HK Memory Chest Kit Club - February 2013

Hi all,

This is my second post today. As it is the end of the month, you know I'm going to post the next HKMC kit club details.

This month's kit is a nice contrast to the January kit, with pretty soft yellows, oranges and blues, and a good balance of dots, gingham and florals to suit both gender layouts.

February 2013 Kit
8 sheets (2 each of 4 papers) Fancy Pants Hopscotch Paper in three combinations
1 sheet Fancy Pants Hopscotch Banner Die Cuts
1 pack Fancy Pants Hopscotch Glittered Chipboard Alphas
Selection of Fancy Pant Hopscotch Mingled Buttons
1 pack Doodlebug Designs Inc. Doodle Twine

Add-On Options
Fancy Pants Hopscotch Stickers Fundamentals
Fancy Pants Hopscotch Tape Stickers
Kelly Purkey Bright Ideas Stamp Set

February Sizzix Die
Die-namics Round Banner Trio Die
Spellbinders Embossing Pad

Colour Me Happy

When I saw the papers, my first thought was I needed to use this photo with them. I like the rainbow spectrum of the candy which seems to go well with the colours of the papers. I'd been wanting to do the sunburst pattern on a layout for a while. I'll be posting a tutorial on this soon.

 I love the contrast of the pastel patterned papers with the sharp brown glitter alphas and the shot of bright pink of the button.

 A small accent on the top of the page balances the layout. I'm having a ball with my sewing machine right now. It just adds so much detail to a page.

Extra Elements: white cardstock, white sewing thread

Dream, Explore, Discover

 

I chose an orange shimmery cardstock to match the Fancy Pants Butternut floral paper and separated the two with a thin matt of green. I then designed and die cut a linked circle mask with my eClips to overlay on the orange floral paper.

Individual circles were die cut out of the other papers to place under some of the linked cirles, giving it a patchwork feel.

To finish the layout, I scattered buttons, pennants and word stickers around the page to add interest.

Extra Elements: cardstock in light orange, orange and olive green

My Gorgeous Beautiful Family

For my last kit layout, I sprayed the base paper with blue and green glimmer spray before using all of the banner die cuts that came with the kit, layering them up under the photos to create a colour matt. I love the photos in the layout - spring time in Japan with cherry blossoms and blue skies and my family with me - what more could you ask for?

Some of the banners had lovely quotes on them, so I chose this one to accent the layout. The little alphabet stickers are perfect for long titles or use on cards.

I punched out some little flowers from extra circles I had left over from my second layout, to tie in with the cherry blossom photos.

Extra Elements: Summer Sky and Pear Tart Fireworks shimmer spray, bling

Other layouts from our talented DT:

Smile by Angela McDaniel

 Blink by Angela McDaniel

 Sisters by Angela Collingwood

 Scarlet by Carla Keating

 Live The Life You Have Imagined by Erika Lui

 Live Laugh Love with You by Erika Lui

Here are the kit crop times:

Discovery Bay Crop
21st February (Thursday)
10am - 12pm
Hosted by Angela McDaniel

Sheung Wan Crop
19th February (Tuesday)
10:30am - 12:30pm
Hosted by Grace Wong

19th February (Tuesday)
7:30pm - 9:30pm
Hosted by Erika Lui

It's always great to see everyone at the crops and see all the wonderful layouts created, so we hope to see you there.

See you soon,

Ribbon Spool Mini Album Class

Hi there,

It's been another busy few days here. I finished a couple more layouts - again, I need to wait to show them as the papers haven't actually been shipped yet, but let's just say, that they are the cutest papers from Echo Park. I can't wait to share the layouts with you.

My other project, which I'm absolutely in love with and couldn't keep to myself, is this ribbon spool album. I'd been dying to do this for ages and ages, ever since I saw a version of it online and wanted to do it as a class. I cannot remember where I saw it though. December and January have been looney, but finally, I had time to sit down and do it. It's all flowery and dreamy and romantic, lots of bling and glitter. So gorgeous in real life. I'm really in love with this. Did I say that already?

Ribbon Spool Mini Album

The spool measures 4" wide by 3" tall. I love the papers used - Prima Fairy Belle. So soft and beautiful.

I added machine stitching as a decoration. This is optional as the papers are actually reinforced on the inside.

Love all the gorgeous flowers and accents.

The album itself, when unwound, is approximately 34" long. It's up to you how long you want to make it, depending on what photos you want to use.

Another angle of the album. I haven't opened it up fully for the pictures as it would be too long to fit in one shot.

 

I placed the album title on the inside panel as I wanted the album to not look like an album, if you know what I mean. It just looks like a decorated spool from the outside. That way, your viewer gets a surprise when they open it up.

I'll be holding this class at the HKMC shop in Sheung Wan. Again, you can contact Erika at info@hkmemorychestonline.com or ring the shop at +(852) 2559 0175 if you would like to join me in making a beautiful keepsake. You can bring photos in if you want or mount them at home once the album is done. If you do bring photos, they should not be taller than 3". The ones I used in my album are 2.5" tall by 1.6" wide.

Class Dates

21st February (Thursday)

7pm to 10pm

26th February (Tuesday)

7pm to 10pm

Class Fee
HK$500.00, including all materials. Photos to be brought in by student, if used. See above for photo sizes.

Hope to see you there,

Love is in the Air

Hi All,

It's been a busy few days with a cake order straight off the plane from LA. This was for a good friend of mine, whose little girl wanted a Madagascar themed cake. The party was for over 70 people (adults and kids combined), so you can imagine how big the cake had to be.  The cake itself was chocolate vegan cake with non-dairy chocolate buttercream, covered in fondant decorations. The animals were all made from gumpaste.

 The cake measured over 14 inches across and 12 inches tall! It was one HEAVY cake.

Scrapbooking-wise, I've been busy finishing several layouts; three HKMC February kit club samples (I'll be posting them at the end of this month), and two Valentine's layouts. It's so great to be scrapbooking after several weeks without it (less the workshops I did in LA, that is).

The first one makes use of My Mind's Eye Lost and Found 3 Ruby Collection.  Such a pretty collection with pinks and reds. Perfect for the lover's holiday. The layout is based on the January sketch challenge from My Creative Sketches.

The MCS January Sketch

Be Mine

Beautiful papers; some embossed, some glittered. Love the reds, greys and pinks here. The hearts are my favourite thing on the layout.

I cut different papers into small rectangles and distressed the edges before layering them like the sketch. For the red hearts, I laid double sided tape on one side (with the backing paper still over the top), then ran it through my Big Shot with a Sizzix Framelits heart die in several sizes. I then peeled off the paper and sprinkled on red microbeads and really pushed them into the sticky tape. Some did come off, but it mostly held fast. The butterfly is a sticker that I removed the sticky from and added pink bling.

I wrapped three layers of trim around the grey polkadot patterned paper for more texture. The hexagon embossed paper is my favourite. Also love the enamel dots - they give such dimension.

Products Used

Patterned papers, stickers, trim, name plate and enamel dots from My Mind's Eye Lost & Found 3 Ruby Collection (available at HKMC right now)

Red cardstock from Bazzill Papers

Chipboard letters from Dear Lizzy American Crafts

Rouge microbeads from Pop! American Crafts

Doilies sourced locally

For the second layout, I wanted to do an ultra flowery, romantic page and used most of the November limited edition kit from My Creative Scrapbooks. I didn't put any hearts on this layout, but the amount of flowers and the psalm that is printed on the papers (from 1 Corinthians 13, which was read at our wedding), very much indicates "love". The photo was taken in Japan last spring, when the flowers and trees were in full bloom.

My True Love

One of the more flowery paper collections that I've used, the roses are ideal for fussy cutting. I also cut a frame out of the top paper and backed it with a pink wordings paper.

Look at the little angel sitting on the edge of the flowers. I smeared some gesso on the flowers to mute the pink down a little and add to the faded look. I then spread a thin layer of glitter glue over the butterflies. After the whole layout was done, I covered the photo with some scrap paper and sprayed the whole layout with iridescent Glimmer Mist.

The chipboard flourish was covered with diamond glaze before sprinkling on a light gold glitter.  I also cut up a Prima crystal border to stick around the photograph and then dotted some glitter glue around the edges of the frame and photo.

Products Used

Patterned papers (Tea-Thyme collection), flowers, crystal border, resin angel and brown title letters from Prima Marketing

Chipboard flourish from Dusty Attic

Diecuts and label stickers from Colorbok

White gesso from Golden

Gold "Cream Soda" glitter Pixee Stix by Pink Paislee

Platinum glitter glue from Stickles by Ranger Inks

Iridescent Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels

After these layouts, I think it's time to do something mix media-ish, so I'm going to be breaking out the paints, gels and gessos. Watch this space for more.

Thanks for dropping by,

Finishing Off at CHA 2013

Hi all,

Last night, we decided to end our last evening here with a big meal at The Cheesecake Factory. The ahi tuna starter is to die for here by the way - tuna tartar with avocado in a sesame dressing. Funnily enough, I was so homesick for Chinese food, I went for a hoisin chicken number - not so good. The hot fudge sundae at the end made up for it though. Can I just say - yum!!!

Thick, unctuous hot fudge poured over a mound of whipped cream and cold vanilla icecream. So bad, but sooooooooo good.

So sad to say that this is the last day of the Winter CHA. Our luggage has been packed, we've checked out of our nice hotel, dumped the bags of at concierge and ready to finish off at the show. They close early today, so it's the last chance to put a few more orders in and then that's it. Done for another year. It's been such a fun show and all the new products and innovations that have come out this year has been amazing.

 L-R: Mod Podge love, the creator of Project Life herself - Becky Higgins (hint), Create - a word we crafters live by, the cutest Webster's Pages washi-taped cameras - so darling.

 L-R: cards showing some of the dies and stamps coming out for Sizzix, colour tag charts at Ranger, the sweetest shoes made from Sizzix dies.

Our last workshop, for Angela and I, was a mixed media class run by Marah Johnson. She's one of my favourite educators and so enthusiastic. Infact, all of our worskshops were excellent. One thing we have noticed this CHA is the huge trend of mixed media and how traditional paper scrapbooking is now changing drastically. You will still have the everyday paper layouts, but more and more designs are incorporating artist mediums in every texture imaginable.

 L-R: super cool altered tin can (didn't think of this before, right)?, lovely inky fingers which I'm still trying to clean out.

All in all, this year has been very successful, in terms of how many orders we got done and how many new things we learned. We will be giving sneak peeks when we get back, as to what we will be bringing in, so keep your eyes peeled for all the exciting new products coming in to the store. We'll be posting on the HKMC facebook and website very shortly, so remember to like us to get the news firsthand.

Thanks for following us on our CHA trip and see you back home,

CHA Update - Day 2

Hi All,

It's been another amazing day on the show floor. We finally made it to the stands that we wanted to see and drop of some orders. We're excited for you to see all the stuff that will be coming in the next few months.

 L-R: sample layout from KI Memories, Crate paper layout, the highly recognizable yellow bike, cute party line displays

This morning started out bright and early (it's been clear blue skies for the last few days - but cold), so after getting our venti coffees and hot oatmeal from Starbucks (they definitely need this oatmeal in Hong Kong), we sat down for a very inspirational business seminar at 8:30am. I love it when speakers can hold your attention and convey their message well. At that time in the morning, it's sort of crucial, really.

L-R: Heidi Swapp herself doing make & takes, super giant purple elephant at DCVW, cute layout from Elle's Studio, new circular punches at Martha Stewart

The doors for the show floor opened at 10am, and we were good today. We were focused, we were determined, and we got to all the stands that we wanted to. After that, we could afford a little time to look around at other booths, before I had to rush off for a two o'clock workshop.

Prima warranted a photo collage of its own. There were so many amazing works of art and layouts, you couldn't help but stand and stare at them. Gobsmacking stuff!

This class was a little different. I thought it would be interesting to test my drawing skills, so this workshop demonstrates the art of Zenspiration - to me, artistic doodling. It's a whole new movement in line doodling. I remember covering my school files and notebooks with pencil markings during class when I should have been paying attention instead, but it's not something I've really thought of since. I was attracted to the unique designs and techniques to this kind of drawing. We learned to do dangles, lines and columns and how to fill them with lots of patterns. All in all, I don't think it was really for me, but it was fun to try out something new.

 What do you think of my Zenspirations?

I'm now sitting in the lobby, leeching off the free wi-fi so I can write this while Angela and Erika are in a mixed media class. Bummed I couldn't get in to that one but looking forward to see what they did. After this, it's off for some Vietnamese pho. I think we're all homesick for some Asian food - we've been doing pizzas and burgers everyday and are just hankering for some "real" food.

Tomorrow brings another of workshops and more booths to see, so I'll do another updates then to show you some more yumminess.

Thanks for stopping by,

Non-stop CHA

Hey all,

Goodness me! Has this been one hectic and intense few days or what. We arrived on Tuesday but haven't had a chance to breathe at all. Only now, am I able to find fifteen minutes to sit down and write this while I wait for the others to finish their workshops.  Every night, we've just collapsed into bed and had to wake up to the rising sun to start the day.  To top it off, I thought we’d get away from the cold weather in Hong Kong and be able to soak in some sun. Sadly, it’s been the same weather here and we’re still wrapped up in parkas and scarves. No bikinis by the pool then.

Ready for a summary of what we've been up to during these last few days?

The first day, we trotted down to Coco’s (I know some of you are super jealous, and yes, the pancakes are as yummy as ever). After stuffing ourselves with a full day’s worth of calories in one sitting, we were ready to face a whole day with Tsukineko. That opened our eyes to how many ways you could use the inks and sprays. We left with inky fingers and a pretty new mini album. That night saw us pushing the largest trolley in history down the aisles of Tarjay, stocking up on socks, cereal and eye drops. As you do.

L-R: Sunrise over Anaheim, the convention centre right across from our hotel, that's Disneyland beyond the trees, delicious blueberry pancakes at Coco's, inks and sprays at Tsukineko workshop, us with our finished projects, learning some encaustic techniques, working with Spellbinder's new jewelry line, the new Big Shot coming out soon.

 L-R: the new range of Distress paints, Maya Road album, Maya Road framed tags, Tim at work.

The next day was not so much fun. This was where we strained our buttocks (and brains) with sitting for ten hours as we watched company after company parade their wares and give us lots of sneak peeks before their official launch on the show floor this Saturday and we confirmed half of our orders.  

L-R: such a cool product to rust up everything and anything, copperize anything, a pic with the man himself, an Ideo-logy project.

Yesterday was filled with back to back workshops and seminars, filled with even more products and techniques; starting with a Graphic 45 workshop and ending with some mixed media techniques. Blown away is one word that comes to mind and we are super excited to show you all that we learned.

L-R: Angela with Dyan Reaveley (creator of Dylusions), Teresa Collins layouts, gorgeous holiday altered book at Sizzix, a washi-taped bicycle at My Mind's Eye.

Today, the real madness began. Three and a half days of us oohing and ahhing over all the prettiness. With over four hundred companies exhibiting, it will be hard-pressed not order everything. There are lots of make and takes, lucky draws and give-aways.

 

L-R: a Tim Holtz ideo-logy necklace, Anna Dabrowska work of art, my Tim Holtz make and take which I queued an hour and a half for.

Our first plan of attack was to run for the Tim Holtz booth and do a his famous make and takes. After queuing up for one and half hours, we finally got to walk away with a cute Paris tag. We watched Tim demo his new range of distress paints (love them and have to get them) and took countless photos of all the beautiful samples made with the whole product range. Can I just say that there are some seriously talented artists and crafters out there.

 

L-R: a paper wedding gown at Bella Blvd, cute mini at Authentique, beautiful tag at Ranger.

We then tried (with the best intentions) to place all our orders. If you've been to the show, you will know it's not the easiest task; just because you will stop so many times on the way to the actual booth you want to go to and veer off into one you didn't. Just too many pretty things to look at.

Six hours later, we had only done one-fifth of the show floor. Tomorrow, we will have to put our roller skates and blinkers on and rocket around the rest of the floor.

See you tomorrow, when I will bring you more goodies,

Off to the Winter CHA

Hi there,

Just a short one this time.

One more day before getting on a flight to the winter CHA. As you can imagine, I'm super excited about the trip. I remember last year's show and how it blew me away. The sheer size of the event and all the companies and designers all in one place - this year will be no different, I'm sure. This time, it will only be three of us going for HKMC, but we will keep our eyes peeled for the best of the best and hopefully bring it all back to you.

Most of the brands we love are already sharing sneak peeks online and I can't wait to see them in person. There will also be lots of workshops for us to attend - bringing home new products to try out and techniques to share and I'll not be making the same mistake twice and have my camera charged up, ready to take a ton of photos for you all. 

So, I will hopefully be able to do a daily blog during our time over there, just to give everyone an update on what's happening.

See you in Anaheim,