I haven’t truly scrapped in a LONG TIME… I mean taken another designer’s kit and just let it flow….

I was able to do that this weekend with Correen Silke’s newest digital scrapbooking kit and I love the results! I just might have a new layout to print and hang in my dining room. I have about 10 layouts framed up on my wall but they are so old… 3-4 years at least which is the last time I really scrapped.

I just LOVE Correen’s collection… Her papers have so much depth and texture to them – it’s subtle but rich.  They are truly beautiful and I wanted to use them all in the layout. LOL!  My layout doesn’t do them justice.

Designer Credits:  Correen Silke / Springtime Flowers

In my last post, I mentioned that Bunny Cates created a cute “Turning 21 Again” card with my Fresh Start collection.  Bunny created a printable 8.5 x 11 PDF for her card design and is graciously allowing me to give it away here on my blog.

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Enjoy!

Well… not many people impress the shit out of me but Ms. Bunny Cates has gone and done just that!  After seeing my new scrapbook kit, she e-mailed me about doing some hybrid cards and asked if I was interested… alright… I’ll bite.

She created her first card last night and sent me a photo… just one photo.   Today she posted the card on her blog… she has a like a zillion photos at all different angles… I’m just floored.  I wasn’t expecting her to showcase it like that.  She makes my crap look good!  I’m speechless… and that doesn’t happen to me very often.

Here are a two shots… don’t want to put them all up… head over to her blog to see the entire project…

And… if that’s not enough excitement for me this week… Ms. Stacey Schweiger is going to CT for me again!!!!  WOO HOO!!  I have always loved Stacey’s layouts.  I’m so excited to be working with her again!!

Here is her latest layout…. I love how she cut the flowers out of the paper to overlap her darling little girl.

Not sure what made me e-mail Rachel and Correen last week…. but I did and asked if they’d have me back at ScrapDish.  The industry must really be hurting because they let me come back.  lol!

It’s been a very long time since I just designed… designed with no expectations, no pre-selected color palette, no deadlines, no requirements, no store and/or business admin duties in the background and no pressure but my own.  My colors, my style, my speed… it was very therapeutic for me this week and I actually enjoyed it.

But boy do I hate naming collections and have never been very good at it – probably because I have always designed first and then figured out the name later – instead of designing towards something.  After thinking about a name for awhile, I ended up with FRESH START.  Dumb, I know… but it was what was in my head during this process so it stayed…

I’m also not sure why I stuck with this color palette… it wasn’t even one of my top 5… I do like the color combination though…it stands out to me. It just isn’t typical for me – no blue. lol!  The element I like the best is how the numbers came out.  I also like the two-color bows – scanned and extract by me. 

Anyway.. if you are interested (my one or two readers), I’m putting it up for sale this week for $3.99. I even did a layout with it… haven’t scrapped in ages either… about time.

Awhile back I exchanged the furniture between my front room and my back room.  I had always intended that to be the first step towards a living room makeover.  This past month, I finally was able to complete the makeover – including getting a new couch, loveseat and chair set.

Here are the BEFORE photos which were the AFTER photos from the post above (I only had iphone before photos so the quality is rather poor).  As you can see my walls were mauve/pink as were my blinds and the couches (that were not purchased for this room) were a nice green.  What a perfect match! lol!

So as part of the makeover, we picked up new couches and new drapes (couldn’t wait to get rid of the venetian blinds).  I also refinished the tables and the coat/shoe racks.

This was the end result. What a difference a coat of paint makes..

We have a beautiful bay window that we never saw with the other drapes.  They were just so cumbersome to open that we always left them closed.  With the new drapes, I can open them and see those wonderful windows and all that light. Love it!

I always wanted a big clock for the front room.  Picked this one up at Kohl’s during their clock sale last week.  The photos in the frame are 8 x 10 to give you an idea of the size of the clock.  Nice!  (also that door is actually in the hall… looks like a door to this room in this photo)

All the couches and the chair have recliners in them which the kids LOVE!

You can see in the before photo above how light the wood was for our corner storage units.  I sanded both of them and stained.  I also added non-slip runners to the storage seat top and the inside bottom where we keep shoes.  (After the dog ate the pillow top last year, I just kept the top for boots)  So during the winter when the kids put their boots on top the runners should work better to protect the unit.  I wish we had a real foyer but we do not so we have to make due.  The stain doesn’t look this dark in person but if I could do these over, I’d go a bit lighter on the stain.  Overall I’m happy with how they came out.

I should have taken a good before photo of the tables, but I didn’t.  All I have is some poorer quality photos.  The first one shows the quality of the table finish and on the second one, you can see the light corners where the dog chewed – she got all 4 corners when she was a puppy.  It was very nice of her.

So I sawed off the overhang edges thinking the top was completely wood.  But I had a nice surprise to find out that the top was actually cork filler with a wood veneer instead.  sigh… Lovely.  So I did the best I could and still sanded and stained the table along with the cork sides.  The tables actually look 100% better than they did.  But the project only came out on my scale at about 70% of what it could have had the tables been 100% wood like the storage units were.

I actually like how the smaller table came out.  It was in worse shape.  The camera flash and room lighting makes the tables look really different but they match rather well in person.

Overall I’m rather happy with how the room turned out.  I wish I was a better photographer though….