Big HUGE News
Friends & Family… We have some crazy news! And now that all our immediate family knows I can “say it on the webs….”. hehe. This last week we had a major curve ball thrown at us. We’ve had a feeling for several months (which explains a little bit of my distraction from my blog) that “something was in the works” for us. A week ago this past Friday Brent was offered a promotion/new position at his company’s (Jab Broadband) corporate offices in Denver. We drove out a week ago Saturday morning to look around and he met with the owner of the company on Monday morning. For the past couple of years (each time we’ve traveled to CO for B’s work) we have “joked around” that if the opportunity to move to Colorado ever happened we would move there… Brent accepted the position last Tuesday. He will be the Director of Divisional Accounting (over 6 divisions spread out over 10 states). This is a huge opportunity for him and an excellent resume builder. He starts full time in Denver on October 1st. He will be commuting to Denver from Utah until we sell the house. This is HUGE for us… and a little emotionally difficult for us… even with me being a former Army Brat… I’ve actually been planted here in Utah since 1994 and in this lovely little home we built in 2001, and Brent grew up here. But it’s also a wonderful opportunity and God has put people in our path in this adventure that we did not expect… I do not believe in “chance meetings”… I know God is preparing good things for us in this new adventure… We are on the lookout for boxes and packing supplies… oh, and for someone to buy our house… so if you know of anyone looking in the Payson area send them our way. This is a FANTASTIC place to live 🙂 COLORADO HERE WE COME!! Inky Smiles! Erin
My Life’s Journey – A Mini Album
Wow, I’ve been gone quite some time from the blog. No excuses, just busy living life. Those of you who are facebook friends have seen what I’ve been up to. (I hope to post about my adventures here in the next little while.) At the beginning of August I attended a class by my friend, the fabulous Sue Neal.. I just LOVE Sue’s classes! I don’t make it to every one of them but try to go when I can and I ALWAYS get a boost of creative mojo from her. This last class – “My Life’s Journey” mini album was no exception. Talk about a fabulous project!! Here’s the link to Sue’s blog & the original class project: My Life’s Journey Mini Album Most of my friends know that I am not usually one to follow the rules exactly… I usually veer off the path and wander… At this class I MOSTLY followed Sue’s beautiful example. Well, I pretty much did, but then got home and didn’t have all the exact same supplies and didn’t want to go shopping to hunt down the few items I needed to complete my project. All of the materials were provided, but I didn’t have the right color copics and my bottle of loverly homemade glimmer mist kerplunked on my kitchen tile floor and shattered from here to breakfast… (which is why you see some different whitish glimmer spray.. need to make some new brown glimmer and fix that)… and well.. yah, you get the picture. SO… like I said, I pretty much followed what I was SUPPOSED to do and added a few little bits and baubles to personalize it for me… I did not purchase anything extra to complete the inner pages.. I used what was provided (there were lots of extra cool bits of embellishment pieces) and I stretched out what was provided. I think the only thing I added from my stash were a couple of strips of paper (from the same line) for pockets and something else.. but 97-98% of the finished project was provided in the original kit. I still need to add the date tag to the front and lots of photos and then do the thinking part and write about my life… I’ve been such a slacker about my blog… I get frustrated with the amount of time it takes to 1) create a project and then 2) take photos and then 3) edit said photos and 4) write a blog post and upload photos…. (mainly why I haven’t blogged in so stinkin’ long)… soooo… these photos are not staged all pretty… I snapped, did a basic edit (resize and watermark) and I’m tossing them up here on the web…. Cover: First pages: Family History and Birth. The left page pulls out a mini accordian family history record. I love the banner… I thought every birthday needs a sparkly banner. I added the lime green Stickles glitter to it and decided the glitter had to be a theme throughout the book… I think I was born with glitter in my hair 🙂 Childhood & Teenager Pages. Family & Learning Pages Love & Home pages Effort & You pages That is supposed to say QUIRK.. I wish it said quirkY, but… I guess that’s just me… a little bit of an odd ball 🙂 Work & Friends Last page I just LOVE all the fabulous quotes and journaling prompts that Sue put in this mini album. They are fun, they are thought provoking, they are excellent 🙂 I hope you enjoyed a peek at this as much as I enjoyed making it! Inky Smiles! E.
NSD 2012: A Day at Doodlebug!
Last week my friend, Michelle (in WA state), sent me an email about a last minute event at Doodlebug Design in Salt Lake City…. I jumped at the opportunity to go, even last minute, and invited my friend, Tahne (in SLC), to come along. Oh my gosh, was I glad I did! I had the most fun NSD outing ever on Saturday! Doodlebug HQ is probably one of the most colorful places on the planet… what a FUN, FUN, place it would be to work! We checked in, picked up our goodie bags, and went exploring…. Rather than show you EVERYTHING I snapped pics of, I will just share some of the higlights/faves of the day… (Check out the Doodlebug Blog or FB wall for lots more photos….) We started out in the new little store… CHECK OUT THAT WALL OF BLING…. Glitter, , flock, gems, glitter, and did I mention GLITTER? The photo of the glitter jar lineup in Cynthea’s workroom are 6” tall by at least that square. Oh pure Heaven. The little store was choc full of goodies and INSPIRATION! The artwork was awesome, fun, and bright! They even had little diorama/landscapes in glass cases. Here are some of my fave bits: Fabulous, quick and easy cards: Here fishy, fishy… loved this “shadow box art”: A few dioramas/landscapes: After we perused the store we headed to lunch in their DARLING Doodlebug style lunch room. I wish I’d snapped a photo of it. But suffice it to say it was as colorful, bright, and fun as the rest of the place! Even our lunch boxes were full of color and happiness… Our first class was with Wendy Smedley (The Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker) and Cynthea Sandoval (owner of Doodlebug). We made 2-8×8 double page layouts.. SUUUPER CUTE stuff! I was super excited to meet Wendy. She’s the reason I have organization in my studio. Her awesome book helped me figure out my organization style without having to go through tons and tons of money wasted on things that don’t work for me. Working on the first layout…. it gave me all sorts of embellisment ideas for the mini album project that I’m teaching at my retreat in Park City this month… Tahne and I.. Wendy and I… Time for a potty break.. check it out.. even the BATHROOMS are pretty! There was happy color and artwork in every bathroom. (Don’t worry, I was OUTSIDE the bathroom peeking in from the hallway.) And did I mention the gym? I think I might be motivated to do more working out (at work) in a happy green gym… love the wavy mirrors… distort that sweaty, melty, me… *giggle* Ok, back to crafting… Our last class was with Stacy Julian from Big Picture Scrapbooking. Her presentation was AWESOME! She talked about reclaiming our lives. I took a few notes… here is what touched me: *Women were born to make things beautiful! * We don’t owe anyone anything. We don’t HAVE to scrapbook, we don’t HAVE to take a gatrillion photos, we don’t HAVE to blog, we don’t HAVE to cook the fanciest dinner… we just have to take care of ourselves, and our families (whatever type they may be). *Recognize memorable moments. What you can say about the memorable moments matters most, not just the photos and scrapbook pages. I love this thinking! Stacy said to pick what you love and capture that memory. Don’t stress over scrapping every single photo. It’s about the moments of life. I’m trying to live my life, I’m offline more now, and I’m happier. It felt good to have someone else validate my current feelings and situation. *Guilt and obligation kill your creative muse. Again, I loved this! Too often I guilt myself because I haven’t blogged in over a month… or because I have 15,000 photos on my hard drive that need to be printed and scrapped in some way or another. * The EQ (Enough Quotient)… Figure out what is enough for you… how much is “enough for me to be happy” in X aspect of my life? Jennifer Louden (www.jenniferlouden.com) said, “Not knowing how to declare what satisfies you is at the core of many of your so called issues.” SO TRUE! You have exactly enough time to scrapbook or document your most important memories. * Be Realistic! There is no normal. Set realistic creative (and everyday)goals. Keep Your Head Up. (Stacy played a snippet of “Keep Your Head Up” by Andy Grammer and had us all stand up and dance…. LOVED it!) [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmrOB_q3tjo] *CUTE MATTERS – You deserve some sort of space to make YOURS… a place that makes you happy, whether it’s a room, a corner of the kitchen, a closet in a bedroom… add some color and something pretty, even if it is just a small bucket of colorful crayons. Speaking of cute… check us out… Ok, I think maybe I meant “cheesey” for me, cute for Stacy. And more cute stuff! The contents for the card making we did in Stacy’s class… I love these cute quick little cards! And Cynthea’s office… oh my… can I just move in? Pretty please? It was such a fun day! On our way out of Stacy’s class (and on to more shopping at the store) we passed a class room and saw a familiar head of hair… Lo and behold it was Kristine Widtfelt from Close To My Heart. We stopped and chatted with her for a few moments. I didn’t want to annoy her with a photo op since she was ATTENDING the event and not hosting it. She was very sweet! Here are a few snap shots of my finished projects. We did a button bracelet, too, but I haven’t snapped a photo of that. (I’m too lazy my legs hurt from my 5 mile bike ride this am too much to go upstairs and get it.) We strung the twine across the page to
Crafting On!
Hello sweet friends! Yes, it’s been a while again. I did not anticipate abandoning my blog again… but sometimes life just happens. April was an INSANE month for us… without boring you with all the details I will just say: “One work trip, one birthday (Brent), 2 surgeries (one Brent, one me), planning for one Creative Escape that I’m hosting this month, etc….” All is well, we’re recovering from our minor surgeries and I’m chugging away in my studio. One of the best highlights of the past month was a visit from a very sweet friend of mine, Sue Culotti (Random On Purpose), this past week. I met Sue aaaages ago through the Close To My Heart consultant bulletin boards.. I think back in 2005 or 2006… anyway, over the years we’ve become friends via emails and phone calls and our blogs. I’ve wanted to meet her for years and this last week she called me and let me know she was out here in Utah visiting her daughter who just had a new baby and “could we get together?”… YES!!! (hammin’ it up for a cheesy self portrait! Try #1, I’m all chin.. lol!) I had the BEST visit with Sue. We spent a good part of Thursday just hanging out and visiting. We chatted for hours and hours and spent just a few moments in the studio. Sue was interested in learning soldered jewelry (a new hobby I’m working on.. haha) and so I gave her a little tutorial. (I’m very new at this hobby and so my technique is still wonky, but hey, crafty time with the fabulous Sue, yeah baby!) Here’s the pendant we did. I used a graphic I created for a different type of charm a couple of years ago and resized it to fit on a 1×1.5” pendant. (Left pic is the front, right pic is the back) (the glass I used is thicker than what I normally use, and I was waaaay off with the foil tape…) I was soooo sad to have to let Sue go home 🙁 I think we could have visited for hours and hours more and just lost track of time. (Try #4, much better! Isn’t she beautiful?) Thank you Sue for a wonderful visit! 🙂 XoXo, E. PS. Jen Embry – I have a hug for you from Sue next time I see you 🙂 🙂 PPS… I had the most fabulous NSD adventure yesterday at Doodlebug HQ in Salt Lake City. Trying to get some pics edited and posted asap! Here’s a sneaky peeky…. yes, that’s glitter… and those bottles are 6” tall!!
Black Magic – A Folksy, Doodly Focal Image Technique
Today I have a fun, folksy, doodly focal point image technique to share with you called Black Magic. I saw this technique at SCS and fell in love with it and decided I just had to teach it at Creative University. It’s easy, fun, and different! I love the folksy look of the white doodles. They remind me of tole painting and folk art. Here’s how you do it. Black Magic – A Folksy, Doodly Focal Image Technique I’ve been having fun with these quickie video tutorials & have one more coming soon! I think I want to do more. Is there a technique you’d love to see me demonstrate? Let me know and I will do my best to put a tutorial together for you. Inky Smiles!
Faux Silk – A Luxurious Background Technique
As promised I have another fun artsy technique for you today. This one is called Faux Silk. I really like the texture that this technique gives to a focal point. Simple, quick, and beautiful. Here’s how you do it .https://youtu.be/kBJyX0YLa6o [https://youtu.be/kBJyX0YLa6o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBJyX0YLa6o]
Bird on a Wire
Several weeks ago I share this sneak peek of the project I taught at Creative University in February. Here’s another peek/close up: And here is the whole bracelet. I went with the whole “woodland” theme this year. (Our charm swap was “Woodland Fairies”.) The focal point is a bird on a giant turquoise egg in a wire wrapped nest. It was CRAZY prep work for this class… hundreds of beads & findings to sort and count, wire & chain to measure & cut and package up all neatly. Thankfully I had the help of my wonderful husband to help sort and count beads. I had so much fun teaching this to my CU girls. I had nearly 60 students, most of which were beginners. I did step by step teaching and we worked our way through several different jewelry technique/skills (Wire wrapping, wire wrapped loops, bead stringing, crimping, metal stamping, etc) as we built this fun bracelet. Everyone finished their bracelets in class and it was awesome seeing them on everyone’s wrists. 🙂 We even had door prizes! Four lucky winners per class won a velour beading mat and jump ring opener. 🙂 Here are some fun pics that Amy Kupperman snapped during class. (I was teaching and couldn’t really snap photos, so I had to hijack these from Amy’s fb album). And some more photos hijacked from Linda Schwartzenburg’s fb album: And some photos hijacked from Linda Wendeborn: I had the most FABULOUS charm fairy teacher helpers, too. They took the time to help each student/table on an individual basis as we went. I could not have done it without them. Kim was one of my helpers. Here she is with Joy from Everyday Cricut. (photo courtesy of Linda Schwartzenburg) Here’s a pic of all the teachers from CU this year. Left to Right” Michelle Johns (Altered Art), Sheila Bennett (Card Cafe), Tresa Black (Hostess), Michelle Nist (Scrapbooking) and me, Erin Grotegut (Jewelry). Jazz Hands! Inky Smiles!
Oxy Magic – An Inky Background Technique
Hi friends! Today I have a fun technique to share with you! This year at Creative University Tresa had the teachers put on a Technique Boutique. Each of us contributed 4 technique make n take style tutorials for the boutique. For my techniques I tried to do something “different” than what you’d see at a traditional “stamping demo party”. I will be sharing alll 4 techniques via video over the next couple of weeks. This is one of my favorites! It’s called Oxy Magic/Foxy Oxy… etc… Here’s how you do it! Enjoy! [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHUwkmDAEG4]
Creative University Project… Sneak Peek!!
I was asked to teach jewelry again at this year’s Creative University by Tresa Black and have been a very, very busy girl getting ready for it. The teachers also have another project besides their class and we’ve been busy working on that project as well. Needless to say between CU, Jr High 4H, and 8 yr old Activity Days Girls at church I haven’t had time to breathe or blog. Oh, but I’ve wanted to and have some projects to share when I find time to edit the pics. Creative University is NEXT WEEK and I am busy packing and making sure I have all my class goodies ready! Here’s a sneak peek of this year’s jewelry project: And a blurb from my class description: “Bird on a Wire Bracelet Get all wrapped up in earth tones and sparkly goodness creating this fabulous bracelet in Erin’s jewelry class. We will learn to string beads, use crimp beads, open and close jump rings, and join multiple strands for a bracelet. We will also learn how to wire wrap a focal point using art wire, stone beads, and metal embellishments. Finish it up with a peek into metal stamping on a final embellishment.” C.U. SOOOOON!
A Copic Christmas
Good morning friends! I have this friend who’s really super cool. She teaches fabulous classes and has a spot on our local tv channel. I try to make it to her classes whenever I can, it’s a fun night of crafting with the girls. My friend is Sue Neal of My Eye Q. One of the coolest things about Sue’s classes is that if you can’t make it to her local classes she will mail your kit to you! Each kit comes with excellent instructions and her follow up emails contain extra goodies for creating more projects. Here’s a pic of last week’s class. SoooOoo much fun, and darling gift bags/boxes. When my mom was here last month we took Sue’s Copic Marker class and created some fabulous Christmas cards. We learned shading and basic coloring. I’m hooked on Copic coloring – guess I better start saving for a bigger set of Copic Markers! I think I even got Mom hooked on coloring. She ordered a set of markers, too. Here are the cards we made in class. We used Penny Black stamps, stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. (It’s the best ink for coloring with Copics.) This card is my absolute favorite. I bought the stamp to make more cards for next year, or maybe this year if I get around to it! I love religious themed cards. Afterall, it IS the reason for the season. Hope you’re getting all caught up with your Christmas preparations! Get our your markers and make some cards! Inky Smiles! PS.. I also figured out a new photo lighting prop, thanks to Michelle Johns. I love it! I love how the photos turn out with the reflection and muted background. Rather than try to tell you how, here is the link to the instructions: Homemade Photo Lighting Prop