Pink Seashell Scrapbooks

1971...2011... the year we turn 40

It's here... the year I've been dreading for about 8 years. I can't say it's not so much being 40 as the number and how old I feel like it sounds! I'm in a wonderful place and I have this feeling that my 40s are going to be the best yet - and it's hard to top my 20s!

Thankfully I won't be doing this alone... I have all of my best friends from high school along with a few others that graced this world in 1971. Today marks the first to turn 40 out of my best friends from high school. Unfortunately due to plans I'd had for a very long time I was unable to participate in Kristin's 40th birthday dinner surprise. Aaron did a great job setting it up at a wonderful spot on Plum Island. He asked us all to write a letter and contribute something that said 2011 to remember this year. Of course I had to make something... what else to do with those long lost high school pictures?!

I'm only going to share a few of my favorite pages... I had a Cosmo Cricket black album on hand (in that large stash of mini chipboard albums that I *collect*) in a square scallop edge. I covered the album with K & Co. paper - I had the Life's Journey 12 x 12 pad that seemed perfect! The color and style is Kris plus we've been on quite a journey together!

I loved how the front came out...I covered another scallop square with some vintage script paper out of the pack. Behind that I used the 'remember' Glitz Whatnot, some rub-ons by Prima - the French Market from about 4 years ago, then some flowers and bugs from the K & Co. embellishment pack 'warm garden'. 

  This next page is a picture from our senior 'formal' aka prom... To it I added an image from Crafty Secrets, a flower from Prima and an old journaling block from Daisy D's - I carried this journaling block through the whole album b/c it had several pieces.

Another picture page I feel I can't leave out is the last wedding that we were in together, 4 years ago! To glitz up this page I just found some sayings that were appropriate!

I wanted to include a letter to her so I picked out one of the Maya Road craft envelopes to house it. Over that I put another Craft Secrets images and a few words. The numbers are Jenni Bowlin.

Finally just a piece of the page that said the  "Class of 1989!"These letters are from Prima.

Happy Birthday Kris - I can't wait until we get to celebrate together!

Baby Shower... part 2

The second baby shower of the winter was for one of my best friends from high school, Jenny... aka Glitter! Jenny is expecting her second baby, a girl, at the end of the month. Jenny is my friend who I know would be able to handle a family of 6 or more without a problem! She's organized, loves the kids and loves to play with them, is so nurturing and wonderful. I am so happy that baby #2 will be here in just a short time.

FINALLY my friend Jessica has moved back to the area so that I get to see my god daughter often, and of course Jessica and Chloe and Richard. We had our first lunch of what I hope turns out to be many about 2 weeks ago. Also in attendance was Rebecca, who was a roommate and sorority sister of mine and grew up with Jessica in the Adirondack's - small world, huh?! The 3 of us decided to do a mini baby shower for Jenny...sure, twist our arms to buy presents for a baby girl!

I didn't get overly crafty for the event itself - I did some wrapping and made a diaper cake. Chloe did get her baby gift (at 10 months old) that I will post at a later time. I just wanted to share a few pictures of the gifts and the gals!

I didn't take a picture of the gift that was in the black & pink package - the most darling little baby shoes that I found. Custom made little things in a black & white fabric and pink grosgrain ribbon. By the same company I found 2 matching bibs for Annabelle & Chloe that I could not resist... those were in the pink/ orange package.

Jessica picked up a cheesecake for Jenny... it was green tea and black bean... I can't say we were all enthralled, but it looked cute!

 

Baby Shower...part 1

I guess I'm really not doing as well as I should be keeping up with this blog!! Last week I did spend some considerable time on a project that I will post soon enough. It's a gift and the receiver does not have it yet, so I'll wait until then. My goal over this winter has been to diminish my list of 'started' projects... then I'll get to the 'wish list'... well, maybe! I have been plugging along and I'll start posting some of the stuff I've finished as I give it to the receivers.

I say baby shower part 1, b/c I've been a part of 2 this winter! One formal, and one for a best friend who is having her second child in a few weeks. I'll post that next. The first one was for my cousin Riley who was expecting her first child in the middle of February. We planned the shower for mid-January to move away from the holidays and with time still left... so we thought!

I'll start with the invites... we knew it was a boy, and with boys trains are always fun. I had been eying this stamp from Stampin Up! for some time so this was the perfect excuse for me to order it - it's part of the Teddy & Train set. I embossed Core'dinations paper in blue & green with the dots and then used the scallop border punch also from Stampin Up! The patterned paper is October Afternoon - I am such a big fan of their patterns for cards and invites. I tied the aqua with green ribbon and attached the punch out that said "You're Invited." All of those are also from Stampin Up - the curly label punch, All Year Cheer II stamp set along with Vintage Labels.

I also have fun with the packaging of gifts... it's just so great to give someone something that they love. We were pitching in to give her the stroller, but I had to add a few necessities in also! I purchased a plain white bag and decided to decorate the front using my die-cutting tools. The day I picked up all the stuff I happened upon the Simply Sweet Cricut cartridge for a very inexpensive price, which was perfect to put 'Baby Hastings' on the front. I had also picked up the Sizziz die off the sale wrack that I knew would come in handy sometime! The fun thing about having the dies at home is that you can choose any color or patterned paper that you like. Once I decorated the front, I wrapped the packages in similar colors with tissue and curling ribbons.

Finally some pictures from the shower... Mom & I are old pros at it now! We did tea sandwiches, a cheddar ale soup, salad and Riley's favorite chocolate bread pudding. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Riley's little helper:

Mom to be opening gifts:

It turns out the little guy was in a rush to come out, and was born 6 days later!

A few cards

I did take some time last week to make a few cards while working on another project that will get posted at a later time. The nice thing about this snow and cold weather is that I've had lots of time at the craft table!

The first card is for the family of the guy that takes care of our cars! He spent a lot of time on precious Saab last fall so that we could get it inspected in RI. We decided to give the whole family a gift card for a day or night at Dave & Buster's. I figured something car related would be fun!

Yes... you spy Graphic 45 'A Proper Gentleman' line.. to added that I added some scraps from old kits - the harlequin is 7 gypsies and the time clocks are Gin-X by Imagination Project. Inside the card I made a little pocket to put the gift card in.

The next card was a birthday card for our neighbor, Tina. They have helped us out so much in the past year.

This is design that you've seen before on cards - I always go back to it for the lines and the way you can use pattern papers together. I wanted to do some different colors than totally girlie and Tina loves green and polka dots... along with brown! The pattern papers are October Afternoon and Lush by Minds Eye. The stamp comes from My Favorite Things - such great stamps!

Just scrapbooking...

Yup... already failing on that New Years Resolution... but I think I have an OK reason. Not great. One of my favorite projects from the holidays was a set of wood blocks that I made for my little friend Pilot. It's something that Tim had taught the owner of Absolutely Everything, Kate, a few years ago. I knew Heather would love their vintage feel. And no, I did not take pictures... seriously. Sigh. I also made a very cute box to put them in from some of the Cavallini vintage Holiday wrapping paper and didn't take a picture of that either. I will... and then I'll post.

I spent this afternoon working on a little of my own scrapbooking. I had wanted to design an entry for a contest on the Page Maps blog. I love using her sketches. I took the sketch with me to a scrapbooking weekend, but I decided I didn't have the right papers with me for the pictures I wanted to use. I finally got to it today...

The page is about a day I spent with my neice, Ella. Over Thanksgiving she learned the power of being able to walk and we had such a funny day. She walked all over my parents house collecting things and taking them with her on her walk. I laughed all afternoon at her delight. She also has an obsession with towels that will appear in a few more scrapbook pages. Ella is such a light in our lives with her quirky little personality.

Here is the sketch:

Here is the page I did. I used papers from Sassafrass that I had been 'hoarding' until the right moment. I am proud of myself that I am using these papers that I love... it's a trend I started in 2010 and I kinda like it!

 

New Years Resolution?

One of my New Years Resolutions is to really get this blog going... along with getting the blog going, it's time to finish up some of my projects! I do take pictures of a lot of things that I work on, I just never spend the time to post them. Over the winter I get 3 months off from the garden. Yes - even in the northeast the yard takes up 9 months of time! I start the veggie garden in late March. This winter I'd like to finish up a handful of projects I have started and get things a little more organized. I am slowly getting there!

Christmas isn't quite over here yet...! Yikes. Almost. We still have gifts for some of our best friends and Keith's brothers family. This past weekend I gave my sister in law her gift, and of course I had to make a pretty box to house the gift card! I'll start there - I think I may add in a few of my Christmas cards here and there as I post the Christmas projects.

About 2 weeks ago when I sat down to watch football, I decided I wanted to work on one of my favorite things - making grunge roses. These come from one of Tim Holtz's tags from 2009. I love making these things, and really love the outcome.

You start out by cutting flower with the sizzix flower die #5 and spraying each flower with custom made perfect pearls sprays. I hear that perfect pearls released a line of sprays, but I do really love making my own. You take any color perfect pearls, mix it with a re-inker (I use distress inks, but am also eyeing the Jenni Bowlin re-inkers), and then add water. The combinations are endless. I picked a turquoise, red and pink with accents of gold to do for these.

Once the spray has dried (you can use the heat tool to push it along), then you fold the corners, do some cutting and prep the flowers to make about 4 layers. 

Once everything is ready, you layer them together using your glue of choice - mine being glossy accents.

I let them sit like that overnight to make sure that everything is dry. I also love to add... stickles!!! Here is a shot of the final picture with the stickles dry.

Here is the box that I made for my sister in law using the red flower:

I used a combination of the papers from Teresa Collins 'Noel' collection and the Making Memories 'Noel' collection!
                                                                    

Back on Track!

Whew... about 4 months! Yikes! What happened is that my less than 2 year old, speedy, wonderful computer decided on an early death. Thankfully the hard drive was all in tact so I didn't lose anything - most importantly the pictures. I couldn't access the stuff until I got a new computer. In all honesty, I decided to take a few months off. We have a laptop that I was able to use, I had to log in every time I needed to check my email, I couldn't really process pictures and I really couldn't shrink them to load on the internet. It was sad because I wasn't able to post pictures from my gorgeous garden, oh well! I had a nice few months off and now it's back to computer world!

One of the things I did lose from the computer was CS2. I had it from my old job. I had my photo processing down, including the use of some actions! We had a credit at amazon so I decided to try Photoshop Elements. The great news there is that #9 just came out. I'm giving it a try, I dearly miss the actions. I am going to try my hardest to figure it all out. If I am still suffering, I'll load up CS4 from a dear friend. The thing about actions is that you can do some really fun things with pictures! If I can figure out how to do those things, then I'll be fine.

The rest of the computer is wonderful. One of Keith's friends helped us out and I have the latest in everything. In my old job I had learned how to use One Note, which I now have. In the end I think we'll come out on top, it's just months of processing ahead of me. I have to organize all the photos I took when the computer was down and then edit some of those!

I did take pictures of all my finished craft projects... which really wasn't too much! I've been making a lot of cards. I go through phases, and I'm in a card phase. Cards can be fun because you can use so much product in different ways. I've done a little scrapbooking that I'll showcase later (some of it are gifts.)

Most recently I wrapped up a few packages to go to my goddaughter! It was her 2nd birthday in early October! I share 'god-mommy' duties with my dear friend Jenn so we ordered her some accessories to go with Bitty Baby from American Girl! This child is going to be SO spoiled by her god-mommy's! It is so fun making cards for her as she is such a girlie girl! Valentine's Day paper is GREAT for the girlie girl in your life... glitter, pink, hearts...

I started this card with Anna Griffin's Valentine line from this past year... I fell in love with this glitter paper instantly! I added to it some of the paper from Making Memories Valentine line, Lovestruck - little hearts are so cute and appropriate for a precious 2 year old! I also received some of this beautiful trim from Webster's Pages in one of my kits a few months back. I've been saving it for just the right occasion... The crown is a stamp from Stampin Up, Perfect Princess. I stamped it on pink paper and then added some bling and stickles. Finally, the letters are K & Co. that I picked up at Micheal's.

Another thing I love to do is wrap up gifts! I am almost as addicted to wrapping paper as I am scrapbooking and craft supplies. People love to receive gifts, how much better if the package looks great. It makes people feel special. I have this wrapping paper from IKEA last year - purple with fuchsia polka dots! Then some matching stuff with hearts. I added ribbons, curling ribbons and fibers. I've been told that she thought the wrapping was the gift!

A project done for me!

The weather in NE this weekend was absolutely incredible... especially after 4 weeks of heavy humidity and heat. I got some gardening in, picked lots of veggies, opened all the windows and also got some crafting time in.

As I'm sure many 'crafters' do, I have a rather large pile and/or list of projects that I want to do. Some for others, but a lot for me. I tend to put my projects last. One project that I've had for about a year is a clock by Bare Elements for my craft room. It's a square clock with a bare face to decorate however you please. I did spend about 6 months deliberating what I wanted to do with it. My craft room is bright with green walls and lots of white woodwork and shelves. I am adding some vintage elements, but I am also trying to keep it fun. I had finally settled on one particular piece of paper from Webster's pages. I loved the design and the colors worked beautifully. Plus, just picking one patterned paper made it so much easier to decorate! I could then add my own embellishments.

Here's what I did... the paper is from the Magical Wishes line of Webster's Pages.  I used Mod Podge matte to adhere the paper to the clock. I then used stickles (of course) to trace around some of the  flowers and borders to add a touch of glitter. I wanted to add a little more to the paper so I picked out a few things from Tim Holtz's grungeboard pack, Natures Elements. I painted them, added rocky road distress stickles to the dragonfly. To the top of the flower I made a spritz using the new Sugar Rush distress ink and blush perfect pearls. I also added some rhinestones around the paper. The project really didn't take more than an hour to do... now I need to figure out how to get it to keep the correct time!

 

A special card...

I try to spend time 'blog hunting' for ideas on craft projects, designs and photography. I've mentioned before that one of my favorite blogs is Melissa Phillips - I love her style and the products that she uses. Thankfully one of my favorite scrapbooking stores - Absolutely Everything - carries a lot of the stuff that she uses! (And you can now shop online with AE.) In December I fell in love with a little project she did and I knew I had to come up with something similar and for the right occasion. Go here to see her mini chipboard book filled with goodness.

It only took me about 2 months after a new little lovie was born to finish this... here is my version for sweet little Chloe, the little sister of my Goddaughter, Annabelle! I had so much fun making this. I did start it before she was born, I just got a bit side-tracked with the garden! For the chipboard I used my Top Note die from Stampin Up along with my Big Shot. I painted the front and back of each with cream paint. I'm still on my Jenni Bowlin kick so I went thru my mini papers to pick 2 for each card (4 total). After that I just built each one with chipboard, glitter, vintage findings, flowers, ribbon, buttons and lots of goodness! The last one has a Maya Road envelope with a note inside it.

 

I bound it together with a binder ring that I tied a bunch of ribbons together. Then I attached it to her gift! That was such fun that I think I have to do it again!

Another banner!

Yes... I'm totally into banners! I think they are a fun way to display a sentiment. For special occasions or holidays you can do some very fun stuff! When I was surfing through some of the blogs and sites that I go to, I came across the cutest banner done using the new Maya Road chipboard baby onesie! I had to do it! A few of my friends had babies in the spring so it was the perfect chance!

Here is the one that I did:

I went through my stash of papers to find some simple pink & green ones. I didn't want the paper to take away from the rest of it. From there I built each piece using more chipboard, letters, flowers and lots of glitter! I bought a couple of these packs so I can make more!