Beginnings of a December Daily Album

I started an album to celebrate December last year, took the pics, put together a 2-pager, and never finished. Yes, it's on my running list of things to do that's taller than me by now. The list didn't discourage me from planning and starting my DD album for 2009, especially after inspiration from Ali E. and Lizzy K.

Here are 2 of my pics for December 1st. I took several, but wanted to have more than one to choose from. These are of our yard after a big frost.

New scrappy stuff always helps spark the mojo for me, and I got some yummy goodies for VERY reasonable prices for someone on a limited to non-existent scrappy budget. For around $15 give or take, I have some wonderful supplies to start my album and will surely have plenty left over for other projects. Here's what I got:

**paper pads: Making Memories Mistletoe (less than $7 total with tax b/c I split them with my sis and used coupons at Mike's)**

**foil alphas: Making Memories Vintage Findings (found them in the clearance bin for 47 cents I believe)**

**2 snowflake & 2 Christmas tree felt die cuts: Dollar Tree ($2 total for all 4...also got a pack of 6 or 8 styrofoam snowflakes for $1)**

**pompom ribbon: Dollar Tree (I actually have it in red, green, and white. It was $1 a pack for 12 FEET and some sweet someone shared a third of each with me costing me nothing. I did pick up an extra white to use on this album or non-Christmas pages.)**

**eyelets: Dritz from Tuesday Morning (79 cents each...Ali recommended some similar)**

**pins and pincushion: Dritz from TM also ($1.99 for the box REG $12.99!)**

I didn't want to leave you without sharing one of the six layouts I completed over the Thanksgiving holiday. Hope your holiday was wonderful! (oh, hope you get the humor in the layout "slim" as in crystal light and "shady" as in, well, shades. ;)

This song always makes me smile...

(Ok...you might want to scroll down
and turn off my blog music so you
can hear. :)

Happy Birthday...

to someone who makes me even more thankful to be a scrapbooker and whom I love very much! You know who you are. ;) These is for you, E-diot:





Love,
me

Meet Cinderelly

Being the "unique & vintage, shabby chic" (per Erika that is) scrapbooker I am, I have had my eye out for a dress form of some sort. Since my scrap area is small, I lucked up when I found a wire dress form a wee three foot tall. I would LOVE to have a vintage, fabric covered one one day, but until then, mine will work perfectly. After seeing THIS post by Erika last year and then THIS post (and esp the pink room) by Chris, I was super inspired to have one of these beauties adorned with ribbon. Now, many of you know I am a ribbon JUNKIE, and this ribbon isn't even half of it.

Anyhoo, I decided to tackle the project last night and realized a lot of my ribbon was longer even when halfed than the dress form is from waist to floor. My dd helped me, and we decided to name her "Cinderelly," since we were the mice making the dress for her. What do you think?

Artsy Urban Goodies

Recently, my gurl Erika, turned my attention to some fantastic scrappy stuff from Melody Ross by GCD in THIS post. To be quite honest, prior to seeing the new Melody Ross stuff, GCD hadn't put out any supplies that had caught my eye. I blame Erika for the hunt that ensued to find the funky fintage lovlies also known as the Artsy Urban Collection.

I was at Mike's with only one coupon in hand, so I picked up this collection pack. I thought it had a good variety of stuff in it, and I figured I would only be able to get one or two things from the collection. Even without a coupon, it's a great deal at $8.99.

The shelf was pretty bare, but when I went back, they had the entire collection. From what Erika has learned, only 100 Michaels stores will get them. I'm glad I've finally learned the process of new designer stuff there. They have been getting special collections, like Making Memories Vintage Findings, keeping them for a couple of months at most and then clearancing them out. After that, other scrappy stores and kit clubs get the stuff. This happens to be when I see the stuff actually used on layouts, especially by places like Studio Calico, and kick myself for not getting any on sale or clearance when I had the chance. Another prime example is the Anna Griffin's Darcy Collection. I didn't know what I'd use it for at first, so I passed. THEN, Studio Calico adds it after Mike's sells out to their September kit called Cotillion. Check out the cute layouts for inspiration with it HERE. Yeah, did I mention I'm kicking myself?

Anyway, I picked up a couple more things yesterday with coupons when I went back, because they had this lovely packed display. I'll share pics of my other finds and what I think of them later.

Thanks, Erika, for cluing me in on the the new GCD stuff! I can't wait to use it! ETA: Check out The Scrap Review's article on the collection, especially my friend, Noel's adorable layouts!

Cool Weather

I've been fighting this cold for more than a week now...sooo ready for this crud to be out of here. The good thing is it is cooling off here. I'm not much on hot weather, unless I get to go swimming. Other than that, it's useless. I love fall and winter.

Here are some fall things I'm so ready for:

1. leaves changing color
2. a trip to the pumpkin patch
3. hot apple cider
4. more late night yummy coffee
5. being comfy in jeans and a long sleeved shirt
6. dressing up for Halloween & trick-or-treating
7. crockpot soups
8. chicken and dressing
9. birthdays & anniversaries
10. scrapping under a blanket

Seriously, I could go on and on, but I'll stop there for now ;).

My pal, Erika, is about to have 500,000 hits on her blog and is celebrating by having an RAK. Hop on over and check it out. She is the go-to girl on most things scrappy and a fellow bargain shopper like me. I {HEART} her and her blog!!!

Oh, and I usually hate making a blog post without pics, so I thought I would share something that totally inspired me on the Cosmo Cricket blog. I really want to make it. You can check out the full project HERE. Did I mention how much I LOVE Cosmo Cricket?

My Mess

My pal, Erika, has been doing some serious work on her scrap space and to make her feel better, I wanted to share this pic:

Yep, this is my current scrappy mess. I'm weeding through stuff, organizing, and GASP! (purging....shhh...don't tell ;)!)! I'll be so glad when it's over, and I know where everything is. I had almost all my albums together and was pretty proud of this pic:

Yep, those are completed or almost completed albums, AND I have a whole stack of layouts (probably over 20) that need to go into new albums.

My New Scrappy Closet

Well, I've been working on my scrappy storage at our new place. I scrap at my kitchen table and have a 9x9 cube shelf from T's that sits right by my table for storage. I also have a large trunk in the living room with things in it and a closet across from there. I'm very excited about the drapery rings I found on clearance at T's, because I finally made my own clip-it-up for all of $2.98 plus tax. The rings fit perfectly on the bar in the closet, and I couldn't wait to hang all of my thickers, pink paislee, and other special alphas there. What do you think?