It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I just love Christmas time, don't you?  The smells, the beautiful decorations, family...just all of it.  I feel especially blessed to have such a wonderful family and look forward to spending the holidays with them.

Well, I don't know about you, but I take a ton of pictures at Christmas.  So many times they end up just sitting on my computer for a year before I take the time to do something with them.  As many of you know I tend to scrapbook by events.  I will take all the pics from an event or holiday and make an album for just that.  I have a huge Hawaii album and so many smaller ones that are from Spring Break, prom and after prom for my son, and even a few little ones for birthdays.  Having 5 children makes scrapbooking seem daunting at times; like I don't know where to begin.  The small "event" albums make it easier for me.

That said, let me show you a new Christmas album I have made.

As you can see it is a gingerbread house.  The roof lifts off to show the cute mini album inside.  This is actually my December project at Scrapp n' Savvy.  The mini album has some of my favorite pictures of the kids at Christmas.  I actually have about 10 more pages that will get added to it this week.  I have the perfect place for it in the den that I think will add to the Christmas spirit in the house.  I think the Bo Bunny paper was just perfect for this.

I am planning on  a 12 days of blogging for Christmas.  This will begin on Monday, Dec 10.  Join me each day as I show you some fun Christmas goodies I have been working on.

Until then, craft on ladies!

Fall, finally!

Oh my isn't today GRAND?  The cool weather had finally hit here in the humid south.  Better get out and enjoy it today because it probably won't last too long!

To get you into the Thanksgiving spirit I thought I would share my Apple Cider mini album with you today.  This is a class that I taught at Scrapp n' Savvy this month.  The album is made using the Bo Bunny Apple Cider paper collection.

I have always been a huge fan of Bo Bunny papers and this one is a winner for me again.  The colors just make me want to go find those beautiful fall leaves.  This is a pocket album and holds a hefty 48 pictures!  Small in stature but big inside.

I hope everyone enjoys the lovely weather.  For those of you checking in from class, visit the gallery to take a view!

The rest of the tags!!!

Tags.   Who doesn't love tags?  I love, love, love them!!!  As a child I took art lessons, painting to be exact, while all my friends tumbled, cheered, or played enough piano to make their little fingers hurt.  I painted.  A lot.  Being an only child I had access to the "extra room" in our house so I made it my personal studio.  Well, only the closet.  Yep, that's right.  I had a studio in a small walk in closet.  It was great!  I would sit on the floor and paint for hours.

My teacher always complained that I would never paint large paintings.  The largest I liked was about a 16 x 20.  Rare occasions had me painting on a 20 x 26 but very rarely.  She liked the 40 x 50 size.  That's freaking huge!!! Especially to a 10 year old!  My favorite was, and still is, the small canvas sizes of 8 x 10 and smaller.  I don't know why.  To this day I have groupings hanging in my house of smaller framed paintings that are 8 x 10 and smaller.  

All that info leads me back to the tags.  I think one of the reasons I like tags so much is that they are like a mini piece of art.  My favorite size.  The more intricate the design the better.  I posted 2 tags a few posts ago, but I wanted to post pics of all the tags from the class I had recently that was just about tags.

 This tag is one of my favorites.  It was shown on the previous post but I wanted to show the more detailed photos.  The paper collection used is by Authentique.  I just adore the colors.  So many people make the tags but don't know how to then use them.  I created the layout to show how to incorporate a tag into a layout.  Didn't it turn out great?  As you can see the tag fits perfectly into the burlap pocket I created on the page.

 Who doesn't love those mini hangars?  Had to use them.  A bit of bling and Voila!

 Oh my.  This tag turned out so elegant.  This is a foil technique I saw on Pinterest (my addiction).  This tag is made the same way I saw how to make it on Pinterest.  However, for my class I changed it and used modelling creme and one of the wonderful Crafter's Workshop templates.  We played with some other tidbits and the foil too.  

 My second favorite and the reason I did the tag class is this cutie.  Everyone wanted to make this one.  It has a bunch of tiny components, and probably took the longest to make, but the efforts are worth it.  In class I showed other variations including a Christmas tag made this way.

And lastly.....the gift card holder.  How many times do I give up and just purchase a gift card as a gift?  Well, at least now they can be given in a cute tag!  How cool is it that I get the satisfaction of making the tag and then giving the mini art to someone with a gift.

All of these tags were inspired by tags I pinned while on Pinterest.  Visit me on Pinterest and you can see them on my boards (I am under Terri Chronister-Burnette).  I hope one of these inspired you today. Let me know what you think.......

What I've Been Up To

As always, life around here is chaotic.  There are days that I fall into bed and wonder (the next day of course) how did I do all that?  I have become a master at last minute things.  I can make a costume in 5 minutes and still get everyone to school on time.  I can remember where everyone has placed their important things and even the not so important things...kinda like a human data base!  And make dinner.  And get everyone to whatever activity.  And make sure the cupcakes get done for the party.  And...... Sound like I'm tooting my horn?  Well, maybe.  But every single mom I know does this.  Once you become a mom you somehow obtain these superhuman mom powers to do all this stuff!!!

 So, let's bring my feet back to terra firma!  I'm going to introduce you to my very own Frankenstein.  I made him.  Complete.  My design.  My hands.  My mistakes.  :)

So, here goes.  Meet Frank:

 Frank is my solution to a side desk.  I find that I like to have certain items at hand when I am creating but don't like to waste my precious desk space for them.  So I made Frank!!  I have the white cubes for all my stuff and they stack, but the roller base just does not work well. It inhibits drawers opening or getting stuff out of cubbies.  And there is no space for the extra junk.    Frank does it all.  He has casters, holds the 2 cubes with space for my extras and has a working space on top!  I love that when I am not working or don't need it, I can just roll it out of the way.  It doesn't look too bad.  (I did have my husband add 2 cross bars at the back the next day since it swayed so badly!)

 Now do you see why I call it Frank?  I used some old wood that we had in the garage to make it.  Some shelves, some just pieces.  Add measure?  HA!  Not me.....I just eyeballed it and made it work!

 From the side you can see my creation and how it is put together.

Well, I love Frank!  It is just so incredibly useful and that is what matters.  I only spent $8 on the casters.  While I was moving a few things to Frank I realized that the system I used to hold my paper collections under my desk was really not working well for me.  I have been slowly going through everything and cleaning out for a garage sale at the scrapbook store.  I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and purchased this cube system (see pic below) for $2!!!  Perfectly fits in the closet and now I have amazingly easy access to all my paper collections.  I love that!  I then placed things that I really don't need very often under my work table.

I really love it when something comes together in the end.  I guess I am an organizational freak because I like things in their places.  And of course I need to be able to get to everything easily or I won't use it (lesson learned!!!)

Just thought I would share this with you today.  Frank and I have work to be done.  Look for some cute tags in a few days.  In the mean time, have a scrappin good day!

tags, tags, and more tags

I don't know about the rest of you, but, I am a Pinterest addict!!!  My niece began this downward spiral for me when she got her new iphone last year.  She spent most of her night looking through Pinterest.  Then she had the nerve to tell me about it!   Aaaaghhhh!  Now I get to spend some nights thumbing through Pinterest!  I have actually set a time limit for myself on Pinterest so that I do not endlessly surf through it.  I also have made myself pin a certain number of things before I can surf.  My little mind games!  All so that I can look through Pinterest!

There have been some wonderful things that I have taken from it though.  Many recipes....baked oatmeal, crockpot chicken, the sprite rolls.  Some household things....cleaning with vinegar (kinda already did that but do more with it now), how to make the stainless sparkle, tips on storing things.  Home decor/seasonal decorations.....just look at my front door and you will see that one, plus many other things that I have made.  And of course, scrapbook......cards, layouts, cool products, color combos, etc.  I even teach an Inspired by Pinterest class.  If you haven't gotten into the Pinterest craze I recommend it.  Just keep in mind how much time it can eat.  Set your limits and be willing to admit when you are an addict!!

I thought I would share with you some of the tags I have made that were inspired by Pinterest.  This is a class next week so I won't share all of them yet.

The second photo is actually a layout I made so that I could use the super cute tag I had made.  I love using tags in layouts to give an interactive feel to them.  It is made with Authentique papers and Prima flowers.  The first tag is a little shabbly chic tag that I actually have made to go on the front of a card.

So, if you don't Pinterest you should!  It is amazing.  If you do, well then enough said.  If you are interested in seeing my boards and pins, you can find me on Pinterest as Terri Chronister-Burnette.

Ya'll have a great day.  I have to go now.  Pinterest is calling!

A big thank you

A big thank you to all the ladies in class today!!!  I had a blast!  You rock!  I am amazed every class when you lovely, creative ladies make my creations!

Pics are posted.  You know where.  You know what to do.  I would love to see the finished product......If you have questions, just let me  know.

Blessings to you all.

Dream

I just love to daydream.  As a matter of fact, that was the most written comment on my report cards when I was in elementary school!  Lately it seems that I just don't make time (???) to daydream.  Yes, I put the question marks there because I shouldn't have to make time to daydream, right?  My schedule stays busy not allowing much extra down time.  And when I do have some down time I usually fill it with artistic endeavours!

So, back to the dream thing.  I fell in love with the My Mind's Eye Lost and Found 2 paper collection back in the summer.  So much so that I inadvertently double ordered paper packs!  I try very hard to not be a paper hoarder (topic for another day) so I have been  thinking about what I could do with all that lovely paper.  Dreaming about what to do with all that lovely paper.  And so I created a Dream mini album.

I just love mini albums.  Especially ones that look mighty small but are mighty in the number of pictures they will hold.  I love minis that are interactive.  I love minis that  hold a surprise for the person looking through them.  I especially love minis that are attractive and make people want to see what it is and look through it.  So, here is my dream mini:

 There is the bling factor: glittered paper.  Pearls, flowers, butterflies, texture.  And then there is a hint of what is inside hanging out around the edges!  I want to see in!  The book is filled with pages that flip open and extra large pocket pages that hold extra large tags with cute pull tabs on them.

 And then there is my favorite page:  the journaling pull out page!  It looks like a normal page but the end pulls out to expose a small space to journal!  I love, love, love how this turned out!  (My youngest son had a book that did this.  I carefully took it apart, figured out how it was done, and put it all back together again.  And then I changed it up and made it mine!)  The journaling space is front and back.

Oh, and then there is the closure!  Oh!  Lots of textures, charms, chain.  Just some scrappin goodness there!

This was so much fun to make.  I really love how the overall album turned out.  This is actually my next class at Scrapp n' Savvy this coming Saturday.  The class has turned out to be quite popular, thankfully.  I am looking forward to sharing with the class how to make the pages and just have some fun.

I hope you enjoyed my little Dream.  Check back in soon.  I am releasing a Waiting for Santa Suitcase album for sale.  Kits will be ready for delivery right after Thanksgiving.  So, check back here for the details!  Have a great day!