See Jane Scrapbook

Free Happy Birthday Desktop

2011-03-27T21:15:00.000-06:00

It's about time for me to post a freebie, and I thought it would be fun to have a cute free birthday desktop. I'm celebrating a fun milestone birthday tomorrow, and wanted something cheerful for my computer, so I took a picture of my yummy cake. According to the candles we used, I'm turning 3 again.

Surprise your friends, family or co-workers on their special day by swapping out their wallpaper for something fun, or use it for your own desktop just to celebrate the big day!

Mary Blair inspired

2011-02-19T21:35:00.001-07:00

It's been a busy week of sewing curtains, framing and hanging pictures, and finishing up lots of random projects around the house. I feel like I have sooo many things I want to get done asap. Yay for the second trimester of pregnancy. One of them is making some new wall art for the playroom. I drew up some quick abc/123 posters that I've been seeing everywhere (and remind me of sticker/felt sheets that I designed for Making Memories) and had them printed off as 16x20 prints for $6 each at my local Costco/Sams Club. I'll have to take a pic when I get the last one printed. I've been working on my own rough draft version of Mary Blair's "It's a Small World." We may have ridden it one too many times at Disney World last month. I think the middle picture is pretty close to being finished, but I need to check all my edges and make sure everything lines up just right. Or it will be taunting me daily once I hang it on the wall. Can't have that.

The numbers and letters are already printed and hanging on the wall; I framed them in Ikea ribba frames and they really help tie in all the random colors from the pillows in our playroom. Penelope is a big fan of them so far. She really wants to say her numbers and abcs, but she mostly just says a bunch of random ones in any order. And if you want to see some more really fun ways to decorate with letter/number prints be sure to check out my friend Jenallyson's blog. I know she's putting some in her nursery, and it will be awesome when it's all pulled together! Can't wait to see it.

FWEYWQN7RWUH

Ruffling Foot versus a Gathering Foot

2011-02-11T18:37:00.000-07:00

I owe my obsession with ruffling/gathering on my sewing machine to two lovely ladies, Melissa Blackburn who introduced me to the "gathering foot" and Lori Gardner who introduced me to a "ruffling foot." And also to my mother for teaching me how to sew at the ripe old age of 12 (she was 10 when she learned). ;)

Here's most of what I've learned so far.

The Gathering Foot:

Here is what my gathering foot looks like, and yes folks that .01 (plus shipping) Amazon price tag is for real! I had two friends order it last week! I set my stitch length to 5 - or the longest it will go, for the tightest gather. And then I run my fabric or crepe paper or whatever right underneath the very bottom of the foot.

I've also occasionally used it to gather something as I sew it to another piece of fabric. It's a little bit tricky, and definitely requires some practice, but you can do it if you place the fabric to be ruffled under the bottom of the foot, and the other fabric in the little slot that you see that opens to the left. You have to be very careful not to pull on the "ruffle" fabric as you sew though or else it won't gather consistently.

The Ruffler Foot:

And here's the ruffler. But mine is not gold, and I bought it from a local quilt store for $50. Not $34 on Amazon. Be sure to shop around! It's a lot scarier looking, but itt's amazing to watch it work. My ruffling foot says it can be adjusted to make repeating tucks, narrow pleats, smocking and shirring. But since the instructions are teensy tiny, I haven't taken the time to figure out all the cool things that it can do yet. It has a little lever/switch that you can use to change up the pleats to varying sizes.

The Recap:

So basically, one pleats, and one gathers. The gathering foot is super fast for me to put on, so I do have a tendency to favor it. I'm always in a hurry to ruffle something. And I get impatient. But I do have big plans for some pillows or pretty garlands smothered in yards and yards of pleated ribbon. Be sure to let me know if you end up getting one and using it on projects! I'd love to see photos or links!

Painting with a Princess

2011-02-10T15:40:00.001-07:00

We've had a busy morning/week around here prepping for my next Provo Craft live online class (tonight! Yay!). It is completely sold out, so if you missed it this time you'll have to wait and see if they post the video online later on, or see if you can sweet talk them into letting me teach another class. ;)

Princess Penelope has been a great help in between making me take mandatory rest periods for some princess waltzing lessons. She is always Belle and mama is always "Monster." I'm flattered. Really. I also like her idea of always wearing a crown when painting. I feel it adds a certain something. And luckily, my brilliant friend Amy was kind enough to give Penny a paint with water book yesterday, which I've been searching everywhere for, and luckily that entertained her just long enough to let me prep the background of one canvas for tonight.

And just a side note, but if you're interested in following what I'm working on in my studio I'll also be posting on my facebook page - Natalie Malan Studio so be sure to add that one (and not my personal account). And it's getting close to being photo ready, so I'll have to start posting some teaser photos soon of my lovely new space!

No more naked tree

2010-12-13T17:03:00.000-07:00

We've been busy preparing for the holidays around our house. I bought all the fabric for this tree skirt last year, but never got around to making it, but this year I finally had an assistant big enough to "help" me. Thank goodness for magnetic pincushions.

I love how it turned out; our Christmas decorations are all pretty non-traditional colors and I haven't found a skirt that would even come close to matching The directions can be found here. I added some huge fun pompoms around mine instead of the bias tape.

sharing is a good thing - right?

2010-04-30T12:59:00.005-06:00

We've recently discovered the plethora of baby shows on you tube, which means mom's computer is now also Penny's computer. But at least I know my numbers. Just 1-5 though. Thank goodness the music is pleasant. What do you do to entertain your kids while you work?

The pic above shows the Provo Craft Mother's Day cartridge that I designed (since the one I'm working on right now is still under wraps). Please note; this is MY version of it - not their edited and corrected version! Here's their spiffed up final version:
I can't wait to start making some more pretty garlands. I used this cart on my Easter garland (which I never posted........I will have to look for those photos). And the cartridge I'm working on today will be great fun when she gets just a little bit bigger.

beautiful sundays

2010-04-27T11:23:00.004-06:00

My favorite kind. Luckily, most of our days start off just like this.

A Life Crocheted

2010-04-23T08:07:00.003-06:00

I just had to share these absolutely delightful slippers (and hats!) made by a former bookbinding student of mine, Bonny Smith of "A Life Crocheted." Penelope gets so many compliments on hers, that I decided it was about time I shared my secret.

Bonny has quite the selection of baby beanies and slippers, and even recently released a new line of women's felted slippers just in time for Mother's Day! How cute are they?! Order from her Etsy shop by April 30th for delivery by May 9th! Aren't they charming? I especially love all the pretty little details in the buttons. {And a little birdie told me that she sends you a 15% off coupon code for your second order.}

Love to crochet? Good news! She also has the pattern listed for sale in her etsy store. Be sure to follow her on Twitter, and Ravelry for more updates and inspiring projects.
Penelope's been wearing her darling crocheted baby beanies since she was a wee little one. They're super soft, and she's never tried to pull them off. In fact, I have to hide them from her sticky little hands because she loves putting them on so much. I'm particularly in love with the colors she offers; they've coordinated with all her little outfits beautifully. But I will admit, the apple green one is still my personal favorite.

today

2010-04-12T15:32:00.006-06:00

Not too much scrapbooking going on at my house lately, but tons of crafting, and a pinch of remodeling, and lots of designing. It's been crazy. DH is finishing the last room in our house for my office, which means I had to clean it out. Yikes. Why is it that if you happen to have a storage room, it must fill up with random things?!

But I wanted to show you the adorable headbands that my cute neighbor friend inspired us to make today. My self inflicted rule was I wasn't allowed to buy a thing for it; and had to use only things I had laying around. It's a perfect project to use up lots and lots of tiny pieces of fabric and felt that are too yummy to throw out. And those little birdy earrings? Inspired by this amazing designer friend, and created with this talented one.

PS did you all know it's ridiculously hard to take a photo of the side of your head?! I had no idea.

cuppy cake love

2010-02-14T11:58:00.005-07:00

I'd be happy to share if I could only find a way to email these cute little guys. Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours, from me and mine!!!

The butcher, the baker, the candlestickmaker.

2009-08-26T18:08:00.012-06:00

Or maybe it should be the camper, the baker, and the biggest mess-maker. We had a busy weekend last week on top of a bunch of fun freelance jobs. I'm working on a magazine article, and 8 more Cricut projects with the new Picturesque cartridge. So fun! But tons of work! Have you ever been camping with a 5 mo old?!? I was scared of the bears. You can lock most of the food in the car, um... just not the baby food. I asked Dave if bears liked milk, and he said I should only worry about the baby bears. Nice.

Penny went to a birthday party for her cute cousin and got to get all dressed up. She loved it.

She even made sure to taste test her present. We watch "Hell's Kitchen," so she knows how this is done.
I just finished 8 projects using the "A Child's Year" and "Stamping" cartridges a couple weeks ago. I'll have to see if they're out yet so I can post you a preview of the projects! They turned out so fun! I've been scouring the internet to see if my "Pink Journey" cartridge is out yet. I've heard it's packaged with some kind of pink cricut? If you see it let me know!
This is my mess before it really started. It's nice and cropped so you can't see the rest of the room. Dis-a-ster. And yes, I did make 3 trips to Hobby Lobby in the last 24 hours!!! ;) Mom watched Penny for me during the last trip and the sweet workers were concerned when I walked in without my baby. That's when you know you've been there too often for too long.

Whew! Time flies.

2009-08-09T08:24:00.009-06:00

I can't believe I haven't posted an update in 5 months! Yikes! A few people had asked to see my birth announcements; and you are getting to see them before the family since I haven't actually mailed them yet. Whoops. My excuse is that I'm still trying to design my envelopes. I love pretty envelopes. We did finally settle on a name (yes, it took me a week to decide; we literally named her on our way out the door of the hospital 5 days after having her)! She has kept me busy, and I've been busy working on all kinds of fun things for Making Memories, Provo Craft, Cricut, and a little magazine illustration here and there as well. So sorry for neglecting you dear blog!

DH is getting to be mom for a day whether he likes it or not because of his smart a comments to a friend last night (about me just sitting in bed sleeping and nursing all day, um yeah. HA!). We'll see how the day goes. It could be interesting. He's making me breakfast right now. ;) Good husband.

I've been working on my photo skills more than my scrapbooking lately, but have plenty of scrapping to catch up on now. I feel like I need to make some more cute photo frames/brushes....

My mac is back from getting the graphics card replaced. It only took me 4 months to get it to the apple store for a three day repair.

OH! and we moved. I knew there was another biggie that I was forgetting! Tons of work, but I'm glad it's all over now.

So to catch up on the babe:
The "coming home" shot. I love big bows.

She loves her swing, and so do I. (couple weeks old)
I think I really captured her true love of nightgowns, don't you think?4 months and enjoying a little tummy time.

4 and a half months and already sitting up! This girl is going places fast!More updates to come soon, and hopefully a freebie in there somewhere too! Thanks so much for all your wonderful comments and emails.

She's here!!!!

2009-03-09T22:44:00.005-06:00

Everything went great, and soo much better than I ever hoped. I was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane though when I went in to get on the operating table. Now she only needs a name!!! And she does have tons of hair, and even came out with a bow. hahahahah.
xoxo!

xoxoxox...

2009-03-09T21:31:00.002-06:00

Born 4:56pm 3/9/09, 6 pounds 7 ounces, plenty of hair, but no name yet.

40 weeks, and off to the hospital!

2009-03-09T13:26:00.003-06:00

I noticed on my phone this morning that I had a call at 5am. That's unusual for me. I don't take calls till after 9 (or 830 if you are a friend or family). Turns out they wanted to reschedule my C-section time. Whoops. But they moved it back to my original time. David came home and we took a couple more pics, and now we're off!

A winner! and a baby date!

2009-03-07T16:44:00.004-07:00

And the winner picked by the random number generator is:

Comment #2! By Kelsey!
"My little one isn't born yet, but my favorite baby item so far is the mobile that I'm sewing. I'm sewing little felt animals that are native to this area and it's turning out very cute!"

Kelsey, I bet your mobile is adorable! I'd love to see it when you get it all done! Be sure to click on the contact button to the left to email me to claim your prize!

I agree with Michelle's comment about the minivac; got DH one a year ago, and I'm pretty sure it's his favorite "appliance" - if you can call it that.

And the big news with our family is that we found out baby M is not interested in flipping over (still breech!), so she's scheduled to make her grand appearance on Monday evening via Csection! Wish us luck! I have butterflies in my stomach. Or maybe those are hiccups....

fleur playmat + pillow! and Giveaway!

2009-03-04T19:04:00.003-07:00

It's a......... playmat!!! Mine is not as darling as the original with it's cute pink cheeks and eyes, but my Heather Bailey "Pop Garden" fabrics were sooo bright and striking that I had a hard time finding coordinating pieces for my cheeks. Ah, maybe someday, but for now, I love it just how it is. It looks just like a huge beautiful flower.
I had been looking forever for a cute rug for her room. Didn't even cross my mind to make one until I was surfing around on blogs, and this little gem caught my eye! And I thought, "perfect!" It will coordinate, and I have bunches of little scraps to use up for all those gorgeous petals.
If you want to make one, or have someone make one for you, it was a great project, I really enjoyed the whole process, and the talented Leslie of "onegirldesignwrks.blogspot.com" sells the beautiful "fleur playmat + pillow" pattern on Etsy! You just download your .pdf and away you go to the fabric store. I started mine on Friday night and worked on and off on it over the weekend, and it was all done by Monday night. I just couldn't wait.

Thanks again Leslie for such a fun, functional, and pretty project!
(Isn't that face just too cute?!?!)

And just for the fun of it, I think we should have another pcLayers gift card giveaway. I loved reading all your fun comments from the last giveaway, and would love to hear more. How about another chance at $30 to spend on some great digi kits?! Leave me a comment, either just some love, or if you have a kiddo tell me what your favorite baby item is and why. It could be beautiful, useful, frivolous, or just plain weird - but whatever it is I'd like to know!

Drawing will be open till noon MST Saturday March 7th, be sure to check back that night to see if you've won! (Winner will be posted to the blog). Good luck!

Feathering the nest...

2009-03-01T17:30:00.006-07:00

Nesting has kicked in (although my friends and family will tell you it's been in full swing for a good ten months or so now), and I felt like posting a teaser pic of something that I've been working on this weekend. I can't wait to get it all finished and show you the final project and give you all the details! Super fun, and really unique!

And on a side note, Dh keeps walking around saying, "why don't you come 'nest' over here, it's messy," since I've been on an organizing kick all day. I'm pretty sure if I redo the baby's closet one more time he's going to sign me up for counseling.

And the winner is!

2009-02-25T20:51:00.002-07:00

... Comment #18 by "very blessed" picked by the number generator!

"Mine was that I would have a really really long labour as my mom was in labour with me for 36 hours - thankfully - times have changed and I was only in labour with my boy for about 4 hours - I had a continuous epidural - administered by an absolutely brilliant anaethetist and would recommend it to anyone.

Lots of love and good wishes for you and your gorgeous GIRL - things will go well I am sure!"

~veryblessed

Be sure to EMAIL ME to claim your prize! Click on the "contact" button on the sidebar, or leave me another comment with your email address and info! Congratulations!

Enter to Win! And my 2 biggest fears for l+d

2009-02-23T08:25:00.002-07:00

With less than 20 days till my due date I've been thinking about the whole labor and delivery process. And there are two things that top my list of fears, and here they are in order of importance to me:

#1. She will not be a girl. (and I will have to completely redo her uber stylish pink insanely girly bedroom and wardrobe - and my son will come home from the hospital wearing this). I should explain that I have no problem having a baby boy [in fact, I had high hopes of having a mini DH lacrosse player], I thought that's what I was going to have - before I knew. I'm just completely not prepared for one. And if you know me, you know I like to prepare. A LOT).

#2. My epidural won't work - and I have no plan B. (with all the craziness around here the last couple months my prenatal classes consisted of the lamest DVD EVER in the history of lame DVDs, that I checked out from the hospital. I think it was written for fourth graders. But apparently there's a market for that kind of thing now).

Basically those two things top the charts for me. What were/are your biggest fears? On becoming a mother OR father? Leave a comment here on the blog with one or two, and I'll enter you to win a $30 gift card to pcLayers, we'll pick a winner at 12noon MST on Wednesday 02.25.09 by the random number generator so be sure to check back then and see if you've won!

P.S. I love that in the pic above; you can't even tell I just jumped out of the shower and my hair is dripping wet in a towel and I don't have a scrap of makeup on. Yay, for creative cropping.

Bedrest is for the birds.

2009-02-20T13:17:00.008-07:00

I've been a busy girl the last couple months. Haven't had too much time for blogging, but have quite a few new pics and tips to post soon. I had lots and lots of nesting and freelance work to get accomplished before the baby comes. But that all came to a screeching halt Wednesday night when I went in to labor and delivery to ask a simple question about seeing spots.

Three hours, some blood tests, and a few other uncomfortable procedures later (I'll spare you the details), I was released on bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy. And let me tell you, I had no idea how much I liked moving. My instructions are to lie on my left side. In bed. All day. For 21 more days. Right.

But! On the scrapbook side of things, I did get a new camera recently and LOVE it. If you're in the market I've got a good recommendation. I wanted something light, an slr, and that took great photos without me doing a lot of photoshopping. I ended up with a Rebel XSi and two lenses recommended by Ali Edwards: a 50mm 1.4 and a zoom EF 28-105mm. And they are perfect for what I need!

And on a side note; the fabric for the pillow is from Heather Bailey's Pop Garden Bijoux line (Sugar Mallow), and is what I ended up deciding on for the nursery. I just couldn't resist making something that I knew nobody else had for nursery crib bedding. I'll have to post updates on those photos soon too. The great ruffle pillow pattern is a freebie from Sandi Henderson. Yes, ladies and gnetlemen, I have now learned to make button holes!

Halloween Tutu How to!

2008-10-29T22:06:00.002-06:00

I don't know if you've seen these super cute tutus around on little girls, but I found some great instructions a while back on YouTube on how to make them, so I've made a few for gifts for friends lately.

I was lacking a model so little Miss Lamb-y volunteered for my photo shoots. She is a trooper. The picture above is of a cute little Halloween version and the pic below shows a shorter smaller tutu for newborns.
I also wanted to link you to this great you tube video (in case you are a visual learner like me). I love the easy way she cuts out all the tulle strips!

It's a.....

2008-10-28T08:44:00.004-06:00

GIRL!Hooray for everything pink and frilly!

So, now I'm trying to figure out what I like for the baby's room. And I figured somebody could probably tell me, so I'm setting up a poll on the sidebar for you to vote. ;) Here are the options:

A. Birdie Set

B. Heather Bailey Pop Garden & Bijoux (would be custom made by me)

C. Stripe and Toile set

And here's a couple pictures of the room as it looks right now with the pistachio green paint just for reference (it looks almost exactly like the paint in option "B" above - it's kind of grayed out in the pictures here) - oh and that's the baby sling (hanging on the side of the crib) that I made from some cute Amy Butler fabric:

See Jack's Scrapbook

2008-10-08T15:57:00.007-06:00

LOVE this Halloween kit, called "Jack," by Celeste Rockwood Jones! And this Jack Mini Album by Becky Olsen is SOOOO easy to use! I just printed the pages, added my pics (some weren't digi, and the ones that were I printed out), and then punched some holes, added metal rings and tons of cool ribbon. I love that I can keep printing and adding more pages each year too. We don't have tons of Halloween photos every year, but I think this will be a fun way to keep them together and actually look at them all at once!

And if you're looking for a fun digi ribbon freebie that coordinates with Jack for Halloween be sure to click here.

Also be sure to go snag Celeste's awesome new matching word art!!!

Two is company but...

2008-09-18T08:00:00.013-06:00

... three is a party! And here's a cute invite.

So I was teasing in my last post that I would always remember what the last thing my great grandmother said to me was, (it was in response to me telling her I was expecting), and she slowly looked me up and down, and said, "well..... you've got a long way to go!" And I laughed because she was right.

So here's the card that we emailed with our u/s pic to family and friends who live far away. We also sent this photo of my mom's face when she opened her birthday present. It was a bib that said "I love grandma" on it and a baby book. She dropped it right out of the picture. But her face was priceless. Click here or on the pic below to download the 4x6 jpeg, and bonus .png file!
Thanks for all your wonderful comments on my last post! You are all too sweet; I can't say how much I enjoy reading all your comments here on the blog and also on the 4shared site.

I'll have to post an u/s photo of "peanut" sometime soon. We had a follow up appt (due to complications with 2 cysts) today, and got to see him/her bouncing all around (thanks to me drinking a bunch of OJ right before)! So fun! Good news; the baby is now officially bigger than the cysts, and the cysts are FINALLY getting a little bit smaller! And the ultrasound tech wouldn't even guess at the gender yet since Peanut was being modest and covering all the important details with a hand. 15 weeks 2 days, and counting...... Maybe I will get to find out for a halloween present?
PS if you are looking for the Halloween Freebie mentioned on KimB's blog they are here! Be sure to stop by her blog for a cute free template for this card!
mini kit
QP
glitter alpha