Month: January 2011

I’m mailing off a total of 14 projects that will be at CHA, and taking a teeny break before I charge into my next big project. I don’t get to go to the trade show this time, but I’ll be there in spirit. I will be sharing all of those projects (and some tutorials) AFTER the show when I’m allowed to.

This afternoon though, I’m enjoying some tea and reading Sew Somerset. OH how I love this publication!!! I really wanted the new Art Journaling magazine, but I can’t find it locally and that means I’d have to pay shipping to get it directly (oh heck no). That’s ok. This is pure visual candy without the calories. LOVE!

Speaking of candy – did you know JoAnn’s is carrying Core’dinations cardstock?! I flipped. Especially when I saw it was on sale for about 15 cents a sheet!!! Glittered, shimmer, vintage, basic… OH I LOVE IT ALL!!! Plus I’m over the moon to have decent cardstock in town again.

I also got some new www.catslifepress.com stamps this week. Oh my goodness! I SO recommend them. You can buy mounted or unmounted, and they’re just so very cute. I’ll be using them in projects soon. I’ve been in such a creative groove – love that!

The girls have been loving watching She-Ra on my laptop (courtesy of Netflix on demand).

For the honor of greyskull, I’m off to create some more…

I am continuing to teach classes at www.bigpictureclasses.com this year (SO much big fun!!), but I’m also going to look at teaching more classes at scrapbook stores as well.

It’s an entirely different process and experience to create & teach in-person classes. I love both – and I’m eager to share all I’ve been dreaming up! Next week I hope to announce several dates here in Northern California. Brand new classes, hot off the presses product, and loads of creative fun. I will offer kits here on my blog for those who can’t attend or who live to far away as well as I’m able to.

With all this in mind, today I’d love your input! Do you like layout classes? Are there specific techniques or subjects that appeal to you? Thinking in terms of a 2-3hr workshop, what would you love to see me offer? For that matter – feel free to share a story about the best workshop/class you’ve taken & what made it rock.

I’ve got a lot of ideas of my own, of course… but I thought it might be fun to share some thoughts with each other. I’m going to work on another post sharing some of my personal stories. I’ve had some great experiences & some massive fails over the years (it’s ok!!) and I know some of you are instructors & demonstrators so maybe it’ll be of interest. I am going to try to dig up some old layouts/past classes if I can to to share.

In the meantime – I look forward to reading your comments & suggestions. Happy Crafting!

There’s a lot of cool stuff out there right now, and my wish list is ever growing. I thought today I’d share the 5 items currently hovering in my basket at www.scrapbook.com.

Making Memories Je t’Adore (so fun! So perfect for Valentines!)

Kaiser Craft English Rose collection. So lovely…

K & Co. die cut cardstock birds/butterflies. Oh the possibilities!

Perfect Pearls mist in forever violet. I have perfect pearl & heirloom gold… I need more!

This Cropper Hopper paper storage… or the sticker one. LOVELY! (sadly, I have no room in my studio! I need to MAKE room!)

I mostly shop on-line because my ‘local’ store is about 45min – 1hr drive away. While I prefer to support the store nearest me (www.scrapbookterritory.com ROCKS!), I do also like the convenience and money saving I find from shopping on-line. How do I save? Well it’s because I tend to think through my purchases much more. I linger, I wait, I consider… I delete things from my basket. I’m not tempted to “throw in” impulse purchases like I ALWAYS do when I’m in a cool store.

With CHA just around the corner I know my wish list is about to explode. I’m already anticipating the release of Studio Calico, Kaiser Craft, Webster’s Pages, Echo Park, and Pink Paislee based on peeks I’ve seen… I know that’s the tip of the iceberg!! If you’re like me and like sneaky peeks, then check in often here: http://www.scrapbookupdate.com/cha-winter-2011-sneak-peeks/ That is the link to Scrapbook Update’s CHA winter peeks page. Nancy works hard – updating it as she gets new peeks and it’s sortable by date, mfg, etc… so it’s easy to see what’s new!

Soup is EASY to make. Truly. Figure out what you are after, keep it simple, and have fun. This weekend I needed to whip up some chicken soup for the kids and Jason, and I thought I’d share the recipe.

First off: when making this soup I don’t allow for much ‘broth’ at the end. Why? My kids spill and/or leave broth. So I put enough pasta in that it soaks it up so they’re getting it… they just don’t realize it. Secondly, recipes for soup like this are more of a guideline. Do whatever you like!!

this time I used:

1 1/2 Chicken Breasts (grilled/seasoned with salt & pepper then chopped)
1 yellow onion (grilled and chopped nice & fine)
 32oz (1 large container) low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup carrot (uncooked) diced fine
1 – 1 1/2 cups small uncooked pasta
salt
pepper
dash garlic powder

First cook chicken (season it first!) then cook the chopped onion until all nice and caramel-y. I then re-chopped the onion. (note: with both I put a dash of olive oil in to aid cooking/not sticking)  The great thing? use a nice pot and you can do the whole soup all in 1 pot! Once you’ve cooked those two things off, put them back in the pot. Then add the rest of the ingredients & let simmer for 20min or so. Salt to taste (SLOWLY! add a little, test, repeat). Also – when I pour in pasta I just make sure there’s plenty of liquid. The pasta soaks up that broth quick!! You should have a good amount of just broth at top (more than an inch) to start. But really it’s personal preference. Just remember it’s going to disappear a bit.

Why do I dice it up so fine? Because!! When my kids are sick they won’t eat much, and by dicing the onion (which adds MONDO flavor!!), chicken, and carrot finely they don’t pick out chunks. Instead, they just eat and enjoy.

You could add in potato,  peppers, celery, squash (zucchini is actually REAL good in here), or anything you like. It works with turkey too. Heck – you can make it veggie only! You just need broth + seasoning + chopped up stuff. Enjoy!

Hopefully though, you don’t have 2 kids with strep (oh yes, they both have it) + a one armed man that need a gentle dinner.

I’ve put a lot of hours & love into my next class (as I always do!) and I can’t wait for it to get started. I’m very passionate about the classes I teach, and I believe that not only is that important in the materials I provide students, but also in making myself available during class to students. Skype, email, message boards… I’m available EVERY DAY in some form to students for the 4-week duration. Chatting is so my favorite part!!  Anyhow – here’s more info on Creative Retreat:

Link to info + class registration: http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/creativeretreat.php

This is a ONE TIME ONLY class – it will not be repeated!! So if you’re thinking about it I urge you to go ahead and sign up. BPC offers lifetime access to materials – so you truly can work at your own pace.

What is it? Well, I’ve designed this class to be highly customizable to what YOU want. You can use any supplies you like, make as many or as few layouts as you please. There’s no such thing as “required” assignments, so you can’t fall behind. Of course if you WANT mandatory assignments just email me, and I’ll give ’em to you. This is a very instructor and fellow student interactive course if you want it to be.

If you want it to be.

That’s key. In addition to the handout (that has layouts + how-to), you get a project (non-layout) tutorial, and at least 5 emails with ideas and inspiration too. Oh, and I have some FABULOUS prizes from wonderful sponsors! One of the ideas I had for this class was to keep an inspiration folder/journal/file. Some place where you can make notes & save ideas for future. I go into that in depth in the pre-class materials, as well as provide prompts on what to add to it throughout class. I also provide a weekly audio/visual presentation too designed to inspire & motivate.

It’s going to be up to each student what they want to focus on, how they treat class, and how they spend their time in retreat. Social? Off creating alone? Somewhere in the middle? It’s all up to you, the student. I *love* the format we’ve got going for this and that you can do what speaks to you, and skip (or return later) to the rest.

I can’t wait for class to start next month! I’ve got all the materials ready, and I’m looking forward to this lovely gathering of scrapbookers. Oh how I LOVE the community of BPC classes, and getting to know fellow crafters better. So fun!! I hope you’ll join me – and if you have any questions, concerns, comments – or anything at all you want to know about class feel free to email me (mflaum @ comcast . net) or leave a comment here.

Happy Crafting-

 

Link to class info: http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/creativeretreat.php