'Twas The Night Before Christmas, the Buddies version

Once upon a time, in a far away cyber land of cricuts, a few crafters met in a Babbling Buddies chat thread and became good friends. 

Last year to celebrate those friends and fun times I revised The Night Before Christmas poem with some personal touches just for my buddies.  I also created this mini album from paper towel tubes (just couldn't get past the ick part of using toilet paper tubes, lol!) and sent it to my buddie Deb in our first GIBBS swap.  I painted the tubes, then used Creative Memories papers, added a K&Co sleigh sticker on the cover, some stamped and stickled embellishments, and a tag in each 'pocket' with the poem.  Here are the words:

'Twas the night before Christmas
and all through the house
no buddies were crafting
they were clicking their mouse


Chatting on-line
with friends far and near
who they met on the message board
earlier that year


Each night they’d meet up
in the same babbling thread
sharing stories and laughing
until time for bed


They’d talk about families,
swaps, pets and food,
eat oreos and vent
to cheer up their mood


The buddies were nestled
all snug in their chairs
with hopes of a day
lotto winnings they'd share


And visions of a turtle
who walks down the street
holding onto a ticket
that will allow them to meet


Then what to their wondering
eyes should appear
but a post typed in caps
“COUPON SALE, click HERE!”


More rapid than eagles
buddies clicked on that link
then ran to their cars
before you could blink


To the LSS
the courses they flew
with a purse full of cash
and credit cards too


Still dressed in their jammies
from their head to their toes
(but when shopping a craft sale
anything goes)


Their eyes, how they twinkled
their smiles, how wide
the thought of a sale
made them giddy inside


They spoke not a word
but went straight to the store
filled their baskets with papers,
stamps, inks and more


They chose things they needed,
some things they did not
didn't matter too much
’twas a sale, so they bought


Then off to check out
with their coupons so treasured,
and review their receipts
proud savings measured


They sprang to their homes
logged back on their pc's
posted pics of their finds
for their buddies to see


Then they hid their new stash
tucked well out of sight
and signed off with "Merry Christmas"
“Sweet Dreams” and “G’nite”

 

I still laugh reading my version and remembering all the goofy stuff we talked about.  (The reference to the turtle was always good for some hearty laughing - the kind that made you either snort or spit your soda on the keyboard if you weren't ready, lol!)

And I still smile, remembering each of the friendships I've made.  My cricut days are long gone but my buddies are still as close as my laptop. 

I love ya buddies!  {{hugs}} to you all!!


Thanks for visiting!

Last of the GIBBS3 items

The final item for Tammy's box is again a stretch of the inspirational phrase which was Share and Share Alike. 

One night while skyping, I was talking about how my husband got tickets to a NASCAR race and that I've never been to one before.  Tammy mentioned that her sons really liked NASCAR but had never been to a race either because they don't have any close enough to go to.  Since I already planned on taking bunches of pics for my scrapbook I figured I'd share some of them with her boys and do a little mini album and include pics of their favorite drivers.

I used a star album design pattern that a friend recently gave me and it was so much fun.  Not sure the boys will get much use of that but I also sent along the program book to share with them which I'm sure will be fun for them to look through.

Thanks for visiting!
 

Wings Mini Album

When the GIBBS3 swap started I knew I wanted to make a mini album and I knew I wanted to make it for Tammy's daughter who graduated high school this spring.  I decided to fit it into the item with the inspirational phrase Put Your Big Girl Panties On.  It's a big stretch I know, but my thought track was that now that Tammy's daughter has graduated and turned 18, it is time for her to "put on her big girl panties" and face the real world.  I thought that a mini album filled with family pictures would be a perfect thing to take along.  If Tammy has already done something like this for her then she could use the album for another theme since I didn't personalize it.

I love this paper pack by K&Co - it's by Susan Winget and is probably my favorite of all the collections so far.  The colors are just beautiful and the prints are tone on tone so they work great as a background when you don't want something too busy but you want just a little something.

I intended on using my Silhouette to cut fancy mats and flourishes and flowers, but we had a three night stretch of thunderstorms when I was working on this so I went back to 'old school tools' and used my distressing tool from CTMH (I love this so much that I've almost worn it out from use and it's only 3 months old!!) and I added some pretty flowers that I recently picked up from Michael's.

The cover is my favorite part of the album.  I was able to finally use my Silhouette the last night and cut out the doily background - ohgosh how I love that machine when I am able to make a cut like this!!  I pleated and stitched the lace border and then glued a strand of pearls and added some flowers and brads.  I cut out a butterfly from one of the sheets and layered it with some dimensional tape and crackled the top layer, then I added a twisted wire to create the antennae and used some rhinestones for the body.  The charm on the spine was also a clearance find at Michael's and it opens up like a locket to hold a tiny picture or note.

The album itself was a tag sale find and it is my first layered fancy edge book that I've done.  I used spray glue to cover the pages with paper and then used my craft knife to roughly cut the holes and shaped edges.  A sanding block did the rest of the detail trimming and I liked how it revealed the white core of the paper and the pages so I decided to leave it as it was instead of inking like I normally do.

This is indeed my favorite item of the swap, for both the appearance and the underlying meaning.  Having an almost 19 year old myself, I understand how hard it is to let go when they become old enough to fly away.  Like butterflies returning to the flowers...  giving wings to your children with the reassurance that their family is always there for them is really the best you can hope to accomplish. 

Thanks for visiting!

 

Coffee Collar Mini Album

Another GIBBS2 creation - our task at hand was to create a mini album using coffee collar sleeves, and I was amazed how cute these things could be.  Some folks cut the sleeve open and use it like a cover, others seal them flat and use them as pages while others seal only the bottoms to make pockets in each page which is what I chose to try. 

I used the theme Live, Love, Laugh and added Dream.  Papers are from the big K&Co 360 collection pads and I borrowed my pal Diana's fancy SU punch  for the bird on the cover (ohgosh I LOVE this punch!).  Tags were punched with my CM tag maker (LOVE LOVE LOVE this punch too!) and the brads are from Making Memories.

CD Mini Album

I made this album for a monthly Yahoo group swap that I am in.  This is my first try at one of these and it was a lot of fun.  I've never made a round album and I think I really love them now!  Papers are from My Minds Eye Totally Boy pad - loving this paper pack!  I used mod podge to glue the papers to the cd's and my Bind It All to bind it together.   I was amazed that it was so easy to punch through the cd's and that it didn't crack them.  I <heart> my BIA!  lol!

don't forget - click on a pic to see it big!

Mini Tag Album

I've always loved anything miniature ever since I can remember and mini albums are no exception.  I made this tag album using a sizzix tag die and chipboard from some paper packaging, and papers are from K&Co's big 360 pads.  The title on the cover was cut with my Silhouette and then I used Crackle Accents - gosh I always forget I have this but I absolutely love the effect!  I found friendship quotes online and used them for each page and added tiny mats for photos.  To bind it all together I just used some ribbon because the O-ring I had was a smidge too small and the pages didn't open easily.  Another fun GIBBS2 item!

Paper Bag Album

Another GIBBS goodie for deb!  There are so many different styles of paper bag albums to make, just google or search youtube for it and it will just boggle your mind what you can do with simple lunch bags!

I chose to leave my bags full size and glue down the bottom flap, then I covered the pages with K&Co papers from their Tim Coffey Blossomwood collection - OMG if you have not seen these papers you need to google that too because they are just AMAZING!!  I added some little pockets and tags to a couple of the pages (string was added to the tags too but I took pics too early)  and I left the rest of the pages plain so that deb could decide what size pictures she would add.  **Ok, so I just couldn't bring myself to cover up the gorgeous designs, but shhh!  let deb think I was catering to her needs, LOL!!**

I added large double sided tags for additional pictures or journaling and tucked them into the ends of the pages where each bag opened.  A narrow piece of paper covers the ends of the bags where I punched holes and used string to tie it all together.  The front cover has two of the flowers cut from a second sheet of the same design and then overlayed and popped up a bit to add some dimension.  I also added a bit of distress stickles for a little bling ;)