I'm SO lucky

I went to Scrapfest at the Mall of America a couple of weeks ago..it was a TOTAL blast with my auntie Tammie and sister Stacy. This was our second year and it was even more fun than the last.  Stacy is so in love with Tim Holtz..she was a total giggly school girl when he appeared for our class "Artful Journal". I think he's a super cool creative dude..all about getting outside your "box" and seeing just how to stretch your creative ability. Very cool! The class we took was awesome. He was all about the creative process and letting us "play" with our project. Not just instructing where to adhere this or that. Here's a picture of us after our project..Tammie is surely going to take the class with us next year! :) I'm SO lucky to have Stacy and Tammie to be creative with..can't wait until next year!

lovely vintage anything

Lately I've kind of been thinking about what type of stlye I am? With me it kind of changes with my mood or lucky finds, but one thing is always constant- old. Sounds better when I say vintage, but I like it all just the same. When I look around my house most things are old and homey. My dad used to take me and my older sister to a flea market/old car show every summer in Grand Rapids Minnesota. We'd spend all day looking at rows and rows of old stuff and cool cars from long ago. Even being young I remember being in a sense of awe looking at a set of milk glass candy dishes or wooden cheese boxes. Thinking to myself "this candy dish held candy that made kids happy to visit thier Grandmother" or "back then their cheese came in boxes?" I hope that I will pass some of that appreciation to my boys. I hope there will be vintage stuff when they get old, since today so much of our stuff is made from press board and cheap materials. Yyou just can't find good quality as much now a days. My favorite place to find all my old stuff is to visit thirft stores and antique places. You never know what you're gonna find..it's kind of like a treasure hunt! I found a sheet set and pillow case at New Life Thrift in town..I just love the prints. Ttoo bad I don't know how to sew clothes yet..hmmm..I might just have to save the flat sheet for something! Ain't bad for $3.97

Tickled blue...

I was tickled  when a co-worked asked if I would make a few things for her baby shower! She was having a baby boy and wanted to have the items owl themed. I was really excited to do a banner, door sign and centerpeice. She had this photo taken of sweet Kapono with the banner and here is the diaper cake. Of course I forgot to take a picture of the "Look whoo's coming" sign :( For me it's harder to do boy projects or boy style things. I always love the pinks and pretty frilly stuff! I feel sometimes you can get away with slightly feminen embelishements..but honestly it's way more fun working with girly stuff:) I can say that because I have three boys!! Now that I got my feet wet with my first " ordered" handmade items, I can't wait for a girl project! :)

Tissue Paper & Mist Happy

My awesome friend Jennifer taught me how to make tissue paper flowers this summer...I made some pretty yellow ones. They are soooo easy! Keeping the paper folded as I took it out of the package I just measured it in half and cut straight. Bascially it depends on how big you want the flower to be...the longer it is, the bigger your flower will be. I cut the edges into points or little "triangles"...the smaller the cut the more "points" your flower will have. I then accordian folded (1in wide folds) the cut paper and wrapped thin wire around the middle. Lastly I "peeled" the paper to the wire and fluffed it out  to make it look like a pretty flower.



 I also used tissue paper like ribbion and made a little border for my black and white "Life at Thirty" papge (for my own scrapbook). I'm not sure why I am always drawn to black and white...but anyways...I used a vintage vinyl doiley sprayed with Metalic Maya Mist on the paper for a cool effect. I luv the doiley becuase they are sooo easy to clean and are super cheap :) I cut the butterfly out on my Silhouette and sprayed it with Maya Mist Pearl. Pin is also Maya Road (luv them) It's a simple page but I really like how it turned out!  

Recycled Mini Albums

              

I am a recycler by nature..i'm always thinking to myself "should I save this? I just know i will use it one day!" But as time goes by i never seem to get down to business and use the items i save. Until now...my family eats an incredible amount of foods that come in cardboard paper,. It can really pile up in the recycle bin! I was trying to come up with a project that was low cost for the OLL cropand it was my recycle bin to the rescue. The idea of making a mini album cover with the cardboard paper and one from toliet paper tubes popped into my head. For the square album i cut the cardboard to 5x5 shape and scored 1/2 inch in the middle for the "binding". I then painted it with black paint and finished it off by with spritzing of my homemade sliver mist. After it dried, i punched holes in the binding and added the silver rings. For the inside I cut white cardstock same size 5x5. I also cut the bottom of library pockets and added tags to fit. The front cover is vintage school paper, triangle misted aqua and black letter stickers. For the other mini album I flattened three toliet paper rolls by running them through the cuttlebug (hand flattening takes a bit of time and some muscle, but will work) painted and misted in the same manner as the other mini album. I then covered the tubes with Kay & Co. paper and made tags to fit. Lettering is black stickers. These little gems just remind me of how much I love the black & white colors together!

Makeover

Last fall on a trip to IKEA I bought a metal board and planned to use it to hold my weekly dinner menu. I actaully finished the project and loved it! But I began to notice the paper I had decorated it with was lifting...so I decided to remove the paper and decoupage some vintage recipes/pictures onto it. I was a little hesitant to do decoupage because all of my projects in the past were disasterous..wrinkles, bubbles and all! I knew I had to approach it diffrently this time! I began by selecting my recipes and pictures. I gave it a dry run of sorts..arranging the items around a bit before actually committing to the arrangement (no..oops.. I want to put this picutre over there sort of thing..) Next instead of brushing a heavy layer over the paper I brushed a very thin layer of decoupage on the metal and then laid my papers down. Making sure I smoothed it out as I went along. I let it dry a bit before brushing the top layer on. No wrikles or bubbles this time! I complete my menu board I glued wooden clothes pins , one for each day of the workweek. These hold my laminated resturant order tickets. I use dry erase markers to write the dinner menu on them.  Hope it inspires you to do some dinner planning of your own :]