Birdhouse Ornament

So I've really been slacking on this blog...but honestly I never have time to do any crafting now that I'm working...but today, since it's Christmas Eve (and I'm on call) I thought I would try out this template I purchased from Marion Smith Designs....she has the most amazing ideas! This was her birdhouse she posted awhile back but now dressed for the holiday season and made it an ornament...so cute! I bought the template last night and made this today...all I used was some scrapbook paper, prima flowers, glimmer mists from tattered angels, hot glue, the pink ATG gun, and some beads I had from another project....hope you like it!

BOO!

So it's taken me longer than I thought to get this Halloween mini done. I've been so busy with work and sleep, I don't have much time to do anything else...but I thought I would share some of the pages I have done so far. I started with a chipboard album that I purchased from Target for 99 cents. I actually had a couple of these so I used a page from another set to make a total of 6 pages or 10 with a cover and back. Next I painted just the edges with black craft paint. Next I cut 12 pieces of paper the same size...something just over 5 inches and I glued them to each page. I then punched two holes to bind the book on each page. Next I bounded the book with different ribbon. Here's the cover:
This was a piece of scrapbook paper and the letters that say "Boo" were stickers from Target for 99cents.



The pumpkin on this page was actually a chipboard Halloween cut-outs set that I bought from A.C.Moore for only $2. There were 10 all together. Now these cut-outs were plain so I painted them with craft paint then embossed them with clear ultra thick embossing enamel (UTEE). I used this technique thoughout my album. If you would like to learn how to do this check out Marion Smith's A piece of craft dot com channel on youtube for a video demo(she shares this tip and lots others on there...she's great!) The flourishes were stickers bought from Target for only 99 cents!




This one just has a pocket...the card pulls out so I can journal on it or put a picture on it or both!



The moon was from that Halloween chipboard pack that I painted whit and yellow and embossed with clear UTEE. This page has room to put a picture on the pocket and then the tag pulls out which can be used as a photo mat and journal card...







This one again can be used as a photo mat or journal card or both and the letters are chipboard in which I again painted using purple craft paint and embossed with clear UTEE.

So thats all that I have done now...I'll hopefully have the finshed product done soon and then I can fill it with pictures and whatnot :)

Cover was found

Okay, so I found a picture of the cover of the mini album I made my cousin's baby...LOL....I wish I had all the pictures...I was so proud of my self. The book was made from grunge board, which I painted with some craft paint from Michael's. The book was bound with the Zutter bind-it-all, the name was just from a cutout alphabet thing I've had for years, the flowers were made thanks to Marion Smith and her youtube vid on how to make Tim Holtz's grunge flowers (I printed out the images of the flowers and used it as a template b/c I do not have a sizzix machine) and finally the "Brand new baby" saying was a sticker that I also purchased at Michael's.

So mad

So I was going to put up a post about the album I made for my cousin's baby and all the pictures are gone!!!!! I don't know what happened to them. it was an awesome album too! But I'm gonna go work on a Halloween mini...I will be sure to share it on here!

Baby Shower

Well my cousin, Heather, is having her first child and the baby shower is this Saturday. We decided to make arrangements with the soup cans making them into flower pots with Gerber Daisy as center pieces. Just thought I would share the cans I made...I’m also working on a mini album for her. As soon as I get that done I’ll post some pics!

Altered Cafe

Last week Angela and I went thrift store shopping which was amazing! We bought sooooo much! Well I found this sign for 49 cents and had to have it. I sort of started or rather wanted to start a coffee/café theme in my kitchen.


However the colors in my kitchen include blue, brown, orange and white. So I needed to alter this sign to fit well in my kitchen. My walls are blue so I didn’t want much blue in this sign. The mug on it has some blue in it….perfect….now I have to change all the black. I figured I could paint the frame in a white wash then around the mug I would paint orange and add in some brown detail. So to start I taped off the chalk board and mug area and used some white paint we had left over from when we moved into our house. I dipped my brush in water before dipping it into the paint to water it down. After 3 coats I got the coverage I was looking for. Then I distressed the edges with a sanding brick.


Next I removed the tape. I did have some paint that got under the tape over the chalk board area so I used some nail polish remover to clean it off. Then I used the same white paint without adding water as a primer to the black background and used a heating tool to dry it.


Next I began mixing colors to get an orange that I liked..to be honest it’s a little brighter than I was looking for but I’m not too worried about it. Now the surface is very smooth which left me with brush strokes and removal of paint of areas that were still wet. To remedy this I used my heating tool to dry it (after I put one coat of orange paint on) and I appliedpaint in small areas and dried it with the heating tool then moved on..this really worked out well. Then I just used some brown paint and randomly formed a design. Finally I used a brown ink pad to ink around the distressed edges. Before I knew it I was done.


I think it turned out really well. I think this is the first time I really took an item to alter it and it turned out well without me getting frustrated and giving up…lol

Admit One

So I’ve been practicing making mini albums…after discovering Marion Smith on the web (if you don’t know who she is check her out on you tube or her site www.pieceofcraft.com) I’ve been inspired to make mini albums. Because of Marion I’ve also discovered Tim Holtz who has been hiding under my nose for years. He makes a line of distressed scrapbooking material…to me they are both Gods! I’ve really enjoyed learning everything I have from Marion...my world of scrapbooking has grown which my husband hasn’t been too happy about when he saw the damage it did to our bank account. But I must say that I DID NOT pay full price for anything. I am a bargain shopper, always have been, and always will be. That should make him happy...but doesn’t...in any case...my discoveries have made my lonely, jobless summer fly by. But like they say, “all good things must come to an end” and my end will be in a few weeks as I have been officially offered a job! YAY! But I still plan on updating this, hopefully more than I do now, and will continue making my crafts that I sell on etsy. I’ve really had a lot of fun this summer discovering crafts, bargain finds, and myself. Anyways I just wanted to show you a mini album I made, that was suggested by my husband (shocked? Me too). He wanted an album that we could put our movie and concert tickets in. I have saved them since we first started dating so we have 5 years worth. With the help of Tim Holtz’s grunge board, some acrylic paint, mod podge and the zutter bind-it-all (another thing Marion has shown me) I made this mini album. I just have it put together and I haven’t started putting the tickets in yet but I will...eventually.