Happy St. Patrick's Day

No we're not Irish. But I am always up for a good holiday. So I made a banner similar to my Valentine's banner. I was unable to get coasters for this one so I just used so cardboard that was packaged with my scrapbooking sleeve protectors and cut it into 4 x 4 squares.

I think we could all use a little luck every now and then.

Crochet Tutorials

A friend of mine requested that I find a video tutorial because she wanted to learn to crochet. I found these 2 sites that seem to be pretty good and  are FREE! In fact, it's been so long since I've made anything, I may just need to check them out before I start a new project.

The Art of Crochet tutorials

Nexstitch Crochet Tutorials

My Scrapbooking Evolution

I've been wanting to do this post for a while but never had time to photograph my scrapbooks properly. So I finally decided to do a crappy job on photographing my pages so I could get it done. Plus, I thought you all needed a good laugh. You'll see. It's hilarious.

So here we go.

I did my first scrapbook in 2003 when I got back from my trip to Italy. I was a purist, Puritan, whatever you want to call it. I refused to crop pictures (you crop when you're composing the photograph, why would you need to crop???). I refused to embellish. I wanted the pictures and the journaling. That's it. Simple. But I just felt like something was missing.

But in my defense, the pictures of Italy don't need any embellishment, right??

Then after that, I began our family album. It began with our wedding day. And goes in chronological order. What other way is there to do a scrapbook, I thought?

I added pieces of paper to make "title pages".

Then I thought I was super creative by adding strips of coordinating paper. And changing pen color. Oh, and rounding the corners. Fancy! I'm in no way criticizing the use of these things. I'm making fun of the way I used these things.

Then I started adding patterned pieces of paper.

Then paper frames. And I started cutting out pictures using cropping tools from Creative Memories.

Then I started using whole pieces of paper and adding STICKERS! My Sister Robin thought I'd lost my mind. I had always said I'd NEVER use stickers.

And here's where I am today.

Then, I started branching out to scrapbooking projects, like this mini book.

Digital scrapbooking.

My family window project

Sophia's name project

Holiday banners

But I've discovered something new from my friend Kristy. It's called Project 12. Basically it's a take off of the Project 365, where you take a photograph each day to chronicle your life. But here you pick a few of your best photos to summarize a month and do a 2 page spread for each month. Check out Project 12 here. They have sketches that give you a map/guideline of how you arrange your page so it goes faster. I'm going to do 2 , two page spreads for each month. That's as much as I can condense.

Along with that, I'm going to start a scrapbook called Special People where each member of our family is going to get a double page spread. After that, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. But I'm taking advice from Stacy Julian. She's a big proponent of themed albums instead of chronological. I still don't fully have my head wrapped around this idea yet because for me, chronological makes the most sense. But I'm tired of being behind and feeling like I'm a slave to my family album. So I'll let you know how I like the Project 12 concept, which Stacy Julian started, probably for us chronological hold outs. :)

But thanks Kristy for the info. Freedom?? Maybe? We'll see. But I like your concept of only scrapping photos you love and using only products you love (not just what's on sale).

So here we go. I'm evolving. Changing. Trying something new and a little less structured.

Family Window Frame

So remember my the pic of my sneak peak family window project? Well, if you don't here's the sneak peak again. I was inspired by Jacklyn over at 3 Heart Designs.I was so inspired that I shared it with my friend Tricia who is branching out into the crafting world (she's a creative person at heart). So I invited her and my friend Donna over for a craft night (we kept it small this time) to work on our windows and Donna crocheted. As Tricia said, she is the crochet whisperer. She's the one who taught me.

Here's Tricia's window. Super cute!

Here's me working on a layout. Yes, we were in our pj's. The only way to craft.

Tricia became an pro at cutting the paper.

So for mine, here's how I started. I had bought an old frame at Canton that had been updated (she'd cleaned it up, painted it and added wood to act as shutters). I decided it needed to be black so I taped off the windows and spray painted it. I like spray painting better when I'm going to distress something. It sands off better. After is was dry I rubbed it with sandpaper (medium grit).

You can see the distressed part a little below. Then I measured the window panes and cut out posterboard pieces that were slightly bigger than the pane.

Then, I made my layouts (I'd already narrowed down my pics, papers and embellishments).

I just love the Tim Holtz keys and metal medallions!

I found this cool scrapbooking paper that looks like recipe cards and I added a recipe for a happy family. At this point I was still working on the wording so I left it blank.

Here's the back of the window so you can see how the vendor added the pseudo shutters and so you can see the taupe color it was. That would not have shown up at all on our walls at all.

After the layouts were dry and complete, I taped them in with packing tape.

Yep, we're fancy over here. I intend to take these out periodically and update them. When I remove a layout, I'll make a new scrapbook to keep all "discarded" layouts in.

Here's the completed frame. 

It will go above this console table and I'll move my other pics somewhere else.

Once again, thanks Jacklyn for your inspiration! Here's the pic I saw that inspired me.

Recipe for a Happy Family

Mix equal parts giggles, cuddles and smooches.

Add heaping amounts of understanding, forgiveness, love and patience.

Sprinkle with honesty and loyalty.

Fold in consideration, participation and cooperation.

Repeat layers as necessary for a happy family.

Linking up with Something to Do Saturdays.

A Really Cute Scarf Pattern...if You Crochet

I get asked all the time, where did you get that scarf when Sophia wears her pink and purple scarf. And the answer is I made it. It really wasn't that hard. If you've been crocheting for a little while and know how to follow a pattern, then it will be easy.

I gave it to Sophia for Christmas when she was a year and half. She didn't really like it at first which really surprised me because it's super soft.

Russell loved it!

But later that winter, when she really needed a scarf, she finally decided she'd wear it.

It was a little long.

And eventually, she enjoyed wearing the hat too.

And this winter, she's still wearing and loving it.

 

I got the pattern here at Lion Brand.

Scarf Pattern