My December Diary from 2017 is probably about 80% complete which is good for me since it was my 1st time doing one! I'll finish it hopefully over the Thanksgiving break and post it.
I went to the bffs and didn't want to carry a bunch of stuff so I trolled around all the Christmas stash I have and used it for my December Diary for 2018. I say "Diary" because I can't do anything "Daily, especially in December for a few reasons...primary one is that I HATE to drive and so it's a big deal for me to plan a buncha stuff when all the crowds and roads are hassles and I mentally can't handle all the foolishness that people do once the Christmas season starts. But I am on a mission to fill it!!
With that being said, since I was on a promise to stash bust, I used a mish mosh of stuff from my 2 Christmas bins, added in some digi stuff from maybe The Lily Pad and just did what made me happy. Here's a few of the pages!!
ps-this years book is a SMASH book that I painted in some places or recovered...I had way too may of those sitting around also begging to be used!!!
I went to the bffs and didn't want to carry a bunch of stuff so I trolled around all the Christmas stash I have and used it for my December Diary for 2018. I say "Diary" because I can't do anything "Daily, especially in December for a few reasons...primary one is that I HATE to drive and so it's a big deal for me to plan a buncha stuff when all the crowds and roads are hassles and I mentally can't handle all the foolishness that people do once the Christmas season starts. But I am on a mission to fill it!!
With that being said, since I was on a promise to stash bust, I used a mish mosh of stuff from my 2 Christmas bins, added in some digi stuff from maybe The Lily Pad and just did what made me happy. Here's a few of the pages!!
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| Added the black envelope from some recyclable mail in there, the red felt is actually very stiff and is a LONG vertical pocket |
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| Added some unused gift tags in the book too |
Sometimes, the scrappy mojo is MIA and I'll troll around different blogs and websites like Etsy or Pinterest for inspiration. I'm in the midst of cleaning my scrap studio and found that I had beads and jewelry supplies begging to be used (the first craft I ever began wayyy before scrapbooking was jewelry making/beadwork) so I grabbed a bucket and brought down my supplies. I saw that I had pinned THIS inspirational picture/tutorial from Fernanda Schoma @ Hora De Diva:
I used my handy dandy plastic top to cut the circle for the shape:
Using the E6000 glue, start gluing your chain and your necklace pieces to the felt. I added two small pieces of glittered wire ribbon on the ends and trimmed them to cover up the exposed felt. (**I do have to say, I'd like suggestions for a better glue, I didn't particularly like this glue and may try with a glue gun next time.)
After everything is dried, trim your felt to the edges of your beads...I can't really explain it well so hopefully you can jump over to her blog or get the gist from here.
Finished piece !! If I was making it for a craft show or for someone else, I would've been more particular about the symmetry. My goal wasn't to copy her necklace but to be inspired by it and I'm not one for perfection so this was an easy first piece just for me to wear while running errands or something. AND....the crafting mojo has returned!
And even though her blog isn't in English, her tutorial is self-explanatory. I had all of the supplies with the exception of the felt ($.29) and the chain and rose beads which I scored those at Michael's this week for $ 3.00 and $1.99 respectively!
Using the E6000 glue, start gluing your chain and your necklace pieces to the felt. I added two small pieces of glittered wire ribbon on the ends and trimmed them to cover up the exposed felt. (**I do have to say, I'd like suggestions for a better glue, I didn't particularly like this glue and may try with a glue gun next time.)
After everything is dried, trim your felt to the edges of your beads...I can't really explain it well so hopefully you can jump over to her blog or get the gist from here.
Finished piece !! If I was making it for a craft show or for someone else, I would've been more particular about the symmetry. My goal wasn't to copy her necklace but to be inspired by it and I'm not one for perfection so this was an easy first piece just for me to wear while running errands or something. AND....the crafting mojo has returned!
I haven't had time to craft this week so I'm sharing a project I finished last week...upcycled or recycled? Am not sure, maybe both...back in the summer, I had picked up a box of empty hot chocolate/coffee cans from Freecycle with the intention of making 12 of these for friends. Last year (or was it 2013?) during the Christmas holidays, I had been featured over at the Little Yellow Bicycle blog and I had made this using LYB scrapbook goodies and modge podge, glitter and holiday piks:
So, I gathered up some Christmasy looking supplies, modge podge, trims and got to work with my glue gun :)
and voila! An upcycled can that you can use as a candy dish or cookie holder-OR, you can put paper towels in it in the bathroom-too many possibilities!! One down, 11 to go :):)
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| buy Christmas piks when they are on sale! |
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| add white glitter for sparkle! |
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| white sequins and a doily for subtle layers |
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| covered plain button chipboard with paint and microbeads! |
*ART...NO RULES, JUST RIGHT....ESPECIALLY SINCE WE DIDN'T SPEND ANY MONEY; ERR JUST USED STASH!
PS....mine are the Cutest ones in the center!! :)
If you can believe it, the kids are out of school AGAIN (ice) which is ok since Thing 2 hasn't fully recovered from whatever cold he had last week...so, on days like this, IF their homework is already done, they get to chill and so do I. Made dinner early this afternoon (easy to do while kitchen was still dirty from breakfast right??)- I had decided in 2013 to cancel the kit subscription that I had & to do something else with that money since 6 kits were still sitting up in here... Jumped outside my box and signed up for the BLOOM GIRLS 2 class with the super super and I say again SUPER talented Jamie Dougherty!
I was super scared I tell ya...but, I brought out the supplies that were begging to be used:
and with some clear and concise instructions, I went from this:
TO THIS:
I am not an artist so if you aren't, be encouraged by my bravery...take the class and see what your crafty mind and hands come up with-there are a million different takes on the project, you don't have to have yours look like hers, in fact, she encourages your own work but I wasn't brave enough to try that on the first go round :):):)
I was super scared I tell ya...but, I brought out the supplies that were begging to be used:
comes from PINTEREST...still my addiction....since there are no more football Sundays for me, I'm gonna go back to SMASH*ing Sundays and hopefully get 2 more books done and use stash in the process!
Saw these lovely bits and pieces from my Pinterest wall (SMASH inspiration)-you can click on my Pinterest button and follow the Queen's inspiration if you like! Click photos to be taken to the appropriate link; hopefully they are all correct!
I know a lot of us still SMASH...if you do, send me a link so I can check yours out too! Let's do some more Sunday features of what you guys are creating SMASH/ junk journal wise so we can all get inspired!! Leave me a comment !
Saw these lovely bits and pieces from my Pinterest wall (SMASH inspiration)-you can click on my Pinterest button and follow the Queen's inspiration if you like! Click photos to be taken to the appropriate link; hopefully they are all correct!
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| Tessa Buys |
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| makingthishome.com |
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| canalblog.com |
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| tangiebaxter.com |
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| more from Tessa Buys |
Well, I guess I should say, this is Snow DAYS..DAY 2 and I have finally got a break from the kitchen, decorating, laundry and kids....why are they such needy whiners who torment each other constantly on snow days???!! I was tempted to throw em outside and lock the door for two hours...notice I said WAS...i used better judgement and we baked instead.
It's been awhile since I've been here so there's nothing left to do but bombard you with posts today since I hoarded em up! First up, December Daily stuff....I admit, I am so in love with the idea of a December Daily but as a stay at home mom, I am just so boring everyday that a daily thing is hard to commit to....it would NEVER happen so a December Days book it is. So, back in November, I won a wonderful DD prize package from Charissa Miller (more on her later I promise) on the Whimsical Twist blog. CAN YOU SAY CUSTOM LETTER PRESS CARDS and EXCLUSIVE FLAIR BUTTONS?? Awesome! Christmas stamp=PP, Glitz jewel button flair...on top of that, it came in a super cute polka dot bag that I am gonna recycle onto a layout! All combined with the Studio Calico album that is straight up adorable:
so there ya have catchup post # 1.....PRINTING PICTURES TODAY and hope to post some pages later today after Thing 3 goes to work :)
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| my view from inside- momma don't do snow! |
I finally had
time this week to take a quick trip to Photoscraps for my quarterly paper fix,
pulled out all my Christmas embellishments and stuff for my December
journal: I warn you, some of it is true vintage like the Making Memories Mistletoe line-I wish I had hoarded more of it or that they would re-release it!
PAPERS: Mix of Pink Paislee City Sidewalks Collection ,Echo Park Keepin Cozy Collection and some misc pieces:
EMBELLS:
AND JUST IN CASE THAT LITTLE ELF ON THE SIDE CAUGHT YOUR EYE, those little pins aren't scrapbooking supplies....I think it was last year when jcpenney was doing some kind of Christmas discount promo thing with buttons and I collected & saved em for the perfect project :):):):)
and lastly, trims (from My LSS* PhotoScraps)and snow flakes (Dollar Tree score!)
I'm awful, I have all these crafty supplies & I really wanted to sit down this weekend and make a banner....you know something that looks like these lovely creations:
but then I got super busy :
CLEANING THE SCRAP STUDIO (well-straightening it up)
AND THEN LET'S NOT FORGET WE HAD HIGH SCHOOLERS OVER FOR STUDY GROUP (which means I had to do more cleanup and then bake cookies) and oh yeah, let's also sneak in some PUZZLE TIME, GAME TIME AND PUMPKIN CARVING!
Hubs is away checking on his mother who is still declining with Alzheimer's so it's just me with the kiddos & boy am I exhausted! But I digressed!~!!! The banner...The lazy half came out and all I ended up doing was grabbing a fabric leaf, tracing it and free style hand cutting some leaves out of some vintage memorybox stash..added some stamps to a few:
and then I added some glitter (Martha Stewart's in the best!) and I just stuck em up with some good old pop dots...no time for stringing or beading ! When you are crafty, folks think your whole house should be decorated like one big holiday catalog... Ain't nobody got time for dat! We really don't do Halloween decorations and I'll keep adding in some autumn stuff here and there all the way till Thanksgiving....
so let this be a lesson as to what NOT TO DO! What are you working on this week that'll motivate me to use more stash??? Send me a link!
CLEANING THE SCRAP STUDIO (well-straightening it up)
COOKING (NOT MY PIC BUT I USED HER (moodifoodi's) RECIPE AND MODIFIED IT BY ADDING FRESH SLICED LEMONS AND GARLIC AND 1/2 ONION)
