Showcase and New Products SPOILER ALERT

I have to admit, I love this time of year, our yearly convention, Showcase, has just happened, new products and catalogs have been released, and there is only a month till school starts again.  Unfortunatly this year I was unable to go to showcase but was there in spirit through facebook and other consultants who kept us updated with pictures and posts.

So this is how excited I am, new catalogs were released on Aug 2, we left for holidays on Aug 4 but we are going to my husband's home town of Regina, Sk for a week so against his better judgement I shipped  them  there as I didn't want to wait the 3 weeks to see them when we got home.  I still have 5 days before we arrive in Regina, Thank goodness I was able to view the mini catalog on line to quell a little bit of my anticipation!

So if you are like me and want to see what is new for September and October here is a link to the mini catalogue for you viewing pleasure. Sept-Oct Mini Catalog

Custom Album Cover Set

Another small project finished.  This is my new custom album cover set.  I saw one like from another consultant and loved it so much that I had to one of my own.  All the words and quotes on there are things that remind me of my family and what they mean to me.  You can create these using Storybook Creator or at the Creative Memories Digital Center there are templates that you can just drag and drop your photos into and then have it printed. 

I can't wait for it to arrive, this is the 2nd custome Album Cover Set that I've done.  The first on was with pictures of my family that were taken last fall at a local park and it turned out wonderfully

Boarder Maker Fun

Have you ever see a page in a book that you just have to copy?  Well this is a copy of one that I saw in the Spring 2012 edition of Canadian Scrapbooker Magazing which I fell in love with.  So at my all day crop today I decided to recreate it using the Enchanted Power Pallet and the various boarder punches.  Turned out pretty nice didn't it!  It was a little time consuming but once I got on a roll it was quite easy to do.  I loved how some of the punches I put on pop ups so the page has a lot of dimension to it.  Now all I have to do is find the perfect picture to put on it. Happy Cropping!

Ribbon Organization

Everyone always asks me how do you organize your paper ribbon.  Thanks to another consultant who suggested these containers that's how I now organize my paper ribbon.

They are Darice Lock Tight stackable containers,  3.33 x 1.75 x 1.33 inches you can pick them up at any Michael's store and they fit 4 rolls of ribbon perfectly.  I love the fact they are clear so you can see what is in them, they are re-usable and they fit nicely into any bag or other organizer.

Happy ribbon organization!

What to do when the lights go out

I have to apologize for not updating this blog in a while, spring break, sick kids don't lend well to getting some time on the computer to do this.

So I have a funny story, on one of my Ladies Night Out Workshop Wednesdays, I'm getting ready, setting up my workshop, all is good.  Kids are fed, hubby is going to put them to bed, I turn on the light in the downstairs stair way and the bulb blows.

No big deal - there is still 5-10 mins before people are supposed to arrive, I walk into the bathroom to turn that light on, and nothing, thinking  weird those bulbs are out too.  Walk into my workshop and turn that light on.....nothing there as well, now I'm getting a little nervous, 2 new clients are coming, kids are getting a little loud upstairs, and I can't find a flashlight to check the breaker box.

Call the hubby to take a look at the breakers, he can't seem to find the one that has been tripped.  I notice that my plug-ins from that room are still working so I get every available stand up and desk lamp I can find and plug them in.  Door bell rings, new client and a virgin scrapbooker as well, hubby still trying to figure out which breaker, kids are running around all they had all day is sugar! - Not a good scene.  Other guests arrive, hubby is getting more frustrated, kids are getting more wild  I'm trying to get everyone settled and going on their projects with an apologies due to the light situation and the crazy kids upstairs.

So kids finally go to bed, hubby is still trying to figure out the breakers, we are all cozy in my workshop with low but very romantic lighting and everyone still had a good time.  I haven't seen my two new clients since but I'm hoping they will come back.

Moral of the story -  if you have an older house like mine make sure the breaker is all the way off before you turn it back on and you can still have fun when the lights go out!

Ladies Night Out Workshop and Crops

I host a Wednesday Workshop out of my home on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month.  This is a great opportunity to get away from the distractions of home and work on your projects, learn a new technique and see what other people are doing, we crop from 6:30 to when the last lady leaves or I kick you out, usually around midnight if you are still here.  Space is limited so drop me a line so I can save you a spot!
Next dates are:
March 21
Apr 4 and 18
May 2 and 16
June 6 and 20

Enchanted

It's March so new products are out and on sale.  I had the chance to play with the Enchanted Power Pallet and I must say I'm Enchanted!

The designer print papers are heavy like card stock and the tone on tone are embossed papers with leaves or polka dots, there is also die cut ribbon with adhesive on the back.  I was a little worried about that due to how detailed it is but if not all the dots come out when you peal off the backing, try sticking it to a scrap piece of paper and then remove again and they should come off.  I was also trying to figure out how to use the negative stickers on layouts but gave up as it was close to midnight last night - I'll save that for another time : )

CM now has Jewels for the Enchanted and Divine Power Pallets - very cool and very nice and sparkly. As one of my clients/friends always says on to each page a little bling must fall.








Below are some Page and card designs that I had a lot of fun doing.  The middle card is a copy from the March/April mini Catalog the other two I was just using up scraps.








The two pages were lots of fun to do.  I got the inspiration from pagemaps.com, if you haven't been to their site, please go, they have lots of great ideas which you can adapt to just about anything and I love that they are sketches

The Brown ribbon on this page is from the fabulous Power Pallet, I just folded it to look like material ribbon and glued it down in a few spaces.  Once I find pictures for these pages I'll finish them off with journaling and titles

Don't forget to check out my website for this Enchanting new Power Pallet and best of all it's on sale.

Reno's are Done!

It took most of the long weekend but my new and improved workshop is finished, all I have to do now is move everything back in and reorganize!
I can't believe how warm and inviting the room now feels with the laminate floor and just reorganizing the furniture and for some strange reason it feels so much bigger.... could be that I don't have the chairs in yet and the shelves are still relatively empty.
It was  a good experience and I have to admit I've gained a whole new set of skills within the home renovation world.

so this is the new room.  My pole dancing career ended when I put up the cover but it just finishes the room and I wasn't that good anyway.  I'm trying to figure out some way that I can use it as a display - maybe magnetic stripping or something.

With the display Shelves on the wall, I was able to triple my space - when I was filling them, I was running out of product to put up, so that is a good thing, the red bookcases were just repositioned from how I had them previously to give me more counter top space for my Cricut and what ever else I want to put there and I have to tell you that when Mike(hubby) and I measured we didn't take into account the new baseboards so when we moved everything in it was a tight fit.

I have a close line (Ikea)  on the far wall to display pages and projects that I can easily swap out for new stuff.

On the bottom picture you will notice some black labels on the wall and certain products (the blue folders at the top) these are removable chalk board labels from the Martha Stewart line at Staples and I have to say I love them.  Granted that I used a silver pen instead of chalk but I love the fact that they are pretty and removable, they don't hurt the walls or product!

My table in the room is a ping pong table (ply wood on top of saw horses)  we got from granddad, which I had before but it makes a great work surface.  Mike put in some extra supports so it's not as tippy as what it was before and underneath, I have 3 shelf boards that are supported at the bottom of the saw horses for additional storage.  I do have a little extra space that I could cut another board to fill in the gap which I will do later on as the foot of snow makes it difficult to bring out the power tools.

I still need to get another light and clock for the room but it's pretty much done! - I was organizing stuff yesterday and even started working on a couple of projects and I just feel better working down there.  I hope my clients like it too.  Look for the big reveal in March!

Paper Flowers

I have to admit I love paper flowers, I don't know what it is but I just love them.  Here is a tutorial from the Creative Memories traditional blog website.  Hope you like it have fun! Click here for tutorial