Happy 4th of July Weekend......

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. We started by making our family tradition, rice krispie treats, with the help of our crafty girl Alysia. Friends and family came over for a BBQ and then we took the kids to the cliffs to watch all the fire works along the beaches. Sorry the pictures didn't come out!
Brother-n-laws bonding while BBQ..........
Saturday morning the guys took the boys, Antonio and Denton fishing. Little did my sister know she had to drive them out on the warf, not her favorite place to drive a car, LOL!
Denton's first fish, maybe now he will go fishing with Michelle and me.
They also caught a star fish and a crab. These two guys did get to go back to the ocean.
After lunch on the water front, us girls met the guys on the warf.

Later, my sister said it was a MUST to go visit the toe ring guy. Everyone that comes to Capitola has to get fitted for a toe ring. If your ever here go by and visit them, Capitola Reef Script Craft Jewelry.

Friday we went to the boardwalk in Santa Cruz. We were so busy with the kids, I didn't get many pictures.

Thursday Pedro planned a trip out to sea to go whale watching. OMG it was amazing, we saw 4 whales. Two of them were very playful and jumped all the way out of the water. Unfortunately my pictures were too far away.
The sea lions were all so friendly, they just lay around everywhere. I was amazed at how many we saw out at sea.


Towards the end we came across 13 dolphins swimming along the boat. The water was so clear you could see them under the water.
We are heading to the beach for our last day, then back to HOT Texas tomorrow.
Have a great weekend!

Day 2 in California.......

Today we took the kids to a marine science center in Santa Cruz while the guys went fishing.Did you know that Whales are the largest animals ever to roam the earth? I didn't, I guessed dinosaurs! Tomorrow we are taking a boat out to go Whale watching. Hopefully I can get some great pictures, if I do not get sea sick!
Every Wednesday night they have concerts on the beach down the street from my sisters house. We packed the cooler, ordered a pizza, got the chairs and parked it on the beach. Tonight was swing music.
Antonio and Denton found a friend and decided to dig a hole.
My sweet Alysia hung out with the girls and posed for the camera.

Hello from sunny California.......

We made it! Why did I ever move to Texas, I LOVE the weather here. First thing this morning we headed down to the beach. My sister and brother in law found this great house in Capitola, right down from Santa Cruz, over 2 years ago. The cousins have their boogie boards and are ready to catch some waves.

As we were walking down to the beach, I saw this hand crafted gate. The artist in me had to snap a picture to share. I love all the neat little houses here.

This is called the "Village", it is right down the street at the beach.

Daddy, Denton and his uncle Pedro coming up for air after trying to survive the waves.

I see a canvas creation coming on with this picture.

We are renting a boat later this week to fish for Halibut, so stay tuned for more updates.

WOW what a awesome Mega Workshop........

Tim Holtz and Cheryl Darrow teamed up and taught a Mega Workshop today at her studio. I NEVER get to play and enjoy a class, so this was a treat and they both came up with this awesome project.


Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of Tim, he was surrounded with people after the class and I was so into what I was doing during the class I forgot. The first 2 hours were with Tim doing the inside of the shadow box, it was a blast creating these little canvases.


The second 2 hours we were with Cheryl. This is were Karen and I found her. She looked a little tired!
But she soon brightened up and started doing what she loves....showing people how to use her metal.

I am thrilled Mary Lou came to play. She works so hard and is always doing for other people, she deserved a day for her.

Thank you Tim and Cheryl for a great day and sharing your creativity with us.....sorry it was so HOT Tim, believe me you never get used to it.

That's why I am leaving tomorrow morning for California! I grew up in the Bay area and cannot wait to spend some time with my family. If I can pull myself away from the beach I will post updates and pictures.

Look what I created!

I have a new love, I have a box of domino's, just ordered some stamps specially made for the domino's, now all I need is time!

Wow...there is a lot going on this weekend!

It started yesterday, the creative buzz around DFW. People started flying in from Washington, Kansas, Houston and several from St. Louis. There is so much going on, Tim Holtz is teaching in Plano at Stamp Asylum, Cheryl and Meagan at Ten Second Studios are having their certification classes today and tomorrow and then on Sunday Cheryl and Tim are teaming up and teaching a Mega workshop. I cannot wait, 10 of us are driving out for this, I will post pictures later. 3 scrapbook retreats were full with croppers from all over. Today Paper Cowgirls retreat started with classes today and tomorrow and tonight was vendor night. I went out and showed the girls metal and had them making cool dog tags with trinkets. Here are a few pictures, one girl just happened to check in to the hotel and found all this cool stuff.
Tomorrow we are having our No Frills crop and will be opened til midnight, so come on down. I will post more pictures from the weekend, then my family and I off to California to hang out with family for 10 days, I cannot wait!

Brafree Weekend.......

Got your attention?

I wanted to share about a new scrapbook retreat opening in North Richland Hills. My crazy friend Cheryl Darrow, owner of Ten Seconds Studio, decided she didn't have enough on her plate, and decided to open a retreat. They have transformed there house into a awesome creative place to get away and crop. I think they are homeless until this thing takes off, you know you guys can always come stay with us. Seriously, they do have another house and are very excited about this new venture. You can check out all the details and pictures HERE . Also be sure and leave a comment on their blog to win a free weekend HERE.

We survived the convention

Yes we made it through another year, and believe it or not this year went smoothly. But before I show you guys pictures I have to share something on the home front. Being gone has turned my house upside down and no food in the frig. We all know boys and men do not like to clean or shop without being told. Anyways I have been downstairs doing laundry and putting up the groceries. I sent my son Denton upstairs to take his things to his room, after a hour I realized I had not heard a sound so I went to go check up on him. I found him in his closet organizing his shoes. He also took everything out of his drawers and re-folded the clothes......who is this child? It just melted my heart that he took this task on himself.
I think his underwear drawer looks better than mine!

Now for GASC, first I want to say "Thank You" to everyone that came out to help us. I was in the class room all day Thursday and Friday, that's another whole blog post for later this week. So my wonderful husband Nolan ran the booth with Lynn, Marie, Heidi and our new friend Randy from Canvas Corps. This year we added another booth for more room and had this wonderful black display wall to show off all the awesome examples the design team made. Maya Road Misters were the most popular thing in our booth, with me using it in the classes and Heidi demoing it in the booth.
Everyone wanted the flower Annette made with Graphic 45 paper, Tim Holtz metal and the flower by Carolees Creation. We will be offering this as a class at the shop this summer.

I demoed the Paper Artsy stamps on copper metal all day Saturday, people went nuts over these adorable stamps from the UK.

GASC

We have all been busy at the store getting ready for the Great American Scrapbook Convention. Sherri and the design team have made some awesome examples for the booth, while I have been busy kitting up class kits for all our classes. Again this year we are teaming up with Cheryl from Ten Second Studios teaching several classes. Here are some pictures of my favorite class, its a travel tab book from Maya Road and the new travel paper from Little Yellow Bicycle. Our classes sold out fast, so we will be offering class kits at our booth....so come see us June4th-6th
booth#717, 719, and #721.

Annette's done it again..............

She has created another awesome card class using stamps from the UK Paper Artsy. If you haven't gotten to play with blending ink, metal stamping and embossing, come join us this week;
May 20th 10:30am
May 21st 6:30pm
$25


If you cannot get to our store to find these stamps, we will be carrying them at GASC booth 717, 719 and 721....so come see us!

Later this week I will post pictures of the classes we are teaching at GASC.
Have a great week!

Happy Belated Birthday

OK, so the Birthday wasn't late, but getting the post up here has taken a little too much time. Sorry about that.

On Saturday, April 18, we celebrated our 4th year in business here at the Crafty Scrapper! We were joined by many of our friends for this celebration. 35 ladies cropped all day from 10 am to midnight and many others came in throughout the day to say Hi.

There were so many fun things throughout the day--give aways, clowns, cotton candy and of course, hanging with friends! Thanks for making our 4th year possible.

Sharon Tomlinson comes to the Crafty Scrapper....

I received a phone today from my buddy Cheryl at Ten Second Studios, who very nicely (NOT) informed me that I am letting down my readers and better get my act together and post something. I think she just wanted to see her pictures up here.

This last Saturday we were all excited to bring something totally out of the box to the store. Sharon Tomlinson, a mix media artist who has been published in several magazines, came to teach a class. We all brought JUNK and made a altered junk journal, learning golden medium, transfers and other fun stuff. Cheryl and her friend Karen joined us, but all I heard from Cheryl was "did you know I am Ranger certified?" Last class she came to all I heard was "do you have I glock? I need a glock"! We still love you Cheryl!

Here are a few photos from the class, and us digging in the junk for our book. Check out Sharon's blog for a flip she took of the class. Thank you so much for trekking down to our store and inspiring us. I cannot wait to learn how to paint faces.

I am a bad blogger........

....things have been so crazy, with all the product coming in, classes, and I have had to start on GASC. Yes we are doing it again, and wait until you see the classes we are teaching with Cheryl from TSS. Caroline from Maya Road is going to sponsor us and hopefully help teach a class or two. If you want to take the class, hurry, 2 have already sold out!

Last year we had a VERY special customer that had heard of us and traveled all the way from Italy, and no that's not Italy, Texas. She and her husband come to the states to shop. She looks for scrapbook supplies and he looks for great music stores. I wanted to share this layout she sent me of their visit.
Awesome layout! I am loving the Texas state and stitching...thanks for sharing Francesca, cannot wait to see you guys again!

Soldering 101.....

When we go to CHA, we always try and find something new and fun to bring into the shop. This year we decided on soldering, and we are sooooo lucky to have the talented Tina Wright local to come teach these classes. Tina has been published in Somerset and many other magazines. She is also the co-host in a new retreat called Paper Cowgirls. If you are looking for something new, fun and different be sure and check out the Paper Cowgirls Retreat.

Tina made each student one of these adorable little envelopes to hold their class kits.These two sisters, Jennifer and Gena enjoyed a day out taking a class together.
Tina helping her students get ready to start soldering.......

Susie had a great idea for her charms. She used Waxahachie Indian paper and made soldering charms to hang off her scrapbooks.
Someone got down and serious with her project............
We are so excited about all the classes Tina will be teaching at the store. We will still offer Soldering 101, but are adding advance and intermediate classes. You will have to complete the soldering 101 in order to take any of the advance classes. The store has also started carrying Simply Swank soldering products, we have 29 different size glass sets, charms, solder, foil, books, and a whole starter kit for the beginner, so come check it out!

A day with Cheryl from Ten Seconds Studio....

If you guys haven't figured it out yet, we love Ten Seconds Studio and Cheryl! A couple of weeks ago Cheryl and Megan came down for dinner. When they were leaving, Cheryl saw this in the window of the antique shop next to me. She didn't even know what it was, but could see metal on it and had to have it. When she came down Saturday to teach the metal cross class, we surprised her with it...cannot wait to see what you do with it!

Here the crosses are drying while everyone worked on their metal. Loved how everyone had a different look. If you were in the store while they were distressing their cross...sorry about the noise!