Scrappy like a Fox

Two Kickin' Web Tricks for Bloggers and Readers

2011-09-02T09:00:00.000-04:00

I've got a couple of cards and some more scrapbook pages (8x8 ones!) to post really soon, but in the meantime, I'm excited to share a couple of great little techy tidbits I learned this week. If you already knew about these, feel free to feel superior in your media mastery, but since they were so new and exciting to me, I thought it might be helpful to pass them along.

1. Find out who's pinning your stuff on Pinterest.

(First, if you're not already using Pinterest, you're really missing out on a great way to collect inspiring images and bookmark ideas from all over the web. You should join. And follow me, if you like. And tell me if you're on it, so I can follow you back.)

Tools for bloggers to find out what other sites are linking to their pages have been around for a long time, but thanks to this post at The Speckled Dog, I learned that there's also a super easy way to find out if your images are being pinned.

Just type http://pinterest.com/source/ and then add your blog's web address.

For example:
http://pinterest.com/source/traceyfox.com

This is also a great tool to quickly find an image if you remember what site it was from but don't want to go searching through all of its past posts. If it's a memorable image from a popular blog, chances are pretty good it will come up when you input the blog name into Pinterest like above. Or, you can just obsessively check your own blog for pins and never get anything productive done ever again.

2. Turn shortened RSS feeds into full ones.

I understand why blogs do it. They truncate their feeds in the hopes that you will click through to see their painstakingly-designed sites and hopefully click on their advertiser links and earn them pennies. But nothing makes me unsubscribe from something faster than the inconvenience of a partial feed. So, when I heard Peppermint Granberg offer a solution to this on an episode of The Digi Show, I rushed to my computer to resubscribe to some much-missed blogs.

The secret is http://fulltextrssfeed.com/, a site that will generate a link to a full feed when you input the link to a partial one. Then, you add the new feed's link to your favorite feed-reading app (I use Google Reader), and your days of being forced to click through are over! Life-changing!

Just to warn you, this may not work for every site whose feed you want to lengthen. Katie's first attempt resulted in a full feed that still wouldn't load images, and I've run into one that won't seem to work at all. It's definitely worth a try, though. I've had success with 5-6 other blogs I had pretty much given up on reading, and I plan to attempt it from now on every time I subscribe to a blog and find I'm not getting full content in my reader.

Here's wishing you a great long Labor Day weekend full of pin-checking and blog-reading! Got a favorite web-trick to share? I'm suddenly worried about all the things I don't realize I can't live without.

Pumpkin Show 2010: Part 10

2011-08-17T10:00:00.001-04:00

I promise these double-page layouts line up properly in real life. They really do!

Just about every year at the Pumpkin Show, some little shop or booth is selling these laser die cut titles for the event, and I can't keep myself from buying them, even if they aren't my style. They're different every time, but something about them always just feels kitschy and somehow reminiscent of the whole experience, so they're sprinkled throughout my Pumpkin Show albums. The green backing on this particular one was an obscenely bright shade of grass green, so to tone it down and help it match better to the page, I used a blending tool to ink it up liberally with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink.

I also couldn't resist this flocked pumpkin paper from GCD Studios. Obviously, I have no qualms with being literal on my Pumpkin Show pages.

A single vertical photo really throws me off when I'm arranging my pictures, so I turned to this layout sketch from Shimelle Laine's 4x6 Photo Love Series to help out. I still don't like how weighty the vertical print feels on top of the horizontal ones, but the sketch and project examples helped me come to terms with that and move on.

Supplies Used:
Patterned Paper: GCD Studios, My Mind's Eye
Border Punch: Fiskars
Border Sticker: Reminisce
Gems: Colorbok

Pumpkin Show 2010: Part 9

2011-08-16T10:00:00.002-04:00

Once again, I say if you want to use ALL the photos, just use 'em.

Here, I fit 12 4x6 photos on a double-page layout, and the only cropping I did was to overlap and shorten up the two pictures on the bottom left to make them fit and hide their wasted space. I ended up adding the polka dot Smash Tape to the sides because the Snapfish lab cut all my photos just shy of six inches and there was excess room on the page, but I like how it turned out, so I don't have to be mad at them after all.

I've been a little obsessed with decorative label stickers lately, because they're pretty, inexpensive, and such an easy way to add some journaling to a page. These came from a package I found in the stationery section at Target in a package for about $2.50

(Note: If archival scrapbooking is important to you, you'll probably want to stick with labels made by scrapbook supply manufacturers. I don't take acid-free scrapbooking as seriously as I used to, though. I won't be heartbroken if my albums don't last 500-1000 years, as long as they're around for me to enjoy until I'm old and gray.)

Supplies Used:
Ribbon: American Crafts
Decorative Tape: K & Co.
Letter Stickers: Basic Grey
Adhesive Labels: Target

Pumpkin Show 2010: Part 8

2011-08-15T10:00:00.002-04:00

Even though the industry pros are amazing at it, scrapping just one photo on a page is totally out of my comfort zone. But meeting our friends Noel and Ryan for the first time in person after months of bloggy friendship was an evening highlight that merited its own page.

Conventional wisdom says you're supposed to add stitches to your buttons so that they give the illusion of being sewn on, but, alas, I am lazy.

Decorative paper clips are a common scrapbook embellishment, but you can glue your own buttons or other trinkets to regular old paperclips and save your pennies.

Supplies Used:
Patterned Paper, Chipboard Border: Me and My Big Ideas\
Border Punch: Fiskars
Adhesive Tag: Reminisce
Label Sticker: Hampton Arts
Striped Twine: My Mind's Eye

Pumpkin Show 2010: Part 7

2011-08-12T10:00:00.002-04:00

Only have three 4x6 photos for a layout? Just cut some patterned paper to 4x6 to use as a title-block, and recycle the tried and true four-photo layout. The best-kept secret in scrapbooking is that there's no shame in using the same design over and over and over, as long as it still makes you happy. As long as the photos keep changing, the pages will look different. And if you're working on a themed project, sometimes it makes more sense to keep certain aspects (design, color, pattern, etc.) consistent to keep it feeling unified.

Figuring out where to put Katie's beautiful photos in this one was easy. It always feels more natural to place photos so that the subject is looking into the page rather than off of it, because it helps to lead the viewer's eye across the page. Balance-wise, the off-center pumpkin just seemed to beg to be put on the opposite side, and the white space in that photo became a great spot for extending the title.

Since you can't really see it from the full page view, here's a shot of the pleated ribbon at the bottom of the page. I have a HUGE stash of ribbon that I'm always using to stretch across pages to create quick and easy borders, and this is a super simple way to take it up an extra notch. Just adhere the end of the ribbon to the page and pleat the ribbon across the page, securing each pleat with a glue dot as you go.

And since I'm so grateful to her for getting the only picture of the special "10-Year" pin I made for my friends Dayna and Justin for their 10th Pumpkin Show AND for letting me use her label maker again without asking, I wanted to give Katie a rightful photo credit in my album:

Supplies Used:
Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye, DCWV
Ribbon:: American Crafts
Twine: My Mind's Eye
Border Sticker: Reminisce
Label Stickers: Hampton Arts, October Afternoon
Chipboard Letters: Colorbok
Letter Stickers: Authentique
Label Maker: Dymo

Pumpkin Show 2010: Part 6

2011-08-11T10:00:00.007-04:00

I could have made a few more single-page layouts with the rest of these photos from Day 1 of Pumpkin Show 2010, but since they didn't easily separate into discernible categories or themes, I just threw them all together on a double-page spread summing up the rest of the day.

Apparently, I have no clue how to photograph and crop these layouts, because they're supposed to line up.

Even though I have a stash of bright orange and pumpkin-themed papers for this project, I also kept the Die Cuts with a View Natural Stack handy, since its shades of brown, tan, white, and black went so well with the fall theme. I love how the vertical stripes in this pattern slice through the thick band of photos. I've done stuff like this before by cutting up a bunch of different papers, but I love how DCWV thought to include a paper with stripes of all its patterns so I wouldn't have to go to any work.

Once again, I let a sticker do all the title-work for me. To make it stand out, I elevated it a bit with some foam dots and stuck on a few gems.

I LOVE this giant scallop-edge border punch, and the cover of a recent Scrapbook Trends magazine inspired me to stick different papers behind each hole in the pattern.

Also, I am amazed I finally found a use for these bargain-bin Karen Foster cork word stickers. I've had them for years and almost considered them a lost cause. I guess they just needed the right brown-colored layout and some stickers and buttons to jazz them up. Using old, cheap products and not hating them is such a rush.

Supplies Used:
Patterned Paper: DCWV
Border Punch: EK Success
Stickers: Karen Foster, Heidi Grace, Reminisce, Flair Designs
Ribbon: American Crafts

Pumpkin Show 2010: Part 5

2011-08-10T10:00:00.006-04:00

Katie was BORN to photograph those deep-fried buckeyes, no?

This "four photos at the bottom and title at the top" layout is another one of my favorite go-to scrapbook page formats for 4x6 prints. It's so easy when the photos do most of the work.

Rather than use another big title on this one, I tried making one of those fun "clustery" page toppers I've been seeing lately:

I envy scrapbookers who make a lot of their own original embellishments, because I really love the end result, but I'm usually way too impatient for this sort of thing and would rather just slap on a pre-made sticker. I had fun with this one, though. layering punched shapes, ribbon, and stickers over and inked-up tag and a chunk of an adhesive border. I might just try this again sometime.

Another "Get Out of Journaling Free" trick I use on my pages is to grab a Dymo embossing label maker to add simple captions to my photos. The fact that they're dimensional and shiny means that they can pull double-duty as both journaling and embellishments. I usually use my classic, all-caps labeler, but instead, for the first time EVER, I got into Katie's scrapbook stash (which collects dust in my closet until she comes to visit me), and I pulled out her nifty Dymo caption maker so I could use these cute lowercase letters, instead. Thanks, Katie!

Supplies Used:
Patterned Paper: American Crafts
Punches: EK Success & Fiskars
Embossing Folder: Provocraft
Stickers: Heidi Grace, Reminisce, Target
Ribbon: American Crafts
Decorative Tape: K&Co.
Label Maker: Dymo

Pumpkin Show 2010: Part 4

2011-08-09T10:00:00.005-04:00

These photos make me so happy, because it's usually such a struggle to get my adorable mom to smile for the camera, and apparently all it took here was some deliciously greasy food. And doesn't that bloomin' onion look amazing? I'm so lucky Katie shares her pictures with me from our times together so I can scrap 'em. Nobody can capture the deliciousness of food from behind a lens like she can.

This is another super easy layout to make with 4x6 photos. Just lay out two landscape prints and one portrait print, and then cut some patterned paper to 2x4 (a perfect spot for a title) to complete an 8x10-ish block to stick right on your page.

I added some Glossy Accents to the chipboard heart at the center of the page to give it some sheen. I totally love that stuff. I also love it when a page can look complete to me with hardly any embellishment. The stripes on the heart seemed to go really well with the patterned paper under the title, even though they're from different companies, and I liked how the black and white label sticker at the top (from a package found in the stationery section at Target) ties in with the black and white chevron at the bottom of the page.

Supplies Used:
Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye, fancy pants, GCD Studios
Letter Stickers: American Crafts
Chipboard Heart: Crate Paper
Label Sticker: Target
Dimensional Adhesive: Glossy Accents

Pumpkin Show 2010: Part 3

2011-08-08T10:00:00.007-04:00

The beauty of 4x6 photos is how easily they just tile onto a 12x12 layout and make scrapbooking so easy. (Especially when you're like me and can't resist putting all of the pictures from an event onto a page.) If I have 5-6 pictures that go together, I am all about just sticking them end-to-end and calling it done.

(Please excuse the glare on this one. I am so not a pro at photographing layouts.)

That big pumpkin is actually the cover of a chipboard mini album from Maya Road, which I colored by heat embossing it with orange Zing! embossing powder before backing it with a little patterned paper.

Another unwritten scrapbooking "rule" this page breaks is its complete lack of journaling. There's a big movement in scrapbooking to journal the heck out of your albums so that you are making sure you're actually telling your story and not just putting pretty paper with your photos. And althoguh I totally get that argument, and while it might make sense for someone who is trying to be a family historian and pass on a legacy of memories to their children or something, I have to be honest and say that my scrapbooking is pretty much for and about me and my own memories. So, rather than put pressure on myself to make my pages communicate specifics to someone else, I just do what makes me happy and include the information I think I'll want and care about when I look back through my albums.

Besides, these photos totally tell a story on their own. One that goes something like this:

"Simon's trying his FIRST PUMPKIN BURGER!"

"Hmm. That looks pretty good."

"I WANT SOME OF THAT PUMPKIN BURGER!"

"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!"

"Yessssss!"

Supplies Used:
Chipboard Pumpkin: Maya Road
Word Sticker: Me and My Big Ideas:
Letter Stickers: American Crafts
Border Sticker: Reminisce
Embossing Powder: American Crafts
Patterned Paper: BoBunny

Scrappy like a FOX

2011-08-08T09:00:00.004-04:00

Even though I'm pretty sure this little blog only has two readers (despite the 20 or so Google Analytics is telling me there are), I should still probably point out the recent blog-name change. Since she totally peaked in 1996, I liked "Feast on Scraps" as a scrapbook-blog title much more than I ever did the Alanis Morissette album, but I still figured it was time to change things up a bit. Once I decided to route traceyfox.com here, it seemed to make sense to incorporate my much-better-for-puns-than-my-maiden-name name into the blog title. So, "Scrappy like a Fox" it is. I cordially invite you to update your bookmarks and feeds.

Pumpkin Show 2010: Part 2

2011-08-05T11:00:00.005-04:00

Years ago, when I went to the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh with my friend Dayna, I picked up these super cool paper ribbons with Warhol quotes on them in the gift shop, knowing that they would be great for scrapbooking. And the quote "Everyone is rich, everyone is interesting," seemed to rather perfectly sum up these photos of Katie, our friend Eric, Circleville's famous "Pumpkin Man", and a complete stranger in an awesome deer-head jacket.

To gather ribbon like I did with the orange one, just stitch a line right down the middle of it (by machine or by hand), and pull the thread to scrunch it up.

And how 'bout that cute felt pumpkin? I'm pretty sure I found those in the Target Dollar Spot last fall. Theme-scrapper that I am, I collect pumpkin-themed stuff whenever I find it and toss it into my Pumpkin Show supply stash. It's always fun to pull out a plastic container full of forgotten orange and green treasures when I sit down each year to scrap the event.

Monday's post gets into the really good part of Pumpkin Show -- the food!

Supplies Used:
Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye, Basic Grey, DCWV
Letter Stickers, Basic Grey, EK Success
Ribbon: American Crafts, KI Memories
Stickers: Me and My Big Ideas
Punch: Martha Stewart Crafts

Pumpkin Show 2010: Part 1

2011-08-04T11:00:00.022-04:00

I'm not gonna lie. Summer doesn't do much for me. And scrappin' these photos from last year's Circleville Pumpkin Show made me totally yearn for fall to hurry up and get here. There's nothing like crisp-but-not-quite-cold weather, the most delicious fair food ever, and visits from Katie.

It's become a tradition for me to scrapbook a bunch of Pumpkin Show layouts every year and put them in albums devoted entirely to the event. After filling the last book (a bright orange number from Kolo) with pages from 2005-2009, this layout is now the very first page in my new Pumpkin Show book, this pretty binder from Basic Grey. Pumpkin Show 2010 ended up with 11 layouts, and since I finally took the time to photograph them before stuffing them into their plastic inserts, I can actually share them here and use this blog what it was originally meant for!

Patterned Paper: Reminisce, My Mind's Eye, Basic Grey, Pink Paislee, Doodlebug
Pumpkin Die Cut: QuicKutz
Punches: Fiskars
Date Stamp: Becky Higgins (Project Life)
Striped Twine: My Mind's Eye
Photo Corners: Scrapbook Adhesives

"Hoppy Easter"

2011-04-19T08:45:00.001-04:00

Easter has never really meant cards to me, and pastels aren't usually my thing, but when I found this Candy Bunny die from Lifestyle Crafts, I needed to snatch it up and make something. Luckily, I had exactly one Easter stamp and a few pieces of pastel orange, yellow, pink, and blue in my stash, so I could get my Easter-craft fix without buying any supplies.

My mouth was watering for Peeps the whole time I was tiling those bunnies onto the paper.

Here's a peek at the inside. My stamp was so tiny, I decided to make a little paper "ribbon" to help it stand out.

As soon as I stop being too lazy to take, upload, and crop photos of them, I've got tons of scrapbook pages to share. Stay tuned!

Typewriter Stamp Roundup

2011-03-22T10:00:00.005-04:00

Sharing Dan's anniversary card yesterday got me thinking about how many typewriter stamps I've been seeing lately.

There's the one I used, which is from We R Memory Keepers:

There's this new wood-mount lovely from Hero Arts:

Hero Arts also has this useful cling set where you can change out the words on the typing paper:

Or, you can get their background stamp with typewriters and typewriter keys flying around all over the place (I'm not so sure about this one.):

Also in the change-out-the-sentiment family are these sets from the new stamping company Lawn Fawn:

And there are tons of super vintagey typewriter stamps, like this one from Technique Tuesday:

And this one by October Afternoon:

So, what do you think of this trend? I mostly just like thinking about the crafters of the future who will be using all sorts of vintage Kindle and i-Pad-themed products on their projects.

2-Year Anniversary

2011-03-21T10:00:00.010-04:00

One of my favorite stamping techniques is to stamp the same image on different papers and then cut them apart in order to piece them together, but I almost never remember to try it. It happened by accident on this card, because after I stamped this little typewriter directly on the book paper, it looked all wrong, and the sentiment wasn't clear enough. Then, I stamped it on the deep red paper and cut it out, but it still didn't seem to look right. THEN, I realized that of COURSE typewriter paper isn't the same color as the typewriter! So I stamped the whole thing again on cream paper and cut out just the paper part. To make it look even more dimensional, I stuck the typing paper image directly to the paper, and I adhered the typewriter image with Pop Dots.

The best part about this card is that it wasn't until I took this detail shot that I noticed something funny about the particular circle of dictionary paper I had randomly punched out:

It says "SEXUAL INTERCOURSE"! On my anniversary card to my husband! Do you think he'll notice?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T18:14:00.000-04:00

Excuse the harsh shadows in the picture. I just snapped a quick shot before giving this card to my mom this afternoon.

I didn't have any St. Patrick's Day stamps or supplies, so I went with a generic sentiment and die cut four hearts out of green paper to make the shamrock. It looked a little bare, so I made a little flower out of paper scraps to go on top. To learn how to make flowers like this one, check out this tutorial at the Hambly blog.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Quick Birthday Calendar

2011-03-16T12:35:00.003-04:00

You know you're too caught up in crafting when you start letting your products dictate your projects instead of the other way around. After I got this beautiful 7 Gypsies stamp set of month titles, I decided to put together a quick and easy birthday calendar to keep track of important dates throughout the year.

I found this Conrad Ring Book from Creative Imaginations at my local scrapbook store, thinking its 6 chipboard pages would be just right for a 12-month calendar. Then, I chose papers from My Mind's Eye new Stella and Rose collection for each month, took it all home, and went to work.

Instructions:
1. Use a paper trimmer to cut patterned papers to the size of the chipboard pages, and round the corners with a corner rounder.

2. Punch holes in the top of the pages to match the holes in the chipboard pages. (If you use a Crop-a-Dile, you can punch all the pages at once.)

3. Stamp month titles on the top of each page with black ink.

4. Format lists of date numbers in word processor and print on printable transparencies. You'll need 7 lists of 31, 4 lists of 30, and 1 list of 29 for February (to go ahead and factor in the leap year). Trim apart the lists and attach to the patterned paper pages with staples. (You could avoid the stapled look by printing right on the pages, fussing with a clear adhesive, or trying to hide the adhesive with embellishments, but I was going for quick and easy.)

5. Adhere the patterned paper pages to the chipboard pages. Sand the edges if paper hangs off the sides. Assemble the pages and secure them with jump rings. I assembled mine so that January through June all face forward, and you can turn the whole calendar around to flip July through December.

6. Write in all your important dates!

I had to scour Facebook to collect a bunch of birthdays I didn't already know, and I still need to do a little detective work to find the rest, but once I'm done, I'll no longer have to rely on my memory (or my husband's) to be prepared for family events.

I'll probably eventually embellish this a little. I'm sure I'll at least tie some ribbons on the jump rings in between the pages. But for now, I like the simplicity. The stamps and papers feel ornate enough as they are.

Let Loose

2011-03-14T11:32:00.002-04:00

My typical scrapbooking process involves lots of cutting straight lines, carefully placing letter stickers, and aligning things in straight rows with even margins, but sometimes it's super inspiring to watch someone just play on a blank canvas. Check out this sped-up video of an art journaling session with mixed media artist Julie Fei-Fan Balzer:

Art Journaling Fast Forward from Julie Balzer on Vimeo.

Two Birthday Cards in One Week?

2011-03-11T10:00:00.000-05:00

If you know me in person, you probably know that my personal style is decidedly unfeminine, and my scrapbook pages tend to follow suit. Once in a while, in moments of weakness, I'll break down and buy flower embellishments or pretty floral papers, but these things rarely end up in my albums. It may be because they would look really strange paired with my very non-feminine pictures, but in general, I'm much more comfortable sticking with classic black, solids, stripes, and graphic patterns.

Sometimes, though, I use cardmaking as an excuse to make something girly. The sappy sentimentality of flowers and lace and bows somehow seems more palatable to me when I'm working on a small space with no photos. And since I don't have a large stash of frilly products, card kits make it really easy for me to create something pretty without trying too hard. I snatched up this particular card kit from My Mind's Eye on Peachy Cheap a while back, and it had just what I needed to recreate a version of this beautiful card I spotted in the August 2010 issue of Cards magazine by Belinda Chang Langner.

I just loved the look of that inset circle and the ribbon going around the card front. Visually interesting, but so simple to do with just a circle punch and some foam adhesive.

Blowing the Dust Off

2011-03-10T16:13:00.000-05:00

Not off my scrapbook supplies. They get plenty of use. Blowing the dust off this little blog, though. My biggest roadblock to blogging about papercrafting is my aversion to photographing my pages and cards and actually transferring the pictures to my computer. I hate to let this space keep going to waste, though, so hopefully, I can get better at sharing.

Here's the card I made for my nephew's second birthday next week:

Supplies used: paper (DCWV), border punch (EK Success), gems (Target dollar spot), die cut (QuicKutz), embellishment (ki memories), white pen (Uniball), chalk ink (ColorBox)
Has anyone else noticed that birthday-themed products are popping up everywhere lately? From Pink Paislee and House of 3's Soiree line to Basic Grey's Life of the Party and more. It seems funny that something that happens to everyone every single year can suddenly become trendy. This is definitely the time to stock up on card supplies for the whole year.

Very Hungry

2010-08-12T16:28:00.000-04:00

How cute is the image on today's TeeFury t-shirt? Available today only!

Love, Young, World, Star

2010-08-11T15:29:00.000-04:00

Dan made me a Wordle! Out of the titles of David Bowie songs!

Isn't it pretty?

Ten Things I Love Sunday

2010-08-08T04:12:00.002-04:00

Homemade "Fauxstess" Cupcakes:

The Dualbrella:

The Zipper Edger Punch from EK Success:

Home Movies:

Cupcake "Pies" with M&M "Fruit":

These new little (3.5") square calendars from Hamnly Screen Prints:

Yellow Watermelon:

Up!-Inspired Bottle Cap Pins:

Cats 101 on Animal Planet:

Items from the "Lost" Official Show Auction:

Ten Things I Love Sunday

2010-08-01T17:24:00.000-04:00

South Beach Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies:

Japanese Masking Tape:

This Cassette Tape Measure:

Floors Doodled with Sharpies:

These Pizza Cats:

The Kids are All Right:

Taxidermied Piglet Piggy Banks:

Flip Flop Sandwiches:

Pacman Cutting Boards:

Facebook-Themed Like/Dislike Stamps:

Ten Things I Love Sunday

2010-07-25T11:45:00.000-04:00

Homemade Granola:

New Duktig Play Food at Ikea

Cross-stitched Street Fighter II Wedding Announcements:

Mario-themed Perler Bead Hair Barrettes:

Putt-Putt Area Rugs:

Scratch-off maps to show where you've been:

Gadgets with extremely specific purposes:

People who BUILD CANDYLAND in life-size in their backyard gardens:

Super Simple DIY Clocks:

Giant Cardboard Robot Arms (Imagine the possibilities!):

Ten Things I Love Sunday

2010-07-18T15:09:00.000-04:00

This Oceanic Flight 815 Hoodie:

Giant Skateboards:

PB&J Best Friend Necklaces:

Electrical Cord Rings:

Knitted Meat:

Meatsicles:

Book Wheels:

Play Kitchens Made from Old Entertainment Centers:

Brightly Colored Hotel Rooms:

Intricate Papercut Wedding Invitations:

Ten Things I Love Sunday

2010-07-11T06:42:00.001-04:00

Green Tea Ice Cream:

Hink Pink:

Wool Felt State Pillows:

Pet AT-ATs:

Camera Necklaces:

DIY Wax Seals:

More creative children's book storage (this time in lazy susan form!):

This clown lamp from my childhood:

Despicable Me (I seriously had a smile PASTED on my face through this whole movie):

ABChairs:

The Calendar Ring

2010-07-07T15:00:00.001-04:00

In honor of Tracey, I'll call this One Thing I Love Wednesday:

The calendar ring by Sergey Kuzhavsky and Stas Jitzky. Better than any wedding ring, right? I would love to have this to commemorate the day I met my boyfriend.

And then if we broke up, I could just switch the date for the new boy. Screw sentimentality!

Ten Things I Love Sunday

2010-07-04T13:55:00.000-04:00

Columbus Fireworks:

Breakfast Cookies:

Pacman Necklaces (Via Geek Crafts):

Andy Warhol's Silver Clouds:

Snack Cake Desktop Wallpaper:

Shoe Bumper Stickers:

Ribbon Storage:

Treehouses:

Creepy Things Hidden in My Favorite Movies (as pointed out to me by Katie):

Sparklers:

Before There Was "Glee"

2010-07-01T11:37:00.002-04:00

There was the Glee Club on "Saved by the Bell", complete with Tori Spelling and Scott Wolfe:

Ten Things I Love Sunday

2010-06-27T12:19:00.001-04:00

Mini Glue Dots:

Earbud Zippers:

Retro Metal Lawn Chairs:

This T-Shirt:

Picross 3D:

Creatively displayed children's book libraries:

Maude:

Death Star Watermelon:

Buster Keaton:

Dog Staches:

For Your Consideration: "Hot Dead Guy" Buster Keaton

2010-06-26T01:39:00.001-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, Katie suggested that John Steinbeck should be added to the list our friend Noel is keeping of Hot Dead Guys. Well, after attending a silent film showing tonight, I want to put Buster Keaton in the running. Nothing like a sleek and angular face with sad eyes:

Ten Things I Love Sunday

2010-06-20T00:20:00.000-04:00

Toy Story 3:

Cherry Season:

Amigurumi Pee Wee Herman and Chairry:

RSS Lamp Shades:

Paper Pom Pom Garland:

DIY Cupcake Stands made from plates and candle holders:

Burger Bikes:

The CAPA Summer Movie Series:

Chair Socks:

Light Bulb Terrariums (Terraria?):

I like thinking about all of the exams these kids failed because they were busy learning this dance.

2010-05-04T21:03:00.004-04:00

While I was at home on Monday afternoon, I had no idea that THIS was going on at my school:

Ten Things I Love Sunday

2010-04-11T10:25:00.001-04:00

Coffee Can Craft Cubbies:

Food coloring + breakfast food (Katie! I found pancakes to go with your bacon!):

Pixel invasions:

Bradford Pear trees in bloom:

Clearance Easter candy:

Catchphrase compilations:

And the Dharma Initiative Alarm Clock:

Button cookies:

Wooly Willy tables:

Veiny panty hose (even though I'd never wear them):

Cannibalistic Cereal is the Cutest!

2010-04-09T15:25:00.001-04:00

Not since this Fruit by the Foot commercial has an ad campaign made me so happy.

Enjoy:

Ten Things I Love Sunday: Easter Edition

2010-04-04T11:27:00.000-04:00

The classic Cadbury Bunny commercial:

Microwaving Peeps:

"Because nothing says Happy Easter like mistakenly eating soap," the Peeps soap featured at kraftomatic:

Peeps sushi:

This crafty tutorial for hiding messages inside Easter eggs:

Little bunnies:

BIG bunnies:

Munching bunnies:

Useful bunnies:

Bunny Cafes:

Ten Things I Love Sunday: St. Louis Edition

2010-03-28T12:04:00.001-04:00

The LED-lit rainbow staircase at the Moonrise Hotel:

The hippo-viewing tank at the St. Louis Zoo:

The space shuttle toilet at the St. Louis Science Center:

And, of course, the space ice cream in the gift shop:

The collection of corndog-themed art at the City Museum:

The mozzarella sticks at Blueberry Hill:

And their game-board tables for playing Scrabble as you enjoy your mozzarella sticks:

The St. Louis Walk of Fame:

Pin-Up Bowl:

The Pizza at Pi:

Ten Things I Love Sunday

2010-03-21T06:00:00.000-04:00

St. Louis, where Dan and I will be most of next week celebrating our anniversary:

Deal-a-Day Scrapbook Product Sites:

Bookmarks that hold your place and not just your page:

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Googly eyes on EVERYTHING

Colorful cookies that look like scrapbook embellishments:

Geek Soap:

Families of chickens crafted from hard-boiled eggs:

Chrysler Building spaghetti (for Katie):

Jewelry that will make your friends want to amputate your body parts:

This Photo:

Fun with Plagiarism

2010-03-19T01:23:00.000-04:00

I saw these cards on a scrapbook blog this morning, and inspiration hit. See the layered flower embellishments in the middle of the card on the left? And the adorable doodled border on the bottom one?

I shamelessly stole them to make Dan this card for our one-year wedding anniversary:

A little layering, a little stamping, some rub-on letters, and a doodle. I'm so thankful for plagiarism! (Or, "scraplifting", for those who follow papercrafting culture.)

Product Crush: The Xyron Creatopia

2010-03-15T09:51:00.001-04:00

One of the things I miss the most about working at a scrapbook store is not finding out about great new products ahead of time. But now that I'm getting back into scrappin', I'm starting to catch up again on what's going on in the industry, and I've started drooling over all sorts of stuff I should NOT be buying. My scrapbook product crush of the week? The Xyron Creatopia. It's apparently been out for months, but like I said, I'm a little behind. This thing looks crazy amazing. Time to start saving my pennies!

Ten Things I Love Sunday

2010-03-14T10:37:00.001-04:00

(Mostly links instead of pictures today in the interest of time. This paper I'm writing for tomorrow is slowly sucking my will to live.)

Pi Day (But not Daylight Savings Time)

The Nephew, who turns one today, and whose parents have no idea I'm posting pictures of him on the Internet:

Just Between You And Me: objects of co-dependency by Keetra Dean Dixon

The Paperclipping Roundtable Podcast for Scrapbookers

Slideshows of Cupcakes (shared by Dan in Google Reader)

Design Your Own Chiquita Banana Sticker

Fuck Yeah Venn Diagrams

The Bacon Cheese Turtle (shared by Erin in Google Reader) - Great for Low-Carb Dieters! Terrible for pretty much everyone else.

"Splashy Kitchen Backsplashes" at Apartment Therapy

Super Mario Bros. + Queen (watching in full-screen recommended):

Gingerbread Ground Zero

2010-03-12T00:17:00.002-05:00

You saw the gingerbread house Katie and I made this past Christmas.

What you (and Katie) didn't see was the devastation left after I tore the rest of the thing apart in order to store its pieces in a giant zip-lock bag.

Fish (and) Food

2010-03-10T13:34:00.004-05:00

I really hate seafood, but I really love the idea of cutting into a hunk of blackened steak with some fish cutlery:

On the whole, Tracey and I both love good flatware design. In college, we separately picked out the same set from Bed, Bath, and Beyond without knowing the other one liked it. She was the only one of the two of us to ever actually buy the set, and as soon as I can get her to leave it to me in her will, I'm going to have her killed.

Other awesome cutlery designs can be seen here.

Monday Night Cat Blogging

2010-03-08T21:33:00.000-05:00

Ten Things I Love Sunday

2010-03-07T10:35:00.000-05:00

Oscar Nite!

Hamburger Cupcakes:

Clocks made of junk mail:

Classic Sesame Street's Geometry of Circles:

Teeny tiny macaroons:

Literal videos:

Stolen six-packs:

Specialty flash drives:

Snarky protesters:

And tables for two for when there's nowhere to sit:

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

2010-03-06T23:07:00.003-05:00

Ack! No posts since February? I suppose I should have said something about how these last couple of weeks before finals might keep me from blogging.

To tide you over until I regain my life, check out Katie's post on the gingerbread house we "made" on Christmas Day, and buy yourself some jewelry made from recycled gun parts.

Wish me luck with paper-writing and exam-grading!

Guest Post: She's Crafty/She Gets Around

2010-02-26T22:20:00.000-05:00

Amazing! This loosely craft-related blog has actually helped to inspire a crafter to get crafty! Enjoy this post by Kelly, originally posted at BachelorGirl.net.

- - -

I don’t know what’s wrong with me.

I think I might be sick.

Or have some sort of mental disorder.

All I know is, I NEED HELP.

My life has become unmanageable.

I have a problem, and it involves a glue gun.

I CANNOT STOP CRAFTING.

Frankly, I blame Tracey and Katie. It all started when they debuted their new blog dedicated to scrapbooking.

Now, I’m not much of a scrapbooker, but I love other crafts, particularly sewing. About the time Feast on Scraps came into my life, I realized my mom’s birthday was coming up. Giddy at the thought of playing with paper and glue, I went to MarthaStewart.com and found this project.

The next thing I knew, I was driving all over Shreveport trying to find a three-inch hole punch.

Having finally procured one, I proudly showed it to Intern Chris. “What the hell is that?” he asked, aghast. “I didn’t even know they made three-inch hole punches.”

So while he slaved away on the first Bachelor Girl Weekend Roundup, he had to do so while listening to the constant ka-thunk…ka-thunk…ka-thunk of my newest toy. The end result was this:

High from the success of that project, I then decided to sew my mother’s birthday gift. I used a modified version of a pattern in Amy Karol’s book, Bend the Rules Sewing. That endeavor culminated in these:

I have since made two more sets using different fabrics and trims.

HELP. ME.

Mom’s birthday cake, seen here:

came from the queen of Shreveport crafters, Megan McIntyre. Proof that crafting isn’t just a waste of time, Megan started her bakery business, Graciecakes, as a way to earn a living from home. Though she’s very young (and quite beautiful), Megan has a heart condition that keeps her from being able to work outside her home. So she came up with Graciecakes. Twenty bucks gets you a fancy little homemade cake (which is delicious, by the way) hand-delivered to almost anywhere in the Shreveport-Bossier area.

Like all craft addicts, Megan found herself unable to stop at just cakes, so she also started Glistening Grace, a hairbow-making business. She sells them from her home as well as at Sprout Studio on Line Avenue. Up to now, her bows have been for babies and little girls, but she recently started making headbands for big girls (like me!) as well.

I’ll be the proud owner of a Glistening Grace headband sometime in the very near future, but until then, I started thinking back to this gorgeous felt-flower headband Jessica the Web Mistress and I found in an Anthropologie store in Boston. One thing led to another, and soon I was making several variations of these.

Erik came by to see me yesterday, and he watched in horror as I repeatedly stabbed myself with a needle, trying to sew little pink felt petals together.

“This is out of control,” he announced.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should also tell you that I spent Monday afternoon helping my friend Katie make Roman shades for her dining room windows.

My name is Kelly, and I am a craft addict.

Your letting-go-and-letting-Martha-Stewart
Kel

P.S. Crafted anything good lately? Like all good addicts, I’m searching for my next fix.

Cooking with Photoshop

2010-02-25T11:27:00.002-05:00

Adobe Photoshop Cook from Lait Noir on Vimeo.

(Via Craft)

Amen for Rationalizations

2010-02-21T20:30:00.004-05:00

Sam: Why is it that what you just said strikes me as a massive rationalization?

Michael: Don't knock rationalization. Where would we be without it? I don't know anyone who could get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations. They're more important than sex.

Sam: Aw, come on! Nothing's more important than sex.

Michael: Oh, yeah? You ever gone a week without a rationalization?

-The Big Chill

Ten Things I Love Sunday

2010-02-21T09:00:00.000-05:00

Best Worst Movie and its subject matter, Troll 2:

StuffedFruit's handmade zip-up cozies to protect the contents of your lunch box:

People who put slides in their houses:

Chocolate Space Invaders:

Subversive Cross-Stitch:

Belts made of bicycle tires:

Egg Chairs:

Pumpkin Paper from American Crafts:

Cloud-Shaped Marshmallows:

Lee Meredith's craft-themed desktop wallpapers:

It's too bad MY bladder only leaks a little when I sneeze really hard.

2010-02-19T07:39:00.000-05:00

Great news, ladies! If you're willing to invite ten or more of your closest girlfriends to your home, write and record yourselves doing a short and whimsical skit about the issue of Light Bladder Leakage (LBL), upload it to the Poise "House Party" website, and release all rights to it so that they can use it however they want, you can get a free party pack with"costumes and accessories", a bunch of pads (to protect you from all the LBL you and your friends will experience at your knee-slapping shindig), and a digital video camera!

(I refuse to link to the promotion directly out of fear that their marketing overlords might find me, but if you're actually interested in hosting one of these things for the free camera, I will gladly pass on the e-mail I got forwarded to me.)

Baby pages make me crazy. And not in a good way.

2010-02-18T09:18:00.003-05:00

I'm not against enlarging my photos for scrapbook pages like all the best scrapbookers seem to, but let's face it. Not only does it cost more, but takes a lot of extra time and planning to specifically pick out which photos should be enlarged and how big they should be, and that is exactly the type of chore that tends to keep me from scrapbooking. I generally order a giant stack of 4x6s and go to work. So, when I saw this post at Archiver's blog called Save Time with 4x6 Scrapbooking featuring a book devoted entirely to uncropped, non-enlarged 4x6 photos, I got excited.

Then, I saw the cover of the book and had second thoughts:

Up-close 4x6s of BABIES IN FISHING HATS with the title "Growing So Fast" are not quite what I had in mind. Nor do I feel confident in trusting the advice of a book with this nonsense on the cover.

Next up to scrapbook:

2010-02-17T23:30:00.001-05:00

My trip with Dan to L.A. in August 2008, which will go into my 12x12 Making Memories binder right after our one-year anniversary weekend trip to St. Louis.

Now, I just need to decide how to record the story of seeing Mr. T. at LAX and ending up in the background on TMZ. Has anyone figured out a way to embed Internet videos into a scrapbook yet?

WWKLD?

2010-02-16T16:14:00.002-05:00

I used to have an entire folder on my hard drive full of photos of models being made to do things they must have hated themselves for later.

This is the kind of thing, though, that you'd never regret:

The best part is the tiny Karl Lagerfeld in the top corner, casting his come hither look toward the hairlion.

Ten Things I Love Sunday: Valentine's Day Edition

2010-02-14T00:01:00.000-05:00

Portraits of Tina Fey made entirely out of Nerds candy:

Away We Go:

Bachelor Girl's Parisian papercrafted Valentine's Day cupcakes:

Colorful shapes made from overlapping buttons:

This video:

And this one:

And this one:

Knitted Hearts:

Stackable Cats:

And The Vagina Monologues, which is probably in production somewhere in your area around this time of year in order to raise money to stop violence against women:

Silhouette Dreams

2010-02-13T14:11:00.003-05:00

Archiver's finally has a blog. Which I learned about from their Twitter feed. Seriously, who gets Twitter before they get a blog?

Also from their Twitter feed is this great chart comparing and contrasting various die-cutting systems, which basically just demonstrates why the Silhouette SD is the best, and why Katie and I fantasize about owning one so much that we're willing to sit through live webcasts and excruciating live-chats with hundreds of rabid scrapbookers just for a tiny chance at winning one.

Paper Fortune Cookies

2010-02-12T10:00:00.001-05:00

How cute are these?!

Visit the Screen Prints Blog for the super easy instructions and a video tutorial.

The (Lego) House that James (May) Built

2010-02-12T01:21:00.001-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, Dan and I started watching the English TV series Toy Stories, in which James May recruits members of the British public to help him achieve lofty goals with tiny toys. Each show is sort of like an hour-long documentary tribute to a featured toy, woven into a story about a giant project that seems ill-fated until it inevitably comes together at the last minute, turning out to be absolutely brilliant and enchanting.

As much as I loved his full-sized model airplane and the world's longest electric racecar track, my favorite episode was devoted to the construction of the world's first full-sized house made entirely out of Lego bricks:

My Robot Valentine

2010-02-11T18:30:00.005-05:00

I'm usually not much of a card-maker, but I was inspired by this adorable robot paper

and this song

to make this Valentine for Dan:

(Yes, I realize I either need a new scanner or some Photoshop skills to make this look more presentable. Screw you, Pop Dots and the unsightly shadows you create.)

Luckily, he isn't checking this blog for updates (at least I don't think he is), so the surprise won't be ruined.

Toward a Personal Philosophy of Scrapbooking

2010-01-18T23:04:00.007-05:00

When I created this little blog at the start of the new year, I was trying to explain to Katie (and, sort of, to myself) what I wanted to accomplish with it, and all I could really come up with was this:

"Don't you think there are plenty of scrapbookers like us out there who don't feel like they fit in with regular scrapbookers?"

And I still don't know what I mean by that, exactly. But I do know that whenever we're among stereotypical scrapbookers, we're keenly aware that there's something different about us and our approach to documenting our memories.

It may be because we don't have kids. Or because the vast majority of scrapbooking products amuse us more than they inspire us. (I mean, is anyone really buying handcuff stickers and using them in a non-ironic way?) Or maybe it's because we think up zany projects like making a scrapbook of all the boys we've ever kissed. But whatever it is, I hope this blog can help to explore and define it so that I can help begin to carve out a little space in the scrapbooking world for those of us who dig papercrafting but reside somewhere at the margins of crafty culture.

Ten Things I Love Sunday

2010-01-17T13:40:00.003-05:00

The Young Victoria:

Colorful 10-inch computers:

Netflix Oragami:

My new QuicKutz Fork and Spoon die:

Pi-Shaped Ice Cubes:

Kittens in sombreros:

Apple Cozies:

The classic Gameboy:

Shelves with brightly-painted backs:

And transparent toasters (or, at least, the potential for them to exist):

A Camera-Loss Prevention Awareness Message:

2010-01-16T15:18:00.001-05:00

Back when I used to work in the security department of a museum, lots of lost digital cameras passed through my hands on their way to the lost and found. Since someone in our department inevitably ended up looking at the photos on each camera (mostly out of curiosity, but justifiably, in case we happened to spot someone we recognized in the photos in order to return it), I am completely in love with Photojojo's tutorial for bringing home lost cameras. It's simple! On your digital camera, just leave a few images like this:

Probably won't work if your camera gets stolen, but if it's lost and it falls into the hands of a kind soul, it may just find its way back to you.

Ten Things I Love Sunday

2010-01-10T19:26:00.000-05:00

Ali Edwards' square-punch-all-your-Christmas-cards-and-put-them-on-one-layout trick:

The "Yay" Scale, which tells you how great you are instead of how much you weigh:

The Muppet Show:

Stuff Resembling Cassette Tapes:

My Elsie Flannigan-designed 2010 Calendar:

New Super Mario Bros. Wii:

Ikea Chairs:

My Mom's Chocolate Chip Cookies (not the ones pictured here, but they look similar):

Plus-Sized Models:

And the idea of living in this Blob House:

One of the benefits of keeping your desk mostly empty

2010-01-10T00:36:00.000-05:00

is that curious housecats are more likely to come and visit you while you scrapbook:

Just keep a close eye on your paper and ribbons, unless you want them torn to shreds.

How do you know when you've scrapbooked for exactly five straight hours?

2010-01-09T10:43:00.001-05:00

When you do it while watching the A&E/Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice.

You also end up speaking in a haughty British accent for most of the night.

Five hours. Nine pages. A great birthday.

Pictures coming soon.

Happy Birthday to Me and David Bowie!

2010-01-08T05:15:00.000-05:00

I'm 28 today! And David Bowie is 63!

After a rather rough first week back at school, I am so relieved that all I decided I wanted to do tonight for my birthday was to invite a friend over to scrapbook in my new scrapbook room. More on the room later when I have pictures, but in the meantime, this is the desk I picked out:

The perfect size for one or two-person scrappin'.

For fun today, check out the Bowie Bonanza going on all day at Sleeveface.com:

Oh, to be this cool.

2010-01-07T14:02:00.000-05:00

This picture makes me wish we wore attention-grabbing shoes at our wedding.

(Via Once Wed)

And a Scrappy New Year

2010-01-04T00:35:00.000-05:00

I need another blog like a fish needs a bicycle, but the fact that I have a brand new beautiful craft room and started off the new year with a highly productive 20-hour scrapbooking marathon makes me hopeful that I'll have enough scrapbook/craft/inspiration-related material that I'll want to document it somehow.