Write. Click. Scrapbook.

party favor & gift ideas on the cheap.

Admit it. I had you at cheap, didn’t I?

A quick survey of my mom-friends tells me that, while throwing parties is a joy, making it cute, fun, colorful, exciting, (insert positive adjective here)… is expensive. By the time they’re finished planning, sending out invites, decorating and organizing the activities and (gasp) menu, there’s little left over for party favors.

Ah……. Party favors.

Sure, parents loathe them. Most of the contents rarely make it out of the car and often end up wedged in the folds of a car-seat. But kids love them. And I mean l.o.v.e them.

So today I'm excited to share a good handful of party-favors you can customize for your party theme, all under a couple of bucks each.  Take a look at what you can do with your scrapbooking stash that's sure to knock the recipient’s socks off AND make your creative side sigh with joy.

Some of these projects can even be great birthday gift ideas!

Project #1: The Personalized Water-Bottle

If you go to the Target dollar aisle right now, you’ll see a collection of metal water-bottles. They come in a couple of colors (pink, blue, silver) and are cheap. That’s right -- $2.50/each.

Add some fun rub-on images and letters and you’ve got a cute party-favor that will sure to get used!

Rub-ons are available in every theme possible, so you can customize these to fit the theme of your party. They’re hand-washable and will look so cool in the t-ball dugout.

Project #2: Flower Hair Clips

If you haven’t made these before, I urge you to give it a try. They’re so easy to make, and the best part, they look expensive, but they’re not! I bought a strip of specialty bobby pins (I bought Bow-Tique bobby pins by Horizon) at Michael's – 6/$1.99.

Using the many felt, fabric and even paper flowers I had in my stash, I created these darling clips that will actually get worn! If the flowers come with any kind of foam or sticky adhesive, simply remove and stick to the flat metal pad on the clip using a hot-glue gun.  Be sure to buy the kind of clips that have a flat surface to which you can glue your flower. If you can't find them at a big name craft store, I know you can find them on Ebay. Just search for "bobby pins with pads" and you'll find all sorts of colors!

Project #3: Re-Packaged Game Baggies

I just love what Beth Proudfoot did here using her American Crafts stash. She purchased a variety of these cool sports games in the dollar section of Michael’s.  She removed the top packaging that came with the games and replaced it with her own. She simply cut a square of patterned paper, folded it over the top and embellished and stapled to the baggie. You could even customize a top that says, “Thank you for coming!” Tons of possibilities here. I can’t wait to try this one myself!

Project #4: Personalized Book Plates

I created these book plates using this ridiculously expensive font and this dingbat. If you’re looking for another cute girly font, how about this one, or this font and possibly this dingbat (originally from Cheryl Overton's post back in October) for a boy who has Star-Wars on the brain.  I created the square design in Adobe Illustrator, but you could easily use Photoshop or even Word (text boxes) to create your own design.  I printed my labels on this sticker paper by Avery, and trimmed them in to neat little squares.

Not only would these make a darling goody-bag, they could be paired with a special book or book-light as a birthday gift for the reader in your life.

These are just so easy to make! All you need are dingbat fonts, printable sticker paper and a printer.

Project #5: 1^st Birthday Bibs

I realize this will speak only to those of you with babies in your lives, but wouldn’t it be fun to supply all the babies at your 1 year old’s birthday with their own party bibs? You could personalize each one with the child’s initial, and a #1 for the birthday baby, of course! 

This bib came together in a matter of minutes, plus the hand-stitching, which took another 10 or so. I hand-cut the bib by tracing an old bib I had still in the house (we have NO baby stuff anymore, so it’s a wonder I could even find one!) and cutting out with scissors.  I used craft/felt/fabric glue to attach the felt circle and number 1, then I hand-stitched around the circle with embroidery floss.  To finish it off, I added a coordinating button and cut a slip on the opposite neckband for the button to go through.  It’s surprisingly durable, though not washable, so save it for a time when you have your camera out!

Project #6: So Very Glad Labels

Do you have a Trader Joe’s near you? I love their clear plastic boxes of chocolates. They come in a variety of delicious flavors. I borrowed Beth's repackaging idea on this box of chocolate covered pomegranate seeds.

I added some patterned paper from October Afternoon and a unique label to show how this grocery store treat can be turned into a party-favor or gift idea.  Of course there are tons of uses for this label. You could attach it to a jar of homemade bath salts, or simply tie to the top of a package.

You can download a page of 6 labels here.  Just print on heavy white cardstock and cut out with a circle trimmer like this one.

Project #7: Gift-Card Holder

And since we're sharing birthday gift ideas, too, look at this darling gift-card holder Emily Pitts made! If you have a Silhouette, you can find pillow box templates in the Silhouette store.

If not, here's a link to one you can download and use with any old pair of scissors: visit this link to Carolyn's Stamp Store and scroll down. There are templates you can download, both small AND large.

So that's it! I hope you've found at least ONE party favor or gift idea that tickles your fancy. :) Come back tomorrow as I share a little about celebrating birthdays. I'll have a number of birthday layouts and cards shared by our WCS ladies, along with some links for those who are looking for starting new birthday family traditions.

Happy Friday!

Sayonara Saturday

Well now, that was an adventure! Thanks for all of the fun comments and for participating in the makeover challenge!

Because I am shamelessly proud of His Royal Cuteness, I'll leave you with my favorite photo from our photo session this week-which didn't make it onto yesterday's scrapbook page. I'm guessing it will earn of page of its own.

This shot features the Urban Acid action I linked to yesterday and an edge burn action from my fellow Oklahoman (incredibly talented in every way), The Pioneer Woman. Her photography is stunning and her Photoshop actions are top-notch and free. You can download them HERE.

Hope to see you again here at Write.Click.Scrapbook!

Freebie Friday

Would you like to do a layout for FREEE???

Okay, maybe it's only my kids who watch Bedtime Stories over and over. 

:)

Well, there are tons of freebie scrapbooking and photo goodies online. So many so, that I have to admit, I have to really love something to purchase it. Don't believe me? With the exception of Photoshop, everything I used to create the digital layout above was FREE!

the title font

the dingbat font

the journaling font

the photoshop action I used on my photograph (at Action Central, scroll down and click on "Urban Acid")

and the notebook paper.

Easy peasy. Yay for freebies!

Valentine's Inspiration

We internet lovers know that there is a plethora of inspiration online! There are lots of the things that capture my eye and make me think, how can I incorporate that into a scrapbook page? Is it the typography, the colors, the shapes?

If you need a little jumpstart of Valentine inspiration, here's some fun stuff I found online:
How cute is this suit from Old Navy? That title is begging to be scrapbooked!

I could just see this translated on a scrapbook page as well!
I want to do this too! How many thousands of buttons do you own? :) Even if you don't make something scrappy with it, can't you just see a cute necklace for a girl? I love it!

 
This could easily be translated into an embellishment on a page! Even the bright blue color for hearts, probably not something I would have thought of but it works so well! Untraditional Valentine's, hooray! :)  I adore this look!  

This just looks fun! I want to make lots of smoothies and use straws like these! Ha! Or you can make similar little hearts for your pages/projects of course! Layer different sized hearts with floral and type phrased stickers, how sweet! 

 

I think that this would be a neat embellishment, the idea of shaping a bunch of flowers into a heart! Can be punched flowers, stickers, maybe even handdrawn?! Pretty!

If you have the patience to make something like this across your wall, go for it! If you just want to do a few, have it made for the length across your layout! :)  

Two words: PAPER PIECING! :)

And for any non-sewers out there, (like me!;) ) how about the look of stitch!? Just a few simple hand drawn lines mimic the sewn look! Now why didn't I think of that?!
How about a cute Valentine's color combination? This just screams spring, love and happiness to me!


Finally this, I want to make a double page layout, with this by itself on one side and a photo on the other. What a statement! Striking!

What's in a Story?

Have you ever stopped to consider the impact your family's stories have on yourself or your children? What about your brothers and sisters? Which family stories do you tell over and over at the dinner table? Now, consider what would happen to your sense of the world if those stories were lost or if you didn't know them. Really! Take a minute, I'll wait. Got it? Okay, read on.

Historically, stories define who we are, what we stand for and ultimately how we see the world. Cultures without a formal written language hand stories down through the generations orally, telling them over and over through a designated orator or someone whose job it is to see that he/she remembers the stories for the village and then retells them. These orators are highly respected Elders for good reason: They are responsible for the entire history of their village. As a scrapbooker, I'm sure you're keenly aware that if you don't tell your story, no one will.

It was this kind of thought pattern that led me on a small journey last week down the path of family history. Being the youngest of six (my oldest brother is 20 years older than I am) and having come from a divorced family, there are many stories that I'm not familiar with. There are also people whom I've never met whose stories I haven't heard.

So I paid a visit to my mom, scanned a few photos and then picked her brain about the people in the photos. I can remember Mom talking about Great Grandma Jenson, her mother's mother, very fondly. But I simply couldn't remember the stories. I remembered that she was deaf, but that was about it. After our interview, I completed this page:

She was an amazing person! It must have been very difficult for her to raise her children without hearing in the late 1800's to early 1900's. (Then again, when my little one spouts off one of her high-pitched screams I wonder...)

materials 8.5x11 | patterned paper (Kaiser Craft) + charm (K&Company) + fonts (Segoe Print, Monotype Corsiva fonts)

It was a treat to hear about my great grandmother. But there was one story that I'd only heard in snippets - the story of my mom and dad's marriage. It just always seemed like a taboo subject so I never asked, fearing that I might hurt someone's feelings. That's the "blue" in me coming out ;) I finally broached the subject and I'm so glad I did.

This is the only photo I have of my parents together and now I have the story saved for my children.

These two pages will always be treasures to me, not just for the photos, but for the stories.

If you're not sure where to start, try using a quiz created just for the occasion and interview your prospect or fill in the quiz according to what you read about a person. Ella Publishing has a brand new eBook called Quick & Creative Quizzes that may be helpful to you. Also, be sure to check out our WCS gallery for more inspiration and ideas about telling your family's stories.

materials 8.5x11 | patterned paper (Kaiser Craft) + ribbon + fonts (Bradley Hand, Monotype Corsiva)

So, what's in a story? It's the essence of who you are and what you will become. It's your history and your future all at the same time. Pretty important stuff, huh?

Here's your challenge: Research one ancestor or family member that you don't know much about and then create a page or two about that person. Be sure to upload it to our Flickr group by clicking on the link above. I can't wait to see what you create. Happy hunting!

Challenge your preconceptions, or they will challenge you –author unknown

Hi, it's me again! Emily. I loved seeing Marnie's past avatars, so you get to see a few of mine too. Heaven knows I have plenty. :) This was one of my first self portraits I ever took. The first of many. Now back to catalysts.

CATALYST #3 MY FRIENDS
About the same time I started doing the Pub Ad Challenges over at Two Peas (which is still going by the way, if you want to check it out), I found the next catalyst. This one was a much more subtle method of change, but for my personal life, it was huge. They were the subject of one of my first publications in the former magazine Simple Scrapbooks:

Note the changes: I started getting comfortable with more white space because of the influence of advertisements. Stamping started creeping in here–-I found this wonderful handwriting-like font and I started to really enjoy this technique. I started sewing my buttons on at this point too, now I can't leave a button unstitched, it really gets under my skin. Note the similarities: Still using my own handwriting.

It was at this crop where I met my friends that I came across catalyst #4.

CATALYST #4 CATHY ZIELSKE
I won! I won! I won! Not only did gain a whole new group of friends, I won the Cathy's Clean and Simple Scrapbooking, The Sequel, and that completely changed my life. That was where I was introduced to the idea that I didn't need to scrap every photo. It's OK to use a single photo to tell the whole story. It's OK to scrap moments and not just events. Lots of things became OK after I read that book. So thanks Cathy.

CATALYST #5 MORE CHALLENGES
I became a challenge junkie after I started playing the Pub Ad Challenge. It got to the point where one of my friends gave me a non challenge to see if I could scrap without being inspired by a challenge. I did it, but it really was kind of a challenge in itself. I played a product challenge that got me using products that I wouldn't normally use. Note the changes: Lots more product, one photo, and playing with techniques. Punching those circles took a lot more time than I was used to, but I liked the look, so I did it. I think this is the first time I used staples and ephemera, if you can call a candy wrapper ephemera. The embellishments are getting bigger and bigger. I loved those flowers, I bought a bouquet at Michaels and was sad when I'd used the last one. Flowers were a big deal for me for a while. Note the similarities: Sticking with the very ad-like feel. Handwriting again.

I played a challenge called How Much Is Too Much? that encourages you to use up our stash, we'd get a specific number of different items we'd have to use on a layout. Sometimes it was easy, other times it was really hard, but I got some really fun layouts from it. Note changes: PAINT! argh, that was SCARY and I did it to myself, it wasn't one of the requirements, but I decided to try it. Note the similarities: I'd been playing with my photos now in quite a few different ways. Here I'd cut the photo up into 6 smaller ones and sanded the edges. And to bring attention to the main photo, I added rivets (something I'd purchased a LONG time ago, but never used.). Again, handwriting...

I played a color challenge called Color Combos Galore that gives a palette of colors and you can go from there. This is one I struggled with because I thought I had to go out and buy papers to match those exact colors. Once I finally let go of that notion, I had a fun time with it! I

Then came the journaling challenge, which I eventually got the pleasure of co-hosting. It was called Journaler's Junction, it's not active right now, but you can check the archives for lots ideas. This was a huge catalyst for me. I have always loved to write my stories, but this challenge made me find many new ways to write those stories. Here's the first one I participated in, the challenge was to "Write It How You Say It." I realized I changed how I spoke depending on who I was talking to. Note the changes: I started playing with images digitally. Note the similarities: Handwriting still my own. I was still creating things from scratch, like in the beginning––my fancy divider lines (totally an accident, I smudged the line and so had to make them all smudgy like that.) and my fancy hand drawn photo corners. I was sticking to the one photo, one page layout now. I didn't feel the need to have matching pages in my albums anymore.

For the next couple of years I played as many challenges as I could manage a week. I loved them. I got pretty good at combining two and more challenges on one page. It was fun!

This one combined 3 challenges: scrap an old picture, write a letter to someone, and the Pub Ad Challenge. Note the changes: I think the one of only things that was different about this page was the hidden journaling, I got really fancy with how to hide this journaling. This is a special layout because it's a letter to my friend after she passed away. It makes me weepy looking at it again. You can read the journaling in my Two Peas gallery if you want. Oh and I think this is when doodling was big. I didn't do much of it, but I did make it a design element. Note the similarities: Again I'm back to my hand drawn title work. Handwriting again :) No comments on the hair OK?

Here's a couple more from the journaling challenge. While I was co-hosting this challenge, I got more publications from the layouts I created for it than any other challenge. I think my story telling skills became honed because of this catalyst. This challenge had to do with design, journaling down the side, one word at a time. Note the changes: I started using the computer for journaling more. I figured out you could cut the cardstock in half and run it through the printer. HOW EXCITING! This is also the first layout I used floss on. Note the similarities: I love the graphic ad designs, nice and clean. Hand drawn titles. Single pager, but more than one picture because they told the story better.

This challenge was to go to a random word generator and from the first 5 words that came up, you had to pick one of them to jumpstart your journaling. It was one of my top 5 five favorite challenges. Note the changes: Machine stitching. Note the similarities: LOTS. Buttons stitched down, white space, handwriting, clean graphic design.

To sum up, a major catalyst in my scrapping style came from participating in challenges. They push you out of your comfort zone, and sometimes you find things you never knew you'd love. There are so many great challenges out there, I've linked a few, but would love you have you comment and add your favorites as well. I'll post a list of them at the end of the week.

Tomorrow we'll look at some more of my catalysts. Aren't you enjoying me talking about me? :)

Turn and face the strange cha-cha-changes...

Hello! For those of you who don't know me, I'm Emily Pitts, one of the newest members of the WCS collective. I've been scrapping on and off for almost 4 years now, and in those 4 years, my scrapping style has certainly changed. In looking back, I noticed some real turning points in my style, but I also noticed somethings that have very much stayed the same. I wanted to talk about the things that made it change and the things that have stayed the same this week.

This is one one the first pages I ever did:

It's rather lovely, isn't it? This was 1998. Funky handwritten titles and cutting your photos (gasp!) were all the rage. I had no money, we were college students, I knew I had to use acid free products, so I bought a ream of acid free cardstock from Office Depot, a pack of acid free pens from an art supply store, some rulers with cute little ducky, heart, and car shapes in them for tracing, some templates and lettering books, and a heart punch. I knew I was a good enough artist to do the rest.

I made 11 pages.

I had to stop. I could not for the life of me create a scrapbook page that was of the quality I KNEW I could do. I had taken a lot of art classes in high school, I'd won awards. I was really quite talented. But I just could not do this scrapbooking thing. And the cutting up of photos? That really didn't jive with the family historian in me. I deeply appreciated my ancestors taking such good care of their photos, cutting mine up seemed blasphemous. So I packed up my few supplies and figured someday I'd get back to it. I made sure to label all my photos so I'd at least remember a little bit of information.

CATALYST #1 BECKY HIGGINS
Fast forward to 2004, I believe it was the October issue of Creating Keepsakes I had chanced upon and decided to purchased because one of the articles caught my eye. It was by Becky Higgins and was titled something like, "How My Style Has Changed." I'd flipped through it, and felt an immediate kinship to this woman. I saw pages that looked my my early attempts. Then I saw pages that I LOVED, pages that were exactly what I wanted to create. I figured the time had come for me to get back into scrapping. My little sister was getting married, I should make her a wedding album. So I borrowed all of my mother-in-laws back issues of CK and went to work. Never mind that those issues came out in the photo cutting phase, I could look past that and create pages that I was proud of finally! Lots of double matting to add color, lots of blocks, definitely every picture scrapped, of course 2 pagers, a bit of ripping and tearing, and eyelets and brads thrown in for good measure. I guess you could call this "old school" style, but i am still really  happy that I have all these memories preserved. Note the changes: I used my lettering templates instead of handwriting the title. I added a few bits of patterned paper. I began embellishing. Note the similarities: I used my own handwriting.

 

CATALYST #2 THE PUB AD CHALLENGE

Now I had a vacation album and my sister's wedding album under my belt, I felt invincible! I was searching on line for some reason and stumbled upon this website called Two Peas in a Bucket. I was not a message board visitor by any means, so I'm not sure how it happened, but I found a place they called The Pub. Again, I'm not sure why I clicked on that particular message board, because I am not a drinker, which I figured was what they discussed in this Pub. But I clicked on it, and the rest is history. I found what was called a challenge, hosted by Paula Gilarde. You were supposed to use the ad she provided as inspiration and then post your layout and link it to the thread. This is the first one I managed to get scrapped. I was so proud. I spent way too much time on it and way too much money (I had a photo specially printed 8X12 at Sam's Club for $3 so that it would fit on a 12X12 layout), but that was the start of something that, for the next two years completely shaped how I scrapped.

Here's my version:

Note the changes: Patterned paper became much more prevalent in my work. I altered the photo (gasp), but wasn't too worried about it because it was a digital image. I added a LARGE (for me) embellishment. I hand cut the journaling strips, they are not perfectly straight. Note the similarities: I was still mounting photos. I still journaled using my own handwriting.

I was a very literal scrapper (did you notice I even stayed with a similar color scheme as the ad has?) when I started, I took the idea and didn't stray too far. If there wasn't an exact spot for journaling, it made me nervous. I didn't think that I could do an 8.5x11 page instead of my now standard 12x12, even though I started as an 8.5x11 scrapper. I didn't think to turn the ad on it's side, I had to do exactly what was presented. I leaned on my seasoned scrapping friends a lot. I didn't trust my own voice. That slowly began to change. I'll tell you more about that tomorrow, I'll show you some more examples and talk about the next few catalysts.

But going through these first few pub ad inspired pages made me want to revisit some of the ads with my current style. And I thought you might like to join me...

So take the ad and turn it into a layout. Post your layout to the Flickr gallery by Friday at midnight. I'll put all your names in hat and one of you will win a $10 gift certificate to Studio Calico. Doesn't get much better than that, right? :) I'm excited to see what you come up with! Until then...

a monster mash of halloween inspiration

And with this post, I shall bid you adieu...

I've had a great time hosting the blog and hope to be back soon!

Today I would like to share a big mish mash of a little something I like to call "things I wish I had of thought of first"(or more to be more concise we can just call it inspiration... whatever blows your hair back).

These first couple I actually did think of first and I'm posting them for Rhonda because she left a comment earlier this week asking if I had any baby room ideas. 

And I do! 

And here they are:

 

 

I made this using some pieces of acrylic that I had cut at a local glass store - I think each piece was about 7x18 inches and cost me under $20 for the lot of them.

The letters were vinyl wall lettering from Making Memories, but you could cut them out of patterned paper, use your Cricut or any other large lettering you have available.

Here's another project:

 

I used pre-made frames from My Mind's Eye (I think, it's been a while!) with chipboard behind them.

And if my memory serves me, I made this to go with:

This shows that you don't need a lot of stuff, just a few little touches on a framed photo (and a really cute baby never hurts) :

Remember those embroidery hoops that I posted the other day? 

Here's a little decor hoop action for you to enjoy in a nursery.

I'm pretty sure she used fabric but you could totally use paper. 

When I made mine, I just used a circle cutter that was about 1/2 an inch larger than the hoop, cut out my paper and then made little cuts all the way around so the pieces would fold back and be hidden by the outer hoop. 

Now on to more Halloween magic!

I found that photo at Me and Wee

And check out Danielle's work here:

I'm pretty sure it is the 2nd cutest Frankenstein ever.

Only because this is the cutest one, hangin' with his handsome friend, Draclia.

"WHY, OH WHY didn't I pay more attention in French class?", she lamented dramatically.

No, I've never used algebra again, but I sure could have used French now. 

And this is why:

 

Mr. Owl found at Blue Cricket Design (she even shares her list of materials)

 

I dare you to try to leave without checking her other posts (no, I was kidding, don't do it!  definitely check out her other posts).

This project makes me want to get a big bowl of candy and just sit and admire it. (who am I kidding, just about everything makes me want to get a big bowl of candy, maybe I should qualify that statement with the words Halloween Candy) 

Found at the Rusty Pickle Blog

And now that I have candy on my brain...

Courtesy of Rachel Ricks

Pamela O'Connor from Cherish Your Memories made some cute (and necessary) chocolate lover's survival kits (my chocolate lover's survival kit is also called that box of chocolates I have hidden in the downstairs freezer under that package of old freezer burned buns that thankfully no one ever seems to move - but these ones are definitely cuter).

My favourite part of this clever banner is that the O's are multitasking as eyes! 

I've always found that the O's are the overachiever's of the alphabet set. 

And the bat eyebrows? 

Brilliant.

 

You can find it here!  (and how about those houses in her banner. I know, right?!)

Another excellent use of a black frame - love how this one has no mat and she's left some of the glass clear.

 

Click me here! 

Okay, I know I said this was going to be about stuff that I found inspiring, but then when I was looking for that old frankenstein layout to share with you I found a few other home decor projects on our old hard drive that I have made but don't currently have in my home for various reasons.

So, yah, I kind of lied, but what are they going to do?

Kick me out of here? (see how cocky I am on my last day blogging?  think I would have tried that on Tuesday?)

So here they are:

 

Monogram for my scrapbook room made with some rub-ons and another Making Memories wall letter.

Dry erase board, I used BoBunny papers and 1/2 a Heidi Swapp daisy:

 

(*note:  no boys were harmed and/or spanked in the making of this board)

Yet another cupboard door:

And another....

 

(Products: Autumn leaves papers, Making Memories chipboard JOY)

And this "life" quote is actually in my scrapbook room.

 

(Products: Autumn Leaves Rub Ons, American Crafts stickers and Making Memories wall letters)

And finally, a clock made using a blank Creative Imaginations base (but guess what?  i have also used cupboard doors to make clocks.  I'm sure you're shocked.)

 

And this concludes possibly the longest most rambling of WCS blog posts to date.  

I invited you to share any home decor and/or halloween projects you have made in our flickr group and then post a link to it in the comments!

I have thoroughly enjoyed my week and I hope you have too!

thrift stores and cupboard doors

Happy Wednesday! 

First of all, I'd like to thank you for all the nice comments on my last couple of posts.

Secondly, as usual I have a LOT to say, so let's forget secondly and get started.

None of the stuff I'm posting is rocket science. And I'm sure the bulk of it is not ground breaking, cutting edge stuff for most of you talented people, so maybe we can look at it as a little reminder.

A reminder of, "Hey, I don't have to spend millions of dollars or a ton of hours blinging out the crib (too much?  I thought so...let's replace bling with spruce and crib with home and never speak of this again).

So I went through my house and took pictures of all the things that I've made with scrapbook stuff, my computer and some of the dozens of frames I have hidden deep in the closet and thought I would share them with a few notes on each.

Let's start in my bedroom, shall we?

Another great use for a cupboard door, I scored this little beauty that was already painted cream and distressed for $3 at a salvage shop.  The rub-ons are Heidi Swapp from many many years ago but vinyl or stickers would work just as well. 

The powder room. 

That little framed piece is a canvas that sits within a frame.  I just cut a piece of patterned paper to size and slapped it right onto the canvas with a bit of adhesive.  Then I took my emery board and sanded the edges slightly just to take that sharp cut edge off them. 

(Oh and that's Steve in the bowl above, we're going to talk about him and alternate usage of embossing powder, but you have to wait until Friday for that!)

Someone chose a paint colour for this room that we had never used in a house before.

Someone is too cheap to go out and buy money on decor to match.

Someone has a whole bunch of frames hidden in a closet and a big pile of patterned paper.

Someone is kinda handy with scissors and sticky tape.

Someone wondered briefly to herself, self is it rude and/or icky to put a photo of your toilet on the internets?

Someone decided no, just do it.

So you see, I had this big expanse of white space over the toilet (which, yes, is in front of the window, which obviously wasn't thought out too clearly) that I really wanted to fill.  My favourite thing is when my non-scrapbooking friends ask where I got the "art" in my washroom (the scrapbooky friends say, "Hey!  Is that My Mind's Eye paper?  Where'd you get it?")

Again, not rocket science, but effective, I think!

These two sit in the mudroom, the first one is made with traditional scrapbook supplies, the second was done digitally.

(*note:  the ribbon and stickers on the first one are actually glued right on to the glass.)

(products:  paper & ribbon/Making Memories chipboard/Heidi Swapp)

(products:  digital kit-A Very, Very, Very Fine House/Libby Weifenbach)

(note*I also stole the quote unabashedly from the name of Libby's kit, thus saving even MORE time.  I am shameless.)

More cupboard door fun that hangs in my scrapbook room.

 

(products:  All Making Memories)

Notes:  The bottom part has a metal sheet (pilfered from my husband's workshop, but also available at any building supply store, usually if I pilfer it I count it as free) under the paper, then there is a piece of transparency paper over the green cardstock making it into a dry erase board. 

The magnets are chipboard pieces and little Making Memories clips that I glued earth magnets to.  I usually use Crystal Lacquer for magnets because it is much stronger than regular white glue.

Here's a close up of the top.  I made each of the squares separately and then cut thick chipboard to fit snugly in the opening to make sure they didn't fall out.

 
Okay, on to the next segment of our post!

Using one of the three R's.

We are looking at re-using junk, or what silly people THOUGHT was junk, and sent to the thrift store not knowing what treasures they had in their possession.

For example, this is a frame (originally) from a frame shop I found at Value Village for ONE dollar and 99 cents.

Here's something that you might not know...ready for it?

You can paint mats.

YOU CAN!

See how, in the photo above, the mat has a white bevel?  I wanted it black. 

So I introduced it to my bff Black Spray Paint and look what we came up with together:

I'm working on a photo wall right now and I'm hoping to put this on the shelves with all the photos.

Here's another example: 

This mat was a lovely shade of teal blue with an inner mat that was a subtle fuchsia that while gorgeous, sadly didn't match my decor. 

Out came Black Spray Paint's southern cousin, Country White and we toned it down together.

I haven't found a use for it yet, but I'm sure that will come.

Now for the layout segment. 

Well, I didn't actually get a layout done.  So I am going to distract you with this link to something I am SO going to do and challenge you to give it a try as well.

This little tutorial from Photojojo

Cute, right?

If you have any questions at all about how I did any of the projects I shared, leave me a comment and I'll answer the best I can!

Join Marnie tomorrow for a FABULOUS giveaway and I'll see you Friday with some Halloween decor!

until Friday,

Cheryl

yoda is my homeboy

Hey!  Me again. 

When I started to think about today's post last night I realized that as my son Lucas says often, there is "so much to say, so little time...."  Well, to be completely accurate, he actually says, "so many points, so little time" whenever he's beating me at cards or chess. 

Good sportsmanship is one of the many things we are working on at our house.  

That and getting to the point, instead of droning on and on....

So I may have to share a bit more than just the older boy's Star Wars themed room that I had spoken about yesterday. 

I hope that's okay.

So let's get to the point.

I've watched many decorating shows and many designers seem to choose one thing to base the room around.  Our one thing was this quote from Yoda.

"Do or do not, there is not try"

(Now say it out-loud in the Yoda voice.  It's a surefire way to get the eleven year old's eyes a'rollin'. 

He says my version sounds like Grover.  Which I will take as a compliment, whether intended that way or not.)

Those of you who are lucky enough to own a Cricut or other supercool cutting tool like that can make these out of vinyl yourself!  (I'm sure you Cricut/supercool cutting tool owners already know and have done this, and if you have please share!) 

I happen to be lucky enough to have a very close friend who sells these vinyl quotes so that's where I got mine. 

Now if you take a closer look above the noise centre (aka the guitars, by the way, I'm Canadian and yup, we spell it that way. We Canucks are fancy like that. ) you will spy a couple of Star Wars decor thingies. 

Shall we go to the close up?

And here is what they looked like before I printed them out:

fonts used: rub this! , forced reentry (which is a dingbat of Star Wars characters)

brushes used: various from misprinted type

digial paper:  more of Libby's designs

So to make these, I basically did the same thing that I talked about yesterday only switched up the sizes and fonts.  The boy helped me out with the picking of the quotes and just about collapsed from laughing at the pure hilarity of the insults he chose.

(*note - we had to make "overweight glob of grease" a swear word in our house shortly after we googled, mostly because I was tired of hearing the younger boy whine about being called an overweight glob of grease).

I also want to let you know that I consider myself a digital dabbler, not a digital scrapper.  I honestly only know the very basics of The Great and Mysterious Photoshop and just kind of get on there and wing it. 

If you haven't played with it before, try it!  To me, the best thing about digital stuff, is if you mess up it's no big deal! You haven't wasted any product and you can get a do-over.  

And really, who doesn't love a do-over.

Here is the last thing that I made for Jake's room.  We went to Disneyland last year and he got chosen to go up and fight the Dark Side in the Jedi Training Academy. 

Definitely a highlight of the boy's life. 

I took one of the photos we got from what he likes to refer as "the time I dominated Darth Maul", changed it to black and white and boosted the contrast, added a few brushes around the edges, printed it out and shoved it in one of the 100's of frames I have hiding in the closet waiting for a moment such as this and VOILA!  (Almost) instant decor for an 11 year old boy's room.  We placed it amongst all the Star Wars Lego (also referred to as "the Lego No One Touches Unless They Want to See Jacob's Head Spin Completely Around and Fire Come Out His Ears This Means You Lucas")

Honestly, the hardest thing about these projects is hanging them straight (or what I also like to call "hiding the "oops" nail holes I've made in the wall with the stuff I'm trying to hang).

And now for something completely different....

Just a quick idea for Thanksgiving. 

We had our Thanksgiving earlier this month and somehow the Overtons are very good at getting invited places for nice meals. 

Call it a gift. 

We somehow managed to curry invites to TWO (count'em TWO!) separate Thanksgiving dinners that weekend.  

With this great power of ours, comes great responsibility.

Responsibility in the form of a cute hostess gifts.

This is what I came up with:

oatmeal cookies

basket

dishtowel

tag

and DONE!

Cost:

cute little pumpkin shaped basket which happened to be the perfect size for a stack of cookies $4.00

dishtowel in autumnal (say that word out-loud, it's fun!) colour $1.00

stack of cookies (well, I don't know for sure what the monetary cost was, but I made a triple batch and ended up eating 12 cookies in one day.  I'm sure you think I'm exaggerating but I can assure you that I am not.  AndI'm also sure you can imagine what the cost of that was...)

ribbon, paper scraps and cellaphane $.75

So, there you have it! A cute hostess gift for under $6.00!

I suppose I should stop for the day. 

On the agenda for tomorrow:

• more cheap and easy home decor ideas
• one of the three r's and I'm not talking 'rithmatic
• some links of stuff that I have in my "wanna do" file
• possibly a layout with a little challenge (this is a scrapbooking blog, right?!)

Until tomorrow then.

Cheryl

PS.  Here is the full shot of the other wall in Luke's room:

The bulletin board was $2 at a dollar store, the surfboard was $14 and my husband cut the letters out of MDF after I used a graffiti style font to pencil them on, then I simply got out a can of my old friend, Black Spray Paint, and sprayed them up.  I really need to talk to my friend about that dresser.