CardsByJen

United States of Fiskateers Party

2011-10-27T18:59:00.004-06:00

In three weeks, I'm hosting a crafting party for Fiskateers in Boise, ID. I'm excited to spend a day crafting, making new friends, and eating good food. Here is the invite for anyone nearby who wants to register:

CraftsYouPrint

2010-05-30T11:32:00.005-06:00

So, its really been one and a half years since I last posted. I guess that shows how busy I've been. Now that I have a "real" job, I don't get to craft as much and I blog even less.

Today, I am posting a card I created from a pattern at http://www.craftsuprint.com/. They have a monthly craft challenge and as I just downloaded a flower themed sheet, I decided to play along. Here is my card created from a pattern called Ochidazia by Jolis DeAngelis. I've always liked Jolis' patterns from when I saw them at http://www.circleofcrafters.com/. I cut out the flower pieces and attached them to the card with foam pads. Then I embellished it with Fiskars raindots and brown ink.

I'm seriously considering selling my patterns on craftsuprint. I think it would be a lot easier way to sell my patterns and getting more exposure. I've had quite a few requests for iris fold patterns and cards lately. Why now when I'm busy and not 2 or 3 months ago when I had time to spare, I don't know. Well, I'm off to find crafty Bob and try to win some money - before I become a designer and can't search for him anymore.

Fisk-a-Teers Fiska-Friendzy ~ Virginia City

2008-11-19T12:02:00.010-07:00

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

2008-10-08T10:24:00.007-06:00

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!

2008-09-01T16:27:00.003-06:00

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!

2008-08-24T23:42:00.005-06:00

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!

2008-06-05T15:17:00.003-06:00

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

2008-05-23T19:50:00.003-06:00

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

2008-05-15T23:55:00.004-06:00

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!

2008-05-10T10:04:00.007-06:00

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

2008-04-28T14:45:00.002-06:00

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

2008-04-20T21:49:00.005-06:00

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

2008-04-20T21:00:00.000-06:00

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

2008-04-17T00:02:00.003-06:00

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

2008-04-11T21:37:00.007-06:00

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!

2008-04-11T20:00:00.004-06:00

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

2008-03-29T19:25:00.005-06:00

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

2008-03-14T22:52:00.010-06:00

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!

2008-03-14T21:00:00.001-06:00

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

2008-02-27T16:37:00.004-07:00

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

2008-02-13T17:50:00.004-07:00

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

2008-02-04T16:40:00.001-07:00

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

2008-01-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

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?

Playing with My Fiskars Tools

2008-01-16T23:17:00.000-07:00

I have had a lot of fun playing with my Fiskars tools the past week. Prepping for my training and then remembering what fun the tools are has inspired me to do a lot of crafty things this past week. I finished my CD calendar that I started in Texas, created several cards, made a scrapbook page for the January challenge at http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/ , and played lots with my texture plates and squeeze punches (http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/tools/t_thats-amore.aspx). Here is a sampling of the fun I've had:

My CD calendar pages

The calendar in the CD case

January sketch challenge

for FiskarsCrafts.com

Cards made with my squeeze punches, UltraShapeXpress, and texture plates.

Fiskars Tool Demo Training

2008-01-16T23:05:00.000-07:00

I had my first Fiskars tool demonstration training on Saturday January 12th. I had 11 wonderful ladies join me to learn all about how to use the wonderful tools (and a couple more) that I brought home from Texas. It was great getting together with 6 other Fiskateers and some others that we hope will join us at http://www.fiskateers.com/ . Each of the ladies went home with a knowledge of the tools as well as a crafty prize from me and Fiskars. I wish we had more time to just play with the tools and get to know each other. I've invited all of the ladies who came to come over and play with the tools some more and do some actual creating. My picture is of 8 of the 11 (I forgot to take a picture before 3 of them left :( I love the opportunity that Fiskars has given me to share such fun products and share my love of crafting. I look forward to finding my 9 other ladies to train soon! If you live in Utah and are interested in training, please email me!

Free Christmas Pattern

2007-12-07T21:02:00.000-07:00

I've been busy preparing for the holidays but I did promise a free holiday pattern. I decided to make a holly pattern since I had a new Fiskars circle cutter to play with. I did learn that it is easiest to use the circle cutter if you tape your paper down. Then you can focus on holding the cutter in place with one hand and turning the cutter body with the other.

I hope you like the pattern and I would love to see cards made with it!

Fiskars Tool Demonstration Card

2007-11-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

I created this card today using the tools I came home with from my Fiskars Roundup weekend. I used 10 tools total including my trimmer, UltraShapeXpress, eyelet tool, texture plate, 2 squeeze punches, circle border punch,embossing border punch, stamp press, tear edger, tape runner, and pop dot. The only tool I didn't use was my craft drill. I created this card for my Fiskars Craft Demonstrator training that I am going to hold in January. I plan to hold one training at my home and I hope to hold another at Provo Craft for employees of Roberts Crafts stores.

I am so excited to teach my Demonstrator classes! There are so many fun things that these tools can be used for and I can't wait to learn more. If you live in Utah and are interested in my class in January, please email me before January 5th. You don't have to be a Fiskateer - but heck, who wouldn't want to be. They send you a free pair of Fiskars scissors with your Fiskateer number engraved on them and they are constantly having surveys, challenges, and drawings for cool Fiskars products. Here is the link to Fiskateers if you've never heard of them or are thinking to yourself "A Fiska-what???" http://www.fiskateers.com/

Winter Fun

2007-11-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

I put together these pages last night for a contest at Fiskateers.com. They are giving away a Kodak printer. I would love a new printer for photos. I like my HP Officejet but I'm not thrilled with the picture quality. I actually had Costco print up these pictures.

I used the Heidi Grace Frost Blvd. line of papers for this layout. Thanks so much Heidi for the paper packs at the Fiskateer Roundup! Even my hubby loves these papers. When I showed him the page on the right, he said, "That is really cool paper!" I haven't done very many scrapbook pages and I have so much to learn but its fun to put the pages on cute paper instead of just in an album. I used my new Fiskars paper trimmers and border punches for these pages. I realize that I need to really know how to use these tools if I am going to train others how to be demonstrators. TFL!

Chrismas Wall Hanging

2007-11-12T00:19:00.000-07:00

I created this wall hanging based on a project done by Holly on FiskarsTV last year. (http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/tv/ dated 12/01/2006.)It is really quite simple. I used a Fiskars craft drill to drill a hole in the top and bottom of each CD. I taped the CDs to Cloud9 paper and then trimmed the paper using my Ultra ShapeXpress cutter. I went around each CD twice to make sure I trimmed through the paper (I have a dull blade that I definately need to replace). I then embellished with vinyl stickers, chipboard, gel pens, a tea bag medallion and an iris folded ornament. (I folded the tea bag with a fold shown to me by BobbiLynn from Cicleofcrafters.com) Then I threaded some ribbon through the holes and tied a knot at the bottom of eachCD so they won't slip. It would look great hanging in the middle of the room hanging from the ceiling since the CDs have shiny surfaces.

Happy Birthday to my Hubby!

2007-11-12T00:04:00.000-07:00

We celebrated my husbands birthday last week, which meant I had a good excuse to make Chocolate Ugly Cake. This cake is so good! Besides the thousands of calories in each piece, the only bad thing about it is the mess. I used 6 mixing bowls, a double boiler and about 5 smaller bowls to seperate my eggs. I had to clean my beaters numerous times during the process and I was left with a giant mess. It was soooo worth it though! My hubby loves raspberry filling in his chocolate cake. This was the first time we have ever added raspberry pie filling. I put it between the layers of cake and mousse. (This picture shows the last time I made it without the raspberry filling.) It was so yummy! I'm trying to be a good girl and not eat it all but it is way hard.

Here is the recipe. I wish I could take credit for creating something this heavenly but I actually found this recipe in the newspaper years ago.

CHOCOLATE UGLY CAKE

UGLY BATTER:
8 (1-ounce) squares
semi-sweet baking chocolate
6 tablespoons butter
6 egg yolks
4 egg whites
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup sugar
CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
FROSTING:
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
2 egg yolks
½ cup sugar (divided use)
2 egg whites
6½ (1-ounce) squares semi sweet baking chocolate
4 tablespoons butter

PREPARE BATTER: Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Fit bottoms of two 9-inch springform pans with circles of waxed paper and set aside.

Melt chocolate and butter in top of double boiler over simmering water. Cool. Pour chocolate mixture into large mixing bowl. Place egg yolks in small mixing bowl and whisk lightly. Whisk yolks into chocolate and set aside.

In small bowl of mixer, beat egg whites. As whites begin to stiffen, add salt and sugar and continue beating until whites are stiff and glossy, about 1 to 1/2 minutes. Fold egg whites into chocolate mixture. Divide batter evenly between prepared cake pans and bake in oven 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove cake from oven and cool. (The cake WILL drop. Don't panic! It is supposed to do that.)

PREPARE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE FROSTING: Whip cream and set aside. Place egg yolks and 1/4 cup sugar in small bowl of mixer and beat until frothy and doubled in volume. Set aside. In large bowl of mixer, beat egg whites. Add 1/4 cup sugar and beat until whites are stiff and glossy. Set aside. Melt chocolate and butter in top of double boiler over simmering water. Stir a bit of hot chocolate into yolks and immediately stir back into chocolate mixture in double boiler. Stir continuously. When mixture begins to thicken, slowly pour hot chocolate over egg whites, folding gently to combine. Cool. Gently fold in whipped cream.

TO FROST CAKE: Spread Chocolate Mousse Frosting overtop of first cake layer. Top with second cake layer. Frost and refrigerate. Makes one 9-inch round flat cake, so rich it will yield 12 to 16 slices. (For variation, spoon several tablespoon of pie filling over cake layers under the frosting.)

Pattern Suggestion?

2007-11-08T13:23:00.000-07:00

I just realized that both of the patterns I have shared recently on my blog are hearts. I would like to create a seasonal pattern that I can share with everyone but I would love some suggestions as to what my readers would like to see. If there is a Thanksgiving or Christmas shape that you would just love to do an iris fold card of, please let me know. I will pick one of your suggestions and make up a free pattern to post here.

Here is one idea for Christmas cards. Do a basic circle pattern and top it with a small piece of shiny gold or silver paper that has been trimmed with scalloped scissors to look like an ornament topper. I also used ribbon in place of one of my papers. It has a nice shiny finish (although I have no idea if it is acid free). I cut this circle out with my Fiskars ultra shapeXpress and a circle template. It is much easier and cleaner than cutting freehand. The circle at the bottom edge of the card front was done using an old CD. I didn't think about it then but I could have used my CD as a template with my shapeXpress. Instead I cut it freehand with scissors and I can see that its not perfect. Oh well, live and learn...and make another card the right way this time!!

I would seriously love to hear some suggestions for holiday patterns you would like to see.

Iris Folded Heart Tag

2007-11-07T20:59:00.001-07:00

In this video, I demonstrate iris folding a basic heart tag.

Heart Tag Pattern

2007-11-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

Here is the pattern to my heart tag that I exchanged at the Fiskateer Roundup. I actually used my Sizzix die for Hearts, Primitive to punch my tags. Enjoy!

Fiskateer Roundup

2007-11-06T17:35:00.000-07:00

Yee Haw!!! It was such an awesome weekend in San Antonio, Texas. I headed down on Friday morning and arrived in the early afternoon. The first people we met (besides the other Fiskateers on the bus) were the really awesome Fiskateer leads Holly, Cheryl, and Stephanie. This picture is of me and Cheryl. She is just as sweet as I expected her to be! I headed up to my room on the 19th floor (I really do not like to be up that high!) and met my roomie Ramona. After lugging my 50 pound suitcase through the airports and hotels (thank goodness for wheels!) I was ready to do something relaxing for a while. I met up with Amyre in the hotel lobby and we decided to head out and see a little bit of San Antonio. We took the riverboat ride, not knowing we would be going on it again with the Fiskateers on Saturday. The scenery was beautiful and it was neat to hear the history of San Antonio. Afterwards we headed into town in a search for the Alamo. We were only a few blocks away. I was suprised that it was in the middle of town and so big. After taking a ton of pictures, we headed back for dinner and our welcome from Fiskars and Brains on Fire.

I was so shocked at how many tools we were given to bring back to train other demonstrators. When we entered the salon for dinner, we each had a rolling tote and an orange cowboy hat. The totes had papers and mini albums in them. Over the course of the weekend, we received more tools than our "horses" could carry.

Friday and Saturday evening, we were given the opportunity to share any Christmas, Valentines, or family projects we have done. I shared a few of my iris folding cards and scrapbook pages. It was a little nerve racking to get in front of the camera and introduce myself and talk about my projects. When I was introducing myself once, I couldn't even remember my Fiskateer number. "Hi, I'm Jennifer B from Salt Lake City, Utah and I'm Fiskateer # ................duh............... what's my number...........Can I start over?" Hopefully they don't decide to show bloopers on FiskersTV :)

I decided to be bold and ask Suzanne Walker of FiskersTV if she would be interested in doing a segment on iris folding. Before I could even ask, she asked me if I would be willing to film a demonstration of my iris folding. She had seen my tags and really liked them. Trying not to scream, I told her I would love to. We ended up filming late Saturday night when my eyes were bloodshot and my hair was not looking it's best. (When I asked the camera guy if he could edit that out later, he laughed and said he was not a magician.) I was worried that I rambled a lot but they said it went good. I'm not going to get too excited for it to actually go on FiskarsTV but if it does, that will be way too awesome! This picture was taken before the segment shot.

I took several projects and way to many tools and hardly used any of them. We had plenty to keep us busy. We did a minibook and scrapbook page on Friday night. Saturday, we had four classes with projects in three of them (one scrapbook page, a round album, and a frame). That evening we had classes with Nancy from Cloud 9 and Heidi Grace from Heidi Grace Designs. We started a CD calendar in Nancy's class and made an altered notebook in Heidi's class. I just have to say that Heidi is so darn funny!!! I was laughing so hard that I was crying and could hardly see. Thanks Heidi! I haven't had a good laugh like that in a long time! This picture is of Holly and me holding my frame I made in her class.

Saturday day we also went to lunch and dinner as a group, saw the Alamo again, and took a riverboat ride again. It was great to hang out with such a great group of ladies! By Saturday evening I had had enough socializing and was ready to just be creative. I'm really good at socializing and being the last one at the party if it is with people I know well, but when I am getting to know people and worried about what others think, I find it very, very tiring. (Am I being too honest here?) I headed back to the hotel a little early from the dinner party and just tried to organize.

We were trained on so many really cool Fiskars tools. I can't wait to use my border and circle punches more. My squeeze punches are awesome! My kids love them because they are so easy to use. The trimmers are all really cool. The new paper lines we were given are really cool (each night we came into our rooms with paper packs from the different designers). I can't wait to find 20 people who would like to be trained as Fiskars demonstrators as well. It will be so much fun to share the fun and excitement of this past weekend!

My trip home was fairly uneventful. I did get to spend an hour chatting with Heidi Grace and Jenifer (another Fiskateer) as we waited for our flights. Dragging my 75 pounds of luggage through the airport was not fun and well worth the $3 for a luggage cart. The smiles on my kids faces when they saw me at the airport was priceless.

Thank you Fiskars and Brains on Fire for a weekend that far exceeded my expectations! It was so much fun! Thank you Holly for considering me worthy to be one of the Nifty Fifty! Thank you Ramona for being a great roommate and being understanding of my coming in late at night after you were already asleep. Thank you Amyre for hanging out with me. Thank you everyone for a weekend that I will never forget!!! I hope to see some of you again in the future.

Where I've Been....

2007-10-27T01:53:00.000-06:00

I'm in the process of creating 60 tags to exchange at a training session for Fiskars next weekend in San Antonio, Texas. I was invited, with 49 other Fiskateers, to be trained as a Fiskars product demonstrator. I am way excited for my trip and my training! I can't wait to meet all of the wonderfully creative people at Fiskars and from the Fiskateers.com website. I decided to iris fold my tags since I am one of the few people on Fiskateers who knows the art of iris folding. I'm still debating whether it was a wise idea since I have put hours into creating them. Hopefully they will be appreciated.

The heart was punched with a Sizzix heart punch. The papers are mostly Cloud 9 card stocks (that I didn't fold the edges). The picture was taken while I was in Florida two weekends ago with my hubby.

Our trip to Florida was wonderful! We stayed with BobbiLynn, the site administrator of CircleofCrafters.com. We had great plans to do lots of crafts but spent most of our time at the beach looking for shells while our men fished. The weather was sunny and warm. It was so hard to come home. I only created one card while I was there - a 3D card with an image from http://fred-she-said.blogspot.com/. I created this card for a black and white challenge at CircleofCrafters.com. The purple was behind the card when I scanned it so that the border would show.

I still have plans to work on putting my Simply Folding book on disk. I'll get started on it once I'm done with my training next weekend. If you are interested in the book or CD, please feel free to email me.

RAK Winner!

2007-10-08T09:13:00.000-06:00

Thank you so much everyone for your comments on my blog! It really means a lot to me that you've all taken the time to visit. In fact, I'm going to give away 2 books!

Congratulations Monica-FC and Cathy aka cathynurse on CircleofCrafters.com!

Ramdom.org chosen your comments as the winners! I'll be shipping you both your free copies of my new book "Simply Folding."

For those of you not lucky (or random:) ) enough to win today, please remember you can still purchase a copy of my book! I ship oversees as well. In fact, I have two books I'm shipping tomorrow to France and the Netherlands! To order, just email me here.

Please check back often as I plan to post new cards, iris folding tips, and other creative card making techniques in the future. For now, I'm going to mail two free books and go pack for my long awaited trip to Florida! I leave Wednesday and I'll be back next Monday!

They're Done!!!

2007-10-04T23:37:00.000-06:00

Here they are! I am so happy to say that my iris folding book is done!! So here is a picture of my first five books ready to ship.

Here are the patterns included:

• Heart
• Double Heart
• Circle
• Apple
• Football Helmet and Ball
• Baby Rattle
• Birdhouse
• Maple Leaf
• Frames
• House
• School House
• Tudor Home
• Lion
• Giraffe
• Horse
• Eagle
• Labrador Retriever

The book also includes illustrated instructions on how to iris fold so if you've never iris folded but always wanted to try, here is your chance.

Because I am so happy to have these done, I am going to RAK (random act of kindness) one of my samples to someone who comments here before next Monday at 9 am MST. Mind you, the sample is far from perfect because I ran low on ink as I was printing it up. The pictures aren't as sharp, but the patterns are all there and its free! So please leave a comment to enter the drawing and I'll announce the winner Monday.

So how do you order a book if you don't win the RAK? Just click here to email me and we'll make arrangements for payment and shipping. The cost is $10 plus the cost of shipping and the cardboard mailer. I prefer payments by Paypal or US money orders. Also, I'm curious how many people would be interested in a CD instead for $10 that includes everything in the book or possibly a download? I haven't sold downloads before so that would be something new to learn but if there is interest I will gladly look into it.

Oh, and because I am so happy, I am going to post a free pattern. Remember, it is copyrighted, so if you want to share, please share my blog address instead. Thanks again for everyone's support!

Sneak Peak!!!

2007-10-03T21:42:00.001-06:00

Here is the cover photo for my upcoming iris folding book "Simply Folding." I forgot how much time it takes to make all of the little changes to finish a book. I am so close to being able to say it is done. I hope the long wait hasn't discouraged any of you who are interested. I wondered this past week when I would ever get it done. Lucky for me we had rain on Saturday so my deck building hubby couldn't work. He took the kids to IKEA while I folded and folded and folded!

Almost There....

2007-09-26T01:16:00.001-06:00

After sitting at the computer half of the day, I have 14 patterns done and only 2 needing numbering. Yeah!!! I'm almost done. Then comes the process of putting the books together. My last book was 8 1/2" x 11" with a plastic spiral binding. It looks nice but is harder to ship because I usually put it in a box to protect the binding. I'm thinking that I may print this next book on legal size paper folded in half so it would be 8 1/2" x 7". I would staple the binding so the book would lay flat and could easily mail in a cardboard envelope. Any comments on whether that sounds good? Most of the patterns would be a good size for a 5x7 card.

Thank you!

2007-09-23T23:06:00.000-06:00

I just want to thank those of you who are reading my blog. I know a lot of you come over from CircleofCrafters.com and Fiskateers.com and I just want to say thanks!! (I think there might be a few of my family stopping by too) I also want to say thank you so much to those of you who leave comments!

I will try to keep my blog updated and share new cards as I create them. I took a break from patterns today but hope to get some more done tomorrow. I did get one more done last night so I have 8 ready to go! I have a busy week ahead but still hope to get my patterns done and ready to publish by the 1st week of October.

Eagle Cards

2007-09-22T22:11:00.000-06:00

These cards are for a challenge at CircleofCrafters.com. The challenge was to make two cards, one an iris fold and the other from the leftover bit cut out from the template. This is something I have never done before but it ended up being a lot of fun.

This is one of the patterns that will be in my upcoming book. I created this pattern almost two years ago. My hubby had mentioned how great an iris fold of an eagle would be. One and a half days later I finally had a pattern and card done. It was 96 folds when I first created it. I have cut the number of folds down to 56 for my book. The pattern is a little more challenging than some but well worth the effort.

It is also a great pattern for boy scouts when they become an eagle scout. I have made several for friends for that very reason.

Update on my upcoming book: I have 7 patterns done and at least 5 left to prepare to publish. Over half way!!!

New Iris Fold Book

2007-09-20T16:40:00.000-06:00

Well I am working furiously on my new iris fold book of patterns. I plan to have 10 - 15 of my original patterns in my book including:

Baby Rattle

Birdhouse

Maple Leaf

Double Hearts

Eagle Landing

Horse

Giraffe

Labrador Retriever

Lion

Tudor House frame

Schoolhouse frame

I have all but one of these patterns completed and I am now in the process of creating jpeg images that are clean and easy to read with computer generated lines and numbers. I hope you are all as excited as I am to see the final book! Keep an eye here for the latest updates.

Books No Longer Available at Scrapbook Store

2007-09-18T22:49:00.000-06:00

I have picked up all of my books from Heartfelt Creations. They sold quite a few in the beginning but they had them priced pretty high so sales slowed down dramatically. If you are interested in a book, please feel free to email me at janddbybee @ hotmail . com (no spaces) or call 302-0827 or 631-6815 (area code 801). The price is $10 plus shipping if you need it mailed.

Here is the link to the post with the pattern list: http://cardsbyjen.blogspot.com/2007/08/iris-folding-for-lds-crafter.html

Iris Folded Lion - Wishing U a Happy Birthday!

2007-09-18T22:43:00.000-06:00

I created this card from a pattern I created at least 1 1/2 years ago. I have always liked the pattern but I never got around to making a card from it. I am currently working on making a book of non-religious iris fold patterns and I had debated on whether or not to include this pattern. Since I don't like to pass on a pattern I haven't tried, I decided I had better make this one up. I turned it into a card for my son to give a friend turning 5. What do you think? Feel free to comment (the link is below this post). You don't even have to be a blogger to comment - just mark anonymous. TFL (Thanks for looking!)

2007-09-12T10:09:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures from the free Make & Take at the State Fair last night.

What a wonderful group of ladies (and one man) to teach such a fun and easy technique. I hope they all had as much fun as I did.

I was excited to see that my iris fold temple took a first place ribbon! My photograph is really bad and I'll have to take a better one later. My 5 year old son also took a blue ribbon for his iris fold of a pink river dolphin. He was so excited to get another ribbon! This picture is of him right after he had completed folding it. Here is a link to YouTube that shows him creating his dolphin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msGSMV1f47k

Thanks again everyone for joining in the fun last night. Hope to see some of you again soon at classes or to deliver books!

State Fair Make & Take Patterns

2007-09-12T00:11:00.000-06:00

Here are the patterns that we did at the state fair Make & Take. I want to thank everyone who stopped by my table and joined in the fun.

To use these patterns, double click to bring up the full size image. Right click and save to file. Open up in a word or photo program and print the size that you want. (I'm not sure how to save to file with Mac computers.) These are copyrighted patterns so please do not sell the patterns to anyone. You are more than welcome to sell cards you make from the patterns though.

There was a lot of interest in my Iris Folding for the LDS Crafter book. If you are interested, please email or call and we'll make arrangements for delivery. Please scroll down to the blog posting about my book to see the patterns included. My email address is listed above in the blog description or below in the book post. Of course "dot" should be replaced with a "."

Thanks again for a really fun evening. Tomorrow, I'll post some pictures from our classes.

August Iris Fold Challenge

2007-08-27T11:59:00.001-06:00

Here is my entry for the August iris fold challenge at CircleofCrafters.com. This was a fun but challenging pattern. I used my Fiskars Wisteria Lane oval punch for the green oval behind the fairy. The background is brown mulberry paper stamped with gold ink. The fairy is folded with white see-thru paper for the wings, purple vellum for the dress, iridescent paper for the skin, and gold moire for the hair.

Welcome to Cards By Jen

2007-08-20T14:30:00.000-06:00

I will be doing a free make-and-take iris fold class at the Utah State Fair on September 11th from 5 - 8 pm.

If you're in town, I hope you will stop by my table in the Creative Arts Building, scrapbooking room and say hi.

Iris Folding for the LDS Crafter

2007-08-20T14:20:00.000-06:00

My self-published book Iris Folding for the LDS Crafter is available for purchase. This book is full of original patterns as well as basic instructions for the beginning iris folder. Iris Folding is a simple and inexpensive technique that is very easy to learn.

Patterns included:
Sun, Moon, and Stars
Salt Lake Temple
Salt Lake Temple Frame
Angel Moroni
Jordan River Temple
San Diego Temple
Mt Timpanogas Temple
Salt Lake Temple Side View

Patterns range from beginner to very advanced and each pattern includes a supply list and instructions. Cardstock cover with color photo, 18 black and white pages, white plastic binder. The cost for the book is $10 + postage. To purchase my book, please feel free to leave a comment or email me at janddbybee @ hotmail dot com.

My book is also available for purchase at Heartfelt Creations, located at 9400 So 700 E in Sandy, Utah. (Their price is slightly higher to cover overhead.)