Fiskars Ambassador

Austin!

Angela — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:30:17 +0000

I still have photos and stories to share from my Houston trip but while my Austin trip is still fresh in my mind, I thought I would share a few photos of our “Austin is Weird” crafty night. I loved showing everyone how to use one of my favorite Fiskars tools- the drill. I had an inspiration and stopped at Target on the way to Memory Depot and bought 2 inexpensive bamboo cutting boards to use with the drill- what a difference! I had been using an old telephone book but it was so heavy and bulky. The cutting boards were perfect for protecting the table tops while we drilled. For demonstration purposes, I brought piles of orange and green Legos- which were turned into darling charms thanks to the polyester chain (love that!), crimp beads and jump rings provided by Beadalon.

Like any crafting event, watching the projects develop was so cool to witness (check out Jen’s embroidered can lids- she drilled each hole individually and then used colored threads to create letters- so awesome and clever). You can see Jennifer Perkins of the Naughty Secretary fame helping her hold the lids in place too- I should have taken a photo of all the fun “found items” Jennifer brought to make jewelry! I never get tired of soaking up the inspiration of fellow crafters and these women took it to a whole new level- or maybe it was just the “Austin is Weird” vibe that I love so much.

And even better is meeting people you’ve only known from online. Trenise and her adorable daughter Caydence joined us. It was the first time I’ve ever heard a mini-Fiskateer outlast her mama Fiskateer- Caydence wanted to shut the party down and we were more than happy to have her. Carrie drove all the way from San Antonio to join us and stepped out of her usual crafting box to make a darling Fiskateer/Lego necklace. Lydia had hot-out-of-oven locally made Tiff’s cookies delivered for us to share. Lydia’s sister Cynthia (a.k.a. the Drill Expert) made the BEST Lego robot necklace that I KNOW I took a photo of but can’t find it on my camera (I hope she posts in the Fiskateer gallery soon so you can see it)!!! I also enjoyed meeting the multi-talented Vickie Howell . Everyone at the crafty night was an amazing, inspirational crafter and I wish I could craft with them all the time- I’ve GOT to get back to Austin soon. I even had a mini-high school reunion with a high school friend I haven’t seen in 20 years who now lives in Austin and took time out to come craft with us! How fun is that?

I want to encourage all of you- reach out to crafters in your area using our the regional area of the message board, Facebook and Twitter. Put on your own event- if you have room at your craft table and a bowl of popcorn, you can throw a crafting party and meet people who share your passion for crafting. There’s nothing better than an evening with like-minded new friends. (And thank you to LaRee at Memory Depot for providing our crop space!)

1st Day in Texas- Re:Cap

Angela — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:39:11 +0000

I had such a great day in Texas yesterday. After a heart-stopping moment (Zoila, my trusty iPhone, went black and for a moment, I thought it was curtains for her after a year and a half of non-stop use), all was well and I headed off to Baytown where Fiskateer #5907 met me and we spent the day traveling to the most lovely scrapbooking stores. Many of the stores had let their customers know I was coming so I was able to meet lots of nice crafters and tell them about our Fiskateer program (and they got some Fiskars goodies).

Although every store we went to was great, I have been checking out By Design Scrapbooks in Houston for, literally years, online. It’s just gorgeous. I spent the whole time I was in there saying, “Cheryl would DIE!” There were such gorgeous displays and tons of fun embellishments that were loose in glass jars- I love that! I bought a few goodies to use at my jewelry making night in Austin on Monday. The women doing a class in the very cute and very pink workshop room were SO nice. We chatted for a long time and they suggested we try Abe’s Cajun Food across the street- score! I had the best po’boy and “blondie” (heaven for someone who doesn’t really love chocolate). Thanks for the suggestion, Suzanne (and I am guessing Suzanne will be a Fiskateer by the end of the day, by the way so be sure to welcome her).

Today, Katie (aka “Winzercastle”) and I will be headed to LoneStar to meet all the members of the crop going on tonight. I’m picking up some candies to make a “sweet” make & take when I get there. I’ll probably get that started around 7 pm. More reports and info to follow. I’m still doing updates on Twitter too!

P.S. If you ever need to edit photos on the fly (like I am doing for this post), I recommend http://fotoflexer.com/. It’s great!

Packing for Texas (and delay on the videos)

Angela — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:51:09 +0000

Hi y’all! I just wanted to update you as I pack and get ready for Texas today. I have been a little out of commission for the past 5 days- I think I had the flu but I usually pretend I’m not sick so I think I wore myself down without realizing it. I’m on the mend but I think I will have to postpone posting the “I named a Fiskars tool” videos until I return from Houston/Austin. I’m sorry for the delay! I’m just swamped and I want to do those videos justice.
In the meantime, I am still sticking to my original schedule for the Houston Area Roundup but I always have to point out that these paperchases can be tricky. Due to traffic, travel time and store hours, this is only an APPROXIMATE schedule. It’s my ideal goal, really but it’s always hard to gauge exactly where I’ll be. I’ll try to hit the first store everyday around 10 am when most stores open and then I’ll go on from there. You can get up to the minute details by following me on Twitter from our Fiskateer account. I’ll post where I am as I go. (To follow us on our Fiskateer twitter account, go here: http://twitter.com/Fiskateers)
**Thursday, March 4th**

Scrapbook Emporium www.scrapbookemporium.net

By Design Scrapbook Boutique www.bydesignscrapbookboutique.com

The Scrapbook Junkie www.ascrapbookjunkie.com

(I didn’t hear back from Scrapbook Junkie so I will just be stopping in this store to say hello- no make & take. It will be my last stop of the day)
***Friday, March 5th***
Lone Star Scrapbook Co http://www.lonestarscrapbook.com

There will be a crop going on and I’ll be doing a *sweet* make & take and will be bringing prizes for raffling off and goodies for everyone who comes to meet me. (make sure to rsvp to Lone Star for this event. I’ll be in the store from 5 to 8:30′ish. You can see details for the crop on their site here: http://store.lonestarscrapbook.com/item.asp?dept=300&cat=937&page=3&itemid=73801)

**Saturday March 6th**

The Scrapbook Village LLC www.thescrapbookvillage.com

Croppin Bug Scrapbooking www.croppinbug.com

Novel Approach www.novelapproachonline.com

(Novel Approach will be my last store of the day and I will stay there longer and do a fun make & take and get a chance to meet any crafters who stop by to shop)

**Monday March 7th** (Austin)
Memory Depot in Austin, TX (Special crafting night, please rsvp)

time: Monday, March 8th 5:30 to midnight (flexible time- this isn’t a class- just a fun night with friends)
Location: Memory Depot in Austin, Texas (website: http://www.memorydepotonline.com/)
This location can hold 28 Fiskateers (it will be a squeeze) so to register, you must email me directly at angela@fiskateers.com so I can add you to my master list.

Beadalon (Beadalon.com), who offers amazing jewerly making findings and tools will be donating product so we can make a fun and funky piece of jewelry at this event. So, wear something orange, bring your jewelry making tools and “found” objects to make a necklace using the Fiskars craft drill and jewelry findings that Beadalon.com is donating or, since this is all about hanging out, bring any project that you are currently working on- cards, layouts, whatever you’d like to share.

P.S. You don’t have to be a registered Fiskateer to attend this event but why wouldn’t you want to be? I’ll get you signed up!

Kids won’t cooperate for a photo shoot? Scrap it.

Angela — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:40:14 +0000

I am a pretty simple scrapper (even though I aspire to have all the lovely details on a page like the kind of work Cheryl does) but still, I thought I’d share an idea for scrapping multiple photos of your kiddos. If yours are like mine (and heck, this applies to pets and spouses too), they dread the camera session after awhile. I just keep shooting until I can finally get my kids to crack up. This time, I scrapped a bit of the process we go through to get to that “real smile” moment. This layout made both my kids laugh because they totally know what story I’m trying to share here- they both do it.

Crafty Night in Austin- March 8th!

Angela — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:59:30 +0000

It has taken a LOT of phone calls to find a good location to meet with Fiskateers in Austin, Texas but I just got off the phone with THE nicest store owner. La Ree of Memory Depot in Austin is keeping her store open late for us to have an Fiskateer crafting night. In honor of this evening being in Texas and because the fabulous Jennifer Perkins of the Naughty Secretary Club is joining us for the evening (check out her site- so many inspiring fun crafts- I hope she rubs off on me!), I want to reach beyond my usual paper crafting and encourage anyone attending to start collecting “found objects” (a.k.a. junk- bottle caps, sea shells, broken bits of jewelry, buttons, etc.). Let’s make something WEIRD, shall we? I’ll bring Fiskars craft drills, you bring your imagination. Beadalon has been kind enough to donate a collection of jumprings, crimp beads and some of their very fun polyester chain too- so bring any other jewelry making tools you might have.

Date/time: Monday, March 8th 5:30 to midnight (flexible time- this isn’t a class- just a fun night with friends)
Location: Memory Depot in Austin, Texas (website: http://www.memorydepotonline.com/)
This location can hold 28 Fiskateers (it will be a squeeze) so to register, you must email me directly at angela@fiskateers.com so I can add you to my master list.

Wear something orange, bring jewelry making tools and found objects or, since this is all about hanging out, bring any project that you are currently working on.

P.S. You don’t have to be a registered Fiskateer to attend this event but why wouldn’t you want to be? I’ll get you signed up!

Scrapping!

Angela — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:11:11 +0000

I know it seems silly because clearly I love crafting or I wouldn’t even be a Fiskateer but it seems like forever since I’ve scrapped something just for fun. Sure, I’ve done some crafting to plan for CHA, made some cute projects for my daughter’s 1st grade class, done a few things for the Lucky 13 group I was in last year. But pure, just-for-the-fun of it scrapping? I can’t remember the last time. Thank goodness for the crop I was at this weekend. I scrapped quite a few pages and I started to remember how much fun this could be. Here’s one of my pages. Nothing too fancy but I had fun using my Fiskars microtip scissors to trim ity-bitty flowers out of pretty paper to use as embellishments (you know I’m the frugal crafter, right?). I think cutting my own embellishments is theraputic AND I can do it while I talk everyone’s ears off at a crop. I’ll probably add a bit of a border to this and maybe some buttons but so far, so fun:

Paper: My Mind’s Eye “Quite Contrary”

October Afternoon “Fly a Kite: Lemonade”

Have you named a tool for Fiskars?

Angela — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:55:59 +0000

When people ask me what I love about being a Fiskateer, eventually the conversation turns to how cool I think it is that Fiskars lets the Fiskateers have a shot at naming some of their tools. I tend to give a lot of the “My Funny Valentine” and “Cameo Appearance” squeeze punches away as prizes because I helped name them and I can’t pass by a “Comma, Comma Chameleon” squeeze punch without making sure everyone knows that my sister-in-law named it. It’s just cool, you know? So when Fiskars recently asked me to submit a “Fiskateer Truth” that they could add to buttons to pass out at CHA this past January, naturally, I submitted “Ask Me Which Fiskars Tool I Named.” But here’s the deal, these buttons are really best worn by a Fiskateer who has actually named a product (although you can still wear one if you haven’t- it just helps start a conversation about how Fiskars asks Fiskateers to name tools). So, I have gathered a handful of these cute buttons to send to Fiskateers who have named a tool in the past. I feel compelled to make this a challenge so here goes:

What you win:

A handful of the “Ask Me Which Fiskars Tool I Named” buttons,
A rhinestone scissor pin
A special “Certified Fiskateer” pin
A tool of your choice (ya just gotta wait for me to order it so this will be a slow-boat prize)- $30 retail or under

What you need to do:

Make a short video saying who you are, your Fiskateer number and what tool you named and what you named it. Email me the video (this doesn’t have to be fancy- you can do it with your camera video if you have one) and let me post it. I want to know who named all my stuff- don’t you? That’s it. Short video, first 10 Fiskateers to respond (and I’m open to more but I’m impatient- I want to see your videos now- deadline asap!). Bring it! (Yeah, you too, Lene).

Houston Area Roundup Schedule + Austin Bonus!

Angela — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 01:49:52 +0000

I forgot how much planning I need to do to really cement my schedule when I do these paperchase events but, after pouring over Google maps, emailing the stores and local crafters, I think I can finally post what my tentative schedule will be. If you email me in advance that you’ll be meeting me, I’ll have special Fiskateer goodies just for you!:

**Thursday, March 4th**

Scrapbook Emporium www.scrapbookemporium.net

By Design Scrapbook Boutique www.bydesignscrapbookboutique.com

The Scrapbook Junkie www.ascrapbookjunkie.com

(I’ll end my day at Scrapbook Junkie and I’m working with the store to do a *sweet* make & take, prizes & general Fisk-a-fun)
**Friday March 5th**

Lone Star Scrapbook Co http://www.lonestarscrapbook.com

There will be a crop going on and I’ll be doing a *sweet* make & take and will be bringing prizes for raffling off and goodies for everyone who comes to meet me. (I’ll add the specific crop times when I get them confirmed but I’ll spend the majority of my day here)

**Saturday March 6th**

The Scrapbook Village LLC www.thescrapbookvillage.com

Croppin Bug Scrapbooking www.croppinbug.com

Novel Approach www.novelapproachonline.com

(Novel Approach will be my last store of the day and I am working with the store to stay there longer and do a fun make & take and get a chance to meet any crafters who stop by to shop)

**Monday March 7th**

I will be hosting an event in Austin, TX. I am working with crafters in the area to come up with a location so keep your eye on the blog for something fun and unique. Austin IS (officially) weird, after all. I should fit right in

A Few More Photos from CHA

Angela — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 06:02:43 +0000

If you were at CHA and took pictures with our Fiskateer green screen on Tuesday, you may have realized that those photos weren’t posted on the Photobasics.net site. There were a few technical difficulties but I double-checked tonight and the photos are now available. As we’ve all mentioned before, the green screen was so fun- I love this photo of Kelly Jo and I in our respective aprons (and yes, I know, mine wasn’t made by me but it was still pretty darned cute- LOL!). I also got a laugh seeing the photo Legend Stephenie and I took when we decided to see what would happen if we wrapped our bodies in green. Then there is me in front of the Fisk-a-capital building. And before you think I was just goofing around all day (well, I kind of was but that’s part of a Lead’s implied job description- to inspire others to have fun by example)- we had to set up the camera each day and make sure everything was working well- that’s where we got some of our silliest photos of the day!

Getting Ready for the Chat Tonight (5:30 pm PST)- Plus 2/11 6 am PST

Angela — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:35:24 +0000

I always look forward to our online chats and I’m especially looking forward to tonight because all the Leads are able to participate. Are you still thinking about whether you should apply to become the next Lead Fiskateer? Jot your questions down and join us.

We also wanted to make sure you mark your calendar for this Thursday- we’re doing a follow-up chat for anyone who can’t make it tonight or who might have additional questions after tonight’s chat. The chat will be at 6 am PST (yep, Cheryl and I will be up early for that one!). We tried to do 2 very different times to accommodate as many of your schedules as we could.

***

I also want to point out, while SOME of us were spending the morning being fabulous on TV (http://www.fiskateers.com/community/topic/21193), I was taking the time to pick out my very best online chat outfit. What do you think?