Staci Shuck

Assemblage

Never thought I would enjoy it but...never say never!!!  I absolutely LOVED working with these bits and pieces, bobbles and bubbles, bottle caps, stickers, inks and jump rings.....
to create this...
a charming necklace that is definitely not what I usually wear but... I will definitely wear this one!   Each and every one of those charms is a technique all by itself!  They are tiny for the most part, some are old and some new but they blend together completely.  I learned many new techniques and was reminded of some I had forgotten. I'll now be using those techniques on more future projects! Thank you Mr. Tim Holtz for teaching us wonderful techniques with wonderful products!  Love it!
Next time there will be more friends coming along for the trip!  You know who you are!!!!

Stay tuned!

Staci

Adventures!

In between all the preparations and changes and more preparations for the BIG change...I managed to squeeze in a adventure with the girls...for some distressing, assembling, cardmaking, felting, stitching and knitting goodness.  The Tim Holtz classes and walking through Boston weren't to bad either!  I really had way to much to do to take a weekend off but just couldn't resist.  It was a super nice Spring getaway...shared with not only the girls but  Duke...
He was so excited to see us but definitely more excited about his rawhide bone!!!  Duke can most certainly communicate his feelings, expecially when he hears a camera turn on and he sees the red eye light flashing.  I'm pretty sure if he could speak, is exact words would have been something like this......."Put that camera away!  I do NOT want my picture taken right now, it's rawhide time!"  It was way to funny.  At least I got a picture though, the minute Kim grabbed her camera Duke gave her the evil eye!!!  What a pup!   He did finally pose and pause for this pic on the porch...
as we were getting ready to leave.  as if to say..."ah, okay, since you're leaving, go ahead..I'm ready now, take the picture"!  Such personality!   Enjoyed it immensely!  More on this adventure to come!  Thanks girls...can't wait for the next one! 

Stay tuned!  It's getting exciting around here!

Have a Creative weekend!

Staci

Instant Gratification

I enjoy it immensely...especially when it comes unexpectedly!  This....

is an hours work...no kidding!  I can't show you anymore just yet.  Know this...I used ALOT of my stash and single photos (you know those photos that are left behind because just can't squeeze one more on the page - or they may be duplicates)!!!!!

So glad I blog and get to share this with you!

More later!

Staci

Spring Cleaning Continues!!!!

Yep...I'm hard at it...little bits and pieces but getting things accomplished!  Things are still piled high but...not quite as high as they were!  On top of the pile were a few sheets of Jenni Bowlin's new embossed cardstocks.  I'm enjoying working with them and since they were on the top of the stack...I had no choice....had to work with them!  Here are some snippets of the pages I completed...

It's glorious...I tell you...just glorious...to work with!  Sand it and the color shows through...add Jenni Bowlin inks to it and the color changes...sand it again and the color changes again!  Sooooo many options!  Played a little more with embossing...this time with the Cricut and FULL 12" pages of cardstock.  Did this yellow border but will save the rest for later.
Loads of fun using my stash...even if it made just a little dent in the piles!  More later!

Happy Scrappin'!

Staci

Woohooo Craftiness, Classes and Crops!!!

The last 2 weeks have been a blurrrr but a reeeeeeallly fun blurrrrr with lots of craftiness, creativity, classes and crops!  Did I mention they've been filled with wonderful people, old friends and new!!!  Wonderfully lucky to be a part of it all!  Very thankful and excited and my little brain is whirling with ideas!!!!!  Woohooo!!!!!!   Let's start with the craftiness...


Some classes at Grove's....Don't Miss them....Register HERE NOW!!!!   Stephanie arrives in a few short weeks and we'll be doing a little of this....
and a little of this....
YOU WILL NOT WANT TO MISS IT!  SPREAD THE WORD TOOO!!!!!!!!

Finally some crop goodness!  I finished my "whirlwind tour" at Mahaffey Camp  a wonderful church camp nestled in the northern mountains of Pennsylvania.  I am so fortunate to get to attend this crop twice a year.  Love the people, the place and the comraderie!  Not to mention all the creativity!  This trip was no exception...Thank you Mahaffey Campers!!!!  See you in the Fall!!!!

Have a great week!  More progress on the "Spring Clean-Up" to share in the coming days!  Yep!  I AM finishing projects and cleaning out!

Happy Scrappin'!

Staci

Spring Cleaning {Monday} Madness!!!

It's mid March and the weather is unbelieveable.  I'm not sure what that means for us but I want to enjoy it a bit.  Only problem is that I promised myself that before Spring arrived I would have control over my Vintage, Stitchy, Artsy, Crafty, Scrappi-ness (mess)!  Sooo...today is the day (actually yesterday was the day) for the Spring Cleaning Craft Room Madness to begin!   

With that I got to work and you will be happy to know that I emptied this...
yes, that is the inside of an EMPTY bag...and a rather large bag at that!  One down....MANY to go!  In that bag were many  things, one of them was a mini album kit that was from a Creating Keepsakes Convention Class....maybe 8 years ago???? Surely, it hasn't been that long!  It looked like this...
when I pulled it out of the bag.  I got to work quickly and this is what I ended up with! 

Very happy to be Spring Cleaning and getting things done!  More goodness on the way! Stay tuned and Happy Cleaning!  There are great things in store for Monday Madness!

Have a great week!

Hugs,

Staci

March Monday Madness...Die Cutting!!!!

Happy Ides of March!!!  Doesn't seem like it should be March yet...haven't had enough snow, ice or even a good old fashion deep freeze!  You know...the kind where you nostrils stick together!!!  Haven't had much of it and I'm afraid to say that I'm kinda missing it!  There's still plenty of time though so I'll not get to dramatic about it!  The plus side of the calm weather is that we've been able to hold more classes and gatherings at Grove's!  That means loads of fun and lots of playing with all kinds of goodies!  I had great plans for the crop this weekend but a migraine brought a change in creative plans and the hubby had to step in for a few hours while I napped in dark solitude!  I really, really, really don't like when this happens and I know it's a sign that I'm doing to much, not watching what I'm eating and so on and so forth...(I haven't had as many since I retired...so that's a good thing at least) but at least when it happens I know I have to step back before it's gets worse!  That I did and I am glad to say that I am on the mend and felt well enough to play a little bit today.  I had a neat little project (which I'm not going to disclose)planned for Monday Madness and it involved Die Cutting Machines.  I can't say to much or it will give it away so let's just say that in planning for the project I had a difficult time deciding "which" diecut machine to use!

I was working at the store so heaven knows I had enough to choose from...the vintage Sizzix, a Quickutz Squeeze, Quickutz Revolution, AccuCut Go Machine, an old Silhouette, small Cricuts, Cricut Expression and so on!  I'm pretty sure there are a few others in there too!  Hard to believe that over the years we've had so many options in diecut machines to choose from.  I think I bought my first Sizzix machine 10 years ago???  Along with a few alphabet and shape dies.  I moved to the Silhouette when I finally acquired a laptop and I really enjoyed it.  Then I switched from a PC to a MAC before there was MAC version and that was the last I used it.

So that brings me to Monday Madness...which diecut machine is your "Go To" machine for projects?  Do you use one at all?  If so what do you use them for?  Traditionally, at our crops and classes, croppers use them for cutting papers for cards, embellishments and titles for scrapbooking layouts.  Is that your use? 

Lately,  I've been learning and teaching with the Cricut Expression 2...
an upgraded verion of the long standing Cricut Expression Die Cut Machine!  I enjoy using it and do enjoy the upgrades on this machine. It comes loaded with a few cartridges and all your tools are on an LCD touch screen.  That is nice, until someone taps the touch screen a bit to hard and then, well, it's a little more time consuming!  It's safe to say that I am not a"Cricut-holic"!  I enjoy using them, love to learn how to use them, have great fun creating projects and teaching Cricut classes at the store and at crops with them and I have used them to cut metal (a favorite of mine...just in case you didn't already know that!), vinyl, fabric, magnet material, canvas, chipboard and a few other things when there is not a line waiting to use one of the 3 we have at the store...but....that usually only happens if I don't have a letter sticker or embellishment already for the project I'm working on.  Still, I enjoy them for certain projects like cutting multiples of objects and even basic shapes that are difficult to cut by hand or that require a larger size than I can cut on this machine...the Sizzix BIGKick manual die cut machine!  The BIGKick has been my "Go To" machine for years!  I'm not even sure they make this white and red version anymore.  Notice I have Spellbinders cutting pads in it...to emboss my Ten Seconds Studio's metals of course!!!  I do cut things with this machine but the embossing of metal is the primary use!  (I can emboss with the cricut...even a full 12 x 12 sheet thanks to some new tools) but...this is my favorite!  So much so that I decided...deep breath...to go for my very own personal 12 x 24 version!!!  Introducing...the Big Shot Pro...

the big daddy to the original Sizzix and hubby to my BIGKick!!!  It's awesome and I'm having lots of fun cutting out bunches of these....with great ease!!!! (Pardon the rhyming!!!!!)  I do love the machine and I'm embracing the many used it has for the projects I'm working on.  It doesn't talk back to me and my biceps are getting work out with each cut I make!  More on the fun things I'm cutting later!  For now...let me know how you reeeeally feel about diecut machines!

Happy Monday Madness and Happy March!!!!

Hugs!

Staci

Monday Madness...more Distressing!!!

More distressing, yes...but not distressing at all!!!  I enjoyed playing with the distress inks so much last weekend that I continued with them this week but spiced things up a bit and used the Distress Stains and the new Distress Markers by Ranger and Tim Holtz!
  Certainly wasn't rocket science but it was like an "aha" moment when I realized...they would do the same thing as the ink pads!  Duh!!!!   Sometimes I wonder what I miss throughout the days, weeks, months and years!  That said...we played with the ink pads and stains in our cardmaking technique class this week at Grove's!  Embossed first using the new Hero Arts stamps and Ranger clear embossing powder. We added color using the ink mixed with some watered down Perfect Pearls medium.  Gave a nice little "glow" to the ink and made it just right for fingerpainting!  Just like in elementary school we blended colors and watched the embossed designs pop from the paper!  We used the stains for the message portion of the card fronts.  That's when I had the "aha" moment...Distress stains with the dabber tops...oh and the markers...should work wonderfully!  Of course they did!!!
Color was a little richer/darker in areas so I continued to play!  I sprayed the watered down Perfect Pearls right on the colored, embossed images and then blended by finger painting!  It was great fun and I love the finished "out of the box" product! 
I'll be using these in future projects for sure!

Have a great week!

Staci

A Distress-Full Monday Madness!

Happy Monday, Happy President's Day, happy vacation day and HAPPY MONDAY MADNESS!!!  Yep, I'm yelling it at the top of my lungs!  Just a little tired from a great weekend full of lots of creativity, great fellowship, new friends, old friends and some Distress!!!

The weekend was spent here....
Greene Hills church camp, just "over the river and through the woods" a bit from home.  A place I haven't visited since my childhood with my great (who was great...I just didn't know back then) Aunt Myrtie who drove us over hill and dale in her yellow cadillac(the old 1956 model with the torpedo style headlights on each side-I'll have to dig up a photo!) introducing us to neighbors, places, people, yummy foods and things that at the time were of no importance to me.  Oh how things have changed!  Now...they are very fond memories.  Coming back to this place was wonderful.  Lots of history in this land, a building filled with memories and the people working there...friends of my family who knew Aunt Myrtie.  Great to be there with them.  Greene Hills is definitely one of those "if these walls could talk" places!  Oh the stories they could tell.  

This weekend, Greene Hills was home to an amazing group of woman gathered to create, craft, scrapbook and share fellowship. 
They asked me to represent Grove's and be the "official" store for the event.  It was great to be there with these wonderful woman and the caretakers of Greene Hills.  I  will share more pictures of them on another post.

During the course of the weekend, I was fortunate to be able to get some playtime to myself.  The creativity of these ladies motivated me to pull out the supplies I had with me and put some pages together.   This is when the weekend turned into a distress-FULL weekend!!!  I didn't have my usual stash with me so I needed to improvise to blend colors and make things flow.  Somehow that stark white (although I do use it alot too) just wasn't cutting it with the papers and pictures I had chosen.  Then that old light bulb came on.... which brings me to Monday Madness -DISTRESS INKS!!!  I always have my inks with me!  And I do have a few... stored in a handy dandy make up bag....
very nicely, although when the inks are being used the case doesn't look so nice!  At any rate, I LOVE these inks (and the matching markers, stains, paints etc.) and find myself using them on almost everything.  I love the aged and slight bit of color they add to the pieces I use in crafting.  Today I used the Faded Jeans with some Van Dyke Brown to age and add color to the letter tiles for my page layout title.  I was pleased with the results and decided to do the same to the journal tag which was a bright white originally.  At first I did the edges by running them right against the pad and then I smoothed them out with the blending tool.  Love the result.  I should have done a "before pic" to show the big difference in the coloring of the letters.  I'll remember to do that next time!
 I am very pleased with the finished layout and end result.  It was an "antique-y" kind of page showing flea market shopping so the DISTRESS look and feel is perfect.  Even though I would have used them even if the pictures weren't "antique-y"!  LOL! 

Hope you have a great day that is FULL of Distress...INKS that is! Get them out, add some color and age to your pieces!!!

Happy Monday!

Staci

Monday Madness...file folders continued!

I am really enjoying file folders.  I know, enough already, but can you really ever have enough of a good thing?  Wait, don't answer that...I know the answer already.    For now though, I will continue with my attraction to file folders.  Fortunately, I have easy access to them at Grove's!  Just in case you'd like to order them....CLICK HERE to go to the Grove's online store. 

Without further ado...another technique using those awesome little manilla masterpieces... Just another way to score, fold and insert into your projects.   Using these in my Scrapbook Life Journal with Stephanie Ackerman class.  Head on over to check it out!  She's extended registration til the end of January!

Enough plugs...now another tease of things to come....
Thanks to everyone for the well wishes too, I am on the mend after a wonderful bout of hives turned to stomach flu.  Hope to create a bit tonight and share some things later this week!

Happy File Folding!

Staci