Bend the Rules Sewing

Reported by: Martha Bonneau

Are you new to sewing or have limited experience with sewing? Are looking for a book to help shed some light on all of your questions? Well, look no further than Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol. Many crafters may already be aware of Karol through her popular blog Angry Chicken. This book is written in a friendly, informative way that makes the reader instantly feel inspired to tackle the projects within. With it's easy to read text and hand drawn illustrations and patterns, it is very user friendly and less text-book like than many of the other sewing books I have tried to use in the past...this format immediately put me at ease.


This book is divided up into the following sections:

1. Learning to Sew 101
-Bending the rules in sewing
-Bending the rules in life
-Your attitude about mistakes

2. Let's Get Started!
-The sewing machine
-Basic sewing tools and notions
-Your sewing area

3. Start Your Machines!
-Sewing vocabulary 101
-Using the patterns in the book
-The Basics

Sections 4-6 are divided up into multiple projects ranging from tote bags, fashionable dog collars, curtains and pillows as well as cute items for children. Patterns and templates are also included.

The fun, colorful pictures of the finished projects in this book make you want to sit down and start sewing immediately! I have been wanting to make an apron for quite a while and was inspired by the Vintage Apron project to make this one:


I even felt confident enough with the instructions to add the optional pocket. This is my first attempt at an apron, so is it perfect? No. Is it pretty darn close to perfect? Yes! Karol lets you know that sewing is a process and that you should "throw caution to the wind", learn a few basics and find your favorite methods. If you finish a project and it looks homemade, well that's a good thing and not something to beat yourself up over. This is definitely a book for beginners. If you already know the basics and are looking for projects that will stretch you, this may not be the book for you. But if you need that first step to get your feet wet in the world of sewing it's definitely worth checking out.

Pros:

* Easy to read and understand
* Fun colorful pictures of finished projects
* Templates for projects are included
* Lots of helpful hints and tips...Sewing Vocabulary 101 is very helpful

Cons:

* Some of the templates and patterns are not to scale and must be enlarged
* Spiral bound would be nice as I found myself referring back to it several times during my project and losing my place

Where to buy:

I picked up my copy at Barnes & Noble, it can also be found at Amazon and Borders. It retails for $21.95 and in my opinion, was worth every penny! I would love to see Karol come out with another book with more advanced projects for those of us who want to build on our newly acquired sewing skills.

Mary Englebreit's Home Companion

Reported by: Martha Bonneau

A couple of months ago I was at the book store looking through the magazine section and one jumped off the shelf and got my attention and then surprised me when I realized what it was, Mary Englebreit's Home Companion . Although I appreciate her style with the cute little illustratons and checkerboards and cherries, I was never head over heals for her stuff. I was intrigued though by what I saw on the current issue's (April/May 2008) cover...trendy colors, fun fabrics and DIY projects relating to papercrafts, sewing and jewelry making.


I realize that this is a magazine that has been around for a while, but I am a relatively new reader (i.e. the past 2 issues) and am centering this review around the current April/May 2008 issue. That being said, I have to say that this is my favorite new source of inspiration as it addresses so many different subjects: crafting, DIY, organizational tips, home decorating from the homeowner/artist's perspective and it is all presented in a fun, funky and stimulating format. Leave your preconceived notions of scotty dogs and cherries behind because this magazine is full of independent artists and their work!

Here is just some of what you will find in the current issue:

* Things We Like-favorite things from the marketplace

* Next-artist Ann Wood is inspired by found and salvaged materials

* Top Stitch-quilter Laura Wasilowski creates stories with cloth

* Noteworthy-seasonal cards and stationary

* Artist's Workshop-Ignatius Creegan and Rod Givens are reviving the lost art of hat making

* Finders Keepers-Little Golden Books are delighting adult collectors

* The Art Of Business-Toni Sikes of The Guild shares her love for decorative detail by connecting customers to artists.

* Out On A Whim-designer Heather Bailey concocts a mother-daughter party

* Behind The Scenes-inside the art world with Nick Clark, director of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art

* Pins & Needles-turn felt flowers and sparkly beads into pretty, whimsical jewelry

* Handmade-transform your mirrors with peel and press designs

* Creatures Comfort-caring for our animal friends

* Paper, Scissors, Crop-artist Jenni Bowlin creates a unique memory art project

* Getting The Goods-where to find it page

I just love the variety of techniques and styles that are featured in Home Companion. Although I am primarily a papercrafter, I like to mix it up sometimes with sewing projects and like to try new mediums that I find interesting and this magazine inspires me to do just that. My favorite article in this issue was the one featuring Heather Bailey, I loved getting a glimpse of her studio and some of the things she finds inspiring as well as the fabric and papercrafting projects of hers that were featured, the magazine even includes a pattern for her "Out on a Whim" place card holder. Although the magazine features articles such as the one about Ignatius Creegan's handmade hats which are obviously not a project most readers are equipped to do, it is fascinating to read about traditional forms of crafts that artists are keeping alive.

Home Companion retails for $4.99 and I picked up my issue at Borders. My only complaint is that it only comes out 6 times a year, but be sure to check out the Mary Englebreit's Home Companion website for web only features and projects to keep you inspired until the next issue comes out!

Making Memories Circle Cutter

Reported by Martha Bonneau

I recently had a project come up where I was going to need to make lots and lots of circles in various sizes...I realized quite quickly that I was going to need to break down and buy yet another tool for my scrap-room as making precise circles without the appropriate tool could prove to be quite difficult. I went to a couple of stores and looked at all of my options and finally came home with a Making Memories Circle Cutter.












A couple of things that drew me to it vs. some of my other choices were the fact that it would cut up to a 9" circle, larger than that of the EK Success Curvy Cutter or the Fiskars Circle Cutter, I also liked the fact that it was pretty compact and would not take up a lot of space in my work area. It is a relatively simple tool to use. There is a blade in a small holder on the arm that can be adjusted for either right or left handed users. This same holder can be adjusted with a couple of turns of a knob to determine how large of a circle you want to cut. You simply place your paper on a cutting mat (one is provided with the tool), center the tool on the paper, press down on the center of the tool and then turn the arm in a complete circle to make the cut. Sounds easy enough, but MM stresses both on the packaging and on their website that it will take practice. I found that you really need to apply a lot of pressure (which means you will be standing while using it) and have the steady hand of a surgeon to get multiple perfect circles, I frequently ended up with a not so perfect circle because I moved just a little or hesitated while cutting and the circle did not line up exactly when I got to the end. Another thing I found frustrating was when I tried to cut a circle within a circle, I found it next to impossible to get the interior circle centered.

All in all this is a handy little tool. I like that it cuts so many different sizes of circles, it is easy to see where you are cutting, replacement blades are housed in the handle of the tool so there is no fumbling around looking for a new blade when you are in the middle of a project, plus the fact that it comes with it's own cuting mat makes it something I would pack to take to a crop with me. Just do as MM says...practice, practice, practice! MSRP is $19.99, I found it for a little less and was able to use a coupon.

Quickutz Squeeze

Reported by Martha Bonneau



So when I first started scrapping a little over 2 years ago and was accumulating all of the tools of the trade as far as scrapping goes, I delved into the world of die-cuters and purchased a pink Quickutz Squeeze.

At the time my choices were basically between the Sizzix system and the Quickutz Squeeze, this was before the introduction of the Provo Craft Cuttlebug or the other Quickutz die cutter the Revolution. I decided on the Squeeze for a couple of reasons, I found the alphabets and shapes to be a little more sophisticated than those of the Sizzix system, and honstly I found a really good deal on the Squeeze with an alphabet at the time.


Over time, the Squeeze has found it's way on and off my scrapping table for the following reasons....first the positive, the Squeeze is incredible easy to use. All you have to do to prep the dies for use is apply the ejection foam and off you go. The die is held in the tool by a magnetic plate, you then slide a piece of paper or cardstock between the die and the bottom plate and squeeze. I almost always get a clean, crisp cut. On the occasion where the die did not cut through completely, I flipped the placement of the die and that solved the problem. One of the other reasons I was attracted to the Squeeze was the fact that it doesn't take up a ton of room on my work surface, it has a relatively small footprint plus it is very portable and very easy to pack up and take to a crop, it wieghs only about 3 lbs. Quickutz does a great job of offering dies that keep up with the current trends, for instance this month they are right on track with the woodland trend with the intruduction of their mushroom, butterfly and bird dies, I am also loving the rainbow die with has a very 80's Rainbow Brite feeling to it. They also have a very easy to navigate website with a great idea gallery.


So there are also a few reasons that the Squeeze does not have a permanent home on my scrapping table. First of all, it's incredible tippy, even when it is in it's cradle. I can't tell you how many times I have knocked it over while I had it sitting out. The good news is that it is incredibly well made being all metal construction, and was not damaged when knocked over. The next drawback is that to get the leverage to get a good clean cut, you really need to be standing to use the tool, plus after mutliple cuts the tool becomes uncomfortable to use. Quickutz does offer a KomfyKutz which is a pad that fits over the handle to make cutting more comfortable. I have to admit I have not invested in one of these, but wished that I had last Christmas when I spent about an hour using the tool and ended up with blisters on my right hand. Other drawbacks are that it does not cut through felt or chipboard like other systems, I have had limited success cutting through thinner chipboard, but it was very difficult and not something that I would want to have to do in multiples due to the amount of pressure needed to cut through the chipboard.


The Squeeze with a small unicase alphabet has a MSRP of $89.99 and can be found at various places online, they also carry it at Archiver's and have just started carrying the tool and limited dies at Hobby Lobby.

Crafting In Chicago

Reported by Martha Bonneau

So for the past couple of years I have been creating crafts and selling them through different avenues such as message boards and of course Etsy, but this weekend I finally got to experience selling at a craft show. I participated in Crafted with our own Sarah Moore and the super talented Susie. The show was advertised as "a handmade market of exquisite and curious things" and it certainly was, the organizers did a fabulous job of picking some very cool vendors and there was a good assortment of crafts in many different mediums.












This was a good show to get our feet wet at as it wasn't super busy, but there was enough traffic to gauge what worked and to get some ideas on how to prepare for our next try at a craft show. One thing we were all wondering about was how to price our stuff and after walking the room, I feel as though our prices were right in line with everything else. I think we all researched through Etsy to see what we should charge for things.

Speaking of Etsy, I would highly suggest having an Etsy shop set up if you are going to start doing craft shows, it is an excellent way to have a storefront for your crafts, plus I know there were a couple of items I had been looking at that sold out, but was able to go to the seller's Etsy shop afterwards and find what I had been looking at.

Be sure to have business cards with your blog and/or Etsy shop on them, this way customers and even other vendors know where to find you after the show. Be prepared for your crafts to be handled and moved about, the fun part about a craft show is getting to touch and feel everything, but that holds true for what you brought as well. Use baskets, jars etc. for smaller items or things you have multiples of.




















Susie kept saying how much fun it was to see big baskets of her items and customers were drawn to them as well as if on a treasure hunt

















The vendor next to us did a great job using mixing bowls and other vintage items to house her items...it's all about the marketing!

I think going in with friends was a great way to do our first show as well as it let us have a table full of quite a few different items, everything from these journals made from album covers (created by Sarah Moore)...

...to felted tote bags with monkies on them

All in all it was a great first craft show experience as we made our cost back plus a little (that I promptly spent at the show!) and we are eager to do it again...soon!

Halloween Scrapping Made Easy

Reported by Martha Bonneau

With Halloween quickly approaching, scrapbookers and other papercrafters have a variety of products to choose from that are currently in stores. One of my favorite is the Making Memories Halloween line.


















This line offers an extensive selection of product which includes paper, embellishments, page kits and even foam stamps and a foiling and flocking kit. I typically do not use page kits, but found the 12 x 12 paper pack very easy to work with, it contains 24 single sided sheets of paper (3 each of 8 designs) and 72 die-cuts. I was able to use the paper pack to quickly create a layout with several embellishments thanks to the included die-cuts.
























To take your projects a step further, they also offer a page kit that includes less paper (6 sheets) but includes chipboard buttons, ephemera stickers, alphabet stickers and word stickers.













I was able to find these Making Memories products at our local Target and was pleasantly suprised that they carried the full line, including the stamps. Many other scrapbooking stores that I went to only carried select pieces from the entire line. So head over to Target or your favorite craft store and check out all the great elements of this line.

Martha, Martha, MARTHA!

Reported by Sarah Moore

One might think Craft Critique is doing a Martha Stewart Feature week... well... we didn't mean to! But who can deny that MARTHA ROCKS HALLOWEEN! Seriously... she doesn't hold back... from her glitter kit for skulls and bones to here severed finger invitations, Martha is the queen of the spooky. When chatting with her very open staff at Summer CHA, we remarked at the way Martha has handled the holiday over the years. It seems like anything goes! They told us in fact that Martha draws the line at blood... but that's about it. Rumor has it that Halloween is Martha's favorite holiday, and it shows!

It's hard to single out a favorite Martha Halloween product, but at CHA Martha's team was encouraging us to use the 12X10" Glassine sheets in our papercrafting. The sheets are marketed as "Halloween Tissue Paper", but they have a texture similar to cupcake liners. They are slightly transparent, and vivid in color. Non-Halloween versions are availible as well. Look for these items online, or at your local Micheal's stores.

Traditionally created for use in food/gift packaging, these brightly colored sheets can add a unique texture to your cards and scrapbook pages.

Here is the tissue used inside a glittered bracket. I cut the cardstock behind the bracket out, so the transparent nature of the glassine is showcased. I used a Martha Stewart Rub On to create the bat and the sentiment "Go Batty". If you want to stamp on the tissue, I recommend StazOn Ink, as the tissue is slightly coated with a waxy film.


This next card uses the glassine tissue as a background layer. I love this skull design... it will be fun to play with WELL AFTER Halloween is over! I used my Scotch ATG gun as my adhesive. Liquid adhesives did not work well with the tissue. Even my faithful Scotch Quick dry and Mono Multi adhesives made the paper bubble. I also used Martha's Fine Onyx Glitter and Icon Transfers (Rub Ons) to complete this card.


I used my crimper to add more texture to the tissue in this next card. All stamps by Lizzie Anne Designs. A glue dot was the perfect adhesive in this case.


And here is a wonderful 6X12" layout by our own Martha... Martha Bonneau! She used the Glassine as a background paper... You can read more about this adorable layout on her blog.


Some other ideas for Martha's glassine/tissue; use it for it's intended purpose! Line cupcake boxes with it, wrap gifts with it or use it in place of a doily on food trays. Punch shapes with it and decorate cakes with the shapes... don't forget to remove the punches prior to serving. The paper is wonderful torn, punched, crimped or die cut. Experiment with it as you would any printed paper.

We'd love to hear your ideas! Let our readers know what you have done... or plan to do with this unique material. Have fun!

Renegade Craft Fair Report!: Prepare to be Inspired!

Reported by Martha Bonneau

Edited to add: Oops! Sorry... looks like I left off some pictures the first time around... everything is here now... please take a second look! ~Sarah

I had the pleasure of attending the 5th annual Chicago edition of the Renegade Craft Fair that was held this weekend (Sept. 15-16th). For those not familiar with the Renegade Craft Fair, it is a showcase for unconventional and DIY crafts, the impression I came away with was that it was like stepping into Etsy and getting to see in real life all of those cool things you spend hours drooling over on your computer monitor.

As we walked through the show, there were several trends that we noticed over and over: owls, deer, gnomes and other nature inspired themes were everywhere. One that we had not seen before were raccoons, we noticed them on several items from t-shirts to tote bags so be on the look-out for raccoons! As a papercrafter, I loved the bird tags and screen printed felt patches from craftpaca. I am already plotting how to use these items on a scrapbooking layout


Other favorites were the nature inspired items from Glitter Workshop, they had a fabulous array of items with deer, gnomes and owls in their Forest Friends line and Abe Lincoln Studio had cool vintage owl earrings.


There were several vendors that we really loved, the first of which were Rebecca Yaker's awesome sock monkey inspired creations. She had hoodies, t-shirts and even tote bags with the traditional sock monkey on them, but presented in a non-traditional way...very fun stuff!



There were of course many plushies to choose from and one of my favorites was Snicksnee Plush. Great designs if a great variety of styles and colors and full of personality!


Another favorite were the silkscreened creations by Run Amok. We especially liked the ninjas with throwing stars..



The Small Object was the only vendor we saw offering any stamps. Their's were rubber mounted on wood blocks and came in whimsical designs such as Dust Bunnies and and the Big Monster pack

There were a couple of vendors who really impressed us as they were offering items completely different from any others. The lamps designed by avec mes mains were incredible. They make wired framed lamps covered in hand silk screened fabric in the most fabulous patterns and designs. Our absolute favorite was the robot lamp in a very cool retro teal color...

another stand-out was the one with the birds on it accented in orange


Soda by Amy was one of the few vendors who had porcelain items. Her hand etched and glazed pieces came in several designs ranging from robots to ones for baby.


She also had the most beautiful wallpaper as well with birdies on it


Owly Shadow Puppets appeared to be doing very well at the show as they were already sold out of several of the designs we wanted to purchase. They make shadowpuppets out of laser cut matboard that are mounted on a dowel and jointed so they move. We really wanted the Yeti, but alas he was already gone as were the bats and toothfairy, but we were happy that we got to take one of their owls home.


If at the end of the day you felt inspired to go home and create something crafty yourself, there were a couple of vendors who could help you out. Our favorite was the Chicago based Quiltology as they were offering a wide variety of very cool fabrics in various sizes (1/2 yard, fat quarters etc.) Love that they had some funkier stuff like the cupcake fabric (insert quiltology3) and the little kids in space.

Getting to Know You...Featured Reporters

Today we would like to introduce some of our newest reporters! These fine ladies will be writing our feature articles that will typically run on Fridays and Saturdays. They are some of the best of the best and their work is top notch. You can see more of their work on their individual blogs... visit by clicking on their names. Please take a moment to get to know them a bit better and welcome them to Craft Critique.


Tami Bayer

I am a stay at home crafter who also takes care of my rockin' 12 year old son and sweet husband of 17 years. I come from a long line of quilters and seamstresses. I got my first sewing machine when I was in Kindergarten and have been doing some sort of craft for most of my life. I discovered papercrafts a few years ago and am free to stamp and make cards now that my hubby digitally scraps our photos. I love to go treasure hunting at yard sales and thrift shops for things to use in my art and around the house.




Martha Bonneau

Hi, my name is Martha, I am 39 years young and I am totally addicted to scrapbooking. I started scrapping approximately a year and a half ago and have scrapped almost every day since then.

My inspiration is almost always 1 of my pugs, but I have been known to scrap humans every once and a while. I have been married to my hubby, Bob, for 7 years and besides the 2 pugs (Mugsy and now Pixie) we have a kitty named Ivo.

Besides scrapping I also enjoy sewing. I think everyone I know has a tote bag I have made... and I love making felt monsters too. Things that make me happy are photography, anything with skulls on it, the color orange, 80's alternative music and the fact that I just made the zingBOOM design team and that I had one of the winning LOs in the Martha Stewart Scrapping contest. You can always check out what's going on in my scrappy world by going to my blog at http://mugsyboo.blogspot.com/ (Or just click on her name...)


Emily Giovanni

I am Emily Giovanni and I live in Arlington, Texas. I am 29 years old and I have been married to my husband Matthew for almost 9 years. We have three crazy boys; Andy - 7, Alex - 5 and Adam - 4. I am a stay-at-home-mom to my boys, even though it seems like I am never at home!

Up until I discovered stamping/card making, I had not done anything artistic in my life! My younger sister introduced me to rubber stamps in the fall of 2003. I was hooked and have been stamping ever since. I had never considered myself artistically inclined and was quite surprised when I made something good!

My stamp room is my oasis of quiet. I have also recently been bitten by the digital scrapbooking bug. I've already made more pages this month than all last year! I also enjoy reading, music (listening - not playing or singing!), cooking, hanging out with family, talking, shopping and CHOCOLATE!


Sharon Harnist

Sharon is a native of Texas and has been involved in many different types of crafts all her life. She started scrapbooking in 1996 and was first introduced to rubber stamping in February 2004. Shortly after, she became a demonstrator and instructor of rubber stamping, cardmaking & scrapbooking in May of 2004.

Sharon served on SplitcoastStampers Design Team from January 2006 thru November 2006. Currently, she is on design teams for two different rubber stamp manufacturers: Cornish Heritage Farms’ Thomas Kinkade Rubber Stamps & My Favorite Things. Visit her blog (linked in her name) where she shares all kinds of paper-crafting & organizing ideas.


Lauren Meader

I was extremely honored and excited to be asked to be a featured reporter for Craft Critique!
I really enjoy sharing what I love. So I know this is going to be a great venture.

I am 29 years old. Very happily married to a supportive guy, who is also my very best friend (and cheerleader :D). I have 3 children Alexa, Noah and Amber that keep me busy as a stay at home mom. Being at home, I realized I needed "me" time and began rubber stamping 3 years ago. Once I found stamping, I was obsessed!

I was really only able to start working hard to make my passion my occupation this past February, as my daughter has Leukemia. The initial first year was very busy with her treatment ups and downs and about 8-9 months mainly spent in the hospital. While she still has a year of treatments left, she is technically in remission and doing well, THANK GOD.

That experience taught me a lot about life. Don't sit still and wait for tomorrow to do what can be done today. There are never any guarantees in life, and when that is thrown in your face, you take a step back and go over your life. I don't want to say "I should have......"

Once we were free and Alexa was doing well, I knew it was time to advance towards my own goals. I am happy that I have achieved most of what I set out to do, but there is always room to grow. I am getting to do what I love most by being with my children and working from home.


Thank you ladies for joining our team. We can't wait to hear what you all have to say!

A Scrapbooker's Take on Summer CHA

Reported By Martha Bonneau

Oh my…where to begin! For a papercrafter (scrapbooking in particular) going to CHA was akin to going to product and enabling heaven. This was my first time attending CHA and am glad it was the summer show since we were repeatedly told that the Winter show in Anaheim was easily double this size…I can’t even begin to imagine as I feel like I have been playing a full contact sport all weekend simply from walking around in amazement looking at all of the goodness that awaits us. As someone who likes to explore the funkier side of scrapping, I was happy to see that there were several trends out there that were easily adaptable to this style, but still were traditional scrapper friendly.

I have to start with one of my favorites which is the Love Elsie line by Ki memories. She is introducing another fun bright collection named Zoe which is full of her signature bright colors and doodling and features a photography theme with paper featuring little cameras on it as well as a camera shaped chipboard album.



In addition she also was premiering holiday inspired collections named Jack & Abby which were in spicy autumn colors and Noel her Christmas line.



Ki memories also had one of my other favorite new products which was their die-cut 12 x 12 paper. I have to say I didn’t see anything else like this by any other vendor. In talking to them, they mentioned that this product would be shipped individually wrapped as to prevent damage on the store shelf…genius!



I am happy to report that felt is still going strong. By far my favorite new item was the package of die-cut felt sheets by Fancy Pants. They are 12 x 12 sheets of felt that come in packages of 4 in 4 colors. If you are familiar with their 12 x 12 sheets of die-cut chipboard, it is very similar to this product. They did an excellent job of providing samples of how you could use this product as not only a scrapping product, but also how to use it in home décor projects. I can see this flying off the shelves!





Queen & Co. premiered many new styles of their felt die-cut ribbon and I am happy to report that there is now adhesive backing on some of this product. Many scrappers were at a loss as how to adhere this product to their layouts and this has now been solved. After premiering their first line of this product, they have now been able to produce more intricate designs this time around which has allowed them to offer several more patterns including holiday ones.


I could go on and on about felt as it was everywhere, happily I can report that this trend appears to be around for a while longer.

Nature & woodland inspired themes on scrapping products are still going strong. We have been seeing owls & other birds for a while now and they are still around this season. Sassafras Lass premiered their Whale of a Tale line and in addition to pirate owls(!) they are also featuring sea-life in the form of whales and seahorses…very cool and very unique. I love the doodling-inspired waves on this line.



I have been in pursuit of items with mushrooms on them for a while and was delighted to find them in Li’l Davis Designs booth. This line is so fun and colorful and covers all of the trends out there with the funky mushrooms, the felt embellies and the chipboard album…well done! In addition, all of the papers in this line are double sided, the back of each paper features recipe cards…c’mon how cool is that?!




Other standouts were the Madera collection by sei with a stylized tree motif and warm fall colors. Some of the papers in this collection feature flocking


I *love* the tree on this paper by Scenic Route...


Fun trees & wood grain at Hambly Screen Prints...




Crafty touches have been finding their way onto layouts in various ways lately, and one of the most prevalent trends at the show was through crocheted accents. These were at Anna Griffin...


The Bohemia line by My Minds Eye featured several different colors to match their new lines...


This was a trend we saw repeatedly throughout the show and was being offered by several different companies.

Clear product and transparencies are hot! Of course the prevailing leader of this trend is Hambly and they had no shortage of fun new product to inspire us. Love these transparencies with the new brick pattern.


Fun circles


They were also premiering new rub-ons at this show as well.


It was interesting to see some of the more mainstream companies offering transparencies as a part of their lines at the show.

Clear albums were being offered by several vendors this time. Maya Road is offering these sheer albums that would be so much fun to work with.


Picture It Pageframe is offering several clear albums this season. They did the best job at providing examples on how to use this kind of album as I can see it as being a little intimidating to some scrappers. Kudos to their design team!





Surprisingly skulls were still everywhere and appear to be a continuing trend. Not only were we finding them on Halloween collections, but on pirate inspired collections as well. Standouts were the pirate Princess line by Rusty Pickle.


These Clearly Defined stamps by Printworks...


Martha Stewart loves skulls…who knew?!




Cute skulls at Sassafras Lass...


Skulls are even featured throughout Die Cuts With a View’s new Rockstar collection which we were told was selling very well…they were everywhere!

Just a few more random hightlights
Ribbon by Luxe Designs, so much fab new stuff in their lines…yummy!



Cream City Ribbon….100% natural ribbon made from cotton that is 100% biodegradable! Comes in 12” strips or on spools and is available with or without an adhesive back.




American Crafts thickers in vinyl…so cool, looks like leather.



Marah Johnson’s Halloween line for Creative Imaginations...




Paisley ghosts at Paper Salon...



Cool little chipboard album at Urban Lily...


My credit card and I eagerly await the arrival of each of these new products!

Happy National Scrapbooking Day from Martha!

No, not THAT Martha... she isn't the only Martha around with something new to say about scrapbooking... (wink)

Today we have a Special Scrappin' Guest! Please welcome my pal and fellow Chicagoland Craft Collective Organizer Martha Bonneau! Let me say I am such a fan of Martha's style... her pages have a very unique look. As far as I know, she never puts her pages into albums... they are each individual works of art, and she almost exclusively scraps her babies, and her babies are her two adorable Pugs; Opie and Mugsy... she also has a kitty... Ivo! She says she comes from a long line of crafty people but that she had suppressed her inner craftiness until receintly. Martha supports her craftiness with her job in retail management. She and her husband Bob have been married for 7 years.

Martha is actually pretty new to the world of scrapping, which in my opinion adds to her unique vision. She incorporates found objects into her pages and has no worries about what is or is NOT Acid free... she is a scrapbooking RISK taker, and a perfect example of what Craft Critique likes to promote. She scraps because she loves to create!

Martha also has a love for felt... after she started using it in her scrapping she began making really cool Felt Tote Bags and Pug Plushies too! She has an awesome Blog; Mugsy Boo, and also an Etsy Shop you can visit. You can see the bulk of her Scrapbooking Pages on her 2 Peas Gallery HERE. You may need a hankie to wipe the drool off your keyboard.

I asked Martha to write a bit about how she came to use such unusual objects on her pages... where she acquires it all and what she digs. Enjoy!

Creative Scrapbook Supply Shopping
Reported By Martha Bonneau

Anyone who is a serious scrapper knows that half the fun of the hobby is the stuff, the delicious papers and brightly colored bits & bobs call to us. We are always on the search for that perfect embellishment that will take our LO to the next level. Over time I have found that a combination of traditional scrapping items sprinkled with a dash of non-traditional really stretches me creatively when I am working on a page. What are these non-traditional scrapping items and where do I find them you ask…let me show you the way!

Ephemera & Vintage Goodies

What is ephemera you ask? It is defined as a printed or handwritten item normally discarded after its intended use; items such as postcards, ticket stubs, valentines etc. Well as it turns out, instead of being discarded, these items were put in boxes, attics & basements and eventually they made their way to estate & yard sales to be purchased as potential scrapping supplies. Items I have used on LOs include vintage place-cards, pages from children’s books, old playing cards, & Christmas seals from the 40’s and 50’s all of which have a cool retro look that I love. An example of ephemera used in a LO is the banana pie recipe from an old magazine that I used on this LO

Estate and yard sales are also a terrific source for buttons and vintage trims, my favorite of which is ric-rac which is no longer available in the fabulous palette that it once was, but there is plenty of the good stuff out there to be found. One of my favorite sources for Ephemera during the cold winter months when there are no yard sales is Etsy. There are several sellers that have put together packs of goodies that are perfect for scrapping.

Office Supply Store

One of my favorite places to find scrapping supplies is the office supply store or the office supply aisle at stores such as Target. I love index cards and shipping tags, they can be stamped and used for journaling or as an embellishment. I also adore graph paper & those fab “hello my name is…” tags.


Gift Wrap as Patterned Paper
One of my favorite places for cool paper is Paper Source. They have the most unique wrapping papers that are perfect for scrapping and for the amount you get, it is a fraction of the cost. One of the images you see a lot in scrapping right now is robots, but there is no robot scrapbook paper to be found, I ran across this great robot wrapping paper though!


Scrapping Kits
So you want to use some of these unique items on your LOs, but just don’t know where to start…might I suggest going to Zingboom. She puts together a monthly scrapping kit that is a combination of the funkiest traditional scrapping supplies mixed with packets of fun and unusual stuff, some of it vintage, some new, but all of it cool.