Love Your Embellies!

Hello Blog Friends! A few posts back, I “confessed” about my love of paper. The only thing that rivals it is my love of embellishments! (Do you see a pattern here?) I especially love chipboard stickers and those themed 12x12 sticker/die-cut sheets. Valentine’s Day is a popular one for the manufacturers to make dedicated lines for. Papers, chipboard and even punches are plentiful. I used a variety of these for this layout of me and my hubby.

This little corner features a heart-shaped border punch that I know I can use over and over. Mother’s Day, birthday, baby shower, anniversary, etc. So, I thought that was a pretty decent investment.

You & Me by Moanica Caston. Patterned Paper and Embellishments: My Mind’s Eye and Basic Grey; Cardstock: Paper Studio; Felt heart and felt heart: Prima; Bling brad: My Mind’s Eye; Alphas; American Crafts Thickers (you & me) and Basic Grey (always).

Enjoy mixing and matching all the fun embellishments out there!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Moanica

Crop Occasions Weekend Scrapbook Retreat!

Don't miss this fabulous event, you won't be disappointed!

CROP OCCASIONS IS AN OFFICIAL SOC SPONSOR!!!

• Event Name: Crop Occasions Scrapbook Weekend Retreat
• Dates: February 17-19, 2012
• Location: The Crowne Plaza Hotel - McLean, VA
• Time: 3pm Friday, February 17 until 4pm on Sunday, February 19, 2012 (49 hours of cropping)
• Price: $167.00 ($35.00 deposits are accepted) Final payments are due February 10, 2012.
• Registration fee includes: Reserved Cropping Seat (6ft table), 4 meals & beverage breaks

Additional Information: 

• -Make-n-Takes, wonderful vendors, massage therapist, spacious cropping table, great door prizes & classes will be offered 
• Lodging per night: $85.00 plus tax (rooms are double occupancy; great for roommates) lodging is not included in registration fee. You may contact the Crowne Plaza at 703-893-2100 to make your reservations. 
• Free Internet in Cropping room (great for digi-croppers)
• Complimentary parking

Registration website: www.cropoccasions.com (all event details and photos) 

E-mail information: info-cropoccasions@comcast.net

New Year! New You!

Hello Everyone, Barb here. Happy New Year! I know that many of us make resolutions at the start of a new year. And many of us resolve to take better care of ourselves, by making healthy food choices, dieting and exercising. Research suggests that those who write down every morsel that enters their mouths during the course of a day, tend to not only loose more weight, they also keep it off! Sounds like a good plan to me and having a pretty little journal to keep track of all those bites is essential in my book! Here are a few of the Food Journals I created for my friends and me...

supplies~

stamp set: Organize It!(GinaK Designs)

card stock: True Black(Papertrey Ink)   Ivory Layering Weight(GinaK Designs)

patterned paper: Picadilly Collection(Basic Grey)   Modern Homemaker(October Afternoon)  Recipe Time(American Traditions Designs)  I Heart You(Pebbles)

other: black gingham ribbon(GinaK Designs)   Classic Oval Nestabilities(Spellbinders)  spiral Notebooks(Staples)

These little gems are the perfect size for tossing into your handbag, briefcase or back pack. And they were super simple to make. I picked up the notebooks from an office supply store, they sell them in packs of 5 or so and only cost a few dollars, so I was able to make several. I had some food themed patterned paper in my stash and thought it would be perfect for covering the fronts of the notebooks. The insides are lined paper, so there is lots of room for tracking what you chew! Aren't they cute? You want one? To be entered into a random drawing to win a Food Journal of your own, just leave a comment on this post, sharing one of your New Year's Resolutions by Friday, January 20th. The winner will be chosen on Saturday morning, January 21 and the results will be posted on my blog...THE BUZZ.  These nifty notebooks aren't just for food journals. You can use them for a multitude of things...you can make a prayer journal, a praise journal, sketch book, inspiration journal, I have one that I write my craft shopping list in. When I plan to go out and about, I drop it into my purse in case I find a sale!

This is the beginning of a whole year of possibilities! We are hindered only by ourselves...branch out, learn something new, do something you've never done, try a new crafting style, learn another language and try to make every day matter! Thank you for visiting with me today, and I wish you ALL GOOD THINGS for 2012!

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATED.

Remember! Celebrate! Act!

A Day On, Not A Day Off! This was the theme of this year's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. address given by Guess Speaker retired Army Col. Roy G. Plummer on Fort Benning last week. This was a great theme and a great event honoring Dr. King that was attended by not only soldiers but also by civilians from the surrounding area of Ft. Benning, Ga, Columbus, Ga and Phenix City, AL.

Photos courtesy of the Internet

In his address he "encouraged the audience to take time and find a need in the community, visiting organizations, rest homes, the homeless and wherever there is a need for help."

There are other special events going on in my area like the MLK Unity Parade of Excellence on Saturday, on Monday there's the MLK Unity Awards Breakfast and I'm sure there are other events in our community and local churches as well.

We all need to try to attend at least one event in our area, we all need to remember the love and hope that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had for his country and all people. It's also a great photo and teaching opportunity for our children. So don't just think of January 16th as A Day off but instead as A Day On.

How will you spend this MLK holiday?

Scrapbook Layout Planner

Happy 2012 Everyone!

I hope you are ready for a new and exciting year full of creativity. As for myself, there are many projects that I would like to complete this year and the only way possible to get them done is to have some sort of a plan. So, I created a "Scrapbook Page Planner." It has prompts for layout size, color, supply list items, journaling, and sketching. The idea is to print out a few of these sheets and complete them when I have free moments during the day. That way when sitting down to scrapbook or while putting page kits together, I will already have an idea of what I would like to accomplish.

Attached is a copy of the planner sheet, please feel free to download (click the image) and print out as many copies as you need to get organized. Hope it helps!

New Year, New Skills

Hope everyone's New Year is off to a creative and exciting start. The start of the New Year brings so many opportunities for change and growth. Many of us make goals or resolutions to to get healthy, save money, or to end bad habits. All of these types of resolutions are awesome, but don't forget about your crafty goals, too!

Well, I have several crafty goals for 2012 and one of them is to try new things and learn new techniques so that I continue to grow my skills and learn new ones. While flipping through the current issue of Scraps of Color E:spire I was reminded to take the opportunity to work on my goal of implementing digital elements into my crafting and also that I really want to take some Copic marker classes ( I have never used them). When I flipped to page 11 and saw the cool digital stamps that Robert Jackson shared with us, I knew I had to try them out! So I made a quick and easy birthday card for my son who will be 10 on Sunday! Since, I'm not so great at coloring images I printed the image out on kraft and just added a few pops of color. I really like how the image looks on the kraft and will be using this technique many more times. Oh, on a side note...have you seen some of the cool kraft based sheets of patterned paper lately? I think it's a great trend! What do you think?

So what are your crafty goals for 2012? What are some new techniques or products that you would like to try this year? If you have not already done so, please go and download your free copy of Scraps of Color E:spire today and find something that inspires you to meet your 2012 crafty goals! Cheers to a happy and crafty year!

Happy New Year!!!

I am hoping that the New Year found you all Happy, Healthy, and Blessed! 2011 was a good year and 2012 will be even better.

We recently released the December/January Issue of Scraps of Color. It is full of wonderful Holiday ideas. The products that we spotlighted were so awesome, that I decided to use them for this blog post as well. My calendar below was created with 2 Heartfelt Creations stamps sets; A Cheery Kind of Day & Life is Good and a coordinating Cardinal die from the Cardinal Family die set. I created this calendar as a great start to the New Year.

2012 Coaster Calendar by Karen Jiles. Supplies- Stamps and Die: Heartfelt Creations; Cardstock and Metal Hinges: CTMH; Ink: Copic, Memento; Stickles: Ranger.

Handmade Calendars make wonderful pre and post Holiday gifts and are great additions to any craft room.

Tip: 3D- opportunities are always present when creating with Heartfelt stamps and coordinating dies. Continue the 3-D throughout your design by stapling your calendar together and popping it on your coaster base with 3-D tape. This allows you or the recipient to easily change the calendars out from year to year without damaging the base.

Wishing you all a Fabulous Year!!!

Karen