Heartbreaking story...

It absolutely breaks my heart to write about this but I have been holding this in for some time and I need to get my feelings about this out in the open as this has been eating away at me for some time now.

Late last spring, one of the elders at my church asked me if I would make her some cards as she often has need for them for the purpose of "thinking of you" and "with sympathy" type of occasions (she organizes and oversees many of the funerals, illnesses and other difficult situations at our church). I told her I would be happy to do so and would not charge her for them. She insisted on paying me so I told her all I would allow her to do was to cover my costs and pay me a very nominal fee (I usually charge $5/card).

I made 48 cards for her in 6 sets of 8 cards each. They were left for her at the front reception desk at the end of June. There is always a clerk at the desk, although our church has a very open door policy and there are many groups that access our building during the week. Toward the end of August, the cards were still there as she had been away throughout the summer (I was unaware of this). I saw her toward the end of August and she wrote me a cheque and I assumed she had picked up the cards that same Sunday.  She called me two weeks later, asking where the cards were. I had seen them under the front desk the week before. She said she had checked there and they were not there. She and the staff had searched everywhere and they could not find these cards. The ministry staff were notified, as were the custodial staff and everyone who works at the desk. They thought maybe someone had moved them, thinking they were for a ladies' group or something else. The church has basically been turned upside down in the past month but there has been no sign of them. They are all stamped with my personal name stamp and contact info on the back of each card. There has been a notice put in our Sunday bulletin the past two weeks as well but they have not turned up. 

I tried to return this lady's cheque to her, telling her that I could not cash it in good conscience, knowing that she did not receive the cards. She is insistent that I cash it anyways. 

So, I have spent the past three days remaking 48 cards - they are not the same as the original ones as I don't have a record of what I originally made. I can only guess. 

I am absolutely heartbroken that someone would take something  that didn't belong to them - something so personal and obviously something that has little or no meaning to them. Most likely, I expect that they were thrown out. 

I will be hand delivering this next bunch of cards to this lovely and extremely patient lady (and no, she did NOT ask me to redo these cards - I am doing them because I feel the need to redo them for my own peace of mind. I am just finishing the final set of 8 cards now and plan to deliver them tomorrow morning. I will then be able to sleep peacefully and know that hopefully, I have done the right thing. 

Alyson

Mass Produced Christmas Card Workshop

Each year, I host a Christmas card workshop where my ladies make 25 cards - usually we do 4 or 5 different designs. I am really struggling to find any spare time this year and so I "borrowed" some ideas from some other consultants that I have found either the the CTMH boards or their blogs - I hope that by giving them credit here, and linking their blogs, they are OK with that... Aside from that I have been really creatively challenged lately and having a lot of difficulty with my own work. 

To see more work from any of the other consultants named, just click on their name under the card(s) and the link will take you to their blog. 

Anyways, here are the designs we will be doing... 

 The two above designs are credited to Leisa Hubley although they have been altered. 

This design is CASEd from Vicki Wizniuk - I absolutely LOVE that woman's work - she is SO talented and I thought this card was just brilliant!

This card was inspired by Connie MacFarlane - love her ideas as well. 

And finally, this one was actually designed by little ole me!

Enjoy, 

Alyson

I have listed all supplies used below but they are not separated by card. If you want additional information, please send me an email and I will send you more information. 

Supplies used are all CTMH unless otherwise noted: 

Paper: Colonial White card bases and envelopes, White Daisy card bases and envelopes, Colonial White cardstock, Juniper cardstock, Typeset Paper Pack, Crystal Blue cardstock, Twilight cardstock, Wonderland Paper Pack, White Daisy cardstock, Sweet Leaf cardstock, Topiary cardstock, Believe Paper Pack, Sky cardstock, Holiday Red cardstock

Stamps: Snow Flurries, A Holiday, Remarkable Wreath, Christmas Love, Cricut Art Philosophy Collection, In the Month of December

Inks: Juniper, Colonial White, Chocolate, White Daisy, Topiary, Versamark

Accesories: Off White Satin Ribbon (not CTMH), Green Button Collection, Colonial White Waxy Flax, Colonial White Grosgrain Ribbon, Foam Tape, Scallop Punch (not CTMH), Heat Tool, Prisma Glitter, Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Dark Chocolate Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Pearl Adhesive Gems, White Daisy Organdy Ribbon (ret.), Clear Sparkles, Red Ribbon (not CTMH), Embossing Stylus, Sand Paper

SPECTACULAR Christmas Card Workshop

I'm back after a long absence... thanks for coming back to visit me!

I have spent several days preparing this workshop, and although it won't take place for a while yet, I can't wait to show it off!

It uses our new Wonderland papers and lots and lots of BLING!

The card box is also decorated a tiny bit on the inside and each of the cards is stamped on the inside as well. The final card, Love, Hope, Peace, Joy is CASEd from Christine Adams from a set of cards she made last year. So many of my customers loved it and asked about it last year that I decided to include it in this set. It was one of my personal favourites as well!

All supplies are listed at the bottom of this post but are not separated by card. If you would like additional details, please send me an email and I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. 

As always, you can click on any of the photos for a closer look. 

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Supplies used are all CTMH unless otherwise noted:

Paper: Wonderland Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Twilight Cardstock, Crystal Blue Cardstock, Amethyst Cardstock, White Daisy Die-Cut Cards and Envelopes, Standard White Daisy Cards and Envelopes

Stamps: Everlasting Life, Snowflakes, Peace on Earth, Card Chatter - Christmas, Adorn-able, Snow Flurries

Inks: Twilight, Grey Wool, White Daisy, Chocolate, Crystal Blue, Versamark

Accessories: Cricut, Art Philosophy Cartridge, Card Box,  Prisma Glitter, Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Silver Embossing Powder, Colonial White Waxy Flax, White Thread, Needle, White Grosgrain Ribbon, Silver Glitter Glue, Bling Assortment, Clear Sparkles, Bitty Sparkles, Icing Top Coats Overlays, Shimmer Brads, Glue Dots, Foam Tape, Cuttlebug (not CTMH), Nestabilities (not CTMH), Branch Punch (not CTMH), Heat Tool

Back Shortly, with SPECTACULAR Results!!

I want to apologize for being away for SO long... I have been dealing with some health issues and hope to be back on track shortly. I also dealt with a dead camera battery today, just when I was ready to photograph some new artwork this afternooon. 

Hopefully there will be something new (and SPECTACULAR) posted here tomorrow! 

Thanks for your patience - please do keep checking back - 

I truly haven't fallen off the ends of the earth - 

at least, not yet!

Alyson

Dreamin' Birthday Cards

I have several birthdays coming up in the next few months and thought I'd get ahead on making my cards. The Dreamin' Paper Pack is perfect for cards this time of year since it ties in so nicely with the fall colours. These two cards were made using the same basic design but one is more masculine in nature and the other is more feminine. See if you can tell which is which :) :)

There are a lot of products used on each card and the insides are also decorated although I didn't photograph the interiors. 

The products are listed at the end and are separated by each card. 

Enjoy,
Alyson

Supplies used are all CTMH unless otherwise noted:

Card #1

Paper: Dreamin; Paper Pack, Pacifica Cardstock, Chocolate Cardstock, Bamboo Cardstock, Goldrush Cardstock, Colonial White Cardstock

Stamps: Remarkable Wreath, Card Chatter - Birthday (inside)

Inks: Pacifica, Chocolate, Goldrush

Accessories: Dark Chocolate Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Bling Assortment, Designer Rhinestone Brads, Clear Sparkles, Sunflower Waxy Flax (ret.), Just Blooms Flutter Paper Shapes, Foam Tape, Cricut Art Philosophy Collection

Card #2

Paper: Dreamin; Paper Pack, Chocolate Cardstock, Pacifica Cardstock, Bamboo Cardstock, Goldrush Cardstock, Colonial White Cardstock

Stamps: Cricut Art Philosophy Collection Stamp Set

Inks: Chocolate, Pacifica Marker

Accessories: Antiqued Copper Designer Brads, Hemp, Foam Tape, Cricut Art Philosophy Collection, Border Punch (SU)

Wonderland WOTG - no photos yet

The Wonderland paper is probably my favourite from the new Idea Book. I really haven't decided yet for sure - I love so many of the new papers! 

The Workshop on the Go layouts and cards are posted below. I don't have photos for the layouts yet... I have placed a white paper with the photo size on top of the photo mats - on the first layout, they are white on white, so they are hard to see. I chose not to distress my papers this time - I am liking the cleaner look these days. 

The cards are what caught my eye in this workshop - those Icing Topcoats are just amazing! I altered some of the cards slightly, but nothing major. 

As always, click on the photo to see more detail. 

Enjoy, 

Alyson

All supplies are CTMH

Papers: Wonderland WOTG Kit, White Daisy Die-Cut Cards and Envelopes

Stamps: Wonderland WOTG Stamp Set

Inks: Twilight, Chocolate, Grey Flannel

Accessories: Clear Sparkles, Foundry Pin Clips, Top Coats Icing Overlays, Silver Glitz Glitter Gel, Foam Tape

A Destroyed Title, Disappointment, and a Second Try...

After devouring my new Idea Book, I fell in love with the layout on page 23 and I wanted to recreate the title on that page. You may recall this layout of mine, posted about a week ago.

This is just the left page with the title. 

I followed the instructions in the Idea Book, listed just below the layout, as to how the paint the Dimensional Elements letters and applied the letters to my layout very carefully with our new tweezers. They were still wet when I photographed the layout. Well, it has been 10 days and they have not dried. I tried heat setting them, leaving them in the sun, and they are still wet. I finally removed them yesterday, along with the photo and paper beneath them that had to be replaced (no big deal) and replaced them with different letters since I didn't have enough of the same letters to do the same exact title (bummer). For these ones, I tried mixing our Pearl Paint with Staz-On Black reinker, but when they dried, they turned a dark shade of purple. I then had to use Black Staz-On ink to colour them and had to do them twice to cover the purple stain. I am afraid to cover these with Liquid Glass but I really want the shine that comes across in the book. 

The new title is shown below. 

For some reason, the new Dimensional Elements did not include the same size "t" as the rest of the letters in this font. I checked and double-checked! 

So this is the end result. I am not super happy about it, but I guess it goes into that category of "I will have to live with it."

Any thoughts or suggestions? Has anyone else tried this technique or has plans to try it out? I would be really curious to hear what your results have been!

Alyson