Still More Catching Up! Whoo Hoo! I Was The Guest Presenter for Spellbinders Try It Tuesday - December 10th, 2013

On December 10th, 2013 I had the special honor and privilege of being the guest presenter for Spellbinders Try It Tuesday.  I was co-hosted with the lovely Terre Fry (Spellbinders).

The theme was - ATC's

Follow the link below for the Spreecast video:
http://www.spreecast.com/events/try-it-tuesday-atc-cards

Note: One of my goals is to learn how to post the video directly into my blog posts, but for now, please use the above link.

These are ATC size cards presented and demonstrated in the Try-It-Tuesday video
They are 3 1/2 " X  2 1/2"
This size card is referred to as a HUG
(more HUGS for you in the future)

 This was such a great experiecne and I am so thankful for the opportunity! If you watch the video, please leave a comment.

Blessings,
Lynn

A Special Date With My Honey

With such busy schedules, I know it's important to take special moments with those you love.

My honey Rick, and I went on a special movie and dinner date to The AMC Dine-In Theatre in Phoenix. These are super duper cool! When we arrived we ordered our dinner meal from a nice selection of food choices. When it was delivered to us we ate it while we watched the movie, Hunger Games - Catching Fire. BTW, that movie was really good.

December 7, 2013
Rick and I at the Dine-In movie theatre before everyone else arrived

The food was really yummy!

If you have a chance to go to a dine-in movie theatre, I encourage you to jump at the chance. It was a fun experience.

Blessings,
Lynn

A Visit From My Family

I sadly have not posted in way to long and have a lot of catching up to do. In the next few posts I will attempt to catch up on some exciting things that have happened in my life, both personally and creatively.

Since my husband and I moved to Phoenix AZ a little over 6 months ago I have missed not being able to see my family as much. I was not going to be able to spend Thanksgiving with them and was excited that my youngest son was going to be visiting me for a few days right before the Thanksgiving Holiday. I was so very surprised when both of my sons visited me along with my brother in-love. We spent a couple of super great days together, going to Sedona, AZ and the Phoenix Zoo (November 23 - 25, 2013).

Our Day at the Zoo

The Phoenix Zoo is beautiful. If you ever get a chance to visit...it's definitely a go to place.

Nate, Me, Rick, Dave, Will

Will, Me and Nate

Majestic Eagle

Giraffes are so beautiful!

Sedona

I didn't get many pictures - The scenery is absolutely gorgeous, though - Guess I will have to share some Sedona pictures from another (future) trip

Nate and Will at Sedona Village

My Boys Sedona and The Zoo

The 2 1/2 days I spent with my boys are some of the most memorable days ever. I love that they are best friends. I am truly Blessed!!!

More catch up days in tomorrow's post.

Blessings!

Lynn

6 X 6 Scrapbook Page Layouts

I certainly have a lot to learn about the blogging world. I need to figure out how to align things better, so until then, please forgive this posts layout. The other thing I REALLY need to work on is consistency. It has been way to long since my last post. I have been busy and have a lot of great and fun projects to share with you...so I will work on both of these areas in the next few posts.

As a Fun Stampers Journey Coach I have the opportunity and privilege to participate in our quarterly meeting. One of the exciting things we get to do is participate in organized trades.

In our last meeting one of the trades was a 6 X 6 Scrapbook Page. The only requirements were to create a Thanksgiving themed page using Fun Stampers Journey Stamps.

Here are the pages from this trade:

Creator not available at this time

Creator not available at this time

Kim Lamos

Anita Ramirez

  

Juli Wiley

Maribell Herbert

Elena
Montanez

Creators name not available

Misty Grosse

My Trade - Each leaf is a placement holder for a picture
Spellbinder Border is a pocket for the tags

My handsome two boys on the left and right tags
My beautiful DIL and grand-daughter in the center

I have placed all of my scrapbook pages into this  album holder
my husband made for me

BLESSINGS TO YOU!
Lynn

Steampunk Tag

I just participated in a Facebook group that gave the weekly challenge of creating a tag showcasing Fun Stampers Journey products with a mustache theme. Hmmm....Immediately I knew what I wanted to create. One of my sons loves the Steampunk genre, which is a cross between the Steam Engine Era, Sci-Fi and Victorian. Now, I just may get a few lashings for giving this unique genre such a simplistic overview, but want to keep the explanation simple. It really is a fun, fun, fun genre to create with...so many possibilities. Here is my Pinterest Board, to give you a quick look at Steampunk: http://pinterest.com/papercraftcafe/steampunk/

When Fun Stampers Journey first came out with the Journey Gears and Retro Party Artist Trading Stamps (ATS), I knew I was going to love creating with them.

So, I needed a mustache theme tag and Voila the Retro Party ATS came to mind. It so perfectly goes along with the Journey Gears ATS.

Products used: FSJ Oatmeal Cookie Ink and cardstock. Journey Gears and Retro Party ATS. Journey Twine, Journey Glaze, Gold Silks (to color the gears gold) and Spellbinders Media Mixage pieces. The "You are Awesome" greeting comes from he Little Big Greetings FSJ stamp set.

This fun tag layout could easily be made into a greeting card. I sometimes find it hard to create cards for guys and I think this could be a card that would be enjoyed by the man in your life.

Announcing a Brand New Membership Kit of the Month Club

Join the Journey Bloom Crew

I am so excited to announce that Fun Stampers Journey has just come out with a new membership club called the Journey Bloom Crew, Kit of the Month. This is an exciting addition to the many great products that FSJ has to offer.

There are two kit options:
Card Makers Kit that includes: 1 new release stamp set, product needed to complete 4 projects, PDF instruction sheet
(inks need to be purchased separately)

Two page 12 X 12  scrapbook layout includes: 1 new release stamp set (same stamp set as card kit), product needed to complete a two page 12 X 12 scrapbook layout, PDF instruction sheet
(inks need to be purchased separately)

There are two cost options: 

6 month club membership:

• $24.95 plus tax / shipping - Either of the two kit options will be billed and mailed out starting the 15th of each month for your 6 months commitment. 
• During your club membership you will receive 10% off of any FSJ product you purchase - Cool huh?
• You will sign a basic agreement committing yourself to a 6 month membership. If for any reason you decided/need to drop out prior to the fulfillment of your club membership you will be billed a $24.95 penalty fee.

a la carte kits:

• $29.95 plus tax / shipping - Either of the two kit options will be billed and mailed out starting the 15th of each month
• This is a month to month kit - you will need to manually order your kit every month
• This kit option does NOT receive the 10% product discount

Whether you choose to order the a la carte kit or what I feel is your best option, the membership club, you will receive amazing projects that will be specifically designed using the newly released stamp set ( not available for retail sale for months to come)

I have been using Fun Stampers Journey products since the company first started. I have re-created many cards that have been designed to showcase  FSJ products. I can HONESTLY say that the product and projects you will receive for either of the kits that you choose, will bring a smile to your face.

Two of the four projects that you will get to make when you order the August Kit of the Month

Aren't these darling cute?

This is the stamp set for the #JBCrew Kit of the Month for August

The registration for ordering these kit options will open up shortly.

If you are interested in ordering this or have any questions that I may not have covered for you, please email me at: creativecafe247@gmail.com

Creative Cafe Class

Every month I have a gathering with some great ladies (friends) that love to craft. I call our gathering, Creative Cafe. I usually prepare 2 - 4 projects that are pre-cut and ready to put together.

This is a time when we can get away from the busy-ness of the day/week/family and just have some "me" time we call crafting. It's also a great excuse to get together and grab some yummy nibbles.

I usually get so busy myself with getting things ready and making sure everyone is having fun, that I forget to take pictures. Luckily I remembered to take a photo at our last class.

One of our projects was creating a set of 4 hugs (ATC size card) all using the same stamp set. Did I get a close up picture of the projects? Of course not. I'm gonna have to work on getting better and remembering to take pictures.

I so appreciate these ladies...I hope each of you had fun!!

Fall In Love With Your Spellbinder Dies All Over Again...

Spellbinder Dies - Get a good detailed cut every time - Tutorial

I love Spellbinder dies and have been somewhat frustrated in the past when trying to use some of the more detailed dies, due to the fact that it would not always cut all the way through, so then I would try to poke out the little pieces and often would end of with an ugly mess or torn die cuts.

So does this look familiar? The die cut, would completely cut through some of the pieces, but not all. Trying to punch out the ones that didn't get cut all the way through, would either tear my paper or it just didn't look great. this mostly happened after using the die more than once (for multiple projects)

This is what the die looks like after cutting one or more pieces of card stock. The punched/cut pieces stay inside the die

So then, I discovered (OK, you may know this, but this was an ahh haa moment for me), that if I used a punch tool and pushed out the previous punched out pieces from the back side of the die, then I was able to get a clean cut every time.

Here is a picture of using the punch tool (backside of die), and pushing out the card stock pieces of paper. 

A view of the front side of the die, after punching out the small pieces of card stock

Voila! A Clean cut every time.

Yay! I have fallen in love with my detailed die cuts all over again. No more mess and incomplete cuts.

This really has been a great discovery for me, because I don't have to worry about not getting a clean cut. Yes, it takes extra time, to have to clean out the die between each cut out, but the hassle and headache that it keeps me from having, is well worth it.

Fall in love with your Spellbinder Dies all over again!!!

Journeylicious - Fun Stampers Journey Spring Event

On April 26th and 27th Fun Stampers Journey sponsored their 2nd event of the year, called Journeylicious. Over 80 ladies (and a few gentlemen), gathered together for a couple days of stamping, crafting, dancing, eating (of course) and laughter.

Our event theme was dancing and boy did we dance, and dance and dance. As we transitioned from one presentation to another, a new dance theme was introduced. Lots of fun!

I am still waiting for some pictures that were taken by our videographer/photographer, to come in, but wanted to share some hilights. I will post more pics as they come in.

Welcome

Agenda

Me and April having fun on the dance floor

My son Nate, was such a sweetheart and took time out of his busy schedule to help out with our sound system. Thank you sweethear!

Hardworking lady: Rose 

Striking a Pose

Group Pic

Newly Released Sneak Peak Catalogue - WHOO HOO!

Fun Stampers Journey CEO, Richard Garay

Apil 2013 Hug Trades

April 2013 Hug Trades 

(catching up on posting these pretty samples)

 When our Fun Stampers Journey team gets together, we conduct a card trade. We refer to these small cards as, HUGS. A hug base is 5 X 3 1/2 (then folded in half). The card base is the size of a standard ATC (artist trading card), which is 3 1/2 X 2 1/2.

The hug trade for the month of April, 2013 had a challenge of using our Whip Cream ink and then after dried (by means of time lapse or using a heat gun), color the image with the ink from one of our re-inkers and using a painting tool.

The single card pics are all using the challenge technique and the group pictures below are a combination of all the hug trades.

My trade

Rose C.

Sharon V.

Anita R.

Mini Technique Tutorial: 

whip cream ink stamped on oatmeal paper and let dry (using a heat gun can speed up the process)

take a re-inker... color of your choice & a water brush (a fine tip brush dipped in water can also be used), put some ink in lid and paint with it! 

completed technique