Boxer Scrapbooks Weblog

Eye Spy...

Wow--it's been a long time since I posted here on the blog!  We have been criss-crossing the country bringing our products and classes to folks, and in fact, we're off to Chantilly, VA on Wednesday for the Great American Scrapbook Expo there this weekend!

I found a great project online this morning, using Boxer products, that I wanted to share with you!  Check out Heidi's use of the Small Fire Hydrant Chipboard album and some of our great dog papers by clicking here.  These albums make such a great gift for friends and family, and Heidi's done a great job with it!

If you've posted a project online using Boxer products, drop us a line, with a link to it, and you might see it here on our blog!

Again--Great job Heidi!

~~Angie

Boxer is part of Pick-a-Palooza!

As quilters, mom and I are very familiar with Shop Hops.  We start at a local quilt store, get a paper "passport", and have it stamped at each of the participating shops we visit.  If we complete the hop (we've completed a few of them), you turn it in at the last shop, and are entered for prizes.  The best part about the hops is that you get to see a bunch of stores, and all that each has to offer.  It's a fun time out with the girls (my aunt Kim typically goes along).  Mom has even done an online hop, where she's found several online stores that she loves too, and really loves she can order quilt stuff in her jammies!

We are proud to announce, we're part of Pick-a-Palooza for the month of May!  It's an online shop hop of scrapbooking and papercrafting stores and designers.  Just go to the main website (click here) between May 1st and 31st, and register, then go find all the hidden flowers!  You'll have a lot of fun.  Make it a contest between you and a friend for even more fun, to see who can find the most or all of the flowers first!

There are great prizes from all the participating shops, and special deals each week, too!

~~Angie

Sunshine is good for the soul!

This time of year in the Portland area, it's raining.  For the most part anyway.  This is my favorite time of year because I'm ready to get my hands dirty in my flower pots and yard.  Like every year, we have a small landscaping project planned for somewhere around our house, and will be starting the hard part soon.

I also love April, because that's when the Mesa, AZ show is.  I know I'm going to get a break from the Northwest weather for a couple of days, if not longer, and recharge in the Arizona sunshine.

This year, we flew down early Monday morning.  Our flight left PDX at 6am (that's the last time I let Vicki choose the flight time), and landed in Phoenix at 8:30am.  Took an hour to get our rental car, and then off to Tucson we went.  My Uncle John lives there, and we went to stay with him for a couple of days.  We had a wonderful nap on Monday afternoon, hit a couple of quilt shops on Tuesday morning, and then a wonderful lunch down by the U of A.  Uncle John lives with his step-daughter Corrina, her Fiancee Paul and her twin sons Connor and Dylan.  They are such a wonderful family, and the boys really love John.  I'm not surprised--John is one of the most lovable men in the world.  John is my dad's closest brother, and mom and I always love spending time with him.  Today (Wednesday) he helped us create some piping for a display project for the booth, and then it was time to pack up, and head towards Mesa.  We said our goodbyes, with lots of hugs and laughter.

On our way to Mesa, Gertie the Garmin helped us find a quilt shop near the freeway.  It was Quilters Koop, but when we pulled up, there was a big "Now Open" sign, with the name "3 Dudes Quilting" on it.  It was a GREAT shop!  Lots of Moda fabrics, which I love, and I found a few great panels I can chop up and make into something!  Just as we were about to go in, I asked a couple of other quilters of any other suggestions of quilt shops to hit.  They suggested Mulqueens on Main in Mesa, as they were having a HUGE sale on fabric, that ended today.  Like--HALF PRICE!  We decided to find it as it is just a couple miles down the street from our hotel.  Off we went, and I went nuts!  I bought 18 yards of fabric, and probably could have done more damage!  I'm desperately looking for time to quilt in my schedule, but it's one of those things I need to MAKE time for.  I have a specific project lined up right now, so I'm hoping to get cracking on it soon.  One of my favorite projects--a baby quilt for a friend who's expecting!  I was going to buy a kit on-line that I found, but at this sale, I found something much, much cuter, and in her perfect colors!

Tonight was just time to relax after doing some last minute running around and getting dinner.

Would share photos, but alas, I left the digital camera in the car at home.  I did pick up a couple disposables, so I won't have photos from this trip until we get home.  Weird for me, but we'll see how we do with traditional film.  Should be interesting...it's been so long.

Booth setup all day tomorrow, and hoping to hit Famous Dave's BBQ, Carabbas and all our other Mesa favorites in the next few days!  Why are these trips always about the food?  LOL!

Hope you have a great week, and if you'll be at the show, make sure you stop by our booth early and do the FREE Make & Takes!

~~Angie

I get the Twilight rage now...

So, I'm a voracious reader.  I always have one book I'm working on, and a stack of 3 or 4 to be read.  I read fast--somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 pages per hour.  I love books. 

For a long time, I've been stuck in a rut of reading just a few authors, but this year, I made a point to branch out, reading a few other authors who were suggested to me by friends and even Amazon.  I have a habit as well of purchasing books, and just accumulating them on my bookshelf after I've read them.  I have far too many bookshelves.

At the first of the year, I made another decision.  Reading was going to bankrupt me at the rate I was going.  Books are great for me, cause when I travel, it's a wonderful way to pass the time when you're sitting in the boarding area of an airport, or the battery has died on the DVD player mid flight.  So, I went to my local library and got a new Library card.  Why hadn't I thought of this before???

I've read all 13 of the Elm Creek Quilters Series since Jan 8th, and the 14th just came out on March 31st (I'm on the waiting list at the library to read it).  I've read 2 of 3 Linda Lael Miller books in a series, and have a few more in the stack of random authors I've tried out.  I have a stack of books in my quilt/scrapbook room from just before I made the decision to stop buying books that haven't been read yet.

I knew that Twilight was in that stack.  I've been saving it for a longer flight, and this last trip to St Louis was good for that.  I had packed it good, and knew that for the flight there, I wouldn't need a book.  Had some knitting to work on, paperwork to look over, plus, watching Season 2 of Dexter while mom gets caught up to me in that series.

On the way home from St Louis, everything was different.  Our flight was EARLY.  Like--we were up at 3:30am, and by 4:15, headed to the airport.  I had the book out, ready to go, knowing that mom would sleep on both flights home.  By the time we landed in Denver, I was 1/3 of the way through the book.  By the time we landed in Portland, I had maybe 70 pages left.  I was "IN" this book.  I LOVE Stephanie Meyer's writing style, how the book moves at a fast pace.  YEAH!!!!  I found a new author!

Does it end there?  Nope.  Got to the house, had some lunch, and since it was a beautiful day, sat on the back porch with Cabo running around the yard, and finished Twilight.  LOVED IT, and wanted MORE!

Immediately decided that since the weather was going to be nice, I needed to get potting soil at Home Depot, and hit Target, oh, for say maybe New Moon???  Yeah, I ended up getting New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn (as well as Marley & Me on Blue-Ray).

I went home and read New Moon.  I was done by 9:30pm, and that included a 1.5 hour nap that I desperately needed, but didn't want to take because I was into this book.  It's a sickness, this crawling into a book and not leaving for hours.

I've promised myself I can't read Eclipse or Breaking Dawn until the Arizona trip next week.  And, I saw she has a new book out, too.

Did I mention that Target was out of Twilight on Blue-Ray?  Yes, I checked with the stock boy...

~~Angie
ps:  If you haven't read these books, do so now!

St. Louis Wrap Up...

Just returned home on Sunday from St. Louis.  It was a great show, and we met so many wonderful people.  I love the Midwest--everyone is so friendly!  Of course, we are always meeting scrapbookers, who happen to be some of the friendliest people out there.

We're off again next Monday (the 13th) for a bit of an extended trip to Phoenix for the Mesa show.  Actually, the first part of the week, we'll be in Tucson, visiting my Uncle John.  So excited to see him!

Also super excited to be in warm weather.  We got home on Sunday to the warmest day of the year, and we've had a stretch of three days of this sunshine!  Turning cold and rainy tomorrow, so the three days of shorts & t-shirts will have come to an end.  It's why we always look forward to the Mesa show--just a little change in the weather can do a body good!

That's about it from here.  Hope you have a great couple of days!

~~Angie

Greetings from PDX!

Good morning (a very early morning) from Portland International Airport!  Vicki and I are here, just about to board our first plane of the day. We're headed to St. Louis for the Creating Keepsakes Convention!  Great news is that we get in about 2pm, and hopefully Gertie the Garmin will help us find a couple of quilt shops this afternoon!

Remember that today is April Fools Day--so watch out!  Tricksters are out in force.

Have a great day!
~~Angie

Friday update

Lots of things going on at the Boxer office this week!

First up, we just arrived home late Sunday evening from the Pleasanton, CA Scrapbook Expo.  I love that part of California, it's just so green and pretty this time of year.  And that is always a fun show, with lots of people coming by the booth and showing us photos of their Boxer puppies!  Always love seeing those.

Of course, Monday we were back at it hard, as only 10 days later, we leave for the St Louis Creating Keepsakes Convention.  Our first priority is to make sure we have more than enough Class Kits at the show, and shipping any more that we might need.  Then we work on the booth restock inventory, and then we relax for about 5 minutes!

This week, I threw a major wrench into the plan.  I had very minor surgery just next to my left eye on Wednesday, so I've been recovering from that this week.  I'm so glad it happened this week.  It was supposed to have happened the Monday just before the Pleasanton show, but my docs office canceled that date on me.  It really turned out for the best, because as of today, my left eye is completely swollen shut.  I have a constant headache from trying to see out of one eye, my depth perception is completely shot, and at times I feel like I'm going a little batty!  Suffice to say, if it had happened just before Pleasanton, they would have had a very swollen-eyed teacher in their classes!  I never expected the swelling to be this bad, but the doc says it's normal.  HAHAHA!  Yeah Right!

So really, I haven't got much work done on my desk for a few days.  I did update our website today (finally got the gingerbread man card kit off the front page) and update the calendar page with all our show dates for the year.  Any misspellings can be attributed to my one good eye...or rather the one bad eye...

Mom and I are working this weekend, to finish up some minor details and kits for several upcoming shows.  Saturdays are great work days, as it's so much easier to step away from the phone, and not worry we're missing a call.

Just sitting here now, typing this blog entry, and waiting for a pallet of product to arrive.  It was supposed to be delivered by 2pm, but as usual, it's 4:30pm, and it hasn't arrived.  I'll call George to come and get me, since I'm still not driving since my "procedure".  Mom is off already, as she has plans to see Monsters and Aliens with our 5yo niece Emma tonight.  They invited me, but with only one good eye, a 3-d movie wouldn't be 3-d!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
~~Angie

Unique Uses for Chipboard--2009 Class

Boxer’s created an all new chipboard album that can be used for so much more than just an album!  In this class, we’ll create an invitation, an album cover and a clever page embellishment, all using our new “shirt” shaped chipboard album.  You’ll also receive step-by-step instructions with full color pictures of the finished projects.  Boxer classes feature a fun teacher, fantastic class kits in our signature handle bags, door prizes, and discount coupons for our booth! 

 

**Please be sure to bring all items listed under “students need”, as they are essential for working on the projects.  Products not included in basic supplies will be available at our booth or on our website for purchase.

 

Students need to provide:  Basic Supplies (Scissors, adhesive, trimmer, black pen), Black Ink Pad, Zip Dry Glue, Sanding Block, Mini Glue Dots.

 

Skill Level: All Levels

Project(s) Pace: Fast Paced

7 Minute Cards--2009 Class

Boxer 7 Minute Cards Class--2009

Need a quick card?  Make memorable cards and gift notes in record time.  We’ll create 7 fabulous cards, each only taking 7 minutes each, with a wide variety of themes and sentiments, and lots of ideas for more, using all types of hardware, ribbon, papers, stickers, clear stamps and more.  You’ll learn new techniques to boost your cards, scrapbook pages, and home décor creations.  Very little cutting required in this class.  Free gift for everyone in class! You’ll also receive step-by-step instructions with full color pictures of the finished projects.  Boxer classes feature a fun teacher, fantastic class kits in our signature handle bags, door prizes, and discount coupons for our booth!

 

**Please be sure to bring all items listed under “students need”, as they are essential for working on the projects.  Products not included in basic supplies will be available at our booth or on our website for purchase.

 

Students need to provide:  Basic Supplies (Scissors, adhesive, trimmer, black pen), Black Ink Pad, Paper Piercer, Glue Dots, foam adhesive (pop dots or similar).

 Skill Level: All Levels

Project(s) Pace: Fast Paced

In the Doghouse 3--2009 Class

Greetings from Boxerland!

2009 brings us lots of new products, new ideas, and NEW CLASSES!  In the Doghouse 3 is a new twist for us.  It's a layout class, and in true Boxer fashion, what people have been asking for.  Here is the full description posted on the different convention websites (CK, GASC & Scrapbook Expo) regarding the class.  I've also added pictures, in case the shows do not have them posted (or posted large enough so you can see them).
 

          _{Come play with Boxer, and scrapbook some of the favorite things you love about your dog!  You’ll FLIP for the techniques you’ll learn in this class.  We’ll complete a 2 page spread (12 x 12), and you’ll take away materials and instructions for another two page layout.  You’ll also receive step-by-step instructions with full color pictures of the finished projects.  Boxer classes feature a fun teacher, fantastic class kits in our signature handle bags, door prizes, and discount coupons for our booth!} 

 _{**Please be sure to bring all items listed under “students need”, as they are essential for working on the projects.  Products not included in basic supplies will be available at our booth or on our website for purchase.}

 Students need to provide:  Basic Supplies [Scissors, adhesive (both wet and dry), trimmer, black pen], Black Ink Pad, Paper Piercer, Glue Dots, foam adhesive (pop dots or similar).

**If Students would like to finish the above layout in class, please bring the following pictures of your dog napping:  1-8x10 Horizontal, 1-3x4 Vertical, 3-3.5" x 5" Horizontal.  We suggest Black & White.  The above pictured layout is the one we create in class.**

 Skill Level: All Levels

**Project(s) Pace: Fast Paced**