Paper & Paste

Crafty Clearance

2008-10-15T10:25:00.027-05:00

Another 20% off!
OK, so I really want to get rid of this stuff. I'm offering another 20% off of the listed prices! You know these will make good Christmas gifts for someone.

I've been trying to clear out some things around here, and I came across my craft show box. At this point, my goals don't include relisting these items in my etsy shop because I'd like to take things in a different direction. I would like to get this stuff out of here, though. So I thought I'd have a crafty clearance sale.

I'm offering everything you see here for at least 50% off of what I had it priced plus actual shipping. I've added numbers to some photos to help identify items. If you're interested in any of the items you see here, just zap me an email at crystalnaledesigns@gmail.com. Feel free to contact me with questions you might have as well!

You can click on the photos for a larger image.

Scrabble Tile Pendants $5 each - These have silver plated bails and include a silver ball chain like the one in the photo. If you have a special length request, I can do that as well.
SOLD: all except #6, 16, 17

Flower hair pins with Swarovski rhinestones - $3 each
SOLD: photo 2 #3

Felt flower hair elastics and clip $2 each - These are not wool felt.
ALL SOLD

Clothespin Dolls $.50 each
4 SOLD

Felt flower and ribbon bookmarks $.50 each
ALL SOLD

Amy Butler Print Composition Journals $3 each
ALL SOLD

Pincushions $1 each
ALL SOLD

Handknit Scarves $7 each - These are 100% acrylic yarn.

Sticky Note Holders $1 each - These are sticky note pads with a matchbook-type cover that fastens with velcro
SOLD: #4

Earrings - All of the findings in these are sterling silver.

They are all $6 for each pair except for #5 which is $8.

Bracelets:

1. child's Swarovski crystal, faux pearl, and sterling silver $9

2. glass beads $7 SOLD

3. baby's Swarovski crystal, Swarovski pearl, and sterling silver with extender clasp $6 SOLD

4. Hematite and glass beads $10 SOLD

5. Swarovski crystals and Hematite $10

Pink set - $7 each piece bracelet SOLD

Turquoise and black:

1. turquoise, black glass, sterling silver, and "antique gold" finish bee charm $12.50 SOLD

2. turquoise, sterling silver, and Swarovski crystals on a SS chain $11

3. turquoise, black glass, sterling silver, and "antique gold" finish bee beads $12.50 SOLD

Boquet Necklace $13 - sterling silver, Swarovski crystals, Swarovski pearls, and lucite flowers

Bracelets and Pendant:

1. sterling silver and glass cube beads $12

2. sterling silver and swarovski $12

3. turquoise, black glass, sterling silver and stone pendant on sheer ribbon $5

Slacker.

2008-06-23T15:52:00.002-05:00

That's what I've been when it comes to this blog. And it's probably what I'll be for a while longer. The only scrapbooking I've done in the last several months has been for challenges, although I've been making cards like crazy--that I didn't scan or take photos of.

We'll be welcoming another member to our family on Wednesday, so I'll have many more ideas for layouts, and I have a few plans for working on my shops eventually. It's all just a matter of how long it will take me to get back into the swing of things. So I'll just say thanks to anyone who is still around, and ask you to bear with me through the dry times. I'm sure there will be many more updates on the family blog, though, if that's of interest to you.

I suppose I'll just leave off with a couple of the layouts I have done this month. These were for challenges at my favorite online scrappy site. They had an anniversary party at the beginning of the month, and that always means lots of fun challenges and prizes. Anything that motivates me to make something is a big help lately. Anyway, here you go...

Neglect

2008-06-02T07:51:00.004-05:00

I have to admit that most of the neglect of this blog is due to the fact that I just haven't had much to share. I've been going back and forth about what to do with my shops since the new baby will be here so soon. For now, I've decided to resurrect my photo cards and invitations with no other graphic design products right now. I have worked on some custom things for previous customers, but I think the cards are best for the forseeable future since most of the work on those is completed beforehand.

I have added a couple of new designs to the mix just for fun, and I have a bunch of things to relist in the next few weeks. I'm just happy to say that it's not sitting there empty anymore! I can't say so much for the other shops right now. Here are a couple of the newest designs.

a couple of cards

2008-04-24T14:52:00.004-05:00

I thought I'd share a couple of cards that I've made for specific occasions recently.

We're in the process of going through some left over boxes and doing some spring cleaning. That also means I'm finally forcing myself to put some scrappy stuff up for sale. I've been putting that off for way too long, but I keep finding things as we've unpacked over the last several months. I'm sure I'll still keep finding more things that just need to go. Although, I'm sure it won't be as much as my husband would like to see me get rid of!

I'm still not doing such a good job...

2008-04-15T14:46:00.003-05:00

...of getting back in the swing of things. BUT, I did actually work on a layout the other day. And eventually I'll get some scans and photos of some other things I've been working on. I'm hoping to get some scrappy time in later this week, and I'm so sad that I won't be able to spend much time keeping up with the NSD partying at Scrap Supply in a few weeks. It's just going to be crazy around here. But they always have fun challenges (which I really need right about now), BINGO and awesome prizes! Maybe I'll play the birthday card.

Headed to Michael's next week?

2008-04-12T12:59:00.002-05:00

No pics yet. I've really got to work on finding a good setup here, but I do plan to work on some crafty stuff this week.

But I did want to share. I ran by Michael's to pick up some wrapping goodies for a wedding gift, and They gave me an extra coupon for 50% off one item next week. Word is there won't be an ad in the paper for next week, so I thought I'd send my extra out to someone who miht use it. If you're interested, just leave a contact in the comments.

But, I also got an e-mail coupon for 20% off your entire purchase next week. This one is easy because you can just print it from the link.

http://sdm3.rm04.net/servlet/MailView?ms=MTU0NzU1MAS2&r=MTE4OTMyNDkyMDIS1&j=NDgwNzM0NTUS1&mt=1

Happy shopping!

I need to get back in the groove.

2008-03-26T09:17:00.002-05:00

For the most part, my shops have been neglected since the holidays just as this blog has. I've been really torn about just how to proceed. I think it was all getting a bit too complicated. So now I'm in the process of trying to decide what to focus on and where to go from here.

I've been putting off working on the templates for my announcements as well. I did work on another design several weeks ago for another CDH mom who was kind enough to share some of her photos with me. I am a bit partial to this one myself, but I haven't posted it in the shop yet because I haven't been renewing or posting for a while.

Long time...

2008-03-23T19:07:00.003-05:00

I know. I know. So I took a bit of a break. There just wasn't much working in my favor when it came to keeping up with this crafty blog over the last few months, but I am hoping to get back in the groove again. We're recovering after having the grandparents here for the Easter weekend, and my sister is coming to stay with us for a few days this week, so it's still a bit hectic around here for the next week at least.

BUT, I finally have my scanner up and running again, so I can share a couple of layouts I've done, and I have some cards waiting to be photographed (although finding a good setup hasn't exactly happened in the new house, yet). You know--all sorts of projects in the works. I have my new crafty space to share and I'm sure there will be lots of baby-related projects to come.

One of my recent projects has been researching and learning about cloth diapers, and I think I've gotten up the courage to give this a try. If you don't get carried away, it can be a real money saver. My problem is that I get caught up by all the cute things there are out there, and I start wanting to make stuff, which takes supplies, which takes moolah, which sort of prevents you from saving money on the whole adventure. So far, I think I've found a decent outlet, though.

One of the things you need if you're using the traditional prefolds or flats or even fitted diapers is a cover. And there are lots of PUL (plasticky waterproof material) ones out there that aren't terribly expensive considering. I do plan to use these, but you can also use more breathable cover made out of wool. So, I've decided to put my limited knitting skills to the test by making a couple of soakers. I found a pattern that wasn't so intimidating, and here is the first result. This is before blocking.

I hope to make some more of these, and if they work for us, I'll probably try to advance to shorties and longies later on. I'll have to repost when I have a photo of these in use.

I needed to meet the minimums...

2007-12-13T13:12:00.000-05:00

When I order prints from a company that I use a lot, they have an order minimum. If you order total is less than a certain amount, then you pay that amount anyway. So I decided to experiment with my first real printed storyboard. I used the photos the I took for the Christmas prints and cards. We'll see how it turns out!

I made a little progress.

2007-12-05T08:26:00.000-05:00

I thought this might take me a while, but once I got started on our Christmas cards, the design just sort of came together. Of course, it looks nothing like what I started with. Does anyone else have an evolving process? I love how digital gives you the freedom to do that without wasting goodies. I started with a totally different photo, colors, and fonts. The only thing that's the same is the basic layout which is obviously pretty simple.

I'm excited to see these since we decided to go with postcards this year. That saves a few steps since there are no envelopes to stuff and our return address is already printed on the cards along with the basic message. All we'll have to do is sign them and add the addresses--except for the ones we'll deliver by hand or that go with gifts. They were a bit more pricey, but I think it will be worth it!

It did speed things up to use some premade elements. The background and frame are by Jessica Sprague.

Just in case you were wondering...

2007-12-04T08:56:00.000-05:00

...I am still alive. We've had a crazy few weeks with the move and all. I had several packages to ship out in the midst of it all, too. I'm hoping we're beginning to see the end of all the unpacking. That's especially important since I can't start organizing my new crafty space until all the stacks that found their way to my table are gone. At least I can see the floor now.

So, I do have to work on getting our Christmas cards done this week, but I hope to be back very soon with something remotely creative.

So

2007-11-05T10:07:00.000-05:00

I was going to post an ad I saw in a magazine recently that inspired me with its colors. Only, I must have made it up in my head because now I can't find it anywhere. I have looked through every magazine I've touched in the last month, and I haven't found the ad. It's weird, but maybe I'll come across it again.

We're going to be in packing mode very soon, and when we move I don't know how long we might be without internet. So if I seem to fall off the face of the earth for a while, I am probably just buried under boxes of scrap stuff!

Ahem

2007-10-29T13:34:00.001-05:00

I have an announcement to make.

I get to set up a new scrap space. Of course, for me that means it will be an overall craft space, but we all know the scrappy stuff takes over. If everything stays on track, we will be closing on our first house in less than 3 weeks. My space will be more out in the open and will mean taking my stash out of the closet and into the open. Oh my, do I suddenly feel overwhlemed. I want to do this right since it will be right there for all eyes to see, but it definitely has to be on a budget. Any ideas? Link me up!

Also, I wanted to share a few pics from the show this weekend. It was a bust, but that happens, right? They moved the date this year, and I think that killed attendance. It was a bad show for everyone there.

I borrowed the display for the cards from Teresa McFayden who also supplied the inspiration for the advent calendars several years ago.

I also have a little challenge I'd like to share, but I'll save that for a bit later. I've been working on some projects for customers in my design shop this morning to catch up, so I better actually get some rehab done around this house of mine. It's amazing the destruction last minute crafting can cause!

Preparation. It's taking over.

2007-10-24T08:41:00.000-05:00

I'm getting last minute stuff ready for the craft gala on Saturday. I can have a tendency to be a last minute person, so I'm trying not to let it overwhelm me at this point. I just had so many plans, and I know it would be physically impossible to get it all done by Saturday at this point.

My table is a wreck, so I've taken over the kitchen table. I'm hoping to get some of the mess cleaned up today, so I can start again refreshed. Sometimes that helps a ton.

We have winners!

2007-10-24T07:41:00.001-05:00

I used the trusty random number generator to pick two numbers that would coincide with the comments that were left plus one who wasn't able to get a post to go through. And here are the winners!

Shaun & Rebecca said...
I want to win, I want to win! What a beautiful set! Rebeccakohly@htc.net
2:07 PM

and

Tara Cole (tcole@prairiewindpc.com) said...
Loving the traditional colors and hoping that one of those pertty templates will be our christmas card this year! Tara Cole
1:45 PM

Another Giveaway!

2007-10-22T08:16:00.000-05:00

Since I just haven't had the time I had hoped I would have to work on templates and other downloads, I am excited to finally get a set of holiday photo card templates up!

So....I wanted to celebrate by having a little giveaway. Everyone who comments on this post by 11:59 tommorrow (Tuesday) night, will be entered to win the red and green holiday photo card template set for free! I'll give away 2 sets, so leave me a comment! Let me know what you think about my digi items, my blog, the weather--whatever.

It's that time of year again.

2007-10-19T20:06:00.003-05:00

The time of year when I make an advent calendar from a cookie sheet, and then I promise never to make one again...until next year when I forget how much work it is to make all the stinkin' numbers.

You'll find this one in my shop, but I simply must find a way to streamline the process. Trust me. If I charged for my time on this, no one would be crazy enough to buy it.

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment with getting things ready for a craft gala (doesn't that sound fancy?) next Saturday. My table is covered with piles, and I keep finding supplies that were meant to be used for various projects. Hmm...I'm sure you'll be seeing the aftermath show up in my shop after the show, although I hope it will be a success. At this point, though, I'm not really sure how I would define success.

It's that time of year again.

2007-10-19T20:06:00.001-05:00

Here's a layout.

2007-09-25T17:19:00.000-05:00

I made this layout using the Holiday Play paper and embellishments that are up in my shop. I just love the colors in these, and they were just right for this photo from last Christmas. You can find the kits here.

Here it is!

2007-09-23T20:17:00.000-05:00

As promised I have put up a little freebie to celebrate the fact that I will be offering my designs for sale in the form of templates. Check out a sample of the scallops and stripes birth announcement set, and you can get the free download here.

Trying to Decide

2007-09-21T10:40:00.001-05:00

I have a few things I'd like to get started with like offering templates for the basics of my photo card designs for limited commercial use. I'm not exactly sure how this is going to work yet, but I know it's something I'd love to do.

I've only prepared one set so far, but they would be sort of like digital kits. The files would be in .PNG format, and then the photos could be added along with personalized text. The idea here would be that they could be purchased for personal use (say you'd like to make some announcements for yourself or a friend.) or for photographers. They wouldn't be allowed to be sold in an online context (since I've got that covered), but photographers could use them to create announcements or cards for their customers. I'm still working out the details.

Definitely feel free to shout out any input you all might have. It's still in the brainstorming stages right now, but I'd love to start here and branch out into other digital kits or templates.

Here is a peek at the first one. I'm thinking that when I get things worked out, I'll start off with some freebies, so keep your eyes open for those!

Some new designs

2007-09-17T21:38:00.000-05:00

I'll be getting some new birth announcement designs up in my shop soon. I actually sat down and got several completed today. I think I might have to bite the bullet and get some stock photos for more holiday card designs. I hate to do that just for samples since the higher resolutions ones can add up after a while. Maybe I'll just start rounding up everyone I know to take their photos!

Here is a taste of what I've been up to.

So now I just spread my junk out.

2007-09-04T20:00:00.000-05:00

I am loving my new table. I plan to make some sort of skirt to hide all the stuff stacked under it, but it's working great already. I am such a piler, and now I can actually still work on the table even with all of my piles. Plus, I can have so many more things out where I can reach them. I'll have to really clean it off every now and then to keep things from getting insane, but at least the piles won't get dangerous quite so quickly. I've seen a few places I need to clean out in my closet because I had just been sticking things in wherever to get them off of my desk.

I haven't been doing all that much creating lately, but I can already tell a difference. I do think I need to get some sort of mat or something to protect the area where I actually work. I have a tendency to get gunk all over, and I don't want to ruin the table just yet.

Technically this room is more office than playroom now, but it seems like the little guy still end up in here. That's ok because there is more space for him to spread out in the floor now, and since his toys are mostly in his room, we can make him take them back before getting more out. Before, it would pile up pretty quickly.

Oh yeah, I guess I'm back from my break, although I can't make any promises. All I can do is try!

OK

2007-08-17T14:10:00.000-05:00

I really am taking a break, but I couldn't resist posting about how I got this table for $40. I have been keeping my eyes out for something either to use as a new craft table or a desk for my husband since he wants to have a place to work at home. And I just happened to see a post about how people were getting these discontinued tables for waaaay cheap. And I just happen to love this table, and so I called the store here to see if they had any.

The guy looked it up and saw that it was discontinued, but he went to check and said they had the floor model left for $40. I am glad I called first because we don't have a vehicle large enough to get it in, and I had to send my husband and one of his friends after it. When they got there it still had a $179.99 price tag on it, and the people didn't really believe them. I think finally they found whoever told me it was $40 this morning, and so we got it. And now I have a dining table sitting in my den. Ha! We have to decide how we're going to rearrange. It will be some motivation to clean out for our yard sale, though, so that's good. But now I have even more stuff to do, so I'm off.

I now interrupt this blogging break...

2007-08-16T19:48:00.001-05:00

...to post a digital layout. I can't find my table, and my paper is under a pile somewhere, so I decided to do a digital layout. I have been avoiding this for a while, but it's oh so convenient!

The kit is from 2 Peas by Rhonna Farrer, and I made the title work using the green paper as a base.

Taking a Break

2007-08-14T10:56:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to pop in to let everyone know I will be taking a little blogging break. We're trying to get everything organized for the fall, and there is just so much going on. I hope I'll be back before you know it with project photos and goodies. It will just help me not to have blogging ideas and plans rolling around in my head. There's only so much space in there, you know!

At last...

2007-08-12T13:38:00.000-05:00

...I am beginning to find some semblance of organization. Things get crazy when you have your hand in too many cookie jars. Is that a real expression? I think I may have made it up. Anyway, I do have a lot of different things going on, and it has become overwhelming for me the last few weeks--trying to keep up with all the crafting and posting and preparations for various projects and events. I have been thinking that, if it's overwhelming to my when I sort of know what is going on, then it must really be overwhelming to everyone else.

So I've been brainstorming. I've been working over the last few days to try to streamline a few things. Most importantly, where you can find my stuff. The first step was to create another blog that will be my main site for all of my shops and events. On this site, so far, there are sections for each of the types of products I offer and links from those sections to the shops where you can find them.

There are also links to other things such as this blog (for the fun stuff, of course) and to a networking group where everyone can find other handmade card sellers. This site will be a place where I can post shop and product updates, special promotions, and any other information I need to get out about my shops.

I've also been working on redesigning a logo and coordinating banners for all of my shops so that there will be a cohesive look and identity. Now I just need to have new business cards and a stamp made up, and Crystal Nale Designs will be fully coordinated.

Please do take a look around, and let me know if there is a glitch or something I may not have thought about. I'm trying to make things as easy as possible without jumping in an designing a whole new web site of my own.

And...the best part is that I can begin cleaning up this blog a bit. I am afraid my sidebar was getting a bit overwhelming.

Gone Postal

2007-08-08T14:50:00.001-05:00

I should have sent them out before we left on vacation, but somehow that didn't happen. So...all but one of the prizes went into the mail Monday along with a card order. I'm still trying to get an address the I must have deleted by accident. Don't you love the mistakes we make when our inboxes are slammed (insert eye roll).

We had a good time in the mountains on our vacation. It was nice and a bit cooler there than here--plus there was the pool. I thought I would share a photo from one of our drives through Cade's Cove.

Also, I am officially registering for a local craft gala at the end of October. Most of the shows around here are outside, and I don't have the setup for that type of thing yet. This particular one benefits Newspapers in Education and there is a fee to get in. It is usually in early December, so it puts me on a tighter schedule than I expected. That is probably a good thing since I thrive on close deadlines. (That also means I'm a procrastinator.)

I've been ordering some supplies to finish up some ideas I've had rolling around. Of course, this also means I have to actually narrow down what I will take and decide on the best way to market some items. I will be sharing 2 tables with my sister since she's more into the sewing part of things than I have been able to get. I still have a love/hate relationship with my sewing machine!

And, I have finally posted something new in my shop.

I've been in the midst of planning and scheduling for our adventure in homeschooling this fall, so there hasn't been much opportunity to just get some creating done. I'm looking forward to having an opportunity for that soon.

Another shop?

2007-07-31T11:25:00.001-05:00

I am tossing around the idea of filling up another shop on etsy. I already have a shop since I totally forgot about one I had already created when I decided to do the design items. I really want to have one place for all of my items that focus on the difficult stuff--for the pregancy and infant loss items. I'm thinking it would have various memorial designs for jewelry, the BoH jewelry, sympathy, thinking of you, and thank you cards, as well as announcements for birth and bereavement and even for when little troopers leave the hospital.

Mostly, it will be a matter of moving certain listings and listing things that I've already designed. That's not the hard part. Once again, the hard part is coming up with a name. I want it to be something that expresses the comfort I hope the items will brings or the fact that the items will be celebrating special lives. I thought of a few options, but for some reason, they just don' t seem quite right.

In Joy and Sorrow
Tender Expressions
Rembembrance

I would LOVE any input you all might have. I don't want it to bee cheesy, but I do want it to make a point.

For Your Convenience

2007-07-31T11:11:00.000-05:00

Actually it mostly for mine, but I have gone back and added labels to all of my posts for the last year. You never know when you might want to find all things Christmas!

I Never Shared This

2007-07-31T10:29:00.000-05:00

I never really shared this, but I had my feature post at the etsy greetings blog a few weeks ago. Each person on the street team gets a feature of their shop periodically, and it can be a great resource for anyone who is into buying handmade cards. My blurb just says a little about how I got into making cards in the first place and why I keep doing it.

Nee a little pick-me-up?

2007-07-30T13:53:00.000-05:00

So this isn't really crafty, but I thought I'd share. I love the Mentha Lip Shines from Bath & Body Works. Imagine my surprise when I found out they now have a whole line of mentha goodies including body wash. Talk about invigorating! Anyway, it's still on special now and I also happen to have a coupon for a freebie with a $10 purchase.

Some new designs

2007-07-27T13:34:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to share some new photo card designs I finished today.

I came a cross a great site recently with all sorts of color schemes that you can browse. It has helped me to be able to see how colors work together before I start playing. That's how I branced out from my usual colors on the new birth announcement design. Sometimes I can't quite envision how colors will work together.

And the winners are...

2007-07-27T11:48:00.000-05:00

I cut up all the comments and put the strips into a big mason jar. Then my four-year-old son pulled out the winners in the order that I posted the items. Sooo...

the earrings will go to this poster:

Madame Rubies said...
I am loving all of the color choices in your crafts. They are bright and happy. :) I am glad I was lead here by the giveaway!heathertruett@gmail.com
12:02 AM

the notecards will go to:

Roses Are Red, Violets are Violet said...
I love all things "crafty"And artsy and suchThe joy of creatingNice things you can touchWhether scrapping or sewingPhotography, tooLooks like I share thiscraft passion with you!
3:15 PM

and the custom felt flower goodie will go to:

Nanette said...
Very cute gifts. Count me in.
2:22 PM

And many thanks to everyone who dropped by to visit, left encouraging comments, and signed up for my newsletter! It has been a fun week, and you're welcome back any time!!

For my fellow etsy sellers...

2007-07-25T20:20:00.000-05:00

...B over at A Journey of Stitches has started an etsy reference linky on her blog. Anyone can post their shop link, so get on over there. I'm sure it will make for good browsing, too.

Wow!

2007-07-25T15:30:00.000-05:00

I am overwhelmed at the number of visitors yesterday and today. Welcome to everyone, stay a while if you like, and definitely come back!

Today, I've been updating some of my photos. Some of the ones I had up of my cards just weren't cutting it. Here are some I haven't posted yet.

I took the opportunity to use one of the displays I got for a steal recently to update some of my pendant photos, too.

I got so many different displays from this awesome etsyseller including the earring display in yesterday's post. I only wish I had found the shop sooner. She had so many things to choose from at great prices.

Thanks again to everyone who has stopped in for a visit. If you haven't entered the drawing, be sure you do!

Here it is!

2007-07-24T12:50:00.000-05:00

I guess it's better late than never, so here is my giveaway for the week!

You can click the button to see who else is playing along!

I'll be giving away 3 prizes. The first is a pair of my aqua sparkle earrings:

The second prize will be a set of flowerful thank you notes. This set includes 4 notecards that are blank on the outside and white envelopes. Two of the cards have the glittery flower design with green at the bottom and two have the orange at the bottom.

The third prize is a custom felt flower hair clip or pin. You choose the colors and stitching design, and I'll mount your flower creation on either an alligator hair clip or a pin back. Here are some samples:

Here are the details:

To enter the giveaway simply post a comment on this post about anything related to my blog (scrapbooking, photography, my crafty shops, etc.) any time before noon EST on Friday.

I will draw 3 names from everyone who comments and post the results by Saturday morning.

I just wanted to remind you all, too, that if you like what you see in the giveaway, you can sign up for my newsletter in the sidebar. This will make sure you receive updates on my crafty shops and special offers!

Who doesn't like free stuff?

2007-07-22T20:34:00.000-05:00

I know I do, so I decided to join in on the bloggy giveaway started over at Rocks in My Dryer. Be sure to check back tommorrow to see what I have up my sleeve

Playing around

2007-07-17T07:45:00.000-05:00

I've been playing around with different things, yet not accomplishing all that much. Last week there was an adventure to Archivers to check out the clearance paper bins. You see, unlike some scrapbookers, the people who buy cards don't care if the paper used on them is the latest and greatest or not. I'm starting to care less and less about my scrapbook pages anyway, and so the adventure began. I ended up with a big ol' stack of patterns I never got to see in real life when they came out, some patterns I forgot I liked, and a few patterns that I would never have bought for scrapbooking. And they were all at a great price. Now I just have to sit down and actually make some cards!

I was excited to find a few stamps there as well. I picked up a Heidi Swapp birthday stamp, a Rhonna Farrer star stamp, and a great new greeting stamp by Inkadinkadoo. They have this great line with various sentiment and picture stamps and decorative ring stamps that go outside of these. All of them can be mixed and matched. I ended up settling on the Thank You set, but I would love to get some more.

I have had several chances to actually get out my camera, even thought the battery did finally die right about the time I was going to retake some of my card pics the other day. Mostly I have lots of pics of the little guy being himself, but I did snap one photo this weekend that I've been experimenting with. Sometimes I'm so focused on the little guy that I forget the other cool stuff all around.

I also came across this fun site for helping with colors. I think it may have been through StumbleUpon (which is whole other post in and of itself). Usually I pull color schemes from a main paper or pattern, but sometimes it's good to be able to visualize schemes without a base pattern. Especially if you want to use only cardstock. The color schemer gallery has been especially useful since I have been working on creating my own digital papers to use in my photo card designs. I love stripes, but sometimes I can't visualize how various colors will work together, and it can be a lot of work changing colors of tiny stripes one by one after you decide the color scheme doesn't work. I haven't completed a lot of designs, but I did make one that I used for a birth announcement. You'll have to tell me what you think.

I'm headed out some time today to go to my sister's. That means I need to get a stack of stuff together in case I decide to play with her cricut while I'm there!

A Bit Discouraging

2007-07-11T15:54:00.000-05:00

Before I started listing stuff in my etsy shop, I did searches to see how many similar items were being listed. Of course, this was back in March. So I finally decided on some items to focus on. If you did the same searches today, you will find many listings for similar items, and many of them are listed at lower prices. I just don't understand how people can be making enough to make it worthwhile after fees and packaging and supplies. It blows my mind, and it's a bit discouraging.

The more I do this whole online thing, the more I think digging in locally would be much more successful. That's a whole other ballgame, though. There's almost an overload online. There are so many similar things, and almost everything imaginable has been done. Whereas, I know so much of this has never been seen locally. Now that I've made this realization, I just have to figure out what it means for me.

While I'm here, I'll share a few of the items I've been listing today.

a cheery cherry birthday card

a bright and fuzzy in my thoughts card

a new set of felt flower hair ties

I forgot how much...

2007-07-06T15:46:00.000-05:00

...I enjoy the design end of things. I have always loved playing around with graphic design, and sometimes I wish I hadn't changed my major away from that in college. Several weeks ago, I started a second shop on Etsy just on a whim. I noticed other shops had banners for sale, and I like to play, so I thought it would be fun.

That was the beginning of Designs by Crystal. Now I keep coming up with new ideas for things I'd like to offer. I am constantly stumbling upon inspiration for more banners, but my favorite thing to design is the photo card. It's not quite digital scrapbooking, but it balances right on the edge. I simply enjoy turning photos into something extraordinary that also serve a purpose. Needless to say, my second shop would overtake my first if I would let it. For now, I just enjoy sharing my love of design with others. Here's a sampling of what I've been up to lately.

Not much to see here.

2007-07-04T12:42:00.000-05:00

We've been busy doing the summer thing lately, so my crafty adventures have been less frequent. That, and I am out of adhesive, so nothing remotely scrappy will happen until I can get a refill (which I can't seem to remember whenever I'm out).

I did get a chance this morning to play around with my camera a bit. It was nice and quiet and fun. Take a peek!

I've been busy!

2007-06-27T16:27:00.001-05:00

Well, that pretty much means I just stopped long enough to actually make a few things. I'm trying to build back up on my cards, since I sent most of them out a while back.

completion

2007-06-21T12:25:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to post a photo of the finished cupcake keychains. The pieces didn't look like much, but I think they came together pretty nicely!

Up to my eyeballs...

2007-06-21T08:28:00.000-05:00

..in cupcake parts. Well, there aren't really that many, but it sure feels like it. I has a little setback when some of the beads started not fitting over my only beading needle, so I had to wait until I could go into town and get another one. You can see all the little beaded tops and stitched bottoms here waiting to be assembled with their ribbons and rings.

Usually I find it pretty easy to keep myself from buying beads impulsively because I have to buy my supplies online. Last weekend, though, we went on a little shopping trip since the hubby needed some new jeans. And since it was so close to a bead shop... You know what follows. It's just so hard to resist when you can touch and feel and see up close. I was pretty good, though. I did pick up a few things that I've only been able to find at this shop as well as a few strands of beads.

One strand I couldn't resist was this hematite. I love the look and how it can be used with beads of whatever color strikes your fancy. I put together this bracelet with some glass beads, and I love the red with the hematite. I think I want to work on some coordinating earrings now.

Do you ever get tired of seeing...

2007-06-20T09:17:00.000-05:00

...photos of people's storage. I usually just look at the photos of people's studios and drool. I don't have anything close to that. Usually it more closely resembles a pile of stuff in the corner of our playroom/office. However, I did take these pics today in an attempt to offer my take on a solution to a storage problem. I thought I might as well go ahead and post them here. I suppose it might be able to help someone. If nothing else, it may help someone else to feel less guilty because they don't work in one of those bright yet oh so neat studios we find on blogs all over the web.

These pics probably say more about me than words really can--messy, yet contained (most of the time anyway).

Taggies in baggies

2007-06-19T08:13:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to post a pic of my finished products. I've been playing around with ways to package samples to send out, and this is what I've come up with so far. I have the gift tags in little baggies with printed toppers. I added my logo and my shop url. Also, the sample tags have a stamp of my info on the back whereas the ones in my shop do not.

As for the mini cards, I simply tucked a business card inside each one and bound them up with the envelopes using various ribbons. I'm hoping this will work out, and hopefully it will give my shop a little exposure.

I Love This!

2007-06-19T07:25:00.000-05:00

I have come across this shop several times while browsing, and I'm always amazed at such cute designs and items! You should check it out.

Jenn Maruska Designs

There are so many talented artists at etsy, and I am continually amazed at the things I come across!

A Special Flower

2007-06-18T08:15:00.000-05:00

I think part of the beauty of Etsy is seeing all the amazing work of other shop owners. Then there is the possibility of the occasional trade. This is a custom felt flower hair clip that I made just for a trade. The lighting is a little bad, but you get the idea.

I'm trading this for a cute key fob. I'll have to post a pic of it when it arrives. It's funny how trading has taken on a whole new meaning since I discovered etsy. And shhhh.... I'm working on some cupcake keychains that may just show up in an online store soon!

Mailing list

2007-06-12T21:31:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to mention that I have set up a mailing list for handcrafted by Crystal. You can enter you e-mail in the sidebar to sign up to receive shop updates and special discounts from time to time. I'm excited about this!

Gift Tags

2007-06-12T08:03:00.001-05:00

I love the colors. And I must admit, it took me longer to make all of these that I anticipated. It made my day yesterday a bit hectic since I have so much to prepare for VBS at our church for the next several nights.

I still need to make some more and add other items to send out as promos. Between all that and working on several banners, this week will fly by!

Fabric?

2007-06-07T13:42:00.000-05:00

So I am in awe at all the gorgeous fabrics I have seen all over projects on the web. We pretty much no longer have a local source for fabric, and that's one thing I've never really looked at online. Sometimes I get overwhelmed when trying to shop online.

I was looking around Randi's blog, I have to Say..., and she has a few links to some yummy fabric. And you should definitely check out some of the things she has been making. She has a gorgeous bag she's made recently!

Anyway, I'd love it if any of you could point me in the direction of some more yummy fabrics. Do you have a method for finding vintage fabrics?

Speaking of Apronpalooza...

2007-06-06T07:21:00.000-05:00

I was fiddling around with Flickr yesterday, and I came across a link to another etsy shop that I absolutely love! Now, I'm pretty ADD when it comes to crafting, but the one thing I'm not-so-good at is sewing. I mean, I can sew a straight stitch, but when it comes time for the patience to really jump in and learn--hasn't happened yet. So of course, I'm always impressed when I see good sewing. All that to say that I found an awesome shop with gorgeous aprons yesterday!

Joyful Abode

You can check out Joyful Abode and drool over the aprons right along with me. And I'll let you kow if I ever sew something worth selling. Ha!

Some Good Stuff

2007-06-05T21:43:00.000-05:00

Apronpalooza

Check out this fun contest on Nan's blog to win one of many cute aprons this week. I have never seen so many great aprons in all my life!

Also, I have been trying not to spend more money on Etsy than I make. You know it's kind of like it would be if I worked at a scrap store or someplace like that--I would probably spend my paycheck and then some. However, I did break down and buy some soap from Bathlife yesterday. It just looked and sounded so yummy. I'll try to give a review once I get it in my hands.

I'm in the middle of working on several custom bracelets for an order(which I'm always glad to do). I got the rest of the supplies to finish them today, so I hope to have pics of those very soon!

And...I've been trying to figure out Flickr this week. I'm not so savvy with it yet, but I hope to be posting photos of all sorts of things there. Do you have any great groups that I should check out?

And finally, I'll leave you with a pic of a notecard set I created just because it makes me happy!

A little more playing around

2007-06-01T18:29:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to get some more items ready for my etsy shop. I have so many ideas rolling around, but I don't have enough time to make them all happen just yet. Here are some of my latest things I've been working on.

I think I've scored all I can score from the fabric store that is closing. They are pretty much wiped out. I did pick up some cheap ribbon and felt today, though--and some more felting needles.

Also, I wanted to remind everyone that scrapsupply.com is having a birthday party tommorrow afternoon. This is an awesome scrap site, and part of the party will be an exclusive cupon code. Wendy always plans the greatest bashes with Bingo and challenges and all sorts of fun stuff! You can find more info on their site.

Finally...some BoH jewelry

2007-05-19T09:01:00.001-05:00

I did some working and reworking on the pendant cluster for the necklace, but I think I really like how it turned out. Of course, these are my favorite materials anyway--turquoise with black and sterling silver.

The idea in these is to create the piece in sterling silver as the rest of my jewelry is, but to have the little bee charm in gold to make it stand out. Of course, a silver version would be available upon request. Turquoise and the bee are signatures for Breath of Hope which is a nonprofit support organization for families facing battles associated with CDH (Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia).

I decided to take a pic of the bracelet on this time because I don't think the pics of them just lying there do them justice.

I'd love any feedback on these pieces. As you can see, they follow my usual style, but I know there may be some out there who would like something a bit more traditional. I haven't made it that far in the designing process yet. Any suggestions are certainly welcomed!!

I'm a little sad...

2007-05-18T10:54:00.001-05:00

...that a local fabric store is going out of business, although I'm not sad that I've been able to get some great deals. I scooped up all these cute buttons for a great price! That makes me happy. It's been bad, though, because I keep going back for a little here and a little there--some flannel, corduroy, fleece, tulle, fat quarters, embroidery floss. It starts to add up after a while. One of the last times I was in, the check out lady couldn't believe all the stuff I was getting for the price it came up. My stash, however, is beginning to overflow the closet again. That's not good!

I'm sad because I haven't really gotten into buying fabric online yet. It just seems so difficult because you don't get to touch it. Do any of you know of any good sites? Do you know of any that offer swatches or samples?

Be on the lookout...

2007-05-16T16:13:00.000-05:00

...for new stuff in my shop. I am finally getting around to photographing some things I've had and finishing up some others. I'm not going to post them all at once to try to get a bit more exposure, so I thought I'd share some of the new things here.

There are a couple of cute felt flowers. At least I think they are cute. My sister thinks they are elementary school. They come with a pin on the back so they can be worn on your lapel, on a bag, or anywhere you'd like to pin them!

I also have some new earrings. One pair is olivine Swarovski crystals and glass beads and the other pair is capri blue Swarovski crystals and turquoise beads. They also hang from posts.

I have a necklace that was created using a patterned paper and dimensional glaze. I like the little beads along with the pattern.

And, of course, I'll have to add some tiny notecards. These come with white coin envelopes to tuck them inside and are just a little larger than a business card.

Just a few...

2007-05-12T18:58:00.000-05:00

...of the pages I was able to get done last weekend... I thought I'd share so you all would know that I am still into the whole scrapping thing. If you could see my closet that I had to completely reorganize (again) because it was spewing stuff, you would know I'm still at least buying scrappy stuff! I think I'm getting comfortable in the whole scrapping just because it's fun and I want to do it and there's no pressure to create a magazine worthy page groove. A list of challenges helps, too. When I have too much time to think about things, I tend to make it waaaay too hard.

So this is where I am, and this is comfortable. I might be a bit more comfortable if I had a scanner so my pics of my pages looked better, but I'm working on that.

So...

2007-05-01T07:36:00.000-05:00

...practice, practice, practice. Really the only way for me to learn my way around an unfamiliar program is to jump in and use it. So that's what I've been doing. With digital scrapbooking, it's often the little things that make a difference--like drop shadows. It has been fun learning shortcuts for some things, and also taking things from to tutorials and finally being able to apply them to other things.

I don't think I will ever really get into digi scrapping for real. I'm so slack when it comes to printing things and stuff, and I like having books to flip through. Nevermind the fact that my printer stinks... BUT the same techniques are so useful for other things. I definitely like the possibility of using digital elements on paper layouts by printing them--whether that be sizing a journaling tag or label just for a particular layout or creating a grid of pics before printing them. There are also so many possibilities for creating photo cards and storyboards. I think I'm finally getting over my PSE fear.

BTW everything in this layout except the staples (designer digitals) and the title is from the Echoes of Asia kit by Jessica Sprague. I did also pick up her computer tricks book, and it's great. If you're just getting started in PSE, then this is a great place to begin learning specific things you can use for scrapbooking. It covers photo enhancement, titles, embellishments, and then even some mini album stuff.

AND... I have a newly reorganized scrap storage system. It's not perfected by any means, but everything fit into the closet , and things are pretty much where I can get to them easily. That's a major problem I was having. So... now it will be waiting for me --hopefully along with a box of Scrapsupply goodies--when I get back from my short happy birthday escape, and it will all be just in time for some National Scrapbook Day fun this weekend! What do you have planned?

I'm learning...

2007-04-21T07:43:00.000-05:00

When I first got PSE, I sat down to do a few things, and I almost instantly realized that ever doing what I want to do with that program would take work. I'm not used to that. I'm used to being able to feel my way around new programs, but his one seemed like it was from another planet. The basic photo editing (at least to my standards) wasn't so bad--especially if the photos are in RAW, but I won't tell you how long it took me to learn how to just draw a rectangle outline. I have made a bit of progress, and I have to say I owe it all to one oh so talented person. If you haven't checked out Jessica Sprague's blog yet, and you're remotely interested in learning how to use Photoshop, you should. I'm not really interested so much in doing fully digital layouts, but I do like to play around with other things. Her tutorials have helped a ton--even in teaching me how to draw a rectangle.

Here's just a photo I played around with from one of her exercises.

I like actually being able to do stuff. I have heard great things about Jessica's new book about PS, but I haven't had the chance to see it yet. I'm thinking I must get this one. If any of you are in the area, she's actually going to be at Carolina Memories next Saturday, and she's supposed to have a make and take. I don't think I'll be able to make it in time, but I might have to stop in for some shopping! Every now and then i just need to see and touch the goodies...

Finally!

2007-04-05T17:18:00.000-05:00

I promised some people I would update when I got the pregnancy and infant loss awareness stuff together. Well, it finally happened. So far I have a bracelet and a necklace.

The bracelets will be $25, and the necklaces will be $30. Anyone interested can see more details and actually order them here. I can also do custom bracelets with Swarovski crystals in birth month colors and a butterfly charm and necklaces with birth month colors and a butterfly charm or a cute silver bead that says angel. I'm even working on a Breath of Hope version with black and crystal Swarovskis and a little gold bee charm. Definitely let me know if you're interested in any of these. Drop me an email at cawebster79@yahoo.com.

Yep--that's right. If you actually click the link I gave you above for the bracelets and necklaces, you will see that I finally jumped in over at etsy. I officially changed the name to Handcrafted by Crystal, and you can find it at www.crystalnale.etsy.com. Yay!! It will be a good little outlet for all the ideas I have rolling around in my head.

Speaking of which...I have another project to share. This one is a felted messenger style bag. This one took a while and a lot of yarn since it had to be so huge in order to shrink it down. I made up the pattern as I went along, and I really like how it turned out. I also broke out the felting needles that had been in my bag for months and worked out the design on the flap. I literally broke 2 needles in the process and decided I'd probably be better off investing in a felting tool with several needles on it. It was a good use for some little pieces of that black yarn I had left over.

I think my husband is hoping I will get all this stuff I've been working on out of my system soon. What can I say? I had been saving it up for so long. Now my problem is that I seriously need to reorganize my space, but I already whined about that--didn't I?

We're going on vacation next week, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm also looking forward to starting fresh with some new scheduling and structure. We've been just floating through for long enough, I think.

Don't look at my desk.

2007-04-02T18:45:00.000-05:00

Oh boy can I make a mess. I've had all sorts of things going, and I my organization has given out. There just isn't a good place to put everything where I can still get to it. I've organized and reorganized, but now I really need to come up with a system that will work. I have too many different things going on.

Here are a few things I've been playing around with.

These are some cute little birdies and a lone Easter egg. The plan was to have the eggs up on etsy for Easter, but I obviously didn't make it in time. This one already has a home. I do hope to start loading the shop soon, though. These are all backed with pins so they can be worn or used to embellish a bag or something. They are stitched and mounted on chipboard.

These flowers are fun, too. They are made with pins on the back as well.

These earrings were made to match the necklace below. They are sterling silver with 8mm aquamarine Swarovski round beads--simple yet oh so pretty.

I love this necklace. It's made with different sized Swarovski bicones and round beads in aquamarine, crystal arora borealis, and capri blue as well as a single turquoise oval bead. All these are hand wrapped onto a 9mm sterling silver soldered jumpring.

Can you tell I've been having fun? Now you see why I have such a mess. I have beads & findings, felt & embroidery floss, paper & ribbon left over from cardmaking, chipboard and lots of tools all piled around on one little table. It's crazy. I won't be posting a pic of that!

For Me

2007-03-20T09:10:00.000-05:00

I've had all sorts of stuff rolling around in my head since I am so ADD when it comes to crafts. The fact that I've been trying to settle on what sorts of thing I want to try out at the farmer's market definitely adds to that, too. In all the craziness, I often think so much and then accomplish nothing. I made myself sit down this weekend an work on some ideas I had for stuff for me--stuff I can wear.

I'm so weird about colors and matching and all (but I'm trying to get over it some), so I ended up making these earrings with the Czech rhinestone thingies, and some black glass beads. These are similar to the ones I made for my sister-in-law for Christmas except hers were all rhinestones, and bigger silver beads.

This is really a charm bracelet to which I added swarovski and silver bead wraps. I am loving this whole wrapping thing. It makes for some interesting combinations. I think I am going to offer this bracelet at the market only it will be made from a different base chain and will just have the awareness ribbon charm. They can be made with all different colors that represent different things, but the pink and blue is for pregnancy and infant loss awareness. The idea is to create a base piece, and then people can add charms for lost pregnancies or babies. I haven't quite found any charms that I love for those purposes yet. I'll probably offer other colors for special order. I'm just hoping I can work out the pricing to a reasonable level, but I'm so bad at knowing what's reasonable.

I'm getting frustrated, too because it's so hard to photograph jewelry in a way that really shows it off--especially with limited lighting. Ggrrrr.

This is what you get...

2007-03-16T09:02:00.000-05:00

...when you're scrappy energy has been spent making 25-30 thank you notes and then you forget to take a photo before they are all in the envelopes. They mostly came out of my scrap box and used those cute little acrylic stamps from Michael's. Those things are just right for card-making. Anyway, I think all of the cards were pretty much different except for a few pairs here and there. I'll have to remember to take a pic of the next ones. I'm sure there will be more.

I'm pretty much trying to get back in the groove of things without putting too much pressure on myself. Perspective is so much. Some things that people get so stressed about just aren't that important in the scheme of things. I'm enjoying having a pretty free schedule again, although, I do need to get on the ball a bit more as far as actual schedule goes. I'm still trying to decide if I want to try to have a table at the Farmer's Market when it opens this year. I just can't seem to get it together and decide what I would be able to sell that wouldn't be insane to keep up an inventory and that would actually sell. I really need to get that going if I plan to do it. So I guess I'll be brainstorming in the near future. I do have a few ideas.

Ordinary

2007-03-02T13:48:00.000-05:00

That's how I feel about my scrapping now. When it comes to calls and submissions, I know that editors and DT coordinators are looking for outstanding and innovative work. These things do not describe my stuff. I accept that.

So, now I'll just keep on going with what feels good to me and have some fun in the process. After everything we've faced in the last several months, I realize I don't want to spend my time trying to please someone who might pay me a few bucks for my work. I want to focus on fun and enjoying my family and getting out and living life. Who cares if no one ever requests any of my layouts. If they preserve the moments of our lives, then I have succeeded.

All that said...I thought I'd share another page. They are few and far between right now, but I'm getting back in the swing of things. Also I think I mentioned the whole non-cooperating scanner thing, so I'll have to do my best to photograph the layouts for now. It's never the same, but it works.

Some stuff to share...

2007-02-16T09:44:00.000-05:00

So I was trying to motivate myself this week to actually do something with all the supplies I've been collecting. I thought I'd share what came out of it all. My scanner still makes lines through everything, and I stink at taking photos of stuff like this, so you'll have to imagine their are nice and clear.

I have been thinking some about whether I want to jump back into the whole submitting thing or not. I might have to save some of my thoughts on all of that for a post of their own, but my answer for now is I just don't know. I just don't know if it's worth it at all.

Here is a memo board that was inspired by something I saw in a Pottery Barn Kids catalog. It's funny how I like to put stuff like this together, but then I have no idea what to do with it.

Finally... a little something.

2007-02-09T16:27:00.000-05:00

OK. I'm trying to get my mind off of the fact that I'm bummed about missing out on the new Fontwerks goodies in the Free goodie Friday over at Scrap Supply. Someone was really fast and beat me to it. I must have these new papers. I don't care if I can't get anything else from CHA, I am in love with them.

Instead of sulking because they aren't available anywhere yet, I tried to take some pics of one of the items I finished for my Etsy shop. I'm hoping to stock up on items to list and then Crafted by Crystal will be open for business. OK, so the name might be a bit hokey, but it explains it all and identifies me and those are two major goals--especially for possible local business. Now I just have to find a way to get a better setup so I can get some great pics to post.

I knitted and felted this little bag a while before Christmas, and then it just sat there. I finally pulled it out this week, made a liner, and then added the flower (which is on a pin by the way) and the handles. It's measures about 6 inches x 10 inches x 4 inches not counting the handles. I love felted stuff because it's so fun to see the process. It ends up being a lot sturdier, too.

Anyway, I hope to be able to get my store up and running in the near future in spite of all the craziness we'll be diving into. We'll see if it happens. Hey! At least I decided on a name. That's a big step for me.

I've been thinking lately...

2007-02-04T16:05:00.000-05:00

...that it might be about time to start looking for a replacement trimmer. I have been using that old grey Fiskars thingie forever, and it can be sooo frustrating. The only thing is that every trimmer out there geared towards scrapbookers has its share of haters as well as lovers--and they are definitely priced for the niche market. So I've had my eyes peeled, and I used the new one my husband got for the office at church which happens to be very nice. It's by Xacto, and after some investigating, I found this nicer version with a laser guide and everything. I might just have to hold out for one of these babies.

This is my first attempt at making a sketch in PSE.

I won't tell you how long it took me to figure out just how to draw a rectangle. This is definitely one program that you can't learn so much by assumption. It's so different in how you have to go about things. I'm slowly learning. Anyway, it was adapted from a sketch I already had in my notebook probably from a magazine ad, and I would like to try it out sometime soon. It's pretty basic, but there's a lot of room for interpretation. I thought I'd share, and if anyone feels inspired, I would love to see what you come up with. There may even be a little RAK in it for you! Wouldn't that be fun?

I think I'm almost there.

2007-02-02T13:32:00.000-05:00

...almost ready to get back in the groove. I have some possible plans beginning in the spring that are spurring me on a little, but so much is up in the air as far as the near future. I can't really make concrete plans, so I just have some little goals.

I have a few knitting projects I'd like to get done in the next two weeks while we're waiting for the baby excitement to finally be here. I finished up a blanket that I had been working on forever, and I have to admit I'm frustrated with it. Apparently I got off a decrease probably around the time I added the new skein of yarn. It's not so obvious to some, but it glares back at me. It still needs some major blocking, too. We'll see what it's looking like after that. After I finished this one, I realized that I like the pattern for the one I made Jonathan a few years ago so much better, and it's really not that much harder to work.

Since I have to go to the doctor twice a week now, I sometimes take advantage of that opportunity to run in a few places sans 3-year-old. Our new Sam's club opened recently, and I have been slowly uploading pics one at a time to have printed, so I decided to do a test run this morning. I only sent about 6, but it was so nice to see how they came out. It was nice to be able to just walk in the door where the photo counter is the first thing and pick up my already-paid-for, matte prints--no going in and finding out the machine is down...again.

Some of the pics I sent in were several stitched onto a 4x6, so I'll see how that works out with the scrapping. I often want to use more than one pic, but I don't do well with several 4x6s and I can't really crop the ones I like down any. PSE has made the whole stitching process a lot easier, so I'm trying that route.

And then...I remembered that some cute frames I had seen at Target were marked down last week when I was there, but only like 30%. I decided I'd just run in today, and if they were marked down any more, I'd pick up a few. When I got there, the sign still said 50% off, but apparently they were in the process of marking them 75% off. Those little red tags are evil. I just couldn't resist or control myself. Hence the stack I now have to find a place to store until I decided what I'm going to do with them all. I mean, the most expensive one was a 12x12 shadow box for around $4. I love the freedom of shadow boxes! And who could resist the chalkboard frame. It even has a cute little holder for the chalk.

In addition to all of today's excitement, I have successfully spent all of my gift certificates for scrap stuff, taken advantage of some great deals, and cleaned out my paypal account. Needless to say, I should have tons of new inspiration from all my new goodies. I even rearranged some of my supplies and cleaned out a bit more. Since I actually have a stack of pics that have been printed, I really should be able to crank something out now. I think I'm almost there.

Good Stuff

2007-01-17T15:51:00.000-05:00

Most of my impulse buying has been online of late since we don't really have any super great stores near us. Although, I did have to resist some yarn that wanted to come home with me at Michael's last night.

It was nice to be able to catch a glimpse of some things in real life. I hate to ever hear that a scrapbook store is going out of business, but I am still more than willing to help them find a new home for anything that might jump out at me. Not to mention the fact that I had a GC for Archiver's that was begging to be used. Anyway, I was restrained--probably because I got like 4 phone calls while I was shopping. I did walk away with some fun new goodies from the two stores. Now if I had been driving a truck, you can bet I would have come home with a table or two from the LSS crop room. Maybe I can find some inspiration in this pile. I mean I have to get on the ball before all the new goodies start hitting the shelves!

Finally...

2007-01-12T19:55:00.000-05:00

I really did a lot of crafty-type stuff before Christmas, but it's funny that I didn't take any pics. I was so intent on getting stuff finished that I never broke out the camera, and now it's all gone. Let's see...I ended up making 1 knitted scarf, 1 pair of earrings, 4 sets with planners, post-it note holders, and pens, another set with a planner and address book, a knitted bootie and hat set, and all sorts of edible goodies. I still have my planner to do, so maybe I can remember to post it.

Probably my favorite online SB store had several different special sales over the last few months which I couldn't resist. I had done pretty well convincing myself I don't need to buy scrap stuff if I haven't scrapped since June. Anyway, I finally sat down and used some of the good stuff I was unable to resist today. This comes only a week after finding my table under the remnants of all the Christmas stuff. Anyway, I'm obviously going to have lots of pics to work with from the last year, and here are the first of those. It's a good thing I'm not hung up on doing things in order or being "caught up."

Thanks to Best Buy...

2006-12-06T08:49:00.000-05:00

...and black Friday (well actually it was Saturday), I now have lots of learning to do. I finally got Photoshop Elements, and there is so much you can do, but it will definitely take some time playing around to learn how to do it. Anyway, I'm just happy I can actually shoot in RAW with my camera and open the photos. I have already learned that this makes the basic editing process a lot easier for me. It's so sad to have a camera that will whoot RAW and never be able to use it. Of course, that means I need another memory card now!

I decided to start off playing by making our Christmas card. It's actually really simple, but I did learn a few things along the way. I'm sure it will be a while before I advance beyond simple because I just don't have time to sit here and play.

So here is our finished product. I'm eager to see how they finally turned out. I uploaded them to Winkflash because you don't have to use their templates and they have 40% before the 15th. Yay! Christmas cards on sale before Christmas. I got the notice that they shipped yesterday, so I hope to get a peek at them soon. AND I know I checked matte on the box so none of that surprise glossy stuff like last year!

Where does all the time go?

2006-11-17T10:12:00.000-05:00

I had plans to start on stuff for Christmas probably back in September. I was going to be on the ball and get everything out of the way. Ha!! November is half over, and I'm barely getting a start on Christmas stuff. And, as you've probably noticed, there is no etsy shop to speak of. Oh, it's there--but it's empty.

And that table I got for my craft stuff--it's buried under piles already. It has taken me forever, but I did get finished with another magnetic advent calendar. It's different from the one I did last year, but made from the same basic design. I am definitely thinking this will be my last one with all the different number pieces. It is just not worth the time it takes since I'm so picky about what goes next to each other. These were harder than the one last year because the squares were smaller. That means the pieces have to be smaller, and the numbers have to be smaller. There is a limit to the amount of tiny numbers I can find in my stash.

Anyway, here is the finished product. I'm thinking ebay for this baby, but I may need to get some better pics. I like this one better than last year's version, but it's probably just the cute little snowmen.

I have some other ideas rolling around in my head, but I need to finish cleaning my house first. That seems to be an ongoing process with Mr. Destructo around. I definitely need to see some progress on some Christmas stuff.

I couldn't stand it

2006-11-04T16:27:00.000-05:00

When we traded rooms and I purged all my craft stuff, I sold my desk at our yard sale. The plan was to use the top of the big cabinet I kept for scrapping and such. Well... since then I haven't really done a thing. And have you ever tried to use a sewing machine on top of a cabinet?

So I found this cool black and metal sawhorse table at Target for $15 bucks. I put it together last night, and between having the new space and getting my Scrap Supply order in the mail today, I am so happy already. In a sense I still made money since I sold my old desk for $20. Ha!! Anyway, it doesn't have any drawers for me to stuff junk, so that's a big plus. I put it up next to the closet and I'll be chucking the cabinet I was supposed to be using soon. Take a little peek.

I actually already did a little playing around since I finally broke down and got some acrylic blocks and my solid George stamps were in the SS order!! I think we may be getting somewhere.

I promised to share some crafty links, so I'll give you one I came across, and there are a ton of links in her sidebar. Don't get sucked in!!

Posie gets Cozy

Long time...

2006-11-02T14:59:00.000-05:00

...no post.

Here's hoping everyone hasn't given up on me. I seriously haven't done more than maybe 2 layouts in the last 6 months, and that was in June I think. So you see, I've been suffering from missing mojo and a messiness that threatens to take over my entire house. I'm getting to the point where I'm going through withdrawal. I must make something--and I have all these ideas rolling around in my head. I actually picked up some supplies to play around with a few of them, so I'm hoping I'll have more stuff to share soon. And if anyone can give me ideas about how to find 8 in x 10 in sheets of metal (something magnetic) or how I can have them cut, I'd be eternally grateful.

So here it is. These are the crafty projects I have managed to squeeze out in the last little while.

The first pic is my spiffy KI covered coupon organizer. I had this gaudy thing stuck in my "basket" (don't tell me you don't have a possibly to be altered or embellished one day basket in your craft space) for probably over a year, and I finally pulled it out to cover when I actually started clipping coupons again the other week.

The second pic is of a felted bag that I finished yesterday. It didn't turn out as well as I hoped due to some washing machine lint issues, but it was a pretty easy project. I worked on it mostly while watching movies and tv for a few days, and suddenly it was done. The yarn is Lopi I bought well over a year ago to make a felted bag, but I never found a pattern. The stripe is actually bright pink IRL. I found this pattern while searching the net one day, so that's what I ended up using. I think I will definitely use it again although I think it would be much easier if you switch to double pointed needles after you start the decrease. It just got too tight in there near the end, and I was using a shorter circular than the pattern says. I made some mistakes near the end, but I didn't sweat it since I the felting hid all that. I think the bag pictured with the pattern must have used a smaller # of stitches in the cast off for the handle because my holes are a lot bigger. That can obviously be easily fixed.

During my hiatus, I did come across all sorts of fun crafty blogs. I love to see what other people are doing. It gives me inspiration, and then I know I'm not so strange. If you know of any good blogs please leave me a comment. I think I'll put up a list of some of my favorites in a day or two.

Is it really possible...

2006-09-07T14:58:00.000-05:00

...to fit half a room full of craft stuff into one closet? Well, when you're trying to fit another person into your house, there isn't much choice. We swapped rooms in the process, and I was able to get all of my craft stuff plus some learning stuff for J in the closet with only one cabinte out in the room. I didn't take a pic of the cabinet, but it's a big printer cabinet and there is even some extra room in it since I cleaned it out. The plan is to use that surface for a desktop since I sold my desk at our yard sale.

Here are some pics of the closet, and all I bought was the one bookshelf. Everything else was used as it was or reinvented to fit a new need. I've considered taking down the sliding doors and

putting up some sort of curtain, but I dunno.

The yard sale, by the way, went very well until about 9:00 when the policeman came and made us take down our signs. Grrrr. I guess I might have to explore Ebay again.

They say you can tell a lot about a person...

2006-08-19T17:16:00.000-05:00

...by what's on their MP3 player. Well, I don't know that you can tell a lot about me, but maybe about who I would like to be. Let's take a peek at what's on mine...

a mod podge of Caedmon's Call from various CDs
Derek Webb's solo stuff (mostly from She Must and Shall Go Free)
stuff from Sovereign Grace Ministries
Shane and Shane Psalms
some various Jars of Clay (love Redemption Songs)
stuff from Indelible Grace
a bit of Fernando Ortega

I only have 512 MB, so that's about it. The way I see it, my mind gets filled with all sorts of junk everyday. I NEED music that is uplifting and reminds me of the big bicture. So there you have it.

Still not much scrapping going on here. Right now we have yard sale stuff in the office/scrap room, so I can't really even get to my desk. Also, my energy has been zapped. Hopefull that will get better soon. Now we just have to figure out how to make room for a baby in our house. Yes, I said baby!

I have been taking my time with ideas for my shop and I'm still stuck on a name. I want something cute and catchy but flexible. I finally pulled out some yarn from my stash and got to work on the needles. I tried some different bootie patterns, but I ended up back with one I have used before for gifts. Here's a peek.

The yarn is a fluffy, wool/angora blend. Don't fret. There is a mate to this one, but I haven't sewed it together yet. I hate that part. Currently on the needles is this sweater in the same yarn.

I hope once we get the extra room cleared out and some more rearranging done (too much HGTV while we were out of town), I'll really be able to get started stocking the store. I have so many ideas, and I'm anxious to see how some of them turn out. Until then, I'll continue to brainstorm!

It's almost that time...

2006-07-27T19:05:00.000-05:00

Ahhh... the stores are putting out their fall selections and the aisles at your local store are filling up with school supplies. I love this time of year. Well really I love the time when the temps actually start to drop. It makes me want to get out the big ol' needles again for some different crafting options.

On that note, I'm taking my time working on items to stock my etsy.com shop. I had a shop all set up and everything, but then I changed my mind about some of the things I want to include in the shop. I was going with Crystal Nale Designs because it was simple and straightforward, but now since I'll be including some items that aren't my original designs I don't feel right using that as a name. Soooooo now I'm on a quest to find a cute, versatile name for my handcrafted gift boutique. So far I'm working on things like canvas wall hangings (like for a nursery or child's room), handmade aprons, knitted baby items, specialty memo boards, possibly purses and jewelry, and similar items. I'm thinking something boutique-like. I'm starting a list and getting a little scrappy RAK together for anyone who might provide just the right inspiration.

Speaking of this venture and the approach of knitting weather...I am loving the cuteness of the designs in this book, and it's even in at the local library. I have checked out some of her pattern books before, and I am thinking some of these type goodies will be great for my shop. What do ya think?

Well...

2006-07-25T14:18:00.000-05:00

..I did actually do two layouts on Saturday hoping to get back in the groove. They came along pretty well since they were for challenges, but I'm still not finding a groove of any sort. I still have untouched supplies from the winter show, and now I'm being overwhelmed by all the new CHA goodies!

Part of my problem is that my printer is on E and I'm too lazy to wade through my pics, load them on a disk, drive into town, and wait an hour to get them. Grrr... that's the downfall of dialup--I can't upload pics and I can't really download music and stuff.

Blogger is giving me a fit so I'll just link to the layouts. I dug up some pics around here for these.

Love

Magic

Some pics from our trip

2006-07-24T21:22:00.000-05:00

I haven't done much scrapping at all lately, so I thought I'd start off with some highlights of our trip.

We have our little beach bum having fun in the sun.

Then we have him pretending to nap on the picnic table at the Gulf State park after he filled his tummy with pizza.

Finally, we have his favorite toy of all...the paper towel roll from Lulu's.

HHmmmmmm

2006-06-25T07:29:00.000-05:00

That is actually me letting out a sigh of relief. We have NO plans this week aside from the normal routine. That feels good after the last 2 weeks. I just wanted to pop over and share some pics from my sister's wedding yesterday. I definitely learned that if I ever get good enough to actually be a photographer, I will NOT do weddings. There is just so much going on and so many different lighting situations that you can't control--and you only have ONE chance to get everything right. Ummm...not for me.

These photos are of my sister and her new husband and then my tired men at the end last night.

One of my goals this week is to actually find my desk. Everything we picked up at the convention the other week is still stacked there, but hopefully I can get to it. I have stacks of new goodies I haven't been able to play with yet, so maybe I'll get a chance to get to know them this week.

Hiatus

2006-06-21T09:31:00.000-05:00

I guess you could say I'm on a scrapping hiatus. We have been soooo busy and I have so many other things to work on. Some of them are SBR, but they aren't my stuff. I'll try to share some things along the way to keep it interesting.

I am definitely taking the opportunity to focus on getting more comfortable with my camera and manual settings. Here are a few nature shots from this past weekend.

I am also working on setting up a shop at etsy.com. It seems like it will be a pretty good venue to share some of my stuff with the world. I have so many things I like to play with, and I've been thinking about my goals a lot lately, but I'll save all that for another post--when I have time to breathe!

Keep your eyes opened. I'll be sharing my shop when I get more than one item in it!!

Just another storyboard

2006-06-10T10:41:00.000-05:00

Well I guess these aren't technically storyboards, but that's what i'll call them. I think this stuff is totally fun, and I think PSE has just been bumped a bit higher on my wish list. Like that means something. Now I should probably have one of these printed to see how they come out. I can't wait to be able to do borders and stuff!

Playing around

2006-06-08T07:52:00.000-05:00

with Photoshop. Playing enough to realize that the version I have won't do a lot of basic things that I need it to--like save a document as a jpeg instead of a PS format. Grrrr. It's so old. I better start saving for PSE 4.0 because only professionals and people with much more money than me should buy PS. I'm not sure I'm loving the font choices on this, but it works.

Anyway, I was playing around trying to get used to the format and learning how to do some things, and this is the firs "creation" I came up with. You know, if you go to an actual photographer and have them do one of these and buy a print, it costs a fortune. Hence the reason I want to learn to do it myself.

You know, my mom would always look at clothes and stuf like that that we wanted, and her reply would alway be we can MAKE that. Now, I know I inherited some of that, but my latest experience came because we are in the process of putting together a photo directory for our church. We went in and had our photos taken, then we moved to a special room where they proceded to tempt us to buy prints. This was when I had my own I can DO that moment. The guy had taken some relatively cute photos of Jonathan, and we considered buying some to pass out to all the grands, but wait! It was something like $80 for 2 5 X 7s. This was when I remembered that I have a good chunk of change invested in a camera that I finally know how to use. Uuummmm...no thanks. I'm just not a real studio portrait lover, so we decided to hold off.

Oh, but since we did have a $20 off since big J is staff, the grands can be expecting our first ever family portrait (that I do not like by the way) in a more modest size coming their way in the future.

Welcome

2006-06-05T18:43:00.000-05:00

to my [messy] space. This is my desk on a typical day when I have been working on something. I recently posted photos of my ribbon and embellishment storage in my 2 Peas gallery to add to the photos of my space, but they don't show the nature of the beast that is creativity. I am a puller and a piler.

I like to see all my stuff, or I'll forget about it. Then when I work, I pull out everything I think might go well with the theme or look I'm going for and sometimes some things I want to use up or new stuff to try. It's amazing what kind of mess this makes--and I don't even have a ton of stuff. My stash is measly compared to many paper addicts. I only have 1 CH paper holder full of patterned paper and cardstock. That's not counting the old stuff that I may never use and the little bit of 8 1/2 x 11 cs that I have. Even though I don't have a lot of stuff in my stash, it still expands and spreads when I work. It starts to look like this.

Then I find it hard to start something when it looks like this, so I 'll wait a while. Then I'll finally clean it up, and then I'll be able to scrap again. That's my process.

In the photo, you can see some of my candy jars of ribbon and thread on the shelves and the jars of buttons. The little tins from T are used for supplies I use often and things I want to have in front of my face. The drawers hold all sorts of embellishments and ink pads. Some things are in tiny spice tins inside the drawers--things like jump rings and such. The magnetic storage is a bunch of wedding favor tins with magnets attached to the backs on a magnetic dry erase board I found on clearance at T!!

The binder holds most of my letters and rub ons that are on sheets inside of page protectors. My yummy paper and cardstock holder is to the right of the lamp on my desk. And, finally a bunch of my most used pens and supplies are in the top drawers of the desk. And there you have it--my system. It's not fabulous, but it works for me right now!

Maybe he's going to be an artist...

2006-05-31T11:46:00.000-05:00

Today we're hanging out. I'm trying to get my thoughts and to do list organized, and he is playing, playing, playing. Right now he's coloring Spiderman with some bath crayons my brother gave him.

I made a promise. Last night he was digging in my cabinet. When I asked him what he was doing, he said he was looking for the blanket. I finally realized he was talking about the vinyl tablecloth I keep under there. He said, "Yes. Paint finger." It was like 10:00, so I promised him he could do it sometime today. Well, he doesn't forget anything. So he got to paint finger earlier. He's also reminding me about the batteries I forgot to get at WM yesterday. Why couldn't he remind me at the store before we were checking out?

Sharing some recent stuff

2006-05-30T10:46:00.000-05:00

I've seriously been neglecting my blog--and my scrapping. I've been busy with life and doing some reading and studying. You just have to make time for other things first sometimes.

Here are a few recent layouts. I absolutely love the first one. I'm hoping the mojo that got it going last night is here to stay for a while!

Some pretty flowers

2006-05-30T10:35:00.000-05:00

For our field trip in our photography class we first stopped by the highway where they have planted a field of flowers. After that we went to Battle Park and took some water photos and stuff. The only thing is I switched to RAW in the middle and now I can only open and view the RAW format because I don't have an editing program that can open the NEF format. Arrrgghhh!

Anyway, I like the first ones better anyway. Here are some of my favorites.

I've been meaning to share...

2006-05-30T10:24:00.000-05:00

...my second digital layout. I did this one without Photoshop, too. It's simple, but I love these elements. They are from the New Growth kit by Tia Bennett. It was a free download for the SS Digital 5 book. The photo is one from my shoot with my sister and her fiance.

A first attempt and a redo...

2006-05-14T13:44:00.000-05:00

I made my first attempt at anything digital this weekend, and I made a brand new list of reasons why I need Photoshop. You just can't effectively use digital elements in any of the programs I have. They are too limiting. I had found some freebies to download, and I decided to play around with them to make a mother's day e-card for my mom and MIL. Anyway, it's simple, but it's a start.

I can't say I will ever be able to cross over completely to digital since I am such a tactile paper and paste lover, but I do think there is a lot of inspiration that can be gained from playing with digital. Plus, you can always print elements out and use them on a paper page.

Now for the redo. If any of you actually follow my blog, you might recall the train wreck of a layout that I posted a while back. You can actually see that post here. Well, when I ordered the NSD goodies, I made sure to include a sheet of the paper I needed to fix the wreck. It isn't exactly like it started out, but I am loving the new much more than the original. The journaling is still crooked because I didn't feel like redoing that part. Check out the new and improved version!!

YUM!

2006-05-12T14:44:00.000-05:00

clean house. good mail. sleeping little one. good stuff.

We have been crazy busy the last week or so. We had friends from church over last night for dinner, and I barely rescued our house from total disaster before they got here. It was BAD. We had a yard sale last Saturday which required cleaning out the attic. Not good.

And this past Saturday was also National Scrapbook Day. I didn't really get to take part in any festivities (except for chatting a little with the Junkitz girls), but I did take advantage of some sales to order some goodies. I always want to get a good amount at one time since I don't have a LSS, and I want to save on shipping. Mr. Postman brought me all of these goodies today.

Oh, and I got a GC code for http://www.downmemorylaneco.com/ from Laura for the Fontwerks Birthday bash!! Too bad those George stamps were sold out before I could snatch them up. I hope they restock soon!!

Now, I actually have some time, and I'm not sure where to start. Oh, and I'm out of photo paper, so I can't print any pics here. It feels good to be caught up and have my call list out, though.

In other news. I was able to order the 50mm f/1.8 after my birthday last week, and it came on Monday. I've been a bit too busy to play with it a lot, but I did get some OK shots. I can tell there is definitely going to be a big learning curve when it comes to the really low apertures, but I'm loving it already!

A First

2006-04-29T21:18:00.000-05:00

Well today was the first time I actually tried to take real photos of someone besides Jonathan or Jerry Bear. I took some photos for my sister and her fiance. I did all of the shoot in manual so YAY for that! I posted a few of my favorite shots in my gallery, so tatke a look and give me some feedback if you're interested. I'm very green at all of this, so I know I have a long way to go. I just have to decide what I need to focus on first. I think getting faster with the manual controls may be at the top of the list, but I need to be thinking about composition stuff too. I'm pretty happy with some of the results, and I just wanted to share.

Oh , and she'll kill me for putting that one up there because she didn't like those!

Cherry Arte Goodness

2006-04-27T18:57:00.000-05:00

I am in *L*O*V*E* with these papers,but I have just about used up all of my stash. I definitely want to get my hands on some of the new stuff. It's even prettier. In the past I have put off submitting DT applications until the last possible minute, partly because I am a chronic procrastinator, but mostly because I would sit around and analyze things way too much. I decided a while back that I wasn't going to enter any more of these things unless it was one that really got my mojo going, and I felt comfortable with. Well, this one just fell together with little effort and lots of FUN!! So I held onto it for a little while, and I finally just hit send. Now I want to share what I have been working on--what has kept me away from my new scenic route papers. *GASP* You know it's serious now. I ended up with 5 layouts and 2 projects to choose from not counting the ones I had already submitted for their gallery, but I'll just share the ones that made the cut.

These are papers from the Bolded line.

These papers are from the Basic Blue. I should have gone over with more stitching, but my sewing machine gets offended when I use it for paper. Grrr...

These are from the Boys Boys line. I love how the band-aid pops in this one!

This last one is a mini book that I made using those little plastic thingies made for holding IDs and badges. I made the covers out of chipboard and put it all together with binder rings. You've gotta love office supplies!!

A Happy and a Train Wreck

2006-04-25T09:18:00.000-05:00

First, the good news. I will be a guest designer for the month of May at www.expressionsbythemonth.com It is a faith-based monthly kit club, and I am so excited to have this challenge!

Now for my train wreck. I am just spilling it all here and now by showing everyone how scrapping can get ugly! I am actually pretty disappointed in this because I L*O*V*E*D the original design. Lesson: make sure you order extra sheets of paper just in case--and have extra letter stickers on hand. Anyway, I will have to hunt down the supplies, but I am determined to recreate my original design since I couldn't save the layout.

The original design had just the photo, buttons and journaling block on the whole sheet of AC paper. The title was similar but with black AC letters directly on the background. Anyway, somehow I screwed up the title and managed to make a hole in the background paper, so I tried to save it. That's when I realized that the photo was stuck down crooked and I had already glued the bittons down. Ugh.... It's kind of disappointing, too because I wanted the layout for this photo to be pretty simple, and continuing to add schtuff didn't help that. In the end, I didn't even bother to make the journaling straignt. Well, you win some...you lose some.

Share Day

2006-04-16T15:09:00.000-05:00

I guess I have a lot to say and not much all at the same time. I decided I won't bore anyone, but I did want to post some of what I was able to get done with no kiddo last week.

Here's a fun Junkitz one. It's not quite as funny when you can't read the shirt, but the shirt he has on in the photo says, "My grandparents' don't spoil me. They're just very accommodating."

The next one is my layout for 1 Peter chapter 5. I sort of skipped chapter 3. I have a LO idea and everything. I just haven't been able to get the photo I want yet. I have another idea for chapter 5, but I think I'll put it in my art journal. I think it will involve a poppet-like me and an abstract lion.

Here's some more fun Cherry Arte. I put these papers away for a while, but I need to get a move on now because the DT applications are due at the end of April. It's a long shot, but I'm jumping in anyway.

Well, that's pretty much what I have done this week. I really need to go through my stuff again next week and pull out some stuff to get rid of. I hope I'll have my secret bunny package to post the goodies soon.

Superstar K

2006-04-05T14:59:00.000-05:00

The time is coming for the secret bunny festivities to get in full swing! I am taking the chance of posting this here assuming that my secret bunny doesn't wander to my blog. I am still thinking of a fun way to send her out to follow clues to reveal my identity.

Anyway, I had picked up this little shadow box to try out some stuff for J's room. I thought about it, and I decided to make a Superstar K for my secret bunny. It will be delivered to her along with her goodies very soon, so if any of you figure out who she is, don't tell! Sssshhhhh!

I used white acrylic paint to paint the box and the striped Christina Cole to cover the outside edges. Can you tell I've found a renewed love of that little slab?

I hand cut the K out of chipboard, traced it onto the circle paper and cut out the shape. I adhered the paper to the front of the chipboard and sanded the edges. I added the word Superstar with AL rubons.

I drew the star out on the back side of the cardstock and then cut it out. I swiped the edges with white paint. I matted the green HS cardstock on top of a white piece and then adhered the star with mini pop dots. I drew another star with the silver glitter Keepsake Colors paint from Plaid and let it dry.

I adhered the K on top of all of this with more mini pop dots, and added some rhinestones to the corners. I had to slide it all through a slit in the top of the box and then slide the glass panel back in. It took a little while to do all of this because of all the painting and adhering with gel medium, but I like how it turned out.

1 Peter 3

2006-03-24T22:08:00.000-05:00

Just posting my page from my challenge for 1 Peter chapter 3. I chose to base it closely on verses 3 and 4. I had a bit of a time with this one. It started out simple, and then it really evolved.
Since I have been able to spend more time this week actually scrapping, I have realized how SLOW I am. What seems like a simple page that would not take very long ends up taking hours. It really is quite rediculous. I'm starting to think more about the overall designs, though, and thinking about some of the principles in the Design Secrets book. It has been very helpful, and I totally recommend it.

I went on an adventure today to find an adhesive eraser. To make a long story short, I didn't find one anywhere in town. The joys of not having a LSS... At least a really kind pea is sending me one in a RAK. Yay!! Thanks Tina!

This page...

2006-03-23T19:10:00.000-05:00

...was for a challenge over at the Making Memories blog. The challenge was to use MM foam stamps, the color green, and the title I must confess _______. or a similar title. I had fun doing the challenge, but for some reason, the page isn't one of my favorites. I'm not sure what happened.

I have now used my MM foam stamps twice in one week which is almost as many times as I have used them in the past. I am sure a simple update in my storage has helped with that. Who knew that piling all of 3 of the alphabets I own plus some of the designs and the CI alphabet in one tup would lead to NEVER using them? All I did to fix the problem was to take a huge zipper bag for each set and put two sets per small shoe box container. They are clear so I can see which sets are in each container and the different alphabets are separated. Now if I could just find that I-dot that I'm missing.

This week has gone well as far as schedule goes. I am still behind on a few things because I didn't exactly start the week on schedule (I didn't actually finish the schedule till Tuesday.), but Friday is a free day. I'll get caught up tommorrow! It has helped me to have more time to actually scrap since it is scheduled in. Hence the 2 layouts so far this week. Hopefully, I can keep it up.

I Want to DO This

2006-03-21T15:40:00.000-05:00

I've had all of this stuff rolling around in my head, and I hope I don't seem too whiny in this post, but I really want to DO this designer thing. You see I had a mentor. I say HAD because over time I just heard from her less and less. It took me a little longer than it should have on an assignment or two because life got in the way, so at first I thought I just wasn't putting enough into it.

I e-mailed my mentor to ask her to let me know if there was something more I should be doing or if I could change some things to make it more convenient for her. You see, she was a winner of a certain big contest that just announced new winners recently, so I just thought she was getting busier with that stuff than she had anticipated. I sent layouts to be critiqued...it dwindled down to no response. I thought she just didn't have time to mentor anymore. Well, I would have been totally fine with thinking that, but I recently saw a post on a message board saying that she had been an awesome mentor for someone else during a recent process.

Now, I'm going to go back and delete any reference I ever made to my mentor because this is totally not a post about how she was a horrible person or even a bad mentor. What I have been thinking about is how I can be a better mentee. Did I do something wrong? Was I difficult to work with? Was I just not learning? Grrr... You see what I mean about thoughts rolling around now?

All this is to really say I want to DO this. I want a mentor. I want a mentor who will be excited to work with me and who will work me. I want a mentor who has a good eye for design principles. I think design is more important than individual style any day. I want a guide and a teacher and a sounding board. Now my problem is how to go about doing this. I could post a wanted thread a Two Peas, but then no one would want to admit they are good enough to be a mentor, and then there would be lots of "me toos" and in the end someone would post that I should find someone I'd like to work with and e-mail them directly. Can you tell this has been done before?

There are just so many talented ladies out there, and I know many of them do have a lot on their plates. I guess I just have to suck it up and start making a list, and try to decide who to contact. I just wish there were a way to know who is really interested and eager to work with someone like me.

Now comes the part where I assume someone is still reading my blabbing and as if you all have any ideas? I've really been thinking this through, so I'm sort of just getting some thoughts out in type right now. I'll post if I get any bright ideas--you do the same-k-?

Paper & Paste

Crafty Clearance

Slacker.

Neglect

a couple of cards

I'm still not doing such a good job...

Headed to Michael's next week?

I need to get back in the groove.

Long time...

I needed to meet the minimums...

I made a little progress.

Just in case you were wondering...

So

*Ahem*

Preparation. It's taking over.

We have winners!

Another Giveaway!

It's that time of year again.

It's that time of year again.

Here's a layout.

Here it is!

Trying to Decide

Some new designs

So now I just spread my junk out.

OK

I now interrupt this blogging break...

Taking a Break

At last...

Gone Postal

Another shop?

For Your Convenience

I Never Shared This

Nee a little pick-me-up?

Some new designs

And the winners are...

For my fellow etsy sellers...

Wow!

Here it is!

Who doesn't like free stuff?

Playing around

A Bit Discouraging

I forgot how much...

Not much to see here.

I've been busy!

completion

Up to my eyeballs...

Do you ever get tired of seeing...

Taggies in baggies

I Love This!

A Special Flower

Mailing list

Gift Tags

Fabric?

Speaking of Apronpalooza...

Some Good Stuff

A little more playing around

Finally...some BoH jewelry

I'm a little sad...

Be on the lookout...

Just a few...

So...

I'm learning...

Finally!

Don't look at my desk.

For Me

This is what you get...

Ordinary

Some stuff to share...

Finally... a little something.

I've been thinking lately...

I think I'm almost there.

Good Stuff

Finally...

Thanks to Best Buy...

Where does all the time go?

I couldn't stand it

Long time...

Is it really possible...

They say you can tell a lot about a person...

It's almost that time...

Ahem