Crop Time!

This weekend was a busy one! I had a crop on Friday and an online crop all weekend long over at ScrapFreak. Friday night I worked on DT projects for The Everyday Scrapper and actually finished up some layouts and met some really nice ladies. I had never been to their crop before, but I'm definitely going back next month. Thanks ladies! The online crop at ScrapFreak went all weekend and had some great challenges. I was able to participate in the Mystery Lift Challenge and the Rub-on Challenge. I'd never done a Mystery Lift and it was really pretty fun. Instead of scraplifting a layout you could see, you got written instructions on what to do.  Here's what I came up with.

And the Rub-on challenge was nice because it forced me to organize my rub-on drawer and use up some really old stash.

Besides scrapping, we laid a floor in the playroom, bought a couch, and still have to paint. Well, really Robert laid the floor, but I was there for moral support. The fabric for my curtains are just sitting and staring at me. Maybe I'll get to the tomorrow!

Announcement Time!

I have another great announcement......
I have been lucky enough to be asked to join the design team over at ScrapFreak! It's such a great site. They essentially are an embellishment kit club, but really they are quite a bit more. The forum is wonderful and the gallery is full of inspiration. Go check it out.....now!

TES Sketch

This past Sunday another wonderful new sketch was posted over at The Everyday Scrapper.I fell in love and had to create something with it.
Here's the sketch.

And here's my take on it.

When I was taking a pic of it, I noticed a little trend. I can't stop cutting up these journaling spots from Sharing Memories Scrapbooking. I love them! They work for everything. This green one is from the "cool" set.

DIY Drawing Travel Kit

Just to prove to you that I don't mind posting my not so great creations, here's another one.
(I know, I know, you thought everything I did was perfect, right?)
So a while ago I found a little tutorial for making a carrying case for colored pencils and a notepad. I thought it would be great for long car rides, so I took Anna to the store and let her pick out her own fabric. - There were a few vetoes from me. And people in the store cracked up when I tried to talk her into a fabric and she loudly and proudly proclaimed that she was "wee-toe-ing" it. It took thirty minutes, be we finally agreed on something.
Anyways, it took me until today to finally sit down and work on it. I didn't even bother taking pictures of me making it to prove that I made it. Just look at the craftsmanship and you'll believe me.I had to rip out the velcro tab when I realized I put it on backwards, then I had to make another one when I realized that I put the velcro at the wrong end of the tab. And still, I made it too long. I promise I know how to measure. And I promise I know how to cut. It's when I put the two together that things start to go awry. And now that I'm staring at it, I think I must have made the fleece too big or something. It doesn't lay right. I still have enough fabric to make two more so I'm pretty sure I'm going to do that tonight. I'll have a beautiful one by the morning.

Here's the link where I found the tutorial. It's a good tutorial. I'm just a bad student. And I did change a few things, like using fleece instead of quilt batting, just because I had the fleece on hand and I'm cheap.

5th time's a charm

When we moved to the new house I had left over master bedroom/bathroom curtains. Let me rephrase that - I had left over shower curtains that I had used as curtains. (Our new master bath has this one funky window that I still don't know what to do with.)  So I thought, hey, I'll be cheap thrifty and make pillows out of the fabric. I forced Robert to finally build a headboard, bought a cute little duvet cover and a nice little loveseat and got to work making pillows for them.
Mistake #1:
  Don't ever just trust a DIY project & instructions online. I mean, even if you are new to sewing, you know when something sounds wrong. 
Mistake #2: 
   Assuming that you just measured wrong even though you know you didn't, and making the second pillow just like the first one. They will both turn out wrong.
Mistake #3:
   Thinking, "oh these instructions sound so easy, it'll be great." Um, no. If they are that easy for a newbie like you, they are wrong!
So after ripping out seams and sewing on top of seams and saying every curse word in the book (and a few new ones) I am done. Notice that I didn't say I figured out how to make a perfect enveloped back pillow case. I can guesstimate well enough to get them done for a room that no one ever really looks at. Now when it comes to making pillows for my living room, that's a different story. That's when I'm going to call dear Aunt Lisa. (And Lisa if you are reading this, I've got this cute little idea for a small throw/quilt for the living room!)
Anyways, here they are. All the turquoise ones are my fab creations. Just don't look too closely.

The big pillows in the back are made from fabric that is kind of ruffly. I always thought European pillows were supposed to be huge, but these were the biggest ones I could find in Target. Maybe they only carry small ones.?

This pillow is from the same fabric as the European pillows. I'm thinking I need a couple of small ones too. Just to fluff it up a bit. The couch doesn't scream "I'm so comfy come and sit on me" yet.

So Long to Lost

Who else is sad that Lost is over? I'm not so sad that it's over as much as sad that there will never be an explanation of 95% of that stinking show. It had gotten so crazy lately, that really the only reason I watched was just to see the end. I wanted to see it wrapped up in a pretty little bow with nothing left unanswered. I should have known better.
On another note, I'm finishing sewing up my bedroom pillows and will post a picture as soon as they are done.

ScrapFreak May Sketch

Here's my take on Scrap Freak's May Sketch inspiration.

Sketch from The Everyday Scrapper

Last Sunday's sketch from The Everyday Scrapper was this:

And I turned it into this!

I'm finally getting caught up with my Easter layouts. I refuse to order more pictures until I use up what I have right now.

Big Announcement

I just got word that I made the design team over at The Everyday Scrapper. I am so excited! The have a great blog that always has some wonderful ideas. My personal favorites are the sketches and the frugal redo ideas. I'll be giving my interpretation of the sketches that come out every Sunday and my first one for the dt will be revealed June 6, but I'm about to get started using their old sketches, because they really are great.

DIY Library Kit

I'm addicted to other people's blog. I suppose I should spend more time on my own blog instead of other peoples' but I can't help it. My latest find is from over at Twig and Thistle.

Five or six years ago Robert bought me (or maybe I bought it for myself and just told Robert he bought it) a library set with the whole shebang - cards, pockets, little pencils, and a date stamp. I use the date stamp all the time, but I never got around to putting the cards in my books. I go through books so often, that I'd never be done putting cards in them. Plus, I take most of mine back to the book store for credit.

But after seeing this, I might just have to break out the old classics and stick me a little card in there. The download-able set comes with a book journal, a book mark, pockets and cards to print.
This would make a wonderful gift to give to a book lover (or yourself). Go here to check out the post on this.

And if you could somehow turn this into a library set for DVD's instead of books, that would make a really great present for just about anybody. I won't even begin to think about the number of times we've lost movies (or had them stolen....ahm....Chris!)

By the way - the problem with the pictures came about because I used Blogger In Draft. There is a known bug going around, so if you use that you might want to switch back to the original while they getting it worked out.

Latest Layout

I still can't post pictures on my blog unless I go to Picasa and upload the photo to there, then hit the "Blog this" button. And when I do it that way, I have no control over the size of my photo or the placement of my text! If anyone knows how to fix this, please let me know!  By the way, how do you like my new look? It's staying this way for a while!

Hmm..

Anyone else having problems uploading pictures?
I had planned on dropping in with a post of my latest layout, but it's not working. Maybe I've killed it with all the fiddling around I've been doing with this poor little blog.
I'll keep working on it, but if you would like to see it in the mean time, just click on the Scrapbook Creations button on the right side. It should take you straight to my picasa account.
And if for some reason that doesn't work, let me know - no, don't even bother, because I can't fix it!
No, really, tell me!

Free DIY BookPlates

I've been wanting some cute book plates for Anna's massive library for some time now. But, as you all know, I'm too cheap to pay the $1 each for customized ones. And even if I weren't too cheap, I couldn't find ones that I really really loved. So you can only imagine how happy I was when I ran across these cute things over at  ImageZoo.

I mean, cuteness, right? So I ran to Office Supply, paid $10.06 for a package of 5 sticker sheets and got to printing. Five sheets with six each makes 30, which means I paid about .33 for each book plate. Lovin' that deal.

I downloaded the file for FREE, pulled them up in Photoshop Elements, matched the font color and style on the individual ones and wa-la! Customized bookplates!

After the second sheet I printed, I got smart and moved the entire thing up on the page and just printed her name on the bottom. Those stickers work for the books that already have a place for you to write the name in. And for those crazy books that actually start the story on the inside cover.

We keep most of Anna's books in the drawers underneath her bed. Love that bed, by the way.

30 someodd books later and we've got cuteness. Just 512 more to go!

As I continue to struggle with getting my blog to look just right, I thought I'd take a little break and post a few layouts I've done recently. If only Anna would go back to taking naps, I could get a lot more done!

P.S. If anyone feels the need to completely design and recreate the look of my blog for free, just let me know. I know exactly what it looks like in my head....I just can't get it to fly onto the computer screen. Darn this technology.

P.P.S. Both layouts use labels from Sharing Memories Scrapbooking. I love those things. They are so darn versatile.

Question for you all.....

I just pulled up my blog on my laptop, and lo and behold.....my background and banner are a totally different color! It now makes sense why I've been having trouble with picture colors. So my question to you all, is what stinking color is my blog? I don't know which computer screen is right, so I'm going to go with the majority on this one. The laptop shows blue, the desk top shows a light turquoise. Take your pick!

Changes in the works!

Sorry about the crazy changes going on here. I'm working on my html and am having problems with the template I was using. I've done so much changing it's making my head spin!

Organic Eating Update

I mentioned a while back that I really wanted to start eating as much organic as I possibly could. And while I can't bring myself to pay crazy amounts for organic meat, I've been buying pretty much everything else organic. If it's offered in organic, we buy it. Fruit, cereal, milk, sour cream, and veggies are always organic in our house because we eat so stinking much of them. Now, I'm not saying that a nice big package of non-organic cookies don't jump into the buggy sometimes, but that's always Anna's fault - totally. I've caught some flack from family members about this decision, but I've stuck with it, knowing that even though we are paying a little more for our groceries, I'm not pumping us full of crazy chemicals.And that's worth the extra money to me.

Scrap Room Peek

All of the designers over at Sharing Memories Scrapbooking are showing off their scrap rooms for the next couple of days. So far there have been three of us, and let me say that I am stealing ideas from the other gals already. I can't wait to see the rest. If you want to see my entire write-up, click here. Otherwise here are a few pictures for you!

Mondays = DMV +Jury Summons + Yuck

Top Five Reasons to Hate (this) Monday.

1. I can't change my address and renew my license at the same time. And for me, this is big because I'm cheap.

2. I realized - after I hit the confirm button - that I put in the wrong zipcode.

3. For 13 calls to the DMV no one but a lovely little machine answered to tell me that everyone was busy and     they couldn't take my call.

4. On the 14th call I got through and hit the 0 button enough that I was sent to an operator - after 37 minutes of waiting.

5. After getting my DMV crisis taken care of, I realized that I got a jury summons for the old address that I need to get fixed. But I can't find the summons!

6. When I finally find the phone number for the jury coordinator and give the little lady a call, her lovely little recorded voice tells me that if I no longer live in that county, I should circle #2 and send the summons (that I can't find) back in. Click.

Today deserved a #6 on my list.