Oh My!

I feel like I am drinking from the fountain of creativity!  My e-course Flying Lessons is one heck of a fast pace class and there is almost as much to be gleaned from the comments as from the class material itself!  Given that each post gets something like 200 or more comments and that I was not at my most clear headed over the past week, it has been a challenge.  I'm afraid that I've read, but not posted much myself, which is probably a missed opportunity!

If you know me, you know that when I decide to do something, not knowing how, is not an allowable limitation!  I really wanted to learn how to make a button to support charity crops and by extension the "Charity Scrapbook Buddies" group that I created on Facebook a while back. You'll remember that Papercraft Magazine gave us a boost by featuring us on their Facebook fan page not that long ago. So I played with the code until I got it right.  And if you look at the left hand of the blog, you will see that I even figured out how to make the actual code available for you guys to pick up easily! The link brings you directly do the Facebook group, sweet!

For the record, you do not have to be a scrapbooker to support these charity efforts since the causes include Alheizmers, Breast Cancer, Organ donation and so forth! Also, while they were started as scrapbooking get -togethers, I don't think anyone will be upset if you bring your knitting, crochet, cardmaking or other portable art form to a crop! If you're not sure, ask beofre registering, but I can almost guarantee you will be welcome with open arms!

Your art may also be something that you are willing to donate to a crop, where it will do much good in a silent auction, get you free publicity and of course, a receipt for tax purposes. So if you "flew in here" do  take a moment to grab the button, join the Charity Scrapbook Buddies Facebook group and when the time is right, help some good causes!

Coupon Time!

As you know I add them when I get them and then upgrade the weekly post with any new ones that come in later!  So here goes!



AC MOORE
AC Moore coupons are here.  They cover two weeks.  40% off this week (13-19 June) and 50% off next week (20-26 June)!

ARCHIVER (updated 06/15/2010)
Latest ad (06/15/2010) is here and there are 3 new coupons here good until the 23rd! One coupon is good for 30% off any item, one for 5 free prints and one for buy one color copy get one free!

JOANN's
Don't seem to get anything via email. I've checked my setting with them to make sure they have me right!  I guess I'm only getting things via mail and those I don't think I can share!

HOBBY LOBBY
This week's coupon is for 30% off wood handle rubber stamps and sets.  Click here for the coupon. You'll find the complete ad for this week here.  Here are "some" of the items that are on sale without a coupon that caught my eye! 30% off the entire stock of Cricut cartridges and accessories, and 30% off all 3D stickers and rub-ons! Plastic storage containers are also 30% off.

MICHAEL's
New ad here and go print your 40% off one regular price item and 60% off framing coupons here. Coupons good until June 19th.

Some Good Stuff

There is so much going on!  If you remember, one of my dreams was to go to CHA in Chicago this summer.  This is one dream that I'm going to achieve and for less than $300, all inclusive!  I was able to combine this trip with another and minimize the difference in airfare for the sidetrip to Chicago to only $90 more.  Thanks to my buddy Pat Davenport, Cricut teacher extraordinaire, I have access to the show floor and 2 roomates, one of them of course is Pat. The convention center is near Chicago O'Hare airport, so the shuttle will be free to and from the hotel, bonus! And the hotel is across the street from the convention center! Yeah!!! I will of course be reporting from CHA again, which if memory serves, is how this blog got started in the first place! Anyone else going to CHA that I can meet up with?

Those of you who follow me on Facebook know that I've been battling a very nasty bug which unfortunately forced me to abort a visit to Ramona's Store in Bellevue.  Ramona created my dream store while I wasn't looking and has expanded from just stamping, for which she is very well known in the area, to also providing scrapbooking and multi-media classes.  Ramona is a wonderful, warm, talented lady that I first met when she came to a Scrapbook Buddies Meetup! I'm going to teach scrapbooking at her store as soon as we can get together that is! Although she only opened her doors a very few months ago, her store has already expanded once. In addition, it and all the wonderful artsy stores in Bellevue, KY were recently featured in Cincinnati Magazine! I'm looking forward to feeling better, meeting Ramona and teaching again!

COUPON POST

Time for the coupon blog post...



AC MOORE
Click here for their latest ad.

ARCHIVERS
Click here to see Archivers latest ad.  No new coupon yet.  The one here is only good until the 9th.

HOBBY LOBBY
Click here to see Hobby Lobby's latest ad and here for their current online and in store coupons.

MICHAELS
I still haven't received anything new from Michaels.

Do let me know if you are using the coupons and saving money!

It's Time

It's time!  Time to give my creativity an outlet.  Time to give my soul the space it needs to be!  I'll probably struggle with who I am and what I'm supposed to be when I grow up for a long time, but for now, I'm taking steps to be... well, to be me! It's been a year since I moved up here to the beautiful rolling hills and blue grass of Kentucky! It has been a difficult, sad, painful, wonderful year! Wonderful for the new friends I've made, the old friends I rediscovered, and the friends, back in all the places I've lived that have remained friends despite the distance. Difficult and sad, because I moved away from some extraordinay people that I was very attached to. Painful physically because of the shoulder injury and surgery and painful emotionally because I had to leave my son, a grown man with his own life, behind in Florida! Sometimes my arms just ache to hold and hug him.

I'm taking an e-course called Flying Lessons, given by Kelly Rae Roberts. Kelly is teaching us how to market our art, and how to believe that we can!

Sometimes I feel like Price Charming in front of all those feet of thorny bushes, knowing what something wonderful awaits me on the other side. I just need to build up the courage to make it through the bramble! I just need to figure out how to get through all that mess with minimum fuss and as little blood letting as possible. But get through, I will!"

The course must be working!  I sold this card today!

But that is just the tip of the iceburg!  More about what else

happened tomorrow!

 Life is certainly a journey filled with twists and turns and in my case many moves!  To think that as a young adult I passed on a number of opportunities, including moving to Belgium to work for NATO for 2-3 years! All because I didn't want to move! Fate is definitely a funny lady, or is that funny guy! And so this time in my life is about embracing my creative self and saying to it, go ahead, it's OK to be you, in all your quirkiness!

Coupons and a Cricut Gypsy Update

ARCHIVER's: has a new ad, but no new coupon!  Maybe next week?

MICHAEL's: I didn't get anything new from Michael's this week.  If you did, let me know!

AC MOORE: You might have missed their Memorial Day sale, but they also sent out coupons for the next two weeks here. There is a 40% off any regular item good from Tuesday June 1st to Saturday June 5th and a 50% off coupon from June 6th till the June 12th!

HOBBY LOBBY:
Online Store: Use code FS559 to get free shipping and $5 off any online order of at least $59. Click here to see their ad.
In Store: Here is the link to their weekly ad. Of interest, 50% off some stamps (Paper Studio and Stampabilities) and a 25% off any regular priced item coupon.

IN OTHER NEWS

CRICUT GYPSY UPDATE

Provo Craft just announced (May 28th, 2010) another update for the Cricut Gypsy, that wonderful little handheld computer that allows you to upload all your Cricut cartridges into it! Here is the link to their announcement and the list of what they updated, debugged and added! So if you haven't already, register your Gypsy and get the updates!

CKC CINCINNATI
I live in the outskirts of Cincinnati and didn't know that they were planning a CKC here!  Just found out when I got an email last week!  The planning begins! Anyone going? Check here for a list of all the CKC conventions!  Unfortunately, the Nashville one had to be cancelled, probably because of all the flood damage! I'm not sure about the Cincinnati show, so far it doesn't have a whole lot of Exhibitors!  I'm thinking of getting a booth with a friend and exhibiting there myself! It would be a shame if the Cincinnati show failed, because I know that they can get a 200 person turnout at Charity crops around here!  So there ARE a lot of scrapbookers in the area! I'm thinking that this was a late addition and that the exhibitors had already made other plans!  I hope CK will give this show another chance in 2011 even if 2010 isn't a bang up success!

Charity Scrapbook Buddies gets a boost from Papercrafts Magazine!

Today Papercrafts Magazine was featuring Charity Scrapbooking on their blog. If you know me, you know how important I think Charity Crops are to the charities and people that they support! So I left a comment about the Charity Scrapbook Buddies group I started on Facebook and guess what, their editor, Kelly Smith posted a link to and promoted the Charity Scrapbook on their Facebook fan page! Awesome!

I believe that organizing, volunteering at, or attending a charity crop are life changing events! It makes you a better person, it gives you a different perspective on someone elses struggle, and it allows you to feel good about yourself! None of those are bad things, right? I know that helping with the Miracle for Savannah crop (visit Savannah's COTA site) a few years ago, touched my life and my heart in ways I couldn't even have imagined!  With all the economic problems out there, it stands to reason that if charity crops were important a few years ago, they are critical now when charitable donations have gone down.  Donations from businesses and coprporations are also down from a couple of years ago.

All that to say, if you haven't already, join the Charity Scrapbook Buddies and support all the charity crops that you can! Oh and sign your organ donor cards. After all you can't take your organs to heaven, but gifting them can save up to 17 lives that would otherwise be lost!

Cri...Cri... Cricut!!!

A while ago I got a Cricut...for the second time! Yup I had an original in 2006, and sold it a few weeks after getting it, but I won't bore you with the details.

There are times when I think it pays to take a formal class and for some reason, I believed that if I took a class, I'd be less likely to have the Cricut sit idle next to the Silhouette (I need to sell that) and the Slice which I actually do use from time to time! I wanted a good class with a really good teacher. I 'm really hoping to get very, very good at using it and that eventually share that knowledge with other people!  I love to teach, whether it is a large financial software package like Oracle Financials, how to make a cute mini scrapbook album to 4 year olds, or anything in between! Luckily, we have one of the very best Cricut teachers in North America right here in the area, Pat Davenport. I finally got to take the class I wanted, with her! 

This is the lovely Jann B who shared a table with me.

What a nice lady!

There were a few chalenges in the class along the way, mainly because I have a Cricut Create and the 5 other students had Cricut Expressions. While the Create is closer in functionality to the Expression than the original, there are significant differences other than the obvious differences in their size, mainly the difference in how to do certain functions, which the Expression has dedicated buttons for and the Create requires a number of steps to do.

From left to right: Lori S, Lori B, Kim H,

Mary L, and standing, our teacher, Pat Davenport

Despite the challenges of that first class, Pat and I recognized that we could do some good together and so I'm spending time helping her fine tune the Create portion of the Cricut 101 class, which allows me to use my somewhat rusty skills as a software functional analyst and of technical writer! I think going forward, Pat and I will be friends and possibly co-operate on some projects.I'm also benefitting from Pat's unbelievable knowledge when it comes to using the Cricut, which makes me a very happy Cricuter! I can't wait to dig into Design Studio, the Gypsy and Make the Cut!

Ouuu Coupons Week of May 24 to 30

ARCHIVERS
Still no new coupons from Archivers, but the ones you got mailed are still good till the end of the month! Here is the link to their latest ad.

AC MOORE
AC Moore has completely revamped their paper crafting area.  Here is a link to their latest ad.  The coupons seem to be imbedded in the ad this time!

HOBBY LOBBY
HL has a 40% off any regular price item coupon for this week. Click here to go to their coupon print page.

MICHAEL's
Michael's is having a coupon bonanza this week.  Click here to go and pick and print your coupons! This week there is a 60% off (from the MSRP) on Cricut cartridges costing $69.99 that are in stock.  Wonder if they have any left!!!(they didn't at the Michael's that I went to)

Have fun shopping and do post and let us all know if you got anything this week using the coupons!

Win One or More May Giveaway Entries!

I think that charity scrapbook events are the bees knees! (whatever that means, lol) I attend them whenever I can, I gift things for their goody bags and door prizes, I try to encourage others to attend via my blog, websites, postings and through the Charity Scrapbook Buddies blog on Facebook!

With that in mind, I promised that I'd give you all another chance to win an additional entry into the May giveaway. With only a few days left to the June 1st drawing, here is what you need to do to add one or more entries. In addition to following the basic steps to enter the May giveaway of the Independence Cricut cartridge, which you can find here, if you haven't already done so, please join the Charity Scrapbook Buddies group on FB for an additional entry into the draw. Once you have joined, or if you are already a member, please post back here that you are a member. Get someone else to join and get them to post here that you refered them, and I'll give you another entry! In addition, if a Charity Scrapbook buddy is the winner of May giveaway random drawing, I'll add a little something to their prize!

In the Spirit of Friendship - Meet Sue Neal

One of the things I like to do on this blog is to introduce my friendly readers to exceptional people. Sue fits that bill perfectly! She is a wife of 28 years, a mom and a career woman who is fearless and is likely to try just about anything...legal! If you want to see one of the reasons I'm growing to love this woman, you need to view this video!

Most of you may have heard of Sue, who has been active in the scrapbook/card making industry for a while now.  Sue and I recently met online and discovered we had a few things in common. We have our roots in the same neck of the woods, la Belle Province, and both love paper crafting! We also seem to share the same cooky sense of humor! Funnier still, she recently spoke of her favorite meal and it totally mirrored mine! Gotta love that Bearnaise sauce, right Sue? One of her favorite places to visit is Belgium, the land of my ancestors, parents, grandparents and even my sister were born there! One more coincidence?  A bunch of friends of mine are going to Utah for a visit in June.  I was supposed to go, but can't.  They are all scrapbook fanatics.  Yesterday I found out that they were going to have a class given by...you guessed it...Sue! Now I doubly wish I could go, but it just isn't in our budget this year!

Now go on, visit her blog... I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

My May ATC Exchange with Janie

In December, my friend Janie and I decided that instead of giving each other Christmas presents, we would exchange ATC cards every month!  Which reminds me that June is almost around the corner!  I wanted to share my May ATC card, because it is my favorite so far.  One of my goals this year has been to use my stamps and ink pads more!  Here is a picture of everything I used to make the front of the card. I added the friend paper clip after the fact, so it isn't in the picture!

Now here is a picture of the finished front of the card! I  first used the lime green all over the card, then added the tan to the bottom and two shades of blue to the top part,  The stamp and butterfly embosing die cut is from SU.

All About Jessie's

Jessie is such a sweetheart! And her being here with us, to laugh, sing and scrap is nothing short of a miracle! Her mom, Patti is without doubt, a gift to all of us! Patient, gentle, strong, there are a lot of lessons we could learn from her, from this family, from their resilience in the face of odds that would have cut down most of us or left us whimpering in a corner!

It isn't an easy life they have! But what a rich life they have made it! Little Mackenzie, Jessie's daugther sings like an angel.  There is knowledge beyond her years in her eyes, and something else too, a fiendish naughtiness, which I suspect is not uncommon in a cute 10 year old, who loves acting! Zack, Jessie's son is now tasked with the "exercises" a dastardly period of therapy, which helps keep Jessie limber, but at a price, one that can''t be easy for a young man to put his mom through. But he does it, because that is part of his contribution to his mother's care. And it is so obvious, especially when you look at him, when he is not aware that you are doing so, that he loves his mom!

John or Pops, as everyone calls him, is the dad of the family. That man loves fiercely, protectively. I'm not sure that there is much that Pops can't do, lay down hardwood floors or cook or help care for Jessie, he does it all! Another member of Jessie's team is her brother, Michael and a lovely woman named Jane who comes in and helps out wherever and however she can. She has one more connection to Jessie, she is a scrapbooker, and those of us who know Jessie, know how happy scrapping makes our friend Jessie!

It's a tough life for Jessie and for her family, and I'm truly in awe and blessed to have met her before the "accident" and lucky to know the woman of character she has become! She was always a wonderful lady, but she has added layers of grit, determination, patience that have allowed her to come such a long way from the 2% life expectancy the doctors' gave her!  Thank goodness her mom refused to listen to them!

The pictures here are of a present I made for Jessie, for I think she is the bravest person I know.  They are of her children, her mom, farm, her life and of course, her favorite scrapbook store! We had such a great time visiting Scrapbook Village! Thanks Jessie, for a stupendous weekend. I'll be back soon, you know I promised!

Where are all the Coupons???

If you are wondering where all the coupons went, so am I!  Truth is that Archivers did a mail-out a couple of weeks ago that covers the month of May completely coupon wise.  When they do that, they will come out with an ad, but not usually with another coupon. But here are all the others!

HOBBY LOBBY
Click here for this week's ad and here for the 40% off one regular priced article here.

MICHAELS (Click on the image to go to the printable size one.)

AC MOORE COUPONS (Click on the image to go to the printable one.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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