{capture the moment}

A few bits & pieces...

-I just updated the Stamp + Cruise Blog with a fun little post!  Be sure to check it out!

-Don't forget that tomorrow night is the September installment of our monthly Blog Hop event!  (You can read about all the details HERE.) If you want to participate, meet new stamping friends, get inspired, win FREE stamps, and even increase the traffic to your blog, then this is the event for you!  This month the challenge was to focus on anything and everything having to do with the holidays.  So it should prove to be an extremely inspiring event!  I think this will be one of the most exciting Blog Hops yet!  I hope to see you there!

-The Guest Star Stamper contest is up and going.  You have until the 13th to get entries in.  We would love to see your submissions!  You can go HERE to read all about how to enter to win a free stamp set of your choice!

As far as on the home front, I've been a busy little bee lately!  Preparing for our October release and the cruise.  I'm really excited about what will have to offer during both events!  It won't be much longer before you start seeing some of the fruits of my labor!  Have a wonderful Wednesday! 

Gift-Giving 101

After yesterday's post, I have received several inquiries as to what "gift-giving" related books & magazines I own as inspiration.  I thought I would share a list with you here of some of my personal favorites...

I have a everything holiday related by Martha Stewart Living.  The ones I turn to the most are

-Holidays, The Best of Martha Stewart Living.  This is a collection of all the best ideas from past magazine issues and books regarding Thanksgiving & Christmas.  Lot's of ideas for cooking, decorating and gift-giving. 

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Classic Crafts & Recipes Inspired by the Songs of Christmas.  This book is just awesome.  A lot of packaging ideas for homemade treats, which is right up my alley!

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Crafts & Keepsakes for the Holidays: Christmas with Martha Stewart Living.  This has loads of crafts in it, especially homemade gifts.

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Gooseberry Patch: Homemade Gifts from the Heart.  Really, I love all the Gooseberry Patch books.  This one in particular is one of my favorites for inspiring gift ideas, though.

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Good Gifts from the Home: Oils, Lotions and Other Luxuries.  I got this with the goal to make some of the amazing things described within it's pages.  The directions are very clear and easy to understand.  Nothing seems to over-complicated.

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Homemade: Delicious Foods to Make and Give.  What I love about this book is that not only does it provide you with yummy recipes, it also has a few ideas on how to package them.

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A Gift for Giving: Making the Most of the Present.  I ave owned this book for  quite a few years and I love it.  I continually get inspired by it's contents.  Great photography too.

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Season of Giving & A Season of Joy, both from Making Memories.  What I like about these particular publications most is that the projects use a lot of paper crafting supplies, so it makes it easy to complete the same ideas in your own space.

So, there you have it!  Just a few of my favorites!  I hope some of these publication might provide you with the motivation to create your own homemade gifts this year!

After...

After a release, I always have a lot of cleaning up and reorganizing to do to prepare for the next month.  I thought it might be kind of fun just to show you a few little shots from around the studio after a release is over...

Here is my work station where I do all my stamping.  To get ready for a release, I always put the new products in this sock organizer box I found at Target.  It has three long nooks that work perfectly for holding the new cardstocks, ribbons, inks and other toys.  Since we were debuting the embossing powders this month, I also had my heat gun and Versamark pad in there.  It made it easy to incorporate all of the new things in my projects, since it was all right there, waiting to be used.  I will be getting a shipment all of NEXT month's things hopefully next week.  The current contents of this box will get filed away into the appropriate locations and the October products will take their place!  Such a fun cycle!  I also keep a stack of inspirational magazines & books close by.  This month I had out several of my favorite "gift-giving" books.  They really helped me to brainstorm all of the gift ideas that I incorporated into my holiday based posts in September.

I have a large area of open counter space next to where I keep my photo studio set up.  This is where I like to set all of my recent projects after completion.  It is kind of nice to just look at everything for a week or so after the release, since I put so much work into everything.  Kind of leaves me with a sense of accomplishment, you know? 

David and I are almost done with our big remodel of the new studio.  Sometime after the cruise I should be able to give you a little tour around the new place.  It is coming together fabulously!  Hope you enjoyed this little peek into my post-release world. 

It's almost time for bon voyage...

It's hard to believe, but there is only about four weeks until the big stamp + cruise hosted by Papertrey, Gina K. Designs & Stamping Bella, pulls out of port!  I just thought I would give you a quick heads up that the

stamp + cruise blog

will now be updated every few days by the four of us, letting you know how all of the planning & preparations are going!  We are all so excited to cruise with you!  The big day will be here before you know it!

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Color Comparisons

We have had many requests for all of our color comparisons in one place.  I created new compare & contrast photos for all of the current colors in an easy to read format.  These and all future color comparisons will be placed under the "Color Comparisons" list that I have begun on the right hand side bar.  I hope you find this information helpful.