a sad goodbye to scrapsupply

I was so sad when I found out that one of my favorite online scrapbook supply stores, Scrapsupply, is closing down. It's been such a great endeavour by Wendy and her husband John because they started the business from scratch and with very little experience in the scrapbooking industry to create such a wonderful place on the web for crafters to gather, talk, shop, and even form long-lasting bonds offline.

They're having major price cuts in the store to help get rid of inventory, so if you have time you should check out the sale prices before everything disappears.

Good luck, Wendy and John, in your next adventures. It has been great to be a small part of Scrapsupply through the years, and I hope you know how much the members really appreciated all of the time and effort you put into building such an engaging message board and design team.

xoxo

thank you notes

While writing this post, I was debating on what to use as a "title". You know, something discreet and diplomatic despite the fact that this project has taken almost two years to finally come to fruition. I mean, publication. So minus any flattering [insert sarcasm here] remarks I could say about the authors and publishing company, I present to you ... Thank You Notes: 40 Handmade Ways to Show You're Grateful ... now available on Amazon.com!


It's the second book published by Hollan and Lark Books that I have several greeting card designs in. The first one was "Love Notes: 40 Exquisite Handmade Cards to Express Your Love" which was released back in January of 2008.


The concept of Thank You Notes came up soon after Love Notes was [finally] published as a way of continuing step-by-step do-it-yourself types of crafting books. Unfortunately, we ran into some trouble with Hollan Publishing going out of business. Then the "wait-and-see" game began with Lark soon thereafter on whether the second book would be released at all, despite all of the work that had already gone into the collecting of the designs and the shipping back and forth of supplies, instructions, and staged demos. Drama I tell you, pure drama.

Alas. It is finally here.

I can't wait to get my hands on it to see if it turned out as good as Love Notes. I am a little bit disappointed that it is being released in paperback format instead of hard cover, but that makes it less expensive which is a plus. I'll have to give you a review when it finally arrives!

P.S. That's one of my designs on the front cover. Sa-weet. :)

friday finds 07.17.09

I found some fun stuff to drool over on this fine Friday. I think the theme in my brain today was "creativity" and "play". And of course, I seem to be drawn to anything green (LOL).

(left to right; top to bottom)
1. hijirik live what you love letterpress poster
2. kidacollective color collection play dress in lime and aqua Marimekko
3. hine handstitched felt camera case
4. evalicious's card phrases quote bubbles
5. MamaKs lemongrass scented play clay
6. kpixie.com's Alpaca silk yarn in peridot

I also found out today that I didn't make it on to the next round in the Gallery Idol challenge. Thanks to everyone for your support over the past couple of weeks in casting your votes! It was truly an honor to make it as far as I did and amongt such a talented pool of crafters. Let's hope for better luck next time!

TGIF!

cast your vote - round two begins now!

Here is the card I designed for round two of the Gallery Idol competition, based on the "All Around the House" theme. Voting is open until 12:00 pm (mountain time) this Thursday, July 16th. If you get a chance, check out all of the wonderful creations - everyone had such a different twist on the theme.

Unfortunately, my image got cut off on the right hand side for some reason (I'll see if I can get it fixed) on the voting page. Keep your fingers crossed I make it past this round! And thanks again for everyone's support!!

a spurt of creativity

After completing an order of 115 wedding invitations and RSVP response cards, I've found time to get back into creating greeting cards. And by the looks of it, I've become pretty fond of my Martha Stewart butterfly punch.

I like the simplicity of using two or three different colors on basic white lately, too. And it seems that I've taken a liking to my Martha Stewart scalloped square punch too. A common thread among these three card designs.

I also managed to finish my submission for round two of the Gallery Idol competition - thank goodness! I must admit that I found the theme ("All Around the House") quite challenging, but I think I came up with a good idea. I'll post that card tomorrow (Monday) once the voting begins so stay tuned. Looking forward to another week of anxiety about whether I'll get past this round - LOL!

Hope you all had a nice weekend. The weather was finally beautiful here after an entire month of non-stop rain. Tony and I managed to get some tennis in and it felt good to be outside for once. It is summer after all, isn't it??! Hopefully if the weather holds out like this tomorrow we can hit the courts after work.

on to round two!

Woo hoo! I've made it on to round two!!

Just a quick thank you to all of you out there that voted for my card. I truly appreciate your support in my crafty endeavours! Round two's theme is "All Around the House" and is about featuring household items (like chairs, frames, bird cages, lamps, kitchen utensils, pillows, chandeliers, teapots, appliances, dishes, tables, etc.) Oh boy, this is going to be a tough one! Will have to see what I can come up with. Any suggestions??!

The deadline for this round is Monday morning so I'll post my design then. Thanks again everyone -- I could not have made it without you! :) Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

cast your vote - round one begins now!

As mentioned in a previous post last week, Paper Crafts Magazine is holding a Gallery Idol competition for the third year in a row and I managed to make it past the "audition" round! There are 20 contestants participating in this round and our first challenge was to create a wedding card. Here is the design that I submitted:


This is where you come in! Just like the TV counterpart, online viewers will vote each week to decide which of the contestants will move forward in the next round.

So are you ready to vote??!! If so, here's how:

1. Go to the Gallery Idol site: http://www.papercraftsmag.com/contests/gallery_idol_09.html

2. Click on the link to 'register' and complete the form.

(eta: sorry, I forgot these next couple of steps ...)

3. They'll send you an email confirmation that you registered, with a link to click on inside the email. Then it should bring you back to the contest page.

4. Some people said that this is where it got a little confusing, because after you log in it gives you that registration form again. Just ignore it and click on the tab that says "vote".

5. Find the card that you wish to vote for, then scroll down to click on "save vote".

I know it's a pain to fill out the form but hopefully it'll only take a few seconds! (It's to make sure that only one vote per person gets logged in.) This round of voting will be open from 12 noon (mountain time) on July 6th (Monday) through 12 noon on July 9th (Thursday), so be sure to get your vote in before then!

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July holiday weekend! Here's hoping for at least a couple of days of sunshine here in the northeast!!

scrabble

Well since my husband won't play board games with me (he says I'm too competitive and that I get upset when I lose ... wth??!), I've resorted to playing games "virtually" (i.e. online). And thanks to Facebook apps, I'm able to play my favorite game, Scrabble, with people like Tony's aunt Elaine. We just finished a game ... round 2 in our battle actually ... she beat me in the first round (watch out world - she's a good player!).


Okay, so now I hope the sun comes out sometime this summer. Sheesh. Enough with the rain already!!