I knew summer was winding down, but I couldn't believe my eyes when I went to the store the other day. Was I surprised by the aisles devoted to Back-to-School supplies? No. Was I taken aback by the Halloween decorations? Yes. But most shocking - there was an aisle getting prepped for Christmas! Seriously?

I love the holidays. Luuuurve them! But even I, the girl who has Christmas CDs stashed in her car when she feels the need for some Bing Crosby, have trouble thinking about a White Christmas when it is over 90 degrees...

I will admit, though, that I am so jazzed about Halloween! One of my favorite holidays ever! What is it about Halloween that evokes such good nostalgia? Is it the candy? The costumes? Even the colors of Autumn and Halloween are great. Ripe pumpkin and blazing scarlet, deep purples and midnight black, goblin green... Scrapbooking Halloween pages is fun because there are almost always good pictures to scrap, too. Kiddos in costumes, and Halloween parties...

Happy Mother's Day!

When meeting a sister scrapper, we talk about favorite papers, the best local and online scrapbook supply shops, and the same question usually surfaces: "How long have you scrapped?" And so often, the answer is, "When I had my first child..." When expecting that baby, many of us get that nesting urge, and not surprisingly, after that sweet little one makes his or her debut into this world, we get the urge to document it. Photo albums, baby books... and scrapbooks!

I started scrapping kids, too, but my sisters' kids. Then I did my wedding album, and when I ran out of pictures, I did pages inspired by my cat (my fur baby). When I finally got my twin boys, I was so happy to do some cutie baby pages. Of course, now most of my personal scrapbook pages are dominated by those sweet boys...

So, to all the moms out there, whether they have little ones, grown ones, furry ones, or are that friend that "mothers" and looks out for all her girlfriends -

Happy Mother's Day!

A Glorious Morning!

Is it safe to say it? Will I jinx it?

deep breath

Spring is here! It really is here! The grass is green and the flowers are starting to bloom! I got my first sunburn of the season, which is another sign that the snow and cold should be gone for good... besides, it is May for goodness sake.

I was at the Flint Farmer's Market in Michigan, one of the coolest venues I have done. Fresh fruit, live music, and for the first time, art vendors! I had a booth with my sister, selling some pretty altered art and such, and talking scrapbooking with sweet ladies. I also bought some vintage books and fresh strawberries :)

This sweet Valentine Tin is one of my all time favorites!



This is the sweet mini book insert I made to go inside.

This is a sweet Easter Tin that I did last spring.

Here are a few pics of some tins I have done in the past. I just wanted to share! This baby girl tin was a hit on Ebay and I ended up making special orders for baby boy tins just like it.

PAPER PIECING PATTERN CD VOLUME 3

YIPEE!!!!   I finally finished my 3rd pattern CD!!!!  I had recently gotten a MAC and I just couldn't figure out how to put the CD together!  Well after some very long trials, it is finally done!! :)  I have to say, I am rather proud of the piecings offered on this CD.  On this CD you will find:

~ David Dog

~ Caitlin Cat

~ Dotty Dolphin

~ Bella Bunny

~ Casey Chick

~ Willy Wolf

~ Florence Flamingo

~ Philimena Flamingo

~ Frances Frog

~ Lucy Lamb

~ Penny Penguin

~ Cap and Bow for Frances Frog

~ Palm Tree

~ and Layout ideas!

Look for this and other Pattern CD's from BTDL Artists on Ebay and our BTDL Boutique!

Thanks!

Tina - TYCAALAK

 

What is everyone up to?

There are lots of new goodies up for auction right now on ebay from BTDL Designs Team Members. Take for instance Julie's latest layout:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190295100525&_trksid=p3907.m32&_trkparms=tab%3DWatching
Look at her darling new little girl piecing. This is the latest original design from Julie. You wont find another little girl like this on ebay. Kudos for originality to Julie.
Also, Sandra aka cornerhobby has come out with her latest piecing... Lilly. All her piecings are original artwork started from her actual drawings. This is her latest sweet little girl:

http://cgi.ebay.com/OOAK-Lilly-Girl-Orginal-paper-piecing-Cornerhobby-BTDL_W0QQitemZ330316129147QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item330316129147&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

And who could resist this sweet little dog from Andrea? I just love her piecings.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Puppy-Dog-paper-piecing-by-Andrea-T-Designs-BTDL_W0QQitemZ130294194712QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item130294194712&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

Tina has the cutest little animals on her Easter layout this week, perfect for anyones favorite Easter pictures:
http://cgi.ebay.com/EASTER-BASKET-Paper-Piecing-Premade-Page-BTDL-TYCAALAK_W0QQitemZ220380491854QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item220380491854&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

Of course I could go on and on here, but just click on the title of this posting and it will take you to see all of BTDL's Designs.
Have a great weekend,
Michelle

These are a few of my favorite things

Well anyone that knows me knows that I love scrapbook supplies. Paper, Primas, Ribbon, and now stamps. You name it and I want it. So I thought it only fitting to talk about whats new from the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) this past January.

Basic Grey has always been my absolute favorite, so lets start there. Marrakech and Porcelain have been released already (bottom two line) and in April they will release Wisteria and Lime Rickey. I have to say the Porcelain and Marrakech lines are not a bit dissapointing, in fact far nicer in person. I really didn't think I would care for the Porcelain but when I received it, I fell in love with it.

Next, I have to talk about Prima. They never fail to satisfy. They have come out with plenty of new flowers, along with studs, crystals, stamps and paper. The flowers below are Prima Dandies but they also have Prima Damsels and Daisy Dreams just to name a few. I really liked the Flirty Little Secrets line of paper, but My Mommy and Me is adorable also.

I could go on and on here folks. My present addiction is stamps. I have just discovered Sugar Nellie, Whiff of Joy and Stampavie. These stamps are adorable. There is of course also Magnolia's Tilda line too. I am waiting on some Copic Markers and supplies so I can start using these wonderful stamps. Hockima (AKA Jan) has been using the Tilda line in the cards she has recently been listing and they are just adorable. Okay if you insist I will show you a couple stamps!






.

Could those stamps be any cuter? I don't think so. If you want information on purchasing any of this merchandise please contact me, Michelle, at casdanben@aol.com. I will be sure to share the cards I get done in the next couple weeks, and maybe I can talk Jan and Sandy into sharing some too!

Hi Ya'll, it's Anita, or Scrapinams, and I wanted to share a couple of photos of my new scrap space in progress. You will see in the posts below photos of Jan and Michelle's great spaces and I am hoping that we get a few more photos up soon. I am in the process of remodeling one of my daughter's rooms into my new scrapbook studio! Which is a major pain in the rear end let me tell you, but I am pretty excited about it none the less.

I have a custom room now, which is really nice, but it is in the middle of the house and it is open to every single person who walks thru the house and it is in the room right next door to my hubby's TV. Also, I have decided that I need to remodel my kitchen this year, and I want a really BIG kitchen. The area that is now my scrap studio will have to become part of the kitchen so I needed to find a new space for scrapping. I decided that my daughter Heather's room would work really well. Now, before ya'll think that I just booted my kid out of her room to support my obsession with scrapbooking,,, let me just say that Heather is now in her sophmore year at Texas A&M University, so it is not like she is using the room these days. I spent a weekend clearing the memories of Heather's childhood off of the walls (which was tearful) and got everything cleared out and the carpet pulled up. I now have some of the cabinets in the room, but I am waiting on a couple of the custom cabinets to be built and delivered. As soon as those are done and in the room I can install the counter tops and get all the stuff moved from one room to the other.

Here is one set of the cabinets, I plan on using these to store my completed albums as each little cube is 15 inches tall. I put a TON of embellishments on my pages and I have to stand my books up because the pages are so thick they won't lay down. I have two more of these shelf units (there are two stacked here) that I will be putting on top of the counter top for other storage.

And yes, I did paint the walls, everyone seems to ask me that when they see these photos.








These shelves came from a retail store, as did the other shelves, and these will hold all my punches, my cans of stuff, by jars of buttons, my
doo-dads and all the other little things that I have that I like to keep out so that I can just look around and see what I have to work with instead of having stuff hidden away in drawers. If I can't see it, I will forget that I have it and I won't use it. I have about another 20 shelves I can add to this unit if I need them, so I will have plenty of space!

Of course I have the drawer units in the closet to store project specific stuff in. I picked up this entire set of drawer units on clearance sale at Joann's, on a day when they had 50% off red tag clearance, so I got ALL OF THEM for only $60!!!! Can you believe that!!! It was the deal of the century!

I am hoping that the last two cabinets come in SOON! and I can get the countertops installed and all my stuff moved over. I will post more pics as more work happens.

Stay tuned!

Anita