Christmas Card Expo Project #2

This fun gift tag is the second project I taught last night at the Christmas Card Expo. We had a nice time last night, getting in the mood for the holidays. The size of this gift tag is large because I've heard from my customers that they like to be able to write a little something on a tag when they're giving a gift. They don't need as much room as a card offers, but they want more than a little punched tag does. So, this is what I came up with.

The base is Soft Sky, paired with Blue Bayou and Whisper White. It shimmers with glitter. Controlled glitter, though. This was achieved by applying packing tape to the back side of the BB base with the sticky side facing up, sprinkling glitter on the tape's surface, and rubbing it around so that it stuck to the adhesive! Whoever came up with this is brilliant!

The snowflakes are stamped on the white before this step, lining them up with the punched holes--sizes 1 3/8", 1 1/4" and 3/4", because those are the ones I have! The horizontal slot punch creates the place where the ribbon is attached. The stamp sets I used included: Season of Joy, Snowflake Spot, and Snow Flurries.

The gals who placed orders at the Expo, and those who weren't able to attend, will be invited to spend a day with me in October or early November assembling their cards. The thing that I hate to see happen is someone purchases stamping materials and then doesn't use them! It's so much more fun to stamp with others, and I have a cutter that will make short work of the card stock. I'll post the date when I have it scheduled.

Day 1 of this week is done--5 more to go before things slow down a bit! Thanks for all your feedback about email and keeping in touch with those who live far away. It helped to know that you can relate, no pun intended. Have a great day, knowing I'm thankful for your presence in my life.

Christmas Card Expo Project #1

My husband Bob was perplexed yesterday when he woke up from a nap and heard Christmas music playing. He knew I was having gals over to stamp, but he was unaware what the theme of the get-together was. September is NOT too early to begin thinking about Christmas, and this card was designed to give my guests a taste of some of the items in the SU! Holiday mini catalog and the Fall-Winter Collection. This card was very well received, and I have to give a nod to Jan Tinklenberg at Stamps, Paper, Scissors for the idea.

What I like most about this card is that it uses every stamp from the set, Season of Joy. I didn't photograph the interior of the card, but I used the Christmas tree and the Merry Christmas sentiment there. There's even a "hand stamped" stamp included, so folks will know you cared enough to make them a card! Here's the link to see the entire set. If you aren't able to make it to the open house this evening, that doesn't mean I'm not available to help you design your Christmas card or to take an order for this stamp set! There are many more sets available than I can highlight here, but I can get you a catalog if you'll just contact me by leaving a comment.

I'm working every day this week at Starbucks, hosting the open house this evening, traveling to Roswell for a workshop Friday evening, and hosting the Anything BUT A Card workshop here Saturday morning. Needless to say, the postings might be fewer than daily this week! Hope you have a good week like I'm planning to.

Finally! A Card to Post!

The picture quality isn't the best, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless! This is a holiday card I started a few weeks ago when I was playing around with the new Christmas designer paper called Dashing. The dots across the flap are from it, and I paired it with Real Red and River Rock. The ribbon gracing the top is 1/4" grosgrain in Mellow Moss, and I used the double slot punch to create the holes. The little details on the edges of the designer paper are there to cover the staples that hold the pocket in place. The snowflake pattern is at the bottom of the sentiment block, so I just inked those directly and cut them out of scraps.
Here's what the card looks like when you remove it from the pocket. River Rock ink is very subtle, so it's hard to photograph. You may not be able to see them, but there are snowflakes floating down the base of the card, and the sentiment is from the Block Party set of three. I wish I had the Stampin' Write Markers in the Bold Brights family, as I think adding a splash of Real Red on the sentiment section would've been helpful.

My dear husband feels my posts are often too long, so I'll say no more today! Have a great weekend...I'll post pictures from the Christmas Card Expo early next week.

Hi, My Name is Jenn, and I'm an Email Addict.

I am here to declare that I'm at odds with the internet. On one hand, I'm a HUGE fan; I love it! It's incredibly convenient and provides me with all kinds of great information and entertainment. On the other hand, it also seduces me into thinking that I'm forging relationships, when there's a chance that that's not what's happening at all.

I've been having this wrestling match of competing feelings each morning lately because, first thing after I get up, I walk right past my computer to let the dogs out. It sits there and doesn't even say anything like "you've got mail!", but it beckons to me nonetheless. Although this is not how I want to start my mornings, more often than not lately, I'm overcome by the urge to see if anyone has reached out overnight. This habit is bothering me.

Don't misunderstand me, I think email is a fabulous invention. But I'm disturbed that I equate the presence of a little white envelope at the bottom right of my screen with being in relationship with people. Is receiving email really connecting? It's not that I think what's exchanged this way is disingenuous. It's really cool to be able to know how my friend from my growing up years who lives 12 hours ahead of me on the other side of the world is doing without having to wait a week for an airmail letter. It's encouraging to get feedback from readers of this blog about cards or projects I've made. But, it's not a substitute for voice-to-voice or face-to-face communication, is it? It feels much like eating candy when I'm hungry--it tastes great for a minute and temporarily staves off the real pang; the trouble with eating candy when you're hungry is that you realize later that you didn't have a satiating experience after all and you're left with that empty pit in your stomach.

I am also at odds with the internet because on it there are a plethora of great blogs where people share what they're doing and what's happening in their lives. I regularly check 17 blogs, and while I've never met any of the people whose entries I read, I feel "connected" to them--sort of like I know them. There's opportunity for me to connect with them by commenting on what they post. But I don't really know them, and they don't really know me.

So I'm coming to the conclusion that what I'm trying to achieve through these two activities is really a delusion. I'm trying to find connectedness, a community, someone who cares. While those I've "met" via the crafting blogsphere seem like genuinely AWESOME individuals, at the end of the day I'm still here in Georgia with the life God has given me and they are where they are, living a whole other life apart from the presence they have in cyberland.

Bottom line? I don't know what to do. Maintaining connectedness with friends I've had for all my married life is as challenging now as it was when I lived in the same town with them, and making new friends is daunting because many just don't seem to have the time to invest. Which leads me back to the internet. Is "something" better than "nothing"? Is anyone else in touch with this, or am I out here on a limb by myself on this? I'd really like to hear your thoughts...even though they will come via the internet.

Is it Only Wednesday?

Wow! Going back to work really changes the flow of each day, and I'm not as young as I was when I started in food retail 6 years ago!! Here's a quick Starbucks update from today, and then I'll get on to posting something crafty that I did over the weekend. I spent today doing a LOT of reading. The store is short-staffed, and there just isn't enough coverage for the floor right now. So, I'm reading various sections in my CORE manual, and doing lots of station cleaning and greeting of customers until someone has time to really coach me on how to make drinks, etc. I did make the bases for the frappuccino drinks today--the creme one and the coffee frappuccino one.

OK, here's a fun project that I did this weekend and that I'd recommend you try. It all started because I had made this 40th birthday card for my blogger friend, Lydia, at Understand Blue, and I didn't have an envelope that it would fit in! I thought of a few options, and then I remembered this box I had sitting around.
Short sidebar: this box came from The Cookie Cottage in Ft. Wayne, IN. My parents asked me what I'd like them to bring, and this is what I suggested. You can order from them at The Cookie Cottage, and I highly recommend the chocolate mint cookies! ANYWAY, the card fit in the box perfectly, but it would be boring for Lydia to receive the box with JUST the card in it, and it wouldn't be nice to send an empty cookie box, so I altered it!

I took several pictures of the process that I figure you probably don't care to see, so I'll just show you what I did with the inside of the lid:That Headline Alphabet has been an excellent investment! The designer paper is a retired set that I once knew the name of, but now it escapes me. The point of this post is that you could do this with any box and any of the current paper, and make some fun packages for Christmas. It's coming sooner than you think!

Here's what it looked like before I popped it in the mail and sent it off to Lydia (complete with Dove Dark chocolates, some blue ribbon, and a stamp). I labeled the outside "supplies" so that no one would be excited to peek inside, and she could keep her chocolate stash hidden in plain sight in her craft room! I used to label the ice cream containers from Graham's with the word "spinach" in order to keep unsuspecting visitors to my freezer from getting their hands on my favorite flavor--wild cherry.

Well, I hope you enjoy these photos, as I don't have anything else stamped to show. I trust the weekend will find the UPS man at my house and new supplies to make that last sample for the Anything BUT A Card class. Gotta run!

Starbucks, Day 1

Hey friends! I know you've been waiting to hear how my first day at Starbucks was, so here's the story.

I spent a good amount of the first hour filling out paperwork, and the thing that impressed me the most was the opportunity I had to participate in the CUP fund. CUP, which stands for Caring Unites Partners, is a fund that is maintained by partner (Starbucks term for "employee") donations. If a partner experiences a personal crisis, such as a house fire that destroys her belongings, a death in the family, a personal illness, or such, she can apply to receive funds from this account. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, every Starbucks partner in New Orleans and the region immediately had $300 direct deposited into their bank account, or had a check issued in their name. There's a real culture of caring at this huge company, and I like what I see already.

After filling out paperwork, I helped a gal take 3 loads of garbage and broken down cardboard boxes to the dumpster. Why was there so much garbage at the beginning of the day? Because it is standard Starbucks policy that no partner takes garbage out after dark. It's not safe. After this, I was told to read part of the partner handbook. Then I went on the floor to get my introduction to the different stations and the products made at each. I learned how to make frappuccinos (NOT "fraps" for short, which I mistakenly called them, as "frappuccino" is a trademarked term), which ones have whipped cream on them, which lid goes on which size, etc. I understood how to make them fairly quickly, but the sizes--tall, grande, and venti--still could stop me like a deer in headlights. I wonder if my fellow employees could tell that I haven't frequented the joint for years!

The store was fairly busy, so I just listened, wiped down surfaces, and tried to jump in and be helpful where I could. I could not ring up customers, which is a mercy, but I'll be learning the POS (Point of Sale) register tomorrow.

The people I worked with today were very friendly, helpful, happy, and welcoming. I could also tell that they enjoy working with each other, so I think this is going to be good...really good.

Thanks for being interested...

Doin' Nothin'...and the majority has spoken

I've known this about myself for some time, and today is no exception: I'm not good at doin' nothin'. By the end of this vacation day, I'll have wished I would've stamped something or read more of a book I started. But I can't seem to get there from here. Not sure why either...

I am wondering how many will rush to RSVP tomorrow for the Anything BUT A Card class on Sept. 15, since that's when the deadline is. BTW, only 1 person has said that she doesn't want the 5x8 notebook in the metal tin, so I placed an order last night for them! I wish I could get the word out to other crafters that the price that eclectic Paperie, an online stamping supplies store, is charging for 1 tin is exhorbitant, compared to what I got it for from a company in Canada.

I shopped at Effectuality.com, and paid $1.14 per + shipping (only via UPS, so that upped it significantly), while eP sells them for $2.49 + shipping. I did a little cost comparison, and I was able to get 25 for the same price I could've gotten 12 through eP!! It pays to shop around, dearies! Since it's not a holiday today in Canada, I hope my order will ship, and that I'll get it by Thursday or Friday.

I did do some stamping on Saturday, and here's the card I made. I used Beate's weekend sketch challenge.Here's the link to check it out. I very rarely use any materials other than Stampin' Up! stuff, but I found this paper at Hobby Lobby and loved it. It's in my favorite earth tone color palette which matches my favorite season, so it had to go home with me. The stamp is also an oldie that's been around for years and years. I'm a sucker for any stamp with leaves! Autumn may be on the way here...this morning it was in the mid-60s! Haven't seen an overnight temp that low in over 30 days, so there's hope yet for cooler weather. It's supposed to be in the 90s the next few days, though. Baby steps...

Tomorrow's my first day at Starbucks. I'll post late afternoon to let you know how it went! Thanks for stopping by today. Would love to know what you're doin' with your holiday today...