Month: August 2011

Back to School week kick off + prize

Guess what? I’ve got a trio of articles happening @ www.scrapbookupdate.com this week that are all back to school related. If that’s not enough? I’ve got a FULL SCHOOL WEEK of prizes, projects, videos, and more right here to make it that much more fun!! Today you’ll find a trends & picks article going up, then a ‘kit pick’ and later in the week my first school layout of the 2011-12 school year!

Here on my blog, I’ve got a LOT planned too! Let’s kick if off with a look at the NEW Fancy Pants school line:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPFRlMwHF3U]

Cute, right? Well guess what? The awesome gals at Fancy Pants sent me the off to school line you see me using (and loving!) and I’m feeling like I should share the love. So I’m gonna share some of my treats with one of you!!

Would you like to have the goodies pictured above? SO cute – even if you don’t have school aged kids! Just leave a comment here and I’ll draw the winner on Friday. Good luck –

for the love of Wanda [I love new to me blogs]

This morning I sat down and did a major purge of my google reader account. Blogs that haven’t been updated in months, ones that I always skip over, people who’s posts are a recap of their social media posts… oh that feels good.

Ah but now the FUN part comes in. I’ve spent the morning out surfing blogs (I so rarely visit actual BLOG pages it’s cool!) and looking for new favorites to add. Here is my #1 “I’m so excited to have found her” blog:

http://www.ablogcalledwanda.com

*LOVING* Wanda and her amazing cards. LOVE! I am so card challenged – this is such an inspiring blog. LOVE IT!

I’m back to my quest for awesome-ness. What do I look for in a blog? I look for a few things:

  • photography [good pics, nice angles, proper lighting, etc]
  • ‘voice’ of blogger [style of writing that I want to keep reading!]
  • happy/uplifting [no sad/poor me/depressing people!]
  • inspiring [ideas, thoughts, projects, etc]
  • sharing [favorites, projects, ideas, etc]
  • honest [feels real, legit, and not fake or filled with product placement for $ junk]
  • posts on a somewhat regular basis [and doesn’t post sorry/my life is busy lengthy posts when content lacks!]

I love all kinds of creative/artistic/crafty blogs. I’m also liking some book and food blogs, and most of all PERSONAL blogs where the person has a ‘focus’ (such as paper crafting) but shares bits of themselves as well. I do like a blogger with a ‘face’!!!

So – what do you like? and do you have suggestions? I’d love to hear them!!!

8/20 | housekeeping post [winners announced]

Book winners!!! Please email me your info + which book you won.      mflaum @ comcast . net 

KimMJ – Thea Harrison’s books

Monikarw – Sophie Kinsella can you keep…

Tanya Wheeler – Courtney Milan Unveiled

Kelly Klapstein – Tessa Dare Goddess…

Note: I have more ideas, prizes, book suggestions, and more coming SOOOOON… so do stay tuned.

* * * * * * * *

More goodness this Saturday morning: http://www.scrapbookupdate.com/2011/08/19/video-the-crafters-workshop-templates

I am doing videos for www.scrapbookupdate.com now – I hope you enjoy! I’ll be looking at how-to, new products, and more. I’ll still be doing them here as well of course. Video not your thing? I promise to keep up the photo heavy articles & posts too so don’t worry!

* * * * * * * *

 Are you enjoying the FREE class at www.bigpictureclasses.com right now? I was featured yesterday, and loving the inspiration from all the instructors! You can still register + attend… and you can always check in after it’s over if you don’t have time to play along now.

* * * * * * * *

Finally: got any good blog suggestions? New discoveries that rock? I added a few this morning, always looking to find new people who create + inspire.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Idea-ology project #3:

As my little pumpkins get going on their first week of school, I thought it would be great fun to share a layout I created for Tim Holtz (summer CHA) using his idea-ology products that are coming soon…

The metal embellishments? I die. Seriously LOVE them and can’t wait to get my hands on more! They make such a striking layout embellishment. For this page I cut out patterned papers from Tim’s seasonal paper stash, used some new Halloween Kraft resist (LOVE!), got my Spiced Marmalade distress stain going on some kraft resist alphas, and just had a great time.

You can see – I just cut out those Halloween images (LOVE THEM) and worked them in around my photo. I also got some distress stickles (in picket fence, naturally) going on!

Here’s the full layout:

Love how it turned out – and oh do I love those large tags for journaling!!

Victoria Gardens: video tutorial

How do I work with kits or coordinated product? Good question. I’m taking an in-depth look at Echo Park Paper’s Victoria Gardens and sharing my ideas, projects that I make, and (hopefully) helpful suggestions too. Today I have a video to share, that documents the process I went through making my first layout with this paper line:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITaMIf4pUqA]

After the video ended, I added some buttons, a few stickers, and dots of distress stickles (in picket fence) to complete this page:

this layout is also the debut of my new favorite mist biscotti (Ranger Perfect Pearls) – I’m loving it’s cream-colored goodness!!

It’s also a great example of a “what I do with my hipstamatic app photos”! Using that camera phone to make a layout!

If you have questions about this project, or working with collection kits in general feel free to ask! I’m going to be doing more of these kinds of posts in future – hope you enjoyed!