Merry Christmas

Just popping on here to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year from MDN Creates.

I have been very busy lately.Part 3

This week, I work on two projects (no pictures yet, sorry) for my sister and Sister in law.   They are mini brag books.   I have been working on layouts of the children, and I thought why not share them.  My brother and sister always tell me that I never share the pictures I take, and I must admit that I forget sometimes.  So what I did was spent all evening on Tuesday at my former workplace, Archiver’s, and made copies of some of the layouts.  When I worked there, I did not like the old copier.   They have a new one that I simply adore (I want one in the home).  this is a nice project to do for anyone in your family.   The nice part about this project is they will finally get to take each original layout home with them when the child graduates from high school, lol.   Yes I am making a copy for me, and when the child graduates from high school, they will have a memory of special moments in their life, from age 0 to 18 years old.  Hum, the baby (Leon) will get his in 17 years, little girl (Nine’na) will get hers in 15 years, Dey-Dey (Deonte) will get his in 14 years, and Mike will get his in 4 years.

Well it has been a long day, but I am good for it.  be well, and for those of you currently celebrating Hanukah,  Happy 3^rd night of Hanukah.   For those of you who celebrate Christmas with the birth of Christ along with me or who deal with the commercialized Christmas, Merry Christmas.   For all of you, Happy New Year, 2012.

I have been very busy lately. part 2

Next, I made some of my mother’s Christmas cards.  They are as follows:

The first card is a snowflake of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus in blue cardstock.  The second layer is glitter paper by DCWV (Die Cuts with a View).  The third layer of patterned paper actually came from the Cricut Imagine (for those of you not keeping track, yes I finally got one).  The paper print comes from one of the newer carts, Enjoy the Season.   BTW, the Snowflake was cut out with the E2 using last year’s cart, “When It’s Cold Outside”.  “Jesus is the reason for the season” is stamped on the inside.  (In fact all of them are like that)

The next card was actually scraplifted.   I took the idea from the DCWV blog entry I saw on Facebook.  I did it because I have the stack, which is called Christmas & Winter 180 Stack I got at Joanne’s.   The Ornament on top is from another paper company called the Paper Adventures, and the paper name is (Giggle) Christmas balls.  (You have no idea what I am thinking right now and I will not tell you in case children are reading this post-trying to keep it “G”).   Anyway, the card blank is “8.5 x “11 cut in half, and folded.  As noted before, the inside is the same as the first.

OK, who said that the die cut on the card has to be something Christmassy?  I decided to preview the next holiday to come in Christmas papers.   Again this is scraplifted (I forgot where.  I think it was from an email I received that week.)   Anyway, the card is a premade blank (meaning someone or some company made it besides me), I bought the pack for the envelopes anyway.   Why not use them?   Cut two sheets of 12 x 12 into 6 manageable pieces (the old “eat the elephant one bit at a time” trick works for scrapbooking too), and adhere the red on the card blank.  Cut the green sheet down to layer on top of the red pattern paper.   I cut out the heart with the E1 Cricut machine (original expression).  Inside is the same as the other two sets.  

The last set of cards is super simple.   Take glitter paper cut into a circle.   Take any 3-d sticker (I used ornaments from K and Co. Make an arrangement.   I scraplifted this one too, but I scraplifted myself for this card.   I made it better than the one I made two years ago (Picture in a moment).  In that card, I cut out three circles, and hung them from three pieces of cord.   I cannot remember much more than that.   (continued part 3)...

I have been very busy lately. Part 1

Starting with December 3^rd (yes, that long ago), I did a craft fair to which I was honored (as well as humbled) to participate in again this year.   The craft fair was sponsored by the Eastmoor High School PTA.   The first time was last year (2010).   I say that because for one, no one has ever asked me in the first place before (I have always seen the ad for venders, then apply), and second, the humbling part is that the only ones who bought again this year were the PTA participates and anyone who was using the school for some activity (which was not much).   Last year, it was just Longaberger and me (before I named it Tricia’s Baskets).  This year, it was both companies.  

For the Tricia’s Basket side (Longaberger), I had Travel Cups in one the school colors (Cornflower), Chocolate, Medallion, and Celebration.   Along with the cups, I had coffee packs that can be sold with them.   Sold none.   I also picked up some items from Homestead to be sold.   I had luggage tags, two Hershey cookbooks, two note pads, and a couple other things.   Sold none.

For the MDN Creates side, I made Post a note pads, made from a chipboard coaster, covered it, and hot glued the post a note pad on top.   Sold one.  Next, I covered some composition notebooks with pretty patterned paper.  Sold none.  I also made some cards and sold a few.   Finally for kicks I made a few bookmarkers and sold one.  I am learning that maybe I better find another craft fair next year.   Columbus has a huge Winterfair at the fairgrounds.  It is not for crafters, it is for artisans, which to me, I do not know the difference if you have a business.   This is what I was told.   Well, Starting January, I am going to start making lots more cards that could be sold through my Etsy shop (which I have been neglecting lately) or prepare for a both somewhere.  I am starving for my work (passion), so I think that makes me like them. 

Changes for the new year...2012

Why am I publishing it now?  Because I want to make sure that there are no surprises in the new year.  January is all about changes.  You take a look at the year of old, see what was done wrong, and what you would like to see.   More on that later.  The highlights of the year 2012 are:

More traffic:   I enjoy anyone who is anyone to see, read, and connect to me.   A person does not have to like what I do, but I want that connection, because maybe a person may not agree with everything I say, and who needs to, but maybe I can find that one little spark that hits that person over the head, and they sit there and say, "I get where you are coming from, lady, I may not agree on that particular point, but I get it."

More blogging:   2011 has been a topsy-turvy year for me as I continue to get this business off the ground, while trying to maintain the Longaberger business.   I also found out this year that I like to write, but I also found out that I am the most laziest person I can think of next to my nephew Michael, who is typical teen boy.  One more thing I found out is I like the feeling of being organized.   I may not always get there, but I like containers.  See where I am going with this?  OK, if you don't, just know this much: these two ideas of writing and organizing has sparked two more blogs.  One of them has already been done on my Tricia's Baskets blog and a WordPress blog called Tricia's Organizing (I think I entered one or two posts on the latter, then quit).  the other one has to do with being published on sites like Hubpages (the good stuff) and Helium (the bad stuff), and I have been freelancing for a couple of people.  I want to continue with MDN Creates the blog (this one), and Tricia's Baskets (The Longaberger business one), and try to send things into the Stratosphere.   I will be also continuing to contribute to the Card a day Blog (although I forfeited my turn for next month, because I want to concentrate on organize my little business empire and my house (hey I am no Martha Stewart, and I am not trying to be)

Social Media Savvy:   It is no secret that blogging, typing on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, reading sites like Digg, and viewing videos on You tube and Hulu are here to stay (now where did that come from, LOL), but it is how business is conducted for the most part.   Even traditional companies are starting to throw in the towel and saying "the heck with it, we are dealing with social media."   I do not know if it because today's generation is saying to "with us, or get the heck out of the way."  In either case, I plan on being part of this ride.   For that reason, I have a smart phone (as of today), and I am doing both face to face, as well as online business.   I do not want to be left out, nor do want to be totally depended on it either.   I can understand the pressure, especially with my parents.   My dad does email but has another "dumb phone".  we gave mom an account, but dad's email account is her email account, and she wants me or dad to pull her email, and print it off to her.   She only wants to use her cell phone in case of emergency.   It seems that I already hate my new phone, though.  I left my charge at my parent's house, LOL, and the battery is almost gone, but I am connected to my Google accounts, my Kindle account (I have Kindle for PC, and just added my account to Kindle for Android).   I now have the Longaberger wishlist on my phone so that if a customer wants to look at a product, they can find it.

There are so many changes, until there is a part two, so stay tuned. I will also show some of my cards I am working on for my mom to send for Christmas.