Buy-Buy stamps!!!

I ordered some really cute acrylic stamps from Oriental Trading Company, and they arrived yesterday.  One set is called “Build-a-Cake” and has a bunch of different cakes, icings, cupcakes, sprinkles, cake stands, etc.  It’s a really cute idea, and I can’t wait to use it!

The second set is of baby designs.  Very, very cute.  HOWEVER…  I got a big laugh out of one of the stamps.  Rather than “Bye-Bye” it says “Buy-Buy”!  How funny is that?  I called OTC.  I didn’t want to return it because I think it’s such a cute set and that Buy-Buy is one tiny little stamp, I just wanted to let them know they’re selling defective stamps.  Well, all I have to say is that they have really good customer service.  The rep. looked the stamps up on the internet, and the ones shown say “Bye-Bye” like they’re supposed to, but because I have a problem with them, she’s issuing me a $20 coupon to be used sometime within the next year.  I totally wasn’t expecting that, but I’m glad I called to let them know!

Documenting the Addiction!

So…  I hit Michael’s this morning because I wanted to see what they left over from Christmas.  And guess what I walked out with?!  MORE PAPER!  I DON’T NEED ANYMORE PAPER!  But it was so PRETTY I couldn’t help myself!  It’s a set of 150 K&Company papers (well… TWO sets).  One is a French country look and the other is comtemporary modern prints.  They even came in nice little 12×12 paperboard boxes.  I came home and decided I need to post more pictures of my stashes of stuff so I’ll be more motivated to use the stuff up and STOP BUYING!

The first row of pictures are the new K&Company papers.  The rest of these pictures are just the junk I need to use up:

 

More stuff:

And even MORE stuff:

Bookmark Tutorial

A fellow Craftster.org member asked if anyone knew a good bookmark tutorial.  I don’t know of any so I thought I’d post my own.  I posted it on my other blog:  http://sewhelpme.blogspot.com/2008/12/bookmark-tutorial.html.  Here’s a picture of the three I made for the tutorial:

To finish them, I just need to add some ribbons and fibers.

These are made from recycled cardboard, handmade paper, some scrap paper and one (the orange one) is made from some scrap fabric.

I hope this helps the person who asked for it.

Happy New Year’s Cards

I worked some today on New Year’s Cards.  I started off with a 2009 that I added some stars to and laser cut out of watercolor paper.  I painted them with white glue and then doused on lots of silver glitter.  I just wasn’t real happy with how they turned out, though, so I tried a different card.

This time, it’s a red card base with bright yellow stars across the front of it.  I laser-cut “Happy New Year” and “2009″ out of two of the stars.  I popped dotted the stars off the card to give it some more dimension. 

Here are the silver glitter 2009s:

And here are the yellow and red cards:

More scrap de-stashing!

So…  I’ve been working some more on de-stashing my pile of scraps.  I’ve made some cute card parts, but I’ve hardly made a dent in big pile of scraps!  Here’s what I’ve made so far:

I also made these two cute cards:

 

First De-stashing project: mini cards

I need some thank you cards for the beautiful gifts our friends have given us for Christmas.  I took advantage of this opportunity and made some mini cards out of some of my scrap cardstock.  My goal was not to create MORE scraps.  I ended up using a full 12×12 sheet of cardstock, but I used ALL of it.  The cards are funny, different sizes because I didn’t measure, and I should have.  I’m still using them–even the tiny one on the upper left:

Here are some other mini cards I made with scraps of cardstock.  Again, I didn’t create any more scraps by making these cards!  Good for me!

De-stash-along

I joined the De-Stash-along 2009 craftalong on Craftster.org!  Oh, fun, fun, fun!  I really need to pare down what I have and stop buying stuff just because it’s on sale! 

So, anyway, I went out and took pictures of the garage workshop and of my piles of scrap paper I intend to use up one of these days.  I hope that in sharing my addiction that I can actually make some progress toward de-stashing what i have! 

Here’s a photo of the garage shop:

And here’s the pile of scrap cardstock and miscellaneous tid-bits that I want to get rid of.  I save every piece of scrap paper I make because I keep telling myself, “I may be able to use that later!” 

Christmas Cards

I wrote out my Christmas cards over Thanksgiving weekend, but didn’t get them in the mail until last Friday.  I had hoped to include a picture of all of us, but that never happened.  Oh, well…. maybe next year.

The card I mailed out is a card we made at the Card Party in November.  It’s a really cute Microsoft clipart that I laser cut.  The inside was blank so I had to write “Have a merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!” over and over and over, but at least people will know it’s a handmade card!  Anyway, here it is:

I still have four cards to mail to the ladies who were at the Card Party.  I didn’t want to send them a card that they saw at the party, so this morning, I sat down and made them a different card. 

It’s hard to see in the photo, but the white background is embossed with a paisley design.  I was going to do Swiss Dots, but changed my mind at the last minute.  The “Merry Christmas” is printed on transparency film.  This was SUCH an easy card to make, but I think they’ll like it:

 

Just Cards! Volumes 11 and 12

The first three cards are ones that have already been published in Just Cards!.  The right top was in Volume 11, and the left 2 were in volume 12.

Just Cards! Submissions

Wednesday afternoon, Brian brought in an envelope from Scott Publications.  It was a complimentary copy of Volume 12 of Just Cards! magazine.  I didn’t know why they sent it to me because I hadn’t submitted anything for publication consideration for that issue…  However, I happily tore open the envelope and dug through the pages until I found THREE more of my cards had been published!  Looks like they held over cards from the previous issue!  That means out of eight cards I submitted, six were selected to be published!  Not bad at all!.

Anyway, the deadline for Volume 13 is Friday, the 19th, and I have been making card samples like a mad woman.  I took a stuffed-full envelope to the Post Office Friday morning, and stood in line for 25 mintues to mail them.  I submitted THIRTY this time!  Maybe they’ll dedicate an entire issue to me!?  Ha Ha!