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

I got some news the other day that I’ve been dying to share… It turns out I’m one of the lucky gals chosen for the My Creative Classroom Design Team. I’m super excited and it was killing me that I had to wait until today to share my news with everyone.

The other members are as follows:

Julie Balzer
Julie Kelly
Pam Sandy
Pamela Posh
Bevery Todd
Colleen Schaan
Ann Butler
Suzi Wollman
Shirley Pando
Jenna Franklin
Grace Walker
Norma Anne Chattin
Donna Feledichuk
Cara Miller
Madonna Yashinski

If you don’t know about My Creative Classroom, then please be sure to check it out. I plan to start up classes there in the fall. November is the estimated start date. There is some training and such involved but after that I hope things are good to go.

I do need to get an updated bio and headshot prepared and for that I’m hunting around for a local photographer. I need a good headshot really and I’m not doing it myself. I suppose I could, but I’d really rather not. Having your picture taken should be like getting a good hair cut at the salon… relaxing! Doing it myself = NOT relaxing.

Ok so now that I got that out in the open… I went to Ethan’s class today to help out with a scrapbooking project. I enjoy watching they way the kids choose to position things and express themselves through creativity. It is also fun to see some of the same kids year after year and how they grow up. So fun to watch and so sad at the same time!!!! Anyway, Ethan is upset with me because I didn’t bring him an EZ Runner and he was forced to use a glue stick. LOL, Ethan, aka Adhesive Snob. You sure can tell he is my kid can’t you.

Shelby and Dylan just went down for a nap so I’m going to try and get some rest myself. I started a new medication on Tuesday or Wednesday, (see how the days blend together), and it makes me REALLY tired. I went to bed at 7:30 last night. Of course I woke up at 2am, but bed before midnight is really unheard of for me.

Go create something fun!!! Happy Friday!
~j

I let Ethan walk to school today… by himself. I’m making progress and giving him a little independence, which is probably a good thing. He left the house this morning armed with one of our little Motorola Walkie Talkies and talked to me on his way there and then said “I’m here Mom, over.” So he made it, and I survived. He is supposed to turn it back on when he leaves to walk home today. We’ll see how that goes. So I’m taking baby steps and letting him grow up. I have to have faith that what I have taught him, and continue to teach him about life and the possibility that not every person is a nice person has sunk in on some level.

In other news I finished my Jumbo Clip thing I was making. Yes, that is the technical term, “Jumbo Clip Thing” for those of you that wondered. I made a picture frame of sorts from acetate to hold the photo I wanted to go with the clip. Just looked more finished that way.

The acetate is painted and then sanded. I did some stamping on it, which I don’t think you can see in the photo. I came out cute and Dylan is pleased that his photo is on display.

Supplies:
* Adhesive Transfer Sheets, Photo Corners, 3D Foam Squares, EZ Dots- Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L
* Acrylic Paint- DecoArt
* Sand Paper, Journal Spot, Floral, Jewels- Heidi Swapp
* Ribbon- Unknown
* Printed Paper- Pebbles Inc.
* Clip- Creative Imiginations
* Stamps- Technique Tuesday
* Black Pen- EK Success
* Mod Podge Gloss, StazOn

I only sealed in the tops on the clip.  I didn’t bother with the sides.  The paper was applied with an Adhesive Transfer Sheet and then I used a craft knife to cut out the small strips where the spring part went.  I really wanted my paper patter to line up perfect and the odds of that happening with two pieces of paper was slim.  So I thought it better to keep it together and remove the little section after the fact.  Worked great!  The flower is adhered with a 3D Foam Square over the ribbon, which is tied in a knot behind there.

Happy Wednesday!!  Go create something magnificent.

~j

P.S.:  There is only one seat open for my September Card class…  If there is enough demand to get 5 on a wait list I will open a second class.  Thanks for all your support!!!!

It is the first day of school here for Ethan.  The first day of second grade in a brand new school.  I’m both shocked and pleased to say that the school is finished, at least for the most part.  It really is impressive and was much needed.  I am bummed out however that they took down the school sign and billboard that was near the street.  I use the thing for my annual first day of school photo, lol.  How dare they!  So I was forced to improvise and took his photo in front of the school with the Blue Ribbon Award banner hanging on the building behind him.  Oh well.  I took this photo on the porch, which is my other annual spot, and you can see Ethan was getting a little annoyed with the camera in his face, lol.

Anyway, so I’m a kid short today.  I have a list of things to do that is about a mile long to say the least so I’m sure the day is going to fly by.  Hopefully with one less child here I can get a lot more done than I usually would.  Only down side to that is that the kid I’m short is the one that actually helps out, lol.  Now I’m left with the two that seem to want to kill each other just about all the time.  Who knew a 2 year old and 4 year old could fight like this.  Holy cow.

On my list for today is to finish this altered paper clip that I’ve been working on over the last few days.  A little bit here and a little bit there.  I painted it the other day and let the paint set up for a full day before I went ahead with anything else.  I’ve gotten as far as covering it with paper and sanding the edges so I’m most of the way there.  I’ve done it in one of my favorite colors - KIWI.  At least what I like to call Kiwi anyway.  Prism Papers makes a cardstock color family called Kiwi and I love it.  I’d use it for everything if I could and I get some flack for that from Michelle.  That’s ok.  I’m a big girl and I’m standing by my choices in color, lol.  Bring it on lady.  At any rate, I have the clip all put back together today so I really just need to embellish it.  I’ll take a photo when I’m done.

I also had stated a altered tile that is sitting here looking at me waiting to be finished.  I have no idea what I’ll do with it, but honestly I just really like to alcohol ink things so I really couldn’t help myself.  I’m sure I’ll find something to do with it or someone to give it to.  My Grandma usually ends up with a lot of stuff cuz I want to make something and then I have no where to put it.  She enjoys it all, or at least fakes it well anyway.

My list calls… enjoy your day!

~j

I bet you all weren’t as lucky in your Sunday plans as we were! Amy and Bob were nice enough to take us out on their boat. We went for a ride over to Gull Island and spent the afternoon just sitting around. Denny got a decent sunburn and I got a little sun myself. The kids really enjoyed the time on the beach. There isn’t anything Shelby likes better than some beach fun accompanied by a double chocolate cookie and a juice box! All in all we had a great time and I’m so glad we got the chance to go. What great friends we have! I consider myself lucky.

The 31st of August was the deadline for the Design Team search for My Creative Classroom. If you haven’t heard about it I encourage you to take a look. I think this could really take off, and I hope it does. Really you will find out all youneed to know and the website, but basically its is a virtual learning spot and Instructors have a virtual classroom. I applied for a DT spot, and I hope to be picked… crossing all my fingers and toes over here. According to the website the team will be announced this week. I’m excited and nervous all at the same time. I could use a new adventure right about now and this would really be right up my alley.

Speaking of classes, my September card class is just about full. Class is the 25th and there are only three spots left as of this moment. The month we will be doing all Christmas cards and winter season generic kind of cards too. If you are interested in a space drop me a line or RSVP at the cards meetup group I have at meetup.com. There is a link to the group on the right of the screen. If you can’t make it and want a kit those are available also. Registrations are being taken until the 20th.

Now for a little public service announcement… If you have a newer car with a bunch of little lights on the dash, particularly one that says “Low Tire Pressure” don’t ignore it. It came on once for me, I investigated, it was nothing, and then I reset it.

Well a month or so later it came on again (last Monday) and I ignored it. Tuesday I got up, loaded the car and left for the post office, when something just didn’t feel right to me. I pulled over, got out and found this…see photo. Silly sensor should have come right out and said, “I’m not faking this time lady, there is a big SCREW in your tire.”

Note to reading public… pay attention to the little flashing light more often. It can turn out to be something important.

Happy Sunday, I’m off to cover Denny in aloe. He just came in here complaining how bad his back hurt. Big baby.

~j

I got this email a little while ago and thought I’d share it!  You can visit Winkflash to use the coupon code here.

_____________________

Take advantage of our print sale and get all the 4×6 prints you want for only 6 each. That’s 50% off our regular low price of 12¢. Use the coupon code below when placing your order. Remember, there’s no limit on how many times you can use this coupon during the sale!

Coupon Code:
JC53YR73

The fine print: 9¢ Flat-Rate shipping special not valid with this offer - normal shipping rates apply - Cannot be combined with any other offer - shipping not included - - cannot be shipped outside the usa - this offer can be terminated at any time without notice - offer details can change at any time - winkflash reserves the right to deny this offer to anyone for any reason.