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!

freckled fawn challenge.

As many of you know, I am a HUGE fan of Freckled Fawn. I LOVE washi tape, and use it frequently on class projects, mini albums & layouts. I have given away some of their adorable tapes here on the blog, and a gc or two for our SMB blog hops :] They recently started a monthly sketch challenge over on their blog, and I was totally inspired by this months, and decided I just HAD to participate!

Here's what I came up with:

[ I used supplies from the Studio Calico Roller Rink kit & some Amy Tangerine and Jillibean Soup alphas ]

Check out the original projects and who else link up to this challenge here. My Mom got married quite unexpectedly this weekend, so I totally missed linking up FOR that challenge, congrats to the winners, cannot wait to see what this next challenge will be :]

Book-a-thon TODAY ONLY.

Stampin Up has an AMAZING promotion going on for just 24 hours, and I could not be MORE excited about it! For the next 24 hours, anyone who books a party will earn a FREE Color Collection of the new firm-foam Classic Stampin Pads--- totally worth hosting a class or workshop JUST to get those, and that's not including your hostess benefits?! Who wouldn't want to jump on in and help me with this book-a-thon?! To participate, comment below, message me, or e-mail me at sbookinshay29@aol.com  with a date you have available for a party between now & December 10th and I will let you know all the details :]

Don't worry, I will let my international ladies participate, as well as my out of town crafty loves-- you can just choose to do a book party & keep it "open" for a few weeks & collect orders! I will send you a set amount of catalogs and order forms, and we can talk over the phone or via email for more information!

This special for the free ink pads is TODAY ONLY, October 20th, and there is no limit to the amount of parties I can hold.  I would LOVE your help with my business! My goal for the book-a-thon, is to book at least FIVE parties, so to those ladies who volunteer first, I'm offering an EXTRA stamp set, of your choice, FREE in addition to this promotion for helping me out!

PINK heals.

This past Saturday I was lucky enough to participate in a silent auction vendor event for the Guardians of the Ribbon, a non-profit organization that offers support to local families battling cancer. It was wonderful-- nice and sunny even though it was supposed to rain, a gorgeous spread of yummies to eat, delicious pink wine && hot apple cider :] Did I mention awesome ladies showing off their businesses & a pink fire truck?! The event was only a few hours long, and I had a blast sharing my Stampin Up products and handmade items, here's a few pictures from the day:

And THIS >>>>>
gorgeous girl is Amanda Meade, she is amazing! She was the Stella & Dot rep I was lucky enough to get sat right next to, and we clicked immediately! I am so excited to have her as a fellow vendor for upcoming events and get to know her even better! If you haven't checked out Stella & Dot before, make sure you go visit her facebook page, and see the new holiday items! Their products are to die for, so trendy & cute-- totally versatile! PLUS they have all kinds of new items, scarves, rings, bracelets that make perfect gifts! Make sure you let her know I sent you in case you find something you can't live without :]

I feel so lucky to be involved in great community events like this one! If you would like to come see me at up coming events, or check out my holiday classes, go to my Stampin Up calendar here:
http://sbookinshay29.stampinup.net/  My monthly Girls Night In crops are listed there, as well as the Holiday Ornament class paper-crafters have fallen in love with--

MY current special on top of the current Stampin Up promotions is if you book a workshop, class, or party with me before October 31st, you will get to pick out a FREE stamp set of your choice [up to a $25 value!] just for putting your date on my calendar-- this applies to online/book parties as well! This is in addition to the incredible hostess benefits Stampin Up offers you :] If you would like to do this, shoot me an email at sbookinshay29@aol.com

mind blowing.

You know when you find out how to do something AMAZING and you just want to share it with the world, shouting out from the rooftops??? That's how I felt on Sunday, and today I'm going to share it with you :]

Awhile back, Amy Tan had shared a tutorial for writing on instagrams using Skitch, an app that unfortunately was only available for the Ipad, not even to my trusty iphone. MAJOR bummer. Until Sunday, when I was on facebook, and Shanna Noel posted a LO and it said she used the app from her phone! Let me just tell you, the to do list I HAD been working on before that, definitely got tossed aside so I could play! Not only can I draw on my photos now with my own handwriting, but I can SAVE the words [or a friends cool cursive, because mine is terrible] and the app is FREE. Beware, this post comes with a disclaimer, I am NOT responsible for how much time you're gonna spend playing once we're all done lol


It's super easy, you just draw in the app like this:

I wrote the word in cursive, and then an abstract square around it, planning on using it as a 4x6 frame :] The cool thing is, you can also use it to draw on your photos, but this way I got to make my OWN silhouette cuts with my OWN handwriting, by importing the image to my Silhouette Cameo :] Here's what it looked like after I cleaned up the image a bit and cut it:

Today I'm going to show you what I did with my new found knowledge! I got my Studio Calico kit incredibly fast this month [I am reallllly close, so it gets here fast no matter what, but being a rewards member helps too!] so I chose to go ahead and get a layout in with the products, because this kit is just incredible. Here's my LO:

I am also sharing this file, because I know some of you don't have iphones, or ipads, but still have a silhouette. Download the free file [[here]] and make sure to come back and link up so I can see if you use it :] && if you're a silhouette love like me, and want to learn MORE cool tricks about your silhouette, rush on over to Studio Calico for their new class, Cut it Out!

Thanks for stopping by today, happy crafting!

If you were looking for the stash sale, make sure you go here I will be updating it often, as I clear out my space for lots of exciting things happening in the next few weeks :] Buy over $15 in items & get free shipping!

Trendy Tuesday: Lovely Leaves

Hello again, how is your Trendy Tuesday going?
Thanks for those that came to tonight's class, All About Arrows. Using MME Nostalgia, some SC stamps, & silhouette cuts, this class will be a really fun for pictures of direction, where you are now, comparison photos [like a then & now theme] traveling-- I really love using arrows on my projects!
As promised, I wanted to share a few more of my favorite arrow products, a lot of which are available through the store, and are also available at online retailers:

This INCREDIBLE stamp set from Studio Calico, Oh Snap-- available here at Simon Says Stamp.

This absolutely amazing new washi tape at Freckled Fawn, that JUST came out in their shop and am already putting it all over on new projects, go but a roll [or two, or ten] at the shop here.

KP's stamp that screams use me on a travel journal :] Buy it at her show here.

What other cute arrow products have YOU used lately, I am totally into them right now, as you can tell :]

Hopefully I'll get to see some of you again for next week's class, Lovely Leaves. I have to say, NEXT week's class is my personal favorite, I cannot WAiT to teach it! Using the perfect new fall Bella Blvd collection, we will be finishing this single page layout:

The BEST part of the class is that you will be learning how to make these hand stitched, double layered leaves yourself. Included in the class kit is a pattern for the leaf, that way you can use it on more of your fall projects once you get home! To sign up, call the Paper Cottage at 937-912-5324 I also have kits available for those who are unable to attend [like you out of state lovies!] complete with instructions, with no additional shipping charge for those in the US! Email me at sbookinshay29@aol.com if you would like more information!