A Pintrest Vacation

This year I had planned a week off in July but then Steve got a new job so he couldn't join me.  So instead of cancelling my vacation, I decided to spend my week doing some Pintrest projects I had planned on doing for some time!  I was so excited!  I visited a local thrift shop and picked up some goodies to help me out and then hit up Home Depot to buy loads of spray paint (caution:  buying spray paint may lead to finding items all over the house you can paint!).

My first project was a rusty old rake that I removed the handle off of, spray painted, and hung upside down in my closet to act as a necklace/scarf/belt rack. Cost = $2 for the rake and the medallion was from my scrapbook stash. Next project was my cake stand which was a candle stick, platter, and string of beads all glued together and then spray painted ... cute non? Cost = $4 for the patter, candle stick and beads. After that was my key rack! An old frame I spray painted with scrapbook paper behind it and some hooks screwed in and it now hangs in my laundry room. Cost = $1.50 for frame and hooks, the paper I already had in my stash.

And as I cautioned above, once I started spray painting I couldn't stop.  My scrapbook room had a tiered basket system that was black and an old gum ball machine that was green that now co-ordinate beautifully!  These two projects cost me nothing as I already had the spray paint.

And finally, the piece de resistance ... my gallery wall.  I have wanted to do this for years and finally found the time needed to do it.  I bought a whole bunch of mix and matched frames at the thrift store and then spray painted one of three colours (off white, blue, and yellow).  I backed some of the frames with a favorite scrapbook paper collection from Echo Park.  It was so much fun picking which photos I wanted to use and where to place them (I still have one frame to fill cause they printed the photo in the wrong orientation).  You will notice a couple of frames have different items it.  One has our family initial, another our first house key, and another with our lucky number.  I also used two frames to try and disguise the thermostat and doorbell!  So far everyone who has seen it loves it and I can't wait to start switching out photos when some new ones come along.  This project cost me about $74 for all the frames, scrapbook paper, and photos. Not bad if I do say so myself.

So all in all I spent $108.57 on all my projects and the spray paint to do them.  Not bad really!  Originally I priced out the gallery wall using all Ikea frames it was going to cast almost $300!  So I figured I saved myself almost $200, got to do several more projects because of my thriftiness and also got to have a lot of fun!  I am already trying find a way to take another week off work so that I can do some more projects!

34 In Jamaica

I know I did a layout already on here for my birthday that I celebrated in Jamaica but I had so many photos that it warranted another layout.  I had so many photos of the dinner that our favorite server pulled all the stops out for that I needed to use a Flip Flap in order to get all my favorite photos in!  This a a photo of the layout with the Flip Flap closed.

And this is what the layout looks like with the Flip Flap open!  I love how many more photos I can get on a layout with them.  If you have tried them, seriously get some!  You won't regret it!

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee -  Soiree Collection; Cardstock: Bazzills; Alphabet Stickers:;American Crafts Thickers Embellishments:  Pink Paislee - Soiree Chipboard Elements and Penants and Flags, Washi Tape, and Bakers Twine; Tools: Fiskars Scalloped Edger Punch, Dymo Label Maker, and Creative Memories Flip Flaps.

Deep Sea Fishing

Another Jamaica layout completed using the Basic Grey Fort Lauderdale Collection!  Creating simple layouts like this one with leftover strips of patterned paper really helped to stretch the collection into even more layouts!

To give the leaf sticker a little more dimension I stuck a few foam squares under a couple of the leaves.  It almost gives it a 3D quality to it.  I was so excited when I found this little journalling spot in the collection because it has a boat on it.  I know I am a geek!  It's small things like that that tie the theme together for me.

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Basic Grey - Fort Lauderdale Collection; Cardstock: Bazzills; Alphabet Stickers: American Crafts Thickers and Basic Grey Alphas; Embellishments: Basic Grey - Fort Lauderdale Die Cut Stickers and Chipboard Elements.

Hangin' Out @ Rick's

What a popular place Rick's Cafe was! There were so many people there you could barely move! It is a really popular spot to watch the sunsets so that is why we decided to go and I am so glad we did. The views were beautiful, which was great for a little photo bug like me.

My Sister-In-Law went into the gift shop and when she came out she handed me this cute little button that said Rick's Cafe on it.  "For when you scrapbook these pictures" she said.  What a sweetheart!

When the sun started to set, I perched myself in a perfect little spot and started to take pictures.  I knew I wanted to capture the sunset at different points so that I could scrapbook them in sequence and it be just like watching the sunset ... almost!  The problem after I printed my photos was that there were several other photos I wanted to scrapbook with these photos but it was just too much.  Then it dawned on me to crop the sunset photos to a smaller size and use them like a film strip under my other photos.  I think it turned out fantastic, if I do say so myself.

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Fancy Pants - Beach Bum Collection; Cardstock: Bazzills; Alphabet Stickers: American Crafts Thickers; Embellishments: Rick's Cafe Button and Fancy Pants - Beach Bum Die Cut Stickers and Journalling spot.

Sold

This layout is made using an 8x8 paper pad from October Afternoon.  I love October Afternoon and wish they made their paper pads in 12x12 size because I find the 8x8 size difficult to work with!  I guess I am so used to have the flexibility a 12x12 sheet gives.  I always seem to like to do a strip of patterned paper all the way across (side to side or top to bottom) on almost all my layouts and doing that with an 8x8 piece of paper was a challenge.  Lucky for me I figured out that if I piece two smaller piece together on this layout and hide the seam behind the other patterned paper,   no one would know that it isn't one continuous piece!  I love it when I have a light bulb moment like that!

Supplies: Patterned Paper: October Afternoon - Road Map Collection; Cardstock: Bazzills; Alphabet Stickers: American Crafts Thickers; Embellishments: Jillibean Die Cut, washi Tape, October Afternoon - Road Map Journalling Spot; Tools: Creative Memories Corner Rounder and Dymo Label Maker.

Happy Birthday

Ok maybe I went a little overboard with stickers on this one. I had a sticker sheet of birthday stickers from Bo Bunny and there were so many to choose from that I like. I honestly couldn't pick just one. So instead of doing my usual title in letter stickers, I opted to use the Happy Birthday sticker from the set.  And from there it was down hill and there was no stopping me!

I am really loving the trend right now where manufactures are creating a sheet of journalling spots to coordinate with each of their collections.  It makes journalling so easy!  Whenever I see these sheets I make sure to pick one up and if on a lucky break they are in the sale section, I have been known to pick up several!  When I get them home I normally cut them up into the journalling squares so that they are easy to flip through and ready for me to use on any layout.  Most of these little babies can be used with other lines/manufacturers cause the colours are so similar.  Like on this layout, the patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye but the journalling spot is from Jillibean.  Most people wouldn't even notice they coordinate so nicely!

Supplies: Patterned Paper: My Minds Eye - Lime Twist Collection; Cardstock: Bazzills; Alphabet Stickers: American Crafts Thickers; Embellishments: Bo Bunny Birthday Stickers, Jillibean journalling spot; Sketch: Sketches for Scrapbooking; Tools: Creative Memories Corner Rounder.

Black Friday

It's one of the days of the year that I looked forward to ... a day of uninhibited, deal grabbing, mayhem dodging, line standing shopping!  I get so wrapped up in it!  We start planning for the madness and mayhem early; deciding which stores we want to go to at what times.  It is so much fun!  This past year was our 5th year of Black Friday shopping in Great Falls, Montana and it was just as much fun as the first!  The irony in all of this is in Canada we have a similar day called Boxing Day (right after Christmas) and I haven't set foot in a store on Boxing Day in years.  Many people I tell that too thinks it's hilarious that I will drive 4.5 hours to go to Black Friday and but 4.5 minutes to go to Boxing Day ... I know it makes no sense to me either!  But needless to say I am already looking forward to this years trip!

I was so excited when I came across a refill roll for my Dymo Label Maker; it's become really difficult to find!  I'm kind of wishing I had bought more because after a couple of layout, I am already out of black!  Sigh, maybe I will find it again.

Supplies: Patterned Paper: American Crafts; Cardstock: Bazzills; Alphabet Stickers: Making Memories Felt Alphas; Embellishments: Washi Tape, Button, Baker's Twine, and Jillibean Journalling Spot; Tools: Dymo Label Maker.

Eleven Years

Last year was our Eleventh Wedding Anniversary and my darling honey always gets me the sweetest, heartfelt cards.  I love his cards.  He obviously spends some time reading each to find the perfect one and I always hate throwing them out.  I think I still have the very first card he gave me when we started dating sixteen years ago somewhere.  Normally they sit in a postcard box I have in our spare room closet but then it dawned on me that these little gems that peak a look into my honey's heart are just as deserving as any photo in my scrapbook.  So I think from this point on my cards (and I might even go back and pull out some older ones too) will have a place in my scrap books.  How awesome will it to be when we are old an grey to look back on these or for our future kids to see?

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Authentique - Journey Collection; Alphabet Stickers: American Crafts Thickers; Embellishments: Authentique - Journey Die Cuts; Tools: Fiskars Circle Squeeze Punch.

Geeks Don`t Workout They Upgrade

This title makes me laugh! I wish I could take credit for it but I can't. My hubby used it as his tag line when he posted these photos on Facebook. So when I printed these photos I already knew what my title would be!  I love it when I have photos that already have an idea for.  It sure makes a layout very simple!  I tried to this layout very clean and minimal because it want it to have a masculine feel and look!  Please ignore my horrible grammar in my journalling.  Why is it I never notice these things until I blog about it?!

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Unknown from my Stash; Cardstock: Bazzills; Alphabet Stickers: Basic Grey - Alphas and American Crafts Thickers; Embellishments: Jillibean Word Sayings, Brads and Drywall Tape; Tools: Dymo Label Maker.

Tech Support

We all get jokes emails from people we know.  Most of them make me chuckle but this one had me laughing so hard I just had to print it to hang in my office.  It is so fitting when it comes to the perceptions about my job that I thought I should scrapbook it!  And seeing as today is Programmer Appreciation Day, I thought it would be fitting to post it today!

When I saw this line by October Afternoon I thought it was perfect for the rand pics I take at work so I bought the whole collection.  I know it was silly but it just spoke to me, do you ever find a line does that?  I just loved all of the little bits and pieces that came with it, like the tabs with the days of the week and the die cut rotary telephone!  It sure made pulling this layout together super easy.

Supplies: Patterned Paper: October Afternoon - 9 to 5 Collection; Cardstock: Bazzills; Alphabet Stickers: October Afternoon - Alpha Stickers; Embellishments: October Afternoon - 9 to 5 Die Cut Stickers.

This is the Life

When I saw this background paper by Pink Paislee I fell in love!  I love the whimsy of it and the colour was perfect for water pictures!  I did a lot of fussy cutting on this layout.  It starts out as something as simple as cutting out the bunting at the bottom and then it moved to would a pretty  flower from another paper pattern look nice.  Next thing I knew I had spent 20 minutes fussy cutting!  I don't think it was a waste though cause it really works for this layout.

I love how manufacturers give you die cut border stickers that coordinate with their lines but sometimes I really wish they gave you two of each pattern.  Most of my layouts are horizontal in nature so unless I buy two sets, I find them difficult to use.  For this layout, I decided to step out of my usual use border strips as border strips mentality and just used them to jazz up the title area.  I think it turned out ok, just next time I think I will stagger them more.

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee - Hometown Summer Collection and Cosmo Cricket - Clementine Collection; Alphabet Stickers: Making Memories - Felt Stickers and American Crafts - Thickers; Embellishments: Cosmo Cricket - Clementine Die Cut Stickers, Smashbook Tabs, Baker's Twine, and Pink Paislee Journalling Spot.

Happy Birthday

How lucky was I that I got to celebrate my birthday in Jamaica this year.  Well technical, my birthday was the day I left but we still celebrated it the night before.  The resort gave me a birthday card that day and I thought it was the sweetest thing.

So I brought it home with the expectation that I would use it on my layout.  Now the outside of the cards was a little plain but the inside was so pretty so I thought why not use it open.  In fact, why not make it my title!  So I cut some coordinating paper to fit on either side of it to fill the whole top of my layout and to act as an anchor on my layout.  I think it turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself!  And in order to not distract from it I kept my photos and remaining paper pieces very linear.  So cute and it was so quick to do!

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee - Soiree Collection; Embellishments: Basic Grey - Fort Lauderdale Chipboard Elements, My Minds Eye - Die Cut Ticket, Pink Paislee - Hometown Summer Die Cut Strips and Journalling Spot.

Soon Come Back Party

Because this was our second visit to Jamaica and we went back to the same resort, we got invited to the Soon Come Back Party.  It's a special party for all the returning guest where you get to dine and hang with some of the staff and are given gifts.  It was fun and was a great way to meet more of the friendly staff from behind the scenes.

When we arrived at the resort there was an invitation sitting on our bed for us and I just thought it was so cute with the sand dollar so I brought it home with me and decided it needed to be in my scrapbook.  Incorporating things like this are so easy!  Just think of items like cards, postcards, logos, pamphlets, tickets, etc. as another photo on your layout.  It's that easy!

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Basic Grey - Konnichiwa Collection; Alphabet Stickers: Basic Grey - Konnichiwa Die Cut Letters and October Afternoon - Mini Market Letters; Embellishments: Basic Grey - Konnichiwa Die Cuts and Build a Flower, Basic Grey - Take Note Journalling Spot, and Pearls; Sketch:Sketches for Scrapbooking ; Tools: Creative Memories Corner Rounder.

Cliff Jumpers

I love large photos! It's a great way to create a two page layout when you only have a couple of photos.  In this case, I only had five photos to use but it looked too squished with five 4x6 photos on a single page layout and when I tried to stretch it to two pages it looked a little sparse.  So I took my favourite of the five and enlarged it to 8x12. Now it looks great as a two page layout!

I had these old Basic Grey letters in my stash that I knew would be perfect for this layout but when I pulled them out they we a clashing shade of bright pink that looked so wrong on the layout.  I was disappointed!  I searched the rest of my stash for something better but I kept thinking 'Why couldn't those Pink ones work?!'.  I was frustrated.  So I did as I normally do, left the room to grab a drink and hang with the hubby for a bit and when I came back, it dawned on me, why not change the colour of the pink ones to a colour that worked better!  Eureka!  I grabbed my sanding block and roughed them up and then applied a magenta ink over the tops of each letter and then applied a coat of glossy accents to seal it all in.  Now they were perfect!

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Basic Grey - Fort Lauderdale Collection; Cardstock: Bazzills; Alphabet Stickers: Basic Grey - Fort Lauderdale Die Cut Alphas and Old Basic Grey Chipboard Alphas; Embellishments: Basic Grey - Fort Lauderdale Die Cuts and Chipboard Shapes and My Minds Eye - Brads; Inks: ColorBox Chalk Ink; Tools: Fiskars Squeeze Large Circle Punch.

And We're Back!

Steve and I just got home from another great vacation! This time we went to a little Island called Roatan which is part of Honduras just north of the mainland.  It was a very tropical and lush area and let me tell you, if you are looking to get away some where hot this is the place.  With the humidity it was 50C (122F)!  Too hot for my Canadian blood that is for sure but we managed to survive it!  I know ... you feel no pity for me right!?

This was the view at our resort, beautiful wasn't it!  We spent a lot of time cooling off in the ocean and the pools.

Rest and relaxation was on my agenda and what better way to do that then to sit in a hammock on the dock reading a book while the afternoon rain fell around me!  And the company of my favorite Sister-In-Law definitely made the time pass!

Hubby got plenty of opportunities to get some scuba diving in.  He was in heaven!  Roatan has the second biggest reef next to Australia's Great Barrier Reef.  He got to see all kinds of neat things and although he didn't get to dive with the Sharks because the hurricane scared them away, he still had fun!

And finally, the reason for the trip ... we got to watch friends of hours get married on the beach.  It was such a lovely ceremony and we are so happy for them!  It seems like everyone we know are having destination weddings, hence all the travelling.  But I am not complaining!

So it is back to work this week and I am hoping to find time to get some scrapping done.  It seems like the whole summer passed so quickly and I barely had any time!  I hope everyone out there had a great summer!