Seam Binding Ribbon Heidi Swapp uses Now at Whimseygirl!

Yep, we are now carrying this oh so versatile ribbon for five yards (and then some) for only $3.00. It will come on a cute Color Magic usable notecard, too! Just send an email to katemorrow1515@gmail.com to order some today!  Thanks and make it a great day!

Belle: The Star of Heidi Swapp's Memory Display Stand

Happy Almost Friday!  I have been doing so much shopping lately for those crafters that do not have a Michael's store near them that I haven't had much time for creating.  However, when a very close friend's 12 year old Australian Shepherd passed away this week, I knew that I wanted to create something special for her.  I was able to get some great pictures and creating I went!  Here is the best news:  it only took me one evening to create this Memory Display Stand.  I was pretty rusty in the beginning but once I got going, the creativity starting flowing and I was loving every minute of it (you can probably even tell which ones I did first!).  I mainly used Heidi Swapp's Vintage Chic line but added some Sugar Chic and No Limits Banner Delights. I also used Color Shine here and there. 

If you have any specific questions, please feel free to comment.  If you have done a Memory Display Stand, I would love to see pictures of it.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend! 

Color Magic Tags!

Hello!  It is getting closer to Friday!  I will actually be gone this weekend on a women's retreat.  I was blessed from a good friend of mine that invited me months ago and paid for my weekend.  Although it is difficult to leave the family for even a weekend, I know it will be great for me.  I definitely need some reflection time as I have been going, going and going some more.  I will let you know how it goes!

I love making tags as mini thank you cards.  They are fairly quick to make and it is a great way to try different color combinations without committing to an entire layout.  I have surprised myself sometimes with various color schemes so I continue to create and explore and this afternoon was one of those times.

Here are five tags I created in about a 2 hour time frame (counting getting interuppted by the dogs, cat, phone, husband, etc.!).  Thanks for looking and I hope they give you some inspiration. If you have any questions, please leave me a comment or send me a picture of your tags/cards or page layouts!

More Heidi Swapp Color Magic and Pink Paislee Mistable Color Shined Tags

I hope you enjoyed the Circle Journal series.  I would love to join another one in the future!  Until then, I wanted to share some quick and easy Color Shine tags I made.  I love how fast these can be made and yet still have that pop of color and style! 

I used Heidi Swapp's Color Magic paper, a Color Magic note cut in half, a Pink Paislee artisan butterfly, some bakers twine, rhinestones, some seam binding colored in Color Shine and a few random sequins.  The Color Shine colors I used were Mint Green and Tinsel.

 

I could pretty much ditto everything from the previous tag, just with different paper!





Here I used Amethyst and Tinsel Color Shine on a piece of Pink Paislee Mistable paper, layerd with Pink Paislee's Artisan Elements (the square) and butterfly.  Again, I used seam binding and sequins.



Surprise, surprise!  I used Amethyst and Tinsel Color Shine!  I started with a piece of Pink Paislee's Mistable paper, layered a flower, a disco star from Heidi Swapp and clipped with a tiny clothespin that I used Color Shine on.



I started off with Mistable paper from Pink Paislee, then layered a Color Magic banner delight, paper circles, covered with a Heidi Swapp disco star and tiny flowers.  Tinsel and Amethyst were clearly my go-to colors for these tags!



Circle Journal, Day 3

Happy Saturday Evening!  I have had a productive weekend so far.  How about you?  I hope that you have looked at my blog the past few days to enjoy Lorrie and Colette's work they did for my circle journal.  I feel so blessed to be able to keep their work.  We crafters tend to create to give away and it is so nice to have someone else create and give to us, isn't it? 

Here are the photos from my journal.  There are quite a few photos but please know it isn't because I am trying to be bragadocious (is that a word from the 80s or what?!), it is because I created so many openables that I wanted to share with you what was inside each one.  When I see a project, I love to be able to see all the details so that I what I tried to capture here.  To learn more about my theme, please see the first post in this series.  Thanks so much for looking at my work.  I would love to hear from you.

This is the inside of the pink chevron openable directly above this pic.



This tag is in the envelope tucked behind the pink chevron openable.





If you notice, the pink chevron openable is on a folder and this is the inside of that folder.




This is the inside of the left hand openable on the picture above.



These tags go in the purple and green envelope with the bird on it, under the "Beautiful Life" tin.



This is the tag that goes in the pocket in the picture below this one.




This is the bottom of the openable on the right side.



This is the top portion of the above openable.



This is the right inside of the journal.





Top openable.




Inside of the top openable.



Bottom openable.



Left inside of bottom openable.



Right inside of bottom openable.

Wow, you actually got through all of those pictures!  Thanks again for looking at my blog.  This was one experience I will never forget.  I hope I get a chance to do this again in the future.

I mentioned yesterday that I would give you some tips on doing a circle journal.  Well, instead of reinventing the wheel, as they say, I thought I would copy some great information I received from a website called www.papercraftcentral.com.  Susan Luke is the woman who started this site and besides having a very detailed description of what a circle journal is and how to organize it, she has tons of other advice, tips, etc. on scrapbooking in general.  The rest of the blog is copied directly from her blog so I give her all the credit.  Thanks, Susan, for being so helpful in this journey!

Susan Luke's Circle Journal information, taken directly from her website www.papercraftcentral.com:

"I think the best way to get a sense of meaning for this type of scrap booking is to think of it as a game of Round Robin - where everyone in the circle gets a turn to scrap a page or two in your album.

The idea of circle journals started a long time ago and they have probably existed in some form for centuries (think shared diaries, written journals, art journals). Today, people who make papercraft projects still enjoy being inspired by others, holding someone else's work in their hands, and making friends in this unique way.

I participated in a swap with twelve other papercrafters and I couldn't wait to see my own album again! I farewelled it sometime in January 2008 and it came back to me in January 2009, give or take a month or two. I was sure looking forward to receiving it, and I wasn't disappointed when it finally arrived either.

So how does this type of swap work?

• First, find a group of friends who would like to participate in a circle journal swap. Or find just one friend who wants to trade albums back and forth with you. I found my group in an online forum.
  
  
• Next, decide on a theme for your journal. In my swap, each person has their own theme. Mine was "What Matters Most" and each person was been asked to complete a double page layout telling me what mattered most to them in life. Another person chose a travel theme, another chose "Heart Songs" (what makes your heart sing?) Your group could all have the same theme, or you can have two or three themes, or whatever combination of themes you and the other group members desire
  
  
• Once you have settled the question of themes, decide how large your albums will be. Remember that the albums will probably be mailed back and forth between group members, so choose a size that is easy to post and that will not grow to be too heavy as the albums are filled up. In my swap, the albums were 6" X 8", but you could choose a larger or smaller size. You may also need to decide on embellishment types as some ornamental work can become quite heavy and therefore more costly to post
  
  
• Now everyone needs to make or buy their own album. Each album owner usually decorates the front and back covers of their album, then writes up some 'rules' or requests for how they want the album to be completed (eg: double or single layouts? Flouro colours OK? Flat or 3D embellishments OK? Do you want a picture included on the layouts? How much journaling?) and creates a 'sign in' page for the group. Sometimes an album owner will create the first page of the album as well to 'set the mood' (or standard) for the album. Signing in can be a creativity challenge in itself. One album I received asked each participant to create their own tag, complete with their picture and names, for inclusion in a pocket inside the front cover. Others have had a ruled page with spaces provided for each member to provide their name and the title of their page
  
• Decide also how long each journal will stay with each group member. A few weeks may be long enough, but I recommend not allowing longer than a month between swaps, as the whole project could lose momentum and people could lose interest. You need to keep just a tiny sense that there is a deadline involved so people will strive to have their pages completed in a certain time.



• Appoint a coordinator of the fun to keep track of where each journal is, and to be notified when they are passed along to the next person. The feeling if a journal is lost in transit or if someone has to unexpectedly drop out of the circle can be very disappointing and bewildering, so a coordinator helps to ensure all journals are tracked and mailed at the same time each month
  
  
• Agree on a starting date and check that everyone is ready. Decide on an order within the group so all of the journals pass through each person's hands. We just listed people in order of 'sign-up' and each person mailed their album to the person below them in the list. For example, I constantly received albums from Ali, and constantly sent my completed ones on to Shelly in my swap.
  
  
• Check to see that everyone is ready to start, then have everyone mail their albums off to the next person on the list on the same day
  
  
• After people have reported receiving their albums all ready to work in, allow a week or two before your coordinator checks how people are progressing. Once everyone indicates they have completed their pages, get everyone ready to post the albums on again, on the same day if possible. As long as people in the group communicate with the coordinator if there are hold-ups or problems, all should go well

At the End of the Swap
People report that the end of a Circle Journal swap is the best part of all. Each person in the group winds up with a beautiful keepsake from their friends, illustrated in each person's own unique style.

Other lovely outcomes are that you will all know each other just a little bit better, and you will have ideas and examples of papercrafting techniques you might not have seen before.

That all spells inspiration to me.

Ideas for Circle Journal Themes
Theme ideas are endless and only limited by your own imagination, but here are some ideas to help you along:

• Who are you?
• What's in your purse?
• What's your sport?
• Who is your hero?
• How green are you?
• What's your favourite food?
• Where do you live?
• Who is our favourite singer/artist/family member/animal/plant/mineral!!
• What's in your backyard?
• Where's your favourite place?
• If you could travel by train anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
• What was the best time of your life?
• What have you learned/What has life taught you?


• Who was your best teacher in life?

Whatever theme you choose, I hope you enjoy you experience with Circle Journals

."

Heidi Swapp Christmas Decoration

Hello Everyone!  I am so excited to share this frame, inspired by my friend, Lorrie Nunemaker.  She totally came up with the idea to use a frame and d rings to do any number of things...birthday countdowns, Christmas countdowns or sayings.  Since I happen to have several frames right at my disposal, I whipped this little honey up in no time.  Heidi Swapp has been gracious enough to give all kinds of free printables and the saying on this frame is one of her freebies.  The "candy cane" banner is also a freebie from her. I hope you enjoy and this inspires you to make your own framed art.  Please share with me when you do.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Sweet Innocence Layout using Heidi Swapp's Vintage Chic line and Pink Paislee's Mistables paper

Happy Friday! I shared a picture of this layout on instagram but wanted to share some closer shots.  I loved working on this layout because of the adorable picture of my two sisters, Tracy and Aimee.  I love those pink dresses and that blonde hair!  I used mostly Heidi Swapp's Vintage Chic line (of course!) as it goes so well with that soft photo.  I will give more description with the closer shots.  Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a fabulous weekend! 

For the title, I used the Vintage Chic letters to spell "sweet" and Color Magic letters for "innocence" sprayed with Primrose and Gold Lame Color Shine.

I made a vellum envelope and inked it and then sprayed it with Gold Lame.  I then sewed some beads with baker's twine through the holes.  For the tags inside the envelope, I used a Vintage Chic note on the bottom, a piece of rectangular paper next and then used my scallop punch for the top piece and added the buzz word "fun".  At the bottom of the envelope, I used a piece of Pink Paislee's Mistable paper, layered with a Color Magic banner and finished off with some pink pearls.

I used one half of a mini Vintage Chic folder (adorable!) to back my photo and then I added a few pieces of the 8x8 Vintage Chic paper on the left side to add more depth.  I distressed and inked the edges.  I also added pink pearls on the left side of the photo and on the bottom right of the layout.

I used one of the Vintage Chic paper banners to add my sister's names and the date of the photo.  I then used tulle (of course sprayed with Gold Lame Color Shine) and heated the edges and put that on the right side of the photo.  I also added spool buttons from Pink Paislee's Vintage Vogue line. I did sew a border before I added anything to the paper.  Thanks again!

Coldplay Concert Memory File using Color Magic, Sugar Chic, No Limits

I took my daugther, Mikaelah to a concert this summer of her favorite band, Coldplay.  I don't remember the last time I was at a concert but this was so fun.  It was family friendly and oh so cool.  At one point, hundreds of thousands of "confetti" was shot into the air and floated down on the crowd.  The confetti was tissue paper shapes like butterflies, hearts, birds and letters.  At another point, there were hundreds of beach ball type balloons that were floating from area to area.  The best part of the evening was when we were escorted right in front of the stage.  Mikaelah had sprained her ankle badly two days before the concert (and left for a 6 week trip to Europe the next morning) so she was in a boot and using crutches.  The security workers near us felt so bad for her that they moved us ahead of the VIP people!  We could not have gotten any closer.  It was a memory that both of us will never forget, especially since it was documented in a Heidi Swapp Memory File!