Blogoversary coming up!

See that little countdown clock on the right side of the screen? Yup! One month from today my blog turns a year old! I've really been enjoying my little blog and hope you have too. I'm making some plans so you'll definitely want to check back to see what I'll be up to that day - giveaways, tutorials, a guest post or two...and whatever else I can come up with to celebrate!

To start the ball rolling just a little bit early, I'm starting one contest right now. As of today, I have had 18,731 visitors to my blog (that number just astounds me, lol!) and I want to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart for sharing in the craftiness with me! Soooo, to celebrate, I have put together a little prize package for the reader who can come closest to guessing the number of visitors I'll have had by the time August 25th (my Blogoversary!) comes around! To enter, simply add a comment to this post with your guess and on 8/25 I will check my Sitemeter count (for an added hint, this was NOT added until my blog had been up and running a while - the flag counter is a new one I just re-added as well since my old one got messed up!) and the person with the closest guess will win!

I'll try to put everything together and get a photo a little later! :)

Yeah, I had to do the whole "sheeple" thing!

Because this is just too cool! A good chunk of my blog feeds were showing off their Wordle creations and I just had to have my own! Check out Wordle and join the "club"! ;) You can enter your blog addy and it will randomly pick words from your posts and make a collage out of them. You can change colors and remove words and tweak things OR rather than putting in your blog, you can just enter your own words! I can see this being a whole lot of fun for various papercrafting as well!Update - Ha! Thena was able to fix it for me, lol! Soooooo glad we've got someone like her working with us at SNR! Digi stuff (this is a PNG file...NO idea what to do with one of those, lol!) is just plain beyond me. But our adorably sweet Thena promises that making one's own paper and other seemingly impossible tasks are within our grasp. She's got tutorials on all kinds of fun stuff in the magazine (and, of course, her trademark poetry - just for us!) and one of these days I'll get the software to sit and TRY them!

Thanks, Thena!!!

Some video demos from CHA, part 3

This was one of my favorite new toys released at the show! Around the Block always comes out with the most inventive doodads, lol! This is the BradMaker. Several companies have the little brads with center artwork under a flattened dome, but Making Memories comes to mind as having really done a lot with this look. Well, now you can do it yourself! Add ANYTHING - photos, pieces of patterned paper, bits of stamped images, whatever you'd like. You can also COVER brads with fabric and such, but we didn't get that on video (nor did I see it done, just know that it CAN be done).

You'll really have to forgive me on this video - I probably should have watched her demo this a few more times to get a feel for where she'd be moving when so I could back the zoom out in time...it's a bit wobbly at times and at the end she just kept moving while I was trying to zoom (lol - listen for Jennifer from ATB in the background telling her to stay still at the end - she was watching over my shoulder). But trust me - looks JUST like the ones from MM!

Psst, might need to turn your volume up a bit too - she's a little quiet and they were in a high traffic area near an entrance.

The MSRP for the BradMaker is $39.95. Refill kits available as well.

Had to switch to YouTube - Blogger just doesn't seem to like videos to be uploaded directly!

Some video demos from CHA, part 2

Another interesting tool that I suddenly can't figure out how I ever lived without! Magic Mesh has come up with the coolest use for their own meshy technology. This mat solves several problems scrapbookers and cardmakers come across in everyday creativity.

First, especially for those who don't have a dedicated space (with a door that CLOSES, lol), you can use this to pick up your project and store it elsewhere EXACTLY intact until you're ready to work on it some more. Also safe from dust, small fingers, kitty fur...

Secondly, for those who like to layer things but then have to re-figure where everything went during the adhesive process, this solves the problem BEAUTIFULLY! Definitely a home run in my book!



Besides this cool contraption, Magic Mesh has added some really nice new weaves to their traditional product. And has anyone NOT yet figured out just how awesome Magic Mesh is with acrylic? MADE for it, lol! Remember the color is on both sides of the mesh! OR, you could color one side of the mesh (the non-sticky side) another color using inks, paint, etc. I could go on and on, but I think I'll save that for another day! :)

Some video demos from CHA, part 1

I kept forgetting I had my camera, much less that it was a videocam, lol! Then when I would pull it out I did get a couple of those "deer-in-the-headlights" reactions from people who could demo the product for hundreds upon hundreds of people live, but froze in front of a camera. Sigh. But I did get a few good videos. They'll have a permanent home on Scrapbook News + Review's site once we figure out where, but in the meantime, hope you enjoy!

This first video is of the new trimmer from We R Memory Keepers. Releasing in mid-October (I'll be doing a complete review in the October issue of SNR) and retails for $10! Soooo simple, yet completely astounded me in how useful it's going to be for ME! The base is magnetic. So WRMK has a magnetic mat, or you could use the Basic Grey, or whatever. You can put the darned thing anywhere and get a straight line. No longer limited by the sides of your trimmer etc. so you can cut on weird diagonals too. This just makes so much sense!

The circle cutter, also, is magnetic. The blade is a standard size (so you could get Xacto refills - I forget what size, but they are available) and straight-cutting rather than other versions of this (cough, Elmer's) that use a rotary and don't end up in the same place when you get round the circle. Ok.

Enough of my chatting - on to my buddy Mike (I've known him for years from back when he worked for Chatterbox and I first became a buyer in this industry!) showing you his wares! Remember I still haven't figured out how to edit video so pardon my fidgeting, lol!



These two products are part of an expansion to their Ultimate Cutting Kit - honestly, it's pretty darned cool! I really like their cutting mat and the diagonal lines built in! Oh, and that's the old circle cutter that comes with it shown in the link and the one in the video is the prototype for the new (the real thing will be purple to match everything else and not the ugly orange, lol - I checked to make sure!).

Back from CHA!

I have sooooo much to share I don't have a clue where to begin! I have to upload all my photos and video still and all kinds of things, but thought I'd share this quick photo of me with Cathie and Steve from Creative Juice! Can I just say he is soooo much yummier in person? But I was a good girl - I tried really hard to focus on Cathie just to avoid slipping up and asking if I could have his children, lol! I mean, come on - a man that looks THAT good AND is creative? Swoon...


And, of course, me with some of the girls from Scrapbook News and Review! On my left (looking at the picture) is Carla, who is our Advertising Manager, and on the right is Caitlin, our beloved Editor in Chief! It was marvelous to finally meet them both in person!!

More CHA Sneak Peeks

While I'm off seeing these in person, just thought I'd give you all more to drool over while you wait! :)

And some more!

Hopefully I'm on the road when this posts, lol - if not, I'm running WAY behind! I'll be in Chicago for the next few days at the CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) Show basking in all the creativity and new products. I'll have some posts for while I'm gone to keep you busy, then I'll be back on Sunday (probably won't blog until Monday though, lol) with lots of pics from the show! Check back in!

These are some more of the earrings I've been making. Please note that these are NOT actually finished in the photographs. They've been dipped about 6 more times each so are MUCH shinier (and stronger!). It really makes a big difference. If you look at the bottom two, you'll see I tried Stickles rather than Scribbles like I've been using. In the photo they look rather rough, right? After a few more times being dipped in the Future, those rough glitter edges smooth out beautifully! All four of these are using American Crafts papers. Different weights of paper REALLY make a difference in this project, both in the finished result and especially in the creation process. Thinner papers, while they CAN be used...are NOT easy to work with. I have a bunch I've been working on using older Chatterbox and cherryArte papers. The look - gorgeous. The paper is a nightmare to do this with though. I've had my best results with American Crafts, Prima, and My Mind's Eye. Making Memories doesn't do a lot of double-sided papers (although they've been doing more!), but I did some with the original Noteworth line and they are thick enough papers to work quite nicely. Looking forward to finding some new papers at the show to try!

Lots of Butterflies!

Ok, I'm now officially addicted to making these! Still perfecting the technique. I've found several different ways to do this with varying success. They all come out fine in the end, I'm just hoping to find a way to reduce some of the time in between. But anyways, here are some of my recent butterfly earrings that are finished! Forgive the photography - I couldn't find the little doodad that attaches my camera to my tripod so I just took the photos trying to be as still as possible...which resulted in some weird angles, lol! I'm hoping to have some of these earrings up in my Etsy store (no, don't bother trying to find it yet, lol, it's empty still!) in the next week or so. We'll see after I get back from CHA. Speaking of which...24 more hours and I'll be on my way to Chicago! I don't know that I'll have a way to blog from there or the time, so I'll be pre-arranging some posts for while I'm gone.

More CHA Sneaks!

Well I won't even attempt to try the video version on this, lol! Anyways, I split the groups up a bit more so that when you click on the photo to see the big version they'll be even bigger, lol! Enjoy your drooling! 44 hours until I hit the road for CHA! It's only about a 3 hour drive. I'm trying to get a few posts scheduled so those of you not going to the show will have something to do while you're waiting for all the post-show excitement!

A blog award!

What is it about these awards that makes me all giddy? Especially when it comes from a complete stranger (translated "potential new friend"!) from far away! Christa, whose blog is here (go look!) gave me this award and I'm so honored! Cough - of course, my high school French is completely rusty. So I wanted to see what it was she had said and my brain just would not let me translate. So I turned to the dreaded internet translators. Yea, according to the translator, altered art (I know whatever she said was close to that, maybe altered objects) translates from French into deteriorated objects, lol! Trying to translate the rules was even worse (links became bonds and reading through the translation sounded rather naughty, lol) so I hunted down someone who had received the award and had it in English, lol!

So, here are the rules that go along with the award:
1. You post the award logos on your blog.
2. You link back to the person who awarded them to you.
3. Nominate at least 7 people whose blogs you admire and add links back to their blogs.
4. Leave a message for the nominees on their blogs.

I decided that since I received the award internationally, that I would pass it on internationally as well and picked 7 of my bookmarked blogs that make me happy to see them show up on my feeds. :) Enjoy the inspirational world tour!

My seven international picks:
Nic "It's Been One of Those Days" - New Zealand - Nic is soooo talented! I promise you'll love everything she does!
Becks "Cake Cocoa and Gossip" - United Kingdom - Lots of product reviews (especially right now so close to CHA she has tons of sneak peeks) with an amazing sense of humor - most posts have something that will make me smile!
Rhi "Dandelion Wishes" - United Kingdom - Rhi is a charmer! I just want to hug her through the computer, I swear. Lots of fun with paint and her journaling will amaze you - lots of poetics and deep thoughts.
Irene "Scrapperlicious" - Malasia - What can I say - Irene's work is simply amazing! Like the layered super detailed style with lots of stamping and inking? Everything she does must be looked at again and again to find all the little details she has put into them.
Corinne "The Life of a Dutch Scrapper" - Netherlands - Another hugely talented gal who will knock your socks off!
Liza and Wati "Artz de Scrap" - Singapore - Altered arts - I love to browse! Their DT is from all over and they spotlight lots more - yummy!
Meriam "Little Memorie Kisses" - Netherlands - Amazing work and tons of amazing photography as well - a must see!
Tracey "Running With Scissors" - United Kingdom - Shhh, I don't always know if it's MEANT to be funny, but the cute UK'isms sprinkled in Tracey and Becks' blogs always make this American giggle! Tracey does all kinds of beautiful work - you'll love her cards, especially!

You know, I used to have a bunch of French blogs bookmarked that I lost back when my computer went kapoof. I miss them! At one point I even did a post on 2Peas wondering if there was something in the French water that made them so amazingly artistic! I'd love it if you passed on your favorite French (or other international!) scrappers' blogs to me so I can rebuild my collection...hint hint! :) I may only be able to read bits and pieces, but the eye candy is sooooo worth it!

Happy Birthday Card With a Twist

This was another card in the June issue of Scrapbook News + Review. It was the featured technique (rather by accident - I just sent the card in on assignment not knowing she was looking for a technique to feature, lol!) and it's a really easy one.

The flower embellishments were made by taking the double-sided paper used for the card and curling thin strips around a wire hanger then looped in layers onto Glue Dots. The eyelet is not "set", but rather pressed into the top Glue Dot.

Supplies:

Patterned Paper - Her "Just a Girl" Chic Flower/Girly Green Paper from My Mind's Eye Signature Life Collection

Flowers - Crimson Blossoms from Imaginisce

Blank Greeting Card - DMD

Rubons - American Traditional Designs
Decorative Eyelet - Scrapworks

Chipboard Numbers - Provo Craft

Other - Glue Dots

Michael's Rock Box

I'm so glad I picked up the collection pack for Basic Grey's Archaic line. I really have enjoyed using it over and over! This was a little box I altered for my son to put his little rock collection in. Just a simple $1 wooden box from Michael's and now I can (cough, hopefully...) stop finding his little rocks here, there and everywhere in my house! I love the little dirt/worms/rocks sticker and thought it would probably be a good idea to use the arrow pointing to rocks to keep Michael from deciding it would be ok to bring in dirt and worms as well. We'll see!

Supplies:

Patterned papers - Boulder and Primal from the Archaic Collection by Basic Grey

Adhesive - E6000

Metal buckle - 7gypsies

Leather strip -Tandy Leather Company

Mod Podge - Plaid

Acrylic paint - Delta Ceramcoat in Espresso Cafe Noir Opaque

Stickers - Basic Grey Archaic Collection

A layout I actually love!

I did this page for Scrapbook News + Review (the July issue dropped yesterday, by the way - it's FABULOUS! Over 300 projects!) in the June issue for the sketch column and I REALLY was happy with how it came out. And it was even a page about something me (or at least my shoes, lol)! Yay me! :)

Supply list:

Patterned papers - Organic Honeysuckle and Organic Poppy from Bo Bunny

Journaling pen - Zig Writer in chocolate from EK Success

Ink - Colorbox Fluid Chalk in Chestnut Roan from Clearsnap

Cutter - Curvy Cutter from EK Success

Letter stickers - American Crafts LAX Remarks

Flowers - Prima

Velvet brads - Making Memories

Journaling:

No, I don't wait to catch glimpses of robins, or to see flowers peeking up through the soil. For me, Spring is here when I can pull out all my favorite shoes and set my toes free! Growing up, I was never a "shoe girl" - I had sensible, boring shoes. Even in college and beyond, I never got into shoe shopping. I always had a few pairs - a pair of tennis shoes, a pair or two of heels, and a pair or two of dress flats. All usually in black, brown and white. After my divorce, however, I started to pay more attention to my appearance - it was time for a change! I was shopping for clothes one day, and the store happened to have a small selection of shoes. A pair of high heeled red sandals caught my eye. Red! I've never owned a pair of red shoes in my life! It was daring. It was provocative. It was everything I wanted to be! Soon that adorable pair of shoes (which I left in my hotel room at CHA last year) led to more. And more. I am now a shoe whore - I admit it! And all of my favorites are open-toed with a heel. They make me feel pretty. And sexy. Like a new person - a girl enjoying Spring again! Time to go shopping!

Be still my heart...new Mod Podge!

Color me happy! I just got word on the new Mod Podge formulations releasing for CHA Summer - woohoo! I will be ALL OVER the Plaid booth at CHA next weekend, lol!

Glow in the dark...

Shimmer Silver...

Shimmer Gold...

Glittered Silver...

Glitter Gold...


Sigh - I need it all!!!!

CHA Summer 2008 Sneak Peeks Video

Yay! I did it! At least I hope I did, lol!

I've been collecting! However I started collecting after I'd seen quite a few so now I have to remember what I've missed and go back and find those images to add, but I've still got a nice little collection here for your drooling pleasure! I messed with slideshow after slideshow and then finally figured out I could do this soooo much more easily just using Picasa, selecting all of them and making a movie! Way cool. I love Picasa! However it did cut some of them off a bit and didn't give me an option to include the file names. Soooo, if you want to see the full pics with the name of the company, I do have a Flickr file with all of them here. But in the meantime, here is about 2 minutes of the yumminess to be hitting your stores in the coming weeks and months!!

Ok. For those of you following along with my trials and errors with this, here's how I made it work. Picasa has this wonderful little button "blog this". Which will take whatever pics you choose and pull up Blogger and put them all right there in your post for you. Of course, I always forget this, lol, and do it the long way, one at a time. Anyways. Although the movie Picasa made showed up as an avi file, if you use the "blog this" button, it turns it into a jpeg. Oops. So you do have to manually add these videos into Blogger. And they MUST be under 100MB. And if they're not, Blogger will still PRETEND to be uploading it for hours. Grrr.

Picasa also does a really fast collage! Click on it to see it much bigger!

And the countdown begins...

The countdown to CHA, that is! In exactly a week I will be arriving in Chicago (I'll be driving so leaving VERY early next Friday morning) for a few days of pure bliss! I've been to a lot of these shows but this will be my first NOT going as a buyer but as a member of the press (I'll be going with Scrapbook News + Review). I don't know yet what to expect from this new role but I'm definitely so excited to see all the new goodies, catch up with old friends, and just be in a totally creative atmosphere for a few days!

And speaking of Scrapbook News + Review, we are looking for submissions for our August issue! You can find the main calls here. Several of the departments have separate calls now as well, including mine! Have I mentioned yet that I'll be coordinating the newly re-vamped "Altered Art and Home Dec" section? :) I'm so excited about the future plans for this section! And I'd love to see your work for it! Here is what we're looking for:

Artful Rooms - We're looking for items you have altered for your kitchen - utensil holders, spice racks, kitchen art, altered cookie sheets and cutting boards...anything you can put in your kitchen!

Options - Time to see how you keep your household on time! We're looking for a wide variety of altered clocks - any style - what makes YOU tick?

Seasonal - We're looking for items altered with summer or beach themes.

Wearables - We'd love to see anything made with scrapping supplies that can be worn (totes/purses count) - jewelry, shoes (would love to see some flip flops!), etc.

ATC's - Show us your favorite ATC's for a new ATC gallery feature!

Call Guidelines Please submit your projects with the following guidelines: - Of any size - No restrictions on whether it has been posted to an online gallery, blog, etc., but we respectfully request that you take them down when requested for publication. Submit to jfranklin@scrapbooknewsandreview.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Deadline: July 31, 2008

I hope to see some of your work!!!

In the meantime, I'll leave you with one of the projects I had in the June issue - an altered wooden gift bag I made for my dad. I'm so in love with Basic Grey's Archaic line! I also used leather trim on this and clipped off the backs of some brads to just glue them on. The chipboard letters are 1.5" Prim & Proper font from Zsiage hammered with the Tim Holtz texture hammer then inked and swiped with gold and covered in Glossy Accents. Click on the picture to see the mega version and the details!


Let me know if you'll be at CHA too! I'd love to be on the lookout for you! :)

Future Floor Finish Tutorial

I had a great question via email about how to use Future Floor Finish as I've mentioned using it on both the chipboard pendants and the butterfly earrings (which I am now addicted to - I have about 10 more pairs to share once they are all coated and attached to their ear-wires!).

First of all, Future Floor Finish will be found in good sized box stores (except Walmart, for some reason - I got mine at KMart) with all the floor cleaners and such. I got a 27 Fl Oz bottle for around $7 and have used it on TONS of projects and have gone through maybe 1/10th of the bottle. Seriously - for craft purposes this stuff lasts forever. If you share with your floor, it may go quicker! Looks like baby oil. It does have a faint odor (which is fairly pleasant), but no fumes - you don't need to worry about ventilation or anything.

If you check my bead tutorial (here) under "Sealing the beads", I have some information on it, however I do it a little differently for these since they can't fit directly into the bottle.

For these, I glue the bail (I use a 3/4 inch premade eye pin from Cousins on these) in as I'm constructing them with a jewelry type liquid glue (or superglue). Once everything is all set, I have a little plastic dessert cup I have dedicated for this and I fill it with the Future Floor Finish. The dessert cup I use (3 for $1 at Walgreens in their little housewares section) is fluted so when I'm done I can easily pour it back into the bottle. Anyways. I use a piece of wire with a little hook bent into the end, hook the bail and dip it into the Future. Use a napkin, paper towel, or rag to gently touch the bottom where the Future is puddling and a toothpick to catch any spots that look like they're too thick. This is really thin and will soak through the paper, hardening all the way through. The first layer or two will take the longest to dry - I try to do about 6-10 dips - the more times it's dipped, the stronger these will be. I leave mine to dry standing up on wax paper. Check occasionally for drips and dab with your napkin to soak up excess.

You'll need to put the Future back in the bottle in between dippings OR, instead of the dessert cup, you could probably find some kind of jar (a mason jar maybe?) in which liquid can be kept and just keep it permanently there and replace the lid in between dryings.

You could also use a brush (paintbrush or even a foam brush) to paint layers of this onto larger projects (such as decorated tiles) but for these earrings and handmade beads the point is to get this to thoroughly soak the paper so that it hardens and strengthens it.

Hope that helps!! :) I'm hoping to do a video tutorial on these beads (still not getting the hang of editing video so it will just have to be raw, sorry!) so check back!

Door Hanger

It's been a long summer, lol! While I've loved being home with my son over his break, it's been hard to get things accomplished when he wants my attention all day. I finally decided to make a little door hanger to let him know when I was working (or please give me some peace and quiet) and when I was playing (please come play WITH me!). I used the cover of a Zsiage chipboard peek-a-boo album (I've been working on something else with the interior pages - more on that another day!). Zsiage Fountain Blu paper, flowers from Prima, 1.5" Prim and Proper font scrapbook film letters from Zsiage, paint dauber and Stickles from Ranger, embellishments from Making Memories, and fibers from Hot Off the Press.


Here is a closeup of another detail I did on both sides. I used the negative space from some Zsiage chipboard swirls to apply glue which I covered with Provo micro beads I've had forever and ever. I wanted to make it a little more noticeable so I tried to use a Sakura Glaze pen to outline the shape after the glue had dried, but the Glaze ink seeped into the beads, making for a kind of messier than anticipated outline.

Butterfly Earrings from scraps

I hope everyone here in the US is having a wonderful holiday weekend and for my visitors not in the US, I hope you are enjoying your weekend as well!

Remember the Cosmo Cricket butterflies I punched too many of for this project? Well this is where they ended up!




Cosmo Cricket papers, Stickles, findings from Cousins, the EK Martha Stewart butterfly punch and Future Floor Finish.

Scrappy Jewelry

See this in the July issue of Scrapbook News + Review!
I've been experimenting with these tile pendants for weeks now but just finally put one into a full necklace. I have quite a few I made out of scrabble tiles and other bits of wood, but have been working with different ways to use chipboard. I haven't found a version I really like yet though. For this particular piece, I used chipboard "chips" from Creekbank Creations. They are really thick and really hard. However, after Mod Podging the paper to the tiles and inking the edges silver, what I did was dip it into Future Floor Finish...about 20 times (drying completely in between each). While this works fantastic on wood tiles, even this super sturdy chipboard puffed up a little bit (especially where i had inserted the bail).

I have another one I did with Glossy Accents I will share as soon as I get it strung. It fixed the moisture issue of making the chipboard expand, but gave a new problem in that you had to add the Glossy Accents to each side separately and the overlap wasn't as clean as I'd like.

Anyways, for this one, I used Molten Madagascar paper from Zsiage and the beads are all gemstone beads from Cousins. The clasp is from Blue Moon.

Update on the ice cream social

Well, I didn't end up accomplishing nearly as much as I wanted to over at the ice cream social crop at Scrapperie this weekend. I completed five more cards and two layouts.

This was from a sketch challenge. Patterned papers all from Cosmo Cricket. Felt flowers from American Crafts (edged with my favorite yummy cinnamon Stickles), velvet brads from Making Memories, stitching stamp from CTMH, ink from Clearsnap, chipboard letters from Heidi Swapp, more Stickles to draw the "cloud", and a Zig pen.


This one was from a scraplift challenge. Patterned papers from My Mind's Eye, buttons from Making Memories, quote sticker from EK, Sisters sticker from Creative Imaginations.


The next two were from the "mint chocolate chip" challenge - had to use black, white and green.

Patterned papers and brad from Making Memories, cardstock from WorldWin, flower from Prima, brad from Making Memories, black glaze pen from Sakura and green Scribbles from Duncan.


Patterned papers from Making Memories, cardstock from WorldWin, flowers from Bazzill, Stamp from Hero Arts, brads from Making Memories.


These last three cards were from a challenge to make cards out of the scraps from earlier projects.

I used the Cosmo Cricket scraps from my Blessed layout on this card. Flowers from Prima, Ink from clearsnap, decorative eyelet from We R Memory Keepers, stamp from Rubber Stampede.


This card used JUST the scraps from my Sisters layout and one stamp from Hero Arts. I just thought that one scrap worked so beautifully on its own as a decorative element!


And, of course, the scraps from my leash holder! Flowers from Imaginiscence and Prima, stickles from Ranger, and stamp from Rubber Stampede.