WOOOOO HOOOOO

We have some awesome new DT members for the Hens Den for 2012! We had alot of fabulous people apply, there is so much wonderful talent out there, and we were intially only going to pick 4 new DT members, but we decided to pick 6! That's right, 6 new DT members for the Hens Den!

So with that being said let me just say I am so thrilled to begin working with this fabulous new team.........

Becky Garrison, GA
http://camelliacottagedesigns.blogspot.com

Theresa Harris {aka The Scrapbooking Queen}, CA
http://www.thescrapbookingqueen.com

Nicolle Kramer, NY
http://nicollelovesscrapbooking.com

Carolyn Lontin, CO
http://carolynlontin.blogspot.com

Lori McClellan, UT
http://sentimentalxpressions.blogspot.com

Krystle Thomas, NM
http://hightimesinthehighdesert.blogspot.com

Returning DT members for 2012:

Charlie LaBonte, WA - Owner/Operator
http://charlielabonte.blogspot.com

Cheri Piles, WA - Design Team Lead
http://cherinspirations.blogspot.com

Carla Oliveira, WI - Asst. Design Team Lead
http://carlascuriouslycraftychaos.blogspot.com

NEW Christmas page

Hi everyone......I know I know I have really slacked on the blogging. Does anyone else use the excuse that its because of the holidays, because that is my story and Im sticking to it.......
Anyways, wanted to post a new page that I did for the Hens Den
You must check out the store, Charlie carries some awesome products.
One of the lines that she currently has is the G45 Christmas Emporium Collection.
What a fabulous line this is. I loved working with it. You can check it out HERE

I did this page with this line and wanted to share it with everyone.



The picture is of me and my girls Sadie and Mia. I bought them as a surprise for my kids back in October 2009. Both of my kids had been bugging me for a puppy so on the hunt I went, well not only did I get one but I got two. Both of my kids named the dogs, and although I say that I got them for the kids, they have become my girls.
This picture was taken in November of 2009.

We stuck big red bows around their necks......lol
Here is a description of my lay out:

I mounted the picture with some of the G45 paper, and distressed the edges a bit. I then added ribbon around the pp paper and a bow in the corner.
I added another layer of paper and then used a couple of the Emporium tags one each corner and at the top. Mounted the top tag with some cute bling brads.
I sewed the ribbon to the side to make a cute border and added a few little Chrismas flowers that I had in my stash. Again adding some more brad bling to the center of the flowers. The brad bling in the center flower is Bazzill Button Vintage Helene which is also found in the Hens Den store.

I then added some more Emporium tags to the border.

The top boarder is also using the pp, and then I cut out the little cut out from Santa Express sheet that comes with the paper line and I pop dotted them on the paper.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peak, and please head on over to the Hens Den and check out her fabulous store.

Also DEC 15th we will be announcing the new DT members, and there will be a lot of NEW things happening beginning in January, so stay tuned....EXCITED EXCITED EXCITED!!!!!!!!

Just a sneak

Ok...so slowly but surely I am adding things to my window.......last night while skyping with some friends, I also sat at my crafty table with my window and started adding some details to it.
Here is a quick sneak of what I have added so far.

Windows

So....about a year ago...I went on the hunt for old windows. At the time I had nothing hanging on my living room walls and found some really cute idea's out there onthe Internet to alter them and add photos. I found someone on Craig's list that was getting rid of a bunch of them and at the time I grabbed about 8 of them for a couple bucks a piece. Sweet deal right?
Well they have been sitting in my garage for the past year, and about a week ago I got one out because I am in the process of trying to get some type of decorations in my bedroom that is very plain right now.
Here is a picture of the beginning of the window.












Tonight I finally am sitting here trying to figure out how I want to decorate this. This will be a window that will be altered but not with photos like I initially wanted to do for my living room. This is just going to be a wall hanging for above my bed.

This is not finished, just the beginning but wanted to share some sneaks.

home decor crafty projects

I have been on a mission to get some decorations done for my bedroom. I really have nothing on my walls, mismatched modge podge of furniture, no nice comforter for my bed, just a plain old blanket. (Not sure that I will invest in anything too fancy since I have TWO BRAT dogs that love to be on my bed all the time.
So I have kind of been making a few small things to at least hang on my walls.
One of them is this cute little picture frame that I had bought at an antique store awhile ago, that was intially blue. I was browing the internet and found something that was super cute that I could do with this frame, so I made it the other night.















Now the next prject I also made on the same night. I had picked up this old frame over the weekend at another antique shop because I just thought it was cute. Well my neighbor is a very shabby chic vintage kind of gal with all of her decor and she was with me when I picked this frame up. She was like (oh you have to come over and see a frame that I have just like that, I bet you can make it look like what I have) So I did....and it was super cute.....so I basically copied what she had hanginng on her wall and made my own version of it. Of course it required me to run to the store and get some cute flowers, but that was easy. I had everything else at home to make this.

















I have another idea flying around in my head and will work on this project this weekend, but it will be something with an OLD window. I purchased several of these off of Cragis list about a year ago, figuring I would eventually get around to doing something with them. Now that I am on a mission to get stuff on my walls in my bedroom, this will be another project that I will be working on, so stay tuned...........
Thanks for stopping by!

Happy November and Happy Fall

So it is the beginning of Novemeber, and with that we have some new challenges over at Bella Creations, with some awesome sponsors this month.
You need to come over and check them out.
BELLA CREATIONS

We have 3 challanges a month, Bella Unique, Bella Tres Chic and Bella Muse.
For the month of October I did the Bella Tres Chic challenge. For this challenge it was a free style, so basically anything that we wanted to do really!
I made a very simple fall card. On this card you will see a pumpkin that is just adorable.....I just received this pumpkin from a swap that we had over at Bella Creations. We had a fall/winter stash swap and this was something that I received from my swqap partner Daphane! Super cute right?















I also wanted to let everyone know of the Bella Creations 1st CROP. Its called our Christmas Cinema crop, and starts Dec 2nd at 6pm Est, will run though the weekend of the 3rd and 4th.

Our DT has been brainstorming on some awesome games and challenges for everyone to come and join in when you get a free moment and have some fun! So mark your calendars.



Here is something that I also wanted to share, a fall wreath that I made. I bought a really cute Xmas one over the weekend, and my neighbor just happened to have one of these wreath stands that sits on the floor, and offered it to me. Since it was too early to hang the Xmas one up.....I went to HL and bought a wreath so that I could make one for fall. I had all the other stuff at home to make it, so I sat down saturday night and put this together.

The Hens’ Den 1st Design Team Member Call!

We have grown this year and we would love to grow more.

We are looking for 4 more talented team members who can create a minimum of two projects per month using store product that will be supplied to you.

We are looking for the following skills:
1 person who loves making cards
1 person who loves making layouts
1 person who loves mini albums
1 person who loves home décor/altered projects
(You can be great at all of these)

We are looking for someone who:
Is a follower of The Hen’s Den
Has an active blog
Is capable of meeting deadlines
Has strong photo skills
Can write instructions on how they created their design/layout/project

How to Apply:
Send e-mail to info@thehensden.com with your name, address, phone number a brief description of yourself and why you would like to be a part of The Hens' Den design team.
Submit one unpublished project showing off your strongest talent – layout, card, mini album, home décor/altered project - if chosen we will use your submission when we announce the new team members
Link to your blog
Link to Facebook page
Link to online galleries
Other information if applicable:
Active on any message boards?
Any other social media you actively participate in?
Are you on any other design teams?
Do you teach classes?
Benefits upon signed contract for one year term beginning January 1st 2012:
A permanent link on the blog directly to your blog
For every post a link to your blog directly to you
Product shipped to you for the monthly deadlines
Store discount
If you are teaching we will post it on the websites event calendar and on the design team blog.

Deadline:
Today through December 1st, 2011


Announcements will be sent out to the winners by 12/15/2011.

Please send your unpublished project & links to Info@thehensden.com with “DESIGN TEAM SUBMISSION” in the subject line.

At this time we are unable to accept international design team submissions.

Good Luck and we look forward to your submission!
The Hens’ Den

I love seeing altered items

and have to tell you that my friend CHARLIE rocks when it comes to altering stuff. Me....not so much.................and its because I just find that when I alter something it ends up sitting there collecting dust. Its fun to do, and I love to get creative trying to alter something, but its just not something for me.
So.....I bought this bird cage at an antique mall awhile ago..........#1, because I just thought it was adorable, #2, the price was right, #3, thought it would be cute as a decoration in my bedroom, #4, I thought for a moment, well I could alter it. But guess what...it sat there...collecting dust for months. I just never got around to doing something with it.
Well my dear friend Charlie that owns the Hen's Den loves to alter things....and well.......she got the bird cage.....................and I knew that she would ROCK altering this bird cage......
Now think of this cage empty, and pink.......
And look at it now.
Didnt she do a fabulous job?

Fall fireplace mantel

I love to decorate my mantel above my fireplace....the new pictures that I took of my kids came in handy to put into two frames that I had just sitting around, so here is my mantel with new pictures and some fall decor.

Photo shoot with my kids.

It's very hard to get my kids to agree to me taking their pictures. I can never get them to let me just snap photos of them. So for weeks now I have been telling them that I want to take them on a photo shoot. And for weeks they have been avoiding it. Yesterday was a perfect fall day, warm weather, the sun was shining and for once Mariah didn't have to work. So I told them both Friday night, be prepared because mom is taking you two out to get some pictures. Saturday rolled around and of course I got arguments from both of them......but.......I was stern, told them both to shower and that it would take less then an hour. It was painful to hear them complaining but I knew that they would struggle through the complaints and do it just to make me happy.
So here are a few of my favorites.

On a sewing roll........

Well, there are TWO things that I found that were super cute that I wanted to try, so I got my sewing machine out and cleaned all the dust off of it. LOL I am NOT a sewer.........I bought this machine a couple of years ago when it was the HOT thing to sew on your scrap book pages and that is all I have ever used for it with the exception of hemming something here or there.

So here is another pumpkin that I made tonight. The first one posted below I took to work and it sits on my desk...well.......wouldn't you know, my co worker wants one.....LOL
But I think that I will keep this one, (I like it better) and give her the first one that I made.






















Now on to the dress form pin cushion.
Someone showed me this tut on line (HERE)

Took me a few days to wrap my mind around how to pin the sides on this dress form. And then when I figured that out and started sewing I realized that I am BAD at sewing.....LOL I need practice, so this is my first practice dress form. There are flaws that I have tried to cover up, and its not perfectly straight.......but it turned out OK...I think that these are just super cute.

Fabric Pumpkin........

So there was a woman at work who had a couple of these on her desk and I said "those are cute where did you get them?" She then told me that she made them.....HMMMMMMM, so I googled a tutorial and found this one: CLICK HERE

Well then I had to go to Hobby Lobby because I didnt have any fall material, they didnt have much to choose from so I just got a yard of this orange. I already had leaves and the raffia and flowers....so instead of making a fabric stem I went out into the yard and found a stick, and that is what I decorated the top with.

I am taking this one to work to set on my desk, but I think Im going to look for more material and make a few cute ones for my living room to put on my fireplace mantel.

Bella Creations DT reveal day

YEHHHHHHHHH..................its that time again the 5th of the month were we get to reveal our awesome work over at Bella Creations for the upcoming challenges that we have this month.
Seriously, where are you been? You need to come over to BELLA CREATIONS and join in on the fun and the great challenges that we do every month. Not to mention that there are always awesome sponsors with prizes up for grabs. This month we have SASSY STUDIO DESIGNS , Samiam's Eye Candy Magic and Flying Unicorns.

Now who in the heck doesnt want to win some goodies from one of these fabulous sponsors?

With that being said, here are a couple of projects that I did for Bella Creations. I was sent this cute lieel card kit to work with, but I not only made a card I also use some of the kit to decorate a wood frame.

The Bella Unique Challenge is the one that I did this month and here is a link to the techinique that we are using for the challenge:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6ezk4Ny7-0

Fun using crepe paper to make your own embellishment. That is what I did on the card:



With some of the other pieces that I received in the little kit that Lacee sent me I made this wooden frame that can be bought at Hobby Lobby for a few dollars. I colored it with black paint and then just decorated it.



I have one more project that I will be loading by this weekend. Its with one of the images that our sponsor Sassy Stuido Designs sent to the DT to work with. I am a little late in getting it completed but will get it posted this weekend!

The Hens Den FIRST Blog HOP

The Hens Den FIRST blog hop starts NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are so excited over at the Hens Den to do our very first blog hop. The design team has been working hard on some new product that we got in the store and we are all going to share with you what we have done using the Echo Park Halloween line called Apothecary Emporium Collection.
Here it is already October 1st, can you believe it? Well it’s true and to kick off the month and spooky Halloween, what better way to celebrate this blog hop then by giving away this Echo Park line to one lucky winner!

That’s right, the winner of our blog hop will be announced on October 3rd and you will have a chance to win the Echo Park Apothecary line that you can view you can view (HERE) in the Hens Den store, as well as a gift certificate to the store to do your own shopping!

Now what do you have to do?
First and foremost you must become a follower of the Hen’s Den Blog HERE
This is where the hop will start. Become a follower, and head on over to the next blog which will be Charlies blog. Charlie is the owner of HENS DEN. You must also become a follower of Charlie’s blog and leave a comment.

CHARLIE’s blog is : CLICK HERE (CHARLIES BLOG) After you go to Charlies blog you will then go to the next DT’s blog which will be
Cheri’s blog, become a follower and leave a comment.

Cheri’s blog is : CLICK HERE (CHERI'S BLOG) Then you will head to Brittney’s blog, become a follower and leave a comment.

Brittneys blog is: CLICK HERE (BRITTNEYS BLOG)Then head over to Elish’as blog, become a follower and leave a comment.

Elisha’s blog is : CLICK HERE (ELISHA'S BLOG)And last but not least, go to Carla’s blog, become a follower and leave a comment..

Carla’s blog is: CLICK HERE (CARLA'S BLOG)

Once you have become a follower of the Hen’s Den blog, and left a comment for all the DT member’s on their work, and became a follower of their blogs, you then need to go to the Hens Den facebook page and LIKE us. Click here (THE HENS DEN FACEBOOK PAGE) You then must leave a comment on our facebook page that you have completed the blog hop, by following all blogs and leaving comments on all blogs. Once we received this notice on FB we will enter you in for the chance to win the Echo Park Apothecary Emporium Collection.

Good luck to everyone, and have fun hopping!

Here is a project that I did using the Echo Park Apothecary Emporium Collection line.
This is a Graphic 45 /Black Policy Envelope Album. I cut the papers out, distressed the edges, inked the edges with Tim Holtz distress ink, and adhered the papers to each envelope. Then I just started decorating with all of the fun Halloween embellishments that I have collected.

We had a blast

At the Scrapbook Expo in Portland Or.
The Hens Den was at the expo last weekend, and we had a great time. I want to thank Charlie (the owner) for inviting me to come out and help........
So glad that I got to meet you face to face, and even though we worked our butts off, we had a fabulous time. Cheri was also able to come out Friday night and I was glad to meet her as well.
Here is a picture if (US) Charlie is on the right, Cheri is in the middle and Im on the left.

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Here are a couple of pictures of the booth.
We received a lot of compliments from a lot of customers on the way that our booth was displayed the the awesome stuff that we had to sell. There was one customer that shopped in our booth in two days at least 5 or 6 times and she kept brining friends back to show them all the fun stuff that we carried.































And on a side note, my trip out there was alot of hard work, but I got to have some down time that I spent with a friend of mine that I havent seen in 13 years. WOW I cant believe that its been that long.
She picked me up at the expo, drove me around for a little bit to show me some of the town, and then back to her house for dinner and some wine and chit chat......loved being able to see her for a few hours...........

Upcoming blog hop for the Hen's Den you do not want to miss!

The Hens Den FIRST blog hop.

We are so excited to do our very first blog hop, that we wanted to send out a SAVE the date so that you do not miss out.

October 1st and October 2nd are the dates that you need to mark down for our blog hop.

The hop will run all weekend starting at midnight September 30th and will run through Sunday at midnight October 2nd.

We have an AWESOME prize to give out from the Hens Den Store, want to take a sneak at what we carry? CLICK HERE

But you won’t know what the prize is until the START of the hop on October 1st. Trust me you are not going to want to miss out.

So mark your calendars and we can’t wait to see you come hop along with us.

Bella Creations Sew Vintage Kit

Bella Creations just revealed their embellishment kit for September, its called the Bella Creations Sew Vintage Kit. What a fun kit this was to work with. Check it out.

There were so many things to play with in this kit, Fabric, ribbon, little metal sewing charms, dress form cut outs, sewing die cuts, a zipper, pins, flowers, glitter, clothes pins, and some sewing pattern, its just completely packed full of goodies. Here is a lay out that I did using the kit.

So to get your hands on this cute little kit, hop on over to BELLA CREATIONS and purchase the kit from the pay pal buy it now. Or you can check it out HERE on the main page. We also have some awesome challenges with some fabulous sponsors this month. We have our Tres Chic challenge which is being sponsored by Copic Markers this month. Style: Sew-riffic......this can be real or fake sewing.....your choice. Elements: fabric, pearls, flower Our Bella Unique Challenge which is being sponsored by Flying Unicorns. Unique: tissue paper flowers... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjn084rYRLg To be eligable for this challenge you must create the flower using this technique and use it somewhere on your project. And finally our Bella Muse challenge: This is being sponsored by The Crop Spot. There are two images that you can choose from and use for this challenge, so check them out in the forum at Bella Creations

Scrap booking Expo in Portalnd Oregon

Hi everyone!
I haven't blogged for a bit, so thought I would share some exciting news.
I will be attending and working the Scrapbooking Expo in Portland Oregon The weekend of September 23rd and 24th!

I am so excited to have the opportunity to help out at this Expo for the HENS DEN!
Charlie the owner is a fabulous woman and I am just so thrilled and honored to be able to go help her with her booth at the expo.
So if you live near the area and want to attend the expo make sure that you stop by THE HENS DEN booth and say HI!

If you don't live near the area but you still like to shop for scrappy goodies, you must check out her store HERE

There are some fabulous NEW products that are in and still coming in from the CHA show........so stop on by and take a peak.

Well, thats it for now, just wanted to share with everyone how excitied I am to have the opportunity to finally meet Charlie and to be there to help her with her booth!

Have a fabulous day!

Bo Bunny Gabrielle Mini album.

The mixed medium album is by Punky Spouts which you can find in the Hens Den store.

It has some really cool shaped pages, chipboard, canvas and acrylic.
And I loved doing this album with the Bo Bunny Gabrielle line, it's one of my favorite lines by them, I love the colors and the embellishments that come with this line.

I also used some trim lace and Prima flowers that you can also find in the Hens Den Store . 7 Gypsy decorative metal corners and a 7 Gypsy Antique brass ring that I attached to the front of the book.