Paper Arts Club June Newsletter is Up!

Hi All!  Just click on the title and read the latest Club news from our meeting last Wednesday to upcoming classes and Shoppe events.  This coming Saturday, June 5 from 10-3 is the annual garage sale.  If interested in selling your stuff, call the Shoppe to reserve a table for only $10.  It's always a great time!

Paper Arts Club this Wednesday 5/26

CK-Buffalo is over and I brought back many, many terrific ideas!  I haven't slept in days thinking about how I will turn everything into classes, club projects, make & takes, gifties, and so much more.  Here's what I'm working on today for our meeting on Wed.  The theme is coffee/tea and dessert so I think I've got a good start based on the photo of products!  You won't believe what I'm doing with the Hero cupcake cling.  So, call the Shoppe to reserve your seat and be sure to bring your basic kit including plenty of favorite adhesives and Glue Dots.  I look forward to seeing everyone on Wednesday at 6:30 pm!

Anything But Cute Challenge Group is Up!

I'm excited to tell you about a new group I started over on Paper Craft Planet!  It's called Anything But Cute (ABC) Challenge Group and was formed as a direct result of a huge discussion on the very same topic.  After about 50 comments back and forth by various people, I piped in and said "sounds like we need an anything but cute group."  I quickly began to get very real creative thoughts about forming such a group and here we are!  My vision is to work one month ahead and through weekly card challenges, you'll not only post your card(s) to your own photo gallery, they will also be posted into a group album for everyone to look at.  Weekly card winners will receive a prize from Stampin' & Scrappin' Time during the month of June.  I hope you will check us out and join Paper Craft Planet!  There's so much to see and do right from the comfort of your home!

Luggage Ensemble Class Tomorrow!

Sweet, sweet Luggage Tin and Bind-It-All Mini Book class tomorrow, 5/16 at 1:00 pm!  Bring a basic kit including lots of 1/8" Scor-Pal or Redline tape.  Hey, did she say "tin?"  As luck would have it, my mini "suitcases" are nowhere to be found (and I mean nowhere!)  It was a when their gone, their gone deal with Bind-It-All apparently.  However, I found these darling hinged tins that were shipped to me yesterday!!!!  I actually like this project better...no painting involved!!!! 

Getting Cards Made

I recently posted an article in Paper Craft Planet entitled "The Cobbler's Son Has No Shoes - A Paper Crafter's (Living Nightmare) Dilemma," and as a follow up to it, I'm hoping to inspire you to get cards made ahead and out the door.

Today's post is all about using a magazine for design inspiration. Last March at Paper Arts Club, we made cards with tree themes that were from cards in Paper Crafts Magazine, March/April 2010 issue. One of the cards I replicated using my creative twist was found on pg. 74 by Catherine Doucette. I love this card and its sheer simplicity and sweetness.  Making it all pink was fun and whimsical.

Referring back to my Cobbler article, I have 5 cards to get made this week!  With that in mind, I decided to use the same layout for two of the graduation cards which made the task of completion so much easier! 

Because it was somewhat lumpy, my little acrylic box packaging came in handy to dress up the presentation!  Hope this inspires you to get cards made this week!  Would love to hear your comments on how you're getting cards made this week!

Mother's Day Packaging Idea

While trying to figure out how to creatively mail 3d cards out to both my mothers in-law, I came upon what turned out to be a really nice packaging idea along the way. 

Lately, it seems we are always making really lumpy, bumpy, dimensional cards that are beautiful and yet, how do we mail the darn things?  I think I stumbled upon a nice solution and that is to put the card inside an acrylic "box" that comes flat and is then popped into a box shape with flap closures.  Being the "hoarder" that I am, I have several of these items already at hand.  To accompany the card, I inserted some 4x6 photos printed from home of a previous family event that I knew would be appreciated.  I finished the little card package with a length of pretty ribbon tied into a bow around the box and added my signature heart embellishment with a rub-on "M" for mom.  Sweet!

Now, to mail it.  I purchased a USPO bubble mailer for $1.29.  The acrylic box retails at our Shoppe for $.75.  The contents came to $1.38 and the total cost of my "special" Mother's Day card gifty came to $3.42!!!   My husband is happy because I got everything mailed on time, I'm happy because I turned a simple card into a darling little gifty (not to mention used some of my stash), and both my mothers in-law will think all kinds of wonderful good thoughts (about me) upon receiving this unique card gifty package on their special day!

May Paper Arts Club Newsletter is Up!

Click on the title to go to the newsletter.  Read about last month's meeting, card swap details for May's meeting on the 27th, card projects themes for May, and upcoming classes on the Shoppe schedule for May through mid-June.  Anyone can join us for our monthly meetings.  This is a technique club to learn lots of card making tricks and tips in every card.  Just call the Shoppe to register your attendance.  See you on the 27th!  Hugs, Lyn

What To Do With Our Stuff?

The inspiration for this article actually happened at a crop I attended while celebrating National Scrapbooking Day at Stampin' & Scrappin' Time.  I met a cropper who literally rolled in this gi-normous rolling cart that could fit a human and I immediately thought she was a serious scrapper or she was so highly organized she was totally together. Of course, I immediately hated her.

Anyway, the point of this article is simply to ask, what are we doing with all our stuff that we are accumulating over the years? Is it piling up, is it stuffed in bins, is it taking over your dining room, is it a constant irritation to the spousal unit, is it cluttering up your life so much that you can’t even create anymore? What is a paper crafter to do?

I am here to address these issues and will try to help all who are drowning in a sea of stamps, supplies, paper and embellishments. As an instructor, I need to work with “the latest and greatest” in order to help sell product at the store. However, I have accumulated all that I mentioned in paragraph 2 including filling these really cool Cropper Hopper bin things that hold 12x12 papers that I never touch anymore as well as filling two Iris carts with papers and stuff, just to mention a few. There’s more but you don’t want me to go there! In a word, get rid of it!

Since I’m kinda sorta speaking for myself, here’s what I would do first. I would pile all my 12x12 papers into 3 piles – single sided, double sided pattern paper, plain card stock. I would keep the plain card stock ‘cuz you can always use it. If your papers are a couple of years old, it is time to send them on to a better place. You could contact your local stamp/scrapbook store to see if they take consignment items. While you’re at it, see if they have a garage sale as a lot of them do and you could participate in it. Next, go through your wood mounted stamps and decide to part with them. If they are really old, the red rubber dries out and they don’t stamp worth a darn. Purge them now! Keep what you can’t part with, but seriously, get rid of it if you haven’t used them in awhile. Sell your stuff on Craig’s List or E-Bay. If you’re affiliated with schools or clubs or summer programs, I’m sure they can use your old crap, I mean stuff.

So that’s my message. Let’s all take a gander at what we’ve accumulated over time and make sound decisions to move it out. Believe me, you’ll feel so much better and your creative levels will soar!

If you're wondering how my personal craft space re-org is going, here's an update.  I've sketched my vision in my notebook for the room layout, I've subscribed to Where Women Create, a fantastic magazine published by Somerset Studios that has me totally immersed in every page, I've had numerous discussions with my sister about my vision, I've gone to a Mr. Second-type store to begin looking at cabinetry and countertops, I've purchased some inspiration pieces to use as organizers at my favorite little antique and flea market right here in Brewerton.  I guess I've made some progress and I need to look at what I've done, and not at what I haven't done.