Ruth's Stamping Corner

So Many Rhinestones!

2012-02-28T06:15:00.002-07:00

Wow! Check out this card! Don't you just love the sparkles!!!? So pretty!!!! I have a fun new product to tell you about too. We were told about this at Leadership and last week demonstrators were allowed to order it!!! It will be available to everyone in just a couple of days on March 1!!! It's the new Simply Scored Diagonal Plate! It's so cool, it fits right on top of your Simply Scored tool and you get all the same benefits with the diagonal plate that you do with the regular Simply Scored. The diagonals correspond with the ruler on your simply scored and can sore every 1/8 inch! So fun!!!! I'm really excited about this!!! I've had this card in mind ever since I saw the diagonal score plate at Leadership. So pretty!!!

For this card I scored every 1 inch one way, turned it and scored it again at every 1 inch to get the diamond pattern. This would be a really sweet card for a weeding, bridal or baby shower. I went back and forth on what greeting to put on here. In the end the 'daughter' saying from Loved Ones was chosen for pretty selfish reasons-that being even IF I ever decide to use this card, it will go to Megan and still be 'in the family' and then I don't ever have to part with it :) To finish the card I added some more sparkle with Dazzling Details on the crown. I hope you enjoy my super sparkly card!! I have another beautiful card to show you tomorrow that I also used the diagonal score plate with!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Meeting Swaps

2012-02-27T06:15:00.000-07:00

Last week was our meeting. We had a great time and it was full of great ideas! This months card swap theme was anything spring related. The swaps as usual were great!

This is Michelle C's swap. It's a great example of how our SAB products go together so well!

This one is Liz L's. I love the dimension all the flowers, there's lots of layers textures and patterns. I also love the pop of color from the turquoise!

This one is Emily's. I love a card with butterflies and this one is no exception. I love all butterflies!!!

This one is Kim M's. I love the color combo and the budding tree. So fun!

This one is Erin's. More butterflies!!! Do butterflies scream Spring? I love the coloring on this card and the scalloped border.

This is Amber's. She used the Blossom Punch for the flowers and leaves. Isn't it cute!!!? So creative!

This is Angela's card. I just love the texture and vintage look to this card. I love the saying and the flowers on the bottom!!! Love this card!

Last but not least is Carmelita's. This card is so cute! I love how she used the label framelits to make a window!

Great job ladies!!! Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Fun Flower!

2012-02-24T06:15:00.001-07:00

This flower just might knock your socks off! Seriously, it's so cool and sooooo fun!!! The possibilities are endless with this fun punch tip. Ok have I teased you enough, no ok a little more then :) Today is post number 975. I can't believe that in only 25 more posts I'll be at 1000 posts!!!!! That's so crazy!!!! I'm sure I'll have to do some fun celebration and possibly give away a bunch of free stuff!!!!! How cool would that be?! Ok ready for this super fun tip?!!! See the flower, that's the Blossom Punch from the mini catalog. See that DSP on the inside of the flower, that's the Modern Label Punch matching up perfectly with the Blossom punch.

I so wish that I could take full credit for this fantastic technique, but I can't. I saw it on Dawn's blog. I think my chin hit the floor when I saw this! It's so easy and your final flower looks like you spent hours on it, when in reality it's only 3 modern label punches!!! This was the technique that I demoed at our meeting last night. Monday I'll have our swaps.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Just Hatched

2012-02-23T06:15:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday which means that Easter is just around the corner. I took Logan to a kid friendly church service yesterday and he had a good time and had good questions on the way home. Then after bedtime it was time to finish my swaps for our meeting tonight. This week it seems I'm running a little behind, normally my swaps are done by Tuesday but this month I was working late into Wednesday night. I blame Dan though :) he took the last 2 days off of work and that always throws my week off.

The card is pretty simple, I did some stamping and embossing and some coloring. I used the Everybunny set, so cute!!! I used my markers to color in the chick: So Saffron, More Mustard, Pool Party, Island Indigo, Crumb Cake and Chocolate Chip. I used my Label Framelits to cut them all out and tied some Pool Party ribbon on them. Over all I'm so pleased with how they came out. I just love that little chick!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Guest Blogger!

2012-02-22T06:15:00.003-07:00

You might remember this page from this post. It's so cute though, why not show it twice! Well just because it's cute isn't the reason I'm showing it again. I'm so excited to share with you that today I'm a guest blogger at the My Digital Studio site with this page!!! I couldn't be more thrilled and excited!!!! I won't bore you with the details here, head over to the MDS site and check out my special post there!!!!! I'm not sure what time it will post, so if you've checked and it's not up check back a little later :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Razzleberry Butterflies!

2012-02-21T06:15:00.003-07:00

I'm so glad that I got the Label Framelits. They're just wonderful! If you haven't had a chance to use them yet I highly recommend that you do. I've been having fun playing with them lately and I think I figured out some fun techniques that you can do with them. Did you know that you can use the framelits to emboss too?? This is not my original idea, and I've seen it done a couple of different ways, so I'm going to share how I did it and you can experiment and see if it works for you too. It's a little difficult to tell from the picture but if you look at the 2nd picture you can kind of see where it's been embossed, I used the next smallest framelit and embossed a 'frame' around the butterflies.

To emboss here's what I used with my Big Shot: Platform, 2 cutting pads, Framelit, Silicone Rubber, and a couple of shims. Build your sandwich is this order: Platform open to tab 1, cutting pad, silicone rubber, cardstock, framelit (CUTTING SIDE UP!), cutting pad, shims if you need them. This was successful for me, again I've seen it done a couple of different ways so you might need to experiment and find out what works best for you.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Seriously.....I Love This Card!

2012-02-20T06:15:00.001-07:00

I've been having some good stampin' mojo lately. You know how you go through stages where what you make is ok, then you have stages where what you make is so awesome and you just love it to pieces!!!! That's how I've felt recently! Now unfortunately for me I didn't make 2 of the last few cards I've posted and I've mailed them all so I don't have samples of them to keep for me---ugggghhh!!! But I have the pictures. This card is one for the boards though! I may recreate this card and hang it in my room, I just love this one so much!!!! It uses lots of our Sale a Bration products too!!! The DSP-I LOVE THAT DSP!!! You MUST get it!!!! The brads are also used!! I sometimes find it hard to use 'decorated' brads on my projects but the SAB brads are perfect. They match, they're cute and I just love them!

This card is pretty simple there's lots of layers to this card and they're all put on with dimensionals, because if you know me you know I wouldn't use anything else! I took a piece of the Sale a Bration DSP, I think it was 3.25x3.25, punched the Blossom punch out of it-save the flower you can use it on another project! Then I layered it on a piece of Pool Party that I embossed with the Polka Dots folder. If you only own one embossing folder it MUST be this one! I LOVE IT, and it's perfect for EVERYTHING! I put a brad in the center with some Riding Hood Red and Peach Parfait cardstock. I just love this card!!!!! I hope you love it and share in my enthusiasm for it :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Scalloped Birthday

2012-02-17T06:15:00.001-07:00

If I haven't said it before (but I know I have) I love Pintrest! I have so many cards on my Cards I Love board, probably far more than I'll ever make but who cares I love them! One of the cards is similar to this card. Lots of textured scallops, I just love it!!!! I decided to go for lots of browns on this card. I had a customer ask me a couple weeks ago how to use the neutral colors. I understand that, sometimes, especially the less popular ones, it's hard to incorporate them. That's one of the reasons why I love this card. So I only used colors that you'll get in a neutrals assortments: Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla.

I debated for a long time about how to layer the scallops, 2 layers of one color-lightest to darkest or darkest to lightest, alternating colors, etc. This is what I finally stopped on and I love the way it turned out. I used 4 different embossing folders and the Tasteful Trim die for the scallops. To finish it off I added a button and a greeting. So cute right?! I can't wait to make more cards like this. This is one of those classic card layouts that you can use for any occasion!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!

Soaring!

2012-02-16T06:15:00.017-07:00

Somehow I forgot to show you the Valentine's card that I gave to Dan this year. It's not really a Valentine's card but I loved it and thought it would work well. I have to admit too, that aside from assembling this card I had NOTHING to do with creating it. This is actually one of the make and takes from the San Antonio Regionals from last month :) When we were making it though I love it and thought it would be perfect for Dan for Valentines! What makes it so fun is that there's 4 different kite designs. Just turn the arrow on the right side and you get multiple kites flying! Isn't that CUTE!!!?!

I just love this card. I don't own this set, yet. Logan loves it. He asks frequently when I'm going to get the kite set for him :) So cute! Unfortunately for him, there's lots more stuff on Mommy's wishlist before the kite set. But back to the card. The card itself is pretty easy, to make the kites rotate you just need a large circle, either with one of the bigger punches or with a die. Use a brad to adhere it to the base of your card and adhere your top layer with dimensionals NOT touching the circle. Then your kites will rotate. We stamped the kites AFTER we assembled the card. It make it easier for perfect placement.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Sale-a-Brating Anniversaries!

2012-02-15T06:15:00.001-07:00

I'm loving this years Sale a Bration sets!!! It's so funny, every year I see the sets and think "oh they're nice, not sure if they're 'me' though" Then EVERY year I see fantastic samples done with the sets and I fall in love with every, single one of them! It happens every year! You'd think I'd learn! Fresh Vintage is one of my favorites this year but I've had a tendency to use it with the colors in the coordinating DSP. Which is fine, but I wanted to branch out a little and try something new. I LOVE this color combo--LOVE IT!!!!!!! It's one of my all time favorites. Crumb Cake (love that any day!), Pretty in Pink (my favorite pink), and Bravo Burgundy (ummmmm I never use this color). But don't they look fantastic when combined, so pretty!!!!

I love this card. I used my markers to color in the stamp and stamped it over and over on the cardstock. Then for a fun look I crumpled up some scraps of cardstock and separated the cardstock for a faux suede look, and I ripped it for a different look too. Just a tip, Stampin' Up! cardstock is not only the BEST cardstock out there, but it's the only cardstock that you can literally separate like this. It's such a high quality of cardstok and the color goes through and through which is so important when doing a technique like this! The bow is tied with Crumb Cake Seam Binding then I crumpled that too. Finally I got out my color spritzer and spritzed everything! It's a fun card but most of all I love the colors!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T06:15:00.002-07:00

It's Valentine's Day! We are probably the most boring people in the world. Our Valentine's will consist of school for Logan, possibly story time at the library for Megan, and work for Dan and I. Dan said he will stop and pick up dinner on the way home. We live super exciting lives don't we :) We did get Logan and Megan little gifts but that's pretty much all we're doing. Valentine's Day is a strange holiday. I'm all for celebrating those that you love, but why just one day a year? So the theory that goes around our house is that it's just like any other day and we'll celebrate, possibly not today but any and everyday! BUT since it is Valentine's we do want to show others our love and appreciation. These are the boxes I made for Dan's office. I love them but I think the owl boxes from the other day are so cute! I got a few comments from it and I appreciate and read every single comment :)

You might have noticed a color theme from the last 3 posts. I didn't mean to use the same colors everyday but I had excess cardstock and DSP in these colors and wanted to use them. I do love these boxes. They're so cute and easy. You really only need the big shot, fancy favor die and a heart punch! Seriously it's that easy!!! With a little layering of cardstock and DSP you can get fantastic looking boxes, and how cute would this layout be on a card too!!! The boxes are filled with an assortment of chocolate. So even though Valentine's won't be super exciting here, I hope you have a fantastic day and spend it with your loved ones!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Quick and Easy!

2012-02-13T08:36:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, if you're still looking for Valentines to make for your loved ones, this is a perfect one for you! It's so quick so fun and so easy! This would be a great project for a make and take too! I used the largest of the Labels Framelits cut out my cardstock then folded it in half. I cut out the next largest layer and layered that on it as well. Believe it or not that's pretty much it! I embellished the front with some hearts from punches and tied the top with some ribbon, after sticking my candy in of course! That's it though. Easy fun and so cute!!!!

Owl Boxes

2012-02-10T06:15:00.003-07:00

Yesterday I showed you the Valentine's that I made for Logan's class mates. Today I'll show you the teacher gifts. When the teacher sent home the Valentine list I had no idea that Logan had so many teachers. I guess if I thought about it I knew but until it was written for me to see it never clicked. There's the PE teacher, art teacher, computer teacher, librarian, and more! Logan talks about these people, but I guess since he never calls them by name it never clicked in my brain. So I made tons of these little owl boxes. They are adorable though!!!

Monday I showed you the little owl that I made after I saw it in Heather Summers blog. This time I stepped them upa bit. I added wings, used silver glimmer paper for the beak and feet and added a little heart. For the box I used a retired die, Bag with Scallops. I'm sorry, I generally try not to use retired stuff, but for this project it was just so perfect! I'm not entirely sure why SU retired that die anyway, it's a great die and I love it! You could make a similar box with the two tags die. Or just stick these guys to any big shot box.

I had some incolor DSP so that's where my color choice came from. I added a little banner tag on the side and filled the boxes with some chocolate. I hope the teachers like it and enjoy the chocolate :) Of course it wasn't until after I made them that Dan pointed out that he would like some Valentine treats for his office. I'm not sure if I'll make more owls, though they're cute, but I might go for something a little different for his co workers :) Maybe I'll whip up some for family and friends too :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

A Wild Time!

2012-02-09T06:15:00.001-07:00

I've spent most of the week creating little Valentine's for Logan's class mates and teachers. I'll show you the teacher Valentine's tomorrow, today I'm going to show you the kid ones. I wanted to do something this year that was fun, kids would enjoy, simple, Logan could help with and most important didn't have candy for the kids. I'm not a huge non candy Mom but when it comes to things like this I usually try to stay away from candy. I know in our house it generally just sits there until I throw it away. So I try not to give candy to kids for Valentine's.

So in a magazine last month I saw this idea with little toy animals. CUTE!!! That was perfect. So after an extensive search for the little animals and enough of them for his class, (we finally found them at a craft store), I could get started. The cards are super simple, it's Lucky Limeade cardstock and the Sweet Shop DSP in the Occasions Mini. I printed out appropriate sayings for each of the animals and punched them with the XL Oval punch. I tied each animal on the cards with yarn.

So here's what it says for each animal: Cats (there are tigers, panthers and lions): "You're Purrrfect Valentine!" Rhinos, (not pictured Zebras, Gorillas, Giraffes): "I'm wild about you Valentine" Camels (my mom came up with this one-the camel was the hardest one to come up with): "I camel long way to wish you a happy day!" Alligator: "You've got a great smile!" Elephant: "You're unforgettable Valentine!" Bear: "Have a beary Happy Valentine's" and finally the Hippo: "Hippo Valentine's Day!"

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

5 Minute Card

2012-02-08T06:15:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those days where you really just want to stamp something but you're running short on time? Well that was me. I just had a couple minutes but I really wanted to complete a card. This card is so pretty and so easy. The hardest part, and the longest part was cutting out the flowers, but even that only took a couple minutes. After that it was just a matter of pulling out the dimensionals and sticking them down. I used my Simply Scored tool to add some subtle score lines along the edges. And of course I pulled out my spritzer to add just a little more to the white cardstock.

This is one of those cards that you could show to a brand new stamper. It doesn't have a lot of accessories-unless you count dimensionals, it has none! But it shows that you don't need alot of accessories to make a stunning, quick and thoughtful card. Remember next time your stamping to 'KISS' Keep It Simple Stamper!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Are YOU Sale a Brating?

2012-02-07T06:15:00.003-07:00

I wanted to show you a couple of the cards we made at the Step Up To Sale a Bration class last weekend. I did this class with my upline, and she designed these cards. I just love them, but I love everything she does! They're both so classy and fun and I would love to have these in my card stash! The first one is so striking, I always love black and white together or in this case Vanilla. She added a little splash of gold but other than that it's just black and Very Vanilla. Simple and beautiful!!!

The next one uses one of my favorite Sale a Bration sets, Kindness Matters. It's also one that in the catalog but you can earn it free during Sale a Bration. It's funny, I've loved this set for soooo long but never bought it. Now it's on its way to me FREE, funny how things work out. I love the colors on this card, Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze and Crumb Cake. They look so good together. My favorite part about this card is the ruffled ribbon! Love the look of that!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Quick Owls!

2012-02-06T07:17:00.004-07:00

What a weekend, how is it possibly over already? It went by so fast! It began on Saturday with our Step Up to Sale a Bration Class. We had a great time and it was so much fun! I hope all our guests enjoyed it too! Then Sunday was church and the ever important Super Bowl. Between all the activities and festivities going on I lost track of time, never got my pictures taken and well you know the rest. But here I am, better late than never. And I think you'll enjoy what I have. I got the inspiration for these adorable little owls from Heather Summers. She's fantastic! I changed mine a little, this was just a test one :) and I think mine is a little smaller, I used smaller circle punches. But still so cute and if I were to do it again-of course I will. I think I'll use the glimmer paper for the beak and feet like Heather did I love the sparkle it provides!

My little owl and his chest is made with the 1 3/4 inch circle punch. I used the 3/4 inch circle punch on the top of his head. His eye's are also the 3/4 inch circle punch and the little circle from the itty bitty punch pack. His beak is hand cut and his feet are 2 scallops from the scallop circle punch. These are pretty basic punches and you can modify it larger or smaller with whatever punches you have. Since he was just made for fun I attached him to a 3x3 card and stuck a little chocolate inside, with a hand written note "OWL always love you!" SO CUTE!!! I love it!!! I may be making a bunch more of these!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Wonderful You!

2012-02-03T06:15:00.001-07:00

Have you been to Pintrest? That site is addicting, soooooo many wonderful ideas, soooo many yummy recipes, sooo many fun tips, more than I'll ever get around to. But it's a fun site! I saw a card similar to today's card on pinterest. I just loved the basic layout and the simplicity of it. I had to make it. I have tons of cards 'pined' on my board, guess I'll never be short on inspiration. So many I want to do, just need to find the time :) But back to the card. I love the color combo on it. If you're ever unsure of what colors go with what-get a color coach :) but if that's not handy just stick with the color group and you'll be ok, these colors are all from the 2011-2013 In Colors.

I used some Lucky Limeade bakers twine for my bow. I added some ruffled ribbon along the bottom of the white to add a little fun touch to it. Finally to finish it off I embossed some hearts along the bottom. You'll find that embossing folder along with a couple other fun ones in the Occassions Mini catalog. Tomorrow is my 'Step Up to Sale a Bration' class with my upline Amber. I'm excited it's going to be a fun class. I'll have highlights from that next week. Until then have a great weekend!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Try It FREE!

2012-02-02T06:15:00.004-07:00

If you follow my blog you already know what a huge fan I am of My Digital Studio, but did you know that you can now try My Digital Studio for FREE!!!! Stampin' Up! is amazing and is offering everyone a FREE 30 day trial of My Digital Studio! How stinkin' amazing is that!!!! If after the 30 days you decide you don't think it's for you, no worries, you're not out any money and your 30 day trial just expires. So if you're a little hesitant this is the perfect opportunity for you! Don't want to decide now, that's ok, this is an ongoing offer change you mind at any time!

As for this page, I LOVE IT!!! I took these pictures of Megan after bath a couple nights ago. She loves to climb up on the stool any chance she gets, I'm not sure if she can even see herself in the mirror but she loves to look :) I love the bottom picture with her on her little tip toes. So cute!!! The rest of this page was made with lots of downloads. I downloaded the Twitterpated kit, which is awesome and comes with the pleated ribbon, buttons, DSP and more! The Loving Thoughts set is also a new download. I LOVE THAT SET!!!! Please SU if you can hear me, don't retire this one! So that's it, a fun, adorable page and a free trial-what could be better!? If you want more info on the free MDS trial please let me know, I'd be thrilled to talk to you about it!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Blushing Birthday

2012-02-01T06:15:00.001-07:00

I love this card so much! It was a birthday card for one of Logan's classmates last weekend. We went to multiple birthday parties last weekend. I had some kids cards on hand but none for a girl so I whipped this one up in no time. With the help of the Blossom Builder Printed Kit in the Mini it was really easy to put together. Who knew those kits were so cool!!! I would have never bought it myself but they gave it to us at Leadership and they're so fun!!! They are so many colors, they'll go with any project, plus they're textured, more fun, and they come with pink rhinestones!!!! So FUN!!!

For the card I layered lots of scallop edgelits after I sponged them, it gives them more texture. To finish the card I used a Rich Razzleberry button and some bakers twine. So cute and literally couldn't be easier!!!!! I hope I've inspired you to get your own Blossom Builder kit! They really are too much fun and so easy!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

The Wonderful World of Swaps...pt 2

2012-01-31T06:15:00.001-07:00

Here we go again more great swaps!!! If you didn't check out yesterday's swaps make sure you do, they're great!!! Here's the rest of them!

Michelle C's did this one. I'm not sure if it's supposed to go horizontal or vertical. I prefer it vertical. I love the greeting on side and the flower in the center. So this is how I'm using it :)

Nichole did this one. I love this one! Simple with just a splash of color! Beautiful!

Liz L did this one. I love the embossing on it. I think that as seasoned demos we tend to take the little things for granted, to new stampers embossing is magic and just about the coolest thing ever-so go emboss something!

Emily did this card. I love how she made the dresser and I love all the detail she put into it.

Erin did this swap, I think it was a hit with everyone. The card is so pretty, the flower is just amazing and the dimension on this card is pretty awesome!!

Kay did this swap, another example of how beautiful our new Sale a Bration DSP is!!!

Kim Madrid did this swap, simple, pretty and elegant. I love it!!! Kim also has a blog, if you have time check it out.

Finally lastly is LaRee's card. She used the new rosette die in the mini to make her lolli, ps that die is on my wishlist!!! Great card!!!

So that's our swaps, I'll be back tomorrow with some new projects!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

The Wonderful World of Swaps....Pt 1

2012-01-30T06:15:00.001-07:00

Our meeting last week was FANTASTIC! Like they always are!!! We had a HUGE crowd and there were a total of 16 swaps!!! So I've split it up into two posts, the cards were wonderful, lots of fun ideas and lots of cards to copy :) Our theme this month was Sale a Bration or Occasions Mini.

This one was Carmelita's, I love that butterfly, it's actually very similar to the card I did for my demo at the meeting :)

This one is Stephanie's. I wasn't convinced I needed the bird die until I saw it used at Leadership and now this card-LOVE IT!!! It's going on my wishlist!!!

This is Amber's 1st swap, she did 2 this month. I love the black and white, looks so striking!

This is Amber's 2nd swap. This one just made me smile! When we were at Leadership, looking over swaps from our roommate Pat, Amber commented on how much she loved a card that was very similar to this one. The next night when we went through Pats swaps again she again commented on how much she loved that card :)

This one is Michelle's. I love it. It's simple, cute and fun!

This was probably my favorite swap, it's Liz K's swap. She did a great job, I love all the detail she put into it. And don't know if you can tell, it's sewn, like on a sewing machine! FUN!!

Lastly for tonight is Mindy's. It's funny how I wasn't drawn to the Elementary Elegance set in the SAB catalog but so many of our swaps were made with it and now I LOVE IT!!! Guess I know what will be on my next order...thanks ladies!

I'll have the rest of the swaps tomorrow.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Double Uses!

2012-01-27T06:15:00.001-07:00

One of our make and takes at Leadership used the Scallop Border punch to make ric rack. Well you know me I'm a punch lover and whenever you can use a punch for more that it's intended use well I'm sold!!!!! (Not like I wasn't already sold on the border punch :) So making ric rack is what I demoed last night at our meeting, and it's so easy!!!! To make it you punch a strip of 1/2 inch-1 inch piece of paper, depending on how thick you want your ric rack. Then you flip it over so the scallops are at the top, line up one of the humps from the scallop paper with the point of the punch. So you're punching it the same way just off slightly. I hope that makes sense. Play with it. I'm a big believer of once you start playing with your products you'll learn so many more things!

There's a lot going on with the rest of the card. I mounted the DSP on some thin cardboard then ran it through my butterfly die. This makes the butterfly more stable on the card. I used more DSP to make a tiny lolli then added a brad on there. I love this card because it uses lots of our Sale a Bration products-the 3 you get in your hostess bundle!!!! The Fresh Vintage set, the ribbon and brads, and the DSP! It's hard to tell in the picture but I used Versa Mark and Iridecent Ice DSP to add some sparkle to my ric rack. This card is so fun in person AND if that weren't enough-check out the ribbon!!! You can curl it just like you would if you were wrapping a gift! FUN!!!!!!! Just remember to be more gentle with SU ribbon :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Swapping Flowers

2012-01-26T15:11:00.001-07:00

I'm finally back. Thursdays are always busy for me, so clearly Thursdays are not the day that I should miss posting :) But here I am! This is my swap for our meeting tonight. It was inspired by one of our make and takes that I showed you yesterday. I used the same layout, changed the flowers and some of the other elements but it's a very similar card and I actually LOVE it. The DSP is our new DSP from Sale a Bration. It's so fun, you'll need to get a package!!! Each flower is made from 3 of the largest flower from the Boho Blossom punch. I crumpled them up and used a brad to hold them together.

I'm so excited about our meeting tonight, we should have a large crowd and we have LOTS to share from Leadership so it will be fun!!!!! I can't wait. I'll have highlights from the meeting to show you next week.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

*Added 1/27:

I've had a couple questions on the card so I thought I'd post here to clarify a little more. The card isn't folded in any special way, the scalloped border is simply another piece of cardstock that has been glued down on the card base and the scalloped edges roughed up a little. But you could certainly modify the card to have it fold under that flap.

Thanks so much for your comments!!!!!

Playing Catch Up

2012-01-26T06:53:00.000-07:00

I'm still trying to catch up on things while I was gone, plus I added about 40 things that need to get done :) I had inteded to show you my card swap for our meeting tonight but by the time I got home last it was too dark to take picutres. I'm running out the door early this morning but as soon as I get home this afternoon I'll have it posted. Stick with me, I'm almost back to 'normal' whatever that is :)
Thanks!!!!!

Make and Takes

2012-01-25T06:15:00.005-07:00

One of the highlights of any Stampin' Up! event is the make and takes. This year's make and takes were fantastic! I only had a chance to make a couple of them but I love them! This first one is my favorite. I love everything about it. The flowers and buttons especially. It's fun and so simple. I used this card to inspire my card swap for our meeting tomorrow.

This is another one of my favorites. I love the bright colors and the fun rick rack! There's actually 2 flowers layered on top of each other, hard to see in the picture, but I love the dimension on this card. So that's it for me today. I've been doing lots of reorganizing, cleaning and unpacking the last couple of days. I've also been trying to catch up on sleep, 5 days with little sleep is catching up with me. I think I'm finally getting back into the swing of things and starting to think clearly again :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!!

Step Up To Sale A Bration!!!!!

2012-01-24T06:15:00.007-07:00

Today is a very exciting day in the Stampin' Up! world. Today is the first day of Sale a Bration!!!! Yay!!!! I love this time of year! I love everything about it!!! I love that customers can earn a free product just for ordering, I love that hostesses can earn free products just for inviting friends over and most of all I love the many benefits that demonstrators receive and are rewarded for during Sale a Bration!!!!!! Until the end of March there's 3 ways you can benefit from SAB:

Buy some stuff, get some free!!!! Customers will enjoy picking free SAB products with every $50 they spend (b/f tax and shipping). There's no limit!!!! And with everything from stamps to fabric, Decor Elements to My Digital Studio there's something for everyone!
Get free stuff and have a great time!!! Host a workshop or class-we'll work together and customize it to what you want, and get free SAB products!! With workshop sales of only $150 you'll receive a free SU tote bag! When your workshop reaches $400 you'll get a whole bundle of products that include a stamp set, brads, ribbon, and DSP!!!!!
Join the Stampin' Up! family!!!!! Not only is now the BEST time to sign up but when you do, you'll celebrate all year long, sign up during SAB and for every month, for the rest of the year you'll get a free package of DSP or a free digital download!!!!!! Plus if that's not exciting enough the kit has been discounted to $125!!! You get almost $400 in product and material in the kit. This is a GREAT deal!!!!! Not to mention all the other demonstrator perks you'll get just for signing up!!!!!

So are you excited for Sale A Bration, need another exciting event to really get you pumped up!!!?! Come to my Step Up To Sale A Bration class and get to use the products and see them in person! The class is only $20 you must sign up online. At the class you'll make 8 cards!!! The class is February 4 at 10 am. I'm so excited for this class, it's an event like never before!!!! I'm partnering with another demonstrator to bring you this class. We're very excited to KICK OFF Sale a Bration at this class and I hope you can join us. To attend you must sign up online. Come make 8 cards with Stampin' Up!'s exclusive Sale a Bration products. You'll make 8 cards, 4 simple but beautiful, easy to make and easy to reproduce cards and 4 stepped up cards that involve a little more time. You'll get to use all new Sale a Bration products and new products from the Occasions Mini Catalog. Make sure you bring a friend who has never attended my classes or workshops before and you and your friend will make another special card JUST FOR YOU!!!! Whew! That's alot of information!!! Believe me I know that's alot so if you have questions on any of it let me know.

Ok now I'm sure you stopped by to see a card or two, maybe.......Today's cards are 2 of the cards you'll get to make at the Step Up To Sale a Bration class. The one on the left is beautiful and easy to make a ton of, the one on the right is just stepped up a little! It's the same basic card but with more detail and more time put into it. I love them both, not sure which one I love the most!!!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Leadership Highlights!

2012-01-23T12:22:00.003-07:00

What an amazing time I had at Stampin' Up!'s Leadership conference. This post is a little long, so you might want to grab some coffee or tea, go ahead I'll wait.......got it OK! It was so much fun, there were so many ideas and lots of big announcements! I'm excited to add some fun changes to my business! Some you'll see right away, others will be rolled out in the upcoming months. There's also some BIG changes coming to the catalogs, the first being the catalog will now be released in JUNE instead of July. As the changes happen I'll let you know, they're exciting and I think you'll be thrilled with them!!!!!

One change that I'll be implementing right away is rewarding my customers more! How will do that? My business is all about gaining new customers. YOUR recommendation goes a long way! So when you bring a friend to a class of mine, one (or more!) who has NEVER attend one of my classes or workshop, you AND your friend(s) will get to make an exclusive card JUST for YOU!! So I hope you're thinking of a friend or two or more to bring with you to your next class, just make sure to let me know so I can prepare. But the rewards don't stop there, you'll get free products if that friend hosts a workshop, you'll get even more if that friend joins the Stampin' Up! family!!!! So don't wait, invite your friends today! And if you haven't signed up for my upcoming classes yet make sure you do!!!!! We are putting so much thought and special details into the February class and I hope you leave feeling appreciated and creative! So sign up today!!!!
February 4-Step Up to Sale-a-Bration!!!
I'm so excited for this class, it's an event like never before!!!! I'm partnering with another demonstrator to bring you this class. We're very excited to KICK OFF Sale a Bration at this class and I hope you can join us. To attend you must sign up online. Come make 8 cards with Stampin' Up!'s exclusive Sale a Bration products. You'll make 8 cards, 4 simple but beautiful, easy to make and easy to reproduce cards and 4 stepped up cards that involve a little more time. You'll get to use all new Sale a Bration products and new products from the Occasions Mini Catalog.

Would you like to see some highlights from Leadership now?

I love this picture, this is where we picked up our Make and Take supplies. One table is for wood mounted sets, the other for clear. Isn't is just a beautiful sight!!!!!?

These were our drinks at Managers Reception. So fun, and even though it got smooshed a little I did bring home my umbrella!

Amber, my fantastic upline, and myself at Managers.

I was thrilled beyond words when I got to spend a few minutes talking to Heather Summers. If you follow my blog you know I'm a HUGE fan of hers. So this was a memorable moment :)

Michelle and I waiting for Day 1 to start!

Amber and the Kims. We were so lucky to have some of our group there with us!

Shelli is the sweetest person ever! I was so lucky to be able to chat with her for a few moments!

Breakfast of champions. Our hotel had Texas shaped waffles for breakfast-FUN and only in TX!!

Never have I been so entertained while listening to a financial report. Scott SU's CFO made if fun Mr. Rogers style! LOVED IT!!!!

I love watching Shelli's stamping time. She gets just as excited as we do and it's so fun to see her projects!!!!

This is all the new stuff I came home with. SU sure knows how to treat us well!!! I do have another stamp set coming. I was part of a focus group and get to choose a free stamp set for that. More FREE STUFF!!!!

Here's my desk today, or at least after I unpacked. Perhaps I can make a little corner to stamp on :) I have many more pictures on my Stampin' Facebook page! Head over there to see examples and many more pictures. While you're there make sure to 'like' my page for more updates from me and Stampin' Up!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Fun With My Digital Studio

2012-01-23T06:15:00.002-07:00

Today's post is a little strange. I'll explain it the best that I can. While I was gone, I left little gifts for Dan, Logan and Megan to open. One each day. The kids got toys and fun stuff like that, Logan got a couple paint sets and other crafty things. Megan got some bath toys, etc. Well the kids are easy, Dan was a little more complicated but I didn't want to leave him out, then I remembered these really cute gifts that I saw on Heather Summers blog. She was doing a bunch of these gifts for her husband and I thought that would be perfect!!! I link will take you to one of them but make sure to check her whole blog the other ideas are there too, they're so cute!!! So one day in MDS I opened a scrapbook page and created with punches 5 tags, one for each day that I'll be gone. I picked the 5 snacks that Dan would enjoy the most. I printed it at home and cut them out and stuck them to the snacks. I forgot to take a picture of the snacks, but I'll let you know what each of them was attached to. From the top, clockwise there's "You O'FISHally have my heart" attached to a package of goldfish crackers. Next is "I'm NUTS about you" put on a package of peanuts. I printed another elephant on the bottom to cut out the peanut so that the elephant would be blue and the peanut would be brown. Below that is "I SODA think you're cute" I think you can figure out what that was on. Next on the bottom is "I'm so glad we can be CHEESY together" I put that on a bag of Cheetos, which I'm sure Logan enjoyed too. Finally above that is "You stole a PIECE of my heart" attached to a box of reeces pieces (Dan's favorite candy).

Things should be getting back to normal here today. I'm so glad to be home! I'm so excited to share what I learned.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Gifts!

2012-01-20T06:15:00.002-07:00

Today, finally I will show you the gift I made for roommates and friends at Leadership. I made one for each of my roommates and a few more for a few more friends that I met up with there. I hope everyone liked them. I was going to do something completely different, then had this idea and I'm so glad I went with this idea!!! I made them using a variety of SU fabric. After I made some with the Spice Cake fabric I was filled with panic! It was in the mini catalog, it's not current anymore!!!! But fortunately for me, it's on the carry over flyer and so it's still current-whew!!!!

I'm sure you're looking at them going, cute but what are they? The flowers are little pins that you can stick to your clothes, a bag, an apron, etc. The little frames are pin cushions! Aren't they cute!!!!!?! These little frame pin cushions are everywhere and catching on quick. They're so easy to make! I used the cardboard that came with the frame, trimmed it slightly. Stuck batting on the front, covered it with fabric and secured it on the back with a glue gun. Just stick it back in the frame, stick the back of the frame on and you're done! EASY!!!

I have to say that my favorite is either the one with the Beau Chateau fabric or the ones with the Spice Cake fabric. I love those fabrics, I love the other ones too, but I just love the patterns on the Beau Chateau and Spice Cake. Each flower is finished off with either a button or Antique Brad.

They're so cute!! I wish I could have left them lined up on my desk forever. They were so fun to look at!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Celebrate With Chocolate!

2012-01-19T06:15:00.001-07:00

At leadership I also signed up for a 'wrapper' swap. Meaning that you disguise candy in some fun way. Things that can be recreated at classes or workshop. Or gifts that could easily be made to give away. I'm always looking for fun candy wrapper ideas so this was the perfect swap for me. I haven't mentioned it in a while BUT I still love my little Ghiradelli squares of chocolate. So what else would I do for this swap! If you're a LONG time viewer of my blog you might remember these boxes from way back in February of 2009. So I recreated those boxes for my swap.

I used the Under The Big Top stamp set. I colored the elephant with blender pens, and I made sure to put some shading under the ball. This is really important so that your image isn't 'floating'. After I colored the ball I covered the ball with Crystal Effects to make it pop out a little. Now you may be thinking, 'that's cute but it's not SU ribbon', well good news this ribbon is a Sale-a-Bration item. It comes with another roll of ribbon in Calypso Coral and fun brads. What a great free item!

For these boxes I only had to make 10 of them, and to prove that there really is chocolate inside, here you go :) I only assembled one before Leadership, the other 9 were assembled in the hotel room. I didn't want the boxes to be crushed during travel. I've always loved this little box, and even more so now :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Leadership Day 1.....

2012-01-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

Here we are in San Antonio! We are having so much fun. We've been down to the river walk, we've enjoyed some stamp time, some amazing stamp samples and even fit in some time for some free wine tasting and mango wine smoothies-which are YUMMY!!!!!!! The only disappointment has come when I tried to use my laptop, my laptop for whatever reason will not connect to the hotel wireless. So my AMAZING roommate and upline has let me use her computer-what a great friend! But I won't be able to share photos, but look forward to them when I return home. Today we got our bags-they are sooooooo adorable!! I just love them!!!! We were also so pleasantly surprised when we went to make and takes we were given notepad holders (or perhaps mini catalog holders)! Either way they're fantastic and they're both made with new fabric from the next catalog! FUN!!!! We finished the day with Managers Reception, my first! It was a lovely gathering where we enjoyed a light dinner and a lovely show in the theater. I'm so looking forward to tomorrow!!!
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Birds of Thanks

2012-01-18T06:15:00.002-07:00

I signed up for a card swap at Leadership. I love doing the organized swaps because the work is usually great so I'm really excited to see what I'll get back. The swap was big too, I had to make 43 of these. I love them so I hope that the demonstrators that received them love them too. I love how they came out and I'll say something I never thought I'd say, ready.... I love Riding Hood Red.....there I said it! I'll be honest with you. I JUST got the ink pad 2 months ago. I never thought I'd like this red, I'm not generally a big 'red' fan....but after making 43 of these, I think Riding Hood Red has grown on me :)

I love this card but I got the inspiration for this card from Renee's blog. She does phenomenal work. Her blog is one that I check all the time and I just love her work! This card was from way back in July but I saw it and saved it and knew one day I would make it, I just loved it! Other elements on this card. I have a strip of Crumb Cake cardstock embossed and sponged behind the bird, and on the smaller Riding Hood Red cardstock I embossed the birdcage in clear embossing powder and then stamped the eggs in Riding Hood Red ink. It's a nice tone on tone look, subtle but pretty and really adds to the card.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Packed For Baby!!!

2012-01-17T06:15:00.012-07:00

Last week I showed you the Packed for Birthday stamp set and I promised you that after you saw today's card you'll want to get the all four of the Packed for ____ stamps. Well here it is!!!! SO CUTE!!!! Now I will say, that there was a LOT of cutting involved and they're tiny pieces, BUT it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The pieces though small were quite easy to cut out. A big surprise to me. I stamped them with versa mark and embossed them with black embossing powder. I colored them all with markers, of course this card would be for a girl but you can color them in shades of blue for a boy or shades of yellows and greens for either gender.

SO CUTE!!! Ok so tell me you don't want the Packed for ____ stamps. I'm so glad that I was given them, I'm pretty sure I would never have bought them but they make such cute cards!!! I just love this card!!! Ok I'll stop going on and on about it. I'm on my way to San Antonio today!!! I can't wait!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Be Mine!

2012-01-16T06:15:00.001-07:00

I leave tomorrow! So excited!!! Today will be filled with all the last minute prep that needs to be done, but I think I'm ready! Hope I don't forget anything! Today's card is another one that I LOVE. It took a while to get all the hearts done but in the end I'm so glad I took the time to do it. I stamped about a million hearts from the Candy Conversations stamp. Then I used the small punch and punched them all out. That was the easy part. The hard part was lining them all up in color order, each row had an order. And I was really picky and didn't want the same phrase next to each other in any direction. So it turned into a huge puzzle and sat on my desk for a while until I finally got them glued down.

I just love it though!!!!! for the greeting I stamped it and cut it out and instead of mounting it on cardstock I stuck it to some ribbon. Well 2 pieces of ribbon, one for the top and one for the bottom. To finish it I used one of our trinket safety pins and one of the pieces from the Trinket Hearts. The whole trinket line is so fun to use. The safety pins, the crowns, the keys, and now the hearts from the mini catalog they're all so fun!!!! I just adore this card to pieces!!!! I have post scheduled for the rest of the week but I'm still hoping to update every night from Leadership, so make sure to check every day!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Packed For Birthday!!!

2012-01-13T06:15:00.001-07:00

I'll be the first to admit that when I saw the Packed for ____ stamps I was not excited. I was sure I would never use them, they just weren't for me. Lucky for me I was wrong!!! I got all four of the Packed for stamps free from SU so I thought I better use them. I'm so glad I did, I LOVE THEM!!! I hope that if you're on the edge about them I can convince you that they really are fun sets to have! Today's card I love and I'll show you another one next week that is just perfect and my favorite card that I've made in a while, stay tuned :)

Over all the card is very simple, it was stamped twice to cover the cardstock. I did use my stamp a ma jig for perfect placement. I colored everything with my markers, I used Pear Pizzazz, Tempting Turquoise, Rich Razzleberrry, Crumb Cake and Daffodil Delight. Once the coloring was done, the hard part was done. Once that was done it was just a quick run through the big shot to emboss the cardstock, tie some ribbon and you're done! Easy peasy and so cute!! How fun is this card???!!! This would work for any of the Packed for ____ sets. Still not convinced come back next week for my baby card!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

So Pretty!

2012-01-12T06:15:00.001-07:00

So pretty I don't even know where to start!!! I love everything about this card. EVERYTHING!!! I guess we'll start with the main image. The stamp set I used is Bordering on Romance from the Occasions Mini, seriously have you checked out this catalog yet?! I stamped it in staz on and used my ink pads and blender pens to color it. It's so pretty, it's subtle and elegant and I've forgotten how much I love to watercolor, so I'm glad that some of my new sets are line images like this, I can't wait to color more. Of course I added pearls to the card, why not right? I add them to everything anyway :)

Onto my next favorite part of this card. The ribbon. How much do I love this pleated ribbon, sooo soooo soooooo much!!!! How sad am I that it's only in 4 colors, soooo soooo sad! Behind the ribbon I added some crumpled up DSP, just for fun and it gives the card a fun look to it, it's subtle but it fits with the card. So fun, and a great way to use those tiny scraps! The bottom is embossed with the new border embossing folders in the mini. I just love this card-so pretty!!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Sweet Birthday!

2012-01-11T06:15:00.001-07:00

It is indeed a sweet birthday if this is the card you receive. This card came out so much better than I envisioned it-don't you love it when that happens!!! I used my markers and colored the ice cream cone. I stamped it 3 times and cut out each piece and adhered it to the card. The borders in the background are randomly stamped-really randomly, there is no rhyme or reason to it. I embossed it with the cherry scented embossing powder so that the card smells nice and sweet!

My favorite part of this card is the scalloped border. I used the new edgelets in the Occasions Mini. If you haven't used them YOU MUST. They're so great. I LOVE THEM and will no doubt be using them all the time, so prepare yourself to see them frequently :) It looked ok with the border flat but I thought it needed some extra ruffles, so I crumpled up the edges then gently separated the cardstock. So it looks like there's 2 layers of scallops but it's one piece of cardstock! So cool!! So fun!!! I spent alot of time stamping yesterday-for fun!! I think my stamping mojo is coming back after Christmas vacation and I'm excited to show you all the stuff I've done lately!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Love Notes

2012-01-10T06:15:00.002-07:00

While cleaning my desk I found more fun stuff. You have no idea what a mess my desk was and who knows what else I'll unearth. In my defense though, these things were in the drawers and cabinets and not so much on top. So it didn't look too horribly messy. Today's project is a gift SU gave us at the Albuquerque Regionals in October. I tried to follow the directions but there were a couple problems. I messed up and I didn't have the recommended stamp set. So mine is similar but I kind of did my own thing :) It holds 3 spots for love notes or any little notes. The stamping is really subtle so it's hard to see in the picture. I stamped the floral image from the Sale a Bration set on it and 'love you' in white over that. It's really pretty in person just hard to see in the pictures-sorry.

My favorite part of this is the little flowers. I layered 2 of them on top of each other and ruffled up the top one after I stuck the brad through. It's so cute and I love the idea, it would be perfect to make for Valentines day, or an anniversary. So cute!!! In other news the countdown is on. There is only 1 week until Leadership-whooohoooo!!!!! I am also happy to say that as far as stamping is concerned I'm done with my swaps, gifts etc. I'll show you all that next week while I'm gone. I'm so excited!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

A Forgotten Treasure!

2012-01-09T06:15:00.004-07:00

I made this months ago, I think back in September. It's been a long while. Somehow though it never got posted. Funny how that happens sometimes. It's so cute too!!!! So here's a great time to show it to you. The Spice Cake fabric that I used was in the Holiday Mini but good news, it's carried over so you can still get it!!! Yay!!!! So what is it, besides cute!!! It's a little mini scrapbook made from the plastic name badged holders you can get at any office supply store. The first thing I did was cut 2 pieces of cardboard, the cardboard from the DSP packs works great. I cut them slightly bigger than the name tag holders. I covered them with fabric.

Of course you'll want to embellish the outside a little :) I made a simple flower and used our beveled window panes and a trinket key to decorate it :) So cute!!!!! I love using the beveled window panes on 3D projects like this. I find them difficult to use on cards but on a project like this it's perfect!

Add your completed name tags, completed meaning your mini scrapbook pages are done. Use your crop a dial to punch holes in the front and back cover. The name tags already have holes, if not punch them too! There's lots of ways you can keep your book together, ribbon, jump rings, I used a little screw, like the ones in our post albums. I don't even know where it came from, just found it on my desk one day. It's amazing what I find sometimes!

It's so cute, the whole thing is about 2x3 and the perfect size to put in your purse or take to a class, or perhaps on a trip to remember what you 2 children look like ;) I kept all my pages with the same color scheme and kept them VERY simple. NO Accessories. Paper and pictures that's it! So stinkin' cute!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Simple Hearts

2012-01-06T08:43:00.000-07:00

Sorry this is so late, I've been having problems with blogger, anyone else?? It's happened a couple of times and won't let me upload photos. Then sometimes when I have posts scheduled it doesn't post them on time. So I'm looking into those issues. I'm hoping it all works out soon. I'm hoping to schedule some posts while I'm away at Leadership. I'm also hoping to post a little from Leadership :) Yesterday I finished my roommate gifts and I LOVE THEM!!!!! I can't wait to show you!!!!! For today's card it's very simple. You could easily mass produce this card in no time! This would also be a great make and take. It showcases one of my new favorite things from the mini catalog, the Twitterpated DSP!! Isn't is beautiful!!!!?

I used my heart punches to punch multiple hearts and in all different patterns too. Then in no random order they were stuck down to the card. So pretty!!! So short and sweet from me today. Have a great weekend!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!

Bordering On BEAUTIFUL!!!!

2012-01-05T06:15:00.002-07:00

Did you get a chance to see the new mini catalog yet?!!! Isn't it great. One of the stamp sets that I LOVE is the Bordering on Romance Set. Not only does it coordinate with the new Edgelits Dies and Embossing Folders but it has some really pretty images. This card was partially inspired by a card in Stampin' Success (a demonstrator only magazine). One of the only differences I made is instead of just stamping the flower in the corner I paper pieced it. And those are little pieces to cut. It didn't really occur to me how tiny they were until I was cutting them. But it's all worth it, isn't it a pretty card?!

More details on the flower. I stamped it first and embossed it in clear embossing powder then stamped it and embossed it again on Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzazz. Cut everything out and stuck it on there. The fun border was cut and embossed with our new edgelits dies and folders. SO PRETTY!!! Now onto the ribbon!!!! I know I say I love ribbon alot, but this is for sure one of my all time favorite ribbons! The Pleated Satin Ribbon is so much fun!!! I just love it!!!! I have lots more Leadership prep to get done today. I'm almost done with my swaps! Yay!! And now I'm working on some gifts for Logan, Megan and Dan. I'm making them 1 gift for each day that I'm gone. It's mostly for the kids, something to distract them from the fact that I'm not there :( I'm doing gifts for Dan too, I found some really cute ideas so I HAD to do them. The kids are just getting small toys and books, but Dan's gifts I'm making so I'll make sure to show those to you when I'm done!!! So excited!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Anniversary Underwear

2012-01-04T06:15:00.003-07:00

Yep you read correctly. Strange but true, I'm showing you anniversary underwear. I'm sure Dan would be completely mortified if he knew I was showing his anniversary card on my blog. But it came out so cute and it's not to risky...I think :) Today is our anniversary. We've been married 9 years today. We met at Walt Disney World while we were both on internships there over 10 years ago (almost 11). I think this card is just so adorable, I used some new DSP from the Occasions Mini catalog-which by the was is LIVE TODAY!!!! If you haven't received a copy in the mail or need to pick up a copy from me let me know. You can also view it online here. It's a beautiful catalog with lots of fun stuff!!!

Back to the card. For the underwear, I used the tag punch and folded it in half. Then use your 1/2 inch circle punch and punch 'leg holes' on the bottom of the tag. It's super easy. To attach them to the clothes line I just folded them over the bakers twine. So simple, cute and fun!!!! I hope Dan likes it :) For the background, I used my Simply Scored tool and made diagonal lines all over my paper. It just adds some extra dimension.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Let's Get Ready To Sale-a-Brate!

2012-01-03T06:15:00.001-07:00

We're so close to Sale-a-Bration!!!! It's so exciting!!! I think that Sale-a-Bration is one of the best time to be part of Stampin' Up! Whether you're a customer, hostess or demonstrator there is so much going on during Sale-a-Bration and it's fun for EVERYONE!!!! I'm so excited about my Sale-a-Bration kick off class this year! I'm working with my upline Amber and we're doing a super fun class together. At the class you'll make 8 cards with Stampin' Up!'s exclusive Sale a Bration products. You'll make 8 cards, 4 simple but beautiful, easy to make and easy to reproduce cards and 4 stepped up cards that involve a little more time. You'll get to use all new Sale a Bration products and new products from the Occasions Mini Catalog.

During Sale a Bration you get to choose a free Sale a Bration product with every $50 you spend (before tax and shipping). To make your shopping even easier at the class you'll get $5 off your order if you place a $50 order. Place a $75 order or more and get $10 off your order. Plus free Sale a Bration products with every $50 you spend-there's no limit to how many you can earn free!!!!! You can only sign up online for this class so don't wait sign up today here!

I'm sure you're excited to see some Sale-a-Bration products! This is one of the SAB stamp sets. It's probably my favorite one!!! I love it, it's called Fresh Vintage and it has coordinating DSP and brads! It's so much fun!!!! For this card I used my markers to color the image and added some rhinestones to make it sparkle!!! Just one more non-Sale-a-Bration note before I go, TODAY is the LAST day to order from the Holiday Mini Catalog! If there's something you wanted get it today!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Happy New Year!!!!

2012-01-02T06:15:00.002-07:00

Happy New Year!!!!! I hope that your new years is off to a great start!!!! I thought I'd start the new year with my January page from the calendar I did in MDS. I love these pictures of Megan, they're so cute!!!! They were taken a year ago. I love the headband and all her silly expressions! There are so many possibilities with My Digital Studio, I've spent A LOT of time of MDS over the weekend. I'm working on some special projects! I never thought I'd love scrapbook or doing it digitally but it's so nice and I so enjoy it!!! I'd love to sit down with you and share more about all the My Digital Studio can do. Contact me if you're interested! I'm really excited for this week. Logan goes back to school (thank goodness!) and I can start my leadership countdown. There's still so much to be done, but I'm so excited to go!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Cherry Scented

2011-12-30T06:15:00.002-07:00

When I first saw that there would be scented embossing powders in the Occassions Mini, well I was just so super excited. So I couldn't wait to try it. Now a month later here I am trying it.....finally. It's very cool and it really does smell like cherries. It's very cool. I embossed the En Francais with the Cherry embossing powder. This is an Anniversary card for my parents whose anniversary is today.

The cherry is also new in the mini catalog. I really like the way it stamped and it was a complete accident! I used my Garden Green, Soft Sued and Cherry Cobbler markers to color it and then set it aside (I was making chex mix and the timer went off) :) So when I returned I lightly went over the cherries again with the marker but very lightly. Then I huffed and stamped. I ended up with a fun marble look. I'm sure I'll NEVER be able to recreate it but it's really cool this time :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Mark My Place

2011-12-29T06:56:00.002-07:00

I'm a little late this morning, I know. I had planned to do my post yesterday but blogger wouldn't let me upload any pictures. So I tried again today and success!!! As a demonstrator we get monthly issues of Stampin' Success a demonstrator only magazine. Well it's full of great ideas. A few months ago this bookmark was one of the ideas in it. I've created a few of them but this one is my favorite. I'm not going to go into too many details, I found that Dawn made a wonderful video of it here. Dawn makes it look so easy! If I tried to explain it here I think I'd just confuse you :) I attached it to the journal I told you about in this post.

I'm completely obsessed with making these flowers!!! They're my favorite flowers to make of all time and they're sooooo easy!!! I thought of a project just this morning that I can add another flower too. Seriously it's an addiction! This one is for me I still need to make a bookmark for my Mom's journal. I put some pearls on the antique brad, then to make sure the pearls don't go anywhere I brushed the top with Crystal Effects. Not only will that ensure that the pearls will stay put but it gives it a nice glossy finish.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Can't Stand The Excitement!

2011-12-28T06:15:00.001-07:00

Now that we're through with Christmas, I am working like a mad woman to get my Leadership to do list done! I haven't been to a big Stampin' Up! event since convention of 2009. I'm so stinkin' excited to go to Leadership in just a couple of weeks!!!!! The excitement hit an all time high when I received this in the mail, just a couple days before Christmas. What a great gift!! It's pretty huh? But what's inside?!

Are you kidding? This whole fan came out of that little pouch!?! So cool! The fan is actually my invitation for Manager's Reception at Leadership. This will be my first Managers Reception and Stampin' Up! is promising big things so I can't wait! So while my posts might be short I have BIG things coming! I'm working on gifts, swaps and more! I'll be posting them all soon!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

A My Digital Studio Christmas!

2011-12-27T06:15:00.017-07:00

Yep we defiantly had a My Digital Studio Christmas! As I was going to bed on Christmas Day and reflecting on what had happened that day, it occurred to me that next to the Disney Store :) most of our Christmas gifts that we gave were from My Digital Studio! Yay!!! Here's a few gifts that I gave. My Mom and I both received a journal (Dan gave it to me after I handed it to him and said 'please wrap for me for Christmas') :) I love this journal. First of all it's pink! It's so pretty in person. I plan on taking mine to Leadership in January. I'm hoping to get some fun bookmarks made by then too.

Lots of our family received a wall calendar with Logan and Megan's pictures. Here's the cover. Every month I'll share the picture for that month. This calendar is so nice and with the new calendar feature in My Digital Studio it's so easy to make your own personalized calendar. Dan also got a desktop calendar (so did a couple other friends). He's going to take it to work for his desk there. All in all I think the final count of MDS gifts given from us this year is 8 calendars and journals. What a great gift!

Finally here's some pictures of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at our house. This page was super quick. I used one of the templates that SU has for scrapbook pages, so I literally just added pictures, background paper and a few accessories. EASY!!!! I added stitching around each picture and a little banner on the bottom of the page. My favorite picture is the one of Megan on the bottom right. She had just opened a brand new Cinderella doll from her stocking. It's such a cute picture!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

A Pretty Box

2011-12-26T06:15:00.001-07:00

I hope you had a great Christmas. We had a lovely quiet little Christmas. I'm hoping to have some My Digital Studio pages done in the next few days. We did get some pretty cute pictures of the kids. They seemed to have a good time. I'm going to hit some after Christmas sales today, what about you? Anyway on to the project. I'm so excited to show you this project for 2 reasons. 1) It's super cute and shows some new fabric and 2) I think I'm finally on the right track to permanent organization! Yay!!!!!! First the box, this is the card keeper box from the mini catalog. It's super easy to put together and super easy to decorate. I used some of the new fabric from the upcoming Occasions Mini Catalog. I kept the decorating really simple. I only decorated the top! Simple and EASY!

For the lid I just covered the top in the adorable Twiterpated fabric! LOVE IT!!!! I added a flower and a knob that I got at a home improvement store. It's super cute! Now for the organization part. I spent a good majority of last week (when I wasn't baking) cleaning my stamp room from top to bottom. The closet, the shelves the cabinets, EVERYTHING! It was long overdue! BUT I think I have everything super organized and I'm hoping this will help with more stamp time, more productive stamp time and of course more projects to show you! I WILL do more videos, I promise. After my last one I ran into a couple of problems. 1) I need a new memory card. The one I have isn't large enough and will only take videos that are a couple minutes long and 2) Finding quiet time to do it now that Logan is off from school for another 10 days is complicated! Once Logan goes back to school I'll be able to get the videos going again :) It's a stamping resolution for the new year!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

The Last Day...

2011-12-23T06:15:00.018-07:00

We're on the final day of my look back, and it's Christmas Eve Eve. Today is the day that Logan, Megan and I will bake and decorate cookies for Santa! Should be a yummy day in the kitchen! Here's the last 3 cards of my top 12. This one was from September 14. I love the shadowed look and the sewing on this card. It's so simple but just a few stitches can change the look of a card dramatically.

I'm not sure why this card from September 27 made my top 12. Other than the fact that it's so pretty, I'm not sure if it's the color combo, the DSP, the embossed dots or something else. But I do know that when I saw this card while looking back I KNEW it would be included in my look back.

And finally, how could I do a look back at my favorite cards and NOT include the card that was published in Stampin' Success (a demonstrator only magazine). This post is from October 13. It is one of my favorite cards and I'm still shocked that I won! I hope you've enjoyed the look back. I know I enjoyed going through the past year. I wish you and your family a happy, safe and joyous Christmas!!!! From my family to yours have a very Merry Christmas!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Day 3...

2011-12-22T06:15:00.018-07:00

Yesterday I said that Dan's birthday card made my top 12, here it is. From my June 7 post. I still love this card and it makes me so happy to look at it. Make sure you click back to the original post for this card to see all the pictures. When the card is closed you only see the 'Daddy' bear. It isn't until you open it that you get the two cute kid and baby bear! SO CUTE!!!!!! I think this one is my FAVORITE of the whole year!!!

This one from August 18 is another one that simple but stunning!!!! I love this stamp set and the Poppy Parade and Calypso Coral color combo is still a favorite of mine. Poppy Parade has made it to my favorite red. I don't use red a whole lot, but when I do I usually grab for Poppy Parade.

The last one for today is the perfect fall card. I love this card from August 10. I love the colors on the leaves, I love the speckled background from the color spritzer I love the rough edges, I just love it all!!! Only one day left of my top 12 cards of 2011. Join me tomorrow as we finish it up!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Day 2...

2011-12-21T06:15:00.020-07:00

So what did you think of day 1? Today's cards were EASY choices for some of my favorite this year. They're ALL probably some of my favorite that I've ever made. The first one is for sure an all time favorite. If you know me, you know I LOVE punches. Our punches are so fantastic it's all you need for a beautiful card! This post from May 25 proves that. I think that's all I'm going to say about this card :)

When we could preorder the hostess sets for the 2011-2012 catalog this one was first on my list. This, from June 8, is one of my favorite cards ever!! So much so that I STILL have it displayed in my stamp room. I don't have room to display a lot of cards and usually I'm pretty good at mailing or giving them away but this one I loved so much that I had to keep it.

2011 was a good card year for Dan, he received some of my best cards! His Father's Day card from June 20 is no exception (check back for another favorite that I gave Dan tomorrow-his birthday card!). I love this set, and I know it's been in the catalog forever but I sure hope that Lovely As A Tree stays alot longer!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

The Best of 2011...Day 1

2011-12-20T06:15:00.001-07:00

I've search through my blog for the past year and I've picked my top 12. For the next 4 days we'll take a look back at them. They're in no particular order and I'll provide links to the original posts so that, if you want to, you can check back for all the details on each one. So here we go. This one from February 24 hit my favorite list only for the reason that it's so simple it's just so beautiful. There's no accessories used, except dimensionals, but it just doesn't need them. I love this card!!!

The next one from April 22 was an obvious choice. The layers on this flower are so fun! Plus the flower is embossed with the Melon Mambo embossing powder. No matter how long you've been stamping, you have to agree that embossing is one of the coolest techniques out there!

The last card for today, from May 27, uses the same set. Hmmm you think I like this set??? I also embossed the flowers, but in white this time. The other card was bright and fun, this one is soft and sweet. Two completely different looks, two completely different cards, ONE fantastic set! One of the other things I love about this card is the bow. It's perfect, and so simple to do!!! I do LOVE this card!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Party Pictures!!!

2011-12-19T06:15:00.001-07:00

Our downline Christmas party was last week. We've had it for years and this year was one of the best. EVERYONE had fantastic gifts. I was so amazed and inspired by what everyone did! I can't wait to reproduce some of them myself!!! Here's the highlights from the party!!!

Here we all are before the gift opening!

Look at all those wonderful gifts!!!! I'll show the pictures of the person with the gift they made.

Nichole made these mugs and this fantastic box. The box was so fantastic! Decorated with our fabric. The mugs were decorated with the decor elements and each mug had a special tag and tea in it. So cute!!!

Michelle C made this adorable frame. It would look great in any craft or sewing room. She used the fabric to make a small quilt, put it in the back of the shadow box and then filled up the rest of the shadow box with thread and scissors and other cute little things. Soooo cute!!!

Martha made this wonderful table runner. I was fortunate enough to be able to take it home with me!!!It's so beautiful and there's so much detail that the picture doesn't show. I'm so lucky!!!!!

Amber made these beautiful earings and necklace. I did have a picture with Amber too, but I wanted to show the jewelry so I thought I'd just show a close up. She used some of our DSP (yep that's new DSP in the new mini). They're so pretty!!!!

This is Stephanie's gift and it was a huge hit!!! It's a stamping advent calendar for the 12 days of Christmas!!! In each box is a stamping accessory; twine, buttons, sticky strip, etc. AMAZING!!!!

Mindy did this menu board, which I think is such a fantastic idea-especially for me- I need to work on my organizational skills. On her board is a place to put the menu for every day, plus store extra favorite meals, plus a shopping list!!! Great idea!!!

Liz L made this wonderful collection of items. There was an apron, coasters, and a wallet all stamped with the Inspired by Nature stamp. I LOVE that stamp!!! It was so beautiful!!!

Michelle G made this over the top adorable little piggy. I forgot what he was filled with by you can put him in the microwave and warm him up then use him to keep warm. He's so so so so so cute!!! Amber got to keep him, I did lean over and tell Amber that if I had gone after her I would have stolen this gift! I love it!!!

Kay made this prayer box. It's such a wonderful and inspirational gift! Inside the box are verses and other inspirational sayings and quotes. And with the gift is a promise from Kay to pray for the recipient of this gift everyday, good days and bad. Such an inspiring gift!

Finally, Angela's gift. She couldn't be at the meeting but sent her gift anyway. I LOVE IT!!!! They're little travel bags made with our fabric and some black mesh! They're beautiful. The flower on top is a pin that you can remove and wear or put on a purse or bag. So cute and creative!!!

Great job ladies!!! I'm so excited to be part of this group. Don't you agree they're some of the most creative ladies around!?!!? The next few days I'm going to share with you my favorite post/projects from the past year. I'm really excited to look back over the year and share my top 12! I hope you join me!!!

Party Present

2011-12-16T06:15:00.014-07:00

Last night was our downline/demonstrator meeting. This is the best meeting or party of the year. It's so much fun!!! I'll have lots of highlights on Monday. We do a gift exchange and the gifts are great!!! For this meeting I think about my gift all year, and EVERY year, I change it the week before the meeting. This year I'm so glad I changed it because I LOVE my gift. I had to make 2 of them because I knew that I wouldn't be able to part with it if I only had 1 :) I saw this post from Mandy Grant's blog. I knew instantly I was going to be making them. I'm not sure if I did it the same way Mandy did but I love my result! I think I'm going to make them in multiple sizes like Mandy did. This one is hanging in my bedroom right now, this one is mine :) I love that fabric!

This one is the one that I gave away, though I LOVE that little flower at the bottom and JUST might have to make one of my own :) By the way this is new fabric. It will be in the new Occasions Mini catalog. Pretty huh? You should be able to click on the picture for a larger view. I used a pearl in the center too. This flower was soooooo easy and so quick. Leave me a comment and let me know if you'd like me to do a video on it. I'm sure I'll be making more flowers ;) Anyway, how'd I make this? Well it's really easy actually. Start with an embroidery hoop, attach cork on the inside of the inner hoop. I hot glued around the back to hold the cork in. Then on the front, hot glue (just around the edges) some batting. This makes it soft and easy to pin into, and gives it more dimension :) Then you'll lay your fabric over that and put on your outer hoop, tighten it really good and then hot glue the fabric down in the back. Oh and can you see that ribbon, that's also new in the mini catalog, Ruffled Satin Ribbon so pretty!!!!!! Embellish your front however you want, on mine I added my initial and a flower on the one I gave away. So sweet and pretty!!!! Highlights from the party coming on Monday.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Now What?

2011-12-15T06:15:00.000-07:00

This month is flying by, we're so close to Christmas I can't believe it. Logan is practically bursting at the seams with excitement. I spent 2 hours yesterday wrapping presents and I only got halfway through-you think I over bought? I really have to keep track of what I buy for Christmas is July so that when November and December come around I don't keep shopping! We'll have some happy kiddos this year. This week I've spent more time in the kitchen baking then in the stamp room. It's a little sad, but I do enjoy the baking. The pictures on this page is from Tuesday night at our church's cookie bake off. We bake, the cookies are judged, prizes are given and the rest of the cookies go to our Angel Tree families. I'm happy to say that in the kids candy category Logan took FIRST place for his Oreo Truffles. They are yummy!!! I won second in the adult candy category and second in the adult bar cookie category. Yay me!

But back to the page. It's so cute! Megan is a little dare devil in every way.....that is except for walking. She'll stand up on her own, note the pictures, but she's too afraid to fall and too afraid to walk so she'll just stand there, most of the time crying. She's getting better at not crying, maybe she's close to letting go of that fear. Anyway these pictures were taken before the cookie bake off started. She's just so cute! The page is very simple. I let the pictures speak for themselves. Tonight I'm so excited it's our downline meeting! I LOVE this party. Every year I have soooooooo much fun!!!!! I'm taking my camera. Hopefully I'll have lots of great pictures! To see what I made for my gift check back first thing tomorrow morning. I LOVE my gift and had to make two of them so that I could keep one of them :)

Santa Pouch

2011-12-14T06:15:00.004-07:00

How cute are these little Christmas gifts! I made about 20 of these for Logan's classmates at school. I need to get the candy or treat that goes in them but at least all the gluing and assembling is done! Cute as they are, I can't take credit for them, I saw the idea on Heather Summers blog. She made utensil holders-ps I'm gonna do that too :) But I thought these would be super cute gifts for 5 and 6 year olds. There's a video on Heather's blog so please check it out.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

More Sneak Peaks!

2011-12-13T08:29:00.001-07:00

If it weren't for the cloudy, rainy day yesterday I would have had some natural light and these pictures would be better, but they're still pretty good and show a bunch of new products. I'm not sure where to start so we'll work from the bottom up. See that new embossing folder-CUTE! It's a little border folder. My paper was wider than the folder so I had to run it through 2 times. The little hearts are so cute though!!! Check out that new Calypso Coral Ribbon, it's one of the new Sale a Bration choices.

Does that stamp set look new? If you said yes you're right! That's another Sale a Bration choice!! The entire stamp set is so pretty and probably my favorite set! Lastly the pearls, they're huge and new! They're from the new Occasions mini catalog! So now you're probably asking when can you get these items, well the Occasions Mini starts January 4 and Sale a Bration begins on January 24. If you like to earn all these products for free plus a get a FREE tote bag call me to set up a Sale a Bration workshop!

Thanks for looking see you soon!!!!

New Stuff!

2011-12-11T21:15:00.001-07:00

I'm posting early on Sunday night to make up for hardly any posts last week, but since it's going out on Sunday there may not be a Monday post, but we'll see how the tomorrow goes. It's another quick post. I think I'm almost caught up on everything here. I should get my regular 'morning nap stamp time back' I have no clue what I'm going to do or when I'll get a chance to stamp when Megan gives up her morning nap. Though Monday will be an interesting morning nap anyway, she hasn't had a morning nap in her bed since LAST Monday! It's been a week! That's how crazy busy we've been. But I'm hoping she remembers how wonderful those naps are and it gives me a chance to work/play! I did make sure I carved out sometime this weekend to clean my desk once and for all, well not really but now I have room to stamp. So tonight I wanted something simple, pretty and FAST! I'm so excited to show you some of the new stuff from the Occasions Mini catalog. These little note cards are just the prettiest cards ever. They're already die cut and scored, all you need to do is stamp and/or embellish them. They're beautiful by themselves and really don't need much more. This one is very simple. I sponged it in Wisteria Wonder and Elegant Eggplant (who says Valentine's cards have to be pink and red?), then I used my pearls and went all around the edge of the heart. A simple greeting stamped on the bottom and that's really it! Seriously! This greeting is also from the new Occasions mini catalog. I can't remember the name of it, but I'll get back to you. Here's hoping I can get back on track this week. I have SOOOOOO many projects to get done, just this week alone!! I hope to be able to show them all to you, and with a few videos too, but don't hold me to that :) It figures once I get a decent camera I have no time to stamp :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

One Card, Two Ways

2011-12-08T06:15:00.002-07:00

Thanks everyone for all your comments on my first video. I hope to do more. I've been so busy this week trying to clean up the house, and my stamp room in addition to helping hang a new art show at our church and taking a chocolate candy making class-YUM!!! Just today I finally got around to putting away my class materials from Saturday. Normally I do it the day of. Then getting SU orders 2 days in a row (Not that I'm complaining) creates a lot of new stuff to put away :) I can't wait to show you some of the new products from the Occasions Mini and Sale A Bration catalogs! But not today :) I'm such a tease, I'm sorry. Also I'm still adjusting to my camera, still working on perfecting the pictures and videos. On that topic, I had a question about what kind of camera I bought. I got a Nikon Colorpix L105. It was a Black Friday sale at Target :) But like I said, still learning, it's very different from my last camera. So today's picture's aren't true to color, the Pink Pirouette is a little washed out. That's my fault completely. I had the camera on a setting that it probably shouldn't have been on-still practicing. They looked ok on the camera, but when loaded on the computer I saw they were a little lighter, but by then the cards were already sealed in envelopes.

The cards are still adorable and I hope you can tell that even if the Pink Pirouette looks a little wonky. I used my Every Little Bit stamp set, I got it on sale during the Online Extravaganza. It was such a good deal and I've always wanted this set so I had to have it. These card are inspired from this card on splitcoast. They're so cute! I just love them!!!! I think I love the holiday one the best. I added some glitter with the Dazzling Details to the bear and ornament. It's hard to tell from the pictures. Good news/Bad news time. Good news: my next post should be with some new products for a fun sneak peak. Bad news: It probably won't be until next week, sorry! I'm hoping to be back to my regular post schedule next week. The crazy, busy week is almost over! But it's been a fun week and I've enjoyed it. Just crazy busy and COLD! BRRRRR New Mexico is cold this week! Thanks for hanging in there with me!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

My First Video!

2011-12-05T11:04:00.000-07:00

Why are there not enough hours in the day? I seem to be running low on time that I need to get stuff done. I've been spending time stamping and doing fun stuff that I've fallen so far behind on the things that I need to do around the house. So this week I'm playing catch up. My blog posts this week might be sporadic and short, but I really need to spend this week getting ready for the next couple weeks that are going to be packed with decorating, baking, shopping, etc. BUT I did get a new camera last week and with this one I'll be able to make stamping videos!!! Yay!! I've been wanting to do videos for a while but my old camera just wasn't going to work for good videos anyway. I'm really excited about my new camera, but it's taking some getting used to, another reason why my posts my be limited. My plan is to spend all day Monday (assuming the child home from school because of the snow day stays out of the way) and Tuesday doing what needs to be done around the house. By then my box of brand new stuff from the Occasions Mini catalog and SAB should be here and I can play! But I hope you understand and enjoy my first video. I promise I'll get better. I'm still working on where's the best place for the tripod and trying not to sound like a dork on camera :)

In the video, I'll show you how to make this gift card holder. My guests at my Christmas Gift Card class got to make this one and 3 other gift card holders. This one I think was the easiest and one of the cutest.

Well enjoy the video, I'll be back later this week with some new stuff hopefully.
Thanks for looking see you soon!!!!

A Quick Calendar

2011-12-02T06:15:00.002-07:00

Hello blog land! If you're in New Mexico I hope you're still there and the wind didn't take you away. We had horrible winds yesterday-so crazy!!!! It began as a strange day anyway, when I got to Logan's school to drop him off, we were greeting with the school evacuating to the field next to the school. Then fire trucks showed up and we waited for about 45 minutes in the field in the wind and cold. BRRRRRR!!! But the fire department cleared the school, I guess something just got a little 'over done' in the cafeteria. Everything was fine and Logan went to school. Then we got his school pictures back in the afternoon, only to find that we were missing 2 pages of pictures, GRRRRRR! Hopefully the school can find them or reorder them for us. They're expensive and we did pay for them, so I want them all. But in the meantime, it's the weekend. We're expecting snow, but I'm not a snow girl, so while everyone else is expecting it I'm secretly hoping it doesn't snow. Plus I have a Christmas Gift Card Class tomorrow, I'm really looking forward to it! Anyway I have a couple quick pages to show you from the desktop calendar I made for Dan for Christmas. The calendar is to Dan from the kids.

It's just a little something that he can take to work and keep on his desk and every month there's different pictures of the kids. The pages are all the same, pictures on the bottom and calendar on the top. This calendar came together in about an hour on Saturday. MDS is so quick and easy!!! There's no special tricks or techniques on the pages, but they're cute and I hope Dan enjoys it come Christmas Day. Here's hoping the school can find our missing pictures and that we don't get snow :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Sweet Cake

2011-12-01T06:15:00.002-07:00

I'm super excited today. Today is December 1, not only is it 24 days until Christmas BUT it's the beginning of the demo preorder from the Occasions mini. One of the many perks of being a SU demonstrator is getting to order products before others do. Yay!!! This year is even better, because we get to earn free Sale a Bration products too!!! Oh golly that's awesome!!! This is one of the sets that will be in the mini catalog, I earned it free from recruiting right after the Albuquerque Regionals last month. It's so cute! I made this adorable little gift card holder. I stamped the image 4 times, once in each color then cut out and layered with dimensionals. I used Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Chocolate Chip and Real Red.

After it was all layered I put on some sparkle with the Dazzling Details. So cute. I love the layers and dimension to it. The gift card holder is really simple. I actually copied a little envelope that one of my receipts were put in after my trip to the mall a couple days ago. It was a cute little envelope and I thought, well that's about the size of a gift card and sure enough, with a little modification it was perfect!

This is the back of the gift card holder, where you'd actually get the gift card out. This holder is fantastic because there's no adhesive, nothing, nada! All you need is a slit to slip the top in and it holds it shut. Isn't that just the cutest!?! Next time I'll have to jazz up my back a little more, it really does look very plain doesn't it?

Here's how it opens. You close the two side tabs first, then the bottom, then slip the top into the bottom piece. The dimensions for this one is, 5 1/2 x 5 3/4. On the 5 1/2 side score at 3/4 on both sides. On the 5 3/4 side score at 2 and 4 3/8. There's no real measurement for the slit, I just eyeballed it on my paper cutter. Cute huh. I'm pleased with it. Now on to place my order for more new stuff!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Just Add Milk

2011-11-30T06:15:00.001-07:00

I have my friend Mindy to thank for today's project. She told me that you could put enough hot cocoa mix for one into our skinny cello bags, the ones in the Holiday Mini. What a great idea. And what super, sweet, easy, and fast these gifts can be! I just tied mine to another larger cello bag filled with marshmallows. You could stick this in a cute mug and you're good to go. I used a funnel to get the hot cocoa into the cello bag. I put about 2 tablespoons in each bag. Don't they look yummy!!?

My tag couldn't be easier. I stamped the greeting and punched it out with my label punch and gently sponged the edges just a little. So sweet! Of course you could always make a more elaborate tag but this is a great idea for last minute neighbor or co worker gifts.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Beary Christmas

2011-11-29T06:15:00.002-07:00

The post from Sunday was supposed to be scheduled to go up on Monday, not sure what happened. But I didn't forget Monday just got the post up on the wrong day. So today I will show you the card I did for the MDS contest. This is a tri-fold card. The first fold is after the second bear and the second fold is after the tree. So when it's all folded all you see is the first two bears. But when it's opened you see the whole card. Everything was done in My Digital Studio, the bears are made with punches-yes you can even build with punches in MDS. The tree is decorated with brads and star (from a punch). The presents are made from punches too. I had a lot of fun making this card. I considered sending it out for our Christmas cards this year, but decided against it. Maybe next year :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Possibilities

2011-11-27T06:15:00.001-07:00

I know that you've seen these pictures scrapbooked a million times. I have to say that these are some of my favorite pictures of Megan, ever! So naturally they're my favorite to scrapbook. A couple of months ago Stampin' Up! had a My Digital Studio contest. I entered, but didn't win. No worries though, I didn't really have high hopes, but thought it would be fun to enter. You had to enter a scrapbook page and a card. This is the scrapbook page I entered. I'll show you the card tomorrow. The page is pretty straight forward. Lots of layers and embellishments but nothing too fancy. I think over the weekend I was MDSing (yes that's a word) for hours!!! I was able to finish an entire calendar, though that only took about an hour, maybe a little longer. But the rest of the time I was just playing. I'll share soon!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

It's Questionable...

2011-11-25T06:15:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure how I feel about this card. I love the idea of it and it looked MUCH better in my head. But as I was making it, it didn't come out like I thought it would, BUT now that I've had a chance to look it over and let it sit there I think I am liking it more. So very strange. I'm still not 100% sure on it, so if you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear them! I started this card with a vellum base. It's so pretty and elegant. If you do a vellum base for your card make sure that you line the inside with some regular cardstock to write you message :) On top of the vellum I used my Simply Scored and did lines diagonally down on the cardstock, which just gives a fun background.

For Dasher, I stamped him in Crumb Cake then used my Soft Suede marker on the small tip end and highlighted some of areas where shadows might be or just to highlight some of his antlers. Once I was done with that, I used my aqua painter and our Dazzling Details and painted on some sparkle! It's very hard to photograph but it just makes it look like sparking snow. I mounted that on more glitter, some of our silver shimmer paper. SO PRETTY!!! To finish him off I used some pearls on his antlers.

I did the greeting the same way that I did Dasher, Crumb Cake ink and a Soft Suede marker. So what do you think. Like it or hate it. I think it's growing on me. I'll be honest though I was NOT thrilled with it while making it and it almost ended up in the trash. I like the big greeting on it too, but as you can see, it's not going to be an easy card to mail, this is one of those hand delivered cards :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!

Gobble Gobble Gobble!

2011-11-24T06:15:00.002-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving!!!! Happy turkey day!!! I hope you are celebrating with family and friends!!!! I had Logan make some pine cone turkeys this year. He used some retired DSP and I think they're cute! a little wonky but CUTE!!!! Remember you don't need to fight the crowds tomorrow on Black Friday, just head over to my website and shop Stampin' Up!'s Online Extravaganza!!! Remember stamps make a great gift-give your wishlist to your family and friends this year!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Simple Snowflake

2011-11-23T06:15:00.002-07:00

Still need some ideas for your Christmas cards this year? Well look no further. I have a simple, sweet, cute and lovely little Christmas card here. Plus they're so easy you could make 100 in no time! Normally I'm not a big fan of these simple cards but I saw a sample like this on Stampin' Connection (a demo only site) and I couldn't help myself, I had to copy it, it was so cute!!! I used the snowflake punch and punched out a snowflake out of the base of my card, Island Indigo. I attached a piece of Pool Party behind that. I used my white gel pen to out line the snowflake in faux stitching. And your card is just about done. I told you easy peasy!

For the greeting I stamped it in Island Indigo, then again in versa mark and embossed it with white embossing powder. The two different inks give it a slight shadow look, that looks so pretty in person! Now that I'm looking at the card I think I may add some Rhinestones to the center of the snowflake, I think that would look so pretty! But that's basically it. Simple Snowflake!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!

Round Two

2011-11-22T06:15:00.001-07:00

Here's round 2 of the swaps from our meeting last week. Enjoy!!!

This one was Liz K's. So cute and sweet!

This is Michelle C's. So cute!!! Wow that's alot of cutting on the little girl too!!!

Here's the last one from Kim Madrid. She did the faux tile technique, so cute!!!

I always love Corrina's cards, they're simple but so pretty!!!

This is Amber's, I love the embossing, the sponging, everything!!!!

Finally this is Liz L's. She did such a good job. I love white stamped on black and I love how she highlighted the flowers from the embossing folder!

Great job ladies!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

The First Round

2011-11-21T06:15:00.001-07:00

Since there's so much going on I decided to split up the swaps from our meeting last week into 2 posts. First TODAY beings Stampin' Up!'s Online Extravaganza!!!! There are amazing deals on My Digital Studio, and so much more!!! Don't forget there are sales just for today only!!!!! Head over to my website to check out the 24 hour specials and the rest of the Online Extravaganza!!! Click the 'shop now' link on the top right hand corner.

Time for our swaps, the theme was Valentine's Day.

This was Kay's swap. I have that set and I'm not sure I've ever used it :) I love the scalloped edge!

This one was Carmelita's. I love this one! It's one of my favorites!!!!

This was Kim Madrid's, she had 2 new recruits so she did 3 swaps total. Great job Kim!!!

This is Nichole's. So cute! And a great use of the heart set!!!

Here's another one of Kim's. I love that little car!!! And the black ribbon, I think I must buy that now :)

I'll have the rest of the swaps tomorrow. Until then, thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Online Extravaganza!

2011-11-18T10:51:00.001-07:00

Just a reminder that Stampin' Up!'s Annual Online Extravaganza will begin on Monday, November 21st! There will be incredible deals for EVERYONE!!! Don't miss the 24 hour sale starting on November 21. There will be special deals that are only available for 24 hours!!!! The extravaganza will run through November 30, but the 24 hour specials will only be available for one day! Head over to my website Monday morning and click 'shop now' in the top right hand corner for all the deals!!!

Half Stampin' Up!

2011-11-18T06:15:00.004-07:00

Last night was our demonstrator meeting, soooo much fun!!!! I can't stand it!!! We had a little 'class brainstorming session' and all that I'll say is my classes next year are going to be AWE-SOME!!!!! But in the interest of time, let's get to today's project! Before we get to it, let me share with you how this project came to be. Logan has been wanted to knit a rug for his play corner for a while. Well you know me, I'm paper crafty not yarn crafty. So it got put off and put off. Well my Mom picked up at the store those kids knitting kit things. You know it's a circle with pegs around the top, you thread the yarn over them and it's basically easy knitting. They were too small for a rug, so we thought we'd make placemats or potholders for Christmas gifts. This interested Logan for about 10 minutes. Well by this time, we'd already started something. So I finished it and followed the instructions and turned it into a hat. Well the only person the hat fit was Megan. The problem was the yarn was in boy colors. So what's a stamper to do? Embellish the hat with girly things of course!!!! Fortunately for me the hat was the same color as the Baja Breeze big buttons in the Holiday Mini catalog so it worked out well :) Here's my little model wearing the hat. She's not a huge fan of hats but she likes cameras so lucky for me she kept the hat on long enough to get a picture :)

For the hat, I used the Baja Breeze button and threaded some Baja Breeze seam binding through it. But it still needed something else so I added another button with some bakers twine. SOOOOO stinkin' cute!!!! I actually love this hat, I think I'm going to make a larger one for me so that Megan and I can have matching hats, how cute would that be!!!!???!

Here's a closer shot of the button embellishment. Now if SU sold yarn you know this would be a 100% SU project but, as of now yarn is not and at least will not be in the next mini catalog :) Which is just as well for me. I'll have highlights from the meeting next week. Our swaps were great and the demos were great as well!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Love You!

2011-11-17T06:15:00.002-07:00

Tonight is my favorite night of the month. Who can guess what tonight is? Anyone, anyone??? Well if you guessed it was our demonstrator meeting you'd be right! Thanks to the free Big Shot promotion we'll have lots of new people at this meeting tonight too, which is always exciting! Tonight's swap theme is Valentine's Day, so here's the card I did. I love it. I think, not certain here, but I think this may be the first time I've used the Postage Stamp Punch? Can you believe it? I love all the layers on this card. And I love the white and Poppy Parade together, it just screams Valentine's Day. I really wanted to add glitter. Glitter and Valentine's Day seem to go together in my head, but I held back and kept it simple.

Everything, is popped up on dimensionals, well everything except the embossed layer. Starting at the top down is the heart, the postage stamp punch, a Poppy Parade layer and a white layer, all adhered on there with dimensionals. Can you tell I love dimensionals?!! I've said it before and I'll say it until it happens, but I wish SU would sell bigger packages of dimensionals or sell them in bulk to demonstrators. Oh I'd be a happy camper then! I'll have highlights from the meeting soon, in the meantime use your dimensionals! You know you want too :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Oh Christmas Tree....

2011-11-16T06:15:00.002-07:00

I got this set waaaaay back during Sale a Bration as one of my free sets, it's Holiday Happiness. I thought it was so cute and it reminded me of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. I thought it would make such cute Christmas cards, but for the life of me I'm stumped with how to use it. I love this card. But there's no room for a greeting without covering up half the tree. But it's still so cute and I love that comes with this sets. The little ornaments are so cute too. For this tree though I just punched a variety of circles to use for the ornaments.

The star punch is retired, I'm sorry, I still don't know why oh why it was retired. I just couldn't part with mine, and if you know me I don't keep anything that's retired, so it was a big deal for me to keep it. I may add a small greeting along the bottom of the card, who knows. It's such a cute card, just needs a sentiment. I love how the edges have the ruffled ribbon just peeking out. I love the look of that. Have I mentioned before how much I love our ruffled ribbon :) Well that's enough babbling from me. I have a whole to do list for today. I better get started :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Embossing Christmas

2011-11-15T06:15:00.004-07:00

I find that I use heat embossing more at Christmas than any other time of year. Do you find that as well? Not sure why, maybe it's the elegance of it all. This is my second favorite card from the Stamp a Stack. It's so pretty! The star is stamped on white in Pool Party, then we embossed on vellum cardstock in gold embossing powder. So pretty!!!! I didn't realize until today by yesterday was my 900th post! Can you believe it??? 900-WOW!!!! Now that I'm more aware of the whole thing I think I'm going to plan something really big for my 1000th. Of course it will be a while before that happens, but I guess that gives me plenty of time to think about it :) In the meantime I'll be starting my Christmas cards today-hopefully. I've procrastinated long enough, time to get crackin'! :) But they're so cute and I'm so excited for them :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

More Stamp a Stack Cards :)

2011-11-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

I have a couple more cards to show you from my Christmas Card Stamp a Stack over the weekend. Tomorrow I'll show you the last card. I have to say that this year I loved all the cards and I heard lots of good feedback from my customers at the class too. If you attended I hope you had a good time, if not I hope you can join me next year! This stocking card was super popular and lots of people said it was their favorite. I'm glad too, because while I love all 4 cards this one was probably my least favorite of the 4 :)

This one was so cute and the first design that I came up with for my class, months ago actually :) I wasn't sure what colors I'd be using but I'm glad I went with traditional red for Christmas. I got lots of great feed back on this card too. It's so simple but with all the layers and embossing it looks like you must have spent hours making it!!!

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!!!

Stamp A Stack Sneak Peak

2011-11-11T06:15:00.002-07:00

Tomorrow is my Christmas Card Stamp a Stack. I've been doing it now for, gee I don't even know how many years! But it's always one of my MOST popular classes and this year is no exception. And this year I think I love the cards so much! This one is my favorite. So tomorrow at the class, my guests will get to make 20 cards in just a couple hours! They'll make 5 each of 4 designs! So much fun!!! And I'm ready a day early and I'm going to set up a day early! I'm even more excited for that! :) But like I said this is my favorite one! I love the pink trees! So cute!!!!!! They're stamped and punched out with the Pennant stamp set and punch. I love that greeting too, it's from the Many Merry Messages set, I've wanted it since it first came out, but it took me until this year to get it!!! Other items took priority on my wishlist. :)

One of my favorite parts of the card is the ruffled DSP along the oval. I just love that, and it couldn't be easier! To do it I put adhesive around the edge of my oval and just started gluing my DSP down, ruffling it as I went around. But it's as easy as that! Simple and so pretty!!! The trees are stamped in Melon Mambo and Regal Rose. The Regal Rose trees are the two on top, stamp one then stamp another without reinking to get the lighter tone. So I couldn't be more excited for my class!! If you're coming, I'm so excited!!! I'll post the other 3 cards next week.

Remember today is the LAST day to get your FREE BIG SHOT or FREE $100 PRODUCT BONUS!!!! Head over to my website and sign up TODAY!!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Short and Sweet...and Quick!

2011-11-10T06:15:00.001-07:00

If you're looking for a quick, simple, pretty card then I have the perfect card for you today. I'm a little behind on my Stamp a Stack prep for this weekend. I think I'm almost done, and I'm actually making better time than I thought I would but there's still alot to do. So this post is going to be short and sweet. I saw this color combo on a card recently and LOVED it!!! I'm going to be using it alot! Cherry Cobbler and Blushing Bride-who knew! Anyway this card is pretty self explanatory and other than my crocked greeting I"m pretty pleased with it. Don't these colors look great together!?!! Ok, I'm off to get back to work!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!

Box Of Ornaments

2011-11-09T06:15:00.003-07:00

In keeping with the cleaning out of my class scraps I found this little box, well the cardstock for it anyway. At a workshop last month we made this box (used different DSP) but I had the paper already cut to run through the Big Shot so I decided to do a box today. In the box is what I really want to show you though. The box is cute, don't get me wrong and I LOVE using pink for Christmas :) I used a strip of DSP for a ruffled edge to the top of the box, and then made a little lolli or rosette to stick on the front. But again, nothing too fancy about the box, it's all about what's inside!!!

Inside this little box is a set of 4 Christmas tree ornaments. SO CUTE!!!! I used the Petal Card Punch for the boxes. I've made these before. Remember this post and this one. I've always wanted to make little ornaments with it though, so with Christmas right around the corner it's the perfect time!!! These make great hostess gifts, neighbor gifts, teacher gifts, etc. I know I'd love to receive a sweet little box of these :)

The boxes are easy to do. You'll need to punch 4 of the petal card punches, adhere the tabs together on each one so that you form a 'chain' of them. Stick the last two together so that you get a box and then close the top and bottom. I used some Hemp Twine on top to attach your tree hook too. The DSP is already so beautiful you don't need to do much to it. So I just added a little ribbon and a cute bow on the front with some Vanilla Grosgrain Ribbon. Quick, easy, cute and fun! What more could you ask for?! :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Pool Party Perfection

2011-11-08T06:15:00.002-07:00

That's how I feel about this card. Pure perfection. I love everything, and I do mean everything about it! There's so much texture and dimension, it's such a pretty card in person. I'm not even sure where to start. Let's start from the top and work down I guess. The whole back layer is embossed with the Perfect Polka Dot embossing folder (have I mentioned how much I LOVE this folder?). There's 3 of the lace border punches layered on top of each other. I love the look that this gives. And finally to top the bottom layer off some ruffled organza ribbon. Soooo pretty!!!

For the top layer. The doily is from the Flirtatious DSP. You get cute sheets of Melon Mambo and Pumpkin Pie doilies, BUT they're white on the other side, so you can leave them white or sponge them ANY color you want! That's what I did here. I used the white side and sponged Pool Party ink all over it. I added an Island Indigo flower, make sure to check out the center of that flower! So many pearls, how could you not love it?! I rock and rolled the greeting and I think that just might be it :) I love this card!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Late, But It's Here!

2011-11-07T10:45:00.001-07:00

Here it is as promised, late but I think this card is worth the wait :) I've been attempting to clear out some of my old class and workshop supplies. You know sometimes you have extras from a class or workshop. So I've been finding lots of card pieces, so I'm hoping this week to either get them put away or make something with them. So here's the first of my 'leftovers'. I actually really love it! The 'thank you' are stamped a little crocked but other than that I love this card! I love the bright Melon Mambo, I think it's always been one of my favorite pinks. I used the Triple Blossom Punch to add the frilly little border on the bottom there. So cute!!!

I used my Very Vintage Jumbo Wheel then stamped and adhered some butterflies on it. I love the look of the vintage wheel. I really need to use my wheels more often. But it just changes the card dramatically, opposed to leaving it white and just sponging the edges. So pretty! This is one of those cards that looks so much better in real life :) But I hope you can still tell how pretty it is.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Trouble I Tell Ya, Just Trouble

2011-11-06T15:14:00.003-07:00

It's a special Sunday Post! Monday's post may be late but I wanted to share this super cute and sweet page with you that took only minutes to create. Remember this post back in September? Well my little trouble maker is at it again! Last week, Megan was 'helping' me unload the dishwasher. Which means I unload it and she tries not to trip me in the process :) Well after it was emptied and I was ready to re-load it (it's a nasty little cycle isn't it!) the phone rang and I went to answer the phone. I was gone no more than 30 seconds when I returned to her sitting on the door to the dishwasher playing with the drawers. It's a good thing she's cute! She was so proud of herself though!!! I just love this page! If you haven't already, make sure you head over to the My Digital Studio website and get your free downloads. Tomorrow is the last day to get them free!! The 'smile' and 'laugh out loud' greetings are part of the free download! The others are awesome too!! Make sure you get them today!!! Big thanks to those of you who came to see me at the craft show at Grace Church on Saturday. It started out bumpy and the weather was horrible but it ended up being a great day and a big success so THANKS!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

It's Back!

2011-11-04T06:15:00.001-06:00

I took a break from using the Gently Falling set, but I'm happy to say that I'm back to using it. It's still one of my favorite sets, I just love it. This card is really growing on me too. I love all the texture there it. Not to mention the sponging. If you want to change the look of any project, sponging is a great way. Sponging with a darker color is a great way to 'tone' down a brighter color. Plus it looks so cool! Almost everything is sponged on this card. All the layers are sponged including the leaves.

I especially love the leaves on this card. After I cut them out I sponged them (I'm going for a record of how many time I can type 'sponged' in one post) :) I love doing this especially to images that have been cut out because if you're anything like me there's usually a few imperfections in your cutting (one of the reasons I love punches so much). But after you sponge around the edges it makes it look cleaner and those edges just blend in with the rest of the card and make it look so much better! So your challenge this weekend, go sponge something! A card, a scrapbook page, the dog whatever you want!!!! :) You too will be impressed with the results.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Keys....

2011-11-03T06:15:00.001-06:00

I love my new key chain, isn't it pretty!!!?! I've been wanting to make a key chain like this for a while. I'm normally not a big key chain person. I don't like alot of clutter on my keys, but this idea has been in my head so long and the longer it was in there the more I loved the idea of it. Then I saw the example on page 167 of the catalog, and thought this was the year I was going to do it for sure! I already had a key chain that had a Stampin' Up! tag on it (one I got years and years ago at convention, maybe my first convention), so I just attached everything to that chain. I used 2 of our Simply Adorned charms and some of our little baubles. So pretty. I have my initial in the small one and some pretty eye candy in the larger one. I love it!!! Dan isn't too thrilled with my extra girly keys now when he drives my car, but I love them!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

So Pretty!!!!

2011-11-02T06:15:00.002-06:00

You know that feeling when you make a card and you're finally done and sit back and look at it and are filled with joy and jubilation, and smile because it's exactly how you envisioned it or better. Well that was my feeling with this card. I went into it making it for a friend and had every intention of mailing it. Well after I finished it there was that brief thought, "No way I'm mailing this card, I LOVE it toooo much" But in the end I did mail it and fortunately she loved the card almost as much as I do :) So it was worth it. Share the joy-send your cards!!! I'm really working on being a sender not a hoarder, can you relate?

I'm not even sure where to begin with this card. I love the sponging. I LOVE the paper, it's official Beau Chateau is my FAVORITE DSP, LOVE IT!!!!!! I love the pearls and half circles on the card. I love the vintage look of it all, I just love it! Almost everything on this card was sponged, now that my sponges are organised, it is sooo easy to sponge everything. I love the depth and dimension that you get with sponging. It really changes the look of a card.

I had to send this card in a padded envelope. There was just so much dimension on this card and it would have been smooshed if I put it in a regular envelope. I wanted to show you a view from the top, there's lots of dimensionals and the banner is raised. If you'd like more info or tips on sponging, I'd love to show you at your workshop! Host a workshop now-12/15 and you could earn an additional $35 in FREE product when your workshop reaches $350! It's a great deal and I would love for you to earn all that free product!!! Contact me today to book your class!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Let's Move Onto Christmas

2011-11-01T06:15:00.001-06:00

Well Halloween is over, I hope you had a great one! Now the holiday season is kicking into full swing. Time to start your Christmas crafts and projects if you haven't already started. I have an easy, fast Christmas card that you could do easily and with kids, if you wanted. This was the second card I made at the shoebox swap, I did 2 cards one for me and one for my new downline Liz who came with me. I love this card. So cute!

I got the inspiration for this card from a recent issue of Papercrafts magazine. I think it's their newest issue. I can't find my issue right now so I'll have to get back to you on that :) My desk is currently covered with craft show stuff and cardstock for my November 12 Christmas card stamp a stack. The magazine is somewhere under all that. I really need to spend some time organizing my stamp room-but who doesn't :) But anyway I feel like I've been chatting on and on about nothing so lets get back to the card. The tree is from the Pennant die. The rest is pretty self explanatory. It's such a simple card but sooo cute!

GREAT NEWS!!!!! You can still get a FREE BIG SHOT or $100 shopping spree! You didn't miss it!!!! Stampin' Up! has extending this AMAZING offer through November 11. So there's still time, but not a lot. Talk to your family, the starter kit makes a WONDERFUL Christmas present!!! Your family will be spending money on you anyway, why not get something you really want!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Shoebox Swaps

2011-10-30T20:19:00.001-06:00

My Monday post is a little early-Sunday night actually :) Before we get to the cards from the shoebox swap last week, I want to invite you all to come out and see me this Saturday at the

16th Annual Holly Days Craft Fair

Saturday November 5, 2011

From 9am to 3pm

Grace Church

At 6901 San Antonio NE

(NW corner of Louisiana & San Antonio)

I would love for you to stop by!!!

Now as promised here are the rest of the swaps from last weeks meetings. I ended up with some really great cards.

This one was Nichole's. I didn't think I liked this background set too much, but after making this card I just might have to get that set!

This was Michelle C's card. I think it's my favorite! I just love this card. The pleated skirt and the tag on the dress. SO CUTE!!!

This one was Carmelita's swap. So pretty!

This one was Mindy's swap. She used My Digital Studio for the tree. Isn't it cool!?!

This one was Michelle G's card. I really didn't care for that circus set when it came out but I think it's starting to grow on me :)

This one is Corrina's, I just love this set, I really need to use it more.

This one was Liz K's card. So so so pretty!!!! And not as complicated as it looks!

Kim S did this one. The star is embossed in gold. So pretty!

This one was Phyliss's. Candy corn feather's cute idea!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Shoebox Swappin'

2011-10-28T06:15:00.003-06:00

Last night was our monthly demo meeting. This month we did a shoebox swap. These are always fun. We start with a potluck dinner then spend the next few hours stamping. Instead of bringing finished cards we stamp them there. It's so much fun, just to be with other demo's and stamp, stamp, stamp!!!! This was my card. I LOVE THIS CARD!!! So pretty!!! There's lots of subtle details on it that really make it pretty. The first is the floral image that's lightly stamped on the DSP on top. It's hard to see it in the picture. I used the flowers from Elements of Style in Pink Pirouette.

The next little subtle accessory on this card is the scallop ribbon. I love this ribbon and I've often just used it for the little scallops on the edge. It's so pretty!! YOU MUST get it!!! :) Then to top it all off there's sponging around the whole card. So sweet and pretty. Of course the button and linen thread just make it super cute!!!! And it's easy to make!! I'll have the rest of the cards from our swap on Monday.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Wrapping Up Regionals

2011-10-27T06:15:00.001-06:00

Today will be my last post regarding SU regionals. Once again I had a great time and I think it was one of the best regionals that I've ever been too (not just because I was part of it). SU went out of their way this time and we got lots of free stuff, and the tips and techniques were all fabulous!!! I can't wait to try them!!!! Here's an MDS page I made to remember the fantastic time I had. The pictures are all me with Amber (my upline), Carrie Cudney from SU, Bonnie Thurber from SU and Donna Griffith from SU. Carrie, Bonnie and Donna were all sooooo nice. Hopefully I'll get to see them again at Leadership in January.

Finally after presenting, Bonnie gave me this card. Oh my goodness it's so pretty!!!!! Inside was a thank you note from SU and Carrie. Plus it said I get to pick a free stamp set for presenting! WOW!!! More free stuff! Have I mentioned that I love being a SU demonstrator??? YOU can join in all the fun too, and get a free Big Shot or $100 product bonus, JUST FOR JOINING!!!! It's that simple! You still have a couple days. Contact me or sign up today!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Cards: Round Two

2011-10-26T06:15:00.006-06:00

Did you enjoy 'round one' of the cards? I hope so and the feedback has been great. I've received lots of emails and comments. Thanks!!! Here's round two! The bird is my favorite of all of them. He's just so cute and you could make him in a million different colors to make any kind of bird in the world! Remember to check out yesterday's post and Monday's post for more info on the cards and the box for the cards.

So the bird is my favorite and he's super easy. For his head I used the 1 3/8 circle punch. His Neck is the word window. His fluffy feathers on top of his head is the largest flower from the boho blossom punch. His eye is the small oval. For his beak I used the 5 petal flower punch, punch one petal then punch your 1 inch circle punch over it so that you have an 'opened' beak. Too cute!

The elephant is another one of my favorites. He's so cute!!! Make sure you sponge around the trunk in a darker color. It makes the trunk more noticeable, otherwise the colors just blend together. Isn't the little girl elephant so cute. She looks so happy!

The elephant is super duper easy, it's going to blow you mind! His ears are the butterfly punch-I know-so simple! His head is the 1 3/8 circle punch. The neck is the word window. The trunk is extra large oval punch. To get the trunk shape, punch the oval punch once, get rid of that piece or save it for another project. Then punch again around the oval you just punched, making sure to tilt your punch so that it's larger on one end and gets skinner on the other end. You may have to play with it a couple times to make sure your trunk looks right. I can't tell you how many trunks I punched preparing for regionals :)

The monkey is next. The whole time I was creating the monkey, I just kept thinking about my fellow stamper Carmelita. She loves monkeys and I think her daughters bedroom has monkeys in it. So I hope she liked my monkey!

He looks complicated but he's not, none of these are :) For his ears I used the 1/2 inch circle and the small circle from the itty bitty punch pack. For his neck, say it with me, the word window punch. You'll never use a word window punch again without thinking about animal necks :) His head is the 1 3/8 inch circle punch in both colors, just offset them a little and make the bottoms flat. His nose is the small oval punch.

Now for our final animal. We've done 8 and it's the perfect amount to stick in the box from Monday. The last one is the giraffe. This one really is my favorite, favorite, favorite one! I love this little giraffe, he's so stinkin' cute!!!!!!

For the giraffe, you'll need to trim a few of the pieces, you can see how and which ones in the picture. His nose is the small oval. The spots are the 1/2 inch circle. His head is the 1 1/4 inch circle punch. For his horns I used the modern label punch. Just the little ends of it. His ears and neck are also with the modern label punch. The word window was too skinny for the giraffe's neck but the modern label is perfect!!

So that's my animals, that's what I presented. I hope you enjoyed them either here on my blog or at regionals. I was able to go into more detail here so I hope that if you were at regionals you got a chance to check them out here too. But my highlights from regionals isn't over yet. I still have a couple more things to show you tomorrow.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Cards: Round One

2011-10-25T06:15:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I showed you the box that the cards went in and today and tomorrow I'll be showing you the cards that go in that box. So first up is the zebra. I love all the animals. But I do have my favorites and the zebra is one of them. In all the pictures you'll see both the girl and the boy card then I showed how to do them all. All the bows on the girl cars were made with the white bakers twine that I dyed with Regal Rose Ink Refil and some water. I put googlie eyes on all of them. I love googlie eyes for little animals like this, it adds to their character!

Here's how I did the zebra. You'll be surprised how easy all of these animals are. For his head and nose, I used the large oval punch, cut the top off. His hair is the modern label punch, just part of it, you don't need all of it. His ears and neck are also the modern label punch, trimmed-see picture. The stripes are word window punch also trimmed. Super duper easy. All of the necks and bodies got trimmed after attaching them to the Crumb Cake 1 3/4 inch circle.

Up next is the lion. This one was one of the first ones I created and he was so simple to make! Make sure you sponge around the edges of the scallop circles. By sponging it you'll really make those scallops 'pop' and give it more dimension.

The lions head is the 1 1/4 inch circle punch. Ears and nose are the 1/2 inch circle punch. For his nose, after I punched it I stuck it to the sticky part of a post it note then put it back through the 1/2 inch circle punch to get the oval shape. You can trim it by hand too. His mane is 3 scallop circles.

The turtle is next. I think the turtle was the most challenging animal. His head didn't look right being round or oval so I had to kind of create my own shape for his head. I also ran his shell through the big shot with the square lattice embossing folder to give it some texture.

For his spots on his shell I used the 1/2 inch circle punch. For his shell I used the 1 3/4 inch circle punch. For his neck I used the word window. I trimmed mine a little just so that it got thinner closer to his head, but that step isn't necessary. For his head, I used the 1 3/8 inch circle punch then I put it back in through the large oval punch to round out his chin. Then I curved the corners so they weren't so pointy.

And finally for today, the cheetah. He's so cute! I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before but I got the inspiration for all of the animals from a baby quilt from a baby store. I saw it and used my cell phone camera to take pictures off all the animals. So look everywhere for inspiration. You never know when it will strike!

The picture makes the Daffodil Delight look green, but it's really yellow :) For his head I used the 1 3/8 inch circle punch. Ears 1/2 inch circle punch. His nose is the small oval and the 1/2 inch circle punch. His body is the large oval punch. His spots are the large oval punch as well but I just used the tips of them. I didn't want to use circles for his spots, so I thought the tips of the ovals would work great! So that's it for round one. Check back tomorrow for the rest of the animals :)

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!!

Regionals in Albuquerque!!

2011-10-24T06:15:00.004-06:00

Stampin' Up! held their Regional Seminar in Albuquerque on Saturday. I was honored to be a presenter! I had the BEST time. I did go last which was a little nerve wracking but once I got up on stage and I saw all my friends out there, I was fine and I think, or at least I hope that everyone enjoyed my little punched friends :) There will be more pictures later this week highlighting regionals. But for the next few days I'll show what I presented. This picture has the camera guy, Ryan, I think that was his name. To be honest when we were introduced to him I was quite nervous and missed his name, but I think it was Ryan. He was so nice!!! If someone knows his name and Ryan is not it, will you please correct me :)

My stuff was displayed on the boards after I demoed it, so here's a sneak peak to what you can expect the next few days on my blog :) Today though I thought we'd start with the box. I only talked briefly about the box, so I wanted to start with that in case anyone out there wants to make it.

The box to store the cards in looks much harder than it actually is. I promise! You will need 2 pieces of paper, we'll get to that in a minute. You can embellish your box any way you want. This one I made to match my cards. Of course you can adapt this box to fill with Christmas cards or thank you cards. Whatever you want, it makes a wonderful hostess gift, or just a gift in general!

First you'll need 1 sheet of paper that's 9 1/2 x 7. This one you'll score on the 7 inch side at 4 1/2 and 6 1/2. On the 9 1/2 inch side you'll score at 2 and 7 3/4. You will need to do a bunch of trimming once you get it scored, the picture shows where you need to trim. I cut all my tabs at angles. It really makes a difference when you assembling your box. You're second piece of cardstock is 10 1/2 x 7. Score on the 7 inch side at 4 1/2 and 6 1/2, and the 10 1/2 inch side at 1, 3 and 8 3/4. You'll attach sticky strip to the 1/2 tab on each piece, then it just gets assembled together. Pretty simple after that. Cute huh!! Want to see a different box made from the same pattern? Well who wouldn't?!

This box I made for my downline who's expecting a baby. In the box I made a set of the cards that I demoed but in a girl theme, and not so much browns and greens. I tied the bow across the top, just to add a little more frill to it. I love the embossed polka dots!!!!

This one instead of a belly band, I used Velcro, which I think I actually prefer. I just love this little box. This box will hold 8 cards and envelopes easily. If your cards have lots of embellishments or are 'thicker' than the normal card, it might hold less. Have fun making these. I'll be back tomorrow with round 1 of my cards :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Such Sweet Gifts!

2011-10-21T06:15:00.004-06:00

Tomorrow is the Stampin' Up! Regional Conference. I'm so stinkin' excited and also a little nervous. I'll be presenting some punch art at the conference. While I'm super excited, you can understand why I'd be a little nervous. But I've been practicing and I hope it all goes well. But if you see me tomorrow at the conference make sure to stop by and say HI to me! I'd love to meet you! Just let me know that you follow my blog and I'll have a special gift for you! If you are attending don't worry too much about taking notes during my presentation on stage, next week I'll have lots of posts detailing everything I show, and a couple of things I won't show :)

If you won't be at the conference, I hope you'll still check out my blog next week for highlights of Saturday. This has been such a huge month with my small paragraph in Stampin' Success and now presenting tomorrow. I am so honored to be asked and I hope I do a great job. If I haven't said it before I LOVE being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. I truly feel that SU treats it's demonstrators like family and I've made some of the best friends through Stampin' Up! I would LOVE to have you join Stampin' Up! to experience all that SU has to offer. Remember if you sign up this month you can get a FREE Big Shot or FREE $100 bonus! I can't stress enough what a fantastic deal this is!!! If you don't already have a demonstrator and you're interested in joining please contact me, I'd love to share SU with you!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

I'm a Domestic Goddess!

2011-10-20T06:15:00.004-06:00

Well, not in this lifetime anyway :) I am not a domestic goddess, there's too much stamping to do, no time to clean or cook (that and I'm not great at either chore)! But I do LOVE the Domestic Goddess DSP. I think it's slowly becoming my favorite! Especially after this card. I love it, and it's so simple and there's really noting for me to explain to you. I've seen this layout done on dozens of cards all over the blog land and I just love it! So here's my take on it. It's so easy to do too. The circle at the bottom are just half of the 1 1/4 inch circle punch that was glued on under the coordinating DSP. The ribbon hides that seam so that you'd never know :) I made a stack of these yesterday for those that were so generous for Megan's birthday.

So that's it, short and sweet today!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Birthday Owls

2011-10-19T06:15:00.000-06:00

You may have saw on my blog that yesterday was Megan's 1st birthday. We began the day with her 1 year well check and 6 shots-OUCH! Plus a flu shot for Dan and myself. I do want to mention that I didn't purposefully schedule her well check up ON her birthday. I had it scheduled for this Friday but the office called and said the Dr would be gone and it had to be rescheduled, well this was the only day that worked. So I did try not to have all those shots given to her on her actual birthday. We did finish the day with some cake so it all works out, right? But anyway this is the card I made for Megan for her birthday. So cute!

I saw this card, weeks ago, on Darlene's blog and I thought it was too cute not to make! Mine not as complex as hers. My tree is lacking the leaves and my eyes are just googlie eyes instead of the eyes that come with the punch. But it's still cute! I really *NEED* that wood grain background stamp too. I used my color spritzer to add some depth to my tree but that wood grain stamp would have been perfect!! Make sure you check out Darlene's blog, her card is just amazing!

I do still love this card, it's still so cute! When I make window cards like this I like to add a smaller 'card' in the card. This way if you have a long message to write it doesn't show through the front. This is also a good tip when you have multiple people signing a card, like at an office or school. It just gives more room to write.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!