Winter Platter

On Use It Tuesday we're featuring Winter/Holiday themed projects. Some of you might remember this Fall project that I did for Practical Scrappers a few months back, well for today's project I updated it for the new season!

Check out all those chipboard pieces - the letters have been in my stash an average of 3 years and the snowflake and clock for just over 1 year. 

I used modeling paste to white out the space around the letters, using the letters as a mask. After it'd dried a bit, I removed the letters and misted them and the burlap/modeling paste separately. While the letters were drying I rinsed some of the blue off of the burlap so the color would have some variation then I put the letters back into their spots. 

Those of you who saw the Fall version might remember these pinecones I'd made using my Silhouette Cameo, well I've brought them back with "snow" for the winter theme. Snow was created with good ol' Elmers and some white flocking that's at least three years old and hardly touched. 

What are you going to make to celebrate the new season?!

Now go link up those wintery projects on the Use It Tuesday page! It's been a good run, but the team is closing up shop after this challenge and I'd love to see us go out with a crafty bang. More details are on the blog, but let me just say that UIT really got me digging into my stash and using instead of hoarding and I'm sad to see it go. It's been an honor to play along with the challenges both as a participant and design team member.

Authentique mini book

I'm finally getting around to sharing this mini book, I made it while at the Scrapbooksteals Retreat and thought I'd share it as my Use It Tuesday "Anything Goes" project. As you know by now, at UIT we want you to use your hoarded items and tell us about it! So my hoarded item in this book is that yellow twine, I've had that MME twine since they released Miss Caroline and somehow ended up with multiples of the yellow. I use twine a lot and that stuff seems to be never ending. 

The book itself was made with wooden book ends that I picked up at my LSS stash sale, the interior pages are just thick, yummylicious Authentique papers glued together. If you don't recognize this line, I have to say that Authentique's Curiousity is probably one of my favorites for back to school. No primaries! Woot woot!

I'm gonna rapid fire "turn" through a couple of pages now, you can see in the above photo how there's lot of layers and depth on the right side a lot of that was created by making smaller pages.

And a shot of the last portion of this spread, and then it's close-up.

So here's pages 3-4. Technically, they are the last pages. I didn't take a photo of the back cover because I didn't decorate it, there's just a ribbon across the back so the book can be tied closed.

Now go use up your stuff!

Products used:
Authentique Curiousity
Pink Paislee Luxe stars, inked
Recollections black doilies
Studio G lamps
Ribbon, stash
MME twine
Studio Calico wood veneer hexagons

Monsters that haunt my dreams

I felt so witty for coming up with that title. I'd really struggled with what to do for the Use It Tuesday theme this week: Creatures. And then I remembered photos from going to watch Monsters University, we'd let the the boys stay up for the "midnight" showing and played it up big with dinner beforehand, popcorn, soda, etc. 

And monsters are definitely creatures. And children are often monsters and they often keep you up at night just like the monsters that keep you awake at night... you get the idea. 

And here's some close-ups of this one for you. The background was created by Vance using a variety of paper and sticker scraps, the oldest of which is the 3Bugs Blast Off! sticker pack (he even used the packaging). There's so many layers mish-mashed together that I had to keep the unstructured feel and used the Citrine 2 MWM sketch from Scrapbooksteals. 

The embellishments are all newish, less than 6 months old, but they are the last of their packs. I love using the last of something, makes room for something new. Am I right or am I right!?!

I did a little package repurposing too, I stamped on some of the package from those buttons, it made for a nice layer but gave me a fit to photograph because it was so reflective. The newest embellishment is the colored staples. ;) Thanks for stopping by, now go link up your "Creatures" project and don't forget to tell us what you used that's hoarded. 

Odds and ends - It's All in the Details

We all have them, that sheet of stickers with just one or two left on it, or a sequence of other embellishments that baffle you so you stash them away, well at Use It Tuesday we're asking you to use up some of those Odds, Ends, Scrap, and Pieces just make sure you tell us which products are hoarded!

I bought the stickers on this page over a year ago at my first Scrapbooksteals Retreat. They were part of a birthday pack from Glitz Designs and I just couldn't figure out a good way to use the numbered stickers. Finally, I was looking at them on the sheet and realized I could just relocate them as is onto a layout to create a border strip. The title is also from the same sheet, I just stuck it to a piece of paper and then fussy cut around it and popped it up on dots.

While those stickers are old-ish, the oldies on this layout are the brads - over 3 years old and lots more where they came from!

I'd like to point out that the layout is about Rylan's fashion choices. He came down from naptime (have I mentioned that he's practically a nudist?) wearing his brother's shirt, some blue plaid shorts that don't quite match, and two socks that were only half on. I was so tickled that I had to take a picture! He had also recently turned three so I wanted to make sure, without throwing the balance off, to have the washi line under the three. 

Mists: October Afternoon Sprinklers, Mister Huey's

Mask: Studio Calico

Stickers: Glitz Designs

Brads: 7Gypsies

Washi: MME and WRMK

Friends

Hello again, I'm stinkin' excited about this layout for Use It Tuesday. Today we're asking you to do something that captures "trends" of some kind, while using hoarded products.

I glued all these old, misfit chipboard letters (many from Target's $1 scrapbooking supplies) to a piece of album filler paper. ;)

Then I rubbed onto a new piece of paper over the letters with my finger daubers and distress inks. Some of the daubers had leftover color but the one I kept re-applying was Walnut Stain. 

The trend I wanted to focus on was frames, and I included a bunch of them as you'll see below. Also super fun and trendy are the shaped paper clips, the little envelope, and those wood veneers. 

Of the products I used here, the letters are definitely the oldest and probably 4 years old. The frames and decorative brads (from American Crafts Chap) come in next at over a year. 

I don't know why I didn't actually put a title on this layout, but I think not having one balances out all those other letters. There's journaling tucked into the envelope. 

Now, go make some old stuff look new again!

Oh! And for those of you who really want to stretch your stash, the chipboard letters were used in a second layout that I posted yesterday. 

LSS birthday card

While my LSS was preparing for it's first birthday celebrations I was busy making them this fun card for my design team post at Use It Tuesday today. 

We're asking you to ink up one of those stamps that have sat in your stash for a while, unused/uninked. 

My uninked stamp is that little circle (covered with glitter glue)- it's a token stamp from MME's Dilly Dally line and has been in my stash for a year.

The yellow cardstock is definitely the oldest thing here, over 3 years old, with the dotted MME Lost and Found paper not far behind. The Authentique die cuts are roughly a year old (ever forgotten when you bought something?).

Now don't forget, when you link up your projects at Use It Tuesday that you need to make sure to tell us what your hoarded items are!

Big Attitude

Welcome to Tuesday! Today is a new reveal over at Use It Tuesday and guess what we have for you?! A fairly open-ended challenge is what! 

We're asking you to answer: "What was I thinking?"

I know several on the team went with fashion choices in their photos, some went with the purchase of supplies, I explain in the journaling why I've hoarded that title card for two years! 

Basically, I thought the word attitude had to many negative connotations but then I realized how big of a difference their attitudes are. Both have such big personalities and on a day to day basis we embrace that in how we interact with them, but I needed to finally own it by using that card! 

The first hoarded item on this page is the 12x12 BasicGrey doily that I misted and then applied modeling paste over, two years old. The various scraps of papers came from my scrap drawer but all of them are at least a year old! I don't remember when I bought the green flocking, but it has to be pushing three years by now (and rarely used). The oldest things here though are the paper clips and border strips - those were from my mom's stash (that I rescued) and are at least four years old. 

Use it Tuesdays - Birthdays

This week at Use it Tuesday we're asking you to bust into your stash and do something birthday related - card, layout, project. Just make sure to use those hoarded items!

For my very first Use It Tuesday DT project I made these little favor boxes for Rylan's upcoming birthday party. Hard to believe that he's turning 3, and like his brother at this age he's all about c.a.r.s. Now, being the creative mom that I am this is not going to be a simple repeat of Vance's party (though I'm considering bringing back the mini donuts in place of birthday cake... tires of course!)

The boxes were cut from a new file from the Silhouette Store and new cardstock, but everything else is hoarded including the crayon cars!

The white paper is filler from albums (which means anywhere from 6 months to 4 years old!), the red is a piece of scrap from Fancy Pants Rough and Tough that's been in my stash for over a year, the black ribbon is from Paper Studios and 4 years old, the red Silhouette sketch pen is over a year old and had never been used. 

Now for those crayons - I was in charge of our church's nursery for a while (2 years ago) and replaced all their broken crayons with brand new out of pocket. I couldn't just pitch the crayons, and I'd seen a pin about melting crayons to make valentines and loved the idea. 

I didn't have any molds as small as the original blog post but I did have these awesome cake pans with mini cars! What a lot of crayons went into these. The crayons in the boxes are as big as those pictured for a total of 8 car crayons. I'd intended to regift the crayons to the nursery kiddos at Christmas and forgot so they sat in my closet the past couple of years - I'm glad I finally have a purpose for them. 

**Side note: Sooooooo, I couldn't find the pin I'd used, guess I didn't actually pin that idea. But here's a good explanation of how to go about melting your own crayons.

I'm linking this up to Scrapbooksteals.com's MCM 33: Celebrate.


ETA: Also linking this to the Moxie Fab Birthday Creations Week - tags and wraps  Challenge.

Spring altered projects

With the snow outside, days after the official first day of spring, I felt a need to make a very spring colored craft. 

I started with this little birdhouse that I'd picked up at Joann's for $1. I covered it with a bunch of washi, I can't tell you individual lines but I know that most of my stash is My Mind's Eye and that the black dot and blue houndstooth are We R Memory Keepers.

Then, feeling in a more festive mood I took up the Use It Tuesday challenge to make something springy with hoarded products.

I had these canvas covered chipboard pieces dying to be used, but there were only four so that presented a word play challenge. I chose "grow" because in spring that obviously happens, but it's sort of been an unofficial "one word" for me this year. Grow my craft, as a parent/spouse/employee, as a runner, just grow. 

Realizing that it held a little more meaning than just "spring" I decided to use bright papers that would match the color scheme around my craft area. That meant pulling out some oldie but goodies - American Crafts Classics Collection. 

The doilies and letters were cut from Silhouette store files on my Cameo. Each letter has some form of accordion folded paper to give it extra depth. 

The brown behind the letters got a quick swipe with watered down gesso. The letters were stamped with a swirly background stamp from Stampabilities using clear ink and heat embossed with Zing! Aqua embossing powder.

Some of the edges were inked with Ranger Distress Walnut Stain.

Two letters have flower clusters.

All letters have some pink grosgrain ribbon (American Crafts, I think) and ribbon edging with various interesting ribbons that have all been in my stash for at least a year. There's ribbon from MME Lush, Crate Paper Random, Girl's Paperie Toil and Trouble, and MME Laundry Line (misted with two colors to get it to almost match the Crate Paper).

Now to hang the first banner I've ever made. YAY!

Scrappy Backgrounds on Cards

I spent the better part of one day this week working on these card backgrounds. I made 20 card backgrounds according to directions I found via a pin that happened to lead me back to Operation Write Home's blog. 

I'll let you read the detailed instructions, but it comes down to cutting the scraps into 1/4 inch strips and gluing them down with a triangle shape in one corner, butting the rest of the background up against it. Then you run the background through an embossing machine because it creates texture and helps hold the background together a little better. 

This card I decorated keeping in mind the Use It Tuesday challenge to use a die cut, punch or cut out. This gets two of those. The heart had been die cut on my Cameo a few months back and I'd used the negative and thrown this into the scrap pile. The red frame was cut out from Echo Park's For the Record. While not all the teeny scraps are hoarded (aka been in my stash a long time!) this card was made entirely of leftover bits and pieces.

While I was playing around with scraps I pulled out some other older stickers and made these boy cards too. Still have lots of backgrounds so you'll be seeing more from where these came from soon enough.

Sadly, I still have lots of scraps...

You're Sweet

If you're here for the Scrapbooksteals.com Blog Hop, head this way. But feel free to come back and stay awhile.

I don't know how you who live in wintery climates do it. We've had two "big" snow storms within a week and the mountains of snow have left me wishing myself into summer. The cold and dreary, ugh.  

At least I can take solace in my paper! I pulled out some oldies from my scrap stash to make these bright and cheery cards. I also inked up a recent dollar bin purchase for the "you're sweet" sentiment and the candy so that I could link up to the Use it Tuesday challenge.

On this one, the stamp got a little uneven so I attempted to color it a bit/add some shadows just to see how it turned out. While I am no where near ready to buy a bajillion Copics I have to say that I *like* how it turned out. Maybe someday I'll be a real stamper...

These are all of the cards I made during the second snow storm, all of them with scrappy goodness. Most of these scraps have been part of my stash for over a year. Now that's sweet. ;)

Homemade Marshmallows

I know, we made homemade marshmallows. Pretty cool. I wouldn't have even tried if there hadn't been so many pins for them! So much easier than it sounds, though you really do have to stir/cook them for a bit and that got boring for this guy which means I'm really glad I didn't try it with both around. ;) 

Anyway. I designed this page based on Krisy McKeen's Kiwi Lane DT Doodles sketch. I'm also linking it to the Use It Tuesday - Fasteners challenge.  

Most of the page is MME Follow Your Heart, plus some scrap from their  Lime Twist and stickers from All Is Bright. Inked with Color Box Ocean. Kiwi Lane templates include Aspen Court, Abbie Road, Tiny Sweetheart, and Adventure. The buttons are actually brads and have been around since not long after I started scrapbooking (over 3 years old).

Party Set Up - another Dec Daily post

I joked when I started my Dec Daily project that it might take me until February to finish that mini, and I might have been right. But here's one more for that project - Dec. 21. Vance's birthday, which we spent waiting for grandparents who were due in town at any moment, while we waited we decorated for his party.

My page was inspired by Let's Get Sketchy: January Week 3 Challenge.

I'm also linking this one up on: 

Use it Tuesday: Warm it up Red, Orange, Yellow. Hoarded items include Jenni Bowlin alphas and Imaginesce dotted ribbon are over a year old. The American Crafts Chap papers and yellow ribbon have been in my stash since last April. Paper clips are over 3 years old.

Paper Girls Challenge Blog: Wood/wood grain. I misted the wooden buttons to complement my page colors.

Dec 18 Cookie Baking

I avoid glitter like the plague. It gets everywhere, but when Use It Tuesday decided it was time to "make it sparkle" I knew that I really needed to bust out some Martha Stewart glitter that I'd had since I started scrapbooking! I used the glitter to make a little flourish in the background of the page (and still have way to much of just that one bottle). Also hoarded/seldom used, I don't think I've used that Sew Easy head since right after I bought it, about a year ago. The Jenni Bowlin mini alphas are about a year old as well.

For sketch inspiration I used Let's Get Sketchy's week 2 challenge.

Dec Daily - December 18 Cookie Baking

The papers are from the Authentique Festive and Peaceful collections. I inked them up with Ranger Distress Ink Peeled Paint.

One more page done in my December "daily" album. Only 23 more to go. ;)

Teacher Gifting

Gifts for teachers. Such a broad concept. At this stage, since we aren't doing a preschool, our only teachers are the ones at church. I started planning a project and realized I couldn't figure out where to draw the line regarding which teachers/helpers to leave off the list so I ended up making a little ornament for every preschool teacher and helper who is volunteering this month - 15 ornaments and wrappings made by yours truly! Rylan's nursery workers got a card with a silly kid-craft ornament that Vance helped make, but his teachers got something just a little nicer looking - also known as made by mommy!

All of my teacher gifts. 

The boxes were a file I bought from the Silhouette store during their Cyber Monday sale. It's supposed to be an ornament, I think. I cut them from American Crafts Kraft Cardstock. I also used my Silhouette Cameo to cut the tags, My Mind's Eye Andrea Victoria. Then I stamped a MME All Is Bright stamp in gold and "inked" with Copper embossing powders. 

Close-up of the boxes and tag.

For all the Users at Use it Tuesday - this is my challenge post to make something Christmas/Hannukah with hoarded supplies. The ornaments (and paint on them) were from a project I helped with at church this fall and probably the newest items used. The ribbons have been part of my stash for probably 3 years. Some of the ornaments have buttons inside, some of which have been around for a *very, very* long time.

Stop by tomorrow for a little more about that cute pink tree in the first picture - it's all made from upcycled, scraps and hoarded products. ;)

And don't forget about my Christmas present giveaway that ends Dec. 15 at midnight.

Happy Thoughts - so many happy thoughts

Happy Thought 1: In the words of my friend, Joy, I'm "crazy and a mess." I know this to be true. For the past two weeks in my spare time I'm not only doing my normal scrappy challenges, but I've also started working on some card kits. She and I are hosting a little card party for Operation Write Home right after the first of the year. 

I'm so stinkin' excited!

Happy Thought 2: I'm also excited because I'd seen a version of this card on Pinterest the other day (and go figure, I didn't pin it so I can't link back) but I liked it and wanted to make one like it so I could use my favorite Black Friday purchase - Big Kick!!! Eek!

Happy Thought 3: It gets better. The post from Use It Tuesday this week (#44) was to use a previously uninked stamp with your hoarded product. So I proceeded to make this super cute card using my new toy, a stamp and some twine that I won several months ago, a MME pre-folded card I bought over a year ago, and lots of scraps. I also got a start on cutting out the duplicates for the kits. 

Happy Thought 4: With the completion of this batch of cards, I'll have 50 cards for our party. All of it on hoarded bases with lots of older papers. Woot Woot! 

Rabbit Trail 1: Hopefully lots of friends can play, otherwise I'm gonna get really bored putting these babies together. 5 nearly identical projects is about my max. 

Cousins

I love that my scrap challenge repertoire is expanding - more to keep me busy, busy, busy! I found out this week about Use it Tuesday. Their premise is to encourage you to use up your stash by using hoarded items, and for obvious reasons they don't give away prizes! Prizes or not, giving me some sort of direction is tremendously helpful. That's part of why I've loved using sketches for a little over a year. Now I have someone telling me to use up the forgotten stuff creatively. Sweet.

This week is all about thankfulness, and you can use anything hoarded. That I can do! I may have only been scrapping for three years but there's some kit leftovers hanging around the room.

The oldest thing on the page are the chipboard letters. They vary in ages but have all been in my stash for plus or minus two years. Check out the BasicGrey Oliver letters, those are the oldest and among the last of their kit. (It was a very sad day for me when I used up all the papers and stickers from it!) The paper is a hold-over too. I bought that Imaginesce kit while pregnant with Rylan - and it was sitting in my stash at the point I planned his first birthday party and was the inspiration for the party decor.

So what's not old here? The letter "C," I got it at a crop a couple of weeks ago.