January Newsletter Posted

We've published our January 2011 Newsletter and it's ready for your to view, just Click Here. Here's a sneak peek of one of the Christmas cards that we received from our stamping friends. You can view the rest of the cards in our newsletter, along with all our upcoming classes for this month, and other fun stamping news. We wish you a Happy New Year and look forward to sharing more of our creations and ideas with this coming year.

Diane Loy

January Sneak Peek!

Did you miss us having classes during December? Even if you did, I doubt many of you probably had the time to come even if we had planned classes, right?! Even without the classes this month, December flew by like that! We've been working, though, on new ideas and projects and we're looking forward to a new year of creating with you!

One of the things we are planning on working on this coming year is getting our own website up and running! We want to be able to offer card kits online for our readers who want to make the cards we teach but don't live near by. We are also entertaining the idea of doing some videos. All of this will take time and is probably months (maybe even a year) down the road, but we thought we'd share what we're throwing around as possibilities this next coming year.

I promised you a sneak peek and I'm going to deliver! One of our January classes will feature handmade flower embellishments. We will be teaching you how to make 3 different kinds of flower embellishments. You can view our newsletter for dates and times for this class, which is called Creative Cardmaking: Flower Embellishments. It should be a lot of fun! Here's one of the cards we will be making.

Don't you love it? Those flowers are so dainty and lovely. =)

That's the sneak peek for today! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We're looking forward to the New Year!

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

Some fun things out in cyber land that you might like, too! =)

Neat tutorial on pleating ribbon HERE.
I know Christmas is over, but THIS is a cute idea.
Shabby Horse has some cute cupcake party favors HERE.
Again, another Christmas idea HERE, but stash it away for next year! =)
This gal's work with beads amazes me!
And finally, I love THIS LAYOUT.

Hope you enjoyed your Christmas! We enjoyed being with our family and having the whole day together, eating yummy food, giving gifts, and getting to hang out. It's hard to believe that December is almost over and we're at the end of another year, but it's true.

Thanks for stopping by!

Merry Christmas

From Heidi...

I'm squeezing in just one more Christmas card to share before the holiday is over. We hope that you've been enjoying all the festivities of the season with family and friends, and we hope that you have a wonderful Christmas celebration.

As I'm thinking about the Christmas story of Jesus being born in a manger as a baby, I have been thinking about a phrase Paul Harvey used to say..."and now, the rest of the story," and I thought I'd break out of our "blog norm" and share the rest of the story about Jesus' birth and this wonderful moment in history. The Bible tells us who Jesus, come to earth as a babe, really was - and still is today. The rest of the story tells us that He didn't stay a baby. A passage in the book of Isaiah 53 tells a lot about who Christ would be, who He was, and who He is. As a man, He had no stately form or majesty, His appearance wasn't something we'd be attracted to. He was despised and forsaken of men, He knew sorrows, He was acquainted with grief. He was despised by those He came to save. He came to bear the griefs and sorrows of man. He was pierced through for man's sins. He was crushed for the iniquities of man. He took our punishment and chastening upon Himself, so that we could have peace with God. By His scourging we are healed. The Lord caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was like a lamb that is led to slaughter. He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of the people, to whom the stroke was due. His grave was assigned with wicked men. The Lord was pleased to crush Him. If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He would see His offspring. By the Righteous One, He will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. He Himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors.

God gave us the ultimate gift through His Son, who being God came in the form of man as a baby. Through His death and resurrection He conquered the power of sin and death and purchased all men with His blood. His blood and overcoming life means freedom from sin and death for all who would believe in Him for salvation and who would trust Him as the Lord of their lives..."for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...but to those who believe in Jesus Christ, God justifies as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus."-Romans 3:21-26. During this season of gift-giving, I am most thankful for the gift of eternal life that Jesus purchased through with His own life. The greatest gift someone could give another is life...and that's the rest of the story :-) Merry Christmas!

My Digital Studio Thank You Card

From Adriel:

My son's birthday was in August. Thank you cards have been on my "to-do" list. I'm obviously a tad bit (okay, A LOT!) behind on my list for a variety of reasons. I originally thought I would show him how to design one on MDS, but that just hasn't happened. Time just keeps flying by and these just need to get done (before the end of the year)! So, I made the card on MDS and thought I would share it with you. It's simple and nothing fancy, but it's something to share. My son requested that they be appropriate to give to a boy or a girl. I think this fits the bill. =)

How about you? On average, how long does it take you to get a thank you card out?

Filled With Love Promotion Coming...

NEW!!  "FILLED WITH LOVE" PROMOTION STARTS DECEMBER 17.  

Valentine's Day is closer than you think.  Did you know that Valentine's Day is the second highest card-giving holiday (Christmas is first, of course)? From December 17, 2010 through January 24, 2011, get a FREE package of Bitty Buttons--a $4.95 value--when you purchase an exclusive Filled with Love Bundle.

The Filled with Love Bundle contains the Filled with Love Stamp Set (in wood-mount or clear-mount) and the exclusive Love Patterns Designer Series Paper Pack. Add in the free Bitty Buttons,  and you've got yourself the ingredients for the perfect Valentine cards.

Click to order Stampin' Up products

Mini Occasion Sneak Peek

From Heidi...

 I thought I'd share a card I made with some of the new upcoming Occasion mini items...I tried to fit as many of the new items as I could onto one card...lot and lots of fun new products this time around which made it hard to decide which products to preview, because the whole catalog is great.

The Vintage look is a little different style for me, but the flower stamp and punch, the DSP, the texture impressions folder and little button sizzlit all called for Vintage and distressed. Fun stamps, fun paper, fun punches, and fun impression folder made it fun and easy to create something a little different.

For those of you who stamp with us, be on the lookout in your mailbox at the end of the month for your copy of the Occasion Mini catalog.Thanks for looking and we hope you're enjoying your Christmas season so far.

Idea - Decorated Cookie Sleeves

Here's a fun way to to dress up cookies for giving away!

Take a cookie sleeve and adhere festive decorated paper to the front. Slip your cookies in, put them in a cute little box and tie a nice ribbon around it. You've just got a nice homemade gift for that cookie lover! =)

You could do this for a variety of occasions, just use different paper! You could also fill these sleeves with other goodies.

We've got these fun cookie sleeves all ready for you in our Etsy shop if you don't have time to make them yourself. Visit us HERE!

Hope you're having a great December so far! For us, it's going by way too fast. =)

Custom Orders for Coupon Organizers

From Adriel:

We recently completed two custom orders for our cute and stylish coupon organizers. One of them actually was the smaller receipt size. They both turned out so nicely and the customers did a good job with their paper choices. The end result is always the best part, because they end up so cute! We just wanted to share them with you. =)

Hope your week has gone well. We've been busy working away on orders and creative stuff. For my mom that's nothing new, but it's been a nice break for myself to do some creative work solidly. I planned lighter school (for K & J) for the month of December so we could enjoy doing things we don't normally get to do so much... like creating (and making gingerbread houses, which we did Wed.)! =D

Have a great weekend!

December Newsletter is Up

We've published this month's newsletter, so it's up and ready for you to view. It's hard to believe that this is the last newsletter of the year. We've had a great year stamping with everyone and building special relationships with all of you. We're looking forward to more great stamping time spent with everyone.


Yesterday was the last day to get in on Stampin' Up's wonderful Holiday Extravaganza Sale. I was excited that several of you purchased My Digital Studio. Now that we have a group of MDS users among us, we're looking forward to coming up with digital projects to share.


On another note, this picture is the jacket to my son, Daniel's, upcoming classical guitar CD. His album is in the process of being printed and duplicated, so we'll let you know when they're available for purchase. Thanks for stopping by and visiting us!

Brayered Just Believe

From Heidi...

I love this stamp set "Just Believe". The set includes sentiments that I will actually use, little frames for words, and small and large foliage, which is why I chose it for this brayered card. As I've been admiring other stamper's work, I combined several little pieces of a bunch of different ideas and put them together to create this brayered and then texture embossed card. This is the second brayered card we'll making on Tuesday, 1/4, Creative Cardmaking class (308TW.231/309TW.231) at Tumbleweed Recreation Center.

This week the Two Happy Stampers will be busy working on a couple of custom Etsy orders. It will be a nice change of pace having Adriel and the kids over and getting a chance to work together. We don't get too many of those days right now, so I'm looking forward to this week. Thanks for visiting us and we hope that you're having a great start to your week.

120453    Just Believe - Clear-Mount Stamp  $25.95

To order Stampin' Up Products click here

Inbetween Holidays

From Heidi...

We hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a fun day eating turkey and all the yummy side dishes that go with it, along with great fellowship with friends and family.

We've finished up our classes for this year, so we're busy preparing for 2011... (although I still have to make all my Christmas cards to send out...I better get on it here soon!) Our first class in January is a Brayering class at Tumbleweed Recreation Center, Tuesday, 1/4 (10 a.m.- 308TW.231/ 7 p.m. 309TW.231) . This tall brayered Medallion card is based on a card I cased from Claudia Perry and is one that we'll be creating. I love this technique and the effect it adds to cards.

Online Spectacular Begins Today!

Starting today, Stampin' Up! is kicking off your holiday shopping with spectacular discounts (20 to 50% off) on current select products and free shipping on product orders of $150 or more. Sale ends Nov. 30. Online Spectacular--a one-week sale with discounts up to 50 percent! Log onto Heidi's Online Store to take advantage of never-before-seen discounts. You won't want to miss this sale! "Door busters" include:

• My Digital Studio - 50 percent off!
• Designer Fabric - 50 percent off!
• Free shipping on online orders of $150 or more!

Click Here to view the list of discounted items

Another Weekend Boutique

From Heidi...

Yesterday I did another Holiday Boutique. My husband forewent his annual Good Guys car show to come and help me set up, keep product stocked, be a wind block, and just hang out...thank you, Phil! A few weeks ago he built us a card display and it was put to the test yesterday with the wind gusts. Some of the vendor's displays were knocked over and I was worried about our cards blowing away, but we didn't have one blown card casualty off the display. Phil was originally pleased with his design, but after it successfully stood the wind gust test, I think even he was pleasantly surprised at how well his design stood up to the test.
I had several familiar faces stop by and say "hi,", that was really nice. I think the best part of doing craft shows is all the people you end up meeting who appreciate your work...it's a rewarding part of what we do.
I thought I'd share a few pictures from the day that my husband took. Thanks for stopping by!

 Vendor's Displays

 Phil's Wind-Proof Card Display

 Our table with the cool chicken wire display Phil made for us last year

 One of the Happy Stampers

2 years on Etsy!

2 years ago we opened up our Etsy shop! That's right! Today is our 2-year Etsy-versary. =)

We've come a long way from when we first opened. Our pictures have definitely improved (how in the world did we sell anything with our beginning photos?!), we have a better idea of shipping prices, we've learned how to use Google Analytics, twitter, and facebook, we've learned how to take better photographs and edit them to look normal and not blah... lots of things! It's been quite a learning experience.

Here's the first item we sold:
Tea Bag Book

This photo is actually not too bad, but the black background is definitely not us. The bright and happy feeling in our shop definitely is a much better reflection for us. =)

Anyway, we are celebrating our Etsy-versary today by including a free handmade card with any purchase from our shop today! you can visit our shop HERE! =)

Hope you are all having a nice day. Thanks for visiting! =)

Christmas Loads of Love

From Heidi...

Yes, I'm still here. I was thinking all last week, "I need to post, I need to post..." It's just been a busy week. I was so glad to see Adriel add a few posts (and she's been busy with baby, homeschooling, kids, life!!...you go, Adriel :-) When you have a blog, it's really nice to have two people who can post. Usually when one is busy, the other can take over and vice-versa.

I thought I'd share this card I made for our Christmas card classes at Tumbleweed and at my house. Our Tumbleweed class is over, but we'll be repeating the class at my house on Tuesday, 11/16. Everyone's cards came out so cute. I used the Loads of Love stampset and the Candy Cane Christmas DSP. I love it when I get to use this stampset because it means I get to watercolor. This is one of my favorite stampsets. I love all the little stamp accessories you can add to the truck.

Stampset: Loads of Love

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Real Red, Early Espresso, Whisper White

DSP: Candy Cane Christmas

Loads of Love

Loads of Love Accessories

Candy Cane Christmas

To order Stampin' Up Products click here

October's Color Challenge Submissions

This is terribly late, but better late than never!

Here are the submissions we received for October's THS Color Challenge! Enjoy! Both of the submissions are from our regular stampers, Crystal and April. =)

Crystal submitted these really cute Thanksgiving cards!

April made a fun fall/autumn-themed card!

Thanks for playing along with us, stampers, and thank you for being patient! I haven't even posted the color challenge on our blog for this month. I'm so behind!

Have a nice weeked! =)

Stampin' Up! Special Heads Up!

We don't often advertise

Stampin' Up! specials and especially

in regard to joining Stampin' Up!,

but this upcoming offer is pretty amazing

and we just wanted to make you aware of it

in case you have considered joining, but haven't yet.

This price is pretty incredible.

This special doesn't begin until November 15 (through the 30th),

but we wanted to give you a heads up

and give you some time to think about it.

What do you call it when you get over $310

in crafting and business supplies for only

$87.50?

You can call it an amazing deal,

but we’re calling it an amazing opportunity!

From November 15-30, you can purchase either our

Standard or Digital+ Starter Kits

at 50 percent off the regular retail price of $175

(plus free shipping!),

and enjoy great benefits as a

Stampin’ Up!® demonstrator.

For more information about becoming a demonstrator,

visit my web site HERE.

If you have any questions, you can EMAIL US.

Hope you're having a nice day. =)

New Downloads for My Digital Studio

Check out the new digital downloads from Stampin' Up! for My Digital Studio. A lot of fun stuff for holiday projects!

If you have any questions about My Digital Studio or the digital downloads from Stampin' Up!, contact us and we'd be happy to help you.

Christmas Gift Class

From Heidi...

We have such a fun class coming up on November 11 at Tumbleweed Recreation Center. We offered this class last year and are excited to be offering it again this year. This year's gifts are a Candy Bar Holder Christmas card. It also includes a bookmark...great for you chocolate loving book reader friends or family.

 Our next gift project is a cocoa holder...and you guessed it, this is great for all your cocoa loving friends and family.

 And what would your presents be without gift tags?

 This is just the cutest stocking shaped gift card holder...you open up the stocking flap and voila!...there's a little place for your gift card.

We've still got room for you if you'd like to join us. November 11, 12:30-3 PM (331TW.150) and 7-9:30 PM (332TW.150). Class fee is $16, plus $3 registration fee with Tumbleweed, you can register online, mail in a registration form, or stop by Tumbleweed and register.

November Newsletter is Posted

We've posted our November Newsletter. It's full of our stamping news, ideas and a craft project for you to try out for Thanksgiving. We also have all our classes posted with pictures, dates, times and fees. Thanks for visiting us.

Our newsletter's Craftroom features a fun turkey tutorial using these punched pieces.

Holiday Bundles Deal!

Announcing the ABC's of the perfect Handmade Holiday. Stampin' Up! is offering specially selected products at a 20 percent discount. These products are perfect for Amazing cards, Beautiful packaging, and Cherished gifts...A, B, C!

 

• Additional products from current catalogs may be purchased on the same order.
• There is no minimum purchase required to participate in this promotion.
• You must use the bundle item codes provided. The 20 percent discount will not be applied if individual bundle item numbers are entered separately.
• Order on-line by Thursday, December 16, 2010

To order Stampin' Up! products online click here

Playful Buttons

From Adriel:

The color scheme for this card along with the style of the DSP makes for a playful-looking Christmas card. The glittery red polka dots, a shimmery snowflake, a tiny little sentiment... so many fun details. The buttons just complete the card and add to the playful and whimsy look. I'm not a big "pink" person, but I love the pink on this card! This is definitely a departure from the more traditional holiday cards, but it's a ton of fun and I love it! I finished off the inside with white cardstock and more of that fun glittery red polka dot paper! Very merry, as the sentiment suggests.

You can find this card in our Etsy shop right now. We're slowly adding more holiday items, so come by again to see what's new!

Holiday Boutique Review

We enjoyed seeing a few of you on Saturday at the Holiday Boutique that we participated in! I thought I'd share a couple of pictures of our table.

We're still getting the hand of this kind of thing. I honestly think we have too much of a variety of items to sell. I think our table is overwhelming to people. I'd like to experiment with limiting the types of items we sell to just a handful. Hmmm... what do you think?

Anyway, if anything, it helped us get all of our items organized. I don't think either of us (and especially myself) realized how many cards we had! Oh my! Everything is nicely organized and copyright stamped and many things are even packaged, so there's no excuse for me not to get these things in our Etsy shop soon. I'm hoping to focus this week on getting pictures taken and edited to do just that. =)

Hope you all had a nice weekend! Did you do anything special or fun?