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Everything is READY to go!!
I'm all done and ready to make it "LIVE" tonight at 7pm PST!! There's LOTS of there for sale, so make sure you are here on time for the BEST choices! The kits will be ON SALE on the blog over there <--------- under "Kit Club" and will say FEBRUARY KITS!
There will be the Grab Bags in $5, $10 and $20. They are ALL different (except the $20.00 kits are the same) so grab as many as you want!
There will be the February Project kit which is the "Remembering my Childhood album kit for $ 21.99.
There are only a few Past Kits (European & Travel kit) but only a few of each. There are some past Project Kits (Falling for Fall & Home for the Holidays) but these I literally have 1 of each! They will be discounted but not as much as the Past Kits.
Lastly, there will be a Misc. Grab Bag ~ Completed Projects section! This is past class samples I've taught, or cards I've made or altered items I've made or projects for CHA (including THIS CHA) and even a few almost finished projects from CREATIVE ESCAPE! All you will need to do to finish them is add some photos and add your finishing touches on them or give them as a gift! THESE ARE ONLY $5.00 and that is a STEAL!!
So, come back TONIGHT!!!
7pm PST right here!!
Now, for the 2 WINNERS OF THE GRAB BAG RAK...
Congrats to:
Laressa Heskett
AND
Kate Blue!!!!!!
So send me your addresses and I'll send out a Grab Bag to each of you!
See you tonight! Be sure to check back here for ANOTHER RAK! Details tonight...
Hugs to all,
Laura
I've been so busy this week that I've forgotten to BLOG! oops...
Monday was a day off so the girls and I went and did a little "window shopping"! We are saving up our work $$ and going to get some sundresses as we get closer to our trip to Europe so we decided to check out what's out there... We also saw the Justin Beiber movie and I have to say it was GOOD! My girls aren't huge fans of him (thank goodness) but Rebecca's the one that really wanted to see this movie so we decided to go. Justin seems like a great kid who has a GOD given talent. It portrayed him as a really good kid that prays before he eats, has a good head on his shoulders and is surrounded by some really good people. So hopefully he can stay that way...
This week I'm getting ready for my Crop/Class at my house this weekend AND the Kit Sale! It's crazy busy here but I'm excited!
I have about 30 $5 grab bags, 30 $10 grab bags and 6 $20 grab bags! So if you want some kits, be HERE at 7pm PST SATURDAY NIGHT!!
There will also be some past kits up for sale at discounted rates (not very many... about 4 of the European kit, 2 of the June Travel Kit and 1 or 2 of the Falling for Fall project kit) So if you didn't have a chance to grab one of those, now would be your chance to get the last ones!!!
And then THIS class kit will be for sale:
"Remembering my childhood"
This will be a class kit with instructions and everything you need to make it! I only have 18, so grab one FAST if you want one!!
Ok, I'm back to it...
See you SATURDAY NIGHT!!!
Hugs,
Laura
P.S. If you've bought kits from me in the past and can't make the Kit REVEAL on Saturday night at 7pm PST and want something, just email me and we can figure something out.
P.S.S. My cousin Tami is having a BABY TODAY!! Please pray the cesarian goes well and baby and momma will be healthy!!
It has been a LONG week. So much {scary} stuff going on in the news. Sickness at home, still organizing room by room... and I am SO ready for the weekend!!
But before it starts, I wanted to FINALLY share a SNEAK of the Class Project that will be up for sale NEXT Saturday, February 26th on THIS blog!!
It's a very mixed-media album that I came up with using all kinds of different pages and materials! I wanted to do an album that was vintage in feel and was something you could use to remember your childhood or the document a child's memories.
"Remembering My Childhood"
So come back next Saturday, February 26th at 7pm PST!! This will be a limited kit so grab one fast! Also, there will be Grab Bags for sale and past kits and add-ons for sale!!!
Also, next week I will be doing a tutorial for this:
This is an embroidery hoop that I designed with Webster's Pages products and some Prima as well! I designed this for a Wednesday post on their FB page! In fact, every Wednesday you can find my designs on their FB page and on the Ning site, InspireMe!
I've had SO many people on FB and Webster's Pages want me to do a tutorial on this! So, next week I will be making another one and share the "how-to's" on my blog!!
Also, last thing...
I'm going to be giving away TWO GRAB BAG KITS!!!
Yes, right before my Kit Sale on Saturday I will give away 2 Grab Bags to 2 lucky winners that leave a comment on THIS blog post! Just leave a comment on here and tell me what types of classes you like to take at your LSS. Do you want to take layout classes?? or mini albums... or altered art?? Maybe you like making "home decor" items you can display in your house with your photos?? Would LOVE to get your feedback! As a teacher, I want to hear what interests YOU!!
Have a GREAT weekend,
Laura
Unfortunately, this post is going to be quick because Rebecca is home today with a flu bug! I feel SO bad for her and hope she makes a quick recovery. (I'm also hoping I don't get it because I just realized I shared a root beer with her yesterday...YIKES!!)
So the winner of the RAK is...
Michelle:
"Your album looks amazing and so gorgeous!!
I have never tried the distress it all!
When I come to CA. in April for 3 weeks I will see if one of the big Scrapbook store has one so I can try it!!
We finally got another scrapbook store here its small but its nice to have one near by otherwise the closest one is 3 hours away!
The other scrapbook store 50 minutes away closed two years ago!
So glad to have one near by again so I can shop local instead of online!!
Thanks for the info on the distress it all love the look it gave to your pages!!"
CONGRATS Michelle! Send me your information and I'll get some "distressed" items and other goodies out to you soon!
I'll leave you with a LO I did yesterday of Victoria. This is one of our FAV pictures of her in London. It's at the Sherlock Holmes Museum and the lighting, her little mustache and the look on her face are just "Priceless"...
This is all with Teresa Collins POSH line! I had a fun time making this simple LO and I hope you enjoy it too!
Oh, by the way... Teresa Collins February Newsletter is out today! Go have a look see and you will be AMAZED all the that is going on and all the WONDERFUL projects by the Design Team ladies!!
Here's the link: http://www.teresacollinsdesigns.com/newsletter/feb2011.pdf
You can sign up for her newsletter to come straight to your inbox each month too, so sign up today!!
Today I am working on a couple things that need to get finished and then cleaning up the house as fast as I can incase I end up getting what Rebecca has... So check back on the blog later this week for a SNEAK of the Class Project!
And don't forget, the Kit Sale is on Saturday, February 26th at 7pm PST!!! You WON'T want to miss the chance for GREAT products and GREAT prices!!
Have a GREAT day everyone,
Laura
I {LOVE} this day... I have to admit I usually have GRAND ideas of what I want to do for Lance and the girls and then fall short of my dreams for the day. So this year I was again trying to figure out what to do to make it special, until a friend on FB told what she does for her kids and I just thought it was SO simple, yet SO important! So Cathie, THANK YOU for inspiring me to really get to the meaning of this day.
She mentioned on FB that each year she gives each kid a piece of paper or card (can't remember) and she asks them to write 2 things they LOVE about each sibling! Then she lets me give them to each other on Valentines morning. She said it was SO special to keep them and look back and read them and be able to have something for each of them to feel special about! LOVE it.
So, last night I decided to quickly make some TAGS with some left over Webster's Pages papers. I didn't do much to them b/c I wanted the girls to have space to write on them. I told each girl separately to write 2 things they love about each sister and write them on the tags. Then I took them back from them and this morning made a cute little grouping for each girl at the kitchen table so they could read them this morning! So simple, yet such a loving gesture! You could just see the feeling of LOVE and JOY of each girls face when they heard what their sisters said about them. I could just cry thinking of the pure JOY I saw on Isabella's face this morning... Why don't I do things like this? I'm SO thankful for Cathie (who I don't even think is a scrapper?? lol) who showed me it's not about the big, fancy scrapbook "thing", it's ABOUT THE MEMORIES! Sometimes, I get SO caught up in what GREAT thing can I do for them, that I forget it's the little things like this that are SO easy to do and so often overlooked. Help me Lord to remember this...
So here are the tags that the girls wrote. I also wrote one for each girl from their dad & I. And I plan to put them in the little tin box that I made for Valentine's Day for a Webster's Pages post:
This is just a little metal tin box I got on http://www.scrapbook.com a couple years ago after Katie Watson mentioned them on her blog! I just added some Webster's Pages trims and papers and a fabric Valentine from Heartwarming Vintage.
Here's the Valentines they woke up to this morning:
and here's what the {LOVE} of my life came a brought me this morning:
YES!! And, he had them hand pack this because he said they didn't have any with JUST white chocolate and he knew that's the only kind I like... Ya, he's a keeper! Thank you babe, I LOVE you!!
So, here's my PERFECT breakfast! I know, not health conscious but I'm livin' LARGE today! :)-
Oh, notice the mug?? I got that for Lance as a stocking stuffer. I had Shutterfly print those pictures of us in Bellagio, Italy on the cup and now it's MY favorite mug for coffee in the morning! hehehe...
Here's another look at the little tin box:
I'm going to finish up a layout I'm making for Valentine's Day with one of my FAV pictures of Victoria from our trip this last summer and Teresa Collins papers! I may show later today on FB if I get it done. Then Victoria and I are going out to have a "girly" day since she doesn't have school today!
Have a GREAT Valentine's Day everyone!!
Laura
I've been a little overwhelmed this week. I kind of opened "pandora's box" when I decided to PURGE the house! With all I have going on it probably wasn't a good choice to do this now. But, that's life and I'm just trying to get caught up on everything.
It DOES feel good to almost be done with this HUGE project, but I can't wait to get past it and have a very organized house with a LOT fewer "things"...
BUT...One thing I WILL be keeping is this:
Distress it all by Donna Salazar
This thing ROCKS! It's the coolest gadget I've played with in a long time. If you know my type of work, you know I "distress" a LOT! I've been using either a nail file or this little distresser (basically a glorified razor blade) I got at a Creative Escape a couple years ago. So if you've used either one of these type of tools for distressing, you know how long it can take! ugh... (Oh, and how MESSY these things are. I usually have the remnants of paper on my pants most days when I'm picking the girls up from school, lol)
But this "Distress it All" by Donna takes SECONDS! And... you can do mulitple pages at a time. AND... it contains all the "mess" in a nice little compartment! LOVE it...
So, I decided to use this on an album I was making about my {love} of Italy. I wanted to make an album that spans all the times I've been to Italy and even leave room for photo's from this summer. I started by using some of Donna Salazars Corrugated Cardboard 13x13 pages:
This is the same product that I used on my "Home for the Holidays" album:
and I had a few left over so I decided to make a "graduated" album, with the pages increasing in length with each page.
Here's my tribute to my Italian Memories:
I used Pink Paislee's Parisian line for all the papers, inked them with some Tattered Angels to show off the resist nature of this line. (I'm a little sad I didn't see very many new lines at CHA with this concept b/c it's just so easy to play with!) And then just played with lots of FUN embellishments...
Here you can see a side-view of the album. I took each page and ran it through the "Distress it All" to get that look. Because the corrugated board is thicker than paper, I didn't want to run multiple pages of it through the machine. I DID run multiple PAPERS through it at the same time b/c between the corr. board, I have pages that are just paper...
Here's a look at a couple of the inside pages. You can see on the right side of the corr. paper I used a heavy duty Pinking Sheers, but on the left side and the top and bottom, I used the "Distress it All" and it gave it so much "age" that totally fits with an album about Italy! {heart}
Here's a GREAT close-up of what the "Distress it All" can do! Now I am planning on going back in here and adding more layers of inks/chalk to give it even more "age"... (I was just SO excited, I couldn't wait to share with you ladies :)
So here's a last picture of my album. I'm not quite done with it, I have some more pages to fill and more pages to leave OPEN for this Summer! But I'm just SO happy with this new gadget and you will DEFINITELY see me using this in future projects... AND CLASSES! I plan to get REALLY "distressed" on an upcoming class design!
So get ready to "Distress it All"!! (and de-stress too :)
Ok, now for some NEWS...
The Kit Sale/Grab Bag Sale and NEW Project Kit Sale will be on:
February 26th at 7pm PST!
In this process to "purge" my house, I have also taken the HUGE undertaking of going through ALL of my scrap/art STUFF! (I have a LOT of stuff) So, the Grab Bags are going to be GREAT way to get some great products and SUPER DUPER prices!! They will go fast like last time, so make sure you come by on the 26th at 7pm PST!! I'll also have some products and past kits on sale and the new Project Kit too! Unfortunately, I don't have a SNEAK PEEK of the new project kit... I'm waiting on one product I should be getting in the mail today to finish it off. I will share picture early next week, I promise!
Ok, now for some FUN...
Why don't you leave me a comment on THIS post and let me know if you've tried the "Distress it All" yet. I'd love to hear what you think of it and if you've had a chance to play with it! I'll even throw in a RAK on the next "Love, Tuesday" post for one lucky winner! I don't have a "Distress it All" to give away, but I WILL distress some goodies with mine and add it to the RAK!!
Well, ave a GREAT Friday everyone,
Laura
February is whizzing by me... I can't believe how fast this year is moving! Is that the way it is for everyone?? CHA is over, but I'm feeling like we just got over Christmas and yet, we're almost to Valentine's Day!! I haven't done any decorating, designing or THINKING of Valentine's day...
So I guess I will just post some pictures of Valentine's past...
Here's a fun little box I made with My Minds Eye papers and an acrylic flower I made from Clear Scraps acrylic sheets, a heat embossing tool and some Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink.
This is an acrylic heart "purse" album from Clear Scraps that I made with all my FAV photos of Paris architecture. So much fun and I used Pink Paislee's Valentine line for the papers and embellishments.
and here's a little "make-n-take" I did with some misc. products and my FAV color, red!
I'm going to have to get in my stash of Valentines products and see what I can make this week...
But this week I am still organizing my house and "purging"! lol... I am done with upstairs (except the girls rooms, which I told them they had to do :)- and now I need to go through the downstairs rooms. Then I will tackle the garage... ugh. But it's all good! We've really wanted to downsize and get organized. When you tackle this kind of HUGE project, it does really make you realize how much we buy that we don't NEED! Oh my stars... it's bad. We've been making changes in our lives for 1/2 a year now so that we can focus on what is important to us. We haven't been going out to eat as much and we haven't been buying/shopping as much. And...It feels SO good! I know that it's helping me THINK before I buy and in fact it even has helped me think about if I really NEED to go here or there.... I am more thoughtful of my time. I just think it's all positive and I'm hoping that going through and realizing how much we have that we don't need or don't want anymore will help us to think twice before we bring more "things" into the house in the future. I also think it's helping the girls to see how wasteful all those "things" they HAD TO HAVE really are. Do they care about that toy or shirt or piece of jewelry a year later? Do I? Nope. I know I'd rather keep that money and save it for things we really care about... How about you? You ready to try and downsize your life??
I've found a blog I mentioned a while back that has been a helpful reminder of this concept, Be more with less , check it out sometime.
The other things keeping me busy this week are FUN things!
The girls are starting singing lessons today! I'm SO excited for Isabella and Rebecca! Victoria has been taking lessons for a couple years now and loves it. She actually has a voice for opera and really dreams of studying opera in Italy some day! Isabella and Rebecca love to sing as well, but I've finally worked out a deal with Victoria's teacher to have them ALL take lessons on the same day, just one right after the other so it's a great deal and the easiest way to do it with my schedule. Isabella saw that 8 year old girl who sings opera on TV a while back (don't remember her name, sorry) and she has been my little girl who actually sang before she could talk! She started, NO JOKE, SINGING to Josh Groban in the car at 3 MONTHS OLD! Ok, so it wasn't words, but it was a humming/singing... It was SO funny and we all remember it b/c we were all in the car and looked back at her simultaneously b/c we heard something and it was her! So we all have singing in our blood (my mom was in a singing group for years & I sang in High School and some weddings way back when...) so I'm excited to see how this goes for all of them!
I'm also trying to get our Europe plans scheduled. That's FUN but really is a lot of work. I LOVE that kind of work though, so I'm not complaining! I'm just starting to freak out b/c Summer is coming quickly and I only have the flight booked! I need to figure out where we're going, hotels, restaurants, things to do, dog and house sitter, and the list goes on...
And then I'm ALSO planning my KITS!!! Yeah, that IS fun for me! I spent part of this weekend figuring out what project kits I want to design and I'm SO excited! I really think I came up with some GREAT ideas and now I'm taking this week to figure out what I need to order, when and where I want to teach them and what I will be selling as kits online. So far I have 7 project kits figured out! Some will be class kits only and some will be online kits only. I will fill you in on all the details as soon as I get things worked out! I know I will be traveling this year to teach and I'm VERY excited about that! That was one of the reasons I took a break from my regular Kit Club. I wanted to focus on getting back to my DESIGN background and actually CREATE projects and then teach them, so I'm really thrilled to be following through with that goal this year! I had some REALLY GREAT opportunities open up for me at this past CHA to teach and I will be filling you in on those as well!
So, stay tuned ladies! I'm planning on my 1st project kit to be THIS MONTH!
I will be having a KIT SALE, GRAB BAG SALE and PROJECT KIT this month. It looks like it will be around the end of the month. I don't have an exact date yet, but look for it to be the week of the 20th! Probably around the end of that week (Saturday??) but I will let you know more very soon!
I am very close to finishing the Project Kit and will share a SNEAK of it later this week! I also have an album I'm making on Italy. If you've followed my blog long enough, you know I'm in {LOVE} with Italy. There's something magical about that country and I'm fallen completely in love with it. So one day I just started playing and I'll share what I came up with later this week as well.
Before I go, I want to announce the WINNER of the CHA GIVEAWAY!!
Lisa Martinez!!!
Congrats Lisa! You will be getting some GREAT new projects that JUST came out at this CHA Winter! So send me your address and I will get that out to you!
Now I'm off to organize my scrap room! It's been a disaster since I left for CHA and since I need to make more room for all the new goodies, I'm going to clean out as much as I can and add that stuff to the GRAB BAGS that will be on sale soon!
Have a GREAT Tuesday everyone,
Laura
Every time I go to CHA, I'm overwhelmed with so much CREATIVITY! I love seeing all the new products out there, I'm excited to go home and dream up new designs to make with them, I LOVE getting some time with my CHA buddies, and I enjoy bringing a little bit of that back home to share with YOU!
So, I want to do a GIVEAWAY of some CHA goodies I got at this show!!!
But before I give the details of the giveaway, I wanted to share some more pictures from CHA...
Here I am with Susan from Clear Scraps and Elisa K, one of the awesome DT ladies for Clear Scraps! I'm not on their DT anymore, but I {heart} Clear Scraps and everyone on the team and I do some freelance work for them whenever they need it!
Here's a picture of one of their new products... a 12x12 acrylic top-loading album:
I made this one with some lovely Pink Paislee products and I'm SO loving that it's a 12x12 album and I can still showcase the beauty of acrylic!!
I also taught their class again and it was a BLAST! Here's a few pictures from the class. Unfortunately, we forgot to take pictures until it was done, so there were a LOT more people in the class than it may look like...
So many great ladies in the class! I even had a few guys this time which was fun to see!
Looking a little tired after the class... lol
And here's more products I liked at the show. I really liked this idea from Canvas Corp. I think I need to make something like this, just little bit more "A Kiss on the Chic"...
This was in Tim Holtz booth. I love it because he used his tissue tape to cover the sides of the frame and then used ink or paint to give it some color! Love it.
Me and the lovely Donna Salazar!! She has THE BEST smile. It is such an infectious smile, how can you see that smile and not smile back?? Speaking of Donna, I am finishing up a project that I can't wait to share with you that I used her distresser on and it's SO darn cute! (I'll share soon...)
Ok, I wore my FAV jacket one of the days and Kelly Goree was in love with it! :) Unfortunately, the jacket is years old and you probably won't find it for sale anywhere. So I told her I'd take a picture with her and send it to her so she could remember what it looked like and try to find one similar! It's kind of a weird angle on the photo of me, but I will forgo my vanity for Kelly to have a picture of my jacket! hehehe...
The lighting is a little dark here, but here's some Webster's yumminess!!
Here's some GREAT layouts from the DT ladies at Webster's!
And here's me and Brandin on the last day of the show! I went by and said HI every day, but they were SO busy, (yeah, that is a GREAT THING...) that I finally said I HAVE to try and squeeze in a photo with them on the last day! And look at their GORGEOUS papers and embellishments behind us! So excited to be on this team!!!
And last but NOT least... I had a BLAST with my girl, Heidi Sonboul at GCD Studios! I helped her set up the booth on Thursday and let me tell you, that girl WORKED SO HARD!!! Their booth was AMAZING, in fact... It WON the BEST BOOTH AWARD!! That is SO cool and I have to give MAJOR PROPS to Heidi for that! She worked for weeks and weeks on all the cuteness in that booth! So here's a few pictures of us on the last day as we did a little "photo shoot" ...
Oh my goodness, we had so much FUN! They have a new Carnival line that is SO darn cute, I can't wait to play with it!! But we had fun acting like little kids in their booth and I just wish we lived closer so we could hang out all the time!
So that is my time at CHA Winter! I had a blast, it went by too fast, I wish I had more time with all my friends and I made some GREAT contacts for some future plans! I hope you enjoyed coming along on my journey, even if it was just a little sneak peek into what goes on at CHA.
Now, I'm going to take some time off and get the house back in order, clean up my scrap room, relax a little with the family and get some assignments done for the Design Teams I'm on...
If you want to be entered into the GIVEAWAY for some CHA goodies, just leave a comment here and let me know what you are MOST "wowed" by in the new product lines coming out of this CHA! I will pick a winner NEXT "Love, Tuesday" post!!
Have a GREAT week,
Laura
I'm exhausted, but I'm home and I'm so happy to be able to hug my family! It's great to get away and have a FUN time though...
I think it really helps ME appreciate my family, it helps my girls appreciate their MOM (and my hubby misses me too :)- So, it's ALL good!
I know my friend Cindy noticed the change from "Laura, the designer"... to "Laura, the MOM" as we were coming back from the convention center to pack up and I got a call from my MIL about the girls. Nothing major, but just funny how we can wear different hats... I had a BLAST wearing the carefree DESIGNER hat for the last few days... But it's time to hang that hat up and be MOM again. You really NEED those little breaks though to help you APPRECIATE all of it. I'm so blessed to be able to do that. I have family that is AWESOME b/c they let me go take that time and have some fun in an outlet that I'm so passionate about, and they all pull together to help that happen! THANK YOU for that.
I'm SO thankful also for the GREAT people who I get to see at these shows! So many friends that I've made over the years in this industry and so many NEW friends each time I go to another show. You are all SO wonderful and I'm so BLESSED by how kind and generous your words are and how your friendships mean so much to me. THANK YOU for that.
So many things to think about from the show. So much to share...
I will post tomorrow with LOTS of pictures!! Had fun taking pictures with friends and wish that I would have taken more...
Here's one I'll leave you with tonight:
Teresa, Sesil and I yesterday in the booth. Such AMAZING ladies and they worked so, so hard! I love you both and I'm so thankful to be a tiny part of your world!
Be back tomorrow with more from CHA...
Hugs, Laura