Site Title

“31” Door Hanging

October 3, 2013

What a fun day today is. It’s my return to Good Things Utah! It may not sound like that big of a deal, and you may not have even noticed that I haven’t been on, but I took a little bit of a break from GTU and I’m happy to be back in the saddle.

As I have said before, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to decorate for. I kind of like the juxtaposition of elegance and spookiness that decorating with fake skulls, spiders, and damask creates. I like to decorate with black, white, silver with a dash of khaki and orange. It’s especially striking against my all white walls. Somehow it subdues the inherent garishness that comes with decorating for Halloween and leaves elegance. Weird, I know.

After having worked on Happy Haunting from the beginning, I am thrilled to have it in my hands and decorate using Happy Haunting. Did you know it’s one of the most popular Halloween lines this year? Janet Hopkins outdid herself!

One of my FAVORITE things about this Happy Haunting is the 8 x 10 Ready to Frame Décor Pieces! Isn’t it to die for (pun intended) – Glittered chalk art! Ready to frame and enjoy in your space!

I created this fabulous door hanging. Seriously, I smile when I drive up and see it.

It was a simple, quick and extremely satisfying project.

Instructions: Download 2013_10_03_GTU_31 Door Hanger

I will post a link to the segment when it is available here:

I hope you like it as much as I do! What is your favorite part about decorating for Halloween? Leave your answer in a comment by October10 and I will randomly select one winner. The winner will receive a package of 8 x 10 Ready to Frame Décor Pieces!

Have a fantasticly spooky day!

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Find Your Wings and Fly

April 10, 2013

Oh, my, I’m in LOVE! Love the new Kate & Co. and am madly in love with the new Find Your Wings and Fly collection from My Mind’s Eye and Rhonna Farrer.

Love the classic look and feel with a twist of deliciousness in “NOW” color combinations and patterns.

Just like Kate & Co, you can leave a comment on the My Mind’s Eye Blog by Friday, April 12 to enter to WIN this beautiful collection! (Click Here to enter to win)

RUN, don’t walk to enter to win these gorgeous collections!

(Photo credit: Haylee Bean)

Do you want to know a little secret? I got to send in a LONG list (about 100) of little sayings or words that fit with Rhonna’s beautiful theme for the collection and look what they became:

Yep! These fantastic word stickers. There are 8 different sheets per package!

And… that “sweet stuff” sticker on the picture of Riley? That one was in there just for HIM!

I think I’m creating new classes for KC to teach with these two beauties – lucky ones that get to take the classes!

Hugs!
Kate & Co

April 9, 2013

I had a great time creating with one of the newest releases from My Mind’s Eye, Kate & Co. There are two color schemes: Oxford Lane & Cambridge Court.

Both are fresh and modern and feature fabulous color combinations. You’ll love them!

You can be entered to win these new collections if you leave a comment on the My Mind’s Eye blog by April 12! (enter here)

This is the catalog layout I designed using Oxford Lane. See how fun they are!?

(Photo credit: Haylee Bean)

Happy Tuesday!
My EXTRAordinary Life

April 2, 2013

I’ve been thinking about this change for a while.

Since I was promoted from My Mind’s Eye blog and Design Team coordinator to Product Development, I have worked on many projects. The dilemma is that they are “future” projects and can’t be shared now. For instance, I “threw” a Halloween party last week (on the buffet in my bedroom, even) and took pictures for product packaging. I can’t share it since the product doesn’t come out for a few months.

I started this blog many years ago as a place to share my projects and classes. Since I can’t share my projects in a timely manner, I don’t blog.

I have had a feeling for a while that I need to open up more. I’ve blogged about this and still haven’t done it. I think I’m ready. I will still share my projects as soon as I am able. I hope you like the new direction I am going in.

Sometimes I don’t share things, because, well, my life is ordinary. I don’t go on grand trips. I don’t like to cook (I do it because my family likes to eat). We have homework, sports practices, my boys don’t like to clean their rooms and sometimes we struggle. You know, ordinary.

But, at the end of the day, the love that I have for my sweet boys and husband, and the blessings we have make it a little “extra”.

So, welcome to my EXTRAordinary life…
Silhouette promotion

March 2, 2013

If you have been thinking about getting a Silhouette personal die cut (and so much more) machine – this is the month to do it! Silhouette is offering my readers fabulous discounts!

Follow this link PROMO and type in this code: APacker to receive this offer (offer good Feb. 28 – March 8, 2013) so don’t delay!

I created this fun project with my Silhouette Craft Cutter (original edition) and the Designer Edition Software. I love that you can customize everything with the software.

I used two backsides from My Mind’s Eye Collectable Memorable collection. The gray chevron comes from My Mind’s Eye The Sweetest Thing – Bluebell collection. I love how collections are easy to mix and match. I love that I can get custom pieces without having to hand cut everything!

Have a great day.

p.s. do you recognize the frame from this project?
Rolled Paper Heart

February 5, 2013

I always find it difficult to decide what to decorate for in January: snow/winter or go directly to Valentine’s Day. I usually try to split the few weeks between the two and don’t get to fully enjoy either. We have had snow on the ground the entire month of January and it has been cold, so this year I went directly to Valentine’s and have loved it!

Since we have two sweet boys at our house, my décor is focused on family love instead of romantic love. At the end of my life if my boys know one thing, I want them to know without a doubt that they are loved. That they are the most important things to me.

I love the fun, bright colors of the Lucky In Love collection. The sticker sheet is full of darling pieces. I especially swoon at the bicycle built for two!

I love the flowers in the bottom left corner. They frame the heart and draw your eye to the title: “Love Lives Here”.

To create the heart, I cut 21 – 4” x 6 1/2” pieces of paper, lightly spritzed them with water, rolled them around a skewer and glued it together. When I had them all rolled, I hot glued them to the heart pattern (link to pattern).

Download Instructions here: Download 2013_02_01_GTU_Rolled Heart Frame

Heart pattern link: http://www.amberpacker.com/patterns/2013/02/rolledpaperheart.html

I demonstrated this project on Good Things Utah this morning. I will add the link to the segment when it is online here:
My Pretty Powder Room part 1

February 4, 2013
I have long admired the beautiful stencils sold by Cutting Edge Stencils. I love their beautiful patterns and could imagine what a statement they would make!

I have looked and looked and looked at their site trying to decide which stencil I thought fit in with my house best.

A gorgeous damask? Sigh!

A spectacular chevron? Can I?

Or this delicious quatrefoil? Beautiful.

After months of staring at their website and pondering I ordered the Rabbat Allover Stencil (Large Scale) in late October.

With two funerals and the holidays, there was no time to play. So when I realized there was a window of opportunity, I jumped on it! I needed to pretty up my powder room. We chose to have our house painted all white. When I look through magazines, I am drawn to all white rooms, and we love it (although we are slowly adding selective amounts of color to the walls). The powder room seemed to tower with the skinny space (4’ x 9’), 9’ ceilings and all white walls. It needed a little something to ground the walls.

And so I went to work…

It really is fairly easy, just a bit time consuming. There are great instructions and a video on the Cutting Edge Stencil website. But here are a few things I learned:
- Even if you haven’t stenciled before you can do this (I am an example of that).
- If you paint your base coat with a semi-gloss paint, you will get a fun shimmery contract with your top coat, but your sponge roller will slide. This may mean it takes you longer to do.
- I cleaned my stencil 3 or 4 times to keep my lines nice. You can see when they are not as crisp.
- Be careful to not have too much paint in your roller. Roll on a paper towel to get excess paint off.
- Do the centers first and cut in the edges all at once.
- I found I had to wait a few minutes after I moved the stencil down to begin rolling so that I didn’t get paint on the back of the stencil.
- How long did it take? A couple of days, a little at a time.
- Would I do it again? Yes. I would like to do a wall in my mud/laundry room before the lockers are in. I have a step stool that would be cute as well.
- Clean up: I am a messy “stenciler” (apparently) and had to go back with a paint brush and clean up where the stencil wasn’t flat and paint oozed under. (I figured out my technique about half way through. It was much better after that)
- I would lightly mist with spray adhesive to help the stencil stay flat.
- Ladders will scratch the enamel off the toilet (don’t ask)!
Try it! You know me. I think we are capable of anything we put our minds to. If you have been wanting to try it – DO! You will be so happy with the results and feel really great about yourself at the same time!

I will show you how I finished my powder room now that the paint job is finished after tomorrow’s Good Things Utah segment.
Creative Spaces vol. 2 winner!

February 3, 2013

A HUGE thanks to everyone who entered to win the new Creative Spaces vol. 2 special edition magazine. I also wanted to thank you for your kind words towards me. I love it when I get to hear from my readers!

Without further adieu, the winner is… Rosemary Palmer!

Would love to win this – been meaning to pick it up, and just don’t have it on my list to do.

Posted by: Rosemary Palmer | January 21, 2013 at 11:07 AM

Rosemary, please email me (bloominmemories@yahoo.com) with your mailing address so our friends at Creating Keepsakes can send your prize to you!

Come back soon!
Trust

January 22, 2013

I’m going to get a little personal here.

When I was young (Jr. High) I was going through a hard time. Growing up in a religious family, I learned to turn to the scriptures for answers. Sometimes I would read from where I was and sometimes I would open them to a random page and see if I could find an answer.

It’s funny, I don’t remember what this particular trial was. I’m sure it had to do with friends or boys. During this trial, I opened my scriptures to Proverbs 3:5-6.

5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thineown understanding.

6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shalldirect thy paths.

To this day, it is still a favorite because of the comfort it gave me at that time. As I sit here tonight, reflecting upon the events of today, I felt that comforting feeling again and this verse came to my mind.

Have a fabulous day!
Creative Spaces vol. 2

January 21, 2013

It’s January – time to organize, right!? What great timing for Creating Keepsakes Magazine to release their newest special issue: Creating Spaces vol. 2! This issue is full of beautiful organization tips and spaces.

(read to the bottom for a chance to win a copy)

Many of you know that I was honored to have my creative space featured in Creative Spaces vol. 1 (still available for purchase).

The creative team from Creating Keepsakes came to my home and shot pictures in January 2011, in March we put our house on the market and, alas, I no longer have that amazing space. They even used my room as a feature room. What an honor!

Luckily I still have my furniture, so I can recreate it. But boy, do I have A LOT of work ahead of me!

Guess what!? My friends at Creating Keepsakes would like to give one of YOU a copy of Creative Spaces vol. 2! All you have to do to be entered to win is comment on this blog post before midnight, January 31. 2013. Good luck!

Now I need to go buy one for me!

p.s. 6 weeks without carbonation.

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