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

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

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!!

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

Mixed media goodness

Look what I got in the mail this weekend! I’m so excited to play with the new Claudine Hellmuth Studio paints and sticky back canvas. I signed up for Claudine’s online mixed-media class “Home is where the art is” at Scrap in Style. The class starts today and looks super fun. We’ll be learning 3 techniques a day over the next 5 days and then assembling all of them into this cute wall hanging, shown in the image below.

I purchased the Claudine Hellmuth Studio products from Stampington & Company. I didn’t have any luck trying to find them locally. I called all the local craft and stamp stores and checked Michaels too. I’m so glad I purchased them online as I wouldn’t have discovered my new favorite mag! Am I the only one that didn’t know how cool Somerset Studio is…where have I been and why didn’t you tell me about it? I just got the May/June issue and totally loving it. It’s filled with eye-candy galore, techniques, tons of info and just all kinds of mixed-media goodness.

You can take a peek inside the current issue here. It’s truely a beautifuly done magazine. It’s on the spendy side, but I say definately worth it. If you like collage, stamping, and mixed-media you will love it. With the 2 year subscription you get a free vintage clip art CD with over 500 images too! I figured with all the other mags shutting down the presses this was a justified purchase, lol. Hope you have a wonderful week. Chat you later! XOXO

Paper Casting with Toilet Paper…really!

Yes, I’ve been playing with toilet paper and look what I made! It took maybe 5 minutes not counting the drying time. My friend Michelle had a blog post about paper casting recently which led me to this tutorial here. I had to try it and it really worked and was so easy.

For mine I used our household toilet paper (the Costco Kirkland brand) and tore off 10 squares. I wasn’t fancy about my process, I took the 10 squares and let water drip on them from the sink faucet. I wanted the paper good and wet. Once soaked I put them on the counter and stamped the butterfly image (use a good amount of pressure when stamping). Next I flipped over the soggy TP stack with the stamp still squished in it. I used a hand towel to put more pressure onto it and also to start soaking up the water. I found using a paper towel to soak it up didn’t pull out the water as well as an actual towel. Next I used my fingers to squish down on the image some more and then removed the stamp. I left the paper cast to dry overnight. It turned out great! To finish it one off I used Key Lime Pie Glimmer Mist and some Lime Green and Magenta Stickles.

I think this would be a fun project to do with kids. Toliet paper and water…fun and easy! XOXO

Easter ATC

Here’s an Easter ATC I just finished making for one of my friends. I really like how it came out. I’m going to use this same image to make some Easter tags too. I got this adorable vintage image free from Vintage Image Crafts monthly newsletter. I highly recommend signing up for this e-newsletter lots of great projects, free downloads and it’s totally free!

To make this I resized and printed out my image. Instead of cutting out the image I just tore around the edges. I think the tearing adds to the softness/vintage look of the card. Next I sprayed Pearl Glimmer Mist onto the image to give it a little sparkle. I adhered the image to lavendar cardstock using Kokuyo, Dot-n-Roller adhesive (love this adhesive)! The pink ric-rac ribbon is from American Crafts and I wrapped that around the front and back of the card using Aleene’s Tacky Glue. The lace (purchased from Joanns) and pastel circle confetti was applied with Aleene’s too. To finish it off the silver piping was adhered with Zip Dry. Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you like the card. XOXO ~ Cathy

Friday Freebie – Easter projects galore!

How was your weekend? Here’s Friday’s Freebie find, some fun Easter projects for ya!

Chick egg with mini album
I love this one!! Such a cute little chick and the album inside is adorable. This is from the Fiskars Crafts Australia/New Zealand site. There is a ton of great tutorials there.

These next projects come from Martha Stewart. Always lots of pretty ideas. Here’s some of my favorites.

Thread wrapped eggs

Flowered baskets
How about making a basket with Prima flowers? Or buttons!!!

Elegant eggs
This would probably be easy enough to do with plastic eggs and scrapbook paper too!

Have a great week. XOXO

Crafty coupons and a butterfly project for kids!

In case you have crafty shopping coming up…here’s some printable coupons for Joanns and Michaels.

Michaels 50% off any one regular priced item, good through March 28th

Joanns 40% & 50% off any one regular priced item coupons, good through March 28th

Craft project for kids: Check out this easy butterfly clothespin project for kids. There’s a printable pattern to color and cutout and you could use some patterned paper scraps to alter the clothespins too!

Scrappy decorated Easter eggs, love it!!

Look at this video tutorial from Hero Arts showing some really great ways to decorate Easter egss with stamps! I love it and it’s a project you can do with kids. Fun stuff, check it out.

* Image shown is from the Hero Arts blog

How fun does this look?

I’m a big fan of Tim Holtz and his products. He just came out with a bunch of new colors of alcohol inks called “lights and brights”. Check out this cool tutorial he did using these new fun colors. This is the alcohol ink splatter technique…how fun does this look?

You can see more of Tim’s video tutorials here. Lots of good stuff!

Here’s a 20% off entire purchase printable coupon for Michaels. Good for purchases through March 7th. I know they sell alcholol inks and a lot of the Ranger products. Happy Shopping!! XOXO

Every scrapbooker needs this book

Is this you?

• Feeling a bit overwhelmed by photos that need to scrapbooked?
• Are you a chronological scrapbooker?
• Busy working mom with no free time?
• Looking for a new way to find connections in your photos?
• Need help getting organized?

Stacy Julian’s book Photo Freedom has help every scrapbooker can benefit from.

Here’s my situation…
I have 3 decades worth of magnetic photo albums documenting my life. A box of old childhood photos that came from my dad. Another box that consists largely of negatives and slides. 2 boxes of heirloom photos that belonged to my Grandma. 3 computers full of digital images (thousands of images) that are being ignored, lost, forgotten and not scrapped.

I didn’t realize Stacy’s book could help me with all this mess and getting it organized. Once I started reading this I didn’t want to put it down. Lots of good stuff!! She helps you prioritize and organize in a way I would not have imagined. Her system shows you how to sort photos that will allow you to find patterns, relationships, and make connections between photos that you would likely never see if you scrap chronologically. When you are limited for time you’ll be able to quickly find what you need. So, so many good ideas in this book. There is also a chapter that profiles different scrapbookers and how they adapted Stacy’s system to work for them. I highly recommend every scrapbooker add this to their bookshelf.

There is also an online workshop taught by Stacy to help you set-up your own system based on her book. Tomorrow is the start of the Library of Memories class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking. It’s a 16-week class that walks you through this process. I’m so exciting to be taking this class! I’ll be sure to give you updates on my progress…stay tuned!

Friday Freebie – Cute templates!!

Happy Friday! Looks like my site is stable again and all the server issues have been resolved, yay!! Today’s freebie find comes from one of my favorite designers, Marieke Vermeulen. I’m a big fan of her creations and printables. She has created a super cute house template to make a mini album and also a fun scalloped heart, perfect for Valentines.

* Shown in the photos are the designs created by Marieke Vermeulen and the downloads are for the templates to make these fun creations.

Get the Friday Freebies

• House shaped mini album
• Scalloped heart

Be sure to stop by her Etsy shop and see all the wonderful printables she offers. Lots of yummy goodness. Check out the woodgrain patterns and ornamental frames. Her blog has tons of creative projects too. Have a great weekend! XOXO