Life at Full Speed Ahead

That's how I feel right now...I've been running to and fro and have just been BUSY! (As you can tell by my poor blog!) First there was the CHA trade show in January held in sunny California. I love creating with new products! Here are a just a few of my projects. (Both feature my daughter Brittany's wedding pics...cause Miss Breanna's were not ready yet!)

This layout uses the new Free Spirit collection by Prima. It's bright and cheery and totally perfect for Britt's wedding pics.

Something Blue is another new collection by Prima and is made for wedding photos! (Like this gorgeous shot by Honey Heart Photography!)

Shortly after CHA Tami and I hopped over to Germany to work another trade show there. I wasn't sure what to expect, to be honest, as I had never been there before, but I LOVED Germany! CreativeWorld was fabulous. I love our distributors there. The people I met were just so amazing. And I LOVED the gals I was working with. 

Did I mention the weather? It was SO much warmer than I thought it would be (that's always a win-win in my book!) And the food???? Tami and I found a little restaurant right by our hotel that served authentic German food and we sort of PIGGED out a bit! Haha. We actually ate there three times in one week. Yeah. THAT good! One day after the show the train skipped our stop so we made friends with two other gals, while trying to figure out what to do, and then threw caution to the wind and ended up going shopping downtown with them! They were so fun...and we were quite lost, but it was a grand adventure!

I even found a Starbucks (behind us in the pic) and got my German mug...you know how important that is, Cari & Rommel!

After the show we went sightseeing. It was so hard narrowing down where to go and what to see! Seriously, Germany has SO MANY cool things. Being the girly girls that we are we decided Neuschwanstein Castle was a MUST SEE. In America we have the famous Disney castle fashioned after this very castle...thus us poor girls, who cannot pronounce Neuschwanstein to save our lives, just called it Cinderella's castle the whole day. ha.

 Now getting UP to the castle is a whole 'nother story. pant. pant. You think you've paid for drop-at-the-door service and then the carriage actually drops you off WAY far away. With a steep mountain climb in front of you. So we run to make our ticket time. pant. pant, cough. run faster still.

 And we're there and they open the front door with 2 minutes to spare! (Still coughing, but we rocked it!) No pics were allowed INSIDE the castle, so I can't post those. (And I finally stopped coughing near the end of the tour!)  :)

But, isn't it gorgeous? It's so regal and HIGH up in the mountains. (The other side looks more like the Disney castle, but I couldn't GET a good pic of that.)

A few other highlights of the day: Buying Schneeballens

Visiting old cities...

Going down the autobahn at a break-neck speed (146 mph/234 kmh.) Go, Sharon! I videoed it just to show my guys at home, cause I knew they would never believe me. (Secretly I LOVED going that fast! The video proof is on Facebook!)

And, this might rank right up there with one of my most favorite surprises on a trip, our driver took us into Austria! 

I knew we were right on the border, but thought it would be too much to ask him to go off the route. Austria (and Bavaria) were so beautiful...snow-capped mountains and little villages in the valleys. I swear I heard the Sound of Music playing...

SEE?????

So jump forward. Every time I get home from a trip it's mass chaos catching up on everything work-related and family-related! This time my guys did such a fantastic job of cleaning the house. You couldn't REALLY tell they had been living in a man cave for over a week. My hubby & boys did a great job getting rid of the evidence! And I missed them so much! Homecomings are always so sweet.

Being back home meant focusing on the next adventure! All of February...and I mean almost every spare evening and week-end...has been spent working on my Version Scrap classes. 

Blush Project Life Class Peek

(I LOVED putting this colorful book together with the gorgeous kit! We also have some cool dies, sequins, and so many other embellies to add to the pages!)

Family Mixed-Media Journal Peek

(This class has the BIGGEST kit of all...and has many Mixed-Media pages and photo pages all mixed into one FUN journal! If you love playing with art supplies you will love this class! I even got a few NEW Color Bloom sprays & Nathalie Kalbach's new stamps for ya!)

Custom Art Journal Peek

(I love the colors of this kit, the wonderful selection of pages in the book, and the custom touches each technique will let you add to your art journal. Eeek...it's gonna be an artsy adventure!)

Whew. I am ALMOST done with everything! Hopefully all kits will ship out next week...and they are very FULL! The box weights this year have gone up from last year, so that means more goodies for those of you signed up for my classes! If you have not signed up HURRY UP!!!! Some dates are sold out already.

These are just some of my amazing sponsors. You are going to LOVE playing with their products!!!

American Crafts, Becky Higgin's Project Life, Faber Castell, PanPastel, Prima Marketing, Simon Says Stamp, and Stampendous!

Prima & Echo Park Hop!

Echo Park and Prima decided to pair up and do a little blog hop together! Our products work so well together! You can see Prima's give-aways here and Echo Park here!


(And a cool tidbit: Jen and I lived in Savannah at the same time and taught at our LSS! Now we have both moved away and are coordinators for design teams with these two fab companies! It's a small world after all!)

 So it was extra sweet to work on this switcheroo together!

Here is my guest spot featured on EP's blog! I loved working with their lines!
 





Sweet Girl Mini Album
Echo Park's collection, Sweet Girl, is filled with fabulous colors and delightful patterns! Prima is known for their romantic products, but they work perfectly for bright, cheery lines as well. I had so much fun adding flowers, wood icons, washi tape, pearls and clips to the Little Girl mini featuring my two granddaughters. This brag book is surprise gift for Amariah, 3, who just gained a little sister. She can carry it around with her and show it off to everyone! Don't we all need a brag book to carry with us?

Echo Park:
Sweet Girl papers, stickers

Prima:

Lady Bird Vintage Trinkets-563578

Wood Icons-563875

Pearls-300456

Songbird Pearl-553937

Zephyr Leaves-562502

Sun Kiss Flowers-555658

Zephyr Alphas- 559175
Serenade Roses-561451

Cabaletta Pink Flowers- 561758

Lyrique Felt Flowers-562069

Washi Tapes: 561178 (Welcome to Paris); 561185 (Rondelle)

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Love This Little Face Layout

This layout was absolutely wonderful to put together (in no time at all). Add the beautiful papers from the "Sweet Girl" collection. Then add flowers, pearls, leaves, washi tape, and a bit of Prima Packaging (black banners). Prima works very hard on their packaging so you get a FREE product and less waste.

 

Echo Park:

Sweet Girl papers, stickers

Prima:

Wood Icons - 563875

Pearls - 300456

Zephyr Leaves - 562502

Sun Kiss Flowers - 555658

Serenade Roses - 561451

Washi Tapes: 561178 (Welcome to Paris), 561185 (Rondelle)

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Family Layout

Beautiful Life is appropriately named! The papers and sticker accents work wonderfully with any family photo. I chose my favorite family photo (yes, we are a big family now that we have older girls with significant others, and a few granddaughters.) Add a few of the fun paper/sticker accents to create a colorful layout base...then top with Prima flowers, leaves, crystals and wood buttons for stunning results.

Echo Park Collection: Beautiful Life

Prima Products:
Tivona White Flowers- 557164
Welcome to Paris Leaves- 562380
Clear Crystal Sheets- 565053
Sunrise Sunset Wood Button- 564957
Welcome to Paris Roses- 562359

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Hope you enjoyed these projects! 

TFL!

:) Sharon

Go Green Christmas Mini-Album!

Each November I gather a few of my saved Prima packaging pieces and create a Christmas mini-album. What a GREAT, and inexpensive, way to put together an album very quickly. Then, after I print out my Christmas photos I can just stick them in since the album is ready to go. (Tip: This would also make a fabulous gift for a teacher, neighbor or friend!)



This year I pulled some of the packaging from Ingvild Bolmes' Shabby Chic resins. The blue and white palette is perfect for a wintery look. You will only need about 3 sheets of patterned paper to cover 3 or 4 packaging pieces on both sides-and Prima's ledger pads are a great deal offering a wonderful mix of coordinating patterns. Tip: Do not worry about tears on the packaging. You will cover those up with paper or flowers!



Directions:

1. After adding paper to the packaging I looked through my stash for a few elements to decorate with. I love to make scrapbooking simple so I use similar elements through-out the book to keep a cohesive look. Tip: Try to stick to 3-4 colors (turquoise, red, white and black) that coordinate with your papers.

2. Next I chose 2-3 packages of flowers in different sizes/colors, some leaves, doilies, ribbon, red Velvet Trinkets, alphas, and whatever little left-overs I had around. Tip: I keep a jar of left-over tidbits right on my scrap table so they are always in sight. I find myself using them a lot when I can SEE them! (Buttons, extra flowers, pieces of ribbons, etc.)

3. I also like to create pockets on minis! What a great place to tuck Christmas memorabilia...or some extra photos! Punch some tags to tuck in for journaling space.

4. A great way to include a lot of photos on one page is to make your own little book. Staple several sheets of paper together at the top. Then add a binder and glue to the mini-album page. So simply, but so creative.


5. I love to use doilies when I scrap. Cut them apart to get more mileage out of them. Tip: You can cut down the middle, or, as I did on multiple pages here, cut just 1/3 off for a visually pleasing balance.

6. Add titles or words that carry the holiday spirit through-out the book! Tip: I used the Paris alphas which offer a dark red and light blue. Working wtih two colors opens up your options for placement.



7. Make as many pages as you wish and then loop them all on a large ring. Make sure to decorate the ring for that little extra touch. Tip: Punch a small hole in some leaves to thread on your ring.
8. Wrap up for a gorgeous one-of-a-kind gift for that special someone!


Product List:

• Ledger Papers: 843755
• Paris Alphas: 559137
• Prima Trim: 550455
• Precious Metals Leaves: 547394
• Paris Velvet Trinkets: 559977
• Melody White Dove: 552923
• Serenade Turquoise Flwoers: 561475
• Soubrette White Flowers: 561574
• Ingvild Bolme Shabby Chic Resins: 891459 (frame & corners)
• seam binding, tulle, twine

I hope you have enjoyed one of my Christmas traditions! ~Sharon