Expo Recap- part 2

Holy cow! Two posts in a row!

From the second class that I took at the Scrapbook Expo, here is mini-book number 2:

The entire album is canvas! How fun is that?! Canvas Corp and Tattered Angels teamed up to teach this class. We used tons of spray mist; which I learned washes out of clothing ;)

This gold trim and flower get their sparkle from this stuff:

Glimmer Glam! We painted it on canvas, trim, doilies, and flowers and it worked great. Dig deep with your paintbrush to get the most glitter!

The turquoise color around the butterfly is:

Glimmer Glaze! This has less glitter than the Glimmer Glam, but has a neat little nail-polish-like brush built in. The best thing about this stuff is that you can color clear sparkles with it!

Ok, no, the best thing is that I got these for $1 a bottle!

Gotta love the last hour of the expo!

Expo Recap- part 1

It's only been one week since the Scrapbook Expo and I am already missing it! I figure posting about all the fun I had might help me relive it a bit :)

I was able to take 3 classes this year!!! All mini-books, my favorite! Here is mini-book number one:

This is a beautiful 8x8 acrylic and chipboard album by the creative people at Clear Scraps. (visit their site HERE) The owners of this company are a husband and wife team. She is the artistic genius and he hand-cuts the acrylic!

I went a little overboard with the "pearls" on my album... because I LOVE them! They are pearls in a bottle! So economical and easy to use, I bought a few:

Obviously a fan! 

I also loved the gold around the edges of everything! That comes from these leafing pens:

It glides on really smooth and looks amazing on acrylic!

I learned one AMAZING thing from this class that totally cured all my fears of working with acrylic: 

With non-acetone nail polish remover, you can remove ANY (yes, even Staz-on) messed up stamping or stray adhesive FOR UP TO A YEAR!!! I know this works because I hit a bump in the table with my stamp and had the embarrassing opportunity to try it out in class. Wipes right off!

Stay tuned, more expo fun to come!

Teacher Appreciation

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week at my kids' school. Since I actually do like their teachers this year, hee hee, We made cookies and a cute card:

I was disturbed to find that I own exactly 4 sheets of school-themed paper! Now I know what to shop for next... 

So I decided to raid the backpacks and use REAL school paper! Between the staples, paper clip, and file folder, this card probably cost a whopping ten cents to make. I did use some ink and embossing powder... maybe eleven cents ;) 

I am also entering this card into Heart 2 Heart's challenge this week: emboss! (visit their blog HERE to participate) 

I know it's not a ton of embossing; but as my son said, "Wow Mom! I like that shiny stuff!"

So do I!

H2H Photo Challenge

Heart 2 Heart is a Close To My Heart challenge blog and it is AWESOME! If you ever need a kick in the pants to create, visit HERE. 

This week is a photo challenge. Since I figured out how to transport the inspiration photo (all by myself! I'm so proud!) here it is: 

And here is what I came up with:

I could not get the fabric draping out of my head, so I just went with it! I used a similar color scheme (Sorbet, Dutch Blue, Kraft) and obviously stuck with the striped hot air balloon.

Yes, it took forever to make my balloon. 

And shade my clouds. 

And hand-stitch my string.

And yes, it was worth it!

Operation Write Home

The Scrapbook Expo is this weekend!!! I am just a little excited!

This year the expo is collecting cards for Operation Write Home. This is an organization that provides donated handmade cards to military bases all over the world. The cards are available at no cost for the soldiers to send home! The expo's blog (HERE) said some specific themes were needed: "Thinking of You", "Just Because", "Love", and "Teenage Birthday".

So far I have "Thinking of You":

 And "Love":

The cards need to be mostly flat, so no bulky embellishments. My "Thinking of You" card has some dots of pearl paint at the center of the flower, and my "Love" card has some black embossing. 

If anyone out there is going to the Scrapbook Expo in Utah this weekend, BRING SOME CARDS!!! This is a really worthy cause! And who doesn't love an excuse to paper craft?

Other People Have Really Cute Ideas!

This card was either copied from Vicki (visit her blog HERE) or Aaron (visit her blog HERE). Both of them are amazing, so you really can't lose by looking at both blogs! Here is my version:

I used different papers and embellishments... so it's not a TOTAL copy... right?

I love that really creative people are willing to share their art! 

So I can copy it. 

March Layout

My house was a very scrappy place this morning! We did 3 packets today because of the flood last month. I already posted Elemental and Typeset, so here is the last set of pages:

We used the incredible beautiful Florentine Paper Packet. I think it is my official favorite from the Spring catalog. 

It's hard to tell, but those are little bitty Mocha Pearls on the letters.

We also used the Flutter Paper Shapes. They accept ink really well so you can adapt them for any page; which is good since we all have a ton left over!

Coming soon.... a new way to organize stamps!