The Ring

Wow! The time is flying by. I definitely wanted to stop in and post a pic or two of my gorgeous ring. Caleb did a wonderful job getting this ring and I'm in awe of it. So, without further ado, my ring!

 Since I've gotten engaged, every waking moment has been dedicated to either work or antique shopping. Caleb and I have decided to go with a shabby chic vintage wedding. So, I'm running around to all the antique stores around to find porcelain china and milk glass vases. I've found a lot of cute things.

Alrighty! That's just a little sneak peek at some of the goodies that I've found. I'm just a bubbly ball of joy right now. I think I might have to take a little break from scrapping for a bit until I can calm down. I'm just so distracted lately and I can't focus on anything else for too long!

Blessings - Bo Bunny 'Forever Fall'

Hello everyone! It's been quite the crazy month. First off, big news. I'm ENGAGED! My wonderful boyfriend of 3 years, Caleb, proposed this weekend. Both of our families are thrilled. Caleb actually went the old fashioned way and asked for my father's permission (which he was more than happy to give). I've been looking at this beautiful ring ever since and thanking God for this wonderful event in my life.

On to this month's mini album! When Bo Bunny released images of 'Forever Fall' at CHA, I fell completely head over heels. I love the bold, rich colors of it. The deep reds, golden oranges, and vibrant aqua just seemed to pop out at me. As soon as I could, I bought one of everything. I knew I wanted something that could be set out for Thanksgiving, so it needed to be able to be completed before Thanksgiving actually arrived. So I opened up my old photo folder and grabbed a couple of pictures that spoke the most to me. I did a page on friends, love, puppies, family, and creativity. What resulted was such a rich colored mini album that looked great on the table.

Sizzix - Tim Holtz Alterations - Chip Block, Sizzix - Tim Holtz - Autumn Gatherings, Sizzix - Tim Holtz  Alterations - Elegant Flourishes, Sizzix - Tim Holtz Alterations - Tattered Leaves, Sizzix - Tim Holtz Alterations - Frame,Hanging w/Scallops, Bo Bunny - Forever Fall - Dimensional Stickers, Bo Bunny - Forever Fall - Noteworthy Die-cuts Journaling & Shapes, Bo Bunny - Forever Fall - Cardstock Stickers, Bo Bunny - Forever Fall - 12 x12 Collection Pack, Tim Holtz - Fall 2011 Seasonal Distress Ink Set Limited Edition

I used all Bo Bunny papers and embellishments for this mini album. The small leaves and letters were all cut out using the Vintaj Sizzix and assorted die cuts. I used the Cinch to bind my mini album and some ribbons from Michaels. I also used Tim Holtz's seasonal distress ink in Broken Twig to go around all the edges of the mini album. I loved adding the burlap fabric and twine that my FMIL had in her stash. I hope everyone enjoyed this mini album and I hope you all get a chance to get your hands on these gorgeous papers!

The Pumpkin Thief - American Crafts

Hello everyone! Hope everyone is enjoying their November now. I'm back with the second part of my pumpkin carving. While Morgan and I were carving pumpkins, Jada thought she could sneak away with our scraps. Unfortunately for her, Donna was snapping away at her with the camera. Some really cute pictures surfaced with the evidence (and a lot of tongue showing).

I used the American Crafts Nightfall collection again. I love the use of blue tone in these pages. It's so fun and unexpected. I inked all the edges with Tim Holtz's Broken Twig ink. I think that's one of his best browns. It's got a red undertone so it comes across so warm. I stitched a zig zag stitch around the edges with brown thread. Sewing on your layouts gives it such a beautiful dimension. I'm really glad that I worked up the courage to try it.

I chose one of the pictures as a focal photo because it showed the carved pumpkin as well as Jada sneaking off with some pumpkin in her mouth. I wanted to draw attention to the little bandit, but I didn't want to cover any of the picture, so Chipboard was out. I looked at the outside stitching and thought it would be cute to stitch around her. I brought the star shape out from the background paper and used different shades of brown thread. It's one of my favorite parts of this page now.

The letters where so cool! I loved the thin weight of the letters and how tall they were. They did not want to cooperate, however. Every time I use letter stickers I always turn them sticky side up and arrange them how I want them to go. When I'm pleased with the look, I'll flip them over and secure them down. These, however, did not want to go sticky side up. They wanted to tangle on each other or stick to me. So, for the first time ever, I had no choice but to just stick them down with no rearranging. The journaling was written with an ink pen. I like the juxtaposition of the tall letters with the small cursive journaling.

I hope everyone had enjoyed this layout today. I'm really proud of this one and I can honestly say it's one of my favorites now. I love the Nightfall collection. I've saved enough of it to make a Thanksgiving layout later on. I hope you all enjoy your Monday and make sure to come back and see me. :)

Happy Mischievous Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! I have some big news. First up, we have a new puppy. Her name is Chloe and she's quite the handful. We've had Jada for over 4 years, so we've forgotten just how difficult training a pup can get. It's always hard to get up at midnight to take the puppy outside. But she's just as adorable as a button and we can't get enough of her. We're trying to make sure that Jada still gets enough love so she doesn't feel left out either.

Well, here's a mini that I made for Halloween this year. If you've read my last post, then you know that I am determined to have some Halloween fun. I haven't put any pictures in it yet (because I'm not done with my fun) but I thought I'd go ahead and show you all before Halloween was over. This was also special for me because it's my first ever post as a blog contributor to Outstanding Mini Albums.

***Warning! I'm heavy on the pics this time!***

The My Mind's Eye-Mischievous collection was so much fun to work with! The colors were so unusual and quirky. It's very spooky but not scary. Can't wait to do more with it. I died the baker's twine on the front by spraying it with water and wiping it with the Ripe Persimmon ink. I used glossy accents to secure it down. All the flowers are Prima that were stained with Tim Holtz's Black Soot. I hope you all enjoyed this mini album.

Supplies Used: My Mind's Eye - Mischievous - 12x12 pack, My Mind's Eye - Mischievous - 6x6 pack, Binding - We R Memory Keepers' The Cinch, 3L Adhesives - 3D foam squares, Divine Twine - Green Apple, DCWV - Shimmer Cardstock Envelopes-Silver, Ribbon - Hobby Lobby, Tsukineko Staz On Jet Black Ink, Tim Holtz's Distress Ink - Ripe Persimmon, Tim Holtz's Distress Stain - Black Soot, Prima - Wildflowers Pillar Pack Collection, Ranger Industries - Glossy Accents

Our Pumpkins-American Crafts Nightfall

When I was younger and still living at home, I used to trick-or-treat every year. It was something that I would look forward to all year and would plan in great detail. Then, when I got a little older, I began decorating the house. You could see our house for miles around. But once I hit 16, it was no longer considered 'appropriate' for me to trick-or-treat so I just focused all my attention on decorating. Now that I don't live at home anymore, I don't have a house to decorate. It almost feels as if Halloween is now out of my reach. So I made up my mind this year. I decided that I would do everything I could to enjoy Halloween. So my friend Morgan and I tried our hand at pumpkin carving. I was loads of fun and definitely something to put in the scrapbook album.

Nightfall "Autumn Gathering", Nightfall "Fall Colors", Nightfall "Fall Fun", Nightfall Fabric Brads, Nightfall Orchard Details Layered Embellishments, Nightfall Spice Delights Embellishments, Nightfall Harvest Moon Patch 'ems,  Nightfall Maple Black Puffy Thicker Stickers, Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Gathered Twigs, Ranger's Glossy Accents

There are a couple of Halloween lines out there that I just can't get enough of. American Crafts' "Nightfall" collection is one of them. The Nightfall collection has two parts to it. One part is mostly fall and the other is mostly Halloween. Since I knew I wouldn't be trick-or-treating any time soon, I bought the fall side. It still worked really well with my photos and theme. I love the light tone of blue that this kit uses. It's such an unexpected punch of color.

I love the little rosettes that I got, but I really wanted to find a place to use the Jack-o-lantern brad. So I removed the little black button that originally came with it and replaced it with the brad using glossy accents to secure it. The thicker letters are so cute and fun. I love the skinny yet tall feel of them. The only thing is, it's a bit of a pain trying to arrange your stickers without sticking them down. All the letters just wanted to tangle on each other. I finally had to just push them aside and stick them down without any guide or arranging beforehand.

I cut strips from the Fall Colors paper to make a border around both pages. I am just in love with these colors! The little black owl patch brought over the black from my photos and title from the other page. A little bit of leaf garnish and I was done. I made sure to run all the edges using Tim Holtz's "Gathered Twigs" ink. I absolutely love his seasonal colors. Make sure to grab some because they won't be around for too long. They will not be added to his regular colors. I hope everyone enjoyed this layout. It's been a while since I've done a two page layout, but I really had fun.

Shake It

Hi there everyone! I've been having a blast this fall. I'm sad to say that our fall will end in 2 days. :(  It's about to drop into the 50s here. But, I was lucky enough to hop outside and grab some really cute pictures of Jada before that happens! I had my camera set on "action" mode with continuous shooting selected. All I had to do was hold the button down and it would keep taking pictures. I had to laugh when I saw this succession of shots. Jada decided to shake when I was taking pictures and I caught the step-by-step of it.

 The three pictures were the starting point of my layout. The yellow and green colors of the pictures lined up perfectly with this cute woodland paper from Paper Studio that I've been trying to find a reason to use. I just love the cute Bambi feeling of it.

To continue with the homespun look of the papers, I used brown thread to make a border around my page and highlight fun little areas. I used a fiskar's scalloped border punch on a cute orange paper from Imaginisce to help my photos stand out a little more. The edges were inked with Tim Holtz's distress inks in the new fall collection colors.

I hope you enjoyed my layout! I can't help but smile when I look at it. I also hope that you follow my blog and a big thank you if you already do! See y'all soon. :)

Supplies Used:
Chipboard Letters-The Paper Studio
Inks-Tim Holtz's Distress Ink in fall colors
Papers-The Paper Studio and Imaginisce

Day 7: The last Day

Today I have a nutty little treat bag for you today. No, really... it's full of nuts!

I thought it would be fun to make a goody bag. I filled it with Pumpkin seeds, almonds, and pistachio nuts. I debated whether to put them in a clear bag or a brown bag. The brown bag just looked a little more 'fall-ish' to me. Once again, I dived into my scrap stash. (This whole week has worked wonders on my scrap stash!)

Firstly, I cut a piece of scrap paper to fit the size of the bag top. I then went around the edges with a Fiskar's punch. I dug around for some brown lace that I bought from Hobby Lobby. I wrapped it around and tied it in a bow on top.

The sentiment was typed using Adobe Illustrator and then punched out with a 1 1/4 punch. I then backed it with the Glassine paper and some more scrap stash.

I hope everyone enjoyed this fun little treat bag today. Maybe this is something that might be fun for the family to make together before a nature walk this fall? Or maybe you just want to bring a smile to some co-workers? No matter what you use them for, they will definitely make your day a little nutty.

Day 6: Tag it!

Hello everyone! Hope y'all are having fun. For today, I have a quick and fun way to use up that scrap stash. Tags! Tags are such a versitile craft. You can use tags as bookmarks, decorations, and gift tags. Today I have two different tags to show you.

Tag 1

On this tag, I used a stamp from TPS studio stamped with Staz-on ink. I used a little of Tim Holtz's Kraft Glassine paper to give the stamped sentiment a border. The Glassine really was a little tricky because the only thing that would adhere to it was glossy accents. The little pumpkin was cut out from K&Co's fall adhesive borders (I just loved the glitter on it!). Then, I used pop dots and a fiskar's scalloped punch to give it a little 'oomph'. I finished it off by going around the edges with Tim Holtz's distress inks in 'Ripe Persimmon'.

Tag 2

This tag was really fun. I cut a tag out of basic kraft paper with the vagabond that I then covered with Goosebumps. I let that dry and then rubbed on Distress Ink in 'Ripe Persimmon'. Once that dried, I sprayed Goosebumps again. 'Barn Door' was then rubbed around the edges. While that was drying, I used the same 'Barn Door' ink to stamp another TPC stamp. The leaf was made using yellow paper that had been rubbed with the same two distress inks. I added the crackle paint in 'Clear Rock Candy'. Then I went around the edges with Perfect Pearls. I liked the look of the Gold Perfect Pearls so much that I stamped over the background with a leaf stamp and used more on it.

Hope everyone enjoyed this today! I definitely had fun playing with the Glassine paper and the Goosebumps. I'm eventually going to get a hang of this stuff. LOL. Have a safe and happy Thursday and I'll see you all tomorrow!