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.