Thank you, Leigh!

Check out the AWESOME RAK I got from Leigh at Sunflower Studio!! I won this RAK in celebration of her 100,000 blog count. It has a ton of great goodies like an acordian album, ribbon, flowers, and my number one embellie right now - brads!! Check it out.





She even made the cutest card for me!


Look at all the goodies that were hidden away in that bag!



A mini album and some lip balm to boot.

Don't forget to check out Leigh's blog. She's a very talented card maker!!

Look what I found!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I've been a hippo lover since I was very small, and that I have a huge collection of everything hippo. I must have hundreds upon hundreds of hippo items, and I'm always on the look out for an unusual find.

Last night, I was at JoAnns and stumbled upon this adorable zippered carrier in the knitting department. According to the packaging, you're supposed to use it to house your needles and thread. I'm thinking she's found a permanent home on my craft table as a holder of random objects. Isn't she cute?

I also have a few hippos on my desk that I see everyday, and they make me smile. This first one is actually a piggy bank!

My mom gave me this next one. This figurine is a lovely hand-made porcelain hippo by NAO. I just love the detail and the quality on this one.

I have many, many more hippos, but these are the ones I happen to have out in my house right now.

I hope to post some more projects either tonight or tomorrow. I'm trying very hard to ward off a migraine (it's just a little headache right now), so I'm taking it easy. I hope everyone is having a great Thursday!!

Busy as a Bee

I've been busy making altered picture frames. I want to have a good inventory for my craft fair, and if they don't sell, then I have more presents to give out during x-mas! Here's what I've bee working on:

As I make more and more of these frames, I learn little tips and tricks along the way. One of them is to make use of those double-sided 12x12 papers. What's great about theses "double-dipped" papers is that they're already color coordinated, so it takes the guess work out of choosing coordinated paper. Also, the DCWV paper stacks are great for this type of application as they, too, are all color coordinated.

Have fun, and if you make one, make sure to drop me a link so I can check it out!!

Picture Frames & Winner of the RAK

The winner of my "Sunday Smiles" RAK is...qoedvc98!! Q, e-mail me or PM me your addy, and I'll send you some Studio G stamps! Thanks to everyone who played along. I still have lots more stamps to give away, so check back often!

I made some fun picture frames over the weekend. I'm on a roll with these things. They're so easy to make!!




I also altered a mirror that I picked up at Michael's for a buck. I think it turned out pretty good!

I have four more picture frames sitting on my table just waiting to be photographed and posted. They are all different themes, so you'll want to stay tuned for those!

Sunday Smiles & a RAK!!

Sundays have such a particular feeling, don't you think? For us, it's a day to sit back and relax. I usually do laundry, which I don't mind at all. Travis gets his things ready for work (he has tomorrow off, though!), and I usually make a nice warm meal. The days are getting really cold over here, so it's nice to be cozy-warm with a mug of nice hot cocoa by my side!

My friend, Kelli, has tagged me! I've only been tagged once before, so here are my seven random facts:

1. I love birds. I love learning about their behavior and their biology. I have over a hundred books on birds, numerous CDs and serveral computer programs. I can identify quite a few by call and/or song alone, and I'm not too shabby at identifying them in the field. It's kind-of my thing!
2. I am thoroughly obsessed with stamps right now. I wasn't a stamper earlier this year, but boy am I addicted now!!
3. One of my pet-peeves is melted chocolate. I know that sounds wierd, but when I'm out in the field and I reach for that chocolate-chip cookie for a snack and all the chips are melted and sticking to the plastic bag, I am not a happy camper.
4. My favorite animal is the hippo. I have been in love with them ever since I could talk, and I've been collecting them in all sorts of forms for many, many years now. Friends and family are always on the look-out for hippos for me.
5. I have a massive collection of stationary and pens. I started collecting when I was very young, even before all the big-chain office stores like Office Depot, Office Max, and Staples, were around. I go through my pens every six months to make sure they're still working, and if they're not, out they go!
6. I am a creative instructor. I teach all levels of beading and polymer clay art, and I love every minute of it!
7. My bedroom is a tribute to the log cabin look. Our bed is made of pine logs, and it's so high that I have to jump in it at night!

So there you have it. Seven more random facts about little 'ol me. Leave me a comment telling me the most random fact about yourself, and I'll enter you in a drawing for a RAK of some Studio G stamps. I'll leave this RAK open until 11:59 pm PST Monday, November 12th. I'll draw a name Tuesday afternoon and post a winner by 1 pm PST on that day. Have fun, and good luck!!

Woo-Hoo!! I won a RAK!! Plus some new cards...

I'm so excited because this morning I woke up to find an e-mail telling me that I had won blog candy over at Sunflower Studio!! Go check out Leigh's blog. She's an amazing card-maker!!

In keeping with the theme of cards, I made these two for some RAKs I recently sent out. I know that the two ladies already got their goodies, so it's safe to share these cards with you!





I'm absolutely loving the Spellbinders Nestability dies. I only have the scalloped circle set, but I hope to add the square and oval sets to my collection. They're so much more practical than those large bulky punches.

I also used the famous $1 Studio G clear stamps that you can now find at Michaels and JoAnns. You can't go wrong for a buck!!


Speaking of those great little stamps, here are a few more cards using them. I also whipped out my flex ruler to draw and cut out waves on my cards. For the first one, I simply used a handmade sticker that I found at Wal*Mart in a four pack for $1.44!! That's a mere $0.36 for this little snowman. I'm all about stretching that dollar!!




I'm off to teach a class now. Have a great Saturday everyone!!

Figgy Pudding and Yummy Cards

Nothing says yummy like Basic Grey's new Christmas line of paper - Figgy Pudding. I made these cards using this new shabby-chic paper line and some $1 stamps from Mike's.

Have you started your holiday card making? Leave me a comment linking me to your cards so I can see all of your creations, too!

Back on the card-making wagon

Here is my first card in five days of taking a card-making break. I was working on some bead projects for my craft fair, plus I had to recover from CKC Seattle!




The paper is Basic Grey's "Figgy Pudding" line, and the stamps are from Fiskars and Sandylion. I used my new Spellbinder's Nestabilities scalloped circle dies to cut the two circles. For a full review of these dies, check out this thread on the CKMB.

Now, don't be scared by the next picture. I thought it would be fun to take a random picture of my work table after making my card. It always stuns me how messy I am when I create, especially something as small as a card!

CKC Seattle was AWESOME!!

I can't even begin to say how much fun I had at CKC Seattle yesterday! I had been looking forward to this event for at least a month, and when it finally came, I was so overwhelmed by excitment! The CKMB gals I met were so genuinly sweet and fun-loving!

Before going to the event, I made a necklace to hold my name-tag. It's 30" long and made from glass canes and Swarovski crystals.

My Friday didn't start off too well, though. Sedona woke me at 2:30am, and I didn't get back to bed until after 3 am. It seemed as though I had just fallen asleep when my alarm went off at 8 am. Of course, knowing my stomach, it just had to act up. I had a stomach ache even while I was driving to Bellevue.

It took me a good hour and a half to get to Meydenbaur Center, but it took another half hour to find a parking spot. After the second time around the very busy streets of downtown Bellevue, I finally found a parking lot that had some empty spaces. I had to park in the basement level where it was cold and dark. Actually, it was kind of scary to be quite honest! I was just happy to finally park the car and meet everyone.

I walked a short three blocks to the convention center, and when I got inside, I was totally overwhelmed by all the cool scrapping goodies! I've been to many scrapping and stamping conventions before, especially having lived in Vegas, and I always get blown away by all the people and stuff to buy! This convention was no different.

Because it was so close to the CKMB lunch time by the time I got there, I decided to do a quick walk-through of the convention. I saw Lisa Bearnson signing autographs. The odd thing was that I felt as though I had already met her. Perhaps I've seen her so many times on QVC and in magazines that I felt I knew her!

I wandered the aisles and stopped to watch a demonstration at the Spellbinders booth. As I was intently watching this lady crank out die cuts, I heard a man's voice announce, "The Creating Keepsakes Message Board lunch is now beginning in the back of the convention." I made my way to the back where I saw all the wonderful CKMB gals sitting on the floor enjoying lunch. I recognized most everyone from either pictures I had seen or their avatars.

All of us had a blast talking and getting to know one another! Leslie gave Joscie a pair of undies that said "Joscie" on the front and "Rhymes with bossy" on the toosh!

Joscie handed out a very cool gift bag with lots of Hawiian goodies and a great alterned notebook.

Of course, what scrapbooking gathering would be complete without cameras flying about and flashes going off everywhere?

Noel and I ~

Leslie and I ~

Traci and I ~

Joscie and I ~

Joscie and I got to spend some time together in the long vendor lines. This gal is such a sweetheart! I had such a good time getting to know this Hawaiian a little better :)

Ericka and I ~



I spent most of my day with this whacky gal! She's so much fun, and such an enabler!! Here's Ingunn and I ~

One of the highlights of my day was meeting Ali Edwards. She's such a fun and sweet gal! She signed my moleskin sketch book and posed for a picture. (I have no idea why the picture is so grainy. It looks just fine in my files!)

After a long day of shopping and spending way too much, I headed home. I was only in traffic for 2.75 hours!! Yes, that was me being sarcastic. I was so tired by the time I got home, but I still had one more function to attend - the one year anniversary of the beading store I teach at, "Bead It." She had a wonderful spread of veggies, breads, and candy! I ate way too much and spent a little more on some beads, but hey, I can't pass up 15% off!

Today, I was able to take better pictures of all my loot! I am so excited to play with it all, especially my new Spellbinder Nestabilities scallop circle dies and my Technique Tuesday stamps!


I hope everyone is enjoying a relaxing Saturday!!

The winner of the spider RAK is...

...Latrice!! I have your info, so I'll send one over soon :)

Thanks to everyone who participated!! I have quite a few more RAKs coming up, so visit often.

Have a happy Thursday, everyone!