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Scrapbook Generation: Super Sketch Club

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I’ve talked here many times about my love for the sketch books put out by SCRAPBOOK GENERATION called “SKETCHES FOR SCRAPBOOKING.” For instance, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

I’m the proud owner of Sketches for Scrapbooking, Volumes 1-7. I like to pull the books apart and sort the sketches into binders by number of photos per sketch. I keep a binder on my desk at all times in a cookbook holder (landscape side) so it’s super easy to flip through. Then when I’m ready to scrap, I grab a stack of photos and head to that section of my binder. Luvs it.

What I think of as the “Allison” way of scrapbooking is exactly the way I’ve always scrapped – mostly 2-page layouts, lots of photos, and great journaling. But the thing is … Allison and her group do it oh-so-much mo’ betta’ than I ever could. So I basically just scrapbook following their sketches now, LOL. I mean, cut out the middle man right?

Scrapbook Generation also has several MONTHLY KITS. I’ve drooled over the layouts from these kits for, gosh, it must be 2 years or so by now. I don’t get any other kits and have always chosen to spend my scrappy budget on the cool new things that come onto my MEMORY WORKS SITE.

But after much hemming and hawing (I swear, I actually went “Hemmmm!” And then I went “Haaawww!” Kid you not). And much chewing on the inside of my mouth in deep thought … I decided that 2012 is the year that THE SUPER SKETCH CLUB WILL BE MINE!

Ahem! Erm, I mean … I will finally join the SUPER SKETCH CLUB. And I did. And my first kit (the MARCH one) came today. I had to take the kids somewhere straight after the post office and, okay, I admit it: I kind of sped a teensy bit in my car to get there sooner so I could open the stinkin’ kit!

When we got there and I let them off, I sat in the car and opened it. For the record, it was packaged very nicely in a flattened box and then a big plastic ziplock-y type bag. The invoice was on top, then the first sketch, with all the papers and cardstock to make the first 3 layouts. Then the other sketches and papers organized perfectly.

They post photos of the layouts every month on their blog so if there’s a kit you don’t care for, you can just send it to me. Or I mean, cancel it for that month. What-EVER!

Here are the March layouts from the blog:

So you get 5 double-page layouts (and there will be nice leftovers you can make cards from if you like) for only $26.99 including shipping. Amazing.

Is it too soon to declare that I’m in love?!?!? I mean, we just met and all but – sometimes you just KNOW, right? Yeah, I KNOW.

So then I looked out my car windows to make sure no one was looking and … well, you know what I did next because you have the same sickness I do.

I took a deep breath and smelled all that paper.

Don’t look at me like that! You know you would’ve done the same thing. Don’t pretend you’re all better than me, all holier-than-thou, “ooh, I would never inhale paper sitting in a car alone, ew!” Because you know you would.

So I got a little sidetracked there but I just wanted to tell you that I totally recommend the Super Sketch Club from Scrapbook Generations. You should sign up. Today.

But get your own kit! I’m going to marry mine ;)

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Scrapbook Shopping: LSS, Target, Scrapbook Generation, and Simple Stories “Sn@p!”

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Just wanted to share some recent scrappy shopping I’ve done :)

Here are 2 little finds from an LSS when I was traveling:

I’ll admit I don’t keep up with PINK PAISLEE releases lately so I don’t know how recent these “Old School” metal badges are … but they sure are cute. Flair on scrapbook pages seems to be all the rage lately. And since “OCTOBER AFTERNOON” and “washi tape” are 2 of my favorite terms lately, I couldn’t pass up this “photo taken:” tape from the “Midway” line. I plan to use it in my Project Life album next year with all my SIMPLE STORIES “SN@P!” GOODIES.

Remember how I told you that TARGET HAS NEW SCRAPBOOK SUPPLIES?

Bladow!

Mine had many of the new items mentioned in that entry and then some. I picked up a few things ;) I’ve never heard of this ’til now but apparently WRMK has something called “Albums Made Easy Memory System”. Along with the WRMK 12×12 albums and divided page protectors, they had a variety of these little pads for really good prices … I think about $1.50 to $2.50. I thought these were really cute. I’ll use them for Project Life too. The color way is a bit different than the Sn@p! line but will coordinate nicely I think and be a nice change when the time comes.

I had to break open that little pack of AMERICAN CRAFTS “Everyday” die cut chipboard shapes to show the cuteness in full effect.

I’m going to be totally obnoxious here and say the dreaded word: ADORBS!!! I’m sorry, but could these BE any more precious!??! I love the hearts, clouds, and Polaroid shapes. And the little jars of hearts remind me one of my favorite songs, Christina Perri’s “JAR OF HEARTS.” Hee.

Here is my latest “SUPER SKETCH CLUB” kit from SCRAPBOOK GENERATION.

{Opps, ignore the sheet of Simple Stories “Fabulous” on the left. That was on the desk when I took the photo but didn’t come with this kit}.

I’ve been receiving this kit for about 6 months now and adore it every month. I’m getting so many pages done. Those 2 turquoise/black flowery papers at the top are not my favorite at face value but I’m sure they’ll make them look good somehow, LOL. All the Simple Stories “HARVEST LANE” and kraft paper will be fun to work with.

Lastly, here is some Simple Stories “FABULOUS” and “Sn@p!” that I already had but I wanted to take a photo of the 2 lines together. Someone on Two Peas had asked how well they coordinated. What do you think?

As I told her ~ while Fabulous is definitely grungier and Sn@p! has cleaner, brighter colors ~ I think they look great together. I would hesitate to mix ’em.

Happy scrappy shopping and have a great week!

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Scrapbook Generations: “Good Day Sunshine” Kit

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Some time in June, I got an e-mail from SCRAPBOOK GENERATION which is where I get the monthly SUPER SKETCH CLUB kit. It was advertising some new layout kits they had that you could purchase a la carte, without signing up for the club or anything. This was my favorite one: GOOD DAY SUNSHINE.

good day sunshine kit scrapbook generation

For only 18 bucks, you get enough papers to do 3 double-page layouts, plus instructions, sketches, and a photo of the completed layouts. SOLD! I only wish I could’ve bought more of their fab-o kits because they have a ton and all are cute and SO worth the price. For only an extra $1.99 in shipping, they held the kit and included it the box with my July Super Sketch Club kit, which was nice.

Anyway, as excited as I was to get working on layouts from Shimelle’s THE PERFECT COLLECTION online class, I spent all Friday night and most of Saturday organizing my scrapbook room (photos and deets to follow this week!). So I was too brain-fried to even attempt the class.

So instead I pulled out the package with my Good Day Sunshine kit and got to work. About an hour later, I had all this to show for myself :)

{Yeah, I see you eye-ballin’ that October Afternoon “Cakewalk” paper. It’s cute huh?? But totally unrelated to this post}.

Sorry, to fit it all in 1 pic, I had to tilt one layout on it’s side but you get the gist, yeah? As you can see, I also had enough paper and die cuts left to make an additional single page layout. We go to the beach a lot so I’ll be putting these pre-done layouts to good use. I think I’m going to use them for a beach overnighter we did last summer where our hotel was right on the beach. I figure I can use the single page layout like a cover page with the title and a bunch of journaling, maybe 1 photo. Then the other 2 beach-related layouts will follow with beach photos and the other stuff we did there.

Sometimes when you have no brain power but want to cut some paper and use pop dots, a kit like this is a very good thing ;) Did you accomplish anything scrappy last weekend?

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Online Scrapbook Shopping: Not Getting What You Paid For?

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About a month ago, I placed an order for some scrapbook supplies from an online shop. I had bought from them before and had a great experience. The prices are good, they get the new releases quite quickly, and sometimes carry things that I can’t get with my consultant discount from MEMORY WORKS. Super cool, right?

So I ordered a bunch of things from the October Afternoon “9 TO 5” LINE including 12×12 papers, Mini Market stickers, 2 rolls of washi tape, etc. I also purchased a set of SUMMER FRESH 6×8 insert pages {MW was out of stock at the time}.

summer fresh mix and match album

My shipment arrived in a timely manner and I was scrap happy, although I was so busy with work and family stuff at the time, I barely had time to glance at it all much less sniff all the paper …. erm, verify that I got everything I ordered.

AHEM.

So fast forward to last weekend. I was straightening up my desk, putting away a bunch of scrap crap … errr … scrappy goodness, and I came across the package with my order. Finally! Time to sniff my papers! I mean, LOOK at all my goodies. For shits and giggles, I looked at the packing sheet and compared it to what I received.

Lo and behold, something didn’t match up. Instead of the LABEL STICKERS that I ordered …

october afternoon 9 to 5 label stickers

… I received WORD STICKERS:

october afternoon 9 to 5 word stickers

And instead of 1 set of JOURNAL CARDS …

october afternoon 9 to 5 journal cards

october afternoon 9 to 5 journal cards

… I received 2 sets.

SO.

Don’t get me wrong: Those Word Stickers are sure cute. But, you know, um … that’s not what I paid for. Not what I chose. For one thing, I won’t even use those book tab thingee stickers. And I wanted the journaling space provided by the, uh, ya know, label stickers that I ordered.

Then again, why am I complaining? Not only did they replace the Label stickers with the comparably-priced Word Stickers, but I got a “free” pack of Journal Cards too. So doesn’t that more than make up for everything?

I’m not going to make an issue of it. One could say if I cared so much, why would I take over a month to figure out the discrepancy? And is it really worth the time/energy it takes to call or write the company, return or exchange or wait for the Label Stickers (which I assume they were out of) to come in, etc.? Nope, not worth it to me.

But this is the second time this has happened to me in about the last year (and I’d say I order something online about twice a month, if you include my monthly SUPER SKETCH CLUB kit). The other time it was from one of the huge online vendors. In that case, they really screwed me. An item I ordered was “out of stock” (funny how it was IN stock when I placed my order) so not only did they just ship it to me without the item (you know, the one I was REALLY looking forward to and the main reason I placed the order in the first place?).

But by deleting that item, it took me below the “$50 and free shipping” threshhold. So I received only my secondary item AND got charged for full shipping which was not an amount I would’ve agreed to pay for shipping. Grrr! I e-mailed them to express my pissed-off-edness but didn’t pursue it beyond that. I did learn not to order from them again unless I’m willing to risk this little cancellation and replacement dance they do.

And now I don’t trust this second vendor and will question ordering from them again. Wouldn’t it have been better for their sake if they had taken the time to write or call me and say, “Hey, we’re out of this, can we give you that, or would you rather have a Paypal refund?” And then I would continue my loyalty to them as a very happy customer. Now, not so much.

So this has me wondering how common a practice this is in the scrapbook industry. What’s been your experience with online shopping? Have you had items you ordered and paid for – substituted, canceled, or otherwise arrive not as you expected? Did you make an issue of it or just let it ride?

Would love to hear your experiences … Please leave the company name out of it if you can/thanks!

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Happy Scrappy Mother’s Day!!

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It’s Saturday night, about 11:30 pm, and I’m so looking forward to Mother’s Day tomorrow. I haven’t asked for, nor do I expect to receive, any (tangible) gifts. But I’m receiving 3 of my favorite things, that are oh-so-rare:

1. Sleeping in until 10:00 a.m. (oh, the luxury!!)

2. Breakfast in bed served by the sweetest kids this side of the Mississippi

3. Scrapbooking at home with my mama all day

I can’t think of a better way to spend “my day”, can you?

I’m working tonight so I can scrap guilt-free tomorrow :) Mom and I are taking over the dining room table and kickin’ some scrapbook ayshe tomorrow!

As I work tonight, my mind keeps drifting off, thinking about which projects or layouts I should work on. I know I’m going to start with a stack of layouts I did at at scrapbook retreat in February … you know those ones that are about 80% done, they just need some Stickles or ribbon or journaling? Yeah, those. They’ve been staring at me from my desk for almost 3 months now and we’re fitting to throw down with all the mad-doggin’ they’ve been giving me.

Then I can’t decide whether to start some new layouts with all the fun goodies I’ve bought lately (can you say SUMMER FRESH or WHAT’S UP or MIX & MATCH or PB&J???).

Or should I put together my 2 months worth of SUPER SKETCH CLUB layouts? Or one of a zillion other projects I have in the wings?

See now THESE are the types of decisions I like being forced to make!!

Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful, relaxing, blessed, scrappy, delightful Mother’s Day. What are your plans, scrappy or otherwise?

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CHA 2014: Adventures of a Newbie at Scrapbooking’s Biggest Event (Intro Post)

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YES! I got to go to CHA* for the first time!!! And it was absolutely amazing! Scrapbook Bucket List item checked off! I could only go for one day (Saturday) but I’m so grateful even for that. It’s like Rome or Disneyland – there is NO possible way to see and do everything you want to in one day. So I ran around like a scrappy chicken with my head cut off and crammed as much as I could into 7 hours.
*Are you wondering what the hay CHA is? Check THIS out.

There was so much greatness packed into those 7 hours that I can’t put it all in one blog post. I’ll do a series over the next week or two and that way I can be more detailed (maybe TOO detailed but humor me, LOL!) Simple Stories and Basic Grey might take 2 posts each. We’ll see how it goes. But I want to share the experience with you of being a total geeky newb in the Emerald City. I must say, Oz was extremely welcoming :) And no flying monkeys. BONUS!

Pinch me. I still kind of can’t believe it. OUCH! Jeez, I didn’t mean ACTUALLY pinch me. It was a figure of speech. Sheesh. That’s okay, it didn’t hurt that much. Between CHA yesterday and the Golden Globes and The Bachelor tonight, I’m in heaven anyway. I still love you <3 IMG_3295

For an idea of what’s to come, below are some of the booths I went to and people I met.

I got a tour of these booths, met some wonderful people, and got you some good intel:
BASIC GREY – Talked to one of the owners, Rachel Brenchley, and briefly met Kelly Purkey
SIMPLE STORIES – Met the owners Kevin and Amber Crowell, and Jodi, Sue, and Layle Koncar
ECHO PARK / CARTA BELLA – Met Andrea Smith
WEBSTER’S PAGES – Met Allison Kreft and Shimelle
PROJECT LIFE – Met Becky Higgins
CHICKANIDDY CRAFTS – Met Heidi Sonboul’s husband
MAMBI (Me and My Big Ideas) – Met Shelby Strichard

These are booths that I quickly visited and got photos of:
BELLA BLVD
BAZZILL
WRMK
AMERICAN CRAFTS
KAISERCRAFT
COPICS
CHIC TAGS

Who I saw from afar but didn’t talk to, darn it:
Noell Hyman from PAPERCLIPPING.COM
AMY TANGERINE from American Crafts
TIM HOLTZ from . . . Tim Holtz
HEIDI SONBOUL from Chickaniddy Crafts
ELISE BLAHA CRIPE from enJOY It.com

As you can see, I’m a Paper Girl. If you’re looking for inks and stamps and tools, I’m not your gal. I mean, all that stuff is awesome but I had to prioritize so I went for my first love: PAPER!!! I’m a confessed PAPER SNIFFER from way back, remember? I’ve always been open with you about that. Don’t hate.

IMG_3296

I also got to meet Nancy Nalley from SCRAPBOOK UPDATE and we had a quick fun convo at the end of the day. I hope I remembered to mention every person and booth I visited. If not, I’ll include them later, swear!

Overall, I will say that my photos will not be the best you’ll see out there (camera problems so most are iPhone photos). I didn’t take a TON of project photos because I know each manufacturer posts those on their blog, etc. My focus will be on telling you the story of the day, how amazing and fun it was to be there, the conversations I had with some of my favorite companies, what I’ll do differently next time, and hopefully some insider information that you won’t hear anywhere else. The posts will be LONG. I’m verbose. Deal with it.

I did offer those I interviewed the chance to do a run-through of our exchange before I post it. I don’t have the greatest memory and I’d feel HORRIBLE if I misquoted someone. I also don’t want to share any details they’d rather keep under wraps for now, or anything too personal. They are businesses, just real people making a living, and I totally respect that. But if there’s a delay in posting anything, that’ll be why – just wanted you to know ☺

So please come back to read more about my adventures at CHA 2014. If you want to make sure and not miss a post, you can sign up for updates in the top right corner. That way, you get an e-mail every time I post.

In the meantime, if you’re Jonesing for CHA product and project photos, I encourage you to check out all the vendor blog links in my Blogroll on the lower right. If you go to their blogs, you can usually find a link to their Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook where they’re sharing photos from CHA and/or products debuting at CHA. Also, in my post above, anything that’s bolded is a link to their blog or website.

Another way to see amazing pics from the floor of CHA is check out Melissa Stinson/Scrappy Jedi’s FLICKR FEED. She has a nice camera and her CHA photos are wicked good. I was hoping to meet Melissa @ CHA but never saw her, dangit! I’ve followed her blog for years and am a big fan.

Sorry no pretty pictures this time. I’m still downloading and editing them – I took almost 500 total. In 7 hours. Yikes. Excessive much?

Hope to see you soon for more CHA dish!

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