Just because I love to play.....

No card, just babies

2012-01-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

I don't have a card to share today, because I have been a very busy Grandma. So, I thought instead, I would show you the newest addition to the Thompson family.

This is Blake Owen Thompson and his daddy (my son) giving him kisses.

He is such a little peanut when put next to his cousin Brayden who is only 3 1/2 months older.

We are just thrilled to pieces to have him here.

I do have an ADORABLE heart box that I made Friday morning before we got the word that Blake was on his way. I am very proud of it because I designed it all by myself, kinda.

Hopefully I can get that photographed and uploaded here soon.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Have a great Tuesday.

Kindness begins with me

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

I am really into clean and simple cards right now can you tell? hahahaha

I used the new In Colors for the hearts on this card.

This card was a hit at my card buffet. The ladies loved the fact that it made up so quick and easy. One of the ladies even put her hearts all different angles, and it was just adorable.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Make today a wonderful day.

Praying for you

2012-01-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

So the circle of life continues. Friday we welcomed in a new grandson, while a co-worker was saying goodbye to her husband last week. He died of cancer. I was working on cards for my stash, and realized that I would also be needed sympathy cards.....sadly enough. So, this is the card that I made for my co-worker and my stash. Super easy.

The sentiment is embossed with silver embossing powder.

I hate sending these cards.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Have a wonderful day.

Happy Birthday wishes

2012-01-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

Today is my Mom's birthday, and this is the card I made for her this year.

I just love the new stuff on it. I wasn't going to get that punch because it is so similar to one of the dies, but I had to get it. It is so much easier to punch out the flowers than it is to run it through the Big

Shot after looking for my die. You can't really tell in this picture, but the flower is popped up on dimensionals. It's really pretty in real life.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Happy Birthday mom.

Love you

2012-01-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

I figured this was a good card to post today, since yesterday I posted a Valentine's Day card. Today my daughter in law is getting induced. So, I will be a grandma again by tonight. I'm very excited. I just love grandbabies they are sooooo wonderful.

I will post a picture of the sweet little guy when I have one.

This card was a quick and easy card. I just threw on some real red DSP and ran the white through the new embossing heart folder. The scalloped red is the glitter paper. The sentiment uses the new P.S. I love you stamp set. Sometimes clean and simple is all you need.

Thanks for peeking in today.

I will get a picture of that new grandson of mine on here soon.

Valentine's cards already

2012-01-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

This was a fun card to make. I saw a card like this that Nicole Heady made, but with flower dies instead. When we got those wonderful little heart framelits I knew I could use that fun technique on a valentine's day card. This is what emerged.

I just took the 3 littlest hearts and randomly placed them on the white cardstock with the hearts going over the papers edge and ran it through the Big Shot. Then I stamped my sentiment and then ran it through the Big Shot again using the polka dot embossing folder. I just drew a red line with my real red marker and a ruler about 1/4" off the edge. I love how the DSP underneath just pops out.

Another fun and easy card down.

Because this is a valentine's day card, I didn't make 4 of these.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Have a wonderful day.

Fun with hearts

2012-01-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

I got to play with 2 new toys on this card.

It uses the new adorning accents embossing folder and the new fashionable hearts sizzlit.

The sentiment comes from 3 little words.

This picture is a sideview so you can see that I popped it up on dimensionals and then popped up the hearts too.

What a fun card just to tell your special someone that you love them.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Have a wonderful day today.

Bundle of Love

2012-01-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

Well after making the wedding cards I posted yesterday, I figured why not make some baby cards as well. Those are always needed too.

This is another sketch I "borrowed" from Jill Hilliard. I just thought it was too cute and made up fast and easy.

I used the new edgelits in the occasions mini catalog for the edge on the bottom. I love all those new framelits and edgelits in the catalog. So much fun to play with.

I also ran the middle section through the polka dots embossing folder to some texture...why? well because that's how Jill's cute card was....hahahaha But I think it adds such a perfect touch.

And my stash of four.

I have these posts preset to publish, so as I write this no baby. I should've waited to post these cards AFTER I had a baby photo to share. Oh well. I will still post a picture, because that's what Grandma's do right? At least this Grandma does. !!!

Thanks for peeking in today.

Make it a great day.

Wedding Wishes....

2012-01-08T16:45:00.000-08:00

I'm still working on my card stash and love that is growing. One card that I never seem to have around when I need one is a wedding card. I realize that at most weddings we are given PLENTY of notice to have our acts together enough to purchase a gift and make a nice card. Oh, not me, I seem to like to put it off until I'm panicking and need it NOW!!!

I saw this fun card a while back and loved the little corner details on it, and knew I needed to add this card to my stash.

I made this one in Marina Mist, and then was going to make 3 more in different colors....but alas....that didn't happen. So, the next 4 weddings I go to will get a blue card no matter what their colors are.....(insert big grin here)

I had to add some cute details to the inside too.

These were fun and fairly easy to make too.

Well, I should be a grandma again most likely by tomorrow. My daughter in law went into the hospital early this morning and was sent home, much to her disappointment. She is dialated to a 4, but is not effaced. They are walking even as I type this to try to help things along.

I'm very excited to meet my new little grandson here soon.

I will keep you posted and add a picture when there is a picture to share.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Have a wonderful day.

You can never give enough thanks....

2012-01-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

Before I even get started, I have to say that the stamps used on these cards are both retired.

Last year on Angie Juda's blog, Chic n scratch, she had made these cards and I LOVED how sweet yet simple they were. So, I made some and only had one left. Everytime I went to my stash of cards for a thank you card, this is the one I wanted to use. I just couldn't bring myself to use the last one, because I wanted to keep it as a sample so I could make more.

Well, as you can see, I did just that. I used the new In Colors on these and decided I needed 8 of these, not just 4.

Seriously, how sweet and simple are these adorable cards???? They could easily be replicated using current stamps. I just used a sponge dauber to add a little color to the inside of the butterfly.

I made all 8 of these cards in no time. It took longer to cut the paper to size than it did to actually make them.....(okay, maybe not, but it seemed like it).

So, if you get one of these adorable cards in the mail from me, you will know that I really did appreciate what you did, because I gave up one of my favorite thank you cards for you....: )

Thanks for peeking in today.

I can't believe it's Saturday and my Christmas vacation is almost over.....BOO HOO!!!

Such a blessing in my life....

2012-01-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

I don't know what it is about this card, but it is one of my favorites right now.

I saw this sketch on one of the stamping challenges from my sidebar....(I'm too lazy to go check which one right now...sorry) Then, while I was blog hopping, I saw a card from DeAnn Rauzi that was very similar to this one. I just changed a few things.

I only had time to make one of these cards, but you can best believe that I will be going back and making a LOT more for my stash.

I used that great new Everyday Enchantment DSP from the sale a bration catalog, and can I just say, that I am very sad that it is only available for a short time. Because, I LOVE this paper.

I embossed the Poppy Parade background with the vintage wallpaper embossing folder and then took some Soft Suede ink and a sponge, and sponged over the raised image to help make it pop a little bit. I also sponged all the edges of each piece. The border, in Pool Party, underneath the sentiment is a very sadly neglected stamp that had never even touched an ink pad yet, Borderlines. Then from the Blessings From Heaven stamp set, I stamped the sentiment in Soft Suede.

So, I hope you like this card as much as I do. Thanks DeAnn for the wonderful inspiration. There are so many stampers out there in blogosphere that inspire me. I wish I had more time to just blog hop and get even more inspiration. Thank you to all the wonderfully inspirational bloggers out there that share their creations so I can copy them....(insert big grin here).

Thanks for peeking in.

Have a wonderful day today.

My sister's birthday card

2012-01-05T06:00:00.000-08:00

My sister's birthday is on the 11th of this month, and starts us off with a whole bunch of birthdays from now until April....and my daughter in law is due any day and going to add yet another birthday to January.....I can't wait.

This is the fun card I made for my sister. It uses a lot of the new products from the Occasions mini catalog. Have I mentioned how much I love these new framelits???? I hope Stampin Up starts crankin these out like they did the dies. I will be a happy girl.

I just cut out a larger frame and put it inside for the sentiment. The sentiment is from Happiest Birthday Wishes from the Hostess selections.

These next 2 cards also use the fun new DSP Sweet Shop from the Occasions mini.

Can you see the difference in the borders on these two cards? I'm not sure which one I like better.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Simply Soft

2012-01-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

I decided to use some neglected colors that I really do like, but for some reason....maybe because of the Holidays, they haven't been used by me for a while.....Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzazz.

I used the Simply Soft stamp set from the Hostess collection for the different flowers, but I used Sincere Salutations and Full of Life for my greetings on these cards. The DSP is actually Nursery Nest.

I even decorated the insides of these cards. I left out any greeting inside in case I want to write a little note in there.

4 more cards for my stash. It's getting pretty big....that stash of cards of mine.

And yep....there's even more tomorrow.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Cheerful Treat

2012-01-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

I finally used a few of my sadly ignored items on these cards. The sadly ignored DSP is from the Hostess selections and is called Cheerful Treat....thus the name of the title of this blog post. The other sadly ignored item is my Raining Flowers stamp set. We got this stamp set free at Convention and I have never used it except for the projects at Convention.

I saw this color combo (melon mambo and lucky limeade) on another card out there in blogosphere, and wanted to use it on my next set of cards for my stash. It's a simple layout and the cards made up quickly once I had all the pieces of paper cut out. The middle strip is just part of one of the pieces of DSP that has different borders, cut to fit. I left the bottom melon mambo on there to give it some contrast. Super easy.

Here are my 4 for my stash.

Tomorrow I have some more cards using more of the Hostess goodies.

I always seem to forget about those.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Kindness Matters

2012-01-02T13:26:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a task it has been to blog again.

I don't know what is up with my computers that they don't want to download my pictures anymore. I really need to figure out what's wrong, because what I did to get the next few posts up was an all day process......hahahaha.....well almost.

I was crazy busy during Christmas time, and then it came and we all had a stomach virus and were sick all day Christmas day, and then all the after stuff....taking it all down basically. I feel like I haven't had anytime to play with paper.

But, I finally did get to play, and boy have I played.

I have made a lot of cards to get my stash ready for the New Year. That is one thing I want to do better, is get cards in the mail to people. I mean, I make them.....I love to make them, and then they just sit.....how silly is that?

I saw a card made by Nicole Heady similar to this one, and knew I needed to make some of those.

It uses the Everday Enhancement DSP that you can get for free during sale a bration. I LOVE this paper. It also uses the new framelit dies available tomorrow from the Occasions Mini catalog. I LOVE those too!!!! I took the Kindness matters stamp set and inked it up with markers and added a little bling to the butterflies, popped it up on dimensionals. I also wrapped some linen thread around the card a couple of times. So easy, but so perfect.

You can see I decided to make more than one. I decided I was going to make 4 of each card I make for my stash.

So, if after a month and a half of no blogging, if anyone is still out there.....thank you for hanging in there with me.

I have more cards for my stash to show you tomorrow.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Thursdays club projects and a baby picture

2011-11-18T07:18:00.000-08:00

How cute is this little gingerbread house?

We learned how to make a house similar to this one at Convention and I've been waiting to share it with my club girls, and finally got the chance. I wanted mine to be more of a gingerbread house than the one we saw at Convention, so I changed a few things.

And you just lift up the lid and you can put all kinds of yummy treats in there for gifts for neighbors, coworkers, friends, whomever you see fit. It was really easy to make too. I have next week off from work for Thanksgiving, so I will put together a tutorial for this and post it here soon.

Then we also made these cute little stocking holders. We also learned this cute little box idea at convention. This Noel one isn't the one we made on Thursday. I just wanted to show the girls that you could bling it up a little and how cute it would be.

This is the one we actually made. I loved it and so did the girls. We ran the real red cardstock through the snowburst embossing folder before putting it together, and it gives it such a fun texture and look.

This is a view from the top, so you can see that we used the box #2 die for the middle to hold little treats. You just flip the box on it's side, and cut off what becomes the top of the box.

Here is a side view. If you look really close at the stockings themselves, you will see that we sandwiched two pieces of real read cardstock in between the white piece of cardstock that comes in the DSP package. It helps to give it some stability.

And then here's a close up of the box and decorations that we added to it.

What a fun little box this was to make too.We also made a cute little Santa topper for the new 1" x 8" cello bags filled with M&M's. I will have to post that another time with the tutorial, because it was just adorable.

Speaking of adorable, I just had to share an updated picture of my newest grandson.

Check out those cheeks!!! Those cheeks are for kissing!!!!
He's getting so big so fast. I can't believe that he is already 7 weeks old.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Have a wonderful day today.

I took the day off work to go see the new Breaking Dawn movie.

I had a friend go last night and she said it is the best one yet, so I'm excited.

TTFN

Yep, more Christmas cards

2011-11-12T21:53:00.000-08:00

I decided that today's post I would just add the remaining three Christmas cards I have already made for my upcoming card buffet.

As you can see I kept them simple. I have a good friend who is Jewish, so I knew I needed to add a card to my card buffet that could cover my sweet Jewish friend as well. So, this is the card I came up with. The snowflakes are embossed with silver embossing powder and then I ran it through the polka dots embossing folder. I added a few rhinestones and was done.

For this card, I cased it. I just punched the snowflake from the white cardstock and then stamped the sentiment. Then I ran it through the polka dots embossing folder. I added a pop of real red cardstock underneath the white and layered it on some Pear Pizzaz and Marina Mist. I added the button with some bakers twine.

This was also a case from Stampin Connection but I can't remember who it was that I cased. I think this card is very pretty and elegant and also very easy.

Tomorrow I will show you the cute projects we made at club last Thursday. I have been waiting to make these projects since I saw them at Convention in July.

Thanks for peeking in.

Have a wonderful day.

Pack of tags for thank you's

2011-11-11T21:42:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love my club girls and appreciate their business and friendship So, I wanted to give them a little thank you. Thursday was our last club meeting for this round, and I knew some of the girls weren't going to be able to rejoin for various reasons. I wanted them to know how much I appreciate them, so I made them some tags and packaged them up.

I have some other fun little gifts for them that I'll show you later.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Have a wonderful day.

Shaker Frame card

2011-11-10T05:00:00.000-08:00

As soon as I saw the Shaker frames in the new Holiday Mini catalog....I knew I had to have them. When I saw this cute card on Stampin Connnection, I knew that was the card we would be making as one of the cards at my Christmas card buffet. I actually made one before this without the red cardstock. What a difference that little pop of red made. I like this one soooooo much better.

I also love that wonderful new embossing folder. It is one of my favorites of all time.....well, until the next one comes out....hahahahaha

Thanks for peeking in.

I hope your not getting sick of Christmas cards yet because I still have lots left.

Have a great day.

Merry, merry

2011-11-09T05:00:00.000-08:00

Here is yet another one of the cards I have for my Chrismtas card buffet. I'm trying to make them cute, but simple. I think this fits the bill for both. It's funny how little details can add so much to a card. Adding the cute little safety pin and the merry tiny tags really made a huge difference. Then when I added the snowflake and rhinestone brad, it made it even better.

So, I went one step further and added some dazzling diamonds to the base of the Christmas trees for the snow. Again, it really made a cute little difference.

Thanks for peeking in again today.

Have a wonderful day.

Snow much fun

2011-11-08T05:00:00.000-08:00

Playing with paper can be "snow much fun". I have been working on my Christmas card buffet coming up pretty soon. This is the card I made last night. It was a case from Lisa Young. I thought it was so darned cute with the Distressed Dots stamp all embossed with white embossing powder for the snow. So clever.

I have more cards to share. I have been having problems with blogger, so hopefully it doesn't take me forever to post again.

Thanks for peeking in.

Have a wonderful day.

Gingerbread and sugared things

2011-11-07T22:34:00.000-08:00

Can I just say that this is such a fun sketch to play with?

I knew I wanted to use the gingerbread and sugared things stamp set for one of the cards for my Christmas card buffet, but wasn't too sure how I was going to use it.

Then, I remembered this sketch from a card I made earlier, and viola, this is the card that evolved.

The only thing I would change is to wrap the ribbon around the whole card, not just the circle. I had already taped down the DSP so it was too late.

I can't believe that we are already in November and getting ready for the Holidays.

Where on earth has time gone?????

Thanks for peeking in.

Have a wonderful day.

I love it ....

2011-10-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

I love it when you can take a card sketch, and just keep using it for all kinds of different cards. We used this sketch in club to make a really cute Halloween card, and I figured why not use it for a really cute Christmas card too?????

This cute card sketch I originally found on Mary Fish's blog. I just used the Christmas bingo bits stamp set for the 3 little windows and the Christmas Lane simply scrappin DSP with a little Lucky Limeade bow and viola.

I just love using Cherry Cobbler and Lucky Limeade together for Christmas cards, they really look nice together.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mr. Snowman

2011-10-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

I saw this ADORABLE snowman card on Stampin Connection last year and LOVED it. It was made by Doris Denman and this card is just tooo stinkin cute.

I'm trying to decide if we should make this cute little guy at my card buffet.....lots of details and glitter....and there will be people there that have never played with paper before. It might be a bit much for first timers.....not too sure....But isn't he just too cute?

Again, like most cards with lots of detail, this card is so much cuter in person.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Oh Christmas Tree....

2011-10-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

eThis is one of the cute Christmas cards that will be offered at my Christmas buffet class.

In this view you can see that the middle Christmas tree is 3 dimensional and pops off the page.

I love how it uses two different embossing folders, and the pennant parade stamp set, and coordinating punch. It is really much cuter in person. I saw a card similar to this online somewhere, but can't remember who it was. I just changed a few things and I LOVE this card.

I hope the ladies like it too.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Have a great day.

happy Thanksgiving

2011-10-22T09:23:00.000-07:00

I have been playing in my craft room and having soooo much fun this week. I don't think I have ever sent out Thanksgiving cards before....well, that is going to change this year. I love the French Foliage stamp set, but have never put it to ink yet, so that is the stamp set I choose to use this year. I also love the Gently Falling stamp set in the new Holiday mini, but I have been playing with that one. As you can see, I even made a matching envelope for the card.

And this is the inside. I'm going to list the things that I'm thankful for about the person that I'm sending this too, before I mail it to them.

Simple, but cute.

I have also been making Christmas cards for a Christmas card buffet that I am going to have in a couple of weeks. It has been fun creating and playing. I can't believe that we are almost in November already and thinking about Christmas again. Where does time go?????

Thanks for peeking in .

Have a wonderful day.

Octobers Club Projects

2011-10-15T17:56:00.000-07:00

Wow, it seems like forever since I've blogged last. Needless to say, I have been a little distracted by that new little grandson of mine. I mean really, what would you rather do? Hold a newborn baby, or play with paper? I know they are both great choices, but the baby wins for me everytime....lol.

Since I had club fast approaching I did have to put the baby down and get some crafting done. These are the 3 projects we made on Thursday night.

This one is a cute little box/note card. It holds Hershey nuggets on the one side, with a little note card on the other side. What a fun gift to give for ANY holiday or birthday celebration..

For this project I made it with two different front decorations. The options are limitless, and up to you and your imagination.

Here it is with the little note that is tucked inside, out so you can see the stamping on the bottom of it. Here it is with the front flap cut at an angle, with a little more decoration on the front with some extra leaves stamped and cut out and glued to the front. And the inside was stamped a little differently. The ladies just loved these little treats. I have to say that I first saw this cute little treat on Lisa Martz's blog and she sent me to splitcoaststampers for the directions. So, here is the link to get the directions.http://http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/treatboxcard/ if you would like to make some of these cute little treats too. This was one of the two cards we made as well. I got this adorable idea from Dawn Olfcheske's blog. She called it the peek a boo card. I think this would make such a cute card for a child's birthday or a Christmas card too. Again, the possiblities are endless. For the video tutorial to make this cute card, click on the DoStamping link on my sidebar. You should check out all her cute stuff, she's really talented.Then the last card we made, was a card I made at my upline's meeting in September.

This is what it looks like closed.....and when you open it up.....Isn't it cute? Again, we were talking about all the different ways you could use this design to make other cards.

I don't know if you can tell, but the smallest and the largest circles were ran through the Big Shot with the polka dot embossing folder.

I just love this stamp set Gently Falling that we used.

So, even though I haven't blogged for a while, I still have been playing with paper.

I need to get started on my Christmas card class that I am getting ready for soon too. It's just sooooooo hard to focus when I hear those sweet little newborn noises just calling for Grandmas's attention. I'm hearing them now.....oh my goodness.....gotta go!!!!

Thanks for peeking in.

Have a wonderful day.

We have a baby.....

2011-09-27T21:44:00.000-07:00

Well in my last post I mentioned that I had done accupressure on my daughter to induce labor. Well, it must have worked because at 5:30 p.m. (2 hours after doing pressure points) she asks me what it's like when your water breaks. Sure enough, her water had broken. So, we headed to the hospital. Little Brayden was born a few short hours later. He arrived here on Earth at 12:52a.m. Monday morning. He was a big boy weighing in at 9 lbs and 9 ozs and 21 inches long.

As you can see he is adorable and I'm not proud at all.....NOT.

This is one of my favorite photos so far.

When we brought him home today, he was introduced to the family dogs. As you can see, Daisy was in love from the start. She really does LOVE Brayden.

I can't wait to finish the photo album I posted earlier. First I need to get some sleep. I think I've slept a total of 5 hours in the past 3 days. I got the privelege of staying in the hospital with my daughter while she was there. The guests bed was a very uncomfortable couch.....and I use the term couch loosely....that isn't even wide enough to lay on your back comfortably. But it was worth it to be there. I can't wait to crawl into my own bed tonight and get rested. My plans tomorrow are loving on that little boy. I can't get enough kisses on those cheeks of his.

Thanks for peeking in.

Grandma brag booksl....

2011-09-25T15:50:00.000-07:00

So, if you've read my blog at all lately, you know I'm waiting to be a grandma again.

So, while I was waiting yesterday I decided to make a cute little brag book to put pictures in to take to work and show the little guy off.

About 18 months ago I made this cute little brag book for my granddaughter Lucy when she was born. I decided I really liked the size and the amount of pictures that it held, so I made one with the same pattern for little Brayden.

This was little Lucy and the front of the brag book. Then when you open it up, it holds a few pictures on each side......but.....
As you can kind of see here, it has two pull out pages on each side to hold even more pictures.

That's what it looks like with the all the cute pictures in it. Well, since I don't have any baby pictures yet to put in it. Here is what it looks like while we wait.

I have to say that I didn't use stampin up dsp on this one. I did use Pool Party and Cherry Cobbler cardstock, but the DSP was from My Mind's Eye. My daughter wanted a more manly man type of scrapbook, and Stampin Up's baby paper isn't really manly man, it's more cutesy. Which is good too.

Anyway, this is the front of the scrapbook.

And this is the inside without any pictures and with the 4 pull out pages .

I will take pictures of it and show you when it's full of pictures of the cute little guy when he finally gets here.

It was so much easier to make the second time around. The first one I made seemed to take forever, because I didn't understand the directions all that well. When I finally figured it out, the directions made perfect sense. But, since I'd already made one, this made up in like an hour.

I got the directions from Lynn Pratt's blog Stamp n design. There is a link on my sidebar if you are interested. I think the tutorial cost $5.99, but I'm getting my money's worth.

My daughter has a doctor's appointment tomorrow and the doctor said if she hasn't had it yet, she will induce her if she wants. They are concerned because he is so big. So, if she hasn't gone into labor by tomorrow morning, I think she's going to take the doctor up on the inducement.

We have been doing accupunture points for inducing, and grandma's had a little chat with him, my son even went out and bought castor oil. We don't want her to do the castor oil because we have heard too many horror stories about how it was bad for the baby. She will just wait it out instead. So, hopefully next blog post has baby pictures in it.....hahahahaha

Thanks for peeking in today.

Club order thank yous

2011-09-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

This is one of the cute little projects we made at my upline meeting on Saturday. I thought they were so cute and perfect for a Halloween treat. Our original was a Christmas one, but I changed it for my club girls. They were so easy and quick to make up too.

I made a total of 8 the other night.
Here is the Christmas one we made on Saturday.

It's pretty cute isn't it??

Inside hides a yummy little treat. I used Mr. Goodbars, but at out upline meeting we used Kit Kats. What yummy treat would you put in yours????

I hope my ladies like these little treats, and know how much I appreciate them and their business. I really do love being a Stampin Up demonstrator. I love playing with paper, and I love sharing it with others.

Thanks for peeking in today.

A BIGGER candy wrapper treat....

2011-09-20T19:23:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I am still sharing fun things we learned at Convention. That's how much they pack into our convention experience. I can't remember who demonstrated this cute little....well, actually it's not little it's "bigger".....candy wrapper. Yep, it fits a king size candy bar inside there. Cool huh??

Are you wondering how I did that? It's sooooo easy actually. Instead of just a flat piece of 5 1/2" x 6 1/2" cardstock or DSP, you will need the normal width of 6 1/2" but you will need a longer piece for the length. So make your paper 6 1/2" x 9 1/2". On the 9 1/2" side, you will need to score your paper at 3 3/8" and 5 3/8". Fold your paper in on the scored lines. NOTE: Fold one in, and then the other will fold out. This will fit the candy wrapper die, then roll it through your Big Shot . When you open up the paper it will be the length you need to fit a king size candy bar. You just assemble it like you would the smaller version. As you can see in the middle, I just made a belly band to go around it so it would hide the score marks.

If this was confusing and you need a picture tutorial, just leave me a comment and I will "show" you how to do it.

I gave this as one of the door prizes at our last club night. It was a hit.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Cute little purse tutorial

2011-09-19T05:38:00.000-07:00

Remember this cute little purse that I showed earlier? I said if you wanted to learn how to make it to let me know. Well, I got enough requests that I made a photo tutorial. I will forwarn you that the pictures aren't the best, but hopefully it will help you see how to make one of these cute little purses. It starts with a 12 x 12 piece of cardstock. Score it at 4" and 8". Turn it and score it again at 4" and 8". You will now have 9 4" squares scored on your paper.
You will need to cut off the 4 corners. To do this I lined my scored lines along my paper cutting edge and then cut.

Hopefully you can tell from this picture what it looks like AFTER I made the cut.

So, now I have all 4 corners trimmed off. On the sides where you trimmed your corners off, you will now need to make a score line in the middle of that space. I hope I'm not confusing when I explain this. In the photo below I have my ruler layed out acorss the middle of the cardstock. If you look closely you will see that two of the scored intersections are lined up with my ruler.

Now take your stylus and run it from the intersection to the end of the paper like below.

Below is a picture of the finished scored line. Right in the middle of that section. You do that for all 4 of the corners that were trimmed.

Now on the four full squares left, you are going to find the middle (which would be 2") If you look real close, you can see I made a little mark at the middle point.

Now from the mark, go up to the corner intersection and score.

Now, do the other side. From the mark, go up to the other intersection and score.

Now do that to the OPPOSITE square as well. These will be your sides. Your paper should look like this now. NOTE: when you are making these score lines, make sure they are exact. If not, your purse won't fold up correctly.

You now need to cut your DSP to decorate the middle. You will need 5 pieces cut at 3 7/8" square. 3 of those will get adhered to the 3 squares in the middle. The 2 remaining squares need to be cut. To do this, I folded it slightly in the middle and made a little mark. If you look closely you can see my mark at the bottom of my DSP.

Now I lined up my mark and one of the corners on my paper cutter, and cut.

Then I flipped it around, and lined up the other corner with the mark and cut it also.

Now you should have a triangle. Do this to both pieces and adhere to the inside triangles of your purse.

Your purse should be looking like this by now.

Now you will need to make the embellishments for the outside. You will need a top note die from cardstock and one from DSP. Trim the DSP on the perforated edge and adhere to the cardstock top not die.

It should now look like this.

Fold this in half the longway.

With your crop a dile, go in as far as you can and punch a hole with the largest hole punch. Do this on both sides.

Take about 9-10 inches of ribbon and pull through the holes like the picture below. Make sure your ribbon isn't twisted, so you have a nice smooth handle. I layed down 3 rows of sticky strip to adhere my ribbon too, because this is also going to hold the pure together so it needs to be secure.

Attach this to the back of your purse with the ribbon being hid by the purse itself. Then I added a piece of velcro to the front of the top note and then shut the purse and it attached the velcro perfectly aligned.

Decorate the front however you like, and you have yourself a cute little purse to hold some yummy treats.

I hope this tutorial was helpful and not confusing. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know if it helped or I needed to clarify anything.

Thanks for peeking in today. I am waiting for my 6th grandbaby to be born here anytime now. Hopefully soon. I will have to interupt this "craft" blog for some "grandma" pictures when it happens.....hahahahahaha

Thanks for peeking in.

Our fun Upline meeting ....

2011-09-18T05:10:00.000-07:00

Every few months my upline, Lis Ljung, has a meeting for all of her downline. Yesterday was one of those fun meetings. Here is a picture of Lis explaining to us some of the make n takes that we got to make. Here is a very bad picture of the display that Chris and I put together for the Christmas items. It really looked good in real life.
This is a picture of the doorprize that I got to take home. It is a plastic picture frame with some DSP in it with a 3 x 3 notepad covered. Too cute.

Here is a picture of one of the make n takes that we made. It is a tier card with 3 circles that go together and then when you hold it up it falls down as 3 circles. It is really cute. This is a horrible picture of it. I was in too big of a hurry to take the pictures because my battery was on low. That will teach me to keep my battery charged.

This is me and Gloria, my BFF's downline. We were looking at the idea boards together and I was taking pictures of the boards and turned the camera on us and got a picture. She's a sweetheart. I have to say that one of the perks of being a demonstrator is all the fun new friends you make.Gloria was helping Eileen finish up her swaps.

Here is my upline Eva Kailiponi. Another great friendship made because of Stampin Up.

Here is a picture of all the swaps that were made. We lay them out on a table, and then vote on the ones that we like best. We vote for 3, and the top 4 win prizes.....woo hoo....I won #2. Picture coming.....

Here is Rachel. She was showing everyone how much fun it is to make those lollie wreaths that I posted earlier.

Here is Sandy Hancock, she is Lis' upline. She has been with Stampin Up for 22 years. She was giving us a pep talk on trying to earn the Fiji trip next year. If you hit a certain quota, Stampin Up gives their demonstrators a wonderful trip. Next year is is Fiji. WOW!!!!

Here she is showing a cute little gift that she made for Lis.

And here are the 4 winners holding their cards. In first place was Krista with an amazing card, then I'm in second place, and then Nadine in 3rd place, and my BFF Chris in 4th with her cute Christmas card.

I'm sorry these pictures don't give the day justice. One of these days, I'm going to invest in a better camera.

Thanks for peeking in.

Have a wonderful day.

I have been a busy girl.....

2011-09-17T16:38:00.001-07:00

I have been a busy girl getting ready for today. We had a really super fun upline meeting today, and I was asked to make a display of Christmas things we saw at Convention. So, I have been busy getting ready for that, not to mention that I have gone back to work again. It takes me some time to readjust to being on a schedule and getting up and being somewhere at a certain time again....hahahahaha

So, I have for you today, the detailed pictures of the last blog post.....what was that.... like 2 weeks ago????

The front cover. I decided to make my book a recipe book for Christmas. So, each day in December we can make a new Christmas recipe. I think it will be lots of fun. My girls LOVED this idea, so I just might make them one too. The first day, is just an envelope with the flap cut off. You decorate the front of the envelope any way you would like, then inside slides a 5 1/2"x3 1/2" decorated paper that I will write the recipe on.
Here's a view with the inside pulled out.

Day two is a piece of vellum cut 5 1/2" x 4" and I stamped some snowflakes and embossed them. I added the "two" with some of the glitter paper.

You flip back the vellum piece, and you find a piece of designer series paper with some white on top to write your recipe.

Day 3 is a piece of cardstock cut at 5 1/2" x 9 1/2" scored at 2" and 6 1/2" and it folds to be this cute little booklet thing. It has a cute little closure on the front. You can't see it very well, but it is stamped and embossed on the front too.

Then when you open it up, it looks like this inside. This is the inside of 8 because I forgot to take a picture of #3, but they are the same inside.

Then 4 is another envelope again with the flap cut off.

It also has a little piece that comes out that will have a recipe on it soon.

For day 5, I took apart an envelope and used it as a template to cut an envelope out of DSP. Then I just decorated the front, and added a little piece that will slide out to hold a recipe.

I added that punched out circle and added a button to give me something to grab to pull it out easily.

Then I have added the pictures for 6-10, but you will see that it is just a repeat of 1-5.

And you just keep repeating the steps until you get to 25. It was soooo much fun to make, but I will say that it took some time.

So, now go make one of your own.

I will have some pictures of our fun meeting today for you tomorrow.

Thanks for peeking in.

Have a wonderful day.

A sneak peek

2011-09-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

I have been working on lots of fun Christmas projects for my up, upline meeting on Sept. 17th. Since I went to convention, my up, upline....or however you would say it....asked me and my BFF if we would make a display table of some of the Christmas projects they showed us at convention. This is one of them....It was a LOT of work, but fun to make too. It is not quite done yet, so this is just a sneak peek.

Here is the front of the project..... ....and a sneak at what the project looks like from the side.
I will be back, most likely, tomorrow with the finished product.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Upline meeting projects

2011-09-06T05:00:00.000-07:00

So, today I thought I would share with you the cute things we made at my upline meeting on Saturday.
This first card uses the new striped embossing folder, along with the Hostess set Array of Sunshine. I don't know if you can tell in the photo, but the flowers are layered. The next card is a cute baby card, too bad it wasn't in blue, since my daughter is due to have a little boy here soon. It's cute how you take the stitched stockings stamp and turn it upside down to make a stick horse.
And we also made this cute little purse using a 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock.

And heres an inside view.

I was lucky enough to receive one of these cute little purses for my birthday with some yummy treats tucked inside. It makes a cute gift holder. I think we just might make this for club this week. Wouldn't it be cute in Halloween paper and some Halloween treats inside?

If anyone is interested in the details on how to make it, just let me know. If I get enough requests, I will post a tutorial.

Thanks for peeking in today. I get the pleasure of escorting my husband to his colonoscopy appointment today. Glad it's him and not me.....

Upline meeting swaps

2011-09-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

So Saturday was a fun upline meeting. Ususally there are only 2 or 3 of us, Saturday we were lucky enough to have 5 of us there. It was nice. We made 3 fun items that I will show you tomorrow, but for now, I'm going to share with you the swaps we all got.

The first one is the swap I made. I cased this from someone, but I'm not sure who. When I save a picture I like to my ipad, if it doesn't have a watermark on it, I usually don't remember who I cased. It uses my new favorite snow burst embossing folder. It also uses the new quilted cherry cobbler ribbon. You can't really tell in the picture, but I also embossed the JOY in the new cherry cobbler embossing powder. This next card is from Cindy.
This card is from Sue.

This one if from my BFF Chris. Lots of work on this one.

This card is from Gloria.

And this one is from Eileen.

Lots of cute cards and new ideas. I do have to say, one of the best things about the meeting was I got the names of 3 new people to play "Words with Friends" on my ipad. I LOVE playing that game. If anyone out there reading my blog likes to play words with friends and wants to play me, my name is Pandie143.

I can never have too many games going at once. Bring it!!!!

Thanks for peeking in today. If you live in the US. Have a wonderful Labor Day.

Yesterday's accomplishment

2011-09-04T08:25:00.000-07:00

Wow, yesterday was a full day of "therapy". I had my upline meeting in the morning, and then my BFF (my convention roommate) came over to my house afterwards and we each made one of these cute Christmas Countdowns. Boy do they take a lot of work!!!! We worked on these things for over 8 hours yesterday, but I think it turned out pretty cute. It uses LOTS of new toys from the Holiday mini catalog. I will list the supplies at the end of this post. I will say that I used the Christmas Lane Simply Scrappin kit for mine. I also included a closer picture of each little square. For the squares that arn't using the Peekaboo frames, I cut them into 2 1/4" squares. You can see that some were embossed using the new snow burst embossing folder.....my new favorite!!!!

For more effecient picture taking, you'll notice that they are not all in order.

As you can see, there is a LOT of detail. I'm really glad I made one though. I don't know if you can tell, but I glued mine onto a 12 x 12 canvas.

If anyone has any questions on any of the squares, you can leave me a comment and ask. I realize some of the pictures still didn't give all the details. We pretty much copied the sample from the Holiday mini, just making a few changes.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Items used in this project:
peekaboo frames Bigz die, christmas lane simply scrappin kit, mini jingle bells, snow burst embossing folder, 25 & counting stamp set, rhinestones, pearls, 1" square punch, curly label punch, boho blossoms punch, jewelry tag punch, itty bitty shapes circle punch, scallop square punch, 1 3/4" scallop circle punch, blossom bouquet triple layer punch (the tiny inside flower pices that are usually discarded were used for the flames in square 11), dotted scallop ribbon border punch, scallop edge border, 1" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, postage stamp punch, 1 1/4" square punch, perfect polka dots embossing folder, stars #2 die, medium sizzleits dies (for the numbers 4, 13, 16, 25),northern frost decorative strip die, real red 1/8" tafetta ribbon, bakers twine, buttons, clip from the clip assortment, designer printed brads, brads, mini clothespins, paper piercing tool, multipurpose liquid glue (tombow), stampin dimensionals,calendar alphabet and numbers stamp set (for the small 15 on the jewelry tag).

Stamping 411 challenge and a grateful heart

2011-09-02T18:22:00.000-07:00

I have been playing with paper lately, but it's stuff that takes lots of time to finish. I felt like making something today that would be finished quickly. So, I went to my challenge list on my sidebar, and decided to do the Stamping 411 challenge.

This is what I created. I used my new gently falling stamp set that I absolutely love. I got to play with lots of new toys. The new houndstooth embossing folder was just one of them. While I was making one card, I figured why not just make two at the same time???? So, I did!!!!

I made one small little change to them. Can you tell what it is???

I'm very excited that it is the weekend, especially a 3 day weekend.

Thanks for peeking in today.

The cutest little purses

2011-08-31T05:00:00.000-07:00

How cute are these little purses? I saw these on a blog....can't for the life of me remember which one either.....and I knew that I just had to make some for my club girls. These are the little thank yous I added to their club orders this month. They are sooooo easy to make too. They are made with a 6"x6" piece of paper. If I can't find the tutorial that I used, and if anyone is interested, I will gladly do a tutorial here. They are just that much fun to make, and I think that cute too.
For mine, I added a Twix candy bar in the middle,but anything could go in there. I think these would be so cute in Halloween paper with some treats, or even a cute way to package a small gift. The possibilities are endless. So what would you put in yours????

Thanks for peeking in today.

If you would like to know how to make these, just leave me a comment of shoot me an email, and I will show you how.

Have a wonderful day.

Even the naughty deserve somthing nice

2011-08-30T05:00:00.000-07:00

This is the last of the tags I've been making I promise.

I do have to say that I think this tag turned out fun. I have been having soooo much fun making these rosettes/lollies whatever you want to call them, so i thought it would be fun to put on a tag. To make these fun lollies I just cut a 12" x 1" piece of DSP. Then I used my new simply scored and scored it every 1/4", then folded it back and forth. I attached the two ends together with some sticky strip, and to keep it flat I just pressed it down and then poured a little crystal effects in the middle to keep its shape. I added the 1 3/4" punched circle and just held it for a little while and it was secured. I can't wait to make more wreaths for Thanksgiving and Christmas with those lollies. If you haven't made a lollie yet, you should try it. They really are addicting. Here is a sideways view....sorry....of all 11.
I think when I get my swaps from the other people for these tags that I will have plenty of Christmas tags for my presents this year. I can't wait to get them in the mail and show you what clever tags other people came up with.

Until then, thanks for peeking in.

Do Not Open Till Christmas

2011-08-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

Here is one more of the tags I made for the swap I signed up for. I had signed up for the "Do Not Open till Christmas" stamp, and I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it. It is a small stamp, and I wanted to make a bigger tag. As I was sitting at my desk thinking, I looked over and saw a tag very similar to this one for a birthday tag, and knew this is what I would do with the stamp. The blurry thing at the bottom of the tag is 3 little rhinestones for some bling. I think this little tag would make a Christmas gift look fun.
Thanks for peeking in today.
Have a great day.

More Christmas tags

2011-08-28T13:13:00.000-07:00

I have to say that signing up for a tag swap was a great idea. It has really motivated me to start getting ready for Christmas. I usually wait until the last minute and then just don't end up doing anything.....can anyone else relate to this?

Anyway, I kept these particular tags pretty simple. I just layered some Wild Wasabi, Cherry Cobbler and Natural White and punched out some pennants from the pennant punch. I did have to add a little bling to the top for the star, but I like the simplicity of them. They made up pretty quickly, so I'm thinking of making a stack for myself to have on hand. When I made these I was watching The Bachelor Pad.....a silly vice of mine....and now everytime I see these tags, I think of that episode. Hopefully, by Christmas that memory will be gone and I will think of something not so stupid....hahahahaha Here is a close up of the tag all alone.

I wonder what fun gift this will end up on at Christmas. It's crazy to think that Christmas is only 4 months away. Heck, I can't believe summer is over already. I get the pleasure of going back to work again tomorrow. boo!!! I guess I should just be grateful that I have a job, and that I have summers off. I'm really grateful to work with a great teacher, it's just those rude, disrespectful students that get in the way of making my job enjoyable.

Enough complaining.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Tomorrow I have some more tags to share.

See ya then.

Trick or treat

2011-08-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

I was trying to come up with some fun things to show my customers what they could do with DSP.....it is on special for a few more days ya know. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to decorate one of our #2 boxes using the Big Shot. I just cut one out with some Basic Black and then used the new Frightful Sight DSP and wrapped a band of DSP around it. Then I made one of those cute little scalloped rosettes using the 2 1/2" scallop circle punch. The frankie image in front is from the new Spooky Bingo Bits stamp set. I'm really having fun with that one right now. As you can see I took some satin white ribbon and wrapped it around the box.....before I added the embellishment on the front of course.....and then tied a cute little bow. What's inside you ask???? Well.....
...what's a Halloween treat without candy? So, I covered some Hershey's nuggets with the new stamp set coming out in the new Holiday mini catalog...It's a wrap Holidays. I stamped my image on some address labels and they fit perfectly. I love it. I do have to say that Hershey's has a policy where you are not supposed to cover their wrapper like this. You have to make it so the covering can slide off. I wasn't in the mood to do that, so I just covered them directly. I think it's because they contain nuts and people need to know that that have nut allergies....or it could be that they don't want their name covered up too....Whatever the case, I'm not going to worry about the Hershey police coming after me for giving these to a friend. I will make sure they know there are nuts in there.

Pretty cute and fun huh??? Not to mention YUMMY!!!!!

Thanks for peeking in today.

How about a matching card for that cupcake throne

2011-08-20T05:00:00.000-07:00

So, two posts ago, I showed you these cute little cupcake thrones that we made at club Thursday night. Well, I got to thinking, why not make a matching card to go with that cute little cupcake throne, so here it is. It just looks soooo much better with a yummy cupcake holding it I must say. I added a matching cupcake pick as well. Sometimes matchy matchy is good, and sometimes not so much. This time, it's good!!!
And then here is the matching card. When you already have the stuff out to make the cupcake throne, this cards makes up really fast and easy. Now, who shall I give this yumminess and cuteness too????

If it's your birthday today or soon, then Happy Birthday to you!

Thanks for peeking in today.

See you tomorrow for a cute little Halloween treat I made.

to my Friend...

2011-08-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned on my blog before, I get tons of great ideas on a Stampin Up demonstrator website. This card was one of them. I can't remember who it is from. Do you recognize the middle of those flowers? They are from the lace ribbon border punch. You just punch out the little middle with your 1" circle punch and you get that cute little piece. As you can see, I've used the Friendly Phrases for the sentiment again. I had to hide the fact that I stamped that leaf up a little higher so it would give the flowers height. So, I just punched some real red with the curly label punch and then the sentiment was punched using the large oval and then I just layered them and popped them up on dimensionals.

This card made up really quickly. Perfect for when you need a card really quickly and your stash is running low.

Thanks for peeking in today.

See you again soon.

Cupcake Thrones

2011-08-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

How stinking cute would it be to receive one of these .....only with a delicious cupcake inside that circle???? We are making these adorable little things in club tonight. I wanted to have a few different ones for display. I thought this would be cute for just a muffin, for a coworker one day....If you look really close, you can see that one of my corners on my pinwheel got loose. Ooops.
This is the one we will actually be making tonight. I hope the ladies think they are as cute as I do. They are really easy to make too. I got the tutorial from the amazingly talented Janine Tinkelberg. You can get the tutorial from her blog here.

Thanks for peeking in today.

New and old combined

2011-08-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

This card is a NEW technique.....for me....and some retired (old) supplies. Tomorrow in club we are going to make the doily card I posted a few posts back, and I wanted to show the ladies that the technique is so versatile with so many different stamp sets. This time I used the Just Believe stamp set and embossed it with white ep, and then with my sponge dauber I rubbed some Soft Suede ink over the image. For the DSP on the bottom, that was retired paper as well as the ribbon. I believe that you can still get them both on the clearance rack, if anyone is interested in still getting those. The sentiment is from Friendly Phrases....I love that stamp set. Here you can see how the image really pops when you rub the ink over it.
Thanks for peekin in today.
I hope your week is going great. I can't believe that we are more than halfway through August already. Man, where does time go?

Christmas tags already???

2011-08-16T09:41:00.000-07:00

Yep....christmas tags already. I am always running behind when it comes to the holidays so I decided to get a jump on it. And.....I joined a christmas tag swap. So, I get the pleasure of making 40 different christmas tags and then I will get 40 different ones back. I'm excited to see what comes back. But in the meantime, this is one of the 4 different styles that I have decided to do. I'm making it after the style of tags we made at Convention. It uses the natural white cardstock. I really like this cardstock and had never used it before. If you haven't tried it, you should. I used the Polar Party stamp set and just colored him in with my stampin up markers. Then for the snow on the bottom, I used the new dazzling details from the upcoming holiday mini catalog. Have you gotten your catalog in the mail yet? If not, and you want one, just shoot me an email and I will get you one ASAP. I think every house needs one of these!!!!
So, do you want to know how to make such a perfect curve for the top of this tag? Well, I'm glad you asked because I happened to take a picture so you could see how easy it really is to do. You just take one of the ends and put it in the 2 1/2" circle punch from the back .... just like this....

Easy peasy huh? So, now go try this fun technique yourself. It's never to early to get a jump on the holidays.

Thanks for peeking in today.

I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday.

Spooky

2011-08-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

When I got my hands on the new Holiday Mini catalog I saw the cutest wreath on page 6. I knew I was going to be making one of those, and having won the new Simply Scored Scoring Tool, I had NO excuses. But, instead of making it a fall wreath, I wanted to start by making mine a Halloween wreath. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Here is a close up of the bow and that darling little lolli with the spooky in the middle. These lollis are really becoming quite popular. They are really fun to make too. As you can see it uses all different sizes of these lollies. The bigger ones I cut them at 2" and then scored them every 1/4" and just folded back and forth and connected the ends together and then glued them down to a piece of 1" punched circle to help hold them together. Then I cute some at 1 1/2" and the smaller ones at 1" and did the same as the 2" lollies.
For the base that I glued them on I just used the thick white paper that comes in the DSP pack of paper. I used one plate to outline the outside diameter and then for the circle in the middle, I just used a smaller plate, then cut them out by hand. It worked perfectly.
As you can see I used the Frightful Sight DSP from the new catalog and I also used the new Spooky Bingo Bits stamp set on a few of the lollies.
I made this so I could show my club ladies some fun things they can do with the DSP since it's on special this month.

Thanks for peeking in.
Have a wonderful day.

Look familiar???/

2011-08-14T05:00:00.000-07:00

I know you guys are thinking, wait a minute, you've already posted this card. Well, I kinda did. But that card was the sample I used to make this one. This card is a case from Convention. I was so excited to get all my new goodies I preordered from the new Holiday Mini catalog. This is the first thing I made. I'm so sad to say that after punching out the first two stockings just fine with my new stocking punch.....yes, that is a new item in the Holiday Mini coming up.....yippee....but, the third time I went to punch one out.....it wouldn't punch it. I was sooooooo sad. I am going to have send that punch back to get a new one. I know they have been having problems with some of the punches, but I was hoping to never be a victim of that problem....unfortunately that didn't pan out for me. Anyways, it really is a fun card, and when I get my new ..... working punch.....I am going to be offering this as one of my Christmas cards in my Christmas card class. I also just love that new stamp Hand Penned Holidays that I used for the sentiment.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Have a wonderful day.

I love the Hello Doily stamp....

2011-08-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

I just love this Hello Doily stamp. Look at how real that doily looks on this card. It's awesome. This card is a case from a card I saw on Stampin Connection made by Brenda Keenan. I loved it so much I had to try to make one myself. It uses the technique of emboss resist. I am going to teach this technique to my club ladies on Thursday night and we will be making this card. I used the colors Crumb Cake and Baja Breeze for this card.
I don't really have many Thinking of You cards, so that's why I used that sentiment this time. Plus, I just got that stamp set Sincere Salutations so I wanted to use it. What took me so long to get that stamp set????
Anyway, have a wonderful day.
Thanks for peeking in today.

I have the best BFFICM!!!!

2011-08-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

So, if you come to my blog often you know I went to Convention. Well, I have the Best Friend Forever that I went with. Thus the BFF, the ICM stands for the city she lives in. I will keep that between us.....hahahaha Anyway, while we were at Convention we were looking at the sample boards and taking pictures, and she saw a card very similar to this one. When she saw it, she told me that I needed to make her that card. I laughed and said sure. Well, for my birthday a few weeks ago, she took me to lunch at Benihana's and then gave me a wonderful present. I knew immediately the card I would make her as a thank you.....yep....this card. It is pretty cute I must say. How cute is that lamp shade? I just used the cupcake builder punch and turned it upside down. The lamp stand itself comes from the Aviary stamp set, and then I added some bling to the lamp shade with some pearls.
That is honestly one of the best things about being a Stampin Up demonstrator is the friends you make. I would never have meet Chris if it wasn't for Stampin Up. She is truly a wonderful person, and I feel so blessed to have her as such a dear friend. I will NEVER attend a Convention without her!!!

Thanks for peeking in today.

Have a wonderful day.

Where have I been????

2011-08-11T16:20:00.001-07:00

I canNOT believe that it has been almost 2 weeks since I last posted. Time sure does fly. Heck, summer is almost over and that means heading back to work for me.....booo! Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful to have a job, but just enjoy being home much more.

With that said, I have been busy making these cute little owls for my daughters baby shower coming up here pretty soon. We are going to fill them up with some M&M's and give them out as party favors. As you can see, there are 30 of them total. They were so easy to make, just time consuming. I'm glad I had the foresight to start early, because I tend to wait until the last minute and then I'm stressing out and panicking.....I hate it when I do that.
To make this cute little guy I used:
The pillow box in soft suede for the body.
The 1 1/4" circle punch in white, the 3/4" circle punch in pool party and the 1/2" circle punch in black for the eyes.
The littlest heart on the heart to heart punch in calypso coral for the beak.
I used the small heart punch in poppy parade for the heart.
I used some retired paper woodland something or other, sorry, for the scallops on the front. I cut them out using the wonderful Tastefull Trim die for the Big Shot.
His feet were punched out with the 5 petal flower punch and I just cut off the other 3 petals.
For his wings I used some chocolate chip cs and the large oval punch.

Thanks for peeking in today.
I hope it's not another 2 weeks before I post something. hahahaha
Actually I do have some fun things I have also been working on I will share tomorrow.

Have a wonderful day.

Wow, it's already Friday....

2011-07-29T10:21:00.001-07:00

I have been so busy crazy lately rearranging my craft room that I haven't even had time to play. So, I decided to share more pictures of fun ideas that I got at Convention.

This is a little sneak peek at a new stamp set....and yes, also a new punch....coming out in the Holiday mini catalog. I'm so excited. I loved this card. I think we will be making this one at a Christmas card stamp camp. Here is another fun sneak peek at a new item in the Holiday mini. It's a die cut for our Big Shot of a stocking. Boy, do I have some fun plans for those in my house this Christmas time....I can hardly wait to get my hands on this new toy.
And, then how cute are these flowers with buttons for the centers. This also uses a new fun thing coming out in the new Holiday mini. They are called shaker frames, and there are so many fun things to do with them. This is just one cute idea.

I also liked this sweet little card. How fun with the ribbons sticking out the two sides just for a different ribbon element.

So, that is it for today. I am hoping to finish the room today, so I can get in there and play again soon. My daughter is moving back home for about 6 months, so we are going to share my craft space....should be interesting. I'm so happy to have her back home that I will make any sacrifices necessary.

Thanks for peeking in.

Make it a wonderful day.

Live in the sunshine

2011-07-26T11:25:00.000-07:00

Wow, this is my second post of the day. When I woke up this morning I felt like playing with one of the challenges out there. I decided to play along with the Stamping 411 challenge today.

How cute is this little flower? I used the triple layer punched flowers, 5 of them, got them wet and scrunched them up. I then attached all the layers together with a brad and then scrunched them up again. It's cuter in real life though. The challenge was to have the card the other way, but I had already cut the Calypso Coral to fold this way, and added the DSP to the bottom when I realized, so I left it.
I love how that little scallop around the 2 1/2" circle punch fits so well. It is one of the pieces from the Perfect Pennant die. I used the Pursuit of Happiness stamp set for the sentiment.
Thanks for peeking in today, and if this is your first visit today. Keep scrolling down for a "berry" sweet card I posted earlier today.

Sweet Strawberries and Gingham

2011-07-26T05:32:00.000-07:00

Okay so this is two cases thrown into one card. And, for the life of me I can't remember who either of the cards were from....I'm sorry. If it's you, let me know and I will give you the credit due you.

How cute is that gingham? But Stampin Up doesn't have any gingham DSP you say? That's because that is a piece of whisper white cardstock turned into gingham. Cool huh? I took my new stripes embossing folder and brayer with some Lucky Limeade ink and inked up my brayer. Tip: make sure you ink up the side with the stampin up logo on it.

I inked up the embossing folder and ran my paper through the Big Shot once, then inked it up again, turned my paper 180 degrees and then ran the paper through the Big Shot again. And this cute gingham is what I got.

I just love this technique. Probably because I like gingham. It just says happy and summer to me. Then I used the new Berry Blossoms DSP and the Fruit and Flowers stamp set for the inside. My cute little strawberry is punched from the Heart punch with some Calypso Coral.I think this card is "berry" sweet.
Thanks for peeking in today.
Have an amazing day today.

Thanks for your order gifts

2011-07-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

In June I told my club ladies that if they placed an online order, that I would make them a little handmade gift for their order. Well, I had 5 ladies place orders online. 3 of them have already gotten their little gifts, but the other two placed their orders on June 30th....the day I had surgery. So, I am finally getting to making their little gifts for their June orders. I think they turned out pretty cute myself.

I used the new Button Buddies stamp set for these cute little 3x3 cards with envelopes. And the topper has a brand new stamp....that I received free at Convention for attending 5 different classes. It is just the neatest stamp and I'm so excited to finally be able to use it. Cute and simple topper. The only thing holding the cello bag shut is that library clip with the little flower.
Here is what each little card inside looks like.

This one is the cute little pig. The little pig is stamped in Regal Rose and then I used Regal Rose DSP for the envelope, but the button and the little cardstock around the pig is Pretty in Pink. This one is a little different because I ran out of red buttons.....gasp.....so I used some crystal effects to make it look like a juicy cherry. Not as cute, but it works. I added a little knot with some 1/8" Old Olive taffeta ribbon at the stem. The envelope is decorated on the back with some Big Top Birthday DSP.

Here we have the Rich Razzleberry flower with a decorated envelope using the Pocketful of Posies DSP.

The little baby rattle I wanted to keep unisex and made it Daffodil Delight. I added a little bling to the middle of the button and then a little 1/8" Daffodil Delight tafetta ribbon bow. For the Congratulations I used the Baby Bundle stamp set. This cute little vase of flowers uses Marina Mist and again a little bling in the middle of the flowers with a little Very Vanilla 1/8" taffeta ribbon bow.

I hope they like them. I just love this new stamp set and had so much fun making these little cuties.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Have a wonderful day.

Just because.....

2011-07-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

This is one of the make n takes we got at Convention. I like how sweet and simple this card is. It uses the Raining Flowers stamp set we got for free....yay, I love free. How fun is that ribbon on the bottom. It uses the new Island Indigo lacy ribbon with some Old Olive 1/8" taffeta ribbon on top and then stapled. Too cute. Here is another sweet and simple card. This is a case from a sample I saw at Convention. It uses the stamp set Easy Events ..... another freebie from Convention.
Well I have this post scheduled ahead of time, but today is my 50th birthday. My girls are kidnapping me and taking me to a spa for a day of pampering, and then off to my sons for a family dinner. I can't believe I'm 50. I used to think 50 was old, and now that I'm here, I realize it's not that bad. So, here's to making it to 50!!! I hope the next 50 years are as wonderful.....actually I don't want to live another 50 years....that's just toooo old....lol
I hope you are all having a wonderful day today too.
Thanks for peeking in.

Thinking out of the box....

2011-07-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

I saw one of these at Convention. One of the ladies in our group made these for one of her swaps, and I was just in love with it. How do people think of these things? Can you tell what this is made from? Yep, the milk carton die. You cut two dies and cut off one of the flaps on each die, and then attach the two dies together and you get this adorable box. Then you just decorate it to your liking. I mean look how stinkin cute that top is!!! What a great way to give a gift. It would be like a gift inside a gift. I got my directions to make this on www.creativityinprogress.com. It's down a ways so you really have to scroll down, but it was worth it.
Thanks for peeking in today.
I hope today is a good day for everyone.

Hello Doily

2011-07-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

When I saw this stamp in the new IB&C I just knew I had to have it.

This is a case of one of the cards I saw on display at Convention.

That cute little doily on top of the stamped image is from the Flirtatious DSP, and how fun it is that cute fan on the top? I made it using my new Simply Scored that I won at Convention. I can't wait for everyone to see it and use it. To make that fan I cut a piece of DSP 12" x 1 1/4" and then I scored it every 1/4" and then folded it back and forth. I adhered the two end pieces together and then layed it down and added that button on top. Easy Peasy. I also made this card using the Hello Doily stamp set and the sentiment is from Perfectly Penned....another great stamp set. I stamped the image with Versa Mark and then embossed it with White embossing Powder. It looks so amazing in person. Then I die cut a butterfly from vellum, added some bling to the body and attached it to the doily. I sponged the edges with some Rose Red which is what Iused to stamp the sentiment. I popped it up with some dimensionals and added it to the Blusing Bride cardstock.
Doesn't that look like a real doily on there? I love this stamp. It will get a LOT of use in my stamp room. I think we are going to be making this Thursday night too.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Have a wonderful day.

I hope it's not too hot where you are. We are having a heat wave and I hate it.

Candy on a card????

2011-07-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

So this is one of the darling projects Carrie Cudney shared with us at Convention. Isn't it adorable? It is little Hershey Miniature candies on a card. I would have never thought to put little candies on a card, but that's why she is where she is, and I am not!!! hahahaha

I wanted to duplicate the original as close as I could. I used Blushing Bride for the colors, and the DSP is from the Nursery Suite. The ribbon is Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon that I got wet and scrunched up and then dried with my heat tool. How cute is that cake pedestal? It uses the new Lace Border punch. So, at Convention this card "WOWWED" everyone, including me. I couldn't wait to come home and make one. Then I made it and didn't think it really said "Birthday". It said "Princess" to me. Well, I wanted to make this card for club on Thursday since 2 of my club members and myself all have July birthdays, but I wanted it more birthday than princess. So....... ......I made another one using different DSP, and I LOVE it! So, this is one of the cards we will be making at club on Thursday night. I hope the ladies like it. For this card I used the Just Add Cake DSP, and it gives it a whole different feel. The feel I was looking for.

So, what's your favorite Hershey's miniature candy? Mine is Mr. Goodbar.

Thanks for peeking in today.
Tomorrow I have some more samples of cards I made yesterday.

I spent the whole day in my craft room just playing. So much fun.
See ya tomorrow.

Workshops in a Bag

2011-07-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

This year at Convention they outdid themselves. Everything was a +one thought. So, every year they have wonderful Make n Takes that they give us the stamp sets we need to make everything, not to mention all the paper, ribbons and embellishments needed to make the projects. They give us 2 hours to make them, and we NEVER get them done.....hahahahaha

I didn't even scratch the surface of the make n takes this year. That's on my to do list, to finish .....finish, hahahaha to do them. I will show those when I get them done. BUT, in addition to the make n takes, they also gave us a cute bag with enough stuff to do a workshop! Talk about generous. It was all cut for us and put into kits for us and everything.

These are two of the three projects they had for us. I put them together as samples last night.

How cute is this??? It's a set of 4 thank you tags in a little cello bag with a cute little topper.

Here are the 4 cute little tags before putting them in the cello bag.

And I'm sorry, I just think this little topper is so cute and simple. I'm so excited that Stampin Up now sells those cute little clothespins.

These tags use the Easy Events stamp set, all 5 new In Colors, the 2 1/2" punch, the Itty Bitty Punchs, Lucky Limeade ribbon.....love that new ribbon, and the small cello bag.
This card was pretty cute too. It uses the new Easy Events stamp set as well.

Here is a close up of the image. It has dazzling diamonds around the outside of the leaves on the tree and how cute are those corners. You just use the little circle punch in the Itty Bitty punch pack and punch out a section on each corner, and then wrap Bakers Twine around the corners and edges and secure on the back. It's simple to do and adds such a cute little touch.

Then you just stamp on the envelope too and everything is all matchy matchy and cute. The fun thing I liked about this kit, is they used the natural white paper, and it is so fun to work with. I haven't really used it before and I'm going to start using it more now. I really liked it. The envelope is also a natural white envelope.

So, those are two of the workshop in a bag projects. I wasn't really to sure about the other one, so I might do something different on that one. If I do I will show you that one too.

Now I need to finish unpacking and do some laundry....ugh....

I'm so excited for club on Thursday night. I have so many ideas I'm not sure which ones to do.....my head is spinning with ideas thanks to convention.

Thanks for peeking in.

Have a wonderful day.

Home and totally exhausted...: )

2011-07-17T14:04:00.001-07:00

I have a few photos from Convention to show you how much fun it was. Tomorrow I will have pictures of some of the fun projects we got to see.....but for now....

I wanted to show you how close we stayed to the Convention Center this year. This picture was taken from the outside elevator of our hotel. We are literally right across the street. And here is a picture of our hotel as we walk out of the Convention doors. I can't tell you how nice that was to be so close. Stampin Up gave us a lot of free stuff and some of it got heavy after awhile, all I had to do was run ..... well maybe not run.....walk across the street and drop it off and just head back for more......greedy huh? hahahaha Sometimes I waited in line to use the restroom longer than if I had just gone back to the hotel room.....hahahahaha
Then, just to give you an idea of how many "crazy" women were there.....I took a picture of the masses as we were coming out of the general session and heading for some lunch. I got up the escaltor and took a picture from one side......

.....and then turned around and took another picture of the other side. Lots of ladies huh????? And we were all there because we LOVE to stamp and play with paper. I met a lot of super nice, super friendly people, and then there were those not as friendly.....you learn to just ignore those ones after awhile. But, it really was a blast.Here I am all excited because I just won a wonderful treasure. It is a brand new ..... wonderful .... tool that Stampin Up will start selling in the Holiday Mini Catalog, and I got mine for free. It is called a Simply Scorer......and yes, it is way better than any scoring tool out there on the market. Anyone wanna buy my old Scor Pal? hahahahha

It was very exciting to win that particular prize. Woo Hoo for me. I even made it on the YouTube Convention 2011 highlight video.....my You Tube debut. : )

Every year Stampin Up has a theme, and this year's theme was GROW!!! This was the main stage and me and my BFF Chris Twardowski took our pictures in front of it before our class started. It looks really fun in person.

Here is a picture of the girls I hung out with. Me on the end, Chris, Angi....my new friend, and Sue. This was the last day and the last general session, and we are all absolutely exhausted.

We even had this cute little guy in our group. He is 7 weeks old and I'm sure the youngest attendee at Convention. He was sooooo good.

Here are more of our group at the kick off party on Wednesday night. The theme was Flower Party, that is why Sue has a flower on her head. Let me tell you, some of those ladies got crazy with their garden party hats....

Then on Friday night we try to get together for dinner at the Olive Garden. These are the ones who were able to make it. It was good food, and great company.

These are just a few of the pictures of some of the fun we had while there. I have to say that 3 years ago I peeked into peoples blogs that went to Convention and saw how much fun they had, and thought I want to go to that. So, almost 3 years ago I became a Stampin Up demonstrator so I could go to Convention. It is soooooo much fun and worth the time and money. If anyone is one the fence about becoming a demonstrator, or wants to make lots of new friends with fun people, you should become a demonstrator and come with me next year. You won't regret it.

Tomorrow I will have pictures of samples and not bore you with my own personal pictures.....well maybe a few more....hahahaha

Thanks for peeking in.

Have a great day.

hello.....

2011-07-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

I saw this card on Stampin Connection made by Lisa Martz and just loved the way she used that stamp set and the colors she used together. I knew immediately that I needed to make 8 of these to send to my club ladies from convention. I was even happier to realize that I had all the stuff I needed to make them.....woo hoo. the base of the card is 5 1/4" x 5 1/4" and uses the new In Color Island Indigo. Then there is a layer of Pool Party right underneath it and then some DSP from the Pocketful of Posies pack. I love those colors together. It just makes me happy, what can I say. Then I used the largest scallop circle for the Pool Party scallop, then using the clear circle die and some Island Indigo for the next layer and then the white circle on top was the 3 1/2" circle die. Lots of cutting and prepping, but sooooo worth it.

This is the loving I gave to the inside.
And because I wanted one for myself as a sample, I made a 9th one, but unfortunately the DSP only had enough of the one pattern to make 8 cards, so I found this pattern in there and thought it would work just fine. I think it does.

Wrapped with a layer of that new wonderful In Color ribbon, and a little bling, just finished the card off nicely. As you can see I also stamped on the outside of the envelope. It's all in the details right???

I hope my club ladies like them.

Thanks for peeking in today.

I have nothing else to show until I get back, so you will just have to be patient and see what I brought back from convention.

See ya!!!

Butterfly Magnets

2011-07-14T05:00:00.000-07:00

At first I wasn't really sure about these guys, but then when I added the ribbon for the body and the antenae....and then added the pearls....I was happy with them. I think they turned out pretty cute. These ones just used the Butterfly die and the DSP from the Pocketful of Posies pack.
Well by now, I have shopped at Momento Mall, gotten my hands on the new Holiday Mini Catalog....so excited about seeing that.....and had lots of fun. But, since I am typing these posts....BEFORE....convention to have ready....I have no idea what those were like. But, I can'twait to share it with you when I get home.

Thanks for peeking in.
Tomorrow I'm going to show you the card I sent my club girls from convention.
Hopefully, they will have gotten it already.

Convention Pictures

2011-07-13T14:33:00.000-07:00

Andrea & Sue
This is Sue and I "sharing" our new clothing attire we purchased today at Momento Mall. I really do like my new cardigan, I also got one of those cute t-shirts.

Here I am with my wonderfully fun roommate Chris. We are getting a one on one lesson on My Digital Studio. I'm so glad we got this little lesson, because I have been so intimidated by MDS, but not anymore.....well not as much.

I just had to post this picture below. I am a total blog stalker, and these are two of the wonderfully talented ladies whose blogs I stalk. In the yellow shirt is Sandra Farrell, and then me, and then Jenn Picard. Love these ladies works of art.

The next few pictures are just some fun displays they had for us to view. I think they are pretty self explanatory, so enjoy. If you have any questions on any of them, leave me a comment and I will do my best to explain.

I do have to say that this package is sooooooo much better looking in person. But the glitter paper as wrapping paper was gorgeous.

These were some of the items we could buy at Momento Mall. I didn't get any today....but I'm going to change that tomorrow.....lol.

These are just a few of 198 pictures I took just today.
Am I having fun?????? OH YES AM!!!!!!!
Convention is such a wonderful way to spend 5 days of my summer.

If I get a chance I will blog more pictures tomorrow.
Thanks for peeking in.

More Convention Swaps

2011-07-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

For some reason this year I just wasn't feeling like making cards to swap at Convention. I guess it's because I already get so many great ideas on Stampin Connection. So, I tried to think of another 3D swap that I had the stuff for and would be easy to make.

This is what I came up with. Magnets!!!! I took the magnet sheets that Stampin Up sells and ran them through the Big Shot with the Fun Flowers die, and then cut out some textured cardstock that I had on hand, and this is what emerged.

I really liked the flowers when I put them on a card recently.....see a few posts down.....so I thought they would make a cute magnet. The one pack of magnet sheets made 18 flowers, and then I also got 6 butterflies. Those I will show you tomorrow. I popped each layer up on a Stampin Dimensional and they turned out pretty cute. They really do look better in real life than these silly pictures.
I wonder what fun things I will get in exchange for these?????
Today is the kickoff of convention.
I can hardly wait to go shopping at Momento Mall.....I can't wait to see the fun things they have for us there. For those who have never been to convention, or know what Momento Mall is, it is a little shopping place set up that sells stuff that you can only get at Momento Mall. It's fun!!!!
I will share with you my Momento Mall treasures when I get home.

Thanks for peeking in.

Convention Swaps

2011-07-12T05:11:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness.....Today is the day I leave for convention. I am sooooo excited. I can't wait to hang out with the wonderful Chris Twardowski. We were roommates last year and had soooo much fun. I know this year will only be better.

Last year I went to Convention with lots of swaps. This year, not so many.

I made some bookmarks similar to these for my club girls for their new catalogs, and had lots of bookmark cases left over. So, I figured these would make great 3D swaps for Convention. They take a lot of work, but I think they turned out cute. They have the 5 new In Colors as the main theme. I made 30, 6 of each color. Here they are one of each color and a closer view.
And a really up close and personal view.

This uses not only the new In Colors, but also the new Pennant Punch and the Pennant Parade stamp set. I also punched a little flower from the Itty Bitty Punch and added a little pearl, for some fun. I used the new In Color ribbon......I LOVE this new ribbon.

Hopefully I will get 30 more really fun 3D items in return. I'm sure I will, and then I can show you when I get back home.

Thanks for peeking in.

Have fun.....I know I will.....I'M AT CONVENTION.....how can I not???

Pure Joy and Happiness....

2011-07-09T07:37:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's what this box of goodies brings me. Pure Joy and Happiness!!!

This is one of two boxes of fun new stuff from the catalog. I should have laid it all out, because you can't really see all of the wonderful treasures that await in that box....they are buried underneath the top treasures.

I want so badly to go in my craft room and play with them right now, but my younger daughter spent the night last night, and is sleeping in there right now......WAKE UP already!!!! LOL I'm hoping to make some fun projects with these to show you here soon, but for now I will wait patiently.....oh who am I kidding.....not so patiently.....for my daughter to wake up so I can get my hands on these new toys of mine.

I do have a really cute card that I spent all day making 8 of them for my club girls yesterday. But, I don't want to show it until they have had a chance to get it in the mail. I plan on sending them at Convention.....I can't wait for Convention....just a few more days.

Thanks for peeking in today.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Stampin Success CASE

2011-07-08T05:39:00.000-07:00

Since I can't really do to much right now after surgery. I was laying in bed purusing the Stampin Success magazines we get as Stampin Up demonstrators. In one of them I saw this card and loved it. I loved the flower .... I loved the fact it was a 6 x 3 card....I loved the textured cardstock that was used. ....And the fact that I could get 4 cards out of 1 piece of 12 x 12 cardstock. I added the cute little heart from the Owl Punch to the center of the flower for some fun. I love how when you pop up each flower layer with a dimensional, it really brings the flower to life.
Since I could get 4 cards out of the one sheet of cardstock, I wanted to use a few different colors for the flowers. The card above uses Melon Mambo, and the one below uses the new In Color Island Indigo. It looks really pretty in real life. This picture just doesn't do it justice. Then I used Poppy Parade for the Tasteful Trim die across the center. I left the sentiment off of 2 of the cards so I can go back and add whatever I need when I need to use this card. I actually need some Thank you cards for some sweet friends that have stopped by and brought me flowers and treats after surgery, so that's probably what will go on there.

And the set of 4. These made up really quickly and were a lot of fun to make.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Make it a great day.

I'm such a slacker

2011-07-07T05:26:00.000-07:00

So graduations have been over for how long now??? I feel really bad because I got a graduation announcement in May and just now made the card and sent it......what a slacker!!!!

These are her school colors, and I tried to make it somewhat feminine.....that's why the butterflies, bling and lacey border.

This card is for a sweet girl I used to babysit. In fact, I was watching her older brother, and her parents asked if it would be okay if they had another baby, if I would watch that baby as well. Of course I said, YES!!! It's so hard to believe that that little baby is now out of high school and heading to college. Wow, that ages me.....hahahaha Here's what I did to the inside. I used the Word Play stamp set and embossed with gold embossing powder the sentiment. Thanks for peekin in today.

Big Blue Eyes....

2011-07-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

How adorably cute is this little guy? My oldest daughter Heather is having her first baby, and I'm throwing her a baby shower with my youngest daughter Amy. Heather saw some really cute invitations online with a darling owl that she went ahead and ordered....Yes, didn't let Mom make the invitations instead.....oh well....it is her shower. So, I told her that I wanted to make some party favors as thank you's.

I saw an owl similar to this one on Lynn Put's blog and knew immediately that this little guy was what I would be making for the party favors. He is made with the Pillow Box die. I think he is so cute, I might even try to get a few of these made for swaps at Convention.

Thanks for peeking in today.

You always do the nicest things

2011-07-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

Can I just say that I think this years Stampin Up catalog is one of my favorites!!!

I can't wait to get my first box of goodies ordered so that I can just play, play and play some more.

As a demonstrator we get to preorder some of the items in the catalog. This cute Just Add Cake DSP was one of those items, and the new Lace Ribbon Border punch was too.

While playing one night, this is what evolved. I love using buttons on cards and can't wait to get the new Button Buddies stamp set in the catalog.....guess I better check on my stash of buttons huh? I might need to order more of those.....I took some scraps and decorated the inside as well.

Thanks for peeking in today. I'm still recovering from my surgery, so we don't have any BIG plans for the fourth tomorrow. What are you doing fun? Maybe I can live vicariously through you? hahahahaha

Customer thank yous

2011-07-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

When my club ladies pick up their "new toys".....I always like to have a little thank you in the bag for them.

This month I made each of them this card. I love how simple it is to make and what a great way to use up scraps too.

I used the Beyond the Garden DSP. I love how nice Pacific Point and Wild Wasabi look together. Then I randomly stamped the inside with the stamp set Fabulous Florets with some Pacific Point and Wild Wasabi ink.

Fun huh?
Thanks for peeking in today.

Quilt cards for Mom

2011-07-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

My mom is a big quilter.

I play with paper to relax, my mom plays with fabric to relax. It's really nice to have so many beautiful quilts to use because of my mom's hobby.

Well Monday night while watching The Bachelorette I needed to play with paper. I had no projects in mind at the time, but had seen some cute "quilt" type cards out in cyber space and decided to make my mom some cards for her stash. She is in some quilting guilds, and I thought she might like some quilting cards to give to her friends in her guilds.

I made her six similar but different cards using the Lattice Bigz die and Springtime Vintage DSP from the Summer Mini catalog.

So that's it for today.

While I'm typing this before my surgery. It's going to post after my surgery is over, and I'm not sure how I will be feeling, so I have no idea when I will get to play again. BUT, I will be playing again soon I guarantee that.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Have a wonderful Fourth of July weekend.

CASEing sample #3

2011-06-30T05:00:00.000-07:00

This case comes from the wonderfully talented Sandy Hancock.

I loved this card for a few different reasons.

1. It's simple yet classy.

2. It uses the Brushed Gold cardstock. (which I think gets overlooked)

3. And did I mention that it was simple, yet classy? Did you see that little bit of bling on that ring? Love it!!!!

We had a wedding to go to on Friday night and I needed a card quickly. For some reason I don't have a stash of wedding cards. I need to change that. So, remembering this cute card I saw made by Sandy Hancock, I whipped it out really quickly.
It uses the stamp set Word Play for the sentiment and the Elegant Lines embossing folder.

I am having surgery today, so hopefully it all goes well and I can get back to crafting and playing with paper really soon. I have to get better soon, because I'm going to Convention and that is in 12 days.....I am so excited.

Thanks for peeking in today.

CASEing sample #2

2011-06-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

This card was CASE'd from Laurie Zoellmer. I love the simplicity of this card. It is a lot like the card we made at June's club, but a little simpler. I wanted the ladies to see that are so many different ways that you can use that great Flower Garden embossing folder and the embossing powders as well.

I used the Fabulous Florets stamp set and I am soooo glad that it made it into the new Stampin Up catalog this year. For the sentiment I used the Happy Greetings stamp set, which sadly did NOT make it into the new catalog.

Thanks for inspiration Laurie.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Tomorrow I have another great case of a wedding card I made.

CASEing sample #1

2011-06-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

I have to say that I love Stampin Connection. It is a website for Stampin Up demonstrators to share their projects and ideas with other demonstrators. I have CASE'd many of these cards, maybe giving them a little twist to make them my own, but usually just copy them straight out. There are some pretty talented people out there in blogosphere.

This card was originally done by Teresa Giordano. I thought it was simple, sweet and too darn cute. It uses the Fancy Flower punch and for the leaves I used the Build a Blossom punch. The buttons are some buttons I had from Mini catalogs that are no longer available for purchase, but could easily be replaced with other buttons from the catalog. The sentiment is from the Happy Greetings stamp set in the Summer Mini catalog.

Super easy, and super cute!!!

Thanks for peeking in today.

June club projects

2011-06-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

June's club has come and gone, but because I had a few ladies that weren't able to make it that night, I am posting the projects here on my blog so they can see what they missed.

This card was to use the new stampin emboss colors of Melon Mambo and Tangerine Tango. I also wanted to use two of the punches that are going away. The smallest oval punch and the designers punch.....but alas....they are all gone.
This is the other card we made. This card was to show the ladies how to use the sponge daubers. We just put a little ink from the ink pad on a sponge dauber and rubbed it over the embossed image to give it a little color.
This was a fast and easy card to make, but looks really nice. You could whip out a stack of these in no time for a nice gift. This card also used the Marina Mist grosgrain ribbon which is going away after June 30th.

Then we made these adorable little cake slice boxes. We only made one each, but when you put 12 together you get a really cute "faux" cake that is perfect for a birthday party, or shower, or whatever you want it to be for.

Here is a side view.

And here we have one opened to show you can put treats inside for the party favor. Cute idea huh?

So, these were our June club projects. I am so excited for July's club meeting. I have NO idea what we will be making yet. I will have to wait until after convention to see what fun and exciting things they teach us there. I know there will be something ..... if not many things.....that I will want to come home and share with my wonderful club ladies.

I do have some fun cards that I made from casing (copy and share everything) some very talented ladies from Stampin Connection.

I will share some of those with you tomorrow.

Thanks for peeking in.

Have a wonderful day.

Playing with On The Grow

2011-06-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

The other day I thought it would be fun to play with the new On The Grow stamp set and this is what evolved.

I stamped it with Staz On Ink and then colored it in with Stampin Up markers. I added a little dazzling diamonds to the vase and the center of the flowers. It gives it a little bit of bling. It looks so much better in real life.....trust me. I added a button on the bottom with some of the new Bakers Twine for a little fun.
For the sentiment I used the Happy Greetings from the Summer Mini catalog and then just used the word window punch.
Easy Peasy.

I think I've figured out the problem and hope to have more posts now that bloggers working.

Thanks for peeking in.
Have a wonderful day.

Happy Birthday

2011-06-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm going to try this one more time....hahahaha

I figure if I do this with just a few pictures that maybe I can get a decent post up. My main computer is still not letting me download pictures right now, and blogger is giving me grief on that computer. So, for now it's blogging on my laptop, which freaks out on me occasionally and I lose patience and give up.

Anyway, onto the card I made.

My oldest daughter just celebrated her 30th birthday, and this is the card I made for her.

I saw this card on Stampin Connection, and I'm sorry I don't remember whose it was....if you know, please leave a comment and I will give them the credit.
I LOVE the new layer punches!!!!! There are so many fun things that you can do with them. This card is just one example of that.

So, excuse my messy blog for now. I'm hoping to clean it up and get back to the clean and simple way of blogging.

Until then, thanks for peeking in and have a great day.

Not lost, just frustrated....

2011-06-04T11:11:00.000-07:00

OMGosh. I am sooo darn frustrated with my computer and Blogger. I haven't posted in forever because, everytime I try to blog something, I want to throw the darn computer through the window. I don't know what the problem is, but I really need to figure it out.

Anyway, enough of my woo's. Let's get to the task at hand.

This is the latest card I've made.....and yes....I cased it. I just had to. It's too darn cute not to. I think the next one I make will NOT have so much bling on it though. I cased this cute card from Vicki Burdick. Love her work.

How cute are these flowers. I just stamped the flower from the new Flower Fest stamp set....which I am happy to say made it into the new catalog...woo hoo....I stamped it with White Craft Ink and then embossed it with White embossing flower. I stamped two flowers for each flower. I then cut them out and cut out the little flower piece on top and attached it with a stampin dimensional. Love it!!!

Then I had to give the inside some love too.

Then one last look at this fun card again. I love this DSP and will be sad when it's gone.

Thanks for peeking in today. I hope to figure out the problems and post more cute pictures, because I got my new stuff from the new catalog and have lots of fun things I want to make and post on here.

Love Beyond Measure

2011-05-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

I have to say first off, that this is a case from Becky Roberts from last year.

I liked this card so much, that I bought this stamp set just to make this card.

I think we are going to make this card for club in May. Unfortunately, my dad is no longer here with us. He passed away four years ago the day before Father's Day....not nice!!!

So, this will have to be for my hubby this year.

Thanks for peeking in .

Have a wonderful day today.

Casing my case.....hahahaha

2011-05-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

Does that title confuse you? Hahahaha

Since I already had this stamp set out from my previous post card I made, I decided to case my own card.

I really like the way it turned out. This is the card I originally cased from Dawn Olfcheske a while back using the Bliss stamp set. Since that stamp set is no longer available, I decided to make one just like it using the Strength and Hope stamp set. Since I already had a plan, the card made up really quickly.
Thanks for peeking in today.
Have a wonderful day.

Stamping 411 challenge

2011-05-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

I finally got some free time to play in my craft room this morning. It has been one crazy week, so it was very nice to be able to play again.

I saw the sketch over at Stamping 411 and thought it would be lots of fun to play along this week. So, out came some of my new toys and this is what I came up with.

This is the new Strength and Hope stamp set and $2.00 of the proceeds go to Breast Cancer Research Foundation. So, I used pink colors.....Rose Red and Pink Piroutte to be exact. My sentiments came from the Fabulous Phrases stamp set. Not the best picture taker in the world.....hahahaha, but you get the idea.
Thanks for peeking in today.
Why don't you go and make a card for the Stamping 411 challenge today!!!

Have a great day.

Explosion Boxes

2011-04-23T12:09:00.000-07:00

I have seen these adorable explosion boxes out there in cyberland, but have never made one. Since the month of May is National Scrapbooking Month, I thought for club we should make something along the scrapbooking lines. So, I googled explosion boxes and found a tutorial on You Tube and made one of my own.

What do you think? I think just as a box it's cute using the PlayDate DSP.Then you take the lid off, and viola.....you have pages inside for scrapbooking.
I had so much fun coming up with decorations for each page. I only adhered the flower in the lower corner at the bottom, so you could slide the picture underneath it.

I busted out my Playdate rubons and used those as well.

Here it is completely open on the inside.

Now I just need to get some pictures of my adorable grandchildren to put inside. I definetly think we will be making these at club in May.

This was just too much fun to make.

Thanks for peeking in.

Have a wonderful day.

Customers Thank Yous

2011-04-20T21:46:00.000-07:00

I have to say that I love my club girls. We really do have fun on club nights. I always want to give them a nice thank you for their orders each month.

This month I made this card that I cased from Diane Gilbert. I love everything about this card.....the butterflies, the colors, all of it.
Here is a close up of the card all alone. I just made a few changes from the original card.

Then, like always, I had to give the love inside. Sorry it's a little blurry.

I hope the ladies like these cards. I even made one for me while I was at it.

Thanks for peeking in.

Have a wonderful day.

Butterflies and Springtime just go together

2011-04-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a real quick post this morning. It's my daughter's 23rd birthday today and there is lots to do. I have been seeing lots of these adorable butterfly easel 3 x 3 cards floating around cyberspace and wanted to make some for club.

If you look closely on each butterfly I embossed each one with a different embossing folder.

Then we took a butterfly and turned it into a post it note holder. Cute huh? I hope this inspired you to go make some for yourself now.

They were easy to make, just took some time.

Thanks for peeking in today.

Have a great day today.

The new triple layer punch...

2011-04-16T05:00:00.000-07:00

So, most of you should have or be getting your new Summer Mini catalog by now. That cute Peach Parfait flower is from one of the new punches. I have to be honest, I was a little hesitant to order them since they are having so many problems with their punches, but I figured I would have faith in the company that I have grown to love.....and I'm so glad I did. I love these punches. This is just a quick thank you I threw together for a customer for an order she placed. It's the 2-4-6-8 bag that you can get the tutorial from on splitcoaststampers. I think it turned out pretty cute. It's much cuter in person, I promise. All that really matters, is that there was chocolate inside.....isn't that the most important part???? Well, it is for me......hahahaha Thanks for peeking in today. Have a wonderful weekend.

Thanks so much

2011-04-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

I saw this super sweet card on Stampin Connection and wanted to make it for my club girls.....until I sat down and made one....hahahaha I really like the card, but it was too much work. I think the problem was that my stamp set is clear, and with the Baby Blossoms stamp set it really needs to be wood, so you can use the Stamp a ma jig. But I still love the card anyway. I used Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke and Crumb Cake for my colors. Had to give the inside some love. Thanks for peeking in today. Have a wonderful Friday. Yay it's Friday!!!

Quick and simple card

2011-04-14T05:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a fun and quick card to make. I also think it's a great way to use up all those scraps sitting on our desks. I know I could probably make a dozen or more with the scraps on my desk right now. I just cut some 1 1/2" squares and corner rounded two opposite corners. Then placed them in two rows, cutting off the edges that hang over. I added some DSP and buttons using the Bitty Punches and Buttons, added a sentiment and a fun fast card. I think I made this card in less than 10 minutes. I still had scraps left over and had to give the inside some loving, so here it is. I hope your having a wonderful Thursday. Thanks for peeking in.

Fun new technique....

2011-04-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

I have seen lots of fun cards using this technique, and I just had to give them a try.

I just adhered the cute little pink hearts to my white cardstock, then ran the whole thing through the lattice embossing folder. Isn't that just so cute?

Then using the new stamp set Four Frames, I added the sentiment on top. I don't know if you can read it very well, but it says Welcome Baby. Then I wanted to do the same technique but with different shapes. So, I used circles, and made this one more masculine.

I really do like the look of this fun technique. That lattice embossing folder is a fun little toy to have around. This was super simple to do. Now go try it yourself. What fun shapes will you come up with to try it on? Thanks for peeking in. Have a wonderful day.

Fun Flowers Pin/hair clip

2011-04-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

Isn't this pretty?

It's made with the Fun Flowers die, and various fabrics.

They are really easy to put together with a low melt glue gun. On the back it has a pin, but it could also be made into a cute little hair bow for a little girl.

Thanks for peeking in.

Have a wonderful day.

The cutest little fluffy sheep

2011-04-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

This was the other card we made at my upline meeting. These adorable little lambs are floating around out there, but I like how we did ours.

The face uses the owl punch. Too cute huh?

That Tulip Embossing Folder is so cute with these little lambs too. Thanks for peeking in again.

Tomorrow I have an adorable pin we made at the upline meeting. So, be sure to check back in for that.

Because I Care

2011-04-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

2 weeks ago, we had our upline meeting. Life has just been so crazy lately that I haven't had a moment to even blog lately.

This is one of the adorable cards that we made. I just love how the flower is layered with some embossed petals, and then no embossing, and then embossed again. Each petal layer is popped up with dimensionals. I love the button in the middle.....just the perfect touch don't you think? I think Black and Melon Mambo look so great together too.

Thanks for peeking in today.

See you tomorrow for some more cuteness from our meeting.

Much needed Thank Yous

2011-04-09T16:54:00.000-07:00

I have a sweet friend that I work with that made me the cutest bag for work. She loves to sew, I love to play with paper....so, I figured the best way to thank her was to make her a pack of cards.

I saw these adorbale cards on Stampin Connection, and didn't write down the name of the lady that made them....sorry. Edited to add: Rita left a comment at the end of this blog post letting me know that it was her that I copied. Thank you so much Rita for bringing it to our attention. I always like to give credit where credit is due. To go to her original card, click on the comment section and she has left us the link: I thought they were so adorable, I made some very slight changes to them and made a pack of 4. This is a picture of what I did to the envelopes. I thought they turned out sooooo cute. I used the Just Believe stamp set with Melon Mambo, Blusing Bride and Old Olive for the colors. I hope she likes them. Edited to add: She LOVED them!!! yay!!!!

Thanks for peeking in.

Have a great day.

Sweet, sweet butterflies

2011-03-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

I have been seeing lots of these cuties out there in blogosphere, and thought I would give one a shot. I just love how little and sweet they are. They fit inside a 3x3 envelope and are so cute. I know there are tutorials out there somewhere, but I just tried it on my own. I think it turned out pretty cute actually. I gave it to a friend who just had a baby girl. It's the perfect size for tucking inside a gift.

Thanks for peeking in today....It's Friday woo hoo!!!

Have a great weekend my blogging friends.

It's the little things....

2011-03-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the little things are really important.....like reading the directions!!! hahahaha

I made this card for the Stamping 411 challenge this week, BUT didn't read that the linky closes at 8p.m. Thursday night. I felt like making a card last night while watching Survivor, so I thought I would do one of the challenges. The stamping 411 challenge looked fun, so I made my card....just not in time...no biggie. I'm still happy with my card. Challenges are fun to tackle. They help me to reach outside of my comfort zone and think for myself, instead of copying someone else....hahahaha Which is good for me actually.

I even gave the inside some attention.

Thanks for peeking in today.
It's cold and wet here in my world, but I love it.
Have a wonderful day today.

Homemade and to die for....

2011-03-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

Homemade and to die for is right!!!!! I found this A-M-A-Z-I-N-G banana bread recipe and can't make it fast enough to share with people....yes, it's that good.

So, I made some more last night and packaged them up all cute, and took them to church on Sunday. Gave them the bread and the recipe and I was so glad that I had that perfect stamp for my packaging. Not only was it delicious, but it was cute too. There were more than these, but you get the idea.
So, I thought it would be really rude not to share the recipe with everyone else too.

Here it is:

Banana Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all=purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch of cinnamon
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 chopped walnuts
3 medium overripe bananas, sliced

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan....I like to make them into muffins too. So whatever pan you like to use.
In a large bowl, stir together the melted butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir into the butter mixture until smooth. Finally, fold in the sour cream, walnuts and bananas. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake at 350 degree oven for 60 minutes, or however long for the pan you use. Cool loaf in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

I don't usually put recipes on my blog, but this one was worth the exception.

Enjoy! Now go make some yumminess for yourself. I'm sure there are no calories in it....hahahaha

Thanks for peeking in today.

Have a great day.