Hello there My CRAFTY Peeps!!!

Sorry I have been M-I-A for half a year. :-(  Finally settled in to my new home, got a new job, my son started a new school, so I've been pretty busy.  Even though I've been absent, I've still been pretty crafty lately also.  I've been working on my Love Story 8x8 scrapbook about me & my Sweetheart.  I've also been working on the School Days album about my son and his elementary school highlights. I've also done a few other projects for family & friends.

I didn't make it to the Scrapbook Expo in Orlando this year, but I did take advantage of the National Scrapbook Day sales.  I had been researching pocket scrapbooking. So I decided to purchase Project Life on NSD and take advantage of the 30% off sale and free shipping.  What I bought is pictured below and was the Sunshine Edition Core Kit, the Big Variety Pack of pocket pages (not pictured) and the Family Themed Cards. 

              

I still want to get the Holiday Mini Kit and still need an album to display my finished pages.  So, I got my delivery and finished my very first Project Life page:

So, needless to say, I am extremely excited about this new adventure with Project Life.  Well, thank you all for checking my out again.  Check back soon for more info & updates on my crafty adventures.

Hello Everyone!  Thanks for coming to visit me again here at 1 Crafty Space!

I have some new projects I'm working on currently.  I'm trying colored mason jars that I've watched a video for on www.WeeklyScrapper.com.  So, I'll let you know how they turn out. I'm also working on some home organization projects for some family & friends (another passion of mine).  But I've been meaning to display some of the pages I've done this year. 

In my last post I mentioned a portfolio book I did for my hair stylist.  Here are some of the pages from that book:

Another page I created was for a student I tutored while working as a volunteer for the Adult Literacy League. A dedication to her and her hubby celebrating their 44th wedding anniversary:

One thing I did was held a kind of workshop for a group of deaf/hearing impaired ladies after we completed a study on Discovering the Voice of God. We took an individual and group photo, then I brought in my supplies, gave them a few tips and just let them have fun. Here is the page I created:

Next, I created a page for my brother with a poem that he wrote for our mom for Mother's Day:

And, last but not least, more recently I started a book for my son's school days. This is a book I should have started about 4 years ago but I had been doing so many projects for others. But, once I got started I got very excited in the process. 

Another page I created was done during an online webcast challenge. The host gave us the sketch and walked us through creating a page. And here's mine...

Well, that's all for tonight my fellow Scrappers and Crafters.  Thanks again for stopping by and checking out my page. Come see me again now ya hear!

More Firsts

All the Crafty People be quiet...Whoooaaa !!!

Hey Everybody. Just wanted to take this time to share some first experiences I've had this year. In April, I attended my first official CROP. I met up with some other ladies from the online crafting community I'm a member of, Scraps of Color (S.O.C.). We met at a local scrapbook store and had lots of fun scrapping, chatting, & sharing ideas/tips/techniques. Below are some pics of the crop and the store:

The store where the crop was held is Gypsy Corner.  It's now located at 125 Broadway, Kissimmee, FL 34741.  The owner Trinette is the sweetest person you'd ever meet.  Their description says:  "We are a specialized scrapbook boutique with large areas for scrap booking and crafting."  During my visit I used a Cricut for the first time also.  It was a very fun experience and I can't wait to do it again.

Another first I had this year was attending the Scrapbook Expo in Orlando in May.  If any of you have ever been, I'm sure you can agree that it was like going to "scrapbook heaven"!  There was so much to see and do and purchase.  I took Trinette's advice and packed a lunch.  I was there for a number of hours and got some awesome deals.  Here are some pics from the day:

This is a pic of Kate & Trinette at their Gypsy Corner at the Expo.

Two of the coolest ladies alive!

And, at the Expo, I received my order for my Silhouette Cameo!  Yay!!  Very exciting!!!  Of course, I couldn't wait to get it home and try it out. I haven't used it a whole lot and I'm still getting used to it. But I love the fact that you can get just the design you need without having to buy a bundle and they are very inexpensive.  My first cuts were the @ symbol and the words in the page below:

My last and final first for this post has to do with my crafty space.  Not the blog but the place where I actually let my creativity run wild.  Up until about June, my craft area was the walk space between my front door to the living room and dining room.  If you've never seen it, here's a pic:

So now, I'm in a new place (to be closer to My Love) and my wonderful man has allowed me to turn his spare bedroom into a CRAFT ROOM!!!  How exciting is that, huh?!?!  So here's what my new room looks like, where I will now make all the magic happen:

Well, that's it for today folks!  Feel free to comment on anything I've posted, because I'd LOVE to hear from you and know what you think. I'd also like to hear about any of your experiences.  Thanks for visiting!

Take Care!!!

Hello Crafters,

Hope everyone is having a wonderful  "crafty" Summer!  I've been trying some different things lately and wanted to share some with you. I've also had a few more "firsts" related to the craft world.

As far as projects, I bought a relatively inexpensive journal from Michael's. I just wanted something to keep track of projects I have in the works and upcoming, and to jot notes/info down in.  Below is a pic of the journal I purchased.

Then, of course, I decided it was too plan and decided to make some changes to it. So, I took my purple glitter glue and went to work. No major enhancements, but this is what it looks like now.

I've actually done this with a few other journals as well. Below is a pic of one I enhanced earlier this year. I added the flower and bling to the front, along with the smaller print words. Then I personalized the inside front cover.

I also decorated a gift box and journal for my mom for this past Mother's Day. Unfortunately I failed to take photos so I don't have them to show you. I did the same thing, just added some embelllies and personalized it a little bit. But, she was thrilled and so appreciative.

Well, stay tuned and I'll tell all about all my exciting firsts...

HAPPY SUMMER EVERYONE !!!

Well, I hope everyone is enjoying the start to Summer!  I hope all your children have done well this past school year, have a fun filled Summer, & succeed with flying colors next school year!  More exciting things have happened prior to this summer so I am very excited about what this new season is going to bring!

~ Update ~

Here is a project I worked on prior to the summer.  I made invitations for my uncle's retirement party.  (Personal information has been blocked out using patterned paper strips. These strips were used for confidentiality purposes only.)

The following pictures represent the supplies I used for the actual invitation and red printing paper used for the envelope I made.

Using my paper slicer, I cut the black & white patterned cardstock into 6x6 squares.  Therefore, you can make 4 invitations out of 1 sheet. Then, I cut the red glitter cardstock into 5x5 squares. I typed up the invitation including a page border and resized it for my small block of text. Then, I printed it out using a regular HP deskjet printer onto a vellum sheet. Cut that square out leaving just a little trim outside the border. I left a little extra at the top to accommodate the holes for the ribbon. 

Using Quick Dry, adhere the red glitter square to the black & white patterned square. Place the vellum square on top. Using the holepunch, center 2 holes in the top border. Cut an ample piece of red ribbon, then black ribbon. Put them together and feed each end through the respective holes in the top of the cardstock. Tie the ribbon together into a bow. And, here's your finished product.

To make the envelope, I used 2 sheets of red printer paper. Cut one down to about a 7x7 horizontal rectangle. Cut the other to a 6.5x8 vertical rectangle. Center your invitation into the middle of the horizontal piece. However, align the top of the cardstock with the envelope paper. Fold the 2 sides and bottom edges around the invitation. Use a tape runner or glue stick to add adhesive to the 3 overlapping edges. Then place to vertical piece on top, aligning the bottom edge evenly.  Press the 2 sides and bottom to adhere the cover of your envelope. Then, turn it over and fold the top flap over. Use your tape runner to adhere the flap, therefore sealing your envelope.

This was a very fun project to do and I got lots of compliments on the work!

Good Afternoon Crafty World,

Today I just wanted to share a quote I had gotten.  I thought it was very fitting for our "crafty passions" so enjoy and keep "creating." 

On this day, God wants you to know that...

...creativity is good for the soul.

Creativity is when your spirit gets a chance to play and express itself.  So whether art, dance, cooking, making music, writing, or creating a garden, let yourself go!  Create!

I have some new projects in the works so I hope to share those with you really soon. Thanks for stopping by to see me.


Stay Crafty!

2013 has been an "ABSOLUTELY AMAZING" year for me so far!  I have LOTS to be thankful & grateful for.  I'm working on some new projects and hope to soon make a business out of doing what I love.  Here's a taste of my latest 8x8  project...

And, there will be more to see so STAY TUNED...

A new item I've purchased is the 10 drawer rolling cart.  I'm sure you all have oogled over them during your shopping visits just as I have.  I found it at Big Lots for $28.  And, that's awesome compared to $50 in Marshalls or $70-$80 in Michaels.

I absolutey love it!  I use it to sort and organize letter stickers, other embellies, and book projects.  To organize my book projects, I'll pic a drawer and put all of the stickers and embellies I want to use for that project and drop it in.  I also include paper up to 8 1/2" X 11".  Then I use a sticky note strip to label the drawers so I know where everything is.  The only bad thing about the cart is that it doesn't fit 12x12 sized paper.  But, I make due.  So here's what my craft space looks like now...

Hello Crafty World,

I hope 2013 has brought everyone exceedingly abundant blessings!  I do want to apologize for being away so long.  I've been real busy finishing up a very extensive project I was working on. It was a military album I did for a long time friend who retired from the Navy.  And, it was beautiful album!!!  He didn't want any of his pages online and I've respectfully obliged him.  So, unfortunately I can't show you any of my work on that project.  But I can share with you the album I used.  It's the Navy album by K & Company.  I ordered it from Amazon then a week later Michael's had it on their shelves in the clearance aisle (had been looking for it there all along and they didn't have it). But here is the gorgeous leather-bound album...

So, I've decided that I want the Silhouette Cameo.  It's an electronic cutter that would allow me to do so much more with, not only my scrapbook page layouts, but also with other crafts.  I've gotten mixed reviews about the Cricut and haven't really heard much about other electronic cutters.  I've even only heard from a few people about the Cameo.  But the ones that I have heard from LOVE it!  Hopefully I can raise the money to obtain one.  It's $300 at regular price.

http://silhouetteamerica.com/silhouetteCameo.aspx

An AWESOME week of Firsts!

This past week has been an awesome craft week!  

I met one of my fellow SOC members for the first time.  It was so nice meeting her and I can't wait until she comes back to FL.  We're planning a crop so it will be great to get a group of the FL ladies together for the first time. I'm so excited!

We met at Piktails in South Orlando.  It's  an awesome scrapbook store that has lots of items that are unique compared to Michael's and JoAnn's.  They make they're own layouts and mini-book kits which are so beautiful!  Debbie was wonderful! She showed us a project she's working on that's very extensive.  But, she's doing an awesome job with it.  I'll definitely be back to participate in one of their crops.  If you want to check them out, go to Piktails.com.

I also created a new item.  I was looking for a dry erase board in the dollar store and couldn't find one.  Saw a few in other stores but thought they were just too expensive for what I needed.  So, I decided I could make my own for less than what it'd cost to buy one.  Here's what I did:

1) laminated color computer paper
2) edged it with printed duct tape (from JoAnn's)
3) rounded the corners
4) made 2 holes with hole punch
5) tied ribbon to the holes
6) added embellies (It's 2 sided, butterfly on side showing and 2 pink hearts on the other side)

And, here's the finished product:

Now I can stay organized with my projects.

Another first that has nothing to do with scrapping (except to create a page about it) was I took my son to his first NFL game.  We went to see my home team, Jacksonville Jaguars, play.  Unfortunately, they lost to NY Jets but it was nice being in that atmosphere, especially since he loves football so much.  We even sat next to Santa Claus at the game.

Then my cousin Kim told me of her great idea for us to create mini-books for Christmas.  I love it!  So, we started our first mini-books.  It was so much fun.  This is the first page I've created:

It's so much fun working on this project (and shopping for it).  I can't wait to complete it and start adding my photos.

Well, folks!  Thank you for taking time out to visit me today.  See you next time, same scrapper time, same scrapper channel.

I participated in the FNC (Friday Night Challenge) on SOC (Scraps of Color) last night. The instructions for one of the challenges is listed below...

Use this layout sketch to create a monochromatic page using either the color red, white, blue or black.  Use splash embellishments in one of the other colors and a title that uses at least two of the letters in the words VOTE or PRESIDENT.

Below is a pic of my finished project:

Today, I participated for the first time in SOC's Friday Night Challenge (FNC).  It was fun to do and I really enjoyed it. Below is my result for challenge #3.  We are celebrating the 8th Anniversary of SOC and had to do a layout using a given sketch that shows 8 things I love about me...

I've also made a gift book for one of my aunts using all her birthday cards from her 75th celebration. I only put adhesive on the back of each card so she can pull the page out and still open and read her cards. I surprised myself with the flower and sun I crafted on this page using my paper scraps.

Below are a couple things I've done aside from scrapbook layout pages.  I still have yet to try card making or Artist Trading Cards (ATC).  But I hope to expand to those as well as mini albums & acrylic albums.

These were Teacher Appreciation gift bags my son and I did for his 3rd grade teachers. We stamped the bags with different color inks and stickers. He made his own lil cards to put in the bags along with a cupcake scented candle, hand lotion, and a flower clothes pin clip.

This was my first time trying invitations. I made them for my son's birthday party. It was great!