Class is over...

Hello all my crafty friends!  Hope you are all doing well tonight.  I just need to toss this out there but thank you to all the Mt. Pleasant staff and especially the students that I had over the past three weeks.  It was such a joy to teach these eager women with so much spunk.  I had a great time and they did to.  Each one asked me on Monday if I was planning on coming back and teaching there again and I told them all that I was asked last Friday to come back.  So most excellent news there!  It was my sincerest pleasure to represent the Middletown Arts Center in this new venue of teaching.

This last class on Monday went a lot smoother than the previous week.  Everyone was there that was supposed to be there and no one extra this time which makes it a lot easier.  Although I was prepared just in case there was the extra student.  

We made 4 cards and then went to town on bookmarks which I really think they all truly loved.  I brought my YourStory so that we could laminate them.  It was a great time.

This is one of the cards we made.

Thank you for stopping by and take care!  I will be writing more soon.

I love popcorn!

Hello my crafty friends!

It's still officially Tuesday and I wanted to write this before weeks had past.  I had my 2nd of 3 classes for the Mt. Pleasant Retirement Village yesterday and while everything I guess went OK...there were so many things that went nutty; at least to me anyway. First of all I think the whole thing just started when we had an extra person who was NOT supposed to be there but we all I think felt bad for her and let her stay.  This of course is where it all went downhill...I only have enough card kits for those who paid for and signed up which was 8.  One student gave all her kits to the other woman and then this other woman instead of listening and waiting for my directions, opened up all the kits at once and proceeded to put them together all wrong.  Then when I would be talking about a specific card and a specific piece, she would have me come to her and say I didn't get that and I would have to point out to her that she's already attached said piece to another card.  That continued throughout the whole class which I know frustrated the others because this extra person really was starting to monopolize my time.  I felt so bad and also between a rock and a hard place as to what to do.  Well so you have all this and then I was asked to trim another students card for her which I did and as I handed it back to her it fell apart...so yes I completely cut the folding edge off the card leaving it in 2 pieces.  I felt like I was going to cry right there.  I apologized profusely to her and gave her the card I had made for that sample. I was told by the activity director that she was going to try and fix the extra person situation and she also told me that I had received nothing but praise from all students and that I shouldn't worry about the cut card and the woman taking most of my time.

Here are the cards we made yesterday

The birdcage card above was cut out with my Cricut E2 using the Ultimate Creative Series Sampler.  I love this cartridge because for one it retail went for $99.00 and I got it on E-Bay for I believe $30.00.  So that's reason enough yeah?  And me being the OCD person that I am, I had to of course count just how many different cartridges are represented on this Sampler cart.  72 different carts are on here!!!  It came with 6 overlays and only one cartridge but in a thicker box.  Very good investment even if you pay the $99.

There was another card but like I said I gave it away before I took a picture of it.  Next week we are going to make some bookmarks and cards.  I cannot wait!!!  These women are amazing and so sweet and nice.  Very fun to talk with!

I also received a welcome kit from Let's Make Greeting Cards for making their Design Team.  Ohhh I do not know if you realize how much I LOVE Echo Park paper and guess what one of the kits was?  Yeppers...the Echo Park This & That: Graceful Collection Kit which comes with 12-12x12 double sided papers, 12x12 element stickers and 12x12 Alphabet stickers.  Let me tell you this is an awesome kit to play with!

Also in the welcoming kit was the Scenic Park Surprise Kit which includes 12x12 die cut sheet, 1 package of 7 clear stamps, Set of White Chipboard Alphas, 6-12x12 double sided papers

Then there was another kit and it is the S.E.I. Simple Set Kit which comes with 1 12x12 sticker sheet of alphas, 12x12 die sheet of Savvy Tags, 4 sheets of patterned vellum -2 striped & 2 circles, 6- 12x12 sheets of patterned paper

Then to put all these goodies in Rochelle sent us all a Little Yellow Bicycle bag to put it all in 

So thank you so very much Rochelle for your welcome gifts!  They are wonderful and I am enjoying playing with them.

I have been shopping again too...starting to like the Spellbinders die cuts more and more.  Here is one more that I picked up at Michael's last week...oh side note, you can use your 40% off coupons on all Spellbinders too which is an awesome plus!

Spellbinders Labels 18

Here is another one that just came in the mail yesterday that I won from E-Bay

Spellbinders Home Sweet Home

Well this is all I have for now.  I have quite a bit to do yet this evening-crafty wise that is.  So I need to get to it.  Thank you again for stopping by and I will chat with you soon!

Take Care Everyone!

Oh, the reason for the title of this post...I am munching on some buttered popcorn!

New Design Team Member for Let's Make Greeting Cards!

Happy Sunday Everyone!!!

I have some exciting news to share with you that I have known about now for a week give or take.  I applied to Let's Make Greeting Cards for a position on their very first Design Team and I am so happy to say that I was asked to join it!! 

The Let's Make Greeting Cards site is all about that, making greeting cards along with wonderfully illustrated tutorials on how to create these cards.  That is what is so wonderful about this site because if you do not know how to make cards, or have a creative block or whatever the case may be; going to the Let's Make Greeting Cards site will help you out considerably and you will love at how much talent is on here.

I want to thank Rochelle who is the founder of the site for asking me to join.  I want to let you all know who I will be working with on the designs & tutorials as these women are full of talent. Clicking on the names below will take you to their profile page on the site and from there you can link to their blogs

Heidi Wunderlich

Lisa Allen

Aileen Garcia

Dottie Seubert

Ruth Wu

April San Pedro

Kathleen Hernandez

I will be on this Design Team from June through August and I am so very excited!!! Here is the card that I created for my entry and here is the tutorial on the Let's Make Greeting Cards site if you are interested in learning how to create it.

The finished outside

The finished inside

Thank you so much for stopping by and I do hope that you will visit the Let's Make Greeting Cards and check them out as well as the other team members.

Have a great day and as always...thank you for stopping by!

And Knowing Is Half The Battle

Good Evening my crafty ones!  I trust you are all well...I have had some allergy issues this week but I think that is because the mold and pollen count are up according to the news.  So me and my bottle  of generic allergy medicine are best buds this week.

Well perhaps you are wondering why this post is strangely titled.  I have an addiction; an addiction to schedulers organizers, planners, notebooks, anything like that and especially if the binding is spiral...oh just forget it, I'll have to have one or twenty.

You see here is a picture of my books that I use more or less on a weekly basis, most of these it's on a daily basis:

there are 13 books here.  Some are journals, some are inventory, some are just for notes, one if for my doodles/zentangles, a few to help keep me on top of things. Want to know whats even sadder?

Of these 13 there are 5 daily planners and I just bought another one tonight!!!

You cannot see the one very well in this picture but it's the one with the blue ribbon coming out of it.  I really do not know what my obsession or addiction is to planners, I really don't.  In a way I think it is kind of comical...don't you think so?  Please agree and say you think it's comical and not pathetic, which I am leaning towards moment by moment, LoL!

Ahhh but I have always been this way.  Why?  I haven't a clue.  I will  say this much though, I did toss out quite a few notebooks and such when I was revamping the scrap-room.  That was very hard for me to, but it was liberating at the same time.  Purging was a really good feeling that I need to do at least once a month I think.  So that is why the title is Knowing is have the battle.  Just like the old G.I. Joe cartoons would say, lol.  

I do hope you have a great night!  I will write more soon and post some projects I am working on.   I have a lot to do before Monday.  I need to create more card kits for the retirement home class.  I have some made already but I need more.  I will post when I have them completed.

Take care and thank you for stopping by!  It means so much to me.

Kristin's Senior Prom and Class

Hi my crafty friends!  I have some pictures to show you from Kristin's prom that was last Saturday.  She was radiant and just beaming with beauty!  I finally got to meet her boyfriend Ben which was long overdue.  She and 28-30 of her closest friends met over at one of her best friends {Katie} house. Here are a few pictures from the evening.  I swear it was like a red carpet event...

We couldn't fit everyone in any of the pictures there were so many kids there.  I was not exaggerating when I said 28-30 of her friends...I have many many more pictures but I won't post them all here.   She looked so lovely in her blue dress.  The 2 girls in the pictures with her above are Katie {yellow dress} and Sam {grey dress} which are her two best friends.  This was her Senior prom and I am so happy that I was able to be there to take pictures of her and her friends.   

Monday I had the first of three classes at the retirement home and this was the sign that was up when I got there leading to the classroom.  It was such a pleasant group of women and we all had a great time!  They really loved that I had card kits for them.  I cannot wait until next Monday for the next class!

You all take care and have a happy Wednesday!  See you soon!!!

What A Day!!!

Good afternoon everyone!  Hope your day is going well.  I have had the most excellent & productive two days now. For starters, Boogers is home now and recouping as is my little Peanut.  They did a great job on both my babies I am very grateful to OAR {Ohio Alleycat Resource} for their kindness and service they do for cats in the Greater Cincinnati area.  

I have been busy working on some samples to take to the Michael's in Mason tonight when I meet with my other CEM for the first time.  Here are some of the things I have ready

plus the cards I showed you the other day with the butterfly and Thank You on them.

It was a great mail day for me as well.  I got my May kit from Scrapbooking From The Inside Out today and OMG!  This kit is uber-amazing! Look at some of the things in it

And there is a whole bag of embellies that I didn't photograph...so you see there is so much in here!  I love this whole kit.  Cannot wait until I dig into it.

I also got some stamps in the mail today from Peachy Keen Stamps.  I got the Everyday Character Face Assortment set.  In here there are 31 different face stamps.  I cannot wait to use these with my Cricut designs.  

I think that is about it folks, I hope you have a wonderful day and I will be back soon.  Thank you again for stopping by, I always love to have you.  Wish me luck tonight at the new store.

And the hits keep on coming...Good hits that is!

Hello my crafty ones!  Hope you're all doing well.  I will start off by telling you that my baby-girl who went to get fixed Monday is doing great!  Thank God.  I had to pick her up this morning {Tuesday morning that is} at 7:30, well I tell you what...I was so excited and anxious to get her that I was there before 7.  I still had to wait til 7:30 though, but it was well worth it. This is funny though, Eric took a picture of her a little bit ago and she looked sooo mad.  I mean I have never even seen her look this way.  Now they did tell me that they gave her an injection of pain medicine that would stay in her system for a few days so that may be what the look was for.  Here is what I am talking about:

mean right!  Now look at her in another picture:

This here is much better. She pretty much slept here the whole day 

Now tomorrow {today rather - Wednesday} is Boogers turn to get fixed

I only have the one cat carrier so that is why different days. So this should be fun catching her and getting her into the carrier.  This cat HATES to be held unless it's on her terms and that itself is a rarity.  She's a sweet kitty, just hyper and spastic. 

While I was sitting here tonight I grabbed an old Cricut cartridge box and sanded it a bit and then painted it:

then added some paper to it:

this is as far as I got but I like it so far.  I do plan to make at least this old box into a card set box.  They are nice because they already have that magnetic closure on there.

I was a very busy person today.  First went to the vet at 7:30, then came home and created 6 cards for Michael's samples for some upcoming classes, worked on the card sets for next Monday's first class at Mt. Pleasant, created 2 blank layouts, organized more in the craft room, the Cricut box, and...I think that is it. No, wait...I also worked on a different scrapbook layout for something else today as well.  Whew, been a busy one!

Here are some of the cards for Michael's upcoming class:

they are all in plastic sleeves.  

Speaking of Michael's, I have some new exciting news.  Last Thursday when I went to another location to get all the furniture, I spoke with the manager there about them needing a scrapbook instructor.  Soooo guess who is now the instructor at not one but TWO STORES now?!  So I will be the instructor at Mason and Colerain.  Two stores both on separate sides of the earth, LoL.  I go into the Mason store tomorrow {Thursday} to meet with the CEM  to get the schedule for June ready!  I will also bring in samples for these classes.  I am so excited! 

Have you ever heard of Swap-Bot.com? it's a place online where you can swap cards and whatever, it's a really neat place.  I was in a swap and it was for bookmarks.  Here is what I received so far:

They are very nice!  This book is awesome to, The Guerilla Art Kit by Keri Smith.  I recommend anything by Keri Smith.  I also have her book "How To Be An Explored Of The World" very good and fun books she has.

OK I must get going now but I wanted to show you where Eric and I hung that word art on the wall:

I wish the words were just a bit larger but I am OK with this for now.

Take care everyone and thanks again for stopping by!