Thoughts For Thursday: Take a Chance

"Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes the furthest

is generally the one who is willing to do and dare."

- Dale Carnegie

“ I firmly believe that if you follow a path that interests you, not to the exclusion of love, sensitivity, and cooperation with others, but with the strength of conviction that you can move others by your own efforts, and do not make success or failure the criteria by which you live, the chances are you'll be a person worthy of your own respects. ”

- Neil Simon, (b. 1927) American playwright, screenwriter

Over 14 years ago, I left Berlin, Germany & after shipping all of my personal belongings "slow boat", took a chance and moved to Utah on a whim -- having never been here before, knowing only one person (who was supposed to be my roommate but got married a week after I moved here), and not knowing what the future would hold for me...

It worked out better than I could have dreamed. I found & married the love of my life 5 years after moving here. I've met a lot of fantastic people and have made some really good friends. I graduated college and have had some really great jobs. I learned who I was and adopted some super fun hobbies from the locals (scrapbooking, etc) and will now be taking a chance growing my business... is it scary? YOU BET! Do I think it will be worth it?? YOU BET!!! Taking a chance is taking that leap of Faith....

What is something you've taken a chance on? What is something you would like to take a chance on? Have you journaled about it in a diary or a scrapbook??? Here's your chance!

1.) Tell us about it.
2.) Scrap about it & email a pic of it to me and I will add it to this post.
3.) On Monday, October 1st I will draw a random name from the submissions for a random something from my stash...

Buried In Bind It All Products

I am swamped in Bind It All Products from Zutter Innovative... YIKES!!!! (This little machine is the coolest thing!!! Look how tiny it is!!)

I got my second shipment of product for the big sale I 've been holding... We are completely sold out of chipboard covers already (and so is the manufacturer until 2nd week in Oct).... They are also out of 3/8" black wires until who knows when... So I'm trying to figure out substitutions for the assortments I put together. I'm frantically answering emails, filling orders and planning on another big order. This is CRAZY (yet so fun)!!!



This is the cool little bag that you can stash your new little friend and assorted goodies in....

Stay tuned for more artwork....

K is for Kaylee

I made this pot o' pencils (and pens) for my friend's little girl who turned 11 today. She loves to write and draw (and so do her brothers), so I figured that they wouldn't steal her cute flowery pens and pencils and it would make a great addition to her desk in her lavendar room. :)

This was very simple to do. I purchased a tin pot and two bunches of flowers (97 c each) and some white kidney or pinto beans (not sure what they are cuz I don't eat beans, just wanted them to be white-lol!) from WalMart.







The first thing I did was to start with the K which is a Basic Grey chipboard alpha. I actually traced the original K onto a piece of black BG chipboard and hand cut it with a craft knife, then inked the edges with Hydrangea Ink by CTMH. (I wanted to keep the original K with the original letters to use as templates.)

After I'd inked up the edges, my fingers, and my workspace, I ran my 3/4" ATG gun all over the face of the K and then adhered some Petal (CTMH) cardstock to the K and then inked it up with Hydrangea Ink and a fingertip sponge dauber. (The ink helps make the finished product have more of a rich color.)

Once the ink was dry on the CS, I smeared a good even layer of Liquid Glass (CTMH) over the entire K followed by a hefty sprinkling of tiny glass micro beads from Michael's. Warning: make sure you use a craft tray under whatever you're sprinkling the beads over and make sure you sprinkle slowly because the darn little glass beads bounce all over the place and are difficult to clean up.

I made sure the layer of Liquid Glass and micro beads was dry and then tapped off the excess beads into the craft tray and then covered the entire K with another thick layer of Liquid Glass and let it dry overnight.

After I finished the K, I punched holes in my little tin with the Crop-a-Dile and wove two pieces of ribbon (grosgrain & organdy) through the holes and left plenty of ribbon on the end to tie to the K later. (The next morning I punched a hole with the large punch on my Crop-a-Dile from We R Memory Keepers, tied the K to the tin with a few extra pieces of ribbon and a silk string, and trimmed up the ribbons.

I cut the flowers from their "bunch" with wire snips and then wrapped them to the pens and pencils with green floral tape. I poured the white beans in the tin and assembled my bouquet.

This was super fun and super easy!!! Enjoy!!

Nice Legs, Good Kisser

Another Oldie But Goodie..... My parents ROCK! These are some pics from a visit a few years ago.

We went up American Fork Canyon to see the fall colors and took some photos along the way.

I wish I could remember what the paper is... I had scraps of it in a bin that I wanted to use up.... I know I picked it up at Pebbles In My Pocket a while back.... The ribbon is generic from WMart and the metals are from Making Memories.

Thoughts For Thursday: Kindness

" No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action leads to another. Good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions,
and the roots spring up and make new trees. ”

- Amelia Earhart (b. 1897- missing 1937)
author, spokesperson, and record-setting aviator

I love this quote! Go out and spread some kindness this week!

oh, and btw.... my random winner from the last TFT is:

Cindy (From S Florida) "I think it means that happiness will come where you least expect it. I think that there we are sometimes put in situations where we actually expect to be unhappy, but then there comes a time when these situations end up bringing us this greatest joy." September 13, 2007 7:17 PM

You know the routine... email me your address!

* 9x9 Layouts made with CTMH Products & Prima Flowers *

South Dakota Badlands

This is just a fun super quick layout that I did of a trip to South Dakota (I made the layout a while back.) I used my old Sizzix dies to cut the letters. I wanted to do some layouts without stamping. I probably should dress these up a bit.... I was trying to do the whole non matted photo layout... not sure I like photos without mats.....




Extra pictures that I didn't know what to do with..... so I just sorta grouped them all together and journaled down the edge.




The words "Crazy Horse" are picture scraps that I ran through the Sizzix machine.




Mount Rushmore... I still need to do the journaling. I scanned and stitched the pages... I need to get better at scanning and stitching so you can't see the shadow lines...

The Family Routine .... Set to Pachelbel's Canon in D

I promise I will post more art soon... :) I am working on some projects, but in the meantime, this is a GREAT video! I was just talking to my stressed out sister (mom of 1.5 yr old twins)..... This should give you mom's a good laugh.



Click Here if You Can't View It On The Blog

Enjoy!!!

Erin

Until We Meet Again....

Today was a difficult day. I attended the funeral of my sweet friend, Rebecca Rae (Christoffersen) Stinson. It was especially difficult because it was the first funeral of a "friend" close to my age. The doctors are not sure why she died yet. Hopefully we will find out soon.

Her sister, Judy, wrote one of the best "Life Sketches" that I have ever heard. Judy's sketch made me laugh and cry and remember the good times we all had with Becky. Thank you Judy! ( I will add it to this post when Judy feels up to emailing it to me.)

Her husband did not want an obituary in the papers (not sure why), but I found the obituary that her family wrote for her on the website of the funeral home and thought I would share it here. There were friends of hers that the family was unable to contact & hopefully they will find this information...

Rebecca Rae Stinson
(January 6, 1968 - September 11, 2007)

I am glad to have had the privilege of calling Becky my friend. I am thankful to know that life does not end at death & that I will see her again someday.

Becky, you will be missed! May the Lord bless you and keep you encircled in his arms until we meet again...

Midweek Blog Candy Winners

It actually only took us 4 hrs and about 40 minutes to clean the room. It didn't look as bad in the one before pic.... oh man, you didn't see that nothing was in order and that I didn't know what I had tucked away in miscellaneous totes and drawers. Thankfully Brent is a good work master... I had pulled everything out and just got overwhelmed with the piles of stuff. He was good at crackin the whip to make me decide what to do with things and keep on truckin'. If I had to do it by myself it would have taken days while I reminisced over bits and pieces of scrap papers and stickers and "oh that would be great for ____ project!" LOL!

Anyway.. I am so glad to have at least the sorting and organizing done! Brent said I am grounded from catalogs and parties! He also said, "Now make sure you pick up as you go so it doesn't turn into this again!" I love that man! :)

I've picked 4 random winners:

• Yvonne W.
• Selina
• Kelly Jo
• Jessi Gribbin

Please email me at inkysmiles @ gmail . com with your mailing address!

Inky Smiles!
Erin

A Question of Ink...

Several people have asked me in the comments and via private email about the storage piece that I have my stamp pads in. Here's the scoop:

The stamp pads are stored in an InkStak custom built to fit CTMH or SU! stamp pads by my husband, Brent which we sell through our store, Stamper Storage. InkStaks can be customized by adding additional rows or adding or deleting columns. InkStaks can be easily wall mounted (we include instructions & hardware) or set on a desk or shelf. The beauty of the InkStaks is that their tops can be an additional shelf in your craft area. InkStaks are shipped "au natural" so that you can paint or stain them to match your decor. You can view more information by visiting Stamper Storage

Thoughts for Thursday: Happiness

"Happiness sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open."
~ John Barrymore

What does this mean to you? Leave me a note on this post and I will draw a random name next Wednesday (Sept 19th) to receive random act of kindness.

(edited 3:30pm) BONUS CHALLENGE: Create a piece of artwork (a card, a layout, an altered item, anything) that visually represents something that has snuck in one of your "open doors". There have been some awesome comments on this post. If you'd like to share, please feel free to leave a link on this post.

Midweek Blog Candy.... MMMM!

Saturday night I spent some time with Brent cleaning out my studio/office. We literally pulled everything out of the "craft" side of the office and did part 1 of a "Clean Sweep" of the room. Have you seen the show? It's FABULOUS! They take EVERYTHING out of a room, furniture, accessories, JUNK, etc., and then repaint and redecorate the room and load things back into the room. The things that don't find a home in the room are either donated to charity, sold at their garage sale, or hauled to the dump.


We got as far as hauling it all out of the room, sorting it all, and then put it back in place in the room. Brent even MOPPED the floors for me! YAYYYY! I decided to forgo the whole repainting and decorating part of things because I don't want to spend the money until I know exactly what I want to do with the space. I know I want some sort of wall cabinets above my workstation and where the G. Washington picture hangs... but not much else.... I am going to bug Brent to put the rest of the handles and knobs back on my desk before this weekend.



Soooooooo, we did get it sorted and dejunked. I have a lot of misc items to put on ebay and a bunch to give away, too! I've got a few little party favor "grab bags" of fun things and each one is slightly different.


How many hours did it take us from start to finish to get the studio/office to the clean point it's at right now? Leave your guess on this post and I will draw 4 winners on Sunday. (If you leave an annonymous comment, please at least give initials or a first name and last initial so that I can identify you if you win.)

Happy Guessing!

Party Hat - The Details

Korin wanted a close up of the party hat, so here it is :)

I found the pattern at this site: Kaboose You will need Adobe Acrobat to view and print the pattern. If you don't have it, click here to download Acrobat.



I random stamped the hat with Close To My Heart Stamps, Confetti & Favors (available) and It's Your Birthday (retired) , using Blush, Topiary, Honey Hydrangea and Crystal Blue CTMH inks. I punched holes in the side of the hat where I attached the ribbon ties.

The fringe is this way cool stuff I picked up in a clearance bin in the WalMart home fabrics department. I think I paid 5c per yard or something crazy like that. I attached the fringe on the top with my ATG tape and the fringe on the bottom with silver brads. I just lined the fringe up along the rim of the hat and poked holes where I wanted to place the eyelets. (Glad I didn't permanently adhere them because we had to take it off because Sadie REALLY wanted nothing to do with the fringe.)

Party Dress.... err Hat

Who needs a party dress when you have a handcrafted party HAT?

We had a little bday party for Sadie on Sunday after church with some friends of ours. I made jumbo chocolate fudge cupcakes with frosting and sprinkles.. mmmm.... (It was a nice break to get out of the house as I was miserable in pain - fibromyalgia - and sniffly from a cold on Saturday morning and afternoon.) I stamped the white daisy CS with CTMH stamps and inks and added a tuft of cool fibers to the top and tied it on with a ribbon. I got Sadie to keep the hat on by holding the camera in one hand and a Dingo treat in the other hand. As soon as I snapped the pic and gave her the treat, she hauled off and ditched the hat asap so she could gobble down the treat.

The Mini-C's really enjoyed having a birthday party for Sadie. I felt a little silly singing to the dog, but the kids sure enjoyed it! I guess I really am the Crazy Dog Lady! LOL!

Sketch Challenge {004}: Kate Is Beautiful Layout

Amaryllis sent me this layout that she made based on my Sketch {004} which was intended to be a card LO.... how cool is that??? (I think we're noticing a pattern here with A...) AND... she made the flourishes herself with her Craft Robo. This is a really cool layout!! She used Basic Grey papers, acrylic paint, and Liquid Glass (CTMH), and CTMH inks.

Amaryllis was very creative in cutting the flourish with her CRobo. She wasn't able to get it to read the digital file that the flourish was in, so she printed the flourish, scanned it back into her computer, and created her own digital image for CR to print. How creative!!!

I couldnt resist snapping up these photos. Kate applied the makeup in my studio when they were visiting and A and I were creating something. LOL! Great job for a 2 1/2 yr old!!!! What you didn't get to see in this LO is the SECOND application of makeup... hahaha....

Note to self: Do not give 2 1/2 yr olds a full sized pink colored chapstick. Chapstick disappears rather quickly... hmm, about 3 mins I'd say...

Sadie's Card : Spruced up a bit.....

I sat staring at Sadie's card this morning before work and decided it still needed a little something..... (no, I'm not really gonna give it to her... just made one in honor of her bday.. hehe, I m not THAT crazy!)

And when I got home, a neighbor, who's moving, left a big fat box on my front porch full of her craft stuff that she didn't want and thought I could use.... WEll.... at the very bottom of the box I found this TREASURE... two of these TREASURES!!!!


It's the freeking hugest bottle of this stuff and I have two of them! I am NEVER going to run out of it! WAHOO!!!! It's the predecessor (sp?) of LIQUID GLASS and Dimensional Elements and Diamond Glaze stuff.... I THINK... LoL!!! Anyway, it also had this way cool fine metal tip in the bag that goes on the tip of the applicator so you can draw SUPER FINE lines... I had soooo much fun with it tonight.

Here's the sprucing up I did on Sadie's card:

Thoughts For Thursday: Integrity

"Let us counsel with the Lord in all our undertakings. Let us be better neighbors. Let us be better employers and employees. Let us be men and women of integrity and honesty in business, in education, in government, in the professions, whatever is our place in life."

~ Gordon B. Hinckley

I have this quote posted above my telephone at work. It's pretty straightforward. It helps me keep my attitude in place at work when dealing with , employees and the boss. Even you're not religious and disregard the first sentence, the rest of the quote is applicable to each of us in our daily lives. Imagine how much more pleasant the world would be if everyone applied this advice to everything we do in our lives.

Inky Smiles!
Erin

Happy Birthday Sadie!

Today is the birthday of my beloved furrbaby, Sadie. No, I am not the crazy dog lady... well, ok, maybe I might be .... just a little bit. I made this little card in honor of her bday. I used American Crafts paper, CTMH chalks & inks, and the stamp is from Stampin' Up.

We were feeling baby hungry a few years back, 6 ago this Nov 5th to be precise, and took a little window shopping trip to the animal shelter.... JUST TO LOOK... (ok so B and I have decided we are not allowed to "just look" anymore... that's how we ended up with a house, the Tahoe, and Sadie). Anyway, we wandered through the animal shelter and looked at all the available furry friends. I was bawling when I walked around the last corner and saw this little tiny animal carrier perched up on a file cabinet... peering from behind the bars of the door were two eyes of the strangest color yellow/amber. A few seconds later we were greeted by a string of yips and barks. I had found my baby!!! Immediately I knew she was the one for me (us). LUCK of LUCK, she had just come off of quarantine that day. The animal shelter people guessed that she was approximately 2 months old and had her birth day listed as Sept 2, 2001. We paid the adoption fees, scooped her up, headed into WalMart to pick up some doggie supplies and thus began our life with a dog.

Sadie has been the best little blessing in our life for the past 6 years. She's been happy company and loves unconditionally. She's smart, well behaved, and spoiled rotten (uh, I mean well loved). She's super friendly and has helped so many children overcome their fear of dogs. I am glad that we have her in our life.

Yes, I am the crazy dog lady.... I plan on making cupcakes this Sunday and having some friends of ours over for a birthday celebration.. tee hee....

Update:For Sale

2nd Update.... I am waiting on payment for a couple of items (cartridges)... if I don't receive payment by this weekend I will offer them up for sale again. Thank you to all who have purchased items! I know you will thoroughly enjoy your Cricuts & cartridges!

Cricut Expressions - ALL SOLD!

Cricut Cartridges - prices as listed + shipping.
$48.00 #29-0381 Disney's Mickey Font (3 avail)
$36.00 #29-0078 Mini Monograms (1 avail)
$46.00 #29-0016 Teardrop (1 avail)
$41.00 #29-0013 Stamped (1 avail)
$46.00 #29-0226 Printing Press (1 avail)

I will ship the cartridges USPS Priority Mail or UPS Ground, depending on qty purchased and where you're located, whichever is the cheapest method of delivery to you.

I accept PayPal (yes, even credit cards) and will email you a PayPal invoice. Please email me at inkysmiles (at) gmail (dot) com.

Thanks!!!

Weekend RAK/Blog Candy WINNERS!!!

{...This has been corrected as an error was pointed out to me...}

YES! I did count all of the paper. It's not so bad when you make piles of 10 and then count those up. :) There are 315 assorted papers and cardstocks in the ErinSlab. I've read through all of the entries and pulled out the winners.

BrenMarie -315 (posted on Fiskateers.com's message board)
Robyn W - 316
Annonymous - Contrapat - 317

Please email your mailing address (and real name) to inkysmiles at gmail dot com. Thank you for playing ladies! This has been fun! I can't wait to find more stuff to RAK. :)

Weekend RAK/Blog Candy

It's National Clean My Scrap Area MONTH....

I've cleaned out a bunch of my paper folders and have tons of paper (mostly Provo Craft) that I don't need and created the ErinSlab.

Here's what you do:

1.) Guess how many papers are in the ErinSlab.
2.) Post a comment here with your guess. (Guesses must be posted on this post only.)
*****If you post ANNOYMOUSLY please leave your first name and last initial****

WINNERS ANNOUNCED ON MONDAY NIGHT

I will divide the paper up between the 3 people who have the closest guess.

Happy guessing!