We Will Always Have Paris

Local Event: Eileen's 9th Annual Barn Sale

Eileen Hull (you probably know her as the designer that makes those amazing Scoreboard dies for Sizzix) hosts a barn sale every year.  It has grown & grown over time into an extraordinary crafting marketplace.  This year's barn sale is this weekend & I'm dying to go.  I've never been able to make it in the past and I think that this might just be the year where I get to go be inspired & drop some serious cash.  Want to join me??

You can check out Eileen's blog here and find her dazzling Scoreboards here. 

Local Artist Eileen Hull Lands A Gig With Sizzix

Those of you who were customers of Artfully Scribed (waaaaaaay back in the day) may remember our extraordinary calligraphy/mat cutting instructor Eileen Hull.  Well, our local gal has done good!

 

I was scanning the upcoming Sizzix releases (making out my ever-evolving wishlist of crap I can't live without) on-line when I stumbled upon Memory Making Crafts website.  I found a large selection of new Sizzix dies for boxes, CUPCAKE WRAPPERS (the all-caps are for you Jennie G.!) and other cool goodies.  All designed by... Eileen Hull.

My jaw just about hit the ground.

I e-mailed Eileen right away to say ohmygoodgravyican'tbelieveitsyouthediesaresocoolican'twaittobuythemall.  I'm so incredibly thrilled for her.

According to Eileen, the new dies should ship out this October (for a December release).  While you're waiting, go check them out on-line.  Love them!  You can also keep up with Eileen via her blog or her website.

Congrats Eileen! 

New Blog In Town

One of my dear friends finally started her own blog (after much begging & pleading from everyone).  Take a couple seconds to bookmark Marlynn's new site:  http://honeysucklebreeze.blogspot.com/.

I've known Marlynn since my old days at Artfully Scribed in Herndon, VA.  She was a regular customer, an enthusiastic student and an amazing artist.  Locals will recognize her bright smile right away. 

I'm thrilled that she finally has a forum to show off her work.  She inspires me all the time, let her inspire you!

Baguettes for Everyone

I've mentioned how wonderfully crafty my friend/student Carmen is (see here and here) more than once.  She's just one of those people that inspires you to create more.  She's also one of those fortunate people that has a knack for finding really super cool things at flea markets, estate sales & auctions.  She recently mentioned that she was helping a friend clean the attic of an old typewriter repairman.  Can you imagine the goodies she found there??

At my recent Summer in Paris retreat, Carmen showed up (true to form) with gifts in hand.  Gifts for every one of the attendees.  People she knew & people she didn't know.  Seriously?  Who is this woman?  I thought I'd share her goodie bag with you:

A loaf of French bread!  Yummy!  No, not French bread, but great papercrafting goodies:

 

Everyone received a roll of repro vintage aqua/gold wallpaper, old fashioned French fry bags (you clever girl...), old fashioned candy boxes, old buttons, raffia on an antique wooden spool and extra French bread bags.  How fantastic is that?

Carmen, you really outdid yourself this time.  Love you!

Vote for Kathy!

One of my cropping buddies/cabin trip gals is a finalist in EK Success' "I Love Elvis Papercrafting Contest".  (aside:  Suni, WTH?  Why didn't you enter?  This contest was MADE for you!)

I once duck taped all of Kathy's tools to her work table on a cabin trip & then blamed it on someone else.  Any chance you could help me redeem myself by voting for Kathy's layout?  Click here to vote.

Local Artist: Jeanette Stieringer - Passionate Paper Artist

Donna Downey loves her.  Carol Wingert hangs out with her.  Half of all scrapbooking blogs seem to link to her.  The ladies down at Scrapbooks Plus adore her.  And I think she's just the bees knees.

I'm talking about Jeanette, our local web-celeb scrapbooker.  I first met Jeanette a year and a half ago at a private reception for Get Croppin's guest artist Ali Edwards.  I felt like I knew her already, as I had been following her blog for a while.  It's funny how the internet has made the world so much smaller.  Her smile was warm and her laughter contagious.  I loved her immediately!  Since then, I've been fortunate to spend more time with Jeanette and her best friend Carol P. (you rarely see one without the other, and I assure you, Carol is equally as wonderful!).

If you haven't bookmarked Jeanette's blog already, do it right now!  She's full of organizing, decorating and paper crafting ideas.  NOTE:  Hide your credit cards from yourself as reading Jeanette's blog could cause financial harm.  She's always "stumbling" on fantastic finds that you won't be able to live without.  She's an amazing shopper with an eye for graceful design.  No wonder she's so popular!

I recently quizzed Jeanette about her scrapbooking/card making obsession:

Do you still have any of your teenage journals? If so, have you scrapped any of the embarrassing things in them?  I wish I had kept journals as a teenager.  My memorabilia consisted of photos in magnetic albums. 

What is your scrapping soundtrack?  80's music on Sirius radio.  My absolute favorite.

What do you think is or was the most annoying trend?  Trends come and go but I am glad to see Stickles making a comeback in some small way.  And I did burn-out on the usage of eyelets.  I'm sure they'll make a comeback some day.  What can annoy me today, I may fall in love with again tomorrow.

Last craft/scrapping related daydream?  To enlarge my craft space.  We have a room next door that I'd love to take over.  For now, it is just a dream.

If you were banned from buying anything but cardstock/adhesive what would you miss most?  My ATG gun would be missed the most.  It is one tool I use consistently.  As for cardstock, although I would miss it, these days you can scrapbook/alter on just about anything.

What is your most embarrassing lo?  My first album I created for my sister and her family when she moved.  It involved round and oval pictures.  Oh, and decorative scissors, not that there is anything wrong with it.

Have you reworked any of your early lo's?  No.  I try to think of it as a way to reflect on how I've progressed with my hobby.

Is there any scrapping splurge you regret?  Yes.  And you can find them at Get Croppin's yard sale each year.  Last year I sold my XXL at the yard sale.  The good thing about it is you can carry many supplies in it.  The bad thing is my back couldn't hack lifting it into my car.  I'm learning to pack my supplies in various smaller bags.   

If you could only attend one of the following:  Creative Escapes, CKU, or Silver Bellas, which one would you pick?  I am definitely a student of scrapbooking and paper arts.  So I always look forward to events to satisfy my need for creativity.  I've attended only one CKU and am set to attend Creative Escapes in September.  And oh how I would love to go to Silver Bella in November.  What I'm really waiting for a We Will Always Have Paris event (hint, hint).

When I asked Jeanette for a little background info, this is what she had to say:

Virginia is my hometown and I've lived here all my life.  Many folks find this fascinating as most are not from this area.  It keeps things interesting when you meet people and discover where they are from.  And the same can be said about scrapbooking.  We are a diverse group and I am thankful for the great friendships that are a result of this hobby.

My brush with scrapbooking began when I accompanied my best friend, Carol, to a scrapbooking store.  She was seeking cruise-related embellishments for an album.  I began to take notice to the various embellishments and papers and decided to collect some related to Las Vegas as we had a trip scheduled the next month.

Six years later, here I am.  What began as a whim has turned into an obsession.  A good obsession.  This is one hobby I love.

I love to give Jeanette grief over her local "celebrity" status.  At this year's Scrapbowl reception, there was actually a line of people waiting to meet her!!  Although I love to give her a hard time, the truth is, there is a reason people love her.  A number of reasons actually...  If you get the chance, introduce yourself to her.  You'll see why she's so wildly popular!

Local Artist: Jennifer Sizemore - Scrapbooker Extraordinaire

I met Jennifer Sizemore, scrapbooker extraordinaire, at January's Scrap For A Cause.  She's one of those fantastic people that, when you meet her, you feel like you've known her for years.  She's easy-going, talented, and has the kind of dry wit that I appreciate.  A month ago, I featured Lisa Martinez as a local artist and I asked for suggestions for other "local artist" features.  A ton of people (starting with you Jennie Gift!) e-mailed me asking that I feature "Sizemore".  So... here's the scoop on the illustrious Miss Jennifer:

Jennifer, her husband (of, count them, 15 years!) Dave, her 8 year-old funny little boy Jacob, two cats and a dog live in Manassas, VA.  A full time Associate Director for a military association, she plans conferences and events around the country.  She has been keeping scrapbooks in some form since high school (which, by the way is in Punxsutawney, PA for all of you "Groundhog Day" fans!).  She even presented her husband (then her boyfriend) a whole album of their first year together on their second dating anniversary.  Back then she used brown paper pages and scotch tape, but eighteen years later, she still gets that album out to reminisce with him. 

"Paper crafting is my biggest obsession.  Creating layouts is my therapy after a long day at work.  It is my creative outlet, my means of recording our day to day lives, andy my gift to future generations.  I teach classes from time to time, and love to pass my obsession along to others."  Jennifer has been published in Paperkuts, Creating Keepsakes Idea Books, The Big Book of Little Accents, Memory Makers, Rubber Stamper, Paper Crafts, Pine Cone Press and Simple Scrapbooks. She has been on design teams for several online stores, Quickutz, and Lazar StudioWerx. She is currently on the Fiber Scraps design team.  She has a fantastic blog (where, I admit, I steal some of my ideas...) that you'll want to check out!

I asked Suni to come up with some interview questions.  Here they are, along with Jennifer's clever responses:

Do you still have any of your teenage journals? If so, have you scrapped any of the embarrassing things in them?

I am such a packrat for memorabilia, I even have notes that my friends and I passed back and forth in class. *ahem* I mean, in the halls. I hadn't thought about scrapping anything that OLD, and certainly not anything embarrassing... what a great idea! I'll add that to my to do list and get right on it.

What is your scrapping soundtrack?

I usually scrap with my iTunes going on my computer, which means classic rock, 80s pop, and country music. If Jacob is in the room, it is Spongebob and the Hamsterdance Song.

What do you think is or was the most annoying trend?

Oh, where do I even start with this one? I know "everything is okay, as long as you love it" yadda yadda yadda. But really, I cannot stand the look of the extreme freestyle stuff. I also don't like a crazy mix of fonts. Anything more than 2-3 on a layout, and I can hear my college advertising teacher lecturing us about proper typography.

Last craft/scrapping related daydream?

Let's see, I was stuck in a scrapbook store with Orlando Bloom (as Will Turner) and we were trying to figure out how to get the glue to adhere properly. Really, it was craft related.

If you were banned from buying anything but cardstock/adhesive what would you miss most?

Ribbon. I would stop scrapbooking if I had to do it without ribbon.

What is your most embarrassing lo?

Anything from the era of decorative scissors. I had them all and I was not afraid to use them.

Have you reworked any of your early lo's?

Remember when chalk was first introduced to scrappers? There was that book about how to enhance die cuts. Remember? Well, I bought it and some chalk and went to town on every die cut I had ever proudly pasted on a layout. The look much better now. ;)

Is there any scrapping splurge you regret?

All those Frances Meyer kits from MJ Designs. In my own defense, there wasn't much else to buy for scrappers back then.

If money was no object, what tool would you buy?

A Wacom tablet (http://www.wacom.com/graphire/) and someone to teach me how to use it.

If you see Jennifer around (and she's always around), go up & introduce yourself.  She's very open & friendly and you might just get inspired by her!!

Local Artist: Lisa Martinez - Altered Cabinet Card Artist

I have been toying with the idea of featuring local artists on my website.  Sometimes you meet people at crops, classes or art events and think, "Damn, she's cool".  I'd like to introduce you to these people (via the internet) to bring attention to some really amazing artists in the Metro-DC area.

I met 29 year-old Lisa Martinez (from Woodbridge, VA) in one of my classes last year.  She was courageous enough to show me one of her altered cabinet cards (see pic above).  I believe that it takes a great deal of courage to show somebody your art.  I thought it was fantastic.  Fantastic enough to say, "Damn, she's cool."  Lisa is slowly building her own picturetrail webpage to show off her work.  Click here to check it out. 

Lisa's beautiful altered cabinet cards can be found here (her mixed media work can be found here).  A cabinet card is a photographic print measuring 4" by 5 1/2" attached to a cardboard mount 4 1/4" by 6 1/2".  The cabinet card was introduced in 1863, peaked in the years 1870 to 1900, and begin to wane in 1905. The cards were last made in the 1920's.  Altered cabinet cards are all the rage right now.  You can see other artist's samples here, here & here.

If you're attending Art & Soul in Hampton, VA in a few weeks, keep an eye out for Lisa Martinez.  She's taking a couple of classes there & you'll want to meet her!

(Do you know a cool local paper artist you think I should feature?  If so, please e-mail me and tell me about her/him!)