And the CHA stuff starts rolling in...

It's started. CHA stuff is arriving.


* Today...
- new American Crafts Mini Marks rub-ons, Thickers (chipboard and foam), ribbon, chipboard and a couple papers (more on the way)
- new Basic Grey rub-ons
- new BoBunny paper (gorgeous!), 9x9 albums and stickers
- new Luxe papers (so cool and original)
- new Rob and Bob papers (now double-sided!) and rub-ons
- new Making Memories Anthology albums, chipboard, paper, stickers, etc. And new Defined stickers!
- new Prima (I love the teeny tiny ones!)
... and more.

Also restocked the 7 Gypsies Naked and Observation stamps.

It's now in the shoppe on Main and I'll try to get it online this week.

* Also, Maya Road Chipboard is now available individually... even alphabets! Pick only the letters you need! We need to restock these, but there's a few left. Coaster albums, flowers, ABCs...


* Added the April class to the sidebar. Sign-up here.

Tuesday, April 17th ~ 6:30pm

$20 ($18 for Members)

This class is going to be so fun! And so perfect for Mother's Day! A 16x20 canvas! Really! Inspired by Ali Edwards. And you don't need to be familiar at ALL with canvas to complete this project. We'll supply the canvas, paper and paint... you bring your photos, adhesive and embellishments!

So, that's the update today.

Another online crop and tricky teeth

Look who's teaching in Florida when we're going... Emily Falconbridge!
I tell yah... how cool would that be!

Spent today scrapping (in between refereeing, cleaning, laundry, playing "store" with the kiddos). MSS February online crop. Got these three done. Hoping to get one more done after the kids are in bed.

Today's my first day scanning since I got our new computer. And low and behold our scanning program's not on there. Which is fine... it's really old... but I was familiar with it. Now I have this new one (Arcsoft Photostudio 5) which is almost the same... but stitching is a pain! If anyone has any good (and FREE) program that automatically stitches, please pass it on!

And I'll be drawing for RAKs later in the week.

After freaking out all day long, Molly pulled out her own tooth. She was shocked at how easy it came out. I'd bugged her all day to let me do it, but she'd scream and run away (more acting than anything). She wanted to keep it in... she said she could do tricks with it. I guess when your tooth is sticking out horizontally it's a trick!

* And, by the way, the project in the new banner is the project for April!

New stuff

New CHA stuff is trickling in.
- Lil' Davis Stripped Chipboard shapes
- new Dream Street papers
- new Hero Arts stamps
- new Basic Grey
... and more.

Lots more on the way.

Slowly getting them in the online store.
Also new...
- KI Mini Soup letters


And don't forget....
This weekend's our online crop!
Be there or be square! ;)

Florida 2006

Almost a year ago we drove 30 hours (one way) to Florida. Our first trip there. And we had a blast. I took over 600 pictures those two weeks. I knew that our first trip there would result in tons of photos. As much as I would have liked to scrapbook them individually, I knew my only chance would be a simple theme album. Most of the work when into editing my photos. I had the plan already in my head. 4x6 photos for the left side of every "new" event. Then a collage of wallets everywhere else. I narrowed down my supplies and did the same thing (with a couple of variations) on every page. The actual "scrapbooking" part took only 5 hours! Some 40 pages later. It is one of our most looked at albums. And now I know that I have the basics of our first trip in this album. I won't have to take the same "firsts" pictures again, and can scrapbook them totally differently.
And future Florida photos will always be coming.

Supplies:

- 8x8 album (red)

- paper

- flowers

- journaling stamps

- alphabet stamps

March Schedule

Here's what's up for March.

My mind was on Florida and my mojo was on a quick project...

Please bring you basic kit and sandpaper to class.

We'll be using Daisy D's, K&co and Foofala papers, KI and Fontwerks stamps and more.

And, as always...

Crop @ the Shoppe ~ Thursdays 7-10pm (although it looks like I won't be attending the ones in the last half of the month.

Monday

Finally able to post my "Seeing Red" layout for February. Still have to get the printer and scanner hooked up, so hopefully this picture of it will do.

And, just a random picture from last week.

We love to color in this house!

Kit subscription info and March kit Sneak Peek ---> here.

Computer update

New computer... check.
Internet access... check.
Email... hopefully next week.
Just letting you all know... if you're trying to get ahold of me via email... that should be up and running tomorrow hopefully.

Grrrr...

Without internet here at home. Love technology when it works. Not so much when it doesn't!!

Just a quick post to say I'll respond to emails and get the new stuff up in the online store as soon as I can.
- KI Mini Soup
- new Lil' Davis chipboard and stamps
- new 7 Gypsies stickers
- new Basic Grey
- new Prima
- restocked adhesive and trimmers
- EK Circle Cutter
... and more

Happy Valentine's Day all!

Relax

Relaxing at home today. Derek doesn't get Saturdays off (the weekends are the busiest at work for him), so we always hang out together on Sundays. Relaxing, movies, games... that kinda stuff.

Just sharing today.

Have a good Sunday everyone.

Elves

Relishing the morning at home today. Seems like since the move I've been at the Shoppe all day, every day. So today I'm tending to the house. Laundry, cleaning off tables and desks, etc. I swear there's little elves living in my house who come out at night and mess up all my progress. Hrmph. Gotta get rid of those guys.

Anyhow.

Posted my February inspiration piece. A little late but it's posted. You can check it out here.

Also got my Valentine cards up. You can find those (and others from the DT) here.

Things have been crazy with the sale. I've got almost all the orders shipped and things are winding down. And in the midst of all this I've had so many people commenting on the kits and the stuff being posted on the site. It just makes me happy. Happy to know that what I'm doing is worth it. That people notice and appreciate it. That people are being inspired. So cool.

And I've always said we have the best gallery I've ever seen. Caliber work... all the time.

I had to reinstall my scanner today, so I've flooded the gallery a bit.

I'm usually happy with my pages. And have been for a while. It's not like there was anything missing. I love clustering the embellishments, using one photo, etc. but there's a lack of negative space that I like. So this last week I've been using 12x12 and one photo. So far I like it.

Work vs. Home

Yes... I'm also ordering CHA KI/Elsie and Heidi Swapp... I just haven't got the preorder list yet. Fontwerks too.

Found out I have to work this weekend, so I'll probably only get my preorders in this next week. Trying to work the kit orders in there too! What fun!
So today I'm staying home. Trying to corral my laundry and clutter. Was hoping to scrap this afternoon since I haven't in a while and won't get to tomorrow.

I'm still working on online orders. Packing some tomorrow and then next week. All those that come through till the end of Saturday will be discounted with the sale prices, even though I will still be packing them next week.

Have a good weekend everyone!

A long long wind

Found this blog through Ali's. A couple things resonated with me.

"You must give up perfection! Perfectionism only provokes fear and fear is what holds us back in pretty much every area of our lives."

Now, he was talking about photography... but really... how true. On so many levels. With life, art, scrapbooking, etc. After kids I learned to give up perfection in my daily life. The house won't always be clean. I will have piles of laundry on the floor. I will pick up toys everyday. I loose more things in one day than ever before. And I'm okay with that. I am. At the end of the day I have a wonderful life. The things I complain about (in the grand scheme of things) don't matter. I don't have a finished house. Our days are busy busy busy... rarely time for a break. The bills keep on coming. My truck is freezing cold in the mornings.

My kids draw on my floors more than they do on paper.

But, so what.

Does it matter?

No. Not really.

My family loves me. I love me. I love them. We have shelter and food. We treat each other with respect, kindness and love. We are us. We are complete... and completely happy. We have what we need.... not what society tries to tell us we need.

"Life is for living". See... you can learn something from Buffy.

And, one from from that same post.

"There's an old saying that goes something like "always remember you're unique... just like everyone else." It's true, so many people are out there trying so hard to be different that they end up looking the same. What I'm saying is, be yourself, and don't let fear hold you back. Forget all the rules you learned in school or from your mentors for a while and get out and shoot the way you've always wanted to shoot. Do something YOU like, not what you think your clients expect."

I relate this totally to scrapbooking (including the publishing world). I tell stories with paper and photos. For me. For my family. To remember. That is all. Simple as that.

Art is subjective. What's liked by one, is not by the other. I love my pages. My art. They are unique to me. A reflection of me. My art is unique to me. That is it's specialness.

Now, I intended just to post the quotes and link and, of course, this went on a bit long. Sorry.

And so... it's February 1st. That means new layouts in the Design Shoppe on MSS. These are using the February Kit - Truly, Madly Deeply. The kit will be out by tomorrow (hopefully). Check the Red Star blog for details.

Happy Thursday everyone.

On a shoppe note I'm placing CHA preorders from the following companies in the next few days.

- Crate

- Cosmo Cricket

- Lil' Davis

- American Crafts

- 7 Gypsies

- Fancy Pants
Let me know if you have any special requests.