Dreaming In Scraps: we r memory keepers

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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!

Life documented

Sometimes I look at the growing collection of scrapbooks on my shelf (and the growing stack of pages waiting to be put into said scrapbooks), and I think: why do I keep making these things?

Well, (a) it's fun! It's my little creative blast of energy after a long week of delivering the mass emails and corporate-sounding videos that make my work customers happy.

But the more visionary answer is (b) I'm capturing little moments in our lives that are fun to look back on. Because they go WAY too fast!

Case in point: I made this layout for the CHA show back in January, using the For The Record collection from We R Memory Keepers.

I listed out the likes/dislikes of each member of our family.

So my list hasn't changed, but Avery now thinks Webkins are "so yesterday."

And Cecily is done with Gap. Apparently Old Navy is where the cool kids are shopping now. Guess I missed the memo.

Thank goodness I captured these important, yet fleeting, moments of "likes." Three months later and this page is completely out-of-date.

Oh, and in case you're wondering how I made that cool notched punch at the top of each tag, We R Memory Keepers has a punch for that now. It's called the Euro Hook Power Punch and it's shipping now.

Thanks for stopping by!

Good Friday

Happy Good Friday to those who are celebrating Easter this weekend! I have a few spring-themed projects to share from the We R Memory Keepers Simply Spring collection.

This is a Cinch book I made to hold Easter photos. I love using the binding spirals with the Cinch -- so easy to get this really professional looking binding!

Next, a couple of layouts I created using WRMK's awesome punches. This one uses the Classic Wreath Lucky 8 punch. I also punched the journaling spot center out of the frame so I could use it for the photo.

This layout features the Doily 2-Edge Punch, which they debuted on HSN in February. The cool thing about this punch is you can do a circle, oval, border, or even just punch one corner, as I did here. I backed it with a patterned background paper for extra pop.

I altered this round gift box by making a 3-D flower to go on top. I just punched some circles, pleated them at one end to form the leaves and layered in a circle to get this effect. I finished it off with some ribbon and chipboard tags.

And finally, a cute Easter card that shows how all these beautiful patterns can be mixed together. I used a Kraft base to keep the background neutral, then went crazy playing with all the colors. It's a bit hard to see, but I used the Sew Easy tool to create the looped stitches along the left side.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful Easter weekend!

Lucky in Love

Happy Valentine's Day! Whether or not you celebrate this holiday, you can't help but be amazed at all the ways people express their love on this day. Flowers, chocolates, singing telegrams...the list goes on and on.

As for me, I'm hoping for something sweet and a few more hugs than normal. And maybe, just maybe, the ability to sneak away from work for a few hours to attend the classroom parties at the girls' school. Something about kids exchanging valentines makes me giddy.

In the spirit of the day, I'll share with you a whole slew of projects I created with the Crazy for You collection from We R Memory Keepers.

I fell in love (literally!) with this collection the minute I got it because of the rich pinks and reds. But then I saw the black chevron paper and my heart skipped a beat.

Tip: layer some different sizes of die-cut shapes with a strip of adhesive down the center only, then fold the sides up a bit to create this pop-up effect. Great on a card or layout!

How will you be celebrating the love(s) of your life today?

CHA Download, Part 3: Projects (+ a giveaway)

If you're not completely sick of hearing about the Craft and Hobby Association Winter show yet, indulge me for one more post, okay?

Today I'll share some of the projects I made for display at the show. Many of these were made back in November, and it's always fun to see them when they're part of a booth.

I created this Travel Pinboard for ILoveToCreate, which is the company behind Tulip Paints and Aleene's Adhesives. I had a lot of fun making this project featuring their Aleene's Fabric Fusion line of adhesives. Full project instructions are now on their website.

And then there were a bunch of projects for the We R Memory Keepers booth. I can't post all of them today, but I'll share a couple.

Here's one I did with the For the Record collection, which will be shipping in February. This one also uses the new Euro Slot Power Punch by We R:

These projects feature the Simply Spring line, which is now shipping:

And that brings me to the best part of my CHA posts. The end, you say? Not so fast! How about a giveaway?

I've unpacked my bag o' goodies and put together a few of my favorites for one lucky reader, including the latest issue of Creating Keepsakes and the CHA Magazine, a few pieces of flair and an assortment of other crafty supplies for your enjoyment.

For your chance to win, leave a comment below. I'll leave the comments open until 5 p.m. Central on Monday, January 21. Be sure to include your email address in your comment if it's not already in your Blogger profile. U.S. entries only please.

Good luck!

FINE PRINT: If you don't have an email in your blogger profile (or you aren't sure what I'm talking about), please be sure to leave your email addy with your comment. After 5 p.m. Central on January 21, I will randomly draw a winner from the comments on this post and list the winner's name/ comment at the bottom of this post. I will also contact the winner by email if possible. Giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Thanks for reading!

GIVEAWAY WINNER:

Congratulations to Jill Rugg! Jill, watch your email!

CHA Download, Part 1: Favorites

I flew home from CHA on Monday and woke up this morning to a mix of snow and sleet for my drive to work. Reality is so cruel.

But back to the trip...it was fabulous in EVERY way: oohing and aahing over all the great new products coming out, meeting the amazing minds behind all those products, trying new techniques, learning lots and, best of all, giggling all night long with sweet friends who are just as crazy as me.

I'll be devoting the rest of the week to posts about things I saw and did at the show, and today's post will showcase my favorite products and collections:

Maya Road Wood Embellishments

I always love Maya Road and, honestly, I could fill up a full blog post with favorites from this company (hmmm, maybe someday...), but these little wood rulers (called Measure Twice Cut Once) and the polaroid frames (You've Been Framed) stole my heart. Come to Mama!

Sweet Girl Collection by Echo Park

Well, you knew there would be something from Echo Park in here, right? I loved all of their new releases, but the swirly, circle-y paper in this one put it over the top for me. I want to cut that up right now!

Chic Tags - Birthday Cake Collection

I was so happy to see this booth. I'm kind of a tag-junkie, and I've been using this company's tags for a while, but they've always come in kits. I didn't realize all this time I could buy full sets of them on Scrapbook.com and ACherryOnTop.com, but I'm so glad I know now! (Why yes, I did already place an order. How did you guess?)

Elle's Studio You & Me

In addition to all their wonderful tags and titles, Elle's Studio is now doing paper! Yippee! My favorite was the chalkboard-look paper in this line. While I was checking out all the gorgeous releases, I got to meet Elle and she was so kind and friendly. She was handing out little bags of samples, which I can't wait to use. Thanks, Elle!

Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper

Maggie rocked this collection! The papers are beautiful -- just as you'd expect from anything that says Crate -- but what really stood out were the variety of embellishments. Not just the same old, same old -- adorable bobby pins, mini bows and a whole lotta other fun stuff. Love it!

Chevron Ribbon by May Arts

The chevron ribbon May Arts released last year was (and still is) a staple on my craft table. But this is like Version 2.0 -- vertical chevrons in bright colors and neutrals. I think I need them all. Oh yes.

Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm Collection

Really nice muted primary colors, lots of fun, on-trend patterns, like chevrons, stripes, florals. But the thing that really got me was the horse chipboard. My horse-obsessed girl is going to love this!

We R Memory Keepers 360 Tote

It's been a long time since a good crafting tote hit the market, and this one combines all the best features: plenty of pockets for organizing tools, zippered compartments on every side, 360-degree rolling wheels for easy maneuvering around all those crop tables and a bright, fun pattern. There's also a matching paper storage tote with accordion files to keep all your pages organized with no bent corners...bonus!

Jinger Adams Craft Armoire

Storage-challenged scrappers, this is for you! It hangs over a door and opens to reveal tons and tons of organization for paper, tools, embellishments, ribbon...everything you can think of, Jinger has it covered. The door even has corkboard in the panel so you can pin notes and ideas.

Of course, there are lots of other fantastic new things that I'm excited about, but I'll save those for another day and another post.

Check back tomorrow for a look at the most clever and beautiful displays I saw. Until then...

CHA Prep (and a few peeks!)

Today's the day...getting on a plane and heading to LAX. Suitcase is packed, itinerary printed, stack of business cards ready to go...California, here I come!

I'm headed to the Craft and Hobby Association Winter Show, also known as CHA-W (but never prounounced "chaw" -- trust me, that's a rookie mistake). Some people will tell you that going to CHA is work -- and it does involve long days of walking, talking, going to workshops, and a little schmoozing. But for me, it's kind of like going to Disney World...a fun-filled escape to a wonderland of activities (and people) I love.

I always have intentions to blog while I'm there, but usually I'm so tired by the time I get back to my hotel room at night that I just curl up and fall asleep. Really, I'm going to try to squeak in a post here and there, but no promises.

I'll leave you with a few peeks of samples I did for the We R Memory Keepers booth. In addition to some amazing new paper collections, We R has really outdone themselves this year with several really awesome new tools and even a set of crafting bags that I'm pretty excited to get my hands on. If you're at the show, be sure to check out their booth!

This collection is called Simply Spring...isn't it pretty?

And this one is For the Record. I love the cool colors and patterns!

The tool I'm most excited about? This clever Envelope Punch that creates matching envelopes for your cards in a variety of sizes:

It's already been named one of the Hot 20 new products by CHA, so I think We R has a hit on their hands with this one. I'm looking forward to never having to dig in my drawer for the right-sized envelope.

How about you? What are you excited to see from CHA?

Little teenager

My girls are big for their age -- as in tall -- which usually makes them seem older than they really are. Sometimes I have to remind myself that they're still just little girls. I don't want them to grow up any faster than they already do. But they want to be Taylor Swift and Bridget Mendler and Selena Gomez. They want to go to fabulous places...wear fabulous clothes...do fabulous things.

So they act all "mature" in their little girl way.

The camera is very good at capturing this. Too good, really. Because I end up with photos of a 6-year-old that make her look like a 16-year-old.

Not at all what I'm going for, but it's kind of fun to see a glimpse of the young lady she will be someday. I decided to just embrace the too-old-looking photo. Just this once.

Patterned paper, stickers, chipboard, fabric buttons: We R Memory Keepers Winter Frost collection; twine: The Twinery; adhesives: Scotch, Zip Dry (Beacon Adhesives).

Brrrrr!

This warm-weather girl has had just about enough of the heavy-coat-and-glove-wearing weather. Too much, actually.

Sure, it was kind of cool seeing big, fluffy snowflakes coming down on Christmas Day...right up to the point I had to chase my escaping dog down the street in my slippers. Then I was ready for the 70-degree temps to come back.

Still waiting...

It's not such a bad thing to be trapped indoors though. At least I did some scrapbooking.

Cardstock, patterned paper, stickers, crochet doily, fabric buttons, metal snowflake and title tag from We R Memory Keepers (Winter Frost collection).

Hope you're staying warm and toasty wherever you are!

Wishy Washi

Okay, yes. I've been dying to use that title for the longest time. In fact, every time I tear off a strip of washi tape, the phrase echoes through my head: wishywashiwishywashiwishywashi

It's my washi theme song.

And it's extra-appropriate right now because my blogging efforts for the past month have been exactly that: wishy washy. With a y, not an i. Busy summer of shuttling kids, selling a house, buying a house, packing and moving to said house, etc, etc. More on that in a later post.

Let's get down to the real wishywashi, shall we? 12x12 Washi Sheets from We R Memory Keepers. Oh yeah!

Here are a couple of projects I created for the CHA booth:

I used my Silhouette to cut the hexagons from four different colors of 12 x 12 washi sheets to create this cascade across the layout.

The coolest thing is that, like washi tape, the sheets are just a little transparent so you can see the pattern of the paper coming through. And it cuts like a dream on the Cameo!

I couldn't exactly stop there, so I did this one while the Cameo was all warmed up:

This could not have been easier. Type in a 4. Make it big. Send to Silhouette. Cut. Adhere to page. I added a little washi tape to ground the design.

The title was also cut on my Silhouette, and I recut the same design on the gray washi paper and layered it over the bottom word to give it a little oomph.

Want to see more of the washi? Check out the video scrapbook.com did during CHA (which happens to show my layout):

There's so much you can do with these sheets, and I've barely scratched the surface. They are shipping now, so keep an eye out for them to arrive at your favorite store!

So tell me...are you wishing for washi?

July Flies!

I've been so busy creating for CHA and chasing my girls around this month that I haven't had time to blog. In fact, as this post goes live, I will be waking up in Chicago and getting ready to walk the floor at CHA Summer -- seeking out all the fabulous new products and lines that will be taking all my money (and probably some of yours, too) over the next few months.

There are so many fun projects I can't wait to share with you, including layouts using the new 12x12 Washi Sheets from We R Memory Keepers. Prediction: These are going to be one of the most talked-about products from CHA. They are so awesome, and I can't wait to show you what I did with them!

But until then, I'll leave you with a few projects I did before the CHA frenzy hit my house. I used the We R Memory Keepers Red, White & Blue collection to scrap photos from our local 4th of July parade.

My favorite thing about this layout is the grommets. They have just a little bit of sparkle and are a perfect complement to the twine. Just loop it through and tie a bow...instant awesome.

See that die-cut circle in the background? That's one of the new Mini 8 punches -- it's the Snowflake. Bet you didn't expect to see snowflakes in July, huh! I figure they look a little like stars and pinwheels, so why not?

I love all the fun embellishments in this collection, and you can't help but feel patriotic when you're working with these colors. So while I had all the papers out, I created another card for Operation Write Home:

Be sure to get your Operation Write Home cards sent off by July 24, 2012, at midnight! That's just one week. For complete details about how to submit your cards, visit:
http://www.weronthenet.com/Operation_Write_Home_Submit

I'll be back in a few days with lots to report from CHA. Stay tuned!

Feelin' Beachy

It's been a fun-filled, busy couple of weeks. Here's what I've been up to:

Celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary with a trip to Hawaii. Wanted to stay forever, but I'm pretty sure living in a cardboard box on the beach would be the only option in our price range.

Shuttling the girls to and from summer camp, piano lessons, gymnastics and wherever else their little hearts desire.

Teaching at the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Chantilly -- lots of fun ladies in my classes!

Cleaning and decluttering our house, which is now listed for sale (we're hoping to move into something a little bigger and a lot closer to the girls' school).

Creating with the Down the Boardwalk collection from We R Memory Keepers. Here's a look at the projects I finished in June:

The edges of the paper were already perfectly distressed (much better than I could've done it on my own)! I added a little WRMK washi tape to secure some of the layers to the page.

I pulled out my Maya Mists to color these wooden letters. A combination of yellow, pink and graphite gave them just the right color.

These are a couple of the photos I took on the Hawaii trip. I used my Tatted Doily Lucky 8 punch from We R Memory Keepers to create the shaped paper in the background. If you trim the paper down a bit (I think I did mine at 9" by 10.5"), it gives you a completely different outer edge shape.

The who/what/when/where strips are cut from a page of the 4x6 paper pad. There are tons of fun journaling prompts and notes pages in there, but I liked this one because I could cut up the strips and use them in different ways.