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Thursday, February 28, 2013

Creative Thursday ~ no cameras

I've found that I now take about 80% of my photos with my phone. Occasionally I turn out the iThings, and my camera (finally fixed!) seems to come out for occasions - not necessarily special, but outings. So this month's challenge from XoXo Scrapbooking was to use photographs from anything other than a camera. Lots of fun information over there about editing and apps - go take a look!

Here's one of my favorite pictures off of Instagram, of little McKenna in the cutest outfit. I had originally designed this for SOS (before they shut down to revamp - it's back up, with tons of talent, as I mentioned, and my layout will be up on the 7th!) so I was reaching way into the stash.

Simply Beautiful by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies: Paper: Pink Paislee, Flowers: Prima Marketing, Inc., Buttons: Junkitz, Glitter: Stickles, Title: My Mind's Eye, Other: Photo Corners, rhinestones, mesh.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Matthew 5:8



Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Tuesday Special - my new wall!

Although I still have trouble saying thank you and feeling proud, I indeed am - mostly because I thought up the project and carried it through 100% on my own! What a pleasant sight when I got to the top of the stairs Sunday morning before church - made me smile!

Here is the finished project (with frames to fill and room to grow)

Want steps? Beginning to end:

1. Find frames. I had the project in my head for months but got very lucky with an amazing sub job with a very nice gal. She happened to bring in two bags of frames she was giving away and I unashamedly scavenged them. She saved me a fortune! 

2. Research. I was pretty sure this wouldn't only be about frames, so I spend a day or two on Pinterest gathering ideas. More to come on that in a bit.

3. Paint frames. Clean glass. I'm pretty sure I used the wrong paint and the wrong brush and that Windex wouldn't work in the long run, but so far, so good. And it's all fixable; more on that also in a bit.
First I used regular old paint I had the scrapbook room (Making Memories); it was a bit old and a little gloppy, which was actually better on the frames. Some of these are wooden, some are metal. I ran out of that paint, so I got a plain black acrylic from Hobby Lobby. Already I can see one frame that will have to be repainted and probably sealed. 






I also gathered up some other frames pieces we had lying around that were given as gifts and never mounted. I painted their frames black and rematted them to match. There is a Mom & Dad poem and a Policeman's Prayer and picture worked in there.

4. I filled those frames! I was fortunate enough to have enough printer paper and ink at home, and a decent photo printer. This kept the cost of this project way down for me. I chose some of our classic pics, some funny, some of our favs, and I even have a few blank ones to fill with those pics "I can't believe I didn't think of!", which should happen sometime next week.

Here is what very little planning I did for this part:

I used white cardstock and posterboard to mat the photos, which are all in black and white. Again, it's probably not the material professional framers would have used, but I'm happy with it so far.

I also have a list of glass that needs to be replaced and am hoping my local glass place will help me out with that.

My table looked like this for a week (I have a very patient family):


5. I bought an over-sized wooden letter "K" and small wooden letters on sale (yay!) at Hobby Lobby as well. Painted those. Tip for painting small spaces: I used one of the kid's watercolor paint brushes, they're a dime a dozen and I wouldn't feel bad if I had to throw them out).


6. Next I took a picture of the space I was filling, measured and taped off sides and angles on the floor in my foyer. It looked like this for 24 hours (I had a surprisingly accident-free family, too):

7. We had monkey hooks and I found the 3M Command wall hangers in WalMart and Hobby Lobby. I wasn't sure I'd trust the Command on the sandy-textured wall, but 2 days later, none of those frames have fallen!

8. I had to take the backs off of most of the frames. I wasn't worried about ruining them because I knew I'd never take them down to use as standing frames ever again. Taking the stands off helped keep the pictures flush to the wall.

9. Ready! Here I go!


Some tools of the trade: monkey hooks, thumbtacks, a level, painter's tape, a flashlight (to see behind the frames when mounting, screwdriver, scissors, Command hooks (up to 2lb, 12lb and 16lb), double-stick mounting tape (some of the backs of the frames were sunken and I used a few layers of double stick to pop the Command strips up), duct tape (reverse rolled up for the small letters); not pictured: a tall chair and a 6 foot ladder. 


Here's a tour of our new wall. :) You'll have to visit in person for the real effect, it does look better in person. :)
Disclaimer: I promise to take new pictures in the morning light and from a ladder as soon as I can. I was too impatient to find a filter for the flash, wait till a free morning, and gain proper height to take these.

small wooden letters from Hobby Lobby, painted black, mounted with reverse
rolled up duct tape (which I think you can see here, but not in reality).

A few of our fav pictures.

bride & groom

family pic from last fall

Pinterest-inspired K; painted black, with a simple
rhinestone cluster trimmed and fit.
Babies in police hats.

Babies in police hats.
This is a Making Memories sticker that I recolored. It fit the tiny frame
perfectly and ended up matching the wall as well. I'm still considering adding
a patterned background for it.
So I just now noticed that the two small frames are opposite -
when the God frame is on top and the verse on the bottom,
the hearts make an hourglass shape. Again, this will be fixed and retaken.
-------------------------
This is a dollar store frame!
This is one of the readings from our wedding - 1 Corinthians.
I just recently realized that it can be literally translated to God is Love
thanks to our Pastor's sermon a few weeks ago.
I'm working on that post for Sunday.

the newborns.
label added with their names and birthdates.

Another Pinterest inspiration. These are the lyrics to
our wedding song written out as a poem. I printed those
out and added our wedding date on top of the glass.
Still searching for the perfect heart embellishment. 
the brothers
the parents
(yes, both of our parents are still together 4+
years later, we're proud!)
one of our newer favorites:
Matthew pinning Doug as his Sergeant's promotion.




Here's how the Command process works, once mounted,
so I can easily edit and fix frames for years to come.
like a super tight velcro, it snaps back in place but pulls off easily.
holding nicely so far!



So there you have it. If I can do it, anyone can!

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Creative Thursday ~ 3 in a day!

So a few weekends back, I finally joined Two Scrapbook Friends and just in time for a crop! I ended up getting three pages done on one snowy day here in NY. That hasn't happened in quite a while...

Hunting Season

This is the page I revealed for XoXo's Leftover Valentine post just a few days ago. Go see! We have three brilliant new design team members and of course, the talent that's there normally. Three posts this month!
--

So this one I turned out for Shelby's Twitter challenge (add a bird, keep under 140 characters):
Hunting Season by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies: Paper: Basic Grey, Crate Paper, Cosmo Cricket; Sticker: Karen Foster design; Rhinestones: Recollections, Studio 18; Chipboard bird: Maya Road; Flowers: Prima Marketing, Petaloo; Ribbon: Cosmo Cricket; Other: Mulberry paper. 

Put Me In Coach, I'm Ready To Play

This one, I just love, love, love. I've had the photo printed out for months -years?- and finally found somewhere to put it. This was for Christa's bloggerita challenge (scraplift someone - I scraplifted Christa herself here): 
Put Me In Coach by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies: Paper: A.W.Cute, October Afternoon, American Crafts;
Sticker(s) Letters: The Paper Studio, Websters Pages, Rusty Pickle, American Crafts,
Pink Paislee, Doodlebug Design, Inc., Jillibean Soup; 
Clipboard: Stampendous; Chipboard: various unknown.

 Blues Clues

And the last one, I was getting a little punchy. I've had this layout barely begun for years. Yes, I said it. Years. All it has was the felt photo negative frame and the five pictures at the bottom. Luckily, I'm pretty organized when it comes to photos on the EHD, so I found the two to add to the top. (History: these photos came from some sort of challenge on -I believe- one of those famous Friday Night Crops at ScrapStreet. Then I just lightly embellished from there. Eh, it's okay; it's done. This was for Jayne's Facebook challenge (choose from a list, I chose close-up photo, journaling, favorite embellishments, tag, 3+ photos, music):
Blues Clues by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies: Paper: Little Yellow Bicycle, Sassafrass Lass; Sticky Stitches: Colorbok; Tiles: Stickopotomus, Inc.; Letters: White Blossom; Die cut: Pink Paislee; Flowers: Prima Marketing, Inc.; Other: felt negative frame.

Journaling: McKenna - October 5, 2008. You loved Blues Clues. You dressed as Blue for Halloween this year!



Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Tuesday Special ~ Scrap Our Stash - Giveaway A Day!

I have so much to share...had a wonderful weekend full of scrapbooking a few weekends ago, but I just haven't gotten around to showing it off! For now, a new design team, pretty much perfect for me: Scrap Our Stash (SOS). Since I haven't bought any major supplies in quite literally years now, this seemed like a team for me. To kick things off, and to celebrate the merge with IIG, a new look and a new challenge format, SOS is hosting a Giveaway A Day! Please visit SOS every day starting February 25th for details to enter the daily drawings!





Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Tuesday Special ~ The Bet.

Superbowl ~ SuperBet

So, "brilliant" me bet "my" girls at XoXo Scrapbooking over the big game. I thought we had it. I really did. But we didn't. And then we did. But ultimately, we didn't. I'm proud, but a loser in this bet.

So the challenge was toward another Ravens fan, and the girls got to weigh in something they wanted to see on the layout. Here's how the evil plan turned out:

Stencil
Lace
Purple
Red & gold
purple washi tape
Lobster/embossed stamping
Mist
Distressing
Stitching
Index cards

And here is how my page turned out. Busy. There's a lot to it, but it's Christmas afterall. Or, was. Whatever. :)
Happy Christmas 2012 by Lindsey Krauss. Paper: daisy d's, Flowers: Prima Marketing, other, Diecut: Prima Marketing,  Letters: Making Memories, Prima Marketing, Rub-ons: DCWV, Pink Paislee,  Stamp: Inque Boutique, Ink: K & Company, Mist: Tattered Angels, Artisan Tape: Pink Paislee, Other: lace ribbon, rhinestones, index card. Sketch: Rebecca Ludens.
So
*Stencil -- On the bottom right of the photo mat (now almost completely covered with the last S of ChristmaS, is a stencil of a corner piece - I traced it and then misted it with graphite.

*Lace -- black lace with silver - it was this questionable 3-layered ribbon. I took it apart and used the black for lace.

*Purple -- accent color.

*Red & Gold -- red as a major color, yellow as printed on paper.

*Purple Washi tape -- I don't have purple Washi, so it's artisan tape and it's in the flower, at the edge of the 2012 rectangle, and along the top right edge of the photo.

*Embossed stamping -- I flipped the layout, stamped on the back, dry embossed, flipped it back over, went over it with an almost-dry black in pad, slipped pearl mist on my finger and ran over it again.

*Mist -- the flower and dry embossing have pearl, the stencil and index card pieces have graphite.

*Distressing -- does the background print count? I didn't add any myself.

*Stitching -- sooooo rub-on. But it's stitching nonetheless.

*Index cards -- I heavily misted an index card and hung it overnight. It puddled at the bottom and made this cool border (see under '2012'). Then I used other pieces of the index card under the photo, under the artisan tape, and under the 3 squares on the left of the layout. It's that cool-gray color.

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Why the copyright?

No, I don't think I'm a celebrity. I don't even think anyone will steal my designs. It's to protect the kids. I think the photo adds a lot to the page, so without completely blurring them out, I'm marking them up. I've heard one too many true horror stories lately. Have you seen Catfish? A true-life friend of mine had her some's photo stolen and put on an adoption website -and put up for adoption! The only reason she knows is that someone Good Imaged the picture and contacted her. Google Image, people. It's our friend. So for now, it's the best way I can keep the kids for myself and share my full page with you.

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And just for fun...

I'm slightly obsessed with houndstooth right now. So from now on until... well... till I want to stop, there will be a bit of houndstooth on every layout I design. Remember that year I named all of my layouts like FRIENDS named their episodes? "The One With..." I thought I'd have a little design fun. Feel free to comment if you find the houndstooth!


Monday, February 11, 2013

Musical Mondays ~ Need You Now

Love this song. Just love it. In good times and bad. Love it.

Need You Now (How Many Times) by Plumb




I sing this so loud in my car. So desperately. So... Plumb.

Monday, February 04, 2013

Musical Mondays ~ Where I Belong

Our lead Pastor, Pastor Jarrod Jones, is doing a wonderful series on how we're made for far more than this world - it's great for those who can't accept their mortality, let alone their immortality. Actually, so far, it's great for everyone. I hear seasoned Gracers and brand new Gracers walking away and talking about what's being given. It's simple, but not soft. Love that. Anyhow, it's a lot from Ecclesiates (which apparently I've never studied much), and it's called Rumors of Another World - did you know you can listen to any of Grace's sermons via Podcast? Check those out here.

So this is one of my current favorite songs (I get so giddy and so happy teary!) and it goes along quite well with what we're listening to at Grace every weekend. Enjoy!