End of the Line: A Zippy Layout

When Ben and I traveled to Costa Rica last fall we knew that the one tour we really wanted to do was a ziplining tour. We used Ecotrans (awesome tour company if you stay near Playa Flamingo!) for the Congo Trail Canopy Tour.

I am terrified of heights so I was very nervous entering our first line. But once I got going, I had a blast! I didn't try any crazy tricks  like going upside down or flying like Superman, but of course Ben went for it. He was a total professional!

The jungle was really beautiful. While flying down the ziplines, we also enjoyed iguanas, howler monkeys, and exotic plants. It was hands-down the most adventurous thing I have ever done!

So for my first layout from our Costa Rica Trip, I went with a ziplining layout!

End of the Line layout journaling reads: While in Costa Rica we went to the Congo Trail Canopy where we traveled down eleven lines and crossed several suspension bridges. We were even joined by howler monkeys! It was scary at first but we quickly got the hang of it. After all this means no fear"

Supplies: Bo Bunny Zoology Collection paper, Authentique and Thickers alphabet stickers, brads, memory thread

I saw the challenge over at Scrap it With a Song was REM's "It's the End of the World as we Know It" and thought I could play with the title and make it "End of the Line." There is also a line in the song that says, "After all this means no fear." That was the perfect sentiment for this layout! I used a sketch that I found on Sketch Support to make this layout. I made the banner in the sketch into a mini zipline by adding a tree.

Thanks for reading and happy weekend!

XOXO,

My First Blog Award!

I won my first blog award!

Anne over at Strawberry Monkey Files was sweet enough to pass this along to me. Anne, you made my day! Then Michelle gave me the same award from Crafty Junkie. Thanks ladies!

Liebster is German and means 'dearest' or 'beloved' but it can also mean 'favorite'.  The idea of the Liebster award is to bring attention to blogs with less than 200 followers.  So, in the spirit of good fun I am passing this award on to five other bloggers.  Please stop by and visit them.

The Rules are:

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.

2. Reveal your five picks for the award and let them know.

3. Post the award on your blog.

4. Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the blogshare-other bloggers.

5. Finally and the best rule of all..........have fun and spread the love!

My five picks for the Liebster award are:

Michelle at A Page Out of My Book

Heidi at Happenings by Heidi 

Shannon at The Cookie Monster

Hilary at The Richards Family 

Johnny at Johnny Vy Photography

These blogs are a part of my daily reading so please go check them out and make new friends! 

XOXO,  

An Altered Hello Kitty Clipboard and Mod Podge Adventure

This week I made my first altered clipboard. One of my teacher friends is a major Hello Kitty fan. Last year I made her some Hello Kitty thank you cards with my Cricut. Come to find out she has only given one out so far because she can't bear to part with them! So I knew she would appreciate more homemade Hello Kitty goodness for her birthday.

I began with a clipboard I found at Dollar Tree store. I cut my HK die cut and patiently pieced her together. I cut all of my paper to size and sanded the edges. Then I glued it all onto my clipboard using my tape runner. I added ribbon to the clip part and my friend's name along the bottom. I was LOVING how it looked.

Those of you who have used Mod Podge before can see what is coming next.

Then I used Mod Podge. I had watched lots of YouTube videos to make sure I knew what I was doing. THANKFULLY I started with the back. As soon as I brushed some Mod Podge on, I knew something was wrong.

Instead of my beautiful clipboard, I now had a big bubble.

I was horrified. I didn't think it was salvageable so I quickly began tearing the paper off. I regrouped and re-covered the back, this time using Mod Podge as my adhesive. And this time, it worked.

Supplies: Bo Bunny "Alissa" collection, Cricut Hello Kitty Font and Greetings cartridges, assorted ribbon, Colorbox Chestnut Roan Cat's Eye, Mod Podge, clipboard

XOXO,

Happy Blog-iversary!

One year ago today I created my blog and wrote my first blog entry. I can't believe it has been a year! So much has changed.

While I thought 2010 was a crazy year, 2011 was a bit of a doozy. It was a hard year but I was also so incredibly blessed. I was hired back as a teacher in my old school district (part-time but I'll take it!) and my husband and I took our long over-due honeymoon which turned into our anniversary trip to Costa Rica. We've had some bumps along the road but I know that we are stronger because of it.

Above all, 2011 brought some major accomplishments in my scrappy world! I continued teaching scrapbook classes at my local scrapbook store and was accepted onto my first design team. I've also met some wonderful scrappy friends, for which I am extremely grateful.

Thanks for following me on my journey. Here's to a scrappyrifficabulous 2012!

XOXO,

Organization - What's That? Organizing my Small Scrapbook Space

Time for another Pages From the Heart Challenge! This month the topic is organization.

I will be completely honest here. When I saw that the upcoming challenge had to do with organization, I kind of panicked. My husband even laughed a little (he quickly covered it up) when I told him I had to give examples of how to organize the chaos that is my craft area. After a few weeks of, "What on Earth am I going to do?" I finally pulled it together. The most difficult part for me about organization is that I have a very small space to work with and SOOOOO much stuff to cram into it! Before I became too overwhelmed, I decided to tackle some of my biggest problem areas for this challenge: ribbon, punches, and small embellishments.

My work space and pretty table with pink legs!

The small embellishments and ribbons came together over a few evenings. A friend of mine was getting rid of some small fixtures and I asked if I could take a couple. I had purchased a package of small plastic bottles and the shelves were the perfect size for them. My best friend happened to be over as I was working on this and since she loves to organize, she got involved too. She brought me some baby food jars and I spray painted all of the lids silver. Then we got to sorting ALL of my small embellishments. I had no idea how much space all of that packaging was taking up! Then a different friend gave me some quart sized mason jars which were perfect for the ribbon!

Embellishment Jars

Next were the punches. I had an old, over the door shoe rack that I wasn't using so I hung it over the back of a door close to my desk and put all of my punches in the slots. I had also been saving spaghetti sauce jars (poor husband didn't realize why we had been eating so much spaghetti lately) which were perfect, after I spray painted the lids, for holding flowers.  I had originally wanted the jars for ribbon but the opening was too small.

Although it took a lot of work, I am so happy that my craft area is beginning to look somewhat organized. I'm hoping that if my stash is easily accessible and in sight that I will actually begin to use some of it. So thank you for making me get to work!

If you'd like to take part in this challenge or just check out more ideas from the other design team members, go to the Pages blog today. If you decide to enter the challenge, you have the chance to win a great prize pack.

Pages is also having a design team crop on Saturday!

And, if you want to meet the Design Team, please join us at the first ever Design Team Crop taking place January 21 from 1-9!  We'll have snacks, dinner and a great make-n-take for everyone that participates!  We can't wait to meet everyone!  Please call the store to make your reservation!

Hope to see you there and hope your 2012 is an organized one!

XOXO,

Pages From the Heart: Easel Card

My second project of the month for Pages From the Heart was to make any card of my choice. I decided to make an easel card using the We R Memory Keepers Vintage-T collection that was in my kit.

Closed Easel Card

Open Easel Card

I found really simple directions for this card by Dawn's Stamping Thoughts. You can read more about this card and the supply list on the Pages From the Heart blog.

XOXO,

Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood

A few weeks ago some girlfriends and I got together to celebrate a new little addition. We knew her mother would appreciate diapers (what new mother wouldn't!) but just giving her the package didn't seem very exciting. My two best friends and I were thinking of what we could do. My friend loves Winnie the Pooh and I have the Winnie the Pooh Cricut cartridge and one thing led to another...

And volia!

I think she and baby liked their Hundred Acre Wood themed diaper cake!

XOXO,

Pages From the Heart: Calendar Layout

Happy New Year! I started my new year by spending time with friends, organizing/purging my craft area, and eating, eating, eating!

My first reveal for the month and year at Pages From the Heart is a layout depicting our first year as a married couple. The assignment was to create a layout with some kind of calendar element. How we used a calendar was entirely up to us. My kit this month was the Vintage T collection by We R Memory Keepers. I decided to go with a timeline starting when we got married (November 2010) to a year later. It was fun picking pictures and reminiscing. You can read all about it over on the Pages blog.

I hope 2012 is a great year for everyone! Thanks for reading!

XOXO,