Prima: Ruby Violet

Have you seen Prima's new(ish) Ruby Violet collection?  This whimsical collection is very different from Prima's usual style, but I love this one too!  The papers and embellishments are fun and colorful.  Here's a Ruby Violet layout I made featuring my girls in the pool:

Here's a close-up of the patchwork:

The Ruby Violet collection includes an array of funky trinkets that are great for making jewelry and altered projects.  Here are a few pieces of jewelry I made:

 

Fun stuff, that Ruby Violet!

Fun with stitching

I love to stitch on my scrapbook pages -- both by hand and by sewing machine.  Unfortunately, my sewing machine and I have been having a few little tiffs lately and there's been a lot of "tension" (or lack thereof).  I blame it on that darn bobbin!  She's a little troublemaker.  Thankfully, I think I figured out the problem and my sewing machine has been working fine lately, knock on wood. 

My sewing machine is actually one of my best bargain finds.  It's a heavy duty Singer sewing machine that I bought at a garage sale about 6 years ago for only $10.  And it worked perfectly from the get-go!  I've used it to sew on many scrapbook pages over the years.  That Singer sewing machine of mine is a great old workhorse!

When I have the time, I like to handstitch on my layouts.  Here's a layout I created for Creating Keepsakes' Fabric and Notions special issue. 

As seen in Creating Keepsakes magazine.  Copyright Creative Crafts Group.  Published with prior permission from the publisher.

I did a basic cross stitch, which is a decorative stitch made by two bisecting diagonal stitches.  I cross-stitched using three different materials: yarn, embroidery thread and ribbon. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Valentine's Day card and chocolate candy box

Happy Valentine's Day!  I have a few V-Day projects to share today.  First up is a little Valentine using some of Prima's new products. The Prima Design Team members all participated in "go green" challenge and we all made cards using Prima packaging as the base.  Here is mine:

The sentiments in the background come on Prima's new packaging.   To make the damask hearts, I stamped on a transparency using Prima's damask stamp (from a few releases ago), then I added black embossing powder and heat embossed it.  I cut out heart shapes and backed them with red cardstock.   I crocheted around the edge of the card for good measure.  You can see the other DT members' gorgeous Valentine cards on the Prima blog.

I don't usually re-post projects I've already shared, but I just couldn't resist sharing my little Valentine's candy box from last year.   If you've been following my blog for a year or more, than you might remember this chocolate box I made:

Hungry? How about a little peak inside . . .

They look good enough to eat, don't they?  Not so fast!   I made these scrumptious looking chocolates out of Fimo polymer clay (the beads are the giveaway).

But here's the BEST part.  My jester husband saw the finished project and decided to play a little joke.  When I was in the other room, he snuck into my scrap room and found my Fimo clay.  He made his own little piece of "chocolate", complete with a "bite" taken out of it (he used the handle of a fork to make the teeth marks).  Then he replaced one of the the chocolates in my candy box with the one he made.  So imagine my surprise when I opened up the box to photograph it and saw a half eaten chocolate!!

Funny man, that hubby of mine!   I think I'll keep it this way.

And here's the Valentine's chocolate candies I made the year before (again, these are made from polymer clay).  I still get hungry looking at them!

I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!!

Nothing Better

Today is a big day for my daughter.  She's getting braces!   She's only 8 1/2 years old and I know it seems pretty young for braces, but that's the way they occasionally do it now: Phase 1 at a young age and then Phase 2 as a young teenager (but for less time).   Luckily she's very excited about it.  She even created a little countdown calendar four weeks ago when we first scheduled the appointment.  She's been excitedly marking off each day with an "X".   As a special treat I packed Skittles and Dots gumdrops in her lunchbox today since she will no longer be able to eat these things when she has braces.  

Here's a layout I made for Prima's CHA booth using the fun and whimsical Doodle Deux line.  It's a little more "clean and simple" than my typical scrapbook pages.  It features pictures of me kissing and cuddling with my little girly.  Seriously -- there's nothing better in the world than mommy-daughter cuddles!

Lately I've really been into using circles on my layouts.  For this page I cut out various sizes of circles and then stitched around them.  Then I used lots of 3D adhesive to pop up the top layer of cardstock and give the page some dimension.

Thanks for stopping by!

CHA trends and a giveaway on Creating Keepsakes' blog

In my last post I wrote about some of the product trends I noticed at CHA (Craft and Hobby Assocation tradeshow).  You can see examples of five hot new trends on Creating Keepsakes' blog:  CHA Trends.  Best of all, CK is doing a GIVEAWAY of an assortment of prizes from each of their five "trends" categories.  Leave a comment on Creating Keepsakes' Creating Keepsakes' "CHA Trends and Giveaway" post (not on my blog) before this Thursday, February 9th for a chance to win. 

Some of the hot trends are flags, tickets and wood.  These adorable new embellishments by Prima combine all three of these trends:

Also, be sure and check out Creating Keepsake's "Cute Booth Tour" videos where you can get a little peak at some of the creatively-decorated booths at CHA.  I had the pleasure of doing a quick little video tour of Prima's CHA booth.

Have a great week!

I'm back from CHA 2012 . . . what a great show!

I just spent the last few days at CHA 2012, and what a fabulous show it was!  There are so many fantastic new scrapbooking products coming out.  In past years I wasn't always thrilled with the trends I saw (case in point: mustaches and owls), but I love a lot of the new trends I saw this time around.  Some of my favorites:  wood pieces of every kind (buttons, banners, tickets, mini shapes, etc.), twine, all kinds of fun little tags, frames and bits and pieces.  I also noticed a lot of vintage paper lines with beautiful feminine pastel colors like soft teal, blue, green and pink -- my favorite combo!   Decorative tape (aka washi tape) was everywhere.  I haven't quite caught the washi tape bug yet, but maybe I'll give it a try in 2012. 

There are also some new tools I must have.  One of them is Imaginisce's new I-Magicut Ribbon Cutter that cuts ribbon and seals the end in one quick step.  I love the sealing feature!  I'm always adding a tiny line of Stickles or glue to the ends of my ribbon to keep them from fraying, but that can get messy.  This tool solves the problem!   The other thing on my "must have" list are Martha Stewart's new Silicone molds.  I like the idea of being able to make my own frames, flourishes, and more.

But of course, the creme de la creme of the show was the Prima booth.  OH ME, OH MY!!!  As I mentioned in my last post, Prima has so many beautiful new products coming out.  And the design team projects were jaw-droppingly gorgeous!  I feel honored and humbled to be part of that amazingly talented group of women.  I know Prima will be posting pictures of their CHA booth on the Prima blog soon, so be sure and take a little look-see.

Here is a layout I created using the adorable new Yuki collection:

I popped up the center photo/paper/flower square with multiple layers of pop dots, then I framed it with mounds of soft gauze that I partially colored with blue spray ink to mimic the look of the ocean water. 

If you're a scrapper, you've probably seen pictures of all the new 2012 CHA products from the various manufacturers.  What are your favorites?  Please leave a comment and tell me!