Making a Change....

I love Wednesdays...I'm not sure why...but I do! So happy Wednesday! I do want to apologize to all of you out there that know that I usually am posting project after project on my blog. The last few weeks {obviously}, there has been a lack of them. I have been busy with my vacation, coming home, getting my MemroyWorks party organized and planned...so much stuff. I also am hard up on transportation to get me to Michaels to get the supplies I need to try my new gem box project. But....the creativity is all there. I am currently making some fun giveaways for the upcoming party, as well as tinkering around with renovating this little blog. I will be changing the appearance over the next few days/weeks/months..however long I feel it needs to take. As you can see, I have already changed my signature. I think it turned out pretty darn cute. I am a little sad that I got rid of my old one since it was my actual handwriting, but I need change! So bear with me here as I start changing the appearance. Thanks for popping in and have a super fantastic night!

Open House Party!!

I just wanted to put it out there that my friend and I will be hosting an open house for MemoryWorks products as well as Scentsy products. It will be on June 5th from 11-4 and everyone in the area is welcome to come in and check it out. If you need the address, send me an email and I can give it to you. I will be sure to get some fun pictures since this is my first official MemoryWorks gathering. Wish me luck!!

Santa wears a brown uniform and drives a big brown truck

It's just another manic Thursday! Actually, that would have been more precise for yesterday...crazy things happened then. One spot of of sheer delight{ment} was another knock at the front door and another package for me...yay! This one contained the reapings of my online splurge at MemoryWorks. I did a sampling of different products and designers to get a feel for what it would be that I was selling.

 

Do you think that it's a big enough sampling? I purposefully bought some boyish paper because I know that I am more prone to making girly things and was told by more than one person that if I would make some more boy things, they would love to buy them. So, I am going to challenge myself and try a few boy layouts. I also bought my first set of Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels. I got it in the Garden Bouquet colors. I have seen this stuff used before and really want to try my hand at it, and who can resist the pinks, purples and greens? I can't!  I also purchased the Simple Stories Life Documented kit that is exclusive to MemoryWorks. It is made to make all of your scrapbooking simplified and easy to piece together. 

 I am so excited to dive into all of my new stuff! Scrapbook shopping, shoe shopping, and clothes shopping....I don't know which one is more fun! 

  I have also come up with a to do list. I realized when I came home from my vacation that I had so many ideas racing through my head that I needed to wrangle them together and put them on paper. So, my very first major project that I am DYING to try is a gem box. That's all I will say about it, in case it fails miserably. :)

Well, it's time for me to sign off for the day....oh....just a little something to chew on, I will be hosting a MemoryWorks party in June. It will be with a good friend of mine, and we are still tossing times around, but have pretty much decided on the 5th which is a Saturday. Times will follow, but if you are in my area, stop by. It will be an open house style, so you will have a block of time to come and go as you please. Keep looking here on the blog and especially on facebook for more info. I will get all the details hammered out in the next couple of days. 

As always ladies, thanks for taking the time to drop by my blog and read. I appreciate all of you that do!

The kit has arrived!! {Excitement is iminent!}

 The doorbell rang today and I knew exactly who it was. Mr. UPS man with my brand new consultant kit from MemoryWorks! I was so excited to open it and see all of the fun goodies that I was going to get. It came with a beautiful tote bag with the MemoryWorks logo, a pin on button, pack of pens, start up folder, 5 catalogs to show customers plus a bonus catalog with hot new items!! YAY! Now that I have what I need to start, I am going to be planning my first party for sometime next month. If you are interested in purchasing any of these products, you can check out MemoryWorks and email me with what you want, or if you are in my area, come to the party. I will keep you updated!

A {like three} new project{s}

It's a gorgeous Sunday friends and I am ready to get back on the scrap horse. I've been a little out of it since returning home from family, I have had to play catch up on house work {though my husband did do a great job of keeping it pretty clean while I was away.}. I've had a mountain of laundry that I can't seem to get out from under, but I am slowly making progress. Thoughts have been racing around my head, a sure sign that creative juices are starting to flow, and that crafting itch is back, so I went up to my scrapbook room and started a new project. I enjoyed making the altered book for my mom so much that I started another altered book. This one is smaller and I used an entirely different technique. Instead of painting the cover, I decoupaged it. I am still in the beginning stages of the book, but I did take pictures.I have most of the decoupage done, I am starting to work on how I want to bind the spine {I've pretty much narrowed it down to two locking rings} and then I will continue on with it later. Here are the pictures of the book in the current beginning {rough} stages.

 

This is the book layed down flat. I've drilled in two holes for the rings and I am going use the ribbon to help bind the spine. 

 

 

Just some of the decoupage. You can see that it is not completely finished. I do love the soft greens and blues though.

This is my project right now. I have no real reason for it, I am just experimenting with altered books. I am thinking of turning it into an address book or planner for myself, though I am undecided as of now. I

 Moving along, I do have more projects that will be spilling out in the coming weeks, and I can give you a bit of teaser right now. While I was with family, my mom and I went digging into some boxes in the closets that were chalk full of pretty little treasures. My mom had stashed away hundreds of old black and white photos of her parents, her dad at war and so on. They are priceless photos, most of which were taken by my grandfather who was an amateur photographer. He would also develop the film and thereby made priceless works of art. Through out the week that I was there, we managed to separate and organize the photos, from photos dating all the way to the late 1800's early 1900's, to photos taken during my grandpa's service overseas in WWII {which he got an article in the paper about for the types of photos he took}, and on up past my grandparents wedding and into the birth of my mom and my aunt. My main interest was in the black and whites. I set aside all of the war photos for a very special scrapbook about my grandpa. My dad is currently scanning in the photos and retouching them for me and then saving them onto a disk to send to me. I am so excited to get all the photos and even more excited to start my first heritage album. I was able to leave my parents house with a copy of the article about my grandpa during the war, a copy of his discharge papers, and lovely little photo of him in uniform and two letters from his jacket when he played foot ball in highschool in the 30's. I will be keeping you all informed of this project as it moves along.

 During my visit my mom also gave me another trinket. She gave me an opal ring that is a family heirloom. The way the story goes is that the ring is passed among the women born in October in my family on my mom's side. My mom got the ring when she was younger from an aunt who got it from the original owner who got it in 1919. My mom was told to pass the ring on to the next girl born in October {preferably a daughter} and sure enough, I was born in October. My mom gave me the ring, and while we were looking throught the old photos we stumbled across one of the original owner of the ring. The date was around 1919-20 and sure enough, she is wearing the opal ring on her finger. When I get the ring fixed {it's missing an opal} I will take a picture of it and make a scrapbook page of the ring Aunt Vronie {the original owner} wearing the ring. I do have some pictures of the ring in it's current state that I can share with you. 

 

The opals in the ring aren't done any justice by this photo. They are beautiful and full of fire, even after 92 years. I am so lucky to be part of this tradition and be the new owner of the family heirloom. 

I have said a lot today and will now leave you all to your crafts and projects and continue on with mine. Thanks again for stopping in to read today and stop by again soon for more updates on my projects, fun tips and more!! 

A Few Points of Interest...

Happy Saturday to everyone! Today is the end of the challenge that I posted on making a layout that was mainly journaling. It seems that I didn't have any takers on it, so I will try another challenge later. If you have any ideas for a challenge, let me know! Something else has happened too that is very exciting. I am now an Independent Scrapbook Consultant for MemoryWorks! I will be having scrapbook parties and everyone will be able to get their scrapbooking supplies through me. MemoryWorks sells all the top brands and trends for scrapbooking too. Their product line is great. I am so excited to be doing this, it's like a dream come true for me. Scrapbooking is  a huge part of my life and now I can share it with others while making a little money on the side!! Let me know if you want anything and we can talk!

The next point of interest in this blog is about that little ABC book that I made. Remember that? Well, I have pictures of my niece getting it that I wanted to share with you. She was so excited to get it and would read it over and over again. She loved to feel the little objects and say what they were. So, here you go...my cute little niece Anya, and her ABC book....

 

I also have pictures of my mom getting her Mother's Day book. It was a very special moment. I haven't been with my mom on Mother's Day in nearly 7 years and this year I got to be. I actually gave her the book two days early since I knew we would have a house full of curious little kids running around on Mother's Day. I wanted her to take her time with the book and enjoy it and then be able to put it away before little hands found it. 

 

Handing the book to my mom. I wrapped it in pink tissue paper.

 

She loved it from page one! 

 

It kind of turned it to a family affair. My dad was taking the pictures, my little brother was watching as well as my little sister. And then when my older brother came with his wife and the rest of the family, my mom showed them too. :)

 

My mom is an amazing woman! I love her so much!

That's all I have for this episode ladies {and gentlemen}. I may be posting again today if I am able to get another challenge up. Until next time though, happy scrapping, bring your friends along and keep in touch!

And the giveaway winner is....

Lori Edwards! Congrats to her and she will be receiving her paper pack in the mail shortly. Thanks to everyone who went to the facebook page and participated in this giveaway. Remember to try the challenge I posted up. you have till the 15th to try it before I put something new up. Have a great morning to you all!!

Mother's Day Present

Hey there everyone! I am back from my visit with family and I had a great time seeing them all again. I was able to be with them during Mother's Day and I had made a project for my mom that I can now share pictures of. This was one of those projects that I couldn't post up yet, but that I was working on. Now that my mom has it, you can all see what it is I did.
 This was my first attempt at making an altered book, and I think that it turned out really well. What I did was take a hard cover book and completely gut of all the pages and binding. Then I painted the cover with a white acrylic paint using a large bristled brush to give the cover an aged whitewashed wood appearance. Next I took double sided scrapbook paper and cut it to fit in the book, wove a tea dyed ribbon into the spine and the pages and then decorated the book with pictures of my mom, her kids, quotes on mothers and artwork. Have a look at the final product here. If you have questions on how to make your own, contact me. Or if you would like me to make you one, contact me as well. I will be making a tutorial for this project in the near future, so keep checking in on the Fun Projects page here on this blog. Enjoy the pictures!

Thanks for stopping in and come back often for new projects and updates!!

Going on vacation!

Hello friends!! I haven't been posting regularly, I know, I'm sorry. I'm getting ready to go out of town for a week and have been pretty occupied with that. I was also completing a Mother's Day project, which I can't post up until after I get home, otherwise she may see it! I will be leaving Tuesday and then coming home on the 11th. Should something extremely exciting happen while I am gone, sure, I will find the nearest computer and post it up for all you to see. But I will be off for a bit, though I promise to start up all my projects just as soon as I am home. Remember to enter the giveaway on Facebook and try the challenge here on the blog. See ya guys really soon and have fun!!