Quick little post...

Wow- I can not believe this is actually happening. I'm moving in tomorrow morning bright and early. I'm so excited! I went to Ikea today and found some really cute stuff and took a few pictures, but my card reader is in one of the many boxes that are currently crammed into the back of our minivan. I have lots of pictures to share later, I promise. :) I'm off to bed to get probably my last full night of sleep for a while, but I thought I'd share a project I finished for my dorm a couple days ago.
Isn't my comforter cute? It's just a plain, bright pink one from target with applique stitched on top of it. Man, applique is tough work at this scale! It looks great, but I'm not planning on poking myself with a needle that many times ever again... haha. Let me know what you think! I'll show you the cuteness in my room once everything is settled.

Have a great couple of days! I'll be back soonish.

Brit

Life is changing...

Have you ever had that feeling that life is completely changing? There's nothing you can do about it- just sit back and watch it change before your eyes. You are never the same. Life is never the same. That's how I feel right now.

And I have to say, it's not necessarily a bad feeling.

I have a couple things to share with you today, so prepare yourselves!

1. Pamela is giving away a Scarlet Lime August project kit. Her mini album that she did with it is awesome! Good luck :). Here's a link to her blog.

2. Altered letters for my roommate, Gretchen, and myself:

Supplies: paper mache letters- Hobby Lobby, embossing powder and ink- Ranger, stamps- Autumn Leaves and Scrappy Cat, rub-ons- The Paper Studio, ribbon- Offray, Adornments by EK Success, unknown, thread- DMC, paint and button-unknown

3. COCOA challenge for this week. We had to use a lot of scraps. I really like how this layout turned out (plus, who knew I could write like that? I'm pretty amused by that.):

Supplies: pp- KI Memories (blue and grey stripe), My Mind's Eye (blue floral) and Basic Grey (everything else), cs- Bazzill, chipboard- Basic Grey and Heidi Swapp, white pen- Sakura, grey pen- ZIG, white ink- Tsukineko, green button bows- from this store - this item

4. Quick layout I whipped up for color inspiration challenge #19: (this is also a scraplift of Cheryl Overton from the CKMB- her layout was so cute that I had to replicate it!)

Supplies: pp- KI Memories, cs- American Crafts (grey), Bazzill Basics (blue) and The Paper Studio (white), ink- StazOn by Tsukineko, letter stickers- Scrapworks (black) and The Paper Studio (white), chipboard brackets- Basic Grey

Okay, enough excitement for today. I have this morning off of work in order to start packing and so far I have not done any... Oops. I'll start after lunch ;). I can't believe I leave on Tuesday (that means Jamba juice in 4 days! :) )and move in on Wednesday. Good thing I start classes the day after Labor Day- that seems like enough time to adjust. I'll be back!

Love.

Brit

Hola. Como estas?

Wow, it's been so long that I don't even remember which "o" the accent goes over. I might want to brush up on that if I'm planning on minoring in Spanish. Anyways, I've been pretty checked out for the last week- from this blog, from scrapping, from the majority of the world. Lately, life revolves around four things: the olympics, work, getting prepared for college, and trying to make the most of the end of summer. So far, so good.

College stuff is piling up like never before, and the project I have yet to compete don't seem to escape my mind. I still need to finish my comforter's applique, the paper mache letters for my roommate and myself, the fabric wall hangings to decorate the walls with (because off white is not the prettiest color on earth), and a few other random things. I really have no idea how I'm going to get all of this done by the time I leave on Tuesday, but we'll see.

By the way, I'm in love with this fragrance. I'm not a perfume kind of gal usually, but I want to wear this every day forever...
Right now, I'm supposed to be working on the COCOA challenge for this week, but since I pride myself on being an excellent procrastinator, I should probably show you at least a couple things I've created recently.

First, this is a card that I made for my boyfriend's birthday on Sunday.


Supplies: stamps- Scrappycat, pp- DCWV, ribbon- Offray, embossing powder- JoAnn Fabrics, chipboard embellishment- Target, corner brads and letter stickers- The Paper Studio

Here are two little projects I made from last week's COCOA use your stash challenge:

Suuuuper simple, but they get the job done. :)

Alright, I'm off to go work on the COCOA challenge, get some college dorm projects done, hang out with one of my best friends, Sam, and rest my back because I went down a river yesterday. (Yup, class one rapids, that's why my back hurts... :rolls eyes:) Thanks for visiting!

Brit

p.s.- I have a major Jamba Juice craving right now... only one week until I get to have one. :)

(from here)

Yup, I'm addicted, too...

The Olympics are on 24 hours a day in my house, and I'm lovin' every minute. Here are a few favorite moments so far:

The men's 4 x 200 Freestyle relay. During the last 25 yards, the only reaction I could make was to scream my head off. It was fun and wow! Those guys are really champions.

(from here)

Few things to me are more beautiful than Michael Phelps' butterfly stroke. This is from the race when he won his 10th gold metal causing him to become the winningest Olympian athlete ever. Michael, your Olympic Roman forefathers would be incredibly proud.

(from here)

Nastia Liukin is such a wonder to watch in action in gymnastics. She's so graceful!

(from here)

I also recieved a wonderful COCOA rak from Heather the other day. How cute is this kit from EBB Creations and how darling is that card that she sent along?

No new creations to share yet this week... I was feeling rather uninspired in the last few days, but now I'm back and should have a couple projects to share soon (including a non-scrappy one that's super cute).

Here's the latest local news, though... guess what opens on Friday? A NEW Jo-Ann Fabrics 10 minutes away! AND a MICHAEL'S about a block away from that! I'm going to be in heaven! I even made a joke about calling in to work to spend the entire day in the city. I'll report back with my finds.

Brit

How did I do it? Good question.

I've been asked a few times how I got my threading water punch to look so good when used on my layouts. I made a set of instructions on how I do it; I hope this will work for you! If you have any questions or just find this helpful, leave a comment so I can help or celebrate with you. :)

1. Take out a scrap piece of paper (at least 3" by 11-12"- I used standard letter paper); punch all along one long side and once along a shorter side.


2. Using the shorter side of the piece of paper (or "short side of your guide" as I'll call it), draw a line along the top left side of your paper to be punched in pencil. Rotate the guide 90 degrees counter clockwise and draw another line on the upper left side.


3. Line the guide up in the corner and mark a circle that is equal in distance from both lines you have drawn, using the short side of your guide as a template.


4. Flip the paper upside-down and insert into the threading water punch. Flip the punch and paper (which is now in the punch) upside-down and line up the drawn circle with the first hole of the punch. Carefully hold the ensemble in place and flip back to right side-up. Punch. (*I find it helpful to add a line of adhesive to the same side as the pencil lines before inserting it into the punch. This way, when I have my paper lined up correctly, I just press the paper into the grid part of the punch. Then, I don't have to worry about losing my place while flipping the punch into the upright position.*)


5. Go back to the original corner. Once again, insert the paper and turn the punch over. Line up the hole, flip the punch back into the upright position, and punch. (*Now would be a good time to place your project over an unused corner of your guide and mark the exact position of your corner hole. Next time, you can just pencil in your corner hole and start punching away!*)


6. Use the long side of your guide sheet to determine how many scallops you need to achieve your desired length of scalloped edge on each side. Write the numbers of scallops on a post-it note and stick it on your work surface if you need a reminder. Always punch at least one and a half scallops over your desired length (leaving room to punch the other side).

7. Continue to punch along the side until achieving the correct number of scallops or until running off the edge. Repeat on the second edge. *Always make sure to line up the previous punched section with the printed guide on the punch perfectly. A couple extra seconds to make sure everything is lined up is worth the effort!*


8. Line up the short side of your guide with your desired end scallop (the one that you want to be your corner) on the side you just finished punching. Mark a pencil line right at where the guide and the punched scallops intersect. Use a paper trimmer to cut straight along the line.


9. Once again, line up the hole by turning the punch over. Punch, and continue until you have punched your desired amount of scallops (so that you are even with the other side).


10. Repeat steps 8 and 9 on the last unfinished side until you need to make the last punch.


11. When coming to the end of the line on the last edge, flip the punch over to line up the holes from both directions. The last hole will be difficult at first and a pain every once in a while, but getting it as close should be a piece of cake. (As you can see here, this one was almost perfect. I should've gone slower to make sure to line up everything perfectly.) You can always cover it up. Lots of practice makes perfect! Good luck and enjoy your wonderful punch!




Scroll down the page for some great examples of how I've used the TW punch.

Love.

Brit