My Mom the BIG Winner!!!! :)

Okay how cool is this???? Mom & I had been visiting blogs here like crazy during and after CHA to see all of the new stuff coming out in Spring and we must have entered hundreds....of giveaways....well maybe not quite that many but we lost count after day two. No luck with any of them....Until...one of our last ones we had entered was for the DreamKuts machine on Teresa Collins blog never in a million years thinking either one of us would win..... My mom was one of the LUCKY winners, I am so happy and excited for her!!! She happened to be at a all day crop today when I found out and I had to call her on her cell and tell her the wonderful news. She was speechless, well after she screamed with excitement...We LOVE Teresa Collins!!!!

Here is the blog post where Teresa Collins posted about entering the giveaway. If you click on this link it will take you to all of the comments and you will see mine and my Moms comments.

Well I checked the Teresa Collins blog update tonight and guess what I saw?

Before I forget the WINNERS from the POST: PLEASE email me WHAT you won and your address. I get a lot of emails and need you to help me be organized. Ha!

The TWO DreamKut winners are:
1. Heather from the RED BEE class- (you did not put a last name) 1/25/09
2. Marty Kersey 1/23/09 posted at 9:48am

The TWO blue bind it alls go to-
1. Karen Tabor 1/23/09  10:09 am
2. Barbara from NC 1/29/09

Congrats GIRLS!!!!!

If you go here this will take you to teresacollinsdesigns website where she shows a video demo of the DreamKuts machine in action.

Feeling "Froggy"

After Bubbles (Madison's goldfish) went to Fishy Heaven Madison was a little sad and wanted to get another goldfish until she got the idea to get frogs instead. Around Christmas time they had a booth in the center of the mall where they were selling African Dwarf frogs, she saw them and that is what she wanted to spend a little bit of her Christmas money on. She picked out the one she wanted with the hot pink rocks and on our way home we were picking out names for them. They come two in a tank, she thought of all kind of weird & unique names but after much consideration & thought she decided to name them "Jack & Jill". They are very low maintence since they only need to be fed twice a week and due to the bamboo and live rocks in the bottom & the snail inside their habitat, the tank only needs to be cleaned twice a year. She has been keeping up with the feeding schedule pretty good. They are the funniest things to watch. I captured the neatest picture the other morning on feeding day.

 

This one is my favorite....I love how her reflection is on both sides of the tank.

Valentine's inspiration

With Valentine's Day approaching fast I have been seeing nothing but love cards, layouts & altered projects every where posted on blogs. I couldn't help to get get bit by the LOVE BUG too. I have been wanting to make some Valentine's cards myself, using my new CTMH owl stamp set, "Whoo loves you" and I have had a SU stamp set for quite a while now with a cute little tree with hearts "sheltering tree" so I decided to combine the two stamp sets to creative my Valentine's this year.

gather supplies  first stamp all images

cut, "smut" (ink around edges), punch

assemble & add ribbon

more cutting & smutting

 

punch scallops, stamp,  & assemble background for the card

complete assembling cards, punch holes inside scallops & smut all edges

add sentiment inside (optional)

make cute little box

Free Spirit

One day this past week when Madison got home from school she just had too much energy to come inside and watch T.V. she wanted to run & twirl around in the front yard and enjoy some much needed fresh air. Lately it has been really cold & rainy here and not much fun to go outside, even recess at school has been a bit short. So I went and grabbed my camera and snapped away, it was a good thing cause you would never know it by these pictures but not 15 minutes after we came inside it clouded up even more and poured down raining.

more stamps from Art Warehouse

Here are some more new stamps from Art Warehouse that I will be taking PRE-orders for in February on my website.....I will be posting images with prices on my website very soon. Remember for the month of February if you do the PRE-order via email they will be 20% off. After that I will still order them but the discount will be back to my everyday discount of 10% off.

these three sets shown above are the NEW  "Get Rollin' stamp sets they are so cool because you can use them on the roller with the gripper strips to make backgrounds, or just use them by themselves on a clear block like normal. 

here's a close up of one of the images

Making Memories giveaway

I am keeping up with all the new items at CHA and have been blogging like crazy. Making Memories has a really nice give away (the new Just Chillin' collection) on their blog click here to see the slide show of the new product line they are giving away....all you got to do is make a comment on their blog post. Go check it out!! :) But hurry fast cause they're giveaways are fast...you have to almost have their blog open and minimized and keep checking back to see when the next giveaway is.

"Capture the little stuff" mini tag album

Here is just a little chipboard tag album I created this week . I wanted to use some of my Heidi Swapp , Ali Edwards & Art Warehouse clear stamps. I've had this paper for sometime now wanting to make something with it and finally I got to it! I just love this color combo....saffron yellow, baby blue & cranberry red.

PS...Mom, don't worry you will have one for your Valentine  surprise package, but I guess it won't be much of a surprise now!!!! LOL

     

New stamps for pre-order

Just wanted to give you all a sneak peak of some of the new clear stamps that will be coming out from Creative Cafe and Art Warehouse. I will be having a Pre-Order SPECIAL on these stamps shown below on my store web site . Most likely I will be placing my PRE-Order sometime late February-early March, because they will start shipping out on March 23rd. If you are interested you can email me @ TinkersP@live.com and let me know which sets you are interested in and I will respond with pricing & discounts. At the end of February, before I place the order, I will send each of you a paypal email invoice which you can PREPAY right from that or for the local ladies you can just send payment through the mail.  Remember all my PRE-Orders will be 20% off for that month only after that the discount will be back to 10% off.

new items coming from CHA

Is everyone as anxious as I am about seeing all the new, fun, cool stuff that will be hitting the stores soon? If you are a Creative Cafe junkie (like I am) then you will defiantly want to check out the creative cafe blog for their new posts each day showing all their new items. I love all the new stamps coming out, plus the new owl accucut dies, they are so cute. 

PS...The new stamps will be available for ordering soon, I can place my pre-order anytime and they will start shipping out March 23rd.....If your interested please let me know, cause I will be placing an order for my online store.

 

If you want to see more, more, more sneak peaks from CHA 09 click on this link here. But be sure to take a potty break and get a big cup of coffee, you will be a while.....Enjoy!!!

making your own snow globes

Valentine Snow Globes by Lori Gentile

Lori Gentile created an awesome How to for this adorable Valentine's Day project!!

Supplies Needed:
Larger size baby food jars
Enamel paint
Foam brushes
Glitter (fine or light weight)
Glycerine (found in the cake decorating section or the drug store)
Ribbon and other Valentine's Day looking embellishments
Glue Dots
Self-Sealing Laminating sheets or Xyron machine
I found this fun article in a Martha Stewart Holiday Projects Idea book on making snow globes out of food jars. You can use any jar, baby food jars, olive jars, etc. I thought it would make an adorable gift for Valentine's day and being the scrapbooker that I am, I wanted to include photos inside the jars, instead of just plastic or ceramic pieces. This project is super easy to do. It's really fun and your recipient will LOVE them. This is a great craft to do with children, as well.
How to:
1. Remove the label from the jar.
2. Remove any food from the jar and wash. Soak the jar for a while in hot water to remove the label adhesive on the outside of the jar.
3. Paint the lid the color of your choice. Use an enamel paint to prevent chipping. Set it aside to dry. Mine took two coats.
4. Print a vertical photo that is between .25" - .5" less than the width of your lid. My photo was 1.5" x 2.25" for my baby food jar.
5. Make a duplicate photo that is exactly the same size (or use a different image, if you like) and adhere them back to back making one image.
6. Run the photo through the Xyron to laminate. If you don't have a Xyron you can use self-sealing laminating sheets found in any office supply section or store. If you use these sheets, you will want to cut two of the same size pieces that are around 1.5" larger than your photo all the way around. Remove the backing from one piece and place your photo in the center. Make sure to rub out any bubbles. Remove the backing from the second piece and place the adhesive side onto the adhesive side of your photo piece. Rub out any bubbles and run your nails along the edges of your photo to get a good seal. Cut the excess laminate from around your picture. Leave about a .25" of adhesive around the photo and be sure there is no air between the layers.
7. Fill the empty jar to the top with water.
8. Add in a pinch or two of glitter.
9. Add a tiny drop of glycerine to keep the glitter from falling too fast to the bottom. Too much glycerine will cause the glitter to stick to the bottom of the jar.
10. Turn your photo upside down and place it into the water.
11. Carefully tighten the lid onto the jar.
12. Turn it over and give it a shake. Isn't the float-y effect of the loose image (this is why you want an image on both sides, so it can turn around in the jar) with all the fun glitter snow super cool?
13. Place the jar on it's painted lid and decorate the outside at will. You can put things on the very top or anywhere you like. Just keep in mind you still need to see the image in the jar when you are done.
If you want to include other things inside the jar, use only plastic or ceramic pieces. Metal pieces will rust in the water. You will want to sand the inside of your lid and use an epoxy adhesive to glue down any plastic or ceramic objects. Some fun ideas are plastic hearts, plastic flowers, and white plastic trees. This can be a great homemade gift idea for a Teacher, Aunt, Grandmother, Father, etc., for the holiday. Enjoy!

{Sweet Sixteen}

Happy Birthday Kaitlynn, Love Mom

When Kaitlynn got home from school today she had a cake that her friends bought for her. That was sweet of them to surprise her with a cake on her Birthday!!

a few digitals to share

week 3/365

Here is a picture of my week 3 page. Well technically the week isn't quite over but I already had the pictures for the week to finish the page. Any pictures I take on Saturday I will print and put into the 4x6 photo sleeve. New week starts on Sunday.

Birthday Shopping

Yesterday I went out to shop for Kaitlynn's Birthday present. I wanted to give her a present to open, instead of just giving her money.  Since I had a little idea of what she wanted and knew what she would spend her money on, I went ahead and got it for her. She had mentioned to me over the Christmas she had wanted a new Vera Bradley lunch bag and a new Vera Bradley zip around wallet. All the new colors & designs just came out 2 days ago so I got to look at all of the new patterns. They are all so pretty. I snapped some pictures inside the gift shop (Maggie's), they had everything  displayed so nice. I was in Vera Bradley Heaven!!!

outside pictures

Kaitlynn had her friend Alison come over today after school and I snapped some pictures of them, plus I handed the camera to Alison so she could get some pictures of me with the girls. Which doesn't happen too often, I had to take advantage of this moment...so glad I did.