Deals of the Week, Fall Corn Cards and blog candy winner

Whoo Hooo! Metal! I love metal embellishments and that is what is on sale this week, I'm so excited! I'll be stocking up, let me know if you want to order some too. Here is what the deals of the week for week #3 are:

Item # 114348 Catalog Page 179 - Basic Jumbo grommets

Regular $6.95, special $4.49

I need a couple of boxes of these! They are great for holding ribbon handles on the fun bags you can make with the Big Shot. There are 20 per package, 5 each of 4 colors; Whisper White, Basic Black, Silver and Very Vanilla

Item #109857 Catalog Page 179 - Mini Library clips

Regular $12.95, Special $8.99

These things are the cutest little dodads! The box holds 48 clips in 4 colors; Black, Silver, Antique Brass and Pewter.

Item #112571 Catalog Page 179 - Circle Designer brads

Regular $5.95, Special $3.99

This little box holds a great variety of brads, large and small. 16 pieces, 8 of each size.

Item #112581 Catalog Page 179 - 1/2" Library clips

Regular $6.95, Special $3.99

I love the colors in this package! It contains 28 clips, 8 of each of the 3 colors.

I saw this cool idea for corn on a blog somewhere (I should have noted where I saw it) where she had ran the cardstock through her diecut machine with a texture plate and made it into an ear of corn. The brands were different and I experimented with several of Stampin' Up's texture plates before I found one that had the look I wanted.

After running the Apricot Appeal cardstock through my Big Shot with the squares texturz plate I used Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive ink and rubbed them directly across the textured paper. I hit some spots more with one ink pad than another so it would create Indian corn. I decided it needed some in the recessed areas so I rubbed More Mustard there and was satisfied with how it looked.

I punched "cobs" of corn using my Large Oval punch and also punched the "shucks" out of Old Olive cardstock. The card that I copied the corn from used the Small Oval punch so the squares she used were smaller. She used about 6 of them and formed them into a wreath for her card. Since my corn is bigger I decided to just put a couple of them on each card. Then it dawned on me that the grass from the Inspired By Nature stamp set would kind of look like corn stalks that I could use my ears of corn on. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

I stamped the corn stalks on Very Vanilla Cardstock and then matted it on Old Olive cardstock. I adhered some Pumpkin Pie 1/4" ribbon around it and tied a knot of 5/8" Old Olive ribbon with another short lenght of Pumpkin Pie ribbon tied in with it. The Happy Thanksgiving greeting is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set (I just love that set!) and is punched with the Modern Label punch and then matted on the insert die for the Movers and Shapers die. I love how those labels all co-ordinate with our punches so they are the perfect mats. It makes scrapbooking and card making so much quicker and easier.

The next card I made with my corn was for a sketch challenge for the Late Night Stampers (see owl on the sidebar). I used the maple leaves and acorns from the Autumn Harvest stamp set for the background. I used the Rock and Roll technique to make the 2-toned leaves. After applying a double matted band of Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive cardstock across the middle I added the Give Thanks sentiment from the Holiday Best set and an ear of corn on either side. I mounted the whole thing on Chocolate Chip cardstock.

So, since my corn in my garden didn't do well, I was pleased to see my paper corn doing a little better :~)

I was going to post the rest of the Christmas cards I got from the swap at the Fall Retreat today but decided I wanted to share my corny cards first. We will go back to Christmas cards tomorrow! I also drew a name for the blog candy. Ashley, you won! I'll get it in the mail before I leave for Gatlinburg for a weekend crop Thursday morning. I think I will see if I can figure out how to put a post on hold to be posted on Fri or Sat while I'm away. I've heard that these new-fangled things can do that. It just tickles me when I figure something like that out.

More Christmas Cards

As promised, here are 5 more Christmas cards I got from the swap at the Stampin' Up retreat I went to a couple of weeks ago. The first one is just beautiful! The artist didn't put her name on the back so I don't know who to give credit to but it is such a beautiful card I want to make more like it. I need to order the wedding paper though. See the blue patterned paper at the top of thte card? That is the Bride Speciality Paper shown on page 158 of the Stampin' Up 2009-2010 catalog. I know it just looks white in the catalog but if you brayer color over it, the embossed shiny part resists the ink and it comes out looking like the card. How cool is that??? She also added some platinum shimmer paint to the Delightful Decorations stamp to make it a great match to the embossed part of the Bride paper. The small rhinestone brad in the ornament is the perfect finishing touch along with the white organza ribbon.

The next card was made by Lauren Bialoskurski. She used the Patterned Pines stamp set, aren't those trees cool? The snowflakes in the background are also from the same set. They were stamped with the Platinum Shimmer Paint. It just looks white in the picture but in real life it is a beautiful silver.

Next up, another card made with the Patterned Pines stamp set (it's a hostess set so if you love it, you can get it for free). This card was made by Sharla Foy. She started with the Textured Impressions Folder from the Holiday Mini Catalog called Petals-A-Plenty. She made the white background with this folder and mounted it on an Old Olive card. The trees are stamped on Whisper White Cardstock in Old Olive ink and the edges are inked. This is adhered over the embossed paper and a ribbon is tied around it. Notice that the ribbon tied aroud the top is 1/4" wide but the knot is 5/8" wide ribbon. This is an interesting little touch that I like.

This card was made by Joann Wiemers from Alabama. She also used the Petals-A-Plenty textured impressions folder but she added an interesting touch to it. Notice that the middle isn't embossed? She used a wooden oval frame over the folder so that the middle wasn't embossed. I bought a wooden oval frame but realized when I got home with it that all of my embossing folders are only partially covered with flowers. I need to order the Petals-A-Plenty folder when I order that Bride paper! I'll show you how it is done when I can.

Joann used the trees from the Scenic Season set in the un-embossed area of her card, isn't that a beautiful set? She colored in the bird red with a Real Red marker, I just love how he pops out of the card like a beautiful cardinal stands out against a snowy day. She also added Dazzeling Diamonds to the trees which doesn't show in the picture. It is one of the most beautiful Christmas cards I've ever seen!

The last card for today is made by Annette Takko. It is another beautiful card and is stamped with the Gifts of Christmas stamp set and some Dazzling Diamonds added to the centers of the flowers. The Whisper White and Night of Navy color combination is a classic and is beautiful for Christmas cards.

Are you going to make your own Christmas cards this year? I have been making my Christmas cards for many years. I have to say, the ones I made last year were a lot better than the ones I made the first couple of years!

I'm going to draw a name Monday for the blog candy, look back a few posts and register if you haven't already registered for it. Good luck!

Christmas cards from the retreat swap

First of all, this is the card I made for the swap. I procrastinated as usual. I feel more and more like I'm not procrastinating the same way I used to. I used to procrastinate because I didn't want to do something. Now I'm just crazy busy and don't have time to do things and always end up doing them the last minute. I realized Friday night about 8 that I needed 30 swaps for the retreat the next day - AND I had to leave home at 5AM to get there. Hummm, not much sleep for me that night! I got the cards cut and stamped but added the ribbon and attached the snowflake piece to the card on the way to Huntsville. I drove to Nashville and rode the rest of the way with some of the other demonstrators in my group. It was about 2 more hours from Nashville.

The pictures aren't very good, too much rain around here lately to have natural light. You can't tell on my card that the background is embossed with the small dots Texturez Plate. It doesn't look quite as plain in real life as it does in the picture. I used the Serene Snowflakes set, one of the great sets featured in the Stampin' Up Holiday Mini catalog.

This next card was made by Sherry Pemberton and features theDasher stamp, one of the under $10 stamps in the back of the catalog. The silver snowflake is so cute tied with the ribbon. She also used the Fineal Press embossing folder on the red layer and you have to look close to see the glitter on his antlers, the perfect touch for this card.



Mary Robinson always does great cards. She stamped 4 of the little reindeer from the Winter Post set and embossed them with silver embossing powder. I love the way she tied on the Silver Cord at the top of the card.

Monica spent hours on these tags, I'm sure. For 30 people in the swap, she made 2 each of 1o designs. If I can manage to do some math this late, that is 600 punches! THEN she had to tie the gold and silver cord to each of those 600 tags. She even added some glitter and embossing to many of the tags. She makes me feel like a slacker!


Monica even packaged her tags into a great little bag with a Top Note die topper. Very nice gift!

The last card I'll share tonight is by Pam Vandever. She used the negative from the Top Note die to sponge on some blue ink, I think it is Bermuda Bay. I think that is a great look, I love how you can fade it out in the middle and around your stamped images. She also used the Serene Snowflakes set with the great Platinum Shimmer paint. That paint is so pretty, I'm loving using it. The bottles are small but they go a long way.

That is the first 5 of the Christmas cards that I got in the swap. I'll try to post 5 more tomorrow. I also have to dig the sweet potatoes, go to a wedding and a meeting so it will be a busy day. I guess that is what the hours between 10PM and midnight are for, right??

More Swaps and new Deals of the Week

I'm pretty excited about the Deals of the Week this week, there are 3 dies on sale!! All 3 are ones I don't have so I will need to get some. The prices are great too, nearly half price! These dies will be on sale from Oct 12 until the 18th.

115961 Perfect Setting Bigz XL die $25.99

114515 Flower Burst Embosslits die $5.99

116760 Pop-Up Three Tier Cake Bigz XL die $25.49

Let me know if you want to take advantage of this offer and I'll get your order placed. Or, you can place an online order and your dies will be at your door before you know it! If I had any of these dies I would post a picture of the projects I've made with them but since I don't have any of them I just have to post the pictures from the catalog and it is hard to tell how wonderful they are without seeing projects with them.

Next are some of the swaps I recieved at the Fall Retreat in Huntsville last week. Isn't this first one beautiful! Fran Kennedy made it using regular foil. She rad the foil through the big shot with the Finial Press Texturz Plate and the Hi Embosslit. Then she cut the Flower Blossom die from black cardstock and mounted strips cut from the embossed foil onto Basic Black cardstock. I was pleased that you can actually see the shine in the photo, sometimes that doesn't show up.

As much as I love the card with the embossed foil, I'm just crazy about the color combination on the second card. Kelley Bialoskurski used the great combination of Tempting Turquoise, Cameo Cra; and Certainly Celery to make her card. I also love the One of a Kind stamp set that she used to stamp the flowers. It is a very striking card, I just love it!

Next, Linda Hanson used the always beautiful Thoughts and Prayers stamp set along with the sentiment stamp from the Kind and Caring Thoughts set (a level 3 hostess set) to create a simply beautiful card. The color scheme of Very Vanilla, Basic Black and Basic Gray make this a great card to send to someone you have been thinking about.

The last card in this group is another Thinking of You card using the Kind and Caring Thoughts stamp set for both the sentiment and the flower. It is an easy to make card that is great looking. The yellow, pink and brown is another nice color combination. I love having punches that nest together so nicely and make it so quick and easy to make cards.

Don't forget to register for the blog candy on Saturday's post and also, don't forget my October special on pink items for breast cancer awareness month. I've seen a lot of people who are going to donate 10% from the pink items sold this month but my sweet mother-in-law was a breast cancer survivor for many years so I want to donate more. I'm going to donate 30% of anything pink that is ordered from me in October to the Susan B. Kommen Foundation.

Swaps and Blog Candy for the 101st post

Wow, it's been a busy week and it's nearly gone by. Just another hour left for me! I'm going to post the Halloween swaps I got at the Stampin' Up! retreat last Saturday tonight and then will move on to the non-holiday ones before starting on the Christmas ones.

There were 5 Halloween projects in our swaps. First, the 2 cards: The top one was made by Tara Overstreet. She used the Frightful Fence wheel on vellum with some of the Halloween Frights stamps above the fence. She layered the stamped vellum over a piece of white cardstock that had been sponged with Pumpkin Pie, Gable Green and Lovely Lilac ink. Isn't that a fantastic idea to show through the vellum? It looks great irl.

The second Card was made by Karen Hurd of Birmingham, AL. I love the way she used just a 1" strip of Halloween designer paper on the background and had the cute (can they be cute) spider hanging down from it. The stamps she used are all from the Eat, Drink & Be Scary set.

The other 3 Halloween projects are (left to right) a cute candy wrapper made by Gail Eddlemon of Nashville, TN using black cardstock and the scaredy cat stamp from the Batty For You set. I think this is a wonderful way to wrap a mini candy bar. Have you ever thought it strange that they call the mini candy bars "fun size"? I'm thinking, the bigger the candy bar, the more the fun! Anyway, after putting adhesive around 3 sides of the black cardstock and wrapping it around the candy bar she stuck it in the back and at the top and bottom and then crimped the top and bottom edges so it looks kind of like what the candy bar does after coming out of the sealing machine.

The second one is a pumpkin pin made by Susan Jernigan from Tullahoma, TN. She stamped the tall pumpkin from the Autumn Harvest Stamp set onto Pumpkin Pie cardstock with black Staz-on ink. After coloring the stem with a Chocolate Chip marker she applied Crystal Effects all over the pumpkin to make it shiney and sturdy. There is a pin back on the back so I'll be wearing this when I want to look festive for Halloween events.

The last project is a ghost pillow box from Kristi Jaenisch who lives in Northern AL. She used the pillow box die cut from white cardstock and 2 punches to make this clever little ghost. He also shared the fun with a "fun size" pack of M&M's when you popped open the ends.

I was going to give some blog candy with my 100th post but I posted it without realizing it was the 100th. I knew I was close but just didn't pay attention when I posted. So, I'll give it away with my 101st post. I made a Christmas planner covered with Old Olive cardstock. It has tabs along one edge that say "Christmas", "Family", and "Friend" so you can record things about your Christmas plans and organize gift ideas. I made it last year so it has discontinued designer Christmas paper on the front but it is still very pretty paper :~) Just leave me a comment and tell me what one of your favorite projects that I have posted in the 101 posts is. Be sure to include your contact information so I can get the prize to you! Good luck and thanks so much reading of my blog!

More Retreat projects

Here is my favorite project from the Retreat Saturday. It is a little canvas tote bag that we decorated with the Build A Bear dies cut from felt. The background of the bag is stamped with the smaller stamps from the Delightful Decorations stamp set. I hadn't even noticed it had 3 small stamps in there, I was so amazed by how wonderful the ornament stamps were I totally overlooked the small ones. I think this set will rival the Medallion stamp as my favorite, at least until Dec 25!

I took the picture up so close that it is hard to tell it is a tote bag and has gold bells on the handle tied on with the gold elastic cord. I thought it was a great project and will definitely use it for something in my Christmas decorating. There is also a pumpkin outfit for the Build a Bear to wear. Better order it quick because Halloween is going to be here before we know it!

Now, on to the beautiful cards we made with the Delightful Decorations stamps. Pink and teal are unusual colors for a Christmas card but have been popular the past couple of years. They look great together on this one. You probably can't see the glitter on the star in the middle ornament but it adds a very nice touch to it. One of the best things about this stamp set is that there is a punch to match! I'd do it if I had to but I'm so glad I don't have to hand cut all of these out. I've seen some great punch art with the Ornament punch too.

I also love the colors on the next card. Along with the traditional red and green we added an ornament in Night of Navy. It looks great, doesn't it?? First we wheeled the new Sparkle and Shine wheel inked up with the Versamark Watermark ink pad. We punched a window in the card where the red ornament is so you can see into the inside of the card there. The Kraft cardstock is a nice neutral background for the stamps and the Sleigh Bells twill ribbon is so pretty with it's Real Red and Old Olive stitching.

Next is a bling-y card. Pale Plum is another color you don't think of first when you think of Christmas but it is beautiful here. We used the strikingly beautiful Silver cardstock for a mat and a Fire Rhinestone brad in the center of the card. I know the picture won't show this either but the ornament was stamped by inking it up with Perfect Plum and then daubbing some of the platinum shimmer paint, blending as we went. It makes the ornament look nice and shimmery. Of course, we had to use the Silver Elastic Cord to "hang" the ornament on the card to keep the bling going.

The 4th card we made is absolutely georgous! It is in more traditional Christmas colors, Real Red, Whisper White and Silver embossing powder. First we stamped the swirly stamp from the Baroque Motifs stamp set and a "Merry Christmas" sentiment and embossed it with Silver embossing powder. We stamped the ornament on the far right with Real Red ink and added some glitter to the center. The one on the far left was made from Real Red cardstock, embossed with the Petals A Plenty embossing folder and I also added glitter to the centers of the flowers.

Did you know that Stampin' Up had flocked paper? The middle ornament was made from the red and white print from the Christmas Cocoa Specialty paper pack. Isn't that a great card? I love it!

That's it for the cards we made Saturday afternoon. They will fill that little red box beautifully. I need to figure out how to set the camera to put the right date on the pictures. The pictures say August 30 instead of when I took them on October 3rd. At least the year is right. With my old camera the year was wrong too!

Stampin' Up Fall Retreat!

I went to Huntsville Alabama Saturday for a Fall Retreat. It was sponsored by the one who recruited me and the one who recruited her. They have 2 retreats a year and they are always wonderful retreats.

The first pictures are of the adorable witch's hat we each had at our spot on our table. It is amazingly simple, a long rectangle folded and punched. I'll do a tutorial later this week so you can make some for Halloween if you want to. I'm also seeing Christmas Trees and wedding cake slices. Humm, what else is a triangle? Oh, candy corn! I actually don't like the taste of it at all but I love it as a Halloween decoration. LMK if you have any other ideas for this cute triangle box.

We made 6 projects in the morning with an inbetween project we could do before and during lunch and then we did 4 more cards after lunch. We had a little business thrown in here and there and someone talked about using the My Digital Studio. If you have been following my blog, you know that I've already been playing with that but she did mention a couple of things I didn't know. I'm still surprised at how much I am enjoying digital scrapbooking!

Oh, and speaking of My Digital Studio, I did one of my famous where is my brain moves with it. When I got it I noticed that there were 2 discs in the package and went on to install them. After I got the first disc installed I guess I was too excited to get busy making some pages and I totally forgot to install the second disc! After about a week I started to notice that some people's pages had bows on their ribbon. I couldn't find bows anywhere! I also saw fall and Christmas pages that had stamps I couldn't find. Someone said there were 60 stamp sets. I could only find 30. Was mine defective??? (no, just my brain) I finally asked on a SU demonstrator group I'm in and (very nicely without calling me a dunce) they suggested that maybe I hadn't loaded the 2nd disc.

I'll just blame it on my excitement to get the program loaded and start creating with it. It is amazing that I did over 30 pages with just one disc loaded! Now that I've loaded the other disc I'm even more excited. There are some great stamps on it and all the colors are there now. Did you know that the retail value of those 60 sets is $989.15????? At only $79.95 that is over a 90% discount! And that doesn't include the price of all the punches and embellishments. Soooo, just tell your husband you are saving him thousands of dollars when you try to convince him you need the My Digital Studio program :~)

There was also a swap, I got 28 great cards that I will be sharing later. Tonight I'll share the 6 projects we did in the morning. There were a few boxes, a bag, and 2 cards. I didn't take a picture of one of the cards because I already posted it a couple of weeks ago. It is the Sweet Centers card using the Halloween stamp, I used the black gingham ribbon and More mustard card stock. The one we made was basically the same except they used the striped grossgrain ribbon and Old Olive cardstock. I had taught it at a shoebox at my upline's house a couple of weeks ago along with the tag-to-remove-the-candy idea that I can't remember who I copied from.

The other projects were a box that was made with 2 sheets of 12X12 cardstock that is a very good size for medium sized gifts and is quite sturdy. It is the box right after the witch's hat that is Sahara Sand with a Taken With Teal band and a strip of patterned paper. The tag is punched with the new Ornament Punch and has a rub on from the Merry and Bright rub on package featured in the Holiday Mini catalog. It was such a quick and easy box to make and will cost so much less than boxes you have to buy in a store.

The next project is the red card box. It is made with a single sheet of 8 1/2 X 11 cardstock with a band of patterned paper to fancy it up some. It will easily hold 6 to 10 cards as a gift. It depends on how many dimentionals you use on your card as to how many cards you can get in it. The card we made to go in the box in the morning was using a tree from the Lovely As A Tree stamp set. Isn't it cool how we turned it sideways to look like the boughs of a tree? I got mine thicker than I wanted to but I kept stamping them too far apart. I was trying to hurry and didn't take my time on the placement. It still looks like a tree though. The ornament is stamped with one of the stamps from the Delightful Decorations set and punched with the Ornament Punch. I love it when there is a punch to match so you don't have to cut the images out!

Next is a fun little double sided box with a handle that would be perfect for a Thanksgiving celebration. It is actually made with 2 of the Box #2 dies that have the top left straight up and a handle punched with the Wide Oval Punch. I love the striped ribbon tied through the handle.

Last is a bag using one of theTreat Boxes on page 159 of the catalog. At just $3.95 for a package of 5 bags, that is just .79 per bag. I love the dark chocolate color and they are so quick and easy to decorate. This one just has a red ribbon tied around it and a tag using the Two Tags Die and a Jumbo Snowflake punch. Those are 2 things I haven't ordered yet that I really think I need :~)

Whew, I had to look a bunch of stuff up in the catalog! If I left anything out or you have any other questions, just ask. I'll be posting the special project (I think you will love it!) and the other 4 cards tomorrow. Then I'll post some of the swaps later this week.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month!
Inspire, Create, and Share with Pretty in Pink to spread awareness!

Pretty in Pink Products:
1. Cardstock – 8 ½” x 11” and 12” x 12” pkgs.
2. Classic Ink Stamp Pad
3. Classic Ink Refill
4. Stampin’ Write Marker
5. Craft Ink Stamp Pad
6. Craft Ink Refill
7. ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon
8. ½” Striped Grosgrain Ribbon
9. 3/8” Taffeta Ribbon
10. Chunky Sprinkles Stampin’ Glitter – includes light pink
11. Fine Supernova Stampin’ Glitter – includes pink
12. Pink Bead Duo
13. Décor Element – Manhattan Flower
14. Décor Element – Flitting By
15. Décor Element – Upsy Daisy
16. Jumbo Stampin’ Around Cartridge
17. Ribbon of Hope – single stamp
18. Décor Element – Inspiration

Many of these products are available in other pink colors:
Pixie Pink, Pink Passion

Décor Elements can be applied to walls, mirrors, windows, cars, and other large surfaces. They can also be broken up into smaller pieces for small projects and applied to items like mugs, tiles, votive candle holders, plates, laptops, pictures, and many other imaginative uses.
　
30% of the purchase price of these products will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
Contact:
Elaine Wright
Stampin’ Up! Independent Demonstrator
Wrightplace4@mindspring.com
(931) 358-2255
www.stampinreckon.blogspot.com
http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/elainestamps
Shop online anytime!
　
Décor Elements Products can be found in the Definitely Decorative Brochure

If you see other products in the catalog that include the color Pretty in Pink let me know, and I will be happy to include them in my promotion! Remember, 30% of the purchase price of these products will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation!

Deals of the week are back!

During the month of October, Stampin' Up will offer several discounted products as "Deals of the Week." No limits and no minimum purchase required.

Week 1 Deals of the Week - Thursday, October 1, 2009- Sunday, October 11, 2009

109183 - Trio Flower punch - $10.99
109041 - 5-Petal Flower punch - $10.99
110709 - My Way punch - $11.99

Deals of the Week items may be purchased on workshop, demonstrator, customer, and online orders.

Deals of the Week products are only available at their discounted price during the specified time. At any other time during the month, the item will sell at the regular price.

All Deals of the Week are current products and featured in the 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalog.

All Deals of the Week have been selected based on inventory levels. This promotion allows us to reduce inventory on items with higher-than-normal levels and offer you and your customers a great deal on current products.

It's a boy!

My daughter finally had her baby tonight. She actually went into labor around 3AM but he was born at 5 till 9PM. What a long day for her! I got to see him when he was an hour old and I can already tell he is going to be a good baby. Of course, grandmas tend to think that about most of their grandchildren. He was so sweet, just laying there looking around and sticking his tongue out.

His face was very red, my son-in-law said it was more red when he was first born. The amazing thing is his hands, they are huge! I thought this picture looks like a 2 year old is holding him and his their arms wrapped around him and you are looking at the 2 year-old's hands and the baby's head.

This is going to be a quick post. It is now after midnight and I should be in bed. They woke me up before 6 this morning, planning to head on to the hospital but decided to wait a while and didn't leave till nearly 9. They got sent back home and went back to the hospital around 6. I'm not nearly as tired as Wendy but I'm very tired. I'll post some cards tomorrow, or actually, later today - like when it's light outside.

Also, this is my 95th or maybe 96th blog post. I can't believe I actually have posted that many in 9 months! I think the 100th post should have some blog candy to go along with it, don't you??