Write. Click. Scrapbook.

If you thought I was all over the place before...

Friday is here! 

Did you miss me? 

I missed you.

Can I get a rousing round of applause for that darling digital book that Marnie designed and shared with us yesterday?  (I'm more of a whistler and catcaller, but let's try to keep this dignified, folks, this isn't a Rock and Roll show).

I am in a slow burning panic about all the stuff I have to say and I only have TWO MORE DAYS to say it!

What was the last thing I said? 

Something about kids' rooms, right?

How about we start off on the right foot (just a quick aside, when they say "start off on the right foot, do they mean the correct foot?  or not the left foot?) with this lovely little collection that Angie sent me?

Sigh.

I long for a precious little sweet smelling girl who doesn't make up words to my favourite songs while in the car and sing over me. 

Who doesn't wait almost a month to tell me that they only have two pairs of underwear that fit them and they've just been wearing them for a few days in a row to make them last.

Who doesn't smell like feet, shoot me with nerf bullets and dress the dog in their dad's clothes (okay, that last one was me, but in my defense, it was hilarious.)

Angie used a vinyl letter "K" thicker on some patterned paper for that little monogram (see how awesome simple is? I love simple.)

She picked up the ladybug print on Etsy and the vintage shelf at local consignment store. 

Thanks Angie!

Here's a little something I made the other day. 

First, some background (because, clearly, I don't have the ability to not be longwinded and carry on about how many 50 centses I spend at the thrift store), I bought a tiered metal serving thingie (50 cents) a couple of months ago with the thought that I would paint it and use it in my scrapbook room for something. 

It looked a bit like this:

 

I took it all apart, scrubbed it down and promptly misplaced the middle part that holds it all together.

I figured the missing pieces would turn up eventually, in the safe spot that I obviously had lovingly placed them.  So I went ahead and painted them while I was waiting...

I started with red:

I love red. 

It's my favourite. 

But this wasn't working for me. 

So being a creature of habit, I tried my old stand-by and with a couple of little chipboard elephants and heart turned it into a little piece of wall art for my (other) niece's room:

(if you come back tomorrow, I'll show you what I did with the larger bottom piece! Oh and if you were wondering, I found the middle pieces, in the kitchen cutlery drawer, but they missed the boat on this project, so too bad for them.)

Now to carry on with simple but I think effective projects, let's switch gears and talk digital.

I am here to tell you, that while fancy complete Photoshop is swell and may have a lot of bells and whistles, it is not necessary for making home decor.

No.  It's true.

I have  Photoshop Elements 5.0 (2006 I think, Costco, I want to say around $70? I can't imagine myself shelling out much more than that.)

I made this piece with the thought that I would send it to my niece for her bedroom.

 

Then I found out she hates pink.

I never liked her much anyway. 

(I kid, I KID!  I love that girl and I,too, am not overly fond of pink.)

So I opened it up, and with 2 clicks of a button, changed it to purple.

(digital paper by Crystal Wilkerson)

And Bob's your uncle (remember, he's my dad). 

Can I have a golf clap for old, cheap PSE please? 

(I'm sensing a trend, maybe this post is going to be all about applause?  Let's see what happens, shall we?)

Music really speaks to me (and not usually in a "I hear voices" way) and I find myself drawn to lyrics when I make stuff. 

You are my sunshine was the youngest boy's and my song.  I loved it when he was little. Until the day came where he would scream if I sang any other song (I tried to slip the Itsy, Bitsy Spider in there one time and I thought the kid's head was going to explode). 

Now I love it again (he's almost 11 and I only sing it to him very occasionally).

(digital elements by Crystal Wilkerson)

I made these for my husband's office (but then I kept them.) 

Both are SNL quotes. 

If you haven't seen the Will Ferrell/Christopher Walken Cowbell skit, you must

GO. GOOGLE. NOW.

I'll wait.

These are printed on photo paper and then adhered (using the ATG gun, I love that thing, I'd marry it if it vacuumed and could change a tire) it to a small piece of MDF that my current human husband cut for me.

After I glued it I realized that either my cutting was crooked (unlikely) or the husband's cutting was crooked (more likely).  So I grabbed my sanding block and sanded all the edges - the beauty of using photo paper on stuff like this is that when you sand it, the colour comes off and leaves a nice faded white edge that looks like you meant to do that in the first place. 

See how I work?

(Just another aside, I actually got an cowbell in my stocking for Christmas.  That crafty Mr. Claus must really want me to cheer the husband on during his triathlons this summer.  I am a lucky girl.  Especially since my kids learned "Don't Fear the Reaper" and Lucas now has the opportunity to play MORE COWBELL for reals.)

Okay. 

I can see why you might not think this of me, but I am not really all that super in to puns. 

I know. 

Hard to believe. 

That said, if a pun just falls magically out of the sky and into ones lap, what's a girl to do?

(digital paper and elements, Libby Pritchett)

And I do love the Beatles.

And cartoon owls.

(I have to confess real owls, like most birds, freak me out a bit.  What with the hooing and turning their necks all around.  Somethings not right there. If you like birds, I apologize, I was traumatized by a chicken while a was a child.  But that's a story for another day.)

So my older boy is almost a teenager.

And is sadly outgrowing the Star Wars/Lego theme we did in his room last time I hosted here. 

On our agenda for tomorrow is cleaning out his room and putting up some new decor. 

He's super stoked about the cleaning part, I'm sure. 

I made him a couple of pieces digitally for his room. I love that I buy frames once and we can change the art out as he changes.

I initially had this one framed, but then the other day I picked up all of these

from VV Boutique and thought it would look kind of cool like this:

 
(notice, clock is sans paint, I'm not sure about that yet...perhaps a nice coat of black?)

And I made him this:

Here's a better idea of what it looks like, man, it's hard to get a good picture of a frame with glass.  Glass is one of my nemesises (nemesi?) in that respect.

(The tape image is actually from a free font called CKAS, fun, huh?)

And here's an 8x10 download for you, if you so desire:

Download Rocking the suburbs

(PS is it ironic (and/or bad parenting) that I made this for my kid's room but he's not allowed to listen to the actual song because there are bad words in it?)

Okay, I need to stop before I wear us both out.

I'm starting to make spelling mistakes.

And type two spaces after my periods. (old habits and all.)

So, clap me out folks (but not too heartily, let's avoid the encore.)

(Tomorrow:  bathrooms, laundry rooms, mudrooms and more!)

and the giveaway goes to . . .

Isn't it funny how it's always the little things? Gifts that take time and reflect love are unlike any others. And how about husbands that craft in cars? irreplaceable. And poems from our childhood songs written in crayon? brilliant. Making mixed cd's for our moms? delightful. Honestly, we have the greatest readers.

Our lucky number today belongs to #9:

Katy, what a cute husband saving bit by bit to provide you with that which you wanted. Loveliness. Please send us an email to writeclickscrapbook at gmail dot com so that we might get you the hookup!!

Stay tuned for more irreverent antics with our in house comedienne, Cheryl!!

give.away.day. featuring PAPER KIWI

Mother's Day is right around the corner, so for our

today, we have something to help you put together a wonderful gift for your mother, or yourself!!

PaperKiwi is a printing company which makes high quality photobooks.Today they are offering one of you a chance to have $25 gift certificate to their store. Their books come in many sizes, their uploading is easy to navigate and has videos to help you understand the steps to finishing a book.

Now, we have offered photobooks in the past, and we understand that some of you may not have ever ordered one. To help you take the plunge, we asked one of of our designers to create a book that you could have.
Marnie created a 20 page book using digital papers and elements from our favorite Crystal Wilkerson. (Thank you, Crystal!!)

If you are the lucky number, you may use your $25 gift certificate for a book that you design, or for a book based upon one of the Paper Kiwi templates (and there are many to choose between) or you may send your photos to Marnie and she will replace hers with yours and upload it to Paper Kiwi for you. (Could it be any easier??) This means even if you don't have photoshop or don't have book building skills, that you can still have the pleasure of having a completed photobook. Beware, though, once you get a taste for photobooks, you may be hooked!!

Paper Kiwi also wanted to give each of you a chance to try their books. They would like to offer our readers a 25% off coupon good now through April 29th. The code is wc211. And if you order by April 29th, they will guarantee that your book will arrive in time for Mother's Day with domestic shipping. (They happily ship internationally, but unfortunately cannot guarantee a May 8th arrival).

If you would like to be considered for this giveaway, please leave us a comment telling us a favorite Mother's Day gift. And yes, soggy Cheerios in bed more than counts!!

Comments will remain open until 10:00 pm PST. One lucky number will be chosen at random and posted tomorrow. Remember it is your responsiblity to claim your lucky number by midnight Saturday!!

Lastly, as we promised, here is the book that Marnie designed. If you choose, this may be your book design. It is a 5x7 vertical with 20 pages. Or you may make your own. Whichever you prefer. We just want you to be happy!!

Knock knock...

Why, hello Wednesday.

Today, I do solemnly swear to refrain from double entendres, puns and/or knock knock jokes.

Well, I solemnly do swear to try.

I do solemnly swear.

 

What I will do is share the only remotely spring-y/easter-y decor I have in my house.

Presenting: the Overton Spring Collection. 

I know, so very Project Runway of me.

 
Yesterday I mentioned how I tend to binge on things.

Butterfly Binge meet WCS readers, WCS readers meet Butterfly Binge.

I shared the how-tos and why-fors of the painted wood piece, so let's focus on the other two, shall we?

The smaller one is a shadow box I found at the Salvation Army.  It's the one on the bottom right with the lace, pink mat and ribbon roses - three things that I am morally opposed to. 

Just kidding, but for real, they aren't my favourite things.

So as I was all binge-y, I started cutting out butterflies with the Cricut.

Wait! Who made this mess in here?

Thankfully, being a paper crafter, it's easy to push my mess out of the way. 

Good thing I didn't choose rock or bricks as my preferred medium.

Once I had a load (flock? herd? murder?) of them cut out, I started by trying to glue them together along the body of the butterfly and kind of fan the wings upward.

That worked okay, but being the perfectionist (*ahem*) that I am, I turned to my old friend, Pop Dot.

And just like that, P-Dotty gave my butterflies structure and form just like P-Diddy gave J-Lo street cred, back in the day. (Sorry. I get a little carried away sometimes. I am stopping right now.)

 

 And Bob's your uncle. 

Well, actually, Bob's my dad, but everyone looks at me funny when I say that.

The larger piece I made using a piece of MDF (medium-density fibreboard) that I salvaged (pilfered) from the husband's workshop after throwing it there after my original project turned into a failed mess last November:

 
I realize it doesn't look *that* horrible in this photo. 

But it was pretty bad.

I sprayed it brown - MDF sucks up a LOT of paint - I had to give the edges three coats.  It's the greedy cousin of my friend, Wood, from yesterday.  But it was free (pilfered), so I can put up with a little greedy.

Then I used my ATG adhesive to stick on the patterned paper (Prima) and brown cardstock.  I found a quote I liked on the internet and printed it on white cardstock and then roughed up the edges with a Making Memories edge distressing tool.

Then I put my cricut to work and cut out a big pile of different sized butterflies.

Before I committed to cutting any of the patterned paper, I laid the cardstock butterflies out until I found a design that I found pleasing (whenever I say that, I feel like a Queen..."This mutton displeases me, away with it...and off with his head!").

I repeated the pop-dot process that I mentioned above and put it all together. 

The bowl I purchased a while ago at the thrift store with plans of painting it or something.  And then I thought, "What are you stupid? (sometimes I get a little snippy with myself) You paint EVERYTHING heirloom white or black and it's ALREADY heirloom white-ish. Duh." 

So I saved myself 10 minutes and an index finger full of tacky paint from premature touching and left it alone.

I needed something to fill the bowl and had got caught up in all the old book crafts that have been permeating the craft blogosphere in the last year and had recently purchased a couple of vintage-y looking books a while ago. 

I tried a couple of things.

Failed fairly miserably and put them away. 

Then I saw a couple of Easter baskets that were lined with book pages all cut up.

I can cut paper relatively well.

So I cut a bunch of 1/4 inch (more or less) strips and then lamented the fact that I've wanted a crimper for years and been to cheap to buy one.  And then I cursed Michael's because the two times I printed out a half price coupon and drove ALL THE WAY ACROSS TOWN they were out. 

I suspect a conspiracy of some sort, but I have no proof.

I wondered if I could somehow curl the paper.  You know, like you can do with that birthday ribbon and a pair of scissors. 

Soon I remembered that scissors cut paper.

Then I wondered what if I used a curling iron?

So I did.

And, can I get a hallelujah, it worked. 

My husband only raised one eyebrow as he walked through the bedroom as I lay in bed watching reality tv, in a nest of curled book paper, wielding a piping hot curling iron.

He's seen stranger things.

I have to confess something now.

I tried making a few different eggs to go in my nest of fancy paper.

I tried decoupage on plastic eggs. 

I should have known better.

I'm still removing glue from the floor.

I tried blowing an egg. 

At first this was kind of fun mostly because my younger boy is a bit of a gagger, so I pulled a "Hey! watch this!" as I blew the egg innards into the sink.

Hilarity ensued.

It worked pretty well and I painted it, but it left me kind of light-headed and it took too long and I was getting bored with all this egg business.

So for the photo (and here's the brunt of my long winded confession) I painted two raw eggs and threw them in the bowl. 

Let me know if you have any better ideas.

(here is one if you're looking for a jumping off point...see what a control freak I am? I can't even let you offer up your better ideas first.)

 
I seriously love this. 

I wish I had of seen it before I got all hopped up on butterflies.

Here's her blog:

Midwestern Sewing Girl aka Nests Trump Butterflies

Thanks for letting me ramble.

Tomorrow I have a few projects for kids' rooms. 

And maybe a download for fun.

Hope to see you here!

 

 

 

 

I've Got Wood!

Happy Tuesday! 

They let me come back! 

I wasn't sure when I posted my "I've Got Wood" heading (and then snickered to myself like a 12 year old boy), but here I am.  Maybe they thought I did not understand what I typed. 

But I did. 

I'm cheeky like that.

So back to the wood. 

My husband is a carpenter by trade. 

He is also a cableguy, so most of his carpentery stuff are now projects on the side and "Can you cut this to 12x18 for me? And will it be exact? And I probably need a couple more things cut, too.  Let me rifle through this pile (I'm not the only one with piles - that sounded bad - hold on I need to stifle the 12 year old boy living in me, so I can get on with this...) of scrap wood and see what else I might need" kind of stuff.

We have a bunch of lumber left over from when we built our house which I have been eyeing up (and moving from pile to pile) for the last couple of years.

The first project I did was one of the few trial runs that I've done that actually worked the first time.This project is seriously so easy it seems silly.  Here's what I did:

• told the husband what a fine carpenter he is, asked him to flex for me and then requested that he cut me a 6x6 piece of wood
• used left over stain (dark walnut I think) and stained the whole piece
• cut out the word "create" on my cricut, using one of the cartridges that came with it on dollar store vinyl
• when stain was dry (and this was the hardest part with me and my premature touching problem) I laid the vinyl across the board and rubbed it so it stuck on
• using Heirloom White spraypaint I sprayed a very light coat of paint over the whole thing - I held the paint can a good 3 feet back to make sure it was a light coat, my usual more is more theory wasn't going to give me the effect I wanted
• when it was dry (or mostly dry, for the love of Mike, why can't I wait until things are dry?!) remove vinyl

I kind of dig how you can see the wood grain through the paint. 

The other benefit of doing a light coat of paint and not letting dry completely is that you won't run the risk of pulling up the edges of the paint around the letters. 

As you will notice, I am very resourceful at finding excuses for my lack of patience.

Then I thought to myself, "Self, you have been wanting to make one of those butterfly art thingies that have been making the rounds on blogs for the last three years."

So I did.

Then I thought, what about words or a quote? 

I love words.

Showboat.

Menial.

Chrysanthemum.

Words are great.

So now that I'm on a roll, I may as well share this one. 

I will add a disclaimer, saying, of course, I would never punch my kids, or anyone's kids, for that matter, it's a joke.  And if I've really offended anyone, I apologize and will send you my friend, Dawn's, email address for any complaints, because we originally made this in vinyl for her laundry room wall and I shamelessly copied it from her. 

She's clearly a bad influence on me.

That one is just plain old vinyl on stained wood. 

Please note both the terrible spacing on the bottom line followed up with creative belt placement to hide the terrible spacing. 

So that's what I have for cut wood projects. 

My next shares are found wood projects.  The wooden bowl/platter section is conveniently located right next to the frame section at our local VV Boutique.

Coincidence?

Probably. 

I saw this while on the information highway via Google a few months ago:

At this supercool site that I am passionately in love with:

supercool site

I searched for the right quote.

A quote that would convey something deep and meaningful to me.

A quote that  would remind me that life is good and that we should live every day to it's fullest.

A quote that would remind me to hope I dance, dang it.

I thought to myself, what was that funny thing I heard on 30 Rock the other night that made me laugh and laugh and think to myself "I have GOT to remember that".

I couldn't remember.

So, I asked the husband, because in addition to being good at cutting things and hooking up cable, he is also quite talented at remembering quotes from movies and tv. 

Once I had the quote chosen, being all mostly grown-up (except for that pesky 12 year old boy) instead of just grabbing the nearest metal stamp and going to town on the kitchen table (I had to restrain myself), I found an inexpensive set of stamps at the local Princess Auto and took out all my frustrations at the fact that I had to restrain myself, on this little tray.

I'm glad my kitchen table is intact. 

The buttons are covering my first attempt (the "L" is sideways).

All my letters are fairly crooked, and I'm not sure if it's in a  good way or not.

But it makes me smile.

And smiling's my favourite.

My last project today is a little wooden bowl that I bought on the same day I picked up the tray.

I used the same technique as on the first couple of projects I shared, but I must confessed, I initially tried using the metal stamps inside it and it was completely unsuccessful.

I had initally thought I would use it on my bedside table to corral all the stuff that I feel compelled to keep there.  I couldn't think of a clever quote that would fit so I went with shhhh... because I'm usually either watching tv, playing Angry Birds on my son's IPOD that I snuck when he wasn't looking or sleeping. All ssshhhworthy activities, I'm sure you will agree...

Here's the cute bowl (50 cents, baby!):

Here's the shhhh....cut out on vinyl from the dollar store:

Here's me taking some of the tackiness off of the painters tape by using my clothes - painters tape works really well for moving the vinyl from the mat to the project, but it tends to be a bit sticky so sticking it on your clothes, kids, dog, whatever, helps take the tack down a bit:

 

Here's the bowl getting it's make-over.

Here's me deciding whether I should just use the vinyl and forgo the painting this time.  I decided that leaving it unpainted would never do.

Here's the bowl with a fresh (and dry!) coat of paint:

Much better. 

What was I thinking?

"No paint". 

Sheesh.

Here's a peek inside the bowl with my bedside must-haves:

Burts Bees Lip Balm, Nutra Nail Touch of Colour (but mostly clear) Nail Polish and OPI Avojoice Skin Quencher cream (Jasmine Juice is the best!)

About 3 seconds after loaded up the bowl, I realized that there was no room for my watch or jewelery, and once again, that would never do.

So I moved it into the laundry room where it holds all the change I pilfer from the laundry pockets and the shhh....now simply means "shhh....I'm stealing your money" instead of the bedtime stuff.

I know what I like and what I think looks good, sometimes I just end up taking the scenic route getting there.

Thanks for tuning in today, I'll have more projects to share tomorrow, I hope you can join me!

Hey Look! A Squirrel: Blog Hosting Without Focus

 
Hey all!

My name is Cheryl and I would like to apologize in advance for the disorganization and eclecticness (eclectnicity?) of the coming week.

As usual I have a slew of excuses and reasons for my behaviour and here they are:

 

1. It's Spring! In addition to real life, project making and blogging I have begun the arduous task of spring cleaning. In my house spring cleaning is also known as “dump everything in the middle of the room, start chucking stuff out then move to another room to put something away and repeat, THEN when all rooms have large piles, panic a little, drink a lot of coffee and eventually get back to it”. This process usually takes me at least a couple of weeks and usually causes my husband to quietly consider a trial two week separation.
   (*interesting factoid #1: I am the only member of my family that considers spring cleaning to be quality family time.)

2. That's it. Usually my excuse for things is I'm cheap and lazy (and/or easy), which only half fits here, so I'm going with “it's Spring!”

3. I realize that one and one half excuses could not really be considered a slew, so I added this one. Plus I like when my Word program adds the indented numbers for me. Slick.

I'm going to try not to be too wordy, but I'm also smart enough to not make any promises on that front.

I will include lots of pictures and I will hope that most of them will be relevant. In a way, I guess I'm just suggesting that you buckle up, grab a coffee and hang on for the ride.

Two weeks ago I had an itemized list of things that I was going to write about and share.

It was a lovely list.

Written with purple pen (not that I'm partial to purple pens, but it was the closest pen and in retrospect seems slightly more fancy than your standard blue or black).

Little flower doodles in the corners.

Tiny hearts separating each thought (I'm totally lying about the hearts, but I wish I had of done that).

And then I lost the list.

So like I said:

1. coffee (or your beverage of choice)

2. buckle up

I know this is primarily a scrapbooking site, but I find as my kids get older, I seem to scrapbook less and do more home decor type projects. And since it's been almost 2 years since I hosted here I thought I would more or less redo the theme I did last time which was making stuff from junk I find at thrift stores.

Or if you're in a purple pen kind of mood we can call it “Scrapbooking in Today's Green World: ReUse, ReInvent, ReCreate”.

I hope that's okay.

Okay, time for slightly less talk and a little more action.

The last time I hosted I had started a photo wall in our basement.

I'm almost finished.

I know that was almost two years ago, but sometimes I get distracted. Plus, our basement is where our boys hang out. It smells like pre-teen boys (which is similar to feet, but worse) and sounds like angry drumming, electric guitar and nerf gun-wars, so I'm sure you can understand why I don't make it habit of going down there.

One of the things that I did before starting on my photo wall was hit the internets. I googled my way through a plethora of images before settling on the first one I saw (hello, Pottery Barn, my pretty)

These were the two that I finally printed off: 

 
Then I took these sheets shopping with me and picked out a couple of frames with oval mats (to go with the 393 square and rectangular frames that I have unused and hidden around my house).

I decided that the photo ledge was the way to go, because, frankly, having to hang two things levelly sounded much better than a) trying to hang a bunch of photos myself, all those excess nail holes are hard to hide or b) spending an afternoon with my husband hanging them, (see above: 2 week trial separation - after many years together we know which sports not to participate as a team in).

This is what our downstairs photo wall looks like so far:

 I used a little piece on the ledge that I shared during the last time I hosted the blog:

I think I will add another ledge underneath the middle one - it looks weirdly empty to me.

Here is more of the room:

And here is a close-up of the top of the trunk that my mom painted for me.

(the trunk was my mom and dad's when they were first married):

Then, as I am accustomed to doing, I began to binge a bit on photo ledges.

I purchased them at a store here called Jysk (pronounced Yisk for some strange Scandanavian reason, I think I heard that it's the same reason that we Canadians feel the need to add the letter u to many words).  But I'm pretty sure you can pick them up just about anywhere shelves are sold.

I did these ones in our bedroom:

(somewhat interesting factoid #2: the distressed frames were found at the dollar store a few years ago for $5 each, no spraypaint was harmed in the making of this photo wall)

And here is a close up of the little digital art I made to break up all the black frames: 

And here is a 5x7 PDF download of the pieces shown above for you to use if you like:

Download Love you more

And I used a couple in our living room here:

The vase was a shiny beige flower vase I've had kicking around for about 20 years, I painted it with black spraypaint and cut the four out of dollar store vinyl with my Cricut and then when the black paint was dry, put the vinyl on and used a matte white spraypaint overtop.  When I peeled the vinyl off, the edges of the number 4 weren't super clean so when it dried I just sanded it a bit in a "I totally meant to do that" sort of way. 

Funny, a lot of my projects seem to end that way.

The two framed pieces are digital art that I made in PSE using lyrics from a Maroon 5 song and printed on canvas paper that I purchased last year at the art store (it comes in rolls and when it works it looks really cool, but when it doesn't it makes me say bad words to my printer and canvas paper in general).

 

Do you want to know the one thing that I haven't been able to find at the second hand stores?

Is the suspense killing you?

Printer trays.

I long for a printer tray. 

But mostly I long for finding a printer tray in a thrift store for $1.99.

It could happen.

But while I long and wait patiently for that day, please peruse some of my fellow WCS girls' gorgeous printer trays, which to me seem like a condensed version of a photo/art wall.

Lisa  & Keshet sent me these to share:

So, now, not only do I want to find a printer tray real cheap, but I want to get married again and hire a proper photographer for GORGEOUS wedding photos, and I might as well throw some time travel in there (you know, where I know what I know NOW but get to go back in time to have a do-over of some sort with all this knowledge). 

Thanks ladies.

Lisa made two more that she graciously shared as well:

(*note to self:  take self portrait with family lying on our backs)

Thanks again, Ladies.  I have just mentally doubled my efforts to find a cheap printer tray.

So that's today. 

I hope it wasn't too long.

I'm sure it was so I hope that many of you are skimmers and stayed with me to get to the photos.

Stick around after the break, coming up next, I've Got Wood! Paint, Stamping and Other Applications.

Wonder

photo by Aly Dosdall

life is great

We did it...a week full of mini albums from the team here at Write. Click. Scrapbook. as well as bonus projects, tips and techniques sharing ways to use up all those bits and pieces left on your craft desk after you've finished your scrapbooking creations. If you've never crafted a mini album, perhaps you've found some inspiration during your visits with us this week. We've featured an array of mini album projects for you to try from Top Ten Lists, The Two of Us, In My Garden and Life is Great (coming up below!!), in addition to our mini album contributions from Aly, Celeste and Erin on Thursday.

My bonus projects have included a Mother's Day necklace and earring gift set, an art canvas, a button bracelet and some fun hair accessories. Now for our last day of MINI ALBUM WEEK fun!

 

LIFE IS GREAT

Everyone loves a Jenni Bowlin Studio bingo card, so let's make a mini album using them as our feature element. I also used these label stickers as a backdrop for part of my title and these chalkboard alpha stickers, too.

I used this tutorial from the Write. Click. Scrapbook. Tumblr to create my mini album cover embellishment. I adhered two patterned papers from the Front Porch mini papers together and got to cutting and punching. I will advise you to place the holes as close to the edge of your point when making the pinwheels...don't go too far into the paper.

Each page is embellished in the same way, first with the butterfly stamp and Versa Mark ink, to give a nice tone-on-tone effect, then adding the mini bingo cards on top. I then cut cardstock strips into 1/2" strips for my journaling, folded them and cut into them to mimic a banner.

If you're wondering about the photos, I plan to add those to the top part of the page {the flips up} once we take them. We need some new photos of the kids together, of us and of our house and this is a perfect opportunity to have some new photos and then to place them into our LIFE IS GREAT album.

 

I've had fun this week and I hope you've had fun, too. I invite you to visit with me on my blog, browse my Etsy shop and encourage you to shop 'til you can't shop anymore with Jenni Bowlin Studios, who have generously sponsored our projects this week. We've included links to all the products we've used to make it easy for you. If you can't find something, leave a comment here and our Write. Click. Scrapbook. team will be happy to find the link for you!

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Jenni & Jared Bowlin founded Jenni Bowlin Studios in 2007. Having been scrapbooking for over ten years, Jenni had always been drawn to antique treasures with stories to tell. Now, she creates products that reflect her love of old things with a modern twist, a product line she calls "Fresh Vintage." Her lines include patterned paper, vintage style labels, old timey buttons, and embellishments re-invented from flea market finds that hearken back to days gone by.

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Thank you for a terrific week!

Have Fun and Craft On!

assignment: mini album

 

No mini album from me today, but I am sharing three lovely designs from my Write. Click. Scrapbook. friends: Celeste, Aly and Erin. Their creative interpretations are amazing, stunning and inspiring. And I am certain you'll agree.

If you haven't had a chance to visit the Jenni Bowlin Studio blog, you've missed out on some fun mini album projects. Stop by for a visit and let them know how much you've enjoyed seeing their products featured here at Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Now, let's see what my scrappy pals have crafted with their goodies from Jenni Bowlin Studio. 

 

QUOTES by Celeste

Not only does Celeste Smith create wonderful projects for the Write. Click. Scrapbook. team, she is also on the Jenni Bowlin Studio Design Team and gets to play with their fun stuff all. the. time. Lucky gal, isn't she?

Here's Celeste with a "mini" tutorial showcasing her Quote album using the Large Chipboard Flag Banner and the 1st Quarter Dime Store kit:

When Monika asked me to make a mini, I didn't have a plan. When my Dime Store kit arrived, I thought I'll use that and I had a package of the chipboard banner pieces on my desk. It's a small album so I thought gathering a few of my favorite inspirational quotes would be a fun idea.

First, I printed the quotes out so they were 4 inches wide and no higher than an inch and a half.

Then I adhered patterned paper to the fonts and backs of all the pages of my album. I used an Exacto knife and Mod Podge to put it together. 

DESIGN TIP: Using a foam brush, apply a thin coat of Mod Podge to the back of the paper and then smooth it out with your fingers. The key is a thin layer.

I added a title. Then I made a book paper flower, by punching out a bunch of flowers, piercing them with a pin, and adding a brad. Then I glue dotted the flower to front of my cover and added a simple title. Ribbon tied through the holes binds the book together.

 

Last I cut the quotes into little blocks and adhered them to the inside pages of my book. At this point, the book was already bulky so I opted to not embellish further. 

I plan on keeping this little album at my desk at work to motivate and inspire me throughout the day!

 

MY HOME TOWN by Aly

Aly Dosdall was given a March Papercrafting Kit that features the just released, "Be Our Guest. (The same one featured in our giveaway yesterday! Jennifer, look what you could make with your kit!!) She usually starts her mini album process with a story she'd like to tell, and then finds photos or takes some to fulfill her theme.

I'd been meaning to make an album like this since we moved to our new home last year, and Jenni's kit was the perfect product to get it done.  Plus the common color scheme and vintage theme of the kit made it so easy to create a cohesive feel to the album.

    

A few tips:
1) I used the packaging from the chipboard for the back cover.  It was 6x6 (after I trimmed off the bar code) so it fit perfectly, and I love stretching my dollar and re-purposing items!

2) I used the rub-ons to create a banner title for the front cover.  The rub-ons are some of the best I've ever used!  They come off easily and smoothly and are strong enough not to tear.

3) I created a homemade flower embellishment for my front cover from the beautiful floral patterned paper by cutting four flowers out by hand, and then using my craft knife to cut the center out of one of them.  Then I spritzed them all with water, crumpled them up in a ball, and gently opened them leaving the edges a bit crumpled for extra dimension.  I then punched out a 1 inch circle from a scrap of cardstock and covered it with the pearl flowers from the kit.  Once the flowers had dried, I layered them like so: three flowers, the pearl flower circle, the fourth flower with the center cut out.  Fluff up the edges to get maximum texture and dimension, and there you go!

I had so much fun putting this mini album project together, it's something I've been meaning to do since we moved here last summer.

 

FASHION by Erin

Erin Sweeney had the opportunity to work with the Dime Store Kit, as well as this kit, from Jenni Bowlin Studios. The Dime Store Kit features patterned papers, buttons, vintage lace, journaling cards, buttons, rub-ons, labels and more.

  

 

Here's how Erin describes her mini album process:

The idea always comes first when I'm creating a mini-album. In fact, I have an ever-evolving  list of minis I'd like to do on my bulletin board. I'd been wanting to make one highlighting pictures of my daughters and the outfits they come up with. They're turning into quite the fashionistas. This Jenni Bowlin album is perfect. 

Once I knew my idea, and my album size, I was album to pick out pictures. I crop all my pictures in Photoshop Elements 7, printing them out on one 8.5x11 sheet of photo paper. Once they were printed and trimmed, it was pretty simple. I first went through the album and laid out the photos, determining where each one fit best. Once that was done I glued them down, adding paper and embellishments along the way. The page behind the window page is actually two sheets of the 4x4 mini papers glued back to back. This is an easy way to add extra pages to the album. 

I used the envelope to hold a journaling tag that just lists where I currently shop for them as well as some tags from recent clothing purchases. I think it'll be neat to look back at that as they get older and their tastes change. With the jump rings, I'll be able to add pictures of their outfits this summer, creating an album that tracks their taste in clothing throughout 2011. 

 

And now our BONUS PROJECT

After wrapping Victoria's headband with baker's twine, Monika punched a scallop shape from some Jenni Bowlin Studio packaging, and threaded it, a button and a pearl around the headband using more baker's twine, leaving some loose ends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Side Note: My hair model exclaimed extreme joy at getting two new hair accessories, jumped around the craft room and then when in search of a mirror to see how cute she was, saying, "I feel just like a Princess!"

Have Fun and Craft On!

 

 

and the giveaway goes to . . .

We are always amused by how much our readers have in common and how you share so much. Thank you for your comments and for taking time to be a part of our giveaway.

Our lucky number this week belongs to

Congratulations Jennifer! Please send us an email to writeclickscrapbook at gmail dot com so that we may get you your box of goodies!!

Thank you, Jenni Bowlin for all you have provided this week!

Stay tuned. Monika is back today with more mini albums from Aly, Celeste, and Erin!! Such fun!!