Gift Card or an Ornament?

Yes, I'm around...Yes, I've done SOME stamping, but not nearly as much as I would like to be doing. This year I have tried my hand at sewing and am working on making a few gifts for my girls. It is taking ALOT more time than stamping does! I held a gift card stamp camp recently and here is one of the projects the ladies made. I really love the simplicity of this, but yet also how you can really turn it into anything!

This was made with Stampin' Up's Scallop Square Die Cut. The base of the ornament is a piece of chipboard covered with a cut out of Certainly Celery card stock. I then ran a piece of Real Red through the die and cut it in half diagonally to create a pocket. (The piece of pink card stock you see is a stand in for a gift card). I love that you could hang this on your Christmas Tree or a door handle, or just about anywhere. Imagine all the holidays you could do this one for!

Winter Post

Here is yet another sample from my Christmas Card Stamp a Stack. I used the Winter Post stamp set on this one. I really like this stamp set. I paired it with Soft Suede, Real Red, and Sahara Sand. I also pulled out my Photo Corner Punch since that has not seen the light in ages! After this class my Sleigh Bells ribbon in nearly gone, I suppose I should order some more since it is in the mini catalog and who knows if it will make it into the Idea Book and Catalog come summer.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow...Not Yet!

As the last of the leaves are trying to fall in our yard and the temperatures drop, I am reminded that snow will be on its way before we know it. I really do love the snow...I just wish it only stuck around till mid January!

This is a simple card that we did for my Christmas Card Stamp A Stack. I used the Serene Snowflakes set from the current mini catalog as well the greeting from Christmas Greetings. We stamped the snowflakes with White Craft ink and then heat embossed them with clear embossing powder. The snowflake is from the Merry Embosslit in the mini catalog. We got ALOT of use out of that product at the stamp camp! We finished it off with some faux stitching and the adorable Real Red Polka Dot grosgrain...adorable and easy!

A Bit of Spring

This is a sample that I have been meaning to share from Jami's New Catty Swap. The swap was over weeks ago (golly, it could have been a month ago now!) but I am just getting around to start posting my samples. This is made using the set Herb Expressions. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE lavender so when I saw this set I had to grab it! I paired it with the Razzleberry Lemonade Designer Series Paper. I kept thinking I had to add something to the left side of the card but all the gals I was stamping with said to just leave it alone. When I look at it I still think it is missing something, but if I had put anything on it, I am sure that Lorien would have ripped it off!

Still Stampin...

Yes, I'm still stamping (sometimes), certainly not as often as I would like! As a home schooling parent it seems that once school starts, I am so busy and preoccupied that I really have to try to find time to stamp. If it weren't for my stamp clubs and the stamp camps I have been trying to schedule, I might never find that time for me! Here is a sample of a card that one of my stamp clubs recently made. I LOVED the way it turned out. We were doing the faux tin sheet technique (which I am not even certain if that is the name of it or not, but that is what I have called it). We started with our card base (Real Red regular sized card) and ran it through the Big Shot with the Square Scallop Die. We cut a piece of Certainly Celery slightly smaller than the card base and then yet another piece of card stock a bit smaller than the Celery piece (it does not matter which color since it will be covered anyway). Cover this piece with Tin Foil, just bend it around the edges of your card stock, and run it through your Finial Press Embossing Folder. When it comes out it looks just like those tin sheets that are found on old ceilings. It is just the neatest effect! The Old Olive panel uses the Winter Post set and Many Merry Messages. All of the images are stamped in Old Olive (some stamped off before stamping, to give dimension). The deer is stamped with Versa Mark and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. Add a cute ribbon to the top and a brad and I might have my Christmas card design for this year!

Congrats and Missing You...

This card has been sitting in my computer for awhile now, just waiting to be shared with you. Some very dear friends recently moved to Oklahoma. Although I really wanted to send a card that said, "HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO US!!???!!! We need you here!", I knew it would not help the situation (and I also know that my girlfriend didn't really want to leave anyway). I decided I should be a good sport and congratulate them on their new house. This card was made with the Neighborhood Jumbo Wheel. I just wheeled the images and cut out the house that I wanted, colored it in with Stampin Write markers and popped it up on the card with a dimensional. I used some of my favorite colors together...Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Real Red and So Saffron. I was giddy to be able to use the new Real Red Polka Dot ribbon! I LOVE this ribbon! It is also hard to see in the photo, but I also used the larger polka dot Texture Plate on the background. This was a fun card to make, even though I was missing my friend while making it.

More Christmas....

I can't get enough of the new single stamp, Dasher. How adorable is this? I love the image!! Dasher is stamped in Chocolate Chip Craft ink and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder, as is the sentiment which comes from Fundamental Phrases. You can never go wrong with the wide grosgrain ribbon, so I had to use some of it. The Final Press embossing folder is one of my favorites and goes quite well with the image of the deer don't you think?

Christmas Card Stamp Camp Coming Up...

This Saturday I am holding a Christmas Card Stamp a Stack at my home. If you are in the Flint, Michigan area and wanted to join us, please let me know. This is not a card we will be doing at the class, but it is fitting with the Christmas theme for the stamp camp. This card was one that I recently submitted for a swap and I was unable to share with you until the cards were swapped out. This one uses the new Serene Snowflakes set in the Holiday Mini catalog. I was not planning on using brown and red for a snowflake card, but I did want to use the new designer paper in the mini so it just took off from there. Do you like the Build-a-Brad used in the center? I just don't pull those out often enough! In addition to using Serene Snowflakes this card uses the new Teeny Tiny Wishes - a MUST have set! I have 3 other cards to share over the next few days so be sure to check back!

A Bit More Fall for Ya...

I LOVED the way this card turned out. Simple as can be but just as cute as can be (what till you see the Christmas one I did just like it.) I want the ladies at my stamp camp to get to use the Square Scallop die to make a card base and this was just as fun as can be to make. I used the Final Press embossing folder as well - this embossing folder is by far my favorite. It adds so much elegance to a card. I also broke out my jumbo eyelets since I haven't used those in awhile. I love setting those things with the Crop-a-dile! I've got an idea swirling around in my head for this little card and hopefully I'll work it out soon and share with you!

Stamp Camp Coming Up!

I have a stamp camp scheduled for this Saturday from 10-2 and anyone who is in the Flint, Michigan area is welcome to attend. (Just let me know soon so I can check on space availability and be sure to have enough projects cut.)

This is one of the cards we will be making. The burning bushes in my front yard are starting to change color and that always gets me excited for my favorite season - fall! When I saw the set Falling Leaves in the new catalog, it really didn't scream at me, but the more I looked at it, the more I liked it. Now that I own it, I can't stop using it! I love the circle image and used it on this card to make a cut out in the bottom corner. The inside of the card looks like this:

After I finished it I thought I should have added some leaves down the left hand side. I really love the Razzleberry and Suede card stock together and thought it still looked "fall-ish" but with are non-traditional fall colors.

I'll share another project we'll be making at my stamp camp tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Babies are A Wonderful Reason for a Card

A friend of mine recently announced that there is a new baby at their house! I only own one baby themed stamp set and quite frankly I have not been drawn to it lately, so I decided to see what I could come up with using non baby themed sets. Since "baby" is a girl, I grabbed the Stampin' Up! set, Flight of the Butterfly. The patterned paper is not Stampin' Up! and I honestly cannot remember who makes it or where I got it! The rest of the card is pretty simple. Everything is from Stampin' Up! except the patterned paper and the cute green bling near the sentiment (which comes from the GREAT new set "Teeny Tiny Wishes"). There is that Modern Label punch again...are you sick of it yet?

Quick Swap

I needed a quick swap recently so I whipped this simple one up. I was hoping to come up with a cute card that would be easy for demo's to use to show their customers. This uses the new set Falling Leaves and the new In Color Bermuda Bay. I also used Chocolate Chip Craft ink and heat embossed with with clearn embossing powder. It seems to add a bit of something extra special when it is heat embossed. I used various sizes of circle punches to punch out the circle image. I stamped that image 2 different times, once in Olive and once in Chocolate Chip craft, embossed the chocolate chip and then popped it up with dimensionals.

Another Gift Frame

My friend who is moving has a daughter who is friends with all three of my girls. Hannah is wonderful because she can play with a 10, 7 and 5 year old and never once will you hear, "You're a baby, go away." She genuinely likes all three of them. When I told the girls that our friends would be moving away, the two older girls cried as much as I have. The youngest had a very wise outlook on things for a 5 year old and said, "It's not like someone we love is dying or something." Though, now that she has processed that we won't see them at church every Sunday and that they are really leaving, she does have moments where she will declare how much they will be missed.

I wanted a gift for Hannah that she would be able to remember my girls by. What better gift than a picture frame? I know that a picture frame for an almost 9 year old is not usually very exciting, but she'll appreciate it when she is snug in her new bedroom and missing Michigan! We went to Hobby Lobby and the girls chose this adorable frame. We really wanted it to say "Friends" somewhere, so we snatched it up, took it home and mom added a few things - Rose Red grosgrain ribbon across the top and "Friends" stamped with my retired Whimsical Alphabet set from Stampin Up!.

I think it will look great with a picture of all the girls that was taken Tuesday night when we had a small cookout with a few families, don't you?

Peep Card

Here is the card I made to go with the gift in the previous post. I should have made it to match the gift, but the set was on loan to me and I didn't even think about it until after the set was returned to its rightful owner. I LOVE this paper from My Minds Eye. It is from the Out and About collection. I love that it pairs Soft Sky and Ruby Red (or Riding hood Red). I've always loved pale blue with red. This stamp set is Cheep Talk and one that I had put off purchasing for quite awhile. I chose it a few months ago as one of the sets I earned for free with my Sale-a-Bration sales and have really enjoyed playing with it. I hope you have a great day!

Peep Gift

A very close friend of mine will be moving soon from just 20 minutes away, to over 16 hours away. It has been a quick development and one that has me just a wee bit emotional. Her husband has been offered a job in a different state and after being without work since January, they have decided to go where the work is. The evening she called to let me know that they were accepting the job, I knew I had to get started on a special project for her.

Both of us LOVE birds, there is nothing more delightful to me than to sit in my living room window bird watching and I know that my pal feels the same. We are both country decorators so I wanted to make something that would go with her decor.

There are 4 of us who are very close and we affectionately refer to our pals as our "peeps". So this project is for her to hang in her new house and when she looks at it, she'll be thinking of her peeps. The project uses the Stampin' Up! set, Season of Friendship and various supplies from Stampin' Up! Most of the papers have been recently discontinued (Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette). Each square is representative of a different season and each season has a single bird represented...each is different, to represent our four peeps. This is one of those projects that popped into my head and then just came together perfectly. I had such fun making it!

Dasher in August

This past Friday I headed out to the other side of the state with some stamping friends to enjoy a day of stamping and a night away from the house. If someone would have told me 7 years ago that I would have been getting together with people I had only met online and staying at their homes and chatting till the wee hours of the night, I would have told them they were crazy! A couple years ago my pal Lorien and I attended a Splitcoaststampers event in Lansing, Michigan and then she started helping to organize subsequent Mingler Events. At these events I have met the must fun girls and really have enjoyed spending my stamping time with them. At the event this past weekend there were only 8 of us, but it was perfect. The only sad thing was that Emma had to leave early so we weren't able to enjoy her English humor for as long as I would have liked. Each of us created a swap and a make and take. Can you believe I forgot to take a photo of my swap (that could be because I was creating it at midnight the night before we were supposed to leave!) This is my make and take. I wanted something that was simple enough for the demonstrators that were there to possibly use during the Christmas season as a make and take with their customers. On my sample Dasher is stamped using Chocolate Chip craft ink and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. The embossed background is the new Finial Press embossing folder from Stampin' Up! (which I LOVE). I dragged some Chocolate Chip ink across the embossed areas to give it more depth. Are you LOVING the new Modern Label punch? I am! The kicker on this card is that the red Modern Label is from the Movers and Shapers die that my friend Nicole shared with me a couple weeks ago. The new punch matts perfectly on the Movers and Shapers die!

Happy Birthday Butterfly

I made this quick and easy card for my aunt's birthday last week. The paper is retired now, the Bella Rose DSP is one of my favorites. The butterfly in the center is the Big Shot die, Beautiful Butterflies, which of course is mounted on dimensionals. The only stamping on this card is the "Birthday" at the bottom corner, it comes from the set Fundamental Phrases and is certainly a fundamental set in my book! "Birthday" is mounted on a punched Modern Label shape which I LOVE right now. I've been stamping a lot lately but can't share them with you till September so I'll be working on a few things this week (hopefully) that I can share!

Falling Leaves - LAD Sketch

I finally got all my New Catalog goodies! One of the sets I ordered was Falling Leaves. I needed a good fall set and was looking for something that didn't need to be colored in. I got a chance to play with it and really like the way this card turned out. The sketch for this one is a past Lizzie Anne Designs sketch and it worked perfectly with this set. The card front of the card is the Saffron section and it is actually 1" shorter than the back of the card (so the cute little acorn image "hangs" off the card). I used Soft Suede (again...), So Saffron, Old Olive, and Ruby Red. The red leaf was stamped and then cut out and mounted on a dimensional just as the acorn is.

This is such a great set and I can't wait to play with it some more! I haven't been very good about sending out Thanksgiving cards, but that is just because I haven't found a set that allows me to make several cards without a ton of work. This one may just be the one I've been waiting for!

Pendant Park

Another project made from a set Lorien is sharing. (She is such a good sharer!) Pendant Park is a new set that caught my eye when I saw it in the catalog but I didn't purchase it because it is one of those sets that I knew I would have to see used before I decided if I would get enough use out of it. I don't think this set is a must have yet. The layout is just like the project from last week using the Season of Friendship set (which I now MUST have), I just turned the card on it's side and changed the position of the greeting. I am LOVING this new Modern Label punch and it is hard to tell which kinds of brads I used. I used the smallest Clear Circle Rhinestones. The colors used are Soft Suede (which now seems to be a goto color for me), Melon Mambo and Pretty in Pink. And do you not LOVE the embossed pattern on the Soft Suede panel?? It is the new Finial Press embossing folder. It seems you can never go wrong with something embossed somewhere.

I LOVE Inspiration!

It seems like there can be WEEKS that I don't stamp. I don't make the time to go downstairs to my craft room and then before you know it weeks have passed. Then, when I DO make the time, I find myself completely unable to put anything together. Saturday evening I crawled down to my hole with a project, a gift, in my head and I sat down there until I got the entire thing done! It turned out wonderfully...just how I had envisioned it! I can't share it with you for a couple weeks though.

I don't know about you, but once I create something I am pleased with, I feel myself on a roll. So, yesterday I went back downstairs and created 3 cards! Here is the first...inspiration came from 2 stamping friends. Here are their cards:

The one on the top was made by Laura (okiechic at SCS) and the one on the bottom was made by Vicki (craftcrazy98 at SCS). Both of these were made for a swap I hostessed recently. And here is my card. Can you tell which parts of their cards inspired me?

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The set used is Circle Circus. Not a set I own, but one that my pal Lorien is letting me borrow. The sentiment is from Fundamental Phrases (a must have!). The brighter pink is the new Melon Mambo and I also used some filigree brads that I recently received (I'm loving those and don't know what took me so long to get them!).

Enjoy your day!