Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays everyone!

Here's my scrapbook layout for the day:




I hope you and yours have a wonderful Hanukkah, Christmas or whatever you celebrate! Warm wishes!!!

Another acrylic album

Here's an acrylic album I just made. I started with a sheet of Prima Paintables paper and painted the flowers and leaves with Glimmer Mist. I added several coats of Glimmer mist (letting each coat dry before adding the next) to get a really rich and deep color. After I hand-cut out all the flowers and leaves, added a coat of Diamond Glaze on top, then added the cut-out flowers and leaves to my acrylic pages (along with lots of othere goodies!). Most of the other colorful flowers you see here were white Primas that I sprayed with more Glimmer Mist.
Thanks for visiting, and have a great week!

Happy Sunday!

It's been a nice relaxing day. We brought some new toys to the local fire station for their annual holiday toy drive. My husband and I do this with our girls every year, and (hopefully) it teaches our girls the spirit of helping out those less fortunate. This time we got an extra little surprise. The very nice firemen gave us a grand tour of the fire station, and they even let my daughters hop on and "drive" the firetruck. The firemen took the time to explain how things work and answered all of our (many) questions. I think my husband and I enjoyed it as much as our girls did!

And here's my little share for the day . . . a layout I made with the newest Pink Paislee papers. I just love these happy colors! I cut small circles of felt to make the embellishments, and I machine stitched around a large square of felt to make the main photo mat. I just love the soft texture of felt on my pages.

The journaling reads:
Yep, I’m cute and I know it. And let me tell you, I milk it for all it’s worth. Being adorable definitely has its benefits. All I have to do is open my beautiful eyes wide and flash my semi-toothless smile, and my mommy and daddy become putty in my hands. And if that doesn’t do the trick, I just utter a sweet little “mama” or “dada” and my wish is their command. If I keep this up, I’ll have my own pony by the time I’m two! Life is good.

Yes . . . life IS good. :)

Acrylic Album

It rained for several days earlier this week and now it's freezing cold outside. Well, I should clarify that it's been around 55 degrees during the day and it drops into the 40's at night. That's FREEZING by Los Angeles' standards. I even had ice on my car this morning . . . Egads! I know, I know . . . I shouldn't complain considering people are dealing with snow and much colder temperatures elsewhere.

In contrast the cold winter weather, here's an album I made with pictures taken of my girls at the beach on a warm sunny day. The pictures were taken by Melissa Walker-Scott, a wonderful photographer in our area.

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies

Being a girly girl myself, it's so fun having two little daughters who love girly stuff as much as I do. My daughters love to play dress up and dance around the room like little fairy princesses. I just turn on a little music and off they go! I finally got around to scrapping these pictures from a few years ago.

Blog Award

My sweet friend Lisa Spiegel nominated my blog for this award:


Thank you Lisa!!! Lisa and I worked on the Kits2Remember Design Team together last term and I just love her style. In addition to being a talented scrapper, she's also a lovely person inside and out!

Here are the rules:
1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.
2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Provide links to their blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees.

In no particular order...

1. Jules: Jules and I worked together on the Creative Team for the now-defunct Gypsy Rose Paperie, and she does the most AMAZING altered art! You have to check out her blog!
2. Kristi: One of the fearless leaders/owners of SoCalScrap, one of my very favorite scrapbooking hangouts. Kristi does such beautiful things with Prima flowers and bling!
3. Robin: The other fearless leader/owner of SoCalScrap. Thank you for giving us Southern California gals a place to call home. Check out the adorable name tags she made for everyone attending the upcoming SoCalScrap crop! How sweet is that?!?
4. Rochelle: Another SoCalScrap gal! I just love Rochelle's style . . . her layouts are beautiful!!
5. Liz Hicks: My favorite Prima Donna! I've learned some great tips from Liz, and thanks to her I'm even more addicted to Prima and Glimmer Mist than I was before! Her blog is filled with inspiration, personal insights and fun giveways.

And to all the wonderful ladies I've just nominated -- please don't feel obligated to pass this along. I know that it's a busy time for everyone, so no pressure! I just wanted to give you all a "shout out" and to let other people know about your great blogs!! Thanks for all the inspiration, ladies!

Spring Has Sprung

Now that the weather is beginning to get cold and the days are getting shorter, I find myself thinking ahead to Spring. I can't wait to plant colorful flowers in my garden and watch the leaves grow back on the trees.
Here's a scrapbook page I recently made for the November monthly layout challenge on SoCalScrap. The challenge was to use corrugated cardboard on your layout. I first painted the corrugated cardboard with a couple different colors of acrylic paint, then I sprayed several colors of Glimmer Mist (love that stuff!) on top of it. I also used Glimmer Mist to color some of the Prima flowers which started off as plain white. Those white Prima flowers are my favorite embellishment because I can make them any color I want. I love working with all these bright, happy colors!!!

ETA: Rochelle reminded me to mention that I won the challenge contest! :)

RAK Winner

The random winner of the RAK is . . . (drumroll please) . . .

GRACE (stampgirl23)!!!!! Congrats, Grace! I'll e-mail you to get your address so I can send you your vintage goodies.

Thanks for playing everyone!

How about a RAK??????

One thing I love to do is scour estate sales and flea markets in search of vintage treasures. Over the last several months I've managed to amass a very nice collection of lace and vintage buttons. Sooooooooooooo . . . I'd like to share some of my goodies with one lucky person. All you need to do is leave a comment here before the end of the day on Friday, November 28th. Just tell which scrapbookers inspire you. I'll pick a random winner and I'll send that person some lace and buttons from my vintage stash!

Acrylic wall hanging

I thought I would share an acrylic wall hanging I made a little while back. This was one of my design team projects for Kits2Remember. I have it hanging on the wall right next to my bed. The bright colors, funky patterns and the pictures of my beautiful daughters put a smile on my face when I wake up every morning.

Gypsy Rose Paperie

A lot of people are wondering what's happening with Gypsy Rose Paperie. We (the Creative Team) have been very worried about Nikki and her team since none of us has heard from them in several weeks. Sadly, there was a notice posted on the site a couple days ago explaining that the Gypsy Rose family experienced a severe personal tragedy. Here is the link: Gypsy Rose Paperie. It's so sad, and my thoughts go out to them.

Nikki stated that they won't be doing any future kits. Nor will the Creative Team be creating weekly projects with the lovely images provided to us each week. But as a final "adieu," here is a card I made with one of the last vintage downloads.

Revitalizing old scrapbook embellishments

I have this little problem. I can't resist buying scrapbook items that are a only $1.00 . . . even if I don't really need them. I just can't pass up those great dollar deals at the Scrapbook Expo, online scrapbook stores, Big Lots, etc. And don't even get me started on those cute (but rarely used) acrylic stamp sets that are sold for $1.00 at Michael's and Joann's. I probably have about 20 of those little stamp sets. It's a sickness, I tell you!!

I've accumulated quite of a collection of "stuff" I will probably never use. That's why it gives me so much pleasure to turn an outdated or not-my-style embellishment into something more usable. For example, I bought these Miss Elizabeth epoxy stickers at the Dollar Tree store a couple years ago:



I knew I would never use them as is, so I decided to bling them up a bit. I cut small circles from a sheet of Magic Scraps double sided adhesive, stuck them onto the epoxy stickers (being careful not to cover up the metal rims), and then dipped them into various colors of Martha Stewart glitter. Voila!! Now I have these cute little bling embellishments to use as flower centers or whatever!



Now, if only I could figure out what to do with all those cute little seasonal embellishment packs I bought from the Dollar Spot at Target . . .

Prima Paintables and Glimmer Mist

Several weeks ago I took a great class taught by Elizabeth Hicks who is an endorsed instructor for both Prima and Tattered Angels (the company that makes Glimmer Mist). I've been a fan of Glimmer Mist for a while now, but in the past I had only sprayed it on my paper, chipboard, flowers, etc. This was the first time that I painted it on with a paintbrush. And now I'm hooked on this technique! Liz showed up with tons of bottles of Glimmer Mist and let us "have at it." It was fun to see all the different color combinations that people came up with. Here is the layout I made during the class:

Photos taken by Melissa Walker Scott of Lullaby Photography.

A LITTLE TOOT!!

I have a toot!!!

And in case any of my non-scrapbooking friends or family members are reading this blog entry, I should probably point out that the word "toot" in the scrapbooking world has nothing to do with bodily gaseous emissions. But I digress.

Anyways, I was going to wait until I actually saw it in print with my own two eyes, but I can't contain my excitement any longer and I just have to share the good news now. I recently started submitting some of my layouts for publication, and I had one of them picked up by Memory Makers magazine!!!!! It's going to be in their March/April 2009 issue. I'm super duper excited about it!

A Little Cameo

I've been searching for vintage cameo pieces to use on my projects, so when I saw this week's download from Gypsy Rose Paperie, I knew it would make a lovely cameo. I printed out a one and a half inch copy of the image and cut around the little gold frame. I covered it with Diamond Glaze to give it a glossy coat (though you probably can't see the glossy coat in the picture here). Once it was dry, I mounted the image on chipboard that I had painted gold, then attached a string of mini pearls and added a jump ring with a gold ribbon bow. Now I have a pretty little cameo embellishment to use on a layout or altered art project!

Perfect Harmony

Here is my latest creation for Gypsy Rose Paperie. Don't forget that Gypsy Rose offers free weekly downloads that you can use on your own creations! I added this week's vintage image to a layout featuring a photo of my husband and me. Here I am giving my sweet hubby a kiss on the cheek. If I had a thought bubble above my head it would probably say, "Thank you for looking the other way while my never-ending supply of scrapbooking 'stuff' keeps growing every day."



Wish us luck . . .
The computer at our house is about 12 years old (give or take), and after reaching its capacity on memory and hard drive space, it's about to take its last breadth of life. So we finally bit the bullet and bought a new computer. Tomorrow is the "big day": my husband is going to attempt to do all the set-up, software installation and document transfer himself (I know what you're thinking . . . oi vey!!). I'm hoping that he will be able to get our new computer up and running by Monday and that all of our data will be safely transferred over. But if you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know that things didn't go quite as smoothly as I had hoped. Keep your fingers crossed for us! I've got all my fingers AND toes crossed.

Fun, fun weekend!

What a fun, fun weekend! I had a blast at the Scrappin' Escapes scrapbook retreat that was held in Irvine this past weekend. It was three blissful days of scrapping, chatting and eating. Let me tell you, Jessica puts on the best retreats!! While I was there I took two FABULOUS classes taught by Liz Hicks, and I fell in love with Prima and Glimmer Mist all over again. This scrappin' escape was just what I needed! The only thing that was lacking during the long weekend was sleep, so now I need to go take a little nappy. Night, night.

Happy Saturday!

So far it's been a relaxing, lazy Saturday here at our house -- just the way I like my weekends!! I ventured out this morning to an estate sale and found some beautiful vintage lace. I've managed to accumulate quite a collection of lace, buttons and other fun vintage findings from estate sales and flea markets over the last few months. I think I'll have to have a RAK giveaway here on my blog in the near future so that I can share some of my vintage "bounty." So be sure and check back on a regular basis!

Here's a layout I just completed for another challenge on SoCalScrap. The challenge was simple: use an off-center photograph on your layout. I hand-cut the flowers from K & Co patterned paper and strategically placed them over the dark and empty side of the photograph. I also added some Prima flowers (of course!). The Prima flowers were all plain white to start with, and I used a combination of Glimmer Mist, Colorbok inks and pearlescent chalks to colorize the flowers to match the papers.

My little ballerina

I'm so glad my daughters love girly stuff like ballet, princesses, dressing up, the color pink and all that fun frilly stuff! It provides me with tons of wonderful pictures to scrap. Here is layout featuring my graceful little ballerina. I made this for September's "Use Your Stash" challenge on SoCalScrap.

Cool Scrapbooking Stuff

A couple fun little scrappy discoveries made me very happy this week. . .

First, someone finally opened up a scrapbook store here in the heart of Los Angeles!!! Hurray! It's called Millie Papercrafts. The owner is very sweet, and she has filled the place with all the latest and greatest scrapbook supplies. The store has a sort of vintage feel to it . . . just my style! I'm so thrilled to finally have an LSS so close by.

Secondly, last night was Back to School night at my daughter's school, and I found out that part of the first grade weekly homework curriculum is an ongoing scrapbook that each child will be creating. Every week the children will collect one special item (i.e., a ticket stub, a party invitation, a restaurant receipt, a photograph, a leaf from the park, etc.) and they will glue that item into their own special scrapbook. Then they will write a few sentences about the item and what they did that week. At the end of the year each child will have their own special scrapbook showcasing his or her first grade year. The teachers will also add pictures that they take throughout the school year. How cool is that?!!!? And what's also cool is that the teachers need a few parent volunteers to help compile the scrapbooks. So you can probably all imagine me ready to jump out of my seat last night with my hand raised high in the air . . . "me, me, me . . . choose me, choose me!!!!" Sure! Just tell me when and where and I'll be there with my paper trimmer and tape runner in hand!!!

And now for a little show and tell. Here's the Creative Team project I made for Gypsy Rose Paperie this week. I found a plain 2009 planner in the dollar section at Michael's (gotta love those dollar deals!), and then I painted it gold and added a bunch of ribbon, chipboard, flowers, bling, lace, the cool vintage ephemera image from Gypsy Rose, etc.




And by the way, the Masquerade kit just went up for pre-sale today at Gypsy Rose Paperie, and the Haute Couture kit will go up for sale on September 30th.

My first project for Gypsie Rose Paperie

I finished my first Creative Team project for Gypsy Rose Paperie! As I mentioned, this fabulous new site will be posting ephemera images every week that you can download and use on your creations. I'll be creating things with these images and posting them on Gypsy Rose Paperie every Thursday, so be sure and check the site! My very talented fellow Gypsy girls will be posting their fabulous creations on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, so there will no shortage of eye candy there.

I made this card with last weeks' vintage image. I used narrow silk ribbon to sew on real hooks and eyes to mimic the hooks on the back of her dress. We had a lively little discussion going on about whether he is un-hooking or dress or hooking it up. Judging by the frustrated look on his face, I assumed that he was trying (rather intently) to hook the dress up and help her get ready for an evening out. What do you all think . . . is he helping her get dressed for an evening out, or is he about to get lucky?

A whole lot of Prima

Since this is supposed to be a scrapbooking and paper crafting blog, I guess I should be uploading some of my layouts and other creations, huh? Here's a layout I did recently for a challenge on SoCalScrap hosted by Elizabeth Hicks (one of the PrimaDonnas!). The challenge was to use only Prima products. Oooooooooh yeah, anyone who knows me knows that I was ALL over that challenge!!!! I *heart* everything that Prima makes . . . especially their gorgeous flowers and bling (of course). We were allowed to use non-Prima paper, so I added a piece of vintage sheet music that I bought at a flea market. The photo was taken by Melissa Walker Scott of Lullaby Photography.

Oh, and I just finished my very first Gypsy Girl Creative Team assignment at Gypsy Rose Paperie! As I mentioned, I'll be posting my creations there every Thursday, so go check it out. And take a look at the gorgeous creations made by my fellow Gypsy Girls!

I'll also be posting my vintage creations here too, so be sure and check back!

Back to school time

It's that time of year again! Rebecca went back to school last Wednesday (1st grade) and Danielle goes back to preschool on Monday. *Sigh* I've really enjoyed spending time with them this summer. We did all sorts of fun activities -- swimming, the park, a variety of kids' museums, arts and crafts, pony rides, train rides, the play area at the mall, Santa Monica Pier, a gazillion trips to Target, and some other activities that escape my mind right now. And I only dragged them along with me to scrapbook stores a few times during the summer . . . okay, maybe more than a few.

Rebecca's first week of 1st grade went very well and only a few tears were shed (mine). Why do they have to grow up so fast?!? It seems like just yesterday she was starting kindergarten!

Here is an acrylic album I made a while back documenting Rebecca's first day of kindergarten. This project was totally out of the norm for me since I never use primary colors when I scrap (I prefer girly colors like pink, purple, lavender, mint green, teal, turquoise, light blue, etc.). However, this cute little crayon-shaped acrylic album (which was one of my design team projects for Kits2Remember) just called out for primary colors, so I made each page a different color and painted the edges to match.






Oh, and I've been tagged again by Jessica. Jessica is one of my SoCalScrap buddies, and she puts on what are supposed to be the best scrapbooking retreats around. But since I was just tagged a little over a week ago, I'll just refer everyone to my post a few entries down. A girl can't reveal TOO many personal details in one month, ya know!