Sponsor for Rotary Golf Tournament

I am proud to say that my design company will be a sponsor for the 13th Annual Charity Golf Tournament at Ft. Belvoir today. The event is hosted by the Crystal City- Pentagon Rotary Club. Proceeds benefit scholarships, community and world charitable activities and military support. My husband is president of this club and I have to say I am impressed at how active Rotarians are and how much they do for our community and the world. I wish much success to all the golfers and thanks to the sponsor companies!

Gift card mania

I never realized how handy gift cards were. It seems I am not alone- according to IT Facts, 35% of all Americans bought gift cards in 2008!

My friend Peggy had a birthday last week and we met for lunch today. She is a voracious reader so I thought a gift card from Books a Million would be appreciated. She recently lent me a series of books by Charlaine Harris. The HBO series True Blood is (loosely) based on these books. What's up with that? Vampires are everywhere these days! Kinda creepy...

ANYway, I happened to have a piece of light blue matboard on hand so I ran it through the Sizzix Big Shot machine, added a Stampin Up! rub-on and finished it off with the accessory flower that comes on the die. I like to turn the flower over to the white side and then put the colored center back in for a little interest. The card I enclosed was cut to the size of the business card /(and gift card!) box and was made from a scrap of foamboard. I love how the surface takes stamping and ink. The stamp I used was also from Stampin Up! I was able to purchase a gift card in blue, green and brown so the card even matched the box :-) To keep it closed I used one of those plastic rubber bands that little girls use for their tiny pony tails- they really stretch well and have just the right amount of strength.

We had a great lunch at the Corner Bakery- I think we are caught up- for a week anyway... Hope you have a great year Peggy!

Anniversary and 100th post!

What a day... the time has gone by so quickly and I can't imagine what life would be like without my Hayward.

And who would ever have thought I could come up with that much to say to fill 100 posts on this blog? Of course if you know me, you're saying, "That's a joke, right?" I will admit that I may have inherited a wee gift of the gab from my Irish half.

In fact, there have been many times in my life that I laid in bed thinking to myself, "WHY did I say that?" Something happened this week that reminded me how important it is to think before hitting the "send" key. It's bad enough to be replaying badly spoken words over in your head, but those do, thankfully, fade with time. The words that travel through cyberspace may never be taken back so take an extra second to consider if you want your message out there forever for the world to see. Thanks to my fellow Council members Vicki, Linda, Lorine, Brenda, Ann, Katie, Phyllis, and Kirsten who handled a tough situation with grace and patience. The Council is an amazing group of women I am proud to call friends.

Things are getting crazy here. Lots of deadlines. I am working on my next batch of stuff for Sizzix and planning for Demo Days in the Barn, on October 16-17 from 10-2 each day. I'll be giving a sneak peek at my new Sizzix Scoreboard dies due to be released in November. We'll have make and takes, door prizes and giveaways. November 13-14 is the annual Barn Sale here and Fairfax High School Show is the following weekend! In the meantime, a really exciting opportunity for another whole product line and a large order for Christmas cards from a corporation has to get done!

Also on the horizon, it's off to the Garlic Festival next weekend in NY with my Mom and sisters. We have a booth called Family Fleece and sell fleece hats, baby seat covers, scarves, etc. We like when there's a nip in the air so parents are reminded to cover their children's heads but I curse global warming- it's been 75 degrees the past 3 years! Nevertheless, we have a great time catching up on the latest family events and enjoy a few whiskey sours with dinner at one of our favorite restaurants.

I hope your fall is shaping up to be exciting and full of promise as well!

It's a great day!

Started off with a phone call from my son Chris who is in Iraq and has been sick. It's very frustrating to have no information and be worrying about what's happening. So he's getting better and sounded almost back to his old self.

Then I came down to my studio and there was a blog post by my friend, a very talented designer, Jennifer Ellefson who created a beautiful garden cupcake holder out of one of my new (and yet unreleased) Sizzix Scoreboard dies! Thanks Jenn- it's so pretty... love what you did!

But wait, there's more! Here's a Christmas gift card box I made for some store samples. The business card box is very versatile. I used BasicGrey papers to cover the box and the embellishments that come with the die to deck it out. Do you have any great ideas for dies? Let me know wonderful readers! My day can only get better. Thanks for stopping by...

Inspired at Home giveaway

Just a quick post this morning! If you would like a free copy of my book Foamboard Magic, tune in to Inspired at Home Sunday evening, September 13 to win it. I'll be on at about 7:40 to announce the winner, but please tune in for the whole show. Ana Arujo, of When Creativity Knocks, will be one of the guests. Ana and her daughter Meghan have a production company and interview craft designers, review new products and in general have a great time showing us some great (free) project ideas!

Speaking of free projects, here's one of mine, a foamboard frame, posted at the Inspired at Home blog. I created it using the tools and techniques mentioned in the book.

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Fleece weather?

I am not a summer person. The cool weather we've been having lately is so refreshing. And when it's cold outside, it's time for FLEECE! How they can make such a warm soft fabric from car tires is a mystery to me, but I love this stuff. It's a dream to sew on and my favorite quality is the clean edges- no need to worry about fraying or threads sticking out anywhere. The last weekend in September for the past 8 years or so, my two sisters, me and Mom all converge in Saugerties, NY for the Garlic Festival where we sell our fleece wares. The burning question is always, "What can we make really quickly and sell at the show?" My contributions this year will be the camera case (pictured here) and laptop bags. My daughter recently purchased one of those adorable mini-laptops for when she's on the ship and traveling and I had to measure it so I can whip up some cool covers to sell.

On another note, here are a few things to check out. One of our Barn Sale vendors, Teresa Balkin, (maker of beautiful soy candles) is opening her own shop! Opening Day is tomorrow from 11-5 at 12644 Chapel Road, Clifton, VA. Teresa says she will still be joining us on November 13 and 14th for the Barn Sale. Mark your calendars!

If you are looking for inspiring and fun demos, visit Where Creativity Knocks, a mother and daughter crafting duo who seek out new products and techniques and then share the fun with all. If you have 3-5 minutes and want to keep up with the latest trends and products, check out an episode or two! WCK has recently added a section called "Blogger's Bonanza" where yours truly has been linked :-)

Save the Dates- Oct. 16-17

Thanks to Stephanie Girard who posted my sock can cover on her blog CraftGossip.

I would like to invite anyone who would like to come to Demo Days in the Barn on October 16-17. I will be demonstrating my new Sizzix ScoreBoard dies (dies that cut and score matboard into all kinds of cute boxes and totes) and everyone that wants to will go home with a project or two or three. BasicGrey will be providing the paper. Lots of door prizes and refreshments will be available. Stay tuned for details!

Hope everyone had a nice relaxed Labor Day weekend. I managed to get a few projects underway. My daughter Jess arrived tonight- she's in the Coast Guard and has been out on patrol for three months so I am looking forward to spending some fun time with her.

Recycled Tuna Can

A few years ago I discovered solid white albacore tuna- so much better than what I had been eating all my life- chunk light. There was no going back. I have it fairly frequently for lunch and those 12 oz. cans started piling up. I happened to have a roll of ribbon next to the can and it occured to me, that might be a cool storage place for a few rolls. What do you know- it fit!

I washed the can out, spray painted it, punched three holes in the sides with my Crop-a-dile tool and added eyelets. Then I cut two strips of coordinating paper and scalloped the edges. Using my tape gun, I adhered the paper on the top and bottom edges of the can. Took a spare matboard die cut I had on hand and stuck that over the middle eyelet with glue dots. The top is made from some corrugated matboard I had- traced around the top of the can and cut the circle out with scissors and laid it on the top. The can holds three to four spools of ribbon depending on the width of the roll. So far no tangling and it just looks so cute! Not sure I will deal with the other 200 rolls I have, but it's a start!