The Pink of Perfection

When you are worn out from a long day at DisneyWorld, its so nice to have dinner with friends, isn't it? We love Crystal Palace so I have ALOT of photos of our visits and our friends. This design is from my 2 Page Sketch #6 HERE. I used the very Piglety Green at Heart Collection by Basic Grey.

























HOW TO GET HUNNY!

Ahoy captains!

well, they were going to do the Captain Morgan thing, but it didn't quite turn out that way. I have another shot of the boys doing the pose at the marina a couple of years ago. Alex had almost slipped before this photo and he wasn't in the mood for standing on one foot. LOL!

I used my Sketch #21 for this page SEE IT HERE. I used my SCAL and Cricut to cut an anchor and ship's wheel from DCWV white core black cardstock, and then I sanded and inked. I used Basic Grey Marrakech with some American Crafts and older Scenic Route.

Where's the Cheesecake!?

This is my husband and son raiding Minnie's fridge and I think they are looking for CheeseCake! I just love Minnie Mouse's kitchen! It's just fun and unexpected. I love the gust of cool air when you open the fridge, and the utensils rattling on the pots and pans when you turn knobs on the stove. Did you know that you can hear her phone messages if you pick up her telephone? I put an extra photo in a pocket behind the big photo and added journaling to the back.

I used some really cute papers from the Abbey Road and Penny Lane collections by My Mind's Eye. The flowers are my attempt at coordinating with the wallpaper in Minnie's kitchen. I attached them with Helmar Quick Dry Adhesive so that I wouldn't have to use a brad or button to hold them in place. That stuff is too cool.

Thread Flowers!

I was just messing around with Helmar Fabric Stiffener and I made the cutest little flower layers using thread. I mean, they could be flowers on their own and you could layer them to make a flower but I like the contrast in texture with paper.

These are totally simple but you do have to be a bit patient and I am not good at that so I suggest making them at night and plan to do your layout the next day.

1. Pour about a teaspoon of Helmar's Fabric Stiffener into a small dish, and then just puddle some thread carefully to make a circle - you will have to move the thread around to soak it and make a circle shape.





















2. Use a paper towel to take some of the excess liquid out but you still want your thread to be saturated so the flower will be very stiff.

3. Take the flower out of the dish and place it on something like a plastic plate, glass surface, or metal cookie sheet and allow it to dry for a couple of hours. It will work if you put it on wax paper or aluminum foil but to be honest, mine stuck really bad the first time so I switched to a harder surface and I dabbed off a bit more stiffener and it worked great. If you have a nice sunny day, set it outside and it dries FAST.

Now here is my layout using the thread flowers. I just LOVE these new Fancy Pants "Road Show" papers and I had to cut the frame out so that I could attach it to the background with Helmar's ZapDots for dimension. I don't know if the photo really shows it, but in real life its very shadow box like, without being too thick for my album.

All Ears *New Basic Grey Max and Whiskers*

Just look at those Whiskers and Ears! He grew into them well, but he looked so cute when he was little. Savvy was only 11 weeks old in this photo - and also the photo above in my header. I still haven't scrapped that one either. I have always had trouble with the colors of my couches when scrapping, but just look how well this Basic Grey Max and Whiskers collection works with my photo! I just love that it is a pet collection with tons of papers that can be used for anything but also these are colors that pets actually come in! LOL! I have a kitties who are black, white, grey, and pumpkin colors and these papers are actually those colors! You will be seeing alot of the Max and Whiskers collection around here.





















and since I created a cute label for the page, I thought I would share the template with you guys. (the heart was part of a daily challenge at Serendipity Scrapbooks)

happy belated Easter?

Ok, I should have posted these sooner, but to be honest I just didn't get them finished before Easter so then it wasn't a rush. LOL! The papers are a combination of Making Memories "Flutter" and Little Yellow Bicycle "Lucky Me". The bunny, chick, and paper flowers are from Hobby Lobby. I used Helmar Acrylic Sealer to coat all of the paper surfaces as well as the wooden ball knob feet so they will hold up a bit better when I pack them away for the year. All trim, flowers, butterflies, buttons and boxes are attached using the 450 Quick Dry Adhesive. The paper mache eggs and paper flowers are glittered up because Easter has to be sugary sweet. All of the grass and fluffy green ruffle are just crepe paper streamer! Hopefully it will be ok packed away and not discolor too badly - it was just so cute that I had to use it.

Tomato Tree?

As promised, here is the layout with the cool fabric flowers that I made using the Helmar Fabric Stiffener. I also used Helmar ZapDots for dimension and Helmar 450 QuickDry Adhesive to adhere the fibers in a coil for the centers because it really does a fantastic job of holding the fibers there without you having to hold them for 10 min while the adhesive sets up. You know I don't wait. And can you believe how perfect the Cosmo Cricket "Garden Variety" collection is for photos from The Land? Such cute veggie veggies.

I just love the tomato tree at EPCOT's Living with the Land. I love the whole ride, but I want that tomato tree. LOL! I even have an hangy tomato thing in my backyard, but I am certainly not getting 32,000 tomatoes!





If you haven't visited The Land, or just want to go back, here's a little video ride. The tomato tree is about 3/4 of the way thru the ride.

Stained Fabric Flowers tip

This is really a COOL technique and it's the kind that you will want to do over and over. And not only is this easy, but the cool part is that when you are finished, these flowers are very dimensional and totally won't squash in your album. I was about to do this scrapbook page with some Cosmos Cricket "Garden Variety" papers and I wanted to make fabric flowers using some red and white ticking fabric and Helmar Fabric Stiffener. Well, this fabric is just so white and the paper is so not. So I thought of walnut staining it first, but why not do it at the same time?! So here is how it works:

1. Pour about 3 tablespoons of the Fabric Stiffener into a small bowl, sprinkle Walnut stain granules into the stiffener and stir gently with a stir stick.

2. Cut flowers from fabric and completely soak in the stained stiffener.

3. Make small cup shapes from aluminum foil to set the flowers into while they dry.
*Tip: on a sunny day, set them outside to dry very quickly. The flowers will hold this shape when dry. You can still bend the flowers a bit to shape them once dry. Also when you finish your flower, attach it to the layout using Helmar's 450 Quick Dry Adhesive because it works great for flower/fabric to paper glueing and other tough jobs like that.

(It's windy and gloomy out today, so I will share the whole layout as soon as the weather will cooperate a bit - check back :)

Our April Fool

Today is our little April Fool's Birthday. Figaro is a year old today and I got this cute photo so I had to share. He has requested chicken as his gift and possibly a feathered toy to kill. Michelle - tell Buttercup Happy Birthday too. :)

So here he is last May at 5 1/2 weeks old. And today.

Serendipity April I Deserve it All Kit 4 of 4

My last layout from the Serendipity Scrapbooks April I deserve it all kit. If you want this kit, I would hurry! Seriously, its too cute to last long. And yes, I am totally buying more of this product because it was SO fun. I already bought more papers, now I just have to get more of these adorable plastic buttons and pins!

I think this one was the most fun, or maybe I just like it best because the page totally looks like my quilt. The stitched scallop is just a stitch on my machine so don't think I am just THAT GOOD! lol No way could I do those zig zag scallops without help. Another reason for loving my machine! :)

Serendipity April I Deserve it All Kit 3 of 4

Another layout from the Serendipity Scrapbooks April I deserve it all kit. The papers in this kit were making me want to scrap some of the photos that I have printed from the slides Daddy took of me when I was little.

Can you tell I had alot of fun with this one? I know I already posted that Tomorrowland layout with the pennants, but this was actually my first pennant layout and I am hooked. I know everyone is doing it, but it's just too much fun! And can you believe I have all of this on the page and still have 4 photos? Pretty cool.

Serendipity April I Deserve it All Kit 2 of 4

More Kit Reveal! These are my projects from the Serendipity Scrapbooks April I deserve it all kit. This kit is just full of beautiful papers and goodies from Cosmo Cricket, Sassafras Lass, and Jenni Bowlin.

I really do {heart} my sewing machine. I like to use it mostly on layouts now but it has been thru many costumes, mini quilts, and lots of other things. I will say that I don't like making clothes, so that's not happening. LOVE this little chipboard sewing machine and I used the pin package backing behind it. So cute! I folded the triangles at the top because I have a lap quilt with the edge like that and I thought it would be cute.

The Easter page is a simple way to use those last pieces of beautiful paper in a kit. I just wanted to keep adding strips.

Serendipity April I Deserve it All Kit 1 of 4

It's time for the kit reveal finally! These are my projects from the Serendipity Scrapbooks April I deserve it all kit. This kit is just full of beautiful papers and goodies from Cosmo Cricket, Sassafras Lass, and Jenni Bowlin. It also has this really cool thick wool felt. I just had to make a pin cushion gift so that I would have a reason to stick these adorable pins in it. :)

Yes, this is a photo of me and my little brother in the fashion void of the 70's. It's tough to believe, but I am very glad that Mom got this photo of us while we were visiting Granny's house or this crazy moment would have gone un-scrapped!