RUN to this website....

This is such a great idea....I just love these!!!

I think I'll tell the boys that it's just a fun computer game. When they create their own monsters - I'll order them and put them under the tree for Christmas. My oldest probably won't be all the interested.....but too bad.

http://www.curlyqcuties.com/

LOVE!

And One for the Girls.....

'Bots 'n Hoots

The TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER Picture Frame.
Sometimes I make boyish things just to make sure that I still can. And I have to say, I love this frame! It will be hard to part with.

I'll admit that I'm not usually into cutesy, country-ish, mommy signage type things. I've never placed an order with Lillian Vernon. Know what I mean? It just isn't me. No geese in my kitchen. Anyway, I sort of begrudgingly started this next frame with the idea that....you know.....lets hit all the bases. Lets do a "School Days" frame. Little by little, it grew on me....if I had to have one of these things, I guess I could maybe live with this one.

This next one gets filed under "silly and pointless altered art of the day"

A long time ago I found this little picture frame that doubled as a tiny jewelry box. I thought it was cute because it looked like a tiny dresser....and my room at the time was very shabby chic...and the color (distressed cream. plain. all one color) worked. Well, I found it in the depths of my scrap closet the other day and thought - Hey! Let's make this kitschy and tacky and oddly sort of cute! Great for a 13 year old girl! Lets do it! And here's what happened. You don't know what to think, right? I know. Neither do I!

Well, the boys are asleep and the next LOST dvd is calling from my scrap room. Off to my happy place!

My Happiest Place on Earth

Last weekend I went to a wonderful, magical, fantastical event - The Scrapbook Expo. I can tell you that it is truly the happiest event on earth. For me. I love it. I love the anticipation while I'm parking my car. Giddy! I love walking in, empty totes in hand just waiting to be filled. I love the feeling I get while entering the expo with all the other ladies who have stock piled cash behind their husbands backs so that they can drop LOTS and LOTS of money without feeling nervous.

I had a grand time! I missed it last year because it was just before the baby was born and I knew I couldn't be on my (shopping) game in that condition.

Anyway, when my arms were numb from carrying my bags, and my wallet was as light as a feather - I left. But not without some really great finds. I was tempted to lay out my bounty and take a picture of it all....but then I realized it could at some point be labeled "Exhibit A" and decided not to. But here's a couple of frames I made with new paper from SEI. I love them! These will be hard to part with.

Also, I'm not sure if I should make a bunch of things like this and bring them into one of the many local boutique-y type places, or continue to list them on Etsy. I'm just not sure. I think I could probably make more money off of them in a consignment situation, but it's fun to list them on Etsy. It's so exciting when I check my mail and realize that someone has bought something that I made! I feel so honored knowing that out of all the silly little picture frames on Etsy - they choose one of mine.

The Birthday Pages

Slowly, but surely - I'm catching up! It's funny...scrapbookers always aspire to be "caught up." When I really think about it, being caught up would be sort of a drag. I like knowing there's always more to scrap. So I guess "the end is in sight" would be a better place to be in scrap wise. Not years behind, not a month away from being caught up.

Anyway, here are the birthday pages. Posting pages with names on them is sort of against my blogging/privacy religion....here's hoping "bad people" don't go trolling the craft blogs for their next victims.

Christmas in July

Yeah, I know its August now. But when I finished up all my Christmas pages it was still July! So how the heck are you? I know, I know. I'm a VERY flakey blogger. Part of it is that I'm always waiting to take pictures of things. And then once I get around to taking the pictures - I have to download them. I know - it's just a GIANT effort. Not really - I just find myself saying "Well, I may take more pictures tomorrow. I may as well wait until tomorrow night to download the pictures all at once. And then somehow - tomorrow night never comes. Well the night itself arrives as scheduled - but I don't get around to downloading.

Anyway. Here are a couple of the many holiday pages I finished. My Christmas pages usually leave something to be desired because I'm so uninspired when I do them. Because it's usually JULY when I do them. And in July - I'm not thinking about candy canes, Santa Claus, or the three wise men. In July I'm waiting for two of my beloved little wise-ASSES to go back to school! And school is just around the corner! Amen to that!

Guess what came in the mail today?

Rainbows and sunshine! I'm giddy about this. I can't wait to sit down and look at every single "recipe." This thing is next to impossible to come by right now as it is sold out everywhere...I was lucky enough to find a new one on ebay for $20 which is excellent!

Let the drooling begin.

Momma's Got a Brand New Name

I changed the name of my Etsy shop to match my new banner. Isn't that just so typical of me? I found the most darling banner (after weeks of looking for one that "speaks" to me) and felt the need to soften the name of my fairly stagnant shop. So "Lovely Distractions" it is. And check it out - I figured out how to add a little Etsy section to my blog. Look how tech savvy I'm becoming. Growth....it's a good thing. Anyway - go on over and take a look at the new banner.

Thank you, Netflix

I'm a TV watcher. Once the kids and my early-to-bed husband are asleep, I like to watch shows that I've Tivo'd while I putz around, folding laundry and doing other super exciting things. I don't have a TV in my scrap room....and this sort of sucks. I used to just put my ipod in the sound dock and listened to music while working in there....and sometimes I still do.......but it just isn't the same as the comforting glow of mindless crap playing on a screen in front of me. I finally realized about 6 months ago, that I could plug in our travel DVD player, set it up on my little tool station on my scrap table and watch movies while I work! YAY! So I joined Netflix and have been a happy little crafting hermit ever since. This weekend I watched the last two seasons of Weeds (loved it) and got lots done! So thank you Netflix.....for being the crutch that keeps me crafting well into the night. Two new pages and a collage for my Mom's birthday. Her birthday isn't until Wednesday, but I think it's safe to post the picture anyway as she still needs tech support to find my blogs. Love you Mom.

Weekend Round-up

Some new frames for the shop.
I love making these. They are a bit time consuming, but still fun to make. On the left we have "The Sweet Family" frame, and on the right - "The Once Upon A Time" frame. I ordered this newly released SEI paper ("Dilly") with these in mind. I love the colors!





I've been trying to catch up on scrapbooking - as usual. I've been going to some crops with friends and have gotten some pages done at those. For the most part, the pages I do away from home are just so-so. I don't have the ability to walk away, and come back later. I don't have ALL of my stuff with me.....so they usually end of being pretty boring. And sometimes that's totally okay! My gosh, they can't ALL be winners. Sometimes, it really is just about "getting it in the book " - even for a scrapbooking control freak like me. Here are a couple of new pages that I really like though. I would love to finish scrapping Christmas this week. Nothing like Christmas in July!

The Free Love Photo Album

I LOVE this paper by Tinkering Ink. I've been wanting to use it for something, and remembered that I had this never used, plain covered photo album. Perfect. I used a craft knife to cut out the floral design and then MP'd (modge podge'd) it on. I used a Lil' Davis embellishment ("memories") on the front and adhesive ribbon for the binding. Gorgeous, gorgeous paper. Hmmm...I'm seeing an issue with the ribbon. I'll have to go smooth that out a bit......

Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall

Who is the owliest one of all?

This turned out pretty cute, I must say. I'll be giving the owls a rest now!

You know, I often buy scrapbook paper because I love it and have to have it. Then what happens is, it doesn't get used, because it's too girly for all of my boyish pages - and I'm not the type to make scrapbook pages about myself.

Making things other than pages has been a great way to use the girly parts of my scrapbooking stash! I like hanging out with flowers and things that are pink. Don't get me wrong - I'm a big fan of green, red, navy blue, and stripes. But it's nice to go into my scrap room and work with things that are soft and lovely.....even if there is a farting contest happening right outside the door.

Happy Father's Day!

Two hands and a foot. It would have been nice to get three hands, but the baby wasn't having it. I put that paint on his chubby little hand, and he wouldn't hold it still for anything! Oh well - the only thing cuter than a little baby hand, is a little baby foot. This was a fun and simple project....thanks for the heads up to my friend Jodie and Redenvelope.com! They were selling a kit for $40 I think....I did this for under $20. I was looking for the perfect ribbon to hide the canvas staples and when I couldn't find one - I used this "measuring tape" ribbon which I think looks pretty cute. I toyed with embellishing them more, but decided to keep them really simple so that they wouldn't have to compete with one another. It's hard to embellish three separate pieces and hang them on the wall next to one another, without "junking up" the overall look. Anyway, they are now hanging in my hallway and look super cute. Easy, meaningful Father's Day Present! I'm sure my husband was much more pleased with these than he would have been with say a gift card for Home Depot. Right?..........right? :) Oh well. I like 'em.

It's been so crazy with the end of the school year, end of baseball season, Father's Day, etc. I have so many projects in my head and I can't wait to finally get back to "work!" The big boys have VBC camp this week so my mornings will be free if the baby naps. I'm hoping to make at least a couple of new things for my shop this week. My frames all sold....to say that I'm pleasantly surprised is an understatement!

Oh my gosh - I'm so totally flattered.

Someone bought my "Owl Always Love You" frame on Etsy today! I can't believe it! What a neat feeling to know that someone saw something I made and just had to have it. It's funny that of the three frames I made over the weekend, this was my least favorite - and the first to sell!
A very nice end to a TOTALLY crappy day....(but that's another story)........

Something wonderful has happened

There is finally a dispenser for glue dots.

HALLELUJAH!!!

The One Picture Layout

I've noticed that there is a definite scrapbooking trend toward showcasing only one photo. Sometimes this just won't work for me. At least 50% of what I scrap is "event" type stuff which tends to yield LOTS of pictures: Birthday parties, trips to the zoo, this type of thing.
In my opinion, scrapping only one photo tends to make the experience more about the art and less about the day, the event, the record-keeping part of it. To be honest - I love that. I'm more about the process of scrapbooking....picking the colors....finding that perfect embellishment.....painting.....stitching...the therapeutic part of it all! It's a great way for me to get out of my head for awhile. Speaking of pages being more for the process - the Thanksgiving LO below is a good example. I love that paper. I love the fall colored flowers. And I wanted an excuse to use them! The picture isn't anything all that special - I don't even know where we were when I took it. I just know that it was around Thanksgiving because of the turkey bib. I wanted a Thanksgiving page for Jack's book. So there you go.

Sometimes I'll have one really great picture (like this one of Nick and the puppy), not a series, and I want to scrap it. For me, this is a pretty simple layout. But it was quick and painless - now I can get this great picture of my handsome son into the book.

More and more....I'm about the overall integrity of the page as opposed to cramming as many pictures in as I can. It all just depends.
It's fun to talk about scrapbooking like it's a very important and meaningful subject matter!

Family Tree Picture Frames

More dollar store finds. I'm telling you. You go in there for gift bags and windex and come out with so much more. Crayons. Chiclets. And these! "Naked" craft frames. So here's (above left) what they looked like when I bought them and here they are - looking much cuter I think.

"The orange never falls far from the tree" frame.

This one is my favorite - "Birds and Blossoms" frame.

This last one turned out a little kitschy - even for me. The "Owl Always Love You" frame. Love that saying though - I brazenly stole it from an adorable owl embroidered pillow I got recently - thanks Jodie!

Trying to catch up

Some recent pages. And when I say "recent" I mean in the last two months or so. I'm so behind!!! I finished Halloween and started the first of two Thanksgiving pages last night. However...I haven't finished Summer 'o7.....it's overwhelming. And Christmas? Haven't even touched it."going home" is one of my favorite pages in a long time....so simple. so cute.

The "heaven sent" page above is for the family scrapbook, and the two page hospital layout is for Jack's baby book. I didn't have the kind of script lettering I needed and hadn't yet gotten my cricut....so I painted the script title/vines, etc. myself. I don't love my handwriting or anything, but I guess Jack will think it's cool later on in life. Or his wife will. Or husband. Or whatever. My sister gave me a gift bag with these little owls on it. I was more than happy to cut them off the bag and put them to good use!