Stamps, Paper, Scissors

We have a winner!

Random.org generated number 47.

Counting down got me to this comment:

dtstampz said:

Hurray for you, Jan! I was so pleased to see you in SS--you ROCK! Just wish the feature could have included MORE pages. Many more...! :)

Congratulations!

I wish I could send one to every one of you! Your kind comments mean a lot to me!

Okay, I did actually get some stamping done recently. This color combination was inspired by some random pieces of cardstock on my desk lying together in the mess that I generated from different projects and I was struck by how GOJUS these colors were together! And with the weather moving in on the east coast today, I thought it was appropriate! Lookie:

Ingredients: Stamps - Snow Buddies, Grateful Greetings; Paper - Close to Cocoa, Almost Amethyst, Real Red, Shimmery White, Whisper White; Ink - Basic Black, Almost Amethyst, Real Red, Lavender Lace; Markers - Going Grey, Basic Black, Real Red, Almost Amethyst, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun; Other- Small & Large Tag punches, Merry Details Sizzlet Sizzlet die, Mistletoe ribbon, aquapainter, sponge wedges, Round Ice rhinestone brad, dimensionals, Signo white gel pen

Isn't this GOJUS?!?!? (YILM!) I just love how the purple and browns make the red POP! I kind of went nuts with the gel pen, but it looks so very right here, how could I not?

Well, time to shuffle off and see if we are going to go get our tree yet. I'm not in the mood, but we might as well do it and get it done. Ta!

Thank you, thank you very much....BLOG CANDY!!!

Yes, I know I'm famous now...I'll try not to let it go to my head. But y'all aren't helping, LOL! Thank you so much for the comments, emails, and posts to my FB page!

My BFF Mary is not helping either. I got in her car to go shopping with her yesterday. And she says, "So, CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH?!?!?" I thought she was kidding!

She wasn't. She made me autograph her Stampin' Success. She is one of my downline...at least, for a little while longer. This is Mary's second time as my downline and this time she signed up just to get the kit special we ran a while back. So she gets the magazine, opens in late in the evening while she is in bed with her husband and wakes him up by squealing when she saw the article. I had told her I would be in there, but she must have forgot.

For those of you who are not demos and/or who have  not seen this magnificent piece of publishing art, I show it to you:

I was contacted back in ? September, I think it was, and told of this honor I was to be given and I was VERY excited. For the article, I was asked to do 5 projects using a stamp set that they would send me and I was only asked what style I would prefer and I chose "shabby chic" and got Vintage Vogue shortly afterward. Because it was not in production yet, my set was laser cut, much as the personalized stamps are. There were wood blocks, but no stickers for the top. But they still work champion! I love the set and had a great time making my projects. For being in the magazine, SU! also gave me three free sets of stamps. Gotta love that! I also had to stick to one color scheme and I had the choice there. I chose a combination that is from the In Color combination chart for this year and fell in love with it!

So here are the projects, including the other little cards not shown in the magazine:

Stamps – Vintage Vogue, Medallion, En Francais, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper – Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Melon Mambo (textured & regular), Bermuda Bay, Very Vanilla

Ink - Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay

Markers – Elegant Eggplant

Punches & Tools – Eyelet Border punch, Ticket Corner punch, Modern Label punch, Boho Blossoms punch, Circle Scissors Plus, , Paper Crimper, sponge wedge

Other – 5/8” Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, Playground Designer Buttons, Linen Thread, dimensional, mini glue dots, SNAIL, Sticky Strip

Stamps – Vintage Vogue, Woodgrain

Paper – Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Melon Mambo (textured), Bermuda Bay, Very Vanilla

Ink - Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay, Very Vanilla Craft

Markers – Elegant Eggplant

Punches & Tools – Large Tag punch, Modern Label punch, Cropadile, paper piercing tool, sponge wedges

Other – Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon, Pewter Jumbo Eyelets, Vintage brads, dimensionals, SNAIL

 

Stamps – Vintage Vogue

Paper – Razzleberry Lemonade DSP, Elegant Eggplant, Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay (textured), Very Vanilla

Ink - Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Melon Mambo

Punches & Tools – Top Note Bigz die, Lattice Bigz Die, Scallop Circle Punch, Lots of Tags Sizzlet dies, paper piercing tool, sponge wedges

Other – 5/8” Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, Playground Designer Buttons, Linen thread, Cosmo Fine Glitter, Super Nova Fine Glitter, Sticky Pages, Pop-Up glue dots, Sticky Strip, SNAIL, Chocolate bar

Stamps – Vintage Vogue, French Filigree

Paper – Elegant Eggplant (textured), Old Olive, Melon Mambo (textured & regular), Bermuda Bay, Very Vanilla

Ink - Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay

Markers – Elegant Eggplant

Punches & Tools – Curly Label punch, 1/16” hole punch, paper piercing tool, sponge wedges

Other –5/8” Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, Melon Mambo dotted grosgrain ribbon, silver brads, Pretties kit, dimensionals, Sticky Strip, SNAIL

Stamps – Vintage Vogue

Paper – Elegant Eggplant, Bermuda Bay, Very Vanilla

Ink - Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Melon Mambo

Punches & Tools – Sponge wedges

Other – Fine Cosmo Glitter, Melon Mambo Dotted Grosgrain ribbon, mini glue dots, SNAIL, 3 x 3 Very Vanilla Envelope

Stamps – Vintage Vogue

Paper – Elegant Eggplant, Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay, Very Vanilla

Ink - Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Bermuda Bay

Markers – Elegant Eggplant

Punches & Tools – Ticket Corner punch, Curly Label punch, Eyelet Border Punch, 1/16” hole punch, sponge wedges

Other – Silver brads, dimensionals, SNAIL, 3 x 3 Very Vanilla Envelope

Stamps – Vintage Vogue

Paper – Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Melon Mambo, Bermuda Very Vanilla

Ink - Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay

Punches & Tools – Small Oval  punch, Cropadile, sponge wedges

Other – Metallic eyelets, Pretties kit, Linen thread, SNAIL, mini glue dots, 3 x 3 Very Vanilla Envelope

Stamps – Vintage Vogue

Paper – Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Bermuda Bay, Very Vanilla

Ink - Elegant Eggplant, Melon Mambo, Old Olive

Punches & Tools – Word Window punch, Eyelet Border Punch, paper piercing tool, sponge wedges

Other – Melon Mambo Dotted Grosgrain ribbon, Square Ice Rhinstone  brad, dimensionals, SNAIL, 3 x 3 Very Vanilla Envelope

Yes, I know they are all GOJOMACIOUS!!!! (YILM!) And I am still not over the thrill of the article...I fully intend to frame it and put it up in my stampin' area, to remind me of my 15 minutes of fame!

But for now, famous as I am, I have a cold. So it was nice to be able to post something I didn't have to make right beforehand and it was even nicer to have all those ingredients lists already typed up, since I had to send them to the magaine. Right now I'm not suffering from it too much...I always start taking zinc right from the start and that takes out most of the nasty symptoms, but the fatigue is still there.

I have fulfilled all kit orders at this time except for the paper bag kits and I should be able to get those all cut and ready this weekend. And good news for those of you hoping for more Coaster Calendar kits! I have ordered some of the current Patterns paper from the catalog and will be redesigning the kit to use them. The colors I am switching to are Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, and Rose Red. It will take me a week to get those in and I hope to have the kits ready to ship within a few days after Christmas. I'll be putting a button up with new pics of the redesigned kit in the kit store as soon as I receive the paper and you will be able to place orders at that time. I will also send out a reminder email to those of you who are on the waiting list.

And now for the Blog Candy! You like this set, Vintage Vogue? Or maybe now that you've seen these GOJUS projects I made (YILM!) you have experienced an epiphany and wish you had ordered it before? OR you are not a demo and have been waiting on pins and needles for January 5th to roll around so you can get it?

Well, this is the deal: I really would rather have the clear mount set rather than the wood block set, as my room is burstin' at the seams. And so I am going to give away the original set I received, the one that is laser cut and without index stickers. It still works beautifully and it is one of a kind.

I will give this set away  to one of the people who comment on this blog. You have to live the United States though, because I can't do this over international borders. You must comment by 12 M EST on December 18, 2009 to qualify. I will choose a winner by using random.org to pick a random number. On your mark, get set, COMMENT!

Ta!

And the number is....

53!

I have so many embarrASSing stories it is hard to pick just one, but I'll pick the one I'd like most to forget...  I was 18 and legal drinking age back then (land of dinosaurs, I know) in Iowa.  My BFF and I went to a local drinking establishment to see if we could ever get used to the awful taste of beer (we did).  I wore a dress with a large circular skirt (think poodle skirt shape).  SOMEHOW my skirt and slip both got tucked in the waistband of my pantyhose and I was sitting on a bar stool with one cheek fully exposed.  Here I thought I was just an attractive young thing getting attention, but it was my HALF-BARE BUTT.  As soon as I found out why there was a breeze, I fixed it, told my friend I was leaving, and left the back exit!  OMG it was awful!

Nancy

Congratulations Nancy! I feel kind of good giving you this blog candy, because obviously you have lived a life of trauma and embarrassment (and while the comment was supposed to tell me about embarrassing stamping stories, coming up with a stamping one was not essential to winning, only posting a comment was)...of course, I can relate to your embarrASSing story, having once broken a window with my BUTT in junior high, the time when it is easier to be embarrassed than any other time in your life, so breaking a window with my BUTT (chocolate at work already!) scored a Triple Embarrassment Score on the great Scrabble game of my life, but I digress...

I've got your email and will drop you a line to get your address so I can send out your stamps!

In the meantime, the rest of you can feast your eyes on my special Christmas banner, which I designed myself with some digital goodies I got here. Pamela puts tons of stuff on her blog for free, but also has a great Ebay site for more digital goodies!

Scientific facts I learned this morning (and blog candy!)

UPDATE!!: Comments for the blog candy are now closed...stay tuned for the announcement of the winner!

What I learned this morning:

1. When you are cleaning up your stamping desk and moving things around, any containers of brads you left on the desk the last time you stamped should probably be moved away from the edge of the desk.
2. A nearly full container of brads, even when closed, does not stay that way when it falls off the desk.
3. A nearly full container of brads, when it falls off the desk from a height of about 34 inches, scatters brads in a circular direction.
4. A nearly full container of brads, when it falls off the desk from a height of about 34 inches, makes a circular scatter pattern that is about 4 feet in diameter.
5. A nearly full container of brads, when it falls off the desk from a height of about 34 inches, makes a sound that freezes your soul and fills you with dread.
6. Chocolate helps with the dread.
7. There isn't enough chocolate in my house and what was there is now gone.
8. It's very dark under my desk.
9. I have the world's ugliest tile floor.
10. The way I deal with having the world's ugliest tile floor is not to look at it.
11. Looking at the world's ugliest tile floor give me a frustrated, horrified feeling, knowing that it will be years before we can afford to replace the whole thing.
12. You have to look at the world's ugliest tile floor when you have to sit on it to look for brads that fell off the desk from a height of about 34 inches.
13. It helps to have chocolate to deal with the frustrated, horrified feeling you get from looking at the world's ugliest tile floor, but it only helps if you have some.
14. The world's ugliest tile floor has a pattern that conceals brads very effectively, aided by the darkness mentioned before.
15. When you finally decide to lower yourself to the world's ugliest tile floor to pick up the brads, grateful for the fact that at least you had turned your little heater on and it won't be a traumatic tush-freezing incident, according to the laws of probability the phone will ring.
16. According to the laws of probability, when you haul your tush off the world's ugliest tile floor to answer the phone, you will realize by looking at the caller ID that it is a telemarketer.
17. You *can* resist answering the phone and giving the telemarketing person a piece of your mind, though it isn't easy.
18. Chocolate will help you resist, if you have some.
19. Getting back down on the world's ugliest tile floor the second time to pick up brads is just as hard as it was the first time.
20. If you are fat enough, you can sit on lots of brads and not even feel them under you.
21. If you eat enough chocolate, you will have no problem with being fat enough.
22. When you sit on brads, they get squashed.
23. Squashed brads are hard to straighten back out, though it can be done. They will never look the same, though.
24. Brads are very good at sticking into the soles of Birkenstock clogs.
25. When you step on brads, you squash them as well as feeling a sickening grating sensation when the brad scrapes across the world's ugliest tile floor on your shoe.
26. Chocolate helps with the sickening grating sensation, but only if you have some.
27. When you are on the world's ugliest tile floor picking up brads, you find all kinds of things that rolled under the desk and were never seen again until now.
28. Some of the things you find under the desk are worth finding, some are not.
29. None of them are chocolate.
30. You should never wear dark colored pants when you sit on the world's ugliest tile floor to pick up brads, particularly if you haven't swept the world's ugliest tile floor recently.
31. As you pick up brads off the world's ugliest tile floor you will inadvertently pick up lots of fuzz so that your brad container will now contain brads AND fuzz.
32. You will not find all the brads when you are down on the world's ugliest tile floor, but you will find one or two every now and then for the next few days, usually when you step on one (see 25).
33. There is no chocolate in my house to deal with that.

That's what I've learned so far today and that's why I have no card to show you.

So to console you I have this blog candy:

This is the set "Flourished Words" available from Flourishes LLC. I have an extra because of my last embarrassing incident of losing my set in the computer cabinet. So it's only right and fitting that my latest embarrassing incident should be marked by giving this away!

To win my blog candy, post a comment tell me about something embarrassing that happened to you while stamping by 12M EST on Sunday evening (the 16th), when I will pick a random post using random.org. I promise I won't laugh...much.

We have a winner!

Drum roll please!

Oh, come on, Mr. Smiley! I know it's early on a Saturday morning, but  you can manage a little better than that, can't you?

Drum roll, please!

Random.org picked number 64 and after eliminating duplicate comments (Typepad must have had the hiccups! with a few of you!), the winner is:

Niki! Her comment is:

I don't know if I can pick just one!  There are some really cute sayings.  I think my favorite is "Have a tail wagging day!"  Can't wait to see the new sets from these clues in the sentiments!

Congratulations, Niki!I've forwarded your email to Kristi and she'll contact you about sending you your free set of "Things Hanna Would Say"!

Now, I wish that ALL of you could win! I had fun reading all of your comments...so as a consolation prize, here's a little more eye-candy:

Mmm-mmmm....just wish he'd shave off that dang goatee he's got now....you can't cover up that chin, it's a CRIME!

Did someone say "CANDY"?!?!?

Shhhhh...I'm not really here, though you are. I'm really in Kalamazoo, recovering from eating turkey and avoiding going shopping (except the scrapbook store...think I'll head there!) But since I'm away having retail therapy, I just wanted you to have the opportunity to think fondly of me while I'm gone. So I'm gonna offer you some BLOG CANDY!!! WoooHOOOO!

Ooops...that's not BLOG candy, that's EYE candy!

Nope, not that kinda candy either!

This kind:

What's this? Why it's a brand spanky new set by Hanna Stamps called "Things Hanna Would Say"! Kristi asked if I wanted to do a bit of blog candy, with the lucky winner getting a free set of "Things Hanna Would Say" and I said, "LOVE TO!"

So to win this yummo blog candy, I'd like you to leave a comment (only one!) and tell me which of these "Things Hanna Would Say" is the one saying you would use the most. Comments must be made by 12 M Pacific Time (3 AM ET). The winner will be chosen by a random number generator sometime on Saturday. I'll post to the blog and hook you up with Kristi so you can get  your set. So leave a comment, just ONE comment, mind you, and may the force be with you!