Back from MIA

Hey Everyone!
Yep it's me, I'm still here and so very sorry for being MIA for so very long. As many of you know my grandfather passed away and since his death(nearly 2 years ago), I have not been able to do much of anything and had lost the desire to continue doing the things I loved; however I am back now and I'm ready to swing back into the blogging world! Starting next week I will be posting weekly and will be sharing some inspiration with you all and ready to get my mojo and creative juices flowing!!
I'm so excited, I can hardly wait! I want to thank you all for still being here for me, I truly have some wonderful friends =).

Before I go I wanted to share with you some super savings that are going on right now at Generations Crafting. They have Bo Bunny, Graphic 45, Prima, Echo Park and many other company products on sale up to 75% off!!! Check them out!

Until next time..... xoxo

Accordian Style File Folders

Ever wonder how to store your stickers or scrap papers? I remember walking into JoAnn's Fabrics and seeing these accordian style paper holders. They were flexible and had a zipper front. I ended up purchasing two of them since they were on clearance. Well this past weekend, I went to visit a great friend of mine in Connecticut. (Hi Doreen!)Doreen decided that we were going to be making our very own accordian style file folders just like the ones I purchased at JoAnn's! Boy was I excited and LOVED how they turned out.

Supplies for this project:
Book board or medium-heavy chipboard
2-4 Coordinating papers
Ribbon
Small Embellishment(s)
Adhesive
Bone Folder
Ruler
Hole Punch
Eyelets

Thanks for looking!!!

This is the Top of the file folder



This is the side view

This is the front view

Back from Vacation!

Wow I can't believe that summer is almost over! My family and I recently just got back from vacationing in Wildwood, a New Jersey shore. I try to get to Wildwood once every couple of years. We had a great time. We stay in a condo which is only a block from the main boardwalk near Morey's Pier. We had good weather for the most part, high 80's during the day and high 60's at night. It rained two days while we were there so we stayed inside to play cards, read books and catch up on some good movies. On the other days full of sunshine, we went to the beach and took advantage of the pool!

I did something I normally don't do on vacations this time around. I ended up bringing my laptop and journaling each day, making sure to document all the places we've seen, things we've done, things the kids said, etc. Looking back at my week's vacation, we did a ton! I can't wait to scrap this vacation and use all the important information I have from our family vacation.

I guess the first thing to do is get my photos developed! I took 268 photos this vacation which is not too bad. Normally I would take over 400 photos but I'm learning.. LOL. Okay off to my scraproom to be productive!

Friends

This is a card I created right before I left for vacation ( left on July 18th).

Materials:
Basic white cardstock
Adirondack Alcohol inks
Paint chips (You can get them at your local hardware store)
Stickles-for this I used "Crystal"
Ribbon
"Friends are Forever" Stamp set by JustRite Stamps

My Scrapbook Room =)

Many people have seen my scrapping room on the yahoo boards but many have been asking me to post my scrap room here on my blog. So here you go.. enjoy!!


This is the smaller part of the room with the French doors leading out to my patio

My supply store lol ..the top shelf houses my cuttlebug and big sizzix machine
The other shelves house the sizzix sidekick, xyron personal die cutting machine and dies.

This is an overview of the bigger part of the room

This is an extra work space. Right now it has my fiskars cutting tool and my X sticker machines

This is the scrapping area...there is room here for 4 people but with the other workstations, my room can hold six people comfortably.

This is the computer area, printer and pazzles inspiration machine.

The shelves on the wall have all clear boxes filled with die cuts and embellishments according to theme. It also houses my punches and big tools. On the black crates below is where I store all my paper, paper packs, adhesives, chipboard and trimmers.

This tall clear storage unit stores all my acrylic stamps and CTMH stamp sets along with all the inks. The above ribbon rack holds all my patterned ribbons.

The bookcase top shelf is all the smaller albums both new and unopened as well as the completed albums. The middle shelf is all my 12x12 completed albums and the bottom shelf is all my new unopened albums and page protectors.
The black crate holds more stamping supplies, embossing powders and inks on the top shelf, the rest of the shelves hold my big sticker machines, all my handmade borders, stickers, and my album that I am currently working on.

This is my TV/radio stand which holds all my photos and tombow refills
Next to the TV stand is my wireless printer stand which holds more photos underneath and some music cds to listen to. On the side of this stand ( u can barely see the open side) I have my alcohol inks from Ranger, my Adirondack ink dabbers and my fun flock.

This is above the wireless printer stand. It houses ribbons, scrapbook magazines and books, all my card making accessories and templates.

The shelf here above the computer station houses my CM cutting system tools, all my glitters,brads, eyelets,fibers,Texture plates and scrap papers.



This is my window looking into the kitchen...=)
On the left side of the built in shelves, the top shelf holds all my buttons. The bottom shelf holds all my prima flowers. The right side top houses a few dolphin figurines and a tea light candle burner. The bottom right shelf stores my "alphabet soup" Letters and a beautiful plaque about granddaughers that I received from my grandpa.

Thanks for looking at my scrapping area... =)

Sketch Challenge!

I found this sketch today and to my eyes, it looks like quite the challenge. I am challenging everyone to give this sketch a go and post your layouts back to me here on my blog or email me at Joann_Williams@comcast.net before August 31st to have your name entered into a drawing to win $25 worth of Close to my heart products! All entries must be in by midnight eastern time on August 31 to qualify and must be an EXACT replica of the sketch. Use your imaginations and get creative!

Finally Got some Creativity Back!

Well I was going to start a new blog because I really want to get into the hang of this when I discovered that I had this blog floating around since January!!! So here I am giving it another attempt! Since January, life has been rough for me. In early March, my grandfather Joseph (he raised me) ended up in the hospital with chest pains. The doctors cleared his heart and said he was fine but then soon discovered that his kidneys were failing him. Nothing in the world could have prepared me for what was to happen next. After weeks of tests and sleepless nights, the doctors confirmed that his kidneys and lungs were failing and that the heart would soon follow. Needless to say and to keep a long story short, my grandfather passed away on May 1. 2009. That is the day my whole world got turned upside down. Since his passing I have been trying very hard to get back to the normal routine of things. I just moved into a bigger home (thought he would be living with us; hence the bigger house) and I have an incredible space all to myself for my scrapping and card making needs. So I decided this weekend to get in my room and try to see what creative things I could up with. So I made this baby carriage image for my cousin Tabatha who is working on finishing up her daughter's baby album (her daughter is turning 4 in August) so she has a lot of catching up to do! Don't we all? LOL .. The baby carriage was done on my Pazzles inspiration machine. I used medium weight cardstock from K&Company and some "crystal" stickles for some sparkles. I also added a touch of white ribbon in the form of a bow. She loved it!

After I made her that baby carriage, I felt like doing some more but still did not want to scrap in my album. So I decided to work on making a card. I did not have any particular theme in mind. I just sat there and browsed through my stamp sets and when I found the set I wanted to use, I grabbed and let my imagination fly with me. So I created this card using basic medium card stock from Bazzill, My "Butterfly Wings" Stamp set from CTMH, Tim Holtz "Vintage Photo" distress ink and I used shades of blue, green, and purple from my Colorbox inks. I added a tiny bit of platinum stickles for the sparkle and touched up a few areas with liquid glass. I wanted the feel of this butterfly to have the "aged" look and this picture really does not do this butterfly any justice. It's much more beautiful in person!! Thanks for looking =)