So Cal Shop Hop 2014

First of all, apologies for being MIA these last few months.  I have been very busy getting ready for the SoCal Shop Hop!  This year's theme is Books, and I chose for our store, Cool Scrapbook Stuff, "Around the World in 80 Days" by Jules Verne.  Every store needs to create a 6"x6" layout that will hold wallet sized photo(s), and decorate their store based on their chosen theme.  I wanted the decorations and theme for the store to stay true to the BOOK, as opposed to the movie versions, which took major liberties with the modes of travel our group of adventurers took, so I kept it Victorian and vintage-y.  

The Take n' Makes I created for the Shop Hop used Authentique's Abroad line, which was released early this year, and a train from Carta Bella's Well Traveled line.  All other embellishments on the Take n' Makes I created using my Silhouette, or were stamps by Magenta.  Here is a picture of the main page:

I created the suitcase, suitcase handle and corners, and the canvas print and cut center using my Silhouette.  I also cut out the "80" in the middle of the canvas to give a little more dimension.  The suitcase opens from the top (attached by a tiny piece of velcro), to reveal an empty suitcase perfect for photos and journaling.  And yes, I made the wire "steam"...  try making hundreds of those!  Ugh, my fingers will never forgive me!  We were also very happy to find the Magenta clock stamp...  it was ideal for this page!  I think the page turned out great!!! 

Here is a picture of the secondary page (which is optional, but our store always does one):

This time I used the "book" theme, and created a book (with pages and corners) and the compass print and cut (by Lori Whitlock from the Silhouette store).  The Magenta stamp worked perfectly for this page, and the Shop Hop theme!  All of the pictures (ship and book cover) came from Authentique.  I do believe this page works very well with the first page, but is still a good stand alone page as well.  I was quite proud of how these turned out. 

In the next few days, I will take pictures of the store and everything I cut out for the decorations, and post them here.  I do believe it was one of our best Shop Hop decorating accomplishments, and I'm quite happy with the end results. 

There is one more weekend of Shop Hop, so if you haven't done so, please drop by the store and see for yourself everything we did!  The ladies all worked hard to make it a success, so we'd be happy if you saw it before it all comes down.

Until next time, keep cool, keep traveling, keep reading...
-Dayle