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Friday, August 30, 2013

FFC #15 "It's Sketch Time"


Hello my bloggy friends!
 Welcome to another Funday Friday Challenge.
 
This week's Challenge:
"It's Sketch Time"
Create a project using this sketch:

 
Our sponsors this week are:

 One lucky winner will receive a $25 gift certificate to the PND Store!
and
Bugaboo Stamps

 One lucky winner will receive a pack of 7 digital stamps of their choice!! So make sure to play along this week~

 
Starts: Friday, August 30th 12:00AM
Ends: Friday, September 6th 6:00PM
(central time)
  

Let's see what some of the FFC Design Team has created for this Challenge:
    
   Candice
 

 
 
  
 
Well my friends, it is YOUR turn to show us what
 you can do for this challenge!
Just link up using our link up tool at the bottom of this post for your chance to win top 3 and get entered into our monthly prize drawing.

What do you need to do to enter?
Challenge Rules

1. Please post a direct link to your card/project post that includes your challenge,
using the linky tool below.

2. Be sure to include a link back to our challenge

3. 3 entries per person and you must post a separate blog post for each entry.

4. All entries must be NEW and created for the current challenge.

5. You may combine with other challenges as long as you link back to us in your post.

 * All entries that do not meet the challenge requirements
Will not be eligible for top 3 or random/monthly wins.
The monthly prize drawings will only be mailed within the US and Canada only.
 
You have until Septmeber 6th by 6:00Pm (central) time to link up.
All winners will be announced on Monday, September 9th.
Have fun and we look forward to seeing what you create!
 
 
Until next time, enjoy life's blessings~
Thanks for stopping by!








Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Talk Time Tuesday with Ask Jo


Click Here for FCC#14 "Photo Inspiration"


Hello my friends!
Welcome to another Talk Time Tuesday episode with yours truly~
I hope you find today's Q & A to be very interesting and informative. I know I did!


Our first question comes from Debbie Ward who asks, "What brand cardstock do you use in your die cutting machines? I seem to have a problem finding a good quality paper to cut without tearing.

Hello Debbie~
I am not sure which electronic die cutting machine you are using but I have a few of them and I can say that each machine has a mind of their own. It takes a bit of trial and error to find a good balance on pressure and speed to get the right cut to prevent your paper from tearing. I have used the following cardstocks in my machines and they have cut like butter on the proper settings:
Core'dinations, Bazzill Basics, DCWV, Cutmates, as well as some cardstock from Recollections which has worked very nice. My favorite to use in my machines is Bazzill and Core'dinations. Now if you are using one of these cardstock papers in your machine with the proper settings for pressure and speed and you are still experiencing your paper tearing, then check your blade. Take it out of the blade holder and make sure there is no small pieces of paper stuck inside as that can happen. If that doesn't work then I would suggest using a new blade. But always, always test your cuts on scrap papers of the paper that you want to use so that you aren't wasting full size sheets of papers. What I do when I buy cardstock is I take one sheet and cut it in half and then in half again to make a 6x6 sized sheet and on one of those pieces I will cut it down to a 3x3 and use that as my test cut. This way I am only wasting a 3x3 piece of paper if my cut doesn't come out the greatest. I hope this helps you Debbie and I thank you for writing in! Hope to hear from you again~


Our second question today comes from Margie T. who asks, "Hi there Jo. I know that you always give great advice with crafts so I decided to see if you can give me advice on discipline. The main subject of my scrapbooking is my 3 year old son Jeremiah. I love him dearly and he takes the cutest photos but he is extremely hard to handle and does not listen. I feel like I am failing as a mom because my 3 year old is running the show in our home and we are first time parents and do not know how to discipline him to get him to listen and behave. Any help or advice you can give would be so much appreciated! Thanks so much."
 
Hi there Margie~
Wow sweetie do you have your hands full! First time parents huh? Well first off, congratulations to you! Being a parent is a wonderful thing.. it is a blessing and there is no other love in my opinion, then the love of a child. It sounds to me that your little guy is going through the terrible twos at the age of three. I am not sure what type of techniques you have tried to use with your son to get him to listen or to know right from wrong but I will tell you what I did with my children when they were that age. The first thing to do is to not yell or scream, but to raise your voice slightly with a more harsher tone when speaking to him. He will distinguish the difference from your normal tone to the "Mommy means business tone".  Because he is 3, he is learning his independence and seeing just what he can get away with right now and it seems as if he's really done a great job at manipulating you if he is running the show at home. The first thing I would do is give him a warning when he is misbehaving and let him know that if he does not behave, that he will go in time-out. If he continues to misbehave after you have given him a warning, then take him by the hand and put him in time-out. With my son, I used to make him sit in a little chair facing the corner of the wall. You have to decide what "time-out" will be for him. It could be sitting on the couch, facing the wall, going to his room, whatever you decide and leave him there for 3 minutes. 1 minute for every year of his age. In this case since he is 3, then his time-out would be for 3 minutes. If he tries to get up and come out of his time-out, put him back in there without saying a word to him and keep doing this until he gives up and is too tired to fight you back. I learned this off of Jo Frost, the original "Super Nanny" years ago and her techniques really do work. It takes a lot of strength, tears and determination on your
 part but if you stick with it, little Jeremiah will learn to adjust and become the well behaved little boy that you want him to become.
At this age though, it is tough because as I said he is learning his independence and seeing how much he can get away with and its been working to his advantage. As a first time parent, it is hard to say "no" to those adorable faces but if you do not set boundaries and establish that trust and relationship with your son; then you will have more on your hands to deal with as he gets older. Bookmark the "Jo Frost" link that I gave you and reference her page and read some of her stories. She is a true blessing when it comes to raising children and disciplining them. I have learned a lot from her and you will too. Good luck to you Margie because I know that its going to hurt you to discipline him and watch him cry, then its really going to hurt him.
Stay strong and make sure that both you and your (husband/partner) are on the same page with the ways you discipline your son and stick to a routine and in no time, you will have a home that is ran by the adults and not the child. Lots of luck to you!!! 
 
 
Thanks for the great questions today Debbie and Margie!
 Well my friends that is all I have for today. I hope you have a great day!
Thanks for stopping by and until next time.... Enjoy life's blessings~
 


Monday, August 26, 2013

FCC #13 Winners



Click Here for FFC #14 Photo Inspiration!

Hello my crafty friends!
Happy Monday to you all.
I want to thank you all for the wonderful thoughts, prayers and well wishes. I am slowly recovering and hope to be back to normal again very soon. Your support and love is helping me get through a very tough time and I just want you to know that I read each and every single comment left for me. I enjoy them very much and I appreciate all your concern and prayers.
Thank You!
 
Ok so let's get to our winners from last week's FFC #13 challenge.
 
# 111 Jessie L.
# 146 Laura Love
# 208 Rina M.
 
Our winner of the 7 digis from
Bugaboo is...

 
 
Congratulations ladies!
Please email me at:
Joann6274 at gmail dot com to claim your badges!
  
Well my friends that is all I have for today. I hope you have a great day! Thanks for stopping by and until next time.... Enjoy life's blessings~
  


Sunday, August 25, 2013

FFC #14 "Photo Inspiration"


Hello my bloggy friends!
 Welcome to another Funday Friday Challenge.
 
Sorry this is late this week. As you know, I was in the hospital for almost two days and have not been feeling well at all. Prayers are needed, thanks. I also want to let everyone know that we have a new DT member,  Mary H.  and I hope you stop by her blog and leave her some love.
  
This week's Challenge:
"Photo Inspiration"
Create a project using this photo:
 
Our sponsor this week is:
 

 One lucky winner will receive 5 digital stamps! So make sure to play along!
Starts: Friday, August 23rd 12:00AM
Ends: Friday, August 30th 6:00PM
(central time)
  

Let's see what some of the FFC Design Team has created for this Challenge:
    
   Candice
 
 
Well my friends, it is YOUR turn to show us what
 you can do for this challenge!
Just link up using our link up tool at the bottom of this post for your chance to win top 3 and get entered into our monthly prize drawing.

What do you need to do to enter?
Challenge Rules

1. Please post a direct link to your card/project post that includes your challenge,
using the linky tool below.

2. Be sure to include a link back to our challenge

3. 3 entries per person and you must post a separate blog post for each entry.

4. All entries must be NEW and created for the current challenge.

5. You may combine with other challenges as long as you link back to us in your post.

 * All entries that do not meet the challenge requirements
Will not be eligible for top 3 or random/monthly wins.
The monthly prize drawings will only be mailed within the US and Canada only.
 
You have until August 30th by 6:00Pm (central) time to link up.
All winners will be announced on Monday, September 2nd.
Have fun and we look forward to seeing what you create!
 
 
Until next time, enjoy life's blessings~
Thanks for stopping by!







Friday, August 23, 2013

Funday Friday Challenge Postponed



Hello my friends,
  The Funday Friday Challenge has been postponed until tomorrow, 8/24. Unfortunately, I just got home from being in the hospital for the past 38 hours or so and I need to rest. As far as I go,  I will be okay. After many breathing treatments, IV's and medications and no sleep at all, I am just exhausted and need to rest a bit. I just hope you all can understand and I will get back to you all soon if you have emailed me or left messages. Thanks a bunch.

Hugs,
xoxo

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Canvas Wall Art


Click here for FFC #13 "Anything Goes"

Hello my crafty friends~


     This week has been flying by for me. It has been extremely busy and I have been trying to get things ready for the new 2013-2014 school year for my daughter Gia. For my new followers, I homeschool my daughter and we are embarking on another wonderful year entering the 5th grade. Boy do I remember her being born and 5th grade already! What I enjoy the most about teaching her is the quality time and the bond we have. I wouldn't trade that in for the world!! Ok enough of my rambling on about mushy stuff LOL.

Today I have a quick canvas project to share with you that I did on Sunday evening. I was starting to feel a bit better and knew that I had missed getting creative so I sat down at my desk and the first thing that caught my eye were my Faber-Castell Gelatos. So I pulled out a 6x6 canvas block and then started to just pull stuff out and here are the supplies I ended up using.

 
I started off with a blank canvas and started with my gelatos first. I used various colors of blues/purples and gray to create a background using my fingers and some stencils, specifically circles and chevrons. From that point on, I just got very inky and messy as I pulled out some of my homemade glimmer mists and sprays from Tattered Angels. I pulled out some tickets from Tim Holtz, some die cuts from SEI and a nice manila tag and then started going to town on just creating and making an ENORMOUS mess! LOL .... so after the initial mess of spray, ink and gelatos... and some additions of charms, enamel dots, stickles, mesh, artist spackle, glaze and mod podge..
.. here is my final project.
 



 
Well that is my project for today! I really hope you enjoyed it and
thanks so much for stopping by!
Until next time.... enjoy life's blessings~
 
 
 I am entering my project in the following challenges:
 
TTCRD "Anything Goes"
Crafty Sentiments "Colourful"
Sweet Stamps "Anything Goes"
Top Tip Tuesday "Initials"
Ladybugs Crafts Ink Challenge "Photo Inspiration"

Pinspired #15




 







Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Talk Time Tuesday & some winners~


Click Here for FCC#13 "Anything Goes"


Hello my friends!
I want to say thank you to everyone for all the well wishes. I am feeling a little bit better then I have been feeling. To be quite honest, I think a lot of what I am going through has to do with the fact that there is ALOT going on right now for me. For starters, I am going through the change of life and lately the hot flashes and night sweats have been my enemy. Not fun at all! On the flip side of my health, there are some big things in store to come and I cannot say anything to you yet but I promise that it is huge and exciting! Patience my kiddies, patience LOL!
 Ok so before I get on to today's Ask Jo Q&A,
I want to announce the winners from last week's challenge.
Our top 3 are.....

# 15 ~Tammy~
# 16 Mary H.
#18 Jessie L.
And now our winner of the
Limited Runs 3pk of DS, is....
                   
 
 
Congratulations ladies!
Please email me at:
Joann6274 at gmail dot com to get your prizes! You will have 2 weeks to claim your prize.
 
Okay now on to our Ask Jo Q&A:

Our first question comes from Celia who asks, "What tool do you have in your crafty space that you have had for a very long time that you continue to use, no matter if it has gone out of style?

Hi Celia!
This is a good question! The tool that I continue to grab for over and over again that has been with me for the past 8 years now is my Perfect Layers Rulers. I cannot seem to live without these things. They are a set of measurement rulers that allows you to cut perfect straight lines of layers every single time! Even if you have a piece of paper that is uneven, the perfect layers will still give you a perfectly even layer from that uneven piece! Here is a short video that shows you how they work! Best part Celia is that these rulers are very inexpensive and will become your best friend in the crafting department. I know that they have become mine! Thank you Celia for that great question and I hope to hear from you again soon!!



Our second question today comes from Olivia Santiago who asks, "I see that you have different sponsors for your challenges and I was wondering if you get paid for that?

Hello Olivia!
Thank you for your question. To answer it, no I do not get paid as in money but I do get compensated with some of their products as a way of them saying "thank you" to me for promoting their products through my blog. When I decided to start my Funday Friday challenges, my main goal was to have a place that all papercrafters could come to play and have fun. No stress, No pressure and No having to have a certain store's product in order to participate. There were many times that I had found a blog challenge that I would have loved to play in but I couldn't because I didn't own any of the product required to enter. Boy did that upset me! That is what got me to thinking that I can start up my own challenges and if there were others out there who felt like I did, then they would appreciate my challenges and come play along. I'm very grateful to each and every person who has taken the time to just stop by and check out the challenges and participate because without all of those people my challenges would not be possible. Ya know what I mean? Going back to your question though, If a company would want to pay me with money I would thankfully decline because I am not trying to make money off my challenges. I am just trying to give my friends and other challenge lovers a fun place that they can come to play without all the extra headaches.
Having the sponsors has definitely expanded the growth of the challenges by how many people participate but at the same time, these people are having fun and they have the bonus of having something to look forward to because they get a chance to win something. Who doesn't like to win free goodies?? In return, those sponsors are getting their product out there for more people to notice and it's a win-win situation all the way around for everyone and at the end of the day, everyone is happy. So I hope this helps answer your question and if you have any other questions, please feel free to email me!
 
Thanks for the great questions today Celia and Olivia!
 Well my friends that is all I have for today. I hope you have a great day!
Thanks for stopping by and until next time....
Enjoy life's blessings~
 


Sunday, August 18, 2013

HUGE, HUGE HAUL!

 
 
 
Hello my lovely friends. I want to start off by saying thank you for all the well wishes.
It truly made me feel better to see all the wonderful comments. While I am not feeling 100%
just yet, I was feeling well enough to manage to edit my haul video.
Even with the editing in place this video is still over an hour long!!!!!  It is 1 hour and 9 odd minutes or so. I invite you to kick your feet up, grab your favorite drink and come join me in my craft room as I show you all the goodies I have purchased over the past 3 months. We are talking things like Ranger, Tim Holtz, Graphic45, My Mind's Eye, Prima and much more!
 
I apologize in advance for the super long haul and I do apologize for the lighting glare on my screen overhead. Unfortunately, my room does not have the best lighting so with the lights off or with them on, I cannot win and I suffer. Hfffhph! So shall we spend this next hour together? I hope you enjoy!
 
 
Thank you so much for watching and stopping by!
Until next time.... Enjoy life's blessings~
 

Friday, August 16, 2013

FFC #13 "Anything Goes" & Some Blog Candy!


Hello my bloggy friends!
 Welcome to another Funday Friday Challenge.
  
This week's Challenge:
"Anything Goes"
Our sponsor this week is:
 
One lucky winner will receive 7 digital stamps! So make sure to play along!
Starts: Friday, August 16th 12:00AM
Ends: Friday, August 23rd  6:00PM
(central time)
  
I did not feel well at all and was in bed all week so I was not able to get a project done for today.
I have not had such a bad time as I have this week with my pain in such a very long time. Since I feel so bad about not having something to show you, I'm having a little blog candy to give away!
 
These are some cute stamps by Inkadinkado, that will help you create some gorgeous Patriotic projects and some really fun backgrounds. To be eligible to win, just leave a comment and I'll have random.org select the winner and I will announce the winner on Monday the 26th.
 

Now let's see what some of the FFC Design Team has created for this Challenge:
    
   Candice
 

 
 
 
Well my friends, it is YOUR turn to show us what
 you can do for this challenge!
Just link up using our link up tool at the bottom of this post for your chance to win top 3 and get entered into our monthly prize drawing.

What do you need to do to enter?
Challenge Rules

1. Please post a direct link to your card/project post that includes your challenge,
using the linky tool below.

2. Be sure to include a link back to our challenge

3. UNLIMITED entries per person and you must post a separate blog post for each entry.

4. All entries must be NEW and created for the current challenge.

5. You may combine with other challenges as long as you link back to us in your post.

 * All entries that do not meet the challenge requirements
Will not be eligible for top 3 or random/monthly wins.
The monthly prize drawings will only be mailed within the US and Canada only.
 
You have until August 23rd by 6:00Pm (central) time to link up.
All winners will be announced on Monday, August 26th.
Have fun and we look forward to seeing what you create!
 
 
Until next time, enjoy life's blessings~
Thanks for stopping by!






Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Talk Time Tuesday and some Winners~


Click Here for FCC#12 "H2O"


Hello my friends!
Have you ever been sick and thought that you would NEVER get rid of it and feel better? That has been me since last Thursday! Uggg...Between not feeling good and all the medication I take, I have been completely knocked out for most of the last couple of days. I hope to shake this nasty bug off soon. I don't like not feeling good. Always a bummer. Before I get on to today's Ask Jo Q&A, I want to announce the winners from last week's Sketch challenge.
Our top 3 are.....

# 2 Carri-Abusybee
# 6 Dawn-Designs by Dragonfly
# 7 Laurie
And now our winner of the Bugaboo 7 digi stamps package is....
 
 
Congratulations ladies!
Please email me at:
Joann6274 at gmail dot com to get your prizes! You will have 2 weeks to claim your prize.
 
Okay now on to our Ask Jo Q&A:

Our first question comes from Melissa S. who asks, "I am really enjoying your Tuesday Talks very much. How many questions do you get in a week for your talks?

Hi Melissa!
I am so glad that you are enjoying the Ask Jo segment on our Talk Time Tuesdays. Unfortunately, I am not getting in nearly enough questions anymore. When I first started this, I was getting in probably 7-10 questions a week, now? Not so much. I am saddened to say that this segment may be something I have to do away with. I cannot keep it going if I do not have the help and support from all of you to keep it up and running. If you all do not want to see this part of my blog go away, then please, PLEASE send in your questions. They do not have to be craft related at all. Just send them in!
Thank you Melissa for your question hun.



Our second question today comes from Brenda L. who asks, "Jo, how do you know how much to charge for mini's albums and word books and such??? I often get asked about these things too, but never know what to charge. How much do you charge for cards too?"


Hello Brenda!
This is a good question but its a tough one. At first I had no clue what to charge and sometimes with certain requests or special orders, I still sometimes struggle with how much to charge. But here is my thing...I enjoy doing what I do...and I enjoy being able to create something beautiful for someone else who may not be able to do it or may not have the time to do it and so they come to me. I do not try to make a ton of money off of it. I try to charge for the supplies and my time. I look to just get the money back for the supplies for the most part,  so that I can purchase more product to continue filling orders.I believe that I am reasonable with my pricing but it really does depend on what type of project I am doing and how much supplies I use and how long I work on completing it from start to finish. What takes me the longest are the personalized word books. It is time consuming and I do use a good amount of supplies so how I go about charging for this is based off the # of letters and whether or not I am embellishing it or the customer is doing that. To give you somewhat of an idea, I did a wordbook last month that was 8 letters long, "Vacation". This person wanted it fully embellished with the only thing left for her to do was slap the photos in and do some light journaling. I charged her $25. I typically charge $15 for wordbooks up to 6 letters and $25 for anything over that. Plain bare chipboard workbooks sell for anywhere between $9-$12 and they aren't personalized nor embellished.
 
As for cards, I sell cards in sets. I will do two types of sets, a set of 6 cards and a set of 8. I charge $8 for the set of 6 and $10 for the set of 8. That is less then $1.50 per card. Again though, it depends on the project I am putting together, how much time goes into it, the amount of embellishing, etc. Just use your best judgment when creating to sell and go from there. If customers really enjoy your work and cannot do it themselves because of lack of time or tools or whatever, they will pay you to do it for them especially if you are reasonable and take the time to explain to them how much time and supplies are involved when doing it. If the person is an average paper-crafter then they already have a good idea of how much paper and embellishments cost. So just do your best with it and I wish you lots of luck!
I hope this helps Brenda!
 
Thanks for the great questions today Melissa and Brenda!
 Well my friends that is all I have for today. I hope you have a great day!
Thanks for stopping by and until next time....
Enjoy life's blessings~