4th of July Banner

I made this really quick last night for the 4th.

Jenni Bowlin Chipboard Banners

Scenic Route Liberty papers and chipboard.

First....

we want to thank everyone who's placed an order this month and taken advantage of the free shipping.

And now on to the links and pictures. This is going to be long and picture heavy.

First, the link. I know a lot of people love Prima products but some can be intimidating. I was recently showing someone a Prima Paintable and how I'd used some of it on a card for someone. (I'll post a picture of the card later in My Gallery). I took a class once with Kelli Crowe. She's a designer for Autumn Leaves. It was actually her first class but she did a great job. We stamped images and then used watercolors to paint them in. Very cool. And it distresses the paper a little bit. Anyway, when these Paintables came out last year I'd been wanting to try it. Well, as any scrapper knows, sometimes we just can't do every technique and layout idea we have on our list to try. It wasn't until I saw THIS from Prima last week. Its a Youtube video on how to use Paintables. Its a few minutes in on the video but its a really good idea on how to use the watercolors to paint in the areas you want. I even had a package of watercolors I'd purchased after taking Kelli's class so this was perfect. Its something everyone should try - at least once.

Of course, I wasn't satisfied buying the regular, old 99 cent case that we send to school with our kids. You know the one, the store brand with 8 colors. No way, Jose. I got the deluxe case. 16 colors from CRAYOLA!!

These babys go on bright. I mean, very bright. If you want color, buy these. They are not your ordinary watercolors. They even dry with a slight 'waxy' look/feel to them. Almost like a crayon but without the crayon marks. But really cool effect. I mounted the painted area of the Paintable on black cardstock so it would pop out more.

And as any busy card-maker knows, I waited till the very last minute to make this card so I never got a picture of it. I will be getting it back from them so I can get a quick picture to post.

So, the Paintables are available in the store. Very cool product to use and at the Winter show, they introduced CLEAR Paintables. So you have cardstock ones and now clear acetate ones. Very cool.

And a mini book I've been working on. I only get 45 minutes for lunch at work so I make the most of it. Of course, by the time I drag supplies out and tools, its pretty much time to clean up. But, I did manage to get this little cutie done. I used the Book It! Chipboard pack from Fancy Pants (on clearance in the store) and painted it orange. I used all kinds of good stuff. Bazzill Scalloped papers, new Lil' Davis Designs Epoxy letters (these are fun to work with!), new Prima felt letters (another fun thing to work with - and so much more. I posted the supplied used for each page in My Gallery. But here are a few pages.

The Book It Chipboard comes with pre-cut chipboard pieces to make 2 mini albums. One 4x4 square and the one I used, the tabbed one. There are some extras like flowers in the pack as well. You can see them here. Just something cute to have on my desk at work.

And finally, I'm always searching blog out there. I love to see what you guys are creating. Its awesome when you leave comments and I can link to your blogs. There is so much activity out there in blogland. I see people posting pictures of their scrapbook rooms and 'studios'. This is my creative space. Just a note, the last time this room was this clean was when I painted and moved into it almost 4 years ago. So, consider yourself very lucky to get to see the clean room. It probably won't be this clean again once I get started on projects. (Remember when I said June was dedicated to finishing my started projects? Well, I'm working on that and cleaning up this room!)

1. Rascals Corner. Yes, he really does have a corner. Thats his chair. Thats where he sits and watches. He's truly spoiled as most pugs are. The story with this room (or loft) is that when we first moved into this house, it was out second family room. We had a futon chair and full futon in this room with an entire entertainment system set up. We had the builders install in-ceiling speakers which ROCK! This was our other space to watch movies and just relax. Or a place for me to watch tv while Bryan was wathcing the one downstairs. In true male fashion, he bought the largest tv known to man to fill the gaping hole that is the media niche downstairs. My first scrap room in this house was the spare bedroom. I outgrew that. So, I started designing the loft as my next space. Our master bedroom is large. Larger than a normal master and very hard to fill. So we moved the futon in there. The futon chair, however, stayed right where it was and became Rascal's Corner. I have my Ikea Expedit shelf there for all of my idea books and stamps. I file my clear acrylic stamp sets in 3 ring binders. I love this idea since I can see everything I have just by flipping through the pages. Oh, and I love that big window right by my desk. Lots of light during the day.

2. Computer desk and some storage. These cabinets are actually garage work benches from Lowe's. All laminate material. The printer is on a shoe rack from the closet section! Who needs the Target cubes?!? And this is where I run YSS.com from.

3. My Donna Downey Storage system. I love this thing. It holds all kinds of small things! And my Pug Webkinz sitting there.

4. Main Storage. Once again, who needs those Target Cubes? I priced those but for $25 or more a piece (!) I couldn't shell out that kind of money when I knew there was a better solution. My dad is an engineer so I worked with him on this. I designed it and he made sure it was installed properly and to every building code there might be. I spent about $175 for this. The bottom left corner are 3 of the tall cubes from the closet section at Lowes (or Home Depot - they carry the same stuff). Just the laminate stuff. I got these on sale at the time, so I paid $18 for each of them. Those Target cubes go for $25 EACH, so thats $75. See, I told you there was a cheaper option. They fit side by side.

On the right side, I used their drawers. Two stacked equaled the same heighth as the 3 cubes. Perfect. I bought a piece of laminate thats 48 inches wide and 8 feet long. Thats the desktop. More cubes on top with another piece of laminate across the very top. This piece is 24 inches wide and 8 feet long. The bottom half sticks out from the wall allowing for a little storage behind the cubes and drawers. The desktop is secured to the wall and has a piece of wood as a bracket to support it. (see, it pays to have an engineer in the house!) The upper layer is flush with the wall giving me a lot of working space. I mainly use my drafting table and this space is for visitors.

5. Music - still loving those in celing speakers!

6. My collection of KI Gloo and Glossy Accents. My two 'go-to' wet adhesives. And my bling storage. Yep, thats my Swarovski crystal collection.

7. My lamp. Curious George.

8. Journaling tags. I just keep a basket handy and all journaling cards go in there.

9. My comfy chair and craft apron.

10. Paper storage. By company.

Oh, and Elle has some new goodies in the shop. We already ordered some so look for those to start showing up with your orders!

Awesome!

Just wanted to post this.
We had some pictures taken last week of our little family. You can see sneak peeks HERE.

We can't wait to see the rest! My little man in a patch of daisies! My little man will be 9 months old tomorrow. 9 months! Where do they go?

We've never done family pictures outside of a studio before so we were all a little nervous. So glad Joann could do this - just awesome!

I'm already picking out papers and embellishments to use with these!

If you're in the SoCal area, check her out. She did an awesome job and she's great with kids.

Rainy weekend = Scrapping {Updated with pictures}

More rain predicted for this weekend. Lots of rain.
During a break in the storms, we took a quick drive up the mountain road behind the house and got a shot of the snow on the mountains. These would be the Big Bear/Arrowhead mountains. If we didn't have to put chains on the tires, we'd be taking a drive up there this weekend.


So, that means, I'm staying inside and working on projects for my Gallery. I haven't uploaded in a while and I have a stack of layouts and mini albums just waiting to be uploaded.

The Design Team has some amazing projects up using their December/January kit.

The Anniversary sale ends January 31st. Hurry up and save an additional 15% off your order. Almost everything in the store has been marked down to make room for the new items coming in.

*** FOR THIS WEEKEND ONLY *** Orders over $50.00 will receive free shipping. Normally, we offer free shipping on orders over $75.00. With prices so low, you can get a LOT of paper for $50.00. (Free shipping minimum is different for international orders.)



Look for announcements on contests for February. Lots of CHA giveaways are planned.

Since I haven't had much of a chance to take pictures, I stayed up late tonight and started. Of course, the light isn't the greatest, but its getting done. Taking care of a 6 month old is hard work. Especially when that 6 month old demands attention every minute he's awake. When he was younger, I could put him in the swing and get things done. Now, he's not happy with the swing. He wants to play, which means my days are filled with Playschool toys that light up and sing silly songs. Any free time I get is spent filling orders. This leaves little time to be creative these days. BUT, my husband promised me a baby free weekend so my plans are to get as caught up on the baby's book as possible. I'm halfway through his November pictures now. By the end of the weekend, I should be caught up.

Thats a good feeling. Now, I only have 6 drawers of other photos to put into albums.



What are your plans this weekend? My iPod is charged up and ready for the Scrap Marathon!

Hunkered down.....

in my studio creating.

Lots of rain this week. It could be worse. I could be buried under lots of snow like some people. Wait, I LOVE snow! My husband and I were thinking about running up to the mountains this weekend and taking the little guy to see snow. We'll see. Right now, they're reporting you have to put chains on so it may be a 'no go'. I've got the chains, but my husband isn't looking forward to putting them on. Its still cold here. In the 30's, which is cold for SoCal. It means I get to wear my flannel pajamas and have fires every night. Do you know how fun it is to crank up the fire and watch the hockey game? A lot of fun!

So, its cold and CHA is right around the corner. I'm trying to use up my old stuff to get ready for the new stuff. (Yep, I'm just like the rest of you!) My studio is getting a workout this week. I'm also cleaning out a bunch of stuff I know I won't be using anymore. No matter how much I clean, I can always find something to add to the 'never going to use' pile. I keep one in the corner of the spare bedroom. A lot of it gets sent to my cousin and the rest will be going out the door in donation form.

I hardly ever get a Michaels ad, but last weekend, I got one. They have the Iris totes on sale. Yeah! $5.00. I bought 8 of them. Clear and purple. Those that know me, know I don't do pink, so I left the pink ones for some other 'pink person'.

Lots of fun stuff coming to the store in the coming months. I'm sure most of you have seen some of the Sneak Peeks out there. They are all over the place.

Here are some of our favorites:

American Crafts (NEW Thickers! Even glittery ones!)

Glitz Designs

Daisy D's

Prima

Scenic Route

Imaginisce

CherryArte

KI Memories/Love Elsie

October Afternoon

and more!!

The show is only a couple of weeks away. The camera battery is charged and ready! We'll be updating the blog each night with pictures from the show! We'll also have lots of giveaways too.

ETA: OKay, my links to the above are not working. Blogger seems to be having issues tonight. Most of these updates can be found on the Manufacturers blogs and websites. I'll check back in the morning to see if the links are working.

Tags

So, I've been trying to think of some really cool tag idea for my husbands gifts for his guys. We (I) put together a Movie Night in a Bag deal for 14 people. A bag of microwave popcorn, candy and a Blockbuster Gift Card. So, how to present it?
I'm all for the brown bag look this year so I put everything in brown lunch bags. After several days of nothing clever, I emailed Nora Griffin. She's the Queen of crafty, especially tags. Love her tags.

Her answer was simple: keep it simple. Movie theme = red and white stripes. So, I searched high and low for a cute lined stamp and found a cute Technique Tuesday stamp. I've had this in my stash for quite some time. With a little bit of embossing powder, I came up with this. Nothing special, but it works. And I ended up liking my simple but cute popcorn tubs.
Movie Night font is also a TT stamp. Thank you NORA!

Busy time of year.

I need to update my Gallery at the Store with my recent projects. So many of them laying around.
Its been a busy month. A trip to New York to see family, working on Christmas presents and making this the best first Christmas I can for the baby. Not only did we take him to New York, but we gorged ourselves. Its our yearly 'fill up on Italian pastries' trip. We hit the bakery almost everyday. We took a red eye flight and they first day my dad was at the bakery almost the second they opened. He bought what he called 'the starter kit' of pastries. Enough to get us through the first day. And the Entemans cakes! Oh my! They were stacked 5 high and 3 deep on the counter in my aunts kitchen! It was crazy. Now that I'm home, I'm eating bread and water to make up for it!

Then I had to bake the Christmas cookies and goodies for friends and family. Crazy! I'll post pictures of the finished product later. My dining room table is a mess. Nick got his first taste of fudge......








I've been working on Christmas presents for the family. I'm making everyone a little something this year. I found that Michelle Hills kits from Polka Dot Whimsy make some great gifts. If you've ever taken one of Michelles classes, you know her love of 'extras' or 'doodahs'. She searches out the perfect 'extras' for all of her kits and classes. She started her own Kit Club in September - one smart move! She's got an eye for cute stuff. I'm addicted! And since I can't get out and take classes like I used to, this is the perfect thing. Michelle Hill delivered to my house!


I'm addicted to mini albums. Here are some of the ones I'm giving away this year to some lucky family member - design courtesy of Michelle. I also made some of my own mini albums and those will be posted in a couple of days. I need to take more pictures, upload new product for the store, get the rest of the Christmas cards out etc. You know, its a busy time of year. I'm trying to get it all done today so I can enjoy the last week before Christmas.

One thing I've been dying to do (and I had the perfect photos sitting here for it) is lift this layout I saw on 2Peas. It was the Layout of the Day a few weeks ago. Awesome. Of course, I couldn't use pink for a boy, so I tweaked everything a little. I used the new Pageframes 12 inch antique frame, Prima Crystal Swirls, Scenic Route paper (worn lined paper by Scenic Route) and some chipboard embellishments by Lil Davis Designs. I chalked and glittered the stars and letters (both LDD). All embellishments are placed on the top side of the acrylic sheet while the paper and pictures are on the backside. I edged the acrylic sheet with light blue Stickles. I've got a collection of Stickles and other glitter glues that you wouldn't believe! I love that my little boy likes to cuddle. He'll cuddle with me under the down comforter in the morning when he wakes up and sometimes goes back to sleep.



Also, I used the smaller acrylic shapes from Pagesframes to create some ornaments for the family to commemorate the baby's first Christmas. I used glitter and Stickles on some of them and I embossed the rest. I used a 3 inch Marvy scalloped circle punch to punch out the picture of my little 'elf' and attached it to the center. Some of the acrylic shapes already have holes punched in the top, but some don't. You can use your trusty Crop-A-Dile to make the hole. (This is the best money I've ever spent on a tool.)

More to come later! I need to get the Pageframes items uploaded to the store.

Don't forget to add items to your Wishlist! Anyone can access your Wishlist and purchase items from there for you! Wouldn't that be the perfect gift! Orders can be shipped to you directly or to the person purchasing them for you. We also offer cute Gift Certificate holders. You have until Friday to request the Petal Envelopes for Gift Certificates. This should guarantee a Christmas delivery. A Stash Gift Certificate would make a perfect gift for you or someone you know!