Spring is HERE!

Hey everyone!

Hope everyone had an AWESOME Spring Break and is excited at the prospect of summer! I'm excited for a couple reasons:

1. Summer means warm weather opportunities for family activities and fun get-togethers with friends...and you know what that means-more things to scrapbook and more occasions to make cards!

2. Summer also means a new Summer Mini Catalog AND the new BIG catalog comes out in July! Can't wait!

If you haven't already received your new Summer Mini catalog in your mailbox, please respond to this email and I will send you one absolutely FREE.

There are a lot of exciting changes and plenty of new things coming down the pike at Stampin' Up! and I would love to share all of them with you! Please check out my new blog at

http://www.scrappin-for-sanity.blogspot.com/

(bear with me as I get it up and running...it's kinda sparse right now.)

SOME THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND:

1. Stampin' Up! has announced a fantastic realignment of their color families, and some of our "always there" colors will be retiring in June...so you'll want to stock up on these fabulous products before they're gone! Email me if you'd be interested in purchasing or earning specially coordinated kits to help you stock up! The kits include designer paper, card stock, ink pads, reinkers, and ribbon that will soon be UNAVAILABLE!!!

2. I have a few dates left in April and May if you'd like to host a workshop with me. Hosting a workshop is fun and easy (you don't have to actually DO anything but invite your friends) and you earn FREE stamps and scrapbooking supplies. Who doesn't like FREE, right?

PLUS: ANYONE WHO BOOKS A WORKSHOP WITH ME DURING APRIL OR MAY GETS A FREE GIFT TO HELP THEM GET STARTED WITH THEIR SUMMER PROJECTS!! So don't wait! BOOK NOW!!

Can't wait to hear from you guys...send me a quick email or leave me a comment on my blog to let me know you were here!

I almost kissed the FedEx guy...

Hey everyone!

So I hope you all had a fantabulous Spring Break and are looking forward to Easter. The kids and I are headed up to the Crayola Factory in PA for a quick weekend trip since we didn't really do any other vacation or trips during Spring Break. I'm hoping to leave by 7am, but it is after 2am already and I'm still sitting here, so we'll see...

OK...I am soo excited to tell you guys that my rolling paper storage carts arrived yesterday! Yay!! I was so thrilled I almost kissed the FedEx guy. I love how they're always willing to carry the heavy boxes inside and put them where you want them-unlike my mail carrier who drop kicks everything from the curb. :)

Anyhow...they each have 10 drawers, and I got 6 of them...so I can put all my 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock in them. I've read mixed reviews about these trolleys, so wish me luck!

Additionally, I thought I'd post a recent project for you guys to check out while you're waiting on me to get my booty in gear and make some new stuff. Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think. Here ya go:

This is a tin I picked up at my local craft store and altered for my neighbor's birthday. I used Cottage Wall Designer Paper from Stampin' Up! as well as Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive cardstock. The word "faith" is one of Stampin' Up's Decor Elements. It actually comes in a set with 4 words "faith", "love", "hope", and "life", and comes in several different colors. I've used the black ones here. The ribbon is whisper white organza and satin ribbon-one of my faves, and definitely my go-to. I also used the new "Beautiful Butterflies" Embosslit for the embellishments on the front. I love that thing...in one trip through the Big Shot, it punches out and embosses 5, yes FIVE butterflies in different sizes and textures. I have to say it's the most versatile embosslit yet. Finally, I added some half-pearls to the butterflies to dress things up a bit.

Inside the tin, is a set of general purpose cards with envelopes, an easel calendar, and of course a pen. The cards also feature the Cottage Wall Designer paper, Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive Cardstock and butterflies from the Beautiful Butterflies embosslit. I have also used Stampin' Up! rub-ons and the Whisper White taffeta ribbon here. I like this ribbon a lot because it adds an elegant touch to things, so I use it when I want a narrower ribbon, but don't want to use grosgrain.

Here's a quick peek at the easel calendar. I got this idea from one of my upline meetings. Of course I used the same Designer paper and cardstock colors to keep everything matching, and you can get those little tiny calendars online for next to nothing. If you can't tell what that is at the bottom, it's a binder clip covered in cardstock. That is what makes the calendar stand up. The binder clips are a little bit finicky though, so sometimes I fold the back clasp of it down to kind of prop it up. And one last note: the butterfly at the top of this is the largest butterfly created by the Beautiful Butterflies embosslit.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my project...Don't forget to leave me a comment, and I'll be back to post another project after I've seen the Crayola Factory. Woohoo...roadtrip, here we come!

Purge, Organize, REPEAT!

Hello and Welcome to my crafty (albeit cluttered) little corner...

I'm hoping to decrease the clutter and increase the crafting in the very near future. I managed to get some awesome new product ordered today and part of my current scrapping area cleared off, so starting this week-

LET THE CREATING BEGIN!

A few upcoming projects to watch for:

Tri-Shutter Mini Album-I'm sure you've seen these all over the web...they can be pretty pricey if you want to buy them already constructed, so I've decided to try my hand and creating one myself. Stay tuned for the results...

March of Dimes- This year I'll be participating in the March of Dimes walk in Washington, D.C. in honor of my nephew, Drew Michael. I also plan to take lots of pictures and put them all in an album so our family can always look back on the memories and relive the joy of helping others.

Convention Swaps- As this will be my first year to get to go to Stampin' Up! convention, as you can imagine-I'm BEYOND excited! I'm planning to put together a little something to carry with me and swap out with all the amazing demonstrators I'm sure I'll meet while I'm there. I always love to get fresh ideas, and what better way that to swap with the best of the best, right?

Well, I'm off to tidy up a few more things...eventually I'll post an astonishing pic of the before and after space...you just THOUGHT your craft area was a mess!