Chichi Labamba

Flowery Altered Jeans

I have very few jeans.  I am not a jeans person.  My legs need room to breathe.   Shorts, skirts and dresses are my preferred bottoms.  Jeans, not so much.  One day I was doing laundry and my washer decided to take a chunk out of one of my jeans.  The missing fabric used to be located on the seat.  How was I going to save the jeans?  I don't like jeans and I don't want to buy another pair to replace pants I don't really like in the first place. 

At first I thought I'd just match my panties to my top, NOT.  I'm 46 so I would not be able to pull the look off (note to "Real Housewives" everywhere: you can't either).  Maybe if I wore boxers underneath, a streatchy cap and Vans I could pull it off....if I was a 15 year-old boy.

I hand-stitched the fabric back together.  It left a scar like the ones found on OC Housewives' boobs.  To cover the scar on my jeans, I got crafty and cut out some flowers from some washed wool, grabbed some wool roving and created this instead:

I continued the design on the front of the jeans on the opposite bottom leg.

 
Here's a close up of the same leg.

I chose the colors based on actual tops I have.  I'm going to debut the jeans on Easter at my mom's.  Helpful hint when working with wool roving and jeans:  be careful not to work around the back-pocket seams.  The fabric around the back pockets is so thick, it broke my needle.  And needles for wool roving are not easy to find.

I like how they turned out all Springy and Wool-y-ish.  Hopefully they'll survive their first washing too.  I really, REALLY don't want to replace them.

 

 

Happy Valentines Day

It's Valentine's day.  It just snuck up on me like an insecure thought does to Sammi on the Jersey Shore.   I spent the morning getting ready for my Valentines, all three of them.

First up:  Candy for the boys.

 
This was super easy to make.  I used the Cricut Cartridge "Tie the Knot" and some Fancy Pants paper.  It's filled with pink and red Hershey's Kisses.

Randy's is a little more grown up version.

 
That DCWV paper is hard to photograph due to the foil.  Does it look too "Hustler-ish"?  I hope so not.

To kill two birds with one stone, I made the centerpiece for dinner tonight out of cupcake holders. 

 
The boxes were made out of GCD Studio's paper and the Cricut "Sweet Treats" cart.  To get the big ol' cupcakes to fit, I hit the "fit to page" button to get them as big as possible.  The hearts are cut out of Cosmo Cricut paper with the "Love Struck" cartridge.  And the paper doilie on the cake stand is cut out with the "Lacey Labels" cartridge from Cricut.   I figured I'd snap the picture now before I put the cupcakes in.  I cannot be counted on to remember to snap a photo while in the moment, if the moment involves cupcakes.

On a scrappy note, I challenged myself to make 365 layouts this year.  Today is the 45th day of the year, and I have 42 layouts done.  Not too bad, but not where I want to be.  I plan on doing a lot of scrapping on Friday to not only catch up, but get ahead on my layout count.

I'd love to stay and chat, but I have cupcakes to make and steaks to pick up.  Whatever you do today, have fun, eat chocolate and be grateful you're not on "Cheaters".

Reset

Happy New Year!

It's the "oneth" of the month, and the start of a new year.  It's time to reset the tally that keeps track of my crafty-ness back to zero.   Making myself accountable for my crafty production by putting it "out there" has really helped my numbers.  Here's a summary:

Altered Projects - 20

Cards - 23

Crops & Events - 14

Hooked Projects - 0

Layouts - 177

Mini Albums - 4

Quilted/Sewn Projects - 3

Tutorials - 1

I would have more layouts done, but I'm still working on my Simple 365 layouts to get that project put to bed.  That's ok because I'll just count those pages towards this years' goal:

365 Layouts!

The way to get this done is to plan, plan, plan.  I'm going to get the pictures, lay them out with matching paper, caculate how many photos will go in an album, plan embellies and just go for it!

I'm also going to plan on scrapping with others at least once a month, because it's just so fun to hang with ladies who can drink and laugh while being creative!  I just need to make sure there's no more layouts like these.

Cheers!

Yes Chichi, There Is A Santa Clause

I know that it's Christmas time because it's December Tim Holtz does his 12 Tags of Christmas.  I squealed with glee (the emotion, not the TV show).

 

Love 'ya Becky and Sue!

And as a faithful Tim Holtz fan, I always leave comments after each tag is shown in the hopes of getting some Tim Holtz goodies in my Christmas stocking.  This plate is also near my Christmas stocking:

 
And on Day 10, it happened!  I was chosen to win a prize!  What is it you ask?  I have no idea, but I'll be grateful for whatever it is (have you seen the plate yet?).

In what has been a difficult week for a lot of my family, it's nice to see a rainbow at the end of it.  A crafty, painted, glittered rainbow.

Thanks Tim!

Boom! Done! Next?

I'm looking for little victories wherever I can find them.  A good parking space, the boys doing something without being asked, sunshine....

And I have a couple of little victories I made happen.  I am now current on the boys' school albums.  It's so nice to be current that it makes me want to keep going.

 
 
 
I used all of the usual suspects to create these pages:  Thickers, Stickles, Basic Grey, Distress Inks and bazzill borders and chipboard.

Now if I could only create a job with my stash of stuff....

Like I said, lookin' for the little victories wherever I can find them.

 

Amazing

This is a happy page.  Not because of the way it looks, but because it represents a huge change in Trevor's education.  He went to a different school where he was able to get into the grove of things much better than at his two previous schools.  The change was....amazing.

 
Papers and (altered) embelishments by Basic Grey and We R Memory Keepers.   Title by We R Memorey Keepers.  Arrows by Tim Holtz (covered in Distress Inks and Distress Stickles).  Words by Sticko.  Altered journaling card by Anna Griffin.  Paper chain by bazzill.  Sound by THX.  Animation by Pixar.  Parade by Macy's.

Just kidding, animation by Disney.

And of course a special "thank you" to the staff of Eastlake Middle School.  You are amazing too!

As Fast As I Can

I am getting something done!  I am now current on both of the boys school albums and my picture-a-year album of Randy (a.k.a The Randito Bandito) and I.

Here's a sampling of the pages I've finished with more on the way.

 

 

 

The 6th grade camp page will have a matching mini album for the rest of the pictures.  Why?  Because I said so.

I want to keep scrapping because I like actually getting something done that STAYS done!  I clean the kitchen, wash clothes, prepare meals and it all ends up getting messy, dirty or consumed.  I'm going to finish decorating for Christmas and "do" my Christmas cards so I can get back to scrapping.

I just realized that with all of this talk of "getting it done", I sound like Larry the Cable guy.   Uh, ick.

In A Galaxy Far, Far Away....

Since 2008 was the worst year on record for me, I thought it was only fitting to choose a photo that was out of this world.  A little known fact about the Randito Bandito:  he doesn't like to wear costumes.  Considering he has worn some of the most outrageous costumes ever put on a man (pregnant nun, Roxy Heart), I think his talent for being a comedian trumps any aprehension he has dressing up for Halloween.

And he is such a good sport.

We dressed as Han Solo and Princess Leia complete with honey buns and toy guns from the 80s (some families pass down knowledge and wisdom, we pass down Star Wars guns to the next generation).

 
Paper by Creative Imaginations,  numbers by Thickers.  I love using elaborate paper because it makes scrapping pretty easy.

Randy loved the honey buns so much, he said I should get my driver's license with them.  I almost did, until I thought about getting hired at my next job and having to show my license.

Eeek!  I can explain....

 

Simply Divine

For our family photo shoot in 2005, we decided to get a little rock 'n roll-y.  Our good friend and fabulous photographer Elsa Flores took some amazing photos.  I chose this one to be our together shot for 2005.  It's a silly-fun photo.  It is also one of my top five favorite layouts that I've created.

 
Paper and stickers by Creative Imaginations.  Butterflies in Grunge Board by Tim Holtz.    Glitter by Martha Stewart.  Lace paper by GCD Studios and altered with Copic Markers.  Frame by Graphic 45 and inks and Stickles by Tim Holtz for Ranger.

I guess if you would compare us to a rock band, we'd be "Heart".  Randy would be the skinny blonde and I'd be the chunky brunette!

 
I'm just saying.  (Photo from Parade.com)

 

 

Rock Out!

To celebrate Father's Day 2004, we went to the Journey Concert at the fairgrounds after spending the day with the boys.  Considering the Randito Bandito spent Father's Day 2003 on a military base in Virginia away from the family, that's a pretty cool way to spend it.  Rockin' out to twenty year-old songs is awesome!  I love photo booths and I'm lucky to have a collection of photos of us in them over the years.  We even have the boys in some of them (until they got too big to squeeze in the booth with us).

I channeled my inner Tim Holtz and went to town on this layout with his products.

 
Paper by Basic Grey (except for paisley).  Title by We R Memory Keepers.  Journaling cards by 7 Gypsies.  All embellishments are on grunge board and accented with Distress Inks, Distress Stickles and regular Stickles by Tim Holtz for Ranger.

Creativitiy provided by yours truly.

Speaking of truly, did you know the latest baby on Sister Wives is named Truly Scrumptious?  Yes, just like the character from the movie Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang.

Why?