Fun Times at Pot Luck Crop

Once a month we have a Pot Luck Crop that involves lotsa food and lotsa fun and lotsa creativity. Everyone brings a dish to share and we have tons of room to spread out and crop on the 8ft tables at Mitchell Resort & RV Park.  I host 4 retreats a year there and now we are doing monthly crops there. It is always a great time with a lot of laughter.  There is the Itty Bitty Kitty store along with new product I put out for the ladies to have at.  It's kind of like a feeding frenzy! We also do a Make N Take for a little fun.

 I cooked hamburgers and hot dogs for everyone, we had beans & corn muffins (made by one of the ladies sweet husband), we had pulled pork sandwiches, we had baked beans, we had dips of all kinds, and the sweets!!! Oh my you just have to look at the pic below of that wonderful Trifle that Weslana made.

Yes, we did get some cropping done and I even made a card--if you know me you know that is not my thing!

If you need a place to hang out and play where you can get creative ideas this is IT! The sunsets say it all!

Fun News for Me

FUN email NEWS today. I'm so excited! I have been chosen to be a brand Ambassador for Adornit!!! I will be an "it" girl for Art & Coloring, Paper Crafting and DIY!!! You all know how much I love the Adornit Gals and their products so this will be a really fun 3 month honor. These ladies are a class act and their products are wonderful. Check out the Adornit products. They range from scrapbooking, quilting , coloring, stitchery, and clothing!!!
I will be featuring their Christmas Coloring Book in the Christmas Crafts Weekend at Rayline's in October. #brandambassador #scrapbooking #coloring #stitchery #clothes #adornitfabric#artplay

HARVEST TIME IS HERE!

Are you ready for cooler weather, bright orange and  yellow leaves falling from the trees and the smell of pumpkin spice everywhere? I am. It has been a hot one in Texas of late and I am ready for some cool fall weather.  Authentique has hit it out of the park once again with their new Harvest Collection and I am ready for the pics with these two layouts.

I was on a really crazy fussy cutting frenzy when I made the Mysterious layouts and the Harvest layouts. Nothing is as it seems in these two pages.  The papers are all cut up and re-arranged cause that is just how I do it.

I love that this one gets 3 large size pics on here along with the journaling block.  I added a banner and a grouping of the fun stickers. Great page for pics of your table set up on Thanksgiving.

Authentique Mysterious Collection is AWESOME!

Are you looking for a FUN collection for the little ghosties and goblins in you house? This one is purrrfect. Not scary and the cut aparts are very vintage and sooooo sweet. No bad creatures in this collection.  I have two pages ready for my only 2 little goblins left. The other 3 are all too old for such nonsense. However, their Grannie still loves Halloween!

 Now this page took a bunch of fussy cutting The trees were a pain but they add so much to the page.  And those bats--yes well, now we know and understand the full meaning of BATTY. You will be such after cutting out all of those bats to adhere in a random fashion all over both pages of the layout. 

More fun with the fussy cutting on this page too, But you just have to have those bats flying around all over. Some are popped with foam and some are not.  Some are coming out of the photo mats and some are whole.  

Have fun creating with this awesome collection.  It will be so much FUN!

Layouts With Felicity from Authentique

 It's What We Scrappers DO!

Yes, as scrappers we have so many faults when it comes to our beautiful craft of preserving our memories. Yes, we are Hoarders of the most beautiful papers and the most wonderful embellishments. Yes, we do stage our pics just so they match the newest papers. As you can see by these two layouts using the Felicity Collection from Authentique it is obvious that sometimes we go a weeeee bit crazy when we are staging those pics. Heee! Heee!

This collection has my fav color--turquoise. So naturally I had to use it. And then there is that bicycle theme going on here with an old fashioned flair. Well, it just so happens that I have this cute little yellow bicycle that is really a plant stand.  The ideas started rolling and Ray was not happy with this one. But alas, he went along and the pics turned out pretty cute. In fact, they were purrrfect for this paper and made a one of a kind layout. One of those kind that our kids will be looking at these when we are long gone and wonder why they never committed us!!! Life is much to short to be crabby. One should always live it to the fullest, laughing all the way, knowing full well everyone is trying to figure out why you are always so happy and crazy.  

Thank you Authentique for such a wonderful product -- Always.  Your papers are so much fun to use for all my crafting projects.

Drawers by Felicity

You know that I am an avid LOVER of Authentique Papers. This adorable Felicity Collection, in just my shade of turquoise, is a fun one to cause great creative thought processes. It makes you happy with the pretty colors (you know I love turquoise and blues) and the gorgeous artwork just take you back to a time when life was so simple and just plain fun. Layouts have been done but then. . .  

My friend Sharon and I went to the GASC Crop. We figured since we were working GASC we might as well hit the crop too. We both won a prize and mine was this pack of cut out wood pieces that just had "10 shelves" written in sharpie on the outside of the bag. 

I got home and decided to check out my prize package of wood pieces. There were soooooo many pieces and not one bit of instructions. I figured out the drawers but had no idea what the base pieces were supposed to do. No amount of mixing up those pieces to make a case for a drawer was working. Ray was laughing at me saying I had more patience than he did. Now that's a stretch. There was however a card from SaCrafters in the bag. I went to their website, found the item along with several other wood piece items they sell. By looking at the pics I figured out how it went together. Then I found the videos. Let's just say I did better looking at the pics. Too many distractions and interactions with off camera people for my taste on a tutorial video. Plus watching 35 minutes of this lady painting each piece was more time consuming than I was into.

 

My brain started turning and the creativity cells kicked into high gear. Out came the turquoise paint and the Felicity Collection. Once it was all done and covered with paint and paper it was time to bling it up. We all have those containers full of ribbon, bling, buttons, leftover pieces of embellishments don't we? Of course we do, it is the common creed of all hoarders, er I mean crafters! So, I started diving into mine to find just the right pieces to use on this new creation. I love the little wooden spool with the hat pin on the top of the shelf. The card holder would also be a great place to showcase a pic. You can change it often--just pull out the existing and add a new one. How fun would that be to have a new pic every week?

This adorable little desk top shelf with 10 drawers is what happened a day later. I think it is just tooooooo cute. It just makes me happy. It would make a great gift. Hmmmmm, wonder what I will do with it?????

Front Porch Spirit

Have you been lagging behind in getting into the Spirit of the USA? July 4th is getting closer. Check out all these easy and fun ideas (love that Pinterest) that you too can do to have your front porch in the most Explosive of moods!

Look at these adorable "firecrackers" made from scrap 2x2 boards. I painted them with my Dylusion paints and used a variety of stencils to add some Pop to them.  Drill a hole in the top of each one and add some jute for a fuse.  I added a board across all three on the back so they would stand up easier and stay straight. Tie the jute around them and place on your porch.  These are 14", 12" and 10" tall.  I have them siting on my old antique stove on the front deck.

Then I got crazy with the 2x4 scraps (Ray is getting tired of me rummaging through his scrap wood pile and needing things cut, lol.) and made really BIG firecrackers to stand by the front door.  I had one banged up shutter left from a class and decided to make it into a "flag" to go with the firecrackers.  I used the same Dylusion paints as on the smaller firecrackers along with the stencils and the alpha masks from Hazel & Ruby.  No, there are not the correct number of stars or stripes because it is just the "idea" of a flag.  

I love decorating and now that I am home I can actually spend time doing all those things that I have put aside for the past 12 years.  I am having soooooo much fun doing all these cool things.  What have you done to add Spirit to your house?

Cheerful Family Album

You saw this album at NSD that I made for all those miscellaneous family photos that were in the "extra" pile. I had no intention of doing a class but the constant persuading by the masses has me getting it together for a class. Complete this small but mighty album using the Cheerful Collection from Authentique Papers. It is made totally from scratch with chipboard, cardstock and envelopes. (I took 3 various class techniques from Lance Anderson and rolled them into one album.) It holds 83+ pics!!!! There are pockets, there are hidey holes, there are flip outs, there are accordions. It has all kinds of ways to showcase photos. My front cover is hand painted and I will guide you through that process with the paints provided. If you opt not to do that you can just cover the front cover with the paper in your kit.
As an added bonus you can opt for the 2-page layout using this collection for an additional fee.

Class Length: 9 hours of creating, planning and working magic into 34 papers, envelopes, stickers, and die cuts.
Cost: Album Only: $68. Add on the 2 page layout for the special cost of an additional $16. (Regularly $22.) Total Cost for both: $84 Lite Lunch, Snacks, sweets, tea, and water provided to keep you energized. Students MUST be pre-paid and pre-registered by July 9th as kits must be prepared ahead of time.
Class Location: Rayline's Retreat in Springtown off Hiway 199. You may also choose to stay overnight and continue to work on your projects as late as you wish. Cost to retreat for staying overnight: $50/person. Minimum of 4 ladies needed to stay overnight.

Student Supply List: Basic tool it, Black ink, blending tool, tiny attacher, Scor Tape, foam tape. Paints will be provided for those wanting to paint the front cover.

Tag-a-Palooza with Nanci Holtsford

Have you watched Nanci do the tag classes at the store and thought you might want to try? Now is the purrrect time to jump in. Nanci will be walking you through 3 Wonderful Christmas Tags using the techniques Tim Holtz has made so famous. The difference is Nanci puts her own personal twist on the tags and then has you go wild creating and adding your own twist to the techniques. You will have time the last part of the class to create extra tags with the blank ones provided using what you learned in the class.
Class Length: 5 hours of lucious creativity
Cost: $45 Snacks, sweets, water & tea provided to keep you energized. Students MUST be pre-paid and pre-registered by June 20th. Kits will be made ahead of time ladies.
Class Location: Rayline's Retreat in Springtown off Hiway 199. You may also choose to spend Saturday night at the retreat venue. Cost for staying overnight is $50 per person. Minumum number for staying over is 4 people.

Student Supply List: Basic tool kit, distress inks-pine needles, mowed lawn, tumbled glass, broken china, fired brick, barn red, festive berries, gathered twig, vintage photo, walnut stain, ground expresso, black soot, peacock feathers, antique linen, tea dye & a few more colors to be announced next week, non stick craft mat, crop-a-dile, tiny attacher, spray bottle, blending tools and extra foams, and a regular craft mat. If you do not have any of these items they will be available at the class for purchase. Students must have their own consumable supplies for the class.

New Name, New Look, More FUN!

By now you know the store is no more.  Lots of things in life change on a dime and you must be able to adapt with those changes. Those that know me know I look for Plan B & roll with the flow.  That Flow has led me into continuing with our awesome Retreats 4 times a year at Mitchell Resort & RV Park.  These are always crazy good fun round the clock. Dates for the next two retreats are: Sept 15-18 & Nov 3-6. Click here for our facebook page for all the info.

And That Flow has led me to hosting monthly Crops at Mitchell's. These crops have turned into some WonDerFul Saturdays with old friends & new friends coming together and creating everything from scrapbook layouts to Junktique repurposing of crazy finds.  We all share a dish or two and we eat some. really. good. cooking. the. entire. time! You really should join us. Here are the dates for upcoming crops: July 9th, August 20th, none in September due to retreat, Oct 1, none in Nov due to retreat, and Dec 3.  Get your name on our list today on the Facebook page or email me at catbeaty@sbcglobal.net.

The masses have continued to ask for Classes so I shall provide. We always offer classes at our NSD CatVention in May and now we will add classes to the mix periodically throughout the year. We have two fantastic classes coming up in the next few months.  

Nanci is coming back with her famous Tag-a-Palooza class on June 25th with an event at Rayline's Retreat in Springtown. We have done classes here before and it is a lovely retreat venue for smaller groups. It will be purrrfect for our classes. The tag class is from 1pm - 6pm. Snacks, sweets, tea & water provided. Nanci will teach you some awesome techniques to complete 3 beautiful Christmas themed tags.  She will then turn you loose with blank tags for you to create on your own using the techniques you learned.  You will come away with 6 tags. All the info is listed on the Facebook page under Events. You must be pre-registered and pre-paid for all classes.

I will be doing a mighty mini album class, Cheerful Family Album, on July 16th at Rayline's Retreat in Springtown. This little album I designed for myself to house all my "extra" pics since I take waaaaay toooooo many!  I always had so many left over after making layouts.  When everyone saw it at NSD they all yelled Class! Class! Class! So, it is now a class. An all day class with lots of techniques to be learned. I took several techniques I learned from Lance Anderson and put them on steroids to come up with this one. He was even shocked in May! It is full of all kinds of places to put pics. I have 83 pics in there now and it can hold more! How fun will this class be?  Lite lunch, snacks, sweets, tea & water provided. All the info is listed on the Facebook page under Events. You must be pre-registered and pre-paid for all classes.

I am on a new venture with my creative, creative self this year. I hope you will join in on the FUN!