First ATC Swap! ** Updated Post **

Hi All! Well I finally got my first ATC cards done for my very first swap. We started out having to do 12 and then it was up to 20. I am hoping we split into 2 small groups when we meet tomorrow night. The first ATC theme was our name. We could do anything we wanted. So I did a small fold out on top of the regular size ATC card. That was the only way I could get the meaning of my name on it. It turned out really cute. I don't know what the next theme will be but will be posting as we do these each month. Crop on..... DIVA - DEB



Update to Post: We met last night and we have a group of very talented ladies. The cards were adorable. So I now need to get organized.

1. A basket to put the cards in to pass around to the group.
2. Get going on the next month's cards.
3. Something to keep all my stuff in.
(Like I don't have enough organizational tools in my scrapbook room.)

I don't need to go shopping for sure. However, I am going to Walmart to get a binder to alter to keep my ATC cards in. You use Baseball Card sleeve protector pages (cheap at Walmart). Anyhoo - during the meeting, we pulled a name out of a bucket and each person's name that was called got to pick the theme they wanted from the group. So the themes were chosen by all of us and in order of the names that were pulled from the bucket. That way we can start thinking about the theme and how we want to do our ATCs. We have the next 20 months planned out as we have 20 in our group. I will post them as we do them.

I also created our Logo and a group for us in Yahoo groups. I love how the logo turned out. It is just too cute and totally fits us!

If you haven't done one of these ATC cards or have gotten involved in a swap, I highly recommend it!!! You can go to www.youratcstore.com to get all the stuff to get you started. Tim Holtz is a biggie with these ATC cards and all that goes with them. Crop on....

Don't Throw Out That Old Princess House Lamp!!!

Remember Princess House and that old lamp that you got as a hostess gift with the etched bottom "ginger jar" and the shiny brass parts. You may have one stuffed away in a closet or the attic. Well get it out! I took the lamp and created something totally awesome for my scrapbook room.
I took the lamp apart and spray painted all the parts from ugly shiny brass to shiny white. Then I put it back together. But before I put the bottom piece back on, I shoved silk hydrangea flowers in the glass bottom part of the lamp. My scrapbook room is Greens and Purples, and some Aquas. I had already had this purple lamp shade that I had been using on the lamp for some time. I had seen a lamp shade done like this on twopeasinabucket.com so I knew the direction I was going. I punched holes all around the bottom of the lamp shade as far as my punches would go. I used a regular hole punch, my crop-a-dial to punch the holes as I used different width ribbons. Then for 3 DAYS I sat and tied ribbon after ribbon around that dog-gone lamp shade. It was kind of tedious but I just popped in a few movies and tied and tied and tied and tied. When it was all said and done it turned out fabulous! This would make a cute idea for a baby's room, a toddler's room and even a teen's room. The possibilities are endless. Enjoy and crop on....

You have to check out Design Her gals site!

Hi All. I wanted to share my avatar I made on DesignHer Gals website. It is so much fun and you help raise money for stage 4 breast cancer patients. You can create these avatars and print them at home or order really cool stuff from the site. I chose to print it at home and added a little scrapbooking sign I found on the web. It was sooooo much fun. Give it a try. Visit their website at: www.designhergals.com

Altered Canvas and Mixed Media

Hi all! I did these little altered canvases with mixed media for a Crop I went to in October 2008. It is a flat canvas (about a 5 x 7 or 6 x 8). Chalked on the edges and then a CD glued in the corner. The holes were drilled with my drill as my crop-a-dial kept cracking the CDs (maybe they were old or something). Anyoo - add paper of your choice and ribbons and then we used chipboard for the CROP and then used alphabet stickers for the "til you drop". You could use a Cricut to cut out the letters, but I like to give my class choices when they are doing one of my projects. I will always mix it up. I used copper wire to use for hanging them. We twisted some of it around a pencil/pen to give it some curly-cues. I took silk flowers from M's and took them apart and got two canvases to each flower. You don't want it too bulky. We used a rhinestone brad for the center of each flower and added some stickles to the flower petal edges. In the center of each CD we used a copper spiral clip with a little ribbon tied to it and glued it to the center. They turned out so cute. The purple one is for my scrapbook room and the leopard print is for my BFF. I did hers and then sent it to her. She loved it. So give it a try! Do an altered canvas and some mixed media. It is fun and looks great when you get it all finished. Crop on....

Altered Clipboard

This was a clipboard in Target's Dollar Spot. I altered it for my niece for her birthday this past January. I took some of my favorite pictures of her and then matted them and went to town with embellishing the board with chipboard, bling, and ribbons galore. The base of the clipboard was the pink with cute lady bugs all over it so I didn't have to do a background paper. That made it even easier. The top left holds a little folder that I put her birthday wish from me inside and it pulls out of the folder to read it. Just a quick and inexpensive project. Check out the Dollar Spot and think outside the box. You can do so much when you are outside of the box. Crop on!

Blast to the Past - 50's Rock & Roll Crop

This weekend was a blast....literally to the past. I went to a 50's crop where it looked more like American Graffiti than 2009! It was soooo much fun. I found a pattern on the web of a poodle. I printed it out on my computer and then glued (I used spray glue) it to the black felt. I then cut it out, added a pin on the back and my bling (of course!) and that was my poodle for my shirt. Then I found the Rock & Roll record picture, printed them out and I glued them to some old earrings I had. They were perfect! I wore a pink shirt and black pants with a black scarf tied around my neck. When we arrived at the crop, there were 45 records hanging from the ceiling above our tables with our pictures and names on them along with our name tags (made to look like a 45 record). When all the ladies got there, there was a "kennel" of poodles, pink and black, pony tails and scarves and everything in between!

I won the first prize and had to "dance" for it. So I did the swim. We had a wonderful lunch and dinner that was included and the end of the evening was Root Beer Floats for all. I was "poodled out" by midnight but had a "Happy Day"!

If you ever have the chance to go to a 50's Crop, I can tell you it will be so much fun! Or better yet... throw your own! When you are cropping... "Happy Days" are truly here again! Crop on....

Memorial/Funeral Service Photo Board

Boy this has been a tough week. A good friend lost her father-in-law so I did the memorial board for the service. It was not only very emotional, but when you have quite a few people involved you have to stay focused and organized. Everyone contributed so many great pictures and information. They put a story line together for me with certain pictures and then left me with the creative design freedom. It turned out so good and everyone was so appreciative of the love that I put into it. The great thing is.... these are all 12x12 layouts. The 1/2 sheets you see on the boards, marry into a 12x12 layout without the seam showing. We are going to take and get them scanned and then color copies made and each child and grandchild will be getting their own 12x12 album. There are more pictures that need to be added after the service yesterday and I took pics of the flowers and stuff. So those pages will be done soon and then we can put the album together for the family. Although a very sad time, it was in celebration of a wonderful man's life and his family that loved him so much. He lived his live with love and laughter. We honor him with that now through our tears there are smiles and laughter too.

Note: Paper and Diecuts Used were from the Bo Bunny Tuscany Collection