Today's DVD and vintage patriotic sneak!

Join me in June for a class making vintage patriotic home decor' - this class will be a bit different - there will be some TRUE vintage elements (such as the old music pages that the borders here are made from). If you want to deck the halls for SUMMER - then this is the class for you!


Watch the side calendar and your emails for more information!

http://astore.amazon.com/paperscapes-20/105-1794340-4266809

Today's DVD recommendation is Enchanted - a fun movie! We went to see it for my birthday and I really think Serg didn't want to enjoy it, but he laughed out loud a few times. Watch the trailer and you will want to see it to!

Sunday Stampin' and Summer Videos

Yesterday we had the first of Sunday Stampin - once a quarter or so I am going to offer a leisurely (4 easy projects) Stamp afternoon on a Sunday - a chance to get away for some girl time. The next one will be in July - watch your emails for details. You can see the four projects we made here - as well as a table full of samples!

Also - as we count down to summer - I am going to highlight some of my (and pretty much Karisa's!) favorite movies. You can purchase them all from my store on the left (the link for today's is http://astore.amazon.com/paperscapes-20/105-1794340-4266809)

It costs so much to go to the movies these days (especially when you have to get popcorn!) That it is so much cheaper to just buy the DVD and enjoy it over and over again! The picks we have made - we have watched them over and over again ourselves. In fact, just watching the trailer here makes me want to pop it in now - but I don't have the time! Get yourself a copy and make a stack of lazy summer days entertainment!

This movie has it all - Jane Austen, India, Bollywood, London and even Sayid! If you are an Austen fan - this is a must have! We hope you enjoy it!

More for May camp

I got a lot of stamping done this past week - partly because there are a lot of fun classes coming up. May has camp, Mothers Day, Tart and Tangy and the Recipe class. This morning I am working on a Vintage Patriotic Decor class that takes place in June - I know that it is later than the others, but I am having a LOT of fun with this one. We will be using some vintage sheet music, yeast jars and dog food containers! When the economy is tanking, make decor' from your trash! Stay tuned for pictures of those projects.

Happy Anzac Day!

Mothers Day Class samples

Here are some additional pictures that didn't fit in this week's email of one of the projects for the upcoming Mothers Day gift class.

I did this pocketbook album as a tribute to my grandmother who turned 90 this month.

This makes a great gift for any special lady - including yourself!

It uses the round notecards, Afternoon Tea papers and embellishments from the new silver Hodgepodge. The envelopes form the purse and add two pockets to slide round picture pages into! The class is Friday May 9th. If you are interested in a class by mail option, let me know and I can give you those details. Keep watching for the additional pictures of the second project for that class!

For a better look at the sample pages, simply click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Another recommendation!

http://astore.amazon.com/paperscapes-20/images/0312362919/105-1794340-4266809


Here is a great book - click the link above and you can get it from my Amazon store!!

My family loves bread - me, I can take it or leave it - I have been in countries where bread is an event - then I love it. Over the last few years Indy has seen a rise in bakeries, etc - but I can even live without it then.

I use my bread machine fairly often - but it requires planning at a point in the day when I am not thinking about dinner. Especially now when the weather is beautiful - cold wintry days I think about big pots of soup and fresh bread.

My mom saw a blog that mentioned this fairly new book - Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day. Let me tell you -it is FAB! We have only tried a few of the recipes - but the concept is mixing together a large batch of dough (I just used my hand mixer, no kneading) stick it in the fridge (for up to FOURTEEN days!) and pull out the size that you need and cook. The book is filled with lots of basic recipes and then variations on them all. Granola bread, Cinnamon rolls, pastries, naan, pizza crust, etc. You literally stir it together and then plonk it out of the fridge to rise and bake!

If the price of bread at Pannera's or some similar bakery causes you to not buy - then get the book. Bake these same kinds of breads for a fraction of the cost!!

You can probably get free shipping from Amazon if you combine this book with last weeks recommendation!

Mothers Day

Scrap that....

my day has changed - I had the morning set to run errands (and I have a Macy's coupon that was screaming out to be used....) turns out Serg needed the van - and I don't want to use the car, so I need to come up with a new plan.

I have some shabby summer decorations and banners that I would like to start, the recipe box that needs to be finished and the mother's day projects to do. I am working on a project for my niece's 16th birthday - but I need the car to do that. What I REALLY want to do is to make some fairies - but I can't justify that when real work is calling.

decisions, decisions

the weekend will be busy - Karisa has golf, caddie training, mexico missions fundraising - just on Saturday and I want us to go get some stuff for yard work - I already warned them that it will be an early morning, but bribed them with breakfast out:)

Next week we have three softball games and only one is at Ben Davis, bummer.....

the weather is beautiful - so I will open my window and get to work!

BUY this book!

If you have Adobe Photoshop Elements and are looking for an easy way to understand how to use it - probably not everything it can do - but enough to make your pictures look great, design a watermark or even a banner or two

you need to get your hands on this book!

Don't have Photoshop? That's ok - the book COMES with a free 30 day trial CD of the program. Really, it doesn't get much better than this!

If you want to have a look - I have the book in my store (see the link to your left, top corner) - or click HERE and you can purchase it RIGHT now:) The best part? It is under $14!

May I recommend?

a FABULOUS new book???? I will have all of the details for you tomorrow - I have completely run out of time today......

But, here is what I spent a smidgen of time doing. Most of you know I use Adobe Photoshop elements - and on my to do list for {quite some time} has been to learn how to use for more than photo storage and a quick fix of highlights and shadows.......

You can see I took the picture of my 16injustafewdays old niece in a bridesmaid dress - quickly eliminated the kitchen mess that was the background....

Took the picture of me with the bride (Hi Tere!) and cropped them out - which left me without a sleeve on that side - so quickly added a fake sleeve in....

and created a fun simple page. The pages were not where I was heading - this was much more a lesson in how to use all the little buttons in the program - but I felt the need to stick the pictures somewhere!

I also used the 'erase the ugly background technique' with a picture of Ris - if I can learn 2 buttons a week in photoshop - then I will consider that success. Tomorrow I will have all of the book details for you (and the best part - it COMES with a photoshop program AND is under $15!!)

for now, I need to run. Michelle Obama is at Karisa's school today and I am not sure the buses will be running right - so she wanted me on standby to come pick her up if her bus was at the end of the line....

Edited to add::

I have put the book in my Amazon store - http://astore.amazon.com/paperscapes-20 if you click here, you can order it - more on my review of it tomorrow!

Springtime Ribbon Club!

A guessing game!

As part of my online demonstrator meeting last night I had a game for the girls

Now it is YOUR turn! See if you can figure out what I did on each of these samples.

Simply email your answers to me. The one who answers the MOST correctly will win a card featuring one of these designs!

The samples all use the same stamp "Riot of Petals" - it is a background stamp - but obviously it works well on it's own!

I have a class coming up this month that includes the stamp itself and supplies to make 6 projects (some of them have snippets shown here!)


The winner of the contest will be from the most correct answers sent in to me by Tuesday morning - so send them soon!

Tonight's the night!

I am hosting a first time ever online meeting for my downline. Ladies from Indiana, Tennesse, Texas, even Alaska will be meeting together via the web for some stamping, chatting and image swapping. I hope it goes wonderfully well. For now, enjoy some pictures of a couple of last nights camp projects! I shamelessly 'borrowed' both of these projects from the creative minds of gals that were here on Wednesday night..... Have I mentioned I love my stamping friends?!

When you need a girl card.....

Here are some fun cards from our Achievers Night. Check out her earrings (colored microbeads) and her patent leather shoes!

Non Stamping Related news!

As you can imagine, if you have read my previous AI posts - it was a sad night for Ris in the Stojk household. Her favorite Aussie (other than her dad!) got the boot from American Idol. They did sing one of our favorite Australian songs though - on both Wed and Thursday - and had an appearance by our favorite quarterback....

check back later today for some stamping stuff!

Stamping Anyone??

Last night was our Spring Achievers Night. My Stampin' Up! group has over 130 ladies from all over the USA. About three times a year the ladies who placed in the top 5 spots for the months prior meet to celebrate our accomplishments - with plenty of stamping, swapping, idea sharing and food!

















In addition to being wonderful demonstrators (during February and March the group above sold over $35,000 in product - wowza!) they are a blast to be with. We laugh and laugh - I consider it a true blessing to count them among friends!

Over the next few days I will post pictures of the projects we stamped and swapped. Here is the first one - I just ordered the set and it will be here soon - so I have my first May camp project!

Tart and Tangy!

I have a super busy week ahead. Karisa has several doctors appts, softball practice/games, caddying meetings.... Serg has his usual stuff and I have a get together with the stamping ladies who had the best quarter in our group, camp and a virtual downline meeting with my group from (literally) coast to coast.

Deep breaths......

I have swaps to finish, projects to complete and paper to cut......

until then, enjoy the work of one of my best-est friends and stamper extraordinaire' Theresa!