Sara Jane's Studio

12 Weeks of Christmas is Coming Again!

The third annual 12 Weeks of Christmas from Sara Jane's Studio is just around the corner, starting October 6!!  Sign up for my newsletter to get a weekly holiday themed project delivered to your email inbox. Cards, home decor, gifts, and more!

Your Opinion Really Does Count!

Calling all papercrafting and scrapbooking addicts:  I've developed a very short online survey to help me decide how to continue to grow Sara Jane's Studio.  Your opinion would be invaluable to me!  In exchange for 10 minutes of your time to complete the survey, you will receive a gift certificate worth a 15% discount on Stampin' Up! product, or if you are local, you can use it for a class.

To participate and contibute your opinion, click here.  The survey will be available until April 28, 2009.

If you have already filled it out, THANK YOU!  Don't forget to use your gift certificate by June 30, 2009!

Keep creating!

PS You must contact me directly to place your order for Stampin' Up!.  The SU website will not recognize my gift certificate. 

Comparing Die Cut Machines

If you are considering purchasing a die cut machine, check out a comparison of four machines that I wrote for Craft Critique.  You can read the whole article here.

In the article, I compared my personal experience with the Spellbinders Wizard, the Cuttelbug from ProvoCraft, the BigShot by Sizzix, and the Cricut Expression (a digital cutter) by ProvoCraft.

My overall recommendation?  The BigShot. 

• It works easily and well
• it is sturdy and stable during use
• it has a Multi-Purpose Platform which makes it easy to figure out which mats to use with which dies
• it cuts all manner of materials, AND
• it embosses. 

But read the whole article to see if you agree!

Cards for Heroes

Someone in my local crafter's Meetup Group just brought a wonderful organization to my attention:  Cards for Heroes.  The card above is shown on their website.

This organization sends greeting cards to our armed forces overseas.  Blank cards are sent, and the troops use them to write home.  But the organization also sends cards for encouragement and thanks directly to the troops themselves.  They have sent more than 100,000 cards so far!!! And apparently they are in great demand, and the Cards for Heroes group cannot keep cards coming in fast enough!!

I am going to try to organize an event near me to make cards to send to Cards for Heroes.  I encourage you to do the same, regardless of your personal opinion of our government's activities overseas.  We need to let the men and women who volunteer for our armed forces to know that we appreciate them.  What a great cause!!!

We Have a Winner!!

If you read my newsletter, you know that one of the perks of buying Stampin' Up! product from me is my "50 for $50" board.  For every $50 of product purchased, stampers can choose a number, from 1 to 50.  Their name goes on my board, in that slot.  Once the board is full, I choose one number, and that lucky person is the winner of a $50 dollar gift certificate from Sara Jane's Studio.  Recently, the board was filled!!!  Time to draw the winning number!!

So, I went to a random number generator on the internet (mine was at a site called Math Goodies) and entered the range of numbers:

 

Then, I hit the magic "ENTER" button and got:

 

46!  And the person who chose number 46 was:

If you can't read my handwriting, the name is Julie P.  Julie has been notified, and is working on her order as we speak!

Don't worry you haven't missed out- I am starting all over again.  I have a new "50 for $50" board, so get your orders in!  I will include you whether you order directly from me or directly from my Stampin' Up! website.  (Click on SHOP NOW in the upper right corner on that site, and you are ready to shop!!)  I'll let you know what numbers are available and how many you get to choose!

Woohoo!  Don't we love it when there are winners?!?

Keep creating!

Online Ordering with Stampin' Up!

 

Stampin' Up! has always had an online presence, but now your can ORDER ONLINE as well!!  From the convenience of your own home, any time, day or night, you can place an order for Stampin' Up! products yourself.

Just go to my Stampin' Up! website, http://saramckenzie.stampinup.net.  Click on the SHOP NOW button in the upper right hand corner, and you are on your way.  You can search for particular products, or browse by category.  And be certain to check out the specials, as well as the project ideas that are right there on the Online Ordering web page. 

Be assured that this does not replace me!!!  I am still here, willing an able, to take your order by phone or email, and place it for you.  Or you can order at an event. Online Ordering is simply another way that Stampin' Up! is trying to make it easy for you to get your stampin' goodies in your hands!

I will honor all specials and promotional offers from Sara Jane's Studio if you do place your order online.  AND you will earn Stampin' Rewards (the equivalent of Hostess Rewards) if your order is $150 or more.  You'll receive the best pricing and the optimum shipping charges when you go through my Stampin' Up! website to place your order.

Feel free to contact me or leave a comment below if you have a question or suggestion.

Here's to progress!!!

The "All About" Series Continues

In a continuing effort to educate myself, and share it with you, I've written another installment of my "All About" series.

First came "All About Ink" which describes the characteristics of various types of inks and the best uses for each type of ink in your crafting activities.

Then came "All About Stamp and Scrapbook Stores in New England".  This is a list of the stores throughout New England, including their physical address, phone number, and web site.  This one was in response to requests from my Meetup Group, the Greater Boston Scrapbooking and Papercrafting Meetup Group.  (If you are in Greater Boston, check it out!  We post all kinds of great scrapbooking events on it, and have some of our own Meetups, too.)

Now, I am sharing "All About Paper and Cardstock".  In this installment, I review what is meant by "80 lb cardstock", the various types and uses of cardstock (matte, coated, glossy), and descriptions of various types of papers that you might come across in your crafting.  And More!! It was a lot of fun to write, and I hope that you find it informative and helpful in your own creative work.

If you know of any additions I should make to any of my "All About" articles, or have some suggestions or corrections, I'd love to hear from you- leave a Comment, below.

Better yet, if there is something you've always wanted to know, but haven't had the time to learn, let me know!  I'll be happy to research it for you, and create another "All About" article, inspired by you!!

Keep creating!

My Cardinal Family

This is an unusual post for me, because it has nothing to do with crafting.  It's because I had something unusual happen.  Well, not strictly unusual, but certainly remarkable, and I thought it was worth sharing.

Right outside my living room window, I have a five-foot tall metal support for a honeysuckle vine.  This spring, a lady cardinal decided to make it her home.  She built a nest, and faithfully incubated her eggs day and night, and literally rain or shine.  This is a short documentary of the emergence of a new little family of cardinals right outside my window.

Interestingly, Mama Cardinal was on her own while the eggs were incubating.  I saw no sign of the male; and I'm not exactly certain how long she was incubating (I've read that it is 11 to 13 days).  But on Saturday, May 17, when two eggs hatched, Daddy Cardinal appeared and started feeding both Mama, and the two babies. 

You can double-click any of the images below and it will open in a new, full-screen window.

Here is the story from the beginning: the nest, with four eggs, and two hatchlings on May 17.  They looked premature, and at the time I recall thinking that they looked prehistoric.

    

By May 22, the babies were not quite so naked, and on the 23rd I was able to capture them getting food from Daddy Cardinal.

  

These guys were hungry little creatures!  They were like all babies: they spent their time either sleeping, eating or pooping.  (And, yes, I did see Mama Cardinal cleaning up after her babies.  I did not know they did that!!)  Mama was pretty shy, and it was next to impossible for me to get any more pictures of her.  It made me realize how determined she was to incubate her eggs in the early days, because she would stay on the nest even when I walked by the window on the inside.  But after they hatched, she would not come to the nest if she could see me in the window.  She would fly off, hoping to draw my attention away.

  

Mama Cardinal stayed on the nest, keeping her babies warm for about a week after they hatched.  Eventually, the two of them were too big, and there was no more room in the nest for mama.  She would stay close-by though, when she wasn't out foraging.

In the last couple of days, when the hatchlings were 8, 9 and 10 days old, they started to look like real birds, and occasionally I would see one perched on the edge of the nest.  This morning, May 26, one little critter bravely jumped from the edge of the nest, to one of the wires, and then either jumped or fell to the ground.  Both Mama and Daddy Cardinal were right there, and shepherded the fledgling to the safety of nearby undergrowth.

  

For half of the remaining day, the one baby left in the nest seemed very lonely.... I did not see Mama or Daddy Cardinal for a number of hours, and I wondered if they were using the "tough love" approach to encourage their remaining child to leave the nest.  (How's that for imposing human feelings on animals?!?)  But eventually, Daddy Cardinal did come back and give the little guy another meal.  Eventually, the baby bird hopped up on the side of the nest, and then suddenly flew!! across the garden to another bush.

  

How did s/he know how to do that?!? 

This was a remarkable few weeks for me.  I was so excited whenever I passed by the window and saw activity.  And when things were quiet, I would check to make sure everything was still all right in their little home. Once the little birds were aware of their surroundings, though, I could no longer go out to the nest to get close-ups.  Still, I grabbed my camera at every opportunity, and sometimes hid and snuck around corners to try to capture another special moment.  The pictures aren't all great- they are mostly shot through a window, with glare, and I don't have an incredibly powerful lens.  But, if I do say so myself, some of them are pretty good- and they are my own documentation of this past few wodnerful weeks.

It's such an ordinary thing, happens every spring to countless numbers of bird families.  But how extraordinary for me to be able to share!   It was an amazing experience that I won't ever forget. 

I'm a Staff Reporter at Craft Critique!!

I am delighted to announce that I have been accepted as a new Staff Reporter at Craft Critique, one of my favorite websites! 

For those of you not familiar with Craft Critique, here is how they describe themselves:

"We are a collective of experienced crafters (some professional, most not) with strong opinions to share on the craft supplies you want to learn more about.  Our staff is entirely volunteer."

Individuals and companies alike suggest products to be reviewed by Craft Critique.  Because NO MONEY CHANGES HANDS, you can be assured that Craft Critique reporters offer their true, unbiased opinions.  What kind of products are we talking about?   Everything from die cut machines, to card-making kits, to books on crafting, to digital scrapping software- pretty much if you can think of it, Craft Critique has or will review it.  If there is a product you are thinking about purchasing, check out Craft Critique first to see if they've already reviewed it.  If they haven't, make the suggestion to have it reviewed!

As part of my submission to be a Staff Reporter, I gave them this write-up that I had done on the Cricut Expression Personal Die-Cut Machine.  I also reviewed a book called "Rubber Stamped Jewelry" by Sharilyn Miller.  Since that particular book review might get published by Craft Critique, I won't post the whole thing here.  But I will show you the necklace I made that was inspired by techniques described in the book.

I call this my "Free Style" necklace, because of the free-form shapes that make up the elements.  Believe or not, this was made from black shrink plastic!  I cut random shapes out of black shrink plastic, and punched a 1/4" hole at one end of each piece.  (Start large with the hole, because it shrinks in size, too!)

In order to impress a stamped image on shrink plastic, you have to have everything ready, at hand, and work quickly.  I used a "Molding Mat" from Clearsnap (under "Extras" on their website) for my impressions.  (It looks like they no longer carry the particular one that I used- but you can get the idea.)  Have your stamp ready, and start heating your shrink plastic.  As soon as the plastic has shrunk to its new size, and while it is still soft and hot, press your stamp onto the plastic.  You have to work VERY QUICKLY and apply LOTS OF PRESSURE!  If you are using an unmounted stamp, like I did, you will need block of wood on top of the rubber to help you apply enough pressure.  You'll want to try this a couple of times before you embark on your actual project so that you can get a successul impression.

Once all of my pieces were shrunk and the images impressed into them, I started painting using Lumiere acrylic paint by Jacquard.  In my opinion, this is hands-down the BEST metallic paint on the market for crafting purposes.  It is thick, it covers well, it has a wonderful sheen and finish, and it mixes with other acrylics to provide a wonderful metallic-ooomph to anything you are doing.

As you can see from these close-ups, I used multiple colors on each piece, letting the design elements of the rubber stamp guide me for placement.  This part was SO MUCH FUN!!

Each piece was edged with, you guessed it!, my favorite tool, the Krylon Gold Leafing Pen.  It gave a wonderful finished-look.

I attached a gold colored jump-ring to each of the painted pieces, and then selected glass beads to go with the main colors:  I used a  purple glass bead, an amber glass bead, and hematite beads, and strung everything on a black leather cord.  I used the beads as spacers between each of the plastic drops, so that the dangling pieces would have enough space between them to lie flat.  The center piece also included a small gold goddess charm just for fun.  (You can find similar charms at Whimbeads and at Artchix Studios.)

A basic, gold hook-and-eye clasp was attached to the ends of the leather cord using jump rings and a crimp especially designed for this purpose.

Now, admittedly, this necklace is not for the faint-of-heart, jewelry-wise!  But it is dramatic, and I've received wonderful compliments when I wear it.  And, of course, when the inevitable question "Did you make that?" is asked, I can proudly claim "Yes!!". 

You could certainly make a gorgeous necklace using this same process, with only one dangle, or with just a few.  Isn't that what we love about crafting?  Be inspired by something, and then make it your own!

Keep creating!

All About Scrapbook Stores

You may have noticed that I also belong to the Greater Boston Scrapbooking and Papercrafting Meetup Group (see the link on the sidebar at the right).  (If you don't know about Meetup.com- check it out!  Wherever you live in the U.S., you can most likely find a Meetup Group organized for something that you are interested in.)  ANYWAY- I am, in fact, currently the organizer of the group.  I noticed on our Message Board that there were multiple requests from various people who were going to be visiting the Boston area, and wanted to check out any local Scrapbooking stores.  So I posted a question to the Message Board:  "What is your favorite local store?"  We are starting to develop a good list of favorites (which are mentioned below).

Even better, one of the members of the Greater Boston Scrapbooking and Papercrafting Meetup Group, Christi, sent along a fabulous list of ALL of the brick & mortar stores in all of New England!  Thanks, Christi!!  I put it in Excel, did some sorting, and added phone numbers and websites where they did not exist.  And now we have "All About Scrapbook Stores in New England", the second resource in my "All About..." series.  At the time I started this series, I did not think about going in this direction.  But once the work was done, it seemed obvious to share the list with all of you.  In the All About Scrapbook Stores in New England resource, stores are grouped by state, and then in one of two additional ways:  by city, if you are trying to find something close to you; and by store name, in case you are trying to find their contact information.   (The first article in the series, "All About Ink" can be found by clicking here.) 

As for people's favorite stores in the Boston area, here is the feedback from some folks in my Meetup Group (in no particular order):

• Scrapbook Cupboard in East Bridgewater, MA- "I like it because they carry a large selection of Quickutz dies, Bazzill paper, Disney embellishments and the metallic stickers that are the rage in Europe" (Virginia & Mary Sara) (gee- I need to check out those cool European stickers!!)
• Right at Home in North Attleboro, Ma and The Crop Shop in Rockland, MA (Christi)
• Sturbridge Scrapping Corner in Sturbridge, MA- "they were wonderful and hospitable; a small, newer store with fantastic service" (also from Christi)
• Mary Sara also mentioned The Crop Shop and Colorful Creations in Hyannis, MA.  At Colorful Creations you will find "great classes, a great selection of Quickutz dies (I think always on discount)- just a fun store."
• Stacy recommends Sturbridge Scrapping Corner, as well as Life's Memories and More in Palmer, MA, and The Scrapbookers Dream in Tewksbury, MA.  The Scrapbooker's Dream "has a lot of products!"

If you would like to add to the list, join our Meetup Group by filling out the information which can be found here.  Then go to the Message Board, click on "Your Favorite Store", scroll to the bottom of the current posts, and hit "Add a reply".

Many thanks again to Christi!!  Hope you find the list of all stores in New England useful, too, whether you live here or are just visiting.  What's important is that you:

Keep Creating!