I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by my upline, Jessica, to take this challenge, and the picture was so fun, I had to take her up on it. The challenge was to post the sixth picture in the sixth folder in your picture files. So here's my picture:

This is my Mom sitting with a gorilla outside Rainforest Cafe in Atlantic City last year. We went on a bus trip together for the day, and I hope we do it again!! We had a blast. We just walked the boardwalk and gambled just a little bit (till we ran out of the money they gave back to us when we got off the bus!) but she won a hundred bucks in the process. She had this method: put in a five dollar bill and when you get up to a certain amount (say ten bucks) cash out and start over with another five dollar bill. ONLY put fives in the machine, nothing more. Now every time I see she has a five dollar bill I say "ooh, are we gonna gamble that?" :)

I don't really have anyone to tag, so unfortunately the game ends here (Jessica already tagged Trinity and I can't do a tag-back, ha ha). I just thought I'd share such a great picture. :)

Breast Cancer Fundraiser

Wow. I haven't been on here in a while...been quite busy with some stuff, but also very exhausted. Since my last post, I had my first SU! workshop which was pretty successful. Thanks to Patti for hostessing! Also since my last post I had a small scare after going to the doctor's office. I have a small lump near my armpit at the side of my left breast, and she ordered an ultrasound for it. Long story short, it's nothing abnormal, but my attitude towards breast cancer has completely changed.

My Aunt Sarah had breast cancer, and she beat it after having a lump removed and going through chemotherapy. A couple years after that, my sister had a scare and had to have a cyst removed, then my niece had a scare and had to have a cyst removed. Thankfully, both of those cysts were benign. When I found the bump in mine, I hate to admit I ignored it for quite a while, mostly because I didn't want it to be something bad. Stupid, huh? So I came to my senses and realized that duh...it's never going to go away and if it is something bad, it's just sitting there getting worse. It turns out they think it's a lymph node that's going haywire. I'm tracking the size of it to see if it is growing/shrinking with my cycle (my sister's suggestion because she has one that does the same thing) and there's still the option to work with a breast specialist and have it removed. I might just take the option...if it's malfunctioning, get rid of it. Better safe than sorry.

So on the tail of my scare, I feel like I want to become involved and raise money for a cure. I have three great nieces who will hopefully grow into a world where breast cancer isn't a threat anymore--where ANY cancer is no longer a threat. But such research to get to that day isn't cheap! I wonder how many women who are demonstrators for SU! or customers of SU! have been directly or indirectly affected, or how many of those women we've actually lost to the battle. I sort of thought that being a demonstrator gives me a great vehicle to raise awareness and money for the cause. So I thought I'd have a fundraiser.

I'm still bouncing around ideas, but I think I'm going to try to find a local hall that will donate the use of its space for a 12 hour charity crop and have a small lunch and some prizes/raffles. Any ideas for my project would be greatly appreciated and welcomed! I'm still in the very beginning planning phases here, but think that this would be a great way to raise some money. Oh, and the proceeds from any SU! sales that day would also be donated.

Think pink, and ladies, if you're reading this and haven't done your self-exam lately or had your mammogram when you're supposed to...get to it! This disease is real, and can happen to anyone.

Can stamping cure a stomach ache?

I wasn't feeling well, so I dragged myself upstairs to the craft room thinking if I got my mind off the pain in my stomach, it would go away. I was wrong...but at least I made something cool! I decided to use True Friend, just because I love the set so much, and I found some DP in my drawer that I've had for a while from K&Co which I love, but the bright colors sometimes scare me...and Taken With Teal is definitely out of my comfort zone, to say the least! Still, it worked so well with the paper, and Chocolate Chip perfectly accented it, so I just went for it. In the end, I actually love how it came out.

I made six 3x3 cards, three each of the two different designs, and then made a 3x3 notecard box to hold them. The image on the Taken with Teal part of the lid is embossed with clear EP. I accomplished the embossing of the main image in an interesting way...first I inked up the stamp with VersaMark, then inked it with Chocolate Chip. The EP stuck to it, and saved me the step of using the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to reink the Versamark over the Chocolate Chip in order to put the clear EP layer on it. There's a large brad in the middle of it that I pulled from my stash of Christmas gifts from Kenny. He did good this year! :)

The box itself was made using these instructions from SCS. The lid seems a little too big for the box, but I think I can tweak it next time around to be a little snugger. I want to make more of these, they are so easy, and would make great gifts. Maybe tomorrow I'll come up with some using my Puns From the Past set...it just seems like a set that would work well with this particular project...

Fast & Fun Sunshine Garden Card

I feel like I've been on a dry spell when it comes to creativity, but tonight my mojo showed up again and I put together what will probably be a demo card at my first workshop on March 1st (Thanks, Patti!). It's a pretty simple one, but came out much cuter than I thought it was going to. The main image is from Fun & Fast Notes, stamped in Chocolate Chip on Very Vanilla and colored with a blender pen and Stampin' Pastels. It's then layered on Chocolate Chip and Old Olive cardstock. The card base is textured So Saffron cardstock from the Sunshine Garden Simply Scrappin' kit and the stripes are cut from a sheet of DSP in that same pack. I then used my Stamp-a-ma-jig and a Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write marker to stamp the sentiment on Very Vanilla. It looked kinda plain, so I added the flower from Totally Tabs using Old Olive ink. I punched that with the round tab punch, folded it in half and nestled it in behind the DSP.

Hope that wasn't too much detail...this whole blog thing is still kinda new to me and I'm not sure what all I should say! :) I feel much better having a cute card that I can show at the workshop that uses a lot of different basic techniques but comes out to be less than boring. If you have any suggestions for me, feel free to offer them!

I'm still looking for players for the Embellishment Sampler Pack, and I'm willing to ship anywhere in the US, so if you're interested, let me know! (Details in post below!)

'Til tomorrow's mojo comes around....

-jen

Everyone Loves Embellishments!

Everyone loves embellishments, right?

But to buy a large assortment of embellishments from the new SU! catty could cost you more than $150! What if you could sample some of these embellishments for a mere $19?

Join the Everyone Loves Embellishments club now and take advantage of a 62-piece sampler for less than twenty bucks. Your sampler will include the following:

• 3 Corduroy Buttons in each of these colors: Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Kraft, and Summer Sun.
• 3 1½ inch Library Clips; one each of Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, and Whisper White.
• 2 Star Designer Brads
• 4 Jumbo 5/8" brads in asst. colors
• 8 Jumbo 5/16" brads in asst. colors
• 10 clear rhinestone brads
• 1 Fleurette
• 4 Flower brads; one each Pumpkin Pie, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, and Chocolate Chip.
• 2 Large Shape Canvas Cuts
• 2 Medium Shape Canvas Cuts
• 8 Pewter Jumbo Eyelets

There will be eight members in the club, and once I receive all eight payments, I will make the order. I will form additional clubs if necessary. I will notify you once the order has been made, and will keep this blog udpated as to the status of the order. You will recieve your embellishments within two weeks of the date the order is placed. Those outside of the Atlas, PA area are welcome to join, and are asked to send $2 for shipping (in padded envelope.)

Join in on this wonderful opportunity to sample the great embellishments offered by Stampin' Up! in their exclusive colors. To join, email me for payment directions at jenzarko@ptd.net. I look forward to sharing this opportunity with you!

I've done it!

Well, it's been official since last week, but today it's super-official...I'm an SU! Demonstrator! The big box came today, and I'm really excited. I even booked my first workshop (thanks, Patti!) and made a small order (Thanks again, Patti!) I think this will be really fun, and I'm looking forward to meeting new people and giving them an outside-the-box approach to making their purchases...I'm planning a bunch of clubs and group purchase events to make it a little easier on people's wallets during this time of economic crunching...just because times are tough doesn't mean we should give up doing what we love, right?!

I'll be posting some of the clubs on this blog, so be sure to check back often to see what's going on. I'll also be posting samples here along with tutorials and challenges. I'm hoping to build this humble little blog into something impressive. I'm excited about that too!

For now, I'm off to do some more business planning and eventually to bed as it's way past my bedtime. I'm just too excited going through this box a million times to sleep!

What do you do when you're old?

Party!

I know there's no stamping on this card, but how fun is this? We're throwing a surprise party for my husband's uncle for this 50th birthday and i was in charge of making 48 invitations...for a party in three weeks. Needless to say, there was no time for a lot of design and stamping, so i thought something quick and fun would do the trick. This picture is from the Super Bowl Party a few years ago and was snapped right after the Steelers won, which would explain why he's so happy! Fun stuff.

The cleanout of the stamping studio is in progress. I get buried every time i go in there! It's a catastrophe since christmas. I'm joining SU! as a demo in February, so i'm trying to get as organized as possible and have to keep it that way! There's so much more to put away since Christmas, i have to completely reorganize and redesign. Not that i'm complaining about that, of course!

Diet is picking up...something strange has happened...i am sickened now by things that are too sweet. Woo Hoo!!