It's the little things

It's more than a little embarrassing that I've spent the entire afternoon getting enjoyment from the most mundane of tasks: sorting buttons.


But I love buttons.

No, really. I love buttons. Probably a little too much. (Confession: those pictured above are only the ones that made the cut. I had to weed out many that just weren't interesting enough.)

I think it dates back to when I used to visit my Granny and we would play this little game, "Odds or Evens?" She would drag out all of her old buttons -- VINTAGE buttons. Buttons she's had for more years than I've been alive. We'd take turns grabbing a few buttons in one hand and making the other guess if the number of buttons inside was an odd number or an even number. Not exactly Cranium, is it? But we got hours of enjoyment from that little game, and I probably got nearly as much enjoyment from studying each of the buttons and, once in a while, asking my grandmother where one particular button had come from. Most of the time, she didn't remember. But every so often, there was a story there.

Now when my daughters visit her house, they play with those same buttons. I've already staked my claim that she is never to throw those buttons away. Those are among the only possessions of hers that I absolutely MUST have someday.

But for now, I have my own little collection. It's more colorful than Granny's, but not nearly as interesting. Some will be used on pages. But mostly, they'll brighten my craft room and remind me of my childhood and Granny's house.

How sweet it is!

The Christmas rush is over, and I'm off work for another week! Can't get much sweeter than that! My new scraproom is coming together s-l-o-w-l-y, but I did actually get to work in it last night (and I'm even editing photos and writing this post from the scraproom). Still needs shelving and I have a ton of stuff to sort, but at least I have some time to do it this week.

As for other sweet things, here are the Design Team projects I did for Imaginisce this month with their Sweet Cheri line. The reds and pinks and purples in this line were perfect for my older daughter who, coincidentally, only wears those colors. Go figure!



It also works well with those photos that are just, well, sweet! I used the i-Top to create matching brads out of the patterned papers, and I handstitched between them to create the "clock" effect.


I also altered a Bare Elements mailbox that I got on sale a few months ago. With these papers, it will make a great receptacle for Valentines that my girls get. And who knows...maybe I'll even get one myself (hint hint, hubby!).



I created i-Top brads to attach the flag and as a top closure, but I kind of like leaving it open a little to show the cute patterned paper trim on the inside.

There's so much more I'd love to do with this line, but I think I might save a few sheets of paper for Valentine's Day...it only seems fair.

Thanks for stopping by!

A little birdie told me

Maybe it's because I share my name with a bird, but I seem to be drawn to all the little birdie papers and embellishments that are out right now. When I first saw the singing bird patterned paper (it's by Scribble Scrabble), I couldn't wait to use it, and it really pulled out the colors in the dress my daughter is wearing in these photos. So I decided to do a little "singing" theme and tie in some old sheet music in the tops of the brads (yes, I used the i-Top!).

The layout is based on a Page Maps sketch, and I actually stayed pretty true to it. I love that big bracket shape, and the dotted paper was the perfect contrast for the bright colors in the layout.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stepping outside my comfort zone

It happens. I get into crafting ruts where I tend to gravitate toward the same techniques or same type of embellishments over and over again. Maybe it's laziness, but I choose to believe I just go with what I'm comfortable with.

So when I opened my Guest Design Team kit from The Mosy Scrapper and found two packages full of embellishments from Gauche Alchemy, I felt a mixture of excitement and panic. Everything from beads and glitter to playing cards and poker chips..it was almost overwhelming to think what I could whip up that would spotlight that assortment of color and texture. But once I started playing with the stuff, it all fell into place.

I decided the little silver beads looked a lot like christmas ornaments, so I created this layout with last year's Christmas photos and the Creative Imaginations holiday line.

This letter "R" was actually an assignment from my boss to "personalize" the letter. I had covered it in the papers a while back, but couldn't decide what else it "needed." The Guache Alchemy kit was perfect. The poker chip was a great symbol of how lucky I feel; the "Admit One" ticket was a symbol of my need to be involved in a lot of things; and the domino symbolized my love of games and the importance of family (my grandfather played dominos almost every day of his adult life).

For the card, I hand-cut a heart out of textured cardstock, applied a light coating of Shimmerz and adhered it to the cardstock. Then I used the beads in the kit to outline the circle. I stitched the red ribbon across the bottom as an accent.

And now...for the winner of my scraproom drawing...

Congratulations to CHERYL!! And thanks for posting a link to your scraproom! Please email me your address (robmab at yahoo dot com) and I will ship out your Pink Paislee paper pack!

::::::squealing with joy::::::::

Oh my! I just saw my name on the Clip It Up blog. I won a Clip It Up mini!!!



Small confession...I've been stalking the Clip It Up blog a bit lately. I've finally accepted that I need serious help in the organization department. My stash has grown considerably this year, and I'm completely out of room. To the point my husband actually suggested I take over our younger daughter's bedroom so I could have the space I needed. Yep, that's right...I'm getting a whole room of my own! Yippee!

And before you decide I'm a selfish mommy for taking away my kid's room, she is now sharing a room with her sister...a BIG room, and they are getting new furniture (bunk beds), so they will have a beautiful space of their own. They pretty much spend all their time together anyway, so they might as well sleep in the same room!

So I'm shopping for scraproom furniture and organizational products, and I'm in need of ideas! If you've posted a link to your scraproom somewhere, would you include a link in the comments section so I can take a look? I would love to see your ideas!

I'll even provide a RAK...a set of Pink Paislee patterned papers...to one lucky poster!

'Tis the Season...

...to be jolly. And I'm trying my best, even though I'm fighting another cold and I just learned that my hard drive crashed and is holding three years of my photos hostage. I'm taking it really well, actually. Or maybe I'm in shock.

Either way, I'm full of Christmas spirit and I'm not letting anything take it out of me. We got the tree up yesterday and I thought it needed a couple more ornaments, so lookie what I made:



They're actually not that hard once you get the hang of it. However, they turned out much bigger than I thought they would. I think these would be beautiful with a bunch strung together in a garland along a mantle or banister, or three or four hanging from a chandelier. Instructions are here.

Now I'm off to shop for a new hard drive...not exactly the holiday gift I had in mind, but I guess there are worse things. Aren't there?

Eeeek! It's December!

How on earth did that happen? My neighbors already have their Christmas lights out! And as usual, I'm running behind. I did manage to get holiday photos take of my girls, and my Christmas Cards are ordered (thank goodness I'm not crazy enough to think I can make my own!). But aside from that, I am SO not ready for the holidays. I need a really strong dose of Christmas spirit...and FAST!

Fortunately, the wonderful folks at Imaginisce were looking out for me and sent me the i-Top Brad Maker (yippee!!) and the Polar Expressions collection to play with. After all, opening that box WAS a little bit like Christmas! And all the snowflakes and coffee mugs and polar bears inspired me to do some Christmas projects.


I used pop-dots on some circles I cut from the patterned paper. Then I used a white opaque pen to add the dots around the sentiment to mimic the design of the circles on the patterned paper.


Finally used my new Martha Stewart punch on the colorful (and glittery!) dotted paper that I just love. The snowflakes were a perfect compliment to my daughters' holiday outfits. The brad in the center of the poinsettia was my first attempt with the i-Top Brad Maker. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it, and there are so many possibilities...I can't wait to play around with it a bit more.


I used waterproof Mod Podge to adhere patterned paper to this metal tin I found at Michael's.

It was the perfect size to fit three pouches of gourmet coffee mix, but hot chocolate and marshmallows would fit, too!

I discovered that the lid to the tin would make a perfect tray/coaster for a coffee cup! So I embellished it with a few rub-ons.

And that's what I've been up to for the past few days. Who needs Black Friday and Cyber Monday when you've got scrappy goodies to play with?

Thanks for visiting!