I need to use my scraps!

Good Morning Everyone!

We're just a bit closer to the weekend, THANK GOODNESS!

I've spent this week trying to clean up and organize a bit and of course this translates to the scrap room! Everyone has been trying to "use your scraps" as in papercrafting we're always cutting trimming and fitting for the perfect look! So when I realized that my scraps were getting out of control I thought I would post something I found online (not my own creation) and pass it along to not only use your scraps, but decorate your projects and save a little money!

This drives me nuts! But I can't throw a good sized piece of paper out knowing that I'm going to cut a full piece down later to fit something, so I save, and it's unorganized and then I end up cutting down anyways because I can't find what I want.  So I fixed the problem! I separated into 2 piles, solid and patterned, then separated the solid cardstock by color!

We all have these kinds of scraps ... when your card making or scrapbooking and you're left with strips ... I usually throw them out until I came across someone's blog that showed what to do with them! You can use any thickness, but remember the thicker the paper the larger the corner you'll make.  This one was 1 inch thick.

Make sure the color or pattern you want to see is face down, then fold the first side over and use a bone folder to make sure you have a good crease.

Then repeat with the other side (this is the back) I use regular scotch tape to fasten the 2 pieces together, then trim the excess and start again!

Finished corner on the paper!

Super easy way to use your scraps and turn them into something useful! I now find myself making these corners as I trim paper down and keeping them in a jar on my workstation for quick use! Again, please remember I did not come up with this idea, I'm just forwarding it along!

Stay tuned as I have a couple cards planned in my Gypsy for you over the next couple days!

Hope you enjoy, Happy Crafting!

~Meg

What a bunch ....

Another work week underway and I'm already counting alarms and looking for the weekend!

Here is another LO I wanted to share! I reverted back to my 1 page scrapping for this one, but think I might add another page .... we'll see what I have for creative time this weekend! Here it is ...

A basic 12 x 12 page with black on the bottom and the flower printed paper up top is from a DCWV Photo Stack ... I find myself using this in spurts ... all the time or none at all!

I ran the title background through the Cuttlebug after I attached the words (which I welded on my Gypsy) to emboss a decorative line along the bottom, then I used Creative Memories chalking ink around the edges in black to make it pop a little.  I also used some ribbon I had to cover where the papers joined.

These were simple paper flowers that I had picked up at the Inspiration Station in Stafford Springs CT on a trip with SueAnn a little over a month ago, as well as the leaves.  I used a dew drop in the middle.

The welded words were from the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge, cut in black and then I dotted them with a metallic gold gelly roll pen. 

So there you have it, quite simple and quick! Hope you like it!

Happy Crafting!

~Meg



Our Friends!

Good Morning!

I hope that everyone is have a great weekend! I know that I was lucky enough to be able to actually enjoy a "date night" out with my husband last night and it was well overdue!

I wanted to pop up a LO that I had ben working on, on and off for a couple days ... when you see you'll understand why I say that! ha ha Here it is!

I've really started to take stock in my pictures, and what I mean is that we've ALWAYS been big camera people, my husband or myself are always behind the camera, but sometimes when you take a million pictures, you get so overwhelmed and then I personally do NOTHING with them! No more! One of my goals this year was to make sure I'm developing them in a reasonable time ... so far so good, but it's only March!

Our friends are our family and we are so very thankful and lucky to have them, so why not devote some pages to them!

This paper came from a great find! It was a 12 x 12 pack that I picked up at JoAnn Fabrics on clearance for 9.99$ .... the big deal (as they always have their packs on sale for that price) was the fact that it was a stack of 360 sheets! My mom even took some sheets out and barely made a dent in the stack! The lettering is from the Cuttin Up Cricut cartridge and for the first time in a while, I didn't weld on my gypsy! I wanted to make sure that the letters were backed in black because the paper was so busy!

This is what I meant by "working on the page a few days!" My new little toy is the Sew Easy stuff! You pierce the paper with one of the different heads and then just stitch it with a needle and I used embrodery floss! I think it helps add dimension to the page as well as really giving it a homemade feel!

The colored boxes that will hold the pictures came from a mini DCWV stack that I just got on sale at JoAnn Fabrics .... 4.99 with 40% off, so I think I paid 3$ for it ... of course I scooped up a couple different colors! The corner "holders" as I call them were made with scraps! Yup while coasting along blogs a little while back I found instructions on how to make them, so I cannot take credit for this nifty idea, although I'll try to post a tutorial on how to make them and pass the great idea along. ( I wish I could remember who I learned from!!)

So that's it! LO complete! I wanted to make sure that I put some LO's up because I had held a little survey on the side of my blog to see what people wanted to see more of, so that's that! Although I will of course still be working on other projects as well! =)

Thanks for stopping by and as always,

Happy Crafting!

~Meg

A Little Behind!

Hi! I hope everyone is enjoying their weekends thus far!

As for me, I spent a lot of time cleaning, doing laundry and helping a friend plan a Disney trip for her son's 5th Birthday! THEN I finally got up to the craft room!

This is a LO that I made last weekend but with all the festivities and LONG week at work, I hadn't been able to post it yet, so here it is!

For just about ever I was the "queen" of 1 page random-ness ... I know a little silly but what I mean is I was never into the 2 page LO thing ... not because I didn't like it but I had a hard time with it! So I'm working on being able to create something more visually pleasing as opposed to 2 random pages next to each other.  This is what I made for St. Patty's Day!

I haven't pre-made a lot of pages, but I found that it allows me to be more creative.  I think it's because I'm doing what I think looks good and not getting caught up matching colors with the pictures ... yes I try to do that!

The other side of the page has a matching lower strip that I think makes the pages go well together when next to each other.

The shamrocks are the same size, some run through the Cuttlebug and then rubbed with a sanding block.  The others have a sticker from Hobby Lobby (by the Paper Studio) stuck in the middle and then I "stitched" what you could see of the green paper.  I put pop-dots behind these to give the pages more dimension.

Finally the title! Very simple and from the Designer's Calander cartridge! I used a gold gelly roll pen to stitch around the words to make them stand out from the page as the backround that I chose is very dark! The small shamrocks that are all over the pages were sprayed with Glimmer mist and fastened to the page with mini gold brads.

I had so much fun making this LO and I hope you enjoy! Keep stopping by to see the other projects that I've been working on ... FINALLY!

Happy Crafting!

~Meg



I'm a Slacker!

Good Morning Everyone!

So I must admit, I've been a slacker! I haven't posted since last Friday and I'm feeling a little guilty! This past weekend was our local St. Patty's Parade which it turn means a weekend of festivities and time with friends and family! I had the most wonderful time and we're already planning for next year!

That's me and my husband ... not the best picture but hey it was windy!

That's me and SueAnn from SueAnn's Crafts!

The ladies! Ashley, myself, SueAnn and Kelli



And finally the guys! Jon, Jonas, Blanchard and SueAnn's husband Stan! Can't forget Rambo! His brother Zeus stayed home because he still isn't the best with large crowds of people, he's very hyper!

So as you see I've been busy, and work this week has been nuts! But no excuses! My goal is to get a few things up for you this weekend, along with a St. Pat's Layout that I actually made last week to put some of these pics in!

So thanks again for all the wonderful support and I'll be a better blogger this weekend!

Happy Crafting!

~Meg

A quick layout

Just wanted to pop this up!

My wonderful friend Sue-Ann from Sue-Ann's Crafts got us involved in the Rays of Hope walk and just thought that I would pop this up seeing that it just made it into the scrapbook!

The top picture is Becca, my Mom, Myself and Sue-Ann

Bottom left, Mom

Far right our friend Eric sitting on my husband Jon's shoulders!

This side is a bit more plain but sometimes I overwhelm the page and went with the less is more theme .... although I can't promise this won't be a page that could possibly get re-scrapped down the road! The picture on the bottom right is Eric on the left, Sue-Ann's husband Stan in the middle and my husband to the right!

The little bit of Cricut work is from the Pink Journeys Cricut Cartridge which is amazing!

Hope you enjoyed my share for the day!

Happy Crafting!

~Meg

Happy St. Patty's Day!!

Happy St. Patty's Day!!

I hope the luck of the Irish is with each and everyone one of you today! And as they say, everyone can be Irish for a day!

This has to be one of my favorite holidays of the year! So what better way to start celebrating it, then with some festive cards!

I started out by cutting 2 shamrocks from my Gypsy/Cricut and went from there.  There was no planning, but rather looking at what was in front of me and not put away ha ha and seeing what looked good!

Both cards are the basic A2 size purchased at the local JoAnn Fabrics and then layed on top from there.

I picked up this cute sentiment from the dollar bin, and the bonus? It was half off, so I had paid 50 cents when I purchased it! I used it to create a boarder around the card and trimmed out the patterned paper in the middle with stickles.

This was another dollar bin deal at 50 cents for the pack! I love these kinds of deals!



My favorite part has to be the shamrocks on these cards! They're made with a white core textured paper from The Paper Studio at Hobby Lobby! My mom picked up the pack (a 6 x 12 in stack) and on the ride home pulled out some pages for me to try! I ran the shamrock through the cuttlebug with the swiss dots folder and then used my sanding block to further expose the white core.

*Note to my crafty friends! Any time I'm out shopping with friends or my mom if we find something great, paper stacks etc we share! It's a great way to expand your supply without busting the bank! Plus sometimes you end up with stuff you wouldn't normally buy, but end up loving it!

So there they are, 2 quick cards to start you off on this fabulous day!

Happy St. Patty's Day & Happy Crafting!

~Meg



A Simple Thanks

So I find myself making more themed cards then anything when I make them, and thought "I need some more basic, sympathy, just because and thank you" types of cards, so I thought I'd get to it and show a simple and QUICK card that I put together to have on hand!

Please excuse the lighting I'm having issues lately!

This is a simple card using a pre-made card base picked up at Hobby Lobby 5 x 6.5 inches

The Patterned paper is from a fall matstack from DCWV (these fit almost perfectly on top of the pre-made card and only minimal trimming is needed)

The punch is a Fiskers picked up at my local JoAnn Fabrics this week ... and on clearance! I think I snagged this one up for 2.97! I kept the scrap of the punch and used it for the bottom of the card to make it a little more finished!

The pearls are adhesive backed and from the dollar section also at JoAnn Fabrics

The ribbon is a simple satin like ribbon purchased at Michaels. (I keep a lot of this kind of ribbon on hand as it's not too fancy and works well when you don't know what to put with certain patterned paper)

Finally the sentiment is from My Pink Stamper from the Fabulous Phrases set - LOVE that set!

I hope you like my VERY BASIC card! Per usual, I left the inside of the card blank so that anything can be written or stamped in when needed!

Thanks for stopping by & Happy Crafting!

~Meg



My Pink Stamper - Blog Hop Challenge!

Hey everyone! I hope you're enjoying what's left of your weekend, I know I'm trying to!

I had an amazing time last night with family and friends at the Irish dinner at our local legion! My plans were to take tons of pictures as I'm a little behind this year, but our Legion got a new shuffle board video game and we were all hooked! I know, cheezy but we had so much fun!

AnyWoo! Here's my submission for the My Pink Stamper Blog Hop ...

The theme: Something spring

I chose to do this birthday card as I thought the bright colors fit the spring theme! (Plus when I made it this am I realized Gram's birthday is this week so I figured I'd get it done now!)

Cupcake: Cut at 2.5 inches from the Doodlecharms Cartridge (used stickles, chalk, gel pen, smooch mist, alcohol ink and diamond glaze to embellish it)

Patterened Paper: The Paper Studio Bithday Extravaganza mat stack from Hobby Lobby

Solid Cardstock: The Paper Company

Stamp: My Pink Stamper - Fabulous Phrases ( I bent it on the block to make the shape different)

Card: Basic A2 base purchased at local JoAnn Fabrics

Hope you enjoy, and as always,

Happy Crafting!

~Meg

Some Cricky Travel Storage!

So my mom is SUPER crafty! Not only has she just begun papercrafting about 3 months ago and is AMAZING but she's been sewing for longer then I've been alive! She just recently upgraded to the momma cricket as I like to call it courtesy of my brother and realized that when we travel around we needed something to put our cricuts in! So here's what she came up with!

How AMAZING is this??!! I was so excited that she made me one! And she also made one for my good friend Sue-Ann from Sue-Ann's Crafts, and now she's making hers! Then I got the great news that she's also making me a dust cover for when cricky is at home! (I'll post that when I get it!)

Hope you love it as much as I do!

Keep Crafty!

~Meg



Shopping Haul!

WooHoo!

So much fun at Hobby Lobby today!

As I said before, we don't have one around here so we took the trip today and it was WELL worth it!  They had their name brand (The Paper Studio) on sale for 40% off and I took advantage of it!

I'm not really sure how I flipped this as it looked right before ... oh well! I picked up some stickers and at 40% off and ribbon at 50% off.  I also got the beaded strings for a project that I'm doing for the Christmas season, I know I know it's far away but I got these rolls for a steal, 1$ for 24 feet! So I had to snag them up because that's the cheapest I've seen them yet!

I got a new pair of scissors (I was in desperate need of some sharp ones!) needles and embrodary floss (to use with my new Sew Easy heads (See pic below) I also got some new brads, sticky gemstones and some trinkets (dogs and some to use for our upcoming casino trip!)

I got these great little guys on EBay as I saw them in Scrapbook Etc magazine and had to have them! So I snagged all 4 up for less then 16$ (including shipping!) Ok, Ok, now back to the Hobby Lobby Haul!

I got some more decorative brads, some paper tape, and a wax sealing kit.  I've been wanting to try this for a while and thought that at 40% off, why not?! Also pictured is some crackle accents and a corner rounder. I thought this corner rounder was going to cut differently then the CM one that I already have .... but it doesn't .... so I'm thinking that I'm going to put it aside (as I literally used it 1 time to test it) and save it for a give-away once my followers go up .... hmmmm now my brain is going!

Finally some new paper! I got some single sheets of their brand (The Paper Studio) as they caught my eye.  I also picked up a package of plain 12x12 cardstock because you can never have enough.  I also snagged up the Birthday extravaganza mat stack, also by The Paper Studio and it's super cute! Mom and I broke out the Gypsy on the way home and I started designing cards to use it right away! Finally is the Hobby Lobby's magazine that had some great layouts in it and for 1.99 it's a cheap way to get some new ideas when you feel like you've been in a funk.  The Bonus? My cousin Jennifer has 4 layouts featured in this issue! So CONGRATS to her!

My brain is going crazy right now thinking of all the great things that I can do with this haul of stuff! But I'm going to enjoy my evening out with great friends and family at the Irish Dinner tonight at our American Legion! I'll be sure to take some pictures as I need some up-to-dates to keep scrappin'!

Hope you enjoyed my haul ... I sure did! (although my husband is still on the fence! ha ha)

Happy Crafting!

~Meg

Some crafty sign-ups!

Hey everyone!

I hope that you are all enjoying this great weather today! (it's supposed to be around 52 here today!!)

I've been busy this week as we had out monthly Women's Aux. meeting for the American Legion Post that I belong to. (both my grandfathers, uncle and husband all served in the service!)  Anyway, so we host a

BBQ for the Troops

on Armed Forces Day each year (this is the 4th year now!)

We use the proceeds to send packages to deployed troops overseas, as well as things back here stateside to benefit some of the older guys here.  This is an event very near and dear to my heart as my husband is a MARINE and he loved getting packages from home =) so my short time crafting last night was to make the sign up sheets so that all of our bases are covered durning the event and that we can all have fun too!

Here's what the sign-up sheets look like!

Nothing fancy as we just need them for behind the scenes stuff but I had fun! For any of my followers that are near and want to check it out ...

4th Annual Rockin' BBQ for the Troops

Saturday May 21, 2011

12pm - ? (at least 8 or 9)

$15 pp

Includes food, keg beer and 6 live bands!

(full bar available out of pocket)

Contact me for tickets! (they should be in from the printer soon!)

Hope everyone has a great day! and thanks for visiting Crafting with Meg!

~Meg



More craft room furniture complete!

HAPPY WEEKEND!!

I HAD to write that big as it seemed to take forever to get here! I've been a little lacking on the posting/crafting lately but my house has been crazy, so I'm hoping to make that up to you a bit this weekend!

As promised as my craft room evolves, I'll show you the progress!

Below is my newest addition! (and I LOVE it!) My husband built this to house all of my bins as well as made open spaces so that I can store things like my cuttlebug and yourstory as I don't use them everyday! He even left room to display some of my projects!

Not the best picture, but you get the idea! I have to pick up 2 more black and 1 white bin sometime soon when I hit the craft store!  We're just about to head out to Hobby Lobby in Latham NY (about an hour and 30 mins away).  We obviously don't have any around so we're (me, mom, my husband and step-dad) taking the trip to see what it's all about! Look for a post later on, as I hope to have a great big haul to show you!

Happy Crafting (and beautiful weather!)

~Meg

A crazy week, and it's only Tuesday morning ...

Oh my, what a week! AND it's only Tuesday!

We got a TON of rain here, and now we're all paying the price.  I'm lucky to say that even in my old house the basement walls and floor are fine ... but the horrible thing I call a hatchway ... not so much! So needless to say, we come home and there's 4 inches of water in my basement ... the whole 1200 square feet of it! So sump pump it is ... all night the basement pumped and this morning it looked pretty good, obviously wet floor, but at least it isn't a standing pond anymore!

My husband keeps his very handy wood shop down there, which we've worked many hours to be able to invest in it ... but, everything looks to be fine.  I guess this was just a way to kick is into gear and clean out all the junk! So that's our plan for the rest of the week CLEAN UP DUTY! I'm hoping that the cleanup goes quick as I hope to have it done by bedtime on Friday because there had been talks of a road-trip to Hobby Lobby in NY (only about an hour and 15 away) as we don't have one near us!

Then of course in the midst of the water debacle, we've got our pellet stove that's acting up ... or so I thought ... turns out the auger motor just decided he was tired ... hence I'm now waiting for the local shop to open up so I can go pick up a new one!

I started a great project this weekend for a friend of ours ... a blank pre-made scrapbook.  She has a 4 year old and takes tons of pictures, but does nothing with them! So I started a 12x12 book with a 2 page layout for each month.  I completed Jan, Feb and March, but got so excited to give it to her that I only took cell phone pictures! (I think I need a mulligan this week!) So I'll try to get those uploaded to share. 

In the meantime please excuse the lack of creativity as the old girl that is my house needs some love! I hope everyone is staying dry!

Happy Crafting!

(and thanks for visiting!)

~Meg

Check out DL.Art!

Hey everyone! Hope you're having a great weekend!

A fellow Blogger Diana over at DL.ART is working her way up to 200 followers! Congrats to her! If you surf on over to her page and become a follower (once you see her crafts you'll love it!) She's giving away a gift card to Michael's once she hits 200!

(We all know how much we'd LOVE to win that!)

So show Diana some love and follow her page for your chance to win!

Stay tuned for posts later today of some of the fun stuff I've been working on this weekend!

And as always THANKS for following Crafting with Meg!

Happy Crafting!

My FIRST Blog AWARD!

YAY! I can't believe it, I got up this morning to do the whole e-mail, pay bills check things online routine and I got this FABULOUS honor! I hadn't been lucky enough to stumble over to Karen's page The Busy Bug but she found me! I spent tons of time on her page (as her work is amazing, you should check her out too!) But I want to give her a HUGE THANK YOU! So without any more non-sense from me, this is my first blog award!

For this award, I have to:
Thank the person who gave you the award and link it back to their blog
Share 8 things about yourself and pass it on to eight people.
Inform the individuals about their award.

8 Things about me:

1. I have the  most amazing husband ever! He $upport$ my crafting habit and even builds things to help make it better!
2. I've got 2 crazy boxers Rambo and Zeus who drive me nuts but I'd be lost without them!!
3. Scrapbooking is my original love but I've grown to love card making too!
4. I'm super excited that my mom now scrapbooks/papercrafts! (we sucked her in!)
5. Although my job can be stressful and crazy I'm thankful for all the amazing people I've met since I've been there.
6. My friends are the best, don't need much more explaining then that!
7. I count alarms ... on Monday morning, there are only 4 alarms left!
8. I'm sick of the snow this year!

NOW! I get to pass this along to some crafty people!

• Sue-Ann's Crafts - This amazing lady has great ideas and is always thinking of others! Go check Sue-Ann out!
• Polka dots, Paint, & Cake Batter - This blog has it all! Trell is quite the creative one! Pay him a visit!
• My Creative Crafting - Jennifer not only paper crafts, but everything crafts! She's got ideas for everything (and I love the cami-bag!)
• Craftee She - Shauna has some great projects on there, a little bit of everything so if you can't find something you like, you're not looking!
• Scrappin' Fish Memories and More - I just found Michele's page not too long ago and she's got super cute scrapbook layouts!

So there it is! Thanks so much for everyones continued support!!

~Meg



My Pink Stamper: Feathered Friend Challenge!

Good Afternoon Everyone!

Even though Robyn is on vacation, she still set up a challenge on the My Pink Stamper website.

The Challenge:  Any project using a feathered friend!

I made this card Sunday afternoon and it fits perfectly, I've put up pictures here again!

Hope you enjoy!

Stay tuned for a scrappy kind of weekend, with scrapbook layouts.  I'm thinking the kind that you make 1 a month ... Jan, Feb, March etc .... I've got a good friend who's got a handsome 4 year old and no time to scrap, but loves to take pictures.  I'm thinking I'll turn this into a project to give to her to showcase her pictures of her son .... hmmm! Now there's an idea!

As always thanks for stopping by Crafting with Meg, the comments and support have been amazing and I THANK YOU!

~Meg