Going with a group to the premiere of Eclipse and one of the girls is making shirts so I thought I’d return the favor and make pins. Here is what I came up with. 

Here are the finished Jacob and Edward Pins.

Close Up of Jacobs.

Close Up of Edwards.

 I started out by punching with my 1 1/2 circle punch the base for the pins out of white cardstock. I glued two circles together to make the base stronger for the pin. I then found two new moon promotional photos, brought them into photoshop and changed the color into high contrast black and white. I printed them on white cardstock into the size I needed. You see some text, I was going to put a line from the movie on the pin, but there wasn’t room.  

Base circles, and print out with faces.

 I thought I got a lighter grey ink, but these give almost a moon look so I put more of the grey on the edges for high contrast. You can’t see it in the photos, but I also took a cotton ball and put a little silver ink to make them sparkle a bit.  Pun intended. 

Edward Circle Base sponged with Stone Grey Ink

Here is Jacob’s base with name and flourish stamp. 

Finished Jacob Pin base with black ink and flourish stamp in black.

To give the piece with Jacob’s face more dimension, I stacked 2 dimensional dots on top of each other and placed it on top of the base.  

Finished with self adhesive pinback. Got these to save some time trying to figure out how to adhere it.

Curved Letter Stamping Tip 

I wanted my words to curve to the circle, so I placed my letters right side down on a scrap 1 1/2 circle to fit. 

Step One: Put letters on your template circle to get the curve just right.

 Then place your acrylic block on top so that the stamps will stick to it. 

Step 2: Place acrylic block on top of placed stamps.

 When you pick up the block, it will have the stamps perfectly placed for you to stamp all of your circles. 

Step 03: Life off your block and the stamps stick in perfect position to stamp with.

Thanks for visiting! 

I finally decided on a layout with the color scheme I planned. It may seem simple, but that was the goal since I do have alot of pictures, so I wanted a simple yet poigniant layout that fit with the theme, but didn’t distract from the pictures since I that is what I wanted to be the focal point.

Full Layout for Home Scrapbook

I knew I wanted to use photo corners, so when Ben Franklins was going out of business a few years ago, I stocked up on all the cream colored photo corners they had. Then, a couple years ago, I visited a craft shop owned by a sweet amish woman a couple hours from where I live, who had these brads that looked like screws so thought that was perfect for the theme.

Close up of vertical title bar.

The orange lettering are transfers from Making Memories that were on Michaels clearance shelf. The date was made with a alphabet stencil that I’ve had forever.
I’m very happy with the direction but I believe I may change out the orange color throughout since I ran out of that color paper and I think it might be a good idea to vary just the one accent color for more interest.

Thanks for visiting!

One more mention… Becca would be proud I made a medallion out of my MS Iron Gate corner punch. There is definetly more embellishment making in my future that is for sure.

Iron Gate Medallion

In a previous post I mentioned I got a full jar of buttons at a yard sale. Over the weekend Michaels was having a huge sale so of course I went, but I came across these cute little jars that were $1 a piece so I thought i’d get them to organize and color code my buttons into them and that is what I finished up tonight.

Buttons Organized

I started by dumping all the buttons into a box so I could sort them better.

I was almost going to pass these up I'm glad I didn't.

I finally got them organized and on the shelf but thought they needed a label of some kind.

They just looked too plain so I thought a label would be good.

So on that trip having also gotten a MS corner punch (scroll lace), and a fiskars 1inch circle punch, I thought I’d make the labels.

With a white 1 1/2 inch square, I punched across near the corner, then turned the paper around and punched the other corner. Then cut across to finish the other side. I was able to get 2 label mounts out of that one paper.

Close up of label mount in process of being done.

Then with my 1 inch punch, I cut all the colors I needed to place in the mount.  For some of the jars that I didn’t have alot of that color, I put two colors into the same jar. Hence the labels with the semi circles.

All the labels completed.

Then I just used zots to put them together and onto the jars. All done! 

Thanks for visiting! Be inspired to organize! It does make creating that much easier.

Items I used:

Martha Stewart Scroll Lace Corner Punch

Fiskars Medium Circle Punch 1 inch

Apothecary Jars

Buttons(Yard Sale)

All items bought at Michaels except where noted.

Happy Dad's Day Card

I wish I would have set a little more time aside to have put more thought into this card for my Dad for today but still I am glad with the results and he liked it as well.

My inspiration was all the cards and boxes I saw recently where people  fashioned paper pieces into a ‘tie’ well then I thought, why not just tie a ribbon like a tie so that is what I did.

Edged Paper with Ribbon Tie

I may be goofy, but years and years ago for whatever reason, I taught myself how to tie a tie. I believe what I tie is called a Double Windsor. Hey i’m proud of that

Yes I am proud. Haha

I tossed around adding the flowers, but I needed a little something more and made these out of some paper flowers I got in a scrapbooking kit with some gold brads in the center. I had to color the teal flower with the same marker I wrote with because the color green didn’t coordinate.

Flower Accents

I don’t have as many supplies at the moment (need more alphabet stamps!) as some I’ve seen so for the lettering, I wanted the loose style to look intentional and wrote on the circles with my Berol Prismacolor markers. They needed more dimension so I made them a bit 3d with my grey marker as well.

Hand 3D lettering with a bit of distress ink on edges.

In looking at it again, it does seem so simple but I think all of them i’ve made so far I get to a point and just stop. I think it does come down to time, and gladly right now I’m working on a card for a baby shower that is while from now so I’m taking my time on that one in hopes it will be as detailed and more ‘finished’ looking like I envision. Will post when I’m done that one!

Thanks for visiting!

What I used in this card:
Paper:
DCWV “Linen Closet” (Amazon)

Punch:
EK Success – “Dotted Wave” EKPL8027′   /   Fiskars – 1 inch medium squeeze punch

Pen & Ink:
Distress Ink – Antique Linen    /   Berol PrismaColor Markers (Yard Sale)

Embellishments:
Yellow Satin Ribbon  /  Paper flowers from kit (Sam’s Club)

All not marked I purchased at Michaels

Came across this really great looking technique to double emboss a card front using a Cuttlebug embossing folder and Nestabilities. It’s a long process to get the chipboard template you need but once you have that, you should be able to use it over and over again. The results are great. I’m going to try it myself and see if I can come up with variations on the idea.

My next kit I wanted to create more subtle designs. The names I’m coming up with for the packs are more what the ‘colors’ remind me of vs. describing the ‘pattern’.  Enjoy!

Just a Dream Digital Scrabooking Paper Pack - Click to View Larger

 Get the Just A Dream Collection Digital Paper Pack

Thank you for visiting!

I just finished and posted my 2nd digital paper pack.  These designs are turning out bolder than I anticipate when I start designing them. My goal is to try to design a broad range of papers.  These two packs i’ve posted so far are very bright and not normal color schemes I gravitate towards which are much more muted hues.  Trying to stay a bit outside my comfort zone though with these colors. If you have the means, I highly recommend trying to make some of these papers. I’m finding that making them are a great exercise for me when  i’m having design block.    

'Sunny Cove Collection' Digital Paper Pack - Click to View Larger

Get the Sunny Cove Collection Digital Paper Pack

Thank you for Visiting!

A couple months back, I discovered digital scrapbooking and thought what a great idea to try.  My first digital paper pack I’m calling ‘Coordinating Shapes Collection’.

I would love some feedback on my digital paper, so any thoughts, comments, etc. would be greatly appreciated!

Coordinating Shapes Collection - Click to View LARGER

I’m making my digital paper pack available at My Creative Outlet Online Store

Thank you for visiting and have a great day!

Okay so I spoiled myself again today at a couple of yard sales.

Starting at the top left,

Wire Racks:   I was just looking at the racks that were 2 dollars a piece, and the man asked if I was interested in them, that he would give them to me at a dollar for both. I’m not sure how practical it is, but thought they might work to file my cuttlebug folders into. In case your interested, he said he got them at Ikea.

Thought this might work to organize my cuttlebug embossing folders.

Purple and Green Metal Pails:   I got these at target. Thought they might work well to hold favors for my kids upcoming 4th birthday!

Jars of Buttons:  I wasn’t going to get them. She had 5 on the large and 2 on the small. I felt I just had to try, so I went back and asked her if she would take 5 for both and she said yes. I thought they were such pretty buttons and would be great for embellishments.

Tower of Ribbon: Got all of this ribbon for 50 cents.

Many colorful different sized buttons in good condition and more ribbon colors i don't have.

Acrylic Stamps:  I don’t have alot of sentiment stamps and these 3 were on the clearance rack at michaels. 

Stazon black: I heard that this ink makes stamping color up well with markers. Thought i’d try it.

Metal embellishments: clearance rack…all the words fit my son so thought i’d add them to the scrapbook i’m making of him.

Clear hair bands: More clear bands to hold my ribbon storage. dollar bin at target.

Double sided scotch tape and zots:  I think after I got the raised dots, I realized the joyous world without gluesticks. Wanted to give these a try. I got medium since I figured i could cut them in half if I needed smaller. I’m guessing i can do that anyway.

Okay i definetly think now i have enough to start making things with. I started an idea the other day, but one design element after I tried it just didn’t look right to me so gave it a rest until i think of something else to try. Will post more as I create them.

Thanks for visiting!

My niece had her 2nd daughter this month and we are going to see her for the first time at our memorial day cookout.

I thought i’d make her a card for the occasion to put her gift inside.

My 2nd Card - Welcome Baby

I think I had a much easier time with this card since before hand I had a specific goal in mind.

I found these baby bootie stickers in my ancient stash of scrapbooking supplies so I placed them on white cardstock and cut them out.

I then popped them up with dots. Dotted Swiss seemed perfect for a baby card so I took some pink parchment card stock and ran it through my Cuttlebug.

The sentiment tag came by way of my cricut machine. I printed the words for the card.

I popped up the sentiment. I do like these dots. It's the first time I ever used them.

 I wanted the front to be specialized so I included her name. I wanted the inside to have a little humor (albeit corny coming from me  ) so I came up with putting the money I would give inside a diaper fashioned from white cardstock and a real saftey pin. 

Corny? Maybe but oh well.

 Also, I didn’t want her to take out the money and the diaper fall off because of just being glued, so I attached the diaper to the pink parchment with a hidden gold brad on the inside.

Surprise tucks away in the diaper!

Analyzing myself, I think that the card is still too simple. I think that comes from my mindset of not wanting to use alot of supplies up. It hinders myself I think to truly put in the little details that make the differences in making a card more interesting. So I think this is an okay 2nd try and I find that I do enjoy it more and it came easier this time when I know i’m making it for someone rather than just making a generic card. Thanks for visiting!

Die Cuts With A View!

I came across this paper today trying to find ‘something’ to buy with my 25 dollar gift certificate for Amazon.com and came across these Mat Stacks by a company called DCWV.

For one, they are free 2 day shipping with amazon prime, and right now there is 4 for 3 deal on them.  I bought 5 packs of the paper, so I’m excited that I have 360 sheets of paper coming and I only spent 11 dollars!  I like using a solid base then accenting with different color combination’s and printed paper so these little stacks I thought were perfect for me.

I couldn’t find a design I didn’t like. I got some solids as well to emboss with.

Here are the collections I chose:

Cafe Mediterranean Solids,  Linen Closet Design, Mango Frost Design and Solids, Mariposa Solids

Becca at AmazingPaperGrace.com was giving away a great blog candy prize pack, but also had a double play where if you checked into her blog to gather the 2 words per day for the next 3 days that were displayed on her page, that person who was picked would have a chance to get a punch as well. I kept track of the words each day ‘just in case’ as she said at the end of her post. Well, having some downtime today, I always check in on her blog, and to my surprise my comment number was chosen! So I immediately sent in the 6 words that I had gathered from her site.

I never win anything so this is truly exciting!

I know I gathered all of the words correctly but I will feel much better when I receive her confirmation.  5/24 Becca confirmed I had all the 6 words so she is sending the punch to me next week!   Below I’ve posted the quote she posted that had the 6 words, and the picture of the punch.

So I’ll be sure to edit this post when I have the punch in hand!

Click to View Larger

Click to view Larger

These are the 6 words that came up that Becca said 'coincidentally' are in this one quote.

Here is the picture of the punch i won

I’ve gathered and printed all of my home improvement photos since 2004.  My goals have always been to scrapbook the before and after. I’ve attempted a couple layouts before, but wasn’t really pleased with the turn out.  So now I’m starting over.

My first step is to plan it out and really take my time to make sure it has a consistant color scheme and layout elements. I also want to use some basic colors and embellishments in case I run out, i want to be able to find more.

I’m starting with deciding on color scheme. I think I’m going to use cream, blue, moss green, sherbet orange, and black.

I cut stripes from the paper I'm going to use to put in my bag so that when I go to the craft store, I have my colors to reference.

 I used to scrapbook alot, but I was reminded tonight why I haven’t been back to it since. Somedays you have time, and you sit with all your tools and paper around you, and with every attempt, nothing looks right. Nothing comes.   So I thought, I don’t want to give up on this project, so I’m going to try to sketch out some layouts that I’ve seen other people do when they have ‘craft block’.

I found this notepad with a weekly planner that I wasn’t using, and it had all these empty white blocks. A great ready made sketch pad for me to draw some ideas out!

Here are some ideas for the title page, and the photo layout pages. I think my favorite are on the last row first and last ones.

Work in progress.  It feels like I at least accomplished something with this project tonight. Gotta start somewhere.  

I bought this plexiglass cabinet a couple of years ago when our local Ben Franklin’s was having their going out of business sale.  At the time I wasn’t sure what I would use it for. I finally decided today that to put my beads in it would be a bit scary deal should it ever fall over, SO I thought my embellishments would be better being that they are larger so that is what I did. 

The front had these torn off labels. I made some black paper a sticker, cut it into strips, and pressed it over top. It cleaned up the look alot.

Here is my brads drawer. I thought I'd put like items together that way I can put a general name plaque on each row.

Here are other fasteners, brads and various items all in their own spot.

Before - Stuffed and couldn't see what i had.

After - Room to grow now!

Found a great idea for organizing ribbon on amazingpapergrace.com. Here is a link to her blog article: http://www.amazingpapergrace.com/amazing-ribbon-storage/

I didn’t do it exactly as Becca cause I was able to find things around the house to use.  Instead of mat board I had some black foam core board doing nothing in my basement so I put it to use. As for the hair bands, it was funny I had those exact bands (clear and black) from about 10 years ago but never liked them but never threw them away either. Glad I could put them to this use.

Used:

• Black Foam Core Board (Staples)
• Clear & Black Rubber Hair Bands (Walmart)
• X-Acto Knife
• Metal Ruler

My drawer was deeper so I cut my bobbins 3 in x 3.5 in using my metal ruler and X-Acto knife

Here you can see I wrapped my ribbon around and fastened with the clear hairband

For my wider ribbon, I made longer bobbins. Its interesting they sell these rolls that are 4 inches wide, when you take off the ribbon you see the space that could be saved.

Cutting the foam core board might be a little harder, but I used this just because I had it on hand. If you do use this material, make sure you have a new blade in whatever knife your using. See the next picture.

I started with a utility knife thinking it would slice like butter, but alas it tore it apart. So I broke out my X-Acto knife and I had a much easier time.

This side of the drawer is for all my cloth ribbon. I'm organizing from left to right, ROYGBIV, then White, Black Brown, then my metallics and lace.

This side holds more of my wider and gift wrapping ribbon that isn't cloth.

Thanks for visiting! My goal is to pass on a great organizational tip. Thanks to Becca!