The Makerie Sewing Retreat!!

So, can any one of you guess what all these things have in common?  Well, besides being a few of my favorite things!

A hint ... it is coming up in April and I have been so excitedly talking about this for months!!!

It is the Makerie Sewing Retreat in Boulder, CO!!!!!!!!!!!

What is this retreat and what does that have to do with a few of my favorite things?  Well, I will tell you!  The retreat is three fabulous days of sewing, yoga, hikes in the gorgeous Flatirons, good food, lovely little cottages, and fantastic crafty company surrounding you all day.  In case you wanted to have that topped, the instructors for the classes are some of the best there are!  When I first received the information from Ali, founder and owner of The Makerie, I took one look at the list of instructors and thought "How can I NOT do this?"!!!  For those of you who know the long hours and many days that I put into RPS, I thought a well-deserved weekend of feeding my creative soul was in order.  And the Makerie Sewing handed it all to me in one fabulous package!  And it is in my old college stomping grounds - Boulder - to boot!

Okay, now for what all these things have to do with each other?  They are all lovely products from my instructors!!!  Yes, that is Amy Butler fabric from Amy Butler Designs, and stitching patterns from Jenny Hart at Sublime Stitching, and the great Design-It-Yourself Clothes from Cal Patch, and patterns from Liesl Gibson at Oliver & S and the Stitching Society patterns.  And, yes, I will be taking classes from all of them!!!!!!  Can ya believe it?  I feel like a kid waiting for Santa to arrive.  It feels so magical to me.

Other instructors include Kaari Meng (French General), Heather Jones (fab quilter, just watched her demo at QuiltCon), and Tamar Mogendorff of soft sculpture fame!

Sound fantastic???  There are limited spaces available!  They will be closing registration on Mar 27th so do it now!!!  You can register online here!  Mention that you are coming through Rock Paper Scissors and you will get $50 off.  If you sign up, email me so we can arrange local transportation!

You will not regret this one.  Feed your creative soul!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Beth

Duct Tape Journal and Mixed Media with Jessica Sporn

We had so much fun with Jessica Sporn last night - making these fabulous duct tape journals!!  We played and got messy and laughed and painted and stenciled and stamped ... and created these beautiful pages and books.  Jessica helped us to make quick bindings for all of these fantastic papers using the magic of duct tape.  The evening was freeing and fun and just what we needed!  I can't wait to make more pages.

Thank you, Jessica, you are a fabulous teacher and we are so lucky to have you here as we walk the mixed media road!

Curious about the mixed media world?  Join Jessica at Rock Paper Scissors for her next class on Saturday, March 23rd at 9:00am.  Just call the store to sign up!

To see more of Jessica's fabulous art and life, visit her blog here.

Quick and easy Thanksgiving ideas!

Hey! It's been a while. In case you forgot, Thanksgiving is next week and if you are like me, you usually find yourself scrambling with to figure out place cards and thankful ideas. I figured while I have a little time and my daughter is napping I'd throw a few ideas out there to help you out (if you need help that is).

I made a little scrapbook a few years ago and added a pocket in the back for the thankful notes people wrote. 

 They were simply clip art I printed and colored (pre kids I apparently had time to do that)

Another year I used my Cricut to cut out all sorts of tags. You could have the kids cut out shapes or simply buy some tags or  even just use blank cards or strips of paper, punch a hole and use a ring or string to hold them together! (and you've made a mini book, which is some of my favorite things to make)

If you're looking for a centerpiece idea to use for your thankful notes, you may recognize this from the store, a thankful tree. Collect some branches, use leaf cutouts (or real leaves you modpodged or contact papered) and hang them from the branches. Use a vase, or uber cute and trendy canning jars.

Have some corks from all the wine you've drunk? I may have a few (hundred) laying around. They could be used for the notes. They would be cute in a vase, bowl, jar...displayed all year round

Corks are also great for place card holders.

Here's a cute one you could use for the kids table. Take a lunch bag and put some candy, crayons, or little toys inside. Add a little bone, tie it up with some string, or make it easy and use an elastic band like I did and...

Voila! You've got a place marker + for the kids

 

 Last for today I made a simple napkin fold with a place card and thankful note all in one. I did two versions of the napkin, one a tri-fold with the 'book' on top and one simply tied with the 'book' stuck in. I'm definitely doing one of these for this Thanksgiving.

I'll try to be back tomorrow with some more quick and easy ideas. If you have any ideas you've done or plan on doing, please share! We have a flickr page to get inspired and share ideas.

-A

A Guest Post on ahappystitch

Thanks to Melissa over at ahappystitch for letting us share the inside of Rock Paper Scissors, as well as a few of our tips for organizing and storage!

Hop on over and check out our post!  And while you are over there, check out the other studio tours as well as the rest of Melissa's blog.  She is wonderfully creative!  Truly a happy stitcher!  And if you live in the New Jersey area, sign up for one of her wonderful classes!

Thanks again, Melissa!

Give some inspiration, find some inspration

We'd love to see some of the projects you've been working on...

Did you know we have a flickr group? Check it out, get some inspiration and upload some of your work to inspire others!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/rockpaperscissorsnj/

Newest Graphic 45

If you know us, one of our favorite paper companies is Graphic 45. They continue to dazzle and amaze us with their wonderful collections. Their latest, Olde Curiosity Shoppe, is no different.

It's full of the butterflies, peacock feather, oddities, that beautiful turquoise they
use so well... and who could NOT love the flying pigs!!

The new Staples they have out are just too good to pass up too.

Check out the amazing things that you can create from their blog.
(I can't wait to get a chance to sit down and play)
Just imagine the possibilities...

As always, we look forward to seeing you!

Aubrey and Beth

Basic Grey Plumeria for Spring

Let's get spring crafting with Basic Grey's Plumeria line!

This beautiful collection is full of dusty purples, golden yellows, denim blue and popping oranges. It's the perfect to compliment those gorgeous spring pictures, or to design a great card.

Check out this beautiful, but simple card from Anita at Crafty Girl Designs.
Just goes to show, it doesn't have to complicated to be great!

Just like the sticker says...
We're so lucky to have you in our lives.
Hope to see you soon.

Aubrey and Beth