On My Knees...

Begging please...
DON'T HATE ME!
I have been so MIA that I have lost a follower (or so I was told since I haven't met any of the lovely new faces that are following). To all of those who have stuck around I thank you. You can't understand how much you mean to me.

I have to tell you that I have barely been online. See I get to go online at school, occassionally when my Calculus teacher isn't really paying attention... But I've snuck upstairs to the computer with internet for a few moments to tell you I'm here. You can't understand how much I've missed blogging, let alone scrapping. I finally made a LO the other day. Since I'll be missing school due to a new job position and training, I'll sneak in to upload those.

Again, I thank you for being patient with me. & I most definately have not forgotten abou the giveaway, that is sitting in its envelope so patiently...

xoxo
Bean

Waah!

That's me crying. Crying because there is no WiFi and the only way I can log in is when no one is home upstairs or I am in Calculus (don't friend my professor-wherever she may be). Aw, I hear the wails of lamentation and despair (or that could just be my rumbling belly - it's almost dinner time).

Hm. This is interesting. It seems that when I don't have a layout, I don't have much to say.

::crickets::

Well, that was just me telling you this will be a boring month.

Or maybe not.

Maybe I will have something for you to look forward to. ::hint, hint::

It requires some paper cutting on my part. & some patience on yours (mine too).

La di da.

<- Bean

and she's on a roll!

buttered, please.
(sorry, I couldn't help the corny opportunity)

But I am back! yay! Are you proud of me Lisa?
So rather than do my lab homework, or my calculus homework, I felt the need to scrap. & scrap I did! On to the LO's!
(wait, before we get to the LO's, since it is a blog, I feel the need to vent. So today I had chemistry lab and this prof. mandates two things: 1. the lab manual. He will NOT accept photocopied labs. Boo. But fine. 2. Chemical splash proof goggles, which, if you have ever taken a chem lab, is a duh. Now, maybe it's because I've had lab before, but I knew this and I won't argue with it. But holy crapsicle sticks was there complaining and excuses and annoyances! There were more than 5 people without the goggles and the lab manual. You would not believe the amount of complaining and the size of the excuses; "I don't know whyyy i can't just copy them, waste of my money; I didn't get my financial aid check (but the iPhone made it to her house safetly); I'm wearing glasses;" yack yack yack! I think that college is lacking a level of maturity. But that is all I'm going to say about that. . . for now.) Now, on to the LO's!

This LO is called Happy Food Face, well, because it's the happy face my friend makes for food. Everything here is cosmo cricket. (This design is my interpretation of a sketch for the scrapbook.com cosmo cricket challenge) (yes, that was my disclaimer)

Isn't that little bugger cute? I cut it out from the paper or it would have ended up in the trash!

Here is another close-up. I am proud of my stacking embellies skills. I am working on them. The circles represent what were supposed to be buttons. But I wasn't sure if CC carries their own line of buttons and the LO is supposed to be 90% CC so I improvised.
(oh, and thanks to Delaina Burns, who made me realize that scalloped borders did not have to be of equal length or distance) (hopefully she has inspired you too).

 & just one last little butterfly to show you... Do you see the orange cardstock? That's the white cored DCWV, I think it's from the Brights stack... or maybe the Christmas stack... :sigh: I just use a nail file, starting from the edge to the middle in a circular motion.

This next bad boy isn't so bad. It's called "Sometimes, you can find Love in the strangest places".

Can you see the heart on the bottle? Well, one of the nurses in the ICU freaked out (happily) when she saw the heart. I think it was because of the way the light reflected in the room and through the bottle. It was just so nice to see it there, in a pt's room...

(there you go...)

Paint splatters and a doodled dragonfly... for the paint splatters, use a medium dry brush dipped in paint. Use your fingers to fan out the brush, which will make the paint fly off the brush (when I say splatter, I mean, almost everywhere. Dont load the brush!). Or you could use a toothbrush and scrape across the top; it will produce the same effect.

Here I doodled the title, the cloud and the little hearts. yay! Oh, duh, this was done for another challenge on scrapbook.com, caaaalled, take a guuuuess... the doodle challenge! I like doodling. It's very helpful when you don't have anything to match what you have... Or don't have anything to match your picture... at all...

Pretty heart and cloud! Also doodled by moi. (that's freeench, for "me") (I'm gonna learn how to speak russian) (random, i know...)

ick. This picture isn't lookin' so hot. Someone out there needs to teach me to take pics of my LO's. I might have to start scrappin in the day... O.k. So I am a hoarder. Not really but sorta. I see things and say "hey, I can use this on a LO..." (I usually don't answer myself). So I had this really sturdy clear plastic sheet that came in handy for this LO. I made a little flourish to bring your attention to the heart. I didn't crop the bottle because I wanted to convey where the "love" was. I hope it worked.

and I just felt like throwing in this card... The flower was from a flower swap. I thought it might be too big, but lo and behold, a wonderful fit...

How do you scrappers get inspired for a card? I can't get it. Some cards look soOooOoo nice, and I can't do it! I don't know if it's because I have yet to break my own idea of what a scrappy card should be... I think that's the trouble most new scrappers have. We all get stuck in the idea of what a card or LO should look like, that we can't just scrap our own style. I discovered that to be true in painting. I always wanted to do these elaborate, detailed gorgeous paintings, that I couldn't and would just frustrate myself and quit. But I recently said "eFF that" and just went with it. I ended up with some stuff I'm proud of. One of these days I'll post them. But I just wanted to get that out there...Scrap what you think is an awesome page!

O.k. I'm tired. Too much typing. Too many feelings. LOL

You guys are wonderful

thanks for reading.

<3 Bean

(this post has been [or will be] proofread by Lisa)

(you have been warned)

=o

14 followers?! Holy shmolies! & here I am making all of you wait and wait and wait for my next post. I am a horrid blogger. Ugh. Even though they are excuses, I will tell you where I was.
Btwn January 4th and 18th I was here:

O.k. not the whole time on the plane, but it did take me to Cali, Colombia. It was a wonderful trip that left me with 648 pictures to be picked and prodded in order to figure out which ones will be printed. I will take suggestions on how to get them all printed on one big one. =)

What about after? Well I was in the midsts of packing for a new apartment that was not to be.
& I just went through my first week of Spring semester. I will be here crying once in a while hoping that one of you lovely ladies is proficient in Calculus. Or that you at least know someone who is. Or can direct me in some way to somewhere that can help me.

So now, I do have some pages, although 2 are unfinished. I can't figure out what kind of lettering or titles or what the effers they are missing. On to the LO's!

IMAGE INVALID

Right, cus this is just what I need to perk me up. Sorry. I do have a close-up that survived

At least the pretty butterflies made it...

I am under the impression that it is because of all the dots on the paper that it won't let the camera focus well and take a good picture. You try staring at a paper full of spots and see if you can focus. Dizzy yet? So is my camera =) O.k. so I though I'd be artsy adding the rolled collar to the page. I used some flowers cut from the matching paper (name that stack! quick guess, it's from DCWV...no, really, name that stack cus I can't remember...) Those white splotches were a happy mistake. I went to make a nice misty spray but the stupid nozzle (my fault, I didn't clean it) just made the paint splatter. Luckily it looked nice. (you ask about my paint in a bottle? Weeell. I just take some paint, squirt it in, add some water until it's thin enough to be sprayed through an old spray bottle. ). OoOo and I also used my novice skills with the sewing machine to create a border. Could it beeee any more crooked? Name that Friend!

Geez, what it is with me and these DCWV stacks?! I need to expand my collection... This picture is from a birthday outting for the gentleman in the picture. He's awesome, and well, he mainly works around women.

Ah me and all the paper cutting. I might also need to buy some embellishments. lol I added a pop of pink (fuschia for manly purposes) to compliment his shirt. The pink flower has a pink rhinestone brad. The little flower has a white with silver backing bling.

Well...that's it. I am ashamed of myself and will now sit and scrap. I leave you with these:

(these were the awesomest burgers EVER)

(of all time)



<3 Bean

A LO and a request...

In the world of scrapping, there are companies that make scrapping products. (duh, bear with my lame-o-ness). Then there are kit companies that put together those products so you get a taste of everything. A Million Memories is one of those kit companies. I would like you to cross your fingers for me, because I just submitted an application to be a part of their design team (scream!). If you take the time to see their kits, uuugh :sigh:. They put together yumminess after yumminess. I am so happy I will be having more than just one room for all my belongings so I can expand! Even if I don't get the position (although, you will be hoping like I am) I'm still getting those kits! But you should really look at their blog. They have some really gorgeous stuff going on there...

Now that my request is over, and my title followed backwards, I have a LO to share. I already posted a close-up of it a few posts ago, so you'll have an idea of what it is.



So this LO is foreign territory for me. Why? Well look at it! The design is so not me! (well, actually, now it might be me...) But I wanted to try something new, like always, and figured a different style might be it. I had purchased these papers, and they are more vintage-y, something I'm not used to.

Then I figured, what's more vintage-y than torn up paper and distressing? So I tore up the paper and disdtressed the edges. (See the bottom paper? I used a dry bursh with some white paint barely on there and brushed it across. I also did some white piant smudges on the cardstock, see the right corner and the left above the green swirl? But those white blotches all over the paper are actually product of my nail file going across the paper which happens to be white cored. I love my nail file for scrappyness). (That was pretty big to be put into parenthesis no? Did I spell that right Lisa?!)

What else did I do... Oh, yea. (Notice how no one really spells it "yeaH" anymore? Why is that?) This is where the Flower Fluffery came from. Again, it was all an attempt at using more embellishments on a page like some of the other divas of scrapbooking. I hope it was not a fail. (I forgot what the journaling says and I don't want to get off my bed to look for the LO. sorry)

Hmmm. Well the cardstock is DCWV, hence the white core. The patterned paper is from the Recollections collection at Michaels.(again, no compensation for dropping any names...)

Well... I'm tired. I hope that you have enjoyed this LO. If anyone has any inspirations, please feel free to share. Hopefully I can post once more before the New Year and my vacation (woohoo!)

greatfully yours,

(that one's for you Lisa)

*Bean*

(I need to make a real signature thingy)

(this has been a message from the Parenthesis Group.)

(No such group exists to my knowledge)

(o.k., now I'm just going for a laugh. any takers? no? eh, well I tried...)

(hm? wait, I thought I had a taker back there. No? :crickets: Oh well..... Off to bed....)

( )

Winter Wonderland

In honor of this blizzard, I would like to share a LO commemorating a long ago blizzard. I say long ago, because I can't remember when this picture is from. Shame on me! I thought that was the whole point of scrappin'. Boo. On to the LO!

(you might be wondering why so large. even if you're not, I just wanted to make sure you saw the details)

I can't be credited with the original idea for this. Of course it comes from those lovely challenges on scrapbook.com. Boy did this challenge try my patience. But after I argued with myself for a little while, I decided to approach this LO like any other. Even if I used nothing more than white paper, I knew I had to make everything seem individual.

Do you see those embossed snowflakes? (due to it's whiteness, I couldn't manage a decent picture. I am sorry) Well they aren't really embossed. I had bought some snowflake chipboard that I had kept the negative. So I laid it down on the paper and smeared some white paint and liquid glue to fill in. I then sprinkled some diamond dust (irridescent) to make it shimmer. It looks so much better in real life.
(o.k. so I started feeling bad about not having a picture, I stopped and took one. I hope you like)

(it's very sparkly)

O.k. A few things. First the background paper I thought would stand out nicely if I distressed it a bit. Just some hand crumpling to create shadows. and of course some tearing. The chipboard letters were painted white. It took 3 coats. The last coat I mixed with some more liquid glue where I then proceeded to act like a glitter fairy. I made a pleated rose that you can find as my first post ever. I used a snowflake to stand in for leaves (bottom flower). The middle of the negative "H" was filled with some 8.0 seed beads. And to top it all off, some rhinestones on the "S". My great idea to write in white ink was the only failure. But we all learn. (it was supposed to say "all is quiet, all is bright" cute huh?)

There you have it. I think. If not, don't hesitate to ask.

Whited Out,
-Bean
p.s. I would like to thank the 2 people that seem to know me so well. PDRNC for my wonderful Basic Grey stack that was on my wishlist ForEverS, and the woman that got me these:

(they are the buttons that stole Christmas).

-Bean <3

'ello!

I need to set up a blog schedule. I suck & I'm sorry. But I do have something kind of cute for you today! I won't claim ownership of the idea because I'm most likely not the first to have done this. Although I can say, I haven't seeeeen it. But enough chatter, on to the fun stuff! (although, sometimes my chatter can be quiet entertaining. but i'm letting my nail polish dry).

This is how I start out a flower. Why? Because I haven't gone shopping, and taking out my cricut for one teeny little flower would annoy me.

Now divide into 5 (fairly) equal parts. I'm not perfect, and neither is this flower.

Start from the middle and draw a petal. Turn your paper for every petal, it helps them be of (fairly) equal size.

(like I said, I'm not perfect)

Now cut that bad boy out and grab:
-a glue stick (you want something thicker than liquid, not so smudgey)
-embroidery floss (I'm not using the high quality stuff, save if for your cross stitching)
-le button (because I want to re-learn french)
-a brad (for later use)

For the Flower Fluffery:

Take a glop of glue and smack it down on the middle of the flower. (is it in the middle? or on the middle, I had an issue)

(oh, and I won't give you a required amount of embroidery floss. it's going to depend on how much you want to fluff it up) (am I being to elusive with what we are doing?)

Begin with a loop, making sure to press the floss into the glue

Wherever the string lands, that is where you will make your next loop.

Don't argue with the string. It will fall where it wants, and that is where you will contine making loops. Eventually you will be turning the flower and getting loops in all directions.

You may or may not need more glue. It all depends on how much you salt your food. O.k., no, it doesn't, but you may have a heavier hand than some...

Grab le button and squish it on top of your loops (this is assuming you are satisfied with how many loops you have. If you're not, keep going. We can wait.........)

yay! you're done! (the making of the flower is unnecessary if you have your own flowers you want to use. & don't feel shy doing this on the back of your flower. I did. But that you'll see later)

For method with a brad of the Flower Fluffery:

Say hello to your brad. "Hi". (make sure to pick a color you want on your LO). This is a regular sized brad. I bought it from Oriental Trading. (Disclaimer, I ain't get no cash for that one).

Pull the brad legs apart. (diiirty!)

Pick up your floss and hold between your thumb and middle finger. (I'm a righty, so I picked it up with my left. It'll make sense in a minute.)

(pretty nail polish not necessary) (nor are the paint smudges on your fingers)

Do you see how the floss hangs? Cross it over to the right and bring it up and left, over your pointer finger, like this:

Cross through the middle to the right, and under your middle finger (this is why it's on the left, lots of right hand labor intensiveness).

Repeat these steps a few times

Now grab your brad, and slip the floss between the legs:

Hold the legs together and use your right hand to pull the floss off your fingers. Any other way will risk the unraveling of your floss. Once the floss is off, you can easily close the brad, making sure the floss is under the closure. Just take a look at another brad. You can use a pen to poke down the sides.

Gently pull apart the floss and attach to a flower.

I did this tutorial AFTER I made a page. I had needed a way to make the flowers I used a bit more...noticeable. So I sat for a bit, working on other stuff, when this idea came to my head. I haven't taken a good picture of my full layout, so here's a close up.

Thanks for stopping by! You are greatly appreciated.

-Bean