Couple Stamp Ideas

Stamps, can't get enough.  It's funny because I really never got the whole "stamp" thing ten years ago...  I just used stickers.  I have to say that now I rarely use stickers.  I love stickers, but not for scrapbooking... unless they are really exceptional and can pass a short quiz before being considered for my art.  As far as decorating my calendar and planner and notebooks... stickers are key! Because you may not want Spongebob next to your nephew at his Christening, but you may want him reminding you to go to the dentist.

So anyway, here's a couple things you can do with stamps.

1. Color em in!

The lighthouse was nice looking all in black and white...  but I decided to grab my colored pencils and give it a little color. And then with a felt tip pen, I accented some edges and added some shadow....
 And you thought you'd never color again!

( also, stamping an image a few times on the same page without re-inking it creates a nice effect. You have lighter versions of the same image.... kinda makes a nice background...  ex. the sand dollar and shell images lining the bottom)


2. Cut em out!

The flower shown in the pic on the right was stamped with a couple different colors. (this can be done a few different ways... one being brushing the ink onto the stamp instead of dabbing the stamp onto an ink pad), and then cut out using micro-tip scissors. I know you're saying "WHO THE HECK HAS TIME TO CUT OUT A STAMP WITH MICRO-TIP SCISSORS!"
and my answer to that is, if you want to do something, and you want that something to look as nice as it possibly can in your eyes, you will take one further step in assuring that will happen. If you don't need your project done by tomorrow, then why not do a little tonight and a little tomorrow.  I find sometimes if you leave it unfinished and come back to it the next day, it comes out better because you end up seeing it the next day with fresh eyes and you'll have a better idea of what will make it work.

And if you have those foam stickies, that makes it pop off the page a little ...

Looking forward to some sweet dreams!

G'night all.

New stuffies

Ok...
these are my first crack at stuffed animals so be kind.... ha

I will attempt some more this weekend probably...  but they do have a certain charm...
The elephant (yes, it's an elephant) is a bit awkward...
and the owl (YES, THE OWL)  is kinda....  just a pillow with a face.
but hey, it's great how honest babies/toddlers are.  They just accept things for what they are.  I don't think my daughter has met a stuffed animal yet that she didn't like. So she gladly adopted them into her stuffy family!

I do have some scrappy stuff to post...
just haven't gotten around to the picture taking yet...


So that'll happen once I take a break from sewing machine land.  Who knew it could be so addicting!  And a great activity for insomniacs.
I think I've mentioned this before, but the juices def. flow better when you're tired and inspired.

Nighty!

Blurb.com=LOVE

Here's an idea.
Blurb.com
I was looking for something a bit more special for this Christmas present and I came across Blurb.com on livejournal actually a long time ago.  And it took me a while to actually make a book...  but ya know how the holidays creep up and you get ideas and...  I still have some other projects in the works for them.  But as far as photo books go, I have never had a book come out as excellent as this one.  The pictures just printed so perfect.  Even the digital collages I threw together came out just as they looked on my computer.

This book is 11x 13.  So it's a good size book.  And it's just like a book you'd buy at Barnes and Noble. Hardcover, dust jacket, thick paper....   (there are other options on the site.)

But it was the best money I spent this year. 

 And I'm sure my daughter will enjoy it when she's older too.

So I can't say enough about Blurb.  Love em'.  I even wrote em a thank you note because I was so impressed with the book.  And they wrote a thank you back.. ha...  

Anyway... tis bedtime...

Goodnight friends.

So lame... I am.

So I never got around to posting the banner...  I did finish it a few days later...  
but here I am, posting it now...

I'm actually really happy with the way it came out.  It really just adds exactly what her room needed.
I'm working on another sewy project for her now.  I'll let ya know how that turns out.

I will be catching up on my scrapbook posting.  I've been scrapbooking, just have been shoving it off to the recipients without any photo taking!  The holidays were so crammed my projects were very time sensitive. But now that things have calmed down, I'll be able to post some more...

Sewing itch

I've had a sewing machine... for maybe 4 years now.  But I rarely ever used it.
For some reason lately I can't seem to get enough of it.  And I've started using it a lot in my scrapbooking as well.  Really, that was all I used it for before.  So the occassional straight line stitch across some paper was the extent.

Having said that, I probably don't need to go into the fact that I have little to no sewing experience.
But I decided in my little noggin that I really wanted to make a tote bag for Eleanor.
Ya know how you go to the stores... and you never really find exactly what you're looking for.  There are so many cute bags... but none that scream "I was made for your baby!"
So my mission I set forth upon myself was to make such a bag! One exactly for Eleanor. But really, exactly for me because she really doesn't seem to care what kind of bag I put her stuffed piggy and crocheted vampire from Aunt Shirley in.  She just cares that she can carry it around and take em' out... and put em' back in...  etc...

So I did end up with two bags because the first...  didn't quite come out the way I liked... plus, I was using some scraps of material I had handy instead of looking for something special.  But it's still cute...  just too crooked... and too blue.

But the second bag, I went out and got some canvas and some of those $1 scraps from walmart and I think it came out a lot better.

It's still kinda stringy at spots...  and maybe next time, (if I try for #3) I'll put all three initials, since it now says ED.  hahaha....

I'm also working on a name banner for Eleanor's room.   (once I get all the Eleanor projects out of my system, I'll start expanding a bit...  )

I never really decorated her room with wall stuff, so I thought a sewn banner would look cute.  I'm two letters in, I'll post a pic once it's finished.  But I think it'll be nice... in a sloppy kinda little girl way.  Just wish I named her something shorter!

Digital Yo!

Digital Scrapbooking. 

 I have to say I didn't like the idea at first... but I tried it...   and ya know what.  It really looks great. 

STUDIO J Digital Scrapbooking

These pages were made through Close to my Heart.  The Digital Scrapbooking online is fairly new, but very user friendly and EASY! So it's perfect when you want something quick but that also looks like you spent a few minutes...

I was looking at the embellishments online and wondering how they were gonna look...   but actually, they somehow were able to make them look 3d...  and the pages still have that layered look...

I'm still exploring the Digital Realm of scrapbooking other than this program... so I'll keep ya posted, but for now this is wonderful.  And I'm definitely making some Christmas presents with this.n  And of course some more albums for myself...

 This was a good way to sum up a group of related pics without scrapbooking an entire book for one event...   So click the link up top and give it a try, you might find yourself sucked it like it's bejeweled... ha, coz it's actually a lot of fun as well as productive!

Well, have a good wednesday morning!

HEY! sunday nighters...

So... been blog slacking.. it happens....

So here's that scrapbook I attempted to "make"

It didn't turn out all that bad...
I thought this type of thing might be cool if you wanted to do separate scrapbooks for events or holidays...  For example, if I wanted an entire scrapbook of just Christmas...  I could go hunt some cool Christmas fabric and make a special book.... just a thought...

So anyway,  the stuff I used,  which I kinda mentioned before...

*modge podge
* book board
* material
* batting
* screw posts
* needle and thread
- and that's it!
and I decorated with some buttons and made a loop latch...  so as far as decorating, that's up to you.

I'm not quite finished.  My goal was before her first birthday, which was a month ago...  I got it in a finished "looking" way...  but I need to add some pages...

Here's a couple finished pages...     

I do often go back and throw out pages... it's that whole look at it later and it all of sudden sucks thing that happens.  But generally the pages I end up loving the most are the ones I did the fastest... and usually the latest in the day.. or earliest in the morning. Ya know... like I'd say the magic hours are between midnight and 3am. I recently heard someone say that their "art" comes out at night.  And it's sooo true.  When it's the middle of the night and I'm tired, I get the best results...  

on that note... since I already spent last night staying up waiting for my art to come out... I think tonight I'll just force myself to be in bed at a decent hour...