Cutie Pie Mouse & Elephant

It is hard to believe that this is the last day of 2007! WOW, did this year fly by, or what!? My Grandma always told me, "the older you get the quicker time passes." Lately I really know what she meant by that. 2007 was a good year...we saw our oldest son graduate from high school, our youngest son start his first job and my cousin gave birth to her first child. We had beautiful weather over the summer and the warmest, most pleasant Autumn I can remember. The beginning of the new year brings the one year anniversary of my blog, which I started on New Years Day 2007. It also brings us the brand new Stampin' Up! Spring & Summer Collection! You know what that means? Lots of great new stamp sets and accessories to start the New Year!

One of the new sets that will be included in the new catalog is this set called Happy Heart Day. The sweetest little mouse and elephant images are included in this set! Plus some other smaller images that are perfect for creating backgrounds like I did on these two cards. I received this set as part of my new catalog pre-order which arrived here on Christmas Eve. I've been so busy with the holidays that I just got to play with it yesterday.

I used one of the striped papers from the Cutie Pie collection for both of these cards. On the mouse card I also paper pieced the heart by stamping it a second time on a scrap of Rose Red Designer Prints paper and cutting it out and adhering it over the main image.

It doesn't really show up in my photos, but I also used some Crystal Effects painted right over the top of the flower center on the mouse card and on the hearts on the elephant card. This added some shine and a bit of dimension.

This set is part of the SU! Valentine's Day Bundle which includes:

• Happy Heart Day Stamp Set ($20.95)
• Real Red 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon ($7.95)
• Regal Rose 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon ($7.95)
• Medium Cellophane Bags ($4.50)

If purchased separately this kit would cost $41.35, but during the month of January it can be yours for only $33.40. Just think of the cute Valentine treats you can make with this!

If you plan to go out tonight to celebrate New Year Eve...have a GREAT time, and a safe trip back home!

A Wonderful Christmas!

There's so much prep that goes into getting ready for Christmas and it seems to be over in the blink of an eye! We had a wonderful time the last few days visiting with our families. I hope you all did as well! I really enjoyed using my new camera that I got last month...I took A TON of photos...and most of them turned out really well. I haven't had any printed tho...that will be the final test. Then I'll need to get busy and scrapbook the best shots!

I received some beautiful Christmas cards this year. Of course my favorite ones are the ones that were hand made! I thought I would share some of those with you today. This first one was created by my upline. I love the colors and the way she combined these sets.

Isn't this card using Crab & Company the cutest? My friend Rachel made this. I love all the little extras she used like the fun flock on the hat, the googlie eyes and the brads.

This is an elegant card created by Kim. She is one of my newest stampers and a member of my club. She did a beautiful job on this and wrote me the nicest message inside...it really made my day when I received this card.

This last card created by Cheri uses one of my all time favorite sets...Snowflakes. She added a rhinestone to the center of the largest snowflake for some sparkle and sponged with white for some extra detail. Love the way this turned out!
Thanks so much to these talented women for sending me these cards...I hope you all enjoy seeing them as much as I did! Today I am just going to relax and maybe even mount some new stamps that showed up here on Christmas Eve. That means I'll have something new to share here that isn't Christmas related! That will be a nice change. ;-) Enjoy your day!

Merry Christmas!

Just a quick post to wish everyone a very merry Christmas! I'm hoping I'll be able to make some more of these ornaments today. This is one that I made when I did a trail run a couple weeks ago after buying a bunch of the glass ornaments. I followed the instructions shown here on SCS.

However...I don't think on the next ones I will use the white craft ink and emboss like it is described in the tutorial. I ended up with quite the mess on a few of them and had to throw them away. Some, the images flaked and peeled off the transparency as I rolled it up to get it inside the ornament. On a few others it was not drying...even after sitting for days after embossing the craft ink. Obviously I used way too much, but I swear I put the lightest coat I could. The craft ink is so thick, it's hard to spread it around. So...instead of going crazy, having tantrums and throwing glass balls at the wall in frustration while trying to figure it out, I'm going to skip that step! LOL Instead, I'll cover the back with Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds like I did on this one. After adding the glitter on the back, I don't think I needed to add the Buffalo Snow either...so I'm going to try doing without that as well. (If anyone who reads this has had success with the White Craft ink & embossing, please offer some tips here. )

Well...need to get busy and finish a few last minute gifts! I won't be posting again until after Christmas, so I hope you have a safe and happy holiday!

Season of Joy Can

This can started off as peanut can. I covered it with some pretty Wintergreen paper, a stamped image from the Season of Joy set and the crowning touch was one of those cool star bursts created using the tag punches. I filled it with some homemade Peanut Butter Balls for a nice gift. I have a few more cans saved, hopefully I'll have time to make a couple more before Christmas...but time is certainly running out!

I'm so glad to have my baking done! I spent most of my entire day rolling balls for 3 different types of cookies and candy. Then two of those had to be dipped in melted chocolate. Quite tedious! All my shopping is done and most of my gifts are wrapped, so I'm good there. Today I have a few stamping related projects I hope to finish. I'll share those tomorrow if I have time.

Have a festive day!

My Little Secret...SHhhhhhh!

This year I made around 30 cards, but still had another 20 to go. I had a million things to do yet(still do!) and time was running out. So...I took advantage of some of the samples I had previously made using sets that are now retired. I killed two birds with one stone...got my cards all done and mailed on time, plus now I have a little more space in my craft room for more cards to pile up! Good thing I always make full cards and then store them in clear envelopes. Nobody will know that I didn't just make them especially for them...unless you tell them! ;-)

Today I need to do some more baking. I made the dough for my Grandma's Molasses cookies last night, I also baked a few batches of Oatmeal Cranberry Walnut with white chocolate chips in them last night...those are so good! Today I'll be rolling balls all day...Peanut Butter Balls and Truffles and dipping them in chocolate. After smelling the chocolate all day I don't even want to think about eating any for a while...can you believe that!?

Yesterday I almost finished my shopping...just a few more stocking stuffers to get at this point. What a relief! Most are even wrapped!

We had a great time on Tuesday night at the Ozzy/Rob Zombie concert! Rob Zombie opened and he put on an excellent show! Full of creepy theatrics & pyrotechnics ~ Think Alice Cooper meets Kiss. He had several monitors showing clips from his movies, etc...We had floor seats about 30 rows back so we had a good view. When he was finished with his set I said, Ozzy is going to have a hard time topping that!

Unfortunately I was right. Before he entered the stage there was a hilarious montage of clips on the big screen showing Ozzy imposed into a bunch of hit movies and TV shows...Pirates of the Caribbean (he bit the head off a parrot), Lost (he was Locke's father) Dancing With the Stars (he was standing there holding a leg, screaming Shaaa-ron!...me thinks it was Heather Mills...ooops!) the Office, Wedding Crashers, etc...It was twisted & really funny. He performed not much more than an hour, with no real encore. His voice wasn't too strong and he was hard to hear (and understand...but no surprise there!). His guitarist Zakk Wilde was really good, so that kind of made up for it. All in all I am still glad I got to see Ozzy even tho it wasn't the best performance. I was really impressed with Rob Zombie and would go see him again.

Have a great day!!!

Festive Trio

Thanks for all the nice comments on my Holy Triptych cards I posted yesterday. I actually got phone calls from several of my family members this year saying how much they loved my card, so that made me feel good after spending so much time on them. Like I said in yesterdays post, I don't like to make too many of any one card just because it starts to get boring...so here's a grouping of some other cards I made for some of my friends this year.I originally designed these cards for a Christmas in July class I held. I really like the way the joy snowman card and the reindeer tag card turned out, but to be honest, wasn't too crazy about the tree card. I should have embossed the greeting in white like I did on the other two but I just used White Craft ink and it just didn't pop like the other two...plus the angle I took this photo didn't help matters! hehehe


What I like about the reindeer card is that it has a floating tag. To do this you just need to sandwich a piece of fishing line in between the tags and then again in between the two layers. Just remember when you sign your card not to sign it where it can be seen from the outside. Don't ask me how I know NOT to do this! hehehe

Here's a close up look at the snowman card.

Stamps: Festive Favorites, All Through the Year (snowflake) Big Deal Alphabet, Flannel Plaid back ground
Card Stock: Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate & Whisper White
Ink: Black Stazon, Purely Pomegranate & White Craft
Accessories: Wild Wasabi Double Stitched ribbon, Tag & Circle punches.

I'm looking forward to later on this afternoon...we are heading to Detroit to see Ozzy Osbourne along with Rob Zombie in concert tonight! I have never seen either one of them before, and I've always wanted to see Ozzy. Lately he seems only to tour with Ozz Fest, and most of those bands are too hard core for my taste, so I didn't want to have to endure all the other bands just to see Ozzy. Hopefully he puts on a good show and remembers the words to his songs!

Holy Triptych Assortment

I made an assortment of Christmas cards to send out this year. I always end up doing that because if I have to make too many of the same card I get bored. I think my favorite cards were the cards made with the Holy Triptych set. Since I sent my cards out the middle of last week, I figure it is safe to post them here now.

Until now, I hadn't worked with River Rock too much. I must say that I was very happy with the look of these card using that color, so I'm sure you'll be seeing more of my creations in the future using River Rock. I also pulled out my retired Cranberry Crisp ink and card stock for some of these as well.

The angel image is my favorite in this set. I colored her in a variety of different ways. On some of the cards I even painted her wings using a mixture of Future Floor Wax and Pearl Ex for some real shimmer and shine. Others were embossed in gold on Shimmery White card stock so those were preshimmered (I'm sure that's not a word...but you get my drift!)

Here's another set done in Eggplant and Forest. These are all embossed on the Shimmery White card stock. I had used my friends set of verses that goes with Holy Triptych on the previous samples and that works much better than the Merry Christmas greeting on these. It was kind of hard to make it all fit. I had fun making these except for the tedious cutting at the top of the arch on 2 layers for each card. That part wasn't much fun! I only ended up making 15-20 of these. Tomorrow I will show you the other cards I sent out.

Have a good day! Today is a snow day where we live...we got quite a bit of snow and it has been blowing & drifting so ~ no school! I'm sure a few friends of mine are very happy about that... since they're teachers! I'm going to stay home and wrap some gifts and possibly make some cookies.

Altered Journal

I'm feeling a little less holiday stress...I finished my Christmas cards and got them in the mail yesterday...woo hoo! I want to pass on something that happened to me at the post office. I had a few cards that I made using some wide ribbon which I layered with some metallic ribbon and knotted on the side. These cards can be seen here. I figured they would need extra postage since they were a little thick, but...it cost $1.17 each to mail them! They told me they were no longer considered a letter because they did not fit in the slot, but they are instead treated as a parcel. They were not that thick...I was stunned! Oh well...it could have been worse...I could have made all 50 cards like those few! I just wanted you to be aware of the postage increase when you are designing future cards to mail.

Today I thought I would share a notebook I altered as a gift for my upline. Here is what it looked like before:

You can find these notebooks at Target. They have elastic cord at the bottom to keep it closed when not in use and a pen with an elastic holder on the side. These just beg to be covered with some pretty papers and embellishments!

I chose Artichoke Designer prints for this one with a bit of the River Rock print from the Dashing collection. I applied the papers with Royal Coat Decoupage medium. The monogram is stamped in Artichoke Craft ink and embossed with clear EP. I used my soon to be retired, much used and loved alphabet set Letterpress.

For embellishments I used some double stitched Pomegranate, Artichoke grosgrain and some black polka-dot I have in my stash. I also used a couple flowers and a pearl from my new Pretties kit. The flowers are really easy to dye to match any project. This is the first time I had tried this. All I did was lay the flower on top of my ink pad and used my aqua painter to add some color. I smooshed it down it the center a bit with my bone folder and then kind of blended the color outwards to the tip of the petals so they are a little shaded.

I really like the way this turned out...I almost traded the "K" for an "L" so I could keep it! ;-) Guess I need to make another one for myself.

Enjoy your weekend!!!

Glass Magnets

I've been wanting to make some of these stamped glass magnets forever. I have seen pics of them in the gallery on SCS and always thought it was such a cute idea, but I never could find the clear glass gems in the store. Then about a month ago I was in the Dollar Tree...looking for something else entirely and what do I see...a whole bag of these for...a dollar! (I love the dollar store...can you tell!?) They have an iridescent cast to them so I thought they would be really cute with any snowman image, and luckily the snowman from Punch Pals just fit. I also had my Time Well Spent set sitting out in my stamping area and noticed one of the flowers fit perfectly so I did some of those as well.

All I did was stamp my image on white card stock using black Stazon and water colored them. Then, since each of these gems are shaped a bit differently, I had to center the gem and then trace around it. I cut it out just inside my traced lines so it would fit nicely on the back of the gem. Too bad one of my punches wouldn't have worked...that would have saved some time! After my cutting was done I put a bit of Crystal Effects on my image and spread it around a bit, not going all the way to the edge, then I pressed the glass gem on top of it. When that was set I glued a magnet on the back...also using Crystal Effects.

I thought these would make a cute little goodie for my Hostess Club ladies, so I stamped some small cello bags with the Snow Flurries set using White Stazon, added a bit of iridescent shreds, and tied them off with some gold cord. Don't these make a cute little stocking stuffer?

I almost have my Christmas cards done...the stamping and assembly part is done. I still need to write inside and address them all. I had hoped to have them in the mail today, but I guess tomorrow is just as good, right? Have a good one!

Swapping Cards is Time Well Spent

At our SU! group Christmas party on Sunday we did a card swap using the new hostess set Time Well Spent. All the cards turned out so darn cute! I really like this set, and can't wait to have more time to do some scrapbook pages with it.

This first card was made by Karman. I love the colors she used and the textured background! She said she ran her white Craft pad over the background to really highlight it more and soften the color of the Wild Wasabi card stock. I've been trying to resist getting a Cuttlebug...but seeing cute cards like this one makes it even more tempting!

This card was made by Bea. I love how she used the wire for the butterfly's antenna and the way she popped up the center of the flower with the rhinestone brad.

This adorable bookmark was made by Jodie. I said she must really like us to have done so much cutting...she stamped and cut the big flower twice and layered it with the leaves. Then she even shared some of her Pretties with us. The center flower and pearl are from the pretties kit. She said she dyed the flower with her red Craft ink pad and carefully dried it with her heat tool.

This next one is a post it note pad cover made by Kelly. Isn't it cute?! I just love the Fall Flowers designer paper she used.
This last card was made by me. I water colored the big flower with the inks from the coordinating card stock I used: Pomegranate, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky & Guava. Then finished it with a pearl from the Pretties kit and glitter pen on the dots on the flower...which doesn't really show in the photo.

Like Jodie said after our get together...Spending time stamping with friends is Time Well Spent! I agree! Thanks for doing such an awesome job on the swaps ladies!

Oh no...I've been tagged!

Does this mean I'm part of the "in crowd" now? hehehe I was tagged by Melanie from Rubbapalooza go check out her awesome blog. (love the name too!) This is the 1st time I've been tagged and I guess I'm supposed to list 7 random things about myself and then go tag some other bloggers. Lets see...

I was born on 6-6-6* (I'll leave the actual year to your imagination!) and I weighed 6lbs 6 oz. No, I don't have any horns or a 666 tattooed on my head! However, I did spend my birthday before last - 6-6-06, in Hell (Michigan)!

Along with Christmas, my other favorite holiday is Halloween. I spend most of my free time during the month of October decorating for our annual Halloween party and making our costumes.

I love rocks. I think just about every vacation I've ever been on since I was a kid I've brought home an interesting rock or stone I picked up along the way. So far, my very best find to date was when I was looking for Petoskey stones up in Northern Michigan (the only place they can be found) and I scooped up a handful of rocks out of the water in Skegemog Lake in front of my Uncles house and laying in my hand was a perfect arrow head! My older cousins all tried to trade me Petoskey stones for it...but no way! I still have it, and it remains one of my prised possessions.

Another type of rock I like is rock music. I've been to hundreds of concerts since my first one back in 1980 (ZZ Top). I like good old classic rock with a few newer bands thrown into the mix. My favorite show to date was back in the early 90's - Page & Plant during their first post-Zeppelin tour. Unfortunately I never had the pleasure of seeing led Zeppelin live, so that was the next best thing.

I have always been fascinated with anything to do with Native American culture. That is reflected in the south-western decor I have downstairs in our family room/stamping class room.

My Mom's 2nd cousin (and I guess my 3rd cousin?)was the late Dana Reeve- wife of actor Christopher Reeve. (She was my grandma's nephew's daughter) It is a shame we never got to meet her, but I greatly admired her as a strong, caring and courageous woman.

I love to go to garage sales! I have found some pretty cool stuff! One of my best bargains was a Kitchen Aid professional mixer- like brand new for $20! That was a lucky day for me because later on that morning I went to another sale and found an antique Singer sewing machine that was in really good condition for only $40. It even had the original owners manual in one of the little drawers. My Mom had always wanted one, and it was the weekend before Mother's Day. I couldn't wait to give it to her! Of course she loved it!

So, was that random enough? Now I need to look for some unsuspecting bloggers who haven't been tagged yet...

Check out these talented bloggers I tagged:

Erin
Elaine
Heather
Julie
Cindy

While on the search, I found I was tagged again by Denise ...please don't make me have to think up 7 more random things!

Stampin' Up! Christmas Party

I sure had a busy stampin' weekend! After holding my last hostess club meeting for the year on Friday night, I spent Saturday getting ready for a Christmas party for my SU! demo group. Five out of six of us were able to get together, have lunch, visit, talk a little business, swap some cards and do some stamping. We had such a nice afternoon!

My upline and I made these peek-a-boo boxes filled with M&M's for everyone...they turned out so cute! Directions for the peek-a-boo boxes can be found here where I posted a Halloween version. We also gave the group a Pretties sampler kit which we packaged in these little gift bags I made for everyone. They are just like the ones I made here, only I used the Horizontal Slot punch at the top and added some wired ribbon for handles. Both the boxes and bags were made using the Mistletoe wheel & Punch Pals. Colors used are Mellow Moss & Ruby Red.After we swapped our cards using the new Level 3 Hostess set ~ Time Well Spent, we had lunch and then we made the coaster calendars that I posted here on Saturday for our make & take project. This is my upline Karman showing the cute swap card she made for everyone, while Beth Anne looks on.
This is my downline ~ Jodie & Bea showing their coaster calendars. Sorry you're a bit out of focas Bea...I'm still getting the hang of using my new camera!
Jodie made Karman and I this beautiful holiday journal using the Holiday Harmony Double-sided Designer Papers and Theater Ribbon Originals. I just love it! Now I'm kicking myself for not purchasing that paper pack while it was still available! Thanks again for such a thoughtful gift Jodie!
Tomorrow I will share the wonderful swap cards we exchanged. Everyone did such nice work...can't wait to show you! For now I need to go and finish my Christmas cards!

Handmade Gift Tags

Here is the little pouch filled with Christmas gift tags that my stamp club got to make on Friday. First we stamped a medium sized cello bag with White Stazon and the Snow Flurries set. Then we adhered the bag to a piece of card stock cut to 8-1/2" x 4". (score the 8-1/2" length @ 2-1/2" and fold down for flap) Holes were punched in the back for the ribbon.

My super nice Mother-in-law loaned me her Sizzix machine with the tag die so I was able to cut out the assorted tags easily. I used all different shades of Christmas colors and we did tags ranging from elegant to cute. Some are embossed, others watercolored and paper pieced, but I think they all turned out really nice.

For the "cute set" we used that good ol' timer and soon to be retired guy ~ Frosty, Punch Pals, and the snowflake from All Through The Year set along with the Bold Snowflake jumbo wheel. I think my favorite from this group is the paper pieced tree tag.

For the more elegant set we used Holy Triptych

and Peaceful Wishes. I just love the images

from Holy Triptych...they look just gorgeous embossed in gold on the dark colors from the Rich Regal color family, don't they?

The Frosty, Snowflake & Peaceful Wishes tags they got to make 2 of each, so when finished they had the pouch filled with 14 tags. I'm sure they will come in handy when they wrap their gifts!

Today I am having my group Stampin' Up! Christmas gathering here. My upline, downline and sideline are all able to come...so we will have a fun afternoon doing a little stamping plus a card swap. I'll tell you more on that tomorrow. It sure is a busy time of year! Enjoy your day!

Cute Coaster Calendars

Last night was the last meeting for my hostess club group. The past six months sure flew by! I have really enjoyed meeting with them each month...what a nice group of women! Having this club each month has challenged me to continuously come up with new ideas to show them. Luckily there is the Internet loaded with so many great stamping blogs and websites...so many excellent ideas and so little time!

For one of our projects last night we did these cute coaster calendars. I had first seen them on a great blog I love to visit called Stampin' Mama Designs. On her post here Erika gave directions and a source for ordering these little calendars. I'm so glad I saw this because in the past I had printed/cut them myself...this was so much easier! I gave the group a choice of making theirs magnetic or with an easel back like the post it note coasters shown here.

I had an assortment of patterned papers to choose from so it was fun to see how different everyone made theirs. We stuck to using two stamps...either the medallion from Carte Postale or one of the flowers from the new Hostess set Time Well Spent. My sample done with Carte Postale is an easel back and the Time Well Spent sample is a magnet. I think I like the layout better on the Time Well Spent version because it shows more of the patterned paper.

I'm also going to put up a photo of the easel back one from the side view so you can get a better idea on how that looks.

I also had the group make a little pouch and then fill it with some really cute handmade gift tags.

They loved them! When they were done they had an assortment of 14 gift tags that they could use or give as a cute little gift. That project ended up turning into a real challenge for me because 3 of the 6 members ended up not being able to attend last night, and I always stamp their projects if they can't make it. So...that means I stamped 42 tags and made 3 coaster calendars last night with the rest of the group. You should have seen me...I was a stampin' fool! Actually I can't believe I got them all done (there is assembly required;-) C & J you owe me big time! hehehe

I'll post the tag pouch and tags tomorrow after I take some pictures.

Today we are finally putting up our Christmas tree! Yeah! Have a great day!

Framed Season of Joy

I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out and it was really easy to make. The best part is it only cost me a buck plus some Hodge-Podge Hardware! I got this shadowbox frame at the Dollar Tree a month or so ago. Now I'm wishing I would have gotten more of them, but at the time I wasn't sure if it would work out.

To create this I just inked the word collage stamp from Season of Joy with Sage and then used a bit of rolled up paper towel (to form a pointy tip) to carefully wipe away the ink from the letters I wanted to re-ink with my celery and artichoke markers. Adding the extra colors makes for a more interesting design I think. After my stamp was inked in the colors I wanted, I stamped the image onto Shimmery White card stock. Then I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to decide on the placement for the tree. I embossed the tree in silver - it was hard to capture the pretty sheen of the silver on the tree without catching the glare from the glass on the frame, so you'll have to take my word that it looks prettier in real life.

For embellishments I first added one of my cute new build-a-brads to the center of the "o" in joy. The Snow Flurries set works perfect with the build a brad...that's what I used here, but any image that can be punched with the 1/2" circle works great with these. I added some double stitched Soft Sky ribbon attached to a buckle and held in place with some brads along the bottom. It still needed something to the left so 3 strips punched from the Wintergreen paper with the Window Word punch worked out great to fill in that area.

I think this framed piece of stamped art will be perfect to deck my halls during the holidays!

Peaceful Wishes Gone Wild!

I've been pretty busy the past few days decorating our house for Christmas and working on my Christmas cards, etc...Yesterday I spent all my computer time checking out all the great blogs from the new blogging group I joined. That was a lot of fun! There sure are some very talented and interesting women in this group! If you have the time, check out their blogs on my list titled SBS3 over there on the side bar.



Since I don't want to post the Christmas cards I plan to send out ~ just yet, or the projects I've been working on for this weekends club or my group meeting, I decided to post a card I made way back this summer for one of my Christmas in July classes.



Normally when I make cards using this stamp set I grab more toned down, earthy colors. For something different I decided to try Wild Wasabi & Purely Pomegranate. I paired up two of my favorite background stamps for the Pomegranate layer and used the Mistletoe wheel (love that wheel!) on the Wasabi layer. Then just stamped my main image and the greeting...quick & easy! Of course I had to add a bit of the mistletoe stamp in with the pine branch because that's my favorite image (besides the "Peaceful Wishes" sentiment) in that set.



I hope to have some time today to play around with my new camera (so far I LOVE it!) and take a few photos of a couple 3-D projects I've been working on. I haven't loaded the software or uploaded any of the photos yet, because I'm always leary about adding new things on my computer, because it always seems to mess up existing stuff. Hopefully it'll all work out and I'll share those photos here tomorrow. Enjoy your day!

Sisterhood 3 of the Blogging Stampers

I just joined a new blogging group today. It sounds like a fun way to keep motivated on updating our blogs regularly and help each other out by giving encouragement, and blogging help, etc... (Hopefully no one will turn to me for technical blogging help...because I have to always ending up asking my son for help! hehehe) Like getting the badge posted above for instance. When I did it, I just got a link. When he did it...voila!...it showed up like it was supposed to!

Anyways...the first part of joining the group is to make a post on your blog and tell a bit about yourself, so here goes: I'm happily married to the sweetest, nicest guy in the world, and consider myself very lucky! We have 2 teenage sons...the oldest just graduated high school this past June. I must admit...that freaked me out a bit...because I'm waaaay too young to have a son that old! ;-) Both my husband and I have lived in Michigan our whole lives, but wouldn't mind living somewhere that wasn't so cold for such a large part of the year. However, I can't see us moving away from all our family and friends.

I signed up to be a SU! demonstrator 3 years ago right after I hosted my first workshop! At that point I had been scrapbooking for a while, but knew next to nothing about stamping. Jumping in like that is very unlike me. I usually like to think things over and I very rarely make rush decisions like that. In this case I'm glad I did because it's been a lot of fun for me! As far as blogging, I've been doing this for almost a year now. I feel it keeps me motivated to create new things so I have something to share here.

I love music...but have no musical abilities what-so-ever. I LOVE going to concerts and have been to A LOT of them. If I had to pick one band as a favorite it would be Aerosmith. I've seen them in concert many times and they always put on an amazing show. In a couple weeks we are going to see Ozzy. I've never seen him live before so I'm really looking forward to it. Most of my other interests are listed in my profile over there>>>> so I won't repeat myself. I look forward to visiting the other blogs in my group and getting to know everyone. :-) Have a great day!

Touch of Peaceful Wishes

I'm so happy that my favorite little birdie survived the retiring list! I can breathe a sigh of relief because for the time being, Touch of Nature is no longer in jeopardy. That's the good news! The bad news is, another one of my favorite stamps used here, Linen background wasn't so lucky...it will be retired at the end of the month. I was also correct in my prediction on the demise of my good ol' buddy Frosty and Flaky Friends. If you haven't seen the list you can view it here.

For this card I combined Touch of Nature with Peaceful Wishes. I think it makes a nice Christmas card, or by changing the colors or even just the greeting, it would make a nice masculine card for a birthday or other occasion as well. I love to use the Linen background over the top of a water colored image like I did here to add some texture. It is also used tone on tone on the base of the card for some subtle detail. If you don't have this background stamp yet I highly recommend it!

Will He Stay Or Will He Go?

Come on...sing along to this hit from the 80's - Should I Stay or Should I Go, by the Clash. (I'm really dating myself...but I don't care ;-)


Frosty you gotta let me know...
Will you stay or will you go?
This indecision's bugging me...
So you gotta let me know...
Will you stay or will you go?


I guess we'll know the answer tomorrow when the retiring list is posted! However, I have a sneaky suspicion that my very first Stampin' Up! set will be on it. But then again... that's what I thought last time, and good ol' Frosty survived!


Another old favorite that we might have to say good-bye to also is Flakey Friends. Here's another pocket card that I created using that set. Since there is some detail on the inside card I'll show it to you pulled out of the pocket. Now that I'm looking at this card, it makes me worried about two of my favorite background stamps...Print Pattern and Weathered, I sure hope those don't go! Or what about the Canvas stamp I used on the Frosty card?! I shudder at the thought!



Pocket cards are fun to make, but since more work goes into making them, I only send them to people that I hope won't throw them in the trash after a couple days. Can you imagine? I try not to even think about it, but I'm sure that's where a lot of my beloved creations end up. Oh well, I know I had fun making them and hopefully the recipient gets some enjoyment out of them before they get trashed.



For these pocket cards I cut my card stock in half long ways: 11"x 4-1/4". I scored at the 5-1/2" mark and either folded down the 1-1/2" flap or cut it off. When I fold down the flap I like to stamp it with a different background then I did on the rest of the pocket.



Since I'm sharing some pocket cards today and discussing the retiring list, here is another pocket card using a beautiful Christmas set that was in the 2005 Holiday Mini catalog. I'm sure glad I got this set when it was available! This one is called Christmas Cardinal. I've made so many beautiful cards with this set. The images are so detailed and fun to watercolor. I am hoping for some more beautiful line art images in the new catalog. Especially those that are nature related...those are my favorite!

Enjoy your day! Don't forget to check back tomorrow to see what is on the retiring stamp list!

Tis the Season...to be baking, shopping, and just plain busy!

It's definitely the season to keep on track! There is always so much planning that goes into getting ready for the holidays. That's why I figured I had to make some of these Christmas planners...I know I need all the help I can get to stay organized! The first one turned out so cute I figured I'd make one for my Mom, MIL & Aunt also. I think they all like theirs and hopefully they will find it useful.

Like the Thanksgiving Planner I shared here last month, I started with a cheap-o pocket folder and folded each panel in half to create 4 pockets instead of the original 2. This time instead of stamping the whole thing I used Dashing and Wintergreen papers to cover the folders. For the Dashing planners I used the Punch Pals set for the covers and did some paper piecing on the presents which is a fun detail. I stamped the presents twice - once on my white card stock and then again on the patterned paper. Then I cut out the gifts from the patterned paper - minus the tiny bows, as those were stamped on my main image, and then I glued them in place with my 2-way glue pen. It's a fun way to use scraps of patterned paper if you don't mind cutting, plus I think it really adds cute detail to the project.

I lucked out and found some really cute holiday post it notes and lined note pads that matched the colors I was using, so those went into two of the pockets. Along with a big clip to keep track of loose papers like recipes clipped from paper, coupons, etc... There is also a calendar and an envelope to keep track of the receipts from all the gift purchases I'll be making. (Note to self: better start shopping soon!) I figured I'd use this to keep track of all my lists such as Christmas Cards (Note to self: finish making cards!) and to do lists.

For the front of the Wintergreen planners I embossed the tree and poinsettia from Season of Joy in silver and used a Build-a-brad with a stamped snowflake for the center of the word joy. I just got those and they are really fun! Any image that can be punched out with the 1/2" circle punch fits on the base of the brad and then you cover it with a clear acrylic bubble. Of course each planner had to come with it's own matching pen, right!? For those, just unscrew the end and slip in a piece of rolled up patterned paper and you instantly have a matching pen!

Here's hoping we can all stay organized and enjoy the holidays - stress free! Now I better get busy with all my holiday tasks....

Elegant Holy Triptych

This is a trio of cards I created using my new Holy Triptych set. I knew I loved this set from the first time I saw it, but for some reason waited until now to finally purchase it. I knew if I didn't get it before the Holiday mini catalog ended, I'd be mad at myself later. (kind of like the Long Time Friend set I mentioned the other day!)

These are the first cards I've made with it so far. When photographing these I had hoped to capture the sheen of the gold embossing on the Shimmery White card stock, but it just didn't show up as pretty as they are in person. I also scanned them...but unfortunately the scan didn't do them justice either. They really are elegant looking.

I started by embossing the tag image and then adding each of the other three images to the tag with my stamp-a-ma-jig for exact placement, and embossing with the gold again. Then I water colored each image using my Stampin' Up! inks. I just love to water color on the Shimmery White card stock! It takes the ink so nicely and is easy to blend colors. Plus the shimmer just adds so much to special cards like these.

For the background, I used the Linen background stamp and the large swirl stamp from Baroque Motifs stamped in Eggplant. I think those two sets just naturally go together because of the swirl on the tag. I layered some metallic gold ribbon on top of some pretty satin eggplant ribbon and knotted it...way easier than tying a bow! Then the image is cut and mounted on brushed gold card stock and attached to the card front with pop dots. I just had enough room to fit the Merry Christmas greeting...which of course I also embossed in gold.

Time Well Spent is a Good Thing

I got a really cool gift in the mail this past week from Stampin' Up! It's a Level 3 Hostess set from the upcoming Spring ~ Summer Collection called Time Well Spent. Free stamps are always nice...plus it's a really cute set! I sure was happy to get it, but I didn't get a chance to play with it until today. I thought I'd share both the cards I've made so far.


For the first card, I went right for the big flower stamp first! I thought it would be a fun image to emboss in white and then watercolor with some bright, pretty colors. So that's just what I did! After that was done I chose colors for the rest of the card based on the colors I had used when watercoloring my big flower image. On the Apricot base I created a background using one of the smaller flower images from this set stamped randomly in White Craft. (it doesn't show up too good in my photo)


The sentiment is embossed in white also. After doing that I was wishing I would have done it on white so I could water color the word friend and the two flowers. That's when I decided to bleach that portion with my Aqua Painter filled with bleach. That worked out good, because the Rose card stock looked Apricot after it was beached...perfect! So I just quickly highlighted it with a bit of color, added some faux stitching at the top and a cute scallop border at the bottom made with my slit punch.


I just got a pack of the Soft Sky Designer Prints and I just LOVE them...so of course I had to add some of that to my card also...because like the other sentiment stamp in this set says..."Too much of a good thing is a GOOD THING!" I like the way this turned out, and can already visualize some fun scrap book pages using this set!


My second card was stamped in Basic Gray and also watercolored. When I was done, I used my Gelly Roll star dust glitter pen to add some highlights to the flowers and the butterfly. The Groovy Guava base was stamped with a couple small flower images from this set inked in white. I love sets that come with some smaller images that can be used for backgrounds too.


The butterfly was cut out and the wing area was slightly bent. I just glued down just the body portion, so it looks 3-D. This card also uses the Soft Sky prints. This polka-dot pattern is the flip side of the pattern used on the first card. Hope you like these cards...I'm sure they won't be the last I share here using this cute set!