Five Minute Friday #5

Happy Friday! Here it is! Another Five Minute Friday card. The base is SU! Chocolate Chip and the lovely designer paper is from Sassafras Lass - Lots of Luck. I love it!!

I pieced a strip of vellum on the bottom and stamped Sweet Friend in Palette Boudoir Blush and then Palette New Canvas to get that nice little shadow effect.

I dotted the little gold dots on the paper with some Stardust Stickles for a little extra bling.

The ribbon is the fabulous faux suede in ivory and then I cut the brad prongs off one of the brads from Bittersweet Glazed brads and stuck it on the knot. Cute eh?

So there you have it! Have a great weekend! I plan on taking some downtime and craft time. Enjoy!

CHA wrap up

A SUPER DUPER HUGE THANK YOU to Carolyn, Loretta, Tracy, Lori and Dee for covering my blogging for me while I was away buying lots and lots of goodies for the store. I placed so many orders from new and old companies. I can't wait until they start coming in.

I hope you're not tired of owls, birds or the colors purple and orange (not necessarily together) because they were all over CHA and they'll be sticking around. Almost every vendor had owls/birds and purple and/or orange in their lines. :)

I had a few internet connectivity issues while I was away so here is the last batch of pictures I had sent off that never posted. I took over 450 pictures in the few days I was there. It's hard to pick the good ones. :)


I thought I'd share my top favs from the show:
1. The new Stampendous stamps. They now have rubber mounted on cling WITH the image on the cling so you can see what you're stamping! See the little Changito? Adorable eh?
2. The new SEI lines. I ordered several. I couldn't say no! They are gorgeous!!
3. Ribbon!!! Shiny, shimmery ribbon!
4. The Basic Grey Wisteria lane. More purple. GORGEOUS.
5. The new lines from GCD. A lot of the new papers are flocked and have other goodies. I found them last CHA and loved that they offer quality papers, with shimmer, texture and a good weight for a great price.
6. Impressabilities from Spellbinders. Do you know Conan O'Brien's "If They Mated" feature? Well, that's what this is like - it's kind of like a Cuttlebug folder and a brass stencil had a baby. And at $7 - what a deal! They even recommend you buy two to keep one whole and cut the other one apart so you can use it in strips or corners. I can hardly wait for them to show up.
7. The new lines from My Mind's Eye. I LOVE the weight of their paper and their new lines are amazing. The Penny Lane line has an owl AND is purple!
8. Felties from Sassafras Lass. I know people were saying Doodlebug had the cutest booth (and it was cute) but SL had adorable "windows" with moving characters from their paper lines. I felt like I was window shopping 5th Avenue during Christmas in NYC. But seriously, how cute are those little felt characters? The new line, Jungle Bungle has the sweetest little monkey. And...new die cut edges! A new edge! Woo-hoo!
9. Piggy Tales papers! I think the Mary Mary Quite Contrary is my favorite. I also love that they are printed with vegetable dyes on recycled paper!
10. Glitter paper that doesn't make a mess! REALLY! I mean it!
11. Zva bling. YUM. It tried it out. It is nice and sturdy so your designs and letters don't fall apart as you're removing the backing or placing it on your creation. Nice flourishes in an assortment of colors and sizes.
12. The new Just Rite goodies, including the Demi phrases. They've got a new size stamper that is very versatile. I can't wait to play with it!
13. The new Spica colors from Copic. Sadly these puppies aren't available until MAY. How mean of them to torture us like that. I've got the entire collection on order.

It was an amazing week. I'm so tired and so glad I went and got to meet some people I've wanted to meet for a long time. I also have a new Canadian friend named Sandy. She owns Crafty Designs near Toronto, so if you're looking for some classes or a place to shop and are near there, give her a holler - eh? :)

I hope to be back later with a Five Minute Friday card for you! Thanks for stopping by!

Newark has never looked so good.

I just landed. I've been on this plane for 9 hours.

Hello Virginia!

Guess where I am? I'll tell you where I'm not - at home!!!

We were doing so well and then there were 170 flights trying to land at Newark and couldn't and all 8 of the other closer airports couldn't take us AND we needed to land because we were running out of fuel. *sigh*

So I'm here in Norfolk. Joy, joy.

I have no idea yet if I'm here for the night or just to refuel like they initially told us.

*whine* I want to be home!!

Sitting here

I moved my flight earlier but the plane was half empty so now we're just sitting here waiting for more people from my original flight to get bumped up.

It is already snowing and icky at home so I really hope we actually take off!

CHA - Day Four - Bye-bye!!

My last day...sniff.

I get on a plane in a little while. Wow...what a trip.

Today, I've got the latest addition to the IHP design team, Dee, covering for me. I'm actually heading out earlier than expected to try to beat the bad storm that is headed for the east coast.

By request, I stopped by the Graphic 45 booth. Oh, and I was sad (although not really surprised) that October Afternoon was a no show to CHA. Oh well!

Anyway, go stop over by Dee's blog and see what I've seen! :)

It'll probably be a few days until my next post. I'll have lots of catch up and orders to fill from being away. And, more importantly, lots of new goodies to start adding onto the site.

Thanks for checking in this week! I hope you saw lots of goodies that you like!! And, if you did - let me know! I'd love to hear from you!

CHA - Day Three

Day Three! Phew....good thing Starbucks is in my hotel! *grin*

Today Tracy is covering for me. Covering for me is helping assuage her jealousy for not being able to actually be at CHA - at least that is what she tells me. :)

So...hop on over there and check out my news and sneak peaks. And, while you're there you should click on her Etsy shop. Not only is she a fabulously talented papercrafter but she makes the most beautiful earrings. It almost makes me want to re-pierce my ears!

There are a ton of people here at CHA. It's pretty overwhelming. And that doesn't even include all the to die for new goodies!!!



I'm so NOT a sticker person but Mrs. Grossman's Stickers got Duff, from Charm City Cakes (LOVE HIM) to make a cake for them and they designed a line of stickers inspired by it. How cool is that?

Ahh.

'Nuff said!

CHA - Day Two

Day two...I'm ready!!! My feet are killing me!

Last night I had a lovely dinner with Susanna and my new friend Sandy. Susanna is the founder and brains behind Papercraft Planet. It was so wonderful to finally meet her face to face after months of emailing and chatting online. Have you joined my PCP group yet? If not, you really want to. Trust me. I sometimes offer coupons for our group members over there that nobody else has access to. But, that's only one reason to join. It's a great place to network and chat. There's always someone around there to "talk" to.

Today, for my CHA coverage, I've got Loretta covering for me. I'm not really quite sure how between homeschooling her FOUR kids and fostering 3 dogs (in addition to two of her own!!!) that she has any time left to herself to craft, let alone blog or ANYTHING else but she volunteered! So...she's covering for me today. I hope her Superwoman cape doesn't get caught in the keyboard! :)

Make sure you pop over there and check out all the pictures and news I'm sending her throughout the day.

Thanks for stopping by!

The saddest thing I've seen in a long time.

What?!!!???
*sniff*

CHA - Day One - HELLO!!!!

Today is the first day of CHA. Woo-hoo!!! I've got my comfy shoes and I'm ready to scout out lots of new goodies!!!

I'll be trying to take in as much as possible today, getting an overview of as much of everything as I can so that I can plan the rest of my week. I've decided to have various design team members help me with my CHA coverage. Today I've got Carolyn AND Lori covering for me. Yes, I expect it will take both of them to cover it all!

I'm sure anything cupcake related I'll send to Carolyn so if that is your "thing," you'll definitely want to make sure you check in there.

I'll be sending them both sneak peeks and they'll be posting throughout the day so hop on over and check in. They'll have different things so you'll want to check both. My hope is that at the end of the night I'll post a recap here as well, but that will depend on how tired I am!

Thanks for stopping by!

SCS Cupcake reception pics

Mmmm...cupcakes.


That's Taylor in the middle there. She's super tall. And this is me with Lynn!

And this is me with Kendra!

I also got to meet Judy but she has the picture on that one, not me. And, Lisa Johnson (from PTI) and Debbie Olson and lots of others! Very exciting!

OK, I've got to get to bed now. It is almost 2am according to my Eastern time clock!

I'm certifiable...and maybe sick.

OK, so I think I am coming down with a little something. Just a sore throat, I hope. So, send well wishes my way. I REALLY don't want to be sick for the rest of the week.

Ten random things I learned today:

1. One box of Dayquil can cost more than you ever imagined. ($11.81, in case you're wondering). I nearly died.

2. Marianne is AMAZING.

3. Copics are not as scary as I thought.

4. I REALLY want a compressor.

5. People literally come from all over the world to come to CHA. Today I met two gals from Holland. Sheesh!

6. California is way more expensive than NY.

7. The Hilton is not all it's cracked up to be. This is NOT my first bad Hilton experience. I hate when non-smoking rooms smell like smoking rooms because the vents are connected. At least this one (unlike the Vegas one) doesn't have mold in the vents and does have hot water. I much prefer Hampton Inn, even thought they are owned by Hilton. I have NEVER had a bad experience there.

8. A one liter bottle of water can cost $6. I did not purchase said bottle of water.

9. There is a UPS Store in my hotel. I think I'll need that one later in the week.

10. California must have some weird currency that is sort of like cash. I'd like to find out what it is and see if I can use it to pay for my Dayquil and water.

New spica colors!

Yay!!!

11 new colors available in May!

Chocolate
Buttermilk
Blossom
Lilac
Garnet
Pitch black
Lipstick
Mint

And a few others!

Hello Anaheim! Pre-CHA

Today is the beginning an amazing week! I am off now to start today with my Copic Certification class with Marianne. I'm SO excited!!! And then...later tonight, I'll be rubbing elbows with the Splitcoast Dirty Dozen and other SCS advertisers. How exciting is that?!! I'm going to *try* to get to bed early since I know that walking around and seeing all the amazing new stuff at the actual show is going to exhaust me but I have a feeling it'll be like Christmas Eve as a kid!

I hope to have some pictures for you a little later so be sure to check back in!

And don't forget, all week I'll be sending pictures back to tease you!

Who knew?

I have a layover in Houston. I've already learned that apparently Fox News sells more than news - they also sell Texas souvenirs and airplane snackies!

Waiting for my plane!

I'm officially CHA bound! Now if only the plane would show up!

Five Minute Friday #4 and CHA-bound!!!!

Hello! I'm here with a super quick post for Five Minute Friday and to give you my CHA plans. I can't believe that tonight I'll be in Anaheim! Woo-hoo!!!

But...just because I'm traveling doesn't mean YOU should be deprived of Five Minute Friday, right??

So, here it is! The base of this is PTI Dark Chocolate cardstock with a small layer of SU! Pretty in Pink. The DP is from the Sugardrop pack. I love this paper!

The hearts at the top are the puffy pink hearts, attached with some dimensional dots. I used Cinnamon Stickles to dot the dark brown flowers for a little but of sparkle.

It is so easy to make quick and gorgeous cards when you're using quality products, don't you think? The "Love You" is from the Many Hearts set, stamped with Palette Burnt Umber ink, directly on the DP. I Stickled the heart in the LOVE with Cotton Candy Stickles. I also Stickled each circle center on the bottom of the DP for a little extra shimmer.

See? Here's the close-up. The ribbon is the pink/brown reversible satin. I know I've said it before, but this ribbon is so silky and easy to tie.

Be sure to check in here for CHA updates starting tomorrow. My fun begins bright and early tomorrow, starting with my Copic Certification class - with the one and only Marianne. Then later tomorrow night I'll be attending the Splitcoast gathering for their advertisers and the Dirty Dozen. How exciting is that? I hope to meet some of my stamping heros (and some new friends) and have some pics to share with you.

For the rest of the week, I will be posting here, as time permits but I'll mostly be sending CHA pictures to various members of my own design team, who will be sharing them with you. So be sure to check here to see who is covering which day.

Thanks for stopping by! Next time I post I'll be nice and warm in Cali!!!

SALE! LIQUIDATION! BUY NOW!!!

I've placed A TON of items on sale to liquidate them and make room for new CHA goodies. There are currently over 200 items on sale! WHOA! These are while supplies last so hurry and save!

ALL of the K & Co inventory is on sale. ALL of the Moxxie papers are on sale. ALL of the Sonburn papers are on sale. Spellbinders Borderabilities and Labels Large and Labels Small are on sale. ALL Three Bugs in a Rug papers are on sale. ALL Webster's Pages papers are on sale.

You get the idea. :) So, while you are no doubt, rushing off to shop, please remember, orders beginning tomorrow, may be delayed a few days from our normal 24 hour shipping turnaround due to temporary staff filling orders. Please see the notice here.

And, don't forget to check in regularly for CHA updates, beginning Friday.

Pre-Orders & shipping news

Just a quick post to let you know I've added a PRE-ORDER category on the site for things I'll be ordering at CHA. Of course if you order these things on an order with items that are in stock, I will ship whatever I have on hand and then ship the pre-ordered items to you when they come in AT NO ADDITIONAL COST TO YOU.

Right now the only things up there are the new Nestabilities but hopefully I'll have time at CHA to continue updating. Feel free to order now though! :)

I have also decided that despite the fact that USPS rates are increasing this week, I am KEEPING the minimum threshold of $40 for free shipping and not increasing it - at least for now. I need to see how much of an impact the rate increase has...but for now, it is all staying the same.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Believe Frame Tutorial

My new friend and design team member, Sarah (sairabee on SCS) joined with me in Ali Edwards' One Little Word for 2009. As you know, I chose BALANCE as my word for 2009 and Sarah settled on BELIEVE. She was the only one to really join with me in this and I wanted to make her something as a reminder of her choice. So, I made this and sent it to her. Now that she's gotten it, I can post it publicly along with my short little tutorial.

I used my SU Simon chipboard alphabet for the letters and covered them with these coordinating papers from My Mind's Eye:

Falling Flowers/Buttermilk Polka Dots
Hello Baby/Miss Sunshine
My Sweet/Manilla Swirl
Paisley Patch/Sweet Life
Totally Dotty/Pink Argyle
Zest For Life/Aqua Fancy

Here's how this all came together.

First, I started with a foamcore frame. (STORE NOTE: I get these cut to order, so there is a few day turnaround time for me to get them before I can ship them out. With me leaving for CHA this week I won't be able to get these out until around Jan 30 but you can still order them!)

I covered the frame with the This Is Me side of this paper.

Grab your craft knife, bone folder and i {stick} papers redline tape...and then move on to the next step!

Center your frame on the 12x12 paper and use your craft knife to cut an X in the center.
Then, use your bone folder to very tightly fold those triangles up, as close as possible to the inside of the frame. You want to make sure your cuts go all the way to the corners or when you do this step, your paper will tear in the corners and look icky.



Then use your bone folder again and i {stick} papers and press it down really tight. Trim off the edges so it doesn't overhang because you're going to need to folder over the other part later on.











Cut the corners so that you can fold them and put your i {stick} papers as close to the edge as possible on the paper and on the frame. Be sure to go all the way to the edge.

Once you do this on all four sides, this part is done.

Moving on...





Then I took a piece of matboard and covered it with the My Sweet paper. I wrapped ivory 3/8" double faced satin ribbon around it and made a neat little bow.

I attached my letters and embellished the B and last E with white beaded daisies. I stickled the heart on the I and the dots on the middle E with Stardust Stickles.

On the L I used some self adhesive gems to follow the half circle design on the paper.

On the second E I used Accent Pearls for the flower centers and on the brackets to accentuate
the points.

Finally, I used some Funky Flowers to make a little vase out of the V. Isn't it cute?!!

Once you're done embellishing, then you apply your sticky tape around the edge (again, as close as possible).

Then you're almost done! For my finishing touches I used some Quill Flowers that I added some SU rhinestone brads to. I love these quilled flowers. They are a little fragile though so you have to be careful.

I love all the different textures and dimension on this project, don't you?

Five Minute Friday #3: Hugs & Kisses Bouquet

Phew...what a week! Boy, am I glad it is Friday!! I've even more glad I'm beginning my CHA preparations - scheduling blog posts, prepping the vendors that are must visits and planning on who I am going to meet while I am in Anaheim! How exciting!!!

I did manage to make a little time this week to make a little card. I used the new acetate that I have in the store as my base. This stuff is super thick. It is 10 ml poly (which is just a tad thinner than the clear card boxes) so it is fantastic for card bases and for making your own acetate boxes. This weight is NOT laser or ink jet printable so you won't be able to use it for that. We also stock a thinner acetate, which is good for shaker boxes, window sheets or things of that sort.

But, look at this card! See how nice and straight it stands up? No buckling...it's soooo nice. Can you tell I'm loving it? AND...wait...there's more! I've got it in 8-1/2"x11 AND 12x12. How awesome is that??


This card is super simple. FIVE MINUTES!!! Sorry about the awful lighting...I waited entirely too long to photograph this one and had to use my icky lights.

I used some more of my favorite wire stemmed flowers - these are the pink feathered ones - and made a little bouquet from a scrap of vellum cardstock. I just rolled it up, tied it with a scrap of the pink/light pink reversible satin ribbon and TA-DA!

The greeting is stamped in Palette Boudoir Blush ink on the white panel.

To make the card I used the acetate as my base then layered a panel of SU! Regal Rose on the inside of the card and then adhered a panel of PTI white to the inside front of the card. My adhesive is only behind the bouquet. I used a small strip of i {stick} papers to hold the bouquet in place on the front. (Store note - we're actually out of i {stick} papers right now...but have an order arriving Jan 30 and will ship any orders for it then.)

For my finishing touch I put three little self adhesive pearls on the front and that's it!

Totally simple! This idea could easily be adapted for an anniversary card, birthday card, and I'm Sorry card or even a sympathy card. So easy and so versatile.

This greeting is from Many Hearts but there are so many in the All Occasions Messages set that could easily work as well.


In other news, my studio is STILL clean. And, yes, I've been creating! It isn't just clean because I haven't been using it! I KNOW at least some of you were thinking that!!! *grin*

Impressed?

So...even with some surprises this week I think I've stayed on track. Balance check - yup!

And lastly, remember that beginning Jan. 20 the store is going to be manned by some temporary staff and orders may be delayed getting packing and shipped for 2-3 days. Please be patient! Thanks! And, thanks for stopping by today!

Shipping notice for January 20-29

In preparation for CHA I just wanted to let you know that beginning Jan. 20 (and running through Jan. 29) all order shipment will be slightly delayed from our normal 24 hour turnaround time. Our regular staff will be traveling to/attending CHA and orders will be filled by temporary staff. I'm very grateful for their help but they don't work as quickly as us :) so please be patient.

Orders may take 2-3 days to ship instead of our normal 24 hour turnaround time.

Thanks and we look forward to bringing you lots of sneak peeks during the show so be sure to check back frequently for pics and news!

Fabulous Blog award

Ann over at Creative Antics tagged me with this little award. My first blog award...isn't it cute? She looks like so many of the FABULOUS Manhattan ladies I used to see when I commuted into the City. Boy, am I glad I don't do that anymore. I certainly don't read as much as I used to when I commuted but I get to sleep way later AND get to do more paper crafting. That's a win/win in my book!

:)


So, I'm supposed to list 5 obsessions and pass it on to 5 other bloggers.

In no particular order:

1. My Keurig...mmm...do I love that thing.
2. Cooking - I actually really enjoy cooking (and baking). I rarely follow recipes and just seem to have a natural inclination towards creating yummy stuff. Before starting i {heart} papers I contemplated starting a personal chef service.
3. Papercrafting - duh. I {heart} papercrafting stuff.
4. Internet/Blurfing - I *love* the internet. I love trivia and looking up stuff. I could have also credited this one to my Blackberry but I'll keep it general.
5. My friends - I have a magnet that reads "Friends are the family you choose yourself." This is SO true in my life.

I'm passing this little award onto:
1. Carolyn - she is fabulous and she still commutes into Manhattan everyday :)
2. Susanna - Papercraft Planet QUEEN! I can't wait to meet her at CHA!
3. Joan - Hysterical and talented. What better combination?
4. Judy - She was a member of my SU! downline for the years before I opened IHP. I can't wait to actually meet her at CHA!
5. Lynn - Another person I am so fortunate to have met this year online and that I will be meeting (for real this time) at CHA. We actually met briefly at the last CHA...this time it is for real!

Thanks for stopping by. I've got a crafty post that I'm working on. Check back at the end of the week. I'm still recovering from my dad's surgery and an unexpected additional medical situation that happened the same day. I've been playing Florence Nightingale all week. :)

Who knew Red Hots were so hard to find?

Seriously...

I spent well over an hour, driving to SIX (yes 6!!!) different stores to find Red Hots. I figure at this time of year I'd have my pickings but no. All of the Valentine's displays were sans Red Hots, even the regular, non-heart shaped ones. I even stopped to look up on my Blackberry to make sure they still manufacture them. Sheesh...

FINALLY, in the regular candy section at the second Walgreen's I went to, I found them. Good thing too because I could not have done this cutie project without them.

Today, Carolyn is hosting a DT challenge where we were supposed to make a Valentine project for a non-significant other. Be sure to check out the entire team's projects! Kendra has some blog candy too but only until Wednesday so be sure to pop over there and enter!

Amber Kroening
Carolyn Mustopa
Cathleen Torina
Deb Felts
Dee Jackson
Kendra Wietstock
Loretta Lock
Lori Tecler
Meredith Socha
Sarah Anderson
Tracy Schultz

So for my project I decided that I wanted something to give out to friends and neighbors. They count as non-significant others!

Cute right? And, in case you're wondering why I *needed* Red Hots, it is because I made that popcorn.

Red Hot Popcorn recipe:

4 quarts plain popcorn

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1 6 oz. box Red Hots

1/2 stick butter

Pop your popcorn - just use plain. Place it in a GIANT bowl...way bigger than you need it to be. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Coat two baking sheets with Pam or other non-stick spray (really well).

Melt the Red Hots, butter and corn syrup in a heavy duty pan, stirring constantly (I mean it) and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes and then pour over popcorn and mix it up really, really fast to coat as much as you can before it starts to set up. Before it sets up, spread out the coated popcorn on the two baking sheets and bake at 275 for 1 hour, stirring them every 15 minutes.

The oven heat allows the Red Hot mixture to soften up a bit more and when you stir it on the baking sheet you will cover more of the popcorn. I use my silicone spatula to do this so the mixture doesn't stick to my spoon. Plus, it makes the popcorn nice and toasty - kinda like REAL Kettle Corn popcorn. YUM!

For my packaging I used a clear card box, wrapped with a belly band of SU! Real Red cardstock, stuck on with some i {stick} papers redline tape. Then I wrapped some of the totally cute pink sheer edge heart ribbonLarge Oval and Scalloped around and secured in the front. I dressed it with an oval medallion from my Nesties and pierced each scallop.

The saying is from Many Hearts, stamped with L'Amour Red Palette ink, omitting the little hearts that are on the bottom of the phrase.

I finished off the medallion with a red puffy heart and some adhesive heart pearls (also used on the corners of the bellyband).

Lastly I stuck a few pink puffy hearts on the box, just to tie in the pink against the red popcorn.

So what do you think? Would you know I liked you a whole lot if I gave you one of these?

Hurry up and get that heart ribbon...it's seasonal and when it is gone, it's gone! I'm also heading to CHA in a couple of weeks so I've got a bunch of stuff on sale to help make some room for all the new goodies I'll have. During CHA I'll be sending back coverage of things so be sure to get the word out and check in here every day!

Thanks for stopping by! I'm taking my dad in for cataract surgery so I'll be a little out of touch for the rest of today! Have a great day!

Five Minute Friday #2!

Yes, another card that only took me five minutes! How awesome is that? Five Minute Friday...hmm...maybe I should make a serial from that. What do you think? Every Friday a card that you make in 5 minutes? Thoughts? Ok, while you're think about that I'll go on.

I'm back to using my favorite faux suede - this time in light pink. It is a perfect match for SU! Pink Pirouette and my Palette Toile Pink ink. So it was pretty much a no brainer.

I love, love love these Card Company vases and wired flowers. Admittedly they are too chunky to mail without a padded envelope but they are so simple and elegant. I love them. Can you tell?

This card is so simple. Pink Pirouette base with a layer of white with the very bottom edge cut and embossed with my Petite Deckled Scalloped Borderabilities. (Psst...they're on sale too!) The rest is pretty obvious I think. The Love Always sentiment is stamped with the Palette Toile Pink and is from the same All Occasions Messages set I used yesterday.

The roses are stuck to the vase with a glue dot and then the dot is on a pop dot. You kind of have to use a pop dot because the wire stems are a little bulky and even if you hammer them flat, the vase still doesn't want to lay flat. So, reserve these for hand delivering or just use a padded envie.

And, look what got delivered today! Lucky me!! Isn't it gorgeous? You really need to check out her stuff. It is gorgeous and all hand hammered. And, if you're interested in getting something, let me know. That little card in the picture is a pass it on to a friend coupon for 10% off!

OK...that's it for tonight. Have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Still clean!

Testing blogging from my BlackBerry. As you can see, my studio is still clean!

Scroll down for my real post!

Easy Peasy card and new stuff! Five Minute Friday #1

Hello! How have you been? It's been a while since I've posted. I've been busy de-Christmasing the house and gearing up for CHA. I've also been working on a little project and I finally finished it (top secret). It is in the mail! So...in 2 or 3 days, once it gets delivered, I'll be able to post it - along with a a tutorial.

In the meantime I've gotten some new stuff over at the store including the new Sugardrop paper from Memory Box!

It took me longer to photograph this than it did to create it! Seriously! Since it is 11:30PM the light in my studio is not so good so I took about 15 shots of this until I got one that could pass for acceptable.

Anyway...the base of this is SU! Sahara Sand (not one of my favs but worked for this...could probably have used Kraft also) and a layer of Pretty in Pink with two of the corners rounded. This opens on the right side. OK, now for the super fast magic...

Trim down the Sugardrop paper (yea, the branch pattern is already on the paper!), glue dot some of my new favs, Beaded Daisies (yea, the little shimmery bead is already attached for you) right onto the branches, stamp your greeting from the All Occasions Messages set in Palette Burnt Umber right onto the paper...punch two little holes, thread your pink/light pink reversible satin ribbon (so silky!) through the holes, stick it all together and VOILA! I made this a Get Well card but it could be a sympathy card, a thinking of you card, a friend card...virtually anything!

So there you have it. A 5 minute beauty. The best part (I think) is that you get the shimmeriness from the beaded daisies with no mess of glitter, no waiting for Stickles to dry and no paint brushes! And, in case you're wondering, the daisies come in packs of 30 by color...pink, white, blue and yellow.

I'll be back again soon. Monday the design team has a challenge so be sure to check in here and on all of their blogs. I'll probably be back again before then though. I've missed all my friends in Blogland. :)

Have a great night! Thanks for stopping by!

Phew! Balance Check #1

Two posts in one day! It must be a big day!! :) If you missed the first one, go here for sale news.

I have my room back - the floor, the table, the shelves, everything. It was A LOT of work and I found a lot of things that have been missing for a few months (buried under the piles). Balance check #1...good to go.

I'm exhausted but it was worth it.

Missed what this looked like before? Go here and you'll see why I'm so exhausted! :)


I generated an embarrassing amount of garbage but that is mostly because I tossed a lot of stuff I've been hanging on to for no good reason. I tossed things like alterables that I continue to generate such as Crystal Lite containers and toilet paper rolls. I tossed almost all of my cardstock scraps except pieces I might actually use (quarter sheets and larger or wide strips). I tossed ribbon scraps and a ton of other things that I'm sure I won't miss. It was hard actually doing it but now I feel so much better.

Now, to try to keep it neat (not sterile) but usable. I know it isn't realistic to keep it like this but if I've got more than 4"x8" of workspace I think that is good! :)

Have a great night!

Still cleaning and product liquidation

Just checking in...I hope to finish my cleaning today. I can see more than 8"x4" of my table now so I'm making progress! I was also inspired to liquidate a bunch of stuff in preparation for my upcoming CHA trip. So, be sure to go and check out the sale section of the website. LOTS of good stuff including some Nestabilities!!

I'll be back later! Enjoy your Sunday!

Cleaning and one more DE project

Hello! Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful time last night whether you stayed at home and relaxed or whether you partied it up until the wee hours.


We had a small get together with family/friends (only 5 of us total, and the dog). I also finished up my last Decor Elements project since I'm doing Christmas tomorrow with one of my dear friends. She is a HUGE Life is Good fan and when I saw the Decor Elements of that saying, I knew immediately that I HAD to get it and do something for her. Plus, she just recently moved into her new condo and the bedroom was already blue. So, blue and brown - PERFECT!


The frame job is AMAZING, courtesy of my favorite shop that I've talked about before, Frames for You in Summit NJ. What you can't tell from this picture is that the saying is on a piece of glass that is floating underneath the top two mats. The blue mat is behind all of it.

So, in case you're looking to reproduce this at your own local frame shop, the stack is (from front to back): top glass, white mat, brown mat, foamcore spacer, glass (with Decor Elements applied), foamcore spacer, blue mat, foamcore backing.

I applied the Decor Elements to the glass and then some of my rub-ons from last year's SU! SAB (Love and Happiness) to the blue mat. Here is a close up. I love the dimension and the shadows that are created from the Decor Elements on the glass.

I'm so glad that a few others have decided to join in on the One Little Word for 2009. I've heard from a handful of you and really encourage you to visit Ali's blog and read about it. I'll be giving you Balance Checks occasionally so you can see how I'm doing. This ties in again with my gymnastics background. Coaches are always telling you (especially on the beam) to constantly do balance checks to make sure your center of gravity is where it needs to be.

Moving on...

I love before and after pictures. I desperately need to clean my stamping studio. I know I've said that before but I've been too embarrassed to show it to you! But who cares, right? We're all friends here. :)

Plus, now that you've seen it in its disaster form, you can appreciate all the hard work that went into it once I post after pictures! This is what I'm working on over the coming days. Be sure to click the picture for the larger version to see my 8 x 4 working space in all its gloriousness. It's hard to believe that in a 250 square foot room that all I have is 32 square inches of space to work in! That has got to change...and soon!

Do you have embarassing, messy pictures of your space? I'd love to see them! It would make me feel SO much better! Please link to them below if you care to share! I'll be back (hopefully sooner rather than later) with after pictures to show you.

Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by!