Fake scrapbooking: bound cards/letters

I reeeeeeeally hate scrapbooking.  You can get creative to the nth degree, and really, I've only recently (kind of) mastered not starting projects I have no intention of finishing.  My mom is really great at scrapbooking and has a whole collection of 12 4" binders filled with pictures and letters and cards and tickets to places.  They're incredible!  But my mom has always had a lot more patience (and drive) when it comes to those big projects.  The box I had post cards in is still strewn across the floor in Jesse's man cave from a week ago.  Go me!

Since I was 8, I've held on to post cards my brother sent me when he was in the military.  I've always wanted to do something with them, but scrapbooking was out because 1) I hated it, and 2) I didn't want to cover the front of the postcard.

I was intrigued when I saw this pin on Pinterest, of bound letters.  Then I saw this one, where she had made a collection of all different types of cards she had received.  What a great idea!

Tada!  I binded them together using some chipboard and metal rings!  Also, binded is not a real word.

I'm sure I'm missing a few of the postcards he sent me along the way, but I'm tickled I have this many.  My favorite is the one that folds out.  To fit it in there, I taped a couple pieces of scrap paper together (to strengthen it) and taped it to the card itself.

I also started sponsoring a kid through Compassion back when I was 16 up until the end of 2011.  I always loved receiving her letters (and her drawings!!).  After she left the program, I organized all her letters and shoved them in my files.  Not that great of a way to appreciate them.

When I went to the store to buy chipboard for the covers, I wanted to grab a pretty piece of paper to put on the cover, and I fell in love with one in particular.

It's washi paper, and was $2.  That's more than I'll normally spend on a piece of paper, but it was for something special.  I was nervous about mod podging it because it was so thin, but it was just fine.  I only did a layer on the chipboard, not one over the top as well.

I'm really happy with how they turned out!  I thought about putting labels on them, and I may with the postcards, but for now I only have the two and I'll know which is which.  I was also thinking of binding together cards we got from our wedding.

I ended up going to Collage for the art supplies (chip board, washi paper & metal rings).  It came to about $5, and I used scrapbook paper that I had on hand for the postcard book.

Tis the Season

Christmas time is here

Happiness and cheer.

Fun for all that children call

Their favorite time of year.

I love Christmas. The smells, the food, the friends, the family, the lights, the decor and of course: presents!

This year is an exciting year. Lots of good gifts under my tree and I'm excited for those that get to receive them. Unfortunately you won't get to see these gifts until after Christmas. Don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone.

We get into the season with gusto around here! 

The tree is up.

We're even counting down!

Even the plants are festive.

(do you see that little gum drop tree in the back? See how few gum drops are on it? :V)

Of course the window got into the spirit. This is our side of it, but I'll do a full post for it a little later. 

CHRISTMAS!

Halloween luminaries

Hark, the last of the Halloween posts for the year!

I was linked to these Halloween luminaries on Craftster (full blog post within the link).  I loooooved them!  I was a little concerned it would be one of those crafts where the original looks awesome but mine looks, like..well, it would be one of those crafts that I pretend never happened.

But, it wasn't!  The white was the hardest one to get rather dense, and I recommend staying with actual colors.  I grabbed a few small sheets of tissue paper from World Market that were all ripped and torn from separating individual gift boxes, gathering them up from the floor of the store (my husband was not pleased by this).  Even though it was enough paper to do one layer, once the white paper got wet with Mod Podge, that sucker was almost clear.

I was afraid I wasn't being very clever with using original designs, but I finally came up with three to use. (My sister also made 4 of these and I didn't want to do any of the same ones she did.)  Here's what I came up with!

I winged the classic pumpkin face, and got the rest online.  The skeleton was a pain in the you know what and I was glad when it was over.  Because these are rather small and the outline is what matters, they definitely don't need to be perfect (actually, I accidentally cut off one of the ankle bones on the skeleton and taped it back on the leg).  I found it was easier to use scissors instead of an x-acto knife.

I liked that the original luminaries had glitter around the rim, but I ABHOR using glitter (it gets everywhere!!) but I have a small tube of Mod Podge glitter I've been wanting to use, so I put some of that on there.  It's really subtle and something only I notice, but it's the little things in life.

This project was F-R-E-E because they were all things I had on hand, or my sister and mom had tissue paper they weren't using.  You just need jars, tissue paper, black paper and Mod Podge and a brush.  And a hair dryer, if you're impatient like me.  I didn't even have any candles to put in them for most the time but they sure looked cute on my armoir!

Halloween Decor

Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!

In this town we call home

Everyone hail to the pumpkin song!

-Nightmare Before Christmas

I was very excited when Bkins and I found a duplex to move into. It had been primarily apartment life for us and I was a little tired of it. Stairs? Downstairs neighbors that sound like they're above you? A thing of the past!

This place is perfect except that it is right on a fairly busy street. We have a big beautiful dining room window, but the whole world can see inside when it's open. No one wants to watch Bkins and I stuff our faces with our pants off. That is a privilege very few have taken advantage of. Our street did not need to be a part of that.

I enjoy natural light and hated the idea of keeping our curtains closed all the time. Our neighbor at the time did that and it was kind of depressing, especially since she was really just using sheets. Ick!

Luckily I was able to find my savior in the form of privacy film! This stuff is amazing in that it lets plenty of light through but blocks out anything else! 

Now all this is just a roundabout way of telling you how I used it for our Halloween decorations.

Last year crafty intentions did something similar to what I did and inspired me. Now, I have to tell you hers are perfect, mine however could have used a bit more love. However, being done the day before Halloween I was still happy with it.

The night of Halloween bracken added some of our orange string lights and it made it a little more fun. The shapes are just poster board that's cut and taped up. Again, next year it'll be a little more planned out, but for a last minute thing this was pretty cool.

We even got trick-or-treaters, which is a first for us. Again, apartment life really snubbed us as far as that goes. Not any longer! Next year we're going even further and it will be amazing.

For Christmas we have plans, too, so stay tuned.