Wednesday, October 15, 2008

A Few Things...


1. Thank you so much for your kind wishes, prayers, comments and emails. I appreciate that more than you know. The tribute to Robert was wonderful.

2. The November WIP kits will be available to the public at noon EST on the website. The subscriber emails and paypal invoices went out last night, so if you didn't get one, please email me at Turay413@gmail.com.

3. I'm behind on my CZ class. How are you all doing in yours?

4. Totally stoked about this class with Dina. Love, love, love her. If you sign up for her class by midnight on Friday, you'll be entered in a drawing to win a November WIP Project kit!!

5. The deadline for the final payment to the Fall Retreat at the Bertram Inn is today. I am SO excited to get away with scrappy friends!!

6. I'm obsessed with the stamp in the above picture. It is in the main kit for November and I can't wait to use it...

7. I'm scheduled to teach 2 private classes in the next month on a mini book called "Christmas' Past". I have no other classes scheduled after the Bertram, but I may add one. I'll keep you updated...

...and that's about it! Hope you all are enjoying a wonderful fall day...

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

A Grateful Heart

Most of you out in blogland did not know my friend, Robert Bueck. You are the unfortunate ones. Robert died tragically in a scooter/automobile accident on Friday afternoon, and today his friends and family are gathering to celebrate his life.

When the initial idea of starting a kit club was being tossed about, Robert jumped in and set up my website. He helped me do all the business things I needed to do--and I was clueless. He got sucked into helping me because his wife is one of my dearest friends, and he wanted to help. He did for me what he has done for countless people--and never asked for anything in return. Any time I had a problem with the computer or the website, he was a phone call away. Wednesday evening's phone conversation with him consisted of trouble shooting and dinner plans with our spouses this weekend to celebrate his and Jen's wedding anniversary together. It was beautiful.

I will be forever grateful for him on a personal level, but also on a professional one. I could not--and I would not--be here with this company without him and everything he did for me. The outpouring of love for him and his family is proof of the way in which he led his life. I am honored to have known him.

The service today will be enhanced with the most amazing pictures of Robert and his family. His wife Jennifer and I met through this wonderful hobby, and we share a love of photography. The photographs she took of their family will surround and comfort us all today. Their two children will cherish those memories and pictures, and for that I am grateful.

Godspeed, my friend.



In light of the situation, my family and I will be in attendance today, so the November kits will not be posted fully until tomorrow. The subscriber emails have been sent out, so I will invoice customers as soon as I can. Please accept my apologies--I hope you understand. Thanks so much.


Sunday, October 12, 2008

Thinking outside the box

and in this case, the hat box...


A lot of times when making a gift for someone you try and theme it around things that they like. In this case Chelsea and I decided to make something for a friend of her's in band, choosing the drum as our theme.

After having no luck to try and find a drum, we decided to make one. This drum was made with a hat box, foamies, star brads and gold ribbon. Using glue, cropadile and staples we adhered the top first with staples, knowing the 2nd strip would cover our work. Trim foamies sheet to size then wrap around and glue with mod podge.

To decorate and help hold on foamies we added the brads and ribbon around the sides with the cropadile and a paper piercer. Then filled with candy.

Embellishments

Hey everyone, it's Amy! I want to talk about something that sometimes stresses me out when I'm scrapping. What's that, you ask? Embellishments!!! I totally have a love/hate relationship with them. I can usually get my layouts going, but when it comes to the embellishing, I sometimes struggle with what and how much. Since the layout or project I make just doesn't seem finished without the embellishments, I spend the majority of my time on picking my embellishments. Case in point, here is a layout that I started (it was for the Janelle's Sketch This! site) but it just didn't feel complete like this:



So I took it back to the drawing board, and ended up with this:


which I like much better. Here are a couple of my fav embellishers, other than the fabulous WIP designers:

Leslie Ashe
Alexis Hardy

And some of my favorite embellishments? I'd have to go with:



just to name a few. How bout you? Do you have a fav embellishment? Let me know what you love, I'm always looking for new ideas.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

7 Gypsies

Hello friends! This is Laina. I've had a SevenGypsies Photo Carousel sitting in it's box staring at me for the past several months.

I finally figured out what to do with it...

The carousel is made to hold 4x6 photos. It is also the perfect holder for postcards! I have a collection of vintage Disney postcards that were sitting in a box. (When I was little I was OBSSESSED with Lenticular postcards and Viewmaster Reels) This holder was the perfect way to display them. I didn't have enough postcards to fill the whole carousel so I added photos of our trip to WDW from last September to the extra sleeves. The rest of the design was simply made with paper scraps and punches. It went together so easily that I'm inspired to make more as gifts.















If you'd like to try to make one with our own theme, Trish has several for sale in her Etsy shop! If you make one, be sure to post it in the WIP Flickr account.

Friday, October 10, 2008

a fun little challenge....

ok i haven't posted a sketch in what seems like
forever and a day. so i have a fun little sketch
for you today to maybe help get your mojo flowing.
so the challenge is to take this sketch utilize it
and make a FALL themed layout with it!
make sure you share your pages with us--- we wanna see!

here is the sketch


and here is how i used it.


now lets see what you can do!
happy scrappin'!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

A Seasonal Favorite...

One of the things my daughter and I like to do during the season is host a mother/daughter craft class for our friends and neighbors. A couple of Sundays ago, we did just that. This year we opened it up to mothers and sons too--and I'm glad we did! We spend a little while planning the crafts together, and searching through different idea catalogs and magazines and websites. Then we gather materials, invite people, and set the environment up for success. Snacks and apple cider are staples, of course...
We had 5-6 stations set up around the house and on our patio (thankfully it was a nice day!). People roamed freely making crafts, and moved from place to place taking their creations as they went. I highly recommend Oriental Trading Company for things like this--their kits come with instructions and if for some reason someone had to leave, they just took the kit from that station and moved on.
Of course, I also had to take photos of each mother/child so I could in fact pass those on to the moms...
It really is a fun thing to do--and it doesn't take much. Something as simple as a ghost card had them playing and creating--and they were so proud of their creations! We had 10 crafts to complete--and I'm happy to say everyone finished in under 2 hours.
My dear friend Jen also pointed me to this site. We do "boo" our neighbors every year--and this year is no exception. Feel free to click on the link, print it out and play along in your neck of the woods too.

And last but certainly not least, this book is by far my children's favorite for Halloween. I know the whole thing by heart--and I can honestly say I still love it too. And for those of you who enjoy it, don't forget about the sequel--There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie...
If you have any favorite Halloween traditions, please feel free to share--I love hearing what you all are up to!

Have a wonderful day!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Melted Witches

A sweet gal by the name of Laura Manning shared this idea with me last week, and I became obsessed. Laura is a local gal and is also a student in the Sweet Treats class, so when we were mulling over some of the projects for the class in my home last week, she shared this one with me...First, line a cookie sheet with the Halloween Oreos. Dip a Bugle into melted chocolate, and stand it on top of the Oreo. Stick them in the frig to harden a few minutes. These are the hats.

Next, put some shredded coconut into a baggie with a few drops of food coloring and blend it all in so it turns yellow. This will be part of the witch's broom...
(Now, I was lucky enough to find some green colored chocolate at Michael's. It is sort of neon green--but you could use any color. In Laura's sample, she used white chocolate.)

Melt your colored chocolate and put a blob on the waxed paper. Put the hat into the melted chocolate.
Before the chocolate sets, place a pinch of the colored coconut into the chocolate, and a stick pretzel for the broomstick.
Thanks so much for sharing, Laura!! I'll be making these for my children's upcoming Halloween parties for sure...

This and many other ideas are available for download immediately at Get it Scrapped. The class will be ongoing through October, and I hope to see you there!

Have a great day everyone!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

what's on your playlist?

hi ya'll...it's emily here.
i love music.
music moves me.
when i hear a good song, it takes all that is within me to not get up and shake...cry...shout...smile...whatever.
i thought i'd send you to some of my absolute favorite songs right now. songs that i can't get enough of...and then, please list some of yours in the comments section. pretty please. i love new music.
k, here ya go:
Coldplay-A Warning Sign
Phil Wickham-Yours Alone
Coldplay-Fix You
Augustana-Boston
Gomez-Notice
Blue October-Congratulations
and ones i don't have links for-
Flaming Lips-Do You Realize
Regina Spektor-Samson
Dido-Here With Me
Ben Folds-Late

all right, well that's all for now...like i said, tell me some of your favorite songs right now!
thanks...and happy music listening :)

Monday, October 6, 2008

Another Layout using the October Main kit

Hi Everyone!


This week I am knee-deep in boxes, crumpled old newspaper, and packing tape as I prepare to move this coming weekend. YIKES! I've forgotten how much work it is to move all your stuff. Phew! Do you have any great moving tips for me? LOL! Maybe it's too late for that.Your more than welcome to come by and help me if you'd like, too! ;)


Well, I couldn't keep my fingers off of the October Main kit and decided to make another layout. We have a birthday tradition in our family that the birthday person gets to choose where they would like to go for dinner that night. My son always chooses pizza at the bowling alley. :D I think it is his way of sneaking in a family activity as well. LOL! Sadly, I am the worst bowler in my family. Even worse than my kids. *blush, blush* My son told me that next time I didn't have to come because he felt so bad for me that I was such a terrible bowler! Gotta love that kids tell it like they see it!





Have a great week!
Jana