A new approach to scrapbooking (for me)

I've totally been in the mood to scrapbook lately... so I've been sneaking down to my craft room every spare second I get... usually early in the morning. My usual technique of scrapbooking is to "Scraplift." I almost always get my ideas from someone else. I usually use cardstock as my background, lots of scraps and embellishments. Usually I got straight to my "scrap" box to find the papers I'm going to use on a layout... I very rarely use my full sheets of patterned 12x12. This week I decided that I wanted to try something a little different. I have some 12x12 papers that I have purchased because I love them. So, what I decided to do was to pick my PAPER first, then find the pictures that I wanted to scrapbook. It was fun to do. I didn't scraplift. I used my own sketch. And the result was a couple of pages that were totally different than what I usually do.


So, I need your HELP! Where should I create a "gallery" for my layouts? Should I use an online photo gallery like Picasa or Flickr? Or should I use a scrapbooking gallery like Two Peas in a Bucket or Creating Keepsakes? I want to have a gallery where I display all of the pages that I create for all of you to see, but I'm not sure which would be the best place to display them!

-Anisa

Patterned Paper Covered Wood Letters

Don't forget to vote for my new header!

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My brother built a huge shelf for my mom about a year ago. It was for her old house and was painted black. Well, it doesn't match in her new house, so a coat of primer and 4 coats of paint later, I finally got it white!
I've been busy spray painting candle holders, bookends, etc. to match her shelf. She also has a few fun antiques on it. And the fun part, was the "Believe" letters... (believe in what? I'm not sure, but she bought them several years ago and had never done anything with them... I like to think it's "Believe in God." That works for me.)
So, I traced the letters on patterned paper, cut it out, inked the edges, and mod podged it into the wood letters. Then I embellished with ribbons, buttons and crocheted flowers.
Mom loves them and that's the important thing!!!
-Anisa

Vote for new Header

This cute paper I have on the side of my blog is just a pre-made layout from blogger... I like it, but as I'm building my new blog, I may not keep it... you see, I like to design stuff on my own. So, I have designed a couple of headers. Please vote on the poll at the right for your favorite header.



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Thanks for you help,

Anisa

Embroidery on Jeans?

Who came up with the idea of using embroidery floss on jeans? Seriously? It's sooo cute and you see cute jeans like that everywhere. Well, I'm kind of behind the times, but I finally bought myself a pair of jeans with stitching on them... and they are totally cute! But they are still not my most comfortable pair of jeans. So, I thought, why can't I take my most comfortable pair of jeans, and stitch them with embroidery floss myself?

See these jeans.... boring! (But comfortable)
Ta Da! Just a little stitching here and there and now they are my most comfortable pair of jeans that are much more in style!
Now that it is warming up, I may have to see what I can do with my most comfortable capris!

-Anisa

Stuffed Mushrooms

I made these for a family party this past weekend and they were a big hit!!!


Stuffed Mushrooms
Whole Mushrooms (about 6 packages)
1 lb. country sausage
Turkey Stuffing mix
8 oz. cream cheese

Brown sausage. Add stuffing mix and the amount of water that the box recommends (do not add butter because of the sausage grease.) Add cream cheese and stir until melted. Spoon mixture into washed and de-stemmed mushrooms. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

-Anisa

Burp Cloths Re-visited

Do you remember this blanket I made for my nephew, West? Well, I planned on making him some burp cloths to match... but I ended up making these burp cloths for my friend, Rachel. Well, West is in town (and sadly I don't even get to hold him because I'm sick), so I had a deadline to get his burp cloths made. It was so fun to do the owl thing with boy stuff!
I added a little ric rac and that turned out cute. And yes, I know the owls are sideways, but that is all of the fabric that I had left over.

And I am just loving applique right now.

-Anisa

I'm a "Stylish Blogger"

Thanks to Krista over at Mom's Mish Mash for the Stylish Blogger Award! It's always nice to know I'm loved!

Along with this award, I am supposed to list eight things about myself. So here it goes......

1. I am a mom of 3 boys... I am the only daughter with 3 brothers... My husband comes from a family of 7 boys and 1 girl... We are a "boy" family.

2. I am a very simple gal... I prefer to wear t-shirts and jeans, I don't wear jewelry or accessorize at all.... kind of funny that I like to make accessories, I just don't like to wear them. The hat is a new accessory because I don't like my hair cut (see #7)


3. I don't listen to music... I find it to just be one more noise... I'd prefer total silence.

4. I don't like to exercise, but I do it so I won't weigh over 200 lbs. again.

5. I have a bit of a temper...

6. I used to be very blond as a kid.

7. I have to have a hair cut where I can tuck my hair behind my ears... it is too short to do that right now and drives me crazy!


8. I am super picky about my purses. have to have a purse that slings over my whole body... I don't want to hold it in my hand or carry it.... I also like it to have the perfect pockets. I had the perfect fossil purse and it fell apart... I bought a cheap replacement at Target, that only worked okay... My sister in law found me a super great Fossil purse for me at a consignment store and I bought a Relic purse at Kohls... I'm giddy with new purses!!!

I also get the opportunity to award a "stylish blogger award" to other sites I enjoy.

1. Nanny Goat ...Super cute ideas...

2. The Coffee Shop Blog... Free Photoshop Elements and photography tutorials.

3. Prepared not Scared... this is some ward blog that I happened across, but they have great games for kids.

4. Make it and Love it... the name says it all!

5. Studio Calico... I'm too cheap to buy their kits... wish I could... but I still love all of the inspiration!

6. U Create... who doesn't visit this blog often... always where I go to find inspiration.

7. Ana White... love all of her furniture plans... still haven't built anything yet, but I promise I will some day!

8. Maggie Homes... I always nominate Maggie! She used to be my neighbor and she is so cute and creative... I love her scrapbooking style (I scraplift her ideas all the time) and I love her photography!

To claim your award, save the "Stylish Blogger Award" to your desktop. Post eight things about yourself and give the award to eight other blogs you like.

-Anisa

Quick Valentine's Card

Just thought I'd post a quick idea for a Valentine's Card!

(I'm just too cheap to spend money on cards at the store:)

I just simply used my heart punch to cut out scraps... I glued them on first, then sewed stitching through!!!

-Anisa

A few crafts for my classroom

I am a teacher by profession. I taught highschool French and Chemistry for 3 years and Jr. High Science fo 5 years. I took a break from teaching to have kids. When we moved to St. George, I decided to try to find a teaching job. I was too late to find a job teaching science, but I found an opening as a study skills teacher.... which I love! My students told me that my classroom was boring... so I thought I'd take care of that!!!
I made this adorable bunting to hang across my boring chalkboard...
It's always top priority to count down until summer break...
... and no classroom can be complete without a calendar. The dates are laminated and attached with velcro so that I can use different dates for each month. ( I have loved having a laminating machine at my disposal)

I used my Cricut a little, the old-style Ellison die cut machine at the school, and a pair of scissors to create all of these crafts! It was also a fun way to use some of my papers that I didn't think I would use on my scrapbook pages.

-Anisa

Home made Wheat Bread

I am in no way a food storage guru. But I am trying to work on getting my year supply of food storage. I believe that food storage needs to be used and rotated. My kids are good at using and rotating our brownie mixes, but we need to work on using the wheat and beans and things like that. When we moved my parents a few months ago, we moved laundry detergent, toilet paper and wheat (among other things) that they had in their food storage for 40 years.... not so good at rotating their food storage. I also found a brand new Kitchen Mill Wheat grinder that had never been used. So, a couple of days ago, I decided I was going to grind up some wheat!
With the wheat grinder, it was a piece of cake! All I had to do was scoop the wheat in and the machine did the work.

Look at this beautiful wheat flour!

I used this recipe from allrecipes.com. I love allrecipes.com. I love that people leave their reviews with their suggestions. I know there are a lot of other things you can add to your wheat bread that make it fabulous... like gluten. I did not have any on hand... and I made this bread on a whim. I even used more wheat flour than the recipe called for and it turned out fabulous!
Isn't it pretty? I totally want to have some as a snack right now!

-Anisa