Productive Late Nite Wednesday

Everyone is asleep here except me - and I got a lot of scrapping done! I realized that I hadn't yet touched last month's kit from Self-Addressed so I set to work using it up! Scrapping is a lot easier when someone else has already coordinated things for you!
I haven't taken many good photos lately - so I used some I already had, which was nice. But it made me realize that I need to go on a serious photo shoot soon so I have more fodder for my pages!

What I've been working on lately

So - I've been a bad blogger lately - but I have a good excuse! I was so incredibly sick last week - and still am. God - I am sick of coughing! How much water can I drink??? But I am much better, thankfully, and on antibiotics so I can't infect anyone else - which is a blessing.



Here's some pics of a book I've been working on. It's not done yet but going to be filled with pics of my daughter and her friends - dressing up. It's something they do every day without fail and it amuses me. I have many pictures of them in funny shoes, tiaras and masks and they don't seem to mind me snapping away. So I probably have enough to fill two books. But first I have to finish this one. I've also done a few layouts, more cards and a tag book - but I thought these were more colorful. Tomorrow Lisa and I head up north to deliver more of our wares - I am excited to get it out of my dining room and see if it sells. Wish us luck! :)

Chica Night

Okay - I really should be in bed, but I had such a fun time tonight that I just had to share with my blogging friends! All of us chicas got together for a card-making session. I really couldn't believe all we produced! Here's mine and what all of us did is below.


I think we got an awful lot done and they are all so pretty! We also did a Valentine swap. All of us love getting gifts and seems like each month now we're exchanging things with each other! I love it! Here's what I got from my buddy Deb L I F E. Isn't she talented? She's now selling to boutiques and also gave me some of her awesome letters to alter for an upcoming swap. I love my stuff, Deb! Thank you! :)


Julia came again tonight too Julia and totally surprised us all with so many goodies! She spoils us. She invited us to do a card swap and here's the best part - offered me a spot on her DESIGN TEAM! I was so thrilled and excited! My first design team and for a company whose products I really enjoy using - Close to My Heart. Thank you Julia for this opportunity! I can't wait to use the products you gave me. All of us enjoy having you with us now as a Chica!

Thank you so much for hosting, Carole! I had a blast with everyone! (Lisa -- Carole's sister - are you reading this???) HA!

Spring Cards

So here's another bunch of cards that I made this week - my sister came over and we had a lot of fun using our new "Close To My Heart" purchases from our new friend Julia. What fun! The colors are so pretty and fresh - they just make me want to create! But with all the cards I really am getting behind on my other projects! Pretty soon I have to stop and do something different!

fun stuff

I am on such a card kick lately! I have this nice box and I love filling it up with handmade cards!

This is a box - like a footlocker - that my husband got at the dump (oops, I mean, "recycling center"!) and I painted over it with some really loud paint for the girls to use as a dress up box! Today I put it in the playroom with rave reviews! E said: "Oh! It's beautiful!" which was all the kudos I needed! Needless to say, there were some dancing princesses and power rangers who were very happy today!

Latest projects and models

Now that the holidays are over, I have more time to create other things and it's been fun! I've been working more and more on my art journal, recording thoughts, dreams and just whatever strikes my fancy. It's filling up quicker than I thought!

Here's some cards I made with my new SEI paper that I absolutely love!

And here's a picture of my best friend Deb with her beautiful quilt, still in progress!

And here's our newest little kittie - isn't she model material??? She's sitting next to some thank you cards but the recipients most likely have them by now so I can post the picture!
Have a creative week!

Card Crazy!

Here's my latest crop of cards that I made today (with my sister - what fun!) and another day as well. I got some new rubber stamps and I just cannot stop playing with them! They sure make it hard for crafters to not spend money when they keep coming out with cute new products! :)
As always - coming soon to a mailbox near you!

Early New Year's Resolutions

So, I started knocking off my 2007 Resolutions a bit early this year. My bestest friend Deb reminded me of a sale at a crafty shop we both love, and with $20 I got for Christmas, I bought myself a soldering gun and have already tried it out! I'll admit, my work is rather rough and ugly, but I really don't care! I love the fact that I tried it - soldering is something I've always wanted to try. (I don't care much for the smell of it though!)

Here's a necklace I did here. I was so proud of myself creating a loop for hanging! Then I used a chain that I got from my mother from this year's Yankee Swap. (I got some of her old jewelry!) So this piece represents a lot to me and I will wear it with pride! :)

Week before Christmas

Here's some pictures of my week. I finally feel more at ease, with all my gifts bought and wrapped - I feel like my kitty pictured here - finally able to take a small break. Unfortunately - I think I've caught the cold that everyone around me has and will spend Christmas as a sickie. My body always does that - waits until a major event is over to get sick. Oh well.

This is a picture of one of my final swap gifts from my SA Secret Pal - isn't it total cuteness? It's a "AMM Mini" - about 1/4 the size of my large one and I just love it. Thank you Niki!

Here's a picture of my three charges. We went to the park yesterday and came home to hot cocoa. Kids are so funny. It took them about a half hour to drink it - we talked about the fact that it was much too hot to drink for about 10 minutes (it wasn't!) and the size of the marshmellows, and on, and on!.....

I made this tonight for the tree. I made a more colorful version of it for friends. I end up taking lots of family photos for friends every year. They make great ornament gifts!

And here's a book I'm working on - but you can tell I'm sleepy - because I obviously forgot how to spell the word "thoughts!" Oh well.... time for bed!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

This is what came for me in the mail today! Yippeee! It doesn't get much better than that - does it??
But my biggest news this week is that some of my Trinkets merchandise is now being sold in a storefront! Last month we met the nicest girl - Julie - from "Chloe's Closet!" She took some of our work in and is going to hang it all over the walls of her store. "Chloe's Closet" is a clothing resale shop and is located in Jaffrey, NH. You should definitely get in to see our stuff and hers as well - when I was there I bought a beautiful raspberry sherbet colored sweater! The best thing was that Julie herself was the most positive, upbeat person I've met in a long time! It's worth a trip to her shop just to meet her!


Chloe's Closet - 105 Peterborough St., Rt. 202, Jaffrey, NH 603-532-6211

My favorite time of year

So this weekend was an early Christmas for me. We got our tree and I put white lights in it - we'll decorate it this week with the kids. Then tonight was the annual tree lighting ceremony. After the choir sings (Noah sang this year for the first time and was so proud!) they light the tree and then Santa arrives via fire engine! The kids love it and even the adults get excited! Then we all walk to Town Hall and the kids get to sit on Santa's knee and tell him what they want for Christmas. I especially loved seeing the kids look upward - thinking about what they really wanted to tell Santa.

The part I enjoy the best is walking home after and seeing our lit tree in the window. It really looks beautiful - all twinkly and pretty in the glass. Our neighbors this year have also really outdone themselves and many houses on the street are lit up. It always gives me a cozy feeling. And to top it off - we may even get snow tomorrow!

Time to wrap more presents! But before I do, I want to send out a big thank you to all the people who wished me a happy birthday last week - it was much appreciated! And thanks, most of all, to my best friend, Deb, who always remembers and always makes it special. You're the best, Deb!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Fun Weekend!

What a nice time I had this weekend! Not only did I get to spend lots of quality time with my cute kids, but I also got to meet some of the people I talk with over at Scrapbooker Online. SBO

We had the best time at Maryfrances' house, cropping and laughing and shopping! I'm so glad I made the drive down! Thanks for everything, MF!

Thanks for a wonderful show!

What a terrific weekend we had at the Trinkets show! So many of our good friends came to visit - we cannot thank you enough for always supporting us! We saw many fellow crafters and made new friends, too. It was so great to see all our merchandise together in one place and to spend the day together in a relaxed atmosphere. Thank you all for making it so special!

Crafting!

I did some more projects last night just for fun. Got some new stamps and paper last night from my new good friend Julia and started a layout. What fun!

Our show Trinkets is tomorrow! Don't miss it!

Colorful Cards

I just made a bunch of these cute notecards this week for the Trinkets show. They're ultra colorful and come in cute zippered bags with a pen. I'm having fun mixing and matching the colors!

Kooky Kalendar

So, I finally tried my hand at making one of these fun cookie sheet calendars. I was inspired to do it after seeing Teresa McFayden's and Pam Garrison's version - although I think mine pales in comparison. I tried to make it usable for many months - and I'm hoping I can pop the title off to switch it in November and December.

Nesting

So, this is what I made tonight. I have always had a thing for birds and I just love these two colors mixed together - robin's egg blue and brown. I found a blue-ish green that I was happy with and just started painting everything that color! I don't know if I've gotten it out of my system - yet!

Signs!

I am fast becoming the queen of signs! I can't stop making signs for our show! Here's some recent ones for fall and Christmas.
Don't forget to check out our new weblog - just in time for our Holiday Open House at Trinkets!

TRINKETS

Setting Up Shop

So, today I moved a lot of my products downstairs to the dining room to take inventory and price things - assess what I have. It's all for our holiday sale at Trinkets, and I'm so, so excited to get it going! I keep coming up with new ideas and I need to get organized so I'm ready - this year we plan on having our sale a little earlier for those early-bird shoppers. So excited!

Pretty Little Cards

I just got my monthly kit this week from my scrap club and made these cute little cards in about an hour. It's so much fun to sit down with everything you need and make something quick and easy. All the paper coordinates beautifully and I love the little embellishments. Coming soon to a mailbox near you!

Perfect Day!

So, I met my scrapbooking idol today - Elsie Flannigan! I took a class at my LSS and got to see her, chat with her and do a super cool mini album. She's totally easy going - fun and friendly. I really had an awesome time and it didn't hurt that I got to go shopping after the class, too!

It was so good to get out and do something I enjoy - today was a great day! :)

Blown Away!

Just look what came in my mailbox today! I am doing a "Secret Pal Swap" through one of my scrap sites, and each month we are creating a new project for our "pal." This one was a "freestyle" project that could be anything we wanted to send, and this is what I got!
It's a beautiful green album filled with 12 pages of pre-designed pages, just waiting for my pictures and journaling. Whoever made this spent an awful lot of time on it. She included a sweet little note and even put more embellishments in the end pages so that I could add on to it if I wished.
It was so thoughtful - I cried when I opened it! Wow. I guess the way to my heart is through a scrapbook these days! Thank you whoever you are! !!!!!

I won something!!!

So - after such a long time of entering contests and finally taking a break after all the rejection - lo and behold I finally won a challenge! I did this layout a while ago. Luckily, someone nice emailed me to tell me I had won or else I may not have known!

I don't even know what the prize is, but that doesn't seem to matter so much! It's good to feel special once in a while!

Painting

So I've been going off in another direction - painting again on wood items. I just love to paint! It's all for our holiday sale in December and my friends and I are gearing up for it. I'm not sure still the exact products I'll be making, but it's fun trying different things on for size.

I have so much to get done! And what a great way to extend my favorite holiday - Christmas - by starting in July! :)

Check me out!

http://www.scrapbookeronline.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=89

I am a featured scrapbooker this month on "Scrapbooker Online." Whoo hoo!

Relax

Here's a layout I did of the party on Saturday. Isn't this a nice picture of Lisa? I thought so. Joey too, of course! :)

Glad she's settling in.