A Productive (and fun) Weekend

Hello! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. Mine was relaxing, busy, fun, and very productive! My only complaint is that it flew by way too fast and now tomorrow is the start of another work week. And it's going to be a busy and stressful one I have a feeling. But I have a few hours left of the weekend so I'm pushing thoughts of the upcoming week away for now.



I have lots to share! So go grab a snack, put up your feet and get comfy!

I stamped for a while on Friday night. I got some more overdue thank you cards made, I had done five earlier in the week but then thought of three more I needed to get sent out. I can't share that card design with you quite yet though as it's also a project for my upcoming workshop and I know some of my club members read this so I don't want to give anything away!



But I also finally "prettied-up" some fliers I had printed out months (possibly years) ago. I've been wanting to put some up around town and try to get some new customers. I think part of me is almost afraid of getting too much on my plate and overwhelming myself, but I would really love to do workshops for some fresh new customers. (Not that I don't still love my loyal, dedicated club members - Hi Girls!)


So this is what I did. I just tried to make them colorful and eye-catching. If any of you are local and have suggestions of places I could put one of these up, please let me know.

Saturday morning I tried getting down to my stamp room all morning, but one thing after another came up. I finally did get down there in the early afternoon though and made a couple cards. I made a birthday card for my stepson, but am waiting for one finishing touch on that so didn't take a picture of it yet. Then I made a wedding card for my brother to take to a wedding he had to go to. It looks like it took a long time, but it went very quickly. I CASED it from the new catalog. I had been wanting to make one like it since I first looked at the book, and a wedding was the perfect occasion.

Looking at it now, I wish I had used Pretty in Pink for the card base instead of the Almost Amethyst (which I know looks like Bashful Blue in the picture). The flowers were stamped in Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink and Almost Amethyst, with tiny self adhesive pearls in the centers and attached with dimensionals. The swirl was done in Certainly Celery. I pierced two rows of holes at the top of the card base. The ribbon was a tiny scrap which was all I had left of the Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon (which I'm so sad is no longer available). I really love this card and want to make more, in different color combinations.



After dinner I snuck in a couple hours more in my stamp room and made another thank you card for a lady at my church who blessed me with some clothes which will come in very handy. I wanted to let her know how much I appreciated it.


This card gave me a bit of trouble. I had fun watercoloring the images, but then just didn't know what colors to use with it and how to embellish it. I like the holes punched in the scalloped edge but they sure aren't very straight or consistent! I used a stamp from a retired hostess set (which I just received with my last big order before the new catalog period started) called A Little Bit of Happiness. Colors used are Really Rust, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, and More Mustard.















And, since I was on such a roll, I made another card that I had been meaning to make for several weeks for another lady from church who is going through chemotherapy treatments and having a lot of rough days. I wanted to send her a little card to let her know we are praying for her and hopefully brighten her day a bit. I thought the Everyday Blessings stamp set from Papertrey, Ink would be perfect.

I used Certainly Celery and Chocolate Chip, more of the self-adhesive pearls, and some white-dotted chocolate satin ribbon from American Crafts. On the inside I stamped another sentiment from the PTI set that says "Someone remembers, someone cares, your name is whispered in someone's prayers."


I didn't stamp at all on Sunday. We took a ride up to Marquette for the day. We did a little shopping (I "splurged" on a new pair of shoes (even though I badly needed some new "winter" shoes) and a new purse), and a few other things, but nothing too out-of-control. We also went out to dinner with my neice Tara and her boyfriend Colby and got to see thier new apartment. That was nice, and way overdue, since I hadn't seen them since my wedding in March of 2007! And we only live an hour apart. Isn't that sad? Life just gets so crazy busy.



After we left the restaurant (We ate at a newer restaurant in downtown Marquette, at least it was new to me, called Aubree's...the pizza and breadsticks were very yummy and it looks like their sandwiches and salads were very good also. I definitely recommend it.), I thought Joe wanted to head home, but he decided to take a drive through Presque Isle Park first and then the sunset was so beautiful we had to get out and walk around on the rocks, as we do almost every time we are there, but I was sorry we hadn't told Tara & Colby that we were going there so they could come with us, because I had specifically taken my camera with me to get some pics of them and of Tara and I and I totally forgot about it until we got to the park. Darn it! We did get some nice pictures of us, well I got some nice ones of Joe, he got some horrible ones of me (it's the subject -not his photography skills), and a very nice lady took a good picture of the two of us. I'll share the one of the both of us and one of the gorgeous sunset, but none of me, they are too awful!














It was a very nice day, spent with my husband, and with the chance to relax, shop, visit with family and see beautiful scenery. Such a blessing.

We didn't have any plans for today so we slept in this morning and took it easy. I really wanted to do some more stamping, but it was so nice outside that I didn't feel like being in the basement. So I collected a bunch of stuff and worked on a big project out on our deck. It figures that as soon as I got set up out there, the breeze picked up, so it was bit tricky keeping everything weighted down and chasing after things that flew away, but it was nice to be outside. I spent all afternoon working on these:
















Our church is going to have a booth at a craft show in November and I'm going to make things to donate to be sold - we are trying to raise money for our basement renovation project. I want to do some Christmas items, and am having a little bit of trouble getting myself to think about that yet, with the weather as nice as it's been.



But yesterday in Marquette, I picked up these cute little notebooks at Big Lots. They were 10 for $2.00. They have plastic covers (front & back) and were in fun, bright colors. So I decorated them up with my most-used items of late - my Big and Little Flowers stamp sets and my Scallop Circle Punch. They were fun to do, I just wish I had started off making my own background paper with the little stamps because the ones I used patterned paper on, I had a very hard time getting colors and embellishments to match. And I'm very particular about things matching, as many of you know!


I thought these would be cute for little girls or teens and would make great, inexpensive stocking stuffers or gifts to give classmates. What do you think? Here is a close up picture of a few of my favorites.











I'd welcome any suggestions for things to make cheaply and quickly that you think might sell well at a craft show. I have some ideas, but what I struggle with is knowing how many of each item to make - I want to have lots of something if it is popular, but don't want to be left with a lot of things that won't sell well.



So yeah, I stamped A LOT this weekend, and it felt great! Now tomorrow night I will hopefully receive my order of new fun goodies from Stampin' Up! and that should keep me motivated to keep stamping. Plus I have a workshop coming up on Sunday to prepare for. So stay tuned!


I did think about saving some of these pictures for posts later in the week, but then I remembered I'd be getting my new "stuff" and would be making fun new things to share. So you got it all at once, hope I didn't bore you too much! Thanks for stopping by.


Happy Labor Day!

P.S. I really apologize for how this post looks. I have been trying for over an hour to get the alignment to look better, I don't understand how this thing works. When I go to edit, it looks like the spacing is right, but then when I publish it there are spaces where there shouldn't be and no spaces where there should be. It's driving me crazy, but I don't know how to fix it. So this is as good as it's going to get, at least for tonight! Sorry!