Of Mermaids and Motherhood…

I thought this story would be appropriate today being both International Scrapbook day and the day before mother’s day. I am sure all moms can relate. 2 weeks ago the school sent home a notice saying that there would be a “dress up as your favorite book character” day at school and the kids could come to school dressed up as the book character they wish.  One of my daughters wanted to be the little mermaid and was sure she knew where her mermaid costume was. The night before however she could not find it and went to bed in tears. So I racked my brain trying to come up with something for her to wear (feeling a bit guilty because I think I might have tossed her ratty old mermaid costume weeks ago) and came up with the git-up in the scrapbook page below:

 

So if you find yourself in need of a mermaid costume at the last-minute here is how you can make one. Cut two life-size fins from canvas leaving tabs at the hips for tieing, hem the edges with hot glue and spray with green ink or spray paint. Stray with adhesive and sprinkle liberally with glitter and spray another coat of adhesive for good measure. Tie the fin on your chile and hope for the best LOL!

I happened to be going to a crop yesterday so minutes after snapping the photos and sending my children off to school I printed these photos as well as copies of the books their characters came from (gotta love the internet) and of to the crop I went. If you are cropping with friends today have a great time! Happy mothers day to all you moms tomorrow and til next time happy crafting!

Color with me!

I love to color, especially with the new ProMarker blending sets. Not only can you color on paper but you can color ribbon, buttons, rhinestone, string, brads, staples, plastic, heck you name it and I bet you can color it! On this set I used the pastel ProMarker blending set. The houndstooth paper and little gift box are from Lindsay’s stamp Stuff .

Here is the video, you will see how easy it is to color this. If you are thinking about getting a ProMarker blending set I recommend starting off with the pastel one because you can add and build up layers of color simply by coloring over the image when dry. Hope you like it!

Here is a close up of the colored image:

You might be interested in what I used on this project:

I used these two kits from Lindsay’s Stamp stuff {shameless plug}:

I bought the Flower Fairy stamps {Crafters Companion} from Custom Crops. I ordered them last Tuesday and got them on Friday! I couldn’t wait to use them 🙂 They are still on sale too for $6.50 (reg $10)

The seam binding is from Sew True. *they are sold out of the 1/4″  (I got some at $2 a roll last summer!) but they have the 1/2″ in the full line, they even have some on the 1/2″ colors on clearance for 50% off.

The sparkly watercolors are from Skybluepink. I bought the 21 color set for $6-a bargain!

This project qualifies for the following challenges:  Amber’s Crafts and Stuff, Creative Card Crew, For Fun Challenges, Flutterby Wednesdays, My Mum’s Craft shop, Sisterhood of Crafters, The Paper Variety, Top Tip Tuesday, Claudia & Co, and Promarker Challenge

Make your own pearls, glimmer mist and rolled flowers…

I think my favorite part of scrapbooking is making homemade embellishments, why buy store-bought ones when they are so fun to make? I’ll share how I made the elements on this page:

The title element on this page was a lot of fun. I used self adhesive glitter fun foam (grab this on clearance at the craft stores after the holidays) and cut them with steel rule dies from Sizzix. (Actually this was a steal, I bought 3 different sets of alphabets that were normally $100 for $1 each at custom crops, can you believe that deal!?!) I always have my eye out for versatile thick steel rule dies because U can cut felt, chipboard, foam and more with my Big Shot. Another bonus is because each of the letters has a frame around it you get 2 letter for each one you cut. Here is a title block I made with the leftovers:

Notice the glitzy background on the title block? I saved the scrap paper I used when I glimmer misted my embellishments and it was so pretty that I saved it and used it here. If you want to make your own glimmer mist you can read my tutorial here.

I love crepe paper, it is so frilly, pretty, feminine and cheap! I pleated a strip for the title border and then tied a length of my homemade crinkle seam binding on top. Note the homemade bakers twine on the knot and on the title strip (thanks UKMaryanne for that tip!) To make a rolled flower I simply took an 18″ length of crepe paper and twisted it so i had a cord then I covered a scalloped circle die cut with low temp hot glue and starting at the middle I coiled the crepe paper pressing it into the glue as I went. For the pearls simply squeeze out circles of high temp hot glue on a non-stick mat and let dry, then dust it with pearl ex and glue them to the flower. I sprayed my flower with cheap hairspray (Aqua Net aerosol) before attaching it to my layout to keep the pearl ex stuck on good! Works for chalk too! Oh, before I forget the homemade button card tutorial is here.

I dug into my old stamps for this layout too, the name/date stamp is several years old and the flourish next to the flower was one of my first stamps from PSX about 10 years ago! Using what you have already in a new way is the best way to save money and be creative when you are scrapping! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

BTW this page qualifies for the following challenges: Get Hippity with Ippity, Kaboodle Doodles, Make it Monday, Pollycraft, Stamp with Fun, By the Cute & Girly , Scrappy Frogs, Catch The Bug, Sweet Stampin(rolled flowers are new to me:), Crafty Ann’s, Just Add Ink, Paper Cutz , Craft Us Crazy and Digi Doodle Shop’s Best

Wanna have a pool party?

Or a cookout, luau, or beach bash? If you are thinking of having a Summertime shin-dig check out the new Beach Party kit from Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff.

You get 9 printable 8.5″x11″ sheets of summery goodness including a double-sided invitation/envelope (I call it an invite-a-lope) and it saves paper and postage because the invite and the envelope are one, just print the invite-a-lope front, insert the paper into the printer again and print the invite-a-lope back. It’s easy!

How about cupcake wrappers that look like beach pails, FUN! I frosted my cupcakes with peanut butter frosting to gat the color of sand but (and I with I though of this before I took the photo) you can crush graham crackers and sprinkle them on top for a realistic, yet yummy, beach sand look! I cut a toothpick in half and glued it to the bottom of the shovel before inserting it into the cupcake.

And what is a party without favors? The beach pail favor buckets can be filled with all sorts of goodies like mini sunscreen, goggles and chapstick or candy…

And you can make a cute bottle cap necklace with the 1″ party circles included in the set. You can print them on sticker paper too for cute envelope seals and water bottle toppers too!

Water (to drink) is essential to a day at the beach so this kit has waterbottle labels, just write the guest’s name on the label so drinks are not mixed up!

This party kit (or parts of it) qualify for the following challenges: Aly’s Sunday Challenge, Corrosive Challenges, Gingerloft, Sparkles Forum , Card Creations & More By C , Ellephantastic, Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge, Inspire Me Fridays, Off the Wall Craftiness, Raise The Bar, Digi Doodle Shop’s Best, Moving Along With The Times, The Outlawz POM and Paper Romance,

Thanks for stopping by and till next time happy crafting!