers together and hung it from the middle. If Debbie wants, after Sean comes home and meet his new baby girl they can take a family picture of the four of them and add it to the middle of the flower. I did add some bows around the places that I had to tie the ribbon so that you don't see the ugly knot. The pictures don't even come close to doing it justice. But I am proud either way with the outcome. Here are some photos.

The photo above is my MOM! The photo below is my DAD!

The photo above is Sean's mom. The photo below is Sean's dad.

REMEMBER TO YOU HAVE UNTIL THE 14TH TO ENTER THE K2R KONTEST! Happy scrapping.

Jenn

3rd grade

2009-08-10T10:19:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of school for my Daughter Madalyn. I can't believe that she is in the 3rd grade already. Seems like only yesterday she was a newborn. I would not change anything though because as they get older the easier and more fun it becomes. Here is our traditional first day of school photo that we take in the front yard.

Here she is in her class.

And at the end of the day I am sure that I will be getting one of her snoring away. She is so not a morning person so I am more then positive she will be in bed at 8:30 tonight with no problem!

Bubbles

2009-08-03T22:22:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

I am just here to share a quick little project with you. I have been holding on to some acrylic circles awhile now and finally got a chance to use them. I painted my kids bathroom a few weeks ago and put up a vinyl wall saying that says "splish splash I was taking a bath" and thought it would be fun to accent the saying with bubbles. When I was trying to think how I was going to paint them on the wall my mom reminded me that I had the circles stashed away. So I dug them out! To get started I removed the protective cover from one side and painted it with the Acrylic Paint Dabber in Pearl and set it aside to dry. On some of the circles I did do more then one coat. Then for the blue color accent... that is painted on the front side. I used another dabber in the Aqua and a small paint brush. All I did was open the top of the dabber and paint the accent by hand. To hang them up all I did was make a hole using a crop-a-dile and a nail. It was really simple and I love the way it turned out and it only took me a few minutes to let the paint dry!

Thanks for stopping by. Til next time happy scrapping.
Jenn

Metal Message Board

2009-07-29T16:46:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

Glad that you are checking us out. Make sure that after reading this post you look into the post that was done the 26th you want to enter this fun RAK giveaway.

Also make sure that you you enter the K2R Kontest, the last day for entries is on Aug. 14th. YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS OUT ON WINNING A $250 PACKAGE OF K2R GOODIES!

Okay so my project this week is something that is a twist on one of Jessica's past kits. I know that many of you out there picked up the "Love Notes Metal Message Board." Maybe you wanted to but never got around to it or maybe it was not the colors of your house. When I was making stuff to sell for the fundraiser we did for Madalyn's church group a good friend of mine saw the love notes message board and loved the idea. The only problem was that she was looking for something for a friend of hers that was having a birthday and that friends kitchen was country theme. At the time we were selling gift bags as well and she said think that red and tan gingham but with red apples. So I sad no problem I am on it! So I just want to share with you how simple it is to take a great idea and make it your own....

Here is a photo of Jessica's original kit...

And here is what I did. I used the same products with was one 8x12 metal panel, four 2.5x3.5 metal panels, rub-ons in the Moments theme, stickles in Black Diamond, Tim Holtz Distressing Ink in Black soot, paint dabber in Red Pepper, K2R stamp #1-09, Stazon Ink in Jet Black, chipboard letter that were left over from a previous kit, some other red paint that I had, Glimmer Mist in Cinnamon, pop dots, Mod Podge, Red Apple paper by Paper Pizazz, red cardstock, black card stock and one gingham gift bag, so black flowers also left over from a kit, and flower brads I had.

I first started by painting the 8x12 panel with the red peper dabber, once dried I added my red paint because it wasn't red enough, then once that was dry I sprayed the Glimmer mist on the metal and allowed to dry. While that was drying I cut the two pieces of red cardstock, the black cradstock and the gingham gift bag in the desired sizes. I also cut the red apple paper by picking out the design I wanted and cutting along it. I did get two sheets on that paper so that I could pick on apple and cut it out of the second sheet, distress the edge a bit and pop it off the metal with pop dots. Once I had all the paper cut I mod podged the 8x12 panel and distressed the edges of the red cardstock and the gingham bag. When the mod podge was dry I added the red apple paper, the apple I cut out of the second sheet placing the pop dots behind it. Then I stamped on two of the 2.5x3.5 metal panels with the K2R stamp #1-09 and the stazon ink. Then I adhered the read cardstock, black cardstock mats, and the gingham paper bag. Once the stazon was dry I added two rub-ons to the metal panels that were stamped. For the chipboard letters I took the distressing ink and an applicator and distressed the letters, then added the stickles. Once that was dry I layered the letters using pop dots to give it dimension. After that I added the black photo mat to the 8x12 panel, the gingham mat that I had tied a red ribbon around, cut the holes to hang the pieces off with the crop-a-dile and the ribbon holes to hang it also with the crop-a-dile. Oh. I must not forget the flowers! All I did was put a brad though them and add a magnet to the black with a glue dot.

In a matter of 30 minutes I took Jessica's wonderfully cute and fun idea and transformed it into a design that would work for someone else. So my advise for you is don't EVER be afraid to expand on an idea we are sharing or a kit that you purchase, after all its yours!

Thanks for stopping by. Don't forget all the fun give aways happening!

COUSINS

2009-07-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

I have been very busy creating things for my niece Alexcis' 4th Birthday... which was yesterday. So for the last few weeks I have been gathering photos or taking photos of my other niece Bailey and my nephew Bryce just so I could whip something up for Alexcis' room. I even went a step further and contacted my BIL Sean's sister for a picture of her boys so that Alexcis can have a fun wall hanging with all of them together. Here is what I did...

I first started out by using the 6x6 acrylic panels (7 panels to be exact). I decided to add a little flare to them by adding AQUA acrylic paint dapper to the edges and setting them aside to dry. As for the papers I used... they were scraps that I had stashed away from a previous project or two. I just cut them down a bit and added Tim Hotlz Distress Ink in Black soot to the edges. I am a huge fan of distressing if you haven't picked that up yet! Once I had adhered the paper and photos I used the Bind-it-all to make my holes. I did do the top panel on the bottom as well as the top so I could lade the green ribbon through. Then I started binding the pieces together with silver wire. Now that I had that done I started placing the embellishments were I liked. I used silk flowers that I have had in my stash forever, bright paper flowers that were made by prima years ago, and the white paper flowers that are used with the glimmer mist. On the white flowers I decided to add a little sparkle and color by using stickles in Lime Green and Turquoise. I did only used the flowers on the girls panels because I KNOW for a fact that the boys would have been upset. Not that it should matter but you have to respect them too. So on the boys panels I used the MOMENTS pack of rub-ons and picked a few words that fit right in with the family theme. Now those adorable letters that spells out "cousins" well those came from Target. They are chipboard stickers and for the life of me I can remember who made them. But they fit the colors and designs with the dots and stripes. So I did get it finished and to Alexcis in time thanks to my parents shipping it off with the vinyl wall sayings I made and the gift my mom found for Alexcis. They funny thing is that my little sister Debbie wants it for herself! Sorry Deb!

Anyway. The inspiration in patterns and colors came right from the bedding that Grandma Sherri (Sean's mom) bought Alexcis. I was told bright and dots. The lines were just an added bonus for me. As we all know inspiration can come from anything! So get inspired and get crafting. Afterall the last day to inter the KONTEST is August 14th click here for details!

Here is a photo of Alexcis in her new big girl bed with her cute Daddy Doll my sister had made for her since my BIL is in Afganistan. Isn't she cute!

Happy scrapping.

Jenn

KITS2REMEMBER KONTEST AND MORE

2009-07-15T00:05:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

So I am sure that many of you have heard about the great K2R Kontest that Jessica has planned to help celebrate K2R anniversary. If not here you go...

We’re looking for a few good scrappers! From now until August 14, Kits2Remember will be accepting emailed entries in to our Kits2Remember Anniversary Kontest. One lucky - and talented - winner will receive a $250 prize package featuring K2R products and more! There are five different categories you can enter your project in to: Acrylic, Metal, Mixed Media, Kits and Rubber Stamps. And the grand prize winner isn’t the only one getting some prizes! One finalist will be chosen from each of the five categories and receive a prize package worth $50. Log on to www.kits2remember.com/kontest for details!

You can also check it out on Jessica's blog.

Are you signed up for the newsletter? If not you should get yourself signed up. WE DO NOT SHARE ANY OF YOUR INFO! But it will keep you posted on the latest K2R information including exclusive email offers. Just head over to kits2remember.com and sign up...

Have you been on our message board lately? Come join us....

How about you becoming a follower of our blog? Make sure you do that while you are here! Just by being a follower you will get updates that we have posted right away!

NOW for a project.

I know you have heard me say that I am a K2R junkie and I am not lying just ask my hubby! I have had every kit other then the more recent ones, which I will be adding because I believe that they are the best value and so adorable. So the other day I was thinking about my little sister Debbie in Hawaii awaiting her second little girl. I thought it would be fun to make her an album that she could put picture of Brianna in when she arrives. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do and then I remembered that I had some kits that would work perfectly. How many of you have Krew Kit #10 sitting in your stash and not being used? Well that was me, but not any more. These kits have sold out but there are many others that would be wonderful to have or maybe you are sitting on a bunch of K2R acrylic, chipboard or metal and need a little inspiration to get it out. I encourage you to do so and email your project to Jessica so you can be entered into the Kontest.

I did add a few things to the kit... brown mini brads, the 3-D butterflies that I picked up at Target the other day, stickles in blue and green, rub-ons Love words (brown and blue) and Flowers, and rub on letters that were left over from another kit. The paint is a pink paint dabber and the brown ink that I did ALL the edges of the paper with is Timber Brown Staz-on. Other then that all was in the kit and I have plenty leftovers for TWO 12x12 pages or even another book!

I started with a Heidi Swapp Bling Circle that came with the kit, removing some of the jewels so I could add the butterfly, using the ones I removed to add bling to it. The second page... it is a tabbed acrylic "BRIANNA NICHOLE." Once the book was tab, the glitter paper f0r a mat, paper paper, the leaf ribbon, flower and a butterfly with some bling that I cut off of one on the square frames in the kit. The backside would be done the same. panel that I rubbed the word "LOVE" on and stickled it back side. Then I cut out some flowers out of the 12x12 decorative paper. Making sure that I traced the flower cutout on another pattern paper and distressing the edges. The third panel is chipboard.... I covered both sides with the same paper, distressed the edges and added the brown polka dot ribbon. The back side of the chipboard would be the same other then the flower. The forth page... is another tabbed piece with the word "SWEET" and the stickles on there. The next panel is chipboard I covered it with the same pattern paper adding the ribbon and tieing it in a bow. On the back side I did the same cutting a small piece of ribbon and tying it to it as well. The next panel I cut a mat, added a flower, a butterfly, cut a few of the circle blings and added them to tthe corner. I also cut up a square photo bling frame and added it to the lower corner. I also addedthe "cherish" rub-on, flower rub-ons and only used half of the flower on one side and the other half on the other side and then added the stickles. The back panel has nothing on it. I decided to leave that up to my sister whether she wants a photo there or not. But it would be really neat to put a picture of her, her girls and my BIL Sean when we comes home from Afghanistan and meets his little baby for the first time.

I hope that this helps encourage you to take out those wonderful kits you have use them and enter them into the Kontest.

Hope you all help us make this 2 year anniversary something extra special. GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF THOSE WHO ENTER THE KONTEST!

Jenn

I'm at it again

2009-07-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

It feels so good to be in my office working on some type of craft project! Yesterday I did three wall saying and today I did the last one I need to do for my sister. Now I just need to get them to my mom so she can take them to Hawaii when she leaves on the 9th of August. She will be visiting with my sister until October, so that she can be there when ny niece Brianna makes her arrival. Then out there to help my sister adjust to being a mom with a newborn, 4 year old, and a husband in Afghanistan. Enough about that now about the projects right?

I made 4 wall sayings for her. One of them is for my 4 year old niece, she was a little on the jealous side when she saw what we did you Brianna back on the 1st of June. So to help easy that jealousy I made here this wall saying with my Sure Cuts Alot Program and my Cricut Expression...

The next one I made is for my sister's room...

The third one is for her to put above pictures in her house that is a family wall. I did design all of these to be cut apart and placed on the wall so that it will fit the area she wanted better.

The last one I LOVE! It was actually one that I wanted in my kitchen as well, but I haven't ever gotten around to making it.

If you are wondering I got all my vinyl at the Vinyl Outlet store online. The have the best prices and they sell them by the sheet. The sheets are 12x36 and they have a huge variety of colors! ! So it is just a steal.

Check this out

2009-07-11T13:32:00.001-07:00

I have just discovered that The Cuttlebug Spot is having a contest - "The Journey to 1,000"! They are trying to reach 1,000 followers by the end of July and need your help. To enter all you have to do is go to their site, sign up as follower and complete a few easy steps and you could win a $1,000 gift certificate to Custom Crops (www.CustomCrops.com)! GO NOW and check it out at www.TheCuttlebugSpot.com

Vinyl Wall Saying

2009-07-09T22:29:00.000-07:00

I can not believe how long it has been since my last post. Things have been really crazy with fund raisers, kids, Madalyn's world quiz meet in Orlando and 4th of July weekend in Lake Havasu. I have had no time to do anything. But now that its all finished my life is slowing down and I am finding time after the kids go down at night to get some of my projects done. The one thing that I have been wanting to do for months is make a vinyl wall saying for my living room, so I did. Last night I spent two hours working on the size and the font. I did use my cricut expression with my Sure Cuts A lot Program that allows you to use the fonts on your computer. Great right? I love my cricut and my cartridges but now I can love it even more. This morning while the kids were playing so nicely together in their rooms I found time to put it on the wall. Lining it up was a little hard by myself, but I think it came out great. Now I need to start working on the 4 I need to make for my sister before my mom leaves on Aug. 8th to visit her in Hawaii. Anyway, here is mine!

I hope that life is treating you all well. Until next time happy creating.
Jenn

KITS2REMEMBER- Happy Birthday Card and Starry Night Album

2009-06-11T11:13:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone. I have a few minutes to post two projects before I go help out with making cheesecakes from scratch for a fund raiser we are doing. So here we go....

Last weekend we went to a birthday party for a 5 year old and I needed a card. So what better way then to make one using great K2R products. I used the acrylic letter "h" that Jessica sent me in my Krew pack, the wonderful flourish stamp (item #1-02), flora doodles jeweled flowers by Petaloo, purple cardstock, Stazon Jet Black ink, and some acrylic stamps that I have from Close to my heart for the "appy birthday." After cutting the card stock down to my desired size I destressed the edges with the stazon ink pad and then stamped the flourish three times on the cardstock in a random pattern. Then I took the portective cover off the back side of the letter and stamped on the letter as well. Once the letter was dried I adhered that down to the card using a glue dot. After I adhered the letter I put the flowers on the letter making sure that I placed them over the spot where I put the adhesive to keep the letter down. Once that was done I added the rest of the letters to spell out "appy birthday" using the stazon ink again and my stamp set. Here are a few photos.

I have never used the acrylic letters before, but now that I have I am going to have to get some more from time to time. They are so cool and there are so many possiblites. There are other shapes as well! So check it out HERE. If you have tried them we would love to hear about it.

OK. Jessica came out with the Starry Night Album Kit awhile ago and I know some of you out there picked it up. Jessica asked us to take a look at the directions to put it together and come up with some "altered" books using the same products. I finally finished mine and would like to share it with you. Now I love Jessica's ideas and designs that I usually love to follow her plans. It was a little hard for me not to, but here is what I did. I didn't have the gold paint and so instead I used a black paint dabber instead. She used gold stickles and I used, black diamond and gold glitter glue. Now I would say that the glitter glue didn't work as I had hoped but it did come out okay. On my front cover I added more star stamps that came from the kit and painted Class of 2009 using a mask I made out of left over vinyl and black paint dabber. Before I started the panels I took the black paint dabbers to the edge on all the acrylic pages and then added the gold glitter glue to the edges and allowed it to dry before I started scrapping it. The first acrylic panel I did the same as Jessica's, however one the second panel I made a frame out of the star paper and added a ribbon around the one side. Then I took a small piece of ribbon and just tied a not around the the other piece of ribbon. Stamped the stars and added Diamond Black stickles to the stars once dry. On the back I put the star pattern paper making sure to adhere it down where the frame on the front side was so no adhesive showed and cut ot the edges so that the star could be seen completely. The forth piece of acrylic I but the lined paper and adhered two of the black enevlopes that I had stamped on and glittered up making sure that the flap is on the side you don't adhere. I did that so that you could tuck it momentums in them. One the back side I did the exact same thing. I did make sure to stamp as well on the acrylic and add stickles or the glitter glue. One the last panel I stamped it just like Jessica but I used both the diamond black stickles and the gold glitter glue to give it a little shine. After that was done I look 5 of the leftover black envelopes that came with the kit and made a mini book. I stamped on the one with the star, added the glittle glue and the title. I did make sure that the opening of the envelope was on the end so that you could tuck things into it. I did take the flap and tuck it in the envelope to thatthey didn't get messed up.

One thing that I like about Kits2remember is that you get a great product and directions for kits BUT you can do what you like and make it your own. We are not in anyway saying that you have to follow our design we are just here to inspire you to create. So don't be afraid to make our kits work for you! Afterall you got to LOVE it, right? Be your scrappy creative self that is what scrapbooking is all about.

Now I am off to help bake 18 cheesecakes, wish me luck!

Jenn

Kits2Remeber Father's Day Gift

2009-06-05T17:34:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. I am sorry I am a few days late on posting my project. I have been really busy with Madalyn's fund raisers. So I just haven't had a free moment to do what I needed to finish it off. But all finished now!

Last night I was in the garage with my hubby putting up a door stopper/ closer so that my kids don't smash their little fingers in the door. And as I was out there I was thinking how I wish I knew what time it was. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks.... make a clock for him to have in his garage that had photos of us all together. So that is what I did.

To make it I used an 8" stadium album, leaving out two of the panels. I ended up using the 8x10, the 8x9, the 8x8, the 8x5 and the 8x4 panels. I made sure to mark the spots that I wanted to punch the holes for the o-rings on the blue protective cover first, as well as the hole for the clock mechanism. I did use my crop-a-dile for the holes and the big bite crop-a-dile for the hole for the clock. Once I had all the holes finished I started tinting the acrylic with Adirondack alcohol inks. I used 6 colors (denim, latte, ginger,stonewashed, lettuce, and caramel) putting them on to the ink applicator then I used a blending solution to lighten the color and help them run together a little more. But I think I used to much because you really only see the green and browns. If you are really close you can see the blue. Anyway. I just pushed down on the applicator as if it were a stamp and moved it all over the acrylic in a random pattern so that it had a marble like affect. I did that to the 8x10 and the 8x5 panels. Then with the left over panels I colored the edges with the applicator using the Lettuce color. Once that was all dry I put the clock in place, making sure to have a brown piece of paper to cover up the battery pack and cut numbers using my cricut and the George and Basic shapes cartridge. I adhered the numbers with Glossy accents. Then I just adhered my photos on to the three panels that were colored only on the edges. I did add two rub-ons from the Holiday theme pack. Then on the 8x5 panel I added a piece of blue paper, the "dad" that was stickers that were left over from a previous project, and the poem. I did change a few of the words that were in the poem to fit our family and still gave credit to the original person. To make the "dad" stand out I used my brown bic pen and outlined the letters. To hang it I used a piece or ribbon but when I was trying to hang it, it didn't want to lay flat so I have another nail hidden in a hole to help keep it from collapsing. Guess I could have used more then 1 piece of ribbon to hang it, but I was trying to keep it from getting "girly." But it is out in the garage over by his work bench. Now he will know what time it is without me having to tell me over and over again.

If you have any questions let me know. Happy scrapping. Enjoy your weekend.

Jenn

Acrylic Wall Saying

2009-06-01T19:25:00.000-07:00

Well unfortunately it is not Kits2Remember acrylic I did make a fun wall hanging for my little sister's soon to be Brianna. My sister Debbie is living in Hawaii with her Husband Sean and daughter Alexics and they are getting ready for the arrival of Brianna in September. Sean is in the Marine's and is currently servicing in Afghanistan some where. As he is there and Debbie and Lexi are stuck on an island, my mom, dad and I have been busy coming up with some really fun things to help decorate the baby's room. The only problem is that living in housing on the base and having white walls is a challege for us to come up with something that will pop off the walls. My mom and I found a DCWV Home vinyl wall saying a few months ago and have been trying to come up with an idea. The saying is white, so as you know white doesn't exactly show up on white to well! =) So my mom thought of putting it on a large piece of acrylic and some how decorating it to help the saying pop. Then my dad said that he could get a piece at Lowe's hardware store and cut it down on his saw at home. So here we are months later finally with the acrylic thinking now what... well all of a sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks, tint the acrylic. My only problem was trying to find Staz-on link at the local craft store since the LSS closed last month. Then we decided to paint in with the paint dabbers that we used on the name (look for May 30th post). Last night after the kids went to be I started by making a moon out of my leftover cricut vinyl using my Paper Dolls Dress Up cartridge. It was one of the accessories for the Frankinstein Bride. After doing that I painted in the moon with Lemonade colored acrylic paint and a paint brush. Once I had two coats and it was dry I used another paint brush and black acrylic paint to out line the moon (make sure that you paint it on the back side). Once that was dry I used the Aqua paint dabber I put three coats of paint making sure to change directions that I applied it. Once that was dry I turned it over and with my husband Bill's help I did the vinyl saying on the front side. We first lined it up and applied the saying to the acrylic, rubbed it with the tool and then lifted the transfer tape. Next I used the black paint again and painted the eyes on the front side of the acrylic. I did at this point try to use my big bite crop-a-dile to make the holes for hanging it BUT it did crack the acrlyic. SO I would not recommend going to the local hardware store and getting acrylic to make books, instead stick with the K2R products because they are designed for scarpping. Anyhow. I had to come up with an idea to hide the crack. So I took out my cricut and replaced the blade housing with the Deep Cut Blade housing and used K2R chipboard to make the stars in the corner. I used the George and basic shapes cartridge. After cutting the stars I used the paint dabbers and painted them. Once dry I added stickles to them in Cotton Candy and Lime Green. Now my dad is going to take over and use a drill to make the holes to prevent the cracking. Once that is finished its ready to hang on the wall and be taken down and moved anytime and anywhere. Here are the photos.

Happy scrapping everyone. Stay tunned for another out of the box idea using acrylic for a baby's room.

Jenn

Life these days

2009-05-31T14:08:00.000-07:00

have been out of control busy. But as summer starts we might get a little break. We do have a bit of things going on this month with fundraisers for Madalyn's quiz meet in Orlando, birthday parties, doctor appointments and the actual trip to Orlando. In the last two months lots of things have happened. We moved, the kids had their birthdays and Madalyn finished 2nd grade Thursday. Here is a quick recap.

Makayla is now 3 and a handful. Bill and the grandparents can't believe that she is a non stop talker AND I do mean nonstop. From the moments she wakes up until she goes down for the night she is a motor mouth about everything. She really has the "why" question down but that is nothing new around here. I took this picture of her on the day of her birthday... April 17th. She is just getting so big.

Kyle turned 2 on April 28th. Although he is not talking as much as I wish he was, he is talking more and more every day. In fact he says a new sentence that we didn't even know he knew daily. If Makayla wasn't talking for him I think that he would do even better. But that is impossible to stop. He is all boy, he loves to sit and play with his trucks, tools and try to figure out how things work. I love that it changes the day from a total "pink princess" day. He is just like Bill and does everything at 110% right off the bat. And yes he is just as accident prone. Here is Kyle blowing out the candles on his actual birthday day.

Madalyn is now 8 as of the 22nd of May. She is just to cool. I love the challenges that come with her. She challenges us on intellectual stuff all the time and it makes it so much fun. Sometimes though I think that she is 8 going on 20 something. She is just into things that many 8 years olds wouldn't think of. She has been working really hard on studying for her quiz in Orlando on the 27th of June, helping with the fundraisers, helping with the kids, and was way above standards for a second grader. She gives everything her all and I love that about her. The last week of school she got a bunch of awards. One was for attendance, one was a metal for above standards, one was for the 50 point AR Reader club, one was for reaching her goal and one for an outsanding student. She got the out standing student award Thursday night after her last day of school. She got to go down on the Mavrick's field (minor baseball team) with a bunch of other students and annonce her name, grade and school. It has been the third year in a roll that shes gotten to do it. The first year she was affraid and the last two years she did it perfectly. Here are a bunch of pictures of our Madalyn.

On June 14th Bill will be turning 31! Yep all my special people have their birthdays in a period of 5 weeks. But the best part about Bill's birthday is that we will also be celebrating the day that Madalyn came home from the hospital after being born. She spent 3 weeks in there after being born 7 weeks early. It turly was the best day of our lives and the best birthday peresent for Bill. So I will have to scan a picture of Madalyn on that day that we brought her home and put it on here with on of her on the same day 8 years later. You will have to keep your eyes peeled for that one.

I hope that you are all enjoying your weekend.

Jenn

Paint Dabber Project

2009-05-30T21:11:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. So I finally finished the name that I was making for my so to be niece Brianna. My mom and I got letters from Joann's Craft Store and started by painting the brown to match the really cute bedding my sister picked out. Then we decided to play on the polka dots that were in the bedding and inmate the outer circles as well. We did use three colors that were as close to the bedding as possible... one is a light pink, one is a pale green and the other is like a robbins egg blue. All I did was take the paint dabber and used the tip to make a dot. Then I used it the same way and added paint onto my craft mat. I then took the lid of the dabbers and dipped it in the extra paint on the mat and then picked it the dot that I wanted to circle and tried to center the dot in the middle and push down. It was simple and in 5 minutes all the letters were completed with the dots. After the paint dried my mom and I cut ribbon and mom tied the bows. Once that was finished we used my husbands staple gun with small staples and stapled the ribbon to the back of the letters. I did have to used the hammer a few times to get the staple into the wood all the way. But it was simple and should make a great statement in the room. I woulds say after the 3 coats of brown, the dots and circles and the ribbon we are looking a crafting time of about 1 and 1/2 hours. The cost was around $30 but that was using some of the paints that I have in my stash. Here are the photos.

Paint Dabbers

2009-05-26T22:26:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Hope that you all had a wonderful holiday weekend. We had a great one around here. My daughter Madalyn turned 8 on Friday so we had a party, then Sunday was just resting, and Monday was running around town enjoying the weather. So this week is a short one and the last few days of school for my daughter. I wish that I had some projects to go along with the tips I am going to share about Paint Dabbers, but I have been busy getting the last few things she needs for the last two days.

Anyway, now on to paint dabbers. So how many of you out there have some at home but only use them for painting acrylic, metal and wood. Well there are other things you can do. For example in San Diego at the scrapbooking Expo there was a booth ( I wish I knew what booth that was, Kathi might know) showing how Glimmer mist just makes the paint so neat on a plain piece of paper. I had said that I had never thought about that and one of their instructors brought a piece to me that they had done just so I could see it. It was really cool how the paint had taken on a shine. It was just so pretty, think of all the possibilities with all those available colors! Another way I like to use it is on craft projects other the scrapping. I haven't finished it yet, but I am using them on wooden letters for my soon to be niece Brianna. All I am doing in making some circles. Its as easy as pie and really cute. You could also do that in order to make some of your own fun backgrounds on acrylic, metal, chipboard and paper. Now I have to say I wanted to give you some more interesting and fun tips but haven't used them enough to do to much. I was just turned on to them at a class that Jessica taught here at the LSS. So as I am slowly adding to my stash of normal acrylic paint... you know the ones that you have to poor out and use messy brushes (which by the way the best part of the dabbers is NO MESS), I have been looking stuff up on Google. So I came across this YouTube.com video with a great idea a wonderful tips. So thought I would share it with you. Just click on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9orhD3s5eg

If any of you out there have any tips be sure to share them in a comment. We would love to hear about them.

Happy scrapping.

Play Ball!

2009-05-22T16:03:00.000-07:00

So when we got the challenge to do a sports theme I couldn't stop thinking of how hard this is going to be for me. I used to play soccer back in the day.... like 13 years ago! I played for 11 years but a knee injury stopped the fun. My husband never played sports dues to asthema, Madalyn is to much of a girl and the little ones are too little for anything. So when my sister, Yanira told be that her son, Bryce was going to play T-Ball I was so excited and I knew he would be the subject to scrap. With that said here is the book I put together for him. It was made using four 8X8 acrylic panels and o-rings. I only put one picture in it because I want him to pick out the rest so that it is more special to him. I also thought of the o-rings being my binding just incase they decided that they want to add more pictures and pages. It will be a simple as taking out the o-rings and using the crop-a-dile to punch the holes in the acrylic and adding whats needed. For the cover I decided that a big baseball would be really neat and a title. SO I started by using some left over viynl and making a square with a circle cut out of the middle. To do so I used my Cricut Studios to make the size of the square desired and the circle using the grid on there to help make sure the size would work. Did I mention that was using the George and Basic Shapes Cartridge. Then I placed the vinyl on to the acrylic and used a Metallic Pearl paint dabber, making sure to put on coat on at a time up to 3 times. Also making sure to change up directions that I was applying it to give it texture.

Once that was dry I decided to make another vinyl piece that was a baseball from the Sports Mania Cartridge. I did theis so I could get the stiching in the right places. Once cut I layered it on the painted circle and used the Red Pepper paint dabber, doing that twice. Once that was dry I decided to add it to the back side as well to give dementions and to decorate the other side.

Then I cut the title "Play Ball" from navy cardstock using Sports Mania cartridge. NOW the title was one peice with a baseball connecting it but I just cut the ball away from the rest of the title added Burgundy Stickles to the letters and adhered it. Once the title was adhered I added the Burgundy stickes to the red paint to add a little more shine and demenition. OH! By the way the side that I painted the Pearl circle on is on the inside! Which brings us to the inside, I also added the Burgundy stickles to the stiching there as well.

Second piece of acrylic... All I did here was take the photo and mount it to a piece of navy cardstock. Then I mounted them to a white peiece and mounted that to the acrylic then added the stickles to the edgeThen I cut out a glove using the Sports Mania Cartridge again... best investment yet. (It was a birthday gift for my sister!) I used my favorite black pen and did the details and added Byrce's name and the year. On the back side I mounted a red piece of cardstock that peaks through to the front side, so make sure you cut it just a little larger then the white piece the picture is mounted to. With my Cricut Expression I was able to "Flip" the image of the glove and layered it right over the glove that was on the front side. Make sure that you leave part of the glove that is mounted on the red loose so that you could add a picture and then tape the glove down over the picture.

The third acrylic piece was made by using the background setting on the Sports Mania Cartridge. I cut a 4" background that had the images on the side. Then I cut a slit with my craft knife and added the white cardstock so that it could be used as a journal block. I mounted it in the upper corner that way Bryce could add more the one photo. On the back side of the panel I added another background that was 4" and cut a peice of whit cardstock placed it behind the images and mounted it right over the spot the blue one was mounted.

The last panel is made using the border function on the Sports Mania Cartridge. I cut the white cardstock, added the red so you could see it peaking through the stiches, added the details to the edge using the black pen and then mounted it to a black peice of cardstock. The I mounted it to the acrylic and cut the part that was over the edges with my craft knife. I Did make sure not to adhere the top of the border down so that a picture can be added and then the border be taped down to the picture.

I know I am always saying how much I LOVE Kits2Remember. But really I do!!! Jessica had such a great vision and I love that she shared it with us. Jessica's acrylic and metal has really changed my way of scrapping. So I declare myself a K2R Junkie!! And if you are one of those Junkies you totally understand why I LOVE Jessica and her comapny! All the other people out there that are affraid I say don't be, K2R will change your scrapping life. And now with that amazing sale (click on amazing sale for details) Jessica is doing would be a great time to give it a try. Well I would try really with or without the sale. Just check out those wonderful kits (click on kits to see what is available) and yes the do come with directions and LOADS of product!

Anyway. Happy Scrapping everyone. Enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend!

Jenn

Teacher's Gift

2009-05-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

Yep that's right.... teacher's gift! So its that time of year again when we honor all the hard work that our children's teachers have been doing. This year we got an amazing teacher and I wanted to do something to let her know just how wonderful we think she is. She really helped my daughter Madalyn fall in love with Science... which is great considering last year she didn't even want to have any part in it. She is a really smart cookie but for some reason that never sparked her interest. But this year after having Mrs. Beecham its a whole new story for her. So in order to honor her I wanted to make a fun little message / photo board with a poem that showed her just how special she is. To find the poem I looked up quotes and poems in my google search bar (I forgot to write down the address for that website). Then I used an 8x8 chipboard and covered it with Pitch Black Acrylic Paint Dabber and set it aside to dry. If you don't want to cover the whole piece with the black paint that is fine, I only did the the edges leaving a 4x4 square in the middle that wasn't painted. Once that was dry I attached a 6x6 chipboard that I covered with pattern paper that I had in my stash and also took the paint dabber to the edges. The white square that I wrote on was also from the patten paper that I just turned over, took the dabber to the edges and once dry added the poem. I used a BIC fine point permanent marker (color is Blues Skies Blue). On the out side edges I used Rebekka Erickson flower rub-ons in light blue and added Pewter liquid pearls to the center on the flowers and the dots on the side. For the metal panel I used an 8x8 panel and covered it in the Pitch Black Paint dapper, making use to do a thin coat, putting it aside to dry. Once that was dry I did a second coat... applying it in the opposite direction then the first coat making it have a crossed hatch apperance. The pictures don't just the texture any justice but I really like it. Then once that was dry I added some more rub-ons to the corners. Next I used Mod Podge in a matte finish to protect the paint and rub-ons from wear and tare. I but one the mod podge in to coats as well the same as I did for the paint changing direction once I it was dry and ready for a second coat. When the Mod Podge was dry I added the liquid pearls and a strip of the pattern paper, making sure to add the black paint to the edges for a nice uniform look. Then I used O- rings to connect them making the holes with a Crop-a-dile and then add the ribbon. The I maded two flower magnets just by layering the flowers, adding the brad that I had left over from a past kit. The flowers I had in my stash, I know that the two white ones were by Prima. Then I just added a magnet to the back of them. I would like to add a picture of the entire class and Mrs. Beecham that was taken by a friend of mine on her birthday. But it was a quick simple project that can be used over and over again.

BUSY BUSY!

2009-05-07T10:35:00.000-07:00

I have been a terrible blogger. Seems like I don't have time to sleep let a lone blog about whats been going go. I wish I could say I have been busy scrapping away but that is not the case. We have been moving and dealing with fundraisers for Madalyn's trip to Orlando this summer. Last weekend we finished moving everything in to the house and now we are trying to empty boxes and set up all of our services. I believe that the guy installing the alarm system right now is the last thing that needs to be addressed as of now. I do have one project to share that I did for the Del Mar Expo, which I just finished a few minutes ago. I had the main part done and added a few embellishments and magnets to it today. It is made using a 11x 14 metal K2R panel, a ribbon from the $1 aisle from Target, flowers that I picked up at the Expo in the Kits2remember booth, the white Butterfly is a Heidi Swapp overlay also from the K2R booth, the colorful butterflies are 3-D stickers that I had in my stash and the jewled brads are left over from a kit that I got from Kits2Remember, a K2R stamp (item #1-10), jet black staz-on ink, some Me and My big ideas jewels, and Glossy accents to adhere them to the overlay. So to get the look with the over lay butterfly I cut it out of the 12x12 transparency that it came on. Then I just adhered it on to the corner of the metal being sure to hide the adhesive behind the white of the butterfly. Then stamped the other 3 corners added the butterfly stickers, added magnets to the back side of the flowers after do the brads. It didn't take much time at all.

If you are ever looking for a project kit that is designed well, has great insturctions, amazing products and a value like no other KITS2REMEBER is the way to go. I can always make what I want and then some with the stuff that is left over!!!!!!

Thanks for dropping by, Happy scrapping.

Jenn

Del Mar Scarpbook Expo

2009-04-28T19:50:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone.

I wish that I had project to share with you, however all my scrapbook stuff is currently in boxes since we moved last week. I am hoping to get everything out soon.

SO National Scrapbook Day is this weekend!!!!!! YIPPY! I don't know about you but I am not a football fan and I would have to say that NSD is my superbowl. I will not be scrapping, but I will be working in the Kits2remember booth at the Del Mar Scrapbook Expo. We are going to have some wonderful kits, samples and a make-n-take for $4. I will be working the make-n-take table and Kathy will be working in the booth. Please come out and say hi. We love to meet other K2R die hard fans! ALSO, you need to print out this coupon to use at the K2R booth, you will get FREE 6x6 Acrylic Covers with any purchase.

I hope to see you scrappers out there at the Expo. Enjoy your NSD weekend.

Jenn

Great Grandma Mother's Day Gift

2009-04-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

For this weeks challenge we are making a Mother's day gift. I usually make something for my Mom or Bill's mom. But this time I decided to make two books that are exactly the same for the Great Grandma's on Bill's side of the family. One of them lives in Wyoming and the other in Missouri. I try to send them pictures a couple times a year, but this year I haven't gotten around to it. SO I made then a 6x6 acrylic album using K2R acrylic of course. I used 4 pieces of acrylic and one piece of K2R 6x6 chipboard as the middle of the book.Out of my stash I used The Robin's Nest dew drops in Island Blossom, Basic Grey Porcelain (polka dots) paper,Chatter Box double side pattern paper Marigold (flowers on one side and green on the other), the I used a white piece of card stock and sprayed it with Glimmer mist. The colors I used were Cinnamon, Simply Khaki, and Auburn which gave it a slate look. I also used stickers that were left over from a past K2R kit "Today is...", the letters are by Three Bugs in a Rug ("Great G-ma"). Here is a tip: I didn't have any more "R's" so I used a "P" and cut it to look like a "R", then I took the letter "f" and made it look like a "t", then for the dash I just cut down an "i". This is a great way to use up letter that I have left over. I also used my Stazon ink in Timber Brown to ink the side of the acrylic and chipboard, it didn't turn out like I was hoping but it works. I used a brown Bic pen to to the names of the kids and the "we love you." To adhere the dew drops I used Glossy Accents. Then to get the die cut looking flowers on the second and last page I used my craft knife and cut the images that I like out of the flower pattern paper. I used Walgreens for all my picture needs. What I love about then is I can upload on their wbsite, edit, change the photos to sepia tones (which I did), pay for it online and pick up in 30 minutes and it is just right down the street from home. I know that there are lots of other choices that do the same and they are great. I have used them too, but this is so close to me I don't have to drive out of the way. OH and I always have coupons for cheaper prices. Anyway. I also used 3/4 in. wire, I would suggest 1 in . wire instead but I ran out. I still have to put the ribbon onto the wire but I am all finished and ready for then to ship out for Mother's Day.

Cover Panel- Has a strip of pattern paper and the letters. I mirrored the paper strip on the back side.

Second Panel- I put a mat and a strip of the glimmer mist paper I made. As well and flowers that I cut out of the pattern paper.

Third Pannel- I mirrored the mat and the paper strip that was on the front side of the acrylic.

Now for the chipborad middle- I overed both sides with the flower papttern paper and mated the photos and added the strip of glimmer mist paper.

The next pannel is acrylic- I just cut different size strips of the three papers and adhered them to the acrylic and mated the photo. I did the same thing on the back side making sure that I mirrored the images.

Then back cover I used the flowers that I cut out of the pattern paper to give it a nice look.

Here are some colse up shots of the drew drops.

Enjoy. Happy Scrapping.

Jenn

Kits2Remeber Krew Project

2009-04-15T10:48:00.000-07:00

Good Wednesday to all of you out there. I am glad that you are back to see all of these wonderful tips and fabulous projects! I have a few tips for you when working with rubber stamps on acrylic. First of all.... I am always nervous to start stamping away on my acrylic. I am afraid that I wont like the image and once you stamp it with Stazon it "stays on!" SO, here is what i like to do. I first stamp the image that I want on to a white piece of computer paper and then lay the acrylic over the image and plan out how I am going to scrap that piece. Here are photos of it....

Once I have done this and I like how it looks I then remove the blue protective covering and stamp my heart out.

Now have you ever stamped an image on the acrylic and it didn't come out dark enough or maybe you forgot to ink a section on the stamp? If you are answering yes I have a solution for you! First start by re-inking your stamp then lay the stamp down on your work surface with the image up of course. Then flip over your acrylic so that the surface you stamped on is down facing down. Once you do this you are going to match the image that is there with the image on the stamp and press down on your acrylic piece. Here are a few photos....

I hope that those tips help you in your quest to make beautiful projects with stamps. NOW for my project. I made a fun FAMILY home decor project. I got the idea at a Scrapbook/gift store in Redlands, Ca called the Collective Journey. My MIL got me a gift card for there and I wasn't sure what I wanted to spend it on then I saw this multiply framed FAMILY wall hanging. It was cute but pricey and I would have never bought it if I didn't have a gift card. With that being said I recreated it out of acrylic, stamps, ribbon, and letters. Do have have your curiosity going? Okay here we go. I started out with a K2R 6" Acrylic Stadium Album, I took out the pieces and labeled the sizes on the blue protective cover. After picking 5 sizes out of the album I decided to add a K2R 6x8 acrylic panel as well to give me the six panels I needed. So I ended up with the following sizes.... 2- 6x8, 1- 6x6, 1- 6x7, 1- 6x9 and 1- 6x10. I stamped each of these panels differently to add an eclectic look. The stamps I used were of course the wonderful K2R Flourish stamps, the item numbers on those stamps are 1-01("L"), 1-03("I"), 1-07("A"), 1-10("F", "Y") and 1-11("M"). After stamping I decided to use my cricut, I used two cartridges- Plantin Schoolbook and Jasmine. I also used my Cricut design studio to make the letters larger, italic, narrow and wider to help add to the eclectic look. To hang it I used some ribbon from my stash by American Crafts Elements and used the crop-a-dile to make holes for the ribbon. Here are the photos of the finished project hanging, I wanted to it be all hung at different levels and I think it came out pretty good considering I was using a spot that other photos are usually hanging...

Before I go, I want to tell you that there is still time to post a comment on the April 13th post! We are giving away 3 of the AWESOME K2R RUBBER STAMPS! So don't waste time and go post a comment! Happy Scrapping everyone.

Jenn

KITS2REMEMBER RAK!

2009-04-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

Good Morning Everyone! I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday weekend. You must go to the kits2remember Krew Blog and leave us your comment. But here are the details....

Now for our giveaway! On behalf of Jessica and the rest of the K2R Krew we are doing a RAK! We would like to give away 3 of the K2R's fabulous flourish stamps! All you need to do is leave us a comment about your love for stamps and what you would love to do with them. You have until now and Friday to leave your comment on that post. Then Friday around 4:30 (Pacific Time) I will have my kids pull a name from a hat and I will post the winner. So be sure to come back to see if it is you!

We also have a week of tips, tricks, and projects coming to you using these fabulous stamps. So be sure to check that out as well.

Enjoy your week! Happy scrapping.

2009-04-07T18:29:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

As we count down the days to Easter I thought it would be fun to share a few Easter basket tags with you. My plan is to hang the coordinating tag with their basket to help avoid confusion. Hopefully this will help the morning go smoothly! I started out with three K2R 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 (ATC) acrylic, the K2R stamp (item # 1-07), and StazOn Ink in Timber Brown. I wanted to use just part of the stamp to achieve what I was looking for, so I just inked the area in the middle where the two scrolls come together and stamped onto the acrylic. Once that was dry I stamped the children's names onto the acrylic using the same ink and my acrylic stamps from Close to my Heart (Font- Doodle Alphabet). Here is a tip for you if you are thinking of using your acrylic stamps - you want to make sure that you take a pencil eraser to the image you want to stamp before inking. The reason that you want to do this is because it helps keeps the stamp from smearing on a slick surface. Once the names were dry I used stickles in two colors Cotton Candy and Baby Blue to trace the out side edge of the acrylic. I did leave this to dry for about an hour before continuing because it is thick and takes a awhile to dry. On Makayla's tag I also added stickes on the back and allowed that to dry as well. Once all the drying was done I used some stickers that I have had for years in my stash. They are by Carlton Cards and they are called Card Jewelry. After the embellishments were on I used the Crop-a-dile to punch a small hole, I fed my ribbon though and tied it.

The other project I did was a lot of fun. I don't know about you but spring is the start of a lot of birthdays in our family. Between March and June we have about 14 birthdays, NO JOKE! Some are just a day or two after the other. Its a lot, but fun to make stuff. I wanted to make something for my SIL for her birthday and mother's day (which is the same weekend). I still would like to add something of her son. But here is a fun acrylic page that can be displayed on an easel. It was made with K2R 8x8 acrylic, K2R Stamps #'s 1-10 and 1-02, Stazon Ink in Timber Brown, Flora Doodles by Petaloo (available in the K2R booth in San Diego), and two cricut cartridges Graphically Speaking and Plantin SchoolBook. To recreate this look I stamped on the acrylic in the bottom corner and along to top edge making sure to rotate the stamp I used along the top to get a different look. Once the ink was dry, I adhered my photo as well as the title "One at last." Once that was done I used Glossy accents to adhere the Flora doodle flowers in a random pattern. I used a good amount of flowers and still have a large amount left, the pack comes with 80 jeweled flowers in the three colors and in the two sizes. Here are some photos of the project.

Happy Scrapping everyone! I hope that you have a wonderful Easter weekend. Make sure you check out the K2R Krew Blog on Monday we have something planned for you!

Jenn

Have you ever

2009-03-06T20:40:00.000-08:00

been told by your parents.... "Just wait until you have kids of your own." My parents have always said that to me. And then I had Madalyn and she is just like me and my dad thinks its just the greatest thing. Me...while I am not so sure sometimes that it is a good thing. But I love her and she is mine. NOW if someone told me that when Makayla and Kyle were on their way that they would be just like my husband Bill, I would have laughed and said I hope not or I am in trouble. WELL trouble has hit. I am scared to see what the future holds for those two like ones. But then again they are only about to be 3 and 2. But my little guy Kyle scared the heck out of me the other day. He was standing on the coffee table. But it gets better....he was actually on the steps that Makayla uses to get to the "big potty" as they call it. Yep that's right... coffee table, steps and then my son laughing. I said nothing got my camera and my husband. Which when Kyle saw us he stared laughing harder yelling cheese and turning around. I couldn't resist taking a picture of him and my husband telling him not to do that again.

But on another note. I did some scraping. I finally got some time to work on a clock kit that I got from Kits2remember.com. I have been wanting to make a clock and have had parts but never got around to it. Then I got the kit and figured I better use it. So I did and everyone including my husband loves it. The top is 12x12 k2r acrylic and the bottom is k2r 8x12 metal. Also included in the kit was the clock kit, flowers, o rings, and rub-ons. Here are some photos of it....

And last but not least.. here are some photos of a project that I did in December 2007. It was my first project with acrylic after meeting Jessica (friend and owner of KITS2REMEMBER) in October of 2007. It is made of 8x8 acrylic, some chipboard stickers (not sure of the company) and paper that was a beautiful scroll pattern and I cut it out with my craft knife. It was a little time consuming but I love the look.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a fun filled weekend.
Jenn

Projects

2009-02-28T22:17:00.000-08:00

I have been working on projects a lot this week. Just wish that they were projects that I was keeping. But instead I have been making them for friends and family members. Which is always fun.

The first project that I did this week was a 12x12 metal checkers/tic tac toe game board for Jessica (owner and friend on Kits2remember.com) I used a 12 x 12 meatl panel from her online store, red cricut vinyl, magnets, acrylic paint, glossy accents, modge podge, stazon ink, alphabet stamps from Close to my heart and a Tim Holtz flourish scroll stamp. Here are pictures of all the magnets and the games set up.

The other projects I did were for my niece Bailey. I used the "love notes" metal message board kit and made a message board for my niece. But I did change it a bit. I made it vertical instead of horizontal and one hung 3 piece off of it instead of 4. It was out cute and she was excited to have a new place for her messages.

The last project I did was also for Bailey. I made here a journal. I used chipboard that I got from kits2remember, stickles, stazon ink, paint dobbers, prima flower, rhinestone, a stack of paper from my stash and the TimHoltz flourish stamp. I started with 8x8 chipboard that I cut down to 8x5. I then painted it and set it a side to dry. Next i cut the pages to be a 1/4 inch smaller all around in the color paper I wanted. Then I cut two pattern paper pieces the same size as the chipboard and taped them to the inside one dry. Afterwards I used my bind-it all (available at K2R for $85 in a starter kit with wire and much more) and I punched the chipboard covers on "C" and the pages on "D" since I cut them a little smaller. I used 3/4 inch wire to bind it added ribbon to the wire, added 2 flowers and a rhinestone to the front cover. Used some chipboard letters that I painted white with acrylic paint and glittered them up with stickles. I didn't realize it until I finshed it but she could use it horizontally or vertically. It came out really fun and of course she love it. Thanks for dropping by. Jenn

Has it been that long

2009-02-28T21:36:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that it has been so long since my last post. Things have been so busy for us this month. I am hoping that we will get some slow times really soon but not looking like that will happen until June. Anyway. In the last month we have visited our good friends in Carson City, NV, we have gone to Madalyn's bible quiz meet, birthday parties and I have helped out at the Orange County Expo. Oh and I managed to fit in a class at the scrapbook store.

Our trip to Carson was really wonderful. It had been almost a year since the last time we went out on our own. So we headed up for a 4 day weekend without our kids. It was weird to have Bill all to myself for the 8 hour drive. But it was wonderful to talk and listen to any music that we wanted. On the way up we drove through snow and enjoyed the sights. Once we made it to Carson we meet up with our friends and their little ones. Which was a lot of fun to play the role of grandparents, you know spoil them and then walk away when the going get rough. Not that it got rough but you get the point. We really love playing and talking with their two little ones but mostly we liked hanging around the house being lazy.

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above is a picture of Virgina City

Here we are standing on a beach at Lake Tahoe. (the self timer on the camera and a recycling bin makes a great way to take a picture of the two of us.)

Once we got home we had a few days before I helped out at the OC expo. I love seeing familiar faces and meeting new people. You can check out the kits2remember website to see the next expo that I will be helping out at and pictures of the OC expo.

The weekend after that was Madalyn's bible quiz meet. They did such a wonderful job. They placed 3rd out of 10 teams. They are asked a total of 60 questions and a chance to do a bonus question. Out of the 60 Madalyn only missed 2 questions and got one of the bonus questions that she tried right. We are amazed at the info that they remember and recite.
Here is Madalyn's team: Wesley, Madalyn, Dylan, Sierra and Edward. (Madalyn is the youngest on this team and is holding her own.)

Madalyn being asked her bonus question. (She had to recite a verse, can't remember which one.)
And here is the big thumbs up because she got it right. Bill and I were so excited and giving her a big thumbs up too. It is so nit like her to get up there with everyone watching and try something. The first time she went up she missed it and we thought that she would never try again. But she proved us wrong and got it right! She really is amazing.

And that brings us to today. Bill helped some friends of ours move up to Hesperia this morning from Rancho Cucamonga. It is their first home and we are very excited for them and even more excited to have them around. Then after that we me made our way over to our niece Bailey's 9th birthday party at Power play (its a skating rink). The kids had a great time skating and running around. Makayla even gave it a try with Bill's help. Unfortunately the ran out of the normal 4 wheel skates so she had on in-line skates. Madalyn got out there a few times but she was a little scared. And Kyle was all about trying to get everyone to give him food. As if I never feed the kid! Now I am relaxing on the sofa watching tv and the fam is asleep. Hope that I can sleep tonight but so far not even close to being tired. Well have a good night! Jenn
Above are pictures of Madalyn, my sister Yanira, Makayla, Kyle, my niece Bailey and my nephew Bryce.

Baby shower gift

2009-01-26T09:07:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. Been a while since I got to post a project, but I have been sick and busy with the family. Still not over my cold, I am hoping that it is gone by my birthday on Saturday and the baby shower that I am attending on Sunday. Or I am going to miss out on all the fun. Anyway. I was trying to think of something I can give as a gift that isn't to expensive and is cute of course. So I made a 5 panel 6x6 acrylic album. After I finished putting it together I thought this looks a lot like something I have done. And sure enough when I started looking at my other albums I realized it looks a lot like the "Good and Girly" album that I made last year in October. It was a class that Kits2remember did at the Expos. Of course I REALLY love it and it shows because the one I made is a lot like it. Funny how some things just stick in your mind. If you haven't had a chance to take a class with the owner of Kits2remember, Jessica you need to it is so much fun, with great ideas and products. You should check out her calender, she will be here in California this month teaching and doing a booth at the Expo in Orange County. The products I used were 6x6 Acrylic from K2R, Me and My big idea rhinestones, doodlebug design inc. silk flowers,white and blue acrylic paint that I mixed together to get the color I wanted for the edges, Baby Blue stickles by Ranger, foam stamps by Making memories, Close to my Heart chocolate distressing ink, DCWV paper that was part of my stash that I have had for years, white cardstock for the tags, silver Zutter 1 in. wire, and ribbons that I had in my stash. On the cover where I stamped adore and on the inside where I stamped sweet, after the paint dried I added stickles to the top to give it a little shine. I also got a great tip from the ladies on the K2R Design Team Blog, to stop the ribbons from fraying you can used the stickles on the edge and give them a fancy sparkle look. You should check out there BLOG, they have amazing projects and tips. I hope you have a good week. Make sure you get some scrapping in.

Jenn

The open desert

2009-01-19T07:52:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since we camped in the open desert. There used to be a time that it really wasn't my thing, but when we go now it is fun. Makayla and Kyle love digging in the dirt and Madalyn loves hoping from trailer to trailer visiting with my parents, sister and her family. Its more about just hanging out together and enjoying each others company then getting wasted and doing some stupid stuff ( I was always the only sober one because I don't really drink). But from what i hear it is become that way now with the group we used to go with. Anyway. I am not into riding anything so i am usually stuck taking care of the kids, but this trip was a little different. I rode my niece quad for the first time ever so I could take Kyle for a ride around camp. It was actually and I can't believe that I am saying this but FUN! Kyle loved it and cried when I told him that it was Makayla's turn. They were just so excited! They kept going back and climbing on the quad and pretending to be riding, they made sounds, bounced up and down. It was so cute. Madalyn even tried it out this time on a 50. Then yesterday Bill and my sister took out the .22 rifles and a .45 handgun. I have shoot many guns in the last year that I would have never done in the past either but it is growing on me. I was good and hitting the targets that they had set up. I spun the ones that were on the stakes, put holes in a large jug and hit the target a couple times. I even almost got a bulls eye! Crazy to think that I used to just sit and watch the fun, but no more its my turn to have some too! Since we decided last minute to pack up and go out with my family I never got around to scrapping. But instead added more photos to my pile! The only one I forgot to make sure we got a photo of, was of my dad and I playing backgammon and me betting him so BAD!!! In fact I skunked him!!!! (oh yes we are a competitive bunch of individuals.) He taught me to play along time ago and when ever we can we fit a game in, anywhere and everywhere we go. But I have never gotten a picture of us playing, maybe next time.

We feed the ducks

2009-01-16T14:55:00.000-08:00

Made it to the park again today since it was so nice. We packed a lunch and bread for the ducks. The only thing that Makayla could talk about since Tuesday as wanting to feed the ducks, so that is what we did. We first enjoyed our PB and J sandwiches and crackers. Then they dove into the bread and feed the ducks and geese. There was one goose that was not good at "waiting" and scared the heck out of Makayla when he took the bread right out of her hand. She let out a scream like no other but with in minutes she was feeding them again. After the duck feeding they were little monkeys climbing on everything in sight and running every which way. Of course not with each other! I would chase one down and then seconds later hear the other calling me for help because they were "stuck." It was a great time in the sun with them. They are just so different then how Madalyn was at their age. We used to have to climb and play with her in order for her to even consider going! They are just a go get them kind of kids, just like their DADDY!

Jenn

BUSY

2009-01-13T15:39:00.001-08:00

Busy, busy, busy. That is the way life has been lately. Between visiting Bill's mom a lot while she is still sick, Madalyn in school, doctor appointments, Makayla and Kyle and the house I feel as though I am spinning out of control. I wish I had time to do more. So today after taking Madalyn to school extra early for their class field trip I took a time out and it was wonderful. I took Makayla and Kyle to the Hesperia Lakes for an hour and a half to play. They loved the swings like any other little one would, the were monkeys climbing on everything in sight, and just all in all happy. We took a little stroll and looked at the ducks and geese. Makayla pointed out how I forgot to bring the "duckies food." So I guess we will be making it back there real soon. Kyle didn't care much about feeding them but instead wanted to chase them into the pond and try to follow them in. It was a nice break to the normal day. Anyway. In scrapbooking news I haven't had any time to do anything. It is driving me crazy. I WILL make time this weekend. I did however get a vinyl wall saying done and up in my MIL kitchen. All in all it turned out great. We did it in french using my cricut expression, my design studio and cartridges Accent Essentials and Plantin School Book and chocolate brown vinyl. It saying "seasoned with love." It amazes me how simple the design but a big impact it gave the kitchen. One of these days I will need to make some for my home. Here are some photos of the saying and of the park. Enjoy the rest of your day.
Jenn

Now

2009-01-08T15:09:00.000-08:00

I am trying all sorts of new things lately. I have to thank my friend Jessica, owner of Kits2Remember.com for turning me onto such wonderful materials. Since I meet Jessica a year ago I have created acrylic tissue boxes, an acrylic keepsake box, and a metal board games. Of course there are may other things but those have been my favorite. And today is no different. I have started a shop over a Etsy.com. I currently only have one item listen but I am hoping to add more soon. Even though I only have one item listed I will take custom orders as well. Just email me and let me know what you are interested in and I will make a posting just for you. I hope you hear from you!

Here is to new adventures.

Jenn

Using your stash and scraps

2009-01-07T13:25:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. I am so sorry that it has been so long since my last post. We have been running back in forth from Redlands to Hesperia every other day to visit my MIL in the hospital. She has been very sick and undergoing lots of tests. They still have not found the main cause of the problem so they will be continuing testing her. However we finally got some good new this morning... she was able to leave the hospital and will now do the test as needed. Hopefully they will find the problem soon and correct it. Anyway. As far as scarp booking...it has been forever since I have done a 12x12 page!! I LOVE doing them but have gotten into small books instead. So when I stumbled across a website CROP ADDICT they had sketches I fell in love with and want to try it out. I did however change it from 3 photos to 1 5x7 photo. Other then that I used my stash and scraps. the products I used were a textured red cardstock, left over blue cardstock that I cut using my Creative Memories Circle Cutting System, the scallop polka dot piece I cut out of a scrap with my cricut cartridge ACCENT ESSENTIALS, the red pattern paper was also a scrap, the title and stars were cut out of white cardstock using my cricut cartridge PLANTIN SCHOOLBOOK. To give it an aged look I used my Close to My Heart Chocolate distressing ink pad. It was a simple page to put together. Boy do I need to get back to doing 12x12 again. Enjoy.

Jenn

8x8 Acrylic Album

2008-12-23T09:04:00.000-08:00

Many classes ago I took the "caught on Film" class with Jessica and I gave that album to my niece since she plays soccer. She was so excited that it was something that she could embellish and add photos to on her own. Every time I see her she makes it a point to show me the ribbons that she tied on the binding and how she is planning to put the pictures in it once my BIL copies and prints the pictures for her. Well as you know when ever you have girls that do everything together you have to give them the same thing. My daughter and my niece are two peas in a pod. So Madalyn is has become jealous of Bailey because I made her a book that she can do on her own. The other day Madalyn asked if I would make her a book and I was already in the developing process of it. So I asked if you could have a book what colors of them would it be.... I got something girly and kind of springish since my birthday is in spring. Well as if I didn't know what would fit her perfectly! Since I had already picked up paper and things I was hoping that it would fit her idea. AND IT DID! I made a five panel 8x8 acrylic album using K2R acrylic, making memories pink paint and foam stamps, Close to my Heart Chocolate destressing ink, Basic Grey pattern paper Euphoria line, My Mind's Eye Laundry Line (Fun Lovin spots paper), My Mind's Eye Just Dreamy 2 line (My love My friends / Blushing Paper), My Mind's Eye Transparencies (flower and a frame), Me and My Big Ideas Rhinestones, Bazill 4.5 inch Piglet Blossom Flower, Baby Blue Stickles, and Prima Flowers. I haven't added any pictures or ribbons because I want it to be her vision from now on. She should be super excited! I can't wait to give it to her. Merry Christmas everyone! Thanks for stopping by. Jenn

I'm seeing white

2008-12-18T09:41:00.000-08:00

Good morning. After an all day snow storm yesterday we woke up to beautiful white EVERYTHING. Usually we see looks of sand being that we live in the desert. It was so pretty that I had to take pictures. Hopefully my husband we make it home today, since he was stuck in Rancho Cucamonga all day yesterday. Thanks goodness we grew up down there and have family and friends down there. He went to dinner with my sister who was also stuck down there and shopping too. Then she went to her Grandparents and he went to his best friends. I will be out playing more toda to get more photos of the kids, but here are some from my room, and the street.

Jenn

It's snowing

2008-12-17T14:32:00.000-08:00

If you know me you know I dislike the cold. I am a total warm weather person. If you are taking 100 degrees I am all for it. But 35 and snowing not so much. However you can't deny the beauty of snow. It has been snowing at my house since 3:00 am when hy husband made his way to work in LA. It didn't start sticking to the ground until 9 am. Now we have several inches of snow with no sign of it letting up. My poor husband has been all over So Cal trying to get homw since 11:30. It is now 2:36 and he is heading back towards the 15 hoping for an escort up the 15. I think that he is hoping for to much. But you never know, got to stay optimistic. Anyway. Madalyn was lucky enough to get a snow day so we bundled up and played in the front yard for about an hour. Then the little guy Kyle, Makayla and I couldn't stand the cold any longer. They too are warm weather people! Madalyn on the other hand is looking out the windows asking to go out again. I just keep saying maybe later! As the warm weather person of me was yelling no way an I going out there, the scrapper in me got all bundles up and took the camera out for some fun photo opportunities. Unfortunately my camera batteries died, so I will have to go out again. But here is what I got, a picture of home, our sad snowman and the kids. Hope you are having a nice "warm" day in this winter weather! Jenn