DIY shutter update.

November marks two years in my house. I have aluminum siding that's fading and I want to get my house repainted. I got an estimate to have it done this summer, but then my basement flooded again and I decided that's the last time that's going to happen so I have to man up and pay the $1500 to have my sewer lines/clay tile/etc fixed correctly.

So instead of paying to have my house, garage door, trim, and shutters painted, I spray painted the shutters myself. I think it turned out pretty great, if I do say so myself.

this is the listing photo from 2013

I started on the shutters in the back, just in case it turned out horribly. When I took the shutters off, I could really tell how faded the siding has become. I don't mind the color, but I'd like something more neutral. I was planning on a khaki color.

So I took the shutters off, scrubbed them down really good, let them dry, and then started spray painting. I actually did one window by itself first just to see if I liked it. Then I took the other one down and did it. I have two windows with shutters on the back of the house and five windows with shutters on the front of the house. While I was at it, I went to the hardware store to get all new screws to put them back up. The old ones were rusted and stripped and I figured if I'm doing all this I might as well have new/matching/nice screws. But they didn't have black coated ones so I had to spray paint the screw heads too.

I think I used six cans of this. It was almost one can per shutter pair.

  

Doesn't it make a huge difference?! I love it now and can actually bear the thought of holding off painting the siding for another year. Plus, now they won't be doing my shutters too so it'll be even cheaper. I think the house definitely needed the contrast and I love how it turned out!

flowers feed the soul.

Paper Wings Productions is releasing several new stamp sets, which are available TODAY. When I received this one, Build a Wreath, I fell in love with the big wreaths. 

I have plans to make a beautiful wreath but I also knew I wanted to use this stamp set on a page with the flowers from my yard. I'm slightly obsessed with working in my yard and taking photos for Instagram.

my tree is so pretty in April/May

 

 

new additions this year

new additions this year

Here's the page I made with this stamp set. I heat embossed the wreaths and the large floral branches. The smaller branches and leaves I colored with Faber-Castell big pen brushes and then stamped the images. For the sentiment/title, I used the Flower Words stamp set which I also colored with the big pen brushes and lightly spritzed with water before I stamped.

supplies 
stamps: Paper Wings Productions (Build a Wreath)
embossing powder: Sparkle N Sprinkle (raspberry sherbet EP243; moss EP418) 
ink: Faber-Castell Big Brush Pens (deep scarlet red 219; light green 171; pink madder lake 129; magenta 133;permanent green olive 167)
die: Die-Namites (Twiggy Hedge)

destination: Canada.

Over Memorial Day weekend, my friend and I took a road trip to Canada. She had the week off work and had plans that fell through and I had a three day weekend at work so she asked if I wanted to go somewhere. She mentioned Canada and I agreed because I have a passport and I'd never been before.

I wanted to do a layout to sort of summarize our trip and I found a Kelly Purkey Canada stamp set and Canada themed project life cards at Studio Calico and I knew a pocket style page was the answer. I had some random photos I wanted to scrapbook of us crossing the border, what their diet Coke bottles look like, the pandas at the zoo, and the payphones. We couldn't believe they still had payphones - and they were being used! I haven't seen a payphone in years!

Some of the other differences we noted (besides the obvious - currency and the metric system) were that they use "washroom" instead of bathroom or restroom. They said "brown bread" instead of wheat bread. When I asked for a Captain and diet they called it "spiced rum." The areas where we were just seemed more clean and the air more fresh than the US. We also noted that people weren't walking around glued to their phones like they do in the US.

We drove across the border Friday after I got off work. We found a hotel in Chatham late Friday night/early Saturday morning. By this time I'd been up since 5am and was literally falling asleep while she was driving. We got up Saturday morning refreshed and headed into Toronto. We were too early to check into the hotel so we hit up the Toronto Zoo, which was huge. We walked so much that my feet ached at the end of the day. After the zoo we went to check in at our hotel, which was amazing, showered, and decided to hit the hotel bar/restaurant for drinks/dinner. Our bartender was hilarious and we stayed a couple of hours chatting with him. It was so interesting to learn all the differences between the US and Canada. I guess I don't really think about Canada but it just seems like an extension of the US and it's easy to forger it's an entirely different country. Conversation about the differences between our countries turned to strip clubs and he told us there was a male strip club right down the road. We had a couple more drinks (and two shots on him) and we walked a couple blocks to this strip club. 

Imagine our surprise when it was a female strip club. We met a bachelor party celebrating there and actually stayed a while and chatted with them. We walked back to our hotel exhausted and crashed. Sunday morning we woke up to go tree top trekking. Layout coming soon on this adventure, but let me just say this is one of the scariest things I've done in my life.  

On Sunday night we went to Niagara Falls. We had a night tour with fireworks which was pretty cool (but cold and wet). Monday morning we woke up and headed home.

supplies
stamps: Kelly Purkey (Kelly's Destination; Out in the Sunshine; Oh, Canada!); Studio Calico (Aloha add on kit); Sweet Stamp Shop (Across the Miles)
ink: Memento (Tuxedo Black); Staz On (claret; jet black); 
embossing powder: Ranger super fine detail (silver)
ephemera: Pink Paislee (Atlas)

right now this is love.

I played along with Let's Capture our Memories sketch 133 last night. This is what I came up with:

supplies
Hip Kit Club September scrapbook kit
plastic stars: Freckled Fawn
stamps: Studio Calico (Aloha add on); Elle's Studio (Saltwater Summer Happiness)
ink: Memento (Tuxedo Black)
sequins: Studio Calico 
word phrase stickers: Heidi Swapp

family.

Scrapbook Circle September scrapbook kit Hello Hello

Paper Wings Proudctions giveaway!

We're having a giveaway. Check out the details HERE.

Paper Wings Productions: happy Halloween

I have a Halloween card to on the Paper Wings Productions blog today!

I cut this with my Cricut and then cut a piece of white paper for the background, which I colored with dried marigold distress ink. I used the Little Halloween clear stamp set from Paper Wings Productions. I think the little pumpkins and the bat are so cute (not scary!) and I love the font too.

I colored my bat with Copic markers (E33 and E37) and adhered only his body to the card base so that his little wings are dimensional. Then I stamped my sentiment with Memento ink.

Thanks for looking:)

supplies
stamp: PWP Little Halloween
ink: Memento (Tuxedo Black); Tim Holtz distress ink (dried marigold);

Big Day mini reveal|Sparkle N Sprinkle.

Sparkle N Sprinkle is having a Mid-Month Mini Blog Hop so that we can showcase the new Big Day stamp set.

This is a planner/calendar stamp set that was included in this month's video technique kit club. This new set is 20% off until Sept 23. Once you finish the blog hop, head on over to the store and start shopping. 

Big Day 749

A WINNER will be selected from the comments left on the designers' blogs and will receive this new Big Day set along with the Basic Grey calendar kit also showcased in this month's video.

Please leave a comment with each designer in order to be eligible for this prize. You never know who the Mystery Designer will be that has the winning comment. The grand prize winner will be announced on Sept 23 on the SNS Facebook page and on the SNS Blog.

The Blog Hop order for our Mini Reveal is:

Jess
Chris
Shona
Eret
Anne
Marie
Diane
Ashley
Ani

We hope you enjoy this Mini Reveal as much as we have enjoyed creating new projects for it.  And hopefully, we have inspired you as well. Thanks for joining us and remember to comment on each of the designers' blogs to be eligible for the grand prize.  (We love reading your comments as they inspire us as well.) The next stop on our blog hop is ANI.

Now for my project... I have always had a spiral bound paper planner and everything goes in it. Appointments, work schedule, pet appointments, mom's work schedule (because I help take care of her dog when she works), events and other things I have planned. I know some people put everything into their phone these days but I still like the good old fashioned paper planner. Just like I prefer good old fashioned books to e-readers ;)

Anyway. Here's what my planner normally looks like:

Lately the planner trend has gotten out of control. People are covering every square centimeter of space in their planners and to me, it's hard to read. When I look at these planner pages I wonder how the owner can tell whether that sticker means something important or if it's just for decoration. When Sparkle N Sprinkle released the Big Day stamp set I loved the small squares and the clean design of the stamps. These will easily fit into my calendar days and will draw a little bit of attention to something I have planned that day without overwhelming my whole planner. So I started stamping and playing.

row 1 Cappuccino Star EP 434; row 4 Skylight EP212S | Peacock EP301S; row 5 cherry EP228S | fiery brown EP369S

I stamped the images several times and then tried different techniques - heat embossing and coloring with Copics and Wink of Stella markers. Once I had a few Big Day images ready, I got my planner. Here's what I did:

masked and heat embossed the 'appointment' stamp

It's easy to mask of certain areas of the stamps so you can customize them for your needs. I just use washi tape and mask off the area I don't want stamped. Then I ink my image with Versamark ink, remove the washi tape, and stamp my image.

For these buildings pictured below, I masked off the 'no school'  because I'm not in school. Stamped alone, these buildings could be office buildings. So I used them on two days in November when my office will be closed.

masked and heat embossed the 'appointment' stamp

heat embossed with Peacock EP301S

As you've seen on this hop, this stamp set can actually be very versatile. If you're not into planning at all (maybe you're one of those who uses your phone), this stamp set can be really cool on cards and other projects. If you're new to planning and want to give it a try, this is a great basic stamp set to get you started. If you're old to planning and want to add some ammunition to your collection, this stamp set is for you. Pretty much I can't think of a reason NOT to go pick this stamp set up! :)

in the mood for...

The technique challenge at Scrapbook Circle is to use geometric shapes.I took inspiration from Gina's page and this is what I came up with.

I used the September scrapbook kit, Hello Hello.

totally happy.

This photo is from a few weekends ago... I wasn't even aware that my friend had taken the shot until he sent it to me later. I love sunsets on the water.

This page was made with sketch 131 at Let's Capture our Memories.

I used the Hip Kit Club September 2015 main scrapbook kit for this one + a couple of stamps.

supplies
stamps: Technique Tuesday (Bring on the Sun); Kelly Purkey (summer 2015 kit);
ink: Memento (Tuxedo Black); Staz On (jet black)
decorative tape: Glitz

featured layout at Sketch N Scrap!

How fun! My page was selected as the Sketch N Scrap August featured layout! Thanks so much:)

smile.

I received my September scrapbook kit from Hip Kit Club yesterday and found this sketch from Stuck?! Sketches to make this page. These photos are from my mom's birthday dinner back in April.

I added some twin and ribbon from my stash and of course, used some stamps. No page is ever complete without stamps :) I adhered some of the ephemera pieces with pop dots for variety and I journaled on the tag.

I posted a haul video yesterday featuring this kit too:

supplies
ink: Memento (Tuxedo Black); Tim Holtz distress ink (evergreen bough);
decorative tape: Bella Blvd
stamps, puffy stickers: Studio Calico
ribbon, twine: October Afternoon

always believe||Scrapping Turtle.

I have a challenge posted on the Scrapping Turtle forum: Turtle Soup. The Friday Inspiration piece is to use this page from the member gallery as inspiration:

via pwalrath

I love a pink and black color scheme so that was my inspiration. Here's my card:

To make my design, I used skinny washi tape to create triangles of all sizes on my card base. The base of my card is actually watercolor paper. Then I chose four shades of pink distress ink and colored each triangle. I've never used watercolor paper with distress inks and it creates a totally different effect - you have to try it!

Then I peeled the washi tape up and added some decorative tape, sequins, and my sentiment.This was really fun and I think it's something I'll try again in the future.

Head on over the the forums and link up your project! Can't wait to see what you guys  make! Also, Scrapping Turtle has their September specials going on now - check it out!

supplies
watercolor paper: Strathmore 140 lb.
inks: Tim Holtz distress ink (Spun Sugar; Worn Lipstick; Victorian Velvet; Picked Raspberry); Memento (Tuxedo Black)
embossing powder: Ranger silver super fine detail embossing powder
stamp set: Mama Elephant (Wanderlust)
sequins: Teresa Collins
decorative tape: Kate Spade

Paper Wings Productions: the song.

Hi everyone! Today I'm on the Paper Wings Productions blog sharing a card I made. I stamped one of the musical images from the Text Melange stamp set all over my background with Versamark ink and heat embossed it. Then I grabbed one of the distressed stamps from the Art Textures stamp set, inked it with Faber Castell big brush pens and spritzed it with water before stamping my images.

Next I used distress inks to blend worn lipstick and spiced marmalade on a scrap sheet of white paper. I ran this through my Spellbinder's Grand Calibur to die cut the medallion. For my sentiment, which is from the Kind Words stamp set, I stamped it on vellum with Staz On ink and then attached it with twine.

 Here's my finished card:

If you're looking for more stamping ideas, make sure you check out Carrie's Crafty's class. For a chance to win the class for free, enter our giveaway on the PWP blog.

supplies

ink: Tim Holtz distress ink (Spiced Marmalade; Worn Lipstick); Faber Castell PITT artist pen big brush (magenta 133; pink madder lake 129); Staz On (claret);
die: Die-Namites (elegant medallion)
embossing powder: Sparkle N Sprinkle (Bahama Mama EP439)