Card Share - MME Collection

This is a little 4 card set I made with some scraps left over from a mini album I created.  I used the Marvy Scallop Oval punch and the sentiments are printed on clear sticker paper.  The cardstock is Bazzill and the patterned paper is MME.

Have a great day!

News from the Studio

Well, I've made some changes around in this little cottage of mine!  The boys needed a bigger room, with a closet, so I let them take my studio.  Now my studio is the little bedroom off of my room, where they used to be.  While we had them moved out, we built a closet in here, and included a built in desk area.  I painted it a very lovely sea foam green, the closet build is a very crisp white and it complements nicely with the green & dark brown accents that I had before.  However, it is a smaller room, even to start with, so it has been challenging.  I had to give up my old craft table that I got from my mom.  I'm going to have to purge some of my supplies.

I did however, find this very lovely Bretford Book Truck to keep my Library of Memories binders on the bottom 2 shelves.  It had to be this one as the shelves are 13" apart, just big enough for a standard binder to fit.  On the top 2 shelves, I used 4 of these Cropper Hopper vertical paper holders to put all of my patterned paper pads in.  I put them in upside down so that I can flip through them & see the papers.  Some of the binders, and the paper holders hang off the edges a bit, so it is wider than the 18" listed, but it is not enough of an overhang to cause anything to tip.  So far, I am very pleased with it.  Since it is on casters, it makes it incredibly easy to store it & then move it around, if need be.

For those of you who have placed orders, now that I'm back to being mostly functional again, that is my top priority, thanks so much for being patient!

Mini Album Share - B @ Camp

Here is a fun little book that I made for my son's trip to church camp a few years back.  These are all pictures that he took while he was there. Paper is all DCWV Green Stack, and the rest is all assorted supplies out of the studio.

Studio Remake - 2013

As many of you know, I've shared my studio for 4+ years with my not-so-little anymore little ones.  They've been moving out.  I've been purging tons of old, old, old stuff and they've been cleaning out their stuff they don't use anymore.  No, they are not leaving me, but they just don't need or want the space anymore.  So it has given me a chance to re-arrange a bit, downsize a bit, simplify a bit.  I've got a new 9 cube cubbie from Real Simple I need to put together, I'm waiting on the canvas totes & extras I ordered.  You can get it at www.bedbathandbeyond.com and I have a book truck coming as well.  It will be a better way of storing my patterned paper so that I can see it.  Right now, it sits in the bottom of the kitchen cabinet (OLD from my mom) that I like to scrap on (because it reminds me of her) but I can't see into the bottom of it.  Maybe only stuff I don't use so often should go in there.  Anyway, I'm excited! Can't wait to put it all back together.  And I finally have a left-handed desk, had to do it myself!

Hope you are enjoying your day!

Birthday Card Share

Here are 3 card sets that I did, again from leftover paper.  I'm not sure I've ever just dove into my paper stash & made a card from a fresh sheet, come to think of it!  All the paper is MME, cardstock is Bazzill Basics, stamps are stampin up!  Lots of different little embellishments to make it fun.  The stars in the bottom collection I hand-drew then cut.  Stamped the design & inked the edges for some dimension.  A really fun idea is to use a picture of a loved one on the front.  I did not send this card to him, but did send to another family member.
  

 

  

 

Hope you enjoy & thanks for stopping by!

News From the Studio

LOM update
I have all my Jan - Oct 2012 pictures sorted into my LOM binders, yea me!  It is always so much fun to see stories coming together, new stories being made, and to get more & more of my life organized.  At least the memories part!  Perhaps that's why it appeals to me so much, I feel like I am putting order to chaos.  That is a huge thing for me.  I have Nov-Dec pictures proofed now, and am just waiting for a sale to print them out. Considering it can take me several months at a time when I do (nearly) a whole year like that, perhaps smaller bites is better!  I can't believe one year I did like 5 years all at one time!  I am also much better at getting papers & other memorabilia in there faster so less piles.  

LO update
I've even gotten like 3 layouts done too!  Go me!  That feels so incredibly good, I can't even describe it.  I date the backs of them when I complete them.  It had been since February!  Now, keep in mind it has been almost a year sometimes.  I don't like going that long, how are the stories ever going to be told if I don't get them told?

Life update
012 had his second band concert last night.  Wow, brought back lots of memories.  It was held in my old high school.

And I'm looking forward to Mother's Day.  How about you?  I think we're going to go up north & just relax!  

Birthday Cards Share

As you know, I always make cards from my leftover scraps of other projects.  These are square, to fit in CD envelopes.  I'm a huge proponent of reusing & recycling, so it's just one more way I can try to lessen my impact.

These are super-cute, and super simple.  I love the clear sticker paper (it is more clear in real life) and makes for super-simple sentiments.  Also did quite a bit of paint stamping and it is always fun to get messy.

Cardstock is Bazzill, paper is KI Memories, letter stickers are from Doodlebug & I used various punches, paint & stamps.

Enjoy!  

News from the studio

So just a quick update this AM... I've been busy in the studio cleaning & working on various digital projects.  As many of you know, I subscribe to the Library of Memories system.  Which I love, love, love!  I had Jan-Oct 2012 pictures printed out earlier this year, and so I've been busy getting those put into the catagories i like to use.  And of course each time I do this, I find new stories, and better ways of organizing my photos & memorabilia and so it is just fun to see the connections that come out.

I am participating in the Secret Sister program again this year at church and want to make a canvas mixed-media present for my sister.

Other than that, of course I have about 30 pages kitted up to scrap, wondering how long that will take me & some other smaller projects.

Help me stay on track!  

Layout Share - Hospital

This is the last one that I have for a while that uses a pocket page. I really liked the skinny ones for all the tags & bracelets we all had to wear. Just a simple photo of the time, and then the 3 of us together I think says everything.  But if you wanted to add journaling, the narrow horizontal pockets would be perfect.  

Product List:
Paper = Basic Grey

Be on the lookout...

I have the All Together CollectionZ done, and when I get back from my mini vacation, expect to see it in the shop.  It is so cute, little birds, all about family, the needle goes off the cuteness factor scale!

LO Share - Big Brother

Here's another fun layout I created for 009's book's baby section.  Our doc was so sweet and wonderful, I loved her!  And it was so totally cool to see 012 (then 002.5!) try and be so sweet & loving to him.  Basic Grey paper, 7Gypsies stamps & stickers and lots of other stuff.  It went together very fast!  These were all Christmas presents to him & he loved them!

Hard day's night...

...and I've been workin' like a dog... course I don't really mind it when it is making lovelies!  I've been busy in the studio the past couple three weeks using up some scraps & making cards to help me with my resolution of "no more piles 2013".  Anyone else have one of those?  I've not been very successful to date, but maybe it is not so much about the end result as it is just about being intentional about not letting it sit there all year.  Ya know?  Anyway, when I am done, it should be around 80 cards.  And yes, some of them have been cut out & folded for over 1 year.  Sad.  It's a crime against patterned paper.  But I'm excited to see it get done.  Whatever I have left, if they are good sized scraps, will be going to my boy's elementary school.  It is usually what I do with it.  I also share with my SIL too.  Spread the love, I say!

I've been sick for a few days, so my momentum has been slow, at best.  Which has caused another pile to be formed.  Sigh... Memorabilia.  I have most of 2012 printed out (of my pictures) and those need to be sorted and then filed in my LOM binders.  That is always fun & it is a good stroll down memory lane.

Earlier this year, I packaged up about 30 page kits - pictures, papers & a sketch or magazine article I wanted to use.  That is now a "get creative & do it" pile, but it used up a "one of these days I'm going to use it" pile.  So that is good, right?

So I'm hoping the end results of these piles (cause I didn't even mention the pile of "oh yea, I want to make that/design something like that" pile) should mean lots of yummy goodness for you all too, right?

Go check out your own piles & share with me what you've got!

LO Share - Baby Mine

This is another split-page I did for my younger son’s birth.  I loved how I could slip in the bits & pieces of the events; the card from his bassinet, the heart monitor, etc.  They were very fun to do & very fast.
Here I have used some chipboard from Lil Davis, Chip toppers from Bazzill Basics, a sticker from 7Gypsies, rub-ons from Scrapworks, buttons, some Daisy D’s rub-on runner tape, and a sharpie.  Paper is all Basic Grey.
Thanks in advance for looking!

Lastest Custom order - TagZ Brackets Months

Isn’t that a beautiful color?  Can’t wait to see how she uses them!

2 New Big sets on the Shop

I have gotten 2 new large sets done & out on the shop for you to check out… They are just full of yummy goodness!

O Tannenbaum CollectionZ

Space Case CollectionZ

New CollectionZ available in the shop

So many updates for the shop.  Let me tell you, these things just keep getting cuter & cuter!  Go check them out, they are super-reasonable prices too!  Many of the IconZ now (especially in the Halloween CollectionZ) and the DotZ, are on high-gloss self-adhesive paper.  It makes the colors so much more rich, and the product just that much easier to use!  If you have any snapshots of your projects using BZ Designs/BenzillaScrapping products, be sure to email them in to me so we can show them off!  Thanks so much!

Cake and Ice Cream, in the Birthday section

Candy this Way, in the Halloween Section

Cast a Spell, in the Halloween Section

Eat, Drink & Be Scary in the Halloween Section

Wicked, in the Halloween Section

One Fall Day, in the Fall Section

DotZ, in the Christmas section

LO Share: I'm a Boy

Wow, I had no idea how blurry this is, but hopefully you will get the idea.  I used a 2-up page from We R Memory Keepers, so each square is a 6x6.  Great if you have a bunch of 6x6 scrap pads, but I just cut my 12” down.  I like how there are pockets to fit all of my memorabilia in these things.  So I have the balloon that came in the bouquet that was sent us, as well as the little stocking hat he wore.  The top picture is him just as he is born, so I used a BZ Designs FrameZ to highlight where he is.  The lower square has 4 pictures of him altogether, and is a really fabulous way to get more on there.  I used a square punch to get them cut out.  Of course this design is easily adaptable to a standard 12” as well.  They were super-quick and easy & fun.  I ended up doing several of them as Christmas presents to Zak that year.  He was complaining that his book didn’t have very many pages in it & he was right.  So I’ve been trying to fix that ever since!  Paper is Basic Grey.
Enjoy!

Thank You Card Share

These cards are a super sweet, super easy, super pretty way to say Thanks to one of the lovely people in your life.  They are 4x4” cardstock squares, I used a 3” circle punch, and then just whatever sized MME paper scrap for the scallop border punch at the bottom.  A Bazzill Basics Chip Topper, Prima Flower & a gem completes it out. Used up a bit of my cardstock and patterned paper scraps too.  Delightful!

See the full gallery on Posterous

New Year - already?!

Can you believe it is already 2013?  Seems like just yesterday we were heralding in 2000!  I’ve ever continuing on making new product, and have a lot of it printed out & ready to be put up at the store, but have been taking a bit of a break to work on some mixed media.  Well, and I was working on Christmas gifts too.  Those I will also get around to sharing.  I’m really excited about the canvas I’m working on right now, and have considered selling copies, if anyone is interested.  Here’s another sneak-peak of what I’ve been up to….

Now, isn’t that absolutely adorable?!?!  Thanks so much & hope to see you around soon!

BFF Mini Album Share

It is always such a special treat to get to do girly girl stuff, especially when it includes pink!  A friend of mine requested 2 BFF books for her daughter & daughter’s BFF. It was just a ton of fun!

Flowers, ribbon, Chip Chatter letters & MME papers.  I made my own chipboard album pages, 8x8.  As you can see there was also a fair amount of sanding going on.  This not only looks really great, but when trying to get glue all the way to the edge, sometimes you get boogers.  And the sanding takes care of that.

Paint chip with a clear sticker sentiment (I think actually from a baby pack of Phrase Café), paper clip & heart button.  Stamping with paint on the other side, I love this big swirly stamp, I wish I could remember the company name! It’s actually stamped onto a sheet of acrylic, which you can sort of tell…

This view you can tell a bit better as the stamping is now on the other side.  Did a spray mist of paint on the purple side.

A similar page, but with a embellished flower accent.

I covered this flower with tape, and then folded & trimmed it to fit.  This was their nicknames for each other, and she wanted that in there.

She also wanted to capture some of their interests, like cats, and just being together.  The chip heart I painted & loved how it hung from the punched scallop edge.  More flowers, love ‘em!

American Idol lovin’…

Girl Scouts together… Stampin’ Up (I think) make these super cool girl scout stamps

School Memories

Big stencil numbers (love those!) and I nice sentiment with (more) flowers & sparkly jewels