The Button Farm

well I think that it is official.  I am the worst blogger on the planet.  It is my New Years Resolution to improve on that, oh wait……..it is April, oh well - lets see how I do!

Last time I checked in I was on my way to Portland Oregon-this was the farthest The Button Farm has ever traveled west!  The people were amazing in Oregon and I met many new friends there, I am excited to head out there again.  When I got home, I was crazy busy getting prepared for The Extreme Scrapbook Event on April 4th and 5th.  We had an amazing time together as usual, and it really again \confirmed my love of being with my customers.  It is incredible to spend a weekend together and it always gives me such an energy boost.  

Here is what we made:

A Day in The Life:

This 7 Gypsies shaped board book was the base for this album, featuring papers and embellishments from Pink Paislee.

 Pure Bliss:

This album was a new find from Maya Road, a 5 x 5 chipboard album with envelope inserts!  CUTE!  I used funky papers and embellishments from Sassafrass Lass, American Crafts and Creative Imaginations.

The Great Outdoors:

This album was a crowd pleaser, I think that it was the general consensus that this album was the most favored album of the weekend.  Featuring a Bo-Bunny album and paper and chipboard elements from DCWV, this album was perfect for many different album titles!

You and Me Acrylic Album Stand:

This album was my ‘panic project’.  Some product that I was hoping to use for ESE did not make it across the ocean quickly enough, so I purchased these adorable products from We R Memory Keepers for this acrylic album stand from Maya Road.  It was a fun and happy project to work on!

and my personal favorite - ‘The Story’.  I was inspired by these 7 Gypsies products and created this fun album with insert folders, pockets and more!  This album was even featured on the 7 Gypsies website and blog - check it out at www.7gypsies.com!

We also created 4 make and takes at the event!

Here are some pictures of everyone having fun!

Ok, so there is a recap of our weekend together!  I will post more soon about what is new since ESE! And there is lots to share!

Hugs to all!

Angela

It has almost been one month since I have been in touch!!  Yikes!!  I have been busy getting ready for the winter shows.  Last weekend we attended The New Hampshire Scrapbook Convention, it was great to see all of you who attended!  Hopefully those that did, got a great deal from my dollar bins - I was so thrilled to empty those boxes.  Be sure to make it to the next yard sale as I am sure to have more great deals.  I would also like to shout out a big thank you to my farm hands for the weekend, Claudette and Nancy Scissorhands. :0)

Right when I got home, I started getting the pallet ready for the trip to Portland Oregon CKC (oh, with a flu bug tucked in on Monday).  My product needed to be sent out today to make it clear across the country for the show.  Here is a picture of my boys getting the pallet ready and loaded:

so tonight I can report that my scrapbook products are happily on the way across the country and I can take a small breath of relief and a moment to catch up with you all on the blog.

As for ESE, the products are rolling in -  I have started working on the projects and hope to start revealing them in the next week or two!  I am so excited to be working with these new products and hope that you are excited too.

The economy has been tough on all of us, and I made the decision before I went to CHA Winter, to cut 50 spots for the Spring ESE Event.  The spots that I do have however, are filling fast, so if you are planning to join us - do not hesitate, I would hate to have you be dissapointed in missing out.  I will keep you posted on ESE Fall 2009!

That is it for now, but I will be in touch again soon, with project updates!

Angela

Phew!  Where do I begin??  First of all I can apologize for the images in this blog.  I am so not computer savvy and even though they look fine in my draft they are distorted on the blog post.  I am so sorry for that!

I had a nice relaxing break from The Button Farm over Christmas and spent my free time in January working on Button Farm inventory.  I think that I have finally almost finished that.  The bad news for me is that I overordered on many things last year, but it will be good news for those of you that are attending the Kiss Scrapbook Convention in Manchester New Hampshire as I will have a yard sale table (as well as a booth) at this show.  As I was working through inventory I was sorting extras in boxes marked .50, $1, $2, $3 and so on and almost all of those boxes are full and I am not even done sorting.  You will find some great buys at this show, remember that the Yard Sale Alley is only open on Saturday!  Please visit www.kiss-scrapbookevents.com for more information on this fun show.  I will also be teaching two classes at this show and would love to see you there!

Remember that registration is open for ESE Spring!  A big thank you to those who have already signed up for the event, having NO CLUE what we are making.  I can only promise the high quality projects that you expect from me!  I have started the planning phase and I am excited to tell you all what I picked out at CHA for the projects for this event below!

For each ESE I try to make sure that all of the projects are very different, allowing for a large pallet of tastes.  I think that you will find something for everyone in the fun projects below:

Project 1:  I was pretty surprized with the outcome of my product choices this time around.  I usually purchase from similar companies each time around, but this time I only repeated 7 Gypsies.  As always I find this companies products irresistable.  For this project I chose the new envelope book from 7 Gypsies as well as the new line of Gypsy papers.  These rich papers are in shades of maroon, greens, black and golds.  They are sophisicated and we will pair them with 7 Gypsy ephemera pieces, clear tranparencies, journal cards and will embellish the cover with a red door knob and coordinating 'dangle' clips for the binding.  This albums pages are created from envelopes and we will fill those pockets with many fun items.  This album can be used for old photos and memorablia, or convert todays memories into black and white photos and highlight them in this album.  The possiblities are endless!

Project 2:  Well, I am consistantly WOWED by Pink Paislee!  Not only did I like one of their four released but loved them all.  It took me a considerable amount of time to choose my favorite.  We will be creating a fun accordion album composed of several different shapes from 7 Gypsies.  We will be decorating this project with the 'Captivating ' collection from Pink Paislee, utilizing the coordinating chipboard shapes and stickers.

Project 3:  I am also a fan of clear albums, but decided to mix it up a little.  Maya Road has a new album out with chipboard pages and clear covers.  This album will be decorated with bright beautiful papers, tranparencies, rub-ons, and ribbons from the Summer Soiree line from Fancy Pants.  These bright bold colors will highlight your summer memories beautifully!  Ribbon with pom poms were very popular at this show too and I  picked up the coordintating red to use on this album!

Project 4:  Sassafrass Lass = whimsical and we will be creating an exciting mixed 'media' album with the "fawnd of you' line.  We will begin with the gorgeous mixed media album from Fancy Pants.  This album has transparency pages, felt pages and chipboard pages and is so darn cute!  Spring will be on our doorstep and this album will be in your hands just in time to record the long awaited season!

Project 5:  Well we are all trying to be more 'green' and who knew that I would fall in love with the green line from DCWV?  These papers are made from  70% recyled materials, but what is even more wonderful is the quality and designs of these papers.  The pictures will not do it justice, but they are so cute.  To be honest, I have not been crazy about all of the owls out there on the designs of papers and embellishments, but how cute is the one on this paper??  Great for summer or camping pics, this album will be created with a brown album from Bo-Bunny.  We will be adding embellishments and chipboard letters from the coordinating embellishement box that comes with this kit!

I have also picked out many of the items for our make and takes.  We will be creating a small notebook, Artist Trading Card box and tag album.  We will be utilizing products from 7 Gypsies, My Minds Eye and more!

I hope that you have enjoyed this little ESE preview and I will be in touch again with more pictures of the products and projects as they are being created!

Angela

I am back from California where I shopped for kit products for the next 6 months!  I am excited to share this information with you and will be posting much more information in the next week.  I am excited to reveal all of the project ideas that I have planned for our ESE event in April!  This note is VERY short, but I will be in touch again soon….

Angela

My bags are packed and I am leaving Maine at 5:30 to head to Califonia to shop for scrapbook stuff!  I have a long shopping list and I will post some pictures and descriptions when I get home.  I will let you know what we will be using for goodies for ESE spring!  So sorry that this is so short, but I will be in touch Thursday.

Angela

How many of you got caught up in the Becky Higgins 365 kit mess?  I was going to order this kit and was on-line with my purse next to me all excited to order.  Well I guess that the excitement and hype over this kit drew so many excited scrappers that the site crashed and it is a huge huge mess.  Some people have ordered 3 times as many as they wanted and most got nothing! 

Well, I was one of the unlucky ones that did not get the kit, but I am not discouraged.  I have decided to make my own 365 kit, and here is what I am going to do.  I am just going to create a 26 page (12 x 12) album and use each side for one week.  That will be 52 weeks.  Problem solved and I will use my stash on hand to create the album. Yes, this kit had adorable page protectors, coordinating month titles, and cute transparencies, but nothing we cannot improvise!  7 pictures and journaling is no biggie for one 12 x 12 page.   I was also thinking that cutting 182 index card sized papers (using a day for each side) would be really cute on a huge binding ring, but that would be an enormous amount of cards….

I have to admit that I have not started the project.  I might even just take one week of photos at once every week, this should not be stressful!  It is my goal to create my first week page and post for you next week.  How many of you are still on board?

2009 is on our doorstep!  Where does the time go?  This year for me it seems as though 2007 and 2008 has blended together and I cannot distinquish one from the other!  I hope that you had a great year and I wish you the best in 2009!  Below is a picture of my two boys and our best friend Buford.

I have to tell you that with the above statement, "2007 and 2008 has blended together", I have been totally inspired to not let that happen this year!  I am not sure if you have heard the hype or not, but Becky Higgins from Creating Keepsakes has a great kit coming out for sale on January 1st called 'Project 365".  My 'gig' is creating kits, but I also enjoy kits too and I hope to purchase this one and keep up with it in 2009.

Becky Higgins Blog

The concept is not really original, as I googled "project 365" and found a ton of results.  The idea is to take a photo each day in 2009 and journal about the photo.  CK gives you a ton of ideas as well as some enthusiastic people on the website 'Two Peas in a Bucket'.  Here is the link for their ideas:

photo ideas from Two Peas

I know that we all get busy and I do not actually plan on picking up the camera each day, I might chose to take 7 pictures once a week, but I am still excited about the results.  I am planning on simply uploading the photo to my computer and journaling with the photo and when I have the spare time, I will print the photo and copy the journaling on the tag for the day.  I am not sure if any of you are going to do this kit, but I think that it would be such a wonderful keepsake!

Well I am working at the Farm today, it is time to get my inventory recorded, and then it is time to prepare for a busy 2009!  I will be heading to California at the end of the month to attend CHA, The Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show where I pick out all of the goodies for future kits.  My first event will be at the New Hampshire Scrapbook Convention in February.  I would love to see you there!

New Hampshire Scrapbook Convention

Remember that registration for ESE Spring will be opening on January 15th!  I would love to see you there.  TTFN

Angela 

Boy, it has been quite a while since I posted.  For those of you that check in frequently, I am so sorry!  After ESE, I retreated away from The Button Farm and I have been enjoying a little break.  I have been finishing up sending out Christmas orders and I even had some friends to the farm to crop.  I am looking forward to taking the time to clean and do inventory for the farm, as well as the paper work needed to be done for the end of the year.  I am so blessed to be working with a business counselor who encourages me and helps me with my paper work (not my strongest attribute).  I do not start up with events until Feb so I still have lots of time to work on those things.

On a personal note, we had quite an ice storm in Maine and we have been out of power for almost 2 days.  I am enjoying spending time with my sister at their house (they have a generator :0).  When I woke up this morning and looked out the window, it was a gorgeous site!  The sun was out and shining into the ice encrusted trees.  I went outside to take some photos and heard the 'tink tink' of ice dropping to the ground.  It was just gorgeous.

 I hope to get my Christmas cards done today and sent out!  I have taken some pictures of my cards, which are tri-fold cards.  I keep them closed with some Basic Grey closure snaps and it opens to reveal our Christmas photo.  I also had some Tim Holtz keyholes leftover from ESE and added those to the flap.  I saw a mini album somewhere in a magazine with jingle bells on the binding and loved the idea.  So that is why I added one to my cards.  Not the greatest embellishment to ship, but it is cute and I love the jingle that they make.

Well this note is quick, but just wanted to say hello to everyone and I hope that you are having a wonderful holiday season!  Thank you so much for being part of 2008 with me!

Hugs

Angela

Hey everyone!  For those of you that purchased Jolly at ESE, this is a note to let you know that all of the instructions and missing parts are in the mail! 

The sad news is that as quickly as this arrived at my door is as quick as the company discontinued some of the elements.  I talked with Casey at My Mind's Eye and this line did so well for them that they only have the papers left for this line and not the cute punchouts.  I guess those are made overseas and by the time that they would get them back in stock, the holidays will be over!  Well that puts a kink in my album design!  I am in the process of recreating this album, and already have an idea for the new cover, instead of the punchout snowman and trees, I will be accu-cutting us felt mittens for the front of the album, so I hope to have this album back in stock in about 2 weeks.  I am so sorry that this design was so short lived, but that is one of the hard things about my business is being at the mercy of the scrapbook wholesalers.

I had a good productive weekend shipping out lots of orders and will finish the rest tomorrow.  Then it is off to Ink About It in Westford Mass to teach my Fall Blessing Box and Jolly on Saturday.  I would love to have YOU join us!

Then I am done traveling until I head to CHA in California at the end of January.  In that time I hope to finish painting the inside of The Button Farm and work on inventory.  I also hope to create some gifts for Christmas and some ornaments, I will be sure to post anything fun that I make to share some ideas!  I will be back in touch soon!

Angela