OCTOBER SPECIAL - 13 CARDS
Registrations accepted until October 26th.

At this Card Making Event, held each month at Scrap Palace, you will make 13 unique, and super cute greeting cards to send to your family and friends. Each attendee will be provided with envelopes for each card, along with all the materials and embellishments needed to assemble each card that evening. The cost to attend is $20.00. Your beverages are included, as are raffles and giveaways.

Please bring a basic tool kit consisting of adhesive, scissors, and distressing inks along with you to class.

This event is appropriate for all experience levels. As always, if you can’t make it, there are kits are available with color copies and directions.

To register please contact Jen via phone at 586-465-5572 or email jen@scrapbookhut.com. Registrations are also accepted on location at Scrap Palace of Romeo located at 232 S. Main Street, Romeo, MI.

**There is a 48 hour cancellation policy. Cancellations received after that point are responsible for the event fee and will be provided a kit.**

This class will take you beyond the basics and give you a taste of lots of different techniques commonly found in scrapbooking and cardmaking. This is a hands on class where you will get some experience distressing using foam, direct inking, metal embossing, heat embossing, adhesive tricks, and more. You will leave class with several projects for your future reference.

For Fathers Day this year I got myself, err I mean Denny, a great gift.  I bought him tickets to go see some air show he had been carrying on about for months.  Along with the tickets I got him a hotel room.  So yesterday he and the boys took off for Ohio.  Yippee Skippy.  I’m one of those people that LOVES to be by myself.  Seriously.  I like to go out to dinner by myself even, and a lot people don’t like to do that.  The sound of silence is the best.  Anyway, so yesterday and this morning it was just Shelby and I.  Then a little while ago she went out with my Mom for some quality time.  So right now all I hear is the sound of the keys as I type.  OMG, I may have died and gone to heaven.  I don’t expect Denny and the boys until LATE tonight so I have several hours of peace left.  It has been 24 hours now since I’ve heard, “I’m telling Mom!”

What have I been doing with myself?  Hmmm, well Shelby and I went with my Mom yesterday to the used book sale at one of the local libraries.  Then Shelby and I ordered a pizza.  Shortly after that Shelby and I heard the ice cream truck go by.  Well I ran out of the house, but I missed him.  Poor Shelby sat there yelling “Ice Keem Kone, Ice Keen Kone!”  So I did what and mom of a princess would do… I put her in the car and chased the ice cream man, lol.  In the end we got our stinkin’ ice cream.  MMMM good.  In between the eating I made some cards and did some of my homework for My Creative Classroom.  It was a good day.

Today I made Co-Co Wheats for breakfast.  I love Co-Co Wheats and I don’t make them very often.  I don’t like them in the microwave and it seems no one else appreciates the work involved in making the perfect bowl of Co-Co Wheats, so I don’t waste my time.  I’ve spent the rest of my day playing with Shelby really and just relaxing.  We had lunch and then she left with my Mom.  In about an hour I have dinner plans at my parents and then more vegetating at home.  See how busy I am? 

Registration is open for October cards.  There are only 6 seats left.  This time around we will be doing 12 all occasion and I’m throwing in card number 13.  I love Halloween so that card will be a Halloween one.

Ok I’m off to go sit on my fanny for a bit and enjoy the rest of my day!  Happy Sunday!

~j

A lot has been going on here over the last week and I’m happy to report that one of those things is pictured below.  I actually scrapbooked.  I went to Scrap Palace for the night on Saturday and I got three layouts done.  I really wish this one would have scanned better.  All the sparkles just don’t seem to show up as well when they are scanned.  Oh well.  All those pretty flowers are stickers.  Generally I’m not a big sticker fan, but this goes to show that even stickers have their place right?  (K& Co. Grand Adhesions, K & Co. Paper)

Ethan is now an official cub scout.  He seems pretty excited about it and really enjoyed his meeting last night.  Personally I think Denny is excited too.  It’s funny because Ethan didn’t want to do it and I kinda forced it on him.  You know what I mean… Sometimes it’s just something you know they are going to like, but they are afraid to take the step and just try it.  So last night on the way home from his meeting he thanked me for making him go.  The kid could hardly stop smiling he had so much fun.  I said “So what did you learn from this?”  His response:  “Listen to your Mother!”  HA HA

~j

Ethan is running for Student Council this week.  He got to hang one poster and then pass out badges.  This is what we came up with…

Ethan’s school practices the Fish Philosophy if you are wondering what the deal is with the fish slogan.  Anyway, he is pretty excited about it and the election is on Friday.  He was practicing his “campaigning skills” on me this morning. “Hi I’m Ethan and I’m running for student council.  Please vote for me!  Do you want a sticker?”  LOL, tell me that’s not too funny.  I asked him if he understood that he might not win.  His response, “Yeah, I don’t care.”  So I guess we’re good in that department.  He has a speech on Friday and then the election, so I’m sure tonight will be all about his speech.

Sadly, I haven’t scrapbooked in I think about a month now.  I’ve been working on cards and helping with homework, etc.  I still have four cards to go.  I had wanted to be done by now but I haven’t been feeling so hot since Monday and that has really put a damper on things.  On top of that Denny and the floor refinishing continues and the smell of polyurethane, uhh, well lets just say that it isn’t helping matters.

While on the subject of cards, today is the last day for any registrations.  As I have said before, the first date is full but there are still openings for day two (Wednesday 26th).  After today though, I won’t be taking anymore registrations, so if you’ve been thinking about it, get on it today!

Have a good Thursday!  And if you’re in Second Grade, vote for Ethan, lol. 

~j

So if you live in Michigan you probably already know the economy here stinks.  If you didn’t, well, I need to come move in with you under that rock.  Anyway so I was driving home yesterday and passed a house nearby that has been for sale for awhile now.  There are TONS of houses for sale it seems.  Everyday I swear a new one pops up.  I digress… so I’m driving by and I notice as I”m coming up on it there is a Lexus in the driveway with a big neon pink sign on it that reads…

Free Lexus with the purchase of this HOUSE.

That says it all doesn’t it?  I really had a good laugh, which I’m sure wasn’t the intended reaction, but come on.  I guess they really want to get rid of the house, and apparently they aren’t all that attached to the Lexus either.

It’s Monday and with Monday comes a school day for both Ethan and Dylan.  Dylan has afternoon preschool so it really breaks up the day.  It seems like by the time I get something started it is time to go.  And then the same thing happens when I pick him up.  I have cards to work on today (I know you’re shocked), and I’d like to get at least two prepped, packed and checked off my list.  I’m not as far along with them as I’d like to be so I really need to get motivated! 

In my defense I’ve been distracted the last few days.  Denny is refinishing the kitchen floor.  UGH!  This is the second time I’m life that I’ve had to go through this, and let me tell you, it stinks.  Really, it stinks.  Yes it is a pain in the butt for sure, but the smell of the polyurethane that he uses is really something.  I had wanted to go with a water based product this time but the color just wasn’t what I wanted.  No pain, no gain right?  At least this time it is only the kitchen area.  Last time we took on this task it was 90% of the house, and I flew off to New York just so I’d miss out on the stink. :P  Yeah, I’m smarter than I look.

So the kitchen is a MESS, and Denny and I are slowly rewashing all the dishes and such.  Gee, it seems like I just did this in July when he fixed to soffit and spread drywall dust all over…  Anyway, he told me last night not to wash anything because he was going to “take care of it” and that he “had a system.”  Uhh sure.  In true Jen form, I started to do it myself this morning, because I have found that the old adage “If you want anything done right, you need to do it yourself” is true just about 100% of the time around here.  Well he put so much stuff is the most ridiculous places I thought it best to just start over.  I mean the person who uses the kitchen least should not be the one responsible for the location of the brown sugar in relation to the poultry seasoning.  I mean really, which one of the two do you use more at your house??  Well I had to DIG for the brown sugar this morning.  I called him at work and let him know that his system was, uhh, for the birds.  I’ll be rectifying that today too.

Now if you have gotten this far into my witty banter you deserve a little something, lol.  So here is a tip, and every time I show someone I get that “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that” look…

I paint chipboard a lot.  I ink chipboard a lot.  I do a lot with chipboard.  I don’t like a big mess.  Now this doesn’t require you get any special “equipment” really, but I’d invest in a Craft Sheet if I was you, but again not necessary for this.

Take your Craft Sheet or a piece of scrap paper and run some lines of a repositionable adhesive on it.  EZ Dots by Scrapbook Adhesive by 3L works well for this.  Now arrange your chipboard on the lines so that they are face up.  It doesn’t matter how you arrange it, conserve your space and you’ll find this tip works even better.

Now that your chipboard letters/shapes/etc. are stuck down paint over them with a foam brush, or ink them directly with the pad.  This works great to hold the letters/shapes in place while you do all sorts of different things to them, i.e. doodling.  Now while it dries between coats you can just lift up your scrap or Craft Sheet and move it someplace safe to dry, going back to it for more coats, etc.  It works great and your fingers won’t be a mess!

Why the Craft Sheet?  Well it can be rinsed or wiped right off as it is Teflon coated.  I highly recommend it, and I’ve found that I use mine a lot.  I got a small sized one (8.5×11).

Enjoy the tip and have a great day.

~j

I found out a little something useful the other day.  I had been admiring all those cards and such made with the large embossing folders.  When I went to JoAnns the other day, with my coupon of course, I saw the Cuttlebug Embossing Folders.  As I stood there looking them over and I got to thinking that they might work with a Zip’eMate.  So I picked them up and figured I’d return them if they didn’t work.

Well, I’m pleased to report they do work!  If you use the regular mat and place a piece of acetate over the top of the folder before you run it through it works great.  I’ve been embossing like crazy now.  I sold my Zip’eMate a while back as I never used it.  Lucky for me my Mom still has hers and I’m “borrowing” it.

Today is Dylan’s first day of preschool.  He is pretty upset that he has a cold.  Frankly, I’m a little bummed out about it myself.  Nothing like a great big red nose in the photos I’ll take to scrapbook.  LOL, thats the scrapbooker in me.  Hopefully he gets there and doesn’t freak out.  He was nervous when I took him for open house and wanted out of there pretty quickly.  Wish us luck.

I just signed up to participate in a Ladies Night out benefit for Washington Elementary school in China, MI.  It’s November 16th and I’ll be selling cards.  I’ll also be representing Scrap Palace that night.  Each participant is required to make a donation of $15.00 or more to raffle off the night.  I’ll be donating a gift certificate to one of my classes.  I know it is a ways off, but I hope to see a lot of you there.  If you stop in be sure to come say hello.

~j

Well I finally got some sleep.  I’ve been totally drained and that’s due to a lot of factors, but hopefully my recent successful night of sleep is a sign that things are going to get better.  I’ve been in a downward spiral of sorts for the last three weeks or so and I’ve gotten a whole lot of nothing done mainly because I just don’t have the motivation or energy to do anything.  Today is a new day… I slept from 8:30 last night to 3 this morning and I’m happy with that.  It’s progress. 

The best part is that I didn’t wake up with a migraine.  That is a major accomplishment itself.  I had tried to switch medications and in doing so I was going off my migraine preventative.  Uhh, that didn’t work out so well for me and really left me wondering how I managed before being on it.  The battle now is going to be getting it down my throat.  Yuck… it is some nasty stuff and I’ve had issues getting it down over the last several months.  Now it is going to be the daily challenge to find something that works and then get into that routine because I never want to relive the last three weeks.

At any rate, so I got up today and sat here prepping for cards while I listened to the rain fall.  Its been raining the last several hours and I really enjoy working with just the sound of the rain in the background.  It is so much more peaceful than the usual sounds around here…. “Mom, Shelby smashed my trains… Mom, Shelby won’t give me the car… Mom, Shelby took my crayon.”  Do you see where I’m going with this?  Dylan and Shelby go at it all day long and I’d go with the sound of rain any day over the bickering.  So now I’m another card down, only ten more to go.  At this rate I’ll be finished early and that alone makes me feel fabulous!! Later today I’ll post of photo of one of them so you will all get a sneak peek.

While I’m on the subject of cards I need to let all of you know that the Create Cards! class for September is full due to that I have opened another day.  The second class date is September 26th at 7pm.  Registration is open until the 20th so if you missed getting a seat the first time around here is your chance!  We are doing 12 Christmas/Holiday cards this time around, and as usual the cost is $20.00 with envelopes and your adhesive to use in class.  You can’t beat that!!

I got my picture taken this past weekend as I needed a head shot for my bio at MyCreativeClassroom.com.  I meet up with a local photography student, Erin Rosebrugh, at Metro Beach.  She did a great job and got a little more experience under her belt.  I’m glad we were both able to help each other out.  Of course I took Shelby along with me and she got this candid shot of the two of us.  I think it’s great, and one of the few photos I have where I’m in the photo so that makes it even better for me.

Enjoy your day… I’ll be back later with a photo of the card I mentioned… stay tuned.

~j