various projects

So I've been working on various projects as of late. Some are successful, some...not so much. The first thing I've been really working on has been my "Green Valley" scrapbook. Green Valley is a place located in between Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear where my friends and I go camping every year in June. This year will be our 4th year in a row and I thought it would be fun to bring up my scrapbook so everyone can reminisce about previous years. Since I've been a slacker, I haven't scrapped 2007 or 2008. I want the book to be all finished for our trip so I'm making it a priority to get it done. I'm starting with 2008 and here is a picture of the title page: Make sure you click on it to get a closer look.

The entire album is done in 12x12 which is great to add in a bunch of pictures or extras, but I'm a little rusty as I have been working with 6x6 and 8x8 albums lately. I blew up the group photo, but forgot to crop it, so I used the extra space in the photo to cut out a title and I really like how it turned out.

The paper and large tag are from my current favorite paper line called "Wild Saffron" by K& Company and the beaver tag (and other critter paper used in the rest of the album) are from DCWV's new environmentally friendly paper titled "Green". The Green paper is hysterical and I was lucky enough to find a small 12x12 paper stack with matching stickers and tags all together in a kit at Target. It's odd, because I couldn't find the "kit" (or any of the other ones I saw at Target) on DCWV's website. While on the website I found out that the "kit" I got didn't include all the paper in the "Green" line, but it did have the cutest ones so it all worked out. I guess Green came out in January, but I have yet to see it at Michael's or Tall Mouse. I'm just glad that I was able to grab a hold of it when I did!

So I combined the Wild Saffron and Green line to create the 2008 layouts. Since every year in the album is done in different coordinating paper, I'm not sure which line I'll be using for the 2007 chapter. I think all the companies are stocking the stores with the newest lines, so I'm hoping to find something soon (well, before June).

Another project I did was 2 small postcard collages. They were for a 'make your own postcard swap' on swap-bot. They aren't my best work, but I had fun making them and thought they came out cute. It has been a while since I have done any collaging so I was rusty. I used some different paper scraps and pulled from my Big ass sticker collection (and by big I mean 4 binders FULL of stickers). Not bad work for 20 minutes right?

One was for a gal that liked antique/vintage stuff so I found some old looking paper and cute Victorian stickers to add around as different borders. I sought inspiration from my salt jar and ripped off the label and cut it down as I think the little Morton's salt girl is cute. The Kwepie is from My "Ro-Bot" friend. The other post card was for a spunky person who likes bright colors. I found a really neat paper scrap that looked like a water color with random ink blots. I used a mini-dictionary cut-out and highlighted words and created them in the post card (for example: "Host" is represented by the moon "hosting" a small audience. Just different things like that. There is a lot to see and look at on this bright post card, so I'm hopping that it was fun for postal workers to handle as well.

I've also been making "Thank You" and other cards to have on hand. Most of them are blank themes and fully decorated, but have a few open spaces to add in a themed sticker to easily adapt the card for whatever event it's for. I have not posted pics as I didn't feel they were super noteworthy to post. Maybe one day I'll take a group picture so you guys can see them.


The project that I was frustrated with and gave up on was my crocheted scarf. It started out pretty good, but for whatever reason began shrinking width wise. I wanted something kind of mind numbing to do in front of the TV, but it was something I had to focus on too hard to make sure I didn't skip any rows. The whole thing looked like a warped mess and I thought I could salvage it by going back and adding rows sidways, but it still looked like ass. I ended up unraveling the whole thing and found out how to crochet balls (to make into animals) and used the yarn as a template. I was going to make an owl to surprise my "ro-bot" friend, but it looked like ass and is now sitting on my book case. I really feel sorry for the critter, but I'm hoping I'll get the bug again and bust out some cute yellow baby chicks for Easter. We shall see....

That is it for now. I'll try to be more regular with my posts on here. I've been busy as of late, but it's important for me to keep up my blog. I like sharing my projects and didn't realize how fun it was to post what I've been working on. Until next time, have a great one!