Friday, August 24, 2012

Living a Life of Ifs and Buts

Over 30 years ago I heard a Don Meredith quote, "if "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts, oh what a Christmas it would be".  Not sure why, but it has always stuck with me.  How many times, I wonder do we use those words "if" and "but"?  If we had a penny for each time we used one of them would we be millionaires?  I suppose it all depends on the number of excuses we can come up with for not doing something instead of jumping in to at least give it a try. 

Not sure where this post is coming from, other than the fact that I know there's something I should be doing, but I keep making excuses not to tackle it......  it's better to try something and fail, than to do nothing and succeed - at least that's what I keep telling myself.  It's not working.   I've had SO much going on these past couple of weeks, I've been meeting myself coming back and now I think my brain has frozen - I think I need to re-boot;  if only I could find the switch.......

Y'all come back now.......

Yours truly,
Julie :)

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Scrapbook Memories - Show 1605 Now Online!

It's hard to believe that we taped this series only 2 years ago in 2010.  Things have changed so much since then - aaah the memories of Scrapbook Memories.  Here's another look back.


We shared a lot of card projects on this show.  Cards are great way to use your leftover scraps of paper and embellishments and many of our viewers were enjoying card making as much as they were enjoying scrapbooking!


 

Beth and I had lots of different samples to share.  We had cards from Flower Soft, a British company and some really intricate rubber stamps from other European companies.  For those of you who have heard of Mabel Lucie Attwell, or are familiar with her sweet designs, check out the Flower Soft website for their new product line.


Julianna Hudgins joined us again for our first segment to show a variety of dry embossing techniques.  Don't forget, we may have used these techniques to make cards, but you can also use them to make embellishments for your scrapbook pages.


  
Nikki Sivils joined us next to show how she combines a selection of patterned papers on one scrapbook page.  Check out the flowers on the project shown below, then watch the show to see how she made them - www.scrapbookmemoriestv.com  



I visit Nikki's booth at the trade show each year and she always has the most amazing line of new papers and embellishments for all kinds of paper crafting ventures.

Julie Fei Fan Balzer was our final guest.  This week she showed water coloring techniques on a card then joined Beth and me at the end of the show to demonstrate how to make envelopes using the Crafters' Companion.  This was probably the most important product of all - you HAVE to have envelopes so you can mail all the cool cards you've been inspired to make! 



Thanks for joining us.  Enjoy the show and y'all come back now.................

Yours truly,
Julie

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Back to School Crafts!

"And mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again".   Do you remember this line from an old, old song........ ?  After a 3 month vacation, the start of a new school year was always something both moms and kids looked forward to.  (Yes, I know it's from a Christmas song.....)

Even as a grandmother with the oldest going into 1st grade and his sister entering pre-K, I still look forward to the "Back to School" excitement.  I mean, OMG have you seen all those fabulous school supplies on sale!!!!  Composition books for less than a dollar - they make great journals - all you have to do is decorate the covers with leftover scraps.  Then there's pens and papers and all kinds of boxes and storage stuff.  The mind positively boggles with so many creative opportunities!

I re-cycle all kinds of empty containers and hate to admit it, but I have a "thing" for the bottoms of Velveeta cheese packages.  They're made of thick corrugated cardboard and are nice and sturdy for lots of stuff.  They fit in drawers for dividers for all kinds of sewing notions, pens and pencils and are sturdy enough to sit on a shelf to hold cards, or photos like this one.




It's on the shelf right above my computer and I use it for photos and cards "that I'm going to do something with one day".  I also have another box I use for project sheets and booklets that I pick up each time I visit the craft store.  I had thought of covering them both with scrapbook paper, duck tape, or something (in my copious free time), but.....  you know how that goes.  Well, last week I found these colorful crayons for .25 cents for a box of 24 with all the fabulous school supplies.  Not one to resist a bargain I picked up a few boxes and thought they'd look pretty cool glued onto the Velveeta boxes, empty cans, or shortened soda bottles. (Great little plant holder for a teacher gift BTW).  Anyway here's one I just finished.  You know how I LOVE Quick'n EZ - it took me all of 5 mins!




You could glue them on with a glue gun,  tacky glue,  double sided tape,  or whatever you might have on hand.  Either way, I think it looks kinda cool.

Crafting with School Supplies is the theme for Designer Craft Connection bloggers this month, so don't forget to hop forward and see what everyone else came up with.  Enjoy!  Y'all come back now....

Yours truly,
Julie :)