November 11th, 2012 Four Piece Coaster Gift Set

Join me this coming weekend for a great 4 pc coaster set made to order! Only $10 so they are great for office gifts, gift exchanges in your craft and meet up groups and more!

Thanks Crystal for your prototype. These wonderful coasters have the versatility to be personalized with any stamps or colors of Staz-on! They are great gifts or additions to your new craft area! Absorbent coasters are unfinished tiles soak up the condensation from your ice cold drink or the little dribbles of the warm coffee that sloshes over. Practical gifts, don't you love them? Homemade, personalized gifts? Even better. Just click on my link below to make sure you get signed up on my FB page! Tattered Scraps on Facebook See you there!

I know! I know!

I promised a new blog straight from the retreat center!  And I had every intention of doing just that!

But there's something about getting together with all your friends and the time flies out the window, the progress on projects slows way down and suddenly you are packing and heading home!

Ya gotta admit, first the retreat center looks awesome!  Second, WE look awesome and like we are having the time of our lives!  We were! 

So for me, I got a great shirt altered (ruched up the sleeves and sides and made the tshirt neck into a boatneck shirt! - I hate tshirts but I found out a way to make them wearable and bearable for me!).  Note the boatneck shirt above (I'm second from the left) and I don't sew!  I was totally flying by the seat of my pants and as my friends all know, that's just how I roll!  But I was happy, no one knows by looking at it that it wasn't bought that way and I'm ready to go crazy with all those tshirts in my closet I NEVER wear!  I promise, I'll make a tutorial on it soon in my craft room and get it up here!  If you hate the restraining feeling of a tshirt neck, this is the simplest and easiest project evah!  I promise!

I did 14 "my wish list" gifts for my ladies in Stamp Club!

But I can't show those!  Spoil the whole surprise for my Stamp Club!

I started on one of our four Christmas cards, the first CASE'd from LeeAnn Greff, her thank you card was an easy transformation into a CAS Christmas card!

And finally I made a banner, my first real MDS2+ project (or MDS project at all) for my Facebook banner!  It's simple but it got me playing on MDS2+ and if you haven't tried all that My Digital Studio by Stampin' Up! can do for you, you are missing out on a simple but powerful graphic program!

So if any of this excites you; stop by my website: www.leslieculver.stampinup.net and shop, join my team or just ask questions on my FB page so we can get you started doing the most creative craft for the uncrafty!  Honest, its the most fun I've had since Kindergarten's cut and glue skills!

Until next time..........keep crafting and keep smiling!

Rockin' R Retreat Center

Tomorrow is the day..........finally.  My friends and I have been waiting for this great annual Fall/Halloween retreat!  And of course its at our home away from home:

Rockin' R Retreats!

You'll see some weekend action posted as it happens or maybe not.  Ever find it hard to stop in the middle of a great belly laugh to stop and take that picture.  That's about the normal course of events at our retreats.  We laugh so hard, work....well we try to get things done and wow, we just keep moving on and on signing up for our next retreat as soon as we can!

A peek?

Oh okay...........

Like the shirt says, what happens at the crop, stays at the crop!  LOL  Join us!  We aren't nearly as scary as you might think!

See you all soon!

Is it October?

I don't know about you, but I've been very very good this year!  I've worked hard, played hard and stamped harder yet!  And for me, it's gonna be a Stampin' Up! Christmas in my stocking!

If you have a wish list that you haven't gotten to, now's the time to slip it under hubby's pillow, mailed to Mom and Dad or sneakily slipped into your sister's purse!  AND all they have to do is write me and I'll help them make that order or help them purchase that "can't be found anywhere else" SU gift cards made just for you!

So just print out this little hint and just write on it:

Contact Leslie Culver, she's knows Santa's Elves!
Leslie Culver, Stampin' Up! Demo and Supervisor

Want it?  Get it?  Christmas done!

Have a wonderful holiday season..............but before then, next weekend I am going to give you an inside look at my favorite place to be:

Rocking R Retreat Center in Temple, TX.

Get an inside look at THE place to be!  I'll post pics of the fun, the accommodations and maybe, if I have any, some progress on my own projects!  : )

Don't miss this post!  It's going to be the place to hang out with the coolest of the cool in 2013 and our calendar is already online! 

Confessions of a lazy CASE'r

I have to admit, I'm lazy sometimes when it comes to CASE'ing and flat out project creation for my craft club.  We're as much a social club as a craft club so you can imagine with the wine and the food and all the things we do outside our monthly crop, sometimes projects have to be toned down, trimmed and scaled to fit this new demo's budget!  Let's just be honest!  We're not all millionaires!

But I saw the adorable stamped and die cut ornaments being made and I'm thinking "Hey!  White card stock, stamp pad, bundle and we're good to go!"

I'd love to say I have a ton of demo pics as I was creating this months project but alas, I don't.  I'm staring at the Holiday Mini and creating and trying to figure out the back I cannot see and how the darn thing was put together (never occurred to me someone would use hot glue!) and so I only ended up with my finished project............

and I gotta say, I'm impressed with myself!  I took a catalog pic and I turned out a duplicate project!  I now know I have a tutorial worksheet to put together for my stamp club but heck, what else did I have to do this coming weekend!  Other than make ten ornament kits for stamp club next Friday!  But that's okay.

I can honestly say, this once, if never before, I had the tools, all necessary equipment and was able to duplicate something in its totality.  I was pleased with its outcome and happy that this month I didn't cut corners!  That's something, right?  Cause sometimes lazy isn't what it seems.  Sometimes lazy is lack of supplies, tools and embellishments.  Just sayin'!

Mini-ca and retreat week

I've been gone but determined to get blogging regularly again.  I'm gonna do just that, swear...........right after I go tubing tomorrow with my besties then off for a five day scrapbooking retreat!  (You might see some virtual retreating, who knows!)

But just to keep you up to date:

Mini-ca in Port Aransas, TX and some deep sea fishing.  Great vacation with my dear husband, baby girl (in pic with me!) future son in law, and step daughter Jenny!  Great great way to spend a summer week.  God is good and I felt His love and blessings the whole time.

I'll see you all soon!  May God shine His love on all! 

Pillow Wreath and dreams.......

I had this silly notion that I would apply for the Artisian Award this year.  Silly because I decided this a month out from the deadline (in May which includes our anniversary, Mother's Day, hubby's birthday day, Memorial Day and a four day crafting retreat!)

See Rockin Reality Retreat Center in Temple, TX for the best retreat center on earth but I digress!

So the brilliant idea was that surrounded by the enormous amount of talent and inspiration I would get all required projects done that four full days of cropping and creating and sewing (we'll get to that soon) and have it all ready to finish a few last minute tweaks here and there and have it off to SU with time to spare!  The retreat was, afterall, May 17 - 20, 2012, plenty of time!

Here is where the problem came in (and trust me, I work great under pressure so the quality wasn't my hold up!)  I can't sew or rather I don't sew and thus this ultimately adorable project planned for one of my 3D projects was a learn as I go prospect that ended up taking the ENTIRE four day retreat.

  So here it is, my ONE 3D project which I was quite happy with but frankly took me four full days (much wonderful wine from my best friend's winery) and another day of our next retreat two weeks later (after deadline when of course I knew the hurry was over) in which I added the buttons as a finishing touch I knew it needed.

 If you are like me, frankly the use of some of the beautiful Stampin' Up! fabric was something I could not resist and while this in no way goes with anything in our home decor, the Comfort Cafe colors are just delicious.  Don't you agree?

 So one 8-10" wire wreath in hand, it was pillow making time.  I cut the material 3 1/2" inches wide (allowing plenty of seam allowance - such a "sewy" word") by 9" (so as to only have three sides to sew!  Clever me decided to fold in over at one 3 1/2" side so the length of the finished pillow would then be 3 x 4 and let the ribbon squish in the sides to give it a somewhat longer, fuller effect.  At least that's how it turned out and it seemed to work just fine.

 Sew a pillow, stuff a pillow and hand sew the open end with clear thread and a folded in seam on end.  See my cute pillows as they lined up along my computer (who goes to a retreat without their computer, we might have to brag and show off things and events to those left at home!)

 I mean four days of sewing and talking and sipping wine and dinners and more talking and more laughing at Leslie trying to sew and you get the picture.  Artisian Award wasn't happening but come heck or high water, this wreath was!

So pillow after pillow and soon I had a full wreath and a pretty cool finished product.

Until I realized it just really needed something else.....

Stampin' Up's! new Natural Buttons of course.  I do have to admit when I got them sewed on to the blue only pillows, it did just add what I wanted.

And after much teasing and some help from those experienced in sewing, I had completed something I was proud of and was willing to share.  It inspired me in many ways.  First, I think this project was Artisian Award worthy admittance.  Second, maybe I really could learn a new skill like sewing.  And third, and most important.....perhaps the fine art of procrastination isn't all its cut out to be!  But there's always next year, right?

With all this in mind, I have decided to branch out further and hopefully within a short time I will have a review of my 30 day free trial of MDS (My Digital Studio).  While I never thought I would want to do digital scrapbooking, I have seen several times when having such a final piece would have its advantages.  With three more weddings in our children's futures, I know the prospect of all the brides wanting the tactile, dimensional, more traditional scrapbook may not be that good.  I also like the idea of having a "book" look to certain events.  A story where I'm apt to do more journaling than I currently do in my traditional scrapbooks (yes something I need to improve upon.)  So do expect some type of review of this product and maybe a major purchasing decision to take it to the next level beyond my 30 day trial.  See you all soon, in the meantime I'm off deep sea fishing, bible study, a FIVE DAY retreat at Rockin' R (but who's bragging) and back to work at Woodman State Jail in our prison ministry after a health related hiatus in July. 

Great Give Away

No one wants to miss out on a great give away!  I'm no different!

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Check it out today!

FREE FOR 30 DAYS STARTING FEB. 1

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GO TO MY ONLINE STORE BY CLICKING THE ORDER 24/7 NOW ON THIS WEBSITE TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE TRIAL OF THE SOFTWARE. THE ITEM NUMBER TO ADD TO YOUR ORDER IS #129600.  You don't have to buy anything but it does have to be an "order" by adding this FREE item and then when you checkout it will allow you to download this free item.  That's it!!

YOU CAN ALSO SEE OTHER IDEAS, DOWNLOADS YOU CAN PURCHASE, INFO, ETC. ON:

MYDIGITALSTUDIO.NET

I, TOO, AM TRYING OUT THIS PROGRAM FOR SCRAPBOOKING, PHOTO BOOKS, INVITATIONS, CARDS, ETC TO SEE IF I WANT TO PURCHASE IT LATER ON AND FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT KNOW ME, I'VE RESISTED THIS A LONG TIME!

LET'S COMPARE NOTES ON WHAT WE LIKE, WHAT WE DON'T UNDERSTAND, ETC. AND SEE HOW WE DO, OK?!!

WAY TO GO STAMPIN' UP!!  YOU HAVE OUTDOWN YOURSELF AGAIN!!  GIVE ME A BIG TEXAS YEEHAW!  : ) 

Stampin' Up! Regionals

They are just around the corner and right down the road in San Antonio!

We are super excited about attending; my upline, my upline's upline.......and on and on!

What a day to celebrate.

Right now I'm working on "swaps" for the event.  What to do!  No idea but great papers and new stamp sets coming in tomorrow to work with!

Check back as I get creating and hope to see you there!

Post Christmas - what are you thinking?

You know the drill........you spend hours decorating, crafting, menu planning and sometimes vacation coordinating for the holidays.  If you're lucky, like I was here, my adorable and nimble future DIL helped me put up the tree and spend a few days getting in the spirit of things.

And the time rolls in, the gifts are purchased and the cards are sent.  Stockings are filled and luggage is being packed.  Things are rolling right along and the fun begins......

Then the holiday time starts.  For us, this year we were blessed with some real down time; December 21st - Jan 2nd.  What a great extended period of time to just soak in the season!  Right?

Then the traveling began and the car stops and the gas fill ups and the road meals and the coordinating with others and the packed cooler for the road, the Christmas Eve leftovers so they didn't go to waste and the car overloaded!

We are and were blessed.  No doubt.  But as a new couple (married less than 5 years and blending two families together with all adult children) we have some learning to do and we started to really dig into this big family stuff this year.  We have four adult/college aged children.  Three of the four have "attachments" as we call them.  Of the seven of the group we now consider our children, five work, three are full time students and one is a full time student and works, and finally one of them and their attachment has a child.  (Sigh)  Can you feel it already?  Who's off when?  When will  you visit, can you join us here or there, will you make it for one day or three or five?  When do you have to visit his family/her family/his dad/his mom/her dad, etc etc.  Ahhhhh, the joys of blended families.

Jan 1 rolls around..........and hubby wakes early.  "Let's get on the road.  I just want to be home, have some alone time before work starts again on the 3rd." 

Nay I say it?  We wore ourselves out and though we love our children and our growing family.....we also love our quiet lives and face it, we aren't 20 anymore!  There's a reason we don't have children at 50; because the hectic-ness of 20something life and children and all that goes along with it, we've been there, done that. 

I loved visiting our oldest child and her new hubby and grandchild at their home in Louisiana.  We took in some sights, had some great photography ops and really enjoyed the "out of state" vacation but home has its pleasures too and what we learned was this:

*  Big families fill your hearts and empty your pocketbooks.  
*  Loving them isn't measured by how much you spend on them.
*  Trying to get everyone together at one time in one place just might not happen!
*  Norman Rockwell needs to be re-painted; holidays just don't look like that anymore.
*  Killing ourselves to create "it" won't make it anymore special, it'll just make you more tired.
*  Balancing your time off with some away, some at home is key.
*  Remember that the holidays are for everyone; including YOU! 
*  Building your holidays around others means you might not have the holiday you dreamed.
*  Remember, no matter how old you are, Christmas and New Years are still magical.
*  Live the magic, not the chaos.
*  Avoid Black Friday!  The sales continue long after that one day and are sometimes better!
*  If you didn't come home with more memories & pictures than presents, you might rethink things next year.
*  Finally, learn from this year or last year and do less planning and more enjoying.

I cooked a traditional Christmas dinner this year, I had presents all done, wrapped, stockings filled and under the tree for almost the entire month of December for that "picture perfect" look.  It didn't add much to life other than I wasn't out buying presents in the fray of people but I still had to go to Wal-Mart and the grocery store for weekly needs and therefore couldn't avoid the chaos even if I wanted to, so sad!  I wrapped up the Christmas dinner and it traveled 300 miles so it "wouldn't go bad".  Why didn't I freeze it instead and save the space in the car?

In the end, the one picture I didn't get was that overly packed car for our trip to Louisiana.  What I did get was over worked and over tired by the time our business started back up on the 3rd and despite the good times, the laughs, the ohhhhhhhhhhs and ahhhhhhhhhhhs of the gift exchanging our vacation slipped away with other things we didn't count on.  People got cranky with each other and not everyone agrees on how to spend time during their time off.  There is such a thing as too much family when you're talking five different homes trying to celebrate together and we never learned how to all live together as the Walton's once did.  I wished we had, but we didn't.

They say good things come in small packages and I believe the same is true when it comes to the way we spend our holidays.  Next year I'm going to craft more, cook more, create more and enjoy more.  I am not going to worry how much I spent on who.  I am going to avoid Black Friday, avoid long trips unless we are going somewhere exotic and alone!  I am going to burn candles every day or any day I want and not end with partially burned candles as I pack up the decorations!  I am going to get the cards out that I want to send and not worry about who I "should" send them to for appearances sake.  I am not going to forget last year.  I am going to remember why I celebrate Christmas and I am going to make Christ and His family more a central part of the season than we did this year.

Post Christmas and what am I thinking?  I'm thinking we learned a lot, loved a lot and did a lot wrong.  I'm thinking we're going to enjoy next year more because of the mistakes we made this year.  I'm thinking that it's a New Year and that means new everything from the inside out and I'm going to love making changes in me and in my home!

I'm also going to rest.  Right now, each day and when I need to; and I'm going to make each day count. Not just Christmas but each and every day a celebration of Christ, what He did for me and what He gives me each day as we go along.

And I'm going to blog.  That's what I'm thinking.  What about you?

Oh, and I'm going to thank God for my dear husband, who makes my life more than I could have dreamed it could be!  Happy New Year everyone!

Issues with Stampin' Up! DBWS - please don't fret!

Currently Stampin' Up! is having issues with their demonstrator web based outside customer ordering system. This is a temporary problem and will be resolved quickly.

In short order this means:

*currently customers are unable to order directly through the online system with their favorite demonstrator

*currently your favorite demonstrator is unable to send out newsletters and other mass forms of communication

*currently your only option to order is directly through your demonstrator who will place the order for you.

The upside?

*those pesky questions have you about orders, promotions and upcoming specials can be answered with one call to your demo

*you get great personalized service from your favorite demonstrator

*orders are not affected when submitted through your demonstrator with no delays in processing, shipping and delivery.

If you try to get to your favorite demos site and are having trouble, rest assured SU is doing everything, night and day to rectify this and we anticipate less than a 24 hours occurrence.

In the meantime, call, anytime and let's keep crafting.

Leslie
512-591-4848

It's all about the craft!

Christmas is more than paper and ink......

We have so much to think about during the holidays........especially Christmas.

Christmas is the remembrance of our Lord's birth; a birth that was created in order to reconcile us to our Father God.  It's about relationship; that between each of us and God and its a wonderful time to simply be reminded that God gifts us with family and friends.  Relationships.

This weekend we were blessed with a visit from my son and his future wife.  We are blessed by four children (our blended family) and each of those children have chosen wonderful partners.  Our family grows.

I was fortunate enough this weekend to pass along a family tradition, the making of holiday divinity onto my future daughter in law, Amanda.  She loved the candy cane divinity I made last year and so she jumped right in and we made a batch while they were here.

You could say she was proud of her accomplishments!  : )  I'm sure it won't be her last batch.  She mastered it!  We enjoyed a few ourselves but boxed up the rest and sent it home with them when they headed back to Houston.

But in the meantime, the boys got out the tree, decorations and such.  So again, Amanda helped get that tree just right!  Deep underneath, we spread the tree skirt.

Yes boots and jeans.......that's Amanda...........I'm the one that can't seem to wiggle underneath like I used to!  Number one son is busy with a game on the iPad, so helpful!

She sure can stretch around alot!  Very helpful skill.  

But the end result...........ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

And with that done, its time to relax!  It may be early, but our shopping is done and just the traveling to do, so here's an early Merry Christmas everyone.  The Christ is born!

Ready, set, sell..........

It was fun; talking with other vendors, seeing your creations get bagged and paid for (with my new "square" credit card processor) and seeing the fun in the church and on our town square where the first sale was held.

 My cider and hot chocolate snuggies were the hit; they sold out after the end of two shows.  Easy, quick and fun to make; some said great stocking stuffers, other customers were talking office gifts.  But they flew off the table at $3 each.  : )

It was our first show so we had a pretty basic set up, that didn't seem to matter though; people seemed to be more interested in all the color than a fancy display (so thankful for that) and we put alot of effort into our packaging which I think separated us from the guy next door.  Our products, though all handmade, had that finished look for gift giving.  The investment in the A2 clear envelopes (which housed everything but the large composition books) was just the right size. 

 My talented husband made all our price signs so they were easy to read and the customer had no confusion on pricing.  They didn't have to have that uncomfortable moment of asking how much something was and we could stand with confidence that they extra measure of professionally made signs meant we were serious business women!  (At least we felt what way!)

 Surprisingly we had one card display that we kept stocked with cards and they sold at $2 each or 6/$10 with a free gift box (I had left from another Uline order over a year ago so I was again using stashed stuff).  Most of our cards came from previous classes, SAS classes and demos so we felt able to sell them at a lower rate than others might but we moved so many out of the old stock.  I would never go through that many cards, not in a million years.  I have at least one of everything that we had in the display in my card notebook for samples but the rest were put out for sale.  They did as well as anything at both shows.  I liked reducing my stock/stash of cards to get ready for the new sets coming out in January and then the new catalog next summer.  If you look closely you will see that many of the cards on display have stamp sets more than two years retired. 

 Okay, the lip balm purses, again, thank you Frenchie for the great turorial.  I made my money on those and they were a big attention grabber as folks walked by.  Double duty I say!

And amidst it all, I got great contacts for parties after the holidays with a recruit just waiting for the SAB recruit promotion coming up in late January!  What a fun day.  Both weekends netted me the funds I needed to place my Mini Occasions pre-order and SAB order come January 1, I'll be earning maximum benefits and meet my quarterly minimums right off the bat! 

Thanks SU for making our New Year so exciting before we even get there!

Who hasn't done beaded pens..........

Fresh from the retreat, getting ready for the craft fair coming up.

Who hasn't done the beaded pens?  Fast, easy and fun.

They sparkle and add color and bling to your display table.

Do they sell?  All my sources say yes!

I'll let you know after next weekend!

Wish me luck!

Lip Balm Purses.....the crafting continues

A big thank you to the crafters on Splitcoast and to "Frenchie" for the tutorial on these adorable lip balm purses.  I ordered 50 lip balms from Avon; 10 of their popular Dew Kiss which are being put in the every day colors as shown above.  Then 40 (10 each of their holiday scented/flavored ones) which will be put into Christmas Designer Papers by Stampin' Up!.  Watch for those tomorrow.  I'm a little elf, just cranking them out as fast as I can so I can get to the larger Sunday Notes journals and other altered composition books I have planned for the show in the 19th of this month!  :)

A great day crafting..........

Stampin' Up! 's Holiday Mini has a great advent calendar and like all good 

SU fans/demos, we just had to give it a try!

We were busy, all of us cutting, stamping, embossing,

tying jingle bells and punching all kinds of things.

 The lay out was coming together.  We had an overall picture in the mini to go by with some slight alterations because of limited designer paper.  (Okay, we I used some at my last retreat, forgetting we had this day scheduled and needed the two packs I had purchased!  My fault but my friend, Erica, had another Christmas set of DP from SU that worked its way into our layouts just fine.)

 Then we had the dueling camera phones.........to get all the action.

 Laresa was making two, she had a task ahead of her.  But she kept at it!

 Several hours later, at home and after a dental appointment, I actually put the finishing touches on mine.  Framed and ready for display.  Not perfect, but what handcrafted project is......I was happy I had taken on a project of this magnatude.  It's probably the largest papercraft project I've ever tried!

I found some pre-cut brown stars in my stash (can't tell if they are a cricut cut out or a big shot die but I'm leaning toward the big shot die since they have an edge emboss around them that doesn't show in the picture.)  Last year I found this great to: from: stamp that fits perfectly in the original Stampin' Up! scallop punch.  All I did was color the edges after stamping in a nice Christmas-y color.  On the other side I've used Tim Holtz's new rosette die.  Giving this great star both useability and dimension!  I call them my Texas Lone Star Tags.  Why?  Because everything cool, we believe starts right here in Texas!  

And as with the other to from tags I've made this year, I am using older stamps from my stash that I drug out and played with this I got what I wanted.  Again, with the brown stars were these pre-cut blue and white DP paper stars.  No idea where they came from; most likely one of our craft sale exchanges at a crop or retreat but I finally pulled them out and used them plum all up!  My little shepherd stamp here is adorable and I used a combination of Stampin' Up! Write Markers and Copics to color the adorable image.  Of course, some Daffodil Delight paper cut out in the original Stampin' Up! scallop punch and the image punched with the 1 3/8th" circle punch from SU finishes it off.  Gold string that I bought last year makes the tag to use or display on  your tree. 

I've packaged the Lone Star Tags four to a package and the shepherds are 8 to a package.  I'm still struggling with pricing for the craft show so any ideas/suggestions would be great.  As I said in my last post, I sold so many Christmas planners at the retreat two weeks ago that my booth fee is already paid for plus some so anything is gravy from this point forward.  Just want to get the best I can for the time I've put into everything!

But at least my stash is getting used and I'm having fun doing them all.  That's what it's all about, right? 

Tuesday we have a workshop making the wonderful Advent calendar in the Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini catalog and I'll be posting that end project as soon as I get home!  : )  Should be a fun Tuesday morning.

Happy holiday crafting everyone!

Getting ready for a craft sale November 19th.  Can't wait to see what all I can come up with; its a first for me.  The Stampin' Up! Top Note die has so many uses; name place tags for your Thanksgiving dinner table; formal or casual is a great start to the holidays.  The stamp is one I've had in my stash; a dollar stamp from a big box store a few years back.  Colored with a combination of markers.

It should be fun to see what sells and what doesn't; though tomorrow I'll load a picture of some Christmas planners that I worked on during last weekends retreat; I sold every single one of them that I made!  So starting over on inventory for the sale but bucks in my pocket! 

CKC San Marcos Convention

Had a great time at yesterday's one day convention at the CKC San Marcos event.  I went back with a list of Stickles, Nestabilities and Copics I had so I didn't duplicate anything and plans for one class.

I had purchased the Mosaic tile tools last year at the conference so I knew I needed more paper to do more great mosaic scrapbooking in the year to come and save on shipping!  But surprise, the class also came with a great freebie pack and a coupon with some BIG savings on the grid paper so I really stocked up!

As usual, Tami Potter has great new ideas on how to use her grid paper, clever ideas on using smaller shots and larger shots together in the same page and incorporating a crossword into the whole layout.   If you haven't done layouts like these, don't be intimidated!  They are a little time consuming but the result is sooooooo worth it!

Of course it can't go without saying that Stampin' Up!s one inch punch and snail adhesive are the perfect companions to this project!  Our new one inch punch is featured in the Holiday Mini Catalog along with the must have "25 and counting" stamps, Peek a boo Frames Bigz L Die and the great new Dazzling Details glitter glue to give just that little pop to almost any holiday stamp set! 

More than anything, it was great to be creating again and back in the swing of crafting.

I have finished the step daugther's wedding album at my last crop and I'll certainly hope to get some great pics taken and spend some time posting those.  Tis a large album so I'll just share some of my favorites.  You see, while I haven't been blogging, I was making baby shower invitations for a niece (you remember the "fastest swimmer" invites) and the wedding invites and thank yous.  Then there were the flowers, the garlands for the alter, the flowers for the cake and more so I've been busy!

It hasn't been all about paper crafts but I'll share some more of what I've been up to soon.  The alter garland for the wedding was a production in itself with birds, feathers, nests and more.  I'll be sure and get those posted.  Just so good to have a Saturday I can think about blogging once again!  : )

Event shown above; Faith Walk Women's Conference in Whitney, TX.  February 2011.  Speakers: June Donohue, Barbara Spencer and Leslie St.Aubin (hey, that's me!)