CHA - New Paper Lines!

CHA is the place to go if you are a paper lover like me. The sheer amount of beautiful paper is almost overwhelming. I wish I had at least one sheet of each!

"Mia Bella" from SEI

"Diane" from SEI

Love SEI's velvet paper!

"Vintage Summer" from Little Yellow Bicycle

Cute projects from the LYB team

I don't have babies, but I adore this vintage baby paper from Kaisercraft!

More Kaisercraft baby goodness

Epiphany Crafts... love the post office boxes.

Adorable cards from the Epiphany Crafts team.

Beautiful vintage paper from Jenni Bowlin

Wall decoration from Jenni Bowlin
 

"Summer Love" from Cosmo Cricket

Cosmo Cricket's "Honky Tonk" -- Love this collection!

"TV Dinner" from Cosmo Cricket

Cosmo Cricket's "Sweet Disposition"

"Sweet Disposition" chipboard stickers

Me with the awesome Julie Comstock, owner of Cosmo Cricket

New travel collection from Lily Bee Design

Lily Bee Design

"Sun and Surf" from Bella Blvd.

Basic Grey's new release "Hipster"

More "Hipster"

"Mint Julep" from Basic Grey

Basic Grey's new boy line "Bow Ties"

Love the tools!

Close-up of the cars from "Bow Ties

BG's new girl line "Kneehighs"

New chipboard journal album from Basic Grey

"Kneehighs"

Vintage goodies from 7Gypsies

"Modern Romance" from Webster's Pages

New "Composition and Color" line by Allison Kreft for Webster's Pages

Echo Park's "Photo Freedom" line in conjunction with Stacey Julian

Love the kitty paper from Canvas Corp.!

"About a Boy" by Lori Whitlock for Echo Park

More "About a Boy"

CHA New Product Debut: Mod Podge Mod Melts

The best thing about CHA is seeing all the new products. One of the coolest new products is from Plaid: Mod Melts!

They look like candy molds, but are even better.  The Mod Melts resin sticks go in your hot glue gun. Once heated, just fill the molds with the resin. In just 4 minutes, you've got these cute little embellishments! The resin is white, but you can color it with paint, ink, Copic markers, and more.

Cathie Fillian shows off some finished Mod Melts!

Oh, and I couldn't resist getting my picture made with Glossy!

I just wish they made jars of Mod Podge this big!

CHA: Notable New Products

Last Friday, my wonderful husband and I hopped on a plane and headed off to Anaheim, CA for the 2013 CHA Winter Conference and Trade Show.

(In case you don't know what CHA is, it stands for Craft and Hobby Association. The winter show is the big industry event where craft companies debut their newest products.)

My view out the plane window

When we arrived in Anaheim, I had to hit the ground running, as I had a ton of events and meetings to attend!

First on the agenda was the Innovations show. This show, only open to buyers and media, highlights the 20 best new products at CHA. My favorite product of the 20 was the new Tim Holtz Distress Paint.

This new paint from Ranger is a water-based acrylic paint with no fillers. Because it is water-based, it cleans up with just soap and water (or even just a baby wipe!), and since it has no fillers, it doesn't have a weird flaky texture when dry like most acrylic paints. It can be opaque or you can spread it with your fingers to give it a more chalky look.

Tim Holtz demonstrates his new Distress Paint

This new paint can be used on a variety of surfaces, including paper, chipboard, and even metal! The paints come in 24 of Tim's signature colors with more colors to be added in the future. I got a sample of Distress Paint and I can't wait to try it!

Following the Innovations show, I was lucky enough to attend the CHA Designer Sneak Peek. This show allows CHA designer section members a preview of some of the new companies and their products. I saw some awesome new products there, including the Envelop Punch Board from We R Memory Keepers and  CraftAttitude printable craft film.

The Envelop Punch Board is an an awesome new tool from We R Memory Keepers. It helps you make 80 different sized envelopes for your cards! It's so incredibly easy to use. I can see this being a must-have tool for card-makers. It will be available soon and will retail for $19.99.

Another super- innovative new product at CHA was the printable craft film from CraftAttitude. This film can be run through your printer and put on just about any surface you can think of: wood, fabric, metal, even shoes! I can see myself using this... maybe to make some Hello Kitty shoes?!

And thus ended my first day at CHA. Stay tuned for more CHA goodies!

2013: One Little Word

A couple of years ago, I decided to join in on the idea of One Little Word. If you haven't heard of One Little Word, it's the idea of choosing one word for the year to become your mantra for a better life.

At the end of each year, I look back at all of the things I did throughout the last twelve months. I remember and enjoy the "good stuff", but I really examine the "bad stuff". It's the "bad stuff" that helps me learn what I want to change about myself in the upcoming year.

So after doing a lot of reflecting, I finally decided on my one little word for 2013:

Focus is something that is really difficult for me. About two years ago, I was diagnosed with adult ADHD. The doctor's diagnosis was just confirmation of what I knew. I have no attention span, I rarely finish what I start, and it is hard for me to concentrate on even the most simple tasks. Something that comes easy to other people, like cleaning a room, takes me about three times longer because I can't get my mind to cooperate. Working on a scrapbook page can sometimes be maddening: I love it and want to do it, but I get so distracted by a thousand other things that it takes forever just to finish it. The slightest things -- a noise that most people don't even hear, the thought of what I'm doing next, checking my email, an uncomfortable shirt -- derail me.

I began taking medication for this condition and I couldn't believe the difference. I was able to finish a conversation with my husband without wandering off track. I was able to concentrate long enough to organize my house. I could finally shut my brain off when I lay down at night. It was fantastic and I accomplished so much.

However, I began to worry. I read more and more articles about ADHD medications and potential side effects such as an increased risk in heart and liver problems. I have already experienced blood clots and a "mini-stroke" (called a TIA, or trans-ischemic attack) so the idea that this medication could cause heart issues scared me. So I stopped taking it.

And the downward spiral of ADHD began again.

The complete lack of direction, the inability to be in the moment, the complete chaos that I euphemistically think of as "multi-tasking" -- it all returned with a vengeance.

But that's OK. It's just one more thing about myself that I have to deal with... and this is the year to deal with it.

I know that to be a better person, a better wife, a better business partner, and a better crafter, I have to embrace the idea of focus.

So here I go. 2013 is my year to focus on becoming a better me.


P.S. If you are interested in working on your own "one little word" for 2013, Ali Edwards leads an awesome workshop over at Big Picture Classes. This workshop helps you to creatively and tangibly explore and embrace your OLW.

Good excuses and new adventures

Oh how I wish I were better/more consistent at blogging! It seems that months can go by without my knowledge. Father Time, you are a cruel master!

But I do have a good excuse this time.

Stock image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

No really, I do!

All of my time has been taken up with my new business venture called The Craft Mom. The Craft Mom is a website devoted to helping you find the best deals and coupons for all your crafting needs, along with local craft events, projects, and more!

Let me give you some background:

My wonderfully talented friend Julia Sandvoss is an absolute whiz at marketing. She is one of those people who can sell ice to Eskimos. She called me up one day and pitched an idea to me. It was an idea for a couponing-type website but for craft supplies. I saw the potential, we hammered out some details, and we were in business!

The Craft Mom has been growing by leaps and bounds since day 1. We are having so much fun with it, and I feel like I have found my niche in the craft industry.

But when in order to change and grow, we have to leave some things behind. Therefore, I have had to give up my old website Better Living Through Scrapbooking and all of my design team duties. Getting The Craft Mom off the ground has taken lots of time and lots of effort, so it's been hard to do much of anything else. I have barely done any crafting at all since we started. However, I am slowly getting back into crafting; I'm hoping to really get back into the swing of things in the new year.

So my goal for now is to share new creations or just a little note here at least once a week to let y'all know that I am still alive and still devoted to crafting. And I would love for you to stop by The Craft Mom (and check us out on Facebook too). We are working hard over there every single day!

Until next time...

April challenge reveal and announcement

Today is reveal day over at Better Living Through Scrapbooking!

The first challenge of April is a color challenge: PASTELS! I don't scrap with pastel colors very much, but I loved using soft pinks on this altered art piece I made.

I made this from a paper mache "L" that I found at Hobby Lobby. I covered it with scraps of paper from my stash using Mod Podge. I am really big on saving my scraps of paper and this project shows why. I didn't have to cut up a brand-new sheet of paper; I had plenty of scraps that were just the right size, and the collage feel of the different papers lent itself to the vintage vibe of the whole thing.

Materials used:
Paper -- Heidi Swapp, 7Gypsies, Marah Johnson for Creative Imaginations
Embellishments -- The Girls' Paperie, Prima, Making Memories, Heidi Grace, Heidi Swapp
Ink -- ColorSnap Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink in "Chestnut Roan"
Adhesive -- Glue Arts, Mod Podge

Now for the big announcement...
I am taking over ownership of Better Living Through Scrapbooking! Beth, who has been the wonderful owner/administrator/DT member/DT coordinator, is a crazy busy girl. She has a busy job and is on several other design teams besides Better Scrap, so she is handing it over to yours truly! I am very excited about this opportunity and I can't wait to grow the site even more. The most exciting part going forward will be a new design team call in the very near future! I will be advertising the DT call here, on Facebook, and on some DT call sites so be on the lookout for that.

Please come play with us this month over at BLTS! Take part in our challenges and you could be in the drawing for our quarterly prize. We'd love to see you there!

Gorgeous mixed media frame

This weekend, I took a fabulous class at Altered Angel in Alpharetta, GA. The class was taught by my super-talented friend Jeremy Bright from Vertigo Graphic. This picture frame is ridiculously gorgeous!

This started as a plain wooden picture frame, but with the help of Quick Quotes Powder Puff Chalking Ink and Martha Stewart craft paint, it soon became a distressed beauty. Can you believe we got this look with no messy wood stain?

The silver flakes are Stampendous Mica Fragments. They are like big glitter, but more vintage-y looking and much less messy. I love the mercury glass look that it gives to the project. We applied it by layering the mica with good old Mod Podge.

I absolutely love this frame and I am so glad I had the opportunity to take this class. For more awesome mixed media crafts from Jeremy Bright and Ken Oliver, please check out Vertigo Graphic.