Two Of A Kind

I've been pretty swamped lately... really swamped. I've barely had time to do anything other than work, but I've made time this morning to create a quick layout.

I'm using this layout for Scrap Your Story's stitching challenge. I LOVE hand-stitching, so this was right up my alley. Here are some detail pics of the layout.

I found those paper straws at Michael's. Love! I cut a few of them up and layered them. I want to get more paper straws in a bunch of different colors.

Thanks for stopping by! Hopefully, it won't take me so long to update next time.

Pinterest Love: Bento Boxes

I'm terrible at making my own lunches. When I'm at work, I tend to each out or grab something from the vending machine. It's my goal to eat healthier AND save money.

So, this week on Pinterest Love, I'm talking about bento boxes. If you don't know what they are, basically they're Japanese lunch boxes. Some of them are adorable, targeted for children... and I have to be honest, I love them! Some people are really creative with them!

Take a look...

Cute, right? I absolutely love them!!! I probably won't take the time to create a lunch that cute every morning/night before. Yes, I'm 25, but I still want my lunch to be freakin' adorable! You should see my desk... 

Anyway, I do want to create something simple, yet healthy.  Like this...

 

That's totally right up my alley!

Thanks for stopping by.

Mini Golf in Frankenmuth

It's been a really long, difficult week for me and I have another coming up. Luckily, I made time to scrapbook... between all my sleeping...

Here's the layout I have to share with you.

This is from one of the many times we went to Frankenmuth. Love it! Most of the time we just go shopping, but my brothers wanted to go golfing. I think we were lucky because they just opened. I used a PageMaps sketch for this layout.

 Here's a closeup...

I used Fancy Pants Designs Trendsetter collection. LOVE IT! I especially love the corrugated paper.

And of course, I had to do my hand-stitching and beads! My layouts usually aren't complete without it.

I'm also using this layout for Scrap Your Story's theme challenge: Spring. This entire outing was in the Spring, afterall!

Thanks for stopping by!

Pinterest Love: Vintage Suitcases

Last week, on Pinterest Love... I shared this pin.

Source: bhg.com viaVanessa on Pinterest

I absolutely love vintage suitcases... the train cases are my favorite. I don't know why, but a while ago, maybe last year, I started buying a bunch of them. Now I have a ton of vintage suitcases/train cases and I'm not quite sure what to do with them. I was going to restore them and I will, but I found some great ideas for them on Pinterest.

Source: fab.com viaVanessa on Pinterest

Source: cupcakesandcashmere.com viaVanessa on Pinterest

Source: manmadediy.com viaVanessa on Pinterest

Source: madzteir.tumblr.com viaVanessa on Pinterest

I love them all! Unfortunately, I don't have that many suitcases, but they are great ideas!!! My favorite is probably that chair. It's such a wonderful idea and I might have one that would work for that project... we'll see!

March Calendar

Okay. It's the last day of the month... That means it's time for my calendar posting!

If you don't know what I'm talking about...

I decided to record everything that I do on a monthly calendar. It includes everything that I can remember... Sometimes I don't fill it in for an entire week and I have the difficult task of thinking back. It's a lot harder then you think!

Anyway, it started out as a way to track my goals for the year and now I'm just having fun with it. It's nothing too fancy or elaborate; just a quick way for me to remember the month.

Here it is!

On Black Friday

I was so honored when I was asked to be a Guest Designer for Scrap Your Story! I love their challenge blog. I stopped scrapbooking for a while and I only recently started up again. Oddly enough, this challenge blog just started up, too.

I'm doing one of their Use It challenges. The item I had to use was cork. I've never used cork on a scrapbooking layout before, but I was up for the challenge!

Here's my layout:

The cork item I used was that 6x6 sheet of corkstock. Has anybody ever used it? It's amazing!!! I found it at JoAnn's and I just knew I had to use it for this challenge!

It's super thin and it has a sticky back to it so it's easy to work with. You can use it as is, cut it up, paint it... anything you can think of! I probably never would have used it if it hadn't been for this challenge. I encourage everyone to go to their challenge blog and try it out!

 

From the title of the layout, you can tell that this is from Black Friday. We just finished shopping and we all went for breakfast at iHop. I didn't get a picture of me or Tracey, but that's okay. I don't normally have pictures of myself and my only photo of Tracey is blurry.

Speaking of Tracey, I'm using this layout for her 100 Themes Challenge!  That's right! #45: Hot Chocolate. That's what Bethany is drinking. I haven't used one of her themes in a while and I thought I would give it a shot! Go ahead and click on the my sidebar icon of the 100 Themes Challenge if you want to see what else I've done.

Thanks for stopping by!

Pinterest Love: Craft Space

If anybody knows my living situation, they know I don't have a lot of space. I have a table set up in my bedroom to do all my crafting. I have a limited space and I use it to the best of my ability. Storage, organization... That's what happens when you share a house with a lot of people.

Anyway, I'm always hoping and dreaming of a room dedicated as my office/craft room... For now, I have Pinterest to keep me inspired!

Source: bing.com viaVanessa on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com viaVanessa on Pinterest

Source: inspirationfordecoration.blogspot.com viaVanessa on Pinterest

Source: vintageindie.typepad.com viaVanessa on Pinterest

I don't have any particular style to speak of for my ideal craft space, but I do like things to be clean and organized. I have plenty of time to think about it... so I'm still dreaming. If you would like to see more, please feel free to check out my Craft Space board. I'll be adding a lot more to it in the future!

And I saw this... I absolutely love it!!! It's a great and storage device and it's stylish! And a hint at next week's Pinterest Love post!

Source: bhg.com viaVanessa on Pinterest

Our Last Meal Together

I finished this layout a few days ago, but I never had the chance to post it. It's been a little crazy! This is from my summer engineering program back in 2004! I had a lot of fun and met a lot of great people.

This was for two different challenges. Pamela Young's sketch 323a...

and Scrap Your Story's embossing challenge. The embossing was very new to me, but I really liked it!

 Thanks for looking, everyone!

Out for a Walk

So my brother, Lee, is in the Navy. He graduated from boot camp three years ago. We were told that only four people could attend, but somehow I managed to snag a spot! Here's a layout from after the graduation. We didn't have a lot of time before we had to head out, but we did get to spend some time together. We went out to eat, went shopping, played pool and went for a walk to get some air.

Here's Lee with his new shades at the park.

I used the March sketch from My Creative Sketches.

And of course, I handstitched! It's rare that I go without it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Pinterest Love

Most of you have already discovered Pinterest. My sister is the one that introduced it to me and I LOVE it!

There are so many unique and interesting things I doubt I found have found without it and I want to share some with you right here on my blog.

Source: abduzeedo.com via Vanessa on Pinterest

I absolutely love this quote! After looking a little bit further, I also found the same quote, but a different design.

Source: google.com via Vanessa on Pinterest

When I finally make the time, I really want to create a large canvas that is inspired by this quote and design. I have quite a few ideas in my head that I need to get down on paper. That way when I finally sit down to create it, I'll have a starting point.

Thanks for looking and if you want to follow me on Pinterest, just click on the Pinterest icon below my header.