Shadow Castle Stamps!

Time for some Bl!nk (Blog Ink).  FINALLY my BPPF Allison (Best Pr!ssy Pal Forever, click previous link and see the third pic down on the right navy shirt and here the fifth pic down) has a blog. Her new blog name is Shadow Castle Stamps to show case her lovely creations.  I'm super happy for her and me because now we can share things and I will get to see her creations sooner. Go on over and show some love to our newest blogger.  Leave a comment or two we all like visitors and attention =D.

While we're at it.... another blog virtual friend (I just read her blog I do not know her IRL and we have never met) over at Love Blooms in Me has a shout out for some help.  We are all going through tough times right now and we all need to circle the wagons and help neighbor to neighbor.  She is requesting that everyone just give one dollar to help a family in need.   I think it's a very nice gesture on her part and hopefully she'll be able to raise enough to make a difference in someone's life.  I know if it were me needing the help I would hope someone would do the same.  Leave a comment on her blog and let her know I sent you.  Thanks for any help you can provide.

Welcome Allison to blogoland.  Enjoy and have fun and I can't wait to see your blog develop.  

Pinch Me Now!!!

One silver lining when things get old, wear out and break aka computers, camera's etc.  You have to get new ones.  I am fortunate enough (ok so happy and grateful) that I am actually able to replace my computer.  I know a lot of people who might not be able to do this right now and that doesn't go unnoticed.  I am really really really thanking my lucky stars right now and pinching myself at my good fortune that I have the means to do this.  As you might remember my computer has been crashing, blue screening and having to be re-staged (hard drive wiped and re-installed which did not GO WELL).  OK fast forward.  I was pretty sick of Windows OS. Pretty sick of the fact that after having to wipe out my hard drive and reinstall everything of which I LOST ALL OF MY DIGITAL PHOTO FOLDERS in the transfer) MS kept telling me I had a pirated unauthenticated copy of Windows.  OK PEOPLE I DO NOT.  I HAVE THE ORIGINAL CDs that came with the computer.  Whatever.  MS proceeded to block any SP updates, the use of Media Player (my preference player) and lock up web surfing whenever it felt like it.  Needless to say it has been frustrating and no I did not have time to hold for TECH SUPPORT or pay extra for it.  ENTRE' APPLE are you surprised?  I am a card carrying sworn member of MS Windows OS.  NOT ANYMORE.  I just got one of these puppies...I haven't figured out how to insert a graphic so you will just have to click on the link to see a picture.  I am so excited.  I also got the wireless mouse and a keyboard for when we are using the laptop at home.  We will also hook up to a larger stationary monitor.  Ok enough for now.

Bargain Shopping

I thought I'd share a couple of the places that I go to order bulk buys at super great prices on "All Things Pr!ssy". (I am not receiving any compensation for either of these plugs, just sayin' EDIT... I just like to share great deals...) I just re-ordered some TOMBO Mono Adhesive Refills from an online place called Penwa. I ordered the Qty 6 refills and even with shipping it averaged to only about $2.00 per unit (+ or - a few pennies). That is approx. half what you would normally pay for retail. I love a deal like that. Another place that I lerve to buy "bulk" from is Pink HedgeHog Paper Crafts. I have purchased a lot (almost all) of my ribbon from here. I got some of each of the following: polka dot organdy, narrow stitched, ricrac, solid grosgrain, narrow organdy and ginham... just to name a few. She has tons more... these are just the ones I purchased. Her ribbon averages about .25 to .30 cents a yard. (but check her website for specific prices and Qty's) ....which is about what I think you should pay for ribbon. I think Pink HedgeHogs products are the most reasonably priced that I have found. TIP OF THE WEEK: Even Michael's ribbon in the dollar bin if you look at the yardage on the spool you are paying approximately $1.00 a yard or more. You think you are getting a deal because it is in the dollar bin but in reality its not the best price so check those yardages and prices. I will on occasion purchase ribbon that is more than .30 cents a yard if I really really really like it or need it. But for the bulk ribbon I try to keep it under .30 cents a yard. Especially if you are like me and h2h some in every color, size and shape. So if you are just getting into PaperCrafts and would like to stock up... these are great resources to do so. I got really great service over there and she has always been very easy to work with and shipment was prompt and as expected (she even sticks a little sumpin' extra in usually) I also purchased all of my eyelets and brads from her too, ANOTHER great buy if you are in the market for those so go check it out.

GINGHAM

1/4 ORGANDY

GROSGRAIN

POLKA DOT ORGANDY
(I got the 3/8in)

RICRAC

NARROW STRIPED

Postscript: Oh and here is the text from their "About Us" page I think it sums it up and says it all. They like to provide rock bottom prices and they do...

We are a new company started just this year (2007) after a frustrating and fruitless search for companies selling bulk ribbons, eyelets, brads, and other stamping and scrapbooking essentials. Our failure to find such a company lead us to the idea of starting our own.

We started our company with the purpose of providing quality ribbons and other embellishments at rock bottom prices. We have literally searched the world over for the best deals on our products in order to pass the savings on to our to you.

We are a family run business and we have a huge love of papercrafting arts, and a bigger love of finding a bargain!

~enjoy!

Organizer

Necessity is the mother of invention so they say. I have been recently accumulating quite a few packages of rub-ons, stickers and bling that needed a home. They had outgrown the little drawer I was storing them in.

I've had my eyes on and on my wish list for a loooooong time a commercially made one of these organizers (normally on a carousel type thingy). The price deterred me as it will cost you close to $100++ (that's one hundred) to get into a base model (the base, extender and clips and more if you want xtra's). I like to have all of my stuff visible where I can see it. I don't know about you but I would rather spend my $ on more stamps or paper or ribbon than an item to STORE all of the above.

I started looking around with the items I already "have" that could be repurposed for this same function. I also had bought a pkg of the clips at JoAnne's a while back for $2.99 similar to the ones used with this in mind, I just hadn't thought of an idea yet. At first, I thought I might afix a dowel rod underneath my cabinet area but didn't have enough room because then the pkg.'s would be hanging in front of all of my other stuff. I dropped that idea because that was the only place for it. Then I remembered the FREE wood crates I snagged at Costco a while back. They were empty wine bottle crates and I got them for FREE. I just keep my eyes open in the wine department everytime I go to Costco. I've picked up three so far.

That was when my lightbulb went off. I could drill a hole in each side, slide a dowel rod through the top and hang my clips. The FREE box and 3 bags of $3.00 clips later for approx $10.00 total give or take a few pennies, I have a functional organizer that does the same thing as the commercially made one for a fraction of the cost. I also like mine better because I can use the top for a shelf and the round carousel model you cannot do that. Yay I saved $90++ and in this economy I can use every penny I can get. How about you? EDITED TO ADD: Maybe I can even purchase a camera with the money I saved .

FRONT VIEW
(I am going to reinforce the dowel with a hook so it doesn't sag in the center)

WINE BOX LOGO
(Pretty cool design !SCORE!)

CLOSEUP OF THE DOWEL END
(I am going to affix a wood ball on the end to finish it off)

BAG OF CLIPS
($2.99 JoAnne's Jewery Dept.)

CLOSEUP OF THE ROD AND CLIPS

MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY
(The top can be used as an extra shelf.
Plus room to grow.
If I run out of space the price is right
I'll just go find another FREE box. hehe)

GENIUS I TELL YA BUT I AM SURE SOMEONE ELSE HAS ALREADY THOUGHT OF IT!!

Well Best Laid Plans

I was gonna take pictures of my new invention to show everyone but my camera is finally broke. It's been on its way out for at least a year now. It's finally broke for real now time for a new one. Ya'll just have to wait until I can take a photo.

What's Great about my Life Right Now?

Still designing my best year ever and I was completing another of the exercises. I am supposed to answer the following question. It's a great question and is built on the premise that before you can focus on designing your best life ever you have to come from a place of GRATITUDE. Yay because that fits right in with the word I've chosen for the year. Anyways... after giving it some thought here is what is great about my life right now...

There is so much great about my life right now I don't know where to begin? My family is all together and and healthy We love, support each other no matter what and keep things "rolling" always. I have a great job of which I am exceedingly happy and grateful for. I have finally achieved a modicum of simplicity in my life and surroundings (still a work in progress but I have made progress, it's hard downsizing after 30 years of accumulating). I highly recommend space clearing activities, purging etc. It is very cathartic peeps!!!! I can't wait to do more myself and continue with the space clearing projects. I have really great and fun friends both IRL and virtual. I have fur friends that are a constant source of joy and love. I have finally figured out how to be positive (well sort of ...hater that I am winkwink). My daughters are great peeps succeeding at their careers of choice carving out lives for themselves in this big bad world. Ok I better quit while I'm ahead because it's starting to head downhill (hear that tone of sarcasm creeping in).

Just wanted to multitask and list my things to be grateful for for the day and complete my assignment too.

More crafting later once I get home. Oh and I had a huge aha moment that will save me approximately $110 plus and I will share it with all of you. HINT: Its a repurposed item that will be used for organizing. I was so excited when I thought of it this morning I am going to stop and get supplies on my way home from work today. Cost of materials is going to be approximately $4.oo vs $100 if I would have bought a commercially made system. WHOA that's big. I was so excited I couldn't believe I thought of it. Well I am sure I am not the first to think of it but it was a new idea for me. I am going to try it. I'll take pictures and show you soon...

My new Coffee Table from West Elm

Not sure if I like it? It is a stand with a tray. I needed something kind of small to fit the space and not get in the way of the recliner ends on my sectional couch. I could have gotten the hammered metal tray but thought it might be too modern for my style. Then I got this home and set it up ($90 very reasonable as coffee tables go). I thought the wood tray would go with more in my house but then I noticed the knobs on my entertainment piece were the brushed silver. I think I might want to go back and get the hammered metal tray instead.

IN A ROOM

WOOD/BASKET - ONE I GOT


METAL/I MIGHT LIKE THIS ONE BETTER

My First EVER Shaker Card

Me likes...=D Using more of the NEW A Muse stamps the "Gumball" machine. How cute is that? I used the glaze pens to color in some of the gumballs. See the A Muse creative candy peaking out the dispenser? OMG so much fun.

This was quite the technique challenge as it used several from masking, paper piecing, to shaker assembly. I man-handled it a bit more than I would have liked to but I think I will make another one and improve on the neatness. I was so excited to get it put together I got a little hasty. If someone knows how to use liquid pearls without getting the little "peaks" on the pearl dot.... lemmeno....

How do you like?

FULL IMAGE

CROPPED TO SHOW SOME DETAIL

It's No Secret

You know who owns a yellow VDub don't you? Scroll down on this POST. Well when A Muse came out with this stamper...I knew I had to have it! Of course it had to be yellow in this first card. Techniques of note? I used a pop dot and raised the VDub. I used A Muse creative candy hearts II for the VDub heart decals. I used those special gel pens to make the paint look glossy. Using a scrap of plastic cardstock I freehanded and cutout my OWN cloud stencil because I needed little clouds. The only cloud stencil I owned was for bigger clouds I guess and the scale was wrong so I improvised and made my own. I used liquid pearls for the exhaust dots. Isn't it cute? I like how this turned out. I may have been a little messy but my next one will be cleaner.

I'm so Happy and Grateful

now that.... I have zero balances on all of my credit cards. ZERO. Zero is such a loverly number that you'll ever know. zerozerozerozerozerozerozerozerozerozerozerozerozerozerozerozerozero.
Red licorice
Pr!ssy things
Valentines
Order

Wow. It's a banner day. With all of the horror stories regarding debt these days. I feel the need to brag a bit. I feel like an exception not the rule...I admit we didn't have a lot of debt to begin with (comparatively speaking, compared with the the rest of society APPARENTLY) ...we have less than $5,000 on only 3 cards. But as of TODAY we paid ALL of our balances off and we owe ZERO ZIP NADA on our credit cards. I don't know I'm just so happy and please as punch I felt the need to brag a bit. With the exception of a couple of personal loans to family members... we owe nothing to anyone. We have no mortgage. We own our cars, so no car payment. We fix what we have and believe me it can get pricey. With the exception of our minimum monthly expenses housing, utilities, food, cable, internet, cell phones that is all we owe. WOW. It feels so good to say that. That is it. So freeing.... now onto savings accounts... need to start saving more for sure. I guess all of this focus on simplification is working and now I am very grateful.

Ok enough about me and my braggart self. Thanks for letting me gloat.

Still Celebrating the Newness of the New Year...

...it is after all less than a week into the New Year. As I am still drafting (it's ok I don't have to have them done, I'm working on it) my New Year intentions, promises whatever you will call them. I've dusted off my "Simple Abundance" books in an effort to find additional inspiration. They are classics and I just get inspired every time I read them. If you've never read them you should really pick them up. I have them all (Simple Abundance Daybook of Comfort and Joy & the Companion, Simple Abundance Journal (blank book), Illustrated Discovery Journal (A cross between a personal vision board and scrapbook, great, still using mine it's a work in process), Something More, Moving On your House of Belonging, and Romancing the Ordinary. I also decided to wander on over the the website (hence where I found the freebie). Sarah Ban Breathnach is such a great author she also shared a free vintage image with us. I found this over at the "Simple Abundance" website.

...And January is the perfect companion and co-conspirator for our reflections and renewed commitment to personal contentment and self-nurturance...

--Sarah Ban Breathnach.

What a perfect way to put it... January is a perfect companion and co-conspirator to renew our commitments to ourselves.

I had to laugh because the six principles of "Simple Abundance" are Gratitude, Simplicity, Order, Harmony, Beauty and Joy. Simplicity is second and comes after Gratitude. Looks like I went out of order. hehe. Anyway, here is a portion of what Sarah Ban Breathnach says about Simplicity my One Word for the last several years:

Yes, you already have everything you need… It’s time to simplify. On the Simple Abundance path, simplicity does not mean making do with less, but appreciating the important things more. Embracing choice as a spiritual gift (wow love that line). Making deliberate decisions that will inspire, comfort, soothe and serve you, whether it’s weeding out curios (renting an 18 foot dumpster), paring down commitments or creating a front hall to enthrall every time you cross the threshold. Simplicity requires not only honesty and courage but gentleness and more patience than you ever believed you possess...

--Sarah Ban Breathnach

Considering simplifying has been my "One Word" for the past few years no truer words can be spoken re: the patience part. I am glad that I am now enjoying a more simpler life and home. I'm not 100% there yet but close enough to move on to a new "One Word" for the year which leads me to "Gratitude". Here are some excerpts from the same website...

Well, when was the last time you counted your blessings? Now let’s live it. Together. Find something new to be thankful for today. Many of Life’s most sublime moments sneak up on us and then just as quickly vanish. The smaller the moment noticed, appreciated and savored, the deeper its connection to your sense of peace and plenty… A bottle of milk when you need it most, pie for breakfast, a fortune cookie with just the right message, a compliment from a stranger, not caring (or keeping track!) of who says ‘sorry’ first, and the sound of your own laughter are potent reminders of the bounty of every day’s overlooked bounty.

--Sarah Ban Breathnach

Here's wishing we all have more happiness than cares this year...

--M!ssPr!ssy

Love Shack's Where it's at_at!!

More fun with A Muse new releases I used "Love birds" and "Love Shack". I cut the door so it opens and have one of the little "Love birds" strutting his stuff coming out of the "Love Shack".

Door open, see the little birdie

Other side (door closed)

Door Open

I'm so Happy and Grateful for...

• Unexpected visits from friend/co-workers who stopped by just to chat and not because they needed something. So nice
• Fresh warm toasty comfy cozies clothing ready right when I needed it and straight from the drier to put on at the end of the day
• Neck rubs
• Genuine feelings of gratitude
• Red slippers
• Postscript.... I almost forgot I'm really really grateful for colonel sanders or else I might have chewed off my leg instead. Gosh I was hungry when I left work tonight. I had to make a pit stop. A little snacker hit the spot.
  

I'm off to a great start noticing and expressing gratitude.

Night night, sleep tight, and don't let the bedbugs bite =D

A Muse Love Birds

I'm getting a jump on my Valentines Day cards. It's no secret my love affair with all things A Muse. I was able to snag some of the new release stamps early at my LSS. OMG lerve. Check it out here's how they inspired me to create... I used the scalloped heart Nestability die. Then I used my paper punch to make holes all around the outside of the scalloped heart to thread the ribbon. It turned out so cute.

LOVE BIRDS

See the inside

SPECIAL DELIVERY CARD

Next I masked the presents off of the "Mail Truck" stamp and then using the heart "exhaust" from the A Muse "Skywriter" stamp I made it look like the "Special Delivery" was "Hearts". Also I used the brown kitchen notes to paper piece the truck. Doesn't it look like Mr. Brown. HELLO...genius I tell ya'.

Remember the Inchie Swap?

There is something about this time of year that makes me want to tie up loose ends and organize. It's just all of the "Year in Review" activities. And I guess I wasn't a very good hostess because I did not get around to posting about my August Inchie swap until now. Remember this post? What I'm only four months behind? NO. I've been meaning to post pictures of everyone's submissions. I finally got around to photographing all of them. I took pics of each one individually and some group photos. They really turned out cute and if I have a link to each one I will provide it. Thanks again everyone for the great work and participating in my A-Z Inchie Swap.

A-Z Inchies (All)

A-Z Inchies (All, top view)

"A" Tracy Durcan

B" Tracy Durcan

"C" Little Sea Otter

"D" Linda - lkrhodes


"E" Kim H Running on Ink


"F" Littleseaotter


"G" MissPrissy


"H" Allison


"I" Maria Kitchen Sink Stamps


"J" Helen Craftyprayer


"K" Linda - lkrhodes

"L" Helen Craftprayer

"M" Miss Prissy


"N" Maria Kitchen Sink Stamps


"O" Michelle G ~Out On a Limb Blogspot


"P" Michelle G ~Out On a Limb Blogspot


Q. Nubin craftinginohio.blogspot.com


"R" Nubin craftinginohio.blogspot.com


"S" Kim H Running on Ink


"T" Allison A (SCS Gallery)


"U" Allison A (SCS Gallery)


"V" Beth ~astampingoodtime


"W" Damaris


"X" Damaris


"Y" grammysammy437 (SCS)


"Z" grammysammy437 (SCS)

A-Z and Now I need to go get somes ZZZZZZZZZZZZZs ~Enjoy