Acrylic Album

I was given this assignment FOREVER ago at the Pink House. And well, time just completely got away from me and I didn't get around to doing it until last night. In my defense, I did tell them that it would probably take me awhile to get it done, but I never imagined it'd be this overdue. The craziness this summer has definitely taken it's toll on my crafty time! I am proud to say, though, that I started this last night and finished it this morning and I'm completely thrilled with how it turned out. My first acrylic album!! YAY!

Recipe:

Clear Scraps acrylic album

Doodlebug Designs Hopscotch alpha stickers

Bazzill buttons

Daisy Bucket Designs Patterned Paper

Zip Dry Adhesive

Stazon Ink

Some digital practice

I had a kind of stressful day today. You know...one of those days where the kids don't listen, everyone is cranky and whining and you have a list a mile long of things that you needed to accomplish that day?? Yeah that was my day today. My kids were INSANELY cranky today and forgot their "listening ears" on their pillows this morning, I think. It was just really one of those days. Enough said on that. Anyway, Will is busy studying for his promotion test that he takes tomorrow and has been basically buried in his books for the last few days so I've been kind of flying solo again with all the housework and kid duties and all of that. Needless to say, I really needed some crafty time tonight to unwind from my crazy day and to just sink myself into something that makes me feel good.

That being said...

I spent somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 hours playing with Photoshop Elements 6.0 today. I am determined to get familiar with this program and all the cool things I know it can do. God bless Jessica Sprague and her blog and website for the amazing tutorials and freebies and all sorts of wonderful digi-goodness. After lots of trial and error, I finally came up with this page...

I have very limited digital supplies, and am a complete novice with the program...so yes, I might've used a different combination of papers if I had done this the "regular" way, and things might have been laid out just a touch differently, but I am pretty happy with how this came out. If you have any interest in going digital/hybrid, you must check out Jessica Sprague's blog. (there is a link to her in yesterday's post!).

I'll have a few cards to share tomorrow--I got some new goodies in the mail today!

Wild Pomegranates True Friend

I made this card today for another RAK to send out for the SCS Random Acts of Kindness Group. I still need to make 2 more...hopefully I'll have some more creative play time later this afternoon, but for now I'm happy to have gotten this one done! I want to use up some of the Spring/Summer In Colors as the new ones come into play next month. I've put in my first order for some new stuff--I ordered the new scallop border punch, and a couple new in-colors paper and ink pads. Now if I could just find some customers to share it all with, haha. Oh well, I'm feeding my own stamping addiction.

Card Recipe:

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Purely Pomegranate, and Wild Wasabi

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Sanded Background Stamp, True Friend

Ink: Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranate, and Wild Wasabi

Ribbon: American Crafts

Photo ShaZAM!

I am a Photoshop newbie. I have had this program for about 2 weeks now thanks to my sister who insisted that it's impossible to navigate and figure out. So she gave it to me to figure out so I can teach her how to use it. :-)

I am slowly learning a few things with it thanks to some AWESOME tutorials on Jessica Sprague's page. If you are trying to work with this program, check her out, she's incredible! Her site can be found here.

I was playing around today with her lastest Photoshop Friday topic, Photo ShaZAM. Here is the result of my tinkering today...before and after

Something scrappy...

It's a sad day in our house today. Will's kids went home for the final time for the summer. They won't be back at our house until probably Spring break next year. It is VERY quiet. Too quiet. If you've ever been in a house with kids for an extended period of time (long enough to get used to the messes and the noise) you'll understand what I mean. So having his 3 gone is a drastic change. I've been cleaning house and trying to restore some order to our home after their visit and trying to take my mind off of how much I miss them already. I'm looking forward to seeing them again in a couple weeks, but this time it'll be in Indiana.

In other news, I am happy to say that I ordered the supplies for our wedding invites and favors. I got some really great stamp sets from Papertrey Inc. I know, right? I'm supposed to be a demo for SU and I chose PTI stamps over SU, but their wedding selection was a lot more diverse. I did order the cardstock and stamp pads from SU, though, as I am more familiar with those colors. We've decided on Soft Sky and Chocolate Chip. As I start receiving the shipments and get to work on the invites, I'll post some peeks... thankfully we're having a very small wedding so I can do it all by hand!

I also managed to get some layouts done during the craziness this week as well. So here they are...

Sorry for the wait...

Here is a picture of my BEAUTIFUL ring. I love it. I took one look at it and started crying. And Will gets all the credit because he picked it out entirely by himself :-) I'm hoping to get some better pics later with Will's hand in it too, but I've had several people ask to see it, so this is the quick peak!

More later!! Love you all!!

I'm engaged!!

Just had to share my happy news...Will officially proposed last night. We've been planning for a few months now, but now I have the ring on my finger! I promise to post some pics and more details later!! LOTS to do! :-) Hope everyone has had a great weekend!!

Big Post...Playing catch up...

As usual, I'm behind with things I need to be doing with how crazy life is this summer. I finally had a chance this morning to get all of my welcome cards done for the SCS RAK group. Thankfully I was only behind by two people, because I was assigned two more yesterday. I'm feeling accomplished to have gotten all of them done and to have four different cards to share. Usually when I get behind, I just mass produce one design. Today I decided to take my time and play a little more since I haven't had many opportunities recently.

In other news...my sister finally made it back home to Indiana late last night. It was so great to visit with her and spend time with my niece and nephew. I've missed them all so much since I moved out here. I love love LOVE being here in SC, but being away from family is hard sometimes, so I am grateful that they were able to come spend a week with me here.

And my wonderful sister took a complete family photo for us! Here is the result of that!