Valentine Greetings

I have been playing with the Scalloped Heart of Hearts embosslit die in the Occasions mini catalog and just discovered that you can use the full heart punch with the embosslit and it leaves a scallop rim. Here I cut two, on in pink and one in red and applied the red one to cardstock with dotto and then punched the heart out and the layered the two. I love it when I can use a tool in an unexpected way. Thanks for stopping by.

Love You Much

Good afternoon! I just got an email from a friend who had checked out my class schedule at http://stampthenightaway.stampinup.net/ and noticed I am having an Open House on Friday Jan 1 at which I will have tons of Sneak Peaks from the Occasions Mini and the Sale-a-bration catalogs. The funny thing was that I sent her an email about this but she didn't get it, so if you live in or around Harrisburg, Illinois, you are invited to my Open House on Jan 1. Just email to RSVP and drop by anytime between 1:00 and 5:00 pm.

Now on to today's sneak peak, this is a card made with very little stamping, just the sentiment is stamped from the Well Scripted set. The rest of the card is made from the beautiful papers from the Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper Stack, that's right we got Paper Stacks in the new catalog! You get 48 sheets total, 2 each of 24 double sided designs(12x12). I also used a Sending Love Epoxy Brad on the flower that I cut out of the DP and popped up. The inspiration for this card came from the blog of a very talented stamper named Heather and I have lost her blog so I don't know how to tell you to get there, sorry.

Love Bandit

Today I have a Valentine card using the set Love Bandit from the Occasions Mini which you can order from starting Jan 5. I also used Sending Love Specialty DP which is gorgeous, each sheet has one side that is glittery. This paper coordinates with Real Red, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, and Very Vanilla which are the perfect colors for Valentine cards. I also used three other new items, the Scallop edge punch, scallop corner punch, and the pink and red cord buttons.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.

Baby Jesus

I know I have posted several "family" things lately but I had to post this one. My husband is in a choir at our church made up of older people, all the way up to age 94 which is awesome in itself that they perform even a few songs. Christmas they put on an awesome presentation of music and drama. My friend, Sharon, who also stamps with me is the choir director of the "Oldies But Goodies" and she asked if Baby Dalton could play Baby Jesus. I was not prepared for how I was touched by God through this, I have to confess that I have not been in the Christmas "spirit" this year, I just couldn't get into buying gifts and baking and all the gatherings and just the everything that goes along with the season. And to be quite honest, it wasn't because I was so focused on the real meaning of Christmas either but after seeing this performance and seeing Baby Dalton in his role in it(all he did was sleep!) I suddenly realized how Mary must have felt knowing that her child would take on the sin of the whole world, even her sin. I have to say that I left there with a whole new outlook.

Also in the photo with Baby Dalton is Tiffany and Matt Businaro and Jim Collins.

Happy Birthday

Good evening! Today I have a "sneak peak" card using a new punch from the Occasions catalog, the Extra Large 2 Step Bird. You get the bird, the wing and the branch in one punch and then you can punch again to get the color variation. I LOVE all the new punches and the new style, not only are they ergonomically friendly but they also fold up for storage. I used the set Well Scripted for the sentiment, don't you just love the swirly font!

Rag Purses

I have a couple more bags to share with you today. This is one I made for Shelby for Christmas and she loved it. It is smaller than the one I posted yesterday and the next one is even smaller. I made it for Sadie and since she doesn't really carry a purse she is using it to take her lunch for school. I let them choose the fabric and now they want to go the Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's just to look at all the fabric.
Check back tomorrow for the start of my sneak peak's from the Occasion and Sale-a-Bration catalogs.

Rag Purse and Blog Candy Winner

I am so glad to be able to blog again, I still have some problems but I have figured out a temporary fix. I have an appointment with a computer company to figure out what is going on with my computer but in the meantime he told me how to get my photos to upload using just the memory card. Today I am sharing a purse I made for a friend for Christmas. I used the scallop square die to cut the blocks and sewed them together. I love how this turned out and would love to make one for myself, if I ever get time. I have orders for three more so I probably won't get to mine any time soon.
Now on to the blog candy, since there were only five comments, I had one of the kids draw a winner, and she drew "Lynn". Lynn, choose what you want from the SU catalog which you can view on line if you don't have one, and email me your list(I will pay shipping and taxes!) of $25.00 worth of merchandise along with your shipping address and I will have that sent to you. Thanks for stopping by.

Camera Problems Solved(maybe)

I may have got my camera problems solved, not totally sure but I have certainly spent a good deal of time working on it. I updated some things on my computer a couple weeks ago and I guess that was when my problems started. But anyway, I was able to post today and so I wanted to wish all my faithful blogging friends a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. We have had such a wonderful day today just spending time with family, the girls awoke at 4:30 and were ready to come downstairs to see if Santa had come. Of course they woke everyone in the house with squeals of excitement so we opened gifts and then I went back to bed for a little while and Toy stayed up with the girls and helped unpackage and get everything ready to play with. We lost our power for a little while and the girls had to come wake me to tell me that bit of news so it has been a long but wonderful day.
Here is a video of my 6 year old, Sadie, who is in Kindergarten in her Christmas performance at
school. She is in the fourth row, third from the right with a maroon dress, and very active as usual.

Camera Problems

I haven't completely quit blogging...I have had all kinds of computer/camera problems. It started when I got a message about an update for one of the programs already on my computer. I went ahead and gave permission for the update but when I tried to load photos on from my camera, nothing was there. I have done everything I know to fix the problem so I now am "in line" for customer service which I was told could take as long as 3-5 days. I am very frustrated right now but there is nothing I can do but wait.

Twelve Days of Savings

These might be the most exciting 12 days of December with select Big Shot dies and vinyl sheets for the Big Shot on sale! The 12 Days of Holiday Sales begin today and runs through December 22.

Some of the items introduced in this sale are new colors of Décor Elements vinyl sheets. There are 18 new colors to choose from, and they make great projects when you use them with Big Shot dies. Consider pairing the Clear Décor Elements vinyl sheets with the Tulipe Bigz die to create an etched-like design on a vase. Or use the Decorative Accent Bigz dies with the Old Olive Décor Element vinyl sheets to enhance a frame. The combination of Big Shot dies and Décor Elements vinyl sheets is sure to take your creativity to a new level!

Tell your husband!!! Shop now --- sale is only until Dec. 22nd!

Click here to view the Big Shot Specials list!

Punch Sneak Peak

I haven't shown you a card in a few days so I thought I would share one of the cards we are making tomorrow at my last Stamp-a-Stack of the season. I used one of the new punches that will be available Jan. 5 from the Sale-a-bration catalog. Not only a new punch but a new design, they are awesome...they fold up for easier storage and they are even easier to punch than the old style. Also new to the Occasions catalog which will be available on Jan. 5 will be clear mount stamps, these are still made of the rubber as before but can be mounted on clear blocks. The wood mounted stamps will still be available as well. I think you will be really impressed with the Occasions catalog.

Christmas Greetings

Today I am sharing another craft show item, these are chocolate covered pretzels. I just found these bags for homemade pretzels, they are by Wilton and you get 20 for about $2.00. Shelby usually takes enough "little somethings" to school for every person who works at her school for Christmas. I send her off with a box of goodies and she goes around the school handing them out so I thought this would be perfect for her to give.

Peppermint Fancy Favors

Hope you had a good weekend, mine was so busy it seemed like a blur. Yesterday I had a booth at a Craft and Wine Tasting event. I am not sure if it was the wine or the crafts so many were interested in but the crowds lasted the whole event. I will share some of my best selling items over the next few days. These little boxes were definitely a hot item. I saw the idea on Patty Bennett's blog. They are made using the thick window sheets item number 114324 in the SU catalog. I cut them with the fancy favor die and then trimmed 1/2 inch from the flap that overlaps on the side of the box. Next I ran them back through the Big Shot inside an embossing folder, turned the box around and embossed the other end. I used sticky strip as the adhesive. Be careful as you bend the score lines on the bottom of the box, bend just enough to form the box since the plastic will weaken if you bend too many times. I used Riding Hood Red(retired) striped grosgrain ribbon and filled with peppermints. My plan was to use any leftovers from the craft fair as gifts for the girls to give to teachers, crossing guards, office workers, and Sunday School workers but I had so little leftovers I will have to get busy making more. My girls were also in a musical presentation at church last night so I had to rush home and "pretty" them up for that. I'll share pictures of them maybe tomorrow.

Three Little Angels...Not!!

These are my three Little Angels(almost). The brown hair is Shelby age 11, the baldie is Dalton age 6 months, and the blondie is Sadie age 6. I wanted to make them an ornament for the Christmas tree and this is what I came up. I used all SU punches, the full heart is the gown, the butterfly cut in half is the wings, the 1 inch circle is the head, the 1 inch circle cut in half is the bangs, the wide oval cut in half is the rest of the hair, and the heart to heart punch is the arms. I sponged all the pieces with Pink Pirouette ink. Notice they don't have halos, they are too mean to wear halos!

Ruddy Treat Holders

Good afternoon, I am slowly getting my Christmas tree up, a few lights outside and my fireplace decorated...still so much to do. I made a bunch of these little Rudolph treat holders for the girls to give to their classmates at school, 60 to be exact! The good ting is they are quick and easy...I used the snack size Hershey bars and built Rudolph around them. I used a 4x4 piece of Chocolate chip card stock, scored at 1 1/4,1 1/2, 2 3/4, and 3 inches. For the antlers I used a part of the snowflake in Close to Cocoa and the hair 4 scallops from the scallop circle punch. The eyes and nose is made from 1/2 and 1/4 inch circle punches. Thanks for stopping by.

Dreaming of a White Christmas

I love the thoughts of a white Christmas but after that I don't mind if we have no more snow. I like to get enough snow for the girls to build snowman a couple times a year but then that's enough. For today's card I used Baja Breeze(my favorite retired color) with Rose Red. I had never used this combination before but I really like how it turned out. The snowflake is from Serene Snowflakes, I embossed it on Rose Red and cut it our. The DP is also retired. Thanks for stopping by.

Delightful Decorations

Today's card is a case of a card done by Ann at Stamping Schack, she is a very talented stamper and whenever I can't find my MOJO I go to her blog and find something to get inspiration from. I have got so used to using Old Olive with Real Red for Christmas combos, so today I tried Real Red with Garden Green and really like that combo as well. I actually ordered the Garden Green by accident a few weeks ago and rather than send it back I thought I would give it a try. I layered the Garden Green on the sentiment but it is kind of hard to see, the way I did this was to cut the bottom tag in half and move the pieces out so that they line up and show on the edges with the second color. The ribbon on the topper is laced through holes punched with the slot punch.

Christmas Wish

Today I am sharing a card we did a few weeks ago as part of a Diva Night hosted by my upline, Carol. I haven't stamped in the last few days because I was behind on my housework and laundry since the Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner at our church took up a lot of time last week. Yesterday I did 21 loads of laundry and got some cleaning done, I don't like to put my Christmas tree up until I get my house clean so I am concentrating on that today and tomorrow. I probably won't be posting much for the next few weeks, I got selected for jury duty(joy, joy). I do dread it since I have trouble sitting still any length of time, I need to be up moving. I know it is a necessary duty but I am not looking forward to it at all.

Gift Tags

My friend, Gayle, asked if I would make her up a kit using tags. She always orders my Kit of the Month but I didn't offer one this month since things were a little hectic but with Thanksgiving over I have some time so this is 3 of the 5 I mailed out to her today. I used the Top Note die on all of them and various stamps and embossing. I do have three extra kits of the ones pictured if anyone is interested. You get enough pre-cut materials to make 3 of each tag for $8.00 which includes postage. You will not get stamped images. I accept personal check, money order or Paypal.

Quilted Flower

good evening! I have had a productive day, not necessarily stamping but something else I really enjoy. Our church is having a community Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow and plan on serving 700 meals. Today we started cooking, I worked on the dressing, we cut onions, celery and bread crumbs. I don't know how many bags of onions and celery but I know we diced up 52 loaves of sandwich bread for the dressing. We will put it together in the morning and start cooking at 7:00. This is a ministry which I love participating in, I know what hunger feels like having experienced it as a child and I know what this meal will mean to so many. I also know that it is something that is very pleasing to God.

Ok, I do have a project that isn't quite finished but I am excited about it anyway. This is a flower cut using the Flower Fold die which I cut using fabric. First off let me say that I do not sew, but it is something I really want to learn to do. These were easy sewing except I had a hard time with the rounded part of the petals, but with more practice they should start to look better. I plan to use the flowers as hair bows, to tie on packages, and as brooches. The sandwich for the Big Shot was standard cutting plate, die, fabric, batting, fabric, standard cutting plate, and a 6x12 piece of card stock on top of the second cutting plate. I also used a basting spray on both pieces of fabric to keep it from slipping while I sewed it. I love how these turned out and went to the fabric store yesterday and bought way too much fabric so get ready to see some more!

JOY

Today's project was done using the Decor Elements, Holiday Mix, from the Holiday Mini. They come in Real Red, Whisper White, Basic Black, and Chocolate Chip. I found the metal tub at Target in the dollar bin. Thanks for stopping by.

Ruddy

Hope your Sunday has been good! Today I have my version of Ruldoph, another popular craft fair item. I sold out of him at the first show 2 weeks ago, so I made 12 more and sold out again. I have one more craft show this season so you guessed it, I am making more. Luckily, they are quick and easy to make.

Craft Fair

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I have been to a craft fair the past two days and preparing for the past two weeks. They are a lot of work but today I had someone ask about signing up to be a demonstrator and booked two workshops, and took several orders so it was a good weekend. Here is a picture of my booth. the most popular item was this cute Santa made using the Top Note die, I cut two .....one in Real Red for the back side and one in Blush Blossom for the face. Next I cut one in Whisper White and embossed it, cut it down and used it for the beard, mustache and hair. Between the two Top Notes I sandwiched a cut down version of the Fancy Favor box. There are lots of similar versions floating around and I drew inspiration from all of them, mostly the one done by Gretchen Barron, and then came up with my own version.

Serene Snowflakes

I am not best friends with my computer right now, in fact we have had a rough morning and I had to make threats of throwing it out the window to get it to cooperate. First, I couldn't get pictures to upload and then it said they were uploaded but I couldn't find them and then I found them but couldn't get them to upload to here and finally had to reload them to Picasa to get this far.

Anyway, here is a simple scallop circle card we made yesterday at a Stamp class with 7 wonderful ladies, 4 of whom I met yesterday for the first time. They were great students and quick stampers and I really enjoyed having them. I cut this with the scallop circle die with a piece of folded card stock by placing the fold just below the cut line. The stamp is the Serene Snowflakes and the DP is from Merry Moments.

If you live in my close to me, I would like to invite you to a Vendor Blender on November 20 and 21st at the Lions Club building. There will be about 20 Vendors there with various items for sale such as Avon, jewelry, Mary Kaye, and many others. I will have lots of Stampin' Up projects for sale and would love for you to check out my booth and register for a door prize. Also, I wanted to let you know about a Kids Punch class for Mom and child or Grandparent and child while the kids are out for Christmas break. I will post the dates for this a little closer to time.

Happy Bug Day

Thought I would share one more Fancy Favor bag with you since I haven't had a chance photograph anything else today. I have a very busy weekend coming up with two stamp classes. I had a project for WOM(Women on Mission) at church tonight and have been getting things together for another craft fair. For this little bag, I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder on the front and stamped the bugs and cut them out. Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Birthday Human

I have had fun with these little gift bags made with the Fancy Favor die lately. I made a bunch of these for my craft show last weekend and they seemed to be a hit. This one uses the Lots of Bots stamp set and is for a birthday. It would be cute filled with candies or little toys such as Lego's, small robots, small action toys or anything else you could think of.

Musical Explosion Box

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days, I went to a craft fair over the weekend and yesterday I just had to rest because sometimes I forget how old I really am and my body demands a little rest.

Today I have one of my favorites and one of the best sellers at the craft fair. There is a tutorial on Splitcoast for explosion boxes but I do mine just a little different. For this one I used Christmas Jingle Simply Scrappin' papers and card stock stickers. But wait there is a twist, lean in a little closer to the screen....do you hear music....

I added a music button to the center. I have a special someone in mind to give this to and that would be my daughter Shelby. She plays the flute in band and is in choir at school, so I will take pictures at her performance and then make this into a little scrapbook for her. I think she will really like this. Thanks for stopping by!

Mr. Sweetness

I had to show you this picture, I'll be back later with a project but couldn't wait to put this up. Dalton and I sneaked off this morning and went to get Christmas photos made. They are all adorable but this is one of my favorites.

Mrs. Claus

I love these little Build a Bear paper dolls, I made one for each of my girls and a few extra for my upcoming craft fairs. These I attached to a Fancy Favor box and will add some candies or small toys or maybe a gift card. I made a few Mr. Claus ones too. Thanks for stopping by!

Tri Shutter Christmas

Hope your day has been as good as mine, I went on a field trip to The Pumpkin Patch with Sadie's class. This trip had to be rescheduled 4 times during October due to rain but today was a perfect day, lots of sunshine and warm temperatures. We left school at 8:20 and got back at 2:20 so I didn't get a whole lot accomplished as far as stamping was concerned. So I am showing you something we did a few weeks ago at Technique class. This is a Tri Shutter card and there is a tutorial available on Splitcoast. They look complicated but are really very easy and I think they are very pretty. I used the Holiday Lounge DP and the embossed card stock is Ruby Red and the Top Note is done in Temping Turquoise.

Special Order

Good morning! My husband and I are celebrating our 34th anniversary today! I love you Toy(not a typo, his name is really Toy)!

Okay, on to my project for today. My friend Gayle wanted a little something to give to her co-workers for an early Christmas gift so I came up with a box that holds six 4x4 note cards. I used a CAS design since she wanted 8 of them. The box holds 6 cards, 2 of each color. I used Real Red, Old Olive, and retired Baja Blue. The Designer paper is also retired and I don't remember the name of it. Hope you like it.

Give Thanks

It is hard to believe November is here already! Time to focus on Thanksgiving, I have been making some favor boxes to put on my Thanksgiving table. We usually eat an early breakfast on Thanksgiving and the main meal isn't served until 2:00. The smells from the kitchen make everyone ready to eat earlier so I usually have a little treat in the favor boxes, something like a trail mix or pumpkin cookies or peanut butter fudge if I'm really on the ball. I made this one with the Fancy Favor die and added a handle and a tag. The tag is from the Level One Hostess set called Holiday Best.
Sadie celebrated her birthday on Friday night with a costume party. She dressed as Aurora, she had all the accessories to go with her costume but I didn't get a picture before she took her crown, shoes, and wand off. She wanted a party with a Halloween Festival theme with games and prizes, she wanted a cake walk, ring toss, bean bag throw, and dancing. It was loud with about 25 kids coming but she had the most fun she has ever had for a birthday party. Me, I am just glad it is over!

Family & Friends

Finally after many hours of trying to figure out why my blog post were turning out all crazy and several attempts at Technical Support I think it is working. This is one of the cards we are making tomorrow at my Christmas Jingle Stamp a Stack. I really like the Christmas Jingle Simply Scrappin set, I have made 40 cards from it by just adding a little extra cardstock and a few more embellishments.


I have finally got caught up with all the kit orders and got those in the mail on Monday. Thanks to Gina(baby shower boxes), Susan, Gloria, and JoAnne(Halloween treats). You ladies are wonderful!

Easel Drawer Tutorial

If any of my directions are not clear feel free to email me with any questions you might have I have really enjoyed making these and will be making more when I get my little calendars for 2010. I used card stock for the easel and the drawer and then added Designer paper in certain areas.

You will need the following :

4x4 cardstock for the front of easel

4x8 cardstock scored at 2inches and 4 inches for the easel

4x11 cardstock scored at 1 1/8, 2 2/8, 6 3/8, 7 1/4 for the band around the drawer

6x6 cardstock for the drawer scored at 1 inch on all four sides

Designer paper cut to fit the areas where you want to use it

A button or brad to act as a stop for the easel and one for the drawer if desired

Cut and score all your pieces.

For the drawer cut in to the score line on one end, flip to opposite side and do the same(you will have 4 cuts with nothing being cut away).

Trim away just a sliver from these flaps to make it easier to adhere.

Use sticky strip tape on the flaps, fold all score lines and form the box.

Next fold on the score lines for the band, lay the formed box inside the band and fold around the box to find where to add the adhesive(you won't line up with the edge). I used sticky strip here as well since you will be pulling on this to open the drawer.

Fold on the score lines for the easel piece.




The front of the easel (4x4 piece) will be glued to the easel with the bottom edges lined up . You will want to have it completely decorated before adhering to the easel.

Next add your stop, I used a button brad here. You want to place it 2 inches from the bottom edge and 2 inches from the side. You can then add anything else to the easel that you want, I added a 3 3/4 x 2 piece of red card stock here. The last step is to add the easel to the top of your covered drawer, I used sticky strip again. The bottom portion of the easel is 4x4 and should fit perfectly on your 4x4 covered drawer.