Gosh, I so stink at this blogging. I am trying but right now I have too many pots boiling over at once. I was doing great until hurrican Gustav decided to give the gulf coast a little visit. Labor day weekend I had my mom, dad and their bird, sister, BIL their 4 kids & dog, my MIL, FIL and their dog staying at our house. So throw in our family and our 3 dogs it was a bit tight. It was quite a visit. Mind you we live in a one story, 4 bedroom 2 bath house and one bedroom is DH’s office and one bedroom is my scraproom. So we had air beds all over and coolers lined up in the kitchen. It was crazy. Everyone left Tuesday and now are watching hurricane Ike. So Tuesday I washed and cleaned and Wednesday I was dragging and did absolutely nothing.

So this brings me to Thursday and Friday… well I am happy to say I will be teaching classes at one of Rollie Stillings events “Scrappin Away Vacations“  January 15-19. This will be her 5th anniversary and man does she have some fun things planned… make-n-takes, art auction for a charity, raffles and so much more. The event opens for registration Sept. 15th. She is only taking the first 175 reservations and then it is sold out. Rollie will post the classes Oct. 1st, which brings me back to Thursday and Friday… I have been working on creating a super cute class project for this event.

And how ironic… I got this award from Wendy Vecchi last week and then a few days ago from Celeste Smith. I guess they like my blog even though I am a bad blogger.

So here are the rules:

1. The winner puts the logo on their blog.
2. Then link the person you received the “I Love Your Blog” award from.
3. Nominate at 6 other blogs.
4. Then put links to those blogs on your blog.
5. Then leave a message on the blogs of the people you nominated.

So here are my nominations in no particular order.

Santa Claus: Because I still believe.

Sande Krieger: I love her style, she makes me want to try digi so badly and her photography is out of this world.

Linda Albrecht: Her attention to detail is incredible and her altered projects are too cute for words.

My Crafty Life: Neat tutorials and templates

Jenny at Everyday is a Holiday: Love her paintings and seeing all her vintage finds.

Caroline Lau: Always discovers some neat technique for sheers or chipboard.

Now I am off to finish up my class project and work on some tutorials for next week. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

I believe I have just about used up every last scrap of Webster Page’s on this weeks Faux Mosaic tutorials. This little pot now resides proudly in my scraproom holding pens, scissors and my favorite Fiskars Soft Grip Coastal craft knife. It combines punched and hand cut paper pieces and I gotta say, I like the effect combing the two gives to the pot. After the Faux Mosaic Glue dried I completely covered the pot using Collage Pauge Instant Decoupage Sparkles. This stuff is so cool and adds just the right amount of sparkle to the project. If you have not tried this you should… it is fun!

This project could be a sweet gift filled with a little something special for your neighbor, child’s teacher or co-worker.

Products Needed: Small Clay Pot, Webster Page’s, Tera Leigh’s Faux Mosaic Kit, Butterfly Punch, Square Scallop Punch, Collage Pauge Instant Decoupage Sparkle, Paint (inside of pot), Rhinestone Button, Maya Road Jewel Pins

If you try this technique please email me your finished project. I would love to show your creations on my blog. Next weeks technique will feature Maya Road sheers and Ranger Alcohol Inks. These two combinations are a perfect match.

My niece Madelyn started kindergarten this week so I thought I would make her a little name tag for her backpack. I used the same Faux Mosaic Technique for this project as I did for the Tag shown Monday. The only difference is I cut unique pieces of patterned paper (Webster’s Pages seriously love every single product) using scissors instead of a punch. This way you get the effect of broken glass or china.

The photo on the back of Madelyn’s tag is of her puppy Zeus. They both miss each other quite a bit while she is away at school.

To recreate this tag you will need Webster’s Pages patterned papers, Tera Leigh’s Faux Mosaic Kit, 1 page from a Maya Road Butterfly Coaster, Maya Road Jonathan Alphabet Rubons, approx 15  small Rhinestones and enough White Seam Binding to tie a bow.

I say we because the first day of school is just as hard for us parents as it is for the kids. It seems that my BIL Kelly survived Madelyn’s first day of school. He took half the day off to go with Belinda and Madelyn on her first day of kindergarten. Madelyn had a blast and eagerly got up ready to go again today.

Merci, Erin and Ansley had a great first day of High School… I’m not sure who’s stomach hurt more… mine or theirs. I tell you watching those three get out of the car and head into that great big school just about brought me to tears. I cannot believe Ansley is a freshman this year. She and her friends had a wonderful day. Yes… great big sigh of relief for me. All I could worry about was her getting lost, not remembering where her locker was etc… you know all those typical mom you need to cut the cord kinda thoughts.

(sorry for the not so great photo but I was doing good to get this one)

And here is Amanda’s last first day of high school photo “as said per my sister”. Man I can’t believe my first sweet, adorable little niece is a Senior and a varsity cheerleader too! Yes I live in Texas, cheerleading is a big thing here. Not sure why but it is. Anyway she wanted it.. worked her tail end off to get it and I am so dang proud of her for achieving her goal!

I am working on a sweet little project for tomorrow using the faux mosaic technique. So stay tuned… it’s a fun one.

I’m going to try something new with my blog. Each week I am going to try my best to feature a fun and easy technique for you all to try. This week is going to be all about creating faux mosaics using patterned paper. This is a very simple technique that can be used on any project and with any theme.

To recreate this tag you will need: 1 Medium sized Office Tag, a 1″ square scallop punch by Martha Stewart, patterned papers by Webster Page’s and Tera Leigh’s Faux Mosaic Kit by Ranger, 1 Flower and some ribbon.

Instructions:

• Using a paint brush cover your project with Faux Mosaic Grout; let dry.
• Using a paint brush cover entire tag with Faux Mosaic Glue; let dry.
• Punch enough scallop squares to cover entire tag and arrange onto tag making sure to apply Faux Mosaic Glue to the back of each scallop square; let dry.
• Using a paint brush cover entire altered tag with Mosaic Glue; let dry.
• Using a paint brush cover each scallop square with Faux Mosaic Tile Glaze; let dry.

I hope you give this technique a try. I think any project using this technique will certainly be a cherished gift by it’s recipient.

Have fun!