Button Wall Art

Wow! It has been a busy week around here! But a good kind of busy! When I finally had a few minutes to sit down in my studio, I really wasn't in the layout mood but knew I wanted to do something creative. I started looking around and stumbled upon a huge tin of buttons that my grandmother had saved. When my dad and his siblings wore out their clothes (which they truly did.... if they out grew it, it got passed on to a sibling who then passed it on... you get the idea!) my grandmother would cut off the buttons and save them. Well, this was good for me because my mother passed this tin on to me and the buttons are amazing! The first night I had them, Lauren and I spent an evening just looking through them! Anyway, I got out the buttons and then found an old frame (that I had painted and sanded and inked!). I created a background out of burlap and got busy! This is what I created...

I made a B since that is the first letter of my parent's last name. I plan to give this to them. I think Dad will like it since all of the buttons belong to him and his siblings!

I added in a few epoxy buttons I made with my Epiphany Craft's button maker. I liked the way I could add some patterned paper to break up the solid colors of the buttons. To fill in some space, I used the pearls that I found in that tin of buttons!

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to hop on over to Frosted Designs... we announced our new Design team earlier today!

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Today is my day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I am so excited! Today is my day to be announced on the Quick Quotes Blog! I would love it if you stopped by and left a nice little comment! You can get there by clicking HERE!

Thanks! Barb  :)

Frosted Designs Love is in the Air Blog Hop!

Happy Friday everyone! Welcome to the Frosted Designs Love is in the Air Blog Hop! I am the first stop on the hop and I am so glad you are here! This week, our challenge is to use the word LOVE on your card, layout or project! How sweet it that?! I recently picked up the new Echo Park Yours Truly Collection. I actually got it to make a few altered art projects for my daughter's Paris themed room but couldn't resist making a layout with it too!

I don't usually use pink when I do layouts that have my husband in them but I really love the way this one turned out! Would you like to win these papers so you can make your own "LOVE" layout?! Well... guess what! I am giving this set away!

This prize includes the complete Echo Park Yours Truly collection pack, Thickers white chipboard alphabet, ribbon and a package of brads!! All you have to do to be entered into the random drawing is become a follower and leave a comment! Easy Peasy!!

Also... to win one of the prize packs on the Frosted Designs Blog, you need to collect a phrase that you will email to Diana. (danica4us@yahoo.com) The first word in the phrase is......

FROSTED

Your next stop is Debbie's blog and you can get there by clicking HERE!

If you get lost along the way, you can find the complete list below or go to the Frosted Designs Blog! You have unitl noon (Central time) Thursday to complete the hop. If you enter a project in the challenge, you will be in the drawing for another prize! Thanks for stopping by and happy hopping!

Frosted Designs

                        Barb - You are here!
Debbie
Ann 

Joanne 

Lydia

Angela

Teresa

Erin R.

Kelly

Erin B

Boys Rule Scropbook

Melissa

Beverly

Some Valentine's Love!

This week has just flown by! I have been really busy with projects but most of them can't be shared here just yet! But.... I do have a few cards I made for my daughter's for Valentine's Day. Would you like to see them?! (I know it is safe to post them here because they never check my blog!!)

The tag is hidden by the bow a bit in the photo but it says "Luv U"!

And here is my "XOXO" card!

I think they are perfect for my two oldest daughters and each card fits their personality! I will send these along with some goodies for Valentine's Day!

Would you like to win the papers I used for these cards?! Stop by tomorrow... it is the first day of the Frosted Designs Love Is In The Air Blog Hop! We will be giving away some great prizes on the Frosted Designs blog and then several of the designers are offering prizes as well! You don't want to miss it!!

And before I go, I wanted to share a few accomplishments this week!

My Winter Fun LO was featured on the Create blog this week! You can see it HERE!

And my Her Heart Belongs to Daddy LO was picked as a Top 10 on the DCWV blog. You can see it HERE!

It is always fun to create but sometimes it's nice to hear that other people like your work too!  :)

The Bestest Grandparents!

Happy Friday everyone! I can't believe it is February already! Where has the time gone?! I am a little happy and sad today... happy that my baby girl (who is actually  my oldest but will always be my baby!) is celebrating her 22nd birthday today! I'm a little sad because that reminds me that I am getting really old!! heehee!! Anyway.... Happy Birthday Courtney!

Now on to this week's challenge at Frosted Designs! We are challenging you to use ribbon and/or twine on your cards, layouts or project. I don't know about you but I have plenty of this laying around my office! My kids are so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents and they are truly blessed to still have all of them in their lives. Both sets of grandparents are healthy and love to do things with the kids! I found these photos of when Lauren was pretty little and we all spent the day at the zoo. For the layout I focused on my parents with Lauren and her cousins Brayden and Emmy!

The photo in the upper right is one of my all time favorites. Lauren wanted to feed the geese so bad but everytime one came near, she would be too afraid to hold her hand out. Finally, my dad went over and held her hand, assuring her that she wouldn't get bitten. Eventually she gave in and when that goose finally ate some corn out of her hand, she squealed with delight! It was such a tender moment! And I also love the photo of my mom walking with Lauren while she took her pony ride! Lauren loved having Grandma (instead of mom) walk with her! I love having these photos to document a special day!

Okay... enough about my family! Now we would love to see what you can do! Stop over at Frosted Designs to check out all the inspiration the Design Team provided and then link up your project for a chance to win this week's prize!

Kauai Layouts!

Even though we have had some amazing weather the past few weeks (70+ degrees), I am still longing to go to a beach! Last year, for spring break, we took the kids to Kauai and had the best time! So... I thought I would share a couple of layouts I created....

We actually got everyone to stand still long enough to get this family shot! Too bad Courtney and Kristin couldn't get away from their college classes to come along. We missed them not being there.

And this picture was taken one evening on the beach. Lauren and I were down playing around and started snapping a few pictures. I love her sweet smile in this photo! I really kept the layout simple. In fact, I didn't even use a title because I wanted all the attention on the photo and not on the embellishments. I think the papers worked great for the sunset!

Thanks for letting me share a few of my vacation pictures with you! I still have plenty of photos to scrap so I am sure you will be seeing more of this vacation!

Have a great week!

barb  :)

Ashley has a Giveaway!!!!

My crafty friend and fellow Design Team member at Frosted Designs is having a Giveaway on her blog! She is trying to reach 150 followers which I know will be no problem at all for her! She is extremely talented and full of great ideas! Be sure to check out her blog HERE for more details on how you can be entered to win this fabulous giveaway!

Good luck!

Winter!

It is Friday and that means that we have a new Fabulous Friday Challenge for you today at Frosted Designs! This week is a Recipe Challenge! I love these! For our challenge, you need to use: 3 Patterned Papers, 2 Buttons, 1 Word Title. It sounds pretty easy but I have to be honest... I really wanted to add in a few more patterned papers, couldn't find a spot where I liked the buttons and could not think of a one word title!! But... I guess that is why they call it a challenge!! :)  Here is the layout I created....

When we were visiting our family in Indiana over Christmas, we took an afternoon to go ice-skating at one of the city parks. This has become an annual outing with Lauren but this year Matt decided to come along. I am so glad he did! We all had so much fun! And then a few weeks ago, I got a phone call from my mother that she has all of these crocheted snowflakes that she was getting rid of and wondered if I wanted them! Uhhh... Yah!! I can't believe she even needed to ask! I couldn't wait to use them and this LO was perfect! I loved layering them with the Me & My Big Ideas acetate snowflakes! I added a few brads to hold it all together! And as you can see, I do have two buttons on here. They are the blue circles in the bottom right corner by the snowflakes. I put a gem on top of them to hide the holes! I love the way everything turned out!

I found this sketch at Creative Scrappers that was perfect for my photos....

We would love to have you join in the fun at Frosted Designs! And since we have 3 challenges (Fabulous Friday Challenge, Layout Sketch Challenge and the Card Sketch Challenge) going all the time, there is something for everyone! Come join the fun! And did I mention that all of our challenges give away great prizes?!! :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Barb  :)

I've got good news!!!

Good morning everyone! I am so excited to share a secret that has finally been made public!

I am now on the

Quick Quotes Design Team!!

2012 Quick Quotes Design Team

Adora Concepcion

Barb Craft

Christine Meyer

Jan Hennings

 

Jennifer Sodowsky

Julie Walton

 

Karan Gerber

Marcia Dehn-Nix

 

Misty Willis

Rhonda Van Ginkel

 

Suzanne Spokus

Tanisha Long

There are some really talented ladies on this team! I was introduced to Quick Quotes at a conference and adored their products! Now I am part of their team!! If you want to check out the Quick Quotes blog and the dt announcement, click HERE! And if you want to check out the products they sell, click HERE!

And since I am in such a great mood, I thought I would share a layout that I created! Quick Quotes has a challenge going on right now.... Frame it! You can use a frame on anything! So... I framed my daughter and her friend on this layout!

This was seriously a blast to create! I grabbed a bunch of my Echo Park scraps and stickers and went to town! I was able to use the cute little flower that I made for my tutorial (post before this one) and added all kinds of little goodies that have been laying on my desk! Lauren and her friend Abby are such good buddies even though they live far apart! This LO truly reflects both of their personalities!

Well, that is all I have to share with you today! Have a great week!

barb  :)

Fringe Flower Tutorial!

Hello everyone! It's my turn to share a tutorial at Frosted Designs so I thought I would share it here too! I am going to show you how to make these darling Fringe Flowers!

Sometimes when I am creating a card or scrapbook layout, I want a big embellishment but can't find what I need in my stash of supplies and do not want to spend a long time making something! These flowers are quick and easy and look great!

Step 1: Start by gathering your supplies. You will need either a paper bag or crepe paper for the base and then you can use other flowers, brads and any other item you like for the center of the flower. You will also need a 1.5 inch circle piece of cardstock in a coordinating color.

Step 2: Measure a piece of crepe paper that is 12 inches long.

Step 3: Fold the crepe in half so you have one long skinny piece.

Step 4: On the folded side, start cutting from the bottom up. Be sure you don't cut it all the way. You want to leave about 1/4 inch uncut.

Step 5: I used a circle punch to cut a circle from a piece of cardstock for my base. If you don't have a circle punch, you can just cut out a circle. It doesn't need to be perfect because no one will see it. Cover the circle with glue. Any glue will work since crepe paper sticks pretty easily to any surface.

Step 6: Take your fringed piece of crepe paper and start to glue it down to the circle starting with the outside edges and working your way in.

Step 7: This is what it should look like once you have glued down all the crepe paper in a spiral manner.

Step 8: Add a flower and a brad to the center to complete!

Here are a few flowers that are complete. Notice how much dimension they give without making your page heavy and bulky.

Here is a flower made from a brown paper bag that I used in a layout. I was trying to keep this layout from being too girly since it is about my husband and daughter.

Here is a close-up of the flower on the layout.

I used the sketch from this months Stack-A-Holic Template challenge at DCWV!

The papers are all DCWV Garden Party stack!

I hope you enjoy making these flowers as much as I do!

You can find more tutorials and a lot of inspiration at Frosted Designs! And did I mention that we are having a Design Team call?! Be sure to check out all the details HERE!

Faith

Hello! I have so much to share with you today! So, let's get started!

Did you know that Frosted Designs is having a Design Team call?! That's right! We would love to see you join our team! We are looking for people who make scrapbook layouts, cards, altered art items, home decor and mixed media! Pretty much if you like to create, you might be just what we are looking for! We are adding new designers to all three of our creative teams.... Fabulous Friday, Layout Sketch Team and Card Sketch Team. You have until February 10th to submit your application! You can find more information HERE!

There are many One Little Word challenges out there and this year I decided to join in on the fun! I am going to do my best to keep up with the OLW challenges at Club CK! The word I picked to be my one word this year is Faith. I think that this word encompasses so many things.... Faith in God, faith in my family, faith in myself.... you get the idea! Here is the layout I made to get me started....

I couldn't decide if I wanted to use the quote or the Bible verse so I used both! The quote became my title (perfect for my family this year!) and the Bible verse is one I strongly believe in and will keep me strong through the changes happening this year!

I had a lot of fun making the title. For the word Faith, I stamped the letters on kraft paper and after it dried, I outlined it with a black marker. I then cut all the letters out and pop dotted them before adding them to the layout!

My kids are all at times in their lives where the decisions they make will affect them forever. Courtney is turning 22 and has just gone back to college. Kristin is 21 and finishing her junior year. She will start her senior year this year and she is already making plans for life after graduation. Matt is graduating from high school and is looking at colleges and trying to figure out what he wants to be "when he grows up." Lauren is my baby and has spent the last year working really hard on acting. She has a passion for it and the determination to do great things! Since each of the kids are in such different spots, I wanted to write a little message to each of them. I started each one out with their name and "I have faith that...."

I am really trying to add more journaling to my layouts this year. I want my kids, grandkids and great grandkids to be able to look back one day and really know the story that goes with the photos!

Sorry for the long post! But thanks for stopping by and taking time to read all of this!

Barb  :)

You are my Rock!

As many of you know, my life has been crazy with changes lately. A little over a year ago we moved to Texas from Indiana. Well... it looks like we are on the move again! Arizona, here we come! I also have 4 kids who are growing up and parenting is not always easy. They are at the ages where they are making their own decisions and sometimes it is really difficult to sit back and watch some of the decisions they make! I try to share wisdom with them but at 20, they have all the answers! With all of the craziness, my husband is the person that keeps me sane! I am so thankful for him and his strength!

I have been spending some time over at Club CK. They have some really great challenges going on and one of them is the Thanks Living challenge. For this challenge, we are supposed to (at least try) journal about something we are thankful for each day and then use these notes to help us with our journaling on our scrapbook layouts. And to make it even better, Erika (who is hosting the challenge) also is giving lessons on scrapbook design! For the first month, we are being challenged to use the design concept of lines and the theme of love. Here is the layout I created for my first Thanks Living challenge...

Greg really is my rock and I am so thankful for him! Since I had so much journaling on this LO, I tried to keep the embellishments to a minimum. I used the white flower because it reminds me of the flowers Greg always gives me when we go for walks when we are in Maui. They smell so good! I also had fun with the journaling on this one by adding sticker letters to make certain words pop!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great week!

Barb  :)

Exciting changes at Scrapbook News and Review Magazine!

Hello everyone! I wanted to share some news with you! Scrapbook News and Review Magazine (SNR) is making some changes! We have a brand new look that will be revealed soon, but here is a sneak peek...

What do you think?! I love the new look and with that will come a new format and a few changes within the magazine! If you aren't a subscriber already, you really need to check out what you are missing! We have everything from scrapbooking inspiration to cards, stamping, mixed media, tutorials and so much more! You can click HERE for more information! The January issue is going to be released soon so don't miss out!

Have a great weekend!

Barb  :)

Delight!

Hello everyone! I hope all of you have had a great week! I have been busy doing some projects on our home so this week just flew by!  Well, since it is Friday, you know what that means.... a new challenge at Frosted Designs! This week we want to you get messy and get out that paint! Here is my layout....

As you can tell from my post on Wednesday, it is nearly impossible to get a serious photo of Lauren right now! Back in December we were in California and spent the day at Universal Studios. We had a great day and snapped plenty of fun photos! I guess Lauren was getting hungry!

So, since the challenge was paint, I wanted to do something other than the obvious splatters or putting paint on my background. Instead, I stamped these cute little banners on paper bags. To make the stamp, I used a foam, rectangular make up applicator that I cut  a little triangle out of. I liked using the paper bags because they are lightweight and don't look as stiff as cardstock. I added a few eyelets and twine and had this cute banner! I also used some of the leftover painted bag to wrap around the tag.

I had a lot of fun getting messy with this project! Now we would love to see what you can create with paint! Be sure to link up your project for a chance to win a prize from Vintage Street Market! You can get to Frosted Designs by clicking HERE!  

Have a great weekend!

It' all about respect!

Hello! I was up playing in my studio last night and came across this photo that I just had to put in a layout!

When we were home visiting family in Indiana last October, we celebrated my grandmother's 95th birthday! I wanted to get a picture of each of my kids with their great grandmother and this is what I got from Lauren! The girl can never take a serious photo!! lol!! When I found this photo later, it made me laugh.... my grandma is completely clueless that Lauren is behind her messing around!! But it did make for a cute layout!

And since one of my goals this year is to use up supplies laying around my studio, I pulled out these papers. They are Lily Bee Designs papers. When I got them a few years ago, I loved them and created all kinds of layouts with them but still had these scraps laying around. They were the perfect size for the Sketchy Thursdays sketch this week! They had a twist this week... you had to add blue and silver in your layout. I added a few silver brads to cover the silver part of the challenge!  :) It has been forever since I have played along with a challenge blog so I thought it would be fun!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!

A New Year!

I can't believe it is 2012 already! Where did 2011 go?! Last year was a wonderful year but I seemed to have so much going on in my personal life that keeping up on my "fun, scrappy life" became a little more difficult! But, I have decided that I am changing that for the new year! I am going to be spending a lot more time updating and adding to my blog and visiting all of my bloggy friends that I have neglected for the past year! So watch out... I am sure I will be stopping by your blog soon to say hello!!

We posted a new challenge last Friday on Frosted Designs and the challenge was all about trying new things and using new supplies!! How is that for a challenge to kick off the year?! I wanted to share a layout I created with you that was a new concept to me.... using pets only in a Layout! 

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How cute are these little darlings?! Our two cats are Skit and Skat! They are brothers and the sweetest things ever! My daughter asked to keep them 13 years ago and some how we still have them with us here in Texas and she lives in Indiana! I am not quite sure how that happened!! Our little princess is Jasmine... our Cavashon! She thinks she should have had her own layout so maybe I need to work on one in the future!! 

I also wanted to share with you that the new calls for Scrapbook News and Review magazine are up! You can find them by clicking HERE!

This is a great way to get published so we would love to see you submit your work! There are some exciting changes happening at Scrapbook News and Review so if you are not a subscriber already, you really should consider it!

Thank you to all the wonderful friends that have continued to stop by and leave me some blog love over the past year! I promise to return the favor! I can't wait to get out into blog world and see what all of you have been creating!! Have a great week and I will catch up with you soon!

Barb  :)

The Perfect Routine!

Before I get to today's post, let me just say..... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!  I hope you and your families have a wonderful Christmas together and a blessed new year! 

Now, on to business!! We have a new challenge up at Frosted Designs and our Design Team has out done themselves again!! I love the variety of projects our team shares each week and I promise you will not be disappointed! This week we are asking you to use Fabric on your cards, layouts and projects! I know it sounds a little intimidating but really, it is not hard at all. Take a look at what the Frosted Designs Design Team did by clicking HERE!

Here is the layout I created....

I can't believe this is my little Lauren! She is growing up way too quickly!!

If you look closely, you can see that I used tulle on the flowers in this layout. See! It's that easy!! We would love to see what you can do! Hopefully all of you will get a break from the holiday celebrations for yourself and you can play along! We also have a link to an adorable scarf that Becky made.... you are going to want to make one too!!  Have a great day and an fabulous weekend!

More projects to share!

I am back with a few more projects that I created this year! I am still learning how to make cards so I don't always share them, but here are a few...

I had a lot of fun making these so I am sure I will make more in the future! I know the people who receive them always love the personal touch! 

I will be back tomorrow with a new layout for our newest Fabulous Friday Challenge at Frosted Designs!

Sharing some layouts!

Hello everyone! It is hard to believe that Christmas is just 4 days away! I lucked out this year... my parents came for a visit, helped me finish all my shopping, wrapped all my gifts for me AND took them back to Indiana where we will be celebrating Christmas this year!!! It is so nice going into the holidays and not being completely stressed out! We are going to have a little fun tonight... we are going to Christmas in the Park at Six Flags and then tomorrow we are going to hang out at the Arboretum!

Since I am relaxed and ready for Christmas, I thought I would share a few layouts I created this year that never got  posted to my blog!

Looking back over some of my layouts this past year, I realized that my style really varies depending on who I am using in the layouts! I kind of like that! It keeps all my pages from looking the same!  :) 

I have some more projects to share with you tomorrow! See you then! 

Miss You!

Wow! I can't believe that we are half way through December! November and December were very busy travel months for me and if I wasn't out of town, I had company!! All of it has been fun but it has kept me very busy! I wanted to share our newest challenge at Frosted Designs! This week we would like to see how you use Ribbon on your cards, layouts and projects! I know I always say this, but this time I really mean it.... our design team has created some incredible projects with fabulous ideas!! You really do need to check them out!! Here is the card I made...

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If you link up your project, you have a chance to win some Graphic 45 papers!! Click HERE to go to Frosted Designs to get all the details!

The staff at Scrapbook News and Review has been very busy too! We just completed the 12 days of Christamas! Each day we made a tag or some other mixed media project with set by step directions so you can make them yourself! Here is the tag I created....

SNR sent out emails with the information on all of the projects but in case you are not on their email list, you can still find them on the SNR home page!

Guitar Wall Hanging

Good Morning! Can you believe it is December already? Wow! Where did the year go? I wanted to share a project with you that I completed with the help of my dad! My daughter, Lauren, wanted a rocked theme bedroom so we thought it would be cool to have a giant guitar to hang on the wall!  :)  I used the Hannah Montana cartridge to cut a pattern and then used the pattern with an overhead projector to make it really large. I traced the pattern on a piece of wood and my wonderful father cut it out for me!! He even sanded down all the edges and put lights on the back of it! All I had to do was paint it and add a few flowers and gems! I love the way it turned out and it looks great on my daughter's wall... especially at night!

Seriously... how cool is that?! Thanks for stopping by to check it out! Have a great weekend!