Memory Lane

Hey Everyone! We have been super busy here with all the activities that fall has to offer.  Halloween was a ball.  We had the cutest witch, duck, and zombie at our house.  I hope you all had as much fun as we did...

If you haven't stopped by Horseshoes and Honeysuckle Scrapbook Company yet, you really need too!  Our latest kit "Memory Lane" is filled with fabulous fall colors and fantastic goodies that get you into the scrapping mood.

The last crazy bit of our life right now is getting ready for our local craft fair.  Horseshoes and Honeysuckle will be there will all sorts of amazing kits.  Our favorites are ones that we will release after the craft fair on our website.  There are a bunch of adorable mini kits that will get you in the mood for fall and winter and would make the perfect gifts for the holidays. 
I can't wait to share pics of the craft fair.  If I'm not back by soon, you will know why.  Hope you are have a great night!

happy times

 I finished my mini album from the September kit "Midnight Splendor" from Horseshoes & Honeysuckle Scrapbook Company. I had so much fun and was so excited to have everything at my fingertips and ready to go when the opportunity presented itself to create. I was so happy with the results. This album felt so good to make... with the snow flying I really wanted to get some of our favorite pics from the summer together. My happy times mini album was the result. Let me know what you think!

Mrs. Humpty-Dumpty...

I have to say that sometimes we get a touch carried away with the assigments that our children get... but this is okay in my book.  It gets the kiddos and me excited about projects.  So my little Kindergarten daughter brought a note home that she needed to decorate a hard boiled egg tolook like Humpty-Dumpty and bring it to school today.  So last night we boiled some eggs and cooled them off and ended up making some serious decisions, like eye color and deciding on a girly version because my daughter really didn't want to make a boy.  It took some convincing, but I convinced my daughter the egg needed suspenders, and she loved them.  We did not however add hair because " ...eggs don't have hair,Mom!" How funny that we had such a good time dressing up a hard-boiled egg with craft scraps, a marker, and a hot glue gun:)

New Projects

I know I haven't posted in a while and I am so sorry.  The summer came to an abrupt halt around the middle of August when my kiddos started back to school and I have returned to the chauffeur mom status again... but that's fun and I love my kiddos and watching them grow up in all these different ways. 

About six months ago (in the middle of this never-ending chaos) I had casually mentioned the thought of starting my own business to my adorable husband.   Horseshoes and Honeysuckle Scrapbook Company was born... actually this business has been a work in progress since about February and a itch in the back of my mind for a lot longer than that.  So this business is the main reason I have been away.  I have obsessed and dreamed and made up my mind and changed it a million and one different times about this endeavor.  The truth is I am terrified.  I am scared to death of failing at this dream. But I know that if I don't do this and give it my best shot I will always wonder. 

September Kit "Midnight Splendor"

So here she is.  When you get a chance stop by and let me know what you think of Horseshoes and Honeysuckle Scrapbook Company.  We will release at least one kit around the 15th of each month that has a bunch of fun stuff to make pages, albums, cards, or whatever else your heart desires:)  I'll be posting ideas on our facebook page and the company blog and of course here. Thanks for being patient and please, please, pretty please check out my website! Thanks for dropping by have a great night!

http://horseshoesandhoneysuckle.com/

http://horseshoesandhoneysuckle.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Horseshoes-and-Honeysuckle-Scrapbook-Company/261900927174232



really LAZY days of Summer

I think I finally have my kids conditioned to sleep in this summer. It only took about a month get them to do it! I have been working on projects here and there, but the truth is I have been having way too much fun playing with my kids and enjoying all that our quaint town has to offer in the Summer. I think I kind of crashed after I got done teaching my class at the Quilt Walk Festival. It was terrifying and fantastic all at the same time. I only wish I had gotten to take a class! For Father's Day we didn't even go to church. My sweet husband decided he wanted the flu as his gift. But I made him a mini tag album even if he just wanted to be sick and grumpy that day. Last weekend we enjoyed three days of the Balloon Festival and watched from our front yard as hot air balloons climbed into the sky above us. That darn wind made things a bit tricky part of the time, but things were perfect for the glow on Saturday night. I'd never seen anything like it until I moved here. The two main streets are closed down and the hot air balloons are set up and down those two streets. It's a fantastic site. Then there's cotton candy, kettlecorn, and lemonade stands and vendor booths with antiques and jewelry. The smell of BBQ perfumes the air and makes your mouth water. I look forward to this special weekend with family and friends each year. I hope you are having fun and enjoying your own lazy summer day;)

This is my World

I know this is an excessive amount of pictures, but I just had to share. It has been a while since I finished anything like this for myself and my family. It seems like I have been working like a crazy woman on things for other people( which I love to do:) It was just nice to finish something of my own. I've been working on this album for a few weeks and I have to say I enjoyed every moment! I had so much fun picking out pictures and embellishments that went along with the April kit from Little Black Dress Kit club. I love the earthy tones and the pops of color. It really fits our family. As you can tell from some of the photos, we try not to take ourselves too seriously. When I decided to do this album, I knew that I wanted to share our lives in it... who we are and what we love. The title This is my World speaks the truth. My family is my everything. They are my world. I wanted my husband and children to know what each of them means to me and give a glimple of their personality. I wrote about each of them on the many pull out tags. On one of the large pull out pages, I wrote about aspects of our daily life and how I feel about all these everyday moments.

The album itselt is a paperbag album(which I love because they are so versitile). I was able to cover the binding with some gorgeous paper with the help of pretty ribbon and my handy glue gun. I think the embellishments make this album. I used a variety of letter stickers to get the look I wanted and I got to use some fun designs and techniques like the flag banner on the last page and the rub-ons on some of the photos. The last one describes my sweetheart and I to a tee. It says " we don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." The quote goes perfect with my favorite family picture of the year with each of us(including baby) with our stick swords, ready to show off our ninja moves. Like I said we, we don't take ourselves too seriously:)

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you scraplift some ideas for yourself and get to play with some paper today!

Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time there lived a princess. Somehow her cowboy prince found her... just kidding. Well, I guess that did kind of did happen;) One can't make a fairy tale album with out thinking about their own fairy tale. A couple of weeks ago my wonderful mother-in-law asked me to make her an album for a conference she was attending. She needed a gift for a basket they were going to raffle off. I thumbed through my ever growing stash and decided on a fairytale theme. What woman doesn't like a princess story? I used DCWV stacks (the fairytale one and the rustic one), prima and my own handmade flowers, my cricut for the scalloped mats, scrolls, leaves, and some of the flowers, distress ink, border punches, bling and pearl embellishments, and my new butterfly punch... and ribbon... and oh my heck there is a lot of "stuff" in these albums! But totally worth it! I had a ball making it. I hadn't made a mini in a couple of weeks and I was getting sad. I hope my MIL liked it and the person that won it gives it a happy home. Hope you are having a fun day and get to play with paper. Happy Friday!

So much for keeping things clean

So for the record, I did get my table cleared... for a few minutes. I actually did organize and shift lots of thngs to that craft room in the basement. Then I got this urge to make one of these necklaces. I've wanted one for a while, but haven't wanted to spend the money and couldn't find the colors I wanted. I was pretty sure I could make one, but I think I can make lots of things and end up with a mess sometimes. I'm so happy I finally made one. It wasn't as hard as I would have thought. It took a little time, a little patience, and a couple of burns from hot glue:) But it was worth it to me. My little girl really liked the necklace too! She couldn't stop touching the fabtic flowers and little bits of bling! So sweet.

If you'd like to make one, here is a brief idea of what I did.
1. Find fabric in a variety of colors that you like and cut them into 3"x21" pieces. ( I used a bunch of fat quarters) The more cokors the better I think.
2. Use your hot glue gun to tack the fabric together in half (wrong sides folded together). This keeps the patterned side of the flowers showing as you roll up the flowers.
3. Trace various sized circles onto the non transfer side of fusible webbing paper in the design you want your necklace.
4. Trim that shape down and iron on fabric to what will be the back of the necklace. This will give you a good base to work your fabric flowers onto.
5. Start towards the middle of the necklace and and with the biggest flower circles. To start the flowers, tie a knot on the end. Glue the knot to the center of the outlined cirlce. Start to roll and wrap the flowers to the desired size. You can make the flowers as thick or as thin as you'd like. When the flower is to the size you want, trim off the excess fabric and neatly roll, fold and glue the excess down, making a pretty rolled flower. Finish all the flowers but the two that the ribbon are under.
6. I attatched ribbon just before my last two flowers because I didn't want to be fighting with the ribbon as I rolled the other flowers. I cut about a yard of ribbon and attatched each end with hot glue to the necklace base in a spot that I thought would look nice. I then finished the last two flowers on top of the ribbon, added beads, bling, buttons, to a few flowers and knots to finish it off and tied the necklace on to my desired length.

I'm sorry I didn't take pictures the entire time. I really didn't know if it would turn out. I'm sure I will make another( I really want one with pink in it;) I'll try to take pics next time. If you have any questions, or if you give it a try let me know. I want to see what you come up with. I hope you are having a great Saturday.

Proceed with caution...

I don't know if its Spring fever, but I've got the cleaning bug. So where do I start? At my mess of a kitchen table. Now I love all things scrappy, but this is out of control. I have a perfectly good craft room in our basement, but everything seems to migrate up here where I can watch my kiddos and create at the same time. Does this happen to you? I know that I will be posting a blog similar to this again in the future (maybe very near future knowing me;) but for the time being I am taking back the kitchen table... for food and family gathering! As I look at this pic I can't help but think how sweet my husband is. He doesn't walk in mad about the table being covered with paper and not dinner, but happy that I got to do what makes me happy at some point in our hectic days. Thanks sweetheart:)

A couple of you posted about the flowers on my last album. I am going to try and do a tutorial in the near future. Let me know which ones were your faves and I'll be sure to do those first. I hope you all are having a great day!

Time Flies...

I can't believe I haven't posted in two weeks! But in all fairness it has taken me that long to finish my latest album. I am so excited about this one... just like I am about every other one I finish! Once again I used a kit from Echo Park. It's one of the latest called Springtime. My husband will cuss me if he reads this, but I am aching for spring, and warmth, and sunshine, and pretty flowers. (He is a die hard skier that hasn't had a powder day yet this year). He is hoping that winter will last a little longer and I am hoping Spring will hurry up and get here. Sorry sweetheart;)

Back to the album... It's called Blissful Days and the colors in the papers are an adorable mix of pastels and brights that just make you happy and ready for Spring. I made a few new types of flowers that were fun to figure out how to do. Let me know what you think of it.

I did decide to keep my These are the Moments album. I just couldn't part with it and that is the first time that has ever happened, so that must mean something, I guess. I am trying to find some of my very favorite pics to put in it. I'll have to see if I can find some of the non digital ones that I am thinking of. Cross your fingers for me. I'll show it to you when I am all done. I hope you all are having a great night. I think I'm headed for my comfy bed:)