Stamping Stone

Lotsa Headbands!

2011-09-28T12:09:00.001-05:00

Wanna know something weird? I love, love, love headbands. I love making them, I love giving them as gifts, and I think a cute headband totally completes an outfit.

That's not the weird part....the weird part is that I don't ever wear them. I think everyone in the whole world looks so cute in headbands...but me :o( I know, sad, right?! I can just never get them to look right on me. Either my hair looks too smushed, or I try to do the cute little poof thing with the headband and I end up looking like I have an abnormally shaped head, or I try to carefully place a headband in and around my perfectly placed hair and it just looks like a have a headband put in there that isn't really doing anything, gah! I need headband 101 or something! I'm trying to work on that though, because I so want to be a headband wearer.

So, it came to me, I was making several headbands to give my daughter for her birthday - she looks fabulous in them - and decided I was going to make some for myself and make myself wear them!

We'll see how that goes.....I'm stubborn.

In the meantime, I wanted to share the headbands that I made for Hunter. I made them in kind of a hurry, so I didn't take the time to do tutorials while making each one. I will do that when I make some more. I will also be adding these to my Etsy shop, so keep checking there too!

So there they are! I hope you like them!

I'm almost done editing photos for the Necklace, Hair Pin and Ring tutorial.....so keep checking back for that! That set is already listed on my Etsy shop, while supplies last!

Have a great rest of the week! Thanks for stopping by!

Hanes Comfort Toe Seam Socks

2011-09-26T13:33:00.004-05:00

I was recently given a chance to try out the Hanes Comfort Toe Seam Socks.......and I love them! Just as the name suggests, there is virtually no seam to try and adjust depending on what shoes you're wearing to avoid those sore spots on your toes. They. are. awesome.

The seams are so small, and not noticeable at all when you are wearing them. I don't know about you, but I have certain shoes that I can't wear certain socks with because the seams are bulky and eventually before the day is over, they leave a sore spot. No matter how many times during the day you try to adjust the socks, twising and pulling, the only thing you accomplish is creating a new sore spot.

And the fit is totally awesome.....yeah, I totally said "totally awesome". I have washed them several times, and they still fit just as well as the first time I wore them....no shrinkage. The heel even fits well. I don't have to pull down the heel part to actually get it on my heel, leaving a big bunch of fabric on the bottom of my foot. Or the alternative of just pulling it up so the entire heel of the sock is sticking out of the top of your shoe. Real attractive with shorts! Socks shouldn't be this much work people!

But wait....there's more!

These socks come in sizes to fit the whole family in all different styles. You can get them from crews to ankles to no shows, and in different colors too! You can find them in stores like Walmart, Target, Kmart, Kohl's, JCPenney, Sears and more. So go people, go get comfortable.

On a side note:

Flower Necklace, Hair pin, and Ring Set

2011-09-25T20:06:00.022-05:00

This project turned out so well! I was so excited! I love the mix of the two types of fabrics together. The gingham print is a cotton and the gray solid is sort of a silky fabric -- it was in my scrap fabric, so I'm not really sure!

I made a whole set - necklace, hair pin and a ring. I was kinda on a roll and almost added a bracelet too, but thought it may be a little much! Maybe later.

Here's a closer look at each piece:

I am in the process of editing all the pics for the tutorial that I will be posting this week! So keep checking back...or sign up for my blog updates by email and you'll get an email whenever I post something new.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!

I am linking this project to these link parties:

My Etsy Shop

2011-09-08T14:16:00.002-05:00

I have a few items for sale on my Etsy shop now. I really underestimated how long it would take to photograph, edit, and list each item! I have 10 different variations of the same item up - Large Clothespin Photo or Note holders. I have a few different colors, each with different embellishments and lining. These are gone when they're gone! I don't have any more of the large clothespins at the moment, unless I happen across some more at some point. So if you are interested - don't wait too long! Here's a little sneak peek....

Here's the link to my shop so you can get a better look at each one - http://www.etsy.com/shop/StampingStone

I will update you whenever I get new stuff listed. I will be updating here on my blog, on my Facebook page and on my Twitter. You can sign up to follow me on any or all of those by clicking on the buttons on my right side bar!

We got a few projects done around the house over the holiday weekend - I will post some pictures soon! I have a few different projects that I'm working on this week....also to be posted soon. I have a few birthdays coming up, so I've been trying to gather as many ideas as possible for some homemade gifts! There certainly isn't a shortage of ideas, I'm having more issues trying to narrow it down! LOL!

I hope everyone is having a great week. I am certainly enjoying the nice fall weather here in Missouri! I'm not sure how long it will last, but I'll take it as it comes! What's your weather like? Do you wait until your weather changes before you start your fall decor, or do you just go by what month it is?

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Home Sweet Home Featured!

2011-08-26T08:23:00.000-05:00

I'm very excited today to tell you that my Home Sweet Home project is being featured by Allison at Little Lovelies today! I've never spoken with her, just a few emails last night when I found out, but I have followed her blog for a while now and I can tell by her writing and just looking at her picture that she is the sweetest thing! I'm so honored to be a part of her Five Things on Friday Link Party Features. Go check out Little Lovelies and see the other four cards chosen....wow! Thanks so much Allison, for including me in this!

A Tutorial.......the Saga

2011-08-22T15:43:00.008-05:00

Oh my goodness......I can't believe I'm finally posting this tutorial! After a week of frustration trying to get this done, my camera not working for the pictures for said tutorial, and knowing we were going out of town over the weekend had me in fits by the end of last week! B U T......after taking a deep breath and my sweet J buying me a new camera (!), I finally finished pictures this afternoon and am ready to post. So I apologize for some of the pictures - those are the one's that were taken pre-new camera. My flash just stopped working and the lighting was not good. I did the best I could using my editing, but my editing skills could use some work too!

I created this project using the Book Bag and Bookworm digi stamps from JW Illustrations. These are such sweet images - I love them! I made a card with a little pocket that hold the little Bookworm Bookmark. Here's the finished project:

I started out choosing 3 colors of card stock and printing the Book Bag image on all 3 pieces.

Next, I cut the images apart picking and choosing which pieces I wanted in the different colors. This part was fun!

As you can see in the above picture, I took the brown pieces and the red pieces and ran them through my Big Shot using some texture plates. Here's a closer look:

I attached all the pieces on the brown Book Bag image and used a blade to cut along the top of the pocket on the front of the backpack to make the opening for the Bookmark. Then I used a white piece of card stock as my base and started piecing the pieces together using adhesive. On the brown Book Bag image, I was careful to use the adhesive only around the edges to leave the middle part open to allow the bookmark to slide in and out. So for this, you need a nice sturdy adhesive -- I love the red line tape. It works awesome on projects like this and especially for boxes and 3D items - it really stays together!

Now this is where I'm missing a few photos because of my camera going and dying on me (sniff, sniff).

I printed out the Bookworm image and used the watercolor technique to color it in. Then I cut a strip of the yellow card stock, after measuring how long the Bookmark needed to be so it could slide in the pocket appropriately. I used adhesive to attach the Bookworm to the yellow strip and then trimmed around the Bookworm. It added another layer to the Bookworm image to give it a little thickness. Then I personalized it with some adhesive chipboard alphabet from K & Company and Making Memories. I love these - they are so easy to use - just peel them and stick them!

Here's a few shots of the Bookmark in action:

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and I hope you visit JW Illustrations and add your link using the Book Bag image. We can't wait to see what you come up with!

I am linking my project to these link parties......come link yours up too!

Until next time........have a great week!

Bye Bye Summer :(

2011-08-16T08:38:00.000-05:00

This week school has started, the weather out has finally started to cool down a little, which means, in a sense, summer is officially over :( Our summer kids have all gone back home to start school and that has left our house very quiet all of a sudden! That means it's time to start filling my time with my blogging, crafting, etc. to occupy myself. I have been promising that I'm opening my Etsy shop, posting more tutorials, more giveaways and I have been horrible about following through with that since the summer started! I apologize for that, I had good intentions that I would keep up while all the kids were here, and as you can see, that didn't happen so much! We had a great time and we are looking forward to their first break from school so they can come back, but until then, it's time to go to work! Starting today.....I'm working on some new projects, I have my camera all set up for some tutorials, and I'm brainstorming some new ideas! Here we go!

Lingerie Bag Tutorial

2011-08-06T15:06:00.018-05:00

Hello everyone! I finally finished my tutorial that I've been working on this week for you guys! I'm so excited about how it turned out! I've had a few comments and emails from people not knowing how to use digital stamps. They are so fun and versatile to work with....you are only limited by your imagination really. Today, I wanted to introduce you to a really fun way to use them.....that's a little different than the norm! I have a really cute digital stamp image of a lingerie set from JW Illustrations and I immediately thought of this project! Here's what I started with:

Cute right?! So my idea was to use this as a template and create my own little mini lingerie out of fabric to sew on the front of a lingerie laundry bag. This is the final product:

I'm really pleased how it turned out and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. The hardes part was having to hand sew everything! It took much longer that way, but it was nice to sit and stitch in front of the tv for a change. Now, this would not HAVE to be done by hand, but I am without a sewing machine at the moment.......soon to change, I hope!

This type of project using digital stamps to create something with fabric is much easier when using an image that has larger scaled pieces. Does that make sense?! It would be harder to use an image with a lot of small detail, because you would have to cut and piece much smaller pieces of fabric together. Now, it would be totally do-able, just more tedious.

Supplies needed:
lingerie laundry bag (I bought my little lingerie laundry bag at the dollar store, so very reasonable)
digital stamp image
scrap pieces of fabric used for lingerie
old tshirt used for backing
sewing supplies (thread, straight pins)
ribbon, lace and cording used for detail on lingerie

So I started out with my lingerie laundry bag

I printed out 2 of the Amber Lingerie Digital Stamp from JW Illustrations. One on regular printer paper (used for the tshirt pattern) and one on card stock (used for the fabric pattern)

Take your image printed on printer paper and cut it out leaving a small border around it. Doesn't have to be precise - this border ends up getting trimmed off later.

I took one of J's old tshirts and cut out a piece large enough for the images, pinned my pattern on with straight pins and trimmed around my pattern leaving a little bit of a border around. This border is not really needed and get trimmed off later, but it does make it easier to work with having a little extra there when stitching.

Now take your image printed out on card stock and cut out the part of the image that will be your fabric.

Now lay your fabric with the printed side down - so you're marking on the backside of it. Put a temporary adhesive on the front of your cardstock pieces - I just used pieces of rolled scotch tape - to hold your pattern in place while tracing around it. Since your fabric is face down, you also want to be sure to lay your pattern face down also. Use a light pen and trace around your pattern and cut it out. If you're really good and have a good adhesive, you can just cut around the pattern and cut out the tracing.....but I'm not that good!

Now pin your fabric to your tshirt.

Now start stitching! After you have your fabric all stitched to your tshirt, you can start having fun with the lace, ribbon and cording to add details to your lingerie! I used a satin ribbon for the straps, the organza lace with sequins on the edges as shown on the original stamp image, organza ribbon for the bows and some black cording across the bottom of the bust line. On the bottoms, I used the black cording for the string part and the organza ribbon for the bows. You could really go crazy and use your imagination with this part, but I tried to stick to the original image as I could for this one. When you're finished with fixin' it up, you can trim off the extra tshirt. You still wanna leave a little edge so it's easier to stitch onto the laundry bag.

Now just stitch it to your lingerie laundry bag! That's it! Pretty simple! I think this would be a cute bridal shower gift with a Victoria's Secret gift card inside.

Now if you have a sewing machine and/or a better seamstress than I, you could cut out a few of these steps and do all the stitching at one time, instead of one thing at a time, like I did! Again, I'm just not that good yet!

Here are a few closer shots of the details:

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial, and if you still have questions, please email or leave them in the comments section. I will be happy to answer any you may have. I would also love to see any of your lingerie bags that you make using this tutorial! Please send me a link or leave the link in the comments section. So head on over to JW Illustrations to get your image and get started!

I am linking this project to these link parties - you can link yours too!

Have a great week!

Little Red Riding Hood Sweet Treats & Say it Monday

2011-08-01T22:37:00.012-05:00

Here we are for another post for JW Illustrations. I really adore this cute Little Red Riding Hood image! She's so sweet.

This is my "You're so Sweet" card that Little Red Riding Hood is going to deliver with her basket of sweet treats to someone special.

The fruit is filled with some kisses, but you could put just about anything you wanted in it. The cute basket is made using some of JW Illustrations digital paper called Strawberry-licious! I used the cute red and white gingham pattern, but there is 10 papers in all in this bundle.

I got the basket template here and the template for the apples here. The image is in the form of a digital stamp, so you're able to color it however you want, with any colors you want. Digital stamps are so fun and versatile. You can use the same image for different projects and use different colors and it looks totally different.

I hope you liked the Little Red Riding Hood project! Go to JW Illustrations to see the rest of the design team's creations! Also, link up your own Little Red Riding Hood project for the challenge.

It's also Say It Monday!! Any new comments on any post will get you a little treat from me! Since my post is so behind today, any comments made through tomorrow (Tuesday) midnight will be accepted. As always, any new follows via twitter, facebook, or email qualifies also - but you have to leave a comment to let me know!

This post is linked to these link parties - go and link yours too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Join me on Facebook now!

2011-07-29T12:35:00.000-05:00

I finally just added a facebook account for all my crafts, home decor, cooking, DIY's, etc. I really am trying to focus on my blog, my crafting, and my Etsy shop (still in the works! coming soon!) and hopefully gain some more followers/friends by doing this. I have learned from many of the talented bloggers out there that you really have to be involved in Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and any other social networks to lead the way to your blog that lots may be very interested in, but just don't know about it yet. You may not have to do ALL of them, but doing at least one of them does boost your stats. So click here and add me or click the Facebook button on the sidebar. See you there!

I just love Fridays! J gets off at noonish today and we're going to see Cowboys and Aliens! He's been waiting for this to come out for months now!

Have a super weekend!

Thank You!

2011-07-26T10:47:00.000-05:00

Thank you for all your sweet comments! I have some special gifts to send out tomorrow! In the meantime, you can follow me on Twitter @StampingStone, or sign up to get updates via email.....just click one or both of the buttons on the right! Stay tuned for another fun project to be posted soon!

Also, it's not too late to enter the fun challenge at JW Illustrations. Grab her fun firetruck digital stamp for only $1 and create a project to enter this challenge and win a $10 coupon to JW Illustrations! Click here to see the post with all the design team projects. Such fun ideas!

Have a great day!

Home Sweet Home

2011-07-25T17:59:00.006-05:00

JW Illustrations has THE cutest clip art bundle called "Home Sweet Home". I just love the trendy color combo and the fun images. For this project, I decided to do a card that would be perfect to give to a new homeowner or someone that just moved to a new house.

See the dimension?

I printed out 3 images and cut and pieced it together to create a nice dimension. On one of the images, I cut out the front door and layered the piece without the door on top to make the door appear to be a little sunken - kind of a reverse 3D I guess!

Inside I stamped a simple "Congratulations". You could add any handwritten sentiment to that to fit the exact occasion. I layer the white card stock just like I did on the front.

Next I used the same image and printed out some address labels. I used my own name and address on these, since we just moved and I needed some myself! But, as soon as one of my good friends (hi candy!) moves, she'll be getting these beauties! I made a little matchbook type holder for the labels.

As you can see, I tied a ribbon around the front of the card, so I just used the ribbon on the inside to tuck the matchbook of labels in so they stay put.

Here's a shot of the card and labels together. I just LOVE Love love these colors!

A few more details that you may not have noticed is the little flower pot. I cut it out to layer on, tied a little silver cord around it and added some crystal effects to make it shiny. The little flower is just one that I had and I added a little turquoise brad in the middle. (You can click on any of the images to see them larger)

Another fun little technique that I did was to use the micro beads some of the shingles. I love those micro beads! It's been so long since I used them.....I use to bead EVERYTHING!! lol! I just cut out a few random shingles and added the red lined tape and then smushed them in the beads - in this case, I used the clear ones. Cute, right?!

Click here to see the other images in this clip art bundle. I hope you enjoyed the project today!

I linked my project to Tip Junkie - Tip Me Tuesday! You can link up your project too!

I also added my link to Today's Creative blog.....add yours too! She is also promoting an awesome deal on the Silhouette with a discount code. Go check it out!

Remember it's still "Say It" Monday! Any new comment will get a special gift from me!

Have a great week!

Say It Monday!!!

2011-07-25T10:32:00.000-05:00

I'm starting a new tradition on my blog today called "Say It" Monday! Any new comment left on my blog, on any post, gets a special gift from me! A little something from my stash....maybe a card, a little notebook, something from my supply cupboard....you just never know! It will be something that you can use yourself, or maybe re-gift it to someone else. Re-gifting in this case is allowed! Please leave a comment with your email, so I can contact you. Any new followers on Twitter will be accepted also!

So just "Say It"!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Tailgate Party!

2011-07-23T19:09:00.002-05:00

I love tailgate parties! All the fun, excitement, team spirit and the people watching, of course! The clip art bundle called "Tailgate Party" over at JW Illustrations is PERFECT for any Tailgate party or game day get together. Some great ideas to use for this bundle are some cute invites for parties or game day BBQ's, some fun printable for soda (or beer) bottles, name place cards, some fun little tags for straws in your drinks, or tags on some toothpicks for finger food. Ideas are endless and you'll only be limited by your imagination! I did a fun waterfall card invitation....

It's really hard to photograph these fun cards to really give you an idea of how they work, unless you've seen one before......but I gave it my best! I love the banner across the top.

After you pull the slide piece all the way out, this is what is revealed. Fun for an invitation, right?!

On the inside is all the deets on the party.

I would love to see any projects that you do with this fun clip art bundle from JW Illustrations. Just leave a link in the comments section. I would be happy to share measurements and instructions with anyone that's interested.

I also added a link to this post to a really fun website called I Heart Naptime. She does a Sunday Scoop every week that you link up a project so people can check it out. There are plenty of really neat ideas - go check out all the links and link yours up!

Thanks for stopping by!

I'm gonna do it too.......

2011-07-19T10:09:00.000-05:00

Hi all! I've finally decided to take the plunge and open an Etsy shop. I've thought about it many times, and been to the sight to purchase stuff many times, and I'm going for it! There are many talented folks on there that I visit often and drool over their products, and I think, "I'm not THIS good", or "I probably won't sell anything", and many other negative comments that I make to myself every day.......why do I do that?! I'm know I'm not the only one that does that, but I'm going to do it.....just do it, right?! I've already begun the process and I have to tell you it's hard work, and I admire all the people with successful shops on there, because I'm starting to realize how hard they work to do it. I'm in the process of getting projects together and photographing them, deciding what to put on there, what items I would have more success with, deciding prices, etc, etc, etc. It will be a few weeks until it's open, but I will make sure that I post to announce my grand opening and have some specials going on to hopefully create some buzz. I'm working on a few things right now that I will list on here first for sort of a "preview", before listing them on Etsy. I have to admit, now that I've made up my mind, the butterflies are gone, and I'm so excited about it! So, keep checking back!! I'll keep you posted on my progress!

I also have several really fun projects to post this week. I'm soo excited about them - maybe I'll throw in a tutorial for you too!

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to sign up to get updates in your email so you don't miss anything! Have a great week!

Hot Tamales!

2011-07-17T17:09:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone! My project today is for JW Illustrations using her super cute Firetruck Digital Stamp from the Firefighter Kids clip art bundle. Click on the link to see the whole bundle. So cute, right? So, I was trying to think out of the box and ended up turning the firetruck INTO a box!

I printed out the firetruck twice and colored it using some stamping markers. Then I cut apart one of the images and used a few of the pieces to layer on the other truck using dimensionals to give the truck some dimension.

What better to put in the firetruck than Hot Tamales! One of my favorite movie snacks!

To create the truck on the back of the box - I flipped the image and then printed it and colored --- but not before coloring one and cutting it out and realizing that it needed to be flipped! DANG!

This is what it looks like with the treat bag out of the box.

Go to Jessica Weible Illustrations website to see what the other design team members did with this image and to join the challenge! This adorable firetruck digital stamp image is available for just $1 - can you say WOW!! So grab yours, create something and post your link. Keep checking back - there will be more projects coming with the other goodies that we got to create with this month. If you subscribe to my blog via email, you won't miss out on any new posts! Just new project posts.....no spam!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I can't believe the weekend is almost over :( Have a great week!

News!!!

2011-07-12T08:37:00.003-05:00

As you can see by the cute little button on my right sidebar, that I am now on the Jessica Weible Illustrations Design Team! I'm so excited about this! In her shop she has clip art, digital images (stamps, papers, clip art bundles, and much more) The images are so cute....you have to check them out! Go ahead, click on her name above....I'll wait here. (tapping fingers on desk)

Cute, right?!!! OK, so what are you gonna get first? You can check back here on the 18th to see my first creation using one of her digital stamp images - I can hardly wait! I will also post links to the other design team members blogs so you can see their creations too. What will you make? Post your links in my comments - maybe I'll have something pretty to send you :0)

To start things off, she's having an awesome sale!!! Who doesn't like BOGO's??!!! Go ahead, click on it....

Stay tuned for a few more exciting announcements on my blog! Please add your email and subscribe to my posts - you'll know everytime I post something new - WILL NOT share your email, or send out spam....only announcements of new blog posts.

Have a great July day!

Love You.........

2011-07-06T15:50:00.000-05:00

This is my card to submit for the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #9. It was a super easy card to make with one of my fave color combos! The challenge was to create a masculine card using Kraft color paper. I've always loved the striking look of using the Kraft with Black. It creates a very clean, crisp and simple look to your projects....especially the masculine ones.

The black and white striped piece is actually a piece of ribbon I had that was just the perfect size for this card! NEVER throw away scrap ribbon - you can always find room for ribbon, right?! The image was stamped in white craft ink and the "love you" sentiment is a rub on....LOVE those rub on's, they are so simple to use!

Click the link above to see the other projects submitted for this challenge.

Thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment - love those! Have a great rest-of-the-week!

4th of July, Birthday AND Challenge Card......

2011-06-29T15:12:00.000-05:00

Wow, talk about multi tasking! First and foremost, I was creating this card for the CAS-ual Fridays challenge. This time the challenge was "Getting Edgy". Any project with a fun edge on it. I had to do a picture without the white underneath so you could see the "edge" on it.

There are so many really cool border or edge punches any more, but I decided to go even "edgier"! I used my large star punch from Stampin' Up! to create my edge. The red and white strip is a piece of ribbon, and the firecracker was made from cutting a rectangle in blue and then cutting some red strips to glue on it. I LOVE the cards that use your own handwriting, and though I don't love my handwriting, it's not too bad.......until I start trying to write on my projects! I don't know what happens to me when I try that! It never even looks like my handwriting. I never know whether to just write fast and get it over with, or if it would look better to write slower and try to have more control......nothing works for me. UGH! So if anyone has any advice on this matter, please enlighten me via email or in the comments section - I would appreciate it!!

Here is the card from the front showing the edge when it's slightly open....

And here is the card from the front with it closed......

I also debated on whether to cut off the part of the stars that were hanging over the edge, but then I thought, "wait, it's suppose to be EDGY!" So I left them.

This card serves another purpose - it's going to be J's dad's card for his birthday. His birthday is on July 3rd and I have heard him mention that his birthday always got kinda mixed in with the holiday; so even though I used the patriotic colors, I wanted to be clear on what we're celebrating. I think he'll love it!

Thanks for stopping by and as always, I love the comments! If you wanted to see more of the projects from this challenge, or to play along, go here.

Summer time, busy time!

2011-06-24T11:28:00.000-05:00

I'm still around! I haven't posted any new projects for a few weeks, but there will be some fun posts coming soon! I have kids coming and going throughout the summer for their summertime visits, so when they are here, I don't take too much time away from them to craft. I will, however, have some more projects to post in the coming week with an exciting announcement! I hope you'll keep checking back or better yet.....sign up for my updates by email and you'll know exactly when I post something new! Stay tuned........

Birthday Card

2011-06-10T19:31:00.008-05:00

This card came to me as an idea that I wanted to try and honestly didn't know if I could pull it off!! I'm so glad that I finally tried it because it came together so quickly and was simple to do. I think in my mind, I make things so much more complicated than they are! And guess what? NO STAMPING!! I don't think I've ever made a card like that before! Enjoy and please comment or email if you would like measurements or anything!

Happy Birthday Jared!

On the inside I printed out the sentiment "Wii wanted to wiish you a very Happy Biirthday!" I think he will love it!

I linked this project to these link parties -- click the buttons to come link yours too! Join the parties!

Thanks for checking in!

Just Us Girls Challenge 87

2011-06-09T21:08:00.000-05:00

This was such a fun challenge because it immediately reminded me of summertime! Here is the sketch we were to follow:

Don't those make you think of beach balls, or is that just me wishing we were out on a lake somewhere? LOL!

Here is my card:

BEACH BALLS! I just cut circles from differnt colors and pieced them together to make beach balls. On the yellow and red one's I added some crystal effects to kind of set them apart from the big one, before they just all blended together too much.

Check out the other girls interpretation of the sketch here - Just Us Girls

Thanks for stopping by!

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #5

2011-06-08T22:31:00.000-05:00

Hi there! I'm having fun trying some new challenges lately. This one is is from CAS-ual Fridays and here is the sketch we were to follow

Fun, right?! Here is my card....

I really love these colors! I used the Medallion Stamp from Stampin' Up! and stamped it a few different times with the two different colors of ink. Then I cut them apart and layered them back together adding dimension to the two blue parts.

Clink on the CAS-ual Fridays link above to visit their website and check out the other talented ladies take on this sketch.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-06T18:21:00.003-05:00

I have a new project to share with you today. These are the actual projects that I made to give to my mom(s) for Mother's Day this year. They were quick and easy to do and could be modified to use for any occasion. The Post it note holder was really fun to do, it's been so long since I had made one. There are so many new techniques and they keep evolving and coming up with new stuff, but sometimes it's good to go back to the basics! So here they are:

I started out with 4 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of Ruby Red cardstock scored at 5 1/2".

Then I cut another piece of Ruby Red cardstock at 4" x 5 1/4". Most of the time you see different colors used as your next layer, but I decided to use the same color, but I sponged Ruby Red ink on all the edges to make it pop out a bit. It's very subtle, but it works!

Next I cut a piece of Vanilla cardstock into 1 1/8" x 1 1/8" squares - 12 of them. 6 of them I randomly laid on a embossing plate and ran through my Big Shot to add a little texture. I cut them first so I could pick exactly where I wanted each piece on the embossing plate. If you had a more uniform design, like polka dots or something, that wouldn't be necessary. This is the pattern that I used and how they turned out:

To make the embossed part pop out, I sponged the Ruby Red ink on top of them. I just pounced it lightly so the color would be more concentrated on the raised portion. I didn't use even pressure on them all so they wouldn't be all uniform in color.

I stamped random images from several different sets on the other 6 pieces. As you can see, you don't have to choose stamps that the whole image fits on the paper. Just using part of a stamp works great for these smalller pieces.

I worked a little while and moved them around until I found the perfect spot for each one. I also played around with the spacing and laid them all out before I started adhering them to the paper.

Next I used a Sissix dye for a layered flower.

I sponged the edges of all the layers with the Ruby Red ink. It really does make a big difference, especially on layers. See.....

I stacked them all up and punched a hole in the center and added a rhinestone brad. Now the fun part! I started crunching the paper all over, crumpling it up around the brad. It's kind of scary at first, but after you see the result, you aren't afraid any more! Now just adhere your beautiful flower to the front of the card.

As far as the Post It not holder, it's really easy! The measurement is 3 1/4" x 8". Score it at 2", 2 1/4",
5 1/4" and 5 1/2".

I did another flower just like the one on the card except for instead of the rhinestone brad, I used the Build-a-Brad kit. I got mine from Stampin' Up! and I'm not sure if other companies have it or not. It's so fun! It's some brads with a flat front and some clear "bubbles" with adhesive on the back to go on top of it.

Stamp on some paper, punch it out with the 1/2" circle punch, use some glue to adhere it to the flat part of the brad and then stick on the clear bubble. I used alphabet stamps and used their initials.

They turned out so nice, I love them!

I added some velcro to the Post It note holder for the closure.

I hope you find some time to try these projects. If you do, please post a comment with a link to your project, I would love to see them!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day! Thanks for stopping by and as always questions and comments are welcome!

I'm linking up this project here:

New Year, New Post, New Life

2011-02-09T10:46:00.001-06:00

Hi everyone! I have been MIA for quite a while now. LOTS has changed, and I'm not even sure if the word LOTS could sum up the vastness of it. I no longer live in Lincoln, Nebraska - I am now a resident of a little town in Missouri called Rolla. It's a nice town, but very different from the city! I still love to do all my paper crafts, that is the one thing that hasn't changed! I don't have my stamp studio complete as of yet, so it may still be a while before I start posting projects again, but I'll try to keep up with posts as I can. My new email is shonastone@gmail.com.

It's snowing like crazy here right now! I know it's only February, but I'm ready to be done with this stuff! I hope everyone has a great day!

September!

2009-09-19T20:45:00.010-05:00

Hey all! I hope everyone is getting used to the new school schedule by now.......I'm still having trouble, but we're getting it figured out!

Our theme this month is Fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving. I love projects with these themes! I just love all the colors that go with them.

My first project is a card using one of my fave sets called "Seasons of Friendship". It has this great tree image, with several little images that you can put with the tree - a little birdie, a flower, leaves and a snowflake. It also has the great saying with it that you see on my card.

My base is Brocade Blue, layered with More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, and then Very Vanilla on top. On the Vanilla piece I brayered More Mustard on the top half and Brocade Blue on the bottom - but first putting a circle that I punched out of printer paper and sticking it on using removable adhesive. I used printer paper because the thinner paper works best so you get a clear shape because the brayer can get the ink right up to the template edge. I stamped the tree image using Chocolate Chip ink and stamping it three times without reinking. That gives you the shadowy images. Then I stamped the leaves using Crushed Curry, More Mustard and Chocolate Chip (I stamped off first when using the chocolate chip so it wouldn't be too dark) I stamped the verse in Chocolate Chip and used 3 of our Antique Brass Vintage brads.

On the Mustard layer, I added a little faux stitching down the side. and finished it off using some of our awesome Chocolate Taffeta ribbon.

For my next project, I made a cute little name place card/treat cup for a Halloween party or just to give to friends! I'm addicted to these little Sweet Treat Cups that are in the new Holiday Mini Catalog. And you get 12 of them for $2.95!! That's a bargain and they are so darn cute and easy to do! You can fill them with just about anything! Okay, probably not liquid! But my project gets pretty darn close to toeing that line!

This is the top of it. I used Pumpkin Pie and I freehanded the web using the white gel pen. The little circle is punched out using our scalloped circle punch. That circle is actually what was punched out of the middle of the image that's on the bottom part that you'll see in the next picture. I used our large oval punch and Elegant Eggplant layered with Pumpkin Pie punched with the small oval punch. I popped up the circle and the ovals with dimensionals and wrote my son's name using the white gel pen again! I love that pen!

Now you can kind of see where that circe came from! I stamped the same image from the Sweet Centers set using the Pumpkin Pie ink and used the 3/4" and 1/2" circe punches to punch out some of the orange images to layer on top of the Eggplant piece. I also used a smaller hole punch to punch out the eyes of the orange image so the purple showed through on them. For some reason, I did not like the orange eyes, nose and mouths!! I'm weird like that! AND, the best part.....I filled the little cup with Oobleck! (Easy! Just mix 1/2 cup corn starch with 1/4 cup water and add food coloring!) That's why I made this one to sit on the cup part, so the oobleck would not be touching the cardstock and make it soggy. The flash made it hard to see the color, so I took another picture to capture that a little better! So cute!

My last project is another Sweet Treat Project! It's a cute card using the sets Animal Crackers and Sweet Centers again. My base is More Mustard layered with the Top Note Die shapes in Really Rust and Very Vanilla. I punched out a scalloped circle punch to use for a template and sponged Bashful Blue while moving it around in different positions. I paper pieced the balloon basket using the Rust and Mustard papers and popped it up with dimensionals. I stamped the squirrel in Chocolate Chip and sponged it using chocolate and mustard inks, cut it out and stuck him in the basket. I had to freehand some little whiskers so you could distinguish the nose/eye! For some reason, it just didn't look right when you couldn't see the whole squirrel - it just looked like little dots! I filled the cup with almonds! It's finished off with the 1/2 twill tape. I really like that stuff, but just don't think to use it very often. It's very easy to work with.

Well.....I hope you enjoyed my projects today! Please come back again to visit!

New Projects

2009-08-19T22:51:00.011-05:00

My first project is a little card holder that holds 3 little note cards and 3 envelopes. Perfect for gifts and easy enough to make several at a time! I used our Razzleberry Lemonade Designer Paper and the Flight of the Butterfly stamp set. I also used our Wide Oval Punch, our Large Oval Punch, our eyelet border punch and the Swirly die with our Big Shot. This project features our new In Colors for this catalog! Aren't they fabulous!

On the front of my project, I used Melon Mambo, Crused Curry, and Rich Razzleberry. I also used the Rich Razzleberry Polka Dot Grograin Ribbon. I layered the Curry oval on the Melon oval, layered a couple of butterly images and put them together. The sentiment is from the Fresh Cuts stamp set - I just love that font!

This is the note holder open with the cards on the right and envelopes on the left.

One this note card, the base is Crushed Curry. I added a little of the Razzleberry Lemonade Designer Paper (just a one inch strip) on the bottom of the inside so you could see it underneath the eyelet border.

This one I used Soft Suede.

And this one is Bermuda Bay - arent' these great names! By the way, don't you just love my papertowels behind the cards?? It's quilted!! ha ha!
My next project also uses the In Colors sponged on using a template that I made by punching out circles and laying it on top of the card. I just inked up the small flower on the Inspired by Nature set to stamp on the front. The ribbon is a great technique just using glue dots to gather the ribbon to make it ruffly! You should be able to click on the picture to enlarge it to see the detail of it a little better. It adds a really fun touch!

The base of this card is Basic Black, then layered with Crushed Curry, and then Whisper White on top. I used the Rich Razzleberry ink for the middle circle and Crushed Curry for the other two. The one on the right, I just added a little more ink to make it darker in color. The ribbon is the Rich Razzleberry Polka Dot Grograin Ribbon again. The sentiment is from the Trendy Trees set.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blogger's Challenge - Sketch

2009-07-31T20:41:00.003-05:00

This week was a fun sketch! That simply means that you are given a "sketch" of a layout of a card and you create it according the sketch. I personally love these challenges because it kind of gives you a starting place, especially if you're lacking in your mojo! LOL! Here's the sketch:

And here's my card that I made:

I used my new favorite product from our new catalog - the Sunny Day Simply Scrappin' Kit. I absolutely love the colors, the images and the papers in this kit. You simply HAVE to have it!! I started out with a white base, and added the top background layer, which is a paper from the kit. Then I decided to add the Big Shot Die "Swirly" in a couple of different colors. After I cut them out in the Pumpkin and the Pink Passion, I decided to try to piece the different colors together for the next layer! It turned out really cute, I thought! Then I added another little piece of the Pink Swirly and trimmed it off at both ends after finding the perfect place for it on the card. The flower images and the cute little birdie tag on the top are some of the cardstock stickers from the kit. The sentiment is from the Best Wishes and More set. I sponged a little of the turquoise chalk around the tag to add a little shading. I was pretty darn pleased with how it turned out!

Can't believe that summer is coming to an end already. Time for school shopping, school open houses, locker check outs, schedule pick ups, and more. Oh my.......here we go again!

Some fun gift ideas!

2009-07-20T10:01:00.005-05:00

My projects are using the fabulous set called "Wings of Friendship". I love this set with the new Designer Series Paper "Razzleberry Lemonade". I made a little gift set that features several different projects. Take a look:

Isn't it cute?! Here's a closer look at the individual projects (with a little better lighting!). The first one is a Post It Note holder. I used the Razzleberry Lemonade papers and the sentiment stamp that reads "Your friendship means the world to me". I also used a little of the Razzleberry Polka Dot ribbon. I used a hair band for the closure. I put it underneath the ribbon, so when you open it, the band stays attached to the cover so it won't get lost! In the picture, you can really see my dimensionals I used to attach the sentiment (which is on vellum, by the way!), but it's really not that noticeable in real life. Just the lighting of the camera, I guess.

Here's a picture of it open:

Next is the matching pen! I used some of our Sticky Strip red line tape, which is the bomb for sticking paper, glitter, beads, ribbon, kids up on the walls.......just kidding about that last one! But it's pretty sticky, it would probably work if you wanted to try it! ha ha! I just wrapped the Sticky Strip around the pen and cut a piece of the DSP to fit and rolled it around. And there is some of that awesome Razzleberry Ribbon again!

This is a mini magazine holder shaped box to hold some little 3 x 3 gift cards. I used the Crushed Curry cardstock, stamped some of the other images with the Curry ink to give it a tone on tone look. To jazz it up a little, I stamped the bird and the flower images on vellum with the Razzleberry ink, cut them out and adhered them using dimensionals. I used a strip of the DSP and ribbon around the bottom. Here's a 360 of the box: (just ignore the little back pieces of the dimensionals that are static stuck to the bottome! I don't know how I didn't notice that while taking the pics!)

Here are the cute little 3 x 3 cards that are inside the box. I used most of the patterns of the Razzleberry Lemonade DSP on them with the sentiment again. Our Wide Oval punch and Large Oval Punch work so great with many of our sets! These are all of the new In Colors! Minus the Rich Razzleberry - it's the color of the ribbon I've used on it. The colors are - Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay, Soft Suede, Dusty Durango, and Crushed Curry. Don't they sound as yummy as they look?!

Well, that's all my projects! I hope you enjoyed them!

Blogger's Challenge - CASE

2009-07-10T12:54:00.002-05:00

This week, the challenge was to CASE ("Copy And Steal Everything") a fellow Blogger's Challenge member. EVERYONE is so talented, it's hard to choose one! But I kept coming back to this card, made by none other than my BFF Lisa Martz:

I love the layers and the different shapes....it's just a fun card! Here's my CASE:

My CASE was the sketch, or the layout of the card. I obviously changed the colors and the images to make it my own. I used some of the new In Colors that I absolutely love this time! My base is Rich Razzleberry, and the next layer is a piece of the textured Melon Mambo and a piece of the Razzleberry Lemonade Designer Series Paper (LOVE THIS!). The next layer up is another piece of the Razzleberry Lemonade paper in a different color/pattern. I used images from the stamp set Blooming With Love. I replaced Lisa's beautiful coloring on her card with paper piecing on mine! I'm not a very good colorer! I'm working on it though! The pot is another one of the new In Colors called Dusty Durango - it makes a great terra cotta pot! The flowers are cut out and layered on also, that's how I got them to overlap the pot. I JUST got the eyelet border punch -- can you believe that?! I've survived this long without it! It's very fun and I'll be using it a lot now that I have it! I stamped the watering can on the Melon Mambo piece with the VersaMark pad. That part was an after-thought -- it may have made the card a little bottom heavy.......now that I think about it, there's nothing wrong with bottom-heavy! ha ha! Bottom heavy is beautiful! I think this may have opened a new door for me -- I think this is the first project I've done with NO ribbon in a long time!

Well, that's it for today. Gotta go clean some more and cut paper for my open house tomorrow. (Anyone that is local is welcome to come! Email me if you need info.)

Thanks for stopping by!

SNR Card Universe 4th of July Blog Hop!

2009-07-04T01:17:00.005-05:00

I'm so glad that you could join the SNR Card Universe Blog Hop! If you came from Janice Webb's blog, you're on the right track! If you didn't, you may want to hop to SNR Card Universe to start at the beginning. So grab a cup of coffee, sit down and enjoy!

Our assignment was to do a red, white and blue project. Here's my card:

I started out with a white base and just added the cut out stars. I cut a few of them out of patterned paper and a few I stamped. I didn't have a large enough star punch, so I found a large star stamp in one of my sets and stamped it on the back of the patterned paper and then cut it out. Worked perfect! I also popped them up using some dimensionals. The USA is made from some fun chipboard stickers that I got at the craft store. I just pounced them upside down in my blue ink pad to color them. Then tied the ribbon on......that's it! Really easy! To make the ribbon fray like that, just cut the edges off and pull it apart. (this only works on grosgrain ribbon) This is the second patriotic card that I've done using this technique -- it reminds me of fireworks! That's it for me! You can click on my blog title to see the rest of my blog and projects. I hope you come back and visit soon!

Your next stop on the blog hop will be Thena Smith! I know she'll have something great for you to see! Enjoy the rest of the tour!

Blogger's Challenge - Patriotic!

2009-07-03T10:51:00.005-05:00

I love the spirit of 4th of July, all the family get-togethers, cook outs, summertime, etc, etc, etc. BUT......I hate fireworks! I love looking at them from afar.......very afar! I don't like the idea of being around them or the thought of my kids being around them even more. Of course, they hate that! My brother is really good about putting on a "show" for us and picking one's that are safe for them to "do" themselves. Just another area that, as a mom, I'm "no fun"!! That's from my kids - I happen to think I'm very fun! Ha ha!

Anyways, here is my project. It's not very often that I do a clean simple design that I don't end up with the feeling that something is missing! But I like this one!

I know what you're thinking......"uh, have you ever heard of a stamp-a-ma-jig"??? Funny thing is, I used one! Ha ha! If you don't know, a stamp-a-ma-jig is this cool little tool to help you stamp an image straight and exactly where you want it EVERY TIME -- in this case, it was operator error! I added the stamped image AFTER I put the ribbon on, so it was hard to position without the ribbon getting in the way, therefore making it hard for me to see if it was really straight. Oh well, you get the idea! To fray the ribbon like that, you just cut the edge off each side and just pull it apart. This technique works with the grosgrain ribbon - I don't think it would work with silk or other kinds. I love the look of stamping the inside of the cards a little, but hardly ever think to do it! (my picture was a little blurry for some reason - those are little stars that I stamped with versamark and then with white)

Supplies used for this project were: brillian blue cs, real red cs, whisper white cs, real red 5/8" wide grosgrain ribbon, white 1/4" wide grosgrain ribbon, Celebrate This stamp set, star punch and white craft ink. The stars on the inside were from the retired Sporting Goods stamp set.

Have a wonderful and SAFE holiday weekend! I get to go to the Larry the Cable Guy show! They are filming it for the Comedy Central channel, so watch for me!!

Blogger's Challenge - Alter it!

2009-06-26T21:44:00.005-05:00

I got these cute little shaped chipboard albums at Michael's in the $1 aisle a while back. They had lots of different fun shapes. Today, I altered the car shape in honor of my daughter that turned 16 years old last week! I had some fun pictures from her birthday that I thought would work perfect for this. Here's what it looked like before:

Here's a few pictures of different angles so you can see all the details. I did it all in black cause that's what color her car is. I covered it in black paper and used my Versamark pad all over it with clear embossing powder. I free-handed the window shapes with vellum and cut out shapes for the headlights and tail lights. I used my 2" circle puch for the wheels and embossed a background stamp to make the "treads". I used the 3/4" circle punch and silver paper for the inside of the wheels. That's an image from the Wanted set in the center! I just used black sparkly sticker letters to put her name on. I thought it turned out pretty cute!

I took so much time doing the cover that I didn't get any of the other pages done yet! Here are the pictures that I will add to it - I'll try to remember to post the pages as I get them done too!

This is her on the morning of her birthday sitting in the car waiting to go in and get her license! She is holding her certificate saying that she passed her driver's ed class and got her written and driving tests waived. She just had to go in and fill out the paperwork and do the eye test!

She absolutely forbid me to take my camera in to the DMV to take pics of her getting her license!! Teenagers!

The next few pictures were very emotional for me! She was laughing at me because I was crying! She is getting in her car and driving off all by herself for the very first time! It was both a very proud moment, but a very terrifying moment all at once!

This was a very fun challenge to do! I love altering things and if you're like me, you have things stashed that you've saved from the trash to "do something with"! My 16 year old (that still sounds weird!) told me one day that I needed to go on one of those talk shows about people that hoard things! LOL!! I laughed at her and she said, "No, seriously, mom.....you have a problem!"

Thanks for stopping by!

New Catalog Sneak Peeks!

2009-06-23T14:30:00.003-05:00

As a demo, one of the perks is that we have a chance to pre-order some selected sets from the new catalog so we can have some fabulous samples ready to show our customers. The new catalog is really really great - I say that every time, but they outdo themselves with every catalog in my opinion! The set that I pre-ordered is a level 2 hostess set called Wings of Friendship. I just love the style of this set, it's a style that you'll see mimicked in several sets in the catalog. It's that great scrolly elegant look that lends itself to many different styles - elegant, whimsical, classical, and I've even see some great masculine cards with this style. Here are my cards -

I used a couple of different colors on my samples. Here's a closer look at the one using one of the new In Colors, Rich Razzleberry as the base of the card

Here's the one using Melon Mambo as the base

They both have the second layer of the new Razzleberry Lemonade Designer Series Paper. This paper has some really fun patterns on it. Using the DSP also gives you some really cool color combinations without any work at all! Often combos that you may not think to use on your own and any project will get pulled together nicely with a little of the DSP on it! I used to never buy the DSP because I don't do a lot of scrapbooking, but then I got a taste of how much using it simplifies making cards too!

Here are the directions:

The base of the card is 4x4.

The DSP layer is 3 3/4 x 3 3/4.

Adhere those layers together.

Wrap a ribbon around and tie either in a knot or bow. (I used the new Razzleberry Polka Dot)

The white layer is the glossy white, but just the whisper white would work also, it's 3 1/8 x 3 1/8. Of course stamped with your choice of image.

Punch out a scallop circle (I used the new Crushed Curry color).

Stamp your greeting and punch out using the wide oval punch. Attach it on the scallop circle.

Punch out a scallop square and cut it in half diagonally. Attach each half on each end of the oval.

It's that easy!! Very quick card.

Thanks for stopping by today!

It's been a great week!

2009-06-20T11:29:00.009-05:00

My first project is a card featuring one of my favorite sets, Stitched Exotics. I love this technique using the Big Shot Top Note die. It's a faux quilting technique. I used the retiring "Candy Lane" designer series paper.

The base is Close to Cocoa cardstock and I used vanilla cardstock on some of the squares that I stamped partial images from the Stitched Exotics set on using Close to Cocoa ink and Riding Hood Red ink. On some of the flowers, I layered the Trio Flower punch to give it some dimension. I love those vintage brads!! I used my Chocolate marker to make the "stitch" marks on all the squares -- and you thought I could sew!! ha ha!!

My next project is another set that I'm sad to see go. Zoofari! The name of it even sounds fun! This set is great for lots and lots of different projects. For my project today, I'm doing a little treat bag that would be great for preschool classmates (or older!) or birthday treat bags or whatever your heart desires!

Again, I used the Big Shot Top Note die - love that thing!! I'm not sure I can do any projects without it anymore! The base is our lovely Basic Black cardstock - I cut two of them. On one of them I cut it in half. I used our Wide Oval punch on the Real Red cardstock and threaded the black gingham ribbon through. I stamped the cute little zebra image in Basic Black ink and then used my Gray marker to color in the stripes. TIP - use a shade slightly darker when coloring monochromatic images. That way you can still see the original lines of the image. It looks a lot cleaner. I used the Stampin' Dimensionals on the zebra to make him pop out! And of course, I filled the bag with Animal Crackers!
Well that's it for me! Please just post in the comment section or email me with any questions! Thanks for popping by, hope to "see" you again!

Blogger's Challenge - Summer!

2009-06-06T22:51:00.004-05:00

I have a few projects to share that I've been working on the past week. It was the last week of school, so I was working on gifts for Hope's teachers and her classmates.

The first one is the gift that I made for her classmates. It's a little box (about 3 x 3) with a acetate window in the top so you can see the lemonade cup inside. I buy these tubes of powdered drink mixes, there are 6 containers in each tube and each container makes 2 quarts. Perfect for summer!

This is the top view

This is a better view of the lemonade cup.

The next project is the gift for the teachers. I bought these little "Grow Kits" in the Dollar Spot at Super Target - LOVE that store! I used the same box template as I did for the lemonade project. I just made the bottom of the box, but the grow kit in and made a sleeve for it out of a transparency sheet.

The top view

This is the Grow Kit as it looked when I first bought it.

This is the before and after shot! Aren't they adorable!

That's all for today! I hope everyone has a great start to their summer! Don't forget to check back on the 20th for the "Tour de Freaks" blog hop. Details in the post below!

Blogger's Challenge - FINALLY!

2009-05-19T13:21:00.002-05:00

This is getting posted really late!! I actually had it done on time, but didn't get it photographed until today to post it. My mom and dad were here from Arkansas last week for a visit and time just gets away from you when you're visiting and having fun! My mom loves to stamp and craft, so we did some of these projects together, but I didn't take the time to photograph and post. My mom also fell and broke her knee cap while they were here! That added to the chaos! Since she couldn't go up and down stairs, they ended up staying at our house the whole time they were in town, instead of rotating to stay with all her kids like usual. So guess what? EVERYONE was at our house most of the days!! It was so fun and I love having everyone at our house, but that sure does add chaos when you have 10 adults and 13 kids - not to mention the neighbor kids that are always here too!! It was great!

Anyway, our challenge was to "CASE" yourself - which means "Copy" something that you've done before, but change 2 things about it. I made one of these for my father-in-law for his birthday last month and it was so fun and easy! As you can see, I had several little flowers and leaves cut out to embellish it, but haven't gotten that far yet! It's called an "Album in a Box". It looks like a box when the lid is on, but once you take the lid off, the sides fall down. You put pictures or journaling, or whatever you want on the flaps - both sides if you want! It's a great gift for grandparents, as I found out! My mother-in-law wants one now!

I will try to put together a little tutorial with directions on how to do this in a day or so. You will be so surprised at how easy and fast these are to put together. Mom and dad left yesterday, so the house is a lot quieter, but now I have tons of cleaning and laundry to catch up on! Hope you're having a great week so far!

Blogger's Challenge for Mom

2009-05-08T23:43:00.003-05:00

This week, the challenge was to create something for Mom. I started out making these for Hope's teachers for Teacher Appreciation week, and then decided to make them for my friends and family members who are moms for Mother's Day, and liked them so well, that I'm giving one to my mom too! These are so easy to make and such great gifts! This first picture is with the ribbon and tag tied to the tile.

I get these tiles at Hope Depot in a package of 9 for $5.99. You can get them in all colors and also in a glossy finish. I prefer these that are called "tumbled tiles". They are kind of roughed up and a bit chipped here and there. I love the look of the imperfections in them. Here is a shot of the tile without the ribbon tied on.

To make these you need to use a pigment or craft ink, and then place them on a cookie sheet in the oven for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees to heat set the ink. You must let them fully cool before touching the ink! It will still smear and appear to not be "set" if it's still hot. Trust me, I learn the hard way -- I just can't keep my fingers off them while they are cooling! LOL! With these, I put the them in the oven 2 different times since I layered the colors and images. I first stamped the grass image from "Inspired By Nature", baked it, then stamped the flower image and the saying and then baked it again. For the tag, I used the Wide Oval punch and stamped the small flower image from the flower stamp using Navy Craft ink and clear embossing powder. I think they turned out very pretty and want to keep one for myself!

Thanks for looking! Have a great weekend!

Blogger's Challenge 97 - Sketch Challenge

2009-05-04T09:41:00.003-05:00

I'm finally getting this posted!! I was suppose to have it posted on Friday, but had to let my camera battery charge overnight, and then the weekend just got away from me! They tend to do that these days!

Anyway....our challenge was to make a project using this sketch:

I turned my sketch a different direction and I even used the same colors - they looked very nice together, I thought, on the sketch diagram! I had a little bit of trouble with this one on knowing when to stop! Ha ha! I kept adding flowers, buttons, rhinestones, and before I know it, it may be a little too much!

I used my Big Shot Texturz plates on the bottom black base (the larger polka dots) and then on the gray vertical piece (the smaller polka dots). That may be a little hard to see in the picture. It actually started out being a small scrapbook page, but then kind of evolved into just a "picture" in itself. I will either tie some of the purple ribbon on the top corners and hang it, or put a little stand on the back to stand it up.

That's it for now! Maybe another post later today! Hope everyone is having a great start to your week!

My Time To Color Challenge 01

2009-04-27T22:23:00.003-05:00

Another challenge done today! This one was really fun! It was a color challenge - we had to use the following colors, but I also used the bag as an inspiration to the design of my project.

I'm posting two photos, but the lighting is not very good on either! Sorry about that! (and I just noticed that I forgot to crop the second picture!)

My project is an altered journal - which is just a journal/notebook that I made my own cover for. I love these as gifts! I used my Pina Colada Simply Scrappin kit again (retired) because it had some of the colors and the flowers matched the design on the bag. One of the flowers is a rub on and I mounted some of the stickers on turqoise cardstock to pull in that color.

I used Craft ink for the background flourishes with clear emobossing powder. It didn't show up as well as I hoped on the dark cardstock, but it still worked! I also used chipboard letters that I colored with my Sharpie markers (LOVE my sharpie's!) and spelled out the "journal" on the front. It's hard to see in the pics, but I added a little bling to the center of all the flowers. It adds just enough sparkle to the project -- but then again, I don't think you can ever have TOO much of bling! {wink!} I like how some of the flowers are off the edge of the book. This is a great tip to do when you're doing a "collage" or lots of randomly placed images; it really makes it look balanced. Just fill in the space that you need and trim off the excess. If you look closely, you can see that the excess that I trimmed off the top left red flower, I added to the bottom left edge, so nothing was wasted!

That's it for today! I will have another project to post tomorrow, so remember to check back! Thanks for stopping by.

Blogger's Challenge - this week Alter It!

2009-04-24T14:13:00.002-05:00

This week was a fun challenge! We had to alter something - there were some very creative ideas! I have saved these little plastic jars forever, intending on doing something with them, and thanks to this challenge, it finally got done! There was originally spices in them that came in a "Chili Kit" that we got for Christmas one year. Here's the front view:

Here's a view showing the top and the front of the jars. I used Stampin' Up!'s retired Pina Colada Simply Scrappin' kit, some chipboard letters and some Sissix die cuts to decorate them.

Here's the top view. As you can see, I ran out of ideas of what to put in them! I have Brads, Buttons, Clips and one empty one until I decide what to put in it -- any ideas??

Here's a little side view of the pretties that are in the jars! Wow, I had a lot of rhinestone brads!

I'm throwing out a challenge to all of you to alter something - we all have things that we've saved wondering "what could I do with this?".......right? Well, time to do something with it and email me with your altered item and I will post pics of them all. Maybe I'll even have a prize for my faves!

I'm So Excited! My Timeless Template Challenge 01

2009-04-23T14:12:00.008-05:00

I am participating in the "My Timeless Template Challenge" - the very first one! I have been an admirer of Lauren's work for quite some time and am excited to participate! I used the "For Keep{sake}" template for my project. The challenge was to use bath products for inspiration. I made my own bath salts for the project. I just googled "homemade bath salts" and came up with lots of different websites. It was easy! Here's my project:

I love this little penguin image! I did little individual packets for single use using some small ziploc baggies. Here's a close up of the baggie:

I used the ribbon to make her little hula skirt. I trimmed off the edge so I was able to fray it up to the middle stitched part. I gathered it using mini glue dots and then trimmed the frayed part to fit the image. I used little strip of rhinestone stickers around the waist to bling it up a bit! Speaking of bling - I cut out the flower and her bikini top from an extra stamped image and glittered it, then layered it on top to give it some dimension. Cute, huh?!

I wrapped the ribbon around the lid and added the little "Relax" tag. It was a fun project! Now......who do I give it to??!!! Hmmm. Have to think about that one! Here's another view - of course, it looks much better IRL! I was bummed that I didn't have a rhinestone flower brad (that's on the top) that matched the color better, but I still think it works!

That's it for today! Stay tuned for my Blogger's Challenge to be posted tomorrow! It's an "Alter It" challenge. Have a great day!

Blogger's Challenge #95 - Color Challenge

2009-04-17T14:52:00.004-05:00

This week's challenge was to use the following colors on a card: Always Artichoke, Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip, and Sahara Sand, and a neutral if you wanted. I, like everyone else that I've been reading, had a hard time working in that Sage! I kind of masked it a lot with other ink colors to try to make it "blend" a little better!

I started out with an Artichoke base and layered the top half with Sahara Sand, after I ran it through my wonderful Big Shot on the Damask Texturz plate. I did use a sponge and kind of "rub" a little chocolate ink on the Sand to kind of dirty it up a little and make it a little less stark. Then layered the bottom half with the Sage. I used a few different stamps from the "Wanted" set to make my own background paper. I used both Arthchoke and Chocolate ink on it - if you click to enlarge the picture, you may be able to see that better.

I stamped the horse image from the "Wanted" set on Vanilla using the Sahara Sand ink, and then stamped the saying from the "Best Wishes and More" set with Chocolate ink. I made the dust from the running horse by using a piece of scratch paper and making a template using different sized circle punches and then sponging Sand ink while moving it around a little. Here's what my template looked like:

Then I tied some of our yummy 5/8" Chocolate grosgrain ribbon around with a little lasso (our natural color hemp twine) tied in the knot.

I think that's about it! It was a fun challenge and I'm looking forward to the next one. Now that we're all moved and settled - notice I said "settled" and not "organized"!! - I think I'll be able to play a lot more. I also have my own stamp room now too!

Have a great weekend!

Love You Much!

2009-04-13T22:27:00.003-05:00

I really like this set. It has some fun images and it coordinates with that great "Heart to Heart" punch! It's just one punch - but 3 different hearts. Cute! This is a close up of the detail on the front of the card. I stamped the hearts image in Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss and Pink Passion and used the punch to punch out the image, but I only used the largest hearts on the project. *Little punch tip: when using a coordinating stamp and punch, always stamp image first and then punch out the image by turning the punch upside down and centering it, and punch! I used the rectangle punch on the Kiwi Kiss squares and threaded the ribbon through. That ribbon is really great! It's reversible - Kiwi Kiss trimmed in white on one side and White trimmed in Kiwi on the other side. I popped up the squares and the hearts using the Stampin' Dimensionals. I love those! They are a great price, so you should always keep some on hand to add that little WOW factor to any project.

This is the whole front of the card. I punched through the Kiwi Kiss and the Chocolate Chip layer to show the stamped image on the inside of the card.

This is a close up of the detail on the punch out part on the front of the card. I did the tone on tone look by stamping the image using the same color ink as the paper. Of course, the versamark pad would've worked too.

This is view of the open card showing the punched out part on the top and the stamped image on the bottom. This was a very simple card to make. I love those that look more complicated than they are! (Supply list below)

Stamps: Love You Much

Papers: Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Pink Passion, Whisper White

Inks: Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Pink Passion

Tools: Rectangle Punch, Heart to Heart Punch, Kiwi Kiss/Vanilla Satin Ribbon

Blogger's Challenge #53

2008-06-28T07:34:00.000-05:00

Don't you just hate posting a card that you don't like near as well as the post below it?? Ha ha ha! Needless to say, after that comment, I'm not too crazy about my card that I came up with for this challenge! I don't HATE it -- it just doesn't look like what it looked like in my head when I thought of the idea -- also hate when that happens! Maybe I should just change the name of this post to "Don't you hate when....." OK - I'm done complaining now! (hee hee!)

This week the challenge was to do any resist technique. I've been wanting to use this background stamp that I got at convention last year. I sadly have not used it since then!! I don't really love the stamp as a whole, but it's cute if you use the different strips on it. I was trying to challenge myself to use it as a whole. Well, I cheated a little! I ended up cutting it into blocks so I could have that little bit of color throughout. It was pretty boring all together.

Oh yeah, the technique........(I'm easily distracted!) I used the emboss resist technique. I used Versamark ink on white glossy cardstock and embossed it with clear powder. Then I just used my aqua painter and ink pads to color the different parts of the image. The colors just don't look as vibrant on the glossy paper - or maybe it's just from the residue of the embossing powder. The only orange doesn't really look orange at all!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous day!

KWernerdesign Color Challenge #13

2008-06-26T10:43:00.000-05:00

I really like how this card turned out! I have to admit that it was a little challenging for me to work in the Regal Rose color with the rest of the colors - the challenge was to use Purely Pomegranate, Regal Rose, River Rock, Wild Wasabi and Whisper White. I did not have any of the River Rock paper (GASP!), so I did leave that one out. Sorry! I love this little chick/bird stamp that I got for .99 cents at a local craft store. The word "chick" was done using my cricut machine in the rose color and then I did a shadow behind it in the pomegranate. I watercolored the rose color in the flower on the bird and added a little bling rhinestone to her - but she wasn't complete until I added her blushed cheek! I like doing this little trick with some of my animal stamps, especially if I'm trying to make it "girly"! I just press my pinky into the ink pad and stamp off on paper first so it's not too much and then press it on my paper. It looks really cute on baby girl cards!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous day! It's rainy and dark here in good ole' Nebraska!

Blogger's Challenge #52

2008-06-20T22:29:00.000-05:00

Holy Smokes I'm a big fat slacker! I go from Challenge #46 to #52! Wow! I don't know what I was thinking when I thought that we would slow down a bit after school got out for the summer! We have been running constantly to soccer camp, softball camp, VBS, Summer School, soccer games, etc. etc. etc. We also had pink eye and swimmer's ear mixed in there too! Needless to say, we haven't been bored! LOL!

Our challenge this week was to do a manly card. I'm posting the card that I made for Father's Day. I did the background with the little stamp from the Wanted set - it was time consuming, but I liked how it turned out. I got the layout idea from a card that I saw somewhere and saved it. There was no name on it, so I'm not sure who it was -- sorry! I did this card just a day or two before I found out the the Noble Deer set is retiring. I'm sad to see it go, but I'm sure that they have another fabulous set to take it's place. I have a few retired sets for sale so if anyone is interested, contact me and I will email the list to you.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend! Thanks for checking in!

Blogger's Challenge #46 - Mother's Day

2008-05-13T10:47:00.000-05:00

I hope that everyone had a fabulous Mother's Day! I was sick in bed! ICK! It was just a one day thing, but of course it had to fall on Mother's Day. Here is my card that I made for my mom and my sister - they haven't actually gotten them yet, so I may be spoiling the surprise! I used Stampin' Up! Bashfull Blue cardstock and ribbon, the patterned paper is from a slab I got at Wal Mart, and the flower brad is from a pack that I got in the clearance isle at Michael's! What a hodge podge of materials!! The M's were made using my new Cricut Expressions machine that happened to be my Mother's day gift!! I was so excited - I love it! Wal Mart had them on sale for $289.00, which is a fabulous price if you've been scoping them out! OK, enough of my blabbing and on to the card! Enjoy!

I got an award!!

2008-04-24T09:54:00.001-05:00

One of my bling sisters and my kind & dear sweet friend (hey, isn't that a stamp??!!) Lisa Martz nominated me for this Arte y Pico Award and I'm so honored! Especially because of what it represents and I feel humbled that she sees that in me. (Sniff, sniff!)

This award is given to bloggers who share their art and creativity making their contribution to the blogging world. Here are the rules:

a. Choose five blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language.
b. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
c. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and the link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
d. Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of Arte y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

It was hard to choose, cause I admire so many people in this world! But there were certainly a few that really stuck out in my mind. I have never met these people, but would love to! It's funny how you read the blogs and you get such a sense of their personalities just from their blogging and you feel like you do know them! If you were already chosen to receive these awards previously - well, you deserve to get them again! Here are my choices to receive the award -- everyone - take a bow! Drum roll please..................

1. Lori Craig - I love her whole attitude, her faith, and just the way she represents herself and even though I've never met her, I have great respect for her. Oh yeah, her stamping style is amazing too!

2. Cambria Turnbow - This girl is crazy! Her blog is so fun and full of energy - she seems like an amazing person and great fun to be around. Her style is her personality on paper! It's fun, bright, and sometimes kinda loud! ha ha!

3. Kristina Werner - Another really fun person! She has an amazing blog with endless ideas and creativity. Her style is beautiful, elegant, fun, classy, and colorful all wrapped in a simple package. She is teaching me that sometimes less is more!

4. Lisa Johnson - Lisa is someone that again, even though I've never met her, I have a lot of respect for her. She's a beautiful person that loves her family and I love when she shares pictures of them occasionally! She's an amazing designer that has blown me away numerous times with her ideas and creations.

5. Dawn McVey - I love her! She is so spunky and fun and it comes out in her projects and her blogging. She has a beautiful outlook on life that just oozes from her fingertips! She is another person that I admire as a person and as a designer. Her style is simple yet lacks nothing!

Blogger's Challenge #43

2008-04-18T09:55:00.000-05:00

This was CASE'd from Julie Buhler's blog, Paper Pleasing Ideas. It's such a cute idea! It's a little Card Attache Case. She says it will hold 5-10 depending on how thick the cards are with embellishments. If you visit her blog, the tutorial was posted on April 13th. And if you go to the post on April 10th, you'll see a really cute little Business Card Attache Case to match! So cute!

I haven't made the matching cards to go in my case yet, so that will be a future post! The challenge was to use chipboard - how fun! I used the shapes from my On Board Blossoms and Basics kit. I used my TOMBO mono liquid glue to attach the Soft Sky cardstock to the shapes.

I used a swirly clip attached to the middle of the flower and threaded the ribbon through to tie it shut. I bent it a little in the middle so it kind up stuck up a little. That made putting the ribbon through a lot easier.

This is the case open. OOPS! Maybe I should've covered the back of the shapes too!

Recipe:

Stamps: Pick a Petal

Paper: Bayou Blue, Soft Sky

Inks: Bayou Blue

Other: Jumbo Eyelets, On Board Blossoms & Basics, Bayou Blue Double Stitched Ribbon

KWerner Color Challenge #5

2008-04-17T12:31:00.000-05:00

I love doing these challenges! It forces me to go "outside the box" and use color combos that I normally wouldn't think of. This week the inspiration for the color challenge came from this photo from Pottery Barn - don't you just want to curl up a take a nap with them?!!

Translated into Stampin' Up! colors, the challenge was: Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Bashful Blue and Close to Cocoa.

I came up with a 6 x 6 scrapbook page. I rarely do scrapbook pages, so I decided to double the challenge for myself! Here's what I came up with.

Soft Sky Challenge

2008-04-17T12:22:00.000-05:00

Sometimes my good friend, Lisa Martz, and I get together online and give each other challenges to do. It's fun! We chat on the computer as we're working and we've come up with some pretty awesome projects if I do say so myself! This is a card that I made the other night when our challenge was to use the color Soft Sky on the project. Although I didn't use it as the dominant color in the project, I was pretty pleased with how it turned out!

Recipe:

Papers: Close to Cocoa, Bayou Blue, Soft Sky

Inks: Close to Cocoa, Bayou Blue

Stamps: So Many Scallops, Jove & Joy, Polka Dots & Paisley

Other: Bayou Blue Double Stitched Ribbon

Happy Birthday Sister!

2008-04-17T12:13:00.001-05:00

These are a few of the gifts that I made for my sister for her birthday. The hedgehog project is a post it note holder and the other one is a birthday card. I love SU's sticky cut letters. They are like the sticky strip (or Terrifically Tacky Tape) in the shape of letters. You just stick them on your project, peel off the lining and cover them with whatever - glitter, beads, punched out images, the skies the limit!

Blogger's Challenge #40

2008-03-29T12:00:00.000-05:00

I can't believe that I haven't posted anything since the last challenge! It's was Spring Break here and having all 5 kids home all week didn't allow Mommy very much time to play! Ha ha! This week's challenge was "Spring Flowers". I was trying to do something bright and cheery without using the usual "Spring colors" - I'm not sure that I achieved that! Although I like the contrast of the colors, I'm not sure I would call it "bright and cheery". Oh well! Sometimes things just don't turn out as well on paper as they do in your head! Happy Spring everyone!

All supplies are Stampin' Up!

Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black, Whisper White

Inks: Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise, Craft White, Versamark

Stamps: Spring Solitude (Hostess set), Three For You, Polka Dots & Paisley

Other: Three for you Punch, Silver Brads, Turquoise Ribbon, Clear Embossing Powder

Blogger's Challenge #39

2008-03-22T10:04:00.000-05:00

The challenge this week was to use the color combo of Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip and Real Red. I think these colors actually look great together! My post is a day late - I've been fighting a cold and my brain has been too foggy to even try to think! So I almost just skipped this week - then I came across a little kit that my bling sista, Lisa Martz, had given to me from one of her classes. It already had Soft Sky and Chocolate Chip and a design! I didn't have to think at all! It was for a beautiful tag. I didn't have the same stamps that she used, so I improvised a little and put the tag on the front of a card so I could incorporate the other colors that I needed. It didn't turn out too bad for being sick and unable to think! ha ha! Thanks Lisa!

Happy Good Friday and Easter!

2008-03-21T12:01:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone is having a great start to your Easter holiday! I'm sorry that I've been away for a few days, but we have all been fighting colds AGAIN! What is it this year? There has been more sickness going around than I ever remember before. I think I'm finally starting to feel a little better though.

These are some boxes that I made for Hope to take to her preschool friends. I'm sure all the parents just LOVED the fact that I sent home that messy chocolate! I got the idea from my stamping friend, Cambria, she rocks!

Blog Candy Winner!

2008-03-17T10:56:00.001-05:00

Today the blog candy winner is.........drum roll please..........Lorri! Congrats! Lorri if you could email me your address, I'll send out your fabulous prizes!

Stay tuned and I will post a new project and some more blog candy to win!

Blog Candy Winner, New Project & More!

2008-03-14T19:19:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to Kelli for winning the blog candy! Woo Hoo Kelli! But not to worry! There's more for the rest of you to win!

This time around I'm giving away 3 onesie gift bags & 2 hershey nugget boxes that say "boy oh boy" on them. 4 of the Hershey nuggets fit perfectly inside them. A little stamp and stampin' spot ink pad, the retired wrought iron corner slot punch, and an Alphabet brass template for embossing or stippling. Just leave a comment on the new projects posted and you'll be entered to win!

The new project posted is a treat bag that I made for my 3 year old to take to preschool with her on her birthday. They are just lunch bags that I used my circle coluzzle to cut the hole, stamped it with the Time Well Spent set and made my little ladybug with the Pick a Petal set and some circle punches. We filled them with the "Bug Bites" graham cracker cookies. All the kids loved them!

Blogger's Challenge #38

2008-03-14T17:29:00.000-05:00

This was my birthday card submission for the Blogger's Challenge Week #38. I used the color combo Summer Sun, Blue Bayou and Wild Wasabi. I used the stamp sets, So Many Scallops, Birthday Whimsey, Celebrate Everything and I just love the "Whoo Hoo" saying from the Just Celebrate set. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Stay tuned - later tonight I will announce the winner of my blog candy and post some more to give away. Don't have time to do that now cause I gotta start supper!

Anniversary Card

2008-03-13T23:46:00.000-05:00

This is the anniversary card that I made for my brother and sister-in-law for their anniversary. Their anniversary is on Valentine's Day, but I didn't want it to look too much like a Valentine's Card. I love the Berry Bliss Paper - ALL of it! It has all my fave color combos.

I used the Stampin' Up! set Love and Joy.

Outlaw Card

2008-03-13T23:35:00.000-05:00

I made this card for my sister. (No....that's not why it's called the "Outlaw Card"! LOL!) I CASE'd it from one of Beate's cards from her blog - sort of! I started out copying hers and it ended up being a little different than hers. I just love all her stuff! I was really sad when the Outlaw Designer paper retired.

Pink Ladybug

2008-03-12T23:05:00.000-05:00

My friend, Lisa, and I are joining in on a color challenge that a fellow blogger posted. She is awesome - Hi Kristina! I get a lot of inspiration and ideas from her. You can view her blog here. We had to make a project and post it using these colors: Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranate, Pumpkin Pie, and Pretty in Pink. I love all those colors! Here's what I came up with.

Stamps: Pick a Petal (Stampin' Up!) & a couple of clear stamps that I got out of the $1 bin at Michael's!

Gift for a Friend and more Blog Candy!

2008-03-12T10:54:00.000-05:00

This is a gift that I made for my good friend, Kris! Hi Kris - love ya! It was her birthday and there is a funny story that goes with why I gave her this gift! She is part of our small group from church that meets at our house on Sunday nights for a bible study. During Christmas time our small group did a White Elephant gift exchange, and I have to tell you, her family had THE best gifts - the kind that you're suppose to have at a White Elephant exchange! They really cracked me up! Well, my gift that I opened from Kris was this jar candle, but not just any jar candle! It was half burned, the glass was black and the wick was gone so you couldn't even light it anymore! Ha ha! So I cleaned up the jar and told my husband that I was going to make it in to something and give back to her. Enter our Designer Series Papers, a jew Rub Ons and Voila! She loved it and we got another good laugh out of it!

My blog candy this time is 2 sheets of star and balloon templates, a pack of pretty bling, bling snowflake embellishments and a little baggie with a small stamp and a stampin' spot ink pad. Just leave a comment and you will be added to the drawing to win! I will draw a name on Friday and add new items up for grabs - it's just gonna keep getting better!

Would "anonymous" please email me and give me your address so I can send you your fun and funky fibers and your magnet tins that you won? Congrats! Thanks for playing along!

New Project and Blog Candy!

2008-03-10T10:41:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! I'm doing a little Spring Cleaning in my craft stuff and have a lot of stuff that I don't use anymore, or it's retired Stampin' Up! stuff that I can't use anymore, etc. But instead of filling up my trash can, I thought I would give you guys a chance to win it! Today the blog candy that I have available is some fun funky fibers. You can use these on your cards or scrapbook pages, or whatever projects you want to! All you have to do to win is to leave a comment on my project picture that I have posted. I am going to start doing this regularly so you can get used to visiting my blog on a regular basis! I have been trying to post new projects on there every week and hopefully will more frequently. I will randomly pick a winner from all the comments. Now for my new project:

This is a butterfly paperclip tin that I got on clearance at Office Max. I bought every single one that they had! They have a magnet on the back so you can stick them on your fridge, your file cabinet or whatever. I used ribbon around it with some punched out flowers and circles and then used some punches and chip board shapes for the top. It was a fun and easy project - hey! How about I throw in a couple of these for the blog candy prize too? OK! So leave those comments! Feel free to browse around and look at my other projects that I have on here too - check back for more!

Blogger's Challenge #37

2008-03-07T08:25:00.000-06:00

This card was really fun to make! I cut a piece of cardstock the long ways (4 1/4 x 8 1/2), folded it in half and then just used a ruler and cutting blade to make the triangle shape - remember to make the top of the triangle at the top of the hat! Leave about an inch or more of the fold at the top while cutting your shape to open and close the card. I used the Celebrate Everything set, the polka dot background stamp from the Polka Dots & Paisley set and I actually used one of the snowflake images from the Snowflake Spot set on the scallop punch at the top! You can't see that it's a snowflake, but I thought that it gave it a sort of "confetti" look. I kind of snipped in between the scallops to make it look more like a tassle. Let me know if you have any other questions about it! Thanks for looking!

Blogger's Challenge 36

2008-03-02T19:04:00.000-06:00

OK, I'm finally getting mine posted! I liked this layout - it was simple, but very versatile. I killed two birds with one stone with this one! I made this card for my daughter that just endured a tough week of soccer tryouts for her high school (she's a freshman) and she made the team! Whoo Hoo! Go Silverhawks!

Blogger's Challenge #35

2008-02-22T13:26:00.000-06:00

Hey there! I just joined a new group that I already love! Each week we have a challenge to do and post to our blogs on Fridays. It really exercises all your creative muscles! This week the challenge was to use the colors Purely Pomegranate, Brilliant Blue and Old Olive together. I've learned not to pre-judge color combos in my head until I lay them out on my desk! The reason is, what I'm thinking in my head is usuall wrong! LOL! Anyway, I tried the z-fold cards that everyone else has been doing for awhile now and it was really fun - I'll definitely do one of these again. It was much easier than I was thinking it would be -- there I go thinking again! Ha ha! I also used the the sticky cuts letters for the first time - VERY FUN! AND, I used some of our fabulous new rub ons too. I took a few different angles of the picture. Enjoy!

Happy World Cardmaking Day!

2007-10-06T09:09:00.000-05:00

I'm still getting ready for my Cardmaking Day class that will be later this afternoon, but wanted to take a minute to post some pics of a couple of cards that I made in the last few days. One is a Halloween card with my new Halloween set - Haunting Halloween - I just love that kitty! The other one is with the Eventfull set - it's actually a hostess set, I love it! I will post details on the how to's later on. Have a great day!

Hello from the Heart card

2007-09-26T23:38:00.000-05:00

This is a card that I just made tonight. I just love our double sided patterned paper. It's one of those things that I just never was interested in until I used it at convention! Now I've ordered a new pack everytime I've placed an order since! I'm hooked! I used Taken With Teal cardstock for the card, the Petals & Paisley patterned paper for the next layer, Purely Pomegranate for the smaller layer with our watercolor paper on the top layer. I used the Old Olive 5/8" Grograin Ribbon in between the Pomegranate and the watercolor paper layers. I used a craft knife and cut out the little heart that was on the vase so the ribbon would show through. The stamp set is Vases in Vogue - it is a hostess set and is very fun to use. If you have any other questions, just email me! Have a great rest of the week!

World Cardmaking Day Event

2007-09-24T10:43:00.000-05:00

As promised, here are the details on the World Cardmaking Day Class that I will be hosting. I'm very excited about this and hope that you can make it. The projects are so fun to make! I'm posting pics of the Christmas card and the the Home decor item -- as for the Halloween project, you'll just have to wait and see! There has to be some element of surprise, right?! I posted a few different ones of the home decor item just to show that you can do it with any holiday/theme/color, etc.

Saturday, October 6th
2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
3 projects (details below)
3700 S. 14th Street (this is Rob's office)
Registration Fee: $10.00
Please RSVP!

Call or email to reserve your spot now!

At the class, we will be making 3 complete projects for you to take home and for your family to admire and ooh and ahh over your talents! The projects that I have planned are:

1. Halloween project - with the Halloween project, you're going to get lots of extras! This project will be easy for you to reproduce at home for your very own little ghosts and goblins to hand out to teachers, friends, neighbors, etc.

2. Christmas card - never too early to get ideas to make your own Christmas cards to send out to your loved ones. We have lots of really beautiful Christmas sets in the catalog that I'm excited for you to see.

3. Home Decor - we will be making these cute little home decor items that can be used for Christmas ornaments, Halloween decorations, or for any time of the year. I will have several kinds of our fabulous double sided designer paper for you to choose from so you can make it for whatever season/holiday/design that you want it.

PLEASE pre-register for this event! You don't necessarily have to send me your registration fee, but I do need to know if you're coming so I know how many people to prepare projects for. I will have everything pre-packaged as well as pre-cut and scored for you so it's important that I know how many are coming.

Thank You, thank you, thank you!

2007-09-24T10:25:00.000-05:00

You guys rock! My new catalog open house was a big success! I think that everyone had a great time playing with the new "Three for You" Punch box. Some of you even ordered one. You guys did a great job on the make and takes also. I am going to hold another event on "World Cardmaking Day"! It's a National holiday - as it should be! LOL! This is what it's all about:

WHAT
World Card Making Day is a holiday especially for card makers around the world to:
Celebrate the creativity of handmade cards and the personal connection that they create between friends and family
Kick off (and get a head start on) the holiday card-making season
WHEN
The first Saturday of each October, kicking off the holiday card-making season, the most popular time for creating and sharing handmade greetings.
WHO
The card-making community worldwide, including hobbyists, beginning card makers, manufacturers of card-making products, retail sellers of products, educators, and press are invited to come together to celebrate this holiday and creative passion.
WHY
It is a day to connect with fellow card makers both near and far, to applaud the creativity that powers the craft, and to provide an opportunity for card makers to connect and find resources that will empower, inspire, and encourage them in their card making.

Now doesn't that sound special! Don't miss out! I'll be adding another post with more details and some pictures of a couple of the projects that I have planned for you. I hope that you can make it!

I'm a new Aunt (again!)

2007-08-30T14:54:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited to be an aunt again! This time is especially exciting because this little guy has been long awaited! He is just further proof that God doesn't answer prayers in our time - only in His time. May we all learn a little patience! My brother has been married to a wonderful person for 4 years now (I think?!) - but there is an interesting twist to the story! She was already my sister-in-law because she is my husband's sister! Now are we all confused?? Jen already had a beautiful daughter, Taylyn, when they got married (she is 12 now), and they have tried and waited patiently for a baby to add to their little family. They had actually started the adoption process since they had just assumed that it was never going to happen the old fashioned way. They are as far as just waiting for a phone call when they find out that they are pregnant! Isn't that how it always goes! Anyway, he is here now and he is beautiful. His name is Liam James Williams. Love his name too! So, I decided that I was going to put the baby shower invitations on here for our first project for you to try. Of course, you don't have to do it as baby shower invitation - it can be used for any kind of card. It's very simple and very easy to reproduce. So here goes!

Supplies:

Really Rust cardstock - 5 1/2 x 4 1/4

Chocolate Chip cardstock - 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 (scored at 2 3/4)

Patterned paper (I used the Outlaw Designer Series) - 2 1/4 x 2 3/4

Very Vanilla cardstock - 2 x 3 (cut the corners off to make it look like a tag)

Really Rust cardstock - 1 5/8 x 1 1/4

Very Vanilla cardstock - 1 1/2 x 1 1/8

Taupe Ribbon - about 3 inches

Mini Brads

Staples

Inks: Versamark, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa

1/4" square punch

Corner Rounder

Stamp Sets - "I'm Here" and "Hugs and Wishes"

1. First of all I stamped the alphabet stamp all over the larger Rust piece with Versamark ink.

2. I then sponged Chocolate Chip around the edges and a little all over to make it look old and distressed a little.

3. Take the Chocolate Chip piece and fold over at the score mark. Tear along the edge of the shorter piece that is folded over.

4. Round the corners of the bottom edge of the Chocolate piece and the Patterned piece.

5. Adhere the Patterned piece under the flap of the Chocolate piece.

6. Use the 1/8" hole punch to punch holes on each side of the flap - punch through the paper and the ribbon. This may be easier to adhere the flap down first so you don't have to try to hold it all together.

7. I used Close to Cocoa ink to stamp the hand print image on the vanilla tag piece - but I stamped off on scratch paper once to make the image a lot lighter since we will be stamping and writing on top of it. This is called "second generation" stamping.

8. Next Use the Chocolate Chip ink to stamp the "You're Invited" and "time, place, date, r.s.v.p." images on top of that. I used the wonderful Stamp-a-ma-jig tool to do this straight!

9. I attached the ribbon to the top of the tag with staples. I thought that it kind of went along with the style of this card, but you could certainly use brads, an eyelet, punch a hole and loop it through, or whatever you choose. They do have fun colored staples out there now too.

10. I used the red lined tape to attach the Chocolate pocket piece to the front of the card to make sure that it stayed together. I just used one small strip across the bottom and 2 small pieces on each side near the top - kind of underneath the fold part. That should be plenty to hold the tag so it doesn't fall through.

11. I then used the stamp-a-ma-jig (this is a real tool and that's the real name of it!) to stamp the "i'm here" image on the small ivory piece and then layered it on the top of the the small rust piece.

12. Attach the "i'm here" to the front of the pocket using Stampin' dimensionals.

13. I stamped the alphabet image on ivory cardstock and used my 1/4" square punch to punch out the letters of Liam's name and used glue dots to stick them to the front. I then put Crystal Effects over the top to make them a little shiny looking so they would stand out a little.

I think that's it! If I forgot anything or something doesn't make sense, just email and let me know!

Have fun! Have a great and safe long Holiday weekend!