Well life had me going, and I fell off the blog bandwagon… but I’m back… and will keep you updated on all of the great crafting and exciting things going on here at Urban Anthology.

First up, you will be able to find us at the Scrappin Escapes Retreat in San Diego, CA November 5-7, 2010. The event is sold out, however, everyone is welcome to come take classes, as well as do some shopping. You can get all the details here.

Next up, there are still a few spaces left at the Urban Escapes retreated hosted by Urban Anthology in Las Vegas, NV. I am working on lining up some great classes, vendors, and have an amazing space. You can check out the Urban Escapes website for all the details and to register. We hope to see you there!

Besides scrapbooking these days I have been getting elbow deep into jewelry making. I finally found some Vintage Groove Jewelry by Making Memories at a local scrapbook store as well as at Michael’s (unfortunately its only at select Michael’s for now).

Take a look at my sweet bird necklace!

Made with Making Memories Vintage Groove.

I am happy to announce an exciting new partnership with Scrappin’ Escapes called Urban Escapes.  Urban Escapes will be hosing Las Vegas, Nevada based scrapbook retreats.  These retreats will feature the same fantastic service and products that Scrappin’ Escapes and Urban Anthology currently offer.  Our first retreat is scheduled for January 21-23, 2011 at the amazing Tuscany Suites and Casino Hotel.

• An entire 8-foot table per person
• Lunch on Saturday
• Brunch on Sunday
• Evening Desserts
• Free internet access in the in the crop room
• Plus much more

Check out the Urban Escapes website for all the details. We can’t wait to see you there!

It’s been a crazy week getting ready for the up coming Desert Scrappers Retreat. Urban Anthology will be selling its fabulous products at this retreat this coming weekend. I have been busy pricing new products from Prima… I must say its so hard to pick out a few new things from them! Everything is so beautiful and yummy the flowers and bling is so hard to resist. I also stocked up on the infamous Scrap-Ma-Bob clamp on cup holder. Who can’t resist this functional and so useful cup holder. When sitting at my scrap table for so many hours, I do get thirsty… and if you are anything like the klutz I am, this is a must have… it keeps your cup secure, and even has a place to hold your trash bag! I also am filling some Prima pizza boxes filled to the brim with papers, and embellies… they will be a fantastic deal… but you must join us at the retreat to find out! I hope to see you there, or at another retreat soon… I will be at the Scrappin’ Escapes Retreat in San Diego in November.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Have you re-purposed an item to get another use out of it? Usually I don’t think much of saving things or going out of my way to re-purpose items… I just don’t want the clutter of “what if… some day… i’ll make this into something else…” But today I need a little card to put on a gift bag that I had purchased… and I didn’t want to go out and buy one. But I had traveled to my dads house, and only flew with a few scrapbook items to finish a little project I am working on for Mother’s day… so all I had were a pair of small scissors, some smooch ink/glitter, two sets of stamps, a blank chalk in pad, and assorted adhesive. So with that…. I needed to make a card. I had just brought in a purchase of some fantastic cold cups, I purchased from Starbucks, and realized how pretty the bag was with white printed leaves and green trim. So I cut up the bag using the nice printed white leaf areas for the card background. I used the side of the bag to make some leaves for my flowers and a nice interior ribbon, and then used the text and other parts of the bag to make three paper roses. Adding a nice stamped embellishment, and spreading some of the gold smooch on it…I was all set with this pretty card…. you can see the bag before and after… oh and did I mention I did this in less than 30 minutes? What a fun project it was to be forced to be creative. To only use what was on hand and to have it turn out kinda nice… it was certainly a fun little project for myself. I would love to see the things you have upcycled… post a link in the comments to share.

Thanks for looking,

This week I have been preparing to attend Reflections, which is a fun filled weekend of 7 fantastic scrapbooking classes in Newport Beach, California. I have my tools packed, my clothes in the wash, and I’m working on printing photos. It’s the night before, and yes… I’m hardly started on printing photos, but I’m determined to come home with at least ONE finished project! As I was looking through old photos, I came across the engagement photos taken about  4 years ago. I took these simple photos and had fun using Lightroom, applied some cool presets I found online. And created some fun images… take a look at me and my sweetie.

I hope I get to see a few of you at reflections this week. I can’t wait to post about the event and show off my COMPLETED, and those not quite so completed classes! Have a wonderful weekend.

Until next time…

In January I went to the Craft Super Show in Anaheim, California and had an amazing experience. At first thought I was disappointed there wasn’t more “scrapbooking” to do there… but really, do I need to make ANOTHER card I don’t love, or an altered picture frame that’s too country for my modern home… not really… so I started to explore all the other crafts available at the show. I fell back in love with sewing… ok I don’t know if I was ever “in love” with sewing, but I loved tinkering around with my JCPenny Special machine that I got when I was probably 8 o r 9. I also had a chance to try beading. I have always wanted to learn how to do this hobby. I’m fascinated with the pretty beads and charms, and love the look of chunky necklaces. I have a metal allergy, so being able to make myself jewelry out of materials I can wear, and to be able to change things up and match my wardrobe, I was excited. My first stop was a booth to make a pair of earrings with the Crystazzi Crystals, they are so sparkly who could pass them up. At this booth I learned a simple technique that I would take home with me… making a simple loop. The concept seems easy, just take some wire and bend it into a loop at the end of the bead… although its not that hard, there is just a little trick to making them look pretty. So with my knowledge I had my earrings and continued exploring the show. At the Hancock Fabric booth, I was treated to making a bracelet, where I was able to use that “simple loop” I learned and perfect it by the end of the bracelet, and the fire for beading was lit. Since January I have been making necklaces, and bracelets… and this weekend I made some fabulous charms. These charms are for a swap I am participating  in at Reflections in just a few weeks. I was excited to participate in this swap, I have never done one with charms before. I was able to use my simple loop technique, as well pulling out some old scrapbook techniques to make this fun charm. I’m exciting at taking my new beading hobby and working it into my scrapbook pages. I already have a fun idea for a greeting card… I will be sure to share my beading journey as it happens.

~~Thanks for looking

These past few months certainly have been a time of soul searching for me. With deciding to stop creating kits at the end of last year, it has put a bit of a damper on my scrapping mojo. I had 4 wonderful girls who wanted to keep Urban Anthology hopping with challenges, and we tried to get the NING hopping too… but in this world full of digital media and social networks, there are only so many places each of us can be. So that lead me to some more soul searching… and deciding where to take the Urban Anthology empire… that leads me to today, and the new looking blog (again… I think I finally like how this looks… for now any way… a girl can change her mind right?) So where is Urban Anthology going? The blog is going no where… I am taking this over as my crafty blog. I plan on sharing all of my crafty creations both scrapbooking and other crafty ideas. I will be sharing tutorials, as well as having items for sale. The Urban Anthology Store will be closing, but any limited edition kits will be available here on the blog for purchase. And the NING network will remain for our occasional online gatherings. I hope to gain you as a follower. And I look forward to taking more time to get my scrapbooking mojo back, and exploring other crafting venues such as sewing and beading.  And with that, I would like hint at my first limited edition kit called ” Sew Simple” … the photos and purchase button will be coming soon. There are just a few of these beauties… but I had fun creating with it this past weekend, and all I can say is WOW…

Thanks for joining me.

I’m happy to announce the Urban Anthology Blog has been fixed from the hacker who has be redirecting our site. I still have a few things to tweak to get it back to it’s old self, but overall everything is back and functional. Thanks for your patience.

Pardon the re-direct that someone put on this account to a china page… in the mean time join us at www.urban-anthology.ning.com. And our blog will be back up and running SOON.

Today challenge is to make your own handmade flowers and many of them. Here I made a lot of flowers from scraps of paper and the blue one is from a piece material.

Here is my layout: UA Ning

Your challenge is to:
*make at least 5 handmade flowers
*make at least 2 different kind
*and have fun:)
This challenge is due Dec. 30, 2009.
A prize will be given to one random entry, International applicants will receive a gift certificate to the store.

Winner will be posted here on the blog, and must claim prize as directed in the winning announcement.