Today is mine and DH's 14th anniversary as well as the day my Mom and her S/O got married. ;)
Mom, Bill and their efficient.
What wedding is complete without a little family drama?? LOL I won't get into that and will have to deal with it later. ;) But while I was in the shower my Mom called and asked my DH if we could have their ceremony at our house in the backyard. In an hour. (the plans fell through with the other arrangements at another family member's house.)
You have never seen two people clean house so fast. The backyard was in disarray because we are in the middle of pressure washing and I haven't even started planting yet. we didn't even have the patio furniture out!! oh and it was HOT and muggy as H.E.L.L. today! So there will be no pictures of me LOL! After running around sweating for about 45 minutes cleaning, I saw the pictures and realised my hair products had not "held up" LOL!! I was happy to do it and would have offered sooner had I had the chance, so it was fine. Just very frantic for a bit LOL My Dh on the other hand looks just as cute as he always does. sighhhh why can't I just wear a hat too?
Ended up being a great casual ceremony. The groom wore a running suit and the joke was it was so he could make a fast get away "just in case"! My Mom wore the corsage I made her and LOVED it! YEAH! (*oh and Suz I did find a cute package to put it in. a clear take out container with moss in the bottom and a purple ribbon/tag. Mom will enjoy that cause it will be safe from the cats and she can still see it. looks like a terrarium sorta, IMO)
Had a wonderful dinner at The Cabbage Patch restaurant in Snohomish. The food was delicious! Mom and I split the BEST pie ever! it was a fluffy pineapple and walnut mouse with what tasted like cream cheese mixed in. OMG I WANT THIS RECIPE!! The waiter could have been friendlier though honestly but I tend to prefer extra friendly wait people in general. ;) They have wonderful reviews though and won Best of Western Wa 2008 for catering. We will probably be going again soon. My mom had clams and lingini and it was so yummy! (I got a couple bites ;) ) loaded with clams!! Oh, I forgot my camera and didn't get any pictures! I'm kicking myself cause after my Mom left I noticed the lilacs in bloom and it would have been the perfect place to take a picture of her with her corsage. :P Sorry Mom!
My Mom called me last Friday with some good news. After about 15 years she and her significant other are getting married! They will also be sharing our Anniversary with us each year since they will be married next Monday! :)
So Mom asked me to make her a corsage. I thought she meant a real flower corsage but NOPE! She wanted one she could keep. I am a crafty girl but I have NEVER made one. I'd only ever made tissue paper flowers LOL! Thank You MARTHA for that episode at least! ;)
Here's what I came up with. Mom's wearing a silvery gray colored blouse and black pants so I thought a pop of color would be nice. I hope she likes it!
Each flower is made-up of individual petals I cut using the stacked circle die for my sizzix. Then the petals were heated over a candle, since they were synthetic fabric the heat made them "cup". I then wired each petal and using floral tape attached them in layers starting with the buttons and bead stamen centers. Hopefully it all holds together ;)
This is one of the latest kits designed for Shabby Green Door. Their kits are meant to help bring fun fresh projects to your local scrapbook stores. (Check with your LSS about other classes they offer from Shabby Green Door as well.)
I'm loving crepe paper lately and this was a fun easy way to use it to border the heart. Just by applying adhesive to the back edges of the heart, folding a 2" width of crepe in half, and pinch pleating as you go along. A cute way to finish off a simple die cut shape.
You are probably wondering what the twigs and nest are made out of too. It's a product called Paper Ribbons that was released by Daisy Bucket Designs a few years ago. If you have any in your stash I encourage you to get it out and try this. (if it's the wrong color try glimmer misting it ;) ) it's just dampened with misted water and manipulated into the twig and nest shapes. To hold the curly cues and nest into the cupped shape, I heat set it with my embossing gun.
If you aren't lucky enough to have a LSS that will be teaching this class, you can ask them about carrying the new On the Wings of a Dream line These items should already be in stores. So if you don't see them ask your store owner about them! :) I used these items to create the background papers, stamps and fabric Snip-its.
A cute picture I took of my cousin's baby last summer. The only way we could get him to smile was to bring Auggie out there with us during pictures. Auggie would bark at him (it's him "talking", he's a weird dog. what can I say LOL) and then the baby would just starting laughing, which made Auggie bark more. He LOVES Auggie and the feeling seems to be mutual. We would find Auggie sleeping in the chair by the pack n play during "nap time". LOL
SGD's line this spring includes the Snip-its Fabric. Lots of fun images. Here I used the Airplane, cut it out and attached it to the banner using their Farmer's Market Chocolate Twist Baker's Twine. Stapled a key to the photo mat and a plane ticket to the fabric bag.
I've only played for a few minutes but here's my preliminary review. (yes more may follow LOL!) I've attached a video I found so you can get an idea of what this thing does. It retails for $99. Most stores that ordered at CHA seem to be expecting them in stock this week. It sounds like this is the first round and shipments of another batch will follow this summer (not positive about that but I've heard ot from two different sources). I watched with the same enthusiasm as most during CHA and wondered if the Cinch by WeR Memory Keepers would live up to the power and bite that the previous Crop-a-dile and Big Bite have.
First I need to say I have held out on getting a Bind-it-all by Zutter for a few reasons. I don't like the rectangular holes and I'm not a fan of being "bound" (haha!) to using the wires. I wanted to be able to use book rings and ribbon and not have those ugly rectangular holes in every project. There were lots of other concerns with the Bind-it-all that I read about. I won't get into them here but you can do a google search and find some reviews. ;) I just want you all to know this is NOT a comparison of the two (beyond the obvious aesthetics of the holes/spacing) but an *independent* comparison of the WeR products only.
The two things that drew me to the Cinch immediately were the round holes and the ability to turn the holes "off" so to speak. If I want to skip holes I can. If I only want 3 holes along the spine and choose to bind with 3 book rings, that's an option too. Those were HUGE pluses for me. I didn't want to have every album I did bound with only wire coils and rectangular.
What I have found now that I bought it was a little surprising at first. That is, until I realized I just needed to change the way I approached binding. In the past when I made a junk journal or mini book I would complete the pages, stack the book (well usually half of it cause my books are pretty chunky LOL,) and then punch it with the Big Bite. When I opened the Cinch I noticed that the thickness of the material it will accommodate seems to have been reduced compared to the Big Bite. I got out some stacks of cardstock and sure enough it WAS less!
Here's how they compared:
The original Crop-a-dile will accommodate a thickness of 18 sheets of cardstock (this was not Bazzill but just some cheaper stuff I had, but it will still show a good comparison between models)
Next I tried the Big Bite and found it could accommodate a thickness of 33 sheets of cardstock. Now I would never suggest you pack either of these to capacity and use them. I have heard of CAD's and BB's being broken, so don't try this at home LOL. This is merely to gauge the height of a stack of items you can fit in each machine. Many times my mini books are bulky but there isn't a whole lot to them on the edge where the spine is punched.
Lastly, I tried the Cinch and was a bit surprised by the results. It accommodates less space than the original pink CAD. A total of 17 sheets of cardstock. OK so only one sheet less but when I saw the Cinch I was fully expecting it to accept MORE than the Big Bite.
So now you are probably wondering (like *I* was), "what's the point of paying all this money for something that cuts through LESS cardstock?". And that is exactly what I was wondering too!
I realized that while it won't cut through my entire mini album at once, that's OK. They made the Cinch "smart" so we don't have to stack and punch it all at one time now! As you saw in the video you are able to pull out the measuring guide and cut the fronts of the book, the back of the book, and the middles pages (or even single pages) and have them all line up when bound. You don't have to worry anymore about stacking and clamping a whole mini book while you use the Big Bite. There's no more wondering if the pages inside the stack have shifted! And, if you are using fewer holes with the use of book rings you can make sure that even half pages (or tags!) still have two holes in them (and not dangling by one LOL). You can just punch the holes in the pages as you complete them.
The last tip I have though is regarding the sliding ruler. I wish they'd made this a little stiffer it slides in/out a bit too easily along the channel. While it does have "teeth" to set the distance I would probably still use a piece of tape to hold it in place while working on an album. It is easy to bump the guide a hair off and put all your future punches slightly askew. That could be really bad if you are completing pages and then punching them!
There are several other cool features with this tool that I won't even go into because they are wonderfully highlighted in the video. It does take 2:1 O-wires like the BIA and are the same wires you can pick up at most office supply stores. I'm happy I purchased the Cinch and realise this may not be something every scrapbooker can afford right now. If you still are not sure check with your LSS. They may be getting one for their classroom, so you can try before buying it. ;)
Adding: Get the matching wire cutters too!! They are nice, hefty and well made. My DH might like to steal them, thankfully they are PINK though so I know they are MINE!
This just reminds me of spring. Growing up and capturing butterflies in an old Mason jar, or finding grasshoppers in the field. It's sure to bring a little happiness while it's still raining and blustering outside.
Get out your supplies and capture something in a jar that makes you happy! Check out this Flickr Gallery Search for ideas or try your hand at making these beautiful Roses by Nancy Burke. Eitherway you will have a unique specimen to enjoy all year.
Someday I *WILL* go to Disney World but until then I get to live the magic through my friend Susan. I don't even have kids and I wanna go after seeing her pages!
And how cute are those pennants! Adorable! Her Lo's always inspire me. So to say thank you to her for always sharing the magic, I've got a little of my own! Here's some great ephemera I found recently. Can't wait to see what she does with it! I will be stashing mine away for the day *I* finally get to visit the most magical place on earth.
If you haven't heard yet JoAnn's is having a crazy clearance sale on original and Bigz dies. I got 10 on Sunday and they were marked down to $1.99 & $2.99! Of course this was perfect timing to figure out if I can alter these. The results were mixed. It seems all the frame dies the centers came out fairly easily. On the other hand these flower dies were a bit trickier. Still worth the work though (being able to cut piles of book text and sewing pattern tissue is worth it to me! not to mention the chipboard.)
So here's what I discovered. The center holes are impossible to remove LOL! they are small though and easy to cover. :) it was those center flower shapes that needed to go anyway! pulling them out proved futile. I tried for probably 1/2hr before giving up.
I decided I needed to remove the black foam to see what the next option was. I ended up going for a pair of really big wire cutters DH had in the garage. I made cuts every 1/8" around the entire shape. When that was done I used some blunt tipped needlenose pliers and twisted off each little piece until the shape was gone. (you can see in the close up the tiny pieces I removed.) It looks pretty rough but once the foam is back on you won't notice it and it cuts fine. The foam even went back on with no problems. Make sure you don't lose the tiny circles of foam that go in the center holes. These push the paper out of the holes after cutting.
***As always, proceed with caution. The dies are sharp and you can damage your die if you aren't careful. I suggest picking up one of the clearance dies at Joann's and giving it a try before you move on to more expensive dies.
EDITED: to fix the bright, reg, green, yellow, blue dies read HERE
Ok so you probably all have a sizzix die you wished the inner cutting shape would just disappear! you know the flowers with the holes in the centers and here is a good example. a perfectly good heart messed up by turning it into a frame :P booooo!
I have always wished I could change this and it's only taken me what 6 years?? LOL
So here is how it works
Take a die you hate, but want to *LOVE*. like this one!
Flip it over and make sure it has the holes in it on the back (I don't have my newer style original dies with the full back covering so I'm not sure if this will work on those, but once I get mine back I will be updating! UPDATE: Scroll down to the bottom of this post for the link to the newer dies) using a pair of needlenose pliers push the steel rule die out the opposite side. BE CAREFUL OF THE BLADES ON THE FRONT SIDE!!! they are sharp and you will cut yourself if you don't take precautions. Try a dishcloth or a hot pad to protect your hand.
Once it is out it will look like this
Use the pliers again and push the middle part of the die out.
Put the outer die shape back into carrier. you can do this best by pushing on the plastic rim portion of the dies frame. try not to touch the blade or chip it with the pliers. I've pulled back the foam so you can see where the plastic rim is I am talking about.
The funny part about this is that the die actually cuts BETTER now than it did before. I'd be careful about chipboard getting stuck. I haven't tried that yet. if it does you can just pop the die apart like you did when you were disassembling it in a worse case scenario. the paper I tried didn't get stuck and I was actually able to cut 8 sheets and I probably could have done more.
Now I have to go look for more dies I can "fix"! Please share if you get any cool results while reassembling them. :)
ADDED: 3/20 there is a discussion about this going on here at Two Peas in a Bucket check out what others have said about taking apart their dies. Edited: You can also learn about altering the wood dies on THIS post.
I see there are others joining in on the fun from other message boards. :) if you discover any great tips *please* share, or post a link in the comments section. THANKS!
Mom, Bill and their efficient.
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