Craftmates at Crop & Create

The Craftmates spent a whole weekend at the Crop and Create event in Markham, ON last March 1st to 2nd, 2014.  Aside from paper craft projects, the girls spent some much-needed bonding time just to catch up, share a few laughs and even [over] indulge in high-calorie fare.

We want to share with you a photo gallery of the event. Thanks to Craftmate, Irma for always capturing every occasion through photos.

Craftmates first major event for the year

Maria and friend stopped by to say "hi".  She peaked at our blog a couple of time and immediately recognized us.

Busy bee's crafting away in a sea of pink pompoms

Craftmate table #10

Virna and her projects

Aimee & her projects

Irma, the paper craft guru, and her projects

Bebsy and her projects

Craftmates has their ponchos on - Thanks to Virna!

Prizes and giveaways galore during the event - Bebsy won a paper package

The weekend is for indulging!

Temptations all around - craft supplies were for sale during the event!

Table of prizes - Craftmate Virna really wanted to win the craft organizer bag



Enjoy your week!

 

"Get Well Soon" Care Package

My friend Carol Ann and I attended a trick-or-treat function at the zoo recently.  Although the event was a lot of fun, we both caught the bug from handing out candies to almost 800 kids.  

I was able to shake off the sniffles but Carol Ann is still feeling under the weather.   So, I decided to put together a care package for her.

From my pile of goodies, I pulled out honey and tea, my surefire remedy to any ailment (at least, that's why I think).   

To package the gift, I made a gift box to make the present extra special.

I hope the care package makes her feel better or at least let her know that someone is looking out for her.

Enjoy your weekend and have a fun & safe Halloween!


 

Thank You, Volunteers!

One of the events I helped organized, the 1st Niagara Food Fight for Foodies festival, was held last August 17th.  The event would not have been possible without the help of friends and volunteers (special mention to Craftmate, Virna who volunteered in the admissions tent).  I was pleasantly surprised by the volunteers from Brock University.  They were all very helpful and stepped above and beyond what was required of them.






As a thank you, I sent them a small token in a little handmade card.  I got the gift card holder tutorial from an awesome blog, "Secret Life of Paper" .  What I love about the tutorial is that I was able to use scrap stock card that I had saved.

Enjoy your weekend!

croppin' and creatin'

We hope everyone is safe and warm following that historic snowstorm last Friday in the Northeast.  It would have been safer to stay home during the weekend, but all 4 of us dug ourselves out of our homes and braved the snow covered roads to attend Crop & Create, a special event organized by Scrapbook & Cards Today.  

This wonderful travelling event celebrates the art of paper crafting that features classes administered by the best teachers in the industry.  We also were treated to delicious food, a delectable dessert buffet, awesome makes 'n takes and fabulous goody bags!

It was a great opportunity to meet fellow crafters, share our stories and meet new friends. 

The event also featured inspiring challenges for the participants.  It was no surprise that our very own paper addict Irma won the Color Suite layout challenge. 10 snaps for Irma!!!

We highly recommend Canadian crafters to check out Crop & Create and see if this spectacular event is coming to your Province.  

Check out our photos below:

At the event photo booth

Bebsy with Kelly Wood, owner of big little words cards

Irma with Crop & Create instructor and blogger Kelly Purkey

TP Roll Ornaments

The Holidays is just around the corner and I cannot wait to start  decorating for Christmas.   But after the move, I cannot afford to splurge on decor this year.  So I decided to look up online tutorials for ideas on hand made ornaments. 

What caught my fancy are ornaments made of toilet paper rolls.  They look like a million dollars yet they seem easy to do.  Plus, I have empty TP and wrapping paper rolls in my recyling bin.   I also have red spray paint that my hubby is using for another project.

I cut the toilet paper into approx. 1/4" thickness and glued the corners together to form different shapes.

After spray painting and leaving them out to dry overnight, I was delighted to find how wonderful they turned out.

 

 

Have a fabulous Sunday!

just dance

Are you looking forward to the weekend?  I can’t wait.  We expect to have better weather  so we are planning to visit Canada’s Wonderland, my little one’s happy place for summer (more about that in another post).

Today is my DD’s last day at her dance class.  She attends their spring class every Friday afternoon.  She likes the class so much, we enrolled her again for the summer session. Part of  the reason why she enjoys it is because of her very nice teachers.  I made a little thank you ensemble for them to show our appreciation.

 I got the tutorial for the folded card from here.  I tucked a note pad from Papertrey and some tags that they can use for gifts. I used Papertrey's dies (flipping out collection, label basics), stamps (Polka Dot Basics, Tag Its #4) and Bazzill cardstock.

Pardon the sewing... I tried my best!

For the notebook, I used Papertrey’s cardstock (hawaiian shores), dies (limitless layers, heart border) and stamp (Take Note).  The paper is from MME's Fine and Dandy collection. I tried to keep it flat so it is easy to carry around. 

For  the tag, I used Papertrey’s die (Tag Sale #3 and 5, flipping out die collection, oval limitless labels, label basics) and stamp (2012 Birthday Stamp).  I used a Market Street background set on the ovals.

Don't you just love  those flip flops?

I also made a layout of her preparing for dance class.  I work from home on Fridays so I get to dress her up and help her get ready. I love capturing little moments like this! 



Gray is fast becoming my new favourite neutral



I used paper from Echo Park's Dots & Stripes collection, Papertrey's Pretty Peonies,Half and Half and script alphabet dies, Lifestyle Craft's Ring Master alpha die and Mister Huey's  Calico White color mist from Studio Calico.  This is my first time trying out a splatter of the color mist and I love it (I initially thought I would not since I like to have my layouts clean and tidy.  But I like how this one turned out). 

Here is a close up of the fun element in my layout.  I love how I can use my Papertrey supplies for both cards and layouts… more mileage for my stamps and dies!

That’s it for me today.   Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

irma: addicted to paper



One of the first layouts I made.
Isn't she a darling?



I am the paper crafter among the craftmates on this blog.  I work full time and deal with numbers and worksheets during the day. By night, after mommy duties are done, I can be found at my happy place, a.k.a. my craft room,  either putting together a scrapbook layout,  creating handmade cards or designing party decors. 

I am a scrapbooker first.  My love for paper (others call it addiction) started after I had my daughter in 2008.  As a new mom and while on maternity leave, I needed a creative outlet to keep me sane in between diaper changes and feeding.   And that’s when I discovered the wonderful world of die cutting.  I purchased my first baby Cricut machine from the Home Shopping Channel on that eventful day of Sept 9, 2009 (when they were having a 9/9/09 sale!).  And since then, I never looked back.  I have been creating layouts of my daughter’s special moments (and lately our everyday moments) for the last 3 years. 



Here is a layout using some products from Papertrey.
My current scrapbooking style is clean and simple with fun elements thrown here and there. 



A set of cards I recently made for a dear friend



In the last year or so, I have discovered a wonderful company called Papertrey Ink.  I have since been using a lot of their products (and inspirations from their amazing design team and forum members)  to create handmade cards (and  layouts, too).  While I love scrapbooking more, I also find  joy in making cards knowing that I get to see the finished product faster (talk about instant gratification!) and that my card will brighten someone else’s day. You see, I make layouts for ME but I make cards for others.



Loot bag contents from my daughter's birthday party



Prettified milk bottles



My paper crafts also make a lot of appearances on parties and get-togethers.  My daughter’s birthday parties are a showcase of all things handmade (intentionally or unintentionally... I get carried away sometimes!).  It is true what they say... handmade is best! 



Hand-made backdrop for the ballerina make-over party



Welcome to Craftmates!

NOTES:
Supplies (Papertrey unless otherwise specified):

• Little Princess Layout – Some early paper packs I owned (cannot remember the name anymore), Lace, ribbon and buttons from Fabricland
• Sweetheart Layout – Label Basics stamp, Heart border die, Iconic Images stamp, Framed Out #1 die, Distressed Dots paper, Martha Stewart cardstock, Cricut for the title
• Card Set – Botanical Silhouettes stamp, Hero Arts Say It All stamp