Moving forward

So as you all know I have started my youtube channel.. I love it.  I also started back to work. This is the first year I have not been nervous.  I was excited the night before.  And even all week I just loved it all.  Students are mostly respectful.  I have a few past students this year.  I also love when students come by to say hi.  One of my students asked me if my etsy/youtube took off would I quit teaching.  I can say I have thought maybe one day.  And what I mean by one day is the day when I feel like I am no longer making an impact on my students. I told the student that I feel I make a larger impact or difference in the world as a teacher than a crafter.  I think my crafts do make people happy, but I mean a lasting impact.  I want all my students to feel important and valued.  I am not sure I could impact anyone

Girl's Fess Up Challenge

Bath or shower? shower unless I need to shave haha
Straight or curly hair? wavy but I prefer straight
Favorite movie? You've got mail
Favorite holiday? Halloween
Best year in HS? Junior
# of serious relationships(over 1 yr)? 1
Sleep with or w/o a fan? without
Android or iPhone? android
Texting or call? text
Facebook or twitter? both
Favorite type of food? tacos
Dream job? get paid for crafting haha
Favorte pizza? cheese but like with different kinds
Favorite cake? my wedding cake haha
Talking or fighting? talking
Night or day? day
Summer or winter? winter
Wine or whiskey? wine
Makeup or no makeup? make up
Favorite TV show? Gilmore Girls
Hair up or down? Up most days
Jeans or leggings? jeans
Painted or non painted nails? painted
Favorite color? pink
T-shirt or dress shirt? t shirt
Flip flops or sneakers? flip flops
Big purse or small? big
How many tattoos? 0
How many piercings? 5
Diamonds or pearls? diamonds
Favorite animal? elephant
Rap or country? country
Sports or couch? couch

Plan with me January Monthly Spread Heidi Swapp

Happy Mail Plan with Pizazz and the Plaid Box

PlannerLoveSp PR package

Plan with me December 25-30 Heidi Swapp

PlannerSunflower Etsy Shop

Small Etsy Sticker Haul

Christmas tag video

Plan with Me December 19-24 Heidi Swapp

Birch Box v. Ipsy December 2015

Plan with me December 13-18 Heidi Swapp

Christmas Craft Haul

December Bath and Body Works Hau

November Beauty and Body Favorites 2015

Plan with Me Heidi Swapp December 7-12

Heidi Swapp Plan with me December 1-6th

Target haul and Happy Mail

Salon Brands Beauty Haul

Heidi Swapp Plan with Me Nov 25-30

Cricut Explore Wreath Christmas Card Tutorial

Planner_Haul November Kit Subscription

Plan with Me Heidi Swapp Nov 19-24

Planner Buddy Mail and Etsy Sticker Haul

Plan with me in my Heidi Swapp Nov. 13-18

Gold and White Stripe Heidi Swapp Planner Unboxing

Fall Cardmaking with Washi Tape

Plan with me in my Heidi Swapp Nov. 7-12

Target and Hobby lobby Haul with some Happy mail

Plan with me November at a Glance and Hallween

Etsy Stickers and Pocket Letter

Plannerhaul.com Review

October Ipsy vs. Birch box review

RAK and Planner Mail

Fall Stamped Cards

Halloween card with Cricut Explore

Heidi Swapp Plan with me #7

Birch Box October 2015

Etsy sticker shops and target haul

October Ipsy Bag 2015

Plan with me and my Heidi Swapp #7

Unity Grab Bag and Peachy Cheap Washi

Halloween Cards

So I know I have been linking a lot of my videos to my blog, I thought it was time to write.  I haven't written in a while because I feel like it takes time and my hand was still healing.  I also have to type a lot for work because I am a teacher.  I create most of my own power point, bell works, assignments, and projects.  Doing all that plus hours of entering grades is a lot.  Anyway, my pinking and ring finger are still kind of swollen and doing certain things is still painful.  I have another appointment in a week to get it checked and see if I need to get shots.

I made some simple Halloween cards that I wanted to share.  Halloween is my favorite holiday! My least favorite is Thanksgiving. My second favorite is Christmas.  I like Halloween because of the colors and the not so much stress factor. I feel like their is more fun things to do.

The diecuts are all from Destashcraftsupply They are also embossed by her!.  I got the papers and twine in a pocket letter.  The washi tape on the ones on the left are from walmart.  The washi glitter tape on the right is from target and it is by scotch.  The stamp that says Spooky October 31 is from Unity Stamp Co. I pop dotted the bottom 2.  Hope you guys like these. I will be making some fall cards for Thanksgivig because I got a cute fall stamp set from Unity!

Happy Crafting Y'all!
 Lesley

Happy Mail!

Plan with me and my Heidi Swapp #6

Happy Mail and Fall Haul

Another Unity Stamp Co haul and I make a tag!

Trying to Organize my Washi Tape collection

Happy Mail!!!

Heidi Swapp Plan with me #5

October Plan with me

Plan with me and my Heidi Swapp #4

Halloween theme pocket letter

Etsy Sticker haul, Unity Stamp Co haul, Planner pal swap, and other plan...

Plan with me and my Heidi Swap #3

How to Make Bow Paperclips

Part 2 of Hello Fall Scrapbook Generation Layout

Crafty Happy Mail from Amazon, Unity Stamp Co, and Peachy Cheap

Plan with me #2 in my Heidi swapp memory planner

Michaels and target Haul

Target Dollar Spot Haul

Duck Tape Flower G2 pen

Smile Unity Stamp Co. Card

Unity Stamp Co Haul

Heidi Swapp Memory Planner August

Unboxing my prizes from Unity Stamp Co.

Ribbon Paperclip Tutorial

Up Date on my hand and other crafty things

Hi!

So I went to the doctor last Wednesday.  He took off the clunky metal brace and all the gauze wrapping! It is now Buddy tapped. I did a before and after pictures lol.  I couldn't have plain white tape. Typing with half a hand is still difficult thought.  I have been working on my planner, a couple of cards, and making things for my classroom. I plan on scrapbooking tomorrow.  I have a ton of pictures developed that I want to get scrapped before I go back to work on Thursday.I also started a youtube channel since it will be easier to talk than type for a while.  

Here is a peek at the pocket letter I finished tonight!I used Bella Rouge papers and sentiments.  The flowers are from Michaels.I like to label the pockets!  I used washi on the side and to close a pocket because I didn't want the brads to fall out.

I made a card with Unity Stamp Co. stamps and that is up on my youtube. 

Here is a sneak peek at the stuff I have made to decorate my classroom this year!The Harry Potter is actually for a coworker who has a cubicle because she is a SPED teacher.  Her theme is Hogwarts, so I mad this for her.  I used the create a friend on the cricut explore.  This was the graduate.  I did not make the hat and changed the colors to Hogwarts robes.  I added the lightning bolt, glasses, and a stick for a wand.  

Here is the layout for last week in my Heidi Swapp Planner!  The washi is HEMA. The days of the week are a stamp from Unity.  Some stickers are from my etsy shop.  

Hope you all are doing well!

Planner Pal Happy Mail and last weeks layout

My Order From Unity Stamp Co.

Planner Bookmark tutorial

Paper Plate Fish

Educational Planner Opening

Happy Birthday make a wish card

50 Questions challenge

How to use a xyron

Heidi swapp memory planner for July.

Broke My Hand

So I haven't blogged or crafted since last Thursday because I broke my pinky at the knuckle. So half my left hand is swollen.  I have my appointment tomorrow with a hand specialist. I have been able to keep my etsy shop open because everything it pre-made. I have been able to keep up with my planner because it is mostly just stickers. My hubby has had to take care of the cooking, cleaning our 2 year old, and me. I cant even wash my own hair or scoop my own ice cream. 

First question on almost everyone's mind is always "how did it happen?" I slipped on painted cement steps that had been rained on for four hours. It was at my son's daycare. I had just dropped him off at her house and was going down her steps. I am super thankful I did not have him in my arms. 

I had 3 sets of x-rays, got it set, splinted and sent home with a prescription. I cannot wait for tomorrow!   I get my answers to how long it will take to heal or if I will need surgery.

Here is a picture of my planner dashboard I made from scraps.

Here is my layout for this week so far:

And here is my broken hand:

Embellishments to Paper Ratio and Paper Ribbon

So my mom bought me some bath 3D stickers to use for scrapbooking my son.  I finally had picture of him in a bath that I wanted to use in a layout.  I bought the Me and My Big Idea Baby Boy stack when I found out I was having a boy because I was going to pre-make layouts to slap picture on later because I knew I would be too tired from nursing and taking care of a new life to scrapbook, but I knew I wanted him to have a baby album made by me.  I will do a blog on that some other time.  Back to the embellishments my mom bought.  She is not a crafter so she picks up things not really knowing how I will use them.  Have you had people buy you craft supplies without seeing if it is something you will really use?  That can be kind of frustrating because it may not be your style.  Anyway, I liked the stickers, but I have really been into buying coordinating things.  Like the stickers, cards, and paper are all the same line from the same company.  I usually get a few layout and a couple of cards out of that.  So I have the baby boy paper and I have 3 pictures.  I cut the photos down to 4 X 4 inches for my layout.  I have been loving that size.  I find with 4 x 6's you get a lot of background of the photo that is not important to the photo.  Also you lose quite a bit of space on your page that you could be seeing more of the paper patterns or embellishments. So for this layout I used 3 patterned papers.  The strip paper is .5 inches wide and cut into 8 inches and 4 inches.  The oh boy paper is 1 inch wide and cut into 5.5 and 6.5 inches.  The polka dots are also one inch and 6 inches each but I shortened them when I cut them into ribbons.  Which I show how I do that below.  This layout was complete very quickly since I didn't use much paper and required no punches.  Just stickers and 3 strips of paper.  Very good for a simple and low on supplies layout.

Disney layout

So I had a picture of my son with his mickey mouse stuffed animal and I remembered I did an entire book of Disney for my brother and sister in law for their first trip to Disneyland with their son.  So I knew I had extra paper I didn't use or descent amount of scraps. I could not find them.  I de-stashed a while ago and I guess it went too.  I probably thought to myself we are not going to go to Disneyland, so why keep it.  Just want to kick myself.  I did fine some and it was enough for the one page layout I did last night.

The title was done with Pink Paislee called Fascinating
The paper was EK Success for the boxes of characters and names. The paper ribbon strips I made were from a paper pack I got at Joanns a few years ago.
The strips are 1 X 10 inches
Block is 6 X 6
Names 1 X 6
I did some journaling in the corner because the reason I took this picture was because this was my son's first double ear infections.  And I thought it was cute that all he wanted was his mickey PJ's, his Mickey, and to watch Mickey Mouse Club House.  Have you even scrapped someone that was sick?  How did it turn out?  I would love to see your work as well.

Getting Published

I have now been published in Scrapbook Generation's CREATE Magazine for the second time.  They have a reader's gallery at the end of every issue.  And then they include the layout challenges for the next issue as well.  I have been published in the May and July issue.  Their magazine is great! It usually over 250 pages and always free to download. In the current issue I did a card and the one page layout.  I used my dog for this one.  

Scrapbooking kits

I enjoy creating my own layout, but I also enjoy getting kits.  They help me learn to scrapbook with new techniques or allow me to more worry about the photos than the layout.  The one I am sharing with you is from Scrapbook Generation.  I have talked about them before.  They are my local scrapbooking store.  This was a two page layout get about dad.  It is still available here. I always make my own adjustments.

Speaking of my own adjustments...funny story about at crop I went to.  It was a kit crop at their store.  I was with a friend and telling her an alteration I was making to the layout and another lady across from me corrects me on what I did wrong.  I was irritated, but polite.  Then I made another variation to their layout and the woman who had corrected me noticed, but this time she was like :i'm going to do that too."  I wanted to laugh to bad!

Okay back to this layout.  This layout is not too "matchy matchy."  Like same layout on both sides with slight embellishment variations. The kit cake with everything you see.  It also comes with a layout sketch instruction sheet.  I always keep these in a file for future layout ideas.  You will also get a photograph of the full layout so that you know where the embellishments are placed.  And in almost every kit you end up with extras.  There ones I had from this were enough to make a matching card, so that was a plus!

The variations/alterations I made when creating my layout was the 2 X 2 pictures.  I didn't have any photos that were good for cutting down to that size.  I really liked the lines on the card so I thought I would just use it for some journaling.  Journaling was something I use to really struggle with.  Okay...I still do.  I do not care for my hand writing. I do have a private journal so it is not the coming up with what to say that I struggle with.  I have a problem with the pressure to not mess up what I am writing and ruin the whole page haha! 

I encourage if you do not already to start smudging or inking the edges.  I like to use the chalk ink.  for this layout I chose branch bark.  I also used my Elmer's glue runner on everything.  I decided not to pop dot anything because I felt with all the different sizes of photos it had dimensions.   

I will post other kits I do as well in other posts.  I will try to do ones they are currently selling in case you really like them.

Little Boy Two Page Layout

Paper and embellishments used were all by Echo Park Paper Co. The paper line is called Little Boy by Crystal Wilkerson. I love this line.  It had planes, trains, cars, and boats.  Perfect for scrapbooking a little boy. All the squares and photos are 4 X 4 inches.  The button border and the scallop border are stickers that I split between the two pages. I used pop dots on the car, small train, and boat embellishments.  I left the big train flat.  All the cars were separate stickers so I divided that between the two pages as well. I love cutting paper into "ribbon points."  All you have to do is pinch two corners together and cut at a diagonal toward the rest of the strip. If you haven't noticed I also ink the edges of all my papers and paper ribbons with chalk ink. I print my photos as 4 X 6s at Walgreens because I can always find a discount code for forty to fifty percent off.  Then I cut then down myself centering the photo on what I want with my X-Acto ruler.  You can find the link for that particular ruler in my favorite blog post. I bought the paper at Scrapbook Generation.  You can make purchases from their online store as well.  They are out of this line but they have the new one My Little Boy. I linked the page.  Feel free to ask any questions. 

*I am not sponsored by any of the companies or products mentioned. 

Favorite Brands

I wanted to share my favorite brands of paper, stamps, tools, and embellishments. All the links send you to find that product.  Now I am not sponsored so this is really just my opinion.  

Paper: 

Echo Park
Pebbles
American Crafts
Imaginisce
Bo Bunny
Doodle Bug
Pink Paislee

Stamps:

Unity Company
heidi swapp

Tools:

Scissors: Fiskars scissors
Paper Trimmer: Fiskars trimmer
Knife: Fiskars Knife
Rule: X-Acto centering ruler
Glue Runner: Elmer's
Regular glue and glue stick: Scotch scrapbooker's glue with 2-way applicator
Cutting Machine: Cricut Expore

Embellishments:

I rarely buy random embellishments.  Most paper lines at my local scrapbooking store have coordinating embellishments.  I find buying the sticker sheet and sometime chipboard are the best accents to my layout.  I also try to buy the sheet of paper that has cards or tags that coordinate with the paper line.  I linked the store because you can order from them online as well.  Plus they have a great FREE scrapbook magazine called CREATE. 

Feel free to comment if you favorites are different. I would love to see your favs too!

Happy Crafting!-Lesley

Summer time

I know I haven't blogged in while but that is because once school is out I become a stay at home mom.  Now that does not mean that I have not been scrapbooking because I have done quite a bit of that.  My son and I have gone to the park a few times.  We made his first trip to the Library story hour.  We also celebrated his 2nd birthday. I am excited to take him to the zoo this summer.  I also want to take him to see and feed the ducks. Another up date on myself is that I have not consumed any soda in 41 days.  I usually drink about 2 liters a day...I decided May 1st I was done.  I knew it wasn't good for me and I also don't want my son to drink it in such high amounts.  Eventually I hope to get to the point where I can have one occasionally, but I want to go as long at I can.  I really hate water.  So I am sticking with tea and juice.  I also do not care for milk. I apologize for going on about soda.  

So I have been published for the first time as a scrapbooker in the may edition of the CREATE magazine.  Here is the link.  It is free to download! I am on page 307. CREATE Magazine Feel free to submit yours.  The next due date is June 15 for the July issue.  

I started this blog with how busy I have been doing things with my son, well I have also been scrapping those activities as well.  If you would like to see more follow my facbook page IRunWithDecorativeScissors Enjoy:

ETSY

 Etsy has officially taken over my life. I make decorative paper clips and stickers with my cricut explore. I am not sponsored by them. I had a cricut create previously and did not want to learn a new system like silhouette. Plus I don't feel the need to design my own images since they cricut came with access to 25,000 images for 3 months. Then it is about 10.00 a month. What is great is the premade projects. The search box is awesome too. You can type in almost anything and they have an image that is free with your subscription.




I digress...So etsy. I opened my shop about a month ago. I have made some money. Etsy charges .20 to post and item. When that item is purchased you are charged another .20 to re-post the listing and they take about 3% of the profit from the sale. And if someone pays with pay-pal then pay-pal takes a cut. I just thought I would tell it like it is for those of you interested in starting a shop. You can also add a daily budget for promoting. You only get charged if someone clicks so that is a nice feature. I also love being able to sell world wide. The shipping is easy since etsy allows you to print your own label at a discounted rate. I recommend that you take it to the post office and stand in line and get a receipt in case someone says their package never arrived to prove you sent the item. I do a lot of the shop's advertising myself using social media like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. I find if I post something on those and then check my stats on the etsy site I see a spike in my page views. I love the map feature of seeing where people come from that have clicked on your store or items.




Custom orders are also really nice. Some people may see them as a hassle, but the point of etsy is to get and give something original. So I get why people would want a custom order. So far the few I have done turned out great and really didn't take that much extra time.

So I encourage you to check out etsy to either buy or sell.  And when it comes to picking out your next machine you can ask me anything about my cricut explore. 

Easter and layouts

So the votes were tied between Easter and Layouts.  I will just combine the two.  When I first began scrapbooking, I struggled with cutting up my pictures.  I just felt like photos were too valuable or something.  Anyway, what helped me get over it was copying others layout that forced me to cut my pictures down.  What I ended up realizing is that I was able to focus more on what the photo was about by cutting it down for a layout.  

For my first example I will give you what I call a 4X4 layout.  Its easy because all pictures and paper are 4 inches by 4 inches.  You can see how cutting down the photos helped the view focus on the main visual.

My second example is an Easter layout where I could not cut down my photos.  I made it this year, but the photos are from last year. I love finding papers with cards that are 4X6 pr 4X4. You will also notice I bordered both of these layouts.  The Christmas layout is with glitter ribbon and the Easter layout is with coordinating paper. If you use one of these please post!  I would love to see your work as well. Advice: To make a good layout there is not magic number of pictures. But I would have to say that I think if you but 3 sheets of double sided paper and some embellishment sheet you can make some magic. And I always use scraps for cards, but that could be in another blog on its own!

 

Introduction

    Hi, my name is Lesley. I'm in my late 20's and live somewhere in the Midwest. I have been happily married for 5 years. We have 1 son and 2 fur babies. 
    I would have to say being a wife, a mom, a daughter, a sister, and a history teacher drives my creative spirit. My favorite types of crafting is scrapbooking and card making. I have a passion for scrapbooking because every picture captures a moment of our history. I want that piece of history to be an appealing vision to others in the present and future. I really enjoy card making. I realized my scrapbooks stay on the shelf In my house. But one of my cards will bring a smile to a loved one's face. And not just once, but every time they glance at it on their desk, coffee table, or shelf. I love having the ability to spread love to others through cards.
    I craft to express myself. I craft to leave a piece of myself behind. I craft to inspire and lift up others. 

Thanks for reading!