Getting Ready for the Retreat

Why did I think it was a good idea to work 3 days this week? I know, I know -- because I need to work! But right now it doesn't seem like a great idea. I am leaving on Friday after school to go to Washington, IN to an SISF retreat where I am teaching a scrapbook page class Friday night. Then I'm coming back to Evansville to do a project at a birthday party (yes, Tiffany, I promise to have it done by Saturday!) and going back to Gasthoff to SCRAPBOOK!!! Anna is going with me for the first time as part of her birthday present. She'll be 11 on the 28th and is SO excited about going with me.

Here is a picture of the page. I'm using the paper from the Sale-A-Bration brochure and the Garden Whimsy stamp set (one of my favorites). I think it's really cute and hope I have time to find some cute pictures from yesterday to add to it.

Next weekend -- April 24 -- will be the next card workshop. Unfortunately, the room was not available for Saturday, so it will just be Friday night. I know that is a disappointment for some of you, but it couldn't be helped. I'm considering the possibility of doing a Sunday afternoon workshop when I can't get the room on Saturday. I need to check on Noble Roman's hours to see how the timing would work, but I'll keep you posted on that.

Have a great week! I don't know if I will end up getting back with another post before I leave on Friday, but I'll try.

Cards for this Weekend

Oh my goodness! I just looked at my last post to see which side I put the pictures on and saw the goofy way it formatted! I don't know why it can't just look like it's supposed to -- or even better yet, why can't it just look like it does in my mind?! It doesn't matter how much I mess with it, sometimes I just can't get it to look right. Okay, enough of that.

I finally have 5 cards for the weekend. I'm having a really small crowd, so I thought I might entice some of you who visit here regularly to get out this weekend and make some cards with me. The card with the duck on it could possibly the cutest card I've ever made (in my opinion). I don't usually do "cute" cards, but I seem to have 2 of them this time. Unfortunately, I can't take credit for either one of them. Although they aren't exact copies, they are both styled after ideas I saw on Splitcoaststampers. The one with the butterfly is nearly an exact copy of a card in the catalog. But the other two are my very own!

Well, I'm off to cut cardstock! You all have a great day!

Workshop Preview

I'm doing a quick post today, because I still need to get some cards finished for this weekend. Those of you who know me are shocked right now, that I'm not ready yet -- NOT! I wanted to give you a quick look at the cute Easter card we're doing, though. I have seen several of these on Splitcoaststampers and just thought they were adorable. I took the stuff with me last week so I could make it while I was on vacation and the kids loved it, too! So this is the third one I made because I had to give away the first 2! I apologize for the crummy photos, but I just took a quick picture on my desktop to give you an idea of what it looked like. Let me know if you want to come be a part of the workshop this weekend. Have a great day!

Top Note Die card from Vacation

Please don't hate me, but I can't resist showing you a couple of beach pictures. We are in Fort Morgan, Alabama, which is at the end of the peninsula west of Gulf Shores. We are in a remote "subdivision" of beach houses and are sharing the beach with about 10 other people (spaced out along a really long stretch of beach)! The kids have been playing outside and digging in the sand and building sand castles the whole time we've been here. It might rain later today and tomorrow, but we are enjoying every minute we can.

Yesterday the adults all went inside for about 30 minutes and when we went back out the kids had dug about a 6 foot deep hole in the sand. Well, needless to say, I freaked out. I did take a picture before I made them fill it partially back in, though. I felt bad because they were so excited, but I really didn't want to be the tragic "sand collapses on small child" vacation story on the 6:00 news!

I did have a small tragedy yesterday -- my cell phone jumped out of my pocket and went for a swim in the ocean. I had it in my jacket pocket and when I leaned over to pick up a shell that phone jumped right into a wave. I reached for it just as the wave went back out so it was REALLY under the water and the sand. I got it all dried out and it works, but it is on constant vibrate. So, I will probably have to bury it when I get home. But hey, what's a vacation without a good "swimming phone" story!?!

Since we have internet access at the beach house we're staying at, I thought I would go ahead and post a card for you! This was one of my favorites from last month's workshop. I used the Top Note die to make a bunch of frames for an event at church last month (I may have shown them to you -- I can't remember). As a result, I had to come up with a card using the red cutout. I just love white embossing on red cardstock, so here it is. The ladybug was the obvious addition to make the card complete.

Since I'm not at home, I can't look at the names of the stamp sets, but I know the little "swirly" is from an older retired set (maybe an SAB set from last year). The ladybug is from a level 1 hostess set in the new catalog -- something dots. If you need to know for sure, I can find out when I get home and let you know. Anyway, I used VersaMark and white embossing powder for the "swirlies" on Real Red cardstock. The ladybug is colored using the Real Red and Basic Black Stampin' Write Markers. I'm not sure what set the sentiment is in. It says "friend to friend". All this is mounted on Whisper White cardstock. It's a really simple card but, like I said, it is one of my favorites. And I guess it's only fair to say that you will be seeing those Top Note die cuts again and again, since I still have about 50 of them! Maybe I could do a post on "30 ways to use a red top note die"!

Have a great week!

I have several things to tell you today, so bear with me! When I get finished, I promise to show you another card. Here it goes:

March Workshop in April

Due to the last minute vacation that we are being blessed with, the March workshop has been rescheduled for the first weekend in April. The time and place is the same -- Friday at 6:00 and Saturday at 1:30 at Noble Roman's Ross Center (Washington Avenue). I am going start something new this month also. Everyone who eats can write their name on the receipt and put into a special drawing for their next workshop to be FREE!

Ribbon Share

Mr. Brown should be delivering the ribbon (along with some other fun stuff!) this afternoon. My plan is to spend this evening and tomorrow getting it all cut and sorted and bagged (I won't just throw it in a box like mine!) and have it ready for delivery on Thursday. If you have already ordered your share/shares, I will be contacting you tonight or tomorrow to arrange delivery. If you haven't already ordered and want to get in on it, I think I will have 3 or 4 of each color group still available. E-mail and let me know what you want and I will add you to my list to deliver on Thursday. Since I am leaving on Saturday for vacation, if I don't get it to you Thursday, I won't be able to deliver it until I get home. I'm subbing on Friday and leaving EARLY Saturday morning, so you could still come by and get it Friday, but that's it until I get home. If you click on the Ribbon Share link to the left, it will take you to the post that tells the color groups and costs.

Starter Kit Promotion

During Sale-a-Bration, Stampin' Up! is offering several different starter kit promotions all at the same time. The first is that if you order the starter kit before the end of March, you get an extra stamp set of your choice FREE. As if that isn't enough, they are also offering a discount on the starter kit (regular price $199, sale price $169). Now they have added a third opportunity -- the option to pay for it in 3 payments instead of 1. If that sounds interesting to you -- whether you want to just get a lot of stuff for a great price, or if you are interested in being an active demonstrator and holding workshops -- contact me for more details.

Sale-A-Bration

Dont' forget, Sale-a-Bration ends on March 31. That is the last chance to spend $50 and get a free stamp set from the Sale-A-Bration brochure.

Okay, I think that's everything! Here's the card I promised:

This card is sort of a case (copy) of the Sock Monkey card on page 68 of the Spring and Summer catalog. I don't have the Sock Monkey, so I came up with this. It is very different from my usual style and I haven't really decided that I love it, but everyone at the workshop seemed to like it. I do like that it doesn't have any flowers on it, so it could be for a guy's birthday.

Anyway, here are the details:

Stamps: Think Happy Thoughts and Party Hearty
Paper: Basic gray, Real Red, Green Galore, Brilliant Blue and Shimmery white
Ink: Brilliant blue and Basic Gray
Accessories: 1", 1 1/4", 1 3/8" and 1 3/4" Circle punches, buttons, 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals and glue dots

Well, now I'm off to get some cards listed on e-bay, run errands and try to get something done so we can really leave early on Saturday! Have a great day!

Finally -- Another Card!

Hi everyone! I finally have another day at home to say hi and show you a new card. Last weekend I had a sort of "vacation". I didn't have ANYWHERE I had to be on Friday night or all day Saturday, and I even had the morning off at church so I got to just go and sit in the service. With that and the beautiful weather we had last weekend, it really felt like a vacation. I let the kids have everyone in the neighborhood to play, so we had 10 kids in the backyard for about 3 hours! We used to do that all the time, but just haven't had the free time for a while. It was really fun!

I spent some time organizing my stamp/scrappbook room and unpacking all of my stuff and putting it away, one bag at a time. After dragging stuff around for the last 3 weeks or so, I couldn't find anything and had been working on the dining room table because my desk was so covered up there was no room! So I have moved back in and have finishing the kits I had leftover from last month's workshop.

I am going to try to the "card-a-day" thing that I did a couple of weeks ago, so we'll see how many days in a row I can get to it! Anyway, here's the first one.

These are the supplies:

Stamps: Darling Dots (hostess set)
Ink: Rose Red
Paper: Rose Red, Blush Blossom and Bravo Burgundy
Accessories: square punch, cuttlebug, vanilla taffeta ribbon, big bite


This is a really simple card, but I thought it turned out cute. This stamp set is a level 1 hostess set with 8 stamps. The ones on this card as well as a leaf, a gift, a cupcake and a ladybug. (You'll get to see the ladybug on another card later in the weekend.) This is the first time I had used the embossing border strips with the cuttlebug. I really like how it just adds a little something to the blank spot on the card. I used the big bite to punch a hole right behind the large square to loop the ribbon through. That saves a lot of ribbon!


I'm off to call Noble Roman's to try to change the date for my workshop (the one I haven't announced yet!). I was planning to have it the weekend at the end of spring break, but some wonderful friends of ours have invited us to go to Alabama to the beach with them for spring break, so I won't be here! We are all so excited! One thing about having 4 kids -- you don't often get invited to go ANYWHERE with other people, let alone on vacation!! So I will let you all know as soon as I get the date changed.



Have a great weekend!

Candles from an Italian Feast

I know -- I said I was going to be here every day. I didn't mean to lie, it just hasn't happened this week. I had a great workshop last Friday night. It was small, but I think everyone had a good time. I'll show you those cards in the next few days, but today I want to show you some candles that I made for a luncheon at church. We had an Italian Feast for a lady who is going to Italy with a missionary team start a new church in Verona. So we decorated in an Italian theme and had a pasta and salad meal.

For the candles I used the 3 leaf stamp from Pretty Petals which is retired. (That's why I have such a hard time parting with old stamps. You just never know when you will need that leaf!) I stamped those in Handsome Hunter and then used the little leaf from Itty Bitty Buds and stamped it in Perfect Plum. The ribbon was really more of a wine color, but matched the napkins. They turned out really pretty and the tables looked great. The candles sat in the middle of gold chargers with ivy around them.

At this point some of you are thinking "how did she stamp on those candles?" I didn't exactly stamp ON the candles. The stamping is done on tissue paper. Then you trim closely around the image, lay it on the candle and wrap wax paper tightly around it. Using your heat gun, you heat up the image (through the wax paper) and it melts the tissue paper into the wax on the candle. When you peel the wax paper off, the image will be on the candle! It's a WOW sort of like embossing. I never get tired of seeing the result!

Have a great day!

A Little Late -- But Who's Keeping Track?

Okay, I know I'm a little off schedule for this card, but last night I had an incident. Those of you who know me are not surprised. My life is full of "incidents"! So yesterday I subbed and had a great day. I got home and was doing some dishes and cleaning up a little before I took the kids to church for King's Kids (choir). The inside of my mouth started feeling funny on one side and then my cheek started sort of itching. I went to the bathroom to see what it looked like and my cheek was swelling up! Then I realized that my eye had been itching on the way home from school, so I took off my glasses and, sure enough, my eye was swollen on the outside edge. I was having an allergic reaction to something -- I still haven't figured out what -- so I had to take some Benadryl. It was all I could do to get home from church before I fell asleep, so I really just "lost" the whole evening! I think I slept from about 7:30 until 5:30 this morning.



So, now that I have awakened from my long winter's nap, here is the card for today! This is another from my Birthday Bash workshop in early January. (I think it looks better in person, but would probably look better in a photo rather than a scan.)

Here are the details:

Stamps: Party Hearty
Paper: Pink pirouette, Rose red, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate chip and Rose Red
Accessories: Scallop edge, non-SU scallop square, 1/2 inch circle and pink pirouette striped grosgrain ribbon

The party hats have stickles on the tops, but you can't see that in the scan. The ribbon is fed through both holes from the front and the crossed over and fed back through the opposite hole. It seems to lay a little flatter that way than if it is tied in a knot.

Well, I have to go (frantically) get one more card made for my 10 for $15 workshop for tomorrow night and then cut all 5 of them. My friend Kimmay offered to help me cut, but I'm not sure I'm even organized enough to take her up on it. Besides that, she might call the health deparment if she had to come in my house! I'm sure there are laws about children living in these conditions!! But hey, who has time to clean house when you've gotta' stamp?!?

Have a great day!

Today is "freak out because I'm not ready for my Friday workshop" day! I woke up this morning with NO cards even designed, let alone cut. On some weeks this wouldn't be such a big deal, but this week I am teaching Wednesday and Friday, so today and Thursday are all that are left. I'm thinking that maybe on Thursday I should cut -- just a thought! Well, it's looking better now than it did this morning. I have 4 of the 5 samples almost finished. I just need to fine-tune them a little bit and figure out the 5th.

Anyway, I am sticking to my goal of posting a card each day for 5 days. This picture is really lousy, but it's actually a scan. Part of sticking to my daily goal is to NOT take time out to re-take pictures! So, you'll just have to forgive me!

Here are the details:

Paper: Barely banana, bashful blue, certainly celery, bashful blue DSP and shimmery white

Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes

Accessories: markers, ribbon and dimensionals

I LOVE this set! I thought this card turned out really cute and the ladies at the workshop seemed to like it, too.

Well, that's all for today. See you tomorrow!

Today's Birthday Card

Okay, here I go -- 2 days in a row I'm posting a card! That's a record for me. Here are the details for this birthday card from my Birthday Bash:

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Basic Black, Baja Breeze Designer Series Paper, Whisper White

Stamps: Pick a Petal, Bitty Birthday

Ink: Baja Breeze

Accessories: 2 Way Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds, brad, ticket corner punch, word window punch

This card is really simple, but cute. Stamping the bow is a little tricky, but if you stamp the first two bottom "petals" straight across from each other, then stamp the one straight up and fill in between with the other two, it seems easier to get them spaced evenly. Other than that, everything is pretty straightforward. Of course, as always, the glitter makes the card! I always say that glitter makes everything pretty!

Thanks a lot for looking! I have to go make some cards for my workshop this weekend. But wait -- it's only Monday -- no need to start too soon . . .

Have a great evening!

Another Busy Week

Where does the time go?!? I can never believe how long it's been since I've posted. The last week has been blur between trying to get gift bags finished for an SISF swap to photo frames for an event at church. All that and throw in a trip to the emergency room (he's fine -- "just" a migraine) and the week is gone and I'm not ready for the one coming up!

I wanted to get something posted (just in case anyone out there is looking) because I'm teaching 3 days this week and have a workshop on Friday, so I'm not going to have much spare time. I was looking back over the last few posts and realized that I didn't post any of my cards from my birthday bash back at the beginning of January. (Yes, I threw myself a party and people paid to come!) I really liked all of the cards, so I think I will (try) to show you one each day for the next 5 days. We'll see at the end of the week how that worked out!

I love the way this card turned out! The colors and supplies are:

Cardstock: Yo-yo Yellow, Pacific Point and Whisper White

Stamps: Bitty Birthday

Accessories: Corner rounder, Scallop punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, whisper white ribbon, Cuttlebug Happy Birthday embossing folder, both tag punches (inside), dimensionals and tissue paper.

I got the adorable idea for the real tissue paper from someone on Splitcoast Stampers -- sorry, I can't remember who. The gift is raised up on dimensionals.

For the inside, I stamped "And many more" from Party Hearty in Pacific Point on white and punched it and layered it on a large Pacific Point tag.

I hope you all have a great week!

Some New Ideas

Monthly Card Service

So last week I was having a conversation with a friend who said "Tomorrow is my mother-in-law's birthday, so I have to go buy her a card." That got me thinking -- do my friends realize that I sell cards?!? So here's what I'm going to do -- I'm going to offer a monthly card service. For those of you who like to give handmade cards, but either don't like to make them or simply don't have time, I will do it for you. Here's the deal:
Give me your order by the 15th of the month and I will have the cards you need before the 1st of the following month. The cost will be as follows:

Each month I will create 10 unique cards.
Unique cards -- $2.50
Duplicate cards -- $2.00
All orders will include envelopes.
For exampe, if you want 10 different cards, the cost will be $25. If you want 10 cards, but just 5 designs (2 each of 5 unique cards), the cost will be $22.50.

You can specify birthday, thinking of you, sympathy or whatever you want or need for that month. 5 of the 10 cards will be made at my monthly workshop at Noble Roman's.

Monthly Hostess Clubs

This is an idea that I've been thinking about for a while. Here's how it works: 5 people commit to being a part of a monthly group and to spending $30 per month on Stampin' Up! product. Each month, the group will get together for a short time (maybe at my house) and I will provide supplies to make a project. The project will cost a small fee (less than $5) to recover my cost. Each month, one of the members (chosen at random) will be the "hostess". That person will receive AT LEAST $15 in free merchandise and a Level 1 hostess set. Any additional orders can increase those hostess benefits.

What are the benefits, you ask? Besides receiving hostess benefits, with a small group, we will be able to use some accessories that I am not able to use in a large group setting, due to the cost. Each month the project will feature either a Designer Series Paper pack or an accessory. Some of the projects will be similar to the "table favor" gift that I give away at my monthly workshops.
Please note that the number of members does not have to be 5. More members would make the monthly $ commitment less. I also think it would be really fun to do a club focusing on scrapbooking, too. Let me know if you want to be a part of one of the clubs.

February Ribbon Share

I often hear people comment that they love Stampin' Up! ribbon, but they don't need 15 yards of one color -- go figure! So, from now until February 15, I will be taking orders for a ribbon share. I have divided all of the colors of SU 1/4" grosgrain ribbon randomly into groups of 5 colors. (White is duplicated to make it come out even.) I will purchase a spool of each color in a group and cut it into 3 yard lengths, so each participant will recieve 3 yards of each of the 5 colors in that group. The cost to participate is $6 per color grouping. That is the cost of one spool of ribbon (including shipping and tax). For $24, you can have 3 yards of every color (6 yards of white) of 1/4" grosgrain ribbon that Stampin' Up! makes!

Here are the color groupings:

Group 1: Basic Black, Apricot Appeal, Bravo Burgundy, Bashful Blue and Mellow Moss
Group 2: Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Elegant Eggplant, Sage Shadow and Always Artichoke
Group 3: Very Vanilla, Real Red, Night of Navy, Certainly Celery and Chocolate Chip
Group 4: Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive and Whisper White

Send me an e-mail at stephanie@thehiggins.com or leave a comment here to let me know which color groups you want to participate in. If I get 3 or more responses for any color group, I will also participate to make it work. If I don't get at least 3 responses for a color group, I may not be able to order that group.

Let It Snow!

Hi Everyone! I think this is the calm before the storm, so to speak. After a CRAZY week last week -- busted water pipes and a 5-day sub job -- today I am home alone! WooHoo! But, I think that tomorrow will be back to crazy with the snowstorm that seems to be approaching (if the kids are out of school). Luckily, I got really busy this weekend and have 4 of the 5 cards we will be doing this weekend designed. I have tried to stick close to the Valentine theme without making them ALL so "Valentiney" that you couldn't send them for another occassion. I need to come up with one more -- maybe snowflakes?!? The calendars that you see laying under the cards will be the table favors. They aren't quite finished yet, but will be just about like the one's I made last year.


I forgot to tell you about one of the specials that Stampin' Up! is running from February 1 - April 30 (or until supplies run out). With any order placed at my Stampin' Up! website -- http://www.2scrappygirls.stampinup.net/ -- you will receive a FREE Idea Book and Catalog! One of the awesome things about ordering online is that your order is shipped directly to you.



I still have 4 of the new catalogs available at the discounted price of $8. Let me know if you want one. See you this weekend!

Stampin' Stuff

Well, I'm back and it's well into the new year. There is a lot going on in the world of Stampin' Up! (as well as in the Higgins' world, but you all don't have time for that!) There only 2 days left to order any retiring sets at a 10% discount. Orders will be taken from the new catalog and the holiday mini until January 18 and you can start ordering from the new catalog on January 19. I will have the new catalogs at my monthly workshops on January 30 and 31 -- for sale at the discounted price of $8. I will limit the discount to the first 8 catalogs sold, so if you want to reserve one, please let me know.

The Love You Much promotion is also going on until January 31. This is an opportunity to order a bundle that includes the Love You Much stamp set, Candy Lane Designer Series Paper and the new Heart to Heart punch for the discounted price of $41.48. That's a 20% discount!
Of course we're all excited for Sale-a-Bration to get here! As always, there are 6 choices of free products with EACH $50 order you place. This year's choices include a ribbon bundle and a double-sided paper pack as well as 4 awesome stamp sets. There's something for everyone, so start deciding what you want to order!

I'm excited about my monthly workshop this month. We will do a Valentine's Day card using the Love You Much bundle and some all occasion cards using some stamps from the new catalog. I hope you can all join me either on Friday night at (January 30) 6:00 or on Saturday (January 31) at 1:00. (Yes, that's earlier than usual because I have to clear out for someone else to use the room by 5:00.)

I will try to post some pictures in the next few days. I was going to post some pics of the cards from my Birthday Bash, but I didn't realize that all I had were scans and they are really bad. So I will take some photos so you can all see them.

Have a great weekend!

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!