Pumpkin Projects

One of my favorite things this time of year are all the fall decorations I get to put out in my home. And of those decorations, pumpkins probably top the list of my favorite props. I'll let you in on a little secret...

Are you listening?

Okay, here it is... I leave my faux jack-o-lantern pumpkins out from early September until Thanksgiving! How do I get away with this, you might ask? I simply turn the faces of the jack-o-lanterns towards the wall we're not celebrating Halloween! So I can put all my pumpkins out in September, turn the jack-o-lantern faces around in October, then turn them around again in November.

I'm all about making and decorating my own pumpkins, mostly the faux pumpkins you can get at your local craft store because, c'mon, I want to be able to reuse them every year! Here are a few really cute pumpkin crafts you can make at home.

(Click on the photo collage to see a larger version.)



1. Upcycled jack-o-lanterns from old food jars
2. Glittered pumpkins
3. Real pumpkins with faux leaves and tendrils
4. Quilted pumpkins
5. Clay pumpkins
6. Jack-o-lantern pumpkin people made from felt
7. Upcycled tin can jack-o-lantern
8. Pumpkins made from yarn
9. Paper mache jack-o-lanterns
10. Felt pumpkins from a kit
11. Real pumpkin chandelier
12. Pumpkins carved using ceramic cutters and a rubber mallet

Its not too late to get started on your pumpkin crafts. We still have all of November left for our fall decorations!

T-Shirt Tuesday - Boo!

Halloween is almost here! Its not too late to order your Halloween shirt from The Scrap Shoppe!


Dress in style with our brand new shabby chic "BOO" design. From the spookily patterned letters to the vintage decorations, this apparel screams Halloween!

Corset Stitching

If you frequent online scrapbook galleries you may have noticed a new trend: corset stitching! The corset stitch is a versatile stitch that incorporates many looks. In the above photo collage you can see the corset stitch used for a distressed look, shabby chic look, and a more frilly look. You can punch holes for the threading with a paper piercer, hole punch, or border punch (like the scallop punch). You can use any type of medium for the stitching such as thread, cording, ribbon, or yarn.

I decided to try my hand at the corset stitch on a Halloween project I've been wanting to do. Here's how I went about it...

(Click on any of the pictures for a larger view.)


For this project I needed:

1. 6 sheets of patterned Halloween paper
2. Chipboard letters
3. Black cording
4. Mod Podge
5. Black distress ink

Trace the chipboard letters onto the patterned paper and cut them out; two sheets of paper per letter. Adhere one sheet of paper to each chipboard letter with Mod Podge. Ink the edges with black distress ink. After the ink dries, add a layer of Mod Podge on top of the letters.


My Mod Podge is a little old so it went on kind of thick. But for this project, I think it looks great! Kind of spooky.


I cut out slivers of the layers of paper that will be on top. These slivers are where I will put my corset stitch.


I ran my scissors along the cut slivers to distress the paper then inked all of the edges with black distress ink. I used my paper piercer to make holes for my cording. I threaded my cording through the holes then attached it to the chipboard letters then added another layer of Mod Podge.


Here are some close up views of the corset stitching.


And here is the finished product! Not a bad use of the corset stitch, if I do say so myself. Adds just the right touch to my Halloween letters.

Cupcakes - Still Hot?

Today we're posing the question of whether cupcakes are still "hot" in the scrapbook world. Has their time come and gone? According to Basic Grey, cupcakes are here to stay!

Basic Grey has a super cute new line out called Nook and Pantry and cupcakes are one of the big features.

(Click on any of the pictures for a larger view.)


From (clockwise) acrylic stamps, patterned paper, stickers, and adorable party favors, cupcakes are the star of the Nook and Pantry collection.


Cupcakes aren't the only food in this line. Other patterned paper in the collection include images of strawberries, pears, cherries, lemons, and kiwi. And, since this is a food line, other kitchen items are featured such as beaters and tea kettles.


Also in this line are various sets of doily paper made from 12" x 12" laser cut cardstock.


And, as with any collection, there are lots and lots of accessories!

Personally I think the Nook and Pantry collection would make a very cute recipe album of your grandmothers old recipes. The papers have a retro feel to them that makes you think of the 60's. What would you do with this collection from Basic Grey?

T-Shirt Tuesday - Crafty Costume

Another edition of T-Shirt Tuesday, another SPOOKTACULAR t-shirt! This week we are featuring one of my favorite Halloween t-shirts for scrapbookers, mostly because it has a little attitude with it. And if you know me, I love to give a little attitude!


Don't feel like wearing a costume this Halloween? Just be your crafty self and use this scrappy apparel to help let everyone know who you really are!

The shirt reads: "What do you mean where's my Halloween costume? I'm a scrapbooker! Don't I look crafty?"

There's still plenty of time to order before Halloween!

Printing Photos Outside the Box

I want to start this Sunday by thanking Amy over at Living Locurto for featuring my Jungle Invitation and Jungle Party Cupcakes from my son's 1st birthday party on her blog last Friday! So, a big THANK YOU to Amy!



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I thought today I would show you an alternative way to print your photos for your scrapbook layouts. I do this occasionally to mix things up a bit and to truly show off what I think is a really fun picture.


I printed this picture on my son on a piece of white cardstock from my printer. You can just as easily print the picture on 8 x 10 photo paper, but the cardstock is less expensive and looks just as well.

I cut away the background so that he is the sole focus of the photo. (I cut the cardstock with an X-acto knife with a swivel head, but you could just as easily use a pair of micro-tip scissors.)

Here are a few other techniques I used on this layout...

I used a blue Zig marker to add faux stitching to the white foam letters and blue ink on the edges of the blue chipboard letters to help give them some dimension.


I stitched on some green yarn as the stems of my flowers. I alternated between stickers and buttons with ribbon as the tops of my flowers. I also added some sticker leaves to the stems.


I folded the entire edge of the orange cardstock, but since it already looked distressed I didn't bother to ink it. I also used two pieces of felt rik rak in two of the corners to act as photo frames.

Out of Town!

No blog post today since I'm out of town for a work conference. Check back on Sunday!

T-Shirt Tuesday - Crafty Kitty

Halloween is just around the corner so let's spend this and the next couple T-Shirt Tuesdays looking at our Halloween apparel for scrapbookers!


Let your inner feline out with our Crafty Kitty apparel. Great for Halloween or if you're just feeling a little catty!

The design is available in pink for dark apparel and black with pink writing on light-colored apparel.

Custom Wall Art

Let me start off by saying, I cannot paint! Whatever gene is required for painting anything artistic, I am lacking it. But I wanted some custom wall art for my living room, so I grabbed some supplies and made myself a canvas!


These are some of the supplies I stocked myself with for this project. A variety of paint from colors found in my living room, stencils, a mounted piece of canvas, and an assortment of foam brushes.


I also settled on a photo to use for the canvas. The original was taken by Lotus Blossom Photography. I did some editing to get the size and coloring I wanted. You can see that I made the red door we're sitting in front of more prominent without making it the main focus of the photograph.


To get the two-toned effect on this butterfly I stenciled it first with one color, let it dry, then stenciled the wings again very lightly with a second lighter color.
And see the corner of the photograph on the canvas? See that little black brad? Two brads in each corner of the top of the photo are all that are holding it to the canvas so that I can change it later as my family grows.


I used a large wall rub-on I found at my local craft store that says "Family" and rubbed it directly onto the painted canvas. I also used a rubber stamp and black ink to dress up some twill ribbon that I attached to the canvas with some brads.


And here is the finished setting. I'm pretty happy with it! Not only is it custom made to exactly what I want, but it was much cheaper than buying a generic finished canvas.

What do you think?

Spotlight on Prima!

WARNING! This post is heavy with pictures! Click on any of them for a larger view.

I want to share with you just a few (seriously, there are waaaaaay more available!) of the yummies I found while perusing for new Prima Marketing product.

I don't know about you, but when I think of Prima, my first thought is flowers. They excel at providing cute flowers of all shapes and sizes. But I think they've really outdone themselves now.

From extremely realistic flowers...


To flowers with gorgeous ornate centers...


To beautiful vintage-feeling flowers mixing several types of media...


Prima has also added to their vine collection...


Need a butterfly? Prima has several available in sheer and solids, all blinged out! Some even come with matching flowers. Also available in a variety of colors are cute little blinged out birds.


Speaking of bling, how about some blinged out leaves and flowers full of sparkle?


And, of course, the rest of bling that we have come to know from Prima...


Here are a few other odds and ends I found from Prima - Felt stems, glittered alphabets, stitched charms, and pebbles.


All of these products can be found on Scrapbook.com doing a search with the terms "Prima" and "new".

And can I just say, whoever gets to take the photos of these Prima products has my dream job! Not only do they get to see all the new product up close and personal, but they also get to create these artful and beautiful photographs. *sigh* I'm jealous!

T-Shirt Tuesday - Scrapbook Rockstar (x2!)

We're going super cool with this week's T-Shirt Tuesday by featuring 2 Scrapbook Rockstar shirts! I love the phrase *scrapbook rockstar* so much I couldn't settle on creating just one design. So we have two!

You might be asking yourself, "Am I a scrapbook rockstar? How do I become a scrapbook rockstar?"

Here's what we think of when we say Scrapbook Rockstar: You're cool, hip, use all the latest techniques. You put out scrapbook layouts faster than anyone around. You're a Scrapbook Rockstar!


This Scrapbook Rockstar design features fun turquoise and brown colors with lots of stars because, really, what is a rockstar without stars?


They say that only the bold can pull off the color red, and if you're a bold Scrapbook Rockstar you can pull off this design! With a font to make the rock metal bands proud, this design is *rocking* a guitar made out of dozens of stars.

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Habitat for Humanity

In lue of my typical blog post this Sunday, I'm going to tell you how I spent my day! My DH and I participated in a fundraiser for our local Habitat for Humanity (RCHFH) by riding a motorcycle during a Poker Run. I had no idea what a Poker Run was until today, but it was actually pretty fun. Basically, you ride from post to post and pick a card out of a deck at each post and by the end of the Run you have your hand of cards.

This is the description of the run on the RCHFH website: "Join us for a fun 110 mile motorcycle ride through scenic middle Tennessee." Other than raining at the tail end of the ride, the description was right on!

I was actually asked to make the t-shirts for the volunteers to wear. In doing so, that made me a sponsor of the event which I felt was such a great thing! Habitat for Humanity does so much for so many communities, and I'm so happy to be a part of that!



At each post we stopped at there were signs with facts about poverty in our society and stats on families and children that show why Habitat is really needed. These aren't things we necessarily want to face in our everyday lives, but it is important for us to know.

If you get a chance, stop by the main Habitat for Humanity website. See what they are about and, if you think you have some time to spare, become a volunteer!