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Spring kits all shipped

Just popping in to say everyone who ordered a spring kits - kits are ready to go and will be taken to the post office today (they won't ship until tomorrow due to no mail delivery sundays). Just a note to say I am leaving again tomorrow for my second (and final) week of training in Cleveland. I'll be back Thursday evening but I'll be checking email. If you have any questions or concerns about shipments, please email me at [email protected] and I will try to get back to you during the week, or at the latest, on Friday this week. Enjoy your Sunday and have a great week! Watch your mailbox -- yummies headed your way! :)

Kits are shipping!

Just a quick note to let you know I am back and have started shipping kits. Everyone who placed an order more than a week ago is getting a free gift from us for waiting so patiently - if you didn't get one and should have, please just email me and we'll send it out to you. Some are going out today - but most will go out on Monday. You'll get a shipping acknowledgement from the shopping cart. Thanks so much, and I do know you will enjoy these kits! Have a great weekend!

Hello from Cleveland

Thanks again to all of you for your very kind comments and prayers on my father in law's behalf. He is in stable condition. We are waiting on test results from a lung tissue biopsy that was done a few days ago. Though still on the ventilator, his breaths per minute have decreased, which is a good sign as he was hyperventilating last week and unable to breathe normally.

I am still here in Cleveland at Training, but will head back home on Friday and will be able to finally get to your spring kits -- I plan to have them all shipped by Monday next week -- so thanks again for your patience. I do appreciate it. I have been reading A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle to pass the evenings in the hotel. It's wonderful-- I know it's quite old, but I didn't read it when it first came out -- and so it's a great treat to be able to read it now. He's a very engaging, witty writer and I have that sense of delight one gets when you discover a treasure of a book.

I have really missed blogging. Right before all the craziness happened, I was in touch briefly with Oregon-based artist Bonnie Taylor-Talbot. Bonnie is living proof that our most cherished dreams can be realized after the age of 40. I came across Bonnie's stunning work in my last issue of Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion Magazine, and I was completely bowled over by its uniqueness and charm. Bonnie is a self-taught artist who at the age of 44, began painting on boards with house paint colors she mixed herself. That was 12 years ago. Now she's moved on to acrylic on canvas with hand stamped words on most of her paintings. She has a true eye for beauty -- and much of her work shows an affinity for things French - Paris grates, crowns, chickens and chandeliers. Anyone can relate to her paintings - whether your tastes run along the lines of the quaint and provincial or the refined and elegant, there is something for everyone. Each piece is truly remarkable. Bonnie was kind enough to permit me to post some thumbnails of her artwork on my blog here, and I am happy to share it with you -- be sure to check out her website where you can see the rest of her work (you can increase the photo size on her site) and buy prints or original pieces, at www.ipaintpictures.com. Happy Hump Day, hope you enjoy the rest of your week. I will update again, as soon as spring kits go out.

Back for just a day.

Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. Dad is still in the hospital and has now been moved to an ICU. (Apparently he was in a special "oxygen enriched" environment before. He is on a ventilator and is being fed through a tube as well. At this point, he is having great difficulty breathing without the ventilator so he is also under sedation. We have been told that the diagnosis is ARDS, or Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. We are unsure, at this point how much longer he will remain on the ventilator, and then after that, in the hospital. We do know at the very least, it would be atleast another week, but it could be many more weeks or even months. We are also concerned that his age, (he turned 70 today) is a factor that may work against him. We returned yesterday but it was very tough leaving Mom - although the whole family has been pulling together and she's had some wonderful support from extended family who have driven in from out of town to be a support to her. It's been really tough on my husband, who is very close to his father. I admit I feel helpless. All I can do is to pray about this and turn this situation over to God. I really, truly appreciate all your prayers. Right now, I am doing my best to get some shipments out tomorrow before I leave. The plan is for me to return here Friday and finish up shipping next weekend - unless something happens requiring me to be in Nashville. I do so appreciate your thoughts and prayers on our behalf, and thanks for being so understanding about the kits. Love, Ranjini

May be gone for a few days

Just need to let you all know that spring kits were to start shipping today, however we've had a family emergency surface. My father-in-law has contracted pneumonia and is in the hospital and we are enroute to Nashville to be with him as he has been transferred to the ICU and is having trouble breathing. We are staying positive that he will stabilize and recover. At this point, we are looking at returning on Saturday if possible. Kits may be delayed therefore by another week and a half, regrettably - as I also start out of town training on Monday and won't return from that until the following Friday evening. I am so very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause anyone, please know that we will get the kits and any store orders out as soon as we can once we have returned from Nashville, in the next week or so. In the meantime, we could certainly use your prayers and positive thoughts. Thanks so much,

Ranjini

A happy secret revealed!

                                                                                                                                                         

Well, I've been keeping this under wraps for quite awhile now... and I am so excited to be able to finally let the cat out of the bag!  I am so thrilled to be joining this wonderful company, and to be in the company of the other amazingly talented and inspiring artists who are also part of this incredible team.  Huge thanks to Carolyn Peeler and the inspiring Melissa Frances herself. Melissa recently recovered from breast cancer - you can read about her inspirational story here on the Melissa Frances Blog and also watch her on Fiskars TV. I am grateful for this incredible opportunity - it's certainly a blessing to be able to design for a company whose style I admire, and whose products I have loved for so very long.

Kits on sale tonight

I just sent out the newsletter that will inform you that kits are going on sale tonight at 9 pm EST. See you then, and thank you, have I said thank you? Thanks again, for reading the blog and all the wonderful comments. They mean so much to me!

Oh - and pricing is as follows: the large kit is $67.50, the smaller one is $31.99. (That doesn't include shipping). Gotta go run and get Alekha.

Eternal Spring Kit, First Blush Add-on

Thanks again for all your kind comments -- you really will love this kit! I have photos of the kit and add-on posted below. I will have prices updated on the blog later today sometime. The kit will go on sale *thursday*. I can't commit to a time yet -- but will let you know just as soon as I can. Shipping will probably begin on Wednesday next week and I hope to have all kits shipped by Saturday the 19th. International buyers will be invoiced for the actual cost of shipping - the difference between what you paid in the shopping cart and what postage actually is.

Ummmm a few notes, the add-on contains a seven gypsies naked photo folder - it's a fun little mini project and I should have a sample for you in a few days. Please note that only ONE of the three mixed media flowers will be included with the add-on - the three are being shown for your reference. A neat thing about the add on is you will get one of each of the new Making Memories Tiny Alphas -- one sheet of each versus a full package. They come in pink, teal and brown and it's nice to not have to buy a full pack of each. The pins shown in the inset are included as well. However, the add on does not come with any paper, so if you are planning on getting the add on but not the main kit, please just keep that in mind. In the main kit, the cameos and the seven gypsies tags will vary from kit to kit in color and style.

Here are the pics, the second photo shows just the papers; the third and fourth photos show detail of contents in the main kit. The last photo is the addon. All of the sass lass papers (the ones with the fancy edges) are double sided, a nice bonus - you can see some of the B sides in my projects. The Jenni Bowlin and Pink Paislee papers are not double sided. Incidentally -- I have some Maya Road goodies to give away in the near future -- so check the blog -- I'll post that in the next few days.

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Spring Kit Projects: Eternal Spring Banner & First Ladies of the Silver Screen

Thank you all for the very kind comments you left on the projects, I am really excited to share them and the upcoming kit with you. I hope to have kit photos up by Wednesday, but we may have to push it out to Thursday. In the meantime, here are the photos of the finished banner project - bear with me as there are several photos, it's impossible to take one photo of the banner and have that one photo show all the detail, so I ended up doing single shots of each frame. You can just scroll through to the next project if you prefer. Some notes - the Scenic Route turquoise chipboard alphas and the orange American Crafts vinyl stickers are from my stash (they aren't in the kit, but I wanted to add them because of the color pop). I actually had ordered American Crafts vinyl alphas in turquoise but they didn't arrive and are on backorder, so we had to go with the Heidi Swapp vinyl block alphas instead, which ironically enough, I ended up liking better! I had also ordered felt butterflies from HS which apparently are also not going to be here on time. The good thing about a project like this one though is that you can integrate plenty of your own stash and use what you have on hand. I did use some other things from my stash -- but there is also an awful lot used that is in the kits as well. There will be some gorgeous turquoise vintage paper lace from Andrea Singarella -- that didn't get here in time for me to use it -- so I wasn't able to integrate it into my banner - but you can definitely do so with yours as the lace will be in each kit.

More of the paper dolls from the Easter Basket project - they make sweet heralds of spring... you could use chipboard birds if you have them, which would be preferable actually.

Here are photos of the second project you can create with the Eternal Spring banner kit. I call it "First Ladies of the Silver Screen". I love old movies and I thought the Maya Road Chipboard Girl Album would be a perfect way to create something inspired by the glamorous Hollywood starlets of old. I named each chipboard girl after a famous Hollywood starlet - Ingrid Bergman, Louise Brooks, Audrey Hepburn, Jean Harlow, Rita Hayworth, Lana Turner, Sophia Loren, and Grace Kelly. Some of them were from Hollywood's Golden Age, others were more recent -- but they were all beautiful and talented women. I especially loved creating individual dresses for each girl. (I didn't want to replicate their costumes or clothing of their period) -- I actually got a lot of inspiration from simply looking at the Anthropologie website and looking at the cut and styling of clothes there. After each girl had her basic dress,  I was able to kick the outfit up with trim, buttons, bling or other details. It was great fun playing at being a fashion designer! The girls look terrific lined up over my mantel directly above the spring banner. I plan to mount and frame them together, the effect is very artsy. This chipboard album is such a terrific product. There are so many possibilities. You could use them as party invitations, make them into magnets, make a paper doll chain connected with ribbon, use them as place markers for a table setting, tuck them into a friend's greeting card or a lunchbox for a favorite child. Lots and lots of uses with these. Plus - the kit papers lend themselves beautifully to being layered and combined. My favorite outfit is Ingrid's - I love the little scalloped apron with the pocket (I simply punched it with a large hole punch and then traced the chipboard girl onto the diecut and trimmed it down.) Enjoy, and check back tomorrow - hope to have kit photos up tomorrow!

Eternal Spring Banner Kit - Sneak Preview

We just had a weekend of wonderful weather - not balmy temps just yet, but the sun was definitely out and we ended up taking advantage of the rays and heading out to the Columbus Zoo. I am *so* ready for spring to arrive, full force. In the meantime, I have been keeping busy with the promised spring banner project and I have to tell you, I LOVE the papers from this kit. The Sassafras Lass collections at CHA-W were by far some of the best releases I have ever seen. I've been happy to see them evolve into a truly trendsetting company - leading the pack in terms of design innovation.

You are going to LOVE this kit. The kit will include not one, but TWO chipboard albums from Maya Road -- you'll get the Artistic Frame Label Album - which is what we will use for the banner, but you'll also receive the Chipboard Girl coaster album -- which we are going to make into a paper doll-type chain that you can set up on your mantel, to coordinate perfectly with the banner. There are so many lovely goodies in this kit -- loads of delicious paper from Sass Lass, Jenni Bowlin and Paislee Press, Heidi Swapp alphas and sky blue chandelier drops (!) which I've dangled from the artistic frame labels, vintage lace paper, vintage style turquoise rose cabochons, ribbons, trims and lots more goodness. And the color palette is beautiful - turquoise, sky, robin's egg blue, lemon yellow, tangerine and coral. Delicious. Here's a quick look:

I've been having so much fun with the chipboard girls - I have about five of the eight included in the package done -- can't wait to show you the whole thing. I am also done with the banner so check back for a look at the entire project later today or tomorrow. Hoping to get the kit up for sale by Thursday or Friday. We are waiting on a last few late items but I am expecting them shortly.

Gotta get to bed but wanted to share this peek first! Have a good week!