Whatever did I do before artsyalcie?

i am standing in line waiting for kindergarten dismissal..tethered to my droid. i am standing here wondering what i did before I began this card making mission...oh wait i did everything. cut the grass...washed the car...laundry...dishes...cooked...cleaned...homework...volunteering...grocery shopping. you name it this mama did it...well does it still. now im all consumed with card making i find it truly enjoyable and i wonder how that fits in with my chaos. like everything else im sure i will manage and at times rip chunks of hair out when time doesnt stand still like i want it to. but today is family day since i spent my husbands other day off crafting and irritating him...

My super cool new stamp!

Cannot blog long because I have to leave in 10 min for school pick up time...But HAD to share my excitement. I ordered a stamp last week to put my logo on the back of my cards..It came, it came, it came....

Like a kid opening up a present on Christmas morning, I tore that package open. I love it and had to immediately try it out and show it to the world...well to the people reading this post at least.

If you need any return address stamps or holiday stamps or business stamps...she even does wedding monograms. She is affordable and does great work. Check out her website  http://www.stampoutonline.com/ or look her up on etsy. So here is my stamp!

Happily completed my FIRST two custom orders!!! WhooHoo!!!

It is late...I am tired. I have suddenly become busy with card making, I did not think I would have one or two orders in a week let alone as many as I have had. I want to really thank all of my family and friends, AND Facebook whom without this would not have made such a splash.


Well I am VERY proud of the two orders I completed this evening, it took me longer than it should because #1 The boys were rowdy, and did not want to eat dinner or go to bed. They went to bed without a shower because they would not cooperate at all! #2 I was having issues with my cricut, well my paper of choice to be more precise...It was thick cardstock that had lots of glitter so it did not want to stick to my mat. While I did get these sheets at Joann's on sale for .25 each, I was pretty upset when they slid around and wasted a good chunk of my new fave papers...Nonetheless I persevered and my two orders are complete. I have two more card orders to work on for actual customers this week...then dun dun dun when I am done with that I will tackle the idea of making cards for the boys to give out to their friends. I think my sister in law is correct in keeping it simple. I am going to test out some ideas for lollipop holders because even if the card looks like crap the kids wont care as long as they have candy. Right?!?! Well here are the two orders I completed today. Check them out! I am very happy with how they turned out even though my cricut mat was being a huge PITA!

Me and my hair-brained idears....

So I had this wonderful idea the other day.... (shoot me now)...The boys and I are attending two playdates this weekend. One of which is a Valentine's party where there will be 12 other children (besides my 3) and we need to bring Valentine's to swap. Here is where my "idear" came in...I thought how awesome would it be to make mini cards for my kids to hand out rather than to buy some cheesy super hero and Spongebob ones like last yr. Well this sounded all fine and dandy, until it dawned on me that today is Tuesday and the party is Sunday. I have two playdates between now and then in addition to a 1.5 hr long parent meeting at preschool tomorrow (I have to go to this because I am not only the President of their class, but also the Secretary..YAY me! Not!!!) I was supposed to go to an 1.5-2 hr meeting at 4 today for SSC (School Site Safety or something) but backed out of that because frankly I am exhausted and I have too much to do this week. ...any who...I just sat down to figure out how many cards I need, my kids do not need to give each other cards so there are 12 kids....well I have 3 kids so I would need to make 36 cards. I simply do not know if I can handle that in addition to my new orders I have been receiving, but at the same time it is kind of a good way for me to promote my business. I just hope my custom stamp comes before then so I can get all of the backs of my cards stamped. So AM I crazy?!?!?!
I say absolutely...can I handle it... I HOPE SO... 
Then I got to thinking again....dangerous....
What about for school, the preschool and kindergarten boys are both going to school on Monday so they need cards as well. One of them has 18 other kids in his class, the other one has 32 other kids. Holy smokes! At least I have a little more time before that happens. So closet crafting here I come. Please be kind to me today cricut machine and do not F up any of my cut outs or I may just fall over and die a slow and painful death. Okay not really, but I may just freak out a little. So adios, my week is BIZZY!!!! 
 

Are you really following me?

So I need two more followers (part of them should not even count since I made them follow me mwahahaha) until I reach my first goal of 10 and will have a custom card to giveaway. Do you see where I am going with this? I can get irritating, really pesty. Just ask my kids and husband....and well anyone else for that matter. I can also ramble on for ddddddaaaaaayyyyyyssssss. So please do not make me beg. I do not know why I care so much about having followers, but I guess I would rather have a select few followers that will actually read my blog rather than the ones that follow in the beginning and never look again. I appreciate any and all kinds of comments, well prefer nice ones. Constructive criticism is always appreciated. Please take a moment and subscribe to my blog even if you are already a follower so that you actually see what I am writing and can see my photos and what not. I take pride in my new interest in blogging and I spend the time to write it and hope others spend the time to read it.
:O)
Hope everyone is having a great Tuesday!

Cake Pops Take UNO

Soooooo....came home from running errands (one of which was to Michael's to pick up some lollipop sticks and to search high and low for the edible markers to draw stuff on my cake pops)...Was determined to get a batch of strawberry cake pops done #1 to test it out because was unsure of the flavor because I have never had strawberry cake #2 because I now have a dozen cake pops in three different flavors due on Friday one of which was to be strawberry.

I was given free reign pretty much on  what I want to do as far as any design goes so I pulled out my new box of 100 Wilton cookie cutters my Mom got me. It has letters so I molded 6 letters for the birthday girls name, sounds easy enough...popped em in the freezer for 15 min so they would stay in their form when I dipped them. Too bad when I stuck them on the stick and put them in the candy coating they fell apart. Ohhhhhhh my heartbreaking. So the great idea of her name and 30 bit the dust. So I made some hearts since I had pink candy coating...some stars, which turns out are hard to get a uniform coating on. So sprinkles to the rescue to make the uneven coat look more appealing. So I took some pictures after I set up a display rather quickly with floral foam (note to self buy regular styrofoam at Joann's cuz the floral crap leaves a green residue on EVERYTHING!!!!) 

So I followed the instructions on the cake pops, my round ones turned out the best because they are SOLID as opposed to the thinner shaped ones. So it will take a few more batches of practice. I am NOT going to let this get me down...besides I am still exhausted from staying up so late last night. Oh look at the time...

Well I have decided I do not like strawberry cake pops, and I will add less frosting on my next shot because the texture was off. So I will try try again tomorrow with vanilla. Do not laugh at my photos. I call the stars magic wands...  

My First Two Custom Orders

What started as a kind of crummy day because I could not fall asleep until nearly 4am....turned into a better day because it was beautiful and sunny outside...then faded into a crummy day because I was spending too much of it on making cards and on my blog and facebook fan page instead of hanging out with my family (and running errands)....turned into a better day in the end. All because of my first two custom orders. I will be making my first order of cake pops for a mutual friend to surprise her friend with on Friday for her birthday...I will be making 5 custom Valentine's cards for my mother in laws day care kids. So I am quite happy with the support I am receiving in such a short amount of time. I just HOPE and PRAY it continues. I am counting on the word of mouth (and my business cards- which I truly hope arrive quickly...I knew I should have sprung for the faster delivery)...to get some followers and to receive more business. I have a lot of cards up on etsy now, hopefully in the next week I will have some cake pops and cake bite pictures to list as well. I have two playdates this coming weekend (which works to keep me busy since Justin has to work both days) and I am planning on making some cake bites to take with me to both events so that I can get my business in the mouths of my friends and their kids. You know kids love sweet things and I have noticed that not all Moms are like me and enjoy making their child a cake or cupcakes. There ARE people out there that buy store bought GASP and pay other people to entertain for them. I have been told quite a bit over the past 18 months that I should become a party planner or decorate cakes-in which I reply with an astonishing sigh saying ummmm hunh? I think my stuff is mediocre personally and I am just not ready to put myself out there for that kind of failure. Yes my oh so wonderful pessimistic attitude shining through. I was approached not six months ago from a peer I have known since Kindergarten and she asked me to make her son a Spongebob cupcake cake like I did for Shawn & Ryen's Cars birthday last summer. First I thought, are you kidding me. You would pay me money to bake some cupcakes that are not going to look awesome at all instead of going to like Safeway or somewhere. Are you crazy...Then I truly forgot about it, because I knew for sure I did not want to disappoint her even though my only communication is via facebook.

I AM a people pleaser..... Sad, but true character flaw. I am always telling people around me, why do you care so much what other people think..Get over it and do things for yourself, not for someone else. Well another character flaw, or quirk if you will...I do not, EVER take my own advice. Yeah, that's how I roll baby. I like my stuff to look awesome, but never think it does. I have to get people to tell me over and over again that it IS indeed good for me to even consider the possibility. Well I made MANY resolutions in 2011 and declared it was going to be the best year ever. I found myself sitting in silence at the computer, well not silence really because I had pandora on...So I was quietly rocking out on the computer and thinking of what I could possibly do to find my own niche in life. I wanted....needed some kind of purpose (other than parenting of course) ...some sort of outlet for my creativity and hopefully produced a benefit in return. I searched and searched for hours on end. I stumbled upon this awesome thing called the cake pop...then began watching you tube videos..then stumbled upon an awesome gal called Bakerella and learned I too could make these awesome little bite sized things. So I bought her book on ebay...I got it and was BLOWN away by the possibilities. I was sooooo envious of my sister in law and her cookie business. I have always LOVED cupcakes!!! With a passion, I love shows involving cake but my heart lies with the cupcake. I just think it is awesome. MY favorite is of course funfetti.... But I  love the simplicity and the size of them. So when I saw these cake pops, it just added to the whimsy and wonder..and all of the different options! So even if I do not make it rich, which I have no intentions of taking anything by storm or upsetting any other sellers (like my Dad did on ebay with his parking meters-LOL)...I am just happy I found something that makes me happy and I apologize to my mostly understanding husband for spending too much time doing it. But please do not make me a closet crafter! 

So after rambling on long enough, once again I beg...Please tell your friends. We are nearly at 10 followers and I promise and awesome card of your choice..if you are super nice and actually comment I may throw in like 6 cake bites. Thank you to my customers and followers, YOU ARE AWESOME!!!!