Lauren Ferguson | There are no mistakes in art, just opportunites to embellish. (tm)

A Shout Out to all my BookBinding Peeps... Listen Up!!!

OK, so let me just say that there are some things that I keep to myself, but it would be a sin for me to hold onto this little bit of information.

Or, I could think of it as I am just not that bright and y'all already knew this and no one told me.

Either way, I am letting the cat out of the bag.

IF YOU ARE HAND-STITCHING YOUR TEXT BLOCKS... STOP RIGHT NOW. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO MAKE YOUR FINGERTIPS BLEED ANYMORE. I HAVE AN EASIER WAY.

BUY A YOURSTORY.

Now don't get me wrong when you need to stitch a book, do it. But one of the things that I have realized is that when it all boils down in the end, no one sees the text block stitching on a hard covered book.

I can remember buying a few pre-made text-blocks from a vendor at a Inspired for more than I wanted to pay.

Then I happened upon the YourStory from Provo Craft. You can bind attached signatures as well as single pages.

I made three small books with scraps that were too big to actually throw away.

My favorite is a small German story book that I gutted and made a custom text-block. I used a fringe from an old leather skirt that I picked up from some scraps my Mom was throwing away.

I just love how they came out.

I really like the re-purposed cover so I am keeping that one for me to carry in my bag.

I must admit that I did not expect to like it as much as I do.

The most exciting thing about this whole process is that all you need is a few squeezes of a glue stick in the spine cover of your signatures.

You can make the book as thick as 1 inch. You can make the text block as long as 12 inches.

And to top it all off, if you surf the web, I have seen them for under 25.00.

It is a bookbinders dream! Trust me on this one. I would never lie to you.

As a matter of fact, if you come on the cruise, I am raffling the YourStory.

until we meet again,

I finally figured out why I love to teach!

Wow What a wonderful weekend. I got to see old friends and make new friends. It was great weekend. I had fun and so did the ladies that came.

I love Sassy Scrapper. Mary and her team are on the ball. They are sharp business women.

I really believe that is what separates "still in business stores" from "not still in business stores". It is the business of running a retail store and investing in a hobby to make money.

I have seen it over and over and no matter what it all boils down to good business practices and meeting the needs of your customer base what they want within reason.

Can I tell you the highlight of my trip. I have pictures from my trip to Columbus Ohio last year. If you have not read this one. It is really good. I cannot go into the whole thing here. You will need a tissue for this one because I still get goose bumps. Here is the link http://tinyurl.com/ygfs4tf.

So here are the pictures of the girls and I after we had the most wonderful woman sharing moment.

I am so glad to finally have them. I look for that feeling every time I go out to teach. You know how they say once you get it you keep going back looking for that first teaching high. I just love it.

Anyway so as I was driving home from the weekend, I made a decision. Yes, a decision. I was going in to buy the new 3Gs iPhone.

So right out I went Monday morning to get the new iPhone. I wish I knew then what I knew now. They just kept taking my money. First I had to pay my bill up to date. No Problem. Then I had to pay for the phone 199.99 Then I had to pay for a new case 49.99. Then I had to get a new earpiece because my old one was broken and would not pair up. POOF another 129.99, just like that... gone. I had to have a jawbone earpiece in the fashion forward color of metallic pink

Now remember, I also have family responsibilities to take care of like food for the kids. But I need my iPhone.

Nearly two hours later, they try to pacify me by giving me a car charger and a 49.99 earpiece. I just spent 129.99 what the hell and I going to do with this damn thing.

After all that being said, I love my new phone. Did I tell you that I can get email and send email while I am talking on the phone. Oh yeah baby!!  I love love love it.

I also recycled my old phone and turned it into an iTouch for the kids so that they can now play on my phone without me saying "give me back my phone". The kids love it.

I downloaded some music and a couple of videos and they are just as happy as they have ever been.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I did the cutest project for the girls at Daisies with Chi-Chi and the other girls. They loved this little purse. I cut it out from the Bag, Tags and More cartridge from the Cricut.

I used 3L Scrapbook Adhesive Small Black Foam Squares to put the purse together. Then the girls dipped the foam squares in glitter and put them on the flowers. They loved it.

So why do I teach. Two simple reasons...

1) to feed my kids
2) to feed my iPhone habit

until we meet again

Getting grateful for the little things.

Wow, can I tell you how much time it takes me to just do these class sample sheets!

I am the proud owner of CS4 but only have a Photoshop Elements 6 skills set.

I love the way the Journal sample came out.

I have stacked the kit with a bunch of embellishments and elements from all over my craft room.

I purposefully did not trick out this sample so that you can see the background pages. All the elements in the kit will kick it over the edge.

There are tags and coin holders and folded pages that complete this journal.

There is still room in the classes at Sassy Scrapper. Give them a call at
615-895-1284.

I hope to see you there!!

until we meet again,

Has anyone seen my sanity?

It has been non-stop for the past two weeks.  Can I just leave it at I am worn out.

I am tired of doing laundry. I am tired of being a kiddie taxi. I am tired of my hurry up and wait life.

But when I look back on the past two weeks, I have to say the kids are happy and my family cracks me up.

I have had to carve out some time here and there to get all of my stuff ready to teach class this coming weekend at the Sassy Scrapper 3325 D Memorial Blvd., Murfreesboro, TN. Give them a call. There are still spaces available. 615-895-1284
July 16-17, 2009

I had a blast pulling from some old and new techniques with my own twist on them.

I always have loved the ways that you can mix and match techniques to find your groove. This class will teach you how to effectively blend colors to get the distinct layered look of distress inks.

The picture shows my favorites of the bunch. If I have to choose, I think that my favorite of the bunch is the brush-less watercolor technique. The one in the lower right.

It could be the stamp from Unity Stamp but either way, I love it!

The Glimmer Mist Class is a great class. In this class we start with French Vanilla or Midnight from Couture Cardstock. You will learn how to make your masks and screens pop off the page.

We will take pieces and make simple paper embellishment for cards, mixed media projects or any paper crafting need.

I'll post pictures of the Gratitude Journal after I take photos in the morning.

until we meet again,