It’s that time of year again, when the Craft and Hobby Association holds their winter show for industry professionals, and Ella will be there staying up to date all the latest buzz.

 

I’ve been watching the sneak peeks closely over at Scrapbook Update, and I already have a few early favorites that I can’t wait to check out in person. Here are just a few things I’m eager to scope out:

 

1. New goodies from Jenni Bowlin Studios, particularly the chalkboard easel and the hexagon stickers.

 

2. Buttercup by Lily Bee

I’ve only seen a teensy peek of this line, but the colors sing to me (they are, after all, Ella colors!), and I can’t wait to see the rest!

 

3. Button Market from Bella Blvd

I’m a sucker for fun buttons! Here are a couple of my must-haves from the new Bella Blvd button collection:

 

 

Interested in knowing what all the upcoming trends will be? Check out my personal blog, Noodle Soup, for some early predictions.

 

Which of the new releases are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments!

Summer vacation is just around the corner, and if you’ve got school-aged kids you know that means your scrapbooking time will likely take a backseat to keeping the youngsters amused.

Now that Spring Training has you in top scrapbooking form, it seems a shame to lose your momentum. What you need is a PLAN, disguised as kid-friendly fun, to score you some extra creative time this summer.

That’s where Kidding Around {2} comes in.



Six weeks of cool summer activities and journaling prompts will ensure that if you can’t beat ‘em, you can at least join ‘em in sitting down to record some excellent summertime memories. Plus, it couldn’t hurt to instill the value of memory keeping while the kids are young. These are the people who will be fighting over who gets to proudly display your scrapbooks one day, after all!

Because Ella always has some tricks up her trunk and wants to do everything under the sun to spread the scrapbooking fun, we’re giving away a seat in the hottest summer class for kids! Just leave a comment telling us your favorite summer childhood memory, and we’ll award one lucky reader with a summer full of Kidding Around.

Dive in, we can’t wait to hear what you’ll share!

(p.s. Tune in tomorrow and the rest of the week for JOURNALING WEEK here at Ella. You won't want to miss this!)

(Read on for some fabulous scrapbooking deals!)
I have been scrapbooking since glittery dinosaurs walked the Mrs. Grossman’s sticker sheets as the “it” page embellishment. Over the years, I’ve seen so many positive evolutions in this industry, from the types and variety of products available to the ever-broadening definition of what counts as scrapbooking, to the proliferation of the Internet for connecting to other scrapbookers.

Back in the 1990s, if we wanted to share ideas, take a class, or just spend some time with like-minded hobbyists, we had to seek out places to meet with local people. Today, with the simple click of a mouse, inspiration, camaraderie, and classes from all over the world can be right at our fingertips, in the comfort of our home (and pajamas!)

You might want to check out these exciting online opportunities for learning and mingling:

True Scrap

If you want in on this first-of-its-kind virtual expo event, you’ll have to act fast…it starts today! True Scrap offers a keynote from Ali Edwards, a virtual classroom featuring a wide variety of live session topics from a dozen different instructors (including ME!), and make-and-take project videos from 5 well-known kit clubs – all for one flat price ($97) that works out to less than $6 per presentation. Not going to be around to absorb all this inspiration live? No worries! For a bit more ($127), you can purchase an option that includes recordings of the whole shebang, to soak up at your leisure.

Spring Training with Ella

Ella's super duper Spring Training exravaganza is coming to a computer near you very soon! Stay tuned for details and your chance to sign up and get inspired.
Sign up Next Week (April 11-15) to enjoy all of the above for 20% off the list price! Registration page coming soon!

Note: Participation is FREE in the daily layout challenge and giveaway (without access to the videos, hands-on exercises, and exclusive downloads)

Creative Crop

Big Picture Classes and Creating Keepsakes magazine have teamed up to celebrate National Scrapbook Day with a jam-packed, 12-hour online event Saturday, May 7. Hourly challenges, live chats, giveaways, and inspiration galore! And best of all? It’s FREE!

**Great Scrapbooking DEALS!**

Looking for more ways to harness the powers of the internet to benefit your scrapbooking? Here are some ideas

Research your ancestry for heritage projects with help from The Ancestry Store. If putting together a family tree leaves you feeling stumped, this is the place to find software and books that can help. Or, try a new Ancestry.com Membership.

Order photos. At Clark Color, you can order digital photo prints for as low as 8¢. Plus, register for free with Clark Color, and get 40 free 4x6 prints with your first order. I order many of my prints from Clark, and have always been pleased with the quality.

Shop for scrapbook supplies. Right now you can get 20% off most scrapbooking products at ScrapbookingAlley.com, which could come in handy for that page or project you have in mind!

What's your favorite way that the Internet makes scrapbooking easier or more fun? Tell us in the comments!

As scrapbookers, we’re on a continual quest to harness that sometimes-elusive creative muse. But have you considered that there is more to creativity than making cute stuff at your craft table? Allow creativity to seep into all aspects of your life and it will become more available to you during your next artistic project.

Here are three ways you can start embracing a more creative lifestyle:

1. Allow yourself quiet time to reflect, plot, plan, devise, meditate, ponder, synthesize, and otherwise give your creative thought space to roam.

It isn’t always easy to squeeze “me time” into a full schedule when I think of it as a luxury. That’s why I look at it as one of my commitments. My calendar includes a weekly Starbucks date with myself, and I make a point of carving out little blocks of thinking time at least a couple of times each week. A few of my favorite ways to spend this time: writing in my journal, taking a walk, or treating myself to a soak in the tub. (I adore Lush Bath Bombs – if you haven’t tried them you should! They smell incredible and are practically guaranteed to melt the stress away and get the creative thoughts flowing.)


photo by   Erica Nicol

2. Don’t leave your creativity at the craft table.

Life is full of opportunities to be creative, from the way you accessorize an outfit to the way you throw together ingredients for a meal. If you maintain an adventurous and creative state of mind in all areas of your life, you’ll have an easier time accessing the creative mojo when you need it for a project. Try new things, rearrange your furniture just to see what it would look like, write your grocery list on a cute notepad that expresses your style ( Shop Expressionery.com for Personalized Writing Journals, Address Stamps and More! Enter SAVEMORE and save up to $55 on orders $150+), and ask yourself "what if?" more often.


(image from Expressionery.com)

3. Do Something Creative Every Day ®

It’s the slogan of the premiere retail paperie Paper Source, and it’s also really good advice, which is why this stamp sits on the shelf above my desk as a reminder.



Your “something creative” doesn’t have to be a scrapbook page or huge, completed masterpiece. It can simply be doodling for a few minutes, choosing a fun combo of products for a future project, taking a photo walk, or dabbling in a new medium or technique you’ve been meaning to try. You’ll be surprised how even just 15 minutes a day can impact your overall creativity.

1. Smash book (K & Company/EK Success)

Smash is my top pick from CHA this winter. Part art journal, part notebook, and part scrapbook in the true sense of the word, Smash is a place for all the scraps, bits, and doodles that make your life YOURS. I love the design, the colors, the trend-on accoutrements…but most of all I love how accessible this makes scrapbooking to the average person who just wants a place to stick the stuff that matters. Plus, the included pen is completely ingenious – archival ink on one end, and a glue stick on the other. Smash will be smashing into scrapbooks stores in April.

 

2. Fun button sets

I can’t resist buttons in happy color combos or cute shapes. Here are a few that caught my eye on the show floor:

Little Yellow Bicycle debuted these adorable chipboard tree stump buttons as part of their new Twig collection.

Crate Paper and BoBunny both offered button sets with a hodgepodge of shapes and sizes, color coordinated to each of their new lines. I love the variety in these packages. It’s almost like someone rifled through Granny’s button jar and picked out just the very best ones.

5. Zapdots

I love using foam adhesive dots to add dimension to a project or page, but it drives me nuts when the white edges show. Clear Zapdots from Helmar are the perfect solution!

Favorite project:

I was completely “blown away” by this gorgeous kite at the Girls’ Paperie booth. What a clever way to showcase the colors and spirit of their new Jubilee collection!
 

I pride myself in being creative, but what exactly does that mean? Sure, I scrapbook and engage in other crafty pursuits. I sometimes cut my kids’ sandwiches into cute cookie cutter shapes, and I have been known to plan exceptionally fun birthday parties.

To me, creativity is more than turning out some sort of nifty project, though. A project is just the end result. Creativity is a way of life. It is being aware of the colors, conversations, and connections in my everyday world that inspire me. It is seeking out experiences or points of view that invoke my curiosity. It is intentionally surrounding myself with things that feed my creative spirit.
 
Sometimes that involves something as simple as buying some pretty new patterned paper or putting a bouquet of my favorite flowers on the kitchen counter. And sometimes it means doing something a little crazier, like cutting out some vinyl decals with my Cricut Expression and decking out my car so it doesn’t look like all the other white SUVs in the school pick-up line.


Oh yes, I did.



I have always loved my car, but have often wondered why the Mom-mobiles don’t come in the same array of fun colors as the sports cars. Just because I have a carload of kids doesn’t mean beige or white or navy blue defines my personality, or my driving experience. In fact, I can pretty much guarantee I’m having a more eventful ride than the RayBan-clad single dude in the sunshine yellow Jag, or the twenty-something emo girl in the lime green VW Beetle!

Creativity is finding a way to turn the simple everyday stuff into a little bit of an adventure. It is making a point of keeping things fresh and fun amidst the standard-issue weekly to do lists and carpool pick-ups. And sometimes, it is standing out in the crowd just enough to let your true colors show – especially when those colors are lime green and sunshine yellow.

Looking for more ways to add a little adventure to your everyday life? Check out my latest workshop, Everyday Adventures, at Big Picture Scrapbooking. You can also visit my blog.

 

 Welcome to the EllaFriends Happiness Tour 2009!

Okay, so there's really only one stop on our tour—right here at the Daily Trumpet—but we're planning to spread as many smiles as we possibly can before we pack up our trunks and go back to our scrap tables.

And speaking of smiles, did you know that SMILES is the longest word in the English language? True story. There's a MILE between the first and last letter. (Ba-dum-bum!)

I was going to have Ella entertain you with a fully choreographed rendition of You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile, but did you know elephants are really bad dancers? Yeah... they have two left feet (and two right ones, too!).

(I'm here all day, folks. Don't forget to tip your waitress.)

Now that I've got your cheek muscles warmed up, the EllaFriends would like to step up the smiles, boost the bliss, and drum up some delight with these fab layouts based on Ella's "I Love Your Smile" contest. Prepare to be inspired, charmed, and maybe even tickled!

 

patterned paper (Altered Ego by Paislee Press) + staples (Chasing the Sun by Paislee Press) + American Typewriter and Donny's Hand fonts • 12 x 12 digital layout by Noel Culbertson

Patterned paper, word art, heart border (Weeds & Wildflowers Design) + patterned paper (Lynn Grieveson, Percentage Wise) + CKAli's Hand font + digital page by Lain Ehmann

Patterned paper (BasicGrey) + letter stickers (Making Memories, Doodlebug Designs) + chipboard shape (Making Memories) + gems (Robin's Nest) + embroidery floss (unknown source) + 8½x11 layout by Barb Wong

papers from Embrace (Paislee Press + fei-fei's stuff at oscraps.com) + Courier (font) + photo and layout by jodie mcnally

Studio Calico Kit (Yearbook) + Pen (American Crafts Precision Pen) + Punch (Martha Stewart Double Scallop) + 6x12 layout by Monica McNeill

Background paper (Canson) + patterned paper (Cosmo Cricket, Studio Calico) + alphabet stickers (Jenni Bowlin) + brackets (American Crafts) + label sticker (Jenni Bowlin) + happy face token (Studio Calico) + pen (American Crafts) + 12x12 layout by Tami Morrison

And don’t forget to spread some smiles of your own today – if you see someone who doesn’t have one, give them one of yours. :)