Mish Mash

We had a great Christmas day. Family came over and we had a nice time. Jeff and I waited until the last minute to get our bird for Christmas day. We went out the Friday before looking for a bird. Jeff had always wanted to try goose. So....we ended up getting a goose and turkey! The only problem that we encountered was how to bake both of them at once! I started to peruse http://www.allrecipes.com/ *I LOVE that site!* and found a recipe for grilled turkey. We're always ones to try something new out...so the goose ended up going on the grill. It turned out really good...nice and juicy. The turkey was also good...very juicy too.

On top of being busy with Christmas preparations, I've had a nasty cold the past 2 weeks. At least that's how long I've counted in my head. It started out with a sore throat, then moved to my nose and now I'm dealing with a stuffy nose and congested chest. I'm SO ready for this to be done. I'm sure I haven't helped my healing process by going so much the last couple weeks. We've had his family over, my family, been shopping....etc, etc. It's been busy! So today I had a sick day. Jeff has the week off and I took advantage...took a nice hot bath *which felt incredible* and tried to relax.

Payin' it Forward..

I'm spreading some papercrafting love! So I was blog hoppin' today and peeked in on Tracy over at Eat Sleep Stamp. I was the third person to comment on her post about paying it forward and I'm going to receive some neat stampin' goodies!!! How awesome is that?!?!? My only requirement is that I pass on the love through my blog...easy! So here's your chance for some neat-o stampin' and papercrafting goodness. What you receive will be a surprise! What do you need to do you ask?...all you need to do is be one of the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post and have a blog (you've gotta be able to spread the love, right? *wink*).

Ornaments

These are the ornaments we had made for the craft show I just did. I think we had about 80 of them finished and ready to sell. I have to give the majority of the credit to my mom for getting these done. She spent many an evening glittering and cutting and then glittering and cutting some more! I can only imagine how tired her hands were!

So here's the lowdown on how we made them...the ornaments themselves are either clear glass that we made glittery using the reinker technique or they are colored glass ornaments from the store. After Christmas last year I bought a TON of glass ornaments for this purpose. We still are floating in ornaments at both my house and hers. In total I think we have somewhere around 300 ornaments. Still a whole lot to decorate and hopefully sell!!!

The toppers for the ornaments are made using stamps from Outlines. I got the Poinsettia topper in both large and small, the Holly Leaves in large, the Cut Away topper, and the Ornate topper. I opted to purchase them in unmounted rubber as opposed to mounted. I had heard Outlines was offering the sale of unmounted rubber on there stamps...to order them unmounted you had to either call or email to place your order instead of using their online shopping cart. I saved a ton by ordering them this way...at least in my opinion! When the stamps reached me I spent a few days pondering how I wanted to mount them. I didn't have any wood blocks that were big enough. After playing with ideas I realized I wanted these to be unmounted and use clear blocks with them. The ease of being able to see through the block for placement with these ornaments was priceless! It helped us SO much! We wanted to use every inch of paper and not waste, so having using them with clear blocks was the best! I ended up buying a set of the Cuttlebug clear plates and using those to mount the stamps on (thanks Emily G. for the great idea!) The only problem I encountered was that the rubber came with permanent adhesive instead of cling mount. So...I first tried using Aleene's Tack it Over and Over with no luck. Then I decided to pull the foam off the backs and adhere EZMount. I'm so glad that I chose the EZMount method! Being able to stamp the ornament toppers onto paper and see where I'm stamping really makes a difference in using all of a piece of paper.

So excited!!!

Arabella slept for 7 hours last night!!!! That's right 7 hours...how awesome is that? I'm super excited...can you tell? Hoping and praying that she keeps up with this kind of sleep pattern at night!

Aren't they just the cutest? I'm completely in love with both of them!!! I just couldn't post something about Bella without showing a pic of her too!

Hopefully I'll get some more pics up of things I've been working on!

Craft Show Display

Here's a quick pic of my display at the craft show I'm in this week. As you can see my focal point this year is the tree with ornaments my mom and I made. They are glass ball ornaments with paper toppers. Hopefully I will get more details posted about those soon.

For this show I have a number of different items for sale:

cards

ornaments

lunch tins (both cardholders and recipe tins)

coasters

journals

kid's color-a-card kits

magnets

snowman boxes

decorated teacups

paint cans (filled with spa items)

The snowman boxes and teacups were made by my mother. She is such a crafty and talented lady! I absolutely love her! I'm so glad that I inherited her knack for craftiness...and love of it too! We have a blast when we're together...we also have our moments of frustration with each other (me probably more than her *wink*). But we love each other and are very close.

I'll try and get a list of my prices and all that good stuff up soon. It's amazing how you realize how precious your time is once you have a child. Suddenly I don't have nearly as much time to surf the web as I once did. Maybe it's more that I prioritize better now than before. I know that someone will be needing my attention and don't want to waste what time I do have, especially when I have things to get done! Hmm...anyway, enough of my rambling and musing to you all.

Just a quick post...

Its been pretty busy around here recently. In addition to adjusting to little Arabella...we've been getting ready for a craft show that I am in this week. The show goes from Wednesday to Saturday. I'm going to stop by the show this afternoon to check my inventory and see how I'm doing so far. Wish me the best for good sales!!!

I'm hoping to post some pics of my craft show display in a few days. I have some that were taken from setup to show.

Well, I really need to hop in the shower while little Arabella is being watched by her dad. Hope you all have a great day!

She's here!!!

Arabella has arrived! She was born November 2 at 4:23pm! We absolutely love our little cutie! She is precious and so adorable! Labor and delivery was a very surreal experience. We went into the hospital Thursday night. I had been having contractions pretty steadily and we called the on-call doctor (who happened to be my doctor...what a blessing!) and she wanted us to come in. Well...you know how that goes, we get to the hospital and my contractions slow down. So we were given the option of either walking around the hospital for an hour or they would send us home and give me something to be more comfortable. We chose to walk. After the hour they put me back on the monitor and checked me again. It was at this time that Arabella's heart rate dropped for a 3 minute period for no reason. I was laying in the bed doing nothing! Well, this was enough that my doctor wanted to admit us and induce labor. We really didn't expect this and thought we were going home. Not so!

After almost 20 hours of labor we were ready to start pushing. Well, Arabella had other ideas. Her heart rate dropped 2 times out of the 3 that I pushed. Both times we had a flood of nurses running into the room to offer additional assistance to our labor nurses. The care was amazing and exceptional! I cannot say enough about them! After the third push and heart rate decelleration, the nurses were prepping me to go into the OR. They wanted me in there just in case. At that point I knew we were going to have a C-section. Within about 10 minutes or so I was in the OR and being prepped for surgery. Another 10 minutes later and Arabella was born! She was beautiful and came out with a nice, big cry for everyone!!!
We are so blessed to have her here with us. We've been spending the last couple weeks getting adjusted to our new little one and adjusting to little sleep.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

My Sweet Arabella!

Lookie, lookie!!! This is our precious baby...Arabella! Our first picture of her...awwwww!

We went last week for an ultrasound and did not expect to leave having seen our little girl! The tech was telling us that they had gotten a new ultrasound machine a couple months ago that has 3D capability. WOW! We were pretty excited, to say the least. I'll admit though, before this ultrasound, I would have said that I was pretty sure I would want to wait to see what she looks like until birth. How wrong I was!!! This was the coolest thing ever!

It made my day, week, month! She is absolutely sweet, adorable, cute...and ours! Both Jeff and I were completely excited to see what she looks like. She has chubby little chipmunk cheeks from these pics! We are SO excited to have her arrive!!! Only a couple more weeks left!

I'm especially looking forward to her arrival from a purely selfish reason...I've been showing beginning signs of preeclampsia. What a bummer! My doctor has prescribed rest for me...not exactly my favorite way to spend a day! She really wants me to keep my feet up as much as possible. This will help with the swelling in my feet...and it really has helped. I'm just not patient with sitting for a long period of time! I haven't been as diligent about it the last couple days and I've noticed a little increase in the swelling. In addition to this, I've been having contractions the past few days or so. We've had a couple days where they were pretty intense, to the point where we were hoping labor had really started! Not the case though :( Hopefully soon, I can't wait to see my baby!

Little Blessings...

Big affect!!! I was at the grocery store today, doing the normal foodstuffs shopping, right? So, I'm loading the bags of groceries into the trunk of my car. ***keep in mind that I am 8+ months pregnant and moving ssslllloooowwwwwww*** Well, as I'm loading the last bag into my trunk, this FedEx guy came up and asked if he could take my cart back for me. WOW! How awesome is that? It's not that I've never had people extend their kindness to me before, but his act of kindness reminded me of the goodness of people and the blessings of God. How wonderful God is! He is all about the good...from the extremely big to the very small! What blessings have you encountered recently? I'd love to hear about them!!!

Shower Gifts

My best friend, Grace, got married the end of August. Congrats to her and her new hubby! I was in her bridal party...that's right, at 7 months pregnant too! The other gal in her bridal party, Sally, made our dresses. She did such an incredible job. I would NOT want to make a dress for a pregnant gal! The dresses turned out great.

I hosted her bridal shower at my house and these are pics of the gift I made for her. Of course there are all kinds of goodies in the paint can! I couldn't just give her an empty one now could I? *wink* I used this turquoise blue and green printed paper to decorate the paint can with since her color was blue...royal blue. I know, it isn't royal blue, but I didn't have any royal blue patterned papers without them looking like the 4th of July! The paper is from a stack I got at Costco a little while ago. It was such a great deal! I paid about $13 for a stack of patterned paper about 2" tall! To finish off the paint can I wrapped ribbon around in three colors: white organdy, green organdy and turquoise satin. Tied onto the ribbon is a plastic wedding ring. I got this from Target some time ago. It's actually meant to be a shot glass, but I thought it would look much cuter as a decoration for altered items. The picture doesn't do it much justice, as you can't see the whole thing.

I filled the paint can with all kinds of pamper yourself items. I had fun shopping for all these goodies. I know I'm going to forget something, but here's an idea of what was in there: Lip Smackers, bubble bath, nail polish, nail file, pedicure foot bath, foot scrub, votive candle, etc. I had it packed with stuff!

The card was fun to make as well. I used the same patterned paper as I did on the paint can. Using patterned paper on cards is FUN! I can see why so many people are big on that trend right now. I takes your cards to a completely different place. the stamp is by American Art Stamps. I think this line of stamps are called Stick Chicks. They are designed by Karen Stolper for American Art Stamps. I colored the image in using Prismacolor pencils. No odorless mineral spirits, just using the pencils and gradating the color to blend together. To finish off the card I added some prismas and then I HAD to add some bling in the middle of each prisma flower. Its hard to see the sparkle of each rhinestone, but the little dot in the middle of each one is the rhinestone!

When I finished with the card I discovered that it was too big to fit in the standard A2 size envelopes! I had grabbed a piece of cardstock that was what I thought to be the proper size...guess not! It was just a little bit too wide to fit into the envelope. So, this card was delivered without an envie!

I need to find a pic of the shower invite I made. I know I took a picture of it...I'm just not sure where it is in my picture files! Hope you have a spectacular day! Tonight DH has a baseball game. His team is in the playoffs, so hoping they do well and have fun! I really enjoy going to his games and supporting his passion for baseball and sports!

Faith

I made this card some time ago...probably a year, maybe two! It was when I had just gotten Heartfelt Thanks in an order. I didn't have the stamp-a-ma-jig yet either...so lining up the stamps was an interesting feat! Since then I have gotten the stamp-a-ma-jig and boy, is it a lifesaver when using stamps like this! SO easy!!! If you don't have one yet...go get yourself one! Definitely worth the money spent.

Oh, the 'faith' sentiment is done using Alphabits. While I think this is a fun little set, I also think its a little cumbersome to use sometimes. It's probably just me, but I get tired of punching out all those little individual pieces to make up one word!

It's promising to be a warm day up here. They are forecasting for the mid 80s. I know, it doesn't sound that warm, but when the pregnancy hormones are on full alert anything is warm! The worst part on warm days is that my stamp room is on the top floor (it's a spare bedroom) and it seems to be the one that get the warmest of all the rooms upstairs. I have a little fan that helps, but it doesn't have that great fanning power one would hope for on a warm day. But, at least I have a fan!

I've also been working on preparing items for my craft show upcoming the end of November/beginning December. I'm excited!!! The promoter of the show loved the pics of the items I sent her! Major plus! I'll have to share what I'm planning with you and some pics too!

Hope you are having a great day!

Details:
Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks, Alphabits, Canvas BG
CS: Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla (all SU!)
Ink: Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive (all SU!)
Accesories: Hemp ribbon, Brads, 1/4" square punch (SU!)

Elegant Christmas...

I really like this card...it's elegant, simple and nice all at once! This is actually a card I made a couple years ago. To color in the image I used my blender pens and inkpads. It was fun working on the shading and coloring with these two tools. I haven't pulled out my blender pens in quite a while, actually! With all these other new goodies to tempt me, they've been left behind for a bit :)


Details:

Stamp set: Christmas Cardinal, Print Pattern BG

Paper: Bravo Burgundy, Old Olive, Gold shimmer, WW

Ink: Bravo Burgundy, Old Olive, Rose Red, Black

Accesories: Gold Organdy Ribbon, blender pen

My thoughts on...

OK...I've heard all the talk that was going on over at SCS about Stampin' Up's white cardstock. I took note, but really didn't pay it much mind. There was a lot of talk about the latest white cardstock not being the same as in the past. Specifically, the paper was reported to not "take" certain inks very well, as well as the whole feel and look of the cardstock not being the same. Basically, the quality of it had gone down. Well...I think I'm starting to agree! I'm sitting in my craft room working on some favors for my best friend's bridal shower...and what do you know? The red ink I used did not stamp clearly and it took a while to dry! BTW, I'm using SU's Classic Real Red ink and Classic Sage Shadow. The difference is huge in my opinion! The Sage stamped on nice and even, along with drying quickly. No such luck for the red! Take a look at the pics and see what you think. Have you had similar problems? I'd be interested to know if you have and also what ink you noticed it with.

Ice Cream!

I love ice cream!!! YUM! I have been having some serious ice cream cravings recently...it couldn't have anything to do with this pregnancy *wink*.



I made this card for my secret sister. This will go in with the final reveal package I'm going to be sending out this week. So, if you get this card in the mail...you'll know who I am!



The card was made using Amuse images. I am SO loving their designs and artwork! WOW!!! I've become a big fan of theirs. I used the ice cream cone and the "to a sweet friend" sentiment. Their sentiments rock! Let me tell you, I think I'd have them all if I could. I stamped them onto the pink dotted Amuse pre-folded card using Palette Noir ink. Then I colored the ice cream cones in with my Stampin' Up markers....Gable Green, Pixie Pink & Lovely Lilac. Thanks for looking!

ETA: I completely forgot to mention that this card was inspired by AmyR's card here.

Rapture

Video: Rapture Video

I've been tagged!!!

I got tagged! Wow! This is my first "tagging"!!!
I'm excited, but now I have to think of 7 things to share about myself!

Hmm...
Sencie and Nancy both tagged me. This has been fun, thanks ladies!
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What I need to do:
I’m suppose to list 7 things about myself.
Tag 7 other bloggers and ask them to do the same.
Leave tagged bloggers a comment… letting them know they’ve been tagged.

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1. My favorite color is PINK!!!

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2. I am incredibly blessed to be able to stay home and take care of our upcoming newborn. She's due October 28th.

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3. I collect dolls, as well as sew for them. Both my mom and I sew doll clothes...mostly for Helen Kish's Riley doll and BJDs. This is my other "big" hobby. Sometimes its hard to prioritize them both.

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4. I have two little dogs...Atilla my 14 year old Yorkie and Chancy my neurotic Toy Poodle. Atilla is the first dog I've ever had! I love them both so much.

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5. I am a Mariner's fan!!! No, I should say a huge fan!!! This one is due to my husband, Jeff. When we got together he transformed me into a fan...it's all his fault really!

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6. Tropical things are my favorite. Tropical decor, destinations...love it all!

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7. Ice cream is yummy! Bubble Gum, Mint Chocolate Chip, Caramel, Fudge Tracks...some of my favorites to name a few!

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And the tags go out to...

Kendra

Shortcake Stamps

Sillybird

My Inkspirations

Kraftin' Kimmies Korner

Stampin with Trisha

You're it! : )

4th of July!!!

Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Americans!!! Have a safe, fun and memorable day. I hope you are able to spend it with loved ones.


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We are planning on doing a little work around the house this morning and then we're heading off to our friends house for a BBQ! Jeff is going to work on the shed. He's almost done...some of the roofing left and the siding!!! Yay! I'm going to make cupcakes!! I have a box of Red Velvet cake mix in the pantry. So those are going to get made up this morning, cooled and then frosted. YUM!!! I'm thinking some white frosting with blue sprinkles or blue frosting with white stars or sprinkles is in order. Jeff is voting for the blue frosting with white stars...it is more patriotic that way & actually looks like our flag he says!!! *smiles* Can you imagine some of the funny conversations we have?!?


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Happy 4th of July!!!

Have I posted this yet?

I don't think so, but if I have...forgive me! This is a card I made awhile back. I really liked how it turned out. I joined in on CC65 over at SCS. That tells you how long ago it was *giggle*. This was also one of my first attempts at using a lighter colored craft ink on top of dark cardstock. I used my Stampin' Spots for this, as I only have two craft inks right now! I'm the proud owner of White craft ink and Ballet Blue craft ink. Don't ask me what I was thinking when I kept the Ballet Blue on my starter kit order form long ago...I'm not sure if I've ever used it! I know, I know...you can never have too many colors to choose from. But as my first craft ink from SU!...what was I thinking?!?

This card was also done before I had the Stampamajig. Using Heartfelt Thanks without one is kinda tricky. Each time I use it, I'm bending my head over and trying to line up the images just right. Its a hit and miss sometimes. This one turned out nice though!

Hope you all are enjoying your Sunday! I've had a great one. We went to church this morning and heard an amazing message by our youth pastor. I'd never heard him speak before...and he did an awesome job! God was there!!! We've spent the rest of the afternoon doing various house projects. Jeff is out working on completing our shed. It's almost finished! He is at the point of putting the roofing material on and the siding. Then he needs to build a door for it. I'm hosting my best friends bridal shower later this month, so I've been addressing envelopes for that. They are going in the mail tomorrow. I'll have to share that card I made soon. I still need to take a picture of it.

Enjoy this beautiful day! Blessings!

My first Roses In Winter card!

Here it is!!! My first card using Roses in Winter. I am really pleased with the end result of this. I'll admit though that it does take a bit of learning to figure out the best technique for stamping these beauties! It took quite a few practice stamps and some looking on SCS to find some tips and techniques. But I think I'm getting the hang of this. My only wish was that I didn't wait so long to get this great set! And now its going to the happy land of retirement! You've got today left to get your orders in for this beauty...don't miss out!

More about my header...

Thanks for the nice comments about my blog header! I should give a little more background to my header. This is actually a picture my husband, Jeff, and I took on our honeymoon last year. We went to the Cayman Islands for our honeymoon...a wonderful two weeks there! It is truly a spectacular place. We loved it and can't wait to go back. It is on the pricey side, especially for meals out. But the location, atmosphere, beaches, everything there is great!

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This picture was taken on the beach in front of the condo we rented for a week. Talk about beautiful!!! We were on the northend of Seven Mile Beach. This shot shows the beach and downtown area in the distance. Anchored in front of downtown are the cruise ships...usually there were anywhere from 3-5 in port each day. If you notice, there are hardly any people on the beach! The whole time we were there, the beaches looked like this. We were surprised at how few people were actually on the beach. It was never crowded! And the water was to die for!!! It felt just like bath water. Ahh!!! We did a little bit of practice snorkeling in the waters here. It took me a while to get comfortable with the mask and snorkel. Breathing in and out through your mouth is a challenge! During our practice swims, we saw a stingray, halibut (I can never remember if its that or a flounder? Well it was a bottom dwelling, flat fish!) and many other little fish swimming about. It was very cool!!!

Yay!!!

I think I've finally gotten my blog header figured out...yippee!!! I made it in MS Digital Image Pro. Making it was not nearly as difficult as I had thought it would be. *whew* I had more trouble figuring out how to make it fit into the page frame of my blog. Now THAT was a chore. I'm not completely done tweaking my header. I'd like to add a little more to it, but for now I'm happy that I have a custom one!

Happy Birthday!!!

Today is my mom's birthday! Yay!!! Happy birthday to you mom. Unfortunately she has to spend her birthday working. The last few years her birthday has fallen on a day she has to work. Not exactly your ideal way to spend your special day, but it could be worse.

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To celebrate her birthday, I'm planning on taking her our for dinner tonight. Not sure where we'll go, but we'll find someplace nice I'm sure. A nice air conditioned restaurant would be wonderful! It's warm today...ok, its in the 80s...many of you will say that isn't hot at all...but when you're pregnant suddenly everything is hot!! *LOL*

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I made this card for mom. I used these cute little cards from Amuse with the green argyle pattern since mom's favorite color is green. I really wanted to use the new cupcake and sentiment stamp I got from Lockhart Stamps too. I'm really happy with this card and how it turned out. I've just recently started playing with the small square cards that Amuse makes. I think they are so cute, but I've been having a hard time coming up with something I like using them. It's also been a challenge for me to find the right use of the Amuse stamps. I'm sure I'll get the hang of their stamps soon, but for now I'm happy playing and figuring it out!

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Back to this card...I colored in the cupcake using my Prismacolor pencils. No gamsol, just the pencils using the technique the Karen Lockhart showed us at the Snoheaux Swap earlier this year. I think I like using the pencils more this way than with the gamsol. Both images were stamped using Palette Hybrid ink in Noir. The scalloped punches are the giga and mega by Marvy. I added a little extra "bling" by using a res rhinestone from Amuse.

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Enjoy! Happy Birthday mom, I love you!

Roses in Winter wins!!!

I decided on Roses in Winter...and finally am posting here to let you know! I feel I'm going to be happy with this one. This is a set I've been eyeing for almost forever, but its one of those that never seem to made it to my order list! Go figure! *smiles* Can I tell you a little secret though?...I still haven't mounted it yet!!! *gasp*
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I really haven't been doing much stamping at all the last week or so. Instead I've been trying to work on organizing and purging my craft room of items I just don't use anymore. It's not the easiest task in the world, plus it doesn't help that I'm not the greatest at overcoming that initial "clutter" hump. Once I get past that and can visualize how I want to organize things I do pretty well. Right now I have individual cards in about 5 different places...not working so well for me! My goal is to find the things I don't want anymore and then list it on the Buy-Sell-Trade forum over at splitcoast stampers.
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Well, I better finish this up...I really need to get to the pet store. My little dogs are going to run out of food!!!

I can't decide!!!

Help me! I am having the hardest time deciding what set to get from SU! Here's the dilema:
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Roses in Winter

or

Doodle This

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Which one do I choose? I'd really like both, but you know...there's this thing called a budget that says I really should only get one set. So...with that in mind. I need to make a decision.

I've long admired Roses in Winter as well as all those great samples in the gallery over at www.splitcoaststampers.com They are all SO great!!! How can I not want that set when I see what so many have done with it??? And then there is Doodle This....super cute set! I also love the gallery samples for this one. The flourishes in it are fun and cute. And the big flower...wow! I think I might be a bit concerned about it retiring and not making it to the new catty. That shouldn't make a difference to me really, but I have this hope inside of me that I will *somehow* be able to make it as a demo. I've been pretty much making my own minimums since I've started...and that just isn't working any more. Well...that conversation is for another post I guess.

In Full Bloom

I'm pretty happy with how this card turned out. It's not too intricate, yet looks nice...at least I think so! LOL. I was inspired by my secret sister. The last couple cards she sent me have been full of glitter! So I just had to make some of my own!

I used:
-In Full Bloom
-Canvas BG
-Barely Banana, Certainly Celery, Whisper White CS
-Palette Hybrid Noir ink
-Summer Sun ink
-Yellow grosgrain ribbon from SU!
-Barely Banana, Summer Sun, Only Orange, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Basic Black markers

I think I had the most fun coloring in the images. I decided to use markers...I really haven't used them too much for coloring in images. I'm pleased with the result I got. At first I had just colored in the flowers with the lightest colors. It didn't look quite right to me, so I decided to add some more color in the form of shading. So that's where I pulled out the darker colors and added some shading to the flower petals and leaves.

Teddybella

Finally! I'm sharing something I've made! *whew* I participated in a Bella swap over at SCS and this was the card I made. I fell in love with Bellas the minute I spotted them! Teddybella is one of my favorites. She grabbed me even before I was pregnant. *lol* This was also my first attempt at using my new Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits. It's fun...but man did my hand ache after using the stumps and blending! I had no idea...maybe it's because I have a bit of tendonitis in my wrists...hmm. Anyway...here it is!

-Teddybella (available from www.stampingbella.com)

-Delight in Life (for the dots)

-Linen BG

-Cool Caribbean, Certainly Celery, Rose Red, Confetti White CS

-Cool Caribbean, Certainly Celery ink

-Palette Hybrid Noir ink

-Ticket corner punch

-Rose grosgrain ribbon from SU!

-Prismacolor pencils

-odorless mineral spirits (I used the Mona Lisa brand I found at Michaels)

Wow...has it really been that long?

I really didn't think it had been so long since I've posted! Jeezo-peezo...where have I been? That's a good question *wink* I've been SO tired the past couple weeks. I really haven't felt like doing much of anything. I feel very blessed though...I'd much rather be tired than having morning sickness. Thank the Lord!

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There is something really exciting I want to share...my baby's first picture!!! We went on Monday for our first ultrasound. We were told its early for an ultrasound (we're only about 8 weeks or so), so we won't really see much. But it was so reassuring to see the baby...heartbeat and all! Did you know that you can even hear the heartbeat with an ultrasound? I had no idea and thought it was super cool! Both DH and I thought it was a neat experience. So you can see above is the ultrasound picture! I'm excited and wanted to share with you!!!

Lunch Tins...

I feel like I'm floating in lunch tins right now...I've got a dozen of them in process. I'm so glad that I'm done with the painting & paper part of it. I don't know it was kinda tedious to me this time. Well, I guess that happens :)

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The lunch tins you see are now waiting for the final decorations to go on them. I've put ribbon on all of them but 3. Those 3 need a ribbon color that I don't have...I need to find a light aqua blue color (maybe a shade or so lighter than Cool Caribbean).

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I'm planning on adding an assortment of buttons, primas, bling to finish the embellishment on each tin.

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As far as decorating them with "recipes" or "cards"...I'm opting to NOT do that. My reasoning is this...the tins that sold well for me at the last craft show did not have either of those on them. Now, I did sell some of the ones that had "recipes" on them, but the ones with "cards" were still there at the end of the show. I'm really going with the intent of selling the tins, so I'm not going to add either to them. I think I have to agree with Taylor's thoughts she posted a long time ago at her blog www.tayloredexpressions.typepad.com She had some tins at a craft show she did last year and mentioned that people didn't go for the "cards" tins as much because they would not hold the "Hallmark" sized cards. As much as I would love for people to make their own cards...or even buy some from me *LOL*, Hallmark cards sell.

Primas!

Aren't theses Primas great? I participated in one of Jody's (texasjodylynn) shares and this is what I received!!! I just *finally* sat down to check them all out. I'm excited at the range of colors I have now. If I had to go buy all the colors myself...wow...big hurt to the pocketbook!!! But this is so cool...I got a sampling of 'em all.

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My first project with them? I'm going to use some to embellish the lunch tins I'm working on for the craft show I'm in. Maybe I'll actually use some on a card!!!

It's March!

Can you believe its March already? Wow. Where did February go? I better get on the ball and start thinking of Easter cards...maybe some St. Patty's Day ones too. But as the procrastinator that I am, I think I will wait until my new rubbah comes from SU! I ordered Bunny Hugs from the new spring mini...can't wait to play with it. I fell in love with that set the minute my eyes saw it! And I've been lovin' the cards people have put in the gallery over at SCS. Something about the colors of spring that pick up your spirits...:)
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I'm still working on finishing up my lunch tins for the craft show the end of this month. That's right, its the end of the month!!! Aaahhhhh!!!! I just need to add ribbon & embellishments to them and I can call them done! But...I still need to make up some journals, coasters, magnets, color me card kits & cards. I have a BIG to-do list ahead of me. I think there will be some nights spent in this craft room on mine.
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On another subject...I got my ribbon organized. Well, at least the ribbon that is on spools. I really like the storage option I chose. I'm hoping to post a pic of it later, so stay tuned! I'm still in need of organizing my cut ribbon...thinking about those nifty Cropper Hopper 3x3 storage drawers with the ribbon cards. What's holding me back is that I'm not sure where to store them....hmm.
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Hope you all have a spectacular day filled with blessings!

Ramblings

Ok, I charged the battery for my camera....and now I'm not sure where the camera is! LOL, isn't that always the way. I'll find it soon enough. I have a sneaking suspicion its hiding out downstairs in our basement! There are some pictures on that camera I'd like to share with you.

Until then, I think I'm going to look through my older pics and see if there is something fun I could post. Maybe!

This weekend I got a couple things done I've been wanting to. I reorganized my stamp sets on the bookshelf they live on. I took out all the letter and sentiment sets so they are now in their own spot. I think I'll use more of my sentiment sets more often by having them all in one spot, at least that's my hope. Its so hard for me to organize my sets by theme or style. I started doing this, but failed miserably. There is something in me that just has to have the same size stamp set bozes all together!!! Maybe I'm a little perfectionistic or somethin' *ponders* Well...the non-sentiment sets remained organized by box size.

Battery dead..

Ok...I so want to post a new card I finished last night. But my camera battery needs recharging *pouty face* and I'm going to have to wait till it charges. harumpgh!!! I guess that just means that I really should start working on my swap cards. I'm in a Bella swap and I need to figure out a design for the shoebox swap for the WA/OR get together the end of March. I'm also doing a shoebox swap with my upline group soon. Ahh!!! time to get a move on *smiles*

Valentine Cards

I know, I know...it's after Valentine's Day. What am I doing posting these? Well, I'm extremely late at getting things done this year! These cards were done before the actual day though. *smiles* The top card I made for my husband, Jeff. We had a great Valentine's day (more about that soon). The other card I made for my mom. I got this crazy idea to make the cards using only red, black & white. I'm pretty happy with them.

Nitty Gritty Details:

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card #1

• Love Matters stamp set by SU!
• black, white & red CS by SU!
• Pallete Hybrid ink in Black Noir
• Ticket Corner punch by SU!
• Giga scalloped oval punch
• Horizontal Slot punch by SU!
• Black gingham ribbon
• sponge

card #2

• Love Matters stamp set by SU!
• black, white & red CS by SU!
• Pallete Hybrid ink in black noir
• red classic ink, white craft ink
• Horizontal Slot punch
• black gingham ribbon, red narrow organdy

Now for my Valentine's evening, which was also my first anniversary! We had dinner at Maggiano's...a wonderful Italian restaraunt...YUMMY! If you ever get a chance to dine there, do it! The portions are huge! We brought home eggplant parmesan and their lasagna (which really does taste like homemade!). During dinner he brought me a dozen deep pink roses...my favorite! For Valentine's day he gave me a really pretty bracelet watch. It's in the style of the silver link bracelets and necklaces that *I think* first came from Tiffany's. And for our anniversary he made me a framed picture of the wedding vows he spoke during the wedding!!! We each wrote our own vows, and I love that he framed his. Behind the written words he put a picture of us during the ceremony. *gushy smiley* He is so creative...a definite keeper!!! Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's day!

A new favorite color combo...

Card Recipe:

• CC100 colors (blush blossom, chocolate chip, cool caribbean)
• blush blossom, chocolate chip ink by SU!
• Textile embossing folder by Cuttlebug
• giga scalloped circle punch
• mega circle punch
• brads (by Doodlebug)
• Word Window punch by SU!
• white gel pen by SU!
• paper punching tool

So I decided to use CC100 as the combo for the anniversary card I made for DH. Ever since I saw Emily post this challenge, I have been in love with this color combo! I don't know what it is, but there is something so soft and elegant, maybe soothing, about these colors together.
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I'll admit...for a long while I wasn't too fond of Blush Blossom. But now I am growing more and more fond of it. I absolutely love it here! I think Blush Blossom would be really pretty for spring and Easter cards.

Big news!!!

I'm so excited!!! I have to share with everyone...I'm pregnant!!!! DH and I are so excited. He was jumping off the walls when I told him. According to the doctors office, my due date is around the end of October...I really hope I don't have a Halloween baby. *insert beaming smile*

A mess of ribbon!

This is how my ribbon is currently being stored...I'm not sure if you could call it organized. Well I would call it more of a mess! I had to take a pic of this and post it. I was just in the middle of making a card for my secret sister and I decided that the card needed a little bit of white grosgrain. Now, it should be easy to find. Right? WRONG!!! I have to pull this little box out of where its stored and have numerous ribbons come flying out to say hello! Then just to find the color of ribbon I want, I have to rummage through everything else. Basically, I have ribbon unrolling from the spools, ribbon on the floor, ribbon everywhere!!! *insert frazzled look here*

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I'm determined to find a better way to organize my ribbon. This is seriously detracting from my use of ribbon.

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I've seen so many good ways to store it...I'm just not sure what would work best for me. Amy R posted her ribbon solution at her blog www.prairiepaperandink.typepad.com She uses Closetmaid storage racks found at Home Depot. Another neat idea has been posted by many...the 3x3 Cropper Hopper drawers. I've also seen rain gutters used for ribbon storage. What to choose, what to choose...

Tooth Fairy Tins

These tooth fairy tins were made for a craft show last year. It was my first time making them and I must say, I was quite pleased with the end result. The tin is an altoid tin. I purchased mine through www.specialtybottle.com They are listed under Tin Containers (specialty). I haven't found a better price online for them, if you do let me know! I always love a good deal.

I covered the tin with colored cardstock, in this case I used pink. The fairy images are from the Fairy Nice set. I was fortunate enough to get these images from the wonderful gals who are part of the WRAK group on Splitcoast. Without them I would not have been able to make these!

I printed the poem out on cardstock from my computer. After that was adhered, then I added the prima flowers. I think they add a really nice, cute look to the inside. If I really wanted to go all out, I think I would have put more on, but I was making them for sale.

The 'tooth fairy' is made using SU! Alphabits and a 1/4" round circle punch. That took a lot of work, probably the most on the whole tin. I had to stamp out 3 (I think) sets of the alphabet and then punch out each letter individually. The worst was trying to glue them on! I'm sure there was a better way than what I did....

Around the top of the tin I wrapped pink gingham ribbon and tied it in a bow. It makes it look a little more finished on the outside and also adds a cute touch.

Down to business...

Well at least I'd like to think I can get down to business and accomplish some things today...I guess its really afternoon. I need to get my goodies for my secret Valentine completed and then sent out.

I'm also quite behind on my prepping for the craft show I have coming up the end of March. Its what I call procrastination! Last night though, I actually started on a couple lunchboxes for the show. I have 12 lunchboxes to make up for the show. I've decided that I'm going to paint the tops of them instead of cutting and adhering the patterened paper to it. It just seems to be easier that way.

Hmm...I also need to make a card and send it to my new secret sister. A new round has started and before I know it the month will be over and I won't have sent a card out yet!

Cuttlebug fun

I am in love with the new Cuttlebug embossing folders! They are so fun and can be used in other die cut machines as well as the Cuttlebug. I have the BigShot from Ellison Designs. In my limited use of it so far, it has been a spectacular.

This card was really quite easy. The base is Sage Shadow with a layer of Lavendar Lace on top of that. This layer is the one I embossed. The two layers on top of that are Sage Shadow again with a layer of very vanilla cs. On this layer I stamped a random smattering of the flower and heart stamp from the Sweet on You set from Stampin' Up! The 'I heart...' stamp is stamped on Lavendar Lace and cut out. I wrapped purple grosgrain ribbon around the top two layers.

I Thirst For You!

I am so excited...tonight I'm going to the I Thirst For You encounter at my churchhttp://www.cedarpark.org/northshore/. This is a women's encounter/conference that is so powerful! This is my 3rd year going and each time my life is so touched and changed by the movement of God.
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I know that I will meet with God tonight and He is going to speak great things to me during this time. I'm dedicating this next 24 hours (not even) to spend with Him and allow Him to mold me to His purposes. I feel that a great freedom is going to pass over this time...freeing people from things that have been holding them back from the great love of the Father, holding back from that which He's called you to, freeing them into the love only He can shower upon us.
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"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" John 8:36
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A really neat song by Jason Upton:
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Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom
Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom
If you're tired and you are, there is freedom
If you're tired and you are, there is freedom
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Jesus reings in this place
Showers of mercy and grace
Falling on every face
There is freedom
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Freedom Reings in this place
Showers of mercy and grace
Falling on every face
There is freedom
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Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom
Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom
So we lift our eyes to Jesus, there is freedom
So we lift our eyes to Jesus, there is freedom

Pink & chocolate...Yum!!!

I so love pink and brown as a color combo! It's probably largely due to my great love of pink!!! I'm pretty happy with how this card turned out. I've been in a rut recently and having trouble coming up with ideas and inspiration for cards. This card uses the Sweet on You set and a little bit of the Loves Me paper.

I knew I wanted to use my scalloped circle punch, so I played around with my layout until I came up with this. The circles didn't seem quite right...and then I added the Hodgepodge Hardware. (I have *such* a hard time using this...I'm definitely hoarding it!)

After the card was all put together I added Crystal Stickles to the heart and also dotted it on the middle of the flowers.

Enjoy!

Craft Show details...

These are more pictures on the craft show I did in December. I had a great time at this show and plan on doing more in the future. This particular show was put on by Sue at Country Crafts www.country-craft.com This gal is such a sweetheart!

I hope that by sharing these pics and things I've found helpful you can better prepare for the shows you will be doing!

Anyway...some of the details! This is a full shot of my space. I had a 6' table and the freestanding rack was 2' wide and about 4' tall or so.

Most of the craft shows I've come across require the table covering to be floor length and light in color. This was the best I could do. I wasn't going to pay to have one custom made. I used two items to make this table covering...a tablecloth from Linens-n-Things and a king size sheet underneath. Now, it isn't floor length on all sides...the back is shorter than the front. You can see it a little in the picture. I was fairly happy with how it looked though. The main thing the promoters are trying to achieve with floor length drapings are to prevent the table legs from showing. It also gives you a great place to tuck the storage tubs too! If I can find some other type of cloth that will work better, then I'll change. Until then, I like this. I have to say at first I was a little leary of using a light colored tablecloth. I was always a fan of black. This made me rethink my feelings. I still like black as a table covering, but there was something really fresh and bright about using a light colored one!


My lunchtins were my highest priced item at this show. I decided to display them on this really cute rack. I was fortunate enough to get this from my mom. She has some really cute metal racks that make great display racks. I've seen similar things at TJ Max. I always keep an eye out when I'm there.

For this show I had 11 lunchtins made up, and sold just over half of them. There were 3 different types: Cards, Recipes and Baby. I also had some that were unlabeled on the outside...meaning they did not have anything on the outside of the tin to designate what they were meant for. Surprisingly, the ones that sold best were these "blank" ones. They still had the dividers labeled for recipe use. None of the baby tins sold...they were intended to be a baby's first year tin. The cards tins were also slow on the go...I think one sold over the course of the show.

In the future I'm going to concentrate on making my tins without a specific label on the outside. They will still have dividers on the inside...most likely I will label them for recipe use. While I like the ones that tell you what to use them for...I think its a better decision to leave that up to the customer. It also save me a step *insert wink*



One of the best sellers I had at this show were my kid's color me kits. I got this idea from Joyrae on SCS. Thanks so much to her! I know there are other ones that have posted this same thing, but hers just hit home with me. These were so EASY it was insane. I had 4 cards in one kit, along with 4 crayons. I packaged the crayons up in their own tiny ziplock bag (I got the baggies from Paperzone).

For the cards, I used cardstock from Michael's. I couldnt' see using my SU! cardstock on these, especially since they are not intricate in design.

I packaged the card kits in a plain cello bag and used a simple twist tie to close them.

Another of my best sellers were journals. I made these by covering compostition books with patterned paper and then embellishing. At the start of the show I only had these six. By the second day, I was done to one journal left! I ran home that night and made up as many as I could!!! It was exciting to see these go.







What I had at this show:

• lunch tins..................................$24.95
• altered paint cans....................$19.95
• journals.....................................$5.95
• snowman soup (in a mug)......$4.95
• snowman poop.........................$1.00
• coasters.....................................$2.95 ea.
• magnets (clear button type)..$1.50 for 4
• cards..........................................$2.50 ea.
• tooth fairy tins..........................$2.95 ea.
• frames........................................$9.95

My bestsellers:

• ~lunch tins
• ~journals
• ~coasters
• ~snowman poop (sold out on last day)
• My cards did fairly well. I had a mix of everyday and Christmas. I didn't have a count of the cards before the show...so estimating the sales...I sold about a third of them. Not too bad.
• Thoughts on the snowman soup...it's really cute, but for some reason it wasn't a big seller. Its super easy to put together and fun too! With the mug, the price is really great! I included a package of cocoa, marshmallows, hershey's kisses and candy cane. They were packaged in clear cello, with a stamped tag. The poem was on the back of the tag.

Over the holidays I'd seen snowman soup in many retail locations. I wonder if this could be why its not a hit in the craft show arena? Possibly it has lost its unique-ness? I'm not sure if I will make it again or not.

The snowman poop on the other hand sold pretty well. I didn't have huge sales on it until the last day (Saturday). By the end of that day, I was sold out! It really wasn't anything special...marshamallows in a small cello bag! I was surprised these sold out, and I was thinking of not doing them again...decisions, decisions!

As for the coasters...my best seller were the coffee ones. I didn't have many of these (coasters in general) and wish I would have made more. I will definitely be making more of these, especially the coffee them ones. One person came back and asked for more...sadly, I didn't have any more!

Overwhelmed by such kindness...

How great a surprise is this?!? I got this great stamp and card from a wonderful gal...I don't even know her and I can tell you she's one terrific gal!!! I got my mail a few days ago and in with it was a package from www.morethanink.com What could this be? I don't remember ordering anything from them recently....hmm. This is a mystery.

This mysterious box contained this cute Thank You stamp and a wonderful card!!! How cool is that? But why did I receive this??? This wasn't something I ordered. Wellllll...the spectacular gal at More Than Ink, Terry, sent me this little package! This was a huge bright spot in my day and totally unexpected!

It seems that Terry saw that I had posted about More Than Ink on Splitcoast Stampers and wanted to send me a token of her appreciation. Due to my posting she had received some orders on the site.

Just what is that she sells you ask? Only the hugely popular scalloped punches by Marvy!!! Of course she has many other things too. I found this site by doing a search for the punches and ran across them. They had a *super* price on the punches and on top of that...shipping is free on purchases over $35!!! What a deal! And I love a good deal. I bought the giga scalloped circle punch and the giga scalloped oval punch. I plan on getting the scalloped square punches from her soon too! I had to pass this wonderful bit on news on to you!!!

Cute Chicks!

I was turned on to these super cute chicks by SCS. I have to be honest...I'm not sure who originally found this cute site...but I'm glad they shared! I have a thing for chick things. It all started when my best friend and I read this book, God Chicks by Holly Wagner. Its an incredible book that empowers you to be exactly what God intends. From reading that book we've both developed an interest in "chick" things. I always keep an eye out for fun & cute gizmos that are chick-like. These cute icons are exactly it! So fun...you should try one out!

Bless This Chick...http://www.blessthischick.com/btcmachine/index.php

God Chicks by Holly Wagner...http://www.godchicks.com/

Loves Me Latte!!!

I *LOVE* the Like It A Latte stamp set! It is just too much fun. Try as I might, but I just keep reaching for it again and again these days. On top of that add the Liquid Applique...oh my! Heaven!!!

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For this card I used the Like It A Latte set (of course!). The patterned paper is Loves Me from SU! I stamped the image on the scalloped giga punch from Marvy and stapled the ribbon on. The base of the card is whisper white, with the layers being close to cocoa and the loves me paper. I added a little bit of red embossing powder on top of the liquid applique before I heat dried it to make it 'puff'. I was trying to get the effect of crushed peppermints on the foam. I think a pink toned embossing powder would have looked a little better, but I made do with what I had. The heart on top of the cup is cut out and adhered with a pop dot.

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Enjoy!

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Items used for this card:

Like It A Latte set

Giga scalloped punch

Liquid Applique

Embossing Powder

Ribbon (American crafts dotted, SU! grosgrain)

Ticket corner punch

Stapler

I love craft shows!

I have craft shows on the mind. I just filled out my application for one March 29-31. It's going to be held at Pickering Barn in Issaquah, WA. I checked this one out last fall and it is a super show! If you're in the area stop by. I need to get my tush a-movin though...I have ALOT to complete before this show!

I participated in my first *big* craft show last December. It was a blast! I had such a fun time and met some really great gals that gave me so much super advice about being in the craft show market. I was fortunate enough to get tips on the good shows vs the 'ok' ones. These gals in the crafting business are wonderful!

The picture is of my booth display is from the show I did in December. I had a 3' x 8' spot. I used a 6' table and also had a freestanding display shelf that was on the side of the table. At that show I had decorated lunch tins, paint cans, journals, coasters, snowman soup, snowman poop, magnets, decorated frames and of course cards! I was surprised at what was selling most:

~kid's color me cards

~journals

~coasters (the coffee theme ones were big!)

~magnets

~snowman poop (these sold well on the last day!)

I thought for sure the snowman soup would be a big seller...but alas, no. After thinking about it for awhile...I think it could be because snowman soup is becoming available pretty much everywhere. I noticed it at a number of retail stores during the Christmas season. Its either that or my prices were too high!

Who'd a thought?

I'm starting a blog! I've been scoping all these great blogs out there...wow...they're great! Hopefully this will be a fun little adventure *smiles*