Scrapbook OBSESSION Blog.com

You have GOT to read THIS. Truly one of the most unique articles about scrapbooking I have ever read in my life. Your thoughts?

HERE is a link to photos of all the new EK Success Slimline punches. Thanks Eva!

Offer good now through February 28, 2009. Coupon code is case sensitive and is valid on online store purchases only. Coupon code does not apply to wholesale purchases or shipping costs.
Not valid for orders outside the U.S.

ETA: Here’s the link to the and the EK Success/K and Company Store….

I was at Mike’s tonight after work, looking for something to use my 40% off coupon on. Didn’t take long to find sumthin’. On an endcap in the scrapbooking section was a whole rack of new punches and border punches by EK Success. I’m told no photos are available online yet, but if I find any I’ll post them. For now, I’ll do my best to describe what I remember of them. The shape punches were $9.99 and included: skull & crossbones, high heel, small scalloped circle, regular photo corner shapes and a frilly one, etc. The border punches were $14.99 and included a variety of scallops, waves, etc. I grabbed two border punches that I immediately wanted – one was like the Fiskars Threading Water punch but smaller (scallop with eyelet holes) and the other was the kind of border punch that makes it look like torn out notebook paper. Just to give you an idea, here is a pic I found of the Stampin Up! punch that does kind of the same thing, only different (ha). The EK Success punch does 5 at a time; this one appears to do 2?:

I believe they are called Slimline Punches and I also saw the ones that make these designs; also saw that pretty flutterby in the Prima section (these cards are from Michaels.com, and are the only pics related to the new punches that I could find there):

I ended up putting the baby scallop punch back since I only had one coupon. There was another border punch that makes a gentle wave with little tiny dots along the edge. I hope they don’t sell out right away so I can go back and get more. I know, I know, I need border punches like I need more patterned paper. Hush now!

Okay, here’s a pic of one of the new EK Success border punches at Mike’s….a cutie pie scalloped punch posted at 2peas by Julie aka scrapping4twins. It’s fittingly called “Scalloped Scallop”:

On another rack were some new items by Prima. There was all kinds of little bling and small assortments of flowers. I thought it was all overpriced so I didn’t get any. I think everything was $3.99 and the flowers, for instance, were only 24 to a package. It was all very pretty though, so if money is no object for ya, or if you have a coupon (!), I would def. check those out.

Word on the street is that other Mike’s shoppers have seen new K&Co. embellies and paper packs (possibly Daydreams and Wildberry?), and new Sassafrass Lass stuff. I dunno about the Sass Lass stuff….I’m wondering if they think the Friendly Forest line by Colorbok is Sass Lass?? It fooled me at first because it sure looks like their style. Well, remains to be seen. If I actually DO see any Sass Lass at Mike’s, you’ll be the first to know!

I’m starting to shake….I’ve got the DT’s….I’ve been off AMR all stinkin’ day! It’s not their fault, it’s mine. I was messing with my e-mail address in my profile and inadvertently booted myself out. Sheesh. I finally re-registered under a new but similar name and am sending vibes to Oregon for Stacey (owner of AllMomentsRemembered.com) to PLEEZ PLEEZ PLEEZ let me back in! I miss my girlie friends!

Ack.

ETA 2/16/09 in the pm: I’m back in bidness. Stacey got me back on and I didn’t even lose my post count that I’ve worked so hard for, LOL! Thanks Stacey and Gay, my Scrap Pal who communicated with Stacey for me :)

I just saw in an ad in the new Memory Makers that Tim Holtz “Stampers Anonymous” is coming to Michaels in March! I know there’s a lot of Timmy fans out there. HERE is a blog post from Timmy where he gives sneak peeks of Stampers Anonymous stamps to be shown at CHA 2009. Don’t know if any/all of those will be at Mike’s….twill be interesting to see. Here is my favorite set from that post, just to whet your appetite:

Yep, two of my favorite men: Mike and Timmy! Will you be stalking Mike’s in March for these pretty babies?

I promised you HERE and I will finally deliver. I had sick kids and a surprise work assignment that kept me up until 2am….but here we go!

If you haven’t already heard, the movie that started this past Friday called “New In Town” starring Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick, Jr. features scrapbooking as part of the movie. I had wanted to see it anyway after seeing some previews, but when I heard there was scrapbooking involved, I had to see it! I mean, with as popular as scrapbooking has become, I can’t think of any other feature film that has included it in this way. I won’t give you the play by play of the entire movie, I’m just sharing the scrapbooking parts, LOL! So if you don’t want any SPOILERS, don’t read!!! For reference sake: Lucy (Renee Zellweger), Ted (Harry Connick, Jr.), and Blanche (Siobhan Fallon Hogan) <- she’s the scrapper.

The movie starts with a group of Minnesota ladies scrapbooking and chatting. There were four ladies around a kitchen table that was about 3×5′ so I had to laugh. For most ladies I’ve cropped with, that would barely be enough space for ONE of us, LOL! The woman who is hosting the get-together is the main scrapbooking character and is clearly "into" this hobby. When Lucy arrives in town and Blanche drives her to the home she’ll be renting, one of the first things Blanche asks Lucy is if she’s a scrapper. At first, Lucy just says "huh?" and doesn’t get the question. Later, Blanche asks her again ~ you can tell this is really important to her ~ and whips out a thick, overly embellished mini album from her purse, proceeding to show her album to Lucy while they drive. Lucy asks if she can look at it later instead. It was quite funny, I thought, poking fun at how we scrappers truly are, giving new friends the scrapper litmus test….if they are one, they must be cool. They are officially IN without having to prove another thing to us. And whipping the mini album out of her purse unprovoked. In reality, the only scrapbookers I have know to carry a full-on album of any sort in their purse are custom scrapbookers and it’s a selling tool for them. Am I alone? Do you carry a mini album in your purse?

There were a few other references to or scenes that included scrapbooking in them. For instance, Lucy comes to Blanche’s near Valentine’s Day. Blanche invites Lucy to make cards, again all seated at that tiny kitchen table with all their gear spread out. Lucy declines (she is clearly too cool for scrapbooking), then one of the ladies hands her a handmade Valentine. Lucy gives Blanche some cash for Christmas, and Blanche gives Lucy a scrapbook….it is clear to the viewer which “gift” has more value. The movie’s closing credits had a scrapbook theme, with the pages of a scrapbook turning, showing photos from throughout the movie, with embellishments and captions. I recognized some Jolee’s, K and Company, and EK Success products. Yes, it IS sad I can recognize product by manufacturer….I’ve come to peace with that.

I noticed in the credits something like “Assistant to Director/Scrapper: Lissette Rodriguez.” I was wondering who the scrapbooker was who made the actual props in the movie and whether she’d get credit…and she did. I Googled that name and can’t find anything on her, so either Lissette is a shy scrapper without a blog (gasp!), or I remembered the name wrong. If you happen to know anything about this “famous” scrapper, tell me about it, K? Even in THIS detailed cast and crew list, I can’t find the name again and there is no “scrapper” listed……sheesh, they even have the Honeywagon Driver, but no scrapper….WTH?

Overall, I liked this movie a lot. Although it does poke fun at things that are near and dear to my heart ~ scrapbooking, being a Christian, fearing job loss to corporate American greed, etc. ~ I think, in the end, the message is that Blanche and her scrapbooking, Jesus-lovin’ friends have a richer and more fulfilling life than busy, pretty, fashionably dressed Lucy. Scrapbooking is portrayed as the backdrop for friends to get together and gossip, a way for women to share and show off what they’re proud of, and a way to make touching and special gifts for those you care about. What a relief….I was expecting some more of the nastiness that seems to get thrown our way for some unknown reason by all the haters.

I was curious as to how non-scrappers in movie media would see the scrapbookers/scrapbooking in “New In Town,” so I did a little searchy werchy and here is some of what I found….

THIS review denigrates scrapbooking:

“Hold on to your toques. The romantic comedy “New in Town,” in which Renée Zellweger plays a female executive who’s transferred from the big city to small-town Minnesota, opens with a scrapbooking scene. That’s right: a group of women sit at a table pasting photographs and little bits of colored paper into elaborately decorated bound volumes. Exceedingly sensitive viewers, as well as recent patients of open-heart surgery, are advised to avoid “New in Town,” as the excitement may just be too much…And it probably is the first movie to use scrapbooking as a dramatic device. Let’s also hope it’s the last.”

THIS is a great article from Scrapbooking.About.com with an interview with Siobhan Fallon Hogan. She is very sweet and respectful of scrapbookers.

And don’t forget THIS interview on ScrapScene that I posted before.

THIS is a fair review by one of my favorite sites for checking if movie content is family friendly.

THIS review mentions “the gossipy scrapbooking female Minnesotans,” but as a criticism of the triteness of the movie plot, not in a way derogatory to scrappers.

THIS one was cute, how it made “scrap booking” into two words, LOL: “There is also a sweet, family-friendly, small-town-values undercurrent to the story, topped off by Blanche Gunderson (Siobhan Fallon Hogan). Blanche mixes tapioca pudding and scrap booking with sincere faith in action and conversations about Jesus.”

Needless to say, if you’re a scrapbooker, I think you’ll get a kick out of this movie. It’s always nice to see things you can identify with, and see them made fun of, but in a nice way. I really enjoyed the movie for this and other reasons, including a great soundtrack, and plan to watch it again when it’s released to DVD. Please watch this movie and let me know what YOU think of it….

Scrapbooking trends for 2009 HERE….
and some free labels you can print out ~ for organizing your scrap stuff or for your layouts/cards ~ HERE (thanks BRENDA!)

I planned to post my review of New In Town but had to work tonight. Will get it posted ASAP but here’s a tease…I loved it! Peace out, homies….

Are you intimidated, like I am, to do an acrylic album? Do you STILL have that blank acrylic album in your stash that you KNOW you should make a cool project with but you just can’t bring yourself to do it? That’s sure how I feel, as I blogged about HERE.

Well, my scrappy friends, help is HERE!! Here’s a tease….

Over on the AMR MESSAGE BOARD, we are lucky enough to have a longtime member named JULIE HOWARD aka Scrappin{Jewlz}. She is on the Design Team for CLEAR SCRAPS, one of the leaders in acrylic products for scrapbooking {they now sell clear acrylic ATCs!}. One of STACEY‘s great ideas for the new year is to run a “class” or tutorial every week on the message board. The “instructor” will post their class with instructions and photos, and hang around the board all week to answer any questions you have. If you like, you can complete the project and post your results for everyone to OOH and AAH over, or you just print out the class instructions for later use. It’s totally up to you.

Even if you’re not a big message board chatter, I hope you’ll at least come check out this awesome class along with future classes and THIS cool one already posted by CHRIS HERTEL aka Chrispea about mixing patterned papers together. Here’s a tease….

Here is the link to the CLASSES AND TECHNIQUES board. There are tons of things posted that can be a great jumpstart to your creativity :)