New Day...New Direction

So I know it has been like FOREVER since I posted. I have really been trying to reevaluate what I want to do with my "Craft Life" since I closed the scrapbook store. While I love scrapbooking and always will, there are SO many other projects I want to do as well. So many in fact, that there is not enough time in the day to get my chores done and do them all! So, with that being said, I have hung my scrapbook designer hat up for a while and am going to focus on these other crafty projects, both for myself and for my etsy shop. (I need to keep a little bit of business action going to pay for my habits!)

So, from now on you will be seeing a plethora of projects and ideas. I will be posting tutorials on some, maybe some recipes, some kid activities, whatever floats my boat for that day! I hope you all enjoy the new direction I am taking and continue to follow along.

New ScrapPlay Challenge

Do you have a favorite summer tradition? A trip or outing you really loved this year? If so then start scrapping! E-mail your layout to Noelle at scrapplay@gmail.com by Friday, August 13, 2010, 3pm EST and you could win some great products for your summer pages. She has put together a cute kit made of Colorbok Friendly Forest products. They’re great for summer layouts about camping out, nature hikes, zoo visits, and so much more. So get to work, folks!

Here is my summer project I made for inspiration. This album is super easy to make and makes a great impact. They are fun gift ideas as well.

Can you tell what this album is made out of? It is a pair of flip flops I picked up at the Dollar store!

Silhouette Giveaway!

I am an avid reader of The Idea Room Blog. She always has some of the greatest craft ideas around. Right now she is haveing a giveawy of a Silhouette! Can you believe that! Head on over and enter for your chance to win!!!

"Tooth" Tooth Fairy Pillow

This little project was something I had been wanting to make every since my sweet nephew lost his tooth at my house. It didnt take much time at all and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. My only complaint is the type of fabric I chose to use. While it is super soft and cuddly, it sheds like crazy while working with it. I think if I make any more of these (which I will HAVE to make at least one more for my kiddos) I will use something closer to a soft felt.  I sewed a little pocket on the back for the actual tooth and the deposit made by the tooth fairy! I was going to add a small piece of velcro, but I decided that might be a bit too noisy (if you get my drift..ha..ha..).

Home Sweet Home

I am finally back! While I had a great time, it is always nice to be home to your own bed (especially when going 16 days with hubby and a 4 year old in a double bed!) The trip to Philadelphia was awesome! We took our time getting there since it was an 18 hour drive and stopped at a lot of fun places. We went to the Knoxville Zoo, and then stayed a bit in Pigeon Forge. Once we got to Philadelphia I was extremely happy we decided to park our car in a garage and use public transportation-I surely would have gone crazy navigated around in the absurd traffic! On our way to hotel we had already practically been run over by a trolley-it was terrible!

Here are a couple of my favorite photos from the trip

Of course I have TONS more to share, but I will wait and show then to you on layouts later, because we all now how caught up I am with my scrapbooking =)

Click here to visit Motivated Moms.

So, now that I am back I have jumped back into my Motivated Moms planner full swing. If you are a busy mom and do not have this you are missing out! It is amazing! My house has never felt so clean and organized EVER, and this is coming from me now with 4 kids! These wonderful ladies have laid out a daily system for you to get your house in order and keep it that way. I love how spending just a couple hours each day (sometimes not even that) can make your house stay so spectacular! For only $7 you can download and print a chore list… it details a few chores to do every day of the year, and cycles through things like changing towels, cleaning the lights in your bathroom, cleaning the crumb tray of your toaster, and all sorts of things that are easy to let slide if you’re not thinking about them. Just what I need! I also love that they have an option to add daily bible reading to your schedule as well.

Sketch Challenge

We are haveing a sketch challenge over on the Scrap Play blog for a chance to win a set of Autumn Leaves alphabet stamps! (Open to US residents only). Submission is due Friday July 2nd.

This sketch is from Pagemaps. Their sketched are great and I find myself using them a lot when I am in a funk. They make scrapbooking easy peasy!

Here is my take on it. I think I might redo this, becuase I am just not super happy about it. I didnt have my pictures with me when I made it and then they pictures just didnt seem to go well with the page. I do not like to build pages without pictures. Do any of you like to do this? How do you make it work when you add pictures later?

MIA and a new Scrap Play Project

So, I have been MIA for a couple weeks. First I had a week full of getting decorations ready for our church VBS. Then, it was VBS week which was AWESOME! The kids had a blast and met some new friends, even the adults were blessed greatly from the experience! Then...I have had a small issue I have been dealing with healthwise. Nothing that is a huge deal, but needs to be taken care of. I am fine now and have a small surgery scheduled for the end of July, then it will all be over!

My first assignment with Scrap Play was to create a Father's Day inspired project or layout. Nick and I are foster parents and it is amazing to watch him not only with our two children, but also with the foster children we bring into our homes. This process has blessed us tremendously and taught us so much. There is a whole other world out there that we do not know about. I wanted to make something for Nick to remind of of this special Father's Day. We have had Baby Girl for 6 months (she is 9 months old) and Baby Boy is 5 months old and we brought him home from the hospital 2 days after he was brought into this world. They are absolutly part of our family and at this moment, on this Father's Day, Nick has taken the role of their father as well.

Sorry I can not post their precious pictures, so I have added a heart on their face!

Part of Scrap Play's assignments is to create projects that showcase the photos and are not made with anything expensive. The base of this wall hanging is made from a wooden plain wall hanging I bought at our local Dollar Tree. I covered it with paper from the Pink Paislee 365 Degrees collection, and decorated it very simply to not take away from the photo of Nick and our babies.