A menorah for Hanukah

Here is my revised Hanukah menorah. Feel free to print it out and color it any way you wish to celebrate the festival of light!

Mike's Menagerie

My animal theme coloring book will debut at Creation Destination October 21-23. Most of the pages are variations of my stamp images with a few new designs included. After the event it will be available on my catalog page. This was so much fun to put together!

Blog candy winner!

Congratulations to Colleen Taylor of Nevada for being selected at random to win the new Cloisonne Teapot. Your stamp is on the way Colleen!

An extra goody.

Here is a little extra goody to go with my new Cloisonne Teapot. You can print out the accent panel which I designed to go with the patterns on the pot. Enjoy!

Blog Candy!

Hi everybody,
Here's a little blog candy for you. It's my new Teapot stamp (check the catalog for a picture and a sample card). Just make a comment on this blog post and I will pick a name at random and send out my brand new stamp on Tuesday May 3. (this is a quick one because we are leaving for our Anniversary cruise in the Mediterranean on Thursday) Good luck!

Winter card challenge winners and Spring Challenge

Congratulations to Hetty Sanders, Laura Holm and Judy Smith for their beautiful and unique winter cards! Each of you will receive a vintage wood mounted Michael Strong Rubber Stamp as your thank you prize.
For our Springtime challenge I would like you to take inspiration for the photo below. This is a view from the famous Keukenhof Gardens in The Netherlands. Carla and I had the good fortune to visit the park on one of our trips to Holland. The floral beauty is overwhelming! Please consider the colors when you make your spring cards. Have fun and be creative!

March 2016 classes

Here are the places I'll be in March. Come take a class or just stop by and say hi!

March 2016 Classes

Wednesday March 16

Card making class at The Fallbrook Women’s Club - Fallbrook CA.

11:00-1:00 Signs of Spring

Thursday March 17

Card making class at The Making Place – Escondido CA.

1:00-3:00 Signs of Spring

Saturday March 19

Card making classes at Perfect Day Scrapbooking – Huntington Beach CA.

10:30-12:30 Special Occasion Window Cards

1:30-3:30 Tooled Paper Leather Cards (learn the technique of turning cardstock into realistic looking and feeling faux leather. Make 5 unique cards.)

Monday March 21

Card making classes at The Stamp Addict – San Diego CA.

9:30-12:00 Breakfast treats followed by Signs of Spring

2:00-400 Signs of Spring – 5 springtime cards

Saturday, March 26

Card making classes at Hearts & Crafts – Covina CA.

A day of techniques

10:30-12:30 Embossed and painted aluminum cans for card makers – 5 colorful cards

(please bring an apron and plastic gloves.)

2:00-4:00

Tooled Paper Leather Cards – 5 all new cards

April 2016 Classes

Here are the dates and locations for my classes in April. Fallbrook Women’s Club

Class subject matter to be announced.

Saturday April 9 Scrampers – Torrance CA.

11:00-1:00

2:00-4:00

Wednesday April 13 Fallbrook Women’s Club – Fallbrook CA

11:00-1:00

Saturday April 16 Perfect Day Scrapbooking – Huntington Beach CA.

10:30-12:30

1:30-3:30

Monday April 18 The Stamp Addict, San Diego CA.

9:30-12:00

2:00-4:00

Thursday April 21 The Making Place – Escondido CA.

1:00-3:00

Saturday April 23 Hearts & Crafts – Covina CA.

10:30-12:30

2:00-4:00

Happy (Chinese) New Year!

This year the Chinese calendar celebrates the year of the monkey. To mark the occasion, I indulged in a little monkey business in the form of this free digital stamp. There is also a scan of a card I'm including in my February classes using this little guy. You can download the traditional gift envelope template and make the card too. Ive included a monkey without the year 2016 on his tummy so you can customize him however you like. Happy New Year and enjoy!