I stayed home from work today because I'm sick. I was feeling awful yesterday afternoon but I knew I still had a long night ahead of me at stamp club. So I asked Jen, my lovely and wonderful manager at work, for the next day off. That would be today. Bless her, she said that would be okay. :)

Seriously, that was the only way I able to make it through last night--knowing I didn't have to get up and go to work this morning. Don't get me wrong, it was nothing strenuous or even a tremendously long evening. I just really needed some sleep and just thinking about having to go into work was making my head hurt more.

So I slept in. Or tried to. Curse this stupid stuffy nose that doesn't allow me to breathe!

Anyhow, I finally took a picture of the layout I've been stewing over for a few days. Not my best, but I do love the photos. The arrow in the corner is covered in glitter (yes, Kristina P, that is what I was covering in glitter last week). I'm loving the glitter! And the fact that I painted the chipboard piece pink before I put the glitter on? So girly! Love it!

(First off, please excuse the blurry photo below... I didn't realize it was blurry until I went to upload it. And frankly, today I'm being a bit lazy. My cold is back with a vengeance and my head feels about 5-feet wide).

For the first time ever, all 12 members of my stamp club will be at our meeting tonight! :) In fact, three of them are bringing friends so it will really be a party!

This month's card club projects feature the 5-in-1 Card Cover Template. Each person will make a large envelope and card, and a mini envelope and card. Hopefully, everyone won't have to wait too long for the supplies because I gave them a choice as to what patterned paper from the Spring Mini Catalog to use.

The breakdown is like this: 6 for Au Chocolate, 6 for Notations, and 3 for Petals & Paisleys. Each card uses different supplies so there won't be any crossover. I purposely planned it that way because the hostess is setting up 3 different tables--one for each patterned paper. I hope it goes smoothly.

(BTW, in the first picture, I didn't include the Au Chocolate envelope because I'll be demonstrating how to use the template using that paper).

(Photo of card removed for publication)

Just so ya'll know, there's an awesome article in Scrapbooks Etc. this month about using GLITTER! I had so much fun after my re-discovery of the fabulousness of glitter, that I was super happy to see this in a magazine I subscribe to.

:)

I just used glitter for the first time since, oh, I don't know, second grade. Believe me, you do not want to see my craft table.

Nuff said.

;)

Today I challenged myself to use only four diferrent sheets of card stock and no patterned paper. Here are the cards I came up with. Enjoy! :)

Supplies - Textured card stock: Bazzill; Ruby Red card stock, stamps, stamping ink, white grosgrain, metal edged vellum tag: Stampin' Up!; Chipboard flowers: Fancy Pants Designs; Rubons, brads: American Crafts; brown grosgran: Wild Asparagus; large eyelets: We R Memory Keepers.

I've received a few questions as of late and thought I'd share my answers with everyone (just in case anyone else was wondering):

The filing cart in your scrap room-- Does it hold 12x12 card stock? (This question came from one of my stamp club members. Hey Laura!)
No, not right now. I believe that particular cart is capable of storing 12x12, but only if you have 12x12 hanging file folders. I think there was a scrap company that sold 12x12 hanging folders, but I don't recall which company it was.

How do you convert color photos to black and white in Photoshop?
I started looking into this about a year ago as well after I realized that the Grayscale command in Photoshop just wasn't cutting it. In the process of searching for good black and white conversions, I checked out the 2Peas photography board. Many people were praising photographer Amber Ludlow's black and white conversions. I believe you can purchase her tutorial on black and white conversions for only $20. I'm not sure if she's still selling it, but you can try emailing her at ludlowphotography@hotmail.com.

Hope that helps! Any other questions?

I'm still in American Crafts heaven! My brother installed some shelves above my drawing table that I adore. I've lined up all my American Crafts ribbons and flowers and other goodies so I can see them. It really helps me to see everything out in the open.

Here are few photos of my scrap area (forgive me, it's a bit cluttered--I work best that way. Just ask the people I work with).

The photo of the filing cart shows how I have my SU! card stock. I have all 48 colors on top and the neutrals and In Colors for this year down below in a little file box that I slide out when I need them. I really like this little cart. I found it at Costco. The file folders are from M.O. and I blogged about them before (see the entry here).

And some cards! These are made mostly with all AC product, but I did use SU! card stock, punches, and ribbon in some places.

(Photo removed for publication)

I have received numerous emails asking about my views and preference on others using my creations as inspiration (i.e. scraplifting, CASEing). I have added a small box to the left column addressing the issue. You can read my full answer to the question by clicking on "more info" in the box, or clicking here.

One of the best parts of being on the American Crafts Design Team is the goodie boxes that come after tradeshows (CHA, Memory Trends, etc). It's like Christmas!

Just like the time when I received my last box, after I opened the one I received today and promptly gasped, I was overcome with the need to organize my scrap area to accommodate all the new things. But before I could start tearing apart the room to put it back together, I decided to make some cards for my co-workers.

I changed positions at the company I work for about a month ago and the three gals I work with are so great! Don't get me wrong, I loved all the people I worked with before, but the four of us have hit it off really well. The other day I stopped designing for a moment and looked up from my computer.

"I get paid to do this?" I said out loud.

Tonight, I feel very content and grateful for the place I am right now. Granted, I still hope to buy my own home soon, and I still have so many things I'd like to do, but all in all I am overwhelmed with appreciation for where my decisions have brought me. It's so wonderful to love getting up in the morning and going to work, and then loving every minute of being there.

Believe me, I love designing and creating, but being surrounded by such wonderful people is rare and I am eternally grateful.

On to the cards!

Here's a random conversation I had work today. I was talking with Lauren who is one of the other graphic designers. She was trying to fit text in a layout.

Lauren: It just doesn't fit.
Me: You should call the writer and say, "I don't know how to say this, but you're really verbose. Have you ever realistically seen 15 clowns in a car, because either I'm 8 clowns short of a van or you need to cut some text."

Hahahaha! We were laughing so hard! These are the moments when I feel like a 13-years-old at a slumber party. Can't stop giggling. And over the stupidest things, too!

;)

Hi everyone! Just a heads up, I have two cards in Cards Magazine this month. They are on pages 19 and 41. Both are cards that have not been seen on the internet at all. Sometimes I submit cards that I've shared here or on TwoPeas or SCS, but these were created especially for the calls.

For those of you with the magazine already, the bridal shower invitation on page 41 has a slightly humorous story behind it. I created it to be completely fake. All the information on it is made-up. Well, the people at Cards didn't know that, so they called me and asked! "Um, is the address on the invitation real? We don't want to publish a real address." Nope! Absolutely not. Made me chuckle. :)

Can I tell you how much I love this publication? Such beautiful cards in it this month! And the cover is truly breathtaking. The theme for March is Babies so the cover cards are in pastel hues. They're just yummy! Jill Godon created them and I just can't stop looking at them. It's just so soft.

Enough with my early morning chatter. I should be getting ready for work.

P.S. I'm really worried that putting TypeKey authetication on the comments will discourage all of you from commenting. Please, PLEASE prove me wrong. Just register this once, leave a comment on this entry and then you're set for life! After that, your comment won't be monitored and it will show up in the comments immediately.

I spent most of the evening trying to fix the comments here. What a pain! But they should be working now. For those who don't have TypeKey accounts, it's super easy to set one up. Please don't hesitate to comment just because you'll have to register once. I'm afraid that it will discourage real commenters. BUT I do hope it discourages comment spammers.

Anyway, please feel free to leave comments. I love to hear your opinions and questions.

Have a lovely night!

Just so you all know... Comments on this blog are all messed up right now. I'm trying to fix them. I've received a LOT of spam comments and I'm trying to prevent them. So, I'm enabling TypeKey authentication. I'll explain more when it's all set up.

Thanks for your patience!

Tomorrow is the birthday of a gal in my church, so I'll be going to visit her tomorrow evening. Of course, I have numerous pre-made birthday cards, but I felt like making one tonight. And I only gave myself 20 minutes to do it. :)

Today's useless observation: I think I work better under time constraints. ;)

Supplies - Cardstock, patterned paper, stamps, stamping ink, embossing powder, envelope template, and ribbon: Stampin' Up!; large flower: Bazzill; small flowers and brads: American Crafts.

AHH!! One of my customers ordered 2 packs of Vanilla Pocket Notes and I only ordered one! She called me last Saturday and made me aware of the problem, but it's past time for ordering from the Winter Mini. I've called SU! but there's nothing they can do.

Does anyone out there have VV Pocket Notes they could sell to me? You'd totally be helping me out and I'd love you forever and ever!

UPDATE: A lovely person on SCS has some pocket notes she's willing to part with. Heaven bless her! Thanks for all your help, everyone!

I had such a great workshop month in February that I'm kind of sad that I don't have any workshops planned outside of my monthly club for March. So, I've decided to have a Stamp-a-Stack! For those that don't know what that is, it's a workshop except the guests that come make numerous cards instead of just one or a couple. They pay a small fee and get to just come and make multiple cards of the same designs. In this case, they'll be making 10 cards.

I had a few people ask about me having one so I thought it was about time I tried it. :)

These are a couple of the cards I have planned for the Stamp-a-Stack. I included pictures of these two and a third on the invitations I'll be mailing out today.