More Pics

Here are some pictures to compare with those taken on Monday (you can see those pics in a previous post). I tried to stand in the same spots so you can really see the difference.

The above picture is taken from the driveway.

This is the palm tree in my neighbor's yard . . .see how still the wind is today?

This is facing pretty much south . . .big difference, huh?

Here's a picture of part of our pool. It's not a very good pic, but that black line along the tile is ash . . .and you can see how much more ash sunk to the bottom. Not to mention all the debris from surrounding trees.

*****

Now for more colorful pictures . . .these are some of the cards I made when I stayed up through the night on Monday . . . stamping really helped keep my me busy while listening to the news.

I have to admit that when I first saw these images from American Art Stamp, I thought, "hmm . . not so much." Then I saw them again and thought, "eh, they're okay." Then I saw them in magazines and they started to grow on me. I thought, "why not?" So I ordered them . . and I really like them now.

They're weird and funky in a Tim Burton kind of way. They stamp beautifully . . . and can be colored pretty quickly . . .and there are lots of little spots that can be embellished with a Stardust pen or Stickles . . . . which aren't showing very well in these pics . . .but hey, photography just isn't my forte. :D

This stamp is from Stampendous and it just looks delish . . . no wonder I had a bit of sweet tooth while coloring it.

All of the images were stamped on Rosie's Really Good Paper and colored with PrismaColor pencils. I did use my Stardust Pen and Stickles and Clear Glaze Pen on most of them. Solid Cardstock is by Prism and Patterned Papers are from Crafty Secrets, Sassafras Lass, One Heart-One Mind and a2z.

Wow

What a difference a day makes. The winds have died down considerably so the helicopters were able to fly yesterday and help fight the fires. However, the fires are still burning, and a few more started overnight . . . there are now a total of 13 fires burning and more than 1 million people have been evacuated from their homes. Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who has been affected by this.

We never were evacuated from our home, and I am very thankful for that. The store is fine . . .although please note, we will be closed today as well. I will be going over there this afternoon just to check on it.

More updates later. . . .

Closed Today

Please note that our retail location will be closed today, Tuesday, October 23, 2007 due to the fires in San Diego County.

Some Sleep

I finally woke up my husband around 5:00 this a.m. so that I could get some rest. . . .I did sleep for about four hours . . .but, I feel like I'm on a boat. More caffeine, please.

I'll keep updating throughout the day . . . .

I'm Still Awake. . .

. . . and I'm still at home. It's just about 3:30 am. Another three hours and a half hours and I'll have been up for 24 hours straight.

Watching the fires on the news has been . . . I can't think of the right word. . . .

I step out front every now and again to check the hill . . .there hasn't been any glow for a few hours now. Then I go into the backyard to watch for falling embers. Lots of ash, but thankfully, no embers.

The moon is eerie . . . it's orange.

More evacuations have been ordered down south . . .near Spring Valley . . . apparently Mt. Miguel is now burning . . . some transmitters for local news stations are on that mountain . . .well, they were on that mountain.

I'm going to go back to my craft room, now . . .

San Diego Wildfires

10:00 pm Update - The good news is that we haven't received that 2nd call for a mandatory evacuation. We are, however, still on alert. The winds are still kicking pretty good here. I can see an orange glow on the hills if I stand in my driveway. Nerve-wracking to say the least.

I have a couple of friends who have been part of the mandatory evacuation and have spoken to them briefly . . .they are all okay. . . whew!

Thanks to all of you for the emails and comments! It is so appreciated.

Oddly enough, I've been doing the same thing that Deb has been doing. . . sitting at my craft table and coloring. Helps keep my mind from wandering to the horrible land of "Whatif."

I'll keep you updated . . . thanks again for all your thoughts!

2:30 pm Update - We have received the "Prepare to Evacuate" call, which means we will most likely have a mandatory evacuation in another hour or so.

If you have placed an online order within the past few days, please note there will probably be a delay in shipment until things clear up around here.

*************************

Just a quick post. Here are some pictures taken from my front and back yards. The fires are moving quickly . . .and the winds are pretty bad.




The picture above is taken from my driveway.


This is a palm tree in my neighbor's backyard to give you an idea of how strong the wind is.

This is taken from my backyard facing southwest.

This one is another from the backyard facing pretty much south.

I can only hope that people are heeding the advice of the police and fire department and evacuating when told to do so. . . .

Berry Branch . . .

. . . is the November Stamp of the Month from Great Impressions . . . and you can pre-order yours today! Gotta have it? Click here to get it.

Just a few cards

I was playing the craft room and came up with these few cards . . .

The leaves are actually a sticker . . .similar to Magenta's Peel-Off's and Stampendous' Class A'Peels. I put it on acetate and then applied Alcohol Ink to the back and cut it out. For the background paper that the leaves are on, I spritzed a little bit of Iridescent Gold Radiant Rain onto Husk cardstock. Then I randomly stamped the Bohemian Flourish by Paper Artsy in Adirondack Lemonade ink. I ran the leaves through my Xyron so no adhesive would show through when attached to the cardstock. The patterned cardstock that Give Thanks (The Cat's Pajamas) is stamped on is from the Earthy Pack of cardstock from Crafty Secrets. Solid cardstock is by Prism.


This holly card was easy-peasy! The silver holly leaves are stickers as well. I colored the berries with a Red Glaze Pen. The sentiment and holly leaves on the right are from the Vintage Christmas stamp set from Crafty Secrets. A little tear here . . .a little tear there . . .layer it up and call it a card!

Finally, for the Ornament Card, I applied the ornament sticker on vellum. Then I colored the back using VersaMagic (Tea Leaves, Red Magic, Ocean Depth, Aspen Mist) and Brilliance (Starlit Silver) ink pads. Layered it onto white cardstock and inked the edges with Ocean Depth. The swirly stamp is also from the Vintage Christmas set and was stamped using Starlit Silver. The "Season's Greetings" is a sticker.

Don't Watch a Toaster

Remember that old saying? You know . .. if you stand over a toaster, your toast will take twice as long?

Well . . .the same goes for the Distress Crackle Paint. tee hee

I brought some home tonight . . .I've been dying to try this stuff! Besides, I needed to make color swatches for the store. (can you hear the rationalization going on?)

Okay . . .so I've got all of my little tags on the table, a box with my non-stick craft sheet ready to catch my painted tags. . .which, btw, if you don't have one of those non-stick craft sheets, I highly recommend it. It's fabu for all sorts of stuff!

Tangent . . .sorry . . . . it's late . . .I spent the weekend in Vegas, so I'm a bit tired.

Back to the Crackle Paint:

There I am happily painting my tags and neatly placing them in the box . . .I figure that by the time I get to the fourth or fifth tag, the first tag should be "crackling" right? Wrong.

So, I keep painting . . . and I check again . . .still no crackles. Hmph . . .

Finally, after 24 tags, I think, "They've gotta be crackling by now, right?" Barely.

Hmph . . .I don't think I like this stuff. . . ***sigh*** . . . on to another project. . . so I start working on the next project . . . and about 10 minutes into it, I look over at my box with all my painted tags, and . . .oh GREAT! All the tags are curled!! Now what??

duh . . . of course they curled . . . paper does that when it gets wet. (Like I said, I'm still recovering from Vegas)

Fine. . . .let's start reshaping the tags . . . if nothing else, at least they're pretty colors. . . so, I pick up the first tag and start curling it the other way and guess what?? Lo and Behold! They were crackled!! And it looks soooooooooooo cool!

Lessons learned: Don't watch a toaster OR painted tags. . . .oh, one more thing . . .the thicker the paint is applied the better the crackles. . . .and, try to get more than three hours of sleep per night while in Vegas.

Oooh ooh!!

Jenni Bowlin goodies are here! Just wait til you see these little 4x4 packs of paper! Soooooo awesome!

Figgy Pudding Winterland

Yep! The NEW Basic Grey Collection and Clear Stamps have arrived! Sooooo yummy!

Back to "Play"

What? A day off?

Yep . . . well, sort of a day off.

I was actually out of town over the weekend, and didn't get home until the wee hours of the morning. . . .but boy oh boy did I bring home some good stuff for you!

NEW stamps from Prickley Pear!
NEW Acrylic Albums! (these things are sooooooo cool! click here to see them)

And then . . . Mr. Brown showed up today with FIVE boxes of goodness!

The Crackle Paint is officially at the store!
More Punches!
Fabu jars of embellies that include buttons, mulberry flowers, and felt flowers!
Radiant Rain Misters!
Sweet Chips from Crafty Secrets!

And even more goodies should be here by the end of the week . . . stay tuned!

A Day Off

Please note that our retail location will be closed Tuesday October 16. We will reopen Wednesday October 17th at 10 a.m.

Sparkle Wreath Cupcakes

I cannot wait for Mr. Brown to come in today . . . he's bringing me a big ol' box filled with sparkly goodies! Yep . . .ALL of the Radiant Rain Misters . . .yahoo!

And here's a sneak peek of a few more goodies that are due to arrive over the next week or so . . .

Jenni Bowlin, Anyone?

Oh yeah . . .I've got her stuff on the way. . . stay tuned for it's arrival . . .soooo cool!

More Stampendous is on the way . . .and other good stuff, too! Been busy going through catalogs and shop, shop, shopping!

Keep an eye out for updates both here and on the website . . . eeeeeeeeeeeee! So much fun!

And . . . drum roll please . . .the NEW Distress Crackle Paint has been shipped to me! YAHOO!! Should be here at the store by next Thursday. . .

MNTs

Here are the Make-N-Takes we did on Saturday for WCMD. And . . . lots of new images have been added to the Newer Gallery. :D

Ooh! Ooh!

Yahoo! I've got a few classes on the calendar . . .soooooooo cool! Click here to see the schedule.

FREE Make-N-Takes!

We'll be hosting FREE Make-N-Takes at our retail location tomorrow, Saturday, October 6 from 11:00 - 1:00 to celebrate World Card Making Day!

No RSVP necessary . . .just show up for some stamping fun! See you there!

Goodies Goodies Goodies

Lots of new goodies have been posted on the website! Click here to see what's new!

A few reminders:

Today is the last day to pre-order your Tim Holtz Crackle Paint at a special introductory price.

World Cardmaking Day is Saturday, October 6th! We'll be having FREE Make-N-Takes from 11:00 - 1:00 at our retail location.

Prickley Pear is having a Design Team call! Click here for more info.

And finally . . . .here's a card I made using the Vintage Christmas set from Crafty Secrets. (Sheesh . . . is it really time to start thinking about holiday cards already??)

Nice to get ink on my hands again . . . :D

Gift Box Studio

Okay . . .so these cool tablets of die-cut boxes, cards, envelopes and tags arrived sometime in August . . .but with the flood clean up and then moving the store, this is the first chance I've had to try them out.

And I must say . . .I'm pretty happy with these things! And I would rather not trace, measure, score, cut and fold. I just wanna punch out and fold. . . much faster! ; )

Here are a few pics of completed projects:

Slider Box - I stamped and embossed the flourish stamp from Paper Artsy and then put the box together . . .thought it added just a little bit more. Wrapped the ribbon around it and added the little card (yep! the card is part of the "studio")

Pillow Box - I just put it together, wrapped fibers around it, and added the little card. The bird stamp is from Crafty Secrets.

Interlocking Card - Easy Peasy! Just fold and tuck in the tab. The Cornucopia stamp is from Prickley Pear. I stamped it on Cream Puff cardstock, colored it with my PrismaColor Pencils, cut it out and adhered it to the card with foam tape.

I still have a few more to gussy up with stamps, cards, and embellishments . . . I'll post them soon.

Mighty Nice Mice . . .

. . . and Hoppers!

Yep, those ever so cute House Mouse and Happy Hopper Stamps have arrived!

And. . . .more Crafty Secrets goodies are on the way . . .and paper from 7 Gypsies . . .and Figgy Pudding cardstock from Basic Grey . . . and the Stamp of the Month from Great Impressions . . . and great holiday stamps from Inkadinkado . . .stay tuned for when these treats arrive!

Don't forget! You can pre-order the NEW Tim Holtz Distress Paints at a special price through October 3rd.

Hmph . . .

Blogging on a regular basis. . . I can't believe it's been more than a week since I've posted something!

Well . .. here I am . . .and there are goodies that have arrived . . .that are on the way . . .and even some that can be pre-ordered!

The latest issue of Stamper's Sampler has come in . . . and it's a really good issue! Some great Halloween ideas.

Speaking of Halloween . . . .Prickley Pear Designs have arrived! How perfect is this sentiment? after all, Halloween really is "all about the candy"!
And the Swanky Witch . . .



Here's the October board from Great Impressions! Those snowmen are ever so cute! And you can pre-order yours today by clicking here.



NEW clear sets from Inkadinkado! And this little fish set comes with embellishments!
And . . .look look look what's on the way! Yep . . .all the Distress Crackle Paints! And you can pre-order these, too . . .at a special introductory price! Hurry . . . the introductory price is good only through October 3, 2007. Click here to pre-order your paints!

I expect to receive those Happy Hoppers and House Mouse this week . . .and some super cool embellishments, too. . . .stay tuned . . . .

In A Word

When I saw the Dare over at Daring Cardmakers, I thought, "Ha! What a perfect opportunity to use my new stamps from Technique Tuesday" . . . so here they are (supply list at the bottom):





Beautiful Card: Stamps by Technique Tuesday (TT), Cardstock by Prism, Patterned Cardstock by Crafty Secrets (Earthy Pad), Lapislazuli VersaColor and Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink, Velvet Ribbon, Flowers, and gold brad.


Dream Card: Stamps by TT, Cardstock by Die Cuts with a View (Luxury Stack), Frost White Colorbox ink, White Embossing Powder, Sheer White Ribbon, flower and heart brad.


Explore Card: Stamps by TT, Cardstock by Prism, Patterned Cardstock by Crafty Secrets (Earthy Pad), Pinecone Versacolor, Walnut Stain and Brushed Corduroy Distress Inks, Stipple Brush, Gold Wire and beads.


Play Card: Stamps by TT, Cardstock by Prism, Patterned Cardstock by Sassafraslass, Rocket Red Brilliance Ink, Red Grosgrain Ribbon.

TFL!

Before & After

Ta-da! Finally got around to uploading before and after pics of the new store:

Isn't that "graffiti" lovely there on that back wall?

Okay, the only good thing in this pic is my very cute hubby. How gross is that carpet??

Can you say, "BLUE!" It took two gallons of primer to cover that up!

Some nice slatwall soon to be filled with goodies. . .

And here are the after pics . . . .

Look! No more icky carpet!

One of my favorite things about the new store are the paper trays for the Prism Cardstock. All 90 colors fit perfectly there . . .and all the trays are neatly labeled with the color making it so easy to find just the color you're looking for.

Here's where the inks and paints and stuff are . . .for the most part . . . I still have a few more trays to put up. . . and I'm kinda hooked on Golden Products . . .I'm thinking about bringing in that line . . . any takers??

Stamps! I actually ran out of shelves . . .I still have about four more trays of stamps to put up on the wall . . . and look look look at the shutters! I have a real window now!

Here's a view taken from the front door . . .

And that concludes our tour for today. . . thank you for joining us. ; )

Easy Peasy!

Thank you Debbie for that catch phrase! Here's a card that took no time at all to make.

I used Vintage Cuts from Crafty Secrets, a little flourish stamp from Technique Tuesday, Black Soot Distress ink, Prism Cardstock, Harlequin Cardstock from Crafty Secrets' Earthy Paper Pad, and a button and ribbon to finish it.

I CASE'd the idea from the Crafty Secrets Gallery. They have a great gallery over there!

Oooh oooh oooh!

Staz On has six new colors! Oh yummy!!

Click here to get 'em.

Structure

I need structure. It keeps me balanced. . .and when my schedule is thrown off, I get all wonky and it can take days for me to recover. Needless to say, I am soooooooooooo happy to have a somewhat normal schedule again!

Yep . . .it's back to "play" for me! The new store is open and it's time to get back on track with ordering goodies for you and posting to the blog on a regular basis.

Speaking of goodies . . . check out Hazel! She is one of Rosie's newest images and she is on her way to the Cupboard along with a bunch of other new images, too!

And how about this Trick or Treat Ghost from Prickley Pear?? Isn't he cute?? And the Swanky Witch . . .isn't she just sooooooooo . .. well, Swanky? Yep . . . I've got an order coming in from Prickley Pear, too.

AND, looks like Nicole will be back soon to teach more fabu classes! Stay tuned for more info . . .I'm really hoping for the end of October or early November.

AND did you know Prickley Pear is having a DT call? Click here for all the info.

Okay . . .off and running to get ready for "play!"

tee hee

I'm a Featured How-to Project!

Wait . . .that doesn't sound right . . .

I'm the artist of a Featured How-to Project!

Well . . . that's not right either . . .I just like to stamp, color, cut and paste, so I don't really think of myself an "artist."

Oh sheesh . . . Click here to see what I'm babbling about.


psst . . .Stampbord is on sale on the website. :D

Can you believe it?

The City of Escondido had a parade for my Grand Re-Opening!

Okay . . .not really . . .but there was a parade for Grape Day. I guess I missed that memo from the city. :D

Even with lots of streets blocked off for the parade, the Grand Re-Opening was a success! It was sooooooo great to see so many of you!

Thanks ever so for coming out to see the new store!

It IS a Store!

Holy Canoli Batman! I am soooooo excited! After six weeks (SIX!) of being closed I am ready to re-open the store! YAHOO!

Tomorrow . . .Saturday, Sept. 8th is the Grand Re-Opening at the new location:

252 East Grand Avenue
Escondido, CA 92025

Doors open at 10:00 am.

See you there!

It's Almost a Store!

Oh my goodness! I can't believe how much stuff I had to unpack! But we [my dear, sweet husband (Mike) and very good friend and mentor (Jill)] have made some serious progress in getting the "new" Cupboard ready for the Grand Re-Opening on Saturday, Sept. 8!

There was whole lotta "red-tagging" going on, too . . .select back issues of magazines for $1.00 . . . select clear stamps for $4.50 (reg. price $14 - $15)! select cardstock 75% off . . .full packs of Lasting Impressions cardstock (that would be 50 sheets) for $4.50 (reg. price 17.50!) . . .individual sheets of LI cardstock just $0.09 each! All Kaliedescope and Wild Asparagus cardstock 50% off! Lots of wood mounted stamps marked wwwwwaaaaayyyyy down . . .I have a whole gondola loaded with Clearance items!

Eeeeee . . .this is so exciting! I can't wait to re-open! See you on Saturday! Doors open at 10:00 a.m.