Candy Creek

Our Winter Wonderland Christmas...(inside)

2011-12-03T14:19:00.000-05:00

I decided to only do one tree this year thinking that it would make things faster and much easier on me. I had forgotten the little fact that when I go changing things like this it actually takes me longer because I have to think things through more plus I made those previous decorations this year as well but I'm done now and am happy with everything. I knew I wanted to use the white Christmas tree that I had been using in the kitchen this year as well as my vintage Shiny Brite Christmas ornaments in the pretty robins egg blue color and so since I started thinking that then the snowflake thing just kind of took off from there and our Winter Wonderland started coming together.

I didn't use all of my snowmen this year...only a few ones that went along with the colors...or came close..

In a fix for a table centerpiece? Fill a bowl full of ornaments...I'm sure you have all seen this many many times before.

Hope that you all are having a wonderful Christmas season thus far.....

Another easy Christmas decoration..

2011-12-03T13:23:00.000-05:00

If you all look back in prior years where I've shown my Christmas decorations you'll see a picture of these books but they were with gold ribbon. Well since I changed my colors for the living room this year then I simply changed out the ribbons for this as well and added some silver bells and snowflakes.

These were hardback books and I simply tore the hard covers off of them and wrapped the ribbon around and added some embellishments. Now how fast, simple easy and inexpensive is that? Happy Crafting and Decorating!

Winter Artwork...

2011-12-03T13:05:00.000-05:00

Ok well this project wasn't exactly something that was planned...it just kind of happened. If you all remember back many months ago I decided to see if I could paint some "contemporary cheap artwork" for my newly redecorated living room. Needless to say the more I looked at those paintings the more I hated them! So I was going to take them down and hang some pictures that I had ran across that was tucked away in my stash but then I got to thinking...since I was going to more than likely toss these 3 canvas's anyway why not try to make something "wintery" out of them. I realized in a hurry that I'm NOT an artist but what was it gonna hurt to try? So Mr. Candy Creek helped me decide what kind of folk art tree to paint and got to it. Then of course since our "theme" this year is winter wonderland it just had to have some snowflakes and why not make them 3D ones? I have to admit...they look much better than they did before and will work just fine for us through Christmas.

Coffee Filter Wreath..

2011-12-03T12:25:00.000-05:00

Here is something else that I picked up off of Pinterest this year. I saw it and just had to make one. It's another simple and cheap decoration to make however it is a bit time consuming but was fun to make. Here is the list of supplies that you'll need:
Straw or styrofoam wreath
2 packs of 160 coffee filters
hot glue gun
hot glue
1 piece of floral wire
First off use your long piece of floral wire and wrap it around the top of the wreath and make a little loop so that you'll have a way to hang your wreath once it's complete. Then I use several of the coffee filters to wrap around the entire straw wreath so that you couldn't see the base of it. Now for the time consuming part....take an fold each coffee filter in half then fold in a triangle 2 more times. Once that's done twist the pointy end of the coffee filter about 3/4 inch up then snip the end off leaving only just a little of the twisted end so that it want come untwisted. Take and open up the fluffy end of the coffee filter. It will kind of remind you of a rose once it's been fluffed up. When I started gluing them on the wreath I just worked in a circle being sure to fill in as tightly as I could. That's it...just a little time and patience. Have fun and Happy Crafting!

Snow covered candle holders...

2011-12-03T11:33:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. Here is a cheap and simple little decorating idea. I bought everything at Dollar Tree and just love the way that it turned out. I had gotten this idea from seeing a post on Pinterest where they used empty wine bottles.

First I just simply sprayed the glass containers with spray glue. I found that it was easier to work in small sections at a time and a spray box is a must of course.

Then I simply rolled my vases in epsom salt. If you have a vase that has a lip on it or a decorative edge where you can't roll it evenly then just pour the epsom salt on your vase and pat down with your hand. Be sure that you have some wax paper laid down so that you can keep reusing the salt and so that the glue doesn't get on your counter. The only thing that I didn't figure out is how to keep the glue off of your hands. It took me longer to get my hands cleaned back up than it did to cover all of the vases. It took half a bottle of acetone nail polish remover to get it all off. It was all worth it though. Happy Crafting!

Happy Thanksgiving 2011 Everyone!

2011-11-23T17:25:00.000-05:00

I'm sure that like everyone else today we are getting ready for the big FEAST tomorrow. So I thought I'd share with you some pictures my husband took of me today making our pecan pie. My mom is making the pumpkin pies but since I've recently learned how to make homemade pies I just had to put my newly learned skills to good use and plus...what's a good ole southern feast without pecan pie?

Here I am placing the leaves out of leftover dough to make a pretty decorative edge. I think if your gonna put that much love and attention into something then you should try to make it pretty too. Plus it was fun!

Pie is all done....ohhh what I wouldn't give to be able to go ahead and slice into this about right now. The house is smelling so good. I have to say thanks to Suzie again for not only teaching me to make pies but also for the recipe. This was her mothers pecan pie recipe and I just pray that I have done them both proud in making it. I hope that everyone has a very blessed Thanksgiving this year. I know that there are so many things that I'm so grateful and blessed for in my life and one of those is you all for continuing to come back and visit my blog to see what all this little hillbilly has been up to. May God Bless each and every one of you.

Chunky Mini Album Completed....

2011-11-23T17:03:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving Eve everyone! I thought that while I was taking a break from cooking that I'd share with you the completed mini album that I had shown a sneak peak of waaaay back in September. I finally finished it and it's on it's way to Oklahoma right now to rest in the hands of my dear sweet sis Suzie. This album was so much fun. I just hate that it took me so long to get it done for her..

I had picked up some ribbon belts at the thrift store back about a year ago and then picked up some more about a month ago just so that I could use them on these little albums. I was so thrilled to get to use it as my closure and as you can see...this mini shouldn't really be called a mini because it's soooo fat! uhhh scratch that...because it's so chunky..that sounds so much better especially at this time of year huh?

When I was making this album I knew that it was going to be really "chunky" but had in mind that instead of laying flat somewhere that it could sit up just like it is in the pictures and you could get a better view of the front cover.

I used white sticky back felt and sprayed it with some glimmer mist and let it dry good over night while the backing was still attached so that the binding would match my scrapbook paper I picked out for the front and back covers...the felt holds really well and is flexible. I saw Laura at Following the Paper Trail use sticky back canvas but couldn't find any in my area but found that the sticky back felt worked just fine, is inkable or mistable and I think it kind of gives it another layer of texture that otherwise would of been ho hum. It kind of gives you something you can pet while looking at the album.

If I can remember correctly the binding side is about 4" thick! It's kind of like me...about as broad as it is tall. Hence is another reason I don't like to say it's fat.....just extra extra chunky!
I don't have a clue as to what show I saw Laura doing this binding method using the sticky back canvas and I'm sorry about that. But you can click on her link over on the right hand side of my page and scroll through her blog and find it. I'm sure that you'll come up with loads of other great ideas as well because she's great and so creative. Enjoy Suzie...I hope that you get as much pleasure out of looking at it as I did making this for you.

Shabby Chic Bedroom Makeover....

2011-11-22T19:55:00.000-05:00

Hi all...well what started out as my hubby and I KNOWING that we needed a new mattress set turned into me redoing the entire bedroom. Now although I had planned on doing this soon anyway, I really hadn't planned on doing it as soon as my husband and I went to buy a new mattress. See what happened was we didn't want a conventional inner spring mattress, we had done our research and had decided on an air bed. So since you can't use a regular headboard and footboard with an adjustable air bed we decided we would just make our own. So with my husbands carpenter skills and my ideas this is what we came up with. Then of course I just couldn't bare to paint that pretty new headboard and not paint the walls as well and then of course I couldn't paint the walls and not just go ahead and paint all the trim and doors as well since I was going to have to do that anyway eventually. And thus, the bedroom makeover began. I would give anything if I could find pictures of my bedroom before but I was so wrapped up in what exactly I wanted to do that I didn't stop to take any pictures of what the bedroom looked like before. But our trim was dark stain just like it was in the living room so that in itself is a lot of work. But in the end it has all been so worth it and we love it now. Even though I still have things to do AFTER the holidays such as painting all the furniture white and redoing my stack of suitcases. But that HAS to wait...seriously!

Here is a better view of our headboard. We used the beadboard paneling for the center section and some gorgeous corbels that Suzie and Don had brought me back last summer. This headboard just worked out so perfectly for us and we were both so pleased with ourselves that we keep stopping and admiring it.

See what I mean about the dark furniture? Now don't you think that painting it white and putting new knobs on will be a welcomed change? I look forward to getting that done in the new year.

Here is the stack of suitcases that I'll be redoing in the new year as well...I already have ideas for these as well. I have my husband so excited that he even said that he's gonna spring for new carpet in the bedrooms this spring as well! WOW! I should of redone the bedroom a long time ago because I've always hated these dark carpets.
Have a good night everyone....I'll be dreaming of sugarplums shortly in our new room.

Time for BLING!....

2011-10-23T15:25:00.001-04:00

Hey everyone. I wish that I had taken a before picture of this little clock but was so excited to paint it and bling it that I forgot too. It was originally just a plain old brown cheap clock that I had painted pink and then dry brushed with a little white to accent the highlights on it. Well NOW it got a fresh coat of metallic silver and some added bling! I'm in love with it now! Its amazing what a can of spray paint and a few loose rhinestones can do huh?
Have a great day everyone!

Pizza Pops anyone?

2011-10-12T19:34:00.001-04:00

Hey everyone! Looking for a nice little after school snack for the kiddos? I remember how hungry my son used to be when he would get home from school and needed a little something to hold him over until supper time rolled around. Well I've found just the thing for you and they are super fast,easy and CHEAP to make....oh yeah and did I say that they are delicious as well? I didn't really know what to call them because I had seen them being made on tv but couldn't remember which show I was watching at the time but did remember most of the ingredients...if I forgot to add something then I'd never know it because they were so good. So I've named them Pizza Pops because each bite is like a POP of cheesy goodness. Like I said they will be good for snacks, however they were supper tonight for me and my husband. I didn't feel like standing and cooking for any length of time so this was the perfect thing....a side salad along with these is more than enough for anyone I think. So anyway, here is the recipe..hope you enjoy.
*
PIZZA POPS
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
couple of pinches of salt
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon rosemary
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 cups Sergento 6 cheese Italian cheese (8 oz bag)
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1 1/2 cups sliced pepperoni cut into small pieces
1 jar pizza sauce
*
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, Italian seasoning, rosemary in large bowl. Lightly beat egg and milk then add to dry mixture along with the cheeses and pepperoni.
Use an ice cream scoop to fill your muffin tin. Bake for 24 mins. Heat about half the jar of pizza sauce in the microwave and serve in a side dish for dipping. This recipe will makes 18 large muffins

Oh yeah I about forgot the most important part moms.....be sure to set you one aside so you'll have something to snack on as well while your making that precious family of yours supper.
Have a good day everyone!

Sneek Peek at what I'm working on now....

2011-09-28T15:15:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! This isn't anywhere near done but I thought I'd show you what I've been working on. The cover isn't even embellished yet it's still naked and plain but I have big plans for it. I can't really call this a mini album even though it's short like one as you'll see it's quite fat already and I'm not nearly done with it. So I'm gonna call it "Fun sized". I'm making this album for my best friend Suzie from over at The Happy Shack and filling it with pictures of our "adventures together since 2008. Needless to say I needed something with loads of room and this is the ticket. I decided that I was going to combine some of my favorite scrapbook artist pages in this one album as a dedication to them and will listing the youtube links for each of them with the pages I did in this album. These ladies are extremely talented and I love their work and they deserve all the praise for inspiring me. So here goes....my outside covers measure 5 1/2" x 6" and the binding technique is one that I saw Laura at Following the Paper Trail use. That is the one thing I don't have a link for right now but when I post the completed album I'll be sure to include that for you.

The above picture shows how thick this album is and it's no where near complete but I'm having so much fun with it. The thickness is almost 4 1/2"!! I'm loving it so far!

Ok so in this picture I want to SPOTLIGHT the first scrapbooking artist which is.....Elsa at Just a Few Designs. She came up with the side pocket album and so I've used her page in this album. She's the sweetest thing ever and I've been watching her work ever since she posted her very first youtube video. Here is the video link for this page if you would like to make it as well..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzGjRq3MYV4&feature=related

Next up....This one you all have heard me mention many many times throughout my blog. It's none other than the ever popular and much loved Laura at Following the Paper Trail. I included her pocket page. I did an entire album like this previously and shared it with you but the dimensions fit so well that I used it again. Here is the link for instruction to make this page..it's called the Pouch Page..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzGjRq3MYV4&feature=related

This next one was a Laura idea and you've seen me do this one many times although this time I had to adjust and tweak it so that it would fit. It's the Z-fold and here is how I changed my measurements to make it fit. Cut a 9"x6" envelope down to where it's 8"x6" making sure to cut a sliver off one end to form the pocket. Then I made a score line at 3" from the bottom just like the following video will show. The back part on mine is all different from what Laura did. I didn't use the coin pocket envelopes at all as you will see in the next 5 pictures...instead I created a fold out flap and then in another I created the flap with a pocket as well..this will accommodate even more pictures to give me the most bang for the buck so to speak. And I also used fold out "tags" that accommodate 6 pictures as well. So this one page really gives me ton of real estate. Here is the original link for the video..
http://www.youtube.com/user/FollowThePaperTrail#p/u/84/ED-A8k4YUmc

in total I can get 8 pictures on that one fold out flap rather than using the coin envelopes and its and alternative for those of you who can't find the coin envelopes or are overseas and those are ready available to you.

This is the one that folds out and reveals a pocket for a tag.

keep flipping...

Ta Da! and there it is!

Ok so the last scrapbook artist that I have "featured" in this album goes to Ms. Bona from Live Love Scrap. I'm sure that if any of you have ever watched youtube you have all heard of her. She's yet another extremely talented lady with a ton of ideas. This is just one of her ideas. I had done this before and then when I went to tell who inspired me to make one myself I had not only forgotten who it was but had lost the link as well. She calls this her Picture Fold Up Wallet...she used it as something you could stick in your wallet but I've glued the back in my album and this little puppy can hold up to 17 pictures!!! What more can you ask for? So here is the link for her video as to how to make it...
http://www.youtube.com/user/FollowThePaperTrail#p/u/84/ED-A8k4YUmc

Thank each and every one of you ladies for inspiring me each and every day! And thank you Suzie for making me laugh and giggle just looking at these pictures while I'm making your album. It's almost as fun as if you were right here with me while I'm making it........ALMOST!
I'll be sure to post the final pictures of the album once it's completed...or at least show you a few more finished pages and what I've come up with for the front cover. I'm excited for you all to see the idea I came up with for it.

My Mexican Casserole recipe....

2011-09-28T14:19:00.000-04:00

Hey All! Yesterday I was on the phone with my mom and was working on a mini album while talking and she was telling me about a Mexican pie recipe that she had made and how good it was. Well I have to be honest...I'm an not real good at multi tasking at all so when she was telling me what she put in it all that heard was Mexican pie, ground beef and what I thought was corn chips. Well I had stopped working on my album to finish our conversation because obviously I didn't hear the rest of the ingredients because I just simply can't do 2 things at once. So after our phone call ended I got to thinking about what I was going to make for dinner and so the mad scientist headed to the kitchen to see what I could find to make. So I grabbed the corn chips, ground beef and then opened my pantry and literally started pulling anything out that sounded like it would be good in a casserole and here is what I came up with....by the way. I misunderstood my mom about the corn chips as well...she had said corn tortillas. But this turned out really good and my husband loved it as well.
ROBIN'S MEXICAN CASSEROLE
*
(1) 10.5 oz bag BBQ corn chips
(2) pkg taco seasoning
2 lb ground beef
(1) 16 oz refried beans
(1) 15 oz whole kernel corn (drained)
(1) 15 oz diced tomatoes (Italian style)
(1) small can sliced black olives (drained)
(1) Tbls dried chopped chives
(1) tsp onion salt
OR
(1) medium onion chopped
(1) 8 oz (2cups) Sargento 6 cheese Italian
(1) cup shredded cheddar cheese
salsa
sour cream
*
Brown ground beef and drain. Add taco seasoning as recommended on pkg. In a large sauce pot combine beans, corn, tomatoes, olives, chives and onion salt. (Drop the onion salt if using chopped onion, saute chopped onion while browning ground beef if you choose that route). Heat this mixture then add ground beef to bean mixture and stir well. In a greased 9 x 13 glass dish add a layer of corn chips then a layer of the bean/beef mixture then add some of both the cheeses and repeat this step one more time. Crumble the remaining corn chips and top off casserole.
In a preheated 350 degree oven bake for 20 minutes.
Serve with salsa and sour cream.
ENJOY!

Chili's copycat Grilled Carribean Salad....

2011-09-27T17:07:00.000-04:00

Hey all...I thought I'd share a copycat recipe that I made from a recipe book that my best friend Suzie had bought me. It was so good that I had to share it with all of you.
*
CHICKEN
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup store-bought teriyaki marinade
*
HONEY-LIME DRESSING
1/4 cup Grey Poupon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1teaspoon Asian sesame oil
1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
11/2 teaspoons lime juice
*
PICO DE GALLO
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup diced onion
2 teaspoons diced jalapeno pepper (I left this out)
2 teaspoons minced fresh cilantro (I used 1 teaspoon of dried)
pinch of salt
*
*
4 cups chopped iceberg lettuce
4 cups chopped green leaf lettuce
1 cup chopped red cabbage
1/2 cup fresh pineapple, cut into chunks ( I used a can of pineapple chunks that I drained real good)
1/2 cup mandarin orange slices (again I used canned that was drained)
1/2 cup whole dried cherries (I left these out because I don't like them)
2 cups crushed tortilla chips (husband didn't like them as a topping)
*
*
1. Do ahead: Marinate the chicken in the teriyaki marinade in a covered container for 2 hours in the refrigerator, turning occasionally.
2. Do ahead: In a small bowl, combine the honey-lime dressing ingredients whisking well, and refrigerate in a covered container.
3. Do ahead: Combine the pico de gallo ingredients and refrigerate in a covered container. (I made a double batch of the above dressing and put it in a rubbermaid dispensing bottle)
4. Light a charcoal grill or preheat the broiler
5. Remove the chicken from the marinade and shake off the excess. Cook each breast, turning once 5 or 6 minutes per side, until cooked through and no longer pink in the middle. Set aside and keep warm.
6. Combine the lettuces with the cabbage and divide among 4 serving bowls. Top each salad with the pico de gallo, pineapple chunks, orange slices, cherries and crushed tortilla chips.
7. Slice the cooked chicken into thin strips and divide among the salads. Serve with ramekins or honey-lime dressing on the side.
*
Serves 4 and the estimated AT-HOME cost is $9.50

Handmade Smash Journal tutorial.....

2011-09-07T23:29:00.001-04:00

Hey all! Welcome back...well it took me a while but I promised that I'd do a tutorial on the smash journal that I showed you all a picture of that I made last month. I made one for myself this time and took the pictures as I was working on it....I'll note what products I used to finish it up at the end of this post. READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS FIRST BEFORE BEGINNING and look for CAPS on really important things. So lets get started...

What you will need for the front and back covers are as follows: (2) 7 3/4" x 10 1/4" chipboard, (1) 14 1/8" x 10 1/4" flexible chipboard (this is extremely flimsy and has to be easily bendable), (1) 3" x 10 1/4" chipboard (this piece will be cut again to use as a reinforcement piece for you latch) ***NOTE the picture above shows the measurements written on each one and you can go by those HOWEVER...the measurement showing what the center measurement is is WRONG....it should of said 5 1/8" rather than 5 1/16". You can see how I cut the triangle section out and all the measurements you'll need.

IMPORTANT** Work from the back inside cover FIRST! Once you have your triangle "reinforcement" piece cut out go ahead and glue that on your larger flexible piece of chipboard and then cut the excess off after the triangle piece is glued on. This way you have a perfect "fit".

After doing the previous step go ahead and grab one of the 7 3/4" x 10 1/4" chipboards and on one side make a tick mark measuring over 2 1/4" on the opposite side of that mark on the BACK side go ahead and apply your glue and glue that to the above piece as shown in the picture. The basics for the back of your journal is now complete the area in the picture that is showing as white will be the area that will bend over and allow for you to Velcro your stick glue and a pen plus it will have plenty of room for your journal to expand. NOTE* 14 1/8" is the longest that I could find for my flexible and bendable chipboard...if you don't want to Velcro a tube of stick glue and a pen on the inside of the journal then you want need to do the offset on that one end.

IMPORTANT** if your planning on using the magnetic closures like I have it is important that you cover the inside of the back cover FIRST so that you can place your closure and then cover it all up when you cover the back side. Just a few notes about covering with pretty cardstock....First off you will need 2 coordinating pieces of cardstock to cover all of it as shown above in the picture and be sure to allow enough room around the edges so you can fold it over to make nice clean edges. (I've shown how to cover cardstock before in previous posts). Secondly, the area where the flexible chipboard is.....I've found that it's best to use a liquid glue for this area such as Quick Dry. But be sure to smear it around nicely before applying your pretty cardstock. The reason I say that is...if you don't use a liquid glue then the "flap" will squeak each time the journal is opened and closed. I learned that lesson after making the first journal. And then Thirdly when your putting your cardstock on...use a bone folder to make crisp edges where the chipboard and flexible chipboard are 2 separate heights. Refer to the above picture and you can see where that was done. It just makes things crisper and cleaner looking as well as will prevent the cardstock from pulling away.

Now once the inside of the back cover had been glued down and all edges have been cleaned up. BE SURE that you have already added your magnetic latch BEFORE covering the back side of your journal. As you can see...I covered this side in the same manner as I did the front side by using 2 different coordinating cardstocks. The only thing to remember now is that you want had to cut your cardstock wider this time. Now you will cut it to fit or better yet leave a little bit about 1/8" so that the other paper will peek out a little all the way around the journal. I think that gives it even more character....AGAIN use liquid glue of some type on the area that will be bending and don't forget to smear it so that you want have bumps showing through to your cardstock.

Now that the back cover is all done...your ready for the front cover. Another reason why I start from the back is because if I started from the front then I wouldn't know exactly where I needed my other half of the magnetic clasp should be placed. So go ahead and cover the front, leaving some excess all the way around. Be sure to snip the triagled edges off all for corners but DON"T get too close to the chipboard. Then place your back piece directly under your front cover....fold the flexible "flap over toward the front cover and figure out where you need the front closure to be located. Go ahead and install that and then cover the inside of the front cover like you did the back side of the back cover.

This is what this inside of both the front and back covers looks like. As you can see I added a couple diagonal pockets to mine.

cardstock is showing in the picture. You could let your imagination run wild here on these. The picture below shows another example of how I decorated my envelopes.

Ok well your pretty much done now. You'll need to cut SEVERAL and I mean SEVERAL pieces of cardstock or whatever kind of paper you plan on using inside your journal. The measurements for that is 7 1/2" x 10". I had probably 35-40 sheets in mine (and that's just a guess!)
*FOR BINDING IT: I used my Bind it all...but you could use a hole punch and book rings as well, or you could even use Ribbon if you didnt' want to use book rings.
*THE CARDSTOCK I USED WAS: DCWV Mariposa stack, K & Company Homemade Specialty Papers stack
*CARDSTOCK FOR THE INSIDE: A WIDE VARIETY (I actually just go through and try to use up the stacks that I don't have many papers left)
*MAGNETIC CLASP: came from Hobby Lobby and comes in a package of 3 and are called My Purse Hardware and were $2.99 when I bought them about a year ago
*ZUTTER ROUND IT ALL CORNER ROUNDER FOR THE EDGE CORNERS OF YOUR INSIDE PAGES 1/2" it's the pink one
*ATG GUN
*QUICK DRY GLUE
*BONE FOLDER
*SCISSORS
*TRIMMER
*VELCRO: for you to add your glue and pen inside. Please see the previous post on the other SMASH journal that I made that shows where they go. I am out of glue sticks right now so mine aren't in there yet.
*EMBELLISHMENT: The butterfly I found at Michael's in the bargain bin for $1 and it simply clips on. (wish that I had more of those..I bought the last one they had at the time)
I've tried my best to be as descriptive as I possibly can and hope and pray that I haven't forgotten anything. I think that if you look at the pictures as you read it will make more sense to you. But if you do have a question just let me know and I'll try to help you the best way that I can. Hope that you enjoy and have as much fun making them as I do! I'm going to make mine an inspiration journal and look forward to getting started on it. Have FUN! and give me some feedback letting me know if you made one or not and if you like yours or if you have even more ideas to add to mine.
Come on back soon....I'm going to start on a mini album tomorrow and will try to post day to day pics of my progress on it...so check back often.
P.S. Just because I'm calling this a Smash journal doesn't mean that it has to be that....you could always make one of these and use it as photo album as well.

Bling it and mean it!......

2011-09-03T03:49:00.000-04:00

Suzie and I firmly believe that if its not moving then it's fair game to BLING! and we mean that literally!

Here is the scissors that we blinged up on my visit this year to her house! They are so pretty! Now I just have to get back into my craft room and put them to good work! Oh by the way I was gonna mention the website that I used for my new background on my blog. I found the neatest place to get backgrounds and banners and they are all free and they give you simple steps of how to change your page. As you all know I need all the help I can get. But anyway here is the link for the site http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/

Pies, Pies and MORE Pies!

2011-09-03T03:32:00.000-04:00

On my visit to see my best friend and sis Suzie in Oklahoma this year, she asked me what I wanted to learn to cook this time and I said PIE! So that's exactly what we did and I was so thrilled and excited that I actually did it myself.......with the guidance of Mrs. Betty Crocker herself aka Suzie.

Here we are....Suzie said that I was a good student......it takes a good teacher to make a good student. Thank you so much there is no way that I could of done it without you helping and guiding me.

The filling for the chocolate pie! YUM!

It's topping time!

Waaaaa Laaaa here is the final product of this pie...a good old fashion chocolate!

Here we have a pecan pie and a quiche.....Supper and dessert! YUMMMMMY!

And yes we do deliver to one of the sweetest couples in Porum Landing! Jojo and Tuffy loved it....psssst we had to wear our "uniforms" while delivering and had to ride to the neighbors in style...on Suzie's pink golf cart! weeeeeee!!! I still can't believe that I now know how to make pies! I'm so excited about it!

My handmade smash book.....

2011-08-03T00:17:00.000-04:00

Ok I'm going to first share with you all what my inspiration was for this journal. So please watch the video and then scroll on down and see what else I have to say about it along with my take on a smash journal.

Ok now that you've seen the video. I'd like to say this. First off I've found that even though these were introduced back at the winter CHA K & Company still didn't allow for the type of sales that they had to of known would happen. If you are one of the lucky ones that actually have one then good for you. I myself however was told that I'll have to wait until the latter part of August before I can get one. I clearly can not wait that long soooooo what's a crafty girl to do??? Yep make my own. I wanted to have one of these to give my best friend Suzie when I go visit her later on this month. So I watched the above video and took the things that I really liked about it and came up with an idea for me to make my own including the little things that I really like about K & Company's Smash journal. But to tell you the truth.....I like mine must better and I'm not sure that I even want a store bought Smash journal now. So if K & Company think that this is just a ploy for more exposure for their new product...Then personally I think someone at the company needs to open their eyes and realize that crafters aren't ones that tolerate waiting for very long before they too get to work and make the products themselves or finds an alternate.

So now without further ado.....here is what I came up with...

Ok these are a little out of order but that's ok at least they are all on here going the right direction and no one has to turn their head sideways to see the pics. Regarding the above picture: I made the choice of leaving the front cover plain so that when you are carrying it things want be getting in your way or possibly falling off. I did however do a little stickles on the butterflies on the front to give it a little bling. Ok so now one of the things that I really liked about the Smash book was the fact that they are selling a rubber band that goes around the journal to keep lose things inside. Well my thoughts on that were...I can use some flexible thin chipboard and do the same thing...BUT mine will look much more professional looking and have a flap with a purse latch to close it to keep things put.

In this above picture you can see what the journal looks like closed.

Here is the back side of the journal (again sorry that these are out of order)

The above picture is the back page of the journal. As you can see I added a slanted pocket to tuck things in until you can glue them in your journal. And speaking of glue.....I really liked the idea of the K & Company Smash pen....it has glue in one end and a pen in the other and they have a convenient place for it on the side of the journal. Well I had to include those things that I really liked in my journal because I truly want this journal to be one that can travel around in a purse or whatever and so that you will have everything at your fingertips. So I just pulled out some velcro that I had, grabbed a tube of new stick glue and a new cute pen and put velcro on all of them so that they will stay put right inside the journal.

Here is the last picture...it's actually a picture of the front cover and first sheet in the journal. As you can see I added another slanted pocket to hold lose things in case your in a hurry and can't glue them in instantly. I really like this journal and am going to make myself one and am thinking that I'm not even going to worry with buying a Smash journal from K & Company. Sorry......I like mine better and K & Company missed out on my purchase. I hope that this inspires the rest of the crafters out there that are sitting around and waiting for the Smash journal to become available again to just go to your craft room and make your own. They are TONS of fun to make! I am going to try my best to do a tutorial on here when I'm making my journal so if you like this style then keep checking back to see if I've posted a tutorial on it. Have a great one everyone....and I'll see ya later!

Shadow box.....

2011-08-01T16:09:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone and welcome back. Here is what I made for my niece for her upcoming wedding in 2 weeks. I had bought this shadow box kit at Scrapbuck.com a long time ago..matter of fact I bought 2 of them because they were dirt cheap. (NO I'm not affiliated with that company in any way! I'm just a disabled housewife who loves to craft and decorate and have to do it all on a budget) So when I was trying to figure out what I could do for my niece for her wedding I ran across this in my stash and thought it would be perfect. It is a K & Company kit and I also had the same paper pack in my stash as well. So I went to work.....just about everything on the inside is 3 dimensional which was loads of fun. Then I added some brown silk ribbon for her to use to hang it with. I hope that she likes it.

Altered Composition book for Reunion....

2011-08-01T15:52:00.000-04:00

I thought that it would be nice to make this also to donate to the reunion for everyone to sign in. We had been using a wire bound notebook and I was thinking that I could help out by making us something pretty. I didn't get real detailed on the front of this and tried to keep everything as flat as possible so that it would be easier to write in and would hold up much longer.

I'm sure everyone has seen the plain black and white composition books that have been altered but I thought that I'd share anyway....I decorated the front and back inside covers as well and made pockets.
Now it's on to working on a wedding gift.......stick around because it's coming right up....

Reunion album completed.....

2011-08-01T15:44:00.000-04:00

*WARNING THIS POST IS LOADED WITH PICTURES
Hey all! I started this album back almost a year ago and you all might remember me posting a picture of it. Well I have finally finished it. I had planned on keeping it for myself but then decided to donate it to my family for them to have it to show at the reunion each year.

Sorry about some of these pictures being turned the wrong way....I'm still not sure why they are doing that even though I flip them and save them before I post them....

I really struggled with adding these pictures because I was reflecting on all the ones that passed away just this year...it was not a good year for our family at all.

I thought that it would be a good idea to instructions in the album so if i wasn't around to show them how it was animated then they could follow directions.

Enjoy looking.....

I'm so bad....I need to get some names at the reunion this year so I can write their names in....I hate when I can't remember my cousins married names!

oh my word.....I'm so sorry that this one is upside down.....

Our reunion is this year is this coming weekend. I look forward to getting to see everyone again. I'm not sure where this pattern came from that I used for this album. It may have been something that Laura from Following the Paper Trail had done but I'm just not sure. It's been so long I honestly don't remember. I know I haven't bought a pattern like this so not sure if it was my twist on something I saw someone else doing or what. Anyway, hope that you enjoyed looking......I have much more to show you so stick around...

7 Months in Fast Forward....part 6

2011-07-24T02:38:00.000-04:00

Ok so in the month of June....it was planned for some serious and extremely overdue R & R. So a vacation was planned for the beach and we invited Suzie and Don to come with us. Lets just say this was one adventure right after another and kind of leave it at that....

We all had a nice night out as we all went to the boardwalk. Austin and his friend were out riding bikes and looking for things to the majority of the time we were there so I don't have a lot of pictures of them and wound up not getting one with the entire group that went down together. But that's ok...

We did manage to all go play putt putt one night and that was fun until a pack of rats came running out right as I snapped this picture.....yes you read that right....Rats!!! at a putt putt place! YIKES! My second worse fear!

Oh now this was a special memory for me. This was the first year that I had ever gotten to celebrate my birthday with Suzie and Don!! They bought me the most beautiful cake and it tasted even better than it looked! It was to die for! Yum! Thanks Suzie and Don!!!

So Suzie and Don decided to go check out some places on the other side of Fla in the gulf as we made our way back home. We spent the night close to Savannah and my husband mentioned something about stopping and eating at Paula Deen's restaurant! I was soo excited! I said YES YES YES and thought to myself. Ahhh Haaa I'll be able to check something off my bucket list! I know some of the things on my bucket list may sound silly to you but yes eating at Paula's restaurant IS on my list and if I could meet her that would just be the icing on the cake. So here we are in Savannah....

At Lady and Son's......but....they are all booked up for that night as well as the following day! I was so disappointed and let down. But I wasn't gonna let it get me down long because I was in Savannah!! Woo Hoo! I love reading books about this place and I love places with lots of History so my dear Scarlett I just put on a happy face and went in search of somewhere else we could eat and I planned on taking in as many sites as I possibly could. Because after all.....who could ever be sad in Savannah...

This was as close as I got to getting to meet the infamous Mrs. Paula Deen....but that's ok...after all tomorrow is another day.

Yeah and look here....had I had my bathing suit on under my clothing....YEP you guessed it...could of checked yet another bucket list item off!! Hey my bucket list may sound silly to you but that's ok...it's my list and I claim it with pride!

Here we are at the horses and buggies. We were gonna go for a tour but we just didn't have the time to this trip....look at those gorgeous streets!

Here are the boys and my husband....sorry honey but I have to point out that you are standing on your tip toes so that you will at least look as tall as the other two....you got busted! Savannah....We will be back and there want be a single inch of that town that I haven't seen and taken pictures of and Paula I'll be back to stand in that long line to reserve my seat in Lady and Sons....and as far as the fountains go....yeah you can bet that I'll be playing in that as well.....

7 months in Fast Forward.....part 5

2011-07-24T01:48:00.000-04:00

Ok so here is where the tears for me will start to roll all over again. I didn't have a clue that the school year of 2011 would be my son's last year in High School. But I got a call the first of May from the guidance counselor telling me that my son would more than likely graduate early NEXT year. I was elated with the idea and of course my son and husband were as well. Because my son hated school. It wasn't that he wasn't smart enough it was the fact that he had a really hard time sitting behind a desk all day in a closed room. Not sure what it was about that but it really made him extremely antsy and irritable to everyone around him. So I thought this is great and I got all the info that I needed for his senior pics that would be taken the first of next year and was lining everything up....BUT THEN..about 2 weeks later I get another call from the school guidance counselor telling me that there is an even greater possibility that he could very well graduate THIS year. She said it was all up to him and how hard he wanted to work but that they were putting him in advance classes that were all on computer and he would do the work and taken a ton of test and as long as he pasted the test he would get the credit. So that's what he chose to do and he blew thru those test like it was nothing. As for myself I was scrambling trying to get him a cap and gown and begging and pleading with the company that supply them to school. But with the time I had left until the actual graduation I missed out on being able to get graduation announcements, senior pictures and getting to take pictures of my son again for his senior prom, and his senior album. All that was gone and let me say here...maybe I am sounding a tad selfish about all those things but this is my one and only child. When he was growing up those were the things that I looked forward to getting to experience with him. But the best I could do was call people and try to explain what had happened and invite them over the phone and via email.....via email for crying out loud! Oh I was so mad at how it was just thrown at me all at once, but on the other hand I was so thrilled that he was graduating and that he worked so hard there at the end to make sure it was going to be this year. It turned out to be a beautiful experience after all, but my depression and the empty nest syndrome was kicked into overdrive and still is. I'm really struggling with the fact that he will be 18 in Sept and then what? What am I then? Who am I then? I've been a mom to him for as long as I can remember......I've forgotten who Robin as a person is...all I know is Mom Robin. Now don't get me wrong I know I'll still be his mom but I want be the caregiver mom no longer. So I have to try to find a way to overcome all of this or it is going to drive me crazy. People Empty Nest Syndrome is a REAL thing!! For those of you that have experienced it then you know what I'm talking about and for those of you who haven't......believe me when I say it hurts...it hurts deep and you feel completely lost and just want to say.....what now???? But anyway, I hope you enjoy looking at the graduation pictures.

My mom and dad with the proud graduate!

myself and my husband with our happy graduate.....

I really am proud of him.....

Have you noticed he's taller than both myself and my husband??

He's the last one in line here with the sunglasses on...all of his friends decided to wear their shades while walking in......doing it Blues Brothers Style...

Getting his diploma.....

And that's it folks....it's over...class dismissed...the final bell has rang.....

In the end.....I can honestly say that I have never seen my son so happy. NEVER! After it was over I looked at him and he looked differently to me. He's no longer my little boy. He's a man now...a man that is in charge of his own life, one who had to take responsibility for his own actions and one that holds his own destiny in his hands. I don't suppose he needs his mom any longer to help him and that's the one part that's absolutely killing me. I love you Austin! and I wish you nothing but the best for your future....I pray that you go on to do great things and become a productive upstanding citizen....just remember to never forget where you came from and how your mom and dad are proud of you and will support you every adventure you set out on...Good luck my precious child! p.s. apron strings are cut.....

Was so thankful that his girlfriend was able to share this moment with us....they are just too cute together......

7 months in Fast Forward.....part 4

2011-07-24T01:00:00.000-04:00

Ok again I should name this one...a chicken, a turtle and some eggs....let me explain. My son told me that it was his girlfriends birthday soon and told me what he wanted to get her. When we were taking the prom pictures someone there had some cute little chicks that they were using to take their Easter pictures with and my sons girlfriend just loved them. So of course Austin thought that was exactly what he would get her for her birthday. I mean after all she does live on a farm...so that was the perfect thing.....BUT I got to thinking...you can't just walk in to a birthday party with an old ugly cage with a chick in it. So I wrapped a box really pretty, added some ribbon for a closure and used a large hang tag as his card. This was her 16th birthday party so I wanted her to at least have a pretty box to receive her cute little present in....

Then the turtle. My sister in law called us and was screaming that there was a huge turtle on her patio and could her brother (my husband) come get rid of it for her because it was larger than one of her little dogs. Trust me on this one....the box does NOT do it justice! That thing was HUGE! So my turtle wrangler husband and I went down and hubby got rid of it for her. Poor turtle had been out of water for a while it looked like...he's in a big ole pond in a field behind our house now....lets hope he stays there and doesn't wander back onto either of our properties.

and of course the eggs! I have birds build nest every year on both my front and back decks. The little wrens aren't so bad...they hardly make a mess at all and I actually love to watch them work feeding their babies and then when the day comes that the momma and daddy bird teaches them to fly...the will hop all around on my front deck and even with me out there...they will hop right up to me and will allow me to talk to them and everything..it's so sweet and special and they have been doing that for years. However, the robin birds are a totally different story. They are constantly making a mess! And they leave "droppings" all over everything. But their eggs are soooo pretty!! and they make prettier nest as well. So I thought this yr..ok I'm gonna deal with you this one year just because I want to use your pretty nest for decoration on the inside of my house. Now I know some of you all are thinking I'm nuts. But I was reading about this on another blog and I found out that I can take the nest and put it in a plastic bag and spray it full of bug killer and then it will be just fine after that. I want to get one of the dome glass tops to put over it to have it on display in my home since I so love bird house and bird cages.......

7 months in Fast Forward.....part 3

2011-07-24T00:39:00.000-04:00

April 2011....When I was helping Austin get dressed and ready for his junior prom, I didn't realize that it was gonna be his first and last prom. Because the following month I found out this was gonna be his last year in High School. I'll explain more later about that though...

This is my son and his sweet little girlfriend getting ready to go..actually we had to make a pit stop at the dress shop to make some adjustments to her dress first then we were off to get some good prom pictures....

such a sweet moment...as he was putting this on her arm I was thinking about my own wedding pictures of when he was putting my husbands boutonniere on him....he was only 5 then...

She had her dress cut so that it would show off her gorgeous cowgirl boots! I just love them!

Austin told me that he wished he could of worn his cowboy boots.

lots of giggling going on...it really was a fun time with these two. They had myself and her mom cracking up. Loads of fun and Lots of good memories.

such an adorable little couple....

Hope that you all enjoyed getting to see one of the things that was keeping me busy in the month of April. I have to admit that once they got back in the truck and headed off to meet up with their friends. The tears started flowing....by the time that I was on the interstate headed home I was in crying hysterically. I so want him to experience everything in life but at that moment I didn't feel like life was treating me very well because I wanted to just swoop him up in my arms and take him home and rock him to sleep again like I used to every night when he was a baby. Yes "Empty Nest Syndrome" had set in and there wasn't anything that anyone could say or do to make me feel any better about it so I went into a deep dark depression...even worse than what I had already been in. But he told me that it was the time of his life and that's exactly what I wanted it to be for him. I would never want him to know just how bad it was hurting my heart to see him all grown up and starting to move on.......

7 months in Fast Forward.....part 2

2011-07-23T23:48:00.000-04:00

I should of titled this post as "A Big Truck, A Big Storm and a Bad Meal" But I didn't and now it's to late so anyway, This is what all was going on in the Brown household during the months of March and April. First off, my son finally got the truck of his dreams. He traded in the Jeep Grand Cherokee that I had given him for this one. He talked about this truck so much that even myself (someone who isn't mechanically inclined) was starting to understand what a diesel Cummings engine was and so he's in seventh heaven now.

Can't you just tell how happy he is by looking at this picture??? Boys and their toys! Blue is his favorite color too on top of everything else!

Then April hit Candy Creek......This was the months where there were so many people losing everything and in some cases their lives in the horrible tornadoes across the country. Here at my house it had become a routine thing to pack up and go to the other side of the lake to get in his full basement when a tornado was headed our way or when a severe storm was predicted with high winds. See We live with large trees surrounding our home and it gets pretty scary here sometimes. So when we see that happening we just load up and head to the other side of the cove to my brother in law's house. However, We were extremely blessed that one of those trees or one of the tornadoes didn't take everything we own with it. However we did have a huge tree from a neighbors property land on ours and blocked up from getting in our driveway. You can see the root of the tree in the above picture.

This picture above is showing our neighbors dock and what happened to it. I tried to count and I believe that there were 5 different trees down on their property. It was so sad to see it.

Here is a picture of my son standing beside one of the trunks. You can see how it was just twisted off and also you can see another tree or maybe 2 more in the background that got it as well.

Ok first off...let me say this.. DO NOT EVER EVER EVER get out of bed if you have taken your ambien to sleep! See there are a lot of lasts this yr. Since my son is turning 18 in Sept then Easter would be his last one that possibly he would be here to celebrate with us but if not that it will for sure be his last one as.....should I say child?? young man? anyway he isn't 18 yet so I wanted to make it special. My husband had to spend the weekend at his dad's and so I just wanted something nice that I had made for my son and myself and for my husband once he was able to come home that weekend. Well I had told my best friend Suzie the night before that it would be nice to get a jump start on my Easter dinner. Little did she or myself know at the time that I would in FACT get up in the middle of the night and start cooking! My son came home late that night and came to the bedroom and said mom do you know that the oven is on and something is in the oven? He said I told him not to worry about it and go on to bed....so he did......well apparently even later on in the night I had this brilliant idea that I would go ahead and make my deviled eggs as well........ok look at the picture above to see what I retrieved out of the oven the following morning in sure SHOCK! and look below at my deviled eggs. The poor things look like they need a hair cut or were made specifically for cousin IT (The Addams Family...remember him?)

I found these eggs in the refrigerator when I woke up as well after I had discovered the "ham" and at that point all that I could do was laugh!! I mean seriously what else can you do. I must of not been able to make up my mind that I wanted to put paprika on them or dill weed as a garnishment soooo what do I do while I am sleep cooking? I use BOTH! If it's worth noting I do have to say they were still pretty good....they didn't look pretty but tasted pretty. The ham is a different story though....

as you can see here...my brave brave son tried a piece of ham and well the reaction and look on his face says it all! Poor child! I was trying so incredibly hard to do something special for us and it seems that everything in my life works out like that....the harder I try the worse I mess things up. So that was a lesson learned for sure for all of us. It's a wonder the ham hadn't burst into flames and caught the house on fire.....soooo never again will I even think about cooking after taking my sleeping pill at night.

7 months in Fast Forward.....part 1

2011-07-23T22:30:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone...sorry I've been gone for so long! But it simply just couldn't be helped. Some of you all know a few things that have happened others don't have a clue. But I'm back now and will try to explain in this series of "Fast Forward".
So when I left you all last I was working on redoing my living room. As most of you know I have been trying to redo one room every winter and this year it was the living room. The first set of pictures are the before pictures and the last ones are the after. This project took on a life of itself since I took a pretty bad fall when I was half way done and was laid up in bed for a couple months. That fall took more of a toll on my body than I had even realized and I'm not sure that I'll ever be completely back up to par but I'm trying really hard to overcome the issues.

I just took random shots around the room. I have the living cut up into 2 different sections. One side is the tv viewing area and the other side is the computer area....what you can't see in these pictures is my husbands desk is on the computer side as well.

Before pictures of the wall behind the sofa...

and After behind the sofa...ok so before you all start laughing...I was trying my ever loving best to save some serious mullah on wall decor and had the brilliant idea that I'd just paint my own. Well as most of you all know from reading prior entries on my blog...creative painting isn't exactly my forte but back summer before last I was trying really hard to learn to tole paint. So I thought ohh an abstract painting want be anything...it's just slapping some paint on canvas's and going with it. NOT TRUE! I absolutely hate these paintings and am going to redo them as soon as I can check a few more things off of my list. Not positive about what to do but you can bet that it will be low budget and will eventually turn into something that I can live with...

I still don't have all the pretty accessories for the room bought yet...I'm working on it a little at a time. I did however grab another new lamp with the pretty robins egg blue shade to put on the trunk in the corner. That lamp simply was not working at all. I am however getting used to the idea of not having as many cha chas in the room. That was a goal of mine when I started this project...to simplify my life or in simply words...less to dust.

Here is a picture of the computer area with the mirror that I found on craigslist and painted and the trunk that I redid. I still need to put my new handles on the trunk and when Suzie was here this summer she antiqued the metal parts for me real nice. Thank you Suzie! I still have the toppers to make for the french doors in that room as well and a like I said it still needs some accessories. But that is the makeover for in there.
I have more to share with you so I'll move right along...look for next post......bye for now....

Fireplace facelift.....

2011-01-30T19:35:00.000-05:00

I'm back! I forgot to take the picture with the doors in it for the before picture but the doors had the brass trim on them and well.....that just wasn't gonna work and needed to be updated and since I like and need to do my decorating on a dime...I just simply had my husband take the doors off and I painted the brass black using the High Heat paint that I found at Lowes.

So I finished that up and still didn't like the looks of the fireplace and so I just went for it and painted the brick on the inside of the fireplace using the same High Heat paint to clean everything up....now I'm really pleased with it!
Next project will be a long hard one for me which will be the walls and will take me a while so when I come up MIA again at least you'll know what I'm doing.....Have a great day everyone and I'll see ya soon!

Thrift store and TJMaxx finds...

2011-01-30T19:24:00.000-05:00

Ok I had to get my thrifting and TJMaxx fix...I haven't been in FOREVER! Sooo I hit the road. I didn't find anything at the thrift store except for this picture holder that rotates. BUT I've been wanting one of these for a while now and its the perfect metal that I was looking for and I'll use it in the living room once I'm done with it and start "re-accessorizing" I only gave $6 for it and it was brand new! I had to take it out of it's original packaging, it's heavy too so I feel like I got a good deal on it considering that it was originally $30 from Belk and then marked down to $14.99....I figure $6 was nothing! SCORE one for me!

Then I went to TJMaxx and headed straight for the home clearance isle like I always do and ran across this potpourri that was clearanced out at $2! So I snagged that up since it's also the new colors that I'm gonna use in the living room makeover. I also found a serving platter that matches the rest of my pretty plates that I bought last year that is robins egg blue that I also found at TJMaxx last year and only gave $6.99 for it! I didn't take a picture of it because I figured that you all were tired of seeing the dinnerware that I keep showing.
Ok so next I want to show you the fireplace that I painted this week.....stick around cause it's coming up next......

Mirror makeover.....to my liking now!

2011-01-29T00:34:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! Well I'm finally getting around to showing you the mirror that I painted last week. I've been busy and hadn't downloaded the pictures but have them for you now. Remember I had told you that I found this mirror in a local classified ad for only $40 and it's HUGE! But I didn't like the color cause it wasn't going along with the color scheme that I'm gonna have going on in the living room soooo what's a girl to do???? But......

Grab your paint brush and get busy. After a couple coats of primer and 2 coats of black paint and waaa laaaa there we have it. Perfect! I just loved this mirror the instant that I laid eyes on it and emailed the owners immediately to arrange to pick it up. I'm running so far behind on the remodeling/redecorating of the living room. I've had a lot of things going on this month and it's slowed my schedule down but that's ok. I have to take my time on things anyway although my brain says GET IT DONE FAST AND NOW! Oh well if only my body could keep up with my brain.....I would be like supergirl if that could happen. But I have the rest of winter to get this project done.....I just hate starting something and it drag out forever. I'm still looking for inspiration as to what to hang on my fireplace now that I've taken the wreath off. Not sure if I want some kind of picture, or a nice metal piece with lots of scroll work in it or what yet....I'm kind of at a stand still thinking about that as well as what I'm going to sit on the mantel and the other little nick knacks sitting around. I'm really trying to simplify things so that those few things like my trunks will be focal pieces and I don't want a lot of other things taking away from those. I plan on hanging this mirror on the wall above the trunk that I just redid. There are several different colors that are going on in the room and so I guess that I'll just have to call this style that I'm going for is eclectic/traditional because I'll have the black, and oak pieces as well as the desk that I restored for my husband that he uses for his computer desk. But I think that it will all come together (hopefully) well. Lets see....I still need to find a rug for the room as well and I may have to buy some new sheers to hang on my french doors in that room cause I don't know if the ones I already have will work or not. Today I painted the inside of my fireplace and had already painted the brass that were on the glass doors to black to give it a more updated look. I still need to go outside and get the two cement planters that I plan on sitting on either side of the hearth with topiary in them. Only problem is....I can't find any topiary!!! If you know where I can find some pretty fake ones...of course please please leave me a comment and let me know where I can find some. I checked Hobby Lobby but no luck there. I have to tell you I'm really excited to get rid of the "country/traditional" look in that room. For almost 12 years now I tried my best to decorate the house inside to match the outside which is cedar siding to look like a log home....but that's NOT really my style but I did it because my husband liked it that way.....well 12 years is long enough....now it's time for my style to shine through....I still have to keep in mind though that it can't get to frilly or shabby chic on him. I got away with that in the master bedroom but not sure that I could get away with it again. So I want push my luck. I realized earlier this week that I need one more lamp for the living room as well....I showed you all the 2 lamps that I found but since the lighting in that room is sooooo bad I really need another lamp but I think I have a solution to that problem and the solution should be a quick and easy fix.....use an existing lamp that I have and change the shade...easy enough and so what if they don't match....the style after all is eclectic/traditional so in my eyes when I think of that style I think.....anything that's appealing to myself. Lets see....next small project will be to bring those cement planters inside clean them up real good and put a fresh coat of paint on them. Then on to making some toppers out of an extra panel curtain that I bought and then the big stuff. I'll be taking the strips off the walls and taping and mudding those then painting the ceiling, all the wood trim will be white and the walls will be a very lovely color called toasted cashew which is a very pretty light taupe/beige color that will make the white trim really pop! Boy oh boy now that I've listed everything that STILL needs to be done, it's made me exhausted just thinking about it.....oh well...I'll just move at a snails pace, really take my time so that I don't hurt my back even more that it already hurts and I'll get it done....I just have to stay at it and remain focused, making myself lots of lists.
So anyway, that's what all has been going on around the Brown house lately and why I've been MIA so to speak for a while. I'm busy busy busy. But hopefully I'll have those doors put back on the fireplace soon so I can show you what it looks like now.
Have a great day and stop back by and PLEASE if you have any suggestions on what to hang on my stacked stone fireplace please share your ideas with me. Thanks and I'll see ya soon!

Another refurbished trunk....

2011-01-24T16:36:00.000-05:00

Good news and bad news......the good news is I'm pretty much done with refurbishing this old steamer trunk. The bad news....the before pictures that I took I didn't realize that I didn't have a memory card in my camera when I took them and so they really didn't take. My husband tried his best to see if he could get them off the camera and they are no where to be found. So I'll just tell you that this thing was kind of a mess before. Whoever painted it before I got it had gotten the ugly yellowish beige color all over parts of the wood so there was a lot of sanding that had to be done and most of the metal parts on it had been painting over with the same ugly color and weren't even noticeable unless you looked closely.

The reason I said this trunk was "pretty much done" is because I don't have my new leather handles and end caps yet to redo on each end. Those are on there way though and will be the finishing touch to it. Those little "feet" that are on the bottom I didn't even realized they were there until I was refinishing this piece...they were covered with paint and blended in so well that they weren't noticeable at all.

This is the back view.....

And here is a close up of the front latch. I used tung oil on all the wood after I did all the sanding to bring out the color of the wood and put some life back into it and used silver paint on all the metal parts. I lost count of how many hours I had in it but can tell you it was back breaking work BUT was so worth it and I'd do it again. I just love these old steamer trunks and think each time that I'm refurbishing one about all the miles that they have surely seen and about the owner that actually used them for there original purpose.
I'm pleased with how it came out and have moved on to painting that mirror that I found on a local classified ad. It's painted and complete now, it just needs to dry before I can share it with you. I decided to start with the miscellaneous things that are being changed in the living room before I dig into the ceiling, walls and trim in there. That way once the major painting is done I can put everything in it's place and not have to wait on the accessories to be done. I was hoping to have the entire living room done before the end of January but that's ok.....this isn't a small project and I have to take my time be extremely careful not to hurt my back and neck even worse.
If you also have one of these steamer trunks or see one but it looks rough...I hope this gives you an incentive to go ahead and grab it and can see by this post as well as the old post of the other trunk that I did a couple years ago that these pieces can make beautiful pieces in your decor.

Sneak peek at living room decor.....

2011-01-06T23:59:00.000-05:00

Hi all! Been wondering what all that I've been up to....or rather getting ready to be up to??? Well I'm redoing my living room. I've looked at this place the way it is now for 11 yrs and it's screaming to me that it's time for a change and since I seem to do all of my remodeling in the winter time ...... this year want be any different. The above pictures are the lamps that I've chosen...

This is my drapes that I've picked and the pillows that will be on the couch...

I found 2 new cozy throws to put on the couch as well so we can curl up and stay warm...I chill all year round at times so I don't mind that they are winter throws and will still be out in the summer...that's ok with me it's all about comfort right?

These are some accessories that I already had that I had bought a couple years ago that will play a part in the living room once complete....

This is a mirror that I found on eclassifieds....got a good deal on it and will be painting the frame black.....
Ok that's all the peeking you can do for now....I have a few more small projects to work on before I can get starting on painting the walls, ceiling and trim in here. I've chosen to use toasted cashew for the walls and the trim will be bright white. I'm excited about getting it done. So you'll just have to come on back and see how I've progressed.

Hand dipped Primitive spice candle tutorial

2010-12-27T18:30:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! I thought I'd walk you through how I made these primitive spice candles. My friend Brenda is the one that told me about them and explained to me online as to how to do it. Thanks Brenda! How did I do???
First off grab yourself the tallest food can that you can find. I happened to have a tall one that had green beans in it that seemed to work just fine. Then place that down inside a large pot filled with water to make yourself a double boiler. Then for the can that I had, it took about 2 and a half boxes of Gulf paraffin wax that is placed down inside the can a couple at a time to melt. If your cutting your blocks in half for some reason we found that if you dip your knife in the hot water it cuts the wax or will shorten your taper candles easier cause it cuts through them like butter!

After you have the desired amount of paraffin wax melted have your taper candles handy. You can pick up these inexpensive candles about anywhere even the Dollar Store. You will also need a set of tongs that will hold tight to the wick of the candle.

Go ahead before you start dipping and prep your spice rolling area. I laid out some wax paper and used allspice, cinnamon and cloves for my mixture. I also placed another sheet of wax paper down as well close by to lay my finished candles on to keep from having wax all over my counters. Be sure that the length of your spices are at least as long as your candle itself and wide enough for the candle to roll in.

Now your ready to dip your candle. Use the tongs and you have to work pretty fast here cause the paraffin wax dries rather quickly.

Dip your candle in the paraffin wax....

and immediately roll it into your spice mixture. Keep repeating this process until you get your desired look. I found that with the tops of my candles I had to hold the bottom of the candle after I had the bottom the way I wanted it in order to coat and cover the top of the candle and the wick.

Here are the three that are finished.

They smell so good and would be so nice with a tad of homespun wrapped around them and just sitting around OR.....

You could do what I did and take a piece of worn out patchwork quilt and make something to put your hand dipped candles in, like the above picture.
I have never attempted to make candles but let me tell you I wasn't the only one that had fun making these....my husband helped me and we had a blast doing it and plan on making more. Be sure to save your food can filled with paraffin wax cause it can be heated back up and reused over and over again.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask and I'll do help in any way I can. Thanks again Brenda for sharing this idea!!!

Spreading the Christmas Cheer!!!!!

2010-12-23T01:12:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone!!!! I know that you saw my house all decorated last year but I have done a few things a little different. I thought that you might want to see it one more time, before I totally transform the living room. It want look anything like this after the first of the year and I'm sooooo excited to get started on it. It will take me a while with all the breaks I'll have to take but will be so worth it!

I thought this little stackable snowman fit just perfectly right there with the birdhouses.

I just love these winter pictures that I got for a steal on ebay a couple years ago.

Here's another picture of the pretty winter pictures that I picked up on ebay. I just love them.

My best friend Suzie sent me the woolly sheep that she made and the stack of books was something that I put together. You just simply take the backings off the books, add ribbon and embellishment and waaaaa laaaa you have a decoration.

I really tried my best to keep my decorations to a minimal this year as you can see on the top of the cabinets in the kitchen.

And TA DA! This is probably my most favorite thing in the entire line of Christmas decorations that I have out other than my white Christmas tree. I'm using this glass vase filled with Christmas balls, snowflakes and silver beads strands. It makes me smile when I eating.

And here's my white and robins egg blue Christmas tree again this year...yes its in my kitchen decorated with the vintage shiny brite ornaments that once again I was able to find for a little of nothing on ebay. Then I made birds nests, bird houses and took a feather boa and cut it up to tuck in the tree in random places.

Here's another view of the tree with the kitchen table in clear view and YES I did hang snowflakes from my chandelier!

I put the NOEL sign on the mirror above the kitchen table....I found that on clearance but can't remember where now...didn't give hardly anything for it.

The this ceramic reindeer I found on ebay also and I bought a set. The other one is on top of the kitchen cabinets. I had to add robins egg blue ribbon to them. I thought it was so pretty sitting underneath our message board that my best friend and sis (Suzie from over at Happy Shack) made me.

I have a small china cabinet and this is what I did with it....

Here are the outside decorations as you step up on the deck to come in the door.

I trimmed some of my pine trees and put them to good use. Then added red berries and flocked pine cones and a ribbon to embellish the pine clippings. Oh I found the ice skates at Goodwill for a little of nothing either and added some red socks to dress them up a bit.

Just another picture of the old foot locker decorations.

Here is how I decorated the buffet out on the deck this year.

This is just another view of the buffet and that concludes the "Christmas tour of my house" I hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. God Bless each and every one of you and thank you for coming back and I look forward to having some more fun stuff to show you soon! So come on back...you hear???

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2010-11-25T13:18:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to each and every one of you out there that have been so gracious to stop by my blog over the past year or so. As I've been going over the things that I'm so grateful for over the past year you all are part of what I consider a blessing!
I guess you all thought that I had gone to the ends of the earth or just left the planet cause I haven't posted anything in a while. But I've been extremely busy working on getting my house decorated for Christmas plus I've been making some gifts and on top of all of that I even managed to go to a scrapbooking retreat a couple of weeks ago for 4 days. So I've been busy busy. But even with all that I'm still grateful that I was able to get well enough to get all that done as well as go on my trip that I had been looking forward to since this past summer.
But getting back to what all that I'm grateful for......
1. My health...although it's not that great most of the time..I do know that it could be worse.
2. My family!
3. My husband! If it weren't for him some days I don't know what I'd do, he's a huge blessing.
4. My son! I thank God daily for allowing me the priveledge to be his mom! He's awesome!
5. My grandparents...they may have passed on but I still stop and think of them cause they are what I feel like who helped me become the person that I am today.
6. My mother. I know I mentioned my family but I have to give more credit to my mom cause she's one of the strongest people I know. She's had cancer and it never got her down. She continues to fight and has taught me to do my best to do the same.
7. My Lord and Savior!
8. All my friends! Gosh how could I ever go through a list of blessings without thinking of them often! They keep me on track, lift me up when I'm down, encourage me in my adventures and push me when I need a good shove.
9. Necessities!!! A roof over my head, food in my mouth and clothes on my body
10. All of my blogger friends who inspire me on a daily basis. You all make me want to get up and go do something just so I can share it with you. It helps me mentally more than you all will ever know.
So what are you all grateful for???? I'd love to hear your list....that's just my top 10. I have soooo many more things that I'm grateful for.
Hope that you all have a WONDERFUL day of reflecting and enjoy some good food and great fellowship with your family and friends.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

2010-10-31T19:26:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone and Happy Halloween! I finally drug myself out of bed today where I've been being held captive by first a stomach virus and now what seems to be the flu. I had been craving something that I could actually taste. So I got up and made a big pot of chili, a pan of mexican cornbread and then I wanted something to do with pumpkin so I ran across this recipe on the internet and just had to try it. I wanted to do something nice for my boys today and for myself as well. So I just had to share with you this recipe cause it is sooooo good! The muffins are really moist and just so yummy.
I'm off to the doctors in the morning. As soon as I wake up I'm calling and begging for them to please get me in. I've taken all this mess that I can possibly tolerate.
So anyway, here's the recipe....hope you enjoy!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin (15oz can)
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1 1/2 cups raisins
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (I used pecans)

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine sugar, melted butter, oil, eggs, pumpkin and water. Beat for 90 seconds or until well mixed.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices, stirring until no streaks remain.

Combine flour mixture and pumpkin mixture. Stir in nuts and raisins. Stirring only until all ingredients are mixed.

Cover batter and allow to stand at room temp for one hour.

Preheat oven at 400 degrees

Fill greased muffin tins 2/3 of the way full.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until muffin tops spring back after lightly touched.

Brush tops of muffins with melted butter while still warm and sprinkle lightly with sugar.

Now kick your heels up and ENJOY!

Alice in Wonderland Haunted House mini album...

2010-10-24T19:57:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! I know, I know...your wondering why in the world would I make another Halloween album when I barely had enough pictures to put in the first one...BUT. I had bought this Graphic 45 paper this year and couldn't stand it...I just had to use it. So I figured that each year I can sit the little album out and in many years to come I can put my grandbabies pictures in it. The front of the album is actually 3D but it's not showing up in the pictures for some reason. Alice is 3D and all glittered as well as the little pumpkin and the keyhole is completely covered in glossy accents and then of course there is the metal key in the upper corner. I also have tabs that pull out from each corner. Oh by the way this is an exploding box along the same lines as the envelope exploding box but there wasn't a store bought envelope one used in this album.

Here is one of the side views of the little house. I used Martha Stewarts iron gate fence. This fence is actually purple but is showing up blue for some reason.

Here is another side. All 3 sides are the same with different tags tucked behind the fence.

When you open it of course you can see all of it but I thought I'd take you through each "layer". The first layer are all doors to mimick the doors that Alice encountered in the movie. The little playing card is moveable so you can place a picture up behind it. I used keyhole brads on each door as well.

Then when you open the doors there is a pocket on the back side of the door with a tag and a mat on the opposite page with another moveable small tag in the upper corner.

Here is the second "layer". Now for this layer I used the smaller black paper bags that you can get at Michaels. I tucked a tag inside and added a big pretty rhinestone brad and at the bottom of each bag there is a name plate where you can actually tuck another tag. Sorry I forgot to put my shipping tags behind there so that I could show you.

Then here is the 3rd and last layer. This is the only envelope that is in the album. I actually used my envelope template and some cardstock to make them. and then I added tags and key brads to the tab tops.

Then POOF here is what it looks like when the roof is taken off the top. I added a big nice flower and a little mouse. I like to add my finishing embellishments once my pictures are in my albums so that's why it's a bit on the plain side. But I do hope that this inspires you all in some way.
I'm hoping that everyone is having a good weekend and I'll be seeing you soon....come on back ya'll!

BOO! My first Halloween mini album....

2010-10-19T16:57:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! Well here it is.....it's not only my first Halloween mini album but it's also my first paper bag mini album as well. Let me tell ya...I had a lot of fun making this one but was a bit disappointed when I went to looking for pictures to go inside it. I still don't have them printed off and placed in the album yet but I had such a hard time coming up with pictures of my son dressed up. It was so disheartening to me. I'm not sure why I didn't take many Halloween pictures. I had thought that I would have to make 2 Halloween mini albums to get all the pictures in but that's just not the case at all. But anyway...enough of my sorrows about the pictures, let me go ahead and describe the album to you.
First off, just about everything in this album came from scrapbuck.com. I don't think that I shared my haul with you when I received all this great stuff several weeks ago. But just about everything in here came from their online store. I first used We R Memory Keepers Heebie Jeebies paper line along with some plain cardstock. The roof of my little haunted house was used cutting strips of black cardstock using the Fiskars sunflower scissors and then layered on top of one another so that it would look like shingles. I also used a Martha Stewart punch to make the top decorative piece...it was an edge punch but I don't remember the name of it. I'm thinking its something like gothic arches or something like that. After I did all of that I sprayed the roof of the house with glimmer mist (Diamond Dust) and it gave the roof a nice patina. Then of course I used the new Martha Stewart iron gate deep edge punch for the widow walk on the roof....that is what those are called right? There are little bats on the fence that I added some glitter too so that they would stand out. Now onto the body of the house. I haphazardly cut small strips of chipboard and laid them out so that they would form my windows. There are several layers to the windows...first off after I cut those chipboard pieces I used some charcoal ink to make them look old then I used some of the acetate packaging from some stickers I had used to make "glass" for the windows and added some coffee stained cheese cloth as my torn and tattered "curtains" then I added a sticker on top of the acetate but behind the "panes" so it looked as if you were peeping into the windows....or that someone was peeping out..whatever be the case. Then I used some glittered ghost stickers, an Enter at your own risk sticker above the door and then I used the Martha Stewart iron gate edge punch again at the bottom. I'll get to the door in a second...

Here you can see that on the binding I used a small skeleton that I found at Dollar Tree. I added some googly eyes to him as well as a little black and white bow around his neck. (I just had to make him a bit cute) then I cut strips of the coffee stained cheese cloth and tied that to the binding as well. I hung Mr. Skeleton from the binding using a Tim Holtz clasp.

Here's a peep of what appears when you open the front door....it's just an old witch stirring her brew. On the outside of the door I used a Memory Makers metal keyhole brad and then since I had an entire string of those skeletons, I decided that I'd cut one of them up to see what I could make with the "parts". So I sliced his skull in half and added some red glitter to his eyes and it now adorns the front door. (hmmm this description of how I dissected the skeleton sounds scary ) then I needed something for my hinges so I cut slits of the Iron Gate punch and glittered them to make my hinges and added an EEEK 3D sticker.

For my closure I used a Tim Holtz Hitching post and one of his swivel clasps. Squeeeeak! Now lets open the album and see what's on the inside.....if you dare...

Like I said this is a paper bag album and my very first one. But before I talk about the pages I need to mention that the moon in the upper right hand corner is cardstock covered chipboard with a plastic rubberised bat that I found at Dollar Tree as well. Now back to the paper bag pages.....I just quite simply slapped 2 of the black paper bags together (I found those at Michael's) and then as I glued the two flat sides of the paper bags together I only glued 3 sides to that I could have a pocket in the center of the bags for a large tags....after all these albums are all about the pictures right??? At least they are to me anyway and I like to have as much real estate as possible in one.

So when you pull all the tags out for these pages you can see that there are several places to put the much cherished pictures. For the tag that slides in between the 2 glued paper bags I used the McGill tab punch and just alternated it as I made more pages so that they are stair stepped and on this tab I also added a plastic spider that I also found at Dollar Tree.

Here are a few more of the pages with all the tabs pulled out or shifted. The images at the bottoms of the tags in the purple and black are actually flocked and really added a nice touch I thought.

I will embellish the album even more once I get the pictures printed and placed.

And a few more pages.....***note the tab pull on this one...yep you guessed it its an arm bone and hand ... connected of course (are you humming that song yet? Let me help you.....the hip bones connected to the leg bone and the leg bones connected to the ankle bone) nayyyy I'll just stick to my day job...you all don't want me singing to you...chances are I got the wording wrong anyway.

Ok so here is that last page. I plan on using the front and back covers to put notes and journaling to my son. I know that one day he will get all these albums so I wanted to first off apologize to him for not taking more pictures of him dressed up but then also talk about all the things I remember about Halloween when he was just a little fellow. It just breaks my heart that I don't have more pictures than what I do of him dressed up. However, I do still have 2 of his Halloween costumes from when he was a toddler. I used to order his costumes from The Disney Store...so he was both Pooh and Tigger.....the sad sad thing is...I don't have a picture one of him in his Pooh costume and he loved Pooh the best. Let me tell you when he was a toddler Pooh was playing on tv 24/7. I had memorized every line to every Pooh video there was and yet.....not one single picture of him in his costume. I plan on saving those costumes and one day maybe I'll get to take pictures of grand babies in them.
I hope that everyone is having a wonderful Tuesday! As for me I'm headed back to the craft room to see what else I can get brewing in my cauldron and as always you all know that I'll be sharing with you what else I come up with......so come on back and visit soon.

I've been blinging my world.....

2010-10-18T21:08:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! Remember me telling you about this new Creative Memories scrapbooking luggage that I had bought and I was doing something to it???? Well here it is before I touched it.....but it's kind of boring and plain huh? So what's a girl to do?.....

THIS is what she does! She pulls out her glue and bling and just starts have a good time. Now for some odd reason it isn't showing all the pretty bling that has been added to all 3 pieces but the bling is crystal and pink and anywhere there was white daisies on the bags....that got blinged! I also added some pretty pink ribbon on all the pulls. I decided on pink since the inside of all the cases are pink.

Even in this picture...you can see that there is bling there but it's not showing the correct color....I need to get better with a camera or my lightening was bad or something. Not sure what happened but trust me IT IS BLINGED! and sooo pretty. I'm starting to think that my favorite color is "Sparkle"!
Now these bags will be all ready for next month when I go to the scrapbooking retreat! I'm so excited to get to go to it again. Remember I went back in Feb or March of this year and had the time of my life! So I'm getting things ready to go again.
As far as my Halloween mini album....well I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I worked on it a bit more today but have been having some problems with my back so I can't sit for very long at all cause it irritates my back even more. So I'm just taking my time finishing that album up and babying my back. But I'll be sure to show it to you all just as soon as I get it done.
Hope that everyone is have a great start to the week and I'll be back soon, so come on back by........

Debbie's album completed and delivered!...

2010-10-14T15:47:00.000-04:00

WARNING! This post has lots of pictures....
So I finished Debbie's little album then had been so busy doing other projects and such that I forgot to post pictures of the final outcome. On the front cover I used some Prima flowers, a butterfly that came from scrapbuck.com, some pretty pearl bling, a paper doily and some bling from scrapbuck.com. Then I also added a pretty pearl brad that I picked up at Michael's to use as my closure. The little white hairband wraps around it to keep it snug. It turned out quite "chunky" to say the least. Matter of fact....

it was so "chunky" that instead of using the bind it all I had to lace it up using some pretty ribbon. Actually I thought it turned out even cuter that way. On the "binding" I added a pretty flower paper clip with some beads dangling from it as well as a distressed metal heart and added the letter D on it. Then added some extra ribbon clippings from my stash.

I don't think that I took pictures of all of the little things pulled out for the rest of the album. But that's ok cause you all have the idea of how I was making the inserts.

This is another one of the pages that opens waaaay up into a full 12x12 piece of cardstock.

I had to set this picture aside to stand on it's own cause Suzie's house is so pretty and it has so much CHARM!

This was some pictures of us when we went on a shopping trip.....NO we couldn't even behave ourselves out in public....it's not much fun when you do is it??

Those masks were so pretty. I would of bought one if I could figure out what to do with it once I got it home...they were gorgeous!

Here is another one of the pages that opens up to a 12x12 page with loads of room for pictures.

I will give you a total at the end of just how many pictures I was able to get into this little mini album. I think you will be shocked to find out just how many it really held.

OOPS! This picture turned sideways on me and I don't know how to make it go the right way...so just turn your head crooked and you'll be able to see it.

Ok that's it for the album but I did take pictures of one more of the little "booklets" that opens up into a 12x12 page so you can see how I added pictures to it.

That one sheet of paper will hold a lot of pictures huh?
Ok are you ready for the GRAND TOTAL of how many pictures I was able to get into this little mini album? ..... Drum roll please.......97 pictures!!! No, you aren't seeing things. I actually was able to get that many pictures in this one little album. I had the most fun making this little album. I laughed so hard as I was adding the pictures cause it took me back to when they were actually being taken and believe me if you can't have fun and enjoy yourself at Suzie's house then there is something seriously wrong with you. I can honestly say that this is by far my most favorite mini album that I've made so far. I just loved it and hope that Debbie gets many of good laughs out of it and enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it for her.
So what else have I been working on??? Well I have been working on a Halloween mini album. I just about have it all complete except for my pictures but as soon as I finish with the pages I'll go ahead and show it so you don't have to wait for me to get the pictures printed out and put in the album. I've also been working on blinging my my new scrapbook luggage that I got this past weekend at one of the crops. I've been wanting this piece of luggage forever cause it's so big! Plus it's Creative Memories stuff and if you've ever bought anything from them you know that it's good quality stuff that's built to last. So I'm working on personalizing it so that it will be all ready to go next month when I leave for the scrapbooking retreat. Looks like I'm going to have to make a trip to Hobby Lobby though before I can finish that project cause I'm out of rhinestones. I'll show you all that finished project once it's done as well.
Hope that everyone is having a wonderful week and I'll be seeing you real soon.....

Happy Fall Everyone....

2010-10-06T17:26:00.000-04:00

I'm wondering if the chill of fall is in the air in the area of the world that your in....it sure has hit here in the hills of Tennessee. It was downright chilly this past weekend while my husband, son and I were away in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. But that didn't keep us from having a good time! We were away celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary and only got to spend one night but we made the most of it. It was so refreshing for me that I came home full of energy and started in on my fall cleaning. I'm still working on it but took time out yesterday to put out a few of my decorations that I've made. I'm not going to do a big display at all this year...just a few things here and there around the inside of the house and I'll call it good.

I thought that I'd put several of my favorite decorations in this tall glass vase so I could see them all at once while I'm doing the dishes.

My super simple centerpiece for the table.

And last but certainly not least here is my husband and myself from this past weekend. We were on our way to play putt putt and listen to the live outdoor band. It was such a peaceful and relaxing weekend for all of us.
Today is actually our anniversary although we celebrated early. I'd like to say Happy Anniversary to my hubby of 11 years....I love you dearly!
Hope that everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday...it's back to work on fall cleaning for me tomorrow. I'm wanting to hurry and get it done so I can get back to my craft room.......

Belated birthday gift! What a joy!....

2010-10-01T23:17:00.000-04:00

What a wonderful surprise!! I went to lunch with one of my good friends this week and since we hadn't seen one another in months she brought my birthday gift! Squeeeal! Brenda you really overdone yourself! Look everyone at everything I got! First she bought me the Creative Memories Daisy tote to put whatever you like in. I'm using it for all my brads, eyelets and bling! Loooove it! Then she bought me a memory maker bracelet where I can add my own pictures! How neat is that? Then there's a clipboard for me to alter. That will be a fun project. A beautiful metal key! I just about drooled when I saw that cause it will be soo perfect hanging on the side of a mini album. She bought me a Creative Memories luggage tag! Love it and desperately needed it since my HUGE piece of scrapbooking luggage will be here next week. (p.s. I got the best deal on that thanks to the help of my friends!) Thank you all!!!! Then Brenda found some of the cutest file folders ever. I love them. And she picked me up some hand sanitizer from Bath and Body Works. Look at the beautiful card she gave me...I just love it! Thank you thank you thank you Brenda. I really appreciate and love it all.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Money saving tip for scrapbookers and crafters...

2010-10-01T22:20:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! I know that most scrapbookers, card makers and crafters in general have been using Tattered Angels glimmer mist. Now I don't know about you all but that stuff is expensive, so I searched the web high and low to find the best deal on it and what I found was www.scrapbooking-warehouse.com they sell if for only $4.75 a bottle. That's the cheapest I was able to find it. Sometimes you kind of have to wait til they get another shipment in but it's the cheapest place that I've found for them.
Hope that this has helped someone out there that is trying to save a few dollars.
I have many things that I want to share with you all but will be MIA til Sunday night probably. Hope that everyone has a WONDERFUL weekend!

Three bean chili! So Yummy!....

2010-09-29T03:22:00.000-04:00

Is it getting chilly out where you are? Well it is here in Tennessee and over the weekend it really felt like fall and was all rainy and yucky so what's a girl to do? I had been scanning over some other blogs and ran across a three bean chili but didn't quite have all of the ingredients in it that it called for sooooo I was like a mad scientist in the kitchen and came up with my own version of it. Here's the recipe in case you want to make it yourself.

2 cans diced tomatoes chili style
1 can of red kidney beans
1 can of black beans
1 can of chili beans in hot sauce
1 package of chili seasoning
1 teaspoon of cumin
salt and pepper
1 large yellow onion
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 can of chicken stock

TOPPING INGREDIENTS:
sour cream
dried chives
crushed tortillas (I used these but I have to say that we didn't like them on it, it made them turn to a soggy chewy mess so I want make that mistake again)
grated montery jack cheese

In a large pot put all your beans and tomatoes, add the chili mix and cumin and salt and pepper. In a skillet put a bit of olive oil in the bottom just enough to coat it a little. Then chop your onions and peppers and saute them. Then after they are nice and sauteed add your chicken stock to release all the good stuff off the bottom of your skillet. Add this to your pot with the beans and tomatoes in them. Let cook over medium heat for about 45 minutes to an hour. I personally think the longer it cooks the better the ingredients blend together.
Once the chili is finished cooking serve up in a bowl and add your montery jack cheese, a dollop of sour cream, dried chives and the crushed tortillas (if you dare)

It's soooo yummy! My husband and son went back for 2nd and 3rds! So it's a hit in this house! Hmmm you never know what will be the outcome when I go to the kitchen to cook and take on the roll of a mad scientist! This was a success!
Hope that everyone has a wonderful day and come on back and see me soon.

Dollar Tree haul 9-29-10.....

2010-09-29T03:07:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone here is part of my haul from Dollar Tree today. The other stuff was just things like shampoo, body sprays and such...nothing exciting. The above picture is the view of all of it but I had to do some close ups so you could see some of the things a little better.

Ok don't laugh, but I found some mini tiaras combs that I plan on cutting the backs off of and using in crafts some way or another. It will be a challenge but will be a fun one. The little pearl tipped bobby pins will for sure go in scrapbooks...I thought they were just darling.

EEEEEK! It's a mouse! I despise mice but I have some Halloween paper ordered to make a couple mini albums and I needed something three dimensional to put in them. I also found another pack that has a plastic rubbery bat in it but I forgot to take a picture of it.

Oh my word!!! I found the most beautiful snowflakes ever was today. They have the ones in the plastic packaging in an assorted of sizes but I liked this size cause I for sure plan on using them on layouts and in mini albums. Yes people I'm sorry I'm just hooked on making my own albums right now.

Hey Rudolph! I found these two heavily glittered reindeer with jingle bells around there necks and yep you guessed it.....in a mini album or on a page layout for sure!

Aren't these doves beautiful??? They are heavily glittered as well and I'm planning on making a wedding mini album and thought that these 2 doves would be pretty on the front cover somehow...what do you think? They are really vintage looking.

And last but certainly not least! I found these GORGEOUS coffee cups! The had the plates and bowls to match but I have to be careful cause I already have 3 sets of dishes and really don't need anymore but I just had to get the cups cause they go with my decor in the kitchen. Then the lidded glass jars in the center I'm going to use to store small things in in the craft room.
Well that's all for this shopping day! I'm exhausted but for some reason can not sleep.

I went junkin' today....

2010-09-29T02:49:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! Yes can you believe it? I got out and finally went junkin' today! That's the first time in almost a year that I've been. I shiver to think of all the wonderful things that I've missed, however I did find some really neat things today! I just love this one thrift store. It's so nice and ALWAYS has something that I feel like I can't live without . Let me go over some of the things that I bought and what I plan on using them for. I'll start at the top and I hope that the picture is clear enough for you to see all these "treasures" that I found.
In the upper left hand corner there are three tarnished brass bugles. I plan on making a Christmas wreath and putting those on it. Now one of them however is quite short so I'm curious to see if I could use it on the front of a Christmas mini album. Not sure if it's possible or not but hey for .49 it's worth a shot right? I found a spool of some old string that I thought might come in handy for any craft project so I'll tuck that in my stash I thought.
In the upper right hand corner you can see three books. An encyclopedia, an olllld dictionary, and one that's labeled Family album. In the family album there are a ton of old poems and quotes that I thought would be perfect torn or cut out to use on layouts for my scrapbooking. I also plan on using the old aged dictionary and encylopedia for layouts. I found a brand new little birds nest and I'm sorry I have this thing for birds and bird nests. Not sure what I'll do with it yet but I couldn't leave it laying there. Then the other little thing in the white package is a tiny little hinge. I'm thinking of making some kind of "door" for a mini album. Not sure if it would work out but then again it's worth a shot. I only gave .29 for it. Each of the hardback books were only $1!
In the lower left hand corner, you can see a music book and an American Heritage book. Same idea run through my head with both of these....you can rip them up and using them on layouts. I gave $1 for the hardback and $.50 for the music book. Then on top of the books you can see a pink belt and a black pair of suspenders. Ok, now try to visualize this in your head. The pink belt...it has a really pretty rhinestone buckle and the belt can be cut to any length and then you can always hem the end back up after you have the length you want. I was thinking about using it as a closure for a mini album! And then the suspenders....I looked and looked to see if I could figure out a way to make it work as a closure and I can't figure it out BUT since it's such a beautiful lacy looking pattern I can always cut it up and use it like ribbon on an album or layout. I only gave $1 each for them.
Ok lastly, in the lower right hand corner you can see some doillies and some confetti. I use dollies already in my albums so these had a different pattern on them so I just had to have them. I gave a whopping $.19 for them. Then the confetti I plan on using it in a shaker box for scrapbooking. I can't rememeber how much they were but I'm sure it wasn't much.
It felt so good to get out today and do some junkin' I had missed it so bad. Thank you Brenda for going with me. It was a spur of the moment thing and I loved it!
Ok ya'll stick around cause I have more to share with you!

3rd page to Debbie's mini album.....

2010-09-25T23:13:00.001-04:00

Ok I'm going to try to go ahead and get this third page on the blog tonight. Pray that I am able to keep my eyes open long enough to do it.

Here is the front cover with the same flap that I used on the first page. I used some Prima flowers, some punched butterflies and some bought sticker butterflies. I loooove me some butterflies for sure!

Here you can see that this is another tri-fold card/mini album in itself that tucks in the front pocket. Start keeping up with just how many pictures I was able to get into this page...I'll give you a grand total at the end.

The "Gangsta" sign is just a little inside joke that me and my sisters have. Don't read anything else into other than the fact that we looooove to be silly.

Here is the pull out large tag I like the way that I was able to get a punched pink border around that picture. I'll share something with you after I show you the rest of this page.

Ok this looks a bit different huh? well I decided to make a pull out "photo card" on the front of the flap this time. I used some Prima flowers and a K & Company fabric brad as my center as well as just a plain little pink paper clip to hold the pages together until they want to be opened.

Boom! There you have it! A place for 4 more pictures.

Then on the back of the flap is yet another picture as well as 2 more pictures on the very back page. Now lets see...how many pictures did I manage to get into this page in total? 13 on this one. There is one picture that you can't see that's on the back of the tri fold mini that goes in the front pocket.
Now that I've shown you all the ones that I have made so far that means I'm going to have to get busy in the morning to start wrapping this project up.
Now what I was going to tell you. I probablyshould have just told you all in a separate post BUT it doesn't matter I don't suppose. I'm extremely new to making mini albums. Back when I started scrapbooking it was 11 yrs ago and I was doing nothing but 12 x 12 layouts and everything was flat! I wouldn't hardly ever put anything with any dimension in my albums. And so many things have changed since then. So many new tools, so many more options as far as supplies. And then the big craze of making mini albums. I personally am loving making those but have so far to go in making some gorgeous ones like I've seen some others make. I myself can already see where I'm growing just a bit as far as the mini albums go. I would make them and then not embellish them at all. So bare with me, stick around and watch me evolve into hopefully something inspiring for you all! Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you later!

2nd page of Debbie's mini album...

2010-09-25T22:27:00.001-04:00

Hi all! I'm back! I'm a little behind today posting this and have already taken my sleeping medicine so I do hope that what I post will make sense.
Anyway, here is the second page of Debbie's mini album.

Just like I said last night, I used the My Minds Eye Laundry Line paper throughout the entire mini album.

This time I made over sized tags so that I could incorporate larger pictures on them. I have pictures on the front and the back.

I kept this page fairly simple. I used a K & Company chipboard flower and not sure who makes the butterflies.

Here is the insert for this page...this is nothing different than all the other Following the Paper Trail Z fold mini albums have been.

Here is the flap for this page...now remember I didn't put the pockets at the top like I have in previous z fold mini's.

Here the page is folded out. And you can see the back page better now. I used a K & C large fabric brad for a decorative touch and a heart paper clip to hold all the pages together until someone want to look at them. You'll see what I'm talking about in the next picture.

See how it opens up.....it's another fold card that holds 4 pictures. So now lets see...let me see what the grand total of pictures are in this page. I was able to get 15 pictures in this one page! Amazing huh? I need to go back to the first page and count cause just on that one page I had 15 pictures!
Ok I'll wait til morning to post the other page cause I'm really needing to get some rest. Sweet dreams to you all and I'll see you back here soon!

A mini album for Debbie.... :)

2010-09-25T04:25:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone....or should I say good morning. It's 4 a.m. here and I'm wide awake. I woke up with a burst of energy and for the life of me I can't go back to sleep. So I'm going to try to catch up on posting some things. This is a mini album that I made for my sweet dear friend that is also like a sister to me. When I went on my trip to Oklahoma to see Suzie (the other sis) , Debbie wasn't able to go so I thought, hmmm what better way for her to see everything that went on. Plus she can have something to laugh about from time to time as she looks at the album. So here goes..

The mini is yet another one of the Z fold album using the 6" x 9" envelopes. I love using these because you can get so many pictures in them and I needed a lot of room to hold alllll the pictures that were took. I used My Minds Eye Laundry Line paper and I just love it. It has glitter and shimmer all over it and is just wonderful to work with.

On the first flap pocket instead of using 2 tags like I have previously. I made a tri-fold card, again so I could take advantage of every space possible.

Oh how I just loved this page. Quite a while back I was watching a youtube video and saw this lady make this little photo wallet using just one sheet of 12"x 12" double sided paper and so when I had all these pictures before me that I wanted to put together, I remembered the video and thought....peeeerfect! So I used a Making Memories metal arrow as my latch. I so wish that I could remember the name of the lady that I saw make this so that I could give her proper credit. I'm so sorry for being so forgetful. Ok so now you turn the little metal arrow and....

Waaaa Laaaa! You just keep opening each section and there you have all 15 photos on one 12"x 12" paper! Yes that wasn't a typo...I said 15! There are photos on the back of the pictures you see here as well. I have to admit though it does make your album a bit on the chunky side but that's ok....I'll worry about the binding later. I had planned on using my bind it all but may have to resort to lacing it up with some pretty ribbon...which will be pretty as well I think.....

Ok now that the little wallet is all folded back up you can see the large tag that pulls out. I used a Prima flower and some bling for my pull tab.

Ok now here we are at the flaps that I made with the pretty paper. This time I didn't make pockets at the top of the flaps like I normally do. Ok I'll tell you a little secret...I'm not real pleased with how this turned out. I think that when I got to this page it was time that I turn the lights out in the craft room and close the door behind me so that I could think straight again. Do any of you all ever have moments where you've scrapped for so long that your just brain dead and when you go back and look at something you've done you think to yourself...."what was I thinking????" Well that's the case here with me. I had bought myself a new Martha Stewart border punch and I was playing with it and this was the outcome. Please be gentle with the comments. However, if you have an idea of how to make the page look better please please leave me a comment and let me know.

And here is the last page....again go easy on me with the new punch....this side doesn't look as bad as the other side but I'm still not completely satisfied with it. The quotes throughout the album are from K & Company the Brenda Walton line.
Well that's all I have to share for this page. Like I said please feel free to leave me a comment if you have ANY suggestions at all on how I can make the flap on this page look better.
Ok so I went back and counted and in this mini alone there are 23 pictures!
I think that I'll get in the hot tub and soak for a bit to see if it will relax me so I can go back to sleep. I'm hoping that no one else is up at this time of the morning and that your all having sweet dreams!
I'll post the next page real soon. Hmmmm if I can't sleep it may turn out to be sooner than I think.
Night all and come back to see me soon.............

September Scrapbooking Haul....

2010-09-12T01:56:00.004-04:00

Hi everyone! I know it's been a while since I posted anything on the blog but life has kind of been in the way of me blogging. Then on top of that I've been really sick. But while I've been trying to recuperate, I went to scrapbuck.com and found several treasured embellishments that I thought you would be interested to see. And of course as I've explained before....scrapbuck.com has WONDERFUL prices. It's like a scrapbook dollar store and I just love it. Anyway, here is what I bought. The above picture shows the pretty brads, ribbon, bling and metal embellishments.

Here you can see that I found several borders. The flowered border is 3 dimensional and the ribbon borders are soooo pretty. Then I had to get a sticker that said Oklahoma to go in my scrapbook for when I do the ones from my recent trip there to see Suzie from over at The Happy Shack. I also picked up some vellum quotes as well as a couple more stickers that I really liked.

At the top of this picture you can see that I found more flower borders in several colors. Then there are some chipboard stickers, rub ons, some more 3D flowers and some beautiful bird stickers.

Here you can see that I stumbled upon some cardstock stickers in different patterns and some with sayings. Then there are velvet stickers that has some bling on them, some more chipboard stickers and some vintage rub ons.

Then last, I also bought some more butterfly and dragonfly stickers, some chipboard pieces, acetate pieces, chipboard buttons and a stack of patterned paper that I just love.

I've never been disappointed with any of my purchases from scrapbuck.com and will continue to go back. As many of you all know embellishments is what makes a scrapbook but they can be quite expensive. I just really feel like you can't beat their prices.

I've been watching some scrapbook hauls through youtube.com and have noticed that a lot of ladies are finding some great deals at Tuesday Morning. So I want to go check them out and see if my local store has any great deals.

Oh speaking of youtube. I have tried my best to make some more videos for you all but for some reason none of them are wanting to upload for me. I'll keep trying cause I know that I like to see things on video rather than still pictures, but for now this is the best that I can do. I will continue to try the videos though, just bear with me.

Hope you all log into scrapbuck.com and pick up some of the super deals like I did.

Have a WONDERFUL day everyone and I'll be back soon. I have a project that I was working on before I got sick and hopefully I can start posting some pictures of it. So you all come on back soon......

In Memory of my Grandfather...

2010-09-02T21:24:00.006-04:00

I took this post off of my website that I built years ago and no longer maintain. I thought that since my mom was still sharing that link with family members, that I would go ahead and place this poem and picture of my grandfather on here so it will be easier for everyone to see. I think it's the most appropriate time in doing this too since his birthday was in Sept and had he still been living would be 101 this year. It's still so difficult for me to believe that he's no longer with us. I'll post the poem I wrote and had on my website as well as what I wrote on my website about him........let us never forget where we came from and who it was that helped to mold you into what kind of person you've become today.

BRING BACK THE MEMORIES

Bring back the memories

From long ago

When dad was able

To get out and go

And bring back the stories

he used to share

of neighbors who called

and friends who cared

As time passes by

and his stories fade

no family to share with

the choices they have made

But he knows one day

his children will grow

and share his old stories

with their very own

His hair is now grey

and his back is quite weak

but people still listen

when this big man speaks

Cause he speaks with great strength

and intelligence too

Just do the opposite

and see who says "I told you"

Dad is still a strong fighter

with quite a sane mind

his wisdom and encouragement

help in hard times

Dad is the backbone

of our family of three

and he's done a good job

as we all can see

So bring back the memories

from long ago

in stories of family

and days of old

written by Robin Brown

September 1994

(THIS IS WHAT I ALSO WROTE ON MY OLD WEBSITE ABOUT THE POEM AND MY GRANDFATHER):

"I wrote this poem on the spur of the moment for my mom and her two sisters. We had a big birthday party for my papaw, and all his family was there. We had to rent a lodge hall cause the Hackler family is so huge. I didn't think that I'd be able to write this cause usually the only way that I can write poetry is if it just hits me or if I'm trying to express my feelings in some sort of manner.

However, I sat down and it just all of a sudden hit me and I couldn't write as fast as it was popping in my head. I know that it was the work of God that did that for me because in January or 1999 my Papaw passed away. I am so glad that I wrote this and that he got to hear it at his birthday party. It was read out loud to everyone there and I will never forget the huge grin on my Papaws face while it was being read. My Papaw and Granny were very special to me and when my papaw died, I lost my mentor. He taught me so many things about life and how to handle situations. I'm not sure if he ever even realized what a huge impact that he had on my life. But those lessons of life that he taught me...well they are embedded within me and yes....they are plenty of things that he would still be teaching me and plenty of times since his passing that he would of looked at me and shook his finger and said "I told you so"

I love you Papaw and I will see you and Granny again someday"

Gatefold mini album tutorial.....

2010-08-06T12:34:00.004-04:00

Welcome back! Ok to start with you will need (10) 9"x6" envelopes. That will be 5 for each side. First off take and cut the glue flap completely off and then cut just a sliver off of the bottom so that it will be open. Then measuring from the bottom, make a score mark at 2 1/2" and fold.

You can see in this picture what it looks like once the pattern paper is on the envelope. But if you want to add a decorative border on all the left hand pages like I did please continue to read so I can show you how I did that.

Once you have cut the flap off of the sticky glue end. Cut a (5) 1" x 6" strips of white cardstock (can use whatever color you want too, I just used white) and then use a decorative edge punch the entire length of the strip. Then glue that to the flat front of your page on the end where the glue flap once was. Just like you see in the picture. I'll give you the dimensions of your pattern paper at the end of this tutorial to save you some time.

As you can see in this picture I have the patterned paper glued on top of where I placed the decorative punched strip. I also attached my binding before I added my pattern paper to give it a more clean crisp and finished look.

Here is how the binding goes on....... cut (10) 2" x 6" pieces of white cardstock (or whatever color you choose), then score all of those in half. I used my Bind-it-all to punch the holes but you could use a small hole punch and book binding rings if you like...either one would work. Then measuring from the end of the envelope where it has been folded over, measure 1/2" at the top and bottom and draw a pencil line. This will show you how far over to glue each binder strip on and all of them will be evenly placed for you once your album is complete.

Now it's time to cover all your envelopes here is what you will need.

(20) 6 1/4" x 5 3/4" pattern paper for the larger areas of the envelopes

(20) 2 1/4" x 5 3/4" pattern paper for the smaller pockets that were folded up from the bottom.

Ok that will cover all the envelopes now lets move on to the larger inside pockets where the factory opening (or glue flap used to be). First off I used a large hole punch and only went half way in at the center of each of those openings so that the tags that I put in there will be easier to pull out. I also added another little extra detail that you probably couldn't see in any of the pictures but you can see it when those larger tags are removed. I used a strip of pattern paper measuring 1 1/2" x 5 3/4" and glued that to the inside of the INSIDE upper edge of the factory open end so that when the tag is removed you wouldn't see just a plain white envelope. You would need 10 of those.

Then since I didn't put a decorative punched border on all the right hand side pages I decided to add just a strip of my scrap pattern paper and used that along the edge of each of those pages on the front and back......that strip will be added at the factory edge opening as well and those strips measure 1/2" x 5 3/4" and you will need (10) of those for the front and back. In the second picture from the top you can see where I added that strip of pattern paper.

For the tags that go inside the larger pocket, you will need (10) 6" x 5 3/4" pieces of either pattern paper or colored cardstock. I haven't made my tags yet for the smaller flap but you could use the office supply shipping tags or just make your own. Or you could make another larger tag and slip that in the 2 1/2" pocket. That's just all personal preference.

Now your ready to make your front and back covers. Here is the supply list that you will need:

(1) 10 1/2" x 7" medium weight chipboard

(2) 5 1/4" x 7" medium weight chipboard

(1) 11 1/2" x 8" pattern paper for back

(2) 6" x 8" pieces of pattern paper for front covers

Once all those are covered be sure before you punch your holes or use your Bind-it-all that all your pages are turned correctly. Now your ready to put your album together and decorate the front covers. You will notice that there will be a slight lap over of the 2 front covers. I did that on purpose so that once I put all my embellishments and photos in the album I would have some room to grow. To latch my covers together I used Tim Holtz hitch post and a plain hair band.

I do hope that this tutorial is descriptive enough but in case I've forgotten a step or overlooked something please feel free to leave a comment and I'll be glad to help. For all of my readers from overseas I do apologize for not having these measurements in metric form. But I'm hoping that you can use a converter to get the correct measurements. I was going to try it but I'm terrible at those kind of things and just knew that I would mess it allllll up.

I will continue to try to get the video up and on here for you all. It basically tells you everything that I just went over with you except I went into greater detail on this post than I did in the video.

I hope that if nothing else this inspires you to try making a mini album yourself and if you do please please send me a comment as to where I can view your creation. For many many years all that I would do were 12" x 12" scrapbooks that were store bought but now I'm just absolutely hooked on making these little mini albums. Although I love doing many other crafts as well. I bet my sewing machine thinks I've died cause it hasn't been used in almost a year now. YIKES! But with fall coming on I'm starting to feel the urge to get it back out and sew something up. But for now....I'm just having fun with paper.

Hope that everyone is having a wonderful wonderful day and God Bless.

My first Gatefold mini album.....

2010-08-06T12:11:00.006-04:00

Hi everyone! I thought I'd share with you the mini album that I made yesterday. I tried my best to make a video to show you but for some reason I can't get it to load. Yes, I'm a newbie at you tube videos but I'm trying my best and still in the learning process of not only blogging but videoing as well now so just bare with me.
This is a gatefold album. I used 9" x 6" envelopes for it and have used 10 in total. I'll do a tutorial in the next post and will walk you through it as best I can with pictures. The paper I used was from K & Company and is the K-ology line. Plus I used Prima flowers, Tim Holtz metal embellishments and hitch for the closure as well as more K & Company embellishments.

This is what it looks like when you open it up. The pages alternate from the left to the right and intertwine. So in other words you open the left hand side page then the right hand side and so on and so forth.

This is what it looks like after opening the left hand side. You can see that the right hand side needs to be opened now to go further into the album. Also note that I didn't use the decorative border on any of the pages on the right hand side. I just left those plain so it would be easier to open up.

I'll walk you through these pages along with a short tutorial in my next post. But if you have ANY questions about any of it just leave me a comment and I'll be more than glad to help you in any way that I possibly can.

I haven't put ANY of the embellishments in this album yet cause I'm waiting til I print my pictures off from what I'll be taking this weekend at our family reunion. Plus I thought that it would be easier for you to see the basic structure if I showed it to you plain.

So stick around, the tutorial is on it's way....

Second try at adding videos.....

2010-08-03T02:11:00.005-04:00

Hi everyone! Just thought that I would try my hand at making this video work like this for you instead of you having to click the link....please bare with me as this is a learning process for me. The little mini album was so fun and easy to make once I got the hang of it. I didn't think that I would ever be able to make it. But couldn't hardly wait to share it with you all. So hopefully this will work better for you. If I can get the hang of the videos I'll do more for you and can possibly walk you through the steps of making some of these creations.

UPDATE: I meant to say "I know that everyone has seen an exploding box" rather than saying and exploding card....I was nervous so forgive me.

Exploding envelope mini album....

2010-08-03T00:31:00.004-04:00

Hi everyone! So glad to see that you made it back. I worked in the craft room all day Sunday on this little project. I had been watching a video on you tube about how to make one and decided that I would try it. It's an exploding box. It's made completely out of envelopes and card stock. I had seen the exploding cards but never had seen anything to where you could put pictures in it so I just had to try this.

Here it is opened. Now I knew that it would be near impossible for me to show you the full effects of this project unless I somehow came up with a way to video it and post it on here. So my little pea sized brain started thinking about how to do it. I knew it could be done cause so many other blogs have video on them but you have to remember....I'm not real computer savvy so just bear with me. It took me all day to get this figured out but I think and I repeat, I think that I have it right now. So the link below will show you the box in action and I talk a little more about the box itself and all it's function.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTO3AgcD0PI

Hope that you enjoy!

Follow your Heart mini album part 3....

2010-07-30T15:50:00.004-04:00

Ok this is the last few pages of this album....

I'm so sorry that I couldn't get those pictures to turn for me. I've rotated them in every program I have on my computer and they still want stay put even with me saving the changes. I'm sure that it's operator error...I just don't know what to do about it.

I haven't been in the craft room much lately cause we had new flooring put down throughout the house except in the bedrooms and we are planning on putting all new carpet in those soon. So I've been busy busy trying to keep things cleaned as best as I can. The construction is finally done and it's all cleaned back up and it seems like all I want to do now is sleep. It was weird waking up this morning with the house so quiet. But let me tell you it was one of those good weird feelings.

Hopefully next week I'll be able to get back into the swing of things and get back to working in the craft room. Have a great weekend everyone!

Follow your Heart mini album part 2....

2010-07-30T15:14:00.004-04:00

Part 2 of the Follow your Heart mini album....

Once again sorry about the pictures being turned sideways....I can't seem to fix that problem...

Stick around the last of the pages are coming up.....

Follow your Heart mini album part 1...

2010-07-30T14:45:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone! Hope that you are all geared up for a nice weekend. It want be long before the kids go back to school and summer will be over with. It seems like this summer has just flown by for me. But anyway, here is the mini album that I promised I would show you that I made for my soon to be new niece. I gave it to her at the bridal shower last weekend. Normally when I show you all these z fold mini albums I don't show every page...but with this one I'm going to so sit back and I hope you enjoy my next 3 posts....

I'm sorry about these other pictures being turned sideways. I've done everything that I know to do to make them turn the right way but can't make them stay that way....hopefully no one will get a crick in their necks looking at the pictures.

Stick around cause there's more to come....

Bridal Shower Part 4....

2010-07-24T12:17:00.003-04:00

Well how can I forget the groom??? Luckily he stopped by for something to eat and I was able to get a picture of him. Isn't he handsome?

Here is the bride opening the gift that I got her. It wasn't in a box and I couldn't find a bag large enough for it to fit in so I had to get creative with my wrapping. I looked on her registry and found that she was wanting these white towels so a light bulb went off for me and I thought that I'd use the towels as wrapping paper and so that's exactly what I did. Then I used some kitchen utensils as my bow accents and used pink and black tulle to tie it all up. Love her heart she was unwrapping that thing forever it seemed. Sorry Sarah!

I thought this was a neat way to decorate a gift and thought I'd share it with you as well.

This is all 4 of my husbands sisters. They are all a hoot and fun to be around! I thought the sunset was so pretty last night.

Ok and last but not least I just had to share this with everyone. I thought this was the neatest little idea for a gift. I'm not sure who did this but it was cool! They took a hula hoop and just wrapped dish towels and such to it using some ribbon. The girl told me that normally you use a wreath frame to make one but she decided to try the hula hoop. How cute is that?

Well I hope you all enjoyed getting to see what I was up to last night. I made Sarah a little mini album and gave that to her last night as well and will share that with you a little later on today or Monday. Hope that everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

Bridal Shower Part 3....

2010-07-24T11:59:00.003-04:00

Hello again! Here is the host of the party. My sister in law Rita. She did such a great job pulling all of the decorations together and was a wonderful host.

This is my great niece. She was the PERFECT little helper with the decorations.

Here is another one of my sister in laws. Yes we have a big family and I love them to pieces.

For some reason these next two pictures came out really small. (Sorry about that.) But this is me playing games. As always I stink at playing them but had so much fun in doing so.

I wanted to share this picture cause it shows what was done with another one of the "life preservers" that I made. In the picture is my great niece and sister in law.

Bridal Shower Part 2....

2010-07-24T11:29:00.004-04:00

Hey ya'll! Welcome back! So here is the beautiful bride to be! She's the sweetest thing ever and I'm so glad that she's going to be part of our family.

The lady in the brown blouse is mother of the groom and one of my sister in laws. And the other 2 ladies are family as well. One of my beautiful nieces, who is also my hairdresser and her sweet little mother.

The lady to the right is mother of the bride and the other lady is another sister in law of mine. I'm so blessed to have such a great family! In this picture you can see the confetti that was on the table and it's really a better view of what the centerpieces looked like.

This is family as well. Rita, another one of my sister in laws and the host of the party came up with the cutest idea to serve our dessert in little colorful buckets as you can see it being served in this picture. It was so yummy too!

This is another family member who is enjoying her dessert.

I'm not done yet with the pictures....I still have more to come so remember to stick around.

Bridal Shower Part 1.....

2010-07-24T11:00:00.003-04:00

Hi all! Just as promised I'm going to share the pictures with you of the beach bridal shower. My sister in law did a great job pulling everything together. I was only in charge of the center pieces on this one. I think that everything turned out to look so cute and it was all done on a tight budget which was even better. The first picture is the display as you enter the deck.

I think that this picture is a good one. With the shrubs acting as a canopy for the entrance way. Its so quaint and welcoming I think.

This picture was taken before the guest arrived of course. I wanted you all to see what everything looked like beforehand.

Here is what those "life preservers" that I made looked like once everything was set up on the tables. Later my great niece added some sea life confetti to the tables. We were afraid that it would blow away had we added it too soon.

This is the veil that I added sea shells too for the bride of course to wear during the party. I think it turned out cute.

Since I can only add 5 pictures at a time on each post it will take me several posts to get the pictures in so stick around.....

Beachy Bridal shower centerpieces....

2010-07-13T16:14:00.004-04:00

We are expecting a new member of the family and so I was asked to make the centerpieces for the bridal shower. There were several ideas that went through my head but since it's suppose to be a fun beachy type bridal shower this is what I've come up with. Its really a very inexpensive way to decorate your tables and so simple to do. I used a 16" round styrofoam wreath form, some 1 1/2" ribbon and boating rope from Walmart. Then I used my Cricut to cut out the letters.
This isn't all that will be on the tables...I plan on buying some of the tall clear glass vases and putting in the center of each "life preserver" and adding a large candle and some seashells with sand in the bottom of the vases. Once I round all those things up I'll try to see if I can make up a table to show you what it's going to look like...if not then you'll have to wait til I take pics at the actual shower and show you all how it all came together. But until then...I hope that everyone is having a Great week and I'll see ya soon!

Handmade guest book....

2010-06-25T14:05:00.004-04:00

What? Two posts in one day? Am I sick? Noooo I'm just extremely behind on things. So I had to share with you this little guestbook that I was asked to make by my sweet neighbor. Her daughter bought a new place in Lake Tahoe and she wanted a little something special to give to her. I felt honored that she asked me to make this for her and it gave me great pleasure in doing so. I had a couple things to work on this past week outside but was making this little book in my head that entire time. So when my back said that it was time for a mandatory break from working in the yard, it didn't take me no time to whip this up since I had built it in my head a thousand times. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I took the pictures but I forgot to take one of the inside. It just had a registery with name, address and a place for guests to leave a comment nothing real special. But it will be the comments left that will be the real treasure for the new homeowners to sit and read.
Hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Happy Belated Birthday to me....

2010-06-25T13:41:00.005-04:00

Boy oh boy! I am really getting behind on my blogging. I had to share a couple of pictures with you from last weekend. My sweet little husband surprised me with a beautiful cake and huge balloon.

Turning 42 wasn't so bad after all......it was actually a very nice day. We played on the lake and did a little swimming but getting to spend quality time with my husband and son was the best part of it all. It was also my mom's birthday and earlier in the week we got to spend some quality time together as well......it was a lot of fun. Thanks MOM!

Here is a couple of things that I was surprised with in the mail from my sweet friends......the birthday girl wine goblet was sent to me by my sweet friend Debbie in New Jersey and it even has BLING on it! I just love it! And the pink purse that's too cha cha for words was sent to me by Suzie from over at The Happy Shack. It's absolutely darling and I love carrying it! Thank you both sooooo much for the WONDERFUL birthday gifts! I love you both dearly!

Fathers Day mini COMPLETED!

2010-05-27T18:11:00.005-04:00

SHOCK! Two posts in one day for me has to be some kind of record, but I had to try and make up for not getting this on here like I had promised you all before. Here's the outside front cover of the album. I did mine a bit different than what the pattern that I originally bought called for but that's ok cause I like adding my own little twist to it. For example, instead of it saying My Guy like the pattern said I put Dad and I also added the little metal page corner brads as well to give it an even more "manly" look. I didn't add the ribbon on it cause I was afraid that my husband would think that it looked too girly so I steered clear of that.

On the inside cover, to cover the brads I simply cut a couple of 45 degree angles out of my scraps that I had left over and made a nice tailored edge.

I absolutely just love this little mini album. It was so much fun to make and believe it or not it wasn't that hard to make at all. Seriously! It looks really complicated but once you have the basics down and follow along with the patterns it goes really fast. Of course, I've been having to work on this and other things (like spring cleaning) and keeping this well hid so that my husband doesn't stumble upon it til my son and I give it to him. I believe the hardest part of all of it is going to be finding just the right pictures to put in it and doing the journaling. I'm terrible when it comes time to actual journal something. It seems like my mind just goes completely blank on me. So I'll have to do a bit more sneaking to get the pictures printed off and put in the album.

Hope that you all have enjoyed the posts and it has inspired you. Oh something that I was thinking about the other day is this....you could always leave the binding tab off of any of these pages and make a card out of any of these templates. Now wouldn't any man be proud to get a nice looking card like that? Just something to think about.... Hope that everyone has had a wonderful day!

Fifth and final page of Fathers Day mini album..

2010-05-27T13:47:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone! Sorry that I didn't get this on here sooner. I've had some things come up that have kept me rather busy. This is the last page in the little mini album that I did for my husband for Fathers Day. Just like the hunting page, I had to have something that directly reflected something about him and fishing is another one of his passions. So I tried to make the front look like a fly fishing vest and added an applique that I was going to use in one of my sewing projects. I think it looks cuter on here though.

The inside opens up to show his "waders" and I've attached a Gone Fishing brad to it along with some tags and the tshirt pulls out like all the rest of the pages for more photos.

Then this is the back. It looks like the rest of the pages with a tag that tucks down in the pants and lifts out for pictures and journaling.

I'm going to go ahead and post the outside cover so you can see how it all came together for me in just a few so come on back.

Fourth page of Fathers Day mini album....

2010-05-24T21:12:00.004-04:00

Hey all! Boy today just about got away from me before I could post this 4th page on here. I'm back to spring cleaning and had let my blogging slip my mind til now. But anyway, here is the next page in the mini album. I had to do a hunting one since my husband loves to hunt. It was only fitting that there was a page in this mini representing that.

It opens up just like the sweater shirt did.

On the back is more camo and a tag that slips down in the pants. Oh and there is also a photo tag that pulls out when you pull on the collar.

Hope that everyone had a great weekend and had a good start to the new week. Come on back tomorrow and I'll show you the last page then on Wednesday. You can see how I pulled them all together.

Third page of Fathers Day mini album....

2010-05-23T11:49:00.004-04:00

Hi all! Hope that everyone is enjoying this beautiful Sunday morning! So here's the third page of the Fathers Day mini album. It's much more of a casual feel.

The shirt opens up like the suit. Of course with it being so casual it had to have blue jeans! Just like all the rest, if you pull on the collar it reveals another photo mat. Then here is the back. The little top tag pulls out from the pants to add more photos.

I believe that I have 2 more to show you and they are a little different from the original pattern so come on back to check those out and then see the final mini album all put together on the last day.

Second page of Fathers Day mini album...

2010-05-22T10:11:00.004-04:00

Hi and welcome to the weekend everyone! So here's the second page of the little Fathers Day mini that I'm making for my husband. Although he's not much for playing golf I just loved this layout and had to make one.

With this one the shirt flips up to reveal your photos and journaling. I think that I'm going to go back and add some pretty colored card stock to the back side of the shirt so that I can journal on it. After taking these pictures, it just looks to boring and plain to me. The little tag pulls out so I can put pictures on front and back if I chose too.

And here is the back. The little golfing tag pulls out as well.

So what are your plans for the weekend? Card making, scrapbooking, sewing, junking? Oh speaking of junking, I haven't been all spring long and just know that I'm missing out on some great finds. I'd love to get out and go to some sales to see what all I can find. Not today though.....it looks like it's going to pour the rain. I suppose I'll just have to stay indoors and work on finishing this little mini so that I can start another one. It will be a perfect day to scrapbook and read. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

First page in new Fathers Day mini album...

2010-05-21T14:23:00.005-04:00

Hello everyone! I broke down and bought a pattern for this mini cause when I saw the demo on it I just knew that I had to make one for my husband. It is a Following the Paper Trail mini and I'm having a blast making it! I thought that I'd show you a page a day til I get it completed then show you the entire album all put together.

So this is what it looks like when you open up the suit front. There are several tags where you can do journaling or put photos. As you can see I haven't pulled out any pictures yet to put in mine. I like doing that last thing. The tie lifts up so you can place a picture underneath it as well on the little tag that is tucked down in the pants.

Just like in a couple of the previous minis that I've shown you the basic concept is the pocket pouch and the shirt lift up using the collar as the tab.

then on the back there is another tag that lifts out of the "pants" for a photo or journaling. The pattern called for Graphic 45's A Proper Gentleman card stock but you could use any "manly" paper that you can find. I know it was hard for me to find anything else and I couldn't even find this paper stack locally and had to order it online. I found it the cheapest online at Cut At Home the link is www.ucutathome.com and the pattern can be found at followingthepapertrail.blogspot. There will be a link for her Etsy store on her page. I would do a tutorial on this but her pattern is copyrighted and I always give credit where credit is due. I love watching the you tube videos from various different scrapbookers and getting ideas and always try my best to hand out kudos to those that have inspired me or taught me something new.

So anyway, tomorrow I'll share with you the second page of the mini so come on back ya'll and you can see what else I've been up to.

Have a wonderful day!

Father's day shirt mini....

2010-05-20T11:14:00.004-04:00

Hi all! Oops I let yesterday slip away from me and forgot to post this like I had promised. Sorry about that. Anyway this is a little mini album that I came up with after watching some ladies make origami shirts out of paper and I thought hmmm now wouldn't that be cute if you could turn them into a mini album. Well that's exactly what I wound up doing and here is the outcome.

Like I said I used the concept of the origami shirt and then used the concept of the pocket from Following the Paper Trail. I just kind of "blended" the two together. I think there are 6 shirts in all. I wish now that I had added 8 in total but to late now. I'm planning on giving this to my father-in-law for Fathers Day and putting all 8 of his children's pictures in it for him. I'm going to have my husband write him a little letter and will place that on the inside cover. That's why it's blank right now. I'd give anything if I had pictures of all my step brothers and sisters so I could make my dad one but I don't so I'll have to come up with something else for him for Fathers Day.

As you can see, if you pull on the shirt collar a tag pulls out to place pictures on. I only took pictures of the first page but each one is a different pattern of course and for the binding strip I made it look like a pair of jeans. I'm telling you...it's been years since I had scrapbooked and I've jumped in head first and am loving making the little mini albums and scrapbooking and cards. Ohhhh I made a couple cards as well but will have to share those with you in another post. But for now I have to see what kind of "goodies" the post lady brought me. I just love getting boxes in the mail.

Hope that everyone is having an exceptional day! It's beautiful here on the lake.

Recipe box or mini album...

2010-05-18T19:15:00.004-04:00

Hey all! I came across this pattern on YouTube from Follow a Paper Trail and just had to make myself one. At first glance it looked like it was going to be a bit hard but it was the simplest thing ever! I had so much fun making it....the only thing that I had problems with was the closure. I tried magnets only to find out after I had already attached them that they weren't strong enough to hold it shut so I went and grabbed my velcro and it worked peeerfect! I'm still debated if I want to put my favorite recipes in it or pictures...I can't make up my mind but used the colors of my kitchen on it so I guess in the back of my mind I'm leaning towards a recipe box.

The inside is made of #10 envelopes but you could always make your own pockets if you don't have access to the #10 envelopes.

On the inside I used the little metal rimmed tags that you can buy at the office supply store in bulk. I use these a lot for my primitive crafts as well so I had plenty on hand but you could use flowers, ribbon, jute etc. for your pull tabs. I used 12 envelopes that I cut down in this "mini". If you would like step by step instructions on how I did this all you have to do is ask and I'll gladly do a tutorial on it but I have to hear back from you so I'll know that you will be interested in seeing it come together for yourself. It really is a simple and fast project.....really!

Hope that everyone is having a wonderful day! Come on back tomorrow cause I have a couple more things that I've made since I've been recovering and look forward to showing it to you all.

What a wonderful surprise!

2010-05-13T12:54:00.004-04:00

I woke this morning to the most wonderful surprise in my inbox! I found out that I had been chosen for the Beautiful Blogger award by my sweet blogger friend Barbara over at Whimcees. She's such a sweet lady and does outstanding work. Please take a few moments and go check her blog out. You'll find her listed on the right hand side of my blog. Thank you ever so much Barbara for the award. I feel honored to have received it from you and am displaying it proudly.

Mothers Day doll...

2010-05-12T19:23:00.003-04:00

Ta Da! Yeah I bet you kind of knew that I had made my mom a doll for Mothers Day didn't ya? She loves them so much and so what better day to give her one than on her special day. I added the heart and key to her and made an attached heart as well.

Here mom is with the doll right after she opened it. The smile on her face and the way she gives them a hug when I give her one makes me feel so good inside...kinda makes my heart smile to see her so happy with something I've made for her.

I love you mom and hope you had a wonderful day!

Happy Mothers Day to all! .... belated

2010-05-12T18:52:00.003-04:00

Hi all and I want to first apologize for not having this up long before now but I've had a few things going on and got behind with everything. Plus I couldn't post my Mothers Day gifts on here til after Mothers Day cause my mom is a faithful reader and it would of spoiled the surprise. So anyway, here is the card that I made my mom for her very special day. It's a shaker card with little gold beads and I fixed the envelope so that it would match the card.

And here is my sweet precious mom! Please overlook my band aid on the nose. I had to have a biopsy to see if the spot was skin cancer and so I had to wear the band aid to protect the spot. Then on Monday I had to go back in and have what was in fact skin cancer removed and boy oh boy that band aid was nothing compared to the bandage that I'm having to wear now on my nose Lets just say that if it were pink then you would swear that I was Ms. Piggys sister.

Then here is my pride and joy! The one that makes me proud to be a mom myself! He's growing up on me so fast. He will be 17 this year and he's really turning into a gentleman. He drove me around on Sunday and treated me like a queen. He had done so much for me all week long and then came in on Saturday and gave me the most precious gift. Most of you know that I've had back surgery and still have problems with it so I'm bedfast a lot of times. Well my baby boy bought me a back massager that heats up and has several massage settings. He said that he hoped it would give me some relief. I wanted to cry with joy but held back the tears cause he gets so upset when he sees me upset. I have to say this was the BEST Mothers Day that I've had since the very first one that I got to share with my little bundle of joy. I hope that you all had a wonderful Mothers Day as well.

I'll show you what I made my mom for her special day in the next post to stick around and you'll soon find out....

Sisterchick.....Must Reads for the summer!

2010-04-28T16:59:00.003-04:00

Sisterchick n. : a friend who shares the deepest wonders of the heart, loves you like a sister, and provides a reality check when you're being a brat.

Hi all! I just had to share with you what I received in the mail this week. I think I still have one more on its way but couldn't stand to wait any longer to show you. Several years ago my best friend Suzie and fellow sisterchick, mailed me a box of books and inside I found a book that was titled Sisterchicks do the Hula. Just the cover and title itself was enough to intrigue me and so I jumped right in and started reading it. I honestly do not know of another book that has ever made me laugh out loud like that before. I would stay up til wee hours of the morning reading cause I just couldn't bare the thoughts of laying it down. Well, that book stuck with me all these years and I never forgot about it and so Suzie and I started calling one another sisterchicks....cause we truly are! I had loaned my book to a friend and never got it back so I just had to replace it...it's one of those books that you want to keep forever so you can pick it back up and read again to refresh your memory of all the funny things. Well as I was looking for it I ran across alllllll these other Sisterchick books as well. I had no idea that there were so many of them. I think I ordered all of them except 2 and even bought Sisterchicks do the Hula on CD so I can listen to it while I work on my crafts and have a good ole chuckle. Believe it or not, in between going to National Scrapbook Day and preparing for that the week prior then running here and there I have still managed to get in a couple of chapters of one of these books already and let me tell you it seems like it's going to be just as good as the first one that I read. This has now become one of my favorite authors. So I'm going to read just as fast as I can possibly read so I can return the favor to MY sisterchick Suzie and let her read them as well...she was so precious to send me books when I had my surgeries and if I'm not mistaken I believe that the Hula book was one of them that she sent then and I'll never be able to thank her enough for all the joy that I received from it....so Suzie....I'm returning the favor girly and will personally hand deliver some of these books to you in June. I can't hardly wait to get to see your beautiful house on the lake and spend some good girl time with you....it will be my own little adventure in traveling since I've never been to Oklahoma before.
So if you all haven't picked up your summer reading yet, I strongly suggest that you get these books or at least a couple of them. I found mine on Amazon at a really good price.
If I come up missing for a bit it's only because I have started my spring cleaning and shhhhh while I rest I'll be reading my heart out.
Hope that everyone has a wonderful day!

Shabby chic pocket album...

2010-04-20T14:26:00.003-04:00

HI! Welcome back! Well today what I have to show you is a shabby chic album that I've just completed. I didn't do a tutorial on this one so if you want me to do one then just let me know. But anyway, with this one I got to use my new binding system! YAHHH! The Bind-it-All! It's soooo much better than using the D rings and I just love it. But anyway on the front cover of this one I used several Prima flowers, cut out a birdcage using the Cricut, added a big pretty butterfly and some ribbon on the rings of the wire binding. Oh yes and I'm not sure that you can see it very well in the picture or not but I also used some white feathers! and of course some rhinestone centers for the flowers...a girl has to have her bling right???

This is what the inside looks like. There are 10 pockets on the inside and each one of them has a flower (with rhinestone centers of course) for the pull out tag.

This album was so fun and easy to do. You can get 2 pockets out of a 12x12 piece of cardstock, then I covered the fronts and backs with regular weight scrapbook paper.

Hope that this has inspired you to work on a scrapbook of your own and again if you need me to do a short tutorial on how I made this one then just let me know.

Hope that everyone has a wonderful Tuesday and comes back to visit me real soon. Ta Ta for now.....

Handmade purse album cont......

2010-04-18T11:59:00.004-04:00

Hey there and welcome back! Ok so this is a picture of how I did the binding for this album.

Just cut strips of cardstock that are 9"x 2" and score in the center. Then use the terrifically tacky tape and as your cardstock is folded place the tape about 1/8" of an inch from the edge. This way it will give you some room for expansion in your album when you start embellishing it and filling it with pictures and such and it want pop open so bad on you. Now like I said I haven't made my tags for the album yet or all the pull out tabs either so mine is pretty naked right now but it want be for long cause this is when I'll be able to put my Cricut to good use with all the embellishments that I plan on using.

Also another note. If you don't want an album this size and would prefer one smaller then by all means you could use the smaller manila envelopes and make a smaller one you would just have to do a bit of adjusting on your measurements for the cover. I wanted my cover much larger than the pages so that the embellishments that I plan on putting in the album didn't show.

If you have any questions whatsoever about this album and how I put it together then by all means please send me a comment and I'll help you in any way that I possibly can. If you don't ask then I can't help you. So give me some feedback if I wasn't clear enough on how this all came together. But most importantly I hope that each and every one of you have a wonderful day and don't forget to stop back by sometime and see what else I have cooking.

(psssst I already have an idea for another mini album)

Handmade purse album...

2010-04-18T11:37:00.004-04:00

Hi everyone! Thought that I'd show you what I had been working on. This is not what you would exactly call a scrapbook mini cause it's so large! I had picked up some of the larger manila envelopes at Walmart and wanted to try them out using the same method as I did in the previous post and that's exactly what I did. I had found some in white so here is what I came up with.

First off I took a 12x12 piece of cardstock to make a template for my purse front and back. If you blow this picture up you can probably see the measurements but just in case you can't here they are. From the top right edge over and from the top left edge over I measured 3/4" and made a tick mark that will give me my angle for the bag on either side. Then I measured 1 1/2" from the top down on either side and made a tick mark that that will give me the right height for the bag. Now the fun begins....

Get your chipboard or in my case I've been using the cardboard packaging that comes in the 12x12 page protectors and refill pages from Creative Memories but if you don't have any of that on hand then use chipboard and trace your pattern on the cardboard or chipboard....

Then let your imagination run wild. I was just itching to use my new Cricut so this is the front and back covers for my album. I haven't put the ribbon on the back of my album yet cause I have to wait til it's all completed on the inside so I'll know how long to make my "clasp closure". I used paper that's folded in half and then attached with eyelets for the handles to make them stronger. As you can see I don't have the back handle on at this point either.

now for the inside. I used the exact same technique for the inside of this album as I did for the z fold album in the previous post. the only difference is I used a little different way of binding them all together. The 3" flap in the front and the back are glued to the front and back covers and please use a glue that is really strong. I prefer using the terrifically tacky red tape that you can get at Walmart or any craft store cause it's extremely strong and holds really well. I pulled out one of the inserts to the right side of the picture so you can see how I made a flap for my picture to go under and then my journaling will go just below it. I'm still working on finishing all the pull out tabs. So if you'll meet me right back here I'll show you how I did the binding for the rest of the pages.

Cricut or cricket?

2010-04-10T17:03:00.003-04:00

Well which is it? Of course it's a CRICUT! but it's made me want to jump up and down like the other cricket. I've been waiting for this to get here on the Fedex truck for a week and it finally arrived today and I'm just thrilled to pieces with it. I had to jump right in and start cutting something...as you can see by the little purse bags that I cut out and the pretty accent piece. Oh my mind is flooding with ideas and scrapbooking is going to be so much more fun now. Plus on top of everything this cricut is pretty...it just love the design that's on the front of it. I also have something else to show you that showed up on the truck today but I'll wait and do that a little later. But for now I'm off to read more about my new purchase and fill my head full of ideas.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

I'm a newbie at tole painting....

2010-04-07T19:10:00.004-04:00

SURPRISE! Ok so this is the back cover to the sisters chick chipboard album. Now you ask, what does this have to do with Suzie? Well it has everything to do with her actually. Even though it's my painting she's the one that took the time last summer and taught me how to paint. It was a quick lesson and lord knows I need more practice but I saved it so that I could do something with it some day and waa laa I found the perfect spot for it. I love to paint and now that the weather is warming up I think I'll pull my brushes back out and head out to the front deck and do some painting. It's so relaxing to me to be out there painting and listening to boats on the lake. I still have some more projects in the works inside right now though so it will be a while before I can whip out the paint. I'll try to finish up my other projects that I have going soon so I can share those with you as well. Until then feel free to scroll back through some of my other previous posts and I hope that you find something that sparks your interest. Have a great day everyone!

Sisterchicks Chipboard album...

2010-04-07T17:46:00.003-04:00

Ok so here's a little something that I've been up to. I found this plain chipboard album at Michaels in the dollar bin that was in the shape of a crown and thought oh how cute that is but I couldn't think of a thing to make a theme with it for. Well that was until I also ran across the SISTERS bling letters that very same day and it hit me! I have to make a sisters chick album and that is exactly what I did. As you can see I used the bling on the front cover.

The first 2 pages are pictures of me and my sis! Well she's my "adopted sis" anyway since I wasn't blessed with a blood related sister. But let me tell you I couldn't have a blood sister that I could be any closer to than I am her and I feel very blessed to have her in my life.

As you can see we spend 97% of our time on the lake while she's here and the other 3% we spend cooking, eating and sleeping. We both live on lakes so that's where we love to be.

Here we are with me giving her a ride on my husbands 4 wheeler and the other one where we are showing our hands?.... well that's where we were showing off our nails that were painted with polka dots that yes we did ourselves....well sis taught me how to do it. She had painted mine that first time...thanks sis!

Ok then here are the sister chicks again. I used some glittery chipboard letters in this little album and thought it was just perfect for some added bling.

Now for the last page.....I'll have to show you that in the next post. It actually isn't a picture of me and Suzie aka sis but is of something totally different and is probably a little surprising....so come on back and take a peek.

Easter Scrapbooking Haul....

2010-04-02T19:54:00.005-04:00

Shhhhh I have a secret.......I was talking to my friend Brenda about 4 days ago and she was telling me about this great place online to get scrapbooking supplies. Well I was impressed with the site and just had to order a "few" things. Here's the website so you can check it out yourself..... www.scrapbuck.com I honestly didn't realize that I had ordered so much stuff but am soooo glad that I did....go ahead scroll down and take a look at what all I found.

such sweet flowers and butterflies and gorgeous tags....

more paper flowers and the paper stacks that I bought are all really pretty as well...

clear stamps, even more paper and felt flowers, butterflies and look at those chipboard tags....just to die for huh? in my favorite shade too...robins egg blue (even though lavender is my favorite color, I'm finding that I buy anything that's robins egg blue anymore) go ahead scroll on down you know your wanting too....

Now these flowers are just toooo pretty! They have glitter on them and I think I bought them in every color they offered and yes I did manage to find more paper flowers and some more butterflies. I just can't hardly wait to get started on something so that I can use all my pretty things.

Ok so I wanted to wish each and every one of you a Very Happy Easter!

Now shoooo go, run on over to Scrapbuck.com and see what all you can find yourself that you just can't live without! See ya back here real soon! p.s. thank you Brenda for telling me about this great place!

Black and White Manilla Envelope Album

2010-04-02T12:41:00.004-04:00

I'm back! I went on a scrapbooking retreat a couple weeks ago and am really having a hard time getting back into the swing of things but I did make a couple more mini albums using the manila envelopes, except this time I found some white ones and thought hmmm what better way to use them as to make a black and white album with black and white and sepia tone photos. So that's exactly what I did here. I'm really enjoying making these little albums and really want to make another one but I'm afraid that you all are going to get tired of seeing them (which is what I was thinking this time). But I just had to share this one with you anyway. The paper that I used is from DCWV and is the Bella Boutique stack. I found it at Michael's and it has a raised feel to it that is like velvet...it's so yummy and I just loved it

On the inside I added some paper flowers from Creative Memories and rhinestone centers. I had found sheets of self stick rhinestones in the dollar bin at Michael's and I'm loving them, only wish that I had picked up more of them.

As you can see, I've taken some of my favorite pictures of all times and turned them into black and white and sepia tones and added them to the album. I just love the way that it's turning out and the little slide pocket is so perfect. You just can't believe how many photos you can put in one of these albums. Matter of fact I ran out of pictures and am scrounging around trying to find more of my favs to add in it.

Here is the back side to the previous page and you can see how the little flap coin pocket opens up to where you can add even more pictures or journaling. Like I said I'm still trying to locate enough pictures to finish it up and actually found some but wouldn't you know it my scanner is wanting to give me a fit and not behave so I'll have to wait til my husband gets home so he can remedy that problem.

The Retreat? Ohhhhh let me tell you it was wonderful. We didn't have any classes on anything special it was more just a gathering of ladies doing what we love best (or one of the things I love best) and that's scrapbooking. It lasted from Thursday through Sunday and my only regret was that it didn't last longer. The food was out of this world! We had a professional chef whipping up the vittles for us and he was a nutritionist as well so he knew his stuff....let me tell you what I wouldn't give to be cooked for like that all the time cause I could get used to it in a hurry. It was located in the most serene place.....right on the tip top of a mountain and there were little cabins scattered here and there all over it. But the other ladies and myself had the big conference center all to ourselves and bunked downstairs. It was like summer camp! Since I never had the opportunity to go to summer camp something like this was actually on my "bucket list" and I was able to check it off. However, in November I'm planning on doing it all over again if my health will hold out for me. Ohhhh and we also had a massage therapist that came in and gave us the best massages ever was. You know sitting around scrapbooking, crafting, sewing and such how tight your muscles can get? Well she took care of that for us. It was just really an excellent weekend.

Well I'm off to see what else I can find to share with you. I need to go to the craft room and get to crackin' on something different.....I'm sorry but I'm just hung up on making these little mini albums right now though. Have a great day everyone and a very Blessed Easter if I don't see you beforehand.....

Manila Envelope Mini Part 3.....

2010-03-08T02:34:00.004-05:00

Hi and welcome back. Here is Part 3 and the final chapter so to speak of the making of the manila envelope mini. My pictures are a bit out of order and I can't change them so bare with me on this. I'll show you the finished album then explain how I made the album cover if that's alright, again I apologize.

this is the first page all decorated up with tags tucked into place. You could journal on the tags, put small pictures on the tags, add stickers...just let your imagination run wild.

Here you can see that I have this page all opened up. You can see the coin envelope flipped back and can see where I used the 1" round punch to make me a tab for the coin envelope so it will be easier to grab the tag out of there. Also in this picture you can see where on this particular envelope I opted not to let the inside flap open but rather I used the little double top pocket. Remember I showed you how to make that pocket in the previous post about making a legal sized envelope mini? That's one option that you could do as well. Like I said before you can decorate it to your own taste and get as fancy with it as you would like.

Ok so here's where I have to backtrack just a bit. This is how I made the front and back covers. Shoot even these pictures are out of order so I'm just going to ask you to look at both the above and below pictures as you are reading the instructions. I'm so sorry again..... Now since my envelopes are 6"x6" I used some recycled thick cardboard that was in some packaging I had, but you can use chipboard if you would like. It will work in the same manner just be sure that it's kind of stiff and sturdy. I cut a square that was 7"x7" so it would be just a little larger than the envelopes. and I cut a piece of decorative paper about 1/2" larger than that all the way around to cover the front side. Then I flipped it over and using a different decorative paper I measured the inside and left a little bit of a gap all the way around so that my pretty front paper that was glued around the back edges would show a bit. I'm not sure what those measurements were and I do apologize. Just leave about 1/4" inch all the way around. Next I picked up my ruler and the envelopes and measured where my center was on the binding and punched a hole then from the hole I measured up an inch and down an inch to mark for 2 more holes. I then used my crop-a-dile and set 3/16" eyelets they are the larger ones by the way. Then after getting the first envelope done it was just a matter of taking the next envelope and the next one and so on and lining up the holes, marking them and setting the eyelets. Now for the cover. I took the cover and found the center then lined one of the envelopes up with that center to make sure that the placement was right and that there was equal distance on all three sides of the cover. If there is, and there should be, then go ahead and punch your holes and set your eyelets in the cover using your envelope holes as a guide for you. Then for the back it's just a matter of taking the front cover and using the holes on it, marking them on the back cover, punch, set eyelets and your done with that. Then I purchased Tim Holtz D rings. I had to get these online through Ben Franklin cause Michaels didn't carry them and to be honest I didn't check Hobby Lobby so they may carry them, but I know that Ben Franklin has them. If not then you can go on ebay as well and get them but I found that ordering through Ben Franklin was cheaper. So anyway, you just simply thread your covers and envelopes in order through the D ring and snap it together and you have yourself a fine little mini album that you can decorate the front in any way that you like. Waaaa Laaaa your done! Congrats! You did it! Hope that you enjoyed the project. I actually saw this done on youtube through Follow A Paper Trail so if you would like to see it on video to get more pointers then please do so. I tried my best to be as descriptive as I possibly could but the video is there if you need it as well.

Enjoy and thanks for stopping by. I'll be back with something new hopefully. I'm leaving to go to a scrapbooking retreat later on this week and I'm hoping that I come back with a ton of new ideas for you all. So come on back now.......you hear?