lindaalbrecht

Dog Days of Summer post and Giveaway!

Wow... has it really been that long since I posted here...APRIL????  No idea where the time goes.  I promise that I have not been lazy and just sitting around doing nothing ;-)  It's been hot hot here again for the past couple of days.  I'm tired of air conditioning and closed windows.  Fall, where are you because these hot summer days are getting old?!?!


This little pumpkin has a small part in distracting me from blogland.

He is almost 6 months old already!  I can hardly stand how much fun he is and he amazes me every time I see him.


One with his mama...

You can see more photos on my Facebook wall...check out my albums for more of my photography sessions (another reason I've been so busyand time has slipped away on me!) 
https://www.facebook.com/linda.albrecht.7


There was the Summer CHA show too in July that kept me swamped with paper crafts.  Here are a couple of Maya Road projects from that time.



^^ There's my little distraction again! :-)

You can see more photos of the above project on the Maya Road Blog HERE.  Loved making this sparkly little project for their booth in Chicago. 


I also made a couple of projects for sale as kits.  You can go to The Scrappy Gourmet for this mini album information.

It's loaded with product... trims, patterned papers, buttons, giant patterned rhinestone accents, chipboard, epoxy and stickers all added to a wood Pink Paislee album.  Lots of fun.

Then there is a 3 page layout set that they named "Color me Pretty" over at Frost it Pink.  They are full of embellishments all layered up with product from Cosmo Cricket.


So summer is almost over... the days are seeming hot and long and I am ready for fall anytime with it's cooler days and nights.  School starts in one week here in my hometown and we always seem to have one last hot spell.  Always.  My youngest, Cort is in 9th grade this year....another sign that time keeps slipping away. Here's a couple of late spring photos...

 



Thanks so much for stopping by!  I know it's been too long to expect anyone to remember me and my blog so I want to have a GIVE AWAY to celebrate my first post in 3 months.  Who wants to win the completed album above that is for sale at The Scrappy Gourmet?  Yep, no photos, just the completed pages for you to fill up with your own memories.  Post a comment here for a chance, then tell your friends on your own blog or on your Facebook page and let me know for a 2nd chance! 

Love to all,
Linda

Wonder layout & the Shabby Apple Giveaway winner!!

Hello all!

It has been a crazy busy week for me but I wanted to pop in to share a new project and to announce the winner of the Shabby Apple $50 giftcard. 

My project was a bit of a challenge for me.  GlueArts teamed up with Tsukineko this week and I received some awesome stamp pads and their Goosebumps Texture Spray.  I am not the world's biggest stamper.  I love hand stamped projects but forget to use stamping to add uniquness to them.  My photos aren't the greatest of the stamped image because it was so dark here the day that I took them, but hopefully you can see how I used the product.



 
The stamped area is the tag to the right of that adorable photo of my new grandson and my beautiful daughter.  Oh, they are an amazing pair of people!  We are so happy and blessed.

The Goosebumps Texture Spray was used as a resist to the ink and the images are the butterflies and flowers.  I also stamped some images with ink first then layered the texture spray over it and added more ink.  The colors that I used were Pear Tart, Cantaloupe, Sweet Plum & Rhubarb Stalk in Tsukineko's Memento Dew Drop Inkpads.  I also stamped a few images directly onto paper to the right of the tag to make the stamping flow out from the tag onto the layout.



I layered some BasicGrey papers and a few odds and ends pieces like the old music paper.  I popped the tag up fromt he background with some Glue Arts Raisen's 3/8" Adhesive Squares.  (Remember, GlueArts always has great giveaways weekly on their blog posts HERE!)


The acrylic stamps are by Cherry Arte, Lawn Fawn & Hampton Art.  I can't do a project without the Maya Road trinket pins and miscellaneous buttons.  I love pins & buttons!



Okay... now on to the Shabby Apple giftcard........ the winner is............. Haley Grossman!!!!

Haley's comment:
ooh...i love shabby apple. and also love that its a gc and not a specific dress.
hgrossman at cableone dot net

Posted by: Haley Grossman | March 14, 2012 at 10:06 PM

I'll be getting in touch with Haley to get all of the information needed to get that gift out to you.  Congratulations and a huge Thank You to Shabby Apple for hosting this exciting gift on my humble little blog!  You are awesome!  Don't forget that you all can still gget a 10% discount at Shabby Apple for a few more weeks.... simplethings10off is the discount code.


To everyone else that commented hoping for a chance to win, please come back on Monday, March 27 for another chance to win a gift card from another wonderful company.  It is another fun one!

Goodbye for now and have a spectacular spring weekend.  Love to all!
Linda :-)

 

Shabby Apple Giveaway!!

Hello everyone!  I hope that you are having a super day.  It's beautiful here in MN... the sun is shining and it's 65 degrees.  Not long now until we some green popping up especially since it's not our first day in the 60's.

 So yesterday I mentioned that I would be back for another opportunity for my blog reader's to win something.  This time it's for a $50 gift card to Shabby Apple.  How fun!  If you have never been to bisit their site, they have some really beautiful clothes.  I love the swimwear!  They also have a fun vintage/retro looking apron collection.  So awesome!



Not only do you have the chance to win the $50 gift card, but they are also giving a 10% discount for all orders for an entire month.  This is the discount code... simplethings10off  Please leave a comment here for a chance to win the $50 gift card.  I will let you all know the winner when I find out.


Sharing a Maya Road design team blog project that I did recently.  I love love their chipboard and used lots of it on my layout.  See the blog post HERE for a list of Maya Road supplies.




I did  several different things to the chipboards including adding paper, painting, glittering and stitching.  There are so many thing that you can do with it and it's the versatility that I enjoy the most about it... that and the dimension that it adds to projects. 

The pink paper is BasiGrey and I added a little swatch of white gesso for some texture and the Maya Road white flourish for fun. 

Thanks for stopping by and remember to comment for a chance to win the Shabby Apple $50 gift card.  Will be back soon with something for Easter :-)

Linda

Glue Arts & Studio Calico

Hello!  Thanks for stopping in.  I have a new project made for the Glue Arts Blog that was sponsored by  Studio Calico.  It should be up on the blog with simple instructions on 1/26.
I call it the "Lovely Abode" pin cushion container.  It's made from a metal gift/storage can that you can find at a craft store.


Lots of fun product in their "Field Guide" kit... some BasicGrey paper and brads, Studio Calico papers and tag & some little Sassafras Lass chipboard butterflies.  


Of course I used some Crackle paint on the "windows" by Ranger-- Clear Rock Candy.  My obsession as of late! ;-)

Lots of hand embroidered accents and wool felt from "Sweet Emma Jeans" Etsy shop.  Check out her shop... and her adorable felt baby shoes.  My future grandchild will be getting some of those someday!

The pin cushion is topped off with a Vintage Raspberry Bead & some Maya Road Trinket pins, because every project should be embellished with a trinket pin or two.  ;-) :-)

Thanks Studio Calico for the fun product and Glue Arts for all of the adhesive that it takes to make a project like this!

Linda

Maya Road Sneak Peeks

CHA winter has almost started in Anaheim, CA so Maya Road is showing some of their wonderful new product over on their company blog HERE.  Such lovely things. 

I made the card above using new Frayed Edge Pleated trim in Faded Cherry *LOVE!!*, chipboard letters, scalloped chipboard frame, that pretty Gauze flower and green zipper.  The green color is new-- not the zipper product. 

The tag uses their new Vintage Metal Heart Tart Tin... just imagine the possiblilities!  I painted it red and sanded it a bit to distress it, then made a little pin cushion to fit inside it. The stamps used on the pin cushion are also a new item along with the pink measuring tape (the color is a bit off in the photo, but what a cool new item.)  The Vintage Findings Beaded Flower is not new, but isn't it just yummy?

This tag uses new Yellow Velvet Band ribbon, new Mini Organza Roses trim, scalloped chipboard frame and at the top some of their awesome new Twine Cording.  This twine is not floss-like as some twines out there...it has the real weight and feel of a twine cording that you might use to wrap a package with.  Very cool.

This is a mini made using their Soar Butterfly Chipboard Album.  It's filled with thoughts about butterflies and the colors of spring.  It can't be far away now, right?




Another new scalloped chipboard frame here and that sweet mini wood butterfly along with pieces of the Mini Organza Roses trim that I filled with a bit of sparkle.  I seriously love that trim because of the netting that is along the edges.  It makes for a really great texture on projects.


New clear stamp used on the chipboard butterfly... love this set.

If any of you would like some of those vintage images, email me and ask and I will send them off to you.


One last thing for now....


A blue jean pocket tag that is embellished with more of that Mini Organza Roses trim-- this time in pink, the measuring tape, and one of my favorite things from their new release-- Linen Burlap Trim.  I know that I can use that in sooooo many ways.  Here I embroidered on the trim to add some color.  It looks so great with all of the other textures on the tag.

I will be back within the next day or two with a few more things Maya Road-- hope to see you then.  Thanks for stopping by!

Linda

Monthly Inspirations

Hello!  Well, it's the new year and as usual there are thoughts to change something for the better.  Or at least work on lifestyle and spiritual improvements.  I had this in mind when I created a little "monthly inspirations" album that I made for the Glue Arts blog.

Daily inspirations are nice... I get some of those in my email and enjoy reading them, but this gives you a whole month of something to ponder and aspire for.  I'm not really good at finishing anything in one day, so this is a better option for me anyway.

I love the little Maya Road business card holder... it was a perfect base for my inspiration pages.  There are 6 chipboard pages-- just perfect for 12 months.  You flip through January to June then turn the base around to finish out the years pages.

The Glue Arts projects were sponsored by Simple Stories.  They have a really fun collection here called "Year-o-graphy".  I used a lot of their cardstock stickers and popped some of them up off the page with Glue Arts U-Cut-It foam.

Of course I used a bunch of Maya Road chipboard pieces, trinket pins& blossoms, and trims.

One of my favorite pages has Maya Road chipboard cars that are on a ric rac road.  I used some Glossy Accents by Ranger to add some depth and shine to the windows.  I used onasburg fabric and some wool felt as a base on some of the pages...and lots of stitches and sandpaper.

The quotes were printed onto a clear transparency sheet then some were backed with a bit of acrylic paint.  There also some Simple Stories color transparency tags layered here and there over patterned papers, fabric and felt.  I love transparencies... they can add so much detail.

Well that's it!  Just a fun little thing to make up and hang out on the desk.  Remember to check the Glue Arts blog daily.  They always give away prizes which include their adhesives and sponsored kits used in our projects.


The winner drawn from my last post is Trudi who commented December 21@ 12:50 pm.  Get in touch with me Trudi and I will send you the Snoball Scene with the polar bear.  Thanks for all that participated and commented.  You rock!

Until next time... when I'll have some new projects to show that I've created for CHA.  Oh oh... all that I can say right now is Maya Road, I love you!! ;-) 

Linda