My classes are coming along nicely!

I am having such a wonderful time with my weekly Hobby Lobby classes. The hardest part is not showing them on Facebook until after class. I get so excited once I have finished my projects for the upcoming weeks class that I want to get them posted and start on some more. I have a tons of ideas and can't wait to share them! Here are some of our finished projects made in class.

Hobby Lobby Classes

Jumping in with both feet......I have decided to host a weekly paper crafting class at our local Hobby Lobby. I have never done anything like this before, but I thought....why not?  Like many of my fellow crafters I am blessed with abundant paper, gadgets, inks, stamps, and tons of ideas and sketches that I would love to share with others. I totally love making cards and mini's and have tentatively planned a class every Wednesday morning. Our first class was on October 12th and we had three ladies to show up and had a great time crafting together. I was tickled to find out most of the ladies had never used many of the mediums planned for our projects. I never realized how much time is involved with planning and preparing for a weekly three hour class. I now spend several mornings making notes, cutting paper, and getting my ducks in a row for class. I hate to pay for a class with an unprepared teacher. Trying my best to make sure this will not happen!  Needless to say it has been so much fun. On our last class we were laughing so much that we had some of the stores customers looking in to see what was going on. Here are some pictures of the cards and projects done in class.

This is a card portfolio. Totally made from using cardstock and ribbon.

It will hold up to four handmade cards

Inside view

I love how these leaves turned out

I enjoyed finding several fonts and ink colors on my computer for this verse

We used embossing folders and Spellbinder dies for this card

We "rock and rolled" on the cork, used an edge punch,

another Spellbinder die, & stamped an image

A close up view of the card. Thanks for looking!

Nashville Creating Keepsakes Convention August 2011

Yesterday, my friends Carolyn, Kathy, and I traveled to Nashville for the Creating Keepsakes Convention. None of us had ever been to a scrapbooking convention and were excited and counting the days until we could go. We wanted to be there in time for our early pass at 9:00 AM. This allowed us to shop with the vendors one hour prior to the doors opening at 10:00 AM and was granted to anyone that attended three or more classes. We left Cullman Alabama at 5:30 AM ready for our day in Tennessee. The convention was scheduled for two and a half days and would go from Thursday afternoon through Saturday night. We debated on spending Friday night in order to attend classes on Saturday, but Carolyn had a family birthday party to attend on Saturday so we planned our trip just for Friday. We had planned on taking a small roll around to hold our class supplies and goodies we would be buying, but upon reading our emails, these were not allowed. I really didn't think it would be a huge issue, but before we even attended our first class at 12:30 PM, my shoulders were killing me and I had a slight headache from carrying a heavy tote bag in one hand and another one on my other shoulder. Carolyn was the only smart one in the bunch. She brought a backpack with wheels. If we attend next year, you can bet I will have one too! We all attended three classes and lucked up on getting in our last class together. My only issue with the class schedule was the extreme short time allowed for each class and that the papers used for all of my classes were older and most likely discontinued.  Also with only having two and a half hours to shop and have lunch prior to our first class, it just did not allow us enough time to look at everything and we ended up rushing to our first class. We all agreed that if we attended next year we would go for two days. The first day just to shop with the vendors, attend the Friday night crop, and take all of our classes the following day. This would allow plenty of time to see and do everything. All in all we had a wonderful, fun girls trip. 

                                                 Kathy, me, and Carolyn

                                         

                                               Carolyn and me upon arriving at the hotel

                                               A small area of the huge vendors area

                                             This was from our "So Very Beautiful" class

                                                          

                                Trying to get this rotated, but this was my favorite class project.

                                                                 Signs were everywhere!

                               The Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center was beautiful

Summer is Over

Boy, it has been forever since I have been on my blog! Summer has come and seems like it is almost gone. All I hear is "back to school" sales and when you visit Hobby Lobby they have tons of Christmas stuff out. Today my friend Carolyn and I went there and I bought some adorable Holiday paper and embellishments. I told her it was time to start making my Christmas cards. I only need around 50, but it will take me several weekends to get them done. Last year I made around 25, but I loved them so much I kept half and never mailed them out. LOL

My two Grands were here this summer for two months. Our family went to Orange Beach together the first week in June. Afterwards my two daughters drove back to Texas and Rick and I kept our Grands at our house. Madison, our three year old stayed for a month. She could and would have stayed longer if we wanted to push it, but when she got tired she would cry a little and ask for her Mommy. So she went home and then a month later Alex our ten year old followed. This week our house has been so empty. Initially I just hated coming home and not having them here. But, now after a few days have passed the pain is not as sharp or as bad. Alex and her best Alabama friend Kansas are already talking about Spring Break and next summer. It works for me!

Next weekend Carolyn, another friend Kathy, and I are going to Nashville for a Creating Keepsakes Convention. It is being held for the full weekend, but with this being our first one to attend, we are coming and going the same day. Initially I had planned on taking my roll around tote, but after looking at our information, we realized they are not allowed. So I bought a small shoulder tote to take and hope it will work out. All three of us are taking three classes during the day and hoping to do a little shopping with the vendors. I know we will have a great time together!

 Here is a card I made for my sweet Momma. I hope she will like it. It's funny. This card started off so totally different than the finished card. It's amazing how a page or card can change! It should have been made and mailed the first week in July, but I had two good excuses....Alex and Madison. LOL Enjoy!

Andrea Walford

I am so disappointed! One of my most favorite stampers and Stampin Up demonstrator, Andrea Walford is no longer working with Stampin Up! I guess it is not allowed to be a SU employee and publicly use other companies products. Because of this she made a heartfelt decision to walk away and continue using products not limited to SU. I applaud her decision. I know in my own SB room I have dozens of different brands that I love and enjoy using. Stampin Up has a wonderful selection and is a great product, but there are so many other companies dealing with the same compliance issues that are handled in a more appropiate manner. I love SU, but love and admire Andrea more!

 http://andreawalford.com/why-i-am-no-longer-a-stampin-up-demonstrator-how-it-affects-you

My Honey's 2011 Valentine Card

This is my husband's Valentine card. It started off being a very simple card using tone on tone colors, a verse, and a ribbon. Shortly after working on it I started pulling papers from two new paper lines I recently bought and before I knew it, I was adding flowers, floral papers, and pearls. My Mom would have loved it, but this was for my sweet husband. He loved it too and didn't mind it not being a masculine card.

CHAW11 - NEW Hello Luscious Collection

Oh dear....It keeps getting better and better! I just love the new Hello Luscious Collection. I have never been a great fan with Basic Grey, but with Kristina Werner joining their team and the wonderful new paper and digital lines, it is rapidly becoming one of my favorites!

A few Valentine Cards

I have not been in the scraping or card making mood since Christmas. December was a very busy month with us finally selling our other house, going to Texas for the Holiday, and on top of it all I had the flu for two weeks. I am so thankful for my monthly crop that I attend. This really got me motivated to get some cards made. This month we had a card challenge and the only colors we were allowed to use were red, pink, and white. The good thing was our challenge project was due by January 26th, which made me get busy to meet the deadline! If you are even one day late, you are banned from participating in any further challenges for the next six months. So I made a mess of my scrapbook room (like it ever gets clean!) and made three cards. Once I had turned in my cards, I then made another card with no rescrictions and I think I like it most of all. Now I just need a little more inspiration to get around five more made and then I'll be done!

 

       Love using my Cuttlebug embossing folders

 I love using these stick pins. I bought every color my ebayer was selling. The flower was fun and quick to make too!

 This flower was pretty simple too

 Least favorite card

 My most favorte I think. I am really loving adding lace and ribbons to my cards!

 I love pearls more than diamongs.

I just love Stampin Up's wide ribbons. Found this in their clearance isle, which makes it all the sweeter!

Valentine / wedding heart punch couple

Valentine / wedding heart punch couple

Valentine / wedding heart punch couple

Wow....it has been a while since I have posted anything on my blog. Here is a fantastic video I found tonight while blog surfing, which I love to do and spend way too much time doing! Enjoy

Clean and Simple Stamping

http://cleanandsimplestamping.blogspot.com/2010/11/116.html

I had such a fun time making this card. I actually found my inspiration from one of my favorite stampers; Michelle Woerner. Very talented lady! I have followed Clean and Simple Stamping's blog for a long time, but this is the first time I have added one of my projects.  Well, here is my version of her beautiful card.

This is Michelle's beautiful card

On my card, I used several Stampin Up products. Their Tree Trimmings stamps, Naturals White cardstock, Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz, Poppy Parade, and Close to Cocoa inks, Top Note Die, and Dimensionals. Cuttlebugs Polka Dots embossing folder, Spellbinders Classic Frames, Verve Joy to the World stamp, Fantastix's Frost White Shimmer Paint, One a String Gold Lame Cord by Craftsetc, and my most favorite 6x6 mini deck so far this year...Mitten Weather by Cosmo Cricket.

Well, a day later I made another card using the same theme. I am trying to make two of each card I create. One for me to send out to my family and friends and the second one will be part of a card set as a gift. Anyway, here is the second card I made. I am not a purple person, so I thought this would be a great project to use some of the purple papers in this mini deck. I love using pearls on my cards too as you can tell!

Another Halloween Card

(I just found this pending post and pic. Not sure if it has been sent out, but sorry if it has) My husband would say I sure do need to be spending my energy cleaning the house and not tucked away in my studio playing. He's been wrong before, but not this time. LOL!  But oh well...I'm not leaving! Here is a quick card I made as I was attempting to go thru and organize my Sizzix dies. I have found several nice ones at http://www.sizzix.com/outlet  Really a great place to pick up some cheap dies.

Another Card for Mom

Never fails...try to clean things up and I make an even bigger mess! Started off working hard as I was cleaning things out, unitl I found tons of forgotten stuff. From there I was back at my desk using the stuff. I still prefer Prismacolor pencils, but slowly getting more comfortable with using the Copic's. Everyone tells me if I take a Copic class I will really love them. I'm afraid of that too. They are not cheap either, around $7.00 per pen. I only have a small few, around twenty, but for now I'm fine with what I have. Anyway, a card for my sweet Momma. She was here last weekend for a short visit on their way to Florida for the winter. I sure do miss her when she's gone. Her visits are just too short. Love you Mom!

Organizing my Ribbons

Trying to get a hold of my craft room. It is horrible..... again! If I don't make a card, page, or project my room will stay pretty decent, but like when I am cooking it's all or nothing! I got these cute paper mache boxes from Hobby Lobby a year or so ago. They have been on the shelf collecting dust until I attempted to reorganize my room. I decided to put all of my ribbons in them. Later after I took this picture I used my Cricut and added "Ribbons" to the front of the yellow box. Maybe now I will use them more.

Just finished adding "Ribbons" to the 3rd box. Now to fill them up!

Stampin' Up! Witches Hat Treat Holder

Isn't this adorable? I have several variations of this pattern, but this is what I am making this weekend for my little Treaters for Saturday night and for my kids in Texas. Got to get them in the mail on Monday!

Christmas Card Box

I spent all of last week getting ready for our neighborhood garage sale that we had this weekend. I really need to be putting things back in the attic and straightening my house. My sweet Momma will be visiting us  this coming weekend, but instead I opened my mailbox today, saw Angie's video, and just had to make one too! So here is my version of this cute card box. I used the DCWV Holiday Collection "The Christmas Stack" for this sweet card box. It has 180 beautiful coordinating papers in this nice stack. Anyway....who doesn't love to procrastinate????  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3xZvo7a6ag

Tag Swap

I checked mail yesterday on my way to work and saw a package in the mail box...then I saw my own handwriting on the envelope and got sooo excited. My tags from my first ever tag swap I participated in were here! I was going down the road opening the envelope and pulling out tags, one by one. I am sure if someone happened to look over at my car they would have been none to excited to see me opening my mail while driving, but I couldn't help myself! My only disappointment is not knowing who to thank for their beautiful tags.  Only one tag had the complete info on the back, three other's had names but no email or blog info, and then one had no info at all :(  But...I was quilty of doing the same thing. All I did was write Cheryl and Z-Scaper on the back of the ones I mailed in. I had no idea how important a name, email address, or blog info would be. I will now try and do a little research! 

 Not a lot to go on...just Group #3 and looks like the name Martin. I love the cartridge she used in making this, but not sure which one it is. She spent a lot of time piecing all of this together. Good job!

(Added later; this tag was tied for 2nd place!)

 This is sooo cute! This was from Bea Robinson. I think I have her on my blog list, but will check and make sure. I know we are on Skype together. I can't wait to "thank" her for this super nice tag! It was just too nice to open tho, so I took my pic without taking it out of the package. Bea spent a lot of time with the outside package of her tag also. I love the handwriting on it. I try and add some of my own handwriting on everything I make. I have horrible printing, but I think it's important to whoever receives it.

 This is really a great tag, but it has no name or any info to go by. I take hundreds of pics when we go on a trip or visit our Grands and this would be a great mini to make. You can't tell, but she has two layers with summer on the bottom layer and a window on the top layer showcasing the font. She also has a dozen or so ribbon ties with cute sayings attached on the top right. Really cute!

This is from Lisa AKA Scrapsation. I need to try and locate her also. Really nice bright colors and a lot of paper piecing also.

(Added later; This won 1st place!!)

 I was soooo happy to receive this tag. Kathy had shown it on her blog in September and I thought "wow!" It is totally an awesome tag and I love every inch of it. This was done by Marianne Ash at PaperPiecer.blogspot.com and her YouTube name is Mash723. I will be looking for her!

.

Marianne even added this fun tag to her tag package!  I listed my personal tag in an earlier post. I will have to go back and relocate my tag and post it on her too. I just wish I had made one for myself...oh well next time I will! Have a good Saturday and ROLL TIDE ROLL!!
Okay, I found my tag...here it is