The new idea book and catalog is here! Well... for most people. Mine didn't arrive in the mail yet, so I drove over to my friend Meri's house to see it. I was so excited to see if samples I had made for TAC were there... and they were!!!! I am so proud to say this!!! The Frutti Fushion samples were created by me. I feel so blessed to be a part of a company that includes demonstrators like me in their design process. What a great feeling! I feel so thankful right now.

My friend Meri was also published in the catalog. She even has a catalog cover entry in there, too! Here she is holding the pages she designed. They are great!

As soon as I get my case of catalogs, I will be mailing them out to the customers who preordered them. They should be here sometime this week, I would imagine.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is almost here!

I hope your day is filled with laughter and joy, and that Santa is good to all of you. We just watched Christmas Vacation, and it just put me in the holiday mood!

I hope you are enjoying the season!

Elf Me!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1237359516

Merry Christmas from the O'Donnells!

6x6 Clipboard Picture Frame

Are you looking for Christmas presents to make this year? I have an idea for you. I used a 6x6 plain clipboard (H-104, $3.50) and decorated it with some of our soon to be retiring Bella Flor paper (R-2500, $10) to make a picture frame that can change pictures as often as you take them! I put a business card sized magnet on the back of the clipboard, and you have a Christmas present for $3.50! Ready for the fridge, or to hang on a wall with its metal clip.

Coaster Books

Are you looking for a quick, yet creative present for the holidays? Try making a coaster book for your friends and family. Take 2 coasters and cover them with festive paper. This one uses Vintage Holiday, which is now retired! I am so sad... For the inside pages, we used white paper with some of our Christmas stamps to embellish the corners. The cropodile punches right through the whole book, and it is held together by a ring embellished with ribbon. What could you put on the pages? Written Christmas memories, pictures of the kids, holiday traditions recorded, etc.! Or leave it blank and have them fill it with their own special memories.

My Memory Purse has gone seasonal! Nothing shows holiday spirit better than a beagle dressed as Santa on a purse! Ho Ho Ho! Her outfit goes beautifully with our Merry Wishes paper, if I do say so myself!

Happy Holidays!!!
(even though it is only November 7th...)

The Retiring List is here! Click on it to get a bigger image. Or, email me and I will send you a PDF version.

DINO-mite!

This beagle is DINO-mite! Just look at the fun Snoopy had this Halloween. She couldn't helo but enjoy being a dinosaur. The dino head was just so heavy that she had to put her head down to rest for a while. But, she loved being dressed up. That's the story I am sticking to!!!

Happy Halloween!

Well, I have been to 8 Chicago Marathons to cheer Brian on, and I have never seen anything like this! Marathon runners stopped and waiting at a red light to cross Michigan Avenue to walk back because the race has been cancelled. We took this picture as we walked back to our car. Brian did finish the race before they ended it, and he is fine. I guess they had over 300 people go to the hospital for heat stroke before they called the race. Let's hope it isn't 90 degrees next year!!!

Congrats to all that ran, and to all those who cheered them on, too!

Snoopy just wanted to say Happy Fall!

This card was made with Heminway paper. Why? Because the brown tones in the paper match Snoopy's fur, of course!

Enjoy the season!

This post is dedicated to Dawnmarie. She is an Angel sister of mine, and she just helped us at the Tinley Park Rubber Stamp Expo. She is the one that you can see in the picture, because she didn't have a matching specTACular shirt. We took that picture to be funny. Well, let me tell you...

DAWN IS SPECTACULAR.

Why, you ask? Because she made me buy these new markers. She just kept talking about how great they are, and I finally went over to watch a demo. I am an anti-colorer, so I will do anything to avoid markers in general. These ones looked pretty cool, though, so I took a leap and bought a set. WOW. They are great. I am not quite good enough yet to post a sample using them, but I thought I would say thanks to Dawn. If anyone out there is looking for a good set of markers, try Copic markers. I think Dick Blick stores carry them. Expensive, but so far worth it for me!

I was published! If you go to The Angel Company website, you will see a scrapbook page I made for something called Take 3! They send the same picture and materials to 3 people, and then they publish them on their website to demonstrate the different ways you can use the same materials. I made 2 pages for TAC to choose from, so the one above is just for you guys to see! They used my other one on the website. So check it out! I am so excited to see my name on the website. Now I know how my students feel when they see their work for the first time on a bulletin board in the hallway!!! :)

http://theangelcompany.net/Take_3.html

St. Charles Expo

The Scrapbook Expo in St. Charles has come and gone, and I thought I would take time to share how it was. The booth we had for TAC went well, and I especially liked having people who receive my newsletter each month stop and say hello. Some I was meeting for the first time, and others have become friends over the years. I hope they all do! That's what makes me a happy stamper. Thanks for saying hello!

The show itself was pretty nice. I bought a really great scrapbook from a lady who embosses the covers for my California scrapbook. I also bought a bunch of embellishments to make pages for it. I haven't made a 12x12 scrapbook in a while, so I thought the more I bought to fill it, the easier it will be to complete it! I also bought a book about making photo mosaic-like pages. I am going to have fun with that!!!

The card above was made with paper from the Mimi collection. I just can't stop using those bitty blossoms, either! I actually had a whole board made with Mimi paper, but I forgot to take a picture of it. :)

California Dreams Become a Reality!

We escaped Alcatraz! And they said it couldn't be done!

We went to California! It was our first vacation in 5 years, and boy we do have a lot of pictures to show for it. 600 or so, to be exact. :) My husband got a little tired of posing by the end of the week, but that's ok!

Big Sur has to be the most gorgeous place in the United States. Nothing but ocean, mountains, sand, and cliffs for 90 miles. Oh, and a few redwood forests sprinkled here and there. This was one of my favorite spots on the drive. We saw a condor flying above us! Just amazing.

It wouldn't have been a trip to San Francisco without the Golden Gate Bridge. The first two days it was so foggy that you couldn't even see the entire bridge. But, on the third day, skies were clear and blue and the International Orange bridge was in its glory! You should have seen how goofy we looked trying to take a picture of ourselves with the bridge. Luckily, a nice lady came by and took this one for us.

Those are some big trees! We saw the redwoods in Muir Woods near San Francisco. They were so big, in order to get the whole tree in the picture, we had to be a little creative with our photography. The tallest tree we saw was 280 tall, and the grove has been growing for 1,500 years!!!

It's good to be back home, but we can't wait to go back to CA!

Move Over, Kate Spade!

My new purse came in the mail! Boy, did I enjoy making this project. It was really rather difficult for me to choose the pictures of Snoopy that I wanted to use. I take a lot of pictures, so I have a lot to choose from! I went with 2 of my all time favorites. They both went with our Mimi paper and embellishments, so that is what I used. I can't stop using those white bitty blossoms, either. If you see this purse around town, you will know that it is me. After all, it is a Snoopy original.

Creative Class Idea #1
Make this purse with your friends! Get a small groups together, pick the papers you want to use, and start picking some photographs! This class would cost $37, which includes your own $29.95 purse and your choice of $6.95 Soar With It paper. I would bring additional stamps, inks, and embellishments for us to use.

Happy Stampin' Beagle

Who would have guessed that Snoopy likes to stamp, too? I was working on some baby shower invites on the floor of our office. There was very little space, as I tend to spread out... (Brian would use other words to describe my stamping mess). Anyway, somehow Snoopy managed to squeeze into the little open space that was there to work with me. Right between the cardstock, theXyron, and the open glitter. It didn't even spill! What a great dog. Right now, she is hiding in the closet because of the fireworks. But earlier she was helping me stamp!

Idea Book & Catalogue

The new catalog is here! It is filled with great new papers, stamps, and accessories. Another angel counted, and we have 209 stamp sets that are less than $12! I think that is awesome. The best part? The catalogs are only $4.95! Mine was signed by the owner of our company, Mischelle Smith. :)

Do you want to know my favorites? Here goes!

Favorite New Stamp Set: T-2668 Teacher's Helpers (pg 55) OK, I am a teacher and all, but the Super Job! super kid is adorable. I call my husband Superman, so that stamp is perfect!

Favorite New Paper: V-831 Mulberry Meadow (pg 12) This paper is just beautiful. It was love at first sight.

Favorite New Alphabet: T-2723 Bet Blocks (pg 81) I can't wait to get this set to use it on scrapbook pages. I am a bit of an alphabet junkee, and this was a must have for me!

Favorite New Accessory: V-817 Memory Purse (pg 100) My teammate had this great purse, and I had just asked her where so ordered it online. Later that night the catalog was unveiled, and we now sell it ourselves! You can make your own scrapbook page to decorate the purse. I can't wait to get it!!!