Inside The Box,,,,

I'm Late, I know! I've been working 12 hour plus days and yesterday when I thought I would have a little bit of time, I got called in early for an "emergency" conference call that lasted all of 25 minutes! but I wasstuck at work 3 hours early :( 

On to the very cute Christmas Banner that is going to reside inside my Christmas Box. I have to say,, this was the hardest project I have ever had to photograph! And I wasn't very happy with the end photo of the hanging banner,  but I finally gave up. This is a project that I started at Creative Escape in Jessica Sprague's  Class. It is the cutest thing and I am going to give it to someone for Christmas. This banner is a little over 12 feet long, so finding dryng space has been a challenge :0) Here is a photo of the individual componets
It is made with a photoshop template that I got from Jessica's site. We sized the photos onto the templates and printed out in advance - 12 of them. Then we did journal cards - 12 of them. In class we assembled. Bazzill was so generous as to have pre cut all the little circles so we went pretty quickly. Of course, I had to come home and embellish mine with Prima flowers and ribbon, and ink all the edges. 

Here is all the the circles that make up the banner ~ 
They are all attached onto bakers twine - the cutest thing EVER!



Here is my pitiful attempt to get some sort of picture of the banner hanging. I tried about 4 different ways and, really, none of them looked good. This one looked the best.  It can be hung from the ceiling hanging straight down, or it can be hung horizontally. The person I an giving it to has a great spot to hang it horizontally so that everyone can read the journaling that I have added behind each picture. 



While trying to get a good shot, I had a very cute visitor to my garden this morning. This is an Anole. They are very common here in this part of Texas. At the moment he is brown to match my brick, but he can also turn a vivid green when he wants to. During mating season, he can puff out his throat ~ which turns red ~ to attract a mate. My garden is awash in these very helpful little creatures - they eat LOTS of bugs :0)

Christmas Box

While I was at Creative Escape in Chandler last month, I started a wonderful project in a class taught by Jessica Sprague . It is a hybrid project, and part of it is this wonderful box. I have decorated the box with some papers by Sandy Lion and Anna Griffin that I have had for years. (I am really making an effort to use some of the things in my room before I buy new stuff. It is killing me, but I am trying!) Anyway, I layered the papers and stitched them together for the side of the box. Then added velvet ric-rac for the center.
For the top of the box I made a spray from some flowers I picked up a at my LSS. They are made from beads, pearls, ribbons and glass.  I wrapped them all together with a gold printed ribbon to match the inking 
I did on the paper. I sweet Gingerbread Man finished it off. 
Stop by tomorrow and see what I made to go into the box ~ you will love it, I promise! Hope your week started out great. Thanks for stopping by.

My Baby is all grown up!

And she looks so beautiful I cannot believe that she is grown and almost done with college! Here is a quick LO with one of the photos from the party we had last weekend. It is not often we are all gussied up (I love that word) so we had to take lots of pic's. 
 I have used the Postcards for Paris paper from Websters Pages Also from Websters is the cameo embellie. Prima flowers, some $1 stamps that I bought I don't know how many years ago, a Basic Grey Bling It On, an Artisan Element from pink paisley and some pearls. 
The artisan element I sprayed down with Tattered Angels Chalkboard mist, then wiped off everything that was on the surface ~ I just wanted the color in the recesses. As for the title ~ I cut it out on my Cricut, inked the edges, then stamped the top layer with versamark ink and colored the stamped images with chalk. I am really pleased with how it turned out :0)

Love

Today I have a small project I made for a photo gallery wall here in my home. We have a very long wall in the main living room and we have been creating a gallery on it over the last couple of months with portraits of our girls. I found this decorative word and thought it would be great thrown into the mix,  if it were gussied up a bit.
I have added rub-ons, some ribbon from Offray, and ~ of course ~ Prima Flowers. I added pearl centers to the centers of the Primas. I then put a little shimmer on them with my stickles. All my frames on the wall are black with cream and green mats, so I think this is going to look great with them!
I just picked up a box of photos from my daughter's Ring Day and the party this past weekend, so I am off to scrap some of them. Have a great weekend!

Family Album Part Deux


Well, things are finally settling down just a tad, and I FINALLY got to finish the family mini album I started last week. ( or was that week before last??) Here are a couple of photos. There are not the best, the skies are overcast here, which is good news, we could use the rain!
I have used lots of different lines from Teresa Collins in the book. For embellishments, there is lace from May Arts and Offray, Prima flowers and bling, TC chipboards, bling and ribbons, and a lot of misc stuff I had laying around. 
 
This ribbon is from Bo Bunny and it is fab! It also looks great sprayed with Glimmer Mist. :)

I am off to scrap more. I spent most of my day out looking at new kitchen cabinets. It has been an ongoing project for some time now and I am trying to wrap it up. I hope that ya'll are having a great day!

Aggie Class Ring

Well, it seems like forever since I have had a chance to post! I have been super busy with two major events this past week. The first was very special for our family ~ my daughter got her Aggie class ring. So this ment a trip down to College Station for the Ring Day festivities. Of course I have had not had time to scrap them yet, but here is the first photo of her and that ring!
I know she has worked so hard for that little piece of gold and I am so proud of her. :) The second on the list, which was right after the first, was a BIG party to celebrate a 16th birthday for my BFF's daughter.  Of course, I got enlisted to make the cake. Don't these people know that they are cutting into my scrapbook time??? Here are photos of the cakes.
 
The theme was masquerade, so I made a really cute mask for the cake topper. It is made with Bazzill cardstock, May Arts ribbon, a Prima flower and rhinestones. That was as close to scrapbooking as I got this week :(  Now, I am going back to scrapbooking, because I miss my paper. And frankly, making cakes this big makes too big of a mess in my kitchen. I hope everybody had as much fun as I did this past weekend. I love to see your comments~ thanks~! Anita.

Family Album

Today I have another page in the Remember Family mini album I am working on. For one section I have made a journal pocket from a Bazzill envelope ~ that I bought 4 years ago when they went on clearance at Joann's, now how sad is that? I have GOT to stop hoarding supplies. Anyway, I covered the flap with  more Bazzill, then stamped it, added some ribbon from my stash and a cut out from Journal It by Teresa Collins. On the back of the envelope I added a quote that came in the kit from Teresa, I backed it with Bazzill cardstock which I used a border punch on. I added a little bling from Prima and some ribbon from my stash. 
The next page is about my daughter's first trip to Canton's First Monday Trade Days. If you are from anywhere near Texas, then you know what First Monday is. It is a HUGE Flea Market / Craft Show/ Garage Sale / Antiques Show ~ you name it they sell it there. BIG!!! Anyway, this was the first time I took Jade, and she was in AWE of the the shopping extravaganza to behold. She is my shopper. It was such a fun day for us. I have used papers from Journal It again on this page. I loved how they matched the papers that came in the kit we were given. Perfect! 

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment. Have a wonderful day :O)

In Progress

I can't believe it has been Monday since I have posted! I am really trying to be better about getting my posts up more regular :(  We have started a major project where I work and I have been SWAMPED this week! 15 hours yesterday and 11 today ~ so I need some sleep tonight. 

I am working on a new mini album with the papers and embellies I got from Teresa Collins at Creative Escape. They are from the Welcome Home line and I am using them to collect together a bunch of my favorite photos from the last year or two. Just some random snapshots ~ nothing fancy. Family dinners, BBQ's, snowball fights, my girls hanging out, My Gussie at the family reunion, my Aunt who passed away last year,, just everyday life and those I cherish.
This is the front cover ~ it has a photo of Gussie and my daughter Heather from the family reunion a couple of years ago. The "Remember" tag at the bottom is a stamp from Teresa's line which is really cute. I punched a hole in the cardstock and tied a ribbon, then hung a beaded charm that I wired on it.
The heart at the top is attached to a flap ~ when it is folded up there is journaling underneath.  The "Family" is a punchout from the line. And that really cute strip of damask looking paper that is running across the heart ~ that is the strip of paper that you cut off the 12X12 that has the manufacturer info on it. But it was really pretty after I trimmed it off, so I cut the writing off and used the rest of it~!

On a side note - if any of you have seen that tornado's came thru Dallas last night, one of them came two blocks from me at work. I took my team and about 30 guests down into our basement for about 45 minutes until they passed by!!! It was quite a night.

I hope you are having a great week. Thanks for stopping by, :o)

Homecoming 2005

Today I have a LO I made for the Color Combo's Galore challenge # 158. The color palette is Pink Stationary, September Sunshine, White Chalk and Mr. Beans Green. I have used My Mind's Eye Lost & Found , some Bazzill cardstock to mat the pictures with, some Primas for some color. I have also used some ribbon from Webster's Pages, some bling from Prima and the heart bling is from Basic Grey. A little spray of Glimmer Mist in Parrot Green for some back ground color finishes it off. 
  Sorry, my picture is a little crooked! The wind is blowing outside so I had to take my photo inside on an easel which I don't normally do :) 
Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

A Little Change of Pace

I spent this weekend making a wedding cake for my sweet friend and neighbor who married a wonderful man. They are off to Hot Springs for their honeymoon as we speak. But of course I can't seem to do anything without using Prima flowers these days, so they ended up on the wedding cake!
 
Here is the Bride's cake ~ as you can see I have used lots of Prima pink and white rose buds to decorate. 
The cake topper was a mass of rose buds, some wired ribbon pieces, Prima leaves and a butterfly from the Swallowtail Butterfly Azure set. 
On the cake I used a variety of Primas here and there to give a look of wild flowers. The groom's cake was a hit too - a mass of chocolate! 
The cake itself was Dark Chocolate Fudge, with a Turtle filling (caramel buttercream, chopped pecans and genache layered in the center) with a double fudge buttercream icing. Two kinds of dipped berries and english ivy wrapped it up. 
I am going to go and do a little blog hopping now. I need the rest after all that baking and cleaning up! I hope ya'll are having a great labor day weekend.

Websters Pages Challenge

Today I have a LO that I have entered in the September Challenge over at Inspire Me , the Websters Pages site. The challenge was to use scallops and more than one photo. This photo is of my daughter Heather and her cat Diego. She had brought him home with her from school last week. 
I have used my Fiskars punch to make the scallops around the photo and my shaped scissors to cut the scallops on the folded down corner. I finished the page with a spritz of Glimmer Mist and some Crackle Paint from Ranger.
The paper, ribbons, and sparkler are all from Websters Pages. The flowers are Prima, the stamp is Autumn Leaves. The transparency is 7 Gypsies, the heart is a scrap piece of matboard that I had trimmed. I love how the line of ruffled ribbon with the Prima mini-roses in the middle turned out ~ I knew I had been saving those roses for something :)
These cute little "stamps" on the side are from Crafty Secrets. I punched them out with a new punch that I just got from Fiskars. There is a matching border punch too ~ I can't wait to use it.
More scallops and a sparkler from Websters Pages. The ribbon tucked behind the heart is also from Websters.

Easel Album

Well, I am finally home and almost unpacked! I got sooooo much stuff this last weekend at Creative Escape that I had to go and buy an extra suitcase to come home :)
One of my fave classes at the event was taught by Pam Black. It is a great little album that can be displayed rather than set on a shelf (my favorite kind) and it was such fun to make. I finally had a minute to sit down and finish it now that I am home and I wanted to share a few pics with you. 
 The base is made with chipboard and cardstock (Bazzill) and the papers we used are from October Afternoon. 
 
The heart is MDFB (I think!) and we covered it with paper and then pearls. The gorgeous ribbons are from May Arts. Of course, I had to add a little dose of Prima to mine.  And because I love a little sparkle, I painted my paper with Tattered Angles Glimmer Glam in Chandelier. 



This page is actually a cute little matchbook. The ribbons are from May Arts. 
The tag below was a lot of fun, and I learned how to make the super cute little box flower on the left. A nifty skill to have :)



 I love fringe. The world would be a much happier place if everything were draped in fringe. Or maybe pom-pom trim. That would be good too! 
I can't wait to print some photos and get them in this album. I hope you are all having a last hoorah before the summer ends. This little get away was exactly what I needed to get my creativity flowing again.