Raskog Adventure Part 2

I've been asked about how I transport my Raskog carts. I drive a small SUV. It is bigger than a shoebox and does the job. I have a little thing for hauling stuff around. I'm always on the go.

Well, my Raskogs do travel well! This the carts all packed up leaving Crop on the Cape. This is the cart on the right side of my SUV. Yes, they are standing up on my backseat. Yup, they are seat-belted in! They didn't move an inch and they had a seven hour ride home.

The plastic bins you see are the Medium Organizers from Close To My Heart. They fit perfectly and they hold a ton of cards for pocket scrapbooking!

And the cart on the left side. The sun was shining right in my face as I was loading up. Sure beats the snow that started off the weekend! This cart doesn't have the organizers from CTMH. It has the Antonius bins from Ikea. They be ordered online as well.

Raskog Cart Assembly

Way back in March when I attended Crop on the Cape, I made a pit stop at Ikea and picked up a couple of Raskog carts. I went with the dark grey ones that look like graphite. They are also available in cream and turquoise. 

The are very reasonably priced. Assembly is required. They went together much faster and easier than I expected. I did bring a few tools with me because I was going to assemble them in a hotel room. Seriously. I did assembled them in a hotel room the night before Crop on the Cape. I left early because there was a blizzard - literally - hitting western New York and I was not about to miss the Crop on the Cape over some snow...ok a lot of snow! Over a foot of snow fell at my house in less than 12 hours. Good times.....if your'e a shovel. 

one of the carts still boxed up

I believe the only tool I needed that I brought was a screwdriver. I brought a flathead and a Phillips head just to be one the safe side.

opening the box

The box is kind of  funky shaped and not exactly on the light side. I wouldn't want to walk around an Ikea carrying one!

everything laid out from the box

Everything you need except for the screwdriver is included. The instructions are all photos.

very important contents!

In the photo above, you can see a cardboard tray inserted into one of the cart bins/shelves. It contains all of the important parts and pieces. I would could everything and make sure you have all of the pieces and parts before continuing on. The instruction book contains a list with photos and quantities.

more important parts

This photo shows the bars/tubes that hold everything together. They become the sides of the cart.

The huge (insert sarcasm here) instruction book.

Counting up my pieces and parts!

Double checking everything. That little wrench came with all of the little bits. The screwdriver is mine...well my hubby's.

Assembling what will become the legs at some point in the evening.

These are what I call the bottom or feet. They were kind of annoying to put together. I whacked myself in the face attempting to put them together. That step wasn't in the instruction book. I highly recommend skipping that step! :)

Hey the parts are starting to look like something! That hotel print on the wall is just as ugly now as it was that night. I wasn't even at a Motel 6! Hello 1983! hehehehe

Wahoo! The first bin is attached!

All three bins are attached. No idea why I skipped a photo after the second bin was attached.

And we have wheels!! We can zone around the hotel room.

The Graphite Twins! It took me about 40-45 minutes to assemble the first cart. The second cart took me less than 30 minutes. I was also watching a bit of HGTV while assembling. I don't have HGTV at home. Love those Property Brothers!

Oh and if you don't have an Ikea nearby, no worries! Neither do I. The Boston Ikea is over six hours away from my house. That's one way. You can purchase these carts online and the shipping is significantly less than a tank of gas.

Big Sale at Inky Hot Mess

Do you need some glitter? How about paper packs? Clear stamps? Then you are in luck! A whole mess of these goodies are on sale at Inky Hot Mess right now!

Love their theme kits? All of the child kits are on sale. They are including the baby theme kits as well. 

What's a theme kit from Inky Hot Mess? They are kits for project life or pocket scrapbooking, but you can use them for traditional scrapbooking and card making for embellishments. They are tons of fun!

Here are some pics of the theme kits. Oh and there are 5 or less of each theme kit on sale. If want one, hurry up and grab it before someone else gets it first. These kits will not be restocked. 

star bright, star night

little boy blue

lavender baby

baby boy

It's Official!!!! Exciting News!!

I have some exciting news to share. I have been appointed to the Creative Director of Inky Hot Mess! The first thing I am doing is assembling a Creative Team....some would call it a design team, but we'll be doing so many different creative things - traditional scrapbooking, pocket scrapbooking, stamping, card making, altered art, and mixed media - that we're a Creative Team. 

Would you like to be part of the new Creative Team? Please apply! Here's what we are looking for:

inky hot mess is 

looking for a creative team! 

inky hot mess is a family run business located in the heart of the finger lakes in upstate new york. the focus of inky hot mess is on pocket scrapbooking. our goal is to get everyone to get their photos off their computers and phones and printed. we offer a jammed packed monthly kit featuring dozens of journaling cards and a mountain of embellishments. we also offer theme kits, stamps, dies, and embellishments.

what are we looking for? we are looking for individuals with mega talent. all team members are asked to stay with us for six months. inky hot mess will provide all the goodies needed to create your masterpieces as well as a discount at our shop. 

submissions are open until july 31st at 2 pm est. all team members must be located in the usa. the team will be announced on august 15th. your commitment begins september 1st and ends february 28th. 

you agree to submit a minimum of 12 journaling cards every month. more than 12 is highly encouraged! the bulk of the cards will need to correspond to the monthly kit themes. you also agree to promote inky hot mess on your blog, facebook, pinterest, youtube, instagram, etc. you agree to keep the upcoming monthly kit themes under tight wraps. we don't announce our monthly themes before our reveal on the inky hot mess blog. you agree to post our creative team member on your blog.

please send the following items to office@inkyhotmess.com. please use "creative team" for the subject so we get your message right away! 

include your blog, pinterest, youtube, facebook, instagram, address, phone number, and a bio. 

​photos required:

six - eight journaling cards you created

six - eight layouts (pocket page protectors filled) you created 

please answer the following questions:

how long have you been working with project life/pocket scrapbooking?

what is your artistic background? 

what design/creative teams have you been apart of?

have you taught classes? if yes, where?

can you successfully complete a six month commitment? 

why do you want to be a creative team member?

would be able to travel to new york state for a team meeting during your six month term?

are you comfortable working with mixed media?

​do you take fabulous photographs along with step by step instructions? 

*if you don't have a youtube page, no worries! prior design/creative experience is not a requirement!

Coming Soon...

I know I've been super quiet on here. I've been soooo busy behind the scenes! I have been working like a dog on something really huge. Starting on June 10th, there will be sneak peaks for my new adventure!

Here's a hint.....

Pocket Scrapbooking Handmade Cards

Crop on the Cape was fabulous as always. It's so great seeing friends and others I only get to see once a year since our store is gone. This year was sooooo darn cold that I didn't go to the ocean even though it's only a few blocks away. I had to leave a few days early to go and my travel was completely messed up because of a crazy March blizzard we got hit with in Western New York. Yup, an ACTUAL blizzard! Then I had to get out ahead of an ice storm. UGH! Then I woke up to an inch snow outside my hotel. At least I made it to Ikea! And to the Crop on the Cape. 

I worked on my first nephew's first year of life. I now have three nephews! And the first one is going to be seven years old shortly. It would be nice to get all of his photos printed and into an album before he's 40. Pocket scrapbooking to the rescue! 

I lived on the edge while at the Crop. I didn't bring many printed journaling or filler cards with me. I did bring mountains with me though. I spent a few weeks cutting up all of the baby boy paper I bought for him. Yes, I really cut up an entire Ikea Expedit cube full of paper into 4x6 cards. I didn't cut any into 3x4 because I figured I would cut them when I need them and I was really sick of cutting paper! I spent about three weeks doing it. And to think, there's only 27 cubes of paper and 10 cubes of cardstock left! I know you're totally jealous. :)

I brought several stamps, stickers, rub-ons, and embellishments with me. I knew I would make some of my own journaling cards. Some of the embellishments were washi tape (can't get enough of that stuff!!), buttons, brads, and twine (another fave). Instead of full size ink pads, I brought ink cubes. They take up far less space and weigh less. Two things to think about when going to a crop. It always feels like you're moving which is not fun.

I made several journaling cards over the four days and will be sharing them all with you in a series of posts. There's far too many to put them all in one post.

Journaling Card #1
Stamps from Close To My Heart
Stickers from Close To My Heart
Button

Journaling Card #2
Enamel Dots from My Mind's Eye
Stamp from Close To My Heart
Baker's twine

Journaling Card #3
Rub-ons
Large brad from Oriental Trading Company
Washi tape

Journaling Card #4
Rub-ons
Stamp from
Sticker from

Journaling Card #5
Enamel Dots
Washi tape
Rub-ons

Journaling Card #6
Stamp from

Journaling Card #7
Double cards!
Stickers
Buttons

Journaling Card #8
Stamp from 
Stickers
Enamel Dots

More cards revealed tomorrow!!!

Digital Scrapbooking Playing

So I've been playing in Photoshop a bit thanks to Jessica Sprague and the mountain of classes she offers. If you have any interest in digital scrapbooking, I highly recommend her classes. You learn a great deal, get digital supplies, have access to the class forever, you can repeat the class or sections of the class as often as you wish, you can take breaks whenever you wish, and her classes are not expensive. There's also a community forum where you can ask questions and people are happy to help you out. 

There are different levels to each class. They start out very basic and you build on what you've learned and completed. I'm up to the point where I get free play time! I know technically I could play around all I want, but I've been trying to stick to the classes.

One thing Jessica recommends is that you brag about your work. She wants you to feel like you accomplished something and share it. Pretty cool. 

Here's my first brag. I went apple picking a few years ago with my sister-in-law and nephew. I lived in South Carolina at the time and had never gone apple picking with them before. It was a blast. We have some great photos from that day.

You will notice that the faces have been blurred. Honestly, my family does not have blurred faces in real life.I did this because I don't want my family's faces all over the internet. There are far too many freaky people out there. Call me overprotective, but oh well!

My next layout was all me. Jessica gave us a ton of papers and embellishments to work with and said have fun. The photos are of Ashley and Maxx. So strange that there was only two dogs in our lives at that point. Very rare for us to have such a small family.

My final layout is a collage I made of all of our kids. Yup, all of our kids are furry and four legged. The orange cat is Dale named after NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr., the tabby is Azreaelle named after the cat in the Smurfs spelled a little funky because she's a tad crazy, the grey and cream tiger cat is Tigger who is our oldest kid, Ashley is the Yorkie and she's a bit famous cough cough for being a diva cough cough, and Maxx the Puggle who is the old fart of the gang. Ha I just noticed Ashley is sticking her tongue out a teeny bit. She doesn't have any bottom teeth except for her canines so her tongue sticks out often. Yes, it's common for senior Yorkies to lose their teeth.

Until next time.....have fun creating!