Team Treasury-Summer Inspiration

Deb of StoryBeader on Etsy curated this awesome Summer Inspiration Treasury for our team this week! I just LOVE summer...and I LOVE her choices!

Thanks for including my Custom Destination Word Album Deb!!!

Friday Features-Flip Flops

I listed the rest of the Flip Flop Albums that I have on hand this week. You'll find three new fun albums in my Etsy shop!!!

Flip flops have always represented summer to me and I can never get enough of their bright, fun colors :) Etsy has so many awesome flip flop items, it was hard to choose just four!

Fun Flip Flop A-Line Dress in Aqua w/ Pink Polka Dot Trim

by KountryKids

Flip Flops tile coasters

by araemom

FLIP FLOP - Paua Shell Flip Flop Necklace in Sterling Silver

by lscaturo

(I will be doing a giveaway for one of these necklaces soon!!! Stop back for details! Thanks Laure!)

Flip Flops Wine Glass

by janjackson

War Medals

While my parents were back earlier this month, my mom and I sat down with my grandma and went through her jewelry. I wanted to know the stories behind the important pieces and know which ones came from family. I took notes so I will always remember how special each piece is :)

While going through Grandma's jewelry, Grandpa asked if I wanted to see his jewelry. Of course I did :) What he brought out was even more special than his jewelry. He showed me his original dog tag (seen in yesterday's Wordless Wednesday post), one of many medals, and his wings that go on his hat. I told him that I would really love to have his dog tag someday! What a special piece of family history!

What special heirlooms do you have from your grandparents?

Wordless Wednesday-What a Treasure

Alchemy

Since I decided I wasn't going to participate in any fall craft shows this year, I have more time for custom work. Alchemy is one place I've been getting more orders from.

Alchemy is a custom request system through Etsy where buyers place requests and sellers place bids. You get to show the buyer what you have to offer and if they like your item, you win the bid. I've already gotten two custom orders from Alchemy and I've seen several others I could bid on that I think my Custom Name Albums would be great for.

I thought I'd share a few tips for Alchemy:

• Be very specific about what you are offering
• Show photos if you can or link to an item in your shop
• Let them know they can get ahold of you with any questions
• Be patient
• Just give it a try...All they can do is say no, and you go on to the next one. I probably only win 1 out of 5 bids. You can't win them all, but you won't know until you try :)

Happy Bidding!

Featured!!!

I was recently contacted by Cher of CecilBobby. She saw my avatar when I posted in the forums and took a peek at my shop :) She got ahold of me and asked about doing an interview for her weekly feature spot!

Of course I said yes...and today's the day!!!

You can see the feature here: http://cecilbobby.com/index.php/?p=889

And sign up for your own feature here: http://cecilbobby.com/?page_id=250

Thanks Cher!

Have a great Monday everyone!

Scrapbooking for Businesses

I was recently approached by a new business in a nearby town to make a professional scrapbook for their front lobby. There was a nice newspaper insert all about their business that they wanted made into an album.

The main goal for this project was to make it very professional while eye-catching at the same time. We worked together to choose colors that fit their business and give them album a timeless look. Black and white were great choices for this and the red helped make it pop.

The first photo shows the original newspaper along with the completed album and the next two photos are examples of pages in the book.

The business was very pleased with their book and I hope they spread the word to other local businesses :)

Team Treasury + A Feature

This week's team treasury is brought to us by TheArtofJoy and she chose a Rockin' theme because, well...EtsyBloggers ROCK!!! Great finds Joy!

I also received word that I was featured on this blog!!! I am making a Custom Name Guest Book for the owner and she is showing off her lovely Etsy finds for her wedding in the post. Stop by and see her great buys! I love that she is supporting handmade for her wedding :)

Have a great Saturday!

Friday Features-Be Grateful

I know I posted earlier this week that things are kind of crazy around here and that I was feeling a little down because I decided to cancel all of my fall craft shows. But that attitude didn't last long! I am the type of person who really tries to look at the positive...find the good in the bad :)

This week's Friday Features are all about being grateful! I am a very lucky girl and sometimes I need to take the time to remember that! Here are just a few things I am grateful for right now given recent crazy events:

• I might be working lots of overtime at a job that I'm not really in love with...BUT...I am very grateful to have a job and that I am able to pay my bills. We are using the overtime money to redo our bathroom :)
• I totalled my car last week! BUT...the very same day a 17 yr. old girl from my town was killed in a car wreck! I am VERY grateful to have walked away from my incident with no injuries! I can always get another car.
• We have taken on some extra responsibilities taking care of our friend's house while he is in the rehab center and his wife is staying with him. These extra things take time...BUT...I am grateful that we have friends we care so much about. And know that they would do the same for us. They are more like family than friends :)

i will be grateful for this day

by vol25

Blessed and Grateful T-Shirt Size Medium

by way2serious

GRATEFUL- Sterling Silver Hand Stamped Charm Pendant

by bellawish

GRATEFUL Banner/Garland

by makentake

What are you grateful for today?

More Birds

After posting yesterday's Wordless Wednesday photo, I decided that I wanted to show a couple of other photos I took that day. My grandma gets the prettiest, most colorful birds! I missed the cardinal, but got these two shots:

Looking at these photos got me to thinking that this was probably the last time I will get to sit in my grandma's living room watching the birds. My grandparents are moving into an apartment soon and won't have the beautiful yard and bird feeders that attract the birds. Makes me even happier that I got these photos that day :)

Wordless Wednesday-Bird Watching at Grandma's

Decision Time

I had to make a hard decision yesterday! Fall craft shows are just around the corner and I am currently signed up for 4! Things have been crazy around here lately and I just haven't had the time to get inventory ready. The first show is almost 2 months away, but the craziness isn't near an end yet!

I made the decision yesterday to cancel all of my fall shows! It was a super hard decision to make, but I just can't handle the added stress right now. I am currently working anywhere from 8-16 hours of overtime at my factory job. We'll be taking care of our friend's house, yard, pets, etc. while he is at rehab after his motorcycle wreck. We are starting to redo our bathroom. And somewhere in there I think I had a life!

Plus, I have some medical things going on to boot! Don't worry, nothing serious, just annoying stuff that they don't have an explanation for yet!

This will allow me to focus more on my Etsy shop too :) I enjoy all of the custom orders I get from there and want to be able to keep my shop open all fall for Christmas orders. I love to scrapbook and custom orders and so much fun. I love to be able to come home from work and be creative! After having some time to think it over, this really is the best decision for me right now :)

I hope everyone has a stress-free Tuesday :)

Using Scrapbooks for Education

Have I mentioned how much I love to do custom work! Each new album brings so many new ideas with it!

One of my latest Custom Albums is a pocket album for a teacher. Each year her class does a project on the 50 states and each student has a state to report on. The students can each write on a tag and place it in the pocket and all of the information will be in one place. What a cool idea!!!

Of course now my brain is working overtime thinking of all the cool educational ideas I can use my scrapbooks for!!! I've thought about adding flash card books to help children learn their numbers, letters, shapes, etc. This book brought me back to this idea!

I ♥ Your Photos

Along with my Custom Name Albums, I have started selling Bare Custom Chipboard Albums that you can decorate and personalize yourself. They're perfect for the scrapbooker who wants the hard part done for them and just wants the fun part of making it pretty :)

I've always wonder what my albums look like when they're done. What colors did the person use? What theme did they use? Did they use photos or did they write in some of the blanks? I recently had a customer nice enough to email me a photo of her finished album!

I was so excited to see this :) She had lots of fun decorating it and did a great job! And she even ordered two more albums!!!

Weekly Team Treasury

This week's treasury is brought to us by RandomCreative. She gives us an awesome display of Dots in this treasury!

Thanks for including my Flip Flop Scrapbook Rose :)

Friday Features-This One's For You Bub

We recently had a friend get in a motorcycle wreck. I'm happy to report that he's on his way to what we hope will be a full recovery, but as you can imagine...he's been on our minds a lot lately!!!

Today's Friday Features are for Bub :)

Wallpaper Graffiti Wall Glass Sticker Decal Motorcycle

by clipartdecal

Keep Calm and Ride On - gray- Pocket Mirror

by snappymirrors

Harley Davidson Wood Carving

by cassedywooddesigns

Harley Davidson Metal Art Wall Hanging Powder Coated

by jetfab

Blog Carnival-Vacation Traditions

This week's blog carnival theme is brought to us by AthenaWorkman and she gave us these two vacation themes to write about:

1) It's summertime, a time to get away from it all. Do you have a dream vacation? Share details of your perfect getaway.

2) Expanding on the vacation theme, are there any special (or not-so-special) traditions that you and your family do while away on trips?

Growing up, my family went on summer vacation to Branson every year. It was our tradition. We would go to Silver Dollar City and White Water and ride the go-karts every year! We would also go boating for a day so my brother and I could ride the tube and then we'd grill out right on the boat. I have many fond memories of Branson as a kid :)

My parents always kept their time share down there so we would always have a place to go back to. Jesse and I have been down twice with my parents and had just as much fun as when I was growing up! We did a lot of the same activities and got to enjoy them in a new light :) Here is a scrapbook I made my mom for one of our trips.

We will always get to enjoy Branson and southern Missouri as a family tradition as my parents will be moving there when they retire! They have some property ready for them when they finally decide it is time to move. Jesse and I are going down over Labor Day with my parents to see their new location. Being just an hour from Branson, we will be able to enjoy our traditions for years to come :)

Wordless Wednesday-Puppy Cuteness

(Note: I did not take this photo. It came to me in a super cute email from my mom :) )

Flip Flops on Parade

I love making these slide shows and can't believe how longs it's been since I created a new one! I just love seeing pictures of these bright and cheery flip flop albums and the frame just goes so well with them!

All of these Flip Flop Albums can be found in my Etsy Shop. The Butterfly Album is the newest addition :)

(Note...I still can't figure out how to add a slideshow to an existing post...so see the show in the post below.)

The Dalai Lama Layout

The Dalai Lama came to Iowa back in May and one of my clients and her son were lucky enough to see his presentation. What a wonderful experience that must have been!

I pulled colors from the booklet and the ticket for the page and used these items right on the page itself. I mimicked the gold border on the booklet as well for the border on the page. I made a pocket for the booklet and let it stick out and used the top wording for the title of the page. I finished off the page with words from the booklet and some oriental coins. There is also a blank journaling spot for her to write about the visit.

I love using memorabilia along with photos on layouts and enjoyed putting this page together :)

July's Featured EtsyBlogger-Sykin

Missie from Sykin is our Featured EtsyBlogger for the month of July! Congrats Missie!!!

Missie runs two shops on Etsy: Sykin and Sykin's NW Wonders.

Her Sykin shop is full of everything Twilight insipred:

And her new shop, NW Wonders, has beautiful photos:

Stop by Missie's blog and website to tell her hello and congratulations:

http://sykin-at-etsy.blogspot.com/

http://sykin.net/

Team Treasury-Purples

This week's treasury is brought to us by PunkyJane. Purple seems to be a favorite color of many of our teammates, so her choices were perfect :)

Stop by and check out all the lovely selections and have a wonderful Saturday!!!

Friday Features-Rock N Roll Day

I haven't blogged about an obscure holiday in a while and when I saw that today is Rock n Roll Day, I knew this would make the perfect theme for today's Friday Features!!! After all, rock n roll is one of my favorite types of music :)

Guitar fender gibson recycled t-shirt throw travel pillow for tour

by mytshirtpillow

Skulls, pink hearts large tote bag

by HautTotes

leather guitar roots journal handprinted

by inblue

DAVID LEE ROTH and J. GEILS BAND vinyl record purse - upcycled

by recyclemania

ROCK ON!!!

Best of Friends

Celebrate those special friendships in your life!!!

FRIENDS Word Albums just added to my Etsy shop!!!

Click photos to be taken to listings I'm just lovin' the colors of these albums! So fun and bright and perfect for friendships of all kinds! And they make awesome gifts too!!!

Wordless Wednesday-Over the Rainbow

Got Wine?

While my parents were back, my mom and I went to the winery where I will be selling my albums on consignment. We had fun walking around and seeing all of the places to sit and enjoy the views. (I can't believe I didn't think to take any pictures!) The view of the orchard is amazing!

I'm excited to see how the albums sell! I made some WINE and VINO albums special for the winery and also brought over some FAMILY and FRIENDS albums as well.

I'd love to hear what you think of the colors I chose or if there are other colors you think would go well at the winery as well. If these sell well, I will be adding other color combos and other words too!!! Fingers crossed :)