Coping through Crafting

So, while I was home for two weeks recovering I completely overdosed on projects. It was wonderful- how can I make money and do that? Here are some of the things I finished up.
I started this quilt two summers ago. I had been collecting fabrics for it since I got married (yes folks, five years!). My mom and I pieced together the top summer of 2008. The plan was that I would quilt it at home using an embroidery hoop. Well I tried. I took it on three road trips and got about 15 blocks done. In the meantime my mom purchased a quilting machine and offered to help me quilt it up that way. Well it was hard, I'd already put all this time an energy into and would now have to pick it all out! Then I found out I was pregnant so I was like, "This is ridiculous. If you don't finish this quilt before the baby comes, you never will." So I took it on yet, another, road trip and ripped out all the quilting. Over fall break my mom and I put it on her machine and I quilted it in 2 hours- 2 hours!!!! All I had left to do was bind it, and with my track record that could take 2 years (my problem is I never sit still long enough to do handwork, I have a thing called ADD, I swear). Well, while I was in the hospital, my mom brought it with her thinking I could work on it there- except I was so drugged up and my head was below my feet that wasn't a good plan. But once I came home from the hospital, my mom came over and showed me how to bind (again, I've made other quilts, it'd just been a while, a Miamaid Evening in Excellence project I think...) and I finished it up. Now it's done and gladly resides in our family room and with the weather finally cooling off it's getting used too!
This one officially got finished November 1- do you think that stopped it from having a reign of the front door- NO! I left it up until the 15th.

I had big intentions of making this one before the holiday, well I couldn't find any 4th of July fabric I liked until August. I am all ready for next summer!
I got roped into helping with Super Saturday this year. This was one of the projects I was in charge of. The others were holiday cards and tags- way cute too, just no photos.
I bought these wooden pumpkins in Utah this summer. They didn't get finished until November 10th, so they'll just have to wait until next year to be unveiled. I used up my Halloween scraps and love how they turned out!

To adhere or not to adhere...

As an avid scrapbooker I have very STRONG feelings about adhesive. Here are common concerns:

1. How much are the refills?
2. How long do they last?
3. How well do they adhere? If I mail someone a card I made, is it going to fall apart when they open the envelope?
4. How easy is it to apply?

I've had some pretty bad experiences with a few adhesives that should remain nameless because I'm not one for official mudslinging. I tend to mudsling only "off the record." I think my blog is very much "on the record." Basically, I hate ones with refills that unfeed themselves. I hate ones that won't apply well and you have to keep fighting it.

As I've evolved as a scrapbooker, so has my adhesive selection. Some of my recent favorites are:

1. My ATG Gun. LOVE IT! I pretty much use it on just about everything and my friend just found refills on EBay for super cheap! Yippee!
2. The Xyron X. I have a bigger one too, but I feel like it is too wasteful. The X is perfect for little stuff. I remember seeing an infomercial that Lisa Bearnson did about Xyron and I thought it was the dumbest idea ever- then I used one- oh boy! Heaven sent.
3. Scotch Quickdry Adhesive. I use this on fine detail work or chipboard stuff. My friend Melanie referred me to it and sometimes I joke with her that it's probably just watered down Elmer's glue with a much higher price tag on it.
4. Zots. Right now I have some in all of their sizes, but I tend to use the tiny ones and medium ones the most. I use them on flowers, ribbons, and other detailed things that need stronger adhesive.

Those pretty much meet all of my adhesive needs with all of my projects.

Last night I had a Stampin Up cards class and needed to bring my own adhesive and scissors. I packed them up on Thursday night and then left the bag at home Friday morning. I realized I forgot about 10 min from home and thought about turning around but then realized I could probably just pick up some adhesive somewhere before the class.

I ran through my mind of all of my options: a scrapbook store (too expensive), Michaels/JoAnns/Hobby Lobby (not one nearby, and didn't have a coupon on me- and I never pay full price for something like that there) or Wal-Mart (right on the way to her house and cheap). So I headed to Wal-Mart's scrapbook aisle. Well, I got there and saw a few adhesive options for $6! $6! I didn't even NEED one (see, I have 4 very feasible options listed above) and I just had to have one for a few hours! I couldn't use glue sticks (the affordable option) because I was making cards and I'm too stingy with my glue sticks so there is no way I was going to wrestle with glue sticks all night long on 10 different cards.

Then I saw one (Ad-Tech) for $3.50. Definitely cheaper than $6, but still more than I wanted to spend. But I didn't have any choice- otherwise I'd have to pay my consultant for whatever SU was trying to convince me to pay for something I could get at JoAnns with a coupon. They had a runner option and a dots option. I thought I'd try out the dots option as I never had before. I LOVED it! It was totally agreeable and pretty decent adhesive. I now have a backup! My friend said that apparently Oriental Trading Co also sells them. Who knows how long the refills last, but for last night, that little purple tool saved my hiney! Thought I'd share the info!

Overhaulin' the blog

So, rather than work on the projects I have piling up in my scrapbook room and overflowing into the living room, I decided to redo my blog! I made my new title- even though I don't like it as much as my Dialing life one, I am pretty happy with it. (I am loving PSE 7!) Hopefully I can keep it around for a while before I get an itch to update it. Enjoy!

Mini Book Fiesta!

I have been on a mini book binge. I offered to make some mini books for a friend for a fundraiser. I ended up making over 20 of them! I can't seem to stop... As a result, I've decided to start trying to sell some. So, if you're interested or know someone who is, send them my way. I can make them for just about any reason in the whole wide world: family, baby, birthday, beach, vacation, family, etc. They make great gifts, coffee table books, bookshelf books, and more!

Tag Swaps

After scanning in my tags, I realized that apparently they are too dimensional-ly and don't scan well. Just pretend they aren't so blurry- I promise they are adorable in person!

July- I got the rhinestone tattoos in the $1 section at Target along with the button too. I got that star ribbon a long time ago and it worked perfectly for this project!

August- I can't explain it but August makes me think of pink and green, like watermelons. I don't even like watermelons! But I went with it and used the colors on the tag. I was so excited to use the pink and white flowers that I got a few months ago at Hobby Lobby. The phrase on the side is "Sweet Summer- Aug 09."September- I know that as a Chandler employee school actually starts in July. And I know that in all of Arizona, and most of the US all students are back in school by August. But, I don't like it! I don't like it one bit! So I rebelled and did my back to school tag in September, the way it should be! I had to freehand my apple because there wasn't a die cut with it small enough. Not too happy with how it turned out- but, oh well.
And, those will be my last tags because of similar reasons to me taking a break from swaps. It was fun while it lasted!

Been Busy Swappin'!

So based on this blog it looks like I've done nothing all summer. But, trust me, I have! Here are some photos of the swaps I've been working on. And there are even more I didn't snap photos of.
This was for a summer swap. The only thing I made was that little mini book in the corner. The theme was "Bright Sun-Shiny Day." Throughout the book were the lyrics.
So this was for a Scrapbook Page Around the World swap. You were supposed to take photos around your city and scrapbook them. Uh, what exactly would I take pictures of in Queen Creek? So I just did a page of the Grand Canyon. Since that is one thing in AZ you can't miss!

This was a 4th of July paper bag album. Inside was the lyrics to "You're a Grand Old Flag." Obviously, my pictures are horrible, but it was so cute in person! This was actually my favorite swap to receive. I have really received a lot of duds; to the point where I'm going to take a break from swaps. I'm tired of putting all this time and energy into them and getting back something Toby could have made better.

This was for another summer swap. You were supposed to send a "summer treat" with a summer mix. My CD mix rocked (let me know if you want a copy!) and my album rocked (notice the theme from the earlier one, I made two of it just different colors). In return, I got a CD with Lithuanian music and a plastic bug, really, no joke, I don't make this stuff up.

This was my 4th of July card. Pretty dang cute, huh? I made about 10 of them once all was said and done. These flowers are my favorites in the whole world to put on a page or a card. They are so dimensional! I actually saw one in real life, (no, not in Arizona, silly!), at Temple Square. They are just as pretty in real life too!

I also did a color swap that I didn't take any pictures of and a few CD swaps. But as I said before, so long swaps! I'm sick of getting jilted. So, if you get a nice surprise in the mail it's because I had to get out some creative energy and had no swap to send it to!

Easter Project Completed

A few days after Easter I was roaming Hobby Lobby and saw the most adorable Easter fabric, on clearance. So I decided I would make myself an Easter wreath. I cut all of the stuff and then just got around to it while camping this last weekend. Great project to take camping because you can talk and tie!I took this up close shot so you could see the two inspiration fabrics. I love the little chickies! I bought some more fabric to maybe use it in a baby quilt for someone.

Originally the plan was to finish it right after Easter and still hang it on the door in May (still spring, you know), but now it is definitely June and totally summer, so I'll just have to hang onto it until next year. Oh well!

Happy Birthday, Susan!

So my friend Susan had a birthday over a month ago. And I'm just now getting to posting the pictures, sorry- blame school! I should be the most dutiful blogger now, I promise (until I go back to school). Her family had pictures taken last fall, so I made her a little album to post all of the pictures in easily and quickly. Here's how it turned out.

And who am I kidding, I don't have time or the patience to upload all of the pages, so I'll pick a few of my favorites to share. Basically the entire book was red, blue and tan. There was a page with the first letter for each of your children's photos and one for her and her honey.


Materials of choice for this project were the Cricut (I tried out the deep cut housing and blade, not too impressed), ribbon and paper already on hand (yippee!), cropadile, and chipboard.

Updated holiday signs

So these are the two hanging in my house right now.

I try to be a bit pre-emptive on hanging them up, since I'm so slow in taking them down...

Tags, Tags, Tags!

So a month or so ago, I signed up on the Lipstick and Laundry blog to participate in a little tag swap. I'm committed for three months and wanted to share the tags I've come up with to send to my group partners (one's in GA and one's in UT).

This one was for April. I actually got the idea for these bunny ears in a card magazine a few years ago, and they've just stuck around for other cards and tags and signs and all sorts of Easter ideas.

Next, we have May's tag. May's kind of a weird month in Arizona. The only thing going on is that it's getting hotter. No incredible flowers (Since there aren't any April showers...), nothing exciting to talk about. So I just went generic and was really happy with it. I was also excited to use my liquid glass on it.

The last tag is June. I think I love that tag the most- I love how the colors turned out. I got the idea for the shape and colors on a scrapbook page in a magazine last month. I changed the slogan and shapes a little bit, but mostly it looks the same.

To sell or not to sell?

This post is really directed at anyone who knows anything about Etsy, or about selling your own projects. Lately, I've been thinking about setting up my own Etsy shop. I've always wanted to sell the stuff I make. I've tried to a few times in the past, but it's never gone well. I would love to make money scrapbooking or cardmaking for people, I just never make the effort to make it happen. I probably should have done it while I still lived in CA, as they are much more likely to pay someone to do that than Arizonans.

The overall issues with that are:
1. How much do you charge? You have to charge enough to make some sort of profit, but be low enough that people would pay you to do it.
2. Do you charge per project or supplies + time to complete?
3. Often times people who pay someone to scrapbook have no clue how long it would take to scrapbook something, so hourly probably wouldn't work. They also probably have NO CLUE how much it costs to even make a scrapbook. So they wouldn't understand that either.
4. I know the way to find customers is by word of mouth. So I really just need to find one good customer with some good friends who would also want my business.

Now that I've started making some other things: advent calendar, wreath, banners, etc. I'm trying to think if I should do something like Etsy. But that also comes with some issues.

Here are my Etsy concerns:
1. The only people who know about Etsy are people who make things for Etsy and therefore wouldn't necessarily want to buy my stuff.
2. How much profit would I really make? You have to pay Etsy 3%, you pay PayPal 3%, but you have to be reasonable enough for people to buy the stuff, too... That then brings in all earlier basic selling your skills questions too.
3. Etsy might solve some of the customer concerns though...

So, here's what I want to know. Those of you who know me, or don't know me but know Etsy or know selling your own stuff, what do you think? What are your comments/points about the whole process? Is it worth it? What do you recommend? And for the rest of you, thanks for listening to my ramblings...

Wreath

When Jason and I first moved to Arizona, the lady I visit taught had the most wonderful wreath for her door made all of ribbons. I loved it! I told myself, that some day I would make myself a wreath like that. From looking at hers, I could tell that it took a TON of ribbon and would be no affordable project to create it. So I just put it on my shelf or projects "to come." Then my friend Taina showed me this valentine garland she bought from Etsy. It had fabric, ribbon and toole on it. I totally loved it and it renewed my commitment to make my own wreath. So I took ideas from both the garland and ribbon wreath and made this!

I picked a focus print, which you can't really see well in the wreath, but it's black background with a whole lot of colored flowers on it. Then I bought a few other mono-color prints to go with it and some toole. All of the ribbon, I already had. Oh, and I bought the wire frame in Utah over Spring Break. Here's what it looks like on my front door.
(Please don't look closely at my dusty door- it's been really windy lately and I have issues with doing outside chores.) After finishing it up, here's what I've learned about this project. It doesn't take as much fabric as I thought it would. Also, I would stick to only a few colors in a focus print. I think mine is a bit too busy. Taina's valentine garland is all red, white and pinks, so I would stick with an easy pair or trio like that. Maybe I'll make some different holiday ones- however, I do already have holiday door hangers for the year....so we'll see. Overall, though, I'm pretty darn happy with how it looks!

Another Colette gift

So, I decided to make her a little scrapbook album for all of the pictures she'll take this weekend. I got the color scheme from some Paper Studio stickers that I got from Hobby Lobby that were about turning 30. It turned out so cute, and all she'll have to add is the pictures and some journaling.

Colette's Birthday Gift

So remember that late niter I went to last month? Well, here is what I made!

It's an advent calendar for my friend Colette. Basically, she could use it for any sort of special day- anniversary, birthday, a holiday, summer, spring break, you get the picture. It's made from a square shaped muffin tin. (She actually bought it at Target last fall for a Christmas advent calendar, but then decided to use something else, so she left it with me. I decided to decorate it and give it back to her!) So behind each number there's space for candy or a note or something small.

You can see from this picture the size of the tins. The little covers are magnetic so they can easily be removed. I think it turned out great and I know she will love it!

Her birthday is actually the 16th, but I won't be in CA until today to give her her gift. Happy birthday, Colette!

Tutorial: Banner Addiction

I blame Taina, she introduced me to these adorable banners, and now I'm hooked. She made hers with diecuts from our LSS, but I figured out I have everything I need to make them on my wonderful Cricut Expression! Yippee! (Honey, that's reason #429 why I had to have one)

Supplies

• 12x12 coordinated cardstock and printed paper (cuz I have an Expression- you can get 4 shapes per paper of the big scallop, so you can plan from there based on how long your title is)
• Storybook cartridge
• Mini Monograms cartridge
• Cricut
• Ribbon
• Crop-a-dile

** for the sake of this tutorial, each piece of the full banner will be called a unit. I will give directions for one unit and then you just duplicate it for each letter of your title.

Mini Monograms Cuts-
ALL CUTS MUST BE MADE FROM "REAL DIAL SIZE."
1. Cut out a 5 1/4" scallop circle the back for the unit. [I've made banners with all scallop circles, or with a mix of cirlces and scallop squares, it is up to you, just keep in mind that if you mix it up, all shapes have to be mixed up.] [Depending on the thickness of your paper, you might have to back everything with chipboard. It also matters whether or not you want this to be a permanent banner, or a temporary one. With Sarah's I just made sure the printed papers had a cardstock behind them to make them heavier. With one I made yesterday, they all have chipboard behind]
2. Cut out a 4 1/4" circle for the second unit layer. [this would be the square shape, if you did squares]
3. Cut out a 4" circle for the third unit layer. [this is usually where I use the print]
**you can use any size really, just keep the ratios about the same.

Storybook Cuts
1. Cut out your banner title at 3 1/2" in an easy to read cardstock [I usually use a dark color for this, so it's easy to read against your prints. I've done some where the color is the same for the whole title, or with the Sarah May one, I mixed up the colors, it makes it just a little more challenging when putting everything in order to change up the colors]
2. Cut out your banner's shadow at 3 1/2" in a lighter cardstock [I have always used white, it really helps it pop.]

Finishing it off
1. I usually play around with order before I glue anything down. You want to make sure you don't have two of the same prints next to each other or two of the same backgrounds, etc.
2. Glue pieces together.
3. Lay them next to each other and then use your Cropadile to punch holes on the sides of each unit.
4. Use ribbon to attach units together.
5. Use longer pieces of ribbons on the ends of the entire banner to provide an attaching part.

If any of that is unclear, let me know. I can clarify.

Craft Time in Utah

I just got back from Utah yesterday and had a great visit with my Aunt Nancy and her family. (See my family blog for more details) While I was there, my cousin Sarah turned 8. I just so happened to bring my Cricut with me to show my aunt all of the wonderful things it could do, so I used it to put together a banner for Sarah's bedroom. I picked up some paper from Archiver's (boy, is that store cool!) and then used some solids from my aunt's stash. I think it turned out great. For whatever reason I didn't take a picture of it up in the bedroom, but just rest assured, it looked adorable!

Ben wanted to be in the picture, so I let him. I think he was the most fascinated with the Cricut. Here's a close up one too.
Darn blogger- I can't get it to load the picture the right way, so pretend this looks right.

Photo Shoot Giveaway

So I was blog hopping around to show my husband some of our friends' blogs and I came across a photo shoot giveaway that a friend of one of my friends is doing. And, since I've been thinking about wanting to do something like this with Jason, I figured I'd give it a shot. Check out her blog by tomorrow night at 11:59 and you can sign up too!

St. Patricks Day Swap

I got a wonderful surprise in the mail today! My St. Patrick's Day Swap. I can't wait to use all of my fun goodies. I already have big plans for the St. Patrick's Day stamps for cards for my Beehives...

March Scrapbook Club

So, I host a club with some of my sister's friends once a month. We make a 12x12 layout and three cards. It's a lot of fun and I've made some cool new friends. Usually I make just the cards with some friends at work, but with spring intersession right in the middle of the month, we'll be skipping card club this month. Here is what is on for March's club.

Late Niter

Last night me and some friends from my ward (and my last ward) went to Scrapbooks Etc. for the late niter. We had a great time. Of course, I didn't get to all of the projects I brought, but the ones I did get to turned out great. I wish I could show all my stuff, but one project is a gift for a friend, so I'll future date it and it'll pop up by the time she should have seen it. But I can show my gift for my St. Patrick's Day swap. It seems like she doesn't have a blog, so I'm hoping she won't check out mine. I'm mailing it off tomorrow, so if she does see it, oh well! The surprise will be a few days early.

The paper I used wasn't even supposed to be St. Patrick's Day, but the stuff they did have left, uh, something to be desired. So I found this line and thought it worked great! My friend Taina (the creative genius she is!) came up with the title and I die cut all of the shamrocks at the store. The hope is she'll fill it with pictures and I included little tags that say "I'm so lucky for..." So on one side she can journal about the special thing and on the other she can stick a picture. I do have more pictures of it, but don't have the patience to load them, so I'll just put in one picture of a page. If you want to see more let me know and I'll email them to you.

It is so cute in person and I'm so proud of how it turned out. I hope she loves it!

Separation of Church and State

After a few weeks of pondering and some deep discussions with my blogging mentor (my aunt), I've decided to start another blog that is just my crafting stuff. This way, I have a clear separation of family and my hobbies. I'm not sure if I have enough exciting things that are just family related to post, but I'm going to try. And those of you out there in blogging land are more than welcome to check both blogs if the other one starts to bore you! Happy blogging!