5 Apr
Remember a couple weeks ago I showed you the beautiful papers and embellishments from the March Memory Works Express Kit? Well, I finally got around to finishing a project I made with them.
Here are some highlights.
Happy Friday y’all!
-knittingprose
18 Mar
This week was not only the most awesome birthday week ever, but I also got a couple things in the mail. Let’s face it, packages in the mail are exciting.
One of the packages I got was from Memory Works and had all kinds of good stuff in it. I was able to snatch up one of the Express kits from earlier this year and I’m so glad I did! It is going to be perfect for documenting my fabulous birthday.
I love the chevrons, bright yellows, tags… There’s so many fun and interesting embellishments in this set.
The “album” is this very cool clipboard. The dimensions are 9 x 14.5 inches and it has a lever for opening the arched rings.
These yummy papers are from My Mind’s Eye, their Winter 2013 Collectable line. I love the colors in this paper. They’re bright, fun, happy colors with a touch of age to them. My favorites are the chevrons and designs on the “Story” Tale and “Firsts” Fresh papers.
I think these corrugated kraft “Thickers” from American Crafts (Mercantile) are a perfect match for the feel of this project. The other set here are the Layered stickers from the same MME collection as the papers.
We round this project out with some adorable embellishments. Ribbon and twill from May Arts. Flowers by Petaloo. Kraft tags from Pebbles (that are perfect for my birthday presents). And this wonderful roll of washi from MME.
I am so excited about this project!
-KNITTINGPROSE
18 Jan
Welcome Simple Stories Blog Hoppers!!!Those coming from Emily’s little corner of the web, I’m sure have heard all about the wonderful things happening at the Simple Stories blog. You all have the opportunity to win a Simple Stories collection of your choice like the one I’m going to show you now! Details below…
This Simple Stories project isn’t your typical paper crafting project. I wanted to give you an idea of how you can use these wonderful papers in a whole new way.
We celebrated Talitha’s first birthday last fall with a woodland themed birthday party, an emphasis on owls. While there are a few owl options in the Simple Stories line, the Happy Day colors and birthday theme were perfect for our party and, ultimately, the inspiration for many of the decorations.
For this project, You’ll see a little bit of everything in the Happy Day series. I bought one of everything before the planning even began knowing much of it would also end up in the scrapbook. I love being able to perfectly coordinate the layouts and photos!
So here’s the main table. You can see several Happy Day Elements here. The photos framed in Happy Day layouts, the banner on the bottom, the paper medallion garland.
This was lots of fun. Using my Cricut, I cut out the scallop ovals from the Happy Day Designer Cardstock Paper Pack and mounted the solid ovals and letters in the coordinating American Crafts cardstock colors.
Tell me these aren’t adorable. Seriously! So cute and simple. The “1st” tag is going in the scrapbook!
I also mounted these little wooden owls (I found for less than a dollar each!) onto the dark brown cardstock in the same collection. You can see those hanging in the banner and around the table.
The cardstock colors are delicious in this pack – so wonderfully foresty. I had to do something to highlight this fact and chose a garland for a dramatic effect over the large window. With another scallop edge, this time a Fiskars punch, I created a garland using the AC cardstock, everyday twine, and a glue stick.
Get your self a big bowl, your punch, cardstock and good movie for this project! Punch beyond your heart’s content and you’ll eventually have enough. 
Next just glue two scallops together with the twine sandwiched in between at even intervals and you’re all done. While a bit tedious, this project is so simple, even your little helpers could manage it. I alternated the garland with matching crepe paper streamers.
Another party decoration that I absolutely loved was this colorful paper chain. I wish I had a great picture of it in place at the party, but I couldn’t find one. Using links of all different widths, I made the chain using the Happy Day 6×6 Paper Pad papers, the AC coordinating cardstock, and some of the Signature Elements Pack. And a glue stick, of course! 
This is where the scrapbooking and party-going really start to meld. One of the activities for the guests to participate in was to leave a love note for the birthday girl. From the Signature Elements Pack, I cut out cute journaling boxes and photo mats for the guests to write on. A recycled aluminum can got a treatment from the Elements pack as well to hold some scrapbooking markers.
In the photo above you can also see more of the framed photo layouts with pictures of our baby girl already mounted. These guys can go straight into a scrapbook layout with very little effort!
With the Happy Day Flash Cards, I decorated the craft table by mounting them to these scallop edged containers that held our crafting supplies.
A really fun game we played, Pin the Owl on the Tree, got the whole bunch laughing when even great grandma participated. Again the AC cardstock served as the base for these die-cut owls. My 10 year old daughter put these together for the party.
I had SO much fun with this project! I still have to get it all into an album but, believe it or not, I have a ton of supplies left for that. I’m thinking maybe a mini album just for this event is in order.
Do you have a favorite not-your-typical-paper-crafting project? Tell me about!
*In case you get lost along the way, here’s the trail we’re hopping along!
-knittingprose
22 Mar
I am such a horrible blogger. It’s been two weeks since I’ve said a single word. We just get all crazy around here and have so much more to do than time we have to write about it. Anyhoo, remember I mentioned the clothes swap two weeks ago? It was AWESOME! I think I got rid of 2/3 of my wardrobe and brought back home only about 5 pieces. Yay! AND my closet looks so nice and clean. See?
That may not look too hot to you but it looks way better than it did before. Here’s what I had to contend with.
So that went spectacularly well.
Another item I accomplished was decanting the liniment I had made. That all went well, thought it took a while to get it strained. Because I put it in a bottle with a sprayer, I had to filter it really well. Sediment in sprayers is a no no. After all that time put into making, decanting and filtering this liniment, my family tells me it smells horrible and no way will any of them live with me if I use it. Yes, they thought it was that bad! LOL I didn’t find it repulsive at all but apparently our noses are nothing alike. *sigh* So now I have two and a half bottles of a nice herbal liniment to throw away. 
Very bummed.
My birthday was delightful. My husband took me to the Landing for dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. We had such a wonderful time enjoying some delicious Italian cuisine (my favorite kind!) and discussing all sorts of Biblical things. One thing we discussed on the way home – I was so saddened to see the way young women dress themselves. My heart aches for these girls who feel they must cheapen themselves in order to have any worth at all. Not to mention the style of dress these days. And we make fun of Louis XIV!! Also, I was struck by the prevailing lifestyle of drunkenness. I’m saddened that this is what makes peoples lives worth living to them! Really? Drunkenness is the driving force of perseverance in life? To make it through another week, we look to a few days of drunken stupor? I just don’t understand it. I imagine that if I were to ask any number of people who live this way what their purpose in life is their answer wouldn’t be drunkenness and yet this is the life they live anyway.
We are a deceived people living in a world of lies. How I pray that our eyes would be opened to the foolishness we call ‘living’.
-knittingprose
