shop updates

I just listed two new art poster prints in the shop! I have a few more prints in the design stage and they'll be debuting...soon!

If you go to the listing, you will see that I show several different framing options for this print.

This one is just fun! Simple? Elegant? Quirky? Silly? All of the above, for sure!

I would be so happy to offer different color combinations and print sizes. Just e-mail me your preferences and I will add them to my Etsy shop listings! Thanks for looking, I appreciate you!

summer in the life :: an update

I keep my promises. I told you that I would be posting updates to our Summer in the Life mini and here they are, at last. Officially, our Summer ends here in East Tennessee on August 2 {this coming Monday} since school starts. Oh, yeah and our middle child turns 7 on that date, also! I'm torn between letting this mini-album go at that point or going for a few weeks longer since it is still swimming weather, unbearably hot & humid and heck, it's still Summer.

The tomatoes in a colander photo is one of my new favorites. I may have to print it out and use it for some kitchen art. What do you think?

This photo was taken for my write.click.scrapbook. assignment with Emily Pitts and I used it here...just read the story and you'll understand why. I would be heartbroken to lose these, Ann Taylor doesn't carry them anymore.

I'm not so great at night photography, but the fireworks show was fun!

These little girls saw the rain, ran upstairs for their boots and umbrellas and stood in the doorway for the okay to go splash all in about 2.5 seconds flat. Since the photo, our little Spunkster broke the handle off the umbrella to the left in the photo. I had a mini meltdown. We've had Zach's umbrella for about 15 years and NOW it has to get broken. I still have the two pieces. I just can't bear to throw it away. Yet.

Date night! I need to update you guys with new photos of the last two dates in that mini-album, too. My Christmas gift to Gordon was a Year in Dates. 12 dates. 12 dinners. 12 sitters {our Moms!}. 12 nights alone together. 

Back side of date night photo and journaling on vellum printed with an internet image.

My reflection in the kitchen window {by the pool} at my in-laws. This is what most people see of me...always behind the camera!

Journaling on back side of panty packaging!

Okay, end of day with make-up smeared off. Please forgive!

My reasons to always be the best I can be. 7 in  4 days, 18 and 4. A mother's job is always secure.

Zach has had a few medical issues in the past two weeks with visits to pediatricians, neurologists and a cat scan...but he always has time to text. Oh, yeah, and send a photo of his hospital ID bracelet to his girlfriend, telling me that I would want a photo of it for the scrapbook. Ha, ha, ha! Photo, no. Bracelet, yes!

The Margaritaville machine was a gift to my father-in-law, but we're all glad to have a {virgin} pina colada...the kids want some too, you know!

I included stories, not just pictures in our Summer in the Life mini. I can share this one.

 

We don't even want to think about the time when Kitty is a threadbare, floppy piece of fabric. Hopefully it won't be any time soon.

I'm hoping that my pages have given you some ideas:

• photos to use in your own Summer in the Life mini-album
• different perspectives for photos
• new ways to use non-traditional scrapbooking products

...and if you're playing along, I hope that you're so glad that you took this project on this year!

family rules

Would you like a chance to win this?

Then you definitely need to go here! This lovely lady and blogger extraordinaire featured my poster in her Etsy treasury recently. Yes, I was honored, surprised and very pleased! Amy has lots of giveaways, so I am sure you'll want to visit her blog often. Now, go enter while you still can!

If you don't win the poster on Amy's blog, you can always go to the shop to browse around. I have this print available in so many happy colors, you'll want to see them for yourself.

Edited to add:  Giveaway Now Closed!

tutorial | a mini-album, journaling prompts and my bind-it-all

This happy little mini is laying on my craft desk right now making me smile! Blue is not usually the first color I go for, but recently this blue and green combination is making me really happy.

I started by lightly brushing blue paint directly onto my bristle brush and then swishing it around on the canvas Zutter Bind-it-All cover. I didn't want a heavy coverage, I wanted to be able to see the canvas texture. I then wiped the extra paint off my brush and swished it around on the cover some more. In the end, I dabbed the cover with a paper towel so that some of the natural canvas color would show through in some areas. I really like the way the cover looks a little like clouds in a dreamy sky. 

I laid out my journaling prompts {free download} and decided which of the million photos we have that I wanted to use with each prompt. Most of the photos I used are not current, rather photos chosen to fit the memory that came to mind when looking at all the prompts. You'll notice the labels here are squared off, but I decided to round the corners of these labels to use in my own album. 

I used my Round-it-All to round the corners of the pages and the cover...and yes, it will go through this heavy duty 1/8" canvas art board. The Bind-it-All is probably one of my favorite all-time tools! I quickly realized that the blue o-wires that I wanted to use, and won from Sarah's blog, would not be large enough to hold the thicker cover and all the album pages. I used my white 1.25" o-wires instead. And the blue would have been sooooo nice, too. Next project, for sure!

The punched scallop and chipboard flower are there to cover up the back side of the eyelet snap from the front cover. I contemplated embellishing the pages with the journaling prompts but decided that simple was best for this project, so my format throughout is journaling prompt on one page and photo with simple embellishment on the opposite page.

while you're waiting

You have another opportunity to win a "Summer in the Life" mini album. Visit Andrea here and leave a comment on her post to have a chance at Summer Fun album giveaway on her blog!

                    

Here's what's up for grabs...

4 tabs, cover with grommets, 20 patterned papers, a whole collection of embellishments, add-ons and goodies. What are you waiting for, go enter now! 

Go see what Christina, the winner of my one-month blogging anniversary giveaway, posted on her blog! Isn't that so neat! But I think Christina takes even more photos than I do on vacation. Wait, is that possible?

I am working on a project to post right now as "we speak." And it might include some new items in the shop that I listed this morning. And it just might also include some Bind-it-All goodies.

Remember this post?

So, off to do some fun crafty things with o-wires, canvas art board, photos and rectangle labels. I have about 2 hours until the girls get back from Nana's house!

...at the beach

How I wish we could be "...at the beach" this year!

your summertime memories

Your memories were so fun to read, thanks for sharing them with me. Thank you also for becoming followers, tweeting, linking and facebook-ing, but most of all for just being here to see what projects I've been up to lately!

Now on to the high-tech portion of the show:

The kids were part of this experiment in fun, as you can see!

And the winner is...           {this is Isabella without her two front teeth!}

Christina of seechristinascrapbook! She will find a package of all the goodies pictured below in her mailbox  very soon!

See, I told you that I would include a few extras to get you started. Christina, please e-mail me {click on the e-mail button on the sidebar} with your mailing address. The Summer Fun mini-album and goodies will be on their way to you early Monday morning!

If you are interested in your own Summer in the Life mini album, they are listed in my Etsy shop and I am offering 20% off any one item in my Etsy shop {before shipping} through Wednesday, July 28, 2010. Use the code MEMORIES to receive your discount. 

There are a limited number of Summer albums remaining. But, you can use the code on anything!

where i've been

To enter my one-month blogging anniversary giveaway, click here.

Wondering about the lack of projects here on the blog? Well I've been here on:

• Monday
• Tuesday
• Wednesday
• Thursday was a visit to the Doctors' office with my son {for cluster headaches}
• Friday

You probably already guessed that on Saturday, I'll be here! I hope you had a chance to download all the freebies I made for you while you were visiting at write.click.scrapbook. Were you inspired to start a little early {well, six months early} on your holiday planning? If not, I have plans to post all the downloads on this blog soon so that you'll always have access to them. Who says you can't wait until December, right?

The giveaway runs through Saturday at 7pm and I'll post the winner sometime Saturday evening. Sunday? It's will be back to regular programming with our Sunday Photo.

And you never know what I might have up my sleeve for Monday! See you then!

one month of blogging

edited to add:  this giveaway is now closed!

...and I'm having a giveaway in honor of 30 days of fun, sharing projects and making new friends!

For your chances to win:
1.  leave me a comment describing your favorite summertime        memory
2.  leave additional comments telling me how you shared    
     news of this giveaway, each share will earn you another          entry    {twitter, facebook, blog post, e-mail to friend}
3.  become a FOLLOWER!

Leave your e-mail address with each entry so I can contact the winner! Comments close Saturday, 7.24.2010 at 7pm Eastern

Interested in seeing what the giveaway is?  Click here for a sneak peek! See this and this and definitely this one if you'd like to see how I've assembled pages for our family's Summer in the Life mini album.

I will include lots of extra goodies, embellishments and add-ons in the goody package I send to help you on your way to capturing this Summer's memories while they're still fresh in your mind. I love little surprises, don't you?

All week long, I'll be hosting over at write.click.scrapbook. It's my first time hosting over there as a new design team member and I invite you to drop in for the fun. There just might be free downloads in your future if you were so inclined to visit me!

there's a new crop in town

There's nothing quite like homegrown tomatoes.

a flower tutorial

Here's a peek at the adorable flower we're going to end up with when we're finished:

Now let's get started. You'll need scalloped punches. I used a 1.75" scallop punch from Stampin' Up {love their new punch style} and a 3" scallop punch from Paper Shapers.

And now search for a book that you no longer love. As an alternative, visit your local thrift shop and get one there. You'll need 10 punched shapes for each flower.

Next you'll use your Fiskars 1/16" hole punch. When my bestest gal Patty gave this to me, I had no idea what I would do with a hole that small. Now I know that it's for brads. I wouldn't mind having one of the long reach handled models, too. I had to use my paper piercer to punch the brad hole in the 3" scallops. This would be a good time to use your least favorite brad colors as the brad will not be seen when we're finished.

Now we'll gather up each of the ten layers and scrunch them, one by one. Pay close to these technical terms, they're confusing.

After one scrunch:

After 5 layers are scrunched:

We're almost there!

Voila! Ta Da! Fertig!

The last four photos are of the 3" scallop. I lightly brushed each of the book pages with ink before punching the scallops. This is best done with one of your old, nearly dried out ink pads so that the page is not saturated. You'll want just a hint of color. It adds a vintage touch I think. The first photo in the post is without the ink-brushed pages.

Here's an updated Paper Flower Tutorial, if you want more detailed photos.