Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Graphic45 BirdSong Travel Junk Journal

In December my hubby and I will be taking a trip to Korea for visit family.  I am very excited about going as is he since this will be his first time going to someplace other than the Sandbox as he affectionately calls it.  While thinking of how to make this a memorable trip and to ease my scrapbooking burden after we return, I came up with this:

I created little pockets that can hold little bits and pieces as well as brochures and such - hubby and I both like to pick up brochures so that we can look back on them later and remember stuff.  There is one of these for each day of the trip.
 We are going on a 15 day trip, so I thought that adding dividers between every so many days would be a good idea - just so that it doesn't become a big huge confusing mess and later when I go back to it I'll know what we did on which days.  So the dividers are giant chipboard letter piece negatives left over that I covered in the paper as well - the dividers spell out K O R E A and there are three days behind each divider.
At the back of the journal I included a thick plastic pouch to store extra stuff that may fall from the pockets and such but that we want to keep. 

All I can say is that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Graphic45 Birdsong Paper.  I purchased several packs of it when it first came out, and I'm pretty sure I am going to purchase several more.  It is just a beautiful paper line!  I did do a youtube video of this journal if you would like to see it in it's entirety and here it is:

Thanks for stopping by and have a Crafty filled Day!

Monday, October 29, 2012

Fall Inspired Mini Album

Hello!  I know that is has been a while since I have posted, kinda stinks, okay maybe stinks a lot.  But today I am here and sharing another mini album that I have made recently.  I love fall - particularly the colors that fall brings out, the oranges, greens, browns, yellows, and reds in rich regal tones, so yummy.  So with that inspiration, I made a mini album out of an envelope and card pack from Michaels.  In keeping with the theme of fall, I covered the cover of the mini album in fabric and burlap and gave it a twine ribbon binding.  Yummy yummy stuff.  And here is what the inside looks like:







The part that I really enjoyed was making these awesome leaves for the mini album.  A little while back I got a stamp set from Paper Trey Ink with the intention of making UTEE leaves.  And that is what these little bad boys are.  I first die cut out the shape of the leaves and then embossed them with three layers of UTEE - once I had heated the UTEE for the third time, I then stamped the leaf skeleton into the UTEE after I had inked the stamp.  This was a SUPER messy process - in fact portions of my desk are still UTEEd from doing this, but it was definitely worth.  Even my husband thought the leaves were super cool and totally worth the mess (never stated something truer really).
And because I know you are still reading my post at this point (probably not, i'm a picture looker too), I thought it might be fun to share some things about this mini:

1.  I used Tim Holtz Festive Berries Distress Ink and Frayed Burlap to ink all the edges of the paper - I also managed to die TONS of paper and myself in Festive Berries Distress Ink.  I loved how it added to the look of the fall colors of the mini album, but that Festive Berries is bright and definitely, be warned!
2.  I had a lot of inspiration from YouTube.  The idea for the use of the envelopes and cards came from .  The idea for the little diagonal belly band came from .
3.  That yummy seam binding came from my friend Julie the PaperBagLady on Etsy.

Supplies:  (Paper) DCWV Autumn Splendor, Stampin' Up! Garden Green Cardstock; (Ink) Ranger Distress Ink Festive Berries, Ranger Distress Ink Frayed Burlap; (Stamps) Stampin' Up! Day of Gratitude, Paper Trey Ink Leaf Prints Stamp Set; (Fabric) Burlap, Stampin' Up! Orchard Harvest Fabric, Seam binding from ThePaperBagLady; (Tools) Martha Stewart Doily Punch, Paper Trey Ink Leaves Dies, Spellbinders Scalloped Rectangle Grand Die, Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Tag Die

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Halloween Countdown!

Hello Everyone!  I thought I would drop in and share with you a little project that I have been working on for a little while and finished and then immediately put to use.  It is a Halloween Countdown decor project.  In my home, Halloween in celebrated all month long, so I decided it was time we had one that officially counted down to the very special day.  So here is what it looks like:

 I found the frame at my local dollar store and came home and spray painted it with black glitter spray paint.  By the way, that glitter spray paint stuff is TERRIBLE - it was a pain to use and I will be avoiding it in the future...... And here are some close ups:



I originally wanted to you the hitch fasteners to hang my little tombstone tags on, but I did not have any so I used some binder clips instead!  The little skeletons and heads I got from Michael's in their Halloween section.  The beware sign was cut using the Tim Holtz Hanging Sign Die and then I embossed it in distress powder and then put distress ink over it.  The letters and number were cut using my Haunted House Cricut Cartridge.  And then I decorated it a bit more using some of the spider webbing and spiders that are also found widely at Halloween Time.

Supplies:  Haunted Halloween Cricut Cartridge, Bleeding Cowboy TTF (Fonts/Lettering); Tim Holtz Hanging Sign Die, Spellbinders Tombstone (Die Cuts); Graphic45 (Pattern Paper); Bazzill (Glazed Cardstock);

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Something Exciting!

I just wanted to pop in and share what I received from my secret admierer, also known as the UPS guy, the other day.

Yep that's right, a new camera and all the bells and whistles!  I cannot tell you how excited I am, this is my first ever DSLR, and I have been waiting for a VERY VERY VERY (okay since I was in the 9th grade) about one day having a DSLR.  I have been taking photos like a mad man since this little bad boy arrived.  Now that I have him I'm thinking of all the things that I have to learn!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Halloween Mini Albums and a New Endeavor

Hello all my lovelies, I realize that my posting as of late has been very sporadic - it's true, life has taken on a new personna all it's own!  With that said, although I try and post on a consistent and regular basis, it appears that posting on a consistent and regular basis will be sporadic and inconsistent.  With that said, I will continue to post when I can.  In that note, I figured I would share why this sporadicness has been occurring.  Well, blogging takes time, and so does crafting, but time for both is sometimes difficult to find, so rather than blogging and planning, photo taking, and loading I have traded that with actual crafting.  With that said I would like to share what I have been up to lately.  This is a warning, this is going to be a seriously photo heavy posting!

So you are probably by now wondering what in the world I have been up to.  Along with my post today, I would like to share that I have begun to branch out and am attempting to sell my crafty projects.  This has been a long considered thing, and my dear husband has been encouraging me to sell my crafts.  Of late, I have felt to be in a position to do this, and lets be honest, I don't actually have THAT many photos to fill all the cute little things that I make!  So, the things that I share with you will are up on my Etsy for sale!  Here is the link to my Etsy store, The Peanut Butter Shop.

With Halloween quickly coming up, I thought I would share some of the fun minis I have made in honor of the festive occasion of running amuck, trickery, candy, and an all around imaginative good time.

 I loved making this little mini.  I covered the cover in plastic after I had carefully placed some fun and playful decorative items.  The spine was covered with paper that had been punched with a spider web punch, and then I overlayed it with die cut bats that extend onto the back. I wanted to leave the front cover as open as possible because the spider paper was so darn cute.  When I created this album, I had a vision of a child's trick or treat party, photos of costums, the loot, and maybe even the process of picking out the costumes for the kiddos and getting them ready for their evening of running a muck.  Here are some photos of the inside:





 Is this not the cutest little thing?  The mini was made following the youtube tutorial mini series provided by Kathy Orta.  While making it I really wished I had kiddos so I could fill it with my own photos of the kids, but I am not at that point yet.  Regardless, this was so much fun to make.  Each tag had a bat die cut adhered to it, and then I also included some cute tombstone die cuts to add to the fun and spooky feel of the season. 
Supplies:  My Mind's Eye Boo To You (Pattern Paper); Bazzill (Cardstock);  Spellbinders Bats, Spellbinders Tombstone, Spellbinders Graveyard Set (Die Cuts); Martha Stewart Spider Web Border Punch, EK Success Spider Web Punch (Border Die Cuts); Tim Holtz Distress Ink Peeled Paint, Black Soot (Ink)

And here is the other super awesome mini album for the halloween season designed with adult activities in mind.  I tried to create this mini album with more of a spooky adult feel to it - because well lets face it, adults like to go out and have a good time as well on Halloween!  I had so much fun making the cover, I covered it in paper and then lace, created a spider web and drippy goo border, and then created a banner title.  All of this was covered with a plastic cover in order to protect and preserve.  The button was added after the plastic was added.

This is a paper bag mini album made using the paperbag envelope pocket tutorial on youtube by SteffoGal1.  And here are photos of the inside of the mini album, as you can tell it is stuffed with super awesome goodies perfect for an affair of spooks for adults! 


Isn't this a fun mini or what?  I added some stamping to this one in addition to all the fun little tag details - I thought that it added to the spookiness just a tad.  
 
Supplies:  My Mind's Eye The Spider Web (Pattern Paper); Bazzill (Cardstock);Spellbinders Lacey Circles, Spellbinders Labels 18 (Die Cuts); Martha Steward Drippy Goo, Martha Stewart Spider Web Border Punches, Stampin' Up Pennants Punch (paper punches); My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Halloween Stamps, CraftSmart Stamps, Pink Paislee (stamps); We R Memory Keepers Large Brads, Prima, Imaginesnce Brad Maker, the paperbaglady trim, Basic Grey alpha stickers (embellishments)

Thanks for stopping by and drooling over my minis like I have been!  I hope you have enjoyed your stop by my blog and today's share.  Have a happy crafty inspired day!