creativestampingwithjan

I have amazing Stampers!! See how we enjoyed the Christmas Card Buffet!!

Last Friday evening I hosted a Christmas Card Buffet, buffet meaning that we did a little bit of everything.  The girls all received a Christmas bucket with their name tag so they could keep track of their supplies that evening.  You will see the green buckets in the pictures below.  I had taken green sparkley spray paint and painted each bucket.  Then I used the Crop-A-Dile to punch holes around the top edges of the buckets.  I ran our Riding Hood Red striped ribbon through the holes, tied a bow on the front, and it looked pretty cute.  Then I decided to add a stenciled snowflake, making the stencil out of the remains of a Big Shot die cut snowflake.  That added the finishing touches.

I am not sure where else I could have had as much fun in one evening!! 

My next class will be a holiday cookbook and will be held on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 3:00.

   

Craft Shows are So Much Fun!!

Who doesn't like to spend a few relaxing minutes browsing around a craft fair?  Last week I attended the Mt. Vernon Teacher's Conference held at the high school in Mt. Vernon, Illinois.  I was told there were 4,000 teachers in attendance.  I got to speak to literally hundreds of people.  I loved it!
This past Saturday I went to the St. Teresa Catholic Church in Salem, Illinois for a craft show sponsored by a local sorority.  This craft fair is one of the best around and is held annually.  Next year the show will be held on November 14 (just an FYI for you).
Besides getting to meet and talk with all of the crafters and "show-goers," I also get to spend the entire day with my children.  They are the entertainment.
Look at my happy helpers:
And if you want to see some of my displays, here you go: 

Starting on the left there is Reindeer Food, which is oatmeal and red glitter, and will be sprinkled on the ground on Christmas Eve so that it will sparkle in the moonlight and Santa can find your house.  (Everyone needs this, right?)
Now, on the right is a gag gift for those on your Christmas list who either are not your favorite, or just deserve a little extra special gift:  Reindeer Poop and Snowman Poop.  They were a very good seller last Saturday, and I sold out of each of these!!  Imagine that!  Their faces are made with the Top Note die cut of my new Big Shot machine (I finally gone mine, whoo hoo) and the antlers of the reindeer are made with the large snowflake die cut.
These little guys peaking out of the basket are snowmen packets that contain an envelope of hot chocolate.  Their hat slides off enabling you to slip a gift card in, if you should desire to.  Or these can be attached to a package or slipped into a stocking for an extra sweet gift.

We have another craft fair to attend this weekend in Belle Rive, Illinois.  It will be held at the Belle Rive Community Center on Saturday, Nov. 15, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.  Come on out and see us and have a great week!

MT VERNON TEACHER CONFERENCE

I just had the pleasure of attending the Mt. Vernon Teacher Conference on Oct. 30 and 31 as a vendor.  Everyone was so kind and energetic.  I was amazed at how familiar everyone was with Stampin' Up!--everyone knew my products were from Stampin' Up!, without any signage announcing that.  I have decided that teachers are a very special breed, very creative, clever, and always looking for that next new project to learn and show their students and friends.  I felt very welcome at the conference and am definitely looking forward to being at next year's conference. 

Thank you for registering for my door prize.  I have drawn the three names who were winners of my 12 hand-stamped Christmas cards each:  Lisa Mazanek of Alma, Sandy Flick of Centralia, and Michelle Taylor.  Congrats girls!

I was thrilled at the number of gals that wanted to be added to my email list.  If you signed up to be on my email list, you should have received the 12 Weeks of Christmas ideas from me.  I was in the 4th week of these emails by the time the Teachers Conference rolled around, so I did go ahead and send the first three to you also.  Don't be worried that you will get that many emails from me on a regular basis.  This is only a once-a-week idea email.  Thanks for your interest!!  Please let me know if you need my assistance on any of these ideas.  Just because the directions are clear to me doesn't mean they are clear to you!

If you haven't received my emails with Christmas ideas and would like to, please sign up through the Sign Up box at the top of this website.