Jennifer McGuire, ink.

Winner! And some other stuff...

Hey, everyone!

We have a winner!  SmilynStef!  I will email you so I can get your book in the mail.

Thanks to everyone for sharing your favorite new products.  Looks like we have many things in common: Doodlebug Loopy letters, Cuttlebug, flocking stuff, everything scallop, Glue Dot roller dispenser, thickers, MM Noteworthy line, grungeboard, and more.

I worked outside today... working along next to the many cicadas. (On one hosta, I counted 72 of those buggers!)  Hope you all had good weather, too.  Thankfully, I did manage to also shoot some videos to edit in the next few days.  (God bless my dear son for taking 3 hour naps. :)

A simple share before I go up and crawl into bed.  This one just shares how cutting up your clear stamps can make a big difference with greetings.  Notice the greeting, "thank you for being my friend" in the set below?

 

Look how different it looks on this card.  I just gently cut the stamp between the words and mounted them vertically, making it work perfectly for this card.



 Supplies:
Hero Arts stamps (butterfly, greeting & background), notecards and gems
May Arts ribbon
Colorbox Chalk Ink Rose Petals
Memories Black Ink
Prismacolor colored pencils (to add shading to butterfly)

More tomorrow.  Have a good night!

How-To: Video:How-To Video: Scallop and Embossed Edge Card

Have a video share for you.  Has several little fun tips/tricks in it.

(Quick note: If you are interested in watching videos in higher quality, you can find out more HERE.  Also, you can often click "watch in high quality" which is under the video and view numbers.)



Supplies:
Hero Arts stamps (background, tree & greeting) and notecards/paper
Creative Impressions silk ribbon
Vintage textbook paper
Crop-a-dile
Black & ArtPrint Brown Memories Ink
Prismacolor colored pencils.
Ranger Inking Tool
Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Bazzill scallop edge paper
Sewing machine
Old music by Keith Chapman (newer cd available by emailing me)

Happy birthday, Shari.  I am the luckiest girl in the world to work with such a talented, fabulous-advice-giving, hilarious friend.  I love you. :)

Good night everyone!  (Oh, and you still have time to enter for the giveaway on yesterday's post!)

Gotta turn this day around with a giveaway...

Boy.

Bad day.  The hard drive died on my baby.  Boogers.  I love love love my MacBook Pro.  Love it.  But I attract bad luck with stuff like this.  Thankfully, Apple has the best customer service in the world and they are saving me.  Will get the hard drive replaced tomorrow.  Thank goodness!

But since that occupied my day, I didn't get any creating done.  So let's do a giveaway instead. :)  This RAK is for a copy of the Designing With Recipe book...

 

Just leave a comment here by Friday night at 11:59pmPST telling me what your favorite new scrapbooking goodie is.  I feel like I haven't bought anything new in ages and need to do a bit of online shopping. Nothing is better than retail therapy, huh? :)

Oh, and please go backup your computer.  :)

How-To Video: Inked/Stamped Chipboard on Clear Tag Card

Hey!

Have a video to share tonight.  This shows a few simple things... enjoy.





Supplies:
Hero Arts stamps, clear tag, flowers, button & pearls
Colorbox Chalk Ink (Primary, Chocolates & Blueberries and Pumpkin Patch)
Black Memories Ink
Scenic Route chipboard butterfly
White Staz-On Ink
Creative Impressions silk ribbon
Other: string and a fast-moving dude to act as Vanna

Again, the music is from my BIL, Keith.  Some of his older stuff.

I had a couple people ask where on ebay I got my Inking Tools.  HERE is my source.  I usually try to support local stores (we want them to stick around!!), but they were out.

Wanna see a cute card?  Check out an adorable one by Kandis HERE.

Hope you are all doing well.  Those of us in Cincinnati are enjoying the wonderful joy of cicadas.  Yes, my yard is being taken over by these buggers.  Argh!  As Colin says, "Cicadas are EVERYWHERE at Colin's house!"  Ha.  I will save you the discomfort and not show a picture. :)

Night!

Mini Cards

(Before I go on, be sure to check Laura's awesome blog.  Turns out she is a use-your-scraps-for-cards girl, too!  She is amazing.  Look HERE.)

OK... mini cards.  I am currently addicted to making bitty greetings.  Generally, I just cut a card in half, resulting in a card about 2.75"x4.25".  I still put it in a regular envelope since the PO doesn't like anything smaller than 3.5"x5".  Here is one I did a few weeks ago, which is very inspired by the amazing Shari HERE.



Supplies:
Hero Arts stamps (house/greeting & sun), gems and notecard
Bo Bunny patterned paper
Fiskars corner rounder
Cuttlebug
Colored pencils and gamsol
Diamond Stickles

By the way, isn't that Bo Bunny paper the cutest?  The Almond dot is the one I use most - it is the perfect neutral-yet-a-bit-of-interest paper for any project.  It is magical. :)  You can find it HERE, along the other colors.

I have gotten a lot of emails about getting good scallop edges for pages.  I personally LOVE the Doodlebug trims.  They have a petite scallop, which is great on cards and pages.  And you can get the colored ones and have the option of using the back, which is always white.  Fun stuff.  You can find them HERE.





Before I head on to email, a word of warning: there will be some serious enabling coming up soon.  I finally installed my new toy.  :)

Take care!

My old saying is...

... "whenever you make a layout, go ahead and make a matching card."  I used to say this in classes all the time. And it really is true for me.  I always have so much stuff out, a few leftover ideas and lots of scraps.  So why not?  It is also a good chance to try out something.  And if it doesn't work, no harm done. :)

This is a card I made before cleaning up from the mess of yesterday's layout.  Just a card, no big thing.  I have a drawer next to me of little odds and ends that are left out for some reason - random stuff.  In there, I found the chipboard, flowers and buttons on this one.  :)  On the big flower, I stamped.  On the little ones, I used my ink applicator to rub on ink, as I did with the texture on the card.



Supplies:
Tim Holtz Grungeboard
Close To My Heart scallop chipboard (inked with chalk ink)
Hero Arts flowers and gems
Hero Arts script circle stamp (on cream flower)
Melissa Frances greeting stamp
Cuttlebug Swiss Dots
Tim Holtz Distress Inks
Vintag textbook paper
Colorbox Chalk Ink Sand Dunes
Ink Blending Tool
Other: sewing machine

Someone asked in the last post about the inking tool I used.  This thing rocks.  HERE it is.  Be sure to get the additional pads for it so you can have one for every color.  I just ordered more on ebay. :)

As for Croatia, I had a few people email asking how we picked it. Ken and I were inspired to look into it after seeing it on the Amazing Race.  :)  After researching it, we were sold.  It combines the blue water we love so much with the European/Italian-like culture/look we adore.   We are big on Rick Steves' picks, and he loves Croatia, too. We are going in the early spring.  But, first, we have St. John coming up in a few weeks with the whole fam.  Can't wait.

Blabbing...

Ok, off to work on email.  Night!

How-To Video: Vintage Text on Grungeboard

Good evening!

Here is a video for ya.  It uses some of my favorite photos from our last trip to Europe. I am dying to go back there - but my husband has been addicted to going to the Caribbean the last few years.  However, we will be soon going to Croatia - and I can't wait!  Wanted to do a page to show him how excited I am.  I love experiencing, enjoying and admiring the culture of others. There are some amazing places out there.  My house remains in need of so much work because I would prefer to hop on a plane. :)

I thought that Tim's fab grungeboard would be perfect for this page. And I decided to mix it up with some vintage text paper.  Some people have asked me where I get mine.  I found a fab seller on ebay who sells great mixes of old textbook pages.  I love THIS one she has up now... small page sizes perfect for cardmaking or scrapbooking.

Anyway, here is the video...




Supplies:
Tim Holtz Grungeboard (elements)
Vintage textbook paper
Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peeled Paint is yummy)
Hero Arts leaf flourish stamps
Colorbox Chalk Ink Chocolates and Blueberries
Autumn Leaves buttons
Making Memories trim and little letter stickers
White Liquid Applique
Other: string, sewing machine

Thanks for watching.  Have a good night. :)

I am lovin' this weather...

We finally had that perfect spring day.  Perfect temperature, perfect sun, perfect breeze.  Ahhh... I feel like we have waited so long!  I hope you all are getting some good weather, too.  I can't wait to go get (even more) flowers for my pots tomorrow.  I have 12 red pots that are in the front and back of my house.  Yes - I have an issue. :)

I just wrapped up two videos to share with you.  However, they take about an hour to load onto youtube, so I am going to have to do that tomorrow, so be sure to stop back.

In the meantime, thank you for the tons of emails I got about Keith's cd!  I forgot to also share THIS... you can hear some of his more recent songs on here.  ("Among the Few" is his newest.  I could listen to it over and over...)  Because of the number of emails I have gotten, I think I am going to have to get more from him.  That is a good thing - THANK YOU.

OK, on to scrapping. :)  I was going through old files the other day and ran into my folder with scans of all the projects in the 101 book.  I saw this and thought I would share it here. CK had asked me to do three cover options and this was one of them.  Then I realized that they stunk (I think they realized it, too, ha) and I ended up coming up with three more.  But looking back at this one made me smile... I still love that silly photo on it, even though the layout is old and not-so-great. ;)



Supplies:
Autumn Leaves patterned paper
Heidi Swapp chipboard letters
Doodlebug buttons
Strano Ribbon Stiffener (painted on ribbon so I could punch through it)

Anyway... off to bed.  Be sure to stop back by tomorrow.  Night. :)

Woohoo! I have the CDs!

Hi, folks!

I am so excited.  I was able to get a bunch of CDs from my brother-in-law, Keith!  I have used his music in my videos here and many of you have emailed asking how to get a copy of his cd.



Well, I now have some to sell to you!  The cost is $15, with shipping included.  All of the money will go to Keith and his family to support the great work they are doing in Africa.  After spending a few years on the MercyShip, they are now living there... opening up a dental clinic.  The clinic is called the Trinity Dental Clinic and you can find a bit of information on it HERE.  There is a great video on there about what they are doing.  (Along with a way to donate, if you feel you would like to.)  This is the road God has led them down.  And although it stinks big time that that road is so far from us (I know - it is selfish, but we love them and miss them), we are proud of them.  They are such good people.  Smooches to you, guys.  We miss you.


(Keith, Taylor, Lauren, Samuel and Kristin, who is Ken's sister)

Now, back to that fab cd.  I have given many to friends over the years and everyone loves it.  It is Christian music, but so much better than any I have been able to find over the years.  And, even if he weren't my BIL, I would honestly say this is my favorite CD of all time. The song "Shelter" that he sang at our wedding is on there.  (You can hear this song in THIS video.  It will make you melt.)  If you are like me and love music with that is "just a guy and a guitar," this cd is for you. :)

Anyway, if you are interested in buying a copy, I will get it in the mail to you right away.  Just click the "email me" button up there on the sidebar and I will give you the info for Paypal or where to send a check. 

Thanks, all.  I am very proud of Keith.  He is an all-around-good guy with an incredible voice and ability to write music. I tell ya, there is nothing better than listening to him sing in person when he plays the guitar.  All the kids in the family gather around.  So cool.

OK... back to scrapbooking tomorrow.  I promise.  I have two videos coming up.  One on grungeboard and one on fun stuff with chipboard.

Smooch!

My mom rocks...

She does.  She simply does.  Just wanted to say that today.

This is an old layout, but a favorite of mine, simply because of the photos.  It was in the 101 Things book.

 

I am addicted to squeezing lots of favorite photos onto a page.  Lots of 'em.  And they are all from different occasions.  When looking back on my Grandma's books, I realized that I most enjoy comparing photos from different times. And I love pictures that show relationships, etc more than occasions/events.  So, I am really trying to remember this as I create pages. 

Whoops... I was blabbing.  Sorry. :)

And, really... my mom rocks. She just does.  She is the best momma in the world.  Of this I am sure. :)

I have a quick card to share, too.  The picture stinks, but I think you can get the general idea.



Supplies:
Hero Arts stamps (background, branch and owl)
ArtPrint Brown Ink
Diamond Glaze (liquid glue)
Doodlebug Green Flocking Stuff
Google Eyes
Scenic Route Paper
Making Memories Letter Stickers
Colored pencils and gamsol

Oh, and thank you, Charlotte!  I found Tina on 2peas.  Smooch.