For those of you local to me....Check out Scrap 'N Yaps' New Classes

If you weren't able to make it our Open House last month on Sat, December 6th, here's a glimpse at the Yap's upcoming classes for the New Year!

Click here for the Download January 2009 Class Schedule and here for the Download February 2009 Class Schedule.
Tonight, Friday, January 9th is our Monthly Quickutz Club with Karina. Call the store to see if there's still room for you to join in!
Sat, January 10th is Lisa's Silou-What? Class. Come and learn how to use the QK Silouette machine by creating two layouts. Did you know that the Silouette machines are now just $149 each? What a steal!! ~ $22
Sun, January 18th is Ching's "We're Off to the Ball" Card Class. Using the "Fairest of them All" line by Imaginisce, we'll be creating these 4 adorable cards.
You'll leave learning lots of new techniques like a fold over envelope card, a spinner card, and how to use mirror embellishments! We'll be playing with Quickutz too! ~ $35


Sat, January24th is Karina's "I {heart} You" Card Class. Using new Valentines papers, cardstock and embellishments, you'll be making a sweet set of 6 cards that you can give to your loved ones. ~ $29

Wed, January 28th is Claudine Hellmuth Meet 'n Greet night!! Claudine is a nationally recognized mixed media artist and has her own stamp line and product line with Ranger Industries. She has been featured on The Martha Stewart Show, HGTV, and DIY's "Craft Lab." Claudine just released her new paint colors and new paintable canvases which the Yap is proud to offer you. ~ FREE
Friday, February 6th is our Monthly Quickutz Club with Karina. Call the store to see if there's still room for you to join in!
Sat, February 7th is Karina's "Its a Party" class. Join Karina as she shows you how to create a festive bag containing party favors, cupcake kit and several cards to honor the occassion. ~ $32

Sun, February 8th is Elizabeth's "Things I Love" altered book featuring lots of yummy findings from 7 Gyspies. If you don't know that Elizabeth loves 7 Gyspies, you will after this!! ~ $45
Sat, February 14th is Michael Strong's card class. We never know what he's up to, but we do know that his classes always sell out! Come and create one of a kind cards in these fast paced and fun classes. ~ $28
Sun, Febrary 22nd is Julie's "Papiers a Lettres" Stationary Box Set class. Julie is a new teacher, but look at what she's got to offer! Join Julie as you create a fabulous boxed stationary set featuring the very girly Heidi Swapp paper line. ~ $27

We definitely have alot in store for you. Call the 'Yap at (626) 357-2727 and sign up for a class today!

Another Belated Tutorial: "Our Vacation" Travel Envelope Accordian Mini Album

Its almost Hump Day and just 9 more days until Christmas!! So I thought I'd dig out these class instructions for this "Our Vacation" Travel Envelope Accordian Mini Album class that I originally taught at Scrap 'N Yap in Monrovia, CA this past summer to share with you all here.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment and I'd be glad to help you out. Enjoy!

Materials Needed:

• 5 envelopes or any odd number – any size will do, but the larger the better as the envelope size will determine the size of your work surface on each panel and how large your pocket will be, should you decide to use the pockets. NOTE: my envelopes measured 5.5 x 8 inches each.

• 1 Extra envelope to use as a pattern template (you’ll be using this to trace the inside pages as well as the inside of the cover flap. This extra envelope will NOT be incorporated into your envelope accordion album.

• A few sheets of coordinating patterned papers (I used a total of 5 12x12 Heidi Swapp World Traveller patterned papers as I was able to cut 2 qty of 5.5x8 panels from each sheet).

• A few sheets of coordinating solid cardstock (I used 1.5 sheets of 12x12 Bazzill cardstock.

• At least 1 yard of ¾ inch wide ribbon which will be used to tie your accordian album together.

• Various embellishments (I used the entire package of Heidi Swapp World Traveller chipboard accents, a few Creative Café chipboard frames and colored office tags, a handful of prima flowers, 1 Karen Foster large round rhinestone brad, stickles, MM tiny alphabet stickers, Heidi Swapp “Escape” acrylic stamp, and travel themed stickers from Blue Cardigan.)


Tools Needed:
• Exacto Knife to make slits to attach your ribbon.
• A really good adhesive. I used UHU glue stick. I swear by that stuff.
• Glue dots – I can’t live without these boogers as I used it to attach the bulkier embellishments like chipboard and ric rac ribbons, etc.
• Pencil or pen for tracing.
• Paper Trimmer
• Sharp scissors – I prefer the short handled yellow Cutterbee scissors.
• Distressing tool – I prefer my distresser from SU to distress the edges of all my papers and the Basic Grey Distressing Kit for all their various skinny sized files.

Instructions:
1. Glue the INSIDE of the FIRST envelope flap (the area that is usually gummed) to the bottom of the FRONT of the SECOND envelope (this is the area underneath where you would normally write the addressee information (vs. the return address which would be written at the top left).

Here’s a picture of a few of the envelopes lined up, so you can see what I’m talking about. Hope I didn’t confuse you.



I stagnated the envelope flaps so you can see more clearly in this picture.


And here’s what they look like normally when the flaps are glued to another.


2. Now you have 2 envelopes glued together which are connected by just one of the envelope flaps. Continue to glue the envelope flaps together to connect all the 5 envelopes. In the end, you should have a chain of envelopes glued together. On one end, there is just ONE envelope flap which will serve as your cover for the entire album.

If you lay out the entire “chain,” all your pockets should be on the same side. For the rest of this class, we will refer to this side of the chain as “Pocket Side.”

Ditto for the other side, which should be the “front” of your envelope that would normally be the place you put the return and sending addresses. For the rest of this class, we will refer to this side of the chain as “FRONT Addressing Side.”

3. Take your EXTRA envelope that I had you set aside for your measuring template. Measure yours to determine the size of your panels. Cut 10 panels (in my case 10 qty of 5.5 x 8 panels) from your patterned paper stash.

4. Adhere each panel of patterned paper to each of the envelope panels on the FRONT ADDRESSING Side of your accordion chain. You will have used up 5 of the 10 patterned paper panels so far.

5. Now take the same EXTRA envelope that now serves as your template and use it to trace

a) The envelope flap - For the envelope flap which will be the accordion album’s OUTSIDE top cover, I measured the entire flap and allowed a few extra inches so that it will wrap around partially on the other side (which is the FRONT ADDRESSING Side) so that when you open and close the flap on your finished book, its smooth. In my example, I used the the brown swirly HS patterned paper that overlays the houndstooth 5.5 x 8 panel.



b) The envelope flap – for the inside of the envelope flap which will be for the INSIDE album cover flap. In my example, I cut mine out of just black cardstock.



c) the lip of the pocket portion of the inside of the EXTRA envelope using the remainder of your 5 patterned paper panels. I used a pencil to trace onto the backside of the pp panels, and then used my cutterbee scissors to cut off the excess.

TIP: BE SURE to cut along your traced lines ALONE. Because the small remaining part can be used as LINERS for the top insides of each envelope pocket area.

6. Now that you have all your pieces traced and cut out, grab your accordion “chain” and lay it out so that the “Pocket Side” is facing up.

7. Adhere the larger patterned paper panels to the coordinating top side of your envelope pocket panels.

8. Adhere the remaining trimmed pieces to the TOPS of the inside of each envelope pocket so that they become liners. In effect, you have created an envelope accordion book with functional pockets.


9. Adhere both the top cover and the inner cover of the envelope flaps. Now all the surfaces of your envelopes are now covered with some sort of patterned paper or cardstock.

10. Grab your exacto knife and make slits to allow the width of your desired ribbon on both sides of your LAST envelope panel which still has the cover flap. See my picture. Thread your ribbon through. I glued my ribbon down so that it would not get loose as a result of regular handling of the accordion album.


11. Decorate/Embellish each panel and cover as desired. NOTE: I distressed all the edges of my patterned paper panels before adhering them.

12. My finished product, when laying “Pocket Side” face up with the envelope flap on the my left hand side, should fold into each other, one panel at a time beginning from the right side.

Here are pictures, panel by panel of my finished Envelope Accordian Album. I can’t wait to see yours!!!

Cover:


Cover Open with Flap Open:


Page 1 -2 (This is me unrolling the accordion pages AWAY from the envelope flap)



Page 1 -2 -3 (This is me unrolling the accordion pages AWAY from the envelope flap)


Page 1 -2-3-4 (This is me unrolling the accordion pages AWAY from the envelope flap)


Page 1 -2 -3-4-5 (This is the ENTIRE ”Pocket Side” Pages all unfolded out..the entire accordion chain on display)


This is the ENTIRE “Front Addressing Side” accordion chain on display:



Thanks for looking! :)

TOO Much Fun This Holiday Weekend

Man! was this long holiday weekend jammed packed or what?!?! I think I need another 4 day long weekend just to recover from all the fun I had this Thanksgiving Holiday.

I got some great deals both on Wednesday night and on Black Friday at Old Navy and Macy's! I'm mainly happy over the great deal I got on my new cashmere sweaters. It was amazing how low the prices were everywhere on everything that I really found it hard to spend more than $5 to $10 for most items. But I stuck to just getting some new basics that needed updating, so no overspending this year for me! I didn't turn mush just because I saw a sale sign!

Friday, it was Design Team Leader Suzy Haghighi's turn to host our weekly Friday Challenge over at Embellish-Online which was to use your left over scraps. Click here to see her gorgeous card along with what I came up with for this week's challenge in our gallery.

Come play with us and be sure to use keyword FC18 when you upload your projects to the gallery so we can all see your beautiful work! To see everyone's submissions click *here*

Then, on Friday as well, I spent most of my time at Scrap 'N Yap getting ready for our Holiday Extravaganza Make and Take Event. The staff (Jenn, Erna, Roseann and of course, Elizabeth, the owner) and I, along with Yap customer Julie, cooked up 8 different make and take projects ranging from super quick and easy ones like the tree candy favor box to more time consuming detailed projects like Roseanne's Recipe Book. Click here to read and see all about our super fun day at the 'Yap on Saturday.

I was pleasantly surprised and grateful for my good friend Susan's support when she came by the store for a suprize impromptu visit with her hubby. We had time to chat and have lunch together at Jake's Roadhouse since my pics from my previous blog post seemed to have piqued Susan's taste buds.

Here's the project that I designed and taught which was totally fun especially with customers Allison and her niece Jade. These two were a giggle fest indeed! We made a super cute 6x6 album from American Crafts featuring Teresa Collin's Christmas paper line and Bazzil Dots Cardstock in under an hour!! For those of you that know me, you know that that timeframe was a huge feat even for me!



Sunday was my cousin's baby daughter's birthday. Addison turned one!! She was the Guest of Honor at her very own 10 course Chinese style luncheon banquet. Here are some of the dishes we feasted on today. (We Chinese traditionally do this for our babies at either one month or one year old with red dyed eggs...I'll spare you all the cultural explanation 'cuz I'm in major cooing mode right now.)







Here's Addison with her Mommy, Daddy (my cousin Randy), her big sis, Taylor and big bro, Jacob with her yummy chocolate birthday cake.



I had to take this next picture of Addison and her Grandfather (my uncle) because my Uncle used to "eat" her daddy's hands when he was a baby too just like he is doing to her in this picture!! I thought it was cute because I can still vividly see my Uncle doing this so many years ago. Randy is only 3 years younger than me. :) His son Jacob looks so much like Randy...its very endearing to be around this little boy.



I couldn't help myself when I saw Addison's adorable little golden ballerina slippers peeking out from her matching Princess style birthday dress while she was napping.



Lol...these aren't even MY kids and I can barely contain myself from over-sharing pictures and stories about these sweet, sweet, dear children of my cousin, who I regard as one of my brothers. Lol...can you imagine what I'll be like when I have kids??? OMG! I'll be hopeless!

I have to leave you with one last picture of Taylor, who is now 6, enjoying the lollipop that served double duty as our favors and table place cards. My lollipop indicated that I was at Table #2 - the table of adults who still have no children!



It truly was a super fun party with High School Musical songs playing in the background while we ate, talked and then were later entertained by a full fledged magician. It was cute seeing baby Addison sway back and forth to the music in her high chair. :) (Ok, I'll stop now....lol!)

But the night wasn't over yet. I then drove over to visit my friend Kari and her hubby at their new house that's now located a whooooole 12 miles farther away from me!! Sniff!! Sniff!! She and her hubby were painting their new house to get it ready for their move in a few weeks. It truly is one of the lovliest homes for the two of them to build their family and future in. I'm so very happy for Kari, but sad she's so much farther away now. lol

But what's amazing about Kari is that she's soo on top of things!! She's got her December Monthly Kit, entitled "Its a Wonderful Life," for her Urban-Anthology store packaged and ready to mail while she's in the middle of taking possession of her first home and packing/moving all her stuff! Wow!! I'm not worthy!! I'm not worthy!!! Check out the fabulous December kit from Urban-Anthology.




How cute are they in matching outfits??



But before I go, just one more baby picture. For those of you that know me and my fetish for babies with round heads with soft hair I can pet so that their hair bounces.....juuuust lookkkeee at this liddle baybeeee?? Look at that face! Look at those cheeks!! This one is Christian, and he's TWO!! He's Addison's first cousin, on her mother's side - so no blood relation to me. But he's my current favorite baby in my extended family.



Whew!! Definitely TOO much fun this long Holiday Weekend. Yes, baby petting is very exhausting! :) I'm already looking forward to next weekend for much needed relaxation!

Holiday Open House @ Scrap 'N Yap Sat Oct 11th 10AM-4PM

Its time for another Open House at Scrap 'N Yap THIS SATURDAY, October 11th from 10am to 4pm to premiere classes for November and December as well as to showcase all new product that's been arriving at the store.

Ching, Erna, Kim, Michelle, Mykle, and Karina will be there to showcase our new classes and do our traditional meet and greet. And of course our amazing staff, Renae, Rosanne, Shauna, and Jen, and last and most definitely NOT least, the queen herself, Elizabeth Tuch, store owner and hostess of the grand event.

As you may or may not know, our open houses at are always a blast! The atmosphere is very welcoming and there's always something fun going on!!! It's like "CHEERS" but without the beer (lol)...everybody knows your name and they're always glad you came. So if you are new to Scrap n' Yap, or have not vistited us yet, come on by to check us out and say hello. If you're a regular, and we love our regulars, mark your calendars and don't forget to visit. The more, the merrier!

My project for the holidays will be featuring the lovely papers from the Happy Holiday Lines from Fancy Pants. Here's a peek of the papers...you'll have to come to the Open House this Saturday to see my project which will be a perfect gift item.



Remember, if you sign up for classes on the day of our Open House, you'll receive 10% off the class fee. Hmm, more savings means more shopping money for scrap goodies, and I'm all for that!!

Of course, I'll be sharing pictures of our really fun Open Houses on Sunday along with sneak peeks of my class project for those of you that can't make it this Sat. See you there!

Also, my Masculine Basic Grey Layout and Cards combo class featuring the Basic Grey Boxer line at Scrap 'N Yap is happening this coming Sunday, October 12th. (Looks like I'll be living at the Yap this weekend, huh?) There are still spaces left in the class, so if you're interested, call the store to reserve your space!



***Psssst!!! Scrap 'N Yap is now looking for class instructors. If you're interested, please send me an email and I'll give you the scoop!***

My "Our Vacation" Envelope Accordian Album Class - Sunday, Sept 14 2:30-5PM

I'll be teaching this VACATION themed Envelope Accordian Album Class which will feature the Heidi Swapp Travel World line this Sunday, Sept 14th from 2:30-5PM for $45 at Scrap 'N Yap.

Here's what the cover looks like:



Here's what it looks like underneath the cover flap:



And this is what a few of the accordian pages look like.



There will be 10 panels in total and you'll have 8 full panels for pictures as well as 5 fully functioning pockets to tuck in memorabilia, tickets, notes, etc. There are some interactive elements as well. :) You can use either landscape or portrait photos, but I suggest that portrait photos in either 4x6 or 5x7 would work best with my class design.

If you want to sign up, please call Scrap 'N Yap to register. See ya soon!

A Better Sneak Peek of My Scrap 'N Yap Sept Class

With no further ado...here are some sneak peeks of my VACATION themed Envelope Accordian Album Class which will feature the Heidi Swapp Travel World line. Its scheduled for Sunday, Sept 14th from 1:30-4PM for $45. Please note that this class date has been updated on my BLOG CALENDAR that's located at the upper LEFT side of my Blog.

Here's what the cover looks like:



Here's what it looks like underneath the cover flap:



And this is what a few of the accordian pages look like.



There will be 10 panels in total and you'll have 8 full panels for pictures as well as 5 fully functioning pockets to tuck in memorabilia, tickets, notes, etc. There are some interactive elements as well. :) You can use either landscape or portrait photos, but I suggest that portrait photos in either 4x6 or 5x7 would work best with my class design.

I'm proud to learn that this class is selling out fast! If you want to sign up, please call Scrap 'N Yap to register.

I'm sorry I didn't post this sooner as I've had pictures of my class for close to 3 weeks now. As you can tell, I'm catching up with all my blogging since tonight seems to be the blogging marathon for me! :)

Scrap 'N Yap's Open House Recap & Sneak Peek of My Sept Class

If you weren't able to make it to Scrap 'N Yap's Open House 2 weekends ago on Sat, August 9th, you really missed out!! We had sooo much fun seeing what all the Designers created for the upcoming classes for the Sept and Oct calendar.



It was also CRAZY busy because SOCAL SHOP HOP was going on too so alot of scrappers were coming through the store with their passports looking for the hidden golden coins throughout the store, picking up their TAKE and Makes (lol...since there just wasn't enough time to actually sit to make and then take them), and earning a chance to earn more fabulous scrappy prizes by choosing a bauble of their choice in our AMAZINGLY BLINGED OUT Treasure Chest created by our amazing Mykle. Our Elizabeth Tuch, Scrap 'N Yap's owner, was amazingly generous with the prizes!!

Here's Mykle enjoying some cupcakes in her piratey garb. Hmmm, what a comely wench you are....AYE!!! And seriously, how AMAZING is this Treasure Chest that Mykle created??





Here are some pics of our regulars Sandra and Diane enjoying the Open House festivities. And our Erna is just hilarious isn't she in her very sexy Pirate themed blinged out Tee which is available for sale at Scrap 'N Yap. And speaking of sexy, check out Miss Elizabeth modeling how sleek this pirate themed blinged tee fits??




There are still a few more days for the SOCAL SHOP HOP (ends on August 24th!), so come on in 'cuz we have so much new product already in the store that was just released at the most recent CHA show.

Here's what Scrap 'N Yaps' got in...hurry, cuz they are selling like hot cakes!!

New Halloween papers, embellishments and more adorable little acrylic stamps from Imaginesce:



And then we got the much anticipated Vintage Moon (the little blue owl) and Pop Fashion (pink and grey) lines from Pink Paislee. How gorgeous are these lines??





We got the totally cute Mr. Campy & the new blackboard shaped mini books from Cosmo Cricket in too....check it out!



Are you exhausted yet?? Yeah, lots of new scrappy goodness huh?? Check out Teresa Collins new recipe and xmas lines!! She even has these adorable chipboard shaped books that are exactly the same size as those diecut pages. So it makes it easy to make your own customized mini books. And here you thought those diecut pages was just for your Bind It All?? That Teresa, she's a smart cookie!





Lastly, look at these gorgeous 7 gypsies papers and embellishments?? Fabulous for those heritage, vacation or masculine projects, no??


Yep!! Just soo much eye candy and scrappy goodness!! We at Scrap 'N Yap have ALOT fun!! So you wanna see what the Designers have in store for you in Sept and Oct?? Here are some sneak peeks for yah! The calendar will soon be up on the website so be sure to check it out. Else, they are already printed and available in the store by the register. You definitely don't wanna miss out on these fabulous classes!

Ha ha...its just a sneak, I know!! Tune in for more details and better sneaks of our upcoming classes scheduled for Sept and Oct at Scrap 'N Yap by our talented designers Michele, Elizabeth, Erna, Karina, Mykle and of course MOI!