blog candy to fill your scrappy heart

Check out this blog. You can win so much scrappy goodness, well you could but I'm hoping you don't. lol I'm hoping that I win all this scrappy goodness. Check out the cute card as well.

http://taylordconcepts.blogspot.com/2010/12/most-wonderful-time-of-year.html

roots...aka my hair saga...

I have to admit that I was pretty devastated by the fact that I would lose my hair during chemo. When I finally decided to get a short hair cut I cried and cried. But I was tired of running my hands through my hair and find clumps of it in my hand...and hair brush for that matter. The day I went to the salon to have my hair cut short I needed a good half hour of hand holding and prayer by a wonderful friend. She talked me down from my crying fit.

Why should hair matter so much anyway? Well, it was my favorite physical feature about myself. I had long wavy hair. Since then my hair has continued to preoccupy me. It grew back curly and when it felt clownish I went to the salon (the same one that gave me my short 'do) however the stylist who had cut my hair then had left. The stylist I agreed to see cut my clownish curls into a very short style. Once again I cried. It took me a year to grow that hair and it was gone again. So I let it grow and grow, refusing to let anyone come near it with scissors. But yet another dialema crept up. Should I get my hair cut before Jess & Geoff's wedding or just continue to let it grow, still somewhat clownish in style?

I was wandering around Ulta, the one in Horshamgate Shopping Center when a stylist named Karen approached me. Had I ever heard of DevaCurl products? Deva Cuts? Well, I was a perfect candidate for both! She did a little demo of the product on my hair and I saw immediately how my curls were shinier and bouncier and looked so much better. I was sold. I bought the Deva One Condition and AnGel right on the spot. I even let her talk me into booking an appointment for a cut. With great trepidation I arrived a little early for my appointment, hoping that she wouldn't ruin my hair. Hoping that if it looked awful I could always resort to wearing my wig for the wedding. Thinking that if all that failed I could shop for a hat for the wedding. Seriously. All that worry was for naught. Karen cut each curl shaping my hair around my head, allowing my curls to fall into their place. She styled my hair, stuck me under the dryer (no blow-out for curly girls like me) put little clips to hold my hair up at the crown and polished it all off with some pomade. No more clown! It looked wonderful. Once again my hair was my favorite physical feature. Since then I've seen Karen numerous times. I think I am her favorite example of the DevaCurl product line. All I need is a little One Condition after washing and I'm good to go. I don't even use the AnGel any more. I also use the pomade and Mister Right on days I don't wash my hair. Enough of my personal hygiene.

At some point after my revelatory experience with Karen I discovered a photo of myself as a young girl. The resemblance was uncanny. Obviously my hair was reborn after chemo and I once again had my baby hair. Now if only I could have my baby skin. That's another story. lol This photo shows how little my facial features have changed since 3 or so--there was no date on the photo and no one to ask for a date stamp--and how my hair has gone back to it's roots.

I used lots of Tim Holtz products and techniques on this layout. The tag is from Tattered Angels that inked and spritzed and inked and spritzed some more until I was happy with the result. I stamped a little bit too, using Distress Inks. The ticket is from Tim Holtz as is the button in the center of the flower. The lacy flower border is from Prima as is the white flower that I inked to match the rest of the layout. The butterflies were punched from a Martha Stewart punch and the flower "stem" a Sizzix die. I really like the grungy feel of this layout which went well with my black & white vintage photo.

Enjoy!

winners from my blog site--Artful Horizons Blog Hop

Here are the winners who left comments and/or became followers here on my blog. I did this the old fashioned way--I wrote each name down on a slip of paper, either as it appeared in the comment section or on the followers section. I folded them all up, emptied the basket with a few pieces of candy left over from Halloween and popped them in there. There were 27 entries in all. The first winner is...(drum roll please)...
Jen
Jen said...

What cute ornaments!! Great idea on the recycle, too!

The second winner is...

A Scrap Above

A Scrap Above said...

Love these!
TFS and a chance to win
Bonnie C
http://ascrapabove.blogspot.com
ascrapabove at aol dot com

I'll need your snail mail addy's so I can send some blingy goodness your way. I'd prefer if you'd email me at my most used e-dress: jennedwardson@hotmail.com. I check it daily. If I don't hear from the winners in a week or so, I'll pick new ones.

the garland

I made a garland out of some of the mason jar lids. Let's see about 12 lids down, only uh, 150 or so to go...lol This will fit into one of my windows, just have to decide which one.
I used a variety of papers and other materials to fill the lids. Die cuts, vintage Christmas balls, ribbons, etc.
I also used chipboard pieces and sprigs of greenery.
The cheesy glittery letters were perfect. I can't imagine anywhere else I could use them. lol Seriously, they were in a drawer of stuff I have and I think they look fab here.

You'll need patterned and solid paper scraps, vintage Christmas balls, die cuts--I used Sizzix snowflake, holly, ornament and Tim Holtz rosette dies--glittery letters, ribbon, chipboard pieces, brads, any bits of scrap you like. Oh, and mason jar lids. I punched scalloped and plain circles from scrap to use as a base. I flipped some of the lids over and used the back, and nestled some things inside the lids, and left a few without anything, just the bow and ornaments to create some plain links in the garland. I had a lot of fun playing with my scraps and am very pleased with my projects.

jolly jumpstart blog hop

Welcome to the Art-Full Horizons
Jolly Jumpstart Blog Hop!


Check out all of the fabulous holiday-themed projects, gift ideas, and more from our wonderful Blog Hop Contributors from around the world!!

1. Art-Full Horizons http://art-fullhorizons.blogspot.com
2. Tammy Inman http://tammyi.com
3. Nan Paturzo http://scrappynan.blogspot.com
4. Robyn Weatherspoon http://herebygrace.typepad.com/
5. Mykle Parker http://scrapbohemia.blogspot.com
6. Sherry Mendoza http://sherryscreations.typepad.com/
7. Robin Redd http://robinredd.typepad.com
8. April Meeker www.suaviloquy.blogspot.com
9. Erin Bassett www.erinbassett.com
10. Jennifer Clark http://jenspartyof5.blogspot.com
11. Sweet Pete http://robinredd.typepad.com/west_coast_scrapper/
12. Jennifer Edwardson http://frommypapercraftstudio.blogspot.com/
    

Here's how it works:

1. Hop through each of the blogs listed above to get fabulous holiday inspiration and leave a comment. If you are starting at a blog in the middle of the Hop, start back at the Art-Full Horizons blog.
   
2. Leave a comment on this post between now and November 7, 2010.
3. Enter to win our giveaway by doing any of the following. For each thing you do, you will be entered into the drawing one more time:

• Leave a comment on this post between now and November 7, 2010.
• Join our email list (fill out the form in the left hand column).
  
• Become a follower of this blog! Just click the "Follow" button in the lower right column.
• "Like" the Art-Full Horizons Facebook Page.
• Join the Art-Full Horizons Facebook Group.
  
• Share about this Blog Hop on your own blog, posting a link to this page.
• Share about this Blog Hop on Facebook, posting a link to this page.
• Share about this Blog Hop on a message board or forum, posting a link to this page.
• U.S. entries only please

To let us know you've done these things, please come back to this blog post and leave a comment for each thing you did, i.e. one comment for posting on your blog, another comment for posting on facebook, and another comment for joining our email newsletter. If you post it all in one comment, it will count as one entry.

On November 8, 2010 we'll choose the winners using the Random Integer Generator from random.org. U.S. entries only please.

Family & friends will remember that my daughter Jess got married this past September. She & her husband rocked an end of summer backyard BBQ theme for their reception. Good food, good beer, good times. She thought it would be a blast to drink out of pint-sized mason jars, and it was. So many guests remarked on how fun they were. For me, I was glad to drink out of a glass vessel rather than plastic or paper. On each of the guest tables a larger mason jar was filled with sunflowers, Russian sage and pinwheels. It was a playful, joyful, happy time for all. So, what does an end of summer wedding have to do with Christmas? Well, we had about 125 guests plus "helpers," and something like 17 guest tables. That adds up to a couple dozen larger mason jars and lots & lots of pint-sized mason jars to re-use. :) And even more relevant, lids & bands to be creative with. Sure, we shared with family and friends but there is still a lot of materials to work with. I thought I would fill some of the smaller jars with cookies, spiced nuts, and candies for Christmas gifts, use some for candles, and use the lids & bands to create these...ornaments. What I love about these is that I used up scraps, no 12x12 paper was harmed in the making of these. lol I pulled out scraps of papers, old stickers, greenery snippets, and jazzed them up a little with Stickles, ribbon, die cuts, etc. Stickles will jazz up anything, right? :) They took very little time to make, you could sit down in front of your favorite Christmas movie with your baskets & bags of scraps, glue (I used Beacon's 3 in 1), some die cuts, stickers, etc and crank out a whole bunch of these. Enough, here are two that I made:
The fronts. I punched a scalloped circle for the peace ornament, and embossed it with platinum embossing powder using a snowflake stamp. I used a sticker that I'd picked up from the $1 bins at Michael's sometime in the past few years. I ruffled ribbon around the edge, adhering to the back of the lid. I punched holes with my Crop-a-dile. The joy ornament was again, a scalloped punched scrap with an ornament sticker that I added Stickles too, across the center. I glued on a sprig of greenery, pulling off the pinecone and berries to arrange them where they could be seen. I stuck on joy, a metal word from my pile of old stuff that needs to be put to use or put out to pasture. I think they look great.
Peace ornament. I kept going on back. I put a larger red cardstock circle, layered on a blue scalloped circle and a snowflake die cut from silvery-gray, shiny cardstock. I put a sparkly white chipboard snowflake on top. The back looks as pretty as the front. I finished off the joy ornament with a simple scalloped circle of patterned cardstock, I didn't think it was photo-worthy.

Imagine making a bunch and using them as gift tags for bags or boxes. String a bunch together to create a garland or banner. I plan on making a garland this week with some of these. You could do 3-D ornaments as well, gluing all sorts of Christmas trinkets inside. You could do a bunch as a countdown to Christmas, magnetizing them and attaching them to the fridge or a decorated cookie sheet. Kids could make these for family. I am going to have the STARs at church make these as a craft one night. They are versatile, let your creativity loose.

So what are the prizes?!?


10 Holiday Card Kit from Hydrangea Hippo


Vintage Christmas Embellishment Assortment from Hydrangea Hippo


A Handmade Journal by Donna Salazar


A Musical Memories from Donna Salazar's paper collection




An assortment of Glittered Chipboard Embellishments and Alphabets from Desert Scrappers Retreats

Just follow the instructions above to find out how to enter for your chance to win!!

More Prizes!!!

Leave a comment here on my blog to be entered to win a prize chosen especially by me. I love glittery, blinged out Christmas projects, so you can expect something glittery or blingy.
Become a follower on my blog to be entered to win again.
Check back later this week, for a glimpse of my garland, and comment again (and to enter again).
I'll post the winner on November 8th. And don't forget to hop around and check out all the other amazing projects.

Happy Hopping!

blog hop

I am going to be a part of my very first blog hop! I'll post on Monday, November 1st with a holiday themed project and a list of other bloggers who have created holiday projects. Follow the hop, it will be up until November 7th to see some really creative crafters. I will give away a prize at the end of the week. Leave a comment about the project and I will randomly choose a player to send some scrappy goodness to. See you at the hop!

a new post...finally

I've been working diligently on scrapbook layouts but haven't done much here lately. I've done a few different projects and layouts that I really like. Here is one I did of a photo I found of Rebekah, dressed up as Strawberry Shortcake. This layout actually started out as a tag. I had scrapped four mini-albums, from scratch mind you, about 80 pages plus covers. I was all scrapped out. Jax came over to scrapbook and I finished a layout I had started. When I am burned out like that, I like to pull out stuff and play. That's how the tag got started. Once the tag was done, I couldn't set it aside, I loved how it looked. I saw Strawberry Shortcake and knew they would be perfect together.
I started with a Tattered Angels tag that had some print around the edges. I added inks and stamps and then a die cut of a bird in a cage. The photo doesn't do the tag justice, the birdcage is paper covered with an old lace doily, the bird just paper. Maya Road chandelier dangles hang off the tag. Prima flowers and rhinestone swirl pull it all together. I made the ticket strip with the Tim Holtz ticket die and stamped it with one of his ticket stamps on patterned paper. I think there is some October Afternoon in here as well. Everything is distress-inked, of course.

Enjoy!

watercolor and faux denim

Having taken Donna's course I used some of the techniques I learned to create this layout. I used watercolor paper and lots of water and Smooch to create the background. I used a piece of lace across the bottom as a mask before spritzing color. I used a Tim Holtz stamp for the corners and created a faux denim rose using navy paper, sandpaper, white ink and a flower punch. It is very dimensional and it currently lives in a shadow box frame. I used paper from Donna Salazar's line to back the fragments from "idea-ology," a gold paint marker to create a frame and Thickers to create the initial monogram. I used one of my favorite photos from my daughter's wedding of she and her husband standing against a mural wall in the city.

distrezz-it-all

I took an online class from Donna Salazar through My Creative Classroom. In this class we used her new Distrezz-it-all machine from Zutter. She taught inky, spritzy, messy techniques to create a unique book, which we then bound with our Bind-it-all from Zutter. I couldn't believe how fast the weeks went by. I could have continued on, and on, and on...







These are some of the pages in the book. We made flowers of all kinds, used memory glass, denim, her Crafty Chronicle paper for flowers and other embellishments and had lots of fun. We all added our own stamp of originality and everyone's work was different and beautiful. My favorite technique is the page with the butterflies where we stamped the butterflies with Versamark ink, used Perfect Pearls to color them, spritzed them with Smooch spritz and then re-inked them with Versamark and hit them with clear embossing powder. The color and texture is worth the steps. Thanks Donna for a great class.

tag art

I created this canvas after seeing a project by Tim Holtz. He and another crafter created canvases using the same materials but their completed projects were so different. I was inspired to create my own canvas using manilla tags. I colored and inked and spritzed and embellished and came up with this. Each tag is unique and has something on it that inspires me. I used a lot of Tim Holtz/Ranger/idea'ology products as well as Wendi Vecchi stamps, Distress Inks and bits and pieces from my stash. I love how it turned out.

date with the hubs

This two page layout features a day out with my husband. I am very thankful for the wonderful man God put into my life. We had a rare Saturday free together, blew off the household chores and went to Pennsbury Manor for a tour. It was the end of the growing season and the gardens weren't in bloom but the grounds were lovely to walk around anyway. I like going to historical sites and John is good enough to humor me.
I made the flowers using lace I dyed with glimmer mist, gathered and made into a circle. I layered on store bought flowers. I hand-sewed the patterned paper and even added a few french knots. The paper reminded me of a colonial pattern which is why I chose it. This layout will go in my SDU album to be used for a sample of colors and the rule of threes.

scrappy products

I really need to update this blog with some of the cool projects I have been working on. Meanwhile, I want to give a shout out to Donna Salazar who has some really cool scrappy products. First, the Distrezz-it-all, a new distressing tool that she developed with Zutter. If you have seen Donna's projects you know she likes shabby, distressed edges. I can't wait to get my hands on one of these babies. Then there is her paper line. She has teamed with Pinecone Press to distribute some vintage feeling papers and stamps. Her papers make me feel all comfy and cozy and this post is actually one way to get my hands on some. She has also come up with her Crafty Chronicle, made of paper that is perfect for altering. You can die cut it and make some of her signature flowers or use it to collage or cover a book or box, anything you come up with. It takes inks and sprays well, at least in the videos I have seen it does. So check out Donna's products and make something special today.