Life's Celebrations Blog Hop!

Welcome to Creating In Real Life! Today we'll be "blog hopping" all over the internet to check out projects made by MemoryWorks TeamWorks members using the latest Simple Stories collections!

Today I will show you a few projects made with Simple Stories Generations. This beautiful line is a mix of darker, muted colors with a touch of "antique" - perfect for a heritage album or those black-and-white family pictures! Celebrate your Family in style!

First is a layout, using some 12x12 paper, a 6x12 card and two 4x6 cards...layered with lots of stickers! I also stuck a couple of smaller journaling cards behind the photo as pull-out tags:

 Close-up of some sticker layering:

 The tags (note: I put some cardstock on the back of the right side of the heart sticker so it wouldn't stick to the tags):

Next up is a "heritage" card, made completely with patterned cardstock and stickers from the Generations line (well, plus a piece of twine..which is the perfect accent for Generations!):

Next are a couple of mini-albums, perfect for a make-and-take, stocking stuffer, teacher gift or brag book! Using 1 12x12 sheet of 2x3 journaling cards, I put 1/2 together with a binder ring for one mini, and the other half in tiny page protectors (bound matchbook style). Add a couple of stickers and a little ribbon and you're done!

Here is the Binder Ring album:

 The mini page protector/matchbook album:

Please be sure to leave comments at all of the stops on our hop today for a chance to win the Grand Prize - the more blogs you visit and comment on, the more chances you have to win!

1. MemoryWorks
2. Christy
3. Danielle
4. Jade
5. Kelly H
6. Lacey Igo
7. Lisa H
8. Sandy (YOU ARE HERE)
9. Sarah J
10. Sharon
11. Sheri
12. Shirelle
13. Susan
14. Simple Stories

Happy Hoppin'!

Giveaway at RisC

Check out the new blog of a friend of mine -- She's a SAHM who makes super cute stuff (jewelry, hair stuff, hats, etc.) for her etsy shop and is giving away a couple of fun things this week when she gets 50 followers!

Go to RisC Handmade to enter! Good luck!

Tour my space!

Go see a tour of my "craft room" on the MemoryWorks blog today!

http://memoryworksblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/inspiration-friday-sandys-scrappin.html

Simple Stories Blog Hop! 100 Days of Summer, baby!

**Note: The Blog Hop starts officially at 10am MST...if some of the links to other blogs aren't working yet, try again then :) ***

Hello!

Welcome to my oft-neglected, but always loved, little crafting space on the web! Today I am showing you some fun projects made with the Simple Stories 100 Days of Summer scrapbooking kit, as well as a few other goodies.

Simple Stories is an AWESOME system developed by MemoryWorks founder Amber Crowell. The kits include doubled sided 12x12 paper, as well as double-sided element cards in various sizes to use for titles, photo mats, journaling blocks, etc. There are also stickers, ribbon and stamps! You can use the pieces stand-alone for traditional scrapbooking/paper crafting, or use the whole Simple Stories "system" which uses divided page protectors for fast, cute, hassle-free memory recording. Check out the Simple Stories website here for more information.

Now...on to the projects!

First we have 3 wedding cards (tis the season for weddings, no?!) using 100 Days of Summer paper, some Simple Stories coordinating ribbon and a couple of Unity Stamps ("Nicest Place to Be" and "Rain or Shine" ittybitty sets). Feel free to click on the following image to examine them up close and personal!

Aren't the colors in this kit yummy? Reminds me of lemonade, watermelon, blue shaved ice...SUMMER!

Next up is a "layout" using the Simple Stories divided page-protector system. The two colored blocks are a couple of the cut-apart elements that come with the kit - I used the Simple Stories/Unity banner stamps and some twine to make some cute garlands, added some photo mats and stickers and PRESTO! Easy-peasy layout waiting for pictures to slip into their pockets - no adhesive required - and I can add more journaling or multiple pictures to the pockets if I want to! I love this system!
Here's a closer look at the larger photo mat. You can see that I used some pop-dots to add a little dimension to the banner, as well as some hand stitching along the photo mat:
The last project I'd like to share with you has LOTS of parts (you wouldn't believe how much paper and kit elements I have left from this kit, even after making ALL these projects! You can literally make an entire scrapbook out of one kit and the divided page protectors!).

This is my new "Household organizer"! I used a 7 gypsies library card holder set and put together an easy place to keep goals, budgets, bills, coupons, etc. - all the little bits of paper, post-its and to-do lists that I constantly misplace!

I lined the bottom of the box with a piece of patterned paper from the 100 Days of Summer kit and used all kinds of stickers, stamps and cut-apart elements to decorate the cards inside. I laminated all pieces for durability:

Here is a peek at some of the cards:
I will be sharing more photos and information about this system on the MemoryWorks blog on July 29th -- stay tuned!

Now that you've seen my projects...keep on hoppin' to the other MemoryWorks TeamWorks participants' blogs!

MemoryWorks

Lacey

Sheri

Susan

Jade

Sandy (YOU ARE HERE)

Lisa

Kelly

Sharon

Sarah J.

Christy

Simple Stories

Be sure to leave a comment at each stop on the Hop to earn more entries towards the Grand Prize Giveaway!

Thanks for stopping by!

Simple Stories: Destinations BLOG HOP!

Welcome! The net is indeed a-hoppin' today while the MemoryWorks TeamWorks design team rolls out the red carpet for the new Simple Stories: Destinations line! I love the bold, classy look of this line and had a lot of fun designing with it!

I challenged myself to to take this line in two directions -- first, to "go with it" and make a layout using the line in a more expected, muted way:
The included clear overlays make it easy (and mess-free!) to add a little extra touch to a photo. Here I trimmed up a sticker from the Destinations sticker sheet and slid it under the overlay for some added color:
Pop dots and a little twine turn flat stickers into 3-D embellishments!

"Family - Our Journey Together" Layout -all materials from Simple Stories: Destinations kit, plus one piece of black cardstock

For the second layout, I decided to brighten things up and take the kit elements in a more playful direction. I borrowed a few items from the March MemoryWorks Express kit to brighten things up a little:
Again, a couple of pop dots go a long way in adding texture and dimension to stickers!
The multi-colored stickers in the Destinations kit are easy to incorporate in all kinds of layouts and color schemes:

"Play" Layout Materials Used:

*Simple Stories: Destinations paper, stickers and journaling cards

*Jenni Bowlin Studio Flag Banner stickers

*Bella Road "Table Cloth" paper

*Webster's Pages "Spring Market" paper

*twine

I put together this is a little travel journal for a design challenge on the MemoryWorks Consultant Studio message board:

This is a fun, quick project - simply cover a small notebook with paper and embellish with a couple strips of paper and a few stickers - everything you need is in the kit, already matching perfectly! Punch holes through the front and back cover, add a few eyelets to strengthen the holes, and thread a piece of ribbon through them to keep the book closed. That's all there is to it! If you're feeing particularly tricky, you can cover a few inside pages and add tabs for dividers, as I did here:

I plan to stick this little guy in the glovebox of my car to jot down little notes, memories, etc.

Travel Journal materials: twill ribbon, all other materials from Destinations kit

Be sure to check out all the other TeamWorks members Destinations projects today! A grand prize will be chosen from ALL comments left on all of the listed blogs, so be sure to leave lots of love all around- the more you comment, the better your chances of winning the prize!

Blog Hop Destinations:

1. MemoryWorks Blog
2. Lacey Igo
3. Susan Nichols
4. Danielle Hunter
5. Sharon Hill
6. Sheri Feypel
7. Kelly Holbrook
8. Sarah Crawford
9. Sarah Jimerson
10. Sandy Zent (YOU ARE HERE!)
11. Simple Stories

(By the way...if you're new to "blog hopping", all you do is visit each of the above listed blogs and leave a comment in their Simple Stories: Destinations post. Have fun looking around and getting inspired!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Somebody is making stuff again...

There are many types of creativity, some of which I have, some of which I don't.

I "Don't":

*Paint anything more complicated than a single color at a time

*Successfully make up new recipes, although I keep trying...sorry family...

*Have much luck sewing clothing without a pattern, although, sadly, I still try

*Have the "eye" for seeing future greatness in random ugly objects unless I have a specific project in mind and find exactly what I'm looking for.

My mother-in-law, on the other hand, is very adept at all four of these things - especially the last one. MY creativity is more like - give me a defined pile of stuff and I can make something out of it or show me a picture and I'll find my own way to copy it. HER creativity is more visionary - she can go into a thrift store, craft store or garage sale and pick out cool things that need a makeover, without knowing ahead of time what she's going to do with them. When she comes up with a cool project idea, she usually has just what she needs in her stash at home somewhere. She has the EYE!

I am so jealous of this.

This weekend, I got to pick through some destined-to-be-garage-saled items at my in-laws house and picked up a couple of "projects". I told her that I wanted to make a tray with glass jars on it for my laundry room. She presented me with this:
She had found it at a thrift store somewhere and bought it because she liked the shape and thought she could make something cool out of it. Unless I already knew I was looking for a tray, I would have passed right by this thing at the first sight of those, um, interesting, um, birds. She has skills, I tell you - mad skills!

She also had these jars:
Sweet! Once I had my pile of stuff, THEN I could figure out how to be creative with it. So...in case you find an ugly tray and some cool jars and want to transform then, here is how to do it.

You need:

*A Wooden tray (look for a shape/size that works - you'll be covering everything else)

*A couple sheets of coordinating patterned cardstock

*Matching acrylic paint and brush

*ModPodge and brush

*Cutting and measuring tools

*Glass jars

*Self-adhesive vinyl and cutting tool/machine (I used a Cricut Expression)

Step 1: Sand off anything that will easily come off - like gold leafing - and smooth out weird spots on the tray, perhaps turning on a Scentsy or something to mask the puzzling but unmistakable smell of vomit-laced fart coming from the tray while its being sanded (or maybe that was just MY tray...)
Step 2: Paint a couple coats of acrylic paint over the parts of the tray that may show when you're done. Marvel at your amazing paintery skills (seriously, this is as tricky as my painting gets):
Step 3: Spend several minutes testing your two rolls of black vinyl to try and figure out which one has permanent adhesive on the back and which one is repositionable. Kick yourself for not labeling them 4 months ago when the order arrived. Break out the Cricut and cut out the vinyl:
Step 4: Measure and cut your patterned paper to fit the parts of the tray where they will belong. This was a little tricky for the curved parts and I have no words of wisdom on how to do that other than, try tracing the bottom of the tray and measure carefully.

Step 5: Adhere paper to all sections of tray using ModPodge. Apply several coats to the top of the paper, allowing to dry between coats. Kick yourself for not using the "anti-bubbling trick" of coating one side of the paper with ModPodge and letting it dry and THEN adhering to the tray to avoid all the bubbles, creases and pulls you actually ended up with.
Step 6: Apply vinyl lettering to jars (which have been carefully washed with vinegar and water and dried). Fill jars with whatever you've got waiting for them:
Step 7: Decide that you have too many jars on the tray and lament the fact that you can barely see the cute patterned paper on the inside.
Step 8: Remove one jar and put it on a shelf somewhere else. Strategically place two dryer balls on the tray:
Step 9: Step back and admire your work...and then realize that your cute decoration doesn't really help the fact that the rest of the room is completely unfinished. More projects, right??

Wow - its hard to stage a cute photo for my project when there is nothing but a plain painted wall and a dusty washer and dryer. Oh well, this blog is about creating in REAL life, right?!

Now that I am healthier, have successfully birthed another baby and am starting to feel like I have energy to do more than nurse, eat, sleep and do the occasional load of laundry, I plan on doing more creating and blogging! Definitely check back on Thursday because I will be one stop on the MemoryWorks Simple Stories: Destinations Blog Hop! That means - more projects! See ya then!