A Big Change at Archiver's

Archiver's has been working for weeks on their new Memory Lab, which seems like a good idea for a place called Archiver's. I think there have been lots of people looking to print photos so they can also get the right stuff to store the photos safely. And there is not a place in Easton to get print developed (Walmart is across the road and so is Target). But the Lab also doesn't seem to really belong in Archiver's because most scrapbookers (that I notice on ScrapMania nights) get their photos developed by Shutterfly or Snapfish. Hopefully, Archiver's will have a good price on the Lab development. Their photo copying of 12x12" pages and the Sony and Kodak photo machines' photo development are rather expensive.

 The store have been using one of the restrooms for a storage closet as they rearranged the store for the new Lab. That has been a pain during the full house ScrapManias, especially the week the open restroom wasn't working.  They discontinued the Sony photo machine and the Kodak Picture Maker, though the machines are still in the store. They had to move practically all the items in the store to empty one of the display bays. They had a training session the other night but I heard the trainer was running late so

 I'm not sure the session went as planned.

On Friday night, one of the new croppers was trying to use the new Memory Lab. 

But the new Lab wasn't working right. The lady had forgotten her photos and was trying to print some so she had something to work on. But the Lab wasn't working and the Sony and Kodak machines were not available either.

Here's a couple of pictures of the Memory Lab. It took over the area where wedding and birthday items used to be and a lot of racks of paper. The moving of all the items has made the store a bit crowded and you can't find stuff. The Lab seems like a lot of space for what little equipment is really in the area. It looks like a photo area for Walgreen's or Walmart.  It seems like the area is missing a big table in the middle of the empty space. I don't know what I was expecting for the Lab but I'm not sure this was it. I didn't explore the area as they were having a glitch in it. I was surprised that we didn't get a coupon when we signed in for the ScrapMania.

Hopefully, next week, the new Memory Lab will be working better and I get a better look at it all. I'll let you know next week.

Card making on Fri. and Sat.

I did get to go to Archiver's Table 7 on Friday night but late. My dog had some surgery on Thurs. and I had to wait to pick him up from the vet. He looks rather silly with the Elizabeth collar but he needs it.

Anyway, I had a request from my hubby that he needed some sympathy cards for work. He has kept a few of them in his desk and that supply was gone. So, Friday night, I started a bunch and finished them today.

Purple plaid paper was on sale at Michael's as was the Martha Stewart stamp set. I stamped the flower box and cut it out then pop-dotted on the white rectangle. The stamp set had a bunch of tiny flowers, birds, leaves, and butterflies. I used the stamp with 3 teeny tiny flowers and made my own lilac flowers. I got the color shading by inking the stamp once but stamping the image twice. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. I  had been carrying it to and from crop nights before I finally used it last night. 

This card was my favorite of the night.

The flowers are Hero Arts flowers I found at Archiver's last night. The banner is 2 pieces of scrap paper. The sentiment is from the same sympathy set by Hero Arts. The strips are a bit bold but somehow, I didn't have all the paper I needed the other night.

JilliBean double-sided paper and some scrap of burnt orange were used for this card. The flower is from the Hero Arts sympathy set and the tiny sentiment is from Inky Antics' Simple Sentiments set. I added a few gems.

This double-sized paper was from Archiver's but I don't remember the name of it. It has red and cream stripes on the other side, which I used too on another card. I used a bit of Queen & Co. washi tape and more of the Hero Arts flowers with some green pearls. The bits of green swirls are from the border punch I used on another card. The butterflies are from the Martha Stewart set.

The sentiment is from Inky Antics set.

I completed a stack of sympathy cards. I gave my hubby and my girlfriends a few each, and I'll take a few to school to have on hand. I don't like making sympathy cards so I make a bunch and just hang on to them.

 I made a few cards with scraps from Table 7's cropping. The girlfriends save the bits and strips for me throughout the evening and then I make a few cards for them, using the bits. Some strips are just big enough to stamp a sentiment  on while other pieces are big enough for a base. Thanks, girlfriends!!

Table 7 on April 5

I got a few cards completed on Friday at Table 7. It was busy at Archiver's so we only had our regular space. No spreading out that night. It was the first night in 2 weeks since I had been at Archiver's due to Spring Break.

I needed to make a couple of cards for my brother and my sister to thank them for the Spring Break Road Trip. Archiver's had the Delaware stickers I had looked for in A.C.Moore. I used pieces from a paper os Simple Stories for the front of the cards. At Archiver's, I bought a new stamp set by Momenta (http://www.momenta.com/Shop/Products/Stamps/Stamp-Sets/We-Go-Together-Mix---Match-Message-Wood-Stamp-Set.aspx) for the we go together. On the inside of the cards, it says perfectly everywhere. On the first card, I used the film strip border punch and added the little Delaware stickers instead of pictures. The other card has Simple Stories travel chipboard stickers.

My sister has a retreat for quilters coming up in May. I usually make a card for the participants. I made these cards for the retreat. I cut the pinwheels using a 3" square and folding the edges down. I punched the little heart to help keep the ends down in the center. I used a sentiment from a sympathy stamp set and set the sentiment on a bigger punched heart. I bought the green and white straws by Queen & Co. that night too and cut them in half for this card design. The straws were stiff to flatten the end under the pinwheel. I used Brazzil dotted Swiss paper for the cards.  I got about 32 cards made since I could get 16 3" squares out of one piece of double-sized paper by Simple Stories from the Hello Summer package. I gave a few cards to the girls of Table 7.

I won!! 

I won one of the drawings. 

I love Simple Stories papers!!

 I got a package of paper, a set of stickers, a set of  journal blocks, and a new black pen. What fun!!

Treats at school

Just a few things. At school, we had a St. Pat luncheon on March 14. One of the teachers found this cute recipe on Pinterest and made them. He said he didn't realize how much time the eggs would take. But the hatching chicks deviled eggs turned out really cute!!

Another teacher had posted  a picture of cookies she was making for her family's Easter dinner on FB. I teased her that I wanted one please. So when we returned to school on April 1st, she had this cutie cookie by my computer. It was really good. I waited all day till after dinner to share with my hubby. She used a cookie glaze recipe to make the chick. I don't think I could get the recipe the right consistency to make cuties like this.

National Craft Month - March 28- Treat Thursday Family version

The brother and sisters had been teasing me about Treat Thursdays. So I baked cookies on Thursday just for them. Sugar Cookies for the sister and Chocolate Chip Cookies with walnuts. They loved them! The sister quickly claimed her sugar cookies and the brother put some of the Chocolate Chip Cookies in his freezer. We did have to stop at the grocery store for the ingredients I use regularly and weren't in his pantry.  Here's my favorite  Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and it uses butter Crisco. I add a bit more flour to keep the cookies softer. By following the recipe, you can bake the cookies so they are crisper.

 It is from Crisco's website. Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Sugar Cookies are a family favorite and it is not on the net yet. I'll have to find my copy and post it later.  My sister had her husband scan her copy so we could have it at my brother's house. 

Isn't technology great??

National Craft Month - March 26 - A. C. Moore

While we were traveling without the guys, my sister and I stopped by this store. Either of us had ever been to an A.C. Moore store and I talked my sister into stopping for a few minutes. My sister didn't find any quilt fabric so she went back to the car to make a few phone calls. But I only wandered around the scrapbook aisles for a bit. 

I found some ink sets, ribbon, stamps, and stamp sets on clearance. They had stacks of paper on sale so I got some of those - DCVW neutral stack, Lost and Found Portobello Road by My Mind's Eye, and Lush 2 Navy Stack by My Mind's Eye. The 2 MME stacks were not something I usually see so I nabbed them. 

I bought some stickers of the states I was traveling to but they didn't have any Delaware stickers. A.C.Moore had 6x6" stacks on sale too so I picked up one with month papers in it and a floral one.

 I'm not sure about the store. It is very similar to a small Michael's  

but carries brands I see in Hobby Lobby. I didn't have time to look around the whole store. 

I did sign up for their rewards card though.

The last thing I plucked off the shelf was this book. 

Maybe it will help my blog, which is basically for me and my thoughts.

National Craft Month - March 25 - LEGO's

It is Monday and it is snowing/raining/snowing so we headed to the Mall for a day inside on our Spring Break Road Trip.  The Mall had a LEGO store. I used to buy lots of LEGO's for my sons but they are older now and don't play LEGO's anymore. This set was a special spring set and I had to buy it. The cherry blossoms weren't quite ready to bloom in DC so we didn't make the trip up there on the Spring Break Road Trip. I really loved the cherry tree in this set so I had to buy it. My sister laughed when she passed the bedroom I was staying in and see saw all the pieces on the bed. It was fun and easy to put together. The completed set made it home without breaking and sits on display in my kitchen. A bit of spring till my spring flowers bloom.

National Craft Month - March 23 - Dino

While  you might not think of a gas pump as art, I see it as art, especially those old pumps. This pump was at a McDonald's we stopped at for a quick lunch on our Spring Break Road Trip. The colors are bright. The green Dinosaur is an icon. Don't you remember it from road trips when you were stuck in the backseat with your brother, who was so annoying at times. I was pleased to see that someone took the time to restore the gas pump. The McDonald had a race theme inside the restaurant.

National Craft Month - March 22 - Art

ART!!

This piece of art is by the art teacher at school. The art teachers in the district were asked to paint a canvas for a district meeting. Our art teacher did this one. It is still wrapped in plastic for the trip to the meeting so the photo has some glare on it.  I think the theme of the meeting was "I wish, I dream, I believe" so the art teachers used those ideas in their art. I just love the electric green tree and the stars in this painting.

National Craft Month - March 21 - Treat Thursday

Every Thursday  I take treats to the school where I work. I do this because I love to bake sweets and make food. But if I make treats at home, I eat them all and my hubby might eat one. So, I make something I enjoy and share the rest at school. I set the treats out at the staff lunchtime and whoever wants one can enjoy them. Usually it is cookies or cupcakes. Once a month, I make a chocolatey bark treat.

This bark is easy!! Start with a cookie sheet. Sprinkle nuts, chocolate chips, broken animal crackers, broken pretzels, raisins, marshmallows, sweet cereal, whatever you have on hand. Melt a big bag of melting chocolate like Wilton melting disks and spread over the goodies. Shake on some sprinkles and let it all cool. Then break into small pieces and store in an air-tight container. I used to measure the ingredients but now I just throw them on the cookie sheet. For this St. Patrick version, I spread chocolate first then I dropped some melted green disks and finally drizzled white melted disks over it all. The teachers and staff love this treat!! I had a bag of pretzel rods so I dipped the ends in the melted chocolate and drizzled green and white chocolate over it and added shamrock sprinkles.

National Craft Month - March 20 - Bears

I updated my Facebook photo with this little scene. The bears are part of my teddy bear collection. At last count a couple of years ago, I had over 600 stuffed bears of all sizes and colors. That number doesn't count jewelry and glass figures. 

But you ask what does this cute photo have to do with National Craft Month? I'm counting the photography as the craft. It took me several shoots in this photo shoot. I had shadows then too much glare and finally a good pic. I did a bit of editing of the photo on my computer. I just use Microsoft Office Picture Manager for cropping and a bit of color balancing. I don't have the patience for PhotoShop since I haven't taken a good class for that program yet.