Cosmo Cricket

Cosmo Cricket and Studio Calico Giveaway!

Hello, Cosmo Cricket fans! It's the crew from Studio Calico, and Julie is letting us stop by to tell you about a fun collaboration that we did with Cosmo Cricket. Our April kit, Singin' in the Rain, contains two double sided patterned papers and a sheet of labels designed just for us by Cosmo Cricket. Our April add-ons also feature papers, embellishments and a chipboard alphabet from the new CHA-W release. Singin' in the Rain has already sold out, but keep reading because we have one to giveaway here. ;)

We've got a few little peeks of how our design team used this kit - you can see the full pages over in our gallery. As an added treat, we've asked some of Cosmo's design team and friends to work a little magic with our kit, and we'll be posting their pages on our blog on April 5th.

This page by Waleska Neris features three of the Cosmo designs - the green polka dot, the pink gingham and the ledger. The polka dotted arrow is from the exclusive label sheet.


We love how Davinie Fiero turned the polka dot paper into an oh so trendy folded rosette! I wonder if she used a Gluber to stick it to her page??

Lisa Truesdell used the Cosmo Cricket ledger for her background, and you can see one of the label stickers peeking out along the edge. She also used some of the Cosmo items found in the add-ons - the Heart in the Dark chipboard alphabet, and the Upcycle Butterflies and Doilies.

Kimberly Neddo used the soft cloud patterned paper as a background - it looks beautiful mixed with the pinks and greens on her page.

If you like what you've seen, we've got a little something for you...  we have one SINGIN' IN THE RAIN kit to give away to one of Cosmo's blog readers! Leave a comment today to enter yourself into a drawing for this awesome kit. We'll pick a random winner tomorrow morning.

Thanks for letting us stop by, Julie and Cosmo Cricket. We love using your products in our kits, and it's been fun to get to say HI to all of your fans!

Glübers on the Half Shell and 2 other Random Things

Good morning everyone!

If you have tried to get your hands on Glübers, you know they are in short supply. I don't even have a full pack of my own..... so I have resorted to rationing them. Cards only get 1/2 a Glüber each!

Random Thing #2: Science projects for children of artistic parents.

Am I the only one that has a panic attack everytime the science fair info comes home? Well, I thought I had two more years before I would be faced with that again, but Abby has a super over-achiever-type school teacher that is having her own in-classroom science fair to coordinate with the 5th grade fair.

What to do!!! We only had three days notice, so we couldn't pull up our old standby of watching real food and happy meal food decompose.

Here's what we came up with. It was actually really fun and right along both mine and Abby's interests. I am posting it here for any other right-brained, science-fair-challenged mothers.

Random Thing #3: When is it OK to lie? Is it ever?

I grew up believing that pancakes were pan-a-cakes. My mom thought it was cute. I also thought that patty cake, patty cake, was pan-a-cake, pan-a-cake. In my mind they were the same thing... the nursery rhyme was all about making pan-a-cakes. It wasn't until my college roommates were laughing hysterically at my expense that I realized my mother had withheld some truth from me. (I also thought the phrase was "Nell's Bells" until about a year into my marriage when Eric shocked me with the truth....Hell's Bells!!!!..... yep, I live a very sheltered life!)

My daughter, Kate, use to call cell phones, cell-o-phones. I thought it was cute. But, I burst her bubble in the 4th grade before I thought it would become embarrasing.

Yesterday, I was looking at a plus-sized model that happened to be my same weight and height. She was brave enough to be photographed in a bikini!!! So, I asked Eric, "is that the size I am?" Here's where I think a lie would have been really nice. But, instead, I got "Pretty much." Needless to say, I didn't eat any of the strawberry pie Lindsay dropped by my house last night. Maybe it was good he told me the truth.

Fun Projects with all of our new collections!

Projects projects and more projects. Our friends at SRM Sticker's along with their design team has been busy creating fantastic projects using...our papers and their stickers. They have really talented people and we would have posted all of the projects but if we did, this blog would have ran into tomorrow and perhaps Friday.

 
Amy Crockett looks like she's been "socializing" with her kids using "Social Club". Her project is Wow!

 
Amy Heller Amy Heller you're Salt Air layout as the youth of America would say, is just plain "Sick". My kids tell me that's like the highest compliment. It gives a new meaning to "Life's a beach".

 
Christine Traversa- Have you been Upcycling again? By the way christine, Life is good, and your card is terrific!

 
Hey Jane your Easter Egg project is egg-xactly what we needed. Very clever, very fun!

 
Tanya Willis figured that Salt Air wasn't intended just for the water. Love the photo, love the layout, love the whole dang thing.

And Last, we also have a special little project that a sweet gal named Pam Bray sent to me the other day:

 
If you would like more details, click the link: Quilt Project

Hope you like! Have a great day!

Kate is Great and Gluber Dooby Doo where are you?

 
 
 
Have you ever heard the song "Smile" by Tony Bennett. I love this song, the tune, the lyric's, the artist. Some days smiling is easier said than done. You guys already know that at Cosmo Cricket our theme is, "We do comedy and we don't do drama."

So yesterday I was having a really, really, not-so-good of a day. Gluber drama to be exact. Our shipment has been delayed and we pride ourselves on taking care of our customers and I take it personally. It totally stresses me out.

 It was a Monday and I'm super glad that it's over.

My day got better when first Eric called to cheer me up, then he handed the phone to Julie, who know's the best way to cheer me up is to tease me, then my wife called, I got an email from Matt, our sticker printer, also my friend Matt from Bo-Bunny, Laurie from Scrapbook Island called just to say hi and see how I was doing, and my my sister-in-law Lisa ( I love her to pieces) in Florida sent me a really cute email with a picture of the cutest niece and nephews in the galaxy!.

All of these things made me smile and then late in the afternoon I got this email from Kate, Eric and Julie's 11 year old daughter. I think Eric and Julie must have told Kate I was having not so great of a day.

 Here's an email and a poem that she wrote. Any sign of a bad Monday went away:

Dear Lindsay,

     Just recently I have written a poem for Kalle, my Mom, and my Dad. Then I started thinking and thinking and I realized, something was missing. I just couldn't figure out what it could be. What could be missing. Then before I knew it, it came to me as plain as that. You want to know what the missing thing was? It was that I hadn't ever yet written a poem for Uncle Lindsay. So really quickly here is a poem since Kalle, my Mom, and my Dad have allready gotten one here is one for you.

 

                 You're my incredible Uncle Lindsay, and today I'm here to say, just how great you are, maybe even make your day!!!

                 You aren't really my Uncle but it wouldn't hurt to say, you are wonderful Uncle Lindsay and we all know it HEY HEY HEY!

                 I love coming to your house, I love how nice you are to me, and everything you do, I appreciate you see.

                 Now to finish my poem, I want you to know, what you mean to me, wich is simply everything.

 

 

                                                               To: My Incredible Uncle Lindsay

 

 

                                                                              Sincerly,

                                                                                     Kate

 

 After a culmination of each of these events and the awesome layouts that Josee Gingras created from Montreal Canada, my bad day went away :)

Moral of the story: When you're friends are having a not so great of a day, there are lttle things we can do to brighten their bulb!

Josee your layouts are fantastic! Thanks for sharing. All of you that were extra nice to me, thank you so much for being my friend and brightening my day!

 Okay, now yesterday's blog winner is Holly R. from Minnesota who commented at 12:27PM!

Email cathie at cosmocricket.com your home address and you'll be paper crafting faster than you can figure out what UPS stands for. :)

Have a great day!

(By the way, having the blog up this early is a record for me:)

 

DeFunking With Funky! And, a Giveaway!!

So, I have been in a funk. Maybe it is the unrelenting grey skies. Maybe it is the cabin fever. But I suspect it is really the feeling that I am living my own version of the movie Groundhog's Day. We've all been there, right!?!?!?

The laundry pile never seems to get smaller. The family expects dinner.... every night!!!! Then there's bedtime, catching the school bus time, getting the piano practiced time, homework time and all the other endless, menial tasks that have to be done every single day midst wheeping, whailing and gnashing of teeth! Why does it have to be so hard?

(PS: If it isn't hard for you, today's not the day to tell me about it!)

So, I took a break from reality and made some fun and funky layouts with UpCycle! This was a breath of fresh air not just because of the bright colors, but because I threw caution to the wind, broke lots of design rules, forgot to measure, forgot to stress and just played. And, you know what? I think that's just what a hobby should be.... a way to escape into a place of pure joy!!

(Inspiration credit for the above layout goes to Wilna Furstenburg who I love.)

This one was done in to go with the one below that I had done previously.

I think we should DeFunk one of our fans. Leave us a comment on today's post for your chance to win the Mini Decks from all three new lines!

Tutorial time and two winners!

For todays blogpost Gudrun Loennecken created this fun step by step instructions for you to create your own paper beads necklace! Since some of you are probably way to curious about the winner of the Scrapbook Trends Magazine sketch winner...lets start with announcing that winner so you don't just skip on Gudrun's great tutorial ;)

First I want to thank all the ladies who entered their layout. It was so much fun going through all of them and to see how everyone interpret the sketch in their own way! 

Yesterday I got the email from STM with the winner....so...drummm roolllllssss please......the winner, who will get her layout published in the August issue of Scrapbook trends is......Nathalie! She created this lovely layout

Congratulations Nathalie! Please make sure to email me at nvcats at gmail dot com so I can bring you in touch with the right person from Scrapbook Trends Magazine. For everyone who didn't got their layout chosen this times...keep your eye on the Saturday blogposts, who knows, their might be a second change ;)  

 

Now on to Gudrun's tutorial!

Creating paper beads is a great way to reuse and use up scraps of paper.The beads looks great in a necklace and as embellishments on all kinds of paper crafts.

I love this simple, fun technique – that also works great to do with kids.

1. What you will need to get started:

Scraps of paper, a paper trimmer, scissor, double sided tape or your favorite glue and a thin wooden stick.

2. Cut stripes of paper. The size of you bead depends on the size of the paper stripes. I created different sizes, and my stripes varied from 1 ¼ inch wide and 12 inch long to ½ inch wide and 5 inch long.

 

3. Now, cut the paper stripe in half to create two triangles.

 4. Straighten the lower edge to make the triangles straight and even.

 5. As I am a “double sided tape girl” I used my super strong tape for this project. But you can use the adeshive you prefer. Make sure it is strong. I added tape on the back on my first triangle. MAKE SURE you don’t add tape / glue to the first ½ inch of the triangle, or it will stick to the wooden stick when you start rolling it!! ( see area marked with circle in picture )

 6. Grab the thin wooden stick and start roll the stripe of paper on to the stick. make sure the paper rolls straight on both sides to make the bead even.

 7. Make sure the tip of the paper is well glued. Because I used double sided tape I used a strong gluestick for this last thin tip to enclose the bead securely.

 8. Now take the ready made bead off the wooden stick. The beads are ready to use for what ever purpose you like.

9. I created a necklace out of some of my beads. he paper beads added the perfect whimsy and color to this long necklace with glass beads, silver beads and charms.

Have Fun, and happy creating!

 

Love,
Gudrun

 

Before wishing you all a great weekend we also owe you the winner of last Saturdays challenge.

Marja, you won! Please email cathie at cosmocricket dot com to collect your prize :)

Have a great weekend!

Edmonton, Oh Edmonton!

Here are the top eight things we learned north of the border.

8. If you live anywhere south of Edmonton, the weather will seem fabulous when you get home! It won't matter if it's cold. It won't matter if it's overcast. It will seem like paradise! Now, if you live north, well then I am truly sore-y (that's the Canadian version of sorry).

7. We met some people from Cold Lake. Cold Lake is North from Edmonton and so we are pretty certain that these new friends are insane which is good because by comparison, we seemed normal. But, if you love to skiddo, apparently Cold Lake is thee place!

6. If you pretend you are from the location of every Canadian you meet, you will eventually learn the geography. Prince Albert is 3.5 hours north of Edmonton in Saskatchewan, and I had a fairly convincing story about my life there by the end of our trip! If only I had known about their local high schools..... that's what blew my cover.

5. Canadians are too smart to believe that you come from a long line of Gretsky's and that your parents named you Wayne. Just ask Lindsay!

4. Apparently there is more than one use for the elastics that hold your broccoli together. I don't know what they are, but Lindsay seemed very interested in discussing them.

3. If you run out of fabric strips for your make and take, just tear off the edge of your tablecloth. It works really great, but you may get labeled as a trouble maker...... me really? I love my new mischevious reputation!!! (The above photo of the tag features our tablecloth.)

2. Only in Edmonton have we ever found the perfect breakfast for Lindsay. It was the Fun Guy Benny!

1. As famous as you think you are in the industry, you can never let it go to your head. One store owner commented about how she liked that Lindsay and I hadn't ever changed to a different company. She thought we were very loyal. Maybe it was because earlier in our conversation we had tried to convince her that we were from Saskatoon, but she didn't believe us when we told her that we couldn't leave Cosmo Cricket for another company because we were two of the owners.

Flower challenge

Hi everyone, this week Yukari came up with a fun challenge for you.

Create a project with your own handmade flowers. You can use paper and/or ribbon just like on this layout Yukari made.

Of course Glubers would come in handy here so I hope your lss or online store already has them in stock. If not....we hope you still play a long! Not only because making your own flowers is fun...but also because you can win a Social Club craft kit!! Make sure to post a link to your layout in the comment section below before Saturday 19th.

We are happy that we can let you know Yukari and her family are ok after the big disaster that struck Japan last Friday. Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in Japan and to those who are waiting to hear from family and loved once.

 

Good luck with the challenge, we can't wait to see the results!

 

Glübers Tags Make and Take

I love making tags! They are so much quicker than layouts and cards. Here are a couple I made for a make and take that I'll be teaching this weekend in Canada.

Did you know the high in Edmonton is going to be 11 degrees tomorrow? I love all you Canadians, but come on...... 11 degrees?!?!?!?

I am not prepared for these temps! I live in Utah and all. It does get pretty dang cold. I have several inches of snow in my yard still. But, I happen to have a thing against socks. Hate them. They bug my toes and they make my shoes feel too tight. I also hate long sleeves. I will wear them on occasion, but not happily unless it's a thin tee and I can push the sleeves up a bit. I also HATE sweaters! They feel so bulky and fuzzy. Yep, I have issues.

Why oh why can't I have a Canadian distributor that lives in California? I know they're different countries and all, but they do both start with the letter C. Trudy, I think it's time for you to re-locate sweetie!

Old Is New

Hey all you Cosmo Cricket fans! I saw this layout on our facebook page and my jaw dropped!

Yes it's amazing. Yes it's beautiful. Yes it's digital.

But, what really caught me by surprise is that it's Love Notes! Love Notes was one of our four originally debuted lines. It was not the top seller being beat out by Wanted and Storytime, but it was always one of my favorites! And now, Christine Guido, an amazing scrapbooker by the way... digital and traditional, has found it. Christine, thanks for doing this, you made my day!!!

Here's another one from her using Halfway Café. This is the digital version of the original release from 2007. If you want to see more from Christine, go to our facebook fanpage. I couldn't find a blog for her, but she has one more layout there and we could all comment on her photos and beg her to upload more!

Hey Christine....... we Love your ART!!!