inviting you to the big party!

I love working with Catherine, the publisher of Scrapbook and Cards Today. She comes up with some of the funnest ideas. And she gets so excited explaining them to her team (you can see the excitement build with each line of the email), we can't help but join her in on her excitement for the idea. 

This Friday you'll see one of those ideas fall into place. It's the BIG REVEAL of the Summer issue and the more this ball gets rolling, the more fun it's gathering! I can't tell you all that will be happening, but there are going to be lots of goodies being given away and you'll get a majorly huge dose of inspiration as you flip through the pages of this amazing issue. I did two (count them) two-page spreads for this issue and I may balk at two-page spreads almost as much as I balk at mini albums, but I'm chest thumping proud of the work I did for this issue. It's pretty awesome.

And if you come to the party, you'll get to see it. So plan on stopping by the Scrapbook and Cards Today site on Friday, the 21st. You really don't want to miss it.

Because it's going to be exciting. :)

and it's LIVE

It's Friday, the 7th of December. This means that Scrapbook and Cards Today's Winter 2012 issue is live. The team was asked to share their favorite layout/project with you, and ask you to play I SPY. :)

So can you find this? Go download your copy and start looking for my favorite project. I love the mix of alphabets in this project, it's just fun to look at! And since it's framed behind glass, it's reusable every year hereafter! I just realized this. Sheepish grin. I really think I need to make one now.

The rest of the team is sharing their favorites as well, check out the SCT Facebook page or their blogs if you want to play along.

Scrapbook and Cards Today Winter 2012 issue, Christmas Checklist by Marla Kress

giving away cardmaps today 2!

CardMaps Today 2 is just about ready to hit store shelves! With 45 brand new, never-before-seen card sketches by Becky Fleck of PageMaps, CardMaps Today 2 includes 80 beautifully-designed cards by 15 talented cardmakers all with instructions! New to CardMaps Today 2 are eight trend-setting techniques featured in photographed step-outs! This limited-edition, special issue is a must for all cardmakers!

i had the pleasure of designing three cards for this special issue and now i get to give a copy away to one lucky blog reader. even in you're not really a cardmaker, this issue will be invaluable to you. i pull out my first edition issue all the time for inspiration. it's helped me not be terrified of cardmaking, i actually enjoy it now! 

you have until next tuesday the 13th of march to post a comment here. i'll pick a winner at noon MDT. please make sure there's an easy way to get ahold of you too :)

COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED, THANK YOU :)

blogging at simple stories today

cards either work or they don't in my world. this one worked and it makes me very happy to just look at it :) directions for putting this together using the new lines from simple stories are over on their blog today. i'm doing a double duty post today. smart, yes?

have a lovely day!

p.s. i'm sore today. but it's not as bad as i'd expected. yay me. i am going to keep doing this. i was so good for so long. i will be that again.

p.p.s. if you like cards, you're going to want to subscribe to the new youtube channel from scrapbook and cards today! there'll be a new card demonstrated every other week by the fabulous lynn gaharay. her nails make me want to get a manicure. according to lynn, the best kind is called a gel manicure, it lasts for 2 weeks! imagine no chipping for 2 weeks!

and if you have not already, please stop by SCT's facebook page and like them. they are less than 200 away from the 10K mark and will be doing a great giveaway once they hit that!

be my thrill

last fall, i was driving to e's school to play the piano for 7th grade choir, listening to KUNC, one of my local NPR stations that plays diverse music (and has a fabulous logo) when i heard this really fun song. i didn't have the luxury of waiting to see who it was singing said song, so i jotted down what i could of the lyrics and ran into the school (on my feet, not with my car, do not worry).

when i got back home (i am one of the few who do not have a smart phone. i know if i had one, i could have done this next bit of fact finding immediately, but i can't yet commit to spending $80 a month at minimum on a plan. i am very frugal. note: i did not call myself cheap.), i googled the lyrics and that is how i found the weepies. it was one of those angels-singing-in-heaven-clouds-parting-to-let-a-celestial-beam-of-light-through kind of moments. the song was called be my thrill and it's a hodgepodge of rhyming deliciousness. i am quite picky with my rhyme. tom jones can not do it. billy joel and sting can. frank sinatra can usually pull it off, but he's had a few epic fails. did i mention tom jones can not do rhyme? just making sure. i do not like rhyming for the sake of rhyming. i do like rhyming that is intellectual and makes you smile at how very clever it is. and the weepies succeed beautifully in that area. 

last week was the pledge drive for KCPR. i am an evergreen partner which means money comes out of my account every month, i don't have to think about sending in a check when my membership is up, and i can feel good about the fact that i support what i listen to everyday. unfortunately it doesn't mean i don't have to listen to the pledge drive. long have i wished NPR could have an alternate channel for those of us who are already members. but alas, that is not the case. 

back to last week. they were doing 20 minutes sweepstakes for a pair of tickets to los lobos/los lonely boys at chautauqua boulder in august. i had entered the australia 10 day vacation w/o luck, but figured what the heck, why not try to win tickets. i'd been lucky many years in the past, winning tickets to a jazz concert when we were in college. so i called, said i was an evergreen partner and wanted to enter the drawing. 

the 20 minutes passed, i figured i hadn't won, so i went to the chautauqua site to see how much tickets were. los lobos/los lonely boys were quickly forgotten when, filing through the list of concerts i saw the above picture. 

be still my heart.

so i bought tickets for kelly and me. and i'm so excited.

fast forward to this week. i got a message from KCRP. i'm the winner of the los lobos/los lonely boys concert tickets. yah. life is grand.

and to make your day, i have some sneaks for you from the july studio calico kit. mind the gap (cool name huh?) goes on sale monday the 27th. i ordered two add ons, pint and flat.

here's a list of supplies that i used (or would work well) with this kit: 

• powder ZING
• apricot ZING
• blush ZING
• chestnut ZING
• versamark ink
• heat embossing tool
• stazOn ink in black
• foam tabs circles
• mister huey in calico white
• blender tool and foam pad

this one is a two pager, so i'll share a sneak of each side. 

uses the mind the gap, flat, and pint

and i'll share two of this one because one was already in the sneak slide show, and i just want to be nice. i used mister huey on a blender pad to make my journaling spot a little more obvious. it took forever to dry, but i love how it dulled the paper just enough to journal on it.

uses only the pint add on

and this one is about my friend's twins. they love me. and they had to move, which broke my heart, but i'm not going to hold that against my friend or her husband because i like them too and would like to maintain open communications with them so i can see the kids when we go to utah on occasion.

uses mind the gap, pint, and flat

another thing to share:

today is the release day for scrapbook and cards today's summer issue. can i tell you how excited i am!?!?!?! i don't have my hard copy yet, but the online issue is fabulous! download here. and did you know you can view it on mobile devices now? all for free? yay!

and finally, i'm hosting the simple stories blog today. you should go check it out, here's a sneak of my project:

reading

the fall issue of scrapbook and cards today is now available! i feel like i say this every time, but wow, this issue is amazing! the work featured in here is truly inspiring and very timely. you can download an electric copy for FREE by going here: scrapbookandcards.com

so many talented friends show up in this issue, i just find myself reading and rereading my copy. congratulations to everyone who was a part of making this such a great issue! please check out my "i spy with emily" article on page 14. it was really fun to put this one together. i'm guesting on the SCT blog next week and you'll need to have read my article to participate fully in my monday challenge, so get going! i'm already working on the winter issue and i'm so excited about the topic!