Preparing for the "Get-Together"..

SOOOO....those of you who are meeting at my house on January 8th to finish the scrapbooked calendar - I have EDITED my previous post to include what you can do to prepare for our upcoming get-together. I actually already finished mine....so I can be of more help...and I get to chat it up more while you all work! Tee, hee! Check out below to see what you should do on your own so we will all be on the "same page" when you arrive. I believe we finished July....and we will be starting with August when you arrive. (Don't forget - we skipped May!) PLUS - then we can enjoy each other's company a little more rather than rushing to get 'er done! See ya soon! Email me if the directions confuse ya! Laters!

The FINAL Scrapbooked Calendar

I decided to post pics of all of the months...for a few reasons.

ONE: So those of you who have plenty of paper at home already....and aren't doing this with us, can use the designs and copy them to make your own. I know, I know...you LOVE me, huh!

TWO: So those of you who ARE doing this craft can be assured of the "cuteness" factor...and be grateful that I am doing the shopping AND cutting for you!! Tee, hee!

AND THREE: So that when I am old and gray...and too exhausted to make crafts...I will have PROOF that once upon a time, I WAS able to produce darling items! {WINK!}

JANUARY

(Notice the CUTE embossed white paper!!)

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY
-Glue the two white squares inside the two turquoise squares
-Cut out the three flower heads - two purple and one blue
(One of you may have two blue and one purple)
-Cut out three leaves
-Cut out anything that is traced...on some of your kits...I only traced one item...and you get to trace the other one or two...
-OPTIONAL - I drew a line inside everything with my pen. I took some up-close pics so you can see what I mean. If you would like to do this step - it would go a lot faster if you came with this already done. I added the "stitched lines" later - the ones that go onto the background paper. P.S. I have your stems...I forgot to stick them in your bags! So - bring a pen with you to draw the lines on those! :)

-Ruler - draw on the inches. I just "eyed" it...it really doesn't have to be perfect.

-You could also glue the three yellow centers in the middle of the flowers.
-Don't worry about putting anything else together. Just cut everything out and draw your lines on everything...and we can go from there!

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST
-On this one, you can draw the lines/dots on the sun early. The sun is supposed to look a little funky! Lisa's hubby (who helped cut them out) couldn't understand why anyone would want a sun that looks like this! Tee, hee! That's all you need to do on this one!

SEPTEMBER
-September is inked! I used dark brown and I inked the apple, the leaf, ONE long side of the green polka-dotted pattern (and both of the short sides), all of the edges of the striped pattern, ONE long side of the diamond pattern as well as the two short sides, and then ink all of the edges of the tan background. If you are NOT inking...then kudos to you...cuz you are ready with this month! :) P.S. Feel free to "clean up" things that were previously cut out...like Lisa & I mentioned...husbands AND school aides were helping....

OCTOBER
-MORE inking! I used black on this month.
-You will need to ink the top & bottom of the orange "Halloween Words" strip, the plain oatmeal-colored & orange rectangles, the oddly-shaped striped paper, the the white "Pick of the Patch" paper & the smaller oatmeal-colored rectangle, AND the 6 weird orange shaped. Believe it or not, but they will become the darling pumpkins above! I would try to round out any sharp edges before you ink! I will show you how to put them together when you come over.
As for the words...
Unfortunately, I use chipboard to spell out my "Halloween" words. It's super expensive and would've tacked on another $5.00 to each calendar! (You have to buy the whole alphabet.) I recycled these letters from my previous calendar. I typed up the word "Halloween" for each of you and stuck it in your bags...and you can do this four ways...#1) you can either cut out each letter, #2) you can use your cutting board to cut the white paper around the word so "Halloween" is centered, #3) you can type up "Halloween" on your OWN computer and print it off in the font of your choice, or #4) you can purchase some chipboard letters to use. Personally, I would recommend #2!! Lisa finished hers early with me...and she just trimmed up the white paper and inked the edges and it was darling!


NOVEMBER
This month is easy...no prep work!

DECEMBER

This month is also easy - no prep work!

See ya soon!

Supplies & Info for the December Craft

Alright ladies! Details: We will be meeting at Myrleen Wright's house at 6:30. I will email her address to you. (I feel better about that then posting it public-ly on this blog!) For the gals making the Calendar - my goal is to get through the first SIX months...and then we can all chat and see what you would like to do about the remaining six months. For the gals making the Christmas Picture Frame, you will definitely be finishing your project that night! I would like to be done (or stopping) by 9:30....I know, I know...we COULD go on all night!

{{Hello "Witch" blocks, again!!}}

Here are the materials you will need for the Scrapbooked Calendar:

(I left the prices on some of them...if you enlarge the photo, you may be able to see it better. Heartland carries all of these...but I am sure Roberts, Michael's, or even Hobby Lobby carries them!)

A glue stick AND scrapbooking rolling tape (I use the one above. I believe it's around $6.00...but it adheres REALLY well!) You will need your gluestick to be SUPER permanent! I ran outta the above tape...and used a school gluestick on the last few pages of the Sample Calendar and it wouldn't hold it...so I had to go back over it with the E-Z Runner. If you get the one above - MAKE sure the case is pink or red...that works the best for what we are doing!

Pop Dots...I have used BOTH the one above AND the one below!

THIS one is my favorite kind!

Distressing Ink..there are several kinds you can use...the ones I use above are around a buck! You will need both a dark brown and a black!

You MAY possibly need a cutting board...but if you don't have one, don't worry about it. I have extras!

Scissors

A Stapler (with staples in it!!)

Black pen with an ULTRA sharp/pointy tip…if you are worried about messing up…bring a sharp pencil as well!

The materials you will need for the Christmas Scrapbooked Frame:

8x10 frame
foam brush
whipped cream lid
You MAY need red distressing ink (email Natalie)
pop dots AND adhesive tape (see pic above)
scissors
trimmer (see pic above)
pencil or pen

Two Options for Our December Craft....

Ok - so I know the "Moneybags" calendar was a lot of money! As I said in my email to all of you - we now have two MORE affordable options!!! One is to make the Darling Christmas Frame Art...showcased above...that Natalie so GENEROUSLY volunteered to head up! {{Thanks, Nattie-girl!!}}

THEN - a few of the girls approached me afterwards with a great idea. (Karen McBride actually mentioned this idea earlier in the week...but I wasn't sure if it would work if you girlies wanted to use this as a Christmas present.) They were wondering if we could do it in two sessions. I don't mind because it would be less work for Lisa & I right now! Keep reading to see how this could be a more affordable option that wouldn't force you to sell all of your belongings... (By the way - those of you who wanted to do the full calendar - we could still get all the materials for you - no worries.)

I broke down each month - and the average price for a page layout is about $3.00. Some of the layouts are more and a few are less. The calendar itself that you put the layouts in is about $12.00. THEN - you add tax on top of that. (Are ya seeing how this all starts to add up??)

With this NEW option, you could get the calendar and the "January" THRU "May" pages right now for $28.36. How does that sound?? THEN - the last seven months would be $26.04. We would probably do that one in March....I will just bump the craft we originally had planned on back!

SOOOOO - I was supposed to order the calendars on Friday so they would be here in time for our "Get-Together." The wonderful lady over at Heartland Paper is giving me a "grace period" until Monday to get back to her. I REALLY need to know ASAP which craft...if any...that you are doing. I am pretty sure Natalie will be able to keep the Christmas Frame under $15...and maybe even under $10 depending on how cheap she can get the frame!! Please email me ASAP...which means right now....tee,hee...and let me know. If you are planning on doing a calendar - I will need you to drop off your money BEFORE Sunday night ends - November 23rd. (Just put it in the top of our Winder Farm cooler...and then email me to let me know it's there.) I will need to deposit those in my Craft account Monday morning because I have to prepay for the calendars.
Hopefully this helps out with the good 'ole Christmas budget!!

AND THE WINNER IS....

Yeah!!! We officially have a NEW name. You gals decided on "Gettin'Her Craft On" for our Craft Club name! {{Were you influenced by the title of this blog??? :) }} I liked most of the names that were submitted...OK....I did have my top three that I was rooting for....but I wanted to make sure you gals all liked our name as well!!

Tonight was a SUCCESS! A HUGE thanks to Melissa & Trish for putting in so much time & effort! I hope you all thanked them....they spent a LONG time figuring out how to put everything together & their hubbies were even recruited to cut the wood. My dream for this club...(just putting it out there)...is that NEXT year...we will have a DIFFERENT instructor EvErY month!! It's so much work to prepare everything and that way no one would get burnt out!! (I am always here to provide ideas & tips.....)

Just an idea I thought I would throw out there! As far as tonight went...we did have a few problems with the cleaning up....I will SOON be posting on that...so check back!

SnEaK PeEk at the "Moneybags Calendar"

My photoshop is down at the moment...thus the crooked pics.

(Plus I had a puppy playing tug-of-war with the camera strap!!)

They look even cuter in person...

The layout for JUNE...

April's layout.... (above)

Hmmmm...maybe February??

The month of INDEPENDENCE!!

Oops...how did that get in there?? Tee, hee...
(Our puppy was getting jealous and wanted his pic taken!!)

So there you have it...your little "sneak peek!" If you are interested in this calendar, you will need to bring the "greens" on Thursday...or a check will do... AND the Ziplock baggies...see the previous post. (I will have the final amount posted AND a sample out for display.)

Our FIRST Post...AND the November Craft!

Here it is ladies...the blog you will want to read to stay up to date on what the Craft Club will be offering for the next craft, what the prices will be, and when the "greens" need to be turned in!

For November our instructors will be Melissa & Trish who have put together a DARLING Christmas Ladder. We will be meeting on November 20th at the church at 7:00. Please try to be on time because we will be CHOOSING a final name for our club! If you have deleted(accidentally, right??) Melissa's email on what to bring....you will need the following items: hammer, wood glue, scissors, pencil, foam brushes (there are 2 colors), something to put your paint on (cool whip lid, etc..), and sandpaper. You will be sanding the ladder to remove the rough edges so if you have an electric sander - bring it. Melissa bought one at Home Depot for $20 and she says it works great.

ALSO - Lisa & I are teaching December's craft...we are offering a Scrapbooked Calendar that will be on display. We are still trying to figure out the final price...but it will be between **EDITED TO SAY: $50-$55**. I am trying really hard to keep costs down...but I have already had to go to THREE different scrapbooking stores to find cute paper as well as trying to hit the sales! (The good news is that its DAH-LING!!)

IMPORTANT: If you think you will be interested in this craft, you will need to bring 12 gallon sized Zip-lock bags AND 12 sandwich-sized ziplocked bags. Please label all of them with your name AND the names of the 12 months. Example: One of the gallon-sized bags would say, "December - Tara"..and inside that would be a sandwich-sized bag that would also say, "December-Tara." Does that make sense? Email me if you are confused...that's just the easiest way I could figure out to keep everyone's little pieces for each month organized.

OK - I am excited to see all of you on the 20th! Happy craftin'!!