Sharing...and Giving

And that's always a good thing, right?

Well, I am still feeling a bit under the weather so I did not make it to sell at the Yard Sale today--there are still TONS of vendors there and lots of great loot and deals to be had so if you have the inkling, go check it out! See my post further down (earlier this week) for address and details.

I got home late last night and my mind was going 100 miles an hour--needless to say, I could not sleep. So I surfed the net! Here are some fun tidbits to share, from that excursion and from my own schedule/life:

This month is National Craft Month and Polka Dot Whimsy is celebrating by posting a new project on the blog EVERY DAY! So far there have been some fun projects and I really love the tissue flowers tutorial from yesterday. Here's a peek at what Michelle made--she has very detailed instructions on the PDW blog so go check it out. And every day until the end of the month is something new:


Nan from Zutter shared this link to a project Anne Jo Lexander created using an O-Wire box to make a hair clip holder:


Anyone with a little girl (or if you just love clips yourself) NEEDS to make one of these!! Anne Jo posted about it on her blog and on the Fancy Pants blog.

So maybe there is a little "Green Theme" going on here (cuz you can totally make Michelle's tissue flowers with tissue paper leftover after a birthday or Christmas)...It's just because yesterday I was chatting with Carrie at Pink about an idea for a class using Jillibean Soup and a concept was born!!

I'm going to be teaching a "Go Green" mini book class using Jillibean Soup, Prima packaging, and some other "green" products in the class to create an environmentally conscious mini book. Stay tuned for sneaks! The class is April 23rd, the day after Earth Day.

Okay, now back to sharing. My friend Maria Getz is a cancer survivor and last night at a little get-together at her house she shared her story with all of us. She also gave us the cutest little make n take, a leprachaun to symbolize how lucky she is to have been cancer free for over a year. Maira is attending the Royal Slumber Crop next weekend in San Marcos to benefit the Cancer Coping Center. Maria said she got through her cancer battle with the support of family and friends and she really understands the value of the Cancer Coping Center, providing suport to those going through the same battle as she.

Maria has set a goal to raise $500 in the next week for the Cancer Coping Center. If you would like to help Maria reach her goal, please contact her via her website at http://mariagetz.stampinup.net.

Until tomorrow, Happy Creating!

I Missed A Day?! And Five Friday #22...

How could I have even missed a day blogging!? LOL Well, maybe Xaver being home sick had a little to do with it. ;)

This Friday I am going to share Five Places for Cool Stuff (that can be used for scrapping):

The Craft Kitchen - Cool Crafty Classes. They don't have scrapbook stuff but it is a good place to go for inspiration and learn something new. I am looking into whether or not they will do any papercrafting classes ;)

Mahar Dry Goods - Just fun cool stuff.He has alot of playful things like for kids but some of his stuff has worked its way into my classes.

ScrapNFonts - If I need a cool font, I can go here to find one. They usually have about 20 fonts for free all the time and have lots of other fonts for $1-2 to download.

Pink Parlour Festival -- Wish I could got but it we already have plans for Disneyland. Phooey! It looks pretty cool so if you have the time, check it out!!

Vintage Buttons from Acme - If you're into vintage, then this is the place! The are pretty reasonable priced.

Happy Crafting!!

It's Whimsy Time Again!

Polka Dot Whimsy is back up and going full force! I am so excited to be working with the kits again. Here are my latest creations with the March 2009 kit. There are still a few kits left if you wanna get in on the action. Check it all out on the PDW website.

I did the Financial Peace program from Dave Ramsey a few years back and have the books and all but have loosely done it for the last couple years (explaining why my savings account was dwindling!). So now that we are getting in shape physically (doing WW) I figured it was time to get in shape financially too. So when I opened the PDW kit and saw this Maya Road book with envelopes and tabs I was like --YEAH!!!

I don't use envelopes for all the categories Ramsey says too, like Utilities, because I pay those directly out of our account and there is no need to withdraw cash and put it in an envelope for that. There's really only 4 things I need cash for: clothes, food, gas, and fun money (or as Dave calls it, "blow money"). I made this little binder to go in our safe. When I am supposed to spend that money, I can take out the apporpriate envelope and spend only what I have. This is going to save me thousands of dollars!! So I had to make it cute so I would actually use it:


These letters from My Little Shoebox are cute and all but they started jumping off the sheet of stickers in big blocks so I just coverd the spine with all the messed up stickers from the sheet (and a few more to fill in the gaps):

And here are some layouts--getting caught up on my scrapping!! Woohoo!

I made a little notepad for Katie. It is one of those elastic closure ones from Target and I tied the flower on with ribbon and then added more ribbons around it. Just a very simple project that can be done with scraps.

This time I am determined to not have to put anything away from the kit (except maybe alphabet stickers cuz those seem to last longer than just a couple pages). I have a couple more cards left on my table to finish and I did have one full sheet of cardstock I put away but I am NOT adding to my rubbermaid tub of stuff I have to put away. How on earth do I let this happen? Uggh! Until tomorrow...

Happy Crafting!

Dealing with Background "Noise" in Photos + Book Club Announcement

I'm on a roll, getting pages done , scanned, and uploaded--woohoo! I love that I am making progress since I am "behind" on my 365 pages in a year goal. By now I should have completed about 62 pages and I have only done about 31 so far this year. I'm giving myself some slack though because I have been unusually sick but now that I am feeling better it is time to get serious!!

On this layout I had to find a solution to the problem in the photo -- lots of background yuckiness. We pulled up the carpet in our house since it was thrashed (it was a repo) and the concrete underneath is splotched and shows up in the background of lots of my photos. Yes, that is real life, but sometimes it is rather distracting on a scrapbook page. I had a series of photos of Matthew sitting on the hallway floor listening to the radio. Really I just wanted to see his face and that he had on headphones.

Solution?

I used a 3" circle punch to punch out the part of the photo that I wanted. It eliminated all that yucky yellow from the glue on the conrete floor. I used a lot of red accents on the page to also pull the colors from Matt's outfit and to draw attention from the yellow parts of the photos. And this page took all of 10 minutes.

You might have noticed that the text on this layout is really the main design element. I was really inspired by Get Creative With Type, an idea book by Brian Tippets. I've been reading it in preparation for a new cycle of Book Club!!!

That's right, we're starting Book Club again!!!!

I've got a new car, our schedule changed with Girl Scouts, and now I can hold Book Club meetings again. Here are all the particulars:

Join us for another fabulous round of Book Club at The Scrappin' Table! Each month we’ll meet to play with new products & techniques, make new friends, and be inspired to create! We’ll be working with text this time, featuring the idea book Get Creative With Type by Brian Tippets.

The book includes a bonus CD filled with wonderful fonts and templates too! Each meeting we will explore a section of the book, try a new technique or product, and leave with a goodie bag for our “homework” assignment. The next month you will bring your completed assignment (or another project) to share. And there are always lots of laughs and conversation to be had as well.

Are you a past Book Club member? Bring a friend to get a special gift from Jennifer at the first Book Club meeting!

Supplies: Glue dots, liquid adhesive, 3D foam squares, inks if you like to ink (brown, green, orange), precision tip scissors.

Just call the store to reserve your spot.

Happy Creating!!

Attention Bargain Hunters!

Join me this Saturday for the:

2nd Annual
*****Scrapbook Yard Sale*****

There will be at least 6 tables filled with scrapbook, paper craft stuff that their owners want you to take off their hands. Great deals to be had, for sure.

One Scrapbooker's trash is another Scrapbooker's treasure!

We will also have a children's table set up so they can play and make some paper craft things for themselves. This table will not be supervised, but will be easily seen by all of us.

Date: Saturday, March 7, 2009
Time: 8 a.m. to Noon - No early birds please
Place: 533 San Miguel Dr .
Corona , CA 92879
Contact: 951-640-8678

We are still accepting vendors so if you are interested in setting up your own table e-mail RockinReddRobin@yahoo.com.

So what will I be offering?

• 20% of all sales at my table are being donated to Scrapbook Royalty
• Scrapbook Royalty Tote Hooks and Clock Tote Hooks (100% goes to SBR)
  
• Banner Kits
• Kits from past classes
• Kits from Cut-It-Up and the SBR stash (100% goes to SBR)
  
• Aprile's Attic kits and goodies
• Ribbon by the Yard
• Chipboard by the sheet
• Lots of goodies to be had!!!
  

See you there!!

"Gypsy Family" Class

Join me for a technique driven, product filled mini book class this month -- two different locations!

Gypsy Family Mini Book

March 19, 2009, 5-9pm
Collective Journey
909-793-2200

March 26, 2009, 6-9pm
Scrapbook Boulevard
760-948-5700

I'm stepping out my box to bring you a book filled with 7Gypsies papers and embellies, brand new Glimmer Mist colors, the new monogram Glimmer Chips, Zutter Cover-Alls, and gaffer's tape! This book features wonderful treatments with crepe paper, lots of glimmer mist and glimmer screens, ribbon, stamping, and loads of technique. Plus I've included some fun finds from my stash that I have been dying to work into a class like clear playing cards and fun vintage style pins I got at a flea market. It is definitely a class you won't want to miss!!

Supplies:
Liquid Adhesive, Scissors, Glue Dots in various sizes, inks (blue, black, light brown, yellow), yarn darning needle (with sharp point), nonstick craft sheet and Zutter Bind It All if you have them.

More sneaky peeks right here!!

Happy Crafting!