Happy Mail/Prize

I belong to Facebook group called "Will Craft for Supplies." Recently in this group their was a challenge posted to make a project using nothing but scraps and the winner would receive some stencils. I did the challenge and made a little 3x3 mini album which you can see in an earlier post. I was actually chosen! I can't believe it! I entered thinking it was a good challenge for me to get something accomplished. Never dreaming I would actually win something. Then on top of that, this past Saturday was National Scrapbook Day. I did some challenges which you can also see in an earlier post. I had uploaded them to nstagram and of all people who commented on one of my layouts was Heidi Swapp herself! I couldn't believe it. What an honor and surprise. I know it might not seem like a lot to some people and others might say big deal but to me it was. When someone you admire says something good about what you are doing it should not be taken lightly but use it has encouragement to continue working hard at what you do.

Anyway, I get home yesterday and the package from challenge was in the mail box. It was quite thick and I was like hmm...this doesn't seem like stencils. Well I'm not going to spoil the surprise but you can watch the video and see what I got! :-)

Enamel Dots

I have seen several videos on YouTube on how to make homemade enamel dots. Some say use pony beads and others say use Perler beads while others use a liquid paint product. So I decided to test the beads to see how well they work. I must say they worked very well. I used my oven at 400 degrees and used parchment paper. Unlike using the liquid paint where you have to wait until it dry, these are ready to use within minutes of coming out of the oven. In the video you will see the difference and how well they come out. Upon further use I discovered that the pony beads are shiner and a bit harder than the Perler beads but I did not test the more metallic type Perler beads. Also you will notice in the picture with the two dots that they are a little different although they are both pony beads. The longer you leave them in the oven the flatter they get. So if you want some that are small but more domed take them out as soon as they are melted. If you want them flatter and a bit bigger then leave them in a bit longer.

The nice thing is you can big tubs or bags of these from your local Michaels or JoAnns and use your 40 or 50% coupons to make this a great value! Check out the layout that I made for a challenge for National Scrapbook Day; those pretty enamel dots are the pony beads! Now I have a container full of different sized dots just waiting for another project!

{Inter}National Scrapbook Day!

Hope everyone had a wonderful and productive day on {Inter}National Scrapbooking Day! In between errands and running to the next town twice to take care of my son's dogs while he is away I actually got 4 single page layouts done and one double page. I did the scrapbook.com challenges so it made me not over think my layouts and just try to get them done. A great way to jump start your creative juices to flowing. The five layouts correspond with five different challenges. One challenge was to use Instagram size photos, one was to use a rainbow of colors of one item, one was to use pocket pages, one was to use at least 10 cut-outs/punch-outs, and one was to use a template with and type of medium like mists, matte medium, etc. So here are my pages: