embellie kit winner.

Thank you for all the support of my new little shop, I am SOOOO excited to have the support of some of my favorite crafty people! I wanted to come on & announce the winner of my Holly Days embellie kit, the luckiest lady I've ever known, miss Ellie ;] Perfect timing since she's doing a whole week of giveaways for her birthday! Congrats Ellie! xoxo

go here to see the rafflecopter giveaway ;]

happy birthday ellie.

One of my favorite crafty people on this entire planet is my friend Ellie, and this week she is throwin herself the biggest, best Birthday Extravaganza Celebration I've ever been lucky enough to be a part of ;] All week long there are sponsors getting together to help throw her a wonderful birthday bash here on the web, and we want you to be a part of it! 

For my post, I am showing off some products in my online shop, which had it's grand opening yesterday! In case you missed it, make sure to go here to visit Forever Young & Crafty! Because I know giving & receiving packages are a HUGE part of birthdays, and with the upcoming holidays, I decided to use my Holly Days embellie kit to show you how to make the most of the gifts you give. Why not show the world just how crafty you are with cute embellishments on your wrapping?

Brown paper packaging, tied up with string can definitely bring some crafty cute into your Christmas gifts! I stitched these Jillibean soup punches to make a garland that I wrapped around the entire box, added some of the red twine to the Merry cardstock tag and it's all set for a gift to be put in it & sent on it's way!

I am so excited to be sharing my online shop with you, and bring unique new items to you via my shop! The products used in today's post are also available as one of my kits in the shop, perfect for those holiday gifts you've got coming up! One of you will WIN a $20 Forever Young & Crafty shop credit, find out more details on Ellie's blog here. Happy Birthday Ellie!!!! xoxo

[[ If you're here for my Trendy Tuesday class post, go here. Or if you're here to enter the shop grand opening giveaway, go here! ]]

Grand Opening!

Today's the big day!

Forever Young & Crafty will officially be open for business as of today at 10AM EST My little shop will be home of my own designs, handmade goods & favorite products. I will sell my class kits as well as fun project kits that will get featured here on my blog. I've been sneaking products and handmade goods over the past few days, and cannot wait for you all to see what's to come! Here's my favorite item in the shop, my Holly Days embellie kit! 

The first batch of orders will ship on Wednesday, the 14th, and every Friday and Monday after that! Thank you so much for all the support of my little shop, it really means a lot to me!

You can also come LIKE the shop on facebook, and see special coupon codes & events that I'll only be sharing over there, plus sneaks of upcoming things to the store! Make sure to save the shop in your favorites at http://foreveryoungandcrafty.bigcartel.com//. Any questions about a product, or shipping information? Please feel free to e-mail me at sbookinshay29@aol.com ;]

&& of course with something as exciting as a Grand Opening, there's also a GIVEAWAY! Follow, tweet, like on facebook-- and of these options will earn you chances at winning one of my Holly Days embellie kits! Winner will be announced on the Forever Young & Crafty facebook page on Friday! Good luck ladies xoxo



a Rafflecopter giveaway

it's beginning

to look a lot like Christmas.

I don't know if it's all the talk about December Daily, and planning for exciting happenings leading up to the holiday. Or that I volunteered to organize 108 SC users for an international SeCret Santa gift exchange. The ongoing amount of preorders coming in for holiday goodness. Or the amount of happy mail I'm getting, which means it must be time to share my shop with you, so some of it can fly out of here ;]

Earlier this year, I learned the devastating news that my LSS would be closing, after being in business for 15 years. I was heartbroken, I feel like I grew up going to that store-- working there, designing there, meeting scrappy friends and hanging out for endless hours. I didn't want to NOT have access to all the amazing brands out there, and decided no matter what, I was gonna stay in the know in the industry. Thankfully, Brenda opened the Paper Cottage, and so I still have a store to go to when I run out of a color of cardstock, attend crops and see what's new. PLUS, I get to teach again, which I absolutely love. But it's a new store, so it's not possible for her to carry everything I'd like her to, especially the smaller shops.


So, why not open my OWN online shop?

Not to compete with her, I would never do that. I have so many amazing friends around the planet from getting to travel to events, and I LOVE finding the cute etsy shops & small goods, and love sharing them with my friends. Plus, I am back in school for graphic design, because this is where I want to BE in the world, the scrapbooking industry. Some of my gal pals have been lucky enough to hear the whispers and preorder a few of the goods I will be carrying in my shop, but I'd like you ALL to get to hear about it today :]

Forever Young & Crafty will be an online shop of my designs, handmade goods & favorite products. I will sell my class kits as well as fun project kits that will get featured here on the blog. To kick off my grand opening, I will be sharing the new products with you over the next few days, so you can see what I'll be carrying, and the shop will open for business on the 12th! You can also come LIKE the shop on facebook, and see special coupon codes & events that I'll only be sharing over there, plus sneaks leading up to the grand opening, of products in the shop! Make sure to save the shop in your favorites at http://foreveryoungandcrafty.bigcartel.com//.

november classes.

My classes at The Paper Cottage for November are some of my favorite pages EVER. I LOVE the companies I used to design them and that all of them are uniquely ME, but in a class mindset. What I love most about teaching is that my students leave learning something NEW. For me it's not just about showing up to class, copying the layout & leaving. It's more about how I can show them to use what we did on future pages, and maybe fall in love with something new :]

Here are sneaks of all of this month's classes, which can all be seen at the store! If you would like to sign up, please call at 937-912-5324, all classes are just $15. Can't make it? I can also get you a kit-- even for you out of towners! Just e-mail me at sbookinshay29@aol.com

Trendy Tuesday: Metallic Mania

November 9th, 6-8pm

Using Lily Bee designs Autumn Spice papers, we will be using metallic bits & pieces to spice up this layout. Pretty gold sparkles & cut out leaves will make this project a fall favorite!

Trendy Tuesday: & Pumpkin Pie Charts

November 13th, 6-8pm

Pie charts are a great way to put a spin on circles on your layouts. This layout uses the October Afternoon Midway line, and is a colorful layout with lots of space for pictures & plenty of room to add pieces of pie for embellishment!

Trendy Tuesday: Turkey Talk 

November 20th, 6-8pm

Love the speech bubble trend? This layout is a great way to show off what you're thankful for this Thanksgiving! We will be making our own speech bubbles out of vellum, mixed with great papers from American Crafts & a cute Jillibean Soup turkey :]

Trendy Tuesday: Thankful Triangles

November 27th, 6-8pm

Learn how to use triangle rules for design to add to your own projects, and use plenty of triangles in a fun new way! We will stamp, cut, and layer triangles in this fun, trendy class! 

Don't forget to join me here on my blog every Tuesday after every class to get even MORE from your class experience!

shhhh, it's a secret!

I know some of you know that I have been slowly but surely getting ready to open my own online shop. I will carry my own items, handmade items, and some of my favorite vendors [mostly smaller companies!] that the Paper Cottage doesn't sell. [so no conflict!] I am thrilled. I love picking out products, and mixing them all together, so the shop will also feature mini kits, based on posts of projects I do here--- LOTS of exciting things to come! To get you as excited as I am, I want to share here what I showed on instagram, a little sneak peek of one of the very special lines I'll be carrying ;]

You can see the items at the shop--- they'll be the only items you can view right now, while I finish getting ready for the grand opening keep an eye on the blog for even more sneaks & specials!

If you're interested in the preorder of these products, send me an e-mail at sbookinshay29@aol.com They'll be making their way from Germany very soon, & let me tell you, you will LOVE them!

October #SMBiGbloghop

Today I'm back on the hop with the Social [Media] Butterflies :]

This month we are doing a Carve It Up theme--- perfect for Halloweentime, and SO fitting with the upcoming Studio Calico class! The girls will be showing how they cut up the pieces of their layouts & projects, using their Silhouettes, Cricuts, fussy-cutting, punching, etc! I know I LOVE the projects, and can't read the comments to see how you all enjoy them as well! Make sure to show some love on any of the girls' blogs or link up with a Carve It Up themed layout or project to win a $10 Silhouette Studios gift card :] Make sure you comment or post your own project to our website by Sunday, November 4th to get your chances in!


For my own project, I used my Silhouette Cameo to make a negative on my base page, and then cut the cursive October title as well. Here it is:

Next up is Suz, one of my favorite scrappy ladies on the planet, head there & see her amazing designs! If you get lost along the way, go back to our Social [Media] Butterflies home. Thanks for stopping by to check out my layout, and I hope you have a blast hopping along with us every month! 

Home. 
Shay  <<< you are here

Suz http://livealifeextraordinary.blogspot.com/

Amanda http://www.somethingsorta.blogspot.com/

Trisha http://www.trisha-grace.blogspot.com/

Corinne http://corinnesmilovici.blogspot.com/

Angel http://kindlelover.blogspot.com/

Jenny http://mycreativelife29.blogspot.com/

Monica http://monicalifeasme.blogspot.com/

Patricia http://harmonyhealthandfaith.blogspot.com/

If you're here for the Stampin Up Spooktacular Sale I'm participating in, go here. 15% off ANY single stamp or set, TODAY only!

Stamp Spooktacular

I LOVE fun promotions. It makes my Stampin Up business exciting, constantly allowing me to do more things for my customers and the rewards for hostess and myself make it even more worth sharing my love for paper-crafting. Today is an especially spooktacular for customers.

Almost EVERY single stamp, including the new single stamps [see pictures below!!] are 15% off today, October 29th! [12AM (MT)-11:50PM(MT) No minimum purchase, so it's a great way to grab up those single stamps & sets so you can get going on your Christmas cards & gifts, pick up that birthday set you've been eyeing, cross off a few sets from your wish list. Head on over and get some of those items into your cart at http://sbookinshay29.stampinup.net

Now, for the fun part. :]

For my customers, I am making it even better to shop today during this sale. Stampin Up is rewarding it's demonstrators for the sale, so naturally I want to share the love with you! Every tenth stamp bought, I will give one of the buyers a FREE single stamp of their choice! Order ten stamps, get a $25 dollar Stampin Up gift certificate to use on your next purchase.

Have any questions? Comment below, or feel free to e-mail me at sbookinshay29@aol.com Happy shopping ladies, I hope you enjoy this spooktacular stamp event!

If you came for the Social [Media] Butterflies blog hop, that post is here.

beware of Frankenstorm.

&& be safe.
It has been just a scrappy life here in Ohio this weekend.

I finished up my November classes for the Paper Cottage. Worked out shop details [don't worry, grand opening details coming SOON]. Did some handmade items for upcoming Stampin Up Holiday shows. Worked in a few challenges. Set up the SeCret Santa for Studio Calico--- make sure you go sign up on the message boards by the first! Got all set for the blog hop tommorrow. Busy, busy, my favorite way to be!

We also managed to squeeze in some Halloween fun this weekend, between crazy rain and the threat of Frankenstorm. Our yard is tree free, but our across the street neighbors were more than willing to let Caleb jump in their leaves in exchange for some free child labor :] He helped haul the leaves to the curb, and then got to play. Today we stopped to pick up a pumpkin at a local church, and then came home & carved it. I'd show you pictures of that too, but my camera card ate them, so I'll have to use a photo recovery program. UGH I hate when stuff like that happens :[ At least we got lotttts of others this week! I LOVE fall activities, but the storm has made it SOOOO cold. It will be interesting to see how trick or treat goes this year!

Fight Like a Girl

&& Win.

Tonight I will be participating in an event at the Beavercreek Golf Club. It is a quarter auction, that benefits The  Breast Cancer Task Force of the Greater Miami Valley. October is ALL about PINK. I think it is so important for women to support & get involved with groups by, for and about women :] There are over 50 items to bid on, as well as a Chinese raffle, 50/50 and a group of vendors on hand to order from. PLUS the food is incredible! 

I have been getting verrrrry crafty, preparing for this event, as all my instagram followers know ;] Here's a sneak of some of the great items I will be selling for my Stampin Up business:



For more information, directions and to RSVP, check out our event page here. Hope to see some of you there!

psssssst! If you can't make it, there is a BIG Stampin Up Sale on Monday, October 29th! Almost every stamp is on sale, including the NEW single stamps -- 15% off -- from 12AM (MT)- 11:50PM (MT) I'll remind you, but head over to my website to order http://sbookinshay29.stampinup.net NO minimum purchase required, a terrific way to grab up a few single stamps you've had on your wish list :] Check  back Monday for more details, and a special giveaway!