Is it JUST me??

          A few weeks ago {part of my very busy month of May} we had a scrapbook night. It was my first "designated" scrap night, so I was pretty pumped. Cricut set and loaded, snacks in cute and decorative bowls {I'm no animal!} and 2 tables set up for all of us to spread out and do our thang!! 

         Well....I don't know if you want to call it crafter's block, ADD or {Welp, That's just MAL} but I just sit there. I have my pics organized, paper picked and even my computer opened to {kevinandamanda.com} scrapbook site AND a layout cheater book. Nothing. My big problem is getting started, I don't know why. With any other project whether its deco our painting I can jump in willy nilly, but scrapping just gets me. 

         During the scrap night I would continually just go over my pictures, or I would make up excuses to show off the Cricut, etc... Mel {my table partner} would get pretty aggravated with me also :/ 

         When I first noticed it, I was working on my recipe book. It was because there are so many different options I have to choose from. Did I want to make one in a regular album {or} a "make your own" style album {or} on cute little recipe cards in a recipe box for my kitchen? Did I want to group them by dessert {or} just do all of them in one lump sum {or} have them alphabetized? So, I decided that I would just hold off until I got more recipes and pondered a bit more on it. If you have any "focusing" ideas to share, I'd be more than happy to take your criticism!!

There were however some successful ones done that night!!

Taryn did hers about her trip to Disney World with her familia! Such a cute page! Unfortunately, this was the only pic I got; but Mel was working on her trip to Rome and Annie was whipping out pages like crazy! {They should rub their productivity off on me next time!!}

ON A MORE PRODUCTIVE NOTE....

I've whipped out a few more projects! 

This is a cross I made for a girl through my {bookie} Kevin :)

It's a 3 layer cross and I am in love with it! Can't wait to make more {and one for myself of course!}

This is a letter I did for a girl in our Bible Study who is getting married!! I LOVE the red and black together!!

Thanks for following and loving my crafts!! You should order one!! :)

I Heart Decoupage!!!

 So, a few months ago, Christy McDonald (my college minister's wife) asked me if I could "redo/copy" a piece of artwork she saw at a church. 

I like to think that it was some kid who I ended up copying....but hey, I'm not claiming that this is an original idea, just one that I worked off of.... :)

I think decoupage is one of the funnest crafty things you can do. Minus the sticky hands it is my favorite thing of all time!! :) 

Here is what I started out with. A 3x4 foot canvas!! It was almost as tall as me! I first mapped/measured out how big I wanted my cross. What I found that was pretty handy was using a laser wall level. It helped in making sure my lines were straight. 

Then, I took my first couple maps and just started ripping. I held back all the blues, because I thought it would be pretty cool to make that just the cross color (as you will see in the bottom pics). I used {four} maps!! A lot more than I thought I'd need for sure!! I wanted to use some that meant something, but I also looked for different colors. Making sure that some were more vibrant than others. I used a map of Oklahoma, Middle East, Israel and The US. I started by just doing all of the outside edges and working in. Then I used all the straight edges and covered the crosses edges. 

Here it is, finished with a coat of lacquer on. Anything you do with decoupage you will want to poly or lacquer it to keep it from catching. 

And the finished product. For this effect I used wood stain, in Walnut (I thing any shade would be ok, I just chose the lightest). It was the first time I've ever used stain, and it runs like crazy!!! Just FYI. I love how the finished product turned out, but I wish I would have used more of a flat surface for the stain, it definitely ran too much, and therefore my circle isn't QUITE how I wanted it; but overall I love it!!

If you do want to try this, or something similar, I suggest using a smaller canvas at first. This was a big project to take on, so if you like quicker projects it would be wiser to choose the smaller canvas. This was a really fun project though!! Let me know if you have any questions!! Hopefully I get a picture of it in the church that I can post too! This piece truly made me feel like an artist :)

I, Mallory, PROMISE to never not blog for this long ever again!!

Sorry guys, I've been super busy!!! In the best way possible! And if I haven't been running, running, running, I've stalking YOUR blogs!! Quit making them so addicting!! WHEW! 


Well, May was a wonderfully crazy month! First, Thunder. Man, I have never been a true basketball fan, but man they played hard!! Next year we are going ALL THE WAY!! 


Second, there were some CRAZY storms!!

Zoe dog was pretty scared!! It was sad, there were only the thunderstorms with monsoon rain. Classic OK weather

And then there was the tornado scare! It didn't come as close to our house as it did last year, but were we ever prepared!!

Oh, were you wondering? Yes, this is 7, SEVEN people in my bathroom plus a dog. Stuffed under my mattress. It was madness! Thankfully we were safe though! Prayers and thoughts out to those less fortunate!!

And we watched Hil run her 2nd half marathon, in the rain!!

Then we watched Hil Graduate!!

Some fam friends came down, The Graves and The Coombes!

2 days after her graduation she found out she made it into Occupational Therapy school!! Whoop Whoop!!

Mother's Day....nothing really happened there, I would just like to show off the card I made on my CRICUT!

Many more of the crafty things I've been working on are to come, plus the details of my latest trip to Ft Worth and my work with Shabby Soul!!

Oh, I almost forgot.....Congrats to Kevin and Ashley on getting engaged!! They are our best "couple friends" and can't wait until we can be best "married friends" :) haha