Second Hand Shelties

If you ended up here because you are a Secondhand Shelties newsletter reader, you can see the blog entries, updates and Jack's photos in the links below...

Goodbye, Old Friend

Happy Update

One More Jack Update

Our first Cubs game...(plus a Sox disclaimer)

We took Carter and Kylie to their very first Major League Baseball game last Saturday. Cubs played the Pirates. It was an awesome game, the weather was super and it was a great day all around! Except for the part where I went to the bathroom and security came over and told Frank and the kids that we couldn't hold up our sign during the innings. Funny thing is, they waited until the bottom of the 8th inning to say something. Ironically, the poster says, "It's our 1st Cubs game!" Oh, well. I now find myself however, yelling out "Fukudome" at random times throughout the day, such as today at Giordano's Pizza.
DISCLAIMER: And for all you Sox fans out there...if it makes you feel any better, my husband and son are MAJOR Sox fans. Carter wouldn't even wear a Cubs shirt last year and made his grandma return it. And even better yet, these tickets were free. :)


And, although I did not intentionally take the photo below, I decided to keep it because they show off my comfy new cute shoes. They're Sketchers from QVC. And yes, I need a pedicure.

Palette Generator

I just found this link for a Palette Generator from Inkin' Creations and it is SO COOL. You upload a photo and it tells you the color palette to use. They're not Stampin' Up! colors, which would be awesome, but it's still very helpful. Here's how it looks...

PREVIEW Fresh Cuts

Click on the image for a larger view.

Want to get a stamp set from the new Fall and Winter Idea Book? Me too! Here's how you can get it June 1-30.

Customers:

Customers may purchase these two products the following ways:

• Buy the Fresh Cut stamp set and get the Fresh-Cut Notes for just $5 (limit one Fresh-Cut Notes at $5).
• Buy just the stamp set for: $21.95.
• Buy just the Fresh-Cut Notes for $8.95.
• Orders may be placed on a customer, workshop, or demonstrator order.

Hostesses:

• Place a $400 order (or more) and earn the Fresh Cut stamp set and Fresh-Cut Notes free.
• There is not an additional incentive for workshops of $800 or more. This incentive is for reaching the $400.
• Orders may be placed on a customer, demonstrator, or workshop order.

eScape Promotion

(Click on the image above for a larger view.)

Take a break from email and computers and communicate with a handmade card!

Plan now to join Stampin' Up! during the entire month of June in breaking free from the 'e'! Stampin' Up! has designated June 25, 2008 as eScape day--a day to put away your cell phones and laptops and focus on reconnecting with your "wireless network."

Available until June 1-13....

eScape Bundle (item 113700):

Description	Page Number	Price
Love Notes assortment	p. 167	$8.95
Circle of Friendship stamp set	p. 143	$17.95
Rose Red Classic Stampin' Pad	p. 165	$5.25
Very Vanilla 5/8" grosgrain ribbon	p. 191	$7.95
Total (non-bundled)		$40.10
eScape Bundle price		$30.00

Contact me today to order. I can ship it straight to you!

Retiring list is coming!

Stampin' Up! announced that the retiring stamp set list will be available on June 15th. The retiring accessories will be announced on June 21.

More info later....

Mother's Day card

This is the card I made my mom for Mother's Day. It is based off of the Ginger Blossom page 169 Item # 110697 designer paper colors. I also found inspiration from these cards. I love the color combination. I never would have thought of adding the Certainly Celery color, but I am really happy with the way it turned out.
I colored directly onto the Whisper White with Stampin' Up!'s markers in the rectangle, but I colored directly onto the stamp and huffed for the circle. This gives a watercolored look and it is not as bright.
All supplies are from Stampin' Up! except for the ribbon and the sentiment:

Stamp Sets:
Artfully Asian page 56 Item # 106772

Cardstock and Ink:
Black StazOn
Cameo Coral
Ruby Red
Certainly Celery
Whisper White

Signo White gel pen

Stampin' Up! circle punches, Scallop punch and slit punch

Catalog name change

From the Stampin' Up! demonstrator website:

Based on your feedback, we are changing the name of the Collection back to Idea Book & Catalog. We are pleased to return to this name because Idea Book & Catalog reinforces the reason so many people love this publication--for the ideas!

The name change will begin with the Fall-Winter 2008 Idea Book & Catalog. This change will not affect the content of the catalog or the semiannual catalog schedule.

I am happy they are changing it back! I don't think I ever called it the Collection...

Brady School in Elvis' Teddy Bear

Tonight was East Aurora's Razzle Dazzle Variety Show. Each of the schools in the district perform some sort of song and dance. Our school chose Elvis' Teddy Bear. :) Our fantastic lunch lady, Deb Hunley sang. Our "Elvis" is Mr. Sardana, a second grade teacher from Spain. His screaming fans are Mrs. Harvey (math and reading support teacher), Mrs. Zepeda (third and fourth grade teacher), Miss Becker (kindergarten teacher) and Mrs. Novak (music teacher).
They did a great job and no one got hurt. :) It was a great night and lots of fun for everyone to get together and celebrate the end of another school year.

A bunch today! Free templates, free fonts, Manic Mommies and Going Green! Whew!

I came across this website today, called The Mom Pack. I found it through my favorite podcast EVER called Manic Mommies. (Hi Erin and Kristen! ) On The Mom Pack site, click on the link and go down the left side...under FREE STUFF, you can click on templates for cute little candy wrapper templates that you could stamp on for little gifts. Also under the same FREE STUFF tab is a link to some free downloadable fonts. I didn't try them yet, but I love free fonts. One of my favorite sites is DaFont. They have everything!

The Manic Mommies podcast can be downloaded through lots of different ways, but I do it through iTunes. You can also just listen online through their blog. Their last podcast was about going green and organic. They even interviewed Kate Gosselin from Jon and Kate Plus 8, one of our very favorite shows! She feeds her kids all organic and gave some great ideas. We decided in our house today that we are going to try to accumulate LESS garbage.

We bought a whole bunch of Rubbermaid containers so we can use them for work and school lunches instead of the 5 or 6 Ziplocs every day from all of us. Other quick and simple ideas we brainstormed include using real silverware at work and washing it instead of plastic, using our "real" towels in the kitchen instead of so many paper towels, and looking into some more organic cleaners. We're going to check out some of the Method cleaning products at Target, especially the Cucumber one because everyone says it smells so good. I am a sucker for good smelling stuff, plus their stuff has cool packaging and I'm a sucker for that too. :) Method even has a blog! We can't wait to get really into this, but you can't do it all in one Saturday, as much as I would like to considering my personality.

Do you know of any cool ideas for going green? Any products you swear by that won't break the bank? Any stamping related cool sites besides SCS that you love? Post them here!