Forgot one for Robin, who has been bugging me for kitty pictures...
Here's one of Woobie with Maya, who missed them terribly while we were in Virginia. I love these little faces and will be so sad to see them go (2 of the kittens are going, not maya, LOL!)
ps - check out Robin's cool techniques and contest on her blog!
I can't believe how fast this month is flying by and how many wonderful people I have come across in the past few weeks...here's a little recap:
The last weekend in March was bittersweet as I headed down to Maryland to teach at one of my favorite stores, the Rubber Chicken. I've known the owners, Betsy and Dan for a few years now since my first Ranger U and just loved them instantly...well about a few weeks before I was booked to come down and teach, Betsy e-mailed me with the bad news that she would be closing her store soon. I was heartbroken and had to fight back tears when I got there and again when I left. I love the whole "how's it cluckin?" vibe there.
We had some great, creative women there all weekend. I have to say, I REALLY enjoy teaching people who are rubber stampers...not that I don't enjoy everyone I teach, but there is an aspect of the die hard rubber stampers that I so admire. You show them a technique and they completely run with it and see a multitude of possibilities and every project was amazingly unique...LOVE that! Being a scrapper (for the most part) myself, I just really enjoy watching their process and in return they are inspiring me to use all my stamps more creatively...see ladies, I wasn't just there teaching YOU! LOL
OK, I'm digressing as usual. Betsy and Dan got me up early to go down to Washington for the Cherry Blossom Festival - WOW!! I was trying to convert Betz in to "scrapper mode" with all of the picture opts, but she was hysterically laughing at me when I told her I wore my pink sweatshirt so I wouldn't clash in the pictures when I scrap them...the scrappers get this, I know : )) And yes, I already have the paper/inks already picked out in my head!!
Betsy will keep her on-line store open and is just SO talented, so I know anything she chooses to do from here will be successful...everything happens for a reason my friend, and where one door closes, another one will open : ))
The following weekend I had another last class at one of my absolute favorite local stores - ugh, another one - I was a wreck! Benedette from the Crop Room in PA will be moving and selling her store. All good reasons but I am so sad to see her go. The store will remain under a new owner (who I met briefly and she seems VERY sweet) and moving down the street a bit from what I understand. I'm hoping to be back to see my PA friends in the next few months and looking forward to the Bermuda cruise with you all next week!
That week was a bit ugly for us. Mike lost his job and "Jen Starr Designs" became a family business for the time being. Mike hadn't been happy there for a while (so I go back to my belief that everything happens for a reason). It happened at a good time, because I am busy but most importantly HE IS SMILING again. It didn't last long, he started a new job Monday and I am on my own again to kit classes by myself...I kinda liked having him home and working together. I think he has a new appreciation for how much work goes in to classes...he was pooped after a few weeks!
A few days later (on the 10th) was my birthday...36... yikes, when the hell did THAT happen?! I was trying to ignore it all day keeping busy prepping for classes that weekend but my family kept reminding me that I am now "pushing 40". I guess I deserved that since I've been teasing Mike for 2 years about that : )
Canada was next with another great Scrapfest event in Kitchener...I flew in to Buffalo so it was an easy trip. My pal Vicki Boutin picked me up at the airport and had a fun afternoon seeing her hometown. It's funny, now that this was my 3rd time teaching in Canada, I realize more each time how little I really know about Canada....I'm learning though. I have become well aquainted with Tim Hortons coffee! It's not quite my beloved Dunkin Donuts, but still yummy!
So Scrapfest was awesome as usual. Lisa, who runs the event even surprized me with a birthday cake after one of my classes. I taught a brand new class (Sheer Bling) which I'll be doing locally as soon as I order more clear books from Rusty Pickle, plus a smaller version of the Happy Canvas and the Designing with Distress Inks class, which is always my favorite to teach...great time! After the event, I taught at a local store called the Scrapping Turtle...lots of alcohol inks and more fun! I love teaching in Canada. Everyone is so friendly and the students are so eager to play with new techniques.
Finally, last weekend I packed up 5 classes and the whole family and we headed down to Virginia. I have family there and it worked out perfectly that my cousin Melissa's new baby's Christening was the same weekend that Memories Galore asked me to come down to teach - couldn't ask for better!
Can I just say WOW! They have 2 stores in the Richmond area - HUGE stores, great selection, wonderful staff, good sized classrooms and most importantly, wonderful students. I had a complete blast and even got one of my younger cousins who just started scrapping to come to a class, which made my whole weekend! Here's some scenes from the weekend...
This is just one side of the room doing my favorite colorwash during the Ranger Extravaganza on Saturday
My cousin Megan getting ready to ink up her very first canvas...I"m SOOOO proud!!!
My awesome helper and fellow Jersey Girl )originally) Deb
Baby Cooper after his Christening...how cute is that grin?!?
So that's the wrap up...it's been a busy few weeks with lots going on and lots of photo ops!
I'm off to Massachussetts this weekend to teach the Ranger Extravaganza at a Time for Memories, more soon!
it's been a while! Nope, this is not an April Fools Day joke...I am actually updating my blog!!! So much to catch up on and things are crazy here at the moment. Lots of new classes coming out, lots of new product to play with and lots of fun traveling coming up...which means LOTS to do!
Where to begin...how about some catch up? Well since I haven't updated since December 14th (thank you all who have been busting my chops about the delay - it lit a little fire under my big scrapper butt to get blogging again : ) I guess I should backtrack to the holidays (hee hee). They were all good - I won't bore you with the details but it was great family fun and very relaxing. I took some much needed time off for almost 2 months (Most of December and January). During that time I mostly just spent time hanging out with Ryan and Maya and organizing a bit ...it was NICE to say the least : ))
CHA was a blast and a lot of work. I was with Ranger for the whole show this time doing make & takes with Perfect Pearls and demos with colorwash (my fav!). I was also there to help Tim, Robin and Suze with their classes during the show...I'm always inspired to watch them teach. I got to catch up with a lot of old friends and make some new ones...even had a surprise visit from my pal Hettie from Holland! It was so unexpected and SO great to see her there and spend some time with her...I LOVE surprises!!
Ranger has some great new goodies that were released at the show...Adirondack Pigment Inks, the craft spinner, and my new obsession - the VERY opaque, VERY wonderful new white gel pen - oooohhhh, SO addicting! I just got my stash in for classes and started using them in MD over the weekend (I'll get to MD stories soon)
I didn't take many pictures during the show (I think I was just too pooped to take pictures...imagine that?!! LOL) but this was one of my favs...my pal Heidi from Scrapbook Mate in Holland came to visit me at my make & take stand and that's Alain in the middle (one of the owners of Ranger). Cute shot I thought...it's fun to see heidi in the states for a change.
I was also asked to be a part of Ranger's Designer Challange. Basically 24 designers were each asked to create an 8x8 canvas (Canvas Concepts) using ONE color of distress plus black and white. They chose Spiced Marmalade for me, knowing that orange is my favorite color (so I was thrilled!) and this is what I came up with...
So I was home for a day after the show and then off again to teach at a cool event here in NJ. The lovely ladies from Paper-Potamus put together this all day event they called the Triple Crown and it was SO much fun! I got to teach with 2 of my very best teaching buds, the fabulous Robin Beam from Ranger and the Pickle Man himself, Lance from Rusty Pickle. We were all exhausted from CHA but it was an awesome day.
After the Triple Crown, Lance came back to stay at our house for 10 days to do a little teaching tour in our area...he's a teaching maniac! I still don't quite understand how he was still standing by the end of the week coming right from CHA, but he had a great time and we're hoping to have him back again next year to do it all again!
So the next trip was to Paris to demo Ranger products for Scrapbook Mate (Dutch Distributor) at the SMAC trade show. I booked myself a hotel in Montmartre, my favorite place in Paris, where all of the artists hang out and spent my time taking lots of pictures, napping, eating some chocolate crepes (yum!) and just recharging. It was nice to just do whatever I wanted for a few days at my own pace for 3 days before I went back to reality and work. This was my 3rd time in Paris so I didn't feel rushed to run around and see all of the usual tourist sights, but I still went up the Eiffel Tower because i didn't do that last time, walked around near Notre Dam, etc. but mostly I hung around Montmartre watching the artists and enjoying myself. The coolest thing was that when I was there 12 years ago, I went there and my friend and I had our portraits drawn by a local artist...I LOVED it and remembered this man because his smile reminded me of my Dad. WELL - I found the SAME artist, still there, looking exactly the same and I had my portrait drawn again. This guy was SO talented and it took him all of 25 minutes to do this...
Let's see, what else...well in the middle of all of this Ryan turned 6 and we celebrated with a party at Chuck E Cheese's and Maya's 4th birthday was the day I got home from Paris...she cracked me up too! I called her from the airport on my way home to sing happy birthday to her before she went to pre-school. I told her I would be home for dinner and asked her where she wanted to go for her birthday dinner...I was expecting McDonalds or Chuck E Cheese - instead she said "France!" LOL Too funny.
The following Saturday we had all of the little girls from her pre-school here for a "Pampered Princess Tea Party". They all wore princess dresses (except for my nephew Jack who was Buzz Lightyear, LOL) and we did their make up, nails, body glitter, I got them necklaces, lipgloss rings and tiaras...then I did a photo shoot for each girl. While I was printing out the pictures, Mike helped the girls with the craft (hey, I'm not good at party games...so I did the only thing I know - they scrapped!). I prepainted and stamped flourishes on canvas panels which hung from ribbon, Mike helped them embellish with flowers and buttons and then I came up and added the pictures - the mothers who stayed were thrilled so I guess it went OK. Then we had a little tea (well, apple juice) party with the good china with finger sandwiches and cake - it was a blast and SOOO cute! I was kinda proud that I pulled it all off - I usually suck at these things.
Probably the most excitement happening in our house lately though is the arrival of Chloe's adorable 3 kittens - we are all completely smitten.
HOW CUTE ARE THEY????!!! They are still a bit googly eyed in these pictures. I have to take some updates shots - now they have big eyes and ears and all have very distinct personalities. We have decided to keep one and are all arguing over a name and I have perfect homes lined up for the other 2 - although I will be so sad to part with them.
SO, that has been the highlights going on around here over the last few months...I'll try to do better with the updates : ))
I've been doing a little Winter cleaning while I have some time off. I have another class kit that I have retired and getting rid of my final stock on...this is THE COLORS OF YOU Paint chip Board Book.
This was a class I taught quite a with Distress Inks and Alcohol inks. It's a 5x12" tiered chipboard book with monochromatic pages. Each page features a coordinating toned paint chip to match the Bazzill backgrounds plus a pre-inked Distress Inked tag. The title on the cover will come pre-inked with alcohol inks (the circles) and pre-stamped with the title, ready for you to assemble! The kit will include full step-by-step instructions, including the ink techniques.
The idea of the class and inside pages was to do the book about someone you love and use the color theme of each page to remind you of "personality traits" to go with that color..kinda fun : ) I did one for each kid and they are both completely different.
You can see examples of some of the inside pages below...
This one was a big seller and one of my favorites...LOTS of fun!!
The full kit (pre-inked and stamped) is $30 plus $5 shipping. I can get it to you in time for Christmas should you want it for a gift!
e-mail me at jenstarr@optonline if interested : )
What a great response to this kit! Thanks to all who ordered! I am up to my elbows in Distress Inks doing all of the custom orders and plan on getting them out tomorrow morning before the snow comes!
These are going VERY quickly, but I have 2 cases of these 8x12 canvases so I won't run out for a while. Please don't hesitate to e-mail me if you have any questions about the kit or putting it together when you get it (although you will be getting instructions for those who opted to put it together yourselves).
I'm having a blast making these...Mike thinks I should do kits more often. It's hard sometimes to do kits for all of my classes because of all of the techniques, inks, paints, stamping, etc involved, but I'll see what I can come up with as a special kit every once in a while for those that have been e-mailing me to ask : )
In the meantime, I hope you are all having a wonderful time enjoying the season!!
I've been really feeling the Christmas spirit this year...more than usual for some reason, but I guess that's a good thing, right? : ))
I usually take off from teaching mid December through most of January to come up with new projects for next year, but I just wasn't in the mood to create anything other than a Christmas project. SO...
for a limited time only (while supplies last) I will be selling this Christmas project kit that would be perfect for a Christmas gift or just to have for yourself. I'm calling it "CHRISTMAS MEMORIES" Canvas Keepsake. (scroll down to see details...)
This is a 8x12" double canvas hinged book (natural canvas). The top image is the front cover and the 2nd picture is one side of the inside (both sides are identical on the inside). My thought is to add a few pictures from each year on each page, with journaling on the back of the pages, but you could easily do a full book for just one year. Eight pages included measure 4.5"x8' and dangle/flip up from the top of the book with ribbon and screw eyes...which makes it very easy to add more pages as the years go on!
All images on the cover are hand stamped and inked (all Ranger products of course!) Some are embossed with Distress Embossing powder, some I have added Stickles for a little holiday bling and others have liquid pearl accents.
So here's the deal - I am offering this with options. Either way, all of the images will be as seen here (which I will pre-stamp, emboss and ink as part of the kit), the canvas will be pre-inked and painted as well in the base kit. However, i will offer the base of the book with your choice of Red, Green or vintage brown. The other option for the base kit will be the "title" on the front...mine says, "Starr Family Christmas Memories". You can choose to have me customize it with your family name or just leave it as "Christmas Memories" in a larger font. You'll need to let me know that when placing your order as well as color choice for the canvas. The base kit is $35 and will come pre-cut, inked, stamped, etc but you will put it together. For $45 I will put it all together for you so it is ready to give as a gift or to add pictures to!
All orders must be paid in advance through Paypal (my account is jenstarr@optonline.net). Shipping will be an additional $5, however if you order multiples, I will only charge the shipping once. (Also, kit discounts will be available for multiples of 3 or more as well).
E-mail me at jenstarr@optonline.net to order and I will be shipping these out all week...they are ready to go so you will be able to get them for Christmas!!
Hope you're all enjoying the Holiday season!! I have the Christmas music blasting right now...gotta love XM radio : ))
That's how I started a little conversation with my 5 year old son, Ryan. I was trying to get some more gift ideas out of him, so I asked him what he was going to ask Santa for for Christmas...
Well, he sat down on the couch next to me, turned the TV OFF and was ready for a very serious conversation. I couldn't even imagine what he was about to say...actually I was waiting for him to say the Mega Spinosaurous Elipticous that he keeps talking about. I wasn't prepared for his answers, which were well thought out apparently.
Ryan: "Mom, I want my own house. I want my own darn TV in my room...which means I need a DVD player to go with it - Oh, and TIVO too! After we get the TV moved in there, then we should bring up the couch from the playroom and you can knock down the wall and make the whole downstairs your scraproom. I'm going to be a builder when I grow you know, so I can figure out how to do that" (I don't think he had even taken a breath yet at this point) He continued..."I'd REALLY like my own wife"
Me: "What would you do with a wife at your age?"
Ryan: "Duh Mom, I would marry her then KISS HER! Then I would have a daughter of my own and my own family to move in to my house. We can all watch TV in my room - but I need a MUCH bigger bed (he has a double bed now). I'm going to tell Santa ALL of this in my list, but maybe we should go to the mall to tell him in person, because this is all really important stuff, I need to make sure he get a TV with a remote so I can watch in bed" (This went on for another 45 minutes!)
Damn, and I was just thinking of getting him a pirate ship from the Disney Store ...what was I thinking? LOL : )
I don't know what it is about traveling...just about every time I come back from Holland I get sick. This time I actually remembered my coat and vitamins, but I came home to both kids having bad colds and now a week later all I want to do is crawl up under a blanket on the couch. Oh well. Next time I think I will try some of that Airborn stuff to see if that helps.
Holland was a blast as usual! I got to see so many of the friends I have made there at Scrap-A-Ganza, spent time at Lida's house playing and sight seeing, taught 2 fun classes at Pien's Atelier in Rotterdam and took LOTS of great pictres (of course) to remember it all!
My pals Lida and Hetty took me on a canal boat tour through Amsterdam Friday morning. This is absolutely one of my favorite things to do there! Last time we went at night, which was gorgeous, but it was nice to see it all during the day and get some great pictures from the boat!
We did a little shopping in Amsterdam after the tour, then off for a fabulous lunch before driving down to Scrap-a-Ganza.
I think one of my favorite parts of this trip though was that I was there to see Loeske get her driver's license!! It's much harder (and SO much more expensive) to get it in Holland compared to the states...it takes a crazy amount of hours of lessons and thousands of dollars. She has been working her butt off to get it and was SO excited to drive me and her Dad, Syb, all over to see some castles that day. It was pretty funny to see her driving, but it made me so happy to be there with her for that. Their family has kind of become a second family for me and I feel like I have know them forever...just wonderful, fun and warm people. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Lida and Loeske will be able to come to NJ this month to stay with us and do some Christmas shopping!!
I SO want to live in this castle!!
How cool is Rotterdam?!? This was taken on the drive in to Pien's Atelier. Rotterdam is such a unique city full of architectural eye candy! Thos diagonal cubes are all houses...funky, huh?
I couldn't resist a shot with Mary - my favorite student at Scrap-a-Ganza! Mary is Scottish, but lives in England and flies over for every SAG...she's just so much fun! Through the years I've been teaching, there are a few students who really stand out in my memory for one reason or another...Mary is one of them. At my very first SAG, I got in to the hotel early and there was the chaos of everyone setting up, checking in, etc. I was nervous and not sure what I was supposed to be doing at that point and I knew no-one. I sat on a couch in the lobby and Mary sat across from me and we sat there having a very lovely chat for what seemed hours - what a sweetheart and SO funny! She didn't know I was a teacher and I didn't realize she would be one of my students but she made me feel welcomed and at ease on my first trip alone in a foreign country. I just love her for that! Now every time I have been back it always seems that Mary is the first person I run in to in the lobby...I always know it will be a fun weekend when I see her. She just makes me smile : )
Looking forward to my next trip to Holland in June!!!
I've been busy prepping and packing for the last few days getting ready to leave for Amsterdam Monday. I'm SO excited to see all my friends and especially spend some fun time with my best Dutch pals Lida and Loeske!! Not to mention practice my Dutch curses with Lida's awesome husband Syb - he doesn't speak much English (well, not that he admits to anyway, LOL) and I don't speak much Dutch, but we seem to have a great time teaching each other all of the bad words...hee hee : )) Looking forward to seeing some more windmills this time...LOVE those windmills!
That's Syb in the picture above and then Lida, Loeske and me on a canal cruise we took one night in Amsterdam. It's so beautiful there with all of the bridges lit up! A bit chilly though...this time I am actually going to remember my winter coat, LOL! (Lida will be so proud : )
I'll be teaching 4 layouts from the Ranger Extravaganza Workshop at Pien's Atelier next Thursday (you can see the details of which layouts on Regina's website www.piensatelier.nl and sign up on the site as well)
For those of you attending Scrap-A-Ganza, I thought I would share a little sneak peek...
99 Days til Christmas and the Rusty Pickle Pirate Princess classes
I heard you guys have been requesting Stickles....well, here they come!!
The Rusty Pickle class is actually one that one of the Rusty Pickle designers came up with (Lance won't be able to make it this time to teach it himself), so I added some Dabbers, the NEW Distress Crackle paint and lots of Stickles to add a little Ranger style : )
Looking forward to seeing you all next weekend!!
Lance Anderson is the owner of Rusty Pickle, one of my favorite people to teach with and just about the nicest, most down to earth guy in the world!
(This is one of my favorite shots of us from when we were both teaching in Javea, Spain at 1 World Scrap a few months ago)
I'm so excited that he will be coming to stay with me for 10 days after CHA in February to do a little teaching at stores in NJ, NY and PA. Don't miss out on this when you see his classes announced - you will have an absolute blast with Lance and he does some really fabulous classes!!
So far you should look for him at Paper-Potamus in Old Bridge, NJ, The Crop Room in Hatfield, PA, Creative Gatherings in Goshen, NY and Riverside Scrapbook Co. in Matamoras, PA...more to come on Lance's visit soon!
