What I've Got Bookmarked

I have tons of bookmarks. I use Mozilla as my Internet browser and I like that it allows me to tag my bookmarks. That is helpful since I have a craft communities folder as well as a craft blogs folder along w/a craft inspiration folder. But once I bookmark the site, I could tag it w/'scrapbooking' and I could locate something in one folder that is not in another folder. Does that make sense. We all have our organizing nuances, don't we.

Point is, if I thought that my life was a bit crazy, it's about to get crazier. More hectic. It's inevitable. I can already feel the slow down, hence, that's why I'm writing this post and not crafting and/or writing this post and not posting about a card that I made.

But back to the bookmarks. Although I have not been crafting, I have been lurking around the web and checking out these places. Most of them are well known.

• Kristina Werner's Design Blog - love the Color Inspiration Challenge (I could sit all day and click through the Color Inspiration submissions) along w/the short and sweet video tutorials: KWerner Design Blog

• Two Peas in a Bucket - I still visit 2Peas daily. I check out the daily poll along w/"The Pub" and "General Scrappin" forums and I frequently check out the Garden Girls projects: Two Peas In a Bucket

• Hero Arts Club Blog - I like the daily posts on the Hero Arts Blog. There are often chances to win prizes too (though I have not been so lucky yet). Just good ideas and I am anxious to see the 2009 catalog: Hero Arts Club Blog

• 2 Sketches 4 You - It's kind of obvious that I check this site out at least once a day. So many wonderful participants globally. Love that: 2 Sketches 4 You

• Splitcoast Stampers - I have not been to Splitcoast as much as I'd like, but it's one of my favs. I like to go and search the gallery under "Cuttlebug" or "Nestabilities" or "labels". Splitcoast Stampers

• {capture the moment} - I love to gawk on this blog, just wonderful ideas and in some cases much detail and precision. It gives me inspiration to make more than cards, though I usually still end up only making cards: {capture the moment}

• One Pretty Thing - how I like this site. It's really an aggregator of how to make things. There are all sorts of ideas for making things - I really nice this in this economy. And often there are seasonal sections like now there's a section for Handmade gift ideas as well as a Hanukkah section: One Pretty Thing
  

And actually, I don't have all of these bookmarked, but I do subscribe to their feeds. There are others too like Donna Downey's blog, Tim Holtz' blog, Keisha Campbell's blog, etc.

Thanks for stopping by.

The Making of a Mini Book

I got started on this mini book late last week. Well, actually, the week before. I'd been on Donna Downey's blog and she posted a video about making album pages using newspaper. So I got out the old newspapers and my glue stick and started on the pages. After tearing and gluing and inking up my fingers something awful, I had about six pages. I let them dry and then I used one layer of acrylic paint and I let that dry. That's when I took a break.

What to do w/these messy pages ... I finally jotted down some items that I could include in an "All About Me" album. I've been wanting to make more mini books ... why not now?

Well, I've made much progress, but it's an interesting process for me. The very reason why I like to make cards - I feel that I can do nothing else until this album is complete. Bummer for me especially since I had to order a wallet-sized picture of my Jeep; that would be a 'special' order ... maybe it will arrive in the mail tomorrow.

Meanwhile ... here's a look at the cover. Love this. Oh another thing, I decided that I would only use scraps and other embellishments that were laying around and/or had never been used before. I like the collage/eclectic look too.

Thanks for looking ... here's what I used:

base: cardboard
patterned paper: K&Co. Basic Grey, craft supply
chipboard elements: American Crafts
twine: Darice
flower: Prima
letter stickers: American Crafts and Paper Studio
button and bling: unknown
stamp: Inkadinkadoo
ink: Tim Holtz/Ranger
other: Fiskars Texture Plates