(diva)logues

New product from SRM Stickers...

Have you seen all the cool new products from SRM Stickers?  I have a project on their blog today, using 2 of their new products that just debuted at the 2013 Winter CHA Trade Show...

SRM Thank You Stickers By The Dozen and SRM's Glassine Bags

Just a very quick + easy way to make gift card holders!  Place the card inside, fold the top over, add a journaling card (mine were from the Simple Stories Fabulous collection), punch 2 holes & lace your ribbon through.  A little bling, of course, will finish it off...

Check out the SRM Stickers blog daily to see more creative ways to use these products and MORE!

I like new stuff...

As you may have already noticed, I haven't talked about the upcoming Summer 2012 Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) trade show yet.  It's the first July in 3 years that I'm not frantically designing for a booth.  If you follow Nikki Sivils' blog, you've already read her post about taking this summer off from creating new collections.  It's just a temporary break though!  While it's nice to not have the pressure of any deadlines right now, I am a tad envious of all the hoopla surrounding the show.  It's a TON of fun to get to create with new produt & be part of the whole thing.  But... I'll be ready & excited again when Winter 2013 CHA is here!  And I can't wait to see what Nikki has in store for everyone.  I know it's going to be FABULOUS...just like her!

And speaking of new products for CHA... I just heard that I'll have all the brand new SRM Stickers coming my way soon!  YAY!!  As you know, I'm a HUGE fan of SRM Stickers ever since being part of their first team of designers.  As the owner of the company already knows... her stickers seem to make their way onto most of my cards & pages these days.  For some reason my projects just seem more complete once I've added some of those transparent stickers.  LOVE them.    

Like this new page.  I was finished with it, had it in my hand with my camera & was on my way upstairs to photograph it.  When I looked at it again, I thought... I need to put some kind of SRM sticker sentiment on that red border strip.  And yep...that finished it for me.   

I used the Echo Park Sweet Day collection for the rest of the page, along with some old Basic Grey letter stickers & some red Want 2 Scrap bling...

More Echo Park on this next page... the School Days mini collection.  It's not mini, as in 6x6 mini book, it's mini as in there's not as much product included in it.  And it doesn't cost as much as the standard collections.  Heehee  I think it's cute!   

I kept the page design pretty simple because I wanted to use the whole DARE essay Bryn wrote.  Took me longer to type the essay than it did to make the whole darn page!  I have a way of making even simple pages take FORever to make... 

And what do you know?  Another SRM sticker on there. 

I'm a fan!  What can I say? 

Off to teach ZUMBA this morning!  It's gonna be a rockin' class!  Woot wooot! 

PS... Don't forget to check out my workshop GIVE-AWAY on yesterday's post!

It is what it is...

Well... I suppose I participated in my own little version of National Scrapbooking Day, minus the Cinco de Mayo margaritas.  Or perhaps you might say I've "celebrated" the whole week. 

Yesterday Bob said to me, "You sure have been busy working this week.  You got a lot accomplished." 

I said, "Yeah, as you recall, it hasn't been such a great week.  And creating takes my mind off things." 

Seriously though.  I made 10 pages + 1 card in the last week.  I think that might be a record.  Would much rather it didn't take sucky stuff to get me lost in my craftroom, but such is life I guess. 

It is what it is. 

More old photos from last year here, with another random mix of products.  Gee that never happens.  My craftroom floor looks like a grenade hit it, so I kinda just keep picking up stuff that matches & going with it.  I'm fairly confident that when I bought these Crate Paper chipboard stickers last year that my original intention wasn't to use them with some old and new Nikki Sivils' paper, but it works for me so it's going in the book! 

 

The red paper is from Nikki Sivils' Audrey collection.  The blue background paper in the middle is from Nikki Sivils' It's Raining, It's Pouring collection.  I just cut off the scalloped border from it.  I used a SRM school sticker and some tiny little Want 2 Scrap bling on my tree & on the door.  Love their bling! 

Bryn had her bestie spend the night last night & now they're off with her friend's dad seeing the movie The Avengers.  I haven't heard boo about it, but I have read quite a few comments on Facebook about how much people love it.  Have any of you seen it yet?  Hopefully it's age-appropriate & NOT scary.  That girl does not do scary movies.  Nor does she even do movies like Elf.  Remember when I mentioned how much she cried & had to stop watching it only a half-hour into the movie?  And I was thinking... it's Will freakin' Farrell... how sad can it be??! 

Just wait until she gets to be my age.  Everything will make her cry.  Or yell.  Or laugh.  All in a matter of minutes.  LOL

Be kind... for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle...

Just a few more random pages.  I seem to be on a creative roll lately.  Probably because disappearing into my work takes my mind off other things.  I'm definitely trying to roll with it though, because most of the time the creative mojo just isn't there.   

The first page has photos from back in 2010.  I ran across them when I was going through all my old photo files on my laptop and started laughing out loud again.  This was the day I was waving good-bye to Bryn and her Bitty Twins while Bob was pulling out of the driveway.  As I was waving & he was backing up... he backed over one of the sprinkler heads & caused a huge geyser of water that was spraying into the backseat window where Bryn was sitting.  She started screaming.  I was yelling, "Bob!!!  STOP!!!"  Finally before he turned to drive down the street he realized what happened and said he couldn't hear me yelling at him because Bryn was screaming in the backseat.  I said, "That's because water was spraying in on her!!" 

The 3 of us together = one nutty combination. 

Just a random mix of products.  The car & heart are from the Nikki Sivils' Noah collection.  I put some Want 2 Scrap bling on the tires.  The lined paper is from Nikki Sivils' Summer collection.  I paper-pieced my own drops of water...

Another random mix here.  Sometimes things just need googly eyes added to finish it off.  Or maybe it was to make smile.  Either way, it worked for me...

And I finally used these professional photos + a screen shot of the website that were taken for this recording studio photo shoot with Bryn & some friends.  Another random mix (surprise, surprise) of whatever happened to be laying on the floor that matched.  Heehee.  The headphone & records were from the Nikki Sivils' Dan The Record Man collection.  More Want 2 Scrap bling on the headphones too... 

I think it's obvious I like those red Bella Blvd letter stickers.  They've only been on 3 pages in the last week. 

On Charter's home page today, one of the "hot searches" they were highlighting was "What's the best way to get rid of a migraine?"  So I clicked on it... because I have a migraine today.  And I get to teach 4 hours of Zumba tomorrow for another middle school field trip at the Y, so I'm kinda hoping I'm not teaching with a headache.  The article is A Better Route To Migraine Relief, by Dr Andrew Weil.  The last paragraph stuck with me...

"Finally, if you continue to have attacks, try to change the way you think about the headaches. Migraine is like an electrical storm in your head - violent and disruptive, but leading to a calm, clear state in the end. You may, upon reflection, discover that it is not so bad to let yourself have a headache once in a while. It is a good excuse to drop your usual routine and go inward, letting accumulated stress dissipate. As you come to accept migraines in this way and see them as serving a purpose in your life, you may not have them so frequently." 

I ♥ Target...

...because who knew I needed some washi tape when all I walked in for was laundry detergent & shampoo? 

Oh ok... I had chocolate on my list too.   

But have you noticed that in their office/school supply section they carry this cool tape now?  And you know that washi tape is one of the "in" things in scrapbooking, but it isn't cheap.  This 4-roll Target version for only $5.00, however, is a GREAT deal if you ask me.  Did you even ask me?  They had 4-packs of other colors too, but I went with the red set...

And voila... a taped border is a quick and easy way to add color + pattern.  The tape is a bit transparent, so you can tell I didn't get it lined up exactly straight but I'm all about imperfection here.  Only in scrapbooking though, not in trying to tame my wrinkles.  And even then I'm not doing a great job, but let's move on... 

This was another page I finished over the weekend.  Pretty basic design here, which is good when you're just trying to get pages into the books & not worry about too much detail.  The patterned paper is from my Recollections All Girl paper pad, a Nikki Sivils gingerbread house, a white SRM sticker sentiment adhered directly onto my photo, Bella Blvd letter stickers & my Martha Stewart snowflake punch with some pink Want 2 Scrap bling in the centers...

Another event documented and into the scrapbook.  I'm on a roll here...

April is already half over...

Just a quickie... as today is my day to share a few projects on the Nikki Sivils' blog.  I almost forgot it was the 15th already.  This month is certainly flying by!   

I used the new Audrey collection to create a page about the Garth Brooks show we recently attended.  The musical notes patterned paper made me think "concert page." 

My journaling was taken from my blog post about our Vegas trip.  Just copied + pasted it into Word... then printed.  Easy peasy.  I used the Maraschino twine from The Twinery to finish off my flag banner...

I also made a boy's birthday card with the Noah collection.  I added some Want 2 Scrap bling for the tires and some Shore twine from The Twinery...

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend!  Ours has been a TON of FUN! 

Happy Birthday, Nikki Sivils!

Happy Birthday to you... happy birthday to you... happy birthday, Nikki Sivils... happy birthday to you!!!

My card was made using the new Nikki Sivils' Audrey collection + a Basically Bare dress form + some Want 2 Scrap bling + Glossy Accents on my shoes to give them the look of patent leather... 

Head over to the Nikki Sivils' blog today to check out all the birthday action. 

There's even a little giveaway going on... just incase you're interested!   

All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten...

I got inspired to use some new products that were SO GENEROUSLY sent to me recently.  The products are for an upcoming manufacturer's cross promotion that will be happening soon, but I also wanted to use them just for fun!

As for my title...I'm not sure I exactly executed what I had in mind.  It's a bit sloppy.  Originally I planned to use letter stickers, but had a sudden change of heart & decided to use some of my new twine.  I hand-wrote my title in pencil & then covered my lines in Beacon's 3-in-1 Craft Glue... just a couple letters at a time because this adhesive dries quickly.  Love that!  Then I covered my glue lines with my Maraschino twine from The Twinery and dotted my "i's" with tiny Want 2 Scrap red pearls (also using some of the bigger sized pearls for my flowers)...

Bryn (aka. my best & worst critic) said she loved my title.  I said I thought it looked like a Kindergartener did it.  No offense, of course, to all the Kindergarteners of the world...

Oh well... 2 points for trying something new.  Right?

I used some of my new paper + chipboard pieces from the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan collection... so sweet & girly!  And although that collection offers a piece of paper with layered ruffled crepe paper on it, I decided to make my own.  Pink crepe paper + machine stitching = a cheap substitute.  It's an easy little technique that's SO last year, but hey... Bryn was impressed! 

It's MONDAY!  Time to teach Zumba!  Best way to start the week, if I do say so myself!  ;-)

"I can see that you're a party animal... "

A new challenge has been posted on the Nikki Sivils' blog.  This month's theme is about animals, animal attraction, etc.  Use that theme for your title or simply use one of Nikki's many animal cut-outs on your project this month! 

No animals for us around here, but I did use a little Beatrice cut-out on my page inside my "a"... I thought it was cute next to the photo of Bryn with her new sock monkey... 

 

 

I love using pink & green for Christmas-related stuff, so I thought it might be fun to use the Beatrice line even though it has nothing to do with Christmas.  In order to make the page look more Christmasy, I used my snowflake punch & made my own tree.  I also added some pink bling from Want 2 Scrap & some SRM Christmas-themed stickers...

  

 

The bottom scalloped edges on my tree was cut from a little tag sticker included in the Beatrice line...

 

Play along for a chance to win some Nikki Sivils' products and post your projects here!

Hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend!  Ours was packed full of celebrations!  And now it's REALLY time for me to get serious about getting some work accomplished before school is out.  Only 4 more days!  Accckk!