Cupcakes anyone?

Oh, this yummy eggnog cupcake recipe was fun to make. In fact, I made 2 dozen and did the icing from scratch. I am in love with the 1M tip because with a fairly stiff icing, the cupcakes look like fancy boutique ones.

Housewarming and entertaining friends

Christening the house with friends, drinks and laughter.

Decorations

In my guest bathroom, there is a little surprise waiting for visitors. When I was sorting and packing I found a small collection of Starbucks ornaments that were gifts from friends and students over the years. Did you know that each year there is a new ornament that matches the special red cups?

New roots

Here is my new view.

Here is my new master bath
A new kitchen

Yes, I have been absent.

I have been busy.

I have a new home.

I am sorry that this blog was empty since early November.

That will change.

It's up, it's online.....hurray! The Quickutz Holiday release Gift set. Santa's Workshop

Wow!

Did you catch that there are enough dies in this set to make 3 different mini albums and some pages even interchange? A full alphabet, windows, nesting shapes and more. I predict this set will be sold out due to it's value and endless possibilies. I am going to add some items to my wishlist not waiting for Santa to send this to me for Christmas. I think a housewarming gift is in order Can't sleep, I am signing papers on my first house. Pays to be up late and live on the west coast, as to catch the midnight release on the QK website.What do you like best about the release?

Tomorrow is a big day

....I sign papers with the lawyer on my FIRST home. I bought a 2 bedroom condo and am pretty darned excited. It has been tough packing up this place on my own.....emotional too. I am lucky enough to have spent the last 3 1/2 years with a woman who has been like a second Mom and a roomie.

Thank goodness for Dad, who not only helped me make the deal in September but has answered the phone almost everyday when I had to call with a question, numbers relating to fixed or variable mortgage rates and tips on what to look at when doing a walk though looking for defiencies. My mom helped get this whole ball rolling on making a purchase sooner than later by helping me get some accounts in order. I have a real estate agent who has been patient and kind to me, a new friend.

I feel grown up!

Silhouette cutting mat advice, tips and maintenance

Consider making your life easier when cutting images on the Silhouette. Like many of you, I have been working with layered shapes, cutting many pieces for a layout prior to creating and going to crops. lately, I have been making kits for the scrapbook crops. I have been attending.

I have 4 mats, often two are consumed for layered shapes , so that I can load the next one and then work with the top layer while the machine is cutting. As well, I can prepare the paper I am using for my titles. This has made my prepping much more time efficient.

In a thread on the new QK forums that were released today, I read about wanting to keep their mats sticky. Although, one solution is to buy new mats, until you can get back to the LSS or your online order arrives, consider a temporary adhesive. It has worked for me. CC International Stick and Spray (temporary respositional adhesive from the UK) as it adds stickiness to my mats.

As well, get into the good habit of using the Universal Scraper. It's been essiential for me to keep my mats clean and helps keep the natural oils off my mat.

Hope this is helpful to all. Make sure to come to the QK forums and join the online community.

Have fun cutting,

Tamara

2181

No, not the amount of paper I own.
Not the money I have spent on supplies.
Not the number of days I have been a teacher.
Not the KM's I have driven in my new car.


2181 is the number of digital designs I own from the Quickutz Library.


Can you believe that? No need to store them on a shelf, in a special tote or on my hard drive. These designs sit on the server at QK and are mine for life. This week the company did a series of improvements to their server and I did a recovery of the images that I have bought since this glorious Silhouette machine appeared on the market. That is how I know that I have 2181 designs in my account.

It's perfectly clear to me as to why I bought the unlimited download subscription for one year. Quickutz also had a promotion to their customers to obtain a code that would enable them to buy the subscription for half price, I know that code! With one release (sometimes 2) each week, I can shop, collect and brainstorm projects from my computer.

Today, Quickutz released some page frames that are going to help me create pages with many photos on them, all with a clean, mat-like look. I am going to try one this weekend. You have to go and see for yourself. Then, make sure that you get set up for an unlimited download subscription so you too, can have 2181 designs at your fingertips.

2181 and counting.

This morning the phone rang with some amazing news

Thanks to Andrea with Quickutz who called me from Utah today with some very exciting news. Quickutz put the call out in June, as they were looking to build an team of Ambassadors who would help spread the *joy* of Quickutz with others. I mustered up the courage to put my name into the many applications, over 1700 hundred inquires I was told. Although I am most happy to be with the creative friends I have made while scrapbooking, showing ones work is personal and "putting it out there" is a risk. We all have a different style and I like to celebrate that we are all very different.

I am lucky that I have a role with Photo Express that provides so many opportunities to interact with our lovely customers. Working in the store with such a large inventory (we practically have every die! and product) , a Quickkutz club (PE CREW) and some amazing staff members (whom are so supportive friends too!) will for sure be a credit to help me be a positive team member on the Quickutz Ambassador team.

I am looking forward to being creative with the 7 other team members, all in the US. I am the Canadian in the crowd and very proud to be! More to come....on this new adventure.

Quickutz Crew night

Each month, Photo Express has a crew gathering for all the members of their QuicKutz Crew. It was alot of fun to work with the QK fans as they came through the station this month. I was happy to be at the card station, meeting all the Crew members as they rotated through the 4 stations. Karen designed the lovely 2 Christmas cards, yes.....I *know* Christmas cards! In fact Karen designed all the projects this month, combining dies from the Limited Edition VIXEN set, Revolution and Relax Gift sets.

If you are not a member of the PE QK Crew, you will want to be. Here is the information.... http://photoexpressions.ca//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=65&Itemid=152 I don't have photos to share this post, they are for our special crew members. You could be one too!

Silhouette Tag

After creating a special gift for the room parent for my Kindergarten class this year I needed to top it off with a great embellished tag. The Silhouette machine is a natural go to for me, knowing this would be cut in two steps I searched for the embellishments when the digital cutter was cutting the image.

Paper
Bazzil
Penny Lane by My Minds Eye
Flowers and button by Making memories

Hero Arts Blog is making changes

I have used stamps from this company for many years now, and moved into acrylic cling when they did too. Tracy Kyle is a local designer who worked with Hero Arts for a very long time, I followed her work alot!

Look what they have in store for all of us!

Now for our challenge for YOU - and we have DOUBLE THE PRIZES this week! This week’s challenge is to create something that is inspired by anything on heroarts.com (our main website, not this blog). It could be a card, scrapbook page, technique article, or more from heroarts.com. Just post your creation - along with the link to the inspiration - in our Flickr group with the tag “website”. Be sure to use at least one Hero Arts stamp. The deadline for the challenge is Sunday, July 19 at 11:59 pm PST. From the entries we will pick twice as many winners as normal… and the prizes are twice as big:
TWO Fresh Face Winners (someone who has not yet won a contest): $100 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog each
TWO Scrapbook Page Winners: $100 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog each
TWO 1st Place: $100 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog each
TWO 2nd Place: $50 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog each
TWO 3rd Place: $30 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog each
And we can’t start this big week without a giveaway. Wait - how about TWO!? Yep. Let’s do two giveaways…
Leave a comment here telling us something you like about our main website, heroarts.com. Do so by Friday at 11:59 pm PST and we will pick a lucky winner.
Post about our big week on your blog. Then leave a comment here linking us to your blog. Do so by tonight at 11:59 pm PST and we will pick another lucky winner!
Both winners will get these great goodies…

Jumping over to the Island

Craving the words "Auntie Tam" I knew it was time to head over to Vancouver Island to spend time with my family here. Supposedly, the boys said that I was taking them to the new ICE Age movie since we "ALWAYS" go to the movies when I am in town. Sure little A...we can go to the movies. In fact, Auntie Tam wanted to drag you to UP as well...sure that won't be a problem.

It will be great to visit my sister and Mom and Dad. Dad has recovered from surgery and Mom is working on some family history as well. I am sure Sarah and I can find some trouble at the local LSS and maybe even sit down and play with her stash. I did not pack anything!

Miss you Gran

July 4th marks a different day for our family.

Love me

My class is now live on the BC Crop for Kids Site

Happy Canada Day to all.

My task today was to complete the project sample for the BC Crop for kids this fall. The class registration goes live for Crop Seat and Class Pass Holders on 7pm on Monday, July 13, 2009. Class registration for the genral public begins at 7pm on Thursday, July 27, 2009.

You can see it here. Piggy Tales approached the organizers and offered a class sponsorship and Photo Express is supporting the class through the addition of ribbon, Glitter Ritz and cardstock and of course me. Crafting a project for this type of event provoked thought and some planning. With everyone spending their time away for the weekend and benefiting BC childrens hospital, I thought it would be a perfect blend to create a mini album that will document the weekend. My sister is coming over from Vancouver Island to join myself and a few friends for the weekend- a getaway from our regular lives.

Not to be outdone by my sense of accomplishments by means of getting my class sample done, I also got some amazing news from one of my favourite scrapbook companies Quickutz. Through Facebook, they ran a promotion and the Grand Prize was a brand new EPIC 6 die cut machine out later this month. The machine went to the person who brought the most amount of people to the Quickutz People group on FB. Today they announced that it was me. Many of my Facebook friends through scrapbooking and through school joined the group upon request, so I am thankful to them for helping me.

Published!

With some encouragement from Andrea at Quickutz, I submitted a project to the gallery on their Silhouette site. When Andrea flew up to the Photo Express Crop, I spent the day assisting her with her demo at the crop. Many of us were keen to learn how the new software works to weld words together with the click of a button. Oh , how happy was I when I clicked that weld button!

QK has alot of online support for the machine now, between their website and many FAQ's , anyone who was keen to aquire a digital die cut machine can be assured they can manage the sfotware. It is easy once you play, of course you need a little time to get your feet wet.

The layout is online and you can see it on display at Photo Express as well.

BC Crop for Kids

Not only was I excited to re register this year to attend the crop but when Mary and Sandra asked me if I would be interested in teaching a class, I was honoured. Piggy Tales has graciously offered to be a class sponsor and I am having a hard time choosing from their paper lines. Now I just have to decide on a paper collection to base the projects from. Their names are cute and oh-so-fitting for this Kindergarten Teacher such as me. I have been able to narrow my choices down to Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater , Goldilocks and the Three Bears and the Gingerbread Man. If you have any suggestions, please let me know asap. I am taking a little bit of a poll.

Today was re-registration for the people who attended last year, so Sarah, Shonia and I are all registered. I imagine that they will have us Photo Express folks all together assigned to a table by the doors again. We had serious amounts of fun being together and scrapbooking. We rarely get a chance to play as our group normally is involved in hostessing crops. Last years event was so well run, the hotel was easy to get around and I do remember laughing. I even have proof that I got some pages done too!

Maybe facebook should take a back seat?

....as it has seriously taken over my online time. I was not -so-bad at posting on my blog after it was set up in 2007 but in the last 10 months, woa....nothing!