Hijacked!

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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!