Getting Crafty with my Craft Supplies

For the past few years, there have been misting products in the paper craft markets, but I never got into them.

At the Expo, my crop-mates were talking about their Heidi Swapp Color Shine purchases from Michaels.  That is when I thought--what am I missing?

The next day, I went over to Michaels to check and see if I could grab a Gold Lame version, but my Michaels was out.

So I hit the internet to see if I could make my own version of Gold misting with the Acrylic paints I had on hand.

I found different recipes and I thought I had the perfect one.

~cleaned out a bottle that had previously contained stamp cleaner from CTMH (I do not know this consultant, I just found the link to the spray bottle)

~added 1/4 of the bottle with water (I used purified water)

~added alcohol to make the bottle 1/2 full

~added Apple Barrel Pure Gold Acrylic Craft paint

It was kinda watery...the recipe I found used straight-from-the-tube acrylic paint.  I think Craft Acrylic paint has more water to it.  So I had to add paint up to the rim of the bottle.

I think if I were to try it again, I would first put the paint in, then only add a little alchol at a time until I like the consistancy and I would skip the water all together.

It might not be as misty as the ones from the store, but it works for me :)  I've used it a couple of times already and I like the effect. 

Above, I masked the paper with some letter stickers, sprayed the mist, then removed the stickers.

This one, I used some Heidi Swapp resistance paper (courtesy of Crafty Jossie). 

I am wanting to see if I can find some more small spray bottles at the dollar store and make some other colors soon.

Birthday Card

Last week, I finished this card for my Goddaughter (I had to wait to until I gave it to her to post this).

I used my newest stamps and die cuts from The Stamps of Life that I bought at the Scrapbook Expo.

It is a pretty basic card.  I used the Cupcake die and stamp, the "happy birthday" stamp from the princess stamp set, washi tape (from the Target set), and a kraft base card that I cut using a Cricut cartridge -Life's a Party.  The paper used for the cupcake is from some older Basic Grey collections-Lollipop Shoppe-Fruit Punch & Blush-Be Mine. 

This is the first time I tried heat embossing on Kraft paper.  I wouldn't recommend heat embossing Kraft paper...unless I was doing it wrong (which is entirely possible), because it smelled like it was just burning the paper.

Scrapbook Expo 2013

This past weekend, I headed up to Pleasanton to hangout with some scrapbookers at the Scrapbook Expo to shop and crop.

Jossie, Kristen, me (blah!), and Liz

(taken by Cameron/edited by me)

I've know Liz for about 9 years now--we've attended an Expo crop years ago together.  We met Jossie and Kristen via Instagram.  Crazy, right?  (well I did meet Liz via MySpace--way before Facebook was the thing to do--it wasn't a pick-up spot for me--I met my best scrapbook buddy there!)

The price of the crop included a goody bag...here was my choice--I love the brown/pink combo! (now if I will just use it :D )

We had a great time.  I carpooled up with Liz and her daughter Cameron and we left about 4:30 (we got there a bit before 8am).

Here are my shopping goodies:

At first, I really wasn't finding much.  I mean do I really need these brads I got (only $1 per packet, but still!)?  At the last booth (first time around), I found this Amy Tangerine stamp that I have been really wanting.  There weren't very many deals...well let me rephrase that...Unless, you wanted to stay at the same cramped booth digging through items, there weren't very many deals :D  Plus, I have a ton of stickers, letter stickers, paper, embellishments to last me a lifetime, so my head was telling me I don't need anything!

Then I took one last look at the Stamps of Life booth.  I have watched her 30 second cards {in 5 minutes} videos plenty of times and find her hilarious.  The first time I walked by it, it was crazy crowded, so I figured I would circle back at the end--what a mistake for my pocketbook!

First I just had the Cupcake stamps and matching dies.  Well if you spent $50, you got the cute bag...At $32, I was almost there right (ok, in my shopping mind I was!), so I got the Princess crown stamp set--ok, my Accountant calculator was turned off because that wasn't enough to reach my $50 goal--duh!  And for the record, I have no clue what I am going to do with those stamps...so cute, but I don't really have anyone that young to do crowns for...oh well, I will figure it out.  So I needed 1 more stamp set to get the free bag.  I really like this Dragonfly for some reason.  Well not only did I get my free bag ($60 later--blah!), I also got a free ink pad--I was in a hurry because I was holding up the line (well maybe not, but I felt like I was), so I just chose brown.

I have already used the ink--I love it!  I wish I would have gotten more of her inks.  The bag...I am regretting spending so much to get that thing.  It is super cute, but it is huge!  I mean you can't put anything heavy in it because then it would just be heavy and probably break, so I don't know what I will be doing with the bag--that I HAD to have :)  Oh well that was my only real purchase of the day and I haven't bought too much since the beginning of the year. 

Now I just need to use these stamps!

I also received this goodies bag from Liz!  She is so awesome :)  She is definitely the hostess with the mostest.

Oh...what did I work on at the crop?  Not too much...I had a blast getting know my new InstaFriends!  I probably chatted too much--ha ha ha.  I did finally get my Florida trip (from May 2012) SMASHbook completed with the photos and souvenirs, but I have to go back and journal it. 

Most of this book was already started...I only had to finish the last 4 or so pages and the front cover.

The rest of the time, I spent cutting out my 2x2 pictures of my crochet projects (I will share my prints from Persnickety Photos soon).  Yes, I have a paper cutter-- no it doesn't work well...so I manually had to cut them and it took forever.  I wish I would have done that at home so I could have started my book of crochet projects at the Expo crop.

I really hope to get together with this group of girls again soon!