Scrappy Goodness....

is everywhere out there. It is amazing that there are SO many different ways you can be inspired. Blogs, challenge websites, magazines, books (I could go on with the list) and getting product is also pretty easy when you have access to the world wide web. The internet has brought people together from all over the world.
It really is mind blowing when you think about all of the information that is literally at your fingertips.

Aside from making some hard decisions on what I keep and what goes for sale in my studio. I have been creating amongst the ciaos. These are 2 layouts I designed for Scrapbook.com based around the Basic Grey Bling It! swirl.





The great news is Scrapbook.com is giving away BasicGrey Bling It Designer Swirls FREE with ANY order (no minimum purchase required)!
Simply add one BasicGrey Bling It Designer Swirl to your shopping cart and enter coupon code bgswirl2282 in the coupon field at checkout. The price of the BasicGrey Bling It Designer Swirl will be deducted from your order instantly.

This next layout was for Christmas in July. I always love seeing the non.traditional colors that some designers use for their Christmas projects.





So, hurry and go get your Basic Grey Bling It! swirl before they are gone!

Next, I had the great privilege to work on a catalyst for Creative Therapy that was featured at online magazine ScrapStreet.com along with the other designers on the CT team. You can find the article here.

The catalyst was: Did your life turn out how you imagined it? Why or why not?




Supplies: American Crafts Paper, Tim Holtz Distress Ink, Karen Russell Overlay Strip, Sassafras Lass Paper, Ribbon, Tim Holtz Stamp, Punch, Jewels, Ink, Making Memories Paper used as a mask


The journaling reads:

Life has had many twists and turns for me.
There have been many defining moments that have shaped
the woman I am today.
When I was growing up if you would have asked me I would have
said: “Yes, I want to marry raise a family. Be a great Wife, Mother, Daughter,
Sister and Friend”. As far as a career: “Doing something I was passionate about.”
Having a family was always a big part of my plan.
I have always wanted to travel, especially with someone I love to share
the experiences with.

Reflecting on my life thus far: I married my first husband and I received
the best part of him and that was you, Shelby.
I had a Corporate Career. I met you Jon and you are the love of my life.
I truly believe you are my angel! If it was not for your persistence the doctors
would not have found my Cancer and you did it just in the nick of time.
Stage III, you saved me and helped with me through it all.
This was a BIG wake up call for me.
I see life in a completely different way.
You, Shelby were five and I was constantly thinking about you. How would you
ever know how much I love you. What a wonderful person you are. I wanted to
witness the beautiful young lady you would grow up to become.
The funny things we do together, our life.
Documenting these things was still not something I did quite yet.

The day we married Jon, was one of the best days of my life. My heart is full.
I was starting the next chapter of my life with my best friend.
You have always treated Shelby like your own. I could not have asked
for a better man to enter her life as a father figure.
Ellie, you were born and our is family complete. You make the silliest faces.
Your personality is so bright and fun. Both of you make me laugh, you sing with
me in the car. We take walks, play basketball, swing, everything.
Both of you girls and Jon complete me.

So, I did marry the love of my life. Have a family. I’m a Wife, Mother, Daughter,
Sister and enjoy Friendships. I have found a passion for documenting our lives.

On my journey through life I will continue to learn what I can from the twists
and turns that are in the future. Growing and evolving into the best women I can be.

This catalyst was really deep for me. If you are following along with some of the catalysts link me up in the comments I would love to see your work and leave you some love.

I'll be back with a sneak peek of another project I just finished and answer any comments that have been left.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hugs!
D.

117 degrees....

that will be the temperature the next few days. It seems more humid to me this year than the years before. (That or I'm just getting older. LOL!)
More than likely I'm the palest person in all of Arizona.
Since learning and REALLY being aware of how the sun effects my skin it makes me nervous for our girls.
Sometimes I feel bad because I know other children around the country experience Summer in a completely different way. Being outside swimming ALL day, BBQ's, fireworks etc.
This Summer I have been thinking about my childhood alot. Not sure why or what brought this thought process on, but on Fourth of July it really hit me. I remember driving to see my Nannie in Gun Barrell City (Texas) and along the way we would see the biggest warehouses FULL of fireworks. Walking in and buying sparklers, Roman Candles and M-80's (for the adults). The anticipation of Fourth of July evening.
Of course, we could never wait and would end up "testing" the sparklers.
(We HAD to make sure they were fully functional LOL!)
The black top roads, fire ants, lightning bugs, lily pads, the lake and freeze pops.
Walking to the Feed Box resturant and the gas station to get an ICEE. Good times!
Just thinking and typing about these things brings a smile to my face.
I would love to hear some of your childhood memories.

Here in Arizona, with it being so dry and extreme fire danger fireworks are illegal. Shelby has seen fireworks before but Ellie never has. So, I have added this on the list of things to do with the girls. I have made it a mission to be precautious with them but I know they also need to swim, have BBQ's etc.
Now, we go swimming as soon as the sun sets, I'm SO thankful for covered playgrounds (we go when we can stand the heat LOL!)and we BBQ all the time. Jon has prefected the hamburger with secret ingrediants.
Even our neighbors think Jon's hamburgers are better than anything they could buy from a resturant or fast food joint.
We may hibernate during the day but we take the night by storm.
Whew. If you're still reading thanks! I should have warned you this post would be random.

Since it has been SCORCHING HOT here I have been cleaning the studio so we can have a garage sale. This was a project that kept getting bigger and bigger.







This looks awesome compared to what it has looked like.
This huge box is completely full of 12 x 12 patterned paper, cardstock and transparencies. I have another 3 boxes of scrapbooking supplies.
My mojo has been MIA, I would walk into the studio and just feel the weight of stuff. In doing this I feel SO much better. Jon and I are thinking this weekend or next to have the garage sale. If your local keep an eye out and I will post the weekend we decide to have it along with the list of MFG's.
The great thing is all of the garage sale proceeds will go toward buying a new computer. Mine is just about toast and I have no back.up drive right now.

I will be back this weekend with some layouts I have been working on for Creative Therapy and Scrapbook.com

Hugs!
D.

Project Three: Summer Boredom for Teenagers....

I purchased the next kit just for Shelby. The Bo Bunny Press Livin' is Easy 9x9 Album Class kit.



I have been thinking a lot lately about perspective. When I scrapbook our stories it is how I feel or how I see the different things in our lives. So, I wanted to see things from Shelby's point of view.
I did not tell her about my alterior motives but instead just let her create a minibook about her Summer this year. She has done three pages and left room in the rest of the book so she can add more stories and photos that are yet to happen this Summer.







The kit comes with step by step instructions. Now, if you have a teenager like mine (a creative mind all her own) then you will probably find that they will start off using the instructions and then decide to "tweak" it to match their own style.
As Shelby got further into the project she started making changes to fit what she had in mind. She did use just the product in the kit (with the exception of the blue flower on the cover) to complete the album.













Shelby informed me that she now wants to do one of these albums every Summer.
We'll see how far that goes. LOL!

Scrapbook.com just sent out a newsletter and there is a free gift (The Martha Stewart Farm Animal Kit) with your purchase of $20 dollars or more.
(While supplies last)

Just add the Martha Stewart Crafts Pipe Cleaner Farm Animals Kit to your cart along with at least $20 in additional supplies, then enter coupon code mscfarm4664 in the coupon field at checkout, and you'll receive the Farm Animals Kit absolutely FREE.

You can purchase one of the Bo Bunny kits to document the Summer here.
Cool deal. Two kits for the price of one!

I have seen some sneak peeks being released: You can check them out here.

I will be back this weekend with some layout yumminess!
Hugs!
D.

Project Two: Summer Boredom....

Next stop on the creative train was The Martha Stewart Farm Animal Kit.



This kit also kept them busy. I had purchased two of them, one for Ellie and another one for the big girls.
Ellie really wanted her Daddy to help. Jon pulled up a chair next to her and got started. Ellie got the background all set up and the pipe cleaners arranged. Jon was the one to actually do the deed of putting them together.









Ellie thought they could also be used as a mustache! LOL!



The great thing about Martha Stewart is there are no extra tools needed.
The pipe cleaners are pre-cut and each animal has its own bag of parts.
Jon did manage to loose an eyeball for one of the animals. It was later recovered and attached. (In his defense, those black eyeballs are very tiny and easy to loose!)
Ellie is still carrying all of the animals and backdrop everywhere around the house.





Shelby was having fun with this as well but after Ellie hounded her for half an hour about wanting more animals made the appeal kinda wore off. LOL!!!!
Shelby did finish all the animals after lunch.









If you would like to pick one up for some Summer fun, you can find them here.
I'll be back with the project I picked up for Shelby to create. She did such a great job!
Oh, I almost forgot! Tomorrow night (Tuesday night) Paperclipping LIVE will be broadcast at 6:30pm PST.
So, come check it out here. Noell would love to have you visit and chat!
Hugs!
D.

Project One: Summer Boredom....

is setting in around our house. The girls have been out of school for over a month (hard to believe really). Living in Arizona it seems school lets out earlier for Summer (at least as I remember from my childhood).

Yes. Our girls are busy with vacations, friends and Summer programs but they also have ALOT of free time. Let's just say the Summer here can be "scorching HOT" so trying to figure out some "inside" activites falls on my short list of things to do.

One of the other challenges I have are the ages of my girls. Shelby being 13 and Ellie is 6. The funny thing is I can routinely find Ellie in my studio scrapbooking away. With the activites I had planned I was curious to see not only how much fun they would have but which of the activites would hold thier attention longest.
So, I cleared off the table an prepared for the "creating ciaos" I was sure would happen.

Two of the three kits Ellie could do and the third was just for Shelby.
Then inviting friends over to join in the fun.
I had the first kit on the table and the girls got started Friday morning.

We started with the Adhesive Rub On Kit by We R Memory Keepers.
The kit includes adhesive words, phrases, flowers, swirls etc. in the following categories: Family, Swirls and Flourishes, Love, Thank you and Alphabet.
It also includes various colors of glitter, foil and flocking sheets. Let me say the flock is so fuzzy! Love it.
The glitter is to die for and the foil is just fabulous!
At first this kit looked kind of complicated but it turned out to be quite fabulous!
AND Mess Free! I did not have to worry about glitter and flock getting everywhere. Also, it was easy enough for Ellie to play with. The selling point for me is this kit was only $11.99! (My kind of kit!)

We R Memory Keepers - Adhesive Rub On Kits - Foil Glitter and Flock, BRAND NEW
Scrapbook.com

I pulled out "naked" things they could embellish.
Notebooks, Flower Shapes, Cards and Tote Bags.
I read the instructions to the girls and the secret to this kit (at least for them) was letting them know that once they choose an adhesive image they love, they need to cut the image out of the sheet. Take the plastic backing off and place it on thier project. Then just rub it on.
After the explanation Shelby and Katie put together a plan of action: they put the glitter, foil and flock sheets into color categories.
I helped Ellie do the same thing with hers.
The girls started with the notebooks and then moved onto the flowers.
They worked ALL day Friday and when late afternoon rolled around they could not believe how quickly the time had gone by.
(It was hard for ME to believe that Ellie had sat in the same spot most of the day and did not want to stop for the night.)










(Excessive fun can cause faces and expressions like this one! LOL!)

The girls loved this kit SO much that Shelby's friend, Katie ended up staying the night at our house so they could get up and keep going with their creations in the morning.
When morning came they were working on the last of the flowers when Jon joined in the fun. Now, Jon is a manly man. Motorcycle riding, tool wheeling man. When I saw him sit down with the girls it put a BIG smile on my face. He was having the best time working with flock none the less and the rub on tool!



Once the flowers were complete the girls were excited to start embellishing their totes. The totes were canvas and I wasn't sure the adhesive and/or the glitter, flocking or foil would work.
The flock did OK but the glitter turned out awesome!





After creating the notebooks, cards, flowers and totes we still had a ton of product left. This kit is really jammed packed.
As the girls were organizing their adhesive, glitter, flock and foil sheet leftovers, they informed me they would be keeping every scrap they did not use.
Right before school starts back up they want to decorate their school binders with the rest of this kit. So, more Summer boredom will be busted! LOL!!

Here are the photos of the finished projects....(not to happy with these so I will probably be replacing them this weekend!) LOL!

Canvas Totes:




Notebooks:






Flowers:
(Your children can make cute little arrangements for their rooms OR you could use them as flower picks to put outside in your beautiful potted plants).




(The flocked flower Jon made for me.) AAaaaawwww! LOL!

Cards:


Let me warn you ahead of time, it was VERY hard not to use these for any of my projects and I might still steal some to use!
The most important thing for me was sitting back and letting the girls have fun!

So, I would love to hear what you fabulous ladies are doing with your children this Summer. If you are doing little projects with them too, give me a link I would love to check it out and leave you some love!
I will be back with installment number two.

Hugs!
D.

HELLO....hello....

I'm so sorry it's like a ghost town in here!
You can tell it's really Summer around here. LOTS of family time, we LOVE to BBQ and we swim at night, because let's face it here in Arizona you will be scorched.
Jon has been going for a ride on his Harley early every Sunday morning.
So, there has been lots of moments like these....





We also went to a wedding this weekend and Ellie loved it SO much that she is performing her own weddings in our family room.
She demonstrated how the (monkey) groom will be standing in front and the (Maltese) bride will be walking down the center of their friends (as she put it).
The Littlest Pet Shop Town has been set up and everything is in place.
Last night Jon and I were informed that the wedding will take place this evening.
The reception will be held at the Littlest Pet Shop Town swimming pool.
We are eager to see her perform this wedding.



I have been thinking about a question Ellie asked me during the wedding this weekend, something that I'm sure I will never forget.
She turned, looked at me and said: "Mommy, will I marry a good man?"
I gave her a kiss on the cheek and said: "Yes, love. You will marry a good man. Daddy will make sure!" Ellie got a BIG smile on her face and said: "I have the best Daddy!" This girl really knows how to melt me heart for sure.

Even though we have been busy. The Summer Boredom has been creeping in. The girls can get ancy and complain there is nothing to do (which I find VERY hard to believe.)
So, starting Wednesday I will start a three part series of posts on different kits that will keep your kids occupied!
I will have two projects for children 6 to 13 and then one of the projects Shelby did, so it will be one for your teens and how they can document their Summer.

and I found this comment in my Inbox this weekend:

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS DEDRA LONG? I miss all her scrappy goodness and inspiration has anyone seen her? J/K .....sort of, whats up what are you working on how are things in the AZ oven? Going to call you soon to chat about some things I got going so watch out for my Number.....In the meantime get something up on this blog I am dying over here!!!!!!!

Thank you Amy for checking in on me to make sure I'm still breathing! LOL!
and I will be looking for your number to pop up on my phone!

and I wanted to answer some questions I received:

karin c said...
Hi there - for some reason my email is seized up - I wondered if I could ask a question here in the comments? On your Junque Binder with the Hambly Rubons, that crystal knob makes the whole thng for me, it is perfect. Is that a scrapbooking item or did it come from Home Depot? Thank you so much if you have the time to answer here. I have found your art and I am completely motivated by your style - thank you for that - karin

Hi there Karin.
I have a door knob addicition. I find them at home improvement stores, antique stores, Hobby Lobby and I LOVE the ones at Anthropology. Pure YUMMINESS!
There are so many styles and I now have a collection going on. LOL!
Thanks for stopping by! ;-)

and

Melissa said...
Debra-
I found your blog from Janet Hopkins blog...you blog is really cute! Could you please explain to me how to add the blog header and backround from house of 3 to my blog?! I'm so lost on it! I bought some from them, and can't figure out how to add it on blogspot! Please help!

Hi there Melissa.
I'm going to assume you use Blogger and not typepad.
I was a little confused at first too. Then Rhonna put together a little tutorial.
You can go here for instructions on how to customize your header.

Then....for the Background....you can click here for the instructions on how to do the background.

If you still have questions shoot me an e.mail and we will talk about HTML code.
Hopefully, this will help you out! ;-)

Thanks again for stopping by and I will be back on Wednesday for the first installment of the Summer Boredom Busters!
Hugs!
D.

We Survived....

Shelby's party and I have to say it was SO fun!
I also discovered that if you want your husband to take care of some things around the house, that he has been neglecting throw a party! At least I now know what I need to do to get Jon's buns moving! LOL!





We started with a little crafting. I set up tables in our dining room filled with embellishments and projects for the girls to create. Even Eille had a blast doing the projects!





We did the button magnets, the flower magnets and spray painted door hangers. I now wish I would have taken pictures of all the projects when the girls were done!



In order to add photos to the magnets and door hangers I had Shelby take a picture with just her and one of her friends (I did that for each of her friends as they arrived) and then I took one group photo of everyone. Once that was done I downloaded the photos, did a little editing and printed them out as a contact sheet.



Once I brought the photos out all of the girls were so excited and ready to begin.
I was able to fit 8 girls around the table with LOTS of extra space for materials and everything they needed.
Jon was walking by as her was preparing dinner and said "Hey, this is pretty awesome!"
Which, in turn I replied "See I CAN teach classes here and it would be totally fine."
So, I'm working on trying to make this happen. Having classes here at our house. I know there is a risk in having people at our house so I'm really thinking about it.
If it was possible I would rent a studio in all of the extra commerical space we have around the house.

Switching the subject. I found a cool site called Poladroid.
Poladroid is a free download that let's you create your own Polaroid like images with an easy desktop application. The download shows up on your computer desktop looking like an old Polaroid camera. All you do is drag and drop your digital image into the camera and out comes the photo (also onto your desktop). It comes out dark like a real Polaroid then the image slowly develops.
I REALLY LOVE how the photos come out looking very "vintage".

It really looks like a Polaroid photo. Tomorrow Night I'm going to play around with it so I can figure out how to print them. I ran out of time tonight.
So, to get the free download and have a little fun go here.

Thank you for all of the wonderful comments that you leave!
I read and appreicate every single one of them.
and Kathy let me know when you win the lottery I would be more then happy to head off to MT. OR you could come visit me! LOL!

Hugs!
D.