It's been 7 months...!

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I knew I hadn't posted anything in awhile but wow! 7 months!? Time has a way of getting away from us at times doesn't it? Life threw some issues at us, which shouldn't be a surprise when you're a military family :) However the news that we would be moving to Germany was a big one, even though we knew it was eventually coming (I mean we've had over 10 years to prepare *smile*). When we were first told at Christmas time we told ourselves we'd have plenty of time to get everything ready for the move in May/June....we should have known better! There's always a ton of stuff to do leading up to a move but a whole new set of hurdles to overcome when that move is overseas. Long story short the kids & I moved about 6 weeks after my husband; so yes, a lot of the last-minute details fell on me :) On the huge plus side we had a house by the time the rest of us arrived :) The one major downside to moving overseas is not having household goods for a long time; as a matter of fact are stuff took 60+ days to arrive...try being without all your crafting goodies that long!!! lol At least I can look back at the transition time & laugh instead of cry :) We're almost completely settled (garage & basement need to get arranged properly but hey, at least my office is all put to rights *smile*) Now that school has started I have the entire day to myself so I can FINALLY get back into stamping! Enough rambling; here's my first card made in a long time:

I admit after not being able to get my fingers inky for so long my creative mind was running blank; or maybe there were too many things rattling around up there? In order to jump-start the creative juices flowing again I browsed through the Annual Catalog & decided to CASE one of the cards I saw. I didn't copy it exactly but  it's pretty close. It went together pretty quickly & I used a color combo that I'm not sure I would have come up with on my own. That's just one of the many pros of CASEing, "forcing" yourself to think out of the box & try something new :)

Thanks for hanging in there & not giving up on me completely :) I'm back & my plan is to post more regularly; now that my "baby" is in kindergarten I don't have any interruptions during the day ;) Hope you're able to get some stamping or other crafting in today!

Supply List:
Stamp sets: En Francais; Itty Bitty Banners; Papillon Potpouri
Cardstock: Pool Party; Whisper White; Calypso Coral; Lucky Limeade
Ink: Pool Party; Calypso Coral; Lucky Limeade
Accessories: Big Shot; Lacy Brocade embossing folder; Labels Collection framelits; Elegant Butterfly punch

Please email me today if you'd like a catalog mailed directly to you.

Happy Valentine's Day

Pin It Now! Hope everyone is having a LOVEly day today :)  Last week a friend asked me to make a few Valentine's Day & birthday cards for her to send to family & friends so I got busy right away for her. The day I went to give them to her she showed all her co-workers & told them they could custom order their Valentine's Day cards with me. Bless her heart, I know she was being very helpful; however, I was feeling the crunch! It was Wednesday when she told everyone in her office this news :) I came home that day & worked on a few more then dropped them off the very next day after having lunch with my husband. One of HIS co-workers asked if I could make him a card so of course I made a few more for him to pick from & my hubby took them with him to lunch with the co-worker on Friday. When my husband got home that afternoon he was grinning from ear to ear: he sold all my card at lunch that day! After all was said & done I sold a total of 8 cards in just a few short days :) Not bad considering it was all last minute ;) It was a good week hehehe  Anyway, today I'm sharing one of the cards that I did last week; here it is:

It may be a little hard to tell but I used the Lots of Love letterpress plate on the Cherry Cobbler layer; I just ran it through the Big Shot with out any ink. I colored in the "Love" using the black Stampin' Write marker & sponged the edges with Cherry Cobbler ink before adhering it to the Basic Gray card base. I created the envelope using the Scallop Envelope die & a piece of paper from the Neutrals Collection designer series paper stack. It needed a little something so I mounted it on a piece of black card stock then popped up with dimensionals on the Cherry Cobbler layer. I stamped the S.W.A.K. image in Cherry Cobbler Craft ink on a scrap piece of white card stock & embossed with some Cherry scented emboss powder. I cut it out & popped it up using some dimensionals. So simple & it went together quickly. One of the ladies asked for a modified version without the word "love" all over. I ran the red layer through the Big Shot with a different embossing folder & used the "Be My Valentine" stamp from the set "P.S. I Love You" set in the bottom right corner; kept the envelope & lips of course ;)  She loved her modified card a lot!

Hope y'all enjoy your Valentine's Day & are able to share it with those you love. Have a great day everyone! Thanks for stopping by!

Sale-a-Bration Starts TODAY! & Valentine's #2

Pin It Now! Yay! I'm super excited! Today is the start of the most wonderful time of year: Sale-a-Bration! For every $50 you spend from now until March 31 you earn 1 FREE item! Stop by my store 24/7 & check out everything Sale-a-Bration has to offer! (under "Promotions") There's A LOT of cute stuff so don't miss out!

Now for my share today :) Here's the 2nd Valentine's Day card we made at the Stamp Camp a few weekends ago:

I started with a Basic Gray card base & ran it through the Big Shot using one of the Texturz plates. I took a piece of Pink Pirouette card stock & ran it through the Big Shot with the Scallop Envelope die. It really doesn't show up in the picture but I sponged the edges of the envelope with Pink Pirouette ink before putting it together & popping it up on dimensionasl. I used the Heart to Heart punch to punch out some hearts from the Brights Designer Series paper stack; Regal Rose. Each heart was then popped up with dimensionals. Using a couple of the stamps from the brand new set "P.S. I Love You" (in the Occasions Mini) I inked up one with my Pink Pirouette ink & stamped it onto white card stock. I then used my SAMJ (stamp-a-ma-jig) to help me line up the sentiment (from the same set) & stamped that with black ink. The entire thing was then punched out with the Modern Label punch & also popped up with dimensionals. This could be used for an anniversary card or wedding card as well; imagine the color combo possibilities :)

Thanks for stopping by :)  Hope everyone is having a great week. Check back again soon & I'll have a project to share using one of the sets you can earn FREE during Sale-a-Bration :)

Pin It Now! With the holidays over & all the decorations taken down & put away I have found myself in a sort of shut-down mode; not much creating happening around here lately. I did however manage to come up with some projects for my Stamp Camp I had this past Sunday that I'd like to share with you; we created Valentine's Day projects. The first card I'm sharing uses a brand new set from the new Occasions Mini, "P.S. I Love You"; we actually used it on 2 out of 3 projects. A very versatile set you can use all year round; I know I'll definitely be using it a lot.

I kept the card base white & layered on a strip of Real Red designer paper from the Brights Designer Series pack & tied on a piece of black 1/4" grosgrain ribbon. I layered some white card stock over a larger layer of Real Red. Next I colored the strawberry from the "P.S. I Love You" set using some markers: Garden Green, Real Red, & Chocolate Chip & stamped it onto some white card stock. (I did this 3 times). I then used the 1 1/4" square punch & punched them out. They were each layered on a black square that had been punched out using the 1 3/8" square punch. Before I popped each square up using dimensionals I stamped the sentiment in black ink. I used Crystal Effects on the bottom portion of each strawberry to make them look edible ;) All the girls loved this card! So simple :)

I hope you've all had an amazing start to the new year & are able to find some time to create :) If you'd like one of the new Occasion Mini catalogs please email me & I will gladly mail you one.

Thanks for not giving up on me & have a fabulous day! :)

Things never go quite as planned

Pin It Now! I am BACK! I don't know where time has gone; it's been over a month since I posted anything! I see that my last post was before my trip to Albuquerque....seems like forever ago! I'll bring you up to speed briefly:

Albuquerque was amazing; 8 of us from the area went together & had a blast. We had to take an unexpected trip to Kansas City for a funeral the first week of November. The weekend we got back from there I had a Stamp Camp to get ready for & a wreath making class to attend. Of course then there was Thanksgiving & all 3 kids home for the week. I ended up getting a really bad cold after that & I didn't even feel like tackling our Christmas cards. It was then of course time to haul all the Christmas boxes out & decorate the house. I had yet another Stamp Camp to prep for & get our Christmas cards finished & mailed in a timely manner. Needless to say they all ~ 60 of them ~ were mailed Friday :)  In the meantime we're getting ready for my parents to fly in tomorrow. Did I mention our kids have no idea they're grandparents are coming this soon??? Hmmm.....I don't think I left anything out :)

Oh yeah, I almost forgot I decided to make a few ornaments for a new tree I got. Our 4 year old calls it "Mom's Stampin' Up! tree" :)  Today I'm sharing a quick picture I took just to tease a little; I'll share each ornament with you over the next several days. Hope you enjoy them :)

Thanks for hanging in there with me while life took over :) I'm hoping I've got things under control now & I'll be posting regularly from now on. Have a wonderful day! :)

Spice Cake anyone?

Pin It Now! This time tomorrow (Friday) I will be in Albuquerque with several other fellow demo's for the Stampin' Up! Regional Convention that is taking place on Saturday. I have been looking forward this for over a month & am super excited! :) My wonderful husband has taken the day off to be chauffeur for out 3 boys; before he left for work this morning he asked me if I was planning on writing down specific times they each have to be dropped off & picked up! I just about fell over from shock! I admitted that I had considered doing exactly that but didn't know if that would be a bit too OCD ;) Anyway, his time table is written out along with a list of everything that has to get done around the house before Sunday; my October Stamp Camp is at 2 pm :) I will be home late Saturday night & didn't want to have all that to do when I walk in the door. I only have 3 expectations for this weekend:

1) All the kids get to where they're suppose to on time & no one gets forgotten
2) I don't come home to a huge mess to clean up before the Stamp Camp
2) HAVE A FUN & FANTASTIC TIME WITH THE GIRLS! :)

Fairly reasonable, don't you agree? ;)

Enough rambling; let me show you the project for today:

This is the adorable project we did at fellow demo, Alecia Connelly's, house for her monthly club. I had never attempted the fan-fold before; looked too intimidating to me. Needless to day it was FUN & so much easier than I thought it'd be. We used 2 strips of each: 2" x 12"; 1" x 12"; 1/2" x 12" & then we scored them at every 1/2". Take one of the 2" strips & fold it; whichever way you folded that one fold the matching strip the OPPOSITE. Put sticky strip on each end of one of the fold strips & the matching strip will line up perfectly. If you fold them the same way you'll end up having to cut some off of one end so it fits snug. The tricky part is gathering the folds & turning it inside out so you can glue on a punched out circle to hold it all together. (Hot glue guns are a must; well, they sure do make it easier :)) Do the same thing to the other strips. Once that's done you can decorate their centers how ever you'd like. We put some hot glue between a fold in the back & attached the dowels that were cut at different heights before tying some Spice Cake designer fabric around them. They're each then inserted into a piece of green foam that's been stuck inside a 4" pot. A piece of fabric dresses up the pot for a cute look. The "grass" is just some card stock that was run through the Paper Crimper then put through a shredder. We stamped a sentiment from the set "Hand Penned Holidays" onto vanilla card stock. This isn't attached to anything so it can be removed & you can enjoy the center piece all year long. We used a bit of Spice Cake everything: designer series paper, fabric, even buttons,along with coordinating card stock for the centers. The only stamping involved is the sentiment & you don't even have to do that if you prefer :).

I hope you enjoyed the project today. I'm off to get some more things done before it's time to start dinner :)  I will have lots to share after my weekend! :) Stay tuned! :)

 

New Week - A New Challenge

Pin It Now! Since I've been busy since sometime in September I'm finding it a little more difficult to sit & create new projects. To help me sit & focus I have fallen in love with doing challenges; I've even gone back several weeks/months & have found a lot that have gotten me through several projects :)

Today I'm sharing with you my creation for the Freshely Made Sketches #6.


And here is my finished card:

I started by inking the image from the set "Just Believe" using Wild Wasabi &  stamping it onto a piece of 4" x 2 7/8 " vanilla card stock. I stamped it once & then moved the stamp over & stamped again; re-inked it, stamped in on a scratch paper & stamped it the 3rd time. I used sticky strip to mount this onto a 3 1/8" x 4 1/3" piece of Pumpkin Pie card stock. Using more sticky strip I adhered the panel onto a vanilla piece of card stock measuring 4" x 5 1/4". Next I used the Eyelet Border punch on a strip of Soft Suede & used sticky strip to adhere it to the entire panel. I cut a piece of Soft Suede designer paper (from the Neutrals Designer Series pack) & layered in over the scallop border using dimensionals. I then wrapped a piece of Marina Mist taffeta around that. I used the Beautiful Wings embosslits die & the Big Shot to cut out some Marina Mist & Pumpkin Pie butterflies that I glued onto the front. This whole layer was mounted to the Wild Wasabi card front using sticky strip. I stamped another image from the same stamp set onto some vanilla card stock using Pumpkin Pie ink & then punched it out using the  1 1/4" circle punch. It was glued onto a Soft Suede circle that I punched out with the 1 3/8" circle punch & popped up on a dimensional. "Happy Birthday" (from "Teeny Tiny Wishes") was inked up with Marina Mist ink & stamped onto vanilla card stock then punched out using the Word Window punch. I sponged the edges with Soft Suede ink & glued to the circle.

I know I've said this before but typing out the directions is taking longer than actually making it :) I wasn't too sure about this at first but I'm liking it more & more. The color combo wasn't one I've used before, not that I remember anyway, but I kind of  like it :)  After I took this picture I noticed I forgot to add rhinestones to the center of the butterflies like I had "planned". However, I'm kind of glad I didn't; I rather like it just as it is :)

I hope you enjoy today's project. It's the start of a brand new week & I'm hoping to get a few things done in the next couple of days. I am going to the Stampin' Up! Regional Convention later this week so I have a "to do" list to complete :) My wonderful husband even took a day off work so I can go up a day early with some fellow demos from here. It will be the first time he's in charge of things on a school day; I'm sure he'll appreciate going back to work ;)

Have a wonderful week & check back for more projects this week! :)