details

It's all in the details... is a mantra I adopt in many areas of my life. From the kids' snacks in cute cups on trays, to planning Spark with Rhonna and Margie and not to mention scrapbooking. Here are some close up shots of pages from my book, "52 More Scrapbooking Challenges."

Hand cut fabric sewed to a page layered with rubons, tags, hearts & stamps.

Layering metal mesh, chipboard stars, eyelets, embroidery.

Woodland creatures layered on vintage book paper and scalloped circles

Hand embroidered title. Amy Tan gave me some fun pointers at CHA... the queen of embroidery.

Glimmer Mist & Stickles on paper with brads and gems.

One of my favorite pages from my book is this one about my Grandpa. So happy that his health is strong and he is doing better. Love him so much.

A random fun fact about me is when my grandpa sings he sounds exactly like Frank Sinatra. Yeah, I haven't bragged about that since 5th grade. hee hee.

Thanks for your emails and comments about my book. It makes me so giddy when I hear that you are enjoying it and getting inspired!

couch potato

One of the cool design highlights of my book are the photos on the same couch at the end of each chapter. Marin thought of this fun idea, I gathered together a bunch of outfits and props, then the photography team worked their magic. I remember having to hold poses like on page 83 & 105 that literally made me sore the next day. ha. But that was all worth it. Kind of like when Collin teases me for wearing uncomfortable shoes just because they are cute.

My favorite couch potato shots are on page 65 & 83.
Miss Ruby Sue was awesome to overnight the necklace in the photo and my sister Emily hooked me up with a Motley headband for the cover shot.

Just in time for Christmas, I got some more books or should I say Santa got some more books in his workshop. Get your personalized, wrapped with love copy... (sorry I sold out but email me to have first dibs on the next order elizabeth.kartchner(at)gmail.com.)

Also, a merry thank you to my December Sponsors:

Studio Calico

Blue Moon Scrapbooking

Shabby Chic Crafts

Magpie Kit Club (home of the credit crunch kit)

Shea B Camera Straps

Evalicious (art journals/embellishments etc)

Totally Rad Actions (awesome photo actions)

The Girls Loft Kits

If you are interested in sponsorship opportunities in January and through out next year email me at elizabeth.kartchner(at)gmail(dot)com

ta ta for now. xo

book party pics

If celebrating with caramel & chocolate drizzled popcorn, shopping, meeting new friends & spending time with old ones makes for a good party then consider the book party a great night! Dear Lizzie after hours is always a treat. It takes the typical girls-night-out and makes it dazzle & shine.

My cute family below... they are supportive & encouraging. Love them all so much! Even Taimi came, oh, she is a doll.
Such a fun night! Thank you to everyone who celebrated with us.

I'm sad that I didn't get a photo of everyone, but just know, it meant so much to me that you came. x0 I thought it would only be Collin & I sitting there all night. ;)
Seeing Beth was exciting because she was the editor for the book & worked so hard on making sure everything was perfect. It was easy peasy making decisions with her, since we agree on everything. Sometimes I even wondered if she could read my mind but it was just because we get along great. She is such a delightful little lady. (Thanks Beth!)

The funniest part of the night was when Beth & Collin had a smizing war. (For those who don't know, to smize means 'to smile with your eyes.') Since Tyra Banks coined the term Collin has been perfecting his look.
Brian Smith, one of the photographers for the book, came with his wife. The photography in the book is killer. (bpd studios)

and last but not least, no party is complete with out my Spark sisters...

You can still throw your name in the giveaway to win a book from me... I'll announce winner next.

Adorable Oatmeal (my book giveaway)

Today I realized I should leave Collin with the kids more often on Thursday mornings because that means I get to download gems like these from my camera.

I'm not a huge fan of food-on-faces photos but these were too cute! There's probably 156 more from the same sequence. Oatmeal's never looked so adorable.

I'm really glad I kept notes and fun things during the process of working on my book.

You know... the book below... that I might have mentioned on this blog before... ;)

It's all about stretching yourself creatively, celebrating your memories with paper, and of course having fun while you're at it.

There's some fabulous giveaways going on right now for personalized books from me. I am giving one away here at my blog so leave a comment to win a personalized copy from me!!

While you're at it check out Creating Keepsake's blog because the sweet, Brittany Beattie, has a fabulous giveaway with copies of the book too! That will up your chances big time.

You should come...

We take any excuse to celebrate! Can you come...? It should be good times hosted by the ever charming bistro & boutique Dear Lizzie. Call 492-0022 to pre-order a book and get 20% off the retail price. Anyone and everyone can come. I would love to meet you. (I met a cute girl at Target on Saturday but didn't get to chat long... hi cute girl!)

We will be chatting, eating the yummiest sweets & shopping at the most magical shop you've ever stepped your cute heels in. Sounds like a perfect night to me!

For those of you who ordered personalized copies from me they are wrapped and ready to ship! While I wrote notes to each of you Collin wrapped every. single. book. I thought is was cute when I saw him leaving his own notes and signature by his photos. A couple times he'd look over at me and say, "Hun, this is your book. That's so cool."

We spent a couple nights watching movies and eating pumpkin pie while packaging them just right.

(The little gift from me to you is a handmade flower.)

Since I have connections with the makers of the book ;) I got my hands on some more copies! If you are interested click the button below.

(I am temporarily sold out of books but will be getting some in a week or so. Email me if you want to be put on a wait list.)

It's here!!

It's been just over a year since I started the journey of my book, 52 More Scrapbooking Challenges, & now it's finally in my hands!

Friday afternoon I got a couple excited emails saying, "It's here." So I jumped in the car and ran up to Creating Keepsakes just before they closed for the weekend. The books sat next to me on the passenger seat all the way home just beckoning me to open-but I promised Collin I wouldn't even peek until he was home. Yes, it was torture... but I did it.
Then the kiddos needed our attention so we waited until they went to bed before diving into the pages together. Surprisingly, I'd forgotten lots of the details & what I'd said in my note at the beginning. Which is definitely cheesy, but I'm a cheesy girl.
That night we looked at each page & recalled the meaningful moments. I love how Collin really appreciates scrapbook pages & loves that memories of our family are documented... not to mention in a super cute way! :)

I absolutely love it! I hope you love it too!

If you are interested in buying a personalized copy from me email elizabeth.kartchner(at)gmail(dot)com. I will be selling a limited quantity.

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

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days

hours

minutes

16

402

24156

1449368

days

hours

minutes

16

402

24156

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days

hours

minutes

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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... 

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...