Clearance Sale!

Here's another simple page using the Happy B-Day Simply Scrappin' kit. Not really a background color that I would usually pick (a little loud), but in real life it actually doesn't look bad. I've been trying to use up as many of the supplies that come in a Simply Scrappin kit as I can for a Scrapbooking 101 class that I am teaching at the Harwich Council on Aging on Friday.

I still have plenty of paper and embellishments left so I can probably get a few more layouts and a card or two out of it... we'll see.

Stampin' Up launched a new "Clearance Rack" section of the online store. These items are retired items for the most part and are at a HUGE discount (as much as 80%)! They are while supplies last and are only available on the website. Click here to go to the store and check it out... anything you purchase will be sent directly to your house... think affordable Christmas gifts if you have friends that are crafters! There are some really pretty ribbon sets, Designer series paper, rub-ons and more. Plus some retired ink colors if you find yourself kicking yourself for not getting one of the former "In Colors".

Let me know if you have any questions and thanks for stopping by today! (I promise to try and be better about blogging a little more regularly...)

Frankenstein comes for a visit

I first saw this card at convention last year when someone (sorry don't remember who it was) had this as a swap card. It's really been all over the internet for more than a year so it's not a new idea, but one that I just had to "borrow".

And I'm glad I did... it came out so cute and makes such an adorable Halloween card for a little kid! It's also super fast and easy... Bonus!

We made it at my Stamp Club last night and it was by far the favorite card and it was probably the easiest as well... I guess it just goes to show me that sometimes simple is enough!

I used the 1 inch puch for the black centers of Frankie's eyes and then a 1 1/4 puch for the rest of the circles. I inked the edges of the eyelids and nose in brown and lifted them with stampin' dimensionals so they would pop a bit. A hand drawn mouth and that's pretty much it!

I hope you have a fantastic weekend!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

I know, I know, it's only September! But as a card maker we have to start thinking of these things early!

These cards are actually for a swap that I'm participating with some other demonstrators from across the country.

Can you see in the upper right hand corner how the snowflakes have a kind of shimmer to them? Isn't that cool? They change as you move them in the light.

I used our new Frost White Shimmer Paint mixed with a bit of Bashful Blue re-inker to create the ink used for the snowflakes. I sponged them onto the stamps using a sponge dauber. The picture really doesn't do it justice - you really have to see it in real life -- Very cool.

For those of you in my stamp club, you may soon have the opportunity to play with this technique as I think I will use it in a future club project... I just have to order some more supplies.

Well, I'm off to -- hopefully -- have a productive day off... things have been a little nutty for me lately so I needed to take a "mental health" day (don't worry it was approved! ;o)

Thanks for stopping by....

The winner is.....

Thanks everyone who participated in my last blog candy giveaway... I had two comments online and I was emailed three others because they couldn't get their comment to post. And without further ado... I put all of the names in a hat and drew a winner....


The winner is....




Tracy A!

Congratulations... E-mail me and we can arrange to get you your goodies ASAP!
Thanks for visiting ladies!

A "Swappy" Sunday

NOTE: Don't forget to enter to win my blog candy... you have until Monday, Sept. 21 at 9 p.m. EST to either submit a comment on this post (you can see the givewaway there, too) or email me a comment (I know some of you have been having a hard time submitting comments) to be entered to win.... You can write whatever you like, but as I've been in a reading mood lately, feel free to pass along a good book selection!




Happy Sunday! I can't believe the weekend has already flown by! How does that seem to happen every weekend, yet some weeks seem to go on FOREVER???

Anyway, Matt and I had a yummy brunch at Brax Landing this morning and then drove to Hyannis to get a shredder (such excitement, huh?). It's too bad the machine doesn't work now that we got it home! We'll have to go back next week to exchange it.

Anyway, when I got home I quickly went over to a craft fair in Dennis, but didn't get anything but the yummy homemade dips Matt likes so much.

Now it is time to finish up my swaps. I have to get a halloween swap (the finished version is seen in the upper right hand corner of the photo above) and a Christmas swap (which I haven't started yet) out tomorrow in order to have it where it needs to be in time....

I've never been one to make Halloween cards so that card was difficult for me... I'm hoping the Christmas card will be a little easier and hopefully a little more impressive... but I'm not promising anything!

Hope you had a fabulous weekend... Thanks for stopping in!

Just tidbits....

I've been sort of lazy lately... I haven't even be venturing to my scraproom much! Shocking, huh?

I've just been enjoying time with family (this photo of me and my Mom is from last weekend. My sister and I took my Mom to Sturbridge Village for Mother's Day along with my niece and sister-in-law), reading and, quite frankly, just lounging!

So I apologize for not being a better blogger recently...

As for my giveaway from my last post, I'm going to leave it open until Monday, Sept. 21 and if you've been having a hard time posting a comment you can email me your comment at jenpitta@comcast.net and I will include it in the drawing. Be sure to email me, though, by 9 p.m. I still can't figure out why some of you are unable to post a comment! I'll keep working on it, though.

I've got some Halloween and Christmas swaps I have to do this weekend, so hopefully by Monday I'll have some new craftiness to show you!

Thanks for stopping by!

Outsmarting technology...

Ok, so after spending much of the afternoon yesterday trying to get this picture to cooperate and not load sidways, I gave up.

However, this morning I realized the problem has got to be my new fancy, dancy camera so I used my old point and shoot to take this photo and uploaded it to my computer and Voila! Success. Whew!

Well as I said yesterday, there's not a whole lot to explain on this layout... just an assortment of a few "birthday photos" and a fairlyl simply layout.

I again used the Happy B-day Simply Scrappin' Kit to make this layout with a few added extras (like the ribbon and brads). This kit is super for your kids birthday celebrations as it has all the numbers you could need to spell out birthday years... (you can see the "7" in the top right hand corner of my layout... and yesterday I used a "4" for Jeffrey's layout).

Well for being so patient with my computer troubles, today is the day you can score yourself some Stampin' Up goodies!

Both of these "goodies" are retired and I found them in my stash during my big "clean out" -- (I'll show you pictures of that soon -- still working on the little pile of odds and ends that don't have a home!).

The first item in the givewaway is a 6 X 6 patterned paper pack. This was one of the hostess items in the last catalog that never got any love from me! lol!

The second item is Pearl Ex... and you know I'm not sure when Stampin' Up stopped carrying these... but I just realized when I found them that we no longer have them in the catalog... This assortment includes the following colors: Inference Gold, Super Copper, Duo Blue-Green, Duo Red-Blue, Pink Flamingo and Misty Lavender.

Now if you haven't used Pearl Ex before you are in for a special treat... this stuff has amazing potential for creativity. The colors can be mixed together or left separate... it can be applied with a watercolor brush, stipple brush or stamping sponge and works great with pigment inks (think craft ink pads), embossing or VersaMark Inks. It can also be mixed with Lumiere (another former Stampin' Up product) for a cool shimmery effect. Since you can no longer purchase Lumiere either ... and I found a very slightly "loved" bottle in my cabinet, I'll include that too!

All you need to do to win is to post a comment on this blog entry. You can write whatever you like, but as I am on a reading kick right now and just finished my book (My Sister's Keeper-- very good!) I'd love it if you left me a recommended book! I'll draw one name from all the comments and send this little goodie package out to you pronto. (Sorry to my international readers, but I must keep this giveaway to just my U.S. readers).

If you don't get selected for this prize, don't give up hope though. My room was a big, big mess and I think I might have another giveaway 'round here! ;o)

Thanks for stoppin' by!

A couple of scrapbook pages...

Before Matt and I headed off for the weekend, I managed to get two scrapbook pages done -- actually, I finished them during the time he was being indecisive about whether or not we should go anywhere.... Boys! lol!

But hey, I actaully got some cute (and old) pages done during his delay! The first one I did is of my nephew, Jeffrey. Jeff has a strange fascination with all vacuums - or at least he did when he was four. As soon as he would come to my Mom's house he'd go to the cabinet where she kept her little swifter vacuum and start pulling it out. The boy just LOVED to vacuum.... as you can see this led to a much loved gift from Auntie Sue and family....



The journaling: Jeffrey's favorite present for his 4th birthday was a vacuum! Wherever he went, Jeff always would look for the vacuum to help clean up. Anut Sue hit a home run with this mini Hoover ... He even took it to bed with him!

Too funny! The second layout I did was of my nephew Willy at his 7th birthday party (last year). Not really too much to explain about this one... just a small selection of the 50 or so pictures I took that day! Know the feeling?

Well, we're going to have to hold that thought because my computer is no longer cooperating and I'm ready to throw it out the window! For some reason blogger keeps twisting the photo when I upload it so it shows up sideways??!! I will try to post the second page tomorrow... along with a giveaway! Yipee! :o)

Anyway, the two layouts were both done with the Happy Birthday Simply Scrappin' Kit and I have a third layout in the works... I want to see how many pages I can do with one kit in preparation for an upcoming class at the Harwich Council on Aging next month.... I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, happy hump day!

The first sunrise

Yup... at 33 I can now officially say I've seen my FIRST sunrise... ever! What can I say, I am just not a morning person!

Now I may have seen a sunrise when I was a kid and don't remember and I think there may have been a sunrise or two during my college years, but I certainly wasn't watching the sun come up... I was either chatting the night away or wrapping up a real fun party! (Boy, those days are long behind me -- I could barely get up in time to see the sunrise after a full night of sleep!)

Anyway, Matt and I decided to take a little road trip Friday night. We just hoped in the car and headed off the Cape with no particular destination in mind. We ended up at Hampton Beach in New Hampshire and had a blast! We caught this sunrise from our third floor room at the Kentville Motel and then spent six hours at the beach with a brief interlude at a sidewalk cafe for lunch (along with the obligatory ice cream cone). So. much. fun.

After our second night at Hampton, we decided to get in the car Sunday morning and head off for another adventure... this time to Rockport, MA.

There we met up with Matt's Dad and his wife, Sarah along with our friend John for a little lunch on the harbor.

Did a little browsing in the shops and bought some penny candy before hitting the road to Ludlow (John's hometown) for the gigantic Portuguese Festival there.

What an amazing experience and some yummy, yummy fried dough!

Now it is, unfortunately, time to get back to reality. However, you'll want to check back tomorrow as I did manage to get a couple of scrapbook pages done before we left Friday and I'll post those tomorrow... and don't forget I've got a few giveaways coming your way soon, too!

Hope you enjoyed the long holiday weekend (for those of you in the US)! Thanks for stopping by...

A small thank you

Happy Friday -- of a long weekend!!! Even better, huh?

Earlier this week I had a thank you night for the demonstrators in my group, The Pitta Padders (I know it's a little silly, but I couldn't help myself! ;o).

We had some fun prizes up for grabs, some yummy treats and we made three make and takes.

I also made each one of the girls this little 5 X 7 frame with their initial. I used the Thoroughly Modern Designer Series Paper and the Great Friend and Simple Friendship stamp sets.

This is going to be a short post today... I woke up feeling a little under the weather today -- perfect on the first day of a long weekend, huh?

I hope to have some photos of my newly cleaned scrapbook room soon. I'm still working to clean up that small pile of stuff on my floor that just doesn't have a home. And you'll want to stay tuned to the little blog here, as I anticipate a few giveaways to finish off the "cleaning" of my room!

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great weekend!

The new mini catalog goes live today!

I sadly don't have any samples from the new mini to show you today, but starting today (Sept. 1) you can begin ordering from the new holiday mini catalog, which is fantastic!

There are some great products in here including the new build-a-bear product line, new flocked Designer Series Paper, new shimmer paint, adorable new "treat cups" you can use to add candy to your latest card creation as well as some fantastic new holicay stamp sets.

Plus we soon will have new jewelry items (which will be available for sale soon, but you can see the items in the catalog) and the new digital scrapbooking software, My Digital Studio (available for purchase Oct 1)!

Lots of fun stuff happening... be sure to go and check out the mini today! Want to earn some new holiday items for FREE? Contact me to book your September or October workshop.....

Happy Tuesday!