Sara's Blog

Remember the book Flat Stanley from school? It’s about a little boy who gets flattened by a bulletin board. One advantage is that he can get mailed all over the world in an envelope. Elementary schools use Flat Stanley as a basis for geography classes, and one of my HOTP co-workers asked me to host her son’s Flat Stanley in Amsterdam.

So this week I’ve been entertaining FS (as I’ve come to call him) and showing him around Amsterdam. We’ve been to the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh museum, Centraal Station, the big ship outside the Nemo, plus we’ve gone cycling in the park, took the tram around town, ate pannenkoken (I do this for the children, you see), sampled cheese at the market and tried on some clogs. All the while I’m snapping away and people are looking at me like I’m crazy.

This week I needed to mail Flat Stanley back to his school in Oregon City, along with a souvenir. Not one to simply send FS all the way back to the States with a piece of chocolate and a pair of clogs, I made the fastest, easiest scrapbook ever—in one afternoon I popped in a few photos of FS touring Amsterdam, plus facts about the city. It’s held together with a silver ring and decorated with red, white and blue ribbons (the colors of the Netherlands). Cardstock pockets hold postcards and brochures from the museums, a city map and Stanley’s tram tickets. I think it was actually one of the most fun afternoons I’ve had in a long time—playing tourist, then coming home to make a simple scrapbook. Thanks, Flat Stanley and bon voyage!

    

  

I’m really excited about this new technique, Deep Embossing. I think the look is really cool and I’m especially keen to try it with the Patera pendants, as LeNae did in the Webisode. For those of you who watched this week’s segment on Deep Embossing, you saw exactly how to do it and you also saw a glimpse of the “S” necklace Paulette gave me. It was such a quick peek at the necklace, though, so I wanted to show it to you up close.

If you didn’t see the Webisode, you can still jump over to the Webisodes page and check it out—all instructions are on the Project Gallery, too, but here are the basics.

1) Place the Hot Sheet in an electric skillet or in a pan on a stovetop and heat to about 300°. Place a chipboard tag on the Hot Sheet, then sprinkle clear powder on top. Let the powder melt, using a toothpick to clear the hole in the tag's tab. Sprinkle Amethyst powder into the melted clear powder and mix with a toothpick. Remove from heat and immediately stamp the inked letter into the melted surface; let set.

2) Remove the stamp, then thread pink ribbon through the tag's tab and tie the ends together.

The finished piece can be a necklace—I also like the idea as a lightweight card focal and especially to tie onto a gift-wrapped package or the front of a decorated Sara’s Surface™.

And yes, as Paulette told everyone in the Webisode segment, I am a terrible cook and wouldn’t buy a skillet unless it was for crafting! My tiny Amsterdam kitchen is used mostly for tea-dying tags and ribbons, making coffee and (occasionally) a sandwich. My mother is probably cringing right now…she’s an incredible cook, but I didn’t inherit any of her culinary skills!

Oh—one more thing: Every month, we update the Stamping 101.com site and this month we’ve got a new Article of the Month on using Artsy ABCS Stamps plus a Project of the Month showing the Journaling Stamps. Check it out for even more stamping inspiration!

I’m a self-described Paper Addict—and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one around, right? (I’m also a pretty good paper collector.) One thing I love to do with patterned paper is to mix it, combining different patterns together on a card or layout. It’s a really versatile technique, and you can mix and match as much (or as little) as you like.

LeNae’s Mother’s Day page is a good example of minimal mixing… because the swirl border paper is so strong, LeNae chose to add a smaller pattern (tone on tone dots) only on the bow accents she made from the Fold-It Bows template.

You could also mix bold patterns, like stripes, with a “textured” paper, as LeNae did on her “thankful” layout. I love how the stripes make a focal point for her photos and journaling, while the “mesh” textured paper is a subtle background that still has loads of texture.

Laura, who did this card, went a bit bolder with her mixed papers, combining two different background papers on the front of her card and two more patterns for the Scandinavian Heart focals. It all works because of the common denominator, the color yellow. Take a look: Each of the patterned papers has a tinge of yellow, and the chalked yellow butterflies and “thank you” message pull it all together. The “thank you” is matted on blue, which contrasts perfectly with yellow.

Thanks, Laura and LeNae, for this week’s inspiration!

It’s so good to be back in Oregon—even for a little while! This week we’ve been busily filming a DVD for Personal Shopper customers (you guys will love the July kit!) and 10 new Webisodes.

This summer Webisode viewers will get a special treat—a guest star! In fact, there will be two guest appearances. HOTP designer LeNae Gerig joins me to demonstrate felting (she makes it sooo easy!) and Susan Cobb comes in to show metal embossing. (But don’t worry, Paulette’s not going anywhere—we just can’t fit three people on camera!)

Besides metal embossing and needle felting, you’ll also see the latest techniques with punches—like Tonic Studio’s new Border System, which I told myself I didn’t need, then promptly purchased one after seeing how cool it is. You’ll also see Webisodes on Patera jewelry, Fun Flock (new colors, yay!), felt ribbon and more Sara’s Surfaces™. I’m broke just thinking about all the new things I’ve got to have!

PS. Last week it was Koninginnedag (Queen’s Day) in Amsterdam, a massive festival day, where everyone dresses in orange and the streets are filled with party-goers. We went out on our friend Alex’s boat through the canals. We even ended up on television! The reporter and cameraman jumped into the boat and interviewed Alex’s wife and her father (mercifully not me—I couldn’t think that fast in Dutch!) and apparently we ended up on the nightly news!

My friend LeNae came up with a really neat little technique. We’re calling it “brad threading” for lack of a better term—take a look at the photo above and you’ll see what I mean. Then look at LeNae’s cute card to see how you can use this technique. LeNae threaded the Super Sized Yellow Flower Brads with a pink daisy brad. I think it’s super cute. (To see complete instructions for this card, visit Scrapbooking 101 and click on the April 2008 Layout of the Month.)

Also, you’ve got to check out this blog from paper crafter Marie-Hélène. We’ve been emailing last week and she told me about her blog, http://mariehelenescrap.canalblog.com/. Oh my gosh! I love how she uses our templates—keep scrolling on her main page and you’ll see our Scandinavian Hearts template, plus the Nested Shapes and Thing-a-ma-Jigs. The blog is in French and Spanish (this is helping me practice my Spanish!) but you don’t need to be fluent in either one to get inspired! (Plus isn’t she just the cutest?)

Gracias and merci to LeNae and Marie-Hélène for inspiration this week!