Sunday At The Studio

So happy to start a new term on The Studio Challenges design team. Amanda announced the new and returning team members today and also that we will be going back to the original format of weekly layout challenges. There's no challenge for this Sunday as we make the transition but instead she shared a  fave layout of each of the team members. If you lift one of the layouts and link it up to this post, you could win a gift certificate to The Scrap Rat Shop! If you haven't checked out the cool mix of vintage and new items, and the fantastic monthly kits in that shop, you should.

So, I'll leave you today with a layout I made last week. This one features my daughter at her dance recital in June. With the exception of the chipboard letters and the pink tape, this is all Pebbles, Inc.

Here's a close up of the flowers. I wove some strips of the patterned papers then ran the little panels through my Big Shot. I stacked the cut circles, smashed them a little for dimension then added a button to finish them off:

The weather has been gorgeous and sunny here. We've been dodging big storms in our town lately and I can't remember the last time we had a rainy day. I could use one so I don't feel guilty about staying in and doing 'inside' stuff. Hate wasting a good summer day! This weekend I purged the stash. I have eliminated a huge stack of paper, along with a truckload of other stuff. Need to get a garage sale on my calendar asap! Getting ready to start a new job so I'm feeling the need to get everything all squared away here at home. Time is going to be scarce in the weeks to come. But that is a good thing...

Thanks for stopping by.

A Saturday Layout

Back again this morning with a quick layout. I love these pictures of my son on our way to Disney. He loves to fly and always scams his sister out of the window seat. He usually doesn't last a half an hour into the flight before he falls asleep.

This page features more Pebbles (Happy Go Lucky), along with some Silhouette die cutting. The die cut shapes are all downloads from the Silhouette store. (Have I discussed how much I love die cutting lately? Oh yeah, I have :) The clouds are Echo Park, the airplane is American Crafts and the purple shape is from a Pebbles frame set. All the shapes were cut onto Pebbles cardstocks.

So, do you know about the photo uploading trick for Blogger? Have you noticed how crappy photos look on Blogger lately? Mine have been extremely murky. Well, the secret is to upload them to a photo sharing site first, then link them into your posts. So far, it's working like a charm and the pictures look so much better. In addition, it forces me to keep my Flickr gallery updated. That's a good thing because I'm always neglecting the Flickr.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Friday

It has been one long and crazy week. I was going to do one more round of CHA photos but honestly, I think there are plenty of CHA photos our there already so I won't torture you with anymore. Maybe next week I'll post some of my fave CHA projects. I'm feeling creatively drained and not sure if was from the overload of craftiness I viewed at the show. I saw such amazing creations there, I actually felt intimidated when I finally sat down at my desk again.

I decided to start off again small - with this card (which is actually pretty large by my usual card making standards...anywho) I used all Pebbles on this project, along with one of the new Amy Tan for American Crafts Silhouette shapes.

I cut the stitched heart from this Pebbles paper, added the pink stitching then filled it with some coordinating chipboard shapes. I added in a few white candy dots, cut the sentiment from another Pebbles pattern then called it a day.

On Thursday I got to travel with my crafty pals Keshet & Rebecca to CKC Valley Forge. We took a couple of Studio Calico classes and shopped til' we dropped. I don't recall being as exhausted last time I went to that show but I crashed when I finally got home. I unloaded the goods this morning and enjoyed seeing all the stuff I bought. Most notably, a truckload of brand new, 'fresh from CHA' Studio Calico.

There were great coupons in the class kits so I made a major addition to my Mister Huey stash. Love these new collection kits:

Also grabbed these cool antique wood spools in the Melissa Frances booth.

I need about 5 more of these. Kicking myself for not getting them while I was there! I want to fill a big glass cylinder with them for my living room. Guess I'll have to go in search of some more.

Looking forward to an easy weekend. Hope you have a good one!

CHA Post #2...

I warned you there would be more. Between my phone camera and my regular camera I must have taken about 300 pictures. Let's get right to the goods....starting with some Jenni Bowlin eye candy (that booth was loaded with cool vintage packaging & cute displays - I was in heaven!)

aren't those bingo place cards cute, and those wooden spool labels? Here are some great doily flowers, they look like quilled paper and they are really low profile (like a flat plastic button):

This is a peek at Pebbles Fresh Goods line - oh, yes...fresh & very good:

I should have taken way more pictures in the Pink Paislee booth. Here's a little sampling of Vintage Vogue: 

 Love the paper 2nd from left - looks like a word search:

These were in the Stamper's Anonymous booth - tin pin heaven. These have a great variety of design from graphic to vintage to numbers: 

I like these numbered pins especially: 

I had the awesome pleasure of meeting Susan McShirley, owner of SRM Stickers. She's so kind and friendly. I got to see the fancy font stickers up close. I love them even more now: 

This photo doesn't look like much but it's kraft colored Tissue Stock from Canvas Home Basics. It's quite excellent - all kinds of possibilities with this fun, crinkly stuff! 

Similar to this product is Tim Holtz's printed tissue from the Ranger booth. It's on a roll in a package like waxed paper. I'm a sucker for a cute & clever package: 

Here's one of my fave lines; October Afternoon's Farmhouse - love this grid paper:

...some of the embellishments - digging the color palette of this line:

...cute little paper flag kit:

Here's the new Studio Calico Warm Calico line - it's neutral and I really like it because it could easily work with or in place of kraft:

want all of these masks:

these are little post-it like journaling notes - want them in every color:

 these are the ones that go with the Memoir line:

and last but not least today - two of my favorite papers of all time from Jillibean Soup's Homemade 6 Bean Soup:

 I love this quilting grid paper:

These stickers are also new from Jillibean. They now make their stickers matte which will cut down on the glare and smear factors:

Ok, I think I better break here. The trends I noticed: farm themed product, chalkboard, quilting themes, maps & grids. The colors: purple & turquoise, sometimes together. Also pleased to see lots of 6 x 6 pads for nearly every new line I saw. Good news for the cardmakers out there!

Back tomorrow for the final installment of the CHA recap.

CHA Update #1 of ?...

Heat index for today is 108. Since my scrap space is in the highest part of our house, where the air conditioning could be jet engine propelled and still not cool the space, I've decided to honker down in one of the cooler, lower areas of the house and do my post-CHA blogging. Lots to share so grab a cool drink and find a comfy spot to sit for a while.

Eye candy at the MME booth

Let me start by saying that attending CHA is a little surreal. You recognize people constantly because you read their blogs. You know what their kids look like and where they went on vacation...but you don't really know them. It's almost a relief once you get to talk to them and know them in person. Then it doesn't feel so strange. Anyway - that aspect of going to CHA is pretty darn cool. Then there's the whole product thing...

I know this was the 'little show' and people don't give it as much credit as the super show, but it was just fine for me. I saw so much great product and projects. As my friend Jenny said, it's like a giant idea book. (She's got a great CHA post right here.) So, let's get to some of my fave CHA finds....(apologizing in advance that my photos are not particularly gorgeous...)

This tool is such a no-brainer/'why-didn't-I-think-of-that-tool'. I can't wait to pick these up:

By We R Memory Keepers, this is the Sew Stamper. It is the same concept as using the 'metal quilting wheel dipped in paint' technique to do faux stitching, except the heads are little wheeled rubber stamps in a variety of stitch patterns. Genius. The cool thing is the heads snap right onto the Sew Easy handle if you've already got that. I love thoughtful design!

Amy Tan's line for American Crafts. I'm not even sure where to start with this one. It's fun and fresh and has some great little details - like paper clips twisted into little cameras. Can't wait to own it!

Love this Thicker fonts for the line:

here you can see the washi tapes and some of the embellishments: 

Still in the American Crafts booth - the new Halloween line is gorgeous. The colors are cool (love the use of the light blue) and those black chalk-board style accent shapes - cool - look at that black cloud! And how about that little masked fox in the Remarks package?!

 Here's the light blue - it's kind of grayed out. Love it:

Love that this Halloween Thicker font could work on any kind of page, not just Halloween: 

Here's the new Silhouette Cameo - cuts paper 12" wide now. Looks like there's an upgrade in my future.

isn't this a cute chalkboard wall calendar? Cut with a Silhouette onto chalkboard wall vinyl.  

I fell in love with these cute little Dimensions embroidery kits in the EK Success booth. This particular set has illustrations from Claudine Hellmuth. They can be transferred numerous times. Love the simple line drawings and contemplating how they could be worked into paper projects.

Onto the Fancy Pants booth. Now, I've never but a gigantic fan of this line but I think that is about to change. I love these tissue paper circles. They've done a set for almost every one of their new releases (these are for the Halloween line).  

Here's a great back to school line. I am in love with that graphic pencil paper, buttons and tissue circles: 

 In the KI booth I found these cute clear stamp sets - love this font:

I'll be back tomorrow with some more photos - and hopefully the temperature will drop enough for me to be able to sit at my desk and make something! Lots of ideas in my head.

The "b" card

Would just like to thank all my friends who voted for me for round 2 of Gallery Idol. Alas, it was not meant to be. I didn't make it to round 3 but that is ok. I got to meet some great people (a prize in itself), win some awesome stuff and be part of this great group. Looking forward now to being a voter! Round 3 cards will be up on Monday and I'm really looking forward to seeing what the top 10 come up with.

Today I thought I'd share the "b" card for the die cut challenge from round 2. I made this card with one of Amy Tan's new die cuts for American Crafts/Silhouette. It's a cute clothespin. I put them all together to make a sun:

I thought the SRM sticker sentiment worked well with the simple, graphic image. I cut the shape from Creative Imaginations wood veneer paper. (I knew that would come in handy some day.) Here's a close up:

materials: cardstock: American Crafts; patterned paper: Girls Paperie; wood veneer paper: Creative Imaginations; sticker: SRM; die cut image: Amy Tan for Silhouette; buttons: misc.

I really like this card and I'm in love with the Amy Tan shapes for the Silhouette. (I'll gush some more about Amy when I compile my post-CHA update later today. Her new line is really great.)

Today the heat index in New Jersey will be 107 degrees. That might even be too hot to go out and swim, but we'll give it a try. Stay cool - and thanks again for your Gallery Idol support, friends!

A little behind & FYI Challenge #10

Landed back in NJ a few hours ago from my trip to CHA and boy is it hot here! Very nice to be home, heat or no heat. I will put together a post with all my CHA pictures by the weekend. There was so much to see - and this was the 'small' show.

I apologize for the delay of my FYI challenge post. Challenge #10  is up on the blog. Here's what I made with Steph's pretty challenge photo for this week:

materials: cardstock: Canvas & Co.; patterned paper: 7 Gypsies; flowers: Jillibean Soup; sticker: SRM

I was definitely inspired by the color and repetition in the challenge photo. To see the inspo photo and the inspiring & beautiful work of the design team, just stop by right here. We'd love it if you played along!

A quick thanks to everyone that voted for me in Gallery Idol Round 2. They will announce the Top 10 tomorrow. Hopefully I will be one of them, if not, that will be fine. It's been so great being part of this group and getting to know the very talented Gallery Idol top 20!

Hope where you are you are cool and comfortable.

See you tomorrow!

From CHA

Just wanted to check in from Chicago at CHA with some photos I took at the show. I'm having a great time and getting to meet people in person who I've only know online. It's been a really amazing experience. Seeing all the gorgeous new releases is also pretty darn cool!

First people I met, my pals from Paper Crafts Magazine, Susan Opel & Cath Edvalson. They are the nicest people, ever :)

A little surprise at the Northridge Media booth :) (I also have a dorky photo of me standing in front of this, but I will spare you...)

Some pretty stuff, this was at Pink Paislee (loved ever single thing in that booth!)

a pretty creation at Jillibean Soup - one of my fave stops at the show:

Some more pretty from October Afternoon (and there was a lot of pretty in that booth)

Me and Ella Friends Jenny Larson & Keshet Starr at the October Afternoon booth:

Another highlight of the day - getting to meet Susan McShirley of SRM Stickers. Truly one of the sweetest people I have ever met - we posted this photo on Facebook:

And the day was topped off by a great dinner with my favorite Jersey girls, Sue and Pat from Scrapper's Cove. Without them, I don't think I'd be here in Chicago for this show. They've supported my crafty efforts for a long time. So grateful to know them! Here's the enormous, incredibly delicious Strawberry Shortcake we shared for dessert and came nowhere near finishing: 

So I will take more pictures today and hopefully post my faves tonight. I have a feeling that will be a really long post!

Before I go, have you voted for Gallery Idol yet?

I'd love to make it to the next round and will need your votes to get there. If you haven't already, stop by right here and view the entries. I'm seriously impressed with the talent in this group of cardmakers!

Have a great day - if you are anywhere in the U.S. - stay cool!