Saturday Morning Special

A very scrappy Saturday to you all!

I had a very fun surprise this morning, with the mailman ringing the doorbell bearing new scrappy goodies! You know it is going to be a good day when there is a box of new papers and stickers waiting to be opened. But what made this box even better, it was my prize package from Graphic 45!

Featuring the new Olde Curiosity Shoppe line that debuted at CHA a couple of weeks ago this little scrappy bundle of joy came with both sticker sheets, both chipboard tag sheets and a 12x12 paper pack. And I have to say this line is absolutely gorgeous! Now I love me some Graphic 45, their papers are fantastic for mini albums, altered art, or pages and I just can't decide where to start with this new gorgeous line!

For now though I plan to finish the mini album from vacation and I can't wait to share it with you! Have a scrappy day!

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Christmas in February

For Christmas last year I had the hardest time finding one last gift for Coby. I wanted to get him something really special, but it was December 21st and I was running out of ideas. I was cleaning up my scraproom when I came across the 'wedding album' I made him for our 6 month anniversary. He had given it back to me requesting I make him a new and better one. Can't say as I blame him...it was pretty horrible! But could I whip something up in two days before we exchanged gifts? Long story short I didn't finish it-so I gave him what was done with the promise I would get it done for him asap. And I was finally able to give it to him last night!

I used a Bo Bunny blank canvas album. The cover was done using masking tape and distress inks (Vintage photo and black soot). I found a great neutral paper pack from basic grey for the page bases all edged with black soot distress stain. Then I raided my stash for all the Tim Holtz I could get my hands on and had at it!

The chipboard tag was embossed with vintage photo emobossing powder and then inked with black soot.



The little tags are wallets of me with all the groomsmen. Since this album was for Coby I wanted to focus on us and his friends, although I did use photos with the bridesmaids as long as he was in it.
The little album holds the photos of Coby with his groomsmen. The grungeboard hinges were a gift from Becky over on sb.com!

He seemed pretty happy with it and glad to have it finally. And although I haven't done many 'guy' themed projects, but I have to say I love how it turned out!

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Graphic 45 Design Team 2012 Audition

One of my absolute favorite scrapbooking lines, Graphic 45, is looking for their new design team and I just couldn't resist! If interested more details can be found here! Shown below are a few various projects being submitted for the call.

Thank you for stopping by to take a peek!

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Home Again

Hubby and I got home late Saturday night from a Caribbean cruise. We left out of San Juan for a week of sunshine, blue waters, lovely sand beaches and a tiny bit of rain.

We started in San Juan for a couple of days, we took a bus over to Castillo San Felipe del Morro, construction began in 1539 and was worked on for over 400 years. There was so much to see there-and it was very surreal to think about all the lives lost on the field leading up to the fort.

We also spent a lot of time on the beach outside our hotel. No shells, but hearing the waves rolling in was so relaxing. It was great to unwind prior to boarding our ship.

We sailed on the Serenade of the Sea-a gorgeous ship that is part of the Royal Caribbean fleet. Starting off with a stop on Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

We took a ferry over to the Baths on Virgin Gorda. A natural rock formation of massive boulders and open sea grottoes.

Apart from being a little crowded it was so much fun to explore the 'caves' and climb the rocks.

Second stop brought us to St Maarten for a pirate ship adventure on the Lord Sheffield for snorkeling, swimming and of course lots of rum punch!

Next was St Kitts, we didn't plan any excursions that day, just shopping and a stroll through the Independence Square, the former location of the St Kitts slave market. It was another very somber experience knowing what happened there. There was a small plaque on a building across from the park, a very dark dingy looking place where the slaves were held prior to their sale.

But apart from this the island was very bright, friendly and the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton. Ok so he was actually born on the sister island Nevis, but the people of St Kitts were very proud to call him as their own!

After a restful day of no pressing agenda we next stopped at the rain forest island of Dominica, Coby's favorite island. We took a hike to the Emerald Pool and then went tubing down the Layou river. There were a lot of rapids so helmets and life jackets were a must-but I have never seen my dad smile so much or heard my mom laugh so hard. Well worth waiting in the rain!

Our last island was Barbados for a 4x4 tour and shipwreck snorkel. I wasn't sure about the shipwreck snorkeling since last year's trip to the Antilla on Aruba wasn't really much, wreck was hard to see and the water was so choppy. But this time was so much different! The sand on the sea floor was so white and the water was so clear it was just amazing, coral was growing and there were so many fish. Due to the currents there were also thousands of 'jellyfish' (completely harmless) floating around. Was my absolute best experience snorkeling yet. Before heading to the airport on our final day we spent some time in the El Yunque rain forest on San Juan, I really wished we would have had more time there it was just gorgeous, green and lush, there were a lot of frogs 'singing' and there were snails everywhere as well as several natural occurring streams and waterfalls. It was a very mysterious place. I have over 300 photos to go through and I can't wait to start scrapping them! I have a whole collection of Tropical Travelogue on stand by and I'm off to Archivers tomorrow to start printing photos! I look forward to sharing our journey with you through my future pages! Thanks for stopping by!

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A New Tradition

Good morning everyone!

It is a big day at the Schriever residence, our baby girl is turning two today! And to celebrate I am initiating Throwback Thursdays where I will share one of my older-not always beautiful-pages. Now I can hear you already 'but Annie, it is only Wednesday'. No I didn't forget the days of the week-we are going to be out of town the next two Thursdays-but more to come on that tomorrow hopefully! So onward!

Our baby girl as she looks today-she has this habit of not keeping the couch cushions where they are supposed to be!

And here is my girl the first day we got her about about two months old-4 pounds of fluff, you could hold her in one hand-or carry her around in your pocket. She has been such a breath of fresh air in our lives! Happy Birthday Elphie!

'Elphie Now that We're Friends' 5/3/2010

Thanks for stopping by!

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Flight of Ideas

I sat down in my room last night with the full intention of working on Coby's wedding album-the one I supposedly gave him for Christmas. Only to get distracted by the shiny package of Que Sara Sara die cuts by K&Company-and I ended up with a new page instead. Kudos to Coby for helping with the title!

It was so much fun creating this page, as I was working poppies kept coming to mind so I made this cute little poppy flower that I have a tutorial for to share with you.

Supplies needed:

Distress Inks (I used Ripe Persimmon, Vintage Photo and Mustard Seed)

Mother's Day Bouquet Cricut Cart (Flowers 3 and 34)

Marvy Uchida 8 petal flower punch

Patterned Paper or Cardstock

Adhesive

You will need 7 petals for each flower. Start by cutting out two of Flower 3 the same size and cut them into sections inking the edges-for this flower I used 1.5" flowers and Ripe Persimmon to ink the edges.

Cut a small snip in the bottom of each petal, roll each petal to give it some curl and glue one tab over the other.

Adhere the petals to a scrap circle of cardstock. I drew marks on the scrap to somewhat evenly space the petals. Next cut two of Flower 34, I cut one each from brown and yellow paper at 3/4". From the yellow also punch one 8 petal flower. Curl up the edges of the flowers and adhere them together off setting the petals slightly.

Thanks for stopping by!

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A tutorial to kick things off!

I've had some people ask me about the flowers I used on my altered composition notebook made for a secret sister swap over at scrapbook.com so I wanted to share a tutorial on these little favorites of mine.

Things you will need:

• -Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die
• -heavier weight Patterend paper or cardstock
• -Tim Holtz Damask Texture Fade
• -Brads, crystals or bling for the centers
• -Distress Inks
• -Adhesive of your choice
• -stylus or something similar
• -fine tip scissors

Start by cutting out your flowers from your cardstock.

• For large flowers cut 2-3 medium and 1-2 small flowers
• For small flowers cut 2-3 small flowers

Ink the edges of all flowers using distressed ink

Run your inked flowers through your embossing machine using the folder of your choice. Re-ink some of the edges and the embossing to give the flowers a bit of dimension.

Using a stylus begin rolling the petals, hold the stylus in the middle of a petal and roll the two edges up to create a valley. Then roll each edge down a bit to give it a psuedo 'M' shape. Bend the petals up towards the center of the flower. Do this to all flowers. *Be careful when bending the petals as the embossing can cause the paper to tear

Stack the medium flowers on top of each other off-setting the petals adhering as you go. Do the same with the small flowers and glue your centers. Re-fluff any petals, here is a photo of a finished flower!

Thanks for stopping by!

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