Target run today.

Warning: Enabler alert. But it's CHEAP!

A while back I saw Gina K's post about this. And while it seems I go to Target EVERY single day, I would always forget to look for them. But I did today. And they're on clearance - 75% off. And my Target (Greatland) had a TON of them.

REG PRICE: 4 for $0.99
75% off: 4 for $0.24.

I got 4 packages = 16 (yes, I know you can do the math but it's such a freakin' good deal that I had to spell it out!) for $0.96.

So, now what are you waiting for? Christmas? LOL!

My Target only had the silver ones.

Blog Candy - reminder!

HERE

Sometimes Simple isn't.

So, many of you probably wondered at one point during the holiday madness where my Card is (humor me that you wondered... ;)). You thought (again, let me think you did!), she's doing all this stuff but no Christmas card? Well, I'm here to tell you it's NOT because of time. I did not run out of time. Well, sorta. That wasn't my problem actually. First, let me say, they did go out... except for a handful that I have to still mail to India. But the rest went out and hopefully have reached people by now.

Here's how my card design goes EVERY year. Right after last year's gets mailed out, I start thinking about the next year and how I want to do it differently. You know, my cards involve family picture, year-end letter, and the hand-made card. I also, really, really like to come up with a different fold or way-to-house-it-all kinda card each year. That is part of my fun: Designing, ahem, ENGINEERING the perfect ensemble! You wouldn't believe how much time during the year, I spend thinking about it. Not doing anything but thinking.

Picture - the day before Thanksgiving. CHECK
Letter - December 15th. CHECK.
Kinkos - took 6 packages of SU! card stock to Kinko's to copy letter on to it. Dec 18th. CHECK.
Paper Cut - Dec. 18th. CHECK.

Yeah, so then I sat down to make the prototype. YUCK! It was going to have some Cuttlebug embossing on it. Well, that didn't turn out like I thought. Left some extra dents in the paper, etc. Fiddled with that for a while. Yeah, didn't like it in the end. Okay, so now what? Plan B? Um... well, here's the thing. I WANT SIMPLE. HA. I like the look of SIMPLE. Clean. Elegant. All of that. And well, easy would be good too at this point. Vowed to not emboss this year. I always emboss. Wanted something else.

Alright. So, I finished them. AND I ACTUALLY LOVE THEM. They are me. They are simple. They even sparkle. And they're about snowflakes. I adore Snowflakes (my friend Michelle gave me a James Avery snowflake charm for my charm bracelet!). I live in Texas. No snowflakes. Which is a GOOD thing because I'm not fond of cold. But I like the "idea" of snowflakes and the look of them, etc.

Anyway, after writing a book here, you can see that Sometimes Simple just isn't.

The details:
Images by A Muse Artstamps and ElzybellsNA and Stampin' Up! (wheel)
Card stock by Stampin' Up!
Ink by Stampin' Up! (Bashful Blue)
Accessories: Silver cord by SU!, Sakura Quickie Glue Pen, SU! Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

The dimensions are 8.5x4 (a full sheet of CS tri-folded) - fits in a standard business size envelope (or those envelopes you get with those photo cards!)

Exciting News!

BLOG CANDY HERE

Guess what? I'm so excited! A couple of my stamping tips have been posted as part of the A Muse Weekly Newsletter (this week and last)! Do you get it in your email? You don't? Why not? It's free and full of all sorts of great ideas and information...

Click here to sign-up!

Poll!

At the top of my blog is a poll I just created. I'm curious to see what you do with all the cards you receive each year. If you want to leave a comment here and explain your answer that would be swell! Thanks so much.


***** BLOG CANDY HERE *****

ONE BIG CELEBRATION!!! Blog Candy and such.

Things I am thankful for in the crafting-sense:

* for each of you that come here to read my story.
* for my Stampin' Up! friends and for my dear friend and upline, Jenn Balcer, in particular.
* for my new found A Muse family - both the team and all of the addicts, my life is enriched with all of you in it.
* for the opportunity to do something I love and to share it with all of you.
* to all the people that have supported any of my crafty endeavors - embroidery, Stampin' Up, and A Muse - thank you so much.

So, why am I celebrating?
* For all of those things above
* For 1 year of blogging - January 2008 will be one year!
* For 30,000+ hits
* For good times ahead.

Leave a comment here about something you are thankful for this year.

A winner will be randomly drawn on January 1st. You have until midnight central on Dec. 31st to enter.

The prize will be a Stampin' Up! retired stamp set. I'll let you choose from my ever-growing, lengthy list and some other goodies!

Thank you for everything! May 2008 bring you much happiness and lots of LAUGHTER!

New A Muse class added

Due to overwhelming response (THANK YOU SO MUCH - I can't believe it!), another class has been added for the Jan 19th Love is in the Air class at Memory Depot in Austin. The new class is from 1-3 on Jan 19th. It will be the same class as the 10am class. Hope to see you there.

For more information about registration, call Memory Depot at (512) 326-8045.

Love is in the Air
We'll make 6 fun cards full of love, perfect for spreading the Valentine cheer using A Muse stamps.

Christmas!

So, did you think I got buried alive under all the Christmas presents? Seems like it. Actually, we did the entire Christmas thing with Santa and everything here VERY EARLY CHRISTMAS morning - my five year old couldn't stand it and woke up at 4:45 AM. "Mommy, I *JUST* can't sleep anymore. I can't". It was very cute even for 4:45 AM. I so remember that feeling. I was just like that. Anyway, I did make him go lay in the bed for another 45 mins. until his brother woke up at 5:30AM. We have a tradition in our family (both of our families do this)... we must eat breakfast before we can open presents. So, as you know, I don't like to cook and so at 5:30 in the MORNING, I'm cooking. And by 6:45 AM we had all the presents opened and ready for playing with! Then 2 hours later we were on the road to the inlaws house at the lake!

My DH was really nice to me and got me the camera I've been researching and wanting for a while now. I used to be a novice photographer (HA!) before having kids. I have a great Nikon 35mm and some wonderful lenses with it. I didn't really want to chunk those out the window. So, I found a digital SLR that would work with my old lenses. I ended up getting a semi-professional one (rather than a consumer one) because I wanted my old lenses to work with all of the new electronics (in the consumer version the auto focus and such things wouldn't work with the old lenses). Anyway, here's what my new camera looks like. I've been taking pictures left and right but haven't uploaded anything yet! So, stay tuned... maybe I'll upload something soon!

Anyway, I've been MIA on a little mini vacation down at my inlaws house with 17 of us under one roof for multiple days. It's been really fun! I love my inlaws. There's always so much laughter. And the boys just love seeing their cousins! All 8 were together - what fun!

And 24 minutes to spare.

Just finishing up. Whew. What a whirlwind. Anyway, I just completed 4 bracelets for gift giving tomorrow. Actually, they aren't even the "gift" we are giving but I wanted to give something to my MIL as a special thanks for all that she does for me. She has 8 grandchildren, ages 26 down to 2 months old. And for the first time this week, all 8 will be in the same place at the same time. That's a bit hard to do considering two of them are adults and have their own minds, schedules, etc. I decided to make all the SILs one too just for fun!

Anyway, I originally ordered these 7 Gypsies bracelets from Ellen Hutson because I saw so many pretty bracelets made with wonderful designer paper. But I wanted to make picture ones. Hadn't actually seen anyone do those. But I figured out how to make "mini ID" pictures with the software that came with my printer (HP). So that was pretty painless. Had to get a new punch from Joanns.com - the 5/8" circle. And that's pretty much it. So, then I got 2 bracelets in and decided I needed more. Last week, I emailed my A Muse buddy, Rachel - of Hope Stamps Eternal and purchased some more from her store! They came in today. I had everything printed and ready to assembly. I swear these bracelets only take 15 minutes to put together if you have your pictures printed out (or use designer paper, etc.). Seriously. I did 4 just now. Now, just to wrap them and I'm done. Check out Rachel's store. She's super fast on shipping!

Oh, Rachel also told me that 7 Gypsies is discontinuing these bracelet kits. So, get them now for Valentine's or Mother's Day or someone's birthday.

No, I'm not affiliated with Rachel's business... just love her customer service and she's one of the A Muse Addicts!

Merry Christmas!

A Muse Calendar - maybe now I won't forget

Do you remember this calendar that Linda (the A Muse guru!) created. It is still for sale and the proceeds benefit Scleroderma Research.

I decided that what I needed is a perpetual calendar. Well, sorta. Not exactly really. I do need one that lists peoples special dates but I also need one that is a normal calendar to reference when a particular date is. And well, having them together would be ideal. For example, knowing my dad's birthday is on Jan 7th is great but not knowing what day of the week Jan 7th isn't.
So, I didn't to put the two together using Linda's calendar. I also, decided I need it to be IN-MY-FACE, er, I mean right on my desk, next to the stamps, return address labels, labels of people I send to, and well, the box of cards I have made. See, no excuses now.

Here's what I came up with. It's a little table top calendar that I put together with my Bind-it_all. It uses the A Muse notecards as the base layer for each month. You flip over the cover and there is January. Then you turn January over and February is on the back side of January, so you move the calendar around. Make sense (see picture on left)?





Each month has a different theme:











Images: all A Muse
Card stock: all A Muse except strip on covers which is some scrapbook paper I had
Accessories: Bind-it-all, chipboard, spica glitter pens, colorbox inks, markers, glaze pens, sakura glitter pen

Candy, candy, everywhere but not a one for me!

I think I forgot to post this. This was a project I did a while back with my friend, Michelle. I love the PaperTrey stuff. It's so easy to use and produces nice, clean work. We stamped the labels a long time ago but I just finished up the tags and such last week. I actually forgot that I had these "made" (i.e. labels on nuggets in tins) when I got to making all of those peanut clusters! But it turns out that, I remembered why I made these in the first place. I made them for my kindergartener's teachers - rather than giving them the peanut clusters. WHY, you ask? I had heard that some teachers (and I read about this on Splitcoast, too) throw away handmade food items because they have NO idea where it came from. I COMPLETELY get this. There are still 3 teachers of his that I haven't met. Have no idea who there are, where they sit, what they look like, etc. So, I'm sure they feel the same way about me. They have 900 kids in that school. And all the kids gave hand-made food,... well, you get the idea... Anyway, at preschool, it's different. Everyone knows everyone. You meet the teachers everyday at drop-off and pick-up but kinder, that's just different. And I respect that. I would totally do the same but then again I'm a germ-phobe and a little on the paranoid side. As if you didn't know that already. :D

images from PaperTrey, Ink
inks from Stampin' Up!

Teacher gift cards.

Both son's classes pooled money together to get the teachers VISA gift cards for Christmas. Well, I can't just give it to them in that packaging, can I?

Have you ever used the 5-in-1 template from Stampin' Up!? Yet, another thing I've had for a while and opened up to finally use. I found this tutorial on Jeanna's blog: Stamp Time Somewhere. I had to try it out.

I made mine a little different, in that I didn't add the extra "liner" on the flap. Also, I used these magnetic snaps instead of velcro for the closure. Streamlined and slick!

This project was using about some of the stuff I had! I broke into my package of SU! Dashing 12x12 Designer Paper (whew, just in time for the holidays!).

It feels good to use some stuff. It was hard to use some of it, like the magnetic snaps. I wanted to HOARD them but then I convinced myself it would be ok. I could order more. And if I didn't use them and use them and order more, then they might not make them anymore. Funny how that works ;).


Images: Monogram and Borders and Circles from PaperTrey, Inc
Card stock: SU! Dashing DS, SU! Real Red, Whisper White
Inks: SU! Real Red
Accessories: SU! Real Red Brads, Magnetic Snaps, SU! File Folder Punch, SU! Slit punch, SU! 5-in-1 template

Welcome to the neighborhood, ornament.

So, at the previously blogged about Ornament Exchange, one of my new neighbors didn't really like the idea of "stealing" from others to get what she wanted. She's way to nice for that. But, alas, we converted her ;). And she stole the ornament I made from someone else only to have it stolen back during the last round. So, I felt compelled to make her another one to celebrate her first year in the 'hood.

I made this on a 2x2 tumbled marble tile (available in a sheet of them from Home Depot, etc for around $12). I used the A Muse holiday house image because it's just perfect for this. I colored it with the Copic Spica Pens.

Teacher Ornament

Every year (can I say that when I've only done it this year and last?), I like to give my son's teacher a ornament with all the kids pictures in it. His preschool (the oldest boy) always wants the class mom to give the teacher a scrapbook of the year at the end of school. (The school also gives us parents one but that's different). It seems a bit odd to me that teachers have to have scrapbooks of other people's kids for years on end ... like my kinder teacher has taught for 20 years. Does she really want 20 scrapbooks in her house? I don't think so. So, ornaments. They are small and can be taken out and looked at once a year. That's just enough.

Well, the queen herself, Ms. Julie Ebersole, has this FABULOUS itty, bitty book that is SO easy to make and serves this very purpose for me.

The only difference this year is that my son's kinder class has 21 kids, so I had to put more "pages" in it. It's a bit bulky and I had to reinforce the stapled spine.

Anyway, she loved it. I hope that in years to come, she remembers our sweet class! I blurred out the kids pictures because you know how I am about these things but I thought you might want to see the inside just to get an idea of what I'm talking about.

The little window on the front is a glitter window so that the penguin sparkles!

Thank you, Julie!

Images: All A Muse
Card stock: Stampin' Up! Ballet Blue, Whisper White, Basic Black
Accessories: Silver cord, A Muse Ribbon, Crop-a-dile, 1 3/8 inch square punch, 1 1/4 inch square punch, SU! Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Packing tape, stapler

Can you hear the bell ring?

The bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe.

- Polar Express 2004

Three years ago, the movie Polar Express came out. Do you remember? My neighbor, who is not crafty, had a 1st grader at the time. She thought it would be fun to get silver bells and leather straps to give them to her children's friends for Christmas. Apparently, that Christmas she wasn't alone in this idea! There was a run on large silver bells EVERYWHERE. This is where I came in. I searched high and low for her - online, around town where ever I went, etc. I remember even looking up a horse rein manufacturer place that sold them but they, too were out-of-stock. Then I happened upon the very last wreath at Jo-Anns that was covered in bells. As I reached for it, this lady right next to me was thinking about getting it and even asked me if I wanted it (it was in my hot little hands already). Anyway, we made 12 or so silver bell ornament/necklaces.

Well, fast forward to present day. My son is now 5 and tomorrow is POLAR EXPRESS DAY in kindergarten. All the kinder classes get to wear their pjs tomorrow (last day of school before the holiday break) and they are going to watch Polar Express. WOHOO. So, last night, (YES, LAST NIGHT), I had the above memory resurface and I thought OH MY... There won't be another POLAR EXPRESS DAY.... I better get some silver bells and leather straps! So, this morning I am driving by Michaels. I know that I wanted to go there but couldn't remember why. So, I sat in the parking lot for 3 mins. Still nothing. Decided to drive home and be productive. And bam. Ah, now I remember. So, when I went out again, I hit Michael's. AND there was NO run on the silver bells this year! YAY! I thought this would be a simple, quick project. It had the potential to be. And then I couldn't just leave it alone.

Anyway, here it is. I made them for all of my son's class and his teachers. It really is an ornament for their tree. One side says the line (above) and the year. The other side has two of my favorite A Muse stamps - santa silhoutte and Believe.

I had to laminate them because I thought the 5 year olds might be too rough on just cardstock.

Stamps: A Muse artstamps
Ink: SU! Summer Sun and SU! Real Red; Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: super jumbo marvy scallop circle punch, crop-a-dile, laminator, bells, leather

So, do you still hear the bell ring?

Craft Critique!

Wow! Have you guys been keeping up with the gals over at Craft Critique? What awesome lists they have, etc. Be sure to check them out!

Ah, he's not a baby anymore...

Remember how I've said my 5 yr old didn't like arts and crafts? Well, Kindergarten has changed him! He's all about it now. Right before Thanksgiving, I purchased a fun foam kit from Michael's. I thought it would be a good thing for him to do while Mommy played with her toys, ahem stamps. Just something to do. No plan for giving them out or anything.

Ah, a little background first. Every year of preschool, I made stuff for his friends (with minimal help from him - see aforementioned lack of interest on his part!). I did it because it was fun not because we had to give something. I've done frames for each child (with the class pic) or the popcorn sleeves, or little coloring books, etc.

Back to present day. He's been working on these fun foam ornaments - maybe 5 in a sitting or so - there are 30 in the box. I figured he'd make maybe 8 and call it done. Maybe give them to his grandmothers or whatever. So, the other day, he says out of the blue "Mom, let's give these to my friends at school". I already had pictures of each kid with a Santa hat (I'm the room parent and had to take them for some other project the teacher needed). Anyway, FABULOUS, I said to him. And then he did them all and sorted the pictures by which "frame" each child got (there are 3).

So, he's not a baby anymore and he doesn't need me to make his friend's stuff. :( Seriously, I am THRILLED that he has shown any interest at all. Maybe the art table we got him and his brother will actually be used! I'm so proud of him!

Central Texas A Muse fans!

I'll be teaching some fun A Muse classes in Austin and Salado come January. My schedule is listed at the top of my blog.

The owner of Memory Depot, here in Austin, told me the other day that my Jan, Feb, and March :o classes are already filling up! So, I know it's not even Christmas yet and you're busy running around doing all sorts of last minute things but I'd love to see you at one of these classes!

Stamp Salado in Salado, Texas will start taking registrations when her newsletter goes out.

Hope to see you in the New Year. I have lots (I mean LOTS) of new stuff to show you!

Personalized Mass Production?

Isn't that an oxymoron? Speaking of moron....

Ah, the holiday season. Busy, busy, busy. We all know it's coming and yet we're still doing stuff at the last minute.

I decided to make all of the teachers something. Teachers = current elementary, preschool and past preschool) - since I'll like them a lot and we'll be there for a while!) And teachers include music, art, p.e., office people at the school, librarian, bus driver, etc. Then I decided to include my DH's work people. Then I thought I'd make some of my friends something. Oh my. My list became 48 people long. And I decided to make handmade cards for everyone. So, 48 people and 8 cards each. Yeah, you do the math. And envelopes too. Couldn't give a naked envelope as a gift, now could I?

Well, I finished them all last night. WOHOO! Mailed off some today. Gave out almost all the teachers today (even though school ends on Wed and Thursday). Gave DH his to take to work. I want this stuff OFF my list. YAY!

It didn't take that long to do them - I've mastered the art of assembly line stamping a while ago. I can crank out lots of the same design. I have a problem with the "single" design concept though. Maybe I'm just too lazy. Yeah, that's definitely true.

Anyway, I'm glad to have them done and now I can start on my Christmas cards! Seriously.

Stamps: SU! So Swirly Wheel, Paper Trey Monogram Set and Circles & Borders
Ink: Palette Noir

Template for an A Muse card holder

Remember this post about the cards and box I made for a quick gift? Well, I've had some requests for a template. And the "engineer" in me rears her ugly head whenever I have 1000 other things to do (as I'm sure you do) and wants to learn and play and design and computerize. So, what's the big deal, you ask? Well, Blogger doesn't allow file downloads so I had to figure out a way to do that!

Here are the templates:

DOWNLOAD BOX TEMPLATE

DOWNLOAD BOX LID TEMPLATE

Please only use these for your personal use, non-commercial use and inspiration only. Thank you!

Tag, why not...

So, I've been tagged again... Thanks, Sue for tagging me!

The rules of the game:
• Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
• Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog, we all want to know them.
• Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
• Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I'm to list 7 random things about myself and then tag others....

1. I LOVE to sleep. I don't think people can sleep to much. However, with small children living here, I don't get much.
2. I grew up in an all French speaking little town in Ontario, Canada before moving to Texas.
3. I've traveled much more outside of the USA than in it.
4. I do Calligraphy. I did my high school prom invitations both years and some weddings, including my own.
5. I love all things Computers (hence the electrical engineering degree) but I do love to "find" the answer to how to do something on the computer.
6. I don't wear dresses or skirts all that often.
7. I've worn contacts or glasses since I was 1 1/2 years old but my vision has been improving each year and I can almost get away without wearing any contacts now (BUT it feels REALLY weird - it's my security "blankie").

People to tag. Well, here's where many people don't play. You know why? Because they don't want to leave anyone out and hurt their feelings. I get that. I am going to tag some people in groups....

New To Blogging:

1. Lori
2. Veronica
3. Becky
4. Novell
5. Jennie
6. Rhonda
7. Kim

Some Usual Suspects

1. Michelle
2. Katie
3. Erika
4. Jen
5. Karen
6. Connie
7. Elena

Wrapping

Recently, I was wrapping something up for my friend, Veronica. I wanted to personalize it a bit. So, I took the SU! On Board alpha chipboard and found the "v". During the holiday season, I offer gift wrapping for free for SU! orders on people's Santa lists. (don't worry... veronica already knows about this ;)) Anyway, I used my SU! wrapping paper and the really fine Purely Pomegranate Satin Ribbon, so I wanted the chipboard to match. There are several tutorials out there for this so I won't repeat it but basically you cover the chipboard in some color (craft ink or classic with versamark on top), then put heat & stick on top of that, heat it very minimally and then cover it with dazzling diamonds glitter.

I thought it turned out very sparkly. I don't know why it looks purple in the close up of the chipboard but it really is pomegranate in real life. I just wanted to show how much it sparkles.

Ornament Exchange

I'm officially changing my name. Ok, not really. But I should. To Lucy. Yes, as in last minute Lucy. Yes, I know I already had a post called that. What's your point? ;)

I am my neighborhood's social coordinator. You probably knew that already. I am the one that sends out the invitations, evites, etc. for all the events we have. Yeah, so I should really know when things are happening, right? Well, I do. Um, somewhere in my boggled mind. I knew last night was the annual Ornament Exchange. I mean, it's not like it just "happened" - the invitations have been out for a month, I think. And no, it did not sneak up on me. It's just that I couldn't think of the "PERFECT" ornament. I (stupidly) started making my ornaments every year since the first. And I wouldn't be able to live it down if I didn't continue the tradition. We do the ornament exchange like a white elephant type of thing - stealing and the whole bit! FUN! FUN! Anyway, I did make my ornament.

The party was when?... right, LAST night... when did I make my ornament? YESTERDAY morning with the "wrapping" starting at 5:30pm (party at 7) - with boys around. In the morning, I only (HA!) had my 21 month old with me. And just so you get the full effect of this story, check out what my 21 month old was doing while I was hurrying to make this ornament:

(he LOVES to take things out and put things back and take them out and well... he didn't put them back yet!)... it's like 52 card pickup but with 48 markers... and magnets...

Okay, so the ornament. My problem with making ornaments is I don't want to make a paper one but I want it to be sparkly and shiny and get lots of OOOHS and AAAHS. And well, of course, I want it to be "stolen" several times during the party so as to get some love. But paper wouldn't get that. So, what should it be? Last year, I used some leftover faux wood blinds as my base and stamped on that. But this year, I wanted GLITTER. I had ordered a couple of those acrylic frames from PaperTrey recently. Ah ha! That might just work. I used 2 pieces of acetate and sprayed glue on one, covered it with SU! Dazzling Diamond Glitter, then spray glued the other piece and stuck it to the glittery side. The point being to sandwich the glitter but still have it visible. Then I stamped the EVER SO CUTE A Muse Holiday House (see - perfect image for the "neighborhood" ornament party) on white and used stickles and my Spica pens to make him sparkle. Then attached them all, added some ribbon, and Voila! I was really pleased with the end result.

Here's another look just to see all the sparkles...

Okay, great. Ornament is done. It's only 9:30am! Wohoo! Uh, now what. It's supposed to be wrapped up. And yes, it is supposed to be wrapped so no one can see what it is OR know who it came from. But I'm the social party planner lady... I get to make the rules. I have to package it well, don't I? Yeah, so they know it's me but these lovely ladies tolerate me so well. They are just so sweet about it ... and now after 11 years, they get me.

Package. Right. Focus, Geeta. Well, I bought this Stampendous Pail Topper stamp recently thinking that I might make up some of the slew of acrylic pails I'm hoarding. But then when I finalized my list, I decided not to do them. WELL, the stamp is "Happy Holidays". Better use that.

The pail went together VERY quickly. I was running out of time. I had to get dinner ready, pail ready, and boys in bed in 1 1/2 hour time frame so I could go to the party! I used my Spicas on the top and then sprayed glue (loving this stuff) and covered with dazzling diamonds again. That iridescent party stuff on this inside covered my ornament well enough. But boy, is that stuff clingy and MESSY.

There you have it. Maybe next year I can get creative earlier. Lately I feel like if I'm not pressured/stressed to do something, I can't create. Hmm. Gotta work on that.

In the end my ornament was stolen 3 times. That's some love. And the person that originally picked it first, ended up with it at the end of the night!

A Muse Valentine's Day Release

The A Muse team has done it again. The Valentine's Day release is up on the A Muse News Blog. HOW CUTE is that? There are so many new, fun stamps AND twinkle stickers, too.

If you get a chance to come to any of my classes in January or February, I will be using this images!

Enjoy!

Believe...

The other day my 5 year old said to me that some people don't believe in Santa. I'm so not ready for these discussions... and this one was a "tame" one. One day when he was 2, he said (while we were driving somewhere, I might add!), "I bet your sad that your dad never got to meet me". I nearly drove off the road as my eyes swelled up... then you know what the next question was, right? Where is he now? ... Uh, remember he was TWO. So, anyway, back to Santa.... I turned it on him (a clever trick I've learned, I might add ;)). "Son, what do you think?" He said "I don't know". So, I said "do you believe in God?" He said yes. I then talked about he hadn't met God but he believed he existed, etc. etc. Then he asked me if I believe in Santa. Now as a parent you don't want to lie to your children so I didn't. I told him I do believe in Santa. Because I really do. No, not necessarily the red-suited, white-bearded, jolly old fellow that makes his rounds on Christmas Eve but in the Spirit of Santa. The spirit of doing good things for each other - being nice rather than naughty, spreading goodwill, etc. Ho, Ho, Ho and all that.

A few weeks ago, I made this bottle. Yes, it's out of a Starbucks Frappaccino bottle. I drink way to many of them. But for this purpose, that is a good thing ;).

Images by A Muse
Paper by A Muse
Ribbon by May Arts

So, the bell still rings for me. (maybe that's just a noise in my head though.... )

Oh, I forgot to mention those buttons (they are black and hard to see in the picture) are Black Fun Flock on Glue Dots. Clever, eh? I wanted something different than the little fuzz balls that you get at the craft store!

Sneak Peek - Valentine's Day!

What? You're not ready for Valentine's day? Oh you will be after you see all of the sneak peeks going on around the blogging world today and this week!

Check out the A Muse crew - instructors and designers - there are sneak peeks everywhere of the new A Muse line of Valentine's Day stamps!

Michelle
Elena
Jennie
Becky
Novell

Here is mine! It's a spinner card. I had this spinner in my mind for so long when I saw this image.

I do have to say that the sentiment here ALWAYS makes me think of Cambria. She always says that.

Keep your eyes peeled! :)

Okay. One. Just One.

The A Muse crew (designers and instructors) are playing a challenge of sorts. It's called Ornament Blitz. Michelle, aka crazystampchick, is kicking my behind in the blitz. And I'm giving her heck everyday about it. She posted that she's going to do one ornament a day until Christmas, well she's been slacking off a bit (and yes, I'm giving her a hard time about that too!). So, I'm not really playing because making ornaments right now isn't on top of my priority list BUT I recently found this "Lid-of-an-acrylic-paint-can-gone-wrong" design on my work table. Hmm, it's already cut and stamped, just needs some attention and loving (don't we all? ;)). So, I fixed her up a bit and made her into a beautiful, sparkly ornament. And right now she's the only ornament on my tree! I hope you like it.

And Michelle... :P

1000

No, no, not 1000 cards... I'm crazy but not that crazy.

4 hours.
3 ladies (me included).
1 toddler (ok, so he didn't help but he was here)
120 bags.
3 large tins.
9 cookie sheets.
1000 peanut clusters.

Time with friends, cranking them out and checking things off my list. Priceless.

Two of my friends and I get together every year for 4 hours and make as many peanut clusters as possible. We've done this for at least 3 years. Usually we make 750ish... today we made 1000! Oh my. How fun. But we have a really good system down now. Those two do the cooking... I don't cook. I do the packaging (YIPPEE!). And the setting up, etc. And of course, the chasing the 21 month old. :)

This year I was smarter. My friend, Edye, has a personalized stationery business, called LMNOPeople (isn't that CUTE??!!!). It's LOVELY stuff and it's VERY affordable. So, I asked her to make our labels for us... ones that say "From the Suggs Family", etc. I slapped those on cut cardstock and used my Crop-a-dile to punch holes through 8 or 10 at a time. And then I bought ribbon from Reasonable Ribbon (i'll say! love her prices!) and voila!

The recipe is very easy and everyone seems to love them. I'd glad they're done and not the giving part can start.