Little Blue House Class Previews

It's been less than a week that The Little Blue House has been open and our classes have been very well-received. We also hosted the first private birthday event last Saturday (yes, you can rent one or both classrooms for your own private party!) which was a ton of fun and almost 60 students participated in the Scrapstashers classes on Monday and Tuesday. Tomorrow we have two two-hour page swaps where everyone will create four double-page layouts! So, you can see, things are hopping at the House!

I thought I'd share some of the class projects with you here. The first is a vintage-looking Halloween tray which I created. I just love it! Real German glass glitter is used, along with some vintage images, some of the new Girls Paperie Halloween papers and, of course, some stamping.

How can you not smile when you see my fun little two-some, Witch Hazel and Punkin Head. In this class, everything will be created by hand and there are some surprises within. The witch even utilizes one of our very own Little Blue House Designs embellishments!

This home decor project is very versatile and can grace your holiday mantle, table or counter. The wooden blocks sit on a wooden pedestal. One side sports a Halloween greeting; the other side spells out Autumn. The "tags" can be removed and other word tags can be added or family photos can be substituted. We envision this as an ongoing decor piece - look for more holiday tag kits in the future!

These are only a few of the wonderful projects we have created for you this season. Please visit the Little Blue House blog here for more information or, ideally, visit the House to see all the class projects in person!

We're open!

After we opened our doors last night to a full house, we had another busy day today at the Little Blue House! We thank everyone who has come by to visit, sign up for classes and support our new studio.

Here's the staff:

Rhonda and Tracy (owner)

Myself and Elaine

Lolly

Kristyn (Tracy's daughter and a cutie - she now has four new "moms"!)

Don't you love our aprons? Lolly made them for us and they are so cute and comfortable. My favorite part - the handmade flowers are velcroed on so they are removable when the aprons need washing! (And of course I was the first to get chocolate on mine!)

We are having a blast and it's only day no. 2! If you are local and haven't stopped by yet, tomorrow will be another day of opening festivities - a free make-n-take; prizes; refreshments and lots of fun. And there's still time to enter the drawing for a free Cinch binding tool! Come visit!

Welcome to The Little Blue House!

Today was the day - the grand opening of our new studio space! Our sign arrived on Tuesday afternoon and you'd have thought it was Christmas as we unwrapped it and saw it for the first time. Here we are - Rhonda, Kristyn, myself and Tracy.

Scott (Tracy's husband and our all-around handy man) and Rhonda made sure it was properly installed.
Voila - it's for real!
So this evening was our first public reveal. We had people waiting outside the door before we opened, even in our Texas heat! Here's what you see as you enter. The house is very small - only four rooms. We installed an old door frame inside the open doorway going into the kitchen/work room and added chicken wire so we could make use of the extra display area The huge old window left of the doorway is our weekly calendar where we will post all the LBH goings-on.
Here's a view from the middle "island" to the left where the cash register counter is. The corner cupboard houses all the soldering supplies and samples for our soldering instructor, Trisha Conlon.
Here's another view of the calendar, the ribbon corner (the old ironing board will be our ribbon-cutting station) and more of the gorgeous counter. There's a great story about the counter - it had been in an old auto parts store and, most recently, stored for the past 18-19 years in a shed, "buried" and forgotten. Ask us to tell you more when you come in to visit!

Here's one corner of the kitchen which will be our work area for prepping classes, using the Cricut, cutter, and various other tools and machines. That's Lolly, one of our new specialty-class instructors.
And the little eating area. Isn't the "chandelier" with the assorted buttons cute?
That's all for tonight. It was a long day. But oh so fun! It was so good to see "old" friends and customers and reconnect with them - that's the part I've missed most about not teaching the past month. But classes start soon!

Grand Opening Today!

Yesterday's winner of the pre-opening Little Blue House Prize-a-Day was Christie (Christie Cre8s). Congratulations on winning some buttons and two packages of our exclusive Little Blue House Designs embellishments!

Since it's actually past midnight, I can say that today is our long-awaited Grand Opening! The fun will start this afternoon from 4 to 8pm and continue tomorrow (Friday) 10am-8pm and Saturday 10am-4pm. We will be giving away prizes throughout the day as well as a Grand Prize for the weekend - the new Cinch binding tool! We are also offering an adorable make-n-take and the new fall class line-up will be showcased and ready for sign-ups. We can't wait to welcome you to the little blue house! See you there!

Only 5 more days!

Can you believe it - only five more day's 'til the Little Blue House opens! Be sure to mark your calendars for the three days' of opening festivities.

Thursday - 4pm to 8pm

Friday - 10am to 8pm

Saturday - 10am to 4pm

Come meet the designers, check out the class offerings, shop and join us for a free make-n-take! We can't wait to welcome you into our new little "home" - we've been missing our friends!

In the meantime, here are a few more little peeks at some of the surprises up our sleeves. And be sure to visit our blog here, become a follower and you might win one of the prizes Tracy has to give away!

What's Cooking

at The Little Blue House? Can you tell from this? It won't be long 'til the big reveal! I can't wait to show you.

And more LBH news - Lolly Chessie (aka lollychops) is going to be joining us at The Little Blue House where she will be teaching some specialty workshops! Check out her live Ustream broadcast from last night (it's recorded) - she tells you "all you ever needed or wanted to know about Sizzix dies". Click here to take you directly to the broadcast.

Never Forget

September 11, 2001 - the day the world changed. On this ninth anniversary, let us remember all those who senselessly died that day, their families still coping with their loss, and the brave men and women who helped with the rescue and cleanup. Pray for world peace and understanding.

Only Two More Weeks!

It's hard to believe but we are now only two weeks away from the Grand Opening of The Little Blue House! So much to do! I've been spending every day, all day there working on lots of projects. Here's a sneak peek at one - any guesses what this will be?

And I did manage to slip into the local Michael's yesterday to check out their new $1 finds. Look at the wonderful stamps they had! Of course I needed one of each...

A New Use for Altoid Tins

I know I have a reputation for recycling and finding a use for many otherwise-discarded things, but there are others out there far more creative than I.

Who would ever think of an Altoid tin and BBQ together? Check this out at http://www.instructables.com/id/Altoids-Sours-BBQ-Grill/ This is an actual, working grill! It will cook a hot dog (cut up to fit) or a teeny hamburg. How about one marshmallow? It takes one charcoal briquette for fuel. CAUTION: VERY HOT!

Anyone else think this is hysterical?

As for art, I am working on some very top secret projects for The Little Blue House. Can't share for awhile, but only 2 more weeks 'til opening day!

Deep Within

Here are last week's journal pages. The prompt was "Deep Within." I've finished the artwork but haven't journaled yet. I didn't particularly like the pattern and color of the paper on the left so I gessoed over it and then randomly colored the page with red and green watercolor crayons. I added quite a bit of water so I would get some "drippage", as Donna Downey calls it. Then I added miscellaneous papers (mainly from my desktop!) that were within reach. The baby fairy is from a notepad; the flower image pocket was printed from online and the blue daisy tag is from some Moda fabric packaging.

The envelope pocket insert was from my recent birthday cards and was too pretty to throw away. I knew it would come in handy! I added some book text and tissue paper on the back to obscure the addresses.

Below you can see the back of the envie along with the right page. The pink pocket was an insert from a wedding invitation received a long time ago and the believe piece was a sample from a stamp convention. The distressed and aged tag was among my supplies.

I've already started working on this week's pages, but the prompt has not been announced yet.

Exciting News!

We are fast approaching the opening date of The Little Blue House! Advance sign-ups for crops and/or special events will begin tomorrow, 9/7 at 9:00 am, by telephone only - 817-431-7930.

And the Grand Opening will be Thursday, 9/23, 4-8 pm, Friday, 9/24, 10 am - 8 pm, and Saturday, 9/25, 10 am - 4 pm! For more complete information, check out the new blog at http://www.thelittlebluehouseblog.blogspot.com.

The Design Team met last night and we are bursting with creative ideas! I can't wait to share it all with you! Stay tuned!

More Journal Pages

I'm a bit behind! These pages are from last week; the prompt was "All About Me." I find it hard to talk about myself so this spread took awhile. I'm having fun with the journal pages but having more difficulty with the actual journaling.

For this spread I printed out several of my favorite images and also used a new stamp set a friend had given me (the lady and flourish). The mannequin tag was a pattern Autumn gave us; I covered the front with sewing pattern paper and the back with some patterned paper. I love including different size tags and "stuff" between the pages.

It's live!

The Little Blue House blog is now live. Check it out here: http://www.thelittlebluehouseblog.blogspot.com

and become a follower so you don't miss any important updates!

A New Beginning

A few weeks ago, after much thought and consideration, I resigned from my designing and teaching job at Anthologies, a local scrapbook store. I thought I would have some time for R&R, recuperate from the past fast-and-furious year and, possibly, restart my creative juices.

But, as they say, when one door closes another opens and an opportunity presented itself to teach and design at a new art studio venture called "The Little Blue House." It will be home to "Create Joy Workshops" owned by my friend, Tracy, with whom I worked before joining Anthologies. As you would guess from the name, it is indeed a little blue house - in Old Town Keller, TX.

We are busy preparing the house for it's opening in a few weeks and planning and designing classes to teach. It's exciting to embark on a new adventure and I can't wait to share more with you. In the meantime, welcome to The Little Blue House! It's even cuter inside!

Look what arrived today!

After impatiently waiting more than a week since I won the e-bay auction, I was beyond excited when the mailman finally delivered this today! I have no idea how old this little machine is, but I am thinking it's maybe from the 1920's or 30's. I'll have to research it. It is the cutest little thing!

It's in very good condition except parts of the case are brittle and little pieces are chipping off. My excitement waned a bit when I tried to type on it. The auction said it worked, but I couldn't get the keys to go more than halfway up - nowhere near the roller. I was feeling cheated and thinking "dummie, believing a stranger's description on e-bay and sending money no less!"
Then I started playing with all the little levers and moved one on the side and, magically, the keys all popped up! When they are in this position, it types! The ribbon is not too bad, but my next project will be to try to track down a new one. If anyone has any ideas on where to get old ribbons, let me know!
The inside of the case is even imprinted. It says "To Benj. Schiro, From Local No. 91, Niagra Falls, NY" Would love to know the history of this!

So, I am doing the happy dance again and feeling very smug about my newest purchase! Will be playing with it soon.