On the Road Second Draft... and the return of May Queen Crafts!

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? This blog idea of mine fizzled out pretty quickly, and I can blame that on AdSense. I'm still not entirely sure why I was kicked out of the program, but it frustrated me so much that I didn't see the point of blogging anymore.

But now I'm back!

To kick things off, I thought I would show you guys the updated version of my On the Road page from way back in the spring. You can view the original page here, and check out the updated one below.

You can see that I've added two new pics and a few fun accents. I didn't include a close up of the journaling, so I'll explain the pics here.

The Memphis pic depicts my first ever time in the front row at a Hanson concert. I attended a fan club event with around 80 other fans and the front row was so wide that we all got a spot on it. I have to say, I don't think I can go back now that I know how awesome front row is!

The new Nashville pic shows my friend Lacy and I after "The Wet Walk." Before most concerts, Hanson hosts a one mile barefoot charity walk. For everyone who walks, they donate money a dollar to one of a couple different charities, including Toms Shoes and Bloodwater Mission. You can read more about the Talk The Walk campaign here. During this particular walk, it was pouring rain, but that didn't stop us from taking our shoes off and heading down the street.

Supplies used:

cardstock: Die Cut with a View 12 Inch by 12 Inch Textured Jewels Cardstock Stack
patterned paper: K&Company Designer Paper Pad, Color Basics Radiant, 12-by-12-Inch
punch: The Paper Studio
stickers: Everyday Eclectic Stickers 12"X12"-Element
letter stickers: American Crafts Thickers Foam Letter Stickers, Rootbeer Float Black
glittery dot stickers: Heidi Grace
ink pen: ZIG Writer Dual Point Marker: Black

Just a quick note that the links above go through my brand new Amazon affiliates program account! Any purchases will help me earn a little money... and maybe just your clicks. I'm not sure how it works, but I've provided links to as many of the products I used as possible, so check them out!

This week's projects.

It's been a while since I've updated this blog, hasn't it? I suppose I'm still getting the hang of blogging and remembering that I need to keep posting about the projects I'm working on. Since it's been a while, I decided to lump a few projects together for this post.

First, a non-scrapbook project!

I recently got approved to begin substitute teaching, and I decided it was time for a new bag to carry books and things. I've been using the same old canvas bag for years, and it looks so rough that I won't even put a picture of it on here. So I found this great owl embroidery pattern and stitched it onto a canvas bag. I simplified a few parts of it because it was so small that I couldn't really even trace over some of the small details without them blending together, but I think it turned out nicely. Here are a few pictures of it in progress and finished that I posted to instagram.

I've also been working on some cards for my Etsy shop. This time of year has a few holidays and occasions that I needed to make cards for, and here are a few of them. Clicking on the pictures will take you directly to the listings in the shop.

I forgot to keep a list of the supplies I used on those since I didn't make them specifically to post here. Oops! I will likely post more congrats/graduation cards in the future. For some reason, I've been having fun making those. The embroidery was fun, too, so maybe I'll post more of those projects, too.

Hanson and Me page

It's possible that I'm having way too much fun working on this Hanson scrapbook! I've already planned out most of the pages, including titles and layouts. My titles are really just entirely too clever. I didn't actually plan it that way, but the two I've made so far have Hanson song titles as their titles. The first one, my road trip map, was titled "On The Road," which was a little song the guys wrote during a road trip livestream of their own. The page I'm including in this post is a play on the Hanson song "Penny and Me" and shows pictures of me, Hanson and their music through the years.

Without further ado, here it is! The title page of my Hanson scrapbook.

It's a pretty busy page, but it sort of needed to be. I'm getting more and more into that busy, collage sort of style, but I can't totally cut loose with it yet. Maybe someday.

Most of the pictures on the page are my own, and since they're so small, I thought I'd give a rundown of what they are. From top right: My Hanson symbol 14th birthday cake, the majority of my Hanson cds, a walk I hosted at my college, my first Hanson concert, a "Keep Calm and Listen To Hanson" poster they sold in 2012, and my first picture with Zac.

I think my favorite part of the page is the big Hanson logo, which I found at Hansonish.com and recolored to fit my page. Then I printed it out and cut out around it, leaving a tiny border, so it would fit on the page. I really like how that turned out.

Supplies used:
cardstock: Die Cuts With A View
printer paper: unknown
patterned paper: Carloyn Gavin Greenhouse Mat Pad and unknown
letter stickers: American Crafts Thickers
assorted stickers: The Paper Studio Flowers, Sassafras Lass Hog Heaven and My Dearest
chipboard flowers: unknown
Hanson symbol vector: Hansonish
font: Arial

Sunday Social, Pinterest Edition

I didn't do this little thingy last week, but I couldn't resist this one! I'm slowly becoming more and more addicted to Pinterest. I pinned a ton of paper crafts last night.

1. What is your favorite outfit pin?
It turns out that I don't have very many of these pinned, but I'll go with this one because it looks like something I would actually wear.

2. What is your favorite food pin?
This is the most recent one my mom and I have tried, and they were delicious. Even better on the second day; somehow they magically get more moist after sitting for a while.

In the near future, though, I really want to try these...

3. What is your favorite wedding pin?
Even though I have no wedding to plan, I still love weddings, so I have quite a few wedding things pinned. My favorite is definitely these red/pink bridesmaids.

4. What is your favorite DIY/craft pin?
Definitely this map scrapbook layout of Kelly Purkey's which I duplicated a few days ago (see here).

5. What is your favorite quote/verse/lyric pin?
I really don't pin ANY of this stuff. This is literally all I have that comes close to fitting this category, but it's a good one.

6. Share one more random pin you love.
Home decor! I love mid-century style.

...I think I need to pin more!

On the Road, First Draft

Some of you reading this may have already figured this out, but... I'm a Hanson fan.

Yes, that Hanson. No, they're not dead and they never broke up. In fact, they're coming out with a new album in June and there's a little link over there in my sidebar for their new single. Click on it and check it out; I'll wait right here.

...

Back now? Pretty good song, huh? They've got a lot of those, and that's why I've been a fan for thirteen years. Three years ago, I finally got a chance to see them live, and since then I've accumulated a lot of pictures of my concerts and road trips to see them. When this page by Kelly Purkey showed up on Pinterest, I decided it was perfect to scraplift for my Hanson album! I'm not going to give instructions, because I basically followed hers. I ended up cutting a few states out entirely by hand, and I'll admit that a few of them aren't remotely the right size and shape, but overall, I think it turned out well.

So far, there aren't many pictures on the page, but it's a work in progress. I plan to add at least one more this fall (I bought my ticket for Nashville today!), and who knows what the future holds. I also think some cute travel themed stickers or other embellishments would make this page perfect. I just need to find the right ones. So expect to see more versions of this page in the future; that's why this post is called "First Draft."

Supplies used:
cardstock: Die Cuts With A View, unknown
patterned paper: K & Company Color Basics Radiant
punch: The Paper Studio
letter stickers: American Crafts Thickers
glittery dot stickers: Heidi Grace
ink pen: Zig Writer

This week's projects

Two new scrappy projects so far this week. I still have a few challenges I'd like to look at and possibly contribute to, but this is what I've done so far.

First, one of my friends who has been my number one customer on Etsy asked for something a little different than my usual order. A set of surprise party invitations. This called for stamping, and something I rarely do -- using the computer and printer. Okay, I use my computer all the time, but it rarely gets involved in my scrapbooking and cardmaking. I didn't see any other way to make these cards, though. I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. Maybe I'll do a little more digital work in the future!

Here are two of the cards. The set had eight of each color combination.

Supplies for card:

card and envelope: The Paper Studio
cardstock: Die Cuts With A View
marbled paper: unknown
stamps: Martha Stewart
ink: Martha Stewart
fonts: Bebas and Cursive

After the cards, I decided to work on another sketch challenge. It's for Scrapbook Challenges #338 although I'm not sure why it won't allow me to enter. Oh well. I'll figure it out or I won't. Either way, I made a page that I really like. I just wish I could remember what that line of patterned paper is! It was a Christmas gift and the whole stack (which I've already pulled apart and stored in my Cropper Hopper by color) is just gorgeous.

Supplies for page:

cardstock: Die Cuts With A View (yellow orange) & unknown (teal)
patterned cardstock: unknown
glittery letter stickers: American Crafts
adhesive ribbon border: unknown
paper flowers: Prima
jewel brads: Hero Arts
jewel flowers: unknown

And that's it for now! I am working on a potential feature for another blog, and I'll post some details about that along with the my first layout for it in the near future.

Grandparents page (My Creative Sketches March Sketch)

One thing I've noticed about my scrapbook pages is that they make me look like a real narcissist. Nearly all of my pages are about myself! For this particular sketch challenge from My Creative Sketches, I decided to do something a little different, and used a beautiful portrait of my grandparents.

As I made the page, I was reminded yet again how much I look like my Gran-Gran. And while there may be no physical resemblance and no blood relation, my Granpa was absolutely the best grandfather a girl could have ever wanted. Even someone who uses words as much as I do can't really put all of those feelings onto a scrapbook page. My imperfect handwriting will have to do for now, but I have lots more pictures of them to perhaps include more journaling with in the future.

Anyway, here's the page!

It's difficult to tell in the pictures, but the frame around the page was painted to match the paper I used. I had to mix a few colors to get the right shade, but I think it turned out nicely. I tried several different papers before settling on a kit that I had actually bought for my mom. The polka dots were too perfect, though, with the way they mirrored the pattern on Granpa's tie. The buttons were another nice touch to mirror that, I thought.

Supplies:
cardstock -- Bazzill patterned paper and chipboard frame -- Colorbok Page Kit - Family
acrylic paint -- Apple Barrel in Indian Red, Tapestry Wine and Chocolate Bar
label -- Martha Stewart
colored pencil -- EK Memory Pencils
flowers -- unknown
brads -- unknown
buttons -- unknown