Scrappin' Sharon

Today's Card

2010-03-21T16:19:00.000-07:00

Had a few minutes to spend in my craft room. Still using up some scraps and another new Cuttlebug embossing folder. I used my sanding block on the embossed design. I've had the sanding block forever and hardly ever remember it.

My new tools

2010-01-07T14:28:00.000-08:00

My new addition to my tools was the Marvy mega circle scallop punch and the Cuttlebug embossing folders. My first project with them was my Christmas cards. I've been getting together with my dear friend Cindra for 13 years now designing and mass producing our Christmas cards. I'm so glad we've kept that tradition going. Here is my Christmas card for 2009.

And because I needed another reason to make more cards with my new tools, I made Thank You cards for all the wonderful, thoughtful gifts I received.

New die

2009-10-11T10:10:00.001-07:00

I just discovered Spellbinder dies. Love them. They have nice shaped nested dies that double as a diecut or embossed or both. Papertrey Ink also has a clear stamp set that fits these dies perfectly. That's next on my wishlist. I used up more of the same birthday paper.

Getting Ready

2009-09-20T13:38:00.000-07:00

I've finally been able to walk into my craft room. With a little rearranging and reorganizing I can actually see my table. Since it was time for another family birthday it was a good excuse to get in there and create a card. Plus I have to get jazzed for Christmas cards.

Gift Idea

2009-07-15T12:24:00.000-07:00

I was in need of a little something for someone's birthday and I found great inspiration from www.twopeasinabucket.com. This is the idea I was inspired by.

She reused a Heidi Swapp flower case. I didn't have one but I was able to reuse a brad case - even though it was much smaller. And to think how many of those cases I've thrown away over the years. If anyone knows where the empty cases can be purchased from, please let me know. I would love to have some on hand for those quick and easy little goodies to give out.

More Cards I've Made

2009-04-27T13:40:00.000-07:00

I'm glad I'm getting the motivation to make more cards since I have two more events coming up to give me inspiration. Here are two cards I've just recently made. Again just using scraps and the Mother's Day card was even pieces I recycled from a card my Mom gave me.

Great Site for Inspiration

2009-04-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

I found a new site that I love to look at for inspiration and wanted to share it with you. It's called Pencil Lines (http://www.pencillines.com) and they post a sketch and several design layouts showing their interpretation to the sketch. There are a ton of links to other great sites and links to the blogs of the featured designer. You can spend hours getting lost in all the resources. I love looking at other people's work so this is a great site to visit often. Look to the right of this page and I have a list of links. I added Pencil Lines for easy access.

If you haven't already signed up with Google "Reader" it's a service that you can link your favorite blogs and when they are updated it will flag it for you so you know to go visit that site. If you go to Google look under the link "more" and it's there. It helps keep me up to date.

Using Scraps

2009-04-05T16:51:00.000-07:00

I love it when I can use up scraps. I have gotten so much mileage out of this paper and color combo and the Bazzill stickers and chipboard are so quick and easy to use, I love using them!

Here is another card I made a while back using the same papers and colors.

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-11T11:26:00.001-08:00

Wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's Day. Every day should be about Love but it is especially nice to share a day and let the ones you Love know how much they are appreciated.

Thanks to Family and Friends

2009-01-04T10:28:00.000-08:00

I want to thank everyone that has stuck by me during my struggles of 2008. It certainly will be a year that will be a marker in my life. They say struggles and trials in your life will make you stronger and they are a lesson in life. And it is up to us to learn from them or to let them destroy us.

I have learned that friendships are to be treasured and nurtured and they can't be expected or forced. Everyone handles stresses in their lives differently and how you handle your stresses says a lot about oneselves. And at the end of the day you have to feel good about yourself that you have stayed strong and true to decency and respect for others. My hope for 2009 is to keep and develop those friendships in my lives. They have given me laughs, encouragement and kept me grounded.

I say goodbye to 2008 and to my sense of accomplishment that I gave TMM my loyalty and hard work to make it a place for our customers to enjoy their memories and a fun environment for themselves and their friends. I would have loved to have continued that hope and dream and continued success but again in life you learn your lessons that sometimes dreams are forced from you. Sometimes others influence your lives and not always in a good way. And to that bad situation, I say goobye and hope that 2009 will bring me peace and understanding.

What I treasure the most in 2008 is that my family has given me their unconditional love and I've learned that family is foremost the most important thing in life and that also needs to be treasured and rewarded. I couldn't imagine having dealt with 2008 without them.

Whether 2009 will bring me peace and understanding, long-lived friendships, no more financial and legal worries, I will accept 2009 as a building block to personal joy and start a new chapter in my life. I will learn from all this.

Again, thank you to all my friends and family that have shown me their true character and have cherished mine.

All Occasion Card

2008-10-27T09:04:00.000-07:00

Before I started scrapbooking, I was a stamper and all I made was cards. That is probably why it is so easy for me to do cards and that is my favorite thing to do. When I realized that all the supplies I had could also be used for scrapbooking, that's when I started scrapbooking.

But as you all know occassions come several times a year that we need a card. So yesterday I made one for a birthday and while I was at it made copies of the same one so I had them on hand.

My New Favorite QuicKutz Die

2008-09-28T16:51:00.000-07:00

I've seen the QuicKutz butterfly die and have loved all the ways they were used. I finally found it and had to buy, especially since it was the last one. I love it and am so glad that I bought it. I finally got around to using it and here's the outside and inside of the birthday card I made. Everything that I used were scraps and embellishments that I had on hand and I also used my stamps. It's so nice to make it work with what I have available.

Excuse to Buy More

2008-08-31T19:54:00.000-07:00

Well not that I always have to have an excuse but I really did get to the point that I didn't need to buy any more scrapbooking supplies until I used up a fraction of what I already had. But now I have a new subject to scrapbook with absolutely no supplies to go with it. So I truly have an excuse.

We just got a new kitty for my son, Sam. Her name is KeeKee and they judge her to be about 4 months old and she is quite cute and adventurous. But unfortunately became sick right after we brought her home from the Humane Society. So she is now being nursed back to health with antibiotics, hand feeding her and giving her water by an injector. She is slowly getting better. Here are pictures of her before she got sick. You can see in one of them that she is quite fascinated with our bird and constantly wants to visit him. Don't worry, the bird is well protected in her cat proof cage.

Stop the Presses!

2008-08-03T08:52:00.000-07:00

It's amazing! I actually made something new. I'm going to my niece's wedding in Oregon next weekend and I had to make a card. There's no way I could get away with buying a card so it was a must that I got in my creative mode. I also had a 50th wedding anniversary card that I needed to make for Rob's Aunt and Uncle so I made the same one for them.

And even more amazing, I put everything away when I was done so I still have a corner of my table clean ready for my next project. Notice I said a corner - because my scrapbook room is still not "company ready".

Looking at Old Layouts

2008-05-28T15:51:00.000-07:00

I figured it was about time I updated my blog. I've been looking through my old layouts and came across a scan I did of a layout for my nephew when he went to Italy for his Sophmore year at Pepperdine University. I made a whole album of his travels and this layout is one of my favorites.

On a personal note - I just found out I got the job at ABF Freight and will be starting next week. I took the drug test and physical and am just waiting for those results - as if I wouldn't pass LOL. So you won't be seeing me much at Treasured Memories & More except just dropping by for a few minutes. I'm sure I'll be seeing many of you in the near future.

Using my Pazzles

2008-05-04T19:16:00.000-07:00

I don't get a chance to use my Pazzle machine much but I needed a birhtday card in a hurry and wanted to make something different so I decided it was time to use my Pazzle.

For those that don't know what a Pazzles is - it is a cutting machine system that operates off of your computer. Whatever you design on your computer you can cut. I love computers and designing so it was a nice match for me and I'm so glad that I own one. Pazzles has a new machine called the Inspiration that just came out that is awesome and although I would love to own the new one because of all of its nice features, I'm still grateful for mine.

I designed the card to cut the outline of the letters "Happy Birthday" and then cut again the words themselves to layer on top of the card. You can't tell from the photo but what is nice about the way this is cut is that the dark green words aren't adhered on but part of the card.

If you have any questions about the Pazzles, just ask. I'll be more than happy to enable you to buy one too. :)

Decorated CD Holder

2008-05-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

I have another project that I designed that I wanted to share with you. This was a make n take that we used at Treasured Memories & More when Janelle Smith from 7Gypsies came to teach at our special event. It was so much fun to have Janelle there to show us all the different ways to use the 7Gypsies product. These were products that we had had for a long time but just weren't really sure how to use them.

The CD holder that I used was from Pine Cone Press but you could use any kind of blank CD holder. This holder was altered by cutting one of the square pockets into a slant and changing the fold of one of the pockets to wrap around the front of the holder. Take a look at a CD holder and see how you can change the pockets or add new ones.

Daisy D's Accordion Album

2008-04-23T18:53:00.000-07:00

This was a class a while back using Daisy D's Modern Romance line. That line has now been discontinued but the any papers will look great. The base square that the accordion album is built on is 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 but any size would work. I cut three strips of black cardstock 4 x 12 with score marks at 4 inch intervals to make the accordion folds. When attaching the strips you need to overlap two of the squares so that you have a continuous 4 x 28 strip. Then it's time to decorate!

I used flourish stamps by Autumn Leaves; transparencies printed for the words love, family, and cherish; Heidi Swapp corner stamp with the words love, tradition, laugh; miscellaneous ribbon; 7 Gypsies self-inking circle stamp; Prima flowers; Lasting Impressions brads, Daisy D's papers, pre-cut frames and nameplate.

If you have any questions on this project just ask.

Hope you enjoy the project.

Celebrating 2 Great Years

2008-04-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

TMM's 2 year celebration was so much fun. We got to see so many friends and celebrate our 2 years of scrapbooking events. We didn't say "goodbye" but said "see ya around". There will be so many opportunities to still get together and share our passion for scrapbooking.

I want to thank everyone for stopping by and celebrating with us!

What a Ride!

2008-04-15T19:51:00.000-07:00

Life is always full of change and we must embrace it and keep smiling. For the past two years Treasured Memories & More has been my focus, my life and my joy and I've had so much fun meeting so many wonderful people and sharing our passion with each other.

But like anything in life sometimes things change without our ability to stop it. 2008 has been a difficult year for everyone with the economy forcing us to make changes. Unfortunately Treasured Memories & More is one of those changes that has to be made. The store will remain open until we find a new tenant but Debbie and I will no longer be there. Crissy and Kathy from Treasured Memories will do their great magic and keep the Sparks store fun and exciting during this transition.

This Saturday, April 19th, we're going to celebrate our 2nd Year Celebration of what a great, fun store Treasured Memories & More has been. Stop by and celebrate with us and share in our excitement that for the past two years we've had an exciting ride! And there will be a bonus - chocolate, a good laugh, make n takes, extra discounts and giveaways.

See you there! And be sure to keep in touch!

Look What You Can Do With a Starbucks Sleeve

2008-04-14T12:42:00.001-07:00

Do you have your Starbucks daily, weekly or as a special treat? Well here's a good way to recycle those sleeves. I taught a class at Treasured Memories & More at Christmas time using those pretty decorative sleeves they give out during that season. P.S. Tonna is teaching a different variation using the sleeves and it's cute. I might have to take that class just for the idea!

I used Daisy D's paper, EK Jolees, Diecuts with a View rubons and I think the brads too and used transparancies for a couple of the pages in between the cardstock pages.

I like to also make gift cards with the sleeves and birthday or all occasion cards with the many sleeves you can collect from them. Ask your friends for their throwaways or if you get to know your barista, they'll slip you a couple of extras.

Use a transparency to add elements that can be viewed through to the two pages

Staple the bottom of the sleeve before covering with paper. That way the gift card can slide in and stay in the sleeve like a pocket.

Baseball Season Has Started

2008-04-12T17:46:00.000-07:00

The schedule is out and we're in full swing having played 3 games already. Sam, my 10 year old, is on the Phillies this year. It's the same team as last year but with a few new players and a new name. They've won 2 and lost 1.

Today was an awesome day with Sam hitting two base hits and one of them ran another player in. I'm the self appointed picture taker since I have a nice zoom lens (300) and can get nice close up shots. Here is one of Sam.

Work in Progress

2008-04-11T21:03:00.001-07:00

Well, here it goes. I'm playing around and constantly updating my blog until I like the looks of it. I've designed websites before but working with a template gives me a new challenge to master.

I'm going to start looking for pictures of projects that I've done so that I can have fun stuff to show you. I'm hoping I'll have more time to devote to scrapbooking as a craft instead of as a business and get back to enjoying scrapbooking again.

Wish me luck!