From the floor at CHA Winter 2011: Chris Nicholson, owner of Scrappy Chic

Chris has been very busy at CHA Winter 2011 looking, choosing and ordering. Chris and her assistants had a plan for taking on the show floor on day one, literally running, she said. Gathering catalogs, keeping appointments with sales reps and working hard to bring the best of CHA to her customers.

Highlights for Chris and staff were Tim Holtz’ booth with his new product introductions, “Twig” by Little Yellow Bicycle and Cosmo Cricket “Glübers”. What are “Glübers” one might ask? According to Cosmo Crickets description, they are “Large adhesive glue circles for making your own flowers, and when you're finished - it's a sticker!”  Sounds interesting and fun.

Sounds like Chris and team are having a great time too. Can’t wait to get the next report!!  Of course, the products will be arriving at Scrappy Chic in Livonia as soon as the orders are completed.

Continue reading on Examiner.com: CHA Winter 2011: Report from Chris Nicholson of Scrappy Chic - Detroit scrapbooking | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/scrapbooking-in-detroit/cha-winter-2011-report-from-chris-nicholson-of-scrappy-chic#ixzz1CfU1cd1L

CHA Winter 2011 Convention News

If you are not a scrapper you are probably wondering what CHA is? Simply put it is one of the most exciting events for manufacturers of scrapbook supplies and the people who love them. It is where they introduce their new product lines to thousands of buyers from chain and independent scrapbook stores for the 2011 winter and spring seasons. A second event takes place in July for the fall and winter releases.

I hope to be in touch with Chris Nicholson, owner of Scrappy Chic, who is in CA at the show right now. If she can get decent internet connections, she will update me with what she is seeing and maybe even send pictures of the new products she especially likes. How fun will that be?

So, watch for the latest information on my Examiner.com site and join in the fun!!

Using Your Scraps: Holiday Table Decorations

It’s that time of year. Dig out your scraps and start getting ready for the holidays. Now is the time to create those one of a kind decorations for your holiday table.

How easy is it to use some of your winter or holiday patterned paper to make napkin rings? Simply cut a strip of paper 1 ½” wide and 6” long. Cut a slit approximately ½” deep and ½” in from top to bottom on one end and bottom to top and the other. Using a punch or cutting free hand make snowflakes or other appropriate shapes out of coordinating patterned paper or card stock. If you own a Cricut or Silhouette die cutting machine you may have shapes you can use. Glue the shapes in the middle of the strip, overlapping each to make a small grouping. Wrap around a rolled or folded napkin and join at slits.

Do you want your guests to be able to identify their wine glasses? Wine glass I.D. rings are the answer. Cut a circle the diameter of your glass base out of patterned paper, slit from bottom edge to center. Your Silhouette or Cricut would be useful for cutting the circles, or use a circle template. Cut or punch another circle the diameter of the stem of your glass in the center. Decorate each with a different color or shape so guests will know which glass is theirs.

Make tent place cards from cardstock scraps. Cut pieces of scraps 3” by 3”, fold in half. Print guests name on front and decorate with shapes punched out of patterned paper.
All of these items will add some color to your holiday table without adding any expense to your entertaining budget. You can add scrap ribbon, jewels, buttons etc. to make them even more festive!

Have a wonderful, happy, healthy and crafty holiday season!!!

Using Your Scraps: Greeting Cards

  

Today I wrote an article on Examiner.com about using scrap paper for card making and I wanted to include some instructions here on how to make these three cards. I hope this will inspire the making of many more cards in the future. Thanks for your inspiration, Melissa!

For this “Thinking of You” card use four 1”x 2.75” strips of patterned paper, one 4”x 2.75” solid color cardstock, one patterned paper heart punched/cut, coordinating ribbon and a phrase stamp. Leave a 1/8” border around the entire card as you work, adhere the four strips to the card 1/8” from the bottom and sides, overlapping slightly. Punch or cut a decorative border on one long edge of cardstock, stamp your greeting at approx. half way down and toward the right. Tie ribbon around this piece between greeting and border and adhere 1/8” from top and sides of card, overlapping strips. Place heart on top as shown. Viola, beautiful!!

 
Select three different pieces of scrap pattern paper and three scrap cardstock papers that coordinate to make this "Celebrate You" card. Stamp or write phrases on patterned paper scraps and punch 1 1/4” circles. Cut one of the cardstock scraps to 3 1/4”x 3 1/4” for the back and one to 3”x 3” for the front of top section. Punch out one butterfly approximately 1 1/2” in size and emboss or decorate or adhere a sticker to a cardstock scrap and trim.  First, adhere large square to top of blank card, 1/2” from top and sides. Add second square, centered on first. Glue circles and butterfly around the square, leaving equal distance between them. Stamp your main phrase approximately 1” from the bottom and to the right of the card. You are done!!

To create this “Cheers” card adhere one 5 1/4”x 4” scrap of patterned paper to a blank card leaving an equal distance on all sides. Stamp or write selected phrase on three different colored pieces of scrap cardstock, stamp a picture on a white piece of scrap cardstock and punch all four with a 1” circle punch. Punch two 1/2” colored circles and one 1 1/4” black circle. Decorate picture and mount on black circle. Adhere all circles in a random pattern on top of patterned paper. Easy!!

Scrappers - never throw away your scraps

Scraps from your scrapbook layouts have many uses. Not only do they serve many purposes for your projects and pages, but you can use them for card making and other crafts too. You don’t have to throw away your scraps. Let’s look at how you can use them for scrapbooking in Part One of this article. Here are some ideas: 

Use your scraps to cut out letters for titles on your page layouts. Many die cut machines let you use small pieces of paper for cutting individual letters. Don’t be afraid to mix patterns either. Some of the most unique titles use mixed font styles and papers. Don’t forget, plain chipboard letters are easy to cover with scrap pattern papers too. 

Another great use for scraps is punched or die cut shapes. Punched shapes are typically no larger than 2 inches, so you don’t need a lot of paper to create cute embellishments. Die cut shapes vary in size depending on the system you use. Personal die cut machines like Sizzix, Big Shot and Cuttlebug have dies in several different sizes, but again, most of these are the perfect size to use with scraps. Cricut and Silhouette machines can adjust shapes to the size paper you have left over. Many LSS’s in Metro Detroit, like Archiver’s, Scrappy Chic and The Scrapbook Zone, have die cut machines you can use, but you may have to make a purchase. Remember, most die cut machines will require using slightly larger paper than the size of the die cut you are creating.


Borders and backgrounds can be created from scrap papers very easily. Twelve inch long scraps that are at least 2 inches wide can be torn or cut with decorative scissors to make beautiful borders. Rectangular or square scraps can serve as backgrounds for photos or journaling blocks. Long strips of different papers can also be woven to create a unique raised border. 

When making albums smaller than 12 X 12, you can use your paper scraps to make pages for them. And don’t forget your cardstock scraps. These make good base pages for small albums and can be used in all the same ways as those mentioned above for patterned paper.

You have invested good money in your scrapbooking paper and supplies so why not get the most use out of them you can?

In Part Two we will discuss using scraps to make one of a kind greeting cards for your family and friends.

Cricut announces the new Cricut Imagine

Today, September 14^th, Cricut introduced it’s newest die cut machine on HSN the Cricut Imagine. It is a combination of the original Cricut and an HP inkjet printer to do print and cut die cuts without the use of a computer.

The special offer today includes the Cricut machine, three cartridges, and black and color ink cartridges. The machine will work with your original cartridges and Gypsy and cuts from .25" to 11.5" and is on sale for $499.95 with 5 payments of $99.99 until midnight tonight.

Looks like a great idea!!