New Year's Card

I had to send something to a friend so I decided to make a Happy New Year card to enclose it. Then I thought I'd make the same one for my inactive visiting teaching girl and then I thought I might as well make some for my sisters too!

The inside says "Happy New Year!"

January's Scrapbook Club

This is the holiday page we are making at scrapbook club this week.

I'm sorry the scan and stitch was bad. Oh well! I swear it's beautiful in real life.

January's Card Club

These are the three cards we made at Card Club last week.



I think my favorite is the adore one. I got to use two Cricut cartridges I hadn't gotten to yet: Home Decor (adore) and Sweethearts (cupid).

Scrapbooking Weekend

I just came back from a scrapbooking weekend. I had a great time! I'll try to get some pictures up here of what I worked on when I get a chance.

Finishing a few projects

So, now that I've had two weeks to get all caught up on everything, plus the three weeks back in November, I am totally caught up! I officially have no photos that need to be scrapbooked. So I've been making cards, so many that I have to start handing them out to anyone who stops by for a visit (hint, hint). Well, I started these over a year ago and finally finished them up today. I ended up "shrinking" them down so that they wouldn't take up as much space as originally planned- I think they turned out pretty nice! Spring and Freedom stand on their own, but Summer can hang. Don't mind the lousy photos, I took them with my phone and texted them to my email. And don't mind the lovely shots of my messy scrap room...

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!