spooky treat bags

halloween is my very favorite time of year. it's spooky, and creaky, and it's not just for kids. adults can get into the spirit of things too. saturday is oct 1, and at our house it means the count down to halloween begins. 31 days of tricks, treats, creaks and groans. witches and bats, and ghosties and cats. and what better way to start the season than with a "glowing" treat bag!

using the Glowing collection of papers and trinkets, i created three treat bags that anyone would howl for. the Haunted House bag features a rickety fence and hand-knotted bag closure.

the Boney Head bag is gathered and tucked, decorated with tags and of course, a boney head. there are a couple of paper scrunch rib bones as well. i spritzed the paper, crumpled and then twirled it into spooky bones that sculpt and hold their new shape wonderfully.

paper curls, cobweb punches, and a cheery Jack make this bag my personal fav. i love that the paper takes to curling so well! fabulous corkscrews and spirals make for extra seasonal swag.

i'm really looking forward to more spirited projects this month and hope you are too!

Product List
Papers, trims and tags - Glowing Collection
Die cuts - Tim Holtz for Sizzix
Inks - Distress Inks in "Black Soot" and "Rip Persimmon"
Cobweb punch - Martha Stewart

freckle face

hello fellow gypsies!
today marks my first official authentique post. yes i posted in september, but that wasn't a sparkly brand new project like today's!

i was asked to design either a layout or a minibook, and after some pondering i thought "hey! why not do both?"

so here we go!

i have this wonderful picture of my daughter that inspired this layout. her freckle face and impish smile were a perfect match for some of the "blissful" collection. the "prosperity" sheet is full of great rulers, which is what i used to make the hand-curled ruler border. i added scraps of other rulers and related trims, and started to get a real "school time" feel going. i added the the top border by trimming some "distinct" paper from the "uncommon" collection. the deep pink is a perfect match and a great example of mixing the authentique collections a bit.

and surprise! there's a minibook! tucked into a paper lunch bag, to go along with our school feel. this is a tiny book made from one of the "blissful" tags and paper pieces. i used some of the collection's "icons" and "noteables" to embellish it, as well as to create the tag dangles.

some random elements - paper flowers and vintage buttons, baker's twine and distress ink, finish off the layout and minibook as well.

thank you for stopping by the blog, and i hope i made your freckle face smile! - janeen shember

product list
"blissful" collection - papers, "icons", "noteables"
"uncommon" collection - "distinct" paper
"diction" word stickers
ranger ink - "frayed burlap" distress ink
random flowers and vintage buttons
assorted ruler trim
tiny piece of baker's twine

for more smiles visit my blog at www.suburbngypsy.blogspot.comf

her lifetime

this year has been marked by many important events in my daughter's life. she went to sleep-away camp for the first time. she rode horses. she wrote her first play. she was a student of the month at her school. she turned 10.

and today as i spent time remembering the horror, and the grief of this day 10 years ago, i can't help also feeling that my daughter's life is irrevocably tied to 2001, as are all of the children born that year. they will always be "the 2001 children", the children born in a year of grief and anger, heroism and pride. and for every annual milestone they pass, our country will be marking a solemn anniversary. their lives forever shadowed by our grief and our memory.

when osama bin laden was killed, my husband and i drank a quiet toast that night. our daughter asked why we were celebrating. who was this man whose death we were drinking to. my answer was this. that this man hated our country with such vicious passion that he lashed out at us and tried to destroy us. that the united states had spent her lifetime trying to find him.

her lifetime spent looking for a terrorist. her lifetime spent fighting in countries she can't pronounce. her lifetime spent looking backwards at the new york skyline the way it used to look, and at traveling the way it used to be. and i can't help but feel that her lifetime will always be marked by that pivotal morning, on september 11, when hatred changed our world.

well, that's unexpected...

hello gypsies, evidently i'm teaching a class...

 i didn't actually plan this. i actually planned to teach a minibook class - "pretty little things". i was expecting beachiness and crispy clean blues and greys.

then i took the "cabinet of wonders" into the store - it's my august design team project. the next day 4 people had already asked when the class was going to be. i was so flattered! so i thought "well let's not get too excited, let's wait and see". one week and thirteen interested people later and i'm now making the cabinet a class.

so beachiness has been replaced with cobwebs, mummies, and skeletons - oh my!

my little summer minibook has been left in the dust - only one person signed up and i suspect it's my mother. but i can't say i'm too sorry - i do love halloween. and it did give me a bit of a rock star buzz when i heard so many ghouls wanted to hang out with me and get their spook thing on.

so if you're in the san jose area, and want to get your spook on, reserve your grave site...
"halloween cabinet of wonders" class
Sat Oct 8 ~ 11:00-3:00
$90
scrapbook island - 408-978-8900

joyous layout

hello gypsyies!
this past saturday was authentique's first official challenge. the team was presented with a layout sketch and turned loose. visit the authentique blog to see the whole team's answer to the challenge. and you can join the fun too! enter your own answer to the sketch challenge by wed. sept 14th.

but first things first - the sketch!

i couldn't take it as-is, so i turned it 90 deg. just to be different. i chose to use the "splendid" collection - a beautiful group of pinks, blues and yellows in muted and distressed textures. these wouldn't be my first "go-to" colors, but they are truly inspiring!

then i went to work. instead of creating a title, i decided to use the banner space for an all-paper element, starting with paper quilling and smooshie flowers. i'd never quilled before, but i recently was inspired by some truly fabulous work and decided to give it a twirl.

the paper really lends itself to quilling - i didn't even need an actual quilling tool. i simply curled it around the handle of my paper piercer and got beautiful results - the paper curled and spiraled, yet maintained shape when i uncurled and shaped it.

once the stems were done i turned my attention to the smooshie flowers. this is a special technique of mine and again, the heavy quality of the paper really lends itself to this technique. the flowers are made by literally balling up and then reforming the die-cut flower layers. once dried, i touched the petal edges with distress ink and gold stickle for added charm. die-cut daisies make excellent leaves by the way!

in the sketch, there was a section for journaling. i decided to use that area for a typographical element instead. using "diction" stickers, i cut and shaped an area of words, removing some and rearranging others.

i really loved the effect of random words here, and the little peek-a-boos of paper behind them.

so i really enjoyed working with the paper this time around and hope you've been inspired to try new tricks! this week i'll be doing my first "tech[nique] of the week" which involves authentique's "glowing", chipboard, and my favorite lucky number...

materials:
"splendid" paper collection, "diction" and "petite type squares"
"walnut stain" distress ink- ranger
"gold" stickles
"glue & seal" - ranger

do not fear the minibook...

or should we...

a gypsy commented on my "pretty little things" minibook post and said that she had always been afraid of minibooks. i found this intriguing... what could she be afraid of exactly... paper cuts? pointy objects hidden in the pockets?

but then i started to think about it and she's right! minibooks are frightening! sure they look small and innocent, sitting there on the shelf all pretty and proud. but how do you start one, and once started how do you know when to stop!? what if you just keep making page after page until the minibook becomes the size of a phone book? then again no one uses those but they keep showing up on our doorsteps so maybe we should be afraid of them instead.

and then i thought maybe the scary part is, what do you do with a minibook when it's done? i have to admit i have a small army of minibooks in my crafty corner. they're beautiful, and quirky, and so perfect by themselves that i've never actually put anything in them. now i wonder if this makes them angry... like one day i'm going to look over at the crafty corner and the minibooks will all have set themselves out on my table...neatly arranged...like a crop circle...or that scary "blair witch" symbol. a silent paper protest to being made but never used.

i think i need to sleep with my light on...and with a craft knife...