Balzer Designs

Random Friday Ramblings

I've got a long list of random stuff today:

1. Epson Artisan 800

A day or two ago, I got an e-mail from Epson, asking if I wanted to try out their new Epson Artisan all-in-one.  That's like a no brainer, right?  Well, a big box showed up at my door today and inside was this bad boy...

It faxes, it copies, it prints (letter and two sizes of photos), it duplexes, the ink is waterproof...and on and on.  I haven't done much more than set it up, but I plan on writing a long review after playing with it for a few weeks.  Though, I have to tell you, my FAVORITE feature so far is that it's wireless!  I can print from anywhere in the apartment.  No more USB cord!  Love that!

2. Kreativ Blogger Award

I must say, "thank you, thank you, thank you" to the incredibly talented Tammy Tutterow, who gave me this award.  I'm sure you're familiar with Tammy's work.  She's way famous.  She's currently a teacher for Big Picture Scrapbooking (the original online scrapping classes) and a designer for one of my *favorite* manufacturers, Basic Grey.  And you probably saw her work for Pink Paislee, Provo Craft, Prima, etc.  She used to run an online class site called Heart in Hands Scraps, which is how we met.  And it goes without saying that her work is soft, feminine and absolutely beautiful.

I was bowled over by what she had to say about me:

"What I really love about Julie is that she does her own thing, she isn’t the trend follower. She is an amazing scrapper who incorporates all types of media into her pages, an incredible art quilter, and a great digi designer and scrapper. I love how she blurs the line between what is one craft into another. For those who don’t see scrapping as 'art', you need to see what Julie creates with a page."

Maybe one of the nicest things anyone has ever said about me.

I thought I'd pass on the love by linking up a few non-scrappy blogs that rock my world:

Teesha Moore: An AMAZING art journaler.  She's one of the queens of the art journal scene and for a very good reason: her work is complicated and interesting and evocative and just so very cool.

Bread&Honey: This is a food blog.  Lots of interesting recipes and good writing on food related subjects.  I warn you, it will make you (1) hungry and (2) believe that you can cook.

Recycled Crafts: From bizarre to brilliant, this blog features crafts made from garbage - tin cans, plastic bags, lost mittens, etc.  I likewhere it pushes my imagination.

Something Sublime: Don't let her current long post about her road trip scare you off.  This woman's jewelry is gorgeous!  Her work reminds me a lot of one of my all time favorite jewelry artists, Susan Lenart Kazmer.  It's organic and interesting and simple and made from a lot of recycled and vintage goodies.

Juicy Bits: I can't remember how I first stumbled on this woman's blog, but she's AMAZING.  I hope to be half the mother she is, stitching up Halloween costumes and whipping up handmade birthday party favors.  Seriously, she must not be human.  Amazing.  Amazing.

Paper Crave: If you already adore everything paper, go here.  And if you don't, it will make you.  Awesome blog with frequent updates.  Projects, inspiration and the occassional freebie.

PSDTuts: Billed as "spoonfed Photoshop tutorials," this blog has fantastic and very detailed tutorials with lots of step-by-step instructions.  There are always lots of links, plenty of freebies and lots of great technical knowledge.  It's not geared towards scrapbookers, but towards professional digital artists. 

3. Around The Block (ATB)

I got my first box of cool tools from ATB.  I'm really excited about the TapeWriter



and am planning to get some projects done with it this weekend!

4. Saturday Crop vs. Halloween Party

I have been looking forward to the all day crop tomorrow with The Manhattan Scrapbookers for a very long time.  However, my husband and I have been invited to a swanky Halloween party downtown on Saturday night.  It's one of those too hip clubs, velvet rope, gotta' be on the list deals, and I think we've got to go.  I know I'm old now because I'm very very sad about having to cut my cropping time short instead of very very excited about the party. 

5. Ali Edwards' December Daily Album

For the last few days, Ali Edwards has been posting instructions on how to put together her December Daily Album.  Well, I sat down last night and put together one for November instead.  I'm looking forward to spending November filling it in!

6. Project Fifty-Two

I've got a fun year-long project planned for 2009.  I'll have a long post about all the details sometime next week.  I hope you'll consider playing along!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Halloween!

The Journal Quilt Project

I'm really excited about a class that I'm going to be teaching January-April 2009 at The City Quilter here in New York City.  It's called "The Journal Quilt Project," after the world-wide phenomenon by the same name.  Essentially, a journal quilt is a small 8.5x11 quilts that you create every week or every month based on events, emotions, ideas, and moments from your daily life.  The perfect mix of scrapbooking and quilting for me! 

I've made a few journal quilts over the last year, but I wanted to create something for The City Quilter newsletter advertising the class that would photograph well.  (What shows up in real life and in photographs is so different, you know?)  So, I sat down tonight and made this little quilt:

It's inspired by this quote.  It's the first time that I've ever tried illustrating with stitches and I am pleasantly surprised by the results! It looks complicated, but the stitching was pretty quick to do on the sewing machine.  I love the rustic, outsider art feeling of it.  It's always fun when an idea in your head translates into real life!

Thanks for stopping by!

Miss Crow LOVES Halloween

In case you didn't know, the fabulous Christine Geisler, aka Miss Crow, loves Halloween.  She's giving away lots of digital freebies on her blog.  And they are glittery and wonderful creations!  For October, I used her Geist kit:

for these two layouts:

And then Miss Crow did two collaborative kits with Tangie Baxter, Happy Little Fright:

and Merry Little Night:

And I've got three layouts to share, using those kits:

Thanks for stopping by!

Avalon Fix is Awesome!

This is a review I wrote for Craft Critique.  It appeared on that website a few weeks ago.

I first became acquainted with Avalon Fix about a year ago when I took a class with Jan Beaney. Jan is a fiber artist from the U.K. and you should check out her wonderfully textural embroidery if you get a chance.

Avalon Fix is a water-soluble stabilizer. In case you don’t know what stabilizers are, here’s a great article from Threads Magazine. Essentially, a water-soluble stabilizer allows you to stitch into it like fabric and then it disappears or melts away in water. It’s an easy way to make your own lace or free standing embroidered embellishments.

Avalon Fix has two unique characteristics that I love:

1. You don’t need a hoop.
Most of the water-soluble stabilizers I’ve worked with resemble a thin plastic film. In order to work with them, you need to stretch them in a hoop. Avalon Fix is more like a woven fabric. You don’t need to use a hoop. This opens up many issues of size and shape. And, there’s less waste. (Always an important consideration for the budget minded.) Further, it’s still thin enough to see through, so you can place a pattern underneath your Avalon Fix.

2. It’s adhesive backed.

A popular lace technique is to sandwich loose fibers between two layers of water-soluble stabilizers and stitch a grid. When you melt away the stabilizer, you are left with a wonderful lacy fabric. The downside is that you can’t really control where the fibers end up all that accurately. Because Avalon Fix is sticky, you can accurately place whatever material you want onto the stabilizer. Love that!

I like to use Avalon Fix to make these bracelets:

Here’s a step-by-step demonstration of how I use Avalon Fix:

1. Adhere it to your work surface (I’m working on a piece of glass) over your pattern, with the sticky side up.
2. Begin placing your fiber where you want it.
3. Continue to fill your shape – you can see that I used felt to create some circles.
4. Place another water-soluble stabilizer (I used Sulky Solvy) over your creation so that your needle doesn’t get caught. It will stick to the adhesive of the Avalon Fix.
5. Machine stitch to secure all the disparate items together.
6. Place the stitched item into a bowl of water – warm or cold it doesn’t matter.

The stabilizer will melt away and you will be left with your finished shape. You can now embellish and use it as you wish. You can see that I used it as the centerpiece of my necklace. I also made a matching pair of earrings.

I couldn’t find either prices or product info on the manufacturer’s website, however a web search revealed that you can purchase Avalon Fix for as low as $15 a roll. I buy mine at my local quilt shop for $20.

I haven't found another water-soluble stabilizer that performs in quite the way that Avalon Fix does.  I highly recommend it.

Adobe Photoshop CS3: An Overview

This is a review that I wrote for Craft Critique.  It appeared on that blog last month.

I first stuck my toe in the digital waters about two years ago. I was largely resistant to digital scrapbooking at that time, because I love the touch and feel of paper pages way too much to ever give them up! But, Photoshop Elements had been touted to me as the greatest tool a digital photographer can have. I had become frustrated with iphoto’s range of choices and was looking for a more advanced way to edit my photos.

So, I started fooling around with a free 30-day trial of Photoshop Elements (PSE). (You can download a full, working version of any of Adobe’s products for a free 30-day trial.) Despite the fact that PSE is not exactly intuitive (there is definitely a steep learning curve), I mucked around and managed to figure some stuff out. So, I bought the full version ($89.99) and happily edited my photos for about a year.

But once I became comfortable, I wanted more.

So, I started trying to do some digital pages. Just for fun, you understand. Just to see if I could figure it out.

While I managed to accidentally stumble into some good ideas, I knew I needed a book to really harness the power of this program. So, I bought Better Homes and Gardens’ The Ultimate Guide to Digital Scrapbooking because of a recommendation. I wrote a somewhat angry review of that book here. That book frustrated me to no end because many of the really “cool” digital tricks were things that could only be done in the full version of Photoshop ($649). (I have since learned that you can use PSE for most things, you just have to be a bit clever about it.)

So, I waited and waited and then a major coupon came my way! I jumped on the opportunity to buy Photoshop CS3 (PS CS3) at a deeply discounted price. And I have been happy as a clam ever since.

I wanted to share my journey with the program, so that you would know where I'm coming from. I'm not going to do a "review" of PS CS3, so much as provide you with an overview of what the program can do for us crafters. Here are just a few of the ways you can use Photoshop CS3 (and Photoshop Elements)…

BASIC FLASH ANIMATION

This is something that you can do in both PSE and PS CS3, but it’s not something that most people realize. If you’re planning on doing a lot of animation, you should buy a program like Flash. But for the occasional fun item, like the blinkie below, Photoshop does a great job!

PHOTO EDITING

Again, you can edit your photos in many, many programs. And both PSE and PS CS3 can do amazing things to photos. I edit all my photos in Photoshop before printing them. Check out this amazing before and after…

I actually did that in PSE before I bought Photoshop CS3, but it's a dramatic change, so I wanted to share it!

DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING

Photoshop makes it quick and easy to create beautiful digital scrapbook pages. Here’s a recent page of mine:

HYBRID SCRAPBOOKING

And if you’re not sure you want to go all digi, you can always use Photoshop to help you with your hybrid (mixture of paper and digi) scrapbook pages. Check out my layout below:

I altered the photos and printed them onto transparencies.

CREATE YOUR OWN DIGITAL KITS

I have just recently started creating my own digital kits. Check out the kit preview below. I created the papers, embellishments, and even the preview itself in Photoshop CS3!

Everything that I've shown you so far can be accomplished in both PSE and PS CS3. So, here are two of the features that I love about PS CS3:

PATHS

The ability to create paths is one of the major reasons I decided to upgrade. (You cannot create paths in PSE.) Without getting too technical on you, a path is a vector line. And for crafters, one of the things we love about vector lines is that text will follow the line. In the example below, you can see that I’ve drawn a swirl shape, created a path, and now the text automatically follows that line!

Paths can also create a closed space which text will automatically fill. You can see in the example below that I drew a wonky tree shape and then typed my text. I didn’t hit “return” a single time. The path forces the text into the correct shape!

Here’s a digital layout where you can see that I used a path to get my journaling to fit on my page exactly. I traced the edge of the flowers and the edges of the page, created a path, and then just typed in my journaling! So easy!

ACTIONS

Actions are one of the coolest things around. Actions allow you to press a single button to complete a very complex task – anything from resizing a photo to inking the edge of an element. There are many sites out there that sell actions (many of which work in PSE, not just PS CS3). But, the only way to create your own actions is through PS CS3. For example, I love to take photos with my iphone, but I often find that the photos are somewhat dark and lifeless. So, I created an “iphone action” which makes several adjustments to the photo and all I do is touch a button.

This feature saves me lots and lots of time!

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Photoshop CS3 is a professional level program. In all honesty, I probably use a tenth of its power. If you’ve never used Photoshop before, I highly suggesting downloading the free 30 day trial of Photoshop Elements. You should also buy a book or take a class because the learning curve can be very steep. If you find yourself using it a lot, then I highly recommend Photoshop CS3. I rarely digi scrap without using both paths and actions, two things found only in the professional level program.

A note about Mac vs. PC. Adobe develops for PC first, so the Mac version (particularly of Photoshop Elements) is a bit behind the PC version. Also, for some reason Adobe has created different interfaces for Mac and PC, so the screenshots and commands don’t always look the same. Even more frustrating, some of the Mac versions of PSE are missing things that are in the PC version. So when you buy a book or take a class, be sure that the author or instructor acknowledges these differences.

My Weekend at The City Quilter...

I spent the weekend at The City Quilter, my local quilt shop. 

Friday night I was a student in "Mixed Media Play Date," taught by a woman after my own heart, Teresa Vega.  Teresa is an art quilter who loves supplies and playing with the possibilities.  We played with metal - first by doing some foiling on fabric and then by stitching through very thin craft metal sheets.  Here's a quick look at my metal stitching:

I cut a piece of metal into a spiral and then stitched it down.  And then I played catch up, because I had missed the previous class because of Ranger U.  Teresa gave me the quick and dirty version of how she does transfers to fabric.  You can see some of them here:

One of the major things that has come out of this class for me, is that I know a lot more than I think I do.  I have already experimented with most of the techniques and/or products that Teresa has demonstrated in class.  Some successfully and some not so successfully.  Which is a great reason to take the class and learn from someone who has a method that works!  But, I guess all of my reading and experimenting has been worth it.  Because I think I've got a real handle on what's out there mixed-media wise.

On Saturday, I was a student in a class way, way, way out of my comfort zone: Cloth Doll Making.  My Mother did remind me that as a child, I made some dolls out of stockings and sewed clothes for them.  This is like a million miles away from that.  Nancy Rabatin is the teacher (we have another session this weekend) and she is a master doll maker.  Right now I've got a pile of body parts (she's a witch, thus the green skin):

I've been promised that it will be a doll by next week, just in time for Halloween.  I can't wait to see my little witch develop!

On Sunday, I taught my Portrait Quilt class.  I had a full class of wonderfully talented ladies.  Though, some of the perfectionists really had to take some deep breaths and go with the flow.  Here are some photos of their work:

All in all, a totally exhausting and very fun weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Scrapbook Memories on PBS

I am a bad scrapbooker.  Seriously.  They should drum me out of the corps. 

I spent all day on the set of Scrapbook Memories and I didn’t take almost any photos!  I think I was trying to be “professional” and I figured it would be geeky to be snapping away and asking people to pose for photos with me.  Although, on second thought, who would be more understanding than Scrapbook Memories?!  Not to mention the fact that these were some of the nicest, most encouraging folks!  Regardless, I got some photos of the set up, but almost none with human beings in them.

This is the “Green Room.”  It’s the staging and waiting area. It’s a mass of tables with each new person being assigned a “station” to set up their stuff.  You can see that I've marked "my" corner with an arrow.

On the first day, I was told to lay out my projects in piles – one for each of the seven segments.  You can see the piles here:

On the second day, I was given large metal trays (like the kind you might see caterers use) for each project.  This is how all the stuff for each segment gets to the set.  A very clever idea (but I didn’t take any photos).  For future reference (should I ever be lucky enough to be asked to appear again), many of the guests were working on their projects in the Green Room.  So, I needn’t have stayed up until 4am the night before I flew in doing all the last minute finishes.  Live and learn, eh?

As you can see, the Green Room also had racks for clothing.  I went through my selections with Katherine and she compared each of my outfits to the outfit the host was wearing for that segment so that we wouldn’t clash or match, but rather complement each other.

Two things to note about the photo below...

1. Behind that white wall is a little nook for changing your clothes. 
2. That TV shows live feed from the recording studio.  So I was able to watch all the previous guests.

Oh!  I almost forgot!  When I arrived in the morning, I was taken to the makeup room.  The makeup artist did my face and asked if she could pluck my eyebrows (something my Mother has been trying to do for years).  I thought about it. I’ve never plucked before.  And I decided to give it a try.  She swore that it would open up my eyes and make me look more professional and polished.  Can you see a difference?

(Besides the fact that I’m wearing foundation and eyeshadow and lipstick and blush?)  Looking at these photos makes me laugh!  My face looks so smooth and colorless and I guess I'm just not used to seeing myself wearing any makeup!  I can't tell if it's that or the eyebrows...?

In any case, I spent the morning in the Green Room.  I worked on a beaded necklace and chatted with a lovely gal named Brittany, from Colorbök.  She’s an illustrator and designer for Colorbök (which has a "green" line coming out with all sorts of eco-friendly products), though not a scrapbooker (but more on that later).  (And again, I was too nervous to take a photo.)  She was scheduled to go last (what a trooper) and sat around all day long.  Originally, she was scheduled to film before me, but because she drove and they were worried about me catching my flight, she agreed to go at the end of the day.  Thank you Brittany!

They kept us fed in the morning with bagels and fruit.

For lunch, we climbed up to the top of the building and sat in a lovely atrium like room (so sunny and wonderful) and ate sandwiches.  After lunch it was my turn in the studio.  Here are some photos of the actual studio...

 

The top photo is of the set.  This is what you see when you walk in.  You can see that I've circled the tall table, which is where I taped all my segments.  Follow the red arrow to a side view of that table.  You can see all of the cameras and lights and stuff.  And the bottom right photo is the view from directly behind the desk looking out at the camera.

Before each segment, I would change into my assigned outfit.  A very nice guy (whose name escapes me at the moment) would run a mic down the back of my shirt (with the mic pac not so comfortably shoved in the back of my pants - how do reality show people live with it?) and around to the front.  Then, I would go over the project and the samples with the producer (Kathy) and the host (either Beth or Julie).  Kathy would then arrange the product and the samples on the table and describe the basics of what she wanted to have happen during the segment.  Then she would disappear into a back room and the host and I would get ready to tape the segment.

So, here's the part where I brag...

I only needed one take.

I'm very proud of that.  I managed to do every single segment in only one take!  The day before, Kathy and Katherine had been very concerned about my flight and the fact that it might be cutting it close.  But, I finished in record time and had absolutely no problem making the flight!

Honestly, I'd like to say that it's because I'm *that* talented, but I think it was that I did the proper prep work.  I designed each project and then made samples for each step of the project.  Then, I practiced doing the technique "on camera" - without stopping and while talking through it.  I did some troubleshooting at this point - like what supplies I absolutely had to have on hand and how to explain some of the more complicated concepts in a simple way, etc.  So, I was super prepared by the time I got to the set!

The hosts, Beth Madland and Julie McGuffee (by the way there were THREE Julies taping and it got a bit hilarious and confusing) were both so very nice.  Here are photos from the set with Julie (top) and Beth (bottom)...

You know how sometimes you see people on TV and wonder if they're as nice as they seem?  Well, these ladies definitely are.  They were so complimentary about my work and really liked my off-beat artsy fartsy style, which was incredibly gratifying. I had been nervous that my stuff might be a little too weird for the show, but they were enthusiastic about it.  It was a great confidence booster!

But, the biggest coup of the day came from Brittany from Colorbök.  After recording one of the segments, I walked into the Green Room to change.  Brittany and I had discussed scrapbooking earlier in the day, but then she said the magic words, "Okay, you've converted me. I'm going to get out my wedding photos and scrapbook them."  Woo Hoo!  I don't mean to sound like I'm standing on a soapbox, but I believe that scrapbooking has a place in everyone's life.  Whether it's an art journal, a photo album with a couple lines scribbled at the bottom, or 12x12 album after 12x12 album, it's always a good thing to put words to your memories with an artistic flair. The following is something I say a lot, but it's because I believe it 100%:

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but everyone's thousand words are different.  So write yours down!

The new season of Scrapbook Memories doesn't start until March 2009.  So, you'll have to wait quite a while to judge the outcome of my little TV adventure for yourself!  Overall, I had a great time.  Everyone was so encouraging and friendly.  It was lovely.

Thanks for stopping by!

Label Tulip: Sold Out!

Wow.  The Label Tulip reveal was Wednesday night and they're already sold out completely!  This kit went super fast.  I like to think it was the amazing work by the design team, but it's probably because the kits are way cool!  Here's the main kit:

And here's my work with the kit:


Details and Tips:

• Adhere your transparency by pushing it into the wet paint.  When the paint dries, your transparency will be permanently adhered to your layout!
• If you don't have the right letter or number stickers, make your own!  I like to paint or write my title and then use a sharp pair of scissors to cut it out.

Details and Tips:

•  To make a quick and easy mask, cut a scrap of paper into a shape (like the heart I used) and then place removable adhesive on the rear and attach it to whatever you want.  Now you're ready to paint or ink around the mask.  Simply remove the mask and you're done!
• To create the machine stitched title, put the feed dogs down on your machine and use a free motion foot.  Then just move the paper under the needle to create your title!  I used variegated thread for an even more fun look!

Details and Tips:

• Hand cutting is not hard.  It just takes time.  I like to use a sharp pair of scissors and always remember to turn the paper not the scissors.  I used foam adhesive to give dimension to the flowers and vines.
• To distress the edges of your cardstock, use the edge of your scissors. You can add some ink to enhance the effect.

Details and Tips:

• I was inspired by the many ovals on this red fabric (right).  I created my own wonky circles by cutting them out with scissors.  I used a mixture of cardstock, patterned paper, brads, chipboard, and foam adhesive.
• You can see that I used two colors of ink (a green and a brown) to darken up the edges of the die cut piece of paper.  I think that it helps to emphasize the cool die cut edge!

Details and Tips:

•  To unify strips of paper, try stitching over them with a single color of embroidery floss.  Tip: Pre-punch your holes with a paper piercer to make your life easier!
• If you hate your handwriting, think about a different way to write.  One of my favorite techniques is to create block letters.  It takes a little longer, but it's a great page element!

If you'd like to be inspired by the seriously stellar design team and their amazing, colorful creations, just click here.

You can still buy at least two of the add-on kits.  And if you subscribe now, you'll definitely get one of next month's kits!  On a personal note, I have to confess that I wasn't sure if I loved this kit when I got it.  The colors weren't my first choice and some of the prints seemed awfully bold.  But after working with it, I am happy to say that I *love* it and I completely trust Cindee and Cathy.  They make some wonderful choices and put stuff together sooooo well! 

I promise a long detailed run down of the Scrapbook Memories taping next post!

Thanks for stopping by!

Today's The Day...

I'm in Cleveland.  I'm here to shoot seven segments for Scrapbook Memories (PBS) on behalf of Sakura. 

I have spent the past month or so making samples and coming up with projects and typing up instructions and experimenting with Sakura's outstanding line of products.  It has been really fun, but really time consuming too (I apologize to everyone whose e-mails didn't get returned)!  And now it's time to let it go out into the universe....

I'm excited.

I'm nervous.

I have my seven outfits with coordinating jewelry.  (I even wrote down the combinations in my notebook, so I'd remember "the plan.")  No black, no red, no white.  No patterns.  Full length or three-quarter sleeves.  High neck, but not too high.  Front opening for the microphone.  These were all the rules that I was given and sadly, my wadrobe is mostly black.  Or loud patterns.  Finding plain, brightly colored clothes was surprisingly difficult.  In fact, I just realized that I brought a red shirt.  Ooops. 

So, I have six outfits. 

I have at least two (and sometimes three or more) samples of every step of each technique (as recommended, in case I mess up).  They're in plastic baggies.  I have project samples too.  When I checked in at the studio yesterday to set up for today's shoot, they kept asking me if I needed help bringing everything in.  I did not.  I had a D-Ring Album, a purse full of supplies, and Julia from Sakura had shipped a box of pens and paints.  Because I spent a long time organizing myself at home, it was not hard to put it all together fairly quickly at the studio.  And I thought I had a million samples, but when I looked at it all...it really seemed like I needed some more!  No wonder they kept asking if I needed help! The other ladies in the studio seemed to have a *ton* of stuff!

I need to show up for makeup at 9:00am today. 

This is hilarious to me because I don't wear makeup.  Ever.  I just don't like it.  But, I understand that TV requires some paint.  We'll see what they do to me.  I was warned that the makeup person doesn't do hair.  That's fine with me.  I'm a wash and go kind of gal.  I'm strictly low maintenance, so all this stuff about outfits and hair and makeup is crazy weird for me.

Oh.  There goes my stomach again.  Flip flopping.

I'm nervous.

Deep breaths.  That's the ticket.

(Picture me inhaling and exhaling with my eyes shut.)

It'll be fine.  My husband gave me a pep talk on the phone last night.  It made me smile down to my toes.

(More deep breathing.)

Okay. 

I'm ready for my closeup....

Label Tulip: October Sneaks!

The new Label Tulip kit will be revealed tomorrow (Wednesday, October 15).  So in the meantime, here are some drool worthy sneak peeks of my layouts using the kit...

I have to admit that this kit is not in my usual color way, so I felt a little uncomfortable at first.  But, after spending a few days playing with it, I absolutely fell in love with the autumnal feeling.  If you have a chance, check out the Label Tulip blog.  There's a Halloween card tutorial and a really fun one on using the Jenni Bowlin crepe paper (in this month's kit) to create lovely little flowers.

Thanks for stopping by!