shoppe update... no, really!

Yesterday I kind of teased you with a short little blog post about introducing something new to my shoppe. I'm sorry... I was very excited about this. It took me 3 days to finish these so when they were finally complete... well, I couldn't contain myself.

Handmade layered paper sticker embellishments:




The color combo reminds me of chocolate chip cookies. Yummy.







I punched all kinds of different shapes from patterned paper, Bazzill cardstock, and even some of my Chocolate Brownie Raffle Tickets. Some of the layers are hand-sewn together, some are machine stitched together, and some are stuck together with my favorite adhesive.





I love all 12 of these embellished stickers, but I think my most favorite is the middle one on the top row. I cut the flower with a die from luscious vanilla wool felt and topped it with an antique cream button, then hand stitched the button through all the layers with embroidery floss.







Do you have a favorite embellished sticker from this Chocolate Chip Cookie Set? If so, let me know. You may just win a sheet. ::wink::

shoppe update (almost)

Yes, it's an almost update. Ha!

I am so excited about a project that I have been working on for the past three days that I will be releasing in my shoppe tomorrow, but I couldn't wait to share the news with you! Nothing else... no pics, no hints... just the news that I'll be releasing something tomorrow. I'm so mean, but I couldn't help it -- the excitement got the best of me.

So stay tuned! ::wave::

tantrum

As mentioned in a previous post, I finally finished a layout! It's been a long while since I've actually done some layout work, so it felt really nice to complete one.

These photos have been printed up for nearly a year waiting to be used. And they were actually taken four years ago in 2007. Yikes!

It felt a little strange doing a layout again (even though I love doing them) and so this layout didn't come together all that smoothly. Even still, it feels as though it's missing something.

This was the first time I used acrylic paint on a layout (besides using it on an embellishment). I used Ranger's Adirondack Paint Dabber in Pitch Black to "ink" all the edges of my papers and some of the embellishments. Having acrylic paint in a dabber makes it so easy to apply paint... I guess that's the point! ::laugh:: I really don't think I would have used paint in this manner if I didn't have it readily available in a dabber.

The following embellishment was created by layering different elements together. I started with some Tim Holtz tissue tape (I changed the color with Distress Ink), added a starbust punched shape, followed by a Tim Holtz gear, a punched star, a Tim Holtz game spinner, and finally a brad to hold it all together. Then I trimmed the tape with some pinking sheers.

This was the first time I tried splattering paint on any of my projects. Maybe a layout wasn't the best place to do this for the very first time? It was a lot harder than I had anticipated. Perhaps because I wanted the splatter in specific places... not sure.

The splattering didn't turn out exactly as I had planned, but I'm OK with that.

I'm definitely loving those American Crafts Thickers and I think my supply of those needs to grow significantly. ::laugh::

Something that I learned through the process of creating this layout, having it be so difficult for it to come together, and me not being entirely happy with it is this: I love this process and it's really OK if it doesn't turn out the way I had planned. Hopefully this message will stick with me.

The patterned papers I used in this layout came from several collection of Sassafras and Bo Bunny's Block Party collection. The cardstock is Bazzill.

a little organization

After finally creating a layout the other day, I was putting away all of my supplies when I decided I would do something I've been meaning to do for awhile now: Label my Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads... what fun!

To start, I dug out all of my distress ink pads and some return address labels:




For each ink pad, I used two labels and stuck them down onto my non-stick craft mat.




I started inking away...




(I made sure to place the labels far enough apart on the mat so the different colors wouldn't bleed onto the other ink pads.)




Dry with a heat gun...




Peel and stick...



All done!




Instead of storing these in a container in my craft closet with my other inks, I decided to leave them out on my craft table in my antique soda crate...



Ahhh... that's better. Now I can see them all and know just by a quick glance what color I need to reach for.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you next time! ::wave::

little shoppe update

I just want to share with you some things that I have recently listed in my shoppe...

More to come... thanks so much for stopping by!

let's ride

I have been on a little card kick this past week. My mojo seems to have traveled somewhere else, so I'm trying to get back into the groove by making some cards.

The latest card I made is linked up over at Paper Issues.

I finally dug into my stash of October Afternoon's Thrift Store paper. I like it all so much that I didn't want to cut into it. ::blush:: I guess I'm a bit of a hoarder when it comes to scrapbooking products... aren't we all?

The bike stamp and sentiment both come from Hero Art's Joy Ride. The Ink is one of my favorites: VersaFine's Vintage Sepia.

All those buttons are from my ginormous button stash and are tied together with some yummy pink/white Divine Twine from my shoppe.

This past week my hubby and I were finally able to go out on a lovely date. We haven't been out to a nice dinner for quite awhile. It was so nice and I can hardly wait to be able to do it again!

Strawberry Mango Lemonade

When I saw this drink on the menu, I couldn't resist. I love fruity drinks and pretty much anything made with lemonade. It's awfully pretty, too!

Artichoke Spinach Dip

This is the appetizer we always get when we go to Olive Garden. So yummy...

We had a main course, but I'm going to skip right to the dessert for the sake of blogging. Ha!

Again, I got what I always get, White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake and my hubby tried the Lemon Cream Cake, something new.

We had such a lovely time. We talked and talked. (It was a 1.5 hours drive each way, so we were able to chat a lot.) He's been working long hours lately so it was very nice to "catch up". I missed him.

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope to see again soon. ::wave::

tim holtz!

As mentioned in my previous post, I had quite a weekend! Saturday was spent in The City (San Francisco) with my family. Sunday was spent in a fabulous class with the ever-so-talented Mr. Tim Holtz at Scrapbook Island!

I cannot even begin to describe to you how much fun this class was. I must admit that I get a little intimated when I'm meeting 'famous' people. I know it's silly... they are just people, right? But sometimes there are 'famous' people that make you feel like you are beneath them. Perhaps that's why the feeling of intimidation has a staying power? Tim does NOT make you feel this way. He makes you feel very comfortable and is incredibly funny and down-to-earth. I cannot wait until I can take another class with him!

Tim is also a fantastic teacher! He was always making sure everyone had what they needed and/or wanted. If there was a color of paint, distress ink, or stain that we wanted but couldn't find at our table, he went on the hunt and persuaded others to let us borrow theirs. The reassurance that he continually put out there about our work being great because it was ours was always apparent.

After we altered Tim's Configuration boxes, we got a beautiful little cloth bag that was packed full of goodies! Some of it was from Tim's collection and some of it was real antique goodies from Tim's personal stash that he picked especially for us!

I had A LOT of fun... can you tell?

Me - Tim - My Mama

Tim - Me

Mario - Me

Mario is so fun, too! He was running around the classroom making sure everyone had what they needed. He was singing along to the music that Tim was playing. He was awesome!

This blog post would not be complete without mentioning the fabulous staff at Scrapbook Island! They are the nicest scrapbook store staff that I have ever come into contact with. And Laurie, the owner... well she is just so sweet! If you ever get a chance to go to San Jose, you really must swing by there and say hello!

I have been trying to recover from the weekend so I haven't been able to finish my project yet. But I will certainly be sure to post photos when I am done.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon.

splash!

Well, that was a super fantastic weekend and truly awesome class with Tim Holtz! I'm still recovering. I will be able to tell you more about it later this week.

For now I'd like to share a layout that I did last year. I'm linking it up over at Paper Issues and want to share it with my fabulous readers!

BoBunny's Sunkissed collection was used in this layout and it was produced for a challenge over at ScrapFit while I was a part of their design team. I was a little out of my comfort zone for this, but I pushed myself and came up with this:

The photo of my little guy was taken on a camping trip when he was about 2 years old. Oh how I miss those days...