Thank You!

I have to say thank you to a few very important people in my life: First, my dear husband, Gary, who supports me in all I do, and makes sure I stay healthy and happy! I enjoy his sense of humor, enjoy taking care of him, and cherish being a stay-at-home wife. Next, my only sister - my big sister, Jeanne. She's always been a big part of my life and has seen me through tough times and is always just a phone call away. She's a professional scrapbooker, I swear! I love that we share our love of paper, ink, & embellishments! She'll never know how much I count on her advice, love, and support. Next, my brother-in-law, Greg, Jeanne's husband. Words do not exist to thank Greg for getting me through some pretty tough times over the years. A few close friends - Crystal, Lloyd, and Michelle - they keep me on my toes with their senses of humor, phone conversations, and their great emails. I miss them all dearly. I wish I could see them every day and chat with them over a good cup of coffee.

Stamp Pad Holder

Two years ago, I was looking for an alternative to the stamp pad holders on the market (which at the time, I couldn't afford!), and I came up with these simple stamp pad holders, put together with hot glue and slim jewel CD cases. Each unit holds 6 stamp pads. I no longer have the units on this shelving - I now use the shelving for storing all my stamps sets in CD cases.

Tools

I just have to give you a list of a few of my favorite things! 1. Crop-a-dile Big Bite - I used this consistently when I was scrapbooking for a friend and it was fast, simple to use and made lining up those eyelets and brads a breeze! 2. CTMH makes a stamp cleaner that's amazing. I use it to not only clean all my stamps, both acrylic and rubber, but also to clean my acrylic blocks. 3. Microfiber cloth - I bought a dish towel at a discount store that was microfiber, cut it in four pieces, surged the edges, and ended up with four small clothes that are lint free for cleaning stamps. 4. Paint Pad Stamp Scrubber - Back when I was just starting to stamp, I was looking for a large surface to clean stamps on, so, I put together two small paint pads from the hardware store (with the edge loops cut off) and attached them with double-sided tape to a flat plastic lid from a dollar store container. Voila! Stamp scrubbers! I have two, one for wet and one for dry and although I've tried two manufactured double scrubbers, I always fall back on my paint pad scrubbers! They have a large surface and no lip to catch the stamps on. 5. Simple Green - I've got to admit, about the only place I use Simple Green cleaner is in my stamp room! I use it one part SG to one part water for cleaning the SU craft and permanent ink off stamps (like SU's Basic Black and for my embossing pad), and it's an affordable substitute for the expensive stamp cleaners. 6. Cricut Expression - My dear husband bought me a Cricut Expression for my birthday in March and I've thoroughly enjoyed the five cartridges I got with it for both stamping and scrapbooking. 7. Catalogs - I've always had my CTMH and SU catalogs wire bound mostly so they lay flat on my table (plus you can wrap the unused pages to the back, so only the page you need is showing). In January, I had the front and back covers heat laminated at a office supply store and I love that even more than just having plastic covers separate from the actual covers. Try it - it's worth every penny! The laminated covers really keep the covers from getting bent and torn. 8. My guillotine paper cutter - I'm not sure how I ever crafted before I had one! My cutter is not an expensive one - it's about $50 from an office supply store, 12" x 12".

Finally Finished!

Well, now that my scrapbook project (38 pages in 3 weeks!) for my college friend, Michelle, is finished and her daughter, Robynn, has received it, I've moved on to cardmaking again, which really is what I enjoy the most right now!

Very First Post

Phew! I finally did it, I got a blog up and running! Stay tuned for postings of my latest creations.