Sunday, August 31, 2008

I was beginning to worry...

I was wondering if it was me or the card that no body liked. I started a new feature on my blog almost a week ago. (See this post for details.) And to win the card in the post, all you had to do was post a comment saying that you had done your monthly breast exam. And today, I finally have a winner!

CONGRATULATIONS RHONDA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She will receive the card featured in the post (blank) along with a coordinating envelope. I still ask everyone to remember to do your monthly BSE, and click on thebreastcancersite daily. Be sure to tune in on the 25th of September for another card and another chance to win.

Sweet wishes!

Saturday, August 30, 2008

No excuses

I've been a bad blogger. Well, for me anyway. I used to be so good about updating every day, but lately I've been slacking off. Perhaps I would feel a little more motivated if people would post comments more often (thanks Dee!). ;)

Yesterday was a wonderfully busy day. DJ has off Friday and Monday for the Labor Day weekend, so we went to Bays Mountain Park up in Kingsport. They have deer and wolves and birds of prey and otters and bobcats and fish and raccoons and turtles. Then we went to Chick-fil-a at the Johnson City mall for lunch, and ended the day at Fun Expedition. Fun Expedition is in a huge warehouse building and they have arcade games, putt-putt, a rock climbing wall, batting cages, indoor and outdoor go carts, bumper cars, mini bowling, and a great play area. They also have a pizza, pasta, and salad buffet, which we enjoyed for dinner. I took tons of pictures (like 137 and 2 videos), but haven't uploaded them from my camera yet.

Look what I've been working on instead.

I haven't completed a scrapbook layout since before AJ was born. This one is for DJ's 3rd year album. His first year is about 6 layouts shy of being complete, his second year has one layout, and now his third year has one layout too. Oh well. But I have a workshop coming up on Tuesday, and this will be one of the samples I show. The picture of me pulling DJ in the upper right corner of the red page will be covered by a pull-out journaling block. I look horrible in the picture anyway (I did just have a baby 11 days before), so I won't mind too much if people don't pull out the journaling to see the picture. But I couldn't have a page without journaling somewhere. I mean, not that I like to talk or anything. ;D

Sweet wishes!

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Garden Whimsy-take 2

I had my preorder class tonight. Several of my newer customers had commented on the Garden Whimsy stamp set, and when I told them that I had done a preorder class featuring that stamp set back in March, they begged me to do the class again. So I did. Only this time we made four different projects.

As is my general style, I CASEd all of my ideas. The idea of this first card was taken from stjogirl. Here is her original creation. I wanted to use the wheel instead of the DSP, and I left off the ribbon because I used ribbon on all the other projects, and thought this one would be okay without it. I also left off the second sentiment because I thought the ladybug's trail said it all.
This second card is super sweet and simple. I took lenoreo's card and changed the colors to two new In Colors, Baja Breeze & Riding Hood Red, and Mellow Moss. I also used the new Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon.
The third card we stamped tonight was a combination of CASEs. First I took the scallop-circled butterfly idea from bsktnstamp's card. Then I took the idea for the repetition of the tulips from this card by hlr976. And finally, I took the basic layout from StampinHay79's card seen here, because I really needed a vertically oriented card since the other two were landscape. The color combo--Tangerine Tango, So Saffron, & Pink Pirouette (w/ Certainly Celery for the stems & leaves)--was my very own idea.
For our non-card project, I recycled one of my make-n-takes from my open house (you can get more information in this post). I just love how stunning this color combination turned out to be: Elegant Eggplant, Kiwi Kiss & Pacific Point.

I guess everyone had a good time because all six adults (there were two older children there too), have already signed up and paid for my next preorder class featuring the Say It with Scallops stamp set and Scallop Square punch! For more details about that class click here. And for information about other upcoming classes, visit the Events page of my Stampin' Up! website.

Sweet wishes!



Monday, August 25, 2008

VSN continuted

I had such a fun time this weekend participating in the Virtual Stamp Night on Splitcoaststampers. There were 18 challenges posted on Friday and Saturday. Three were for kids, and the others were for adults. The challenges, along with some church events, kept me from posting yesterday. I didn't get to all of the challenges, there were two kid and four adult challenges that I just wasn't able to complete. So this week I am going to try and get at least the four adult challenges done. First, though, I revisited two of the challenges to create this card:
One of the challenges was to use newsprint in some way. My creation for VSN can be seen here, but I saw another entry that used an adorable paper flower and provided the link to this tutorial. I knew I wanted to try one, but I don't have any newspaper, so I used some pages from a magazine. Another challenge was to use the colors suggested in the title of a murder mystery, all having to do with baked goods, as the color scheme for a card. I chose the Peach Cobbler Murder, and then used the colors from SU!'s Georgia Peach DSP to make this VSN submission. I liked the color combo so much I used it again for the card above. And did you catch the pun: "Congrats on the good news!" and I used newsprint?!? :D

Sweet wishes!

A new feature on my blog.

Happy Monday, August 25, everyone! The 25th is a good day. My birthday is April 25. Why am I telling you this 4 months after the fact? Because I am going to start a new monthly feature on my blog, and I will be posting the feature on the 25th of every month. I am hoping that since the 25th is my birth date, I will remember to post this new feature on the 25th of the month. (Keep your fingers crossed for me.)

So, are you ready to find out more? Well, many other Stampin' Up! or crafty bloggers out there have a weekly challenge or card theme or technique or tutorial that they feature. My monthly feature will be nothing like that.

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you may have noticed that I have a link to "thebreastcancersite" in my side bar. Back in June, the site had a drive to make June survivor month, and I posted the information a few times throughout the month. I make it a habit to click on thebreastcancersite's "Click to Give FREE Mammograms" button every day. I have not personally been affected by breast cancer, but I have a few friends who are fighting the battle with this ugly disease and a few other friends who have won! Early detection plays a key roll in treating and conquering breast cancer, and it is very important that we remember to do our monthly breast self-examinations (BSE).

All this to say, my new monthly feature, which will appear on the 25th of every month, is to remind and encourage you to do your monthly BSE! And as an incentive, I will post a "think pink" card each month, that I will mail to the first person to post a comment saying that you have done your BSE for the month. I will send it blank with a coordinating envelope, so you will be able to use it yourself to send to someone you know who may need a little encouragement. Here is this month's card.
To post a comment, just click on the blue "# comments" link below this post. If it is your first time commenting and you do not have a Google account with a user name, you will have to set one up. It's been a while since I did mine, but I don't remember it being too difficult. If you have trouble, feel free to call or email me. (My contact information can be found at the top of my Stampin' Up! website.)

I also encourage everyone to visit thebreastcancersite daily and click to give free mammograms!

Sweet wishes!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Red bird, red bird, what do you see?

So the first challenge for VSN was a kids challenge, but I decided to play along too. We were to create a card using one of the colors and animals from Eric Carle's Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? I chose the red bird because I knew I wanted to get my Always set inky. I used the Riding Hood Red classic pad, and then the stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp over it with Versamark before embossing it with Iridescent Ice EP. I know I could have inked them together, but the Versamark pad is so sticky that I didn't want to get my new Riding Hood Red pad mucky just yet. DJ and AJ both made cards for this challenge too. AJ chose the purple cat. You can see her card here. DJ chose the goldfish, and his card is here.

Sweet wishes!

Friday, August 22, 2008

VSN on SCS

Hey everybody, it's time for Virtual Stamp Night over at Splitcoaststampers. Anyone can play along. A challenge is posted every hour from 7-12pm (eastern) Friday, and from 4-12pm (eastern) Saturday. Here is a link to find out what VSN is all about. And here is the link to the challenges.
I won't be posting all of my creations, because that is what my SCS gallery is for (plus I might not use only SU! stuff--gasp!), but I wanted to show you my first creation. The challenge was to make a card that had a bookmark attached somehow. Faith (Markie's Mom) shared this awesome tutorial with us to give a little inspiration for her challenge.


Sweet wishes!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

The baby's name & card ministry cards

Addison Elizabeth! That's my new niece's name. Isn't it pretty? Just like she is. :D

My step-mom hasn't made it down to see mother and baby yet, because she is keeping big brother, Owens, and has been for the past 6 weeks while Paige was on bed rest. The plan is for everyone to go down when Paige comes home from the hospital, so I'm sure I'll have more pictures to share after that. In the meantime, Addison is having a little difficulty breathing, and Paige is having some bleeding and blood pressure issues, so please keep them in your prayers!!!


Here is my first installment of cards for my new card ministry. I CASEd the idea for the card on the right from a card by Lisa Hirsch that was on Stampers Showcase, which is a feature on the demonstrator side of the Stampin' Up! website. Then I took that idea, and tweaked it a little for the card on the left. These will be for masculine birthdays, and I have some components from old swaps that never got completed that I will use for some feminine birthday cards. I also gave Michael all of my Build-A-Flower class samples to use for more generic card-sending occasions.

Sweet wishes!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

My own Causes for Celebration!

So I am totally taking the title for my post from Shelli's most recent update on her blog. But my causes for celebration are a little different than hers. I got two forwarded emails from my sister a little while ago. One was the news that we have a new niece. I don't even know her name yet, because I can't get a hold of my step-mother over the phone! All the email said was, "Paige had a baby girl yesterday at 4 pm. 5 lbs 4 oz. Everyone is fine." But isn't she adorable just the same? The other email Lindsey sent was to show off what she got for her birthday. Just what she needed...another dog. *rolling eyes* But here is Hugo. Lindsey's birthday is not until Sunday, but they actually picked him up from the Humane Society earlier this week, and then took him to the vet.

When Wesley, Lindsey's boyfriend, picked Hugo up from the vet, there were two extra tags. One of them, he knew, was the rabies vaccination info, but he wasn't sure what the other one was. *wink*








Here is the other tag:
When she finally wrestled Hugo still long enough to read it herself, she turned around to see Wesley holding this:
My baby sister is getting married!!! It is going to be a long engagement, but I am still SO excited for her!!!!! YEA!!!!!!! Congratulations Lindsey and Wesley!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And to top it all off, they just bought a new house and moved in last week, so their life is FULL of excitement right now--new house, new dog, new engagement, oh, and Lindsey has a new teaching job this year! So those are my causes for celebration at the moment.

Sweet wishes!

Day 2 and the bus ride

Since I didn't get any posed pictures from the first day of school, I made sure to take one before he left on Monday. Today is day 3, he goes again on Friday, and then next Monday starts going every day. Of course, even then he only goes 4 days that week and the next because they have Friday-Monday off for Labor Day weekend. But so far he loves it!
While big brother was at school, AJ helped me get some stamping projects done. I have a vision of starting a card ministry for Michael to be able to send birthday, anniversary, get well soon, thinking of you, and all kinds of cards to the church members. If this is something that has been done here in the past, no one has said anything to him about it, and there was no stock of cards...until now. ;) Hopefully, I'll get enough completed for the ministry to launch in September.Monday afternoon DJ rode the "big kid" bus home. Last year there was a bus for the Headstart program, but it was just kids from his Pre-K class, they all wore seat belts, there was a bus aide, and parents had to sign them on and off the bus. However, even though we only live 1.5 miles from the school, because of the route that the bus driver took, DJ was on the bus for over an hour and a half! He was a little aprehensive about riding the bus this year, but he agreed to give it a try on Monday. He's the 5th or 6th stop, the bus comes straight down the road from the school to our house, and he LOVED it! The school is Pre-K through 8th grade, so there are all ages on the bus, but he knows some of the older boys from church, and I think Mr. Brobeck is going to take good care of him.
Sweet wishes!

Our "twins"

Here are the last pictures from the Hawk family's visit. Our friend "Aunt" Liz made the girls matching nightgowns and the boys matching pj shorts. Of course, AJ looked and felt like a princess in her new "dress," and the boys had fun playing "twin" superheros.
They were all great hams during the photo shoot, making silly faces, picking each other up or jumping on each other's backs, but I couldn't post all the pictures. So these are the best two.
Sweet wishes!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Third and final post for today

And here is what I was preparing while everyone else was at the Gray fossil site (see post below for details). I made these drink mix pouches that hang on water bottles for everyone who came. I also wrapped the water bottle labels to that it all coordinated. This was not an original idea, several people have done these before, but I most closely CASEd one by Snappy Scrapper over at SCS.

I demonstrated two cards using the new Upsy Daisy stamp set that I WON at convention. This first card was CASEd from lbrown. Her original card was a bit narrower and used some faux paper piercing. My main focus of this demonstration was to show how to line up and use the new scallop edge punch. I originally thought that if I was layering or lining up two pieces of paper with scalloped edges, then I needed to punch them at the same time, but my friend Pam showed me a neat, but kind of "well, duh, why didn't I think of that" way to line them up. It's kind of hard to see that the Baja Breeze card is scalloped along the bottom front. I lined the scallops up with the bottom edge so that when the card stands open it doesn't lean forward.
My next demonstration showed how to add color and depth to a stamped image using a few different colors of ink and sponge daubers. I believe Mary Polcin demonstrated this technique on the main stage at convention. And it is really simple, but has beautiful results!
Then we had two make-n-takes. The first one uses my new favorite stamp set, Flight of the Butterfly. I CASEd this card from Diane Pappas. I loved how she used the new In Colors, DSP, and this simple layout to produce a very nice card.
And finally we made this bookmark. I CASEd a card by VondaThomas. Again, I loved the colors, though she used Old Olive and Taken with Teal, I substituted the In Colors Kiwi Kiss and Pacific Point. I also liked that it looks like she crimped the Old Olive layer. Paper crimper was not in her list of supplies, so I'm not sure, but I went ahead and added crimping to mine. And I didn't want another card for a make-n-take, so the design element of Vonda's card translated perfectly into a bookmark.


Sweet wishes!

Last Friday

So while I was home getting ready for my New Catalog Open House, everyone else went to visit a fossil site in Gray, TN. Here they are at the entrance to the Gray Fossil Museum.

Since I didn't go along, there's not much I can tell you about the pictures, but this one was cool looking.
Then there was a play area that resembled a dig site. And there were permanent bones that you could "excavate" and identify by some pictures on the wall.
They went through the first half of the museum and then went on a guided tour of the dig site to watch some real paleontologists dig for bones. A few small bones had been found that day and they were able to see and touch them. Then they went back to finish the museum. There is a special exhibit there right now called "The scoop on poop." Apparently this particular machine produced different kinds of flatulent sounds, which the boys obviously enjoyed.
And, as is always the case, boys will be boys. Even the "big boy" found much humor in this exhibit. Yep, that's Pastor Michael:


Sweet wishes!

DJ's first day of Kindergarten

Well, since the camera has resurfaced, I have several days worth of blog entries to post, but I know several of you have been waiting for this one, so here's DJ on his first day of school. I am sorry to say that I didn't take any posed pictures of him, and I forgot to take a picture of him with the two Kindergarten teachers. We won't know which class he will be in until the staggered enrollment period is over this week, but we all like them both and he will be spending a lot of time with both, so I wanted to get his picture with both...

It's always been difficult to get AJ to leave DJ at school, or to leave the school when we pick him up in the afternoon. He'd be ready to go home and she'd be running from center to center discovering all she could in the short time we were in the classroom. I cannot wait for her to start preschool next year, and she can't either! Here she is making a "snow angel."
DJ's favorite color right now is red. So naturally he sat at the table with the red chairs.
Then AJ found the "magic wands" (aka pointers for the teacher to use). This was the first one she found, but then she found a pink one and a purple one. She insisted on having her picture taken with all of them, but this pic turned out the best.
When I went to pick DJ up that afternoon, he said, "Mama, I like going to Kindergarten!" And then proceeded to tell me about the delicious taco he had for lunch. ;) But I'm confident this year will be a great one!

Sweet wishes!

Monday, August 18, 2008

Now you'll have to wait

I'll put pics of DJ at Kindergarten and my open house and all that stuff up later. DJ is riding the "big kid bus" home for the first time today, and I am a nervous wreck right now. So TTFN!

Sweet wishes!

Oconaluftee Indian Village

Well, the camera did show up. Michael found it in AJ's room. I kept meaning to look there, but kept forgetting. Oh well, I'm just glad to have it back.

Anyway, I said that I was going to post pictures from our trip to the Oconaluftee Indian Village, so here they are. It was very interesting and the kids had a wonderful time. There were different "stations" for many different types of activities that were a part of daily life for Native Americans.






Several of them use modern-day materials now, but we were still told about how they had done things before all the modern conveniences.





There was beading, pottery, blow gun making, which showed how both the shaft and dart were made, arrowhead, other stone tools, and bow making, a blow gun demonstration, basket weaving, finger weaving, canoe making, wood carving,



a tribal meeting area, and a worship and gathering common ground where we got to see some traditional Cherokee prayer dances.




I know there is a whole lot more that I am forgetting. They did dispell many rumors that Hollywood has fed us over the years.





It was a really cool experience for all of us. And we definitely plan to go back and visit the Cherokee Reservation again someday.






There were several different buildings showing how their construction methods changed over time. Here we are in front of one of them.





Sweet wishes!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

CASEing myself

Just a reminder for those of you who aren't avid SCSers, CASE stands for Copy And Share Everything (and an SCSer is a person who visits and contributes to Splitcoaststampers). So when one CASEs a card, that means to copy it. Sometimes it may just be one aspect of the card like the color scheme or layout. Most of the time, for me anyway, I copy the whole thing. But when I say I'm CASEing myself, I basically copied an original idea instead of someone else's.
The decorated layer of this card started out as one of my no layer challenge card swaps. I didn't love the party hat on the monkey's head, or the sponged and then stamped word window, so Michael helped me tweek it to get my final product for the swap. But I couldn't just throw away my "rough draft," so I gave this card to our friend Matthew for his 2nd birthday.

Now as I get ready to post this, I wonder if I should have saved it for Tuesday's post just incase my camera doesn't show up. GASP! And I just realized that pictures from DJ's first day of Kindergarten are on there, which also means I haven't even shared with you all that he started school last week! I may have mentioned that he was going to start in my Tuesday post, but I had so much other stuff going on with our company coming and my open house and, I don't think I told you about this either, Michael threw his back out about three weeks ago and is still having problems with it. He is EXTREMELY helpful around the house, so I've been having to do much more than I am used to. He had to stand during the entire church service this morning, because when he sits down and tries to stand up again is when he has the most difficulty.

Anyway, so DJ had his first day of Kindergarten last Wednesday. They do a staggered enrollment during the first two weeks, which is very different to me. He only went on Wednesday of last week, and then he goes Monday, Wednesday, Friday of this week, and then the following Monday he will start going full time. It's an all-day program, which they still are not doing in Beth's area, so he's in school from 7:50am-2:50pm. He will ride the bus home. And while last year there was one bus for the whole Pre-K class, and he was on it for over 1 1/2 hours, this year he will only be on the bus for about 20 minutes, and that is with 5-6 stops ahead of him.

He had a great first day, and can't wait to start full time. He's been asking since registration day, "Do I have school tomorrow or the day after that?" I am glad he didn't have school while Beth and her family were in town, though, because that would have been difficult for everyone involved. But he is looking forward to going back tomorrow. When I picked him up after his first day, he said, "I like going to Kindergarten!" I think it will be a great year. :D

So, sorry to keep you all wondering about that. And I promise to post pictures as soon as the camera turns up. In other DJ news, he lost his first tooth while I was stuck at the SLC airport, and his second one came out last Monday, so he's a Kindergartner and a toothless wonder. Those=VERY cute pics!

Sweet wishes!

Cherokee Indian Museum

I have a friend who, through her place of employment, has a Southern Highlands Attraction Card which gets discounted or free admission to some southern spots of interest. There is a long list, but one of the places is the history museum in Cherokee, NC. So back in July I took the kids and met her there. The museum held the kids interest for a little while, but there really is some cool stuff in there.

I'm sure you've seen towns where various places of business have decorated cows sitting out in front. Well, in Cherokee, they have bears. There are many around the area, and we posed with a few of them. I can't find my booklet right now to tell you about this one, but the kids cooperated well for this pose, so that's one reason I chose this picture. ;)

After visiting the museum and a few bears we grabbed some lunch (Burger King, because fyi, there is no McDonalds on the Cherokee reservation) and had a picnic on an island in the Oconaluftee River. When we were finished eating we played in the water. We had so much fun that my friend and I decided we had to come back sometime and visit the Oconaluftee Indian Village there...two days later, we did. I'll post those pics tomorrow because my camera is still missing. Hey Beth, if you're reading this, do you have ANY idea where I might have put it after we took pictures of the boys in their PJs the other night?!?

Sweet wishes!

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Bummer blog entry

Well, right now I would love to share more pics of Beth's visit with y'all, and right now I would love to post the samples from my New Catalog Open House that was earlier today. I also would have loved to take some pictures while we were at the Greeneville Astros minor league baseball game this evening. But right now my camera is MIA. I took some pictures with it last night, and I thought I had it when we walked out the door to go to breakfast this morning, but when I went to get it to take pictures of the samples from my open house, it was nowhere to be found. I hope for everyone's sake that it reappears soon. This blog will get pretty boring, and I will get awfully discouraged if I don't have pictures to share with you.

So, if you were my camera, where would you be???

Sweet wishes!

Friday, August 15, 2008

U-S-A! U-S-A!! U-S-A!!!

Sorry for the lack of an update yesterday, but with company staying with us and the Women's Gymnastics All-Around competition, what's a girl to do?!? If you have ever paid attention to the time of day (NIGHT) I post, then it will be no surprise to you that I stayed up to watch the entire competition and medal ceremony. It was amazing!!!

Anyway, so I've mentioned a few times that my friend Beth and her family are in town visiting. Yesterday we went and walked around a farm and a dairy farm. We were hoping to pick some corn at the first farm, but it had already been harvested as feed for some cows because it hadn't come in as hoped. We did see some okra, beans, tobacco, and tomatoes, though, and caught several grasshoppers! At the dairy farm the kids were continually amused at the cows' outdoor bathroom.

And as promised on Wednesday, here is my final swap from convention. This card front was for a New Catalog Preview swap. We were to use anything that was available for preorder. However, I was in a daring mood, and decided to wait and use a set that was given to us at Convention. I had the layout and colors already planned, so all I had to do was add the images. I did wait to cut my Whisper White and Bella Rose DSP layers until I figured out the size of the main image, but the Chocolate Chip and Pink Pirouette layers were even cut ahead of time. I'm glad everything came together pretty much according to plan. And I love this stamp set! It is Flight of the Butterfly, and it is TOO STINKIN' CUTE!
Sweet wishes!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Roommate gifts

While at convention, I shared a room with three wonderful women and an ADORABLE baby boy! This was my fourth convention, and my 9th or so, Stampin' Up! event, but this was the first time I was able to get gifts made for my roommates. The first one pictured below is a post-it note holder. You've seen similar ones before on here, but for this one I used the new Bella Rose DSP and the Happiness Always level 3 hostess set. I just realized that I meant to make coordinating pens, but totally forgot until just now, so Crystal, Diane, and Pam...sorry 'bout that!

The picture below is of a bookmark that you put over the corner of your page. Some people have to see it "in action" to understand exactly how it works, but they are fun and functional, and pretty. We actually made these same bookmarks at my Hostess Appreciation Dinner back in July, but I couldn't post them for fear one of the girls might see it on here before she got it from me. I also made these using the new Bella Rose DSP and Happiness Always stamp set, and the new Scallop Edge Punch (which I also used on the post-it note holder above). And I made some similar ones using a different pattern from the paper and the butterfly from the stamp set for a bookmark swap that I was in, but I forgot to take a picture of that one, and I don't have any leftover. (They were even cuter, though.)
Finally, I made these candles using the Fresh Cut stamp set, which was available for preorder back in June, and which I used for my July preorder class. Stamping on candles is so fun and easy! And they make perfect gifts for almost any occasion.
I did also make some bracelets like the ones we did at my first Teen Scene class using the Bella Rose paper, but I didn't take a picture of them either.

Well, I believe I have one more swap to post tomorrow, and then I'll have to think of something new to start sharing with you. My downline, and dear friend Beth (check out her blog: Stamp Me A Rainbow) and her family are coming to visit for a few days, so HOPEFULLY we'll get some stamping done that we will both be able to share!

Sweet wishes!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

I have WAY too much to do

...to be blogging right now, but since Michael & DJ are playing PS2, I think that gives me the right to play around some too. Besides, I've spent the majority of my day planning my stamping events for the fall. I have a pretty good variety of options and plenty of dates to choose from, so go on over to the Events page of my website and take a look. And for those of you who live far away, or are too busy to make it to my classes, ask me about my Stamps-in-the-Mail program. My pre-order class for each month can be easily converted into a SITM kit and mailed right to your door so that you can play/create along with us. ;D

On to more swaps. The next swap I participated in was during the Splitcoaststampers dinner on Wednesday night. There were 400 demonstrator-SCSers in attendance! Not everyone chose to swap, and those that did were divided into groups, so I only had to make 46 of this card. It uses the new Wow Flowers set and the new In Colors Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, and Pink Pirouette.
On Thursday afternoon I participated in the easiest swap ever! It was a Décor Elements photo swap. All I had to do was order the Décor Elements of my choice, apply Décor Elements to wall (or any number of other things, as I found out from the swap, including refrigerators, cars, or mirrors, to name a few), take a picture, and have 100 prints made. I ended up with 12 of my own pictures left at the end of the swap, which was EXTREMELY well organized for 88 people!, and was able to swap them for card fronts or other things. I gave a few away too. ;)

Anyway, the picture below wasn't the one I swapped because when I went to order this one from Snapfish it was going to crop the top off! >:[ So I took another pic a little closer and used that one. But I'm putting this one on here because I like it better, and on my own blog, I will not crop my own lovely picture. ;) This is one corner of my craft room. The rest is a HUGE mess, but I love this corner!!! You'll recognize the large "CREATE" from the header of my blog (did you know that was my craft room?). I made the accessory storage board mostly myself, with a little help from Michael, using some leftover wood from some shelves he built me for my closet.
Well, I should go now. Real quick though, this is my official Tuesday entry and the previous two are Monday's.

Sweet wishes!