No day like today....

52 Card Pick Up starts today at Big Picture Scrapbooking!!!!

 

It has been a couple years since I have had the pleasure of teaching this technique filled 11 week class at Big Picture Scrapbooking, but just like they say in that one creepy scary movie......I'm Baaaaaack!!! For those of you unfamiliar with the concept behind the 52 Card PIck up class, it is a class to get you introduced to some fun techniques to freshen up for paper crafting projects and inspire creativity. Some of the techniques you may have tried before but have never used them the way we do in class!  Every day we learn a new technique for 11 weeks and create a demonstration of it on a 5 x 7 card. By the end of class we have a 52 card deck of fun techniques to refer to when we need a spark to get us going!  Click on the links above to check out the class description at the Big Picture Scrapbooking Website and listen to my audio too!  Registration will remain open til June 2nd I would love to have you join my merry band of crafters! 

PS for those of you out there who have take this class in the past, the class has not been changed we are learning the same techniques.

Getting Crafty with Alyssa and the girls.....

This afternoon I had the opportunity to help Alyssa and her friends Kaitlyn and Jenna make some pillows to decorate the dorm rooms that they will be moving into in a few short weeks. Alyssa and Jenna will be rooming together up at NAU in an apartment style dorm this year and are excited to have a small living room in their apartment, they resourcefully found and purchased an inexpensive futon couch on Craigslist last week with a nice black cover that fits with their coler scheme. Today we were creating bright colored throw pillows to put on their couch. Kaitlyn will be attending ASU and was also creating some fun pillows for the cool futon couch she also bought on Craigslist, zebra print and bright pink were her color choices. The girls did the cutting and pinning and I did the machine sewing. We all took turns sewing the stuffing openings closed. The girls did a great job. Sequined fabric on Kaitlyn's pillows was not making it through the sewing maching well so we even had a little hand sewing going on at the end, which was pretty funny. It has been quite awhile since I have sat around sewing with a group of girls it was really fun to just sit and gab and sew,  I am so glad they included me in their afternoon. Listeing to all the things they will having going on when they return to school makes me remember how much fun college was. It is so hard to believe it has been over thirty years since I was in their shoes seems like yesterday sometimes.

Scrapbooking your summer on Arizona Midday....kid friendly ideas

Today I had the pleasure of being a guest on the Arizona Midday Show ! My scrapbooking theme for this segment was fun ways to scrapbook your summer. I highlighted techniques using ephemera from your summer activities as a way to make the projects fun and memorable for your kids to participate in as well.  The two little frames shown here commemorate a trip to Hawaii earlier this summer as well as a favorite trip to Legoland a few years back that my son took.  Creating a decorative frame is a fun and easy way to get your child involved in scrapbooking summer memories that doesn't always involve making a scrapbook page!  To create the Lego frame Lego bricks were glued to a wooden frame from the dollar store using Aileene's Tacky Glue, I like this glue because it dries firm, quick and clear!  The Hawaiian frame was created using another dollar store frame, some colorful brads that I snipped the legs off and the flowers from a Hawaiian Lei we got on our trip. I also used Tacky glue to adhere all the items to the frames, total production time for each frame was 30 minutes,( then another hour to allow for complete  glue drying). Definitely a fun and kid-friendly project... seashells work great for this too!  Speaking of seashells, sometimes it is fun to make a bumpy lumpy layout that you can frame! Alyssa had her 19th birthday at the beach this year so I created a little photo frame around her favorite birthday photo using some little beach shells from the beach. If you don't have any  shells most craft stores sell shells very inexpensively in different sizes in small bags. To create the photo frame on the layout I first mounted the photo on heavy chipboard leaving about a 1/4" free edge all the way around, then used tacky glue once more to glue the shells down.  I let this frame dry over night before adhering it to the layout. I used two-sided tape to adhere to the layout since it was a little heavier than my normal page elements.Using ephemera from your summer activities can be really fun on your scrapbooking projects, consider saving menues, programs, tickets,placemats anything you can copy on to paper or use as paper on your project! This summer Michael was in his first production with Actors Youth Theatre we cut up pieces of the program showing the production title as well as his actor bio to add to this quick and easy layout. Projects like this are once more easy for your children to create because by using the emphemera from the activity or the event you already have you layout embellishments ready to go, you just have to add pictures! I used this same technique to scrapbook Alyssa's birthday dinner in Carlsbad, California.  We loved the Italian restaurant we ate at that night so I  printed out a copy of the restaurants menu and insignia onto some parchment paper use as my embellishments All I had to do was add some journaling and photos and the layout was complete. Consider using the colorful placemat from your child's favorite restaurant in the same way! One of my favorite project ideas I shared on the show today was a quick Postcard mini book idea for adults and kids alike. When I am on vacation I always buy postcards but I rarely send them out! I buy them because I love the colorful photos of the places I am visiting. I great way to put those postcards to use is in a quick and simple mini book.  Most postcards are either 4"x 6 or 6" x 8", I chose to create a simple ring binding on the side of mine using hinge rings available at most office supply stores. I punched holes and bound my book and added a few extra cardstock pages of the same dimension. Next I printed my favorite photos from this summer's beach vacation and glued them on the back of the postcards and onto the cardstock pages. All that was left to do was a some journaling on the backs of the postcards and cardstock pages.  I embellished the front of the book with a label from my Dymo label make and some ribbon with a metal rimmed tag!

lots of little things....

Seems like I have been busy doing everything but blogging! I will try to cover some of the things I have been meaning to post about! Lets start with Halloween! Halloween weekend was lots of fun like always but we had the added treat of having Alyssa home for the weekend. We were invited over to the Florence household to have dinner, and Michael,(he was Darth Vadar this year) went for what appears to be his last bit of trick or treating with his cousin Steven.When Michael tired of trick or treating he switched to handing out candy with MacKenzie, and of course tormenting her a bit as shown in the picture! Thank  Goodness Dana took lots of great pictures  because I didn't take many! Thanks for letting me hi-jack some photos off your blog Dana! Check out Dana's blog for more photos and a complete Halloween recap!  The balance of Alyssa's weekend home from college was spent taking her out to do a little shopping for some clothes to wear in the much cooler weather she is now experiencing up in Flagstaff at NAU. We also took her ou tot eat at Famous Daves Barbeque, our new favorite dining out place that she had not tried yet. I loved looking in her room all weekend and seeing her there, I have gotten used to seeing her room empty, I hugged her a bunch this weekend, I can't wait til she comes home again for Thanksgiving in a couple weeks.Next on my List of updates is a fun online class I have recently signed up to take this month, Get Organized for the Holidays taught by Aby Garvey at the simplify 101 website. Aby  is the queen of organizing I love reading her blog, and really enjoyed the book she authored with Wendy Smedley, "The Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker".  The last few years I have always found myself chasing Christmas instead of enjoying Christmas, I will be completing a Christmas plan organized in a binder using Aby's amazing organizational guidance! Class started today.. I am really pumped. If you want to get organized for everything important that happens in your holiday season it is not too late to sign up, join me!!  Next update on the list, as usual I have been reading quite a bit lately and thought I would pass on a couple good titles I have enjoyed lately.  My cousin Dana suggested I read "These is my Words" by Nancy Turner. It was a book I had not heard of, but I have found if Dana likes the book it is a good bet I will too! This book was a fictional memior of a pioneer woman, Sarah Agnes Prine that takes place in the Arizona Territories during  1886-1901. The book is written in diary format and shares a fascinating glimpse in to the lifestyle , hardships and loves of Sarah's life. I absolutely loved this book for many reasons, I felt like I really knew the characters personalities and since the book was written like a diary the writing had a very raw and honest flavor to it. I really liked that all the history facts that were mixed into the story were acurate so I learned a little history about the state of Arizona too. Another great fiction novel I recently read was "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" by Steig Larsson.  This book was a best seller in Sweden prior to it's release in the US and after reading it I can certainly see why.  I love a good mystery and this book has all the ingredients to keep me guessing the whole way thru.A rich Swedish industrialist hires a well known journalist to write his family history, and help him solve a 30 year old family murder mystery as well. There are many unlikely twists and turns and some very unlikely crime solving partners... great read! As always I am presently reading a great self help book right now too!  I had orginally heard about  "The Migraine Brain; your guide to fewer headaches and better health" when the author Carolyn Bernstein  M. D. was interviewed on the Today Show. I also listened to a fantastic interview on NPR of the author that I found completely fascinating. I have suffered from migraines for many years and have learned to manage them much better the last couple years after working closely with a nuerologist, tracking my headaches , taking medication and watching my diet. This book is based on the author's 20 years of experience as a nuerologist at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Bernstien guides readers through the process of  finding your migraine triggers, understanding the phases of a migraine, reducing pain and duration during a migraine, and understanding how the brain of the migraine sufferer is different than someone who does not suffer from these types of headaches.  I thought I was very knowledgeable about my migraines and I am learning lots of additional important and helpful information from this book. If you suffer from migraines this is a very insightful book to read.  

Christmas Canvas Class - Next week at Scrapbooks etc!

  It always seems like it is too early to talk about Christmas in October, but as soon as Halloween is over..... wow Christmas is upon us! So in the spirit of Christmas being right around the corner I am teaching a fun Christmas themed class at Scrapbooks etc. We start by creating a fun collage background using the new Sticky-back Canvas designed by Claudine Helmuth, from Ranger as our base , then we make a fun flip book that is mounted right on top of the collage that counts down the fun things your family does during the month of December! We are using some super fun vintage inspired papers from Jenni Bowlin and Anna Griffin as well as a little glitter to give it that holiday sparkle! I am teaching this class here in Mesa, Arizona next Thursday, October 30th 10:30-1:30pm at Scrapbooks etc, if you live close by and want to come create with us! I had so much fun with this I am considering making some extra kits to sell online, if you have an interest in a kit let me know If I create extra kits I will be doing it in the next week or so! I am will make a little photo album on my sidebar with a few more pictures of the project if you want to peek!