Crafts

Project Life on HSN

7 · Mar 20, 2013 · 5 Comments

Project Life // I used to be a CRAZY scrapbooker! I spent a fortune on all kinds of scrapbooking supplies and then subsequent storage containers for said supplies. I've spent many a weekend with my house looking like a scrapbooking store exploded in my house. As much as I loved the creativity of documenting my families life this way, I started to feel bogged down by the process. As the styles changed, it became popular to have just one photo per 12×12 page. Holy smoke… it would take over an hour to work on one page and cost upwards of $10 per page some times. It was CRAZY!! Several years ago, it just became too much and… I quit. I gave away my fortune in supplies to a friend and turned my back on the art form. In turn, I have not documented my families milestones or day to day life since then. Sad, I know!

I've been a Becky Higgins fan for YEARS. I have all of her early books and have followed her career for sometime. Successful women have always intrigued me, and she has always been such an inspiration. Even with that, I was not ready to jump back on the scrapbooking bandwagon with her new adventure, Project Life. I didn't even look into the whole concept. The idea of a whole new scrapbooking system, made me break out in hives just thinking about it. Yea, I'm an all or nothing kind of girl. As thrilled as I was for Becky, I just couldn't jump on board. Then I started to see all of the fun projects cropping up on Instagram and Facebook. Everyone it seemed was using Project Life. Good friends of mine, Catherine from Design Editor and Rebecca from Simple as That… Busy ladies, were making these super cute layouts and documenting all of their fun memories with Becky's new system. Maybe, just maybe, I could tackle the years that have stacked up, unorganized with this system. Maybe, just maybe I could organize my families memories without heart palpitations, without spending a fortune on supplies, without taking over an entire room of my house with supplies, without alienating my husband with the mess and the time it took away from our family. Maybe I could DO THIS!

Right about the time I was ready to jump on the bandwagon, American Crafts contacted me to see if I would be will to review the new Blush Edition of Project Life. Little did they know I had just spent about a month preparing myself to enter the world of memory keeping once again. It was PERFECT timing. I had also just ordered some of my Instagram feed from Origrami and was SUPER excited to find that my prints would work perfect with the Project Life format. I set to work, and had a ball working on my family's memories stress free, mess free and super quick. Here is a video on how to use Project Life…

How fun is that? You can put as much time and effort into your book as you want. Here's how my first few pages turned out…

You can play around with designs if you like. I did add a few little elements with stamps and some washi tape, but I'm going to leave it at that. There is really no need to make this a complicated process…

I had so much fun yesterday working on this project and I can't wait to continue catching up on my family history. You can too, with Project Life. There are some pretty cool things coming up for Becky and her crew this spring. One of those fun events is that Becky Higgins is bringing two of her Project Life kits to the Home Shopping Network on March 25th!! Both of the kits will be at a fabulous value price, so you don't want to miss out.

Stay tuned to American Crafts and Becky Higgins this spring, there will be more amazing announcements that you won't want to miss!

This is a sponsored post by American Crafts

Cre8time Movement // Vanilla Bean Cake

0 · Mar 18, 2013 · 2 Comments

Cre8time Movement // As long as I can remember, I've been a creative type person. To a fault really… If I haven't created something for awhile, I get a little cranky. Ask my husband… he has finally come to terms with this crazy creative side that I have. I know that if I'm feeling a little stressed or blue, all I need to do is find a project to work on. I've dabbled in many different mediums; yarn arts, paper arts, cake decorating, beading, vinyl arts… You name it, I've probably dabbled in it. When Michaels approached me to share about the Cre8time Movement, it was something I knew I could easily get behind.

The bottom line is, our lives are busy. The older we get, it seems the more responsibilities we have and the time we have to be creative starts to disappear. We get bogged down with school, soccer practice, dance rehearsal, dinner, house keeping, work, church… I could go on and on. The first thing that seems to go is our creative time. For me that wasn't a good thing. I have an deep seeded need to create and when I can't, I'm not happy. I'm going through the motions of life, but the joy I find when creating something for or with my family is truly missed. That's what the Cre8time Movement is all about. It's about reclaiming just 8 hours a month to do something creative. Here is a video that explains it all…

Michaels challenged me to reclaim my 8 hours, which wasn't too hard considering I'm a creative blogger. Regardless, I was game in hopes that it will inspire some of you, my favorite friends, to do the same. Here is what I created…

A fun cake for my little guys birthday. I know that Michaels will always have what I need when it comes to my cake decorating needs. I made just a basic white cake with my Simple Vanilla Buttercream frosting with a special addition. I will have the new recipe along with some cake decorating tips later this week on Thursday. I just love how it turned out. My little guy was in awe and I love that he knew that I created that cake just for him.

Are you like me? Do you require some creative time in your life? What inspires you? How are you going to reclaim your cre8time?

Disclaimer

This is a paid post sponsored by Michaels Craft Stores

Dear Lizzy 5th & Frolic // Giveaway

0 · Mar 13, 2013 · 96 Comments

Dear Lizzy Giveaway // What girl doesn't love a shinny new toy to play with? Better yet, new craft supplies to tinker with? I know this girl does. Not too long ago, I was given the opportunity to play with the new 5th & Frolic line from Dear Lizzy at American Crafts and I was thrilled. I had a chance to meet Elizabeth Kartchner, the talented designer and creator of Dear Lizzy, last year at SNAP and immediately fell in love with her style. She is one talented lady for sure! I decided I was going to make some new room decor for my daughter Emily's room with her new 5th & Frolic line…

Supplies

Old frames
Krylon spray paint in Watermelon
1-2 pieces of vellum or tracing paper
Dear Lizzy paper pack
Dear Lizzy tags
Dear Lizzy decorative brads
Dear Lizzy paper garland
Dear Lizzy burlap bows
Dear Lizzy glitter ribbon
Mod Podge
Glue Dots

Instructions

This project was sooooo easy! Emily and I found some fun room decor pieces at Target in their Valentine's Day clearance section last month…

I loved the shape of the pieces, but didn't love the whole motif. I knew with a little spray paint and some fun design elements these little goodies could be transformed into something really fun, so I stashed them away waiting for the perfect project. Along came Dear Lizzy, and knew it was a match made in heaven.

I spray painted the frames with the Krylon Watermelon gloss and then let it sit over night to cure. The next day I traced the raised elements of the frames using some vellum and cut the templates out. I then used the templates to cut out my paper that I would then decoupage onto the frames with Mod Podge. A little trick when you are decoupaging… lightly wet the paper you are using with water before you add the Mod Podge. You won't have any issues with air bubbles if you do that.

Once the Mod Podge was dry, Emily and I set to work decorating her frames. We had so many fun options to choose from…

Tags, brads, glitter tape, burlap bows… So many fun things to choose from. Our favorite was the paper garland. It was so cool how you could magically pull the garland out of the paper and not have to sit for hours cutting little triangles and sewing them together. LOVED IT!!

Emily and I had a ball! This whole project took about and hour once the spray paint was cured. What made it so easy were the stylish papers and design elements from Dear Lizzy's 5th and Frolic line. Everything looks stunning together, so it was impossible to go wrong. The only thing that made me a little sad were the other fun goodies we didn't get to add to our project. Here are a few more of my favorites..

I can't wait to play around with the stamps and the Dear Lizzy day book. The line is truly a joy to work with.

Want to play with some Dear Lizzy 5th and frolic of your very own? It's available at American Crafts now, or from JoAnn Fabric & Craft stores nationwide on March 17th. BUT… you could also win a $50 prize pack here on WhipperBerry from American Crafts!!

All you need to do is follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter box below…

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Valentine Vignette with DecoArt // Giveaway

0 · Feb 3, 2013 · 102 Comments

DecoArt Giveaway // Who's ready for another giveaway? This one completes the trifecta… The fun started on Friday with our ULTIMATE Getaway Giveaway, then on Saturday we had a fun weekend Silhouette Portrait Giveaway and now it's time to bulk up your paint supplies for Valentine's Day with DecoArt! But before we get to the giveaway, I want to share with you my Valentine Vignette that I created with some DecoArt paint that I just LOVE!!

I, of course started the vignette with my Winter White Wreath that I will be transforming throughout the year. For Valentine's Day, I just added a simple felt heart in the center of the wreath and left it at that, because I wanted my paint projects to be the stars of the show this time. The two colors I decided to use this time were the DecoArt Americana, Red Alert and the Metallics Champagne Gold. I started with a piece of Birch wood that I scavenged out of my neighbors trash. Shhhhh, it's not weird at all!! I carved an iconic heart into the wood and then highlighted the carving with the two paint colors and then painted the top of the stump and added some stripes.

I just adore the rustic, yet elegant simplicity of this element. Next, I created a sign using some design elements from Rhonna Designs Insta Kiss digital kit that may be one of my favorite signs to date…

I actually have a separate tutorial for how I made this sign coming up soon and I have an extra special, top secret technique that I used to make the letters really stand out, so stay tuned! I also used the Red Alert paint to dress up this decorative frame that I found at Hobby Lobby and added a bit gray chevron fabric to tie everything together.

I tossed in a few found objects that I just love, my Westinghouse fan that I purchased at a garage sale for $2 and my Anthropologie beach radio that was NOT $2 but I love it non the less. All in all, I thought the whole vignette turned out lovely, thanks to DecoArt!

So… who's ready for some DecoArt fun of their own for Valentine's Day? I have a fun little gift box up for grabs… All you have to do is follow the directions on the Rafflecopter box below and you may just be in luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Crafts

Supplies

Instructions

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