HallmarkScrapbook.com Guest Designer!

Hello everyone! The most amazing thing happened to me about a week ago... I received an email from Jody at Hallmark Scrapbook asking me to be a guest designer for their site/blog! Oh my gosh, what an honor! I am so super excited! I will be featured on their Hallmark Ladybugs blog located HERE the week of October 19th. Please come check it out! I will be sharing details on my latest projects and perhaps a tutorial on how to alter some of the wonderful labels, tags and pockets you can create using the Cricut Fabulous Finds cartridge which is available at www.hallmarkscrapbook.com for an amazing deal! Go check them out! :-)

For more information on how to become a guest designer for Hallmark Scrapbook, click HERE.

Thanks for stoppin' by and have an awesome day everyone!

hugs,
Arlene :-)

DSC Mini Album Swap for September

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was jam-packed busy... but luckily I took a day off on Friday to finish my DSC mini-album swap for Julene. Below is a slideshow of the mini-album and the YouTube vid I put up on the Deux Shabby Chic channel. I had so much fun putting this little mini together! Julene, I hope you like it and fill it with many happy memories! :-) Enjoy!

Gypsy Market mini-album

Hi everyone! Here is a picture and a video of a new mini album I put together using the September Gypsy Market kit for the Deux Shabby Chic kit club. Quick post tonight 'cuz I have to work... but thanks for stopping by and enjoy! :-) Have a great rest of the week... weekend is 2 days away... hooooray! :-) hugs, Arlene

What's New?

Hi Everyone! Wow... what a weekend! Or should I say... what a week! :-) My baby Logan got sick Saturday, my son Dylan got sick on Sunday, then my son Jarrod gets sick yesterday. We had all 3 kids home sick today with temperatures galore! It's been all about chicken soup, juice and miserable little men. Sigh! :-( But we're all hanging tough and hubby and I are taking Emergen-C, a vitamin C supplement you toss in water. I'm on my 3rd dose for the day! hehee!

Sorry I've been MIA, but I do have a few updates I wanted to share...

First of all, I want to thank my sweet girl Velma for the beautiful, beautiful Prima flowers she shipped to me. What a wonderful RAK! :-) I emailed Velma after seeing her Flower tutorial on YouTube and had asked her where she buys her white Prima flowers. Those are really hard to come by and they don't have them at any of my local scrapbook stores. Next thing you know, she emails me and tells me that she ordered me some and she's shipping them out to me... OH MY GOSH!!! I was so excited!! And, she shipped some to my best gal Bona too. SUPER SWEET! Velma, you are the best ever! I can't wait to play with my gorgeous Primas! Please check out Velma at Creatively Outta Control -- she is an amazing artist and person! :-) Here's a pic of my pretty flowers plus the cute butterfly card she sent with it...

I haven't had a chance to play with my new iTop brad maker since I did a YouTube tutotorial. With Halloween around the corner, I wanted to make a cute spider for my mini-album. I used the 28mm iTop brad and a piece of black felt for the spider's body. The spiders head is a black pompom. I added googly eyes and adhered black hemp to the back of the brad in graduated sizes for the legs. I think this little guy came out kinda cute (and I detest spiders and anything else that creeps and crawls... eewwwwww! hehee!) The paper I used is from the Recollections Halloween collection and I distressed the paper with Black Soot Distress Ink using the Tim Holtz spider web mask.

Keep on reading... there's more! hehe! ;-)

I purchased a QuicKutz mini-file folder die at Expo that measures 2 1/2 x 3 1/2. I thought it would be a cute idea to make a mini-mini album using the die. I created this mini-mini for my best gal Bona. I totally forgot to do a vid on it before I gifted it, but Bona did a video on it so check her out at "livelovescrap" on YouTube. Here are pics of the final project:

It's difficult to tell on the pics but I used a ton of Tattered Angels glimmer mist on the pages and Shimmerz paint on the Prima flowers. This was a super fun project! :-)

One last thing... hehee, I promise! :-) I just finished my mini-album for Cara for the September Trade Wind Scrappers mini album swap. I'm so super excited!! I did a vid and will be posting that to YouTube tonight, so check it out (click on my YouTube badge on the left.) I'll be posting the pics to my blog sometime soon too!

Thanks so much for dropping by and I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the week!

hugs,
Arlene

Pocket page for your mini-album

Hi Ladies,

I just put up a video on YouTube on how to create your own custom pocket page for your mini album. In the same video, I show you how to use the 7 Gypsies binderie punch and how to apply WeRMemory Keeper XL eyelets to your mini album using the Crop-a-dile.

Here are the measurements I used of the pocket page:

• 10 1/2 in x 6 1/2 in
• Score on the longer side at 5in, then on opposite side score at 1/2 inch
• Score on the shorter side at 1/2 inch
• Burnish all score lines and trim to make "tabs"
• Use a 1 3/8 circle punch to create the "dips" in the pocket
• Use sticky strip or other strong holding adhesive to put the pocket together

Blog award from Karin

I got a sweet blog award from Karin at Karin's Creaties. Thank you Karin!! :-) Part of accepting the award is telling 5 things about me, so here we go! :-)

1.) I love Japanese food... my favorite dish ---> Dragon Roll sushi. Yummy!
2.) I cannot go a single day without a cup of coffee
3.) It's nearly impossible for me to sleep before midnight (which is probably why I need the coffee! hehe!)
4.) I have this new addiction to Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist that I can't seem to shake (someone help!!!!) hahahaa... :-)
5.) The past few days I have been in this "scrappin' rut" where my creative mojo just took a momentary pause (still trying to overcome it... my expo mini album project is sitting on my craft desk staring back at me..... argh, I'm so behind!) ----> I'm working on putting up my next video, so please be patient with me as I snap out of it! hehe! :-)

That was so much fun! hehehe!

Now, we have many new members of the Deux Shabby Chic kit club that I'd like to hit up as they have showcased some awesome creations and fun blogs. I'm also awarding my girl Bona, as she is my creative partner in crime (hehe!) and a super fun blogger in hopes that she'll pass on the award to several of our other DSC members. Great way to learn more fun things about each other! :-)

Have an awesome weekend everyone, and here are the folks I'm passing on this "Creative Blogger" award to...

1.) Laura - Following the Paper Trail
2.) Sarah - A Purposeful Passion
3.) Tiffanie - Bedazzel
4.) Donna - Scrapsadaisee
5.) Bona - KeepOnScrappin

Our New Mini Album Kit Club --- Deux Shabby Chic!

Hi everyone!

Bona and I are are so excited to announce the release of our new mini-album kit club called Deux Shabby Chic! We have been wanting to form a club for quite some time where we can share ideas and techniques with others, learn from others, build new friendships, relax, scrap and just have a great time! We have formed our original member base - Yay!! But we have room for more members, so don't wait cuz space is limited... check us out on our website at www.deuxshabbychic.blogspot.com.

We can't wait to see you at Deux Shabby Chic! :-)

hugs,
Arlene :-)

BTW, here's a peek at our introductory kit for our club. We are sooooo super excited to introduce The Gypsy Market kit. Check out our blog for more info. :-)