A Week of Learning Something New

It's been a bit since I've posted my Learn Something New pages for Shimelle's class. I've been a bit busy with home stuff lately, but still finding some scrapping time. Here are all of my pages from last week, and a little bit about each one. By the end of this month, I'm happy to say that this printed paper should be used up, and most of the accessories (minus the ribbon), should be used up as well. I have been greatly enjoying the narrow focus on product - it makes the creative process a little easier. When we first started dating, we used to just sit and talk for hours. Now that we are married, it's been more difficult to find that peaceful quiet time when we can just talk about nothing - no serious talk, just chatter. I used some old Amy Butler paper on this one, combined with some SU paper. I have a tin of the metal embellishments that I NEVER use, so I'm trying to find creative ways to use them.

Anyone who knows me knows that I struggle with cooking. I can bake better than I can cook. Baking, however, does not make us a meal. I like to try new recipes, but it seems they always flop, or are too bland for my hubby. I seem to have succeeded this past week in making 3 successful recipes. I received so many compliments on the scones - it was great. This page also used up a bunch of scrapbooking product - much of this is SU, but the patterned paper is some old Amy Butler paper. I liked the paper when I bought it, haven't really liked it for the past couple of years, and now I really like it...go figure!!

Ok - a little feud in the office that I have been put right in the middle of. I could have chosen to join in the little battle (that is still ongoing by the way), or throw my hands up and tell them they have to work it out. I like being on the outside of the argument much better...but I have to laugh...two grown people that are behaving like children. Stuff on this one - mostly SU, and more Amy Butler paper.

A funny time in the office....a coworker and I made a fool out of ourselves when we raced each other to the front door to greet a guest...turns out it was someone here for an interview. At least the visitor knows we like to have fun here :) Yeah for me for using more of the SU stickers that I've had for like 2 years!!!
Hmm, this day was a little odd. I went with my hubby's mother to the very small historical society museum in town. The lady knew nothing about the town, but yet she was volunteering there. Now I know this is a great way for her to learn about the town, but isn't she supposed to be educating the visitors??

He was so sweet - I wanted to hit the outlets and a local scrapbooking store in Phoenix before we drove back home, but we had the 3 dogs with us. He waited in the car for me while I shopped...kept the trip quick, but it was still really sweet. Went a little button crazy on this layout (and have been button crazy ever since). I did use up some letters that I've had for awhile. I've been on a letter kick now too...it all comes in phases.

Happy Tuesday everyone. I'll have some 12x12 layouts for you all later.

Playing in the Stream

Good Morning All!! This page was inspired by a sketch over at Inspired to Scrap. I picked out the photos, and then went to my newly found stash of papers and pulled a couple that I've been hoarding as too beautiful to use - time to use it up!! I also have this great bag of random buttons that I found on sale that had a greenish blue that matched perfectly with this page (and you can tell I was a little button happy on this page). The page did not look quite finished until I inked the edge of the page, and the edge of the cream paper with a brown color. I still have a little of this paper left over - now to use it up before I decide it's too beautiful to use again!!

3 Classes - am I crazy?? and a layout

Happy Friday all!!! I have a busy weekend ahead with a quick trip to Phoenix. My scrapping stuff is coming with me though, and I plan to make some cute Halloween tags. I'll share my creations with you next week. As you all have seen from my posts, I'm enrolled in a couple classes - Shimelle's Learn Something New class, and May's Use your Stash class. Well, crazy me decided to enroll in another class, but I just couldn't resist. It's with Stacey over at Inspired to Scrap, and is called the 15/15 - 15 Days of Inspiration class. The class starts on 16 September, but you can enter to win a spot in this class. Check it out here, but you must enter to win today. I can't wait for the class to start (and I can't wait to get my really cute kit I ordered from her yesterday as well...hopefully it will arrive before my big scrapping weekend next weekend). By the end of class I'll hopefully have 15 really great pages completed.

Ok, on to my layout I made last night. This page is based on the Sketchabilities Sketch Challenge #24. I've submitted it for their fantastic blog sponsor giveaway. You should check it out and submit your own work - the give away is some really great product, and you have until 14 September to submit your work - all weekend to come up with some great layouts. Sketch Challenge #25 just went up today, and that's on my list of things to do after I get back from a weekend away. Now for the layout:

I had purchased this paisley paper a few years ago, and totally forgotten about it. I found that along with a ton of other paper that I am still as in love with now as I was when I bought it. that was my inspiration. The polka dots on my nieces jacket just screamed out to me, and the layout began taking shape. I looked on my 'need to use my stash' board, and found these flowers that matched perfectly. I cut out the leaves and stitched by hand with embroidery floss, and added in some SU cardstock (Baja Breeze, Certainly Celery, and Sahara Sand). I of course used one of my current favorite things - rick rack. The top of the layout looked a bit empty so I pulled out my rub ons, and added a bit of that, and also cut out on of the paisley images from the paper to complete the page. Here is a close up of the leaves with the flowers:

Have a great weekend!!

Using up the old stuff you've forgotten about is actually fun....

I wanted to share a couple of random things, and a layout with you today. The first is my very large collection of cards that I am sending on Monday to Operation Write Home. As I was going through my cards a couple weeks ago, I realized that I have so many (over 500) handmade cards, and I don't possibly know what I would do with all of them. I almost feel like I can't make more because I have so many already. I wanted to do something good with them, and I remembered that you can donate cards to send to the troops. So after a couple hours this past weekend, I came up with the below box of over 300 cards to send out this next week. I hope the recipients enjoy them, as much as I enjoyed making them.

Next is an idea that I came up with this past weekend. I'm taking May's 'Use your Stash' class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking, and I've been going through all of my scrapbook stuff. I've had a pile of things that I want to get used up - mostly items I forget about, and haven't looked at in over a year. The 'pile' idea wasn't really working for me. I had this corkboard I intended to put on the wall....I got it up this weekend and had the great idea to pin up everything (other than paper and metal embellishments) that I wanted to use over the next month. Here's a pic of it.

It's mostly packaged stickers, rub ons, and parts from kits I've ordered (and those dreaded vellum sheets). It's actually really working for me. I look up at the board when I'm starting a layout to see what I can use.

Ok, on to a couple layouts. I've had alot of trouble with blogger allowing me to post my layouts in the correct orientation. At least for today, it appears to be working. Both of these layouts was based on using up some of my stash. I'm moving outside of my normal comfort zone and I am LOVING IT!!!

I had purchased this bright patterned paper from Stampin' Up! last year to use at a birthday party stamping class. I ended up with some leftover, and it's not really my style, although very fun. The flowers were something purchased a couple years ago as well, and have been used very little. The picture of my sister and niece in the water looked perfect with this turquoise paper.

Last for today - another layout. I absolutely love this Cosmo Cricket paper!!! I bought the paper for a scrapbook I'm still working on, but I'm ending up with too much paper. All of the words on here are from a chipboard set that I haven't touched since I bought it. I started by looking at all of the words, and realized that so many of them expressed how I felt about my husband. The idea for the page started to take shape. My hubby is a pilot, and we are flying in his airplane in the picture. The airplane rub on was just a fun last addition.

Doggie Day Care Layout

I found this great website this week, Sketchabilities. They hold bimonthly scrapping challenges, and I've decided to participate. Of course too many of the sketches were appealing to me, so I went back a couple challenges to their 15 August challenge. Check out their website for the sketch.

I had a couple ideas for the photo that I wanted to use. Going through my paper tonight, though, I found some beautiful paper I purchased a couple years ago - too bad that I don't live near the store I purchased it at :( Anyways, I found this great dog paper that I had totally forgotten about. The paper sparked the creation of this layout. Since I'm in the mode of 'use my stash' based on May's class, I pulled several different elements together for this layout - the ribbon, paw prints, flower, and alphabet stickers are all part of my effort to use up some supplies.

I then had fun with my sewing machine on this one.

Learn Something New Day 4-6

Happy Wednesday!!!

I'm a bit behind on posting these. Below are my day 4, 5, and 6 for Shimelle's Learn Something New class. I'm having a ton of fun with this class, and using up alot of my stash. I've been pushing a little outside my norm with these pages (small pages equals easy to fill), and I'm working to translate this to my 12 x 12 pages.

This is my day 4 post. Today is a funny lesson. My hubby and I were at the Chili festival in New Mexico this weekend, and it turned out to be on a dirt lot. He looks at me and remarks that he shouldn't have worn his 'city' shoes. Well, first of all I didn't know that he owned a pair of city shoes (pictured in the page above), and second of all, I don't know what you would call a pair of city shoes (maybe my knee hi boots??). I went a little eyelet and rick rack crazy on this layout, but it works for me.

My lesson for 5 September - Sometimes you just need a break from the routine - time to relax and do something for yourself. This is a lesson for me about taking time from cleaning house or going to the gym, or anything else that I don't want to 100 percent do, and take time for a nap, or time to scrapbook and stamp, or do my other crafts. Used up two tags on this one. I stamped the top tag with a striped stamp I have, and the other tag is from a tag set that I really want to get used up.
Last one to share with you today. Lets just say I was a little frustrated with this lesson -replacing a toilet on my birthday :) The lesson was - 'Don't push down on the toilet until the screws are lined up - if you do, you've just earned yourself another trip to Home Depot.' Ok, so my hubby and I earned a trip to Home Depot courtesy of me. Who knew that when I stood up, I couldn't put any pressure on the toilet...doh!! I've had the green buckle on the bottom forever. It was part of a set on clearance (so of course I had to buy), and I just haven't used it. Well, the pieces that go with it are in my pile of things to get used up on this project.

Using my stash - check

As part of May's 'Use your Stash' class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking, I spent the weekend trying to use up some of my stash. I had already planned to work on my wedding album, and bought supplies specific for that project. What I hadn't planned on using was the chipboard I bought years ago, and hadn't touched, or the rub-ons which I also bought a few years back and hadn't used at all. Here's a couple of my pages:

This is page 1 of my cake page. I used a little bit of my rub-ons on the bottom (the flowers). One thing I love about this page is the area right above the journaling. I had cut the polka dot corners out of printed papers. This left me with a rectangle cutout. One of the other ladies at my crop last night suggested that I put paper behind it and use it on my page. That is just what I did, and it looks really awesome. 'The Cake' title was made out of some letters that I haven't touched in at probably a year. I've been into stickers lately, and have forgotten about the other letters that I have. Most printed papers are from Stampin' Up!'s new paper out this year. I fell in love with the idea of black and white, and the simplicity that you get out of it. I then added in the red for a splash of color (and my colors were red and orange, so the red really works well).

The journaling reads:

"We booked the bakery for the cake almost a year ahead of time. We found a bakery online and went to visit for a cake testing - Maribelle Bakery. It was an adventure to just find the bakery. They were in a temporary location, and there was construction everywhere - we couldn't follow the Mapquest directions - streets were closed off. When we got to the bakery, the woman who was taking the order seemed a bit out of it. I have to say, we were a bit worried that they wouldn't remember our order....but they did.

I had it in my mind that it was a 14" cake (with a 16" cake plate), so I looked everywhere for the correct size cake plate. The day before I go to Arizona for the wedding, I look at the receipt again, and it's a 10" cake...doh!!!"

Page 1 and 2 of my wedding shoes. I used the rub-ons again :), and added a bit of fabric to one of the pages. I'm in love with the pre-cut borders (ie white rick-rack seen above) by Bazzill. I picked these up at my local scrapbook store last weekend. I know that I should be cutting these myself, and I have my eye on a die for the Sizzix machine that I'll pick up in the next month or so. The red polka dot border above was a pre-cut border from Graphic 45. I originally bought a bunch of that paper for my wedding scrapbook, but ultimately changed my mind. I'm still splashing a bit of it here and there - the paper is too great not to use on this album at least a little bit.

The journaling reads:

"The shoes were an amazing find. I originally had gold flat strappy sandals to wear because I wanted something comfortable. Well, the last stop of the wedding day shopping with Janet, I tried on these silver high heel shoes at David's Bridal. Amazingly, they were actually really comfortable. This is probably the only time that Tonya will help me put my shoes on, but I couldn't have done it without her.

Last one for today - this is page 2 showing where we got married (I can't get page 1 to load properly). Yeah for chipboard!!! I actually spraypainted the three squares seen here - first I used a cream color, and then lightly coated it with black. It actually has an antique look to it that you can't really see here. I also made the photo corners with a chipboard square covered with paper. Hmm.....could chipboard quite possibly be my new best friend???

Learn Something New Day 3

Happy Labor Day!! I'm running a bit behind posting my pages for Shimelle's class. Below is the one for September 3rd (day 3):

I'm challenging myself to use my chipboard - part of the Use my Stash class by May over at Big Picture Scrapbooking. The paper is some old Amy Butler paper I had - I loved the paper and was saving it - for what I don't know. It coordinates with the paper pack I am trying to get rid of, so I threw it in there. I also had some coordinating Stampin' Up! stickers, so I'm using those up as well. It's amazing what you can do if you look to those things you don't normally use.

My lesson today - 'I learned today to 'give' into help. I don't need to do everything myself, and not everyone wants to help me just because they think I'm weak'. I'm stubborn - incredibly stubborn. I'm very sensitive to those who stereotypically treat me like a female - ie a dumb blonde (I'm blonde...so I can say that). I have trouble separating out those that just want to be helpful, with those who truly think since I'm a girl I can't do something. I'm learning that the new people around me at work just want to be helpful.

Learn Something New Day 2

This is my day 2 for Shimelle's Learn Something New class:

I moved to Arizona only a couple months ago, and this is certainly a small town (although larger than where I grew up). I can easily find things to do 90 minutes from where I live, but it hit me yesterday when trying to reserve a conference facility for work, that there is alot more going on here than I think about. I just need to seek out events in the immediate area, rather than thinking about what is out of reach.

I'm also enrolled in a 'Use your Stash' class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking. Well - I'm combining the two, and I'm determined to use my stash on this 30 day project. The brads I've used were just two beautiful to use, so I kept saving them. Nope - time to use them up. The alphabet sets I've had - I haven't touched those in a long time - use em up. Now I need to tackle that pile of chipboard - look for some of that sometime this weekend.

The lesson (or rather reminder) that I didn't put on here - there are still people out there that separate men from women in the workplace (my pet peeve that I don't think I've seen in awhile).

Happy Friday to all - the weekend is only hours away!!!

Learn Something New Day 1

I have two pics to share with you today. I completed my title page for Shimelle's Learn Something New class, and I got up very early this morning to complete Day 1's page. Here's my title page:

I had selected my paper for this project a couple days ago, and when I sat down to do my title page, I immediately thought of the fabric that I had bought a couple weeks ago for my bedroom curtains. Well, it matches almost perfectly, and I love using fabric. I created a ruffle with a contrasting green fabric, and went into my stash of letters to pull a variety of letters. I added a bit of stamping with the polka dots and the 'Learn' portion of the title page. I am so happy with it.

Here is my day 1 page:
I try and go to the gym at least 5 days a week, but it's a 15-20 minute drive to and from my house. I go in the morning, and then come home to get ready for work and then go to work. Alot of extra time is spent driving. With the gym being next door to my work, I can go straight after work a couple days a week, and avoid the extra driving.

I was conflicted today though, as I learned two new pretty important things today, but I just don't have the time to complete two pages. I wanted to share the second thing though. I learned that my sister was able to land her first nursing job. She has been a single parent for over three years, and has put herself through nursing school, is raising my amazing niece, and has now gotten the job she has worked for over three years for. I learned that anything is possible if you really push yourself (and get very little sleep). She is an amazing person, and such an inspiration.

Our dog, and oh how cute, but oh how she tests my patience

My husband and I picked up a new dog (actually I did) at the end of June. I drove from Oklahoma to Arizona with her in the car as a 12 week old puppy. She started out at about 20 lbs, and now she is up to almost 50 lbs. She has alot more growing to do, but she has been incredibly adorable along the way. Just look how she has grown:

(This is her first night with me in the hotel room. She wouldn't move from under the sink. Look how cute, adorable, innocent, and quiet she is.)

(She somehow thought she could fit into her original crate. That crate was replaced the first week of July with a much bigger one. She's clearly outgrown it, but was determined to be in it none the less.)
(and this is her now, stretching almost all the way across the back seat in my SUV.)

With growth comes strength that she has not yet realized. She is a puppy in a 50 lb body, who has decided to do battle with our two 15 lb Shih tzu's at least daily. She has decided that she no longer knows her name, so therefore she doesn't have to look at me when I say her name, and that grabbing a rock in her mouth every time we go out the front is her new routine.

Ahh, the joys of being a parent to three dogs!!

Dresser before and after....

I moved to Arizona at the end of June, and I was using one drawer of my husbands bureau, and keeping the rest of my clothes in the closet. I was feeling a bit lost without a dresser. I had never redone a piece of furniture before, but I wanted to give it a try. I found this fantastic dresser at a consignment shop in Bisbee, AZ. I love so much of their stuff there, and could go crazy sanding and painting furniture, but I have no where to put it!! Here is the before picture:

After a little bit of sanding and filling a few areas, and a really good washing, I painted it a blue color, and added new knobs. Here is the after:

I couldn't be happier with it. You can't tell from the picture, but I did a faux denim finish on it, so the brushstrokes show, but it's intentional. You can see the white primer underneath in many places, but it looks very natural. I love it love it love it!!!

Have a great evening!!!

Learn Something New

I just signed up for Shimelle's Learn Something New Every Day class. It starts tomorrow, and I've been debating all day what format I want to use for this fun class. I finally settled on a small binder (still debating about what my cover will look like), with 6x8 pages. I'm determined to use some of my older paper, so no matter how much I like this paper (that's why I haven't used it), it's time for it to be used!!!

I gathered all of my materials, cut my papers, and stamped a 'To Do List' stamp which will serve as the base for each day. I stamped the dates for the month of September to hopefully keep me on track with this class. I have it all gathered in a red bin, so everything is in one place, including my cutter, scissors, and my adhesive. Class starts tomorrow, and I'll be sure to share my daily scrapbook pages. Here are a couple pics of my materials for this class (I even threw in a little fabric...I couldn't resist).

Getting into the Fall Mood

Wow - I have been away from scrapbooking and stamping for so long. I finally have all of my supplies unpacked after two moves over the past 8 months, and I'm so excited to get back into it and share some of my newest creations.

There was a chill in the air this morning, and I can feel that fall is not far away. This tag I made will be a great little addition to a gift package for Halloween.



Happy Monday!!!