My organized card stash

Here's two pics of my handmade cards and how I organize them- I bought this put together rack system from Office Depot and then I made the individual lavendar boxes and labeled them with catagories for all my cards. Then a few years ago at a garage sale found this spinning card rack for $20.00( second pic) and display some of my favorite cards on this. I will be applying this for the challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous this week-photo of your favorite stash or craft room/organizing ideas.

 So when family, friends and my own children need a card for that special occasion they know right where to go and pick a few out and they always leave me a few bucks- which is always nice- which I use to go to my favorite craft store and buy some more supplies- like I really need anymore..lol

Wedding Bells are ringing in Jamaica..

     My daughter is getting married to her best friend  in Jamaica and the whole family is attending this celebration of Love for the entire week. So, while I'm soaking up some rays I thought I would finally post the projects that I have been working on- but couldn't post them on here until we all were on our way to Ocho Rios, Jamaica-so it would be a surprise!

   The big project that I have been working on are the mini scrapbooks for all the guests (all 48 people) when they arrive at the Sandals Grand Riveria destination. I saw the idea of using paper bags at Archivers awhile back and decided that is what I was gonna do. So each book ( I made 28 of them) has 4 bags folded in half so a total of 12 pages- and I used the open sections (4 of them) for individual tags to be inserted or for memorabilia & photos, etc to be kept.  So here we go with the pics-( heavy on pics)

 First pages are of the bridal couple and  photo which I took of them last summer (one of my favorites) I used lots of different pink patterned papers and torn them on an angle and used my computer to print them out on the hearts which I then just made copies of and cut and inked them with a twine heart tied on. The wedding intinerary is on a tag in the sleeve -(later shown with a pic)

These two pages titled Tiki Tropics are for the guests to write down there favorite activities while enjoying their vacation/wedding ceremony also and a place to insert a photo if they choose too. I used my Gypsy--alot for these books and the cartridge Life's a Beach I used several times- plus remember I had to made 28 cuts of everything to put all these books together.  I choose green paper and again tore the edges made my own journal spot with a stamp, stamped a tall glass of ice tea and a cocktail umbrella and hand colored them in and added stickles to the lemons. I purchased lots of tropical brads over the summer and added a pineapple to the middle of the right page.

 The Lazy Relax on the Beach page is for a photo insert again and I stamped a saying there if they choose not to fill it with photo  Saying is " Memories are the most beautiful pictures our minds can paint and nothing can ever erase them" I used a border punch for the white and blue papers to represent water and topped them both with stickles and the cute lounge chair and every book has a different  embellishment in the corner top left and all books have a palm tree and some kind of beach embellishment some beach balls, sea shells, scuba gear or surf board, etc. So this makes everyones book unique also.

 The Adventure page is for all to write about our trip to Dunne's River Falls, which we are all doing on Saturday as a huge group- this shall be so much fun. This page took me the longest time to complete- I had to cut (cricut) so many leaves- like over 300 of them in a variety of greens and I took a marker to each one . All books have the same embellies but have different  patterned backgrounds in blues and greens. I just love the bright pink flamingo with stickles and the lizard. I  took little note book tablet and ripped out the paper and attached another brad ( bird) and inked the edges and stamped on top  " Just a little note" and the saying " Simple moments make great memories" on the other page - again they can place a photo here if need be.

 My favorite page- well their all my favorites- I"ll call this one Best of Show..lol .My Thank-you banner with personalized suitcases (on tags) and the cutest passport books that I made that open up and can be filled in with each ones personal itinerary. I hand stamped the background paper with misc travel stamps and then distressed  with browns & blue inks. The passport book I used a dark blue heavy cardstock embossed with lines and distressed with white ink and handwrote passport -added a special star stamp in the middle- how cute is this? For the top and bottom I reused/recycled packing paper and crimped it and added as my borders for dimension- like it needed anymore!

 And the last-back page a thank-you poem and a token (bracelet) one for everyone to wear during their stay in Jamaica (this book is mine- so it only has one braclet attached -since I'm single now) "A Bracelet Wish- Make a wish as you tie this bracelet on  when it wears off  your wish shall come true  Thank You for sharing our special day as we "tie the knot too"  Wayne & Linda April 22nd 2012. My daughter made the bracelet for this page- she saw the idea on Etsy and it was perfect for the last page. I just love it!!! Added a few punched flowers with stickles and hand drew a knot underneath bracelet ( so something was there when they take the bracelet off). I then tied all the pages together with twine using my Big Bite to punch through all the layers and its ready to go.

 Here is a pic of one of the inserts- this one is the Schedule of Wedding Events to take place on Saturday and Sunday- so when the guests arrive they dont have to ask the bride and groom, and they can schedule their own personal time around these events.On the flip side is a Wedding Lantern Wish story and when we will be doing this celebration - which everyone will be receiving 2 of these lanterns in their welcome basket along with this book and a few other goodies.

 Second tag insert is  Jamaican Specials- we are in an all-inclusive resort and what could be better than a menu of Jamaican Rum specials...nice and handy for that refreshing drink of your likings- both sides have a list of 20 different tropical named drinks. I think I will carry this tag with me all the time- keep it handy  lol. I also cut out a memories journal tag to look like a camera for extra space for those memories to be written- inked and handscribble on the corners.

 And of course that favorite embellishment the passport book that opens up and the tag insert which is filled out on both sides with all the wedding guests attending the celebration and how the are known to the bride and groom. So everyone has a list of who's there and what rooms they are in..which is shaped like a briefcase or luggage and I also personalized the handle -so when it is  inserted the name can be seen on the side- how clever of me to do this so I dont have to open each one up to see who's book is who's.....

     Well, here are all 28 books completed and ready to be packed...I spent many many hours/days on these and I so enjoyed making them- just knowing how personal this little keepsake will be for everyone attending my oldest daughte'rs wedding and they( guests) kinda know I will be making something for this special occasion- but they wont expect this- I think they will all Love it, much better than a wine glass or something with their names & date engraved on it!

    Well thanks for taking the time to look at my Mini scrapbooks  and I will be back in a week with lots of wonderful/beautiful pictures to scrap and a major sunburn I'm sure .

Wedding Guest Sign in Heart Frame

    First, I want to mention I saw something similar to this on Pinterest and changed the idea around a bit-so I did have help- but I loved how it turned out. This will replace the typical sign in book for the wedding guests at my daughter's reception in May- its a 11 x 20 frame filled with hearts for all the guests to sign and then the bridal couple will be able to display this on the wall in their home for all to cherish.

  This is the gift that I told you about in my last post that I made for them- another project made with LOVE!
I bought some carmel colored mat board for the backing and just used my Cricut to cut out the simple 158 hearts and attached them with my Yes paste on one side so they are 3-Dimensional (which is hard to tell with this photo) then I cut some flourishes and placed them to represent a big heart in the middle and then added another heart inked in creams with their names  and forever love and the date.

Tropical themed Gift Tags

Since I hosted a bridal shower with a tropical theme I just had to wrap a few of the gifts accordingly- so I made big leaf tags for my brightly wrapped gifts for the future bride and groom. I then hand wrote my sentiments on the back of the tags.

 I used my Cricut Expression and Gypsy  to make these very large leaves and inked the edges and then cut out the Bride and Groom and xoxo Mom- glued together and tied on package with raffia. So festive -

In the smaller package I had made my daughter 2 garter belts, which she wanted one for the wedding in Jamaica and one for the reception they are having in a month after they get back here in our home town. So here is a pic of these two belts that I made ...I have been very very busy- making all kinds of handmade crafts and decor projects. My next post will be what I made in the large wrapped package- its another wonderful gift that they will be using at the reception here in May- so be sure to check this out in a few days

Top one is for Jamaica- beach theme and the other for the reception which is going to be held in a barn and the theme is "Meant to Bee" with daisies  So ---something New and something Blue!

Bridal Shower decorations..

   I just hosted (and the mother of the groom also) a bridal shower for my daughter a few weeks ago and here are some of the decorations I made- I really enjoyed making these for this special occasion, which we had the Tropical Theme- since they are getting married in Jamaica in a few weeks.

 The very large banner which I could not get in one picture-  I used K& Company papersin blue and greens for the triangle pattern ,then used Gypsy and Cricut for the alphas in white cardstock and the big palm leaves in green cardstock and inked for dimension. I cricut cut several flower shapes and inked edges then punch several smaller shapes to make 3-D flowers and attached to the middle of the larger pedals- then hole punched at the top of the banners and threaded thru twine and tied on some raffia in between each letter.

 I also took plain white lunch bags and decorated them with several punched flowers and palm leaves (cricut cuts) stamped a swirl journal tag and stamped made just for you in the middle. Each of the bags has 3 flowers and 2 leaves with journal spot in the middle. I then folded over the top hole punched and tied with different colors of raffia.

We filled these 50 goodie bags with some tropical life savers, hugs & kisses chocolate, 2 handmade appetizers pics (that I also made) peanut butter cookies with icing added to look like flip flops, and some mint scented foot soothing lotion and a tag I made to attached to to cookie bag as the thank-you- All the guests really appreciated all the work that went into these goodie bags, that was so planned out for this tropical theme we had for this celebration.

We also had colorful lanterns hanging from the ceiling and the head table had a big vase filled with blue water and a floating candle with blue glass beads spread all along the front of the table with some greenery on the corners. Each table of 12 had vases tied with rafia and floating candles as well and cocktail umbrellas scattered and I used my Cricut and cut out Hibicus shaped flower placemats in a variety of bright colors for every table setting which was really festive looking.(no picture of that -forgot-darn)

Well, I will be entering this banner over at Frosted Designs this week for their weekly challenge and I have more posts to come in the next few weeks with many other wedding related projects that I have been spending all my time on in the past few months. Be sure to check out the wonderful mini scrapbooks I made for the wedding guests arriving in Jamaica next week. post is scheduled for the 18th.

SSS...she so serious

I thought this was a cute title for these pics of my granddaughter who just had a hard time smiling this day- she looked so serious all the time- like in deep thought or maybe just plain tired of shopping with her mommy and me all day. I will be applying this over at frosted Designs for the Bannear Challenge this week.

Recycle Christmas cards on many layouts

This was a great challenge and I really did some recycling on 4- 2 page layouts for my kids. I had all these photos of Christmas 2007 and I wanted to do a page or two for each kid with pics of them during our family get together on Christmas. So I thought lets see what embellies I can find in old christmas cards/tags and I found alot.

 Each one has a different theme to their page  Christmas trees and wreaths

 Christmas tags on this page and some stickers I found for card envelopes

 Brian's page is snowmen and I also cut some snowflakes from my Cricut cartridge to add a few more embellies

 Eric's page is some old ribbon on a tag, foam stickers from some Christmas decor, and the cutest Santa tag with bulbs hanging -so I cut from Cricut some more bulbs and added glitter to them

So I recycled a few christmas cards for these layouts and what was left I will add to my stach of holiday embellies for future use...this was a great idea. I will be applying these or one of these layouts to the challenge over at Frosgted Designs this week.