Maxam Made

My wonderful friend Jane posted on Facebook today and that post  inspired me to make this card. The mail man had pulled his little truck up to the corner so that meant I had 18 minutes to get the card made and in the mail!  Jane lives close enough  to get the card tomorrow and She'll be surprised as she doesn't read my blog too often.   The card base was ready and I grabbed the back ground paper from a (another one!!) pile that I found earlier this week.  I digitized the  sentiment and printed cut and GLUED!  Any one interested in learning how to digitized sentiments?  It is really very simple if you know how to use word and have powerpoint.  I have power point but no clue how to use it.  I've been wanting to digitized sentiments for ever and was whining about it when for the millionth time Steve told it could be done in power point.  Really, he's been telling me forever to try it, but I was so intimidated by the program!  All I can say is duh on me, so simple!!  I need

So I had an Epiphany,  Last night, at 1 am.  Last week when we took our book binding class the only adhesive we used was good old glue.  Yes, very good, made for paper crafting glue,                          but glue non the less. I picked up the little book to check to see if all was still nicely stuck to where it is supposed to be stuck.  No wrinkling or bumpiness.  It was still lovely.  So I decided to try making a card using a glue I bought last June at the Heirloom stamp show.  I asked  the booth owner for a really good glue for paper crafting, something that I could use in place of my hot glue gun - getting a little tired of sizzling my finger tips. Last nightI made one card and tried the "secret" and the card came out perfect!!!! Now I know some of you don't care and I get that .  But I've made almost 400 cards in January and I have to think about ways to keep the unseen elements cost down.  It all that adds up. I want my cards to be really nice and that takes

Workdesk Wednesday and the on going global blog hop! It all starts here at Julia Dunnits blog.   Hop over to join the fun! My work desk today is a mobile work desk, I'm at stamp camp here!!     From that pile came this cute card:        My work desk at home is covered with about 100 butterflies that I'm fussy cutting for cards. I distinctly remember saying I was not going to do things in batches anymore but alias I did!! I'll  post those cards later when they are done! I hope you have time to browse the artful desks presented around the world. I especially plan to linger in the places that it is warm!! Hello Oz! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!  Ginny M

If you were ever wondering what happens when a 6 quart Cast Iron Dutch oven (my prized Le Crueset dutch oven) crashes on a glass top stove:     Yep that is what happens.  The pot however is okay. I'll be stove shopping   'Pots slip and fall on the just and the unjust'   Thanks for stopping by an have a great day! Ginny M

Here at Maxam Made, the kitchen project continues and is coming out beautifully! This morning I put my dishes away in my beautiful remade cup boards!  3 weeks before Christmas Steve and I were in home depot pricing cabinets.  We were thinking about rehabbing our little kitchen, make it nicer while we are here and improve it  to help sell the house.  A nice college student came up to us and asked if we'd like someone to come out and give us an estimate on having Home Depot rehab our kitchen.  We said sure.  Long story short a very skilled salesman came out and tried so very hard to convince us we needed to spend almost 9,000.00 on our 10x 13 kitchen to REFACE our old cabinets - no floor - no counter tops - JUST new doors and facing on the old cabinets.  Come on now, we priced new cabinets and counter tops for less than 3,000.00 while we were in HD.  So Steve has painted the kitchen a pale, pale yellow (it was a darker shade of yellow)  built a ceiling to floor cup board that looks l

What a great mail day yesterday! I received cards and goodies! From Margo I received this beautiful butterfly thank you card  - so elegant in cream, charcoal, purple and green! Margo hails from Washington and is a fellow Oriental Stamp Arts member! Thank you Margo!!      From Mary Redford in Indiana, Mary is also an OSA member,  This Beautiful thank you card in vibrant Yellows and Oranges, Thank you Mary the card is a beauty!!   From Rosemary (another OSA member) I received this whopping stash of Washi!  She sent me this because I sent her a few bird images! I can't wait till rosemary needs something else! Thank you Rosemary this was such a lovely generous gift!!     Washi is a beautiful paper made from rice and is highly prized in Asian Art.   I made this card for my Niece last night:   Don't you just love Happy Mail! Thanks for stopping by!! Ginny M  

Yesterday Steve and I took a basic book making class.  What a fun event that was!! I've been making books and journals and things for years, But I've never  learned "traditional " basic booking making.  Here are the teachers books: When I saw these I really felt delighted to learn how to make them! I'm not sure what I was expecting but this was good!! Here Pat demonstrates measuring for the stitching holes on the signatures of the pages, Very simple!! Steve sewing the signatures ( poor hands beat up from weather and a slip of the drill) . This is the interior of the book, it is slightly off as the book boards were discovered to be cut at the wrong size!  Our teacher felt pretty bad about this , but we felt like it was a learning experience and we were very happy with what we walked away with! The finished books: I thought these came out great for our first attempt! One of the reasons I took this class is because I tho

Wednesday  means WOYWW and today is episode #242! Go over to Julia's blog to start the world wide desk hop! On my desk today: I needed 22 birthday cards for Oriental Stamp Arts birthday list for the month of February. With OSA I have to keep a lot of things organized so the first thing on my desk is my OSA note book.  I keep a written record of the data base and of my swaps. This is invaluable for me in keeping on top of things.  I have such a note books for my other 2 swap groups and my church and family lists.   I had about 4 hours to get these 22 cards made. For February I made about 5 different cards, For the following months I will make one card for that month.  About half of the February cards will be going out in the next couple of days to allow for global mailing times.  This is just something I decided to do with OSA - Birthdays.  For January I made about 20 and then realized half of them would become belated Birthday cards.   For the Hops' sake here is my work desk!