The Day After

Well, we made it! Christmas is over and everyone is happy with their new electronics. We have had a blessed holiday and have enjoyed spending time with lots of family.

I really didn't realize that it had been a whole month since I had posted. Time flies when you're having fun! And what an awesome month it has been. I got to work at West Terrace a lot of days, including the last day before Christmas break. That is such a fun day because the 4th graders always lead an all-school sing along and the kindergarteners have Polar Express day and all wear their jammies -- VERY cute!

This month has been spent making gifts for family members. I made 9 sets of monogram cards for all the women in the family -- whew! That was a lot of cards. It's kind of funny, I counted wrong on some of the monogram circles, so I have an overrun on a couple of letters! Luckily I realized it before I got the cards completely assembled. I also stamped the bags and made ornament tags -- chipboard from Cosmo Cricket with die cut paper to cover them. Add to all that a little Stickles (okay, a lot of Stickles) and the packages turned out very pretty (if I do say so myself!) I will have pictures, I just haven't downloaded them yet.

I wanted to let everyone know that the Birthday Party on my calendar for tomorrow has been postponed. I never really officially announced it, but I have talked about it to some of you. It seemed like such a good idea a month ago, but I have never found the time to get it together. I hope to reschedule for next weekend, but will send out an "official" invitation when I know for sure.

Anna and I are headed to Target to spend her gift card and then to Mt. Carmel to a reception for my cousin who got married recently. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and continue to enjoy your weekend.

Holiday Extravaganza Sale

What a crazy week! I have been subbing all week -- which I love -- but with something going on every evening and Thanksgiving tomorrow, there just isn't enough time in the week! I know, I'm whining to a lot of people who work all the time and have for years. I don't expect sympathy, but I do appreciate the opportunity to whine a little!

Today is the beginning of a Stampin' Up! Christmas promotion. They have put together several different bundles of products and are offering them at a discount price. What a great gift idea for the crafters on your list! There is a link to the flier on the left that includes the products names, prices and page numbers from the Idea Book and Catalog. If you don't have a catalog, visit my Stampin' Up! website at www.2scrappygirls.stampinup.net to see the products. I haven't had time to sit down and REALLY evaluate the bundles, but at first glance it seems like there are some good deals. You can actually order right from the website to have it delivered directly to you, or contact me and I can order it for you.

I hope all of you have an awesome Thanksgiving!

Just a Quick Hello

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted! Where does the time go? This will be the fourth weekend in a row that I've either had workshops or been out of town. On top of that, I've been working at West Terrace subbing in the office and in classrooms. Whew! I don't have any pics today, but hope to have some by early next week. I will be posting instructions for the little Santa notepad cover that I gave out at my Chrismas workshop.

Last weekend was my first ever scrapbook-with-stamps class! I went to the Southen Indiana Scrapbook Friends retreat in Montgomery and taught a class on Saturday morning. I got really great feedback, so I may have to try to incorporate some scrapbook classes into my schedule. Okay, I lied (not intentionally) -- I do have a picture of the layout. Anyway, we had an awesome weekend with tons of fun and laughing and very little sleep! That got my week off to a very tired start and it hasn't slowed down.


Today I'm picking Anna up early from school to go to SuperStart, which is an overnight youth conference in New Albany. I'm sure I'll get some rest while I'm there with -- NOT!! I hope you all have a great weekend.

The Workshop is On!

Well, I am happy to announce that my surgery went well and they were able to do laproscopy! Yea! That means we are on for Friday night and Saturday! I'm still moving a little slow, but was able to stamp over the weekend and get some kits ready and some cutting done for this weekend.

Overall, Thursday was a great day -- except for the surgery part -- but a couple of really great things happened. First, the nurse AND the doctor said I was skinny! That's right -- SKINNY! When I got there, I asked the nurse if she thought they would have to do "real" surgery. She looked me up and down and said "No, I think you'll be fine because you are skinny." After a little more conversation, she said it again -- "you're skinny". So I looked at her and said, "If you feel the need to say that several more times, go ahead, that will be fine!" Then, after I woke up, my husband told me that the doctor came in after the surgery and told him that everything went great because I was skinny! Can you believe that?!? Now, I know I'm not extremely large or anything, but skinny is a word reserved for people who have no fat between their skin and their bones. That is NOT me! So it is not a word I have thought of using for myself since I was about 20 years old (back then, I was skinny). So that was the first thing that made Thursday a good day. And don't think this is the last you will hear of it!

The other thing that made Thursday a good day was all of the prayers and thoughtfulness from my many wonderful friends. I know the surgery went well because God got an earful at 2:00 pm on Thursday! I had SO many people pulling for me that there was no way it could go bad! And even my Wednesday girls who left for West Virginia on Thursday, left someone in charge of bringing me flowers!! So thanks to all of you who thought about me, prayed for me, sent me cards and brought me flowers to brighten my day!

So now, I must go stamp! Have a great day!

What Season Is It?

I'm so confused! For the past week I have been frantically working on Christmas cards and projects for the upcoming workshops. But then I look at the calendar and it's early October and I realize that I need to think about halloween treats for my kids to take to school! Yikes!

Here is a picture of the table favors from my last workshop. They have candy corn inside. This may end up being what my kids take for Halloween treats. They are quick and easy and terribly cute! I can say that because they are not my own creation! Some very creative person who posts on Splitcoaststampers.com came up with the idea and I just adapted it for Halloween. It's good to have creative people out there sharing, isn't it?!

On a personal note, the reason I have been frantic about Christmas cards and projects is because I am having gall bladder surgery on October 16. Yes, that is one week and one day away -- and counting. That is only two weeks before my card workshop and three weeks before the gift workshop. I know it should be pretty easy IF they do it laparoscopically, but he's not sure that's going to work since I have had so many previous surgeries (4 c-sections and an appendectomy). So I won't know how long to expect to recover until I wake up. So I am trying to get everything planned and maybe even som cutting done before Thursday.

With that said, here are some of the things I've been working on. The book in the back of the picture is sort of a portfolio I put together with page protectors inside to take orders to sell some Christmas cards. (More on that later in the week.) Some version of the book may show up either at the Christmas gift workshop or at the SISF retreat class I am teaching at the Fall Retreat. I just haven't finalized those projects, yet. The cards are sort of a mixture of new things I have come up with and some old things I have updated with different colors and stamp sets. I am sure that some of them will make an appearance at the October workshop. But, again, I'm just not sure which ones. I will post some individual pictures later in the week and it will be easier to see. I apologize for my lack of photography skills, but the more time I take photographing, the less time I have to stamp!

Have a great day!

September Sneak Peek

It's Monday!! That is very exciting for me this week, because I don't have to substitute teach or go anywhere, so I get to stay at home and work on the workshop for this weekend. That should be very exciting for all of you who are coming, too, because otherwise, I wouldn't be ready for it! Here is a picture of three of the cards for this weekend. So far I'm going with a fall/Halloween theme, but I still have to come up with 2 more cards, so I may stray from the theme a little for them.

I still have some kits available from last months workshop, so if anyone is interested, just let me know. You can scroll down to a previous post to see three of the cards. As a whole, I think it was one of my favorite groups of cards ever. My kits come cut, stamped and ready to assemble, complete with a color picture of each card. For now, the price is $15, the same as if you came to the workshop. However, in January, I will be raising that to $20 to cover the time I spend stamping them. At $2 per card, that is still a bargain! And you will also get the table favor from the workshop that month.

Keep an eye on the calendar, because I am planning a calendar workshop. (Okay, that was a funny sentence!) There is an awesome calender kit in the Holiday Mini Catalog that is available October 1 (I should have some minis at the workshop this weekend) and I am working on using that kit to make a date book to carry in your purse. I'm also going to work on a scrapbook page for a class that I'm teaching at the Southern Indiana Scrapbook Friends Fall Retreat in November. I've been wanting to do a scrapbook class for a long time and am hoping to "get it together" and come up with one to also share with all of you who won't be at the retreat.

One more thing to share -- this summer I was a counselor for a group of girls from our church at Camp Illiana. I took little photo album "kits" for them to stamp and put together and, then took pictures and printed some them on my Epson 4x6 printer so they would have memories to take home with them. Needless to say, they loved it! So now (months later) I am making them all a disk with ALL of the pictures I took so they can have more printed if they want. It's not finalized yet, but the disk holder on the left is a prototype of what I am going to give them their disk in. It says "Time spent with friends is time well spent." I think they will like it, too.

ENVELOPES

I have ordered some bulk envelopes and have some available to sell. They are non-Stampin' Up! envelopes, but are the ones I use at my workshops. I have them available in the following quantities and prices:

$6.00 for 100

$3.50 for 50

$2.00 for 25

$1.00 for 10

This price includes shipping and tax. I thought this might interest those of you who are making your own Christmas cards and are needing envelopes.

Have a great day!

Bag in a Box and Onine Ordering

Well, I know some of you have been waiting forever for instructions for the bag in a box that we made at the CJ's Bus crop. I'm SO sorry, but life just seems to be happening and the days are flying by! So, I apologize that this is not going to be an extensive tutorial -- because that would take another 2 weeks -- but I will give you some basic instructions.

What you need:

1 4x4 piece of cardstock A, scored 3/4" from each edge (this will be the bottom of the box)
1 11x1" piece of cardstock B to cut with the scallop edge punch to go around the bottom of bag

1 4 1/4 x 11" piece of ivory (or white) cardstock (patterned paper can be used here, also)

Scrap of cardstock B to punch 2 tab punches

5" of ribbon

1. Cut into the score line once on each corner (create tabs, don't cut off the squares)

2. Put adhesive on each tab and fold into a box.

3. Punch 1" strip of paper using scallop edge punch

4. Punch 2 tabs out of matching cardstock

5. If using plain cardstock, random stamp images to decorate.

6. Put adhesive on all four sides of box and "wrap" patterned sheet around the box. Seal the seam on the back of the bag.

7. Attach tabs to top of bag and embellish as desired.

Here is a picture of the final product. Please note: using these measurements you can get 9 box bottoms out of one 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock and 2 "bags" out of one sheet of 8 1/2 x 11. The bag can be made taller by cutting the ivory cardstock (or designer paper) bigger, such as 11 x 6 or 11 x 8.

Let me know if you have any questions!

ONLINE ORDERING IS HERE!!
Stampin' Up! has just introduced online ordering. If you visit my Stampin' Up! website -- http://www.2scrappygirls.stampinup.net/ -- you can place an online order, complete with qualifying hostess benefits. Please note however, that if you have a small order, there is a minimum shipping charge. Call me first to see if I can add it on to one of my orders (which I usually can) and save you a few dollars.

I have been stamping a lot this weekend to try to get ahead for my upcoming workshops. In the next couple of days I will post some pictures of what I have been working on!

Have a great day!

August Cards Sneak Peek!

Hi ladies! Some of you have asked for a sneak peek of the cards for tomorrow night and here they are. I'm only showing 3 because the other 2 I copied from ideas I saw online and don't know who to give credit to. One of them features our new Bella Rose patterned paper and the other one is a super cute flower made with the scallop circle punch! That punch has certainly earned it's place on my desk. It seems like I use it all the time!

I hope you all have a great day! See you Friday!

Back to School!

Things have finally settled into a routine now that school is in full swing. Everyone seems to have settled into their new classes with the exception of little mister "I don't want to get up because I don't even LIKE school!" Okay, so Addison has settled into his 1st grade class, he just hasn't settled into getting up early. I have certainly settled into the home alone routine, but it will probably be short-lived because sooner or later I'm going to have to substitute teach! (I really do have 4 kids, but it seems middle-schoolers are too big to have their pictures taken on the first day of school!)

In the mean time, I have lots of stuff to show you today. First is a picture of Anna and the notebooks that we made for school. (Okay, the picture is mostly of Anna and it's sort of hard to see the notebooks.)But, anyway, she needed 5 composition notebooks and I had a bunch of black and white ones waiting to be altered, so we went to work and this is what we came up with. The paper and embellishments are all non-Stamin' Up! stuff that I had in my stash. She just went through and picked out stuff she liked and then helped me decide what to do with it. Of course one of them had to have Hanna Montana stickers on it. I thought they all turned out cute and she loved them!

This is a picture of the make and take I did at the Southern Indiaian Scrapbook Friends crop this past Saturday. About 17 people made a water bottle hanger and it seemed to be a big hit. It's very simple and a fun way to brighten someone's day! I think I may put together some kits for these. Check back for details. The baby food jar is full of punches in the new "in" colors and the business card holder is something I made Saturday morning because I needed something to put my cards in . . . If only I could get inspired DAYS before I have to be somewhere instead of HOURS before, imagine the possibilities!

I feel the need to say that a lot of my ideas come from a website some of you are familiar with -- Splitcoast Stampers -- and are not necessarily totally original. In fact, some are total copies! But, occasionally I come with an idea of my own, which is the case with the business card holder. That makes me very excited!

For the first 10 people to buy a new catalog, I will include a New Catalog Survival Kit. In the kit you will receive a 10% off coupon good on your first purchase from the catalog along with a wish list, a pen, a color ring with a swatch of each of the new "in" colors and some information on current specials. All of this AND some candy to help you get through the awesome new catalog! So, call me or send me an e-mail and get your copy today! (Catalog cost is $10).

Well, that's about all for today. I need to start trying to figure out what cards we are going to make next weekend at my monthly card workshop. I will post them when I get them made! Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

The New Catalogs Are Here!

I've been waiting and waiting and FINALLY, last night, Mr. Brown (the UPS man) brought my box of catalogs! I have been through it once, rather quickly, but will be checking it out closer and making some decisions about what to buy on August 11. My first reactions is that I wish it could be Christmas all year! I will have a really hard time deciding which Christmas sets to buy. There are also some silhouette-style sets that I really like and some awesome new paper -- punches, too. Oh, the decisions!

For those of you who want your very own copy, there are several ways to get one. You can (1) Schedule a workshop; (2) Buy one for $10; or (3) Come to a monthly card workshop and maybe win one as a door prize!

Please note the change to the schedule for the month -- there will only be a Friday night workshop, not a Saturday. I'm really sorry, but I double booked myself and I couldn't get my friends to change their wedding date! So, off to Indianapolis we go on Saturday the 30th. Hopefully, I will see some of you at the Crop 4 Kids on September 6.

Acetate Card Tutorial and Marker Club

For those of you who bought kits from last weekend's workshop, I thought you might like some clarification for assembling the acetate card. Even for those who were at the workshop, it was a little confusing! The pieces will go on in this order --

1. white piece on FRONT;
2. LARGER light blue piece on INSIDE LEFT;
3. Dark blue piece on BACK;
4. SMALLER light blue piece on inside right, centered over the larger dark blue piece.

So try this:

1. Center and attach the white cake to the FRONT of the card.
2. Put adhesive on the INSIDE LEFT behind the white piece. Now, lay the LARGER light blue piece on the table and holding the card open, lay it down so the white piece is centered on the light blue piece.
3. Close the card and put adhesive on the back. Lay the dark blue piece on the table and, with card closed, center the light blue mat on the dark blue piece.
4. Open card and center SMALLER light blue piece on the INSIDE RIGHT.

When you are finished, you will have a piece on the front, inside left, inside right and back. The idea is that you are hiding the adhesive. I hope this all makes sense! If you still have questions, please give me a call.


Marker Club

I am currently looking for a marker club participant. I have a group of 3 ladies who would like to start a marker club, but they need a 4th. If you love Stampin' Up! markers, this is an awesome way to get them at a discount a little at a time. This is a great time to participate, too, because during your hostess month you will get to choose from the new catalog! Here's the way it works:

Cost: $45/month for 4 months

What you get: Complete set of Stampin Up! Markers (48 colors)

Carrying case for markers

3 sheets of each color coordinating cardstock (144 sheets)

20 sheets of Naturals White Cardstock

20 sheets of Naturals Ivory Cardstock

20 Naturals White Envelopes

20 Naturals Ivory Envelopes

Plus: 1 month you will be "hostess" (NO WORKSHOP REQUIRED!)

In the month you are hostess, you will get AT LEAST a Level 1 hostess set AND $15 free merchandise from the NEW catalog. (This can be increased with outside orders or, if you want to hold an actual workshop, we can work that out, too.)


The bottom line is, you get $202.15 in merchandise for $180 spread out over 4 months!!

Let me know if you're interested! Now, I have to go work on some of my upcoming events!

Have a great day!

WRONG DATE!!

Okay, so I am new to this blogging thing and I went in and edited an entry that I started last week. Therefore, the post I just posted (dated July 18) is supposed to have today's date (July 24) but it doesn't! I hope that makes sense, but just in case it doesn't the workshops are Friday, July 25 and Saturday July 26! Now, keep reading and read the blog with the wrong date!

Workshop Sneak Peek

This blog was an idea I had at the beginning of the summer to keep in contact with everyone and show everyone what I have been working on. Well, obviously, it hasn't worked out exactly as planned, because this summer has been CRAZY! I decided to try again, though and give you guys a peek at what we're doing tomorrow night at my monthly workshop at Noble Romans. Here are three of the cards:

Since this is the workshop to celebrate retiring stamps sets, we are using some retiring sets on each card. Use these links to see the retiring lists:

Retired Stamps List (Alphabetical)

Retired Stamps List (Numerical)

Also, I will be offering 20% off of retiring sets for those attending the workshop or buying a class kit! So don't miss out, reserve your spot today!

I also wanted to share a fun card that I made yesterday. (I am so easily distracted when I am trying to get ready for a workshop.) I have never done an inspiration challenge, but when I saw the bulletin at church a couple of weeks ago, I immediately thought of it as a scrapbook page or cardfront. So, here is a picture of the bulletin on the right and my card on the left. Do you think the person who designed it actually used Stampin' Up! colors?!? Besides the Tempting Turquoise being a little bit off, they match our colors exactly! Next time I will add some black lines, but I didn't think of that until I already had the front glued down. And, again, this wasn't what I was supposed to be working on!

Here are the dates for the events that I have scheduled for the rest of the summer. I have a plan in the works to add a class to make some of the table favors that I have given at workshops and maybe a scrapbooking class. So keep an eye on the schedule, because after school starts I hope to be adding some fun things. I may send out a e-mail survey to determine what times work best for everyone when I start adding new classes.

Upcoming workshops:

July 25 6:00 pm (Friday)
July 26 1:00 pm (Saturday)

August 23 1:00 - 10:00 pm SISF Crop Make and Take
August 29 6:00 pm (Friday)
August 30 1:00 pm (Saturday)
September 6 -- Crop 4 Kids -- Benefit for CJ's Bus (click here for Flier)
September 26 6:00 pm (Friday)
September 27 1:00 pm (Saturday)

What a Crazy Week!

Well, summer is in full swing at the Higgins' house. It's VBS week, so the kids and I have to be out of the house by 7:45 each morning. That just doesn't seem quite right the week after school is out, but once we get there, it's awesome! To stir things up just a little more, Andy had surgery on Monday, so he's home this week and maybe next. Hopefully next week will be a little less hectic (I will be saying that every week, all summer!), because I haven't had time for creativity this week. I have gotten the kits finished from the last workshop. I think I still have one left, so if you are interested, let me know. I will make a few more next month.

Here are the pictures I promised of the inside of 2 of the cards. After putting the kits together, I realized that two of them might need a little more information.

The only thing you might need to know about this is how I did the ribbon. It is just tied in a knot and secured on each end to the back of the layer with adhesive, before attaching the layer.




The purple card really doesn't need an explanation at all, I just thought you might wonder what that extra piece was for! So here's a picture of the inside.

Well, gotta get kids in bed and get ready for tomorrow. Hope this helps!

My First Blog Day!

Well, today is the beginning of summer vacation for the kids, so it seems like a good day for the beginning of my blog. I've been thinking and talking for weeks about setting up a website and blog for my cards and workshop info, so here I go. This past weekend was "workshop weekend" as I call it at my house. This means that I had my monthly workshop at Noble Roman's (a pizza place here in Evansville). It was really small this month (can you say "holiday weekend"?), but I sold several kits and had another workshop last night for someone else, so it has been a good week. Here are a few of the cards we made this week:

Very soon, I will have a website set up with monthly kits from my workshops available to purchase. I am also planning to offer card kits from past workshops and handmade cards "ready-to-send" for the non-crafty people. Eventually, I plan to also sell some scrapbooking products. So, come back often to check and see what is new and happening here at 2ScrappyGirls!