I recently participated in an ATC swap in which the theme was "paint chips".  The design was up to you with the only requirement being that you used paint chips.  Here's mine:

I cannot wait to see the ATCs I receive!  I'd love to hear about your paint chip creations or ATCs you've made.

MiMi Dibble
THEscrapinator5000

I have to confess, I've only bought flowers for my books, journals and crafting one time. I got two tubes of those Primas paper flowers, one colored and one white so I can spray or paint them the color I need.  I make all the rest and thought I'd share some with you.

I make flowers out of lots of different materials such as:  scrapbook paper, book pages, paper bags, packing material, tissue paper, used dryer sheets, felt, napkins, old coffee filters, music sheets, used paper towels and material scraps.  I also use old clothes such as fleece, t-shirts, khaki pants, jeans and old dress shirts.

These are some journals and note books I made that all have flowers on the covers.

Thanks for stopping by.  

Happy Crafting,

THEscrapinator5000
MiMi Dibble

I've really enjoyed the process of making a book to commemorate all the things I am grateful for this year.  I do love nature and all of it's beauty and that is reflected this weeks pages.

I live in Michigan and we have 4 beautiful seasons. I love them all. We have wicked winters, wet spring, hot summers and beautiful fall colors.  Our winters are rough which make me long for the summer heat and beaches.  I have to admit, I don't mind winter, the cold, the snow...I just hate the bad roads we have to drive on.  If it weren't for that, no complaints from me. We have lots of trees and the snow is a site to see hanging on all the trees, just beautiful.

I love all the open green area we have here. I love the grass and fields, the flowers and I am a big cloud person. Just love the clouds and sky.  

My family does a lot of camping. We have beautiful beaches and lake shores. Camping here is full of swimming and hiking.

Our camping and summer activities are filled with beaches and sandcastles. My boys just love building sandcastles and will spend hours, and I mean hours, building them.  We are also blessed with lots of wonderful lighthouses here along the lake shore of Lake Michigan.  

I really hope you have enjoyed by gratitude journal.  Thanks for stopping by. I'll be posting my December Daily progress this week. Are you doing a December Daily?

MiMi Dibble
THEscrapintor5000

I've been working quite a bit in my International Smash book lately. I have not been working in this book by completing a full page and then moving to the next. I work a little bit on a page and then work on another. Eventually, I get to a point where I feel a page is finished.

This is my huuuge book so far. Isn't it yummy! I love it.

I added a couple mini pages and wanted to share how I added them.

I wanted to add two wallet size photos. I cut the card stock down to size and used my Fiskars Notebook Border Punch.

When you punch holes, it looks like this:

It's really easy to just push the border edge in between the rungs of your Smash book.

The only problem with the Fiskars punch is that the holes do not exactly line up with the Smash book. It's just slightly off. It still works for a page up to about 4 1/2 inches and then it just doesn't fit anymore.

Hope you find this helpful for working in your Smash books.

Thanks for stopping by.

MiMi Dibble

THEscrapinator5000

If you follow me on Facebook, you know I am opposed to anything Christmas before Thanksgiving. I have been complaining since the beginning of November about Christmas music and decoration and adds etc.  I've had a very Bah Humbug attitude this year. It just seems as though it's so commercialized and it just starts earlier and earlier every year. 

The truth is I do love Christmas, I love the feeling, I love hot coco by the tree and decoration and candy canes and making presents for my family.  I have always wanted to participate in the popular December Daily.  Last year I made a Christmas Journal and loved it but am really looking forward to the daily part of this challenge.  If you want to take a look at my last year's journal, you can find the link here.

Being such a Bah Humbug this year, it totally surprises me that I already have my December Daily made and ready to work in.  

The basic constructions is made from recycled cardboard boxes such as cereal boxes.  I cut them down and covered them with Christmas paper.  The Christmas paper I used is a single sided paper pack from DCVW and is....have no idea how old.  I didn't buy anything new. I think I've been using that paper pad for 3 years now.

The pages are not all the same size. They all vary. The widest page is 4 3/4 inches and the tallest page is 7 inches.  The front and back cover measure 6 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches.  I know that is smaller than some of the inside pages but I love that. I love the randomness.  There are 35 double sides pages plus the covers.  Yes, that is huge I know. It's about 1 1/2 inches thick and I love it.  I wanted to have plenty of room to start the day after Thanksgiving and end on New Years day. I wanted a couple extra pages for Christmas and Christmas Eve.  

See all the different size pages?  I just love that!

1. Gather recycled boxes such as cereal, granola, crackers, kleenex etc. Open then up and cut all the side off so you have the front and backs.  Once you have a big stack, cut them down to the size you want for your pages.  They can all be the same or different.  

2  Get your Christmas paper and glue ready. I used Sobo glue from Hobby Lobby. It's quite pricey at $5.99 a bottle however, it's a quick hold, sturdy glue which I wanted for this project. That way I don't have to wait for it to dry before cutting off my edges.  You could also use an ATG glue but I didn't want to spend the money as I would be using a lot of it for this huge book.  

3. Cover you piece of cardboard with glue making sure to get the edges.

4. Place it down on your paper and use a bone folder or ruler to make sure you get out all the glue bubbles when pressing it down. Be gentle, it's a wet glue.  

5. Take your x acto knife and cut around the edges.

6. Once you are done covering both sides of your cardboard pages with paper, you can bind your book. I decided to use extra large C rings to bind mine.  I used my three hole punch to punch two holes in my book.  

Now you are done. Just get your c rings and connect them all together.  

I'll have more posts about making embellishments and my pages as I complete them.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed it and participate.  If you'd like to join our challenges, come see us in the Facebook group, Daybook Delights.  We'd love to have you.

MiMi Dibble
THEscrapinator5000

This is week three for the 30 Days of Gratitude Challenge in the Facebook group Daybook Delights.  

I am loving this Amy Tangerine Daybook.  In the middle is an envelope and US map. I didn't quite know what to do with the map but finally decided to mark where I had family living.  The envelope has a picture of our very much loved guinea pig, Mr. Nibbles on the outside and on the inside, I put pictures of some friends. I feel blessed to have connected with several friends this year that don't live near us anymore.  

We had some really bad storms this week and although it was a good reminder of how grateful I am for a house, I am even more grateful for a home. A safe place for our family, our kids. We teach our children that this is their protection, we love them and that they are always welcome and loved here, not matter what.  This is where we hang out, where we bond...and where I have a ton of fun with my family.

I love being crafty and am grateful for art, journalling and the fact that I can have impact and help inspire my nieces and nephews.  Children are all artists but sometimes we loose that as adults.  I am grateful for the reminder art gives us about how beautiful the world is.

I am super grateful for my creative woodworking hubby. 

As many of you know, I babysit my nieces and nephews quite often and adore them.  The last time I watched my niece, she didn't want to eat her rice at dinner. I thought she just wanted to play and made her eat it.  I found out later that indeed she does not like rice and sometimes it's made her sick.  Man, super bad auntie!  I felt horrible of course.  This last week, my niece was helping me wash dished and we were discussing dinner. We were going to have rice.  She quickly reminded me she didn't like rice.  I told her that I was sorry I made her eat it last time.  She won't have to eat it tonight and that I only made her eat it last time because I didn't know.  She quickly looked at me and said "I now auntie, that's why I forgive you".  

Forgiveness is a choice. You choose to forgive or you don't.  I am very grateful for that sweet reminder of that this week. As adults, it only gets harder and harder to forgive.  We have to stay on top of our choice to be a forgiving person.  

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to are enjoying my month of gratitude.

MiMi Dibble
THEscrapinator5000

This week my heart was full of gratitude for a lot of things.  It was Veteran's Day and my oldest son's birthday.  Both of those special days really made me do some deep thinking.

I am hosting and participating in a 30 Days of Gratitude Challenge in the Facebook group, Daybook Delights.  I am doing my book as a weekly challenge instead of daily.  Here is a link to my week 1 of the challenge if you missed it and want to take a look.

Veteran's Day is a very important day where we take extra pause and appreciate the freedoms we enjoy and the sacrifices our military and soldiers have afforded us.   I am grateful for people like Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who ultimately set a stage for a world where I can be friends with people for who they are on the inside and not how they look on the outside.  A world where I can surround myself with people who are different from me and learn from them.  

My husband is a Veteran of the Gulf War. I also have a brother in law who is a Veteran and an nephew who is an active duty Marine getting ready to ship off to Hawaii.  My husband's grandfather went missing in action in the Korean war.  He received a Purple Heart for sacrificing his life as a medic for a fellow injured soldier.  Both my side and my husband's side of the family are full of military service. We have raised our boys to not only be patriotic, to appreciate and respect our military.

My oldest son's birthday was this week.  I know that probably everyone will expect me to say I am grateful for him or the gift of motherhood...go on and on about how awesome he is.  While all that is true and he is a great kid, what his birthday really made me think about is how grateful I am for the freedom to marry whomever I want. The Emancipation Proclamation and the legalization of interracial marriage changed the face of the United States and made it possible for me to have the family I have today.  

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you like my pages. If you are working on a Gratitude Journal this November, I'd love to see.

MiMi Dibble
THEscrapinator5000

I have been MIA since the end of July on my blog. I've been busy with family and moving.  With all of the busy activities, I was beginning to think Mo and Jo had left the country but indeed, they are back. Thanks goodness!

Here's a peak at my summer and fall.

I am hosting and participating in a 30 Days of Gratitude Challenge in the Facebook group, Daybook Delights.  

I'm using an Amy Tangerine daybook as well as Thickers and three sets of her stickers to help me decorate my journal.  I gotta say that I love her stickers, especially for a project like this.  The stickers are attached to a clear plastic sheet like most stickers are however, and here's what I love...they also each have there own individual piece of plastic backing. This is a huge advantage because you can take the sticker off the large sheet, place it in your book to see if you like it there without it sticking to the page. Once you have your placement down, you can then peal off the back and stick it down. I absolutely love that!  And aren't those Thickers adorable?  

I'm doing the challenge as a weekly challenge so my first pages are about what I am grateful for during week 1.

I am grateful for my family!  Just love and adore by boys...all three of them.

My boys are everything to me and these pages talk about some of the reasons I love being with them so much.  

I got to spend some time with my crazy Diva niece this week.  She loves to color, stamp and work in her junk journal I made her.  I might go broke with all the stickers she uses, but I love every minute of it.

Fall is my favorite season. I love all the leaves and beautiful colors.  

I'll be back next week with week two. In the meantime, if you are working on a gratitude journal, I'd love to see your pages.  

Thanks for stopping by.

MiMi Dibble
THEscrapinator5000

Wanted to share a few daybooks I made quite awhile ago but didn't show any pictures of the inside pages.  I titled the "Love" because they are pink and red and have lots of hearts and love saying. There are potty people, keys and beads. 

Although I used quite a bit of pattern paper for these books, I used a ton of scraps for the covers, tags and smaller pages in the books.  These books all measure 6 x 6 and have large 4 x 6 tags in them.  

This one is bound with hemp and used kraft paper fro the covers. I like the kraft even though the paints and sprays are not a vibrant.  The red tape on the cover is actually hockey tape I stole from my kids and the white tape with hearts is just stamped masking tape.

I just love the tags in this book. They are huge and have scraps and doodles. Again I used a lot of left over papers and stencil clean up papers for pages.  

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think.  If you think you'd like making daybooks, come check out Daybook Delights on facebook for lots of inspiration.  

MiMi Dibble
THEscrapinator5000

Summer has come, kids are home and I have not blogged once over the last month. Yikes!  I have still been making things so I wanted to catch you up on some projects.

The first one is for a swap I was in. It was to swap a mini junk journal. I don't think I hit the mark on this one. It's more like a little mini album. Sigh...but it was fun and I do like it, it's just not "junky".

I also participated in an ATC swap. I enjoyed this one quite a bit. It was water colors, doodling, stamping and some embossing.   

I am still participating in Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2013 but haven't shared them here since February. Here is March, April and May's tags.  

The last project is an altered heart shaped box. This was super fun. I covered it in tissue paper, painted it up like crazy with tons of colors and then added some wood burned words on top. I love it.

I hope you like all the projects. I have a journal share coming up as well. I've made quite a few of them as well.  

As always, thanks for stopping by and I'd love to hear what you think.

MiMi Dibble
THEscrapinator5000