Nothing Rusty Here!!

I have been playing with the absolutely YUMMY Princess Bride range from Rusty Pickle. These LOs are my mum and dad's wedding and these piccies are what started me scrapping last September when mum found them in a box under the stairs! I've used the Princess Bride papers, stickers, overlays and trims and they are so easy to use.

The overlays in particular are so detailed, that the page calls for very little else, in fact I completed all 4 of these LOs in 1 day (has to be a record for me!)

The papers are double sided with gorgeous black/charcoal designs on one side and ivory designs on the other.

The last layout also features the gorgeous Rusty Pickle chipboard swirls that I painted with black acrylic paint.

All of the products I've used are available in store now, as well as the Rusty Pickle ideas book called, not surprisingly "Nothing Rusty here" - you didn't expect me to think of my own post title did you?!

Come Along & Be A Mused

How does a stamping session in our new play space absolutely free sound? Hmm, thought you might like the sound of that - so here's the deal: You may already know that we are the only store in the UK to be taking part in the second annual A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA stamp extravaganza from July 9th - 15th 2007 & you may also be aware that I'm competing in the AP Ambassador's competition. What you might not know is that I get points in the competition for running swaps.
So, I've decided to open the playroom at all times that there are no classes running to anyone that wants to come along & play with the A Muse stamps in mine & Auntie Jane's personal collections so long as, in return, you either take part in one of the card or ATC swaps that I'm currently running.
Beginners are also welcome & we can give you a quick intro to stamping if you've never done it before! Feel free to bring along your own supplies or use what I have up in the classroom!
You can find more info about the swaps over on my personal blog, or ask in store.

We're Back!!

Woo-hoo! opening day was fantastic, it's just soooo good to be back. As expected we weren't really ready but we opened as promised. Many a goody bag was given away, although I'd run out of ink last night so we weren't able to give out any class timetables, new loyalty cards or any of the other bits of paper we usually like to dish out.

Our new signage (which is sooo funky) wasn't finished until late afternoon but was so worth it that we didn't care. I've a couple of pics to share with you: First, here's steve (AKA SizeOne) a local & very talented graffiti artist finishing off his artwork. Second, the finished canopy (I had to stand in the middle of the road to take this one LOL). Third, a piccie of the lovely looby, who came along & helped us for the day. Now this is how we like you to leave us - laden down with lots of bags of new stash LOL.

Look out for a very special competition coming up on the next blog post - you're gonna love it. There will also be a brand new piccie of the shop on our website very soon.

Are You Ready???

The new store is progressing much slower than I'd have liked & isn't really ready to open (no phone line yet, no toilets, lots of decorating to do). I did think about postponing the opening event for a week or so but have since decided against it. The reason? Well, it's largely down to one of my regular ladies who paid a visit today. In itself not an unusual event as I have people visit all the time but this lady (& you know who you are LOL) got back from her holiday today, grabbed a couple of hours sleep and dashed out to find me - all fired up & desperate to get cracking on her holiday album. Isn't it strange how you holiday in a different way when you have discovered scrapbooking?

So I thought about it & came to the conclusion that actually, no-one cares too much about whether the decorating is finished (toilets are a bit of a must for classes tho') and all that our friends and customers really want is for us to be open again - so that's what we will do!

So, 10am, this Saturday morning (June 23rd) & we'll have free make N takes, free prize draws, free refreshments, beginner's intro sessions and some other stuff. You'll also be able to book your places for new classes and all the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA events. But you'll have to take us as you find us - there's still sooooo much to do!

Check out the sneak peek photos & see how much we've got done by Saturday LOL. The first is the shop floor, the second will be the new 'playroom' - it's all good!

Spot The Guv'nor

A quick competition for you before we re-open. I've been through all the photographs of the move & can't find myself in them (but I was definitely there!) So here's a little competition for you, post a comment & tell me where I am in this photograph. I'll pick a winner at random and send you something - don't know what yet. You have until midnight Saturday 23rd June (our official re-opening day) to post your comment.

We're On The Move

Technically we have moved but as is par for the course, nothing has gone to plan. We are in the new premises but the water isn't on yet and the telephone has been cut off (we have it on divert so you can still leave a message for us).

There is a serious amount of decorating to do but I have some willing victims (sorry, volunteers) coming in on Wednesday to do that! The new shop is huge I didn't think so until we got all the stock in but there's just soooo much room, I can't wait to overfill it again LOL. The new playroom (classroom is so formal, don't you think?) is also massive and there's a separate little stock room that's gonna be our very own stash cupboard. Will post some photos when I can, for now here are a couple of the move. We were a bit lazy this time & had a bigger van (a Luton) so it took 1.5 trips and we left lots of the spinners full LOL. No more messing about with transit vans, we'll have a Luton in future!

Moving Day Again

So it's stupid o'clock on Sunday morning (well, 7.45 to be more precise) & Crop 'Til You Drop is on the move again! The shop isn't packed yet & the van is coming at 10am. The masses are descending to help from 10am and there will be photos! Wish us luck!!

I love using pink!!!

Having two boys it's not that often that I use pink, so I had lots of fun working with these papers. I turned the Sarabinder into an address book, as it is nice and sturdy so will withstand being used regularly. The envelope inserts are perfect as a safe place for all those loose business cards you aquire over the years... you know the ones.... need to call the plumber... damn!!! can't find his card...LOL!!! I know this is the case in our house... problem solved!

To cover the Sarabinder I weaved strips of the pink patterned papers together (inked the edges first for extra definition). I cropped the detail from one sheet and matted it onto coordinating cardstock, adding a spiral clip to the corner before attaching it to the binder. 'Address Book' was stamped and matted and glued into place.

This project is far from finished... I need decorate and add more pages...

Join The Club!

In preparation for our move at the end of this week, we have posted all the details of our new class timetable on the Crop 'Til You Drop website. I'm not in the store much this week as I'm busy organising all the paperwork and stuff for the move but you can reserve a place on any class just by e-mailing us.
Just before the fire we had announced details of our brand new club meetings, which sadly never took place in May. We are taking a break this month but have now organised all the dates for July & August. We have two new clubs; one each dedicated to ATCs & Decopatch and by popular demand, meetings especially for our Member's Only Club. You will find all the details on the website in the next day or too and can reserve places for these by e-mail too!
The next couple of months are going to be a fabulous time for events at the store, starting on June 23rd with our official re-opening event (although we do expect to be open by Monday 18th June) & the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA week of events in July. Keep checking back on this blog for details of all the latest events news!

We Have A New Shop!

I've had it confirmed today that we will be able to complete on the new premises next Friday, June 15th. And we fully intend to move in over the weekend.
We will be on a massive stock clearance sale right up until we close the current store & then there's the official re-opening the following Saturday, June 23rd, with more offers, freebies, make N takes & some exciting new product ranges. And all that before the A-MUSE-PALOOZA week of events starting on July 9th! We will also be able to start the classes again within a week or two!
If you haven't already signed up to the mailing list, now is a good time to do so - all our special offers, events, class changes, new stock info and general news is released in e-mail bulletins as & when it comes in. Just click on the mailing list icon on this page.
And while you are surfing the net, why not pop over to my blog for another great chance to win free stuff. Just click here & leave a comment with your answer on the post.

More from the March Personal Shopper!

I've finally got round to doing a LO from my design team stuff! I have wanted to scrap this photo for ages, and when I saw these papers in the March Personal Shopper I knew they were the ones as they coordinate beautifully with the photo. The blocks of paper were all inked with black chalk ink around the edge before sticking down and the title was stamped, again in black chalk ink, as were the flourishes. The title and flourishes could easily be produced on computer/by hand if you haven't got stamps.

The journalling was added with a black pen, but you could also use a computer, I wanted to use hand journalling for this LO as I wanted it to be more personal.

And don't forget, you can embellish your photos too! In this case I've wrapped ribbon around the photo and added the dragonfly brads (again from March PS) so they look like they're flying around our heads.

With my scraps from the LO I made this quick card - everything comes from March PS - the embellishment is just 3 lengths of ribbon looped round and secured with a brad.

Another LO

I thought I would post a pic of another LO I did using the HOTP kit (it really is this time honest)

This was really simple as all of the detail is already on the paper for you and all you need are some pics that go - I used some scraps I had leftover to make photo corners!! I thought that with all the pink in my girls tops they went perfectly! This was a day out at a fab little farm that let you handle really new baby chicks and rabbits - we had a brill day!

Hope you like it :)

Give us a Kiss!!!!

I have just added a new layout that I made over the weekend with the HOTP Personal Shopper kit. I have already said it but I am really impressed with the amount you get in these kits - especially as we only got a 1/3rd of a kit with our DT pack.

Edited by The Guv, 00.31 . LOL Lou Lou - that's not Personal Shopper - it's the Masculine Sarapapers - I'd recognise them anywhere.

Jacobs Ladder

I have been playing with the lovely papers Beverley sent and made this wonderful Jacob's Ladder. Now if you haven't made one of these, you really, really NEED to... they are sooooo much fun!!!
You don't really see them to their best effect through photos, but basically you hold the first block, then with a flick of the wrist the blocks fall down with a lovely click clack sound to show the reverse side.

This JL hasn't had any photos added as it is 'cheer you up' gift for someone who has had a tough time recently. I know, how mad am I giving away yummy things like this?!?!? I just think how pleased I would be to receive handmade gifts, and it makes me smile to think I might be putting a smile on someone elses face.

The basic structure has been made up using beer mats covered with coordinating cardstock and 3 metres of ribbon. I cut the pp into 3 inch squares, rounded the corners and attached them to the coasters using double sided tape. I used the diecuts to embellish the JL, and stamped/hand wrote a couple of inspirational quotes.

Go on... have fun, make a Jacob's Ladder, and why not make someones day and send it as a gift...

Cool In The Pool

I used the March HOTP kit (i cannot believe how much this kit made up - still have one whole sheet of patterned paper and loads of scraps to have a play with)
I used the sheet that had the printed section on it and turned it so that it was on the right had side of the page. I used the beige paper to mat the photo on and then tore it all round the edges to leave the white core of the paper showing. I then punched out loads of flowers with a jumbo flower punch and layered them up on foam pads all round the photo. I cut my title from some left over pink card and thats it really.

I also made the "its your day" card from the scraps left over from this kit.

Edited by the Guv'nor to say: and each of our DT only received one third of the March Personal Shopper Kit - so you can make all their PS projects from a single kit. Find out more about the kits here.

And here's the other little project I promised you.....

...... with the masculine sarapapers.

I covered a little paper mache trinket box with one type of masculine paper around the outside and a different paper on the lid. The easiest way (well I find!) to cover the outside is to use a tape runner and roll the box onto the paper and add another strip of adhesive as you go round until you're back to where you started and then trim the excess. For the lid I drew round it onto the paper and then cut it out, put a flower and big brad through it (from the masculine embellishabilities) and stuck it to the lid. I then inked all the edges and finished with a little bit of ribbon tied around the lid.