Its Halloween Season!

 I can’t believe it’s October already! This year is just going by super fast. Have you decided what you want to be for Halloween yet?

Next week is already time our yearly community fall festival. I will be a volunteer again this year. It’s mostly for the kids but it’s fun to see them in all their costumes and we will be showing them a great time. Lots of games and candy to be had.
My friend Cheryl and I made these cute mini witch’s hats to attach to headbands so we can wear them at the festival.


 My camera phone didn’t do these justice but you can still see how adorable they are.

I also took some time to complete a Halloween mini book I started last year and set aside. I tend to do this a lot so I made it my mission to complete old projects this year. I took Amy Tan’s class “Get Your Creative Juices Flowing” at Big Picture, where she taught how to make mini books like her Daybooks.
Here are a few pics of my Halloween mini book. 



This was a fun and easy book to create and I used up some Halloween paper and embellishments I had in my stash.  Most of the papers were Little Yellow Bicycle. The Fence, spider and Spooky were cut with the Cricut. I can’t remember who made the journaling cards and the embellishments where from Fancy Pants, K&Co, etc.  (Don’t remember who made all of the items.) 

Well, I hope you have a Safe and Happy Halloween and get lots of candy!
Cat

Using up my old stash.

I was just popping in to say hello and share a couple of cards I made this week.  I hope everyone had a nice summer, labor day and an easy back to school week.  

This summer, I have been very project focused.  This year I was determined to go back to some old projects I never finished and complete them.  So far, I've completed 4 projects that have been laying around for quite a while. (Yay!)  And it was fun combining those old supplies with newer embellishments and paper.  

Anyway, these cards were made using the WRMK Elegant paper collection.  I also found some old Prima flowers from the Got Flowers? collection that were a perfect match for this paper.  If you are a loyal reader you know that I love combining old with new and these little flowers are probably 5 years old now.  Yet, I still have a ton of them and I don't want to get rid of them.  So how many jars of old Prima flowers do you still have in your collection?

The little pearls are actually made using the Viva Decor Pearl pen in Sunny Yellow.  The chipboard tag is also old and unknown now.  The stamps are KI Memories and the Hello sticker font is also from an old card making kit by Lisa Bearnson and Becky Higgings.   

I've been working on busting through my stash lately so you will see more projects that combine old and new soon.   

Are there any supplies you own that aren't "in style" anymore but you just can't seem to get rid of it? I have a bunch, like the foam stamps.  I still love the designs but just don't think to use them.  Please share some of your tips for using up your stash with me. 

All I ever see in scrapbooking and cardmaking blogs is new, new, new. And I can no longer justify (to myself) purchasing the huge amounts of scrapbooking supplies I used to.  It just seems like such a waste sometimes.

So, until next time...happy stash-busting!

Cat 

Another Magazine Bites the Dust

Well, Scrapbooks Etc. announced on Wednesday that they are shutting down production and August will be their last release.  
This saddens me because it was the only scrapbook subscription I had left.  
I let my Creating Keepsakes subscription lapse back in February because I was irritated by all their cutbacks and lack of inspiring new ideas. It just wasn't worth the money anymore.  
For more information, you can visit this article on Scrapbook Update.  They also have another article about the print industry and how it's affecting the scrapbooking and crafting magazines.
I left this comment to express how I feel about this news:

They say the cost of publishing is too much, but I just don’t see it. I would think publishing a scrapbooking magazine is way cheaper than it is for lots of other magazines in the market. I mean, aren’t they just taking pictures of pages that are submitted to them? It’s not like they have to find an exotic location, a model/s and a first rate photographer (plus assistants and other artists) like fashion and beauty magazines do. They also don’t have top notch writers writing in depth articles. Most have very little creative writing in them. It’s mostly instructional writing which is pretty easy.
And anything they use to create for an editorial is usually donated by manufacturers.

Why can’t they continue to publish digitally? Scrapbooks and Cards Today does it and it’s free!
I’m sad to see my favorite scrap magazine shut down but I’m mad at them for not trying harder even if just out of loyalty to its many readers. It’s easy for a big CEO to bring down the ax but they forget that it leaves a sour taste in all our mouths and that taste never goes away.

What do I care about any new publications they release now? (Insert expletive here) them! From now on I’ll use my dollars towards new supplies. I was also burned by Scrapbook Answers, Simple Scrapbooks, PaperKuts, Memory Makers and now, Scraps Etc. But that’s it, I’m done! No more magazines for me.

So, how does this news affect you?  Are you a current subscriber to Scrapbooks Etc.?


Cat

Happy Mother's Day!

Glitter Mother's Day Graphics

Hope your Mother's Day is a special one!

Wow! I've been neglecting my little blog, haven't I? I will be back with more ideas and projects to share very soon.

Cat

Happy New Year 2012!

I hope everyone has a prosperous and wonderful year! It’s time to have some fun again. Yeah!
Oh Lordy! How did this happen? Again!!  My scrap room is a total disaster right now after all the Christmas crafting I did.  Just look…

I don’t understand how I can make such a mess when I  work on Christmas crafts. Every year I do the same thing.  I pull out my Christmas crate and just keep digging things out.  Nothing goes back in – just out.   So, it’s a new year and now, I need to dig in and do some reorganizing of this epic mess. 
For some reason the new year always makes me want to reorganize and just get rid of stuff.  Everywhere. Don’t know why that is.  I guess I just like to de-clutter and start the year off fresh. Today, I already got rid of some unused things from my pantry and did some deep cleaning.  Now, I’m going to tackle this scrap mess.  Wish me luck!
So how do you typically begin the new year?
Cat