Project 365 Week Seventeen and National Scrapbook Day Festivities...

It's National Scrapbook Day on Saturday (May 2) and SiSTV is having an online festival! Yeayyy! It goes for 24 hours and there will be games, challenges and prizes! It's gonna be so much fun - I hope you come and join the fun! Each hour, starting at 12 am Eastern time, there will be a new host with a new activity! I'm going to be hosting twice - once at 1:00 am for you nite owls (like me!), and again at 6:00 pm. I haven't decided what I will be doing yet - so if you have ideas or suggestions, please feel free to leave them in the comments!

On to Project 365 - It's week seventeen!

Monday, April 20: Johnny totally digs my new roll of kraft paper...

Tuesday, April 21: Happy Earth Day! I got this beautiful art in an email from the Ministry of the Arts. The artist is Mary Southard. Ministry of the Arts is an online store that is run by the Sisters of St. Joseph and they've got some really neat stuff. I especially love their calendars which are full of beautiful art. - check out their website here...

Wednesday, April 22: Evidence of my road trip to Buhl, Minnesota for work. I loved their water tower...

Thursday, April 23: Happy mail from my SiSversary secret sister!

Friday, April 24: Urban Art on Washington Avenue in Minneapolis...

Saturday, April 25: Michael finished painting our entryway today and I LOVE how it brightens up the house!
this will be the journaling spot for Saturday...

Sunday, April 25: Saw an awesome movie...

and here is how the layout turned out. Click to see more detail...
For more info on Project 365 - click here.

So that's it for today. I will be back tomorrow with another update. Don't forget - you have a week to participate in the gaffer tape mosaic challenge - link up your creations at the post below for a chance to win some SiSTV gaffer tape!

Thanks for stopping by!

Gaffer Tape Mosaic Tutorial, Challenge and a RAK...

Hey there and happy Wednesday! Today I want to share with you the first of three tutorials that I did for the finals in the Project Catwalk contest at SiSTV last year. The assignment for this project was to use the SiStv gaffer tape in a new way. I had fun with it - and I hope you do too!

Gaffer Tape Mosaic

Here’s a super simple way to create unique embellishments using your SiStv gaffer tape! You can use this process to create any shape of page embellishment you want! Here’s what you do:

Step one:
Pick one color of coordinating cardstock for each type of gaffer tape you plan to use:Step two:
Draw the shape that you would like to mosaic. In my case I decided to do wavy stripes:
Step three:
Cut/tear little pieces of gaffer tape and cover the entire shape. Be sure to leave spaces between the pieces. It’s okay to overlap the lines. You can be messy about it. We are going to cut these out:


Step four:
Cut out your shape. Be sure to cut inside the lines you drew so they don’t show.
TA DA - you have mosaic embellishments for your page! You can make them into anything you want to - your imagination is the only limitation! Here’s what I did with mine:

If you decide to give this a try, I'd love to see what you make! Link up your creation in the comments section by next Tuesday and I will pick a participant at random to send this roll of SiSTV gaffer tape to:


Stay tuned for next Wednesday's tutorial which will be about making the most of your patterned paper.

Meanwhile, I will be back tomorrow to share Project 365 Week Seventeen. Take care my friends!

Morning Beauty and a New Layout...

I got up just before dawn this morning cuz I couldn't sleep. P.S. that is rare for me - LOL. Anyways, I went downstairs, pulled open the blinds in the scraproom and this is what the cats and I saw...I know it's hard to see, but that's two deer at our bird feeders! I was so excited I could hardly stand it! We had suspected that this might be happening because sometimes our feeders have been emptied overnight, but we had never SEEN it happening! What beautiful animals they were - the one was just happily munching away, stopping every so often to look at us in the window. They stayed for a few minutes, and then sauntered away together. My day was totally made.

I made this layout with my SiSTV "Drama Queen" collection. This is the one that I started at my 16 hour crop, but hadn't done the journaling until Monday night. (Click on layout for details)...
I added the alphas and numbers. I had been wanting to scrap this treasured photo for a long time, and the vintagey style of the Drama Queen collection seemed like the perfect fit.

There's a new challenge blog starting up that looks really fun and different! It's called "The Next Step" and it will focus on Mixed Media Techniques - right up my alley! Check it out here!

I wish you a totally terrific Tuesday my friends! I will be back soon with more updates!

Here's What's Been Happening...

Greetings! Michael and I went to this amazing movie today...I was especially interested in seeing this true story because my mom has been following Mr. Lopez' articles in the Los Angeles paper ever since the beginning; and she was so inspired by them that she has been sending them to me to read too. Both Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey do an awesome job. Check out the trailer here.

This week's song at Scrapping The Music is "The Way I Am" by Ingrid Michaelson. It's a beautiful song - come on over and play along with us! Here's my take on the challenge...
I busted out one of my Q-Tea kits for this layout - I've been wanting to use that beautiful Danyeela paper for a long time and this was the perfect opportunity! Everything is from the kit except for the houndstooth fabric, dictionary paper, and some jewelry wire that I used to dangle the charms from the crocheted flower. I used oil crayon to frame the photo.

The journaling is a lyric from the song and it says "...and I love the way you call me baby, and you take me the way I am."

Oh, and p.s. I don't know if you had heard the sad news that Q-Tea kits was closing down after their May kit; but they just recently posted on their blog that they won't be closing down after all! They have a new owner coming on that will start with the June kit! Yeayyy! Check it out here.

I also want to let you know that on Wednesday I will be posting the first of three step-by-step tutorials that I did for my final project catwalk projects. The projects include: 1. Gaffer Tape Mosaics; 2. Making the Most of Your Patterned Paper; and 3. Modsheet "Favorites" Mini-album. I'm so excited to be able to share these projects with you!

Take care my scrappy friends and I will be back tomorrow with another update!

Project 365 Week Sixteen and We've Got Orange!!!

The entryway painting project is finished! I am so happy with it! Michael did a beautiful job - check it out...and here is the view from the livingroom...


Alrighty - so, on to week Sixteen of Project 365!

Monday, April 13: Love is in the air! Two squirrel friends were romping in the yard today - one black and one grey...
this will go in a journaling spot pocket...

Tuesday, April 14: I came across these two little entrepreneurs during my daily travels for work. They reminded me of me and my funny face stand when I was their age, so I had to stop. I asked them if they were brothers, and they told me that not only were they brothers but "we are twins and we are living the sweeet life!" How cute is that?!!! I picked up a lovely copy of Beatrix Potter for $1, and (with their dad's permission) I took their photo. Thanks for the day brightener guys!

Wednesday, April 15: A goose in flight over the neighborhood pond.

Thursday, April 16: The treasure I found at the Stillwater Goodwill yesterday. I used to love Trixie Belden books, and this is the first in the series! It was only 15 cents and it will make a great art journal (after I read it!)

Friday, April 17: A new layout...

Saturday, April 18: Hail, hail, the gang's all here! Jess, Karla, Lynn, Christina and me at the 16-hour crop.
Sunday, April 19: One of the layouts I made at yesterday's crop...
and here is how the layout turned out (click to see more details)...

Have a beautiful Sunday my friends!

When in Doubt - Reorganize...

It's my absolute favorite kind of weekend! Michael and I both have projects going - he is finishing up with painting the entryway, I am scrapping, the windows are open and the music is on!

This file cabinet with the blue towel on it is where I have been keeping my paints. As you can see, it is now needed for springtime bird-watching activities...
so I moved the paints off of the file cabinet, looked at my super-messy scrap-desk, and decided it was time to reorganize. I took EVERYTHING off of the desk, (and believe me there was a lot of stuff piled up on there), and started over. I moved the things that I don't use that often, and reorganized my paints and inks, and here is the result...
I feel so much better! I bought this vintage orange pan at the thrift store awhile ago, and it works perfect for storing my paints...
This kawaii tray was also a thrift-store find...

I love my industrial tape dispenser that holds my fave gaffer tapes! (it was part of my project Catwalk prize!)

Now I feel all organized and ready to take on the day! I will be back later with projects to share. Have a great Saturday my scrappy friends!

Secret Sisters and Scrapping The Music...

Happy Happy Friday everyone!

When I got home from my roadtrip on Wednesday, the most awesome happy mail was waiting for me - a surprise present from my SiSversary secret sister! The package included an adorable handmade card, a vintage children's book, some YUMMY natural fruit snacks (there were actually three more than what is pictured here - I have been happily snacking on them!), and a FABULOUS pack of rub-ons from the new Cosmo Cricket "Girl Friday" line! It was such a happy surprise! That vintage children's book is sooo cute - can't wait to use it for some projects; annnndddd I realized that the rub-ons coordinate PERFECTLY with the new SiSTV "Drama Queen" collection that I have been using lately! So much fun! Thank you Secret Sister - whoever you are!!!

P.S. I have also been having fun with the secret sister that I have been assigned to - but I can't share anything about that - don't want to give away the secret!!!


The design team for Scrapping The Music got together to make a thank you book for our founder Mary. She works so hard behind the scenes and we appreciate her soooo much!

The book was Nat's idea (kalbach) and she coordinated the whole thing. Each design team member contributed a 6x6 layout. We were to include a picture of ourselves and a song lyric. Here's what I came up with...


Materials include patterned paper (unknown mfr), Jenni Bowlin black star paper, acrylic paint, sharpies - black and white.

On the back of the layout is a thank you note to Mary.

You can see the whole album at Nat's blog here.

I will be back tomorrow with more to share - I hope your week is going great!

Sorry I've Been Away...

I am so sorry I've been absent from blogland this week my friends!

Gosh the week has flown by! I have been feeling slightly under the weather. Not sick really, just super tired and super busy at the same time - not a good combo! Aargh! So, anyhoo I tried to lay low and take care of myself and didn't do alot besides my day job and sleep, and it paid off. I am feeling much perkier and almost back to myself today!

Now I am thinking about how behind I am in all my projects! Here's what I have to catch up on...

Project 365 - this past week's layout
Project 52 ATCs - this week and last week
A Year In The Life of an Art Journal - "H"
Scrapping The Music - layout for this coming Sunday's song (it's an awesome song!)
Finish the layout I started at last weekend's crop

Plus I have things to show you - like the awesome present that I got from my Secret Sister this week! It's super fun!

And I have a couple of tutorials to share with you from my Project Catwalk final projects!

Luckily the weekend is coming up, so I have time to do some catching up!

I will be back tomorrow with another update! For now, I will leave you with a couple of pictures I recently took on a walk in the neighborhood. They make me feel peaceful...


Thanks for stopping by!

A Songbird layout for Lotus Paperie...

Hey everyone - I hope your week is going well so far! I've got one layout from the crop to share with you tonight! It's for the Lotus Paperie Sketch challenge for this week. I've only done one other horizontal 6x12 layout, so it was fun to try another one!
I used my SiStv "Songbird" collection, plus a few vintage buttons from my stash, a white sharpie and an ATB Label. The photo is of my little Johnny posing on his cat scratcher. He loves that thing! (I also used this photo as a daily pic for my Project 365).

I am almost done with my other layout too, but I'm having a little trouble coming up with the journaling. Sometimes figuring out what I want to say is the hardest part of a layout. Aargh! Anyhoo, as soon as I am done I will post that too, along with the Project 365 catch-up layouts I did this past weekend.

That's about it for me tonight. I will be back tomorrow with more news - thanks for stopping by!

Scrapping The Music and Post-Crop News...

OMG the 16-hour crop was so much fun! It was great to have our whole group of scrapping friends together again! We try to crop together every month, but you know how life is, it's hard to get everyone together at one time - and it had been awhile. But this month we did it and it was awesome! Here we are...In the back row (left to right) is Jess, Karla and Lynn. Front row is Christina and me. It's fun to go to a new location sometimes. This scrapbook shop had a number of neat things about it. One thing they did that I enjoyed was have spontaneous sales. For instance, not long after we got there, they told us that we had 15 minutes to look around the store, and pick one thing we would like to see on sale. Then we could put our vote in the hat. Then the store owner picked an item out of the hat - it happened to be patterned paper - and ALL PATTERNED PAPER IN THE ENTIRE STORE was 40% off for an hour. Fabulous fun!

I also liked the atmosphere which was friendly and fun - lots of laughing and chatting between tables. I love that.

I got quite a bit of catch-up work done in my Project 365 album, plus a couple of challenge layouts, which I will post tomorrow.

Most of all it was just great to have the group together and have lots of time to chat and catch up with everyone's life. I can't wait til next month's crop!

The new song at Scrapping the Music is "Made to Love" by Toby Mac. It's a fun, upbeat song with lots of Scrapping Possibilities! Here's the layout I made...

I used the SiSTV Night Owl collection again (I am loving that collection lately!); plus some paint, orange and grey cardstock and a white sharpie. Oh, and alpha stamps by Stampin Up. The photo was taken on a sunset walk in our neighborhood.

Come on over to Scrapping The Music and join in the fun!

I hope you had a great weekend my friends!

I am looking forward to the week ahead! I will be back tomorrow!

Dancin the Night Away...

I've been spending my Friday evening dancing to my new CD while I prepare for tomorrow's 16-hour crop!

My new CD was a surprise that came in the mail today from my SiSversary Secret Sister!!! It's FANTASTIC! There are 21 songs on this CD from artists as diverse as Carolina Liar, Linkin Park, Little Big Town, and Tyrone Wells - just to mention a few! Alot of the tunes are new to me which is totally AWESOME! Hearing new music is one of my favorite things! We obviously share a love for music of all styles! Thank you so much!!!

So tomorrow my monthly crop with my girlfriends is a world-record 16 hours! I am so excited! I am hoping to get all caught up with my Project 365, and I also brought three challenges to work on. Yeayyyyy!

I have a new layout to share too! I was inspired again by Angie Backen's daily inspiration post at SiSTV. I made this layout with the SiS Night Owl collection...

Along with the collection contents, I used some tissue paper, terracotta spray ink, peach sunset glimmer mist, brown and blue cardstock and a white sharpie. I'm telling you I love that white sharpie. I need to buy them in bulk - they are fantastic! The photo is of our neighborhood walking trail.

So, what's been inspiring you lately?

Scrapping Out Loud...

It's that wonderful time of year in Minnesota where the heat is off, the windows are open and the air conditioner isn't necessary yet! I appreciate every day of this short season we call spring. I am looking out my scraproom window and there are two dogs running that joyful run, like they've been holding back all winter and now they are just BUSTING into action! Huge circles around the yard - over and over as fast as their legs will take them. I love it.

I discovered a new challenge blog thru Marit called Scrapping Out Loud, and decided to play along with them this week! The challenge is to use paint on a page, which is right up my alley! The subject matter was inspired by Angie Backen's daily inspiration post for April 14 at SiSTV... I used my new Drama Queen collection, which I am totally in love with! The soft colors are so yummy! I painted the entire background with pink acrylic paint; then used a magazine image, which I highlighted with dark pink oil crayon. The quote is from the book Simple Abundance.

Michael is still working on the entryway. Three coats so far and its looking like it will need one more to cover completely. WE are LOVING the orange!

I hope you have a fantabulous Thursday evening! I will be back tomorrow with another update!

Project 365 - Week Fifteen...

Here we go with photos from the week!

Monday, April 6: This is the view of my beloved Minneapolis skyline from the 35W bridge over the Mississippi river. This is the bridge that collapsed in August of 2007. It's a main thoroughfare for me, and I still get chills everytime I go over it. I took this on my way into town for a meeting.

Tuesday, April 7: Outside Home Depot when we were picking up a new washtub to go with our new washer. I love Michael's new glasses!

Wednesday, April 8: The washer wasn't worth fixing - so we got a new one. Here she is in all her glory!

Thursday, April 9: I was feeling fancy in one of my new spring outfits! (the colors are really much brighter than what they show here - the sunlight washed them out)

Friday, April 10: My first order of MOO cards...

Saturday, April 11: Johnny gets comfy...

Sunday, April 12: The light orange primer is on, and Michael is starting on the real wall color! I can hardly wait to see what it looks like when it's done!

This will be the journaling spot for Sunday...

and here is how the finished layout turned out. You can see a lot more detail by clicking on the image...

This week, along with the kit contents, I used the brand new, fun embellishment stickers by Me and My Big Ideas that I got in the RAK from Lauren Gick. The alpha stamps are the Newsprint font from Stampin Up.

For more detailed info about Project 365 check out this post.

How are your projects going this year? I'd love to hear! Take care and I will see you tomorrow!