Using Coordinated Collections - A Challenge

Happy May, Ladies!

How many of y'all made it to the Gulf Coast Crop and Shop weekend in April? I was able to go for a few hours on Saturday and was impressed with how creative you ladies are. Well done! While I was there, I picked up some fun new Basic Grey papers and stickers to play with. There are times when I want to mix and match patterns and manufacturers. There are times I want to be artsy and make my own backgrounds and embellishments. And then there are times that I want quick and easy. I don't want to think about whether this paper matches that paper. I just want to grab supplies and pictures and create. The easiest thing to do at these times is to use products from a single manufacturer. Scrapbooking companies spend many hours designing and producing lines that coordinate. They WANT to make this easy on us. They WANT us to be able to use their papers and letters and stickers and stamps all together. That is their goal! And sometimes, that is exactly what I want, too.

The line that I brought home to play with was Basic Grey's new Bowties line from their winter CHA release. They had several bright and happy lines this release, including Hipster, Bowties, and Kneehighs, but this is what I chose to play with. All the supplies coordinate. All the supplies are colorful. All the supplies begged me to play with them. All I added to my layouts was some cardstock, ink, and miscellaneous bits and pieces. Everything else came from the Bowties collection.

My challenge to you this month: Choose a line of products that you like. Pull out 3-4 papers from that line, plus some coordinating embellishments, and create a layout (or card or whatever project that you are inspired to make). You may add whatever supplies you want to your project. Post a link to your project here or to the ScrapHappy Facebook page before June 3, and Christy will randomly choose someone to win a $5 credit to the store to spend however she wants!

This first layout, I added washi tape and a printed label from Studio Calico. The journalling block was actually packaging from the Basic Grey enamel dots, and the letters were cut from one of the papers in the collection.

 I only added cardstock to this second layout.

 On this last layout, I added cardstock, washi tape, thickers, more label stickers, and some stitching (a friend loaned me her new Amy Tangerine stitching template, so I was experimenting and playing...highly recommend this product...so...much...fun...).

So...are you ready? Then run grab your collection of papers, get set, and GO!!! I look forward to seeing what you create!

Supplies:
- patterned paper, stickers, brads, enamel dots, transparent frames - Basic Grey
- washi tape - Doodlebug, Hambly
- label stickers, thickers - Studio Calico
- stitching template - Amy Tangerine
- cardstock, stamping ink, bubble wrap/dots stamp

Not-So-Seasonal Seasonal Minibooks - And a Challenge

How many of you readers live here on the Gulf Coast vs. The Frozen North? If you do live here, then you know that we don't have winter (and if you don't live here, well, now you know, too), and most of us like it that way. We like snow as a diversion, not a way of life. We like snow as decoration, not as something to be scraped and plowed. We like snowflakes to be in our scrapbooks and on our walls, not in our hair. And since so many scrapbook companies make gorgeous wintery, filled-with-snowflakes products, we have to find our own, unique, Southern way to use them. "How?" you ask? Well, let me tell you.

First of all, you can use them the obvious way: for a wintery layout or card. Say your family goes skiing every year in Utah - that'll be easy to use these papers and embellishments for a snowy project. Or your family gets stuck in the Atlanta airport for a day because of a threat of ice - again, easy. Just use the snowy, wintery themes on a snowy, wintery layout as they were designed to be used.

But say you never get to see snow...or you spend your winters at the beach or on a cruise ship...What do you do then? There's still this pretty new stuff you want to use, but you just can't figure out how to do it. And that is what we are going to work on and discuss today.

ScrapHappy has recently gotten in a large order from WeRMemoryKeepers, including cute, excellent quality albums (both 12x12 and 6x6), and some of their new paper lines. I was asked to make a minibook using wintery papers for a non-wintery project. After many hours of thought, I realized this morning that there's a minibook I have been wanting to do for several years: Our Year in Sports. Our family is active year round. We joke that you can tell what season it is by what sport the Girls are playing, so when it came time to make a minibook for the store, this seemed to be the perfect fit.

The WeRMemoryKeepers Winter Frost line is a lovely collection of pale blues, greens, and greys. A few of the sheets have small snowflakes in the background, but most of the papers have simple patterns, such as stripes or polka dots. I pulled out enough papers to fill each included page protector, then I sliced the other papers into 2x6 inch strips, inked the edges, and glued the strips to the edges of my 6x6 papers - no rhyme or reason - I just grabbed what was on top of the strip pile and glued it to what was on top of the 6x6 pile. .

The next step was to adhere my photos to my prepped pages - 1 photo per page. I typically print my photos 3.5x5, because my printer lets me get 4 of this-sized photos on 1 piece of letter-sized photo paper (I'm cheap, and I want my photo paper to last as long as it can, so I try to maximize the number of pictures I can print at once). When choosing which photos to adhere to which backgrounds, I, again, just chose the top photo and attached it to the top page - no stress, no decision-making, easy. The colors in this line are muted and neutral enough that all the bright colors from my Girls' various uniforms all blend. The Winter Frost line provides a consistent base for the album and helps the project feel cohesive. To create a title page, I used an additional paper from the 6x6 pad, added some Basic Grey chipboard letters and some Perfect Pearls, and called it done. Journalling for the entire album was done on 1 lined page from the collection (TIP: These lined papers that many companies are putting out now are PERFECT for backgrounds and journalling. I buy them in bulk and use them A LOT).

 If I wanted to, I could have stopped there and called my book complete. But I've been in Big Time Inky Mode lately, so I decided to add some messy, inky play to my book. First, I pulled out a stack of my handy-dandy, plain, manila tags. Next, I stamped and embossed some old sports stamps that I have had in my stash for years (seriously, every year I use these same stamps for any and all sports-related layouts I make. You would think I would get tired of them, but I don't). After embossing my sports icons and the name of the seasons, I pulled out my Tim Holtz Distress Stains and 'colored' my tags. I used 3-4 colors/tag, layering them and misting them to get the colors to blend. I finished off the tags by adding some black and white gingham ribbon to the top (TIP: Black and white gingham ribbon goes with EVERYTHING. Buy a whole roll. You won't regret it).

Again, I could have stopped here, but I decided to keep playing- this time with a Hambly transparency that I've been hoarding. I cut it into 4 6x6 squares and used my Crop-o-dile to punch holes to fit the new pages in my book. I stamped a WeRMemoryKeepers journalling stamp on one of my leftover grey papers from the paper pad, cut them out, and adhered them on the front and back of 2 of my transparency squares (TIP: When you work with transparencies, adhere similar-sized and shaped elements to the front and back of the page. This both hides your adhesive and keeps one side from having unattractive, unmatchy spots). I glue-dotted (Is that a word? If not, it should be) some Heidi Swapp Disco Stars to another transparency (again, front and back to avoid ugliness). On the last transparency I also added stars, but these were white chipboard stars that I recolored with spray ink to match the rest of the album. I then adhered more inked stars throughout my album to provide a bit more continuity, added a wood veneer title to the spine of my album, and declared myself done.

 OK. Here is where today's post gets extra fun. ScrapHappy and I would like to issue you a challenge. We are giving you 'ingredients' for your layout or card (or anything else you want to make - minibook, mixed media project, paper doll clothes...whatever makes you happy). Choose at least 3 of the ingredients, in addition to the starred (***) item, and have fun! When you're done, upload your project to your blog or favorite online gallery. Leave a comment on this blog post with a link to your project. When I write my March post, I will randomly choose a winner from all entries to receive a $5 credit at ScrapHappy to use on anything in the store your heart desires. Questions? Anyone? Anyone? If y'all enjoy this kind of challenge, and if enough of you participate, Christy has agreed to let challenges occur monthly. So...are you ready? On your mark. Get set. Go!

This month's ingredients:
1. ***Make a project using themed paper for something completely unrelated to that theme.
2. Stamp and emboss somewhere on your project.
3. Use ink in a color or form that is not typical for you (ex. I inked all my paper edges with grey. I never use grey. This was a challenge for me. Other ideas? Experiment with spray inks or Distress Stains. Anything that is NEW to you).
4. Use chipboard.
5. Use ribbon.
6. Embellish with stars
7. Use a nontraditional page in a minibook - chipboard pages, transparencies, tags, etc.

Supplies Used in This Month's Project:
- album, patterned paper, page protectors, acrylic stamp - WeRMemoryKeepers
- ink - grey and black ink pad, Distress Stains, and Heidi Swapp Color Shine
- stars - chipboard (cut with an old Sizzix die), Heidi Swapp (Disco Stars), Studio Calico (wood veneers)
- chipboard letters - Basic Grey
- transparency - Hambly
- Perfect Pearls
- my stash - black and white ribbon, black ink and embossing powder, sports and seasons stamps

Wood Veneers - What Do I Do With Them?

Happy New Year, World!

I hope you all had a very safe and fun New Year's holiday this year, and that you had time to spend on our beloved Crafty Hobby! This month I decided to talk to you about wood veneers. Have you seen them online or in the store? Do you wonder what you're supposed to do with them? I mean, they're cheap. They're cute. They come in many imaginable shapes. And they're little (usually). So what is their purpose? Why are so many manufacturers making them? Why are they so popular? Well, lucky for you, I have an answer: They're FUN. They're CUSTOMIZABLE. They MAKE A BIG IMPACT on your project. Want to see a few examples?

First up: Use them straight out of the package, just as they are. No altering. No fussing. Just adhere and go (a little tip: glue dots and liquid glues like Glossy Accents work best). 

2. Emboss: Cover the surface of your wood veneer with versamark or other embossing ink, sprinkle on the embossing powder of your choice, heat with a heat gun, and watch the magic occur!

 3. Colorize with your favorite ink or cover with glitter. In this next layout, I altered the veneers with Tim Holtz Distress Stain, let them dry, then covered them with a thin layer of Rock Candy Distress Stickles.

4. Stamp on them.
5. Paint them.
6. And most importantly, come into Scraphappy and find the inks and paints, glitter, and embossing powders you want to play with, pick up some wood veneers, go home, use your imagination, and HAVE FUN!!!

Supplies:
Patterned paper - Basic Grey, Simple Stories, KI Memories, Heidi Swapp
Cardstock
Spray ink - Studio Calico, Heidi Swapp
Mask - Studio Calico
Rhinestone stars - Jenni Bowlin Studios
Wood veneers - Studio Calico
Letter stickers - Heidi Swapp
Stamps - Studio Calico, Technique Tuesday
Embossing powder
Stickles
Distress Stain
Stamping ink - red, green, Versamark
Washi tape

Happy December Daily!

                                   
How many of you have heard of December Daily? If you haven't, it's an album concept created by Ali Edwards (www.aliedwards.com) to document your Christmas season. Over the last few years, her idea has spread, and people all over the world are now recording their memories in December. The best part of December Daily? It can be WHATEVER you want it to be. You can make it a journal. You can make a layout (or several layouts). You can make a minibook. You can make a special Christmas album. You can just take a picture. Or write a blog post. Whatever YOU want. It's all up to you.

I decided this year to use a Simple Stories Sn@p album as my base. Christy has ordered some for the store, but if they're not in yet, that's OK! Pick another album you like. 6x6 albums are great for taking a 6x6 paperpad and just slipping the papers into the page protectors. Or cut a 12x12 paper into 4 squares and slip them in. Embellish as desired, and you've got your album prepped pretty quickly! Or choose one of the awesome acrylic albums ScrapHappy has in stock! Play with inks. Play with paint. Learn a new technique. Or keep it simple. Whatever YOU want!

Over Thanksgiving, I prepped my album. I used an 8x8 patterned paper pad from October Afternoon and cut all the papers apart to set up my base pages. I also precut and inked some white cardstock cards in the various pocket sizes to use for my journalling. Now all I have to do during December is to take pictures, print them, stick them in my album, and write some quick journalling (if I feel like it). I can embellish each day if I want to, but if I don't, then it's still All Good. My Christmas is being recorded.

I know it's already December 4, but it's not too late to start a December Daily project of your own. Drop by the store. Pick out an album and some special Christmas paper (And YES! The Christmas paper has arrived at ScrapHappy! Echo Park! Fancy Pants! And More!) . Turn on 25 Days of Christmas, and cut and prep your way to making your holiday even more special. And if you want to see the rest of my December Daily pages as the month progresses, follow me on Instagram: cdpeck. I'll be uploading my pages on an almost-daily basis (I'm aiming for daily, but Life does get in the way sometimes...).

And now, without further ado, my December Daily: First up, my completed pages for December 1-3:

 And here's a sample of the pages still to come, with my prep work complete:

Using Up Your Leftovers

When you scrapbook, what do you do with your leftovers? Do you put them away? Do you slide them to the side of your desk to think about later? Do you add them to a pile? Or even better, do you actually use those little bits and pieces? If you were to see my desk, you would know that I am an infrequent scrap cleaner. I tend to push my leftovers into a pile and stack them up until I can't stand it anymore and decide to do something with them. Often, this means that I will compile these pieces into layouts and combinations I never would have planned for if I had thought ahead. So what do I do? I go to Scraphappy, pick up 2 or 3 pieces of patterned paper, some letter stickers (especially Thickers...I am on a serious Thickers kick lately), and combine that with what's on my desk to make some layouts. And the Bonus? My desk gets cleaned off without any effort!

For my first layout, I used Studio Calico and Lilly Bee papers that I already had, combined with the teal thickers and butterflies that I got at Scraphappy. The leftovers? The Amy Tangerine stickers and teal woodgrain washi tape.

This next layout uses some new Shoreline papers as a background, combined with leftover Amy Tangerine stickers, an Amy Tangerine pocket, Shoreline sunburst scraps, and Heidi Swapp banner pieces cut off from a previous project. The hexagons are from a Studio Calico stamp set and are attached with some brads I found in my drawer.

The only new item on this final layout is the background paper and the teal letter 'P.' Everything else on this page was leftover. The light blue strip of Shoreline with the hot pink splatters? Leftover from the Baby Turtles layout. The My Mind's Eye transparency? Scavenged from my Valentine's Day memo board. The Heidi Swapp disco heart? The last of a package from this past spring.

So what have we learned today? Use your stash! Use those bits and pieces of scraps. Use pieces from different manufacturers and product lines to make your own combos. Need some patterned papers, letters, or cardstock to pull it all together? Head on in to Scraphappy and buy what you need! It's all there!

End of Summer with Shoreline

Hello World!

How was your summer? Any days at the beach? Any fun travel? Any good family time? Any time to play? And now the important question...Any time to scrap? The last time I was in the store, Christy gave me some of American Crafts' Shoreline papers to play with, and WOW, they are perfect for bright, happy summer events (or anything else bright and happy you may want to use them for). The colors are uber-saturated reds, blues, and yellows with some dark hot pinks and pool blues to accent. I have had the most fun scrapping with these papers, hoarding every little bit and piece to tuck here and there as color bursts on other projects.

I was blessed this summer with the opportunity to go with my father on a medical mission trip to Peru. At the end of the trip, we spent a day touring Machu Picchu. The Shoreline bright yellow sunburst pattern screamed 'Incas' to me, so I used it as the background for this layout about how much we climbed that day. I used some old kokopelli stamps I had in my stash to stamp on some canvas in teal, then stamped the words in black over the person kokopelli. I added some Mini Market letters from October Afternoon and some brads to finish off the page.

This next layout is about a shopping excursion I took with my daughter last month. We were separately scavenging a clothing store for clothes to try on. When we met up in the dressing room, we had both picked the same dress! Obviously, as a scrapbooking mom, this had to be documented on my cell phone so a layout could be made. If you look at the layout, and think about my typical style, you'll notice that I am a B-side scrapper. I prefer the backsides to most patterned papers. They tend to be more subtle, less busy patterns that recede into the background more than their typical trendier, bolder A-sides. This shopping layout uses almost all B-sides.

And then we come to my last layout for today. I made the background of this layout by spraying various colors of yellow and green spray mist onto shiny white cardstock then blending them with a paper towel. The sunshine embellishments were cut out from a separate sheet of Shoreline paper, as was the strip at the bottom and the 'sunshine' label.

I hope you've been inspired to pull out your summer pictures and spend some time creating. If you want any of the Shoreline papers, go see ScrapHappy and stock up! I think I might be needing some more for my own stash...Maybe I'll see you there?

Supplies:
- American Crafts - patterned paper, Thickers
- letter stickers - October Afternoon, Lily Bee Studios
- spray mists - Studio Calico, October Afternoon, Tattered Angels
- disco starts - Heidi Swapp
- wood veneer stars and camera - Studio Calico
- chipboard stars, brads, teal stamping ink, canvas fabric

Our Summer Bucket List

      Hello all! My name is Meghan, and I am thrilled to be a new member of the design team for Scraphappy! I enjoy scrapbooking, crafting, and long walks on the beach...ahem. I am married with three beautiful children who are often the subject of my scrappy projects.

     This has been a crazy month for my family, as we have just finished moving into a new home. I knew that it would be all to easy for me to slip into an OCD state of psychosis that includes all manners of organizing, cleaning, decorating, reorganizing, cleaning, redecorating....you get the drift. So, I decided that in order for us to have a fun summer, I would need to force myself to be intentional about it. Here enters our summer bucket list.

     Once I got the idea to create a summer bucket list (thank you, Pinterest!), it was a fairly simple project. The kids and I came up with a list of about 50 things we wanted to do this summer. The general rule was that the activity would have to be cheap(preferably free) and local. The kids had some great ideas, and I threw in a couple more for good measure. They range from building a fort, watching a sunset, and playing backyard wiffle ball to making glow in the dark bubbles and baking cookies. Some are new experiences; some are old favorites. Many are things that I did as a child that I want my kids to experience.

     After we compiled our list, I got right to work. I started with an 18x24 frame and used some of my stash to create a fun background. For the list, I used a combination of journaling squares and the brand new Heidi Swapp washi tape that I bought from Scraphappy.  I just peeled off a strip, and wrote the bucket list activity directly onto the washi tape with a fine tip sharpie. Add a banner, a star, and some fun summer pics of the kids, and our bucket list was complete.

    I learned something recently that I found to be very useful. You can write on glass with a dry erase marker, and it wipes right off. Shut the front door! I feel like I have been on the outskirts of some best kept secret!!! This is outstanding! We have put this knowledge to use with our bucket list (and a few other projects as well. Stay tuned for more details on those!). When we complete a task, we simply check it off on the outside of the frame with a dry erase marker. We will be able to wipe it all off so that the fun can start all over next summer.

    There are still nearly two months of summer left. Get out there and soak up every second of it! Be intentional about having fun and making memories!

    



Recycling on Your Layouts

I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for ways to save money. One of the ways I do this is by reusing items in my home as often as I can, especially in my scrapbooking and memory keeping projects. And I don't know if you knew this, but this coming Saturday is National Scrapbooking Day - a whole day dedicated to this hobby we love. To combine the two interests (recycling and scrapbooking), Christy gave some old books of upholstery fabric swatches to Ashley Horton and me and asked us to make flowers out of them. If you are coming to the store's crop on Saturday, you might find a few of these flowers lying around (hint hint hint)...and if you're not coming, then you'll just have to settle for looking at my pictures here on the blog.

First up: My Supplies...fabric swatches, my BigShot (Any manual die-cutter will work. You just need to adjust the thickness of your cutting pads to account for the fabric and whatever dies you are using), flower or scalloped-circle dies (I used Spellbinders Nestabilities), and brads, stitching, Glubers, or whatever else you want to hold your flowers together (I used brads. Ashley finished others with stitching and other decoration, but you'll have to come to the store Saturday to see hers!)

When you cut your flowers, try to put your dies as close together as possible so you can get several flowers out of a single swatch.

Once you've cut your flowers, take them to your desk and find some supplies and a photo to match (Sorry the photo is sideways. My computer is refusing to rotate my pictures today).

One item I found on my desk is some leftover embellishment packaging. Seriously, how awesome are those acrylic casings that embellishments come in? I save nearly all of them. What can you do with them, you ask? So many, many options. You can stamp on them with staz-on ink (so you can move a stamped image around on your page and not worry about 'messing up' the page). You can die-cut them and make clear embellishments (Anybody remember Heidi Swapp's old Ghost shapes? Now you know how to make your own!). Or you can adhere other embellishments to them to use as a shiny, clear background (like I've done here with some My Mind's Eye embellishments).

And here's how I put it all together. In addition to the fabric flowers and clear packaging (sorry about the glare), I also used the B-side of a product code strip from a piece of patterned paper on this layout. So many recycled bits and pieces on here. Makes me happy.

I hope I've given you some ideas on how to recycle and save some money on your projects. Please feel free to put a link in the comments to any projects you may make using these ideas. And don't forget to enjoy National Scrapbook Day!

Supplies: fabric, Big Shot die-cutter, Spellbinders nestabilities, brown ink

- patterned paper - Dear Lizzy, Studio Calio, Echo Park, Lilly Bee

- letter stickers - Studio Calico

- brads - Bo Bunny

- washi tape - Hambly

- 'jeweled' frame - My Mind's Eye

- butterfly stickers - Studio Calico

- staple - Tim Holtz

- yellow acrylic heart - Heidi Swapp

Love Notes, Part 2 - A Layout

Hello, World!

Yesterday I showed you a memo board project using some My Mind's Eye Lost and Found papers and embellishments. Today I'm going to show you what I did with my remaining bits and pieces from this line. Since I am a Layout Girl at heart, and I don't like tossing or wasting any little bits of scraps, I decided to make a layout.

Do you remember how I had cut my title on my Silhouette? Well, that negative space cutout called to me, and I decided to write a Love Note to my oldest daughter. I used the cutout title as a mask to spray a title onto a free-hand cut heart from yesterday's leftovers using some Tattered Angels spray mists. I emphasized the title by tracing over it with some Smooch ink to make it more legible. I then layered my heart with my photo and some other scraps to make this quick and easy layout. My journalling is on a tag that I also decorated with scraps before tucking it behind my photo.

Thanks for being here and for checking in on the blog!as always, please leave a comment if you have any questions, requests, or thoughts you want to share!
- Cori

Love Notes Memo Board

Happy February, World!

I hope you've enjoyed all the peaks from CHA over the last week or so. Aren't there some serious pretty-pretties out there awaiting our Crafty Pleasure? I don't know about you, but I am excited about all the new stuff that is coming out right now. One of the lines that never fails to get me excited is My Mind's Eye's Lost and Found, and they've outdone themselves with their latest release, and fortunately, Christy let me play with some. Yeah, Me!

I don't know if you've ever noticed them in the store, but there are these lovely pieces of sheet metal just waiting for your creative touch. They are magnetic and make wonderful gifts for friends and family. Think of them as metal bases for a layout that you can readjust to suit your whims. Or as a decorative memo board that you can add pictures and To-Do lists to. Anything your creativity can imagine! Since Valentine's Day is coming up, I decided to make my magnet board a base for some Love Notes.

The plain, undecorated magnet board is a little bigger than 8.5x11'', so you'll need at least 2 sheets of patterned paper or card stock to fully cover the surface. I chose to use the Eiffel Tower paper on the top, and to ground it with the Birds on a Wire paper. I used my Xyron Cheetah runner as my base adhesive, because I wanted a good, firm, all-over coverage that wouldn't peel up later.

To cover the seam where the 2 papers meet, I adhered some Pink Paislee mistables ribbon that I had stained with Tim Holtz's Spun Sugar Distress Stain. I used 2 layers of the ribbon, because I wanted a pretty layered look to my ruffle. Very Girly here, I know, but I wanted a soft, romantic feel to display my Valentines on.

I cut my title on my Silhouette using the Pacifico font (my new favorite script font, because it welds and cuts so nicely, while still being legible). I then inked the edges and adhered it to my board over some labels that I had cut from another sheet of paper in this line. I finished my title with some Stickles to add some sparkle and shine.

To make the magnets, themselves, I used some plain, small, round magnets as a base. I colored the tips of my Pink Paislee mistables flowers with the same Distress Stain from my ruffle, stuck a Theresa Collins brad through the center, and glue-dotted it to the magnet. Very quick and simple, yet still pretty and moveable.

To finish my board, I used my crop-o-dile to punch some holes in the top and threaded some gingham ribbon through the holes so that I can hang it on the wall. And voila! A beautiful Love Note to share with your family and friends!

- Cori

Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show Day1

Greetings from Anaheim, California!

One of the awesome perks of being on Scraphappy's Design Team is that we, the Design Team Members, get to attend a Crafter's Mecca: C...H...A...Known to the rest of the world as The Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show. So that's where I will be blogging from this week. Each day, after exploring the show floor, I plan to come back here and share the goodness with you! Please check in each day and leave a comment about what you like and don't like. When I get home, we'll be sitting down with the manufacturerers' catalogs and making orders for the store! So if you want it, please let us know! And to encourage y'all to comment, Christy will give a prize pack to a random commenter from all of my CHA posts! So comment daily for extra chances to win. 1 comment per person per day.

(DISCLAIMER: All photos were taken on my phone. I thought that that would make it easier to upload them. I was wrong. Blogger is having issues. Please forgive any technical difficulties. I'm not able to post nearly as many pics as I had planned tonight, but I'll do my best.)

And now for the scrapbooking yumminess...

Our first stop of the day: The Ranger Booth. Gotta start with Tim Holtz's creative genius, right? The Kid (otherwise known as My Oldest Daughter/Helper/PackMule) and I started at the Make&Take table. We played with black UTEE, a Melting Pot, and a metal slide holder to make some UTEE jewelry. Who knew you could make a jewelry charm out of embossing powder? I know I didn't!

Photos from the Ranger booth:

1. Claudine Hellmuth's new 2-step stamps - looks like they're designed both for paper crafting as well as collage arts. The chunkier foam stamps make up the image background, and the clear acrylic stamps provide the overlying detail. For some reason, those house stamps just called to me.



2. Kraft Coredinations - now available in books of strips designed to work with Tim's long, skinny Sizzix dies.

3. Distress Markers - designed to work with and coordinate with all our favorite Distress inks.

4. Tim's new stamps - I apologize about the glare in these photos. The lighting here was not-so great, so I'm only going to show you the best. The travel- themed sets are some of my favorites from him EVER. I WILL be adding these to my stash :)

5. New Alterations dies - THESE ARE SO STINKING CUTE!!! New icons include globes, telephones, typewriters, and cameras - both in the larger Sizzix size, and well as in smaller, Movers and Shapers sizes.

Next stop, the American Crafts booth! American Crafts has recently partnered with various well-loved brands, so this booth was filled with fun color just begging to be scrapped! And as a bonus, most of their lines have coordinating Thickers! Happy Sigh...

1. Amy Tangerine - new line = Sketchbook - This line is full of bright, water-colored, whimsical designs that can make any project happy.

2. Dear Lizzie from Elizabeth Kartchner - a soft, whispy-feeling, very pretty pastel-water-color-feel line. Very peaceful. Perfect for spring, babies, or any other project with a softer feel to it. In the top picture on the right, you can see a package of banners. These are precut and presewn/prestrung sheets of die-cut banners. You can use it as one very long banner, or snip bits and pieces as needed to embellish your projects.

This next picture shows one of my favorite finds of the day. See the 'Smile' and 'Love' package? These are die-cut letters that have been strung onto a thin ribbon. Very pretty. These will definitely be on my pages in the upcoming months.

OK, World. I think I'm going to stop here for tonight. It's after 2AM, and I need to sleep! I took over 250 pictures today, so instead of cramming everything into this one post, I'm thinking I'll just write several blog posts for ya'll over the next several days. That work for you? You want more photos? Fewer photos? Photos of anything in particular? Let me know! Until tomorrow, thanks for reading. And don't forget to comment!

- Cori