Snowed In = Projects DONE!

I am sure a lot of expecting mothers are like me: long to-do lists titled, "Before Baby Arrives." Well, I not only have my household/nesting list before baby arrives, but I also have a long list of creative/scrapbooking projects to complete! I don't often make to-do lists when it comes to art projects; I find as soon as it's in the have-to-do category, my creativity is GONE. However, the fact that my MIND is also gone right now (seriously, BABY BRAIN is real!) means that I must write things down, or I will completely forget that they exist.

I was snowed in this week - no hubby to shovel me out (he comes home tomorrow - yay!) So, I took advantage of the free quiet time (although Jolie was definitely NOT impressed without her daily trips to the dog park). I finished three projects:

1) Starbucks mini book *check*

2) Christmas Canvas *check*

3) Karen and Kenny's 9X9 wedding album (for myself) *check*

Here are pics of two of the projects; the wedding album has yet to be photographed in decent daylight (it's dark here at 5 pm!)

STARBUCKS MINI BOOK:

This book's final size is 5.5" X 8" or so...It's a VERY different album then what I normally do!

It's funky, and wild, and messy, and chunky, and odd-sized, and all those fun things.

This is a book to hold all my SB memorabilia - my pretty gift cards, my cool sleeves from around the world, and my pictures from my many memories there.

It's also a book to tell the stories of my beverages (as they change each season), and all the things I LOVE about Starbucks!

I decided to try a totally different way of binding this book (above). I used binder rings, but put them through the paper parallel to the edge instead of perpendicular. Then I used Tim Holtz tape to wrap around the edges. I don't recommend using the rings this way, unless your project is less bulky (it was REALLY hard to get the rings in, and I tore some of my paper this way).

So the reason this book is such a different size is because I have been collecting the SB ads that are printed in Real Simple magazine over the last couple of years (since they first began advertising). They're about 8.5X11", but that was too big for my liking for a "mini" book. So, I decided to glue them down and fold them in half. So, all the pages open up and have room inside for an add or other things like pictures, journalling, etc. And, there are extra pages for more things as I collect...

CHRISTMAS CANVAS:

Oh, how this project evolved! That's the cool thing about canvases, though, is if you don't like something - you can just paint over it! Originally, I wanted to do 2 square canvases back in the summer for our bedroom. Suffice it to say, I didn't like the way they were turning out, and after a silver-glittery background evolved, I just STOPPED and complained to my friend Kristin. She remarked the silver-glittery reminded her of Christmas, and maybe I could do something with snowflakes...GREAT IDEA!

So, I ran with it...

Used my Cricut to cut all the letters (thanks mom and dad - it was my Christmas gift last year); vinyl snowflakes from both Treasury of Memories and Stampin Up; a TON of modge podge; and some snowflake ornaments for depth/dimension.

It's still not my fav canvas I have ever done, but it works!

Thank you for looking!

Oh, and during the making of this blog post, I ate a whole pizza. By myself. Mmmm.