Closing down for the holidays. See you all next year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

and

Happy New Year!

Mini Heaven

Oh, look at all the fabulous little albums! It's a mini album swap club! I have to be honest...I've spent hours watching these You Tube videos and I'm not bored yet. I'm in awe of scrappers that swap albums every month, and they're all so beautiful! I just can't wrap my brain around that...an album EVERY month. Mini or otherwise, it's still a LOT of work.


Deux Shabby Chic Blog


Deux Shabby Chic on You Tube

The Real Meaning of Words

The following was sent to me in an email...

Love

Sorrow

Innocence

Departure




Pain



Solitude



Respect


Compassion


Friendship




Music



Patience



Rescued



Best Friends


Divine


"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about learning how to dance in the rain."

Another Fabulous Mini

I LOVE this little gem, it's enchanting. It really is. Check out the video and then check out Stephanie's blog at With a Grin.

Check this out...

Trim the Tree with Crepe Paper and Sparkle! {Tutorial}

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Pretty isn't it? Go visit Jingle's blog and see how she made these beautiful decorations. Then scroll down the page and check out her Christmas card with a surprise! Awesome stuff here. Go.

Holiday Project

Unbelievably CUTE!! Ad advent calendar made with a mini muffin tin! It's so dang cute! I'd say damn cute, but it's Christmas, you know. Oh, hell, it's DAMN CUTE!

There's so many fun projects out there for the holidays and the scrap blogs are just flowing with them. This one's a winner and it's on my list for next year. I'd probably make it tomorrow but my muffin tin only makes 12 mini's. rats

Two Peas Gallery Click on link for full size pics

Favorite Scraprooms

I've already admitted to coveting several scraprooms that belong to online bloggers and boarders, but I've never shared my favorite. I don't believe I've even seen it posted on a message board but it should be!

The room belongs to Mommietofive and is in the gallery at Scrapbook.com. It's exactly what I want in a scraproom. Every nook and cranny has some little goodie tucked inside, and I mean EVERY little corner. I love it! It's organized clutter at it's best, and it's beautiful.

Thank you Mommietofive, for sharing your happy place with us.

If anyone knows if Mommietofive has a blog, please lead me to it. I've never found her in a gallery or blog other than the pictures of her scraproom.


Mommietofive's Scraproom



!

Stocking Stuffers

Do you know what this is?



It's a wallet album made with ONE sheet of 12x12 paper. It's SO cool! I found it at With A Grin and you really need to watch the video to appreciate how cute this is when all decked out.

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This video by Stampingholly shows how to fold the paper:



So, you want to make a few wallet albums now? I do! I'm going to make a bunch of them for Christmas as stocking stuffers with gift cards or just with sentiment tags. Maybe send some with xmas cards. These are too cute and too easy NOT to make!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a wonderful and thankful day, a safe weekend, and if you shopped...may God bless you for your braveness.














This is my Thanksgiving album made in a class. I did all the work so I have to take credit for something. The design is that of Yvonne Nash, the super cool woman that creates these great mini's. Can't wait to make the Xmas album, it's so festive and pretty to look at.

The Cubes

It's been weeks since the great cube debate (link to Erika's post and then the AMR post. Nope, just Erika's post because SHE linked her post to the AMR post....what a girl!) okay, this one.... HERE where I was contemplating buying some storage cubes once again.

You see, I've really wanted them for a long time but never had the room. Then I was going to move into a new place where I would have an ENTIRE WALL where I could set up as many cubes as my little heart desired. Yep, that was an exciting thing to think about and plan in my head...until a unit opened up and it was a completely DIFFERENT floor plan....arrgghh. No wall, no cubes, no desk, no storage, no nada...back to scrapbook supplies sharing space in a coat closet. And then I got the brilliant idea to trash my bedroom and create space! OUT with the chest of drawers, OUT with the dresser mirror, OUT with the night stands, the tables, the knick knacks and anything else that was in the way of my SCRAP CUBES!! Hey, it's an easy thing to do when your furniture is thirty-something, honest.

So after careful consideration of all the advice about storage cubes, and Erika's research and personal experience, I chose ...



Jetmax. And I love them. I put them together all by my little ole self with a Phillips screwdriver and I want more. I must admit, however, that I didn't put the drawers together, because I'm not sure I want them right now, AND because Erika scared me off them. But I have a trusty cordless screwdriver if I should change my mind...and I'm sure I will.



Just put these together today and I'm transferring the stash over, so they aren't organized yet. I started with four (4)cubes and a desk top, and I plan on adding more as needed. I have a lot of wall space now to expand and build on. :-)

Thanks Erika!

Countdown to Donna Salazar

In seven days I'll be attending THIS class with the lovely and talented Donna Salazar. She could teach root canals and I'd go, just in case some of that happiness rubs off y'know? I mean, have you ever seen a picture of Donna where she ISN'T smiling? She's kinda like that "altogether too happy" Stacey Julian, and that's why I'm counting the days. She makes scrapping a whole lot of fun and she loves life. I figure after a few hours with Donna, no matter what mood I'm in, I'll be a lot happier!

Hummingbird Banter

Serious chatter going on here...

In scrapland...

The beginning of my altered book...my test book for future fun and games. I'm learning a few things as I go along... like letting the paint dry completely before closing the book, and that I don't have to cover the whole page, or even every page....I mean, look how fat it's getting to be already and I've only worked on about 1/4th of it! But it's fun and I'm enjoying the learning process. I was going to put pictures in this book but I think now I'm just going to go with the flow and decorate it...see what happens later.

Altered Book

I'm supposed to be finishing up my mini Family Album, but I've come to the conclusion that no one cares if anything is finished except for me. So, I've started yet another project and I LOVE this! I think the hardest part of altering a book is probably the cover, and now that it's done, I can move on to the FUN STUFF...EMBELLISHMENTS!

This is a small book, less than 200 pages, so it won't take a lot of work to embellish. I have a busy week ahead though, so I may not get a lot of scrapping done. My sister-in-law is orginally from Okinawa, and she's there now visiting her family for the first time in over 40 years! She'll be flying into California Thursday and stay with us for a few days before heading home to Michigan. A whirlwind visit but I know she'll be anxious to get home after a month.

That's all for now folks!

This is the fab album I made yesterday in a class at The Scrapbook Garden . This thing is absolutely stuffed with goodies and has 23 pages! Of course, I have a few steps to complete the album but when the pictures are put in place, it's huge! I'd love to give it away as a Christmas gift but I don't think I can part with it! LOL!

The album was designed by Amy Sotolongo and you can see more of the finished book at Dare You Say It . I think I'll be taking more of her classes, I love the chunky embellished look.

Next week I'm going to start working on an altered book...finally! I have several different ideas now...I hope I can decide on just one to start with.

I have a few cd's left over, so I made one for myself and hung it on my crop bag. I think this would be a great idea for tween's and teen's bookbags, purses, belts, etc.

Saturday I have another class at The Scrapbook Garden. I'll be making a family album using Teresa Collins' scalloped album with tons of goodies stuffed inside. I'm really looking forward to this one!

Have a good weekend folks!

Halloween Mini Album

So there it is...the little album I made Saturday in a class at my LSS. I wish I could take credit for it, but all the work had already been done. All I did was glue it together. Things do tend to move along quickly when all the cutting is done ahead of time, but it was a 3 hour class and several people had some work yet to do at the end of class....me included. So me thinks I'm not as slow as I thought! However, when you consider that I have to come up with the design on my own when I do this at home....yeah...3 hours stretches into 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months.





I'm so looking forward to the next class. Can't wait!

What happened to the weekend? I have NO idea where the time went! I think I've been lost in cyberspace far too long....ever do that? Spend so much time on the 'net that your day just disappears?

I signed up with Facebook and my head is still spinning. I cannot believe the people that are on Facebook....just about everyone! Good grief, I even looked up my ex, didn't find him, but I found his wife! Small world, the internet.

I need to take pictures of the Halloween Mini Album I made at the crop Saturday. This was the first class I've been to in over two years and I loved it. It was such a great group of people. I'm taking another one next Saturday, then in November I'll be attending a class by Donna Salazar. Whoohoo! I don't really need another calendar, (I already have two made for 2010) but I figure it's worth it to meet Donna in person. Then I'll be attending a December class for a Christmas album. I realize I could buy half of Michael's with the money I'm spending on classes but I LOVE these classes! The finished product is so darn cute, I can't wait to show them to you.

On another note...one of the nicest people in the scrap world has breast cancer. If you've been around the message boards in the last, oh I don't know, couple of YEARS, you know Chris. She's a very talented artist and has an unbelievable attitude and spirit about what she's going through. She won't blog about it except for this one post Chrispea's post , but she posts at the AMR Message Board, and it's been a bit rough for her lately. Feel free to send her some love will ya? No matter how strong we are, we all need some extra strength now and again.

Thanks for stopping by!

Verify Blog Author for Facebook

See that big blank Networked Blogs over there on the right? I joined Facebook and added my blog, but they won't take my word for it that I'm the author of this here thang. So could you like sign up to follow my blog and then you can delete it later on if you want. Thanks!

Completed CD Project

The pictures aren't very good, but this ring is absolutely adorable.

This little guy has taken up residence on my balcony. Apparently he finds it the ideal spot to sit and watch the world go by, whistle a tune or two and call out to his mates...who perform fly-bys on a regular basis. I tried to capture a pic of two of them in the air but I wasn't quick enough.

Then there's the cat factor. Oh. My. God. These little birds are just as curious about my cat as he is of them. They have NO fear! They fly low in front of Frasier's face to get a good look...this is when we all freeze...me, the cat, the hummer, all in suspended animation as I warn Frasier..."DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT".

Got another cd done. Yay! I think I'll make one for Halloween and call it done,,,then add to it during the year, (which wouldn't be a bad idea for an annual mini album. Certainly not a lot of work involved). This one I decorated with a LOVE sticker I bought at Target for 99 cents. So Cute!