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Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Teaching in a shop again! The Urban Scrapbook Don't miss my first class



Mixed Media with Dawn...


Friday, November 6, 2015  
6:00pm - 10:00pm 
$52.00  

A3(X-LARGE) Moleskine Mixed Media Class
There are Angels Among Us
Instructor: Dawn
Date:November 6, 6-10pm
Fee: $52  includes FaberCastel Glass Glitter Bead Gel & China White Marks all PLUS use of shop Paints!

Are you in love with Art Journaling, Mixed Media? Been playing in your journal for awhile? It’s time to UP the anti on your Mixed Media Journaling and create in a HUGE A3 Moleskine Journal! What’s that you ask?  It’s the cream of the crop journal for Mixed Media! Creamy, buttery pages that are made to take all the gorgeous layers of media you can throw at it! A3 (12x16.5) size is considerable larger than the classic (but still awesome) Dylusions Journal which is A4(8.5x12). The Moleskine is NOW available at Urban!!!  Sign up for this class, (my first at Urban!) and let me show you how to take the intimidation out of those huge massive blank pages and show you why go BIG or go HOME is one of my favorite saying. Pop down to the shop today to check out the spread in person, photo’s do it ZERO justice! I promise you are going to want to stroke the wings, the texture is just amazing!

In this class we will paint and amazing background and elevate it by creating a fabulous winged layout that you will be in charge of. Make it pretty or make it super grungy...or something in between! The point is, it is YOUR creation, I’m just there to teach you the techniques! Upon registration, please let us know if you would like to do an Audrey Hepburn or Daryl from The Walking Dead spread. Or feel free to bring your own photocopy pictures.

PS if you don’t want to create in an A3 Journal, feel free to bring a Canvas close to the same size. 23x16 inches

Supply List: Looks long but most is standard mixed media kit
A3 Moleskine or Canvas; Scissors,Baby wipes, craft mat; paint palette (I use a coffee can lid), water bottle, paper towels, heat tool, gel medium w/brush, METAL palette knives, large soft paint brushes ( I used Martha Stewart), 1 stiff (Dina Wakley); Fan brush; 2 make up sponges ;White Sharpie Paint Pen; Charcoal and Sketch & Wash pencils;  Craft Scraper or old hotel card; watercolor brush,  Black Glitter (Prima recommended in the small shaker, much easier to use!); Donna Downey Mini Numbers Repeat Stencil DD-072 or any stencil you’d like to sub. Mine will be in class, but to speed things along I HIGHLY suggest you bring your own.

  Urban has the A3 Moleskine in stock so head on down to purchase one if you don't have one! Or bring a Canvas the same size!
Call The Urban Scrapbook register
780-451-3459 
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Thursday, September 24, 2015

Abstract Color Burst in A3 Moleskine


Hi Everyone!
WOW I can not believe it's been since April that I blogged last! CRAZY! Time is flying in the most wonderful way since I closed the doors to the store front! I happily just create and teach now; I am positively enjoying life.
Anyways.....
Today's post is about a new to me product: Color Burst by Ken Oliver Crafts.  I went down to The Urban Scrapbook here in Edmonton which was my fav local store before I opened my own....and is now my fav again....and Lynette showed me Color Burst. The write up on the back says " Color Burst micro fine concentrated powder colorant to be used with water on porous surfaces"; this sounded very intriguing to me so I bought one.  As I'm sure all of you do, when you buy a new product, or at least hear of one...you go and google it and see what comes up; and then head straight to YouTube to watch videos.  I was in love with what I was seeing.  You need such a little bit of pigment to make a massive impact.
Well, Thursday early morning I found I had a bit of time to play.  I worked on this massive spread in my A3 HUGE Moleskine journal on Wednesday but it wasn't quite finished yet.  As you can see; it's a very abstract page,  and I enjoyed every minute of creating it.  It's very freeing just creating to create...it may look like there is no rhyme or reason to it, but everything was well thought out of where I was placing it, and what colors I was using to make it cohesive.    After all my layers the last thing I used was the Color Burst in the color Indigo; as this a water base product it is not permanent, so unless I was mixing it with gel, I new I had to use it last.   I can NOT say enough good things about my first experience with this wonderful pigment.  The best way I can describe it, is it acts organically.  Well at least on top of paint, I haven't tried it on direct paper yet.  It wasn't just dripping down like I expected, it was wicking and moving like it was alive! I barely used any! I mean it, ANY to get all that beautiful dark, blue, vibrant pigment! And I use  a LOT of water, playing and manipulating seeing what it would do.
I love how it molted and moved and activated my white sharpie paint pen that wasn't dry yet. I just squirted out the smallest amount of pigment and lightly sprayed with water and off it went. 

On this side, I sprinkled it into black liquid ink and loved out it took on a new appearance...anything wet activated the Color Burst.  I also went a little crazy on this side playing with more pigment and water seeing what it could do.  I even sprayed it with White Iresistable's spray to activate it too! So much fun!!!  I'm going to go back to this side of the page and add some more Twisted Citron stencil work cause I ended up covering lots of my green pop accents. 

For those of you who have not seen the A3 Moleskine, that's it in the photo above closed, the black one. For a frame of reference I put my large Dylusions (A4) Art Journal on to of it.  You can see this journal offers a heck of a lot more surface area to play and create in! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I still love my Dylusions and create it in all the time as well, but this one holds a special place in my painted heart.  The pages are fabulous, and take loads of abuse, which is a must for me.  They are buttery and smooth, but totally durable! My pages don't warp or buckle as you can see from the full spread picture above, these pages were totally put to heavy abuse! There is so much wet media on this creation, and my pages are perfectly straight!  No bowing or curling! SWEET!
I'll try not to stay away for so long!
Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

CLASS: Steampunk a la Girl Canvas Class

 
CLASS Announcement
Fabulous Steampunk a la Girl Canvas Class
Tuesday May 19, 7pm-10pm
Fee $50 includes supplies except tools

Join me, Dawn, Tuesday evening in my new classroom space in my home 5 min north of St Albert for this FABULOUS Prima Steampunk a la Girl Canvas Class, 10x20 inches, very cool shape to work on. Classes are limited to 10 people, so nice and small for lots of attention, and a good giggle as well! You will be learning how to make an AMAZING sky background that I promise you will recreate over and over again; play with Glazing, chalk paints and the gorgeous new PRIMA VELLUM BUTTERFLIES! All supplies will be included in this class, you just need to bring your tool kit. Please note frame is not included in fee, canvas, paint, and material are though.
To register please send an email to theinkedstamper@gmail.com with a contact phone number.  I'll call or email you payment and house direction. OR if you are on my FB page, just PM me.   You can send an etransfer to secure your spot.
Supply List
Scissor's, Craft Sheet, Spongex2 (or 1 cut in half), palette, paint brushes, pallet knife, gel medium, heavy gel medium, modeling paste ( I used whipped spackle); heat tool, baby wipes/paper towels ** If possible bring some Prima small background stamps, font's, splatters, and the Prima Anchor stencil 572240
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Thursday, April 23, 2015

Having fun with a whole lot of PRIMA!



 Hi All!
After doing lots of rearranging and changing my whole house up, I finally have a fabulous office...aka AMAZING CRAFT ROOM! So this week I have been creating like a made woman! It feels SO good to be cranking out some crafy goodness again! Today I am sharing with you the Prima Projects that I made.  I had such an amazing time creating them all, not even sure if I can pick a favorite! Everything was made with 100% Prima! The only thing I added was the goggles on the Quentin Stamp,  and a scroll wood frame from Micheal's, that's it...all the rest is Prima! Can you believe that?? This company really does carry EVERYTHING...from traditional paper crafting all the way to mixed media! It's fabulous!
Anyhoo...on to the projects

Project 1 (above): Is a 10x20 Altered Mixed Media Canvas Board.  Wood veneer stickers were randomly place down first, then I used Chalk Board Paint to paint down a sky. Once dry, I used a stencil ( it's the one with the anchors on it, but I just used the line) and modelling paste to add some texture. Once dry I made a glaze with Bloom Spray and dry brushed on. Then added Finn stamps for more texture and assembled! All the balloon were hand cut out of 1 sheet of Cartographer paper.



 
Project 2: Altered Prima 12x12 Frame. I loved making this frame, heat embossing this Bloom Girl Stamp, Quentin is so much fun! I used a piece of lace pattern paper from one of Finn's books and he just looks awesome! I heat embossed the same image on the black Cartographer sheet as well and just hand cut the light image without the gears, and popped it up on the black.  One of my favorite things to do is alter pattern paper with more patterns that look like they were already on the page.  All the white I added but had drawing the line with a white poster pen and then used Prima white Gesso on one of Finn's script Stamps. (same stamp I used in project 1, I LOVE this little stamp, $2.50 is all it cost!).  I also took one of the embellishment packaging trays that the resin gears came in and painted it up with black gesso and used heavy gel medium to attach it directly on to the frame...then it was just time to cluster and embellish with fabulous hardware, resin and flowers!
 


 
Project 3: Altered Wine Caddy.  This wine caddy was originally gold and pretty dang shabby (not in a good way) but it was too hand to get rid of, so I just had to make it pretty! I used Prima's chalk paints again, I painted 3 coats of the egg blue, once dry added the black (made a stencil from a die). I painted the black on carefully and with a dry brush. I let it dry over night then sanded it like crazy, and with gold as a base color, it totally looks Shabby Chic awesome now! As you can tell, I'm in love with Prima's new Vellum Butterflies! Used 2 boxes already! LOL! I used a good mix of wood and flowers to complete the look.  Also made a quick tag to put over one of the wine bottles.  I know you can "pimp" this out much more, but to me, this was just a perfect altered Shabby Chic Wine Caddy! I already have people begging me for it! LOL!
 
Last few projects are just ones I made a while ago, that were Prima so I thought I'd throw them in as well.  As Always THANK YOU for stopping by today! Hope you saw something inspiring to make you want to create as well! 
XOXO
Dawn



Thursday, April 16, 2015

Have YOU EMBOSSED lately? Have you registered in Prima Art Venture yet, 50% SOLD OUT!

Hi All
You figure with the store being closed, I'd have more time to "play"...alas, it's not how it's working out! I've had so much to organize with the closure, like fitting a store into my house and garage!   The main thing has been to time date organize ALL my store display layouts! I'm not anal or type A about many things EXCEPT my scrapbooks MUST be in date order! Like obsessively!  It drives me BATTY~ I can't tell you how many hours, cause it's embarrassing, but I'm almost DONE!
Right now we are renovating our house, and I just sold our pool table in order to set my classroom back up down stairs!! SUPER happy about that and can't wait! Right now I've got 2 Monthly Clubs that meet up to Art Journal (last Tuesday of the month has 4 spaces if you want to jump in!)  I would like to add in one "open" class a month too, aka, you don't have to join the club, just jump in on a class! 
Anyway, TODAY's project are the cards I made for my twins 11 birthday on Tuesday. 11, yes I said that, my kids are 11, SCARY how fast it's going!  I decided I HAD to play with the AWESOME NEW BLOOM GIRL (boy) stamp Quentin, I just LOVE him! And must say, Heat Embossing him is my new FAV thing to do! ( I have another fab project to post with the same technique). For the cards, I used all my favorites from Prima! Color Bloom Spray, Paper and Embellishments, all from Prima!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE me some Prima! 

Have you heard about Canadian Prima Art Venture? This year it is in EDMONTON! Yes, EDMONTON!!!!! WAhooo!!!!!! Last year, Courteney and I had to fly to Montreal and then drive to Cornwall, Ontario to go! Even with the travel, it was BEYOND worth it!!! 6 CLASSES, massive kits in each class PLUS a MASSIVE MASSIVE Goodie BAG packed full with PRIMA PRODUCTS for only $599 (USA). Last year we went home with over $600 worth of products, so basically, the classes were FREE! LOL! It really is the BEST PAPER CRAFTING EVENT EVER! It's 50% SOLD OUT, so DO NOT MISS OUT! They even set up payment plans to make it easier for you to pay as well! REGISTER TODAY, can't wait to see you!!! Click HERE to register

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Saturday, March 21, 2015

Bloom Girl Challenge and NEW MONTHLY CLUB Announcement


Hi Everyone! 
Sorry it's been awhile since I posted, I'm still trying to get into a routine! Hockey finals are over for the twins so I should hopefully have more time to create.  One thing I've figured out since I closed the store front is that I miss teaching, so starting at the end of this month I will be teaching from my house again...before I opened the store front, that is what I did. Our basement was designed to be my classroom, it's changed a bit down there, but we will be restoring the classroom!! I can't WAIT! If you are interested please leave a comment and I will get back to you or email me theinkedstamper@gmail.com   I can't post the first class picture yet because I'm still waiting for my Tim Holtz Bird Crazy Stamp to come in stock...I was a little slow on the uptake and it was sold out! So now I'm just like you guys and have to wait! LOL! 

Mixed Media Class Info
LAST Tuesday or EVERY Month MIXED MEDIA TUESDAY
  7-9pm, $25 
(or $41 if you would like Tim Holtz Monthly NEW COLOUR Collection including Distress Paint, Ink Pad and Pen, big discount (30%) for signing up for class and purchasing monthly through me)
 Most classes we will be using at least ONE T.H. NEW RELEASE product so if you do not want to purchase from me, please purchase new monthly collections else where to bring to class.  Each month you will leave with a completed large journal layout.  I will send you out your small supply list of what you need to bring. If you are a Mixed Media Journaler, I bet you it's stuff you already own! Create in your favorite large journal, canvas, 12x12 Ranger Manilla..it is YOUR CHOICE as you bring it! I will have my stamps, stencils out of what we use, you just need your tool kit and supply list of paints/spray/ink of what we use that month.  I would like to keep the same group going each month, and to get the Tim Holtz Deal you have to sign up for the whole year, we can take a break over summer though and just get products. Please REGISTER ASAP. One group is already full.  If Tuesday fills I'll add a Wednesday Group too.  
Not to get too confusing, but I'm hoping to get 3 Groups Going; Tues/Wed/Fri (Friday is full) that way if your specific group day doesn't work one month, you can jump in one of the others so you don't miss your class. 

ANYWAYS....today's post was created as a submission for the Bloom Girls Creative Group Challenge.  It's no secret that I LOVE Prima, and no secret I LOVE Jamie Dougherty and her gorgeous Bloom Girl Stamps! Over on her FaceBook Bloom Girl Creative Group they have a challenge going on and I knew I just had to play! I got my stamps last week and they've been staring at me waiting to find time to play...so this was my kick in the pants to play!
Stamps Used: Bloom Girl "Anneli" Prima Marketing;   Limor Webber "Dramatic Eye" Indigo Blu;
"Bubble Background" Indigo blu

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Friday, February 13, 2015

In the Zone: Art Journaling Collage with inspiration from Jane DavenportI

WOW! 3 posts in one week! This is a miracle for me and proof to you that I am BACK to being just me...I'm still The Inked Stamper...but I'm the happier 2.0 version! I love that I have time to create and just have fun again! I do not miss the bills, orders, stocking...and all the headaches! The store front I only miss because of all the great friends/customers!  Now I can just inspire you from home, on your computer, and we will have to meet up at other venues!
Those of you who knew me from the store, Courteney and I will be  working together on some new ventures, once we figure stuff out...we will announce it here!
For today, my post is from my Dylusions Art Journal. I made a collage based inspired by one of Jane Davenport beautiful girls in her book I recently purchased. The book is just full of pretty girls to draw inspiration from. 
Here is Jane's fabulous girl from the book that inspired me to play that day...I love ANYTHING with birds on it, so I was immediately drawn to this image.  I was not trying to copy her girl, but rather draw inspiration from her.  I'm still trying to find my own style...I'm thinking whimsical seems to be more me, and big eyes, I prefer my girls to have big eyes.  I think the girl I drew looks like a chubby Tinkerbell!  LOL! 
I'm not going to go through the whole process of what I did...I was literally in the zone and 5 hours went by, so I can't remember 90% anyways.  I know I started off by collage Tim Holtz tissue and some napkins, drew my girl, painted my girl with many different brands of paint, paint pens, gelatoes, prisma pencils, white sharpie, big brush pens everything but the kitchen sink is on this girl! LOL! I painted Prima Sprays for my background I think! LOL! Stencil, doodle, Irresitable drops...again, a load of products! 
I hope it inspires you to get lost in your zone today too.
Thanks for stopping by

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Thursday, February 12, 2015

Finding time to create a magical mixed media piece makes my heart sing...

Hi All! 
Well those of you who know me well, know one of my biggest complaints I had when the shop was open was that I had no time to create for just ME.  I must say that I am loving creating again! Todays project was actually one I created this past summer...it was a just for me project, that ended up as a shop display, so some of you may have seen it already.  It was just in this last edition of Canadian Scrapbooker as well, on their instagram page.  But I don't think I ever blogged it, so here it is.  It really is one of my favorite things I've made, and it now sits on my pretty vintage painted dresser welcoming people to my home...and facing my art desk so I can see it too. 
I used lots of products to achieve this look; gesso, gelatoes, molding paste, Prima sprays, Big brush pens, liquid ink....it was a process of love, and I remember just having a fabulous time making it.  It's actually on a 1.5 inch thick corrugated advertising display for smashbooks, I held on to it for years cause I knew one day I'd have time to create on it.  
Hope you like it! I've got 2 great mixed media canvases to post next week.  One is a photo collage and one is  a mixed media painting that I made to go over Ethan's bed.
Thanks for stopping by

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Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Zombies can be sexy too....Plus Prima's Jamie Dougherty is coming to TOWN!

Hi All
Just a quickie post today to give a massive HUGE shout out to Jamie Dougherty.  I've been lucky the last year and have taken some amazing classes by some of the biggest names in the industry...including 3 with Jamie. And I have to tell you, this lady has one of the biggest hearts EVER! She is so sweet, kind, compassionate.....ALSO, she is one hell of an AMAZING ARTIST and  INSTRUCTOR!  Not only have I taken 3 classes of hers in person, I am doing her Blooming through the Seasons online class, and I have purchased multiple pieces of her art (1 original, 1 custom made original I commissioned, and  multiple prints, bags that we're made with her gorgeous designs on them) SO folks.....my point is Jamie is coming to Scrap Addicts the end of THIS MONTH and she still has spaces left! HOW I have zero idea...it's not my store to promote....but Jamie is honestly one of my most favorite people on planet earth! If you are in the Edmonton Area, please check out her class schedule and register today.  I promise you will be SO happy that you did!  Go and learn from one of the industries most talented artists.....she doesn't just slap down a bunch of flowers and embellishments and call it done, she actually teaches you ART TECHNIQUES that you can use over and over again in your scrapbooking, card making, art journaling! She is a GENIUS! 

My projects I'm showing you today, the one below was the one I did it Jamie's class.  I love taking her Bloom Girl classes because they include the face templates for you to take home; online classes you print them out. That way you can reuse them over and over again! The sexy zombie up top you can see was recreated with the same template! I love this girl...I could easily just use her face and change the hair up to make her look different too, so I can keep using it again and again! 
Thanks for stopping by

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Thursday, February 5, 2015

She chooses to see the world.....



Hi Everyone! 
Well for those of you who don't know, the store front is now closed; I won't get into huge details on here, but the short version,  I was working 24-7, and the only thing that deserves that much attention is not a thing, but my family. So I am now a full time Momma and Crafter.
I will still be here for inspiration...and Courteney and I have some ideas that we need to figure out how to bring to life ...but for now, please continue to follow  the Blog and take a second a follow on FB and Instagram too.  I hope to have more time now to be more active on all the social media sites! 

The shop has been closed for about 2 weeks now...and it was difficult for me to process that, plus sort out all the stuff that needed to be done...it honestly was a horrible 2 weeks for me. Even though I knew it was the right choice for me, and my family, it was still unbelievably hard.  But I'm feeling more on the up right now and this week I found time to paint in my journal again.  And let me tell you..it was amazing to just be creating something for me...not for a class or display, which was the only thing I had time for the last 4 years, I played just because I wanted too, and because I love it! It felt AMAZING! 
Currently I am being inspired by Jane Davenport's style...my goal for the last few years has been to learn to draw girls better, but I never found the time to really sit down and dedicate the practice required to it.  I've been trying to do that the last few weeks.  I even started a small journal just for faces that I'm sketching in pencil to practice.  
I won't bore you with all the details, but here are a few shots of how I started out. Sketching her with pencil, I did the face first, then added hair...I was not aiming for her to look like Ariel, but it's how she turned out, so I decided to just roll with it.  I used a clear gesso over her so I could still see the lines, then I started painting.  I used a mix of paints, paint pens, Big Brush Pens, Prisma Colors to bring her to life.  The picture on the right was what I thought was done...but I knew something was just NOT right about here....I walked away from the art table, but brought the journal with me and stared at it while I watched TV. Then I figured it out! Her hair over her left shoulder was shaded wrong! It's hard to tell in the picture, red must not photo well, but her hair there was shaded dark, shadowed, BUT I brought it over shoulder therefore it's in the front! So it shouldn't be shadowed! OPPS! So I repainted over here with 2 layers of white gesso, and lots of skin tones to get ride of the hair over her shoulder and push back the shaded bits. And now she's more balanced.  I know I have a LOT of work to do learning how to paint better and shade properly...but I think she is pretty dang good start!


Thanks so much for stopping by! Feel free to leave a comment and let me know that you were here...and what you would like to see! More journals or scrapbook pages. Feel free to ask questions too, I'll do my best to help! 
XOXOX

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Friday, January 16, 2015

Guest Designer JANINE!



Hi everyone, Janine here for The Inked Stamper Design team! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas .  I don't know about everyone else , but I needed a little kick in the butt after the holidays to get back into my crafting. Thank goodness for the design team inspiration, as soon as I looked at it all of the ideas started flowing and I couldn't wait to start my project! The Bo-Bunny Altitude paper line was the perfect place to start my project and if you ask me they hit the nail right on the head with this beautiful paper!! After choosing my paper I mixed up some light modelling paste and a few sprays of Dylusions sprays in "Crushed Grape" and used one of my snowflake stencils to give the paper some texture and dimension.  After that was dry I sprayed some "make your own" Primary elements mixed with water in "Teal Zircon"( this was a Finnabair trick she taught us this summer!) over top of the snowflakes. I then sprayed Color bloom spray in Pearl white over the whole page to tone down everything and give a beautiful shimmer!  Then I stamped some snowflakes on neutral paper with "weathered wood" distress ink, fussy cut them out and then clear powder heat embossed them to give them shine and texture. I picked a few different papers in the same Altitude line, cut them in different shapes and sizes and inked the edges in weathered wood to make a background for my picture. Then it was time to arrange everything down on paper. I usually group all my embellishments in two groups in a line that is pleasing to the eye.  So away I went  grouping my stamped snowflakes, Prima dollie die cuts, Prima flowers, metal snowflakes, say it in pearls and say it in crystals in a diagonal line on either corner of my picture and finished it off with a burlap bow and a few spots of silver Izinks! I had a ton of fun  playing with my craft stuff and making something pretty! I hope you all enjoy my project and that I inspired you all to go into your own craft rooms and make something pretty...after all it is too cold to go outside so you might as well stay in and craft!!!! 




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Monday, January 12, 2015

Kate's fabulous Mini Album: January Design Team


A Mini Mini-Album

I hate snow and it would be a lot easier to keep hating if it wasn't so pretty. And this month's inspiration happily gave me the motive to do another mini album, but this one is tiny. It was a spur of the moment idea, so (I'm sad to admit) I didn't get any in-progress photos of working on it. 

I'm big on mini-albums because I like actually finishing my projects and my 12x12 scrapbooks... I feel like I never really finish them. This album only contains a couple of favorite polaroids from the holiday season... two years ago. Better late than never. Am I the only one a teeny bit behind? I've fallen off the journal bandwagon because of the current holiday season so this project was the perfect way to start my new year. I left room to slip in little journal cards and 'detail' tags to go with the photos and I'll be adding this to the shelf of minis.

I also hid a little new year's resolution in the pocket with the sequins (note to self: take better pictures). I told myself it's ambitious: I'm going to clear out old all the craft/art supplies I don't use in my craft room and use some of the extra space (which I assume I will have after organizing everything) to display my projects a little better. And I hope one of the design team inspiration pictures will get me going on a hand-made display!

Monday, January 5, 2015

January 50% OFF SALE and 1rst DT project


Hi All! Dawn here, before we move on to Pam's Awesome Banners, just wanted to let you know that January's I don't want to Count Stock Sale is still going on this week!! 50% off all products in shop...just not handmade items! 

Pam here with my design team project for January.  Resolutions have never been my strength.  They tend to be monster-sized goals that seize your attention for a few weeks until your best friend says to you, as you're carrying your gym bag out to the car with the greenest of green smoothies, there is a super sale at (you fill in the blank) and we will need humungous lattes to survive the rush.  Resolutions can be behemoths if you let them.  

But resolutions really are simply goals; we just tend to make them at a critical time when the world is bellowing sentiment of new beginnings and fresh starts.  Therefore we often take a reasonable, probably meaningful, goal and turn the little critter into a mountain of an accomplishment.

With that said, I have made two "resolutions" this year (I have many goals but two of which I really want to be mindful): (1) Organize better so that I may (2) spend more time with family and friends.  The first resolution may surprise those of you who know me.  I am quite the organized person.  Everything has a home and events and activities are always well planned and prepared.  What I need is a schedule.  

I read this article (Here’s What You Should Do Instead Of Making New Year’s Resolutions It’s called a “rememberlutions” jar and it’ll make you feel good all year) posted by Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine and decided to, in addition to my two resolutions, celebrate the smaller resolution successes as they come as well as all of the magnificent things, memories and accomplishments over the next twelve months by creating my own rememberlutions jar.

That coupled with our design team inspiration, I was off to the races.


I created a pendant for each of the four seasons of the year so that I have something to look forward to at the end of each season as the jar turns.

winter:


spring:


summer: 


autumn:


And here they are all together and assembled:




Whether you create resolutions this year or a rememberlutions jar, do what makes you feel good, makes you giggle and smile and let's you celebrate you all year long.