True Blue Angel Stamping

2010-12-29T11:22:00.002-06:00

www.theangelcompany.net

2010-12-29T11:21:00.001-06:00

www.theangelcompany.net

Another special!

2010-09-10T06:29:00.001-06:00

www.theangelcompany.net

Specials, Specials, Specials...

2010-09-07T16:02:00.001-06:00

TAC has released LOADS of specials this month. Check them out!

www.theangelcompany.net

www.theangelcompany.net

www.theangelcompany.net

www.theangelcompany.net

2010-08-05T16:57:00.003-06:00

This is one of the cards that we made last week at the evening of Spec-TAC-ular stamping. This uses one of my favorite sets, Peace Be Still, and we colored the image with prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits. This is a super easy way to get a soft coloring effect. But we did find out that you have to be careful with the mineral spirits even on a vinyl tablecloth. They took the finish off the tablecloth -- thank goodness that it was the tablecloth and not the table!

2010-07-27T10:54:00.007-06:00

This card is one of the ones that we will be making on Friday evening at the evening of Spec-TAC-ular stamping. It is a complete copy of Eva Costigan's card found here. I simply tweaked her card to eliminate the sewing to make it doable during a class. The drawn on border technique came from my friend, Rita Kegg. I love having creative friends to inspire me.

I have a big crowd coming on Friday and we will be making 4 cards and 1 small gift project. There will be lots of prizes given away too! And of course, oohing and ahing over the new stamps in TAC's catalog.

The card here features one of my absolute favorite stamps in the new catalog, Blossoms & Blessings. This set looks great stamped in color on white as above, stamped and colored, or stamped in white or black onto colored paper. It is so versatile!

Below are some sneak peeks of the other projects that we will be making on Friday! I'll share full-size photos later. Enjoy.

I Would Have Passed By

2010-07-21T18:57:00.005-06:00

This card features a stamp set, Pick A Date, that I may have passed by when just seeing it in the catalog. But we were allowed to stamp images from it at TAC's seminar. I brought this home and turned it into a birthday card that I think is really smart looking. It could work for a male or female birthday.

The background paper is from our new double-sided collection named Emma. My daughter just squealed when she learned that there was a paper collection named after her, and it really made her day that it features yellow, which is her favorite color. What's the best part of this new paper collection? The reduced price! It's only $6.95 for the five sheets of gorgeous double-sided paper and the sheet of die cut tags and tabs. I used one of the tags here for my sentiment. The sentiment is actually from a cute new set called Tail Feathers.

One of my favorites

2010-07-20T16:27:00.003-06:00

This set, Peace Be Still, is one of my new favorites. I colored the sample at the right with colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits. This is one of the great new sets that we have for those who love to color. It would also look great stamped in a color in a monochromatic color scheme!

The other card here is one that my daughter made using the Mice Day set that I referenced in my earlier post. She designed it herself and I have to say I think she did an excellent job for a 9 year old!

A Spectacular Event

2010-06-30T22:16:00.003-06:00

Mark your calendars now! Friday, July 30, 6:30 to 9. A spectacular evening of stamping and prizes to celebrate TAC's awesome new catalog will be held at my studio. Cost will be $10 and we will make 5 cards or gifts. I came home with so many great ideas that I can't say for sure yet which ones we will do!

Here's a simple card that I made with an image that we stamped at seminar from the new set Bugs & Butterflies, a set that is available at the reduced price of only $10.95. I love the tables where we get to stamp images from the new catalog. I think that I'm going to have to buy Mice Day because my kids have stolen all of the images that I stamped to make their own cards. They LOVE the cute mice and sayings that go with them.

New TAC Catalog

2010-06-29T12:19:00.003-06:00

Here is a picture of the front of the new TAC catalog. I am so impressed with this catalog that I am motivated to find room in my schedule for way more stamping and some classes. More details will be coming tomorrow.

I had so much fun visiting with my friends this weekend! My stamp studio saw more use in the last week than it has in months. Love ya -- Rita and Lori -- you are such an inspiration to me!

Stamp Spree!

2010-01-03T15:11:00.001-06:00

Double hostess benefits, $2.95 stamp sets, and more!

Treat Bag

2010-01-03T15:04:00.003-06:00

Not much stamping has been going on here for the last several months. In fact, I've only worked on two projects at all in the last four months. This was one of them. It was a treat bag for the volunteers at this year's Vacation Bible School. Our theme was camping so the inside contained smore's ingredients. They were a hit. I found these cute sacks at the local store and they were just the right size to use with the level C hostess set in this year's TAC catalog. This was super simple because I had to make 60 of them.

I'll share my other stamping project later -- I know, only two in four months! But I started a master's degree program this fall and between school, work, and my family, there just isn't much time left for stamping. I'd like to say that that was going to change because I do miss my creative time, but I don't know that it will. But I am working on re-organizing my studio, partly to include the study space that I need and partly to make it more user friendly so I will be more inspired to do some projects in those few moments of spare time that I have.

New Serendipity on The Way, But First

2009-12-28T14:32:00.002-06:00

If you have a copy of Serendipity 2009, click here to see the list of stamp sets available at discount! If you do not have a copy and would like to see the stamp images that are on sale, click here to go to the Serendipity page on my online shopping site. All stamp sets on this page with prices ending in 7 are on sale (price listed reflects sale price).

Available While Supplies Last!

2009-12-28T14:28:00.002-06:00

Visit http://jen.ismyangel.net and click on Specials under the Products tab to see the selection of paper available at amazing prices -- some as low as $2.00 for an entire pad of paper!

Stamp Stimulus

2009-09-18T15:44:00.002-06:00

Go here to learn more about how you can get 6 awesome new sets, including a great military themed one, at a special price with a $30 order! These sets are available through December 30.

2009-09-18T15:38:00.002-06:00

Aren't these stamps really cute for Halloween treats?

They are an add-on to the double hostess benefits promotion running right now.

You can purchase them for $13.95 with a $30 purchase.

OR

You can get Bone Appetit for free with $200-299 in orders.

OR

You can get both free with $300+ in orders!

This special is only through Sept. 30. Order now so you'll have time to make fun treats before the spooky night!

One More Week

2009-08-10T08:37:00.002-06:00

One more week to take advantage of the first two week promotional period under the Double the Fun promotion. Place an order or hold a funshop with orders totaling $100-$249 and you will receive the Woodrowe Album kit free. $250-499 gets you the Woodrowe kit and the Sweet Friend set. Over $500 in orders earns you the Woodrowe kit and the Tea Time set.

The Double the Fun promotion runs through the end of September and there will be new incentives every two weeks.

Discontinued Product Sale -- Ends July 27!

2009-07-21T14:38:00.001-06:00

Visit my online shopping cart at http://jen.ismyangel.net to view the products and prices.

Double Hostess Benefits!!

2009-07-21T14:26:00.000-06:00

www.theangelcompany.net

Scrap Storage

2009-05-09T15:52:00.002-06:00

All of us struggle with this -- what to do with those small bits of still usable paper and cardstock? I've tried lots of solutions -- storing the cardstock in hanging files in a drawer and then putting scraps in the folders, putting the scraps in a big box, putting the scraps in separate folders in a box...

I had the same problem with all of the systems -- it was difficult and messy to find the color that I needed when I needed it. But I've finally found a system that works for me!!

I sorted all of my scraps by color family -- are you noticing a theme here? Then I put each color family into a separate drawer in a plastic storage unit. The drawers come out of the unit so when I'm working I can take out a particular drawer and dig through it to find the size and color of scrap that I need. I actually find myself using the scraps now!

Cardstock and Paper Oh My!

2009-05-04T09:00:00.009-06:00

Here's how I have my 12x12 cardstock stored. It is in vertical storage boxes that I bought from Oriental Trading Company. They are very sturdy and hold LOTS of cardstock. I was having a problem with trying to find my different patterned cardstocks from TAC. So I made separators from a piece of plain 12x12 cardstock. Then I added a strip of white folded in half to make a tab. On that tab, I put a label listing the paper's name and then all pieces of that paper go behind that tab. It has made it much easier for me to find a particular pattern.

Also, you can't see it very well in this picture, but I sorted my 12x12 plain cardstock in rainbow order. All reds together, all oranges, all yellows, etc.

Here's the 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock. I used a similar idea of vertical storage and sorting by ROYGBIV order with this cardstock. The containers are plastic magazine holders from Walmart. I turned them on their side so that the opening was facing the front of the shelf on which they are sitting. The cardstock is then sorted by color with a separate holder for all my neutral colors. I had a hard time seeing when I was running low of a certain color so I took a piece of 12x12 white cardstock and trimmed it down to use as a divider between each color -- now it's very easy to see which colors are running out.

Finally, here's my 8x8 patterned paper pads. I have ALOT of these. They are all sitting in a plastic tub that I got from Walmart that I decorated. I can easily flip through and find the pattern that I want this way.

My Room

2009-05-03T14:39:00.002-06:00

Right before Christmas, we removed all remaining carpet in our house and replaced it with laminate that matched the existing laminate in the living room. One of the main rooms that I wanted to do this in was my stamp room. The carpeting was awful with stains from dropped ink pads, spilled paint, and other messes. Not to mention the messes made by our four cats and two kids. It is so much easier now to retrieve that dropped brad or eyelet. And let's not even consider if I spill a container of embossing powder (which has happened before!).

This is the view of the room now from the door. You go up a flight of stairs from our main entrance to get to this room and you have to turn at the top of the stairs to get into the room. Almost everyone gasps the first time they visit and see the view into the room. I don't know if it is because of the amount of stuff in the room or just out of jealousy that I have this room. It's the fourth bedroom in our home and the only room on the second story. It has it's own bath right off the room, which is super convenient for washing out paint brushes or for customers attending classes. My husband picked this house because he got tired of people having to trail all through our last house to get to the space in the basement that I used for classes. I love this room -- it is my home office, my classroom, my kids' craft space, my get away and more.

In this picture you can see the table where I teach classes -- it's our old dining room table that we bought at a second hand store when we were first married. It easily sits 8 and we can squeeze in 10.

Check back later for more pictures and storage ideas.

I Adore ... My Scor-pal

2009-02-09T08:30:00.001-06:00

This is another card that we made at the Love is in the Air class last Friday. The picture isn't the greatest, but you can see that I added score lines 1/4" from the edge all of the way around the front of the card. This is a single layer card, but it looks so chic. The embossed lines and the silver embossed saying just pop. Several ladies said that this was their favorite card despite it being the most simple.

Class Rescheduled

2009-02-01T14:23:00.001-06:00

We were not as lucky as I had hoped after all -- the sun didn't come out until very late on Friday meaning that the roads stayed icy. When I still couldn't see even a square inch of pavement on my street by mid-day, I decided that we had better postpone the class. I've rescheduled for next Saturday, February 7 from 6:30 to 9:30 pm.

This is a closer view of one of the cards that we will be making.

2009-01-29T17:37:00.005-06:00

These are the samples for my Love is in the Air class tomorrow. Right now I plan to still hold the class despite the weather's interference with everyday life this week. We will be making 5 cards and three treat packages. The class is from 6:30 to 9:30 and is $15 for the supplies. Unless I have some cancellations tomorrow, tomorrow's class is full, but I do have a completely open session for Sunday afternoon from 1-4 pm.

This is my favorite card for the class. It was inspired by one that Jen Carter made. I changed up the colors a little and used Linear Sentiments for the background dots on the black piece.

Speaking of weather, we were very blessed at our house. We only got 3/4" of ice and our power stayed on the entire time. Thank goodness because my kids are so spoiled with their electronic entertainment! They have been off school since early dismissal on Monday afternoon and are out again tomorrow. I'm hoping by tomorrow afternoon that the roads might be melted enough to make a trip to the post office and the store. And for those who live up north and are amazed that everything just shuts down around here from a little snow or ice -- we didn't believe it when we moved here either. But the road departments and the drivers here are truly not equipped to handle winter weather! The ice was beautiful on the trees. Here's the view from my back door.

The Magalogue!

2009-01-24T13:33:00.002-06:00

It's almost here! Here's a picture of the cover that has been shared by some demonstrators who already have their copies. Mine should be here on Monday and I can't wait to see it. There are 47 new stamp sets, new samples, new accessories, and it just looks like it will be fun to browse!

Remember you can get your copy for free by placing a $30 before January 31 or attending my January 30 Love is in the Air class. Or you can get a copy for $3 with shipping by emailing me.

You will be able to order from this magalogue on February 1.

Behind...

2009-01-19T18:13:00.002-06:00

Yes, I know that it is winter and almost Valentine's Day, but I wanted to share with you one of my favorite fall cards. I made 75 of these cards as invitations for a friend for her annual fall party. It was only my second time to be paid to make requested cards. I spent two weeks agonizing that this design was too simple so I came up with about 6 or 8 others to show her. Of course, she chose this one -- the first one that I made! Always go with your gut.

Happy New Year

2009-01-05T20:38:00.003-06:00

Wow! I've neglected this blog and most things stamping related for the last four months. I am back and hope to have some things to show you soon. First, I'll start by sharing a special deal from TAC:

http://www.theangelcompany.net/Promos_Flyers.html

This includes almost all of the stamps in the Fall/Winter catalog and the Fall Supplement. If you don't have copies of these items yet, go here to see the stamps. The 1/2 off prices are already reflected online. If you want to get the freebies (gift with purchase stamps for every $30 you spend and hostess sets starting at $100), be sure to contact me directly with your order!

Flower Punch

2008-08-09T14:18:00.002-06:00

At my last team flying lessons, we played quite a bit with acetate. I used our largest new flower punch to punch out the acetate flower and then edged it with White Staz-on. The pink flower in the center is one from the new embellishment jars. There are some really cool things in those jars!

The paper is one of my favorites -- Rustic Chic. Every time I think that I'm bored with it I make something else and just love the colors again. The ladies at my class last evening made some amazing Christmas cards with this color combination. I'll share them later after I get the pictures downloaded.

Yummy Card

2008-08-06T18:28:00.002-06:00

Well, I think that I'm finally recovered from VBS. I've gotten to spend some great time stamping and crafting in the last two weeks. The kids go back to school in 11 days and even though I've got to get ready for our fall programming at work I'm planning to take a few days during that first week of school to just relax, clean and stamp in peace and quiet.

This is one of the cards that I came up with recently. It is based off sketch #4 in the TAC catalog (did you know that there were 5 card sketches on page 3 of the catalog?!). In fact, it is an almost direct CASE of the card shown on that page as an example.

I love this solid orange that comes with our new Penelope cardstock -- reminds me of pumpkin pie. The circle on the card is the leftover edge printed on the Sydnee circle album kit after I punched out one of the circles. The piece stamped with Happy Birthday is actually one of the tags from the Penelope cardstock and I cut off the end where the ribbon would normally go. The Happy birthday is one of our new GWPs.

This card makes me ready for fall with leaves changing and cooler weather. Unfortunately, that doesn't get to Arkansas for several more months -- it is so odd to me with my northern roots to send my children back to school in shorts and t-shirts. It just doesn't seem right, but it has been near 100 here for the last two weeks. We will be lucky to see it dip back to the high 80s before school starts.

If you want to beat the heat and learn more about how to use the 5 card sketches in the catalog, sign up for my Lotsa cards class on Friday or Sunday. You can see more details about the class here -- including a picture of 5 possible cards that you could make at the class.

Hijacked!

2008-07-23T17:53:00.003-06:00

I have been hijacked onto a Rainforest Adventure! Seriously, that was the name of this year's VBS at our church. Since this was my first year running it I had no idea what to expect and let me tell you it is no small job to plan supplies, rooms, snacks, and all of the other things for over 140 kids and 60 volunteers!! I HAD thought that I would work my usual 20 hours the week before and then 40 the week of VBS. Ha! It ended up more like 60 and 85!! I was absolutely exhausted in the end, but I was so happy with the results. The good news too is that because I'm a part-time salaried position at an average of 20 hours/week, I can now essentially take the rest of the summer off to enjoy stamping! So I promise more fun things to come. In the meantime, here's a picture from last week -- I'm the one on the stage wearing a crocodile on my head -- anything to make the kids laugh!

Disorganization!

2008-07-01T08:45:00.005-06:00

Yikes! I forgot to post the details of my upcoming classes and open house last week like I had promised you. I was suffering last week from a perfect storm of disorganization and catching up at work after a week away. Want proof? Oh, I can't believe that I'm going to post this picture, but here goes:

This is what my stamp room currently looks like! I can't even begin to do any work in here until I clean up the mess from making my seminar swaps and finish the reorganization project that I started six months ago and never finished!

This week is actually a fairly slow one for work -- unlike next week which is the week before VBS and I'll be slammed -- so I'm going to spend lots of time working on cleaning this room -- starting today.

In the meantime, mark your calendars for Friday, July 11 from 6-9 pm. That's when I'll be having my open house. You'll get to see all of the swaps that I received in exchange for the two that I took to seminar. I'll also have all of the make and take and class samples on display and some new product -- because I just found out that my first order is getting to my house today! Of course, there will be make and takes and lots of fun. More details coming as soon as I excavate!

Here are pictures of the card and scrapbook page that I swapped at seminar:

Surprises

2008-06-23T20:28:00.003-06:00

TAC's seminar was last weekend. It was so great to see old friends and make some new ones. And we got to see the new TAC Fall/Winter 08 catalog, which is gorgeous! Better yet, we got to use lots of new products from the catalog, including three of the four new paper lines and all three of the new kits. They are even more beautiful in person than they are in the catalog. I knew that they would be since it is hard to do justice to the paper in a picture, but I was absolutely amazed at the detail of the new paper -- some of the tags almost look 3-D.

TAC had such great projects this year and I loved the addition of the class format. I will soon be offering some of the projects and classes in my area. I think that you will enjoy them as much as I did.

The biggest surprise of all came at the end of seminar at the awards banquet. My business was pretty great last fall and I was working hard. But between starting a new job and the other things in my life, I was feeling a little burned out by the holidays and pretty much decided to take a break from TAC through the spring. So imagine my surprise when my name was called to receive one of the Rising Star awards! Here's a picture of me wearing the crown that was part of my award. Also in the picture are Mischelle and Kevin Smith, owners of TAC, their daughter, and two of my downlines, Lori and Tonya.

I don't know whether it was the motivational speeches, winning the award, or being inspired by the great new projects, but I'm feeling recommitted to my business and ready to share TAC with everyone. Stay tuned tomorrow for more details on my open house and summer/fall class schedule.

Two Different Looks

2008-05-13T13:53:00.004-06:00

Here's a card that I desinged for the Angel Gathering that I hosted way back in March. I can't believe that it's already been over two months -- and nearly two months since I've posted. Time just seems to slip by without even realizing it.

Anyway, I wanted to use this card for a FUNShop too but was out of the brown cardstock and the brown and pink Rustic Chic paper. So my friend suggested that I use cobalt cardstock with the other patterns of Rustic Chic left in the package.

Here's the other version of this card. Same layout. Same basic elements. Just a change in color combinations. Oh, and I did a little less distressing on the second card.

Card Challenge

2008-03-22T15:42:00.005-06:00

One of the fun things that we did at the Arkansas Angel Gathering was a card challenge. Each participant received one white card base and a bag of mixed cardstock pieces that were left over after the projects were cut. They also had access to all of the tools that we used for the projects and several ink pads. They used these items along with the stamp set Oh How to create a card in 30 minutes! It was amazing to see the variety of cards that were created. We gave out three prizes. Here's the entry that won Crowd Favorite:

This card won second prize. I love how she cut out the little flowers that come on the strip at the edge of the Miss Moxie paper to make the embellishments on the edge.

And this entry won Most Creative Use of Supplies for turning the card base into a purse! And look how she used the scalloped circle punch to make the flap. Very cute!

Today I'm updating my website with some new samples and specials and then I'm going to pull out my scrap box and some sketches to make samples for a challenge. Next time you are experiencing stamper's block, try pulling out your scraps and see what you come up with!

Easter Treat-A-Lope

2008-03-19T19:07:00.003-06:00

Here's my version of the Treat-A-Lope designed by Lisa Johnson. I was fortunate enough to be the recipient of thousands of cast off envelopes from a lady whose mother works as a greeting card stocker. So now I'm on the lookout for all projects that use envelopes in creative ways. I found that the Easter saying from our new set Our Savior fit perfectly on these envelopes after they were folded. Another easy way to play Easter bunny!

Easter Treats

2008-03-15T09:13:00.005-06:00

Easter comes so early this year!! It also coincides with Spring Break here in Arkansas and I'm so looking forward to a week of relaxing and reflecting. I actually plan to clean my studio and office area. It was a mess even before hosting the Angel Gathering but now it looks like a hurricane went through!

Today I want to share one of the projects that we made at the Angel Gathering. These are quick, easy, and inexpensive little treat baskets. I made these at Halloween too and gave them to all of my co-workers.

To make it you will need dixie cups, patterned paper, a strip of white cardstock, and some brads. Here we are using TAC's Gentle Beginnings Designer Collection and Polo Shimmer Brads.

To start, roll up the top rim of a dixie cup. Cut down the seam of the cup and tear off the bottom of the cup. Trim away the area that was the rolled over part of the rim. Now you have a template to trace on the back of your paper. Trace the template on the back of your patterned paper and cut out. Glue this piece of patterned paper to a second dixie cup. A friend recently introduced me to the Scotch permanent glue sticks that are sold in Sam's Club. I was really impressed with them and they are super cheap!

Cut a 3/4" x 8 1/2" strip of white cardstock and 1/2" x 8" strip of patterned paper and glue them together. Holding your handle in place punch holes in the side of the cup and handle and insert a brad.

To make the Easter egg tag, fold the remaining patterned paper in half and use the Mega Oval punch to punch out an egg shape being careful not to punch through the fold. I stamped the egg with the Happy Easter saying from Trendy Greetings and tied it on with some scrapper's floss. Fill the cup with some Easter grass and treats and you are ready to play Easter bunny!

Arkansas Angel Gathering

2008-03-09T15:51:00.003-06:00

I had so much fun this weekend! I hosted the Arkansas Angel Gathering. We had 19 women there and we all did 20 projects! One of the guests, Kristine, set up this awesome display of some of her completed projects and we were able to snap a picture before she took it apart.

We also had a fun card challenge which was won by Tonya, Kristine, and Mendy. There were fun games and lots of laughing besides the stamping and crafting.

A huge thank you goes to my friends and team members, Lori and Angela, for all of work that the did to help put this event on. It would not have been possible without them.

Birthday GWP

2008-01-22T21:45:00.000-06:00

Another birthday card. This one was made with our new Happy Birthday GWP (gift with purchase). You can get this stamp for free when you purchase $30 from The Angel Company. I used Rustic Chic paper for this card.

Another Birthday Card

2008-01-17T15:39:00.000-06:00

My friend Sarah from Sarah's Studio asked if I had any masculine birthday cards for my birthday card buffet. I know masculine cards are always harder, but here's one that I think could look kind of masculine. It's a simple design with manly colors. I might go with a little less loopy swirl to make it look a little more masculine. Luckily, I have lots of choices of swirls with TAC's new catalog! One for every occasion I think!

Birthday Card Buffet

2008-01-14T10:32:00.000-06:00

It's been a long while since I've been able to post to my blog. A few of you have expressed concern. I'm fine -- just needed a vacation after an extremely crazy fall where at one point I was working 60 hours a week at three different jobs AND volunteering with kids' activities AND taking care of the kids by myself because hubby was traveling.

After a long rest and scaling back on some commitments, I'm ready to get back into the swing of things. My first class of the year will be this Friday and Sunday. It will be a birthday card buffet. If you have attended one of my classes before, this one will be a little different. You will still get the convenience of having all of the pieces cut and ready to be stamped and assembled. But this time you will get to choose which designs you make and how many of each. There will be eight designs to choose from -- all will be simple designs that you can assemble in 10 minutes or less. You can make any that you choose up to 5 of each design. At the end, you pay $1 for each card that you've completed. If you would like more details or want to RSVP, please email me.

I'm sharing one of the designs that you will be able to chooose here. This was one of my favorite stamp sets in our new catalog, which you will receive for free if you come to this weekend's class and make at least 10 cards. And look, a scalloped circle punch! Those are new in this catalog too! I had alot of fun last night playing with both the circle and square one that I got. We have circles and squares in two different sizes. I only ordered one of each, but I think that I'll have to order the other sizes too!

18 Days!

2007-12-06T15:25:00.000-06:00

And I still don't have a finished Christmas card to send. Unless you count this one that I made last week for my team's Flying Lessons. We did this as a one sheet wonder and used part of the sheet to make the card and part to make a scrapbook in a box. The stamp sets on this card are Circle Sampler and the Oh Golly set that was only available in November. I wouldn't normally look at circle sampler and think Christmas card, but I was inspired by some cards posted a while ago on Sarah's Studio. This would be another super easy Christmas card for someone like me who has to finish beaucoup cards in the next week. I already received three cards in today's mail from some overachieving friends who completed theirs over Thanksgiving!

Only 22 Days Left!!

2007-12-03T19:43:00.000-06:00

And even less mailing days to get Christmas cards out! I had vowed that we wouldn't have "New Year's cards" again this year. But it looks like we may be headed down that track again! I will be putting in some serious stamping time in the next week or so getting the cards and gifts that I have to have done ready. But I work better under pressure.

Here's an oldie but goodie card. This card was inspired by something that I had seen in last year's Paper Crafts magazine. To make it I simply punched a whole bunch of circles from our Merry Wishes paper pack and lay them out in a wreath shape. Add a simple red bow with a glue dot, stamp your sentiment with red ink and you're ready to go. I think that there may be a few of these going out this year!

Counting My Blessings

2007-11-21T20:46:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I have so much to be grateful for this year. I made this adorable mint tin so I can record those blessings. I will be taking pictures of some of them to include in the tin -- my kids, my husband, my warm even if it is messy house, and of course the wonderful spread of turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie! The others -- like the far flung friends or the wonderful ladies that I've met this year through stamping -- I will just have to write about. But I will have lots of room on the 12 page accordian fold out in the tin. The best part of this tin is that it is small enough for me to carry in my purse so on those days that I'm not feeling particularly thankful for anything, I can pull it out and be reminded of all that is good!

If you would like to make a tin just like this, I'm offering a kit with all of the elements that you need to make one for free when you place an order of $50 or more between now and November 30. You will also receive the double gift with purchase stamps and if your order reaches $100, the double hostess benefits.

Christmas Cards

2007-11-19T16:47:00.001-06:00

This is one of my favorite cards from this weekend's Christmas card Stamp-A-Stack. The picture isn't that great, but the card is beautiful and a very different, but hip, combination for Christmas. It is pink, black, and silver. I've seen both pink and black artificial Christmas trees in the stores so I think that this card is perfect for this year!

Where Did October Go?

2007-11-09T08:20:00.001-06:00

Wow! I can't believe that October flew on by and now it's nearly the middle of November. I've been so busy with FUNShops, classes, and craft shows that I feel like I missed the whole month. It's already time to start on Christmas! But first I want to share a Halloween project that I helped a friend with at my last Girls Night Out. She knew exactly what she wanted to make but just needed some help to refine her idea and I was happy to offer my "creative consulting". Here's a picture of the card that she came up with.

And when you open it, here's what you see!

World Card Making Day

2007-10-07T17:43:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was World Card Making Day. How did you celebrate?

I had a party with some of my friends!! My friend, Angela, and I threw a party for our customers and we had loads of fun seeing everyone! We had four make and takes, a card contest, and lots of fun things for people to play with.

Here are two of the gals working on their card contest cards. We gave each person a white card front. They had pieces of Lap of Luxury paper (on sale right now for only $3.50 for 36 8x8 sheets!), the Gerbera Daisy stamp, a black ink pad, some black and white ribbon, brads, buttons, and coloring tools available to create their own card design. The cards that they made were all unique and amazing! So good that we ended up awarding THREE prizes! A crowd favorite and two of our favorites.

Here is one of the make and takes. This card was inspired by one that my friend Trudy had made for a Christmas card challenge. I love the simplicity of it! And it uses up the scraps of one of my favorite papers -- Merry Wishes. This card is so easy that I may do it for one of my Christmas card designs -- last year I made 150 cards for Christmas and my list has grown this year. So it has to be simple!! And I'd better start now!

Besides the Merry Wishes paper, this card used our fun May Your Merry stamp set.

Here is another make and take. This fall card is also super simple! We used the pumpkin from Autumn Smiles. It was stamped with Versamark and then colored over with chalk. The green paper was put through a crimper and then a brown ribbon was tied around it. The Happy Harvest saying is from one of my favorite saying sets -- Trendy Greetings. Here are some of the ladies working on their harvest card!

After the ladies finished up their stamping, some of them took advantage of our Hostess Split promotion! I wish that I had taken a picture of this sign when it was hanging up so you could see it better. Angela did an awesome job making it! She even added wire as the stem on the cherry! If you haven't heard about the Hostess Split, you can get yours only during October. Grab a friend and when you each order $50, you get to enjoy all of our yummy hostess rewards.

Celebrate October!

2007-09-30T17:17:00.000-06:00

Wow! The Angel Company is offering so many promotions in October! The biggest and best one is Celebration -- DOUBLE hostess rewards and double gift with purchase stamps. I still have a few dates left on my calendar. Contact me today to pick yours. If you can't host a FUNShop in October, try one of my hostess splits. You and a friend both order $50 and you each get 3 Gift With Purchase stamps, a Level A hostess set, and a 1/2 price item. Interested in getting your wings? Start flying in October and you will receive an additional $65 of free stamps with your starter kit. Click on the link to my stamping website for more details.

The second biggest promotion is Crazy for Color. I love the Kaleidascope papers and if you like bright fun colors you will too! This is your chance to get all three of the Kaleidascope collections along with an awesome scrapper's saying set for only $34.95. The paper alone is $33.85 so you are getting this $10.95 stamp set for only $1.10!! If you can't see the stamp set below, please click here to see it.

Card Box

2007-09-10T03:03:00.001-06:00

Wow, I've missed a whole week of blogging! That short week last week really threw me. Today I am posting the directions for a project that we made at my Christmas in July class. The sample is pretty basic because this project was one of 14 that we completed in the 3 hour class! But you could dress this box up alot and in fact, as soon as I dig out my stamp room, I have plans to make a dressier one as a gift for a friend and I will share that with you.

Here's the basic box:

Start with a piece of 11 1/2 x 12 cardstock (bottom) and a piece that is 7 x 5 (lid). Here I used green for the bottom and Merry Wishes for the lid.

Score the 11 1/2 x 12 piece at 2 1/2" from each edge on the 12" side and 4 1/2" from the edges on the 11 1/2" side.

With the 7x5 piece portrait style, score the paper at 1" from one edge and 1 1/2" from the other side.

Looking at your box bottom, you will see two small squares formed by the score lines. Cut on the score lines that form the sides of the squares to make tabs.

Fold the box bottom on all score lines and adhere the side flaps together with strong adhesive.

Fold the box lid on the two score lines. Place wonder tape on the 1" flap and press that onto the back of the box. Use a corner rounder on the corners of the lid. Set an eyelet in the center of the lid's front flap. Run two pieces of ribbon through the eyelet and tie in a knot behind the eyelet to secure. Wrap the ribbon around the box and tie in a bow to secure.

This box will hold at least 12 A2 sized cards and envelopes.

Ten Things I Love About You Mini Album

2007-09-03T17:44:00.000-06:00

This adorable mini album is made using one of our Candy Tins. The tin comes blank with a blank white accordian fold out. The accordian fold out is just the right number pages to do a Ten Things I Love About You album.

Here's how to make this album:

1. Start with one of our candy tins. Use 3/8" wonder tape to wrap a 3/8"x 12" strip of patterned paper around the bottom of the tin.

2. Use Yes Glue or another strong adhesive to adhere a 2 3/8" x 3 3/4" piece of patterned paper to the outside of the lid. Let dry and use a sanding block or emery board to sand off the corners and edges of the paper flush with the edges of the tin's lid.

3. Use a corner rounder to round the corners of a piece of 2 1/4" x 3 1/2" patterned paper and glue to the inside of the lid.

4. Use 1/4" wonder tape to adhere ribbon around the edge of the tin's lid.

5. Embellish the accordian fold out and the lid of the tin. For my sample, I first sponged Chartreuse and Toile Pink palette inks on alternating pages of the fold out. Then I used alot of the tabs and tags from the Mimi collection along with Mimi ribbon and hardware to embellish the pages. The pictures are cropped to 1 7/8" x 2". I used the stamp set, About A Girl, with Burnt Umber Ink to stamp my sayings. The flower on the first page is a Bitty Blossom with a snap from the Mimi collection set in the center.

6. When you are done embellishing the pages of the album, use more wonder tape to adhere the last page to the bottom of the tin so that it will be easy to fold the album in and out of the tin.

As a part of our Remember September promotion you can get the Mimi collection, including the hardware, ribbons, and coordinating cardstock and a special limited edition stamp set for only $24.95. If you email me with your order, you can also get any saying or alphabet sets, including the About A Girl stamp set, for 10% off.

What if you have a boy instead of a girl? We also have a stamp set called About A Boy and you could use our other paper collection, Lilly Anna, that is a part of the Remember September promotion! With the name Lilly Anna, you may not think to use this paper for a boy, but the bright blue and chartreuse green in the collection work wonderfully for boy themed pages.

Taking It Another Step

2007-08-30T13:21:00.001-06:00

As promised yesterday, here is how you can take the little card that we used for the Creating Keepsakes make and take one step further and turn it into a scrapbook page element. For this sample, I used the Hemingway paper. Before making all of these samples, I had thought that Amelia was my favorite of our new paper collections. But now after having worked so much with Mimi and Hemingway, I'm not so sure.

Anyway, back to the sample. I picked this picture because the shirt that I'm wearing in the picture is almost an exact match to the turquoise blue of this cardstock that comes in the Hemingway cardstock collection and because I am beyond grateful for this moment and these kids.

This page is 8x8 and I only had to crop my picture slightly to take out the messy background. I took this picture myself which is why it's such a close up on our faces. I sanded the edge of the picture to distress it a little. Then I mounted it on some of the lightest brown patterned cardstock in the Hemingway pack and then on some of TAC's awesome brown solid cardstock.

I got alot of questions at the convention about how I made the arrow. I actually used the paper that the photo is matted with. If you lifted up the photo, you would see the cut out of the arrow underneath. You've got to save that paper somehow! To make the arrow, I used the Coluzzle circle cutter and cut two tracks apart to make the arc. Then I drew the arrow point on freehand and cut it all out with my favorite retractable knife. I inked the edge with some Jumbo Java ink and stamped the saying with the same. I used mini-bet to spell out the same since I didn't have that exact saying.

Then I used the mini card from yesterday's post as a hidden journaling box. I rounded the corners of the card just so it would stand out a little from all of the other angular elements. Then I added the little tab on the side, which was actually made with this punch, to make it easy to open.

Other elements on the page include inking on the edges, stamp stitching, and a flourish from our Curls & Swirls set. Remember, how I told you that I could just put the pieces of the stitching stamp back together on the block -- that's what I did for this and then I was able to stamp all of the stitching along each side of the page at once.

CK Make and Take

2007-08-29T16:21:00.001-06:00

Here's a picture of the make and take that we offered at the booth at the Creating Keepsakes convention last weekend. This is a very simple 3x3 card. It would make a great card to go with a small gift or as a thank you to a friend who did something special for you.

To make this card:

1. Cut a 3" x 6" piece of cardstock and fold in half -- in this sample, I used the brown from the Mimi collection.

2. Cut a 2" x 3" piece of patterned paper (again Mimi here -- I love the pink, green and brown combination in this paper pack!).

3. Cut a 1 3/8" x 3" piece of ivory cardstock.

4. Stamp the stitches and saying from Running Stitches and More Abundance with Burnt Umber Ink. For the convention, I cut the running stitches stamp into two 3" pieces and put those pieces with the two sayings from the More Abundance sets on one 3x3 acrylic making it easy for everyone to stamp their card just once. When I want to use the running stitches stamp again, all I have to do is line up the cut edges of the rubber on a long block -- the stamp is really 8" long. You may also want to ink the edge of your patterned cardstock. Glue all of the layers together.

5. Tie a plain knot in the center of a 6" piece of ribbon.

6. Pinch the two tails of the ribbon together and thread through the center of a Bitty Blossom. Use a glue dot to attach the flower to the upper right part of the card.

Tomorrow I will show you how you can take this idea one step further and turn it into an embellishment for your scrapbook page.

CK Convention!

2007-08-27T08:40:00.000-06:00

I've been absent from my blog for the last week because it was the first week of school here -- including kindergarten for my youngest (yes, a few tears were shed and no, they weren't from him). But the bigger reason that I've been MIA is that I was preparing for the Creating Keepsakes scrapbook convention in Tulsa this past week. I found out a month ago that I was getting a space at the convention after all. It has been a whirlwind of prep since then. But it was well worth it!

The response to our booth was absolutely AMAZING! We ran out of make and take supplies both days by 3 pm -- sorry if you were in the hotel room next to us and had to listen to the thwack of a paper cutter cutting more at 11 pm on Friday night. We talked to so many great people about The Angel Company -- and so many people who had never heard of TAC before! I can't wait to see some of the ladies that I met this weekend again soon. I know that a few of you will be joining my team soon -- don't forget your contract has to be to TAC by Friday in order to receive the Two to Treasure bonus!

Saving Pennies

2007-08-19T11:52:00.000-06:00

This is one of the projects that we made at my recent home decor
class. I had originally bought these cute Ball brand mason jars to use to store buttons, but when I was making my prototypes for the class, I looked at the jars and thought wouldn't those make something cute. And they did! Here's how we made them:

Unscrew the lid from the jar. Remove the lid and replace the band on the jar. (I will show you a project that I made with the lid on another day!)

Wrap the jar with a 1 5/8"x12" strip of patterned paper. I used Tutti Frutti paper on my jar. Use wonder tape to hold the paper to the jar -- I used a strip at each end and two in the middle. Position the paper so that the ends are on the side with the embossed Ball name if you are using the Ball brand jars.

Stamp your saying on a large double ended tag that coordinates with your strip of paper. In my sample, I used Fun Time for the FUN and Simple Bet to spell out money. At the class, other ladies spelled out Baby Money and Yard Money depending on what they were planning to save for.

Then place one end of 18" of ribbon through the tag and tie the ends with small pieces of coordinating scrapper's floss. Run the ribbon around the jar and through the other end of the tag. Tie tightly again with scrapper's floss. Trim and start filling with coins!

Partridge in a pear tree -- not quite

2007-08-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

I love our new Hemingway papers -- I'm kind of partial to blue (ah, last name Bluestein -- I have to be) and the blues in the Hemingway paper are a beautiful shade that can look teal or blue depending on what it is paired with. Of course, the paper hoarder in me made me skimp with that patterned paper again. So on this card, I just used a 2" x 4" strip so I could get lots of cards out of the 12"x12" sheet. This was another swap card and a project that we did at my recent team Flying Lessons -- don't you just love that name -- sounds so much better than a "team meeting". I didn't have any of the coordinating cardstock for that Hemingway paper yet when I made this project so we paired it with Blue 2 matchmakers cardstock. It's a close match though not as good as the coordinating cardstock. We stamped the Partridge on ivory cardstock with Cognac ink and sponged cognac ink on the edges. I love this new Partridge Level A hostess set. It has such an art deco kind of look to it. That was matted to a piece of brown TAC cardstock and then added to the card with pop dots.

Color Inspiration

2007-08-11T18:09:00.000-06:00

I love that TAC's new catalog lists the inks that coordinate with the new paper. It makes it so much easier to find the right color when I want my ink to match the paper I'm using. But I also realized the other day when I was making this card that there was another great use for these lists of ink. I knew that I wanted to use three different colors of ink on this card and had the scrap of green as my starting point. The green matches with the Cha Cha paper so I just pulled out my catalog and looked at the list of inks recommended for the Cha Cha paper -- knowing that they would then look good with my green paper!

The other thing that made this card a breeze is that this stamp set is sized to fit perfectly in the Super Jumbo 1 3/8" square punch that we carry in the catalog. I was doing this card for a swap so I just stamped a bunch of each image on some scraps of white and then punched them all out in a row. Wow, fast! And no worrying about straight edges when cutting!

Gift With Purchase Stamps

2007-08-07T12:40:00.001-06:00

I love our new gift with purchase stamps. This card combines two of the stamps -- Flower Bunch and Simply Put. It is a super simple card and very easy to do. But the saying is all about simplicity and so the card reflects that too.

Remember, tomorrow is the last day to sign up for the Home Decor class. I've just upgraded my printer and that means that you all will get upgraded awesome new instruction sheets with color pictures of the projects.

Home Decor Class

2007-08-05T16:10:00.000-06:00

The deadline to RSVP for the home decor class is quickly approaching -- I need to know by Wednesday whether you want to attend the Friday, August 10, 6:30-9:30 pm session or the Sunday, August 12, 1:30-4:30 pm session. The class fee is $15 and you will get all of the supplies to make the four projects pictured here -- a cool picture frame, a "Fun money" jar to save your change for buying more stamps and paper, a photo clip that could also be a recipe card holder, and a hanging notes board. I used the new Cha Cha paper, Tutti Frutti, and Just Like Dad to create my samples, but you can choose from any of the papers that I have available. I had a blast coming up with these projects and have some other awesome home decor ideas to share with you but that we won't have the time to make at the class. I was so inspired by making all of these items that I'm rearranging my parts of my studio and office again. You'll have to stop by to see it!

And Now We Return to Our Regularly Scheduled Program...

2007-08-03T11:47:00.000-06:00

No, I haven't really been on summer hiatus, but my blog has been! I have actually been very busy with kids, VBS, kids, trip to sister's wedding, and more kids. School starts again in 16 days here -- yes, I'm counting the days. My youngest goes to kindergarten this year and while I'm sure that I will cry on that first day, I can not wait to have the freedom of 7 kid free hours five days a week!

In between all of this other stuff, I have actually gotten a lot of stamping done -- and I found out that I will be a vendor at the Creating Keepsakes scrapbooking convention in Tulsa at the end of August! I'm really excited to meet some new scrappers and share The Angel Company's new paper lines with them. The more that I use the papers, the more that I love them! Here are two cards that I've made recently with two different collections.

This first one is one of the cards that we made at my Christmas in July class. The card features our Amelia paper and Christmas Joy stamp set. These two are a match made in heaven for vintage loving stampers! There were a few people who missed the class and so I'm having a make up session on August 15 from 9 am - 12 noon. If you are interested in attending, please let me know soon because I only have 3 seats left.

This card on the right was made using the new plaid in our Toodle Loo collection. There's only 1 sheet of the plaid in the collection and it was really, really hard for me to cut it up to use for this card!! But I cheated and used just 1/2" strips on the back of each side of the black layer so that I could stretch the paper that much further! I was able to get 12 of this card out of just one 4"x12" strip of the paper with this method. That means I still have a 8"x12" piece to drool over. Oh, and the stamp on this card is one of our great new hostess sets, Happy Celebration.

New Catalog is here!!

2007-07-02T14:40:00.000-06:00

Seminar 07 is over! :( But that also means that it is time to start sharing our awesome new catalog with all of you! I can't believe the great new papers and stamps in the catalog. I've made so many lists of things that I want already. If you want to receive your own copy of the catalog to drool over in bed at night, please email me. The cost is $5, which includes the shipping.

Other big news at seminar -- I received a top recruiter award! I was tied for #8 with another angel -- we had both sponsored 8 new angels this year! It was so amazing to get the award and to be surrounded by so many of those 8 new angels (and some who have been on my team for a long time too) when it happened!

Here's a picture of my team with Mischelle Smith, TAC's founder, after the banquet.

It's Official!!

2007-06-12T14:06:00.001-06:00

I set a goal for myself last June to make Executive before seminar this year. Well, I got word this morning that I have officially been promoted to Executive!! The poor woman from The Angel Company who called to tell me is probably deaf in one ear now because I was screaming into the phone when she told me! I have been close for months, but was starting to think that I wouldn't make it because I pretty much took most of April and May off with having been sick with the gallbladder thing. But at the last minute things fell into place. Thank you so much to all of the customers and hostesses and new angels who joined my team this year and made this possible!

Tagged!

2007-06-07T16:43:00.000-06:00

I opened an email this morning from my friend Awna and discovered that she had tagged me. So now I'm supposed to share with you the first thing that comes to my mind about each of these. Whew, that could be scary!

Yourself: tired and busy
Your Partner: gone (he travels for work)
Your Hair: needs cut and colored
Your Mother: haven't heard from her in a while
Your Father: hardworker
Your Favorite Item: my computer
Your Dream Last Night: seminar (only three weeks and I have no trades completed -- yikes!)
Your Favorite Drink: water
Your Dream Car: anything with a partition that I could close off to not hear the kids squabbling!
Dream Home: a farmhouse on two acres near town with four bedrooms and a studio (I'm not asking for much, huh?)
The Room You Are In: my studio, which is a mess and needs to be cleaned before tomorrow night's class
Where You Want to be in Ten Years: wow, I don't know the answer to that
Who You Hung Out With Last Night: my kids
You're Not: staying up late tonight because someone forgot to give the kids the memo that summer vacation is for sleeping in!! Hence the tired answer to question #1.
One of Your Wish List Items: a new tv for my husband
The Last Thing You Did: checked email
You Are Wearing: shorts and t-shirt
Your Favorite Weather: 70 and sunny
Last Thing You Ate: a piece of Dove milk chocolate, yummy
Your Life: is good
Your Mood: content
What Are You Thinking About Right Now: whether to order pizza for dinner
Your Car: gets me where I'm going thank goodness
What Are You Doing At The Moment: typing this! geez!
Relationship Status: Married
What Is On Your TV: kids' shows
What Is The Weather Like: mucho windy -- 30 mph gusts
When Is The Last Time You Laughed: at some silly thing the kids said this morning

Has it been a month already?!

2007-06-06T16:55:00.000-06:00

Wow, I just went to crop the pictures of the pages that I made at the National Scrapbooking crop and realized that it has already been a whole month since I was at that crop!! Time flies, huh? I do want to share these pages with you. I wish the pictures were a little better, but I don't know how to get a great picture of a 12x12 double page layout so this is the best that I have!

All of the pictures on these pages are from my daughter's birthday party last summer. Yes, I'm working way, way behind on pictures. I don't worry about "getting caught up". I know that will never happen and I just kind of work on whatever event I'm inspired by at the time that I decide to scrap, which as I told you below isn't very often for myself. I enjoy scrapping much more this way -- not putting pressure on myself.

Here's the first page that I did that day. It was inspired by the picture on the top right of the second page where my daughter is sitting in a big plastic bin surrounded by the mini beach balls that we had at the party. I used paper from TAC's Kaleidascope Brites collection for these pages and also the Sizzlin' Summer stamp set, which I had used on her party invitation.

This page shows the cake that inspired the entire water theme to the party. My daughter spotted this cake on the cover of a Woman's Day magazine and asked me to recreate it for her. I'm telling you that I LOVE that kid to have spent all the time I did on that cake -- including decorating the teddy grahams with icing so they looked like they were wearing swim suits and sunglasses!

While I was working on this page, my friend asked me if the paper had been made to match the little girl's bathing suit! I love how they do look like they were meant to go together. And all of the fun colors in the pictures are in the paper too! (And no, I haven't done any of the journaling on these pages hence the big blank white spots.)

This is the one page that I went to the crop with some idea of how I wanted it to look. My husband, not being a scrapper, sees no need for zooming in when he's taking pictures. So we ended up with tons of pictures that once they were cropped in to show the details of the picture were very small (some less than 2x2). I wanted to include them because they all show different aspects of the kids playing in the water that day. So I had this stair step kind of layout in mind. After I finished the layout I wasn't sure what to do with the big blank white space on the top right. I decided to make a flower. I stamped the tag from the Label Words set on several parts of the cover sheet from the Kaleidascope paper pack, cut them out and stacked them together. Then I added a large brad that I borrowed from my friend (thanks, Tiff) for the center. I stamped the stem and leaves from the Artsy Elements flourish set that was a hostess reward during Jubilee and added the Fun in the Sun saying from Label Words.

It's a Party!

2007-06-04T08:04:00.001-06:00

It's a party! A Lego party! My son is obsessed with Legos and his birthday is coming up so we are having a Lego party. Actually, I kind of "suggested" the idea because I had a super easy invite and cake in mind. Here's a picture of the outside of the invitation. My son helped me with these last week by punching out all of the circles. It's hard to tell from the picture, but each circle in raised up on a pop dot so it looks like the pegs of the Lego block. Pretty cool, huh? And it was fun to do with with him rather than me doing all of the work!

Here's a picture of the inside of the invitation. I used one of my other favorite sets from the retiring list -- Party Words -- along with two of my other favorite sets -- Simple Bet (to spell out Lego) and You're Invited. I love these three sets combined because they are all the same font and the possibilities of the types of invitations that you can make with them are endless.

An Ending and A Beginning

2007-05-29T10:15:00.000-06:00

Nothing stamping or scrapping related to show you today. I didn't get much stamping done last week because I had my gallbladder out on Monday and spent most of the week lounging on my couch. Geez, see what a busy mom has to do to get a rest -- go have surgery!

I did get to attend my son's preschool graduation on Friday. Yes, maybe a preschool graduation ceremony is over the top, but he was so excited by it. And I have to say that it was very moving. The kids had worked for weeks on learning several songs that they sang. The preschool director gave a tear filled speech about how she was going to miss the kids. They got to have cake afterwards and give presents to their teachers. It was beautiful. Of course, the best part of the day for my son was when he got to go back to the classroom and work on the puzzles. Oh, and when his teacher gave him a mini lego set at the end of the day as a present -- he even passed up the chance to play on the playground so that he could come home and build the lego set. Which was ok by me because I was wiped out by that point in the day!

Anyway, this week I'm getting back to my stamping room. I have to get started on my trades for seminar very soon!! It's only 4 weeks away. Wow! I'm so excited to see the new catalog -- especially considering the previews that TAC released last week. You can see them here. I can't wait to get the new Treasure It set!

Ribbon, Ribbon, and More Ribbon

2007-05-18T12:23:00.000-06:00

I should be vacuuming because my mother-in-law arrives for a visit sometime this afternoon. But I just got the mail and look what was in it from my great friend Lori! Yes, it's just 1/4" satin ribbon. Nothing exotic as far as ribbon goes, but I still LOVE her for sending it to me. See she knows that I live in a ribbon deprived town. The only store that sells ribbon by the spool is Walmart and they rarely have anything but the basic colors. So Lori bought all of these yummy colored ribbons for me in Idaho and sent them all the way to me! What a sweetheart!

I love ribbons. At the all day crop that I attended the ladies running the crop announced that they were having a ribbon sale and that all of the ribbon would be half off! Yikes! I was one of the first ladies at the ribbon aisle. I had so many spools of ribbon that one of the other ladies was kind enough to get me a basket to carry it all in. I got all of this delicious polka dotted, velvet, striped, and gingham ribbon for less than $20! I would have gotten more, but there were others waiting and I thought that it would look a little piggish. As it was, the lady cutting the ribbon looked at my like I was crazy when I asked if I could have 5 yards of the black with the white polka dots. But it was only 37 cents a yard!!

Now all of these awesome ribbons will need to join my collection. I actually have my ribbon pretty well organized. I keep the heavier ones like grosgrain in quart size acrylic canisters from Walmart. I love the look of glass jars, but envisioned my kids breaking one and bleeding all of the ribbon inside the jar! I wouldn't know whether to bandage the kid's hand or try to wash the blood out of the ribbon first. That wouldn't do! So I was very happy when I found these acrylic canisters with a similar look.

The rest of my ribbon -- satins, sheers -- is stored in a drawer. I took most of it off the spools to save space. Plus it lets me see exactly how much of any one I have -- I hate to run out of a ribbon in the middle of making swap cards. I rolled each ribbon into a loop and just tied off the end of the loop to itself. Then I separated the ribbons by color family into the plastic boxes that my larger stamp sets came in. Another reason to love unmounted stamps stored in CD cases -- I get to reuse the boxes for great storage! It took some time to do this, but I'm so much happier with it than all of the other systems that I have tried before for organizing my ribbon.

The only problem that I had with this system is when I tried to use ribbon at my first class and it wasn't on the spool anymore. The ladies at the class had the sheer white ribbon all unrolled and tangled. But my amazing friend Lori came up with a brilliant idea to solve this problem. She suggested using a box that our gift with purchase stamps come in to hold the loop of ribbon. If you cut a slit through the end of the box you have an automatic dispenser!! I tried it at my last class with some of the ribbons and it worked great. Here's a photo of a loop of grosgrain in a little larger box.

What FUN!

2007-05-15T10:33:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the long absence of posts. May has been nuts here. I got unexpectedly invited to join a friend at an all day crop for National Scrapbooking Day. I finished 5 double page 12x12 layouts that day. Doesn't sound like much when you say it that way! But it was great to scrapbook for myself. I'll share pictures of those later this week. The day after that was the Mother Daughter Craf-Tea.

The Mother Daughter Craf-Tea was such a great success! Thank you to all of you joined us for it. Emma was sooo excited about it that she nearly overwhelmed the first few people in the door with all of her energy and helpfulness. She really was a great helper though -- telling people what the projects were and how to do them. She had so much fun that at the end of the class she asked me when the next one would be. When I told her not until the fall, she pouted a little!

We had to have a change of projects at the last minute. I never thought when I advertised that we would stamp on flower pots that I wouldn't be able to find small clay flower pots at Walmart or Lowes or Home Depot!! Apparently, there was a run on them for Mother's Day. So instead we made this flower pot card which holds a seed packet. They make great teacher appreciation gifts and fit into a standard size card envelope. These are super easy to make. Click here to download the template. Cut out the template. Cut a piece of brown (we used some old terra cotta cardstock that I had in my stash) to 4 1/4 x 11. Fold in half. Trace the template onto the cardstock with the bottom of the flower pot on the fold of the card. Cut out. We then used Versamark and a stamp from Old Friend to decorate the pot. Tie a ribbon around the top of the pot to hold it shut when you slide the seed packet into it. Add a tag with an appropriate saying -- this tag was punched from Bella Flor paper set. We used one from one of our hostess sets called Seeds of Blessing. We also added a flower sequin from the Sonic Bloom collection to the corner of the tag to up the "oh, look how cute" quotient.

If you were really looking forward to learning how to stamp on a flower pot, here are some tips:

Using unmounted stamps makes it much easier! Use the stamp without attaching it to the block.
Lay it on the table and ink. Use Palette or Staz On inks for permanence.
Carefully pick up the stamp and use your fingers to press it to the curve of the pot. to get a full image.
Remember if you are using the terra cotta pots without first coating with acrylic paint that the color of your ink will be different on the pot -- for example, purple looks black. You can coat the pot with 2 light coats of acrylic paint prior to stamping if you prefer a different colored background.
You can use sharpies or Fabrico makers, palette ink refills, or all purpose inks to color your images.
If you plan to use the pot for a plant, spray it with 2-3 light coats of Krylon clear sealer (you can find it in Walmart or Hobby Lobby) to seal the design. Otherwise, it will be ruined when the salts in the water and soil leach through the pot when you water the plant.

Here's a close up of one of the other projects that we did at the Mother Daughter Craf-Tea. It was a purse gift bag, but all of the moms said that they thought that it was way too cute to give away! I think most of them are using it as a part of their home decor! And hey, Maureen, check it out! We reused the bottoms of the paper bags that I was cutting off to make the paper bag card organizers as the base of the purse! We used some of my favorite paper -- Rustic Chic -- with the Running Stitches stamp to make this purse. I love it! One of the girls turned her patterned paper vertically in the center of her purse and it was totally different look that was awesome!

10% Off Final Farewells

2007-05-03T07:49:00.000-06:00

TAC released its list of stamps that are going bye-bye in June. You can look at the list here. There are just shy of 200 stamp sets on the list. I have 56 that are on the list!! Yikes! I'm not worried though because I'll still have lots of great sets left. (Does that mean I have too many stamps? Never!)

I am surprised to see some of them going. I will miss Bits & Pieces and Word Play. And I'm definitely going to miss Comic Bet! That is one of my favorite alphabet sets. And I was really surprised to see Flowery Fun going. I don't use it that often, but it's just a pretty set. I used it to make this card.

Of course, all of this sadness in seeing some of my favorite sets leaving TAC's catalog also is mixed with great anticipation of what is to come with our new catalog. This is TAC's 10th year and I can feel big changes in the works -- starting with our switch to twice a year catalogs. Our annual seminar is the end of June in Kansas City and the demonstrator lists have all been abuzz with talk about it. I can hardly wait!

In fact, I'm starting the party early with a special sale of 10% off any of the stamp sets on the final farewell list! You have to call or email me your order to receive the discount. Sorry, I can't give you the discount on orders placed through the online shopping cart. But you'll also get all of the free goodies that way! Be sure to check out my stamping website for all of the other specials that I have going on. There are lots of deals to be had right now!

Can You Believe It?

2007-04-30T16:57:00.000-06:00

Two posts in two days!! I'm challenging myself to post more often to the blog now that I know that there are people out there reading it. LOL

Emma is very excited because this Sunday she gets to be my "assistant teacher" for our semi-annual mother/daughter craf-tea. We did this in the fall and it was great fun! She did a great job of reminding people that the proper way to ink a stamp is to tap, tap, tap and explaining the best way to use the gelly glaze pens. She helped me make the samples for this weekend's class yesterday. I asked her which thing was her favorite and she couldn't decide. Though she did keep holding the "buggy" card up to her cheek and saying "I love this card". If you are interested in joining us this Sunday, please let me know by Friday. You can stop by any time between 1:30 and 5:30, but plan to spend 2 hours to finish your projects. The projects are designed so that all ages -- from elementary age girls to teens to adults will enjoy them. And you don't have to have a mother or daughter to bring with you. The class is $8/person, which includes all of your supplies, refreshments, and door prizes.

Remember, the gelly glaze pens that I mentioned above. Well, we used the souffle glaze pens -- a cousin to the gelly glaze pens, but they work better on dark paper -- to make this card at the Flying Lessons for my team. We used Swirly Gigs -- one of my favorite sets from the spring supplement -- and stamped that on black with Cloud White Versamagic ink. Then we colored the swirly's in with the souffle pens. The flower stamp from the swirly gig set was stamped with black on white and then colored with markers.

Last Day to Get the April Stamp of the Month

2007-04-29T18:11:00.000-06:00

My friend, Maureen, told me on Friday that if I'm going to have a blog that I actually need to update it! Apparently, she's been stalking here looking for news and I've been disappointing her.

Tomorrow is the last day to get the April Stamp of the Month -- geez, April's over already -- how did that happen? I love this set! This is my favorite stamp in the whole set -- I get a smile on my face every time I see it. We made this sample last weekend at my team's Flying Lessons. We used the Pearl Ex Watercolor palettes to color the daisy. You can't see the shimmer in the photo but it's very pretty in real life!

Spring Fling is in full bloom at TAC! There are four new stamp sets available only through now to May 31 at special prices. You can check them out here. One of my favorites the punctuation set. Here's a 6x6 scrap page that I made using the punctuation set with our new Mulberry Meadow paper.

Bold & Beautiful

2007-04-10T19:14:00.000-06:00

Only five more days to get in on The Angel Company's Spring Fever promotion. I had fun the other morning playing with one of the sets called Still Life. It was the one that when I looked at it I said ooh, I don't really like that. But it has grown on me. It looks great just colored with markers. So it's a great choice if you are new to coloring and intimidated by the idea of shading. This is a set that looks better Bold & Beautiful!

Back to Real Life

2007-04-05T08:29:00.000-06:00

Spring break went by very fast and now I'm back to catching up on my real life. We had a wonderful visit with my family. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to share. I just plain didn't take any and I'm kicking myself now for it. One picture that I wish that I had was of my brother and my daughter. My brother has been fighting leukemia since September. He's celebrating his 100 days past transplant this week, which is an amazing milestone considering the prognosis that he was given in the fall! My daughter just fell in love with her uncle, who she hasn't seen in over 2 years. They were best buddies all week. On the second day that we were there, we took my brother out to eat. I was behind him leaving the restaurant. It brought tears to my eyes moments later to look up and see my brother and daughter walking across the parking lot holding hands. That is a picture that I wish that I had! It's a memory that I don't want to lose -- I guess that I will have to scrap it without the picture. Scrapping isn't just about pictures, right? It's about telling stories too!

This week I've been busy preparing samples of my upcoming class -- next Friday, April 13 and Sunday, April 15 -- Spin, Flip and Fold. I should have pictures to share with you tomorrow. I also got my application to teach classes at the Tulsa Creating Keepsakes convention together. I don't know if my class proposals will get accepted, but it was definitely a step outside my box to even send in the application!

Oh, and last night I saw the mom for whom I made the scrapbook. I had given the book to the little girl's dad because he picked her up. I hadn't seen the mom yet to find out her reaction. She said that they looked through it twice that evening and that she had wanted to call me immediately to thank me but decided against it since it was already 10 pm! That made my day yesterday to hear that it had brought that much joy to her.

Scrapbooking and the Love Life of a 4 Year Old!

2007-03-23T11:21:00.000-06:00

My son's preschool held a silent auction fundraiser last fall. I donated a custom 8x8 scrapbook for someone. I was so happy that it sold for $50 -- to a mom who had never seen any of my work! A few weeks ago, she turned over her daughter's pictures from preschool to me and told me to just do what I saw fit with them. Wow -- the responsibility! Cropping the first picture was nerve wracking!! I finished up the scrapbook this week and I'm giving it to her this afternoon after school. I'm pretty pleased with the results. I hope that she will like it! I'll share a few of the layouts here.

This is the first layout that I did. I immediately realized that the Whimsy Blossoms Wing It paper fit the pictures and this girl's personality so well!

Here's another one using the Whimsy Blossom paper!

This one doesn't use the patterned paper. I just love how our new So Splattered hostess set looks with these adorable art pictures. If you want this set, you'd better hurry to place your $100 order because it will be gone after March 31.

The funniest part of working on this scrapbook came to me last night! My son is the only boy in a class of 13 -- so he's been the center of 12 little girls' attention from day one. But he has always hated it when they called him handsome or fawned over him and instead preferred to play fireman or monsters with them. He told me last week on the way home from school that he wanted to marry Y -- the subject of this scrapbook. He then went on to say "But there's a problem". Ah, yeah, you're at least 20 years too young is what I'm thinking! But the problem that he saw is that one of the other girls in the class is in love with him! My 4 year old is stuck in a love triangle!!

He's persisted this week in telling me that he loves Y and that he's going to marry her when he grows up. So I realized last night that I could be working with pictures of my future daughter-in-law. I guess it's always possible. My parents were neighbors as young children. My father's family moved away and years later my mother was driving by a house in the neighboring town and saw the name on the mailbox. She decided to write to see if it was my father's family and the rest is history from there!!

Speaking of my parents, next week we are going to visit them during spring break. My kids are so excited to see grammy and pappy and their cousins -- they haven't seen them since before we moved here nearly 2 years ago. I'm sure that there will be plenty of scrapbookable moments!

Bad, bad blogger

2007-03-06T14:21:00.000-06:00

Gosh, I'm such a bad blogger. I promised to share some new things with you last week and then I didn't! To make up for it, I'm going to share three -- yes, 3 -- projects that I've been working on with you today!

First up, and this is one of my favorite things that I've done recently:

I made this canvas board as a sample for a class that I helped lead for the junior and senior high girls at my church. They are paired up and the youth leader thought that this would be a great thing for them to work on to get to know each other. I didn't anticipate how much teenage girls LOVE to paint -- so it took them nearly the entire time to paint their canvases, but they did get to play with the stamps to stamp their names. It was so great to watch them expressing their creativity!

The other reason that I absolutely love this project is the way that my daughter squealed when she saw it. She loves it when I make projects that feature her. She wasn't too happy with my picture selection because she said she's not looking at the camera, but that's exactly why I love this picture of her so much -- for that far off dreamy look in her eyes.

The second project is a card that I made this weekend. My friend, Angela, came over to stamp with me using my new spring supplement stamps. We are both gardeners and had great fun with this stamp set -- Old Friend. Angela made a bunch of seed packets with it and I made this card. I also used one of my favorite new saying sets on it -- Nurture Your Soul.

I did make more than one card this weekend with the spring supplement stamps, but I'm going to save them for later. Some of them will be going in the spring supplement swap that I'm hosting for my team and my upline's team and I don't want to spoil the surprise just yet!

The last project that I want to share with you is this really cute little St. Patrick's Day card that I made using this month's Incentive Stamp -- Tiny Spring. When I first saw this set, I wasn't too impressed. But then I started seeing really cute samples with it and thought I'd give it a try. I'm just tickled with how cute this St. Patrick's Day card turned out and how easy it was to make. I can't wait to make a bunch more. This card also uses one of my favorite all-purpose saying sets -- Trendy Greetings.

A New Do for Spring!

2007-02-24T16:52:00.000-06:00

I got a new hairdo yesterday for spring! Check out the picture in the sidebar! What does that have to do with stamping?! Well, not much, but I'm so happy with the new look and it's inspiring me to try things outside of my usual. I'm playing this weekend and forcing myself to try some new things so I'll be sharing with you in the next week!

Talking of new things -- The Angel Company released their spring supplement, spring fever promotion, newsletter, and annual seminar information all yesterday!! It has taken me until today to really absorb it all and I can still just say WOW!

I love some of the new stamp sets and absolutely can not wait to get them in my hands. I think that this one is my favorite:

Or wait, maybe it's this one:

I don't know! There are too many to choose from. If you want to see them all and the gorgeous new paper called Mulberry Meadow (are you ready for spring yet?!), click here to download the brochure. (It may take a while to download -- contact me if you would rather have a paper copy.)

Besides the fun of the new hairdo yesterday I also found out through TAC's newsletter that I had the #2 sales for the whole company in January!!! Thank you to all of you for your support in making that possible! I'm getting closer to my goal of reaching Executive with TAC this year!

TAC also released all of the information about their annual seminar yesterday! This will be their 10th seminar -- and my fourth year going! I can't hardly wait -- June seems like forever away!

Happy President's Day

2007-02-19T17:11:00.000-06:00

We had a history lesson last night at the dinner table with my daughter in preparation for President's Day today. It amazes me to look at her and hear her talk about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington and all of the other presidents. Wasn't it just yesterday that I brought her home from the hospital? And now she's a first grader with an already extensive knowledge of American history! I thought that I'd share this page that I recently made of my daughter when she was only two. I'm so happy how well the Rustic Chic paper and Flourishes set match with the feel of the picture.

Whew! Where is February going?

2007-02-16T13:41:00.000-06:00

I've been MIA from the blog for a while. Between my Happy Heart Day class, my great friend Lori visiting, and kids' valentines activities, the first two weeks of February disappeared in a flash!

While Lori was here, we made all sorts of samples including this one of a mini album using Catelynne paper, Fanciful Flowers, and the February Incentive stamp set! Isn't it lovely?

This past week, I did a stamping class with my daughter's brownie troop for Valentine's Day. Fourteen 6 and 7 year old girls! Wow! Alot of work but so much fun. I'm very grateful to the other moms who were there to help. Each girl made three cards and the cutest gift box. My daughter also made all 24 of her valentines for her classmates this week. They came out so wonderfully! And it is so much fun to watch her creativity blossom.

Hogs & Kisses

2007-01-29T22:10:00.000-06:00

I have to thank my team member, Angela Miller, for inspiring this card. She combined the new Wee! piggy Jubilee Gift With Purchase stamp with the Hogs & Kisses stamp from the Farm Fun set on one of her cards for my Valentine challenge to my team. I loved the idea and used it in my January workshops. Everyone loved it! After all, Arkansas is Razorback territory and what's more perfect for that than a hog valentine?!

Happy Heart Day Class

2007-01-25T15:24:00.000-06:00

I'm so excited about my upcoming Happy Heart Day class. I started on the samples for it today. I have to share how the first one is coming out. I listed it as a mini album in the class description, but it could really be seen as a giant Valentine card for your sweetie if you didn't want to put pictures in it. I can't wait to see how the ones that everyone in the class makes come out. I'm always amazed at their items!

2007-01-18T11:01:00.000-06:00

Well, I've finally joined the blogging world! I'm excited to be able to share the projects that I'm working on with you. Here is a photo of some of the samples that I made using TAC's new hostess set, Petal Pack. I LOVE this set.

Hey, notice the pencil holder too! I found this cool tin divided caddy -- I think that it was originally for holding silverware for picnics because it was with some leftover summer stuff. I covered it with some of my favorite BLUE paper from TAC's PopRockz collection. I used YES glue to adhere the paper to the tin. That stuff holds anything! You can't see it in this picture, but I then added my name using the alphabet monogram stickers from the PopRockz collection. I guess I'll have to take another picture of just the tin so you can see that! :D