O Tiny Christmas Tree! O Tiny Christmas Tree!

Seeing as I rarely post to this blog (are you all super sad?), I decided to show you a little project for Christmas time.  Something in advance!  woot.

For starters, this is a simple little project using just a few items/tools:

• gold thread
• a Tim Holz bottle brush tree (comes in a pack of 5)
• Heidi Swapp Gold Lame' Color Shine (I am almost OUT!! yikes!)
• a handful of Freckled Fawn wood veneer star-ish shapes
• hot glue gun (and glue)
• a cardboard box

Start Here. :)

I started out by spray painting the wood veneer star shapes. (NOTE: I ended up needing 50% more than are pictured here.) I usually put a scratch paper in an old Studio Calico box. The pizza box style is great to catch the over-spray, and compact enough to close up and put out of sight when done.

A couple squirts was enough.  I just pushed them around to cover on both sides.

This Color Shine is seriously amazing. The goldey-shiney-sparkley goodness is unattainable in photographic form!

 I then hot glued the little stars along a length of gold thread.  Word to the wiser-than-me: don't squeeze a crap-ton of boiling hot glue onto your fingertips and scream like a little girl.  I'm sure you wouldn't anyway, but take it easy out there.  I spaced them approximately (because I did NOT measure) 1/2 inch apart.

 Now, I am not one to brag - but I am a genius.  The little tree kept falling over.  They are made out of whisps of the wind or something.  So - BAM! - my genius thought hits me: "Stacey, use those removable Glue Dots that you have never used and are entirely useless for nearly* everything else you do!" So I applied on to the tree "trunk" and it worked! It really did! It stayed standing!

(*note: to be fair to the otherwise lovely Glue Dot Corporation, once I used these particular Glue Dots to hold an envelope closed so I could open it again)

 Look how cute this tiny little garland turned out! Gold. Bam! Instant awesomeness.
I also glued one of the stars to the top.  Every tree needs a topper.  Amiright?!

String the little garland around your tree, and voila!  So beautiful and simple.  AND GOLD.  I'm dreaming of a white (and GOLD) christmas.


Just add Frankincense and Myrrh.


Much love and cheer,
Stacey

This is a scrapbooking process post

Sorry to all you multitude of blog readers who check in to read all about my emotional waxing of poetic verbiage regarding my life, God, and other random thoughts.

This blog post is only scrapbooking.

Last month I took these photos with my cell phone as I went through the steps to complete this scrapbook page about my son's birthday:  

As you can see, I started with a sketch.  This particular one was from a blog post from Studio Calico.  On the left you see my stack of photos with the sketch, and on the right my completed page.

And, now for the excitement!  The process is simple:

1. I cropped my three photos to the same size (3.3x4.5) down from the standard 4x6.

2. I trimmed my white cardstock down 1/2 inch on two sides.  This creates a nice frame to show on the background orange cardstock.

3. I laid out my photos and measured where I wanted my title to go.  

4.  I cut out my son's name with my Silhouette Cameo. 

5. I backed all my photos with a different pattered paper - leaving a very thin border.

6.  I decided to back my die-cut title with various patterned papers.  So I trimmed small rectangles out and glued them to the back of the die-cut white cardstock.

7.  Here is how it looks from the front - with the photos adhered also.

8. I adhered small foam Thickers to the title by first sticking them to a ruler.  Then I moved the ruler (with the stickers on it) around to decide where I wanted them.  Once I was happy, I carefully stuck the top half of the Thickers in place and peeled away the ruler.  A super easy and great way to get placement right.

9.  Lastly I added three shipping tags to the top of the layout.  When I trimmed the excess off, I reverse mirrored them along the bottom.  This continues to draw the eye down the page, past the title, then photos, and to the journaling.


So that's how I went from sketch to completed page:



Easy, Peasy, Lemon Squeezie!


Have a lovely day,
Stacey

Project Life: March

When I began 2014 with the goal of scrapbooking in the form of Project life, I had no idea that I would actually like it!  It gives me a creative outlet while documenting what some might consider the mundane parts of our lives.  

But I LIVE in the mundane, people!

The most trying, frustrating, absolute-insanity-making moments of my life are rather mundane.

"get dressed"

"get dressed"

"get DRESSED"

"GET DRESSED!!!!!"

You know those moments?  The I-am-trying-to-get-these-little-people-to-follow-my-directions moments?  

Some of my most beautiful, lovely, tear-inducing moments are also mundane.

"You are the best mommy in the world"
(spoken when they aren't even asking for ice cream)

Watching one jump higher, read stronger, play with an imagination that is so out-of-this-world awesome - this is pure beauty.

And THAT is why I scrapbook anyway.  To leave a mark in this world that we were here, dangit!

We matter.

They matter.

You matter.

{Writing the word matter a bunch of times looks weird.  It sounds weird in my head, too. }

And that matters, too.

Nothing is really mundane.  It is just part of my story.  My average, run-of-the-mill, so-so, bench-ridin', hold the hot sauce, kind of story.

And it is beautiful.

So is yours.


Fondly,
Stacey

February Project Life!

What's that you say?

It is almost May?

But, it's not, yet.  :)

You may know that my husband had hip surgery Feb 24.  And has been on crutches or the ice machine since.  And I've been doing most of the cooking, cleaning, caretaking, etc since then.

***insert my high school swim coach's daily mantra/quote here:

"Excuses lessen the pain of failure, but never lead to success."

So I'll just say, I AM doing stuff.  Scrapbooking, cleaning (kinda), laundry (lotsa), and caretaking.  I just haven't blogged about it.  I apologize.  I know you've all been holding your breath out there in the interwebs.

So, here are my Project Life pages for February!!

I started getting the Studio Calico PL kit.  It is fun!  And probably WAY too much stuff.  I'm starting to hoard.  A little.

Week 9 began with surgery.  It went well, but recovery has been rough.  If you pray, maybe you could lift up my husband for his endurance in this recovery.  It is hard for both of us.

But I am so, SO grateful for today.  The sun is shining, I have some time to myself, and I am making cards and blogging and scrapbooking a little this morning.  I am healthy.  My family has shelter, water, clothing, and love.

What more could a girl ask for?

Haha.  A lot more, I guess.  Starts with L.  Ends with "ouis Vuitton" Ha.

But it wouldn't truly make me happy!

Only a little...


Totally grateful for what I have today,
Stacey

Ac - cent - tu - ate the Negative.

But do not e-lim. In-ate the positive.  USE BOTH!!

Figuratively, both negative and positive experiences in our lives shape us into the person we are. 

Literally, both negative and positive scrapbooking items can shape up into amazing layouts! 

Yes, I spend too much time thinking about scrapbooking.

Below you will see some simple snapshots of my utilization of a scrap piece of white cardstock, some Heidi Swapp color magic letters, and HS Color Shine:  

I lined up the letters SO CLOSE together, because my cousin and I used this phrase as our hash tag to link up all our Instagrams of our Hawaii trip together in June 2013.  Check me out if you want: Stacemaee.

NOTE: When setting the letters, be gentle and don't push them down.  This way they will not stick to this paper & can be used on another project!

I used Pink on the left and faded it with Coral on the right.  Just a few sprays each will do...

Remove the letters...
And you will have two great items to use!

I trimmed the misted cardstock down, cut a triangle notch out of the right side to create a banner, and handdrew a fine black line around the edge for some definition.

And here's my final project with it!
 (this page has all Fuji Instax photos, FYI.  They are so fun!)

And here is the next page & use of the actual letters:

Because the box I spray/glitter/emboss in had so much powder and other overspray, the letters were not very sticky.  I was worried they would fall off, or that my hand would fall off trying to glue each one individually.  SOoo, I just ran it through my sewing machine.  Super easy, as long as the sewing machine is already out!