Ever Wondered about Digital Scrapbooking or Card-Making? If you’re in Southern California, you’re in LUCK!! Ever edited a photo? Then you’re already a Digi Scrapper! Learn how to do Basic Photo Editing or to use digital techniques on your cards!!

Whenever I mention Digital Scrapbooking or Card-Making, inevitably several paper crafters very adamantly express that they will NEVER do digital!! But I think what many of them don’t understand is that they have ever edited a photo before they scrapped it, they have already become a digi scrapper/card-maker!!

If you’ve ever wished you could use your computer to realistically, quickly and easily correct and enhance your photos, fix your mistakes, etc., then you absolutely need to take advantage of one of the last chances any of us will have to take classes in person from  THE DIGITAL SCRAPBOOK TEACHER, Patty D.  at Scrapbook Expo here in Orange County, CA before she retires her traveling classes.  She is teaching classes at Scrapbook Expo, which is now located at the Anaheim Convention Center (the same location as CHA was!!) Fri. Feb 23rd & Sat. Feb. 24th.  CLICK HERE to see the workshop schedules (they’re on the right side—see  both the Friday and Saturday workshops—she has no classes scheduled Sunday!).  She has seven classes scheduled for Basic Photo Editing and for Digital Card-Making.  Online registration is now closed, but you can register at the show and as of now, she does have some open spots in her classes.  I HIGHLY RECOMMEND any and all of Patty’s classes!!

I’m sure many of you are familiar with Patty because she has been featured in many prominent craft magazines and you may also recognize her darling “Digi-Chick” avatar from her many national advertisements!!

There are many degrees of digital paper crafting—there are the folks who have gone 100% digital, then there are those referenced above who are engaged in the most basic level of digital by editing their photos on their computer, then the largest group is those of us smack dab in the middle, doing what is called “Hybrid”.  I am in that group and I am there because while I enjoy the many facets of digital scrapbooking / paper-crafting that allow me to get pages done more quickly, I am not now, nor do I think I will ever be ready to give up all the tactile parts of paper-crafting.  I love to touch (and sometimes even sniff, LOL!!) the beautiful papers I have, I love glue dots and “real” matching embellishments such as Prima flowers, all sorts of bling, such as rhinestones, Stickles, glitter, Perfect Pearls Mists, and so on.  I love brads and eyelets, and heaven knows, I LOVE ribbon!!!!  And this means that I am a hybrid scrapbooker / card-maker and proud of it!!

But because my crafting philosophy has always been that crafting should be easy and quick and should NEVER cause you any stress, I do love to use certain things within the digital realm to help me perform some tasks quickly and easily—“EASY PEASY” is my motto!!

And the very first and most important thing I use digital techniques for is to easily edit my photos.  The days of trying to fix “red eye” on photos with a special pen are long gone for me, because with a couple clicks of a mouse, I can fix that red eye in no time flat, and get completely realistic results!!  And what about those photos where the subject is so dark you can barely see who it is?  Guess what—again, with a couple clicks of a mouse, you can correct that as well and end up with a correctly edited photo that looks simply amazing!!

I HIGHLY recommend Patty’s classes because she’s the ONLY person who I’ve ever encountered who teaches classes strictly from the paper-crafter’s point of view!

I have a history with THE DIGITAL SCRAPBOOK TEACHER, Patty in that we met while we were both taking Photoshop Elements classes together at the Huntington Beach Adult School—that’s where we both began our journey into digital.  And during all those classes, over a couple years time, whenever several of us were on break together we would always lament that there were no books or classes geared directly to paper-crafters.  There were tons of Photo Elements books out there, but they were all written from the point of a graphics person.  For a couple years we took these classes in Huntington Beach, and for a couple years we complained and complained about the fact that we had no good reference material to help us figure something out when we ran into trouble when scrapping in the middle of the night!!  Which led Patty to do something incredibly brave--she decided to write just such a book.  She did, and it was received with overwhelming success, which led her to teaching classes all over the country, as well as overseas.  She started her “DIGI BOOT CAMPS”, and her “DIGI DEGREE” program and has been running at an unbelievable pace since her first book was released.  After a huge outpouring of requests for an updated version of the book, she did a full re-write and released it this past year.  To say she’s been going non-stop for years now, doesn’t even really describe her schedule.  But due to personal reasons, she has decided to cut back on the traveling and do her “FAREWELL TOUR”.  Which is why if you ever wanted to take any of Patty’s classes, this is now the time you must do so, before she retires her traveling teaching!!

So if you’re anywhere in Southern California, I strongly encourage you to go to the Scrapbook Expo at the Anaheim Convention Center either this Fri., Feb 24th or Sat., Feb 25th and register for any classes being taught by THE DIGITAL SCRAPBOOK TEACHER when you arrive there!!

LINKS:

• Scrapbook Expo: http://www.scrapbookexpo.com/OC-12/Workshops.asp
• TheDigitalScrapbookTeacher  page for her classes on her site:  http://thedigitalscrapbookteacher.com/schedule.html
• The Digital Scrapbook Teacher’s Home Page:  http://thedigitalscrapbookteacher.com
• Link to Patty’s new, update book, Photoshop Elements Basics and Beyond:   http://thedigitalscrapbookteacher.com/book.html

Distress Markers added!!

First let me apologize to anyone who has been waiting for a return email from me from either yesterday (Valentine’s Day) or today.  I actually took these 2 days off, but for some reason, my “Vacation Response” isn’t working in my Yahoo mail, so if you emailed me, you didn’t get an automated return alerting you that I’m actually off work—sorry!!  If I don’t get to you later today or tonight, I will certainly get in touch with you tomorrow (Thursday).

Next, I want to let everyone know that I’ve now added direct ordering for the new Tim Holtz Distress Markers for customers within the USA only.  You can now order them directly by using the PayPal ADD TO CART button located on my MARKERS webpage in the Tim Holtz Distress Markers section, which is located about 1/3 of the way down the page!!  For those of you who have already placed a pre-order with me for this full 37-piece set of Distress Markers and who have NOT yet received an invoice from me can go ahead and use the ADD TO CART PayPal button, rather than waiting for me to send an invoice!! 

For ALL items with ADD TO CART PayPal buttons, please rest assured that any pre-orders and all the subsequent orders will be filled in the exact same order in which they were FIRST received by me—meaning that, if for example you emailed me to place your order 2 weeks ago and you still haven’t received an invoice from me yet,  you will still keep your EXACT place in line from 2 weeks ago when you use the ADD TO CART buttons.  I keep all emailed pre-orders in a special folder, they are arranged in that folder by the date received, that is how I have ALWAYS filled my orders and that is how I will continue to fill them.  Once all those initial emailed pre-orders are filled, then I process subsequent orders by the time frame they are done in PayPal by using the ADD TO CART Buttons, or by the time-stamp that their emails come into me for those customers who either can’t use the ADD TO CART buttons because they are International, or for customers who are placing/combining orders for multiple products.

International customers can NOT use the ADD TO CART buttons!!!  Please don’t try, because if you do, it will not bill ANY shipping, so then I will have to send you a separate invoice just for shipping, which means you’ll end up with 2 separate transactions in PayPal—which makes no sense!!

For International ordering, please email me at gcporders@yahoo.com and include the list of products that you want and include the following:

• The email address that your PayPal account is linked to.
• Your PayPal email address
• Your shipping address, including City, State / Province, Country and your postal code. 
• A Contact phone # to reach you for questions:  Please include your Contact # including any special area codes and please also include your International Dialing Country Code, just in the remote case I might need to call you for a quick question!!  
• I am also available to video chat with both International and U.S.A. customers for order help, or other questions.  Please see my CONTACT ME page for details on how to reach me through my video chat service!!

Please know that whether you place any of your your orders now or in the future with me using the ADD TO CART PayPal Buttons or if you email your orders to me, I will ALWAYS make sure you ONLY pay the amount for shipping that I end up paying for your shipping label(s).  For every order I receive, whether it comes through PayPal from the ADD TO CART Buttons, or it comes directly to me in an email request, whenever I get ready to pack each order, I fuss around with the package, weighing and checking different methods of shipping until I find the best way and the best price to ship that package. And if for some reason the shipping program within PayPal (through the ADD TO CART buttons) billed you an amount for shipping that ends up to be more than what I pay for your shipping label(s) when I send out your order(s), I always automatically go into PayPal  and immediately refund the difference between the amount that was billed through PayPal and the amount that I end up paying for your shipping label. Those type of refunds show up immediately in a customer’s PayPal account.  So my customers will never end up being over-billed for shipping with me.  In fact, because I am always willing do extra things to help reduce the weight of the shipment, such as removing outer plastic clamshell packaging, etc., many customers end up saving a good deal of money when shipping with me.

As always, for any questions, see all the options on how to reach me on my Contact me webpage!!

Thank you for your business!!!

Spectrum Noir, Distress and other Markers

I wanted to let everyone know that I’ve now added a separate “page”  under my Navigational Buttons at the top of my site with PayPal Shopping Cart options for U.S.A. customers to directly order the different sets of Markers from multiple manufacturers.

First, I’ve already added all the options for the Spectrum Noir Markers, including a fabulous, limited time bundle that will get you everything you need to get started and more. 

I will also be adding the new Tim Holtz / Ranger Distress Markers very soon.  Then, as other markers or pens show up that I’m getting a lot of requests for from my customers, I will add those there as well.

***FYI, NONE of the PayPal “ADD TO CART” or “BUY NOW BUTTONS” on my website are currently set up for International shipping, so any customers who are outside of the U.S.A., still do need to contact me by email to place their orders!!!!  Please do NOT use the ADD TO CART Buttons, because they will not work properly, nor will they give you the correct, final amount that will be owing for shipping.  The reason I do not have those buttons set up for International ordering is because I know in 99.99% of the cases with International, I can do different things by hand to help save you money on that International shipping that no automated system could ever understand or account for!!  For International ordering, please email me at gcporders@yahoo.com and include the list of products that you want and include the following:

• The email address that your PayPal account is linked to.
• Your PayPal email address
• Your shipping address, including City, State / Province, Country and your postal code. 
• A Contact phone # to reach you for questions:  Please include your Contact # including any special area codes and please also include your International Dialing Country Code, just in the remote case I might need to call you for a quick question!!  
• I am also available to video chat with both International and U.S.A. customers for order help, or other questions.  Please see my CONTACT ME page for details on how to reach me through my video chat service!!

CHA Wrap-up, Favorites – Cricut /Provo Craft, Spellbinders, Crafters Companion, Ranger and more–PART 2 (MARKERS: Spectrum Noir Markers by Crafters Companion, and Tim Holtz Distress Markers by Ranger)

This blog post will be about new and exciting markers that were shown at CHA Winter 2012.

First, let’s just concede the fact that Tim Holtz is a genius and once again, he’s done something phenomenal with these new Distress Markers from Ranger.  And like all Ranger products, I am of course ordering these for my customers and like everything I get for you, my prices are great!  The Retail/MSRP is $114.99 for the full set of Distress Markers, but my price is only $86.25!  To place an order, please email me at gcporders@yahoo.com  and PLEASE put the word: “ORDER ” in your email subject line!!  There are 37 colors being released, which match up to the 36 current colors of Distress Inks, plus the white Picket Fence color.  They do come individually, but I think most of us are grabbing them in the full set of 37 (and the price is much better when you order the full set!!).  What I was really impressed with for these markers, was the ability to not only stamp with them, but the fact that they react with water in the same way that the Distress Inks do, so even when you spritz your stamped image with water, or take a water brush to it, the color stays true—it does not “muddy up” and bleed all over.  You can still see the image, but you can blend or create water color effects, etc. and the colors stay true.  It is pretty amazing and kind of hard to describe in words.  It’s really one of those things that you’re better off to either see in person, or to watch a video.  But because I’m having issues being able to download all my own CHA videos that I filmed over 4 days off my video camera onto my laptop (grrrrr!!), I will instead link you up to a video with Tim demo’ing the markers for Noell Hyman over at Paperclipping.com,   BUT—please wait until I finish telling you about the OTHER AMAZING MARKERS I fell in love with at CHA directly below this video!! 

New Distress Markers from Tim Holtz & Ranger

The other fabulous new markers that were released at this CHA were the Spectrum Noir alcohol markers from Crafters Companion. I actually took a class for these and frankly, I was sort of flabbergasted at the ease of blending I got with these markers.  Of course, I think most of you know that I do sell and use Copic Markers and let me just say upfront, they are great (although they are getting expensive after yet another recent price hike!!).  But here’s the difference that I perceived for myself and my own coloring abilities between the Spectrum Noir and the Copic markers:

The Copics are designed for use by professional illustrators (which I am certainly NOT!).  The Spectrum Noir markers are designed for use by paper crafters (which I most certainly am!!!).  I found the blending to be much easier for me with the Spectrum Noir markers (going forward I’ll abbreviate these as SN!!) than what I usually go through with my Copics.  The best way I can describe it is that an image that I colored in the class with the SN Markers took me about 10 minutes or so to complete, and when I got home, I copied that same image, then colored it with my Copics and that same image took me about 25+ minutes to complete using my Copics.  I really like that the SN Markers are available in twelve sets of 6 makers each.  And these 12 sets make up the main “body” of the Spectrum Noir family.  However, for those who want even more options, they can then add the other four 24-piece sets.  And there is NO duplication within any of these sets, so in other words, if you own all twelve of the 6-piece sets and then you add the other four 24-piece sets, there will be NO duplication at all. 

I’ve decided that because I like these Spectrum Noir Markers so much for those of us who are just regular, everyday paper-crafters, that not only am I going to sell them, but I am also going to take the extra steps required to become certified to teach them, so I hope that will be helpful to all of you going forward and that I can become a resource in yet another area for you.

My Spectrum Noir pricing is as follows:

Each 6-piece set has a retail price/MSRP of $11.99, but my price fore each set is only $8.95.  And if you purchase all twelve of the sets together, I will discount it even further and the total price for all twelve sets will be $99.95.  The additional four 24-piece sets have a retail price/MSRP of $49.99, but my price for each of those sets is only $37.50.  And again, if you want to purchase all four of the 24-piece sets at the same time, I will discount it even more to a total of $143.80 for all four 24-piece sets.

FYI, the manufacturer is not shipping the additional four 24-piece sets until approximately late March, so IF you want all of the sets, you have the option of  having them sent out to you two different ways:

1. Two separate shipments:  If you want to get your hands on the initial twelve 6-piece sets ASAP, then you can elect to have them shipped out to you ASAP, just as soon as they arrive here (FYI-- I’m expecting them sometime during the week of Feb.13th-17th) in shipment #1.  Then, when the additional four 24-piece sets arrive here from the manufacturer in late March, I will ship those four sets to you in shipment #2.
2. One shipment:  If you’re willing to wait until all the markers arrive here, (which is estimated by the manufacturer to be in late March for those additional four 24-piece sets), then I will ship them all to you (the shipment would include the initial twelve 6-piece sets, and the additional four 24-piece sets) in one shipment in late March.

************I also have a VERY SPECIAL, LIMITED TIME BUNDLE!!!  Please navigate over to my MARKERS PAGE that’s located on the Navigational bar across the top of my site.  Or you can CLICK HERE to be taken there directly.  You can also place your own orders for the Spectrum Noir family on the MARKERS web page.************************

However, if you prefer to have me place your orders for you, then as always,  please email your list to me at gcporders@yahoo.com , and please include the word “ORDER” in your email subject line. Please include:

• How you want your markers shipped—in ONE shipment in late March for all the marker sets, or in TWO separate shipments (twelve 6-piece sets to be shipped ASAP and the four 24-piece sets to be shipped in late March)
• Your PayPal email address
• Your shipping address
• A phone # to reach you at for questions

Here’s a short video to help you understand and see the Spectrum Noir alcohol marker system: 

Spectrum Noir Markers: Intro & Easy explanation

OK, I think that’s enough for today, LOL!!!  I will continue on about more cool and amazing stuff from CHA in the next segments!!

CHA Wrap-up, Favorites – Cricut /Provo Craft, Spellbinders, Crafters Companion, Ranger and more–PART 1 (Cricut, Cuttlebug, Provo Craft)

I thought I’d better get back to blogging and finish telling all of you about my CHA highlights, after needing a few days to recover from being on my feet for 4 days!!

Let’s start with Provo Craft – Cricut, Cuttlebug & more:  Here’s what new & fabulous:  Can I get a Halleluiah??  FINALLY—they are releasing a new version of the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More 2 Cricut cartridge (TBBM2), which IMHO is a “have-to-have” cartridge for every Cricut user!  They’ve done some very smart things with this updated version, including having the optional ability to have some of the boxes cut out in 2 pieces (that you can then tape together), which means you can make much larger versions of those boxes than if you could only cut it them in one full piece!!!  WOOHOOOOOOOOO!!! 

But hold on Cricuteers, there’s more!!  They are also releasing a SCORING BLADE that will work with this cartridge and selected others in the future!!  In other words, many of the images on this new TBBM2 cartridge have score lines built into the designs, so at some point when you’re cutting, the machine will allow you to insert your scoring blade, then it will go through and add all the score lines that have been pre-designed into these particular images.  So when you’re done and pull your cut images off the Cricut cutting mat, they will already have the score lines all done for you---and please note that we are talking about actual score LINES and NOT those little tic marks that had been designed into images on previous cartridges (and that soooo many of us really don’t love!)!!  HOWEVER, this is for cartridges going forward, it is not backwards compatible because none of the previous cartridges have had the score lines built into them.  (But wouldn’t that be an AMAZING update to the Cricut Craft Room Design program??  Are you listening Provo Craft???  Could you please go into all the images on previous cartridges that have those “tic lines” built into them and through using Cricut Craft Room only, give us an option to change those tic marks to score lines instead???  THAT WOULD BE AN AMAZING THING TO DO FOR US!!!!  If you agree with me, please make sure you add a comment!!!

Next update for the Cricut is that they finally came up with their own Cricut Gel Pens and Gel Pen Holder.  I saw several examples at CHA where they had used the most DARLING “hand-writing” font off the new TBBM2 cartridge with the gel pens and added the sentiment INSIDE of greeting cards (so it actually looked hand-written!!), or another great use would be for journaling!!!  I am soooo in love with this particular font from TBBM2, I know I’ll be using it all the time (especially because ,my hand writing is pretty pitiful, LOL!!!)!

Next up is Cuttlebug:  First, Provo Craft has recognized that their embossing folders have had an issue in that the design doesn’t extend all the way to the edges of the folder, so we haven’t been getting a full imprint.  Well, they are changing that, so on their new designs going forward, the design will extend to the edges of the folder. So no longer will you have to try to figure out exactly how to position the paper up against the line(s) where the design starts and stops. THANK YOU Provo Craft!!  Next, Josh from Provo Craft assured me that going forward, when they release new 5x7” Cuttlebug folders, they will also include a matching border embossing folder with it!!!  I LOVE THAT!!! WOOHOO AGAIN!!!!!!

FYI, because I have sooooo much to tell you about, I’m going to segment my blog posts into either by Manufacturer, or by similar products.  So please be sure to check out all my blog posts about CHA!!

CHA Winter 2012 - Day 1

Well, I'm off to try to catch some much needed rest after Day 1 at CHA.  I had some great classes today.  I took the class from Crafter's Companion to learn all about their new Spectrum Noir alcohol based markers and it was a HUGE surprise.  I am sooooo in love with these markers!!  I've never had this kind of control using my other alcohol markers.  The ease of blending was absolutely unbelievable and shocking--you could constantly see the surprise and delight on the faces of all the students as we progressed along so quickly. I can't wait to work with them further!!  They are now going to be my "go-to" alcohol based markers and I am placing orders for them as soon as the convention floor opens in the morning!!

My afternoon class was with the fabulously talented and always darling Teresa Collins for her Teresa Collins StampMaker.  Needless to say, as always, Teresa was spot-on with giving us the information we needed along with several tips to help us design and create our own stamps.  Great job Teresa!!!!!

 OK, off I go to get myself as ready as possible for the morning, when the show officially opens and the Convention Floor opens up and allows us to see all the great new things that are waiting for us in the manufacturer's booths!!

Then when the day draws to a close, several of us (many from the Cricut message board) are meeting up for dinner.  It should be great fun and I always love putting the faces to the names!!

Alright, off I go!!  If you want me to check out something out for you, or if you want to place an order, just email me at gcporders@yahoo.com and I'll be happy to help you!!

Until later on tomorrow ....

Finally can share my big news-I'm in a TV Infomercial for Cricut / Provo Craft!

Here's the BIG NEWS:   The very busy "Cricut Event/Special Project" I've been involved with over the past couple months is that I filmed a TV INFOMERCIAL for Cricut / Provo Craft that will be airing on all the major network stations. Please watch for it!!

It was the experience of a lifetime and I will be forever grateful to have had the privilege of being involved with it! I just saw that Teresa Collins had posted on Facebook about it, so I doubled checked with the production company and they said it's OK to post this info now, so now you know!!!

The production company that Provo Craft very wisely hired to shoot this infomercial was Raymond Enterprises and let me just say they were an absolute dream to work with from start to finish.  Every single person I came into contact with from Raymond Enterprises was unbelievably professional, amazingly grounded and every one of them made me feel like a million bucks!

On Day 1 they actually did my shoot at my family business, Main Street Eyewear in downtown Huntington Beach.  They came to our location because we were utilizing ideas for businesses to be able to use the Cricut Mini and Cricut Craft Room.  It was wild to walk in from Main Street in the wee morning hours and see the HUGE amount of equipment that they brought to this locale shoot.  The entire breezeway out on front of our business was jam-packed full of equipment!! It honestly looked like a real TV shoot, which of course it was, from the swiveling cameras to the big lights and even a little craft services table outside full of big pots of Starbucks coffee to keep us all going!  And every single person from Raymond Enterprises knew exactly what they needed to do to get the job done, from putting a special type of film onto all our lights inside our store and all the display cases to make them look better on TV, to covering up every single designer's logo in our eyewear/optical store (and since all we sell is high-end designer eyewear, that was quite a serious job, LOL!!) and much, much more!!  The Art Director was fabulous and certainly had an amazing eye for detail, the camera man managed to get his shots even in the tightest spots within our business, and the gal who kept track of each and every second of what had been filmed had a memory like I've never seen--it was unbelievable!!  And of course, a fabulous team like this gets its direction from the top down and I have to give a huge thank you to Beau, who was in charge of the shoot, and to his fabulous and oh-so-helpful assistant, Alon.  From the first contact I had with Beau while going through the interview process with him and then preparing for the shoot, and all the way through to the finish of my part of this project, he was simply amazing and soooo easy to work with/for.  He made it an absolute joy! 

They were there at our location from very early morning until very late afternoon and to continue about the production company's awesomeness, when they left, every single thing they had altered for the commercial, from the lights to covering up the logos, to removing the backs of some display cases was put back exactly the way it was before they showed up that morning---you would never have known they were there, except for the fact that for days afterwards, people were inquiring about what we'd been shooting in there (news travels fast where we're located here on Main Street, which is just up from the ocean and in many ways, is very much like its own small town, and the TV shoots around here are generally about surfing or our amazing Lifeguards, LOL!!)

Then on Day 2 we finished up the interview portion, aka my "green screen" interviews at their beautiful production facility in L.A.  It was top notch all the way, from the Stylist who had picked out the perfect color shirt and matching scarf for me for my wardrobe for the shoot, to the Makeup and Hair Stylist who transformed me for my "close-up", LOL (and I kept her very pretty hair-do for a big fancy party that my husband and I were going to that evening and got lots of compliments about it!!), to the director, to the interviewer and all the other support people in that room, and every other single solitary person I came in touch with that day. I say again that the way they treated me made me feel like a million bucks!!  I also want to thank Jon Lee, the Creative Director at Provo Craft for all his help and guidance as well!

As I said before, it was the experience of a lifetime; the chance to hopefully help sell these new products that are part of the Cricut product family that I have been a part of as a consumer since they were first released over 5 years ago.  Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE my Cricut machines and feel they have literally changed my life.  Any time spent "Cricuting" always makes me extremely happy and joyful!!  I couldn't begin to add up all the people I've educated about the Cricut over the last 5 years and getting the chance to now do so on such a grander scale was a dream come true!!

So keep your eyes peeled for this to air and if you see it, please shoot me an email at glendascreativeplace@yahoo.com and let me know where and when you saw it.  I would greatly appreciate the heads-up!

Here's a copy, you can find me at approximately 1:27 (1 minute and 27 seconds), 5:56, and 14:17.  (There might be more, but that's what I found when fast forwarding through the finished video this first time around!)  (FYI--It might be easiest on your eyes to click on the YouTube symbol at the bottom right of the video, which will open the video in YouTube itself and thus should be shown on a larger screen.  But if you leave, please come back and leave a comment and let me know what you think!!)

That goes for everybody—please leave a comment and let me know what you think!!  I hope you all enjoy it!!!!

Ten New Cricut Cartridges Just Released from Provo Craft–WooHoo!

OMG!!  I was soooo happy when I saw all the new Cricut cartridges that were released this week!!!  Because I’m a proud member of the Cricut Circle, I got to see them a day early on  “Hello Wednesday”, when Provo Craft posts them to the members-only Cricut Circle Blog.  But now that it’s Thursday, they are all listed for public view on the “Hello Thursday” section on the Cricut.com site on the Shopping tab.

• Of course I was THRILLED to see another new Imagine cartridge (I just wished there would have been more of them for the Imagine in this release!!)!!    It’s the Cricut Imagine^®Art Cartridge, “Greeting Cards Inside and Out” and it’s filled with birthday invitations, thank you cards, birth announcements, engagement and wedding announcements, and cards for all sorts of occasions.  Not only is it going to make it quick and super easy-peasy to make all sorts of cards, but I also absolutely LOVE all the new Imagine papers on this cartridge!!  Take a look:

   
(FYI, the little Cricut Circle emblem you see on the following Imagine papers is just their watermark to help protect these images on the internet!!  They are not an actual part of the papers.)
   
   
Aren’t those papers GORGEOUS and FUN??!!

• Next up is the Cricut® “Ole’ Cartridge” , which is packed full of striking images, Spanish phrases, and a bold layered font.  Wowee, is this cartridge ever overdue??!!  So cute, I can’t wait to make some fun invites for Tacos and Margaritas Night, LOL!!  Here it is:

   
Do you also see those gorgeous scalloped designs—they make this cartridge even more fun!!!

• Next is the Cricut® “Type Candy”  cartridge. This sweet Font cartridge features three darling fonts with shadows.  Each font includes uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and special characters. I am soooo thankful to see a full font cartridge again!!!  Take a peek:

   
  LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!

• Onto the next cartridge, and I fully admit that I can’t wait to get my hands on it!!  Just wait until you see this one, which is the Cricut® “Giant Flowers” Project cartridge !!!  All I can say is YIPPPPPEEEEE---more beautiful flowers—WooHoo!!!  You can use this cartridge to create larger-than-life flowers for a wedding, event, party, birthday, or home décor.  GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!!

   
Aren’t they sooooo pretty??  With the larger size of these flowers I’m soooo glad that I ordered the new Petal Roller Tool -Fabric from Imaginisce because it has a much larger slot (wider and longer) where you insert the end of your flower in order to begin rolling it, than all my other rolling and quilling tools!!!  I think that’s going to come in really handy with these!!  I need this cartridge right now!!

• Next up is the Cricut® “Bridal Shower” Event cartridge which includes a variety of images such as rings, clothing, phrases, 3D objects, and more.  This will certainly be a welcome cartridge with the wedding season coming upon us.  Our own family is having its very first wedding this summer when our oldest son, Matthew and his fiancée, Nancy, get married, so I’m sure I will be getting some great use out of this cartridge!  Let’s take a look while I ponder all the different ways I can use this cartridge:

   
OK, my mind is already spinning with ideas!!

• So, what’s next you ask??  What’s the old saying?  First comes LOVE, then comes MARRIAGE, then comes “somebody” in a BABY CARRIAGE…?? Which means that the next logical life event on our cartridge reveal is the Cricut®  “Baby Shower” Event cartridge which you can use to create unforgettable invitations, decorations, party favors, table décor,  and more.     

   
How cute!!

 

• As we continue to stroll through these new releases, the next one is the Cricut® “Elmo and Friends Holiday” cartridge which features Elmo and his friends having fun on Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween, Christmas, and other holidays.  Get ready for super-cuteness:

   
How about that image with Oscar the Grouch holding the Valentine’s candy heart??!!  I warned you about the cuteness factor, didn’t I??

• Now let’s look at Cricut® “My Quiet Book” Project cartridge which can be used to teach your children, nieces and nephews, or grandchildren their colors, shapes, numbers, and more with this cartridge content.

   
Sweet images, right??

• Next let’s look at a new Lite cartridge, which are found at Wal-Mart and/or at Cricut.com in the shopping section  Here is the Cricut® Lite “Fun in the Sun”  cartridge which features people waterskiing, boating, swimming, playing volleyball, or otherwise enjoying a day at a beach or lake.  (You all must know that this southern CA beach gal is loving this one, LOL!!!)

   
It’s a good thing I’m writing this article at night or I’d be tempted to grab a beach towel and run on over to the beach after looking at this cartridge, LOL!!

• Last, but certainly not least is the latest and greatest Cricut^® Circle Exclusive cartridge, the gorgeous “Letter Envy” cartridge which features an eclectic main font, bold crests, and an eye-catching second font with shadows.  Once again, please allow me take my hat off to the Circle folks up at Provo Craft who have really been doing a great job lately with proving us with fabulous content on the Circle Exclusive cartridges.  The Circle Exclusive cartridges are only available to members of the Cricut® Circle, and are automatically sent out to us each quarter (4 times a year!).  I wonder just how many of you who aren’t already part of this crafty club might be considering joining us when you see this gorgeous cartridge??!!

   
OMG—can you believe how gorgeous and detailed these fonts are??  Will someone at Provo Craft PLEASE put me out of my misery and hurry up and send me my Circle package with this cartridge in it, LOL??!!!  I am absolutely just going crazy over here wanting to get my hands on this cartridge---please have mercy on me and all my other Circlets and rush this quarter’s Circle Exclusive cartridge out to us!!
Maybe when I see the Provo Craft folks at CHA I can get a hint as to how soon the new Circle cartridge will land on my doorstep!
Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing all 10 of these new Cricut cartridges as much as I did!! I wonder which ones are at the top of your list??

Wow!! Loving all the new Donna Salazar Winter CHA 2012 Releases!

Please go to Donna Salazar's blog here http://donnasalazar.typepad.com and check out all her new Winter CHA 2012 Releases, including several new die sets from Spellbinders, new compatible stamps from Art Gone Wild Stamps, three new paper lines from GCD Studios, and new matching chipboard shapes from Want2Scrap (to match her new Spellbinders dies!!)---wow, has she ever been busy!!

She has some great new die sets from Spellbinders that you can see on the Spellbinders Abilities and Beyond Blog Frenzy on Day 6, plus there are several great videos within this post full of fun techniques and hints!! See them all here:  http://donnasalazar.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/01/spellbinders-abilities-and-beyond-blog-frenzy-day-six.html.

Next, Donna has three new paper collections from GCD Studios: 

• The first is the Botanique paper line that you can view here: http://donnasalazar.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/01/first-paper-line-reveal-botanique.html --drop dead gorgeous!!
• The second paper line is her Mix'd Media Stack from GCD Studios that actually contains 4 different mediums, including Kraft Labels, thin Kraft paper, Manilla paper & Watercolor paper.  This is a palette of non-stop artistic fun papers that you can see here: http://donnasalazar.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/01/donnas-reveal-of-art-gone-wild-stamps.html
• The third paper release is her Storybook paper line---OMG, this is too cute!  Check it out on the GCD Studio blog here (it hasn't been posted on Donna's blog yet, but I'd guess it should be there fairly soon!):  http://gcdstudios.blogspot.com/2012/01/story-book-collection.html
• In addition to the three new paper lines, Donna is also releasing Volume 3 of her fabulous Crafty Chronicles Newspaper.  I think parts from the previous 2 versions make it onto about 80% of my projects and no doubt this new version will prove just as useful!

In addition to all of the above, Donna also has a new line of  stamps from Art Gone Wild, including Spellbinders Compatibles stamps that match many of her new Spellbinders dies.  Check them out here, along with another very detailed video:  http://donnasalazar.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/01/donnas-reveal-of-art-gone-wild-stamps.html.

Oh, and  almost forgot that she also has several new matching chipboard releases from Want2Scrap that match up to her new Spellbinders dies! WooHoo!!!!!!

Whew, I have to tell you I'm exhausted just from recapping the list of all Donna's new products for you!!!  I can't imagine how worn out Donna must be right now, LOL!!!  Because Donna is a local gal from right here in Orange County, I take special pride in always seeing what new and wonderful things she creates.  I absolutely love her style!!  To me, she's the "girlie" version of Tim Holtz, with her "Girlie Grunge" style that always manages to look very soft and feminine, while still allowing for all her inky, painty, glitzy, grungy fun techniques!!

Congratulations Donna on a great start to 2012!!

I have been and continue to order all the new Spellbinders dies, including all of Donna's, and will be ordering her papers as soon as I'm able to do so. I will also be checking out ordering her stamps from Art Gone Wild--I've never dealt with this company before, so hoping I can get that all set up when I'm at CHA!!

If you want to order any of Donna's products, or anything else being released for CHA Winter 2012, please email me at gcporders@yahoo.com with the list of products that you want and please put the word "ORDER" in your email subject line.  Please include your shipping zip code (or for international customers, please include your full shipping address), along with your PayPal email address.

Yikes, this is shaping up to be a seriously great Winter CHA and the show hasn't even started yet, LOL!!!

I'm Pre-Ordering all the new Spellbinders Releases – please get your orders into me ASAP please!

    Hi to all!!!  Thanks for visiting my blog!  Happy 2012!!  I'm officially back to work full-time, after spending the majority of the past month spending time with and enjoying my 82 year old Dad's month-long visit.  He went home to the Midwest yesterday, after being spoiled to our 80+ degree beach days that we had for the majority of his visit here!! 

So now I am catching up on a LOT, including blogging about the latest & greatest new releases as we wind our way down to the opening of Winter CHA 2012 in Anaheim.

I have been and continue to pre-order all the newest Spellbinders releases as they're being posted on their blog. Please go to their blog by clicking here: http://spellbinderspaperarts.com/Community/Blog.aspx .  As of this moment, they have so far debuted Days 1 through 6, so when you go to the Spellbinders site, be sure to look at each of those 6 separate days of posts, plus continue to follow and watch for the remaining days of releases in order to see ALL of the new releases!!!

Once again, Spellbinders has outdone themselves with these amazing new releases, so I expect the demand to be HUGE!!  Because of that, it is important to get your orders emailed to me ASAP, so I can make sure I have pre-ordered enough quantities of each new set within the new releases.  Otherwise, I expect orders that aren't put in ASAP, will be waiting for the second or third round of manufacturing to be done overseas and then shipped to the USA.  As always, my prices will be an average of 20% to 35% off of the MSRP (aka: the "Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price").  FYI--these are my every day low prices--you do not need a coupon or to wait for a sale--this is how I price my products all the time, to make it easy and cost-effective for my customers to get what they want!!

To place your orders with me, please email me at gcporders@yahoo.com - please put the word "ORDER" in your email's subject line, and include the Product name & the Product code of everything that you want, along with your your PayPal email address, and your shipping zip code (or if you're an International customer, please include your full shipping address within your country). Please try to get your orders into me ASAP so that I make sure I have pre-ordered enough quantities for all of you. This is an amazing set of new products and I expect the demand to be huge. Anything that doesn't get ordered early enough will most likely have to wait until a second/third shipment gets re-manufactured & sent here to USA, so please don't wait if you want to get yours early!

If you have any questions, please either email me or call me during my home office hours of between 10AM to 6PM PACIFIC time. My home office # is (714) 964-0656. Thanks!

I’m Ordering all new JustRite Stamps–Get Your Orders Into Me ASAP!!!!!

Happy New Year to all!!  I’m getting ready to send in more orders for all the newest JustRite Stamps and WOWEE, do they EVER have some GORGEOUS and fun new stamps!!  They are really expanding their repertoire in soooo many beautiful and practical ways!

To see all their new stamps, please follow the links below to their website, then make a list of which sets you want (the name of the stamp set and its’ product code if possible) and email your list to me at gcporders@yahoo.com .  Please put the word “ORDER” in your email’s subject line, which will pull it up to the top priority!!  Be SURE to come back and email me to place your orders, because as always, my prices are anywhere between 20% to 35% LESS than the manufacturer’s retail prices  (aka: MSRP).

To see all the new JustRite CLING stamps, please click here:  http://www.justritestampers.com/category.aspx?categoryID=228

To see all the new JustRite CLEAR stamps, please click here:  http://www.justritestampers.com/category.aspx?categoryID=250

To see JustRite’s brand new DIE Releases (their dies are manufactured for them by Spellbinders and are designed to match specific JustRite Stamp Sets), please click here:  http://www.justritestampers.com/category.aspx?categoryID=238

OK, now that you’ve seen them, email your list to me to get your order placed!

FYI:  All of the JustRite CLING and CLEAR stamps only need a “regular” acrylic block to mount them on for stamping, which many of you already own (the same acrylic blocks that we all use for clear stamps).  Unlike the ORIGINAL versions of the JustRite Stamps, which do need the specific size stampers for mounting, instead, all of the JustRite CLING and CLEAR stamps don’t require you to purchase anything extra!!  So as long as you already own an acrylic block that will fit the Cling or Clear stamps that you’re ordering, you are all set!!  However if you DO need to add some acrylic blocks to your order, please feel free to do so.  You will find JustRite’s collection of acrylic blocks at the bottom of the same web pages listed above, where their new Cling and Clear stamps are shown.

So now that you’ve seen these gorgeous new JustRite releases, get your list together and email it to me ASAP at gcporders@yahoo.com (or if you already have me in your email’s address book as glendascreativeplace@yahoo.com , that is still my MAIN email address, but I’ve  now also added an additional email address for my business's orders, which is just a shorter and more abbreviated version of the original  in an attempt to make it easier for some of you!!  Both of those email addresses will land in the same spot for me!!)

And remember, I can also help you with many, many other products from all sorts of manufacturers.  To see a partial list of the manufacturer’s products that I can help you with, please scroll down this web page and you will see a list on the right side of the page, just a little bit further down.

Well believe it or not, here we go again, beginning the countdown  to CHA Winter and all the new products that are already beginning to roll in, with many more to come!! This is going to be FUN!!!!

P.S. I want to send a shout out to Megan and her husband Sean from Above Rubies Studio.  Sean was in a car accident earlier this week and thank goodness it wasn’t serious, but he did get pretty bruised up and is very sore from the air bags.  If you could, please send some good thoughts and prayers their way, because whenever any of our loved ones gets hurt or injured, it is very scary and stressful for the entire family.  Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery for Sean and some peace of mind for Megan!