It's That Time Of Year...

...to join our card swap. Each month we have been doing cards and then swapping them. There are very few rules, but for new folks, here they are:
1) Do 10 cards based on the template provided for that month.
2) Please include envelopes for mailing
3) The cards may be the same, different or mixed. It does not matter.
4) The size does not matter, can be 4 x 5 or 5 x 8 or whatever.
5) Turn them in by the due date to the store, or let us know they are coming so we wait for them before doing the swap.
6) You can do a month here and there, you can do all the months, you just have to bring them to the store to participate
7) Have Fun. This is the most important really. Those participating have often found that this is a great way to try out new techniques, find out about new techniques and to become a better crafter..It's not about the skill though, it is about having fun and maybe learning in the process.

I might throw in that some have done digital cards, some have done paper (cut and glue) type of cards and some have done mixed cards...so don't let this be an excuse. Also, signing your cards on the back is always appreciated.

Ready? Here is the template for January & cards are due in the store by January 31, 2008:



December's Card swap was just WOW! There is just not another word to describe these. With this being such a busy time of year, we were uncertain how many would be able to participate in the card swap AND then how much time would anyone have to make cards....WELL, the cards that came in were amazing. There were fewer people who played this time, BUT the cards were awesome. This is the template that was provided for December:


The photographs can not do them justice, but I share some here anyway.

Merry Christmas Everyone

It's the time of year everyone has been waiting for, The Crafty Scrapper's BIG End of Year Sale. This year we are adding another 5% off, yes that is 30% off the entire store, not including already reduced items. Plus the crop room will be filled again with 50% off items. So come stock up and use your gift certificates. Sale starts Wednesday December 26th thru Monday December 31st. Punches will not be given during sale.

Store hours for the end of the year:
Christmas CLOSED
Wednesday Dec. 26th 10-6pm
Thursday Dec. 27th 10-6pm
Friday Dec. 28th 10-midnight Crop Night $5
Saturday Dec. 29th 10-5pm
Sunday CLOSED
Monday Dec. 31st 10-5pm Last Day of the Sale!
Tuesday & Wednesday CLOSED for inventory

Let the gift making begin....this year I got very ambitious and decided to make handmade gifts for many of my friends and family. I just wanted to give something special this year, something with thought, and little bit of my own touch. Something that said I'm thinking of you...I value your love and friendship. I've mostly spent the time right now making trees, but I have made a few ornaments too, a picture frame and a shadow box frame. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of some them before I gave them to their receipents. Oh well, take my word for it they came out soooo cute. Now this year was also the year I went a little crazy on ebay buying vintage glass ornaments and mercury glass beads. So on many of my items I'm using my buys from ebay. Some are faded, some have cracks but believe me it gives them such great character. Plus, it's bringing back wonderful memories of my childhood. So, enjoy and hopefully it will motivate you to give a little of yourself this year and make something with your hands for those you love.

This one I made for my sister. Can you tell that I am loving the Maya Road birds? I have used them on several projects this Christmas. Autumn Leaves buttons from the Christmas collection this year. I wanted to give her something handmade this year along with her other gifts. The only thing that I had a hard time deciding was do I put it on an easel or do I make it where she can hang it on the wall. I decided to go with the easel (as you can see).

This tree I did on the Friday after Thanksgiving...I actually started last year and finished this year to say "thanks" to friend (Thanks, Tracey) who is kind enough to host a girl's weekend for 4 of us every year on the weekend after Thanksgiving. This was our 4th year to go. It's become a very nice tradition. A wonderful way to start the Christmas holidays. We hang out, watched movies, shopped at Hobby Lobby, ate, and get even a little sleep.

And the other tree was done for Carolyn (queen of The Crafty Scrapper). It's become another tradition for me...making her some sort of Christmas tree. Just a quick note...I used foam cones for the base of all the trees. On this one I used the bag of buttons from Autumn Leaves and felt from the Creative Cafe and....Yes, I sewed each button on...one...at...time. I'm crazy like that. Carolyn is such a great friend and I really wanted to put a smile on her face. I think it's displayed in the store if you want to go by and see it close up. I know she won't mind...and pick up some felt and buttons while you are there. I plan on making 2 more with different colors schemes but all with the felt and buttons.

I'm still making more...but here is the latest, and i think the greatest so far. I did this one for my best friend, Lisa, and I didn't want to post it until after I had given it to her. I'm posting more than one picture...I wanted to do close-ups so that you can see the detail. I really had a lot of fun doing this one, the hard work really paid off. Oh yeah, and let me say I did get the basic idea from a posting on the Maya Roads Design Team blog. Go there and see it, it's beautiful and creative and all that stuff. I didn't have any christmas sheet music so i improvised with some paper from Flair that I've had for 2 years. It has the story of the birth of Jesus from the bible on it.

http://mayaroad.typepad.com/dt/2007/12/birds-of-a-feat.html.

Well, that's all I have for now. I've got to get busy and make the rest of my gifts. Merry Christmas to all! Be loved...and blessed this holiday season.

Try It, You'll Like It!

Well, not real snow, but fun snow anyway! This is an acrylic book in the shape of a house. It is only four pages and as you can see each page is a layer in the roofing. Along with the acrylic book I played with Snowtex to make snow on my rooftops. Since I had never done an acrylic book before, I really just experimented with several things. I stamped on it-worked great! I used rub-ons. They also worked great! I put paper "behind" the acrylic and on the top of the page both were great. I tried diamond glaze and 2-in-1 glue--both worked ok, but there is still some evidence of the gluing if you look at the paper through the acrylic.

Things I would do now that I know what I know...use less glue on the paper; make little windows that you could see through to the next page; maybe use less paper; use more stamps; add papers in between the acrylic to make a bigger book; make one like a gingerbread house; and so on.

Anyway, it is down at the store if you want to see it in person. If not, hope you can tell from the pictures what it looks like. Carolyn made a different style of acrylic book that is adorable! Show us what you did with yours!

A Quick Mini Album You Should Try

How many old CDs do you have? The ones that come in the mail? Old program CDs you don't have a use for? ....I had plenty. Because I work for CBS radio, I get lots of CDs and once I have done what I need to do with them - they COULD get discarded. But I save them. And now I know why: TO MAKE MINI ALBUMS.

I know this is not a new concept...but it is the first one I've done. This time I chose to start with digital layouts and then embellish.....but I can see myself using all traditional scrapbooking items on my next one.

If you would like to see all the "pages" you can click here. The complete album is on my blog.

Wouldn't this idea be great for holiday photos? The holiday paper this year just makes my mouth water. So maybe you'll want to make one with YOUR holiday themed papers too.

Oh - I just thought about a Valentine's Day album. Birthday album? Oh my! So many albums to do!!!!

Susie

2ND ANNUAL COOKIE EXCHANGE

Sunday was such a fun festive day at the Crafty Scrapper. The cookies this year were so different and of course so yummy. I always LOVE seeing the different recipe cards the girls make. Each girl gathered a basket of cookies, adorable ornament we made for each of them and a handmade recipe card, and then on to the class...........

Annette taught the class, always the little scrapbook model, this year we made this awesome mail box with Rusty Pickles new Christmas collection and two cute little recipe cards.

Advent Calendar.........

One thing I remember as a child , was my advent calendar. I couldn't wait to start this tradition with my son, so two years ago I bought him a lego advent calendar. This year I altered a Starbucks advent calendar with the new Love Elsie Noel collection and put each lego set in the drawers........I cannot wait for him to wake up and see it tomorrow.

FYI Starbucks has these advent calendars on sale for $10.

A Place For Santa's Picture..........

I was feeling a little crafty the other day and made this to put my son's picture with Santa in. I used the new Carolee Creations Christmas collection and altered Creative Imaginations large clothes pin. I also used KI Memories new die cut paper, its great to tie ribbon through the holes. Then I embossed with Autumn Leaves Rhonna Farrer's Christmas Swirl stamps.

Some New Fun Christmas Decorations I've Been Working On

I got this idea from the new idea book by Carolee's Creations. I used big cardboard letters instead of the wooden ones in the book - but I love how it turned out. I used mostly Carolee's Creations paper, but I supplemented with some other that I had on hand. Some rub ons, ribbon and a little ornament and it was done.


Then I saw this tree that Carolyn was working on and I knew I had to make one for my table this year. My tablescape is very whimsical - all bright green and red - and I knew it would be perfect. It is also made by Carolee's Creations. I think I started out making it JUST like the one in the book...but once I painted it green....I just made it with what I had on hand. What I love about this project is that mine doesn't look like Carolyn's and the next person's wouldn't look like mine.


Finally, I wanted to show you these ornaments. I saw them on a blog today and wanted to try them. I SO wish I had a collection of double sided papers - but they still turned out ok with what I had in my stash. BUT I AM going to get a few double sided papers all from one collection and make some more and hang them at the Inn in the croproom. Yea! Another trip to the Crafty Scrapper for paper.

Susie

Holiday Hours

Thought we should put a note on here about extended hours during the holidays: We will be open from now until Christmas on Sundays from 1:00 to 5:00-ish. Don't forget that on Friday nights we are here until Midnight. Send your husbands or come on in and shop with us. There are several gift items displayed to give to the scrapper or to be made by the scrapper!!

Festival of Trees

We wanted to share our tree this year that was donated to the "Festival of Trees".
This is our 3rd year donating a tree, I love seeing all the different decorated trees that are donated by various business and organizations throughout the Waxahachie community and are auctioned off with the proceeds benefiting the Education Foundation.





THESE ADORABLE BIRD ORNAMENTS WILL BE OUR NEXT "HAPPY HOUR PROJECT"
NOVEMBER 23RD 6-8PM

Gift Ideas

I wanted to share the two projects I worked on for the Design Team. First is a cool wood frame that I painted and altered, perfect for a family gift. I used the Cosmo Cricket holiday line. But my favorite touch was the Making Memories gold glaze.

The other project is a teacher gift, I used one of the new Maya Roads clear albums and the Junkits school line. I love doing teacher gifts using pictures from the kids Fall Party. I also used the new KI lace paper, this is the coolest stuff ever.

Heidi

The Stockings Were Hung...

Lots of ideas for this one little book. Perhaps one of the ideas used in here will spur you on to create something of your own. This little book would be great as individual stocking ornaments, a great garland of stockings, or as a little book of memories.

I tried to use several types of papers and styles to give multiple ideas. Check it out at the store. Link your projects with this book to the post here.....or email them to the store.

Book for Joy

Thought I'd share with you what I did with this neat Prima Book. The front cover is embossed and then the pages & back cover are flat. I used some paints on the front along with some chalk ink to get the texture to stand out. A piece of old music with a Daisy D rub on is in the center. I went ahead and covered the whole thing with ModPodge just to seal the paper better. There are several styles of embossing on these cute books at the store. It measures about 6 x 6 inches. I went ahead and used notebook rings with ribbons to hold the book together. There are several other ways to do this as well.

Even though this is not your typical Christmas paper, I made the book about Christmas. I used the song "Christmas Is..." for the wording. A couple of other quotes are on pages too. I have seen so many neat books by others with a song or a quote as the wording. The paper is a mixture of papers, but mainly is K and Co. Safflower Line of paper.

I also had fun spraying Glimmer Mist on some of the pages to keep the white paper from standing out too much. Be sure to check it out. Annette had made some tags using this with different techniques, which I need to try, but it was fun just to tint paper too.

For embellishments I used a lot of different things...old stuff I had collected, Creative Cafe tags, Daisy D rub ons and stickers. Although there are embellishments on the pages, it could still hold some favorite pictures. Of course, it is at the store to touch and look at in person. Would love to see what you do with the book. Link you pictures in the comments if you do one of them!

And the winner is.......................Debbie Jones!

One of our locate real estate agents with Keller Williams wanted to do a drawing in our store. The winner won this AMM tote filled with goodies.

Do you think Debbie was excited?

Some Fun November Design Team Projects

Well, I have been busy - like Santa - creating some fun projects for the store. First of all, I made this chipboard house. I really did enjoy it....until I got to the steps. Well, I guess I should have looked at the picture before I wadded the steps up and threw them away.........the directions stumped. But once I saw the picture and looked at the directions, I sooo could have done it. But alas, the steps were a bit too worn by the time I unwadded them. So I made my own step for the front of the house. Hope the other chipboard houses in the neighborhood will be OK with my makeshift steps. You know how zoning laws are ! Oh well, there goes the chipboard neighborhood.

My next project was this great little recipe tin. I think I see a theme starting - cool cool Christmas colors. It is such a simple project...but I loved making it and I love how it turned out. Probably took me all of an hour to make.

I haven't filled it up with recipes...I think I would rather scrapbook than cook. No wait...I KNOW I would rather scrapbook than cook.

Next I worked on this adorable envelope and tag mini book. I started out making one JUST like one in the Carolee's Creations book, but within five minutes, I had paper flying and a whole new take on it. So I love mine...and I love the one in the book too. I think you could do so much with this concept. I can't wait to make another one. Be sure to come by the store and see ALL of the great projects and the wonderful new papers and embellishments.

I made some ornaments too - so be sure to come by and see them.

Susie