CHA Summer Show 2011 "Minute to Craft It!" Challenge

I just recently returned home from the Craft & Hobby Association’s Summer Show in Rosemont, IL. Although the show was small, everyone that I spoke with felt the show was great! I know for me, it was a blast! There were lots of new products with make-it, take-it’s being enjoyed by everyone that was taking them.

My favorite part of the entire show (aside from seeing all of my designer friends), was a new event that CHA introduced at the show called the “Minute to Craft It! Challenge, which was coordinated by CHA staff member, Keri Cunningham. The event ran for three days at 12:00pm, 2:00pm & 5:00pm. I was fortunate to be asked to be one of the hosts for this new event along with Theresa Cifali, Jen Cushman and Terri Ouellete. The idea behind the challenge was for me to pick three audience members to participate and one to be the time keeper. They had a table on the stage with them that was covered with products donated by our very generous manufacturers. The contestants could take any product from the table to their area and they were given 10 minutes to create their masterpiece.

While the contestants were in a frenzy creating, I had the pleasure of interacting with the audience members where I would ask them all kinds of craft questions and throw various products out to them. It was a very crazy, fun time! Once the contestants were finished with their project our three judges, Marisa Pawwelko, Ana Araujo and Joy McDonnell, picked the 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd place winners. Each winner along with the timekeeper received fabulous prizes from our manufacturers.

All in all, the event was a huge success and I hope that CHA will consider doing it again at the CHA Winter Show in Anaheim, CA. Here are a few pictures of the event.

ENJOY!!!  Stay tuned for more show news

Until next time….

Lisa

Stampin’ Queen Creations

Me with the Minute to Craft It! Challenge Poster



Hosting the Show

Throwing lots of Manufacturer's products at the audience!

Making Friendships That Last!

Hi Everyone,

I’m Back! Again. For those of you who follow my blog, you know by now that I have Crohn’s Disease. I haven’t posted in a while because once again my Crohn’s reared it’s ugly head and I had to have surgery again (this was my 21^st!) But, instead of letting this disease knock me down for good, I fought hard and now I’m back! In honor of that I have decided to share a project with you about friendship.

Friendships are one of the most important relationships that you will ever make in your lifetime. It’s the one relationship that will sustain you through all of the highs and lows that life throws your way. My best friend Tina, or Teen as I call her, has always been there for me. She has never let me down in the 33 years we have been friends. She is one of the most important people in my life and I don’t ever want to think of what my life would be without her.

 A few years ago, Teen sent me this quote. It says, “A good friend will come bail you out of jail… but a True Friend will be sitting next to you saying, ‘Girl…we screwed up.’” For me that says it all. When Clearsnap called me and asked me to create a new project for them, I knew what I wanted the theme of the project to be: Friendship. So in the name of friendship, and in honor of my best friend Teen, I dedicated this book project to her. And I want to say to her, “Thanks for having my back and know that I will always have yours!”

 With that said, why don’t you do something special for your best friend? A scrapbook page with pictures of you both is a great way to tell your best friend how much you love her. Or, you can create a book like the one I designed. It’s so easy to do. For my book, I used Design Adhesives, glitters, and ink pads from Clearsnap. To use the Design Adhesives, peel the backing off, place on your project, sprinkle glitter and shake off excess glitter. That’s it. You’re done. They are simple to use and they give your projects that extra glittery shine. Doesn’t your best friend deserve a little extra glitter in her life? I know mine does.

Until next time...

Crafty Hugs,

Lisa

Stampin' Queen Creations

©2011 Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

 Book of Friendship

 Materials

• Design Adhesives- Dancing Hearts & Daisy Daze by Clearsnap®
• Glitters- Sapphire, Peidot, Sparkling Amethyst by Clearsnap®
• Watermark inkpad by Clearsnap®
• Colorbox inkpads- Black & Sky Blue by Clearsnap®
• Mini accordion book
• Card stock- Blue, Green, Lavender, White
• Cardstock stickers
• Zip Dry Paper Glue by Beacon Adhesives®
• Assorted color brads
• Ribbon- Green
• Chalk Pencils by Faber-Castell®
• Heat tool
• Rubber Stamps- Friends Forever by Rubber Stampede®, Hearts by Inkadinkadoo®, Mini Star by
• Stampendous, Girlfriends, Phone, Purse, Dress & Glasses by All Night Media®

Instructions

1. Cut card stock as follows: One white 3 ½” x 4”, three green and three lavender 3 ½” x 3 ¾” and four blue

    3 ½” x 3 ¾”. On white card stock, stamp “Girlfriends” with black inkpad. Stamp “Friends Today” with blue

   inkpad. Dry ink with heat tool. Color image with chalk pencils. Apply glitter to stamped image. Attach brads.

2.  For front inside pages 1, 3 & 5, stamp pages with watermark inkpad. Decorate pages 2 & 4 with Design

    Adhesives and glitters. Attach brads to pages 2 through 4.

3.  For back inside pages 1, 4 & 5, stamp pages with Watermark inkpad. Decorate pages 2 & 3 with Design

    Adhesives and glitters. Adhere all pages to accordion book. Adhere stickers to pages.

4.  Adhere stamped white card stock to front of book. Attach ribbon.

Project Note- Add brads to the front of the inside pages only. Adding to both sides of the pages will cause the book to become too bulky.



©2011 Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations



©2011 Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

Designer Craft Connection

Blog Hop

“The Big Day Book”

Welcome back to the next installment of the Designer Craft Connection Blog Hop!

This month our theme was Mother’s Day/Father’s Day/Birthdays. I chose to focus on birthdays. As before, simply click on the Designer Craft Connection button on the right side of my blog and “hop” to the other 50+ professional designer’s blog for tons of ideas and inspiration. Have fun and please enjoy my project, “The Big Day Book” that I have included below.

 I don’t know about you, but I have found that the older I get the more forgetful I become. There was a time in my life where I didn’t need to write down the dates of my family and friend’s birthdays. I kept all of the information inside my head. Well, let me tell you, those days are long over. At this point I feel like I’m having a great day if I can remember what I had for breakfast!

 When my brain began fading, I thought the answer was to write everything down on sticky notes. Each time a family member’s birthday would be coming up I would write it down on a sticky note. What a great idea that was. I thought I would never miss another birthday. Everything would go back to normal and none of my family members would hate me ever again. Sounds wonderful doesn’t it? It really was a great idea until I started forgetting where I put my sticky notes! The special day would come and go and I’d find the note under an unfinished project in my studio about a week later. Yikes! I once again found myself hurting someone’s feelings because my brain seemed to function only half of the time. This was the reason behind the creating of this project.

 This book is easy to create by using your scrapbook supplies and a Photobook Creator Machine by Unibind.  The machine makes it easy to create the page and bind it into one of their hard cover albums. The machine melts the spine of the album, so when it’s finished the page is securely glued in the album just like the pages of a book. Of course if you don’t have a Photobook Creator Machine, you can just as easily create this project by placing your page in a three-ring binder or any scrapbook album, although if you can purchase one these machines, I say do it! You won’t be disappointed. This is a great machine and I love using it.

 Here’s what you need to do to create this project. Using your scrapbook supplies (I listed what I used below) create a pocket page. Make a list of all the birthdays and anniversaries and adhere it to the front of the pocket page. Next, create a card for each of your family members and friend’s birthdays and anniversaries and place them in the pocket page. You can create your cards as easy or as difficult as you want. Once you book is finished, all you need to do is pull the card out of the pocket page, place it in an envelope and mail the card to your loved one.

The Big Day Book

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations 2011

 Another variation of this would be to create one pocket page for every month of the year, so you would have twelve pocket pages instead of one. This variation is a lot more time consuming, but if you have the time, it’s worth it.

 This project allows you to keep all of your cards together with a list of all of your important dates, all in one place. This means no more heartbreak for forgetting your mom’s birthday and no more headaches looking for those sticky notes.

Now, if I can just remember where I put MY “Big Day Book.”

Crafty Hugs,

Lisa

Stampin’ Queen Creations

The Big Day Book- Card Front

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations 2011

The Big Day Book- Pocket Page

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations 2011

 Supplies

Photobook Creator Machine by Unibind

8”x 8” white album by Unibind

Cricut Personal Cutting Machine by Provo Craft

“Beyond Birthdays” cartridge by Provo Craft

Cardstock- White, Red, Lime Green, Great Lakes, Evening Surf, Love Potion by Bazzill

Birthday themed pattern paper- Hats GP287, Balloons GP286 by Best Creations

Birthday themed stickers by K & Company

Vivid! Dye-based inkpads-Black & Purple by Clearsnap

Prismacolor color pencils by Sanford

Gamsol solution & Blending stump by Inky Antics

Mini blue brads

¼” Hole punch

Zip Dry Paper Glue by Beacon Adhesives

Ultimate Trimmer Paper Cutter by Purple Cows

Birthday cupcake rubber stamp #97628 by Inkadinkado

Designer Craft Connection

Blog Hop

Welcome back to the Designer Craft Connection blog hop! Each month a very talented group of professional designers get together, pick a theme, and create a project around that theme.  The result is over 50 different projects that we get to share with you, our readers! So, with a click of your mouse on the Designer Craft Connection button that you can find on the right side of my blog, you can “hop” from one blog to another to view these wonderful projects and maybe re-create a few of them for your family and friends.

Don’t forget while you’re hopping around to each site, about this month’s giveaway! 

Julie McGuffe is hosting another great giveaway. This month, Julie is giving away a set of DVD’s from Scrapbook Memories. To enter to win, you must leave a comment on the blog where you find the Scrapbook Memories logo. When you find the logo, leave a comment on the blog about your favorite craft show’s name and the reason why you like that show. Next, hop on over to Julie’s blog at www.juliemcguffee.blogspot.com and leave a comment telling Julie what you’d like to see on her new show. She would like to know about your favorite scrapbooking product, craft or technique.  While you’re there, be sure to check out the Scrapbook Memories logo so you know what to look for as you hop.

Be sure you check back to see what we’re up to with the blog hop. We will have a new theme and post our projects on the first Monday of every month. We will also have a new giveaway, so you won’t want to miss that. Great projects and free giveaways every month! How much fun is that!!! Have fun at the hop and good luck on winning that great prize!

Crafty Hugs,

Lisa

Stampin’ Queen Creations

Happy Easter Card

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations 2011

The theme for this month’s hop is Spring/Easter and I wanted to create an easy but elegant Easter card. I hope you enjoy it!

Happy Easter Card

SUPPLIES

Blue card stock- 4 ¾” x 6 ½” (after fold)

Pink card stock- 4 ½” x 6 ¼”

Green card stock- 4 ¼” x 6”

Pattern paper- 4” x 5 ¾”

Cream card stock- (2 pieces) 3 ¼” x 4 ½” and 3” x 1 1/8” for sign

Chalks

Zip DryÔ Paper Glue by Beacon AdhesivesÒ

Black permanent inkpad

4 Gold eyelets

4 Gold jump rings

3D foam tape

Preserve It!Ô by KrylonÒ

Hole punch ¼”

Eyelet setter

Rubber Stamps:

Cross & Lilies

Happy Easter

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1.  Fold blue card stock 8 ½” x 11” in half. Cut to size 4 ¾” x 6 ½”. Cut the remainder papers as follows: Pink 4 ½” x 6 ¼”, Green 4 ¼” x 6”, Pattern paper 4” x 5 ¾”, Cream 3 ¼” x 4 ½” and 3” x 1 1/8” for sign.

Step 2. Stamp Cross & Lilies on cream card stock twice with black inkpad. Color images with chalks. Cut flowers out (on one image only). Apply 3D foam tape to backs of flowers and adhere to stamped image, giving the image a 3D effect. Spray image with Preserve It! Sealer.

Step 3. Stamp “Happy Easter” on smaller piece of cream card stock. Punch holes in both pieces of cream card stock. Add eyelets and jump rings. Layer and adhere all papers together with glue except “Happy Easter”. Leave “Happy Easter” image free to move on jump rings.

A Beautiful Wedding

Wedding Collection

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

Is there anything better than attending a beautiful wedding? For me, the answer to that question is easy. Yes! Although I really do enjoy attending a wedding, what I enjoy more is creating for a wedding. I love creating the invitations, table decorations, and all the things that makes a wedding the most special day in a couples life.

Memory Candle

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

Wedding Chair Keepsake

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

I can still remember when my daughter and I were preparing for her wedding in early 2007. For those of you who follow my blog know, I have been dealing with Crohn’s Disease all of my adult life. The year 2006 was no different. I had multiple surgeries that year, and six months before my daughter’s wedding, I was laying in my recliner in my studio, recovering from yet another surgery. I only have one daughter and I was determined to make her wedding day as special for her as she is to me. I didn’t want anyone else to do it and so as I laid in my recliner I sewed and hand beaded beautiful hand muffs for all of the bridesmaids. As my recovery progressed, I continued to work on her wedding. I also made all of the invitations, table decorations, flower girl baskets, centerpieces for the head table, a memory candles for her late grandparents and much more. Was it difficult for me? You bet! But I wouldn’t have traded the time I spent for anything. When we walked into the reception hall and I saw my daughter’s face as she took everything in…that moment speaks volumes for me and I will never forget it as long as I live! It was worth every single minute I spent working on the wedding from my recliner. I was the one who gave my daughter her dream wedding, and it fills my heart with joy even to this day.

Bridesmaid Hand Muff

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

Ring Bearer Pillow

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

  

When people asked me if I had lost my mind I always said “probably!”, but I also say that if you can do it for your children, then do it! It does take a lot of your time, but let’s face it. With weddings costing on an average of $30,000 you can save a lot of money creating some of the wedding items yourself. I know that for my daughter’s wedding, I saved almost $400.00 on the invitations alone. With a computer, a few rubber stamps and some scrapbook supplies, you can create some beautiful invitations that you can customize to what your loved ones really want. They don’t have to settle for the designs in the invitation books. Now, don’t get me wrong, those designs are beautiful, but in my daughter’s case, she wanted something with snowflakes and she also wanted a picture of a little boy and girl in wedding attire. Before I decided to design her invitations myself, we poured over dozens of invitation books, and we couldn’t find anything remotely close to what she really wanted. It broke my heart to see her so sad. When I showed her the invitation I had designed, she looked at it and cried. I knew at that point I made the right decision to design her invitations myself.



Invitation- Outside

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations



Invitation- Inside

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

The techniques that I used were, stamping on velvet, beading, rubber stamping, scrapbooking, and general crafting. I hope by seeing the items I created for my daughter’s wedding will inspire you to create a beautiful wedding for your son or daughter. It really is worth all the hard work when you see the look of appreciation in your loved ones eyes. There are no words to describe that feeling. I hope that you have the opportunity to experience it for yourself.

Crafty Hugs,

Lisa

Stampin’ Queen Creations



Table Centerpiece

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations





Flower Girl Basket

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

Bride's Purse

©Lisa Rojas, Stampin’ Queen Creations

Exciting News to Announce

I am so excited about this new announcement that I’m about to bust! Have you noticed the new blue and pink button on the right side of my blog that says “Designer Crafts Connection”? Well, that button is what the entire buzz is about.

Last November a group of professional craft designers got together to do the Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop. Every week for 7 weeks these designers would create one-of-a-kind projects using different Sizzix die cuts that were designed by Sizzix Licensed Designers, Eileen Hull, Brenda Pinnick and Karen Burniston. There were over 60 designers who participated in the blog hop and the results were fabulous! When our readers hopped from website to website, they were thrilled to find over 60 different ideas for each die cut. When our blog hop ended in mid-December it left each of us feeling a little sad. We had such a blast designing new projects each week and hanging out with each other, that we didn’t want the fun to stop, and that brings me to my exciting news.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE…. I am so pleased to announce that this wonderful, talented group of designers that I am blessed to be a part of has created the “Designer Craft Connection”. The Designer Craft Connection is an on-going blog hop. Every month (and sometimes more often) the DCC designers will be posting different projects based on a theme, offer tips and techniques, host a treasure hunt where you can win cool prizes, and basically offer information and advice about all things crafty from the very best talent in the craft industry.

Since we begin today our fearless leader, Julie McGuffee, at www.juliemcguffee.blogspot.com  will have all the information on her website about how you can win a Cricut Expression machine of your very own! How cool is that?!!! So, join me and the other DCC designers as we begin our new adventure by clicking on the “hop forward” and “hop backwards” buttons to visit each designer’s website. Be sure to check back on March 13^th, as we start our new challenge based on wedding ideas. I can’t wait. It’s gonna be a blast!!!

Crafty Hugs,

Lisa

Stampin’ Queen Creations

Doggy Treat Box

Ruby Renee- 7 Months

©Lisa Rojas Stampin’ Queen Creations 2011

I have shared stories in my past blog posts about my love of my four-legged fur kids. My dogs are the loves of my life. I shared the loss of my beloved cocker spaniel, Tawnee Renee, and I even shared the new arrival of my miniature dachshund puppy, Ruby Renee. Since I haven’t written an update on my new puppy, I thought it was time to do so.

When I first brought Ruby home at the end of August, she was 8 weeks old and weighed a whopping 3 lbs. She was so cute and tiny we had to put bells on her collar so we wouldn’t step on her! The very first night, I placed her in a doggy stroller that fit right next to my bed. I knew because she was a puppy that I would be up with her a few times that first night. Now mind you, I haven’t had a puppy for 13 years. Our other miniature dachshund, Coca Cola, who is 6 years old now, actually belongs to my 24 year old son. When we got her, he took care of her most of the time. I really didn’t have to deal with the puppy stage all that much. So when I brought Ruby home, I thought to myself, I’m a grown up, I can handle this. What I forgot to tell myself was that I am an OLDER grown up who now knows that having a puppy is just like having a newborn in the house. What the heck was I thinking? I would never in a million years have a newborn at this stage in my life, what am I doing with a puppy?

Well, to be honest, after surviving the first few months of puppydom from things like waking up a few times a night, pooping on my carpet, and an unending amount of puppy energy and attitude… I have made it! I have come out on the other side, and the best part is, I still like her. I still love the fact that she is in my life. There is just nothing better in the whole wide world then waking up to wet-nosed puppy kisses!

My little sweetie pie is now almost 7 months old and she hits the scales at 12 lbs. She still has tons of puppy energy and attitude, and she still poops on my carpet every once in a while, but she is calming down a little more each day. Thank Goodness! I often wondered if I would survive this little stinker or if she’d get the best of me.

So, this week’s project is for all of you fellow dog lovers out there. This project is not just for the fur kids in your life, but also the fur kid lovers. I don’t know about you, but I got so tired of seeing dog treat boxes all over my countertops that I decided to create a fun and easy storage container to hold all of those treats for my fur kids. Of course since my fur kids are girls, I created my box with lavenders and pinks. The box that I used is a great wooded box from Walnut Hollow. Don’t freak out if you have never stamped on wood before. If this is the first time you have stamped on wood, then this is the perfect project for you to get your feet wet. With this project, I actually stamped my design out on paper first, then decoupage it onto the wood box. That way if you messed up your stamped image, simply disregard your paper, re-stamp it and then you can decoupage it on your wood box. How easy is that?

Crafty Hugs,

Lisa

Stampin’ Queen Creations

Doggy Treat Box

©Lisa Rojas Stampin’ Queen Creations 2011

 SUPPLIES

Wood box by Walnut Hollow
Delta Ceramcoat Acrylic Paint- White, Pale Lilac, Lavender
Aleene’s Instant Decoupage Glue Sealer & Finish- Matte
Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky Glue
Paintbrush ½” Wash by Loew-Cornell
Sea sponge
Sandpaper
White copy paper
Ancient Page Dye inkpad- Black & Lavender by Clearsnap Inc.
Chalk Pastels by Loew-Cornell
Preserve It! by Krylon Products
Krylon Crystal Clear Sealer
Lavender and Purple ribbon
Dog bones
Rubber Stamps-
Dog by Rubber Stampede
Doggy Border by All Night Media
Dog Bone & Lettering by Close To My Heart

 INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Paint box with white acrylic paint. Let dry. Paint box again with Pale Lilac. Let dry. Paint edges with Lavender paint. Sponge Lavender and White paint on box. Paint one dog bone with Lavender paint. Let dry. Lightly sand box. Spray box with Krylon Crystal Clear Sealer.

  2. Trim white copy paper to the size of the front of the box. Stamp images with black inkpad. Color with chalks. Spray with Preserve It! paper protectant. Decoupage stamped paper to box front. Let dry.

  3. Coat three dog bones with decoupage medium. Let dry. Glue bones and ribbon bows to the box. Use picture for placement if needed.

  Source Information

 All Night Media                      (678) 291-8100              www.plaidonline.com

 Close To My Heart                     (888) 655-6552              www.closetomyheart.com

 Duncan Enterprises                   (559) 291-4444              www.duncancrafts.com

 Krylon Products                       (216) 566-2000              www.krylon.com

 Loew-Cornell                          (201) 836-7070              www.loew-cornell.com

 Rubber Stampede                      (800) 423-4135               www.deltacreative.com

 Walnut Hollow                         (800) 944-2331              http://www.walnuthollow.com/

Ruby Renee & Coca Cola

©Lisa Rojas Stampin’ Queen Creations 2011