Select Artwork for Larger View and Item List
"Ctrl P" to Print
From the Helm
Dawn Heath, PublisherShip's Captain
Yokoso to the land of the rising sun! It is an honor for us to visit the mysterious islands of Japan this month. S.S. Reflections is finally cruising to Japan! With a population of 127 million people, Japan is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. We are going to enjoy the rich history and traditions mixed with the modern culture of today! I can't wait to see the beautiful temples, visit the infamous gardens and museums, go shopping, and partake in a tea ceremony. I can't wait to sample all the wonderful food, some tempura, domburi, Kaiseki...I have always wanted to visit Japan!
If you are joining us for the very first time, let me explain what S.S. Reflections is. We are a completely FREE online magazine with a truly unique concept. SSR is a virtual cruise ship from the Golden Era here to entertain you as we visit a new country/port each month. We have an amazing crew who create designs and share ideas with you each month from various areas of the ship. Our fly-out menu bar, to the left, can take you anywhere on the ship that you would like to be. It will guide you through each deck on this magnificent ship! If you'd like to read each and every feature, at the bottom of each page is a blue arrow and a link to click which will take you to the next page to read. We also have Intro Pages for each deck. On these pages are ship's wheels with our crewmember's pictures inside - you can click on the wheel and read a short, fun bio for each designer. You can also click on the name of their room on the ship and it will take you directly to their article, or you can email each crewmember directly by clicking on their name! Please write to us and tell us what you love about SSR and anything you have read about here!
I know you have heard about this already, but we had so much fun that I just can't resist keeping the link to the radio show available to you! If you are new to SSR, I was a featured guest on the Diva Craft Lounge Talk Radio Show on May 4th. You can hear the segment by clicking here!! This is an internet radio show so EVERYONE can listen to it!! Please tune in and show your support!!
We had so many beautiful submissions to our June Digital Layouts Contest! These contests are getting harder and harder for our judges to choose. Now, having said that, it is with great pleasure that we announce that Dawn McDowell is our FIRST Place Winner! Dawn won a $50 gift certificate for Bound2Remember services! Our SECOND place winner is Mary Kerr!! Mary won a $25 gift certificate toward Bound2Remember services. Our THIRD place winner is Joan Petty!! Joan won a $10 gift certificate toward Bound2Remember services! If you'd like to see the winning photos, please click here. All the winning designs are displayed on the Contest page! Dawn's winning design will be the month of June in the 2006 calendar! CONGRATULATIONS to all three of our winners! Our July contest category is a Stamped Art Contest! This would include anything that you have stamped on using the red, white and blue/July 4th summer theme! Please size your image to 475 pixels (longest side) for submitting to the contest. We need it in a much smaller size for the magazine. But, be sure to keep your image in the proper scan size for the calendar if you win! So, you'll have 2 sizes for your image. Both are important! We need to have your submissions sent to editorialsubmission@ssreflections.com with your permission to publish and print your submission. Please also include your name, address, phone number and products used if you know them!
The Caption Contest has been so much fun on the Ezine Yahoo! Group! We can hardly wait to see each new entry. The featured stamp used in each month's article is also that months prize. This month is by PaperArtsy!
The card on the right is from the June Caption Contest. The Ezine Yahoo Group members voted for their favorite caption and the winner is....
"Mr. Peanut??!! No, I'm not Mr. Peanut!!!" By Fran Cicero
For detailed instructions and our current contest just click on Mr. Peanut's double. I told you we are having all kinds of fun on the Ezine Yahoo Group!
Have you signed up for our bi-monthly newsletter yet? Did you know that we send out a newsletter when we change our Reader's Gallery each month? The newsletter is FREE and is full of up-to-date information on what is happening on board the S.S. Reflections! If you would like to receive our newsletter you can sign up for it HERE. If you are a member of the Ezine Yahoo! Group then you are having a wonderful time sharing ideas and tips and techniques. We have weekly challenges for both the stampers and the scrappers and monthly swaps! Communications Officer, Joe, has been doing a great job with his product reviews, sharing his art, and keeping up some fun conversation on both the Ezine Yahoo! Group and the Ezine Message Board!
Our Celebrity Headliner this month is back by popular demand! Leslie Blackburn Ohnstad of Luminarte has graciously come back to S.S. Reflections for our visit to Japan. Leslie is the brains behind Twinkling H20's and Radiant Pearls! Leslie was our Celebrity Headliner for our second issue back in December 2003. Well, since that time, the Twinkling H20's are one of the hottest items in the industry and we receive so many questions on these awesome paints we just knew that we needed to bring Leslie back! 
I know you are going to love reading about the company we are featuring in our VIP Lounge this month! We are proud to have Stampabilities join us on our cruise! Stampabilities offers a growing selection of handmade rubber stamps as well as ink pads, papers, stickers and other accessories!
Our Designer’s Challenge this month was sponsored by Two Paper Cranes! Nicky Biwaki, the owner of Two Paper Cranes, exports from Japan a wide variety of Japanese paper and embellishments which led to the birth of Two Paper Cranes in 2004. The SSR crew have had an awesome time creating some gorgeous work with Nicky's papers and I am certain your muse will be inspired by what you see!
Korbyn's Korner - S.S. Reflections Advertiser Spotlight!
korbynmay@ssreflections.com
Director of Sales
As you finish reading this jam packed issue of S.S. Reflections, please make your way to our Making Waves page and visit our advertisers! We have revamped the page to make it more accessible to you and easier for you when you are shopping! Some of our Advertisers have wonderful specials and announcements just for you! If you are looking for that special logo-wear of your favorite online magazine, you can purchase your own t-shirts or sweatshirts in the Purser's Store! If you have any special requests, please email us at info@ssreflections.com and we'll see what we can do!
Posh Impressions always has specials that change without notice. If you see it and you like it or want it, order quickly and it is yours. Notice that the page is titled "Items Briefly On Sale" or you can click Special Sale to see what is offered this moment. Don't forget to order Dee's brand new DVD "Simply Posh." What a wonderful opportunity to learn from the master.
Hearts in Touch - Frances has some awesome new sheets - one of which is in honor of our world cruise and the new ART DECO IMAGES! Visit Hearts in Touch then click on "Stamps." They are at the top of the page, #72 ART DECO 1 and #73 ART DECO 2.
Heart Full of Memories has a vast array of scrapping supplies with the papercrafter in mind! Be sure to tell Traci that we sent you!
Caputo's Kits has some great new bookbinding items in-stock including a new kit! Also, don't forget that all Making Memories items are on clearance - 35-65% off! Click HERE for more specials just for you!
PennyWise Arts has lots of exciting news about new products! Click HERE to for more details!
PaperArtsy: New from PaperArtsy are four quarter plates called 'wings' comprised of angels, butterflies and other winged creatures as unmounted stamps. These new plates are now available. Also new on the website are collage and transparency sheets: great for transfers, collage art or overlays. Be sure to visit the PaperArtsy website!
Ranger has lots of awesome new products that were announced this past February at CHA! Click HERE for more details on all of them! Watch here for announcements from Ranger on their latest products being released at Summer CHA!
Memory Villa, a brand new advertiser with SSR, is closing out Leeza Gibbons Legacies at 30% off and have a total of 136 products in their "Specials" category - All 20% to 40% off regular price. Memory Villa is having a layout contest! Layouts submitted should contain approximately 60% Chatterbox products, and should be emailed to: layouts@memoryvilla.com. The winning entry will be posted in next month's newsletter, as well as at www.mvlayouts.com. File size isn't critical, but it's best if it is under 350kb. File can be in jpg, psd, ufo, tif or png format. You may submit more than one layout. Layout should be 12 x 12 or 8.5 x 11. (Of course, you must have proprietary rights to the layouts submitted.) The winner will also recieve a 12 x 12 Chatterbox Feaux Suede album. Contest ends July 18th.
After Midnight Art Stamps has sponsored a bead contest and the S.S. Reflections crew has been asked to judge the winner! You can see all the beautiful work yourself, just click HERE
Midwest Scrapbook Association - Click here for a printable Schedule of Events.
Mother Rubber Art Stamps will be celebrating their 2nd Anniversary in July so watch their Sale page for a special sale and an online party! Mother Rubber Art Stamps Sale
Two Paper Cranes - Click here for a look at the awesome products that Two Paper Cranes is offering! Don't forget to visit the Designer's Challenge for inspiration!
Sarah Heidt Photo Crafts is continuing the Free Mosaic tile pack with your first retail purchase. Choose round, square or hexagon tiles in any of the six new plaid patterns! Click here for all the details!
Now to tell you what is on our Editorial Deck! In The Stateroom this month we are featuring Caputo's Kits! Caputo's Kits is a one-woman show, owned and operated by Jennifer Caputo just outside of Chicago, Illinois. She started the company just over a year ago with a desire to help her friends make their own custom scrapbooks. Scotti is answering questions sent to the Ezine Yahoo! Group! Dean is giving step by step instructions to build your own work table or even just a shelf. We all need these as we spread our supplies out to work!
On our Digital Deck this month, part three and the final installment of Dawn's special feature on owning your own internet based stamp business is in the The Showcase. Ramie has done a very special feature on a sensitive subject, scraplifting! Bill is teaching us how to take close ups of flowers which would make awesome backgrounds for your pages, too! Tonya's tutorial this month is how to create a blurred vignette. Tara's tutorial is creating depth of field with your photos! Dyan is using illustrated letter fonts. Elizabeth is allowing the photos to tell the story in her digital layouts and if you are still on the fence about digital scrapping then Tricia will help you dive in and enjoy yourself!
Now on to the Stamping Deck! Cindy is singing and reading and having a great time with all things green! Cricket is taking a couple of months off as her family will be travelling through Europe this summer! Safe journey's Cricket! Debi is inspiring us with her Artist Trading Cards. Robin and Wendy have taken altered books one step further by creating altered book boxes! Oh! So much fun!! Cindy Cade is celebrating Christmas in July by creating slide ornaments! You'll definitely want to get started now on this awesome project! Andi has started boot camp for the stamper and is calling out the army for background checks! Suzanne is "sliding" through her feature this month using solid and photo slides in her projects! Lori is featuring old Americana in her beautiful designs this month! Purnima's almost missed the boat but Dyan threw her a life preserver in time and we are so thrilled at what she has created! Melissa has just the idea for all those CD-ROMs you get in the mail! Judy has done an awesome review on Tim Holtz book "Distressibles." Judy's artwork is stunning! One last thing...we are so pleased to tell you that our beloved Snow is back with a pregnancy album she created for her daughter-in-law! We were so thrilled with this project we asked Snow to tell you all about it!
Now on to the Scrapping Deck! Jill is scrapping boys! I'm quite familiar with this situation as I reside with all boys, too! Diana has found a new way to use her license plates! Of course, these license plates were created just for the scrapper! Chrissy has been inspired by her Grandmother's old scrapbook and you are going to love what she has created this month! Stacie is inspiring us to scrap the difficult things in life. Marilyn is sharing with us one of her favorite obsessions...PAPER! Cindi is sharing her journey using Suze Weinberg's Wonder Sheets and Wonder Tape! Becky is scrapping the kinetic way! She has some awesome ideas for bringing a new dimension to your pages! Janet has some great ideas for using your acrylic paints on your pages! Victoria is getting her inspiration from anywhere! This month it's with paper! Sharon, our Scrapping Deck Librarian, is reviewing "BAZZILL COLOR"
By Bazzill Basics Paper. This is definitely the month for paper!
As usual our Reader's Gallery is just outstanding! We have so many beautiful designs to share with you! The featured design is by Linda Cameron of Kingston, Ontario, Canada! If you would like to be featured in our Reader's Gallery, please submit your designs to Robin Willis! If you have something that you'd like to have included in our July 15, gallery please submit your designs to Robin by July 10th at robinwillis@ssreflections.com. We love to showcase all our reader's artwork! Please remember to send us your name and the city/state or country where you live along with a basic list of the products used. We hope to give our advertisers as much exposure with your designs as we can!
If you have read this entire article, THANK YOU! Thank you also for coming on board our virtual ship! Next month we will be cruising to Thailand! We have lots of surprises in store for you but for now, you have the whole month to enjoy this fabulous issue of S.S. Reflections! Remember to count your blessings each day. We hope you will be able to relax and enjoy your favorite online Ezine, S.S. Reflections!
Happy Sailing,
Cap'n Dawn
publisher@ssreflections.com
Publisher
S.S. Reflections, Inc.
This entire web site © Copyright S.S. Reflections, Inc. Legal Statement
LINK TO NEXT PAGE