Boxes, Decor & the Trophy

While I was going to photograph my rad Halloween decor I caught this precious moment, but let's be real, I'm sure something not-so-nice happened prior to the sweet hug. Hence the hug. Q & A are gonna be so cute on Halloween as Jessie & Tinkerbelle. I can't wait! 

(Last of the boxes for Spark stuff arriving.)

I loved Rhonna's Halloween decor so much that I made some of my own. I strung some lollipop circles from ribbon & hung it across our mantle. Halloween is such a fun holiday, but to be honest, I've never really decorated for it. This year I gave in.

I used all American Crafts stuff including glitter cardstock, polka dot paper & my favorite-Halloween Stickers. Also added Hocus Pocus glitter thicker shapes to my sparkly, spooky haunted house. 

PS I'm sure you caught this on ESPN but I thought I would post it anyway... Collin's team won the 1st place trophy in their softball league. It was worth freezing my buns off to see Collin relive his glory days of '98. Way to go Kartch!

it's about...

Last night my online class joined me on a live chat via U-Stream. We talked about all the things ladies talk about when they get together... boys, gossip, what kind of scrapbook album I use (American Crafts D ring). You know, the usual chit chat. One question that did stump me was how I get anything done? I ask myself that everyday. ;)

I am really enjoying putting together lessons and getting to know the ladies in my Mysteries of Me class. I learned a lot about myself & how much time goes into doing a class so next time I can do it even better. 

Here is a short video I put together for my class. enjoy. 

First, turn off the music in the sidebar=>

costume cookies

As if sugar cookies couldn't get any better in my eyes, Cookie magazine tempts me into making costume cookies for Halloween! I love this idea because, hey, I love any excuse to eat frosting...

and I like being a dork. Which is how you feel when you make your husband hold up a mustache cookie while you hold up a scary teeth cookie.

I finally read the fine print with the photo in Cookie magazine, I am such a visual person, and it says that you find templates and instructions here & YummyFun.com is who shared the idea in the first place. Which by the way, is such a cool website! You should check it out and click on the pasta... it's sad the silly things that amuse me.

Spark Soiree

The Spark Soiree was a sparkling success! 

We sipped down dizzie lizzies with cherries on top, got lost in Dear Lizzie's magical shop, played dress up with all the fabulous hats, bows & jewelry, & chatted with new & old fanciful friends.   

The best part of the night was meeting a bunch of local Sparkettes for our event & even chatted online with other ladies through a live video chat. I loved what the owner of Dear Lizzie, Laura, said during the Soiree. That she loved having this party there knowing that at her shop was when we first dreamed up Spark. She heard us giggling, laughing, planning... love that. (Photos by Jefra)

PS Spark is coming up so quick! Yesterday I posted a peek of the fabulous fabric class that Kelly McCaleb is teaching. You're going to love it! She's planned such a lovely class going above and beyond a basic tee and dressing up it up with her hand-picked vintage fabric collection. wowzers. 

PSS Happy Birthday to my friend Rhonna Farrer--- a fabulous fun little lady!!

PSSS I love Fridays & Fall

PSSSS I am making sugar cookies. 

PSSSSS Want some?

corsage tees please

This morning I was on Studio 5 with Brooke Walker talking about the fabulous fashion trend of having pretty handmade fabric flowers and ruffles on simple tees. I made 4 different examples with some awesome techniques.

I totally forgot to grab jeans when I left my house this morning so I made a quick detour to my sister's house. (Camille always saves the day.) Then she curled my hair even and sent me on my way. I will have to share the different ideas here because I think you will absolutely love them! Plus, they're super easy.

Thanks to Bethany and Kit for watching my sweet kiddos too.

If you are local to Utah County you should come to the Spark Soiree tonight at Dear Lizzie in Alpine from 7-9 or there will be a live U-Stream chat so check out the Spark blog at 7:45 pm. (mountain standard time)

Also, my little neice was born and is so precious she was named after my great great grandma, Taimi. (tymee) I'll post pictures next!

sisters

When you don't feel good sisters know how to make it all better. Including jumping on the bed, lots of kisses & tickles.

Happy Monday. A busy day at This Is The Place getting ready for Spark. Tomorrow's another busy day at Studio 5 in the morning then at night there's a Spark Soiree at our favorite bistro & boutique, Dear Lizzie. Anyone can come for a girls night out. More details to follow my friends...

ps do you tweet?

sneak peek

One of the things I love about my book that is coming out in... 

16 days, 402 hours or 24155 minutes 

is the photography. Brian, Symoni & Marin are quite talented because the openers, closers of the chapters and photography through out the book are beautiful!!

Creating Keepsakes put a sneak peek of "52 more scrapbooking challenges" up on their site so check it out. Here's a couple of the pages below... Just enough to tease you and make you wanna get the real deal hollyfield. 

16

402

24155

1449340

days

hours

minutes

16

402

24156

1449368

days

hours

minutes

16

402

24156

1449368

days

hours

minutes

16

402

24156

1449368

days

hours

minutes

The challenge above was to scrapbook a time of day. I chose to do a page of 5:24 pm our favorite time of day in the Kartchner home-when daddy's home from work. Kelly Purkey and Cindy Tobey designed awesome pages above too! getting excited... 

her smile says it all

Copyright: Creating Keepsakes Magazine The right side of this page was cut off in the magazine so I wanted to show it here. 

Looking at this page reminds me of one of my favorite moments of Avery. It was a cold Easter earlier this year at the Thanksgiving Point & since the egg hunt was over in .2 seconds we had a lot of time to kill. So we headed over to the farm. If you know Avery you know that she gravitates towards animals over princesses & dolls any day. It's clearly obvious by the photos that she was a bit ecstatic to ride a pony for the first time. I can still hear her little giggle "again... again" when the pony stopped. 

This page was featured in a Creating Keepsakes article by Lori Fairbanks on how to take your layouts up a notch. So instead of just stamping I did a couple things to up my game. 

I stamped using a glue stamp pad. It works just like an ink stamp pad. First, you apply glue to your stamp & stamp your project. It goes on clear. Then, add your

 flock. Last, shake off the access to use again & lightly brush with a foam brush any loose colorful fluff. It works with glitter too.

Once it dries add all the stitching, jewels & buttons to the image. enjoy.

Supplies:

American Crafts: Fabric Letter, Woodgrain paper

Doodlebug Designs: Crushed Velvet Flock

Crate Paper: Dot paper, floral

Making Memories: Letters, Flower

Tsukineko: Glue Stamp Pad

craft night

Friday night was craft night where we made funky things for SPaRk! Margie and I sat on the floor until our tushies hurt stringing all sorts of goodness--making garlands. Collin & Jeff (Rhonna's husband) watched and laughed at Stand up comedians all night (Jim Gaffigan. Bacon suddenly sounds delicious) Jefra and Rhonna worked on cuffs, headbands, brooches etc for each of our guests. Talk about a labor of love... Speaking of labor my baby sister is having a baby right this moment. I am off to the hospital so enjoy this movie Jefra made of our fun night... 

turn off the blog music in the sidebar and enjoy==>

Margie and I draped in our fabulous creations. 

PS you should come to spark

PPS if you are taking my class and haven't got an email from me please email me.

i don't like the yellow ones

On my dresser... 

Yes, I have candy on my dresser. Why? Because Avery can find anything sweet in the kitchen. It's one of her brilliant talents. Don't ask me how she found, & managed to get to, the Marshmallow Mateys (Collin's favorite) in the cupboard above the fridge. Now my sweet tooth stash is hidden in my closet because Avery's sugar sense hasn't caught on there... yet. 

The pink bowl came all the way from Japan... thanks Margie!

PS Please email me (elizabeth.kartchner (at) gmail.com) if you signed up for my class and have not received an email from me. :)

PPS Did you watch Nie Nie on Oprah...? just astounding. 

you guessed it

October is a fun month with lots going on... despite all the busyness of our days it was completely delightful to take a night out with friends and learn how to knit. Rhonna, Jefra & I took Kelly McCaleb's knitting 101 class. This is a picture of my second knitting project and I am embracing all the dropped stitches and holes because I am learning and growing with each stitch. It's been nice to take a break mentally while I focus on how these needles make something so comfy and cute.

Thanks so much for all your comments about my secret project... Don't tell Collin I told you this, but he said he read the comments and got tears in his eyes. tears. Just keep that between you and me. ;)
Yep, you guessed it... It's a book!
I can vividly remember the day when my friend, Beth Opel, said that I might do a book. Could you imagine my excitement? me? a book? Needless to say I was over the moon excited and I knew there was a lot of work ahead of me. I was right, but it was completely worth it. So, more details:

It's a Challenges Book "52 more scrapbooking challenges" to be exact.

It's available November 1st.

I designed 52 pages then we needed some fabulous contributors who were also up for a challenge or two. That's when we put together this great team:

Cindy Tobey, Amanda Johnson, Keisha Campbell, Sheri Reguly, Kelly Purkey, Sasha Farina, Mou Saha, Shelley Aldrich & Beth Opel. They are all unique, have their own style & are super talented.

We will be setting up a 52 challenges group, blinkies for those of you who are up to the challenge & more fun stuff as we count down to the big book release. I think this calls for a party...

Guessing game.

Almost a year ago I started working on a top secret project and teasing you about it!! It's about time to start shedding some light on the subject... I'll give you some hints:

-It is bigger than a cupcake but you can't eat it. Well, I guess you could.

-It has 52 of something but it's not a deck of cards.

-It is full of inspiring and challenging ideas but it's not Sudoku.

-I did an entire page about eating pancakes but it's not a cookbook.

-There is literally a couch at the end of every chapter but it's not at TV guide.

-It has incredible pages designed by women from all over the world.

-It took me hundreds of hours to finish in hopes you will love it.

-It required an awesome team from Creating Keepsakes who put it all together and went above & beyond.

-I couldn't have done it with out Collin's support & pictures of 2 little girlies to scrapbook with.

-In 30 days it's available to inspire you. What do you think it is?

I'll be back later...