August PageMaps Sketch Challenge!

I love challenges! Especially those that come with a sketch - it makes scrapping a page so much easier! When PageMaps came up with this sketch for their monthly blog contest, I knew I had to participate:

Here's my version of the sketch:

The contest allows you to use the sketch how you see fit. In other words, you can rotate it, or use another size besides 12x12. I reused some little shells that I had picked up at a thrift store a long time ago, and that is really the only repurposed material on the page. I'm just trying to use up my supplies - I have way too much! I also broke out the sewing machine and sewed a border around the page, and I decided to journal as a border.

I had won a gift certificate to A Cherry On Top and bought some gold Glimmer Mist. I never used it before, so I decided to give it a go on this LO. The 3 black circles I cut from scraps and then sprayed them with the Glimmer Mist. Cool stuff - here's a close up:

I also like my pop dots, so I added a little dimension as well:

I hope you like this LO. If you have some time before 8/16, you can also join in on this challenge. Click here for the challenge.

Happy Scrappin'!

New Uses for Toilet Paper Rolls!

Wow - this is an innovative idea from Paper Jewels blog. She is using the toilet tissue rolls to make little mini albums. Check it out:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfiLIG0gd74

I feel the need to save some rolls and make a mini album for the blog. What a great way to reduce waste & reuse an item!

Have any you made? Send them to me and I'll post them here!

Use an old map!

Don't forget - I'm still on vacation!

Tip #2 - Do you have any old maps laying around? Or maybe you picked up a map from your last vacation. Don't throw it out - use it in the following ways:

• a background paper
• matting your vacation photos
• cut out the states or countries you visited & use it as an embellishment on your page!

Save Money on Your Scrapbooking - Go Recycled!

The human race will be the cancer of the planet. ~Julian Huxley, attributed

In our financial crisis, many of us are looking for ways to cut costs and curtail our spending. This is definitely a possibility in scrapbooking, if you think outside the box a bit. Let's talk about storage first. Here are some ideas for uses of household items to aid you in organizing your scrapbooking:



Jars - we all have empty jars of sauce, baby food, jelly, peanut butter, gravy -whatever you have eaten! Now, I know most of us wash them & throw them in the recycle bin, but what if you can use them for storage? See my post: http://scrapwithjan.blogspot.com/2008/12/scrapbookcraft-room-challenge-pt-ii.html
Wash them out with warm, soapy water and let them dry. Voila - pretty storage solution for flowers or ribbon!

Priority Mail Boxes: Instead of recycling them, they are very sturdy & make great paper holders! You can use them 'as is' or cut out a 'magazine-style' holder to see your paper. Use your scraps to make them pretty!

Nut & Bolt Organizer: Sometimes the man in your life may have something to repurpose. You know those cool metal or plastic boxes that have all the little drawers in them for different screws, nuts & bolts? Why not clean it out, maybe repaint it in a pretty color, and use it to organize your alphabet stickers or brads or buttons or other embellies? I'm on the lookout for a used one (hopefully for free) that I can use in my scraproom.

Silverware Tray: Do you have an extra one of these lurking in the attic? You can use it to organize your colored pencils and pens!

Cigar Boxes: How about these? Are they hanging around too? Use them to store scraps of paper or ribbons or other embellishments. You can also either decoupage them or paint them to match your room.

Yogurt containers: Eating yogurt is huge in my house. We each consume at least 1 a day. Of course, I wash them out & recycle them, but I had an abundance of glue sticks and didn't know what to do with them. So, I took a bunch of paper scraps, some modge podge & now I have a nifty holder for my glue sticks. I have also used another one for a set of alphabet stickers.

** I am on vacation & unable to download photos right now. Please stay tuned for pictures starting the week of Jan. 19th! Thanks for understanding! **

What ideas do you have? Share them with me! Together, all our small steps can make an impact on Mother Earth.

My Great Find

"Don't blow it - good planets are hard to find." ~Quoted in Time

We are given one planet to live on - all of us. We need to take care of it, protect it and nurture it. So in my never ending quest to reduce my carbon footprint, I looked on Craig's list for the first time in about a month. You never know what you may find on there. So, there was a woman, in Palm City, that was moving & selling the remainder of her scrapbooking stash for $100. I gave her a call, it was all still available and at 12:15 pm on Friday, I pulled up to her house to see what I would find. Well, let me show you!

As I unpacked this wonderful treasure trove, I couldn't believe it. She had unopened packages of paper, ribbons and embellies. Now they are mine - to create projects, phoquets and word books, that I can sell to you.

Why am I sharing this with you? Because scrapbooking is a fun hobby, and we are often in a rush to go out & buy the best of everything and the latest & greatest. Craigslist or Ebay are great sources of unused products that people have laying around. Right now, for some people who are in financial trouble, they are relying on me and you to buy their "stuff". What a way to save our money, help someone else out with their finances and, most importantly, save our one and only Earth.