I spent yesterday getting a card sample done and as promised here it is.  This sample is a card that will be included in the October General Kit.  Sadly my glossy accents didn’t show up much in the photo.

Today I’ll be prepping some more cards, making a trip for Denny to get some work shoes and waiting for Art Van service to show up to service our couch.  My service window is 8-11am.  I suspect they will arrive sometime around 11:30am, lol.  On top of which, I’m expecting them to come with a cushion cover fabric that doesn’t match, just because historically that’s the way my relationship with Art Van goes.  Good old Art and I can’t seem to come to a mutual and peaceful understanding. 

I saw a card sample yesterday night that included clear hair gel in the supply list.  Yes, you read that right.  If I wasn’t so concerned about sending out baggies of clear hair gel out in the card kits, I might consider it.  I can only imagine the mess factor involved should a kit meet some type of terrible fate when being processed at the post office.  EEEWWW.  Either way, it was a very cool thing, so check out the tutorial here.  For those of you with cutters, there is even a downloadable template to go with the tutorial.

That about covers it for today!  Happy Tuesday & Happy Crafting!

~j

All of you that purchased the September Birthday/Thank You kits and the special edition Halloween kits should have them by now.  Hopefully everyone is happily assembling their cards.  If you have any questions, please let me know!  I heard back from several of you that got them Thursday and Friday and want to thank you for the positive feedback.  We had A LOT of kits go out this past month and I’m sure my mail carrier was excited to see my porch covered with kit packages… not.  LOL. 

October kit registration is now open.  The October kits will ship with a free gift from me!  I’ll be including a spool of American Crafts ribbon in all orders that are reserved and paid for by the 10th.  Just a little gift from me to you.  The October kit is a general kit and will include things like Get Well, Sympathy, Friend, Missing You and Thanksgiving, just to name a few.  If you care to register now, the information is below and you’ll also find it from now until the 15th posted along the side of the blog.

I’ll be posting a new sample tomorrow and sending out the information to the Card Kit Mailing List.  So if you aren’t on the list and want to get the info, you can sign up via the “mailing list” button located across the top of the page.

I took a class last night at our local Archivers in Sterling Heights.  It was called Copic Christmas Card Workshop and advertised basic Copic Skills.  I was really looking forward to it and learning a bit more about my markers.  Sadly, it was a real dissapointment.  The gal “teaching” was nice and did a good job, but there was NO educational content at all regarding the markers!  We did four cards, one of which didn’t involve any coloring.  The extent of the Copic skills was just pick up a marker and color in the lines.  Seriously?  I’m pretty sure my kids could have gotten that far on their own.  I wanted some information regarding blending, etc.  So, if anyone has an Copic tips they would like to share, please do.  I’ve seen a lot of tutorials on YouTube and it seems everyone has their own technique, so please share!!

As always, I hope everyone has a fantastic week!

~j

I am pleased to report that the September kits are done and ready to go.  They will be shipping out by this Friday.    For those of you that ordered the special Halloween kit, those will be shipping together!  So… keep an eye on your mailbox.

October kit registration is now open.  The October kits will ship with a free gift from me!  I’ll be including a spool of American Crafts ribbon in all orders that are reserved and paid for by the 15th.  Just a little gift from me to you.  The October kit is a general kit and will include things like Get Well, Sympathy, Friend, Missing You and Thanksgiving, just to name a few.  If you care to register now, the information is below and you’ll also find it from now until the 15th posted along the side of the blog.

October Card Kit Sample – General Theme
12 cards come in each kit, including envelopes
Price: 25.00
including Shipping within the US

As always, I hope everyone has a fantastic week!

~j

The next week of my life is going to be all about cards.  Seriously.  Unlike Andrea, I don’t prep cards, (generally), until sign ups are done.  I just don’t want to cut paper and have all sorts of waste, and until I have a concrete number of sign ups, it seems silly for me to start cutting into paper.  I have a few designed and a couple as of today and are already packaged and ready to go.  This morning I started working on another of the Birthday cards for the September kit.  Here is a sneak peek at one of my mass assembly line stations.  All sorts of little ice cream sundaes drying.  Aren’t they cute??? 

~j

We are one week into school and I’m very pleased to say that Dylan seems to like it this year.  Good thing, because the morning, “I don’t want to go” scream-fests have stopped, and had they not I very well may have lost it.  While the boys are gone, Shelby has been having a blast with all her free time and no sharing, lol.  It makes for a very peaceful house to say the least!

Card kit registrations for the September Birthday/Thank You and Halloween Kits closes tomorrow.  So last call… if you don’t register by the end of the day tomorrow you’ll miss it.  I’ve been busy prepping and designing cards while working on my two articles for the next Michigan Scrapbooker at the same time.  Lucky I’m a good multitasker.  Here is a sneak peek at one of the Halloween cards.

Happy Monday!

~j

Today is the last day of summer vacation here for the kids.  Ethan and Dylan go back to school tomorrow and they couldn’t be any LESS excited.    Me on the other hand, well I’m excited for the end of the fighting.  Yeesh, the last couple weeks they have certainly gotten to the point of too much togetherness!!  Shelby won’t start preschool until mid-October.

I spent a lot of time on the a*muse website the other day.  Ordered some great new stamps to use on the upcoming Birthday/Thank You kits and the Halloween kits.  I also ordered some great ribbon.  I’m just beside myself waiting for it to ship.  I’ll be creating the moment the box arrives I’m sure.  I have lots of card ideas in mind for each one I bought.  We won’t go over how much I bought, lol.

I’ve got some more things in store for the website and card kits.  I registered two new domain addresses today and I have a meeting with a graphic artist to help me out with some ad campaigns and the website(s).  Things have really taken off for Andrea and I, and I couldn’t be happier about it!!!  If I haven’t said it enough already, THANK YOU for the support!!

Happy Labor Day!!
~j

Oh and PS, the cider mill yesterday… turned out basically as I suspected.  Dylan didn’t want anything to do with it and actually asked to wait in the car.  He wasn’t too happy standing there and spent the entire time looking over his shoulder for bugs!

So now that we are basically at the official end of summer, Michigan weather has decided to improve.  I think this next week we are supposed to be near 80.  Nice.  Too bad it took so long to get here.  What an odd summer.  Denny wants to hit the apple orchard today.  Not so excited about that myself.  All I can think about is bees and all the other bugs that go along with it and how Dylan is going to freak out moments after we get there.  For reference see the post from this time last year.  Yeah real excited… not.

I’ve been doing a lot of work promoting card kits and I think Andrea and I have a mini book in mind for a class/kit.  I’ll post more when we’ve worked it all out and have more concrete details.  In the mean time I’ve been working on the mailing list and some ad campaigns to get the word out.  Things are going well all around so thank you to everyone for all the support.  I’ve had a lot of new visitors here on the blog and I love to see new people leaving comments!  Andrea and I are glad to be back and creating again!!  It’s a good feeling.

Here is my layout share for today… Nothing spectacular really.  I stamped the background with one of my favorite Tattered Angels stamps and inked and sprayed the chipboard letters to match the bling cardstock I used as a base.

Enjoy your Saturday!  I’m one step closer to Tuesday, lol, (the first day back at school), so I’m counting down.

~j

Who doesn’t love a Friday?!?!?  Seriously.  Looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day here in Michigan and I’m looking forward to a visit from a dear friend.  I haven’t been able to see him in a few years now as he moved out of state.  So I’m excited to say the least.

I’m sharing a layout today that I finally finished a little while back.  Went we went to Memories Manor over the summer there were some wireless issues and thus I wasn’t able to do any computer journaling.  I’m bad about finishing things if I don’t do it while I’m there, and that’s exactly what happened in this case.  That little journaling box took me AGES to get around to doing. 

Now for a raffle.  I’m going to raffle off one card kit containing 6 cards to one lucky winner.  In order to win you’ll need to comment here and let me know you’ve added yourself to the mailing list.  There is a link to the right to add yourself.  Two stipulations… one, you must be in the United States to be eligible and two, this post must hit 10 comments.  The contest will close September 15th and the kit will be shipped with the rest of the September kits in the last week of September!  I’ll have Shelby draw the winner.   Good luck everyone!!

Happy Friday!!!
~j

Last night was curriculum night at the boys elementary school.  We got to meet the teachers, one of which I knew already as Ethan had been in her class a couple years ago.  With curriculum night comes lots of paper work and anticipation for the new school year.  The boys goes back September 8th, and Shelby will start preschool in mid-October.  That makes for a very quiet house.  Nice.  I’m ready for the end of the constant bickering between the three of them that has gone on nearly non-stop it seems for the last 3-4 weeks!

I’m trying to get back to sharing layouts more often.  I hadn’t been all that productive over last spring and the summer.  With the illness of my Grandma and her passing I found myself in a real funk.  It’s only been the last week really that I’ve started to feel at least a little bit better.  Her house has been sold now, and I think now that I can’t just go and sit there as if waiting for her to come home, I’ve done better.

So with that a layout share.  My Grandma would have loved this… Dylan always cracked her up and she would have gotten a kick out of his wheelie with Miss. Madison on his motorcycle!

Thanks to everyone for the great response to the card kits.  Andrea and I have gone back and made a few more Christmas kits for those that missed it the first time around.  Maybe we’ll even run another in Novemeber, you never know!  There is a button to the right (big blue box) that you can click on to sign up for our mailing list.  You’ll get sample peeks and direct sign up opportunities sent right to your inbox.  I’m also putting a direct link to registration for September and October kits.  Please note:  September and October Kits will ship TOGETHER as October is a special Halloween kit. 

Happy Thursday!!
~j