When I pick a place to play.....

I pick the best! Today, I thought I'd take you on a tour of Scrapbook Your Life! in San Diego CA, where I have been playing for the past 2 weeks....and will be "living" there most of this coming week!

6400 Square Feet.....that's SIX THOUSAND, 400 SQUARE FEET!!!! What a wonderland to play in!!!



More Disney, Vacation, Beach, San Diego, local tourist attractions......themed paper, stickers and embellies than you can fathom!



I call these "rounders", but they are square, with paper, stickers, chipboards, flowers, glitter...on all 4 sides...all coordinating...everywhere on the store floor. So much to see....so many things to buy!!!



My favorite paper this week:



with "to die for" chipboard embellies to match. I used these on my "MOM" acrylic word book that I will post tomorrow. I made the whole thing in under an hour! Sooooooo easy!!!



Now, in all honesty, I will confess....the store was looking a little sparse the last time I was out here. But wow! Have they stocked it up! And just in the last 2 - 3 weeks....everything is filling up fast! How do I know? Well, I was there til 11 pm last night and when I left, 3 very dedicated staff people were STILL there putting new product out on the shelves!!!



boy stuff, girl stuff, baby stuff....all the new Fiskar's baby line....with three peas in a pod! It's so totally cute. And I "don't do baby"! LOLOL!



So much glue, tape adhesive....where do I start? My cart is already so full....and my bags are way overweight for the trip home!!!




So much ribbon I couldn't get it all in the photo!!! Lots of drooling on my part. Ribbon is one of my great weaknesses!!!



paints, inks, pens, melt art, Ranger (yeah!)....this is probably my fav part of the store. I call this the "toy" section. And I am pushing, pushing, pushing for them to get in product. I even ordered some stuff for this section.....the new Scor-It Mini AND the tote for it....Tim Holtz sentiment keys, my fav colors of distress inks AND reinkers....just so much stuff that was being put out and added late last night after I took these pics!



So, here you go...the FAMOUS "wall of paper". As far as you can see. And this is JUST the patterned paper!!! Thousands of different designs. I promise...you come in and we'll count them together!



And the solid colored papers are on these squares....both sides! So much paper! I call my girlfriend a "paper whore".....but I think we could say the same for this store! Just so much paper...I LOVE IT!!!



At least a dozen more HUGE boxes of product to put out when I left at 11 pm!!!



Almost forgot the punch section. I do love my diecuts (Liz just ordered $2600.00 worth of Spellbinders nestabilities and new dies!!! Hope they get here this week!!!)



And the classroom where I will be this week! I promise the boxes will be gone today!!!



This store includes a play area for your kids with TV, Disney DVDs and toys. I've even seen grown men taking naps on the floor in the play area while they wait for their partners to finish shopping!

There's a computer in the class room, so your hubby can browse the internet while you are shopping....or you can take a break and check your emails (ok, who on earth does that when there's this much to buy???) :o)

This truly is a mecca of things to play with! Today, I promise to take lots of photos of new product and this might be a double-blog day....if I get home in time I'll add all those tonigh!

Ah! Wouldn't you love to be a mouse in my pocket today? Come and play the JLo way in a scrapbook mecca like this? I can hardly wait to get on the road and get down there just to see what's new on the shelves!!!

My class today is at 1 pm....so hurry on down, there are still openings. We're doing 4" x 4" square acrylic albums....and I'm changing out what we will be doing even as I type this (because there is so much new stuff in the store right now!)

Doors open at 10 am. If you get there before me.....don't buy it all!!!

Recycling those old stickers

If you are like me, you have boxes and bins filled with old stickers, partially used sheets of stickers....things from your recent past that area already so far out of style you may never use them! I blogged a couple of cigar boxes that I covered with altered/distressed stickers (you can search "cigar boxes" on this blog to find them) and now, I'm going to show my next way of reviving old stickers.

What can I say? Yuck to these stickers!



All I did was add some Art Institute glitter and I think I'll keep these now!



My whole kitchen is decorated in chili peppers. I have no idea why....because I'd like to be a "red hot mama"????? NOT! But I do have a thing for chili peppers. But not getting much out of this sheet of stickers:



Until I covered them in Art Institute glitter.



I attached that front sticker to black card stock, cut it out, then used a pop dot to give it some depth.



A bit too cutesy for me:



But I stuck a row of flowers on some cardstock



Added some glitter and a bottom row of flowers. Well, still a bit cutesy, but a little better. Maybe I'll take off that bottom row...must be the faces that I don't like!



Are you starting to get a trend here? 2008 is the year to recycle and reuse. Time to drag out all those old stickers and see what you can do with them. After all....Grandma and Aunt Mae would just love to get a card from you and how are they going to know how old your stickers are? And playing with glitter? I went into Kentucky Fried Chicken after my play day in glitter. The girl behind the counter absolutely cracked up laughing at me. I guess I didn't realize just how much I had gotten all over my face and my clothes!

But I figure life can't get any better than when you can give someone else a reason to laugh!

Sticker Mania

What do you do with all your really really really old stickers? I mean the ones you have had for 3 years or longer? I made a keepsake box!



Yet another idea for a cigar box in case you don't like the purses I've been doing! Inside the lid, I typed:

Once upon a time
We put your things here
Keeping them for you...
We hope they've grown dear!



10 stickers on this end. So much fun to turn them into little collages:



13 stickers on this end. Also note the stickles that I applied directly to the cigar box diamond band that I left uncovered.



10 stickers on this end and a metal letter. Who says you can't mix metal and paper? I did use glossy accents over the B, A, and Y to make them pop.



And even on the bottom of the box. I inked the DCWV paper to add color to it, distressed and inked the bunny.




This is on the front side. One long running sticker:



Back to the top, DCWV paper (2 sheets for the entire box), I backed the stickers with cardstock and cut them out, then popped them with pop dots. Used a wood knob for a handle to open the box and covered it with a flower sticker. Use Glossy Accents on different parts of the stickers (Peter's jacket and the shoe):



By backing the stickers with cardstock and layering them with different thickness of pop dots, you get a 3D collage look:



I'm really not a huge Beatrix Potter fan, but I could fall in love with this little scene. Note the tiny little mouse under the back of the shoe!



3 transparent stickers that I distressed and then added glossy accents to the fruit:



3 more stickers that I added Glossy Accents to pop the berries:



And yes, take a look, just plain, dull little stickers that have been on the shelf for years.



Amazing what you can do with a little ink and accents! I probably have less than $5 in this entire project. And the inside is lined with sticky backed black felt.

I feel like a sticker mania challenge coming on. I guess I could even give away a prize....more stickers! LOLOL!