Real Customer Service

I have been using Martha Stewart products since way back in the day. For the most part I really enjoy them. This past summer I jumped on the score board wagon and got myself the Martha Steward score board. Love it! I really do. Its now a staple in my craft "room". Very handy and simple to use. I did however have one minor problem with it. The scoring tool that comes with board (and yes I love the handy little compartment so you dont misplace it!) is somewhat flexible? I guess you would call it - so it can fit into the grooves on the board. Well the tip of mine chipped off - I could still use it but it had to be careful not to shred my paper. So a few weeks ago I had written the customer service for the products to ask where i could purchase another tool. To my surprise, I got an email back the very next day. They let me know that they want their customers to be completely satisfied. Do you know that they were so gracious to have sent me TWO FREE REPLACEMENT scoring tools? Yep. Made me happy. But what was even better than just free stuff- was a commitment to standing behind their product. If you have purchased items (anything - not just craft related) and you have problems or defective products, be sure to contact the manufactuers to see if they can help you. Most companies really want their customers to love or try their products and they will send you samples, coupons or replacements if you just ask. So for today, Im happy to say, Martha Stewart/ Wilton Products, "it's a good thing!"

First Holiday card of the Season - Wreath

The holiday season of 2010 is underway - and Christmas will be here before you know it! {{{36 days!  insert screams here!}}} Here is my first holiday card of the year. There were lots of Martha Stewart products used to create this card (thanks Martha!), starting with my score board and then the punch around the page for the beige layer. I wish i could recall the name of this pretty punch, but as usual - i don't - sorry! I got the MS Branch punch last year on clearance @ Walmart. I have loved it and never used it until now. I sprayed some Tsukineko Walnut ink in Willow on half of the branch pieces to give it a little dimension. I am loving my i-rock setter and the new white "pearls" I put the beige layer on pop dots and tied some red & white bakers twine around the bottom layer. I think my bow came out very nicely too. I hope after doing this card, it gets my crafting mojo to flow again, I have just been under a lot of stress recently and my wanting to scrap around has been on hiatus...anyhow - I hope you enjoy this latest creation. 



25 Turkeys comin' up!

Here is my latest class room project for Mrs. A. - 25 of these fine feathered friends for the whole class! I used Home Decor for the 3 1/4 inch "feathers" - its actually the "shift" leaf but it works very well for a feather too. I used a 1.5 inch scallop punch for the body and a 1" circle for the head. I glued the head & body pieces together and then Cuttlebugged them with the Houndstooth folder. The Tear Drop cartridge was used for the parenthesis "gobblers". I added some googly eyes and hand cut the "beaks" in the orange paper. The last little detail was using a tiny snow flake punch to make the feet. These turkeys were to stand up on the "yards" of the Pilgrims homes so I attached a small circle of paper on the back of each one with a glue dot. 

Veterans Day Project

Here is a project I did for Mrs. A's school - for Veterans Day. And let me just say, for whatever reason it was somewhat difficult to get the small white bags for this project! I think we went to 5 different Michaels stores to find them, and each store was out of the bakers dozen packages. We ended up getting 12 single bags. I used Microsoft Pub3 to make the index sized cards on the front, layered them with some red cardstock and lined them with red & blue tissue paper. Each bag contains a mini American flag, a mug, a packet of hot cocoa, some candies and cookies, plus a patriotic pencil and little teddy bear. They were easy to put together. I hope the Veterans enjoy this small token of my appreciation, as they deserve it.

Thank you to all Veterans of the United States Military for providing us with FREEDOM!

God Bless!

Christmas presents & New Stuff...

After weeks of hinting I am so excited - I'm finally got getting a Gypsy?!?!?.
As many of you know, when you purchased or registered a new G by Oct. 31 you could get 5 free cartridge downloads. Well my awesome boyfriend got me one for Christmas and he wanted it to be a surprise. Long story short, I have it now! Ok well - temporarily. If you ask him - dealing with Michaels was a nightmare and he is not too fond of PC at the moment either. It all started when the first G he bought was somehow already open, so he asked to exchange it (and if you may or may not know - Michaels is not supposed to exchange or return any open merchandise - defective or not.) Well they did let him exchange it,  but when he went to register it (the G) for me it only powered on (blue light) but would not load to opening screen. Fast forward to the next day and he now HAS to tell me about my Christmas gift so I can get my "free carts". So I call our local Michaels to see what I can do and got the nicest and very knowledgeable Assistant Manager who kindly lets us exchange the Gypsy for one from their store. (And of course the following day - its now only $129.99 -- and PC also extends the free cart offer to Dec. 31......likely story...) I got to register my little toy and have even got to try her out, but I have a couple of minor issues I would like to find out some opinions.
1) when I power on my G there is a small, quick, white flash of a line that goes across the bottom of the screen just before it gets to the "loading" screen. Is this normal? 2) when I charge it - should there be any lights on it at all to determine "charging" mode? I would like to put up a quick video just to show the white line i am seeing when i power it on - wonder where is the best place to post such a video?
Now onto a little more fun news. Today, while traveling with the Beau, we had to stop at three Michaels stores looking for little white handled bags for his Mom's project, the last store we went to had a very nice surprise.
I found the Cricut Cake cartridges for only 19.99 a piece - clearance already? I got Birthday Cakes and Holiday Cakes. They also had the original Crciut Cake machine for $149.99 and all accessories were 3.99 - 6.49. I am surprised at these prices for being new to the market. While I am happy for my "deals" these two new carts along with my Gypsy will be turned over to my boyfriend, until Christmas Day.....(sad face inserted here....)