It’s time for the fair!

I wanted to let all my local friends know that it’s opening day at the Evergreen State Fair today! I decided to venture out with everyone for a little fair-action. Here’s some pictures from our day.

It was a gorgeous day today. Perfect for going to the fair.

Nika and I started off having some raspberry filled scones and elephant ears!

Nika’s favorite barn was the cows this year. Baby cows are always cute!

And we made 2 trips to the bunny barn.

Lot’s of adorable photos and drawings from the 4-H kids.

There was a fun collection on display with some cool vintage Smoky the Bear trinkets and memorabilia.

I always enjoy the grange displays.

Here’s a photo for you quilting fans. I want to learn how to quilt one day.

I thought this quilt was very unique.

This was an incredible entry in the wood (art) category. Lots of detail, my photo doesn’t do it justice.

These cute ladies hosted a free kids make and take table (painted ceramics and design your own frame).

Nika painted a purple cow.

A photo from inside the Western Heritage Museum. Always lots of interesting and fun finds in here.

Today was kids day at the fair, all kids under age 15 receive free admission! Be sure to check out all the specials and discounts here. The Evergreen State Fair is going on until September 7th in Monroe Washington.

More scrappy one-day deal sites to check out

Here I sit still waiting to have this baby. My cold is lingering and I’m supposed to be resting until the baby comes. Looky what I found while surfing around…a total of 7 one-day deal scrapbook shopping sites!!

Check these out:

• flowerstoflourishes.com
• myscrapdeals.com **Note: I tried to order here twice and had no luck, also tried to contact them and have not heard back. Anyone used them before?
• scrapbookmoja.com
• craftysteals.com
• peachycheap.com
• scrapbooksteals.com – awesome deals, placed an order and it shipped the next day!
• cropchocolate.com

Leave me a comment if you know of any others. My baby better come soon or I might get in trouble for all this online shopping I’m doing, lol. XOXO

ps – Basic Grey fans check out this store for 50%off and more!!

Scrappy shopping deals (steals) and baby shopping too!

I’ve been resting up trying to shake this cold and store up energy so I can have this baby soon! I’ve been surfing around a lot and I just discovered a new scrappy shopping deal site called Scrapbooksteals.com.

I purchased today’s steal, a Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste collection for $18.36 (plus free shipping) that included the following:

• 12 double sided design papers
• Two die cut papers
• Journaling cards
• 12” x 12” Strip Tease sheet
• Design studio

Also included:

• Jack’s Blackboard Album
• Fleuriste Ribbon: 5 designs, all with beautiful colors and textures. Approx. 1 yd. each.
• Fleuriste Cardstock Stickers: includes 14 cardstock stickers.
• Fleuriste Blackboard Shapes: 45 assorted black chipboard shapes feature flowers, floral frames, and flourishes. Color or cover with die-cuts, for a different look.
• Stickers: Drop Me A Note: 13″ x 6″ sheet, 15 stickers
• Stickers: Fabulous You: 13″ x 6″ sheet, 15 stickers
• Stickers: Girls Galore: 13″ x 6″ sheet, 15 stickers

That’s a whole lot a goodies at 55% off the regular price!! There is also a sister site called babysteals.com with super great buys on cute baby stuff too.

Hope you’re having a great weekend! XOXO

Show & Tell – Love scrapbook page & un-du review

Nika and I have been looking at her baby pictures a lot lately in anticipation of her little brothers arrival. This photo of Nika and me is one of my favorites. Vlad took this just after she was born. I just love it. Here’s the layout I put together for it.

The layout is one I made last year at CKC Seattle in the “2008 Latest & Greatest with Basic Grey” class. It’s not exactly how the instructor taught it as I always like to make my own version of what is taught. I like how it came out. This photo worked on here perfect! The papers and embellishments are from Basic Grey’s Urban Prairie line.

When I pulled out this pre-made layout I had put some stickers on there that I didn’t want to use with this photo. I went out and purchased a bottle of un-du. Un-du is a sticker, tape and label remover. I had heard this stuff works great and it does!! I was able to remove the stickers without damaging them. If you are in need of re-doing a layout that you’ve already stuck down you’ll want to give this a try. I highly recommend it. You can check out all kinds of videos demonstrating the many useful ways this stuff comes in handy. Watch the videos here.

Here’s a few more close-ups of my layout.

It’s hard to see in the photo, the text reads: love (luv) a strong, deep, affection and devotion for another, unconditional and unexplained.

Thanks for stopping by today! XOXO

Show & Tell – Wire wrapped birds nest charm & tutorial

I’ve seen these wire wrapped bird nest charms around and just love them. I had no idea how easy they are to make. Here’s my very 1st attempt at creating one.

They are surprisingly hard to mess-up…I love that! For mine I used 24 gauge wire, about 25″ in length. For the eggs I used the small pearl beads from the Stampin Up pretties kit. Here’s how it turned out.

I watched this tutorial to learn how to make it.

I also referred to this blog for some tips too.

Show & Tell – Love wedding tag

I wasn’t able to attend my friends bridal shower yesterday. I’ve had a nasty cold for a week now that won’t go away. I spent the day in bed catching up on my blog reading and did a tiny bit crafting. I made this “love” wedding tag to put on their shower gift. Thanks for stopping by today!

Products used

• Shipping tag (purchased from Staples)
• Journaling tag (K & Company)
• Chipboard heart (Heidi Grace)
• Beaded trim (purchased from Ben Franklin)
• Love stickers (Making Memories)
• Antique Distress ink (Ranger)
• Amaretto chalk powder puff (Quick Quotes)
• Adhesive (Kokuyo & Aleene’s)

Did you miss me?

I sure missed you! Where have I been and why have I been such a bad blogger? Many of you know every summer my nieces come and stay with us. We’ve been busy doing lots of touristy things and having tons of fun. So much fun that I’ve been just too tired at night to get any personal time to blog or craft much.

The girls have gone back home now and I’m resting up and preparing for the arrival of our new baby. I’m due in 2 weeks (August 29th is the official due date). But I hope this little guy is coming early. For those of you who are on Facebook I will be updating on there during my delivery. Feel free to connect to me. I would love to see more of my crafty friends on there (NanaB, Tona)!!

I also post a lot of photos on Facebook too. I have a “Summer Fun” album on there that is public so you can see some of things I’ve been up to the last couple of months. Feel free to check out the pics here. Shown in the photo to the right is me and Nika at Boehms Chocolate factory in Issaquah Washington. One of the many places we took the kids while they were here.

Oh and I almost forgot to share we got a new puppy!! This is Scar, our new Great Dane. We got him end of June. Here’s a photo of him hanging out in Grandma’s garden.

I just wanted to give everyone an update since I’ve been MIA for a while. Now that summer is winding down I’m hoping to have more time to craft and blog. Thank you to all my blog subscribers who have been waiting and wondering when I was going to come back to my blog. I’m here and have missed you.

What have all of you been up to? Would love to hear from you or just leave a comment and say hi. Connect to me on Facebook so you don’t miss any of the baby delivery news. I’ll try and be back as much as I can. XOXO

Show & Tell – Cherish butterfly tag

Today I turn 36 (I think), lol. Some times I’m off by a year. I have several friends who share June birthdays with me. I enjoy swapping cards with my crafty friends. I made this “Cherish butterfly tag” and tucked it into a card for one of my Fisk-A-Teer friends in Canada.

I hope she likes it. Happy Birthday to all you fellow twins! I decided to take a peek at my horoscope today. I actually used to to be an avid horoscope reader when I was younger. I would get those mini horoscope scrolls from the gas station (my dad called them horrible-scopes). Here’s what Horoscope.com has to say about being born today.

“Celebrate in style on your birthday in preparation for great things to come. As your own personal new year sets in, you will be offered a number of appealing opportunities to choose from. Love, work and travel top the list, and your own problem may be choosing just a few from so many exciting options. Try to remember what is really important to you, and what you value in life above all else. By September, you should have a clear idea of what direction to take, as your life moves forward in a completely different direction than you might have expected. Fall is your transition time, as you make the leap from one reality to the next. Go more slowly then, but do go.”

For my b-day celebrating I’ve got a dim sum lunch planned with my honey and Nika. Then a little crafty shopping. Tonight Vlad’s mom is having a family dinner party for me (home cooked Russian food)…yay!! I hope you have a fabulous day today. Big hugs & kisses!! XOXO

Friday Freebie – Doodle fun & paisley brushes

Check out all this doodle fun and lovely paisley brushes from The Scrappin Cop.

Get the Friday Freebies

• Doodle Alpha
• Doodle Frames
• Doodle Brackets
• Paisley Brushes

Be sure to browse through all The Scrappin Cop’s freebies here. Lots of good stuff. Some adorable animal characters that would be great for kids projects or to print coloring pages. I love this school journal/envelope download. Oh and some nice wood tiles too. That’s just a sampling of all the unique and interesting freebies you’ll find. Hope you have a fun and crafty weekend! XOXO

How to get started art journaling

I’ve been wanting to start an art journal for a while but wasn’t really sure how to go about it. I found my way to Sarah Whitmire’s Soul Journaling site. She has a FREE online Soul Journaling workshop and a wonderful yahoo group dedicated to art journaling! I have finally started my very 1st art journal. Take a look…I’m following the prompts in Sarah’s fun and easy tutorials. Here’s what my 1st page started as.

Here’s the next step of  me painting over my journaling. I still need to add more and finish it. That’s the beauty of a journal. Always a work in progress and I can flip around and come back to when ever.

This is how pages 2 and 3 started.

This is page 3 after the fun scavenger hunt. This page still needs some doodling before it’s complete.

I’ll share more of my pages as I go along. This is such a great way to try out new techniques, play and just be free to create.

You can access all of Sarah’s Soul Journaling prompts here. She really makes getting started so easy and fun. If you are interested in art journaling be sure to join the Soul Journaling Yahoo group too. Thanks for stopping by today! XOXO

Friday Freebie – 5 awesome kits with gorgeous papers!

Happy Friday! I’ve been having a great crafty week. Working on a few different collage pieces and I started an art journal! I’ll share pics soon. For today’s freebie find I thought I would list all the loveliness I’ve been downloading this past week. There’s been some really good ones.

Lovely Lady mini kit – I love the colors in this kit. The papers are oh so pretty too!

High Key sampler – Very unique collage-looking papers in this sampler. The papers are stunning.

Date Rub-ons – These date rub-ons are so versatile. Always good to have stuff like this in your digi collection.

Tulip Time kit – More unique-looking papers in this collection. It’s hard to see in the preview some of these papers have music sheets oh so slightly layered into them. Very cool!

June 1st freebie -These papers are so pretty. I really like this designer’s style. Joyce Paul has some gorgeous kits.

Hope you have a fun and crafty weekend! XOXO

One Minute Muse

I’ve been sick this past week and spending a lot of time online. Catching up on blog reading and surfing around on YouTube. I stumbled upon the One Minute Muse and so glad I did! These video tutorials have really amazing techniques for making backgrounds. She uses a lot common things from around the house and all of the videos are about a minute! Here’s a sampling of some of the things she uses in her cool techniques. Lots of unique ideas for mixed media, collage and art journals!

• Shaving cream
• Jet dry
• Salt
• Crayons
• Tissue paper
• Rubbing alcohol

I’ve been so inspired watching these tutorials. You can see a sampling of the One Minute Muse’s videos on YouTube. Better yet you can access all the fabulous techniques on the Muse website. If you sign-up before before May 31st it’s free to be a member (after the 31st there’s a fee). You’ll want to check this out, really good stuff!!

Kids CD winner!

The winner of the new CD from the Brian Waite Band goes to comment #11

Congratulations *** Brenda *** and thank you to everyone who entered.

Inchie collage on wood

I’ve had this inchie collage project waiting to be finished for some time now. I finally got around to completing it this weekend. I’m really happy with how it came out.

These inchies are from the 2008 Fisk-a-Teer Christmas inchie swap I participated in. I knew that I wanted to display them all together in a type of collage. While poking around in my husband’s wood shop I found the perfect scrap block of wood. My honey finished off the edges of wood for me by rounding them out and off I went. First I painted a few coatings of gesso on the wood surface to prep it for the collage. Next I used a blending tool to rub antique linen distress ink around the edges. I also used a willow acrylic paint dabber to go over the edges too. For the background paper I traced the wood block onto the back of my paper and cut out. I also used a corner rounder on the edges. To apply the paper I painted on a generous amount of gel medium and placed the paper onto the block of wood. I used a brayer to make sure there was no gaps between the paper and wood block. Gel medium was used to apply the inchies and embellishments. For the metal hardware I used Zip Dry glue. I also sanded the edges of the paper and glued the silver tinsel ribbon with Zip Dry. Thanks for checking out my project! XOXO

Products used

• Wood block 5 ¼” x 5 ¼” & 1 ½” thick {scrap wood from my husbands work shop}
• Paper {Cosmo Cricket}
• Stickers {K & Company & Stampendous}
• Flower & half pearl {Prima & Stampin Up!}
• Scrap music paper {left over from a previous project, made with Crafty Secrets stamp}
• Dream sticker {left over from another project made with Dymo label maker}
• Antique brass hardware {Stampin Up!}
• Tinsel ribbon {purchased at Michaels}
• Adhesives {Golden Regular Gel Medium & Zip Dry}
• Gesso {Golden}
• Ink {Ranger}

Friday Freebie – a scrappy mag for you!

Happy Friday and Happy Memorial Day weekend to all my fellow US friends! Since all the scrappy mags seem to be shutting down the presses lately. I thought I would remind everyone about a really great free scrapbooking magazine that you can download. I’ve done this as a freebie find before, but it’s been a while. This is the same high-quality magazine you would find in print. Scrapbook & Cards Today is a Canadian publication that comes out every quarter. Tips, challenges, products galore, and lots of inspiring ideas.

Get the Friday Freebie

You can also download all the their previous issues too, here.

Have a great weekend everyone! XOXO