Photo Expressions

Cool Technique - Rubon Resist

Here is a cool technique from Jennifer McGuire.  Using Rubons with a resist technique.  Visit here for how to and samples.  Can't wait to try this one.

New stuff

Here is just a small sampling of some of the new stuff that has gone out recently at PE.  I know I have not been posting these very often lately (I promise I will try to do better!), so this is what I can remember from my hotel in Cody, Wyoming.
 

Magazine Cover Transparencies from Creative Imaginations are 8x10 to fit portrait photos and come in 12 designs to look like popular magazines. This would be great in a frame or as part of a 12x12 layout. Here are a few of the styles:

"Infuse" One of the new lines from Basic Grey. Pretty browns and pinks.

New Fresh Prints Collections in Cherry, Mango, and Pear from Deja Views.  Love the colours in these.  Check out their cool new website here

Lots of new books have come in recently.  Here are a few of them:

Introducing our all-new Babies 2007 Idea Book! Every year, Babies is one of the fastest selling books! Whether you have a baby, have had a baby, or your baby is 20 years old, this book will help you document those early years in a way like no other book has before! Everything from pregnancy, announcements, newborn, toddler and more!  Also, you'll love the sections on mini albums and even home-decor projects!

Journalling Your Stories Idea book.

Every life has stories to tell - and every scrapbooker wants to tell them. Journaling expert Kara Henry has a deep conviction about the importance of journaling in scrapbooks, and she has gathered hundreds of great ideas that will take your own stories from elusive memory to the to the written word. Prompts, suggestions, and tips for more meaningful journaling will help you find the right words to scrapbook everything from everyday events to special occasions, from relationships to the things that make you laugh. Go from writer’s block to a scrapbook full of memories—share your stories!

Mini albums continue to be one of the hottest trends in scrapbooking – they are the perfect way to showcase memories, record a special event or capture a feeling.With techniques, instructions and the fun stories behind the creation of each book, this is your must-have resource for making albums of all types. Document vacations, school activities, celebrations, babies, your love for a special someone, and much more. Create your own amazing album today!

August issue of Cards - full of great Card ideas.

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This is a reorder of this book from CK Media.  Packed with fabulous tips on organizing all your supplies from very basic to very creative.

My Creative Companion 2 is the ultimate collection of ideas for everything from the smallest accent to complete layout designs. Packed with colorful illustrations and simple explanations, it will become a constant source of instant inspiration.  Inside, you'll find:More than 825 full-color illustrations of innovative accents, borders, photo mats, and journaling and title treatments that can be easily duplicated or customized. Over 135 layout sketches for single and multiple photos you can use today. Quick-and-easy color combination, background and texture ideas. 60 never-before-seen layouts that showcase the sketches' adaptability and flexibility.

Rebecca Cooper is a regular, everyday scrapbooker—just like you. She stretches her supplies, thrives on design shortcuts, and scrapbooks when her kids are asleep. In Real.Life.Scrapbooking. she shares simple, beautiful pages about her small-town life, plus easy layout solutions that you can use right away, including building blocks for easy pages and simple schemes. You’ll walk away from Rebecca’s book with tons of tips and inspiring ideas to try—but more importantly, you’ll learn to appreciate your own extra-ordinary life.

Scrapbook Styles Defined by Blue Media (who Published the great Blueprint layout series) Have you ever wondered about all the different scrapbooking styles, and the       people who have mastered them? Do you want to get the look, but can't seem       to define what it is you like about that style? Have you struggled to find       your own style in scrapbooking? Then you won't want to miss this book! With hundreds of examples, you'll find yourself       inspired to try it on your own, and our How-To's will help you do it.       Learn the tricks and secrets to getting the results and the looks you       want.

New storage by Tim Holtz. Stylish solutions for organizing and storing your stamping and crafting supplies.  Leave as is or embellish them to your hearts content.

new Hero Arts Collage stamps.  Free idea book with purchase.  Lots of cool new styles.

The rolling bag has finally arrived.  I can't wait until I get home to buy mine!

Silhouette 2 for 1 downloads

Tamara sent me a heads up that the Silhouette downloads from QuicKutz are 2 for 1 right now.  So a 5 download card will get you 10.  A 20 download card would get you 40!

Thanks Tam for letting us know.

Michele

Travel update

I've been thoroughly enjoying my travels with my family.  We stayed a few extra days in Chicago once the trade show finished to visit with family.  Of course we also had to go and have lunch and shop at American Girl

Finished off this day with a picnic at Millennium Park.  This is a very cool park in downtown Chicago. Every night during the summer there is a FREE concert - from bands to world class Orchestras - you name it, they play here.  People come and picnic and listen.  It is so cool.  Even saw some people who brought tables and wine and fancy dinners.

There is also a big water play area with these huge walls that have faces on them.  The faces smile for awhile and then their mouths open and water pours out.  The kids love it.  We hadn't brought bathing suits to the park, but the girls ended up soaking wet and squealing with delight anyway!

We then spent a few days in Appleton Wisconsin visiting with one of Doug's cousins and her family.  Had a great time and the kids lived in the small pool.  On the way to Appleton we found a Jelly Belly factory and went on a tour.  Yummy.


We are now on our way home.  Tonight we are in Rapid City, South Dakota.  We will be doing some more sightseeing on the way home including a day in Yellowstone Park.  Oh and today we saw a Hawaii license plate!  What are the chances?!  We now only have 3 states left - Rhode Island, Delaware and Louisianna.

Michele

CHA Updates

Just in case you missed one of our newsletters with the CHA summer updates, you can view all the updates
here .  All these wonderful new products will be coming in from this coming week until about the end of October.  So exciting!
Michele

Creative Cafe coming to Photo Express

Creative Café: Looks Like a Candy Store, Feels Like a Community

I am very excited that PE will be one of the 200 stores offering Creative Cafe from Creative Imaginations.  This is a very cool concept and you can check out the Creative Imaginations blog here to read more about it. We are going to be having "Happy Hour"!  How cool is that?!  There will be 6 new projects every month and tons of inspiration.  Of course I have no idea where I am going to put it!  But felt it was worth it to figure out.  Coming late fall so stay tuned.  We will be having a party for sure!

Trust Us With Your Memories,

Michele

Reminder July Club special almost done

Reminder that the club special for July is almost done.  Get your 5x7's!

Kudos to Kate

Just wanted to send out a big "Kudos to Kate" for surviving another trade show with me.  I know it looks fun and glamorous, but it is really a lot of work.  It is long days (usually 14-18 hours), lots of walking, lots of talking and lots of ordering.  There is no time for the brain to rest in between.  And of course, since I am like the energizer bunny, no time to rest either.  She did a great job of keeping up, keeping me on track, and taking all the wonderful photos for you and getting them onto the website.  So give her a big thanks next time you see her.

Michele

CHA Update Part 2

It is continuing to be one of those days as Typead would not let me add anything to the previous post, so I'll just start another one. It is getting late so I will won't go into great detail here, just list the companies and show the pictures so you get some idea. Many of their websites have great photos up, it is still nice to see though, how we see it on the show floor.

Autumn Leaves

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Basic Grey what more do I need to say?

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Fancy Pants is quickly becoming a PE favourite.  Tanya will be using one of their brand new lines at the Vancouver Crop for Children in October.

Imaginisce

 

Ok, the internet is not co-operating with me.  I am going to put the photos of the "Friends of PE" we were with today, and try to get the rest of the photos on tomorrow night. Stay Tuned for more updates.

With Rachel from Basic Grey and David from Scrapbook Trends Magazine

Camille (with the blue skirt) and her husband John own a beautiful store in Southern California called Ever After Scrapbooks .  I've always said hi in passing at the shows.  This time at the preshow previews I attended, I sat beside Camille one day and really enjoyed her company and her sense of humor (just ask me about the evil twin story). That is one of the things I love about the trade shows, is all the great people we get to meet and become friends with.

Many of you know Gary from QuicKutz .  I seem to have shrunk in this picture or he just grew!  A big hi from QuicKutz goes out to all you Crew Members!

Laurie is one of my vendor reps.  She is always a treat to walk the show floor with.

Part of the Crew from My Mind's Eye , Jen, Marcia, Madison and me.  Jen and Marcia are responsible for creating this wonderful company and Madison is a hoot to listen to and watch.  He is very passionate about MME and scrapbooking and can often be found with a crowd of adoring women following him.

CHA Update 4 part 1

Did you ever have one of those days?  Today was a great day, but also one of those days.  It's a very long story (you know how my traveling stories go - always an adventure!) but we ended up without a hotel room for tonight.  Our options were to go stay at my husband's Aunts house which while tons of fun, is not conveniently close to the convention center and is chock full of relatives all come in for the weekend, so the chances of getting any work done were nil. Our other choice was the offer of our dear friend Jennifer from Lasting Memories (a beautiful store in Lynwood, WA if you are ever in that area you must go visit)to stay in her hotel room since she had a suite.  We gladly took her up on her offer and went to stay with her and her daughter Megan and have had a great time chatting about our stores, and the industry.  Jennifer is one of my favourite industry friends and I always enjoy our conversations. The only downside is the internet connection here is not strong so we aren't able to do our update on the website.  So now it is midnight, and everyone else has gone to bed.  I can't leave you high and drive, so I am able to get the photos onto my blog - not as pretty as the website, but will still give you an idea of what we accomplished today.

Started out the day with another of my favourite industry friends Kristi Sikora-Blankenship from Cropper Hopper. (actually we figure we are twins separated at birth - she is one of the few people I know that talks as fast as I do and is as animated and excitable and go go go as me.  Just love her!) We took a little video clip of something that will be happening at PE this fall and because of the internet situation here, you'll have to wait until we get home to find out all about it.  It is very exciting and it is something that you and I are going to do together.  Can't wait!

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Piggy Tales has been on of our favourites right from it's beginnings.  Debbie and her husband Ryann (and many of you remember the adorable picture of their son Chace as a baby - he is now almost 2 so too old to be allowed on the show floor) are expecting their second son in September. Such a nice couple.  She has designed some very cool papers again with very fresh clean colours.  And their new Hide and Seek flap book is so cute!  Watch for some classes with this at PE and Kate is also going to use this for her Monkey see class at the Vancouver Crop for Kids event in October. Here are their 4 new lines and the board book.

July's Groovy New QuicKutz Release

How cute are these?! Get ready to blast into the pasts with these retro fashions and icons from the 50's, 60's and 70's. And the fashions fit the Paper Doll Set!  Look what you can do with them (the boy doll looks just like a teacher I had in elementary school!)

And here are all the new goosebumpz shapes for the Squeeze and Revolutions

Check out some sample projects with these dies and groove on over to PE to get yours!

Here we go

Kate and I are just getting ready to head to the show floor for the first day.  Wish us luck as we walk miles and miles to bring you the latest and greatest.

Michele and Kate from Chicago

Natasha Hixon sends thank you and good news

Wanted to share this thank you with you from Natasha Hixon of QuicKutz.  I know everyone loved having her at PE. I'm so excited for the Hixon's that Katiana will be home soon!

Michele

Michele-
Wow!!! I can't believe how fast the summer is going! I had such a wonderful time with you and all the PE crew that attended the soiree in June! Thank you for inviting me!!! AND THANK YOU for the beautiful album! I just love it and have loved showing it off!!!

I also wanted to share my good news!!! We are going to get Katiana soon!!! Our file was signed out of the "black hole" on Monday so it looks like we will travel to Haiti sometime in August. You can share my adoption blog with your PE friends who are interested. http://threemorehixons.blogspot.com
Thanks again and sorry to be so slow with expressing my gratitude to you and your wonderful customers!

Cheers!
Natasha

CHA updates

You can look for updates daily (or should I say "middle of the nightly") on our website.  Visit here for updates.  We are having lots of fun and ordering tons of great new products for you.

Safe in Chicago

We arrived last night safe and sound in Chicago and it was only 79 degrees!  This week is supposed to be fairly cool (only in the high 80's) and by the weekend the hot Chicago weather is supposed to be back.

Had a great day sitting on Auntie Linda's deck.  They have a beautiful old brick house with a gorgeous yard.  I'll have to take a picture to show you.  They have a great deck to sit on and enjoy the outdoors.  And we also went to Target today.  Sure wish we had one of those at home.  The girls picked out very cool new lunchkits for school and we found lots of other neat stuff.  Kate arrived safe and sound tonight and as I type, is sleeping soundly getting ready for the busy days ahead.

Tomorrow (or is that today!) we have 12 hours of vendor previews, presentations and ordering of all the latest and greatest that will be released at CHA.  (I know, tough job, but someone's got to do it *wink*)  Watch tomorrow night (or during the day if the room has WIFI) for pictures of what we are ordering for you.

Michele