Yay, Me! I'm actually now on the right day. So, my kids are driving me up the wall. Well, maybe not all of them, well yeah all of them. Anywhoooo, I know they are just being kids and I'm so glad that they are still kids and not grown yet or teenagers (At least I know that, not that young guy at the car wash who when asked to clean my van {yes I know it's about time} asked if my kids were in high school - ugh).
There's so much more I need to teach them before they get to that age. I just feel like I can never catch up or keep up for that matter. I try to stick to my routine, but I'm a live in the moment person and sometimes I don't stick to the routine b/c I like to stop everything we are doing and sometimes just dance to James Brown or something. I guess I just need to accept that it is impossible and that I should just let it go. Well, maybe not the dishes as my husband would say, but all the other things that won't matter in the end.
So, my focus for at least the next 5 minutes will be to breathe and soak it all in, relax - and then return to the reality of my normal chaotic life.

Also, if interested we have gift cards for Mom or for Teacher Appreciation.
We have wish lists for Mom's or whomever wishes to leave a little hint for those shopping for them. When a wish list is filled out, it is then scanned and saved and the recipient is given cards that say: "I really don't want you to spend your money on me ... but if you insist then visit The Scrap Boutique for ideas. Free gift wrapping is included." to hand out.

We know have the Girls Gone Crafty access to the blog on the left of this blog. More updates will be given soon. We are now offering Friday for $20 as a half day starting @ 5PM - til. If interested just write that in the comments section of your registration form and I will note that. No half day will be given for Saturday. Please be aware though that a purchase of at least one full day will have to be made in order to receive your goody bag.

Upcoming Events:
National Scrapbooking Day SS Memory - Saturday, May 3rd
Mother & Child Crop - Saturday, May 10th 11AM
Mom's Night Out - Saturday, May 10th 6PM
Crop Night - Friday, May 16th 7PM
Scrap Metal - Saturday, May 17th 12PM
Scrap Challenge - Tuesday, May 20th 6PM
Crop Night - Friday, May 30th 7PM

Posted in: on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at at 9:12 AM 0 Amens to That Sista  

Again, it's not Tuesday, but I'm playing catch up!

A lot of times I find some of the patterned paper might be a little too much for me, so I like to break it down. And no I don't mean I start doing the running man in my scrap room. I fussy-cut, now what is fussy-cutting you ask. Well don't fuss, I'll explain. It goes a little something like this: Choose a patterned paper and simply cut some of the pattern out, originally a quilting technique it has moved to paper. As you can see in my canvas here I cut only a "strip" of the patterned paper to break it up. It makes a wonderful accent if you just want to cut out a flower, paisley, etc. So, go cut something up, but just leave the fussing out - I've got enough problems of my own to hear. LOL

Posted in: on at at 8:56 AM 0 Amens to That Sista  

Okay, I know it's not Monday, but hey better late than never. So I'm sure you have now gone through all your BD (before digital) pictures, all 5,334 of them this weekend, good girl! LOL We are now going to continue on to the AD (after digital) pictures, which I'm sure are just as scattered as the BD ones except your husband's not complaining about tripping on these in boxes. So if you have them on disc, card, or camera - take a day to download them all on your hard drive, I know a lot of work, but it will be well worth it in the end. You will then write down all the categories you would like them to appear in. This could be by year, theme, person, etc. I always choose person, that is my preference. So, I make a folder for each person and then I carefully start to move the pictures to their rightful folders. Just make sure you delete the ones as we said last week that might be out of focus, too dark, etc. Next be sure you also save all the new folders organized on a disc or some sort of backup. After you have done that you are well on your way to a lifetime of digital happiness. LOL

Posted in: on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at at 11:32 AM 0 Amens to That Sista  

So, what can we craft up today. Are you feeling inspired by our dailies? Well I do hope you are, or I'm just wasting my time tapping at the keyboard aimlessly talking to myself. Which really wouldn't be any different than what I typically do anyway. I'm one of those talkers that will be on the phone for about half a hour before I realize the call was dropped or just talking away into the phone and standing in the McD's line and my phone rings in my ear.

So, I can truthfully I have not gotten real creative lately. I probably have at least 9 projects going on as we speak. So, what inspires you to be creative? What gets the creative juices flowing? What knocks out the creative block?

My answer: Organization. Once I get things in order around me I can better focus on my 101 ideas. Then I like to write a To Do list get it all out of my head and I then can start the steps to my creative adventure.

(And no this is not my crafting space, yet I like to just look at it, close my eyes, and imagine it is)

So what's your story?

I just noticed I say So a lot, HUH! So, I guess I'll have to be more aware of that next post. LOL

Upcoming Events:
Stampin' 101 - Friday 6PM
Crop Night - Friday 7PM
Get Digi Wit It - Saturday 11AM
SS Memory National Scrapbooking Day - Saturday, May 3rd
Girls Gone Crafty - Friday & Saturday August 1-2

Posted in: on Thursday, April 24, 2008 at at 10:09 PM 0 Amens to That Sista  

*We are adding our May calendar this week, so keep checking back for new stuff. We have lots planned for grads, moms, & more.

*Our new scrap stuff in the shop pertains to communion, prom, graduation, mother's day, & wedding.

*Also just want to mention that we have lace embroidery accents to add to your scrapbook pages at the shop available in all sorts of colors. If you are interested in having something embroidered contact us, we'd be more than happy to help out.

*We are also selling items from our Craft Show. So if you want a handmade present come by to check out our selection. If you have another idea for a gift please ask we might be able to assist you.

*We are offering for Mother's Day gifts, baskets of scrapbook & craft supplies. And for those mothers who want to be more specific about the gifts they recieve we have wish lists. The wish lists are given to your loved ones and they recieve free gift wrapping.

*Teacher Appreciation is coming soon, so don't forget about all those teachers who come to our store.

Posted in: on at at 4:11 AM 0 Amens to That Sista  

Throw a few tips my way! Go ahead break open the piggy bank - just joking.



So I've been really pumped that I'm actually keeping up with this blog thing. I know it's not really posting on the right days or being sent on the exact days, but hey you got to give me props for really sticking to it. So here's my tip:



Don't take scrapbooking so serious that you don't enjoy the hobby. It doesn't have to be perfect, or balanced or have buttons or have glitter or chipboard to make it a wonderful layout. All it needs is your heart. As long as you put your heart into it then you can really say your layout is complete. And don't worry that you are like a gazillion years behind in your scrapping. That's not what it's about. It's what's happening inside of you right now that you are just putting down on paper. Whether it be about the past, present, or future it's showcasing how you feel about it at the moment. So stop stressing if the ribbon doesn't match just right or that you don't have that letter "a" you need, move on and make use of what you got. Or that your son is now 32 and you are scrapping his first steps. Just live in the moment and take it in one page at a time.

Upcoming Events:

Stampin' 101 - Friday 6PM
Crop Night - Friday 7PM
Get Digi Wit It - Saturday 11AM
SS Memory National Scrapbooking Day - Saturday, May 3rd
Girls Gone Crafty - Friday & Saturday August 1-2

Posted in: on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at at 6:21 PM 0 Amens to That Sista  

If you only tune in for the scrapbooking, I must warn you now that you might want to skip your daily readings of this blog on Wacky Wednesday, because this will be the day I share some part of my CRAZY life. Now back to your regularly scheduled blog:

So, I was called for Jury Duty Tuesday and it was really interesting. I got to read half of The Secret and sit to watch events unfold right before my eyes. I was truly hoping that I wouldn't have jury duty, so having to call and find out I did - sucked! Then it sucked even more to get the kids ready 1 hour earlier than usual. But thank goodness for the heckling of an older lady in row 1. At least that's what I think turned Mr. Innocent into Mr. Guilty. As we sat for maybe 40 minutes, a lady in the front row gets a little impatient and begins to complain like a man waiting on his steak or Domino's Pizza and it's not there in the 30 minutes it was supposed to be. So she begins to say things to the man on trial, "Hey, is this your first rodeo?" The guy responds by nodding his head NO! She then continues, "That figures, what the h$%% you did?" He ignores her. Proceeding with her taunting (or shall I say plan - because I think this women knew what she was doing and this wasn't HER FIRST RODEO!), she says, "It's late, is it always this late since this ain't your first rodeo." He nods his head, yes and then signals his lawyer. As this is going on I hear someone behind me talking, "I'm a witness and I'm here to make sure this never happens again." I try to continue reading my book, but I'm feeling too distracted. We are then asked to leave and go across the street to another courtroom and about 30 minutes later are asked to return. We enter and discover that Mr. Innocent has now identified himself as Mr. Guilty. So there ends my day with a check, new revelations, and a newfound love for the aggressive elders in the world and all just in time for lunch to be eaten at Taco Bell with no kids fussing because they don't have chicken nuggets there.

Posted in: on at at 4:30 PM 1 Amens to That Sista  

Though this day won't always be digital techie, I thought I'd start with this.

There are a lot of things you can do digitally with just a click that might take hours to do by hand. I know I'm one that initially when I started scrapbooking I said I didn't want to go digital, because I enjoyed the hobby artistically and didn't want to take it into the digital world. But now that I've seen the small things I can do to my layouts digitally and still be artistic, I've changed my mind and gone somewhat Hybrid. So here are some small tidbits that I've learned that might make you come to the other side. (And no I'm not trying to bring you into some alternate world where you will have to make some sort of sacrifice on the altar or stay at my home and later commit yourself to the program by wearing clothing from the 17th century).

1. Distress without all the stress: Less mess is always a plus, especially if you are in a rush. Use digital brushes and frames on photos to create the same effect using different colors.

2. Stitch, don't &*^%$: Sometimes machines have a mind of their own and face it your eyes aren't what they used to be (well mine never were), but you can simply stitch digitally on your page using lots of digital stitches available online. http://www.designerdigitals.com/ and http://www.scrapartist.com/.

3. Don't align, confine: If you are already cropping your photos, why not group them together and mat them all at once. http://www.flickr.com/ is great for making mosaics.

4. To Crop or Not To Crop: Sometimes leaving the "white" space in a picture can be beneficial. Use it to your advantage and maybe add a title or journaling to the space. Like the one done here by RiFi.

Craving more digital tips, sign up for our class on Saturday @ 11AM.

Upcoming Events:

Upcoming Events:Stampin' 101 - Friday 6PM

Crop Night - Friday 7PM

Get Digi Wit It - Saturday 11AM

SS Memory - May 3rd, Saturday

Girls Gone Crafty - Aug. 1-2

Posted in: on at at 12:41 PM 0 Amens to That Sista  

Usually anyone just entering into the scrapbooking hobby or even those just trying to keep up or catch up, can say they have too many pictures. Most of those pictures that are BD (before digital) might be blurry, the back of someone's head, overexposed, etc. So why do we keep them, because we are naturally hoarders by instinct. So evolve and take the steps to getting rid of those unmemorable photos and focus on the few that have a real meaning.

Here are some simple tips to do just that:

First start with any BD pics - go through them and throw away - yes I said throw away those that are meaningless or as mentioned above not good pictures. Do not be afraid, it is okay, we will get through this together.

Now with the actual identifiable pics, seperate them into three piles
1. Storytelling Pictures - pictures that when you look at them you have to explain a little more to it.
2. Memory Pictures - pictures that say enough on there own of an event in your life or another's.

3. Random Pictures - pictures of just a random pic that you don't really have a story for, yet don't want to just throw away.

So now that your photos are seperated, decide what type of scrapper you are
1. Storyteller Scrapper - one who likes to tell the story behind the pictures, then journal away.
2. Memory Scrapper - one who likes to just capture the memories and place them beautifully in a book with a title.
3. Random Scrapper - one who likes to just scrap as a hobby and has no real purpose to the album.

So after you have decided what photos to scrap, take the rest and just put them in a regular album. File the ones you are scrapping either by theme, person, or chronologically whichever makes better sense for you in some sort of photo box. Remember, it's what works for you, not everyone else. I like to scrap what inspires me at the moment and not worry about catching up. I like to look through my file every once in awhile and just pick something that inspires me.

Now doesn't that help that overwhelming feeling go away. LOL I know it'll be awhile before this goal can be accomplished, but take it box by box and you'll see some major progress.

As for AD (after digital), stay tuned and we'll get to that next week.

Upcoming Events:
Stampin' 101 - Friday 6PM
Crop Night - Friday 7PM
Get Digi Wit It - Saturday 11AM
SS Memory - May 3rd, Saturday
Girls Gone Crafty - Aug. 1-2

Posted in: on Monday, April 21, 2008 at at 1:58 PM 0 Amens to That Sista  

Posted in: on Thursday, April 17, 2008 at at 8:44 PM 0 Amens to That Sista  

So, I've decided that we need to post other things besides updates to make this interesting. So each day I'll be bring you something new. (Well, let's say I'll try)

Monday will be Motivating Monday

Tuesday will be Techie Tuesday

Wednesday will be Wacky Wednesday (and no on this day I won't be like slashing prices like some furniture guy on TV - our prices are already low)

Thursday will be Tippin' Thursday

Friday will be Frappachino Friday



So for Tippin' Thursday, I'm going to feed you with a great tip for crafts & scrapbooking. I might have shared this little tidbit in a crop once, but now I'm feeding it to the world (b/c there's like a load of starving people out there and my dad always cooks too much).



Journaling never has to be perfect, but if you're a perfectionist you might want to try this. Get a transparency or report cover sleeve or whatever you might have on hand. Grab some magazines and a slick writer or permanent marker. In the magazine look for fonts that you might like, ear mark them. Then take the transparent material and place it over the letters you want to use for a title or name whatever and then start tracing. Mix it up if it doesn't have exactly the letter you want. Cut it out, stick it on your page and voila. Also, if you find the title is really not popping on your patterned paper, add some paint to the back of the transparent material.



Hope you enjoyed Tippin' Thursday!!!

Upcoming Events:
Friday - Crop Night & Scrappin' 101
Saturday - Scrappin' 101
May 3 - National Scrapbooking Day Adventure
August 1-2 - Girls Gone Crafty

Posted in: on at at 4:27 AM 0 Amens to That Sista  

For National Scrapbooking Day we will not only be having a blast, but also taking entries for our biggest contest yet. Using our paper lines you can enter into several contest.

Summer
Spring
School
Birthday
Family
Girl
Boy

Each one will have a winner chosen by our panel of judges from the staff of Girls Gone Crafty. The winner will recieve a scrapbook kit, their layout on the wall, and recognition by the entire scrapbook community as the BEST SCRAPBOOKER EVER, EVER, EVER! Okay, maybe just here in Lockport.

So, get to scrappin' people!!!

Posted in: on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at at 9:46 AM 0 Amens to That Sista  

National Scrapbooking Day
May 3, 2008
The Scrap Boutique & Dance Co. Studio located nearby

Come & take a cruise with us on the SS Memory and soak up the rays of inspiration, okay well not for real but just go with me on this and envision yourself taking an entire day and night for yourself full of scrapbooking, friends, food, & good times. Your passport to this relaxing day & night will include the following:

Our Port of Calls:

Scrapminican Republic, Dance Co. 9AM-11AM: Don't Worry Be Scrappy - Bring your scraps and leave your worries behind in this fun class full of scrap. Lots of layouts are made with just a snippet of this or a pinch of that, so why scrap the rest in a drawer never to see the light of day again. This class will show you tons of ideas for your scraps and you'll complete 2 layouts. Scraps will be provided, but feel free to bring a few of your own and adhesive. $15

Lunch available for $5 (Quizno's Sandwich, chips, treats, & drink) 11:AM-12:30PM

Stamptego Bay, Dance Co. 12:30-2:30PM: Stampin' Me Crazy - Crazy for Stamps, well we'll make you even crazier for them when you complete this class. Learn stamping techniques that will spice up your layouts. You will complete 2 layouts in this class, so bring your adhesive. $15

Costa Album, Dance Co. 3:PM-5:30PM: We'll be freestylin' it with a twist on a homemade album made of coasters with accordian inserts and beautiful elements. One completed album with plenty of room for pictures and more. Bring adhesives. $25

Caribbean Crop, Dance Co. 6PM-2AM: The fun doesn't end with the classes, we will be having an after hours luau crop til you drop with Island Music, tourist bag full of goodies, games, food, & drinks. Bring all your scrappin' stuff & enjoy your trip. $20

That's $80 for the entire trip.

After you have gotten a punch on your passport at each port you will be entered into the drawing for the Grand Prize! We'll be announcing more soon and giving you sneak peaks at the projects!

Our store will be open during this time and Scrap Shuttles will be made to the store to get any supplies you might need or want.

Sign up as soon as you can, we will have limited space for this event. Your space will be reserved for you after you have paid in full.

Sign up here online to the right.

Posted in: on at at 7:31 AM 0 Amens to That Sista  

So for whatever reason, no one knew what song I was singing in the last post. I mean fa' real, dude, it's the song Finally by CeCe Peniston. Man, I used to so jam to this.

Anywhooo, we have some more new stuff:

Check it out just some of the new things we just got in this weekend...

Summer

We also have Queen & Co. felt, Creative Imaginations Epoxy, Stickers, & Petaloo Flowers.

Dance

and much more...

Faith

...with accessories

Cosmo Cricket Blackboard

Family Ancestry

with other accessories...

Posted in: on Monday, April 14, 2008 at at 7:28 AM 0 Amens to That Sista  

"Finally, it's happened to me, right in front of my face and I just can not hide it." Sorry ... lost track of what I was saying ... "FIIIINALLLYYY, THE PAPER IS HERE" Okay, I'll stop. Here is what weez got:




"The way I feel about this paper can't be wrong, if you only knew ..."

We have 3 other papers from the Frenzy line, but for whatever reason the pics aren't uploading. I'll get back to it. Also, don't forget we have Fancy Pants Paper, Felt, & Transparent Die Cuts. They are gorgeous!
New supply of Stickles, Alcohol Ink, & Glitter Cardstock.
45% off on all Fall & Winter and 25% off on assorted papers.
So, if you haven't stopped by in awhile come pop in, tell me hi, update me on your life, tell me how the kids are, the husband, the dog, or whatever (just don't need to know how your bowels have been - you can keep that little tidbit to yourself - okay - OK).


So, a lot of changes are happening here:

We've got a SITTER in the works for the summer. Yes, I did say sitter. She'll be available from 11-5 on Mondays, Tuesdays, & Thursdays starting June 2nd. The cost will be $10 a child and you will have to call in advance to book her, no walk-ins. She will be staying in the shop with the child while you crop. Bring the child's favorite items if needed and snacks.


We now have lace embroidery accents for your scrapbook page and bookmarks. Beautiful photo corners, animals, baby items, etc. Available in all sorts of colors.

We have a Kids Gone Crafty event being planned and more details will be mentioned soon. The age groups are 5-9, 9-12, & 12-17. It will be a Summer Scrap Day Camp.

For those interested in the Girls Gone Crafty, we now have online registration and paypal to the right of this post. Also, if you are interested in being a vendor or sponsoring or advertising at the event, please contact me by email michelle@buttoneers.com.

DON'T FORGET CROP NIGHT ON THE 12TH AT 7PM!!!!!!!

Posted in: on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at at 8:52 AM 0 Amens to That Sista