My Progressive swap Album Completed

It has finally arrived and I am proud to show you all.  I was overwhelmed by the talent and creativity of these ladies and what they put into my album.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  I created a video to show it off.  I do want to I will be having a conversation with my son this evening on returning things that get borrowed...but, this is my only day off from work where I felt I could create a video with people being around and interrupting me.  (Basically, what I am trying to say is...the camera is a bit shaky and you may get views of my messy work area or computer keyboard more than I had intended).

Just as a refresher, this is what I sent off on it's merry way and finally made it home to me:

 

And here is what I received back:

 

Progressive Swap Round 6

Here is the last mini album in the progressive swap.  It has been a lot of fun!  I received my album in the mail already and will be sharing that with you all tomorrow.  Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised and overwhelmed how great my album turned out and want to thank all the participants in our group.  It was absolutely lovely.

Today, I want to share Jennifer's album.  Jennifer's album was fun and funky with her Bohemian Graphic 45 papers.  I loved the rich and vibrant papers she choose for us to work with.

I decided to let the papers say it all with the pages I created,  I did add some paper flowers from Graphic 45 though, along with some gems in the background.

On this album I opted for a corner piece where Jennifer can place a photo or she can use it for tags.

I added some Auhentique papers on this flap because I thought the whimsy of the verse worked.



the back page has another corner anchor and a flap for more tags.

It was a joy to get to participate with this great group of ladies and I look forward to sharing the final results of my own album tomorrow.  Please come back!



Progressive Swap Round 5

We are getting very close to end of this progressive swap that began in September.  This is page 5, which means, one more after this and I will be getting my own album back and I will be sharing it all with you here at my blog.

This album came from Lisa that lives here in my own state of Idaho.  Lisa's album is filled with lots of colors and patterns.  I think everyone has had a lot of fun working on these albums and the closer you get to the end, the more apparent that is because you get to see the style of everyone involved.  Because I am me, I have to try and make what I produce something that follows the style, but tries to stand out as uniquely me.  It's not always the easiest thing to do.  I decided to keep it more simple and tried to only use 2 to 3 colors and patterns.  Here is what I came up with:

Lisa had built her album with different sort of pages than everyone else, and that was fun because it added a new challenge..  I created a pocket for tags as the 1st page.  I decided to add a fun spinner to a chipboard circle I had because I thought it made it look like a clock.  I also added a tab onto the flap so that it stood out a little more.

On the flap I fussy cut a couple butterflies (or moths) and added them as embellishments to go along with the Teresa Collins chipboard verse from my stash.



I applied some ribbon lace along the next page as a place to slip in tags.  Another circle spinner and I spelled out "friendship" in my favorite Websters Pages stickers.

The last flap was perfect for a little paper pocket and tag.  I added some fun flower dimensional stickers from my stash.

Progressive Swap Round 4

I have another fun mini album swap to share with you today. This one was created by Dona from Rhode Island.  Dona's album (and I neglected to take a photo of the front cover) had a theme of muted colors and some fun distressed elements.  I decided to add some Tim Holtz papers and embellishments from my stash and had fun with it.

I used this clock paper from my stash and added a wooden clock face with spinning hands.  The chip board embellishment was from Teresa Collins

Following that same theme, I created a photo page with corners as well as a decorative flap that had another chipboard clock and verse.

A friend sent me this doily die cut and I thought it would go well with what I already had happening.

At the end, another photo page and a pocket for some tags.

Another Fun Mini Album Swap to Share

I have been lazy about giving proper updates on the progress of the mini album swap I am in, but luckily I took some pictures before I sent them on their merry way, so here is one to share.

This album belongs to Geney, in California.  Geney created an adorable Halloween themed book, and though I was a little late publishing what I did with her book here, I did create this before October 31st, so that made it even more fun.

This is the cover that Geney created for her mini album

For the first page flap, I used this awesome candelabra and distressed it with some ink and stitching.  Geney included a lot of embellishment stickers for me to use to adorn it here and there.

I created a photo page with corner tabs to hold the photo in place, and then a pocket for some tags.

Another photo page and another tag pocket

to finish it all up I spooked this flap with more embellishments and letters to go along with the raven on her book cover.

 

 This was a fun album to create.  I have 2 more to share with you this week, so look out tomorrow for another mini album from our progressive swap.  At the end of the swap and when I receive mine back, I will create a video to share with you all on the fun of seeing it for the first time!

Progressive Mini Album Swap- Round two

I received the next album in our progressive swap (albeit ahead of schedule) and I decided to go ahead and do my pages since I was feeling in a crafty mood.  This one isn't scheduled to go out for a couple weeks but now it is all ready to when the time comes.

This album was created by Jenise from Chicago, Illinois.  I felt it had the flower/butterfly going on with Jenise's use of embellishments and papers.  Here is her album:

There are many similarities to the previous album I worked on and this may well be a familiar theme with all of them because I like the layout and the way it works for this album.  Once again I did machine stitching and ink distressing on the paper, as well as distressing on the edges to give it that vintage look I like.  The sticker lettering is from my coveted stash of Webster's Pages.  The flowers are mainly from Prima flowers except for the top one, a friend made for me out of Authentique papers.

When the flap is turned I made a verse page.  The verse is acetate, but I backed it with layered papers and more machine stitching.  Another Prima flower worked here really well.  I included 2 photo cornered matte pages in the pages.

 

I created a little pocket for 2 tags I created that Jenise can use for her journaling.

The back flap I decided to make more visual than useful.  I fancy cut a butterfly from some Tim Holtz paper, lightly colored it and stickled the heck out of it for effect.  The lace was from Webster's Pages and I added some pearl embellishments.

 

I decided to be careful not to showcase the other crafters work in my pages so as not to give away any of the element of surprise for the owners of each book.  But, when my book arrives back home to me...I will share all the pages they created for me.  This is such a great idea...I recommend it for other crafting groups out there and am looking forward to doing my own group swap with some of my friends.

Where has the time gone?

It's been a really long time since I updated my craft blog.  If you have been a follower and were wondering where I had disappeared to...it was just a series of events.  Mainly, I had been on 3 pretty specials design teams and I put a lot of myself into them and when they closed their doors because of stopping their business, the wind went out of my sails.  Really though, the timing was where it needed to be for me because I hadn't felt my mojo in quite some time.
I was looking over at Laura Denison's webpage a couple weeks ago and she was writing about a mini-album swap.  The more I thought about it...the more I liked the idea and so I signed up.  I am in a group with 6 other ladies from across the country.  We each had to build our own mini-album and leave it blank inside, and we will be shipping to each other so that everyone gets to create their own special page.  Here is my album before I shipped it off:

I left the inside all blank so that it can be designed however they like

I included some papers that fit the theme I was going for but also encourage them to create their page however they like. 

I received the 1st album from Linda in North Carolina.  Since I get her album first, I waned to make sure her first page had all the elements that I thought were lovely about the papers she had chosen.  Butterflies are the main theme with some pretty papers she included from Bo Bunny "Country Garden".  Of course I had to ink it all up and put that "Shelley" stamp on it.  Here is what I created for her 1st page:

 

The Cover that Linda created

I did some machine stitching, ink distressing and cut a butterfly out of the paper she provided.

When the flap is lifted, there is photo mat with photo corners and a butterfly verse.

When I turn the page, there is another flap to embellish.  I kept this one simple (and signed it per her request)

When this flap is turned over, I created a little pocket and made 2 small tags.  I left these blank for journaling.  On the opposite side is another photo mat with photo corners.

Inside the page is a pocket to store a large tag.  I wasn't really sure what Linda intended to use the large tag for, so just did some light embossing with perfect pearls.  She may want to add a photo in the center or on the back.

 

I had a lot of fun creating the 1st page of Linda's journal and will be shipping it out to the next person in line to do page 2.  I am extremely excited to see mine when it makes it's way back home to me in November!

Birthday Surprises

February 21st was my birthday!  It was a nice day too.  Actually, it's been a nice week.  For my birthday I received the Project Life set and it is so fun.  I have been messing around with photoshop, learning how to add journaling to my cards and getting it all put together.  I really love the idea and will share some of this on a later post.

I have felt very blessed because of the overwhelming show of love and acknowledgement from friends and family.  A few days before my birthday I received a fun and crafty surprise from my good friend Anne.  Look what she made me!

And look what was stuffed inside??  Yay!  Craft supplies!

 

I took the day off on my birthday and enjoyed some me time.  My oldest son took me to lunch and then I spent the afternoon working on some project life stuff.  The next day when I went back to work, my team presented me with this lovely bouquet.  They smell divine!

Today, my husband is back in town and we will go to one of our favorite places to eat for dinner and my new furniture arrives too!

It's been a good week!!



Happy Valentine's Day

It's been awhile since I posted here, but I wanted to share my Valentine's Day box with you.  On top of all my other duties as a lead at work, I have also been assigned the task of Activities Director there.  It's a huge undertaking for 180+ people, but I will give it a whirl!  Our first activity this year was to design our own Valentine's Day box to share Valentine's cards in.  You know, like back at school.  No biggee.  YES it is!!
But not to be outdone, I put on my thinking cap and came up with this:

 

It's kind of fun!  Hot glue and a whole lot of conversation hearts!  I started with an old round wooden box I picked up at a garage sale for a quarter.  I cut a slot in the top and covered it in pink paper.  I used some washi tape around the slot edges.  Then I glued on hearts.  It really wasn't that hard of a project.  And it looks adorable, I think.  To finish it off, I sprayed the box with a sealant so that the hearts wouldn't crumble away (or no one would start licking on it).

 

With all the activities for Valentines Day going on at work I used my cricut to cut out a bunch of hearts.  I had all these sheets laying around my craft room, and look what my sweet husband did!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Bloomin Love!

Who wouldn't love to wear a flirty and fun flower?  I know I love these and I think you will too.  I have made a bunch of these and get a load of compliments when I do.  They are versatile and can be worn pinned to a headband, hat, your bag or to your lapel.  You may want more than one in different colors because they are just too fun.

Modeled by my adorable granddaughter

 

And my lovely daughter in law.  They measure approx. 4.5" across.  They will be backed with a brooch pin.

If you are interested in having one or ten of your own...please email me!  I will make to order.  Currently I have these colors available:

Turquoise

purple

hot pink

burgundy

rose

black with flecks

navy

mustard yellow

sage green

lemon yellow

cornflower blue

red

white

The price for the 1st one is $10.00 and that will include shipping to anywhere within the United States. If you want to order more than 1, please add an additional $6.00.  If you live outside of the US, then I will email you cost of actual shipping.  I can take payments via PayPal which is safe and secure and I am a verified PayPal customer.
Each flower will come packaged individually in a clear acetate bag with header.  These are handmade by me and come from a smoke-free home. 

Sweet Little Mini-Album

I was feeling a little crafty last night and decided to create a little mini album with the new Authentique "Renew" line available now at Paper Patch Crafts.  Oh, how I love this line of paper, and I think you would as well.  Look at how easy these items work together:

Using Spellbinders Lacy Circles, I cut the base of my album from chipboard.  I hear that people do this all the time and my experience wasn't great because I think my chipboard was a little too thick or I was doing something wrong.  But, luckily in this case, the chipboard was a thinner type and it worked out just fine.

This line of paper is so pretty with it's mint blue's and greens and a yellow.  Very fresh looking.  I added my own embellishments that I felt went along with it.

There are some fun puzzle piece elements that go along with the line that I think are very creative.



I plan on using some wallet sized photos of my grandkids to complete this album.  I was thinking that ones in black and white would look the best with this line.

This is the back cover of my album.

 

 I hope you enjoyed this album.  The thing I learned in making this album was that you really can make a mini album from any shape.  All you need is the imagination and let those creative juices flow.  If you liked my album, I hope you will leave me a comment and tell me about it.  Have a great day!

Authentique "Renew"

Paper Patch Crafts has a new paper line called "Renew" from the Authentique company.  Oh my, this paper and it's quality are amazing.  I created this card pretty quickly for a challenge going on at the Patch right now.  It was a no-brainer because the paper was so lovely and coordinated that it came together fairly simply.

I recommend visiting the Paper Patch Store and picking up some of this gorgeous stuff as soon as possible.  Also, it's not too late to participate in the current challenge.  If you haven't joined the group at the Paper Patch Crafts facebook page, you really should.  There are challenges going on all the time prizes being given away.

Hope to see you there!