A Little Freshness

Here is a craft that my friend taught at our monthly craft night. We made air fresheners - too cute! The small jars are filled with baking soda (which will absorb orders...) and then we added our favorite essential oils. I made the small jar at class and used peppermint oil. It is soooo refreshing! That one is for my living room. I made the larger jar on my own and used washi tape to make it an even "quicker" project. I used lavender essential oil in this one since it's going in my bedroom. I actually made lavender jars for both bedrooms in the house. I made jars using sweet orange for the kitchen and my craft room.

For the small jar my friend had a very large circle punch and the paper fit perfectly in the ring. I then used the Stampin' Up heart paperpiercing template to make a double heart. For the larger jars I used my Creative Memories circle set custom cutting system (largest circle with the blue blade, inside cut) and then randomly punched holes in the paper.

Enjoy the freshness :)

Craft it Forward

A friend of mine put a challenge out there to "craft it forward". If you've seen the movie Pay it Forward, it's the same concept except your good deed to pay forward is a craft item!  She created for me a very cute decorated candy jar. Here is my craft it forward...a container filled with chocolate. Chocolate and scrapbooking - the perfect combination for an afternoon.

I participated in one of the Pajama Parties at Big Picture Classes - www.BigPictureClasses.com. (They offer a number a free classes that have been fun - I haven't paid for any classes yet.) This one was by Close to My Heart. It was super easy (I had 3 to do) and a lot of fun. This is the one they did in the class but I didn't have the cartridge and stamp set. Plus I wanted to thank my friends for just being them.

I pulled this photo from my CTMH rep's Facebook page - Glitter Girl - CTMH Crafts. As she says...life it better with bling...and I couldn't agree more!

Thanks for stopping by!
Joyce

Have you ever tried using fabric when making a card? I discovered Farmhouse Memories in Paradise, PA last year during the Lancaster area Shop Hop. The owner, Rachel is so creative and so nice. She has some wonderful cards you can take pictures of while you are there so you can make them when you get home. She also has beautiful quilts, pursues, etc. she has made as well as a nice selection of regular scrapbooking supplies at Farmhouse Memories.

I found this adorable dog fabric that I just HAD to have. Below are five cards I've created with the fabric so far. The fabric is sold is a fat quarter (I am not a quilter so this was new to me). It doesn't seem like a lot of fabric but you can make so much out of one! I still have about 3/4 of my fat quarter left.

When working with fabric you need to adhere the fabric to a "sticky sheet" to prevent fraying. The sticky sheets I purchased from Rachel have adhesive on one side, which is the side you put the fabric on. The paper side is then adhered to your project. The paper gives the fabric that extra stiffness. Some of the images have foam squares behind them and stand up without any problem. You could also use double sided adhesive paper and then stick the one side to scrap paper. You might be able to run the cut out images thru a Xyron also, but I haven't tried that so I don't know for sure how well it will work.

I cut out the images I wanted from the fabric, leaving a border and then applied it to the sticky paper and then cut out the image. I didn't have any problems with the edges fraying. Just remember...sticky paper is not "peel and stick". Once sticky paper is applied to the fabric it's ready to be adhered to your project "as is". I am so used to working with embellishments I pulled the sticky paper off my first few images and had to reapply it!!

One of the best parts about these cards is that all the back grounds are scraps! I have organized my scraps (thanks to Nancy Bankert with 31 Gifts!) and was able to use them up. Here is a closer look at the cards.

And don't forget to add a little something to the inside of your card.

Thanks for stopping by and be blessed!
Joyce

Happy July 4th!!

I hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday no matter what your plans are. Mine are to have a nice relaxing day at home with my pups. Today I want to share my all time favorite blog with everyone – One Good Thing By Jillee (http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com). I would love for everyone to check her blog out. I've found some wonderful tips, tricks, ideas and recipes (the granola clusters are do die for!). As you know I am a scrapbook nut and need to photograph everything. But I have just a regular point and shoot camera so my evening July 4th pictures have never been the greatest. Jillee has a wonderful post today on how to take incredible sparkler photography. I am planning on buying my friend's daughter sparklers so I can try this! Here is the link to today's blog - http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2013/07/how-to-take-sparkler-photographs-for-the-4th-of-july.html#comment-142977

And here is one of the great sample photos Jillee has posted today:

You have to go to One Good Thing By Jillee to find out how to photograph it :)  BTW...yesterday's post was for a homemade hot fudge sauce which is on my to-do list today...yummy!

Enjoy the day and be blessed!
Joyce

A Heritage Album for My Mom

I have started an album for my mom of a lot of her favorite photos (and some of my favorites of her!). It was initially a surprise for her but I have given her about a dozen layouts so she knows now...and I can safely post without fear of ruining the surprise. Some of the layouts I wanted to keep extremely simple because I just loved the photo and didn't want to take anything away from it. I want the total focus of the page to be the photos - no beautiful elements, fancy ribbon, etc. Hopefully I've accomplished that with these two photos!

This one is obvious - my mom on her wedding day. Isn't she beautiful!!

And this is one of my mom and her brother. Mom is going to do the journaling on the page so that is why the journaling box is empty.

As we all know, journaling is extremely important - no matter how little or how much you choose to do. I learned that lesson the hard way. I would "finish" my albums and then go back and journal, sometimes a year or so later. With one event I realized the excitement and passion for the event was gone - and my journaling wouldn't be the same because of it. Don't get me wrong, I had great memories of it, but it was missing that added excitement, that "extra something" that can be hard to describe two years later. So even if you have to just jot down journaling on a piece of paper and stick it with your photos to add later, it will be worth it in the end.

Make the most of what you have and be blessed!
Joyce

Spring is in the air...

Okay, so maybe the weather we've had this year is a little crazy. I don't feel like we really have much of a spring anymore. Summer is almost here and I feel like I've missed Spring. But Spring and Fall are my favorite times of the year. In the Spring I love to see the flowers bloom and everything come to life! We just moved the end of last year and I am so happy I took photos last Spring of a small section of our garden. Don't forget to scrap the wonderful day-to-day things in your life. They are just as important as the special events we add to our scrapbook.

I wanted to do a layout to show the blooming of our garden each Spring (okay...it's really my mom's handiwork...those that know me realize my garden wouldn't be this great...).

It goes from bare to beautiful in a matter of weeks....and I love it!

Be thankful for what you have and be blessed!
Joyce

Happy Father's Day!

Here is a little gift I made for the men of the church. The women prepare a great breakfast before service and then at the end of the service all the men get a little "something" from us. (And they do the same for us for Mother's Day!) We have a paver project that we are funding so we decided to donate money to the paver project in their honor.

Here is a shot of all the individual pieces. I think it might have been better to make a pocket of the bottom piece instead of just putting a slit in the paper to stick in the tag and candy. But the men appreciated it and that's what counts!

I can't take credit for the poem - that was written by one of the women in our church. This is what she wrote...

Thank you for being fathers,

mentors and friends.

We made a donation

to the building fund

pavers project in your honor.

Every time you walk on the

pathway, remember that we

celebrate your solid strong

character like this solid rock.

About Me....

Thanks so much for stopping by!

This is my first blog so please be a little patient as I get it all figured out! I'm sure it'll get better as I go along so please check back!

My name is Joyce and I live in Somerset, NJ with my dogs where I care for my mom. I am the youngest of four kids (although we're not so "young" anymore...lol!) and most of my family lives close which is nice - family is important to me.

My passion for scrapbooking, cardmaking and 3-D projects started in 2002 when a dear friend, Ines, introduced me to scrapbooking through Creative Memories. As they say, the rest is history! We eventually discovered scrapbook stores, crops, classes, weekends and so much more! I love doing gifts for other people - I hope they enjoy receiving them half as much as I enjoy making them. 

Hope you enjoy my site!

Joyce