I just love to travel but unfortunately I have only been to two places- Texas and Tennessee. Lucky for me it’s almost time for the Nashville Fiskateers event so I am getting out my lint roller, dusting off my brim, and getting ready to make another appearance. I can’t wait! I decided I didn’t want my journey to end there so I will be going out on the road and visiting some Fiskateers- oh, the places I will see! I guess to travel you need some form of ID like a passport and when I tried to write out my name “LDD Cowboy Hat Flat Stanley Project” it didn’t fit in the space provided, so to start my journey I need your help. Please help me find a name! Just post your suggestions and I will pick my favorite. The winner will receive an “Away We Go” prize package to help you scrapbook some of your favorite travel memories.

Let the journey begin!

 
I spent the last week anticipating Rebecca’s arrival here in Florida. I was so excited! But as the week went on, I started to get nervous. Not because of the CFD trainings, or the make and takes, or all the driving. It was because of tropical storm Fay. She’d made landfall 3 times in 1 week! On the third shot she finally got us good here in Orlando. The weather was wreaking havoc on shipping and travel. Fedex didn’t get one of the packages we needed to me until Friday morning, they lost another one (Poor Frankie!), and I was terrified that Rebecca’s plane wouldn’t make it. But the phone rang at 10:30 and Rebecca was here.

After Rebecca picked me up on Friday we grabbed some lunch and then headed to the Orlando AC Moore store for a CFD training. 15 people had signed up, but only 10 were able to make it because of the weather - but what a fun group! (hi Annie, Ina, Linda, Cherrie, Denise, Maggie and any other new fisk-a-teers from this weekend) The training went really well. Rebecca took the lead on the training, but I jumped in for the second half. Everyone got involved and I think everyone (myself included) learned a lot.

That night we went to a midnight crop at Piktails in Orlando. Annie, Ina, Cherrie, and Denise stuck around and went to the crop as well. Rebecca shared the Fiskars love and gave away some great prizes. We also did a great make and take project with the Heidi Grace Beyond the Sea line. It was a little 6×6 mini album and everyone loved it! it was so neat seeing everyone so excited about the Fiskars products. Debbie was really excited we were there and made us feel really welcomed. It was such a great place to spend the evening!

We got up bright and early Saturday and drove down to Ft Myers (about 3 hours) to do another CFD training. We only had 1 person (hi Paula) but it was great. I took the lead this time. It was so much fun being able to do a 1 on 1 training. I think both Paula and I learned a lot After our training class we headed to the AC Moore store in Cape Coral that had just opened 2 days before. All I can say is WOW! It was a new setup for AC Moore stores, sort of a prototype. They did a great job! The aisle displays weren’t as tall so it seemed so big and everything was labeled more clearly. Michael, the scrapbook department manager, told us that they have less product than the stores set up the old way, but boy did it seem like more. They had a bunch of Fiskars punches and border punches. They even have FOUR of the threading water punch. So if you live in that area and still want one, go check out the store!

After a super yummy lunch (mexican food. mmmm.) we drove up to Tampa (about 2 hours). We stopped by the grocery store to pick up a cake and pie and then went to a pot luck crop at Scrapbooking in Paradise. Once again Rebecca shared the Fiskars love and gave away some great prizes. We also did the make-n-take project again. This time we were able to have 4-6 people make the project at the same time. Things went a lot quicker and I think everyone that wanted to was able to make one. Everyone made us feel so welcomed

Sunday morning we actually got to sleep in! After being up well past midnight or one two nights in a row, we were due for a couple hours more sleep. We got a quick breakfast at Panera (yummiest egg souffle EVER!) and then headed to The Scrapbook Shoppe. They were celebrating their birthday and invited us to be part of the festivities. What a day! When we got there, 15 minutes before the store opened, there were ladies lined up outside waiting to get in. They had food, 2 make and take projects every hour, and giveaways. Plus we were doing our make-n-take and giving away prizes. We were able to have 4 people at a time do the make-n-takes, but we still had to make a sign up list because so many people wanted to participate. it was the busiest 3 hours of the whole trip! At 3 on the dot we packed up our stuff and headed back to Orlando. Rebecca dropped me off and headed to the airport to catch her flight. I miss her all ready!

What an amazing weekend! We got to do CFD trainings, met our fisk-a-teer friends in person, got some new people to join fisk-a-teers, gave away prizes, did make-n-takes, ate yummy food, drove A LOT, visited 6 stores, and just had an all around great time. This weekend was a perfect example of why I love the fisk-a-teers site so much. The fisk-a-teers I met this weekend treated me like an old friend they had known for ages. So many hugs when it was time to leave I’ll definitely be making sure to keep in touch with all these wonderful ladies. And thanks to Rebecca for giving me the opportunity to be her fisk-assistant this weekend. I hope she’ll be back in Florida real soon!

“Hi there!

I’m Kerry Lynn Yeary (but please . . . call me kl) and I love paper.

I live in beautiful Sonoma County, California with my husband and two rambunctious children.  I believe in family.  I believe in living my life with honesty and integrity.  I believe in my friends.  I believe in recording the moments that make up our everyday lives as well as the big holidays and events.

I love and adore mid-century textiles and vintage sheet music and feel so grateful to have found a craft where others understand my need to play with paper, paste and combine it with all things vintage.

I am on the design teams at Hambly Screenprints, October Afternoon and I also create for Creative Therapy.

I’m so thrilled to be able to share this project with all of you.  Fiskars is an amazing company and I’m so grateful to Cheryl and Fiskars for asking me to guest design for the Fiskateer blog!

One of my favorite things to do is build messy mini books with vintage ephemera and my favorite scrapbook supplies.  Using vintage supplies is a great way to add texture and originality and there are so many styles that you can find something to work with all of your supplies; items like old children’s books, reader’s digest and even school books can be found at thrift stores and garage sales.

For this project, I used a small size (4.5″x6.5″) vintage Webster’s dictionary from the 1930’s, the Heidi Grace ‘We Are Family” line of paper and embellishments and the Fiskars Threading Water Punch which I LOVE!

The cover was created by first painting Gesso (an acrylic paint medium that acts as a surface barrier) on the front and then layering with vintage lace, hand cut paper strips and strips created with the Threading Water punch.  I then layered various cardstock stickers and flowers and added a picture and a title.

For the inside of the messy book I picked vintage materials that varied in size to add variety as you flip through the pages.  Each of these pages were also layered with various stickers, flowers, paper and ribbon as well as pictures and journaling created on a vintage typewriter.

The large interior page with the cut out hearts is created out of a tab chipboard sticker sheet in the Heidi Grace punchboard add-on set.  To start I gently removed the back sticker sheet while also removing some of the larger heart stickers with it.  Once it was removed, I took a piece of clear transparency and stitched it onto the punchboard sheet, creating a stained glass style page.  Then I just added the embellishments and picture.

The larger paper flower medallion on the punchboard heart page was created by cutting a 3″x12″ piece of pattern paper and then punching on 12″ side with the Threading Water punch.  Then accordion pleat the paper using the punched edge as a guide until the entire sheet is pleated.  Join the two ends with heavy duty tacky tape and push the center down into a flower.  Glue onto a small square base, just large enough to hold the center together.  Layer with the other embellishments as desired.

After all of the pages are created, punch holes and join together with book rings.  Add ribbon strips and you have a fun vintage book.

You can find more of my art and learn more about me and my family on my blog at http://k8tykat.typepad.com/

Enjoy!

xo

kl

Thanks Kerry for sharing with us!  Absolutely awesome and I’m all about vintage!  Thanks for sharing your wonderful talent with the Fiskateer community kl.  You rock! 

Suzy has been creating scrapbooks in one sort or another since she was grade school.  She has always loved creating art and collecting photos and memorabilia, so when she became a stay at home mom eight years ago, scrapbooking became her passion.  Suzy designs projects and pages for Maya Road, KI Love, Elsie and Mambi.  She was named a Memory Maker Master in 2006 and this year in 2008 as a Creating Keepsake’s Hall of Famer.  She is published regularly in industry magazine and books.  She lives in Southern California with her three children and husband and loves to spend time at the beach.

The chipboard albums used are all by Maya Road. She used Heidi Grace’s “We Are Family” line.  I loved the way she used her embellishments and she matches up colors so well!  Love it.  So here’s a project and a couple of layouts to boot!  You can also check out some projects she made from Heidi Grace’s “A Little Bird’s Tale” line.  Like this darling owl album she made . . .

http://suzyplantamura.typepad.com/living_my_dream/2008/07/maya-road-sneak-peek-day-6.html

Suzy made this darling family album about the love and joy she finds in her home and family . . .

I’m loving these layouts . . .

Please note that the photo used on the Family Happiness layout and all the photos used on the House Chipboard project is the beautiful work of Tara Whitney.  You can see more of Tara’s wonderful photography at http://www.tarawhitney.com/

You can also see more of Suzy’s awesome talent as she is widely published and in the upcoming 2008 CK Hall of Fame publication.  Congratulations Suzy. 

Thank you Suzy for sharing with us!  A bit of your family, talent and passion.  Warmest wishes for a great 2008 as a HOF’er.

Thanks for your patience on this. We hope you all enjoy the new site.

We’ll be switching over to the updated site next Monday - June 30th - sometime in the mid-afternoon to evening. The plan as of right now is to have the site viewable throughout this time, but you will not be able to log in and use the message boards or upload anything to the gallery. We don’t want to lose any content on the old site when we move over to the new one, so that’s the reasoning behind that. So please bear with us on Monday afternoon.
The new site will have the same structure as the current site: gallery, message board, blog, etc. We are expanding the message board to include specific categories - much more like most message boards / forums function. The gallery will be expanded, will be able page through multiple pages and be able to see more than just the 20 most recent entries. We are planning to archive the gallery data from the current site, so old gallery uploads will also be able to be found. The overall look of the site will change as well, moving away from the ‘poppet’ designs and using actual photos of the new leads.

I really hope you enjoy the new site and all the new bells and whistles. With any luck you will be able to see the new site starting later in the evening of June 30th. We will continue to add some pieces to the site after Monday, but wanted to have the majority of the look and functionality in place for this launch.

Take care,

C.J. Hall

Here is a sampling of one of the projects from the specialty papers board.

This is a sampling from the Cloud 9 stickers board.

Now we want to include you in the fun. We have signed a limited number of boards with our Fiskateer number and name in the bottom right hand corner. The signatures are very small so you will really need to look close. Be one of the first fiskateers who finds one of these signed storyboards and tells me whose name and fiskateer number is on it and we will send you a prize package of new Fiskars products. There are some really great projects on these boards so you will definitely want to see them all. Good luck everyone!!! Let the hunt begin!!!!

**Edit: Some of the stores seem to be a bit behind schedule so before you drive a long distance lets give them a couple extra days. All the new boards are white so any other colored boards are the older ones. Can’t wait to see where the first ones will show up!!

We had a few technical difficulties on Saturday so today is the day and I know you’re going to enjoy.

Jamie Harper is an Arizona resident.  Her greatest passion is that of a Photographer.  She also travels teaching at CKC’s around the U.S. and is a 2007 Creating Keepsake Hall of Famer.  She loves her flexible schedule which allows her to be able to spend time with her family and still work.  She has four beautiful children and a wonderfully supportive husband.  She has been teaching scrapbooking in some capacity or another for the past 13 years.  She is full of life and energy, and tries to bring that life into her projects.  She is one beautiful gal and I think you’ll enjoy what she has to share!

Jamie shares that ‘this idea is to show how to use cool packaging material.  I used the Punchboard Box Set as the base for my mini album.”  Here’s the ‘know how’.

Supplies (All from Heidi Grace’s line ~ We are Family):

• Coordinating Ribbon
• Journal Prompts
• Dimensional Flowers
• Cardstock Alphas
• Patterned Paper - Trees in A Row
• Patterned Paper - Decor Stripe
• Coordinating Acrylic Stamps 

Jamie shares . . .

“The first two photos are showing how to leave your punchboard on the backing and just lift and remove the negative page. 

Then mount that on cardstock.  Cut out and adhere cardstock to the opposite side and now you have a mini album ready to go!!  I used a ”Bind it All” to punch the holes and bind the album. 

I also used the new ‘Threading Water’ border punch that Cheryl shared with me (drool).”

I love Jamie’s style!  I love her use of tools.  With the remaining product Jamie made a a layout and a card . . . a bonus share!  

To check out more of Jamie’s awesome work and learn more about her and her beautiful family you can view her blog

Using your favorite line you too can create your mini album.  In order to help you do so you’ll need something to drill that chipboard (or acrylic . . . whatever you choose). I want to share a Fiskars craft drill with three of you . . . so you can drill your own book.  Just post a comment here and I’ll pick some random winners in the next couple of days. 

Thank you Jamie for sharing!  You have surely inspired and blessed us!  Thank you for sharing your talent and bit of your beautiful self with us Fiskateers!