Happy Belated Everything!!

OY! I see I needed to update my blog...I've been updating Spellbinders' instead! LOL!

A week ago today I have officially two teenagers in the house! Yes, my baby had his thirteenth birthday so I made his favorite meals ... TONKATSU (Japanese breaded veal cutlet) and Macaroni & Cheese (all homemade and so easy - thanks to The Pioneer Woman!!!).

Then cake but we really don't have a whole cake. I decided a long time ago that each person will get their favorite cake slice ... it makes for a weird looking cake but I tired of the whining. You know kids, they change their mind like they change underwear! LOL! Sooo putting thirteen candles on a slice is a challenge. Instead I made a cake slice topper ... opposed to a cupcake topper.






























Loved how this turned out ... the Nested Owl is new from Spellbinders™ and I also have the Labels Six and the Classic Scalloped Circle. All personalized thanks to JustRite Stampers! And whoooo (sorry, couldn't help it! LOL!) couldn't resist the google eyes to add just the right whismy! Happy belated birthday, Hiro!! xo

Another belated is news about TaDa Creative Studios' releases coming up next month! They usually exhibit at just the CHA-Summer Show so they will be releasing the rest on the blog so be on the look out! LOVE their sneak peeks:


































I am really excited to see the rest of it! These ladies work so hard to design something different - great job!!

OK...it's getting late but wanted the chance to post an update!
Thanks for stopping by! xo

Love My Memories (Jpn SB Magazine)

I think I have mentioned a few times that I have been featured in this magazine. Love My Memories (aka "LoveMemo") is the first Japanese language magazine that is dedicated to scrapbooking and has been publishing for five years.

I am lucky be part of it...interviewed as TaDa Creative Studios' design team member and to feature my artwork for them in the magazine (a whole page and half! WOW!). The second time was covering LoveMemo's Issue #9 Release parties in Japan and the U.S. Cosmo Cricket was kind enough to provide the MnTs for the parties. It was a great success! The Chicago party was at my home and the theme was "Cupcakes and Coffee." Needless to say, I haven't baked any cupcakes since! LOL!!

Now I have been truly blessed and honored that Emi Kume (Founding Editor) has asked me to become a special reporter from the United States to cover (for now) new companies debuting at CHA (Craft & Hobby Assoc. trade shows). So in Issue #11, I had the pleasure of writing up on two companies that caught my eye and interest...Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker LLC and Bella Blvd. Both are based in the Midwest and have some really fresh and cool designs.



































So who will be the next companies I'll cover?! Hmmm....stay tuned! Special thanks to Nikki and Stephanie for giving me the trust and faith in writing their stories! Good luck to them on the upcoming CHA-Winter show!!

Smile!

These are items from TaDa Creative Studios (EIEIO Collection) in which I made a shadow box card...at least I think that's what it is called. LOL! The sentiment is from Technique Tuesday (Ali Edwards design - Simply You).



















The temperature in Chicago on this Sunday morning is 0! YUK! So I pulled out something to smile about...how can you NOT RESIST this silly chicken (Ollie) ?! LOL

Have a good Sunday and make it a GOOD WEEK..we're hitting a heat wave sometime this week (near 40s)! WOOOHOOOO!!!

You wanna get MISTED?!

WHAT?! LOL!!

Most of you are familiar with Tattered Angels' Glimmer Mist and they are these beautiful and glimmery color sprays (so many colors too)! Matter of fact, I have a project that just got misted which you will see in my future blog post..promise! LOL!

Anyways, ever wanted to do more than just mist a piece? Maybe some masking? Or use as an impression on a layout (I used Glimmer Mist on a Tattered Angels' stencil and letterpressed to make this iron gate accent)?






























Well, you can! They just came out with a blog just for that called Educator Blog and I, for one, cannot wait and learn! There's already a post and it's a beautiful project too. Take a look!

Spellbinders Birthday Party - WOOOHOOOO!!

A Spellbinders™ Surprise Birthday Party!!
Guess what, you’re all invited!

The Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) Trade Show is fast approaching and we’re super excited about the new products Spellbinders™ is introducing! How excited? So excited that we’re doing another round of new product reveals, complete with daily prizes!

The Spellbinders™ Surprise Birthday Party!! will begin on January 7, 2010, and will last for a week. Each day 3 of our fabulous Designers will introduce one or more surprises!! Each day 3 lucky winners will win all of that day’s newly revealed product! At the end of the week we will select a Grand Prize Winner!!

Below is the schedule of blogs and the official rules. If you stop by the Spellbinders™ Blog each day we will direct you to the Designers Blogs, and announce the lucky winners.

January 7
Debbie Olson
Julie Overby
Lesa Rapp

January 8
Becca Feeken
Debbie Seyer
Janine Blackwelder

January 9
Heidi Blankenship
Karen Taylor
Cathy Chlebana/Beth Pingry

January 10
Linda Duke
Jennifer Davis
Terre Fry

January 11
Keri Lee Sereika
Kazan Clark
Mary Pfaff

January 12
Karen Hunsaker
Christy Farneth-Kerr
Holly Simoni

January 13
Sherry Cheever
Kimberly Crawford
Sharon Johnson

RULES

Any participant wishing to be included in the daily drawing for the Spellbinders™ Surprise Birthday Party!!give-away must adhere to all of the following rules.

To enter each drawing of the Spellbinders™ Surprise Birthday Party!! between January 7 and January 14, 2010, visit the participating blog and click on the email contest link to open an e-mail window. In the subject line of the e-mail, enter the die template name being revealed on the blog you are entering from and send the email.

Each blog reveal will remain open for 48 hours.

Only 1 entry per blog is allowed and entrant must use the same email address daily to be considered for Grand Prize entry, no exceptions. Please consider whether you will have access to the same e-mail address from January 7 through January 14 and plan accordingly.

After each deadline entry is reached, Spellbinders™ will randomly pick one entry from each Surprise Birthday Party!! event. Winner will be contacted by e-mail within 24 hours of the contest deadline. Winner will have 72 hours to reply to that email to claim the prize. If Winner fails to respond within 72 hours, a new name will be drawn for said prize.

Any participant wishing to be automatically entered into the drawing for the Surprise Birthday Party!! Grand Prize must enter all 21 blog reveals within the specific deadlines of the daily drawings and follow all the above rules.
By entering this contest you give Spellbinders™ Paper Arts permission to publish your first name and the city, state and country you live in on their blog and promotional materials.

Spellbinders™ Design Team members and employees are not eligible for drawings.

We are happy to invite US and international blog guests to this Surprise Birthday Party!!

PRIZES

Daily Prizes –
~ Spellbinders™ will use the web site random.org to choose a winner from valid entries.

~ Spellbinders™ will draw one name from each of the three daily blog reveals. Each winner will receive all three dies revealed on that specific day.

Grand Prize –
~ Participants sending valid entries for each of the 21 reveals will be included in a drawing for a Grand Prize valued at more than $350 .

~ The Grand Prize Winner will be emailed a winner notice on Friday, January 15, 2010, and must reply to the winner notice by 12 noon on Monday, January 21, 2010, Eastern Standard Time.

Any questions regarding this contest should be sent to ContestQuestions@Spellbinders.us

Please note:
*Spellbinders™ will only use email information to contact the winner.
*Spellbinders™ will not share this email address with any other parties.
*Spellbinders™ will not use this email information for advertisements or communications other than to contact the winner.
*If you wish to be included in further communications from Spellbinders™, please go to the homepage SpellbindersPaperArts.com and sign up for the newsletter.

What’s the Surprise? We can’t tell you yet!

We’ll see you on January 7! Good Luck!!

Happy New Year!

Ahhh, the year of the Tiger! I was born in the year of the Tiger and so was my husband....and my mother and my father. Oh my! LOL! I will have to look up the personality of people who were born in the year of Tiger. I will post about it later (after research of course! LOL!).

On to some crafty things....

For TaDa Creative Studios' blog, I made a New Year's card with their Twinkly Tidings Collection. It is one of my favorites because it has a shimmer in their paper that makes it so elegant - just love that!













And along with the theme of a new year, one must have a monthly planner. So I created this and it was featured in the Spellbinders' blog. The goal was to use as many die templates as possible. Actually it was my own goal and I wonder what the folks at Spellbinders think - Margie is crazy! Well, they probably knew that! I suggest not doing this all in one day straight...the next morning I woke up with a sore arm! LOL!!













































































Here's to a wonderful 2010 for everyone (raising my glass of water)!!