Name change

Just a quick little note that I have changed this blog's name from Tricia's Treasure to MDN Creates, which is my card business name.    I am also getting ready to create a blog just for my Longaberger business just to not confuse the two.  I feel it is time to get serious about this business.

Correction:   I made one tiny little boo-boo in my last post.   I forgot to list the link to my Etsy account.   I it listed to the side.   I only have one item, with four more ready to make their debut, as soon as I take a picture.

Last quick note about Longaberger.

This is my last entry in this blog about Longaberger, except that I will announce the new name of the blog.   In the meantime, if you want to order, you have 3 days before February and Fall/winter items are gone.   I invite you to visit my website,  www.longaberger.com/patricialogan to order, or if you want to join my team.

Take care and God Bless You

A stall, and a lack of concentration but I will make it.

Well, on February 9, if you all have been following my posts, I have my first card set on Etsy. they cannot promise that these cards will sell right away. In case you have ever been interested in selling you artwork or whatever you make on Etsy, they will hold it for 4 months, longer than Ebay, but in the next few days, I am going to list something on Ebay to compair the two. Now I am stalling with my next set. I have the idea, it is going to be two male cards, juvenile. I need a business plan, I need organization, and I know it. When I was just doing it, making things, I felt good. Iam not saying that do not enjoy it. I think that this weather is getting to me. There is snow, snow, and more snow, and the next storm system is next Monday, and I have a class on Tuesday. They canceled it from the 9th, and it is at Archivers. My week looks like this: My nephew Mike's 14th birthday is Monday; Class on Tuesday; networking event, to which I have a table at in on wednesday; then the rest as far as going out in finished after that.



These are the cards that I am submitting for the next swap I am on, and I will be making more for the store. Story: I was looking for a male card to make. I was thinking of my youngest nephew, Deonte, who will be 3 in May, so I was looking for something super simple that he would be able to recognize. So, I pulled out the My Community Cartridge, and I never really played with it before. I got this cart free in 2008, when Provocraft had a rebate. when you purchase the Cricut E from, I believe it was from November 17-December 31, 2008, and send in the receipt, you got Printing 101 and My Community cartridges. OK, enough of the chit-chat.

From the My comm Cart, I cut out the car, sign post and road, and adhere them to a piece of generic yellow cardstock card blank. the card blank itself is a standard A2 size (or 4.25 x 5.5) card. I went to MS word this time to print out the Happy Birthday on plain printer paper. I left the inside of the card blank so that the receiver can put in their own personal note to the child. You cannot see it through the photo, but I do have a sun, and the sun came by way of George and shape cart. I do not use this foundation cart much, as I do not use my baby cricut much. I know it does not have all the cool features that the Espression and the Create has, but I still like it. the sun was made from my scraps, Kind of a silky piece of paper from Reminence and the other side has an easter saying on it. would you believe it is from the end piece from the stack of paper, and I nabbed it when I was putting away paper at Archivers, two years ago. well, the paper companies got wise, and no longer send a dud piece (the one that says"time to reorder") with their packs of paper.

So my total lack of concentration was not a total lost. I just need to organize. Oh, and I am working on my double scraproom. Double, you say? Yes, I said double. When you are single, it is good to be selfish, because I do not get to hear the words, "where is my space?" from a hubby or children. The main scraproom is on the second floor, but I do most of my work downstairs in my office, so that is how I am preping for that. I also need a place to plop my baskets, and have a space upstairs for that. hopfully I get to plop it all in one space in a few months.

February specials in Longaberger Land.

Check here for all Longaberger specials going on my website. You have one more week to get fall/Winter Products. If you are new to Longaberger products, I think you wil like what you see, and as always, i you have any questions, please email, or comment to this post. Well it is time to turn in, I hope I will have more cards or other paper products to show next time. God Bless you.

New card, and they will go on sale

I have my first official set of cards that will go on my Etsy account.

Ingredients:

beige cardstock from Wausau Paper, cover weight, Bazzill Ribbon, Bazzill smooth-Black, free digi stamp from my collection. I fell in love with a feature on my cricut espression, it is called Center point. it gets rid of the need for a punch, but I will get a collection of punches just in case I am out at a crop, and I do not feel like taking the cricut machines. Anyway, this card is super simple, and you cannot see it, but I used Swiss dots from the cuttlebug for a background. I used the circle cut from Plantin schoolbook, and the scallop circle from storybook. After rolling the design from the cuttlebug on the cardstock, then I glued the ribbon on the cardstock. I cut out the scallop circle in the bazzill black. I printed the digi stamp on the wausau paper, then cut around the image using the center cut feature. Lastly, I glued the circle and the scallop circle together then on the ribbon. the only problem is I do not have cream envelopes. I could have cut them out with the wild card cartridge, but the paper is not bi enough. trust me, I tried. I am considering selling them for about $12.00 or cheaper.

Well that is it. talk to you later. God Bless.

Ah!!! Snow...

Don't you just love it, LOL? I know, I know, I have now written here is almost a month. Before I report about the snow, I have news to share. I no longer have a steady paycheck. This was my choice. Last post, I said I was leaving, and the week before my last employee crop I went to, I wrote my manager a letter, stating that I was leaving at the end of the month, and do not schedule me after January 31, and she did not schedule me after...January 17th. That was not what I asked for, but OK, I did not fight it. I just hope that I got paid for the last day that I was not supposed to work. OK, scratch that, I did not. OK, I never could keep up what weeks got paid for with what weeks. so now the last day I was not supposed to work was paid two weeks ago. BUMMER!!! I think she intentionly did that.

...So you know what means....

I am officially in business with my cards. After all, I can have my Longaberger business while working, but making cards and other paper type stuff. In case you are now just getting into this blog, I have two businesses, and I unofficially started the card business, called MDN Creates, inc. two years ago. I started only doing papercrafts for family and friends, and they did not have to pay me for my stuff, but they did sometimes. life was wonderful, selling for a wonderful company like Longaberger, and making my own cards and scrapbooking albums on the side was wonderful while working for a scrapbooking store. In December, my manager asks me to read and sign the new employee book. I read it, and saw that I could no longer do what I love for family and friends, and I know that at least my relatives were going to pay for supplies, but no more. I have always toyed with the idea of leaving Archivers, and knew that a person has to leave one day, so I made that decision to leave. no job was going to stop me doing what I really love. Again, they had no problems with me selling Longaberger.

Two types of Disney...

There is the franchise. Love it, but sometimes, change is a bad thing. My beloved Fantasyland, which I love, will be undergoing a change. I do not like this at all. will have to explain in a separate blog. then there is scrapbooking. I am on a yahoogroup called scrapping Disney. It is a fun group, and it is simply that, scrapbooking your Disney trip. if you want to join this group just go to the yahoogroup area of Yahoo. You do have to get an account if you do not already have one. you can also google it (do not ask me how to work yahoo search engine, I am sure it is the same principle as google and ask.com.) put in the search term, scrapbook and Disney, and the group will appear.

Anyway I entered my first swap with this group. I had a female card (which you saw, and i have as my avatar). The next is a scrapbooking page from a sketch, and it looks like this :

It is made with: 1 sheet of bazzill (12x12); 1 sheet of coral cardstock (from Archivers-12x12); 1 sheet of bazzill white(8 1/2 x 11); 1 sheet of Mickey Stripe (use the bottom half to make a pocket. black letters, 1 sheet of black cardstock for the extra photo card, which is 4x6. Ribbon to match.

...And what is with the white stuff.

Like I said, I am snowed in. Columbus, Ohio rarely gets caught in the middle of a snow storm, but...HERE IT IS!!!! I would have documented in pictures, but I have on short sleeves, and the heater on, LOL. Wow!!! I remember my first snow storm in Columbus. My father was in the Air Force, and had worked the night security police position the night before, and the snow started. I was in the 8th grade, and my brother was in the 2nd. My sister was not born yet (1988). This happened during the winter of 1978. Me, my mother, and brother was hudled in the basement on the sofa bed, while my father was in a barricks room. School of course was cancelled, and it was bitterly cold outside. Ahh, good times.....NOT!!

Now, here we are, in separate homes, me in my home, my brother in his in Dayton, Ohio, my parents and my brother's son in their home, while my sister and her little ones are in their home.

.....and what's for dinner...

Well, I am sort of lazy today, so I went to grilled pork shoulder and filled tortilla, which is a knock off from a You Tube vid titled Chinese street food. in the video, the person makes a crepe like bread, breaks an egg on it, and spreads it on it. then they add green onion, no cheese (I do not believe that the Chinese use cheese in any recipe), and bean paste. then they fold it over, put some kind of cracker, and fold it over again. they put it in a plastic bag or hands it to the customer, and off you go. my version is much, much different, but simular. I use a tortilla instead of crepe batter. I poke tiny holes in it, so it will not poof so much. No onions, even though i love onions. Sorry, no bean paste, I use Kraft's tomato and basil dressing instead. No crunchy cracker. To me, it taste just as good. Of course, I do not know what bean paste taste like, and I do not want to know what beans they use. They are probably not grown in the USA.

Well that is part 1, I will be back for part 2....

Brief post, only one card

Hello, I only have one card to show you. I will post the rest when I get finished. Here it is:

this card I am submitting for a swap in one of my yahoo groups called swapping with Disney.

Ingredients:

1 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of current sensation cardstock. 1 12x12 sheet of Heidi Grace paper (Tip: you can make 6 cards out of a sheet of 12x12 sheet to fit a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card. (tip #2: write it down if you want someone to duplicate the exact paper you used. it also helps if you are going to sell your cards on Etsy, E-Willow, Ebay or any or the auction and selling sites) Cricut cartridge, Storybook (my fav). the instructions for the madalion are : (for the shadow background-Accent/Blackout button, press shift, then letter k). For the madalion itself: Accent Frame button, press shift, then letter K). I used Berry sensation for the background, and strawberry Splash cardstocks. Flower is from the Hot Spot bin at Archivers, as well as all of the paper stuff. The ribbon (which is a 1/8 inch (3 mm) red ribbon by offray. ) I think i got it from michaels at some point in time. the sentiment is left blank on the inside, while the front simply says "Happy Birthday." I tried to find something a little more, but nothing says simple like Happy Birthday. This is for a female, but you can easily turn it into a v-day card (valentine's day is coming up, in case there are any guys browsing this blog). One thing I love about cards, are you can always change up the program. follow this same sketch (or recipe I like to call them), you can make it blue for a boy/male birthday, change the background paper, or whatever hits the mood.

It has been a while but for those of you who are new to my blog, or have not read it n a while, there is a cheater's trick I learned from the Pink Stamper, Robyn (forgot her last name, sorry Robyn. ) Anyway, her blog logo is somwhere to the right of this entry, and she has some really good tips and other things. She is also on You tube (http://www.youtube.com/). Anyway, she uses tape to glue down her ribbon to the back of the mat on the card. just plain old Scotch tape. After you tape down both sides, you can adhere the mat to the card blank. for an added touch, snip off a piece of same color ribbon to tie a fake bow onto the ribbon itself, and it looks wonderful. another fake tip: if you have the good printer paper, use it to print your sentiment.

Longaberger:

Lots are going on at the big basket, and new products are coming soon. I am sworn to secretsy on what they are, because I really do not know. I was shown some pictures, and that is it. All I can give you is the following specials for the month of January and this week, and that is it.

First off, for the month of January, Longaberger has the More you Buy the More you save sale. This sale depends on how much you purchase. You can save 20%, 30%, or 40% . if you have some christmas cash left over, now is your chance to take advantage of these specials. Next, do you feel a wee bit Irish? Well even if you do not, you will hve a little luck with this basket that is shaped like a little leprechaun's hat, and is cute as a little button. it is two toned green, and the lid is engraved with an Irish Blessing.

Online specials this week:

Last but not least, did you know that 25,000 people start with a direct selling business each year, and Longaberger Home consultants sell 4 times the direct selling industry average each year. so, isn't time you start you own Longaberger business and start making money off your love for the products. give yourself a raise today. If you want to start you own business with longaberger, have a home show, or just simply order some products, let me know by emailing me at plogan@columbus.rr.com or simply go to www.longaberger.com/patricialogan. In fact, if you order then more your share of product for yourself, you can turn that into a home show if it is $150 or more in product. If you order more than $500, I might suggest that you become a Longaberger home consultant, where you get the benefits of a home consultant, including My Dream points. great way to start off the new year.

In case I have not said it, happy new year 2010. May all your hopes and dreams of 2009, become a reality in 2010. May God truly bless you, and I hope and pray you have peace, everlasting joy, and do not sweat the small stuff. Be patient in all that you do, and give glory to He, the one that sustains you. to Jesus Christ, Lord and savior, who is my savior. Amen.

Merry Christmas

Hello- I have cards to share, finally. Let's get started.

The first card, I cardnapped. I got this idea from Kristina, who has a You Tube account, and has graciously supplied the 25 cards of Christmas. Thanks for the idea, Kristina. I think I sort of tweeked it a little, and I forgot what day she did this card on. I think it was day 10. Anyway, kraft cardstock (she has made me fall in love with this color) from Archivers, the striped paper is from Paper Salon called Pristine: Gliter Stripes. the Joy and peace stamp is from Hero Arts, and the stamp on the inside (not shown) is from a saying on the internet (forgot where I pulled it from). the Poinsettia is a digi stamp, and I nabbed by doing a Google search, and I colored it with Copic Makers (Cardinal, black mixed, with forest green berries). I used a fiskers corner rounder. the scallops were made with the Cricut cart, Plantin Schoolbook. there is a simular card I made , which is this one:

The only difference is the image, which is the nativity scene. again this is a Digi Stamp (free from the website), colored with Copic Markers. I should have let more of the striped paper shown through, but that is OK. It is good to be creative. I missed that moment, and I am sorry I took too long to post.

This Card is a almost a complete Cricut card. The side paper is Paper Salon Pristine Gliter Stripes. Joy is made with Plantin Schoolbook with green shadow then light green lettering. The trees are made from one of the newest mini carts, Very Merry Tags. this is a limited edition, and they have more on the way, if you have not preordered them already. I think the carts this time are going to be Easter, Mother's Day, and Love Struck (has to do with V-day (Valentine's). So if you have any of the Cricuts (O, E, or Create), preorder yours today.

The next card also comes with some Cricut roots. This time it is the reindeer tag from VMT, and the piece of paper to the side, you guessed it, Paper Salon Glitter Stripes. the reindeer was from Bazzill paper called Current Sensation. I made a mistake from the first reindeer tag I cut, and decided to use the die cut for this card, and cut out another two tags for these cards:

These two cards were made the same, the only difference is I just used the reindeer (both from Bazzill cardstock), and only used the background tag in a contrasting color. The only thing is I think the background paper (which came from my own stash by cutting the cardstock in half from the dreamkutz machine many months ago) is too bright. The next two, I took a clue from note cards. the first one: I bought a Yours Truly 4x4 square, the second square was cut 3.5x3.5, while the last one was cut 3x3. The 2 squares came from Plantin Schoolbook, and I stamped the top square with a Hero Arts Stamps from last year. it came out light, so I enhanced it with copic markers. I need more colors. that is the problem with things like Copic markers or even Cricut cartridges. The can be addictive, because it does not matter what color or design you need, you do not have it.

Next this card is simular to the square note card except that it is round. I used the scallop circle from the Yours Truly line from Archivers in an eco white. the backgound circle is a baby blue type card from Bazzill, cut slightly larger than the scallop circle from Plantin Schoolbook. (see further explanation below about this cart.) I stamped a tree from Hero Arts, and colored it with copic markers. Stamped a Hero Arts Merry Christmas on it. this card and the square card are good for quick note (get smaller images for the top and add you message below. If you want, you can stamp the image in the back. another technique I did on the card is simulated the holes on the scallops, by putting a dot on scallops. You can take an actual hole punch for that effect.

The last christmas card I made is strickly your classic card. In fact I showed you cards in reverse order, because this was the first card I made this year for Christmas, and the first card I showed you was the last card I made. I am not finished yet, because I missed some people. I will be making them New Year's day cards. Anyway, back to the card. The Snowflake is from the new Mini Cart "When Its cold outside. The square cut from Plantin SchoolBook. I want to pause for a moment before going on about this card. If you do not have a Cricut Expression, which is the one that cuts from any size paper from 2x2 up to and including 12x23, You can do this on an original Cricut, or a Cricut Create. Both of the Cricuts hold size 6x12. the difference between the two is the Create has the same buttons as the Expression does, and the original does not. I am not sure if the create has basic shapes on the cart that comes with it (which is called Don Juan), but the Original has the Cart" George and basic shapes."

Back to the card. Again, I make my own card blanks with my dreamkutz machine by cutting the paper in half, the folding it in half again. I stamped a hero Arts saying "Let it snow" from Hero Arts. Adhered the snowflake to the square to the card. I put a sentiment on the inside, and you are done. Again, super simple.

A word on sentiments.

You can find all kinds of sentiment and sayings from everywhere. There are whole books dedicated to them, websites (Google the term Sentiments, quotes, or sayings). You can quote your favorite bible verse, or a children's poem for a fun child's card or scrapbook page. Once you find that poem, verse, or favorite author, you can type it, or use the copy/paste feature and copy it onto a word processing program such as Word, wordperfect, or off brand program. You can also use a publishing program, such as MS Publisher or generic desktop publishing program. Once you size up the font, then print it out. You can cut it, mat it, then place it on the card. Try it, you will have fun, but make sure that they are royality free.

Word on Longaberger:

This is the last week, you get you order the sweetheart basket for this year. If you want to order, please click here to get to the site. Be on the look out for new product to come for Spring-summer 2010. The leaders will be meeting next week, and I cannot wait to find out about the new products, and I hope to be able to share them with you in the coming weeks. Until that time, it is hush, hush.

Well I hope that 2010 will find you peace of mind, body, and spirit, as well as in God's loving arms. I will be spending New Year's eve with my loved ones, and New year's day working for 3 hours. Be safe, God bless, and be mindful of the alcohol intake when the clock strikes 2010. Happy New Year, 2010.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions. How to Draw People into your world.

Well, it is almost that time of the year. In the beginning of 2009, I started my blog, and I must say that I am very proud of myself for sticking to it. I may not post an entry every day, showing you what cards or layouts I have made, or even tell you about the specials I have for my business, but I do try to at least to keep you informed on my doings at least once a month. I do not want to gossip on my blog about who did what with whom and to what celeb. That is every other blog, I do know this: I want something new on this blog for 2010.
I have visited lots of blogs over the past year, and some are really, really good. They are blogs that this one can only aspire to be like. I do not like a lot of ads on my blog. I like so many things, and so many companies, until I cannot fit everyone on it. I like to put in things that I think that you would like to click on, and become a member of, buy from, or just to say, “She thinks the same way I do”.
I do want to make this announcement: I am going into a new business venture. It is called tentatively MDN Creates, Inc. This is a business doing what I love to do: Making paper crafting items: cards, scrapbook albums and pages, tags, journals, whatever my little heart desires. I have been in much prayer and submission about it to God, and I feel that He feels that the timing is right. I am not getting enough hours in my current job, and I have always felt that I was never meant to be in my current job for long. In order for me to do that, I would have to apply to be a store manager, which I did over the summer, just to see if I am manager material for the store. I knew that I was not, but maybe, the corporate office would see something in my job reviews, that my past managers would not and could not see, and they did not. I was not called in for an interview, and I am OK with that. 4 years is too long in a job, that still has me making less than $10 an hour. My hourly wage was frozen this year at $8.15, and for someone who is single with bills, it just does not sit too well.
Enough about my current job, I am still going to be working for temp agencies. I applied with an agency over the summer, when my hours were really tight in the money area. I have set up accounts online to allow me to sell items, and when I am out of my contract with the store, I will also set up something on my blog that allows someone to purchase from here as well. But as they say, baby steps, baby steps. I am not rushing this moment.
Hey, I need your help…. What would you like to see on this Blog? I always welcome comments, and I do read them, and sometimes comment back, so I can use a little constructive criticism. I do not have blog candy to give away (congress is trying to stop that fun activity), but It does help me to have a fun, new fresh blog. I am even willing to change the name of the blog too. There was already one Tricia’s Treasure on here before I got started, and I am surprised that BlogSpot has not asked me to change the name, or the other person has not come forward to ask me to change the name as well. I will still have the Longaberger business. I love doing it. Should this blog be two separate blogs? If you do not want to comment in the blog, you are more than welcome to email me at plogan@columbus.rr.com, and I will try to employment your suggestions. I do ask that they be as low costing as possible.
Longaberger
Yes, I cannot leave this entry without mentioning my website. There are a lot of 12 –hour specials in the next few days, and I want you to be able to take advantage of them. Today’s special are fabric bins, and they come in small, medium, and large. They are made of same fabric like the liners. They start at $30 for the small. It is 5:47pm EST, so you only have only a few more hours to take in this special. Go to www.longaberger.com/patricialogan to get this special. In the meantime, if you are looking for a gift for that special person in your life, please feel free to shop 24/7 from your own computer. The best part is no waiting in line, dealing with that clerk who has been working 12 hours straight with an attitude. If you are having problems locating a gift, email me or tweet me on my twitter or Facebook page: www.twitter.com/tricia721 or www.facebook.com/patricialogan, and I will try to find the answer to your questions or I know a few customer satisfaction employees who can help me, help you.
Well that is it for now. Oops, one more thing: guaranteed shipping for Christmas delivery is December 15th. God Bless you. Have fun preparing for the holidays, and I will talk at you later. Peace.