My sister had a theme wedding. As a world traveler (she’s been to all but one continent and all of the states), she wanted to bring her passion to travel to her wedding.
We made place cards using map paper to help people find where in the world they will be sitting. Each table was a different place she has visited … (more on the centerpieces to come).
In leu of a guest book, she bought a map and pens for guests to sign. Naturally I couldn’t let the pens just “hang out” on the table, so I made her a coordinating little jar to hold them in.
The label was a little large for the jar, so it had a few wrinkles, but it turned out really cute, don’t you think? Here’s how I did it:
My secret weapon is Elizabeth Craft Designs Clear Double Sided Adhesive. If you’ve followed me before, you know how much I love this stuff. It sticks to anything, is crystal clear and comes in all sorts of sizes. I applied it to the back of the map paper (Authentique) and then ran it through my Big Shot with a Tim Holtz label die. This way, adhesive wouldn’t show from one side of the jar to the other.
I then added a black stamp die cut, also from Tim Holtz/Sizzix, to each label. I topped it off with a sticker from Little B.
And, on the other side …
I finished it off with a bit of ribbon from American Crafts and some travel charms from Art C.
I thought we should be a bit patriotic today, so I brought back this classic page from 2014 … This one was cut by hand, but you could do the same thing with the dies … By the way, this is still one of my favorite pages of all time and it still lives in my sample book!
I captured the moments from our Fourth of July celebration on this Mosaic Moments layout.
I know you’ve seen plenty of photos of me with my bike, but I had to do one more …
For a little background info … At 44, I decided I was going to be bedridden if I didn’t get moving. My biggest hurdle was that it hurt to walk. After less than a mile, my right leg tenses up, the muscles contract, my foot goes numb and I lose control of it. It is extremely painful and the pain continues for hours after I stop walking. The first time it happened, more than 20 years ago, I pushed through the pain and actually fell and twisted my ankle. Since then, it has progressively gotten worse.
I didn’t go to a doctor because I didn’t want to hear, “lose weight and it will be fine.” Nor did I want to be one of those people who has an “excuse” for everything they cannot (or don’t want) to do.
So, I was looking for things I could do that wouldn’t hurt my leg and I thought bike riding might be good. Problem is, I hadn’t ridden a bike since I was 18 and I weighed so much that I was afraid it would be impossible. So, I set myself a goal. I decided that if I lost 50 pounds, I would try it.
That day came on Memorial Day in 2016. While my family hung out on the back deck of my mother-in-law’s house, I quietly slipped away and took her bike for a ride. I’m sure if anyone saw me, they were laughing hysterically at how wobbly I was, but after a few times of nearly hitting the curb before remembering that I had breaks, I figured it out. It’s amazing how the body can remember to do something again after so many years of not doing it!
My husband and I realized that this could be something fun to do together, so we each bought bikes. I selected a cruiser that allowed me to sit upright and put both feet firmly on the ground while sitting on the seat.
These photos were taken on our first official ride on a bike path — at a park in Linden, MI. They are some of the most important photos I have ever taken … Yes, they mark an important spot in my journey to losing weight and feeling great, but they mean so much more to me.
They were just quick snapshots my husband took with my phone, but they are the first pictures I looked at in many, many years where I thought, “I look good!” For the past few decades, whenever I saw my pictures, I always cringed because I was so much heavier than the person I saw in the mirror. I hated my photos. I still took them and scrapbooked them because they were important to me, but they made me depressed — often to the point of tears — every time I saw them. But when I saw these, I just kept looking at my thighs and thinking, “Wow! I look really good!”
It took me several weeks to share my feelings with my husband (and nearly a year to share with the world), but after that, it became a “thing.” Whenever we were riding and I was getting tired or thinking the hill was too hard to climb, I would look at my thighs and remember how good they looked in this photo and how much better they would look if I kept this up and it would push me further. My husband picked up on it and he would remind me to look at my thighs whenever the going got too hard. It was all the motivation I needed.
Yes, these two little pictures are responsible for me losing an additional 30 pounds and going from riding a mile to riding 13 miles in just one summer.
Such special photos need special treatment, so I went a little artsy on this page. I used papers from Authentique, a resin bike from Melissa Frances (accented with a bit of Distress Paint) and the Circle Tiles and Tab Die Set from Mosaic Moments to complete my page.
I made a video to show you how fun it can be to create embellishments with the Circle Tiles using different patterned papers. Check it out.
(I am compensated to create videos for Mosaic Moments).
By the way, I have talked to my doctor about my leg. After several tests, she thinks it is a mineral and amino-acid deficiency. I’ve been taking both for the past year. It’s not perfect yet, but I can walk faster and harder and when the pain does hit, it hurts less and it quits almost immediately after resting. Bike riding doesn’t hurt it one bit. And those are things I can live with.
Our challenge this month for the Elizabeth Craft Designs’ Design Team is to make a project with the new Tags & More die sets. I decided to turn them into a little mini album.
And since I am obsessed with foxes at the moment, I used Authentique’s new Cozy papers (with foxes and snowflakes) and ordered Dutch the Fox, one of the newest dies from Karen Burniston for ECD.
Cut four strips of paper 3 1/2″ x 12″. Use Tags & More 1 — Lace and cut the tag on one side. Then, snip and trim the edges so you have four long tags.
Score at 5 1/8″ and fold each tag. Then ink all of the pieces.
Take two tags and put them back-to-back so the ends match. Tape the ends together to make a page. Line up another tag so the tops of the tags match and adhere. Then, do another set of bottoms to form the book. It will look like this:
Cut out the pieces of Dutch the Fox (I used black cardstock, white velvet paper from ECD and some of the Authentique paper) and adhere him to the front of the book. Cut out six flower hole reinforcers and two corners (included in the Tags & More 1 — Lace set). Adhere the corners to the front. Adhere the flowers onto each side of the tops of the tags — making sure they are lined up so you don’t see any backs.
Add letters to spell Winter and a few Glitter Dots to the cover. Tie ribbon through each of the tags.
Then, complete each of the inside pages as shown …
The tree is also a die from ECD.
I love how the book turned out.
Now, see what the other designers created with the new tag dies on the ECD blog!
This month’s challenge at Scrap It Girl is a color challenge. The rules are simple. create something using navy, red, cream and kraft paper.
Since my cousin’s birthday is coming up, I thought I would make her a card in the Americana color scheme.
I used one of the doll stamps from Prima (Becky), but I only kept her bottom half. I love the way she looks hanging around in the top corner of the card. I colored her with Copic markers and then attached her with dimensional foam adhesive.
The paper is from Authentique.
I cut out the words, “Happy Birthday”, with an Elizabeth Craft Designs die.
As a final touch, I added some Glitter Flowers and Glitter Dots from Elizabeth Craft Designs.
Please join me in wishing Bianca a very happy birthday!
Now it’s your turn … grab some supplies and create a project using navy, red, cream and kraft paper and share it on Scrap It Girl. You could win an amazing array of prizes!
This month’s challenge at Scrap It Girl is to use hearts on your project.
I wanted to create a card that was as masculine as possible, given that I was working with pink hearts!
I started with a kraft card as a background.
Then I cut up pieces of Authentique paper and layered them. For the top one, I added a bit of Distress Ink to the edges and used dimensional foam to pop the ticket.
I added a canvas heart from Linnie Blooms that I stamped with a Wendy Vecchi background stamp and Archival Ink. I hung the heart from a 7 Gypsies clip with a bit of wire and added a little more wire on the card as an accent.
Simple, but fun to make. What do you think?
Now, visit Scrap It Girl’s site and add your own heart creation. You could win some amazing prizes!
One of my dearest friends and her daughter have opened a new business in Brighton called Green Door Studio.
It is an adorable shop filled with repurposed furniture, handmade crafts and hard-to-find items like vintage windows and drawer pulls. The store also has two classrooms so people can hang out and work on their own projects or take classes from several different teachers, including me!
When the store opened, I wanted to take something as a bit of a congratulations gift. Knowing the store’s (and my friend’s) philosophy on recycling and being “green,” I made this little vase out of a jelly jar (one that actually came with jelly in it, not one of my canning jars).
To make the label, I pulled out a manilla tag and cut off the tag portion and used a corner punch to round the edges.
I swiped three shades of green Distress Ink onto my non-stick craft sheet
and spritzed it with water.
Then I placed the tag upside down and swirled it around in the ink.
I dried it with a heat gun and then swiped it around in the ink some more. I dried it again and repeated the process a few more times until I liked the results.
Then I inked the edges in Vintage Photo Distress Ink
and then applied a bit of Black Soot Distress ink to the very edge.
I added stickers from Authentique and stamped the word Congratulations on the label and then stuck it to the jar. Next I added some Tissue Tape from Tim Holtz, a bit of twine and a button (Stampin’ Up) to the rim of the glass.
As a final touch, I glued on a wishbone from Tim Holtz for good luck.
I filled the jar with water and some freshly cut basil from my garden — I love how good it smells — and took it to the new store on opening day.
To see when I’m teaching at her store in Brighton, click the calendar on the right. Or visit her blog at thegreendoorstudio.com.
By the way, this is still one of my favorite pages of all time and it still lives in my sample book!
These photos were taken on our first official ride on a bike path — at a park in Linden, MI. They are some of the most important photos I have ever taken … Yes, they mark an important spot in my journey to losing weight and feeling great, but they mean so much more to me.
candy scraps 