enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

PDFs for past online workshops now available.

January 14, 2011

I have finally gotten my act together and have made the PDFs of past classes available for sale. These are three classes that I ran in 2009 and 2010. All three are packed with information, samples and tutorials. These PDFs offer all the text from the classes in an easy-to-read and easy-to-print format.

More information about what this online workshop covered can be found here.

$20 for complete PDF of the BIG mini workshop

More information about what this online workshop covered can be found here.

$15 for complete PDF of Get Crafty

More information about what this online workshop covered can be found here.

$15 for complete PDF of the Visual Adventures

Click add to cart for one or more of the lessons and you will be able to pay with Paypal. Immediately after payment you will have the opportunity to download the complete set of PDFs (in one bundle) from a third party hosting site – I’ve tried it, and it’s safe. Please keep in mind : you are NOT purchasing access to a private blog or on-going workshop. You are purchasing an immediately downloadable text from an old workshop that can be enjoyed at your own pace on your own time.

Thank you for your support. Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments!
custom mixed paper books.

January 13, 2011

I have been getting email requests lately for custom books inspired by these birthday books which I haven't linked to in awhile. Maybe it's just the new year and people are looking for a new journal? I'm not sure why the sudden surge. But I am so happy to gather up unique papers and put them together. And because it's been a year or so since I have made them last, I feel like my paper stash is full again and I have oodles of options.

Just thought I would throw the idea out there. If you are interested in a thicker mixed paper book in custom colors, email me @ elise[dot]blaha[at]gmail.com. Prices start at $30.

And I have to say, my favorite request was to "just make it magical." Will do.

… and sidenote … gocco prints are on sale.
a bit of an adventure.

January 12, 2011

So we have lived in downtown San Diego for about six and a half months now. And for the past six and a half months, I have been driving by this interesting shop a few times a week. Every. Single. Time. I pass by I think to myself "I should walk down here." But then I get home and life goes on and I never remember until I'm driving by again.

But this past weekend, after the whole "to paint or not to paint our dresser" debacle, which ended with a frantic overstock.com search for bedside tables and the realization that I might never, ever decorate our bedroom, Paul was willing to wander around to some nearby furniture shops for ideas.

I say ideas because the pieces in these nearby shops are in the high thousands. We played "guess the price" on half the chairs just to try to make the other person faint. Basically, these stores are like Ikea but the complete opposite.

At the end of the furniture drooling adventure, we stopped inside the shop that I always drive by, Architecture Salvage. This store is very appropriately named. Plenty of pieces of old homes that you can tell came from a million different sources. This place is far from a bargain. But it was amazing to see so many different objects crammed together with their like pieces. Super overwhelming. But awesome. I took a few photos but keep in mind this is like a quarter of the shop.

Pretty cool, right?
DIY copper art.

January 11, 2011

Have you heard of Project Restyle by Elsie & Rachel? The plan is to take something old, broken or used and turn it into something new – once a week in 2011. I am never going to make it happen once a week, but I am hoping to do 10 before and afters. Above is my first attempt.

Jess shared a link to this awesome project a few months ago and I have had it filed away as something to try ever since. I picked up some copper leafing sheets, adhesive and sealer at a local art store (here is a link to a set) and Paul and I tried it on a canvas we had laying around that was destined for Goodwill. (It was clearanced art from Michael's that we hung in our old Maryland apartment for a few years but it never fit well in our new place.)

It was a pretty quick project, I painted the canvas black with acrylic paint to start and then we just followed the instructions on the leafing packaging. It might work better with two people as layering the gold (or silver, or copper) leafing is harder than in looks. I am excited with how it turned out though! Right now it's hanging on an previously empty wall by our kitchen table, but I think we'll be moving it around.
this weekend i…

January 10, 2011

…took a photo with a smiling wall.

…picked up pretty white flowers at the farmer's market.

…finished reading "the girl who kicked the hornet's nest" for the second time.

…thought about new paint colors for our dresser.

…taught p how to work the camera.
a big list.

January 7, 2011

I saw this post at Oh Happy Day on Monday and loved it. Jordan made big dream statements and three years later is almost there. OH MAN, HOW COOL. Paul and I have been talking a lot about our own BIG LIST recently and I jotted our main items down. It will take a bit more than three years to get them tackled though – in fact, ours will probably take a lifetime.

Oh, twenty-eleven, you've been a bit nutty on the dream and goal front. It's rad though. Positive energy is good. Long discussions over wine and lists made with Sharpies are great.
40 loaves / olive bread.

January 6, 2011

Bread no. 1 : a slightly modified version of this recipe.

Adjustments : I used two cups white flour and one cup wheat. Instead of mixing everything together all at once, I mixed the water, yeast and sugar together and allowed that to bubble for about five minutes before adding it to the rest of the dry ingredients and the olive oil. I substituted kalamata olives for black olives.

Notes : this was my first time creating steam in the oven by heating up a tray of water. This made crust of the bread dark brown and crunchy and kept the inside nice and soft. Awesome result but I set off the fire alarm three times from having the oven so hot.

Review : I'm a fan. Especially when it's dipped in a bit of olive oil or topped with a slice of cheese.
reducing expenses.

January 5, 2011

One of my big goals for this year is to be more careful with my business expenses to help raise my bottom line a bit. The first major transition was to order my packaging supplies in mass quantities from an online retailer instead of doing multiple shopping trips every month at a major chain store. On Monday, three big boxes arrived on my doorstep. It took about an hour yesterday to rearrange my office and closet to make space for 50 mailing tubes, 250 bubble mailers and 1000 pieces of chipboard.

To give you an idea of what sort of savings we're talking about : I was paying about $15 for 25 size #0 bubble mailers. Now I am paying $37 for 250 of the same. Can't really beat that. Totally worth a bit of reworking storage.

I have been making lists of other things I am constantly restocking (mailing labels, plastic sleeves, book rings) and will be purchasing them in large quantities too. It feels like a big cost up front, but the overall time and money saved is totally worth it.

This whole ordering and receiving packages from uline is like déjà vu. When I worked in retail, it was one of my responsibilities to order supplies for the store. Realizing that I am now ordering mass quantities supplies for my own shop is pretty surreal.

And please note : This post is totally not sponsored by uline. I just try to be honest with my experience as a small shop owner, and knowing stuff like this would have made me change my spending months ago.

I am currently the featured entrepreuner on the new website, StartUp Corner. I think this site is going to be an amazing resource for new businesses and I am excited to see it grow. I also have another fun interview up on Tea Talk this week.
more documentation in 2011?

January 4, 2011

I've been thinking a lot the past couple days about doing some sort of daily/near daily personal album in 2011. Right now, it looks like Paul will be deployed for most of the second half of the year which means there will be a lot of just me time. And perhaps an over-share, but we are getting closer to starting a family, so 2011 may be the last full year that we are little-one-less. It could very well be my last year where I am just me, not yet a mom.

And totally not life changing, but I've got a random list of goals that need to be tracked.

So I've been thinking of a good method to share photos and also journaling. To keep stuff but not too much of it. I want something bigger than my usual 4×6 but definitely not a full size scrapbook. It can't be too clean and simple that I get bored, but it can't be too over the top decorated that it's hard to keep up with. Project Life, which I have been hearing a lot about, looks cool, but I know I want to make the book myself.

Lots and lots of thinking and so far nothing feels right. But I'll keep you posted.

EDIT : Thanks so much for your ideas and suggestions. I am getting closer to a plan! I hope to make a few sample pages and share early next week.

Photo is in front of an awesome wall in Ventura. We pulled over when we drove by, I ran across the street and Paul snapped the picture. Me on January 1, 2011. I hope to get a lot more shots like this (secret goal : 100) during the year.
now in the shop :

January 3, 2011

metallic goodness books // $18

just start original art // $15 – EDIT : more listed Tuesday (1/4) morning. Thank you!