My Obsession Continues . . .

I admit it! I'm totally obsessed with notebooks and journals! I think I've altered about 20 of them and yes, I use them all . . .

And who says the paper  in your notebook can't have a bit ol' hole in it?

I had a blast prettying up this one - that started out with a beautiful pink cover anyway:

I like having a big ol' hole in my notebook:

And the notebook dangle is so sweet:

Supplies: Notebook from Barnes & Noble, wire, ball chain

Jenni Bowlin Mercantile: rhinestone buttons, butterfly rubon, journaling card, journaling stickers, letter stickers, chipboard buttons, vintage buttons, old jewelry pieces

There's still time to check out the free crepe paper flower class right here: Fabulous Flowers. Although the class is officially "over", the class files are still up!  A big thank you to everyone who checked it out and participated!  

Pam will be teaching a class over at Scrapbook Challenges soon.  Check it out here: Everyday Life Canvas Album.  Scrapping about everyday life is so important, isn't it?

My JBS layout is up on the JBS Inspiration blog:

You can check out the Inspiration blog to see how it was made.

Gotta run and get this house in order.  Maybe one day my house will look like this:

source

one can dream :)

Have a wonderful day!

betsy

"Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity."  W. Clement Stone

Gorgeous Paper and a Wicked Tag Sale Find

I had a lot of fun making a layout for the JBS blog last night.  No digital this time, instead a bit of real life cutting - ahhhhh - feels good!  When you have an undefinable scrapbooking style, you can go from clean and simple to homespun in 10 minutes without blinking an eye.  LOL!

Here's a peek of the Picnic Lunch patterned paper all cut up.  LOVE!

Should be up on the JBS blog this week i think.

Check out this tag sale find:

Gingerbread trim from a Victorian house - so cool!  I know they need cleaning up, but the question is: to sand or not to sand?

thanks for stopping by! - betsy

A Layered Template + JBS Patterned Paper = One Cool Layout

Sooooo, I was having some trouble getting this layout together until I had an idea.  I loved this template by Kate Pertiet:

but I wanted to go hybrid and didn't want to wait for the digi part to be printed . . .  so I moved some things around, made all the elements invisible on the template except for the stitched, fish, and splatters, and stuck my Jenni Bowlin patterned paper through the printer.  I then used a combo of digi and 3-D stuff to finish the layout:

and if you want to learn how to make crepe paper flowers like this one:

using Jenni Bowlin Crepe Paper Ribbon and a Rhinestone button, head on over to the free class here:  Fabulous Flowers .  There's a challenge issued for the weekend and the pdf files and videos are loaded!

And I'll leave you will some pretties:

We'll be heading out for a great baseball tournament this weekend. Hope yours is wonderful!

betsy

Baseball is for the leisurely afternoons of summer and for the unchanging dreams.  ~Roger Kahn

A Wonderful Digi Kit and the Coach that Won't Quit

Jen Martakis has a new digi kit out that is just adorable. I love the colors and the whimsical designs.  Combining it with her White Space No. 7 template, gave me somethin' like this:

The strips on the side of the main photo may have been meant for digi paper, but who says you can't insert photos in there instead?  I have a layout in the August issue of BHG Scrapbooks, etc that shows this point also.  I LOVE templates - there's so much you can do with them!

Supplies:  Jen Martakis Everyday Fun digi kit

Jen Martakis White Space No. 7

Kate Pertiet Stamped Stitches

My Fabulous Flowers Class is up and running!  It's free!  So head on over, sign up, and download some handouts and watch some video!  I really don't have such a raspy voice with a lisp, so can you just ignore how I sound?! Jeepers! LOL!

And leaving you with a little bit of funny . . . 

The boys have been playing in a competitive baseball league this summer.  They sooo enjoy the other boys and the coach is such a character and cracks them up!  There have been ups and downs, laughs, and tears, wins and losses with this team.  So when the coach looked at me and said, "This team is gonna KILL ME!"  he really wasn't kidding - look at him now:

Broke his hand at practice.  Just hours after surgery he was on the field coaching.  Had to rework all his third base signs though . . . 

Have a wonderful and creative day! - betsy

Total Sweetness!

Oh my dear!  I was so delighted to have my nieces over the other day.  And it was a sleep over to boot!

It was a nice change to be around pink and dolls and dresses and princesses . . . 

And I loved a couple of photos I snapped and created a hybrid layout using American Crafts ScrapHD.

Here's the digital version from ScrapHD:

. . . and I downloaded some of that American Crafts flower paper and cut the flowers out . . . 

. . . and attached with American Crafts Jewel Brads . . . and lifted the edges of the flowers a bit . . . 

What a sweetie pie!

I have a free online class coming up on the 20th where we'll make 6 different crepe paper flowers!  This marks the start of online classes offered through Scrapbook Challenges.  Sign up here: Fabulous Flowers

have a creative day! - betsy

"Integrity is doing the right thing, even when nobody's watching." anon

Making Your Font Even Cuter, Cool News, and (ahhhhh) Roses Again

I've got a little screen tutorial to show you how to make this look with your type:

I love this look . . . where the outline and the 'coloring' don't really match up . . . a "coloring book look" . . . 

Here's the screen tutorial - it's soooo much easier to explain with a screen tutorial than a bunch of screen shots . . . I hope you can follow . . .   (I'm no Jessica Sprague!)

And I made this card using that technique:

Background paper and the pop outs were made using American Crafts digital paper on ScrapHD.com. The 3-D ribbon and red flower embellies are AC.

I love doubling up designs with a pop up on top:

Did you hear the newest?  There will be Paint Daubers and Inks to match Jenni Bowlin patterns?! Yikes! I'm in trouble - I LOVE adding splatters of paint to my pages and I TRY real hard to match colors with different manufacturers, but it's hard!  This will make it easy - look here!  I notice the red tube is named "Cough Syrup", which really makes this pharmacist smile!  :)

And lastly - another shot of roses.  These are from Rhode Island, by the ocean. I don't think there is anything more beautiful than roses by the ocean.

have a great day! - thanks for visiting! - betsy

Baseball, a ScrapHD Layout, and Cuteness

I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July!  We'll be traveling down I-95 in CT for a bit of this stuff:

New Jenni Bowlin digital themes are up on ScrapHD.com .  Here's one I did using the theme: "4th of July!"  Another oldie, but goodie photo of my crazy boy:

and have you ever seen anything so cute?

Have a wonderful weekend! - betsy

"Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people."

Spencer Johnson