Upcoming Classes...in Texas AND Charlotte, NC!

It's been a busy summer, to say the least. Yes, I've been crafting away in my little upstairs nook. Meanwhile, our downstairs is undergoing a pretty major renovation to create a new master bath and updated kitchen. But that's a whole other post...

Today, I'm super excited to share some upcoming class news!

First, I've been working with Tracy at The Little Blue House to create my own series of classes. It's called Fab Five and each class will feature five brand-new techniques that you can incorporate into your future projects. Of course, we'll be playing with some tools, including the best and latest from We R Memory Keepers. But we'll also be creating a great piece to take home with you...from mini books and layouts to cards and home decor.

Here's a peek at the class that's coming up on August 20:

 The class features a 6x8 mini book with a fold-over magnetic closure and spiral binding.

Inside, there are tons of layers and textures to keep things interesting. You might even spot a few of the techniques I'm sharing...

We'll be using the Beautiful Life line from Echo Park Paper (so pretty!), along with some goodies from Maya Road, May Arts, Queen and Company and Canvas Corp. This kit is FULL of fun stuff!

The class is on August 20 at The Little Blue House, and registration is open now. Stop by the shop or call 817-431-7930 to reserve your spot!

Also, registration for Stitch Craft Create Live in Charlotte, North Carolina, opened this week! I'm teaching three classes on Oct. 25-26. You can see photos of all of them on the SCCL website, but here's a peek at my current favorite that I developed just for this event:

The covers are made from cork, which is so easy and fun to work with and adds such great texture. This class features the Photo Freedom Volume 2 collection from Echo Park Paper.

If you're in the Charlotte area (or are up for a little road trip!), check out all the details here.

Hope to see you in class!

It's all about the details

Well, I did it again. I created a whole slew of classes that are way more complicated than I originally intended for them to be. Conveniently, I had this "epiphany" last night, less than 12 hours before I was set to teach the first class.

I got to the classroom an hour early, determined to somehow make up for my overly ambitious class-creating by making sure everything was perfectly in line. And it was. For the first class...

In the end, everything turned out okay. In fact, it was better than okay. Verging on awesome.

Partly because I had 60 amazing (AMAZING!) students who appreciated all the stupidly complex details I put into the projects and executed them to a tee! And also because I had two freaking amazing (volunteer) assistants who rocked my world, working their butts off to help every single student get every single one of those crazy details into their project. Thank you Barb and Judy!

Today's experience reinforced one central point: I love teaching. I really, really love it. It fills me up with all kinds of happy.

So there will be more teaching, and more projects that are probably more ambitious than they should be. But that's just who I am. I don't do simple.

And hopefully -- fingers crossed -- I will see some familiar faces in future classes. In addition to Stitch Craft Create in Charlotte, I'm working on a few opportunities to teach in the DFW area.

Stay tuned...I will be posting future classes here and on my Facebook page.

In the meantime, now that I'm done making kits for my classes (did I mention they were crazy complicated?), maybe I'll have some time to post some actual work on this blog. We can only hope.

Burlap love

What is it about burlap? All of a sudden the material used in feed sacks is taking over the craft industry. Go figure! But I have to admit, I really do like it. The open weave makes it fun to mix with paper, metal, glass...pretty much everything. 

So I turned my infatuation with burlap into a class project:

This one is called Adventures in Burlap and it uses the 12x12 Burlap Fabricpage from Canvas Corp as the base for lots of canvas, ribbon and dimensional embellishments.

The dimensional stickers, flags and butterflies are from the Pebbles Fresh Goods line...love the bright, happy colors on the burlap background. This is the last of the three classes I'll be teaching at the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Chantilly. The dates are June 22-23, and registration is open!

And there's still time to enter my FRAK giveaway with the Echo Park goodies. I'll be choosing a winner tonight!

It's back!

I guess writing about my "lack of mojo" and getting it out in the open was kind of therapeutic because, after more than a week of zero creativity, I ventured back into my scrap room and I finished not one, but TWO projects!

Okay, okay. It helped that several shipments of supplies arrived for the classes I'm working on. It's kinda hard to ignore the growing stack of boxes taking over my dining room.

So what did I make? A film canister album!

The Note to Self line from Echo Park is so fun, and it's perfect with the canister. The inside fold-out is 6 panels and holds five 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 photos, which I had printed at Walgreen's -- just select a 4x6 collage print and choose two photos. They'll each print at about 3 x 4 to give you a little room for cropping. This is one of the classes I'll be teaching at the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Chantilly.

Here's a look at the other class project I finished: a canvas binder album using Maya Road and American Crafts.

Lots of misting and masking in this class. Must remember to pack extra paper towels.

One more quick share...a layout I created (last month) for my first guest post on the Ella Publishing blog. I wrote about finding love for those not-so-perfect photos on your camera roll. C'mon...you KNOW you've got some of those!

Check out my post at Ella for the story of how I got past my need for "perfect." 

Thanks for stopping by!

Class Crazy!

I'm just going to say it. I have no projects to share today. But don't worry. I have a good excuse: I've been spending all my crafty time this week preparing classes for the Great American Scrapbook Convention.

I have THREE wonderful classes in development, with some fabulous and very generous sponsors, including American Crafts, Echo Park, Maya Road and Canvas Corp.

So my craft room is full of boxes, like this one...

And this one...

Projects in progress like this...

It's a very exciting mess, and I'm enjoying all the preparation that goes into making some great classes for GASC Chantilly.

That's right. I said Chantilly.

I'm not teaching in Arlington this year. In fact, I wasn't even planning to go to the convention this year because my 10th wedding anniversary falls a few days before the GASC Arlington show, and Adam and I planned a special celebration/getaway for that weekend. I had totally accepted the fact that I would miss GASC just this one time. And it was O-KAY.


But then an amazing opportunity came along, and I couldn't say no. So I will be teaching at GASC Chantilly on June 22-23.

Class descriptions and registration details will be up in the next week or so, and if you're in the Northern Virginia/DC area, I hope you'll check out my classes. I love how they're turning out!

Fickle girl

Sometimes I complete a project and think: this is it. This will be my favorite project that I ever do. From now on. I will never make anything I love as much as this.


Then a few weeks go by. Or a month.


All that time, I'm creating new things. But nothing I love as much as "the one." It sits on my shelf. I give it adoring glances as I walk by.


But then it happens. I make something, and all of a sudden, "the one" becomes a little less perfect. Because I've fallen in love with my latest creation.


Does that make me fickle?


I created this mini album as a fundraiser class for my daughters' school. And for about a month, it was "the one."

I love the red, black and cream color combo. I love that it combines all different kinds of textures -- paper, transparent overlays, ribbon, canvas, lace -- just like a family combines all types of personalities. (ooooh, that's a deep thought)

I love that it has all my favorite family photos, converted to black and white.

I love that I tried new things -- like stamping on a glassine bag and die-cutting overlays.

 I love that I found a perfect use for the awesome red washi tape I've been hoarding.

And I love that it will raise money for a cause that's really near and dear to my heart -- my girls' beautiful school in Old East Dallas.


The class will be January 26 at my home, so the spots are extremely limited. However, if you're interested in making this album and enjoying some girl time on a Thursday evening (and you're in the Dallas area), drop me an email. The class is $30 and the entire amount goes to support a great neighborhood school. (If you're not in the Dallas area, I'll be selling any remaining kits after the class in January.)


But you know what's coming, right? Yes, as much as I love this little book, I've moved on. There's a new project that's captured my heart.

I'll be sharing it on Thursday...

(how's that for a tease?)

Timeless

It seems only fitting that my first post (after taking a considerable break from blogging) would relate to time. But I've been thinking a lot about it lately. My girls are growing so fast. A few days soon turns into a month and, before you know it, the holidays are approaching and the year will soon be over. I think that's what keeps me taking the photos and creating more pages for the scrapbook -- because I know that every moment is soon replaced by another and another.

A few weeks ago, the girls had an early release day. It was a beautiful day, and I needed photos for the holiday cards, so we headed over to the lake. The light was so warm and perfect, and I took some of the best photos I've ever taken.

Some of them went into this layout for Epiphany Crafts, which spotlights the Shape Studio Round 25 tool:

Supplies: patterned paper, chipboard elements and spool buttons (Pink Paislee), alphabet stickers (October Afternoon), chipboard letters (American Crafts), sheer doilie (Maya Road), Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio Round 25 tool and epoxies

I'm sure some of these same photos will be making it into this next project. It's a class I created for Scrapville using the Bo Bunny Et Cetera collection.

Last year, I created a "Favorite Moments of 2010" mini, and I love looking back at it. I'm not sure which photos will make it into this year's version just yet, but at least the book is done -- and hopefully, it will inspire others to start their own "favorite moments" books.

A couple more peeks:

The class will be December 3 at Scrapville, so give Kerry a call if you want to sign up!