Too busy to Blog!

HELLO
HELLO
HELLO
Did you miss me?
I have been an awful blogger and although I have a long list of reasons -- I will not bore you. Instead I thought I would just post a few of the pages I have created over the last 6 weeks. Unfortunately, I have not had to time to scrapbook as much as I would like. My creative juices are all bottled up and waiting to be unleashed. Soon....very soon!!!!









Oh.....and you should check out PaperTrunk's new products. I love the "coasters" -- they are the most perfect embellishment. I cut one in half and used it on the page below. What do you think?


As you can see I am still addicted to my "go to" scrapbook techniques -- lots of layers, crumbled and scrunched paper and plenty of embellishments. Some of you have asked me what my albums look like given how layered and textured my pages are -- the answer is BULKY. I am o.k. with bulky but my albums certainly do not look neat. My motto is .... do what works for you. In the end, my pages are for my family and the creative process feeds my soul. I say just scrapbook! CREATE! CREATE! CREATE!


Sending you peace, love and a big HUG!

Check out some of my recent scrappy favs!

Thanks for taking a peek and I hope you saw something that inspires you to be creative.
Here are ten tips:
1. Try layering multiple sheets of oddly shaped pattern paper (a layout does not have to be exactly 12 by 12 or for that matter a square or rectangle)
2. Use an old map
3. Use the leftover negative from your chipboard letters
4. Try scratching/distressing a photo
5. Pull out an old childhood photo -- and don't photoshop it. Use it "as is."
6. Find a great song and use the lyrics as your journaling
7. Crumble, fold and crunch your paper (right now this is my fav technique)
8. Make your own felt embellishments
9. Stack your buttons
10. Cut strips of paper to bend and fold -- get creative.

Hugs and blessings to you,
W-

It is a PAAAAAAAAARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPER TRUNK!!!!!! That's right Paper Trunk turns 1 year old today. To celebrate this important milestone the Paper Trunk team has lots of games, challenges and prize giveaways planned. So, hop, skip, or run over to PAPERTRUNK and check out all of the activities.





To celebrate Paper Trunk's birthday I created some birthday cards. Leave a comment and you may be selected to win some Paper Trunk goodies.



Later
w-

Papertrunk goodness and layers of scraps

Have you checked out the Papertrunk papers yet? The latest newsletter gives you a great sample of all the papertrunk goodness and lots of creative ideas. Here is a page that I created for the newsletter.

The newsletter includes a tutorial on how to make the chipboard buttons that are on the layout above and the rest of the trunk team contributions really rock, too. So check out the newsletter!

Most recently I have wanted to make pages that are very layered and full of texture. I really love these "bulky" layouts and have found that I am totally addicted to Jenni Bowlin's Bingo cards. They are to die for and can be used whole or cut up as I have done.




So, pull out all of your paper scraps and get to layering. We are "scrap"bookers after all.

What an amazing weekend!

WOW!!!!! I have had a great weekend. I started scrapbooking on Friday night and did not stop until Sunday afternoon. Talk about FUN! Here are a few pics of my Friday night crop. All of the ladies I cropped with were wonderful and so giving of ideas. In the end, I know we did more laughing than scrappin' - but hey that is what it is all about. Thanks Yall!!!!


The Friday night crop was a great way to kick off the NSD weekend and after a few hours of sleep I rose early to attend the all day (hour by hour) virtual crop at SISTV. All of the SIS Fashionistas hosted great hourly challenges. Here is a look at some of the challenge pages I created.




I REALLY hope everyone had a great National Scrapbooking weekend and I can't wait to see what you created.
W-

Thanks Nana and Poppy

Here are pics of your grandson enjoying his new birthday boots and fireman raincoat.
ENJOY!!!!





HAPPY NATIONAL SCRAPBOOKING DAY TO ALL SCRAPPY SISTERS!!!!!!
LUV YA
W-

Look who is 3!!!!!!

That is right -- my baby boy turned 3 this past weekend. I am so happy and yet sad at the same time. My baby is growing up! :(
To celebrate this milestone, I visited his pre-K class on Friday. I read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to his class and then I show them how to make caterpillars. I brought precut foam circles and showed the wee-ones how to glue the circles on their foam"paper" to create caterpillars. It was a blast to work on a craft project with twelve 2 and 3 year olds. The energy in the room was out of this world. After the project Langston and I shared a special snack with his classmates -- sliced strawberries and bananas topped with whipped cream and sprinkles - AKA a strawberry and banana sundae.

After a morning of fun with Langston's Montessori class, he and I headed to meet daddy for some special one-on-one time. It is so rare that Langston has my DH and me all to himself -- so this was really nice. I think Langston enjoyed the attention.



Saturday was the big day -- Birthday Party DAY!!!! We decided to host Langston's party at J.W. Tumbles which is sort of like a My Gym or Gymboree but a little better I think. They did an excellent job of anticipating all of our needs and were wonderfully attentive to the birthday boy and all of his tiny guests.



Sunday -- I DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING (except scrapbook). I never got out of my pajamas.
Marvelous.

While in my pajamas on Sunday, I decided to play around with some of my scraps and do a little reorganization of my scrap "closet." (I'll have to share a pic soon) I discovered that I have a lot (too much) of negative alpha chipboard. Out of my mammoth pile of chipboard scraps I created a home decor item and repurposed the others as stencils. If you did not know, or have not tried it yet, negative chipboard makes incredible stencils. Given that I have so many 'fonts' I thought it best to alphabetically organize them so that they are easily accessible.



Below are two of the pages I created using my "recycled" stencils -- one has a fat "font" and the other skinny.



Have a FANTABULOUS Tuesday!!!!!
W-

Play with your photographs

I would love to buy Photoshop but it is very expensive and I have other more pressing expenses at the moment. Fortunately, a fellow scrapper told me about FREE Photoshop Express. Whoopee! I love this free little tool. It is super easy to use and allows me to make some really incredible adjustments to my photos. Check out below to see what you can do with your photographs.

The original pic:


Photoshop pics:




I can not wait to use some of these "edited" pics on my pages or in a cute mini-album. Check back soon to see what I create.

Be well and full of joy,
Wendi

Create outside of your comfort zone

I have had a lovely weekend and I got A LOT of scrappin' done. I have always been a 12x12 scrap-artist (occasionally dabbling in the 6x12 world) but never thought that a 3 1/2 by 2 1/2 canvas would be enough space. But it was! I love ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) and had oodles of fun creating a few this weekend. I ordered my 7 Gypsies card holder and cards on Monday and they arrived on Friday just in time for me to PLAY. So...check out my layouts and ATCs. I think the big lesson for me is that I do not need a lot of space to express myself creatively. I would challenge all of you to take a chance and create something that is a little outside of your comfort zone. You just might be pleasantly surprised.

My ATCs




My layouts