The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt Giveaway

      I can't say I never win anything! I entered a contest on Facebook sponsored by HarperCollins Publishers and was one of five lucky winners! It was for two copies of Caroline Preston's new hardcover book, The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: one to keep and one to share. In that spirit, I am offering my second copy as a gift. All you have to do is leave a comment below. I will pick a name Sunday night, Dec. 18,  and as soon as I receive your address I will mail it to you. I have included information below about the book and as you will see, it is for anyone who wants to enjoy authentic memorabilia used to tell the story about a girl's life who graduated in 1920. I just received my prizes today and have only glanced through my copy, but it looks fantastic. I was lucky enough to listen to two podcasts where the author was interviewed, one from Getitscrapped.com and one from Paperclipping.com and it was fascinating.

The following was copied from Caroline Preston's blog:

For her graduation from high school in 1920, Frankie Pratt receives a scrapbook and her father’s old Corona typewriter. Despite Frankie’s dreams of becoming a writer, she must forgo a scholarship to a prestigious women’s college to help her widowed mother. But when a mysterious Captain James sweeps her off her feet, her mother finds a way to protect Frankie from the less-than-noble intentions of her unsuitable beau.
Through a kaleidoscopic array of vintage postcards, letters, magazine ads, ticket stubs, catalogue pages, fabric swatches, candy wrappers, fashion spreads, menus and more, we meet and follow Frankie on her journey in search of success and love. Once at Vassar, Frankie crosses paths with intellectuals and writers, among them “Vincent,” (alumna Edna St. Vincent Millay), who encourages Frankie to move to Greenwich Village and pursue her writing. When heartbreak finds her in New York, she sets off for Paris aboard the S.S. Mauritania, where she keeps company with two exiled Russian princes and a “spinster adventuress.”  In Paris, Frankie takes a garret apartment above Shakespeare & Company, the hub of expat life, only to have a certain ne’er-do-well captain from past reappear. But when a family crisis compels Frankie to return to her small New England hometown, she finds exactly what she had been looking for all along.
Author of the New York Times Notable Book Jackie by Josie, Caroline Preston pulls from her extraordinary collection of vintage ephemera to create the first-ever scrapbook novel, transporting us back to the vibrant, burgeoning culture of the the 1920s and introducing us to an unforgettable heroine, the spirited, ambitious, and lovely Frankie Pratt.

I am excited to offer this in the spirit of the holiday season. If you are interested, just leave your comment below! I hope you and your family enjoy the holidays and that 2012 is good to you.

Spawn of True Scrap

     This afternoon I finished a three day marathon of super scrappy goodness! The second installment of True Scrap (Spawn) commenced at 3:30 Sat. after starting at 1:30 on Thursday. That's right ladies and gentlemen...three days of unending scrapping ideas!
     We enjoyed presentations by scrapping celebs such as Noell Hyman,  Kelly Purkey, Cathy Zielske, Erin Bassett, Renee Pearson, Nic Howard, Shimelle Laine, Katrina Kennedy, May Flaum, Tami Morrison and more! We experienced 24 Make and Take and class presentations, with live Q and A during and afterward. Classes included such great topics as Stamping on Scrapbook Layouts, Solutions for Small Scrapbook Spaces, Going Off The Grid, Embellishment Gatherings, Spray Inks, and Show Me The Money! They were all seamlessly tied together into this scraptacular event by Lain Ehmann, scrapbooker extradordinaire!
    While the classes themselves are beyond wonderful, the interaction is spectacular. We all felt like friends by the end of the weekend. There is something so binding about sharing this kind of experience with like-minded people. It is hard to describe, but suffice it to say we have all shared info so that we can keep in touch!
     I am very grateful to live in an age where this kind of sharing and interaction is possible. I am in awe of the talent and so  very inspired to take the information and use it in my own way to create. I have learned so much and I have been scrapping for many years. Many thanks to Lain and the presenters. See you at the next True Scrap Event!

I'm Back!

     Summer has been great so far! Shortly after returning from GASC it was time for my annual 4th of July trip to the OBX to stay with my brother and sister-in-law. Our crab feast was awesome! It was a great time, as always! Then two weeks later we went on our summer vacation to Bryson City, NC in the Smoky Mountains. We rented a house and brought the pups. There was so much to do there and we really enjoyed ourselves. We had both tubed before, but not whitewater like this! Needless to say, we both got a bit beat up! It was fun, though! We rode the Great Smoky Mountains Railway, explored 'the road to nowhere', shopped, cooked out, gambled at Harrah's Cherokee Resort, went to a ruby mine, ate at Paula Deen's restaurant, etc.! Bill did the Nantahala Canopy Tour, with eleven zip lines. I took pictures!
     Now I am back and working on swaps! I wanted to share some Rolodex cards I made for some upcoming swaps on Mini Album Scraps and Life On The Scrap Beach. I am filling my Rolodex up with great cards for a nice decoration in my scrap room!

      I am enjoying trying new things and being creative. It is so nice to have the time to do that! This will be a short post, but I will see you here again soon! Take care, everyone.

GASC

     I am still putting away goodies from the Great American Scrapbook Convention that I attended last weekend! There was such a wide variety of companies and products offered. I went a little crazy, as usual, but it was so much fun! I even won a door prize, the first one in many years of going there. It was a much-appreciated gift certificate for $15 at one of the booths that I really liked!
     I met some old friends there and met a new friend from one of my swapping groups. Everyone there is on a mission to have fun, so it is really a great atmosphere (except for the ladies who thought I cut in line at the first booth; thanks Janell!!!).
     I took three classes, one from Wendy Smedley and two from Jenni Bowlin. Both are considered famous in the world of scrapbooking, so of course, I had to have pictures taken with them! My friends and I found many photo opportunities; imagine that! Besides classes, I did lots of shopping and visiting with my buddies.
     My favorite finds were some unusual ribbons and trims, clear pockets for adding more pictures to pages, 99 cent bling, and pearl pens. I actually hit the jackpot in Leesburg the night before the show, finding a bead store that had a huge bucket of charms for 25 cents each. Cha-ching! By the time I got done digging my hands were black from the pewter, but it was totally worth it!
     The only downside to my trip was the trek down I-95 South. Ouch! A 3 hour trip took 5 1/2 and I was seriously ready to scream by the time I got to my hotel. I don't know how people deal with that stretch day after day and still stay sane. The return trip was much smoother and for that I was grateful. Hope everyone is doing well!

     Hey, everyone! I have two more stick pin swaps to share with you. These swaps are really addicting and I am enjoying them so much! The two I will show you have Americana and summer themes.
     For the Americana Swap, I made a trifold card in red and added red, white, and blue accents, mostly from 4th of July paper and embellishments. The smallest fold in the front holds the pins in place and I also used patriotic colors for these. It was a great use of my stash and I was happy with how they came out!

      For the Summer Swap I fashioned a beach bag out of fun foam and ribbon and added stickers to the fronts and backs, with a fish motif. I added gems to look like bubbles coming from the fish's mouths. The pins were made using summery colors.

      Thanks for looking. I have been so busy making pins and swivel charms for swaps, that I hadn't scrapbooked a regular page in weeks. I remedied that last night with a  page about my adorable nieces. I hope everyone has a great week as the official first day of summer approaches.

June Charm and Dangle Swap

     Hi, everyone! I am back to share my latest swap from Life On The Scrap Beach, which was a charm and dangle swap. The theme was pink, using things like lace, love, and roses on the dangles and also on the presentation piece.I am going to use these to decorate the outside spines of my scrapbook albums.
      For mine I used a plain clasp from A. C. Moore and pink, clear, pearl,  and silver beads. I included rose and heart charms. For the presentation, I stamped a sweatshirt stamp I have had for a long time from Toomuchfun Rubber Stamps. I stamped it in purple and colored it with shades of pink Copic markers, adding some puffy heart stickers randomly.  Then I cut the whole thing out. I formed soft wire into a hanger. The Tim Holtz hangers I had were too small, but these didn't come out too badly. I put the hanger through the top of the shirt and attached the charm clasp to it. I printed my contact info and put it on the inside of the sweatshirt.
     I am having so much fun making these. I can now add collecting beads and charms to my other vast artistic collections (like I really needed more). Those 50% coupons come in handy! Have a great week everyone and thanks for looking.

Stick Pin Swap

     Many of the new scrapbook collections coming out are using stick pin embellishments. I joined a swap at The Scrap Beach (thescrapbeach.ning.com) where we were to make our own. We made 5 sets of 3 pins using either the Gabrielle or  Timepiece paper line colors from Bo Bunny and present them in a pleasing fashion.

      My Timepiece set was fun to make as I am into clocks these days. I made a matchbook cover from cardstock and daubed it with red ink. I inserted double faced mounting  tape at the top of the inside to stick the pins through from the outside of the matchbook (see pictures). I closed the matchbook and added red ribbon, some bling, and a clock cut from patterned paper to the front. Then I made three equally spaced holes at the top to put the pins into.  I assembled my pins using the matching colors and stuck them through my holes and into the tape that was inside.

 
     For the Gabrielle set I used a pre-made matchbook notepad. I believe Visual Image Printery (VIP) made them years ago (not sure if they still do). I adhered Gabrielle paper to the whole thing and punched out a butterfly (Martha Stewart punch) as well. I added two pearls to complete the front. I made my pins using the matching colors and popped them through the top and  bottom of the matchbook as you can see below.

This was also my first time making stick pins and I have to say they were really fun to make. I think they will look great on cards, pages, and even in the old-fashioned pin cushion I found! Happy Crafting everyone!