Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Watch AM Northwest today between 9:00 and 10:00am. Today's craft segment show how to make three beautiful desk organizers. The projects will feature Brenda Walton's decorative papers and three dimensional stickers.
Look for new projects in these recent publications:

Paper Creations Magazine
Summer 2004
Pages 54-57
Five projects under the title Summer Clam Bake

Paper Works Magazine
June 2004
Page 33
Aspire Plaque

Woodworking for Women Magazine
May 2004
Pages 33-35
Classic Magnet Board

Pages 44-45
Playtime Chalkboard

Scrapbook Retailer Magazine
December 2003/January 2004
Page 36
Tips for Marketing cutting tools

Thursday, May 20, 2004

After being gone from home for two weeks....it is really nice to be back in my studio. Today, I am cleaning. What fun!! I can never be creative without making a huge mess. How about you? Clutter everywhere....so I am purging the clutter today. It feels good to tidy up my studio. Now I am ready for my next project. I will be creating some projects for a Christmas in July. This will be for ACCI (Association of Creative and Craft Industry) show in July. It is a little hard to think about Christmas in the middle of May. Hmmmmm...think snow...think jingle bells, think winter.. I think I will go back to cleaning instead...

Backpacking trip...

The week before I went to Ohio for the book photo shoot, I went backpacking with my husband and some friends from Corvallis Oregon. This is our second annual backpacking trip. This year we flew to Las Vegas (the temperature was 107 when we arrived, last year at this same time it was snowing) and then drove through Zion National Park and east to Page AZ. Our destination was Piria Canyon. It is a 40 mile hike from White House Trailhead to Lees Ferry Trailhead. We did this in four days with everything on our backs. Can you imagine...no cell phones, no pagers, no STARBUCKS, or nail salons for four days! YIKEs!! It was truly an incredible experience. In some areas the canyon walls were 800 feet tall and only about 20 feet wide. We crossed the Piria river numerous times. The area is incredibly beautiful and you can only get to it by hiking. I was inspired by the colors of the sandstone. I think I will paint our family room this summer "Navajo Sandstone". I had to purchase new boots this year so I was worried about blisters. I spend several weeks breaking in the boots before we left for the trip. Lucky..Me..No blisters. Here is the funny thing....While I was in Ohio doing research (this is what I call shopping) I got a blister from my flip flops. I guess next time I will have to break in the flip flops before I attempt any strenuous shopping...I mean research!!

Through out the month of April and May I worked on projects for my new book. Last week I went to Ohio for the photo shoot. I shipped all of the finished projects and supplies to recreate each project to Ohio. During the week I was there, I made each of the projects again as Christine photographed the steps. I learned a lot about the publishing process and the photography for the book. Christine did a fabulous job with the photos and just before I left, she showed me some of the slides. Wow...Was that ever exciting. I will spend the next month writing instructions and "filler" for the book. My Editor, Tonia, is such a great help with this. She wrote an outline of instructions for each project while I was making them in their studio. Thanks Tonia and Christine!!
I attended another Memories Expo show the first weekend of April. It was held in Chicago and I worked in the Michaels booth for Fiskars. We did "make and takes" each day. The first day we made a scrapbook page that was black,white, and gray. The second day we made a scrapbook page using Anna Griffin papers in muted greens and creams. Both projects used the ShapeCutter (one of my favorite tools!) and an embossing system. If you have never had an opportunity to experiment with embossing, I would highly recommend it. There are lots of different ways of embossing, some require a light box, and others do not. Embossing is an impressive way to embellish cards and other paper crafts.