I'm Going to be Published! AGAIN!!!

It's official! Another one of my cards is going to be published, this time in Paper Crafts magazine! The card is the "Gift" Card from my "Birthday Bubbles" series. Look for it at the end of the year in the upcoming Card Creations special issue of Paper Crafts magazine!

Yay!!! This is so exciting! I love Paper Crafts magazines. Every time I flip through one of their issues I find at least half a dozen cards that inspire me in some way. That is what makes this an extra special honor!

Once again, I have to remove the card from my online portfolio. However, I will post it here in December a couple of weeks before the issue goes on sale. Now I really can't wait until December!

Creating Keepsakes Scrapbook Convention

My sister and I went to Creating Keepsakes Scrapbook Convention in Valley Forge, PA. It was a scrapper's heaven! We got there later in the day, but somehow I still managed to purchase a lot of cool products! Thought I'd share some with you...

I was actually somewhat restrained in my purchases, until I got to this huge display of Heidi Grace products. (Da dat da da... CHARGE!!!)

Let's see, I think I got almost all of Heidi's Maple Crest Court line... I love the corals and evergreens and the muted teals combined with the cream and tan. There are some really beautiful papers and cardstock with flocked, embossed or glittered elements. Not to mention some plastic embellishments, chipboard, and printed or flocked flowers.

And I also didn't miss much of her Cherrywood Lane collection... This line is full of varied shades of pink -- blush and raspberry and mauve -- combined with rich chocolate browns and cool silver. Again, a lot of really pretty paper with flocking, embossing or glitter. I also got the flocked and printed flowers as well as some chipboard, stickers, and rub-ons.

I also got a bunch of BasicGrey paper and ribbon. I love their stuff! And I have a hard time finding their ribbon, paper collection packs of and paper pads at my local craft stores. (Yup! That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!)

I rounded out my purchases with a few alterable items, some really cute stickers, and a bunch of double-sided paper. I can see a lot of shirt-making in my future...

Well, that's all folks. At least until the next big scrapbook event...

I would like to thank Creating Keepsakes for organizing this wonderful convention. And all of the vendors for putting together such lovely displays that just draw you in to their retail web. And even The Skinny Cow for providing free, low fat ice cream sustenance right in the middle of the convention, thus enabling me to speed-shop my way through the second half of the show! Last, and certainly not least, so many thanks to my dear husband. For none of this would have been possible without his generous support...

Paper Crafts Magazine's Home Page

Click to enlarge

I just saw that I'm on Paper Crafts home page! Well, ok, not me personally, but the Hawaiian Shirts that I made for Janice's Senior Services Meals on Wheels fund raiser (see earlier post).

Ok, so it's kinda small, but it's there! No! On the right! Look down a little! Advertising their user gallery...

Painter's Palette Card

Since I didn't do any paper crafting today, (although I did customize my blog header...) I thought I would share an older card with you, dear reader.

This is my version of a card which appeared in the April/May 2007 issue of Paper Crafts magazine. I used PC's painter's palette pattern, but modified the design. It was perfect for my artist friend Shirley Lu, who had an exhibition at a NYC gallery in June. Congrats again, Shirley!

The outside of the card was actually very easy to make, once I had Paper Crafts' pattern. I simply used my 1¼" punch to make the "paint" circles from patterned paper, which I attached to the "palette" with foam tape for added dimension.

Tip #1: To get the sentiment on the circle, I first printed the text on a larger piece of paper. Then I attached a smaller piece of yellow patterned paper over the printed text with repositionable adhesive, and printed it again.

Tip #2: To give the patterned paper more structure, I glued 2" squares of patterned paper to a piece of thin cardboard. (Bonus Tip! Used cereal boxes are the perfect weight and the perfect price!) I then punched out the circles with my punch upside-down so that I could accurately position the punch over the paper.

The interior of the card I designed entirely in Photoshop CS2. I used Photoshop's Custom Shape Tool to create the sun, and then added an Inner Glow layer style to give it some texture and depth. Complete Mr. Picasso's quote, add a sentiment and Voilà! Finished design!

To achieve the full bleed (printing right to the edge of the paper), I again printed my design (which is larger than what appears on the card) on a full sheet of paper, with crop marks where the cardstock should end. I then attached my cardstock to to the larger paper with repositionable tape. I printed my design again, and only the part of the design that I wanted ended up on the cardstock, the remainder printed on the larger paper.

Then it was simply a matter of gluing the completed palette to the front of the card. Yay! Another completed card!

Thanks for looking...

Hawaiian Shirts for a Great Cause!

When Janice asked for my Hawaiian Shirt template, she mentioned that she wanted it for a fund raiser for her retirement community's Senior Services Meals on Wheels program. I thought that this was such a wonderful use for the little shirts, and I decided to make some to send to her. Please join me in sending your own version of my Hawaiian Shirt to Janice for her retirement community's fund raiser. Here is some event info that she sent me at my request:

The Fundraiser is for our Senior Services Meals on Wheels program. Arbor Acres for the past 4 years has been hosting an event on campus in conjunction with Senior Services Community wide "Edible Evenings" Campaign. Our event's all have CAR in them since the symbol for Meals on Wheels is a paper car it looks like a volkswagon bug! So we've had such events as a CAR-be-Que, a CARnival and this year is the CARibbean Cruise.

All our events are FUNdraisers!!!! Stressing the word FUN! Last years Carnival was a huge success in the FUN department and thus as a FUNd raiser we were able to present our local Senior Services office with $17,000!!

This year we hope to raise even more. This is a resident run event with staff support. The committees and sub committees have been very busy planning and getting things ready. ... I'm coming up with decorations and signage and articles in our newsletter monthly to get everyone excited about the event as well as the craft classes.

Janice is going to use the shirts to remind residents of special events, and plans on putting them on all the tables in the dining room (that's 65 shirts!). I'm going to send her a few shirts to help her get started (see photo above). If any of you are interested in joining me, here is the necessary info...

You can find the Hawaiian Shirt template on my blog here. Janice would need the shirts by August 27th. This would give her enough time to print the info on stickers and affix to the inside of the shirts. Please keep all shirts blank inside and Hawaiian/Caribbean themed. Also, please put your first name as well as your city and state on the back of the shirt, so that Arbor Acres' residents will know where they came from!

Here's her contact info:

Janice Lutz-Vanhoy, LRT/CTRS
Director Recreation Services
Arbor Acres United Methodist Retirement Community
1240 Arbor Road
Winston-Salem, NC 27104
www.arboracres.org

Thanks in advance to all who participate! If even a fraction of the recipients of my template sends just ONE shirt, she'll have every table covered in no time!