A Million Little Things

have an afternoon? create a mini album!

 I love mini albums.

Really.

I love them so much that I have a drawer full and a basket filled with them...UNTOUCHED!

So I guess I need a little motivation to actually fill the tons & tons of mini albums I have.  I mean, you never know when you might feel like creating one, right?  Well, that's how I work.  Spontaneous. So I have to make sure I have plenty of options right on hand. haha. :)

So today I want to share with you a simple mini album I created with scraps.  You got it.  Grab those scraps and random embellishments and you can put together your own mini album in just a few hours.  Sometimes I like to have no plan and just sit down and create with what I have.  That's how this album was put together.

I went to visit my happy friend Cheryl earlier this year and since I was just taking a carry-on bag, I didn't want to pack lots of scrap supplies even though I knew we'd be scrappin' at some point in time.  So I grabbed a few things, lots of photos, my favorite pen (american crafts slick writer) and headed north.  Cheryl so kindly allowed me to pilfer through her fabric scraps (one of my new favorite supplies!), random pieces of patterned paper and buttons.  and whaalaa...a simple, fast & easy project.

When I got home I grabbed one of my fave mini albums, the American Crafts 6x6 D-ring album, slipped my pages in and finally had my chicago trip from '07 in an album! :)

here's a glimpse into a few of the pages.

  

Another thing I'm hoarding for mini albums...the We R Memory Keepers patterned paper!  I love that they are 2-sided and one side is perfect for a 6x6 album...you get 4 different pages in one page of paper!

Check out a few I've listed here:

We R Merry Bright Patterned Paper -- Garland:

 

We R Merry Bright Patterned Paper -- Tinsel:
 
 We R Heart Attack Patterned Paper -- Adore:

 

We R Heart Attack Patterned Paper -- Flutter:

  

Links for New Products/Restocked Products

Hello

Lots of new added to the store this week.. finally a list of links of new and restocked items:

PRIMA

Restock -- ELine value Pearls/Crystals

Restock -- Homespun Elegance Combo Packs (bright & vintage)

Restock -- Prima Emma Dotted Flowers

Restock -- Camelot Roses

Restock -- Gosamer butterfly flower (sea green and fern)

Restock -- Holiday Lights Birds (silver, white, aqua)

Restock -- Prima Cream Laces

Restock -- Felt Stems in Green, Cream and Brown

Restock -- Babies Breath Iron ons

NEW-- Prima Raja Centers ( red, silver, silver/gold)

NEW -- Prima Sultan Centers (pink, fuchsia, clear, blue,black/white)

NEW -- Gallery Roses (rosy, rustic)

NEW -- Bloomin Retro Paper and Flowers, Mini ROses, Poinsettias, Holiday Sprays, Jewel Box Leaves

Bo Bunny

3 New Lines of Paper, Rubons, Flowers, Stamps, Brads

Crate Paper

Finally.. Stickers, chipboard and kits for 4 lines

CK Media

Scrapbook Play with Photos, 4x6 photos vol. 2

Kaiser Craft

Items from New Lines, Chrismas Carnival, Belle, Rewind and Pack Your Bags

Bella Blvd

2 New Lines Decemeber Details and Honey I'm Home

October Afternoon (restock and new items)

Sigh...things just keep trickling in piece by piece, I thought I was getting all of the remaining RP and FF items, but I suppose I was too eager to have things shipped and should have waitied a few days apparently as not everything was in stock.   This time I got restocks of all Report Card and Farm Fresh paper, word stickers, pads.  New are Report Card and Farm Fresh stamps, Label Stickers, and REport Card Shape stickers.  The rest of the report card and farm fresh items (wild cards, rubons, etc) should ship the end of this week, or as they told me yesterday.   Very Merry should ship in 1-2 weeks.  We'll all be patient :)

I am still expecting the Collage Press collections, New Ac items (which may have arrived today, I haven't opened the boxes yet!), Pink Paislee Collections, New Fancy Pants Items, New Jenni Bowlin Collections, LYB Valentine Line to name a few.  If you have specific questions please ask, those are the ones I remember at the moment.  I'm still trying to keep new and current stock regardless of the economic slowdown.  We're all doing our best :).  I've been asked also about Studio Calico's Home Front line, and yes I have intentions of bringing a small amount of this to AMLT, I'm still waiting for info on it from them, I've gone through their process for getting an account already.

Thank you everyone!

Jill

Colour Challenge

One minute Monday was late and this post will be a little bit early due to a trip to my husband's grandmother tomorrow.

This is the unexpected colour combination Elizabeth and I dug into:

These are our takes on the challenge. First Elizabeth:

Material used:

PP - WR Memory Keepers, Ki Memories, Basic Grey

Letter stickers - Basic Grey

Photo Corner - KI Memories

Die Cuts - SEI

Buttons - Basic Grey

Here's the layout I made:

We hope that you enjoy trying this fun colour combination! Good luck./Monica

One Minute Tuesday?

Aahhh yes..  see sometimes you get a total brain freeze about dates and realize it's Monday too late... so we'll just pretend like it was supposed to be a One Minute Tuesday all along, ok?

Take a minute now and think what the word REFRESH means to you.

A bubblebath? A glass of wine? A quiet moment? Or something completely different, like me...

The first thought for me was the F5 button on my keyboard. The one I hit several times a day to update my friends' Facebook feed...  Just to find out what they are up to  :)

Guest Designer Jackie Giering!

Edited to add another project!! Please scroll to the bottom for another fantastic idea!

Hello Everyone :)

I'm super duper excited to bring you this post brimming with guest designer goodness.    Today I'm going to introduce you to Jackie Giering who is one of many of my favorite ladies from the UK.   I swear I think I could have so much fun on a visit to the UK meeting up with these girls, all of them are just so nice and make me smile, I love the opportunity  the store has given me to "meet" so many people from so many different places around this big old world of ours. :)

First here are afew questions that I asked Jackie to get to know her a bit better:

Tell us a little bit about you..
 
Im Jackie, but most of my friends call me Jak.  Married to David for 27 years and we have 4 (nearly all grown up) children, plus 2 gorgeous grand babies.  We live in sunny Worcestershire in the UK.
 
Ive been scrapping since 2003, I also enjoy shopping for supplies (who doesnt!) reading and spending time with family and friends.
 
Im absolutely stoked to be Guest DT'ing for A million Little Things, as its my favourite US store, thanks for the opportunity Jill x
 
What inspires you the most?
 
Im a bit of a blog hopper, in fact I spend hours looking around different ones.  I look at one of my favourites then see a link for another and so it goes on. 
 
Hence how I came across Scrap Schemes (who I currently DT for)
 
I also love sketches, which are a good source of inspiration if youre ever stuck in a rut or havent scrapped for a while.

What are your favorite go to products? 

I love rub-ons and thickers!  Ok Im a rub-on addict if the truth be told (so my friends tell me anyway), I must have a pack for every occasion stashed away in my little filing cabinet.  Well a girl can never have too many *wink*

Do you have a blog you'd like to share on our blog?   You can check out my blog here: http://cestlevie23.blogspot.com/

For Jackie's Assignment I sent her some of theAbbey Road Goodies from MME to work with.  Now I know Abbey Road may seem like old news now that MME has 3 brand new lines out, (life stories, 2 new valentine lines) but I suppose  in the amount of time it takes to ship goods to the UK and give designer time to work onprojects that happens however irritating that may be.   The manufactures never seem to slow down do they?  I still LOVE these 4 groupings of product from MME, and I'm sure you will to especially after you see the fun things Jak ( as I've becomed accustomed to calling her.. hope that's ok Jak :) as created.  If you don't have some in your stashes, you should.  I think this will be one of the collections in my "keep" pile :)

So without further ado here are here projects, first is my favorite, this mini album is to die for!!  Using the Stomp Collection:

 
   
 

Fun layouts using Round and Round:

A Little Whirlybird and Lucky:

 

and I have one more little project to show.. Sorry we've had a hard time getting email to cooperate to get this one through :

Some little favors using sour cream containers:

 Thank you Jak for your inspiration!!

WIW Winners!

Hey everyone

I've just pulled some random #'s for the prizes from last week and I have some winners:

First Prize (crate seasons items)  goes to  Sharon Skinner who said:

I never win anything but i'll keep trying!!!! What is your favourite ever scrapbook line??? (I still don't mind if the chipboard needs extra glue !!!)

Looks like your luck changed today Sharon :)  I honestly have to say I get so overwhelemed with so much product that I couldn't ever pick just one favorite scrapbook line.  I'm always finding new favorites to slip in with older ones.  If I still scrapbooked regularly I could totally see myself being a mix and match kind of scrapper with a little of this from this company and a little of that from another.  My favorite style lately is surprisingly going back to a bit of "cutsey", though I prefer to give it the new term of "comic characters"  I am loving the little characters popping up here and there.  Think of the Sassafrass monsters and animals, Cosmo's little animals, etc.  I also love anything polka dotted, I have a love fettish for dots.!

Second Prize the BG Pad goes to  Leslee who said:

 Jill, thanks for another great giveaway. I hope Rebekah's dad is feeling better soon. Have a great weekend--TGIF!

Leslee in MT

Third Prize the Daisy Bucket Paper goes to  Lori Gentile who said:

Thank you for another awesome giveaway. I'm thinking of Rebekah's Dad and her family.

And the fourth Prize the Cosmo Paper Kit goes to Anet who said:

Thanks for all you do! These giveaways are fantastic. I'd love to win one.

So what a bummer that all the winning random #'s drawn have very few questions for me/ us to answer.  We'll have to come back and address some of those things soon.  Thanks for playing and come back later for a new Guest Designer!!

 

Sketch it!

Hi everyone! Kristina here! So excited to share a new sketch with you and some inspiration using the sketch! As you know we have a sketch challenge for you each month and everyone who creates a layout using the sketch is entered to win a fabulous prize from Jill! We want to thank everyone who continues to participate in this every month! We had a great showing last month and we hope that every month it continues to grow!

This month's sketch taken from the wonderful sketch site Inspired Blueprints is this:



Katie and I both took this sketch and created a layout inspired by it.

Here's my take on the sketch:


Here's Katie's take on the sketch:

We hope that you are once again inspired to take part in this Sketch It challenge! We love seeing what you create!
Jill will draw a winner from everyone who has submitted a layout using the sketch and that person will win an awesome prize from A Million Little Things! You can send us as many layouts as you'd like using the sketch, but there is just one entry into the prize drawing per person. You have two weeks to send us your layout inspired by the above sketch to:
challenge@amillionlittlethings.com.

We look forward to seeing what you create! Thanks for stopping by!

Do You Love Buttons?

I do!  I CRAVE them!  Everywhere I go I look for buttons.  Forunately, I have been to a couple of yard sales lately and found some jars of vintage buttons and I feel so LUCKY :)  When I am stuck on a layout and just feel like there is something that just hasn't quite come together, I normally can grab a button and some thread....drum roll...it is complete!

 
In this layout I used Buttons dotted around the boarder to add a little dimension.  I like to add this to bare spots and these are colorful buttons I have been saving up in a jar.  These buttons where used more as a "bullet" style to set off my journaling.  I think this makes your plain journaling cards pop off your page.   I used these buttons to add a bit of a frame around my picture.

If you like the look of buttons but do not like the bulk, there are lots of other options.  The layout above that says "GRIN" has Jenni Bowlin chipboard buttons.  They are thin and super cute.  Plus come in lots of colors and prints.  Now if those are still too thick for you, in this last layout, I used a couple of circle punches and punched out patterned paper then double layered them.  These easily could be used as a "button look".

Hope this post will inspire you to go to your closet and use some of those extra buttons that come with your clothes (you know the ones that you rarely use in the little plastic baggies!)
 
 
 
 

{Happy Fall Photos & Friday}

Burr....it's getting a little chilly outside!  Well this is the second time for me to type this post (must have forgotten to click the save button last time.)

My family loves the fall weather~we love visiting pumpkin patches, apple orchards and the Amish nearby making fresh sorghum.  The weather has been so rainy this season that we unfortunately haven't gotten to do our normal fall visits.  A couple of weeks ago just as some of the leaves began to fall, we visited our local walking trail to take some of these cute pictures: 

   

Please note I am NOT a PHOTOGRAPHER!  I just am a scrapper that loves taking pictures of her kiddos!  So I don't know anything about ISO's or any technical stuff :)  But I do know I love my kids in orange & green.  

When you are looking for great areas for fall photos think piles of leaves, raw wood, woodsy~the great outdoors.  My lighting seems best about 4 pm (CST) JUST before my sun is setting.

Also, think golds and greens, oranges and plums, navy or tan.  Have fun and go take some pictures.  Then go here and buy some of this yummy new product to use on your pages!
 
 
  
 

Win it Wednesday!

Hello Everyone :)

I'm here today to fill in for Rebekah.  She asked me if I could cover her post today because her Dad had open heart surgery earlier this week and understandably she's been at his side and hasn't been able to make a few finishing touches onwhat I am sure is a super duper spectacular mini-album knowing Rebekah!  Her dad is doing well, but if you would keep him in your prayers I'm sure that would mean alot to her.

So since I'm not crafty anymore and don't have much of my own inspiration to share I thought I would do what I do best, give some stuff away :)

I thought about what to give away and decided on something to celebrate my favorite season..fall.  Though lately it feels either like summer or winter around here, it can't make up its mind whether to be in the 40's or nearly 80's.   So up for grabs today are 4 prizes:

Seasons Paper collection andchipboard from Crate Paper (please note this is the last remaining set of the "YOu have to glue it extra chipboard"

Indian Summer 6x6 Pad:

Daisy Bucket Monsters on Parade Paper Pack:

Nutmeg Paper Kit:

Ok that's it.  To enter please leave me a comment, ask me or us (the dt) a question, etc... Enjoy, good luck.. :)