butterfly bliss **Flamingo Scraps & Off the Rails Scrapboking**

Every year for the past 5 years we have attended Burgers and Butterflies to help remember our little girl Kristen.  We release butterflies to help us remember our little ones that are not with us any longer.  I am not sure if we will be going to this anymore as we have moved. 

This is the first year Catherine was aware of the butterflies around her, and one little butterfly stayed on top of her head for about 30 minutes, we like to think it was her sister giving her kisses.

The journaling states "Cat at burgers and butterflies Aug 2013 at Kim's house.  One little butterfly stuck on top of her head for a good 30 minutes.  We like to think it was Kristen giving her kisses."

 We got to use the wonderful items fro this month's Flamingo 4 - we received chipboard, canvas buttons, metal hinges, and flowers.

Here you can see I "stamped" the chipboard with brown ink and then applied glitter to the bird cage and added a little butterfly inside.  I used distress stains to stain the canvas buttons colors similar to the paper I used (teal, peach, and tan). 

You can see the hinges at the top and the bottom just tucked under the Prima flowers.

Hop on over to the Flamingo Scraps blog to see the other 3 fun creations for the Flamingo 4!!

Enjoy!!

Supplies used

Cardstock - Kaisercraft

Patterned paper - Bo Bunny

Flowers - Prima

Say it in Crystals - Prima

Pen - Recollections

Chipboard - FabScraps

Canvas Buttons - Maya Road

Alpha stickers - Momenta

Hinges - Making Memories

Ink and glitter - Ranger

Punch - EK Success

Merry Christmas Card **Flamingo Scraps and Susan K. Weckesser**

Every year I love to hand make Christmas cards, some I make quick and easy and some I spend more time on, it really depends on who I am giving them to knowing if they will keep them or not.  My mother and mother in Law always keep the cards, tags, and such that I make so I love giving them my special ones.

Here to went with a monotone color scheme, green.  I then added in colors of beige, gold, and grey to match with the papers I was using.  I wanted to give lots of texture, so I added in the wonder burlap tag by Canvas Corps in my layers, plus some corrugated paper from Fancy Pants in grey.  I then added in lots of layers of patterned paper from Basic Gery (25th and Pine) for even more depth and dimension.

 

I wanted to add something more behind that back drop of the "Merry" word from Heidi Swapp, but more have it ass bulk - enter in stamps!!  I stamped the wonderful flag banner stamp from the "Create you Day" collection from Susan K. Weckesser stamped in gold by Ranger.  It added that perfect pop and texture needed!!

 

 To round it all off I added some leaves, flowers, and a die cut ornament by Basic Grey, Prima, and Maya Road to finish the card.  It does add bulk and dimension, but standing up on a mantle or a table with other Christmas cards this sure does stand out!

 Merry Christmas!!

Supplies Used and can be purchased from Flamingo Scraps

Patterned Paper - Basic Grey

Die Cuts - Basic Grey

Flowers and Leaves - Prima and Maya Road

Acrylic word - Heidi Swapp

Burlap tag - Canvas Corps

Corrugated paper - Fancy pants

Stamp - Susan K. Weckesser

Ink - Ranger

Christmas Card 2013

Merry Christmas

Here is my Christmas Card to you and a recap of our 2013!!

Lots of changes have happened to our family this year.  The first big event is that Mike came home from deployment in April.  He had to stay in Fort Hood for 6 weeks before he could come back to his house, but Catherine and I got to stay with him for a weekend in April.

First moments that Catherine and Erin got to be with Mike

Moment Daddy came home!!

The second big event that occurred in our family is we moved the the Austin area.  We currently reside in Pflugerville (yep that is the name of our city), a suburb of Austin about 3 hours away from where we were in Houston.  Mike took a full time job working as a tech for the National Guard of Texas at Camp Mabry.  We all love that he comes home every night and we are a family again.

Formal Military Dinner with the 136 MEB

Our new House!!

Erin stopped teaching papercrafting classes at Michael's craft store due to the move, but she still scrapbooks constantly and is involved with may design teams giving her free scrapbooking product and exposure.  She also stays home with the kids, acting as chauffeur, nurse, teacher, chef, and director of the new house.  Life is never dull with little ones underfoot and the house to manage. 

  Erin and Mike celebrated 12 years of marriage this past November - where has the time gone?!?

 Morgan is now 7 about to be 8 and in grade 2.  He finished out his Tiger Cub year with cub scouts last year, placing 2nd in his pine wood derby race and he is now a Wolf cub in our new pack.  Mike is the den leader for Morgan's den and Morgan could not be more ecstatic about it.  Morgan tried his hand at playing soccer and a karate/sports class this past Spring, and he had a ton of fun with both.  His favorite things are playing Lego (games and building), Star Wars, Harry Potter, and his new passion is Pokemon.

 

 Brandon is now 3 almost 4 and a bundle of energy.  He loves anything that involves running or jumping, he never stops.  He got to be in a couple of play/sports classes this past year in Sugar Land.  Since the move he has mostly enjoyed playing with all the kids in the area (we live in a cul-de-sac), zooming around on his scooter, and learning to ride his bike.

 

  Catherine turned 1 on Aug 20, so this part year, as any baby does, she has changed so much.  From rolling over, to sitting, to crawling, walking, and now on to running she never tops.  She is a full blown toddler now, getting into the mix of things with her brothers.  She is one tough cookie, but does not fail to scream to try and get her way - she has it all figured out that little stinker.

 On a sad note both of our dogs Gildor (10) and Rohan (11) passed away this year.  They were wonderful dogs and they are truly missed.  They now can play around with our angel Kristen.

We hope that the new year brings tons of wonderful adventures and fun!!  From swimming, fishing, vacation in Lago Vista, moving, and all the changes that come with it we are ready for the new year!

Playing on the ice

Swimming this summer

Fishing in Austin

Christmas 2013

From our Family to yours Merry Christmas!!

Ornament Duo - Part 2 **Flamingo Scraps**

Here is my second post of how to make these wonderful clear plastic ornaments in to a handmade work of art for you tree.

 The first thing you need is a clear glass or plastic ornament, then you let your imagination soar about what you create, fill, wrap, or decorate it with.

Bottle Brush Tree Ornament

In this tree I used the super cute bottle brush trees from Fancy Pants and some wonderful flowers from Prima.

 

First you add a tiny blob (yes that is an official term, hehe) of fast drying clear glue (like ZipDry) to the bottom of each tree and place them into the ball.  I used tweezers to help place the tree.  The trick is to let one tree dry and hold fast before adding in the second tree or anything else in the ball or they just fall over.  patience is key here.

 Now that your trees are dry I added in a bit of angel dust with make it look like the were nesteld in snow (it is like thick glitter or even glitter would work).

The I created a cluster of flowers from Prima from the wonderful Warehouse Boxes that Flamingo Scraps is offering (on sale too) and wrapped it around the top of the ball.  I then added the top hook of the ball back on (I glued it so it would not pop off and glitter would get everywhere), added a bow to cover up the topper, and strung up the top with a silver ribbon to hang on my tree.

Embellishment Ornament

Here I stayed with a single color of blue (in various hues) and created a ball of wonder, a fun little search and find ball for my kids full of odd bits and pieces from my scrapbook stash (left over from the Flamingo Scraps warehouse boxes).

Here is the stash of items I used to fill the ball.  I used buttons, flowers, charms, sequins, plastic bits and bobs, petals, and other fun items that would fit into the ball from left over projects and from Warehouse box items.

Here you an see the flower cluster I made prior to attaching it to the ball.  I took little flower buds on wire and threaded larger flowers under it.  I then took the wire stem and wrapped it around the top of the ball to secure it.

I then took ribbon and wrapped the top to cover the wire stems from the flower.  Then attached the ornament topper, added ribbon to string it up, and poof you have a wonderful search and find ornament ball.

Here you can see even more goodies, and as you shake it more items appear!

Supplies used can be found at Flamingo Scraps
Ornament ball
Flowers - Prima and other
Ribbon -Websters
Bottle Brush Trees - Fancy Pants
Embellishments  -Flamingo Scraps

Enjoy!