Now, where are my mice?!

I've had these paper mache pumpkin forms kicking around for a couple years. I had grand plans to turn one into a stage coach. (One of these days I WILL make one though!)



As you can see from the link to the paper mache forms, their stems are pretty boring. I decided to get out my paper clay and make some proper stems on them. I painted and stained the stems and gourds with several layers of mica powders and mists giving them a haunting glow in candlelight.




The leaves were cut using the Cricut Flower Shoppe cartridge. I used paper from two Echo Park collections; Victoria Gardens and Apothecary Emporium for the leaves, patches and tags.

Busy as a Bee!

I have been helping a friend out with some work and got a sweet gift in the mail this summer as a Thank You. I just love these Victorian style beehives. ;) She and her friend wrapped up everything so cute I knew I just had to save the tissue paper and ribbon for a layout.

This collection, Victoria Gardens by Echo Park was just perfect for it. The gray paper even had a bit of a beehive silhouette to it when I cut it out and tucked it under the ribbon.







And what good would a layout about a honey pot from a friend without a Winnie the Pooh reference. ;)



A day without a friend
is like a pot
without a single drop
of honey left inside.
- Winnie the Pooh

Flea Market Finds

Do you ever come across a frame second hand, realize it's a fabulous frame, but not know what to do with it? Well I have to confess I have a stash of frames like this. I just can't pass up a good quality vintage frame! It's a weakness! :)

A lot of times the sizing can be a bit unusual though. I recently had the opportunity to try out a canvas company. Easy Canvas Prints will turn your photos to canvas. they have a very easy to use interface. Uploading is a breeze, no need to resize anything. AND custom sizes are available! (I didn't notice a price jump for this service. It seemed to be based only on the square inches. YEAH!) I was really happy to realize that all those odd sized frames can now have reasonably priced canvases I can swap out for the seasons.



One of the things I thought was kind of cool about these, they put the date, order number and size of the canvas on the back. I'm guessing so you can reorder maybe? Comes in handy for keeping track of when the photos were taken though. Check it out.

Victoria Gardens meets the Washington Coast

My husband and I recently got back from a well deserved trip to the Washington coast. It was so beautiful out there. We spent most afternoons on the beach looking for treasures. The last time we went was on our anniversary about 14 years ago. It had changed so much. Cute little shops had popped up like this one (where the old post office had once been).

We spent a few afternoons at this little pastry and deli called Emily's Confections in Pacific Beach. I think everyday there was something new I was amazed that the owner had made from scratch. Fudge of every flavor, all kinds of ooey gooey pastry, cinnamon rolls the size of your FACE! I got to *taste* mine LOL! (so yeah my hubby ate BOTH of them in our take-away box!) I think it was the last day we ate lunch there one of the owners was calling someone to pick up pickles for the shop. She got off the phone and joked to me that she was sorry but they *didn't* make their own pickles! That's OK because I swear I dream about her homemade Panini bread!




When I got home this lovely Victoria Gardens collection created by my friend Cassandra Cooper for Echo Park, was waiting for me. (How can one refuse working with such beautiful papers?!) I knew I definitely had to scrapbook this lovely little cottage on the coast.


















Hope you enjoy these pretty papers as much as I did! You can purchase both the 12x12 and the 6x6 paper collection HERE. Make sure you get an extra sheet of that wonderful journal card paper! I think I will be hunting some down to stash away. They are great versatile elements for your pages and the paper on the back side of it is my favorite print from the collection (well of the pink ones anyway LOL)

Last of the Snow for 2011

At least I hope so! Yesterday brought snow, rain, sun, and hail and snow again. So I was inspired to get one of these pages done of the first snowfall this winter. Hopefully the last snowflakes I see for a while.



I started off with a sketch from my friend Susan at Sketch Savvy. I love her sketches but I really don't feel like I did this one justice. And you can blame THAT on my husband. He psyched me out by teasing that it had been so long that I had probably forgotten HOW to scrapbook. :P grumble grumble grumble (from me) and then poof it happened. He really should learn to not speak such things when his wife is trying to enjoy herself. Guess who is making dinner tonight? NOT ME! LOL

*edit-these are post fix shots. I added the bling swirls and mica snow. STILL forgot to add one of the Maya crystal star pins behind the date frame. oh well! I'm going to scrap another page to get rid of that bad juju! LOL

Lamp Shades with Echo Park

I recently got to play with some Echo Park Be Mine collection. It matched my scrapbook room perfectly so I knew what I needed to create with it. ;)

If you have a little chandelier it is so easy to swap out these clip on shades for holidays or seasons. I found my shade bases at Lowe's for under $5 each. you can easily make your own template by laying the lampshade on a large piece of kraft paper (like a paper grocery bag). start with the seam down and mark the edges of the shade on the paper as you roll the shade across the paper (it will make a big arc). cut out the template leaving 1/4" on each side to allow for enough paper to fold under the shade and hide the edges of the paper. don't worry if it is not perfect. ;) you can always cover it with ribbon or ruffles and hide all of your hot glue mistakes! Decorate with bows, sticker elements or flowers.




In the example above I used Echo Park's Be Mine collection.




Try using a collection like Summer Days for a birthday party!



Or Springtime for Easter.

An Anniversary Box

In case you are like me and procrastinated on using your Echo Park Be Mine collection because you wanted to find something *perfect* to make...no problem! It makes some really great anniversary and wedding themed projects! ;) I pulled a few of the black & white papers from this collection (and they are YUMMY aren't they?) along with a few of the pretty pink prints for some rose buds. This collection is so eclectic I can see using it for many themes beyond Valentine's Day. (which is a good think because the cold and flu season this year has been hitting our house along with everyone else we know! so much for the old flu shot :P )

Merry Christmas!

Holiday Shadowbox Class

My friend Cassandra Cooper is offering a digital download for this class and will be having live instruction on Dec 18th. Check it out!

I got a sneak peek of the class recently and just knew I had to put one together with all my vintage Christmas goodies! I like to call this "Tinsel Chic"! ;) I had a blast putting this box together (yeah it even has LIGHTS!)

Hope you all are having fun with your Christmas crafting!