Okay, so clearly I am lame at posting latey. Since I have started working 2 days a week at The Stamp Art Shoppe, my life has gotten alot busier. I know it is only 2 days, but it is really a big change in schedule for me. I am now working 5-6 days a week and trying to keep up with things at home and Nick's sports activities, etc.... Thank goodness I have a very supportive hubby who helps out a lot! Thanks, Babe!

So... enough about my crazy schedule. One of the many things I have been doing is finishing up classes for this quarter (so late, I know!) and experimenting with techniques for my classes next quarter. I think you all will really enjoy them. I am posting some pics of my "Made with Love" recipe keepsake book, and my "Color Blending with Copic Markers" classes that are coming up in the next few weeks.

For next quarter I am planning some techniqued filled classes that may be new to you or review for some, but either way they will exand your creativity and push you to really use your tools, products, and your imagination! I will also be teaching an all new "Macho Cards" class this summer. It was such a success last year that I thought I would teach it again. I will be passing on my vast knowledge of making manly cards. I should have enough experience with my 3 men at home! I am also working on an ongoing class that would be teaching techniques that are a little beyond the basics. It will give you a chance to really play with some of the products in our store and perfect your techniques as well. My other classes are TBA so check back here to see what I come up with or at The Stamp Art Shoppe website after May 1st. If you have any suggestions for future clases I would love to hear about them! Just stop by the Shoppe on Thursday or Friday, or leave a comment for me here. I hope you join me for some paperfun soon!

See you soon!

Susan

Happy New Year!

Boy, I have a lot of catching up to do! The holidays were a little bit different for us this year. Different, but still great. We were busy with football until the week before Christmas! Our boys kept winning until they made it to the State Championships! They did lose there, but only barely. They are still number one in our hearts!
Because of all the football activities and last minute trip to southern California to see the game, we had no Christmas decorations up! So rather than buy a tree to have for a week, we put up our mini trees and the stockings and a few special decorations. We did our shopping, decorating, grocery shopping, and cooking all on Christmas Eve! I can't believe we pulled it off! We also stayed home on Christmas Day. That was also a first for us. We had a really nice, peaceful day. I highly recommend it.
I have been busy trying to get my classes together for the new session at The Stamp Art Shoppe. It is always hard to pull this one off around the holidays, but it was especially trying this year with our football activities. I am almost done! I will post pictures soon! I have been enjoying working at the store two days a week. It is great to be able to get to know the customers a little better. I am looking forward to getting back to teaching soon though!
Well, I am calling it a night. Happy New Year!

Susan

Wow! It's been busy around here! I didn't realize so much time had gone by since I last blogged! Here's a little football update for y'all. Our Rocklin Thunder boys have been winning every game! They won against Roseville a week ago and that finished our regular season with a perfect 10-0! Last Friday night was the first game in the playoff series and we beat Elk Grove 35-7! We move on to the next round and face Atwater at home next Friday night. We would then move on to Grant the following week provided they win this week too. (Of course! They are Grant!) Looking forward to the game!

Okay enough of that football stuff! I started working at The Stamp Art Shoppe 2 days a week! It has been great so far. I love to see the customers in the store and I am learning so much hanging out with Sandy. She is amazing! So if you are in the area on a Thursday or Friday, stop by and say hi!

I am working on new classes! They will be Valentine, Spring/Easter, Mother's Day, and maybe another surprise or two in there! If you have enjoyed my Inchiewonderland classes and the Paper Love Quilt, keep your eyes open for the new calendar coming out the first of the year! There might be an Inchie Valentine project you will want make! I hope to see you in class!

Today I went to Apple Hill with my girlfriends. It was a lovely day of estrogen therapy! We started out with wine tasting, and moved right on to lunch! My kind of day! Took a few photos that turned out pretty good. They might seem like weird things to take pictures of, but they caught my eye. Enjoy!

Susan

Great Inchie Gift Idea

Good evening!

I just wanted to share a great idea for Christmas gifts. In my Inchiewonderland class we made this framed Christmas Art piece. It was very easy to make and I think it came out really cute. I wanted to use my 1" punch to make a pattern of paper for the background, and it just grew from there. I embossed ans stamped on most of the papers and added little Christmas images here and there. Once you get the hang of it you could whip out quite a few with no time at all. I used a lot of images from Art Warehouse stamps and the papers are from everywhere. I just tried to keep the colors somewhat matching. Mounting the squares on parchment and then the brown paper really made the colors pop. Who would have thought brown would be the color to do that? It always surprises me how that works! They looked really nice in the black frames. Let me know if you make some of these Inchie art pieces!

My Rocklin Thunder boys play Roseville tomorrow night! Last game of the regular season and we are expected to win easily. I am still looking forward to it tho! Hopefully my son will get some playing time if they are ahead by a few points. It's been so hard to be second fiddle this year. :( We will find out Saturday night or Sunday who we play first in the playoffs. I heard we may have home field advantage for one or both games. That would be cool.

Well, gotta get to bed!

Susan

Sierra Foothill League Champs!

Whewww! My football boys are 9-0! We beat Del Oro for the very first time last night! We are SFL Champions for the first time! When we Win next week against Roseville, we will have a perfect record for the first time! I am so excited that my son is a part of such a talented team! Go Thunder! I am exhausted today from cheering for hours and and jumping up and down! I get so excited I can't sit or stand still! I will have a perma-grin for the next week at least! On to Roseville and then District play-offs. I have a feeling we could do some serious damage this year! I am clearing my calendar for the games!

Got a couple pictures of my Christmas cards from my classes. I wanted to do a class where we focused on embossing and Christmas Cards are great for that because it makes them so elegant. We did a couple of fun techniques like layering over clear embossed images and using Versamark and glitter embossing powders. Not to mention some of the traditional colors and techniques. The classes were fun and I am now done for the year! I am looking forward to focusing on classes for the new year! I have some really cool stuff planned for my students!

Speaking of my students... I have to give a shout out to all my wonderful Stamp Art Students! You gals rock! I can't tell you how much I enjoy teaching and creating classes for you all. You are so positive and supportive! Mwhah! ;*

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend at the anniversary party for The Stamp Art Shoppe! Lots of fun and new treasures there this weekend! Make sure to come down and check it out! Starting next week I will be working there on Friday and after that on Thursdays and Fridays. So, hopefully I will see you in the store as well as in classes!

Have a great day!

Susan

Good Evening!

I have a couple of pictures tonight of a tag I made recently layering Christmas related stamps. I especially like the way his eyes and glasses turned out! Here's a quick description of what I did. I first stamped the Santa image (Santa Collage, Rubber Stampede) on a manila shipping tag in brown ink. I then layered Christmas themed stamps all around him being careful not to stamp on his face. I used some classic colors like red and green, and I added blue, gold, and black here and there for variety. When the inks dried thoroughly I colored the face of the Santa with a a couple of shades of peach and flesh toned colored pencils. I colored his eyes light blue. Ok, here is one of my favorite parts! I took a white pencil and shaded over the lenses of the glasses ever so slightly so that they appear to have a little glare. I then used a gold gel pen to color in the frames. When dry I used the clear glaze pen on the lenses to add a bit of clear sheen to them. I then used Waterfall Stickles - the tiniest amount - to add a sparkle in Santa's eye. I also added Frosted Lace Stickles to his beard and snowflakes. I love the way he turned out! I encourage you to try some of these techniques at home! It made a flat image come to life!

Football note:
My boys are 8-0! They are just steamrolling the competition! We play Del Oro this week and they will be tough, but we will be tougher! Go Thunder!

Hoping to see some of you at the Shoppe this week!

Susan

Helloooo!

Wheww! Lots to share tonight! First here is a couple pics for you. The pics are of my project for Art Bytes at The Stamp Art Shoppe. Sandy is celebrating her anniversary of the store by hosting these fun mini classes. Mine is an accordion card for the holidays. You can put at least 3 pictures in it and write a little note or two to special family and friends. It is great for families to share pics and catch up. It will fit in a regular A2 envelope although you might need extra postage to mail it. I will be teaching two classes on Saturday November 7th one at 2 and one at 3. I hope you can join me for one! The classes are under $15 and will be 45 minutes or less.

Call Sandy at Stamp Art to sign up (916) 773-4378. You can also check out the website for more info on other classes. There are so many to choose from! They are filling up really fast so don't delay if you think you are interested.

Okay, enough business. My Varsity football guys are undefeated! 7-0 and they were televised on Comcast Sportsnet last week! It was a nail-biter! Tomorrow we play Oakmont at home and it should be a good game as well. Go Thunder! Our dinner went well last week. I think the boys enjoyed the enchiladas and the treats we made for them. I couldn't resist making a little candy holder to cheer them on to beat one of their rivals! They really appreciate those little things. My son told me that he had an awesome dinner this week as well - lasagne and garlic bread! Mmmm! Wish I was there!

Well, I must say goodnight. It has been a long hard week and I must rest so I can be at my cheering best for tomorrow's game!

Susan