New Fall Classes!

Simplify the Season!
September 14 to October 12, 2009

This class is designed to help you take some of the hustle out of your holidays. We will decrease your stress and leave you more time to enjoy the little things by completing items from your holiday to-do list now. During this four-week course you will be provided with sketches and samples to help you complete all of your holiday cards, tools to keep you organized and help you pre-plan plus you will make at least 4 handmade gifts. As always, you can expect loads of samples and tips from our design team to inspire and motivate you! (The talented Lee Currie will be our guest designer for this class!)

During this course you can expect:

• A full four weeks of class running from Sept 14th until Oct 12th
• Detailed card sketches made exclusively for you by our design team
• At least 7 different card sketches with tips on “mass” production
• 4 gift projects with detailed step by step instructions
• Challenges with prizes each week of class
• Tips and tid-bits to keep your creative juices flowing
• Tools to help you organize your holidays
• Fabulous creative examples for each project and card sketch by our talented design team
• A private class forum with lots of support and friendly conversation
• Self paced class - do as much or as little as you would like
• A PDF file including all the sketches from class for you to keep for future reference
• Graduation crop with projects, challenges, games and prizes
• Plus a few surprises :)

Cost for this four-week course is $25.00.

Sketchapalooza 5
October 26th to November 23rd

Back by popular demand! Do you like using sketches when creating layouts for your scrapbooks? Are you motivated by challenges and prizes? Are you looking to do some "catching up" in your scrapbooks? Then this is the class for you!You will be provided with tons of brand new original sketches (5 per week!) with examples from our talented designers during this four week course. This fast paced exciting class is suitable for any level of scrapper (paper or digital) who wants to get a lot of pages done and have a ball doing it! Join us and get a good month of scrapping in before the holidays hit! :) (Tracy Kosofsky will be designing for us again this class!)

Here is what you can expect during the Sketchapalooza 5 Class:

• A full FOUR WEEKS of class running from October 26th until November 23rd
• Detailed sketches made exclusively for you by our design team
• A full 20 sketches (5 per week!)
• Digital templates provided for PS or PSE for each sketch
• Plus tips and tid-bits to keep your creative juices flowing
• Fabulous creative examples for each sketch by our talented design team
• A private class forum with lots of support and friendly conversation
• Self paced class - do as much or as little as you would like
• A PDF file including all the sketches from class for you to keep for future reference
• Graduation crop with challenges, games and prizes
• Plus a few surprises :)

The cost for this month long class is only $25.00.
Ready to sign up? Just click the "Buy Now" button.

Baking in the crock pot!

It's been much too hot around here to bake much in the oven and we've missed munching on tasty quick breads. Sooo, I thought I'd try to bake some bread in my crock pot and it worked! The first loaf I cooked was overdone (but we just cut off the hard parts and ate it anyway!). I think the second one turned out just about right. I love this idea because the crock pot doesn't heat up my house like my oven does.


How to bake quick breads in your Crock Pot
~Use a recipe that you love and already know turns out well for you.
~Cook the loaf on HIGH for 4 hours then check it. Mine needed another 15-20 minutes.
~Vent the lid just a bit with a chopstick to let the extra moisture escape.
**Now, I still think the bread turns out better in the oven, but this definitely is a good substitute when it's just too HOT to turn on the oven!!!

Happy baking!

Artist Feature

Today, I wanted to share something with you all that you may not be aware of Stacey Curry, a member of our current design team makes beautiful jewelry as well. She has been recognized for her work many times in Bead Trends magazine and I think you will find it beautiful! Here is a little about Stacey and how she got started in her business.

...and she hitched her wagon to a star

This is Stacey's journey - her "Some Kind Of Wonderful!" Back in high school (before Star Hitched Wagon™ was even a consideration), while on a family trip, Stacey discovered that friendly plastic and cameo faces when put together with feathers and rhinestones and a pin back - could in fact make some trendy jewelry. Jewelry that would be picked up by a local hospital gift shop and almost sell out at a local craft show. This was the first spark in the Star Hitched Wagon™ fire.

Fast forward a few years - to Stacey's first year away at college, she stumbled into the most fantastic little bead store in Butte, Montana. It was love at first site. Every extra penny (plus a few that weren't so extra) was spent on beads and jewelry making supplies. So the fun of custom jewelry for herself and friends starts again - over the years the little spark continues to grow. Finally in 2003 Stacey hitched her wagon to a star - just as Emerson said - and the dream was turned into a business!

Star Hitched Wagon™ continues to grow with new goals, new designs, new skills, and wonderful new and loyal customers, but Stacey's mission remains the same:To create and market beautiful, one of a kind, wearable pieces of art, for the Girl with Roots and Wings.

Below are just a few of Stacey's beautiful pieces. To see more, you can visit her website Star Hitched Wagon

Night of Dreams bracelet~
Gypsy necklace ~

Go Ahead and Fly earrings~

Happy August & A Card Sketch

Happy August to you all. Here's a fun little card sketch for you all to try - it can be a nice easy weekend project for you.



Jayne's Card:



Stacey C's Card:


Enjoy!!

I spy.....

We have been having such a wonderful time creating, sharing and enjoying layouts in Sketchapalooza! Here's a pretty page I found in the Feeling Scrappy gallery by class member Angela Huckins using one of the sketches. Love what she did with this!

Happy scrapping!!

Monkey Bars

My daughter, Abbie, and I got this recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookies for Kids cookbook. These are very yummy and a great way to use up ripe bananas :)

Ingredients
3/4 cup butter (softened)
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3)
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (6 oz pkg) of semi-sweet chocolate chips
powdered sugar (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees and spray or grease a 15x10x1 inch baking pan. In a large bowl mix the butter, sugar and brown sugar on medium speed until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Stir in mashed bananas.

In a separate bowl stir together flour, baking powder and salt. With mixer on low speed gradually add the flour mixture to the banana mixture, beating well until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and then spread mixture into pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool then sprinkle with powered sugar in desired and cut into bars.

Enjoy!

Let's Get Walking

Do you like to walk? Do you walk on a regular basis - if I am "On Track" for my week I like to walk 3 times per week. My husband and I just started keeping track of our daily steps with the help of a pedometer. Thanks to his company - we are feeling inspired to actually log those steps - and to actually try to get at least 10,000 steps a day.

Want to join us - here a few links with walking tips:

http://fitness.suite101.com/article.cfm/got_pedometer_get_walking

http://www.walk4life.com/topten/topten_01.aspx

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/cardio/walking/walking-running-tips-workouts/