Fisk-a-Teers Fiska-Friendzy ~ Virginia City

When I heard that there would be a regional Fisk-a-teer event close enough to drive to, I signed up immediately. In fact, I was the first one to sign up. Friday November 7th, my hubby joined me on my trip to the Virginia City Fisk-a-Friendzy 2008. After stopping to get some travel food and look for more orange clothing and accessories, we headed down the road. Our trip from Boise, Idaho took us about 7 hours (not including the ½ hour or so that we drove around lost looking for the right highway out of town).

We got into Reno about 7:30 pm and were disappointed to find that the first scrapbook store we stopped at was closed. We decided to try one more and found the girls at Treasured Memories having a private crop. They let us in to say “hi” and a few of them were excited to report that they would be there on Saturday, including the sweet owner Kathy. They gave us suggestions for dinner and we were on our way. Contrary to popular belief, although Reno is a gambling town, not everything stays open all night, including the buffets. We finally ate a wonderful, leisurely dinner at Outback Steakhouse and Dennis enjoyed (and shared) his birthday dessert. We stayed at Circus Circus in a very nice quiet room.
We headed up the mountain to Virginia City early the next morning. When Angela told us it is a winding road she wasn’t kidding. I’m not a fan of heights and the switchbacks and drop offs were a little nerve wracking. The view of the valley was beautiful though. We arrived just in time for everyone to check in. My hubby high-tailed it out of there (too many women, too few men) and I got to work helping Angela set up her prize display. I was shocked at how many prizes Fiskars had donated. I didn’t even try to count them. There was a Rock, Paper, Trimmer; Frankies with ink, Ink by Steph skull scissors, Heidi Grace flower scissors, squeeze punches, paper packs, magazines, swivel craft knife (how do I find one of those cool knives??!!), and so much more. Angela also had tools set out that the ladies could try out. I watched Julie play with Frankie and decided I would love to get one. Wasn’t I surprised when I found out that I won one for my website idea :)

I only created one card the entire day. I was a little jittery from too much caffeine and Fisk-a-friendziness. It was so great to meet every one and I had fun just walking around talking and helping out when I could. The popcorn, hot cocoa, orange licorice, and chocolate were all delicious. Lunch and dinner were wonderful. My hubby joined us for the shredded barbeque sandwiches at lunch and I asked all 100 ladies to join in singing Happy Birthday. He ran out as quickly as he could enjoying his cute birthday cake (thanks Angela!) and he even let me sleep in the same room that night ;)
One of the highlights of the day was the train ride. Angela asked me to be ready to film because our cowboy friends were going to “rob” us. I thought Julie was just the unlucky victim of a silly skit and joined in the chants of “hang her.” It wasn’t until I realized that the large box Suzanne was holding had a pair of very large scissors that I knew we had a third Fisk-a-teer of the Year. I couldn’t scream in delight since I was holding the video camera for Angela but I was very excited for Julie. She is so deserving of the award.

I couldn’t believe how orange everyone was! I had picked up some orange sweatpants to go with my orange shirt but orange is not a flattering color on my behind (they will be going back to Wally World). I loved Donna Jean’s orange wig, Totally Tami and Kathi Jo’s cute embroidered sweatsuits, the Fiskar Floozy and the girls with the Fisk-a-crowns. We were a sea of orange! I even borrowed Ms. Jackie’s camera guide and relearned how to use my PowerShot color accent mode. I have some very orange pictures I’ll have to share.

It was so great to see Stephenie and Suzanne again. I know it was a really long flight for both of them but it was great to have them there. I was really sad to find out that Cheryl was too sick to join us but I know she has her own event next weekend. I loved getting to see five other Nifty Fifties. It was like a mini-reunion. I hope Fiskars lets us do it again next year. If they do, I hope we can do it earlier in the year in hopes of avoiding snow. Coming down off the mountain in snow was even more nerve-wracking than the trip up when I could see the drop offs.
Sunday morning, we headed out early and stopped by Treasured Memories Too on our way out of town. They had really cute gift bags for the Fisk-a-teers and the employee there was really sweet. She helped us look up our driving route on MapQuest and we were on our way.

Once I got home (after another 7 long hours and getting lost trying to find where I95 was in Winnemucca) I happily unpacked my loot and started a thank you card for Fiskars. I used my Leave it to Weaver and Threading Water punches. I stamped it with my new HG Cherrywood Lane stamps; and I embellished it with a flower and button from our make-and-take. I included one of my ATCs that has my Fisk-a-teer picture framed by the Coming Up Roses Border and Corner punch.

Thank you Fiskars for a wonderful weekend full of fun, food, and friends! Can we do it again next year?!

Iris Folding for Kids

Recently I taught my 6 year old's 1st grade class how to iris fold. First of all, I have to say it was crazy! We had 19 children and 3 adults. It was a pretty good ratio although I would recommend another adult if I did it again. I really simplified the folding for the kids. I numbered all of their paper strips beforehand. We had enough tape rolls that each pair of students had a roll. The hardest concept for them to grasp was the "edge" of the paper. I don't know how many times I said line up the "edge" of the paper with the lines while pointing to the "edge" and the lines.

I practiced with my 4 year old Kylie before I attempted it at school. She did a great job. (Of course, she has seen me iris fold for the last 4 years so she had a little bit of an advantage.) Still, I think she did a great job and I loved her drawing on the front afterwards.

I video taped her doing a simplified iris fold but deleted it from my camera after I downloaded it to the computer. I moved the video segments and now I can't open them. Hopefully I can revive them but if not, I will do another video. Kylie loves to iris fold so she won't complain.

The computer I am on won't let me convert my instruction sheet to a PDF file. I am just going to post the instructions here and you can click on the pattern and print it up. I made mine 3 inches and used my Fiskars circle cutter to cut them out.

IRIS FOLD CIRCLE PATTERN
Instructions for younger children.

Material List
Template (3” circle cut from center of 8 ½” x 11” cardstock – save the page with the hole, not the circle)
Single Sided Tape (one roll for every 2 students)
4 Colors of Cardstock (11” x 1” strips)
Holographic or sparkle paper (1” square)
Extra materials in case some get lost.
Several extra sets of hands (1 adult per 4 or 5 children)

Parent’s/Teacher’s Instructions:
Tape template to paper with pattern
Cut each paper strip in 4 - two 3” strips and two 2 ½ ” strips
Number strips following the color pattern, starting with the 2 longer strips of each color first.
Have children tape paper pieces, face down, to template following the number order.
Tape the holographic paper, face down, over the iris.
Child can turn over and decorate the front side of his/her paper when he/she is done folding.
I strongly recommend practicing this technique before teaching it to children.
For a demonstration of iris folding, you can watch this video.

Color Pattern:
Color 1: 1, 5, 9, 13
Color 2: 2, 6, 10, 14
Color 3: 3, 7, 11, 15
Color 4: 4, 8, 12, 16

Child’s Instructions:

Please listen to your teacher give instructions.
You are working on the back side of your picture so your paper strips should face down.
Tape your paper strips in the same order that you count 1 to 16.
Line up the edge of your paper strips along the lines and tape on both sides.
Tape your glitter paper over the “iris” when you are done taping all of your paper strips.

By the way, for those who follow my sporadic blog postings, our daughter Kylie has almost fully recovered from her horse accident. She only has some minor hearing loss.

Tag! I'm it!

My sister Jenna tagged me so I'd better respond this time. (I never got around to it last time.)

3 Current Goals:

• Get caught up on email and clean up my inbox (big goal with snail speed internet)
• Make plans to move our belongings from Utah
• Find my desire to craft (I lost it in the process of moving - I know its here somewhere)

3 Current Obsessions

• Computer card games (they pass the time while the internet takes time to load)
• Reading Harry Potter books
• Moose Tracks or Bunny Tracks ice cream

3 Fears

• Heights
• Lack of money
• Being on time (my son's school is 45 minutes away this year)

3 Random Facts

• We've moved 12 times in the last 11 years and lived in 4 states
• My kids have used my craft tools more than me the past 2 months since I misplaced my desire to craft
• One of my cat's names is Sompalataya (sp?) but we call her Taya (it means "faith" in Tagalog) - my roommate named her

I'm tagging my sister Julie http://bensonsonthebay.blogspot.com/ ; my Fiskafriend Angela http://angeladaniels.squarespace.com/ and my best friend in Utah Niecia http://rlittlepeople.blogspot.com/

Kylie is Home!

Some of you may know, but most of you will not, that Kylie was kicked in the head by a horse last week. Thirty stiches and 5 nights in the hospital later she is home again. She is doing really well although a little wobbly due to fluid and swelling in her ear wrecking havoc with her equilibrium. The left side of her smile isn't cooperating due to swelling by her facial nerves. She is happy to be home though and back to her story telling, singing, drawing self again. We are grateful for the power of prayer and for the wonderful doctors and nurses at St Lukes in Boise. We couldn't have asked for better care.

Welcome home Kylie!!

P.S. Our next art kit donations will be going to St Lukes hospital. There play room staff was just amazing! They would welcome art kits for their patients would can't leave their rooms. We'll include some of Kylie's drawings in our next set of cards along with some of Cameron's. Please let us know if you are interested in purchasing cards.

More Art Kit Donations!

We have made arrangements to donate another dozen art kits this week to South Valley Santuary in Midvale. "South Valley Sanctuary is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing shelter and supportive services, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to men, women and children who have been victimized by domestic violence." Last year they provided shelter to 238 children and their parents. They are excited to receive art kits for the children in their shelter. I really wish we had more than 12 kits though.

We won't get to visit the shelter in person, but I think it will still mean a lot to Cameron to know that his art kits will go to children who often have to flee their abusers with nothing.

Although we have sold all of Cameron's cards (3 dozen sets total), we are excited to continue this project. Cameron has really enjoyed sharing art supplies with children in need. We hope to create more cards to sell in the future and continue to share art kits.

Cameron and Kylie at the zoo last month.

Kylie's Paper Birthday Cake

I realized that I forgot to share pictures of Kylie's paper birthday cake. I made the cake for Kylie's party favors for her 4th birthday. I was able to fit a sucker, squishy ball, Happy Feet ring, and a mini box of Nerds candy in each triangle cake piece.
I got this cake idea from a post at CircleofCrafters.com. I had seen a paper cake before so I decided to give it a try. I found a template at Mirkwood Designs for cake pieces and copied them at 75% so that I could cut 2 from each piece of 12x12" paper. I then made 8 pieces, cut them out, scored, folded and taped them. All of the papers I used to decorate the cake are Heidi Grace from the It's My Party line (thanks Deea for the paper!) I used my Fiskars Lacy Days of Summer border punch on the pink patterned paper and the blue paper is punched with my Fiskars A Dozen Roses embossing/border punch. The blue paper is flocked and reminded me of frosting. The center flowers are layered on some punched Fiskars Oopsie Daisy Xtra large squeeze punch flowers and punched vines that I outlined with Sakura souffle pens. The punch under the candles is Fiskars Bling Bling small squeeze punch.

This took hours to make but even Cameron said that is was well worth the time. And Kylie did have a real cake...strawberry shortcake with fresh strawberries and whippy cream. Yumm!

Cameron's Video

We made our first art kit delivery yesterday to Primary Children's Hospital. Cameron was so excited to take his first set of art kits to the "primary kids." Although we couldn't personally deliver a kit to any of the children, they did allow us to take them to the play room at the hospital where the art kits will be used. They were so sweet to Cameron and so touched by his generosity. We forgot to take the squeeze punches, decorative scissors, glue sticks and construction paper (they were in a seperate box). We delivered them today and Cameron was so excited to see Marie again (she was our donation contact at the hospital). When we left, he was sad that we wouldn't be seeing her again. We plan to deliver the next group of art kits to the homeless shelter. We still have a few more sets of cards to sell. Please email us if you are interested in purchasing them.

We have more video from our visit and will post it as soon as we download it from our friends camera. Thanks Niecia for videotaping for us! And thank you everyone who has helped Cameron with his Card Project!!

Art Kits are Ready!

Remember these?

Well, look at this! This is what $180 in art supplies looks like

(with some punch, scissor and paper donations).

Yeah!!! We have 24 art kits ready to deliver to Primary Children's Hospital next Wednesday. Each kit has a sketch book, coloring book, washable markers, crayons, pencils and stickers. We will also be delivering some Fiskars squeeze punches, decorative scissors, glue sticks and construction paper for their craft room. Cameron is excited to deliver them and the hospital is very excited to receive them. This has been such a fun project. The kids helped with flattening craft ribbon and Kylie sharpened lots and lots of pencils (have to love automatic pencil sharpeners =) We just need to decorate the outsides of the bags and they are ready to go.

THANK YOU to everyone who has helped out by buying cards, making extra donations (thanks Mumzy, Shirley, Wendy Jo and Jenna!), and helping to sell cards (thanks Mumzy and Shirley!). Thank you Fiskars for the scissors and sqeeze punches.

We will continue Cameron's donation project with the sales of his remaining cards. We may even make future cards with new drawings. We would still really like to make art kit donations to the homeless shelter and domestic abuse shelters as well.

Trainings and Raindots

First, I have to say that I get really, REALLY frustrated when blogger decides to erase my entire post when I try to post it. Doesn't it realize that I just spent an hour, off and on, trying to get this post typed while taking care of kids and Shirley??? Deep breath......
Here we go again: This past Thursday April 24th, I held a tool demonstrator training class for the local scrapbook store managers and buyers in the greater Salt Lake area. Deea Hobbs, the local Fiskars sales rep, set up the training at Heartland Paper Co. in Taylorsville, Utah. After I showed everyone how the Fiskars tools work, we had some prize give-aways, a wonderful lunch (YUMMY sandwiches), make & takes, and time to play with the tools. It was so great to meet all of these wonderful ladies. I loved to hear how excited they were to learn how to use the tools that they sell every day in their stores and warehouses. Thank you ladies for spending your afternoon with us. I hope you had as much fun as I did! Thank you Deea for the wonderful prizes, lunch, make & take, and just being the sweet you that you are!
Raindots! I LOVE raindots! They are so fun and so easy to use! This year there are new raindots shaped like eyelets. These are perfect for the eyelet challenged like myself. I just punched a 1/8" hole and stuck a raindot over the top. Voila! I was done! That was much too easy and much too cute! Thanks May from Fiskateers for sharing some so I could play! And since my card is all about spring, I just have to say "HAPPY SPRING" everyone! Its finally going to hit the mid-70's here today. I am soooo ready for spring.

My Surprise

I got the most wonderful surprise from my friend Carolyn in Australia! She has sent me the Arte Y Pico Award. I met her through http://www.circleofcrafters.com/. She is an amazing card maker and crafter. I now have to select 5 people I believe are deserving of the award as well. I have to get the kids to bed and decide on my 5 so I will have to post them later.

Here is how this works:

1) I have to select 5 blogs who deserve the award for their creativity, interest and design and their contribution to the blogging community irrespective of language.

2)Each award must name the author and a link to their blog so that others may visit their blog

3)Each award winner must show the award and put the name and link of the person they received it from.

4)The award winner and the person who awarded it must show a link to the "Arte Y Pico" blog so that others will know the origin of the award.

Thank you Carolyn for considering me worthy of this award!

The Arte Y Pico Award

(The site is in Spanish. I used http://babelfish.altavista.com/ to translate.)

Arte Y Pico Awards

It was fun to choose the blogs of those that I felt deserved the Arte Y Pico Award. I love the inspiration I get from so many wonderful crafters out there. So without much ado, here are my winners:

I have just recently discovered Lea's blog while reading http://www.fiskateers.com/. Lea creates so many amazing projects. I'm definately inspired!

One of the most amazing photographers I have ever met is Jane Hasty. You can see Jane's blog here. I love all of her baby photos. I could spend an hour just looking at cute babies!

Another Utah girl is my Fiska-friend and fellow Fiskars certified tool demonstrator Erin. Check out Erin's blog here and see her wonderful cards and projects. Wonderful inspiration.

I have never been the best doodler. Here is Stephanie's blog with her wonderful doodles and inspiration. She is also the creator of Home and Heart magazine.

Here is Spidergirl Angela's blog. I love her scrapbook pages, ScrapSecrets, and candy reviews.

Congrats ladies on your Arte Y Pico Awards!

Fiskars Fingertip Craft Knife

I know that a lot of my posts lately have been about Fiskars tools. As a certified tool demonstrator, I like to try out the new tools that I might get to demo. Here is my review of the Fiskars Fingertip Craft Knife that I posted at Fiskateers.com.

I have to admit that the first time I tried the fingertip craft knife, I did not like it. I borrowed a fellow fiskateers at a tool training and used it for about one minute. To me, it seemed like a redo of something that already works. I love exacto knives and have never had a problem with their shape.

When I saw the PINK fingertip craft knife in Target, I figured it was worth buying one. I hadn't used it very much in the first few weeks that I had it. The night before last, I needed to cut out some games for my son's kindergarten teacher. I had an alphabet snake and some cracked alphabet eggs that needed to be cut out. I started out with scissors. It was very tiring on my hands to do that much cutting in circles and swirls.

I decided to try my fingertip knife. I LOVED it! I figured my regular exacto knife would work as well so I switched over for a few minutes. I was amazed at how much better I liked the fingertip craft knife. It was much more comfortable on my finger and I didn't find myself over hyper-extending my finger like I usually do (see picture below ~ my finger bends at a weird angle).

My only complaint is that the hard plastic wrap around puts a dent in my finger and kind of hurts after a while. I solved that problem by wrapping one of my daughters hair ties around the side putting pressure on my finger. Maybe fiskars could make them with softer plastic. I don't know how that would affect the cost - which, by the way, is awesome at less than $5.

Thanks Fiskars for a great tool that I didn't even know I needed but LOVE!

Fiskars A Tisket, A Tasket Border and Corner Punch

Ok, so I'm lovin' these new border and corner punches. I can't seem to do a project lately without including them in some way. My newest corner and border punch is A Tisket, A Tasket. Although I don't LOVE it quite as much as Comin' Up Roses, I still really, really LIKE it. I really like how you can trim the outer edge of the punched border for a pretty edge vs. a squared edge.

The layered card was super simple. I cut 4 squares: (2) 4", 3", and 2". After using the border and corner punches, I inked the middles lightly so that the punchouts would show. I then glued the layers together and added a flower and brad.

Fiskarscrafts.com has some great examples of using the new Border and Corner punches. Check them out for some more great ideas.

Cameron's Donation Cards are Here!

Cameron's cards are finally done! I ordered them with the cheapest postage so that we could keep the card cost down. It felt like forever for the order to arrive but we finally got them today. I also decided to only do sets of 4 cards and took the 4 pictures that had the most votes via email and message boards.

The cost will be $7 for a set of 4 notecards with envelopes. The insides of the cards are blank and Cameron's picture is on the back. Half of that cost will go towards the cost of printing. (It cost $3.52 per set to print them.) The other $3.50 will go towards art supplies for kids at the local children's hospital as well as the homeless shelter.

I ordered 12 sets of cards to start with. Cameron has already sold 4 sets to family and friends. He is really excited to get the art supplies so that we can take them to the hospital. A friend of mine who works for Fiskars is also sending some children's scissors to include with the art kits (Thank you May!). Cameron also wants to include a small toy which I think is a great idea. If you are interested in ordering cards, please email me. Thank you everyone who has been supportive with votes and suggestions.

Fiskars Comin' Up Roses Border and Corner Punch

I've been watching for these punches ever since I saw them demoed at CHA on the Pink Donut Fiskars video. It looked so easy to use and so beautiful. My lss (local scrapbook store) got them in yesterday and I ran right over to get one. I was NOT disappointed. I LOVE it! It really is SO easy to use. I love the layered effect. It looks beautiful as just a picture mat too but I just love to layer them. Just cut your borders one inch larger than the previous one and start layering.

I do find it easier to punch the corner individually from the border if I'm using cardstock but with regular weight scrapbook paper, you can punch both at the same time. And according to Cameron (my 6 year old), they are a "one man tool!" I accidentally pinched his hand when I tried to punch the corner while he punched the border. Ooops! Sorry buddy! From now on, its a "one man tool" when he's working it. TFL!

Cameron's Project

Two days ago, Junior Achievement talked to our son Cameron's kindergarten class about thinking of ways they can make money to help others. He came home so excited, telling us he had to make money and he was going to start selling his artwork. He insisted he was going to sell it to his friends who, of course, will pay lots and lots of money for his drawings (hee hee :)

Hold on, back up....... Why does he NEED to make money and what does he want to do with it? He is only 6. He told me he wants to help the kids at the hospital. When his daddy broke his back we went to Primary Children's Hospital (next to the hospital we were at) to go to the cafeteria. He saw the kids there who were sick and drew some pictures for them. He said he wants to give the money he makes from his drawings to them. Is this for real? Our 6 year old wants to give money to other kids instead of buying toys? He insists that he really wants to do it and drew a picture that he wanted to sell out on the street to passersby. He even got really mad at us and started to cry when we told him to wait because we needed to make some phone calls and it would take time. Time is not something well understood by small children. They want it and they want it now.

I did make some phone calls and the hospital said they would be happy to take donations. However, rather than money, we offered to buy washable markers, crayons, coloring books, and drawing pads. We are also going to look into making donations to the homeless shelter and domestic abuse shelter. Cameron is soooo excited and wants to do it now!! I wanted to share this with our family, friends, and crafting acquaintances and get some feedback. I have gone through the mountains of drawings he has done the past couple of months to find some to turn into greeting cards. I am trying to decide on a price to list them at if I sell them online. I have set up a one question survey at:
http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/survey.zgi?p=WEB227KMGV6YQP

A set of 6 cards will cost $4.90 to have professionally printed. There will be 6 different images in the set. I forgot to mention on the survey that all proceeds, above the cost of the cards will go towards buying supplies for the kids at the hospital and shelters. I have spoken with Primary Children's and they are excited for the donations and to meet Cameron.

If any of you can help with the survey I will really, really appreciate it. Also, will you please look at the pictures below that we are deciding between for greeting cards. I would love to know your favorite 3. You can respond to this post by clicking the comment link below. You can respond anonymously if you aren't a blogger. Also, if you have voted on Fiskateers.com, CircleofCrafters.com or via email, please don't vote again. You can always leave a comment though :)

Thank you!

29 March 2008 Editing to say that the overall winner with votes from my wonderful Fiskateer friends and friends and family who emailed me was K ~ the tow truck and car. The other pictures with the most votes were C ~ Blue Flatbed truck, A ~ Butterfly and flower, and J ~ School bus with barn. The animals were also popular with D ~ Penguin with baby and N ~ Cat on sidewalk. I will be ordering one set of prints to check the quality of Costco and I am also going to check prices locally. Thank you to everyone who voted. I can't wait to get the cards printed and help Cameron sell them. Please stay tuned for more information.

North Ogden Demonstrator Training A Success!

I had such a great time training the ladies who joined me for a Fiskars Tool Demonstrator Training this past Tuesday. Erin drove clear up from Payson. Jeri drove down from Willard, and Amaryllis drove down from Logan. I also got to train two of the store employees, Amy and Jen. They were ALL so much FUN to train! I wish them the best of luck in finding many demonstrator opportunities and I KNOW that they will definately use their new skills. They were all so amazingly talented. I wish I could sit around and play with the tools with them some more because I'm sure that I would learn so much from them.

They all loved the UltraShapeXpress! They also really liked the rotary trimmer and how easy it is to change the blade. I had a scallop blade in it that they all just LOVED. Other favorites were the craft drill, stamp press, and squeeze punches.

Thank you ladies for a wonderful, crafty, FUN afternoon! I hope I get to meet you all again soon!

Northern Utah Fiskars Certified Tool Demonstrator Training - March 11th

I'm excited to announce that I have scheduled a Fiskars certified tool demonstrator training for northern Utah. The training will be at Daisy Dots and Doodles in North Ogden on March 11th from 12 - 4 pm. I only have 8 spots available so if you are interested, please email me or fiska-message me right away! Or you can call the store directly at (801) 737-9152.


Here are all of the tools we will be training on. Even if you have used some of these tools before, I have some great tips and tricks to teach you as well. The trainings are always a lot of fun and I'm excited to meet more Fiskateers. I even have a few prizes to give away :)

There are also chats scheduled at the Fiskars chat room about being a Certified Fiskars Demonstrator. The schedule is:

Wednesday March 5th 2pm Eastern/11am Pacific

Wednesday March 5th 10pm Eastern/7pm Pacific

Thursday March 6th Noon Eastern/9am Pacific

Thursday March 6th 4pm Eastern/1pm Pacific

I hope to make it to a few of the chats. Here is the link: http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/prechat.aspx

Here is another link to the Fiskateers calendar with all of the chats, make and takes, and trainings listed:

http://fiskateers.com/blog/calendar-of-events/

I hope to fill up my class. It is so fun for me to share my love of these tools! I love to see the excitement of my trainees when they see how easy they are to use. COME JOIN THE FUN!

P.S. I have a very imformal training also scheduled for March 18th from 11am - 3pm at my house. I have several of my neighbor friends coming over to learn how to use the tools. If you are interested in that date, please let me know. My email is janddbybee at hotmail dot com.

Birthday Cake for Cameron

First of all, a disclaimer. I have not decorated a cake with decorating tips for years (like 20) and that one was really simple. I have 39 professional decorating tips that I have wanted to learn to use but just haven't. I knew that Cameron wanted an excavator on his cake. I also knew that I probably wouldn't be able to find that at the store and that I already blew our birthday budget on craft supplies for the kids to play with at the party. So I made a chocolate cake from scratch ( Top Secret Recipes chocolate cake mix ) and Wilton buttercream frosting.

I hope to get some food color pastes next time because I heard they make much brighter/darker colors. The "dirt" in the hole was Dove dark chocolates chopped up. Considering I only had 45 minutes to frost the cake and decorate it, it turned out okay. Next time I plan to find a cake decorating book and find out how to use all of the cool decorating tips that I have. I also plan to give myself more than 45 minutes to decorate a cake. And I plan to have some good frosting bags. The two I had were old and split mid-frosting. I had to use zip-lock bags instead.

While creating this post, I just browsed the Wilton website and realized just how much there is to learn about decorating cakes. Fun! and fattening!

All About Me

I finally made an All About Me scrapbook page. I never make pages just about me. I'm glad that I made it though. It was a real growing experience to think about where I've been, where I'm at right now and what I want to accomplish.

I used all Cloud 9 Chocolate Chalet and Sorbet Villa papers and embellishments. Now I need to figure out a cute/fun way to hook the folder closed. The folder actually has pages inside.

Thanks for stopping by and looking!

Tag....What Are you Doing Right Now

Fiskateer lead Stephenie was tagged at Fiskateer StephAnie's Blog. I'll take on the challenge too. I took these pictures this morning at 10 am while the kids and I were getting our day started (hooray for afternoon kindergarten). First, my desk, where I usually start my day checking emails. Yes, it is a total mess! I definately need to organize this today. Kind of reminds me of my craft table. I was in a hurry searching for cards to give at a family birthday party and this is what is left. Its a total mess too!! I need to clean it up because Angela (Spidergirl) mentioned Leah and Johanna's Etsy shop on Fiskateers and I saw these totally cute rolodex recipe card holders. I want to make one of these!

Next, I tried to take a picture of Cameron. He was telling a cute story about penguins but refused to let me take a picture. He likes "privacy" when he tells stories. He usually locks himself in his drawing room.

Kylie was doing a puzzle ~ her favorite thing to do. The cat was looking for some attention - her favorite thing to do! Kylie is such a sweetie and almost always ready to smile for the camera but she was too busy doing her puzzle this time.



Breakfast for the kids: waffles. Breakfast for me: the yogart Kylie didn't like the flavor of and my favorite cereal I was hoping to eat . (4 hours later - I never got my cereal and I'm eating a tamale for lunch).


A picture of the time (on a cute clock my niece gave me) including me ~ dressed before noon (shock!). My favorite pjs that I practically live in every morning are in the laundry. Speaking of laundry ~ where did this pile come from!!!! I was caught up on Friday..... Oh yeah, I took the kids to the zoo Saturday since the temperature was a balmy 37 degrees F (its been WAY cold the past few weeks). I should have done laundry and shopping but we opted for FUN! (The picture is of the kids by a power pole - Cameron's favorite thing right now.) I did the grocery shopping at 9 pm and the laundry got ignored. Sunday, we had church and then a family party up north in Ogden.

I also attempted to take a self-portrait pic for an all about me page. I think I like this one - no glasses on, freckles showing (well.....age spots), no makeup on (I rarely wear it anyway) and smiling half descent. Maybe I'll have my hubby take one later - with make-up and my hair done. Maybe.....

Last, but not least, a picture of our weather here today. We woke up to blue skies. The weatherman forcasted a huge storm hitting by 9 am. At 11 am there were dark clouds but still no rain. Ten minutes later, I looked out the window and it was a blizzard. We got about 6 inches of snow in about 3 hours. I totally lost track of time this morning and had to send the carpool off without Cameron and take him to school myself. Driving in this kind of weather is NOT fun. I almost slid into another car on my way home but was finally able to stop. I plan to stay home the rest of today!!

If you are reading this blog post, TAG your it! What are you doing right now?