Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Happy December!

Yes, though it's scary to admit, December is finally upon us.
19 days until my Boyfriend's birthday.
21 days until I leave for California.
23 days until Christmas.
29 days until my Grandmama's birthday (and the end of 2008)...

I finished NaNo, now things need edited. I've found a few stories I thought were lost, so those are also added to the pile 'to be edited.'
And I started scrapbooking again. I've been taking quick twitter pictures (twitpic.com) once I'm done with the layout that's then sent to 2peas to upload in the gallery for now until I scan things. I really like scrapping in 8x11.5 (the landscape size)--And I think it's just enough to fit on my scanner (another plus). Now I've gotta promise myself that I won't buy any scrappy stuff for a while (other than photos and adhesive) so that I can get some things done. I need a LOT of photos, which means finding the photos, then uploading them and finally ordering them--it's something I'm going to have to work on a little more. And it's a LOT cheaper than printing them out on my own.

Layouts to work on tonight--the one I was working on last night (no idea what for--just liked the products I was using) and the birthday party pics. There might be something wrong with my photo printer, so I have to check it out. Eeek! Anyway, that's all I've got for now.

Oh, wait.... What are you most thankful for?

Monday, November 24, 2008

Free Blog Course!!!

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

  • The best blogging techniques.
  • How to get traffic to your blog.
  • How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Important Information About Tuesday!!!!

Friday, October 24, 2008

Company Shout Out: Bo Bunny

One of the cool things about TwoPeasInABucket.com is that it has a place for scrapbook companies to blog. I love this because it feels like I'm just that much closer to the company.

Anyway, one of the companies I've been most interested in lately, Bo Bunny is having a Halloween themed contest, where you add their site to your blog (and yes, I have a link on the right hand side of my blog for them) and they might come and visit you on Halloween.

Company blogs present a wonderful and unique opportunity--they can be informal and fun and showcase amazing product (which, by the way, Bo Bunny has in SPADES). I have some of their Halloween paper featured in this Bo Bunny blog post, the skulls and the bats and the trick or treat words. They really fun papers, priced really well for their quality. So, what are you waiting for, go check out Bo Bunny!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Blog Candy Opportunity


Papercrafts by Rach is hosting awesome blog candy. It includes:
a lovely unmounted rubber stamp, melinda hugging heart.. a 6"x6" basic grey two scoops paper pad, a pack of two scoops buttons, a bottle of stickles glitter, some heart charms and some shrink art plastic.
Check it out and Enter the contest by commenting!

Good Luck!

Friday, September 26, 2008

Huge Blog Candy Opportunity

Most of you probably don't know it, but my both of my mom's grandmothers had Alzheimer's. I grew up in California, very close with her maternal Grandmother, the woman I called Granny. She lived with my Grandparents for a very long time, but eventually had to be put into a full-time care facility. Luckily, my Grandmother worked within the industry, so I was able to see Granny a lot. One of my favorite memories of her, other than her huge crush on Bob Barker, was that she used to let me wheel her around the convalescence home. We'd go shopping, meaning I'd wheel her around the facility and pretend to go to placed I'd never heard of, like Ben Franklin. Sometimes she'd take things, arguing with residents and staff alike as she held up what she thought to be an advertising flyer, asking why they didn't have any more slippers or pantyhose on sale. Granny also lived with us for a while, and she locked herself in the bathroom, arming me with a bobby pin and told me that it was my job to get her out using only a bobby pin. Thanks for showing me how to pick a lock, Granny.
Anyway, my Grandmother wanted to transport her back east when we moved, so she'd have someone close. Granny turned and hurt her foot on the plane ride. I remember her checking into the home across from where we lived, and my mom's paternal grandmother stopped in and the women talked like sisters, they hadn't seen each other in so long, but the years melted away. Within a few hours, Granny was rushed to the hospital and my Mom and Grandmother left our house to go to the hospital (coincidentally it's right next to the convalescense home), and I stayed home with my Mom's boyfriend/fiancee at the time. I can remember that when she didn't make it through the night, he was the one who held me and told me and let me run upstairs and I cried for what seemed like hours. At her funeral, we didn't know it, but my mom was carrying my older little brother...I like to think Granny knew that life would carry on, and that's why she finally succumbed to the ravages of old age and the disease.
My mother's paternal grandmother lived back east, and when we moved to Ohio, we lived across the street from the convalescent home she lived in. A few times a week I would stop by and talk to her. I volunteered at the home as well, it was really cool to be able to learn bits and pieces about a woman I'd never met before. Now I wonder what she might have thought of me. She had no idea who I was, I got a smile and a hug on every visit, but I'm not sure if she really sensed our connection. My Great Aunt spent a few days a week at the home, taking her mother's clothes to be cleaned and such. When she passed, it wasn't a surprise because we'd known she'd eventually pass--I want to say people were waiting for it to happen.
Anyway, I apologize for the long disclosure. I wanted to give you a heads up on a huge, over $900 blog candy opportunity... Make a card for an alzheimer's caregiver by 8 CST today and head on over to: http://myblogbycammie.blogspot.com/2008/09/heart-to-heart-blog-candy.html to post the card and participate in the contest. And take a moment to think of those with Alzheimer's and those who are fighting this disease. With hope and support we can find a cure...

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Overwhelmed!!!

I use Bloglines as my RSS feeder, so before the great minds at blogger started using the 'follow this blog' widget, I kept pretty good track of people that I followed.
Now I've probably got 25 people that I follow in my scrap folder alone. Too much input!!
Or is it?

I like the flexibility of a RSS feed because I can look, clip and save stuff for later. If I like something, it's kept on the backburner until I decide to get rid of it. If I tend to not check it for a few days, the posts get a little crazy, but about 20 minutes later I can usually have most of the posts organized. I have a scrap folder, a book folder, a few review sites, a giveaway folder, a folder dedicated to celebrities (yes, I follow celebs!) and a few more and while it seems like a lot, it's not because they're all in one place.

Anyway, the purpose of this was to let you know that if I can follow you, I will probably be following you in the coming weeks. Just have to get to your blog and click the little button and let the magic of the internet work...

Confessions of a Font Nerd: Thickers

I'm a font lover. When I used to work as a creative, my mouth would literally water at the thought of new fonts. I had serif, sans serif and all different types of fonts in my computer (over 400)--and I used most of those in different projects. I used to be able to tell you a point as well as the font type (along with kerning) at first glance. I was, for lack of a better word, a font nerd.

I was introduced to thickers by twopeasinabucket.com. I got my first set of chipboard thickers through a promotion they ran, and I've been running strong ever since. One day, I want to just go into a few stores and just grab as many packages as I can and buy them. Then quickly leave so I can start playing them. I even have a thickers wishlist. Seriously, I have a problem.

A few weeks ago, thanks to the lovely ladies on the boards who posted about their thicker issues, I checked my thickers that were on projects and found that they weren't staying where I'd put them.Agghh! I was mortified, then worried about all the vinyl I had.I decided to go through my other sets and see if any others were affected. I sent back three sets of Thickers to American Crafts, and they promised to send me replacements within 6-8 weeks.

Last night, about 4 weeks after I sent out my request, I get a package. What's in the package? Thickers. 3 sets of awesome thickers in the fonts that I fell in love with. I pulled out a set and went to work on replacing the text on my cover page that had succumbed to thickers with minds of their own. And a box with a sticker on it saying simply 'The Goods.' Apparently, AC is also providing product to customers effected by the vinyl thicker issue.

Inside the box was 50+ sheets of paper from American crafts. All different colors and styles... BEAUTIFUL PAPER.

Thank you, AC, for your commitment to your customers. I would suggest anyone reading this can go buy a few packages of the product, they're very versatile and really fun to play with. And they can rest easy knowing that a company will stand by the products they manufacture. Okay, back to adding the new Xmas lines to my wishlist!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Blog Candy Time

Bev, of Cards by Bev, is holding a really sweet Blog Candy contest, featuring a beautiful stamp, some flowers and ribbon.... Very nice!

In order to check out this very popular stamp, visit cards by Bev here.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Update on Gifts

So I made a little album and 2 8x8 albums and ended up giving them as gifts. The transparency album shown below was given to my mom, along with an 8x8 Cosmo Cricket album. My Grandmother got the other 8x8 Cosmo Cricket album (pictures of which can be seen on my virtual refrigerator door to the right).

And they both liked them, which made me happy. They were the first 8x8 albums I attempted, and I like the fact that they came out well. When I originally bought the stuff for them, I was amazed at the sheer number of pieces with the kit (9,000), but didn't know if I would use it. Then, I started looking through it with one picture in my head--that of my Great-Grandmother (maternal) standing in the kitchen, looking back at someone. And then I knew

Monday, August 18, 2008

Fun with Transparencies and Chipboard


This is the whole project.
I ended up using materials I had on hand, as well as some photos. Originally entered into a Two Peas in a Bucket contest, I ended up giving it to my mom with some great results--she REALLY liked it.

Remember

Something simple--Bazzil, Sassafras Las and Making Memories ribbon with some star buttons. Used as a memorial for my Aunt, who is no longer with us.

Grandmama's Page

Sassafras Lass paper and Thickers as well as paper flowers helped me make a little page about my Grandmama. I used a small envelope for the journaling as an interactive element.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Support your LSS!!!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have a lot to post, including my first finished album (1 of 2), a chipboard minibook that I really liked, a Halloween chipboard minibook, another Halloween item and much, much more.

Things are getting done, but I've run out of pictures because I've been investing so much of my time in digital backup, LOL. Will have to run somewhere this week with a photo disc and get printing (or find my photo printer's power cord, LOL).

I'm posting today to tell you about a GREAT little shop. Totally wonderful, in fact, by the name of Scrapbooker's Paradise.

Feeling Welcomed at a Scrap Store

I’ve recently posted about my experience at Archiver’s. Well, last night I celebrated my singlehood (for a week) with a trip to a local Scrapbooking store I’d never heard of—Scrapbooker’s Paradise. Located on E. Tallmadge Avenue, chances are you’ve driven by it before—it’s in the plaza right behind Gus’ Chalet. It’s less than 10 minutes away from Barberton, so it’s right around the same distance as I drive to go to Fairlawn (definitely a plus with today’s gas prices).

I was greeted immediately by Julie (who owns the store along with a partner) and Julie’s sister in law, but I felt a little embarrassed because I had my security blanket (read: cell phone) with me and was talking to my Grandmother. I’ve done this before at places when I walk in, just in case I feel nervous or get that ‘scrapper’s snub.’ It was definitely not the case at Scrapbooker’s Paradise. While they were working at a table, I got to see a few of the projects they were working on, as well as the store. It’s a pretty good size, and it’s got all manner of diecuts, patterned paper, embellishments and much more. They have a lot of machines, some stamps and even punches and scissors. I was very impressed by the amount of cardstock (and in such pretty colors!).

I’ve gotten a list of their events, and you can even find them on the web at http://www.scrapbookersparadise.net/. I’m planning on going to my first official crop soon, I think. It sounds like a great, friendly group of ladies.
I picked up some paper for my Disneyland Album and some envelopes, tags and dominoes. They also had Black Diamond Stickles, so I snapped those up, and some charms for a few albums. All in all, I was really happy with my visit. And I’m eagerly anticipating my return visit—I was happy with the fact they also custom order paper if you can’t find the paper you have your heart set on.

Anyway, go support an LSS—head out to Tallmadge Ave. and go to Scrapbooker’s Paradise. You won’t be sorry, nor will you receive a “Scrapper’s Snub.”

Review: A (It was a really solid store and really great people, and I really love the fact they’ll custom order—plus I want a crack at that Disney font I saw, LOL).

Thursday, June 19, 2008

WSW: In the Trenches

WSW has been really busy this week. And I was lucky enough to snag some time at my closest LSS (Local Scrap Shop) in Copley last night. I was on a mission for cardstock and Stickles.
If you haven't used them before, stickles are like glittery glue in puffy paint (does anyone else remember the lure of puffy paint?) containers. They come in a variety of colors and are absolutely addictive. Once you start with one, I guarantee you'll want to use more. The Diamond color picks up whatever you layer it on. I also picked up Pink and Golden Rod. I had a project in mind, but it ended up going in a much different place.
Here is what I made:


It's a card for WSW. I bought some Marilyn Monroe stamps from Stampsmith (please, check it out and take advantage of their amazing rubber stamps. When I have some money to splurge with again, I'll probably be placing another order with them. Shipping is fast, you can get some really cool freebies and the customer service (Estelle) is amazing.
So I decided I wanted to do a gold and pink card in honor of Marilyn. It ended up being nothing like I planned, but I really like it. I took some corbis cards that I received in the mail and made a template for a card out of them. I glued the cardstock over them so I could have a little heft to the whole project and then laid out my card. I needed some cardstock and dug into my stash-the thin strip of paper is from a Disney scrapbooking sheet I bought ages ago. I painted some cardstock with twinking h2os and my water pen. Then I used Staz On Jet Black ink to stamp the image once the paper was dry. I used my We R Memory Keepers Foil, Glitter and Flock Alphabet kit for the letter 'M' and used some of my newly bought Prima flowers (bought at the LSS) as an accent. I didn't have a brad, and an eyelet looked too big, but looked through my stash and found a spare, so I popped that in the middle of three layered prima flowers.
I really like this card. And my plan is to make another one with a Norma Jean stamp on it, maybe reverse the whole layout of the card. I submitted it to a few challenges on two peas, but really I'm just happy that it came together so well. It restored my faith in my stamps. And the great news was that the card took just around 30 minutes. Yay!
My sinuses are not happy with the current temperature changes, so it looks like I'm going to be going now. I will try to look in soon. Keep creating everyone!
Note: the card itself is not crooked, but it looks like everything I scan on that scanner goes crooked, I chalk that up to user error.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

WSW: Reflections

What was my night last night? For the first time in so many months, I sat at my craft table (yes, I wasn't just using it to stack things on) and played, experimented and created. And it was FUN!


All too often in life, we give ourself these huge goals and, if you're like me, make huge lists of things we have to do. All to often we forget what we want to do.


What is so special about this week? Being that it's WSW (Worldwide Stamping Week), almost everything is special about it. Head on over to Twopeasinabucket.com and sign up for free membership. From there, you can access the master WSW Challenge thread and start stamping! It's 100% free and you'll probably feel better than ever. No, you WILL feel better than ever, because you'll be doing something fun and creating some wonderful projects. This is my first year, so I'm probably way too enthusiastic about it.


I used to be a 'creative' which meant I went to work and made layouts and played with web-safe colors and everything was cool. I also played on Nervousness.org (a mail art site) and made cards, atcs and the like. Then there was a reorganization where I work and I'm doing some Purchasing stuff. So, other than when I do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) or Script Frenzy (National Screenplay Writing Month), I'm not really letting my creativity fly. Luckily, I signed up for a membership at Two Peas, and it's been wonderful. It's inspired me to create, which I never thought would happen again.


I still have a lot to do. I made 4 or 5 projects last night that need to be scanned, and I have a couple of challenges (okay, a whole list on notepaper, with sketches of what I want to do) to work on, but that's fine. Because really it's not about competition (thank you, Lisa Vollrath), it's about creating. And I have a few more days to do it in, so I think I'm good there. All I need to worry about is walking the dog and making sure I eat at some point. Other than that, I'm going to be playing with pretty, glittery things and velvety flocks and even some Caran d'Ache watercolor pencils (which are, quite possibly, the most perfect things on the planet). And I'm thinking pink and gold for a certain project, and I really hope I can pull it off because it would make me really happy. Will post more as soon as I can, but for now, just go and check out the site!


WSW


Crossposted toTwo Peas Blog.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Digital Layout

You're probably tired of hearing from me today, but I just had to pop in to show you my newest digi-layout:

I LOVED using the toy camera frames on the photos on the right hand side. And I found a lot of pictures that show my brother's smile. He just graduated last weekend, and it was really fun to watch him interact with his guests. At one point, there were over 50 people in my parent's living room! I think about half of the senior class showed up.
There was a lot of food, and I got to bring home some dill dip, shredded chicken and baked beans. And some giant olives (which I was most thankful for, LOL). All in all, it was a great time. Now I can't wait to see what else my brother has in store for us!

Scr-aft! First Blog!!!!

It's Scrapping, It's Crafting, It's all kinds of things!
Join GothamGal on her journey with a very quick and easy project--a Graduation Brag Book.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Sc-rapper's Delight

I have a few projects I want to work on right now. First, my brother's graduation book. Mostly, it's going to be pictures and some captions of who was there, etc. Not too scrappy. But I picked up some cool papers, school and grad themed that I want to put as backgrounds. Of course, I have to hook up the photo printer first and print out the pics.

I'm going to give that to him just as a momento. I never really had one of those for graduation, and I sort of wish I had now. I know that I have some pictures floating around the house from my graduation, though.

I think I'm going to make a trip to Archiver's this weekend and get some plain cardstock and then use that cardstock (with the photos) to see if I can find some big frame die cuts. I'm not interested in anything fancy... I figure he'll be fine with just basic photos on mats in colors that 'Pop' off the page.

Of course, I might also pick up some grad stickers for him too. A nice cap and gown from Jolee's or something might be nice.

I'm asking my Mom and Grandma for some family pictures, I'll be making them Snapfish photobooks. My mom keeps saying she'll send some, but I haven't yet seen them. I wanted to do a few pages from scratch, but I have a feeling I'll just pop a few pictures into the layouts, too...

I also ordered two things from HSN.com. Now, I want to preface this by saying that we don't have the channel, but I was looking for something and found the item at a really good price on HSN.com. I ended up not even buying what I was originally intending to buy from there, but it's like a craft Mecca! I picked up a Scraparatus, which is a die maker, a hole punch AND an eyelet setter. I bought the MM kit a while ago, but never had much luck with the eyelets, so I'm hoping this works for me. The dinky dies look like a lot of fun. HSN had it for under $10! Here it is!

I also picked up something that I'm really excited to use--the Fiskars Shapecutter! I cannot find my paper trimmer, so I'm on the lookout for that. But I wanted the shapecutter because I saw some of the templates at Joanne's and they have one that looks perfect for picture mats. Here it is! I'll have to report back once I get these and try them out.

So that's what I'm doing now. Hopefully I'll have some eye candy soon.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Please visit a fellow Pea

Pea Kayla Barker has just opened her etsy shop, and to celebrate, she's holding a contest for some beautiful, personalized cards.
Spink Studio has some great cards, stationary, postcards and almost anything else you can think of to send to your friends and family. The best part is that they can be custom, which adds that personal touch. The colors are bright, the prices are good and I definitely recommend Spink Studios to anyone looking to send out something professional, clean and fun.
My personal favorite is the chandelier cards, which can be personalized. They'd be great as invitations, thank you cards, annoucements--the possibilities are endless.

Be sure to stop by Kayla's shop soon, so you can enter to win some personalized cards. And be sure to bookmark the site, so you can see what other wonderful things Spink Studios has in store for us in the coming months.

My new creative home

The reason I started this blog was so that I could explore my creative side. The only problem is that I never seem to post!
Anyway, I love the digi community at TwoPeasinaBucket.com. If you've never been, two peas is a great site for tutorials, paper and lots of other awesome stuff. There are free layouts, free courses in photography and much, MUCH more.
I just started to do some physical scrapping, after being a solid digi scrapper and mixed media art fan, and so that will be coming to my two peas blog (as well as here).
Anyway, here's my first pea blog. More is definitely on the way!
I hope you'll join me in my new creative journey. Please comment with your blog so I can see what's going on in your creative life!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Introduction

I don't think I've ever introduced you to my talented friend Elaine. Elaine and I used to work together, but have kept up a friendship since she's been state-trotting. She's lived in some glamorous places and seen some wonderful things.

And she has the heart and soul of an artist.

Seriously, this woman is gifted, talented and I am lucky to call her a friend.

So wherever you may be, whatever you may be doing right now, do yourself a favor and check out her blog. Elaine is a dear person and you simply must amuse yourself by checking out her site. This girl gets things done!

I, on the other hand, am taking a cake class, writing a screenplay, writing a new novel, setting up some websites--none of them being done particularly well.

I promise to take a picture of my first cake and post it. I haven't forgotten everyone, just been busy. I've almost dropped all of the digi layout stuff for the time being because my poor laptop is having a fit. Luckily, I'm devoting part of this weekend to cleaning out the music files, so I should have a bunch of space for photos and photoshop elements (and layouts) as soon as I get that settled.

Anyway, go ahead and see Miss Elaine, because she's totally awesome... (And tell her you want the Crazy D's Friday Night special)...