HUGE DESTASH GOES LIVE TODAY!

Our first big destash goes live today, December 8th at 1pm EST (New York time) on my zibbet store at:
http://zibbet.com/mccplg

The info on the destash has been posted on multiple sites on Facebook, so this is a first come, first served sale.

Here are specific links to the videos for each box:

Box 1 - Cooking $40 ($27.35USD+ shipping

Box 02 - Cooking  $45 ($32.35USD+ shipping) 

Box 03 - Cooking  $45 ($32.35USD+ shipping)

Box 04 - Boy/baby boy   $45 ($32.35USD+ shipping)

Box 05 - Boy/Baby boy  $45 ($32.35USD+ shipping

Box 06 - Girl/baby girl   $40 ($27.35USD+ shipping) 

Box 07 - Baby - Girl $35 ($22.35USD+ shipping) 

Box 08 - Love - Wedding   $30 ($17.35USD+ shipping)

Box 09 - Love - Wedding   $35 ($22.35USD + shipping) 

Box 10 - SOLD Travel   $49.00 ($36.35USD+ shipping) 

Box 11 - Halloween   $29.50 ($16.85USD+ shipping) 

Box 12 - Halloween    $37.50 ($24.85USD+ shipping) 

Box 13 - Birthday    $30 ($17.35USD+ shipping) 

Boxes 14 & 15 Thanksgiving    $35 ($22.35USD+ shipping) 

Box 16 - Thanksgiving    $37 ($24.35USD+ shipping) 

Box 17 - Christmas    $49.50 ($36.85USD + shipping) 

Box 18 - Christmas $49.50 ($ 36.85USD + shipping) 

Box 19 - Christmas   $49.50 (36.85USD + shipping)

Box 20 - Christmas    $49.50 ($36.85USD + shipping) 

Box 21 - Manly/Vintage  $35 ($22.35USD+ shipping) 

BOX 22 - Birthday - Celebrate  $30 ($17.35USD+ shipping) 

Boxes A, B & C- G45 Raining Cats & Dogs
$59.95 PLUS shipping each 

Box D - SOLD G45 Twas TNB Christmas
$49.50 PLUS shipping 

Box E - PRIMA   $45 ($32.35USD+ shipping) 

Box F - PRIMA   $40 ($27.35USD+ shipping) 

Box G - PRIMA  $35 ($22.35USD+ shipping) 

Box H - PRIMA + Marion Smith   $30 ($17.35USD+ shipping) 

Box I - (G45 + PRIMA Sea Themed  $49.95 PLUS shipping 

About Shipping etc...

To purchase this box, you will need watch for our announcement that we have gone live and go to my zibbet store:

https://www.zibbet.com/mccplg

If after 48 hours your item is not paid in full including any extra shipping fees, we will reluctantly relist the item.

****SHIPPING*****IMPORTANT INFO******

We filled Medium Priority Flat Rate Boxes. Most are full, so we cannot really combine shipping. If you buy three boxes, we will try to put it all into two and credit your Paypal account!

USA - $12.65 Please note: the prices quoted in our videos include shipping for most boxes, but not all! On Zibbet we had to put in the shipping cost separately from the product cost.

CANADA - If you are from Canada, we will send you a Paypal invoice for either $43.25 if shipping is not included in the box price OR for $29.60 to cover the "difference" in the shipping fees ($43.25-$12.65), and wait until this additional payment is confirmed before we ship your box out to you. After 48 hours, we will re-list!

ALL OTHER COUNTRIES - If you are from any other country than the US or Canada, we will send you a Paypal invoice for $61.75 if shipping IS NOT included in the box price OR  for $49.10 to cover the "difference" in the shipping fees ($61.75-$12.65), and wait till it is paid to ship out to you. and wait until this additional payment is confirmed before we ship your box out to you. After 48 hours, we will re-list!

DESTASH!!! Update

Wow we are nearing 30 boxes of never used never opened crafting goodness! Some items are vintage Cookbooking,  Top Line Creations and Breezy design, (now that is one company whose designers were very much ahead of their time) and some are just released Graphic 45!  We also have some Marion Smith, Simple Stories and some Prima! All the boxes will have flowers and lace that, if not white, were individually hand colored to match what the box contains!

What's more, we have determined that there will be a second round after the holidays!  Yup there is still a whole lot to destashsing to do!!!

The actual box buying will be via this blog and you will have to look for the pages at the top of the blog!  We are starting to make the videos today and will post them a couple of days before the sale starts so that you can view what we have and note the number or letter of boxe(s) you want.  Then  we will let you know either in a new video and/or online in FB as well as here in a new post, we will publish each page here on the blog!

OK, time to get the videos done!

Destash and Giveaway

If you read my blog, you've noticed that the post about the store has disappeared. I've come to that conclusion that a store now would not be a good idea! So for a number of reasons, not least of which is quality of life, the desire to enjoy my crafting and not be constantly on my phone or computer looking for the next email, and the realities of the paper crafting business right now, I will not be opening an actual store. 

In that frame of mind, I've decided to do a major destash and giveaway! A couple of my friends are helping me create priority boxes filled with crafty stuff.  The prices will include prioirty shipping to the USA.  If you are international, you will have to pay the difference in the shipping charges, which sad to say, will likely make this a bad deal for you since shipping priority from the US to any other country is crazy expensive!

I will post video's on YT to show you what is being destashed in each box and there is also a group on Facebook called Not Just Scrapbooks which you can go to.  Just liking the FB page will get you one entry into the giveaway, (think G45 Raining Cat's and Dogs)!

There will be many boxes, so please make sure you keep track of my videos on YT!!

Have a great day!
M-C

Paper Arts Show, CHA Summer 2014 - Days 1 Part 1

OVERVIEW:
 For those of us whose love of paper crafting has led us to becoming retailers, and who can't get out to Anaheim California, this was an anticipated event. I won't say that this was a big show. Gone are the fancy booths, and we are back to the standard trade show black curtains with tables and wire panels and/or bookshelves.  It's in a hotel not a convention center and the ceilings are low, not soaring. There were fewer than 50 exhibitors (notably absent were DCWV, American Crafts, Ranger, Stampers Anonymous, and sadly, Marion Smith Designs, one of my biggest reasons for attending the show)! For the life of me, I can't seem to meet Marion or Garret no matter what, lol! Only 200 attendees had registered when the show opened on Tuesday and from the wholesalers point of view, that did not mean 200 customers as some retailers bring 2-3 people. Yet that doesn't mean in wasn't a good show! It was great for networking and getting to know people, you did not have to go crazy trying to place orders and it was much easier to navigate. Oh and there was the open market, where you literally could get some great bargains!

Day 1 - The Workshop Day

It turns out that only 200 people signed up to attend the show, which makes it terribly small, especially since sometimes up to 3 people are from the same store. But there are advantages to being at such a small show and the first day workshops are amongst the good things. Getting to talk to more people because you are bumping into them again and again is also an advantage and I got to meet some mighty fine people.

Now here are some pictures from Day 1:

Bo Bunny

 

 

 

Bo Bunny was my first workshop of the day at 8:00 am. It's also where I met Ivana, also known as CraftMuse. We were a very quiet class.  Then again, by definition, the projects in such classes are ambitious and very quick paced, and we all know going in that we don't have any chance of finishing them! Finishing comes later, maybe at night if you can keep your eyes open long enough.  But I digress!

 

We made the layout you see above as well as a cute envelope with an accordion album to slip inside the envelope.

 

My favorite new Bo Bunny products are the Glitter Paste, which comes in 3 colors for now, Gold, Bronze and Silver and their new stencils.

 

 

The stencils are made of a very thin, pliable pink plastic, that clings to your project, making it much easier to work with.  Right now they have released 4 sets. Each set comes on 12x12 size backing. So that border in the picture is 12 inches long. The Glitter Paste dries fairly quickly and the stencil is very easy to remove, wash and use again. Based on my experience in the workshop it is very easy to use multiple times, in one sitting, without having to clean it between each use.  That makes the Bo Bunny stencils a great choice if you are creating invitations or a series of cards. Of all their currently released ones, I loved the doilies!

I also visit our instructors, Liz Welch & Vicki Bentley in their booth! Can you see we had fun?

We made this cute tag in the Bo Bunny booth!

 



Well there is so much more to say even about the first day, but this post is way long!

 

More soon,

Be happy and crafty!

M-C

 

Friendship in Atlanta.

Hello Friends,

I have a lot to write about my trip to Atlanta and will do so over the next few days. But given the title of my blog, and the value I place on my friends, I thought I'd start with one of those moments in time when you meet someone that you know will become a special friend.

That person is Ivana Bevacqua also known as the CraftMuse. Ivana is a fellow blogger, crafter and someone with impeccable taste, a great sense of humor and a heart of gold!  I say she has impeccable taste because she signed up for the same workshops I did, and we ended up liking so many similar things, it was almost eerie! We met while waiting in line at 8am for the first workshop of the first day of the Paper Arts Show.  Ivana is spirited, witty and we had a great time hanging out together through many of the events!  I know we will continue to build on the friendship we started in Atlanta! By the way, Ivanna, thanks for all the baby wipes you provided during the Stampendous workshop! Without you, I might have looked like some crazy artist, or possibly, given the colors we used, the descendant of Ms. Piggy and Papa Smurf! ;)

Please visit the Craftmuse Blog and show Ivanna some love! You won't be disappointed!

Have a Happy Crafty Day,
M-C

Catch Up Post

Life has bee hectic and full all at once!  Sometimes that has been awesome and sometimes it's been dog gone awful! But I'm grateful for both! I've completed a lot of projects for my classes and some just for my pleasure. I'll quickly share some of these here with you, before I create my next blog post, which in some ways is a kind of anniversary.

Steampunk Tags

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glass Jar with Pins

 

 

 





 

 

Cards



 

 



Layouts
I've also made a bunch of layouts, but darn if I can find the pictures as I sit here in Atlanta!

Mini Books
I'm afraid that I'll have to share these separately!

Hope you enjoyed and please stay tuned!

Have a happy scrappy day,
M-C

It's a Really Big Tag!

I recently joined a Facebook group called CreateExchange and this is my first swap with them!  I'm always interested in swapping, but I'm not a big fan of making multiples of the same thing, so one on one swaps suit me better!  Please feel free to let me know if you are interested in swapping with me! We can swap tags, mini albums, a small altered canvas, or something else that might make us both stretch our creativity!

 

The tag for the CreateExchange swap needed to be at least 4"x10" and the theme was Flowers. Easter and/or Butterflies. Here is what I came up with!



 

 

• The tag base is chipboard that I covered with paper from the Marion Smith Nirvana collection.
• I layered some turquoise jute that I bought at JoAnns in the flower department.
• I purchased the doily a few years ago I think at Homegoods.
• The flower center is a bead that I found on sale at Michael's a couple of weeks ago.
• The flower layers are a mix of petals from Prima and Recollection.
• The stick pins are made on 4 inch pins and the beads were collected over time.  

 

 

 

• The saying is stamped with Coffee colored Archival Ink using a Tim Holtz stamp.  I also used a couple of Distress Ink pads to colo r the background.
• The silver butterflies are Recollections.  They were first colored turquoise with one of my Spectrum Noir pens and then covered with a Zig Silver pen. A little stickle to give them some more shimmer and voila! 
• The flat back pearls I bought, I think from MB Treasurista's a few years ago!  I bought a whole big roll, so I still have some left!
• The silver and turquoise embellishment is from a bag of Spare Parts I purchased at Hobby Lobby.
• The butterfly between the rows of pearls was made using modeling paste and a stencil I bought from SaCrafters. I used a Spectrum Noir pen to give it a touch of turquoise.

 

 

 

• I bought the lace at an antique mall in Waynesville, OH last summer. It is an unusual shade of  greyish beige that is a fairly warm tone, for a beige, and works well with just about any shabby chic/antique stype project.
• The silver butterfly I got at Michaels. I shaped it and gesso'd the body then stickled it. It rests on a chipboard butterfly also from Michael's which I painted with a light coat of beige and then rubbed with some turquoise distress ink.
• You can see that I added a layer of turquoise ribbon under the antique lace bow.

 

 

• I wanted to give the tag a bit more dimension, so I dangled a bigger butterfly from the tag. I purchased this wood butterfly from Michael's.
• I used Americana paint to color the butterfly.
• I'm not quite sure where I purchased or got the silver butterfly, but I thought it brought in the silver elements from the main tag quite nicely!

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed seeing this project, and that you will return to see what else I've got up my sleeve!

 

Thank you so much for stopping by! Please do leave a comment (one that pertains to this tag or this blog directly) to be entered in a future drawing!

 

Have a wonderfully creative day,

M-C

 



 

Graphic 45 Carousel

I worked on this for a long time.  First, let me just say that this is the third project in my JoAnn's wood gazebo series. The first was the Secret Garden Gazebo and the second was the Bohemian Bazar Tiki Hut.
There is one more to come.

The carousel is by far my biggest ever project. It measures a bit over 18 inches high, by 13 inches wide. It breaks down into two main pieces. The carousel itself and the big hat box.

You already know that it all started with the wood gazebo that holds the roof up.  The gazebo sits on a hexagon shaped box that I've altered. The box sits on a 12" wood plate that I got at Hobby Lobby. The 3D horses and the bench are attached to a lazy Susan that is screwed into the wood plate. That whole structure sits on a big round box that I altered to match. I'm not sure what made me think of a Merry-go-round, but there it was twirling in my head and needing to be created! To get a real sense of how it all works, you might want to watch the video imbedded towards the end of this post.

Finding the 3D wood carousel horses took weeks and weeks of looking on the web. I eventually found not one, but to sets of vintage, unpainted Christmas ornaments that fit the scale. I'd looked at so many carousel's by then, that I was able to sit down one day and just paint each horse out. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, given that they are a combination of the designs in my head! Those 3D horses were just the beginning of the process. I needed more animals, so I started looking again.

After many hours, or is that weeks of research, I found an Etsy shop called Nana's Little Nest. Cindy creates laser cut wood pieces and thrives on customized projects. After first buying a few pieces of her horse, I emailed her again about different sizes and different animals.  We collaborated on 3 different sizes including the ones you see here and while she will still make the various carousel/Christmas ornament animals, they will be sold exclusively from my online store.
Painting, papering and decorating the whole structure took quite a while. In the end, the hexagonal box can be opened to save items like the baby's hospital bracelet, lock of hair, etc. I envision the big box to hold a birth announcement, invites, small treasures, as well as cards he or she receives. Here are a few more pictures.

I think you can see from this last picture that I used two of the wood elephants to make the bench.  I'd like to share the video I made, so that you can see how the carousel moves!

Hope you enjoyed this project,
I wish you a wonderfully happy crafty day,
M-C

Graphic 45 Altered Frame

I wanted to make something a bit different, with items easy to get at Michaels, JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby.

I bought the wooden frame and the wooden Friend's sign at Michael's and then gesso'd both.  I painted the frame white and the Friends sign a light green.  Then I took a white paint marker and added detail to sign to make sure that the Friends stood out.

I used the Sweet Sentiment collection from Graphic 45 to decorate the frame.  My biggest challenge was how to create an oval that conformed to the frame using the paper. 

After three attempts at a flat ring of paper, it occurred to me that it might work far better to score the paper and then score it and fold it at 1/8". 

A lot of work, but don't you think it came out just right?

I also fussy cut the two girls and the roses to use as the main decorations. I used part of an acrylic doily, I believe they were Cosmo Cricket (but don't quote me on that) to support the embellishments on the left of the frame.

 

 

I added a stick pin I'd made, some fabric and acrylic flowers.

That's my lovely, sweet friend Charlene with me. Hope you enjoyed! This really is a fairly inexpensive present and with pictures of you and your kids, it would be a great mother's day present!

Here is the video! 

 Have a happy crafty day, and see you soon!  I do have more to show you! :)
M-C