Random Thoughts & Tidbits

Cleaning House

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 : )

Wow!

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!!

*LIMITED EDITION* Christmas Kit Sale!

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 : ))

"Let's talk about Christmas"

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 : )

Getting back in the swing of things...

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!!!

Getting ready for Holland and a Scrap-a-Ganza sneak peek!

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!!

The "Pickle Man" is coming to NJ!!

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!

More Samples and Fun stuff

I wanted to make sure I got the rest of the Ranger Extravaganza samples up here as promised...

 

Loads of techniques with all of these.  Last week's first class at the Crop Room in Hatfield, PA went great (although I discovered I need to add another hour to the class time, LOL)  So it is now a 7 hour class with all 10 of the layouts I've posted over the past few weeks. 

It is sold out twice for the end of January already at Paper-Potamus in Old Bridge, NJ...not sure yet if we will be adding a 3rd class there or not because we have another big fun day planned there with Robin Beam from Ranger, Lance from Rusty Pickle and myself (they are calling it the "Triple Threat" event! hee hee - that cracks me up!) all 3 of us will be teaching in one day and it should be just SO much fun!!

I have to talk about that "You Make me Happy" layout above...you gotta check out the details in this one!  It looks like a simple layout, but it is a combination of the most AWESOME techniques - Tim's Wrinkle Free Distress Technique with my best Buddy Robin Beam's way cool Bandanna technique combined!  You can get the most stunning results from this!  Check out Robin's Blog to see the gorgeous goodies she has been brewing up with this technique! 

TAG, I'm it!

My very best buddy and personal Yoda, Robin Beam, just tagged me so I guess I should be a sport and play along, LOL! 

Here's the rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself (on your blog, we all want to know them).

3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs

4. Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here are 7 random/weird/silly things about me...

1.  I am a fanatic (and a bit overly obsessed) about the expiration on all dairy products, especially milk!

2.  I am petrified of spiders and tunnels

3.  I have a freckle in my right eye.

4.  I have always wanted to be a Rockette for as long as I can remember and I get teary eyed every time I see them perform.  Unfortunately, my ass got wider than my legs grew long, so needless to say, I wouldn't meet the leg requirements!

5.  When I was a Senior in High School I was torn between art school and going to a college in Rhode Island for Marine Biology (I wanted to be a dolphin trianer)...I chose art.

6.  I have a big crush on John Travolta and Prince William (oh, did I also mention I wanted to be the Queen of England too - and a rockette on the side! LOL)

7.  One of my secret goals in life it to lose enough weight to get my belly button pierced (and be able to pull it off!)

OK that was fun!  Now my following pals are tagged... (don't kick my butt - it's all in good fun : ))

Lance Anderson

Lauren Ferguson-Nwachukwu

Kriss Cramer

Emily Adams

Vicki Boutin

Gina Pastore

Alcohol Ink Fun!

As promised, here is another sample from the Ranger Extravaganza class...this is one of the 2 layouts where we will be playing with alcohol inks (there's at least 4 different AI techniques on this layout)

So besides basic Alcohol Ink techniques, for those who are brand new to them, I'll also teach you the proper way to use the Metallic Mixatives, a little about color theory and choosing colors to match your layouts.  Plus we'll use the inks on various pruducts such as glossy paper, white chipboard and scrapbook film - all fun to play with!

We'll also mix in some Sepia Accents, dabbers and Distress Ink techniques in addition, so there is lots to learn in this layout!

More soon!