You are so DEER

And the WINNER IS!!!! ......... Chelsea!!! If you could send me your home mailing address and complete name I will get it in the mail for you!!

Today I am showing you more of my photo cards made with pictures I took in my own backyard. I had seven deer out there at one time and really had a great photo shoot with them. I have a lot of beautiful pictures but here are just three of them that I made into cards. The top one I used one of the new sets from Serendipity called Edge Designs. It is beautiful along the edges of envelopes too! I am not sure how I have lived without that set. I have been using it a lot! The words from the top card are from a set called Be Still. Remember you can click on the pictures to see a larger one and there are links to the sets and papers.

For the bottom two cards I used a new set called You Are from Serendipity for the works ... I thought they went well with the pictures. I also used the set Mountain Scenery for the background. I have found that this type of cards are great for using up all of my tags! I have so many and find they work well with the pictures. The tags on the last two are from the Soar with it Collection called Reece.

I had a wonderful birthday thanks to so many of my wonderful friends!! I didn't cook all weekend ... and that is a GOOD thing! I went to a quilt show on Saturday and boy have I had the itch to start sewing again. Most of you do not know but I did machine applique and made children's and baby's clothes as a small business on my own when my daughter was a baby. I really enjoyed it. My mom taught me to sew when I was in second grade and I kept on sewing most of my younger life .... until l meant stamps, inks and paper. So ... we will see what happens here. I am getting my sewing machine fixed and cleaned right now so who will win ... paper or fabric??? Have a beautiful day .. the sun is so bright today!! I love it! Blessings

Genevieve Desk set

TAC just announced that the Stamps of the Months will now be available on-line only after there month at their regular price! This is great news!! They have some really nice ones and if you do not have a $30 order to get it at a discounted price during it's month, you can stil get the set. You can see these on my TAC site, at the bottom where it says On-line sets.

Here is a desk set I made a while ago for TAC but they did not use it in the catalogue that year so I am going to share it with all of you. It is made with the Genevieve FWIC papers which are 9 x 9 inch printed cardstock. The colors are all the rich regal shades. This set is made up of a picture frame, small notebook, yogurt container for pencils and pens, a mini calender, a pouch, a little book to remind you of things and gift card holder. I was really please on how they all turned out. I have included a close up of each of the items for you to see also. I hope you like them. Remember you can click on the pictures to see them closer. Blessings

Spec-TAC-ular Savings!!!

YES, this means that all of the Stamps with TAC are half price that have a T-code (no TAC or R codes). This is an amazing sale! The best I have ever seen with TAC.

Don't forget about, the Wonderful Winter Wishes promotion is still on through February 2nd with some new sets discounted with a $30 sale. TAC has the SOTM for Jan and a Vintage SOTM promotion going on also! Click on the links to see them.

Email or call your orders in so I can be sure you can take advantage of all of this and get your FREE Gift with Purchase stamps and Hostess sets too. Blessings

File boxes

As I promised, here are two new items I will be selling this weekend at my craft show. They are 4 x 6" file boxes that I made completely from paper (they are not altered art). The first one is an all purpose one using my favorite Soar with it Collection from TAC, Willoughby SCIC, and the stamp set Summer Elegance. The second one is for the holidays using TAC's Reece SWIC and the stamp set Holly Flourishes. You can see that the inside have actual files for organizing coupons, recipes, mail, pictures, notes, contact information, customer's information or what I originally made it for was the directions for all of my classes since I print them on a quarter sheet of paper. These files would not be as easy to make without the Scor-pal since the scoring and folding on these must be very accurate. A smaller version of these will be shown on an upcoming Scor-pal newsletter so keep a watch out for it. The Zip Dry glue is also a must for making these since it drys clean, dries quickly, is strong, and the extra can be rubbed off. Well, I still have a few more things to get ready for tomorrow. Blessings

Where does the time go???

To get everyone updated .. my Stamp-a-Stack was a great success!! There were 17 stampers who made a total of 380 cards in four hours!! I think everyone had a great time and had a relaxed day of stamping. It was so much fun. As for my craft show last weekend. All I can say is WOW!!!! I had the highest sales in my craft show experience! I sold out (or have one left) of at least four items, which are my top items and I thought I had made enough for the whole craft show season. Well, I have a lot of work to get done in the next two weeks to get ready for my next shows. But it is really fun work and customers came and gave me more ideas etc. I especially like it when last years customers come back and share with me what they did with the items they purchased the year before and how much they like them. I feel like I have made a difference in there life .. even though it is a small one. I saw so many people I know, it was so much fun seeing everyone and meeting new people also!!

OK you are here not to read all of this but to get more ideas. I made a few mini flip out albums like the Halloween one I had show. I started with a 12 x 12 piece of cardstock and scored it at 6" in both directions with my Score-Pal. (Great tool!!) Then cut one of the scores to the center and folded it up. After it is folded I like to cut off about 1/2" from each side so they are now even. When you fold them there is bulk from the other sections and this makes the sides nice and flat and even. Then I decorated the pages with my favorite set Always Remember, Friendship Strips, flower and oval punches, ribbon, dotted Swiss Cuttlebug embossing folder, tags and pull outs and Reese Soar with it Collection. These are easy and fun to make!

Last Tues (election day) I played hooky in the afternoon since we had 70 degree plus weather! It was great to get to go for a walk at the Arboretum with friends. Then I worked a few hours on Wed, Thurs and Friday afternoon (between stamping) getting my leaves done. But the leaves had not all fallen yet. Then the temperatures started to drop ... sleet ... rain and then this morning I woke up to about 2" of snow!! That is northeast Ohio for you, quick change of seasons. I still have leaves on the treas. Yuck!! Oh .. but no one told me I would get MORE birds coming to my feeder .... and more different types!!! I really enjoy watching them. There are so many more there this morning, it is do much fun watching them all. I need to get going and get some work done. Have two big workshops this week and lots of stamping and cleaning to do. My stamp room is unbelievable ..... I am not sure I will ever see the tables again. Have a great day and blessings.

All Occasion Circles

I will be teaching my Circle Crazy Class starting next week and wanted to share a sneak peek. The class is on Thurs Aug 28 from 6-8:30 (full), Sunday Aug 31 from 2-4:30, and Tues Sept 2 from 1-3:30 and 6-8:30. We will be making 6 easy and quick cards with some of TAC's fun circle stamps. This is a great class for beginners or those who want to learn quick and easy designs to make in minutes. Cost is $15 and bring your basic kit and Scor-pal. Check out my web site's calendar for more class information.

This card is made using All Occasions Circles, Hostess set Feel better, and Forever Family. I did it with one color in and black. The lighter shade is second generation ink. I use the Scor-pal on the side edge to give me a boundary so I could stamp the half circles at the same depth. Yes, the Scor-pal can be a design tool, embossing tool, scoring tool and a tool to make boundaries! It is so versatile! On the second card I used All Occasion Circles, Linear Sentiments and one of our FREE Gift with Purchase stamps from TAC.

Once a month I am going to feature a set for everyone to join in on with your samples. If you have a card made with All Occasion Circles and would like to be linked to my entry, e-mail me with your name and link to your blog or a site on the Internet to view it. I will tag these as 'Share a sample sets'. I will be updating this post as I get samples to share so come on back ya all! Blessings

Friendship Strips

I had a great time last week playing with the new TAC set Friendship Strips. If you look here you will see it used in a few cards using the limited edition set Just Dreamy, available only until Aug 15. I used the dotted line as an accent bar for the angel image, the diamond strip as a background on the bottom of a card, and the 4 lined strip as an overall background. I did make a few more but sent them away for a contest for TAC so I can not show them to you. But these images can be used for backgrounds, plaids, lines across the card, an accent and so much more. It is a very versatile set for sure!

The first cards I used the Hostess set The Morning Buzz . I placed the solid strip as an accent for the image. In the second one I used the solid strip in Burnt Umber and the 4 lined image in lavender to create a plaid on the bottom of the card. And then added the long word image on the top. I had this circle punched out with a second circle off center laying on my desk and decided to use it to accent the words 'good friend'. I stamped it repeatedly with the bold circle strip and added a ribbon bow.

My angel friend Heather Scott is also featuring this set right now on her blog so go check it out.

As a reminder that I am offering the Natalee Kit Class class next week and still have some openings if you are interested. Wed 8/13 from 1:30 or 6-8:30, on Sunday 8/17 from 2-4:30 or on Monday from 6-8:30. I have a few kits ready to go but please let me know soon so if I have to order more. Click here to see lots of pictures of it. It is a really neat class! Have a great day!! Blessings

Just dreamy Limited editon

These cute limited edition angels will be flying away soon ... so if you want them contact me soon. With a $30 order you can purchase this $10.95 set for only $7.95 until Aug 15. They are just the right size to use alone or coordinate with the larger set in The Angel Company's 2008 Inspiration Book.

Yesterday I had a great stamping day with my local group, the TAC-ee Ladies. We stamped or shall I say I stamped from 10 AM till 8 PM. I brought soup and others brought other foods to go with it and we had both lunch and dinner together. Boy was it all yummy and very productive day! This is a great way to get together with friends and get a lot of stamping or cropping done. Give your local stamping friends a call today and set one up.

For these cards I also used my 'new' favorite set Friendship Strips. It is such a versatile set as you can see in these cards. I used one of the stamps for single line under the card candy on the upper left card, as a striped bottom on the upper right side, and as a complete background on the bottom card. I will be featuring it in other samples in the near future also. I may even be offering a class on it since I like to show people first hand all you can do with one set. Let me know if you would be interested. I am stuck on brown ink lately and can not remember when I used black ink last. Brown seems to go with everything and our Burnt Umber is so deep and beautiful! I am also stuck on all of your scalloped punches and all of the shapes that go inside of them too! Enjoy your day! Blessings

What a great weekend!

I had a great time at the Open house and I hope everyone else did too! I had lots of door prizes to share and it was fun sharing with every one. Here is one of them that I gave you a sneak peek of on the last post. In the first set I used is 'Christmas Circles'. They are card candy that can be used for cards, scrapbook pages, gift bags, home made food items (cookies, bread etc) or a simple candy bar. They are really addictive to make too. I have made quite a few of them with different papers and will be teaching a class with them too.

My favorite ones are made with Angelee SWIC. I use lots of the different punches, 'Always Remember', 'All Occasion Circles', 'Sweet Goodies', 'Celebration Time', some of the new Gift with Purchase stamps, tags from the SWIC, and more. I used one of the half page page protectors to put them in, the card stock on the inside will slide out the opening at the top, under the topper. The third set is make using Lilly Anna SWIC.

I have challenged my team to try making these and will post any samples that they send me.

Sunday then i has tickets to go downtown to see Jersey Boys! If you have an opportunity to see it and love the music of the Four Seasons, be sure you go! It was wonderful!! I loved hearing the story, hearing the songs, and especially seeing the real meanings behind the songs (where they came from). It brought back lots of great high school memories too. I went with my oldest friend ... we have been friends since 5 grade. Now that is a long time. Enjoy your week! Blessings

Sneak Peeks for Open House!

Saturday is the BIG day!! Come to Mentor Faith Lutheran Church from 1-5 to get your copy of the new TAC Inspiration Books, view the new papers and kits, see projects I have been making, be the first to see and be able to sign up new classes, and view all I brought back from seminar!! It will be fun. And yes ... I am planning on baking today for all of you. Yes, Rita can bake, but she enjoys paper crafting more!

Everyone attend will get one of these ....

Here are sneak peaks at the two projects.

There will be door prizes too! To get tickets it is as easy as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

• one for attending
• one for ordering a Soar with It Collection
• two for placing a $30 order
• two for bringing a friend who is new to my business
• three for placing a $50 order
• three if your guest makes a purchase or hosts a workshop
• four if you join a Buy Power group
• four if you host a workshop in the next three months
• five sign up and pay for a class
  

Here is a sneak peek at one of the door prizes too!






And for the specials for Saturday.

• Free Inspiration Book when you join a BPG, host a workshop in the next 3 months or place a $50 order
• Every $30 you purchase you get to select a FREE Gift with Purchase stamp
  
• Purchase a SWIC ($6.95), matching card stock ($6.50), and matching ribbon ($4.95) which normally retails for $18.40 for $16, a saving of $2.40. Sale prices count in for $30 order not retail.
• Try my new favorite glue, yes I like it just as much as YES Glue! The new Zip Dry Paper Glue, retails for $6.95 , but with a $30 purchase you can try it for $5!
• Add a circle or scalloped punch, an extra jumbo or larger, to your order at regular price, and I will stamp you 10 different circle images to match your punch to play with!
• Order two $19.95 stamp sets at regular price and get two FREE DVD cases for them
  

I will also have the large DVD cases there if you want to purchase any for your new stamps.

I will also honor all of these specials for my on-line customers (except the DVD special) from Saturday to Wed of next week ( 7-12 through 7-16). You will need to e-mail me your order instead of placing it through my on-line store.

See you Saturday for all of the FUN!!! Blessings

Willoughby is calming

No .....I do not mean the city a few miles from me .... but again I am calmed when I go strolling on the streets of downtown Willoughby. I am referring to the new Willoughby SWIC paper by TAC. Yummy and classic with a blend of old world and contemporary design which makes it fit any personality or need. Here is a 6 x 6 album I made with it, the matching ribbons, hardware and card stock, matching tags (they come with the papers), flower punch, clear acetate, Burnt Umber ink, 'Always Remember' stamp set, chipboard and the Bind it all. It was so easy and quick. If you want to make one too, follow my links and put these items in your cart on my TAC web site, copy and paste the finished cart and send it to me in an e-mail. That way I will be sure you get the free stamps to go with it.

Many of the layouts I got from friends of mine new blog using 3" squares. Check out, Simply Savvy Schemes. It is a nifty concept for page layouts!

This pictures shows you the front when the clear acetate is flipped back. You can add one main picture or three smaller ones that will also show as the cover!

Here are a few of the layouts for the pages. I think they are really versatile! You can add journaling, and one or more pictures with these layouts.

These mini alums do not take that much paper either, so you can get many mini albums for one pack of paper or have left overs for cards and other projects.

But the best news is that all of the directions are in the New Fall/Winter Inspiration Book on page 74. It looks so different with the the Tutti Fruit CSWIC papers. But that is what I like about it. You can make this book to fit any need in less than a few hours.

** Note added 7/19 - I made another of these books yesterday for a friend who lost her brother. I has 13 pages and I times myself and it too me one hour and 30 minutes and that included the cutting too! I will post pictures of it later.

My Open House this time is looking HUGE!! So I ask everyone who is coming to please take your turns at the make-n-take tables. I will have two. There is a lot to look at so please take time for that if the tables are full. I think this one may be the largest one I have had to date. I have made many of the door prizes and will post later today or Friday a sneak peak at one of them and how you can receive one! If you still want to come let me know! I have to re cut more papers any way! Hope to see more of you there. We will have fun and I promise there will be lots of eye candy and card candy too!! (hint!) Blessings

Natalee Kit ... WOW!!

We made this new kit, Natalee, at seminar and I came home and finished it up. I think is is gorgeous!! It is a mantel accordion book and you can decorate both sides since it is made from 100# double sided paper. It has frames, pockets, and word plates in the kit with edges scored and ready to turn under and put in the book. These give the pages a 3D look. I will be teaching a class with this kit at my home in Aug. and and at Lakeland Community College in October. I added a lot of extra embellishments: ribbons, tags, punches, pull outs, Scrapper's Floss etc. It totally matches the Angelee SWIC so all of the papers, tags and embellishments from Angelee can be used with Natalee, too. I used our new Cardstock Strips in ivory, flowers and buttons from the new Audrey Embellishment Jar and some of the new punches! I stamped it with one of my new favorite sets, 'Always Remember' with Burnt Umber ink. It is so much more in real life!

Click here to see more pictures of this project. It will take you to my Flickr account. If you want to see a slideshow there is a button in the upper right corner. Enjoy your day!! Blessings

PS. If you are local I will have it at my Open house this Saturday from 1-5 in Mentor for you to see. Please RSVP so I know how many will be attending for the simple Make-n-takes I am preparing.

Reece family book

I am taking a break from cleaning my stamping room. Do I do that as much as I stamp? How come I can not stamp and end with a clean room? Is there something wrong with me? Any way I wanted to share this cool little book we made at seminar with all of you. I uses the new Reece SWIC and the Bind it All. And yes it is a paper bag book but not the typical type. The bags are flat, not gusseted, and then put together as pages with pull outs. I have more pictures of it at this link. I used the new set 'Welcome Home' and the set 'Family is Forever' to stamp my pages. The gold key on the front is one of our new accessories too! Isn't that cool and it goes so well with the house and family theme.

I have been busy updating my web site so go check it out. In the gallery, you can check the category you want to see and then click on the image to see a large picture of it. On the right side I told you a little about it and on some you can click to see more pictures using the same set or more pictures of the same project. I have also put more into the tip section.

I have also added a few more links at the left side of my blog to show you more pictures with the same set or more pictures of a larger project. Be sure to check them out. You may enjoy them.

Reese Collection

Love the shaded used in this new Reese Soar with it Collection by The Angel Company (TM). Here is a card using the paper as a frame with one of the awesome tags, which comes with the pack of paper, highlighted in the middle. The tag is stamped with an images from one of the new sets 'Forever Family' and then over stamped with words from one of my favorites set, 'Ordinary Greeting', it is a classic must have set. I love the tags in this collection they are so traditional but trendy too!

This second card is a little busy for me. As some of you know I love to create with the scraps laying around me of Reese and this is the result. I had stamped of few images of the houses, 'Welcome Home', at seminar and then added some of the Reese scraps and tags as accents. The words are from the set, 'Family is Forever'. I had one for TAC's new flower punches so I punched out two flowers for embellishment too. Stickles glitter is added also for accents.

Be sure to let me know if you are planning to attend my Open House on July 12, ,from 1-5, at Mentor's Faith Lutheran Church. All of these samples and more will be there for you to view, new Inspirational Books will be available, trades for seminar, project and class samples from seminar and a few make-n-takes too. Just let me know you are planning on attending!

Linear Sentiments part 2

OK.. so it wasn't Blogger that was the problem yesterday .. my computer saved my scans as .tif instead of .jpg so it would not take the pictures. I am glad I figured it out!! Here is the dotted flower from 'Linear Sentiments', used as a background stamps in a light pink on beige card stock. The tag is from the new Kit Natalee, the dragonfly is from the new Level C Hostess set (which I love!!) and the word 'friendship' is from the new Level A Hostess set called 'Laughter'. The dotted flower looks quite different from yesterday's cards! Crystal Stickles is added for extra bling!

The second card used the dotted circle from the set done in a darker shade. I then stamped 'thank you' from 'Ordinary Greetings' in Burnt Umber inside each of the circles. I used the Scor-pal to add embossed lines on each side of the sentiment stripe. The flower at the top was punched out with one of our new flower punches from the scraps from the new circle kit Sydney. Oh, I added more Crystal Stickles!

The last card I again used the scrapes from the new circle kit Sydney for the curved corner. The main flower was stamped once and then twisted 90 degrees and stamped again without re-inking to have the dirty stamped and layered look. I put Crystal Stickles in all of the dots! It really shines.

This is a timeless and classic set that has so much potential! All of the cards I did are quick and easy and remember I did them on a filled stamping table too!! Today I finished cutting out all of my new sets, getting them in DVD cases and labeled, cleaned off my stamping table, organized my trades. They are great!! Lots of good ideas! If you want to see them and try the new stamps be sure to come to my Open House on July 12!! Blessings

Linear Sentiments

Oh the versatility of some of the new sets in the new TAC's Fall/Winter Inspirational Book (IB)!! I love this set called 'Linear Sentiments' and could not wait to play with it! Here are some of my samples ... now I need to let you all know these were made in a rush with my stamp table a mess ... I hope to get it cleaned up today or Thurs! The first one I put the linear stamps along the bottom of the card. Punched out a black Mega scalloped circle, and a 2" circle. I stamped the circle with the linear stripe so it looks like background paper. The used a stamp from "Forever Family " in the middle attached with mounts. Crystal Stickles was added for sparkle of course.
This one is a 3" note card with the same set & colors. I put the linear stamps on the side by the fold, punched a 1.5" circle at the bottom and then stamped the flower inside of the punched out circle. I added a ribbon on the side and a large center of Crystal Stickles so it looks like a gem!

OK .. I have more to post but blogger is not letting me upload anymore right now so I will put up more later. I love this new set! I have put some of the new stamp sets on my product page for you all to view, so go check it out. If you need your own copy of the new IB let me know! Blessings

It's Here!!!

Yes, the new Inspiration Book & Catalogue fall/winter 2008 for The Angel Company(TM) is here!! It has 35 new stamp sets some of which I feel are timeless and classic for all different occasions, sex, ages and events, 3 new different types of mini book kits, 4 new paper collections, and lots of new embellishments and tools. What I love about this new Inspiration Book (IB) is that we have a new icon 'Punch it' for sets that coordinate with our punches, five sketches that are shown in the beginning of the book and then numbered throughout the book to show you samples using them, and my favorite is the Inspiring ideas are throughout the book showing you pictures with directions on how to make different projects! This is a must have IB to keep for years for all the the ideas, inspiration, motivation, samples, projects, color combinations and clever ways to embellish and put things together. And I have saved the best for last .. it is only $5!! If you would like to see it on line and/or download it go here. I have them available now so let me know if you need one. I will be having my Open House on Saturday, July 12 from 1-5 at the Faith Lutheran Church in Mentor to show off the samples and trades I have brought home with me. Please RSVP by July 7!! But you do not have to wait till then to get the new IB ... e-mail me if you want it sooner and we will work it out. I hope to get some of my samples posted for you t his week. Blessings