Sunday Sale Update

I decided that this year I would be little more relaxed about posting on my blog.  After three years of not missing a single day, I thought it would be best to take it a bit slower - at least on the weekends.  So I had planned to take Sunday "off."  I am working on my page for the second week of Project 366 and may post it later today or tomorrow.

The main reason I am posting now is to let you know that there have been issues with the Creative Memories sites today and many people have not been able to place their orders.  Earlier today, Creative Memories posted on Facebook that they have IT personnel working on solving the problems and that they will extend the sale to allow those of you who haven't been able to get an order to go through to take advantage of this great 25% off sale.

UPDATE - Here is the information that was just posted on Facebook:

The Creative Memories 25% off Celebration Sale has been extended on your Consultant's Personal Websites, creativememories.com and the Digital Center until 8:00 p.m. CST Monday Jan. 16. We apologize for any inconveniences you have experienced on our websites.

If you were trying to order and couldn't get through, please click HERE tomorrow to go to my Creative Memories personal website where you can place an order and have it shipped directly to your address.  All of the cartridges are located on THIS PAGE of my personal website.

I hope you are having a nice weekend and that you enjoy the holiday Monday (if it is a holiday for you).

The image at the top of this post is a bit of ironwork from a door that we saw in Jaén, Spain.  I am planning to turn it into a paper cutting file - remember, inspiration is everywhere!

Speaking of inspiration - I hope some more of you will take up the challenge to make something using the colors and shapes of my pin as inspiration.  Click the image above or HERE to go to the post with the details and to link up your project.  You don't need a blog to join in and there will be a small prize chosen by random draw for one of the people who try the challenge.


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A Surprise and a Creative Charms Challenge

One of the nicest things about having a blog is the connections you make with people from all over the country and around the world.  Some of the people who read my blog and leave comments have become "virtual" friends and I have even had the chance to meet a few of them in person.  The internet certainly has made the world smaller!

 I had a lovely surprise in the mail last week.  A bright pink padded envelope arrived with a gift from one of my blog friends, Marilyn Mae (she calls herself my "biggest fan" and keeps trying to pre-order the book or DVD that I haven't made!).  Over the years, I have "enabled" her into several purchases and she got inspired to make a mini album using the Your Story Photo and lots of Creative Charms embellishments.  I was honored that she sent it to me and asked her for permission to post some photos to share since she doesn't have a blog.

This is the pretty card that came with the album - I love the way she layered all of the papers.  She told me this was an older collection and it is a combination of colors that I really like! I hope she will chime in with a comment and the name of the paper collection since I know others will be asking...

 

This is the cover of the album.  The large butterfly had fallen off at the post office but she sent it along and later told me she knew I would be able to put it all back together.

These are some but not all of the inside pages - the book is ready for me to fill with photos and memorabilia.  Can you spot some of the Creative Charms items?  This type of album makes a great gift for anyone who appreciates hand made treasures. 

Thanks again to Marilyn Mae for such a lovely gift and for providing inspiration to me and everyone who reads my blog.  I am definitely itching to get out some of my coordinating papers and put together a mini album. 

There was one other surprise in the album.  She tucked this ATC into a pocket and it made me laugh (it says "What do you think I do all day?  Sit around the house?").

I thought it would be fun to see other projects that some of you might have made using Creative Charms.  I am putting the "inlinkz" tool on this post and challenging you to link up a photo of anything you have made that includes at least one item from Creative Charms.  I'll use random.org to choose a winner from all of the linked projects.

The linky will be open until October 24 at 11:59 and I'll post the winner on the 25th.  One lucky person will receive this complete set of Vintage Jewels - perfect for your holiday cards and special projects.

If, by some chance, you haven't tried Creative Charms embellishments yet, you can still play along for the giveaway.  Just leave a comment with your guess for the total number of Creative Charms items Marilyn Mae used in her album.  I will count them up and choose a second winner with the closest guess (any tie will be broken by random.org).  This second winner will receive an assortment of Creative Charms items from my stash to help them get started embellishing!


Edited to add the following helpful information!

If you don't have a blog - you can still play along.  Just put my blog address (or any other url) in the blank and fill in your name and email.  Then you can click to go to the next page.

When you get to the second page, you will see options to add the direct image URL (from a photo storage site like Flickr or Photobucket) or to upload directly from your computer.

The new Design Team for Creative Charms will be posted today - I will come back and add the list once it is "officially" released.  I am looking forward to working with a great group of designers. 



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Vintage Wallpaper as Inspiration...

Things have been a bit off schedule here on the blog due to my bout with the nasty spring cold.  I have had a few too many balls in the air and before I let too much time pass I wanted to get the next challenge up for those of you who are enjoying trying something different each week.  I will post my playing card project soon and I thank the few of you who took on the last challenge.

While we were in New Jersey for The Graduation we were lucky to be able to visit with old friends who still live in the area.  Our younger son was born in New Jersey but we moved away when he was less than a year old so this is a friendship that goes back quite a while.  If you are lucky, there are some people in life that are the kind of friends you can see after gaps of many years and you all just pick up right where you left off - these are that sort of friends for us.

For years we have visited them in the same house they lived in when we lived in the next town but they recently moved into a family home and sold the big house with an eye to retiring to their vacation home before too long.  The house is still decorated with some of the same items that have been there for years and has a very cozy time capsule feel!  I was particularly taken with some of the wallpapers.

The kitchen paper is definitely "of an era" - in both color and style.  I actually took a fair number of photos and I am working on making these into discrete digital elements for another project.  If you are of a "certain age" or have older family members who have kept their decorating constant some of these may look familiar.

This paper actually reminds me of some scrapbook paper that I used for a project a couple of years ago...

Just look at the envelope which was made with a double-sided American Crafts paper.  Of course the colors are different but it certainly has the same "feel."  (If you want to see the post about this card, you'll find it HERE).

I wonder if you have any similar crafting papers?

I really liked the dining room with the shimmery gold silk paper.  It was soft and welcoming but still very special and elegant.

If you look at the colors closely, you can see that they are a teal, green, tan and brown combination that is popular today.

The Challenge this week is to use any or all of these wallpapers to inspire your project.  It could be the shapes on the paper, the style, the color or even the kitchen implements that transfer over into your new project.

Just link your project and see how creative you can be - I know there is a little "retro" lurking in all of us!  Please use the linky - I will move the long explanation of how it works to a tab up top in a day or so but for now if you need directions please visit the last challenge post HERE.


One more note - A new and helpful Question and Answer document for the Gypsy is available from the experts at ProvoCraft - you can download it HERE.

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A Wonderful Surprise to Share!

I received a package on yesterday - a totally unexpected Mother's Day gift from Provo Craft! I had been waiting for the Buccaneer cartridge that was one of the Cricut Cruise gifts to arrive but when I saw the large rectangular box, I wondered why they would put a cartridge in such a big box.

I opened the box and found this beautiful bouquet made by the Provo Craft Design Team.   The flowers were nestled in pink tissue paper and bubble wrap and they were a bright and beautiful sight on a rainy day!

Each of the flowers had a tag with a Mother's Day message and a code for a 3 month subscription to the Cricut Circle.  There was a card  with a note which encouraged me to give 11 of the flowers to members of my community to invite them to become a part of the Cricut community.

I gave away the first flower Wednesday night (and I just realized I forgot to sign the tag!).  My neighbor was very happy to have a chance to try the Circle.  I have "enabled" her into many Cricut purchases so it was fun to have something nice to give her that I know she will enjoy.

The Cricut Circle is a community of crafters who enjoy creating with the Cricut and other tools offered by Provo Craft.  There are many benefits to membership including a message board, blog and a magazine that are available to members only.  There are challenges and giveaways run through the Circle blog.  Circle member also receive discounts and double reward points on purchases at Cricut.com.  There are special events held around the country and some other perks, for example, Circle members who purchased the Cricut Imagine at launch received a free "Lori's Garden" Imagine cartridge.  The normal quarterly cost is $79.99 and this includes an exclusive cartridge that is sent to the members.  I purchased a yearly membership when the Circle started last year. 

I believe the intent of this gift was for me to share these flowers with local people and I have a list of people in mind.  However, since I don't know 11 people in my immediate area who own Cricuts, my plan is to share some of these flowers with my virtual friends as well.  I don't want to make this into a competition or to "recruit" followers by offering the memberships up as a prize.  I do need to know whether you are interested in trying the Circle since I wouldn't want to give this chance to someone who won't use it.  If you are a current member of the Circle, you are not eligible for this subscription.  

So leave a comment and tell me where you live and why you'd like to try the Circle.  I will choose some people and will contact you privately so be sure to give me an email address or some other way to get in touch.  If you don't want to leave personal information in a comment, just send me an email at capadiadesigns@gmail.com. 

What a lovely thing for Provo Craft to do - it certainly made my day!  I will really enjoy surprising some people with this gift.  If you look around the crafting blogs and message boards you will find that there are several other people who received flowers and may be giving some away.  I've seen at least three others...

By the way - I did figure out how the flowers were made and I will share directions as soon as possible if you'd like to try to make these. 

Directions on linking your project for the  "Take Out Box " inspiration challenge

Several people asked about using the linky tool to add a project and participate in the challenge I posted yesterday.  I took some screen shots to show you how it works.

First, scroll to the bottom of the blog post HERE and click on the blue froggie link box.

These boxes will pop up.  If you have a blog where you have posted the project, you can just fill in the blanks and click "next step."  If you know the URL of the photo you want to post you can add that instead of a blog address.  If you just need to fill in something to get to the next screen you can use my blog address in this blank and then go to the tab on the next page that allows you to upload a photo from your computer.

This will take you to the blog post you linked and ask you to select the image to upload.

If you don't have a blog but have posted the image online - in a photo site, on a message board, or somewhere else you can provide the direct URL to upload.   You can find out the URL by right clicking and selecting "copy image location" from the list - then paste it in the blank.

If you don't have the image of your project anywhere online, you can click the third tab and upload the image directly from your computer.

A few people have already posted their projects - congrats on being so speedy!  I'd better get to working out mine too...

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

link to discussion Day #3 - Time to Craft
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