For those who have been patiently waiting for these and these to be available, they are now in stores. Happy stamping!
There’s a lot of work going on here and not a lot of sun. So I guess that’s a good pair. Maybe when the sun comes out, I will be able to enjoy it because the work will hopefully be DONE.
CHA (the industry scrapbook show) is always a good thing for many reasons. I enjoy the energy and enthusiasm from those who love life and want to just take it in and record the little things. While the industry is steep in business, for me the karma of the people is where it’s at.
While I was busy at different booths including Creative Imaginations, Hampton Art and Accucut, I did get to peak at the new Sports Cartridge I helped design called Sports Mania at the Provo Craft booth as well, along with see the new YuDu, which was so fabulous, might need to get one, some time. I had new products (Creative Cafe and Art Warehouse) releasing at each booth and so I tried to spend a little time at each.
I loved getting to see some of my favorite industry people like Melodee, Layle and Sande, Margie, Heidi, Janet, Tricia and Christine from Cocoa Daisy, Donna, Nicole, Vicki and more. Most only for a short time, but always a treat to catch up if even briefly.
I also enjoy catching up with some of my favorite store owners like Karen and Gail from K2, Dawn and Kelly from Memory Bound, Bob and Kathy from Scrapbook Garden, Julie and Lani from Scrap Your Trip, Camille from Ever After (who I enjoyed chatting with while we did a little Paris watching,) Christina from Windy City, Christina from Scraplovers, Britney, Lucy and Gretchen and more that haven’t found their way out of my brain.
On my way out to the lobby to get a drink, I noticed everyone stopped and starring off waiting. So when I saw Camille and she said everyone was waiting for Paris Hilton to arrive, of course I had to stop and take in the view too.
This was after Paris walked right by me and I decided maybe I should have taken her photo. Thanks to Camille for being so quick with camera. Paris was really sweet and friendly, super cute, IMO. So I followed her in to the crowd and this was in the middle of the chaos.
and then I decided that watching the crowd was actually more fun. Don’t see this everyday in the sticks!
Several make/takes at the show and the CI party. I didn’t manage to get much for photos of them, but did get some very embarassing videos which I will not be posting. But thanks to Mellie’s IPhone pictures, we have a few, including the outside of the convention center. I got several video’s including a few of Mellie that I might just have to post later. She would love me for them for sure!
More about the show here on the Creative Cafe blog as well, where you can see some of the new Creative Cafe products we’ve been working on.
Check back tomorrow for the winner of the Sports & Stamp give away. You can still have your name entered by commenting at each post, in case you missed it.
going to try to check in from the show some. Ok, started this post earlier because i am actually here now. Too funny.
If you haven’t been to the Creative Cafe blog, you might want to check that out. Lots of inspiration there and a party with lots of give aways.
This image above is another of the new ART WAREHOUSE collections releasing at CHA. It’s an extension to the original Radiance Collection which includes lots of bling.
Be sure to get your name in the comments below for the Sports Giveaway. Refer a friend to the blog here and I’ll enter your name twice. Just have the friend include your email address.
If you are a retailer coming to the CI party tomorrow night, we’ll be doing a Radiance Mini book (images won’t seem to load right now, but I’ll try again tomorrow.) Be sure to get time to make one if you are coming to the party. Also, stay tuned for a chance to win this project, for those of you not coming to the show. I always like to give away a few show projects to you at home, so you aren’t left out. I will have 2 of these to give, so check back for more details on that to come.
All the inspiration of the show and new product makes me think about my photos, which leads to my need to print LOTS of photos. So I am placing a BIG order of photos when I get back because I have a bunch of credits that expire….and I don’t want that to happen.
Why don’t you join me in a challenge to get your photos printed. It is such a good feeling and one of my favorite things to do. Let me know if you do, where you print, how often, etc, whatever details you feel like sharing…and how it felt.
more to come
Danelle
I’ve gotten a lot of emails asking where to find the Creative Cafe and Art Warehouse products I used in my Family Photo Journal and in my Christmas Mini Book series here and here. If you can’t find them locally (as many of you have said first ask for them,) and if you have no luck, you can find them here.
Also if you are interested in getting a kit like the one used in my girl friend’s Monthly Scrapbook Night mentioned here, leave a comment and I will send you details for a kit.
I shared some of my Family Photo Journal on the Creative Cafe blog this week. We’re having a blog party over there, so be sure to visit. Prizes every day.
I got slammed with work this week, but hope to get more of my holiday pictures posted yet.
I am guest blogging on the Creative Imaginations blog this week. Be sure to stop by over there for a give away each day and this free online class I’m doing.
Christmas preparation and activities are in full swing at our house. It’s crazy, but as a Mom I love each and every part as it happens and I love enjoying it again later through my photos. (Ok, so maybe there are a few things thrown in there that I might choose to block out of my memory…wink.) However, it always feels a little bit like I’m cheating TIME when I’m go back and spend time with my photos and soak it all in again. Not sure why, but it just makes me feel happy and blessed. I’m sure you can relate.
For me, my photos are truly my most prize possesions. If you are anything like me, then you also find that the photos pile up real fast. The deeper the stacks or the bigger the folders the digital pictures get, the more overwhelmed you become with what to do with them all and just how to enjoy them. That is my challenge and so I am always eager when I am able to utilize a vast amount of photos in ONE PROJECT.
One of my favorite things to do with my masses of photos is put them in to smaller EASY projects (notice I said EASY) that show the span of time. These favorite projects are the ones that show change and time, as much as I hate to admit it, change is all around me. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I don’t. When it comes to my girls, I am usually on the side of resisting the changes I see.
Take for example, these photos below. Sniff, sniff. Where did the time go? What ever happened to these darling babes? In my mind, I am keeping them this age as much as I can as I hold off the demands for friends, ipods, cell phones and more….
photo in 2002
photos taken this week
It’s not very often that I have photos of 2002 along side photos from 2008, unless I have decided to create something that forces me to gather photos from across the years and compile. Doing this, has become my favorite type of project and that is just what why I am here this week as a guest blogger.
I am very excited because this week I’m going to be sharing all the details and specifics of this project in a free online blog class. This project is one I have been looking forward to creating for some time, dreaming of the end result. I decided no more excuses of busy schedules, family demands or work, lack of planning, etc. I was making time to get this project created this Christmas and I am hoping that you will join me in this class.
The project: a mini book series of 10 years of Christmas (for now anyway)
Why: For the past several Christmas, I have wanted to add this project to our holiday decoration in our house. Under our Christmas tree, is a special red velvet box that the girls look forward to taking out of storage each year.
In this box, we keep our favorite holiday items the girls have collected since they were little, including holiday books and special holiday toys. Each of the items has a special memory of where and when we got them. No matter how old the girls get, I continue to see the look in their eyes when the items come out of the box each Christmas. Thank goodness everything keeps fitting inside, but one day I see the need to add a new best friend to this one.
A few items that live in the box:
The M&M train that we got when Delaney was a baby. She played hours and hours with it that Christmas and it’s been a favorite ever since.
Our Swedish dala horse collection that we continue to add to. With a Swedish family background, the girls love these and the stories we have to go with them. The black horse their Dad brought back from Sweden when he was in high school and danced there with the Swedish Dancer tour (always a funny topic, Dad dancing in full costume.) The rest of the collection has grown a little each year and most are made locally by artists in our community.
What I want to add to this box, is the project I’m creating. 10 years of Christmas memories, each in a separate little mini book. How fun it will be to look back 8 years or 5 years to reminisce?
The girls will “own” these books and by that I mean, they will not be confined to a shelf in my office or to a spot where they might not be loved. These books will be treasured and loved by them, kept just where they should be, in their keepsake red box that is the first thing to be brought out of storage at Christmas time. That is why I have chosen to make this project simple, sturdy and small so it can be well loved.
I am inviting you to join me this week as I share this project with you. You can create your own project along with me. I will list the materials that I’m using, but you can also join in from home with materials you already have on hand. The materials do not matter, it’s the end result we’re after. The goal of this is to be easy and fun, but showcase the past 10 years of Christmas.
I just have to tell you that in working on this class, I have been a little teary eyed, OK alot! I have not loved a project as much as this in a long time. Going back and printing photos has been such treat for me.
Why is it that we keep our older photos hostage and never let them out? Crazy. That is why I have promised myself to dig in to the past and bring it in to my scrapbooking today as much as I can as I’m doing in this class. It’s so worth it. It’s my latest obsession, going back to the photos from back years and playing with them as much as I can, mixing them in with the ones from today.
My girls have already grabbed on to this project and the little piles of photos I’ve pulled out. They immediately questioned me about what I was making and when i told them even my “hard to impress” 9 year old said “how cool.” When I am finished, I will have 10 books spanning 10 years of Christmas.
Does that sound crazy or what? Actually, yes, even a little to me, but if you know me, I need this to be easy or I will not complete it with the craziness around here. So for that reason, I promise you that this will be easy and SIMPLE and most of all TREASURED! Ultimately, I am making this in record time. I am a self-proclaimed NOT PHOTO ORGANIZED kind of person. Well, I’m working on getting there, but if I can do this, so can you.
Creative Lifestyle green chipboard book, Creative Lifestyle red chipboard book, Creative Lifestyle kraft chipboard book
To make this easy, here’s what I’m using for my project. These chipboard books from the Creative Café, Lifestyle collection are the perfect size for what I want and I love that they come in red, green and kraft. See, this is already looking pretty simple, don’t you think? The colors are perfect for Christmas.
I decided to start with 2008 so following Christmas I can just add photos and then work backwards through the years. So I gathered 10 books for my project. You can do any amount you want. For me, 10 is a good number and the books I chose to use make this already very simple.
Other materials I’m using to keep this easy to do, yet looking good are the following:
Art Warehouse Mistletoe and Hollyberry Collection papers. I haven’t had the chance to play with this collection yet, and I have been eager to use it.
and I’ll be using these, for simple fast embellishments, Noel products
Not shown in pictures, but used in my project and listed in the full materials list are the chipboard stickers, 2 papers, and epoxy from the Radiance Collection
Download list of materials used
Check back each day this week for more all the elements of this project. Consider joining me if you can. I will be giving away a prize package each day from the comments here. So be sure to stop by if you can, amidst all the holiday festivities.
For more details and additional images, you can visit my blog where you can leave me any questions you might have.
Also stay tuned for details later in the week about a chat I’m hosting this weekend following the class.
See links above for products and also full materials list.
of the happy hour project from Memory Mania. The video had some issues uploading, might just be a tad big, but there’s been some issues with it. We’ll get that worked out, but in the meantime, here are some images.Simple little 10 minute project that we’re going to give to Grandma for Mother’s day. Good thing Grandma isn’t a blog reader huh? One envelope holds photos of the whole gang together at Christmas (she hasn’t seen those photos yet and she will love them.) The second envelope holds some sweet little pictures the girls made for her. The last envelope will hold a note from each grandchild and maybe even the rest of the family. We’ll be together for Easter and that should be a good time to beg those off the rest of the family…;) I printed 7 4×6 sheets of index size photos to include. I love that they show a frame by frame of true personalities. 
I used a scallop scissors on the envelopes, and can’t live without my industrial corner rounder on the chipboard covers. Kits for this project can still be purchased from the gals at Memory Mania. We enjoyed having a chat tonight with people from all over the US doing this project. We’ll be posting the finished projects in the gallery here. I’ll be finishing this now with photos and then we’ll have a follow up chat after everyone is done and can share. So watch for details of that to come. But here are what the papers and ingredients in the kit look like. 
NOTE: video is still uploading, but it’s taking FOREVER. It will hopefully be done soon. See you at 8pm at the chat!
A while back, Tammy from Memory Mania talked to me about taking the idea of happy hour to the web. Finally, after lots of planning, the night has come.
Several ladies have purchased happy hour kits from the store and I will be showing my interpretation of the project on my blog here. THEN…for fun, I am hosing a CHAT on our website at 8 pm CST. Here’s what’s cool, you can still come join in on the chat. If you decide that you want to then get the happy hour project, we can make that happy for you through Tammy. The project video will remain here on my blog. It’s a mini book that can be interpreted in whatever way you like, very versatile. I will share later tonight what I’ll be doing with my project. So come check it out and if you are interested in a kit for the project, they are shipping them out from Memory Mania. The cost is $10 and that includes shipping.
So for those of you reading who want to join us tonight in the chat. Follow this link. You’ll find the button for the chat room in the lower left hand corner. Select a username you want to be your identity and the password is happyhour.
See you tonight, oh and go easy on my at my attempted video please….
Edited to add winner:
Beverly Elrod Says:
February 2nd, 2008 at 1:10 am editI wish there was a creative cafe in Georgia! I would be in line……….
Your products ROCK! I can’t get enough! When will the new stamp sets be released?
Congrats Beverly, send me your t-shirt size and mailing address. More t-shirts to give out so check back.
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Since it’s Friday and it’s a great day to give away a Creative Cafe t-shirt, comment to this post for a chance to win. I will draw the winner tomorrow.
Promised I would share some of the new Hampton products for Creative Cafe. See if you can tell what these products are?
(edited: I see that it won’t be hard to tell what one of them is….lol)
If you are a retailer and would like a link to download the catalog, email me (or comment here) and I will get that link to you.
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Got this note below in my inbox last night. For those of you who are looking for a cool project.
Watch at Your Leisure a Creative Café Project Designed by Danelle Johnson!
Tune into TVWeekly.com FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1st from the comfort of your own home, to watch our Creative Café webisode presented by Jami Petersen. You can see step by step instructions on how to create your own beautiful Bare Elements SAM Photo Box project featuring our Creative Café products, designed by Danelle Johnson! Don’t worry if you miss the original airing, you can simply go to TVWeekly.com/Channels/The Scrapbook Lounge/Archives to see this and many other FREE project videos at your leisure!
and if you like butterflies, with the new CCafe dies, you can have them in about every size and every color. That’s the beauty of a die. Told you these were my favorite, so I had to give you another look at them. Oh, and the sparkle you see in there is something new coming from Hampton Art to Creative Cafe. I will be posting some of the Hampton products tomorrow.
My post got so long yesterday, I didn’t finish posting dies, so here are a few more.
A new pennant: this one says Spring, but you could almost have one of these for every season and holiday. Pennants and banners are HOT and so easy to make affordably.
My favorite ideas are:
Class of 2008, Congrats, Celebrate, Happy Birthday, It’s a Boy!, It’s a Girl, I love the USA, Welcome, Love You, Back to School, My Room,
You can also see our new alphabet die that was a MUST have just for this banner. If you are a store owner and want to pay for the alphabet, you can kit some of the ideas above to help offset the cost of the dies. I dream of all the things I want to make with these letters. My first choice would be the set of lowercase if I had to pick one set to start with.
and some fun masks. My kids are dying to use this one and make all kinds of projects. Think girlie masks and yet super heroes and all things make believe. But I don’t see this being only for the young and I can’t wait to see how many ways this can be used.
I am up to my eyeballs in artwork for some new collections and so I will be working away the night trying to find some g o o d inspiration!
Tomorrow will share a few new things coming from Hampton Art for Creative Cafe…and Art Warehouse.
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Wanted to share some recent photos I received about a Creative Cafe grand opening in Lafayette, LA called Simply Scrappin’.
I think there was some good times from the look of this line. What a treat to have fun places to shop like this huh?
