An Altered State Of Mind

New Stuff....

2009-07-28T10:23:00.004-04:00

Just got back from a week in Chicago - one of my most favorite cities to visit! So fun and so many great things to do there!

I've got a few projects to share but first I wanted to tell you to make sure you go over to The Hybrid Chick where we are celebrating Christmas in July!

Lots of great projects there so make sure to check it out!

I've got a few projects for Sweet Shoppe Designs to share:

If you'd like to see the credits for these projects, you can visit my SSD Gallery :)

Have a GREAT week!

A Chance To Win!

2009-06-26T08:43:00.002-04:00

Don't forget to head over to The Hybrid Chick for a chance to win the altered picture frame I've got up for our online baby shower! All you need to do is leave a comment at the bottom of the "Altered Picture Frame for Baby" post and you'll be entered in the drawing. Hope you'll stop by and enter!

A few new things to share :)

2009-06-19T07:06:00.007-04:00

I've got a few new projects finished that I wanted to share. The first few are for Sweet Shoppe Designs. I LOVE this project, I love the way it turned out in the end and it actually ended up being quite simple and quick. It all started with this project I saw on Paper Source. It's a kite! It's pretty big too. I have it hanging on the door of my craftroom and it makes me smile when I walk in :) The photo does not do the kite justice, I couldn't get a good photo because of the size. Also the tail of the kite looks black in the photo but is actually brown.

These are firecrackers made from Life Savers candy. I just removed the existing cover and re-wrapped them with digital papers that I printed. I wrapped ribbon around them prior to wrapping the paper.

If you'd like to see the credits for the projects above, you can go to my SSD Gallery here for the info.

Here's another card, this was for Marks Paper Company. The card slides out of the top (sort of hard to see that) and this is another example of colors getting funky with the camera - the flower in this matches perfectly with the greens and purple in the papers but looks totally off in the photo....can't figure that out.

Last is a mini-album that I made for My Creative Scrapbook. I'm sad that this will be my last project with them as I had to resign. Just not enough time to get it all done so something had to go :(

ATTENTION - YOU CAN'T MISS THIS:

All this week and next week we are having a Baby Shower at The Hybrid Chick. The projects/tutorials are AWESOME, but what's best of all is that you get to win some really great prizes! I made an altered picture frame that I'll be giving away on June 25th (can't show it to you now so you'll have to go check it out then ;) but there are some many fun prizes and all you have to do to win is leave a comment on the blog post!!! How easy is that??!! And, if you post a link on your blog, Facebook or Twitter - you will get entered for a second chance to win!

Come check it out!

That's all for now! Have GREAT weekend!

Postapolooza! Tons of projects to share!

2009-06-08T08:29:00.012-04:00

I have been soooo busy lately...but not too busy to get some crafting done :) So I'm catching up my blog today!

First off, Marks Paper Company. They've got a new kit out called English Garden and it. is. beautiful. Here are a few things that I made with English Garden:

This is a mini-album that I made from the English Garden Add-On Printables:

More Marks Paper Company, here are a few things with the Old Fashioned Courtship kit. This is a wooden tray that I painted and altered:

I also made a little Pinwheel Bouquet:

And lastly is the August Kit - this started off as a bookmark but got a little bulky to function as a bookmark so it turned into a tag :)

And I made this notepad with a matching pen (actually it's a push pencil - Target's $ section always has these in packs - they are soooo easy to cover with paper!)

I've also got some new things that I did for Sweet Shoppe Designs. If you want any info on the kits used in these projects below, you can look here at my SSD Gallery - this will give you the names of the kits.

This is a little cupcake box I made. Since I didn't have any real cupcakes I decided to make a fake one :) I made the cupcake out of a styrofoam ball that I painted pink and glittered. I made a cupcake wrapper to hold the "cupcake" and added a red pom-pom to the top.

Here's a sign I made for my laundry room. It says "Laundry" at the top and "Loads of Fun" at the bottom :)

This kit, called Lil' Stinker, it so cute. I just loved the colors in this. I made a little gift bag with it:

We hosted a pool party for my daughter's class last weekend. Here are the invitations I made (I edited the info here for obvious reasons). I packaged them in a clear bag with a squirt gun. I used clear return address labels to print the children's names to put on the squirt guns.

Here's another project for Sweet Shoppe Designs, this isn't in my gallery because it was in the past issue of Simply Sweet Magazine (you REALLY need to check it out if you're into digital or hybrid!!!) This is a Family Planner. I made it trifold to hold all sorts of stuff - when you open it there is a calendar held by clear photo corners (so you can change it out each month) and a page that has a pocket made from a clear page protector to hold things (I have some photos there). Then when you open it again, there is a notepad in the middle - held on with a binder clip and another pocket page - this one holding a "Things To Do" list, some change, etc.

Last, but not least, I have a tutorial up at The Hybrid Chick (aka - the best place on the web for hybrid projects and ideas).

Whew! I think I got it all!

*****Warning - I'm going to vent here (I'm not a "complainer" type of person but this has me so upset!):

I also put my projects up on my online gallery but I have been SO sad the past several weeks because something bad happened to my gallery at ImageEvent - all of my photos got all mixed up and out of order but the worst was that about 200 images got deleted - they are GONE! I don't know what ImageEvent did, but that was devastating to me - not to mention that I PAY for that gallery! So after begging for help via phone and many e-mails, I finally asked for a refund on my gallery and then miraculously got a response:

Dear Cindy,

We are looking at this right now, we have engineering looking at this. We have your request on high priority. We will get back to you shortly on this. We apologize about this delay.

Thanks, Jay

That was March 18th. Have I heard back from them? No. But I'm still e-mailing them asking what is going on - they just aren't answering me back. This isn't the first time I've had problems like this from them (this is the worst though) so I'm looking for a new online gallery. If you have any recommendations, please let me know! I'd prefer a pay-site, so there are no ads and I can customize the gallery. I HATE to start over but when one of the things you pay for is customer service and they totally let you down when you really need it, its time to go.

Feeling all caught-up and vented now! Time to start the new week (still can't believe it's already June!!). Have a great one!

Stampin' Out Alzheimer's

2009-05-18T13:36:00.006-04:00

See the widget at the top of my blog? I'm asking (begging) you to donate - 100% of the proceeds will go to the Alzheimer's Association. But there is much more....
My friend Jen is hosting "Stampin' Out Alzheimer's" next week (May 25-31) and I HOPE you will join this important event!!! Like Jen's father, my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's about 5 years ago (you can see her photo in the post below). This is a terrible disease that affects everyone involved and there is no cure. For a $5 donation (or more if you'd like), check out Jen's blog {here} to see what this fun, yet important event will hold. I know there will be lots of scrapping, prizes and inspiration for all types of paper crafters. Please invite your friends too! I hope to see you there!

Mother's Day

2009-05-05T09:25:00.009-04:00

The May kits are up at My Creative Scrapbook! Since May is the month of Mother's Day I decided to make my album in honor of my Mom - and she's a great Mom too! I hate being so far from her :(

This kit features Little Yellow Bicycle's "Zinnia" Collection and, as always, Pam did an awesome job of selecting some great embellishments to go along with it! On the third page of my album, I made a little photo book (its the one that has "Memories" on it). Not sure if the photos made sense so thought I'd explain it. I guess its a mini-album within a mini-album.

Today I am grinning from ear to ear because yesterday the gals over at The Hybrid Chick asked me to join them! And I said YES immediately! I have been head-over-heels in love with their blog since I first found it and have wanted to try every project they put up - there is some SERIOUS inspiration there! Go subscribe to it NOW - you won't want to miss a single entry!!!

Lastly, I have some business to take care of....I used Random.org to generate a number for the SEI papers and embellishments blog candy I had up and got #10, which would be: Miz. Mason. So, I'll post a message on your blog to e-mail me so I can get your address.

Happy Tuesday!

Marks Paper Company and some Blog Candy!!

2009-04-28T10:16:00.004-04:00

Pamela and I have some new projects up on the Marks Paper Company Blog this week. I have a trinket box that I made using the August Digital Kit. You can find more info and details here on the blog, if interested.

Stacy has also put up a SNEAK PEEK of the upcoming English Garden release on the Marks Paper Company site. I got to see a BIG sneak peek and let me tell you....it is AMAZING!!!! I can't wait for this to come out!!!

When I was coming on this morning to make this blog post, I noticed on my Blogger Dashboard that this will be my 100th blog post - I actually thought I've had more posts than that - lol, but anyway - I think I'll celebrate by giving out some blog candy :) I just happen to have a new assortment pack of SEI Oasis papers - this contains 24 sheets of cardstock:

12 sheets of beautiful double-sided foil cardstock
6 sheets of double-sided pattern cardstock
6 sheets of double-sided textured cardstock, plus
two sets of coordinating stickers

Plus, I have a set of Oasis Rub-On Words and a set of Oasis Die Cuts Accents to go with it.

So... just leave me a comment and I'll randomly pick a winner one week from today (that'll be May 5th). I'll post the winner and e-mail them to get their mailing address - if you're posting anonymously, make sure you leave a way for me to get a hold of you OR make sure you check back on May 5th!!

Have a GREAT week!

Fun With Felt

2009-04-23T08:18:00.007-04:00

I made another felt project the other day. I've made some felt creatures for my daughter in the past - some from patterns and some from pictures that she draws (she'll draw a creature and we'll create a pattern to bring it to "life"). She had drawn an owl and wanted us to make that one into a stuffed animal, so instead of creating it free-hand I was sure I could find a pattern online, and I did - right here. I enlarged this pattern 150%, which made it approximately 7" tall. Normally she helps but I made this one myself while she was at school. Here's what I came up with:

I've also got a little project I did for Sweet Shoppe Designs. I made a cover to go over a giant lollipop using the "With Sugar" kit by Tracy Reed. This kit was PERFECT for this project!

And speaking of Sweet Shoppe Designs, you have GOT TO check out the NEW publication Simply Sweet Magazine!

"Sweet Shoppe Designs proudly presents Simply Sweet Magazine. In the debut issue of our in-house idea digest, our team tackles a subject close to everyone's heart, Home & Family. Not only is Simply Sweet packed with gorgeous layouts and inspiration featuring Sweet Shoppe products, you'll also want to think of this issue as your go-to guide for creative ideas that will get you scrapping pages for your loved ones, which you may not have thought to scrap otherwise. "

Oh, and you can't miss this....

What to WIN some yummy Marks Paper Company kits????? Check out the MPC Blog right here to see the "Grow a Flower" blog challenge.

The winner will receive a set of each of the Marks Paper Company paper collections (August and Old Fashioned Courtship), Digital Kits for both lines and a sponsored prize by Short Cuts - SheetLoad of Cards, which includes five (5) each of Clear and Frosted Card Blanks (10 pcs), five (5) each of Clear and Frosted Full Sheets (10 pcs), two (2) each of Gift Card Holder Folders in white, ivory, kraft and black (8 pcs). Total retail value for this prize package is $30.00. In addition, your winning project will be featured on the Marks Paper Company Blog and in our monthly newsletter! Hurry - this contest ends August 29th!

That's all for now - Have a SUPER day!

2009-04-10T09:57:00.002-04:00

The April kits are up at My Creative Scrapbook and they are FABULOUS!!! I love all of the mini-album kits that Pam puts together but this month has to be one of my favorites! I made a "Home is the Heart of Us" album:

I've got lots of photos! Here is the cover:

On each page inside the album I decided to make a door that opens with a photo of each of us behind it.

I also make a little keychain album to attach to the bigger album with some of the left-over embellishments:

Make sure to check the April kits out! Also check out the incredible layouts and cards made by the other members of the MCS Design Team! Those girls ROCK!

Happy Easter!

Marks Paper Company - Gift Bag

2009-04-06T17:54:00.005-04:00

I've got a new project up on the Marks Paper Company blog today. I made this gift bag with the Old Fashioned Courtship Digital Kit. I LOVE the papers in this kit and also love the fabric-look texture they have. I decided to add fabric to my project to compliment the texture in the papers so I used fabric as the "tissue paper" inside the gift bag and also added a bow made from fabric and burlap. I made a "window" by cutting out the front of the bag and adding a transparency that I printed the flower graphic on.

Don't forget that the digital kits at Marks Paper Company are on sale until 4/7/09 - so head over ASAP for a great deal!

A few quick projects

2009-04-02T15:37:00.005-04:00

Today I have a couple of really quick and easy projects - the first is an Easter Goodie Bag. I used a brown paper lunch bag, cut a few eggs and grass to add to the front, folded the top of the bag down and added a strip of paper and a bit of twine and tied the letter "E" for Easter to the top.

I used the Garden Party Kit by ScrapKitchen Designs from Sweet Shoppe Designs.

Next I have a quick card that I also made for Sweet Shoppe Designs. This was made from the Grass Stains Kit by Shawna Clingerman. The flower and leaves embellishments were printed from the digital kit and cut out. I just added a little ribbon and stitching.

That's all for now! I have a few projects that I've finished up for Marks Paper Company that I'm waiting to post once I get the "go ahead" so hopefully I'll get those up in the next day or so. Have a GREAT weekend!

Marks Paper Company - Yipee!

2009-03-31T18:15:00.017-04:00

I'm so excited because today I get to say that I've been asked to join the Design Team for Marks Paper Company! Go check out their kits - not only can you get them in paper, but they also offer digital versions of their kits....which is just AWESOME for a hybrid-girl like me!

Congratulations to the other members of the Marks Paper Company Digital & Hybrid Team:

Michele Ciola

Patricia Komara

Cathy Pascual

Maggie LaMarre

Deanna Kroll

Pamela Young

We'll be joining these fabulous gals:

Jennifer Davis

Ching Tan

Beatriz Jennings

Molly Peckham

Mimi Leinbach

Pam Callaghan

Tracy Polacheck

Patty Schaffer

Marks Paper Company will be having some pretty great special events this month, starting with 25% Off All Digital Kits and a Free Digital Template Giveaway from April 1st through the 7th!

And....there's more - so check back throughout the month!

Catching Up!

2009-03-24T08:40:00.011-04:00

I need to catch up! I've got a few projects from the past couple of months to add. I'll start with some things for Sweet Shoppe Designs:

This is an 8x8 layout made from Dani Mogstad's All You Need is Love kit. All of the papers from the kit were printed out and used to make this (non-digital) layout. I decided to frame this so I used an 8x8 shadow box - here's the framed version:

This next project was a little funky - it's a ribbon jar to hold ribbon scraps. I punched holes in the lid and decorated the front of the jar. I used Zoe Pern's Fun For Me kit. I LOVE this kit - I love all of Zoe's designs!!!

Made a little "mini-album" of sorts. It's like a tri-fold brochure with some of my favorite photos of Katie. I used Christy Lyle's High School Friends: Sweetheart kit. I loved the hanging frames in this kit - they were the inspiration for this idea.

I love the elements in Fee Jardine's Doodie Toodie kit! I thought they would look cute on a black background with a B&W photo so I made this little 6x6 layout. This was so easy - I just printed out the elements, cut them out and attached them!

I found this tin box on clearance (think I paid about a dollar for it). I painted it and decorated the front with the Good Morning Sunshine kit by Eva Kipler. This kit has amazing colors!!! I added some note paper and a pen :)

Now I've got a few things for My Creative Scrapbook. The first project was for the February Mini-Album kit:

Next is the March Mini-Album kit. I loved this kit - it featured the Bloom and Grow papers from My Minds Eye that Zoe Pern designed.

Zoe also has a digital version of this kit at SSD. I used the digital kit to make a pinwheel project that was featured in January's Simply Handmade Magazine.

Next is a "Come In/Do Not Disturb" door sign. Everything in this project is Piggy Tales, including the oval "Sliding Door" - the panel slides back and forth to change from "Come In" to "Do Not Disturb". Isn't that clever?

Lastly, I wanted to add a photo of the latest issue of Paper Crafts Magazine. Why? Well, my cake box is on the cover! This is only the second time I've been on a cover so it was a thrill to get this in the mail. Below are the close-ups of the cake boxes.

I'm feeling caught up now! I'll be back soon though because I have a new mini-album that I made with the April kit from My Creative Scrapbook - this kit is to die for so make sure to check their site the first week of April (around the 5th or so) and I'll post the album I made with it then too. Have a GREAT week!

Dear Mr. President.....

2009-02-16T09:40:00.002-05:00

No, I'm not going all political - but I had a share a major proud Mommy moment and a FREEBIE! Kidthing and the National Education Association had a "Dear Mr. President" project where children from all over the world wrote letters and drew pictures to President Obama. Out of over 4,500 letters, 150 were chosen for this free digital book that came out today and a special print version of the book will be delivered to President Obama!!!

Well, my dear daughter Katie was picked to be in the book!!!! We are so proud and hope President Obama will put her advice to good use :) For a free download of the book, you can visit Kidthing. You can also read more about this special book and project here.

Fortune Cookies :)

2009-01-11T08:07:00.003-05:00

I found a tutorial for making paper fortune cookies this weekend so I decided to give it a try. They are very easy to make! I had some take-out boxes sitting in my closet so I thought it would make a cute Valentine's Day project. I used Libby Weifenbach's "Love Shack" Kit for the papers, since it's a digital kit I just printed the papers out and used them like traditional scrapbook paper. For the fortunes to go inside the cookies, I was going to make my own but when I saw that one of the papers in Libby's kit had "lovey-dovey" writing on it, I just cut the sentiments from the paper into strips and used that - so easy!

The tutorial for the fortune cookies is here: Paper Fortune Cookies

On another note, DigiShop Talk's January issue of the "Insider" is now up and available for download. LOTS of good stuff in this issue and there's a great hybrid tutorial for making your own 2009 Planner by Melinda Stanley. Did I mention the Insider is Free to all DST members???? If you are not a member, sign up - that's free too!

One more freebie - Oprah has Suze Orman's latest book, Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan up for a free download this week only. Just click on that link and save it to your computer. Goodness knows we can all use some financial advice with the way things have been lately!

Have a GREAT WEEK!!!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-04T16:17:00.019-05:00

Happy New Year! I've got a few projects but haven't had a lot of time for crafting lately - guess I'll make that a New Year's resolution: More time for fun things! The first project is a mini-album I did for My Creative Scrapbook called "Joy". This is for the January Mini-album Kit:

(Click images to enlarge)

I'm not real crazy about how the photos of this mini-album came out. I usually use a white background when taking photos but since the pages of the album were painted white, I used a very pale pink background and it seems to make the photos darker and duller for some reason. Guess I learned something new - I'll just stick with white.

I loved making this mini-album! I decided to turn the album sideways and make it tall (instead of wide as it was intended). All of the papers and embellishments are in the January Kit.

Next I have a few little projects that I did for Sweet Shoppe Designs:

Isn't this kit ADORABLE??? It's called Snow Buddies by Lauren Grier and Sir Scrapalot :)

And THIS kit by Manda is as cute as can be too!!! This kit is called "Owl Love You Forever".

Speaking of the Sweet Shoppe, there are some fun new things in store for hybrid in 2009....I'll post more details soon!

Well, the holidays are over and its time to get back into the old routine :( But....here's wishing you a happy, healthy, safe and prosperous 2009!

Freebies, Give-Aways, Tutorials!!!

2008-12-07T07:50:00.002-05:00

I'm back again today with some FUN STUFF! If you are not a member of DigiShop Talk - JOIN NOW because we are giving away a lot of AMAZING gifts this month in the DST Insider and I don't want you to miss out!

It's FREE to join DST, so go HERE to sign up. Once you've signed up (or if you already are a member), download the December issue of the DST Insider (It's FREE too!!!) - you can download it here: December 2008 DST Insider

This issue is all about HYBRID and in it you will find some incredible tutorials, hybrid articles and LOTS of coupons! But the best part of all - you will find all the free gifts we are giving away this month!!!! Look on Pages 47 - 48 for the freebies and then go to the special 12 Days of Christmas forum at DST to enter in the drawings!

Also in this issue, the super-talented Jess Gordon has a FREE Hybrid Photo Box project!!! I LOVE this box and am going to make one for my mom for Christmas - it is just beautiful and Jess really outdid herself on this! Check it out:

This is a GREAT project for all the scrappers out there that are wanting to try hybrid AND for those who are seasoned hybrid scrappers! All of the directions are included - just add photos, print and assemble! Thanks Jess for this adorable project!!! Oh, and make sure to visit Jess at her new store - Sunshine Studio Scraps!

Lastly, I've made these bows before and had a LOT of people ask for a tutorial - well, I did one for this issue. I have LOTS of photos and step-by-step directions - so, if you are one of the people that asked, look on pages 43-45!

Happy Sunday! Only 18 more days until Christmas!!!!

Catching Up!

2008-12-06T06:14:00.011-05:00

Obviously I've been VERY behind! Work has been so hectic and busy that I haven't been able to keep up lately :( BUT, I do have a few things to share and with Christmas vacation coming up in two weeks, I hope to get more things accomplished!

For larger photos, you can go to my online gallery and click on the individual thumbnail photos to make them larger.

I've got two mini-albums that I did for My Creative Scrapbook. The first one is the most recent, it's for the December Album Kit.

"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" (Album Cover)

It's hard to tell in the photo, but I decided to make a "shaker box" (remember those?) Snow Globe - I put glitter in the shaker box.

(This is a second photo of this page showing the pull out photo behind the house.)

This is a "pocket page" - I always like to add a pocket to my mini-albums to stick extra photos or embellishments in.

The next mini-album is one I did for the November Album Kit at My Creative Scrapbook:

Counting Blessings

(Close up of the cover)

And, I've got a few things that I've done for Sweet Shoppe Designs lately:

Altered To-Go Coffee Cup - made this to put a coffee gift card inside for a Christmas Gift :)

A Little Paper Purse - Just for Fun

Christmas Gift Card Holder

Blessings Card

Well, that's all for now! Happy Holidays!!!!!!

It's October - Where'd the time go?

2008-10-05T16:47:00.010-04:00

Can't believe its October already! I haven't had time to do a lot of crafty things lately but have one project to share. It's a mini-album for My Creative Scrapbook. This is for the October Album Kit. Making this really put me in the fall spirit (even here in South Florida - lol).

"Photos from the Pumpkin Patch" Mini-Album
Cover

(This is the pumpkin from the cover of the album.)

Because I have been so behind in posting lately, I have several people to thank for nominating me for awards and such. I know I am late in doing this so I apologize!! Thank you to:

I've got another little project I finished up last night and want to post but I've been really sick this week and honestly don't have the energy to take the photos and do it now. I had a fever/cold symptoms for a few days and then it moved to my lungs and I feel AWFUL. I hate being sick (don't we all?) so I HOPE this week it'll leave so I can get back to normal life. I'll come back soon to post more!

Hope you have a GREAT week!

Mini Albums!

2008-09-06T13:45:00.011-04:00

I know I've been neglectful with my blog. With school starting back up, life's been busy! I do have a two mini-albums and another project to share though. The first is a mini-album for My Creative Scrapbook made with the September Album Kit:

The second is a mini, mini album. It's made with a Maya Road Mini Arrow Album. I did this project for Sweet Shoppe Designs using Shawna Clingerman's Outloud Digital Kit. The Sweet Shoppe also has blank templates for the shaped mini-albums they sell so I also used this template to drag my photos and digital papers onto to make the album - makes it really easy (especially when cropping digital photos to fit the album)!!! I kept this one simple - the inside pages are photos only with pattern paper on the backs of the pages. Lots of photos of this album:

Lastly, I have a project that I did for September's Digi Shoppe Talk Insider. This is a FREE publication, you just need to register for a free membership to DST to get it (you can register here). Along with the project, I have step by step instructions on how to make it on pages 24-25. This issue is AWESOME and there is also a chance to win a GREAT prize on page 3! Check it out!!!

Here's the project I did - its a School Memory Box:

That's all for now! Have a GREAT weekend!!!

Say it ain't So!

2008-08-11T03:13:00.007-04:00

No!!!! I'm not ready for Summer to be over! I don't want to go back to work next week!!! Only one more week 'til school starts :( I need to change my attitude, don't I? (I just don't want to go back yet!)

Anyway, I do have some projects to share.....A few I did for Sweet Shoppe Designs:

I can't remember if I found this wooden "flowerpot" at AC Moore or Michaels but I got it awhile back and never got around to doing anything with it. I wanted to make some pinwheel flowers and then remembered I had it. The papers are from this kit: Bloom and Grow. Since they are digital papers I printed out one of the papers and then flipped the paper over and put it back in the printer to print the other side. Number 4,868,973 of why I love hybrid....if you want double-sided papers, you get to PICK what papers you'll have on each side :)

I do remember that I got this mini-clipboard at AC Moore. And speaking of AC Moore, not only am I in a state of depression with school starting back.....but my AC Moore CLOSED! I am so bummed!!!! The bad thing is that they built a new store and weren't even open for a year....I was in there one day about three or four weeks ago and the girl at the register said they'd just found out THAT DAY that they were closing down on August 1st. How's that for notice?! And they did. I felt terrible for those folks that worked there, I thought that was pretty crappy for AC Moore to do to them. And I'm sad they are gone, and also surprised that I alone didn't provide enough "economic stimulation" to keep them afloat! But I digress....back to the mini-clipboard....

I made a little digital cover to alter the clipboard with from this kit at SSD: Heartsong

And then I added a photo, photo strip and tag (the photo strip and tag are also in the Heartsong kit).

I also worked all day Saturday on a project for The Insider at Digi Shop Talk. I mentioned awhile back that I'm now the Hybrid Editor for The Insider and part of my job is to find hybrid artists to feature and have them write a tutorial each month for the publication. Shannon (the owner) suggested that I do the tutorial for next month's issue (September) so I gladly accepted. I'm not going to post my project because I want to wait for it to be featured next month, but I loved how it turned out!!! I'll give a hint, its a "back to school" project.

So, if you want to see it and all the amazing layouts that'll be in this issue, sign up at Digi Shop Talk (if you aren't already a member) and the link will be e-mailed to you each month to download the FREE issue!!! (Yes, it's FREE!). You can sign up here: Register at DST

After you sign up, you can access all past issues of the insider here: The Insider

That's all for now! Hope you have a good week!!!

Mini-Album, My New Blinkie and (the dreaded) Vacation Photos :o

2008-08-04T06:35:00.013-04:00

Our projects are up at My Creative Scrapbook so I can post my latest mini-album now :) I did this album with the album kit shown here: August Album Kit

Hey, Check this out:

I ordered a custom blinkie for my blog from Graffiti Chicks . Isn't is adorable??!! And a steal too! Those girls are AWESOME - fast, friendly and did I mention the prices are amazing??? I HIGHLY recommend them - You've gotta go order one!

Whew! We got back last night from vacation. We were gone 8 days but it felt like a month! I think it was all the moving around we did - instead of staying in one spot. We flew into Altanta last Sunday and stayed there until Tuesday morning. We got a rental car that morning and drove to Clemson, SC (to see where DH went to college) and then went on our way to visit my sister-in-law and her husband in Spartanburg, SC. We stayed in Spartanburg for two days and then went to Columbia, SC to stop in and have lunch with my brother-in-law then drove over to Edgefield, SC to visit my DH's parents - spent the night there and then drove over to visit my parents near Augusta, GA and stayed there two nights. We drove back to Atlanta yesterday and flew home yesterday evening. See what I mean - it was a lot of shuffling around! But it was nice to see everyone!

Here are a few photos from the trip, now I could've posted all 300 photos that I took, but decided I'd only bore you with a few:

In Atlanta we went to CNN (did the tour, its interesting...I've done it before) and went to a Braves Game:

They lost, it was fun anyway - but darn it was HOT and this was a night game. I live in South Florida so I should be used to it, but I was about ready to pass out from the heat!

(Tried to take a good photo and this is what came out - LOL)

This was our rental car - I had something different in mind when I asked for a luxury car so it was sort of funny. DH said he's considering trading in his Camry for one after driving it around for a week {just kidding}.

Clemson

Feeding the horse and donkey at Aunt Grace's house. That donkey was so cute....I wanted to bring him home :)

Well, that's about it for now. Happy Monday - Hope you have a GREAT week:)

Birthdays!

2008-07-25T07:51:00.004-04:00

I've been in Birthday mode this month - did a birthday gift project, made a birthday mini-album (will post that next month) for MCS and yesterday made a birthday cake (paper, of course). I made this for my daughter's birthday, can't believe she'll be 8 tomorrow!!!!!

I used three wooden round boxes and covered them with papers printed from this fun, girly kit by Manda at SSD. I added buttons, ribbon, felt ric rac, flowers, some clear sequins and a birthday candle. I put little gifts in each box: earrings, bracelet and a gift card. We got her a Wii last week so this is just a little something extra :)

What have YOU been working on lately? I'd love to know - if you get a chance leave me a comment to link me up to your blog or gallery so I can check it out :)

Happy Weekend!

Fun Stuff :)

2008-07-23T15:54:00.004-04:00

I got the two cutest books last week and I've been having some fun with them. I got:

Softies

and

Aranzi Cute Stuff

Here's what I've made so far:

This cute tree:

A keychain

and I've also made some pincushions - the strawberry pincushion wasn't in the books, but one I made for fun - just playing around. The flower pincushion was made with a simple pattern in the book for the "x" shape and I cut a flower from my sizzix to put on top with a button.

These are just way too fun to make and totally addictive!

On to something else............

Do you want to win some scrapping goodies?????

Well, head on over to My Creative Scrapbook for the Sizzlin' Summer Contest! All the details are here: Sizzlin' Summer Contest. Many prizes will be awarded for best layouts in the different categories with one BIG prize for just posting comments on the message board! CHECK IT OUT!

Oh, another thing, I had some good news last week - I had a project picked up for the Dec/Jan issue of Digital Scrapbooking Magazine AND ...... I was named the new Hybrid Editor for The Insider at Digi Shop Talk! If you don't get The Insider, its FREE so go download it now! If you're not a memer at DST, you'll want to register on the site to access the downloads. Pretty exciting (and a little intimidating knowing that over 15,000 people get The Insider each month - eek).

That's about it for now. Hope you have a great week! My daughter's 8th birthday is this Saturday so we'll be celebrating - Yippee!

A few projects to share :)

2008-07-12T20:16:00.009-04:00

Got a few things done the past couple of days. Everything here is for Sweet Shoppe Designs (LOVE THEM!!!).

I wanted to make a birthday box with this adorable birthday kit called It's My Party by Christy Lyle. I made a tag to go with it but it wouldn't fit with that honkin' big bow so I left it off :)

This next one was a bit of an experiment - I saw this kit by Dani Mogstad. Its a pre-made album kit for a round coaster album. I added my photos and printed four of the pages (and cut them out). I attached each of the circles with ribbon at the sides. I added a bottom and handle and made a basket. The photos make it look a bit wonky, it looks better in person. Didn't really make the basket to hold anything, just a "memory basket" I guess - I'll put it on the shelf in my craftroom.

I made this card using a layered digital template (see below). Really easy if you've never used one, just drag the digi papers over onto the template and drop them in place. I wanted to make it hybrid so I printed out the different layers separately for the card, cut them out and added them back to the card - to give it dimension. I also added some lace.

Here's the template I used and the envelope I made with the template is below:

The last one is a card I made with Dani's MVP Kit. I made another project with this same kit last year (I'll post photos below). The more I look at this kit the more potential I see. My daughter plays/has played basketball, soccer and volleyball - I was thinking it would be fun to make up some "baseball cards" (you know, like the trading cards) for her with the different sports (another idea to add to the super-long list).

Here's the other project I did with this kit last year - this was an altered shoebox to hold her first pair of basketball shoes (I loved those pink Converse Chuck Taylor high tops!!)

Well, that's about all for now. Hope you have a great weekend!