We Will Always Have Paris

Two For Tuesday: Evernote and Pinterest

Both of my picks today have to do with organizing the thousands of ideas we all pull from clever blogs and crafty websites.  I spend a lot of (waaaay too much) time surfing the web, looking for inspiration.  I'm constantly saving JPGs of cards I love, layouts I want to duplicate and party ideas.  I love clipping the ideas, but I never go back and look at them because they just get tossed into a file on my desktop or laptop or server -- never to be seen again!

Here are two fantastic ways to organize the photos and articles that inspire you:

Evernote.  Stacy Julian (my go-to source for out of the box creative thinking) turned me on to Evernote a year ago.  This web-based service allows you to save notes, clip web-pages, save pictures and store ideas -- all in one place!  You can create your own files and access them from your desktop, laptop, iTouch, iPad or mobile phone.  I've created Evernote notebooks for all sorts of ideas:

• Card Ideas
• Layout Ideas
• Rubber Stamping
• Altered Train Cases
• Bookbinding
• Parties
• Things I Want To Buy
• Home Decor
• Kid Ideas
• Seasons
• Sewing Projects
• and a ton of others

The photo above is a screen capture of my own Evernote files -- I can quickly flip through my Card Ideas notebook and find a quick card to duplicate.

Let me take you step by step through how I use Evernote.

1. As I surf the web (generally on my iPad) or read blog feeds through Google Reader, I come across a photo or story that I want to keep. 
2. If it is just a photo, I typically just save the photo to my iPad and then go into my photos and e-mail it to my Evernote e-mail account (they give you an e-mail account that you can e-mail stuff to and it will DIRECTLY DROP INTO YOUR EVERNOTE NOTEBOOKS! - How cool is that????).
3. If it is a full article, I copy the article, open Evernote (on my iPad or laptop) and save it as a new note in Evernote.
4. When I'm in Evernote, I will drag & drop the incoming pics/stories (things I have e-mailed to myself) into their appropriate notebooks.

Here's what's really cool.... you can add tags to each of your notes and go searching for them later.  For example...

 
This picture here is saved under my "G's Birthday Party" notebook.  Baby G. wants a pool & popsicle birthday party.  However, the photo is tagged with "Summer" and "Play Dates" so that I can pull up the idea anytime I am looking for something fun to do during the summer or on a play date.  Cool, no?

Give Evernote a try.  It is FREE.  If you are a desktop/laptop user, load it up.  If you are a mobile phone/iTouch/iPad user, get the free Evernote application.  What have you got to lose?  I think you'll love it.

 

2.  Pinterest.  My friend Carrie suggested that I give Pinterest a try.  I am loving it as a source of inspiration, but I find myself saving the ideas in Evernote, rather than Pinterest.  Pinterest is a virtual inspiration board.  You can see beautiful photos and "pin" the ones that inspire you to your own on-line board.  The photo above is a clip from my Pinterest board. 

What I love about Pinterest is the wide variety of things that I wouldn't normally stumble across in my small papercrafting world.  A girl can only see so many cupcakes and pennant banners, right?  Pinterest has followers from all over the world that are interest in all sorts of elements of design, color and art. 

After you stumble around Pinterest for a while you will find certain people with styles you like and you can specifically "follow" them.  Once you "follow" them, you will be able to see everything they pin to their boards.  If you like it, pin it to yours!

I hope I've inspired you to get control of all of those crafty ideas out there.  Find them a home on either your Pinterest "pin board" or your Evernote "notebooks".  Be sure to regularly go back and review your inspiring ideas -- you clipped them for a reason!!

 

 

 

 

Help Our National Parks Service win $600,000!

 
The National Park Foundation is one of four charities competing for a percentage of a $600,000 grant from the Lowe's Charitable and Education Foundation.  If you've read my blog for any length of time, you know that I am an enormous supporter of the National Parks.  My children both have NPS passports and we love to travel the country, earning new stamps for their passports.

Today is the last day to place your vote and the race seems tight.  Please head over now to support our National Parks!  It took me less than a minute to place my vote.

(thanks for the info, Jennie -- you're the best kind of "stoker"!)

New Kits Available: "What I Did On My Summer Vacation"

Remember heading back to school those early days in September? Long days, sunshine, flip flops, popsicles and swim lessons were soon to be forgotten in favor of new school supplies, crisp autumn days, corduroy and my new pair of Mary Janes. One of our first school assignments was to write an essay on “What I Did On My Summer Vacation”. I loved detailing every pool party, weekend trip to Grandma’s and the annual vacation to Disneyland. Every word was a memory.

Why not relive this Summer’s memories in your own “What I Did On My Summer Vacation” mini-book?

Last September, I put together an adorable album for my oldest daughter, documenting the wonderful Summer we spent together when she was 3 (turning 4).  Summertime is our busiest season -- pool parties, birthday parties, holidays, vacations and so many other milestones.  The entire family loves to look at this book & remember when Baby G. received her "big girl" bike, or celebrating at our 4th of July luau, or playing in the sand during our trip to Rehoboth Beach. 

 

At 8" high and 6.5" wide, you'll have plenty of room for journaling and photos.  There are two versions of the kit -- one featuring We R Memory Keepers papers (as used in my sample) and one featuring Basic Grey Mellow papers (my favorite line).  The kit is chock full of cardstock & patterned papers that will allow you to quickly put the mini-book together.

You'll find both kits in my Etsy shop.  Shop quickly, as this is a limited edition kit!

 

Two For Tuesday: Bazzill iPhone/iPad/iTouch Application & Stampsmith Pin-Up Girls

I don't know about you, but it certainly feels like summer to me!  Warm weather, soft breezes & the sound of a lawnmower in the background -- my favorite season!  I'm already planning my "Unplugged 2010" week (more on this later this week), my 4th of July luau & G's 5th (oh, sweet Jesus) birthday party.  With all of this planning I've barely had time to create, but these two items caught my attention this week:

 

1.  Bazzill's iPhone/iPad/iTouch Application:  (Special thanks to old friend Kim C. for sending me this one -- my iTunes account thanks you....) My end-all-be-all favorite cardstock company, Bazzill, has released an application for your iPhone/iPad/iTouch.  Check out these features:

• Browse over 500 Bazzill cardstock colors by name, color family or texture family.
• Look up CMYK and RGB colors for each of their cardstock colors (this is fantastic for computer journaling!!!).
• Match your favorite photos to Bazzill cardstock.
• Create the perfect color palette using monochromatic, complementary, triadic, analagous, and split-complimentary color combinations (in other words, your app is your color wheel!)
• They are currently developing an upgrade that will allow you to utilize their Bazzill Matchmaker.  This will allow you access to over 4500 cardstock matches to your favorite patterned papers (Basic Grey, American Crafts, Fancy Pants & Cosmo Cricket, just to name a few!).  If you don't have a device that will allow you to use the application, you can always use the matchmaker on-line at their website.

The Bazzill app is $9.99, a steep price for an application.  That being said, I think I need this.  NEED THIS.

 

2.  Pin-Up Girl Rubber Stamps by Stampsmith:  I have no idea what I'm going to do with these images, but oh how I want them!!  I've always loved photo-realistic stamps.  Estelle over at Stampsmith is always finding new ways to spend my money.... This brand spankin' new image sheet doesn't seem to be listed on their index, but you can always contact Estelle directly at estelle@stampsmith.net for pricing & purchase information.

Have a wonderful week!

Two For Tuesday: Fabric Blossoms

Maybe it's because the snow is finally melting here in the D.C. area, but I am loving all of the floral crafty things out there right now.  These two fabric floral tutorials grabbed my attention this week:

 
(photo used with permission)

1. Scrap Fabric Flower Tutorial from Rebecca Sower:  Head on over to one of my favorite crafty people's Etsy store and grab yourself one of the downloadable intructions to make this adorable flower from scrap fabric.  The instructions are only $7.50 and can be easily adjusted to make different sizes of flowers.  I am ALL OVER this!  I can't wait to make cute flowers on headbands for the girls.  I love it!

2.  Fabric Posies from Blue Cricket Designs:  Oh how lovely!  This freebie tutorial can be found here.  I wonder if Sizzix has a set of similar dies that I could use (I'm too lazy to cut all of that fabric, but I do love the final outcome!)?

Enjoy the sunshine!

Creative Parties & Showers Feature!

 

I woke up this morning to happy news in my e-mail inbox.  Baby G's pirate party was featured today on Creative Parties & Showers!  If you've never been to Shannon's fab website, you'll want to click on over & get inspired right away.

Thanks for the feature!  (and special thanks to Jennie G. for the suggestion!)

 

If you're new to my site (via Creative Parties & Showers), please stop & stay awhile.  I love new readers!  If you're a crafter, be sure to check out the left sidebar on my site -- you can always find printable craft store coupons here.  Although I sometimes focus on Washington D.C. area craft news, there's something for everyone here.

 

Baby A. slept the entire night last night (for the first time) and now this?  It's shaping up to be a wonderful day!

Great Vintage Christmas Images On The Web

I subscribe to "Scrapologie"'s blog for her wonderful layouts and ideas.  This month she's posting one vintage Christmas image a day for her readers.  Head on over there and click on the images & save them for yourself.  Marlynn, you know I thought of you as soon as I saw these images!

Making A Scalloped Square Using Fiskars Threading Waters Punch

I love the internet.  A while back, I stumbled upon this amazing tutorial by Virginia Nebel.  Click on over & discover how to use your Fiskars Threading Waters punch to make a scalloped square:

Amazing Website: Grosgrain

 

oh.  my.  good.  gravy.

Is this costume amazing, or what??  Go check out this incredible website called "Grosgrain".  Blogger Kathleen makes beautiful costumes WITHOUT A PATTERN and then GIVES THEM AWAY to readers.  Seriously.  Seriously??

I need (NEED) this for my daughter.   Keep your fingers crossed that I win it. 

Etsy Treasuries

My "Paper Slut" bling T-shirt was recently listed in an Etsy Treasury and you totally have to check it out.  Not so much for my shirt, but because they are some really funny artists out there.  Click here to see.  I NEED a set of "You Make Me All Happy And Shit" cards.

Note:  The link expires on Monday, so head on over there quickly!