Tag Archives: library drawer

May 15

Gypsy for a day!

Yesterday, I had the awesome privilege to attend a 7 Gypsies class at my local scrapbook store, Pocketful of Treasures. What a great day it was, creating wonderful keepsakes with Paula and Debbie, of the 7 Gypsies team. We made portfolios, and tags for their new, small library drawer. Although we spent 3.5-4 hours on each project, the time flew for me, and it felt like we only spent 1 hour on each! I will do classes with 7 Gypsies again, any day!

library drawer

portfolio

I can’t wait to add my own journaling and photos to both of these; I know these will be treasured keepsakes I will enjoy for a long time. Who knows, perhaps I can make these for you, too.

Friday night we met Paula and Debbie at the store, and had a make-n-take…I cheekily call this the “hors d’oeuvre” before the good stuff! This what we made (for free!)

mini journal

Check out the 7 Gypsies site for more ideas and great products! Please let me know if you have any questions or ideas, and have a scrappin’ good day!

Apr 2

Vintage finds

great finds at great prices

After work this afternoon, I met hubby at a new art exhibit opening at the Spectrum Gallery, downtown in the Tower District (the Soho of our town). Afterward, I noticed some antique shops nearby, and since I don’t often get to this side of town very often, I thought I should peek my head in to see what’s what. I have been looking for some vintage items, and I feel that I’d rather not spend an arm and a leg for a “new” scrapbook product that is supposed to give that vintage feel, and get the real deal, instead. No shipping costs, either. The first place I went to was an “antique mall” with many vendors in individual booths. Loads of goodies, here! Wow, I will have to go back again someday, except that I noticed that many antiques are more expensive than I realized. Well, maybe those 7 Gypsies vintage-looking products on their website don’t look so bad after all…But, I was able to find some inexpensive items that I had been wanting, and then I went to a thrift store down the street and found what I have been really wanting: cheap, unused sewing patterns. Sewing patterns, I have discovered (thank you, Ali Edwards!), can be used like tissue paper, and decoupaged onto journal pages:

braying a piece of pattern onto a decoupaged acrylic overlay page

the finished page, on the right.

I did this method for Ali Edwards’ On the Road class/journal. I loved the look of  the transparent tissue-like pattern piece over the acrylic transparency (which has a pattern of a map on it).

I also wanted some little, antique bottles to nestle into my 7 Gypsies library drawer. I will put some vintage labels on them, and they will add a nice touch.

Last, but not least, I have noticed these neat little “flower frogs” in photos on Etsy. Crafters use them to hold a paper product for photography. I really like it!

I am so surprised at myself doing this today. I guess it just goes to show that one must keep an open mind, and you’ll find what you’re looking for about the time you stop looking!  Happy crafting!

Mar 21

Finding a new home for old photos…

Going through my supplies in the studio, I recently found some older photos thrown into an envelope. Oh, shame on me, I thought to myself! Every once in a while I will have an extra photo that just didn’t make it into a layout, but I can’t bear to toss them. Some, I have to admit are old originals that have been scanned into my computer, and I didn’t have a good place to keep them. I gathered some up, and decided that today is the day to do something with them. They need a home, and I just happened to have a Cindy Ruijgrok scrapbook kit purchased on Etsy a while back. Now, I have a cute new mini album, with fewer disorganized photos, and my library tray is a little fuller, as well.

I Want To Remember book

I  have only just begun to start filling the tray, but I know right now that it is going to be very enjoyable. Anything goes, and everything will! The index cards have patterned papers covering both sides with the tabs left alone; I will be adding more embellies to these, and to the many photos that will be going inside. I will show more photos as this progresses.

Also: I received an email from Big Picture Classes about a new self-paced class by a new instructor named Amy Tangerine. I haven’t heard of her before, but I quickly signed up for the class since it is discounted for a short period of time, since the synopsis sounded so good. I’ll be making more mini scrap journals; I watched some videos provided in the class and Amy has lots of tips and tricks for making them truly unique. It should be exciting! Here is the link: http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/creativejuice.php Check it out!  Happy crafting!