A Shadow Box

Today I have a really fun post for you all to enjoy. I have been dying to try my hand at a shadow box and I finally got my chance! I found one at my local thrift store for only .75 cents! I snagged that thing up before I even knew what I was going to do with it! I have seen tons of these done by fellow crafters and I have been so jealous of how they have turned out, so I have just been itching to get my hands on one and try it out. I could have tried it out a while ago if I wanted to pay the 4.99$ at my local craft store. But, as you all know, I just couldn't do it. That is just too much for me to spend on a silly piece of wood. Anyway, I found this one and didn't know at first what I wanted to do with it, but it didn't take me long to figure out what I wanted to with it. I have had some luck with my side shop Virginia E. Photography and have decided that I owe a few thanks. I won't list on here what thanks I owe to who but they know who they are and how much I care about them!
Well, the Lady I made this for is a total "Horse Nut" so the only theme that made sense was something involving Horses or a Western look and feel. I found a great Rodeo 12x12 printed paper hidden in my stack from an old scrapbook I was asked to make. I also looked in some of the new stuff that I recently got for my very lovely sister-in-law, in that stack I found a think piece of card stock that was printed up to look like a big hunk of bark. It really looked a little on the gross side of the paper world but it sure does look amazing when put with this fabulous project!

This was how it started out, just plain thin foam cut blond pine. Most people would think that we were crazy because how excited we get from seeing something so simple, but we see past the plain dull and enjoy the visions of what is to come!


Because I am going to give it to a woman I had to make sure that I kept that rugged manly aspect that always seems to follow when doing western themes in check! So I added a butterfly and a few flowers. The little white flower is raised up to give you that wonderful 3D effect, also the Horse medallion is raised and so is the WHOLY COW block. I wanted to give it that extra little bit and raising a few pieces was the best way to do that. I took the Nature butterfly title and placed it on the out side to help draw the eye inward. This was such a fun project to start out on and I just can't wait to try my hand at another shadow box!

Thanks for stopping by!!
~Virginia E.

Inspiration Monday

Today for the Inspirati♥n Monday post I have decided to play along with a few challenge blogs.
The first one I would like to mention is the CAS-ual Friday challenge, this week they are having a fun challenge that will really make you think. They are asking that you make a lovely card where the sentiment is the focal point. Remember to keep it simple.
The next blog that I have decided to join in on is the CPS Card Sketch challenge blog. They are always showing off new and interesting sketches to keep the mind going and going, this week I felt inspired by all the payer and just couldn't wait to try it out!

Using these two challenges I have come up with this card!

I'm wishing you sunshine and smiles to brighten your day. . . . with these colors who couldn't be happy getting this card!
I had help with this card from the Hero Arts challenge blog. The colors they were asking for were these:

They were perfect for this card and the large mixture was a wonderful challenge and made this card all around fun to work on!

Well, that's all for now, have a wonderfully crafty day!
~Virginia E.

Another DI Trip

Hello all! I'm back to share with all of you what I have come across this weekend while at my local DI. (Deseret Industries) When ever you make a trip to a thrift store you know that you go only for the hunt, sometimes you walk away with something amazing and sometimes you don't. I got lucky this weekend and found a ton of Making Memories items! (This is the brand that I find the most while at my local DI, there must be a dealer in the area that drops off their out of season stock for cheap people like me to enjoy.) I found at least three dozen chipboard tags, some colored and some naked. I have found the tabs before but only just the rectangle and only naked. This time I came across the rectangle tags that have been color treated in light soft colors. I also found some naked circle tags. I have these metal tag rings that are meant for paper but these chipboard tags fit perfectly! They sure do look amazing as well!

I also found a Stampin Up Stamp set that had never been put together, never been mounted, never been used! Can you believe how lucky that is! This set if called Beautiful Boarders. I'm excited to use them and work out a few card layouts with them!

As most of you know, I have an amazing collection of decorative scissors so finding new ones that I don't have is actually pretty hard but I did find one that I don't have, its a fun wave design with little peeks and teeth.

I also found these amazing little chipboard alphabet squares in red and blue! I have always wanted to try these out but never been able to afford them, this is just another reason that I love thrift stores! I find that most of my beloved scrapbooking items have come from the DI, Dollar Store, or have been overflow from friends and family stashes! I am very blessed to be able to do what I love with the budget that I have!

Also, in a small box there was a bunch of metal letters, but only two different letters, a B and a D in lower case. Normally I don't go for things like this but I have a Doug and a Brydda in my life and I just had to have them!

Over all it was a pretty amazing pick!

That's right! All of this fabulous stuff for the low low low price of only 7.50$ the only other way you could get these kind of prices is if you hit a store on its very last day of going out of business and got everything 85% off!!!!! The stamp set alone only cost me a dollar.
Thanks for stopping by!
Have a wonderfully Crafty Day!
~Virginia E.

New things!

Well, as I said before I just couldn't wait to get started on my new project! While at the DI I found this very wonderful Photo Album Bookshelf Box, I've actually seen it there a few times, maybe it wasn't the same one but it sure did look like the same one. At first it was Originally priced at 5.00$ this last time I picked it up for only 1.50$! When I picked it up it was covered in soda and has scratches and nicks and deep cuts all over it, it is also missing the top cover which had been broken off very roughly causing splintering of the wood, it is also missing at least one pull out album but possibly two. Looking at this poor thing I saw nothing but potential!

I took a Clorox Wipe and went over everything, I made sure to clean up all of the sticky soda and scrub up all of the other marks which included crayon! Afterwards it looked like this!

Huge difference already right!!!
Well, I bought this item because I make a lot of cards and find that I love the layout but can never recreate it exactly, so I started making little Recipe cards for my Card Layouts. These have stared to add up and stack up! So I have really been needing to find something to do with all of them! Once I saw this I knew what I wanted to do with them! I have decided to make a recipe card box! Each page will have a photo of the layout and on the other side I will place the recipe so both are very visible and easy to remove and replace!
I didn't want to leave it blank because what fun would that be? I like things that are visually inspiring to me. Stripes and Dots are some of my favorite visual patterns for paper and my work space! On my Stamp Storage system the sides are decorated with light green stripes while the drawers have light pink and burgundy stripes with a wonderful burgundy flourish. That paper ran out and I couldn't find anymore so I decided to start finding other fun patterns to incorporate into my workspace that were still within these colors! I have succeeded in this and also gave myself a great diversity of visual fun! These are the papers that I have chosen for this project!

I think that it turned out great! The colors really go well together and the faded look on the stripes are a fun touch!

I was going to add this great stripped paper to the inside albums but unfortunately that was just a scrap of paper and I didn't have anymore to use. So I went through my stack and ended up with something that I love even more! I added this great old stock Stampin Up paper which is double sided and it meant to mix and match! I love the added colors and designs!

I love the way that is all turned out and I am so happy with where it fit in and how it looks on my desk!

That's all for now! Thanks for stopping by!
Have a wonderfully Crafty Day!
~Virginia E.

Saving some...

MONEY!!!!
Today I have a few amazing deals to share with you! The first one I'd like to show you is a wonderful deal that I found at my local Walmart. While out shopping for food and items for my 3 wonderful kids I decided to wander down the craft isle, normally I avoid this isle at all costs especially while I'm broke but I decided that my will was greater then my wants. I was doing great! That is until I saw these wonderful packages of Valentine themed chipboard punches by G*Studio. They were originally priced at 2.99$ each but were on clearance for just .20 Cents each!! They had two different styles so I grabbed one of each and left the isle happy that I stuck to my guns and still got a great deal on awesome new chipboard!

The next Bargain that I would like to share with you is one that I found while at Smith's picking up a few items that were on a better sale then Walmart and since it was on my way home I didn't mind stopping by. They still have two carts filled with tons of Valentines Day items! I have been looking for a new way to jazzy up my "In A Rut?" jar and what I found was perfect!

A set of 20 sticker pods, although I have no need for the stickers I know of a ton of little kids that would love to get their hands on them! I ended up buying two boxes at 75% off! What a great deal!
Well, my old way of doing my "In A Rut?" jar was a few folded up index cards with the inspiration ideas and challenges written on them. I didn't really care for that idea so I chose to do something else with it! This is what I have come up with!

I chose pink and green bright colored paper to write my inspiration and challenges on, then placed them inside the sticker pods so you can read them without ever opening the pod up! I like this a lot better, its more neat and clean! Also if later on I decide that I don't like this either these Pods would be great for all of the little Nick knacks that go along with Scrapbooking and Paper Crafting!

 Now time for my usual DI finds! I haven't been to the DI in a few weeks now but I did find a few wonderful finds on this trip! The first is a fun little set "Country & Farm" Rub-Ons from First Impressions by Provo Craft! They are super cute and will look great on a few Kitchen Projects that I have in mind the price was great as well! Only 1.50$ for both!

Also while at the DI I found this little gem, they only wanted .10 cents for it! I totally jumped at it!

I have another Item that I picked up at the DI for only 1.50$!

I know, its really gross right now but I have big plans for it! I can't wait to get started on making it dazzle!
Well, that's all I have for now! Have a Wonderfully Crafty Day!
~Virginia E.

Inspiration Monday

Inspirati♥n Monday!!!
Again I know I have missed that last few weeks but I promise that I am working hard on making things come back to normal! I am done with all the Car business so now its all up to my Lawyer.
Well, today I am joining the wonderful team over at CPS Card Sketches!
http://cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/2012/03/cps-255-part-1.html
They always have wonderful sketches the really push the creativity out of a crafty gal like me!

So for my New Years Resolution I decided that I needed to step out side the box a bit more with the sketches and I think that is exactly what I have done with this sketch! I feel you can still see the original sketch but you can also see the new very inspired look I gave to it!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderfully Crafty Day!
~Virginia E.