Thursday, December 29, 2011

Some Burlap & Buttercups inspiration

This is my third kit with Burlap & Buttercups and I have to say I love these kits!  Each one is so stuffed with goodies it isn't funny!  You can find 4 challenges a month posted on their blog which always have some yummy goodies attached also. 

One of the challenges this month was to make an ornament or home decor project using a tutorial and share the link.  So, here is one that I had bookmarked
http://www.practicalscrappers.com/2011/11/paper-pinecone-ornament.html

and here is mine turned out - I used a full 12x12 sheet of paper and a 1" heart punch; I found it worked great to fold the heart like a bird (mountain, valley, mountain).


Materials used:  Jillibean Soup, Martha Stewart, Stickles, Michael's craft supply

This is my entry for the sketch challenge that they offer:

Materials used:  Dec Burlap & Buttercups kit - Simple Stories, Prima, American Crafts

And this was a layout I created to remember 2011 and all that it included.
Materials used:  Nov & Dec Burlap & Buttercups kit - MME, Simple Stories, KI Memories, American Crafts, Girls Paperie

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Projects from 2011

Not only do I have some favorite layouts from 2011, but I have been very crafty and I love some of the results!

Here are 2 wreaths I made for presents - note to self:  take a picture before giving it away!


Here are some of my favorite projects from the year...










Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Looking back

So have you had time to rest up from Christmas?  I had planned a quiet week with nothing, but my kids decided to bring home some germs and now we have drippy noses and grumpy kids!  Yuck!  I was so worn down that I also managed to catch some of the lovely Christmas joy... 

So I was looking back through my layouts from 2011 and thought I'd post a few of my favorites...















Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Are you ready?

So Christmas is just 5 days away as my kids have announced 5 times today already!  I have been busy making up cookie dough today to make up some tins before we go to church tomorrow.  I have another present out on my scrap table waiting for a few minutes to work on it.  But other than those few things I think I might actually be already.  More than anything though I would love a chance to just sleep so that I would actually be refreshed for Christmas - I think that is what Mommy wants most this Christmas!  (Course that would mean 2 little boys would need to sleep through the night and that would be a miracle!)

So here is my dream/wish/hope for 2012...

Materials Used:  Nov Burlap & Buttercups kit - MME, 7Gypsies, Pink Paislee, Prima, Maya Rd, EK Success, Tim Holtz, Jenni Bowlin, American Crafts, Authentique, Basic Grey, MM

Now, I think I am tired this year, but if I close my eyes (and don't fall asleep) I will remember this just one year ago...
Materials Used:  Crate Paper, Martha Stewart, Basic Grey, Daisy D, KaiserKraft, Stickles, Memorable Seasons sketch


Materials Used:  Crate Paper, Basic Grey, Maya Rd, Daisy D, STickles, Precocious flowers, Memorable Seasons sketch
Yep, I was very pregnant last year and Vinny had just been diagnosed with diabetes 3 months before!  So I think that I need to be grateful that all of my children are healthy and with me - even through the night! 

Materials used:  Dec Burlap & Buttercups kit - Simple Stories, Maya Rd, American Crafts, Memorable Seasons sketch

Thanks for stopping by - have a wonderful, blessed Christmas!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Nikki Sivils Inspiration

I had heard about Nikki Sivils products, but I never had the pleasure of working with them, until now.  Because of my role in Scrapping Everyday Miracles I have been secretly working with some of these products, that reveal will be fully shown very soon!
Today I have a few projects that I created out of my extras - I have made 1 project and 5 layouts so far and I can still keep going!

First up, some Christmas inspiration using the Gingerbread collection and some stickles.


is a trip to Disney World with all of our kids!  This picture was taken in Dec 2007.



I have never really had much luck scrapping Christmas pictures, but this collection was wonderful to work with and I had to go back and scrap this picture from 2009 - another of my favorites!


I then made a wall hanging to help us countdown the days until Christmas (I know I am a little late here, but it is ready for next year.)  I used a canvas that I had found at Michael's, some stickles, Heidi Swapp journaling circles, and Martha Stewart snow flakes.  When the numbers are all removed it leaves a tag with wishes for a Merry Christmas!

 Then comes probably my most favorite of all - this layout of Vinny.  I have been holding these pictures out to find just the right papers to really work and the Monster collection from Nikki Sivils was perfect - it was love at first sight!


I finally discovered that you can purchase Nikki Sivils products at Scrapbook.com - I am eyeing up the School is Cool collection next!  If you also have developed a fondness of Nikki Sivils products you might be interested in the DT call going on right now.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Remembering 2011

Well things are finally calming down here and I am finally beginning to feel alive again!  The laundry is caught up, most of the dishes (especially those big pans) from the party are cleaned and put away, the kids schoolwork is up and going again - I think we actually are back on schedule! 

One of the things that I've been trying to get to and just couldn't seem to do it was my project for December's challenge at Scrapping Everyday Miracles.  I really loved the challenge, and knew exactly how I wanted to document it, but my brain was totally fried in all the stress that had been going on the past 2 weeks.  But yesterday and today I finally got down my thoughts...

The challenge was:  to spend time thinking about the blessings in my life and all those little miracles that God did in my life in the last year. I am sure that many are coming to your mind as you read this... Maybe something that didn't go the way you hoped, but later on turned out to be a huge blessing. Or maybe you just have been too busy to realize that something you've wanted for so long just occurred? Or maybe you are reminded of a true Christmas miracle that happened last year. What ever your blessings and miracles are in your life it is truly the season to remember them.

The scrap twist was:  to include a treasure.


My treasures that I included were some of the notices we had received earlier this year, acceptance letters, and then I journaled on some of the cards inside of the envelopes.








"When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you."  Deut 8:10

Monday, December 5, 2011

More Christmas goodies!

My hubby and I hosted our worship team's Christmas party again this year - one of the activites that we do is hold a gift exchange.  Again, it was tons of fun - so much so that there are actually facebook movies and youtube movies of some of the presents being exchanged!  See even church people can have tons of fun!  :) LOL

So I sent my hubby to get a guy gift and I made mine for a girl - needless to say his was a gag gift, but mine turned out really well (or I think so)!


Of course I did forget to take a picture of it before it left the house so I had to ask the family who took it home to take a picture of it for me, thanks!

I was so pleased with it that I headed out to Michael's the next day and found the colors I wanted to use for our house - now to finish washing all those party dishes so I can go create!

Don't forget that Scrapping Everyday Miracles is issuing a new challenge today and you have until December 10th to link up your inspiration to win a wonderful prize!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

A few more ornaments and a WINNER!

Well, I had planned on getting back here a few days ago, but things spun out of control here.  Nothing bad, just so busy that I couldn't keep up with everything.  The nice thing is that we are done all the big events that we were in charge of so now it is time to sit back, create, eat a ton of cookies and enjoy Christmas!
Before I show you a peak at the rest of my ornaments I wanted to announce the winner of
Thank you for all of your comments - it is so fun to read everything!
The winner is...
Samantha said...
What a wonderful project! :)

Supplies:
  Glass Ball ornaments
  Mist product
  paint
  Queen & Co felt (or other sticker products)
  rub-ons
  Hot glue gun

Steps to create my ornaments:
1.  Take off the tops and trim any sharp pieces.

2.  For most of my balls I painted them before altering them.  You want to squirt a little paint into the ball and then spray some type of mist, now put your finger over the opening and shake!  Keep going until the ball is covered in color - you don’t want to put in too much paint, but you can always add more.  (I used FolkArt - Metallic Peridot and Black Cherry; DecoArt - Oyster Pearl Metallics and my favorite that didn’t need any mist added Rich Espresso Elegant Finish Metallic Paint; and Iridescent gold glimmer mist)

3.  Now, for these balls I adhered Queen & Co felt onto the exterior of the ball.  Keep your scissors nearby b/c you will need to nip the felt in certain places to make it fit around your ball.

4.  These ornaments are decorated with stickers (you could also use rub-ons, but I was out of Christmas type ones).  You could use your hot glue gun if you want; my white ones stayed without any trouble, but the snowflakes needed some extra help.

And finally, my favorites!
5.  Grab your hot glue gun and anything you want and glue it onto your ornament!

Hope you try these - they are really so easy and gorgeous! 


Friday, December 2, 2011

Day 5 and a Nook Advent celebration!

Welcome
to the
Greatest Gift of the Season blog hop
&
 The Scrapbook Nook Advent event! 

Welcome everyone!  I'm so glad that you could stop by today.   

I'm so excited to share with you the Advent Calendar at My Scrapbook Nook. Myself and 24 other Nook friends are hosting a giveaway during the count down to Christmas. Every day untill Christmas one Nook girl will host a giveaway, so make sure you stop by and check out the Nook blog daily to see who is hosting a giveaway.  And today is my day!

This is also day 5 of our inspiration week at Scrapping Everyday Miracles; make sure that you stop there first to get all the details on our hop (if you'd like to participate) and the prizes you can win.  Every day this week I have been showcasing different ornaments I made (some good and some that you don't want to try).  Today I am going to show you how to make something to put your oranaments on (if it was a lot bigger, Lol) a crepe paper tree!

* If you are here for the Scrapping Everyday Miracles blog hop  Click here for my giveaway and the secret word!

Step 1 - Gather some crepe paper, paper mache cone and a glue gun.  You will need to either sew and gather your crepe paper or be lucky enough to buy some already done.


Step 2 - Begin at the bottom and hot glue your crepe paper onto the cone.


Step 3 - I ran out of crepe paper, but no big deal you can just pick up wherever!


Step 4 - The finished tree.


Step 5 - I sprayed my tree with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Patina (my favorite color).


Step 6 - I purchased these styropoam balls at Michael's and then sprayed them with more Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist.


Step 7 - Here are all my pieces before I began to assemble them.  I just glued the balls with my hot glue gun and added some other embellishments - all from my local Michael's.

Here is another picture of the final project...


And of course any hop has prizes, but how about this for a prize... If you become a follower of my blog (or already are) and leave a comment you will be entered into a random drawing to win a place at this awesome online event hosted by one of my favorites (yes, again) Christy Tomlinson. You do have to leave your e-mail because I will pick a winner on Sunday, December 4th and class starts Monday the 5th.  You can enter once on this post and once if you follow the link above to the Scrapping Everyday Miracles hop.



I have invited 11 of my favorite artsy friends to join me in this workshop!

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Donna Downey, Margie Romney-Aslett, Jeanne Oliver, Alisa Burke, Shea Fragoso and Debbie Murry (of the Gilded Life), Kaari Meng (of French General), Danielle Donaldson, Kelly Barton. Chrissy Gardner and Junelle Jacobson!


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This is a five day workshop that start Dec 5th. The first 4 days of the workshop we will post 3 new ornaments from 3 of the wonderful teachers! plus little fun extras too! Then on day five.. a few fun bonus project and home decor projects will be posted as well as some fun exclusive downloads! This is a great way to get into the holidays spirit and make creative gifts for your friends, family or for your tree and home!

Class starts December 5th!


See you all tomorrow for one last look at some oranaments!

Make sure you hop on over to Leah Killian's blog and get entered for the grand prize sometime between now and Christmas Morning. You could win a free subscription to the always inspiring Nook kits!