Bakerella Frame

I'll admit, lately I'm obsessed with baking, cake pops, and Bakerella.  I recently ordered both the Bakerella cape pop kit and notecard set.  I loved the notecards so much that I decided to create a scrapbook frame with a few of them for my kitchen (one of the few places in my apartment that doesn't have a ton of added decoration).

- RE Style (Room Essentials; Target) 12 in. by 12 in. shadowbox frame in black
- Paper from the DCWV Snack Stack
- DCWV Sweet cupcake sticker (on right hand side of frame)
- Sticko Dimensional Stickers Red Bubble Hearts
- S-W-E-E-T glitter letters I no longer have the information for

Wedding Frame

I was looking to make a special wedding gift, so I made this frame for a friend of mine who recently got married.  I personalized it with their names and the date they got married. 

You can tell how happy they are.  Don't they make such a cute couple?

- RE Style (Room Essentials; Target) 12 in. by 12 in. shadowbox frame in white
- Paper from the DCWV Lace and Linen Stack
- Soft Spoken Me & My Big Ideas Ellen Krans Wedded Bliss stickers
- Kay & Company The Kiss Flowered Layered Accents

Graduation Frame

I made this frame for a special friend who just finished the Sociology PhD program. 

I had to make this frame on the fly with stuff I had not earmarked for other projects.  And I also had to get the photo from Facebook, but as I said in a previous post, the advantage of these small frames is that the photo can be swapped out.

- RE Style (Room Essentials; Target) 4 in. by 6 in. frame in silver
- Making Memories Shimmer Alpha Holiday stickers
- Studio 18 Rhinestones in red and pink
- The graduation themed stickers were ones that I had lying around, so I am not sure of more specific information about them

Las Vegas Frame

I recently went to Las Vegas for a conference and got to spend some time there hanging out with a good friend.  I made this frame for her as a gift to commemorate the trip.

- RE Style (Room Essentials; Target) 4 in. by 6 in. frame in silver
- Jolee's Boutique Paris stickers
- Creative Imaginations Las Vegas stickers
- Studio 18 Rhinestones in purple

Girls Night Frames

I have been a scrapbooking fool lately.  I think unconsciously (or not so unconsciously) to avoid working on my dissertation prospectus revisions.  The annoying thing is that I can't post about the gifts I make until I have given them to the recipient.  This means that for some of my latest creations, I won't be able to post about them until the holidays.  Oh well!

So I decided to start making some projects on a bit of a smaller scale.  I found these frames that have a pretty wide frame at Target, and I thought these would be perfect to use.

I made the two frames in this post for the other two ladies in the picture.  As promised, I will be providing you with the "recipe" of what I used to make these frames.

- RE Style (Room Essentials) 4 in. by 6 in. photo frame in silver
- Soft Spoken (Ellen Krans) Girls Nite stickers

- RE Style (Room Essentials) 4 in. by 6 in. photo frame in black
- K&Company Night Out dimensional stickers

So that's that!

I also like making these small frames because 1) You can use an entire small package of stickers (I absolutely hate having random ones left over) and 2) Unlike the scrapbook frames, the recipient can easily swap out the photo if they want to put something else in it.

More Coming Soon!

I know I've been absent for awhile.  A lot of things have happened, and truthfully, I haven't had much time to think about scrapbooking.

I have a bunch of projects in the pipeline, though, so be on the look out for new projects and posts.

One thing that I've decided to do is start providing a list of the products that I use for each project.  I don't necessarily expect anyone to go out and copy what I've done, but it might be helpful for some to show exactly what I've used.

That is going to take more time, keeping track of what I use, so please be patient.

And I really wish that I had even just a "craft closet."  I attempted to work on four different frames today, and it was total chaos.  I'm really hurting for space, and I wish I had an area (other than my couch and dining room table) to devote to scrapbooking.  It would make life so much easier, as you see in the pictures I've provided just how much scrapbooking stuff I have accumulated.  

I would love to be able to have a back stock of frames, but I just don't have the room to safely store them.  And I'm a creature of habit, so when I find a product I like, I tend to exploit it.  Unfortunately, though, I have broken enough frames at this point trying to store them, that it really doesn't make sense to do that right now.  

Anyway, that's all for now! 

Building A Business/Brand

Scrapbooking is a hobby that I am passionate about, and so, I hope to create a business doing it on the side.

I love making gifts for people, and to me, our relationships and the people in our lives are the most important things we have. 

To that end, I have created business cards to provide people with my information and labels to put on my creations.

The mini business cards came from MOO (http://us.moo.com/)

And the labels came from Expressionery (http://www.expressionery.com/)

The thing I absolutely love about both of these companies is that their products are so creative, and they allow you to spread your creativity, as well.

Housewarming Frame

Can you ever really go home again? 

After living in the house I grew up in, which my parents lived in for over 30 years, my parents recently moved into a new house.  They don't live that far from where they used to, but a new house is a new beginning.  

I had a surprise housewarming party for them this last weekend, and I made this as a gift for them.  It has the invitation to the party, pictures of the old and new house, and a key, along with some other "home" related embellishments.     

I think it turned out great.  One of my best creations yet! 

(This is a 12 by 12 frame)



"Charlie's Angels" Frame

I made this for my friend Jen for her birthday.  This is a picture of us and another friend at my birthday party last year, posing as "Charlie's Angels".  We've got the blonde, the brunette, and the redhead!  I had a hard time figuring out what to get Jen for her birthday, so I decided to make this for her, since this picture of the three of us makes me really happy.  I bought a bunch of stuff for it, but ultimately went minimalist, using a very loud background and keeping the rest a bit more subtle and simplified.  I think that balance is the key in scrapbooking!

(This is a 12 by 12 frame) 

Exciting News!

I'm so excited to share with you all a creative partnership that I have entered into with one of my closest friends, Rachel Sisco.  Rachel is a law student and photographer.  You can check out her work on her website and blog. 

According to herself:

Rachel Sisco is a natural light photographer specializing in on-location lifestyle, still life, and portrait photography for adults, children, and families.  During the winter months Rachel is an enthusiastic law student dedicated to the challenging field of criminal law. Other parts of the year, Rachel can be found anywhere the beautiful light takes her.  Rachel is a lover of life and all things new and challenging-- she currently lives outside Detroit with her husband and their two chubby kittens.

So what does this mean?  Well, Rachel will be spreading the word about my scrapbook creations to her clients, and I will be helping her by providing a service that she does not currently offer.

Rachel is a talented photographer and I am honored that she thinks my work is worthy of her photographs.  I am excited to see where this partnership takes us, and hope that we can both grow our creative outlets into businesses. 

Twins!, Part 1

No, I'm not having them.  But my boyfriend has some friends who are.  And we found out over Christmas that they are having a boy and a girl.  I had started working on some sample pages, and had these going, which will be perfect for them. 

I think these are so cute already, that I just had to share.  I can't wait for the babies to be born, so I can add the personal details!

Flower And Purse Cards

I've recently started making cards.  I've considered making them as gifts for people, but I don't have as many creative ideas for personalization as I do for scrapbook albums and frames.  This is mainly because I haven't been able to find either letter stickers (for names) or stickers with sayings that I like enough to use for cards. 

Anyway, here are a few pictures of cards I've made so far...

Flower Cards



Flower Envelopes

Purse Cards

Purse Envelopes

    

Baby Album Refurb

This is my most recent, and one of my best projects.  I was helping my mom clean when I came across my baby album.  It was a pretty standard picture album, with the sticky pages for photos, which in this case, had turned yellow/brown and were losing their stickiness.  Keep in mind that the album is 25 years old. 

So I asked my mom if I could have it, in anticipation of making a kick ass scrapbook, preserving the pictures, and ditching the old album.   The pictures that follow are the result.  I think it turned out awesome!  I love the polaroids and my mom's notes.  I think they add so much character!

I guess I should also provide a bit of context about my birth, before you start looking at the pictures.  I was born on August 11, 1985, almost three months premature.  I weighed 2 lbs., 3 oz., and was in the hospital, in the neonatal intensive care unit, for four months.  The album chronicles the early days of my life, along with spending Halloween in the hospital, and finally, Thanksgiving at home.

For those who weren't aware of this, I am sure the context helps.  But for those in my family, just looking at the scrapbook I created, brought back a flood of memories from that time.  

The picture on the front cover was taken when I was around five months old.  Apparently everyone at the photo studio didn't believe I was five months old.  They thought I was a newborn.  My mom also tells me that she thinks I look like ET in some of these pictures.  It's a good thing I still don't look like that now, huh?

So I took an old album and gave it a second life.  This is a fabulous way to give your memories new meaning.  Get them out of a dreary, plain album, and put them into a colorful and engaging scrapbook. 

The only thing is that the jury is still out on who should have custody of this album, my mom or me...

(This is an 8 by 8 album)