Happy Independence Day . . .
July 04, 2019
Welcome . . .
June 29, 2019
It's the
Christmas in July Crop
@
The Drury Inn - Arnold
July 19 ~ 21, 2019
So pack your bags and move in
to the Drury Arnold.
And we have a full house!
Thanks so much to everyone who signed up.
Looks as though it's going to be another annual crop!
Here's what's happening:
The party starts at 9 am on Friday
and ends at
5 pm on Sunday
with the crop room open
24/7.
The crop includes:
Breakfast each morning
Popcorn & Soda beginning at 3 pm each day
Cocktails late afternoon
Buffet dinner courtesy of the Drury
And to each crop I add:
Daily gifts
Cardstock bingo throughout the weekend
Friday evening sweet & salty bar
Saturday evening dessert bar
Saturday evening prize giveaways.
Our caravan of vendors will be moving in as well.
and some will be
offering free make-n-takes to all croppers:
Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts
Rubber Moon Stamps
Stampin' Up!
all weekend
as well as their store set-up.
and by appointment:
Mary Kay Cosmetics complimentary Facials
Also by appointment with a $1 per minute fee (cash only please)
Our resident masseuse Shannon Meyer
NOTE: Sign-up sheets for facials and massages
will be available at the crop on Friday.
And of course Mary & Amy will be vending as well.
Saturday Vendor Fare from 2 pm ~ 4 pm
In addition to our all weekend store vendors:
Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Special:
Use Code GG201907 for 15% off the GSLCuts online store
and No Shipping on orders
to be delivered at the Girlfriends Getaway Crop in St. Louis July 19, 20 & 21.
Orders must be placed by July 17 2019.
will have many of
my tutorials for purchase.
I will have the samples.
you can expect the following vendors Saturday afternoon:
LulaRoe with Emily
In setting up the room, we do everything possible to get
each table near a plug.
But . . . just in case, please BYO extension cord and tape.
Each cropper will get their own 6 foot table + 1 chair.
I'm excited to see all of you and celebrate
Christmas in July!
OMG now look what I did . . .
June 21, 2019
If you've ordered your
Button Farm Club Liberty Kit
I made a huge mistake
and forgot to put the Liberty Cardstock Sticker Sheet in your kit.
It's all my fault.
I'm having them sent to
The Button Farm Club today
and as soon as they receive them
they will be put in the mail to you.
Please accept my sincere apology and know that you'll receive the stickers asap.
In the meantime,
you can still work on your book.
The cardstock stickers can be added after everything else is complete.
And
I'll try not to do that again.
Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts . . .
June 20, 2019
I've got a little mini (I know.) on the
blog today.
It's a tri-fold with room for gift cards/certificates
thank you notes & more!
Liberty Mini for Button Farm Club . . .
June 17, 2019
Here's my next Button Farm Club mini album kit.
And a walk-thru:
Using Authentique Liberty & Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts
this mini-album kit will be available
Wednesday, June 19
Looks like Laura/Button Farm Club released it early
here:
Button Farm Club Liberty Folio
But not until Wednesday!
Paper Picking . . .
June 16, 2019
Choosing papers when not using a paper collection pack
can be daunting for some.
If you're a paper crafting, then you have extra papers.
(It's the rules. ha.)
The above photo shows one of my paper drawers.
I have 3 paper drawers:
One for green, red & yellow papers.
One for blue, brown & black papers.
One for paper collections like Graphic 45.
They're all somewhat organized into color families.
The first thing I do is decide on what colors I want to combine for my project.
Then I shop my stash.
For my next project I'm choosing brown and blue. I love that color combo.
But it's also important to keep in mind the scale of the papers.
Mixing a large pattern
with a medium pattern + a small pattern is almost always necessary.
It's more pleasing to the eye than using all large patterns or all medium patterns.
I also try to mix a stripe
+ a tiny pattern like a polka dot
+ a large pattern like the flowers you see above.
Depending on the size of my project, I usually pick about 20 papers or so.
Then add cardstock in one color for my background paper and photo mats.
Using one color of cardstock also melds everything together.
For the cardstock I'll probably choose either
a coordinating blue or dark brown.
Stay tuned while I put all this together
into one project.
More to come!
Cheap Thrills on the Homefront . . .
June 14, 2019
We (and by that I mean Bill) are in the process of updating a 2nd floor hall bathroom. I get to pick out stuff and he gets to install it.
I like this arrangement.
But then what happens is I start looking around the house and find other things that need to be updated.
Our kitchen for example, and the dining room, and the . . . list goes on.
I have been looking for a kitchen island - for 2 years.
Found this online (Facebook Marketplace)
and fell in love with this antique cabinet.
I bought it from Erin who owns
Cotton, Copper & Ash.
She has a storefront by the same name on Facebook.
Anyway, the cabinet had been refinished in it's natural state with a beautiful patina wood top.
But . . . I wanted an island.
So I had a top made that matched our current kitchen counter.
But . . . that's temporary too until we get other things in the house (bathrooms) updated.
(It will eventually be changed to either granite or quartz)
My counter guy had a great idea and didn't want to ruin the wood top of the antique piece
so he devised a way to secure it from underneath.
Patina saved and I got my island.
Then . . . the dining room.
It's too formal and opens a bit to the kitchen and family room.
I am getting rid of my queen anne table
(with 2 leaves, 4 chairs and custom table pads if anyone is interested)
and moved my kitchen table to the dining room.
Refinished the top of the table, painted a couple of old chairs
and this . . .
So now I have this formal dining room hutch.
I love the design but what to do with it?
Leave it?
Paint it?
We have a bar on the opposite end of the room that is black with a dark wood top.
Black? Would it be too much black?
Partially paint it?
I've scoured Pinterest, Houzz & many other sites and can't find exactly what I'm looking for.
Ideas are welcomed!
Maybe just a bit of black somewhere?
Here's another question for you:
I've painted the chairs black (they were dark brown stained).
I had two coats of paint on the chairs and missed a few spots.
But then I decided I liked it.
So do I sand more spots away? They look really antique-y to me.
And one more . . .
Bill and I (and by I I mean Bill) refinished this piece for me last year.
I added Prima rub-ons on the top and sides
but it was super white.
So this morning I attacked it with Tim Holtz Distress Ink and a tiny brush
and now it's all distressed and toned down.
I love antiques.
Always have.
Always will.
Send me your ideas!
Copycat project @ Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts . . .
June 06, 2019
There's a lot of quaking going on.
Think Artist Trading Coins, Mini Envelopes, Circus
and more on the
Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts blog post today.
Hope you can join me.
How did I miss this . . .
June 01, 2019
Did you ever have one of those duh moments?
Well, I did this past month.
If you read my blog on a regular basis, you know that at the moment,
I'm into Junque Journals.
So I've been joining Junque Journal groups on Facebook
to see how these gals put their books together.
And all of a sudden . . . this happens:
Boxes!
Why didn't I know about this?
For years I've been creating my own covers & spines from scratch.
Now I'm digging in the recycle bin.
To make your own book:
(a) eat all the snacks in a box (this is important!)
(b) The box is glued together at one of the sides.
Find that place and carefully open the box where it's glued together.
(c) Cut off the box top and box bottom.
(d) Cut off the glued together side.
And just like that you have a book!
And Pasta Boxes are the best because there's a built in window!
I then took paper and coffee dyed the paper.
Some I scrunched up and some I left with just the coffee splatters.
I made a template for my pamphlet stitch
and punched holes in the box spine.
3 signatures = 3 horizontal holes across
What's a signature?
It's a grouping of papers. Called a signature because back in the days of handwritten books,
each set of papers that was completed was signed by whomever wrote it.
Thus a signature.
For this book, I used 5 papers,
each paper folded in half
and then stacked on top of each other to create 10 pages.
Make sure the folds match in the center!
Then each signature is put together and I used the center hole template,
punching 3 holes through each signature.
Once the holes are punched, remove the template and save for another book.
Using waxed linen thread and a heavy needle,
thread the needle but do not double and do not knot.
Start with one set of signatures.
Place the signatures into the book spine,
lining up the holes in the signature with one set of vertical holes in the spine.
(I clip mine in place with binder clips.)
Here's a video I found on You Tube that shows how to stitch a signature
(I can't do better than Lynn.)
The only exception is that I use waxed linen thread
as it's hard to break/tear and doesn't stretch
therefore, no doubling of the thread.
Once the signatures were sewn into the book spine,
decorating begins.
I left quite a few of the pages blank for journaling
and tried to decorate the pages that I crumpled.
The smooth pages will be easier to write on.
So much fun to work on these simple books.
And it can be a work in progress or a finish all at once project.
Hope you enjoyed this foray into
Junque Journaling.
Check out what my team mates have put together on the
Mini Album Makers Challenge Blog
and join the fun for a chance to win an amazing gift certificate from
Catherine Moore's Character Constructions
Such a fun way to stamp!
Character Constructions $25 GC
Website: http://www.characterconstructions.com/
Blog: https://naturestudy.typepad.com/catherine_moore/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CharacterConstructions
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/catherine_moore/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/catherine_moore/