From January 28-March 31, Stampin' Up! is having their annual Sale-a-Bration! For every $50 you spend, you can choose one FREE product from the Sale-a-bration catalog. So much to choose from! And when you host, you get more hostess dollars! And when you join, you get more free stuff! It really is an amazing sale! See below for more information on what you get when you shop, host, and/or join and contact me if you have any questions!
I love it when someone asks me, "Hey, you make cards, right? Do you think you could make me ___?" So when a co-worker asked if I could make her daughter's 16th birthday invitations, I got quite excited. I had all these ideas in my head of what a 16 year old girl might like, but when I met with my co-worker to see what she had in mind, I was caught off guard.
The theme of the party was Back to the Future, her daughter's favorite movie. I had to admit, I had never seen the movie. Not sure how that was left out of my childhood, but I wasn't quite getting the clocks, towers, lightening bolts and hover boards she was describing. So step one, watch the movie. I found it easily on cable and dvr'ed it so I could pause in various spots trying to see these classic images. My husband even convinced me to watch the second one, and is patiently waiting for me to watch the third. Secondly, I had to find how to capture the clock tower. I posted on a facebook group, and someone recommended I use Clockworks. I assumed it was retired, but was surprised to learn it was current, right there on the same page as my beloved Gorgeous Grunge. My favorite part of Clockworks was stamping the hands so the clock reads 5:55, the time the birthday girl was born. For the tower, I used the Simply Scored to make lines to resemble pillars. And for the movie image, I just printed the logo off the internet. For the words, I used the Simply Serif Alphabet stamps, inked in the Metallic Gold Encore Pad. To denote the 16th birthday, I used the Make a Wish stamp set and the numbers from Show & Tell 2 Photopolymer stamps. For the lighting bolt, I couldn't find a stamp, so I went to Archiver's and had them cut them to the size I needed on their Silhouette. When I showed my husband the finished product, he asked if I could make him one, so that's a good sign that the invite might be well appreciated by the birthday girl and other diehard Back to the Future fans. If you have a need for any custom cards or invitations, let me know and I would be happy to help, even if it means watching three movies before I get started :) As with every new year, we all seem to be motivated more than normal to get organized. This holiday break afforded me the time to make a trip to IKEA, the Container Store, and Archiver's (which sadly just announced it is closing). First at IKEA, I wanted to tackle organizing my boys' desk area. Markers always seem to be all over the place, so I figured this might be the only solution. I got my hands on the last three silver cups to hang on the mounted rod, all for $25. So far so good. Also at IKEA, I found this wire mesh cart for $14.99. It's a perfect storage space for my Stampin' Up! catalogs: the annual catalogs on top, the mini and Sale-a-bration in the middle, and order forms in the bottom. At the Container Store, I found all sorts of storage solutions for the house, but for my craft room I was able to find a medium 4 sort divider to prevent piling all my trimmers on top of each other. And lastly at Archiver's, I got the idea for the 2 wall hanging trays, where I bought a pack of school-themed paper to go in each of the 12 squares. My plan is to display the boys' school pictures, grades 1-12, in each space (And no, my oldest is not in kindergarten yet!). My husband gives me a hard time for planning this far ahead. But hey, better early than late! Bring on 2014! Looking back over 2013, I realized I have accomplished many of my goals in trying to take my hobby to the next level: 1. Attending my first Convention in Salt Lake City (who could pass up the 25th anniversary?!?) 2. Creating one card a day (for the most part!) 3. Organizing my Pinterest boards to be more focused on stamping 4. Starting this blog! 5. Participating in 3 crafts fairs, one of which I coordinated with some friends Now looking forward, here are my goals for 2014 (if anyone wants to keep me accountable!): 1. Participate in 4 craft fairs, one in the spring and 3 in the fall. I have never done one in the spring before, so if anyone has any ideas, let me know! For the fall, I have already booked the Lawrence Central Holiday Boutique in November, but want to find 2 more solid shows to participate in. (And no, I am not planning to coordinate an event again this year. Six months of planning only to be cancelled by a tornado two hours into the event is enough to deflate my coordinating efforts.) 2. Record and upload my first YouTube video. I spend a lot of time watching youtube videos of all sorts, yet have never uploaded anything. For crafting purposes, I love learning new techniques and especially watching others give tours of their craft room, so what better place to start. 3. Decorate all envelopes. Whether it be with the envelope liner framelits, creating an envelope with the Envelope Punch Board, or just stamping the envelope, I want to make sure to take the extra time to make the envelope special. Thank you to all my crafting friends, especially Heather Hitchcock, who crafted alongside of me and helped me have fun creating while trying to accomplish these goals. Happy new year! |
AuthorCheryl Piotrowski |