chicago scrapbook.

Tonight I planned to finish my Chicago scrapbook, and surprisingly I did! I planned on posting it here, but I realized I don't have a camera.

Chase took one to camp this week, one has a dead battery and I can't seem to find the charger, and one just recently went crazy. So I probably won't be posting much this week. Check back Friday and I'll have the pictures from the rest of my scrapbook!

I'm off to read The Glass Castle. I recently finished Sarah's Key and I really enjoyed it! Have you read anything interesting lately? Let me know! Since there isn't much on tv I'm flying through books!

scrapbooking our chicago trip.

I got in the mood to make some progress on my Chicago mini album. Unfortunately now my craft room looks like this:
And I'm one of those crafters that cleans after every project, so this is pretty out of hand for me.


Remember the cover here? Here is the first page after the cover:
I really have to thank Ali Edward for teaching me that scrapbooking doesn't have to be all 12x12 pages. And even if it is a 12x12 album you can up pages of any size inside. I actually love the way this mix matched sizes look in this mini book.


I decided to stick with a navy, white and black color scheme. And of course polka dots of all different sizes.
For a few of the journal pages I just printed off posts from my blog. It worked out perfectly.
I'm pretty happy with how it's going so far. I hope you all had a great Sunday.

Happy Birthday Alison.

Hum, it looks like I have some kind of virus. My program control keeps coming up saying some program is trying to access the internet. It doesn't matter what I click it just keeps coming up! So frustrating.

I made this card last week for my sweet sister Alison's 18th birthday. My sister is 8 years younger than me, and it is crazy to believe that she is 18 now!
I used some thickers remarks and vinyl thickers to make the card. Simple and easy.


I also thought I'd show off another yard sale find. I found this cute little wood bird cage for.... $1.
Lastly, I wanted to show off my basil. Doesn't look great? I haven't even used it yet, but it smells so good. However, I'm really bragging on my mom who grew it. Thanks mom.
I hope you are having a great week!

We're back.

I think I forgot to mention on here that Chase and I were headed to Florida for a short trip. We just got back today, so there's been a lot of laundry and cleaning! So I'm back. I did have a chance to finish my card for Kwerner's challenge. Here's the colors:I used some of my recent American Craft Thicker shapes to make the focal point of this card. However, since they were originally white I just used my ink pad to change their color. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
I also wanted to show you how I made the punch beneath the birds. I could buy a ton of punches, but a lot of times I don't think I will use the more elaborate ones enough to justify the money or space. So I just punch the first row, and then use my crop a dile to punch more roles of holes. What do you think? Not too bad right? Lastly, remember my latest thickers find? Well, I'm sure it was the heat, but when I came home check out my vinyl thickers? Um, I don't think that's suppose to happen. Anyone else have this problem?

what a deal and another Father's Day card.

Wow, I got a fabulous deal today at Big Lots thanks to Kelley! She had mentioned that Big Lots had a ton of thickers. She wasn't kidding. Check it out:I was so excited I whipped out another Father's Day card for my Father in law. There is zero stamping. It's mainly all pen work. Chase and his brothers call their dad, deddy.
Cardstock: PTI White
Ink: Black Stampin Up writer
Thickers

father's day card and the latest project

Wow, I have a lot of cards to churn out in the next few days. It seems like the craziness of summer has really set in. First up, I needed to make a Father's Day card. Originally I was planning to to do something really simple, but somehow I ended up with this:

(details below).
I also, wanted to show of my latest yard sale find. I've been looking for some old tins to use as vases. Saturday I found this 1920s screw on lid coffee tin. Isn't it gorgeous? I just love it. What a find.
Here it is filled with flowers. Even the lid is cute!
Lastly, as promised, here are some pictures of our bathroom project. We decided to dress up our low budget mirror that the builder installed with some nice thick trim. Originally I wanted to get two new mirrors, but Chase really wanted a large mirror in our master. Now I'm glad we went with the larger mirror it looks great, and Chase was kind enough to caulk and paint it this week.
Did you notice the paper towel on top of the ledge? Funny huh? This project was super easy. We just bought the trim, made the cuts and glued it to the mirror. Now, be warned in case you want to try this, try to buy the straightest trim available, possibly even the manufactured stuff. Ours was slightly warped and we didn't get the best glue (second mistake), so it was a lot harder than it needed to be. Thanks for stopping by!

Details on the card:

Stamps: Inkadinkado, Polka dot basics
Pattern Paper: Cosmo Cricket Hello Sunshine Berries
Card stock: lemon tart, night of navy, ripe avocado

Coastal Living Winner

Thank you to everyone that commented on my giveaway. This morning I ran the random interger and got....

That is an 8, but it is kind of hard to read. And the winner is....

Emily email me with your address!

raspberry suite color challenge

Good morning. Well, after last nights card (or should I say sewing machine lesson), I decided to tackle another card. Last night's card was just not my normal. Dawn posted a new color challenge at the perfect time:
Can I just say I love that plate rack? I would love to have that. I also took this oppurtunity to try some of Dawn's flowers. I really like how they turned out.


Also, so for the images. I had to use the little point and click for these.
On the naturals ivory I stamp damask designs with versa mark. It's hard to see in the picture, but it certainly gives it a finished look in person. Stamps: Damask Designs
Paper: Always Artichoke (I didn't have new leaf), naturals ivory, black
Ink: Versa Mark, Black Stazon
Button: PTI True Black
Ribbon: PTI True Black Satin

Last reminder, I'll pick the winner of my giveaway tonight! See it here.

Kwerner Color Inspiration #54

Another busy Saturday! Chase and I watched Taken last night, and unfortunately the intensity of that movie gave me a sleepless night. All I could think about was how somewhere in the world there were girls just like the girl in the movie. All that too say it was good. Thankfully without of a lot of sleep I was able to get up early to hit the yard sales (more on that below).

Yesterday my sweet grandmother bought me a sewing machine. So all of the card making time I had today revolved around the very small amount of sewing on this card. I also used Kwerner's colors for this weeks color challenge:
I'm not thrilled with the card, but I think I might write 'baby' on it in cursive and it might make it a little more complete.
In other news, I bought four mason jars with handles at a yard sale for $1. I decided to use the as a centerpiece, and I have to say this is really making me happy. All of the flowers are from my mother's card (she's a pro). And here's a little hint into what Chase and I have been working on all day. The Windex on the floor should be a good hint. I'll post more pictures when it is done.
Also, don't forget about the give away! Just post here.

my first giveaway.

I've never given anything away on my blog, but this seems to be as good a time as any to start, especially since I've been benifiting from winning some blog candy lately. It's time to give.

So today I'm giving away a subscription to Coastal Living. First of all, I think magazines are the gift that keeps on giving. My college roomates and I used to always give each other magazine subscriptions for Christmas, and it was so fun! Second, I want this magazine too. I hope it's as good as these pictures are:

Chase, I offically want this bathroom:If I owned that pretty white furniture, I'd never let that kid sit on it! Although he does look rather clean and SMART. And speaking of that kid... he has perfect kid hair.

And if you are a papercrafter - check out all the fabulous inspiration!

So here's the deal... just leave a comment. That's it. I'll close comments Sunday at 9:00 central, and I'll pick a winner Monday morning.

In other news, I have updated all of my posts with labels, so if you are looking for something in particular check out the right side of my blog!

look what I got!

About a week ago I decided I wanted to step up my door I just painted black. I decided to purchase some vinyl from Say Anything Expressions. For ten dollars, I think what I got was perfect. I had no idea vinyl art was so affordable.The first is our front door with our address on it, and the second is the door from the garage to the inside. I still need to do something with the steps in the garage, but I haven't found the perfect solution quite yet.

In other news, I am about to tackle my master bathroom and begin the decorating process in there. I basically have two ideas:

Either doing board and baton (from It's the little things that make a house):

Or, painting stripes like this (from the lettered cottage):
Which do you like better?

starting a new project...

I started a new project tonight...So far I've already made a page and taken it completely apart. Let's hope day two goes better.

CPS 119

Well, I feel like I'm back in the groove of things. When I finished my card tonight, I really felt like it was my style.

I needed a card for my neighbors who just had their first child, and I decided to use this week's CPS sketch.
And here it is! I think the colors are my favorite!Here's what I used:

Paper: Kraft, American Crafts Backyard
Stamps: Bitty Baby
Ink: White Craft Ink
Ribbon: Twine
White Pen

In other non-crafting news, Chase and I rode our bikes today. Only ten miles, but by the time we got done I was starving. My reward was some mint chocolate chip ice cream!

another backyard project.

Yesterday Chase and I go a ton done! We woke up at 6:00 and started to knock things off of our to-do list.

- Chase rode for 31 miles on this bike
- Ran to Lowes and stopped at several yard sales on the way
- Cleaned the house
- Mowed the yard (I have a serious sunburn from this)
- Stained the deck

Here's our work on the deck.

We started off by priming the handrail.

Once we got the handrail primed we stared staining our small retaining wall. Our original plan was to use stone to cover this, but we realized the ONLY people that ever see it is our neighbors we thought we would just stain it for now.
We (really Chase did while I mowed) stained the landing area.
Chase put on the final coat of white paint, and we were done. For just $40 it has a great finished effect. I hope you all are having a great Sunday!