Undecided...

I feel a little undecided on today's card.  On one hand I LOVE the idea of it, on the other it looked better in my head.  So what do you think????  My original plan was to cut the doily out and use that for the sun, but it was to bright, big and I wasn't sure where my greeting would go.  Then I thought I'd go for a lighter look and brayer over it.  In the end I looked better in my head than it did on paper.  I went back and forth about whether or not to even post it, but in the end I decided that while I don't love it, maybe it will inspire someone else to make something spectacular!  I think the doily die just isn't the right one.  I LOVE the rays on the card but I think there needs to be more to the sun.  Anyway, I'd love to know what you think, leave me a comment let me know. 

Here's what it look like before I brayered it.  Here's a helpful tip too, if you masking off large parts of your card like this, make sure to adhere your pieces down with a removable adhesive like dotto or something like it.  Now I have some super fun news!!!!!  In only 10 posts (including today) so that means Friday the 30th (remember I don't post on weekends) I'll celebrate 1000 blog posts!!!!!  WhooooHooo!!!!!  It's a huge milestone (I think) and I've been watching my post count up to 1000 for a couple weeks now.  I'm going to do something big perhaps give some stuff away.....so check all week and all next week too!  I'm getting super excited!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!!

Rainbow Happiness!

I can't tell you how much I love this card!!!  SO fun and who would have ever thought you could use EVERY label framelit on 1 card!  Doesn't it look fantastic though!!!??  I was inspired by a project on saw on Pintrest, you can see the inspiration from the original creator is here.  What a fantastic idea!  So I loved it, but I wanted a different greeting.  I don't have many 'rainbow' greetings so I did a google search and came across this one.  There was no author mentioned but I loved it the best out of the dozens that I read.  I kept going back to this one so I figured it was meant to be.  I just typed it out and printed it on some cardstock. Easy Peasy!

So how did I make it a card?  The entire rainbow scene is mounted on a Whisper White card that was cut out from the same label dies.  Fold your card and place your framelit over it just make sure that the fold of your card is below the cutting part of your die.  You'll get all but the top cut out so that you'll have a card.  Now I will say this before you go make a card with it, I was very nervous about breaking my framelit by having it cut through 2 sheets.  If I remember correctly the instructions say only 1 sheet.  It worked fine with the white, I don't think I would try it with our colored cardstock, if you do you'll probably have to adjust your 'sandwich'.  The white and vanilla cardstock is thinner than our colored so it worked well.  It's not something I'll do regularly with it but it's cute for every now and then when you need that card shaped like this!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Aquarium Day

I've been spending most of my spare time playing with My Digital Studio, you all know how much I love that program!  I've been extra inspired to use it lately from the online class that I've been taking through Heather Summers, she's a MDS rock star!!!!  Anyway, I thought I'd try something that I've never done with a page, round pictures!  Can you believe it, I don't think I've ever done round pictures.  I think mostly because when I do them they never look quite right, to me anyway.  But I decided to go for it and just stick with it.  These pictures were from our trip to the aquarium with my friend Jennifer and her son Easton in January.  The pictures were so sweet and they came out great that I wanted to scrapbook them, but do it in a way that the pictures were still the focal point and were still where your attention was drawn to initally and then back again.  I think I accomplished it.  I love the brown for the background, it really makes the water in the pictures 'pop' out.  Overall I love this page and how it all came together!  Give circles a try!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Happy Birthday!

Well not quite.  This month I celebrate 9 years with Stampin' Up!  I've loved all 9 years with them.  They're such a fantastic company to work for.  I really feel that they truly care about their demonstrators.  I could go on and on about the wonderful 9 years I've had, but I'll just get straight to the cards :)  Since March is my anniversary or 'birthday' month with SU I always (well at least the past couple of years) do a birthday card stamp a stack in March.  Last Saturday I had this years, I think it was the best one yet!!!!!  It's always fun, we had cake and stamped lots of fun cards!!!!  The first one I think it my favorite.  Nothing too fancy or complicated, we used the Very Vintage (I think that's the name of it) wheel for the vanilla on the background.  Then we used the Apothecary Art and labels framelits for the rest of the card.  The flowers are just lightly colored in with the markers.  One of my favorites!!!!

Of course during SAB I always like to throw in a card that showcases one of our sets.  This one is the Elementary Elegance set.  I copied this card right from our swaps from our monthly meeting.  The card I copied was done by Nichole from our January swap you can see it here, it's the 2nd card down.  I didn't copy exactly but I sure copied alot of the same elements.   



If the first one was my favorite than this one sure is a VERY close second!  I love this one.  I had a completely different card in mind when I planned the class, but wouldn't you know it as things tend to go, my original plan just wasn't going to work.  So I searched split coast and found a card similar to this, I love it and my card was planned!!!  So pretty, delicate and fun!!!!!

Finally the last one.  After designing the first 3 I though, hmmm maybe a more masculine card would be necessary so that's where this one came in.  It's the perfect card for using your scraps.  It's simple but so fun and striking! 

Mini Purses!

Remember last week when I said I have some fun new products to show you!!!!!?!  Here is one of my new favorite products!!!!  A mini purse die and some new DSP!!!  You know I how much I love being a demonstrator, we were/are allowed to get this a month before it's released!  What a fun perk!!!!!  You can sign up to join SU now during SAB for a discounted price and you'll get FREE DSP or a digital download every month for the rest of the year.  It's a great deal!!!!  Anyway back to my mini purses.  This die along with the DSP, stamps, fabric, brads and more will be available in April and then in the new Catalog when it's released in June.  I'm so in love with this little purse though it's so cute!!  I can't wait to make more. 

I got this die on Thursday and make 16 of these little boxes in one night!  YEP one night!  They're that easy!!!  I gave them away at my class over the weekend to my guests who attended.  The only modification I made to the little purse was I cut off the cardstock flap to close it and added a DSP flap, with the new DSP! The new Summer Smooches DSP is so fun and bright and happy!  The purses are 'mini' I fit 8 Hershey kisses in my purses, but they're the perfect size for a small gift or some small jewelry.  How cute would they be as favors for a bridal or baby shower!  FUN!!!  You'll see more of this purse soon!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

My Favorite Peeps!

I saw this idea on Pintrest (I'm addicted to that site!).  It was so adorable that I had to make it instantly.  So as soon as I could I got some marshmallow peeps.  The idea behind this little Easter gift is a bag or box with some grass some eggs and a peep.  Attach a tag that says: "You're one of my favorite peeps" and viola a super cute easy craft!!!!!  I made up my tag in MDS, more on that later.  When I went to assemble my bag I realized I only had HUGE cello bags (don't worry, I have some smaller ones on the way!).  So it's a little larger than I would have normally made it.  But because of the big bags, I had to make big tags.  I think that when my smaller bags come I'll modify the tag and make it a little smaller. 

Even with the large tag this is still super cute and probably the cutest Easter treat I've made in a while.  So here's my little peep in the bag.  Make sure you decorate it up with the grass and candy eggs, otherwise the poor peep is in there all alone :( 

For the tags, I opened up My Digital Studio and just opened an 8.5x11 landscape scrapbook page.  This is typically how I make my tags.  You can fit a whole bunch on the sheet and then print them out.  I used my punches to make the base of the tag, added text and stamps over that.  Because I was going for a bigger tag for this one, I could fit 6 to a page, the tags are about 2.5x4.  When I get the smaller bags I'll modify the tag to make it smaller and hopefully get 8 to a page if not maybe 10.  This is such a fun and simple gift.  I hope you go make them too!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Flower Boxes

At our last meeting Amber showed us how to make these adorable little flower boxes from your old brad/button/embellishment containers.  They're so cute, fun and EASY!  I used 5 petals on each of my flowers, I probably could have fit 6 but I thought 5 was good.  For the pink one I used the new blossom punch in the mini catalog, then to change it up a little I used the scallop circle for the Poppy Parade ones. They're so fun and easy.  To make your petals punch your flower or circle or ANY punch that you're using.  Spray it with water (I sprayed mine with Shimmer Mist Spray a combo of rubbing alcohol and shimmer mist paint).  While it's still wet place your bone folder in the center and crumple or mold your cardstock around it.  I used the shimmer mist only because I was too lazy to get up and get a water bottle-there you have it I'm a lazy stamper :)  BUT it left the flowers with a fun shimmer! 

If you want to add a layer or two of CS to the top of your container before you put your flower on make sure you do that before the next step.  Once you have your petals use a glue gun, you really need a glue gun for this sticky strip, tombow, glue dots or any other glue just aren't going to hold as well.  Stick your petals on leaving a space in the center.  Take a strip of cardstock, and make grass-we've all done this, trim your cardstock into slivers but don't cut all the way down, roll it up and stick it in the center.  SO CUTE!!!!  I made 4 of them, they'll be my door prizes for my class tomorrow. 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Cough....I'm Back?

Well kind of.  I'll let you in on a little secret.  Last week I had all my post scheduled on Monday for the entire week!  Yay me!!!  I also was able to do Monday of this week-last week.  Yep I thought I was on top of things, organized and ready!  Well then Logan got sick, stay at home with Mom sick, fever sick, coughing sick.  ICK!  Poor kid.  Well normally Logan bounces back quickly and so on day 3 of missing school I began to wonder is this more than just a cold.  Well when he didn't eat lunch that day I knew it was time to see a doctor.  His doctor wasn't in that day so we went to urgent care.  Good thing too, turns out Logan was on the verge of a horrible ear infection and if we had waited another day it would have been 100 times worse.  So after a few does of antibiotics Logan was back a school.  I thought that was it, we were done with it!  Then Sunday I was feverish and sick, coughing the whole thing! Monday was bad too, then Megan starts coughing, and the worst sound in the world is a little baby coughing.  Poor Megan and I had been hit!  Megan saw a doctor yesterday and the doctor said she's doing ok, just your run of the mill cold and cough.  Geez!  So now we're hoping it's run it's course and we can all be on the path to recovery now.  I was able to do a little stamping yesterday, I'm not completely thrilled with the card but I haven't been thinking very clear the last day or two so I'm going to blame it on that. 

But before we get to the card, have you seen these in the stores??????  Now if anyone out there ever wants to buy me a present :) this is what I want :)  These are so yummy!  If you follow my blog you already know of my slight obsession with Ghirardelli dark chocolate (it has to be dark, I'm not a fan of milk chocolate).  When I saw these I thought I'd pass out, I found them at the store while picking up Logan's prescription (so something good did come out of all that)!  They're so yummy!!!!  I love them!!!  They're new so they might not be everywhere and like other new stuff sometimes they don't stick around so I'll be stocking up on them while they're on the shelves :)  And if anyone from Ghirardelli is reading this please don't make them a one time or seasonal item : / 

Ok, as much as I'm sure you'd love to hear me go on and on about my chocolate obsession (it is an obsession) you probably want to see a card. Now on the one hand, it's not my best card, but it's still cute and blog worthy (believe me there's plenty I don't show you).  But the most exciting part is that it uses a brand new stamp set!!!  Yay!!!!  This is the Bright Blossoms Set.  If you're a demonstrator you can preorder it now, if you're a customer you can get it in April.  If you were at Managers Reception at Leadership you already have it!!!  I'm super excited about all these new products.  I have some new DSP and a new DIE coming today that I can't wait to show you!!!!

It's really cute, it comes with little flowers and vases so fun!!!  I added a simple flower with my circle punches.  So fun.  I used my markers to color the image: So Saffron, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party.  I added some texture with the polka dot folder and some ribbon.  I'm really glad I added the ribbon, it looks so much better with it.  So that's all from me for today.  Since I've lost about a week of work I'm really far behind and I have a class this weekend.  I'm super excited and I'm almost ready but now that Logan's on spring break my time has been compromised again.  Maybe I can get Logan to help.......Thanks for sticking by me this week, hopefully I'm back to posting daily (m-f anyway). 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

I've Got Nothin'....

I really wish I had something to show you today but the past week our house has been the tunnel of sickness.  Logan was home sick for 3 days last week, after a trip to the doctor we found out it's an ear infection.  He still has another few days on the antibiotics.  Me on the other hand...I either caught what Logan has or I picked up something from the Dr. office (I hate those germy places!).  So Sunday and yesterday were spent with me laying in bed or on the couch with a fever and trying not to spread germs anywhere else.  Fortunately Megan hasn't caught anything, we're praying it stays that way, the last thing I need is a sick 16 month old too.  Dan has a cough but we're not positive if it's what Logan and I have or if it's allergies related to our early windy season.  I hope I'm well enough today to at least clear my desk to stamp, I hope to have new stuff to show you very soon, in the meantime please know that I'm missing you and I'll be back just as soon as I'm physically able to :(
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Introducing....

Me!  No not really, well kind of.  Over the weekend I did something I've wanted to do for a while and finally got a chance.  I got to teach a class at my local library.  It was alot of fun and I got to meet some fun people.  The class was an intro to cardmaking and why it better and cheaper to make your cards instead of buy them. While I love crafting 3-D projects and using SU's fabric, I'm addicted to MDS BUT cardmaking has been and always will be my true passion.  So I love the classes that I do that focus only on cardmaking.  Because this was a beginners class for people who hadn't stamped in a while or maybe never at all the cards were simple and straight forward.  But of course I did pull out some of my favorite tools, like punches and the big shot.  No class is complete without those :)  The first card was super simple, one color and the only accessory is a bow made with our Crumb Cake Seam Binding.  There is an added pop of texture with the embossing done with the big shot and the frames embossing folder but still a simple easy card. 

The next card was stepped up a little, there were a couple of punches but that was probably the hardest part of this card.  The flower is stamped with Riding Hood Red to match the beautiful pleated ribbon.  We used the new blossom punch and matching set.  I'm really starting to love that set, I knew I would though :)  So that's it.  I had a great time, I hope the library invites me back to do more classes like this! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!