On My Craft Table Now

     I have been wanting to make my own Smash album ever since they came out, so I finally put one together! I used random papers for the pages- a large playing card, a paper sack, a Bingo card, a paint chip, sheet music, envelopes, and several pieces of scrapbook paper. It is done in a similar style to this book I made for my cousin's baby. Here's a peek at it.

I used an old book for the cover- I just cut the front and back covers right off the spine. I bound it with simple office rings so I can add more pages or change the order of the pages.

To add a little visual interest to the red paper to the left, I cut part of a heart out of an old dictionary page.

This smaller page on the right is the back of an old Bingo card. I put the front of the Bingo card facing to the back, otherwise it would get covered up with a photo. 

The map above is actually covering the back of a paint chip. I love the look of the different size pages.

Here is another album I whipped up. My friend asked me for a "Date Night" themed album, and I was excited to make one for her. This cover is a print of a Monet painting. I had gotten a pack of prints in the mail- some company mailed them out trying to get me to buy a print of the month. I didn't buy anything from them, but I kept the  4 or 5 samples they sent thinking they'd make great covers for a scrapbook! 

The back of the print had information about the artist and the painting itself. I just used scrapbook paper to cover all the print. 

The page to the right is a piece of sheet music folded up then sewed along the edges to make a pocket page. 

The final page is an envelope folded in half with lots of room to store mementos. 

      Thank you so much for checking them out!

This post is linked to  Show It Off Mondays, Happy Hour Projects and

Thrifty Thursday #10

     I made my thrift store rounds this week and made a few purchases- I spent less than $4 which left me enough money to get a Sonic drink!

The best purchase of the day was these brand new- with the Hobby Lobby price tag still on them- skeins of yarn for .50 each. 

I fell in love with this old platter. It was only $1 because there's a tiny chip on the edge. I think it will look beautiful hanging on the soffit in my kitchen

I picked up 2 more tiny China plates for .50 each. I never pass them up at that price.

     I truly love treasure hunting at thrift stores. Thank you for coming by to see what I dug up!
This post is linked to Happy Hour Projects, Apron Thrift Girl , and

Layout of the Week #6- Using Doilies to Scrapbook

Hello! This week, we'll be using doilies in our scrapbooking. I really enjoyed coming up with these 2 examples. The one that we'll feature in our tutorial should be able to be completed in less than 30 minutes.

Gather your supplies:
1 piece of 12" x 12" pattern paper- I chose this striped piece by 7 Gypsies
2 smaller pieces of pattern paper- 1 of mine is black w/tiny white dots and one is a piece of sheet music
1-2 sets of letter stickers
a doily- mine is 8 inches
1-2 photos
adhesive

First you'll want to adhere your doily about 1" from the left edge and 1/2" from the top. I inked the edges of mine. Then adhere the small strip of pattern paper- mine is 4"x8".

Now add your photos. 

Next, add your title. Mine says "Sexton favorites." I used 2 different size letter stickers and placed them slightly overlapping the photos.

The next step is how I made the large photo corner. I cut my scrap of sheet music into a 3" square. Then I cut it in half diagonally. You could stop there with 2 large photo corners or you could take one and use a border punch along the edge that will overlap the photo. Such a quick and easy way to customize photo corners to match your layouts!

Place the photo corner at the top right corner of the small piece of pattern paper.
Then print and adhere your journaling directly below the photo. Stop here if you want to keep your layout simple.

If you'd like to take it up a notch, you could back your journaling with a piece of coordinating cardstock and add an embellishment cluster at the bottom left of the journaling and on the edge of the large photo corner. 

Here's a second example: I started with a transparency that has the bathroom male/female figures on it. (For some reason, I just love these figures!) I trimmed 1 1/2" off the side because I wanted to add lace to the edge. Then I made a border out of a paper sack, inked it and adhered it. I placed a doily on the front bottom corner and placed 2 behind the transparency (they're hard to see in the photo- one is in the upper right corner behind the paper strips and the other is along the left edge in the middle). Then I printed journaling on notebook paper and attached it with masking tape. This is titled "Home is in your arms."

     Thanks so much for swinging by!

     This post is linked to Happy Hour Projects , Eclectically Vintage and

Recipe of the Week #10- Tater Tot Casserole

This week's recipe is an old family favorite.
Tater Tot Casserole
2 lbs hamburger
1 med onion, diced
1 can Veg All
1 can Cheddar Cheese soup
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 can Cream of Celery soup
juice from Veg All
1 med pkg tater tots

Brown hamburger and onion. Mix hamburger, soups, and juice from Veg All (you can determine how much you want to add by how thick you want your filling). Spread in pan. Top with tater tots.
Bake at 350 for 55 min or til tater tots are brown and filling is bubbling.

This is another great "cold weather" recipe. Unfortunately, we don't have too much cold weather in this part of Texas, so we don't have this nearly as often as we'd like.

This post is linked to 

Revamped Pew

     Our church recently got new pews, so I was blessed with one of the outgoing pews.

This is what it looked like before. For some reason the photo has a yellow cast to it, but the pew did have brownish padding. I removed this material, cleaned the foam beneath it, and reupholstered it.

This is what it looks like now. I think this fabric is so happy! I love it in my green kitchen!

Right now, we have a round table, but we hope to get a rectangle one. I'd really like an old farmhouse table.

Thanks for taking a look!

This post is linked to Keeping It Simple, Happy Hour Projects and