Two new ESTATE Collection by 3 Birds products are on HSN.com

More beautiful products are available from 3 Birds on HSN.COM, and are of course, already in my shopping bag lol.  I will patiently wait until next week to see what more they have in store for me.... or us!  The gorgeous stamps are recognizably coordinated with the beautiful papers from the Estate Collection paper packs and are, therefore, headed for my home asap.  More beautiful gems are also coming to join my stash of 5 other bling sets from 3 Birds!  Happy early Mother's Day to me.......

My 1st layout utilizing the NEW 3 BIRDS ESTATE COLLECTION TREASURED LAYOUTS V2

New ESTATE COLLECTION products from 3 Birds!

I spy with my little eyes....SEVERAL NEW ESTATE COLLECTION PRODUCTS ON HSN.COM!!!!! TWEET, TWEET, TWEET YOU'VE WARMED THIS LITTLE BIRDIE'S HEART!

My 1st layouts utilizing the NEW TREASURED LAYOUTS V2 by 3 BIRDS!

     At last!  It has literally taken me all afternoon, on and off, to get these to post!  It was worth it though.  I see my monitor jumping around again, so I may have to save this and come back to edit!

Alright, let's give this another try, shall we??????

     3 Birds Scrapbooking & Paper Crafting kits have been my fave for a couple of years now.  They are continuing to create wonderful kits at great prices!  Since they began the ESTATE COLLECTION series of kits, I can't get enough of them.  I have atleast 2 of each Estate Collection kit! 

     Even though I am not a cardmaker, I have purchased their cardmaking kits in order to utilize the awesome embellishments (many are 3D!) that are included, working them into my scrapbook pages.  I also utilize the cards themselves as journaling blocks (both hidden by using the entire card, or visible journaling blocks by cutting them down), or even as photo and embellishment mats.

     My most recent obsession has been in creating these pages as part of a LARGE gift project.  The pages above are part of my own album, which has grown to 5+" in depth!  The pages themselves are approximately 9x6.5",  CUT BY HAND (I have NEVER liked having to cut by hand, but I want these to fit the album shape and size) in order to fit the same-shaped album covers that I fell in love with (Teresa Collins).  I am making 2 more of this size, as gifts for my 2 nieces who are giving birth to the TWO, YES TWO grandnieces being born within 3 months of each other.  This is a big deal in our family, as we women are outnumbered 2 to 1 by the men!  I am ALSO making several more mini-copies of these albums for the grandmas, etc.  Those albums are also utilizing Teresa Collins album covers, but they are approximately 5.5" wide, allowing me to get 2 PAGES FROM ONE 12" PIECE OF CARDSTOCK/PATTERNED PAPER.  This has saved me a fair amount of money, but even so, I have spent well over $200 on this project so far.  I believe that I will be making 9 albums in all!

    I realize that I may be rambling on a bit in regards to this project, but it is important to me, and an UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY for me, since I am the mother of an 8 year old boy, and prior to having our own son, I created a lot of pages about and for my nephews.

      I have been trying to decide how to go about posting the creation of my pages.  I have hesitated videotaping their creation until I learn how to use the high speed play back ability, & am researching how to put still shots of the pages into a narrated video.  Ultimately, I believe that I will end up posting step-by-step still shots with typed info below each photo, thus allowing me to atleast get some of them posted.

      I am in awe of the amazing number of ultra-talented women (& men) who are creating such wonderful works of art.....yes, paper crafting is an art, as are most things we are capable of doing.....I literally "ooooh" and "aaahhh" over the beautiful, innovative creations that I accidentally find on a nearly daily basis.

     I know that my family appreciates the effort & time I spend on my hobby, and my hubby encourages me to find a way to earn some 'extra' income for my hard work.  I would LOVE that opportunity to 'fall into my lap' as they say, but in the meantime, I am sooo lucky to have had ACCIDENTALLY STUMBLED UPON SCRAPBOOKING while reading a general crafting magazine which I bought immediately after we were engaged.  It has literally been  A GODSEND, helping me through the loss of my job as a Fisheries Management Technician for the state of Michigan, and my continuing struggle with FIBROMYALGIA, as well as trying to be the best mother I can be for our son.

      On that note, I think I will once again try to endure the high humidity and heat of our home (we are dealing with an a/c problem tonight) and make another attemt at sleep. 

       GENTLE FIBRO HUGS TO ALL and goodnight from HUMID NW MICHIGAN!

3 new kits by 3 BIRDS arrived today! TWEET TWEET TWEET!!!

  I am very excited to get to play with 3, yes THREE, new kits by my fave, 3 BIRDS!!!   I already have plans to use many of the new shades of bling from the ESTATE COLLECTION JEWEL TONES PEARLESCENT GOODIE BOX on my many copies of the Gleason Girls baby albums that I am working on! 
  It has been a long time since I've had my hands on a new paper stack by 3 Birds as well, and several of the patterns & colors will also appear in the above mentioned project, plus there are tons that will work with the layouts for our ongoing annual family, 'dad and me', & 'mom and me' albums.  The bright colors & great patterns will appear on our summer layouts as well!
   Wesley is working on a smashbook summer project, as part of his 'kidding around 3' class via Big Picture Classes, & I already expect him to be asking to use some of the new papers to 'jazz up' his pages.  When I opened the package, he said "Look mom, a rainbow"!
   The 'pop-eze' predesigned pages are adorable & coordinate back to several of the papers & embellishments that I've been collecting from 3 Birds....lots of fun ahead for us!
    So why am I sitting here typing????  Let's go play with more 3 BIRDS goodies!!!!!!

Sharing my HSN Layout with one of its stars...

I made a copy of my first layout ever to appear on national television, during HSN's National Craft Month Finale, to one of its stars, Jessy Ann Stream.  I had Wesley give it to her, as he was the other star of the photo!  They were BOTH so excited.  We took advantage of the Stream family Easter gathering to share this with everyone.

Counting down to see MY LAYOUT(s) ON HSN AS PART OF THE NATIONAL CRAFT MONTH FINALE!!!!!!

  Just over 7 hours to go.....stalk, stalk, hope, hope,....Can't wait!  SO MANY THANKS TO CHASITY!

EXTRA Valentine's Day treats & Studio Update

  This year I received EXTRA Valentine's Day treats....a 3 Birds & HSN delivery!  This shipment contained the newest 3 Birds Estate Collection piece, their Estate Collection Doily Elegant Card Kit & Claudine Hellmuth's chipboard kit.  The doily card kit is GORGEOUS & I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE all the PURPLES & PINKS used in this kit, along with the 3 dimensional embellishments....they've even included TWINE!  I've been waiting to try this new medium....yey! 
     Claudine launched her first series of products on HSN recently, and of course, I HAD to try it!  The chipboard embellishments are contained within an adorable ICE CREAM TRUCK!  As I quickly sorted through the HUNDREDS of pieces in this kit, I quickly imagined several pages that I can create utilizing these adorable pieces.  In fact, I wish I had several of them to use on layouts I recently created.
     Both the permanent packaging & the shipping packaging of these two kits is AWESOME, some of the best I've seen in a long time!

          Now for my Scrap Studio update:  My new studio wall is becoming dusty lavender!  This is the first base coat with the second coat to be applied later this afternoon.  I hope to be able to stencil tomorrow.  I'll have to see if I'm happy with the colors first.  I didn't want to use too dark a shade since it's in the basement & I only have one window to supply any natural light.  That window isn't even on this side of the basement, so I dream of one day having a large fire-easement window installed, or maybe even two of them.
      Uh-oh...Michael just discovered that with some color on the wall, we can now see that the drywall seams need to be re-mudded.  The drywall is contoured along the edges & so he needs to make up for that.  I guess we should have gone with the non-rounded drywall.  Live & learn.  He thought that his seams were nice & smooth.  They were pretty smooth, but you couldn't see the wave in the wall before there was any color added.  Take 2.

3 BIRDS, DONNA STORK & HSN...GREAT DAY!!!! Plus, my new STUDIO WALL is up!!!

    A few days ago, I told you that 3 Birds' Donna Stork would be presenting their new ESTATE COLLECTION DOILY CARD KIT...I just HAD to reschedule my day to fit around the HSN SCRAPBOOKING PRESENTATION schedule haha!!!
    Also, I had mentioned that we were going to be drywalling my STUDIO WALL from nearly 2 years ago...."THERE BE WHALES".... NO, DRYWALL "HERE, CAPTAIN!"  That was an edited quote from my favorite movie EVER....Star Trek V, where they go back in time to retrieve/rescue 2 HUMPBACK WHALES to SAVE THE EARTH (my favorite mammal ever, which I had originally planned to study as they migrate between Hawaii & Australia, or California & Alaska each year)...sorry I'm rambling....back to MY SCRAPBOOKING STUDIO!
   After only a couple of hours, the wall was up, and in only a few minutes the following night, the very small corner wall was up!!!!!  This should NOT have taken us nearly 2 years to complete!  Anyway, after getting home from work tonight without my drywall compound, etc.....I asked Michael to make me a list of supplies needed, or him to pick them up tomorrow after work....he'll be bringing them home for me tomorrow (HOPEFULLY)....gee can you guess what I'LL BE DOING THIS WEEKEND!!!!

    Anyway, I have included a couple of pics....

SOOO far behind, but will work on doing better!

    I guess I'm like a lot of SAHMs.....trying to entertain Wesley all summer & ignoring several other things, both responsibilities (like laundry argh!) & play time for myself (scrapping & posting my projects).
    Here are the pages that I've created so far, as part of Wesley's Tball album.  This was the first year he has played any team sport, and being a scrapping mom, I literally have hundreds of pics.  It doesn't help that I love to catch the action shots of other kids as well!

  When 3 BIRDS launched the ESTATE COLLECTION, I knew I could use some of the yellow embellishments for his team album!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Victorian feel of this collection!!!!  Although I'm crazy for this style of design, even in my studio, I hoped to be able to incorporate some of the items based on their color.  I usually scrap by theme and color, therefore I also organize my products in this way.