Febrary Kit Club - Stella Ruby Cards and Holder

Something new is happening at Keepsakes! Starting this month we will be offering 3 different kits each month for you to enjoy! Each kit will be complete with all you need to do the project, including instructions, papers, embellishments, and products! These kits are not offered as classes, and the only way you can get them is through our store! Each month there will be a card kit, scrapbooking kit, and project kit. They are beautiful and you won't want to miss them! Order all 3 and get a discount.

Here is the February Card Kit. Four cards and a tote made with the beautiful Stella Ruby papers. Call Keepsakes for more details and to sign up!






Stay tuned for February's Scrapbook and Project kits or stop by the store to see them all and sign up!

Mom and Me Valentine's Class!

This quarter we are introducing a new kind of class - for moms AND kids! If you'd like to share your love of scrapbooking and cardmaking with your kids in a new way, these classes are for you! The first Mom and Me class is this Saturday, and we'll be making valentines - perfect for kids to pass out at school! Each mom/kid pair will make 10 valentines, 2 each of 5 designs. We will learn a few new techniques, and have fun together! The valentines are simple enough to be duplicate at home and all 10 can be made from one sheet of Scenic Route paper, plus cardstock. If you'd like to join in the fun, call the store to sign up! Here are the details:

Mom & Me Valentine Class
Saturday, February 9th 1pm – 3pm $20 ($10 for each additional child)
Instructor: Elizabeth Wickland

Bring your child and come for an afternoon of fun. With your child create 10 fun
valentines for them to share with friends, family , or whoever. A great chance to
include your child in crafting!

Next Week's Classes!

Our first classes of the Winter '08 schedule are next week and they should be fun! The first is:

Hero Arts Valentines
taught by Sheila
Wednesday, February 6th
6-8:30pm
$20
Create darling Valentine cards appropriate for loves ones
and friends. We will be using a new set of clear stamps by
Hero Arts which will be yours to keep. Please bring your
own acrylic block.

Altered Edges
taught by Susan Beth
Thursday, February 7th
6-9pm
$20
Create awesome pages using different edged papers, fun
embellishments, and more. A very artsy class you won't want
to miss!


Call the store to sign up for these great classes or stop by and
see the projects in person!

Winter 2008 Class Schedule

The Open House was a success! Lots of you stopped by to see the projects and sign up for classes and plenty of you took advantage of the store wide sale. If you missed the Open House, newsletter, or still haven't decided which classes you want to take, here is the Winter '08 Class Schedule. (Click on the image to open a full screen version)

Another Sneak Peek

Only 2 days until the Open House!

**ALL NEW** Kit Club!!

Here are some sneak peeks at February's Card Kit!! See the whole project at the open house on Saturday!

Book Club Projects - That's Life!

by Susan Beth

Tonight was the big night for sharing our projects inspired by the "That's Life" book by Nic Howard. Here are the projects (I think most if not all of them) that were presented tonight, along with a brief description of what in the book was the inspiration for the project. This time all of the projects are scrapbook pages.

Let's start with Barb's pages. She brought three to share that were inspired by this book. First is this one with the heart sewn over the photo. The idea of sewing over photos and using sewing to frame elements in scrapbook pages is prevalent in the book, and really a great idea.


This next one by Barb is inspired by the subject of one of Nic's layouts - Caffeine O'Clock on page 103 of the book - it seems that Nic is not the only one who must get a caffeine fix during the day. Barb and her daughter turn it into both an infusion and a chance to catch up with each other.

Barb's got some great details going there with the numbers, the clock face, and a tag for journaling.
This next one is of Barb's son as he left for a long (I think a year or so) trip to Japan. It is inspired by Nic's account of world travel these days on page 59 of the book. Barb included that brilliant red sun because it is what she saw through tears as she drove home from the airport that day! So appropriate for sending off her son to Japan!
Now, switching gears to Jan's projects. Jan always impresses, and no disappointment here! She felt inspired by the layout on page 101 about a woman's husband's mental health issues. Here Jan bares her soul about her own wrestling with OCD after her son was born - and in class she warned us that it is not an uncommon postpartum issue ( I assume somehow related to the postpartum depression we hear so much about. Anyway, here is the two page layout:

And here are a couple of chances to see some of the details:


And this is another project from Jan, inspired by Nic's call to scrapbook about everyday things that will help those who see the pages to get to know the people highlighted a little better. This one is about the sleeping habits of her family - really, quite humorous when you get a chance to read all of the journaling!Take a look at this pull-out hidden behind one of the main photos! This is something Jan is known for, and it is well executed here!
Jan said these papers and embellishments were RAKed to her, and not what she would have selected left to her own devises, but look what a great job she did with them! Way to expand your horizons Jan!
For the first time tonight we were joined by Kristii, and is she ever a great scrapbooker. She was inspired by Nic's "Five" layout on page 57 of the book - especially by the circles! Great use of circles (and really, a stunningly beautiful daughter as well!)

But look at the detail in these three dimensional butterflies! They are gorgeous!
So beautiful, we have to get another look at them!

Wow! What a beautiful page!

Last, but hopefully not least are my three lay outs. Now, before showing them, I have to say that for me Nic and her book have been a huge inspiration since the day I got the book four or more months ago! I just love the distressing and sewing techniques she uses, as well as the paper layering. And I'm am really excited about the expanded horizons when I get away from event scrapbooking and begin to do something more about life in general. So, here are my pages:

This first one is inspired by the "Neighbour" layout on page 69 - using the idea of a block of multiple photos. Also, I love incorporating stitching into the mix of a page!

Next I've got a layout inspired by two different pages from the book. I, like Kristii was very impressed with the Five layout on page 57 - I got my circle on the side of this layout from that.

And I also love the cluster of elements and decor down in the corner, which was inspired by the "So Cool" layout on page 39 of the book.


These photos are of Jansse several years ago, before Halloween. We went on a hike, and he was so in love with his costume that he insisted on wearing it and bringing along the wooden axe accessory for the entire hike. So typical of Jansse, even to this day! He was just three, and seeing him dressed as some sort of knight/viking out in the woods was so magical!
Next is a layout that really is so inspired by Nic's style in general - distressed edges, sewing on each of the many layers of paper, and lots of layers! And, its just about Jansse carrying his package from the gate to the house! Not that he gets packages every day, but the idea of photographing this part of the surprise was so fun!

The detail shots show some of the distressing and sewing I'm so enamored with. Also, I got the idea of using layers of paper within the journaling from the "Beautiful" layout on page 96 of the book.

So, that's it for this month - several people were not able to attend tonight, so we don't have as many projects as we'd hoped. But, if they get me photos of what they've done, I'll be sure to post them so you can all get a good look at them.

Next month we meet on the 18th, and we are doing projects inspired by the book "Designing with Details" from the wonderful team at Autumn Leaves.

Sneak Peek - Valentines

Here's a sneak peek at one of the classes offered this quarter! You'll want to be sure to stop by the Open House next Saturday to get a look at all the great classes offered! We've got some new things coming your way in the next few months - some new things in the store and some new things on the blog - so you'll want to stay tuned! We're excited about the changes and can't wait for you to get a taste of what's to come!

Save the Date!!

Keepsakes Winter Open House!!

Saturday, January 26th
10:00a-5:30p

Come see all the new projects and sign up for classes!
You won't want to miss it!

Hero Arts Sale!!!

Special Catalog Sale

The wonderful new Hero Arts Catalog is here!!!

Stop by and check out the catalog full of hundreds of new images.

WHATEVER you like, we'll order for you

at 20% Off

Don't miss out, get brand new product at a great Discount!!!

Sale ends January 28th

Coming Soon!!

The design team has met, the classes have been chosen, and the schedule is in the works. So just bear with us as the newsletter will be coming soon!!

In the meantime, here's a sneak peek at one of the upcoming class projects. We've got good stuff coming your way, from Valentine's cards to layouts to home decor projects, so stay tuned!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

from all of us at Keepsakes

May your holidays be full of joy and cheer
and spent with friends and family dear.

Another Book Club Project!

This project was done by Jenn Claar, one of the Keepsakes design team members. Like the other book club projects for this month, it was inspired by "The Foof~A~Life" published by Autumn Leaves. She made it to give as a gift and designed it to match the nursery decor. Isn't it wonderful? It is also one of the 1st place winners from the Keepsakes Retreat!! Congratulations, Jenn! Thank you for sharing your beautiful work with us!

Scrapbooking Book Club

written by Susan Beth Breuner

Every third Monday of the month a Scrapbooking Book Club meets at Keepsakes. We've changed our format from using pre-assembled books and kits from a third-party company to selecting our own books or magazines and producing something that was inspired by the book. Below are a few results from this month. Lots of fun. All of these projects were inspired in one way or another from the book "The Foof~a~Life" published by Autumn Leaves.

First is my project, a mini tag book with a Christmas theme:

The handwritten words are from the first and second chapters of the Gospel of Luke.

I used a stamp of the baby in a manger on each page, although it is difficult to see here.

It was a lot of fun to put this book together!

I had grand hopes of making eight or nine of these books for Christmas, but don't get your hopes up, because it just didn't happen. Maybe another year.

This next project is from Rosie Faust, a local scrapbooker whom I admire. She takes a lot of my classes, but she knows enough to be teaching practically all of them. She does wonderful work, and is inspiring!

Those are Rosie's hands as she shows us the dimensional aspects of the flowers she hand cut for this page. The folks in the photo are her parents and other relatives, many of whom have passed away - great job of getting them documented so future generations will know a little about them.

You can see some more of her cut work in this photo.

And here you see the interactive journaling block.


And this next project is by Barb Larsen, who travels a long way to join us. It is a photo of her daughter Sara, who is also in the book club. The photo is of her first experience with Chocolate, which has lead to an apparent obsession.

This project was actually inspired by the book we are doing next month, called "That's Life" by Nic Howard, otherwise known as Nic from NZ because she's from New Zealand. Barb is just a bit ahead of the rest of us.

Love the layering of the clock transparency over book paper with the glitter heart topping it off.

The thing that inspired Barb was to run the title up the left side of the page. Very effective!

This project by Jan Astrom is really wonderful! She has a whole story about how the man featured in this project is an ancestor of her husbands, who was a famous shell collector - the photocopied pages from a book are about him and his excellence in shell collecting. Pretty neat family history.

She mounted all of this on a painters canvas - beautiful job!

And the shells are shells that were actually part of the ancestor's collection! Wow! What a family heirloom she has created!

So, book club is inspiring! Believe me when I say that my photography does not do these projects justice! We are having a great time together! And, it insures that nerds like me who could never skip a homework assignment get at least one project a month accomplished - I'm afraid that some months that's about all I can do, although I dream of doing oh so much more!

If you're interested in joining the fun each month, inquire at the store. The book club meets at 6pm on the 3rd Monday of each month. It's a great group of gals and you can see that the books and projects are awesome!

Product Review - Foil Glitter Flock

Have you seen these We R Memory Keepers sets at Keepsakes? I picked one up a couple weeks ago and have had an absolute blast playing with them! They are amazing. The kit consists of two pages of adhesive rub ons and 3 sheets each of foil, glitter, and flocking to use with the rub ons. If you've ever wanted to try gold foil or flocking and have been intimidated - this is for you! It's practically fool proof and comes with instructions to get you started. These rub ons work well on cards, layouts, photos - you name it. It's definitely worth a look. I know I'm hooked on them.