Design Your Life

I love to scrapbook, but I really never "learned" how to do it according to principles of design, so I enrolled in an online class with Cathy Z from Big Picture Scrapbooking. So far, so good - I have created a bunch of layouts using her sketches and am amazed at how many photos I am getting on a page. What this has got me doing is looking at photos in a different way - seeing how pieces of a photo tell the story I want to convey without taking up the whole page. I am struggling a bit with the 8.5 x 11 LOs but they do work.
I love doing the 2 page 12 x 12s and the clean simple designs are perfect for getting a bunch of photos on the page. Still having some trouble with the lack of embellishments. These two layouts are from the first two weeks of the class. Whattaya think?

Bye Bye 2009!

Not exactly sad to see you go!
As we enter another decade.....wishing you all blessings and memories that will take you through the year...
And if you are taking down your decorations, don't throw those cards away...make a LO out of them. This was something that Ali did a few years ago and I have finished off the year doing it ever since!

A Belated Merry Christmas!

Talk about a speed week!!!! Work got crazy, as it does at the end of the semester...then we had a MAJOR Blizzard - a record 26 inches of snow the Saturday before Christmas, which put me waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay behind. I am proud to say though, that I did get everything done - cooked, cleaned, wrapped and ready for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - usually I just do a big buffet bash - my entire family - all my kids, my grandkids, my sister and her family and my niece and her family...all jammed into my tiny house - and no one seems to mind at all! It is always a great, fun time and this year was no different - lots of good food and some tasty cocktails - the hit of the evening were these little candy mice that I made. I could not resist posing them with a mouse trap and featured on the very front of the plate are the Three Blind Mice, which had the kids howling in laughter! I bought crazy hats for the kids and we did our annual song fest. I hope someone got a better photo than this one though. The hats were Santa heads and Snowman heads and really cute but I think maybe too big for most of these little heads!
This year, I had Rich's family the next day for a sit down dinner - it was very nice, but I was WIPED out with two days of cooking and cleaning up. It did not stop me however, from running out to do some after Christmas Shopping!!Now that I have recovered, I am getting ready to take an online Scrapbooking Design class - I really don't "know" how to scrapbook, so when my friend Connie talked to me about it, I just figured I'd go for it. I am already in a panic about my 1st assignment! Will keep you posted though!

Black Friday - hooray!

We had such a great time on Black Friday - pre crack of dawn shopping with Dana and my niece Maria. We were at Kohl's at 3:45am - the store opened at 4am - we walked in, got what we wanted and were on our way to AC Moore for 5am opening - and this is so cute - two men where there buying Cricuts for their wives - I helped!! There will be two extremely happy scrapbookers come Christmas morning...and two guys who have amassed a huge number of good hubby points....I picked out 4 cartridges for each of them and the housing and blade to cut chipboard and a spare mat and of course, some vinyl!! We grabbed our stuff and then were off to Toys R Us, Michael's, Target, Bath and Body Works, Bed, Bath and Beyond and a quick bite at Panera...finsihing off at Marshall's. It was a lot of fun and laughs and we were home by 10:30am! I started decorating and putting the tree up- Cara and Jami both came over with their kids....I wiped out at 10pm.

Altered Clipboard

Welcome to the AC Bailey Jingle Bell Hop! With the holidays literally around the corner, the AC Bailey Design Team has decided to help Santa (and you) out this year with some fun and easy projects to help make the holiday gift season a bit easier. And just like Santa, we've also gotten some extra help this year and asked some additional elves to help out and post some of their cool projects too! And if that isn't enough help...we've also arranged for some early Black Friday sales just in case you need some products to get the projects completed.
So come out and meet our "Elves"...check out their projects...leave a comment on their blogs and be eligible for a prize - upload some of your completed projects from any of the tutorials into the ACBailey gallery and be eligible for another prize! Projects need to be completed and uploaded into the galleryby Tuesday, November 24th at Midnight Eastern to be eligible for a prize.
If you are new to my site, I hope you take the chance to look around and find a bit of inspiration. I have not been a great blogger lately - the day job sometimes requires a lot of major effort and that eats into my fun time. I am going into my third year with ACBailey and I can't say enough good things about the company, the products available and the great gals and talent on our forum. After you've checked out my tutorial for an Altered Clip Board, be sure to click the link that will take you to Connie, who has a great project for you on her blog.

Altered Clip Board – a Great Gift for Teachers and Coaches

I make a few of these every year for teachers and coaches and they are always a big hit!

Supplies:

Clip Board for an Office Supply Store

Mod Podge Matte

Foam Brushes

Patterned Paper of your choice (you need at least 2 full sheets – one each for front and back and a bit for the inch that the paper doesn’t cover)

Inks

Embellishments

Chipboard

Buttons

Ribbon

Threading Water Punch

Thickers

Jenni Bowlin Bingo Card

Because these are so wonderful personalized for the receiver - I just pit a link to where you can find these products.

A few notes before you start – Sometimes when using Mod Podge, air bubbles can occur under the paper – in order to avoid that, I seal the clip board with a coat of Mod Podge, and then when it is dry I paint the Mod Podge on again and then adhere the paper making sure to press down hard. The heavier double sided papers seem to work the best and automatically coordinate.

Steps:

1. Seal the Clip Board with a coat of Mod Podge and thoroughly dry.
2. Measure your paper and cut using the Clip Board as a guide.
3. Coat one side of the Clip Board with Mod Podge and adhere paper making sure to press down hard to avoid any bubbles. Using craft knife, trim where necessary. Repeat for side 2.
4. As you can see, the paper is just a bit too short, so you will need a coordinating paper to cover this area. I used what was left from cutting the width and edged it with a Fiskars Threading Water Punch. Adhere with Mod Podge to the back of the Clip Board.
5. For the front of the Clip Board, where the clip is, just run your paper to the edge of the clip and using your fingernail “score” and cut about ½ inch, then using your fingernail “score” the angle of clip and then cut. Once you have made the cut adhere with Mod Podge – better larger than smaller – you can always trim. Repeat this step for the other side of the clip.
6. Trim any excess papers and ink the edges, if desired.
7. Paint a thin coat of Mod Podge on the back of the covered Clip Board. When dry, repeat on the other side – I usually just hold the clip open til it dries – it only takes a few minutes.
8. Now the fun part – embellish using chipboard, buttons, stickers, sayings – whatever goes with your design…just remember not to put any lumpy stuff on the front of the Clip Board where it would be used to write. Put a flower or chipboard embellishment on the front of the clip and personalize with the name on the back. I tie ribbons in the hole and leave a long ribbon to hold a pen.
9. Once all your embellishing is done and adhered well, paint a thin coat of Mod Podge over everything – front and back. Let dry and repeat.
10. Add ribbons to clip If desired, the Clip Board can be sprayed with clear acrylic for extra protection.

Jingle Bell Hop and a Pre- Black Friday sale!!

AC Bailey Designs Jingle Bell (Blog) Hop!

November 20th thru 22nd

AC Bailey Blog

With the holidays literally around the corner, the AC Bailey Design Team has decided to help Santa (and you!) out this year with some fun and easy projects to help make the Holiday gift giving season a bit easier!

Just like Santa, we've gotten some extra help this year and asked some of our "local" ACB Elves to help out and share some of their favorite Christmas Projects and Gifts, too! AND... we've arranged for some early Black Friday sales just in case you need some products to get your projects completed ;)

So, come on over, meet our Elves and check out their fun and easy Christmas project tutorials.

Leave a comment on their blogs and be eligible for a prize - upload some of your completed projects from any of the tutorials and be eligible for another prize! (all comments and uploads must be posted by 12am EST 11/23)

so, if that wasn't cool enough....there's this!

AC Bailey Designs Sale

November 20th thru the 27th
Enjoy Black Friday ALL week!!
Take 40% off ALL
American Crafts
Cosmo Cricket
Kaiser
Staz on inks
Bulk Buttons and Ribbons
and EVERYTHING in the While Supplies Last Section!
*Offer not valid for Albums.*In stock items only.*One coupon per customer, cannot be combined with any other coupons.*
Discount will be taken from the price shown in your cart.
Use code BLACK to get your discount.AND...
Buy a Gift Certificate and get another for half the amount FREE!
Buy a $10 GC and get a $5 one, FREE!
Buy a $100 GC and get a $50 one, FREE!
*Limit 1 per customer*
Free GC cannot be used until after DEC. 1st*Additional GC Code will be sent separately to the Buyers email address provided with the order.

Time to stock up!!! I love a good sale-see ya there!!!!!

Boo not Moo

The DT over at ACBailey hosted a Midnite Madness and everyone needed to create a project using the following poem---
so clear off those tables and turn on your light because you will need to be able to choose some Cardstock as Black as Night .......
now take a clue from the spirits all wispy and slight and add to that Black some Ghostly White .......
when those two things are done, it will be time for a bit more fun....
dig deep into your button stash and make up some pumpkins that cannot be smashed
and now's the time for a little Trick or Treat!! Add a bit of ribbon, oh so neat!
Ghosts and Goblins parading around, dressed as cute as can be,
Time to dress up your layout with some bright, shiny bling,
and be
one step closer to creating something
As the bell tolls twelve, many screams will be had if you don't find a place to fit at least three brads!
Now look at your project and what do you see?
A mad composition, thanks to the DT!
I used the ACBailey October Goodies KOTM - there are a few left - and today is FREE SHIPPING! Just click on my link and it will take you right to the store!

No Fear

of Flying???? Anyone who knows me knows I am terrified to fly....and when I took a ride in this tiny plane, no one believed me! I have had this LO sitting on my table just waiting to get photographed and posted. Labor Day weekend I went to New Hampshire to visit my friend Gail and her husband took me for a ride in his plane - it was a beautiful Fall weekend in new Hampshire and we had a lovely time and a lot of laughs. Took a bunch of silly photos...so more to come. Loved working with these great papers too!

A Little Sassafrass Lass and the 1st Day of School

Since I have no school age kids I need to wait to get some photos of the grandkid's first day of school. Shane started Kindergarten this year and he was so excited to be able to go on the BIG yellow bus! He loves his teacher "pretty much" but thinks there is too much work and not enough play. Shane is perpetual motion and on the go every waking minute. My daughter Jami is starting to "think like a scrapbooker" and thought to take a picture of the bus as it pulled away! I love how the Jenni Bowlin Bingo card looks as a frame for the photo of the bus. One of these days I will really stitch on layouts instead of using a pen. I used crackle Paint on the Chipboard apple and also used a White Signo pen to outline the Jillibean Soup alphas for the title.
Aidan started second grade and just looking at his picture I am amazed how grown up he looks - he is getting so tall and what a smile - that chin! I got him a few Tony Hawk shirts and he loves them and wore one on the first day of school. He really likes his teacher this year and I have the feeling this will be the year where he will shine. Loved the little Chipboard stuff with this kit - I covered the bus with paper and make windows with Rock Candy Stickles - on the pencil I used my trusty Crackle Paint...jeez I love that stuff. ACBailey is getting ready to have another event....can't spill the beans, but stay tuned ;)

ACBailey October Goodies Kit of the Month

Oh My! This kit is so adorable I am wishing October away just to get some new Halloween photos of the grandkids!!! I absolutely cannot wait to start working with this kit, so I think maybe I'll do some Fall layouts first. These kits go fast... if you want one, click HERE

World Card Making Day!!

Did you know that THIS Saturday October 3rd is World Card Making Day???

Yes, and I researched the history-
It began in 2006 as National Card Making Day. Founded by Paper Crafts magazine to bring card makers together at the beginning of the busiest card-making season of the year, it was first held on October 7, 2006. The initial celebration involved the Paper Crafts magazine audience only; however, due to the positive response it received and the worldwide popularity of card making, the holiday became known as World Card Making Day from then on. It is now in its fourth year, World Card Making Day is celebrated annually on the first Saturday in October. It's a day for the card-making community -- hobbyists, retailers, and manufacturers -- to unite and celebrate the connection and creativity that is the heart of card making. So, I went to the Papercrafts site and found this!

World Card Making Day is a holiday especially for card makers around the world to Celebrate the creativity of handmade cards and the personal connection that they create between friends and family as well as to kick off (and get a head start on) the holiday card-making season. How many of YOU have already started your Christmas cards???

We here at AC Bailey want IN on the festivities, too! So, we will have another weekend contest here at the AC Bailey forum to celebrate the art of card making!
Join your ACB Design Team and special guests TONIGHT for challenges, a contest, and some learning...as only they can do! And of course, we will have PRIZES!!!

Get ready for some more fun ladies- it is coming your way!
All official posts to be launched Friday evening in the Forum - be here you will not want to miss this!

Win a Spot in the ACBailey Blog Hop!!

Enter to win a chance to be a featured Blog during our AC Bailey Blog Hop in November!

The design team has come up with a little blog challenge for you. Sign up by October 7th for the challenge in which you have a chance to win a prize along with the opportunity to be included in a unique AC Bailey blog hop, giving your blog additional exposure and visitors.

Here's how it will work:
1. Sign up for the challenge in our Forum (you must register first), with a link to your blog. You have until October 7th to sign up. (If you don't have a blog yet, but want to start one and join the challenge, that's fine, as long as you get the link to us by the 14th.)

2. Everyone who signed up will have 1 week, from October 7th to October 14th to spruce up her blog. Some ideas might include a new header, a new background, frequent postings with interesting content, cleaning up your page elements, maybe adding some blinkies, (links to AC Bailey will score some points ) The idea is to make your blog represent you and your style. The Design team will post a few links to tips and tutorials for blogs during this time.

3. From October 14th through the 17th, the design team will visit all the blogs entered in the contest. We will be looking at overall design, uniqueness, and blog content.

4. Three winning blogs will be awarded a prize from AC Bailey Designs and will be chosen to participate along with the Design Team in a Blog Hop in mid November!

Can't wait to look at all the cool blogs! Good luck!!

ACBailey Fall into Scrappin' Crop

What a fun time!! Some wonderful challenges and even a chat with Jenni Bowlin! Although it was a busy weekend for me because of "other stuff" too, I was able to complete a bunch of challenges along with the challenges my own and if I am lucky, since it is cold and rainy today, I may be able to do a few more. One of my challenges was to create a layout using labels that you love. This idea had been in my head for a bit and I was pulling labels off stuff whenever I bought anything - so they were all ready to go. I used October Afternoon paper and die cuts, and Thickers for the title (as usual) and a funky Prima flower. The second layout I did was from a fabulous sketch that Connie posted. I reall struggle with primary colors, so that in itself is a challenge for me. Shane's yellow soccer shirt left me no options, so I went with Basic Grey June Bug and offset it with some white Bazzill scalloped cardstock. Since no layout for me is complete without a button or a flower, added both and a few brads for good measure - and of course, a Thickers title. And no, I did not stitch on my layout - although I do love the look, I used a white signo pen and went over the dashes a few times so that they would look like real stitches. One of these days I may find a sewing machine at a garage sale and really sew on my layouts, but I don't see that happening in the near future. I am happy when I can get a layout done! If you have some time, hop on over the the ACBailey forum and check out the crop challenges - you have til tomorrow at noon to get them done and be eligible for the great prizes!

Fall Into Scrappin' Online Crop

We're having an online crop over at ACBailey!!! Tell your Friends!!!!

Join us the weekend of September 25th - 28th for a fun filled online crop! We will have Jenni Bowlin on for a quick Q&A on Saturday morning and Tracy Weinzapfel of Helmar and Clear Scraps doing a product Q&A on Sunday. Of course there will be online games, challenges from our Design Team and LOTS of goodies given away. (You could even win one of the new Cricut Cartridges!)

Visit the Forum today to take part in some of the fun already started with a Scrap Quest game and "And she told..." referral contest. (You must be a registered member to play)

Trying to Get into the Groove

Now that public school is open, the traffic is back to typical Long Island yuckky - my commute has more than double just because of the sheer volume of cars on the road. While I am sitting in traffic I can see the leaves on the trees just starting to turn. And luckily for me, I have friends who commute at the same time, so I do get to chat a bit -"hands free" of course, now that I have figured out the Blue Tooth. I still struggle to get up in the morning because I really am a natural night owl and would prefer to stay up til 1am and get up at 7am...oh, well, I try to get to bed by 10pm but it's usually 11:30pm and 5:30 comes very early. Getting a bit of scrapping done - The ACBailey September Goodies Kit of the Month is just adorable...I cranked this LO out last night and cannot wait to get some pictures of the grandkids getting on the school bus. This kit is so sweet - Sassafrass Lass, Maya Road, Prima, fabulous ribbons...Take a look..............These papers are so cute - and so colorful I can't wait for some more photos of the kids. There is a paper with ice cream cones that will be perfect for doing a layout of the huge Ice Cream sundae I shared with my friend Gail when I was up in New Hampshire last week. Coming soon....photos are being printed at Costco as I type ;)

Back to School for Me!

This summer sure went quickly. I feel like I just finished up last semester and I am ready to start a new one again. Classes start Monday and another bunch of Freshman will be starting - it's fun though watching these tentative teenagers come in as freshman and in a quick four years, leave as mature adults and it's humbling to be part of the process. I guess that's one of the things that fueled the scrapbooking frenzy of the last few days. I think I was afraid I would not get back into my room for a while. I have plans to make a mini album of the photos from CHA, but I could not resist doing a little layout of myself and T!m and him teaching the Make & Take, which I photographed and cut out.......My friend Gail took the photo and it's all blurry - I am not sure whether she shook the camera or was all a-twitter being around T!m :) This is layout was done with the Pink Paislee Captivating Line - just love the toasty browns and blue. I added a Jenni Bowlin Bingo Card and used Puffed Thickers for the title, which I outlined with a brown Sharpie and inked up a bit with Staz-On to make them stand out more - they are white with tiny blue polka dots and look really good in real life.

Belonging to the LI 3-H Club

HAZY, HOT and HUMID!!! I has been almost 10 days of the most oppressive weather - so hot and humid. Up until now, this summer has been pretty cool - lots of rain in June, but a cool July and beginning of August...and then BANG! No time even to acclimate to this. I don't do well in this weather and have been whining for a week. I also went back to work, so I am cool during the day which I think, makes this weather even less tolerable when I get home. Need to make some cards for this weekend - a Sweet 16, a Graduation and a Wedding - will post when they are done - it is torture sitting in my hot little room under the OTT light. Here's a layout I did before the 3Hs hit - it is done with the ACBailey August Goodies Kit of the Month. I used Core'dinations Cardstock as a base and sanded over an acrylic frame to have the blue core show through the brown paper. I also
carried the swirled dots on the journaling tag off the tag and onto the page using Dimensional Pearls. Thickers, as usual for the title. I absolutely love those things.
Just a reminder - today is the last day of the awesome sale over at ACBailey - making some room for all the new stuff we picked out at CHA. Some of the Thickers are half price!!! Check it out!

I'm BAAACK!

What an exhausting but fun time - seeing all those new releases had my head spinning - lucky for me I wasn't doing all the ordering or I would have broken the bank!! Really got me into the mood to get some scrapping done and use some of the products that I hate to touch because it is so pretty. The Freaky Friday Challenge over at ACBailey was alot of fun! We had to use 4 different patterned papers, 7 buttons, more than one photo, at least 2 different fonts and some older techniques, like photo turns, paper clips or eyelets. I used Chatterbox "Fabulous" paper and it is rightly named - the texture and colors were wonderful. Thickers are also 10% off this week !You can buy them Here

Woo Hoo! Off to Orlando for CHA! Cannot wait to see the new stuff up close and personal!! Have you seen any sneak peeks??? I am in LOVE with the new Jenni Bowlin and the new Maya Road embellie type stuff - forget the papers, I like just about everything!! Love the new Basic Grey though - what a surprise!! See you in a few!!

Lazy Blogger

Gee! My last post was the 4th of July??? Where is the time going? For most of the last two weeks I was working at my "real" job - and we had Freshman Orientation, so I was there to meet, greet and register our program's new students - It's always fun to see a new class come in - so young and tentative - and to be able to witness their growth by the time they graduate is incredible! I have been fitting in a bit of scrapping this summer - definitely not as much as I had expected to do.

This layout is from a Kodak Moments sketch that I just loved - and as soon as I saw it, I knew the picture and papers I would use.
This paper and chipboard is from the Prima Dude collection. I used Core'dinations cardstock and sanded around the photo but it did not show up very well. The alpha is SEI and the little soccer balls are Queen and Co. felt. I used pop-dots under some of the stars to make them stand out and lately i have been into tying buttons or chip buttons with fine hemp used to make macarame bracelets. I really like the look. I started a Flip Flop Album with the ACBailey July Goodies Kit of the Month,
but I haven't put any pictures into it yet. These My Mind's Eye Papers were just perfect!! I always struggle with yellows and oranges, but both the LO and this little album turned out quite well. I have the August Goodie kit sitting on my table and it's just gorgeous. I need to get working on some layouts and projects with those supplies for the launch of the kit on the first of the month. Since I will be a CHA in Orlando and won't be back til very late on the 30th, I really need to get a move on because I don't print my own photos and I will need to decide which ones I will use and upload them to Costco. Enjoy this very warm summer evening!