Name That Mousie!

I've been busily working on preparing new stamp designs from Ronnie Walter and Tammy DeYoung for our upcoming release at the end of January. (Yes, we start this early...even sooner, in fact, because it's a multi-step process to get from the drawing on paper to the finished stamp.)

I'm going to keep most of the sneak peeks under wraps for right now (I promise I'll show you more as we draw closer to the next launch), but I did want to show you this cute little mousie that Tammy created:


Isn't it sweet? This image makes me smile every time I look at it. And speaking of sweet, why don't we do a little BLOG CANDY today! Leave a note in the comments section of this post telling me what name you'd give this mousie. I'll accept entries until Sunday, November 22nd, at midnight Central time. A winner will be randomly chosen on Monday morning, and that person will receive our 4210G Mitten Mouse stamp, just in time for the holidays:


Remember, if you post anonymously (in other words, without signing in), be sure to add your name or we won't be able to include you in our drawing. It will be the winners' responsibility to contact me via email no later than November 26th. If we don't hear from the winner, we won't be re-drawing...so please remember to come back and check. Good luck, and hope you have a "micey nice" day!

Carnivorous Capers

It was terrific to see so many familiar faces (and some new ones, too!) on Saturday at We're Stampin' Mad, including these lovely ladies:


We made this cute Christmas card:


The main image is our new 0082H Enlightened Reindeer, the saying is 0011D Bright Season, and the background is 0569F Holiday Background.

At the end of the day, I asked Marcia to take a picture of "us two Jackies":


Before I left, Jackie showed me this set of cards using P1-1393 Berry Tree from the Studio 490 Collection at Stampers Anonymous, one of our sister companies:


They featured a couple of different techniques at their monthly Lunchtime Demo over a period of several months, until they'd completed a vast array of projects. I thought it was so cool to see how the same stamp can look entirely different depending on how it's used. There was foiling, dye resist, direct-to-paper inking, and a ton more...which techniques can you spot?

On Saturday evening, Steve and I went out with our friends Mike and Marilee to celebrate Mike's birthday. He chose Fogo de Chao as our restaurant, which is a Brazilian steakhouse. Check out these succulent slabs of roasted goodness:


It's basically like a huge gourmet meat buffet that comes to your table. Each diner places a token next to his or her plate with either the green or red side facing up. The green side means "I'd like more," and the gauchos (Brazilian cowboys) who roam the room with more than a dozen different meats will offer to slice off a hunk of whatever they've got skewered onto your plate:


You can enjoy this meatfest until the cows come home (sorry, LOL, I couldn't resist):


The birthday boy gave it a thumbs up:


The rest of us rolled away from the table that night.

Oh, and remember all those card pieces I'd made last week for the store sample board program? I put them together yesterday and this morning:


Today I'll send them to our main office and shop in Cleveland so they can be placed onto display boards and sent out with the stamp orders. That's a lotsa cards, huh!

Slicing & Dicing

Yesterday and today were a cut-up...literally! I spent a lot of quality time with my paper trimmer to get ready for tomorrow's Make & Take event at We're Stampin' Mad, and here are the results:


I'll take a picture of the finished card when I'm there. My Cuttlebug, embossing folder, and Nestabilities dies also got a workout as I made all the pieces to put together the December cards for our store sample board program (which I'll be assembling on Sunday):


Oh, and I made a few more Triangle Treat projects:


Happy Friday to everyone...I hope you have a great weekend!

Make & Take at We're Stampin' Mad

If you live in the Twin Cities area, I'd love see you at We're Stampin' Mad in Osseo this Saturday, November 7th. From 10:30 to 3:30, I'll be at the store hosting a FREE make & take project.

And while you're there, you can check out the holiday card ideas. They've got a bunch of displays all over the store, like this one:


Doesn't this paper make you drool:


And look at some of these Christmas stamps:


I hope you can join us...it would be wonderful to see you there!

Costume Capers

Here are your random numbers:

7
11

Timestamp: 2009-11-03 14:33:39 UTC

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Congratulations to Barb S. and Kimme, who each won a Gobbles Turkey Clear Stamp Set! Ladies, please contact me via email with your address info so I can get your prizes sent out.

Thanks to everyone who played. There was such an array of creative costume ideas! Here's another funny one I wanted to share with you:


Yes, it's Nadya Suleman aka Octu-mom! Actually, she is our talented artist Tammy DeYoung. Gotta love those babies...my favorites are the two tucked into her pocket. How handy would that be, LOL!

Party Pictures

As I mentioned yesterday, I've got some photos from our Halloween party in case you're curious. I dressed up as Snow White, and Steve was a dwarf:


I've really enjoyed reading everyone's comments about their Halloween costumes in the previous post (and there's still time to add yours if you haven't already done so...with a chance to win some BLOG CANDY, too).

I was happy with how ours turned out this year, but I'd have to say my favorite outfit ever was the time I made myself into a breakfast table! I used a piece of foamcore cut out so I could fit it around my middle and held it up with suspenders (the foamcore, that is...not my middle, LOL). I covered it with a plastic tablecloth and then attached a cereal bowl, milk carton, silverware, and juice glass with hot glue. I was teaching middle school at the time, and the kids really got a kick out of it.

Speaking of breakfast, bet you can guess what Jeannette was:


Yup, a cereal killer! Shannon and Suzie really got creative and made their playing cards themselves:


I had a lot of fun planning our menu. The Slitering Stromboli was a hit and very easy to make using frozen bread dough and sandwich fillings:


All the guys especially liked the Barbecued Bat Wings, which were rather disgusting looking (much to their delight):


I was partial to the Cheesenstein myself, just because I thought it was such a neat idea:


The Scary Cerebrum was particularly tasty:


But the very first things to go were the Eyes of Newt:


I tinted the deviled egg filling with green food coloring, topped each spoonful with a sliced black olive, and then finished them off with "veins" drawn with a toothpick and red food coloring. We had a few other dishes, as well, but this was the hands-down most popular one...so I thought I'd share the recipe with you:

Deviled Eggs

12 hardboiled eggs, peeled and chilled
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup salad dressing
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 green onions, finely chopped
2 tablespoons well-drained sweet pickle relish

Cut eggs in half lengthwise, remove the yolks, and reserve the whites. Mash yolks until smooth, combine with rest of ingredients, and mix well. Spoon mixture into center of egg whites and chill until serving time.

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These were so good, I may have to make them for Thanksgiving...minus the food coloring, of course. If you give them a try, please let me know how they turn out for you!

Happy Halloween

Ghoulish greetings to everyone! We're hosting a party tonight, so today's note is going to be short and sweet because I've still got a loooong list of things to do. (Yep, that's loooong with four O's. LOL! Good thing I've got help, huh!)

But, as you know, Halloween means costumes (I'll show you photos of ours tomorrow)...and this got me wondering about what YOU have dressed up as? Let's do some BLOG CANDY, too! No tricks on this one, only treats. Just leave a note in the comments section of this post telling me about your favorite costume you've worn in years past (or will be wearing today). I'll accept entries until Monday, November 2nd, at midnight Central time. Two winners will be randomly chosen on Tuesday morning, and each person will receive one 10918MC Gobbles Turkey Clear Stamp Set:

Remember, if you post anonymously (in other words, without signing in), be sure to add your name or we won't be able to include you in our drawing. It will be the winners' responsibility to contact me via email no later than November 6th. If we don't hear from the winners, we won't be re-drawing...so please remember to come back and check. Good luck!