I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

Scrapbooking and Crafts

feeling inspired

I just took an online scrapbooking class from Kelly Purkey. This class has really helped me refocus on scrapbooking and finding inspiration every where I look. You really can find inspiration from magazines, advertisements, catalogs, printed materials, home decor, clothing, and much more. You really just need to open up and see what it is telling you, what jumps out at you- the colors, the organization, the feel, etc.

I don’t subscribe to many magazines, just Creating Keepsakes, Martha Stewart Living, Bon Appetite, and Every day with Rachel Ray. I can refer to design magazines at work or at school so I decided to save my money on those but for some reason I get Architecture Boston. It’s free so I didn’t mind its surprise arrival. n fact I used the cover of the current issue to inspire me to create a layout.

I start every new scrapbook with a ‘title’ page. My yearly scrapbooks have something that either describes the year, a goal, my resolutions, or a collage that I create at the end of the year. This year I made my page based upon the cover of Architecture Boston and it showcased my word for the year: Better. I wanted to feel better about myself, get better at the things I already do, have a better outlook on things, and generally make this year better than any before.

Lack of sleep and a new layout

I had such a horrible night’s sleep last night. I never have a bad night- I lay down and I’m out within a few minutes, often mid sentence while talking to Price. But last night I laid there for what seemed like forever, 1 o’clock rolled around and I’m awake, I woke up several times during the time (no like me) and ta-da the alarm goes off at 5.20 or so for Price to get ready for work. I snoozed until 7 but the alarm every 9 minutes is not a sound sleep and I really wanted to be up at 6 anyway. So I’m off today. But I’m still trying to pull it together by tossing up a blog post.

This Sunday I hosted a scrapbooking crop, except last-minute rsvp changes and forgetfulness resulted in a crop of 1. While bummed that I could have slept in and not set up, I spent the day scrapbooking anyway. I got a few layouts done and some in progress, which I having been working on at night now. So the next few posts will be about the scrapbooking I have been getting done.

Today’s featured layout was one I did for a photo I took a few weeks back. I have noticed that I have been doing more 1 photo on a 12×12 layout than I did before. I still have my several photos layouts but I have begun to enjoy the 1 photo layout because it gives me more space for embellishment. Anyway, it always gave me a chance to use some cherry paper I just got- def a plus. I used both sides of the patterned paper- 1 side was cherries and the other was definitions. I circled the definition of “Enjoy”. I was definitely enjoying the moment, and my apron!

Supplies: Tea Towel Cherry Hill Paper by October Afternoon, Solid paper and real red ribbon Stampin’ Up!, Early Bird Borders by Cosmo Cricket, journaling tag and cherry circle tag by Shabby Chic Crafts, lace

Holy Glitter Batman!

I have been feeling a little off lately. Just not myself which has translated into a scrapbooking slump for a few days. I also think that this contributed to the muffin mishap on Sunday (see earlier post), clearly I was not thinking properly, ha.

Well I finally told myself to shake it off and get back to being crafty. I have been thinking about this layout for a few days but have just been putting it off. It’s kinda simple but that was sorta all I could handle last night. I have had these Stickycut Letters from Stampin’ Up! for a long time. I decided that I would used them for this layout and use glitter to make a bold title.

I made a horrible mess on the floor, table, and my face. Price said he could see glitter all over my face… great, I hope I got every speck off in the shower this morning. Either way I love glitter and I have a feeling I’ll be using these Stickycut Letter a lot since they are made for glitter and beads, and I imagine sand would work too!

Whoopie

I find the word Whoopie hilarious. One word and so many applications.

Whoopie cushion… whoopie pie.. making whoopie… Whoopi Goldberg. Or Whoopi Goldberg is a stretch but still great.

So when I decided to make Pumpkin Whoopie Pies in November I was so excited. 1) never had a whoopie pie before 2) first time making whoopie pies 3) Price helped. Price does not normally help me in the kitchen because I’m generally on a mission in the kitchen. Things are always so rushed so making dinner 1 person in the kitchen is easier than 2 bumping in to each other- one day we will coordinate the kitchen dance. At least there are nights when Price watches me cook while sitting on a chair while we chat about the day.

Maybe someone would argue that there is no need to scrapbook about baking Whoopie Pies but I enjoyed the night so much that I had to. Since I’m a goof about the word whoopie I gave it extra attention and made each chipboard letter different. Plus I really liked the pink polka dot paper from Stampin’ Up! so I had to use that and I basically worked the page around that.

Solid and patterned papers, chipboard letters, inks (white and soft suede), wire, and scalloped edge punch are from Stampin’  Up!, Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint in Worn Lipstick, ribbon

Pumpkin Whoopie Pie with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe is HERE!

I’m scrappy

I spent yesterday scrapbooking and I loved it. I have been feeling so out of it since my stuff took over the office and there was not a free square inch on either desk. I cleaned up this morning and got to scrapbooking. I have a few pages that I needed to finish or completely start, plus I decided that I would scrap together all the Christmas cards we got this year. I always feel bad that we chuck them at the end of the year. It just seems so wrong since people spend money on them or take the time to take amazing photos for their Christmas cards. I’m still working on that since I want to add in more journaling and photos from the hoidays- I’ll post this later on.

Santa’s Helpers

Family Laughter

My 22nd Birthday

It seems fitting to have this since my 25th birthday is 1 week away. Maybe I’ll scrapbook that sooner than almost 3 years later!

Pass- Scrapbooking Page

I have slowly been catching up on scrapbooking. Like photos that are 2-3 years old. They have been hanging out in a folder just waiting for some love and attention. The problem is lack of time and that I keep adding more pictures to this folder so things keep getting shuffled around. Well, I have been taking some time to get organized- but then it all went to hell- and do some quick scrapbooking. Like 15 minute pages.

This page is from January 2007! I took this picture of Price to commemorate his passing grade on his Segment 1 portfolio. ( Our school requires 2 portfolios of work to date to be submitted before being able to move on. Portfolio, like everything else at out school, sucks the life out of you. Plus, it is subjective and list of people who fail on their first attempt is quiet impressive. ah hem, we both failed the first submission. Mine stung even more because I took a portfolio class right before submitting. Super….) Well we went to school on the night of studio registration to find out if he passed or not, and then register for classes. After receiving the good news we went out to a bar to celebrate.

Solid paper, adhesive, chipboard, ink, and corner rounder punch are from Stampin’ Up!, patterned letters are from Martha Stewart, date stamp is from 7 gyspies, and patterned papers are unknown.

This is the current state of chaos out office is in. ALL MY FAULT! ALL MY CRAP! Thankfully Price is the most amazing boyfriend in the world and lets it get this bad without killing me. I promise it will be clean by Christmas!

Moosh and Moosha

So I have a thing with nicknames.

I go by Nicole or Nic, and it has to be spelled that way. I won’t respond if people call me Nicki. There once was a time that someone introduced me to a group of people as Nicki and it made my heart stop since I now had a bunch of people calling me Nicki and with every time I heard it I would shudder. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t care if anyone else goes by Nicki. It’s just not me, it does not fit me.

Anyway, Price and I have a bunch of nicknames for each other.  Things range from Goose, Squishy* or Squish, to Moosh(a). 

*So I have never seen Finding Nemo in its entirety but I think this clip is funny and that is why Squish is a nickname I call Price.

“I shall call him Squishy and he shall be mine and he shall be my Squishy. Come on, Squishy Come on, little Squishy.”

dad visits-scrapbook page

When my dad was visting last weekend, I took a picture with of my dad using my Fuji Instax Camera. Of course we made fun of that monster but all kidding aside we loved getting to see that picture right then.

I used Stampin’ Up! Patterned and Solid Papers, embelishments, and foam dots. The title was created with the Street Sign Cricut Cartridge. Stamped ‘DAD’ was from 7gypsies.

Mysteries of Me class: Progress

I am taking Elizabeth Kartchner’s Online class called Mysteries of Me. I love it since I ordered the kit and received fabulous products and the lessons are great. The kit included great paper, digital files, ribbons, brads, Tim Holtz’s Distress Crackle paint, & much more. I got the Crackle Paint in Worn Lipstick- I had never used it before but I know I will used it a lot since I just love the crackles that it makes.

IMG_0584

I love the idea of a book hidden inside another book. I bought 2 books but Pricer said I should used this one since it had a cool illustration on the cover. I still need to add my lettering to it- must find gold rub-ons.

IMG_0586

I added my initials to the boo using rub-on from the kit before I mod podge’d it to make all the pages stuck together.

 IMG_0585

I love the cover with the layered tag, papers, flower, charm, and ticket. I sponged the ticket with SU!’s Pink Passion ink. 

IMG_0587

 I still have a  lot of work to do but I think the book is coming a long nicely. I need to focus on getting my pictures together to edit and have them printed.

IMG_0588

IMG_0590

IMG_0593

I’m hoping to have this all done next weekend.. I just have stupid things in my way, like a 10- page paper due on Wed. Oh well, school has to come first.

Perfect Day for Fun

These pictures are well over 2 years old and  I finally got around to getting them in a layout. Correction… I already scrapbooked them and hated it so I threw the page out. It was much to dark and busy for my liking. So I reprinted the photos, minus the 1 of me. With 2 4×6 pictures on the page it looked less busy than 3 cropped ones. Plus I was wearing a blue and red stripped shirt- it really contrasted Price’s orange and I wanted him to the be focus since the story was more about him and his first time horseback riding.

perfect day for fun

All supplies are from Stampin’ Up!

Remember! 20% of all merchandise totals of the months of Sept and October will be donated to Susan G Komen. Support Breast Cancer research and get crafty!! Leaving me a comment explaining you want some info if you are interested in placing an order.

Perfect Picture, Perfect Pair

When Price and I were at the Yelp event last week I took pictures with my new Fuji Instax camera. I love the look of them plus it’s fun to get them instantly! Since they were at hand I scrapbooked them this weekend when I hosted a scrapbooking meetup.

perfect picture perfect pair

This layout is a little flat to me- meh. I love the grey that I used- it is Basic Grey from Stampin’ Up! I got an architectural lettering stencil to use for scrapbooking. I using a Tattered Angels mist for the letter. The tickets are from House of 3. I just love them 🙂 The  bird-cage rub-on is from Hambly. I have used their rub-ons before but this one would just not come off the transfer page…. would not! I struggled with this for like 5 minutes. I was not sure if it was because the sheet was slightly textured but I tested another rub-on on a regular sheet and the same thing happened. Hopefully it is just a bad sheet since I love their products. I think that the layout fell flat with the  journaling. I might cover this up and rewrite it with a thinner point marker. Oh well, live and learn 🙂

Grin and Bear it

Our company participates in an architectural softball league. We are in the C league- since we are okay and don’t take ourselves seriously- like people bring beers to base or outfield. And if you knock it over as you run around… you are in trouble! I have gone in the past to cook and take pictures but this year I decided it would be ‘fun’ to play. Since I have no coordination I decided catcher would be good since you don’t want an outfielder who can’t throw far or a basemen who ducks at balls. Well, catcher has to throw the ball back every time. Damn! I forgot that is part of the game. So I whined my way through the season (sorry Mike) and was eager to express my excitement when we had enough players so I did not have to play! Yay! I would grill and take pictures so it really was hard playing, grilling, and taking pictures.

IMG_0455

This page explains my feelings about softball with a picture from our first game- when it was still new and exciting to me!