Mama Bear Love

Happy summer everyone.

The days have been unusually cool this year.  We have had the windows open for the majority of the summer and have turned on the central air a few times on the hot days.

Hot days here are no where near the inferno of Houston.   Houston weather has been permanently ingrained in my sweat glands.  When we start to plan a visit to see my mom, my brain automatically sends messages to my pores to start producing perspiration.

All the Texans will appreciate the gravity of my next statement.  When I lived in Houston, we did not have central air conditioning!  For about two weeks in the month of August my parents would splurge and turn on the window unit.  That's right, I said no a/c in Texas!  I have post traumatic sweat disorder.  We take any trip and my first question is, "Is there a/c?"

Moving on.... early this summer I went to the Understand Blue Unwind Retreat in Texas.  I took my daughter with me and she decided to stay with her grandparents.  The beginning of summer dragged without my little sweet petunia.  I felt like I had left my heart in Texas.  I think there may be a country song by that title.

I decided to make her a card using Mama Elephant's Bear Hugs.  I had the perfect background stamp from Purple Onion Designs. The stamp is called The Perfect Spot.  This  was my first watercolor  card video.

I feel I did OK.  It kind of has an elementary school feel. I know I have to crawl before I can Allnock.
My little sweet petunia will love it.  I say will because by the time it arrived to Texas she was headed home.  My mother-in-law will be mailing it back.

Please enjoy the video.  The narration is a bit choppy.  I did edit it down quite a bit because it took forever to make this card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Where in the World

Happy Fourth of July!

With the exception of a house addition and the birth of my little petunia, we have had a Fyreworks party every year.  That is not a misspelling, we live in Fyre Lake.  It is our tradition and an expectation from our friends and family.    I have been wanting to add onto our kitchen.  My husband said if we wanted to make that change then we should just move.  Then the first thought is, "What about the Fouth of July party?"  So we decide not to move and continue to live here with a galley kitchen and celebrate this awesome holiday every year.

Our house is the perfect venue for this occasion.  We build our tent down by the water.  Running a special extension cord down the hill to power the crockpots of food.  The tree provides the perfect shade.  We have benches under the tree as well as a small retaining wall that provides sitting areas.  Everyone spreads out their blankets and lawn chairs and enjoys the conversation.  When the little ones get tired and need a nap, the parents head up to the house for a break.

There is a levy just across the lake that the association uses to set off the Fyreworks show.  For a small community,  we have a 15-20 minute display of fireworks.  I have had residents of our subdivision come by and ask to sit in our yard to enjoy the extravaganza.  After the show, there are more fireworks.  My husband has his own show.  Our neighbor across the street also does their own show.  By the time the party is over there is a dusting of firework powder over every car and dismembered and mutilated firework carcasses on the roof of every house on my street.

 

This holiday is not about Fyreworks or a party.  It is about celebrating our country's freedom.  Where in the world would we be without our freedom?

I had made this card for my father-in-law to give to him on Father's Day.  I procrastinated and have not posted about this because life continues to get in the way.  However, I made it fit for this occasion. 

I am grateful  that God lead my parents to move to the United States.  I am grateful that he planted the seed to create MISTI.   I am also extremely grateful for all of you that have made MISTI a dream come true.

In honor of Independence Day, we are having 10% off MISTIs and Novus products.  I have not introduced the Novus 2, so I will tell you what it can do.  It will remove permanent ink stains off the MISTI.  It will also help remove fine scratches.

Now that I had a genius help me add the subscribe feature to the blog, please subscribe for updates.
Have a happy Fourth of July.

Smile

Hello.  It has been a month or so since I posted a card.  I have been busy building a new website.  It is a relief to be done with that.  We also completed homeschool for Jaydyn.  She is ready for the fifth grade.  Time has flown.

Since my last post, I was able to go for my first family reunion on my dad's side.  It was bittersweet.  I loved to see all my relatives, especially those that I have not seen for years.  This will be our first Father's Day without him.  He never got to see the MISTI.  I was able to tell him about it.  I started selling MISTIs the last week of July and he passed the first week of September.

At the reunion, I had a lot of questions about if I was still working as a radiology tech.  Of course I told them that I had just quit my per diem job.  I explained all what was happening and they seem so dumbfounded as to what I had invented.  So I showed them a video of Jennifer McGuire using a MISTI.  I showed them one of her because I thought it would be more impressive if someone else was using it.  Also, because her quality of video by far exceeds mine.  The first thing someone asked was why was she tapping her cellphone to the lid.  I seriously had to explain the whole art of card making to people that don't even buy greeting cards.   It was a little funny to see my American husband communicate with my family.  There are several cousins that speak English.  Those were mainly the ones that live in the states and the younger ones that are studying English in their local school as part of their curriculum.  The college-aged boys told my husband that he needed to remember one phrase and that life would be good, 'Si, mi amor."

Not long after I returned, I attended the Unwind Retreat hosted by Understand Blue. It was so much fun.  The people were so sweet and the food was awesome.  I look forward to the next one in October.  If you want more info about that retreat, it will be in Austin, Texas, just subscribe to Understand Blue for the updates.

My daughter decided to stay in Texas with her grandparents.  I feel a little lost without my mini-me.  She will be home next week so in the meantime, hopefully I can get some cards done.

Please be sure to subscribe to the new website and blog for updates.

 Hi everyone.  Hope you are doing great.  Everything is looking great in my part of the world.   My Sweet Petunia is growing beyond my wildest dreams.   The amount of love that I receive from the MISTI community is humbling.  I feel so blessed that it brings tears to my eyes.   The title of this blog post should be "I Feel Loved".


I have to admit that I sometimes I do get overwhelmed.  That is when I have to make myself slow down.  In the car I will blast a song from my favorite artist Jaime Grace.  I will listen to it over and over to the point where I want to raise my hands to heaven.  Let's just say that is not a good idea when driving.  The lyrics to the beautiful song have a powerful message.  I would actually prefer sharing the video to the song than the card video.   So thank you for all the love that has come my way.
Back to the card....

I made this card for my beautiful sister.  She was just deployed.  I talk about her in the video.  I used the Stippled Blossoms stamp from Stampin' Up.  This set is retiring.  If you want to order it, then you need to do it now because the new catalog comes out June 2nd.
Thanks for stopping by.  Please watch the music video.

Lotus Blossom

Surprise!!!!  I have two cards to share.  It has been a long time since I made a card video.  I have to admit I was a little bit rusty.  I actually made this card set and video about 3 weeks ago.  I just haven't had time to post it.

Thanks for all the support in starting a forum on Splitcoast Stamper.  There is a giveaway there for two MISTIs.  One of which is a laser etched.

There is also a give away with Darlene DeVries.   She is such a sweetheart.  So there are three MISTIs that need a new home.

I have included the list of products used.  They are not affiliate links.   However, the Lotus Blossom from Stampin' Up is no longer available.  You can substitute it with any flower with a stem.  Thanks for stopping by.


Hardwood Clear mount background
Rich Razzleberry Cardstock
Versamark
Very Vanilla cardstock
Old Olive ink
Avery Elle Jungle Pigment Ink
Avery Elle Sugar Plum Pigment Ink
Papertrey Ink Royal Velvet
Papertrey Ink Fresh Snow Pigment Ink

Christmas Card using SSS Card Kit

Ok.... I have been really busy since I posted the preorder.  I never would have imagined that MISTI would take off this fast.  I knew it was a useful tool but I never imagined the excitement that it produced.  So first, I want to thank you for all the prayers and support that you all have given to me.
I put the video for this tag on YouTube last month but never got around to posting on my blog.  It needed to be paired with the card video since the tag explains how to make the trees for the card.  I really loved the pigment inks from Avery Elle.  They were so creamy.  It feels velvety to the touch once dry.  hope that you enjoy watching as much as I enjoyed making these two projects.  If there is anything else you want demonstrated please leave a comment.  Please be sure to give it a thumbs up.  God Bless and have fun stamping!
I

Happy Thangsgiving and How MISTI was Created

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope everyone is having a great day.  As for me, I am spending it with my wonderful in laws.  I will be back home tomorrow.  So for all of you that have just ordered grid pads, cleaner, and magnets, I will start mailing those out as soon as I get home.

I have Thanksgiving day everyday by making it a point to give thanks and praise to God everyday for all the blessings He has given me.  I am so grateful for the seed God planted in my thoughts to come up with MISTI.  Last year when it came time to do the church Christmas cards for the pastor, I was dreading the whole process.  I was trying to come up with a good excuse and ask the pastor if this year we could purchase them.  My thoughts were that my hard work would just be thrown away.  I prayed asking to find  a card design that would be easy to replicate.  I found one and ordered my supplies.

Sitting down to start making 100 cards, I cringed and wondered why I committed to this.  I thought to myself that this was a way to serve God doing something I love.  I said a prayer, thanking God for blessing me with an awesome craft room and making it a point to check my attitude so that I would serve with a joyful heart.  The process of making cards began and my joyful heart soon started to lose the joy.  Mis-stamping was happening too often and my neck was starting to hurt from craning over.  Frustration set in and I took a break and prayed.  I prayed for an easier way to get this task done.

I looked at my desk and the stack of wasted cardstock.  My first thought was, “How  can I solve this problem?”  Then God stepped in.  My thought was to create a fixed point to be able to re-stamp.  What did I do?  I used washi to tape my Fiskar’s stamp press to a mouse pad.   The next day, I went to the hardware store and started to build my prototype.  It took three trips to the store.  When I finally got it to work, I actually cried.  I completed my cards error free and in record time.

I went to an attorney and had a patent search done.  He recommended that I not seek a patent.  Needless to say,  I was disappointed.  Feeling that some big company would steal my idea, I researched about supplies and manufacturers as discreetly as I could.  That is how this journey started.

Recently, several readers kept telling me to get a patent.  I prayed once again for wisdom and discernment.   I kept getting this nagging feeling that I should seek a second opinion on a patent.  The first attorney that did the patent search did not specialize in patents.  I sought one out and found a patent attorney in Chicago.  My new attorney studied the patent search results and advised me that my invention was novel enough to seek a patent.  So last week, I started the patent process.  In about four weeks, I can label my product patent pending.

Thank you so much for all of your encouragement and support.  Your kind words are precious to me.  I would like to also thank those of you that have spread the word about my product.  Thank you Linda C. for being my advocate on the forums.  Thank you Karen B. for your encouraging words.  Thank you Jennifer McGuire  and Kristina Werner for your willingness to promote my product.  Word cannot express the joy that is overflowing from my heart.  THANK YOU!