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thanks for the reminder jackie. i can't believe i forgot to post this weeks give away. this week totally got away from me. please accept my apologies. here are the 4 kits that i am giving away. i will choose the winner randomly on monday. catch for wining: tell me what you forgot to do this week.
i was wondering why no one was interested in this weeks giveaway. LOL!
ok, so where should i start. i am sooooo happy about all this new product we have. from soft spoken banners that accentuate your images to chipboard album kits that are so easy to put together; i think everyone is getting one this year as their birthday card or some little gift. i can't wait to tell you about some of the other fun things. check back later on tuesday evening for a giveaway of my favorite chipboard album kit and soft spoken banner.
my life is pretty sweet. i love my family. i think i'm an honest person. and i try to do what's right. i love my job and my team is the absolute best. i'm getting married to my soul mate in 5 months, 4 weeks, 2 hours and 34 minutes. and, for the last ten years i've experienced some really bad things and some pretty cool things. my life is simple but complicated at times. so fast forward to this year 2009: i've been sick for the last 2 weeks with the worst flu. today is the first time i've felt like myself. last week my bank account was emptied via paypal (i don't even use paypal). last night michael's car (his baby) got stolen and it is barely paid for. they say bad things come in 3s so i'm hoping the flu can count as one them. so my question is, what could possibly happen next? i wonder, if i crawled into a hole would these things still happen? i'm trying to be positive but, not this time. if you are reading this and you've seen our silver jeep rubicon, please let me know.
reply to your comments:
cheryl thank you for your kind words. and, i do really hope it will show up.
i hate to bash paypal but, this is not the first time that it has happened. i've heard of it happening before. what i do know is that Heartland Payment Systems, who process for over 250,000 retail / merchant locations, had a security breach within its processing system.
bethW. i'm so sorry that your hubby lost his job. i know how hard that can be. i've been there before. hang in there. somehow we'll all make it through what ever "IT" is we are going through. we just have to keep being honest, being positive and always remember; there is someone who is worste off than we are.
hi everyone, hannah the assistant here for another posting! this is a project that i saw in my school library during christmas but didn't ask how to make until this month...better late than never! but these stars are so cool i think they'll be great all year round. thanks to pati who works at my school's library for helping me!
let's start!
Materials:
8 squares of paper of equal size (4 patters but 2 each)
tape
scissors or xacto knife
stapler
hole puncher (optional)
ribbon (optional)
you'll need 8 squares of equal size. i would suggest using our Fashion District 8"x8" paper pad. for the star above i xyroned different patters, font and back (that would equal 16 sheets if you did that, 8 patterns but 2 each).
STEP 1 (i'm going to use a black paper to show you the steps better)
take one of your square papers and fold it on a diagonal to create a triangle
STEP 2
now you have a triangle, creases side is the base of the triangle shown above. in the picture above, cut on the solid white lines but do not cut in the "no cut zone"! it's important that you don't cut all the way.
now if you're a free spirit and don't like using a ruler this is your project! you can take your scissors or xacto and simply cut freehand. just be careful not to cut all the way through, respect the no cut zone!
tip: if you're using paper that has nothing on the back but white then i'd suggest cutting an even number (2, 4, 6 etc) of notches in your triangle...why you'd do this will make sense in future steps.
after you're done cutting your paper will look like this:
STEP 3
next, we'll take the opposite corners of the paper, place them on top of each other and tape! use the corners with the crease. the next 3 pictures will show what i mean.
after you've taped one set of corners together, flip your paper over and tape the next set of corners together on the other side. please see below...
continue taping your corners while alternating the sides. take a look below. when you get to the center of your cut paper just tape the corners to create a tube-like middle.
done? great! now you have to do the same of the other 7 squares :\ see you in a bit...
STEP 4
welcome back, now that you have 8 weirdly shaped pieces that are the segments that we'll staple together to create our star.
in the picture above i've shown you what they would look like if you used 8 regular sheets of paper, patterned on one side and plain white on back. remember the tip from STEP 2? the reason why i would cut an even number of notches if using regular paper is so that when you get to the last corners to tape the tube-like will have the pretty pattern on the outside instead of the plain white side on the outside.
next, take 4 different patterns and stack their corners on top of each other and staple. take a look below:
repeat with the other 4
STEP 5
we're almost done guys...
take your two stapled corners and staple those two together. i alternated the patterns so in the picture above i placed white sides together and stapled.
tip: if you're finding your star to be in need of some extra strength then staple or tap your segments together where my fingers are holding below. you won't even see the staples.
punch a hole at the top of the segment you'd like on top and tie a ribbon to hang your paper star.
now you're done! phew!
you can see the size difference between using an 8"x8" paper and a 12"x12" paper. hope you were able to follow along! be creative, add rhinestones, xyron the papers together, hang smaller stars from a larger star....comment your ideas!
here are the shoes that i promised i would share with you after michael saw them. and, by the way he thinks that they are fabulous.
happy monday guys. it's raining cats and dogs here and i am so sick! my entire body hurts from coughing. anyway, the lucky winners for the fashion district shopping bags are:
AndreaVenn & Michelle A. (NY). please email me your street address. thanks
ok, so today i'm trying something new. since, this is my live creatively, live space mambi blog and, my team here at mambi is definitely apart of my creative space (ALL DAY LONG); i thought it would be cool for me to introduce them to you. this year instead of featuring someone periodically from my team, i will have them be a guest blogger for a day or a week or a month. this way you can get to know them a little better. we'll see how it works out. and they will share with you how i've been sharing with you. tell me if you like the idea and please be nice to them. LOL! they are like my little ducklings.
so, today... we have hannah and she will be making guest appearances throughout the month.
Hi everyone! I'm Hannah, Renée's assistant. I have the pleasure of being the first guest! AND it's my first time blogging...ever! How exciting. I'd like to share a project inspired by our wonderful Fashion District products and a pair of shoes from Target!
After buying a pair of cute shoes from Target I was left with an empty shoe box. I thought, 'Hmm, what could I do to reuse this box?' So, taking an empty shoe box, MAMBI's Fashion District paper (love it!), a wooden dowel, double-sided tape, and silver grommets (thanks Lauren!) I was able to make my very own ribbon box! I apologize for not having pictures of the work-in-progress but next time I'll be sure to do so.
Now, if you've ever had or used a ribbon box you'll know that the spools of ribbon usually don't want to behave nicely on the dowel they're stuck on. The ribbon tends to unravel on it's own and can get twisted on the dowel making a mess and makes it difficult to pull the ribbon out from the grommets. Annoying!
So here's the solution I came up with. Before you put the wooden dowel through the spool of ribbon take a piece of string and feed it through the center of the ribbon spool and tie it around the edge of the spool. Use string that's thin if your dowel is tight on the spool of ribbon, maybe use dental floss. Take a look at the center spool in the picture below, hopefully you'll kind of see what I'm talking about.
The tied string restricts the ribbon from unraveling on its own and creates a clean interior for your ribbon box! Oh yeah, baby! So grab an extra shoe box and some Fashion District paper and have fun!
just when they thought these pictures were buried! they aren't. these are a blast from the past. and, i'm pretty sure that stephanie and lauren will now hurt me for sharing these with you. i can't stop laughing.
just when i thought i had it all figured out; michael wants to help plan the wedding! i thought it would be fun. but, no it's not. i really really, i love him. but, i think this is one thing i should do with the moms and my bridesmaids. he is driving me absolutely crazy. he's like a groomzilla! and i totally invented this groomzilla. my first mistake was buying him a book called the engaged groom. he got these grand ideas about what he wanted to do which was, for the most part the complete opposite of what i wanted to do. we finally made some head way this weekend. but, it was looking bad the last 3 weeks. let's not even talk about the guest list. if you've planned a wedding before you know exactly what i'm talking about. michael loves the dirt and fishing. i never thought he would want to pick the flowers with me. it's sweet, but it takes twice as long to make a decisions. and, neon green really isn't a wedding color. nonetheless, in a weird way i'm glad he wants to be involved.
what we have done so far:
i've picked my dress – i think it's soooo beautiful. we've settled on a very slim budget (finally). the list is finally done. the church has been selected. invitations have been selected. the recpetion location is booked and the dance shoes are in the closet and they are absolutely fabulous. i'll show you pics after i've shown them to michael.
isn't he adorable! my groomzilla, yeah!
i spotted some really cool products at the show but some of my favorites were for storage, furniture and the tools. i am absolutely in love with the scrapbox storage furniture. 
i want one of these so badly. it will help me with my monkish personality. these pieces of furniture were well thought out to help with the masses of products that i have and that i think i need. the surface area is nice and big and feels like a good work space. i love ikea but, this is not ikea quality. this furniture feels nice and beefy and is absolutely designed for us... the designer, the crafter, the scrapbooker. if you own one of these please let me know what you like or not like about it.
more photos from the show:
