A PURSE REFRESHER

As I scrolled through my site, it became apparent that there were no pictures on this blog of my paper purses. I believe they are probably back on my personal blog so I'll post them here. I did spend today with my good friend Kerry Welch and we did some heavy shopping at the FM Store checking out it's FINE selection of beads and trim. Don't, and may I repeat, DON'T go in there thinking you're only going to buy a yard or two of beads/trim after you have made your first purse. That place can suck your bank account dry! I LoVe that store! Those ladies that work there are lots of fun, too, but don't listen to them. They can sell an Eskimo a snowball. Even if I weren't shopping for "sac a main" accessories, I could spend all day just looking at fabrics. I love to sew (I'm not saying I am doing any sewing), and looking at all those fabrics just gives me so many ideas! If I could only follow through on those ideas... I could go on about the days where I had to make my clothes because I was too skinny to buy them off the rack in high school, but I know someone would start throwing virtual tomatoes at me. You can read about that on my macsncats blog.

So, without further adieu, here are two of my paper purses:

GEARING UP FOR FALL

Summer is nearly gone and it is time to start thinking about fall; pretty leaves, cool evenings, pumpkins and mums, cornstalks and horns-a-plenty. Speaking of plenty, we have plenty of things happening this fall that I should take a moment to mention.

First, the Children's Miracle Network "Scrapbooking for Kids" event takes place at the Wesley United Methodist Church on August 25th. The fee for this 9a to 7p event is $35 which includes breakfast, lunch and a couple of drinks, drawings, raffles and goodie bags. There will be vendors on site, and you can get a vendors-only pass for $5 if you just feel like shopping. All the proceeds from this crop, which is co-sponsored by the Scrapbooking Momeez, Cox Health Nursing and Cox Health North Outpatient Therapy Services, go to the Children's Miracle Network. Check out the Scrapbooking Momeez website for more info about this crop [www.scrapbookingmomeez.com]. It sounds like fun to me!

Coming up October 6 is the New Covenant Academy crop "Girlfriends in Paris." I will have a booth at this event and will also be teaching three classes, a Photoshop Elements 5 seminar, the funky Fantasy Box class, and the ever popular purse class. This class is high-style beads and trims, the creme de la creme of sacs a main—purses in French (don't say you didn't learn anything here). Everything is prepared for you, you'll have lots of choices, and we'll have lots of fun! I'm also going to be helping with the trés bien Girlfriends In Paris Boutique, complete with cardstock, paper, supplies, embellishments, tools, ribbons, and more. This year the store will be accepting credit cards. So, if after you've taken the Cricut class and you think you can't live without one, we'll have one waiting for you at the store, and the wide-format one too! And the Cuttlebug, and... well, better not list it all. Suffice it to say, with all the wonderful vendors that are going to be there, you will not want for anything! We're all working together to bring you unique products without too much duplication so you'll have a wonderful range of products to "augment" your scrapbook! Inside joke there. I know we "embellish" but every once in a while I just feel the need to shake it up, so I pulled out a new word. A friend hastened to point out to me that you "augment" your anatomy, not your scrapbook. After I snapped my mouth shut, I had to agree. :-) I tried to explain it away as too much HGTV but they weren't buying... too smart for my own good!

Things to look for in my booth will be new class projects for fall and holiday classes so you can sign up early and save your spot, some exclusive products from some very cool vendors (I'll blog more on that later), and the Conquest Keepsakes canvas bags! Carry your goodies home in limited edition canvas tote on sale at the Conquest Keepsakes booth!

The NCA crop is $40 and includes breakfast and lunch and you can purchase an optional dinner. The crop starts at 9a and runs until Midnight! Hopefully they won't have to run you out like they did last year to me. Too much of a good thing! This is a fund raising event for the new fine arts building, so come out and support this crop. There are several classes available besides the ones I am doing. I'll be passing along more information in later posts. Trust me, you won't want to miss this crop. Especially if you would like to win a Cricut that is being given away...

LADIES, START YOUR FAVORITE SCRAP TOOL!

I couldn't think of a tool that would be everyone's favorite, although my personal favorite continues to be the Crop-a-dile. But, hold on to your seats, I just played with a new Cuttlebug and I may have just been bitten. It did indeed use all my old dies (Sizzix, Sizzlets); and the new dies they have are affordable, but what makes this tool ROCK is the embossing folders. Small ones and LARGE ones. CHEAP! Did I say cheap? Let me say it again, CHEAP! Five bucks-ola for a large pattern embossing folder and they make nice, deep impressions. Even my husband (I would say even a caveman...) said it was cool. Can I get an Amen ladies? When the hubby says it's cool, there is nothing stopping you from robbing your bank account blind and buying out the store! And the folders are cool, and even better, they are matched to some of the dies. Even the dies are reasonable, five dollars for a single die and $12 to $13 for set of four small dies. There are several alphabets for sale around $75, which is much more reasonable compared to past die-cut alphabet dies. I like the crank handle, better than the push handle of the old Sizzix and more durable than the Sidekick and takes the extra wide dies too, from just about any brand of dies. The width of the carriage area is 5 7/8' wide, and it has a nifty handle and sides that fold up which makes it pretty portable. Overall, I give this tool ten thumbs up (since I'm all thumbs most of the time, I'll let you figure that out...). You can come and see this 'bug at the New Covenant Academy Girlfriends In Paris Crop October 6! I'm doing lots of posting tonight, so hang tight, lots of news...