GASC!

Last Friday, I went to the Great American Scrapbook Convention with a friend.  It was my first time going, but to her it is "Christmas."  I didn't know what she meant by that, but now I do.  Wow--it was an incredible overload of scrapbooking stuff.  I loved it!

This is the entrance to the event.  There were vendors as far as the eye could see.  I had a plan in my head that I was only going to buy things that had to do with my Italy trip, our baseball trips, or organizational products.  And I stuck to that pretty well, actually.  I didn't go crazy buying paper or embellishments--God knows I have enough of that stuff. 

So here are some of my happy purchases:

From Best Craft Organizer, I picked up this ribbon caddy.  I came home and wrapped up all my ribbon, which I had on a pants hanger (thinking that was pretty spiffy).  I like this a lot.  It's great for fabric ribbon, but today I tried wrapping paper ribbon, and that didn't work as well.  It unwound itself before I could close the lid on the organizer.  I'm not sure how to fix that, but it could be that it's just not meant for paper ribbon. 

I also discovered a favorite vendor, Jillybean-Soup.  I just love their papers and colors and coordinating stuff.  I did a make-and-take at their booth, and that was so cute, too.  I made a card that I actually sent to a friend already.  I could've gone a little crazy at that booth, but I only bought a couple sheets of paper and a pack of this cool paper that is embossed, and when you rub sandpaper over the pattern, it brings out the inner core color.  I dig it.  I just looked up their product line online and found that none of our local stores sells their stuff.  One of my favorite kit ladies does, though, and that's good news to me!

The big thing I bought at GASC, though, is a mosaic tile template system.  I don't even know if that's the actual name of the thing.  Wait, I'll look it up.  It's called Mosaic Moments by Tami Potter.  The friend that I went to GASC with bought one last year, and I watched her create a page using it at our crop back in May.  I really like the look of the mosaic pages, although I'll have to use them sparingly to avoid the "mosaic page phase" that my scrapbooks sometimes take on when I discover a new technique.  Ha!

So the idea is that you use this system to cut your photo into little bits, and they line up perfectly on these pre-marked background cardstock pages.  There is lots of variety to the layouts, so I am excited to try this with some of my Rome pictures. 

Ok, so here's a template above.  On the website, they show the template and how it will look with actual pictures, which I totally love.  Here's what template #59 look like with photos:



I can totally do this.  HA!  I can totally try to do this.  It's something new and different for me, and that's good.  It might take me four hours to do a page, but that's okay. 

If the Great American Scrapbook Convention comes to an area near you, you should totally try to go.  It was an interesting group of people there--some kids, but not many.  Sheesh...we did see a T.I.N.Y. baby there; it couldn't have been more than a week or two old.  That was not cool.  The shoppers were mostly women, but men manned all the booths.  Interesting.  Here's the link to GASC. 

Easter Bunting

I am having so much fun making bunting and selling it at my etsy shop!
This was the Easter bunting:

I also have lots of others available at the shop.

Little Shamrocks!

I made these cute little shamrocks, or clovers, or whatever I am supposed to call them---for St. Patrick's Day.  I gave them to the paraprofessionals I work with at my school, and to a few other friends, too. 
The yarn was called "shamrock," and it had little green metallic flecks in it, so it looked great!
I also sent an envelope of them to my sister for her to give to her colleagues, only to have it come back to me the next week needing 20 cents postage!! That was disappointing, although I suppose I don't have to make any next year for her.

Here's where I got the pattern:

March Bunting

I was such a hard worker last weekend and got the St. Patrick's Day bunting cut, sewn, assembled, and hung.  I just love it!
Here's a picture of mine.  I did a pattern this time, starting in the middle with my favorite fabric and then putting pairs of pennants on either side.  I did a shamrock pattern and then a generic green pattern, and I really love the way it turned out.

 Below is the one I made for my sister.  I did hers with nine different fabrics and no "just green" fabric.  they're all shamrock patterns.  I even put a Snoopy shamrock pennant in the middle, just for fun.  Her five-year-old loves it!

Meanwhile, I went a little crazy and bought Easter fabric, watermelon fabric for summer, and even beachy fabric!! Can't wait to get the whole year finished!

In other news, I also updated my Etsy store, Willow Branch Designs, and relisted the few things I have for sale.

Bunting!

I was a little late on the Valentine's Day bunting--made some for my sister on February 11 and finished mine on February 13.  I'll leave it up for a little while, but tomorrow, I'll start working on St. Patrick's Day bunting.  I have cute St. Patty's Day fabric that I can't wait to use.
Here's a picture of my sister's bunting:

And here's one of mine:

On mine, I used 11 different fabrics, but I tried to coordinate the colors and patterns--right in the middle is a fabric of conversation hearts, and then on either side is a different pink fabric with hearts, and then a deep red, then a medium red, then a white background with red, and then a medium red on the ends.  I really like the way it looks.
I talked to my nephew (who is 5) today, and he apparently told his teacher all about making bunting with me.  YIKES! I just hope he doesn't get beat up at school talking like that!

Little Hearts

So cute!! I love these little crocheted hearts. When I was little, my grandmother made crocheted wreaths for us to wear on Christmas, and now I've put my own spin on the hand-made gift with a Valentine's Day present. I just have to sew a pin on the back and they're ready for gifting. Every one I know will get one--we'll see if they wear it!

Here's the link where I got the pattern AND a youtube tutorial!

Organizing, organizing...

I love organizing my stuff!! Then I love reorganizing it!! Sometimes, actually, that's all I feel like I really do. Move paper from this file to that folder, or move markers from this tote to that box. Even though I do not generally make New Year's resolutions, after working on yet another paper file, I firmly resolve to NOT purchase any more scrapbooking stuff in 2012. I am sure my CM consultant is not happy about this, but enough is ENOUGH! I have a ridiculous amount of paper, kits, stickers, and embellishments that I cannot even hope to use in my lifetime, let alone this year. So this year is going to be all about using what I have and not even looking at new stuff. Well, okay, maybe looking at it, but not purchasing it!!

My latest project is working on an album of my history with the piano, starting from when I was a baby and my parents took my picture sitting at a friend's piano, up to last month, where 9 of my students performed in a Christmas recital. There are lots of holes in between, but I was able to find a surprising number of photos and newspaper articles of my high school years. Thank goodness my grandmother saved that kind of stuff!