They're In The MAIL!!!

Yesterday I received a message that the stamped image swap was over and they were in the mail. She explained that out of the four groups of fifteen participants, only enough people followed through with their commitment and now there are THREE groups of fifteen so everyone who honored her word will receive the promised number of images.

Picture Me Very Disappointed!

By accident I happened onto a blog which was offering an image (stamped, please in black ink on white cardstock) exchange. It was to be about 15 people per group stamping five different images and sent to the hostess who would then divide them up and mail them out to the participants. We had to provide a stamped, self-addressed envelope for this purpose. The cut off date to join was September 11th. The drop dead date to have them in her hands was to be tomorrow, October 5th. Wow! A whole month to do them and get them mailed out to the hostess. This sounded like a wonderful way to have some 70 different images to use on Christmas cards this year. As I usually make about 130 every year, this could save me hours as I assembled them to give out this year.
I checked this morning to find that the hostess has not yet received images from most of the people who are in my group (15 people including me). Also, several people sent messages as late as this morning saying they haven't even begun to stamp those 70 images or they just got them in the mail yesterday afternoon.
Don't you just love it when someone makes a commitment to do something by a certain date, then fails to follow through even when other people are depending on them??? I do know that I'll get my images probably by the time I return from this trip (we are leaving Thursday) to Northern Virginia around November 3rd, but I had unrealistic expectations of having them to share with my sister. Yes, I can mail her some but I had wanted her to choose some for herself, not for it to be my choice. When I worked in a bank the day closed at 2 p.m., not 2:01, 2:08, 2:15, but always 2 p.m. If your deposit wasn't there to cover that check you wrote, it went back NSF. I know, just don't ever participate again or lighten up!!

Cricut's New Gypsy

Ok, click on the link to get hyped about the new hand held "Gypsy" coming September 24 at 12:01 a.m. EDT on HSN. This would be a great addition to my craft tools as we do travel quite a bit and taking the Design Studio plus Cricut plus cartridges would be too space consuming in an RV.

Holiday Stamp Swap 2009

I found this wonderful blog called Scrapbook News and Review Magazine hosted by Anne House ( snrcarduniverse.ning.com ). She is hosting a Holiday Stamp Swap with a total of 55 participants which closed on September 11th. These are the stamped images I'm sending and I can't wait to see what I get in return!

Cards for Autumn

These elements (paper/cardstock/embellishments, etc) have been sitting around my workroom for a couple years so it's time to use them up. I made several versions of all these examples to get enough cards to last through December so I can concentrate on my Christmas cards and our next trip scrapbook.
Also, I am trying out my new tabletop tripod for the camera hoping to get clearer pictures instead of the shaky ones in the past or having to scan them.

Florentine Peacock

This card is made from a 3-D download I found at http:community.webshots.com/user/dOnpen designed by Penny Wessenauer (http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c191/dOnpen/). These downloads are free and can be saved in your computer's photo program as a .jpg. For this particular card, there are two separate sheets to download; one for the front and one containing a variety of sentiments for the outside and inside of the card plus some trim pieces. This card was a total of six layers. I used the cushioning from a box of Whitman's Sampler for the large pieces as that mashes down when in an envelope. For the smaller pieces I used regular pop-dots. Anything going through the mail thicker than 1/4 inch requires extra postage.

Go take a look!

Whatta Mess!!!

When my sister, Janice, her son and his wife and baby, arrived on Thursday to spend the night and hopefully some beach time on Friday morning before leaving for the airport to return home, I shut the door to my workroom with good reason: I cannot even see my work table nor my desk where I normally work on my cards. I know my sister was horrified at the mess; even I get the willies whenever I go in there. I have to search for supplies and take them to the dining room table to have space (and sanity)to work on anything.