My Grandma's Teacups Scrapbooking and Craft Supplies: Giveaway Time- Scrapfest Kitchener VIP Marketplace Passes

Several years ago I went to my first major scrapbooking expo. My girlfriend and I bought tickets from our local scrapbooking store Sweet Sentiments Scrapbooking to hop on the bus with the best bunch of women you could ever want to travel with. The ride to Kitchener flew by as we created cards to donate to charity upon arrival. The entire group was alive with the excitement of what might be at the show.

When we arrived at the arena we were greeted at the door by some fabulous organisers and Lisa Sales Furtney, founder of Scrapfest Canada. She helped us all get oriented as to where the marketplace was and where to go for classes.

When we entered the marketplace we were stunned by the amazing array of vendors and products. Every booth was decorated and displaying the latest products that we poor crafters in Belleville had only seen in our copy of Canadian Scrapbooker. We were able to try new tools and different types of media. We were hooked. In hindsight we should have purchased our boatloads of paper after we had made our rounds of the marketplace and finished our classes as scrapbook paper weighs allot after several hours of lugging it.

It seems nearly every booth had  a make and take project that we could complete for free. So many in fact that we had to choose just our favourites to complete or we would have missed our class.

One of the absolute highlights for me was having the opportunity to take a class with Vicki Boutin. She is such a talented papercrafter and I have been a huge fan of her work for several years. Having an opportunity to spend time discussing scrapbooking with her was like sitting at the feet of Michelangelo as he painted the Sistine Chapel. It was inspiring beyond anything I had done before and really drove my interest in scrapbooking.

Scrapfest became our annual pilgrimage. Without even having to talk about it we automatically cleared our calendars to be there each year. After the first year we began driving to Scrapfest and the journey became part of the adventure. Scrapfest then came to Oshawa and we revelled in having yet another day to set aside to explore the pastime that had become such a big part of our lives.

I still have my pink Scrapfest Shirt from that first year. Its faded and a bit unsightly but I will never part with it. Each time I bring it out I am flooded with the happy memories and sometimes nearly scandalous escapades Rebecca and I had at Scrapfest. I have not been back to Scrapfest since the Oshawa Scrapfest in 2011. Rebecca was killed in an accident a couple weeks after the event. Each year I watch the updates flood in about Scrapfest and I long to be there. To be able to tap into some of that vast creative energy that flows there. This year may be my year....

Lisa Sales Furtney was wonderful enough to offer two sets of VIP Marketplace Tickets for the April 2015 Show in Kitchener, Ontario. So, four lucky My Grandma's Teacups fans are going to be going to SCRAPFEST.

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My Grandma's Teacups Scrapbooking and Craft Supplies: Party Planning Update - The Cake

I am so excited about my upcoming birthday. Did you get your invitation? Please be sure to RSVP.  Facebook Party Event

So I have been scouring Pinterest looking for an amazing cake to be the centrepiece of my birthday tea party and I fell in love with this one.

A very talented baker in my area (Christine Baker Dewberry) is going to have a go at creating this beautiful piece of confectionary art. I LOVE IT! If you would like to find out more about this cake please visit Cake Central- Teacup Cake . Want to know more about my talented friend Christine? Follow her work at Frosted 'n' Fancy

My Grandma's Teacups Scrapbooking and Craft Supplies: Come Join The Party

I have decided to hold my 40th birthday extravaganza online and you are invited to join me.

The theme for the party is a sort of Shabby Chic Mad Hatter Tea Party. Pull out your old fascinator from the Royal Wedding Celebrations a few years back. Dust off your boa and find your white gloves.

The party will be held February 9th, 2015 from 10-2. Please get some of your friends together for tea and take photos to share on the party page. I will be posting recipes, tutorials and pictures so that you can make the items from the party. I would LOVE to see you there. The hashtag for the event will be #40yearsofawesome and the FB link is https://www.facebook.com/events/898342846872622 Please RSVP so that I have an idea of how many people will be there.

We will be having some games and prizes too!

My Grandma's Teacups Scrapbooking and Craft Supplies: Cuppa Sunshine- Papercrafting Project

Happy New Year Crafty Friends. I pulled together a little project to get the year rolling. I am calling it my Cuppa Sunshine as it has been pretty dreary weather lately and I wanted a cute pick me up to decorate my studio.

Materials Needed:

• Card stock in three complimentary colours
• Designer Paper (Avonlea from Close To My Heart shown)
• Hot Glue Gun
• Tooth Picks 
• Glass or Crystal Beads
• Foam Mat (upside down mouse pad works like a charm)
• Stylus or rounded pen lid

This project uses the retired paper line "Avonlea" from Close To My Heart but if you can't get your hands on that, substitute it with your favourite paper. All of the die cuts are from designs found in the Cricut Artiste Cartridge.

I use a cricut explore so it allowed me to modify some of the cuts. If you are using an expression you may need to do a bit of fussy cutting to get the desired look. Feel free to use my cut files if you are using Cricut Design Space.

Teacup and Saucer











Flowers For Teacup

Teacup Assembly:

I first assemble the teacup (the scalloped piece) try to shape the teacup to be as circular as possible. Next add the handle. I used white daisy card stock but I think I should have chosen a thicker paper to give it the strength to support the cup. Glue the two handle parts together leaving the tabs separate. Glue the tabs on either side of the seam for the cup.  Use one of the gear pieces as a bottom for your cup. You can glue the tabs inside for stability or outside and cover it with the design paper.  Use the other crescent shaped piece (cut from designer paper) to decorate your cup.

You should only have two pieces left at this point. Take the semi-circle and glue the two edges together to form as doughnut and use the remaining gear to support it. It takes a bit of shaping to make the saucer sit flat. I used a stylus and foam pad on the reverse side of the paper to form a ring around the edge of the saucer and around the circle formed by the gear. TA-DA your cup and saucer should look fabulous at this point.

Do you have a small square of floral foam or even some scavenged play dough? Hot glue it to the inside of your cup to support the flowers we are going to make.

Flower Assembly:

Now for the fun part. Cut our your flowers and foliage. It really does not matter what posies you choose but I find working in three's makes for a nice balanced look. I ink my cut outs at this point. I do this for two reasons, I like the look of inked pieces and also it changes the structure of the paper making it more pliable thus making my shaping easier.

I know at this point you want to get rolling with the flowers but honestly it works out much better if you work on your leaves first. Take each piece of foliage and place it face down on a foam pad. Use a stylus or pen lid (whatever you have) to work the leaves so that they stretch and begin to curve. Turn your leaves over and have a look. If they are not curled enough, turn them over and keep going. Once you have them nicely shaped you will want to lay them over the top of your teacup to get an idea of how they will look. Using your hot glue gun attach the leaves to the foam square. Don't glue it on tight. You just was to have a few contact point to work around.

Take your flowers and repeat the shaping process. You may want to use a pencil to roll the petals back a bit to create a bit of interest. Once they are molded you take the out most edge and hot glue it to a toothpick. I saw this on a  Tim Holtz Video and thought it was brilliant. Slowly roll the flower trying to space the petals so that that they don't all line up. I like to stop about mid curl and put another dot of hot glue. When you come to the end of the curl let it fluff back out a bit before gluing it to its base. Now you should have a perfect flower on a stick. Go ahead and fuss over it. The more you work with it the more realistic it looks.  Once the six rolled flowers are done its time to make the petal flowers. I liked mine with just the two layers but feel free to experiment to see what you like. Attach the first layer to the toothpick by gluing the tab to the side of the flower and then poking the stick through while the glue is hot. Be sure to leave some of the stick showing through the top. Add your additional layers. After you are done adding layers finish it off with a pretty glass bead. Be sure that the toothpick stays safely beneath the surface of the bead.

I like to work with one type of flower at a time and I start by placing them in a triangle. Then I work on the next colour of flower creating an additional triangle. Using the remaining petal flowers fill in the spots. Use an extra leaves to fill up the gaps. Make sure that you like the design before you use the hot glue and fasten them in place.

Enjoy!