First class booked!

I booked my first A Muse class for February 4 at Ultimate Hobbies. I'll be teaching Spring cards. I'm so excited! I need to order some more cardstock.

Hmm, when did I last write? Oh yes, the mini-workshop with my coworkers went well. There were four of them and only one had stamped before. And she hated embossing until I showed her how to properly. I think she wasn't embossing to the point where it melted. And they all loved the little brushes idea to take away the extra EP.

They are so excited about stamping they want to do a Valentines workshop. I also have a friend who wanted to do a mini-workshop as well. It's going to be a busy week since I have it planned on 1/29 and then that's the week of CHA. I'm more or less on the brink of deciding of going. It'll be such a rush because I've never been and have always wanted to go. I'm going as a guest of stampingbear.com. Oh, and then when I come back, I teach a class! So...yeah, I have a lot of stuff going on. I decided I can't do too many swaps next year. I'm hosting a stamping book in February but that's about all I've planned. That reminds me, I should post the swap info.

I've been spending some time organizing my supplies. I sold off old stamps and really need to rethink of what I have. I going to have be zen about it. There are some things I like but I never use. I don't want to seem like I have too much baggage when Andy and I finally move in together. Oh wait, I'll never give up my stuff! Heh. :) That's like asking him to give up all his skateboards (I've lost count how many he has!).

I need to go to Home Depot tonight to buy more marble tiles to make coasters. I should find out when my cousin will be back in town. I was planning on giving her some coasters. And pretty much everyone I didn't give coasters to last year. The ones that did receive coasters will get calendars I have yet to actually stamp. Ack, I'm not done with holiday shopping either. My best friend had a baby this year and I realized everything I bought has been for the baby. Ooops. I wanted to make this breast-feeding necklace thing I saw online for her but I haven't had time to get the stretchy cord. My coworker tells me I should let go of some stuff. Um...no, Target just needs to sell time (as my friend Andrea would say).

Time, yes, I need more time.

More Publications

What an exciting week that has been. First, I got my postcard stating I had some item(s) in the December/ January 2006 Stampers Sampler. Being me, I didn't think there was more than one. No, there were two cards! They picked up my Memory Box black/red/white card and my hot pink Jody Poesy bombshell card. I love that image. And I saw JP had Marilyn stamps now. OOOH.

Last night, I felt a magazine in the mail stack and had to immediately dump everything. Yes!!! It was the winter edition of Take Ten. I love they're going to come out four times a year now. More chances to get excited about. :) I was so happy to see everyone's great work in it. But I have to admit, more than a little excited to see four of my cards there! Yay! Wow, some of the cards I had submitted a long time ago or had submitted them to the regular mag for other things. That being my dressform card. I was so bummed when that issue came out and I didn't get a dressform card in. Well, I guess I should not be surprised they waited on it. The colors of that issue definitely didn't match my card- much brighter. I need to focus on sending in color batches now. I don't think I really resisted, I just never really thought about producing things with the same paper, inks, colors, etc in one sitting. I love playing with a big mix of colors. Still, it was fun to just send off the shifting shades cards to them today. We shall see what happens next Summer. I don't know when the next one is slated for. Hmm.

It's been a while since I've written in here. I have to mention I had a great time in Seattle. I met lots of fab women. And the A Muse crew is awesome. I'm looking forward to getting my classes scheduled. In the meantime, to help me get prepared, I was going to run a couple of private workshops with my coworkers and friends of friends. We'll see how that goes. My first workshop is on Monday with three of my coworkers.

Whee, happy stamping!

Pleasure versus Publication

Last night, I sat down to make a thank you card for a friend who's hosting a swap. As I started working on it, I thought hey, I like this- I should submit it. And then I started obsessing over it. And now I can't decide if I should give it away like I intended or send it off for possible publication.

I ended up making another card while trying to decide what to do. And now I have two cards I can't decide what to do with. Because yep, I like that second card too. ARRGH.

Lately, I've been struggling with this. I like the cards so much, I don't want to give them away. And yet, I don't want to be submitty mcsubmitty all the time.

In the meantime, here's a card for Halloween. I liked this one a little too much to send and it's sitting on my desk at work.-- edit, Blogger's not cooperating. I'll try to upload it later.

A Muse Instructor

Wow! I'm the official Southern California A Muse instructor! I got the email last Friday and have been on a high ever since.

It was quite a tough week for me last week. I had gotten back my package and spent half the night worrying about it. I emailed to see if I could send in scans. They accepted and a few days later, it was between me and another person in the area. Then two hours later, I heard. Yay!

Then Monday, I found out Lyns was accepted too! Yay! ROCK ON! The Stamping Rock Stars are rockin' the stamping world! It'll be so cool to see Lyns in Seattle. We go way back when we both started stamping around the same time. We met in a postcard community and have been trading art every since. Swaps, Halloween, the holidays, we've sent so many cards to each other, the cards need to have their own storage space!

I can't wait to get to Seattle.

Here's the cards I submitted to the contest.

And this card is a card I'm sending to Mindy and Chris at Stampola to welcome their newest baby! All stamps by Stampola.

I've been trying to send cards to all my favorite vendors that inspire me. Mainly, I'm doing Halloween cards. Hopefully, I'll get to all the vendors because pretty soon it'll be Thanksgiving! Wow, this year has gone by so quickly.

Remember my post from the other day? All those swap cards were sold. I'm feeling pretty sad about it but I realized there's nothing I can do. After this year, I'm not sure how much time I'll have for swaps. I finished up my pirates swap last night, packing up Halloween swaps and getting to another stamping book soon. I still have calendar pages to do but I figure I can't sign up for more swaps this year. I dare not think about next year. I have my A Muse gig to think about!

Plus, next year, I plan to go to Europe and try to do more meaningful things with my life. I'm getting a little older and it's time to think about my health. V and I are thinking about taking swimming next month and I'm thinking about joining the dreaded gym. Ah, it's so hard to think about but maybe a DIET is in store too. Uh-oh! The foodie in me is shuddering deeply.

The price you pay for art

New stuff for today.

I was putting away some stamps last night and ended up playing instead of cleaning. I should have been tackling my to-do list which is a mile long but it's so much more fun to play!

I do eventually have to make birthday and holiday cards. I'm already starting to get requests from work. My coworkers are always asking me to try to sell to stores, eBay or have my own website. But I am so much happier selling to friends. Even though I'm not giving away the card, I feel warm fuzzies knowing someone pretty close in the friend chain is getting my artwork.

That's why I do swaps. I love seeing what others are coming up with. I was really upset this week when I saw a posting by someone in one of my yahoo groups selling over 280 cards and other swap projects for a measly $50. You can't put a price tag on swap work! And I would be horrified if I knew someone sold my swap cards. I don't participate in swaps so someone can have free stationery or worse, sell my work.

The stamp sheet!

After months of working on this with the Stamping Rock Stars, the sheet is finally here! Thanks to all the Stamping Rock Stars that contributed.

I have made a few cards so far with the images. My first pass at the cards.

Then I made another few cards. The only image that isn't on this sheet is the baby card (A Muse).

Now that I have had the experience of putting together a rubber sheet, I'm excited to do another one! I have to work on my drawing skills but I think it's the coolest thing to make your own rubber stamps!

Still high

On rubber that is. I am almost afraid to post this because it has been too crazy these last few days. The other night, I came home to a copy of the newest Take Ten (from Stampington). I got four cards published! It's so crazy because one of them had been submitted to another magazine but they rejected it. Heh, I'm not telling which one.

Having things published really motivates me to see how far I can go with this hobby.

I have a loose plan of getting a website done (a dear friend/stamper is going to put it together for me), getting on maybe one more design team, getting my act together and producing a sheet of rubber (I have had two offers to sell "whatever" I put out from vendors), maybe teach stamping and go to CHA! I really want to go. I have always wanted to go but I didn't have any credentials to speak of. I started submitting cards in ernest for publication, got myself a mentor and now, I'm in a much better position as a design team manager and rubber stamp agent/manager of an artist. We're producing her doodles as stamps. Check out a preview http://www.sunspiritstudio.com. Aren't they adorable? I can't wait to see them in rubber so I can play with them.

I'm also really excited to get my group's rubber sheet finally done. It's been a long hard road but it's almost ready. Just another week or so and I should have the rubber in my hot little hands. There are definitely images on there I want to use right away. Plus, I put my favorite Nappy D quote on there!

Just listen to your hear, that's what I'd do.

Picture for the day is a card I sent away as a RAK a while ago. I love the bright cheerful color of it. Image is by Stampola.

Buzzing

I feel like I've been buzzing around the last few weeks. I knocked off some things on my to-do list but then immediately put more stuff on it.

I need to get back to adding things to my inspiration book. This is a book where I tear out things I like out of magazines. I never actually copy anything but looking at the various colors usually gets me going.

I've been thinking a lot about what I want and I can't figure it out. Well, other than to be famous. In a way, blogging is being famous. At least in one own's mind. And possibly to whoever else stumbles upon this. But no, how do I get to be a household name? Or at least in rubber stamping circles?

What have I accomplished this year?

3 publications
1 design team (manager to boot!)
rubber stamp agent for an artist (friend to friend)

I should have applied for the editor position over at a paper arts magazine but I didn't want to move. Still, I want to see the offices (if I can). I emailed a note and my resume. Most of it describes the things I can do and have been doing but it doesn't explain the things I want to do or have the potential to do that I hadn't even thought about.

Contests. Design team calls. Instructor calls. Posting online. Hanging out and getting to know people. Going to CHA. Ah, it will never end but I don't want it to. I love this feeling of being able to try for something that I know I can do- and possibly be very good at. Better than being at a job where I'm not really relevant or necessary.

The picture of the card is a reminder to myself that I can do good work. And with last night's messes, it doesn't bother me. Playing means learning. Seahorse image and alpha by PSX. Branch is from Rubbermoon.

Where the ramble meets rubber

Ah, my first post! I have blogged for over five years now but most of it has been private or only available for a select few to view. I wanted to start an art/rubber stamping blog completely free of locked posts. And more or less uncensored. I shouldn't get into trouble because it's about art, right? Heh.

Here's a card I made for a contest. I ended up not having the time to submit it. It has never been shown before. I love the little SouthWestern bunny. I have a thing about bunnies. Though, I love all animals. And I really like native art so the SW them just spoke to me. The image is from Art Neko.

I'm looking forward to the journey but have no destination in mind. I just want to have fun along the way. Hooray new blog!