The Most Wonderful Time of Year

The new release of craft products are about to hit the stores. I'm not even over the excitement of this past summer's release yet! But get ready to drool because these items are AMAZING.
Your Memories Here has been offering pre-orders of Prima's new products for the past 3 releases now, and our orders for them seems to be increasing with each subsequent year - Why? Because more and more crafters are finding out how SUPER AWESOME they are and WHAT A GREAT DEAL it is to purchase this way.
We started out offering "Grab Bags" of random all new products from the release in 3 sizes to work with your budget - these are perfect if you just can't decide which new line you love or just want a sample of everything that Prima offers.
Last summer we added the option to purchase a "Complete Collection" of products from one individual line. We're doing that again this year so that if you know what you want - you will get what you want because it is all clearly listed on the products page in our store.
So you choose which option is best for you!
Prima is promising to have these products out early to it's retailers (like mid February) which is good and not so good - Good, because that means you will not have to wait long at all for these wonderful new goodies. Not So Good, because that doesn't give you much time to get your order in. See we have to place our orders with Prima ASAP so that we are one of the first to receive these products (since they ship on a first come, first serve basis).
So please don't delay in placing your orders, we don't want you to miss out on this fantastic deal. The deadline for the Prima pre-orders is going to be February 2, 2012 - yep Groundhog Day for those of you who live in the U.S.

Also for a first time ever, we are offering a pre-order on a highly anticipated new product - Tim Holtz Distress Markers from Ranger!

37 markers in all the glorious Distress Colors that Ranger has to offer. Each marker is available to be sold individually and retails for $3.50 - but who are we kidding, you know you want them all? So we are offering the complete set with storage tube at a discounted price of $110 (and that does include shipping to the U.S.)
This offer will be good until February 15th - so you can ask your sweetie for the set for Valentine's Day :)
And lastly, each and every pre-order (Prima or Ranger) will receive a gift from me because I truly appreciate you choosing to shop with us.

Ornaments, Ornaments and more Ornaments Blog Hop!

Hi Everyone! I'm so happy you stopped by to check out my ornament for the hop. If you're not here from the hop I hope you'll check it out because there are a lot of goodies to be had! Each blogger on the hop is going to give away their handmade ornament featured AND there is a grand prize - a stocking full of surprises from Lindy's Stamp Gang, KinderStampO, Karlas001, Helmar, PYMII and Unity Stamps. One winner will be picked from all the comments left on all the blogs!
So you should have arrived here from Pam's blog  If you didn't, and want to start from the beginning go here 
This is the ornament I created, the products used to create this ornament can be found in my store Your Memories Here.

It's a little wooden birdhouse you can get at your local craft store for around $1. I decorated it by first spraying the main part with Tattered Angels Glimmer mist in Santa Baby.

It is red with a golden glimmer and works so well on wood, the color soaks in but the glimmer stays on the surface and shines. Next I punched out roughly 15 scalloped circles from a sheet of Prima North Country paper.

I inked all the edges with Iced Spruce Distress Ink (from the limited edition winter collection) and I glued them with Helmar 450 Quick Dry onto the roof of the birdhouse like little shingles. I added a bit of Distress Stain in Picket fence to give them a snowy look too.

I also added 3 Prima velvet holly leaves to the top of the roof. They are a light gray, but I sprayed them with some Trunk Bay Glimmer Mist to give them a more turquoise color to match the Prima paper.

No home for the holidays  is complete without a Christmas tree - So I made this little fella out of a chenille stem, rhinestone star and a few dabs of Christmas Red Stickles.  It looks so festive in the little birdhouse.

I finished decorating the outside with tinsel trim, Prima lace trim around the base Prima mini roses and some Crystal Ice Stickles on the eaves and anywhere else icicles might form.

So if you like my little birdhouse ornament and would like to give it a home on your tree just leave a comment telling me what your favorite Christmas song is and I'll pick a winner on the 18th. Be sure to leave a way for me to contact you if you are the winner ;)
Next up on the hop is Elisa's blog
Thank you for joining me today and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas full of Joy and Peace!

Tanya's Surprise Birthday Blog Hop!

Hi, my name is Kristina, welcome to my blog! You should have gotten here from Zeni's blog so if you didn't be sure to visit her blog for the start of this hop! She is offering up this Yummy Blog candy :

My gift for Tanya is this little altered tin from Prima (and when you buy one they come full of flowers)

I painted it with a coat of gesso and then a coat of antique white acrylic paint. Once the paint was dry I covered it in Hayride Glimmer Glam (my personal favorite glam color) So it glistens like gold all over. To further decorate it, I added Prima felt d'vines, a Prima leaf and some Prima flowers. (the rosettes come white but I colored them with pomegranate glimmer mist to match the larger flower and more of the hayride glam because I LOVE the sparkle) And because every girl needs bling for their birthday I went over the top with some Prima Say it in Crystals on here too.
I sure hope Tanya likes her tin! and I hope you enjoy the hop :)
So what kind of goodies am I offering -
How about some Christmas themed Prima flowers and the Limited Edition Winter Distress Inks?

Just leave a comment here and on the rest of the blogs too :)
Now you are on your way to Kimi and Pamela's blog

I'm Still Here, I'm Just Not All There

I'm not saying I've lost my mind ;) just that I've been so busy I may have forgot where I placed it!
Me and my family just got back from another vacation at Disney World last week (and I can definitely say that is my most favorite place on Earth)  If you're a friend of mine on facebook you have already seen many of the pictures.
Here's a couple of my favorites:

 My Cheshire Cat ear hat!

Marlee just loves to pose for the camera!

 Relaxing at the pool

 The really awesome kiddie pool at our resort...really awesome in so many ways. The girls loved it, it had 2 fun water slides just right size for them. The water wasn't deep at all, only like 6" max so they could play all they wanted and mom and dad could play too or just sit back and watch  :)

 Kevin isn't crazy about having his picture taken (hence no smile) But as you can see, I don't care I'm taking his picture dang it!

 Amazing dessert from Tutto Italia in the Italy area of Epcot. I have mentioned that I love food before, right?

 Kevin and the girls right after riding Star Tours...twice (it's a really fun ride)

 Mickey ice cream bars...the perfect snack to cool off with.

We joined Mickey and Minnie for some Halloween fun at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, a special event held select nights in the Magic Kingdom. It was so much fun, I recommend if you get the chance to do it, GO! A really magical experience - but I think everything Disney is magical :)
I'm not going to make any promises - because I don't like to break a promise, but I'll try to be back soon with some crafty goodness to share or at the very least, some craft related news!

My Blessings

Whoa, here I am posting a project, I know it's been a while. I really have been making things the truth is I just hate uploading photos from my camera to my computer, then editing and then adding to the blog...
For this post I was able to cheat a little and use my webcam to take the pictures (of my project in progress) and they are automatically uploaded to my photo file so it's a lot less hassle. I know you're thinking "how lazy can she be?" I really am THAT lazy!
Now on to my layout...

(clicking on the photos will make them larger/easier to view)

I used Prima's August build-a-page sketch for my starting point (if you go check out the sketch on Prima's blog you'll see I didn't follow it very closely) The back ground paper is from the Prima Pastche collection and this sheet here is "heart strings". The other papers that my photo is placed upon are also Prima, from the 6x6 inch Backstage paper pad. I chose relatively plain/monochromatic pages from that pad so that I could stamp on them with a couple of my large background stamps (one is a script, the other is from Prima called Hexagon - but I call it chicken wire :) ) I used Saddle Brown Staz-on ink  so that I could use my glimmer mist and glimmer glams over top of the designs and they won't run or smear.

For my page title I used a Prima chipboard font and I painted the letters I needed with "Hayride" Glimmer Glam. I find it easier to paint them while still on the sheet - they stay put and I don't lose any letters before I get them stuck down (don't you hate it when you are trying  to position your letters and one comes up missing, usually one that you didn't have an extra one to begin with?)

So I placed my title on the page using Helmar 450 quick dry. Yes, those alphas are self adhesive, but I don't want them falling off later on down the road. With Helmar backing up the adhesion I know those suckers are there for good!

Next I added the bling. A dress form shape cut out of chipboard with the "body" of it covered in linen fabric that I colored using Santa Baby Glimmer Mist. I dressed it up with some Prima Pearls and Crystals swirls and a little piece of Prima lace trim that I colored with the Hayride Glam. I also glued all that down with the Helmar 450 quick dry - it really is the all-in-one glue. I also added a couple of Prima flowers to the bottom of my daughters' photo.

Lastly, I finished it up with a couple more Prima flowers, a beautiful Prima vine and a couple of Pastiche pebbles that I tucked in beside the flowers on the upper left corner of the photo. All adhered down with - you guessed it Helmar 450.
I also wanted to mention that all the crystal and pearl swirls on this layout came from one package, I just cut them apart to make them go a little further ;)
I get nearly all of my supplies at www.YourMemoriesHere.com because I really like the owner :)
I hope you'll take the time to count some of your blessings today.
HUGS,

Totally Guy

Hello! I'm excited to share today's post with you :) Your Memories Here is now carrying Tim Holtz and Ranger products and I had so much FUN playing with them! I've always been a fan of the Distress Inks and my love of them keeps growing with each project I make.

Here is a picture frame I decorated. It started out as a plain MDF frame that holds a 4x6 photo (the same on I used here) I covered it with some fabulous patterned paper from DCWV using my Helmar Acid Free glue to adhere it down (because that stuff will hold it FOREVER) and then got busy "decorating".

I used Vintage Photo and Black Soot Distress inks to grunge up the edges. Then came the really fun part, making those gears! I cut out the gears with the Tim Holtz Sizzix die and then embossed each one using the Distress Clear Embossing pad and various metallic finish embossing powders like gold, silver and a chestnut brown color. Then I got inky with them using the Vintage Photo, Tea Dye and Black Soot Distress Inks to achieve the desired old/grungy/rusty gear look. I gave them a quick shot of heat to set them a little before I coated them. Some I used Rock Candy Distress paint(coming soon to the store) for a crackled finish and some I used glossy accents on (but I hit those with the heat gun before they were completely dry to make the finish bubble and wrinkle) I was ecstatic with the results! Before I glued the gears down I used the negative of the chipboard from the Sizzix cut is a mask and sprayed it with a little Sugar Maple Glimmer mist for a rusty/graffiti look. Then I adhered all the gears down with Helmar 450 Quick Dry because it dries fast, clear and holds STRONG.

To finish it off I hammered a few over sized metal eyelets into the frame and added a chipboard bookplate frame that I distressed the same as the gears, to hold a title for whatever photo my hubby decides to put inside (still not sure if it will be a picture of his motorcycle or our girls ;0 )

Just a reminder, this is the last week to submit an entry for the YMH Design Team call, if you'd like to post your creations on YMH Designs every week and get awesome products a wholesale cost then this call is for you!
Also this is the last week to use the coupon code SUMMER to save 10% off your entire order at Your Memories Here.com

Have a great week!

My Take on a Topiary

Hi all, hope your week has been off to a great start. I'm here today to show you a project that I have been wanting to make ever since I returned from my trip to Disney (more than a month ago!)
They had the most gorgeous topiaries and floral displays at the parks, especially Epcot because it was during the International Flower and Garden Festival that we were there.
So here is my tiny topiary:

Cute right? I made it with gorgeous Prima roses. Do you want to know how? Well, I'm going to do a LIVE class on it Wednesday, June 22 at 9:00pm EST on our Ustream channel! So you can watch and see (and chat too) and if you can't make it for the live show we'll record it so you can watch later.
There is also a kit for this so you can have everything you need to make one in a convenient bundle :) Check out the kit HERE and don't forget to watch the show next Wednesday evening!

Don't forget about the Your Memories Here DT call that we have going on right now. Enjoy the rest of your week!