Quote Mini Book

Hey Scrappin' Peeps! I don't know if any of you have a relative or a friend that just says the funniest things but I sure do! My brother has the quickest wit I have ever heard...I often end up laughing in tears from the things he says. So I made a quite book to keep track of all the funny things that get said in our family. It was really easy to make. I just cut some papers 6x6 and binded with a Zutter Bind-It-All. I decorated the pages after they were bound. Let's take a closer look!

The front cover I decorated with some quote stickers, a journal sticker, and I added a stamped image.

The stickers I used for the title are mounted on pop dots to give it a more dimensional look.

I really like how the stamped showed up on the journal sticker.

On the inside pages, I stamped various quote stamps as well as boarder images on alternating pages.

Hope you enjoyed my quote book...I really enjoy going back and looking at all the funny things we say! Until we meet again, Happy Scrappin'! SB

It's Almost Here!

Are you ready for...HALLOWEEN! I'm so excited I can hardly wait! I'm working on a series of posts of Halloween projects and ideas for October. My goal is to do and post a new project every day until Halloween...well that's the plans anyways. I can see a few challenges like I only have 17 ideas, rounding up all the supplies, finding the time to make the projects. Well, if I can't do 31 projects, I may substitute some of my favorite recipes or maybe we'll just have to do with 17...you don't mind do you? I didn't think so :) If this series works out okay, I plan on doing the same thing for Christmas.

As you all may know, October is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This is another cause that hits close to home because my aunt was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. She is fine now and we celebrate everyday we have her! So, look for some kind of project relating to that.

Hmm...hmmm...anything else....I have a few more posts drafted and they'll be posted in the coming days. Until then, Happy Scrappin'! SB

Operation Write Home Cards Are Off!

Hey Scrappers! Here are some photos of my mom, Doreen, and I making blank greeting cards to Operation Write Home. I don't know if I've said this before, so bare with me if I have, but the reason Operation Write Home hits a little close to home is because my uncle is a pilot for the Air Force and is getting ready to go on his second tour, set to deploy in November. Now my blog is not the place to get into the politics of war and any of my personal opinions about the war but all I know is we will all be thinking of him and praying for his safe return home. Anyways, on to the pictures!

Picture of me putting together some of the kits my mom and I had cut paper for ahead of time.

My mom was in charge of stamping all the cards with and official (lol) Operation Write Home stamp.

Look at that precision!

Here are a few of the cards that Doreen made for the cause.

Doreen and I with our favorite cards we made.







In total the three of us made...119 cards. VERY EXCITING!
If you are interested in getting involved to help Operation Write Home their web address is:
www.operationwritehome.org.

p.s. Sorry I didn't post any pictures of the actual cards...I ment to but I forgot to before I put them in the mail...:(

Houston, We Have A Problem!

Hey everybody...just have a little update on my lack of posts recently. I have been using a really slow internet connection and I'm having troubles loading pictures into Blogger. I've done it without problems in the past but for some reason this week is giving me a little more trouble. The good news is that I'm going to my parents house tomorrow and I'll be able to work on my blog there. My plan is to create a bunch of posts but just upload the pictures and I'll do the blogging later. So hang with me and we'll get the fun rolling again soon! Until then, Happy Scrappin'! SB

Stamp Image Swap with Doreen

Hello Scrappers! Here are the images I promised from the stamped image swap I did with Doreen last week. If we knew the maker of the stamps I wrote them on the cards I stamped on. If you have any questions about any of the images let me know!

Okay, so I've never been one to follow or keep up with trends. I avoided watching the Twilight movies, even though I heard they were good, because I refused to give into the fad. Well, long story short, my husband made me watch the movies one night. My point? Owls are the news, hottest trend in scrapbooking and as with Twilight, I refused to give in...until this swap. I had bought Doreen a set of owl stamps and well...I couldn't fight it anymore, I stamped some images for my collection. I'm not sure what I'm going to use them for but I guess we'll see!

I thought these stamps were adorable! The ones with the writing say 'between us chicks' and 'a little bird told me'. Again, not really my style but I can't wait to find a use for these.

I'm so glad I got this cute little angel. How cute! It has a vintage feel to it...it really reminds me of something out of the Renaissance era. Not sure if that's really right but that's what it reminds me of!

The stamps are really cute too. The smaller ones are the perfect size to make inchies. Oh new to inchies? Don't worry, me too (I had to google it...lol). They are just that, an inch in size. They are usually used as embellishments or just used in a larger layout...I think...lol. I also like the words that I stamped because to be honest I'm a pretty lazy scrapper and anything to make my life a little easier!

I liked these stamps when I got them from Doreen but for me I can relate a little more after the week I've had!

Thanks for stoppin' by the Sanctuary! Happy Scrappin'! SB

Operation Write Home Today!

I am so excited! Today is the day that we (my mom, mother-in-law, and myself) are making greeting cards for Operation Write Home. Hopefully tonite I will be able to post pics and talk about all the fun we had today! Until then, Happy Scrappin'! SB

Swap Images

Hey Scrappers! Here are some of my favorites images I received this week from the image swap I took part in over at Swap-bot.

The mouse is my fav. on this sheet.







LOVE the fairy...except I only have one so she's going to have to go on something REALLY special!






In case you didn't know, chocolate isn't JUST for breakfast.








Watch for a post on the images I got from Doreen, my mother-in-law, at our stamp image swap from yesterday. Until then, Happy Scrappin'! SB

Monday's Mail

I can't believe I didn't blog about this earlier but I received some very exciting mail on Monday, which might I add, our mail lady (no disrespect, I don't know what else to call her!) snuck it into our mailbox after she had driven to a different street and I had already checked the box. Well for some reason when I let Bella out Tuesday morning, I decided to check it and VIOLA there was a ton of stuff in there!

Well first things first...I got a pen-pal letter from my pen-pal swap. Her name is Carolina and she is from Seattle, Washington. We like a lot of the same things like she is going to school to be an elementary teacher :), Yes Man (movie), and Law and Order SVU. I think I will keep writing to her...should be fun!

The other items I got in the mail were my stamped images. They are soo cute! I really hope that more swaps like this turn up because it's such a great way to get some new images into your collection without actually having to buy the stamps because really, unless you are a serious stamper how many times do you really use your stamps? If you're anything like me you have them still sitting in their original packaging just waiting to be used for something special. Oh one of these days, I tell them, you're day is coming. Wow, I just got philosophical with my stamp collection...lol! Anyways, as soon as I get a chance I'll get some pics up!

So thanks to all the lovely ladies for sending me such wonderful goodies. Oh and a special shout out to Tess for sending me an ATC kit. Now I finally get to make some!

So I liked the idea of swapping stamped images that my mother-in-law are having a stamped image swap of our own this afternoon. If I'm feeling really up to it I'll post another tonite of the images but if I don't get to it tonite then definitely Thursday! Until then, Happy Scrappin'! SB

My Obsession with Journals

Hello fellow scrappers! Well sorry to say I don't have any pictures of any projects and that is because I have been stuck on my computer for the last few days surfing You Tube for new videos, sifting through new swaps on swap-bot, and of course staying connected to my Facebook! Anyways, what brings me to this post is yesterday I was looking at my dashboard on Swapbot and I am signed up for two journal swaps and have two on my watch list. Okay for the record this blog is as close as I've ever come to journaling. I mean, what would I write? Not to mention if I missed a day it's all down hill from there which I think is why when I don't blog, my absence is usually weeks or months long. I think the factor that's getting me hooked on these journal swaps is I really like altering composition notebooks. I blame it on the ladies at Leah's Scrapbook Room on You Tube. One day they did a video on altering comp books, with dimentions and everything, not to mention they used My Mind's Eye paper (that's another obsession for another day!) on their creations, and ever since then I have been looking for a reason to alter comp books. Well I definitely found that reason. Thankfully my husband is keeping me from going totally overboard and reminded me to take it slow...I mean, I don't want to get in over my head a become the dreaded...da da da...FLAKER! Sorry just a little Swap-bot humor there...lol. Anyways, one swap that I'm participating in all you have to do is fill the book with 50 journaling prompts and decorate the book. I have all the prompts in the book and I'm just waiting for our partners to be assigned so I can decorate the book to my partner's taste. The other book is going to take a little more work. I have to decorate the book and fill it with 25 journal entries. I'm treating the entry pages as sort of a combination of scrapping and journaling. The outside is covered with, you guessed it, MY MIND'S EYE paper. Last week I bought three of their paper collections that I will have to do a post about...they are WAY too cute!

So in conclusion (what am I writing and essay now instead of a blog post?), I just wanted to leave a few links to the places I talked about and until we meet again, Happy Scrappin'! SB

http://www.youtube.com/user/LeahJohanna#p/u/53/UBA0_meVQjo
www.swap-bot.com

The latest

Hello! Welcome back to the Sanctuary! I've been pretty busy so here is a short post on the latest. I am thoroughly enjoying my swapping experiences over at Swap-bot. Previously to joining Swap-bot I had been feeling like I was stuck in a rut and was having trouble getting out of it. Now I feel more inspired and creative than before. It's a change of pace and I like it a lot. I got my 8x8's sent out successfully and my partner liked what I sent so that was a relief! I am currently working on an altered journal swap and a couple Halloween swaps as well.

I am almost done with a 6x6 mini album that I started making a couple of weeks ago. I just need to do the cover and I will try to get some pics up of that as well.

Next Sunday is my card making party for Operation Write Home. Sadly to say I think it is just going to be my mom, my mother-in-law, and myself but at the same time it will be nice to bond with them both :)

I can't believe I managed two posts in one night! That's quite an accomplishment for me. Tomorrow I have the day off of work and I'm now sure how crafty I will be...I think I'm starting to get a little burn out. I plan on cleaning the house because while my husband was out of town last week I kind of commandeered the dining room table and the living room with crafting stuff. So after that we'll see what happens...maybe I'll just take some more pics and post...yeah that sounds like a good plan to me!

Before I end this post I want to give a quick shout out to the Swap-bot visitors that will be stopping by the Sanctuary in the coming weeks. I truly appreciate all the comments and nice things you have to say about my blog, and while I am no Martha Stewart, all the kind words really make me feel like my blog means something to someone other that just me :)
Until we meet again, Happy Scrappin'! SB

p.s. If you're neighbor living in the basement of your duplex is cooking food with curry in it, spraying Fresh Linen does NOT make the smell go away. Now my house smells like 'curry scented linen'. Random I know, but it was too funny not to mention!

Wedding Paper Bag Album

Hola! I know it's been a while since my last post so here we go. This is a paper bag album that I made as a thank you for my Pastor and his family for helping with my wedding last summer. For instructions on how to make this type of paper bag album please visit Laura at www.followingthepapertrail.blogspot.com. You can also search followingthepapertrail on Youtube to see her videos. I really encourage you to check out her work, she is AMAZING!

The title I cut with my Cricut using the Storybook cartridge. I also used some pink satin ribbon on the left side which is actually left over from the ribbon that was used in my wedding.





This is one of the large tags I made for the album. On this side I glued down a dolie. I thought about glimmer misting them before I glued them down but I actually like them plain so it's not so distracting. On the other side is a picture from the wedding. One other style of tag I made consists of a picture of me and say my pastor and then on the other side I stamped a large journal image and journaled a special message to him. I did the same for his wife and their two kids (who were all a part of my wedding) so they all had their own special tag.


This a tag I made using my Cricut cartridge George and Basic Shapes. The lace across the bottom holds the tag in place.










Here is another tag created the same way as above. The paper is Paper Studio and the sticker are Me and My Big Ideas. I know it's kinda hard to see but along the bottom there is a piece of gold ribbon holding the tag in place.









On the bottom left hand corner I used basic craft flowers to make a little bouquet.









Hope you enjoy this mini...this is the second one I've tried of this type. I will try to get pictures of the first one up. Until then, Happy Scrappin'! SB