SeeShellsCreations

New Blog...

2008-01-11T18:03:00.000-04:00

I have been concentrating on a new blog so please check it out:

www.stampsofourlives.com

Upcoming classes for May

2007-04-24T08:23:00.000-04:00

Well - waiting is so hard! I'm waiting for my 1st Stampin' Up! open house order to arrive... it seems like forever, even though it's barely over a week... I am so excited to see the fabulous items chosen by those who attended my open house... they ordered some things I don't own so it will be great to "preview" them and perhaps I'll discover some new items that I NEED...

Can hardly wait too because I've ordered the supplies for upcoming classes... and of course I want to get started preparing sooner rather than later! May will be a very busy, but fun month. Here's the line-up for May classes:

Tuesday May 1 at 9:30am
CARD class, making 10 cards & will include a Mother's day card
Please bring your own adhesives, scissors & cutter

Friday May 4 at 6:30pm
Friendship Mini accordion album
Please bring your own adhesives, scissors & cutter

Tuesday May 8 at 9:30am
4 - 12x12 pages
Includes: 2 Carte Postale pages & 2 Doodle pages
Please bring your own adhesives, scissors & cutter

Tuesday May 15 at 9:30am
4 - 12x12 pages
Includes: 2 Polka Dots & Paisleys pages & 2 Au Chocolat pages
Please bring your own adhesives, scissors & cutter

Tuesday May 15 at 6:30pm (For those who cannot attend morning classes...)
4 - 12x12 pages
Choose between: 2 Carte Postale pages & 2 Doodle pages
OR 2 Polka Dots & Paisleys pages & 2 Au Chocolat pages
Please bring your own adhesives, scissors & cutter

Friday May 18 at 6:30pm
Tickets & Tokens paper bag mini album
Please bring your own adhesives, scissors & cutter

Saturday May 19 at 9:30am
Tickets & Tokens paper bag mini album
Please bring your own adhesives, scissors & cutter

Saturday May 26 at 9:30am - 3:30pm
Open crop day...
You will have use of inks, rubberstamps, and other fabulous surprises!
Just bring your own paper or purchase some cardstock...
and of course bring your own adhesives, scissors & cutter...

1st Class!

2007-04-13T13:54:00.000-04:00

I am so excited - tomorrow I'll be teaching my 1st papercraft class... We'll be doing a mini accordian album perfect for 2x3 photos, using Stampin' Up! products...

The lovely Petals & Paisleys paper will be a pleasant reminder that Spring really has Sprung, even though we keep getting snow here! I am sure this will be the last snowfall for us, right?

Hoping all the gals who will be doing this project will enjoy it...

(Class held April 14... A few photos added April 19)

Sample pages done by Heather...

Flower by Pamela...

In all there were 7 at this class and I believe everyone enjoyed it... I look forward to completing my mini album and get some photos ready to add to it soon!

It was a Successful Move!

2007-04-03T18:11:00.000-04:00

So we moved to our new house on Wednesday March 28... All went well... As far as we know, only 1 casulty - my mom's travelling punch bowl... It has attended every event during my lifetime thus far... It got crushed enough to fatally crack it, rendering it totally useless... And yes, I did have a cry over it!

Other than that, we are busy unpacking, arranging & Re-arranging things... but it is coming along nicely. My sister helped on the weekend to prepare for a family get-together I had planned for Sunday afternoon - a potluck lunch to celebrate! The 1st of hopefully many gatherings here in our new home.

Since the downstairs got most of the attention on the weekend, I am now concentrating on my new craftroom... Planning for my 1st Stampin' Up! workshop - a mini accordian album on Saturday April 14... Then my Stampin' Up! open house on Sunday April 15.

Hmmm... I'd better get back to unpacking now I guess...
I will post some pictures soon!

Change

2007-03-18T08:14:00.000-04:00

"Change is the process by which the future invades our lives."
~Alvin Toffler~

Well, the countdown 'til moving day is finally on...
Only 10 more sleeps! Wow - the time is passing much more quickly now that it's March, or so it seems... It's hard to live in a sea of boxes even though I know it's only temporary... CHANGE - yes, maybe it's because change is hard... Even with the total excitement of getting my princess house and the craftroom of my dreams, part of me will miss this house... plus it's hard to have to set aside my crafting while preparing to move... hmmm... create something with my craft stuff or pack? Sigh - my craft things will be the last things to be packed I am sure!

Ok, time to quit lamenting and get back to the packing...
Seriously, right?

Future craftroom, here I come!

See More of my Photos & Projects

2007-03-15T09:30:00.001-04:00

Check out more of my photos & projects:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seeshells_creations/

Christmas in March

2007-03-14T08:21:00.000-04:00

I just joined Stampin' Up! as an independant demonstrator and my starter kit arrived Monday afternoon... (I had worked all night Sunday so I slept on the sofa in case it arrived! Didn't want to miss the doorbell...) I absolutely love the Stampin' Up! products from their ink pads, to their aquapens & watercolour crayons, to their cardstock & paper, and of course LOVE their stamps! I look forward to doing workshops where I can share projects and techniques with other stamping enthusiasts (cards, scrapbook layouts, ATCs, minibooks of all types...) so many possibilities!

As if that wasn't enough... I must admit I had a little bit of an Ebay-Spree... True Story! So there will be "a few more" packages arriving during the month of March - enough that I can say it will be like Christmas in March for me...

So uh, Merry Christmas! ;-)

What's Your Muse?

2007-03-09T18:43:00.000-04:00

"The best way to get a good idea is to get a lot of ideas."
~Linus Pauling~

I am always interested in what inspires people to be creative. Depending on the project, my muse or my source of inspiration changes of course... Sometimes I'm inspired by pretty beads... Sometimes it's a certain colour that lights my creative fire... Other times it's something in nature... Here are some examples of my muses:

Hope you will leave comments and share...
What's your muse?

(Leave a link to a picture if you have one to share)

Artist Trading Cards

2007-02-21T08:48:00.000-04:00

One of my favourite things to create these days are Artist Trading Cards or ATCs for short.

"Artist trading cards, also known as ATCs, are 2 ½ x 3 ½ inch (64 x 89 mm) miniature works of art which artists trade with one another, similar to the way people trade sports cards. ATCs are a relatively new art form which formally began in September 1996. The concept was created by Swiss artist M. Vänçi Stirnemann.[1]

Cards can be in any media: textile arts, pencil, watercolor, acrylic, oil, collage, scratch board, mixed media - anything creative artists use. Artist Trading Cards are produced as single originals, in a series, or a limited editions."
taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist_trading_cards

Here are some samples of my own Artist Trading Cards:

(LEFT: Chocolate Dreams ATC, Enjoy Life ATC, and Share a Kiss ATC)
(RIGHT: Does This ATC)

(LEFT: Blue Treasure ATC, I Dream of Blue ATC, and Melts in You Mouth ATC)
(RIGHT: Live the Thrill ATC, Flanders Fields ATC, and Air Travel ATC)

(Snow on Birches1 ATC is a watercolour ATC that I painted)

(Eye Spy ATC, and The Look ATC)

Some helpful websites to get started on creating your own ATCs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist_trading_cards
http://www.artist-trading-cards.ch/
http://www.cedarseed.com/air/atc.html

You can also check out more of my ATCs at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seeshells_creations/

Kindergarten Memories

2007-02-19T08:08:00.000-04:00

Some of my earliest memories of crafting take me back to my kindergarten days. One of my favourite memories is cutting up old catalogues & magazines to create cards - most were for my mom. Over the years I have continued to clip things from magazines - things that caught my eye, that interested me. Some of these clippings I've held onto for years ("pack-rat-itis" ???). I didn't have plans for the clippings when I actually clipped them, but I knew I liked what I saw.

I kept most of these clippings in a shoe box until recently when I decided they were starting to overflow the borders of the shoebox. It was becoming increasingly more difficult to sort through and find the precise clipping I wanted at that particular time... I knew I needed a better system... And let's face it - ANY system would be better than my shoebox!

So here's what I came up with:

I'd love for you to leave comments - tell me, what is your earliest crafting memory?

Note from Nala

2007-02-08T12:36:00.000-04:00

Yawn-stretch... MEOW... My mom has had to move her craft stuff to the basement as our family is preparing to move to a new house... I figured she needed some company down here and I'm just the cat for the job...

Clarise had mentioned how messy mom is...
Well here's some proof directly from the "kitty-cam":

This is mom's temporary craft corner located in the basement here until we move to our new house... she is really looking forward to getting all her craft stuff set up in her NEW & improved craftroom in our new house... I sure hope she's not this messy in her new craftroom... she could lose a cat in that mess!

My MEOW! It is exhausting watching mom create things...
zzzzz...
~Nala~

Thoughts from a Craftroom Cat

2007-02-08T10:22:00.000-04:00

Meow, meow meeeooow meowmeow meow ... etc...

English Translation:
Hi, I'm Clarise, better known as the craftroom cat since I spend most of my time in my mom's craftroom. I like to think of myself as the craftroom superviser, ya, the head honcho, the big cheese... mmm, I like cheese, especially cheese whiz... meow, I digress...

So back to my mom's craftroom... here's a picture of me in "said craftroom" doing what I do best, supervising of course!

This is mom's 1st real craftroom! And I have to tell you - this picture was taken BEFORE my mom messed it up... My mom is VERY messy - True Story! She is a pile-er... when she works on projects sometimes her piles of stuff fall over... I just laugh on the inside 'cause I don't want her to be mad at me for laughing... Anyway, she painted this craftroom orange because it's a happy colour.

But soon my mom, dad, my 2 kitty-sisters & I will be moving to a different house and mom will be getting a bigger craftroom... she's VERY excited about her future craftroom because right now all of her craft stuff has been moved to the basement!

Yawn-stretch-scratch...
Well, gotta go have a snack...
and maybe a nap...
Will meow with you later...

~Clarise~