CHICAGO, CHICAGO ....

We are exhibiting for the first time at CHA Summer this year and we're so excited. Firstly because we're in the middle of a very cold winter downunder in Sydney, Australia and we can't wait to get into some warmer weather. But mostly because we can't wait to meet some more crafty people that we might not have met yet in Anaheim or Los Angeles. We do hope you stop by and see us at Booth #1613. We're in the new exhibitors area for this Show which is right next to Craft Fusion area. Also really interested to see what's going on in this area and all the other fab things people keep telling us about Chicago.

Today is a sneak peak of our new Paper Doll and Paper Boy releases - bright retro inspired collections with 8 patterned papers, 2 glitters and 1 specialty die-cut. Six great embellishments work alongside each collection and we've added a card pack in our favourite designs for good measure. I'm a big fan of the cards as I like to use up my scraps right away after I finish scrapping. It saves so much time when birthdays and the like come around - I can just dig in my card box and not worry about finding time to create something.

In the next few posts next week we'll showcase some of our layouts and the product in more detail so you can see how great these new collections are. In the meantime we're on countdown to Chicago ... happy scrapping!

THANK YOU MR BAZZILL!

Woohoo - the kind folks at Bazzill have just made scrapping with Ruby Rock-it a whole lot easier! They've uploaded all of our paper designs (including the wedding range) to their Matchmaker site http://www.bazzillbasics.com/ so check out this link and mix and match your new papers with ease. They've chosen some beautiful colours we can't wait to try ourselves.

We can't wait for our Easter break to take a break from work and spend some time indoors scrapping. Unlike the USA where you have a wonderful Springtime upon you we are heading into darker days and cooler nights as the winter season heads our way. It's our peak scrapbooking time downunder - where chocolate, red wine and new scrapbooking papers reign supreme!

We have some great new invitation designs we're putting up on our ideas gallery on http://www.rubyrock-it.com/ in coming days for those of you that might be planning a special occasion. Our BELLA! wedding range works beautifully when creating handmade invites. More in our next post.

EASTER SCRAPPING

I really loved this idea when I saw it in a Somerset mag last year and thought I'd give it a try for Easter. It's a great addition to any Easter family dinner table as a centrepiece during the holiday. It was really simple to make but required a bit of time to assemble. We've used our Avalon Fantasy paper to create this but only needed 3 sheets.

The first sheet we tore up into pieces. We then paper machied some small foam eggs we found at a local craft store. We did this to 5 eggs and once they were dry we decorated them with ribbon and little pearl stickers and buttons.

We then cut up the other two sheets into 1 inch and 1 and a half inch strips. The larger strips we cut with a scalloped trimmer on each side. The smaller strips were just cut normally. We then curled each strip around a pencil (get a long pencil and you can do quite a few at a time) and set them aside.

To assemble you need some kraft paper - an old paper bag will do if you have nothing else. Place this inside a dessert bowl and weight it down for about 5 minutes so that it takes up the shape of the bowl. Remove and turn the bowl over. Place your kraft "bowl" over top of the desert bowl. Now the fun begins - glue your strips randomly onto the kraft paper bowl to create the "nest". I used PVA glue which dried clear and found it quite easy to attach. You could probably use a hot glue gun also but I always burn myself on these so try to avoid where I can.

Once you have all your strips attached (you may want more or use less) kindy glitz randomly and leave to dry overnight. Arrange your eggs to suit - have a great Easter!

Avalon Release

This week we're showcasing the Avalon line with more stunning layouts by our design team. We love the way the colours of the papers have worked with these pictures. This is one of my favouries and we will have this one up on our www.rubyrock-it.com gallery later this week with "destructions" for those who would like to give this a go. The layout uses the stitched die-cut cardstock and lots of ink to grunge up the patterned papers and chipboard. It uses a nice combination of textures with the trim and the embossed stickers - love it.

And one of my favourite embellishments in the Avalon and Le Jardin lines is the felt mat which Sandra has used to great effect here around the photograph. I'm also a big fan of the fabric florals and you can see a white one here on the right-hand side of the layout. We've glimmer misted these on other projects and they look gorgeous.

And these are our beautiful girls who will have the best scrapbooking albums ever by the time they've grown up. This layout uses some of our floral rub-ons and the Mysterious paper which is so versatile. A cream flyaway and felt icon add the finishing touches to this stunning picture of these two sisters.

Orders are being despatched from our Chicago warehouse this week so check out your lss to see if they have this in stock yet. Our Ruby website lists all our stockists so be sure to check this out for a store near you.

LE JARDIN RELEASE

We're so excited that our new Le Jardin line arrives in our Chicago warehouse on Friday. We've had a lot of fun using the French inspired papers in our layouts. As you can see one of our talented designers has had a lot of fun mixing mediums with the paper designs and creating some pages with the WOW factor. She has created some beautiful florals with her quilling skills on this layout below:

And the photo in the layout below is stunning - who would have thought you could capture such a great image of these fabulous old cars on a country road?

Check out our website www.rubyrock-it.com for the full range of papers and embellishments our Le Jardin line. Product ships out to stores from 21 March onwards - store listing of our stockists in on the website too. Have a great week scrapping!

YOU'RE INVITED

We've been having a bit of fun creating some invitational suites using our new Wedded papers and embellishments. They all make this task so, so easy and they are so much prettier than anything store bought. You can make them as simple or as complicated as you like.

We've just finished loading the weding paper and Avalon and Le Jardin designs for viewing on www.rubyrock-it.com so you can see the designs in more detail. And if you click on the Where to Buy tab you'll see who is stocking us - we've updated this since CHA last month - so you can see if you have a store nearby.

(If you are a store and you'd like to stock some of our lines drop us an email at info@fynmark.com.au and we'll get you registered for trade access to our site).

Over the next few weeks we'll be updating our Ideas Gallery on the website to showcase some gorgeous new layouts and other paper projects using our new papers and embellishments. So keep checking back for those updates and check our your lss from mid-March when the product ships out of Chicago.

Have a great week scrapping!

NEW WEDDING LINE

We are thrilled with the response we've had from stores on the new BELLA! Wedding line at CHA. Everyone is clapping their hands to finally have some paper that transitions easily between wedding invitations and stationery, specialty cardmaking and scrapbooking. In particular our girly girls loved the pink - Beloved.

But we also had a lot of interest in the fabulous gold and ivory colourway - Elegance.

And we love the way the silver papers can be scrapped with any colour - so don't worry about that most pastel of peach bridesmaid dress - this will work with it - even though you couldn't!

And Tie the Knot will scrap any occasion - we guarantee it!

These lines are shipping out to stores at the same time as our beautiful Avalon and Le Jardin papers and embellishments - mid to late March 2011. Over the next few weeks we're going to inspire you with some great layouts and invitation projects with these gorgeous papers.

Remember this is a sneak peak for you guys - it's not up on the website yet - we're not putting up the new release until it has landed in the USA. So spread the news and clear your paper stash - you're gonna love these!

CHA WINTER 2011

If you're at CHA this year stop by and see us at Booth#1068. We've got our new releases on show and this year we're introducing our BELLA! wedding line which is something totally new for us. We're having fun catching up with old friends - we love all you gals - and making some fab new ones from some interesting places: Brazil, Argentina and South Africa . I love hearing how the rest of the word scraps and what things they loooove. The Show seems smaller this year but the vibe is great - everyone is focused on getting the latest product into their stores and as always there are some great examples on display. But more on that later in the week. For now check out our new line Avalon and go to our blog at Scrapbooks.com where we have a full update on what we're releasing at CHA. Happy scrapping!

CHA 2011 - LE JARDIN

Yikes it's been over 3 months since we last blogged here - seriously bad - but some seriously good news is that we have some new lines to showcase which you're going to love. Over the next few days we're going to show you some sneak peaks of what we've been madly creating to release at CHA Winter 2011 (and post some pics of the Show while we're at it). Today's post showcases Le Jardin - a french inspired range in a soft colour range of blue, chocolate, watermelon and pink. The embellies are to die for - but we love heavily textured pages here at Ruby Rock-it. Tomorrow we'll post our Avalon line and then "Here comes the Bride" - our wedding collections - woohoo - here we go - a whole new year ahead!

WHAT A TREASURE

WOW - we just had to post this stunning layout sent in by Kim Kachmarski - we so, so loved it. Kim owns a store called Scrapbook Lounge in Canada and tells us her customers have loved the Ruby Rock-it lines she ordered in. You must check her blog out at: http://scrapbooklounge.blogspot.com/ and don't forget to send us in your fab layouts so we can feature your work here as well. We love the way the papers work so beautifully with the flowers and of course we can't get enough of the kraft chip alphas - they rock!

It's been a big week settling back into the "office" groove after being away in Arizona. No day long scrap sessions or hot, hot sunshine (my Pepsi intake has decreased dramatically). The passion for scrappin has not abated since I returned however. I have big dark circles from sitting up nights and DH wonders if his wife is actually back or not! Must finish those CE projects, then there's Xmas cards to think about and I need to increase my stash of everyday cards for sending and then there's those photos of the littlies from last month and ... well you know how it is. The never ending story/journey of a scrapbooker. Have a great week scrapping!

MIRROR MIRROR

Just another post or two about CE before we move onto some other things. One really cool display they have each year is a BTP item that is selected for various scrapbook artists to embellish. Last year it was lamps and this year it was mirrors in keeping with the theme of the event which was Reflections. I have posted my two favourites out of the large number of mirrors that were donated. Three were auctioned and the rest could be won with raffle tickets. I loved Jessica Guthrie's mirror and could see this sitting on a vintage dressing table no problem at all. I could see this in my bathroom too - love it, love it, love it. The other mirror was Heidi's and it sold for US$5,000 - unreal but great funds for the cancer charity that was benefitting. And I think she may have a fan because the gal that bid for this mirror successfully also bid for her lamp last year so now she has a set!

Just looking at these beautiful altered mirrors made me think again about stuff I have lying around the house that is looking a bit dowdy right now. It's so getting a lick of paint and some paper in the very near future (right after I finish the other CE projects I brought back).

Have a great weekend!

Heidi's Class

As usual Heidi's class did not disappoint and reflected her shabby chic style with this cute hanging easel. I haven't attached the crown on top as I want to pack it flat to take home but you get the overall idea of how this looks here. I loved making the fabric flowers attached on the right hand side. We did this in Technique Boutique on Thursday and of course it wouldn't be a Heidi project without a little glimmer mist.

Heidi's message in her class was there is beauty in all things if you just know where to find it. Sometimes it's hard in our everyday life to find it right? When we're a bit stressed, the kids are sick, our husband just lost his job, we missed our flight or a meeting or everything just seems out of sorts and chaotic. Sometimes this can go on for days or we have a month of nothing going right. It's hard to get back into the groove when we have stuff like this going on. Scrapbooking is about turning the ordinary into the extraordinary, turning everyday life into something beautiful. So when life gets a little rough and you can't find your creative spirit:

Seek, Find, Enjoy, Capture, Learn, Grown, Remember, Celebrate and of all things Be Grateful - there is beauty in all things!

To see more from Creative Escape check out the live webshow that was recorded last Friday night with Heidi and the girls from the House of 3 - www.ustream.tv/recorded/9195302

More when I get back to Australia - heading home today.

CREATIVE ESCAPE AZ

I'm going to showcase some of the projects and teachers from CE on the blog over the next week. This year's event organised by Bazzill and Heidi Swapp has been awesome. We've been challenged, caught up with old friends and scrapped ourselves silly. Biggest challenge tonight - trying to squeeze stuff into bags that are already bulging and trying to calm the brain overload so I can get a good night's sleep before I head back to Australia.

The work showcased above was at the trunk show which introduces all the teachers to the attendees before the classes start. These photos showcase the work of Pam Black who has been teaching and working for Bazzill for a long time. Her work is amazing and her no nonsense approach to getting the job done was just the ticket. I'm often overwhelmed with the level of layers in this scrapbooking style but Pam's sense of colour and composition made the class easy. I couldn't wait to get the project back to my room to finish it - will post the pic of the finished desktop style album tomorow.

I love listening to the stories of ordinary people who teach and live the "creative" life where they actively seek out the beauty in everything. As we were told tonight: Scrapbookers see beauty in ordinary things - appreciate the gift. How true is this - cherish your gift and scrap something today - more on this great event tomorrow.

WOO HOO - OFF TO CE

WOW just seen some of the comments from you guys up there in the USA regarding our product on Pinky's blog http://blueyecicle.blogspot.com - thrilled to know our product is filtering out across the land and that some of you have been able to get your hands on it already. You can also check out our website: http://www.rubyrock-it.com/ for some downloadable project sheets and pics of some work we've been doing downunder with the two collections: The Summerhouse and Upstairs Downstairs. There is also a listing of stores stocking us in the USA so check that out.

So who is Ruby Rock-it I hear you all ask? Well my husband and I own Fynmark a company in Sydney, Australia. We design and manufacture scrapbooking product for the Australian and NZ markets. We're good friends of another manufacturer you've probably heard of Kaisercraft. Between the two of us we supply heaps of great product to dedicated papercrafters in this part of the world. In Australia our main brand is BELLA! and we sell this to the equivalent of your Michaels stores - a chain called Spotlight. Ruby Rock-it is my indulgence - it's the brand that I developed to showcase my passion for all things olde-worlde and where we can design to suit ourselves - the things we love. So I hope you grow to love it as much as we do! We're just starting out in the USA but we'll be at CHA again in January and I'm about to head to CE where we are sponsoring a group of women this year. So if you're at CE make sure you say Hi and check back next week for lots of goss and pics about this great event - have a great week scrapping!

A LITTLE CARDMAKING

This week we have launched our Fundamentals cardmaking line in the USA. We have been selling this range of product in Australia now for the last 9 months and it has been soooo popular we have had to delay our launch date in the USA. The line has over 100 items of cardstock, rub-ons, die-cuts,chipboard alphabets, trims, transparencies, chipboard accents, felt icons and petite alphabet stickers in 8 colours: pink, blue, white, black, silver, chocolate, gold, silver and kraft.

We've become a little obsessive about cardmaking since its launch last year and have created some beautiful cards such as this one on the left. Over the next few weeks we will showcase some more of this line to inspire and delight you! In the meantime see below for instructions on how to make this:

Required: Fundamentals silver cardstock – 148x210mm, black and light blue cardstock, silver chipboard accents, silver deluxe die-cuts, black chipboard accents, black trims, white rub-ons (flourish)

Also needed: black ink, Cuttlebug or Letterpress embossing template

Step 1: Cut a 14.5 x 10cm piece of card out of the blue cardstock. Cut a slightly larger piece out of the black cardstock.

Step 2: Use embossing template to emboss the blue card if desired.

Step 3: Ink, using the black ink pad, around the edges of the card.

Step 4: Cut and tear a 9 x 8cm shaped heart from your blue embossed cardstock and place a photo under it as shown.

Step 5: Glue the blue card, with photo, onto the black card.

Step 6: Cut a piece of black ribbon and glue at the bottom of the blue/black card ensemble.

Step 7: Place a silver die cut shape to the left hand side with some black ribbon placed underneath as desired.

Step 8: Place an accent tag on top of the die cut.

Step 9: Place a silver die cut flower on top of the tag followed by a black accent butterfly.

Step 10: Rub white rub-ons around the heart as shown.

MIX IT UP

We've been having fun mixing up the ranges we have in stock at Ruby Rock-it and have created this cute family mini album with the Summerhouse range, some Kraft embellishments from our Fundamentals range and some brightly coloured cardstock. We'll be uploading this album project onto our website next week rubyrock-it.com It's quite a challenging project as it uses the Scor-pal and incorporates some fancy iris folding. However patience is always rewarded (in papercraft anyway) with something beautiful to behold and you won't be disappointed with this project - more next week. In the meantime for some stunning layouts and beyond the page projects check out our Ideas Gallery on the website for downloadable project sheets.

We're counting down the days now until we get into the hot sunshine of Arizona for Creative Escape. We cannot wait to be refreshed and inspired with this great event. I believe there are still some spots available so check out their website. If you're looking for a bit of a break or a treat for yourself (go on - you deserve it) - this really is the ultimate scrapbooking escape - only 65 more sleeps!

Also woohoo - we're excited Bazzill has taken all the guess work out of matching cardstock to our new patterned papers. You can now colour match our new lines of paper by visiting the Bazzill website at www.bazzillbasics.com/matchmaker. We think you’ll be pretty impressed with the results – thank you Mr Bazzill!!

LAYOUT PROJECT

Oooh this photo is just sooo cute! This is one of those layouts where you don't want to detract too much away from the photo because it's so great. We've used the Summerhouse line with this photo as the colours just work beautifully with the colour of the water. We're adding more layouts and instructions that you can download on our website: www.rubyrock-it.com so check it out too for some clever ways to use the new paper collections.

And now for the instructions (or as we like to call them "destructions"):

Required:
· Summerhouse Lime die-cut cardstock
· Summerhouse Soiree cardstock
· Summerhouse Sultry cardstock
· Summerhouse Flutterbies
· Summerhouse Florets
· Black Chipboard Alphabet
· Icons rub-on
· Summerhouse photo corners

Also needed:
· 1 5X7inch colour photo, wet and dry adhesive, midnight blue ink and 2” circle punch

Step 1: Trim your Soiree paper to use as your base. Ink around the outside with blue ink.
Step 2: Cut 5 flowers out from your Sultry cardstock. Reserve a 8 inch long x 1 1/2 inch wide piece of the reverse side for later. Tear down one 8 inch side so it has a torn edge.
Step 3: Cut your lime cardstock in half. Cut again at 9 inches – ensure the lines run horizontally before you cut. Punch a circle from the remaining cardstock.
Step 4: Put a blue photo corner onto the left-hand side or your 5X7” photo and then place your photo onto your lime green cardstock as shown. Trim the cardstock along the bottom edge if necessary.
Step 5: Attach your torn reverse from the Sultry cardstock to the left lime cardstock edge and adhere all down onto your Soiree cardstock as shown.
Step 6: Embellish around the bottom left and right side of your photograph with your Sultry flowers, Summerhouse flutterbies and florets and cardstock circle punched earlier.
Step 7: Complete with chipboard alphabet title and rub-ons.

Have a great week scrapping!

UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS LAYOUT

As Mother's Day has just been celebrated we thought this layout was worthy of a showcase this week - a gorgeous photo of one of our clever girls and her children. This layout uses the Emily and Master cardstock designs from this line and steps it up with some fancy chipboard and other Upstairs Downstairs embellishments. Check out our metal appliques on the right hand side. We're in love with our bitty buttons. Don't you love it when it all just fits together - aaaahhhh so good!

Stock is heading out to stores now so check out our website www.rubyrock-it.com to see if you have a store stocking our lines near you. We have more stores stocking us this year so hopefully you'll find one near you.

So excited to be at Creative Escape again this year. Last year we worked with another Aussie gal and had our Wall Art kit used in the Delish Designs class. This year we're sponsoring a whole group of gals - woohoo!!!! And we're attending again - oh so can't wait for that hot hot hot Arizona weather and the classes to die for. Our logo is up on the website www.creativeescapeaz.com and we are very proud to be associated with this great event.

So next post a "How to" project with our new lines that you'll be shopping in your local stores. Have a great weekend!

THE EAGLE (STOCK) HAS LANDED

We can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel as we head towards 'despatch' time in the USA. Stock also lands in Sydney this week so we can all go PHEW we made it! We've had some frustrations with delivery times as our fancy embellies have provided a few challenges to the factories we use to manufacture our product. We only want the best so we've had to wait until everything was just right before we ship out to you all.

This week's layout showcases our Summerhouse line and we just love the colours of this paper collection. Blue green colour washes through the range and it is accented with chocolate and orange for
maximum effect. Felt frames, vintage trims, bitty buttons, metal appliques, flutterbies, florets and crochet flowers are just some of the coordinating elements that match the paper. Over the next few weeks we're going to show you how to get the most out of these collections with some fabulous layouts and cards. In the meantime if you are a store and you'd like to place an order for the collections or you'd like to find out more information about us check out our website at www.rubyrock-it.com

UPCOMING RELEASE

We love patterned paper so much here at Ruby Rock-it that we are always looking at new ways to use it other than on our layouts. Just recently we've finished projects using our patterned paper on everyday items we'd use around the house - in particular boxes and door hangers. You can find some great paper machie and wooden boxes, flower pots and all manner of things that lend themselves to embellishment at your local craft store. Over Xmas we also collected a few boxes. We've been able to give them a whole new life with a bit of paper and ribbon.

Our RR lines are perfect for BTP as the colours and designs work with vintage or contemporary decor. The Summerhouse line is bright and cheerful - think lime green, orange, blue and chocolate while Upstairs Downstairs has deep reds, blue, cream and black - stunning! We can't wait for you to check them out next month when they begin to appear in stores.

In the meantime as the weather turns warmer in the Northern Hemisphere we are enjoying a late Indian summer here in Sydney. A little too hot to spend all weekend indoors scrapping but we can feel the change in the mornings for sure. Have a great week scrapping! x