Never Ever

It has been hard finding my mojo when it comes to layouts, spending my time working on altered items and cards.  But since the Tallyscrapper Sweet Summertime Crop is ending tonight, I just had to get a couple more layouts added to the challenges. 

The challenge, "What's in a Word," is as follows:

You know I love words - so this is a nice simple challenge - a page about your (or someone in your family) favorite slang, weird, trendy or stupid - word or saying
My step daughters favorites are "like" and "ya know whatta I mean" both drive me crazy !!!
I want to see all bright colors on a white background and a BIG title

My daughter has a thing about saying "Never Ever" when she is mad.  It drives me insane!  It was hard finding a picture that captured that, but this one from our Christmas photo shoot was perfect. She is such a little Grinch!

The pink circles are made from those non-stick drawer liners you can get at Dollar Tree.  I loved stamping JOY on it because it is anything but when dealing with her tantrums.

After I took the picture I did add a bit of glitter glue to the top trees and as dots under the long strips of paper.  I like how this turned out.  And no new products were used in the making of this layout! Yea! I have more pictures from this photo shoot that I will use these KI Memories paper with.  So fun!

I also used a sketch from Pencil Lines, from before they closed up their blog.  It worked so well with what I had in mind. Sketches help find mojo, so yep, I use them.

Happy Scrappy Savings!

Jess

Birthday Cards

Stayed up way to late on Monday night creating these cards, but they turned out great. I like to do that after another project, while the scrap papers and embellishments are still out.  It helps to use up supplies that might sit in a scrap drawer for a very long time. Here is the project that I worked on before the cards:

Very simple altered frame. Well, since I still hadn't cleaned up my mess, a frequent occurance for me, I decided to use the leftovers and some inspiration from one of my favorite blogs, Cherry's Jubilee, who, like me, creates late at night! I just loved her cards in this post, so I used them as a starting point for my own cards:

One of the things that Cherry does on her cards is sew.  I am not set up to use my machine so easily, so I used my new Scor-Buddy and Scor-Bug tools to pierce the paper in nice even lines on the edges.  Then I used a needle and thread and backstitched the entire outline of the purple paper. Took some time but worth it.

The banners are an image from Gecko Galz B is for Banners collage sheet that I resized much smaller. I added some pearls by Darice between each one. The images of the women and the frames are also from Gecko Galz, from the Girl Friends collage set, the Frames collage set, and the Birds & Bees collage set.

Other supplies include:

Stampin' Up cardstock
EK Success Punch
Darice Pearls
Anna Griffin Pattern Paper
Misc Ribbon and Lace
Misc flowers
Distress Ink Pumice Stone
Stampin' Up Pen
Stampin' Up Happy Birthday Stamp

Happy Scrappy Savings!

Jess



Another Great Goodwill Trip

Went out to the local Goodwill yesterday to see what I could see. Would have searched for more but the kiddos were restless.

My major find was the library catalog drawer mail sorter. It was a whopping $4.99, which is high for Goodwill, but it is sturdy and a great color. I don't know yet if I will alter it, but it works as is.

Other finds include a spice rack ($1.99), metal index card box ($0.99), two tins ($0.99 each), a plate stand ($0.99), a package of 36 cool metal buttons ($0.99), and a cute prayer plaque ($0.99). Include books for the kiddos, new ballet tights, and a dinosaur origami kit, grand total was less than $24.00. Love filling up 2 bags for so cheap!

So head out to your local thrift store and let me know what you find!

Happy Scrappy Savings!

Jess

Frame Redecorated

I decided to make a gift for my friend Penny, who is a new grandma of a beautiful baby girl, Ariana.  I took that 13 opening frame that I got from Goodwill (which I didn't take a good before shot of) and transform it into a beautiful frame to remember Ariana's 1st year.  The cost was only $1.99 for the frame, and I only used things from my stash.

This shows the frame in the background. Just a plastic scalloped frame.

Supplies:

• Goodwill frame
• Modge Podge
• Exacto Knife
• Sandpaper block
• Distress Ink Pumice Stone
• Anna Griffin Papers (all three coordinated nicely)
• Ivory cardstock
• Pen
• Chipboard butterflies
• Pretty stickpins
• Flowers
• Metal Frame
• Banner pieces (mine were printed from Gecko Galz B is for Banners collage sheet)
• Pearls
• Baker's Twine
• Rhinestones

I wanted to keep this simple because it will be filled with beautiful pictures of Ariana.  I am entering into the Banners Challenge at Gecko Galz, which is where I printed the banners out from. 

Sorry for the messy background. I really need to set an area to take pictures of my work, something cute with doilies or jars of cute stuff. But I need to clean and organize a space for that first!

Have you found anything wonderful at the local thrift stores??  Leave a comment and let us know!

Happy Scrappy Savings!

Jess

New Swap at AlphaStamps!

I was so excited to find out about the new swap at AlphaStamps!  I had such a blast with the Birds in Hats swap, so challenging and rewarding, getting me out of my comfort zone, that I knew I had to sign up for the next one.  What is the theme you ask??

Gypsy Fortune Teller!!

Here are just a few details:

Gypsy Fortune Teller! You could make your Gypsy Fortune Teller a palm reader, tarot card reader, tea-leaf reader, part of a traveling show, or...?!



This swap will be 3 for 3: create 3 different "pages" and receive 3 in return, all by different artists! Please do not send in more than TWO sets (aka: maximum of 6 pages). Must use Concertina Chipboard Pennants and at least 1 image from AlphaStamps.

For more information (and/or to sign up by August 5, 2012), visit the Yahoo Group. Artwork will be due September 4, 2012.


They have created a sale for this swap as well, so that you can stock up on goodies to create your miniature pieces of art!
Remember, swaps are a good way to challenge yourself, and to score artwork and ideas from others!

Happy Scrappy Savings!!
Jess

The Garden of the Birds

I made an altered canvas for the Summer Garden Challenge at Gecko Galz Yahoo Group, which I will also link up to the Brag Monday party at Graphics Fairy. I made it for a friend, but now that I am finished, it is hard to part with it!  Don't you hate that! But I know she will love it and appreciate it as I do.

Here are the challenge details for Gecko Galz:

As Summer draws to an end we want to see what your vision of a summer garden is...is it sunflowers and dragonflies? Or is it seashells and seaweed? Use your imagination and create a project that dipicts your vision. Once your piece is finished just load a picture in the file marked "Summer Garden" in the "Photo" area of this site. The winner will get their choice of 5 collage sets from Gecko Galz.

I started with a canvas that I had painted burgundy for a past project, covered the sides and the birdhouse with a Gecko Galz Great Adventures Paper called Belfast. The front of the canvas was covered with a Jenni Bowlin bingo card.  I love those things! I used some mesh on the right side to mimic a trellis, and took a string of pearls and wound it around the trellis.  There is lace on the birdhouse roof, lucite flowers on the green flowers, glitter glue on the edges and centers of flowers. Perfect Pearls were used on the clock hands, and Distress Ink was used as well. The light blue card behind the birdhouse and the red-breasted bird are from the Gecko Galz Birds & Bees collage set, and the front bird is from Graphics Fairy. Oh, and the cool birdhouse shaped chipboard is from AlphaStamps!  Love them!

You can really see the shine on the clockhands above. I love using Perfect Pearls!  I just don't own enough metal things that this makes it handy to achieve that same look! There are $19.99 here in Hawaii, so I wait for Jo-Ann Fabrics to have a sale.

I don't know yet if I will add hardware to the back, or buy and easel, or attach ribbon as a hanger.  We'll see.



So head over to the Gecko Galz Yahoo Group to join in the awesome challenges!  The prizes are great!

Happy Scrappy Savings!

Jess

Altered Comp Book Challenge

There is a challenge over at Gecko Galz Yahoo Group to alter a composition book.  The challenge ends July 22nd, so plenty of time to enter your work of art!

For this book, I did not cover the black binding.  I plan on using this book a lot that I didn't want it to fall apart from frequent use.  One tip if the black doesn't work for your design, use colored duct tape to match your project. 

Next, I used Modge Podge on the cover and glued patterned paper to it, with about an inch overhang on 3 sides. I then opened the book and wrapped the edges, using more Modge Podge.  Be mindful of the corners.  I cut slits into corners and wrapped it first then did the other edges.  Then, to cover the edges inside, I glued another piece of paper to give it a clean edge.

On the cover, though you can't see it in this light, I used metallic Perfect Pearls on the hinges, mermaid, crown, and shell.  I just love Perfect Pearls!!

This was a lot of fun to do, and I have plans for more, since I will be giving them as gifts this year.  Just have to keep in mind that if there is too much stuff on it, it won't get used.  Simple is best here!

I will be back to leave a detailed list of supplies.  I have to track some of it down.

Happy Scrappy Savings!

Jess