Friday, December 30, 2011

Lean on me...Mojo Monday challenge

In 8 days I will be having my technique night!  That means that I am working really hard now to find a "wow" technique and make a card using that technique.  Today I started looking around my craft room for ideas, and decided that I would use my new "Lean on me," stamp set and my new circle die.  I fell into a bit of a stump and thought I would look at some challenge blogs.   I decided that the challenge at  Mojo Monday would do very nicely.  I quickly set to work and this is what I came up with.
 Now, when I say I quickly went to work, I mean that, however, this card did not "quickly" come together.  I spent several hours trying to come up with the right combo of paper, stamp set, ink, colors, brads, ribbons.  It was a very hard card for me to do.  I have never done a scallop circle card, and really struggled with this one. 

As I was putting it together, I decided that I would just do the card and let it be what ever it became.  It ended up being a perfect card, but not for what I had initially set out to do.  I now still have to figure out a technique and a card to do for my Friday class, but as this card was coming together, I was thinking about my mom and my aunt who very suddenly passed away just days before Christmas.  (my aunt, not my mom).  I am very sad at our loss, but also worry about my mom, my aunt Janet was my moms younger sister, and one of her best friends.  She was always looking after my aunt, never letting go of the big sister role.   As I was trying to figure out which of my new stamp sets to use, I felt drawn to this "lean on me" stamp set, and as I  let everything come together, a beautiful card just emerged.  I will be sending this card to my mom tomorrow.  This stamp set reminds me of a picture I saw of my mom and my aunt when they were both very young.  I think it will be a perfect card to send to my mom just to let her know she's very loved.  Here's a closer picture of it.
I used the scallop circle die 113468 (IBC), the lean on me stamp set 122285 (C) and the 1 3/4 scallop circle punch (119854). (All in the IBC, Idea Book and Catalog.)  Then as a sneak peak for any of you who are not Stampin Up! demonstrators, I used several goodies from the sale-a-brations catalog.  I LOVE all of the FREE goodies Stampin Up! is offering this year during sale-a-brations.  If you don't know what that is please contact me, I would love to let you in on all the amazing details and goodies, and if you do, now is the time to sign up.  I've still got some open dates for workshops! 

As always thanks for stopping by!  I really love all of the kind words and support!  Thanks all!!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Christmas Journal

This month has been crazy busy!  I wish I had thought to take pictures of everything I made, but as usual I was running behind on everything and barely got the last of the gifts handed out on Christmas Eve.   So here's the pictures I did take.
These are the poinsettias that I made for the cover of the Christmas journals.  For these I used all 3 of my different sized oval punches, (the large, small and scalloped).  I used real red cardstock punched out the different sizes, and then used some scissors to add shape to the petals, (except the scalloped edged ones).  I then painted them with the cherry cobbler dazzling details, and let them dry.  Then I glued them to a circle, added the brad in the center and whalla.  It looked awesome!  You can't see it in the picture, but they are sparkly and very pretty.




I used the new Cherry Cobbler dazzling details.  (coming out January 4) to add some sparkle, and the Antique brads from the main catalog.  (117273)  They are on pg. 198 and are $5.95 for 4 each of 5 designs.  Gorgeous brads!

 On the inside front cover the poem said, "The tree comes down, Christmas is past, Use this book, To make Memories last, Record special moments, maybe a picture or two, unpack it each year, and remember a new.
I found this idea on accident while looking for something else, but loved it and had to do it for some Christmas gifts.  You can find the tutorial and all the details here.  In her search bar type in Christmas journal and it should take you right to it. 

I'm sorry for the delay in getting this posted.  I thought I had set it to automatically post, but it didnt' work.  So this might be one of those amazing ideas you tweak for another occasion such as a baby's arrival, or a wedding, or just save it for Christmas to roll around again.  Either way, I thought it was too good not to share.   Thanks as always for stopping by!


Okay, here's the direct link to the instuctions for this project.  Sorry, I thought the above one would be easy to find, but it turns out you'd have to hunt for it.  Any other questions, please let me know and I'll get to them as soon as possible. 

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Packed for Dad

I have ordered a TON of stuff this month from Stampin' Up!  TONS!  So I decided that I have to try to make something using everything I have just gotten.  (not all at once though.)  I surfed the Internet today looking for blogs with challenges on them to help me get going.   I found a ton of them, but decided I would try the one at Pals Paper Art, you can find them by clicking this link.   http://www.palspaperarts.com/.  
I really struggle with masculine cards, so to really challenge myself I decided that I would use the sketch challenge and come up with a masculine card.

 Here's what I've used.  The "Packed for Dad stamp set. 125452 (It will be coming out in the new mini January 4.) 
Chocolate Chip paper 102128
 Island Indigo 122923
 More Mustard 100946
I used my brand new water color pencils 101879
the 1 3/4 circle punch, 119850
and the 1-3/4scallop circle punch. 119854

I of course had to use my big shot (113439) and add a little somethin to the Island indigo strip, so I used my square lattice embossing folder(119976).  I also used staz-on ink (101406), and the Island Indigo ink (122937). 

Oh, and almost forgot, I also used the  "Sprinkled Expressions"(125130) stamp set.  (It's also a sneak peak, this one from the Sale-A-Bration's catalog.)  In case you don't know what Sale-A-Brations is, with every $50 you spend, you get to pick something for FREE out of the sale-a-brations catalog.  (Going on January 24th-March 31st).  Great time to book your own show!  On top of all the great hostess perks, you get even more FREE goodies! (If your interested in booking a workshop, just scroll to the top of my blog, click on the "order stampin' up" button located on the right hand side and it will take you to my demo website where you can contact me, and get more info.

Stampin' Up! demonstrator site and online store

You've got to check out the Clearance Rack from Stampin' Up!  It's amazing.  Right now they have punches that are up to 80% off.  Remember, it's only while supplies last!   

Stampin' Up! demonstrator site and online store

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Stampin' Up! demonstrator site and online store

I am very excited to say that I now have my own web site where you can order right on line, see what events are coming up, and get ideas!  Stop on by and take a look!  Stampin' Up! demonstrator site and online store

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Chapstick holder

I am so stinkin excited!  I have been racking my brain on Christmas gifts, and what to make for weeks now.  I had a few ideas in mind, but wasn't sure how to go about making them.  So I decided to just type in to google one of my ideas.  "Chap stick holder."  There are a ton of ideas and tutorials out there, but  when I came across "Create! with Dee"s tutorial I knew this was the perfect one.  She was so simple to understand, and it was visual for me, and so much better than what I had in my mind.

Here's my version of her "Chap stick holder".
I used the new Cherry Cobbler scalloped ribbon, (124138), the Northern Hearts stamp set,(retired), and the Snow Swirled stamp set, (111690).  Dazzling diamonds (102023), the 3/4" circle punch, (119873), the NEW Simply Scored Scoring Tool, (122334), and retired DSP. 

I have to say that I LOVE our new scoring board.  I have the Martha Stewart one and there's no comparison.  The simply scored is so much smoother to use.  The stylus isn't moving from the grooves, and my lines are perfectly straight.  It's the best tool (other than the my Big Shot) that I have bought from Stampin Up!  If you'd like to order any of these products, leave me a message and I'll get right back to you! 

Thanks as always for stopping by!  I always love comments, and any feed back is always appreciated!  Oh, and before I forget, if your interested in the tutorial I used, you can find it here.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

As promised...

In my last post I mentioned that I would show the prizes that I had for my Advent Calendar event.  First let me say that it was a ton of work to put it all together, but it was so great to see the finished product in the gals hands.  They were so proud of what they had done, and they really did turn out amazing!  I was very excited about the entire thing.

Now, for my prizes.  I made some tile magnets using the retired "Define your life" stamp set.  I love that stamp set!  It was actually the one I picked for free when I signed up as a demonstrator.  So I'm glad that I could still use it.  I did bake my tiles for 30 minutes after stamping them up with Staz-on. (I read somewhere that sets the ink.)  Then the very next day I read that your not suppose to bake staz-on because of a harmful fume.  I'm not sure which is right,  so if you ladies know, let me know which is correct.  Thankfully no one was harmed.  (LOL). 



The next prize I did was a beautiful ribbon book mark.  I found that on Dawns website.  I LOVE HER!!!  She shows you how to make it, super simple!  You can find that here.
Next, I just made random Christmas tags.  I used all of my Christmas punches, the stocking punch, the ornament punch, and whatever else I found.  Here they are.

Super, super, simple little prizes.  I think everyone was excited with what they picked.  I wrapped them all up in little goodie baggies.

Super simple and fun!  If you haven't already seen my advent calendar, here's what that looked like too.

Cased it right out of the Mini catalog.  It was very time consuming the first time.  Having to write all the directions, measurements, colors, shapes.  Wow!  Anyhow, I love how it turned out, and I think the ladies all loved it too.  They really are cute! 

Well as always, thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Dryer sheet technique

So every month I have a technique class.  That means that I spend a ton of time looking around for a unique techique that I hope they haven't heard about.  Last night, I showed them the dryer sheet technique.  I think it went over pretty well, EXCEPT, the one time I had procrastinated all night to set up everyone showed up early.  Somehow FB put my event for 6:00 on some pages, and 7:00 on my page.  So other than not having everything out and ready for everyone to stamp, I think the technique went well, but I have learned a valuable lesson.  I won't procrastanate even if I think I have plenty of time.  (thankfully my club gals were really sweet about it.)

Anyway, here's the card that we did last night using a dryer sheet.
I used Old Olive cardstock, ribbon and ink.  White CS, versa mark, and silver embossing powder.  The stamp set is Snow Swirled.    First on the Old olive CS I stamped snowflakes using old olive ink.  Then you tie your ribbon around the card.  Next, using versa mark stamp your greeting, add silver embossing powder over it and emboss.  Then taking your white CS you stamp your image in Old Olive ink, get a glue stick and cover the entire piece of white cs with glue.  Next put your dryer sheet on top of it, smooth it out and either cut it down to fit, or as I did cut it down but leave enough to fold your sides down in back.  I think it gives it a more finished look if it's folded behind, but it looks nice cutting it down too.  Next, sprinkle on alot of dazzling diamons,  (I coverd my enitre white CS) and then shake it off.  The dazzling diamonds will stick to the glue and dryer sheet, and gives a very pretty sparkly effect.  I kinda thought it looked like snow.  (The really pretty one when it first snows, and you wake up to it when the sun is just shining, and nobody has walked on it.)  It made a beautiful christmas card. 

I would love to see what you come up with, send me your blogs, and I"ll add a link so others can see what else you can do with dryer sheets.  Thanks as always for stopping by!  Stay tuned for my post on the prizes I gave out for my Advent Calendar Event.  I think they all turned out super cute.

I also entered this card into a blog hop.  Take a look at all of these beautiful cards!  .

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Finally...my new craft room!!

It has been some time since I have updated my blog.  I've been busily working on projects, and cards, and of course trying to organize my new craft room.  It's taken a LONG time to get my new space organized and things put where I wanted and of course clearing out my old craft space.  WOW!!  That's all I can say.  I can't believe how much stuff one can accumulate in such a short amount of time.  I'd like to say I am completely finished, but I'm certain that I will find something else I need to re-arrange, or a must have that I'll have to move things around for.  I wanted to wait and take pictures of my space when it was entirely clean and organized, but I've realized that will never, ever happen.  So, here's my new space.

 Finally, I'm upstairs!  I love the sunlight, and having a huge window to look out from.








 That door opens up to the bathroom.


 The cute little girl is my youngest, and she just had to be in these pictures!


Here's my great work/craft table.  I can now hold my classes in my craft room.  LOVE IT!!







I LOVE touring other people's craft rooms, but for some reason, when I try to upload a video, it won't work.  So I hope these pictures make sense.  Next, I am having an advent calendar class.  That will be on December 1 at 9:30 am.  Lunch will be served and we'll have some drawings!  Then  December 2 is my technique night.  Stay tuned for pictures of that technique.  It's a new one (to me) that I thought was awesome!  I would of never thought to use my "garbage", but for this technique, that's exactly what we'll do.  Come and find out more.  That's on Friday at 7 pm my house.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and leave me a comment.  They always make my day!  :)

Thursday, November 17, 2011

I love it when things just kinda fall into place.  Yesterday I went to the DI (a second hand store here in Utah) just cause I needed to get out of the house and didn't have a ton of money to spend, and I love looking for stuff.  So anyhow, yesterday while I was there, I found a card kit from Stampin Up! that someone had sent there, (what were they thinking??!!) and had to buy it.  I came home and got to work on a Christmas card.  Here's what I came up with.


Very simple, but I wanted to stick with what I got in the kit.  I just had to provide the ink, the stamps, and of course the glitter.  I think they turned out pretty good, and for quiet a steal!   WOOHOO me! 

Thanks for stopping by, and I'd love to know what you think.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Hand Penned Holidays, Christmas

I am so excited with all of the great Christmas cards that are coming together in my little craft room!  I was recently looking around for some ideas for my stamp set, "Hand-Penned Holidays" and came across this gorgeous card!  I decided that would be one of my Christmas cards, so here's my case of her card.

I LOVE this glitter paper!  It makes the best Christmas cards!  I can't wait for Valentines too.  I think this paper will be perfect for that holiday too.  Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Bleach technique

For my monthly technique night this month we did a card using the bleach technique.  I got a few paper towels and poured just enough bleach on them to make them wet, but not soaking and then used the paper towels as an ink pad.  I used the stamp set Season of Joy and Real Red cardstock, and Always Artichoke.  Along with the awesome white gel pen, and then added some bling in the center of the flower.  I really liked how this card turned out and what a simple technique.  One word of advise though, don't push too hard on your paper with the stamp and don't soak up too much bleach.  ALSO, be sure to clean your stamp right away with soapy water and add versa-mark to condition it.  Don't take the versa mark off after you add it.  (Just a side note I read somewhere.  Not sure where.  It's one of those things that stick in your head though.)



Anyway, I'd love to know what you think!  I always like to read the comments.  Thanks for stopping by!  (sorry the picture quality is not the best.)

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Stiched Stockings

I feel like I've totally been neglecting my blog, but I've been so busy with organizing my new craft room, and doing cards, cards and more cards, I can't figure out why I haven't been posting.  Other than life is just crazy busy right now.  Thankfully Halloween is over and done with, and it's time to move to Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It's already snowing here.  It really feels like time is just flying by now!

Okay, so here's the card that I did for one of my card swap groups.  I love this stamp set and matching punch.  It makes it so easy to do cards, and of course, can't live without the glitter paper.

Now I have to take a minute out and do some mommy bragging.  I am so proud of my 7 year old and my 10 year old.  They both placed 1st in Reflections this year and are moving up to the next level.  No matter what happens now, I'm so proud of my kids!

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Busy, Busy, Busy~

I can't believe how fast time goes by!  I have been so busy the last 2 weeks.  I now have a new craft room, and a bigger bedroom, but both are going to take some work to be functional.  I will post pictures though as soon as I have things organized.  AND, I have been busy making cards and other things to sell in a friends store, and on top of all of that, I burned my ring finger on my right hand (I'm right handed) with the glue from a hot glue gun so badly that it blistered and made it impossible to use my hand for several hours.  PAIN!!  So, now for all of this work, I'll post some pictures of a couple of my projects.  I'd like to say in advance, I don't have names from where I got all of my ideas, I'll just say thanks now for the internet.  With the exception of the picture holder, I got that idea from someone at convention, not sure who though, no name, and the tile magnets, I had them and wondered if magnets on the back would make cute fridge magnets, and they did! 





OOOOOUUUUUUCCCCCHHHHHHHH!!!!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Witches Boots

I have been working on these witches boots for a couple of weeks.  I bought them from the Wood Connection and of course had to sand them, paint them, and attach the DSP, (pick your poison, $10.95).  I love how the paper looks on these boots.  It has it's own natural shadowing.  I also tried the paper rosettes for the first time, and their not as easy as they look.  (I'm probably doing something wrong.)  Anyhow, finally something ready for Halloween.  I can't say the same for the kids.  No idea what anyone is going to be for Halloween, but my boots are finished!


Saturday, October 8, 2011

Pumpkin Poop

I was playing around on google looking for ideas for Halloween and I stumbled across this pumpkin poop poem, so I had to make goody bags using it.  They turned out so cute I am making 44 of them for teacher appreciation gifts.  (I'm in charge of monthly teacher gifts, so if anyone has any other cute, easy ideas I'd love to hear about them).  Here's the poem,

I started to carve a pumpkin with my carving knife and scoop
But the pumpkin got so scared, he took a little poop!
It looked so cute and funny, just like a candy treat
So I'm sharing it with you now, because you are so sweet!




Super cute poem ha?  I don't have any idea who wrote it, but like I said I found it google-ing away.  As always thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Christmas Calendar

I have FINALLY finished my "advent" calendar.  Inspired from the mini catalog, (p.36).  It just took me tons and tons of hours, and 3 days of working on it.  I did go through and write all of the instructions as I went so that I can offer these at my technique class on Friday.  I found the frame at Michael's in packs of 3.  They are 12 1/2 x12 1/2, so just a touch bigger than I needed, but I think it worked out well.  I now have 7 spots available for this class that will be offered sometime in November. 
I do have red ribbon to attach to the #6, but I can't find it right this minute, bu that will be my finishing touch.  I'd love to know what you gals think!  As always, thanks for stopping by and making my day!!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

"Warmest of Wishes"

I have been crazy busy this week!  On Saturday we're going to have a much needed yard sale, and I mentioned to a friend that I am going to be getting rid of some of my old stamps, and whatever other little goodies I just don't have room for, and she suggested that I also sell some cards.  I didn't think much of it until the last couple of days and I thought, well, what the heck, what can it hurt to see if anyone wants to buy anything I have made.  So...long story short.  I have decided that I would also make a few extra goodies to sell and see what happens. 

Here is one of the goodies I am working on.  I have seen these several places, and all of the tutorials I have seen were really good, but I had to say that my favorite came from The stamp doc.  I googled ideas and found her on You tube, and of course had to follow her to her blog.  Amazing!!

Now for the inside...
I included a really cute poem that I found while looking around titled, "All I Need to Know About Life I learned From Shopping."  I don't know who the author is, but I loved it, and thought it would go well on the inside cover.  My favorite line on the poem, "There's no such thing as compulsive shopping, just enthusiastic shopping."

I'd love to know what you think, and if you have any ideas how much to sell them for, I'd sure like some ideas.  Thanks ladies!!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Tonight I am going out for a much needed girls night out!  Woohoo!!  We are going out to celebrate a friends b'day, so I wanted to do something special for her, but I just couldn't think what to do.  Then the other day I was at her house, and her dad (who was visiting) gave her a card he had picked up for her to give to someone else.  I then had the thought that blank cards are probably a great gift to give.  Now, how to package such cards.  Hm...

So, I went through my favorites bar (I have tons and tons stored on my computer, so it took some time), and I came across one I had saved.  It was perfect!  Here's the picture.

Super cute ha?!  I loved the idea the second I saw it and I knew it would work wonderfully to hold cards.  Now, where did I find this lovely box to case?  I'll share all of those details at the end of this post. 

Now, for the cards that are on the inside...

First I needed a couple of b'day cards, (cased, I'll share that at the end too), and envelopes.  (My upline told me that you never, ever give a naked envelope, so I added a simple image.)
Next, a just because card.  Who doesn't need a simple, just thinking of you card? 
Aother simple just cause card.

I have a Halloween card in there too, but for some reason it won't load, but I'm sure it's posted somewhere on here.  Anyway, I think this gift turned out better that I had hoped it would.  Now to put some finishing touches on it, (like a designer pen), and it's ready to go. 

Now for the links.  The box template and tutorial you can find here.  (Sarah's inkspot.com)
The beautiful butterfly card I saw here.  (Your fellow stamper).

Thanks ladies as always for stopping by!  I love reading your comments, thanks!!!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

"Ain't it good to know, You've got a friend"

I am so excited about this card. A couple of posts back I asked what challenges you ladies liked to do and I got several really good places to go. One of the blogs I was referred to is http://alacardmonkey.blogspot.com/ . I found the challenge for this card there, and here's what I came up with.



I wish that the detail of this card would show in the picture.  I'm so loving this card, but the picture is just NOT doing it justice.  I used Calypso, Baja Breeze, and Daffodil delight.  I tryed a few techniques in this card, the kissing technique for the smaller flowers in the corners, I added dazzling diamonds on the sides of the circle flowers, and the "just for you", and the inside of my big flowers.  I put bling on the 5 petals of each card, and then stepped back and looked at it for awhile.  I popped the big flowers out with stampin dimmensionals,  added the ribbon and whalla, it was done.  I really do love this card, I just need to figure out how to take a picture that shows all the bling!  Thanks ladies for stopping by and for the great blogs you all recommended.  I am excited about this card as it's my very FIRST card made just for a challenge.  As always, I'd love to know what you think, and stop by http://alacardmonkey.blogspot.com and join the challenge!  I'd love to see what you all come up with.

Friday, September 16, 2011

This is the first sympathy card I have done for a dear friend and her family who tragically lost their mother in a car accident. You can't really make out the details in this card, but, what I did was used an embossing folder and embossed both the white card stock and the translucent sheet and then added shimmer spray to give it some sparkle and then attached it with chocolate chip ribbon onto chocolate chip paper. Very simple, but I wanted something to give them to show my love and saddness for their loss. It's a very simple sympathy card.


Here's the inside of the card,