Just a quick post tonight to tell you about a pretty cool giveaway I ran across tonight while wasting my time away on facebook.

Quickutz is giving away a Letterpress system.  I want one, lol.  You should all know how much I love my Epic 6, and the Letterpress system works hand in hand with it.  I’ve seen some examples in person and they look great.  You can find the details hereспални комплекти.

Good luck everyone!!

~j

Well the stomach flu paid a visit to our house the evening on November 24th, (sad that I know the exact date, but should tell you something about how things have been around here since), and it’s STILL here.  We’ve passed it from person to person and even sent it over to my parents house now.  Today Ethan is home with the bug still lingering and really I’m just ready for it to end!  I’ve been so consumed with the germs here that I think I missed the passing of November entirely.

At any rate, December is here and Christmas is WAY TOO close for comfort as far as I’m concerned.  I still have some shopping to do and I have yet to even pick anything up for Denny for his Birthday on the 19th.  Frankly, I’m flying by the seat of my pants this year with all of it.  I’m not prepared and well, it is what it is at this point.  What I am prepared for, (at least I’ve got something under control, lol), is the December card kits.  Here is a sneak peek at the general card kit for December.

On a side note, I’ve had some people call that are looking for completed card assortments to give as gifts for teachers and such.  If you are in need of one, please drop me an email.  I have some general sets of completed cards for sale that will fit the bill and can be send out the next day!

Have a great week!
~j

November card kits are well on their way to being packed and ready to ship.  I’m posting a peek today being there wasn’t one before.  With my trip to Florida, some things had to give, and getting a sample posted was one of them.  So for those of you getting a kit… here is your sample peek.

Nothing too eventful planned here this weekend.  Yesterday Denny and I went to see a movie… gasp!  I have to laugh becuase we’ve only seen two movies in a theater in the last 8.5 years.  Both of which we saw this year.  Yeah, it’s sad, I know.  Anyway, we saw The Blind Side.  Excellent movie.  Just excellent.  So if you get a chance to see it, it is certainly worth the small fortune you’ll pay for tickets and snacks. 

Laundry calls…  Enjoy what is left of your weekend.  (It goes by way to fast!)

~j

I’m home from a great vacation and sadly, now forced to get back to the daily grind.  It’s bad enough to have to come home to reality, it’s even worse when reality is 45 degrees.  ACK.  Florida was nice and warm, so getting on the plane in 80 degrees vs. getting off to a chilly 45 wasn’t all that fantastic.  On top of which, some of the kids didn’t listen to me when i suggested they go with jeans on the day we left, and opted for shorts.  LOL.  They were a lot colder than I was.  Lesson here; listen to your mother.  Not that anyone is really going to retain that lesson the next time the chance to use it comes up.

I have hundred of photos to sort through and edit.  Really.  Hundreds.  I think after cleaning out obvious bad shots, I’m still at a count of over 400 photos.  I had rented a wide angle lens to take with us.  Denny enjoyed it and took it upon himself to take several shots of me walking with the kids from BEHIND.  Lesson to everyone… don’t let  anyone take a photo of you with a wide angle lens, especially from behind.  Enough said about that.  Clearly those are photos that won’t make it past the digital darkroom.

Card registration for November is over and Andrea and I are hard at work getting those ready to ship.  On top of that, I’ve been working on getting things ready for the new cards website.  Hopefully I can get that wrapped up by the end of the month.  Not sure I’ll get there, but it’s nice to have goals. 

Tonight we have parent/teacher conferences for Dylan and Ethan.  We’ve never had an issue at conferences really, but this year has been a little harder than most.  I’m crossing my fingers that it’s going to go well tonight, but I’m not 100% convinced.  Hopefully this doesn’t become a trend.  I don’t like dreading conferences.

I’m off to do my regular daily chores… ugh, reality stinks.

~j

Just a quick update…  Card registration is open.  I don’t have a new sample posted and I have a very good excuse!  We are all in Florida at Disney World.   I’m taking a break to rest my poor tired feet and post this little update.  I’ll be sending out a newsletter shortly and providing a link in it to register.  For those of you that don’t get the newsletter, there is also a link at the right under a generic card sample to register for Novemeber kits.

The November kit theme is a general one and as usual they will be shipped out the last week of the month.  This kit will include cards for birthday, get well, hello, and the like.  It will also have some “special” cards, like a gift card holder, (perfect for Christmas), a monty card, and a wacky shaped card with an envelope that you will make yourself.

If you are up to your ears in cards, remember that a collection of handmade cards makes a great gift for the holiday season.  I like to give collections of cards as teacher gifts, and they are always a hit!

That’s about the end of my quick Disney rest.    Off to downtown so the kids can hit the Lego shop and then to Epcot for the fireworks.

Happy Saturday!!

~j

I leave tomorrow morning after the boys go to school for Scraptoberfest in Gaylord.  I love it there and I’m excited to go.  Mom and I will be cropping all weekend after some business in town in the morning/afternoon.  My goal… and hopefully I’m not gonna shoot myself in the foot here, is no ticket.  Last time we went, Denny got a ticket on the way up.  Of course if you know him well, you know he is ticket prone and the month he got two.    So I plan to use good old cruise control and only tempt the police gods with 5 over.  Assuming I can stand moving at that pace.  I hear I’ll hit construction on I-75 so it may be a challenge to hit five over.  Yeesh.  State Mascot should be the orange construction barrel!

I sent out a reminder today for cards registration.  Today is the last day to reserve your kits… Sonyia, lol, poor girl, I’ve been tempting her all week apparently.    If you are on the mailing list and got the reminder you also probably noticed the new look to the emails.  Thanks to an old friend that I’ve worked with in the past is a very talented graphic designer and has done a great job with a logo and will also be working with me on a new site.  Stay tuned for that… I’m loving what he has come up with this far!

Happy Thursday!

~j

Hard to believe it’s Wednesday already and I am one step closer to my Scraptoberfest weekend in Gaylord.  I’m really looking forward to it.  I really just love it there.  It’s being held at The Otsego Club, starts Friday and runs through Sunday.  That makes for a very happy me!!

I’ve been busy working on cards for the October kit.  (Tomorrow is the last day to register.)  Here is a sample from this months kit…  How cute is this owl?!?!?  I’m loving him!!

I put him together last night and Denny said, “Yikes, that looks like a lot of work!”  Really, it isn’t bad at all, and being you get all the parts precut for you in the kit, it’s really just layering paper and sticking it together. 

Enjoy your Wednesday and stay warm.  May I just add… it’s way to early to be this cold!!  Yuck!!!!!

~j

Well it started with Dylan and a case of the sniffles and has now moved to Shelby and Ethan.  Shelby just has a mild running nose and a low grade fever.  Denny has a tendency to freak out, and a temp of 99.9 degrees sends him into a state of panic, which I have to admit is driving me CRAZY.  There is a line between being concerned, and being a lunatic.  From the moment he comes home to the moment he goes to bed he has a thermometer in hand.  Really.  After three days of this, I can’t tell you where I’d like to stick that thermometer!  Well I could, but in an effort to keep this PG, I’ll let you use your imagination.

The boys haven’t missed any school yet and hopefully it stays that way.  We leave for vacation November 6th for a week so I’d rather them not miss any school before that point unless it can’t be helped.  So no fever = get your butt to school, especially today as it is a MEAP testing day.  I heard Ethan sniffing all night long so he is lucky that today’s testing was reading.  The kid is a book worm, so I think he’d do well even if he slept through most of it.  Which may very well be what is happening right about now. 

Shelby and I had a PJ day today, and spent our day snuggling, coloring and making cards.    Here is my creation for today.  I cut out part of the Jeep and adhered it over the original stamped image with tiny 3D foam squares.  I shoudl have taken a photo from the side to better illustrate that.  This is one of the cards for this months card kit by the way so if you haven’t already registered, you need to do so before the end of the day October 15th!

I’m off to freshen up a bit before Denny comes home.  I’d like to be out of my sweats before he walks in the door and at least somewhat presentable. lol.

Happy Tuesday!
~j

It’s a rainy Friday here in Michigan, I get to have a fondue lunch with my good friend Michelle, my fantastic husband, and my sweet little Shelby.  Does it get any better than that???  I’m loving the rain and all the overcast.  Generally I love that type of weather anyway, but some days I’m more in the mood than others.  Today is certainly one of those days.

Some of you may know that I have the Pazzles Creative Cutter Pro, which I’ve had a love/hate relationship with for the last several years.  When I bought my new PC it came with Vista, and the old software for the cutter didn’t work.  After calling the company I found out they suggested Funtime Scrapbooking and that basically if I wanted to use the cutter I’d have to buy it.  At any rate, now that I’ve been using it for several months I gotta say its GREAT.  For those of you that have a Silhouette, this software works with that too and I find it far more user friendly than the software that ships with it. So with my new found “cutter love” I’ve been making a ton of great shaped cards.  Crafted a file yesterday for a square card, but not an ordinary square card… this one has a top flop that is a flower, while the back flap is square.  It’s a pretty cool look and I love the way it turned out.  I also used my Epic to emboss the flower portion of the card with “swiss dots.”  This is certainly going in this months kit, so here is a little peek!

Yeah, lol, that’s all you’re getting. 

Happy Friday!!!
~j

I ordered an Epic Six near the end of September.  I’m pleased to say it came yesterday.  (The kids Halloween costumes came too – so a happy UPS day all around, lol).  I ordered it as a pre-order from the website www.scrapbuggy.com.  The customer service there was great, and they communicated every step of the process and even sent me a tracking number when it shipped.  They had a great deal on it, so I’m even more excited about my purchase.  Check them out if you are looking for anything QuicKutz.

Anyway, I had been waiting for it and had a card in mind all this time.  It’s something I had seen on a blog someplace, but it’s been so long now that for the life of me I can’t remember where.  Coming from the girl who has trouble determining what day of the week it is without the calendar, I’m not all that surprised.  LOL.  So here is my first Epic project, (doesn’t that sound monumental), and I’m pretty happy with it!

I die cut the window in the card with a Nestabilities die and the Epic.  Cute and easy to boot.  Gotta love that!!

Happy Thursday!
~j