Changes to the Monthly Cards Club

We will meet at my house to create 8 cards. There will be 4 designs where you will create 2 of each, which gives you total of 8 cards. Envelopes will be provided too. The cost for this will be $15.00 which covers all the supplies that is used for the projects and the envelopes cost. We will meet monthly, on the second Monday of each month. Please rsvp at least a week ahead of time so I can prepare enough supplies for everyone. If you have to cancel but wishes to get the cards, please let me know and I will get yours made and get them to you. Payments will be required at the Club dates. However, you can pay in advance if you want to.


Edited to add that I do offer an optional add on package for Christmas Cards.  Create 4 cards with ONE design. The optional add on package cost is $5.00. This will be offered every month to provide you total of 48 cards at the end of the year. You will need to notify me if you want this optional add on.

You're welcome to bring friends! Again, please let me know so I can ensure there's enough materials for everyone!

Also, please follow the fan page at http://facebook.com/jensmessystudio through that - I will be keeping the fan page updated with classes, clubs, and breaking news. Also if there is any chance I may have to cancel an event - it will be posted there so PLEASE make sure you check that before you head out just in case.

Please check the dates through the calendar or facebook, but here's the dates January 9 and February 6.  The usual dates will be second Monday of each month with exception of February's due to the holidays.  

Farewell 2011!!

Farewell 2011!

I can say that I can't believe that 2011 is almost out of the door. The year of 2011 was a very emotional roller coaster for my family.  It had started the year off with 4 deaths in the family all within 2 weeks time frame. It was a very rough month for the whole family.

As some of you know that we had started remodeling our previous home in August of 2010.  Then we took a break for Thanksgiving through Christmas 2010 to enjoy the holidays.  We started the remodeling projects again in February of 2011 and we worked non-stop from February to the end of April to prepare the house ready for the market. We lived there for 12 years and simply had outgrown the spaces the house provided, which was 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom and it was only 1,400 sq ft. Although we had a bedroom in the basement, but the city doesn't count that as a bedroom legally.  Raising 3 boys and having 2 dogs, wasn't just cutting it out for us anymore. So we got the house on the market in May of 2011 and the boys decided they wanted to play baseball. Between all the open houses, baseball practices and games we managed to hit the jackpot on 38th day of being on the market! On June 11, 2011 we had recieved a contract on our previous home.  Meanwhile, the same day we put down a contract on our new home which has 5 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms with a full size basement.  It is bigger in sq ft than the old house. We moved into our new home on July 1st. We *LOVE* it here!!  During our move, it was one of those hottest weekend. The summer proceeded to be over 100 degree for several weeks, which made the baseball games and football practices unbearable for all of us.

By the end of July, two of our sons joined the football team for the new schools and that kept us even more busier in between unpacking, taking them to practices and going to the games.  School started up - the kids do really enjoy their new schools. They are doing really great in school!  In September, two of our sons decided to join soccer teams. One of them was still actively playing football. So here, entire month of September and October, we were running to football practices\games and soccer practices\games.  We wouldn't trade this for anything in this world. Seeing our sons enjoying sports, new schools and new home is priceless.  October rolled around, football and soccer ended and things started to settle down quickly for our family to where we can kick back at home and relax.  (Edited to add: November came around - Duncan decided to take on a dare and swallowed a quarter! Needless to say that it ended in a couple trips over to Cardinal Glennon Hospital to keep track of this quarter. At this point, he still hasn't passed it.  People ask him all the time "Got a quarter?".   Looking back, it was scary at first, but now it's kinda funny. I have asked him a couple times if he would pull that again?  He replies "No!".) Cold weather kicked in and we are home more often now.  We are just relaxing and enjoying being home.  We spent our first Christmas morning here and it was just SO nice! We are looking forward to ringing into 2012 here.

Along with all of the roller coasters that our family went through, there was no time for us to hang out with our friends or extended family between everything that happened this year.  Also, my scrapbooking hobby and business was put on the back burner. I have no complaints about that at all because I know my one little word "determination" (see Ali Edwards's One Little Word 2011) had really paid off for our family this year. I was SO determined to get the old house sold and moved before our oldest son start high school. Yet here we are, a year earlier than planned!  Seeing our children being happy here and everyone's contented is really priceless for my husband and me.  It's amazing that 2011 really flew by for us, mainly because we were SO busy this year.   I am welcoming 2012 with a big open arms because there's so many projects I am looking forward to doing.  Some of them are related to the house, some to scrapbooking and few are to my personal life.  

I am looking forward to all the new changes and learn to grow with them.   So my new word for 2012 One Little Word will be "Change". The last 2 years we've gone through so much changes and I know there will be more coming so I'm embracing 2012 as the year for the CHANGE.

If you have read this far, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for being so patient with me this year with my lack of scrapbooking artworks and posts.  I am looking forward to more of those in 2012. 

Happy New Year 2012 to you all and I hope that this find you in good health and everyone is well.  


*See Ali Edwards One Little Word 2012*

Project Life

For Christmas, The boys and Jeff had purchased Project Life for me. I am very excited about doing this!   This will be different from what I usually do.  I will be mixing my project life with CTMH stash. I am using the Work in Progress Album by CTMH

Here's Becky Higgins Product list.

Here's the links for what the whole package that was purchased for the Project Life.

12x12 3-Ring Photo Sleeve Refills: 4x6 & 12x6 Pocket (10 Pages)

6 x 12 (4x6 Photos) Horizontal (10 Pages)

100 Journaling Cards - 3" x 4" with grids

12 x 12 Page Protectors (12 Pages)

12x12 3-Ring Photo Sleeve Refills: 3x3 & 6x12 Pocket (10 Pages)

12x12 3-Ring Photo Sleeve Refills: 4x6 & 4x12 Pocket (10 Pages)

12x12 3-Ring Photo Sleeve Refills: 4x6 & 4x4 Pocket (10 Pages)

12x12 3-Ring Photo Sleeve Refills: 4x6 & 6x12 Pocket (10 Pages)

12x12 3-Ring Photo Sleeve Refills: 4x6 & 8x6 Pocket (10 Pages)

12x12 3-Ring Photo Sleeve Refills: 4x6 Pocket (10 Pages)

12x12 3-Ring Photo Sleeve Refills: 4x6, 6x4 & 12x2 Pocket (10 Pages)

12x12 3-Ring Photo Sleeve Refills: 5x7, 4x6, 2x7 & 1x12 Pocket (10 Pages)

12x12 3-Ring Photo Sleeve Refills: 6x4 Pocket (10 Pages)

12x12 3-Ring Photo Sleeve Refills: 6x6 Pocket (10 Pages)

4 x 4 blocks: 12 x 12 PP (10 Pages)

4 x 6 Photo Horziontal 12 x 12 PP (10 Pages)

6 x 12 vertical Page Protectors (12 Pages)

8.5x11 3-Ring Page Protector (10 Pages)

Big Envelope Pages (5 Pages)

Design A (60 Pages)

Design B (12 Pages)

Design C (12 Pages)

Design D (12 Pages)

Design E (12 Pages)

Design F (12 Pages)

Design G (12 Pages)

Merry Christmas!!

January's Scrapbook Club: Roxie

Here is the supply list that you will need for the Scrapbook Club on January 21st, 2 pm to 6 pm and Crop night will follow after that if you want to stay for the crop night to work on your own projects.  You will need to order this by the 10th of January to get it in time for the Club date. 

Supply List:

Roxie WOTG & Roxie Stickease

Crop Dates Information

The dates are announced within 1 to 4 months in advanced so you can plan around your personal schedule.  Spots are limited due to spaces.  RSVPS are required with 24 hours notification if you’re not able to attend so the space can be used for someone else. Thanks for your consideration!  We do potluck dinner at our night crops.  We all contact who is attending and figure out what everyone is in mood to have then we all chip in on the food lists that is needed for dinner.  Also, drinks and snacks are chipped in too.    I always provide sweetened tea and un-sweetened tea. 

o   There is NO fee for this! All I ask is that you chip in with the foods, snacks and drinks for the night crops.

Weekly Challenges starting 2012!

Whew, 2011 really took a BIG change for our family for the better!! I had to put literally everything on hold and just never really got back into it. So now, I am bringing back the Weekly Challenges back! Now that the house is completely unpacked. :)  Here's the description for the Weekly Challenges from last year.

Want to boost your creativity?  Come and join us on a weekly challenge blog hop! Don’t have a blog? EASY FIX! Blogspot offer FREE blogs and they’re easy to use. If you need assist in setting up one, email me and we’ll get you started with one!   I will be posting my weekly challenges every Monday morning at 12:00 am.  There will be a link widget where you could add your URL if you would like to be part of the challenges.   There would be a week in between to work on the following week's challenges.  I am posting this on December 19th, 2011 so some of you can have some time to get a month worth scheduled to go, if you desire to.   There are no requirements of what type of accessories/companies or tools to use for your artworks, just long as you adhere to the guideline for each week.  Whether if your supplies are current or retired, it doesn't matter.!!  The whole concept is to get your creativity FLOWING!! :). Your blog post will needed to be tagged as "Weekly Challenges" to make it easier for other people to find them.

The first week will begin on January 2nd, 2012 (Monday). The link widgets will be at the bottom of my weekly challenges posts. Everything will be ready to go LIVE on January 2nd at 12 am (CST).

o Week 1 – 1 Page
o Week 2 – Altered Art – no scrapbook page or a card
o Week 3 – 1 Photo Page – using only ONE photo on the page
o Week 4 – 4 cards – Using ONE stamp sets for all 4 cards
o Week 5 – Double Layout (2 pages)
o Week 6 – Color Combo Challenge – I will post what color scheme to use.  I will be using CTMH colors. I know not everyone has all of CTMH's colors - so close as you can would be fine. :)
o Week 7 – Mini-album of big news from the previous month (project life is perfect for this)
o Week 8 – CASE (Copy and Share everything) of a project – be sure to show us where you got it and give proper credit where it is due.  This can be a card, a scrapbook page or an altered art.
o Week 9 – Using a technique – You pick what type of technique to use – let us know what type.  This can be a card, a scrapbook page or an altered art.
o Week 10 – Sketches from CTMH’s How-To- Do program book. I will choose a sketch from one of the following books – Cherish, Imagine, Magic and Reflections.  This will help you maximum your use out of those books. They are HIGHLY recommended for all level of scrapbookers!  (Don’t forget – we do have 2 books for card makers – Originals and Wishes!).

The Basement Studio (warning: lot of pictures)

Since we moved into this new house in July, I took over the basement for the studio. The walls needs to be painted with drylok. It's pretty big and it gives me alot of room to wiggle.  Like I said, it isn't perfect or anything, but it is VERY do-able!  However, it does get chilly down here! LOL! So I have the oil radiation heater and it helps a bit. If it wasn't running - it's roughly 55 to 60 degree in here, but once I get it going and it get up to around 67 to 69 and it's just enough for me to work a couple of hours down here. We do have a small vent that helps. We have a cellar door right off the steps and it's very drafty so that plays a huge role right now.  So that's on the agenda in the spring to be fixed along with the drylock painting.  We did change out 3 of the light fixtures and still have 3 more to change out, but we're in no hurry at this point.   The black rugs are covering an OLD tiles - that will be removed in the spring when we do the painting. We would like to add drop ceiling to the ceiling (which would help with insulating the basement), since we would need access to the wires/plumbing just in case!  I have no plans on putting up walls or anything. I really like how open it is.  We have the washer/dryer, freezer, food pantry cabinets and the tool shelf down here and  it's still a lot of wiggle room.  I can fit at least 12 people including myself comfortable down here for a crop night.  So be warned - the walls aren't pretty!! The paints are flaking off so it looks like it is regular paint. Yuck.

I'm standing in between the freezer and the computer area.  This is the diecut and embossing table.

This is the storage where I store all the punchers, catalogs, Chipboards, old catalogs from SU and CTMH.  On top of it has the knick knacks that the boys made when they were little, along with the Power sort boxes from CM (LOVE those!).

 This is the computer/printer/VP area. Nothing fancy :)  Don't mind the background. That's the laundry area and the tool shelf area.

This cubes are on the other side of the diecut/embossing table.  It houses all the stamps from SU and TAC.  Along with too many things. :)

This is just partially of the tables. I do have 2 extra tables, but they're away in the storage.

Standing on the other side of the basement - As you can see, it's pretty long and plenty of room.

This is where I usually do my creative times.

Our rottweiler dog, Metzger - He always has to come down here when I'm down here, even if Jeff's home. It's irony because we had gotten Metzger for Jeff after the death of Bubba, our previous rottweiler. Metzger pretty much follows me more than he does with Jeff, while Roxie, our mini daschund is supposed to be for me, but she always goes with Jeff.

Stamps, Altered supplies and knick knacks storage

Christmas Presents

My Mom and Ma Di was in town last weekend and we celebrated Christmas early with them since they live in Florida. We were supposed to trek down to Florida for this Christmas, but with purchasing our new home and moving. It wasn't possible, but next year we will be heading there for sure!   Anyway, I had created their Christmas presents and wasn't able to post it, just in case Mom does check the blog. :)

Mom's present is this "LOVE" blocks. I had seen another CTMH consultant do it as in "Snow" and "Frosty". I thought I had saved that link, but unfortunately I didn't.  I will have to find it and include it here so she can get the proper credit for this idea.

I used the CTMH's Notebook Level 2 Patterned Papers, Chocolate acrylic paint, Black vinyl, CTMH's Clear Sparkles, SU's Ivory organdy ribbon and SU's Gold cord ribbon. Also, can't forget the mod podge! :) 

For Ma Di's present.  I had a photo cubes that I had purchased from Oriental Trading about a year and half ago, but never got around to using it up.  I finally did!  I wanted to create it where she could put it on her desk at work, as she is always displaying pictures of the grandchildren.  

I used Stampin' Up's papers -they're retired, I believe. I don't even know the name. I didn't save it.  I did distress the edges with CTMH's Goldrush inkpad.  The acrylic paint is called "Deep Ocean Blue" by Folk Arts.