What a crazy week!

So my husband is finally home! He has been gone for a week fishing and came home yesterday! My boys were so excited to see him again, and so was I. It sure has been a busy one around here...baseball is in full swing, we got the pool set up, we had a Baptism and a birthday party to go to...very busy. And city wide rummage sales! Wow I scored some great clothes for the boys and even found myself a Bissell Spot Lifter - it's like new, the people only used it once or twice and decided to get a bigger Bissell. So $5 later, I am the proud owner of a new stain fighting machine (that is originally around $50!)

On to crafting! I was reading another blog about using the cricut machine. And I think I could have wrote it! I highly encourage you to go check it out and follow - this week, she will be posting new ideas on how to use your cricut and make those adorable die cuts you see on infomercials and in the craft stores instead of the plain jane ones the I make. It's here http://bingecrafter.blogspot.com/2011/05/embellishing-die-cuts-week-long-event.html .

Hopefully I get around to scapping something this week...I need to get at it.

Paper Bag Albums

I tried something a bit different last fall - paper bag albums. I saw the idea online somewhere (can't remember where) and thought it'd be neat to try out with some pictures from Labor Day weekend, 2010.

Layout your paper bags by alternating the flaps. Lay down the first bag with the opening on the left and the flap on the right, then with the second bag on top of the first have the flap on the left and the opening on the right and so on. This will help even out your album so the thicknesses of the flaps are not all on one side. (Some people spray the bags with a mist that will make them archival quality/acid free. I don't. I do cover the bags though with scrapbooking paper and figure these books are for the kids to cart around if they want to. I'm not going to go all "scrap crazy" on them.)

After you have your bags organized then fold them together like a book and bind them somehow. You can either staple the middle to hold them together or punch holes in folds and use ribbons or eyelets to hold the pages. Another option is to sew the bags down the middle to create a binding for your album.

Once you have bound the book then you are ready to start decorating your pages. Cut the scrapbook papers to the appropriate sizes to cover the pages. You will want a base cover for the pages, then cut photo mats and add embellishments.

(I found the above instructions at http://www.ehow.com/how_2118781_paper-bag-album.html )

Embellishments on the cover that I used were some bubble stickers, ribbon on the right of the picture, and the paper ribbon to bind the pages together.







Since you use paper bags, you get natural pockets from the top of the bag being used as a page.One of the album pockets that occurs - you could store extra pictures or mementos in here.

Here are some layouts from the album:

Some embellishments on these layouts were some pop up monkey stickers I found at Wal-Mart and bright ribbon to go with the colors used throughout the album.

After tying, I opened up the ribbon to make it a little more fun. 

Altered Clothespins

So...here are some pictures of my clothespins I am making. The clothespins are made out of bamboo and I have found a use for my scraps from scrapbooking. They are my first venture into using Mod Podge. And it sure has been a "learn as you go" type of hobby.

We use them for:

• Hanging kids artwork on the "art rope"we have in the dining room.
• I put magnets on the backs and use them on the fridge.
• As chip clips to keep the chips fresh.

Here are some pictures of them - I'm thinking of signing up on Etsy, but I don't know what I'd charge for them.

Here is the art rope:

Here are some of the clips up close:

These are sets I have finished, not sure if I am going to try to sell them or give them away.

A first post!

Thanks to some friends from a scrap booking email group I am in, I remembered that I had started this blog at one time, but never really did anything with it. So I have a few goals tonight - (1) get this blog up and running. (2) Actually try to keep it updated.

You'll probably find a little bit of everything here - stuff about my kids, stuff about my husband, stuff about our dogs, stuff about me, and most definitely stuff about my scrap booking and other hobbies I am attempting. So here is a picture to start out the good times - it's from a field trip I went on yesterday with my little 2nd grader. We went to the zoo and this chimp was a content little monkey.

Have a great night peeps!