Suzanne's Blog

It's Our Birthday!

 

 This year Fiskars is 360 years old! This picture shows lots of birthday cards we've already received from Fiskars fans around the world. I am looking for more ideas on how we can celebrate. So far, we've had ideas like 360 crops around the world, planting 360 orange flowers, sewing 360 pillows for the American Heart Association, and, of course, having a big party right here at our North American headquarters and inviting all Fiskars fans to come join us to celebrate creativity. I am going to send a special Fiskars scrapbooking bag of goodies (and you know how good my prizes are) to 3 randomly drawn posters.

And speaking of prizes, the winners from my last prize drawing are Connie Melancon, Mardi, Katie W., Cassandra and Debra Scott. Please email suzanne@fiskars.com and put "We are Family Winner" in the subject line.

If you want to learn more about our company's heritage and virtually visit the Fiskars Village in Helsinki, Finland please visit www.fiskarscinemaseries.com. It's a place of amazing creativity that makes me proud to work for Fiskars! Now start listing those celebration ideas!

The Superbowl Party

My son turned 16 Superbowl week! I can't believe it, but it continues to be an awesome party theme for him. We had about 25 rowdy teenagers over and had darts, trivia, foosball, a pool tournament and TONS of food! We had the Superbowl going on 3 tv's and projected it almost lifesize on the wall. It was really fun. The invitation featured the logo and looked just like Superbowl tickets.

The cake also featured the same logo. To do a cake with a logo, just ice it with a Buttercream recipe (not store bought because it has to have a dry-to-the-touch-finish). Then trace the reversed image of logo onto wax paper with black piping gel. Next you just press it on the cake and peel back the paper. You have the image and just need to fill in the color. This is a great way to do any cartoon image as well.

Christmas Card

The cards my family sent out this year featured some of the lovely Heidi Grace flocked paper. Using the squeeze punch made it really easy to add the popped images of the kids. People do such a great job bragging about their kids on
Christmas cards (which, of course, I am a big fan of) that we made a decision to go a different way. Here is our poem: 

Oh, you’d better watch out;

You’d better not drive.

The roads are not safe,

And we’re tellin’ you why…

BRENDON’S GETTING A DRIVER’S LICENSE NOW!!

Will he knock off our side mirrors?

Text while driving? Check the gas?

The day we took his training wheels off,

He hit every mailbox that he passed!

Oh, you’d better watch out;

Tell your daughters to hide.

The day we’ve dreaded is here,

And we’re tellin’ you why…

 WALKER IS A TEENAGER NOW!!

Will he sneak out when we’re sleeping?

Will he snow us when we’re awake?

The world is still his playground,

So pray for us, for goodness sake!!!

Oh, our precious little girl

Who used to babble and coo

Goes to dances, paints her lips

And wears designer shoes too!

LAUREL KATE IS A MIDDLE SCHOOLER NOW!!

This mom and dad in Cheeseland

Are not filled with jubilee…

When did these kids ever get so big?

We liked our stroller built for three!!!

Oh, we wish you lots of fun

And prosperity too,

Love, health and joy for all the year thru.

Merry Christmas from our family to you!!!!

We Are Family Challenge

 

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Our ski trip to Vail was fabulous! There are many huge and beautiful holiday traditions that happen around this time of year, but I am interested in hearing about some of the smaller everyday stuff that makes your family unique--what's your family tradition--game night, special meals, the family star plate--what small traditions do you have? We have many, but since it's Friday I will tell you about Fun Friday at my house. When we moved across town halfway through the school year, my kids were out of their school district, so I had the daily task of driving them every day. Wouldn't you think they would be thrilled to have a chauffeur? Wow--SO not thrilled to ride to school with mom. Well, as it turned out, as the weeks passed, they DID grow to love it. It was our time to chat, while everyone was buckled in and we had to listen to each other's stories, jokes, plans and hopes, and we'd even sing (but don't tell them I told you). It was really fun for all of us, so when they were finally able to start riding the bus in the fall, we ALL missed it. The compromise we came up with was that every Friday would be FUN FRIDAY, and mom drives--not only to school, but to McDonald's for a breakfast-on-the-go together. They absolutely spring out of bed on Fridays--which is pretty amazing since two of mine are teenagers. Fun Friday is our family tradition--not anything huge or spectacular, but something we all look forward to every week and something I think they will always remember. We are all great about scrapbooking the big events, but what about those small things? Please tell me about your family traditions, and I will send packs from the Heidi Grace We Are Family collection to a few random folks who post. Now I am off to make my Fun Friday page!

Thanks Fiska-friends!

      

The Fiskafriendzy events we held all over the US were fabulous fun. Thanks to all who travelled to be there and meet us and to everyone who participated online. If you want to learn more about what we are doing all over the country and find out how you can meet crafty friends, check out www.fiskateers.com.

Nashville Prize Winner

 

So I managed to snag an extra "Proud to be a Fiskateer" bag from Nashville. See Janet modeling it above. I had a colleague pick a number between 1 and 83, which is the number of wonderful replies I got about Fiskateers. The number she chose turned out to be Christine C's post as follows:

Gosh I so wish I could be there with you, but unfortunately it is too far to travel, but we are having fun online at the fisk-a-teer site.
I love that everyone there is so supportive, no matter if you are a beginner or expert there is always a place for you, you can be as involved as you like, there is always someone to chat to, offer advise, listen to your worries, it is the most positive message board I have found.
The challenges keep me inspired to try new things, and to spur me on when I am having a block.
What more can I say - I love it.
Oh yeah forgot to mention its a great place to meet new people too - I now have lots of international and national friends that I didn't know before I joined.
Love, love, love the fisk-a-teers.

Thanks everybody, and Christine, please email me your shipping address (suzanne@fiskars.com), and we will send your bag right out to you!

In Nashville

Last weekend, the Fiskafriendzy in Virginia City was fabulous--crafting, train rides, barbeque, and even desperados! This weekend I am in Nashville, and I am looking forward to a honky-tonkin' good time. While I am here, there is another Fiskafriendzy going on in California. Are you a Fiskateer? If not, you'd better check out www.fiskateers.com, and if you are, please leave a comment here about what you like about the Fiskateers. I will try to find a little gift from the Nashville event to give away as a prize to one random poster!

Happy Halloween

  

We had some awesomely creative costumes at the When I Grow Up Party, including one guy who never wanted to grow up, so he came as Peter Pan. We had a lawyer come as Batman because he wanted to grow up to fight crime and now, ironically, now he fights to keep criminals out of jail. As for women, there were lots of broadway and pop stars, a model, a stewardess and even a nun. I will get the pictures uploaded as soon as I can. For work, my showgirl costume was not an option, so I came as Sarah Palin, and my husband was Joe the Plumber. Hope you all have a fabulous Halloween!  

Visiting with Li'l Davis

 

I was excited last week when my friends from Li'l Davis came to the office. Although they had an action packed week, they agreed to do a quick segment for FiskarsTV and talk about some of their newest products that are just hitting the stores. You should check it out at http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/tv/

They also just did another interview on Diva Craft Lounge Radio. You can listen to their interview here:  http://www.divacraftlounge.com/.

Their die cut spider web paper is seriously cool!

Well, again, I LOVED your comments about your "grown up" plans. Winners are Dale Anne, Tona and Jen T. Please send your shipping address to suzanne@fiskars.com with the subject line "Halloween Winner."

Have a great weekend!

Crafting Halloween Party Invitations

I finished the Halloween Party invitations this weekend. They are fun and different, and I used lots of Fiskars tools. Obviously the trimmer started it all. Then I used the Fiskars Stamp Press and clear letters to spell out the event and stamped it on the gauze (nothing like raiding your medicine cabinet for crafting). I loved the effect, but it needed something else to make it pop, so I used the gold foil and ran it through the Fiskars crimper. I just had to use the new Halloween squeeze punch Scaredy Cat (and if you are lucky enough to find one, you should grab it--these were limited edition and are selling out everywhere). Adding a dab of Li'l Davis glitter glaze gave the cat some scarey red glowing eyes. We always have a different theme every year to keep it interesting.

 

 

This year’s theme is:

When I Grow Up

What did you want to grow up to be when you were a child…

an astronaut, an Olympic athlete, a ballerina?

Whatever it was, this is your night to

finally live your childhood fantasy.

 

I think I may go as a Rockette. I remember going to Radio City Music Hall as a child and really wanting to be in the kickline. Bob wanted to be ones of those frog guys in the scuba gear who jumped in the water to retrieve the astronauts after a flight. What did you want to grow up to be when you were a child? I have a little prize pack to give away to one random winner who posts by Friday.