A Gift

This is a little something I made for my parents for Christmas.

It went so well with my kitchen that I was tempted to keep it for myself. ;)
Just kidding....but it did make me decide that I will definitely be making another one, because these trays are LOTS of fun.

These trays are made by 7gypsies, and I've been itching to try one for months. Love how each opening is like it's own little scrapbook page...I also love how a 4x6 photo stands beautifully on it's own too (like the one of Hunter, bottom right). I used 7gypsies papers and some Tim Holtz embellishments...the F is for Family stickers are from 7gypsies as well.

These trays come in black or white, with a few different size options...and I noticed they are on sale at www.scrapbook.com too. :) Happy crafting!

See You at The Little Blue House SOON!

It's no secret that I miss teaching. Admittedly, I was a little burned out around the time we were moving here, but it wasn't long at all before I realized how much the papercrafting world really is a part of me. :) So I was thrilled when Tracy asked me if I would like to teach a workshop while we're in Texas for Christmas. Um, let's see...definitely yes!

So I will be teaching this 10x10 wall hanging at The Little Blue House on Thursday, December 30.

The class will be offered both during the day and again that evening.

"All You Need is Love" features Fancy Pants' new "Hot Chocolate" line. I LOVE this line so much...it's great for Christmas scrapbooking and such, but not so Christmas-y that you can't use it for other things too. Like a super-cute wall hanging that would look great in your house. ;)

In the workshop I'll be teaching a new flower technique, and will bring my laptop along in case any of you want to learn how I made the small, antiqued photos using Photoshop.

For more information and to sign up for this class, visit The Little Blue House blog.
REALLY hoping to see lots of you there~ I miss you!

And the stocking were hung...

This is one of those posts that falls under the "such" category of "scrapbooking and such." Usually my posts involve paper of some sort, but this time it's all about fabric.

Our family was in serious need of new stockings. I hated the ones I had made a few years ago...they were horrible. My friend Jenny showed me some stockings that were in a catalog, and I loved them like she did. They were $35 apiece, and the last thing I wanted to spend $175 right now was stockings. So we decided to make them. And I'm thrilled to report that for what it would have cost to buy one of those stockings, I was able to make all five. Yippee!!

What I think sets these stockings apart (and what drew me to them) is the zebra print ruffle. The ones in the catalog were made of leopard print, which was part of my original plan...until I remembered I had lots of zebra fabric leftover from re-covering my grandma's rocker. So I saved a little extra $$ and our stockings are extra coordinated too. Win-win. :)

We traced an old stocking onto some newspaper to use as a pattern, and my roll of Tacky Tape became a template for the circles. :) Don't know if you sew or not, but if you need any other tips, let me know! Merry Christmas!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It really is. I LOVE Christmas. And it's been fun decorating this year~ I've been a little overwhelmed with having a new house to decorate because I had NO idea where to put anything. And I actually got most of the decorating done before we left for Thanksgiving in Texas, and am so THANKFUL now that I did that. It was great coming home and having most things done. The crafty bug has hit me hard this week, and so I've been working on a couple things. I was inspired by some stars similar to these on Fancy Pants' blog. I know, I know....I'm always inspired by Fancy Pants. :) They're my favorite~ I swear they are in my head. Crazy.

Pretty simple, basic project...some wooden stars, dowels, and spools. Add your favorite Christmas papers~ the ones I chose are from Basic Grey and Fancy Pants (I know, shocking). ;)
Black paint, E6000 to glue it all together, and some mod podge because I wanted a shinier finished product, some leopard print bows because 1) they go with the stockings I'm working on for our mantle and 2) I love leopard print. :) And voila! They're done.

A little "happy" for our mantle. :)

I was wanting something big for our entryway, and was inspired by something I saw in a Potterybarn Teen catalog. Their version had peace sign ornaments hanging on it, which was kinda fun, but I changed it up a little. We had these old deck boards in our yard (Brian replaced them this summer), so I asked him to put a few of them together for me so I could paint a tree on it. Thankfully he's used to my weird requests and happily got busy hammering. Love that man. :)

So I painted a tree, nailed some jute to create some trim, added some chipboard stars, a paper one on the top, hung these red snowflakes on the nails (purchased at Walmart), and it was done. It's different, fun, and adds something substantial to our entryway. What do you think?

And as a bonus, here's a pic of our dog, Addy, in her Christmas fleece jacket. Because apparently I've become one of those people who like to dress up their dog. Who would have thought? ;)

A Very Hatcher Christmas (album)

So....a couple weeks ago our women's minister stopped me at church to ask if I'd be willing to share a Christmas album with our mom's group and talk about our family traditions at our last meeting, coming up in a week.

I told her I would love to except....I don't have a Christmas album. :/

I know...I'm so ashamed. ;) Someday I will have time to scrapbook my family, right?

Thankfully, she said that wasn't a problem, and set a budget for me to go shop for things to make a Christmas album to share with the girls.

Seriously!?! Does that girl know the way to my heart, or what? Just kidding. Kind of. ;)

But really, how much fun would that be? :) :) :)

Lots, I tell you. Lots.

I headed to Archivers and was once again thankful that there were plenty of Christmas papers and embellishments to choose from in October. :)

I'd love to show you more, but I've only done the cover. :) I know....this week will be busy. Really excited about going back over these last 10 years and re-living our family Christmases.

*Please excuse the picture quality....had to use my flash, which I usually avoid, but it's night time, so what's a girl to do?*

Busy

I know it's been a little quiet around here lately.

It may seem quiet, but trust me when I say that it actually has been anything but quiet here.

The fact is, I've been busy. Which is better than the alternative. I don't do well with quiet and boring. And trust me, it is never quiet or boring here. :)

In the midst of our busy schedule, keeping up with the boys, school, church, housework, ironing, grocery shopping, football practice, picking up toys, cleaning some more, guitar lessons, playing, etc., I've been trying to get this order finished up. It needs to be mailed off next Friday. Getting close to being finished, but I'll admit it's moving slower than I had planned.

Doesn't it always work that way? Oh well....I'll get there. Quickly. Deadlines are good for me.

Really.

The little red desk (and the rest of my craft area) has been a complete disaster.
And it's making me nuts. But I keep reminding myself that I thrive on chaos, that I will finish and clean up soon....and then start another project. :)

But anyway...here is another mini-book.

A kindergarten book for a cute little boy named Brady.
I went with a vintagey look for this one.

A little Crate Paper mixed with some October Afternoon.

Wish I could see the completely finished project....you know, when the photos are added.
Brady is really a super cute kid, and will make this album way better. :)

The only thing I like better than buying school supplies is making school-themed books. :)

And I can't wait until I can show you all of this one. Don't want to spoil the surprise.

But I can't help but give a little peek...

Is it just me, or that little blue bird the picture of happiness?

She's from Basic Grey's "Olivia" collection, and I think she's pretty fab.

Kinda dig that pink leopard flower too....more to come. :)

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like.....

...Christmas. :)
Not really. In fact, I get annoyed when I go into stores and see Christmas stuff everywhere when it's only October. I prefer to soak up as much Fall as humanly possible.

I will admit, however, that I was thankful to find so many great Christmas papers and embellishments out ready to be bought when I was getting ready to make these cards.

My sweet hubs leaked my papercrafting secret to some of the ladies at church. :) Just kidding....I am totally fine with them knowing what I do. As I've said before, I've missed it. A lot. And I was thrilled when the women's minister at our church asked me to lead our women's group in making some Christmas cards next month. It will go along with the Operation Christmas Child (www.samaritanspurse.org) shoebox stuffing event we are doing that day. It's something I am passionate about, something our family participates in each year. If you've never heard about it, please visit their website. And getting the opportunity to make Christmas cards with these ladies is just icing on the cake. :) So anyway....cards. Christmas cards. Had to have these samples ready to show tomorrow. Happy to report I got them finished up during Hunter's nap time. No last minute stressing necessary.

I think Frosty here might be my favorite. Something about those eyes..... ;)

One that is a little more formal....don't usually do a lot of stamping or embossing....out of my comfort zone. I've done a lot of "out of my comfort zone" here lately....makes embossing seem like no big deal. :)

I did one similar to this one when I worked at Recollections. Love those little triangle trees. :)

And how fun it was getting to use some Stickles again. The papers I used for all the cards were a mix of some Basic Grey, Fancy Pants (shocking, I know;)), and My Mind's Eye. All their new holiday lines. Gotta check 'em out.

Now, go pick a pumpkin or make some cider or something. Enjoy the Fall. Christmas will be here soon enough. :)

"B" is for Boy...

...and in this case, a boy named Beckham. :)

This is the first of five minibooks I'm working on for a customer.

Being a mom of three boys, it's no secret that I LOVE scrapping boy stuff.

Things have come a very long way in the scrapbooking world when it comes to papers and embellishments and boys....long gone are the days of trains and cars as the only boy-themed items out there. Thank goodness. :)

For this book I used Bo Bunny's arrow book and Fancy Pants' Rough and Tough paper line. One of my very favorites from last year that I'm not sure I'll ever get tired of. It's fun and funky and perfect for scrapping boys of just about any age.

In this case, a super-cute two-year-old named Beckham. :)

I added some 5x9 inch chipboard pages in between the arrow pages, making sure they don't show when the book is closed. Lots of buttons, some hemp wound around a few pages and tied through some buttons, and it's all good. :)

Now I've got to get busy on some Christmas card samples that are due on Tuesday.

Forever the procrastinator. *sigh*

Paper Flowers

There is this wall in our kitchen that needed some happy.

And I needed a project to get me back in the groove of things, so I made this banner.

We've been talking in our house a lot lately about being a light....showing Jesus to people we come in contact with every day. Some days we totally nail it. Others, not so much. But we're working on it. So I thought this verse displayed in our kitchen (where we spend so much time) would be helpful. :)

And just so you know...I know it looks like the John 12:36 is crooked. It's something weird with the angle of my camera. Really. Kept measuring and looking at it b/c the photos kept coming out crooked, but it's right if you look at it in person. Weird, but true.

But anyway~ the chipboard banner is from Daisy Bucket. The papers are a mix of a few of my favorites: Pink Paislee's Fascinating, October Afternoon's Report Card, and a little 7 Gypsies and Melissa Frances too. Mixing paper lines can be tricky, but it will free you up, I promise. ;)

This is the lower right corner. Just a few flowers, a button with some hemp tied through, and some coordinating ribbon. Add some ric rac and buttons, and you've got it.

Here's the upper left corner. The small flower consists of a stack of 5 flowers with a jewel on top. The one in the lower left corner is 3 torn circles, crumpled up, and inked. Add a button with some more hemp (or ribbon if you prefer) on top. The arrangement of ribbons are held together with two trinket pins from Maya Road~ these are my favorite embellishments right now....fab.

Ok...now for the how-to on the argyle paper flower. I learned this last fall on a website, and have been combing the internet for the past couple days trying to find where I learned it. If/when I find it, I will post it here. Definitely want to give credit where credit is due.

You will want to start with a 5x5 square of patterned paper. Going larger is fine, but I wouldn't go any smaller. Gets really hard to work with.

Fold the square in half diagonally.

Fold in half diagonally again.

And then one more time.

Next, hold the folded corner between your fingers, and round off the open part of the fold.

Open your paper to see your flower.

Now, carefully crumple it up. This will give it some dimension and make the paper softer and easier to work with.

Turn the flower face down, and use a glue dot to stick a button (medium-sized) in the center. The color doesn't matter~ in fact, I used one that I didn't like, because it's not going to show.

Wrap the paper around the button and secure with a rubberband. I recommend those small, clear ones that are used for little girls' hair.

Then flatten the paper back out and you have a flower!

If you like you can add a button or jewel, some ribbon, or you can leave it like it is.

Ink it up. Make it yours. :)

And....I'm back :)

So....my family and I moved from Texas to Georgia 6 months ago.

To say that a lot has changed would be the understatement of the year. :)

The fact that I can smile about it is HUGE.

I've spent the past few months making our new house "home." Decorating, putting out familiar things, making friends, getting involved at our new church, ensuring that our boys were adjusting well to our new home. All of these things have kepts me plenty busy.

I'm happy to say that our boys are thriving.

And now, 6 (rather long) months later,

so am I.

And I realized that one really important thing in my life was still missing: my craft room.

My craft room was sitting in boxes in our basement.

I knew that the old Jac was returning when I suddenly had a strong desire to set up shop.

And then, when an order for 4 scrapbooks rolled in, things got serious. :)

and then, when I spoke with Tracy about doing some work for

The Little Blue House, I felt a little panicky.

But now I'm set up in our loft upstairs, and have given new life to my hub's childhood desk.

It's now red....I'm going through a red phase. I go through lots of phases.

Thankfully, paint is cheap. :)

Tomorrow, I get busy on a handful of projects that have rolled in....stay tuned.