I just got back from a quick weekend trip to Tulsa, where I went to the Creating Keepsakes Scrapbooking Convention, aka CKC-Tulsa 2007. It was my first time to go to an event like this, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I ended up learning a little, buying a little, and walking a lot! Thought I'd share a quick list of with my thoughts on the best & worst of this event:

The Best

1. Cool New Products. A couple I liked were the Fastenations Brads and the Lip Smackin' Ribbon. The Fastenations Brads have a flat spot on top, so you can match them to your project using a standard hole-punch & a dab of glue. The Lip Smackin' Ribbon is kind of a mix between paper and ribbon -- and it has some properties that give it some interesting possibilities.
2. Watching & Learning: I volunteered as a teacher's assistant for four hours to save a little money & to get some freebies (more on that later). It was interesting to watch a seasoned craft teacher at work. My favorite part? When she used her best kindergarten-teacher voice to tell the room full of adults, "Okay, I need everyone to listen very closely now." And it usually worked! Probably the best craft-teaching idea I've seen...
3. A Few Good Deals: Deluxe Designs is going out of business, so they had a great clearance ($0.50 each!) on those card templates I love. I would have bought them all if they'd had them! And speaking of good deals, I got a $30 voucher for volunteering. With that, I got the 40 Techniques for Making Cards book and a couple of paper crafting magazines. Nothin' better than gettin' stuff for free!

The Worst

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Polka Dot Creations just posted a tutorial I wrote on how to make a "Thank You" card with polymer clay and alcohol inks. Check it out here.

While you're there, check out the rest of their tutorials (all free!) here. Lisa from Polka Dot Creations has also set up a Flickr group for projects related to the tutorials, so you can see some of my variations there & upload your own. Hope you enjoy!

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Here's how to turn your boring-looking, utilitarian clipboard into something that's great to look at and totally useful. While I was specifically thinking about hemp projects when I altered my clipboard, there's no reason this wouldn't work just as well for paper crafts or anything else you want to take along with you.

Step 1: Make it Pretty

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This will probably be a "well, duh" post for most of you -- but I thought I'd share it just in case there's anyone else out there like me.

We stopped by my parents' house on the way back from Austin, and I was chatting with my Mom about her scrapbooking supplies. She mentioned a new glue, and I responded that I could use a good glue. Specifically, I complained that when I'd used rubber cement, it would sometimes peel right off. My Dad looked up and said, "Well, it may have changed since I used it, but that used to be one of its purposes." (I hadn't considered that maybe I learned my hesitance to directly contradict someone from my Dad!) He said that back when he used it, putting the rubber cement on one surface made it such that you could peel it off, while putting it on both surfaces made it permanent.

When we got home, I looked at my bottle of rubber cement. And what d'ya know? It's right there in the instructions: "Low tack: Apply even coat to one surface and press together immediately. To remove, carefully peel from one edge. Stronger bond: Apply even coat to both surfaces."

So I tried it -- and sure enough, that did the trick. The thing is, I'm not the type that's averse to reading instructions -- it's just that I assumed I knew how rubber cement worked. I mean, doesn't everybody...?

Apparently not.

So thanks to Dad for pointing that out. Wonder what other instructions I need to go read now?

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Making a mistake is one thing that makes me want to give up on a craft project. But I've noticed that I also tend to abandon craft projects that are going really well. I'll get to a certain point and I'm happy with it... but if I don't have a clear vision for what the next step should be, I'll stop. I guess I'm afraid I'll mess it up.

I usually tell myself I'm just gonna leave it there for a couple of days and see if the perfect idea hits me. Ya know, divine inspiration. But after a couple of days pass, something more pressing comes along and it gets pushed to the side. And months later I find a pile of nice, promising half-finished works in the corner of the closet.

It doesn't matter how promising they were when I stopped working on them. They're still half-finished. And I suspect that finishing something -- even if it ends up being less-than-perfect -- is better for my inner artist than leaving it unfinished.

So here's an abandoned card I finished in honor of this week's challenge at Inspire Me Thursday. Their "Abandoned Art" theme served as a nice reminder that sometimes you need to get over the fear of future failure and just do something.

Any abandoned artwork in your closet? What caused you to abandon it -- a mistake you made, fear of messing it up, or something else? Leave me a comment -- or add your own entry to the Abandoned Art challenge.

Card materials: Stone Washed Denim-Basic Checks (Provo Craft); Denim Seams Printed Flat Paper (K&Company); Black & Cream Polkadot (Colorbok). Doodles Stamp & Design (All Night Media); Seasons of the Heart Set (D.O.T.S.). Blue fiber (Adornaments); polymer clay stars.

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Want to give someone (or yourself!) a nice journal this Christmas? Covering or "altering" composition notebooks is an easy way to make an attractive journal.

Covering a Composition Book - The Basics

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Just noticed some fun-sounding swaps over at Swap-bot, & thought I'd share them.

• Address Book / Blank Notebook or Journal Swap. Sign up by 11/20/2006. Send by 11/30. Maybe send a decorated composition book...?
• "Leftover" Holiday Card Swap. Sign up by 11/24. Send by 12/4. A wonderful way to get rid of last season's un-used cards!
• Just Desserts ATCs Swap. Sign up by 11/30. Send by 1/5/07. Desserts are all around us this time of year... at least the Artist Trading Card version is low-fat! Any medium is fine for these ATCs.
• Christmas Cards Swap. Sign up by 12/1. Send by 12/2. 10 store-bought or handmade cards. For any of you super-organized folks who have an excess of handmade Christmas cards!

Enjoy whatever crafting you're doing this Thanksgiving holiday!

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While I'm not much of a scrapbooker, I love this free random layout challenge generator from Creating Keepsakes. You specify the categories (e.g., color combinations, shapes, embellishments, layout sketches, etc.) you want included in your layout challenge -- and they'll generate a random challenge for you. Most of the categories work just as well for cards, ATCs, or other paper crafts.

I like the way tools like this give me a set of guidelines to create within. Maybe it just helps get the creative juices flowing -- no starting with a scary blank page. Or maybe it gives me a challenge -- I start wondering what I can make that's creative and unique, starting with these set guidelines. Whatever the reason is, it's something I definitely enjoy. Here are a couple of my favorite products for sparking creativity:

• The Joy of Card Making [aff] has sketches -- they call them "recipes" -- for card layouts in several standard card sizes. Each recipe includes various examples of finished products for more inspiration. (There's also a Joy of Card Making: A Second Helping [aff] that I haven't tried yet -- it's on my Christmas list, though!)
• Deluxe Cuts Card Templates are fun little plastic templates for various card layouts. The templates make it a little easier to trace and cut out the paper shapes.

Do you have anything special that inspires your creativity? Leave me a comment -- I'd love to hear about it!

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Our library system has some of the best classes! Last night I went to a Bottle Cap Creations class taught by local artist Kiona Millirons, where the library provided us not only with free instruction — but also free bottle caps and all the free supplies we needed to make a belt, bracelet, pin, pair of earrings — or whatever. How cool is that?

I decided to make a couple of magnets (the blue ones in the picture) and a couple of pins (the "Art" and "Crafts" collages). They were fun and very easy to make. Here are the basics:

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