Pink Seashell Scrapbooks

Spring is in the air!!!

I have been anxiously counting the days until I can start to play in the dirt! I should be able to prep my soil in about a week or two for the veggie garden. I am really excited to start on that.

  

In the meantime I was VERY ready to add some flowers to the house. My mom told me I could force the forsythia at any time now so I went right out and cut some... and now I just keep adding it around the house! Bringing the branches inside to the warmth forces the buds to burst - it's wonderful! Yesterday morning when I woke up I had a very nice surprise in that my first batch had just burst right open. Here is a picture of Isabella sitting on the little table in our LR where I put the jar with the branches on it. She looked so cute monitoring what was going on outside.

 

Yesterday was a beautiful pre-spring day so I went for a walk around the yard to see what was going on. I had a feeling that bulb with the yellow flower (aka daffodil) was probably peeking out... really I was just trying to torture myself to see where I still had left to pull them out! Yup - there they are! It looks like I did pretty well with my digging last fall - one spot has some that pissed me off! Other than that they are under the peonies I haven't pulled out and separated. On an exciting note it looks like the peonies that I did move around have some really nice eyes or buds on them. I moved them in the fall really before the first hard frost so they should be OK.

We've also been very busy around here for the last few weeks. My Valentine's gift was a new stove, freezer and shelving for the basement! I know - romantic! But it was all I ever wanted... I had been halted in the cleaning process so this has helped me to start back up and start to feel like this house will be normal some day!

The stove... this is what I went from:  

 

To This! It's just so pretty... and the oven is so big... and the temperature controls actually work properly... my cookies won't cook in about 4 minutes! (I did get good at it though!

 

And finally... a peak at the new shelving and freezer... there is no easy way to take a picture of the room downstairs, but this gets part of it. I have so much open space on the shelving to store things! It's so exciting! My Xmas decorations are no longer on the DR floor! (Along with everything else that had been living there...) Note on the freezer: we have an OLD 1950's 'icebox' fridge from GE. The fridge part is fabulous - all metal, plenty of room, great drawers that don't break, etc... but the freezer leaves a little to be desired! I haven't been able to freeze anything for 2 years! Well... ice...  

A few more cards

When I sat down to make my cousins birthday card the other day, I decided to make a few more cards! I've been doing one-offs for occasions and really need to stock up on some basics. I also just love making them b/c you can use products in different ways.

 

I went on a hunt for the Swiss Dots from Cuttlebug. I love that texture. I finally found it at Joanne's. I cut a strip of that and then used my Stampin Up! scallop edge (which you will see regularly from me!) for the top. The patterned paper is from Basic Grey's Sultry line. I love those 6x6 packs. All the stamps are from Stampin Up! The butterfly is from the Merci set - I think I got that as a host. I used the watercolor pencils, added a bling to the middle and a little stickles to the edges. The frame for the sentiment is from Frames with a Flourish. The sentiment itself is from Sincere Salutations. I embossed that with the lettuce from Ranger. I think this ribbon is from Micheal's - now that I have my ribbon ring I don't know where any of it comes from anymore!

The card size is 5x5.

   

There is that scallop edge again! The pattern paper is from Basic Grey's Lilypad line. The actual card is white layered with Pale Plum cardstock from Stampin Up! (Guess I decided to use all the stuff I've been getting from Stampin Up!)

The stamps used on this are again the sentiment from Sincere Salutations and the frame from Frames with a Flourish (I've had these for a while and been wanting to use them.) The flower in the vase comes from the It's a Stretch set. I think that set is so simple and cute! I just added some ribbon and fiber!

I made this card very quickly a couple of weeks ago. I love these vintage images from Melissa Frances a few years back! Simple card with some Foof-a-la paper and buttons... the one in the middle is from Jenni Bowlin's new vintage buttons!

Birthday Card

I made this card for my cousin, Riley's birthday. I am completely into cupcakes, ice cream and the fun things that go along with them! It's all just so cute... as you can see in recent posts that have birthday cards!

  

I started the card based from the Heidi Grace Valentine papers. They have cupcakes and shakes all over so I purchased that more with birthday stuff in mind. I also love the shades of purple in the papers. I cut a strip of cupcakes and lollipops for the bottom of the card. I found a piece of orchid color polka dot paper from My Minds Eye 29th Street Market line that I used as the background. Then I took out my tin of chipboard cupcakes and ice cream cones from Maya Road... note the recent theme with them! I can't get enough of them. I painted the cone a matching purple and the 'ice cream' part a magenta that went with a color in the Heidi Grace paper. Once the paint dried on the ice cream part I spread glossy accents all over to create the glossy finish. Just before it dried I added rhinestones all over. Finally I covered a Heidi Swapp raw chipboard letter R with glossy accents and sprinkled Doodlebug glitter on it. Of course a card also isn't complete unless fibers are added!

Valentine Projects

I wanted to post a couple of the Valentine projects I did before it's Easter!

Every year the scrapbooking and paper crafting industry continues to amaze me in the product that they release for holidays! And of course I can't resist. Sometimes I see things that I just HAVE to do, but don't know if it's something that will actually be for me. One of those things was the Crush album project kit by Teresa Collins. I LOVE the stuff that she makes and the products she develops. It's simple, but very eye-catching. The second I saw the album cover with all the papers I knew I had to do it. Especially because it meant I could use my Bind-It-All machine! She posted instructions online to put the book together so I used those and added a few touches of my own. One of the things I had to add were the tickets that she had in a 12 x 12 sheet of paper. They were so much fun! AND Kate (at Absolutely Everything) was kind enough to show me a pair of scissors that cut them out perfectly to make them look like actual tickets - yes, I bought the scissors!

I wasn't sure if the book was something that I would actually put pictures in our journal for myself, but I knew who would - my best friend, Jessica! Her wedding was all pink (bubblegum pink bridesmaids dresses) and red and full of love so this album just screamed her name all over it. I thought it would be fun for her to do for her first Valentine's Day with her new baby girl, Annabelle. Here are a few pictures of how I put it together...

 

This is the cover of the project. That heart sees through to the picture that you put on the front page. I, of course, had to add bling to a bunch of those polka dots!

For one of the mini insert pages I folded a Jenni Bowlin bingo card in half and lined it with the cute cupid paper from the Crush line (it wasn't used anywhere else in the book and I loved it!)

From one of my Jenni Bowlin kits she put pink feathers in it that I attached under that Adore ticket... so cute! Throughout the book I added lots of bling and stickles with a few fibers to make it fun.

 

And finally I made these little frames with a picture of Theo and Skippy from Thanksgiving. I had intended to give them as stocking stuffers, but didn't make them in time! I sent them off to everyone for Valentine's Day. The one on the left was for my Aunt Dorothy. I used the My Minds Eye "Irresistible"line of papers. The one on the right was for Pat & Richard using some old Prima papers. The chipboard is Maya Road.

I of course did a few cards, but nothing terribly exciting! Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

He's TWO!!!

 

How cute is he??? I just adore my little nephew... he is such a good little boy. And he LOVES cake in any form... cupcakes, cake... so funny. He had cupcakes at school during the day. Eunice said that while the other kids were slowly digging into theirs, Theo just shoved his in his mouth. No different for birthday cake. He started by slowly licking the frosting and then just went for it. Shoved it all in his mouth. We were all laughing so hard. And now... when people start to laugh in a room, Theo will just automatically join in. Not when there is cake in front of him!

 

I had such a wonderful night with him. He adores me and I just love it. I played with him for a little while in his playroom before we ate dinner. Read his truck book, played in his tee-pee that has a tunnel coming out of it. And everywhere he went he carried his Elmo balloon. He loved it when you would throw it in the are and then he could reach up to grab it.

I am such a lucky auntie to have a boy with such charm as my nephew. He always makes me smile, gives so much love to those around him, has a dynamic personality and charms everyone. He loves to laugh and play. Of course he is 2 so there are some interesting behaviorsrs coming out... but overall he's so good. I can't wait to watch him grow up to see what kind-of young man he will become. It's also going to be fun to see how he responds when a new baby comes home.

I love you so much Theo!

We gave him a train set for his birthday... Mom & I picked it out. Then when she was in CA my cousins kids were loving the train set so she agreed it was a good idea. He is starting to play with toys a little more. He is also completely enamored by Elmo. I really should have taken him to see Elmo when they came to the URI Ryan Center. Next time.

Here is the card that I made for him. I LOVE cupcakes! I used the Maya Road chipboard cupcake... I painted the bottom part blue. Then i attached red polka dot paper from the Blue Boutique Sassafrass Lass line. I sanded the edges and then completely covered it with Glossy Accents to create the shiny look. I painted the chipboard 2 blue and used Blue China distress stickles (have I mentioned that stickles are the best invention EVER?) on top of it. The patterned paper is from Graphic 45. WOW have you seen the new Graphic 45 lines? I love vintage stuff and they have completely outdone themselves this time. It's NUTS! When I walked into AE the other night I had to grab up each piece. It sold out fast the last time they brought in a new line from them so I didn't hesitate. So much for not spending much money that night! Anyway... I digress. Here is a picture of the card. I did it in a 5x5 size.

 

 

It's a lovely day in the neighborhood...

I have figured out that in the northeast it's either an all or nothing thing... the winter is either just going to be full of snow, or it will barely snow. It's only Feb 3 and it's looking like winter may go on for a very long time...

Just to share with those of you that aren't fortunate enough to see the snow... or aren't blessed with a lovely day like today... when it's snowing ALL day through the night.

I hate to be negative, b/c i think it's really pretty.. and it is covering up the brown snow and slush. It just becomes difficult to get around!

I think there is another reason why I am cranky about the snow... to the right here is what the dining room currently looks like. This morning it was 3 buckets...we're slowly adding them as the last 24 hours has gone on. The ceiling is dripping... it's a flat roof and when the snow melted over the last 2 days it caused this to happen. YUCK.

I think it's time for me to go work on some Valentine Day arts and crafts projects... that always makes me happy!