My Scrap Space

Well....it's New Year's Eve and I'm watching American Pickers on the History Channel. Soooo...I thought I'd post some picks of my scrapbook room now that my new TV has been installed. I can't wait to get the satellite hooked up so I can work in there.

I think it's funny that it looks so organized but, I'm still always looking for ways to get it more organized. Almost everything has a place and I try to put things back in their place once I've used them. Hopefully we will be able to get Dish out next week to add in a receiver! I should be all set up just in time to start the soul-scrappers GLEE CLUB challange next month. I'm exicted.

Happy New Year to all!

Inspiration...or lack of it!

I am completely uninspired! I want to make cards and scrapbook pages but, I can't make myself. I think I'm just waiting for the companion ship of a crop! I've even been thinking of joining a crop in Corsicana at the scrapbooking store there. I just can't wait until March 7th! The Crafty Scrapper in Waxahachie is having a Cricut Class on Saturday, 02-28. I just might try that. I'll see if I can drag another cropper over there with me. Oh! I won more blog candy at http://inkastamps.blogspot.com/ go over there and check it out!

Well...I've gotten about three or four new scrapbooking magizines I haven't looked at...I think I'll go curl up and check them out!

Ya'll go out there and CROP!!!

Crazy, but fun, Swap!

I joined this "payback" swap not really knowing what to do. You can see below what I sent...boring! I was trying to play it safe. You never know! But when I got my stuff! Man-O-Man! I was so excited and ready to create, it took me under an hour to make the page. When I opened the package and saw a feather and silver "disco" material...I knew I had to make a Prom/Dance themed page layout!

Here is what I got - Minus the lavender cardstock! (I kinda forgot to take a picture of what I got before I started stickin' it to the cardstock! I told you I was excited!)


Here is what I made!

Cleaning Up My Scrapbook Room Mess!!!

I got up around 5am this morning. Everyone but the dog and me was asleep so, I decided to work on my crazy ribbon project! I tumped out (turn over/dump for y'all that don't understand Texan!) my big ribbon tote onto the scrapbooking workspace and dug in.



CiCi offered to help!

Heather came over yesterday after her great Pampered Chef party at Dr. Arredondo's house to use our computer (since her's is on the fritz) to enter the orders and do some postcrossing posts. I know I woke up around 2am and the light was still on in the office. Like I said earlier, I got up around 5am. I usually potty then go straight to the computer in the mornings. This morning I found all her stuff still in the office but could not find her. Then after I made coffee I saw legs on the ottaman. She was curled up in our big chair covered in a fleece throw with her shoes still on and her sunglasses on her head. I went in later, after the sun was up a little, and found her with her sunglasses on her face so, I couldn't resist!


So...I got started sorting and storing ribbons. I finally got the new rack organized with most all the ribbons.

"I'm ready for my close up Mr DeMille"


My ribbons tote went from the large one to the small one:

And, I was able to utilize the large one for my tools!

Here they are together so you can get a better idea of the sizes.



Now there is room for the new tool I got at the ScrapStampArtTour in Mesquite, Texas!


It's an Easy-Bow! You can't really tell but, it's a pretty good bow I made with it. It makes a total of seven size bows using up to 3/4" wide ribbon. I'm really excited about using this on cards and such as my handmade bows really bite!!

This is a huge post and took me from 5am this morning until.....4:11pm to finish.
Hope you enjoy it!

I'm not too good at this Dotee Doll thing!

I joined a swap on Swab-bot.com! "A" Dotee Doll! A dotee doll is a small handmade doll that is about 4 - 6 inches long with the hanger and tail. The object of the swap is to make a dotee doll for the letter "A". A on it somewhere. I chose Armodilla! Hey! This is Texas! This is my first attempt. And dang-it....I've already signed up for "B"!?!?!?



Please don't laugh as hard as I did when I showed this to Billy. He was sweet enough to not laugh (to my face) but, did suggest that I take sewing lessons. I learned real quick that I suck at this dotee doll thing but, I intend to stick it out...maybe by "Z" I will have it down!

Maybe I should stick to scrapbooking?

Look what I made!

Well! I started out pretty good and ended on a rough note. I wanted to make some scrabble tile pendants from some of the papers I got on the "42cent swap #19" on swap-bot.com. All started out well until I stuck my hand on top of the freshly glazed pentants. I added more diamond glaze and set them aside. I was looking for something in my sterilite 12"X12" holders and set one of the drawers right on top of the now freshly re-glazed pendants. So Kimberly? What did you learn? I learned if I ever intend to make more pendants I will find a far out-of-the-way place to set them until they are completely dry! (I do the same thing with stickles!) Here is a picture anyway!

On the treble clef tile you can kinda see the indentation on the top. It kind of looks like there is a ring on the outside of the tile. Oh well! No use crying over spilled milk. They would have been really cute though!
I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! We sure did! We had such a good holiday I forgot to take pictures. I only got one and it was of Heather making mashed potatos! It's on my 35mm and I it was the first pic on the roll. It will be a while before those get developed.
Blog later, Kim

Swab-Bot Addict

I have quickly become addicted to this Swap-Bot.com thing! I have already completed two swaps. The first was a Thanksgiving card swap. I sent Thanksgiving cards to four people and have gotten cards from three of the four that are supposed to send me cards. The second one was an International Christmas card swap. I sent cards to 6 different people. Four from the USA, one from Finland, and one from Australia. I have signed up for two more swaps. One is send postcards to five people with a Christmas recipe on the backside. I got my first recipe today and I kinda copied (like scraplifting) her design. She used an old Christmas card and just cut the front off and used that. She printed off her recipe and taped it on the card. I printed my recipe on cardstock and added address labels. For the side that should have a picture on it I just stamped a Christmas tree from SU's "Solemn Stillness" and embossed in gold. I am mailing those tomorrow. I just signed up for another swap that is for one Christmas card with a sticker sheet. That will be a down & dirty one (quick & easy). Oh yeah! I just looked at my pile and realized I signed up for a Scrapbooking one too. I had to fill a #10 envelope with scraps of paper. I think I overfilled it caused it needed two stamps. It's really turned out to be a fun website. swap-bot.com!!!

Sunday Bloody Sunday!

Blah! That's pretty much the mood this evening! I dread the work week that's ahead. Not for any special reason just the simple reason I'm sooooo ready to retire and just need a few more years. Heather and I had a lot of fun this weekend hunkering down to ride out the hurricane! Thankfully it was just a lot of wind and some rain and not the havoc expected due to the our over zealous media! We made jewelry! I especially love these earrings. It was fun to get together and work on something other than scrapbooking....but not too much! You know how I love scrapbooking!!!

There is a Hurricane a comin'

Thought I'd added this card before I lose power...I know, it's early but Billy woke me up checking the weather. I did this card last night using the "Solemn Stillness" stamp set and new SU In Colors Kiwi Kiss and Riding Hood Red. I also added a little Gold embossing powder and some non-SU hemp.

That bad weather isn't supposed to get here until about noon so maybe I'll have time to make some more cards today and post them too!
Ok...I'm back! We lost power from 10am to 11am for no particular reason....probably some dead tree fell on a line! There are a lot of dead trees out here in the country! I finished up another card during the outage! Not much light in the scrapbooking room but, I made due. This was made with the "Wishing you Cheer" and "Frosty" stamp sets, scallop punch, Kiwi Kiss and Very Vanilla cardstock and a piece of printed paper, deck the halls by create, Kate.

Layout and Design

I think we all have a lot to learn about layout and design. Here are a few tips.

36. Save room to write - The most beautifully designed page is not complete without journaling. When creating a page layout, make sure you save room for writing.

I don't completely agree with this statement. Sometimes a great photo and a good title are enough. Take this photo for example:


37. Accent color - When choosing colors for your layouts, select one or two less dominant colors from you photographs. Use those colors for background paper, photo mats and more to make your photos really standout.

It's always a good idea to use colors from your photos to blend in the background of your page. However, using black and white photos and sepia tone photos - the color combination is almost endless.

38. Photo direction - Position your photos so the subjects in them are not facing off the scrapbook page. An inward-facing subject will draw reader's eyes into your page and not away from it.

There is some great photo editing software that can take a photo and reverse it so it will work better on a page.

39. Theme albums - To create a theme album, chose a consistent style that will run through the entire album. Allow certain colors, shapes or techniques to repeat through out for a focused, unified design.

Hey - we don't always make theme albums. I keep and on going album for photos I just happen to take that I think will make a great scrapbook page...you know, just everyday life.

40. Unification - Make your double-page spreads come together by laying out both pages at the same time. To unify the pages, try running each half of a title across the spread, use the same background paper, mirror the layout or add identical design elements.

This is always a good idea. I hardly ever use the mirror image idea however, I always seem to have one great photo that is large and a bunch of smaller photos that I like to cram on the other page.

41. Focal point - For impactive page design, make sure your layouts have a single focal point - a place for people to look first. This can be achieved in many different ways, such as with an enlarged photo, an interesting shape, color, texture, etc.

Some times the focal point can be the design. Example - swirls coming out of one circle and each swirl ending with a small photo cut from a circle stamp. I also like the idea of laying out a template similar to a tic-tac-toe board. This divides the page into thirds which is attractive to the eye.

42. Letter-sticker placement - To avoid the hassle of perfectly straight letter sticker titles, purposely apply each letter to your page at an angle for fun, playful look.

Another way is place each sticker letter on a piece of cardstock and cut out the cardstock. This is like framing each letter in a way.

May Crop

Well, yesterday's crop went really well. Heather and I showed up about 8:30am to start setting up. Ina Mae came by to see if we needed anything before she opened up the front office. If you didn't know, where we have this crop is at Town & Country RV Park and Mini-Storage Warehouses. We have the crop in their "party barn" out back. Ina Mae and her husband Lynn are the owners. Lynn worked with me at Solar until he retired last year. Ina Mae is my mail carrier.

First to show up was Penny's mom Gladys. Then Penny and her daughter Becca. Then Ina Mae came in, her 85 year old Father-in-Law had relieved her. Later, Kacie and her younger sister Heather came in and that rounded it up. We cropped, joked, ate, and had a real good time. I'm already looking forward to next time. This sounds funny coming from a scrapbooker but, I didn't think to take a picture of us to post here. But, next time will be different. We crop again on June 28th and there will for sure be a group photo to post.

I will continue with more tomorrow. Heather is doing her first real Pampered Chef party!!!