Scrapbook Expo - Pleasanton, CA

This weekend is the annual Scrapbook Expo in Pleasanton. I wasn't sure I was going to go until about 30 minutes before I left.  It rained all day today, which discouraged me from wanting to drive 35 minutes to the show. In the past, I've taken the day off and got to the show when it opened. This year, I didn't get there until 3pm.  It was actually nice not to wait in line and to get a parking space right up front. The crowds all seemed to have gone, however I could tell from the parking lot, that it was a busy day.

One booth sold something very surprising. At my local East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse, I found these mini frames. You may remember them for a previous post. Well, I saw one booth with the same product.  I'm wondering if it's a coincidence, or they actually got them from the same place and packaged them up. The original image that I saw wasn't on them, but I swear that it's the same frame.

Here are the items I picked up.

I got some fun things to play with and since it'll be a rainy weekend, I hope to work on lots of projects.  Lately, I've been working on the Jenni Bowlin monthly kit using the Hodge Podge Book. My table is a mess of goodies.

Another Mini Box Project

I made another little project with one of the 1"x1" boxes I bought at East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse.  This time I turned it into a house and added it to a vintage girl image.  I tucked a little bird inside and a pink ribbon around the box. Something quick & simple.

Weekend Shopping Up North

My daughter, Rachel and I are both into miniatures right now. Rachel likes to use miniatures for her clay projects and I like to use them for my mixed media work. My sister Diana told me about this miniature store in Novato, "Dollhouses, Trains & More".  http://www.dollhousestrainsandmore.com/about-dollhouses-trains-more We went up there Saturday morning and boy, was it worth the trip.

The store is really big and they had so many miniatures, it was amazing!  We had a ball there and must have spent almost 2 hours in there.  I can't show what I bought, since it will be used for my future class.

Sunday, I went out with my sister Lana back up North again...this time to San Anselmo and Mill Valley.  French Nest was our first stop - what a great store. http://www.frenchnesthome.com/

I picked up this necklace there, 50% off.  I love the thick chain of this necklace the most.

I wasn't crazy for the middle crown piece. So when I was home, I turned the crown piece over and embellished the other side.

I added a small bling piece with a piece of transparency and a pearl. There, I like it better now.  It's a good layer piece.

We hit a couple more antique stores in the area. I picked up this wire paper holder...got a good price and it will be great for holding my papers.

Lana picked up this wooden ornate mold...love it!

Then we were off to Mill Valley. We went to Tyler Florence's store.  Very cool store...kinda reminds me of a Williams Sonoma store.  Love the forks in the sign and the black and white striped awning.

They have this cozy book store section in the back.

I bought this chalk board there.  I just had to buy something so I could get one of his shopping bags.

Thanks Lana for showing me some great stores up North.

And last but not least, tonight I made another doll art from one of those small boxes I bought the other day.  This time I used one of the rectangle boxes, 1" x 2.5".  I stamped various images from Catherine Moore for the head, bodice and skirt.  I added black netting for the skirt.  I added a silhouette of a ballerina inside the box.  I love the shoes, it's from Paper Whimsy http://www.paperwhimsy.com/store/home.php.

East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse Haul

As some of you may know, I usually visit the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse every Friday. That's because I work @ home on Fridays and can make it to the store before they close.  Well, today being Friday, I couldn't wait to go. Today, my theme was mostly containers. 

I picked up lots of tin and card board box containers. The tin containers will be used for my first class...to be announced soon. The card board boxes are so cute, I couldn't pass them up. Tonight, I took one of the square ones and made it into a shadowbox necklace. I used the lid of one of the 1x1 inch box squares.

I added some shrink plastic body parts to the top and bottom of the mini box.  I used a house stamp from Anna Griffin to add to the sides and back. I filled the inside of the box with assorted embellishments and covered the top with some mica plastic.

I added a jump ring to the top of the head, so that I can add a chain for a necklace.  I added a bit of gathered netting to the bottom of the box, for a little skirt.  It's just a fun necklace to wear.

Made A Couple Cards Today

I just thought I'd share a couple of cards I made today. One is a simple thank you note card I made for my sister in law. She gave me a vintage typewriter that belong to her mother.  Isn't it cool?

It works okay. I need to buy a new ribbon. Here's the thank you note card I made for her.

Then today, I went out to 4th street, Berkeley again. I bought this cute stamp, "Fly The World" from Castle In The Air.  I couldn't wait to create a card with it. 

I inserted a shrink plastic girl in place of the little boy in the middle of the stamp.  I embellished the girl with a hat and skirt. I got the striped black and white paper from the new pad I bought from Crate Paper, Portrait Collection. I stamped a number 6 on the skirt - one of my favorite numbers, since I'm number 6 in the order of girls born. This "six" came from this set. I purchased from etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/PrettyTape?ref=pr_shop. Unfortunately, she doesn't have it listed right now. It's so cute, the box is only 2.5"x6.25". I added the black tape in the upper right and lower left corner.

The card stock I used for both these cards came from CVS. It's from Paper Accents and it's 100% recycled paper. By the way, if you're in my area - Oakland - the CVS @ Rockridge has 50% off ALL craft items!  They're closing this store in June, so they're starting to discount everything. This CVS has a huge craft section too. My daughter and I stocked up on lots of goodies.

First person to leave me a comment, I'll send the "Fly The World" card to. :-)

Scrapbook Territory Haul

I usually like to go to Scrapbook Territory in Berkeley once a month. So, I was due for a trip this weekend.  I found some great items. Cute buttons from Crate Paper, fun chip board pieces from Maya Road, charms from Prima, 3D stickers from Anna Griffin and some wonderful pieces from Jenni Bowlin and Tim Holtz.

I love these Tim Holtz stamps of book covers. I stamped the the smaller one on some shrink plastic and made a mini book - see below.

Also love these Jenni Bowlin Hodge Podge Books.  I bought 3 different themes. Each package comes with 6 different sheets. I love the transparency sheet she gives with each set.

 Here's what I made with the Tim Holtz book cover stamp...a mini book.

Organizing Idea

I enjoy cutting paper, so I buy lots of collage sheets from various web sites and etsy. Some of my favorite places to buy from are: http://www.artchixstudio.com/, http://www.retrocafeart.com/, and http://www.digitalcollagesheets.com/. At night, while sitting in bed, I love cutting up my collage sheets or items I've stamped. I now have quite a collection of paper pieces all ready for creating. Recently, I found a great way to organize all these pieces. At Michael's they sell these plastic containers used for storing 4x6 photos. It's one large plastic box that holds 12 smaller plastic boxes. I thought it was going to be perfect for categorizing my paper pieces. I used my label maker and created labels for each box. Here's how it looks.  I love it!

My favorite small scissors to cut with are the micro tip scissors from craftSMART at Michael's. It's a great deal for under $5.