Falling Down on the Job!

I know today is Friday and I promised you a look at my finished HodgePodge album...but that is not going to happen. I was not able to get my photos printed in time, so I'll have to show you next week. So I thought I'd take today to show you a few other beach themed projects I have made with MOSD products.

This first project is a clear 12x12 page that I turned into a calendar scrapbook layout. (Sorry for the distracting background!) I love working with clear 12x12 pages. They are really a lot of fun!

Next is a clear Step Album that I made into a "salute to CA" album. We have moved around a lot, and I am always afraid that we'll leave a location BEFORE I can see much of it. So, I made sure to see a lot of CA, from Lake Tahoe to San Diego!

This last album is something I made for CHA and is a larger version of the Tabbed Album. I turned the album on it's side and created a mini book for our trip to Myrtle Beach.

I hope you enjoyed looking at these beach-y things. I'll see you next week!

- Gloria

Ink Swatch

We have all seen paint chips in the hardware or home improvement store, and we've all seen fabric swatches and even cardstock swatches. The other day, I was in a stamping store (Stamping Details in Poway, CA) and they had some tags which they had turned into ink swatches! What a cool idea! I am forever forgetting which inks I have and which I don't, so I thought a swatch would be a cool thing to carry in my purse. However, it needs to be small and durable.

I had a Petite (key chain) album from MOSD in my stash and thought it would make a cool swatch book for my Tim Holtz Distress Inks. The album is 2x2 and comes with two clear covers and four chipboard pages. I used some scrap chipboard left over from another MOSD project to make some extra pages for my swatch book. The chipboard was easy to cut with my Fiskars trimmer and I rounded the corners with my Round-it-All tool.

I covered each page with white cardstock (from the scrap bag!) and then stamped an image with each ink color, then labeled the pages with a Zig pen. Easy peasy! I used some black Staz-On ink to decorate the little clear acrylic covers.

When I add more ink colors, I can just add more pages! And this is small enough to stick in my purse so that when I'm in a craft store I don't have to try to remember which ink I still need!

And aren't these Hero Arts stamps to die for?! I've had these ladies in my stash for a long time and they are just too fun for words!

I hope you have fun making your own swatch book! MOSD products are such fun to play with and the possibilities are endless!

Happy Easter to everyone! May the Lord bless each of you!

- Gloria

Easter is Just Around the Corner

I'm not sure how it happened, but it's April already, and Easter is just around the corner. I am not sure why, but it sneaks up on me faster and faster every year!

I've been working through my older photos, and am up to 2004. I found these photos from Easter, and had an idea to scrap them using a clear background page.

MOSD sells clear "cover sets" in various sizes, and 12x2 is one of the sizes you can order. I only had one in my stash, so I knew I had to get the page right the first time! (The reason I was a bit worried, is that I ruined a 6x6 cover the other day!)

This is the page I came up with.

I painted the edges of the clear 12x12 cover to make it stand out. Then I distressed some Rusty Pickle Chocolate Bunnies paper (found at the San Diego Expo last summer!) and added that to the clear cover. I simply used my ATG for adhesive. It sticks very well to the acrylic.

I found some blue Thickers in my stash to use for the title. I also found the basket in my button bin. Not sure who needs a huge basket button, but I had one! I snipped off the back and attached it to the page with a Glue Dot. I punched a few eggs with a small punch, and added a flower to jazz up the basket.

I hope you'll give clear pages a try!

- Gloria

Scrapbook Your Faith

I have spent the past three months as part of the Creative Challenge Team at Faith Sisters. For my last project I decided to use MOSD products. I thought maybe you would like to see what I made!

I used a 6x6 clear cover and a scallop circle, both from the Build-a-Book Perfectly Shaped program. (I love that you can do so much more than just make mini books with the MOSD shaped pages!)

I covered my shape with strips of paper, then trimmed around the shape with a craft knife. Once I had my shape decorated, I used my ATG to adhere it to the acrylic cover. To make a wall hanging, I used the Crop-a-Dile to punch holes into the acrylic and then set large eyelets into the corners.

My kids get the "bicker bug" sometimes, so this is a wonderful scripture to hang in our school room. It's a reminder for them (and for me) to use our helpful words and not "ugly" words.

I'd love to see how you used MOSD products to scrapbook about YOUR faith. Link your project here by leaving a comment and I'll come and see!

- Gloria

Altered Art Journal

A number of years ago, I took an altered art journal class. I've since lost the journal (or given it away), but I remember how much fun it was to make. I have wanted to make another one for a while now, and my Cuttlebug Challenge on Crop Stop this week got me working on some altered art, which got me thinking. I thought, why not use a MOSD Hip 2 Be Squared album and make another journal? And that's exactly what I did! Check it out!

I used two shades of green alcohol inks to color the front acrylic cover. Then I added my altered art piece to the cover. Each of the 6 Hip 2 Be Squared chipboard pages is a "chapter" heading. I then added 5-6 blank 6x6 sheets of heavy cardstock between each "chapter" for my journaling and artsy musings. I bound the whole thing with my Bind-it-All tool.

This is one of the chapter headings - Sketches. Each chapter heading has an altered tag art attached. This is the one I made for the Crop Stop Challenge see how I used the Cuttlebug Embossing Folder on the Grunge Board hinge?!

Here is another chapter tag. This time I stamped on the Grunge Board butterfly. Very cool, right? Below are a few more chapter headings.

Below are a few of the journal pages. Besides being a place to journal, these pages are for trying out different art techniques. It's a place to play and be creative.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my altered journal. Have a great weekend!

- Gloria

Simple Spring Decor

I decided to make another simple project from some MOSD goodies. I used a clear 6x6 cover from Build-a-Book 2 and the MOSD cover Stick-Ons to make this hanging. I jazzed it up with some rhinestones. I used some cardstock letters to spell out "Spring" across the bottom. Then, I used my Crop-a-Dile to punch holes in the top of the panel, then I attached some white eyelets and some ribbon. Simple, but cute!

This project was so hard to photograph, being clear and all. I tried hanging it on the fence, but I kept getting in the reflection! Then I tried putting against the (empty) pot, but got a lot of shadows.

Here it is hanging on our lemon tree! Which is starting to bud!

Thanks for looking.

- Gloria

Love is in the Air

Valentine's Week was not enough. I need Valentine's Month to show you all my "lovely" projects! Today I want to show you a mini album I made with the new Build a Book Phase II Perfectly Shaped pages. You can purchase just the type and number of pages you need! For this album I used three clear pages and five shaped pages. MOSD has 18 shapes to chose from!

I used a lot of NEW Valentine's paper for this project - from Little Yellow Bicycle and Basic Grey (plus some other odds and ends). Below you can see a view of all the shaped pages. Isn't it yummy?!

Can you tell that I just purchased the smooth and scallop heart Nestabilities dies from Spellbinders? Love those hearts!

You can see that I edged the clear pages with paint to make them stand out. What you can't see well from the photos is that I mixed two colors of acrylic paint with some clear Stickles! This makes for a nice sparkly page!

Thanks for looking! (And I apologize for the poor photo quality this time. I'd like to blame camera issues, but it's really operator error!)

- Gloria

What a Show Off!

In my effort to "use up my stash," I went digging in a bin of supplies that I call my "Hey, I could make something out of this!" bin. In the bin I found a journal kit (by Colorbok) that had the lofty price tag of 99 cents on it. It was given to me a year or so ago by a scrappy friend. The journal was roughly 5x8 inches in size, with acetate covers, and came with some ribbon and rings, and a few odds and ends.

I decided to use the clear covers from a MOSD Show Off Album (4x6 inches) to make this mini album. I cut the acetate covers to match the size of the Show Off album. (The clear acrylic Show Off album makes for a more substantial cover than the thin acetate.) I added the large flower and button, and some extra ribbon. And now I have this little book to keep by my computer in which to jot down notes and ideas. I can easily add more pages and more tabs as it fills up! I'd have to guess that this project cost well under $5 to put together!

What can YOU make from your stash and left-overs?! I'd love to see!

- Gloria

Vintage, Part 2

For those of you who did not get to see Vintage, Part 1, go and visit Friday's blog post. For those of you who are wondering what I am doing posting on a Saturday, never fear! I am not taking over the blog by force...I'm just filling in. We'll be back to our regular post schedule after CHA! And for those of you who have been waiting to see what I did with the other half of the Big Boy cover....here it is!



This vintage stamp is called "Picking Flowers with Mom" and is made by The Stamping Ground. The Happy Valentine's Day stamp is Close to My Heart. I cut the scalloped circle with a Nestabilities die, and then ran it through the Big Shot using the Cuttlebug Divine Swirl Embossing Folder. Then I rubbed some cranberry alcohol ink and some old paper distress ink over it, crumpled it up, and attached it to the project.

Hope you enjoyed my trek into Vintage! See you on Friday for my CHA Sneak Peek!

- Gloria

MOSD Goes Vintage

I have to confess that my scrappy roots are vintage. I started out in the paper craft arts (18 years ago) as a stamper - mostly a collage, vintage arts, found items sort of gal. I know! Shocking, right?! I still have a love for that sort of art, but I don't care for the vintage style for my scrapbooks. (Go figure!) So, that means, I don't get to play with all my vintage stuff very often. So, I thought that my project today would be a fun way to show how MOSD can "go vintage" and to also show you that side of my style.

I was looking at all my MOSD products and noticed I had one Big Boy clear cover. Well, what can you do with ONE cover? (And what happened to the other one?!) So, I cut the Big Boy in half and rounded the corners with the Zutter Round-it-All, and made this clear Valentine "card."

You can see that I inked the edges of the clear cover with brown Staz-On ink. I love how this turned out!

I stamped the vintage lady with a stamp called "Opening Night" from The Stampsmith. (Isn't she great?! She looks like an old photograph!) I used Tim Holtz distress ink (vintage photo) to stamp the lady, and then tore the edges and smudged on more distress ink (old paper). The other stamps - "be mine forever" and the postage stamp - are from Close to My Heart (Vintage Valentine).

Here are some close ups.

I made this paper flower following a technique I saw on Leah Fung's blog. Mine are not as nice as the one's on Leah's blog, but...oh well. I like mine anyway! I spayed the paper with some Gloria Mist (my version of Glimmer Mist).

The key is chipboard, which I sprayed with Gloria Mist also, and then sealed it with Modge Podge. After it was dry I ran the chipboard through my Big Shot, using the Divine Swirl embossing folder. The heart is chipboard that I painted with Tim Holtz distress crackle paint. That was also sealed with Modge Podge.

The word "Love" is chipboard that I inked with Lipstick Red Colorbox Chalk ink, then glazed with a thin layer of Modge Podge. I then ran the letters through the Big Shot with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder.

Now, I know you are asking yourself, "what about the other half of your ONE Big Boy cover, Gloria?" Well, I get to blog again TOMORROW, so you can see what I did with that half tomorrow!

- Gloria

Happy 2009!!!!!!!!!

Happiest of New Years to everyone! MOSD has some amazing things in store for you in the upcoming 2009 and I have no doubt that you're going to be ooohing and ahhhing over every bit of it! but that's all I can say :) Just keeping watching the blog in January and you're sure to see some fantastic sneak peeks of New CHA products closer to Winter CHA!

Have you made your new calendar for 2009 yet? If not or if you're thinking you'd like to make one for a gift here's an idea for you--Using the cool Digi templates from BW Scrapbooking for the big boy album, a freebie calendar brush that I picked up on the internet Created by Aisne Smith and also another freebie pattern paper created by "Designs by Angelica E." that I got off the internet, some ink, Technique Tuesday Ali Edwards Stamps, some ribbon,stickles and some copper paper from my stash :) If you're not into to digi, then you can always use one of the fantastic calendar stamps or print off small ones from the internet to have the same effect! You can go simple like I did and just use stamping and stickles or you can embellish each page heavily--it's up to you, you can totally customize it! On my version I went with all sepia photos, copper and neutral colors.

Here are a few of the pages--I'll get the whole calendar loaded into the MOSD Gallery in the next week so you can see all the pages if you'd like.

The True Meaning of Christmas

The girls at Faith Sisters had a 9-day challenge going on in October. You were to make a page about each of the Christmas symbols, based on a story they had posted. I finally got around to printing the story and making my project, using a MOSD album, of course!


I used a MOSD Cover to Cover Tabbed Album, which has two clear covers and six tabbed chipboard pages. I did have to trace two extra pages from some scrap chipboard in order to finish my album. But, I had some chipboard left over from an Expressions Build-a-Book project, so I was in good shape!

I painted the edges of my covers with Cranberry alcohol ink (Tim Holtz) and white acrylic paint (Tim Holtz paint dabber). The star is Cosmo Cricket naked chipboard that I sprayed with "Gloria Glimmer Mist." (To see a tutorial on how to make your own glimmer mist, go here.) I also used a red MOSD Twirly Gig Stick-On and cut some circles with my Spellbinders Nestabilities dies.

The rest of the book contains the printed story from Faith Sisters (I used the Ali's Handwriting font downloaded for free from the CK site). I used a lot of different papers again for this project. For each Christmas symbol, I tried to find an embellishment or a stock photo to match.

Here is the inside of the front cover.

And a close-up shot of page 1.

And here are the rest of the pages.

And the back cover. Do you love that Bo Bunny Christmas tag?! I stamped the Christmas phrase on it with cranberry ink.

And a top view:

I hope you enjoyed your Christmas Holiday (or other celebration) this past week. This is my last post for 2008, so I will see you again in 2009! Have a Happy and Blessed New Year!

- Gloria

(side note - the two photos I used in this project were downloaded from the Getty Images site.)