Category: scrapbooking

crafts, disneyland, family, family vacation, gift ideas, layout ideas, love, magic, mickey mouse, mini album, paper piecing, polka dots, roller coaster, scrapbooking, summer trips

Disneyland Mini Album

Genevieve Speegle
We took our son, along with the in-laws, to Disneyland early this month.  It was the first time our 3-year-old had been to the magic kingdom and he had a blast! 
I decided to make a mini-album for my mother-in-law as her Mother’s Day gift this year. 
I just finished it today and wanted to share!  🙂 
 
This is my favorite page of the album.  I hand-cut Jackson and layered him on top of glittery polka-dot card stock. 
I love this picture of Mike in goggles.  It really captures his personality!
Now to start on my own layouts….
artfire, card sale, celebrations, clearance, craft supplies, crafts, cross stitch patterns, discounts, grand opening, handmade, party, patterns, sale, scrapbooking, special offers

MEGA Re-Opening Sale at ArtFire ~~ My Biggest Sale EVER!!!

Genevieve Speegle
As a craft lover turned entrepreneur, I’m all about supporting the small businesses.  I have sold on dozens of websites over the last couple years and am so excited about ArtFire.  I’m delighted to be able to offer you my Bella Stitchery and Gen’s Scrapbook Kitchen on ONE ArtFire site for your convenience.
The url is listed as Bella Stitchery (http://www.artfire.com/users/BellaStitchery), and I’ve spent the last 8 days getting all my patterns up to date, as well as adding all my handmade goodies.

In honor of my new store there, I’m holding my BIGGEST SALE EVER this week:
25% off EVERYTHING in my ArtFire shop!
Patterns, cards, frames ~ you name it!
The prices listed now are retail, so please enter discount code: GRANDREOPENING25
for the sale price.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions.  Thanks so much, and happy shopping!
altered art, art, bling, card ideas, card making, computers, hand embroidery, mixed media, mom, ribbon, scrapbooking, skateboards, skulls, tattoos, video games, watercolor, x-box

Cross Crafting

Genevieve Speegle
I’m a lover of crafts.  If I can make something with my hands, I’m all over it (except for cooking dinner).  Sometimes I just like to wander the craft store isles and find ideas for new crafts…until I remind myself of all the 1/2 finished projects waiting for me at home!
When two of my artistic passions come together, well, it’s just magical.  I’ve enjoyed merging my love of embroidery with card making.  Sure, each card can take a week to make, but it’s

a lot of fun to work on and I love that each piece is truly one-of-a-kind.

Here are some of my recent projects using embroidery in my greeting cards:
Really happy with this one. I used glitter and watercolor pencil on it as well. You can check it out on Etsy for more photos.
This was one of the first big embroidery project cards for me (more pictures on Etsy).  I had this piece next to my couch every night until I had finished the pattern.  This project took me through America’s Next Top Model and American Idol several times…
The power button card below has kind of a funny story attached.  I made it one night and showed my hubby when he came home.  I said, “Look!  It’s an X-Box card!  Isn’t that awesome?!” and he gave me a questioning look.  I said, “See?  It’s the button that’s on the X-Box!” 
He walked over to the computer and pointed to the screen, then the speakers, then the TV remote.  I hadn’t realized that it was the universal POWER button.  LOL! 
Well, to me, it will always mean X-Box (that’s why I chose the card stock and colors, too).
Such versatility with skulls now days!  Who knew???  🙂  This girly one was also embellished with watercolor pencils and bling.  I like the cupcake card stock and satin bow, too.
That completes my embroidered card tour.  Hope it inspires you to mix and match your favorite crafts!
gift ideas, handmade gifts, holiday cards, hot momma, mom, mother's day, mother's day cards, pin-up girls, scrapbooking, tattoo, thank you, vintage cards

Moms RULE!

Genevieve Speegle
Mother’s Day is one of my favorite holidays to make cards for.  I love to celebrate the variety of women ~ from hot mommas, to Vintage lovin’ ladies.  We mothers make the world go ’round (seriously).
To all the mommies out there: Thank you for all that you do!  Keep up the good work!!
Be sure to check out my Etsy shop for all the lovely Mom-inspired greetings available. 
All orders ship out within 24 hours!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/GSpeegle
anniversary, colorful, elegant cards, love bug, paper piecing, retro children's birthday cards, scrapbooking, simple cards, sleek, spring, style, wedding cards

Spring Clean and Simple

Genevieve Speegle
What I loved about fashion in high school carries over to what I enjoy about crafting, now that I’m 30:
You can be whatever you feel like today.
I used to love dressing in Vintage, modern, costume & even goth (sorry).  The same interests (mostly) apply to my craft style.  I love Vintage and part of my heart will always be with the 1950s kitschy retro, but sometimes I like to play with modern, sleek designs as well.
Spring makes me feel refreshed (at least until the allergies attack and I hide under my bed for a week).  This week’s collection of handmade cards are all about simple, yet colorful design.
You can stop by and see all of this week’s new pieces (and my new store banner!) at my Etsy shop.
death valley, ephemera, family vacation, flowers, hiking, mountains, nature, paper crafts, rangers, sand dunes, scrapbooking, spring, spring break, travel layouts, vacation, writing

Death Valley ROCKS! – So To Speak

Genevieve Speegle
Jackson with his cousin on the mountain top.
Spent all of yesterday (and I mean ALL) hiking in Death Valley with the family. The weather couldn’t have been better ~ flowers in bloom and rocks….well….still rocks.

The sand dunes are always my favorite part (plus, they are the gift that keeps on giving ~ when you bathe everyone, you are left with a beach for a bathroom! I see an inexpensive design episode on HGTV in my future!)

My little one and his cousins even became Junior Rangers! It was so cute! They looked for local plants and animals, picked up trash, learned about survival (well, at least a little bit. I’d still rely on a GPS and bottle of water over the advice of my 3-year-old).

Here is the layout I made from when we went in December (not much has changed), along with some pictures from this weekend.

Here is my dear hubby ~ always finding a time and place to write.
etsy greetings, handmade cards, happy cards, kitschy, new listings, new products, retro, retro children's birthday cards, scrapbooking, vintage cards, vintage images, wedding cards

This Week’s New Card Collection!

Genevieve Speegle
I was a busy little crafter this weekend!  I have 9 new card releases now available nationwide!*
*and by “nationwide”, I mean at any of my on-line shops.  🙂
Here is a preview of each card for your viewing pleasure!  Each piece is one-of-a-kind ~ Enjoy!
card making, ephemera, fantasy, funny birthday card, jacob, new moon, scrapbooking, twilight, unique cards, warewolves

Pack Animal

Genevieve Speegle

Late last night, I received a custom request for a sexy Jacob (Twilight) card that says:

“Once you go pack…you never go back!”

Hilarious!  I couldn’t wait to start on it.  I have been thinking of ideas for color and design all morning!  Finally, when both boys went down for their nap (hubby and son), I had a quiet house.  The fire and ink flew as I tore this and burned that.  Stitch here and distress there.

I still have ink on my nose, but here is the finished product.  I’m SO happy with it!

cleaning, color, embellishments, opinion poll, organization tips, page kits, paper, paper crafting ideas, scrapbook blogs, scrapbooking, spring cleaning, stressed, tools, woes

Scrapbook Organization Woes

Genevieve Speegle
Now that I have more space (thanks to a huge liquidation sale last month), I’m working on reorganizing my scrapbook stash and spreading things out.
I’m having the hardest time organizing!
Don’t get me wrong ~ I love looking at my favorite papers and embellishments over and over again (wishing I had a bigger family just so I’d have more pictures to scrap). So many great papers, so few events…
Anyway, the question of the day is:
How do you organize?
Sort by color? Theme? Brand? Season? Alphabetical? Shopping trip?
I think I’ve moved sections of goodies to different areas about 3 or 4 times so far. At first it was all the Vintage/ephemera themed goodies (my favorite right now). That was too big and still strangely random. Then, I sorted by brand. But what if a Basic Grey sheet would go perfectly with a Graphic 45 piece and I’ll never know about the greatest pairing since argyle and socks because one was upstairs on a paper wrack and the other downstairs next to the mac and cheese?!
Also, what in the scrap do you do with all of those sections of paper that are partially used, but match other 12×12 sheets or kits?! I have a ton of 13×13 baggies and I try to keep everything together that way. Now, it just looks like my scrap drawer is a Ziploc Ad. Nothing lays flat or even makes sense. I never even know what I have (yet I still find myself shopping at the craft store each time a coupon comes in the mail).
Any advice? I’d love to hear what you do for storage and organization! Also, any organizational brands/items that you really like? I think laying things flat (700 sheets deep) is no longer working for me. Things are getting squished and wrinkled (although it saves time distressing my paper).
It’s my goal to get organized this week ~ wish me luck!
bunny, buttons, cards, deer, free collages, happy birthday, paper cutting, polka dots, retro children's birthday cards, ribbon, sassafras lass layouts, scrapbooking, vintage cards, vintage images

Retro Woodland Cuties

Genevieve Speegle

I love working with Vintage or Retro images.  They are just so sweet and cute and sweet and cute! 
This kitschy retro card is so happy and I smile each time I walk by it!  I made it last night using one of my favorite images (I’ve included it here in the blog, so you can print and use it too!)

I’ve embellished it using the Sassafras Lass Hog Heaven line, some ribbon and a Vintage style button.  There’s also space on the Happy Birthday tag to write the recipient’s name.

Here is the JPEG for all of you if you’re feeling in the mood for some retro crafting:
If you’d like to experiment more with digital collages, please stop by my other Etsy shop, Collage Crazy, at:
Now that my eBay store is closed, I’ll be spending more time doing what I enjoy most ~ crafting!  I’ll be offering lots of new collages there (as well as here on the blog) in the coming weeks.
Tomorrow is the drawing for my first giveaway! 
Last call for candy! 
I’m so excited about it!  Now is the time to put your name in there, if you haven’t already.  It is open to anyone ~ no matter your country!  I’ll ship it to England, China, New Guinea…even Canada!  🙂