Making my own distress tools

First I want to thank everyone who commented on my Night of the Living Dead - Zombie mini album from yesterday. If you haven't seen it, you really should go and check it out ;)
I am happy to report that I received an email from Theresa saying that not only did she love it, but so did her husband. And you know how hard it is to get men excited about our craft, lol.

You know how I love my distress inks?
Well I did get an order of a few (teehee) more.
I usually use a wedged make up sponge with my inks. I only have two distress tools and they are pricey. So I figured a way to make my own.

I am also converting my wooden blocked stamps to easy mount.
So this is a perfect way to use up the wooden blocks :)

Spent most of my day catching up on my book work.
Stayed home, hiding out. I don't want to go out in public with my deformed face, lol.
It was suppose to be banking and grocery day, but hopefully I will look better to face the public tomorrow :).

Hope you all had a creative Wednesday.
My blog is still acting up. I can't see what I type until it gets to the next line?

Tracy :)

Night of the Living Dead Album....yup I went there :)

I have finally finished my mini album for my design team Enchantments Scrapbooking .
I don't think this is what  Theresa had in mind for her Vintage car mini album.



I made this album with certain photos in mind.
A few years ago when Ashley was in college she had an assignment for her photography class. It was called "History though Film". Not surprising she chose "Night of the Living Dead".
The whole family got involved. We had a blast working on this.
Ashley and I put a album together for her to turn it in to the teacher. We used old paper and I think I bound it with the bind it all.
I say think, because the teacher asked to keep it, and Ashley let him.

Proud Tuesday
1. Finishing my album
2. Reading a few chapters of my book
3. Taking care of this gross cold sore I have :(

Blogger is giving me issues tonight. I will type something and it doesn't show up or takes a while for the typed words to appear. Weird.
So if I don't make it to your blogs tonight that is the reason.
I will be posting photos of my album tomorrow, as who knows what would happen with blogger.

Hope you all had a creative Tuesday :)

Tracy :)

I need some Motivation

I saw this on someones Pinterest and loved it!

This is really motivating, but why am I so lazy to do anything :(
I think I need to blow this up like to like 5 feet, and put this on my fridge ;)
Do you think that would work ;)


Onto My Day:
Woke up to a cold sore on my lip, now that was lovely.
 I never get them on my lip, up my nose..yes, but never on my lip.

Worked on my album.
I am so close to finishing it. I only have the spine left to do and then go through it to see if I want to add anything else :)
I was looking for an empty shotgun shell for the album, but no one had one, not even Hubby.
So I had to compromise.

Sneezing a lot today, so hopefully I will sneeze this cold out of my system, teehee.

Hope you had a creative Monday :)

Tracy :)

Hot Chocolate Soothes the Soul

Today was a good day :)
I spent most of my day in my craft room working on my album.
I enjoyed some yummy hot chocolate to ease my congestion from my cold.

Put Wayne to work today as well, lol.
Ashley bought a 47" LED television, so Wayne put up the wall mount in her room and hooked up the new TV.
Then I got him to cut some wood pieces for me. They were tiny and needed to be trimmed on the chop saw. Yea I  could have done it, but I being that they were so small, I didn't want to lose a finger.
Wayne's fingers are so much bigger sooooo. Just kidding ;)

I am so close to finishing up my album.
It seriously takes me so long to complete an album.
I don't know how other crafters can finish one in a couple of days?

Hope you all had a creative Sunday, I did :)
I am still battling this cold, it was pretty bad today....but I can tell it is getting better :)
Walking Dead was really good tonigh, but I now have to wait until February for a new one :(  So Sad.
We got about 4 or 5" of snow yesterday :(

Tracy :)

Happy Fakesgiving

Happy Fakesgiving ;)
Its our 2nd annual Fakesgiving.

I have had a few questions about my Fakesgiving, so let me explain.

Here in Canada we celebrate our Thanksgiving the second Monday of October  it is a statutory, or public, holiday. I always host this holiday meal with my side of the family.
My girls wanted another celebration before Christmas, so I decided to celebrate the American Thanksgiving as well.
Of course it being an American holiday, we don't get the Thursday off, so I decided to make it Saturday.....hence "Fakesgiving" was born ;)

I have to confess this is not my turkey, I nabbed it from the Internet :)

Last year I invited my brother and his family, my sister and her family, and my daughters boyfriends.
This year I invited my SIL Sharon, her husband Jim, and the boyfriends.
I am battling this cold and of course it was in full force today. I did warn everyone, so they could back out if wanted.....but the turkey won, lol.
Nice evening and good food. Kristy made her famous Apple crisp for dessert.

Short post tonight, as my eyes are burning, my sinus's are plugged and I feel like a zombie.
Hubby gave me a Tylenol Sinus Nighttime. So I should be down and out for the count very soon.
I never take anything, I always just suffer though it...even an aspirin puts me out, so this will surely knock me out , lol.

Hope you all had a creative Saturday.

Tracy :)

I'm Distressed ;)

Am I doing something wrong?
I have been trying to use the distress crackle paint.
It isn't coming out the way I think it should. I was expecting deeper cracks.
Actually the photo is showing off better then it actually looks.
I did add some distress powder to this as well.

I added a bit of ink to this one to show off the crackle a bit better.
This one has a smooth feel to it.
I am serious though, these are showing off way better on these photos then they really look.

I thought with this Distress crackle paint all I had to do was paint it on and that was it. I did use my heat tool to speed up the drying time. Maybe that is what the problem is.
Does anyone have any tips on how to make the crackle come out better?

Onto My Day:
Well it is official I have a nasty cold.
I went for a little nap this afternoon and slept for over an hour!!
Chatted on the phone with a friend for a few hours :)   Had a lot of laughs :)
Sharon came by for scrap booking. She worked on some layouts from Christmas of last year. I worked on my mini album.
I NEED to finish this mini. I feel like such a flake. The mini I am working on is for my Design Team at Enchantments Scrapbooking. I know Theresa said no deadlines and no pressure. But seriously I feel like such a slacker.
I need to move my butt and get this done.
I am loving how it is turning out so far :)

Hope you had a creative Friday

Tracy :)

He-Art Journal Challenge week 18, a movie and a Thankful Thursday

Wow Week 18 of this challenge and I have yet to miss one :)

WEEK 18 - Mother and/or Father

Assignment: Create a spread or a page based your parents, life as a parent, or a tribute to all parents! Not necessary to use any TGF stamps, this is YOUR journal, do what you want cuz you rule that journal!
Tip: try adding a conversational piece with your parents!

Here is my two page spread.
I am not totally happy with the looks of this page though :(
But I wanted to play with my new distress inks....I have to justify purchasing them, teehee.

1st page is about my parents.
This one was a challenge for me.
I wasn't sure how much I wanted to share in this layout, that is why it took me so long to get this one done.
Honestly, I had a great childhood. Maybe not the most perfect one, but I have many great memories.

The second page is how I feel about being a mom. And the words around the page are how I hope my children feel.
Isn't that the best compliment on being a mom....when your children tell you, you did a good job. Love my girls.
 
Onto My Day:
Another unproductive day.
My girlfriend came for a short visit.....she was suppose to be working, but came for a visit....I was so happy to see her :)
Ran out and did a couple of errands.
Ashley took me on a date night ;)
Heather had a coupon for 2 free passes to the movies with 1 popcorn and 2 pop. She didn't want to use it (as there weren't any good movies she wanted to see). It expires tomorrow so it had to be used.
So she gave it to Ashley and I ......so I guess I should thank Heather for the date night ;)
Funny thing is Wayne and I gave these to her for Christmas last year, lol.

Oh I guess you want to know which movie we went to see? It was Breaking Dawn.
And everyone behaved themselves in the theatre tonight ;)

Thankful Thursday:
Being able to take it easy when I need to.
For a good friends visit
Date night with my daughters.
Sleep

So what are you Thankful for today?

Tracy :)

Distressed about my inks

I was working with my Distress Inks today.
I love these inks.
I usually use make up sponges to apply it. Even though I do have a couple of the distress tools, it just seems easier for me to grab a wedged sponge, then to attach the foam to the distress tool.
But I have an organizational idea I am going to work on during the weekend.
So I will share that then.
In the mean time, check out the pretty colours :)
Does it bother you that the one foam pad isn't straight. It was straight when I took the photo, I swear it was....unless hubby was teasing me again and moved it.

I store my inks on my peg board on an shelf. So they are stacked up and I can't see the tops of the ink pads.
So to help me get the correct colour I am looking for I put the names on the side fronts with my label maker, and ink the colour on the heart shape.
Can you tell which inks I use the most, or the ones that are new, lol.
I bought all these foam pads recently. Like I said I usually use the make up sponges.

I just opened one of my new inks today and the ink pad wasn't fully attached to the container.
I was bummed :(
I contacted Oozak (the place that I purchased the ink from) and before they replied to my email, they had another one on the way to me :)
Awesome customer service :)

Onto My Day:
I kind of vegged today.
I am getting a cold, my throat is sore and my eyes are burning :(
But I did work on my He-Art Challenge page. It was a bit of a tough theme for me this week.

I think I am going to soak in a nice hot tub, light a candle and read a bit of my book "Catching Fire".

Hope you all had a creative Wednesday.
Wishing all my American Friends a very nice Thanksgiving :)
Hope you enjoyed your day with your family and friends, and ate a lot of turkey and fixin's :)

Tracy :)

Pretty colours and a movie vent

Look at all those pretty colours :)

I have been meaning to do this for a while now. I figured it was a no brainer to do while watching House and Castle last night.
What this is you may ask?
It is all my Stampin' Up marker colours.
I was colouring an image and wanted a bright red. Well the cap colours aren't the true colours of the marker inks, so this is way I can see the true colours of them :)

So what I did was punch out the paper.
I used Stampin' Up paper as I usually use that type of paper when I colour with these markers.

Then I coloured each tag.
The tags are tiny about 1/2" long.

Then I punch a hole on each one at the top.
Put them in some type of colour order and then strung them through a small key ring.

As I was colouring each one, I wrote the colour name on the back of the tags.
I attached this to the zipper on my case I use for these markers.
That way I can't lose them, teehee.
 
Onto My Day:
Went grocery shopping.
Took a nap ;)
Then went on a date night with my Baby...no not Wayne..Kristy. We went shopping and then to the movies.

She had a gift card for admissions for 2 people, and 1 popcorn and 2 pop. So she decided to take her mommy ;)
We went to see Paranormal Activities 3.
Now I know why hubby and I rather watch a movie at home.
People were so disrespectful and chatted and were loud through it.
Cell phones. They didn't ring, but the light is distracting when they text. These weren't kids either, they were women my age :(
Plus to top it off, a girl threw something at a couple of boys behing me and it hit me!!! Seriously, I did let her know I was not impressed.
Don't let me start on the guy behind me with the nervous foot on the back of my chair.

Proud Tuesday:
Cleaned the kitchen.
Kept my cool at the movies, but at the same time got my point across.
Walked around the house when I chatted with my SIL (for 1 1/2 hours), good way to get in my excercise ;)

So what have you done today to make you feel proud?

Tracy

Smash Travel Pages

I took the advice of others and am using the travel journal I had made when we went to Montana (to spread my dad's ashes) as a special one.
So for the travels we do in the future, will all be put into this Smash journal that I won :)

I have yet to decorate the front page.
But here are the 1st two pages of our mini trip that we just came back from.
I am a scrapbooker (you wouldn't know that by the lack of layouts I have done lately), so I still want to add photos to my pages.
I want to add the smaller photos though.

Onto My Day:
I think I may be coming down with something.
I have a headache, and just feel drained. I actually fell asleep sitting up on the couch this afternoon, lol.
I was chilled earlier so Wayne turned up the heat...now I am a bit warm (I am never warm). And no it is NOT hot flashes, lol.

We needed a new fax machine. If you know me, then you know technical things are Wayne's department not mine.
We bought a fax/photocopier/printer and photo printer all in one.
But it was still in the box, since Wednesday.
I really needed to send a fax today. So I hooked it up and sent out the fax :)  I'm pretty proud of myself.
Well except the first one I sent was the wrong way and came out blank, lol.
Wayne came home and asked me if I had printed a photo. LOL, he has a lot of faith in me.

Hope you all had a creative Monday.

Tracy

White Castle

We made it home safe and sound.
And now we are watching Walking Dead :)

Wayne and I have never been to White Castle.
We happen to drive by one yesterday when we were looking for a post office. So I told him we have to stop and try one.
Harold and Kumar would be proud, lol.
We really enjoyed them :)
Shhhh the girls were at Mall of America, so they didn't get to try one :(

I couldn't believe how tiny they were.
Perfect size for me.

Wayne's seemed smaller then mine though, lol.

That is it for me tonight.
I have to spray Kristy's new boots with protector so she can wear them tomorrow.

Hope you all had a creative Sunday :)

Tracy :)

Don't go hatin' cause I don't mean to be braggin ;)

WARNING....This post is picture heavy.

Isn't this gorgeous?!?  I say this with sarcasm dripping from my words.
There were so many accidents. Why does everyone still drive like a maniac when it is so slippery out?
The mall was jammed packed. I couldn't believe everyone out today. The streets were packed and the parkade was full.
We were one of the crazies, but to our defense we are from out of town ;)

So here are some more of my purchases from yesterday.
From a small Archivers in a mini mall.
Love the lamp post wooden embellishments.
I have yet to use tom boy multi adhesive, so thought I should give it a try and see what the hoop la is all about :)

I picked these up from Target from the dollar bin...their dollar bins are really a dollar ;)
I have been in search for these tins. I think if we go back to a Target, I am going to nab some more :)

Joann's goodies.
Some more dies and a fun stamp :)

I have been looking for one more of these Tree Ornament mini books, and our Michael's doesn't have any more. But picked these up....The dollar bins here are no longer just a dollar...they are $1.50, just like at home :(
I wanted a mister when I was doing my tags for my newest mini, but I didn't have any so I used the toothbrush flicking technique ;)  Now I am like one of the cool kids, I got me some mini misters ;)

Now onto today's goodies.
Ran to Barns & Noble and look what I found!!!!
I have been checking our bookstore twice a week for this magazine and here it was just waiting for me :)
Also found Hocus Pocus :)

Went to Blicks and picked up the last of the Copic colours I needed...yes I needed them, lol.
Now I have all the Copic colours except for the florescent ones as I don't think I will ever use them...even though Hubby was trying to talk me into getting them. lol. He said I should have the complete collection. Yes he is one of my biggest enablers, lol.
Also picked up some gesso and gloss medium. I have never used it before, but I am really enjoying the art journal, so figured its time to step it up and try to play with the big boys, lol.
Picked up the Xyron refills at Tuesday Morning. They were 1/4 of price then at home.

Mall of America Archivers :)
See the Christmas papers.
I was at odds about the one pack because I knew I had it at home....but I always second guess myself. But then Wayne told me to just get it. So I usually listen to my hubby and did just that, teehee.
Maybe I will actually cut into it now that I have another pack :)
These are all the 12x12 sizes.
Picked up the Rock Candy, as I haven't tried it yet and it looks fun.

Also from Mall of America's Archivers.
Stamps!!!! :)

That is all from me tonight.
I want to work on my travel journal.
I also have to get all the receipts together and figure out who gets some of my goodies on their list....I think I may be over my limit  :-O

Hope you all had a creative, warm Saturday :)

Tracy :)

Minneapolis here we come.

The morning started out Very early.
We were up just after 5:00 am, and left the house by 6:15 am.
And it was snowing.
It was snowing so much that you couldn't see the lines on the road. So I couldn't fall asleep at first. It was like this for about an hour and a half, then it cleared up.
But once I could see the road, I fell fast asleep. And slept off and on the whole 7 hours.
Our first stop......
The Pine City Scrapbooking Co.
See Kristy sitting in the jeep. Doesn't she look so happy while I was shopping inside the store ;)

I was lucky enough to have been there while they were having a stamp sale :)
I guess it was like a garage sale, as there were a lot of used stamps for sale.
All these wooden blocked stamps were from the sale, I could have grabbed a lot more :)
The La La Land stamp wasn't one of the ones on sale, I also picked up some distress clear stickles.

They had some of the new G45 Primer paper. They didn't have the paper packs, so I picked up the single sheets. I also grabbed some beautiful Lost and Found papers.

Our next stop was Scrapbookers Too. Love this store.
See the pink and blue seasonal paper? It is really sparkly, I wish it would have shown up better.
I also picked up the 6x6 pack of the primer paper and the G45 Christmas stack. Funny thing is I have this Christmas paper at home. But I wasn't sure if it was the 12x12 or the 6x6, lol.
Also picked up some Neena paper :)

Picked up some dies and embossing folders.
Wayne enabled me with these, not that it took to much for me to grab them, lol.
They had buy 2 get one free.

I love to come here to pick up some Magnolia stamps.
Needed some foam pads (can't find these at home).
And these wood pieces are gorgeous.
Going to try my hand at some hand made some pearls with these liquid pearls. And I want to try out the distress stains :)

That is all for me tonight.
I will share my purchases from Joann's, Michael's, Archiver's and Target tomorrow, don't want to be a show off, lol.
Plus just in case I can't find anything tomorrow, I can share these....Like that's gonna happen ;)

Hope you all had a creative Friday :)

Tracy :)

He-Art Journal Challenge week 17.

Wow I have been doing this for 17 weeks, and I haven't missed one yet ;)

WEEK 17 - SOUL Food

Assignment: Create a spread or a page based on your favorite food or dessert or drink! Not necessary to use any TGF stamps, this is YOUR journal, do what you want cuz you rule that journal!

First I was going to go with Chocolate. I LOVE chocolate.....well actually I love sweets.
I am even known to hide chocolate, and hoard it for later.
Or share it with one of my girls who seem to need it at the time ;)

BUT I went with Coca-Cola.
Yup my addiction.
I have it down to one can of coke a day. I trick myself. See if I buy a 2 liter I feel it should only last 2 days, So I drink more.

Onto my challenge page.
I cut one of my pop cans in half.
All the Coke stickers are from Ashley. When she was into scrap booking she wanted them, then never used them. Perfect for my page :)

The black vines are sticky back felt.
I fed the vines through the pop tabs.

Ice cold Coke. Yummy :)

Onto My Day:
Picked up my photos, they are perfect this time.
I had to get an oil change for the jeep.
Travel insurance.
And go to the bank for American money ;)
Yup we are going to the States tomorrow.
I am so excited......to shop ;)
Not excited to be leaving at 6:00am though.

Hope you all had a creative Thursday.

Tracy

A trip to the mall.

I had some errands to do today, so called Ashley at work to meet me at the mall for lunch.
They had this display in the food court.
It is for the Christmas food drive.
I thought this was a pretty creative way to help put the point across to fill up some one's home with food.
The paper chain tree was a nice touch as well. I see they aren't finished painting the display though.


 Last Saturday, Bath & Body Works opened up.
This is the first one in our town. I heard that the mall was packed.
Funny as they are right beside Lush.


Onto My Day:
I didn't get a chance to work on my mini album. So much for wanting to have it finished by Thursday :(
I am working on my Challenge page for the He-Art Journal right now.
I ran into my brother at the mall. We should have gone to lunch together, but I guess neither one of us thought of that...plus he was walking out of the mall with Taco Time ;)

I went to get 5 more photos done. I wanted them pretty small to fit into something. Well when I went to pick them up, the guy asked me if anyone told me there was a $10.00 charge to re size each one......WHAT, no actually he didn't, lol.
So he just charged me for the one. I also told him that I think that the photos are way to small. So he said he will redo them at no charge ;)
So I will pick up the new ones tomorrow.
I also went to my LSS and picked up some adhesive, I was on my last roll.
Adhesive and a stamp, yup that's it....they didn't carry my advent calendars either, but her husband said she will look into it ;)

Hope you all had a creative day :)

Tracy :)

I made it to the Big Screen ;)

Woke up this morning to thick frost.
But look at the pretty design it made on the hood of my jeep :)


Look my blog made it to the big screen.........TV that is, teehee.
Wayne and I have yet to see an episode of Castle this season. So he figured we should watch the ones we have missed on the Internet.
So we ran to Staples to pick up a special cord to hook my laptop to the TV.
After a half an hour he found a site where we could watch it from.
Only thing is we didn't know it was a trial thing and it cut out during the second episode, lol.
So we have to wait 57 minutes before we can resume watching. lol.
So we put my blog up on the TV, how cool is that ;)


Worked on my mini for a while today...as I watched Night of the Living Dead, and past shows of the Waking Dead ;)

Hope you had a creative Tuesday.

Tracy :)

Advent Calendar...I so want this..........

I WANT one of these...actually I want 4 of them.
I want to make one for Ashley,
One for Heather,
One for Kristy and
One for the Home....Mine ;)

I was searching all over for these. I do have a LSS, but she is closed on Monday's, so I will phone tomorrow and see if she carries them. I kind of have my doubts though.
 I found one place online that has 3 of them.
But to ship them (to my U.S pick up place) by Friday, I will have to pay $25.00.
I did see that Joann's on-line sells them also, I wonder if they sell them in the actual store.
We don't have a Joann's here. But I will be going to one with weekend :)

Still working on my mini album.
And yes Becky, you are probably correct in why it takes me soooo long to complete a project ;)
I am almost finished my second page.
It does not look like I am going to be completed by my goal date of Thursday.
I just can't seem to take the short cuts. Sometimes I wish I could, but I can't.

Tracy

The difference distress makes

I do like to distress things ;)
Here is the difference between the papers I distressed.
The one on the left is the paper in its raw form.
Then I distressed it with 3 distress inks and then I used some distress ink refill and added a bit of water to it and flicked it on the paper with a toothbrush......I don't think Wayne will miss it, lol.

Funny thing is I picked this paper because of the crackle look to it.
Now that it is distressed you can't hardly tell it had a crackle finish. But I do love how it looks.

I worked on my mini album today.
Why does it take me so long to complete anything :(
I am still working on my first page!
Then I discovered that I flipped my front cover to the back cover. So my first page turned into my second page ;(
So I have to remove my front cover and add it to my back cover.
Luckily I didn't add anything to the cover of my book or else I wouldn't be able to fix it...but then again if it was embellished, I wouldn't have screwed up.

Onto My Day:
Hubby and I slept in. He didn't go to work today. I woke up earlier then him, but didn't get up as I knew he would have woke up. He needs his sleep.
We took down the gazebo, and cleaned the backyard to get ready for (gasp) winter.
Worked on my mini album.
Hubby and I made a huge taco dip for the family :)
Now I am going to watch "Once Upon a Time" and them my all time favourite " Walking Dead ".

A little funny:
I say to my Hubby tonight, "You know I spend to much time on the computer, when I look at the television and expect to see the time on the bottom right hand side of the screen". LOL

Hope you all had a creative Sunday

Tracy :)

Trying to keep organized

I thought I would share with you a little tip that is helping me stay organized while I am working on my newest project.
I end up loosing everything under my paper. Even my large tape gun!
I end up spending more time looking for items then I do working on my projects.
So this is the first time I tried this and so far so good.

I have 3 containers.
One for scraps and pre-cut papers.
One for different types of adhesive and scissors.
One for distress inks and applicators and rulers.

Here is my work area.
I covered up what I am working on...I want it to be a surprise :)
It may not look like a big area to work on, but with everything put into these containers, its more than I had before ;)   See that is a 12x12 piece of paper...lots of room :)


Onto My Day:
Slept in....nothing like relaxing in bed before I start my day :)
Talked with my nephew on the phone for 2 hours.
Took Kristy and her boyfriend out for lunch.
Picked up a few groceries.
Worked a bit on my mini album.
Drove Blake home.
Picked up some toilet paper, as we only had 2 squares left...not 2 rolls, 2 squares. Remember there are 4 women in this family.

Hope you had a creative Saturday :)

Tracy :)

He-Art Journal Challenge week 16

I forgot to share my He-Art Journal challenge pages from yesterday.
I am so honoured I was featured on the Greeting Farm challenge for my Halloween (two toned) pages and this one :)

Here was our challenge:
WEEK 16: "Heart to Heart"

Use hearts on your page and have a little "heart to heart" with your soul while doing so, right?

I copied this from my blog entry, from February, Wayne's and my 23rd Anniversary.
I then drew and coloured the vines and the hearts growing out of the vines :)

Awww look how young we were ;)
             
 I am not sure how well you can read this. I have to re size my photos in order to post them on their site.
And my original photo is on my external hard drive.
              

Onto My Day:
Went for my morning walk with Lynne.
An hour later it started to snow, big fluffy flakes. But it has since melted.
I worked on my mini album for a bit...and I mean a bit.
I seem to work better at night.
No matter how good my intentions are to work on it during the day, I never seem to get very far.
But at night I don't want to stop.

Watching GRIMM. No scrap booking night tonight, everyone was either busy or out of town.
Heather and I got Wayne into watching it ;)

Hope you had a creative Friday..and if you don't come back to visit me this weekend, hope you have a creative weekend :)

Tracy :)