Welcome Get Rich Slowly readers! Thanks for visiting my blog! Feel free to look around and leave a comment or two, or if you’re only interested in my frugal tips you can subscribe to just my Frugal Friday posts by clicking here.
Happy Crafting!
Well, it seems that Friday has come and gone and I completely forgot to post a Frugal Friday tip!! Oops. Sorry everyone! With preparing for my class, and then having it canceled because of a lack of participants (major bummer!), the days just kind of slipped past me. I promise the Frugal Friday posts will be back starting this week!
Happy Crafting!
P.S. If any of you have a frugal tip you’d like to share I’d love to hear it! Pass it along and I may post it for everyone to read!
I was so surprised to get an email from Sarah over at the Craft Critique saying that they chose me as a finalist in their Fabric Challenge Contest! WOW! There are just 5 finalists, and they’re all beautiful projects. Now it’s up to the public to vote for their favorite. So go check it out! (My project is letter A!)
I submitted this card that I made for a previous Valentine’s Day:
I made the centerpiece with some scrap velvet fabric from my mother-in-law’s old sewing box she gave me (Thanks, Mom!). I cut a heart shape out of the center of a piece of cream cardstock, hand-stitched the velvet to the back of it, and then glued a piece of black cardstock behind that, making a sandwich. I left an opening at the top of my “sandwhich” so that I could stuff some batting behind the fabric to make it pop out a bit. It was very easy!
My classes at Stamp On It have finally been rescheduled! Yay! Here is the information, inclu
ding the new dates:
This class is an introduction to the basics of making invitations. You will learn tips and techniques for making quick and easy invitations for any occasion. Do you need to make large quantities of an invitation? This class will teach you what you should avoid, and how to get them done quickly. You’ll also learn about standard invitation and envelope sizes, and postal mailing requirements. Participants will make three different styles of basic invitations, and will have the opportunity to personalize each design. 
Unique invitations don’t need to be hard to make! In this class you will learn how to make several different styles of invitations that are simple but unique. Learn creative folding techniques, how to use specialty papers, and how to add simple little touches that make a big difference. Participants will make four different invitations, and will have the opportunity to personalize each design.
I am so ecstatic to share with all of you that Ready, Set, Create! has published not one, but TWO of my cards in their April/May 2007 issue!! Woo Hoo!! This is the first time I’ve ever been published, and that was one of my major goals for this year, so I’m definitely patting myself on the back!
Ready, Set, Create! is a beautiful electronic magazine available for purchase as a download. To subscribe, visit the Ready, Set, Create! message board at www.readysetcreate.com and register. During the registration process you can choose to purchase paid subscriptions of six months, or one year, or the entire 2006 year on a CD to be sent to you! It is a great price (only $6 for a full year of downloads!) and believe me, you get a LOT for that money! The April/May 2007 issue is 224 pages long! - all packed with gorgeous pictures and articles to inspire you. You can see a free sample mini version of the April/May 2007 issue by clicking here (my projects don’t appear in this mini version, but it’s still pretty great!).
March is National Craft Month! This is always a good time to stop by your local craft store, because there are sure to be lots of sales and classes and extra fun to help spread the joy of crafting.
I recently started participating in an online paper crafting community at Creative Crafts and Stickers. What a wonderful and talented group of crafters! (Hey ladies!) They are doing some super fun challenges and contests all month long in honor of National Craft Month. Go check it out!
The first challenge was to use some black in a design. Here are my entries:
This card is very simple, but I like it. I could easily turn the flowers into fireworks for a 4th of July card, or into balloons for a birthday card!
This card has been bouncing around in my mind for quite a while now, I just needed the challenge to get it out in the open! It is inspired by this beautiful Chinese-style tunic my mother made for me. I wore it to Christi’s wedding last weekend.
(That’s me wearing it, and my wonderful husband beside me - isn’t he handsome?!)
Now on to the next March Madness challenge - Monochrome! We can only use varying shades of one color in the whole design. This will be fun!
Happy Crafting!
Okay, it’s a bad picture because it’s nighttime right now, but I wanted to show you all how much snow we have. This is my front porch, with a path shoveled to let the dog out. That’s a full 11 inches of snow!
Here in West Michigan we are currently in the middle of a blizzard! As beautiful as it is outside (yes, I love winter!) unfortunately, that means that my Introduction to Invitations class has been canceled. As much as I understand the store’s decision to cancel, I’m still really bummed. I was really looking forward to this!
My husband and I got up early this morning and drove down the highway white-knuckled to my brother’s house to baby-sit our nephew. I was more than willing to take on the roads again to make it to the store to teach my class, but when we finally got home after babysitting we discovered that the entire stretch of highway between our house and my brother’s was completely shut down most of the morning because of several 50-70 car pile-ups! Yikes! I think the store made the right decision.
We will be rescheduling the class, so stay tuned for updates. I’ll post as soon as I know the new date.
My second invitation class, Creative Invitations, is still scheduled for Saturday, February 17th from 11:00-12:30pm. Hope to see you there - but in the mean time, stay warm!
Happy Crafting!
My first card-making class, Introduction to Invitations, is coming up fast! There’s still time to register, however, so stop on over to Stamp On It and sign up, or just email Deb.
Here’s a sample of what I’ll be covering in the class:
Plus, we will make three basic styles of invitations that have been tested and proven, and can be adapted to fit any occasion.
My Trendy Note Card Gift Set project won an Honorable Mention in the Homemade Gifts Contest on the amazing Instructables site! That’s two Honorable Mentions for Paper Woods! Here’s a pic of my prize - a nice addition to my patch collection.
I’m back! My husband and I took a vacation after Christmas, and then I got a really bad stomach bug, but I’m back now and feeling good - so it’s time to craft!
My big Christmas gift this year was the Big Shot die-cutting machine by Ellison Design. This thing is
fantastic! You can be sure I’ll be posting more about this machine as I start to use it!
I also got a gift card which I used to buy the Making Memories Instant Setter. This is proving to be a really great tool! I also got the Slot Punching tool set that is designed to be used with the Instant Setter. I’ll be posting more on both of these later too.
Happy Crafting!