Travel Game Box

This poor metal box has followed me around for nearly 3 years now holding postcards to adhesives and most recently small items for whimsy jars. But with the latest blog challenge for altering an item I knew it was time this box got a permanent job. So it's now a box for our many small games we like to take along on trips. From card games like uno to wooden puzzle games.

This box began as a hostess gift from creative memories and had items that have long been used or put a way else where.


I've known for a while I wanted to alter the box but wasn't sure exactly how. Then I saw someone make decorated magnets on a metal board into a cute tic tac toe game. Justin and I pretty bored at times when we travel and have to stick around in one place or another for a few hours. So with this tin I knew I could make into an awesome little game box.

I added rub-on borders on the top and sides of the box. I cut a pieces of black card stock to fit the center of the lid and decorated it adding S.E.I. Papers, real playing cards, and Thickers for the title.




This is the inside of the lid and bottom of the box. I added more S.E.I. papers just to make it fun.


Now for the bottom. Just flip the box up-side down and it's ready for a game of tic tac toe. I stamped, colored and used a 1" circle punch to make toppers for my bottle caps. I then modge podged them and added magnets to the bottom of the caps using the ranger clear glaze. There are 5 of each to design to play tic tac toe. I used the Home Accents Cart from Cricut to cut out that cute frame to make my playing borders. To store the magnets for now they are placed on the inside of the lid.


Now the real task begins. I get to fill it up with all our favorite games.

The Scrappiest Sketch 18

Sketch 18 at The Scrappiest this week gave me a ton of ideas of what pictures I wanted to use, but when I saw these from our drive to Cali for our "honeymoon" I knew they were perfect. And I used this month's Scrapbook Sussies kit.

During our drive we got alittle bored and began goofing off. As I took pictures of the scenery Justin began making funny faces at me. He's so crazy. Only one of the many reasons why I love him! What a perfect way to start off such an amazing vacation.

This is Sketch 18.


I was also able to incorporate Blog Challenge #4 for #2-Layout Challenge.
3+ Buttons (7 Buttons)
2+ Photos (5 Photos)
4+ Brads (6 Brads)
Card stock Background
Color Blue

SPCC - Color Combo #3

This week's color combo:


Since I've done a 6x6 LO and a card already I thought I'd do something altered this time. I've had these lacing cards for a while with no clue what I would do with them. The color combo this week got me thinking, and since I'm still in vintage mode, my first thought was something for Grandma Lamb. Justin's grandmother has become someone I look up to and admire. "G-Ma", as Justin calls her is the reason I love doing mini albums. When we were in VA I sent her a new one every 6 months with updated photos of us and our adventures. But this is just a tad different. No photos have been added(Ok, I take that back, I put a pictures in the metal frames so show what it would be like:) ). I want to gather a few of her pictures as young woman and place them in there for her. That way she can display them on a bookself and the display is as as beautiful as she is.

The metal frames are from Making Memories, paper by DCWV & Basic Grey. I hand stamped, embossed, and cut out the butterflies, added the pearls and a bit of foam pop up on the backs.

Guided Tour

Hi Ladies! As you can see my blog has gotten a new look. The Birds and pink weren't really me however they were cute. But Butterflies, Blue & Yellow, well, that's more me. :)I took a crash course in HTML and Photoshop but I thinks it came out pretty cute.

Now it's time for a guided tour.

Left Column:
~ About Me
~ Contact Me
~ Blog Archive
~ My Peeps
~ 2009 Work

Center Column:
~ Current Challenge Information
~ Regular Blog Posts
~ My Playlist

Right Column:
~ Current Challenge Links
~ Tutorials
~ Tips & More
~ Favorite Links
~ Past Challenges

Everything is pretty much the same except for the LO. As always if you have questions or suggestions let me know. Thank you for stopping by.

A-Z Challenge @ Vintage Flaire

I love Vintage Flaire the ladies are fabulous and so crafty. Bree is the host of the group and she's very talented. She's currently hosting an A-Z Challenge. This was the first month. Each week she gives out a letter and one item you must use on your 6x6 Layout. You must post each 6x6 by the end of the month and if you complete all four and mount them all nifty and post the picture you're entered into a RAK drawing.

I LOVE the pin-up paintings by Elvgren and just knew looking at the letters for this month I would probably find a picture to represent each letter. I waited until the very end to start but once I got started it went super fast and because I love things to be matchy matchy I was able to make me even happier. But before I show you the end result I'd like to go through each week with you.

Week #1- This week's letter was "Y" and the special item to use was a butterfly. As soon as I saw this pin-up and how she hammered her finger I thought "Yikes" prefect!! I used a butterfly paper punch and added little swirls with a black glaze pen for more interest.

Week #2- This weeks letter was "P" and the special item to use was a postage stamp. I has a hard time picking one for the "P" , a woman painting, a pirate, but then I found this beautiful red head having a Picnic. How cute is she? I used a postage stamp from my beautiful whimsy jar that Stacy sent me.

Week #3- This weeks letter was "J" and the special item to use was pearls. Seeing this woman and her luggage triggered the word "Journey" for me. Not only is she traveling but she seems on a personal journey wiping tears from her eyes. She's also the fanciest of them all so I thought the Black lace and large black button suited her.

Week #4 - This week's letter was "F" and the special item ti use was paper punches. Now how sexy is this Blondie "Fix"ing a car? I mimicked the paper punched butterflies from week #1's lo. I've had these little gears for a while but just couldn't seem to find a use. This was perfect.

Yay! You made it to the end! Bree asks that at the end you mount all 4 LOs together to hang up and show off your creations! I cut a 10x10 piece of black card stock a an 8x8 pattern paper and mounted the pp to the card stock. From there I mounted the 6x6 LOs with a 1/2 inch gap to see the pp. I thought them going off the mat gave it a more interesting look. From there I added the hanger which I bought a craft store and added a charm with a bow. I wanted the bottom to have alittle flair so I added the earring charms and beads.

For my project I used a Humbly, Jenni Bowlin, & 7 gypsies.

I am so excited!! My "spicy little number" has been featured on Vintage Vignette . Cindy is also one very talented Lady so please stop by her blog and show her some love.

My "spicy little number" has gotten some very neat reactions. My favorites however have been from my brother Joe and my husband Justin. Joe wants a wall hanging of his own with the Pin-Ups of course :). And my husband did his normal, "that's pretty" thing when I showed it to him. Later though I asked him how he liked having Pin-Ups up on the wall of our craft room. He finally took a better look at my project and he ended up blushing and telling me I'm naughty. LOL! I love keeping him on his toes! Silly guy.

Etsy - My Creative Designs by Erin

So I'm going to be opening my own Esty store in the near future. You'll see some of my creations I've posted here as well as new ones. But for now I'd like share with you my favorite Etsy store.


Erin is one very awesome lady and super crafty. My Creative Designs is Erin's Etsy store, and she does altered scrabble tiles! She's even does custom orders. She did 3 for me and I even bought an extra one just for me!
The Eiffle Tower was for my MIL Lori, the Lamb was for my SIL Chloe and Elvis was for my Mom! Uh-huh! LOL. And the Birdie was for me. I love Blue.


So check her store from time to time, she always has something awesome and new. Oh and do check out her blog, Noodle & Bean (named after her girls' nick names), for she always has beautiful and creative work from LOs to cards.

Some of Erin's current store items:




You'll also find a link to her store on the side bar, under my favorite links.

Using up Scraps

I have a ton of scrap pieces of paper I can't just throw away, but they are starting to multiply like crazy so I'm on a mission to use as many scraps as possible for the new projects. I completed 4 cards with nothing but scraps and I love how they turned out.

This one is my card for Blog Challenge #4 using the #3-Card Sketch.


These were just from creativity:




Now for some AWESOME news! Mom being the sweetie that she is has donated 4 EK Sucess border punches for future RAKs!! Those are $15 each @ Michael's. Mom however is a savy shopper! She bought us each a set of 16+ border punches on Ebay for way less than you'd get even with all the punches at 40% off. How cool is that? We had 4 extra punches once our sets were put together. She was going to re-sell them on ebay since we have no use for them, but instead has given them to me to give out to a few of you lucky ladies. YAY! So be on the look out for RAKs with one included. Here they are:

The Scrappiest!

The Scrappiest is such an awesome blog. Liz, the host of the blog, posts a new sketch once a week on Mondays. She even gives away a great RAK once a month to one lucky lady. All you have to do is complete and submit one lo using one of the sketches during the month.

Here's my LO for Sketch #17:
This is my nephew Keith. He was just a baby in the picture. Keith is now a smart and funny little boy!

Here's sketch #17:

Use those hidden tools!

Kalena just hosted a challenge on one of the myspace groups I'm in and it was awesome! She gave us a sketch to use for a LO and the challenge of having us use a tool that has been forgotten in the back of the closet. You all know you have at least on forgotten tool!

Here's the Sketch:

Here's my LO:

In my case the hidden tool was a mini punch from Creative Memories. I love butterflies, but because punches are so tiny It's been hidden in a snapware box for months. But isn't cool? There is also a frog, flower and a fish punch on this cool tool.

I recommend you try to use one of those forgotten tools on your next projects! If you do let me know.
Leave a comment for this post with a link to a picture of your project and the forgotten tool or email at monteslori@hotmail.com. On the 30th I'll draw a name to receive a mini RAK.

SPCC - Color Combo #2

~Recipe has been added at the end of the post.

I love this week's Color Combo:

To be honest I was having a blank with what to do as a project. But I'm hosting a recipe swap on a myspace group and one of the recipes I'm doing is a chicken & pasta salad. The colors of the salad happen to be those of the color combo! How cool is that? So here's my 6x6 recipe lo.

Visit http://spcolorcombos.blogspot.com/ for the latest challenge!

This recipe is certainly a favorite in our house especially in the summer when it's nearly in the 100s out. It also the perfect recipe for any group gathering, baby showers, pot lucks and cook outs to name a few. I made it this week for a special reason. My husband's best friend J and J's girlfriend where down here for a brief but fun visit and I wanted to make sure we had plenty of food to feed our guests and still have left-overs. Helpful tips are at the end of the recipe. If you have questions let me know. I'll warn you now if you don't care for salads this is still very yummy and refeshing.

Zesty Chicken & Pasta Salad
Total Time 1 hour 30 mins
Servings - 12

Ingredients:
2Lbs Chicken Tenders
24oz Tri Colored Rotini Pasta
1/2 Cup Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
1 1/2 Cups Strawberries
2 Cups Grapes
1 Can Sliced Olives
2 Cans Mandarin Oranges
2 Large Apples
LARGE Bowl - 42 cup/10 liter
Directions:
Cook Pasta & Chicken separately. Spices can be added to chicken.
Normal cook time is between 45-60 minutes. Once Pasta is done, drain and rinse and put into large bowl. When chicken is cook through, chop into cubes or stripes. Add to large bowl with pasta. Let cool for 30 minutes.

Fixing the fruit:
Slice strawberries. Chop Apples into small cubes. Slice grapes in half for better handling. Drain mandarin oranges & sliced olives. All can be added to a smaller bowl while waiting for pasta and chicken to cool.

Putting it all together:
Once Pasta and Chicken is cooled add fruits to large bowl. Add dressing and stir to get a good coverage. Salad can be served immediately, or for best taste refrigerate overnight(recommended).

Tips:
You can add more dressing and fruits to taste. Just like a normal salad croutons being added is yummy. As an extra topping add your favorite shredded cheese .
Veggies can be a used instead. Broccoli, tomatoes, cucumber, celery, ect.
Pre- Cooked Chicken from the deli can also be used.

Blog Challenge #3 RAK Winner Announced

We had two very lovely ladies take on this challenge so it was a 50-50 chance for them to receive the main RAK. But the power of the coin toss has chosen:

Shawna!!!

Look at this piece of ART! It's beautiful!

Congrats Shawna! Please message me ASAP with what Altered Item you'd like.

And I felt Rissa's Fun LO needed some attention so here it is:

This certainly looks like a group that's fun to hang out with. Rissa be on the look out for something in the mail, too.

Ladies I regret to inform you there was a 3rd entry but dorky me must have deleted the email because I can't for the life of me find it any where. And what makes it worse is I can't remember who submitted it. I'm so sorry. I'll be extra careful from now on to keep the entries together.

Please make sure to check out the New Challenges!

Blog Challenge #4: June 16th - July 15th

Are you ready for challenges?

Challenges? Huh? I guessed you missed that in a recent post, no worries!

Here's the details:

Starting the June 16th (Today), I'll be posting 4 Challenges. 2 LO Challenges, 1 Card Challenge and 1 Altered Item Challenge. You are not being asked to do all challenges, though. For each Challenge you submit to me your name will be entered into a "raffle" for the monthly RAK. So if you do one challenge you will be entered once, do 4 then you'll be entered 4 times. This is just a way to Challenge you and give you the chance to try new techniques. If you have suggestions on RAKs or Challenges let me know and I'll be more than happy to try to incorporate them.

#1 - Layout Challenge
For this one just follow the sketch and make it your own at the same time.


#2 - Layout Challenge
Use at least 3 of the following items in a LO.
~Flower(s)
~Large Chipboard piece (Letter or Shape)
~3+ Buttons
~Cardstock Background
~Bling
~4+ Brads
~1 foot Ribbon
~Color Blue
~Fabric
~Paint
~Stamped Image
~Charm
~3+ Pattern Papers
~Butterfly
~2+ Photos

(If you combine LO Challenges 1 & 2 your name will be entered an extra time, so instead of 2 chance to win the RAK it'll be 3.)

#3 - Card Challenge
Follow the sketch and make it your own at the same time.
This sketch is from http://sketchesbytamara.blogspot.com/. The Blog is totally worth a looksie and a drool! There's fabulous work to be seen.


#4 - Altered Project
Most of us have boxes laying round the house that aren't pretty but be we keep them to hold our items and they're sturdy. Well now is the time to take that box you relay on and make it a show piece in your home. Even if it's just holding coupons or adhesives for your crafts, make it special. You can even get alittle crazy and make it something more, like storage for games for traveling or movie tickets. It's totally up to you and your imagination. Please be sure to take a before and after picture of your box and send both photos to me.

Submitting your work is easy, either post a comment here with the link or email me a photo @ craftasticlife@hotmail.com. Just make sure to put in the Subject Line "Blog Challenge #4" and the Title(s) of your projects. Challenge ends July 15, 2009.

Now for goodies!!
This months RAK is a Mini Album Kit I put together.

Items Included:
~ 1 Flower Chipboard Album
~ 1 8x8 Paper Pad Basic Grey - Gypsy
~ 1 Chatter Box Pink Border Rub-Ons
~ 1 Sheet 3D Butterfly Stickers
~ 1 Flower Stamp
~ 4 yds Ribbon
~ 1 Pink Making Memories Metal Frames
~ 1 Pkg Bling
~ 3 White Metal Tags
~ Silver Brads
~ 4 Paper Tags
~ 12 Misc Flowers
~ 12 Misc Buttons

*Depending on the amount of participation a 2nd RAK could be in the works, so make sure to tell your girl friends.

I can't wait to see what you all come up with. As usual I'll be playing along too and will hopefully manage to complete all four projects. Good Luck Ladies, and happy scrapping. If you have questions about techniques send me a message and I'll get back to asap.

SPCC - Scrapmaster’s Paradise Color Combos

I'm so excited. I'm trying out for DT for a new challenge blog: Scrapmaster’s Paradise Color Combos. Each week there will be a new color combo posted and you're asked to do a project using the color combo.

This week's color combo was:


So since my nephew's birthday was this weekend I made him a card using the colors. I used a sheet of "Oh, Baby! Boy" from Basic Grey and DCWV cardstock. I cut out the rocket and layered the pieces using Pop-Dots. I also used Versamark ink over the rocket and embossed it to make it stand out alittle more.


I'm betting this challenge site will take off it's awesome and very challenging.

Personal Layouts & Challenge Updates

First I'd like to share a few personal LOs I completed this week for our "honeymoon" album.

Chilling @ the Beach:

Documenting Justin's Sandcastle Process:

The First Page of Universal Studios. Meeting our favorite Characters, from Shrek, Donkey, The Penguins & Alex and even Dora and Diego.


Now for the Challenge information!

Starting the 16th I'll be posting 4 Challenges. 2 LO Challenges, 1 Card Challenge and 1 Altered Item Challenge. You are not being asked to do all challenges. For each Challenge you submit to me your name will be entered into a "raffle" for the monthly RAK. So if you do one challenge you will be entered once, do 4 then you'll be entered 4 times. This is just a way to Challenge you and give you the chance to try new techniques. If you have suggestions on RAKs or Challenges let me know and I'll be more than happy to try to incorporate them.

Meeting Mickey & Friends

I thought I'd share my latest 2 page lo! I used to single sketches to make this two pager. I call it a two pager because I used matching papers for both LOs. It's Justin and I meeting some of our favorite Characters at Disneyland and California Adventure. I'm kinda bummed we didn't meet more, but there was no way we were gonna stand in line forever when there was rides to go on :).




I hope you all are having a wonderful week.

Bottle Cap Magnet Tutorial

I love making these for gifts and for my own magnet boards.
Super fun, super easy and very cool!

Items needed:
1" Circle Punch
Bottle Caps
Ranger - Glossy Accents
Adhesive Rhine Stones
Magnets
Modge Podge
Foam Brush
Packaging to Paper Pad



I did the same thing for the Bottle Cap Bracelets in terms of the paper. My dad helped me set up the drill press to make holes on 2 sides of the bottle caps to attach jump rings.

Below are the completed Magnets:


Tips:
You can print out pictures at 1.25" squares and punch the circles from there.
The 1" circle fits on the top and in the inside of the bottle cap.
Add beads on when you do the Ranger Glaze.
Range Glaze can be found at JoAnn's in the stamp or glue section.

PLEASE resend your LOs of the Challenge #3

I feel horrible I know for sure Shawna sent her's and I have it but I know there was at least one other lady and I totally can't find it. I must have deleted the email and never saved the LO so pretty please resend it. I'm so sorry.

Blog Challenge #3 - Update!

Well first I'd like to share with you my take on the latest Blog challenge. It's my first page for our vacation album. I won't be doing it in order. LOL!

It's our afternoon at the beach.


Now for the goodies!
As you've read in the Original post for the Challenge #3 the random crafty lady that gets picked will be able to pick one of the the altered items listed. Along with that I mentioned she'll also be getting a few scrapping goodies.
Here they are:

Since summer is fast approaching I thought a few fun colors and travel stickers were in order.
Items include:
1 Sheet Autumn Leaves Alpha Rub-Ons
1 Sheet Chatter Box Olive Borders
1 Sheet Mod Design Bubble Sticker Alphas
1 Sheet Special Moments Travel Stickers
1 Large Faith Bingo Card
1 Fancy Pants Journal Stamp
1 Roll Ribbon from American Crafts Donated by Vicky (Thank you Vicky)
1 Post-It Pad
1 Mini Red Photo Book Key Chain

So far we have 2 enties in the challenge. I'll be posting them soon.