Altered Tin

I did find some time this afternoon to make this tin. Took less than 10 minutes. I got the tin at Michael's, stuck on the vintage label by Melissa Frances (got at Expo), tied on the ribbon and sanded the edges and the top for a more rustic look. It will make a nice birthday gift - adding some sweets and a gift card.

I started making some wood boxes but didn't get to finish. Will finish up another day and post those.

Bind it All

Have to admit, I have had my Bind it All for several weeks and only have taken it out of the box to admire it and show it to my neighbors. Well, the other night I finally put it to use. I got a cool idea book at the expo (www.fiberscraps.com). I cut the spine of the idea book and bound it with the bind it all. I have other idea books that I bought already like this. They are easier to flip through the pages and to keep the page you want to use open.

So, this was my first attempt using the Bind it All. I did put the spine in backwards. Dah. Had to take it apart and do it all over again. Yep, might help to read the directions Bullseye. I tried to salvage part of the used binding wire and was able to do so.
Here is me and my Bind it All. Evelyn took this picture. She is a photographer in training!


I know I said I would post links to my favorites at the Expo. Be patient as I will. Hectic day today with kids at home and 3 friends over and trying to work. AHHHH. But it was a fun day:) My kids have great friends :)

Scrap Expo

What a day! And my back is screaming at me! Michele and I headed to the Expo bright and early this morning to show off our new fashionable C2R shirts, set out fliers and hand out fliers to new friends we met. We saw Jessica and Nan busy at work in the Zutter booth doing demos with the Bind it All and Dream Kuts. (http://www.zutterzisters.com/, http://www.binditall.com/)

We cruised through the first building and headed on over to the second building where we caught up with our great friends from A to Z Scrapbooking (http://www.atozscrapbooking.com/), Vivian, Steve and Mom and Dad.


We also had plenty of time to walk around and admire all the new products and get tons of great ideas for our own books. I have a stack of biz cards, postcards, you name it, to check out on line. I will post them all later. I also finally got to see in person the Cosmo Cricket line. Love it! I have seen this on a web site and wanted to see it in person.

When I left the Expo I headed to Michael's to get some supplies for some gift ideas. Then had some rare quiet time at home before Greg got back. Greg was hanging out with Grandma Shirley today. Tom and Evelyn are in Big Bear with the Adventure Princesses. I got to admire my new purchases and think of the oh so many possibilities. Can't wait till next Friday - going to Angels for a long over due scrap night.

The Expo goes through Sunday so there is still one more day to get there. Go early and enjoy the day browsing and chatting.

Movie time now, I promised Greg we would have a movie night tonight.

Check back Sunday or Monday for all the links I mentioned.

I am Fiskateer # 1154

I finally joined the Fiskarteers and proudly display #1154. Check it out at www.fiskateers.com . Also a cool site http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/ .

If you are going to be at the Expo in Costa Mesa this weekend, make sure to stop by the Bind it All booth to see Jessica and Nan at the booth. You can become a Zutter Zister too at http://www.zutterzisters.com/. Michele and I will be cruising around on Saturday to promote our April Crops2Remember fun and exciting scrap weekend. Look for are very stylish C2R shirts. We look hot! Croppin' in the OC? Yes, you need to be. Don't forget to save http://www.crops2remember.com/ in your favorites.

Looking for a place to buy the Bind it All or Dream Kuts without going to the Expo? Go to Angels Scrapbook Garden in Mission Viejo. Check them out on line at http://www.angelsscrapbookgarden.com/

I know, a lot of plugs here. Why not! This is my site to share my stuff with you.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Just want to say thanks

I just want to say THANK You to everyone who is expressing interest in our C2R weekend crop in April. It has been so much fun planning such an event. I love planning things. :) I am looking forward to spending the weekend with my friends and making new friends.
And, if you can not make this weekend, we do plan on hosting more this year. Those dates will be published later.
Keep checking the blog, www.crops2remember.blogspot.com and the website, www.crops2remember.com for more information as it becomes available.
The Scrapbook Expo is this weekend, Feb 16, 17, 18, in Costa Mesa. If you have not been, oh, you should go. So many stores, vendors and just fun stuff. It is a great experience.
Be sure to check out the Angels and Zutter booths for demos with the Bind it All and Dream Kutz. Jessica and Nan, other members of our Fab Four, will be at these booths.
If you are there on Saturday, look for Michele and I in our new C2R shirts handing out flyers.
See you all soon :)

Why didn't I think of that!

The other morning I was surfing through different web sites getting ideas for our weekend. I looked through a lot of photo galleries too. I saw a few that really caught my eye.

I know when I am cropping, doesn't matter if it is for the evening or over several days, my crop space is quite cluttered. Trying to keep everything I might need on my table, the current layout I am working on, my drink, snack and whatever else happens to land on the table just doesn't give me very much room to work. I am always looking for great storage ideas and time saving ideas.

Then I saw a photo of this........ well it wasn't quite like this, but you can get the idea.

What you see here are 2 expandable collapsible shelves. Yep, they sit right on top of each other. What a great way to free up space on your table. You can keep your tools, stamps, paint, ink, pictures, whatever, right in reach and not taking up too much space on your table. (no, this is not my scrap table, just my kitchen table where I was trying to re-create a scrap are without digging in to my scrap totes for supplies)

I got these shelves at WalMart. They are the medium size and are right around $6 each. There is a large size and a smaller size. I also found them at Target. They are in the area where the kitchen stuff is, like drawer organizers, dish racks, storage shelves.

This is my table when I was on a scrap cruise with Michele on October. I would have a lot more room with the shelves!! Oh, and the picture of me on my blog is also from the cruise, dinner on our first night.

Happy Scrapping!!

Crops2Remember

Here is out C2R Logo! Cool!

Our email blast has gone out. We have sign ups!

Don't miss out on this fabulous weekend.

All the weekend details are on the website www.crops2remember.com.

I am so excited about this! Could not sleep at all last night as I was busy planning things and making mental notes of things.

Is it April yet??? I need to be croppin' in the OC!

Crops2Remember is live

Exciting news........Crops2Remember is live. Check out the website at www.crops2remember.com. Click on the Crops2Remember link at the right of my blog to go directly to our blog. Get details about our weekend crop in April. Give me a call or send me an email to sign up. My email is naomicrops2remember@yahoo.com.

Just a few tips

I just wanted to post a few tips that are time savers that I like to use. These tips help me get my pages done quicker and saves time at the crop rather than having to organize there.

Before I go to a crop, I like to have my pictures all organized. I match up paper, embellishments, ribbon and whatever else I can think of with the pictures. It does not hurt to throw in extras for just in case. The large zip loc bags work great to hold a layout or several. You can label them by month or event or whatever. This is easy to do in front of the TV at night.

Keep one of these bags on hand at the crop to put in the paper and extra embellishments you don't use. It makes it easier to put things away later. I never seem to get them put back when I am scrapping.

I also keep a journal of what I want to accomplish. This is nothing fancy. A few years ago my neighbor gave me a great journal as a gift. It is now my scrap journal. I keep it hand on my desk. When I think of an idea, or a layout, I jot it down. I write in the date of the future crop I am going to be at and list the pages I have ready to go. When I am done, check them off the list. I stick extra pictures on the pages in my journal too. It also comes in handy for keeping track of all those neat scrap sites out there.

Also with my journal, I can keep track of how many pages I got done and who I was scrapping with. I also like to write notes to myself or my goal for a crop.

I mostly print my own pictures. When I am behind I will use a photo site, like Snapfish or Shutterfly. I like them both. Buy a prepaid package and the pictures are cheaper. I have also heard raves about Costco and Walmart one hour photo. Easy to upload pix to and pick up later. I have used Yahoo too, which makes it easy to pick up pictures at Target when I need them right away.

Happy scrapping everyone. Scrappin' in the OC? You should be. Be sure to check out Crops2Remember.

Some of my layouts

I wanted to post some of my early layouts and some more recent layouts. Lately I have been working on my daughter Evelyn's baby book. It was in the old, what I call peel and stick, photo album. I had been carrying it to crops for years and working on it in bits and pieces. However, last summer I got serious and am determined to finish. I have about 2 more layouts to go.

This is the way I used to scrap. White paper with some color and as many pictures as I could fit on the page. I still take a lot of pictures and like to put a lot of pictures on the page, but have parred it down a bit.

These are some of my more recent layouts. I used the Cricut on some for the titles and extras.

I still like lots of color, but now use color in the background paper and page embellishments.

I have a book for each of my kids, it has their birthdays and special events. Evelyn's now starts with her baby showers. Greg's baby pictures are the next big project. I also have 2 Christmas albums; a school album for both Evelyn and Greg; several vacation albums; an album of our house showing the condition it was when we bought it and through the remodel; an album of our informal wedding pictures and honeymoon; and one or 2 albums for each year beginning with 1998. I also have my own album with photos from my teenage years, high school and some college ;an album for Tom; have done albums for my parents and Tom's parents and many many mini albums.

Future big projects are: Greg's album (he keeps asking to see his); Scotland vacation album; Europe vacation album; and about 6 very dusty childhood albums. Plus the every day stuff (I am current through summer of 2006).

So, I think I have plenty to keep me busy through retirement, whenever that will be :) But I love to scrap. It is my outlet. I can be having the worst day but when I sit down to scrap, I can forget my day and get lost in my pictures and ideas.

I don't have any layouts posted on other websites or entered in contests. That is a goal for another day. My kids and husband love to look through the albums. Whenever we have company over, I conveniently place a scrap book on the coffee table ready for viewing. One day when Tom was home all alone, he said that he went through all the scrapbooks I had done. :) That is my grand prize, just knowing that my family loves to look at my scrap books, well, their scrapbooks, over and over.

Love my Cricut!

I kept hearing so much talk about the Cricut. So, I heard about a great deal and snatched one up. Evelyn was with me and she picked out a few font cartridges too. Timing was good too as Evelyn was making a photo book for her Mission Report. We set up the Cricut, read the directions, and it was so easy to get started. Evelyn can work it all on her own. She made the titles and some captions inside the photo book.

I took the Cricut with me on a scrapbooking weekend last month and used it all the time too. Making titles, shapes, cute flowers, you name it. I have had the Cricut for a little more than a month and have not encountered any problems. I sure hope they offer a computer connection soon.

Happy Friday!!

Frames and Boxes

For Christmas I made a lot of frames and wood boxes for gifts. The kids gave them to their teachers. We filled the boxes with goodies. A quick and easy gift to make in bulk and keep on hand when you need a quick gift. Also a great way to use extra paper and embellishments.