Vintage Valentine Card Class

Here are three of the cards from my upcoming class on Vintage Valentines. The class is on Saturday, January 26th, from 1-4 pm. Cost is $28. In addition to what is in the photo, we will be using Distress Embossing powder and Distress Crackle Paint.

Comments are Welcome

I have now enabled this blog to accept comments. Please feel free to drop me a line. All comments will be available for viewing by anyone, so try to keep your usual crudeness and cursing to a minimum. I may from time to time post projects here...I am even learning how to post a video...I'm thinking more along the lines of a "how-to" technique sort of thing, as opposed to a scan around my empty living room...but, you never know how the spirit will move me.

For Christmas, Santa brought me an itouch and a flip something or other (that's the video camera)...and I am in the process of learning what cables to use to make it all work. I can already put music and photos on the itouch so I feel that I am up on my game here. I will still have a "consultant" (college kid) home for a few more weeks, so there is hope that I will continue learning.
So, for 2008, one of my goals is to connect myself to the internet and become more tech savvy. However, if I start speaking Klingon, someone needs to come over and turn off my computer.

Hey Everyone!!
Here's my first 2008 entry...so I guess it's appropriate to say Happy New Year to everyone. I'm looking forward to lots of new things this year...techniques, papers, inks, paints, boxes, mini-books, jewelry, etc.

Robin Beam will be here in April, early on...and Robin is a very talented jewelry person...so we may be getting in some beads and "stuff" that goes with it when she comes.

Laurie Mika's class, in March, on Clay mosaics is full but Laurie has promised to return sometime soon. In the meantime, we can share with you what we learn (and by "we" I really mean "me' as I am taking the class with her myself.)

Micheal deMeng will be back the weekend of May 30 for more fun and games. Stay tuned for those details.

Aside from Valentine projects, I am looking forward to the whole organization series we are doing, as well as hoping to fit in time for lots of mini-books and complex paper structures. We have a very cool folder in the store right now, which will be taught in assorted classes, e.g. the Tuesday Breakfsst Club, the Thursday Artful Cafe, and possibly a few more. We have already done it in the Not-Your-Ordinary-Book-Club, with great success. It can take any theme and I encourage you to come in and take a peek.

Also, we are charging full-steam ahead with "kits" for all the Creative Cafe projects that we present. Watch the weekly e mails for info on those. I'll write more and add some photos in the near future. Meanwhile, keep watching Tim Holtz' blog, as he is posting a monthly "challenge" to inspire all of us to keep trying new techniques. (www.timholtz.typepad.com.)

Tim Holtz' Holiday Hideaway

Yes, I was very fortunate to be able to attend this great event out in Arizona. There were 36 of us there along with Tim, Mario (who made fantastic meals for us!) and assorted elves. We all had tons of fun together and Tim had created 6 fantastic projects for us to make. There were great little gifts left in our room every night, and all sorts of free stuff to take home. It was like having Christmas morning happen over & over again. I have all the projects that we made here in the store, so feel free to come in and take a peek. They are all very inspiring and I'm sure you will get some great ideas. Check out the calendar for the days after Christmas. I will be doing 3 classes on the Tim Holtz 12 Days of Christmas Tags. We'll be doing lots of Distress techniques.

Quick & Easy Gift Idea

This is a very cute gift that you can fill with photos, recipes, family anecdotes or maybe you're in the mood for some really evil threats. Everything works in the booklet...that's how flexible it is. Here's how to make it. Take 2 medium sized cards, and attach the inside right half to the outside front cover of the other card. This creates a 3-fold base. You can use your tape runner for this.
Sew another card to the left side score of the open tri-fold. Just use a big-eye- needle and some waxed linen or embroidery thread or narrow ribbon. You can even punch a small hole and use narrow ribbon and do without the needle. (Poke 2 holes, 1 inch from each edge along the sewing line. Take thread from outside through the bottom hole, leaving a long tail--go up and out through the top hole to take the thread to the poutside of the booklet. Tie the two ends together near the top hole and add something to dangle--beads, charms, money.)
Decorate all the faces of the card using decorative scrapbook paper (BUT--before putting the paper over the outside center back, lay some ribbon across, about 20 inches, to wrap around to the front to tie the booklet closed.). Add stickers with room for journaling, and other stickers for decorative purposes. Add other embellishments as you like, charms, ribbon, etc.
Feel free to come in and see the sample in the store.

The Year of the Bird

I'm not sure what "year" it is in other cultures, but here in the world of stamping and scrapbooking, it is definitely the year of the bird. We have two new bird die-cuts for use on our Accu-Cut machine. If you buy the paper here, you may use the machine to cut whatever you want. We also have some great pocket, envelope, tabbed pages, and assorted shapes of dies. The picture shows the large bird, which is about 3 x 5 inches. The smaller bird is around 2 x 3. I am going crazy making these birds and adding all sorts of embellishments to them...obviously, the bling works well. I am also putting on rub-ons, stickers, bells, etc. The birds do well standing alone as an ornament or strung together in a garland. Mind you, I am not a bird person, but these guys have really piqued my interest, especially because there are so many ways to decorate them.

Go to Tim Holtz' Blog

...the blog address is www.timholtz.typepad.com. Really, this is an amazing event happening here online. Tim is posting a "12 Tags of Christmas" special. He began on December 1, so today was day #6. But all the "classes" are there online. He includes pictures and step-by-step instructions for every tag...and they are gorgeous. We have almost everything he is using in these tags in the store, and we are putting together a little display up front. If you have any questions, please come in and ask us...also, if you have tried any of the tags, or your interpretation of them, we would love to see them.

If you post a comment to his blog, you become eligible for a prize, which is randomly chosen at the end of each day. The day before the first tag went up there were 25 comments on his blog. After the first tag was posted, the next day there were over 700 comments, over 900 after the second tag, over 1000 after the third tag. By the fourth and fifth days, the numbers were continuing to climb. This is really quite a phenomenon in the stamping world.

And the directions are so clear and well done. Tim does all the photography as he is making the tags...how's that for multi-tasking?? We have been so lucky to have this very talented artist come to our store...fingers crossed for next summer.

I am thinking of having a Tim's Tag class/session...whatever, in the store on or around Sunday, December 16th. Watch for details of this. You can call the store if you would be interested and if it happens, we will let you know.