They're small VCT tile samples (vinyl composition...so they're kind of plastic-y feeling) and I have a few boxes of them in different colors...I was thinking of doing some kind of mosaic with them, except cutting or breaking them will be very difficult...any ideas?  They're about 2 sq. in.

My dad's in the hospital with some unknown illness right now (gotta love the doctors that don't know what's going on!) and his birthday is coming up on February 7th.  I wanted to make him something really special.

I have a few different things I've written for or about him...and I kind of wanted to incorporate those in whatever it is I make for him.  At first I was thinking of a collage, but some of the stuff is kind of personal-nothing he'd want displayed anywhere, I'm sure...

I was thinking of a small altered book or notebook of some sort...just fill the pages with how much I love him and know he's strong enough to come out on top...

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I decided to make one for my boyfriend.  I punched all of the holes and realized they were on the wrong sides of the card (ooops) but I think it came out alright anyway. 

Have a look!

http://s122.photobucket.com/albums/o259/lovelyxmalia/

I have about a dozen of these small jars from paints I bought a few years ago...all of the paints are dried and crusted now, but I was wondering if anyone had any ideas as to what to do with the jars?




I have a bunch of other paints in tubes that I was thinking of putting in them, but I don't know if they'll dry out in there.  I bought the other paints at a dollar store and I'm having problems with caps falling off of the tubes and stuff.  Does anyone have any ideas?  My boyfriend suggested putting little scrap papers in there and making a little decoration with them.

I see a lot of posts in here about different tools that people use and things that make paper crafting more enjoyable for them.

What are some tools you can not live without?

I'm pretty basic as to what I need.  My small list includes:

*Glue (I need at least 3-4 different kinds of adhesives including mod podge, glue sticks, spray adhesive, and elmers)
*Scissors (all different kinds of scissors)
*Pens and markers
*Paints
*Book binder (it's a comb binding machine but it works wonders when I need to make holes for spiral binding, too)

Every year, I make a new journal and my tradition is to decorate it based on what I'm into at that time.  I wanted to post pics of this one because I put more time into this one than any other one!  There's still some things I want to add, but here's the 90% finished project!

bookmarks I made out of ribbon


bookmark charms - a turtle and a dragonfly/fairy


back cover


inside back cover...that's a piece of scrapbook paper...I plan on writing in some nice quotes


front page (I always decorate the front page)


inside front cover...my paint job isn't the best...but I love the license plate-looking scrapbook page I found and cut up to add to it.


top of the front cover..."Twenty Ten" is what I put in cut out letters


bottom of the front cover


whole front cover

So, we finally got out and got a place so we aren't stuck with my mother forever!  It's a nice fixer upper and the landlord who knows my fiance really well said we could do whatever we want.

We have:
 a lilac purple kitchen
What should be a white-turned yellow/brown living room
A blue flower/peeling/stained bathroom
A bright blue hallway
One bedroom is bright green
The other is bright yellow

We're going to price paint today, but I was wondering some inexpensive decorating tips?  I've looked through some of the threads throughout this section and I want to try some different things.  We've decided to keep any furniture we get because I can make it into something we want/need.  But I was wondering some immediate things I can do to fix the place up a bit.  I'll post pics once we get moved in.  Right now, we're cleaning up after the people that just moved out-talk about pigs!

[I write to...]

I bought a huge scrapbook a few years ago and intended to make it into a journal.  I started it and ended up back to the composition notebooks in the end.

I wanted some opinions on it.  I was thinking about using it for my 2008 journal (after altering a few pages, of course).  Some of the pages are really nice.

Here is the link:
http://s122.photobucket.com/albums/o259/lovelyxmalia/Scrapbook%20Journal/

On the inspiration pages (the image quality is pretty poor):

I write to...

I write for the seasons  (at the top of the page, there are flowers for spring and summer, a leave for autumn, and a snowflake for winter)
Fill in every missing the piece of the puzzle
control your destiny
believe
learn
express yourself
always remember
pray
try
simple pleasures
share
be a dreamer

On the second page (first page of the actual journal)

Why I Write:

imagine
smile
hope
relaxation
love
positive energy
wish
happiness
laugh at yourself
dream
nurture your soul
wonder
love life

I wanted some opinions on what I should do with this journal?  Any creative ideas would be great! Or any feedback on the pages would also be great!

Most home improvement stores have really neat books that are free that I tend to take.  Some of them are tile books and they actually have small tiles in them (it's hit or miss with those).

The library (of course) to get free magazines.  My library has a list of people to take magazines and stuff that they get rid of.  Once a year, they have a "free book" day when they clean out their books.  Usually you are required to make a small donation (minimum is usually $5, I usually give $15) and you can take as many books as you want.

I'm in need of more ideas to find free stuff.  This is going to be a very stingy Christmas.

Where are the everyday places you can find free stuff? 

So, here is what i wanted to do for my 2008 journal...

I was going to take some paper bags and leave them as they were.  If you lay them flat going the long way, I was going to cut the top parts and the ends off, glue a few together like that and create folder-like compartments. 

I was then going to create an accordion style notebook with them and in the pockets, I was going to put in decorated manila folders to use as my journal with different themed sections (i.e. random thoughts, what makes me angry, and a calendar section).

So, in the midst of all of this brainstorming, my mind just kept coming up with these ideas...

I was thinking within the accordion somewhere, I would sew in the calendars and a few other sections that I didn't want to make specific pockets for...?  I've never sewed pages nor have I made anything accordion style, so I'm pretty clueless.

Does this sound like a good idea?