Megan Bean

Memorial Day OWH Blog Hop

2011-05-28T07:00:00.004-05:00

On to the next blog...OWH's very own shipper...

Have a very blessed Memorial Day!! Please remember to take time to think about and be thankful for the sacrifices of our military men and women.

Two birthday cards

2011-03-31T18:56:00.002-05:00

Two birthday cards I made awhile back. This past week or so I have finally started to make some more cards - so glad to be over the morning sickness!

My warm, winter, white Challenge for MPTS

2011-01-26T19:02:00.002-06:00

I made a journal for baby Bean! I love that my husband and I are writing down some thoughts and memories as we wait for our little bean. I used some fabric for the cover from my grandmother's stash.

2011 here we come!

2011-01-16T12:54:00.001-06:00

2011 is going to be big for the Bean family...we are expecting Baby Bean in July!! We are so excited and can't wait to meet "BB". I have decided to start a 365 project on Feb. 1 to record our life before baby, my pregnancy cravings and growing belly, and our life as we adjust to baby. I was going to order Becky Higgin's Project Life kit, but they had sold out on Amazon. Instead I ordered her page protectors and blank journaling cards and will make a personalized 365 project. I am really excited about being able to change up the colors and design as the year progresses (and using up some goodies out of my stash!!).

I decided to start on Feb. 1st because (1.) I am finally starting to get over morning sickness and I have more energy :) (2.) It coincides with start of Willette's "The Joy of Love" photography class. I can't wait to expand my photography skills and use our new camera!

7Gypsies Hawaii

2010-12-04T10:12:00.000-06:00

I am finally getting around to posting some pictures of my 7Gypsies photo tray I used for some of our Hawaii photos and collected trinkets. I love the way it turned out and I especially love the sea glass in several of the slots. The background paper is an October Afternoon paper pack. The corrugated cardboard is from a Starbucks coffee holder.

Sea glass and a post card photo of the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.

I used seam binding ribbon and 7Gypsies Travel stickers. The quotes are perfect.

"Aloha" and the maps I used were cut out from a coaster and bag from the Kona Brewery.

I love the little seashells on the ribbon!!

Operation Write Home bloghop!

2010-11-13T07:54:00.001-06:00

Welcome everyone to Operation Write Home's Veteran's Day Valentine Bloghop!

Why would it be a Valentine's Day blop hop with Christmas right around the corner? Because the deadline to send in Christmas cards to Operation Write Home has already passed - but you still have time to send in Valentine's Day cards (until January 7th).

Another way to help out Operation Write Home and our troops is to vote for OWH - they could win some BIG money to help send packages to our military men and women. You can vote once every 24 hours - so lets show some support! http://www.joann.com/CraftForaCause

I decided to do a non-traditional Valentine's Day card.

I have really loved using coffee and tea stamps. So cute!

Now hop on over to Genevieve at http://plaidpolkadots.blogspot.com for the next card - ADORABLE!

Have a very blessed day!

MPTS October Challenge

2010-10-01T18:12:00.000-05:00

I had a lot of fun designing a project for the More Paper Than Shoes challenge this month.

The details for the challenge....

Requirements:
NO ORANGE or Yellow!!!

These two colors CANNOT be used on your project!!!
Supplies: Glitter and ribbon
Embellishment: Hand made flower
Technique: embossing
Surface: ANY

I picked up these tins and My Mind's Eye paper and brads from Archivers. I picked up the wood grain paper from Hobby Lobby.

My homemade flower. I layered black paper, tulle, graphic paper, and a My Mind's Eye brad.

I used lots of Stickles to add glitter all over.

I chose a color scheme of black, brown, cream, and green. I love the color combo!

This stamp was embossed with black powder.

A small tag album that fits inside the tin.

Happy Fall everyone!

Make sure you stop by More Paper Than Shoe's blog to check out the rest of the design team's projects!

More Paper Than Shoes September Challenge

2010-09-01T22:03:00.001-05:00

It's time again to reveal the More Paper Than Shoes challenge! This month's theme was a challenge for me! It took me a long time to figure out how everything was going to come together....but when it did - I LOVED it! Such a great idea for a challenge. Here are the details....

Theme: Rustic (Rusty Bucket)

Supplies: Metal and Twine (any kind of rope).

Surface: ANY

Technique:Torn paper

For the "rusty bucket", I thought of an old bucket now being used to collect seashells and beach treasures. I bought the mini bucket from the Dollar Tree and let my husband's inner-craftiness come out by having him cut the bucket in half for me. I attached it to the carboard base with Glossy Accents (love the stuff).

I used the torn paper technique by "distressing" a recycled cardboard box so that the corrugated inside shows through. I really like the rough look of the torn cardboard. A tutorial on how to alter cardboard can be found here.

The twine part of the challenge was incorporated in attaching the 7Gypsies stickers to the binder ring.

I hope ya'll will play along this month with the More Paper Than Shoes challenge. Head over to the blog and share a link with to project. You should also check out the MPTS forum - lots of awesome ideas and projects are being shared!

Family Photos

2010-08-03T11:14:00.001-05:00

We did it - we finally got family photos done by a photographer! This was actually the first time Preston and I have had a professional photo shoot - a gift from Preston for our 6th anniversary. Photos were taken by Jenna from http://www.jennamariestudios.com/. She was so much fun to work with and I squeak with excitement every time I look at them. Love, love, love them! (She even captured the elusive "Preston smile" hehe)

More Paper Than Shoes August Challenge

2010-08-01T09:05:00.002-05:00

So here is the first challenge for the MPTS design team..... Vintage Paris. Woohoo!

What a perfect challenge for me! I created this project using some pictures and goodies I collected on a trip I took to Paris with my mom in 2008. (Love you mom!)

The rules...

1. Vintage Paris themed

2. Use arcylic paint, metal, and fabric

3. Utilize crackle technique

So I decided to make some cards for my 7gypsies photo carousel....

One of my favorite pages. I love the Prima flower on this one. I used the crackle paint on the black backround - love the way it finishes off the page and gives it that vintage feel (I used Tim Holtz's Rock Candy crackle paint). For all of my photos, I used an action called "butterscotch vintage" created by Rita at http://coffeeteaphotography.blogspot.com/.

Close-up of the flower - love it!

I have enjoyed collecting lots of different types of laces. It looks so pretty on so

many different kinds of projects.

This page has three of the challenges. I used white acrylic paint to cover up some of the patterend paper to create a spot for some journaling. I used a euro coin as the center of the paper flower and also used the crackle paint on the background here.

I decided to use photos that represented a lot of the places we visited. One of my favorites was The Musee D'Orsay. A wonderful time with mom and so many beautiful pieces of art. To make a place for all of the ticket stubs and such, I made the backgrounds of all of the pages into pockets to slip in a tag.

All of the tulips were blooming around France - so beautiful to see spring in Paris!

I ruffled some fabric to make a border for the tulip page.

The black and cream page is actually flocked paper - the texture of the page is awesome!!

All of the paper I used for this project was from a paper pack (from Hobby Lobby) called "Paris Nights". It had some really awesome papers in the collection and was the perfect colors for a vintage paris project.

I think these are my two favorite pages. I just loved how they turned out and cherish the memories these photos represent for me.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my pages! I would love to hear what you think!

Coffee and Tea Cards

2010-07-30T14:40:00.000-05:00

I have had so much fun making cards with this coffee and tea stamp set I picked up. I have also made some for Operation Write Home becuase I think they make great general cards.

My favorite sentiment from the stamp is "How've you bean?". Haha Love It!

To make this coffee cup I scored a piece of kraft paper multiple times and then popped it up from the card using some foam squares. The colored circles were cut out from some My Mind's Eye paper.

I think the coffee bean border is really cute on this one.

OWH Birthday Tour Blog Candy Winner!

2010-07-07T08:21:00.002-05:00

Good morning everyone! I put off drawing a name for another day so everyone could finish the tour. So without delay the birthday blog candy winner is........ Halfdozen!! I will be emailing you this morning, so send me your address and I will send off the blog candy this week! I hope everyone has a very blessed rest of your week! I will be posting some cards tomorrow, so stay tuned!

OWH Birthday Blog Tour!

2010-07-02T08:55:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the Operation Write Home "Happy Birthday" Blog Tour!

The tour is being hosted at the OWH Stars and Stamps blog so make sure that you check

out all of the other awesome birthday cards!

You can also get a lot of information on making cards and how you can support our troups on their main website - could there be a better combination?!?!

I looooove cupcakes, so here is my take on a 4th of July Birthday card.

The card embellishments are from a card candy swap from SCS and made by Loretta.

It was such a fun swap!

To celebrate this 4th of July and

my birthday today :), I am going to be giving away some birthday themed blog candy. Just leave me a comment (or become a follower) and I will choose a random winner on July 5th.

Have a very blessed 4th of July everyone!!!!

More Paper Than Shoes Design Team!!

2010-07-01T07:00:00.000-05:00

Awesome news! I made the More Paper than Shoes design team! They are going to have monthly challenges and lots of awesome projects to showcase. What makes this even better is that Stephanie is also on the design team. Woohooo! This is going to be so much fun!

Here is a look at the tag I made for my submission.

Make sure you check back this Friday, July 2.
I am going to participate in the
Operation Write Home Birthday Blog Tour -
and since it will be my birthday (woohoo!!!)
I am going to be giving away some
blog candy!!

Earth Love Mini Album

2010-06-29T08:42:00.000-05:00

Finally made a mini album for the photos of Preston and myself at Lost Maples last fall. I think the edited photos will look great with the Earth Love paper. Such a really cool line. I love it!

I learned how to make the flowers from the sister-in-law, Stephanie.

Also, make sure you check out the Mariposa mini she made for our swap we had earlier this month. I will be posting pictures really soon from this month's swap...so much fun :)

Had a lot of fun using my glitter pen with this album too!

The brown block on the right page is actually a piece of cork. Going to attach some cute charms and other things.

Helen shared some of her burlap and I love the texture and color with this paper line.

This is probably one of my favorite pages in the album. Love the birds and ribbon!

Can't wait to add the photos and finish this album. I think it is going to be my favorite album I have made that I have kept for myself :)

Birthday Mini

2010-06-27T22:49:00.001-05:00

Here is a mini album that I made for my birthday this week. I have been wanting to make a little album with the Urban Prairie paper and thought all of the bright and fun papers would make a great birthday book. I really loved how it turned out and can't wait to fill it with photos of great memories!

New item that i have absolutely LOVED lately.... glitter gel pen. Oh my.

Mosquitos are already attacking me while taking photo #1.

Almost had to call in reinforcements to fight the flock of mosquitos off....

There is a reason why people call it the "state bird of Texas"

Follow your Bliss Mini Album

2010-06-08T23:06:00.001-05:00

Helen, Me, and Stephanie in the "Follow Your Bliss" Class at the Great American Scrapbooking Convention.

Busy putting together the album.

My mini from the class. Followed the kit instructions, but I did change it up a little.

Mini Album Swap

2010-06-08T22:20:00.001-05:00

Stephanie, Me, and Helen

My aunt, sister-in-law, and I decided to do a mini album swap between the three of us. We just recently swapped our albums out at The Great American Scrapbook Convension in Arlington, so I can post pictures of the mini albums now!!

Here is a look at the mini that I made for my sister-in-law, Stephanie.

Here is a look at the fabulous mini that my aunt made for me. She found the bingo cards at an antique mall and used some awesome vintage buttons throughout the album. Such a great mini that my husband and I can record the progress of our garden this year (our last name is Bean). Thank you so much Helen!

And you have to go check out the album the Stephanie made for Helen. I will post a link as soon as she posts some pictures on her blog. It was awesome!!

Memorial Day OWH Blog Hop

2010-05-29T01:11:00.002-05:00

Welcome back Operation Write Home blog hoppers! I am so excited to be apart of OWH's Memorial Day blog hop. This organization really knows how to support our troops. One of my favorite parts of making cards for this organization and for our troops is reading all of their notes (check out some awesome inspiration at the Hero Blog). Also, if you want to start at the beginning of the blog hop check out the Stars and Stamps OWH blog.

I also want to take some time to say thank you to all of our military men and women and their families - especially those who have given their lives in service to our country.

Pearl Harbor

Here is my red, white, and blue "missing you" contribution to the blog hop. I thought it would be really neat to make a card with tags that the hero can write short notes on. The loved ones can then take a note from their hero wherever they go.

Thanks for stopping by. The next stop on the hop is Cathy's blog Monkeydreamz.

Have a very blessed Memorial Day!

Card Candy

2010-05-25T16:55:00.000-05:00

The last of my card candy for the swap at SSC. Can't wait to get everone's back!

4th of July card candy for SSC

Beach travel candy for SSC

Happy Card :)

2010-05-02T18:49:00.000-05:00

My take on the card from Finally Friday over at Two Peas in a Bucket.

Pool Party Card Candy

2010-05-02T18:41:00.000-05:00

Another set of card candy for the SCS swap I am participating in!

Cupcake Card Candy

2010-04-29T16:30:00.000-05:00

A sneak peak for my SCS Birthday Card Candy swap. They took awhile to make, but I LOVE them!!

I made them out of felt, then stitched the details, and finally added some glass beads for sprinkles.

Hawaii

2010-04-26T20:59:00.001-05:00

Our first visit to Hawaii.

Me, my husband, and my brother at the luau.

Shark's Cove area of North Shore.

One of my favorite parts of our visit was seeing Pearl Harbor.

It was a wonderful visit and we can't wait to go back!

Happy Easter!!

2010-04-03T17:20:00.002-05:00

Preston and I went on a short hike today to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather.

The bluebonnets have been really beautful this year and the

redbuds have also been very stunning.

It looks like spring in Central Texas!

Easter card. I just love the paper (My Minds Eye) and butterfly.

I hope everyone has a very blessed Easter!

I will be back from Hawaii in two weeks and will have lots of pictures to share!

Blog Candy Winner!

2010-03-22T11:31:00.000-05:00

The winner of the blog candy is..........
Tammy from My Craft Central!

Congratulations!! Email me your address, so I can send the journal your way!

Operation Write Home Spring Bloghop

2010-03-19T17:21:00.001-05:00

Welcome OWH Bloghoppers!!

I am so excited to be participating in Operation Write Home's Spring Bloghop. There are many beautiful and inspirational cards along the hop so make sure you start at www.owhstarsandstamps.org to see them all!

I became involved with Operation Write Home about a year ago after my brother became an Airman. I wanted to be more involved in supporting our military men and women, so I started to search for an organization commited to supporting and encouraging our deployed heros. I decided to partner with Operation Write Home by making homemade cards for our military heros!!! It has been the most rewarding and fun card making endeavor I have participated in! For more information on how you can participate check out their website http://operationwritehome.org/

And without furthur delay.... my spring cards!!

My favorite spring card! I love the sentiment, fabric, and stiching.

These flowers have been my favorite to make lately - quick, easy, and so cute.

Here is a link to the tutorial onYouTube by DawnMcVey.

Another spring card.

And you have to have a spring card with butterflies!

Blog candy!

I hope you enjoyed my cards. Now, it's time for some blog candy! I am giving away one coptic bound journal - perfect for drawing sketches for cards! To be eligible to win.... Leave a comment on this post and either: 1. Add an OWH blinkie to your blog OR 2. Make spring card for OWH! I will randomly select a winner from the comments on Monday March 22 at 9am. (***If you'd like to be entered and you are NOT a blogger, please provide your email address so I can contact you if you win!***)

Now hop on over to Paula's Cut N Paste Memories blog and check out her cards! She also has some great information on Ranger Distress Inks - so check it out!

Have a very blessed day!

Happy Friday!

2010-03-19T16:49:00.000-05:00

Sharing a little bit of happy for the weekend!

Love Mini

2010-03-18T11:48:00.001-05:00

A love mini album I created to keep my favorite pictures of us this year.

Card Candy!!!

2010-03-17T18:51:00.003-05:00

Here is a look at the card candy I received from the Splitcoaststampers Valentine's and Easter swaps. So many neat pieces - I cannot wait to make some cards for Operation Write Home! I have included the SCS name of the artist (if the put their name on the back) under their creation.

J. Hutchinson Doorknocker3 RHawk1

L. Culver JTrenn

S. Greene Chipchick Doorknocker3

St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T15:08:00.001-05:00

Yesterday Preston and I planted the rest of our Spring Garden. The last to be planted

were the tomatoes and orange bell peppers. The garden now has lots of green to look at -

just in time for St. Patrick's Day!

To see what else we have been planting.... thebeansgarden.blogspot.com

Family photos

2010-02-24T17:25:00.001-06:00

Here are some photos of Preston and myself taken at Lost Maples State Natural Area.

Preston took this photo of a big tooth maple leaf in the stream.

I think this one is my favorite!

Easter Card Candy

2010-02-01T15:46:00.002-06:00

Card Candy I created for a swap over at Splitcoaststampers.com.

Valentine's Day Cards

2010-02-01T15:41:00.000-06:00

This year for Valentine's Day, I decided to make a different card for everyone. It took me awhile to complete them all but I really enjoyed using my new Epic 6 and stamps! Here are a few of the cards I created. Now I just need to reorganize my desk....

Valentine's Card Cand

2010-02-01T15:24:00.000-06:00

Here is the Valentine's Day Card Candy I created for a swap on Splitcoaststampers.com. I can't wait to see what comes back in the mail!

Coptic Bound Journals

2010-02-01T15:18:00.000-06:00

Pictures for Photo Wall

2009-10-07T21:46:00.002-05:00

I put together some pictures and frames to send to my brother. He wanted some help decorating his room (he was just recently stationed in Hawaii). He wanted to use photos I had taken from places he has also been. I converted all of them to black and white so there was some consistancy with all 9 frames. Here are two of my favorites!

Photo of a sand dollar taken at Port Aransas, Texas.

Rainbow near Boquillas Canyon in Big Bend National Park.

Fall Card Swap

2009-10-03T22:04:00.001-05:00

I am really excited to post my cards for my first card swap!! I joined Splitcoaststampers to participate in some swaps and have fun trading cards with some very talented people. I hope everyone enjoys my cards - it has been a lot of fun planning and making them.

I really enjoyed making this card. I used vintage book paper to frame the orange cardstock, as well as the squirrel and leaf blocks. The orange paper was sewn onto the vintage book paper to add a decorative edge. I stamped the squirrel and leaf onto some cream fabric and then sewed them onto the book paper as well. All of the stamps were purchased at Archivers.

I think this card is my favorite fall card that I have made. The small leaves were embossed onto the background cardstock using Ranger's copper embossing powder. The small leaves were parts from the Archiver's stamp sets. I also used vintage book paper as a background for the ribbon. The maple leaf stamp (Rubber Stampede: Small Maple) was purchased from Hobby Lobby and also embossed with Ranger's copper embossing powder. I think my favorite part of the card is the circle cut-out that swings open to reveal a sentiment (an idea I got from one of the booths at CKC - San Marcos).

CKC- San Marcos Scrapbooking Convention

2009-10-03T21:33:00.002-05:00

My favorite crafty buddies :) My aunt and sister-in-law came to visit and attend the CKC - San Marcos convention. We had so much fun shopping and taking a class. I saw so many neat ideas for projects and cards. Couldn't wait to come home and try some out!

We took the Creating Keepsake's "A Peek Into My Week" class. Made a really cute album to document the happenings of one week. I chose to start mine on the first day of fall (one of my favorite days of the year) and now all I need to do is print out a few pictures to slip into the pockets. I love the way it turned out!

Album details

View of Day 7. The left side of the album for each day was made into a pocket to store momentos and photos. I used both sides to record the happenings of the day.

Nashville AFS Conference

2009-10-03T20:59:00.000-05:00

My husband and I along with other graduate students at Texas State University traveled to Nashville, TN to attend the national AFS conference (end of August - first part of September). The conference and hotel were located in the downtown area and we were within walking distance from the river and some neat restaurants. Preston presented some results from his Ph.D. research and we saw some neat talks. We both had a great time!

Another wonderful bonus while we were there... cool, fall weather! It was a wonderful break from the Austin heat and it a treat to walk around in a jacket and jeans.

Baby photo

2009-10-03T20:34:00.002-05:00

I have started to edit some newborn photos for a friend. This one is one of my favorites so far. Such a cute little guy!

Paris!

2009-08-24T10:57:00.001-05:00

My mom and I were in France last year and took a short trip up to Paris while we were there. I have just now started to edit and process the photos for the album I am making for it. This is one of my favorites so far!! I can't wait to finish the project and post some pictures!

Birthday ATC

2009-08-22T23:01:00.004-05:00

A couple of photos of the ATC album I made for my mom's birthday. It was so much fun to make!

Details off some of the pages.

Fall Garden

2009-08-22T13:42:00.004-05:00

My husband and I have started our fall garden and are starting to see the first plants sprout. We had a lot of fun planning, planting, and harvesting the veggies from our spring garden and we are just as excited about this fall. My favorite part of the garden this fall... a pumpkin patch!

Check out our gardening blog at thebeansgarden.blogspot.com

Laptop cover

2009-04-10T09:08:00.006-05:00

Ella's Easter presents

2009-04-06T21:54:00.003-05:00

Buttercup Bags

2009-04-06T21:53:00.003-05:00

Valentine's Day Album

2009-04-06T21:50:00.004-05:00

Valentine's Day Card

2009-04-06T21:49:00.004-05:00