Are You Ready for 2011?

Happy New Year, Almost

and the DIRECTIONS FOR 13TH BIRTHDAY SURPRISE BOX :)




I'm now in the process of packing and getting ready to leave Beijing by February and then head home to the good ole USA. Having dragged all my SU goodies with me, I now have to take them home. LOL First I have a stop to go to in Hong Kong for New Year's holiday with my hubby. He is doing some business there, so lucky me, I get to go along. Yea!! Naturally, what grammy doesn't shop for her grands. My husband thinks I could skip it, but I don't think so.  LOL



The weather here is really cold now but I'm sure not as cold as is upstate New York! Yikes. My grands have kept me informed as to how much snow they have. Too much for me as we have no snow here in Beijing. My only grand daughter has a birthday Friday, the last day of the year. Just think forever, she will have lights andcelebrations on her birthday. I made her a special card for her first teenage year. So here goes, keeping my fingers crossed. Wow! I did it! I hope she likes it. Unfortunately she will not have it by Friday. She actually will be lucky to get it my Spring, since through miscommunications it was not sent swiftly should I say. Rats! Do men really hear us I wonder sometimes.

DIRECTIONS FOR 13TH BIRTHDAY SURPRISE BOX  :)

I have been asked the directions for this. Mine is custom made with lots of readjustments that perhaps others don't want to go through, but out there somewhere on SU and splitcoast there are instructions on surprise boxes. That is how I found mine, I just didn't save a link--sorry.



I will do my best to rely what I did however.



I cut out first a 8.5 in square of cardstock as it has to be sturdy, then I scored the width of each panel to 2.5 or 3 inches, whatever fits the 8.5 square. Next I cut out the corners, scored the edges for folding and viola, there is the basic box without the lid.



2. Add as many panel insets both on the front and the inside as you want. I did incriments of three both inside and out, with embossing on the white panels. I glued everything with my hot glue gun as I wanted this puppy to stay together for shipping.



3. I then punched out leaves for each flower, then out of various dsp I punched flowers with eight layers together, held by a brad. I used my Big Shot to do the flowers using several dsp paper layers at one time to go faster. Now curl the flowers or scrunch each set up so it gathers. Attach each braded flower cluster to a clear heavy acrylic stem and insert the scored tab through a slit you have made for each insert through the three layers you will be glueing to the bottom of the box. (Each stem is pushed through the three layers then it will be hot glued to the inside bottom of the box). You need three layers to firmly hold the flower stems and grass you will be cutting out. Measure your stems to make sure they are not too tall to fit inside the box. That is the mistake I did and had to do the flowers and box over. Yuk. That is then hot glued to the bottom of the box. The 3 panels on the bottom give the flowers strength to stand vertical of course along with the plastic acrylic stem covered with glued on green paper grass. Looks like a flower bed doesn't it?

Make any type of card insert, attach to a clear acrylic post and there you have it. I know I keep repeating myself about the stems but it is very important they can stand by themselves. One slit for each inserted item. I cut my slits at angles so they all would fit, afterall, I had to make thirteen blossoms remember. Perhaps you will not need as many layers.



I had colored the butterfly that I meticuleously cut out by had AFTER I COLORED IT!!! I did several as the antenna somehow didn't quite make it on the first couple. Be sure to use sharp, sharp sizzors my friends otherwise, well, you know.



THE LID:

Cut 1/4 inch larger than the width of the box panels so it will fit over the top of the box. You can make your multi-colored panel layers however you want. I used a drop-down incriment of 1/8 inch on all panels including the lid. Then I hot glued multiple extra flowers, punched out from various punches and gathered on the lid. A tiny small acrylic folded stem holds the butterfly above the flowers.



Okay, now it is your turn.

Merry Christmas, Season's Greetings, and Happy Holidays

I think that just about covers it, so hope you and yours are celebrating with joy and wonder and peace.  Weather here in Beijing is delightful, no snow!  Yea!  The wind is blowing fiercely however.

Our tree is up, decorated, cookies are made, family handmade cards (naturally) have been made and sent last week.  It is unknown if they will arrive to their destination however or even on time (doubtful) BUT it is the thought that counts right? 

Last night as I packed cookies for my husband's office staff, I notice there was a serious shortfall--of cookies!  How they all disappeared amazes me!  My husband could not have eaten all of them so quickly and he has been away on business for over a week.  Hmmmmmm, did he manage to hide them in his luggage BEFORE HE LEFT?  You bet!  When I asked, the answer was--gee--ah--gee--ah I don't know, with a giant grin on his face. 

I tried to imagine him suffering along the Silk Road at 10,000 feet, cold at 28 below but he did have his cookies to keep him warm.  LOL Okay, so the staff doesn't get all the cookies I had planned for them, so this morning I talked with his office manager to be sure they had received those I had sent with him today, just in case and was informed that yes, the cookies had arrived and he had shared. 

Okay, I guess Santa will leave him a present after all.

My intent today was to post the photo of the card I made him for Christmas, and that of my granddaughter's surprise box card for her 13th birthday, but after searching through his drawer of computer connections and various other electrical paraphernalia somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 or so, at least, I could not find my camera cable.  Imagine that.  So no photos till I find the cable.  Sorry once again. 

Have wonderful holidays

From the Far East

Hello or Ni Hao, (pronounced knee how)

Thank you Lord, I can finally access my blogsite.  Who knows how long this will be applicable due to gov watching your every move, especially if you try and blog ANYTHING!!  That's what your looking forward to my fellow bloggers if you keep letting gov run the show in the good ole usa! Watching, watching, watching.  Lucky me, a friend from another country showed me how to do a work around to access my fb, blog and on line games.  I am sooooo happy!!!!

However, that being said, here goes from the Far East!

Weather here is nice the last few weeks, nice fall weather and all.  No smog yet as the gov doesn't turn on the heat till November 15.  I kid you not folks, no heat till mid November and that is all over the country.  They also shut the heat down in mid April so for those of you living in the Northern states, you understand that it can still be quite cold in April.  For instance, we had snow in NY state on Mother's Day 2010.  How do I stand it?  I am married to an electrical engineer sweeties, and he has purchased oil filled heaters to keep the chill out of the apartment for a few more weeks.  Luckily for us the weather has warmed again for the last couple of weeks and hopefully will last till heating season.  Yesterday a maintenance guy came and check our heating system getting ready for the winter season here that usually has a minimal amount of snow, if any but bitter cold weather although dry.  The sun usually shines during the whole of winter if you can see it due to the layer of coal smoke wafting throughout the sky during the winter and if there is a weather conversion then that "stuff" hangs over the city for weeks on end.  Traffic doesn't help. 

Can you believe that Beijing actually licenses over 1500 hundred cars here daily.  the traffic has become so bad they have to pull cars off the roads in Beijing depending on their license number and the day of the week.  Not to mention no one wants a four on his apartment, license plate or telephone number.  Why?  Bad luck.  Four is unlucky here for them just as we don't like the number 13, so it also applies to floors in any buildings.  For instance:  there are no fourth floors, no fourteenth floors and ha, ha, also no thirteenth floors in any building so although our apartment is the sixth, we really live on the fifth floor.  LOL

Things here are never dull and as much as they try, they ALMOST GET IT RIGHT.  Yes, that is my mantra for this place.  Almost Right!  It really applies to everything and anywhere.  I know that seems to be hitting below the belt but if you are very observant, you will see it is also true and has been for over 25 years.

The other irritating thing here is that one has to do is outlive the workman redoing the apartment below us, for new renters or possibly the owners of the apartment.  Seems like as they are laying tile floors in the entrance way with lots of volatile glue that would be way too much to spend on renters.  Here where we live in cental Beijing, in an ideal location within a 15 minute walk to a major transportation hub, everyone wants to live in this area.  You don't need to drive and can basically hail a taxi and go anywhere in the city for the equilvalent of $2.00 usd. We had to abondon our apartment last weekend due to the glue fumes seeping into our apartment due to these morons.  How they lived through the application is beyond me, or maybe they didn't and new workers came in, however, my husband went to the complex management and they (management stopped the workers).  Made them ventalate the apartment they were working on, use fans, open all windows and now we are back with no fumes but lots of drilling, hammering and noises that go from 8:00 a.m. till 5:00 p.m.  Something my husband doesn't let bother him as he is never here till after 7:00 p.m.  The workers are not allowed to do these things on the weekend so there is hope on the horizon.  Today is Friday also.

Now for myself, I have cloistered myself into my apartment and each day I work on my SU cards, gift tags, goodie bags, etc for the upcoming fundraiser for the Rotary Club here.  I have participated in this event for almost five years this time around living and working here for my husband in Beijing.  However, I usually travel back and forth several times a year so I have the best of both worlds. We basically first came to China in 1985 and have lived all over the country due to my husbands business.  Now some of you might think how wonderful this is or isn't.  Depends on your point of view.  Travel wears you down after so long, there is always something you forget to bring with you or can't bring along due to weight and limits however, this time my husband graciously allowed me to use his allotment of luggage to bring my su goodies.  Naturally, I forgot to bring a sqare and oval punch, enough paper, but plenty of glue and tape.  Never enough stamps and lucky for me my IB&C and the current holiday mini.  If only I had the demonstrator option for China, can you imagine how many downlines I could work up too?  LOL

I head back to the States in January and will reload my goodie suitcases for next trip here.  By then the new catalog will be out and new stuff that none of us "can do without".  Next time I will travel smarter and have all of my cards, tags, bags and bows done in advance so I don't have to carry the whole "kitchen sink" so to speak.

Looking forward to posting again soon and maybe if I can get my camera to open the lens, I can take some photos of some of the items and the fundraiser to be held on the 20-21 of this month.

So so long for now, or how they say here:  zai jian  (pronounced:   sigh gin)

BTW, there is an elementary school behind our complex (the complex consists of 24 high rise apartments each with 21 floors or 18 if you discount the 4, 14, and13th floors)  and they are singing outside in their playyard right now.  The other day they were playing music from "I'm a little teapot", it was interesting to hear them sing it in Mandarin.  Cute. 

OMG, the walll drilling has started AGAIN!!!  and the workers don't go to lunch till Noon!!! It is now 10:30 a.m and they have been at this since 8:00 a.m.   :(

Summer Flys Away and School Begins !!!

Here we are one day away from September 1 and most schools have started and for those parents who are STILL WAITING FOR SCHOOL TO START?  It really is only a few days away so HANG IN THERE!!!

I have been very busy designing new goodies for the upcoming holidays and getting ready to order from the new holiday catalog that begins September 1, 2010 in case you are interested.   There are so many items I love personally but then again, Christmas is my MOST FAV of all the holidays.  

I have also been working on new "star albums" to share with party goers on September 23 at a workshop.  We are all making the Star Album design as that was the project requested by the hostess.   Don't think I plan on doing this each and every time for a workshop, but I believe all those attending have had LOTS of experience with paper creating so it should go rather smoothly and most of the work has already taken place.  Can't wait to see if every one enjoys this great project. 

It's Friday the Thirteenth ! ! !

Okay, so I'm not going anywhere today considering what day it is!  And now I know why the dog is giving me trouble such as eating my powdered drink inserts for water bottles, AND my lunch while I was on the phone. 

Oh what a surprise I just recieved!  Pam Morgan called from Stampin Up to chat with me.  ME no less and WOW was that a wonderful surprise.  She was so nice and friendly.  So you want to know what we talked about?  It's a secret.  Just kidding.  We talked about lots of things but also about our new recruiting efforts for new down lines.  If you have not participated in or signed to join the recruiting effort, I suggest that you do.  It is a great learning program and builds one's confidence.  These skills can be applied to any situation when dealing with people and by reenforcing listening skills it helps you as an individual re-focus on what is important when interacting with people.   Keep your fingers crossed for me, and oh yes, wish me luck on my new recruiting adventures as I try and become successful with adding a new recruit or two.  

Redoing Art Room

I have taken on the Herculaneum task of cleaning my art/stampin room.  I don't know why I bother.  I have the help of "Fred" the basset hound and let me tell you, this dog is unbelievable.  He sits in the suitcase looking for goodies, he tips over the trash and drags the paper scraps out.  He seems to only like paper, especially that paper that is in the trash can.  He even unrolls the toliet tissue rolls in the bathrooms.  He thinks he is helping I suppose to clean the room I've made such a mess of.  The downside of straightening the room is where to move things to get them out of the way.  This morning Fred and I surveyed the attic, and naturally he found lots of things to get into in the attic, especially my Christmas ribbon.  I would like to package him up with a bow and send him as a COD delivery.  That area is also over stored so to speak although  I suppose, I could get an extra large trash removal bin and start excvating out the window and then my husband would be relieved to see all the "junk" disappear.  I need to think more about this project!  So, I believe I will return to the computer and survey what others are doing today and search for enlightenment while Fred curls up in the wing-back chair and continues to chew on his bone that he previously hid under the rug on the floor.  I know he thinks he is hiding things while he works so hard to "dig" a hole in the blanket.  Poor dog.  He does have a large backyard to roam in but then that means he can't see me, be with me, and otherwise incratiate himself into my life by becoming "velcro" dog.  Oh well.

Convention Swap #3

This is my third Convention Swap and is an Origami Fold with Faux metal.
I used one 8.5 x 8.5 dsp of Sunny Garden, folded it on the diagonal. Folded in each side 4 inches. Took the left side and folded back the small point 1.5 inches, returned it upright and squashed it down in order to apply my faux metal stamp made with the vintage vogue stamp and embossed with gold powder.  That small triangle creates the envelop flap holder.  When you open the envelope you have two pockets in which you can place (ahhmmm, my business card) or photos.  You can attach this little envelope to a scrapebook page and also use it for keepsakes.  Simple, simple, simple but cute!  At least I think so. :)

Convention Swap #2

Convention Swap #2
Multiple techniques, I think I used 13 so this uses lots of products from our catalog.
Inks:  daffodil delight craft, basic black
Iridescent Ice embossisng powder, gold embossing powder
Dazzling Diamonds glitter
Ribbon:  Daffodil delight
Punch:  1 1/4 inch square
Stamps: Awash with Flowers, Eastern Blooms, Vintage Vogue
Papers:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight

Convention Card 1

This is one of my 2010 Convention swaps.  

Hand watercolored using watercolor pencils

Lattice embossing folder background 

Early Expresso ribbon 

Very Vanilla cs, 

large roller Very Vintage

Deminsionals under scallop oval

stamp Oval All

Back From Convention!!!

I am back!  I am tired! I had soooooo much fun meeting new friends, old friends and everyone else!  I was not thinking as I should have worn my milage clicky thing to see how many miles I walked.  I know it was LOTS!

Just got home, and it is still standing.  I remember leaving my stamping room in a mess, but geez, I didn't realize how bad it really was.  Good thing my hubby has not seen it in this condition as he was gone in another direction while I attended Convention.  So quickly straighten up and threw out paper scraps, lots of paper scraps.  I have spent the last day chasing cobwebs out of my house, unloading cards, looking at my goodies and other fun things as previously mentioned.

I think tomorrow I will be able to add all my cards so you can see what I made for Convention swaps.  Please bear with me.   First, I had to do lunch with my friends today (our usual Wednesday activity).   Tomorrow is already Thursday and we are having a major storm outside and here I am typing away on the computer.  LROTFL.  Better post before it goes up in a sizzle.

On A Roll

Okay, three projects now finished and bagged for SU Convention.  Two to go or maybe more.  Who knows.  I have things spread all over naturally and still many new ideas.  I can understand this delimma of making a decision as to what to make or even when to stop making things.  I can not say I'm following my own advise however.  LOL   Working from table to table and animal sitting my daughter's pets while she and family go to the beach to get warm and enjoy the sunshine.  They are having such a marvelous time and I'm sitting here in NY with rain, and more rain.  At least the grass is very, very, very green and the weeds are overtaking the flowers as I watch from the windows.  Okay!  Back to production and fun.

I CAN PAT MYSELF ON THE BACK WITH BOTH HANDS ---YEA

ALRIGHT!!! Two projects FINISHED for SU Convention.  I won't post them yet on Splitcoast or SU Demo's till closer to the date of Convention.  Why?  Because I want to surprise all of you silly.  There are so many projects out there that others are so creative with, I don't think I could stand any criticism just yet.  :)

Two Ideas Finished for Convention

Yep, already have two swaps completed!  Am I good or what?  Next I will try and figure out how to do the other ones.  Ha!  Okay, so there is still some time left, right?  Nothing like burning the mid-night oil.  Finished is my 3x3 swap and that was easy.  Next is my cd instructions for a project also easy and I added the drawing to the instructions yesterday.  Good thing I read them as I left out one little step.  ROTFL.  Harder is the two 6+1 although a small amount to make, they should be difficult ideas that should impress others.   HMMMM.   Then I understand I need to make a project to help teach about 90 people.  Oh Yea!  Then there is the 50/50 and shoebox, and last but not least is my own special swap card to trade.  Okay, time is ticking and it is already June 10th!!! What to do, what to do, what to do.  I have been playing all day with various ideas, none seem to jump out as great or even simple.  (drumming fingers on desktop--thinking)

Convention In The Air

Soon we are off to the Stampin' Up Covnention.  Needless to say I am probably entering too many swaps.  There is the 3x3 swap, then another one, next comes the 6+1 regular full card and I am doing that two times.  One swap will be 25/25 also regular full card and that entails twenty-five finished cards and 25 pre-packed sets ready to assemble.  Whew!  Also, we have the 75 + 1 swap again, regular size cards, and oh yes, one "fancy as you want" swap, a great cd swap by my friend Virginia Killmore, and finally the extra swaps that I just want to swap.  I have heard some people manage 400 samples to swap.  Aaaaaaa, I don't think so although I would LOVE to have 400 samples for ideas for the coming year.

I am all set, I have my papers, inks, assessories and stamps for 2011 Convention.  HooRay, HooRay, HooRay.  All I need to do now is start making cards.  I promise to start really, really, really soon. 

Gee, am I ever behind--so far behind, I think I am ahead

Where oh where does the time go.  Here we are already past Mother's Day.  My Mom was 94 this year.  It was her sister who is 102 in March.  All of her siblings, and I mean all of them have been fortunate to live into their high 90's or early hundreds.  She says that her father made sure they had lots of fresh fruit when they were children and not to mention the fact they lived in the country and grew their own food, raised their own milk and meat.  Hmmmm!  Does that make anyone wonder why all the preservatives we use today causes issues perhaps?  

I have been busy trying to preserve my sanity as I prepare for several different cards to take to Convention in Salt Lake City.  Oh, lucky me, I get to go.  I am soooooo excited.  Shortly I will post my latest cards on my blog here for you to see and hope that you will enjoy them.  As for the cards for Salt Lake, not showing those till I'm on my way to SLC so it will be a surprise for all.  :)

Again, thanks for looking and enjoy your Spring weather.  We had snow on Mother's Day.  A first that I can remember where I live in upstate New York, when I am not overseas with my hubby. 

102 years young

 

Today my Aunt was 102 years young.  Below is the card I made for her special day.  The scallop circle has multiple wishes although they do not show the layers in the scan.  Oh well.  Inside the card there are lots of vellum butterflies.

rain today

Well, I guess that beats snow right?
  I have to wonder where my photo has gone.  Maybe I should put up Fred the basset in the meantime.  He sure requires lots of attention and keeps me too busy to do my SU projects.  LOL.  Oh well.  When I take a decent photo of him I will upload.  Working with him as my son and daughter-in-law don't have the time and before he becomes too obnoxious I am hoping I can teach him manners.  The vet calls him "willfull" do you think that means anything?

my regional swap

Finally--- I have uploaded the photo of my regional swap card that I have swapped with about 40 other people to date.  Hope that you find this as an incentive.  The challenge of making a ribbon rose was my goal for this swap.  I made about two hundred little flowers, sometimes I wonder what I was thinking.  I guess this year I will be making many cards with lots of little ribbon flowers.  ha, ha.

Sorry to say if you don't know by now but the Regional Convention with Stampin' Up didn't happen due to snow, snow, and more snow.   Maybe next year in a more reasonable seasonable month such as May perhaps when chances of snow are not so possible. 

Finished SU swap items

Swap items ready!  Yea for me!  Okay all we need now is NO SNOW for Friday and Saturday and everything will be 100% perfect.  Right?

I will try and scan a photo of my sway item and post it on the demo SU site before Friday.

Looking forward to meeting many new friends. 

Getting ready for the regional Stampin' Up in Syracuse February 26-27

Greeting for today!!!   Thank goodness NO SNOW.  Have you had enough of the white stuff?  We certainly are thankful that we have a few inches of snow on the ground.  Normally  upstate New York receives feet of snow each winter season but thankfully this year (to date) we are l-u-c-k-y.  Of course I am reminded that March is coming, and usually for us that is the worst time for snowstorms. 

Okay.  Today I'm working on Stampin' Up Regional swap cards.  These will be traded with others during the first ever regional SU demonstrators get together here in Syracuse, New York with SU.  I am so excited. Only 100 or so to do.