Holiday #SMBiGbloghop

Whether you stumbled upon my blog, came from Corinne's blog or are a loving follower, you are in for a treat with today's Social [Media] Butterflies Holiday blog hop! Each of us is bringing you a layout with something to do with the upcoming holiday season, no matter where we are in the world, or what we celebrate & we hope you enjoy it!

Here is my take, using Studio Calico Wonderland:

Next up is Amanda, head on over to her blog: http://www.somethingsorta.blogspot.com/ or if you get lost somewhere along the way, head back to our Social [Media] Butterflies homepage here. Thanks for joining us for another month of blog hopping, & we hope you'll join us for our Social [Media] Butterflies HoliDAYS, starting tomorrow morning on the homepage! Each of our butterflies will be inspiring you to get crafty during this wonderful time of year! xoxo

merry & BRIGHT.

Helllllo loves! I hope you're as excited for the holiday season as I am! Here it's already in full swing-- my DD has started, custom Christmas card orders are almost finished, the tree is up, the holiday photos are planned.... LOVE the holidays ;]

I have a special treat for all of you working on December projects, I am up with a post over on Kristin's blog http://rukristin.blogspot.com/ && would love for you to go check it out! Here's a sneak peek:

merry christmastime.

Who doesn't love shop shipments showing up early??
&& add in that it's Cyber Monday, and it looks like Forever Young & Crafty will be having a special sale the rest of the day!!!! All items in the shop are at least 20% OFF, AND free shipping on ANY orders, anywhere. Make sure to go check it out here!

Make sure to stop by & LIKE the shop on Facebook to keep up to date with all the sales, specials && giveaways!


I'll keep the sale going until tomorrow, November 27th at 2pm EST, since it's starting so late-- Happy shopping!

Small Biz Saturday

How was everyone's Thanksgiving? Hopefully fantastic!

Now, I like stuffing my face with a few items from the feast, and being thankful for everything in life, but I have to tell you I am SO a Christmas girl. I LOVE everything about the holiday season, and even start my December Daily on Black Friday every year! We normally shop alllll day, but this year we didn't even go out! Instead, I was home to join Mammy & Caleb in putting up the tree, and having a holiday movie marathon. Yes, already ;]

Today we ARE venturing out to a few of the stores, and I cannot wait, I LOVE holiday shopping, and the crowded malls. We are also going out to a few local stores, because it's SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY! Of course, we have to support them!

My new online shop is of course getting in on the fun too, I will be offering 20% off all products in the store all day, and you can get FREE shipping on orders over $25 if you enter the code SMALLBIZ. Thank you for all the support of my new store, it is so fun to share it all with you, and I can't wait to see what else is coming! Have a wonderful weekend!

Turkey Day Trot

I know MANY of you will be spending time with your friends and family, enjoying the break from work, stuffing your face & planning out how to attack the stores for those Black Friday specials. Others of you will be sneaking off to instagram, tweet & email for a few minutes of peace from the screaming children big family get togethers are know for ;]     That is why I will be periodically having FLASH sales today, to get you excited && score some great deals on NEW holiday items in the shop! For all the details, head to the Forever Young & Crafty facebook page, and get the heads up on what will be on sale & when!

Here are just SOME of the new products you will find in the shop, and I cannot WAIT to share with you all of the amazing new holiday projects-- PERFECT timing for you to add to your December Daily, Christmas Cards & holiday layouts ;] 

In addition to all of the sales this weekend, any customer who spends OVER $50 will get a special holiday goody bag from me, with fun little embellishments and treats. Thank you for supporting my new little shop, I am SO thrilled to be sharing it with you! 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!! xoxo

gobble gobble.

Who's ready to be thankful for LOTS of food, shopping, friends & family????

I am incredibly thankful for my scrappy loves, and the opportunities that I've had thanks to my love for paper-crafting. Sending much love to all of you, and for the products that keep us all so happy ;]

If you haven't gotten to check out scrapperin products, you DEFINITELY need to. I am absolutely in LOVE with Felicitas very first line, 31 Winterage. I just want it to snow so I can get great new photos to use with the products! lol In the meantime, I treated myself to a little bit of scrappy time as a reward for getting the shop ready for this weekends festivities!

If you would like to order these products, head on over to my shop, Forever Young & Crafty-- the only US store that you can find these products in right now ;] And if you check back after midnight tonight, you miiiiight  just find you can start some of your shopping for Black Friday weekend a bit earlier-- I will be holding specials ALL weekend! In fact, for you lucky readers, if you head over & place an order of $25 or more you will get $5 off with the code TURKEY12.  Hurry, this offer expires at 8am tomorrow!

To keep up to date with ALL the specials this weekend, head on over to the Forever Young & Crafty facebook page, here and make sure you LIKE it!!!  There WILL be a shop update with brand new items, starting at 8am EST ;] Can't wait to share it all with you, & I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends, family & loved ones! xoxo

sketch challenge with Shanna.

Have I ever mentioned I have the BEST scrappy girlfriends? I am SO lucky to have met, online and in person, these wonderful, talented ladies! I especially love when it leads to fun projects, like today's sketch challenge!

Every Monday, Shanna will be posting a sketch challenge on her blog, and inviting all of us to participate. Link up on her blog HERE and you have the chance to win some happy mail ;] This is the first week, and I'm already in LOVE with Shanna's sketches-- here it is:

&& here's my take on it:

That cute journaling card is from Trisha, grab it on here blog here ;] && the little snowman is just a part of the AMAZING sets from Geralyn, check those out here -- some of my favorite holiday goods, for sure! The rest of the supplies are from Studio Calico's Sock Hop kit!

Make sure you head on over to Shanna's blog to see what she's done, and link up your own layout, thanks for joining in! xoxo

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!