Card a Month Club

Before email, before internet, before the large amount of craft supplies I now possess, I used to write letters to friends and my nephews.  I had a cute little Queen Anne style desk complete with fountain pens, ink wells and a wax seal.  I LOVED to write letters and did it religiously!

Then came email.  Need I say more?

Now we have Facebook, Twitter, text messaging and who knows what else I am missing.  Although I do know we are missing one thing.  Correspondence.  A hand written note to say, "hello".

The sad part is I am one of the worst offenders!  I USED to send out letters.  I USED to send cards.  I USED to call.  Now?  Not so much!

I make cards for OTHER people.  I still say "hi" to my nephews on FB and truth be told, I haven't talked to my Grandma Sheire in probably a year or so!  HORRIBLE!

So, maybe it is time a reminder be sent.  A reminder that sending a note, making that call, stopping by to visit is IMPORTANT!

Granted we are all super busy; work, kids, hobbies, LIFE.  So what if the reminder was SENT to you?  A wonderful reminder sent directly to your mailbox each and every month!

A lovely handmade card all ready for you to sign and mail off to your friend who is battling cancer, your grandma who you don't see nearly enough, a daughter who went off to college, or your girlfriend who is going through a killer divorce.

Doesn't get much easier than that!

For $5.00 a month, you can be sending out the warm fuzzies to those you love and care about!

Just select the type of Card Subscription fits your needs and you will be on your way!

Subscription Type

Ladies Birthday Thank You Blank Beauties Surprise Me!

For more information regarding our Card a Month Club, please visit our website and remember, you can unsubscribe any time you want!

Sometimes a day is made by just a simple "hello"!

Warmest wishes,
Suzanne

Fun in the Sun!

I am SO GRATEFUL that I get to go back home to Gilbert, AZ this weekend!  No more 23 degree, windy, cold weather for this AZ Native!  I am going to go back to 80 degrees, sun shine and FLIP FLOPS!!!

I LOVE the colors and the promises of warmer weather!  As cute as this was to make, the cutting of the sandals was a PAIN!  So my darling friend, Tracie is going to do a whole bunch of them for me on her Cricut so I am not wasting time horribly cutting out the pattern!  I did find a nice pattern with the two different sizes so that was helpful!  But my paper cutting skills leaves MUCH to be desired!

The best part is we will be making them for the World of Cards Retreat in June!!

Can't wait!

Happy Stamping!

Suzanne

Dinky Baby Factory

The first time I met Vicki Riley was at a Networking meeting in Gilbert, AZ.  It is 8am and during our little round robin introduction she announces, "Hi, my name is Vicki and I make babies."  As a woman, I am like, ya, well don't we all.  They guys on the other hand almost fell out of their seats!!!  Did she REALLY just say that?

Then she went on to describe said babies.  Lovely cloth doll babies!  Vicki IS Dinky Baby!

Much to the amusement of the ladies and relief from the guys, Vicki has created these fabulous cloth dolls with tons of patterns and adorable kits!  She went from confiscating the dining room table, to stealing the front den and now that she has moved she has her very own Dinky Baby Factory!

Making the Babies!

As wonderful as her dolls are, my FAVORITE piece of Dinky Baby Headquarters is the pattern organization.

All of her patterns have a home in one of those wonderful plastic Sterilite baskets.  Which inspired my very own version of Vicki's organizational method!

Basket of Goodies

Color Families

You can't beat converting a great idea into one that works for your crafting purposes!!!

Be sure to check out Dinky Baby and all the wonderful goings on with Vicki!!!

Thank you, Vicki!!!

Suzanne

Tea Anyone?

I LOVE Scotland!  I have been 5 times and every time it is a new adventure!  So when we decided on the World of Cards theme for the 2013 Retreat, we HAD to go to the UK.

My girlfriend Marcia from South Africa surprised me by staying at the same B&B

Church in Dunblane - GORGEOUS!

<sigh> Now on to the cards!

Who doesn't LOVE the red phone booths?  I walked 5 miles through fields, over scary suspension bridges and was attacked by a persnickety sheep JUST to get to a red phone booth to call work to see if I had made it through the lay offs during my vacation.  Thankfully, I survived the sheep attack AND the lay offs!  (I still have a big dent in my leg from the damn sheep though!)

So here is my tribute to that harrowing trek through the Scottish Highlands!

And you can't go across the pond without having tea...even though I am not a fan!  Shhhhh, don't tell anyone.    Give me a cold Coke with lots of ice and I am happy stamper!

I am still working on the Paris and Caribbean cards so those should be posted soon!!!

Enjoy!
Suzanne

Passport to Fun!

The World of Cards Retreat is coming up soon and how can you take a trip around the world without a Passport?  Especially without a passport that has super cool brads on it!?!

This will be our second Stamp Retreat and I figured everyone deserves a special little something to track the memories.  So everyone who went last year will get a cupcake stamp for the Cupcake Retreat and this year they will get another one for the 2013 Retreat.

Maybe I will have to do something REALLY cool if someone comes to 5 Retreats they get $100 of free product or something fun!

Oooh maybe do a Christmas Card Retreat too!   Ok, now my brain is blowing up with all sorts of ideas.  Good thing I am blogging as I am thinking so I can remember all of this good stuff!

Ok, off to make notes!  Mom, be sure and remind me if I forget!!!

Happy Stamping!

AND for more information on our World of Cards Retreat, be sure and check out the website!

Suzanne

Homes for the Lonely

I love that impulse buy when I am walking down the stamp aisle at Michael's or Joann's.  I KNOW I don't need any more stamps, but I can't help myself.  I don't have THAT kind of dandelion!  And who can have "too" many Paris stamps??  Then I get my bag home and go to put away my stamps and I have no where to put them.  Except to put them in a drawer or a photo box to be lost forever!  To be forgotten and unused.  How horrible is that?!

So lonely and forgotten

Then the clouds parted, the sun shone through and Kim's mom let us in on a little post-Christmas secret.  Kim's hubby made her a super cool wall mounted stamp display!

Kim's Super Cool Display

He even made different shelf sizes so the little ones didn't get lost with the big ones!  How cool is that?!

THEN I was perusing through Pinterest this morning and I saw ANOTHER super cool stamp display that actually HIDES behind the door!

It's like a stamp ninja!

I am a total VISUAL organizer and I love the idea of being able to see all of the stamps.  Of course, my main issue at the moment is not having ANY wall space left in my cottage.  However, I may see if I can talk my hubby into building something similar to Kim's on the side of a book case OR maybe I will have to part with my pretty trellis and throw in a tall stamp ninja shelf next to the bathroom.

Of course, I could confiscate the guest room in the cottage and totally turn that into a Wall of Wonder!  Oooh, I like the sound of THAT one!

How do you organize your single stamps?

Happy Stamping!
Suzanne

Netherlands

Awww Denmark!  Tulips, windmills, sunny skies and yummy food!

Personal favorites are the tulips in bloom HOWEVER the bright fun pinwheels that actually move take the cake!  Love the cheery bright colors and the way they spin!!!

FUN, FUN, FUN!!!

Next, we are taking a quick little jaunt to the UK to check out what super fun times are ahead!!!

Stopping Over in Milan

Last year I had a ball with our Cupcake Retreat in Payson.  I may never eat another cupcake again, but it was way too fun!  All of us ladies, drove on up to the cool pines of Payson and spent the weekend having a grand ol time stamping away!

This year we decided to do it again!  Only this time, no cupcakes!  Instead we are traveling the world and making cards as we do it!

First stop is Milan!

I am absolutely LOVING the All Dressed Up framelits and we are going to town.  The ladies will be able to bring their own bling and spruce up the little ladies with lace, ribbon, beads, whatever their little heart desires!

Next stop is Denmark!

Organizing Card Classes

I LOVE hosting Card Classes!  Not a "party" fan but classes....HEAVEN!

Classes are fun, organized, and have a wonderful purpose.  There is just a ton of stuff that needs to be done in order to have a successful class.

1. Cards to make
2. Supplies to buy
3. Paper to cut
4. People to invite
5. Things to pack up

Knowing what paper you need to cut and how much to buy is CRITICAL when putting together a class.  Doing a guesstimate doesn't always work out well, especially when you are running behind and putting kits together last minute and realize you don't have enough buttons for everyone!  Eeek!

So I put together this great little worksheet to keep me on track.

1. I list the Class Name i.e. Christmas in July 
2. The Date of the Class
3. Attendee Names
4. How many total are coming (this is CRITICAL)
5. How much I am charging per person (If someone gets a discount or if they already paid, I will put notes next to their name.)

Next, I start working on the "recipe" card for the cards.  Typically I do 4 cards per workshop, but we are going to look at the first card as our example.

1. I write the name of the card next to Card #1 i.e. Christmas Stocking
2. I put how many cards of this particular design we are making (I am going to need this when I start cutting paper!)
3. Now I start listing out the PAPER supplies and dimensions of the paper on the left hand side under Paper Needed.  i.e. White Card, Black 1st Layer, Real Red 5" x 3"
4. On the right hand side I put all of the supplies I need to make the card; stamp set name, ink colors, brads, dimensionals, ribbons, etc.

Now that I have all of my recipe cards finished and I know what supplies I need, I separate them into categories.  This is going to help me when I pack up to head out to do the class AND it will help me determine if I need to order any additional inks, ribbons, markers, etc.

Paper cutting can be a NIGHTMARE!!!!  Especially if your cards have a lot of layers to them.  Which is where your recipe cards come in handy!  On the Paper and Ribbon to Cut page I write in how many people are attending the class and the # of cards they are making of each design.  They I multiply that number and that is how many of each paper I need to cut.

Then I make the list of paper that needs to be cut gleaming the information from the recipe card.

Next, I list out the quantities and the paper size and color just like I did on the recipe card.  As I cut the paper, I mark it through so I know not to duplicate my efforts.

Woo hoo!  Almost done!  Now that I have all the supplies listed, paper that needs to be cut, I can figure out what supplies I need to order from Stampin' Up! before the big day!

 At the end of my worksheet, I have my final check list of what to do and what to bring with me to the class.

This worksheet has been a LIFESAVER for me with all of my classes!  Feel free to copy my layout and design OR if you would like the Word version of my Workshop Checklist, just let me know and I will get it over to you!

Enjoy!!!
Suzanne

Playing with Evernote

I was perusing through one of the Forums on the Stampin' Up! website and noticed a lot of people talking about Evernote.  I had NO clue what it was and assumed it was Mac's version of One Note.  Nope, I was wrong!  (Thankfully!)  After asking hubby if he had heard of it and if it was a "Mac thing" I went to my next information source....Facebook!  (Had NO IDEA my little brother was up in the know of new technology gizmo's!  Way to go, Jake!)

After getting feedback, watching a video that Brina sent me and downloading the software to every imaginable device I could find, I started to play with this new discovered green elephant software.  Ok, fine, I was banned from the house while the hubby watched Walking Dead and decided I didn't have anything better to do and I started to play!  =)

The ladies from SU were talking about using it to organize stamp sets. Although, I have a nifty antiquated way of organizing my stamps I thought I could give it a whirl and see how it works out!

So I grabbed my notebook of stamp sets and set out for the Stampin' Up! online store and started grabbing stamp set images and pasted it into my new Stamp Set Notebook on Evernote.

Once I pasted it, I labeled it with the name of the Stamp Set AND the location of where I have it in my collection.

Then I added "tags".  I tagged it depending on holiday or theme so when I did a search for Birthday, any stamp set I had with birthday anything they will pop on up on my screen.

This a screen shot of the stamps in my collection or notebook and I did a search for "Christmas".  It pulled up all of the stamp sets that have something to do with Christmas AND I can easily see the complete stamp set in the thumbnail view.  If you notice at the top it says, "Ornament Keepsake - Yellow 38".  That is telling me the name of the set is Ornament Keepsake and it is in the Yellow container and is number 38.  Now I know EXACTLY where to find the stamp set in my vast collection!

As nice as this view is, I think I like the Snippet view better.  The information I want in front of me is the stamp location.  So I click View and change it to Snippet.

I still get most of the stamp set view, but in the middle column you will notice I can now see the name of the Stamp Set AND the location.  YEAH!!!!

So far I am enjoying Evernote and I can't wait to get all of my stamps listed in the notebook.  It is going to be tedious and time consuming, but I think in the end it will pay off.  Definitely missing my daughter right now!  She could be doing a lot of this for me!  =)

I am also thinking of other nifty ways to use Evernote!  I think I am going to try doing a bit of out of sight out of mind inventory and see how that works!  How would you like to know that if you forgot where you put your crystal effects you could simply type it into Evernote and voila!  It pops you back with a picture of your revered product and WHERE it is!   Oh the time it could save!!!

I will keep you posted!

If you use Evernote, what do you think?  How do you like it?  What do you use it for?

Happy Stamping!

Suzanne

Calling All Craft Rooms!

What do you LOVE about your craft room?  What works AMAZING for you?!  I am going to be featuring super cool craft rooms on my blog!  So if you would like to participate, please either shoot me an email with your pictures along with WHY you love it OR let me know if you already have your little piece of heaven up on your blog and I will link to it!  I would, however, like to "interview" you so please be sure and message me!

Can't wait!!!!!!

Email Suzanne your super cool craft room!

Happy Crafting!

Suzanne

What I do

First, thank you to all of my Facebook followers on the messages regarding my blog/FB page dilemma!  LOVE LOVE LOVE people with opinions!  =)

Second, one piece of advice was, "what do you do?"  Obviously, I make cards and enjoy it to my little hearts content, but is that REALLY what I do?

"Back in the day", I LOVED to blog!  "Let's Talk Organizing" was the bomb diggity shiz nit; I loved organizing, speaking, doing podcasts, my bloggy friends were to die for, and it had a PURPOSE.  Now, I haven't a clue WHY I blog what I blog, because let's face it, there are so many COOL card blogs out there! I drool just thinking about Robin's and Lyssa's blogs and I can't wait to check my Google Reader in the morning to see what they created.  But that ISN'T me!  I am not a super cool card blog.  I don't do it every day and I don't feel like it has a PURPOSE.

Besides the fact, let's face it, I can get all my silliness out on FB and it's quick, easy and minimal.  So the last few days I have been really thinking HARD about "what I do" or rather "what can I contribute?"  I am going to let the super cool "carders" work THEIR magic and I am going to work MINE!

Can I make a super card?  You betcha!  Do I have kick ass classes?  Damn well better believe it!  Am I the bomb diggity shiz nit when it comes to organizing?  OH YES!!!!!

Let's Talk Organizing may be retired, but my brain sure isn't!

So, ladies, friends, people with opinions, THANK YOU!  Thank you for your insight, your help, twenty cents worth and putting up with my blundering!  In other words, Gooseberry Cottage is going to work!  I will still be making cards, of course, but I am also going to focus on what I KNOW.  Organizing!  =)  Organizing stamps and workshops, classes and supplies, craft rooms and fun solutions!  I was always mesmerized by Aby Garvey and now I have a new found respect for that crafty lady!  And Marcia, you HAD to know I would be back...eventually!

Just think, Krys, when you first started following my blog all those years ago, I SHUDDERED at the thought of organizing a scrapbook room...now I have a whole cottage!!!  LMAO   I think somewhere Karma is laughing LOUDLY!

Thanks again!

Suzanne the stamping organizing diva!