3Fiskateers Misison: Fiskars XL Tag Punch

I am a member of Fiskateers. It's totally cool! My friend, Robyn, told me about it a while back and told me that I'd get a free pair of scissors for joining... Well, a girl can always use a free pair of scissors, right? So I joined, thinking, "ok, I will get the scissors and call it good." The girls in the group are WAY COOL! AND I was invited to take part in a secret 3 Fiskateers Mission.

They sent me a Fiskars XL Tag Squeeze Punch and I got to play with it and come up with a couple of different projects and KEEP the punch. WOO HOO! I thought, "Sweet! an XL tag punch! I was thinking XL would be huge, but when it arrived, I was a bit surprised! The XL tag was only 3/4"x2" OUCH! The XL tag punch is actually fairly small, and I had a difficult time making the tags as the primary focus of projects. They are almost too small to write much on for journaling, but they work fantastic as accents to projects.

Ok, rethink what my original plan was... think, think, think..... SO I put off the project for a couple of weeks and in the meantime, I put together a really cool 8x8" doggie album kit from one of Archiver's cool classes. The kit was PACKED with papers and paper embellishments and so I had all these scraps leftover after.... waste not, want not.



The above photos show how to use the tag punch. Line up Paper & Squeeze Punch.

The first project I made is a very simple card (standard 4.25"x5.5") with tag accents. I used CTMH inks and acrylic stamps, misc. buttons and accents. I sanded the paper and used a textured scrapbook paper for the blue horizontal accent between the red paper and the stamped background. The buttons are adhered with Liquid Glass by CTMH (aka Dimensional Elements by SU). Everything adhered with the Scotch ATG tape gun.



The dog album was so much fun to make. The album pages are made from Basic Grey chipboard which I covered with Dog Days paper by Deja Views. The papers & misc paper accents in the album are scraps that were leftover from a larger 8x8 Dog Days album that I made. The ribbons are a variety of odds and ends from my ribbon jar. The honkin huge nuts and bolts eyelets were from Pebbles In My Pocket... I think they've been discontinued, but they are so fun to use! I literally used only scraps for this album. I think it shows a fun project that I did not have to go and purchase ANYTHING for to create. (My hubby & pocketbook were much happy.)


I used the tag punch to cut out cute accent tags for journaling and other fun tidbits throughout the album. I first cut out the base tag and then adhered it to a contrasting piece of cardstock or paper and then cut around the edges to give the tag some beef. The punch was the perfect size & scale for this mini album. The tags on the page with the word "doggie" on it are removable for hidden type journaling. The tag on the last page with the words "What a Good Dog" is also removable for hidden journaling.

Everything adhered with the Scotch ATG tape gun. The album fits neatly in a little kraft paper box that I picked up at XPedex & altered to coordinate with the album.

Pull The Car Over Please... The Rest Of The Story

Well, kids, it's time to pull the car over and let me out (of direct sales that is)...... I said goodbye on the CTMH consultant bulletin boards... and here's the rest of the story.

Let me give a little background...

For Christmas 2006, Brent built a FABULOUS Christmas present for me. It was a wooden storage unit to house my CTMH Markers and Stamp/Ink Pads. I showed it off to a bunch of girls on the CTMH consultant bulletin boards because I was SO EXCITED to finally have a solution to permanently store my inks in my scrap area. Within hours I started receiving emails from girls asking if Brent would make them one. I think we received well over 100 emails in a week. So, Brent started pricing out how to make them en mass and we started making a few for people who were uber axious to own what we now called an InkStak (tm). To make a long story short, Brent got so busy with the business of making InkStaks that he decided to start his own business. Here we are in July, going strong (we've made some REALLY COOL custom Staks, too) and coming up with more and more ideas for fabulous products.


Last Friday, June 29th, 2007, was my last day as a CTMH Consultant. Over the past several months I have received several emails from their corporate office demanding that I "take down my other Non CTMH website". Also, according to their consultant agreement (which I DID agree to waaay back when), Stamper Storage is competition to them & no spouses should not sell or be owners of businesses selling competing products. (Slap, slap goes the ruler on my knuckles!) I think they fully expected to be able to convince me to have Brent take down his website and close his business. Uhm... not going to happen dear friends, that is not fair to ask of him.

So, with impending CTMH doom (aka HOLD status as a consultant), I hereby hang up my CTMH hat and move on to bigger and better things. Thank you for the memories, CTMH, I hold them close to my heart.

Goodbye CTMH.
HELLO OPPORTUNITY!

~ Memory Trends, CHA, here I COME (eventually...)!!

~ New and fabulous products to enhance your creativity with paper crafting from various manufacturers and organizational products to store your stash in. I've got piles of manufacturer catalogs and accounts being set up. AND... I recently toured the American Crafts facility in Orem. You will not believe the awesome products they offer... (ok, maybe you will, but I was sure thrilled with my FREEEKIN cool Goodie Bag)... THICKERS, RUB-ONS, FABULOUS PAPER, Chipboard elements and RIBBON... ooooh la la!!! Maya Road.. you should see their AWESOME alterable chipboard items... *droool, droool*........... Oh my, big plans in the making.... gotta start small.. haha!

~ Stay tuned for a new division of Stamper Storage!!!

SneekPeek

I made the most FUN card for a swap group that I belong to. I can not wait to share it with you, but our fearless leader has not sent the cards to the group members yet, so I can't show you just yet. It's totally fun! I will say that the Embossing Buddy from Stampin' Up is soooo worth the investment!!! If you don't have one, find an SU demonstrator and get one of these hot little buddies!

Here's a sneek peek:

Blog Candy...

Brent picked a number & counted down the list and the winner is.......

LLWCREATE!!!

And since there is nothing sweeter than CHOCOLATE & some FRIENDS.... You win some SWEET BLOG CANDY:

1 Chocolate CTMH Stamp Pad
1 Friend themed metal accent pack w/vanilla (aka colonial white) brads

Hope you like your candy! Email me privately with your mailing address and I will drop this in the mail tomorrow!

Inky Smiles!

Erin

PS.. We made it back safe and sound this afternoon. Missed our dental check ups, but hopefully we will get back in soon on the cancellation list. (He's got a closed practice, we schedule 6 mos in advance for check ups...)

I promise I will update soon....

I have lots to talk about, but I can't post just yet...

Tonight we are packing, fixing the car (darn fuel filter) and getting ready to go down to St George for my friend Erik's little boy's baptism. We've been friends since I was 16 (in Germany) and wouldn't miss this for the world! I am excited for a little road trip to kind of shake the stress off my shoulders. Sadie is going to spend the weekend at the Coopers... B's cousins, and her fav place to play with kids. Hopefully the C's can handle her wild fart excitement this weekend. LOL!

So, off to shower land to get ready for the daily grind and then off to the daily grind.

Keep checking back in!

Post a comment and let me know you've been here and I will put names in a hat to send someone something sweet on Monday when I get back!!!

Inky Smiles!!

Erin

Sad Day & A New Beginning.....

Well, kids, it's time to pull the car over and let me out (of direct sales that is)......

Let me give a little background...

For Christmas 2006, Brent built a FABULOUS Christmas present for me. It was a wooden storage unit to house my CTMH Markers and Stamp/Ink Pads. I showed it off to a bunch of girls on the CTMH consultant bulletin boards because I was SO EXCITED to finally have a solution to permanently store my inks in my scrap area. Within hours I started receiving emails from girls asking if Brent would make them one. I think we received well over 100 emails in a week. So, Brent started pricing out how to make them en mass and we started making a few for people who were uber axious to own what we now called an InkStak (tm). To make a long story short, Brent got so busy with the business of making InkStaks that he decided to start his own business. Here we are in June, going strong and coming up with more and more ideas for fabulous products.

I think tomorrow, Friday, June 29th, 2007, will be my last day as a CTMH Consultant. Over the past several months I have received several "notes" from their corporate office demanding that I "take down my other Non CTMH website" because they feel that Stamper Storage is competition to them. Also, according to their consultant agreement, no spouses should not sell or be owners of businesses selling competing products. (Slap, slap goes the ruler on my knuckles!) I think they fully expected to be able to strong arm me into having Brent take down his website and close his business. Uhm... not going to happen dear friends, that is not fair to ask of him.

So, with impending CTMH doom (aka HOLD status as a consultant), I hereby hang up my CTMH hat and move on to bigger and better things. Thank you for the memories, CTMH, I hold them close to my heart.



Goodbye CTMH.
HELLO OPPORTUNITY!

~ Memory Trends, CHA, here I COME!

~ New and fabulous products to enhance your creativity with paper crafting from various manufacturers. I've got piles of manufacturer catalogs and accounts being set up. AND... I recently toured the American Crafts facility in Orem. You will not believe the awesome products they offer... (ok, maybe you will, but I was sure thrilled to fiddle with their new stuff!!)... THICKERS, RUBONS, FABULOUS PAPER, Chipboard elements and RIBBON... ooooh la la!!! Oh my, big plans in the making....

~ Stay tuned for a new division of Stamper Storage!!!

Moab Trip Part II::The River

Disclaimer #1: (Dial Up Users Beware.... LOADS of pics.... )


$10 waterproof WalMart cameras just don't take the quality of photos that I am used to (spoiled with) with my Canon SLR Digital Rebel 8.0 MP camera. Not by a long shot. BUT, I am GRATEFUL to have had the cameras on the river because a $10 waterproof WalMart camera is a bit more "dealable" than losing a $1000 + camera to the depths of the mucky Colorado River...

SO with that said... here are some pics from the River portion of our trip with the World Wide River Adventures rafting company.

Disclaimer #2: I take no responsibility for the goofy commentary or for any eyes that may be hurt in the glaring of the sun from my chubby white skin... lol. No Buttes were harmed in the making of this photo excursion, well, except maybe mine when I fell out of the kyak at the end of the day...

Here we are on the boat... all suited up.. Dig the matching sunglasses? LOL! Brent forgot his and the cheapies that I bought the day before lost the nose piece thingy and kept scratching my face... Maverick... Adventures First Stop!

Did I mention that US Coast Guard Approved Lifejackets are the most uncomfortable things invented? Their comfort resembles that of wearing a corset... I felt a bit like Elizabeth in Pirates of the Carribbean..... Someday I plan on inventing a lifejacket that will accommodate curvey people and "the girls"..... until then, we will be squoooshed in our USCG Approved Lifejacket...



We launched from a muddy hill on the side of the river. It was quite nerve wracking in my cheapie WMart water shoes and my knee to maneuver down the hill and into the boat. I was so afraid of landing on my bootay or cranking my knee. B was on the boat and settled in his seat in a matter of seconds. He practically leapt into the boat. The Colorado River is fast moving rather shallow river and so it's quite "mucky and muddy".





We had a pretty fun guide. He was funny and entertaining and told us a lot about the area we were floating through. Sometimes you get guides who are just there to work and aren't that fun. Chris was a riot!

In the background you can see the LaSalle Mountains... Still so strange to be floating on the river in swimshorts and a shortsleeve shirt and see snow in the mountains....


For the first half of the day, Brent and I rode on the big boat. Chris even let me row it for a while when we were in flat water. THAT was FUN! SOOOO Much FUN!




We stopped for lunch on the side of the river. Our guide and his helper unloaded a huge cooler stocked with sandwich stuff, chips, veggies, and fruits. The guys played this game where they held onto a paddle and then tried to place a stick in the ground without falling in the sand... It was hilarious to watch the MachoMachoMen try their best!




After lunch, Brent and I took our turn at rowing the inflatable Kyaks which was soooooo much fun! Scary, but fun. It's funny how Brent and I can practically read eachother's minds when it comes to what we want for dinner, what movie to see, or silly things we're doing, but when it comes to rowing in unison, our minds are on completely different train tracks. LOL! At the end of the day, about 100 ft from the pick up shore, we got stuck in what our guide called "All Day Eddie"... An Eddie is a section of water that just churns in circles, round and round, and round and round.... Well, we got stuck in it for about 10 minutes and could not row out. It was awful and embarrassing... the rest of the troupe was already out of the boats and on shore... We didn't capsize until the very end ... B jumped out one side of the boat, and I jumped out the other. The water on his side was deep and the water on my side was about 2.5 feet deep. LOL! I landed on my good knee and then on my butte. OUCH!





















Darn USCGA Lifejacket kept riding up, up, up and by the end of the day I was just peeking out above the vest at the river around me... LOL! Here we were just entering a rapid..... "LEFT BRENT, LEFT!!!" He was in charge of steering and I was in charge of holding on for dear life!

Pieces of Me....

Pieces of me are falling off all over as I sit here at work. Pieces on my desk, pieces on payroll {shake off}, pieces on my keyboard, pieces on my shirt. This is annoying....

I have a royal sunburn and I'm peeling and it's just my face. I look like a leper.... or something... white flakey skin everywhere. It's gross!

Why I didn't wear sunblock on Saturday as we planted sod and releveled an area of a friend's yard, is beyond me. Did I not learn anything in my 30 something summers on this earth? Spent a day on the river in Moab and remembered to slather up in sunscreen, but didn't do it for the 4 hours I was outside this past Saturday.

Thank goodness for Aloe & Neosporin!

Fooling Around With Paper

I know, I know... I need to update the photos from our Moab trip... I still haven't made it to CostCo to drop off the film yet.... hopefully this week! :)

In the meantime......

I was inspired by a card that my friend, Dawn Neal, made for a private swap that I am in and decided to lift her idea and create my own piece of art. Dawn's is absolutely fabulous! I loved her layout and technique ideas. She used the cracked glass technique over her flower and her card is much more elegant than mine, but I loved the layout and idea with the flower so much that I had to lift the idea and play.

Here's my finished product:

I like Big Buttes

Moab was an ABSOLUTE BLAST!!!!!

I can not wait to go back again! I'd been to Moab before and toured Arches, but I missed the other cool stuff in the area! We drove down on Thursday night after dropping the furrkid off at Brent's cousin's house. (Their kids were UBER excited to have Sadie come stay with them.) We took the little red card to save on gas and parked the Tahoe. (Smart choice - left $$ for souvenirs!)

We slept in on Friday and then spent the rest of the day exploring the area around Moab. We went to Canyonlands National Park and Deadhorse POinte State Park. We decided to skip Arches because we'd each already been there and wanted to do new things on this trip.

The area around Moab is absolutely beautiful. It's desert and "barren", but it is it's own kind of beautiful. We spent some time hiking and GeoCaching along the way. We stopped at GeoCaches along the highway and in the parks. Brent downloaded all of the ones in the area to his GPS unit. I've never been a fan of "southwestern" decor and plants, but we saw some really interesting and pretty cool plants this trip.

















Here's B getting into a Cache on the way to Deadhorse Pointe.

He had so much fun with his GPS unit. I probably could have sent him and Mr.GPS on their own little trip! :) We did the 2.2 level caches so that I'd be able to handle the terrain with my goofy knee. GeoCaching is getting addicting!






Here we are at a "virtual Cache" near Deadhorse Pointe. My sweet B is always trying to sneak in a smooch! We set the camera on the tripod, set the timer, and voila!

Deadhorse Pointe
It was a bit hazy, but still absolutely breathtaking! Yes, I DID peer over the edge to snap the photo without having a panic attack! We are actually standing ON Deadhorse Pointe looking at Big Bend (the bend in the river) I always thought that DHP was that point sticking out into Big Bend... nope!!

The rock formations were sooooo neat! The Moab area is a Geologist's treasure trove! I was particularly fond of these neat swirls in the rocks. There were different patterns and designs all over the place. I had so much fun snapping pics of everything!










This is a shot from up on DHP looking toward the La Salle mountains. It was quite an odd feeling to be roasting to death in the desert (oK, it was the mid 90's or so... not THAT bad) and then look over and see snow on the La Salle mountains. The blue spot in the center is a salt evaporation pond in a town called Potash.

It's kind of hard to tell in the picture, but the rocks on the left are ledges... the bottom right section of the pic is hundreds of feet below us. Those lines are dirt roads.


(To Be Continued....)

I Got Tagged....

I got tagged today by KATHY! LOL! So I guess I better play along... My only problem is that I don't know 8 ppl with blogs! LOL! I guess I can just tag as many ppl as I can. :) And btw, Kathy, I'm tagging you BACK ! HA!


Here Are The Rules:

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Ok, here are some random facts/habits about me:

1. I never attended highschool on US soil.

2. I am addicted to Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis.... I tape every show so I can fast forward through the commercials. SOoooOooO sad that SG-1 is in its last season.

3. I am a KLUTZ - I broke my right ankle & leg sliding down a fabulous concrete banister in Berlin, tore up my right knee (new ACL in 2005) rolling a snowmobile over on Tower Mountain in the Heber City area, and knocked my hip out of place after falling off of the Utah State Capitol Building.

4. I've always wanted to swim with dolphins - I ADORED Flipper - Instead I swam with the Beluga whales at Sea World in San Antonio, TX for my bday (from Brent) in 2006. Dude, that was sooooo stinkin fun!

5. I backpacked Italy with 2 girl friends (Jill & Kelly) and celebrated my 19th bday in a little pub in Florence, Italy.

6. I dream of owning a gift shop of some sort.. especially one that sells fun international collectors items like Erzgebirge woodworks from Germany, etc, and really cool home decor.

7. I like powdered ranch dressing mix (Hidden Valley only, no imposters) sprinkled on my popcorn (popped in a Whirly popper only). I am a popcorn snob. LOL!

8. I hate to be sweaty.. I don't like sweat running down my body or especially my face. I think this is why I prefer swimming for aerobic exercise!


I have tagged the following:

Susan
Brenda
Kathy
Erin B.

How lame is that? LOL! FOUR BLOGS! *sigh* I need to make more friends... at least friends with BLOGS!

More Photos of Trees

An Unexpected Adventure in Gardening....

TREES, DIRT, TREES, AND MORE DIRT!

Ok, so I LOVE to plant things and redo gardens, etc... but this is CRAZY! LOL! Our neighbor and friend, Dustin, asked us about a Linden tree in our front yard that died in Spring of 2006 and tried to recover in most of 2006 and this spring.... Were we planning on replacing it? What with? etc... Anyway.. long story short... he had a lot of HUGE trees up at his cabin that he'd bought in bulk from a wholesale nursery.... would we like a couple? LOL!! BUT OF COURSE!!!!! We got a sweet deal on the price, even better than my normal wholesale price at work.

So today we spent the day planting 2 - 3.5" caliper, 15' Canadian Chokecherries in our front park strip and 2 of the same in Dustin's. (I mostly watched because I have a pinched nerve somwhere in my back and it hurts to bend and twist.) We cut out squares, planted the trees, and filled in with landscape fabric and 2" rock. IT LOOKS FANTASTIC!!!!!! And bonus, we are using the dirt from the tree holes to spread on our back hill and plant sod on later this spring. YAY! We also have two Swedish Aspens to plant in the front corner of our house, but that's a task for a day next week or the week after. They're fine in pots for a couple of weeks :)

So above are the BEFORE photos. The scraggly Linden tree in the front is going to come out when we plant the Swedish Aspens. I will have to take some AFTER photos tomorrow when it's light out. :) It was a perfect day for planting trees today. It was overcast and cool... realllllly coool.... I think today's high was 50 degrees Fahrenheit! Brent and I are crashing early tonight. I think we will pop a pizza in the oven and kick back and watch some episodes of Stargate SG-1 Season 10 on DVD.

I'll post more latah!

Rocky vs. Hannity - "The Smackdown"

UGHHHHHHH!! I sooo hate politics and I despise Rocky Anderson, Mayor of SLC, even more. He's on tv debating national talk show host, Sean Hannity right now and B is listening to him... I really think that Rocky is a weanie and is just talking crap out of his mouth, so I had to leave the room and do something else. He really makes me all agitated inside and nauseaus. I will let Brent listen and give me the "cliff notes" version of the debate... until then I am off to check out the National Scrapbook day stuff on the web. Toodles!

River Adventure....

Brent and I skipped buying expensive presents for our birthdays in March and April because we knew we wanted to go on a little road trip and or adventure in early summer..... A couple of weeks ago Brent suggested that we drive down to Moab and go on a river rafting trip (not sure what company he's booking with.. but that's the idea) over Mother's Day weekend.... (a normally pain in the butt holiday for me).... Sounds fun to me, so he's making our reservations this week and we'll be off to the river in a little over a week. YAY! I am so stoked! We're going to spend a half day on the Colorado River on Friday and then see the sights.... We'll take a little trip into Deadhorse Point and Arches National Park. We are going to have so much fun :) We're leaving OddDog (aka Sadie) with B's cousin and their kids... I hope she behaves and doesn't drive them bonkers!

I finally found some water sports shorts that I can wear on the river... it only took going to the men's department to find some long enough to cover my knees so they don't get completely fried on the boat. I don't know why they make women's shorts so stinking SHORT! Besides... fat legs need longer shorts! Anyway.. they are black swimshorts that look unisex so I can get away with them... They also had some way cool Columbia brand quick dry shorts, but I didn't want to pay the $45 ticket for shorts... ouch!