My Craft Guru

hey all you crafty types!

i'm sure i've probably mentioned to you before that i really dig all the products created by t!m holtz... he's provided me with a LOT of inspiration over the years and caused me to spend plenty of money on all his "i must have that!!" items. not that i'm complaining! all those incredible stamps and distress ink colours and cool masks and grunge paper and the alcohol inks... i could go on forever. but i won't. this time around anyway! lol here's just a few of my fave products from my arsenal:


i had the immense pleasure of going down to Anaheim for the recent CHA Show with my mom, who owns a stamp store and teaches classes in Whitehorse, Yukon. (that's where i'm from, by the way.) she's been going for the past 4 years, and has always wanted me to join in the fun and mayhem of walking that show floor and collecting free goodies (plus figuring out how to get it all home!) and attending the great workshops too. a friend of hers came down from Whitehorse with her as well, so the 3 of us had an absolute blast! a typical day involved getting up at 6am to be at our 7am workshops, getting a couple hours of show floor time in, then back to workshops, more of the show, squeezing in some food here and there, finishing up at 9pm after the last workshops of the day (which were all 2 hours long), then heading out for a bite to eat or a movie. (OMG - have you all seen Avatar? we went to the IMAX 3D show down there and it's uber fantastic! gotta go again soon with the hubby.)

so anyhoo - one of the highlights of the show was getting to actually MEET t!m holtz!!! yes, he was there, and when we saw him at the Idea-ology booth my heart raced and we bolted over there to meet him. i got a photo of course - a remembrance of my craft guru.

i hope you all have someone who inspires you to create your buns off!

cheers,
crafty girl

Olympic Fever!

hey all you crafty types!

well i'm sure you are all following the Olympics. but what you might not know is they are on my turf this time around - VANCOUVER!! yes, the Vancouver 2010 Olympics are right here in my own city. Olympic fever is everywhere, and i am certainly caught up in it myself. it's so uber-cool to see all the news coverage, and get out there to be part of the crowd myself.

last week my hubby & i went out to see our friend Pharid do his part in the Olympic Torch relay. he won a contest sponsored by Coca Cola and was chosen to be a torch-bearer! it was awesome to see the torch go by, but seeing someone we know actually carrying it was unreal... i was literally jumping up and down yelling with excitement.

how fantastic is that? we were all so jazzed - there were a whole bunch of us in the crowd screaming his name as he went by. he was beaming from ear to ear, as you can imagine!

we won our first Olympic Gold medal on home soil yesterday too. history in the making!

GO CANADA GO!!!

cheers!
crafty girl

Long time no see!

hey all you crafty types!

well i'm blown away to see how long it's been since i posted a blog entry. what with all the shows i did over the christmas season, and being sick, and getting a part-time job too, i guess something had to give! but i'm back, baby! i hope to get back to this on a more regular basis. i have lots to tell!

first off, i wanted to get back to playing in the 365 Cards daily challenges when i have the time. it's a great way to play with new toys, papers, and other goodies. plus pushing yourself to try new 'card recipes' is awesome! here's my card for today's sketch:

and the cute little interior:

these are the first card photos i've taken in a very long time! i have a LOT to catch up on, that's for sure.
in case you want to try out today's sketch, here the photo...



so i hope you all have a fab day, and i'll see you soon!

cheers! crafty girl

stuff used:

paper...
white cs
Core'dinations gemstones - citrine & sapphire
Memory box - beach collection (flip flops)
stamps...
Inkadinkadoo - Hula Girls
Craft Lounge - Sandy Sunsets cling stamps (Aloha)
Hero Arts - Warm Greetings set (interior sentiment)
ink...
Crafter's pigment ink - Cyan
extras...
Marvy punches - sun, small palm tree & jumbo tags
EK Success - scallop & diamond border punch
Michaels ribbon - blue/yellow stripes

Sets of Cards

hey all you crafty types!

there's nothing i like better on a rainy day than spending the time crafting away at my desk while the rain hits the window of my hobby room. it's so cozy and FUN in here! i did have to venture out earlier to run some errands, and man was it blustery!!! rain coming in sideways...

are any of you lovely readers selling your wares on ETSY? i have some products listed in my shop, but don't seem to be getting anywhere with my sales. hopefully in the future good things will happen. i just can't bring myself to spend a tonne of $ putting my stuff in the showcases. i tried it a couple of times and got zero sales out of it... i just joined an ETSY CANADA group yesterday too. i'm looking for ways to promote my shop and get to know some other crafters at the same time!

i've been doing a plethora of craft shows, and there's still many more to come . a couple of these shows are going to be home parties. a little wine, some cheese, and shopping for Crafty Girl Cards and Avon products. (yes, i'm an Avon lady too!) i thought today i'd share with you some of the card designs i've been making for the cards sets i plan to sell. i have been trying to come up with "less involved" designs so that i can sell the sets for less than i would my individual cards. who would pay $50 for a set of 10 cards, even IF they are all handmade and lovely? (there i go, tooting my own horn again - i SO love to do that!) anyhoo, i still end up spending a lot of time on these simpler cards. i just can't seem to stop myself from going overboard!

i'd love to hear your comments on these... and suggestions for keeping myself under control! hehehe! have a fantastic day everyone!

cheers!
crafty girl

Call the Blog Police!

hey all you crafty types!

does anybody know if there is such a thing as "blogging police" ?? i fear i have been very lax in doing my blog posts... over a month? not acceptable!

it's not that i don't think about it all the time, i just don't seem to find the time for it these past weeks. between making all my products, selling at all the craft fairs i booked, keeping up with emails, facebook, etsy, selling Avon, job hunting, and the myriad of other things i've been doing lately, i guess something had to fall by the wayside! sorry about that!

i was drooling last week over the Mexican stamping cruise that tim holtz did. have you seen anything about that? it was a week-long cruise to ports in Mexico, with classes and an onboard stamp store for the cruisers to shop at! can you imagine how much fun that would have been? they had a stop in Cabo San Lucas, and my mom & dad were there vacationing at the same time! would have been cool to get onboard and meet tim holtz. he's my creative idol.

so do you wanna see a few pics of the Christmas cards i've been making lately? there's some lovely ones, if i do say so myself!

whadda ya think? i love that glitter snowman foam sticker. it's so sweet! and i actually have little button brads that i added. cute cute cute!

anyhoo, gotta run... my sister is flying in from Whitehorse so i have to hit the airport!

cheers! crafty girl

Denami Design giveaway!

hey all you crafty types!

another quick post today...

who loves Denami Designs? i do, i do! leave a comment on their blog by oct.11th stating your fave Denami product, and you could win a $50 gift certificate to use on their website! ah, the joy of new products... grin!

cheers!
crafty girl