Ain't She Crafty

Make a Change Monday - New Xyron Design Team is coming tomorrow!

Xyron is making some big changes this year - starting with the Xyron Design Team!  We are adding six new designers to our crew and will be announcing their names on the Xyron Facebook page tomorrow - then will be introducing you to them next week (along with another big - and awesome - change!!), and then we are going to let them loose to wow you with their creativity and passion for crafting.  Can't wait for you to meet them!  Stay tuned!

PS - these are our current Design Team members...you thought I was going to give you a little sneak peek didn't you?  :)

Make a Change Monday - Take a Photography Class

(and yes - I realize it is Tuesday...the East Coast hated air travelers this weekend.  But I digress!)

I spent last weekend at Crop & Create in Moncton, BC. It is an amazing event put on by Scrapbook & Cards Today Magazine and is FILLED with incredibly talented, creative women.  In what is becoming a popular practice at consumer shows - they offered a photography class.  I took it - and I have five words for you.

FIND A PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS IMMEDIATELY!!!!!

Unless you are already one of those people who could be (or is) a professional photographer, find yourself a class and take it.  Online, at a community college, at a scrapbooking event - there are so many options out there these days - and just an hour or two of instruction will make you look at your photography in a whole new light.  My instructor was Kathy Thompson, who considers herself a hobbyist but is SUCH a skilled photographer and better yet - an AMAZING teacher.  In less than two hours she walked a room full of students through:

the basics of our cameras

a few simple steps to take better photos

how to get the "fuzzy background"

using natural light to enhance your pictures

doing "studio" shoots in your garage

taking interesting group shots

getting "action" shots

and most importantly - taking pictures that tell a story.

Are my photos 1000 times better after one photography class?  No.  But I will practice what Kathy taught and they WILL get better.  I will be inspired by the 25 other women who took the class because they want to preserve their families' memories.  I will look at things and people and places with fresh eyes. I will seek out more classes and gain more knowledge and I will grow as a photographer, and it will CHANGE the way I tell my story.  I hope you will join me!

**All photos copyright Kathy Thompson**

Make a Change Monday - Empowering Women Across the World

Just a few words from me today, because I think the attached blog post says it all.  My incredible friends at Crafter's Companion shared this story on their blog today, and I am printing it here because I was moved to tears by it.  We are SO INCREDIBLY BLESSED, and we ALL - especially women - are connected in ways we never even thought possible.  Want to be a part of this amazing project?  See the bottom of the post for a link.

Have a great week everybody!

Hi everyone - Michelle here from customer services...

I've just had the most amazing email sent into the office today from lovely lady called Letitia Matthews who has been working with communities in rural Africa teaching them to craft.

I just felt that we had to share it with you...

Hi Michelle, Hope you are well.

I just wanted to share with you what a blessing your Crafter's Companion Tools have been to two rural community skills projects that I have the privilege of serving with in South Africa.

For the past year, I have had the joy of facilitating skills outreach programmes in two under-privileged rural communities: Murchison and Mahlabatini in KZN, South Africa.  Members of these groups are women who face enormous challenges every day, not the least of which are unemployment, poverty, sickness and chronic hunger.   In addition, women in rural communities often have not had the benefit of education, but bear the full weight of responsibility in caring and providing for their families.  

For this reason, I have loved being part of this project and over the past 8 weeks, I have been especially excited about looking at basic recycling and techniques that can easily be used at home.  Bearing in mind that many homes do not have the luxury of electricity, this has been a creative journey that has challenged me and caused a paradigm shift for many of the ladies in our groups. Included in some of our sessions, were making your own boxes, envelopes, tags, ribbons and embossing.
 
I am a long time fan of the crafter's companion tools and started with the basic box and envelope models and then upgraded to the Ultimate Pro.  I donated my first one to the skills program and bring my own from home to help out, as one of our groups has 22 members and with only 3 hours per session, once a week at a remote venue, time is of the essence!  So, although members are taught the basic skills without your tools, I find them a real blessing in helping to make sure everyone completes their projects during the session, and I thought you might like to see your products in action at the other end of the world‼  

Many of the ladies would like to own their own boards, but for now they are thrilled at the chance to share when I can bring mine. It is my hope that the ladies will be able to use the practical craft skills they learn in our sessions to improve their lives and hopefully generate some income.  

One of the ladies got an order for wedding invitation cards, when a relative saw the quilling she had done in our session:-) - what a victory! 

Anyway, I just wanted to share what a blessing your product is to so many, and to say thank you for a great product that is so versatile, especially in an environment that has no electricity!-)

God-Bless you and the Crafter's Companion team, 

Letitia

Isn't this just an amazing story, and we were so thrilled to receive Letita's letter, that we have decided to donate some additional crafting supplies to her group for her to take out with her next time she is travelling to Africa.

I hope you can join myself and the team in congratulating her on what a fantastic job she is doing - we'll be sure to pass on any comments from the blog post to her.

If any of you reading this have been involved in charitable activities like this and want to share your story, we would love to hear from you! You can get in touch via the contact form on our website.

 

Scrapbook Creations Cottage - weekend retreat review

Two weekends ago I went to a MUCH needed girls scrapping getaway weekend.  It was a gift from a friend so I had no expectations, had never been to the place before, but I walked in to the door of Scrapbook Creations in Spartanburg, SC and was TOTALLY blown away.  So I'm going to tell you all about it!

Scrapbook Creations is a 10,000 sq ft (yes - you read that right!) store located just a few minutes off of I-85.  If you are familiar with the Gaffney Premium Outlets or the Gaffney water tower (aka the big peach butt) then you are not too far away.  Don and I lived in Georgia for many years and we traveled 85 often to visit our families, and I had NO idea this place existed!  

The store is amazing.  They have the latest products, a huge section of Bazzill paper, an entire wall dedicated to individual embellishments and ribbon by the yard, the staff is incredibly knowledgeable and friendly, and they always seem to have something fun going on.  Check out their calendar and you'll see what I mean!  Did I mention they have an ice cream/coffee/sandwich shop in the building?  AND a section with man tools so your husband has something to do while you shop?  GENIUS!  Free wifi is also available throughout the store.

only ONE side of the wall o' Bazzill

embellies and ribbons galore!

fabulous eats at the ice cream/coffee/sandwich shop!

If you are looking for a place to crop - for the day or for the weekend - then this is the place for you!  Let's start with the crop room.  It has room for 48 croppers - with everyone guaranteed at least 4' of cropping space. There are a variety of tools available to use, including punches, dies, a journaling computer, a 12x12 printer, and a Silhouette - which the staff will work for you!  They also have on-site photo printing in case you didn't have time to get your pics printed beforehand, need duplicates, etc.  

cropping area 

It is an easy, comfortable, creative environment to spend the day or evening, but if you REALLY want to treat yourself - come for the weekend because...

They have a retreat house ON SITE!  Yes my friends - you can literally walk across the parking lot and arrive at a 4 bedroom (two double beds in each room), 2 1/2 bath cottage with a little kitchen area.  The beds are comfy, the showers are good, and - if you sign up for the weekend crop package - a continental breakfast is included! The house is locked at all times, and each bedroom is locked as well, so you don't have to worry about your personal belongings while you are up at the store. Scrapbook Creations makes it SO easy for you - you can leave all of your scrappy stuff in the store at night, and if you don't want to cook at the cottage or go offsite to eat - their ice cream/coffee/sandwich shop is DELICIOUS.  I ate four meals there during the weekend (and too many snacks to count) and everything I had was fantastic.  My favorite?  The house sandwich - turkey, lettuce, tomato and pimento cheese on grilled wheat.  Hello!

front hall of cottage

one of the bedrooms

A few other random thoughts:

You are going to have to take a shower and put on normal clothes.  :)  I have been to a few retreats where people wear their pajamas for 48 hours and look like they've just rolled out of bed.  That is TOTALLY fine if you are at a private house or cabin or something - anyone who has ever cropped with me knows that I am describing myself.  HOWEVER - you will be in a place of business and there will be people milling about who will wonder why there is a crazy homeless lady standing in line to buy a strawberry smoothie.  Don't be that person. Take a shower and put some clothes on before you head over to the store to crop.

If you are there for a weekend retreat, you have to leave the store at midnight and can come back at 8am the following morning.  For those of you who are night owls and like to scrap all night - there are a few small tables in the cottage so you can bring some things back and work on them, but you aren't going to want to drag everything over to the cottage each night.

Along those same lines - there is no tv in the cottage, so if you like to stay up until the wee hours, bring a book or your ipad.

If you are sleeping four to a room - remember that you are only there to sleep.  The bedrooms can geta little crowded - so leave all of your scrapping stuff up at the store.

There is no alcohol allowed either in the store or in the cottage.  I know a few of us like a glass or two of wine while we're scrapping...that isn't happening here.

If you do want to cook while you are staying at the cottage - you will want to bring your own pots and pans.  They have plates and silverware and glasses and such...next time we'll probably bring paper/plastic because there is no dishwasher - and who wants to waste precious scrapping time doing the dishes?  :)

So if you live in the GA/SC/NC (maybe even VA) part of the country, I would love for you to head on over and check out Scrapbook Creations next time you are passing through. There are far too few independent retailers left in this industry, so I am excited to find one that knows how to do it right.  If you are interested in a weekend crop package check out their website here - and don't forget to invite me!  :)

Disclosure - Scrapbook Creations did not give me anything for this review.  They did not know who I was (what I do for a living) until I called them the day before I arrived and offered to do some MnTs.  They don't even know I'm writing this - so you can rest assured that this is totally unbiased!

Make a Change Monday - My Fitness Pal

I know...with this being the day after Easter and all...that maybe we shouldn't be talking about "eating healthy", but I learned a lot this weekend thanks to my new friend (pun intended) My Fitness Pal that I wanted to share.

I HATE to exercise.  HATE IT. I've joined gyms and stopped going after a month, hired a personal trainer then blamed my travel schedule for not following through, signed up for 5ks I didn't show up for, I've done (or not done as the case may be) it all.  I know I NEED to, and I WANT to find something I enjoy - but that is something I struggle with on a daily basis.  I know I'm not alone.

As I've aged I have realized that if I am NOT going to exercise, I HAVE to watch what I eat. That is also something I struggle with, because I LOVE FOOD.  I eat when I'm happy, when I'm sad, when I'm bored, when I'm with friends, I just love to eat.  While I don't sit around eating an entire package of Oreos (very often), I would have five or six every night after dinner with a big glass of milk.  While we don't eat out more than once a week or so, I would slather sauces and toppings on every homemade meal. I knew I needed to get a handle on it, and I knew I needed help.

Just like with exercise programs, I have tried all kinds of different weight loss programs - including Nutrisystem and Weight Watchers. I loved the fact that Nutrisystem delivered all of the food right to you, but didn't love the food.  I loved that Weight Watchers foods could be purchased in the grocery store, but found it hard to guesstimate and understand the points (and then points plus) system. What I found to be most helpful about WW was the online tracking system, but I had to pay for it.

Enter My Fitness Pal.

The name is decieving.  While it may have been originally created to track fitness goals, the calorie counter/food portion of this free program is AMAZING.  When you log in for the very first time you are asked a series of questions about level of activity, current weight, goal weight, how quickly you want to lose weight, etc to provide you with a personalized daily calorie count, and then you are ready to go. The program is EXTREMELY easy to use, I downloaded it on both my phone and my ipad and am able to easily track what I eat throughout the day, and it has given me some additional information that I think I knew deep down, but now I see it in front of me in black and white (like - I have WAY too much sodium in my diet, almost twice the recommended amount, and I do not drink nearly enough water).

I have been using it for about two weeks, and have lost about a pound a week, and...I know this is a cliche...I actually DO feel a little bit better. It is nice to feel like I am gaining a little control over my weight, I pay more attention to what goes in to the food I'm cooking at home, and I actually think about WHY I'm eating instead of just randomly putting food in my mouth throughout the day.

The only downside?  I have become OBSESSED with food (this is what I realized this weekend). On Friday we were working on our taxes and I wanted something to snack on SO BADLY, and I pulled at least 20 things out of the cupboard, checking calorie counts as I went. On Sunday we went to an Easter brunch and I must have stood over the food table for 10 minutes calculating each item in my brain trying to decide how I could get the most food with the least amount of calories.  This morning at my folks' house, my mom brought out a tray of homebaked cinnamon rolls (a gift from her neighbor) and I made Don taste one first to see if it was "worth" the calories. I'm hoping as I get used to the system this part will become a little easier, but I'll take every little success, however it comes.

So if you - like me - have been struggling with those few (or many) extra pounds and exercise is a dirty word, give My Fitness Pal a try.  Did I mention it is FREE?? You have absolutely nothing to lose but the weight - and maybe further down the line we'll actually try the fitness part.  ;)

Beth

PS - a few little snack gems I've found along the way:

Kraft Milk Bite Bars - holy crap...these things are good. I've only tried the chocolate bars, but they are as good as a candy bar and only 140 calories each.  You do need to keep them in the fridge, but that makes me love them even more!

Special K Chips and Crackers - because I LOVE salty snacks I needed to find something that would cure my cravings but not go overboard on the calories.  These are both PERFECT.  They come in a few different flavors but I like the "plain" flavors best.

Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches - I am CRAZY for the strawberry shortcake ones with the vanilla cookie "sandwich".  At only 150 calories per sandwich this will cure your ice cream cravings this summer!

Happy snacking (and healthy eating) everybody!

 

Xyron Design Team Call

Xyron just announced a Design Team call!  This is doubly exciting because this is the first time in many years that they have made a public call rather than just choosing designers they were familiar with.  We want to see some new faces - and international applicants are welcome as well!

Benefits of being on the Xyron Design Team

1. Lots of Free Product – both from Xyron and from partner companies
2. Exclusive previews of any of our upcoming products
3. Payment for projects published in print and/or online magazines
4. Featured on our Facebook page and blog
5. Link to your own personal blog
6. Private FB group for DT members only
7. Payment for projects used at trade shows and on-air
8. Opportunity to have your projects displayed on the Home Shopping Network
9. Xyron DT blinkie for your email and/or blog
10. Purchase Xyron products at a deep discount for use in teaching classes

The application process is all done online (through FB as a matter of fact!) - click this link to enter.  Some of the information you will need to complete the application:

Contact info

Short bio about yourself

Links to three different projects (one of them must be home decor or something other than a scrapbook page or card)

Links to your scrapbook galleries (if applicable)

A list of any past or current design teams you've been on (if applicable)

A link to your blog/website

There are a few questions at the end about Xyron products - how long you've been using them, which machines you own, which is your favorite, etc.

The deadline to enter is April 15th, and the new Design Team will be announced May 1st.  Good luck to everybody - I'd love the chance to work with you!

Beth

Make a Change Monday - a New Holiday Tradition

I spent a good part of last December (well - ok - every December) obsessing about Christmas cards. Handmade or store-bought?  Intricate or simple?  Mass produced or individually created? I wrote about an article from Dear Abby on this very topic, then justified not getting them finished by making some New Year's cards instead, and then just putzed out altogether...and felt guilty about it the whole time.  We can talk about my weirdness at a later date.

This past weekend I went away for a much needed scrapbooking retreat and in my "projects to work on" pile was the list of people who didn't get a Christmas or New Year's card. I was ignoring it - and feeling guilty, when I came across this image on the Canvas Corp blog:

I had just been working on some MnTs using crepe paper and finger folding, so had all the supplies I needed with me and thought "what the heck - why not make some Easter cards"?

You know what? I actually ENJOYED it. I loved working with the spring colors and new papers and fun techniques.  I loved being able to work on 30 cards instead of 300.  I loved being able to finish the whole thing in an hour or two instead of setting aside an entire day or weekend to plow through my list.  I loved that it reminded me of WHY I enjoy paper crafts and surprising someone I care about with something hand made. It got my creative juices flowing, got the cards off my to-do list, and gave me an idea for a new holiday tradition.

Instead of scrambling to make hundreds of Christmas cards during an already jam-packed season, I am going to make and send cards during different holidays throughout the year.  No minimums, no time line, no pressure - I'll do it when I have time and when I am inspired.  People "expect" cards around Christmas - but what a wonderful surprise to get an unexpected card for Easter, or 4th of July, or Halloween! I can make 2 per holiday or I can make 20, and this will also give me the time to personalize each card instead of just signing my name because I am in a hurry to "get it done".  I am SO EXCITED about this - and can't wait to spread the word to my other card making friends. Wouldn't you love to know that people are thinking about you throughout the year?

So to the 24 people on my Christmas list who thought I forgot about you, look for this little spot of springtime in the mail this week.  The rest of you...you never know when a card full of love will arrive from the Kingstons!

(products used: WRMK Cotton Tail collection - Thicket and Bunny Tail patterned papers, Bazzill Basics Dotted Swiss cardstock, Xyron 510, 250 and Mega Runner, Silhouette Cameo, crepe paper, scrap paper, Gelly Roll clear pen, May Arts ribbon, tag, joy stamp)

Happy Easter to all!