Cyber Monday Sale

The Cyber Monday Sale begins at midnight EST and ends Tuesday at midnight EST. Have questions? Send me a message! 
Don't forget you must join our Facebook group to see what items are available. Join us on Inky Hot Mess.

Close To My Heart Stamps sizes A, B, C, and D are $3 off! 
Close To My Heart Stamps E size and kits are $5 off!
House Mouse stamps over $5 are $2 off!
SEI ink pads are $1!
Close To My Heart cardstock alphabet stickers are $0.50 each!
All 6x6 paper pads are $3 each!
Close To My Heart Background & Texture papers are $2 off!
Close To My Heart Level 1 Kist are $2 off!
Close To My Heart Base Pages are $2 off!
All albums are $2 off!
We R Memory Keeper stickers are $1
Washi Tape is $0.50 off!
Studio G stamps are $0.75!
Ranger Adirondack Ink Pads are $1!
Karen Foster Design stickers are $0.50!
Cuttlebug die sets (set of 4 dies) are $3!

Black Friday Sale!

Happy Gobble Gobble Weekend! 

HUUUUUUUUGE Black Friday Sale is happening NOW here at Inky Hot Mess. 

This sale runs from NOW until Saturday at 12 midnight EST. 

ALL items are 25% OFF!!!

EXCLUDING the paper boxes! They are 10% off and shipping is included!

You MUST join the Inky Hot Mess Facebook group. Just ask to join and once approved, check out the photo albums. Everything available has a photo, description, and price listed. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/211504655531278/

Why do you have to be approved to join the group? It's nothing personal. Really it isn't. I'm trying to keep spammers out. People live to spam others and it's just plain annoying! 

Lots of creations will be back next week. Along with some announcements. Something huuuuge will be announced in January. I'm super excited about many things that are in the works! 

Happy Shopping! 

Paper Pad Mess

Since I've gotten into card making, I've stocked up on 6" x 6" paper pads. Their smaller scale works so much better for many cards. You get the full pattern on a much small piece of paper. 

What do I do with this mountain?? Seriously. It's ugly and looks terrible on my shelves. And then there's that whole problem with things falling over. Yeah, thanks, but no thanks. 

So here's my solution. I purchased the black plastic basket from Target. They are found in the kitchen plastics section by the dish drainers. My Target has them in black or white. The 6" x 6" paper pads fit in them perfectly!

To help with saving a smidge of space and not having to worry about the seals that hold the paper pads closed getting everything all sticky, I tore both covers off. My original plan was to just cut off the company name and collection name off the cover and put that with the paper pad. That's what I do with my 12" x 12" collections. I didn't like how that looked with the small pads since they stand up and the large collections lay down. Shuffling through them to find what I wanted was also not as easy since the cardboard piece would fall to the bottom of the bag.

So onto Plan B! I threw away the cardboard pieces. They irked me. They also weren't very neat and once there's cut up papers in the bags, it would be even harder to find the tag. I have about 834 million labels around here. I went with the Avery 8478 labels. They're made for 1/3 tab file folders. There is a template you could use if that's your thing. I just used an Ultra Fine Point Sharpie and wrote on the labels. All I put on the label was the company name and the collection name. This solved my issues.

How do I organize my paper pads? Same way I do my collections. They are all sorted by theme. Christmas, winter, autumn, Halloween, Americana which covers the 4th of July and anything patriotic, spring, summer, beach/nautical, boy, girl, baby, love (includes Valentine's Day), wedding, Easter, outdoors, pets, school, etc. 

The bags. They are an odd size. I originally purchased them for my Close To My Heart stamp reorganization project. More on that in another post in the future when that project is complete. 

The bags are 7" x 7" zipper bags and I purchased them from eBay. They fit both the Close To My Heart stamp sets and the 6" x 6" paper pads perfectly! I'll have to find 9" x 9" zipper bags when I get some 8" x 8" pads. 

Oh one great thing about ordering the bags from eBay. You can find people selling them in 100 count or 1,000 count. I went with the box of 1,000 since I knew I have a huge project in the works. 

Hope this works for somebody out there! 

Grandmother Birthday Card

Two of my grandmothers have birthdays this month. No need to visit a Hallmark store when you have a studio full of supplies! I ended up making six of these cards. I figured I had everything out and making multiples is easy. It's the first one that is challenging. My extra four cards went into my Operation Write Home stash. Maybe someday I'll become famous and sell my cards.

Until then, I'll let you know what went into these cards. They're all the same card. A few things are different on a couple. I had some issues with my Vagabond. I finally used it! Talk about a learning curve. It doesn't work anything like the Cuttlebug! Lots of reading and video watching is necessary with the Vagabond unlike the Cuttlebug which is all trial and error. 

The card bases are Colonial White Die Cut Cards from Close To My Heart. Upon them I built several layers of papers and cardstocks. All of which came in the Chantilly Paper Pack from Close To My Heart. I used the Champagne, Buttercup, and Lagoon cardstocks. 

All of the inking was done in Regal Rose from Stampin' Up. The cardstock base was sent through my Vagabond and I used the Sizzix Texturz Fancy Fan plate from Stampin' Up.

The twine is Pink from Queen & Co. The stamps inside and out are from the Birthday Tags set from Papertrey Ink.

I used two die sets for this. The first one I used cut out the larger base that the stamped cardstock sits on. That first layer was cut on the Vagabond using Labels Fourteen from Spellbinders. The stamp cardstock layer was cut on the Vagabond with the Tabs and Tags set from Clear Dollar Stamps.

Apparently, I've come up with some sort of style that's my own. I haven't seen anyone else do this, but I'm sure there's at least one other person on earth who's done this. There are, after all, something like seven billion people here. Surely, I didn't create this, but it does seem to have become a signature for myself. 

I've been stamping a small sentiment in the bottom corner of the card. Then a stick on a row of washi tape. I have no idea who makes this washi tape. I probably should try to keep track of that somehow. Not sure how since all washi doesn't come wrapped up with a label when purchasing it especially online.

Digital Scrapbooking...So It Begins

Yup, I took the plunge. I know what you're thinking. Holy cow! She's leaving us. I'm not. Really, I'm not. I've been dabbling in digital scrapbooking for awhile, but was never really impressed with anything I tried. 

I tried Studio J from Close To My Heart when it first came out. I didn't like how everything was pre-formatted for you and you couldn't change papers. I've heard that it has changed since then, but I also didn't like that I had to be online to scrapbook and that I have to purchase the printed layouts or jpeg's from them. I travel a lot and internet access can be tricky at best in many locations. 

I also have tried MDS from Stampin' Up. It's nice. Better than Studio J. It has much more than scrapbook layouts in it. You can make cards and other projects. I am under the impression that you can only use SU products with it. I could be totally wrong. The consultant I asked about it when I purchased it knew absolutely nothing about it. I have purchased additional items from SU for MDS, but I never loaded them into MDS. I keep all the papers, embellishments, and stamps all in folders based on their collection name. I did this so I would have access to them to use them in Photoshop. 

Some of my trees in autumn

I've heard that Photoshop or Photoshop Elements was really the way to go with digital scrapbooking. Problem with that. How the heck do you use Photoshop? Seriously! I own the Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 and don't even know what 98% of the programs included are! I took a Photoshop and Illustrator class at a local college when I lived in South Carolina and felt like I didn't learn squat so I was not at all comfortable using either piece of software. In fact, I HATED Photoshop. I thought Adobe was full of morons. Nope. It wasn't Adobe who was full of morons. Turns out it was my instructor.

Well, last year I purchased a digital scrapbooking class from Jessica Sprague. I talked to a few people who I knew dabbled in digital. I did some research online and pretty much everyone said yes take Jessica's classes. You will learn lots and you will love digital. The class ended up on sale for whatever reason. I purchased it and thought why did I waste that money? Who am I kidding? I HATE Photoshop. 

Fast forward a year. I've got thousands more photos that need scrapbooking. I have been organizing my digital photos. I've got 2 years done! That took almost a month. Yes, I literally have over 100,000 digital photos. No exaggeration. One day at a zoo, I took 495 photos. That was one day! I was only there for about four to five hours. 

So now that I'm in the digital organization mode, I've been wondering how I'm ever going to get all of my photos into completed layouts before I'm 653 years old and still keep taking pictures and travel. Oh and I have other things to make besides layouts. 

I was staring at my MacBook in complete disbelief. Really thinking I'm going to give up sleep and tv and relaxing and working on my house (Who cares if the roof collapses on me. I've got pages to get done!) and bathing and eating....maybe then I'd get it all done. Yeah, most of that was never going to happen. The girl who can't go more than a day without showering or washing her hair at least once a day is never going to give up bathing!

Tigger the Lounge Kitty

I started poking around in Finder to see what other junk...I mean good stuff was collecting dust aka taking up space on my harddrive. What do I find? A whole mess of papers, embellishments, and stamps - all digital - from Jessica Sprague's website. I'm an Echo Park junkie and there's tons of their products. Hmmmm......

I go to her website to see what other cool things she has now since I hadn't been there in like a year. OMG! Color me happy! Bo Bunny. Basic Grey. Fancy Pants Designs. Carta Bella. Echo Park. Cosmo Cricket. Big names in the industry have collections for sale on her website! I log into my account and guess what's there....yup, that class I bought a year ago. Guess what I started working on this week. 

Ooh ooh ooh. Upon further examination. Many of the big industry companies sell lots of their collections digitally on their websites. I've contacted a few who I couldn't find anything from and some responded that they are working on it, a few told me where I could find the digitals, and a couple were like pffft we don't do that. So if you're interested in digital products at all, contact your favorite companies via Facebook or their website and ask them! The more people who ask, the more likely they will sell us what we want.

You're going to get a kick out of this. When I originally bought my digital papers from Jessica, it was to print the 12" x 12" papers at home so I wouldn't have to buy the same kits multiple times or when I ran out of those papers and it was no longer available. As of today, I've never printed any of them out and I have a 13" x 17" printer I purchased especially for that purpose! Good thing it was only clearance at Staples!

I'm almost done with lesson two. My assignment for that lesson is to share what I created in class. While people who've been at this for ages may have better layouts or suggestions on improvements, I'm very happy with my layouts. Could they be better? I don't know. I like them. I probably could sit here and spend 20 hours adding layers and crap to them, but less is more! I have that some problem in traditional scrapbooking. I want to keep adding stuff. Every cat sticker I own doesn't need to be on one layout. 

Maxx being crazy after bathtime

Today I'm sharing with you my completed layouts from class. Hope you like them. I do especially the one of Tigger. 

Oh and one more important thing. This is kinda huge. I don't hate Photoshop anymore. Shhhh....I'm actually kind of enjoying it. 

Valentine's Day Card for Operation Kuwait

Today's card is the one for Valentine's Day I made for Operation Kuwait. I sound like Walmart pushing holidays months in advance I know! But my friend is shipping these overseas and we will only be doing it twice a year. Gotta stockpile while I can!

The card base is made from Colonial White from Close To My Heart. The cover cardstocks are Hollyhock from Close To My Heart and a scrap of Bazzill.

The "love" stamp is from Studio G and is stamped in Victorian Velvet from Tim Holtz's Distress Inks. The "Happy Valentine's Day" is from the hearts2love set from The Stamps of Life and it's inked in Fired Brick from Tim Holtz's Distress Inks. The cardstocks are edged in Worn Lipstick from Tim Holt'z Distress Inks line. 

First time alert! This was my first time using baker's twine on a card. Shocking I know. The pearls are from Basic Grey.

I was asked what I used to score the cardstock to fold it over into a card. I have the Martha Stewart Scoring Boards. I was skeptical when I bought it. Some of her products are ok, some are good, and some are stinky. This one actually works really well. It even comes with a scoring tool and an envelope making tool. I do recommend it. I know others have used it for making rosettes.

The stamp on the inside is from One Plus One Equals Love from The Stamps of Life. Worn Lipstick Distress Ink from Tim Holtz was used to stamp onto the Blush cardstock from Close To My Heart.

Dimensions:
Card base: 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"
Hollyhock base: 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"
Pink cardstock: 5" x 3 3/4" 

I do not receive any compensation for the products used on Inky Hot Mess. I use what I like. The products are not given to me. I have purchased every item used. So if I think something stinks, I'll tell you to save your money and go elsewhere. If a product is given to me to test out, I will let you know. 

Birthday Card #2 for Operation Kuwait

Today's birthday card is a masculine card. It can be used for a little boy or a grown up. I think one is my favorite of the bunch I've made. It's the most fun to me. Who doesn't love cake?

The card base is White Daisy from Close To My Heart. All the cardstocks are from Bazzill and Close To My Heart. 

I used Kiwi Kiss ink on the card base and Pacific Point ink on the layers of cardstock. Both of those inks are from Stampin' Up. 

The stamped image is from the Birthday Celebrations set from Clear Dollar stamps and it's stamped in Midnight Muse ink from Stampin' Up. 

Here's the inside of the card. I don't remember who made the Washi tape unfortunately. It's fun Washi! The Happy Birthday is from Birthday Wishes made by Clear Dollar Stamps and it's stamped in Island Indigo from Stampin' Up.

The finished product! One card is open so you can see how fun the inside it. The blue Epoxy Bubbles on the fronts are from Close To My Heart Plenty of white space for the military folks to write a note home. 

Dimensions:

Card bases: 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"
Light blue cardstock: 5 1/4" x 4"
Green cardstock: 4 3/4" x 3 1/2"
Dark blue cardstock: 4 1/4" x 3"
Stamped image cardstock: 2 1/2" x 2'


I do not receive any compensation for the products used on Inky Hot Mess. I use what I like. The products are not given to me. I have purchased every item used. So if I think something stinks, I'll tell you to save your money and go elsewhere. If a product is given to me to test out, I will let you know. 

Birthday Card for Operation Kuwait

Can you believe November is here already and it's flying by? Geesh seems like it was Halloween just yesterday! I've been busy working on a couple of projects. One is some organization in my studio which you'll see soon! I need to complete it first. My second big project was making cards from my friend's military troop in Kuwait. I finally finished up my cards and got them shipped off to Colorado.

I made some birthday cards that are feminine, but could be used for gals who like pink or purple and they could be used for an adult or a child. The bases are made from Colonial White cardstock from Close To My Heart. All of the inks are pigment inks and chalk inks from Studio G. The cardstocks are all from my scrap bin and are from Close To My Heart and Bazzill. Amazing what's been hanging out in my scrap bags!

When making cards, I like to pre-cut everything. I tend to make piles and ink all of the edges. This sort of gives things time to dry a bit except when using pigments. Pigments take quite awhile to dry. The lavender cardstock in the upper left has metallic silver pigment ink on the edges. I couldn't get it to photograph and it's not super obvious when looking at them in bright sunlight either. It's very subtle.  

The stamps are from the Birthday Tags set from Papertrey Ink. That brad in the middle is a dark purple brad from Close To My Heart. The image is stamped in black pigment ink.

The cute purple ribbon with white and pink daisies is from my purple ribbon jar. I've had that one and lots of purple ribbons are ages. This is how I store many of my ribbons. If they come on spools longer than 3 yards, they go on the racks on my studio door. All other ribbons are in jars like this one. They are quite stuffed full so I have really cut back on my ribbon purchases unless it's something for a specific project or something I can't live without which is very rare these days. 

I wanted a little something inside the cards as well. This stamp is also from Birthday Tags from Papertrey Ink. The paper flower is from Prima. The flower is attached with a Glue Dot. There's a little purple bling as well. Not sure where that's from.

Here we have the finished cards with one open so you can see the little added piece on the inside. The star stamps are also on the Birthday Tags set from Papertrey Ink.

Dimensions:

Card base: 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"
Lilac colored cardstock: 5 3/8" x 4 1/8"
Lavender colored cardstock: 5" x 3 3/4"
Pink cardstock: 4" x 2"

I do not receive any compensation for the products used on Inky Hot Mess. I use what I like. The products are not given to me. I have purchased every item used. So if I think something stinks, I'll tell you to save your money and go elsewhere. If a product is given to me to test out, I will let you know. 

Family Christmas Invitation

Over the weekend, I made our family Christmas invitations! I still have to type up the text for the inside, but that requires me to play in Photoshop and I really need to be in the mood to deal with Photoshop.

Why an invitation to Christmas? Well, we live several hours away from our families and we feel it's very important to share the holidays with them especially since our nephews are growing so fast! Before we relocated, We hosted the family Christmas Feast every year. Both sides of the family would come. I love having a house full of people on Christmas! Christmas is my most favorite day of the year. It's really hard to spend it away from family, but we're managing.

During the past week, I have used several sheets of Papertrey Ink's cardstock and I really have fallen in love with them. I looooooove the weight! It's not expensive either. It's only a little bit more than you pay in a big box store for cardstock that's about as thick as printer paper. And it comes in so many colors. You can buy it by the individual color or a yearly sampler pack which has every color in it. You can also buy the individual colors in three packs - 12, 24, or 50 sheets. And here's the best part. If you spend $70 or more, you get free shipping! 

Papertrey Ink has really thought of everything. They have coordinating cardstocks, inks and reinkers, ribbons, buttons, felt, and baker's twine. They have very high quality controls and will not sell a product if it is not 100% up to their standards. Their colors really match! I can't say that about every company unfortunately. There's nothing worse than stamping away only to discover your ink is a completely different shade of red, blue, purple, whatever than the matching cardstock. That's so frustrating!

Here is my Christmas invitation:

Papertrey Ink & Inkadinkado

The card base is Poppy from Papertrey Ink. The cardstock with the stamped image is Colonial White from Close To My Heart. The edges of the Colonial White cardstock are distressed with Topiary ink from Close To My Heart.

Inkadinkado, Ranger, & Tsukineko

Both images are stamped and embossed. The tree is from Artistic Holiday from Inkadinkado. It was first stamped using Pearlescent Thyme from Brilliance made by Tsukineko. Then I embossed the tree using Frosted Crystal embossing powder from the Embossing Antiquities line from Ranger. 

Inkadinkado, Tsukineko, & Close To My Heart

The Merry Christmas image was stamped in Platinum Planet from Tsukineko's Brilliance line. Then I embossed over it with Cranberry embossing powder from Close To My Heart. This stamp is from the Filigree Holiday Patterns set from Inkadinkado.


I do not receive any compensation for the products used on Inky Hot Mess. I use what I like. The products are not given to me. I have purchased every item used. So if I think something stinks, I'll tell you to save your money and go elsewhere. If a product is given to me to test out, I will let you know. 

Have a Holly Jolly...

Yup....I was singing Christmas carols Thursday evening. I blame my friend Erin. She has some friends who are in the military and she ganged up on us and demanded we make a bunch of cards to send to them so they can have awesome cards to mail home to their families, friends, and loved ones. It's like a mini Operation Write Home for her friends.

Now, I admit I am not a card maker. But darn it, I'm going to try! So I made two cards last week. I made four of each card and covered two themes. Winter and Christmas are done. Considering doing some New Year cards. I discovered I have a cute New Year stamp! Who knew? Not me! And then I will be doing some Valentine's Day cards. Probably a birthday batch as well. Then I'll be done. I have a bunch in a box I was going to send to OWH, but I just watched a video from them and I think my cards are too thick! Ugh. Less pop dots is more....Ok I'm not buying, but I'm trying to convince myself!

It's a Wonderful Life - A Muse Studios

Card #1 is my Christmas carol card. Everybody....sing along...sure it's only October, but Christmas will be here before you know it! Have a Holly Jolly Christmas.... Where's Frosty when you need him?

A Muse Studios, Papertrey Ink & The Paper Studio

The Holly Jolly stamp is from a super cute stamp set from A Muse Studio. The set is called "It's a Wonderful Life." I live two towns over from the famous bridge and the town that inspired the movie! I kid you not. There's a museum there and a huge festival every December. Actors from the movie come here for it and everything. Crazy, right? But so cool! That's why I was interested in the stamp set. I didn't even look to see what came in the box!

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas

It's a Wonderful Life is in the chalkboard style that is wicked popular right now. I stamped Holly Jolly in the reverse. It's stamped on white cardstock with True Black ink from Papertrey Ink. The brick red paper is from a Christmas stack from The Paper Studio which is Hobby Lobby's brand. The cardstock underneath the paper is Pinefeather from Papertrey Ink. The base is white cardstock distressed with Pinefeather ink from Papertrey Ink.

One thing I love about Papertrey Ink's cardstocks are how heavy they are! Their cardstocks are 110 pound weight! That's like pro cardstock. They know what they are doing there! I have only purchased the samples of their cardstocks before. I've had one pack since 2011! And I never opened it. Shame on me! This is what happens when you're a scrapbooker and you resist crossing over. I'm trying though!

Let It Snow Cards

The second card I made I got a little crazy with the inks. Adirondack Colorwash from Ranger is dangerous! It's highly addicting. I wasn't going to wait overnight for the card bases to dry so out came the heat gun. So the cards have a slight curl to them, but I'm sure it will flatten out once packaged and shipped to my crazy friend Erin.

Sailboat Blue Adirondack Colorwash

I used two bottles of Adirondack Colorwash (made by Ranger) - Sailboat Blue and Denim. The papers are from Magic of the Season from The Paper Studio.

Denim Adirondack Colorwash

For "Let It Snow" and the snowflake I used Colonial White pigment ink from Close To My Heart. A little white Liquid Applique heated up with my heatgun puffed up.

Snowflakes - The Paper Studio

The "Let It Snow" stamp is from the Snowflakes set form The Paper Studio.

Artistic Holiday - Inkadinkado

The snowflake stamp is from Artistic Holiday by Inkadinkado.


A Muse Studio is a home party company so you cannot find their stamps in stores or online except for their website. I was recently put into contact with Pamela who is an A Muse Studio Consultant by one of my good crafting friends. If you'd like to see more from A Muse Studio or purchase It's a Wonderful Life so you can sing Christmas carols in October, please feel free to contact Pamela. Click here to visit her website.

I do not receive any compensation for the products used on Inky Hot Mess. I use what I like. The products are not given to me. I have purchased every item used. So if I think something stinks, I'll tell you to save your money and go elsewhere.

Bo Bunny Project

Have you seen Bo Bunny's November Project???? 

http://bobunny.blogspot.com/2013/10/november-blog-class-teaser-autumn-song.html

How adorable is this house? Of course, I have to make one! Problem is that the kits are available at local scrapbook stores and I don't have one. Boo! Totally not right! So I contacted Bo Bunny and guess what. They have an online vendor who is selling them. I'm so excited. So if you're interested in this super cute project you can purchase it from Bargain Pack. I'm so thankful that Bo Bunny realizes all of us aren't fortunate enough to have a LSS. They are becoming such a rare thing nowadays and I don't like it. 

If you purchase this kit, please let me know. I'd love for us all to share our house when we're all done next month.

Giveaway Winner & Stamp Sale!

I have the results from the first Inky Hot Mess Giveaway!! 

The winner is.............

Kelli Thornton

She used up her five guesses and won! The winning answer was Close To My Heart stamps.

That's right folks. ALL Close To My Heart stamps are on sale starting now to all members of the Inky Hot Mess Facebook group. Run over and join now! 

Prices:

• W size with Block Regular Price $5 Sale Price $3
• W size without Block Regular Price $3 Sale Price $2
• Kits Regular Price $25 Sale Price $20
• E size Regular Price $25 Sale Price $20
• D size Regular Price $17 Sale Price $15
• C size Regular Price $13 Sale Price $11
• B size Regular Price $9 Sale Price $7
• A size Regular Price $7 Sale Price $5

Also on sale!!! Acrylic Blocks, Stamp Cleaner, Markers, and Ink Pads from Close To My Heart!

All Close To My Hear Blocks:

• 3" x 3" New Regular Price $5 Sale Price $4
• 1" x 1" New Regular Price $2 Sale Price $1
• 1" x 1" Used Regular Price $1 Sale Price $0.50
• 2" x 3 1/2" Used Regular Price $3.50 Sale Price $2.50

Close To My Heart Stamp Cleaner Used Regular Price $3 Sale Price $2

Close To My Heart Markers New Regular Price $3 Sale Price $2.50

• Cranberry

Close To My Heart Ink Pads New Regular Price $5 Sale Price $4

• Moonstruck
• Garnet

This sale is ONLY for Members of the Inky Hot Mess Facebook group! Join today to save big $$$$!

This sale starts at 12 noon EST on Thursday, October 24th and ENDS Monday, October 28 at midnight EST. 

Happy Stamping!!

Giveaway Ending Soon!

Just a quick reminder that the Inky Hot Mess Giveaway is ending at 11 am! Join our Facebook group to participate! 

Reasons to join the Inky Hot Mess Facebook group:

• Lower prices - no need to wait for a sale on another group. 
• Discounts for members only
• HUGE sales for members only
• Giveaways
• First to see new items
• First to see what's in store for Inky Hot Mess!

Last Chance! & Giveaway

Today is your last chance for $1 Alphabets and Stickers! Some are even 50 cents! All Bundles are also on sale- at least $1 off! Sale ends at midnight tonight!

Blog Giveaway!

You MUST be a member of the Inky Hot Mess Facebook group to win this Giveaway! So run over and join now!!!!!

The next sale will not be announced until Thursday at 12 noon. From NOW until Thursday at 11 am, I am taking guesses on the Inky Hot Mess Facebook group as to what the next sale is. If you guess correctly, I have a prize for you! Free First Class shipping is included! 

Here is what I am giving away to one (1) lucky winner! If more than one person guesses correctly, then I will have a drawing and someone will be chosen at random. You can enter up to five (5) guesses! You must comment on the Facebook Giveaway post ONLY! 

Facebook Giveaway

The prize is a stamp set from We R Memory Keepers. Super cute, right? This could be yours for FREE!! 

Happy guessing!

Sale News & Project List

This weeks' sale is still going on! You only have until tomorrow to save big $$$$!

This week's sale includes ALL Stickers, Alphabets, and Bundles. Nothing over $5! There were over 100 items that are $1 or less! Where can you get scrapping supplies for a buck for a 12" x 12" sheet of alphabet stickers? No where!

Also a reminder that I have brand new Copic Ciaos for $3 each! I had over 40 colors when I put them up for sale. Now I have just over 20 colors available! Copic raises their prices yearly so you will be very hard pressed to find them for $3 anywhere.

What's on my Project List for the week?

I need to make a bunch of cards for Operation Write Home and for a friend who's sending cards to a friend in the military. I just heard about Operation Write Home a few weeks ago. It's great organization that helps out our military women and men. There aren't any Hallmark stores overseas. I know some of our military folks are in great places like Germany and they can shop there, but so many overseas in horrible places like the desert. There's no water. Forget a Hallmark store! So people make cards and send them to OWH who has military contacts and sends what they are requesting.

They take holiday, seasonal, and general cards. They have very strict deadlines because they want the folks to be able to send the cards in time for the upcoming holiday. They do have several rules about the cards they accept. They MUST be handmade! Absolutely NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO glitter! Glitter can get our soldiers killed. It can be seen with night vision eyewear. Stickles? NO! Quickie Glue Pen? NO! Gel Pens? NO! Glitter embossing powder? NO! NO glitter. Period. I know this sounds harsh and OWH really harps on this, but the safety of our soldiers is #1! Our cards are supposed to help them and their families not hinder them. You can still add bling like a rhinestone or pearl!

Adhesive. Don't go cheap on adhesive. Remember this cards are going to be shipped at least three times! Once from you to OWH. From OWH to the military contact. From the soldiers to their loved ones. Use something made for major crafting like ATG or Beacon. Glue sticks do not work! Remember, these packages will also go through crazy temperatures from freezing cold to well over 100 degrees!

There's a video for tucking your envelopes with your cards on OWH. They do ask for your help when sending your cards. They handle hundreds of thousands of cards a year and this is all done by a handful of volunteers. Anything we can do to make their jobs go a little faster and easier means they can spend more time with their families and other projects they have going on in life.

Remember, NO glitter!!!! Use really good adhesive. Tuck your envelopes. Stamp your cards with the stamp you can get for free or one of the ones you can purchase through OWH. Use heavy cardstock. Include a letter to a soldier! If you have kids, have them color a page in a coloring book and send that in as well. There's a whole section on OWH about letters to soldiers. I think it's a pretty great program. Many soldiers don't receive letters or mail from home. Many also miss their families tremendously and this little things help them in so many ways. Imagine being able to send your five year old son a Christmas or birthday card from Afghanistan! Knowing you can't be there has to incredibly difficult, but something as simple a card from mommy or daddy can make a child's holiday!

So a bunch of cards for OWH is on my project list for the week. I'm also making my Christmas Family Feast invitations. Time to start thinking about my Christmas cards as well!

Weekly Sale - Post #100

Say helllllloooo to Post #100!!!! There's a milestone I never thought I'd see!

This week's sale at Inky Hot Mess.....

It's all about embellishments!

This sale runs from now until Tuesday, October 22nd. Inky has included some photos to show a few items that are on sale. There are over 100 items on sale this week!

ALL of the Bundles are on sale! Up to 75% off!

Bundle SALE PRICE $6

Bundle includes Basic Grey Square Dome Brads (K & Company), 100+ pearl flowers, 50+ felt flowers, Blueberry Flocked Lake (We R Memory Keepers), Queen Bee Bella Brads (Pink Paislee), andBrowns Framed Jewels (Deja Views) $8 for all SALE PRICE $6

Love Bundle SALE PRICE $4

Love Bundle includes Honey Pie Cardstock Stickers (Cosmo Cricket), Fleuriste Cardstock Stickers (Cosmo Cricket), Windsor Iron-on Art (SEI), and Love Notes Cardstock Stickers (Cosmo Cricket) $5 for all SALE PRICE $4

ALL Stickers are 50% off! Everything is $1 or under! 

Reunion Memories SALE PRICE $0.50

Karen Foster Designs - Reunion Memories - Cardstock Stickers $1 SALE PRICE $0.50

The World Is Your Canvas SALE PRICE $!

We R Memory Keepers - The World Is Your Canvas - Cardstock Stickers $2 SALE PRICE $1

Happy Birthday SALE PRICE $1

We R Memory Keepers - Happy Birthday - Cardstock Stickers $2 SALE PRICE $1

ALL Alphabets are $1! 

Lush SALE PRICE $1

Chipboard Alphabets from My Mind's Eye - "Lush"
Blue - Flocked
Pink
Brown - Flocked
Green

$3 per set (2 sheets per alpha) SALE PRICE $1

Calisto SALE PRICE $1

Anna Griffin - Calisto Collection - Gold Glitter Chipboard Alphabet Stickers $3 SALE PRICE $1

Sarsaparilla SALE PRICE $1

Close To My Heart - Sarsaparilla - Cardstock Alphabet Stickers 6" x 12" $2 SALE PRICE $1

Eskimo Kisses SALE PRICE $1

Basic Grey - Eskimo Kisses - Cardstock Alphabet Stickers 12" x 12" $2 SALE PRICE $1

Brands included:

• Close To My Heart
• Websters Pages
• K & Company
• Karen Foster Designs
• Cosmo Cricket
• Basic Grey
• Anna Griffin
• My Mind's Eye
• Deja Views
• Glitz
• SEI
• P Etc
• We R Memory Keepers
• Fancy Pants Design
• Scenic Route

And there's more!