1 Epiphanies for Free!

What better way to celebrate World Card Making Day than with a FREE make n take??!?!

Hey, these days things don't come cheap and most of all, they usually don't come free. 


Especially super awesome good things like this fun, bright card I'll be teaching for FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE at Cool Scrapbook Stuff in Poway, CA from 2-4pm on Saturday October 1, 2011. 


Isn't Epiphany Crafts so generous!!!!??? 


We'll be using Cosmo Cricket papers plus a 12x12 sheet of stickers from my friends at Echo Park (super generous nice peeps too) AND loads of goodness from Epiphany Crafts!! Can you say CHARMS!!!? Yup! And a Vintage Setting both on one cute card!!


So get on down to Cool tomorrow only and make this card for FREE. Come on, what are you waiting for?!?!?

See you there....

2 Spooky Time Begins This Weekend!!

"Haunts and Whooligans" Mini Book Class

October 1, 2011

10am-1pm

Cool Scrapbook Stuff, Poway, CA

Ph: 858-679-9100

October 2, 2011

1pm-4pm

Scrapbookland, Hacienda Heights, CA

Ph: 626-820-0595

The witching hour will approach and you'll have already created a mini book to capture all of your haunted memories from the night! Featuring Authentique's "Glowing" Collection, this mini is filled with spooky yet quirky details and techniques. We'll use the Bind It All, Smooch Spritz, and mixed media goodies to create a delightfully frightful mini album from scratch.

Supplies: Scissors, Paper Trimmer, Adhesive (3D Foam Dots, Tape Runner, Strong Liquid), Bind It All if you have one, apron and gloves to protect clothes/hands.

20 Sizzix Fresh Vintage Blog Hop - Day 2 -- Frilly!

Welcome to Day 2 of the Fresh Vintage blog hop! I am so excited to be a part of this very talented group of designers bringing you inspiration each week. You are in for such a treat!  Every Tuesday and Thursday for the next 6 weeks, one of the 12 dies in the Fresh Vintage collection will be featured. 6-10 projects for every die will be posted by 75 of the most creative designers in our industry.

To view the hop, you can click on the Fresh Vintage blinkie on the sidebar or immediately below. This will take you around to all of the designers on the hop OR you can click on the linky party below for a look at all the projects.

Sizzix Fresh Vintage
[ Hop back ] [ Hop forward ]

I was so happy to receive the Sizzix Bigz Die - Flower, 3-D Fringed to create flowers on tons of projects!!

 I have had this die for almost 2 months now and it has fast become one of my all-time favorites!!! This flower is so fun on its own but then apply a little technique to it and you can create some really wonderful variations. A change of materials, cut a little piece off here, layer something there....the best way to describe this to you would be to show you a few projects I have made with this die over the last month or two.

Just the three layers of the flower cut from a corduroy style fabric and layered, button in the center with twine. This was in a mini book class I taught -- kits are for sale in my etsy shop here: It's My Life Kit.

Also from the It's My Life mini book class -- the Fringed Flowers folded and layered to make a chrysanthemum style flower. I share the tutorial for this flower in my online All About Flowers IV class with my friend Michelle Van Etten at My Creative Classroom. We will be teaching this a second time in November I believe... but here is the tutorial for you ;)

Diecut the flowers from a pair of old jeans using the Sizzix Fresh Vintage Fringed Flower Die. For this flower, you will need 3 different sizes of circle  or one each of the diecut flowers.

Apply glue to the center of the smallest circle and fold in half.

Apply glue to the center again and fold in half again. 

Apply glue to the center of the middle circle and fold in half. Apply glue to the center of the middle half circle but now wrap it around the open end of the Small quarter-folded flower.

Apply glue to the center of the middle circle and fold in half. Apply glue to the center of the middle half circle but now wrap it around the open end of the Small quarter-folded flower.

Repeat the steps for the middle flower with the largest flower. 

This is the back of the flower after all the layers are added:

Tug at the strings and fringed edges of the circles to “fluff” out the flower. Use on a pin, hat or headband for a fun, frilly accent.

Here are a couple more versions of flowers created with the same die:

This flower is from my "Travelogue"mini book class (kits available in my shop) using the technique I show on the Halloween layout at the end of this post -- cut two flowers the same size and then make them nest in one another just slightly.

The layers for this flower were cut from an old pair of my husband's jeans that had ripped. I alternated the right and "wrong" sides of the fabric when layering the flowers for added texture. The tutorial for this flower and the frame I added it to are HERE.



Finally, this layout uses the same denim flowers for a fun and funky page (and my husband is in the pics!)

Thank you for hopping with us today!! 

FAQ about the Fresh Vintage Blog Hop:

How do I hop around to see ideas using the current featured die? 

Every Tuesday and Thursday between September 27-November 3, 2011 there will be a new Sizzix Fresh Vintage die featured on 6-10 of the 75 participating designers' blogs. The navigation buttons for "Hop Back" and "Hop Forward" will allow you to easily hop around and see projects featuring whatever the current die is, since those buttons are programmed to navigate only to the blogs that are participating for that die. On the next Tuesday/Thursday, the buttons will automatically reprogram themselves to navigate to the blogs that are signed up for the next featured die.

What if I start at a designer's blog that isn't one of the 6-10 signed up for that die? 

No problem! Simply hit either the "Hop Forward" or "Hop Back" button on the Fresh Vintage navigation widget from any blog's sidebar and you'll automatically advance to one of the participating blogs.

Can I go back and view the ideas for a previously featured die?

Of course! Go to the "Blog Hops" link at the top of the page. It will bring up all of the blog posts where you'll find direct links to each participating blog along with a thumbnail image of the project.

Where can I buy the Sizzix Fresh Vintage dies, by Eileen Hull?

You can visit Sizzix.com to find a local and online retailers for Sizzix products. Also be sure to visit Oh My Crafts, one of this blog hop's sponsors, (between the dates of September 27-November 3, 2011) and enter for a chance to win a Flower Layers #9 die!

The Blog Hop has ended and the navigation widget is no longer in the sidebar. How can I see the ideas?

Go to the "Blog Hops" link at the top of the page. It will bring up blog posts where you'll find direct links to each participating blog along with a thumbnail image of the project.

0 Bethany Kartchner, Kim Parkinson, and I team up for Halloween!

Yesterday our online All About Halloween course started but there is still plenty of time for you to sign up :) We are going to be showing you some AWESOME ideas!! And I am teaching at least two mini books in the class,including the Haunts & Whooligans mini I am teaching in person around Southern California!!!

Here's all the info:

All About Halloween

September 27, 2011

Online Class - 6 Weeks

with Kim Parkinson, Bethany Kartchner, and Jennifer Priest

Trick or Treat! Do you love spooky ghosts? Goody bags filled with candy corn? Funny spiders and spectacularly scary mini-albums and layouts?

If so, All About Halloween is for you! In this jam-packed course, taught by three amazing teachers: Kim Parkinson, Bethany Kartchner and Jennifer Priest, we'll be creating everything you need this spooky season from cute Halloween cards and goody bags to whimsical home decor to fun layouts and mini-albums to document all the precious memories. If you need inspiration this season, look no further. You are in for an entire bag of treats! No tricks!

· Week One with Kim Parkinson: Fabulous gift bags and cards using alcohol inks, distress inks and embossed metal. We'll explore ways to highlight certain areas of a design using watercolor effects with UTEE.

· Week Two with Kim Parkinson: Create a spooky coffin mini book made from cardstock. It even has an easy stitched pamphlet inside! We'll discuss embossing on metal or pliable aluminum. If you do not have access to embossable metals, no worries! Kim will give suggestions on using other household items for embossing.

· Week Three with Bethany Kartchner: BOO! This week is all about spooky ghosts. You'll meet Zeke, Spooky and a whole gaggle of adorable ghosties. We'll create not just one, but three different home decor projects based on these transparent haunts using Creative Paperclay and supplies found at your local craft store.

· Week Four with Bethany Kartchner: Silly spiders are all the rage as we further explore sculpting with Creative Paperclay. Four unique projects involving our eight-legged friends are on the docket including a Halloween wreath with a spider named Jimmy, napkin holders and Miss Samantha, the most fashionable spider in the whole arachnid kingdom. Eeek!

· Week Five with Jennifer Priest: We'll explore innovative ways to create spooky effects on three unique scrapbook pages using googly eyes, paint, ink, and more. We'll also experiment with color and quirky embellishments for a mix of "scary" pages and whimsical, child-focused pages.

· Week Six with Jennifer Priest: Memory preserving continues as Jennifer shares several versions of mini-albums to lock up all of your spooky memories using leftover decorations to create up-cycled embellishments. To top it all off, we'll create custom "spooky" woven ribbon binding using the Bind It All machine.

If you are a new scrapbooker or crafter, don't worry! We will be covering all the basics along with more advanced techniques in video demonstrations, narrated presentations, downloadable pdf tutorials, forums and a student gallery. If you aren't sure about how you'll view course materials, please read our FAQs.

Here is the jam-packed Haunts & Whoooligans mini I'll be teaching in the class featuring the Bind It All and the Authentique Paper!! I'll also be teaching a monster themed mini plus tons of ideas on how to "spookify" your books:

See you in class!

33 Sizzix Fresh Vintage Blog Hop - Day 1!

Welcome to our first Fresh Vintage blog hop! I am so excited to be a part of this very talented group of designers bringing you inspiration each week. You are in for such a treat!  Every Tuesday and Thursday for the next 6 weeks, one of the 12 dies in the Fresh Vintage collection will be featured. 6-10 projects for every die will be posted by 75 of the most creative designers in our industry.

To view the hop, you can click on the Fresh Vintage blinkie on the sidebar or immediately below. This will take you around to all of the designers on the hop OR you can click on the linky party below for a look at all the projects.

Sizzix Fresh Vintage
[ Hop back ] [ Hop forward ]

I received the Sizzix ScoreBoards XL Die #657122, a photo album die by Eileen Hull:

I also just got the new Free Bird 6x6 Paper Line in by Authentique Papers. As soon as I saw the  "Blush" themed papers I knew they would make the sweetest mini book. There are four 6x6 designs in this theme and that is just enough paper to make this sweet mini using the Scoreboards XL Die and Sizzix Little Sizzles - 6"x13" Mat Board Pack, 6 Assorted Sheets. 

I cut 5 of the sheets using the die--each time you cut you will create a spine, a page, and a frame. I then painted the white boards with Delta Creamcoat Acrylic paint in Sandstone.  

Then I folded the ends of some 4"x 8" tags by American Tag up to make them fit the 6.5" x 4.25" dimensions of the mini album, stapling the folded-up flap to the tag to make a pocket. 

I recently got my hands on some of the new Balzer Designs templates for Crafter's Workshop -- the chevrons and geometric feel of the shapes are perfect for the modern feel of the "Blush" paper. I laid the templates over the painted pages and sprayed them with Smooch Spritz in Cashmere, one of the new colors released this summer by Clearsnap.

On the black pages and black tags, I used the Mini Frag Flower TCW223s to create a flower on the pages using the Delta Creamcoat Acrylic paint in Sandstone with a foam brush.  These are all of the pieces I used to create the album. I used a little paint on the edges of everything for a shabby look. It's my cheater way of distressing ;) I then followed the instructions on the die package to create the album, using my tags as pages as well.





Then I set to decorating the pages and cover.

On the cover, I sprayed a white paper flower with Smooch Spritz in Cashmere and added it to the cover with a few strips of paper, an adhesive doily diecut, buttons and sticker letters. I spritzed some white floral leaves with Smooch Spritz in Silver Foil and added them under the flower. I also created the 3D roses using wool felt and the Sizzix Flowers, 3D die. I then threaded several ribbons around the spine and tied them in a bow.

I inserted several tags into each of the tag pockets I made, adding ribbons to the pages.


After all was set, I spritzed the entire book with Smooch Spritz in Silver Foil, at a distance of 18" to get a fine mist. This helps pull the colors together and give the book an aged feel. 

It's now ready for some gorgeous black and white photos!!

Supplies:

• Dies, Scoreboard - Sizzix
• Paper, Stickers - Authentique Papers
• Ink - Smooch Spritz in Cashmere and Silver Foil by Clearsnap, ColorBox Fluid Chalk Ink in Blackbird and Grey Whale
• Paint - Delta
• Ribbon - American Crafts, May Arts, Making Memories
• Leather Frame - Making Memories
• Journal Cards - Jenni Bowlin
• Tags - American Tag, Avery
• Twine - The Twinery
• Flower, Buttons, Ribbon, Leaves - hydrangeahippo.etsy.com
• Doily Stickers - EK Success/Martha Stewart
• Wool Felt - Unknown

Thank you for hopping with us today!! Please leave a comment to be entered to win a pack of Smooch Spritz in Silver Foil and Cashmere, the same Smooch Spritzes I used here on my mini book. I will choose one winner and post their name on my October 2, 2011 blog post.

FAQ about the Fresh Vintage Blog Hop:

How do I hop around to see ideas using the current featured die? 

Every Tuesday and Thursday between September 27-November 3, 2011 there will be a new Sizzix Fresh Vintage die featured on 6-10 of the 75 participating designers' blogs. The navigation buttons for "Hop Back" and "Hop Forward" will allow you to easily hop around and see projects featuring whatever the current die is, since those buttons are programmed to navigate only to the blogs that are participating for that die. On the next Tuesday/Thursday, the buttons will automatically reprogram themselves to navigate to the blogs that are signed up for the next featured die.

What if I start at a designer's blog that isn't one of the 6-10 signed up for that die? 

No problem! Simply hit either the "Hop Forward" or "Hop Back" button on the Fresh Vintage navigation widget from any blog's sidebar and you'll automatically advance to one of the participating blogs.

Can I go back and view the ideas for a previously featured die?

Of course! Go to the "Blog Hops" link at the top of the page. It will bring up all of the blog posts where you'll find direct links to each participating blog along with a thumbnail image of the project.

Where can I buy the Sizzix Fresh Vintage dies, by Eileen Hull?

You can visit Sizzix.com to find a local and online retailers for Sizzix products. Also be sure to visit Oh My Crafts, one of this blog hop's sponsors, (between the dates of September 27-November 3, 2011) and enter for a chance to win a Flower Layers #9 die!

The Blog Hop has ended and the navigation widget is no longer in the sidebar. How can I see the ideas?

Go to the "Blog Hops" link at the top of the page. It will bring up blog posts where you'll find direct links to each participating blog along with a thumbnail image of the project.

1 Flowers With Super Powers

Okay, maybe that is stretching it a bit BUT flowers are pretty magical! This month's Project 12x12 is all about FLOWERS. 

If you have been with me for the last 2 years then you know we did a Flowers themed Project 12x12 already BUT that was a Prima class, back in the day when I was a Prima Educator (seems like forever ago but that was just last year) and this class has a whole different feel, twist, and focus. 

We'll make the majority of the flowers on these layouts in class--from the ticket stub flower to denim posies to a Spellbinders peony with Want2Scrap bling...it's gonna be fabulous!

Class is tomorrow night and you can still sign up. Collective Journey is closed on Mondays but just give the store a call after 11am to reserve your spot on Tuesday at 909-793-2200. 

See you there!

0 Winning!

Winners are in order--I ran two giveaways that got away from me! LOL So without further ado....


The winner of the Amy Tangerine Mini Album is...........................Anna Milholland (Anna Finocchio)


And the winner of the 500 Club Prize Pack from my Hydrangea Hippo Fan Page is......................Leshon Johnson


Please email me at hydrangeahippo@yahoo.com with your mailing addy so I can send your prize out!! 


Also, today I am teaching this fabulous class at Scrapbooking Made Simple in Santa Clarita, CA. Yes, we will make THAT FLOWER in class. It's pretty cool! Hope you will join me :)

Random Little Things

Sept 25, 2011

1-4pm

Scrapbooking Made Simple, Santa Clarita, CA

Ph: 661-298-1112

Create a mini book about all the little things that make life special, Family, vacations, favorite shoes...this book can hold all the random things you are thankful for. We'll use loads of Crate Paper's new "Random Collection" in vibrant greens, bold royal blues, and sweet raspberry colors. Try your hand at creating a handmade rose for the cover of the book - choose from yellow, orange, or pink in class. We'll finish it off with all the details Jennifer's class are known for, like American Crafts papers & Amy Tangerine favorites, loads of buttons, and more to create this custom mini book.

Please bring: Bind It All if you have one, scissors, paper trimmer, 3D Foam Squares (3L Scrapbook Adhesives Brand), Strong Liquid glue or hot glue gun, black pen, glue dots, ColorBox Fluid Chalk Ink in Chestnut Roan (optional).

3 I got Featured :)

Megan Aaron was kind enough to tell me about a little weekly challenge Cards Magazine posts to their Create Blog. 

Last week's challenge was to make a card with a fox. So I got a little something together with a fox stamp, an Epiphany Crafts button I had made, some Authentique Paper scraps, and submitted--the point for me was to just start making a card a week. And to my surprise my card got featured as one of their top 20 picks!! Wooohooo!!

Supplies:

• Paper - Authentique Papers, Basic Grey, Neenah (cardstock), SEI (button)
• Button - Epiphany Crafts
• ColorBox Fluid Chalk Ink in Chestnut Roan, Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink in Pumpkin Spice, Smooch Spritz in Candle Glow - Clearsnap
• Ribbon - May Arts
• Brad - Queen & Co
• Doily - Wilton
• Stapler- Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
• Twine - hydrangeahippo.etsy.com
• Journal Spot - Jillibean Soup
• Stamps, Punches- Stampin' Up!

This week's challenge is  to make a card using 2 different border punches. I'm on it--I hope you'll join me in taking the challenge :) Go HERE to enter.

Happy Scrapping!

0 Layout A Week is Finally Back!!

I finally got the energy up (ha!) to bring my Layout A Week blog back to life!! I shared how to make the layout I shared earlier this week from the Color Challenge.

I have lots more fabulous layouts and techniques planned to share with you! Today was supposed to be crop day at my house but it was cancelled due to low attendance. But that is OK because I needed some time off. So check out the LAW blog and I will be taking a minute off from crafting to get some family time in and do work around the house.

Happy Not-Crafting! 

1 The Organized Crafter - Don't You Wish That Was You?

My new online class is starting this coming week and there is still time to sign up!! I am so excited to be presenting this class because it seems that half the fun (or work, depending on how you look at it) is organizing all of our pretty little crafty supplies. I have tried many different systems over the years as well as checked out the systems of other crafters. I share my tried and true techniques but also share ideas from some of my friends - business women, busy moms, "weekend" scrappers...we are going to have a blast!!

(and yes, that is a picture of one of my craft rooms)

The Organized Crafter

September 20, 2011

Online Class - 4 Weeks

with Jennifer Priest

This class is all about organizing scrap supplies, how to pack for a crop, class or retreat weekend, and how to use your stash. I make about 300+ layouts a year and have a reputation for getting a TON done at crops and retreats. I’ve gathered my best tips and advice to help us get from messy scrapper to efficient, organized crafter!

Lesson One and Two: Organizing Supplies

We’ll explore different methods of organizing supplies (brand, color, product type, hybrid style), storage options, using the space you have (under the bed to a whole room), and using your supplies as decorations.

Lesson Three: Getting Ready to Create

Packing for a Crop vs Class vs Retreat Weekend & organizing photos

Lesson Four: Working Through Your Stash

How to use the 10,000 piece eyelet set you bought at expo 5 years ago, when to let go of something because you will never use it, how to challenge yourself with the supplies you have/fall in love with your stash again. PLUS: How to shop without guilt.

Sign up here: The Organized Crafter. 

See you in class!