Happy Halloween!

I'm going to make today's post quick and simple. It's Halloween! Go out, trick or treat and have some fun!
Today for my final day of my week of Halloween posts I have a fast, simple card. This one I made to give to Logan. We learned how to make this card on Thursday at our meeting. You can put a gift card or a note in the little pocket. I put a Ghirardelli Chocolate. It's not everyday, in fact it's not ANY day that Logan gets some of my 'good' Chocolate but it's Halloween and I know he'll enjoy it-or maybe he'll share it with Mom..... :)

And on the inside there's still room for a greeting!!

Thanks for looking, have a great Halloween! See you Monday!!!

Halloween Day 5-Enjoy Every Bite

Last night was our demonstrator meeting and I know that I normally have my swaps and 3 minute demos to show at this time but I'm going to wait until next week for those. I wanted to continue with my Halloween Week! So remember yesterday I said I was being a big procrastinator this week, well I put off making teacher gifts for Logan's teachers until the last minute too. Why, oh why do I do this? Normally I'm not like that, just very unorganized this week for whatever reason. But I just finished them Thursday morning right before we had to leave for school. But I think they came out super cute!

I wanted to give the some delicious Ghirardelli chocolate, so I used this box that I made for Valentine's Day this year. I just love this little box! Just change the front of it and you have an all occasions little chocolate box!

I used white craft ink to color in the skeleton. Aren't the torn edges cool on this. Now I know there are those out there that don't like to tear (Mom), but I'm loving it lately and I've been doing it on a bunch of different projects-you'll see those next week!

Here's the inside with the yummy candy and a quick not from Logan!

Supplies:

Stamp Set: Twick or Tweet

Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Kraft, White

Ink: Staz On and White Craft pads and Creamy Caramel Marker

Accessories: Sticky Strip, dimensionals, crop a dial, Elegant Eggplant ribbon, blender pens

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow for my final day of my Halloween Week!

Halloween Day 4-Quick Tags

It is freezing here today. I can't believe it's already this cold and it's not even November yet. I am not a fan of the cold weather so I always dread winter coming and this year it seems it's coming earlier than normal. At least for a day or two, it's supposed to warm back up next week. But I could do without the super cold weather.
For today's post, I'm sticking with my week of Halloween posts. And I've been such a procrastinator this week, well for a few weeks with this project. I wanted to make cute treats for the kiddos in Logan's preschool class but I was limited to what I could use for a 'treat'. One of the kids in Logan's class is severely allergic to nuts, and can't have food that been processed in a facility that may have nuts, so finding nut free candy is nearly impossible. But Logan loves popcorn and I figure well most kids probably do too. So I got these popcorn balls and my original plan was to make cones and stick them in the cones, but since this project didn't get started until just hours ago making 18 of those seemed out of the question. So instead I used my Two Tags die and made cute tags and tied them around the popcorn balls. I didn't use SU ribbon, for a couple of reasons. 1) I didn't have enough in one color to do 18 of them and 2) They're going to 3 year olds who will most likely just toss the ribbon anyway and each one used a lot of ribbon and I couldn't bear the thought of that much precious SU ribbon being thrown away. Silly-maybe, but I've seen Logan with ribbon and he doesn't really care about which ribbon so I thought for this project I can probably get away with a lower quality ribbon.

This is just a few of them. I think the kids will like the birds.

Supplies:

Stamp Set: Twick or Tweet

Cardstock: Kraft, Elegant Eggplant, White, Summer Sun

Ink: Summer Sun and Only Orange Marker

Accessories: 1 1/4, 1 3/8, and Scallop Circle punches, Big Shot, Two Tags die, dimensionals

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!

Halloween Day 3--Punched Pumpkin Card

It's day 3 of my 6 days of Halloween! I came up with this card on Monday and I love it. I only made the 2 and mailed them but I think I'll make one for me too because they're just so darn cute. They came out so much better than I thought they would. You know when you image something in your head then it's ten times better than that. Well that's how this card came to be. It's smaller than a normal card. I think the finished size is 5 x 3 3/4, just slightly smaller. This is my all time favorite layout for a card. It's like a card in a card and I love this layout.

For the pumpkin I used the large oval punch and punched out 5 of them. I sponged all the edges in Only Orange and then very very lightly in Chocolate Chip. His face is from the Kooky Spooky Build a Bear Workshop Halloween die.

Isn't is just so cute?! I love the greeting on the inside. Then there's still plenty of room for a personal message.

Supplies:

Stamp Set: Holiday Best

Cardstock: Lovely Lilac, Only Orange, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip and Basic Black

Ink: Only Orange, Chocolate Chip pads, Lovely Lilac, Only Orange, Old Olive Markers

Accessories: Round Tab, Wide Oval, Horizontal Slot and 1 3/4 inch Circle punches, sponges, silver brads, Old Olive Ribbon, Big Shot, Swirls Sizzlit die and Kooky Spooky die, dimensionals

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow for day 4 of my week of Halloween!

Tutorial Tuesday-Halloween Treat

I have a super quick but OH SO CUTE tutorial for you today. I saw this, but a Christmas version on the SU demonstrator website. It was so cute and it uses my current favorite die, The Two Tags die so I just had to make it and it so adorable I hope you enjoy it too.

To make this you'll need 2 of the rectangle tags from the die, some ribbon, some yummy treats for inside.

To start glue the bottoms of the tags together at the score lines. So you should have the rounded part for the ribbon at both ends

Decorate the front of one of the tags, however you choose.

Attach your treats inside, I have candy corn in a cello bag, but you could also put mini candy bars in them too. Put the ribbon through both holes of the tag on each side and you're done. Quick, cute and EASY!

Isn't it great. Kids could make these too, what cute class gifts!

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!!

6 Days of Halloween--Day 1

Welcome to Day 1 of my week of Halloween projects! I thought it would be fun to have all Halloween posts this week, since the big day is coming up this Saturday! We are ready for it too. We have our candy, Logan has his costume and hopefully it won't be too cold.

For today's project I made another triangle box. I am just loving making these boxes. They're so fun and easy. This one is made with a 6x4 (I think, I gave the box away, but I'm pretty sure that's how big it was).

The ghost's are stamped on a window sheet then I colored them with white craft ink. Aren't they cute.

And the box is just so simple to put together. These would be really cute to make a bunch and then hang them on the doorknob's of coworkers offices or neighbors houses. And they're so easy you can make a bunch in no time!

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Twick or Tweet

Cardstock: Old Olive

Ink: Staz On, Elegant Eggplant and White Craft ink

Accessories: Sponges, Blender pens, window sheets, Elegant Eggplant ribbon, Crop a dial, 1 3/8 circle punch

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!

Totally quick with Totally Tool

What an adventure we had yesterday. Dan calls me from work at 8:30 saying "Go outside and check your back tire, it's looks low" So I go outside, sure enough the tire that my Dad just filled up on Wednesday because it looked low was low again. UGGGHH, that means one thing, there's a leak. Could there have been a worse day to get a flat tire, well is there ever a good day to get a flat tire? So we had to get the tire fixed before the afternoon, when I needed to head out to my bunco party. I also needed to unpack from my workshop on Thursday night and re-pack for my stamp a stack today, make a couple more favor boxes for the bunco party, oh and bake a couple of apple pies for a bake sale at Logan's preschool. So I called my Dad fortunately he had the day off and helped me with the tire. Unpacked, repacked and baked, made 2 more boxes and still somehow found time to stamp. When I say found time to stamp, this card came together in just minutes since that's all that was left. But I wanted to make a 'Thank You' card for my Dad for helping.

It's actually pretty cute for coming together so quickly.

Well I gotta go, I am looking forward to my stamp a stack. Now that my car is fixed the pies are baked it'll be a good day!

Supplies:

Stamp Set: Totally Tool

Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Creamy Caramel, Basic Black, Very Vanilla and Brushed Silver

Ink: Staz On, Going Gray, White

Accessories: Sponge, Vanilla Jumbo Brad, Dimensionals

Make sure to check next week, I have an entire week of Halloween posts so that will be really fun!

Thanks for looking, have a good weekend, see you Monday!

Sparkly Reindeer

What a great time I had at my workshop last night. I love doing workshops and they're always so much fun. I hope that Cyndi and her friends had a great time last night too. This card is one of the make and takes from last night. I know I say it over and over and OVER but I LOVE the shimmer paint spray and I'm telling everyone about it. The whole card is sprayed with the shimmer spray!

Isn't that reindeer cute. I think this set is quick becoming one of my favorite Christmas sets!

Supplies:

Stamp Set: Sparkly and Bright

Cardstock: Kraft, Bermuda Bay, Vanilla

Ink: Chocolate Chip and Bermuda Bay pads and Ruby Red Marker

Accessories: Two Tags die, Big Shot, Scallop circle and 1 3/8 circle punches, dimensionals, Shimmer spray

Another quick post, I have my Christmas Card Stamp a Stack tomorrow and I'm just finishing up some last minute details!

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!

Lovely as a....branch?

I have a quick post today. I'm getting ready for a workshop tonight. Can't wait, I know it will be a blast!

I have a twist on how to use the pine tree from Lovely as a Tree. Use it as a branch to hang an ornament for a Christmas card. How cleaver right!? As much as I would love to take credit for this idea, the original idea did not come from me. I saw it on Karen Titus, my third level upline's blog.

I love the embossing folder in the back too! Isn't the big shot great, there's just sooooo much you can do with it! The rest of the idea for this card came from Heather Summers blog, a while ago. I kind of copied one of her cards. Well at least the background of it. I just love the folder and I love how she left a border on the bottom to stamp a greeting.

I gotta go finish getting ready for my workshop!

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Four The Holidays, Tree Trimmings, Lovely as a Tree

Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla

Ink: Always Artichoke, Bravo Burgundy

Accessories: Petals a Plenty Impressions Folder, Dimensionals

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!

The same--but different

One of the things I love most about our catalogs are the endless ideas you get from them. It seems I can still look through any of the catalogs and get new ideas. You can change a color here a stamp set there and you have a brand new card. I love that! So where am I going with this? Well today's card is just that, copied from the mini catalog but tweaked just a little. On page 4 of the mini catalog there is a sample that uses the hostess set Patterned Pines. So my card is very similar, but I changed the greeting and the colors and instead of using the eyelet border punch I tore my edges. It's the same, but different!

The trees are embossed with white embossing powder. The super great thing about this card is that if you emboss one sheet of trees in each color you can make 3 cards, so it's super easy to reproduce.

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Patterned Pines, All Holidays

Cardstock: Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, White, Old Olive

Ink: VersaMark, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: White EP, Heat Tool, Dimensionals

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!

Tutorial Tuesday--Wax Paper Resist

I'm so excited to today's tutorial. It's such a cool technique and one that I've wanted to try for a while, so here goes.
We're going to do a variation of the wax paper resist technique. The way I learned this technique was crumple up a piece of wax paper, unfold it and iron it onto glossy cardstock. Well were going to do that basic technique but instead of crumpling it we're going to use the SU Petal's a Plenty Impressions folder.
Some supplies you'll need: Big Shot, Impressions folder, wax paper, glossy cardstock, an iron, classic ink and sponge daubers or sponges (or a brayer).

Use your impressions folder and emboss your wax paper only.

If you have a helper you can let them do it :)

Your wax paper won't look very pretty.

Put your wax paper between 2 pieces of glossy cardstock. Make sure the glossy side of the cardstock is on the inside touching the wax paper. You can do only one piece of paper, but doing one on each side gives you more bang for your buck. If your wax paper is bigger than your cardstock make sure you put scrap paper on the top and bottom of your wax paper sandwich.

Iron it, just for a few seconds. Not very long.

It's hard to see but the wax transferred to the glossy cardstock. Use your sponge, sponge dauber or brayer to apply color to your cardstock. The darker you want your color the more color you add. The wax will 'resist' the ink. Isn't that cool!?

I used Real Red on this one.

And Old Olive on this one.

I went over the Old Olive one with some Always Artichoke and I just kept going over the Real Red one with red ink. Just keep applying ink until it's the desired look you want. Add to your card to finish.

Isn't it cool!?! It kind of makes for a funky, cool Christmas card.

Try this technique!

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!

Deals of the Week #3

Second post for the day.
More great stuff on sale. You have until next Monday, October 26 at 9:50AM to get these items on sale!
Clockwise from the top left,
Basic Jumbo Grommets $4.49
Circle Designer Brads $3.99
Mini Library Clips $8.99
1/2" Library Clips $3.99

Tweet Box

Twick or Tweet! Ha! I love this set! This little bird cracks me up. Logan was helping me make this box and while I was coloring the bird he said "Look that chicken has glasses!" Well a mask, but glasses work too. He's just so cute!

I made 14 of these boxes, they'll be for the Bunco party this Friday at my friend Lori's house. I think we'll have a couple to spare but better too many then too few right. They're made with the matchbox die and Logan helped cut all 14 of them with the big shot. He even got Dan cutting some too and showed Dan how to use the big shot. Perhaps a future demonstrator--Logan not Dan! Though I think Dan secretly had a great time with the big shot.

After I put the boxes together I decided that I needed to soften the look of them a little so I went back and sponged the edges of the boxes in white craft ink. They really look a hundred times better now then before they were sponged.

Lori is buying the candy so I'm not sure what they'll be filled with but M&M's work! And they're awfully yummy. These M&M's are gone now, thanks to my helpers :)

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Twick or Tweet

Cardstock: Basic Black, Elegant Eggplant, White

Ink: Staz On, Elegant Eggplant, White Craft Pads, Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie and Only Orange Markers

Accessories: Scallop, 1 3/8, 1 1/4 circle punches, Word Window punch, Big Shot, Matchbox die, dimensionals, paper piercer, sticky strip, sponges

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow for Tutorial Tuesday!

Snow Buddy

We made it to the weekend! Now we have time to rest and relax. Well maybe... I hope you can fit in some stamping this weekend. I'm going to make today's post quick so that I can get to my stamping :)
Today's card I'm using the level 2 hostess set from the mini catalog, Snow Buddies. It's so cute. those little snowmen just make me smile. I've had if for a while, but I don't think I've made a card with it, I know that I've played with it but I don't know if there was ever a finished product from my playing. Well anyway. I think this card is just so cute. And it's pretty easy and fast to do.

I did use my shimmer spray on the card, to give it the illusion of a winter wonderland. I meant to stamp my snowflakes before assembling my card but forgot so I added them after assembling. Which is one some of them look a little funny. It's a little trickier to stamp when you working around images and dimensionals. Oh well, unless you really look closely you can't see my mistake so I'm ok with it.

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Snow Buddies, Warm Words

Cardstock: Bermuda Bay, Soft Suede, White, Thoroughly Modern DSP

Ink: Staz on pad, Bermuda Bay, Soft Suede, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black marker

Accessories: Shimmer Spray, Soft Suede Ribbon, Linen Thread, dimensionals

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!

Some Digital Samples

Well most of my time lately has been consumed playing with My Digital Studio. I've been making cards and playing with the calendars but most of all I've been working on a scrapbook of Logan from the past couple of years. I may expand it and go all the way back to when he was born but who knows at this point. I have almost 20 pages done and I love each and every one of them. When I'm completely done with the scrapbook I'll post the whole book for you to see but today I wanted to show you how amazing this product is with just a few of my favorite, favorite pages.

The first two are a two page layout. So you'll have to image their right next to each other. I did the first page first, then inserted a duplicate page mirrored, so I got the same exact page just mirrored. Then I just changed the pictures and the text. My upline Amber told me she saw a page done where the background was another picture but at a lower opacity. LOVED that idea so I tried it. And the picture behind is from our Chama trip, it's the Chama River (or Rio Chama).

The next one took a while but I'm finally happy with how it came out. I kept changing the background and the stamps and the layout of the pictures. But I really like how the final version came out.

The last one was one of the very first pages that I did. I love the simplicity of it and oh my goodness do I love that picture. I didn't want anything to take away from the focus of the picture.

So that's it, for now. I hope this has given you a nice look into MDS, if you haven't already seen it.

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!

Razzleberry Snowflake

Another birthday card for you today! This one I love!! I love the colors I love the DSP, I love the layout, I just love it all! The Rich Razzleberry Piece with the scallop circle on it is from the two tags die. I really love that die, it's probably my current favorite. I say my current favorite because it changes so often. If you haven't had a chance to use the big shot call me and we'll set up a workshop for me to show it to you.
The greeting is from the chit chat rub ons. Looking at this card now I think I should have sprayed it with shimmer paint, but there's always next time, right?

Supplies

Stamp Set: Sweet Season

Cardstock: White, Rich Razzleberry, Pale Plum

Ink: Rich Razzleberry

Accessories: Big Shot, Two Tags die, Chit Chat Rubons, White Taffeta Ribbon, Rhinestone Brads, 1 1/4, 1 3/8, and Scallop circle punches, dimensionals

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!

Mambo Birthday

Have you ever noticed how many birthday's are in October? Maybe it's just me but a lot of my friends and family have birthday's this week. Four in one week. So I've been busy getting birthday cards made. Here's one that I made that I really like. I love Melon Mambo and Blush Blossom together, it's such a pretty combination.

I haven't used this set in a while, Garden Greenhouse. It's so pretty. I stamped some of the flowers on the cardstock and then I stamped some on scratch paper and cut them out and popped them up on dimensionals. It's a simple but pretty card.

Supplies:
Stamp Sets: It's Your Birthday, Greenhouse Garden
Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Blush Blossom, White
Ink: Blush Blossom, Melon Mambo, Black ink pad and marker
Accessories: Melon Mambo ribbon, dimensionals, stamp a ma jig

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!

Tutorial Tuesday-Faux Flocking

It's Tutorial Tuesday! Today I'm going to show you faux flocking. I've seen this technique and you may have seen it too. But I really wanted to give it a try and I liked it so much I thought I'd do a tutorial on it. It's a little time consuming, so I wouldn't plan to make 100 of them. But one or two are really cute.
So lets get started, here's what you'll need. Paper snips, cardstock in color you want your flocking, crystal effects and your stamped image.

To get all your 'flocking' open your scissors and scrap the edges of your cardstock. By doing this you'll get lots of little flock scraps, as I like to call them. I collected all mine in an old brads container. This way they all stay contained in one spot and if I don't use it all I can save it for another use.

I've already stamped my image and I've put Crystal Effects all over the bird. Not on his pumpkin, beak or eyes. Just where you want the flock to be. Something I didn't do but should have BEFORE you apply your crystal effects color in your image the same color as your flocking. This way if some doesn't stick in the corners or everywhere it needs to you still get the color coverage.

Gently put your flocking on. There are a couple ways to do this. You can turn your image upside down in the flocking, or you can pick some up and gently push it on. I like to push it on. I think you get better coverage that way and your ensuring that it's sticking to the crystal effects.

Now we need to brush off the flocking from the spots where we didn't want the flocking to be, his eyes the pumpkin. Since I'm working with a very small image I just use the round top of a straight pin. If you're working with a large image you might be able to use a paint brush.

Now you can finish coloring your image, if you haven't already done so.

Attach to your card and you're done!

Isn't he cute!

Thanks for looking, see you tomorrow!