Spookily Cute and Thankful Cards --THIS FRIDAY NIGHT

 

 

I'm prepared for Halloween.  Are you? 

 

I had Aaron try on his Halloween costume today to make sure it still fit.  We're blessed with a sweet boy who likes to wear his costumes for multiple years.  YEAH!  Our budget is supremely thankful!

 

I'll have these projects for Halloween and Thanksgiving (or just general thanks...) available at my card buffet on Friday, September 28th.  Bring your double-sided tape and make the ones you like for $1.50 apiece.  The jar will be more.  I still need to figure out how much. 

 

Please let me know if you plan to come out.  We'll be at the regular Oxnard Location from 7pm until Midnight.  If you don't know where that is, Give me a call for more info.

 

 

I really am enjoying this stamp set, "Bootiful Occasions".  This is a cute card for a beginner to make a big impact with the stamps and a few circle punches.

 

 

I think I'll call this one "Fractured Feline".  :>)  I used the "Frightening Feline," stamp, some of our textued paper (the Wild Wasabi green on the left), Stampin' Up!'s Striped Satin Ribbon, a brad, a googlie eye, and using our jewelry tag punch.

 

 

I embossed this one using my Big SHot Die-cutting Machine  with the Spider web embossing folder.  I added a cute spider with googlie eyes from the Ghoulish Googlies stamp set and went a little (okay, a LOT...) crazy wiht the Dazzling Details to sparkle it up. 

 

 

 Here are the exterior and interior of a graveyard scene card made using the Toxic Treats stamp set.  I've been thinking of all kindas of ways to use that little frog!  :>)

This "Autumny" Thank You uses the Big Shot Die-Cut Machine to quickly cut out the leaves and to emboss the woodgrain background with out new  Core'dinations Cardstock.  It's topped off with a tag punch, linen thread, and  our new buttons from the Holiday Minicatalog.

Here's some more of that linen thread and Naturals Buttons pairs with Leaves I cut out wiht the leaf die and then embossed with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder and a beautiful stamp set called,    
 "French Foliage".  I made some coasters with that set last year and they were gorgeous!

If you need a jar for little Halloween Goodies, come make this on Friday.  The jar's about 4" high and you can have fun with the  Ghoulish Googlies set I used on the spider card, above.  I'll have a limited number of these jars available and still need to figure out the price.  I know it won't be more that  $5.00.  It's even cuter in person.  :>)

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Please let me know if you plan to attend on Friday night.  There will only be one more Card Buffet (Christmas Cards in October) this year!  Come out and get CREEPY!!!  ;-)

 

 

Ribbon, Anyone?: Yes, school's started and I'm behind AGAIN!

Hi All,

School has started and we're getting into the swing of Fall at our house.  My first volunteer day at school is coming up this week, I had a party with some wonderful ladies yesterday, and I'm behind AGAIN.  I keep thinking I'll catch up some day.  That's what dreams are for, huh?

Why do I say I'm behind again?  Well, this special has been going on all September and I'm getting around to mentioning it to you on the 23rd.  Ooops! 

Here's the deal if you'd like to take advantage of it:

Now, through the end of Sptember, you can get a roll of the Stampin' Up! Stitched Satin Ribbon in your choice of colors (These 4 and a darker pink called Raspberry Ripple), for FREE for every $40 worth of Stampin' Up! products you order.  Each spool is a $8.95 value and you get them for just buying what you already want!  The ribbon is 3/8" wide and there are 10 yards on each spool.  The sale is cumulative, so you can choose 2 spools for ordering $80 of products, 3 spools for $120, and so on. 

You can order by contacting me or by place an order on my website, www.playwithmarcia.stampinup.net , at any hour.  Thanks for looking!  :>)

Crop 'til You Drop and Help Find a Cure! Please help and, maybe, win. .

Here's my announcement about how to help in the fight against Cancer in a more readable form. 

If you're a Ventura County Scrapbooker, PLEASE passs this on to all your scrapping friends!  Beth, at Scrapbook Blessings in Newbury Park, was SO generous to offer this to help me raise funds.  Please let people know about it so that opportunity can be maximized. 

Please donate if you can.  If you're in Ventura County and would like to be entered in the drawing, please let me know that too.  THANKS!!!

PL

WIN a Scrapbooking Crop Day for you and your friends AND do something GOOD!

This is primarily for folks who live in or near Ventura County.  Please read it and FEEL FREE to donate if you're from outside the area too.  If you want to donate and have chances, please just let me know when you send your donation or in the notation to me online.  THANKS!!!  :>)

 

Also, PLEASE tell other area folks about this too. 

________________________________________________________________

 

Dear Crafty Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have an amazing offer to make to you and I'm SO excited about it!!!

Scrapbook Blessings is a terrific scrapbooking store in Newbury Park. It's always my store of choice when I need something I can't buy through my own business for two reasons: 1) They always have beautiful stuff; and 2) the people there are WONDERFUL! I've been shopping and scrapping there for years. It's a family owned and run business and they're both super-friendly and talented. If you need help with something "scrapbooky," they're the folks to help you through examples, advice, and classes.

Really, the next few sentences belong here, please keep going... It'll make sense.

Some of you know I've lost several people I love to cancer and am blessed to have a bunch of Cancer Survivors counted among my family and friends. I'm involved in raising money for the Amercan Cancer Society (which provides funds for research and support for survivors in treatment), through Relay for Life this year with a goal of raising $4,000. I sent out 110 letters this past week to people I hope can donate but, obviously, I can't send a letter to everyone I'd like to. One of the last I distributed was to Beth, co-owner, with her husband Leo, of Scrapbook Blessings because I know that their hearts are always willing to help others.

BETH, of SCRAPBOOK BLESSINGS, BLEW ME AWAY!

Instead of offering a donation directly from their family, Beth offered me a FREE CROP DAY!!! Our hope is that this will bring in even more donations.

Here's what the offer is:

Scrapbook Blessings will provide the space for 1 Lucky Winner and 19 of your closest friends (I'm hoping you'll invite me but you don't have to. :>)) to crop on one Saturday of your choosing from 10am to 5pm. Basically, you and your friends get to take over the classroom and crop to your hearts' content! There will be someone from Scrapbook Blessings there to help you out with whatever you need and it's SO easy to match colors when you're scrapbooking in the store! If you're the winner, you just call Beth at the store to set it up and you can go in and play. This opportunity has a value of up to $300!!! That's 20 people x $15 for a full day's crop.

Please note: The certificate has no cash value and will effectively be worth $15 x however many people you bring. It must be redeemed by June 30, 2013.

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Here's what you have to do in order to have a possibility of getting the certificate.

I will give you one chance for every $5.00 you donate, through me, to Relay for Life.

$5 = 1 chance $25 = 5 chances $50 = 10 chances $500 = Well, you get the idea...

*************************************************

I'll let you all know who gets to go play at Scrapbook Blessings and donate my own package of Stampin' Up! goodies on October 15th.

In order to receive your chances:

 

To donate by check, please make your check out to: “American Cancer Society”.

You can hand it to me or send it to me at:

Marcia Yoshida

5205 Prairieview Street

Camarillo, CA 93012

To donate online, go to:

· www.relayforlife.org

· Choose ,“donate,” from the dropdown menu under, “Get Involved”

· Scroll over, “Donate to a Participant,” enter my name, and follow the directions to donate by credit card

Donations must be received by October 14th as the Camarillo Relay for Life is on October 13th and 14th.

If you have already donated, THANK YOU and you'll still get your chances. Don't worry! :>)

*************************************************

THANK YOU SO MUCH to Beth and Scrapbook Blessings for making this opportunity available!!! I struggled a lot with whether or not it was appropriate to send out a donation request to all of you. To my mind this makes it a GREAT IDEA! :>) I hope you'll all forward this to others you think might be interested in this opportunity. It's always good to do something to help others but it's even better when there's a chance you could have a fun day out as a result. :>) I always tell new scrapbookers about Scrapbook Blessings because they're so terrific in general but this and the Charity Auction they do for military families every December are examples of the heart of Scrapbook Blessings. Tickets for the December auction are on sale now. They auction off all the gorgeous layout samples from throughout the year and loads of other goodies. $10 for dinner, a goodie bag, and "a show" with Leo in Dress Uniform! December 1st. It's a blast! Call the store for more info -- (805) 375-1568.

I told Beth, the other day, she has no idea how much I appreciate their donation to my fundraising cause. We all have our personal stories of how cancer has affected us. If you can, please contribute, in the hope that someday this will no longer be true.

Very Sincerely,

Marcia Yoshida

Stampin' Up! Independent Demonstator and Hopeful Cancer Reasearch Fundraiser

(805) 479-8385

 

STORE INFO:

Scrapbook Blessings

300 Giant Oak Avenue, Suite E

Newbury Park, CA 91320

(805) 375-1568

What happens when you listen carefully...

 

 

When we visited the Sequoias, we had the pleasure of noting this beautiful creature and her fawns.  I scrapped these two pages using My Digital Studio 2.  There's nothing exciting about them "techniquewise"' but sometimes (often) I find that simplicity is best when scrapping.   Check out my journalling to read the story.  :>)  

 

I'm hoping to receive my printed copies of these pages any day.  They need to arrive before my scrapbooking class on Sunday!

 

If you're interested in joining us for a "Scrapbooking with Stamps 101" type of class, I'll be having mine on Sunday (9/16/12) at 2pm in Camarillo.  I only have 4 spots left, so please contact me if you'd like to join us. 

 

The face says it all! 

Birthday Cake 2012 -- Giant Sequoias!

Every year, for the last 3, my guys have made me a special birthday cake.  The process is always shrouded in mystery and a lot of sugar.  :>)

This year my guys made a representation of one of my favorite places on earth, Grant Grove in Kings Canyon National Park.  It's in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, about 1 1/2 hours out of Selma (near Fresno), where I grew up, and we introduced Aaron to it last year.  Obviously, he was struck by its beauty too.  He mentions it fairly often. 

Oddly, as I was banished from the kitchen while they were working, I was working on some scrapbook pages from that same trip.  These only give you the tiniest idea of the magnitude of these living giants.  The sequoias are truly awe inspiring.



Here you can see my guys hunkering in a hole at the base of the tree to the left.  It just begins to give you the impression of how large they are.  My brother lived in Saudi Arabia for a number of years and worked with some of the local men.  He told them about these trees and they thought he was kidding.  On a visit home, he went and took pictures which he took back and showed them.  They still couldn't believe it and were thoroughly convinced he had "Photoshopped" the pictures.  If you haven't, and ever get the chance, go see these trees.  If you ever get to feeling too big for your britches, think of these and it'll bring you back down to a more reasonable size.  :>) 


Here are the sequoias my guys made for me.  The trees are pound cake and Ho-Hos.  The bushes are squished rice crispy treats (My boy doesn't watch the Cake Challenge shows for nothing, you know!).  This year they added the new technique of painting on additional food colloring for contrast.  :>)



Here's the whole masterpiece.  The loaf cake is "The Fallen Giant".  It's a fallen sequoia which has been used in many ways, including as the quarters for a cavalry unit in the 1800s (even the horses fit).  I first visited as a young child and have always been fascinated by it.  You can walk all the way through it, as much of it was burned out, probably by a fire started by lightning.  The general consensus is lightning killed this tree and caused it to fall though no one living knows for certain how, or even when, it fell.  Some of these trees in this grove are more than 2,000 years old.

The next two pages show us in and around the fallen giant.   In the picture, bottom right, of this lay-out, we're standing by what's left of the tree's root structure.

 

 

 

In the middle, below, Aaron's standing about half-way through the tree.  Above him, Roger's standing in the sunlight let in throught the hole at the top, right.

 

 

 As you can tell, I love this place, and I loved my cake too.  Devil's Food to fit my personality!  ;>)  Thanks guys!!!  I love you!!!!!!