A Week of Holiday Cards and Two Ways to Win!!!!!!!!

Well it is no secret that Christmas is coming, right? Well, to get everyone motivated to begin their card making I decided to do a week of holiday cards on my blog! Each day I will post a new card to inspire you.

How to win?

1. Post a comment each day on the blog after I post the card. (starting with this post) Anyone who posts a comment all 5 days will be entered into the drawing.

2. What will you win? There will be 2 lucky random winners. One winner will get the set of 5 cards that I have created. The other random winner will get all the goodies in the photo above to either make your own cards or complete the mini album included in the package.

The more the "merrier" of course, so send anyone over who you think might enjoy a chance to win! I will draw the random winners on Monday December 7th.

Cosmo Cricket project

Hey all! Ok, so today I had a little time set aside to finish my latest Cosmo Cricket project! You will see the creatiion above. I love the colors in this line and the cozy fall feel the entire line has. I wanted to get this done and up before it felt too much line Winter and Christmas. I think we are well on our way there, but thought I'd sneak this in before we go completely in that direction.

This project is a photo flip stand. There are photo sleeves behind the main page and you flip it open and insert your pictures. It is a fun piece to have sitting out for visitors to browse through your family photos.

Come back Monday for a special holiday announcment on my blog which will include a chance for you to win!

A Touching Thanksgiving Story!

As many of you know I do some work with the Cosmo Cricket folks from time to time. I have been involved with their awesome company almost since the time they started it doing project work and teaching. I must tell you that they are a great bunch of people. They are fun, quirky, creative and just down to earth nice.

While I was with Julie and Lindsay at Scrap Fest they shared a touching story with me. Well, they finally decided it was time to post this story over on the Cosmo Cricket blog to share with the world. I was touched when they shared the story with me in person and when I watched the videos about the story I was touched even more, most likely because of the pictures that go with the story and a special family connection.

So below is the link and I just want to say I am over the top happy for Lindsay. He is one of the nicest guys I know and he totally deserves this family happiness in his life.

www.cosmocricket.typepad.com

And before you run off to hear all about Lindsay's story I just want to say to pop back in soon! I have just started work on a brand new project using the latest Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg line!

More Design Team info

Ok, as promised I am back to post more about being on a manufacturer design team. Here is what you need to ask yourself first?

1. Do I have the time to be on a Design Team? Each team is different and has different requirements. Be realistic about what you can handle.

2. Are you good with deadlines? Because manufacturers need your work and sometimes even on very short notice!

If you are serious about being on a manufacturer team here is what I tell folks!

1. Choose your tp 3 manufacturers and make those 3 teams you goal.
2. Try to get to know about the culture of the company and if you would be a fit.
3. If you are near an event that the manufacturer is attending to to visit and get to know them. Share some pictures of your work. Network!
4. Find an e-mail contact at the company to send an online gallery of your work and ask if they are having a call soon.
5. Don't give up, sometimes it takes a long time to get on a team. Once you build your resume and a good reputation you will continue to be invited on more teams.

Hopefully this has helped you a bit! Whatever you do, choose manufacturers that you are passionate about. You will do your best work if you are totally in love with the product.

Projects of the month

Ok gang, I have a couple of new projects up over on the Wausau Paper Creative collection for November. A couple of teaser photos are above! Head over and take a peek! Here is the link-

http://mywpcreativecollection.com/BeCreative/Project-of-the-Month/archive.aspx

Crop project

Ok, as promised I am back to share a layout I created at the crop I was at this past weekend. The photo is from Universal Studios in Florida when we were on vacation last year. My daughter really wanted these light up bunny ears which were on a very large rack of hats and necklaces to celebrate Mardi Gras.

I tried to create the layout so it had lots of sparkle and bling which is always the feel of Mardi Gras. The stitching around each piece of patterned paper is not real but done with a journaling pen.

Crop time!!!

This last weekend I was fortunate enough to get to spend the entire weekend cropping. This was a large crop group of 57 and it was so much fun! I crop with my 2 girlfriends and the bonus is that I met a new friend (Melanie) at the crop last year. We have stayed in touch and had fun sharing and talking again this year. I created a couple of things I will share with you this week once I have taken photos of the projects so make sure that you come back in the next day or two for a peek!

So do you crop? If so, leave a comment and share a fun crop story with me!

The Creative Process

I am a guest blogger at Jump Create this week. Head over and take a peek at my article about the creative process...

www.jumpcreate.com

Then come back to this thread and let me know about your own experiences/stories!

Design Team tips!

So, you have been thinking you would like to be on a Design Team? You have no experience? Well over the next week or two I am going to do several posts about this process and how you can continue to move towards achieving your goal. This is all based on the process of how I went about it. I am sure there are many ways and many ideas and if you have other tips please post them in the comments section below each post.

So how to get started? How to break into the Design Team game?

I decided for myself that before I approached a manufacturer that I wanted to get some experience. So I found a kit club that I loved and I joined. Once I was a member for a couple of months I contacted the owner and inquired about the possibility of being on her Design Team. I sent her some samples of my work. She liked what I sent and said to contact me a couple of months later. So I put a note on my calendar and two months later I followed up. I attached more samples of my work. Well, she invited me at that point to be part of the team! So this was my very first time on a Design Team and I was thrilled! I had so much fun on this team!

The same owner of the kit club decided to become a manufacturer of papers and embellishments. So she invited me on to that team once she got things going as well and this was my first manufacturer team. She actually asked me to be the DT coordinator which was a fun job.

So this is how I broke into the industry as a project designer. I've got more to share so check back in a few days and I will focus more on the process of doing work for manufacturers. I thought I would start at the beginning and get any of you that do not have experience something to think about as you decide what direction to take in the industry.

There are tons of kit clubs out there but also think about your Local Scrapbook Store, online stores, and being a guest designer on blogs.

Once you are rolling with an entry designing gig then you will want to create your own personal blog to track your experience for people to view. If you notice on my blog home page there is a link to my resume. I have this set up so when I approach someone I want to do work for they can easily go and see my experience.


If you have any questions post them in the commnets and I will post a comment answering your question!

Looking for Design Team Information???

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is, "how do you get on a design team"? I am sure there are many answers to this question and of course I have my own. I am wondering if any of you are interested in this information. If you are please leave a comment on this thread and I will describe how I have gone about it in the past. I've given out this advice many times and have seen first hand how effective it is over traditional strategies. So let me know if you are interested and I will do an entire post on this for you!

Party Invitation

So how many of you are already Christmas crafting or at least thinking about a plan for Christmas crafting?

Well as I previously posted I have been working on the invitation for my husband's annual employee cocktail party which we host at our home. I have my sample invitation done and thought I would post a picture and ask for some feedback from my expert blog readers!

So please leave some feedback and let me know what you like, what you would change, or what you would get rid of all together! I look forward to reading your comments!

Project

Well I figure somewhere out there in blogger land there must be someone with a birthday today! Sometimes I like to create some items to keep on hand so in a pinch when I need something for a birthday I have a special package to put it in . That is what today's project is for. A nice birthday box all ready to go when I am pressed for time and need something fast. Of course everyone expects Lisa the paper crafter to at least have their package done in something crafty!

Stay tuned....because if you have been following my blog over the past year you will recall that each year we do a cocktail party for my husband's employees at our home. Each year I create handmade invitations specially for this event. So I already have a design in mind and a special thanks to my fried Rita who had just enough of one particular pattern I needed to be able to make the amount of invitations I will need. So huge thanks to you Rita for swooping in a saving my invitation making season!

So I shall post a picture in the next day or two once I have tweaked the design. Then of course I will want feedback everyone!

My next Costco Road Show!!!

Ok blog readers, I am going to let you know well in advance when I will be doing my next Costco Road show so you can get it on your calendars! Next I am going to be in Illinois doing a Road show and I know there are quite a few of you that read my blog and live in Illinois so this will be convenient for you. Since it is in the Chicago area it is also close to Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin!

I will be at the Costco at Lake in the Hills, Illinois December 15-20 doing a 6 day road show. I can't wait, I had such a blast this past week in Grafton and met so many wonderful people! If you want specific details about the Road show feel free to send me an e-mail and I will answer you back promptly! LFalduto@charter.net

Ok, I will be back with creative projects to share soon! Stay tuned...