allamyleigh

Ribbon flowers

2011-09-21T15:34:00.000-07:00

Want to make some ribbon flowers?

Supplies you need:
-Alene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue
-Creative memories circle punch (though you can free hand cut these as well)
- scissors
- scrap cardstock- coordinating color with ribbon
- Maya Road Trim Collection - Organza Roses Ribbon - Small - Turquoise - 1 Yard
- Pink Paislee - House of Three - Parisian Anthology Collection - Ribbon - Ruffled Darlings Strips

Let's go!
1- punch out circles of the cardstock. Best to use the same color as the ribbon you select incase any peaks through.
These will just be the base, so you can freehand cut them as well. I used the 1.5" circle cutter from Creative Memories.

2- Cut apart the organza roses to make centers. Cut off any excess fringe

3- Cut ruffled ribbon into approximately 6 inch strips.

4- Put glue in a ring around the outside of the circle.

5- Adhere ruffled ribbon to glue, leaving center empty.

6- Put glue in center and adhere previously cut center rosette.

7- if you buy enough supplies, you make loads of these!
Swap them. Put some on your own layouts and cards. RAK them.
Enjoy!

Flea Market Finds

2011-08-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

My local scrapbook store has a flea market for scrappy stuff each year. I've gone and spent far too much for the last 3 years (maybe more) and been extremely happy with the deals I get each year. If you have surplus, you can sell your stuff for consignment (you get a certain percentage cash back, more if you accept store credit back). Anything that doesn't sell you get back. The store organizes it so well. Volunteers do all the hard work (and get to shop first).

This yearI spent just under $200 dollar and got 4 large bags and boxes of stuff.
The volunteers even went next door to CVS and got me a shopping cart to carry all my purchases to my car.

Here is my haul. There is soooo much, it is pretty hard to show in detail, but I did the best I could.
First paper. I love paper!!! Most packs/kits included some embellies too and ranged in cost from $1 to $3.

I also splurged and paid $8 each for these new Pink Paislee kits. Aren't they pretty??

I prefer Ring albums now, but since I'm prolific, I always need more albums.
So $5 each for some very new albums, even post bound is okay with me.

I totally get the idea of buying something to alter and then not doing anything with it.
These items were cheap because they are big and take up space. People want to get rid of them.
Although, not usually an altered items kind of scrapper, I have ideas for each of these for Christmas gifts.
The mugs were $0.50 each. The box .25. Three chipboard shapes that can be turned into door hangers .25.
The Family letters that can stand up- $2. The frame $2. The hanging album $2.
Months away and plenty of time and supplies. Now just to make them beautiful!

And second only to my love of papers is the embellishments that decorate them!

I may never have as many alphas as MindAy, but I'm stocking up.

Buttons

Ghost shapes, chipboard, journal stacks and stamps.
To note, lots of people were selling LOTS of stamps and chipboard. There was a huge supply but I too didn't need/want much of that.

Paint- Stickles, Mist, ink and some weird paper paint I thought I'd try out.
Note, there were 2 more Stickles in gold/brown that aren't pictured. I have already misplaced them. grrr

Some random stuff. Don't even know what those white plastic circles are but they were in a grab bag.

I love ribbon. I know Felt Fusion is out of vogue, but I loved it so stocked up. I don't have to be fashionable.

Rub-ons and iron ons

Transparencies

I'm a sticker junkie. And I'm okay with it.

One scrapper's junk, is now my treasure.
Maybe next year I'll purge and actually sell some of my stash. Maybe not! ;)
Off to put it all away now!

WTTS Crop 2011

2011-08-22T13:11:00.000-07:00

Years ago, I met some scrapbookers online at scrapbook.com. We were all in a thread called the Very Laid Back Challenge with Cathy has our laid back leader. We started talking about wanting to crop together. Plans progressed and 4 years ago, the first "Will Travel To Scrap" crop was held. Although I was part of the WTTS, I couldn't get the funds together to make it. The next year, I saved up and attended in Michigan. I met women who I already adored online in person and found I adored them even more! And their scrapping talent- wow! No wonder so many are on Design Teams and featured artists. Last year I didn't make it, again due to money. So this year, hell or high water, I was going!

We met for a weekend in August in Somerset, Ohio (central to many of them).
Rebecca and her mom picked Jen (flying in from New York) and I up at the airport and drove us the hour to the B&B.
www.scrapbookohio.com

Although only 3 bedrooms, there was plenty of room for the 14 of us.
Two rooms slept 3 each, Genie slept downstairs on the futon in the "relaxation room" and I slept in a room with 6 single beds plus Jen on a blow up air mattress in the center. Honestly, I found it quite comfortable.
Here are some pics of the inside

And next door (as in sharing the same wall and able to go to in my socks and jammies!) was a scrapbook store with a very nice owner. The prices were quite good and the selection adequate. Better then I expected for such a small little shop.

But really it wasn't about the location, it was about the friends!

Missing: Melissa. She was probably downstairs working out!

And at the heart of the weekend- cropping!
It was so nice to just spend hours upon hours of scrap time!
And the generous girls brought so much! Cricut cartridges galore!

And the climax was definitely a very red cherry.

I was a bit amazed at Mindy's stash of Thickers. She seriously brought a store's worth and more.

Oh course, there were snacks and drinks.
Don't let the pics fool you, there was plenty of candy too.

Right next door to the scrapbook store was a German restaurant that we hit on Saturday night.
It was a blast! We had a great waiter too.

Then the short 3 days came to a close and we had to sweep up our scraps from the floor, pack our bags (did a few bring a wee too much?) and head home.

Until next year, we'll have these photos to scrap!

Holtz Configurations 4 box

2011-08-09T15:20:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I took a class led by "THE" Tim Holtz.
He was a great speaker- charismatic, good salesman and instructive. Short though.
You should have seen the women swoon over him though!

Made this Configurations Box.

I tried to only use Tim Holtz items that represented something about me like "3" for my religion (father/son/HG), film strip for my love of photos and scrapping, pearls & jewels for my blessings, cage for my issues, viles of bling for wishes.

Added some personal items-
"A" "M" "Y" in different boxes to spell my name.
A red "rose" pinecone my hubby gave me long ago
a blue jack from my kid's toy box
a photo of my family (background of top right box)
photo of dh & I (bottom left corner)
a guardian angel pin my sister gave me (can't see in this pic but it's inside the watch

Top right corner has a jack from my kids' toy box, an altered doll, a broken ruler part, a pen nub and a pic of my family to represent my playful side and my children.

Even the back that noone sees is pretty.

Some pics from Scrapbook Island's blog:

I even found "me" on Tim's blog.
timholtz.typepad.com
I'm the person in purple at the table 5th pic down. Okay, I have no head in the pic, but it's still me. :)

Camping with friends

2011-08-04T18:48:00.000-07:00

Camping with family is great, but we also enjoy camping with friends.
Or even Just going for a nature hike with my love, my hubby.

Campfires Burning

2011-08-01T16:03:00.000-07:00

Our family is a camping family. It's not glamourous. It's not even expensive.
It's family time at it's best! Nature, family and God. Perfection!

Soothing Sounds of Waves

2011-07-06T23:19:00.000-07:00

Time to relax to the sound of waves, feel the warmth of the sun caressing your skin and taste and smell the salty air. Listen to the seagulls fly overhead and children's laughter in the distance. Oh, I'm home!

These pages express the relaxed soothing feel of the beach to me. Hope you enjoyed a moment in time.

Glitz Design

2011-07-06T23:12:00.000-07:00

Glitz Design is unveiling some new yummy collections, perfect for heritage pics.

Check them out!

Cowboy Up!

2011-06-30T12:40:00.000-07:00

I'm a sucker for a little boy cowboy. So when my soon to be 5 year old son let me pick cowboy for his 5th birthday party, I was super excited. I made a banner, fun name tags for all the food, wanted posters of each child guest, cupcake picks. We even created from large appliance boxes a "bad-guy jail" and an "okay dokey horse corral" for the hobby horses. The party was a blast. My favorite thing being the hobby horse race.

I finally got around to scrapping it. I had so many great pictures I had to make an interactive page with lots of fold out books to house all the pics.

This opens down the center to reveal a 24"x12" layout inside

On the inside, all the photos are accordion folded with tabs to pull out to reveal even more photos!

For my sister

2011-06-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

My oldest sister got me into scrapping back in 1994!
She was a Creative Memories consultant before they were CM. Once called "Shoebox to Showcase."
For my high school graduation, she gave me an album with "stuff" and I scrapped my high school years in one album over the summer before heading off to college. I loved it!

Since then, she has raised and home-schooled 4 children, had a grand-baby, went back to college and now works as an OB nurse. Oh, and her and her husband just bought a ranch they are fixing up. So I guess she might be just a bit busy.

My 3 sisters and I try to get together once a year to scrapbook & spa together. This year, she brought me some pics and asked me to work my magic. I took only a few so I could really focus on them. Here are 2 pages I created for her.

My sister and her hubby as Disneyland.

Created for the PaperSecrets July Color Challenge of Red, White and Blue
Used up scraps here!

My Sister's MIL's 2nd wedding

Used lots of products I won from Scrapbook.com on National Scrapbook Day! So this page was basically free to make.

Sun kissed

2011-06-30T12:27:00.000-07:00

My hubby and I celebrated 13 years of married life by taking the kids to the beach and boat harbor and having lunch in an outdoor cafe.

Done for the Paper Secrets Manufacturer challenge
Manufacturer BoBunny "Paradise" paper and chipboard stickers
Added some netting and cardboard (for sand).

All 4 me- dizzy ride

2011-06-30T11:46:00.000-07:00

The other day, we were downtown so Logan and I stopped by a park that has a carousel. Lucky us, it was the one day a month the carousel is free! So he wanted to ride it over and over on a new animal each time. Unfortunately, the carousel manager insisted parents stand next to their kids even though there are seat belts. I was so dizzy and getting motion sickness. A good mom would have kept riding to make her baby happy. But me, I kept riding because I thought- wow, this is going to make a great scrapbook page with all these great animals! Ok, I have a problem.

Logan loved having the carousel all to himself, able to ride any animal he wanted and trade each time!
The photos were blurry (taken with my old cell phone) so I had to keep them small.

Made for the Paper Secrets Manufacturer Challenge - American Crafts for July.
Used American Crafts "City Park Collection" papers and Delights "Swing" Paper Flowers.
Also entered into the cropstop.blogspot.com Celebrate Summer challenge for 3D effects

Sisters, Friends

2011-06-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

I am blessed to have sisters who are also friends.
This page was based off a sketch from Paper Secrets.
It's an older pic (I was in college) but it was time to scrap it.

Used Glitz papers
Pink Paislee - Flip Notes
Stickles -- Cinnamon

Also entered into http://cropstop.blogspot.com/2011/06/celebrate-summer-blog-hop_19.html for Michelle's Nature (used a bird) challenge

So Campy

2011-06-17T15:08:00.000-07:00

As a child, the one vacation I could count on was camping with my family. It was cheap and offered good times in nature. My father loved to sail so we were often next to water. My sister would play her guitar as we sand songs around the campfire, my favorite being "It only takes a spark". We'd play board games on a picnic table and mom would cook a big breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs. Cleaning wasn't fun there, but where is it fun? We'd sleep in a tent cuddled warm into a sleeping back. We'd sit around the campfire in folding chairs and just talk, relax and hang out. The only enemy- mosquitos!

Well time has passed and we all have our own kids now but tradition lives on.
We try to have an annual campout with the whole family once a year. It is a challenge and some times one family or family member can't make it, but I hope these are the memories my children take with them and connect them to their cousins, their aunts and uncles and to nature.

Sunshine, Funshine- a day at the beach

2011-06-17T14:54:00.000-07:00

The energy of the beach - vibrant, excited, fun, joyful!
Oh come play with me!

Beachy Keen

2011-06-17T14:51:00.000-07:00

Today the boys and I went to the beach. The sun was shining and the water was crisp and cool.
To commemorate, here are some pages from beach trips of the past.

Beach Bums

2011-06-17T14:36:00.001-07:00

Living in California, summer isn't complete with a trip to the beach or 10 trips!
I love the chaos and joy of the rides and junk food at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, the education of the tide pools at Natural Bridges, the laid back easiness of Capitola. And all are just a short drive from home. I adore the colors of the cool blue sky against the white waters mixing with the warmth of the sandy beige beach. It somehow soothes my soul.

Water, water everywhere

2011-06-17T14:02:00.000-07:00

Oh summer, I love thee.
With your water fun flowing over me!

Lazy Days of Summer

2011-06-17T13:30:00.001-07:00

Oh how I love these lazy days of summer.
Here's looking back at some of the sweet sunny days!

Days of leisurely playing in sprinklers or eating ice cream.
Park playdates and care free memories.
Playing in the back yard and catching bugs.

Sporty

2011-06-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

So a Design Team spot opened up at Scrappin' Sports & More so I looked through my gallery for some sports layouts. Boy, are my boys active! Take a look!

Paper Secret's Store- now open for business

2011-06-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

Paper Secret's scrappy store is now open and ready for buisness.
And you should see their stuff. Great scrappy goodies at amazing prices. Kits for $13!
Check it out!

BLOG Candy

2011-06-03T10:16:00.000-07:00

Who wants candy? I want candy!!
Below are some links to blog candy - go get 'em!

Scrapping with Stacy

Split Coast Stampers

Blog Candy

2011-05-28T21:02:00.001-07:00

Who doesn't love candy- and this much candy sounds YUMMY!
http://keepsakesbymelissa.blogspot.com/2011/05/its-giveaway-time.html

Paper Secret's Birthday Bash

2011-03-28T17:44:00.001-07:00

You are invited to a birthday party -- at Paper Secrets.
Games, Challenges and prizes.
April 1-3rd.
Check it out!!

If only...

2011-03-03T19:16:00.000-08:00

I'm a dreamer. My hubby calls it scheming but whatever.

If only...

I was an architect
I got to swim with dolphins
I brought a friend to God
I brought a stranger to God
My mom didn't have Alzheimer's
I had a better memory and wasn't fearful of developing Alzheimer's myself
I ziplined in the tall jungle of Costa Rica
I learned to surf
I was skinny again, sexy even
I could afford to send my kids to a private Christian school
I lived in a dream house with a dream yard...and a beach house in Santa Cruz
I won a year's worth of scrap kits! wescrapkits.blogspot.com/
My marriage was perfect and my children always spoke with respect.

And here's the rub...all things are possible!

Family Heritage

2010-09-18T11:31:00.000-07:00

So my mom's side of the family (10 kids!) planned a family reunion. In preparation for the reunion, I scanned in tons of our older family photos and made scrapbook pages to share at the reunion. I also was in charge of researching our family tree on ancestry.com (fabulous site) and then creating on large post boards. I used 6 posters for Granny & Grandad down! Now, that's one big family!

Here are some of the beauties I made with my heritage pics that I got the joy and privilege to share with my aunts, uncles and cousins. They all "belong" to my mom for now but I know I'll end up with them again someday. They were a joy to create.

Peach and lace

2010-05-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

There is a challenge to make a layout with peach and lace, not a color scheme or look I'm used to. I do boy layouts, bright layouts- that sounds sweet and pretty. I gotta try it! I love to be challenged.

Here is my entry (still a bit masculine) but it works.

See other entries or enter yourself at A Day in the Life of Renee

Hats off to Jennifer- the winner of the Birthday Hats Challenge.

2010-02-01T10:21:00.000-08:00

And the winner of the Birthday Hat Layout challenge is...

True Random Number Generator
Min: 1
Max: 15
Result: 8
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Jennifer Taylor!

Congrats. I'll contact you and get you your birthday girl pack prize.
Thank you everyone for playing!

Put on your Party Hat!

2010-01-30T00:01:00.000-08:00

The super groooooovy scrapbook blog "If it's Groovy" is turning a year old and YOU can get a present for joining the party. From Jan 4-30th, there will be a blog hop through many of the Groovy Girl designers blogs with challenges and PRIZES!

For my party game, I challenge you to create a page that has a birthday party hat (or crown) on it. It can be in the photo or as a page elements such as a sticker, die-cut, stamp, paper, what-ever. Digi or paper.
I will showcase all the entries here on the blog. To submit an entry, post a comment to this thread linking to your page. Or email directly to me at amyleighallred@hotmail.com. Make sure I can contact you if you win. To get you started, here is a page from me with a giant party hat in the center!

And if you win (number randomly selected from random.org from all the entries), I'll send you this Birthday Girl embellishment pack filled with pink birthday goodies, both handmade and store-bought and sent with love!

And here are the entries I have received so far. Keep them coming! I love to see great work.

Check out the main page for more blogs, challenges, and prizes. ifitsgroovy.blogspot.com/

I like candy

2010-01-08T11:39:00.000-08:00

Don't you love pinatas at birthday parties? I do!
Want some candy? Here is some blog candy. Enjoy!

Hat's off (and onto your scrap page)

2010-01-05T19:26:00.001-08:00

How about this idea- unstaple one of those paper party hats and use that as part of your page!

Here are a few more scrap-pages I did with party hats on them.
Party hats can also fit the party THEME, like these below.

Now, show me yours!

Party on!

2010-01-04T22:58:00.000-08:00

To inspire you (ok, really to show off my own work), here are a few more pages that I have done with birthday party hats.

Who's birthday is it?

2009-12-30T14:37:00.000-08:00

Jan 4-10th is a special birthday and YOU can get the presents. Stay tuned and get ready to scrap those birthday photos. Check back here on Jan 4th to see how you can join the party!

And a hint to my upcoming challenge, put on your thinking caps and look at this page I did for my father-in-law's birthday.

1980's BIG Hair Challenge

2009-06-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my "Back to the 80's" challenge for the If It's Groovy Blog Hop Crop! If you haven't checked out "If It's Groovy" lately (http://ifitsgroovy.blogspot.com/) now is a great time. The Design Team is having a blog hop crop and offering tons of great prizes on several great blogs.

Here is my challenge to YOU! My fondest memory of the 1980s was BIG Hair. I admittedly was a "Hair Bear" and thought the bigger the better. I bought so much Vavoom hairspray and "ratted" my hair, that even on a motorcycle, it wouldn't move! So in honor of my 1980s memory, my challenge to you is create a scrapbook layout (any size but I'm sure the bigger the better) about HAIR. The theme has to be "hair" related- Big Hair, hair styles over the years, donating hair, first hair cut, new look, etc. It doesn't have to be 1980s specific (but it's groovy if it is!). So get hairy with it.

Here is my layout for this challenge and also the prize that I have up for grabs to the winner of this challenge! To enter for a chance to win the below prize, either email a photo of your layout to me at amyleighallred@hotmail.com or post your link to your layout in the comments section. Be sure to leave a way for me to get in touch with you if you win! Layouts are DUE June 14, 2009. I will select a winner from all qualifying entries. Yes, you can enter more then once!

Hope you didn't miss the blog challenge before mine: Lynnette's 80's Icon/Fad/Toy at http://windingroadhousewife.blogspot.com/

Next, grab your mouse and click on over to my fellow Design Team Member Marci's blog http://marcisscrappingspot.blogspot.com/ to check out her Groovy 80's Challenge and prize!

Good luck and happy scrapping.
Keep it Groovy.

Now check out all the HAIRy entries. I'm lovin' it!

Tea Time

2009-06-01T15:31:00.001-07:00

May makes me think of May flowers, May Day poles, Mother's Day, My birthday and Tea Time. There is just something so relaxing and elegant about a proper tea. Even better, you get to share it if with family and/or friends. I even collect tea cups and pots. It started with a lovely cup my grandmother gave me when I was about 10 and grew from there.

This year, I hosted a Mother's tea at my church. I had to bring ALL my tea cups, formal settings, wine glasses, linens, fresh flowers, decorations, and gifts for the attendees. I loved it! I made chocolate cups and placed fresh strawberries in it. I scrapped some bookmarks and gave out tea lights, Cashew Rocha, tea bags and gift boxes. Oh what work but soo worth it. My mother, 2 of my 3 sisters and niece came. At my table, two friends from MOPs (Mothers of Preschoolers) and a friend from my Bible Study plus her darling teen daughter joined me.

In addition, locally we have an excellent tea parlour and some of my mommy group friends and I spent hours enjoying a formal tea and chatting. I've been with this group of women for 5 years. We have evolved but more importantly, we have grown closer each year. I love that we have extablished this Tea tradition together each May.

"You only know how strong a women is when you put her in hot water."

The dog ate my scraproom

2009-06-01T14:51:00.000-07:00

So I have a doggy who is a handful. When we are home, she is so relaxed and wonderful. My 2 boys can poke and "love on" her and she just lays there and loves it. But when we leave, she gets crazy anxiety issues. I'm a stay at home mom, so am home quite a bit but dogs just aren't allowed in church, grocery store, library, etc. Sigh.

So I locked our dog in the house, because she has been running away when we leave (looking for us). So she had to go potty. We were only gone an hour but she needed to get out, so she ATTACKED the window over my scrapping table, tearing up EVERYTHING on the table. There is chaos and spilled pigment everywhere. I'm so not happy and just left it because I just can't deal with it yet. AHHHHHH!

On my table was a paper holder made of metal. She chewed it to threads, making her poor mouth bleed, then proceeded to chew on all kinds of other stuff with her bloody mouth. Then after destroying TONS, including 4 layouts (2 double pagers) that were almost done, she jumped down and peed on the floor.

THEN...she went upstairs and dove through an open window, destroying the screen. The window is over 5 feet high so she had to jump from the bed out the window.

I came home to find her ON TOP of the ROOF. Imagine my surprise to come home and find our dog ON the roof. No, I didn't get a picture. I thought saving the dog was more important. I ran upstairs, had to go out a window myself to the roof and lift her back inside. So now my scraproom is destroyed and I just can't stomach dealing with it so I'm not scrapping right now.

As surprising as the story above is...I have sooo many more about this dog! Sigh

What kind of dog do I have...a bad dog. In addition, she is also an Australian cattle dog that we rescued from the pound. She came with the anxiety- lucky us.

Before you suggest crate training....So when we first got her, we bought a plastic crate. Did all the positive crate training things. Left it in the living room (a friendly place for 2 weeks). Let the kids play in it to show it was a good place (oh the pictures I have!). Threw doggy treats in there. All good. So we left her in it the first time for 30 minutes. Only 30 minutes and she chewed a HUGE hole through the plastic of the bottom big enough to get her 45lb body through. You should have seen the damage! So we bought a metal one. She can't chew that, right?... She busted the hinges of the back of the cage. Nice, huh?

Anyone want a dog, slightly psycho? Free to loving home. ;)

So you say its my birthday

2009-06-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

May is MY birthday.

This year, we went to the Cheesecake Factory with several friends. We tried to put the kids (most age 4&5) together so they could talk. They got loud. It wasn't really relaxing, but it was fun. I took pics, but it will probably take me months to get around to scrapping them. So here are pics from last year's party.

Who am I?

2009-05-02T22:36:00.000-07:00

I am: 33, Christian, wife to Russ (Sept97), mom to William (Feb04) and Logan (Mar07), scrapbooker, scrapbooker, Phi Sigma Sigma Active Alumnae, Mommy-group member, Stay-at-home Mom (retired in 2008 from High Tech Marketing), Californian, little sister, daughter, dog-lover, eBay addict, organization freak, shopper, dreamer, architecture/home lover, girl, hiker, volunteer, TV watcher, pedicure lover, Sorority Life player, old-soul, friend.