"Sunny Days" Childhood Summer House Album Starts TODAY!

Hi, everyone! Today's the big day ~ we're starting the "Sunny Days" Childhood Summer House Album UStream series! Thank you all so much for your patience as we worked to get all the albums out to everyone in time for the class.

I will be using the Pink Paislee "Hometown Summer" paper collection throughout the album. Here is the sample front cover I created for my album:

I will start the album during my UStream show this afternoon and continue working on it during my regular Thursday UStream shows. I am live every Thursday from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and again from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on my UStream Channel: Live on the {Scrap}Beach.

All times are Eastern USA {Miami/New York}. To convert to your time zone, click here: Time Zone Converter.

I also uploaded a video overview of the front cover on my YouTube channel for you to see. It also includes the supplies I've gathered for the album, so you can get an idea of what I'll be using. You can watch the video below, or over on YouTube by clicking this link: Hometown Summer Supplies + Front Cover.

This chipboard album has been retired. If you're interested in purchasing one, please email us at info@kathrynscraps.com.

 

 

Inks and Mediums

Glimmer Mist in "Bubbles" and "Suede"

Jenni Bowlin inks in "Soap Powder" and "Spice Tin"

Ranger Distress Stains in "Vintage Photo", "Walnut Stain" and "Weathered Wood"

Ranger Distress Inks in "Tumbled Glass" and "Broken China"

Ranger Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel {UTEE}

Versamark Watermark Ink Pad

Water brush

Yellow fine point marker

Stamps

Autumn Leaves Bird Stamp

Impression Obsession Cover-A-Card "Wood Grain" stamp

Dies/Punches

Tim Holtz "Brick" Texture Fades Embossing Folder

EK Success "Falling Leaves" Border Punch

Quickutz Cookie Cutter Leaf Shape Dies

Other Embellishments

Pink Paislee "Hometown Summer" rubber charms

Thin jute rope/thick brown twine

Brad {metallic or black}

If you don't have these exact items/colors, you probably already have lots of similar things in your scraproom you can substitute for a close match ~ just take a look and see what's in there!

See you today at 2:00 p.m. Eastern USA time! We're going to have so much fun!

~Kathryn :D

so excited

Caged Bird Tag

Happpy Monday, everyone! I hope you all enjoyed your weekends. I was super productive. Not only did we get out another quadrillion or so houses, but I ALSO FINISHED THE 50TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY ALBUM!!! YAHOO!!! Of course I had to get in there and start creating as soon as I had finished all my "work" projects, so I made this tag:




This is the first time I have used this caged bird die from Tim Holtz/Sizzix, but I had a great time with it. The tag background was inked all over with Victorian Velvet Distress Ink and then sprayed with Pashmina Glimmer Mist. Once the background was dry, I stamped some textures onto it with Perfect Medium and then covered them with Pearl Ex and Perfect Pearls. There is a scratch pattern in gold PearlEx and a splatter pattern in violet Perfect Pearls.





For the vine, I used the Memory Box "Catalina Border" die. {LOVE it!} First I cut it out of DCWV glitter cardstock. Then I cut it again from violet cardstock. I cut the flowers out of the violet cardstock and glued them onto the green vine. Then I backed the flower centers with gold cardstock and covered the petals with the Holo Iridescent Viva Decor Glitter Liner.




The bird was cut from chipboard and Pink Paislee Parisian Antholohy paper. The Parisian Anthology paper was inked with Vintage Photo, Broken China and Peeled Paint Distress Inks, and sprayed with Suede, Lime Twist and Turquoise Glimmer Mists. I added some Vintage Photo Distress Stickles for the eye as well.




The cage was painted white with Folk Art Wicker White acrylic paint by Plaid. Once that was dry, I painted the cage with "Picket Fence" Distress Crackle Paint. After the Crackle Paint dried, I inked the whole cage with Peeled Paint Distress Ink and then wiped off what I could with a baby wipe. That gave a light green patina color to the paint with darker green cracks. Since the Ranger Distress Crackle paint is very prone to chipping and flaking, I covered the whole thing in Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel to kind of seal everything in.




Last, but not least, I added some Jill ribbon to the bottom of the tag and some gems to fill in the holes in the birdcage. I just love how this tag turned out!

I hope you enjoyed the tag & that you all have a GREAT work week!

~Kathryn :D

FOR SALE: House Albums + Cover Supply List

Hi, everyone! I finished the sample for the front cover of my Pink Paislee "Hometown Summer" childhood house mini album. You can see a picture of it here:




I will be working on this album during my regular Thursday UStream shows starting on Thursday, June 30th at 2:00 p.m. I am live every Thursday from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and again from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on my UStream Channel: Live on the {Scrap}Beach.

All times are Eastern USA {Miami/New York}. To convert to your time zone, click here: Time Zone Converter.

I also uploaded a video overview of the front cover on my YouTube channel for you to see. It also includes the supplies I've gathered for the album, so you can get an idea of what I'll be using. You can watch the video below, or over on YouTube by clicking this link: Hometown Summer Supplies + Front Cover.




Albums are currently SOLD OUT!

Here is a list of everything I'll be using to create the cover:

Paper/Cardstock:
Pink Paislee "Hometown Summer" 12"x12" paper
Light Grey cardstock
Dark Grey cardstock
Brick Red cardstock
White cardstock
Watercolor paper


Paint/Art Supplies:
White acrylic paint
Black acrylic paint
Ranger Distress Crackle Paint in "Picket Fence"
Waterbrush


Inks/Stamping Supplies:
Archival Inks in "Coffee" and "Jet Black"
Close to My Heart Ink in "White Daisy"
Glimmer Mist in "Bubbles" and "Suede"
Jenni Bowlin inks in "Soap Powder" and "Spice Tin"
Ranger Distress Stains in "Vintage Photo", "Walnut Stain" and "Weathered Wood"
Ranger Distress Inks in "Tumbled Glass" and "Broken China"
Ranger Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel {UTEE}
Versamark Watermark Ink Pad
Water brush
Yellow fine point marker


Stamps:
Autumn Leaves Bird Stamp
Impression Obsession Cover-A-Card "Wood Grain" stamp


Dies/Punches:
Tim Holtz "Brick" Texture Fades Embossing Folder
EK Success "Falling Leaves" Border Punch
Quickutz Cookie Cutter Leaf Shape Dies


Other Embellishments:
Pink Paislee "Hometown Summer" rubber charms
Thin jute rope/thick brown twine
Brad {metallic or black}


If you don't have these exact items/colors, you probably already have lots of similar things in your scraproom you can substitute for a close match ~ just take a look and see what's in there!

July 2011 Virtual Crop Scheduled!

I am pleased to announce the day and time for the July 2011 Virtual Crop: Saturday, July 2nd from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and from 9:00 p.m. to midnight. All times are Eastern USA {Miami/New York}. To convert to your time zone, clock here: Time Zone Converter.

During the crop, I will be streaming live from my scraproom with some projects and chit chat for you to enjoy: my UStream channel.

This crop will also have challlenges and prizes for you to enjoy. Like previous crops, you will get one chance to win for each challenge you complete. Throughout the afternoon and evening, I will be creating new posts here on my blog with challenges to inspire you. You will have until 9:00 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, July 5th to complete the challenges and link your to my blog.

The link can be to photos you upload to an online gallery, or to a YouTube video, or to a post on your personal blog. At 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, I will close the challenges to new submissions and select winners randomly from those who posted challenges. Challenge entries are not judged. Winners are selected using a random number generator. One entry is randomly chosen from the submissions for each challenge.

July's crop challlenge prizes include a Prima white wildflower pillar pack, a sampler of my favorite twine from the Twinery & one of the house minis from the upcoming Hometown Summer project.

I hope you will all join me in celebrating my 30th birthday! There will be cropping, laughing and plenty of chances to win some of my favorite scrapbooking items! See you there!

~Kathryn :D
get out your scissors and glue

Hometown Summer House Album Cover Sneaks!

Hi, everyone! Happy Monday! To make the start of the work week a little bit better, I decided to post three little sneak peeks at the front cover of the upcoming USTREAM childhood summer series featuring the Pink Paislee "Hometown Summer" collection and my chipboard house mini. This series begins at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 30th.

Enjoy!










After this Thursday night's show, I'll be uploading a new video to my YouTube channel, showing you guys the whole front cover & going over some of the supplies I've gathered together for the project. I think you guys are really going to like it!

~Kathryn :D
Manic Monday

New Scraproom Storage

Hi, everyone!

Mr. Lifeguard and I have been busy little bees this past week! First, we cut out another 45 house albums & placed what I am hoping will be our last chipboard order for a while {fingers crossed; we'll see how it goes ~ if we need to order more chipboard for you guys, we will!}. So far we have cut out 90 house albums. At 11 chipboard pieces per album, that is 999 die cuts. It's taken 300 sheets of 12"x12" chipboard to get this far, all of which I personally cut down into the 11 smaller pieces we needed. Par-TAY! :D

Despite all this die cutting fun, I still think the album is pretty darn adorable. It must be a testament to its extreme cuteness that I still like it after having cut out, packed & shipped so many of them.




After we got finished with those, we headed off to IKEA. Storage has been a little sketchy in the scraproom lately, I am not going to lie. I have had several projects going on at once & I have been keeping the materials for each project in a 13"x13" box. Well, the boxes were starting to multiply & then the boxes had boxes and there were piles within piles. It got to where you could hardly see the floor. So we headed off to IKEA and made a couple purchases.

The first thing we did was replace one of the legs on my VIKA system desk with the VIKA ALEX drawer unit:




I used these drawers to conquer my desk piles. There are six drawers and they hold all kinds of cool stuff that I use frequently & now will have right at my fingertips: flowers, inks, stamp blocks, stickles, liquid pearls, border punches, circle cutter, brads, charms, dies, etc.




This is a photo of one of the drawers open. The doors are just shy of being wide enough to store 12"x12" paper, but they hold a ton of other stuff. This particular drawer has my favorite Apple Pie Memories stamp blocks, my embossing inks, the new Jenni Bowlin inks from Ranger that I am kind of in love with right now, my Eclipse masking tape, my white CTMH ink pads & my four jumbo Archival ink pads.

Next we purchased the ALEX drawers. This is sort of IKEA's twist on a map chest & it is great for scrapbookers. They are very wide ~ wide enough to easily hold 12"x12" paper + tons of other stuff.




I have been calling them my project drawers because I am keeping all the supplies for each of my current projects in one of these six drawers. Take a peek at the Hometown Summer drawer:




Look how bright, happpy & fun that drawer is! It's so inspiring to see all the elements I have gathered together in one drawer all laid out like that. Not to mention, it is WAY better than having it all stuffed into a box that was shoved on the floor and I tripped on ten times a day.

It was a very busy week, with a lot of running around and manual labor, but I couldn't be happier with the progress we made on the albums and on the scraproom!

Today is Thursday, so I have my UStream shows. I am live every Thursday from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and again from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on my UStream Channel: Live on the {Scrap}Beach!

All times are Eastern USA {Miami/New York}. To convert to your time zone, click here: Time Zone Converter.

We're going to continue working on the Pink Paislee "Butterfly Garden" album today. I have some fun things planned for this one! Take a little peek at the project drawer for this album:




How lovely is that!? Can't wait until 2:00!

~Kathryn :D
totally organized

Thank You Cards for US Troops

Hi, everyone! While I was surfing the Internet last week, I came across a story on the Bazzill blog about a young man with a very special project. Ten-year-old Stephen Goodman, a fifth-grader in Surprise, Arizona, wants to send a thank you card to all military personnel. Not to one platoon, or to just one division, but to every actively deployed service member in the U.S. military.

Donations are being accepted from anyone creating handmade thank you cards on Stephen’s behalf. For every five cards and envelopes sent to Bazzill, the maker will be entered into a drawing to win two FREE tickets to the last Creative Escape 2011 (travel and accommodations, not included). Cards must be received by July 1, 2011. Click here to go to the Bazzill blog and read all about it: Bazzill Basics Paper.

This week on my show, I created two simple cards that could be easily recreated and mass produced for this project. I will be sending twenty-five of these cards to Bazzill for Stephen's project. I think it is amazing that such a young boy cares so deeply about our country and our soldiers and I think he needs to be supported in his efforts. As many of you know, Mr. Lifeguard is active duty military and was deployed to Afghanistan a year ago. I am grateful for his service and his safe return, and I want to let the other men and women serving overseas know that we are here for them & appreciate their sacrifice.

Here is the first card:




This card uses an older paper line that is not currently available. However, there are two very nice patriotic lines available right now that would make lovely cards if you don't have papers in your stash that will work: Bo Bunny "Liberty" and K & Company "Americana".

To see this first card coming together, check out the UStream recording from Thursday afternoon's show: Thank You Card for Troops #1.


Here is the second card:




To see this second card coming together, check out the UStream recording from Thursday evening's show: Thank You Card for Troops #2.

Inside each card is a note from Mr. Lifeguard and me that reads as follows:

I cannot find the words to express how grateful my husband and I are that you are putting yourself in harm's way to protect our country. The USA is the land of the free and the home of the brave because of courageous men and women like you. We wish you and your fellow service members complete safety throughout your tour of duty. May you return home soon to a true hero's welcome. Thank you.

The sentiment above is adapted from one I found on an electronic thank you card website. To see the original and other suggestions for thank you cards for soldiers overseas, check out this website: Let's Say Thanks.

Even though these two card designs are patriotic in nature, both could easily be adapted for any card you needed to send several of ~ birthday party invitations, thank you notes, even Christmas cards!

I hope you enjoyed these cards & that you will join me helping Stephen reach his wonderful goal of sending a thank you note to every man and woman serving our country overseas.

~Kathryn :D
thank you

Viewing UStream Recordings

Hi, everyone!

There have been lots of issues reported lately with viewing the archived UStream recordings. A little research taught me that it is a known issue with UStream, and that most playback issues are caused by bugs in the autoplay ads. To bypass these autoplay ads and enjoy a more pleasant UStream viewing experience, try the following steps:

1. Install the Mozilla Firefox web broswer: FireFox.
2. Install the AdBlock Plus for Firefox add-on: AdBlock Plus.
3. After restarting Firefox, Ad Block Plus will ask you if you'd like to download filters. I responded YES to filters.
4. Enjoy ad-free UStream recordings!

I prefer to use Google Chrome for most of my web browsing, but I have Firefox installed on my computer now. I plan to use it for all my UStream-related activities. I have already tested this fix this morning by viewing the same UStream recording in Chrome and in Firefox. The video played much more smoothly in Firefox, with no ads! There was no starting and stopping in the beginning due to loading issues with going into and coming back back from the autoplay commercials.

If you've been having problems watching UStream recordings, be sure to give this fix a try & let me know if it helps!

~Kathryn :D
Ads blocked!

P.S. If you STILL have problems after trying that, then it is most likely your version of Adobe Flash Player. The latest release has been very problematic. To download a previous version of Flash Player, go to http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/142/tn_14266.html and download version 10.2.159.1.

P.P.S. And if NONE of those suggestions fix the problem, then you should contact the UStream Helpers at http://www.ustream.tv/help, because I am out of ideas.