Tomorrow is Saturday (whew! we made it through a week filled with uninvited activities and events around the world that I hope will not be repeated anytime in our future!). Marj Marion will be working at Art 'n Soul tomorrow from 10:30 to 4:30, and will be doing demos on the Pan Pastels . . . you really don't want to miss this chance to see Marj work her magic with these yummy art mediums.

If you're one of the many lucky customers who have been buying up the Pan Pastels, you might want to look at the trays you can purchase (10 or 20 slots to a tray) for your pastels so you can see all of the colors in view instead of figuring the colors out from the tower sets. Judy Daugherty bought some and that set up sure invites you to use them NOW! Susie also said you can purchase sets of just the lids so you can break the towers down into individual containers. Either way, ask to see the print-out of the accessories available to order at the store to make your life with the Pan Pastels organized and easy to use. I know I'm going to be putting my pink sheet together this weekend!


Art 'n Soul's Journal Club met this afternoon and beautiful and imaginative artwork is a result of their passion for journaling in the art form! I'm going to show what Gloria Walker was working on with the Pan Pastels . . .



Judy Daugherty used the Pan Pastels on the background of these 2 journal pages.
She loves how well the Pan Pastels blend!



These are the trays I was talking about.

Tomorrow, I'll show someone else's journal with her works-in-progress that are quite impressive!


Impression Obsession and Hero Art stamps arrived today . . . if you had not placed a personal order, this weekend is the perfect time to see what's out for you to purchase. Even I had overlooked some stamps that had to be 'added' to the huge order I had placed.

phrase stamps with just the right words . . .



When I am thinking about a journal project or making a beautiful card, finding the right phrase provides the perfect finishing touch. I am always in search of phrase stamps that convey exactly what I'd like to say, and I often find these stamps in the Magenta catalog . . . it seems they've put a little more emphasis on these phrase stamps lately. Take a look at these phrases below; I wasn't able to copy the stamp image into the blog from their website (http://www.magentastyle.com/). Only at Art 'n Soul are Magenta products offered through 'open catalog' ordering every month or so.

Live Your Dreams and Soar[07.515.G]

What a joy it is to have you in my life[07.535.F]

You are the sunshine in my life[07.525.F]

May Life always allow you to fly high[07.514.G]

Graphic 45 has just released pics of the entire Le Cirque paper line, and here it is in all its glory!

Le Cirque 4500303	Bohemian Floral 4500304	Circus Parade 4500305	Magnifique 4500306
Wizards of Wonders 4500307	Under the Big Top 4500308	Dazzle and Delight 4500309	Extravaganza 4500310
Greatest Show on Earth 4500311	Flying High 4500312	Le Cirque Borders 4500313	Le Cirque Tags 4500314

And Graphic 45's additions to their Staple Line:

Ornate Metal Door Plate and Knob Staples 4500297	Geometric Metal Door Plate and Knob Staples 4500298	Metal Hinge Staples 4500299	Metal Flower Staples 4500300
Metal Tag Staples 4500301	Metal Button Staples 4500302

Spellbinders continues to gift us with more sneak peeks:

From Latisha Yoast's blog, A Busy Little Craftee Bee, on January 14, 2011:


I’m thrilled to share S5-044 Banner Basics One with you.

 

What is something most of us buy, when we are about to throw a birthday party, baby shower, bridal shower or any kind of celebration? We buy a banner. Well, today I am going to show you how with a few simple materials, you can stop buying those ugly pastel things, and create something beautiful! Let’s get started! But, hold on a second…can I just tell you how excited I am that I can finally share these wonderful die templates with you! When I opened my package, I squealed! One day if I am brave enough I will share the story with you all, on how I ran through the house like a crazy woman when I heard the UPS truck roll up to my house lol. Ok, for real now, let’s get started!


I like to start by grabbing all of my supplies. The supplies I will be using first are, Spellbinder Paper Arts S5-044 Banner Basics One, S5-028 Nested Pennants, S5-029 Nested Lacey Pennants, card stock, a strong adhesive, pattern paper and foam tape.

 

Next, I created some die cuts, by cutting/embossing paper with the die templates listed above. Shown is the correct sandwich to emboss with your Spellbinders Grand Calibur TM machine. Your sandwich will stack like this, “a” base plate, die templates, paper, embossing mat, the your “b” embossing plate. You will get a nice embossed edge every time.

This is what your die cuts will look like, once they have been cut/embossed.

 

Then, I layered the die cuts. The Nested Pennant die cut was adhered to the Nested Lacey Pennant die cut, and I layered/adhered the Banner Basics One die cuts together.

 

Before I adhered the banners on to the pennants, I put some 3D foam squares on the back of the banners. This will give the pennants some nice depth to them.

 

Repeat the above directions four more times, until you have 5 completed pennants.

 

I want to have a place to set my letters, to spell out the word “party.” Each pennant will have its own letter. To do this, I grabbed my Nested Lacey Pennants & Nested Pennants sets again, and pulled out some smaller pennant die templates. Here I cut/embossed them and will adhere them together.

 

Here are the two die cuts adhered together, with the letter placed on top. I created four more of these, and adhered them to the center of the pennants.

 

Once all of the pennants are assembled, it is now time to turn it into a banner. For this step you will need a strong double sided tape and ribbon.

 

Add adhesive to the ribbon, the pennants are now ready to be adhered down.

 

Add the pennants to the ribbon making sure to leave enough ribbon on the end (tails of the banner) for bows.

 

Tie pretty bows to the ends, and your banner is now complete.

 

close up photo

I love how the S5-044 Banner Basics One works perfectly with the S5-028 Nested Pennants & S5-029 Nested Lacey Pennants! Do you want to know a little secret? Spellbinders is coming out with a few more of these Banner Basics sets! Isn’t that SA-Weet?!?!! Banners will never ever go out of style, so these I think are going to become a quick favorite of mine.

The completed banner! Woot, woot! Who is ready to party?

Now what would be a party without an invitation and treats. Look at all the fun things I created!  I have an invitation with a banner on it, a gift card with a pretty border, food sticks, a popcorn box, and a little ribbon & tag to go on those truffles. I had to stop myself at these 5 projects, but believe me these dies had me inspired!!! I hope you love them just as much as I do.  This die template set has eight individual pieces, and at $19.99, each die template only costs about $2.50!  That's an incredible value!  Adding to that, each die template is triple function, it cuts, embosses and stencils!

This is the Spellbinders product I introduced:

Banner Basics One
SKU# S5-044
MSRP $19.99
Tassels
1: ½ x ⅞″
2: ½ x ⅞″
3: ¼ x 1″
4: ½ x 1⅜″

Topper Trim
1: ½ x 4⅜″
2: ¾ x 4⅜″

Banner Parts
1: ⅝ x ¾″
2: 1⅛ x 4⅜″



From Mona Pendleton's Blog, Cupcake's Creations, on January 14, 2011:

I’m thrilled to share Floral Doily Accents and Floral Doily Motifs with you. I altered a tin by adorning it with various embossed, stenciled and sanded die cuts using both cardstock and F-012 Precious Metal Premium Craft Foil, (Gun Metal).



Time to turn in before my computer turns into a pumpkin, and the blog date will still be Friday! Hope to see you at Art 'n Soul this weekend . . . a holiday weekend . . . Saturday, Sunday AND Monday! Yippee . . . time for fine art fun!