Hello Everyone!

I was checking my class lists for the next few weeks and I noticed there are lots of spaces available! It's probably due to vacations and such, but check your schedules if you are in town, there may be classes that you want to sign up for! This Thursday evening my Mastering the Basics #4 at 6:30pm is only half full. If that is one you would like to take give us a call at The Stamp Art Shoppe! (916) 773-4378 We will be working on cards using stamp kissing, layered emboss resists, water-ink stamping, and acrylic block backgrounds. As always I have a full class for you guys full of tecnique and ending with four beautiful cards. I hope to see you there!

Susan

Hellooo! Just wanted to share a Father's Day Card I made for my sweet man last weekend. He is such a good dad and wonderful husband. He has been into cooking lately and the boys got him a meat cleaver! He wanted one to chop things up with! I am not complaining as long as he wants to cook!

The other pictures are from my Embossed Canvas Cards class last week. We had a blast creating our little embossed masterpieces! I hope you join us for another class soon!

Susan

Hey Bloggers! How's it going? Just a quick Sunday night post to catch up! I am totally pooped out from working all day yesterday at the snack bar for the "Thunder Invitational" track meet at the high school. I didn't even get to see my own son in his event! I was immersed in snack bar duties. It is hard work but it is fun. I met some really nice parents and kids that were there to help out. I adore the head coach, Matt Eckman too. He has such a wonderful way with the kids and the other coaches. He had a huge smile on his face the whole day no matter what was going on! The kids and other coaches really seem to respect him and he seems to bring out the best in everyone. That is a special person right there. There was a young man running the snack bar who was exceptional as well. He is a senior I believe. I don't know his real name, but everyone called him "Big Red". He managed both parents and kids with ease. That is not a simple task between kids with their attitudes and parents with wanting to run the show. Three cheers for Red! He handled everyone with grace and poise that I don't even have! I am glad that my son is around such incredible people everyday!

Hey just a quick note about my classes this month. My class on April 21st is full, but I have a class this Thursday, April 2nd at 10 that has several spaces open if you are local and interested. The cost of the class is $25 and you will make 4 beautiful cards plus learn some really cool techniques. These are the last classes of this schedule.

I am currently working on my samples for the next schedule. They should be really fun! I am always excited when I am creating new classes! I am teaching a Macho Cards class, an inchie class, a mini card class, and a summer-themed card class. I tried to put a little bit of everything in these clases, wedding, birthday, graduation, father's day, friendship, etc... I try to pack as many fun techniques in the classes as I can so that my students are exposed both to different techniques and products as well. It keeps everything fresh and fun! I also try and give people lots of ideas for using things they have or things they want to buy. Especially in times like these, we have to consider the many uses of an item and try to get the most use out of everything. I think that was what really hooked me on stamping, the versatility and multiple uses of the images.

My pretty Little Girl canvas sold! I also sold another one that was more wedding-ish. Both to the same person! They were only up for a couple of days! I have put a few new items up on Etsy this last week, but it seems to be a slow week. I have to get busy with some new stuff this week. I have several listings that will expire next week so I think I will let them expire for now. They have not received a lot of interest and I think I could probably sell them at work. They are on the plain side for the Etsy crowd and I have learned a lot about how to take better photos since I originally listed those. I could also repackage them a little bit more attractively and try to relist them with new photos.

My photos tonight are of our doggie Hank, a robin in our pear tree a couple of weeks ago, and the wedding-ish canvas that I sold last week. Thanks for checking in on me!

Oh dear, I just looked at the clock! I am going to turn into a pumpkin! I was going to go to bed early tonight! Oh well. What else is new? I will be fine. Have a wonderful day tomorrow!

Susan

Phewwww!

I just finished two projects and shipped them off to The Stamp Art Shoppe to be displayed for January classes. That is a weight off my shoulders! It is so hard to get any personal stuff done when it is this time of year! The framed Paper Heart Quilt is one class and the card will be another where we make 4 Valentine's Day themed cards. I have 2 other classes as well, but they will be towards the end of the quarter. The new calendar comes out the end of this month so check out the Stamp Art Store website for dates and times. You can always leave me a comment with your email address and I will send you the dates.

I have a couple of weeks to finish other projects and get things in order for the holiday. I am hoping to get a few things up on Etsy as well, but I think I have kinda missed the window for Christmas and I need to move on to Valentine's Day! I do have a few cute things I just need to put the final touches on that I can put up in the next few days.

*CRAFT TIPS*

I was making some Christmas cards (for me!) and I was thinking about Stickles. You know the little teeny bottles of wonderfully colored glitter glue? I love those darned things, especially this time of year. Since I have used them so much lately I realized that they require some instruction for the newbie. So if you are a Stickle newbie, listen up.

The regular Stickles have a nice fine tip to write with, but honestly they look better if you put just a thin coat and smush it around with the tip. The new Distress Stickles have a fatter tip, but you can do all the same things with them I promise, and not as many clogs in the tip. All of them take FOREVER to dry if you glop it on thick. My advice is to do a really thin coat and add more if needed. If you are covering a large area I like to use my finger to spread them out. Like I said, you can always add more.

If you are covering something like lettering where you want a fine line, it works well if you do a practice run on some scratch paper just to get the feel of how fast they come out and how much to squeeze. Then, work kind of fast, don't hesitate. Kind of like writing frosting on a cake. If you slow down the frosting gets thick and gloppy.

If you happen to get too much-it happens-keep toothpicks handy. They are invaluable to remove extra stickles and spread them out along a line or shape. If I am going along and I get a blob and then a skip, I just go back over it with my toothpick and smooth it down and spread it along the line. It is also a good idea to have a pin lying around to unclear clogs. I don't get too many, but every once in awhile... I hope this helps and make sure to use them ALOT so you get lots of practice! Just a little advice from your friendly neighborhood crafter!

We got a huge Christmas tree last weekend. We started decorating it, but we will finish tomorrow. Nick's girlfriend came with us and helped decorate and put up the lights. What a sweetie! Finally someone besides me who wants to decorate! We had fun tromping around the tree farm arguing about the trees, bossing each other around about how the tree goes in the stand, fighting over how the lights go on the tree. Good times! We even took both dogs, and packed a picnic lunch to eat up there! The weather was beautiful! Seriously, it was a fun day.

Well, I am about to turn into a pumpkin, so I'm callin' it a night.

Joy to the World!

Susan