I'm home

Just got back last night from a wonderful week in WARM Phoenix. Stampin' Up! held their Leadership convention and a Regional there, and not only did I finally qualify to go, but it was the perfect location ... warm weather and half my relatives live in Arizona! I went for a whole week and had a wonderful time visiting relatives in haven't seen in years (and I mean years ... some I haven't seen in about 30!). I finally got to meet my beautifully sweet great-niece Kaydence (wanted to put that one in my suitcase!), and got caught up with my big sis Karen. She was just the best hostess all week too! I can't believe how many relatives she contacted to come and visit me while I was in town! She's just the best!

Well, right now I've spent half the day trying to just catch up on emails ... guess I should get in the shower! Anyway, I'll post photos from Leadership and family soon as I get caught up!

Holiday Sale!

Stampin' Up! never ceases to amaze me ... you'll find great deals on Big Shot dies and select Big Shot supplies from December 11-22nd! You can click on the "shop now" button in the upper right corner of my website to find great deals today. You can also click on my email addy at the top of this blog to send me your order.
Happy Holidays!!

Get off the computer!

OK ... so, I just got caught up on all my blog reading, and I've decided to pass on the emails for now. I think that's what keeps me on this stupid computer so long every day ... reading all the posts from all my Yahoo groups. I've got to start stickin' to the important stuff! So, I'm getting off the computer, and going to create. I'll be posting pictures tomorrow morning! You heard it here. lol

New Class in Mrs. Rodgers' Neighborhood

I decided to add a new class to my repetoire of classes each month.

I've been trying to organize all my supplies while we're getting the basement waterproofed and set up for the new classroom. A huge part of my stash, are boxes & boxes of treasures I've been purchasing over the years containing items I thought would be fun to make projects with.

Well, it's time to do something with all this stuff. I'm going to have a monthly class called "Project Order", and the first one is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 8th. We're going to use these treasures to create projects (anything but a card or scrapbook page) and the price for this class will be $20. The number of projects depends on the cost of the items and how involved the project is ... it could be 3 smaller projects, or 2 bigger ones, or maybe 1 grand project. In any event, the projects will be a surprise.

Now, here's the 'order' part ... this class will be FREE if you place a $30 order that night! So, for only $10 more, you'll be making a great project(s), AND getting $30 worth of supplies!

Please post a comment below and let me know your thoughts about a class like this. I love making projects, and I don't know why, but I've kind of strayed from this for a while. I think my Tim Holtz cruises are re-inspiring me.

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas

As many of you know, I'm a BIG Ranger fan ... and I don't mean the hockey team! If I could work for Ranger Ink, I'd have serious conflicts about which company to represent because I love them both so much!

Not only do I love the products, but the designers are my favorites, and the man, well, you know my 2nd love to my dear Rick is ... Mr. Tim Holtz! Anyway, this is his 3rd year making his 12 Tags of Christmas on his blog, and I wanted to share them with you. Every year I drool over them, and this year I'm actually going for the challenge!

Today is Day 6, and I'm waaaay behind, but I'm going to get started, and hopefully, get at least the first 3 days of tags done. My camera is lost, and I've been feeling helpless without it, but my wonderful hubby bought me a new, bigger & badder one last night as an early Christmas gift! Whoo Hoo Rick! He spoils me soooo much!

So, I'm going to start posting my tags here, both Tim's and mine, and I'm also posting the link to Tim's Blog, so you can see what an awesome instructor he is, and a huge inspiration to me.

I'm off to get inky!

Getting ready for the New Year

I've been thinking today about the New Year and how I could make my small business a little bit bigger next year.

As most of you know, we're in the beginning stages of creating my classroom. I've emptied out the basement of all my supplies, and next week they're coming to start the waterproofing work. The next phase would be Rick doing all the electrical work: adding lighting, outlets, etc. After that, a carpenter will come in and put up drywall, a new floor & ceiling. Then, it's my turn ... I get to design how I want my classroom laid out with cabinets, shelving & tables ... and then, I finally move in down there! Ooooh! I just got goosebumps! My supplies haven't really been organized in over 6 years!

In the meantime, all my supplies for my SU business have been semi-organized all around my family room so I can access everything I need. I also have all my Ranger supplies close at hand cause I really love getting grungy too. And, my tools ... love my tools ... die cutting machines & dies, punches, paper cutters, brad makers, eyelet setters, box makers, book makers, and more! Oops, just had to wipe the drool from the corner of my mouth. lol

Anyway, my sunporch is also packed to the brim with stuff ... loads & loads of STUFF ... boxes & boxes of past projects & samples, old stamp sets, scrapbook supplies, boxes & boxes of books (love my craft books!), and tons of items I've been collecting over the years for possible class projects. Which brings me back to the beginning of this post ... what can I do to make my business grow? I need to get more orders, so I need to get more workshops booked, or get more customers, or ...

A new monthly class! It's called "PROJECT ORDER" class, and we're going to make dimensional projects (anything that's NOT a card or scrapbook page)! It could be 3 little projects, or maybe 2 projects, or even one intense project, who knows! It could be using Stampin' Up!, or Distress Inks, polymer clay, or even Suze Weinberg's melting pot. I'll be cleaning out all the items I've been collecting and creating projects for the monthly class. I'm going to charge $20, and each month your supply list might change a little ... you might need Sticky Strip instead of SNAIL Adhesive, or you might need to bring some photos ... we'll just have to wait & see.

But, here's the best part (and where the 'order' comes in) ... the class will be FREE each month if you place a $30 order! So, for just $10 more, you'll still make great projects, but you'll also be receiving $30 worth of goodies! Why didn't I think of this sooner?!

So, I've set a tentative date of Friday, January 8th at 7:30pm for the first Project Order class (I just have to check the date with my very special friend & customer, Miss Denise). I hope everyone's as excited as I am about all the possibilities this class will bring!

Now, I gotta get back to work on the projects I've been making to sell at my Vendor Fair on Friday night, Dec. 18th at Westwood High School. I've misplaced my camera (I'm DYING without it!), so I can't post photos of my finished items so far. You'll just have to come see me at the fair!

The Final Hours

After finishing my last post, I decided to get crackin' on finishing that fragment necklace, and I'm happy to report ...

It's done! Even my daughter thought it was pretty cool.

In the meantime, I've had a couple of days off because my husband & I drove the 5 hours up to Rochester, NY on Thursday to pick up my son from college. We came back home on Friday, and my son promptly took my car and went near Trenton to visit a friend at her school for the weekend. So glad I just spent 2 days getting him.

Well, now to the funny part (NOT!) ... my daughter turns 18 in January, and she's not the best driver. She has absolutely no interest in learning, and we're fine with that, cause to put it bluntly, she scares the crap out of us! But, if she doesn't get her license by Jan. 15th, she'll have to repeat the written test. So, we decided it would be beneficial (and safer) to pay a driving school for another 6 hours of lessons. Hopefully, she'll get more relaxed & confident, and we'll be less stressed & more patient.

Anyway, the first time she took the course, we had a lot of scheduling problems, and her 6 hours took about 3 months to complete. So, this time, I decided to schedule the lessons for 3 days in a row, the first being this past Saturday at 9am.

We woke up to realize that my son had my car, which held her permit! Ugh! I told the instructor that my son was supposed to return home Sunday morning, and we should be fine by then. I called my son and asked him to check the car just to make sure it was in there. Well, it wasn't--or did the 19-year-old just not look good enough. Either way, I tore apart my house wondering where it could be, and when I couldn't find it, I called my son and requested that he be home by noon so I have time to tear the car apart in case I have to cancel.

Well, on Sunday I was busy helping my husband clean up some leaves and when I noticed the time it was 12:30pm. I considered calling my son to make sure he was one his way home, but decided not to cause I didn't want him to try answering the phone while driving. This was his first trip by himself longer than 15 minutes, and where he had to follow directions.

About 5 minutes later, he called me ... he hadn't left yet. Some business about how he had to leave his license in the office to get a visitor's pass, and he had to wait for the office to open to get it back. Whatever, just take your time and head home.

1:35pm .... he calls again and he's at a gas station. Seems the GPS on his Blackberry isn't working and he has no idea where he is. When I ask him for the address so I can Mapquest it for him, he's still at the college! Ugh!!! Well, he gets the GPS working, and now he's on his way home.

He's supposed to go to work at 3pm, so when that came & went, we started getting very worried. DH decided to try calling him, but he never answered. Half an hour later, I tried calling with no answer. By 4pm, my husband called again, and still no answer! I hate feeling that helpless and clueless! Luckily, he strolled in at 4:10pm, safe & sound, but the permit isn't in the car. So, when I finish this post and pick up my daughter from school, it's off to the lovely NJ DMV.

So, on to the final hours of my trip ...

Our day was to begin with Tim's final class at 8:30am. This was a 3-1/2 hour class, and so much fun! We made a collage in a frame, and used so many techniques ... beeswax, altering, distressing, rub-ons, and more! And, as always, the Mexican Hat Dance was playing throughout the class where we received even more goodies to play with and take home!

This is the finished frame I made. Since it had glass, I decided to carry this on the plane as well as the bulletin board we made earlier in the week in Wendy's class.

Here's a couple close ups of the project, and some photos of us at work ...

Me working, Andrea posing (or should I say 'schemeing'?) ...

I wanted some pictures of me working for my scrapbook, and here's how my good buddy helps me out with that. lol

Carrie & "Babe" hard at work.

"Sparky" & "Jaguar".

Christine ... she tried to pose for me, but I scolded her and told her to 'get back to work.' She's trying not to laugh.

Francesca & Nancy ... proud artists showing off their work! Isn't Francesca so cute! She is just adorable, and I really hope she comes back to America for the next cruise.

OK, remember when I mentioned that we wanted to 'alter' Tim? Well, "Sparky" kept pushing the issue, and this is all we could come up with. lol We had lobster for dinner Friday night, so I got the job to bring the tails back to my balcony to 'let them air out.' I went out to a party to meet up with some friends I met on the zipline excursion, and when I came back, I covered the dry tails with Glossy Accents and made a mess on Andrea's deck chair! In the morning I slipped them to Sparky and Jaguar who then added little maracas to each one. We presented them to Tim, and he hammed it up.

It was cute & funny, but I think he was a little grossed out too! lol

Later that afternoon, we had our farewell party with ScrapMap, our instructors & their crews, and our whole group. Tim unveiled all the prizes we'd be winning with the tickets we collected from our purchases at the Marketplace. My mouth dropped ... lots and lots, and LOTS of prizes to be had! He even had a couple of electric Big Shot machines! Some other die-cutting system, and Jim from ScrapMap gave away a free cruise!

I sat with Andrea, Gloria, the 2 Nancys, Francesca, & Christine. Eileen was at the table next to us. Almost everyone got skunked, but I made out very well ... I won FIVE times!

The first prize I won was a brad-making system (which I already own). I mentioned to the group that I already had it so if I won, they could fight for it. Well, when I won Andrea gave me 'the look', so I gave the 3 punches & attachments to her ... I kept the brad supplies though.

The next prize I won was a set of Ranger Distressed Embossing Powders, Embossing Pad & a heat gun ... all of which I don't own. I mean, I have 2 heat guns, but I always hear people raving about the Ranger gun. I just couldn't justify purchasing one tho. Lucky me. A couple of tickets later, and I won again! The same prize though, so you guessed it ... I got 'the look' from Andrea. I told her she couldn't have this prize unless she gave up the other prize, and she grudgingly obliged.

I won again, and it was a Tonic Border Punch System, another thing I don't own, so I kept it. I won another prize, but for the life of me, I can't remember what it was! We got so much free stuff all week, plus the mucho dinero I spent at the Marketplace on even more stuff, that I can't keep it all straight anymore! lol

Sue "Shooter" (from Club 300) came over and offered her prize to me which was a really cool cutting board. The gesture was so sweet, but I couldn't take it cause I have so many at home, and really no room in my suitcase. I suggested she put it with the brad-making system and someone from the group would get it. But, 'the look' must've worked on Sue as well, cause guess who got the cutting board!

Sue did inspire me to do a good turn as well. I was fretting all day about how I was going to get all my goodies home. I really don't do much with borders, so I decided to give the border punch system to Eileen after dinner. She was so grateful, and I felt so good. Thanks for the inspiration Shooter!

A nice photo of me, Francesca & Andrea.

And, of course, a funny one.

Being one of his 'angels', I wanted a nice picture with "Charlie". We make a great team, don't you think?

Back at the cabin, I was greeted by the coolest creature of the week!

Not sure what he was, but he was cool ... he's got his shades on and even has his remote handy!

We had to move him aside and get down to the dreaded ... packing. I laid out all my booty and tried to sort things out, condense things, remove excess packaging ... here's what I was left with ...

You can't even see the 7-8 stamp sets I bought, the projects, the tons of Ideology! But, I wasn't letting go of another item. By hook or by crook, I was getting everything into my bags.

It all made it home, and now I should post pictures of what my house looks like! My craft room is my basement, but we're finally addressing our flooding problem, so all my stuff is all over my house. My husband's favorite phrase is "you got too much stuff." I made sure he didn't see all my new stuff! Tee hee.