Thoughts for Thursday: Artwork & Fun Photos

I can't write a huge honkin post like that and not include some artwork!

I thought I would share this fun card that I made for Alisha Trussell from that swap I talk about all the time... lol! Click for a larger view.


I used the Cracked Glass technique and sprinkled in some gold glitter just before heating the UTEE powder in the center of Alisha's random stamped paper circle. I've never had good success with cracked glass until this card. I left the embossed piece in the freezer for a good 3 minutes to get good and cold, then pulled it out and cracked it quickly. Make sure to wear gloves so that you don't leave fingerprints on the "glass".

I cut flowers off of a sprig of silk flowers from Michaels used Liquid Glass (CTMH) to attach the small yellow glass beads to the flowers and adhere them to the edge of the random stamped circle.

Papers, inks, ribbons, and stamp set are from CTMH. Metals are CTMH and Making Memories. The flower petals and beads are from Michaels. Oval shapes cut with Coluzzle by Provo Craft.



Oh my gosh! I also have to share these crazy fun photos. (Ducking so Alisha won't hit me!) Alisha and her family came to Utah to visit her dh's family in Salt Lake and Alisha came down last Tuesday to have some girlfriend hang out time. We had SUCH a blast!!!! Stamping Royalty in MY STUDIO!!! WOO HOO!! (Yes, Alisha is a member of PapWe worked on a project together (I will show u when it's finished, promise!) and talked and laughed our butts off.... Thank you to my wonderful mama, Karen, for taking photos for us!!!!


Sometime during the evening, Terri Howard called on the house phone... We just couldn't resist putting the hot lips on the phone so Terri could "hang with the girls" and of course, you can't forget her spunky glasses. (For those of you who don't know, Terri is the eyeglass queen!)

And then just a few minutes later, Susan Hankins called the house phone and we couldn't get 3 way calling to work, so thankfully she also called my cell phone!



What's good for the goose, is good for the gander, I mean, other goose in this case, and of course Susan needed her own hot lips, too! YOu can kind of see the Susan phone on the InkStak in the picture on the right.... It was so much fun having the 4 of us hanging out together and chatting in the same room! :) I can't wait to someday get us all together to hang out in person!!!!

Thoughts For Thursday: Chaa chaaaa chaaa chaaaanges!

I know I've made mention of a big change coming in my life over this past summer. Well, it's finally happened and I have weird mixed feelings about it. I've talked a lot in TFT's about Faith and such... When I would read other blogs and musings and receive my "inspirational emails" from various subscription sources, I would receive a lot of messages regarding faith and believing and trusting in the Lord. There was a reason for those messages to show up in my life and they came when I needed them most.

I've worked for the same company (landscaping) doing their accounting and office managing for the past 7 years. For the past several years, I've wanted to quit working full time.... There are a lot of reasons... gotta get my health better, lower my stress levels and increase my physical activity levels (sitting at a desk for 7 hrs a day was only making my secretary butt grow and other fun things) and take care of my small family better, and then this year, grow our home business and several other reasons. I just never got around to doing it.

I finally made the decision to quit and then I spent a lot of time praying that the Lord would confirm my decision to quit my full time employment with my company. I prayed especially hard the night before I turned in my resignation and the next morning I woke up with such a warm and comforting feeling that "all would be ok". I had a nice, long talk with Bossman and it went a LOT better than I thought it would.

The day after I gave my resignation letter, my boss asked me to consider staying on for $X for 1 day per week. (A little background... Brent asked me what I would do if Bossman asked me to stay on... I told Brent "$X for 1 day per week."... ) The Lord does answer prayers, sometimes it takes longer than we want, but He really does answer our prayers. If you're wondering, yes, I accepted his offer and now work part time, 1 day per week (Wednesdays) and still do the accounting and office manager work for them. I think it's a win-win situation. It allows us a little extra income and allows me a chance to get out of the house and still keep my accounting skills up (besides with our business). It also helps Bossman to not have to train someone new to do their finances.

I do have mixed feelings.... it's a difficult adjustment going from 17 years of working to being home and not "working". Working our business is a lot different than working for someone else in someone else's office. I keep busy, but I still have a lot more time on my hands. I am sure that it will take some adjustment in the process of becoming a WAHM. My quitting full time employment is a huge cut in income, too... that's going to take some major getting used to. All in all it is a good change. I have some goals that I have been putting off for years and now is the time for me to pursue them and try out some new things.

Thankfully, my parents are here visiting from Iowa. They came on November 19th and will be here until we all 4 drive home on December 20th for Christmas. I am loving having Mom and Dad here to fill the time and Mom is helping me get a lot of projects done around the house that I have put off for years and years. Dad is spending time with Brent in the woodshop.... building InkStaks and Christmas presents for family. Mom and I are planning on making some cards in the next week and I hope to have a couple of fun projects finished to show you all.

It's been a very stressful time as I have prepared to leave my job and make sure that things were in order at work before I left. (I've also had a lot of responsibilities related to my job in the women's organization in our church that needed to be taken care of. ) I realize that I've not been as artsy as I should be lately, but with these new changes have come some new stresses and things that needed to be taken care of before I could really sit down and relax and try to crank out some fun paper crafts.

I just thought you all should know :) Thank you for being my blog readers and enjoying life with me.

Inky Smiles!
Erin

Elf Yourself

Hey friends!

I am sorry I've been absent lately. There's a lot going on at my home right now... lots of chaaaachaaaachaaaaaanges... about which I will post later today when I get home from work. Don't worry, it's all good :)

In the meantime.... have a little fun with this video from our family to yours, and hey, do a little "Elfamorphasis" on yours as well. (BTW, I can't remember when my body last moved like that without any "holiday jiggling".. rofl!)

Elf Yourself

Happy early start on the Holidays!

E.

Enabler Alert - Bind It All Supplies are Here!

Hey friends!

I have a big old honkin stash of Bind It All products in my inventory that are now available, including covers and red OWires. I am still working on our store revamp, but thought I would offer these products to you now.

Orders over $100 ship FREE (free shipping within the US) until December 15 th, 2007. Hurry and take advantage of this great deal!

Click the image to view the prices. Contact me at inkysmiles @ gmail.com

Enabler Alert - Scrap Girls Dessert Sale!

Scrap Girls is at it again! I love their sales!!! Click on the Scrap Girls banner on the left of this blog or check out Scrap Girls now to start shopping. MMMMM Dessert is always AWESOME! :)

"Life is short and it should be sweet. Eat dessert first! And what could be sweeter than having fun while digital scrapbooking your memories? Saving money!

Until Midnight, MST Sunday November 25th, you can save 21.7% on almost all of your favorite Scrap Girls digital scrapbooking treats.

But you better hurry... Just like any dessert, this deal won't last long."

23K RAK WINNER...

I'm a little late getting home tonight... went to Salt Lake with Brent to hit a cool sale at a scrapbook place and get the fan-blower-thingy in the Tahoe fixed.

I've chosen a random winner.....

Natalie said...

HOW FUN! Congratulations on the hits! That's amazing!

My favorite color: pink
My Something: hmmm. I've had plastic surgery. :D

November 13, 2007 4:42 PM

ANNNNNNNNDDDDDD.............. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the responses.... I really got a good chuckle out of some of them... especially one....

I've also chosen a SECOND winner .... "Stefany who smacked Barney" - all because you SMACKED BARNEY!!!! LOL! YOU ROCK!!!! (Barney drives me NUTS!) Kind of ironic considering that your favorite color is purple! LOL!!!

Nicole - send me your address so I can put this stamp set in the mail...
Stefany - send me your address and I will send you a couple of mini rolls of WONDERFUL American Crafts ribbon.

If you're dying for this stamp set ... don't die just yet... I have a couple more of this set (both new) in my stash to give out over the next few months :)

Thank you ALL for your support of my blog! I truly appreciate it!

Keep smiling & get inky!

Erin

TWENTY THREE THOUSAND hits .... and a BIG FAT RAK!

Holy cow!!!! Brent pointed out to me this evening that I have had
over 23,000 hits on my blog!!!

Holy Cow & WOWZA!!!!! That is very, very cool!
I think I need to say THANK YOU with a BIG FAT RAK!

On Friday will randomly draw a name to receive this BRAND NEW, never used, no longer available, former Stamp of the Month (March 2007) from Close To My Heart - Rustic Flowers. To give you some perspective on size, that big honkin cool distressed square measures 2.75" square and the big honkin cool distressed flower measures 3" in diameter.

It's a D size stamp set (retails at $22.95), but it can be yours FREE when you comment on THIS POST with the following:

* tell me your favorite color.
* tell me something about yourself that most people wouldn't know about you. Good luck !!!

****Edited**** I am sooo enjoying reading your comments! It's fun to learn more about my readers and see the things we have in common! Keep the comments coming... this is gonna be a fun RAK.... I might have to add a little bonus to the RAK, too... hrrrrmmmmmmm!

Another {REVEAL} card from my swap group...

Ok, Terri!!! This one's for you darlin!!!!

There's nothing like playing with someone's original creation and letting your imagination run wild! Terri made this random stamped paper for our original swap and my job was to make it into my own card design. Click on the photo to view larger.


This card was soooo super fun to make! This color combo was a challenge for me because it's totally out of my normal "crafting box". The butterfly was my starting point. I had been playing with that stamp set (Spring Possibilities - CTMH) trying to make some "card candy" when the card candy thing exploded... anyway... I made the butterfly by inking up the large butterfly in Crystal Blue ink (CTMH) and stamped it on white CS. I let it dry for a good while and them went back with Liquid Glass and glued all the tiny glass seed beads in place. It needed more "umpfh" so I followed up with more LG (which btw, is my all time fav embellishment, followed closely by GLITTER) and filled in the spaces, and then added Prisma Glitter (CTMH). I let the LG dry over night and trimmed it out the next day and then popped it in the freezer for 2 mins, quickly pulled it out and snapped the LG to make cracked glass. I attached antennae with gold wire and added little gold seed beads on the ends. I LOVE how it turned out!

Other supplies:
Fiskars craft scissors (scalloped)
Ribbon - Offray
Papers, Inks - CTMH
Pearlescent Chalks - Pebbles, Inc.
Spring Possibilities Stamp Set - CTMH
Celebrate BOoking Stamp Set - CTMH
Sandpaper

TFT Rak Winner!!

I loved reading what makes everyone happy. Hope you had fun finding the answers to my trivia questions! :)

I've chosen a random winner.....

Linda SS said...

What a gorgeous shaker card!

1. Dog is Sadie
2. Moab rafting down Colorado River.

3. Talking about my love for Jesus and what He has done in my life makes me happy - I hope that sharing my testimony makes others happy as well. My family is my joy - those grandkids keep me young, they are so full of fun and constantly make me laugh:)

Linda - if you will please email me at inkysmiles @ gmail.com and let me know your mailing address I will pop this in the mail tomorrow :)

Thanks for playing, friends!!!

Thoughts for Thursday, Swap Reveal & RAK Opportunity.

“ We all live with the objective of being happy;
our lives are all different and yet the same. ”

- Helen Keller (1880-1968) author, lecturer, activist

Helen Keller was a remarkable woman. She overcame great odds and despite her physical issues made a happy life for herself. Our lives really are all different, but we all want to be happy.

This {REVEAL} card makes me happy. (Click on photo for a larger view.) It's Pam Klassen's card for our two part swap. She made the random stamped paper and I created the card around it. I piled up loads of glass beads on globs of Liquid Glass (CTMH). I hand scored the grid lines in the Blush CS and sanded to reveal the white core. I used the Coluzzle oval template to cut the oval sentiment piece and mat. All papers, inks, ribbons and metals are CTMH. Stamp set is Love Quotes from CTMH.

RAK Opportunity:

Post to THIS POST only and tell me (answers found on my blog):

- what my dog's name is
- where I went for Mother's Day weekend this year (made me sooooo happy)
- AND something that makes YOU happy or something you've done to make someone else happy. Heck, make a layout about it if you want, too!

On Sunday I will draw a random winner (you gotta answer all three questions) who will receive a really cool retired (but NEW) CTMH booking stamp set which includes 4 small individual stamps, no block.

Inky Smiles!
Erin

Sketch Challenge {006}

Gosh! It's been a while since we've had a sketch challenge. Here's #006 just for you! I picked up this design from Becky @ PageMaps. Her sketches are free to the public and are absolutely fabulous! She's also having a card contest... jump on over and check it out!

Don't forget to leave a comment and show us what you've done with this sketch!

Happy creating!

Erin

Stamper Storage: First Ever InkStak Sale!

It's our first ever SALE on InkStaks! WOO HOO! LIMITED TIME: From now until November 30th, 2007 you can get 10% off of any of our InkStaks! Hurry now and whisper in Santa's ear so he can get your order in for Christmas!



Visit Stamper Storage to place your order. For Christmas delivery, orders must be placed and paid for by December 10th.

What do you want me to do, dress in drag and do the Hula?

A long time ago, in a craft studio far, far away, I participated in a swap..... Remember this swap I mentioned WAAAAY back when and posted some sneak peeks along the way ?? Well, I finished my cards for Part 2 waaaay back in Sept and sent them to our hostess.... Here's one of the cards that I made using Tiffany Cheney's random stamped paper.

Click the photo for a larger view.

All papers, stamps & inks are CTMH. I used my scalloped scissors (remember those deco scissors from the 90's? I found mine in the Great Dejunking) to cut a decorative edge around the green mat, pierced the edge with my paper piercer and then pounced some pearlescent chalks from Pebbles, Inc around the edges. Ribbons are from SU! and Offray. Liquid Glass from CTMH. Paper flowers from Prima. Yes, that is real stitching. Love my machine for paper stitching and not real sewing! LOL!

Stay tuned for more reveals...

Belated Thoughts for Thursday, Perfect Pearls, Cuttle Bug

“ Only the curious will learn and only the resolute overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient. ”

- Eugene S. Wilson (1900–1981)
Dean of Admissions at Amherst College

I love this quote! There is something special about the journey when trying something new. Tonight I went on my own "quest" and learned something new... sorta. I PLAYED with something new!!!! So I am a Technique Junkie and I am always oogling over their techniques and have had fun playing with the ideas.

Tonight I made my own version of the "Cuttle Bug Smoosh" and played around with Perfect Pearls. I painted PP powder into the recessed side of the Cuttle Bug embossing folder and ran the kraft colored paper through the CB . I also stamped the Bethlehem and sentiments with Perfect Medium and dusted with the PP powders. I spritzed the paper flower with a mixture of Cranberry reinker and water and rubbing alcohol and let it dry. I brushed some PP on the petals while they were still wet. I am diggin how the PP look when you wet the powder. Then I loaded up some gold glass beads on some Liquid Glass. O Holy Night is embossed on a chocolatey brown paper.

The card still needs something, but I am not quite sure... it feels unfinished to me. Not mentioning that it's just a card front at this point.. but the design needs something... any ideas?

Glass beads - Halcraft
Papers - Archiver's
Perfect Pearls - Ranger
Perfect Medium - Ranger
Inks - CTMH
Embossing Powder - CTMH
Paper flower - CTMH
Organdy Ribbon - CTMH
Cuttle Bug machine
Cuttle Bug Textile Embossing Folder
ATG Gun & Adhesive