Don't be chicken!

Confession: I've wanted to open an Etsy shop for at least 4 years,but I've been too chicken. What if it is a giant waste of time, energy, and money? What if my stuff isn't good enough? What if I don't sell a single thing? What if I embarrass myself?
Reality: who cares? What if I found a profitable way to share my passion with others and put a smile on someone's face at the same time? What if I did it?
What is the worst thing that could happen?
I think I've spent enough time being worried about might happen or what might not happen...time to jump in!
I'm so excited to announce that this Saturday, November 17th, my new etsy shop will be open for business! You can find some of my newest little prides and joys available at Etsy.com/shop/pigpigmentation for the first time EVER! Without a lot of love and confidence from so many of you here, I wouldn't have had the courage to do this thing. So, what have you been putting off? What have you been too chicken to do? What if you did it? Go on...get to it!
Hugs and HOOTS,
<3 Alicia

Done, done, unicorn run

Here's a drive by show and tell...my latest commission! This 8x10 canvas will soon be on its way home for $55 including shipping:)
If you are interested in a commissioned piece of original mixed media artwork, email me at scrapperbug2002@yahoo.com!
Hugs and hoots,
Alicia

Don't worry...BEE happy!

I love me some lawn fawn stamps and I was lucky enough to get a huge order from them after CHA this year, but the images are tiny and I have had trouble using them...cute as they are.
I came across this bee hive stamp by stamp doctor I bought around 2004 and thought immediately of my little lawn fawn bees. Do stinking cute!
Card details- images bees and sentiment by lawn fawn, hive by stamp dr., Kraft ink by stampin up, doily stamp behind chipboard doily by the crafts meow, paper by sassafras lass, chipboard doily by crate paper, misc flowers.
I hope you are off to a happy start of your week!
Hugs and Hoots,
<3 Alicia

Sweet as a cupcake

This whole room re-do has really transformed my crafting process! It is so much easier to be productive this way; I can not remember the last time I made three cards in a weekend and I'm sick!
I didn't send my sister a birthday card last month, but this one is so very HER that it may just have to make its way to her this week.
Card details- image by sillydillybeans, paper by coordinations, MME, and K&Co., banner embellishment and twine by pink paisley, brad by Queen&Co., button and ribbon misc.
I hope you all had a great and crafty national scrapbook day weekend!
Hugs and Hoots,
<3 Alicia

Busy bee

I've been enjoying my new scrapbook room so much lately that I haven't had time to post here and show you what is new! I always take a quick pic of my projects and post them to Facebook with my iPad, but I've been lazy about getting over here! I just downloaded the blogger app and hopefully that will keep me better organized and up to date. :)
Here are the last few cards I have completed using an under painting of comics and shading with prismacolor pencils with Gamsol.
Card details- 1) digi image by poly crafts, paper by MME, chipboard by crate paper, doily by maya road, and metal plaque by Making Memories.
2)images by unity, tags by websters pages, paper by sassafras lass, vintage buttons and twine by pink paisley.
3) image by stamping Bella, flowers by prima, tag by maya road, paper by basic grey, ribbon by may arts and maya road, and ribbon slider by I'll Davis designs.
4) image by Stamping Bella, paper by MME, journaling spot by crate paper, wooden buttons by maya road, and text flags punched using Jenny bowling by displays punch.
Hugs and hoots,
<3 Alicia

A room of her own

I have always wanted my scrapbook room to have all the like items grouped and gathered together,but my storage units were never just right to do that. At this point, I am teh closest to this goal as I have ever been! It only took a couple days and about $150 to update my space. I did a purge that also took another couple days a few weeks ago, which made it so much easier to reorganize!
Here is my newly organized room:

Hugs and HOOTS,
<3 Alicia

To the Moon and Back

When my husband and I were dating and our first Valentine's Day approached, we began talking about all the plans our friends were making with their Valentines and we kept eyeing one another to test out the V-Day waters. Does she expect me to that? Is he really into all of this? We both sighed with such relief when we discovered that neither one of us was into the Hallmark holiday fashion of the day. We both knew the historical significance of the date, but the pressure of holiday's celebration was just too much. I don't like roses, I cringe at the thought of the expenses that go along with the typical hoopla. Gag.
The best thing about it, is that my hubby said that he doesn't need one day a year to remind him to do the things he should be doing for me all year long. I have to say that after 6 years, he truly is my Valentine all year long.
Regardless, I can't resist all those adorable Valentine's Day sets out there...or the paper...or the embellishments! ;) Hey, I've got valentines to make all year long, remember?!
Now you know I adore OWLS, so when my dear friend, Lisa, owner of The Craft's Meow, showed me this too sweet set, I swooned! Check it out here!


Those big open spaces just call to be paper pieced, don't you think? I used Prima papers and flower, some Maya Road stick pins, and Maya Road mini Kraft Tickets (oh my gosh, can you say LOVE?) to embellish these little love birds. I was out of an appropriately sized wood grain paper, so I stamped the Hero Arts wood grain background with Chestnut Roan Chalk Ink by Colorbox onto some Kraft cardstock...worked like a charm!
I was even brave enough to pull out my sewing machine and add a little something extra with some wheat colored thread. I topped the card off with a little stickles on the paper roses and the hearts in the image. The card may be girly, but I know it's a sentiment my husband will love...any day of the year!
Today and *everyday*,
Hugs and HOOTS,
<3 Alicia

Nuture today...with friendship

Life is so full these days! As I heal from my surgery, my mom continues her treatment for breast cancer following a bilateral mastectomy, and my grandmother begins another round of chemotherapy for stage 4 lung cancer.
Through all of this we have all been so very blessed with the prayers of friends, family, and strangers.
My dear friend, Lisa, has been such a treasure, through her company, support, and willingness to keep me focused when I need to be and distracted when I need to be!:)
Thank *God* for good friends!
We've been up to quite a bit, Lisa and I. First, we cleaned out some of her store's inventory, making an insane number of grab bag boxes to post for sale this week: http://www.thecraftsmeow.com/products/grab-boxes
Check them out! We spent two days going through product, sorting it out into boxes, and even cleaning out some of her personal stash for a local scrapbook store's garage sale. Wouldn't you know it, Lisa convinced me to give it a go as well, so I've purged my scrapbook room in a big way! It's SO NICE!
When I was helping Lisa, she generously paid me in stamps...and I mean STAMPS. I have so many incredible new images to play with I can hardly stand it!
Here is teh first card I've made using some of the Unity stamps I got from Lisa, along with some silk ribbon by May Arts and SU! clear buttons she gave me:

The die-cut frame is by Crate Paper, and the paper is Cosmo Cricket. Strangely enough, I made the card for teh fun of it, but it is *just right* for my mom thsi week, so it will go off in the mail tomorrow.
So,that garage sale...oh gosh! The scrapbook store kept 15% of our profit and the rest was paid to us in store credit. I have been wanting to build up a good collection of mists, inks, and washes and thsi was the perfect opportunity! I made $253 and enjoyed spending every penny of it today! If your local store does this, you have got to give it a try! I didn't sell all my items, but I'll keep them for their next sale, maybe they will sell then.
I decided to make a video haul of my new goodies, so if you have time, I hope you will check it out!

Fun, right?!
I am just so excited to enjoy all my new toys and blessed beyond belief!
Hugs and HOOTS,
<3 Alicia

Brain surgery is cause for reflection

Hello friends! I hope your 2012 is off to a wonderful start! I am on week 6 of my recovery from surgery. I have Trigeminal Neuralgia, which is the compression of the nerve root which hosts all the nerve endings to either side of your face. The condition is very painful and I've had it for 5 years. To make a long story short, my husband and I had had enoiugh of this disease and it's effects on our life together, so I made the decision to have a Microvascular Decompression (MVD surgery). They made about a 4-5 inch incision behind my left ear, cut a silver-dollar sized hole into the bone, and went about putting some teflon pads in between the artery and vein that were compressing on my Trigeminal Nerve. They popped the bone plug back in and sewed me up. *phew*

Pretty scary stuff, but the worst of it is that I've been left with some vertigo as a result of the surgery and am waiting for it to fully pass before returning to work.
What does this have to do with crafting?!
Well, brain surgery is certainly cause for reflection. Having this surgery will allow me to get off the heavy meds I have to take to keep it in check, which will allow me to have children of my own one day, but also give me my energy and life back! I have been thinking about how different I *can* make my life now that I've got this surgery behind me and how I can get back to the energetic, ethusiastic ME I was before my surgery. One of the things I used to do was Art Journaling. It was so fun to make a mess, try out new techniques, purge and vent, and either share it, or tuck it away just for me to see.
I decided that the NEW-old me should art journal this year...what a way to document this year, right?!
I went through all that to share a couple pages from my journal using the Gelli Plate by GelliArts (http://www.gelliarts.com/), which allows you to monoprint anytime without the need of a press or the mess of making your own gelatin and letting it set...all that for just $30! SO WORTH IT!


On both of these pages, I used some rubber stamps by Unity-they are SO my favorite new stamp company. The owl was purchased at a trade show and the "follow your heart" set was purchased through Unity's new stamp of the week club-a new stampset in your mailbox every week for just $5.97! SO FUN!
I hope that you will try out thE Gelli Plate too, or at least check it out on YouTube...it's a BLAST!


Hugs and HOOTS,
<3 Alicia

This little light of mine...

For the millionth time in my life, I found something I could do nearly every day and probably happily turn into a side business. Each time I strumble upon a new craft or a technique that I could see working on all through the year for some type of craft booth, I name it. Today's endevor: "This Little Light of Mine Boutique".
Okay, so I won't quit my day job, but I do have to share what I made. I am aware that this technique is by no means new, but it is new to me; I've seen many candles with stamped images over the 12 years I've been stamping, but have never ventured so far as to figure out how to do it. After seeing my pal, Debbie's project, I dashed off to the dollar store to collect the supplies I needed. For $20, I am one happy stamper and hopefully everyone on my gift list will be too because I have 13 candles!;)
Enough yappin' girl, show us the goods:

Stampendous Stamp Set: "Snowy Short Stack" and Copics

Stampabilities Stamp from the 90's and Copics
The sentiment on the back of this one reads "Baked with love to warm your heart"

Penny Black Stamp-new release at Hobby Lobby this month
The sentiment on the back of this one reads "Snowmen fall from Heaven one flake at a time"

Penny Black Stamp-between 2001-2002
The sentiment on the back of this one reads "Merry Christmas" in scrollwork


I *NEED* to go to the store and buy some taller candles and some teeny tiny candles to keep playing with this technique...so many fun ideas! If you haven't tried this yet, DO IT! You won't be sorry!

Hugs and HOOTS,
<3 Alicia

Back to school...something to HOOT about!

Though school has already started for many, we are just getting ready in my district. I try to make a little "sumthin' sumthin'" for the people on my team each year, so when my dear friend, Lisa, owner of The Craft's Meow, gave me this awesome little stamp set, I knew I could put it to good use right away!

I used my Stampin' Up! Top Note Die for the goody bag toppers in Real Red and Kraft. I stamped all the images with Chocolate Chip, Real Red, and Wild Wasabi Inks. I embellished with google eyes (WOOT), SU! brads, and some super fun green twine by WRMK.

I used an old retired SU! lined stamp for the back...a perfect little message spot.
I know all the teachers will need to recharge with a few bottles of water as they set up their classrooms, so some tasty water flavor packets will come in handy!
Well, friends, I gotta' run...back to work to prep,prep,prep in the AM!
Hugs and HOOTS,
<3 Alicia

Hear YE, Hear YE...your presence is requested!

A very dear friend of mine is celebrating his daughter's FIRST birthday in serious style! His too sweet wife asked me for some input on the invitations, and you know I can't just stop there... ;)
They've decided to go with an Alice in Wonderland theme, so I got right to work on the invite options-ENJOY!

Option One: One Classy Queen
Front

Detail

Back


Option Two: The Mad Hatter Girls It Up
Front

 

Detail

Back


Tell me, friends, which do you prefer?

Hugs and HOOTS,
<3 Alicia

A color challenge and a lift!

I had so much fun participating in last week's SplitcoastStamper.com Sketch Challenge, I had to push myself a little farther and try out my first color challenge, this week! The color combo for SCS-CC334 included:
1) Whisper White
2) Basic Grey
3) Tempting Turqoise
I have to admit, I wasn't too sure about this combo at first, but once I strolled through the challenge gallery, I was ready to rock it! A quick rumage through my retired Designer Series Paper packs resulted in a couple sheets from the fifth avenue line in Basic Grey :) I decided to flip through the current Stampin' Up! catty for a layout to copy and was pleased to find a great card on page 109 featuring the "Just Believe" stamp set. I don't have that set, but I did have this retired hostess set, "Kind and Caring Thoughts"! I stamped the foilage in versamark directly onto patterned paper and embossed it in white, embellishing the main panel with some rinestones on a few martha stewart punched butterflies. Then I investigated how the ribbon was attached on the sample and had a go at it, using some whistper white ribbon that I colored with my SU! Basic Grey marker...AWESOME RESULTS!Finally, I used my new "Petite Pairs" sentiment set to stamp half the phrase on a circle of vellum, and then embossed!

 

I'm really happy with how this card turned out and I sure enjoyed teh challenge of having a set of specific colors to work with...I might just be hooked! :)
Hugs and HOOTS,
<3 Alicia

Resistance is futile!

Dear Mr. Brown (aka UPS Delivery Guy),
I've missed you; I really have. I so look forward to the sound of your truck rolling heavily over the complex entrance gate: kuh-chunck...front wheels, kuh-chunck...back wheels; and then a screech-sigh as you step on the brake and put that giant truck of goodness into park. A ding-dong on the doorbell and a wagging dog tail can tell me only one thing...you've come for me!

 

 

Are those *business supplies*?! No, no..I won't be needing those!

 

THIS IS WHAT I'VE *REALLY* BEEN WAITING FOR!
After much fondling, and too much time mounting new stamp sets, it's time to dig in!

 

I used the new "Delicate Doily" set to create a 3 1/2" x 4" gift card holder. In an attempt to show-off the versatility of this set, I went ahead and used the border punch to create ornament toppers and voila-from doilies to ornaments! Paired with a "Petite Pairs" sentiment, this crumb cake, wild wasabi, and ridinghood red card is ready to go!

 

So, you see, Mr. Brown, I missed you so much, I just coudln't resist re-joining Stampin' Up for at least a few months! Now you may be wondering if it was realy *you* or if I just did it for the discount...can't I have both? ;)
Hugs and HOOTS,
<3 Alicia (in apartment 96)

Treehouses make my heart HAPPY

Someday, when I own my own home, I will find a house with a sturdy tree in the backyard. Whether our home is filled with gallivanting children or not, this tree will hold a tree house, for sure! As a child, I was always jealous of my friends who:
a) had a giant trampoline
b) had pet chickens
c) were allowed to pin up posters of hotties such as J.T.T on their walls with push-pins
and
d) had a tree house
I would most certainly be jealous of this adorable squirrel and his blue-jay friend, for their tree house is fit for a king!

 

I drew out the house shape, stamped the wood grain by Hero Arts, embellished with some adorable patterned papers by My Little Shoebox, and set to work on that scalloped roof using my SU! punch. The adorable mushroom and squirrel stamps are by Prima and were a total score at their warehouse sale for 50 CENTS EACH!
I really enjoyed adding in all sorts of bitty details on this card, especially this Tim Holtz pin and paper cloud:

Oh, I couldn't resist embellishing the inside either! Check out this sweet sentiment from Michael's dollar bin:



I can see myself getting a bit carried away with these little tree house cards-I have a TON of cute tree-dwelling critter stamps...SWOON!
I'm off to map out my ideal tree house...send me pics if you happen to have one in your own backyard! :)
Hugs and HOOTS,
<3 Alicia

...after a while, crocodile!

After a while, all of us crafters seem to look around, scratch our heads, and ask ourselves where in goodness' name all this crafty crap came from! With all the "pretties" that are constantly manufactured, it can be difficult to keep up with all the new product, but most of us tend to save things "for later". We just seem to *know* that *someday* the most *perfect* project will come along and we will instantly know that *IT IS TIME*.

Hmmmm.

I really enjoy watching Kristina Werner's Make a Card Monday and Finally Friday videos on YouTube because she is always piling on the "gems" of her stash as if there is no tomorrow. Don't pretend you don't hoard these little bits away and save them for just the right moment...;) It's both painful and exhilerating to watch her dive in and annihilate an entire package of $5.99 3D stickers on one card. I admire her gusto!
Recently, an online scrapbooking friend passed away unexpectantly after her battle with breast cancer; my heart aches for her family and all of her someday plans...she was much too young. I watched her post entry after entry of beautiful scrapbook pages, and entry after entry of "hauls" ful of "pretties" that she'd never get to use. :(
The point is, both of these situations have really made me think about how I approach a new project. After some pondering of my existence, I decided to head to my scrapbook room to unwind and I started by grabbing up a pile of coordinating products that I ADORE and have been saving "for later".
Meet Albert and Sirius...aren't they adorable? I piled on my favorite retired SU! ribbon and buttons along with several Sassafrass Lass chipboard shapes, some WRMK Bakers Twine, and even some bitty black pearls for eyes on my friends.

 

I hope you will contemplate your own existence and really ask yourself just how long you will hang on to all those "pretties"...go one, dive in...I DARE YA! ;)
Hugs and HOOTS,
<3 Alicia

What's old is *new*...

Greetings night owls! I'm up late tonight playing in my scrap room and it is ooooh so lovely! Cruisin' around SplitCoastStampers.com this afternoon, I was struck by this week's sketch challenge and HAD to play along.

I've been drooling over the new Stampin' Up! catalog so I decided to pull out some oldies but goodies from my retired pile and tie 'em in with a couple new toys to liven things up. I am really enjoying the twine, this new lace punch by EK Success, and this doily stamp set by Martha Stewart Crafts. :)

Most of all, I had fun stamping the sentiment from two different stamp sets by stamping "cherish" first, then by omitting "thinking of" and only inking up "you" from the teeny tiny wishes stamp set. I will have to think outside the box more and challenge myself to this more frequently because I loved the results!
Thanks for stopping by my friends and happy stampin'!
Hugs and HOOTS,
<3 Alicia