A new dent but no pics...

Well, like my husband says, I have some good news and some bad news...

I didn't get my external memory card reader or whatever it is that I need today.  Tomorrow, for sure...

I was involved in a hit and run today.  No, I wasn't the runner, just the poor 4Runner that got a big ol' dent in it's rear bumper when someone backed into it - hard.  Very hard.  The good news, we weren't in it when this happened. 

A busted, file losing desktop computer. 
A dented, white paint, scratched car. 
A little boy with a BIG boo-boo (his words, not mine) from falling on asphalt (I'm not even going to spell it the way he says it, I'm sure you can take a guess as to what it kinda sounds like...) who is also faking sick because Goofy did on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse this morning - fake cough, fake achoo.  Oh, and he smelled like stinky farm animal half the day because he was jumping in puddles behind a feed store.  No, I don't know what kind of puddles.  Gross, huh?

So, I'm going with the notion that tomorrow will be better.  I will get whatever I need to put pictures on my computer.  I will work on class samples and Design Team samples and will submit some work to be published (it can't hurt!) and we will go to the grocery store and try avoid any more bumps or bruises or Mickey Mouse illnesses.  And next week we will have forgotten what a rocky start we had this week. 

Please bare with me!
Andrea

It's as broke as broke can be...

I was really proud of myself this morning... I made a card for a baby shower that I was attending (I seldom make cards for events, I don't know why), and while making it, I kept snapping pictures to show you how I get from A - Z... I've been wanting to do a tutorial for some time now, and since I was sick all last week, I cleaned out my scrapfice and got super well organized, so organized that I bagged all of my scraps together for quick and easy cards.  So, anyways, I was rock'n it this morning, made a super (if I do say so myself) cute baby girl card and even had time to download the pics (27 of them) to our computer.  And I was only 2 minutes late to the shower.  Whoo-whoot!

I was planning my upcoming post on my drive home when I received a text from the LOML (love of my life), saying "The monster's up, call when you can", which is never a great sign when he calls our son a monster.  So, I called and am greeted with "Well, I have some good news and some bad news... Our computer crashed, totally dead".  Hmmm.  "Okay...", I said.  "But, the good news is that I've wiped it clean of all our programs and it works again but... everything since our last back-up is gone."

Our last back up was in October of 2010.

Holy Crap.  Crap, Crap, CRAP! 

So, all of our Christmas pictures, Adam's Birthday pictures, my work pictures and work files are just, well, gone.

So, I will not be posting pictures of my card making tutorial (complete with flower rolling) or even pictures of the actual baby card, I won't even be able to post pictures of new projects until tomorrow, HOPEFULLY, because I need to get an external card reader for my laptop.  But, I promise to make a new tutorial soon, I'm really trying to branch out of my comfort zone of just posting pictures of projects.  I've been reading a lot of other blogs and I realized how much I enjoy tutorials with the pictures... so helpful!  Here's a couple links to other blogs that have great tutorials with almost all their projects!

Click here for Pink Paislee's blog, great pictures and tutorials... and here for Fancy Pant's blog - a lot of tutorials and a new project every day, sometimes two! and here for the Glitz  page, which doesn't always show tutorials but they always have NEW ideas, like, all the time! 

I'll be back tomorrow with (hopefully) new project pictures and maybe (dare I say it?), a tutorial??
Andrea

Lucky Me Banner

Here's another upcoming class being held at Pages from the Heart!  It's a banner - perfect for St. Patty's Day or any day, exclaiming your lucky life! 

Each banner is sewn together by hand (my hand!), each one will be original with different sewing patterns on each!  I used burlap behind my shamrocks, which I sprayed with Smooch Emerald spray before gluing on Glitz paper.

i sewed on the green ribbon as well, we WON'T be doing this in class, I just wanted to extra stability since this is a sample and it was traveling a little!  The houndstooth ties are fabric that I sewed onto the canvas.  I think that for the class, I'll have some buttons and flowers to adorn your shamrocks with!  I also sprayed each of the canvas banners with Glimmer Mist in Creme de Chocolate - I liked how it added a little dimension!

Please call Kathy at Pages from the Heart if you'd like to sign up for this class!
Andrea

Pages Pages

Hello Again,
I'm sorry that the blogging has been so erratic.  I've been sick all week and basically laying on the couch or in bed trying to get better so that I can start having fun again.  In the past I've felt like being sick actually gave me time to create but with this round of *yuck*, that hasn't been the case.

Here's a class thats coming up at Pages From the Heart in Monrovia; it's a page class where we'll complete 2 double layouts using Basic Grey's Hopscotch paper.  It's a very fun paper, I feel like it lends itself to love, playing, kids, teenage girls, girl friends... it's a nice blend of colors and prints!

{Adore Double Layout}

{My Funny Valentine Double Layout)

I'm sorry for the poor picture quality!  I have such a hard time taking good pictures of double layouts, I want to show all the detail but I want to show both pages... it's a challenge.  And I also was trying to take the pictures so that I could email them over to Kathy so I didn't want to wait till I had good light and settled for fake office like, nothing looks good in that!  We'll be making our own embellishments using the paper, punches, Glimmer Mists, bakers twine, flowers, brads, buttons, bottle tops... I'm bringing everything but the kitchen sink!

Anyways - I'll try to keep getting off the couch to post more projects that I've been working on!

See you all soon!

Andrea

So much to share!

Hello!  What a busy week!  Phew!  We had a great class at Collective Journey's Saturday morning, we made the boys cards that I shared last week!  M's baby shower was yesterday, and we were just cruis'n with it!  It was actually a crazy, mad dash for the last hour before the party, trying to get everything together, but I think we were done with 2 minutes to spare!  Talk about good timing!  I wanted to share some of the party decor that we did - please let me know if you have any question!

(Centerpieces)

The centerpieces were "Tire" diaper cakes.  I took a round hat box, painted the inside silver, then put diapers all around it and held them in place with rubber bands.  I then covered the diapers with black plastic (a disposable tablecloth), die cut the word "Babyear" instead of Goodyear and put it on the tire, along with a piece of black/white bakers twine.  I also made "w"'s for tire tread.  They came out pretty cute!  We got the cars from an old fashioned dinner called Ruby's, and put decorated candy bars in the seat.

{Tire Diaper Cake and Car Close-up}

I used English Rose from QuicKutz/LifeStyle Crafts for the font.  As you can see, it was difficult to get a smooth finish on our tires... Can you see my chrome rims?

{Food table with paper garland and pom poms}

{Hall tree with pom pom garland, paper garland and ribbon}

{Hutch with paper garland and folded paper cars}

I tried very hard to stick with a blue, brown, cream and chrome color scheme.  I didn't want anything to look to prissy or girl-ish and I think the silver candlestick holders really added the chrome feeling that I was going for!  The pom-pom garland was fun to make, I bought a pom-pom maker from Joann's Craft Store and made pom poms while watching television - we strung the pom pom garlands across the ceiling (sorry, pic didn't turn out) and put single pom poms on the food tables.  The paper garlands I punched and die cut from coordinating papers and then sewed them together.  All of the paper that I used was by October Afternoon.  The cars and trucks (hard to see, their cream and blend with tablecloth) were die cut from my Silhouette.

{Trail mix party favor table - see the sign?  It's a license plate!}

{LifeStyle crafts party flag insert - awesome!}

{Party Favor Jar with trail mix}

So, I think that IF I had to pick my favorite thing from the party, it would have to be the favors!  V found these jars at Micheal's for $1 each!  Can you believe that?  We cut vinyl cars (same style as on invite, '57 Chevy) from light blue vinyl and stuck them onto the jars, then wrapped each jar with brown and cream ribbon and tied a little die cut tag onto the hinge.  We placed one jar at each place setting and then put a ton of "trail mix" mixing on a table in different jars so that people could make their own trail mix.  I die cut a license plate from my QuicKutz die and printed on the inside of the plate: Thanks for cruis'in by!  Please fill your jar with your favorite mixing's for the road!".  We used the LifeStyle Crafts Party Insert Flags to label the mixings.  I also sprinkled more cut out circles in the same papers on the top of the trail mix tables.  I love the way the different layers of mixings look in the jars and how the car then pops!

{Car Centerpieces with candy bars}

{Happy Family Candy Bar}

And last, but definitely NOT least, here's my next favorite, the candy bars!  We had to think of something to fill the cars with for the centerpieces, so V had the idea of making a license plate candy bar wrapper.  She did 8 different varieties, each with a different saying.  Where the state name would normally be, she put M's last name.  Where your tags would be, she put the due date.  She also did a different saying for each license plate frame, super cute!

We had so much fun!  Hope you get some good ideas!

See you later, I promise you won't have to wait another week for a post!  

Happy Valentines Day

I love Valentines Day... not for the romantic expectations, but for the abundance of hearts, the colors red, pink, black and white and the excuse to eat as much chocolate as your belly can take!!!  I'm expecting a lot from my belly, thanks to my wonderful Husband (and Dad) who kept the Logan's Candy Shop tradition alive and well!

Unfortunately, even tho I love Valentine's Day, I don't have a Valentine's project to share... we've been in baby shower project creating madness around here.  But I have another boy card to share...

{Birthday Soaring Your Way... Card}

I used October Afternoon and The Girls Paperie for this card.  The clouds are cut using a QuicKutz cloud, the circle label is from October Afternoon along with the date tag, the plane is from Sassafras... I love this card!

And since it is Valentine's Day and I don't have much to offer you, here's a sampling of "lovely" projects that I found at CHA - enjoy this moment of love!

{Shirts by Silhouette team, love the Hug Me - using iron on material}

{Maya Roads canvas banner - I'm banana's over turning it into a pocket!}

{Maya Roads - I love the silhouette and the banner... tres chic!}

{7Gypsies card... their whole booth was an inspiration}

{I'm not sure where it's home is... but it's super sweet!}

{These pin cushion's aren't my grandmas pin cushions!  Jenni Bowlin awesomeness...}

See you all tomorrow!  Hope you're super busy loving people and being loved! 

Andrea

In honor of my boy

and his BIG 3 year old birthday, lets look at some "masculine/boy" cards that I created for an upcoming class!  The layout's on each of these cards can easily be turned into any occasion, it just depends on the paper and embellishments!! 

{Cool and the Gang Card}

{Basic HB Card}

The Cool and Gang Card is very little paper, but quite a bit of ribbon!  The dominoes and the playing card, along with the wood grain printed paper is all from Crate Paper Restoration line - I LOVE this line because I felt like it was very versatile, some of the papers are super pretty-girly, some are masculine.  It's a great line! 

The HB Card is all Basic Gray's Wander Line - which is a super fun travel or boy line with images that remind me Dr. Suess' Whoville!  I made my own Polaroid picture, which was super easy, just punch a large square from a 3.5 x 4 in. solid white... easy cheesey!

If you'd like to sign up for this class, please call Collective Journey @909.793.2200.

 

Andrea

Very cute, quick and FREE

Here's a link to a fun Valentine's Day download - just download it to your computer and have it printed from home or send it to any photo center!  Put in frame and viola!  V. Cute!

3 years ago...

Alan and I welcomed the most amazing, strong, funny, smart, adorable and blessed little person into our lives...

{Adam Brody, Feb 9th 2008 3.9 lbs, 20 in long}

And look at you now... we couldn't ask for a better little guy!

Happy Birthday, Adam!!!

More from CHA

Here's a few tidbits that I noticed while at CHA - Trends: Circus/Carnival, Woods/Camping, Brights (think Basic Grey), Banners (these have been hot for a while now) and Flowers, any and all varieties, ones you make, roll, piece, whatever - flowers are bananas right now.

Okay, so here are a few more samples for you to drool over.  These are all from Graphic45, who's booth was awe inspiring.  I think that I had the coffee shakes, so some of the pictures aren't great - sorry!  Graphic45 had an amazing, vintage circus theme and they had a super sweet Beatrix Potter Spring line, Once Upon a Springtime, which I love for Easter, babies, whatever. 

{Shadow box with Circus Line}

{Decorated Frame using Once Upon a Springtime}

(Tussey Mussy with Once Upon Springtime}

{Handmade Paper flowers... see what I mean about flowers?}

{I love this card using their fairy line... I'll check on the name}

(Isn't this bananas?  All paper and embellishments}

{Birdcage with Circus Line}

I love Graphic45's paper - it's inspiring what you can do with it... I feel like their paper is so beautiful that it always pushes me to think of how I can use it the best to show it's amazing-ness.  Tomorrow I'll try to break it up and show more than one company's booth, but I just have soo much that I want to share!  I also hear that Graphic is looking to expand their design team... you should check out their blog if you're interested.
See you all soon!
Andrea

Let's take it from the top!

Hello!
I'm finally feeling better... it was a rough week around here(!) and I'm glad to say that I'm still feeling the creative rush from CHA - especially after looking at all the sample pictures again!

A nice, warm welcome!  The LA Convention Center is located by LA Live, which houses the Staples Center (Go Lakers!), and a ton of fabulously cool restaurants and bars! 

Our VERY first stop on the first day was LifeStyle Crafts - which had an amazing amount of fun and cute samples using their new CHA release, along with the Essentials and the LetterPress - It was really inspiring!

{Fun and cute card with LifeStyle Crafts new paper}

{New CHA Release - LOVE the fry box and the Chevron Border Die!)

{LetterPress Diamonds and "Thinking of You" with CHA Flower Die}

{Seriously cute felt flowers - turned into head bands - CHA Flower Die}

{If you remember my Peep's banner, you know that I love the 2x2 CHA Peeps die!}

{Seriously cute color combo, love the party idea - the banners are from the CHA release, the blue sunburst pattern is LetterPress}

And this is just a few samples from the 1st booth!  I know, you're thinking "WHAT??!!" and I'm all "I know!"  I took 274 pictures of booths and samples at CHA - There's no way that I'll be able to post all of them, so I'm going to try to pick my favorites, which is hard since they're all my favorites, which is why I took a picture of it! 

Some of you might be wondering about LifeStyle Crafts - they're formally QuicKutz and I think that with this release they're really showing their renewed spirit and commitment to the crafting world.  I know that some of you might have been wondering if they'd ever get back on track and I can honestly say that I feel 100% that they are.  I loved their CHA release, which was titled "New Beginnings" (appropriate, huh?), and I also love how their releases are geared towards crafters in general, not just scrapbookers!  And you might think that I'm bragging about them because I'm on their Design Team, but since they've now transitioned to LifeStyle Crafts, I am no longer on their design team so I do not get any kickback for singing their praises, except to say that I really do love their products and I think that they're weathering the crafting economy well considering all of the changes they've gone through.  Visit their blog here to see more awesome ideas and to learn more about the new company.

See you soon!  Baby crying...

Andrea

Just a little bit longer...

I'm sorry, but on Monday morning I came down with a stomach bug and have been down and out all week!  I promise, as soon as I can, I'll share my CHA pics and stories with you! 

Andrea