Inspired by day 3

Yes, I know I skipped day 2...don't worry - it's coming!  But Day 3 was very similar to a card I made just the other day so I wanted to post this in the meantime.  Now I'm heading off to work on day 2.

Tim Tags Day One

I'm going to try to keep up but there are no guarantees!

Tim Holtz posted the first tag of twelve for 2011 this morning and thankfully, between me and Donna we had almost all the right supplies to re-create it. The only thing I changed was the addition of the vintage lace die cut along the bottom because I placed my "cluster" of greenery too high and it looked like too much space at the bottom.  I also used wide Score-tape to adhere the vintage glass glitter instead of the liquid adhesive...much less mess!

Time for Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas

Yes, it's the "Most wonderful time of the year"...  Time for Tim Holtz to start of the holiday season by creating a crafting frenzy around the world with his 12 Tags of Christmas.  And of course, his assistant/business manager Mario will be tweeting his BTS (Behind the Scenes) photos once again.  I have been following along with time since he started in 2007 and I think Mario started the BTS tweets about 2 years ago.  I remember he actually crashed Twitter that first year because there was so much activity!

If you are new to crafting, you may be wondering what all the fuss is about.  Well, for many, myself included, Tim Holtz is the Crafting King - the God of Grunge - and the Titan of Tags.  Back in 2007, he started creating a tag each day in December as an inspiration to his fans.  The series was so successful that he continued it the next year.  Each year the number of people following and commenting on the posts has grown exponentially! Where he may have gotten a few hundred comments per post the first year, now he literally gets THOUSANDS of posts.  He creates each tag from scratch each day with a deadline to post on his blog by Midnight PST.  He says he does his best work under pressure and I agree!  I used to wake up each morning and make a cup of tea before logging on to see what he created, but since Mario began the whole BTS thing it is so much fun to follow along that I end up staying up way too late every night to get a glimpse of the magic.

To get an idea of the type of magic he creates watch this video:


If you would like to play along (and I HIGHLY recommend that you do!) here are some basic supplies you should plan to have on hand:

• #8 Manila Tags (or other surface)
• Ranger non-stick Craft Sheet
• Ink Blending Tool & extra Foam Applicators
• Various colors of Distress Ink (there is a new Limted Edition Holiday set I am sure he will be using)
• Stickles - plan on Icicle or Crystal, Rock Candy, Christmas Red, Gold, & Silver to make an appearance.
• Glossy Accents & Studio Matte Medium
• Wonder Tape
• Archival Ink (Black and maybe Sepia or Coffee)

I'm sure MANY other Ranger and Sizzix & Ideology products will  be used as well and I will do my best to keep them all in stock throughout the 12 Days.  You are welcome to call The Inspiration Station (860-684-2641) to have us pull any of the items you may need so you can pick them up.  Because of the demand we will only HOLD products until the following day so be sure to stock up.  You don't want to be out of anything when the MAGIC happens!

Hero Arts Catalog Debut & Holiday Extravaganza

Have you heard?  This year we are combine the Hero Arts Catalog Debut with our Luminarte demonstration and Make & Takes.  This means one big 'ole party on December 17th at The Inspiration Station!

Our friend Karyn, will be showing you some great tips for using Luminarte products (Twinkling H2Os, Radiant Rain and more) with your stamps to make some amazing projects.  Since the new Hero Arts catalog will be here along with an assortment of their new stamps, you will also get to see how these two products can work together while doing a FREE make & take tag.  As a bonus, you will be able to pre-order any stamp from the 2012 Hero Arts catalog before it is released to the public!  If you pre-order and pre-pay for your stamps that day we will take 10% off of your order.

Join us Saturday, Dec17th for a full day of fun and festivities.  We'll have cookies & hot cocoa along with holiday music to really make it a party. Oh, and prizes- we can't forget prizes!   Don't miss it.

                               

Sale- Today only!

We all need a little retail therapy to cheer us once in a while and after the week we've had, today seems like a great day for it! Come in today and take 25% off your entire purchase!

If you are still without power, as many of our Stafford and Vernon customers are, feel free to bring your phones and laptops in for charging and as a bonus we have FREE Wi-Fihere.

Power is back!

The power is back at The Inspiration Station after 7 days of cold, darkness.  None of us have power at home yet, but downtown Stafford is back among the living.  If you need a place to warm up or charge your cell phones or laptops come on in.  We have hot cocoa too (sorry no coffee because we had to throw out all the milk).

The Christmas Card Class for Sunday has been rescheduled to Sunday Nov. 13th since Donna still does not have power and is not able to prepare for the class.

The Scrapping for Scouting Crop will still be held tomorrow (Nov 5th) at ECSU in the Betty Tipton room of the Student Center.  Door open at 8:00am.  Walk in are welcome.  Cost is $55 and includes a $10 food voucher.

There is still time to register for next weekend'swith Special Guest Instructor:

Sally Lynn MacDonald.

Sally Lynn is nationally known for her work with Copic Markers, Tattered Angels, Art-C, and more.  The list of credits to her name is never-ending. She travels and teaches all over the country and has been seen on HGTV.  We are fortunate to have her visit us on occasion to share her love of all things colorful and inky. Join us for the following classes.

NEW ARRIVALS:

The latest Magnolia Ink magazine has arrived and we just received the most adorable MINI Magnolias too!   

Tim Holtz Limited Edition Holiday Ink sets are here, if you missed the Fall set we have a few of those available too.

Black Friday is almost here. Instead of fighting the crowds at the mall, why not come in to The Inspiration Station and have a relaxing day of crafting fun?

 

Join us from 10am-6pm to work on whatever crafty projects you need to get done before the holidays; stamp out your Christmas cards, make up some gift albums or recipe books, create personalized gift tags  or just catch up of your scrapping. We'll even provide lunch so you can just relax and create.  Space is limited so register today.  $25.00

Sign Up before November 7th and only pay $22

Special Guest Instructor

Classes with Special Guest Instructor:

Sally Lynn Mac Donald

November 12, 2011 10:00am - noon

Mixed-Media “She Art” on a 9”x12” Canvas Board $35.00

In this workshop we will use Art-C mixed-media products for a lovely ‘She Art’ project. We will develop our project using the brand new ‘Let’s Face It! Stencils, layered collage elements, canvas colorables’ images with mixed-media coloring and dimensional techniques. Learn color tinting and washes with acrylic paint, Copic Markers, graphite and using modeling paste with stencils. Students will receive a handout with full instructions and tips for developing their own mixed-media creations. This workshop was taught at the Summer CHA trade show in Chicago!

Please bring: Scissors, Wet Adhesive (Beacon 3-in-1 highly recommended)

November 12, 2011 12:30pm - 2:30pm

Botanical Mixed-Media Exploration Art Journal $45.00

Finish off the day with a mixed-media exploration. You will learn how to use layers of texture, color and collage in creating an art journal. We’ll spend our time creating a technique-a-palooza of backgrounds with color washes of acrylic paint and mica sprays, drawing, painting, resist, composition and design with stencils. We’ll create texture with modeling paste and other mediums. You will leave class with backgrounds for a multi-page art journal that you will love!

Please bring: Scissors, White gel pen, White or kneaded eraser, Wet Adhesive (Beacon 3-in-1 highly recommended), a large acrylic block (at least 4” wide and tall). Optional: Tweezers.

Please note: seats are limited and classes with guest instructors are non-refundable.

So many ideas- so little time!

There are so many great ideas for projects floating around, and even more stuck in my head. I have a ton of things I want to make, just for myself, and a few things I would love to teach classes for but I just can't seem to fit the time into my schedule.

I did finally make an ATC Tray for Christmas that I have wanted to do ever since I saw the Simple Stories 25 Days of Christmas line at CHA in Chicago.

I really love the lines from Simple Stories and they have just released a new line called Year-o-logy that will be shipping very shortly. I would like to teach a class using it called "Scrapbooking Simplified" where we create an album for the new year all in one day and then you can add you photos each month as you take them. I have tentatively scheduled it for Saturday, January 21, 2012. If you are interested in it please let me know either via email or in the comments section so I can judge the interest. I need to work up the supply list to see how much the materials cost before I can tell you a price.

The next crop will be an All-Day crop on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) - Call to register now so you are sure to have a seat.

The other big idea I had was to have a Christmas Cookie Swap & Crop. The idea is to have everyone print 12 copies of your favorite Holiday cookie recipe onto white or cream cardstock so they can be cut to 3x5 size. I will create a template for that. Each participant will bring a plate of cookies using that recipe to share. At the crop we will create a cute recipe book using the Unibind system. I'm not sure whether I should offer this on an evening during the week or on a Saturday afternoon- It will be in December and that is such a hard time to work around holiday activities. Again, if you are interested, let me know which would be best for you. I will go with the majority on this one.

Send your email comments to Inspirationsta@aol.com and let me know what you think.

Fun weekend

A great big thank you to everyone who came out on Sunday for our Unibind Event; and a very special Thank You to Ken Oliver for sharing all of his ideas for making these awesome little books. A few people brought their own paper to make some special books. Just look at the cute Football book our friend Cody made.


His Mom, Patty, came totally prepared and made this gorgeous album.

Play time!

Every now and then I get trapped in my house because one of my kids needs my car...today was one of those days. The good news is that I had a chance to play with my inks and stains and mists. For the record, I love watercolor paper. Ever since Dave Brethauer was here and showed us how to use watercolors and twinkling H2O's I have been experimenting with the paper and different mediums. I have also fallen madly in love with the Unibind for making books. So last night I decided to create an Art Journal with the Unibind and watercolor paper. I decided to title it "My Mind's Playground" since it will become the place for me to "play" with my favorite stuff.
On the title page, I printed some of my favorite fun "pins" from Pinterest. Then I layered Distress Ink, Radiant Rain, and white acrylic paint. Love the way it looks like a graffiti covered wall.


When I created the journal I had a bunch of half inch strips of watercolor paper left over because the cover is 8.5" x 11" and watercolor paper is 9x12. One of the things that I learned while playing is that watercolor paper takes the Distress Stains beautifully. The colors are bright and vibrant and well, gorgeous. I colored each half inch strip with a different color (Barn Door, Wild Honey, Peeled Paint, Broken China and Dusty Concord). Once they dried I used a 4.5" piece of Sookwang tape (Score Tape) to piece them all together into a rainbow stripe. I used to do quilting and the first real quilt I made was a pattern called "Trip around the world" using a strip piecing method. So I did the same thing with the paper.


Once the paper quilt was complete I covered the entire piece with Versamark Ink and embossed it with two layers of UTEE. I cannot even tell you how beautiful this is in real life. The photos do not do it justice. I put in it a cute white frame I picked up at Ikea and it will eventually hang in my craft room. That is IF our house ever gets built...

Want to see whats new?

I think one of each of these is coming home with me!

Benefit crop for Boy Scouts

Scrapping for Scouting
Saturday, Nov 5, 2011
8am-8pm
at Eastern CT University, Willimantic, CT

• An all-day Scrapbook event to benefit The CT Rivers Council of the Boy Scouts at Eastern CT State University.

  Raffles, Door Prizes, Vendors, Make & Takes, snacks & refreshments. Food Court available and admission includes a $10 food voucher.

  Sponsorships and vendor space available.

Visit the website to register for this all day crop.
Advertising opportunities are available as well.

Remodelling- day one

The plan was simple enough. Close the store from Sunday to Wednesday to re-arrange all of the fuxtures. We would have all the men come on Sunday to do the heavy lifting and finish everything else over the next three days.

Unfortunatley, Irene had other plans. Hurricane Irene, that is. forecasters predicted a direct hit on us for Sunday so plans had to change. Saturday night would be the time to start. We began moving things into the classroom and emptying fixtures during the afternoon hours and by the time the store closed at five O'clock the guys were taking things apart.

By the time we left later that night the major pieces were in place but every thing else was shoved to the center of the store creating a chaotic mess. We will be back first thing Monday morning- if we have power to start re-building the store. Hopefully I will get a few pictures up to show you then.

Memory Box Classes

It was a dreary, rainy day outside but inside we were enjoying the talents of Dave Brethauer from Memory Box Stamps.

Dave came all the way from Seattle (I think the rain followed him) and brought loads of fun stamps & dies and showed a very full classroom of ladies how to use colored pencils and watercolors. There was no room in the class for me, but I enjoyed listening to his soothing voice and fun stories from the road while working behind the counter. He was sweet, gracious and very well organized even after being on the road with two teenagers and two dogs for the past eight weeks! As I told him, I would not have lasted eight hours on the road with my crew!

I look forward to having him visit again, perhaps next summer.

Fall Classes

Just a quick post to show off some class samples:

Christmas cards: Aug 25thCard Club August 23rdAugust Layout Club - Aug. 17th
Christmas Configurations- October