New Uses for Old Things

I've got a little Home Tip for you today. :) My husband has a pillowcase for a throw pillow that his grandma quilted for him when he was a child. He loves his grandma (we named our daughter after her) and the pillowcase has sentimental value (of course!), so I when it needs to be washed I wash it by hand to help prolong its life. I use Fels-Naptha but sometimes it's tough to scrap shavings off the bar of laundry soap. So then I had an A-Ha! moment: use a little cheese grater to "grate" the soap! It's quick and easy, and the grater I found at Marshall's was only $3.
So here's a setup of my handwashing station:

There's the grater and soap, and the pink plastic box they're resting in is actually a plastic shoe box--another new use for an old thing! An upside: the smaller shavings easily and quickly disperse into the water. And then I place the pillowcase in an old colander to rinse it.
So I've decided to submit my grater-as-laundry-soap-shaver idea to Real Simple's "New Uses For Old Things" section. :) And then I thought that I should share my idea with all of you, in case you need to wash something by hand.

Cheers,
Sara

Super Saturday Stretch Inspiration with Amberlee

Hello again and welcome to the last weekend in August. It has been cooler here and some leaves have been falling for a couple weeks already! I was surprised when the trees were changing colors the end of July and all the leaves on the trees at the library were on the ground the first week of August! So while the seasons are changing, everyone is holding on to the last bit of summer and final vacations. We usually go away for Labor Day weekend and that got me to thinking about Fall Traditions and how we prepare for them.

One thing I always suggest is to get those layouts ready ahead of time so all you need to do is take photos. Kiki has some wonderful kits for this time of year! Check out Dans Un Jardin.



Or Kiki's Timeless:


Kiki's Harvest Moon is another adorable kit with great Fall colors.


What are your Fall traditions? For some it is Back to School time, some it is raking the leaves (and playing in them of course!!!) some are getting ready for Halloween or other holidays to come. What do you do to prepare for the Fall?

Leave are always a big part of our Fall. Raking, piling, jumping, tossing and taking lots of photos for layouts of our Fall ritual. What are some other Fall Traditions? Do you have any of the following:

Apples
Apple Pie (Do you make them up and freeze them for later use?)
Making Applesauce
Canning fruits and vegetables
Making Pickles
Pumpkin Farm
Pumpkin Pie
Jack-O-Lanterns
Football (playing, watching, tailgating, etc)
BBQ
Walking Nature Trails
Craft Fairs
Grape Vines
Scarecrows
Corn Stalks
Cranberries
Hay Bales and Hay Rides
Indian Corn
County Fairs
Hunting
Harvest Festivals
Halloween
Thanksgiving

Just to name a few!
See you next weekend!
Amberlee

Crayon Trivia

Well it seems as if all the kids are either back in school or going to be this week- at least in my neck of the woods. Let's celebrate with some crayon trivia!

Crayola crayons come in 120 colors including 23 reds, 20 greens, 19 blues, 16 purples, 14 oranges, 11 browns, 8 yellows, 2 grays, 2 coppers, 2 blacks, 1 white, 1 gold and 1 silver.

Crayola crayon labels are only made in 18 colors.

Binney & Smith, maker of Crayola products, produces nearly 3 billion crayons each year, an average of twelve million daily. That's enough to circle the globe 6 times.

In the last 97 years, over 100 billion Crayola crayons have been made.

The first box of Crayola crayons was sold in 1903 for a nickel and included the same colors available in the eight-count box today: red, blue, yellow, green, violet, orange, black and brown.

The best seller is the 24 count box of crayons.

The average child in the United States will wear down 730 crayons by his 10th birthday (or 11.4 boxes of 64's).

Kids, ages 2-8, spend an average of 28 minutes each day coloring. Combined, children in the U.S. spend 6.3 billion hours coloring each year.

The last official poll of people's favorite crayon colors found that blue was the most popular color followed by red.

n July, 1996, the 100 billionth Crayola crayon was made by Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. The crayon was a once in a lifetime color - blue ribbon.

Trivia courtesy of Crayola.

Super Satruday Stretch and Inspriation

Do you ever get an entire day (or even a couple hours) to work on your layouts and photos? Have you ever been so excited you had all that time that when you awoke you had no motivation? No inspiration? What do you do when you have scrapper's block?

Here are some block breakers that I hope can help you!

First: I like to go to the digi stores and look at the various kits and colors. Sometimes the name will grab me like this one did: Bohemian Blush The name just made it sound like something I had to look at.


Sometimes it is the colors that grab me like Kiki's Bubblegum Classic


or Springdipity




Second: I like to look through kits on my computer as well as magazines for inspiration. It could be as simple as seeing a cool advertisement or looking for new techniques to learn.

Third: If I am still stumped or having trouble getting started I like to find online challenges. Funky Playground has the following challenges:
Scraplift
Technique Challenge
Template Challenge (this one is GREAT for when you are stumped!)
and the Mystery Challenges

Even if a challenge is over you can go to the older ones and get ideas!

Scrapbook-Elements.com has a huge section of challenges!

Fourth: If none of these give you inspiration then try something different. Open a blank digital layout and just open 5 random papers from 5 different kits. Then open about 10 elements--they can be anything. Pick 3-5 random photos and just start putting things together. Cut, shape, paste, play! You might be surprised how well the layout turns out. If you don't like it delete and play some more, that is why I love digital. All the fun without the mess to clean up after.

Good luck and may scrapper's block be a thing of the past!

Amberlee

Oldie but Goodie

Hello Digiland!
It's Sara with a Kiki Kit Highlight for you! Have you seen the awesome Miki and Kiki's Tryst?

Tired of the sweet, pink Valentines kits? Or want something a little edgier, a little naughtier for your passionate pages? Something for those pages that commemorate love lost? Or maybe a kit that's perfect for your favorite vampire book or movie layouts? Then we've got the kit for you! Introducing "Tryst" by Microferk Designs and Kiki Halbert Designs! This kit calls upon deep shades of red, muted purples and midnight blues, with some burnished gold thrown in for good measure- making this a gorgeous set you can use for a wide variety of your scrapping pleasures. Included are 16 lushly patterned, grunged textures- and maybe even slightly glittered- papers. You also get over 30 unique elements including: a bracket matte, 2 silver-rimmed charms, a silk flower, a gorgeous wreath frame with ribbon, large multi-colored ribbon, a stamped frame, an embellished swirl (with and without shadows), a glittered tag, a cutout tag, velvet ribbon, tied velvet ribbon, 2 pieces of word art, 4 word tags, 2 golden frames (square and rectangular), a street post with lamp and golden light glow, same street post without glow and with hardware to hang street signs, a set of 6 street signs including a blank one for your own customization, deep red rose, a chicken wire fence piece with ribbon tatters (12 inches wide), a row of heart and dot "bling", 2 embellished heart pieces, a golden curled ribbon (with and without shadows) a jeweled journal block, a large embellished swirl (with and without shadows), an ornate feathered, sequined and beribboned mask, a piece of crocheted lace, and 5 glitter styles (saved as an ASL file). Also included is an alpha set: a burnished gold with inlaid deep red glitter that included full upper and lower case letters, numbers and 7 extra characters.
So what are you waiting for?! Go check it out.

It's Bubblegum Time!

Since Kiki released her new kit, Bubblegum Classic, I decided to post a recipe for making bubblegum from Leener's:

Yield 20-30 pieces of gum.

1/3 cup gum base
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 Tablespoon corn syrup
1 teaspoon glycerin
1/4 teaspoon citric acid
5-7 drops flavoring
Microwave safe or heat resistant dish.
Wax Paper or Ziploc Bag

Place the Gum Base, Citric Acid, Corn Syrup and Glycerin into one of the disposable microwave dishes or a microwave safe or heat resistant bowl.

Microwave Method:

Heat the ingredients on high for 30 seconds. Remove from the microwave and stir. If it has not melted, place it back in the oven and heat for 10 more seconds. Stir it again and repeat heating until the gum base is gooey. (continue with no. 2 below)

Stove top Method:

Place ingredients in a heat resistant dish that will fit in a sauce pan of boiling water. Cover the pan and bring the water to a boil. Turn the heat down so the water is at a simmer. Heat the gum base until it becomes gooey. This can take up to 10 minutes. Be sure not to let the water boil dry.

Add flavoring and optional food color to the melted gum base and stir well. *If you have fresh mint or other leaves from a garden that you wish to use for flavor: Put them through a food processor or muddle them. You may still have to boost the flavor a bit with spearmint oil. You may have to use quite a lot of leaves to get enough flavor and then the gum may not mix as well due to the added moisture.

Measure out 1 heaping tablespoon of powdered sugar and set it aside for later. Carefully place about one half of remaining powdered sugar onto your work surface. Make a well in the middle of the pile. Pour the melted gum base mixture into the well. The gum base may still be hot but it will cool quickly. Dip your fingers in the powdered sugar and begin kneading the gum base and sugar together. Work it as if you are kneading bread dough. Add more of the powdered sugar when the dough gets sticky. Continue adding sugar until you have smooth, stiff dough. You must knead the gum dough until all the sugar is worked in. This will take at least 15 minutes. Kneading too little will cause the gum to break up when chewed. You will be done kneading when the gum is smooth and you can roll it in your hands.

Now it’s time to roll out your bubble gum and cut it into pieces. Roll gum into a one-half inch diameter rope and then cut individual pieces about one half inch long. Using scissors will make this easy. If you like your gum in sticks, use a rolling pin dusted with powdered sugar to roll the gum out and then cut into strips with your scissors.

Dust all of the gum pieces with the remaining powdered sugar, and enjoy! Your bubble gum should be stored in a zip lock bag. You can also wrap individual pieces in wax paper to share!

CT Spotlight

Hello again. Today I am putting Holly our CT member in the spotlight.

But before I show her lo's I want to wish her a

What beautiful creations Holly has made with Kiki's Awesome kits.

Congrats Holly!!!

Have a splendid day everyone.

by Mary

Monday Fun Day!

Hi everyone! Dawn here to bring you some fun links and finds. I don't know about you, but I can get lost web surfing, book-marking things I want to do, remember, or just because it tickles my funny bone and I want to be able to check it out again. So I thought I would share some of my finds with you.

First up...
There are times when I take a load of photos and as I am downloading them to my computer I watch the little window. And it looks kinda like a little stop motion movie or like one of those flip books and every time, I think to myself I would love to make a little video sometime of those pictures. Well, Chookooloonks Blog did just that from her recent trip to New York. Can I just say...awesome! I just love that she made this 4 minute video from the photos she took while there. My favorite part is the glowing hoola hoops and the piano, though the whole thing is cool. I am so gonna shoot TONS of photos from now on and this is in my future of fun things to do with them.

Second...
Need some inspiration? Whatever you are working on; blogging, scrapping, or journaling, Day Dreaming on Paper has some great prompts. Don't like the one that shows up? Click the Inspire Me button near the bottom and another random post will pop up. I love this for when I need an idea, when my mojo has disappeared.

Third...
Here is a little humor for you. It's an oldie but a classic, and it makes me laugh .every .single .time.


A little more humor for you. Every time I check out this blog, I laugh out loud. She has a way with words and her humor is...well, check it out for yourself. Creative Junkie Blog. You won't regret it.

And with that I am off. Have a great day!

new at SBE! Bubblegum Classic

It's Sara here to show off Kiki's newest (and soooo gorgeous!) mini kit, Bubblegum Classic. It's available at Scrapbook-Elements.

The beautiful pinks and luscious grays look good enough to eat! A sweet classic mini-kit that you can use time and again for baby showers, little girl pictures, weddings, engagements...the possibilities are endless. Wonderful damask prints meet whimsical glittered stripes. Elements include pewter frame, pearl frame and a wonderful ornate frame made from abalone shell. Lush flowers and a beautiful abalone shell brooch all round out this mini-kit.
Here's a little layout inspiration from Nikki:

Happy Scrapping!

Super Saturday Stretch Inspiration with Amberlee

Back to School sales are everywhere! I can't believe it is time for most children to be going back to school already. As a homeschooler we tend to find many wonderful resources on the internet. I thought I would share with you some free and low cost education sites and low cost software to help your child.

The Library of Congress has free information, classroom materials and curriculum for you to use. If you have a student who is really interested in history, literature or art, this is a great resource.

What child doesn't love games? Over at the Anatomy Arcade you can play "Whack-A-Bone" to learn the bones of the body. This is great for high schoolers or for younger kids whose parents are there to help out.

Having trouble with multiplication? We love this inexpensive computer game called Timez Attack by Big Brainz. They have a basic download to try out for free!

Enchanted Learning is another place full of booklets and activities for many different ages and grades. They have some free samples (quite a few) and if you like what you see $20 for an entire year gives you access to over 25,000 web pages!

Looking for math help for all ages? Khan Academy is the place to go! It is a FREE site full of great videos by a wonderful math instructor. It is a one man show and a non-profit org. He has done a great thing so be sure to check it out!

The Principles of Composition helps your student get through the writing process. Just pick and choose from the drop down menus and read the information to help you through things like writer's block, thesis statements and more.

50 States Worksheets provides various web sites and worksheets available to help learn the names, capitols and more about all 50 states!

The History Channel Classroom has lots of great materials for you and your student!

Cyberguides for grades 9-12 have literature that is usually used in high school classes. They do have other guides for other grades as well.

Vocabulary.com helps you learn new words, has games to play, all while exploring language. I like the featured lists.

A Goldmine of Journaling Prompts--links to journaling prompts to help your child practice writing. Art journals are great for kids who prefer to draw out their feelings, dreams and thoughts. Some great Art Journal examples can be found here or over here at Art Projects for Kids.

Wondering about other great educational sites? Leave me a message in the comments and let me know what subjects and ideas you are looking for!

Friday Finds

Happy Friday everyone! And it's a Friday the 13th! Are you superstitious? Does this day make you cringe and worry about what can go wrong? I have never been all that superstitious so for me this is just another day. Although it does seem that a lot weird and funny things tend to happen. Or maybe it's just that we notice them more because of the day, like when it's a full moon. Whatever the day holds for me....
I am hoping to get some pages scrapped, that is if I can find my mojo! And what better way to entice it out than with a new kit? The designers at Funky Playground, including Kiki, have put together an amazing school kit called E=mc2. It has the older school age in mind and I think you will find something in this kit for just about any page you may want to scrap, not just school. What do you think?

Isn't it fab?! And it has templates, word-art, and QPs. AND it's on sale until August 31 for $3.50. So run, don't walk, and pick up this awesome kit! And then take a break from all the hustle and bustle of back to school stuff you are involved in and sit a spell and just create.

Maybe you can get a start on that album you have been wanting to make for the school year and all it's activities. Or ***GASP!*** start on those teacher gifts for Christmas. Yes, I said it...Christmas is truly just around the corner and this kit will make those gifts a snap to make. Use it for those composition books that we showed you how to make last week and your kids will be styling when they head back to school. Or you can create a whole page of little notes and print them up all ready to stick in the kids lunches, notes are always fun to find with your lunch or stuck in a school book or back pack.

Whatever you decide to create, have fun!

What's for Dinner?

With a new school year rapidly approaching, here are some great online dinner planning tools to help you spend less time answering the question "What's for dinner?" and more time hanging out with the kids!

Dinnertool.com  allows you to customize menus and plan grocery lists.  It lets you search its large data base of recipes by items such as fast, kid friendly, low fat, etc.  This is a FREE resource.


Mealsmatter.org also has a meal planner and grocery list option.  This site also features a number of cool calculators including a personal nutrition planner and your food personality.  This is a FREE resource.

Mealmixer.com has a point and click planner that is "pre" filled in with ideas and features diet tips.  It was a little hard to learn, but had some new ideas for easy meals.  This is a FREE resource for 10 days, then you pay as you go. (The prices did seem pretty reasonable.)

If you have LOTS of favorite recipes, but need a structure to use them, HERE is a great notebook concept to organize your meals and a list HERE of many different do it yourself organizers.

Dans Un Jardin!

What a beautiful kit. I love everything about this kit. I found a lo that caught my eye this morning. I love how the photo is the main focus and it grabs my attention. The elements going up the frame is so pretty. This is such a great lo from CaroB. I love how she used this kit. You can find this kit Here in Kiki's Store

Have a great day scrapping.

Cevia Digital Picture Frames

I have found a fun and easy way to share your layouts with loved ones that don't live in the same household. Cevia digital picture frames allow you to upload images in one place and have them appear on someone else's frame! This is a perfect gift for Mother's Day or a birthday. Go to their website to learn more and check out the multi-frame bundles and the customization options.

Super Saturday Stretch--Last Lazy Days of Summer

We are enjoying the last lazy days of summer here in the USA. The grill is prepped and ready to go all weekend long. The tomatoes are ripening, the hot peppers are too; there is a feeling of nostalgia rising in the air. So many children are hoping to prolong the summer and avoid school for just a bit longer.

So in honor of all the grills, the open swimming pools, the summer haze and those final summer vacations I present to you a Summer Sketch to help you finish up your layouts. This is also a good one for travel pics. You can add more photos if you want. It would be cute to have 2-3 smaller photos on the patterned paper rectangle by the waves.

Sketch #1: I love this sketch for poolside fun! Kiki's Dirty Boy, Jaded and Age of Aquarius are wonderful choices for this layout.


Here is what it looks like using Kiki's Age of Aquarius:

Back to school Hybrid Project

With back to school sales upon us, I am going to share with you a super simple hybrid project that will send your student (or teacher) back to school in style—a personalized composition notebook.

First, you will need the following supplies:
-Composition notebook (these are on sale everywhere right now!)
-Digi scrap stash of your choice (I’ll be using Kiki’s portion of E=mc2 from Funky Playground Designs)
-Modge Podge
-Paint Brush
-Craft Knife
-Embellishments of your choosing

Here is what you will do.
1. Measure the dimensions of your composition note book from the binding to the edge and top to bottom. (Mine was 6 5/8 in x 9 ¾ in)
2. In your scrapping program, create a new file sized to the notebooks dimensions.
3. Scrap a LO that makes you smile.



Here is where you will want to choose how to embellish the project. If this notebook will be taken in and out of back packs and such, I would advise you to go all digi for the embellishments. If the notebook is going to be more of a journal that hangs out at home, go for the tangible embellishments. It is up to you! For this notebook, I went all digi because I will take this notebook to all my meetings with me for the school year.

4. Print off the LO. Trim the outside of the layout.



5. Using Modge Podge and a paint brush, glue LO to the cover of the notebook



6. Open the notebook and use the craft knife to trim the excess paper off of the layout.



7. Repeat steps 1-6 to create a back cover.



8. Add tangible embellishments if you plan on using them. (like I said, I didn’t add any since this will be all over)


9. Apply a coat of Modge Podge over the top of both covers to help with durability.

9. Enjoy watching your favorite student/teacher go off to school in style.

I usually stock up on cheap composition books this time of year so I can make these as gifts later on. These notebooks make GREAT thank you gifts for teachers, birthday gifts for friends, and make kids smile!

Inspired? Share your comp notebooks with us in the comments section—we’d love to see them!
Ta Ta For Now
Jess

Watermelon!!

Watermelon sounds so good right now on a Hot day. Oh look what I found!! Watermelon Splash Mini kit in Kiki's Funky Playground store. I also found some fantastic layouts made with this kit. Check them out!!

ScrapMel I love all the different papers in this lo and the layering. Great journaling!!
Janicew Stunning layout. Great b&w photo. I love the placement of all the elements. Beautiful!
Laura This lo is darling. Sweet photo. Love the clustering on the side of the photo and the elements in the top corner. Fantastic lo!

Hope you enjoyed looking at these great lo's I know I sure did. Have Awesome Day. :)