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Just stopping in to say, what a waste of a morning! I drove all the way to north Tucson to an eye doctor who participates on our less than stellar eye insurance plan. Victor has been after me to have laser eye surgery for a couple of years. Since we have a little bit of money left in our FSA account we though well, why not? So the vision plan is supposed to provide discounts on lasik if you go to a participating doctor. After going through their whole 90 minute long consultation appointment which includes numbing my eyeballs and poking directly on my corneas several times with an ultrasonic poking thingy, they announce the price. $2,000.... PER EYE! What the heck? I was thinking less than half that. Even one eye is more than we have in the FSA account. Needless to say... I'm not doing it! So all I have to show for the whole morning is some very sore eyes from the poking and prodding. The only good thing about the morning was paying $1.97 a gallon for gas at Costco on the way home. Yup, that's right! $1.97!

So, I'm a bit frazzled now. Oh the other good thing about today is it looks like Trevor (our son who just got back from his mission in Guatemala) might be getting a job offer tomorrow for a pretty good job. He had a phone interview this morning and they just called to ask him to come in for an in person interview in the morning. Yippee! It pays off to apply for every job you see! He had an email from another place this morning saying they wanted to interview him. So, hopefully he'll be working after Thanksgiving.

Well, back in my nostalgic phase now. I have some more cool pictures I found on those CDs I mentioned yesterday. If you remember I said that my Great-Grandfather Peder Pedersen was a tailor in Idaho Falls. In addition to the picture of him and his son (my great-uncle) Eddie, I found these as well.

Here is Great-Grandfather Pedersen in his tailor shop in Vinkel, Denmark.


Here is supposed to be the exterior of the Danish tailor shop:


Here is the exterior of the Idaho Falls tailor shop with my dad's cousin Jean and a friend of hers:


Lastly, here is the interior of the Idaho Falls tailor shop. I believe that's Great-Grandfather Pederson on the right and my Great-Uncle Eddie at the pressing machine.


Ok, enough nostalgia for today. Tomorrow I'll share photos of where my Great-Grandparents met in Denmark and the church in which they were married.

Thanks for playing!

Jan]]> General http://www.paperthreads.com/blog/samhailey/index.php?itemid=288 Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:58:03 -0500 http://www.paperthreads.com/blog/samhailey/index.php?itemid=287
Let's get that pesky business out of the way and then I'll tell you about the rest of my weekend.

The Monday Super Steal is here again! Have you ever sent out a Happy Thanksgiving card? No? Well, this one might get you to do it this year! Here is my Thanksgiving Turkey Pop-Up Card! Its on sale for just $2 at 50% off, today only! This special deal ends at midnight US Eastern time tonight. Don't miss out! This is a really easy pop-up card to assemble. I guarantee you will love it!




OK, back to the weekend... On Saturday I had a really neat opportunity to volunteer at a big Genealogy and Family History Conference at my church. I really enjoy working on my own Family History. I had no idea that it was soooooo big here where I live. I guess considering we live next to a town that is almost exclusively retirement communities would explain some of it. Not that I think you have to be retired to be into Family History but I guess that's when you finally get time to work on it. I love it though. By the end of the day 200 people had come through! If you are ever interested in getting into researching your own Family History, here is a great site for getting started!

This reminded me that at our big family reunion this summer I was got a two CD set containing an enormous number of Pedersen family photos. It's like a gold mine! Many of the photos were taken at my Grandmother's funeral (my Dad's Mom). It also includes addresses of those who were there. There are even letters that were written to her to be read at the funeral. The most precious thing to me is the photos of my ancestors that are included. I realize that I don't know everyone in the pictures though, so I'm going to take them to my parents this Thanksgiving and have my Dad tell me who everyone is.

Here's one of my favorites on the disc:

This is my grandmother and her four sisters. My grandmother is the one in the middle. I'm not entirely sure where the picture was taken though. I've got lots of detail to get out of my dad! When I look at that picture, I can see what many of my dad's relatives say when they see Hailey and exclaim, "Now, that's a Pedersen girl!"
Here's another of the her and her siblings, apparently without the three youngest:

My grandmother would be the girl on the right in the white dress. I'm not sure why the little tow-headed boy is smaller than her because he should be older. Unless that's her younger brother and one of the older are missing. I love those boys and their hats and coats trying to look like men. The boy on the second to the left with the smirk on his face looks just like my brother Tom. I've seen that look on his face before!!!
Here's one more of my favorites. My great-grandfather and his brother were tailors in Idaho Falls. *Looking at more photos, I think that might be my great uncle Eddie with Grandpa Pedersen*

It cracks me up how they would sit on the table to work. Their work area looks about as neat and tidy as mine is. Now I see where I get my organizational skills from. The calendar on the wall says February 1947. Now, I'm sure if I've gotten any of the above wrong, I'll have my Dad to correct me!!!

Speaking of heritage, Michelle wrote a really great article about preserving our heritage in the November Newsletter. It came out on Friday, have you read it yet?

Well, everyone have a wonderful day! I'm feeling all nostalgic again, so watch out!

Thanks for playing!
Jan


]]> General http://www.paperthreads.com/blog/samhailey/index.php?itemid=287 Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:50:40 -0500 http://www.paperthreads.com/blog/samhailey/index.php?itemid=286
I got two new files uploaded to the Sam & Hailey Designs QMC today. I'm loving both of them! The first is a couple of new Swirly Bookplates. They're so pretty! I have more I'm working on, too.

I've been using these pretty files to make prizes for Bingo this month. We're having "First-To" challenges for each word. The prize is a custom forum signture image (made by yours truly). Here are a couple of examples I've made so far:



You can see how nice they'd look on your scrapbook pages!

The next file is the first in a collection of Itty Bitty Holiday files! It's Itty Bitty Ornament Charms. I love these little guys! They are just the thing for a cool technique that Shelly (of Shelly's Art) is sharing in the next newsletter. Speaking of the newsletter, it should be out any day now!


You can have both of these files today as a member of the QMC!

That's all for today folks! Have a wonderful and amazing weekend!

Thanks for playing!

Jan]]> General http://www.paperthreads.com/blog/samhailey/index.php?itemid=286 Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:09:06 -0500 http://www.paperthreads.com/blog/samhailey/index.php?itemid=285
I'm off to spend some time with my kids this morning at Sam's school. After that I'm going to concentrate on nothing but designing new cutter files. I'm going into hiding for a while! Talk to you tomorrow!

Thanks for playing!

Jan]]> General http://www.paperthreads.com/blog/samhailey/index.php?itemid=285 Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:04:53 -0500 http://www.paperthreads.com/blog/samhailey/index.php?itemid=284
Yesterday Samantha was off school for Veteran's Day. It was neat to see her first real introduction into "civics". On Monday morning they had a big Veteran's Day assembly at the primary school. The kids who had veterans as relatives invited them to come in for it. Samantha was so excited because she got to sing three songs as a part of the celebration. "Yankee Doodle Dandy," "Your A Grand Old Flag," and something called "My Country" which I didn't recognize when she sang it. She was full of excitement and awe to think of the people who were willing to give their lives in defense of our country. She said "Mom, there were people who came who fought in the War but didn't die!" It was a nice opportunity to talk to her about why freedom is so important to us. Without this country, we wouldn't be free to practice our religion, vote the way our conscience dictates, or speak our minds whatever way we want and those are some things that I'll be eternally grateful for! On Monday night, they had a "Lighted Schoolhouse" activity at the school which was cute. We went and the girls got to make some patriotic crafts and we ate hot dogs, of course! Then yesterday, since Sam was off school we went to the park in the morning. We finally got out the bucket of winter clothes we had put away in the spring. Upon discovering that Samantha has no cool weather clothes aside from school uniform things, we decided go to Target and do a little shopping. After that, lunch at Wendy's and home for naps! It was a busy but fun day.

So, what else is going on? I'm in the throes of another Paperthreads Newsletter! Did you get a new confirmation email recently? Be sure to confirm you are on the new and improved (more secure) mailing list or you won't get the newsletter! If you didn't get a new confirmation in the past couple of weeks, I'd recommend going and signing up again on the Newsletter page.

That's it for me today folks... I've gotta get this newsletter done and I have a ton more files to test cut!!!

Thanks for playing!

Jan]]> General http://www.paperthreads.com/blog/samhailey/index.php?itemid=284 Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:46:42 -0500 http://www.paperthreads.com/blog/samhailey/index.php?itemid=283
I have a ton to share with you today! First up, the Monday Super Steal! Today's steal is my Thanksgiving Turkey Door Sign. I made one of these for my Mom last year and she loved it! I got so many comments on my Halloween door sign this year that I think I need to make one of these Thanksgiving ones for myself! For today only it will be 50% - just $2 for an awesome file!



Secondly, I don't think I ever shared with you all the family photos we had taken when everyone was here! They mostly turned out really good. We got a ton of good ones of the girls right at the beginning of the photo shoot, but then at the end when we were finally doing the whole family, the girls attention span was exhausted. So, I took the photo that was the best of everyone else and photoshopped in the best parts of the girls from the other ones. It was a challenge, but it worked! Check it out!



Here's a bunch more of the photo shoot:









Lastly, here's a new file I'm uploading to the Sam & Hailey Designs 4th Quarter QMC today! It's a cute rounded basket with different decorative edges. Nice for putting that extra Halloween candy on your desk to share! Or how about using it for a bread basket on the Thanksgiving table?





This file won't be up in the store for a while, but you can get it this afternoon if you sign up for the QMC today!

Thanks for playing!

Jan
]]> General http://www.paperthreads.com/blog/samhailey/index.php?itemid=283 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:51:28 -0500 http://www.paperthreads.com/blog/samhailey/index.php?itemid=282
Just wanted to drop in and let you know about a couple of things:

First, there's a new Bingo game on Paperthreads about to start! I'm hosting again so watch out! We're doing "Count Your Blessings" Bingo this month. I think we all could use some time to reflect on the great many blessings we have in our lives. It seems like there's so much negativity in the world today, so let's focus on the positive this month! You can sign up until Midnight tomorrow night so hop on over and get your words picked out!

Second, I posted the next "Off the Page" Challenge this week. The theme is Gift Boxes and Bags! The project you complete can be for simple gift giving to treat giving to super fancy giving! You can do this one! It's super fun and easy! Sign up right here!

You get to pick from four of my box and bag patterns for this challenge! They are:

All Purpose Treat Box


Large Box Bottom Bag


Goodie Bags


Square Card Box


So, sign up already!!!

Thanks for playing!

Jan]]> General http://www.paperthreads.com/blog/samhailey/index.php?itemid=282 Sat, 8 Nov 2008 21:47:37 -0500 http://www.paperthreads.com/blog/samhailey/index.php?itemid=281
Here's a fun project that I have been working on for the past few weeks. We've been having our first ever ATC Swap on Paperthreads. I don't know what I was thinking in signing up for three categories, but I finally got them done! I made a series of four cards for each theme, Fall, Winter and Christmas. Here they are along with details of how I made them.

Harvest ATCs


This card is one of my ATC Gatefold Card Blanks with one side of the gatefold cut off. The wheat stalk and title are from my Itty Bitty Fall Harvest file.

This card is one of my ATC Decorative Edge Card Blanks. The acorns are from my Itty Bitty Fall Harvest File.

This card is a plain ATC from my ATC Basics file with part of one of my ATC Decorative Edge Card Blanks on top. The corn and title are also from Itty Bitty Fall Harvest . The corn was a happy mistake I made. When I was cutting the corn out, I had the pressure and speed up too high and instead of cutting out he little lattice pattern, it shredded the top layer of the cardstock. I thought it looked cool and used it anyway.

This card is from ATC Basics and the pumpkin from Itty Bitty Pumpkin Patch. The swirl is from one of my Swirly Style files.

Winter ATCs

All of these cards are from ATC Basics cut from Bazzill Bling cardstock. The swirls are bits and pieces from my Swirly Winter Tree file. The snowflakes are from Itty Bitty Snowflakes. I attempted to make them look silvery by covering them with embossing powder and heat embossing them. It worked except when it liquified it bubbled up a bit. It's been a long time since I used embossing powder so I'm a bit rusty with it! Oh well, it was fun to try something I haven't done in a long time.





Poinsettia ATCs
These cards are also from ATC Basics. I used a flower from my Paper Blossoms file that looks like a poinsettia and cut it out in different sizes. Then I layered them and put a rhinestone brad in the middle. The swirls in the background are from my Swirly Style files. I tried something new here. I have some cream rub ons from Craf-T products that I've never used before. I took some of the metallic gold and rubbed it on the petals and around the cards with my finger. It gave a really nice sheen to the cards. I've had these creams forever and never used them. I think I might be hooked now!






Phew! That's a lot of photos, huh? I sure enjoyed making these. Of course I got them done way late, sorry Sandra! But, I can hardly wait to see what I get back in the swap!

Thanks for playing!
Jan]]> General http://www.paperthreads.com/blog/samhailey/index.php?itemid=281 Thu, 6 Nov 2008 18:57:57 -0500 http://www.paperthreads.com/blog/samhailey/index.php?itemid=280
I have a bunch of things to share with you today! Where to even start??? I guess I'll start with the latest additions to the Sam & Hailey Designs QMC. In the past week I've added the following two files:

First, a really neat little treat box. I call it the Chocolate box, but it's just the right size for Chocolates, mini-Cupcakes (pictured), or mini-Muffins. It's a fun way to give a little homemade treat! The bottom is a box with three holes in it, and then there's a cover with a cutout in the top so you can see what's inside!





Second, I added the first in a new line of files I've been working on called Super Quick Cards. This one is a Christmas Tree themed card just in time to get your Holiday Cards started! I made a batch of 6 today in about an hour. These cards are designed to take the guess work out of mass producing cards. All you have to decide on is which paper to use!




These aren't up in the store yet so if you want them right away, why not join the QMC?

I'm going to divide up my topics into separate posts today. So, stay tuned!

Thanks for playing!

Jan]]> General http://www.paperthreads.com/blog/samhailey/index.php?itemid=280 Thu, 6 Nov 2008 18:26:45 -0500 http://www.paperthreads.com/blog/samhailey/index.php?itemid=279
I hope your Election Day has been a good one! Did you get out and vote yet? I have to run out as soon as Victor gets home. I decided that I'd rather not take the girls with me to the polls. But I know who I'm voting for, for better or worse. I wish that it was easier to decide!

Did you go on over and check out the Election Day deals at Paperthreads today? I'm having a 44% off sale and so are Ileana and Lori! Be sure to go over and snap up the good deals! Remember the sale ends at Midnight US Eastern Time tonight! That means you have about four hours left to shop! Don't miss out!

Sorry for the short post today! I'll try to make up for it tomorrow!

Thanks for playing!

Jan]]> General http://www.paperthreads.com/blog/samhailey/index.php?itemid=279 Tue, 4 Nov 2008 19:27:27 -0500