MISSING MY CRAFT ROOM..

 

I have been out of the loop lately, and boy do I miss my crafty life and online social circle.  I have decided to go back to school, and currently am finishing up my first class.  I can safely say that it is kicking my butt, but I am so happy.  I am reaching for the stars, and one day I will be able to call myself a College Graduate.  So I guess for now, I will scrap when I can. 

-Shell Bell-

Mother's Day project featuring Down the Boardwalk by We R Memory Keepers

I was lucky enough to get my hands on some goodies from the "Down the Boardwalk" collection by We R Memory Keepers, and immediately I got to work.  I decided that instead of using my cinch to make a mini album, I thought that it might be nice to make my mom a sign for Mother's Day featuring both this gorgeous beach themed paper combined with pictures of our camping trip to Newport Beach.   First step was to find some chipboard (aka Twinkies boxes) for the structure of  my sign.  Next I dug out all the goodies I was going to use.

• Down the Boardwalk papers
• Catch a Wave Frame
• Beach Day embossed tag
• Beach fun clear stamps
• Bottle caps from the collection

I also used other We R Memory Keepers products

• Basic brads glitter- Aqua
• Sweetheart inkers in Aqua and Brown
• Sew Easy Bakers Twine in Lollipop
• Sweetheart Distresser tool
•  Cinch Binding Machine

With all this good stuff, here is what I came up with

 All the flowers were made with paper from the collection and dimensional stickers and tied together with one of those beautiful aqua glitter brads.  So I hope you like my project, and more importantly, I know my mom will love this since it is her and her grand kids. 

This is where it all started, then the chaos!  I love documenting pictures of my work in progress.  All of this while getting my niece ready for her prom.  I am superwoman sometimes.  =)

Prima Crop

On Friday I was lucky enough to be invited to crop at the Prima Warehouse in Chino, CA.  Where do I begin?  It was a beautiful crop room with lovely people, but the best part was...you got to use their stuff!!!  I was introduced to such beautiful embellishments, bling, ribbon, paper, and of course FLOWERS!  I am totally in love with the Sun Kissed collection, and cannot wait to order everything I can get my hands on.  Here are some of the projects I made on Friday night:

I still have a little bit of journaling to add to the two bottom layouts, but overall, they are so pretty I already love them.  Normally I don't use stuff like this, but I feel like I really stretched myself creatively and I am excited for that.  Here is a pic of my crop partner Leticia, and if you notice behind her is all the goodies that we were able to use.  Missing out of the picture was another 2 shelves full of more stuff, including paper.  Until next time Prima- Thank you for inviting me to such a wonderful Crop.

Pregnancy Journal!

After I made my first mini album, I felt unstoppable.  I went on to make this pregnancy journal using papers from We R Memory Keepers “Grandma’s Kitchen”, stickers from Creative Imaginations “Keepin it Real” sticker sheet, and my Cinch.   I picked up both the paper stack and the stickers at the Scrapbook Expo in Ontario, CA last year, so it was nice to be able to use some of my stash.  Having suffered from several miscarriages, it was a little tough making this, but sometimes you find yourself gaining strength from facing your troubles head on.  Also, I made this for a coworker’s daughter who is expecting her first baby, and that is really exciting.  I can’t be bitter because of my own misfortune, that’s no way to live.  So, I got down to business and I finally finished...and I absolutely love how it came out.  Every month of the journal has a pull out tag where she can put a picture and write notes about her journey.  She loved the journal and cried when she got it.  I am glad she liked it, and I hope you do too.

Friends Furever Mini Album

This is the first mini album I have ever made!  I used We R Memory Keepers Friends Furever Line, Bella Blvd Tail Waggers and Cat Naps chipboard embellishments and my Cinch.  The book measures 6x6 and has several embossed stickers, twine, and of course recycled materials including Twinkies boxes and Lean Cuisine boxes.  Of course I eat them together, but hey I am trying.  I hope you like it.  

My Tuesday Morning Haul

Tuesday Morning is usually a hit or miss with me. Sometimes it is stock full of goodies, but other times there is nothing but old stuff that I don't want. Well gals, I will say that this week was a hit. First of all, they must have struck a deal with Basic Grey, because they have tons of their products. I bought 2 page kits- "Cappella", which is a wedding/love theme, and "Max and Whiskers" which is a pet theme. The page kits were $3.99 each. I also bought 3 packs of Basic Grey brads. Each pack was .99 and came with 6 colors and 180 pieces. They don't have any names or ties to a collection, but they are all very pretty colors. I also bought a pack of clear stamps for $2.99 called "Pocket Garden". Another purchase is 3 packs of die cuts for .99 each. Each one has 17 shapes, but it doesn't list any collection names on these either, although I know one of them is from the Lauderdale collection. I did pick up one pack of baby blue foam Thickers called "Giggle" for $1.99. Lastly I got a pack of Corrugated chipboard from the Donna Salazar collection of Zutter products. This was only $1.99, and has 12 7x7 pieces. They had all different sizes of these, and I think I am going to go back for the 13x13 pack. Overall it was a good trip, and for some reason, my hoarding senses are telling me to hit the Palm Springs store, they usually have more than this one I went to. Oh well, I will see you all later with another one of my Super Hauls!!!

Organized New Year

This year I started out like everyone else in the world, I am on a diet, I am organizing, and I vowed to not spend as much money. So on Saturday morning instead of working out (which I hate), I started cleaning out closets, cabinets, and drawers. I threw out so much stuff, donated 4 bags of clothes and purses, and even put up some pictures in my bedroom. I was a woman on the go. Well after all was said and done, I decided that my craft room needed some work. Of course, I took some time off, showered, got pretty, and went out for an early dinner with my husband, but in the evening I was back in my room and really made some changes. Here is a picture I would like to share with you. I organized my paper and put them in my old stand by Cropper Hopper paper holders from Joann’s. What I decided to do was to decorate the paper holders and my plastic storage container with some pretty paper from the DCWV Black Currant stack. I was so surprised at how put together this looks. By adding this paper to the drawer of my storage cart, it hides all the nonsense that is inside. You can no longer see my tape, glue guns, punches, or any other madness. Needless to say, I am very pleased with the way this came out. Hope I have inspired some of you to just get into your space and start. It always seems like such a daunting task, but once you are done, you are so happy you did it. See you later friends.