#SMBiGbloghop with Elle's Studio.

Hello blog hoppers! If you're just joining in, this month the Social [Media] Butterflies are featuring Elle's Studio by way of product & inspiration from their You & Me collection available here-- we're showing you what we LOVE, the relationships we cherish and some fun projects you can use to showcase your own hearts ;] 

For my project, I chose to make a mini book, which is incredibly special because it can also be made into a COUPON book! I don't know who you all buy gifts for, but I know sometimes you have those people you love who don't "want" or need anything, making them SUPER hard to buy for. My solution? Give them your love! I styled this mini so that I could tear away some of the pages, with cute little IOUs I designed, and what's left is an adorable mini for the people I care about. You can totally change this idea up for birthdays, Valentine's Day, holidays-- just go with it! The You & Me collection was perfect for this project, my favorite part was using the You & Me Tabs-- they made the pages turn out easy to flip to, and were a great base to layer up tags, tidbits & patterned paper! 

For my book, I left it blank for now, so all month long I could collect pictures & tidbits from my month, and keep it as a list of the things I love ;]

Want to win an Elle's Studio giveaway bundle with some of the items the girls are using for today's hop? Comment on any of our blogs along the hop [or each & every one for more chances!] and you'll be entered to win this:

For extra chances here on MY blog, do any or all of the following:
      __ follow me on instagram @sbookinshay29
      __ follow my blog
      __ follow me on twitter
Leave me an additional comment for EACH of these that you do, and I'll throw them into the entries for the giveaway!

Thanks for joining me today, I hope you LOVED my mini book! Next up is Kristin, check out her LOVEly project on her blog, http://purplestarfishdesigns.blogspot.com

If you get lost along the way, go to our Social [Media] Butterflies homepage, here. Want to join us? Feel free to contact me at sbookinshay29@aol.com if you'd like to join us in hopping along every month. Follow us each on instagram & look for the hashtag #SMBiGbloghop for sneaks peeks & projects all month long!

PL: Week 7

Hello Sunday blog readers! I have been trying SO hard to get my PL catch up in on Sunday's, between school work & other crafty stuffs, and I am loving how well it's gone so far. [ignore the printing problems I had with my new Mac this past week lol] Today I wanted to share with you my Week 7, I used a lot of Studio Calico goodies from the February Project Life kit, some printables by Liz & a few embellies & Thickers I had lying around. The color scheme was perfect for a boys Valentine spread, not too cutesy & I may just have to make this color combo one of my go to's!

It was such a fun, BUSY week I loved putting it all together, and adding little bits & pieces of all the things we did, errands, shopping, movies & all!

 I don't alway use a week of card, almost NEVER, but I am addicted to calendar cards, I have collected quite a few printable versions, and love using them instead. Am I the only one who does this?

How are all of you PLers out there doing? Staying caught up? Can you believe it's already week 8??!! 

Thanks for stopping by to check out mine, I'll be back next Sunday with another week to share with you!

currently.

Wouldn't you like to look back & see what you thought about a movie you were watching, read a line from your favorite song & be transported back to a memory? I'm a total nerd for that kind of stuff, and it is the main reason I absolutely LOVE the currently series, especially Kristin's take on it, and her weekly challenge with her printable journaling cards.

Always one up for a challenge, I couldn't just use the cards and make it easy, I HAD to make it totally me, so I came up with a monthly CURRENTLY project, using Kristin's prompts, sometimes the journaling cards, and even some of her new Candy Shop line this month ;] I hope you'll all go check out my guest post over on her blog today [rukristin.blogspot.com] and see what I'm currently up to!

Here's a sneak peek:

seven items or less.

I was SO excited when Veronica at Chic Tags announced her new Sunday challenge, and this week's was super fun. I quickly grabbed seven items & the picture closest to me, and got to work! I feel like because I couldn't pick up anything else [although I guess I could've changed my mind, but kind of felt that was cheating lol] it was quick and easy-- loved it! PLUS there's giveaways?! And it's my favorite of all her CHA collections, so totally crossing my fingers!

Here are the seven items I picked:
[cardstock, adhesive & thread didn't count, perfect for this hand-stitched obsessed girl]

__ AC Dear Lizzy paper
__ AC purple glitter ribbon
__ doily
__ Chic Tags Love Note Phrases
__ Liz Tamanaha printables-- press card no. 20
__ AC Chromatix pen in Grape
__ Heidi Swapp color shine in Amethyst

If you want to join in on the challenge fun, grab your seven items or less, make a project & link up here on the Chic Tags blog, can't wait to see what everyone else creates ;]

DIY: Valentine's Ruffles

If you didn't haven't checked it out, I DO have my own little online scrapbooking shop, Forever Young & Crafty. Favorite products, fun finds, mini kits-- whatever my little heart desires goes into that shop ;] It is also where you can find some of the products that the gals from the Social [Media] Butterflies use every month on the 29th for our blog hop. This month, I wanted to tie in some DIY post with items available in the shop, to show you how I use the products that I carry!

One of my favorite DIY projects on crafty things, is ruffles from things you wouldn't normally think to put on a project. SUCH a cute & trendy look, that you can make at almost NO cost. I mean seriously, who doesn't have a gift lying around the house somewhere that had tissue paper shoved in it? And I KNOW you've looked at some of those patterns and thought to yourself, now that would look cute on a page! & what about those extra cupcake liners after you finish you's child's class parties? WHAT a great way to tie it into the page by using an actual cupcake liner ON it?! That is what I'm sharing with you today, how to make some of those ruffles, with step by step pictures:

First, here are the supplies you need:
__ 2 cupcake liners
__ scissors
__ pencil
__ needle
__ thread
__ whatever paper you want to adhere it to
The items I am using are ALL part of the Valentine's Mini Kit available in my shop, here. You are more than welcome to use items from home-- think outside the box! If you DO make some ruffles, please link them up, I'd love to see them! xoxo

Take two cupcake liners, and cut them down the center, removing what would be the "base" of your cupcake so that they look like this:

If you're a bit of a perfectionist & love everything being the same width, including your hand stitching, use a ruler to measure out where your stitches will be-- for myself personally, I mark mine about a quarter inch apart. Of course, if you so choose, you can do this all with a sewing machine ;]

Put adhesive on one end of the cupcake liner, and attach it to the back of the page you want it on, fold it as desired, so that you can have different layers of ruffles if you would like. Then, start your hand sewing:, adding the rest of the cupcake liners as you move across:

When you are finished, tie off the back of your thread, I weave mine into the stitching, and tie it off. Then, you're all done! If you're using the Valentine's mini book, just back the page with adhesive & add it in there, and you have a cute, ruffled page! 

I hope you all have fun with this technique, and make some really cute projects with ruffles soon ;] Thanks for joining me for a mini Valentine's tutorial today! xoxo

sketch challenge.

I have to say, I just love that Shanna Noel ;] Not only is she an incredibly talented talented scrapper, digital, paper or hybrid-- that girl's just got it in spades! I was also lucky enough to meet her in person a few weeks ago, and I couldn't love her more, she is SUCH a sweet person. She asked me to participate in another of her sketch challenges, and so of course I said yes-- here's the sketch:

&& my take on it:

If you'd like to check out the other gals sketches, here are their blog links:

Shanna Noel http://shannanoel.blogspot.com/

Malika Kelly http://www.malikakelly.blogspot.com

Suz Mannecke http://www.livealifeEXTRAordinary.blogspot.com

Adrienne Alvis www.adriennealvis.blogspot.com 

&& if you'd like to link up & join in on the fun, there may even be prizes involved! Just make sure you post your link HERE by February 12th. Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed my take on the sketch!

hellllo PL, 2013 edition.

Last year, I jumped in & joined the crowd in all the Project Life madness, and I am so glad I did. I incorporate it into my 12x12 albums, because I didn't want the pressure of having to do EVERY single week of our lives. When I do a spread, I always love it, so I will be continuing to do it "my way" in 2013. I have set quite a few goals for myself in this new year, but only because I have so much I want to change, and make better. I am still working on finding the perfect storage for me, I love seeing everyone's cute little boxes on instagram, but have yet to find one for myself [if you have any really cool ideas for storage, please, do share ;] so as of right now, my supplies are a little bit everywhere.

For myself, I plug in my journaling cards & memorabilia throughout the week, and try to finish the weeks on Sundays, which are normally lazy days around here, and seem to not be as busy. I have a ton of plastics from ordering last year, and I managed to snatch up last year's Clementine & the new Seafoam core kit, and some of the new page protectors as well, that are perfect for instagrams & inserts.

With CHA, I didn't have much time to share until now, and I will try to be good about posting every Sunday from now on ;] even if it's NOT the weeks in numerical order. The first spread I'd like to share with you is Week 3, January 14th-20th: This is post CHA, in fact I split the week into two spreads-- Monday/Tuesday on one spread because it was the last two days of show && we went to Disney. Then the rest of the week on another spread, which is what I'll be sharing with you today:

I love incorporating the layouts I make in with my project life, so this is a veryyyy busy week, mixed with the LO I shared [here] & even an insert-- I encourage you to do the same, make Project Life your own ;]

The products I used are all from the new Amy Tangerine, Yes, Please collection, the Studio Calico January Project Life Kit, Chic Tags, Bananafishstudios and Becky Higgins page protectors. In addition to the products from those companies, I had some fun with hand stitching & even water colors-- it was SO much fun. PL is the perfect place to try out a new technique, because if you mess up, you only did it on a 3x4 space ;]