SHEESH! Here it is, the end of May already!! Is this how the summer is going to fly by?? I sure hope not. Mom always told me the older you get, the faster the time goes...I have to admit she was right!

Well, on to better things! I received a RAK from Shelly over at Paper Patch Crafts...it was a bag of empty ribbon spools. When I opened the bag, I hooted with laughter! I've been begging around for the empty spools but Shelly was the first to oblige me. *big grin for Shelly* Now, for why I wanted them...I want to make some "Spoolies" with them. What's a Spoolie you ask? Well, just take a gander at the pics below.

This is just the coolest little album made with the empty ribbon spools, thus a"Spoolie"

When you flip the lid up, this is what you find inside. There are five circular pages held together with a loose leaf ring.

This is what it looks like without the pages spread out.

You start out by taking apart the spool. I use a knife to separate the ring from the circle piece carefully. Don't puncture the circles. After all is separated, I sand both flat sides of the ring to get any remaining bits of paper off before going any further. Next I paper both circle pieces on both sides and when finished, I held them together and punched a hole through both with my Crop-a-Dial, allowing room for the hole to be inside the ring. I papered the ring and once again sanded then glued to one of the circles. I cut circles from card stock allowing 1/4" around them so they come out easily when everything is put together. Embellish however you like and then put all together with the loose leaf ring and add ribbon if you wish. I added two tails of thin ribbon to the bottom of the circle pieces so I can tie it closed. TA-DAH! A Spoolie! They go pretty fast after you do one or two and are loads of fun. They make great brag books and I even have one hanging on my Christmas tree with photos of a previous holiday. If you have any questions, just give me a shout!

*scratching head* Now what can I share with y'all in my next post? Hafta think on that a bit.

I have really been enjoying Spring! I guess it's finally here to stay! Yesterday morning I was sitting in my craft studio with the window open, a soft breeze and the chirps of the birds drifting in while I enjoyed my daily Hazelnut Coffee. So peaceful!! I love my children dearly, but this was one of the occasions when I appreciated their being grown up. I didn't have to rush anywhere or do anything in particular other than just enjoy the weather.....and it was GLORIOUS! I hope everyone else's days are becoming just as enjoyable.

Just a note before I get to the crafts: With a little tutoring, I'm actually getting my act together and this is starting to look like a blog that was done by an adult rather than a Kindergartener! Thank you Lynda and Wendy!

This was a layout I did for a challenge/contest on Paper Patch Crafts with a fixed design sketch for National Scrapbooking Day this past Sunday. The owner of this store, Anne, had contests going on all day. I really pooped out on all the others but I won this one. My prize is a large stack of paper and, as y'all know, you can NEVER have too much of that wonderful item. The letters were done on my Cricut Expression and stickled with dots just to bring out the color a bit more. The flowers are Primas with micro beads and a little touch of fine glitter for the centers. The swirls are Fancy Pants stamped in gold and then copper on top of that. This is a whole different style than I've ever done before and I'm having fun with it.

This second layout, "My Three Sons", is all Cosmo Cricket paper and now I'm in LOVE with their whole line. The lettering was done on my Expression and the swirls are Fancy Pants with some brown glitter on some of the swirl parts to highlight them. The journaling was done on the computer on a transparency then attached with eyelets. Never tried that before but will be doing it more often since I'm not crazy about my handwriting anymore. The centers of the flowers are brown buttons from my large stash. I love to distress and age my works but this didn't need it at all because of the style of the paper...was already done for me. This was a specific layout design that I tried to stick to pretty close. I haven't shown it to my sons yet but I'm hoping they will like it. I can't believe they're so grown up!

It's been a looooong time again! I am so sporadic with this journaling thing but I really am gonna try to do better.

Lately I've been working on adding texture to my work on canvas. I've discovered Gesso and Punchinella (sequin scrap). This collage was my first attempt and it came out pretty good. I started with a really cheap stretched canvas and gave it a good coat with the Gesso. Boy did I ever make a mess of myself and that stuff is a brute to get off! First lesson learned: BE AS NEAT AS POSSIBLE! I had a piece of large open weave stuff that I laid on the wet Gesso and went over it with another coat. Then I found this little piece of sequin Punchnella that I received in a swap on Flickr and thought I would give that a try. I just laid it on the canvas and put a heavy coat of Gesso over it and gently lifted it off and...TA-DAH...instant texture. I used it a bit more than left the whole thing to dry overnight. Next I painted the whole surface with mint green craft paint. When that was dry, I gave a few spritzes with homemade Pearl Mist than highlighted over everything with Perfect Pearls. I really impressed myself and can't decide if I want to part with this collage or now. Also, I have invested in 20 yards of Punchinella...no more scraps for me!