A Slightly Late Christmas Gift....

Last Christmas (like many Christmases before it) I had this great idea that I would make gifts for everyone. And for once I actually did follow through and make the gifts.... sending them.... that's a different story... You see I have this weird phobia of the post office...ok it's not really a phobia.. just every time I think of going there I think of the huge line I'll have to stand in and then I say "ehh I'll go tomorrow" (so I guess that would qualify less as a phobia and more as laziness??)...anyways this long story all leads back to today's post - a chipboard album I made for my inlaws for Christmas with photos of our trip to Rhode Island last September. I made the album in early December (in plenty of time to send it) and from the photos (and the lack of snow in them) you can probably tell that I didn't actually send it. But we are going to visit them soon so I figured better late than never! And now I get a blog post out of it and you get to see the pictures! So win win for everyone. Right??? Right!

Travel Journal in Progress...

I'm getting ready for our trip to South Dakota coming up soon. I wanted to create a travel journal to put photos, stories and souvenirs from the trip. I find it easier to scrap the trip as it's happening rather than wait til the end and I have 500+ photos and I can't remember anything that happened! So here is the book in progress:

The cover is done. I used 7 Gypsies book covers, layered a piece of canvas over the top that I did a image transfer on, then layered a piece of South Dakota Map over that (which I crackle painted) then layered the metal book plate on top. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out:

For the inside I covered the inside covers with South Dakota map pieces (I ordered a free map online on the state's website). I cut the map up and glimmer misted it to make it look aged (and sparkly!) I would have probably used distress ink instead but I couldn't find the color I wanted so I just glimmer misted it instead. Then I chose to use the On Holiday collection from Girl's Paperie and cut some of that paper down. I painted each sheet with a combination of crushed shells and sunflower glimmer mists that I mixed with water to make it go further. I then painted the glimmer mist on instead of misting it.
I started stamping images in the book, but pretty much that's as far as I've made it so far. Still have a long ways to go and only a week left to do it in so check back to see more images!

Almost finished...

I thought I would wait until I was finished with all the puzzle pieces then post them. But there is one that I still haven't finished. So I am going to go ahead and post the other two anyways.
Shabby Chic:Vintage Travel (this was my theme): Other than that I've been working on class ideas for next kickoff and I wanted to make a travel journal for our trip to South Dakota. If you haven't seen it before you should check out my travel journal from last year.

Oh and I am going to try really really hard to post every day this week. So check back tomorrow and hopefully I will have something posted!!

More Puzzle Pieces...

Still working on the swap!

"It's the little things that make my happy": "Musical Elements":"Wizard of Oz" (note: I added more stickles after I took the picture, so imagine it more sparkly!)
Stay tuned... I have three more pieces to show and I've saved the best for last! Well...that's not completely true... one of them isn't complete yet so it may be good it may not be... haha! Oh and I will be bringing my pieces along with me to my classes in July so if you are in class you will get a chance to see them up close!

Puzzle Swap

Finally a new blog post! I have been wanting to blog but just have not had the time so I'm glad to finally be sitting down and making myself come up with a blog. And i think I have a good one filled with lots of pictures!!

I have been working on a puzzle swap lately. It's a lot like an ATC swap but instead of trading cards we trade puzzle pieces. It's a little complicated because we each get a blank puzzle with 12 pieces and a list of everyone's theme. Each person has a different theme so we are making 12 different pieces and then when we swap them everyone will have a complete puzzle with all the same theme but pieces from 12 different people. Thoroughly confused??

Usually when I do an ATC swap all my cards are exactly the same. So i wanted to have some sort of common element to all my puzzle pieces. I decided to do embellished doilies inspired by Christine Middlecamp. If you have never heard of her take a moment to check out her blog (see her may and july archives for her embellished doily tutorials). She is seriously fantastic and if I could magically wake up with someone else's scrapbook style I would want hers. So i decided to do these embellished doilies in an effort to teach myself her layered style.

Now on to the puzzle pieces! I have 6 of the 12 done. The first one's theme is "Pink and Green":

"Sand & Surf ":"Summer Fun":"Children":"Finding Joy":"Tween girls just want to have fun"
I'll post the rest when I get those done!!

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